Book 3 post 5

On October 21, 1944 A US navy Blimp, sighted a ship, later known as the RUBICON drifting in the Bermuda Triange. The Coast Guard was dispatched and found the ship "extremely Sea Worthy". They checked the ship and found that a meal had just been prepared. The ship left Havan, Cuba headed for New York, a dat earlier. The only living thing on the ship was a dog. No crew were ever found. The ship was later towed to New York and Salvaged. Strange Right?

Book 3 post 4

The Germans would sneak spies into England and have them radio information back to Germany. In September of 1940 three agents were sent to England, one was Theo Druecke, son of a prominant Berlin Lawyer, the second was Waelti and the third was a sophisticated well propotioned woman named The Countess. The German intelligance officer who was sending them didn't even know her name. Her name was accually Vera de Witte of Russian decent. She was also know to be an escort (Hooker) among other things. Her and Druecke (her current lover) flew into Norway and paddled a dinggy into Scottland, once there they tried to get on a train, but the clerk became suspicious and called the Police. They found espionage equiptment and arrested both. Waelti went to Edinburgh and was arerested while watching a movie. He too was found with espionage equipment. Both men were hanged together. Although the Countess was caught red handed she was not hanged and later excaped from British custody, never to be heard from again.

Book 3 post 4

Hitler considered the Balkins to be the eastern frontier of the Third Reich. Czar Boris III declared war against America and Britan five days after Pearl Harbor. in 1943 Hilter heard that Boris was planning on calling a peace treaty with America, he called Boris to Germany and after a heated discussion, he agreed to stay with Germany. Within an hour of his return to the Bulgarian Capital, he collapsed and has pronounced dead by poisoning. No one knows who did it, because his son was heir to the throne and was just a child, so a commitee was formed and signed a peace agreement with America, Russia and Brittan. Hours after the peace treaty, Russia invaded the Balkins, took it over and executed the peace keeping traitors. So once again who killed Boris, America, Russia, Brittan or The Balkins. No one knows but the finger was pointed at Russia.

Book 3 post 3

More spy stories. In the spring of 1941, American intelligence had been cracking the Japanese codes. The Janapese Embassy telegraphed Japan and stated two spy's "J" and "W" were giving reliable information to them. The Ambasitor Taro Terasaki, who attended Brown University years earlier, stated an onl calssmate and now Senator was providing information to him. Terasaki recieved over a half million dollars and stated "J" and "W" recieved their payment. No one ever found out who the spies were or if the even existed.

Book 3 post 2

In October 1939, a German u-Boat entered The British Channel near Scottland and working its way through a maze that seemed unpenatrable, sunk the SCAPA FLow. The Scapa Flow was on of Brittans prized ships. The skipper of the U-Boat returned to Germany and recieved the Knights Cross by Hitler Himself. The British knew that only a spy could have given this information out and decended upon the Orkney Islands. After years of searching, they came up with nothing. In 1942 The American Newspaper Saturday Evening Post stated they knew the spy and it was Retired German Navy Captain Alfred Wehring who went under the name Albert Oertel. It was said that he entered Scottland 12 years earlier and began to collect information. He even helpded to navigate the U-Boat and went back to Germany with the boat. However, when they interviewed people on the Island and showed a picture of Oertel, no one knew who he was. Therefore, the question exists, did Oertel even exist or is it just Spy Lure.

Book 3 Post 1

My third book is by William B. Breuer. The tital is Unexplained Mysteries of World War II. One story centers around 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland. Britan and France stated to Germany to exit Poland or risk war. 28 days later, Poland fell to Germany. An unknown German sent a package to Germany to the British Embassy in Oslo asking if the British wanted Intellegence on Germany's weapons, they should answer in the affirmative. Six weeks later while a British guard was on watch 600 miles from London, he came across a box addressed to Admiral Boyes during a heavy snowstrom. The package was found on a wall. If not found it would have been buried in the snow for weeks. The package contained 800 papers of German technical data about weapons they were producing. No one ever found out where it came from.

Book 2 post 5

In this final post, Ann Coulter takes about former Senator Max Cleland. Cleland was a triple amputee who worked himself into a lather about President George Bush's national Guard Service. In doing so he went on Talk TV citing Military experts and demanded an investigation into weather he served or not. Did I mention he is a Democrate. Anyway, he made this an investigation to rival the Kennedy assasination. But Democrates only wanted to know two things, 1) is Bush was AWOL or 2) the matter still needs to be investigated. 30 years ago Bush recieved an Honorable Discharge which would put the matter to rest, but that wasn't good enough for Cleland, and he kept pushing forward. Well, I did mention he was a former Senator and nothing ever happened to Bush. Need I say more.

Book 2 post 4

So Ann is at it again. On page 190 she beats up the Massachusetts Sureme Court. In a nut shell she states that the MSC's Constitution was written in 1780 and in 2003 they decided to rewrite it. Specifically about gay Marriages. Here she writes that the court gave legislature six months to overturn the law and end the legal gay rights marriage. This meant that gay couples had six months to pick out silverware patterns and get hitched before the law changed. The constitution didn't state gay marriage, but it didn't specifically say they could not, therefore, gay couples were recognized as partners up till that point. Hee, the document was written by John Adams for Gods sake. He should have been a priest with the morals he had. See ya next time.

Wicked

So, for my free write, I will write about the play Wicked. I took my family to see the play and met a few students at the Theatre. I drove to Weehawken and took the Ferry and then a Bus to the Theatre. The show was excellent. The singing was great and the show was actually amusing. The two leads of the Good Witch and the Bad Witch we excellent. I enjoyed the show, but during intermission I noticed that a friend of mine was playing in the orchestra. After the show I called to him in the pit and later got a tour behind, under and all around the Theatre and stage. I met the male Lead of Ferrari and the woman in the wheel chair (forgot her name). My son got a poster signed by all the cast members and his playbill signed. Although I missed the Yankee game, (very upset), I did have an experience that few get to have. So, over all it was a great night. I did celebrate with all the Yankee fans who were in Time Square watching the game, and took the last Ferry home with us. The Yankees clinched while we were mid way across the Hudson and we were all screaming and chanting, another experience I will remember.

Book Update

I recently made it to the 300's of my book. Lately I had a few hours of down time and instead of cleaning up the yard from the leaves or playing my guitar, I actually read. Ann Coulter writes in her book that in 1999, the New York Post took a poll on the 25 Top Evil People of the Millennium. Bill Clinton was second only to Hitler, and Hillary was 6Th, just above Saddam Hussein and Charles Manson. She strongly criticizes the Clinton Administration, as does most Republicans. This poll happened to be an on line poll by the Post in which they received 19,000 votes in October alone. They were the only Husband and wife on the list, the only Americans in Government on the list. Clinton got almost 1,000 more votes than Saddam Hussein. She goes on to make comparisons with combined scores and so forth, but it gets to complicated and not enough space to write in this blog.

Gazebo

Yesterday my brother-in law and I built a gazebo over my Hot Tub. I know it sounds nice, but it's a lot of work. I've been doing carpentry on and off for about 25 years. This was the first gazebo I build but it came out very nice. I put in the Hot Tub this spring with four of my friends. We had to dig a 24 inch trench ( 30 feet long) for the electric, cut into my concrete walkway and build a platform for the tub. All this was done in one day. I used a canvass cover over it that I had lying around that I used over my back Patio before I bought a better one. I had to build a permanent structure to withstand the wind and snow. I would love to keep it uncovered but it would kill the jets with all the debris from the trees when people are in it. Anyway, its the first step.. Phase II starts this spring when I cover the poles in vinyl and paint the sides around the roof line, otherwise, its good to go.

Second Book update 11-4-09

My new Book is How to Talk to a Liberal (if you must) is very amusing. The author, Ann Coulter pits Ted Kennedy against John Ascroft by saying things like Ascroft was not thrown out of College for cheating on a Spanish test or got into college based on family pedigree, etc... She goes on and is talking about how Liberals have made the Gorenment react to Christianity in public schools and wonders how much longer Americans can survive liberalism. These are just a few of the facts that she poses in her book. I find most interesting and have to say I agrees with most but not all her beliefs. She pits comedy with her realization of facts as she sees them. Im almost to the end, but need to find more time to finish it before Thanksgiving.

Free Blog

Well today I have to do an extra detail at a football game and then head out to a Cub Scout meeting. I have one day to do all our English Comp II reading and assignments. My schedule has been a little crazy, but nothing more than the usual. Somewhere I will try to continue to read my new book. Hopefully I'll finish before Thanksgiving. Just Kidding. Well now off to run errands, pick up a Birthday gift or two for my wife and head out to work.

Book Blog, 2nd book

My second book is by Ann Coulter, called "How to talk to a Liberal (if you must)." Ann Coulter is the author of the New York Times Best Seller: Treason, Slander and High Crimes and Misdemeanors. She is also legal correspondent for Human Events and a syndicated columnist for Universal Press. The book is her views of the current Democratic Party and how the country is being run. Her views are very right wing, but interesting. She is not so far to the right, but close. In the first three chapters, she talks about the war in Iraq, 911 and about Charles Schumer of New York, who in 2001 helped come up with the best way to hold Military Tribunals with Congress involved, or running it. I don't want to express too many of her views on this blog, but I agree with most of hers.

Contract

So, I've been without a raise or contract for the past three years. You see Fort Lee fought our raise in 2006. Since then, my PBA has been fighting with the Borough but have gotten nowhere. We went to Arbitration in 2008 and the State awarded our contract. The Borough didn't agree and fought the decision, twice!! Finally the the State told the Borough to pay us and award the raise and new items in our contract. The Borough had a meeting and decided to file an appeal with the New Jersey Supreme Court Appellate Division. Now we have to file a motion in Bergen County Superior Court to force the Borough to pay us for their violation of the State's decision. Crazy stuff right! Did you know that no Arbitrator has ever been overturned in the Appellate Division for these types of contracts. Why is the Borough doing this? Because it adds $14,000.00 to their Pension investment at the end of every year now. Currently they have spent over $250,000.00 in fighting us and a possible addition loss of $225,000.00 by filling the appeal. I don't know, but I think if they wanted to make a point, there were better ways of doing it then giving their Attorneys half a million for a lost cause. Oh well, just thought I would vent a little. I guess I will see my raise in June, almost four years after we started. Then in January 2011, this contract ends and we do it all over again.

Current book situation

Well, as of right now I am in between books. I have completed my first book "Sail" as well as my blogs on the book. Now I have to go find a new book, but I'm undecided what book I should get. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I'm looking for an interesting one with no heavy lifting, if you know what I mean. Anyway, thats my lastest reading update.

Thoughts on reading outside of class

I have not read for the enjoyment of it for a long time. Recently I read a book while I had an operation on my shoulder, other than that its just been the newspaper and some work related magazines. I doubt if I will just be sitting back and reading for enjoyment anytime soon. I have too much school work as well as my normal work related e-mails and reports. The only time I do read is on vacation, but that depends on where I go. If its down the shore and I know I will just be hanging on the beach, I read, otherwise , I'll sight see and will rarely read.

Sail Con't

Peter Carlyle and Devoux go to the Bahamas to make a plan to find the Dunnes and kill them. Ellen Pierce follows them there. After a short meeting in a slezy bar, the seperate and Peter heads back to New York. Ellen follows Devoux into the secluted parts of the Bahama's. He later senses that he is being followed and ambuses her in her vehicle. A gunfight ensues by Devoux gets away. Petere knows things are getting bad and the public starts to question why he is not looking for his family (he is a trained Piolt). Peter leaves Bailey's bed after talking about marrying her once his family was officaly gone. He flies to the Bahama's and charters a plane and starts to look in the area Devoux told him. He finds the small island and see's that there are people on it. They are screaming and lighting fires to get the pilot's attention, but Peter flys off. He returns that night under a cloud of darkness and with a gun in his hand is about to shoot the slepping family when he is hit in the back of the head by Mark who was standing guard while the family slept. The story now cuts to a court room where Peter is on trial for the attempted Murder of his family. He is later accquitted with the help of the best laywers money can buy. The story ends with Peter lying in bed with Bailey, Devoux wlaks in and holds a gun to Peter, he begs for his life but says he won't kill him , then hands the gun to Bailey. Bailey takes the gun as Peter is relieved that she won't kill him, but she does. It turns out Bailey and Devoux were is co-hoots and planed this all along. Ellen Pierce recieved a message for her help in the arrest and saving of the Family Dunne. Dr. Dunne and her family are now as close as ever and can finally move on with their lives. First book completed!

My thoughts on reading

I don't know how I really feel about my reading. It is all just kind of melting together. Between what I have to read and write at work and now read for school, I'm not sure if its work thats killing me or the extra reading. It's what I expected I guess. I mean I'm taking an English Comp II class, what else would we be doing. It's amazing but you find time for it all. Its not easy but I have found extra time in between all the personal extra's in my life. Sometimes it feels good to read for awhile before bed when it's peaceful. I guess it's like a sleeping pill, so in that respect I don't mind the small amount of time I have to read before bed.

Thoughts on Essay

My thoughts on our first essay are mixed. I don't mind writing but to do drafts, themes, notes, etc.., that doesn't seem like fun. With all the reading, journals, blogs' and now our essay, it seems like a lot. The only benefit is that I hope it will improve my writing skills and how I approach an essay and my thought process.

SAIL: Continued

Peter Carlyle has a new lover, her name is Bailey Todd, 25 years old drop dead gorgeous and a body to match. She met Peter while he was teaching a law class in NYU. They began an affair shortly after he married Katherine Dunne. He hired Devoux to kill his wife and family, not that he needed the money, he was the most famous attorney in New York if not the United States, its just that he was psychotic and loved the thrill of not getting caught for things like that. He would even shoplift just for the thrill and get excited when he would get away with it. The GPS co ordinance was rigged by Devoux so when the ship went down, the Coast Guard started a search 500 mile in the wrong direction. Ellen Pierce is a CIA agent who lost a famous case to Peter Carlyle. Upon hearing that the Dunne's boat was days late for the Bahama's, she immediately suspected Peter. The media coverage is getting intense and Peter is enjoying every minute of his fake grieving. Ellen is denied permission to follow Peter based on a hunch so she begins to follow Peter on her own time. Meantime, the Dunne's have washed up on a small deserted island 500 miles from the Bahama's. Young Ernie makes a note and throws it in the water hoping to save the family. After the Coast Guard stops the search (after 1 week) The fisherman find the bottle and the news media goes crazy again. The search for the family Dunne begins again. ******To be continued******

Continuing with my book

Devoux has planted a bomb on "The Family Dunne" but before it goes off Dr. Dunne realizes her daughter is not around. They hear a splash and realize she jumped into the sea. Jake jumps in after and saves her from committing suicide. After they get on ship they realize that a plug is missing from the engine room and this is causing the boat to take on water. This sabbotage was also done by Devoux. Jake fixes the ship but half of it is under water. The next morning Devoux checks the GPS and realizes the boat is still moving. Meanwhile, the Dunne family is starting to bond and Uncle jake throws the kids in the water in a playfull romp. Dr. Dunne jumps in with them, suddenly the boat explodes with Jake on it. Meanwhile Dr. Dunnes new husband shows up to a door. When it opens there is a young beautiful woman waiting for him. They embrace and he picks her up and moves her to the bedroom where he explains, I'm finally free.
******to be continued******

Stress day

For my second blog of the week I'm going to vent about my week. I'm up every day at 0545 at work by 0700 and finish at 1515 Hrs. On Mondays and Thursdays I have to rush out of work in order to make one of my classes. Today (Thursday) I was on my regular day off (RDO) but had to attend a Tabletop exercise with NYPD, Port Authority, Bergen County PD, Prosecutors Office and many other acronyms. This makes seven shifts in five days leaving me with one day off, Friday. Somewhere in there I have to read, do my 500 word paper, help my wife with a few things, fix my bathroom and attend a Cub Scout meeting. Then off to work for another six shifts in 5 days starting on Saturday. Sometimes its funny to hear others talk about their days and how hard they were. This past week I wrestled some crack head, helped lock up four others, institutionalize three EDP's, and wrote seven reports. That's not counting everything in between. I'm not complaining, in fact I rarely do, its the job I took and love it every day. This is just a new tool to be able to express it without actually saying it. Talk to you all soon.

Where I am now

In my book SAIL, I'm following the main characters, Dr. Katherine Dunne, her daughter Carrie and son's Ernie and Mark. Dr. Dunne is a widowed mother of three who remarried a wealthy and famous millionaire lawyer Peter Carlyle. Dr. Dunne's husband Stuart died in a scuba diving accident off their sail boat "The Family Dunne" Dr. Dunne had a secret affair with her deceased husbands brother Jake while she was married. The story starts off with a couple of drunk guys fishing off a rented charter boat in the Bahamas, when they catch a tuna and bring it to shore. On shore the men take a picture with the upside down tuna and a bottle falls from the tuna's mouth with a message in it. The Captain reads the message, "The Dunne Family is Alive". The story suddenly moves to Dr. Dunne contemplating taking a trip on "The Family Dunne" and to try to restore her broken family after her husbands death. There is a lot of conflict between the kids who are acting out and leaving their mother at her wits end. Carrie is suicidal, Mark is a pot head and Ernie is a young genius. Peter seems like a straight guy and wishes the family off. This is the first time in three years that "The Family Dunne" has seen water and the family is ready to set sail for the Bahamas from Cape Cod. They call the trip the Dysfunctional Dunne family vacation. Watching them leave was a man named Devoux. He had only one job, and that was to make people disappear. *****To Be Continued******

My first book of 3

The book I chose was SAIL, by James Paterson. I started the book just before school started, but only got through the first 50 or so pages. I expect a suspenseful mystery as well as a good cast of characters. I've read a few of his books and although they are not a tough read, they make for an enjoyable story. I hope to pick three very different types of books. But thats another blog.

Finding time to read

Well, going back to school hasn't been easy. Its not that the work is hard, its finding the time to do it. Like reading three books for English Comp II as well as all the other reading and homework from other classes. I have to work full time, have a family life, go to basketball practice and cub scouts. I've been reading before I go to bed, at work and anytime in between. It's been just great.

English Comp II

Hi everyone, my name is Tom Ottina. I'm taking English Composition II here at Bergen Community College during the fall of 2009. I'm here after 25 years to get my BA. I already have 80 credits in FDU, but never completed English Comp II or Algebra II so I'm back to take these classes and move on. I'm a 21 year veteran of the Fort Lee Police Department and currently hold the rank of Lieutenant. I've written and corrected hundreds of reports over my career. I just hope this helps get me through this class. I'm looking forward to expanding my writing skills which can only help me further, not only in school, but later in life.

I put together this blog for this English Comp class, but I've never blogged before so this will be a new experience. I hope to discuss and post comments of the books I will be reading and I'm looking forward to reading other students comments, not only about my blog, but about theirs as well. See you all in cyberspace.