Transferring VHS Tapes to DVDs in Bay Ridge

We found many places in Bay Ridge 11209 that transferred VHS Tapes into DVDs 

• We chose Walgreens on 95th and 3rd Avenue

• Costco does video transfer

• Photography Elite – Third Avenue and 84th street –  across the street from Cafe Café

• Maxi Photo – 8623 Fifth Avenue – (718) 680-1357

• You can buy a converter from B&H for $159.00

(718) 680-1357

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Two People Who Don’t Do Their Job Well Want To Be Promoted To Grimm’s Job

Bay Ridge and Staten Island are all abuzz with who will grab Grimm’s empty seat. For me, this is just politics as usual – two people who don’t do their job well want to be promoted!

First is Dan Donovan, the District Attorney who failed to get an indictment for the Eric Garner case.  He wanted to keep favor with the police because he knew he wanted to seek a higher office. I’ve never heard Donovan’s name in anything else as he is a Staten Island DA. I’m not sure why he would think Bay Ridge would be interested in him, but I see Marty Golden has that part covered and all you conservatives out there will vote for him.

Photo: Gage Skidmore – CC License

The other Republican looking to step into Grimm’s seat is Nicole Malliotakis. People always say, “oh yeah she’s good.”  When I ask them why, they always say she is a woman or she’s Greek and Hispanic. Okay but what are her accomplishments? When people tell me that she got a bus back, I have to shake my head. Three politicians (Golden, Gentile and Malliotakis got the bus back) and it’s a bus that isn’t widely used. Most people in Bay Ridge don’t use that bus as they use the train or car. When the bus is running, it is less than half full. Malliotakis also takes credit for closing the massage parlors in Bay Ridge. Again, thee politicians worked on it so I am unsure how much she has done. If you drive home on the weekend, you can see there are many late massage parlors open n in Bay Ridge.

I lost all respect for Nicole Malliotakis when I realized she had released press releases crediting herself for the Pet Tattoo Bill. Malliotakis failed to mention Assembly woman , Linda Rosenthal in the press release. Papers and blogs printed what was in the press release without fact checking.  On social media, I told Malliotakis  the mistake and I requested that she update the stories. She didn’t. I even wrote to Brian Laline of the Staten Island Advance and Ned Berke of the Bensonhurst Bean. I even sent sent LaLine the link from NY Assemby Bill Search – search for  Bill A739D-2013 to show him that Rosenthal was the original creator of the bill and he didn’t want to update it.  Malliotkis could have apologized and moved on, but she didn’t. Nicole Malliotakis is just out promoting herself and doesn’t see anything wrong with taking credit for someone else’s work. Malliotakis should be promoting other women in politics.  I told Linda Rosenthal that Malliotakis was doing this (I’m sure she was aware)  and Nicole Malliotakis never  apologized to Rosenthal.  

Malliotakis has been in the NY State Assembly for years and has no prime sponsored legislation. She has only a few cosponsored bills, yet she wants a promotion – GIVE ME A BREAK!  Tell Malliotakis to do some work in Assembly and stop telling us that we should vote for her because she is a woman or that she is Greek and Cuban. If you have to run on y0ur gender or ethnicity, you aren’t qualified in my opinion.

 I found qualified Republicans out there, but either they aren’t interested in running or the Staten Island GOP isn’t interested in them. 

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It’s Snowing! Where Can I Get a Sled in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn 11209

Where can I buy a sled in Bay Ridge Where can I get a sled in Bay Ridge, 11209

 

United True Value Hardware Store   7905 3rd Avenue 11209  (718) 748-0590    $20

 

Modell’s has the big ones for $14.99 and the smaller boogie board types for $9.99   They are on the second floor

 

Ovington Avenue and 3rd Avenue – the store next to the fruit store on the corner    $20

 

Panda Sports had them at the start of the season – toboggan

 

Kaleidoscope had little one-person  plastic sleds (they are awesome at Owls Head)

Polstein’s Harware on 76th Street and 13th Avenue sells sleds.

 

 

Lowes

 

BJs

 

Home Depot

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Where Can I Buy Pizza Dough in Bay Ridge 11209, Dyker Heights or Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

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Golden Turns His Back on Malliotakis – Grab Your Popcorn

Grab your bowl of popcorn because politics in Brooklyn and Staten Island has reverted back to fifth grade. Marty Golden has Nicole Malliotakis backing his stupid moves (remember he introduced a bill which gave millions of dollars in tax breaks to billionaires – Malliotakis voted in favor of this bill and forgot to mention her vote anywhere).

Malliotakis and Golden even did yoga together.

But when it came down to choosing between Donovan and Malliotakis – Golden chose Donovan.

I don’t think Malliotakis has learned the lesson yet. We shall see in the upcoming days!

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2014 – I’ve Learned Not to Be Surprised by Stupidity……or Not

Common sense went out the door in 2014 for most of the world.  What we saw:

1. Eric Garner death and all that followed  probably was the biggest story of the year. Seeing it on YouTube was shocking as I would have never believed that could have happened that way if I didn’t see it. I watched it many times and looked up similar videos because what I saw was so different from the cops I knew as a kid and growing up. The court case that followed was ridiculous and it shocked me that no Staten Island representatives stood up for the man after seeing that video. And I found most people are either on one side or the other – there are few who see the grey area – but it’s there.  This guy should run for office as he gets it.   Best advice I’ve seen on the topic came from this minister.

2. This election year that showed people didn’t care to vote shocked me. Keeping politicians in office who have committed crimes and haven’t done the right thing for people shocked me. I think they were even shocked that they stayed in office. But did they really want to stay in office after they embarrassed themselves and their family. I mean, your family sees the truth and it’s just ugly that they have to live in it.

3. I’ve watched a lot of people lie – some people lie about stupid things, but some lied about some real important things too. Eventually everyone sees the lies no matter how people try to cover it. 

So I’ve learned that I shouldn’t be shocked by other people’s stupidity……I shouldn’t be, but I am always am. I’m glad that initially it shocks me – it shows that I haven’t become so desensitized to the world like most people become. I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t shocked by people’s sheer lack of regard for others  and stupidity. Finally, some of my best moments in 2014 were spent with people who aren’t part of my life in 2015….sad, but true. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For us, 2014 was pretty amazing even with the small bumps in the road of life. Lee’s crazy infection and time in the hospital showed me so many things – mostly I was shocked at how calm I was. Normally I am a nervous wreck when someone has an operation. I always fear the worst. I felt God was near and I shopped in Park Slope as his operation took place. When the doctor called and said he was okay, I rushed back to the hospital and was glad to see he was awake and feeling well – but I wasn’t surprised. I knew he was going to be fine. In the weeks that followed, I realized how serious this could have been and I realize how fortunate we are. 

So anyway, the start of 2015 is going to be real good.  We have to finalize some things……and that will change a lot of things and then a big party will follow too!  I hope 2015 is filled with happiness, good health and faith for you!

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Grimm’s Guilty and His Silent Crew

So Grimm resigned tonight (effective January 5th). Grimm admitted he was guilty and he thought he would be able to stay in office! How delusional! Seriously, someone needs to give politicians a reality check.

More interesting to me was that Staten Island politicians didn’t have the courage to speak up  and say a criminal can not hold office.

The Silent Crew:

1. Silent as usual – Nicole Malliotakis (she was busy condemning  Obama the week before over Cuba, but didn’t say a peep about Grimm)
2. Joe Borelli uses twitter regularly and he must have missed the memo that Grimm resigned – not a peep
3. Marty Golden – who supported Grimm’s re-election and asked others to as well
4. Michael R. Long, the chairman of the Conservative Party in New York, urged Grimm to resist calls to resign  LOL  REALLY?
5. The Brooklyn Conservative Party Chairman, Jerry Kassar was very outspoken the week before, but silent after  Grimm admitted guilt. Ironically, his November article in the paper also disappeared.  The Brooklyn Conservative Party supported Grimm’s re-election
6. Councilman Vinny Ignizio and Steve Matteo don’t speak out against Grimm and rather told the paper that they would continue working with them. And get this…..Vinny Ignizio said: “

Remember Rob Astorino said that Grimm would be cleared – no Rob, he wasn’t and it was delusional for you to think that.

I always knew there was no way for Grimm to keep his position in Congress because even though we see some poor leadership in this part of the city, most men act like men and I knew the House speaker, John Boehner wasn’t going to allow a criminal to be in the House.  Boehner was a gentleman and spoke kindly afterward.

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Lutheran Hospital – Avoid this hospital Brooklyn!

If you stopped by in the last month, you are probably wondering why I didn’t update. Well our life had some twists and turns which life normally does, but this time it was Lee’s health so it was a bit different.

And he’s on the road to recovery and taking good care of his health with a swarm of doctors and nurses too. Yeah it was that serious. (As a side note, if you know me you know I worry when my loved ones aren’t well…..not this time – God held me close and I knew Lee was going to be alright).

On the last Saturday of October,  I went with Lee to his doctor because he had a cut on his foot caused by wearing new boots.  His doctor told us to go to the hospital and get intravenous medicine because the cut looked bad. Specifically, the doctor referred us to Lutheran Medical Hospital and a specific doctor there.  We went to Lutheran Hospital’s emergency room. The doctor we were referred to was not a podiatrist, so she called the hospital’s podiatrist. The podiatrist came and didn’t do a lot for Lee. He was still in a lot of pain. Lee doesn’t complain (ever) and he doesn’t take time off from work for illness (ever) so I knew it was serious. I stayed with Lee until Sunday night and then I went home. When I talked with him on Monday I realized  something was wrong. He spoke very low on the phone and told me he was okay, but I knew he wasn’t. I went to Lutheran with pain medication. He was laying on a gurney  in the emergency room for three days and they wouldn’t give him a room.

I found the hospital to be awful and knew I had to get Lee better help. It took hours for me to convince him to leave, but I finally got him to go.

We went to a podiatrist in Bay Ridge – Dr. Paul Liswood the following day and he said Lee needed more intravenous medicine and that the would would need to be operated. He sent Lee to the Wound Center at Methodist Hospital. They gave him a room and the doctors and nurses were much more attentive there. His foot was operated on and twenty minutes after the operation he walked on it.

Lee stayed in the hospital that week as they gave him intravenous medicine and monitored him. They told him the first day that he had a staph infection and the doctors operated the following morning. I am so grateful to them!   Lee came home in November and had several nurses visit each day.

One of the strangest things about Lutheran Hospital was that when Lee moved to Methodist, I checked my e-mail and there was an update from LinkedIn (Methodist has wireless and let’s all the patients on – there was no wireless in Lutheran – there was a broken television where Lee was for days!).

Linked in is a social network for business – some people friend me on there because of my family, others because they met me at a conference and of course my old students who have grown up friend me. Linked in told me that Nicole M from Lutheran Hospital had viewed my profile. Why would a hospital worker be interested in viewing my profile – it’s kind of creepy!  I mean I thought hospital records were private. It’s strange that she would look in Lee’s records to get my name! I don’t understand why this hospital worker would be interested in researching me online, but I definitely think it it’s wrong.  I only met her one day  Monday, October 27th.

Even if the employee is new – this isn’t normal behavior. This employee was only working one day while we were there- October 27th!  Each day I would go to work, the hospital and then home to bed.  On November 5th, I saved the file to my computer because something about a hospital employee researching me on the web didn’t sit right with me.

I am so taken back from Lutheran – Lee’s experience at Methodist was entirely different.  The staff at Methodist was very knowledgeable and I never felt any need to worry about him!  I wrote letters for each of the nurses because their care was amazing!

January update: We received Lee’s bill from Lutheran Hospital and a different doctor is listed than the doctor who “operated” picked at Lee’s wound.  Dr. Moez is a resident of Dr. XXXXX , but he never identified himself that way. We never even heard of Dr. XXX  name when we were at the hospital. And I never would have allowed a resident to touch the most amazing person in the world. Seriously?  Why isn’t a resident required to identify himself as such and why aren’t we given a paper to say we understand that he was a resident – people should have the choice of having a doctor if they want one. No wonder why he didn’t know how serious Lee’s infection was.  It’s almost two months later and Lee has not returned to work because his foot has not finished healing. Lee had the intravenous line removed and  is getting around well. He still has a nurse visit every other day.

February 2015: Leon is now being billed by another doctor who he never met at the hospital. So we called the hospital and left messages for him.   March 4, 2015 Update: The hospital confirmed that the doctor is another resident that Leon never met.

I posted the e-mail from Linked  to Lutheran Hospital’s Twitter Account and Facebook acct as this isn’t normal – let’s see if their IT department does something.I would think that Lutheran’s IT Department would have referred it to human relations, but we haven’t heard from the hospital. This really annoys me because the hospital makes us sign all of these documents, but the employees do what they want with out personal information. I find it so creepy!!

March 4, 2015 Update: Lutheran Hospital finally responded to our query about HIPPA. They claim that the above employee did not access Leon’s private information and simply got it from my complaint on Twitter.  It could be true, but if it was, wouldn’t that employee’s supervisor call Leon and explain? It took months for the hospital to respond to this.

The head of the hospital told Leon that another resident also added his name to Lee’s bill – even though Leon never met him!  Can you imagine that a doctor you have never met thinks it is okay to bill you!

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Cheap Party Place in Bay Ridge Brooklyn – Rent a Room

Where can I throw a cheap party in Bay Ridge? Lutheran Trinity Church – contact Charlie 718- 680-2077

If you are looking for a cheap party location for a shower, birthday party or anniversary party in Bay Ridge, there is one! 

You can rent Lutheran Trinity Church for a few hours and bring your own food and decorations, but alcohol is not allowed. 

$100 for 4 hours and you can pay an addition $25 for an additional hour. 

You speak with Charlie who is helpful and will tell you to take a picture of the place with your cell phone so you can return everything where it belongs.

At the end of the party, you put the garbage bags in the closet for their maintenance man to take away.

You can book short notice too – like a few weeks or one month ahead if they have the date available.

What if Trinity Church is not available? You can rent http://thebuilding.bax.org/rehearsal/rates-party rooms here:

1) Trinity Tabernacle on Gravesend Neck Road Paster Pinto

2)  Old Stone House in Park Slope  $350 for 4 hours

3) Marboro Memorial Post American Legion on  Avenue X  718-376-9553

4) BAX in Park Slope

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Toy Stores in Bay Ridge

Now that Toys R Us at Kohl’s shopping center (also known as Cesear’s Bay Bazaar for Brooklyn Classics) is closing, where can we purchase Toys in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn?  

Updated February 2018

• Kaleidoscope Toy Store 8722- 3rd Avenue  (888) 932-4737 Open 10 – 7pm during the week and 10 – 6 pm on the weekend.  It’s not closing – (they just got in more stock for the Summer), but they are selling the shop.

• Heart to Heart has toys in the back right (good size room) 90th and 3rd Avenue. They have: ;egos, playmobile, barbies, melissa & doug, learning toys, etc.

• Norma’s Arts and Crafts Store 7813 3rd Avenue

• D2 Discount Store – 8701 – 4th Avenue 

• Centurys on 86th Street between 4th and 5th Avenue has toys 

• TJ Maxx on 86th Street and 5th Avenue

Our  local bookstores have toys

The local sport shops sell balls and sports equipment.

Dyker Heights:

• E & J   BOUTIQUE – 7001 Fort Hamilton Pkwy   (this store said it would stock NEW toys for XMAS)

Borough Park  (Closed Saturdays):

• Toys to Discover on 55th Street and 18th Avenue (closes early on Friday/closed on Saturday)   

• Toys 4 U in Borough Park – see inside 4714 13th Avenue  Opened until 10:30 am – 7:30 pm Sunday – Thursday (Closes at 2 pm on Friday and closed on Saturday)  718-435-8697   It’s huge-look!

• Double Play Toy Store 4115 14th Avenue

• Tree House Toy Store 5210 16th Avenue 10:30 am – 7:30 pm Sunday – Thursday (closes at 2:30 on Friday and closed on Saturday).  718-438-7258
  

Sunset Park

• Costco 976 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232  

• Micro Center sells computer geek toy sets for techy kids. Microcenter is at 850 3rd Ave, Brooklyn.

Park Slope & Downtown Brooklyn:

• ToySpace in Park Slope at 426- 7th Avenue 718-369-9096

• Pizzazz Toystore at 281 Court Street in Carroll Gardens
  718- 596-4744

Brooklyn on the Belt Parkway:

• Kohls   8973 Bay Pkwy Ste 1, Brooklyn, NY 11214 (they have some, but around the holidays they have a good selection).

• Target 6401 – 18th Avenue (small store, but it has toys), 139 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217  or Gateway City Mall 

Manhattan:

• Kmart One Penn Plaza, 250 W 34th St, New York, NY 10119

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Christmas Collections in Bay Ridge or in Brooklyn

The Bookmark Shoppe is collecting from December 1st – 16th – – 3rd Avenue Brooklyn 11209

• Reaching Out Community Service – Bring new toys to New Utrecht Avenue Brooklyn – see flyer

• The Wicked Monk is accepting toys.

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Elf on the Shelf in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights

Where can I buy the Elf on the Shelf in Bay Ridge? Call before to makes sure it’s in stock.

1) Bookmarke Shop   8415 3rd Avenue  718-833-5115

2) Kaleidoscope Toy Store    8722 3rd Avenue   718-491-2051

3) Boulevard Books and Cafe    7518 13th Avenue   718-680-5881

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