Worcester World Cup 2010

Right on the heels of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, we have the Worcester World Cup taking place in August.

More details to be posted very soon.

Words to live by

The Cookie Story
author unknown

The woman arrived
At an airport one night
With several long hours
Before her flight.


She hunted for a book
In the airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies
And found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book
But happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her,
As bold as could be,

Grabbed a cookie or two
From the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore
To avoid a scene.

So she munched the cookies
And watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief
Diminished her stock.

She was getting more irritated
As the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice,
I would blacken his eye."

With each cookie she took,
He took one too,
When only one was left,
She wondered what he would do.

With a smile on his face,
And a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie
And broke it in half.

He offered her half,
As he ate the other,
She snatched it from him
And thought... ooh, brother!

This guy has some nerve
And he's also rude,
Why he didn't even show
Any gratitude!

She had never known
When she had been so galled,
And sighed with relief
When her flight was called.

She gathered her belongings
And headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back
At the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane,
And sank in her seat,
Then she sought her book,
Which was almost complete.

As she reached in her baggage,
She gasped with surprise,
There was her bag of cookies,
In front of her eyes.

If mine are here,
She moaned in despair,
The others were his,
And he tried to share.

Too late to apologize,
She realized with grief,
That she was the rude one,
The ingrate, the thief!

How many times have we absolutely known that something was a
certain way, only to discover later that what we believed to be
true...was not?

Keep An Open Mind And An Open Heart, Because...
You just never know...
Ya might be eating someone else's cookies

More YouTube Time

The rumor mill was churning and once the topic kept popping up on various tech websites, I knew there had to be some truth to it.  YouTube's video time limit is increasing from 10-minutes to 15-minutes.

As part of the upgrade, YouTube is hosting a contest where everyone can have their "15 Minutes of Fame" by uploading a 15-minute video to YouTube and tag it as "yt15minutes" by Wednesday, August 4, 2010. Videos that are selected will be highlighted on YouTube's front page.

Now, City Manager, Michael O'Brien, and Mayor Joe O'Brien can go all out marketing the City to attract new businesses and residents.

Health Insurance Enrollment Events

UMassMemorial

August 2 - 6, 2010

Health Insurance Enrollment Events

Need Insurance? UMass Memorial health insurance counselors can help:

• Explain the insurance programs and answer your questions
• See if you qualify for insurance coverage
• Help you fill out paperwork and file applications
• Apply for food stamps (SNAP) & WIC too!

You or someone you know may qualify for free or low cost state health coverage, even if you work!

Tuesday, August 3       6:00 pm - 8:00 pm        
St. Anne's Parish
130 Boston Turnpike (Rte. 9), Shrewsbury, MA   

Wednesday, August 4     8:30 am - 12:00 pm       

Worcester Public Court House - Worcester Probate
225 Main Street, 2nd floor, Worcester, MA      

Wednesday, August 4      9:30 am - 3:00 pm        
Green Island Neighboorhood Center with Ronald McDonald Care Mobile
50 Canton Street, Worcester, MA        


For more information, please contact UMASS:

Via Telephone: 508-334-9300


Via Email: needinsurance@ummhc.org

Contact in person:
University Campus 508-334-7829  First floor, near the Prescription Center
Memorial Campus 508-334-5877  First floor, near the cashier
Hahnemann Campus 508-334-1277  Near the main lobby

Worcester Latin American Festival 8/21

Culture, music, people, fun and FREE to the public! 

The 2010 Latin American Festival is taking place on Saturday, August 21 from 12 PM to 9 PM at the Worcester City Hall Common.

Second Line in LA

The traditional "Second Line" is well known throughout the world, but I bet if you mention "Second Line" to anyone, they'll quickly reply that it's a dance typically done in New Orleans.

Well, now there's a 'second line' broken in Louisiana that is gushing oil.

Today in History

July 27, 2004 – Barack Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

 A candidate for the Illinois senate then, that speech brought him national recognition.  In a politically polarized America, he urged national unity. “There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America—there’s the United States of America,” said Obama. “We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states, and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the red states.”

July 27, 1962 – Martin Luther King, Jr., is arrested and jailed in Albany, Georgia.  At a city hall prayer vigil, police handcuffed the civil rights leader on charges of disorderly conduct, failure to obey a police officer and obstructing the sidewalk.  He and other civil rights activists were leading a protest against segregation.

Worst case of NIMBY I've ever read about

In reading this article, which speaks to the homelessness issue that all states face, I wonder if Massachusetts has a budget for flying homeless people, one-way of course, to a place where the person has relatives?

I do recall that any city that has been host to the Olympics, winter or summer, has dealt with homeless people in a very unflattering ways: 

• 1988 Winter Games in Seoul, South Korea saw laws passed for the purpose of "beautification" that knocked down homes and displaced people who couldn't afford to live in the highrise apartment buildings.  

• 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA saw new laws passed to criminalize homelessness and many of those arrested, predominately African-American men, were held for trial until after the games were over.  Programs such as Traveler's Aid, a non-profit that focused on helping travelers and even relocating people, distributed one-way bus tickets to the homeless to get them out of the city and, in some cases, even the state.

Random Pictures

Christian Science Monitor Building (Boston)

Christian Science Monitor Building (Boston)

Denholm Building (Worcester)

Providence Street Playground (Worcester)

Flowers (St. John, Virgin Islands)