Second Baptist Church, South Hadley, MA

Sunday service at the Second Baptist Church in South Hadley was a unique pleasure this morning. Pastor Don was on vacation, and that was a disappointment. His messages are excellent. But this morning his son was filling in and doing an outstanding job.

What was unique was that the worship band was a bluegrass group. I love the old traditional bluegrass gospel songs and it was great to sing some of them this morning. Normally Second Baptist has a traditional early service (hymns and a choir) and a contemporary second service with a praise band.

If you are looking for a church in the South Hadley area, visit Second Baptist Church (on Route 202 near the Granby line).

Primo Pizza, Hadley, MA

Whenever I'm close to Hadley, Massachusetts I try to stop by Primo Pizza and get a tuna grinder with everything.

I love tuna grinders, or subs as they are called in the rest of the U.S. Sometimes I will get a meatball grinder sometimes I'll even get a vegetarian sub at Subway, but nothing tops the tuna grinder at Primo Pizza.

I'll also give them a top rating for consistency. I've been going to Primo Pizza for at least six years, and the quality has never changed. The grinders are always great.

What makes a great tuna grinder is the quality of the tuna. Some places make their tuna chunky, some add relish, and others mix in other ingredients. But whatever it is that Primo Pizza does, I hope they keep doing it. If you are on Route 9 in Hadley, stop in and try their hot tuna grinder.

Primo Pizzeria 103 Russell Street, Hadley, MA 01035-9519

East Longmeadow, MA - Fourth of July Parade

For a big July 4th parade, that is entertaining, and that has a friendly home-town feel, I love the East Longmeadow, MA July 4th parade. It starts at 10AM on July Fourth and although reports say from 20,000 to 60,000 watched this year's parade, there's always a spot to get a good view.

This year the gunshots from the Civil War reenactors announced the parade was coming. It included veterans from WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam, Iraq and others. It also included hardware and reenactors from several wars including WWII.

I'd give the outstanding band award to the Polish Marching Band (I'm not sure that's their official name) and their brilliant costumes (see photo). And the Shriners put on their usual crowd-pleasing display at the end of the parade.

There are stores near the mid-point of the parade, where you can buy water, soda and snacks. But usually it's a good idea to remember to bring water, because the day typically will be hot. Most of the parade goes through residential areas, so come early to get a good parking spot.

To enjoy a great Fourth Of July Parade, come to East Longmeadow, Massachusetts.

Don't Fly Delta Unless You Want To Spend 30+ Hours To Get Across The U.S.

I used to fly on Delta a lot, but they've let me down time after time. And today they've let down my family leaving them in stranded in Minneapolis all day and having to fly two red-eyes on two nights in a row just to get from Oregon to Massachusetts.

What happened in this case, and in every other case, is that something happens to make the first leg of a flight late. This make you late for a connection. But over and over the situation has been such that if Delta held the connection for five minutes, the late arrivals could get on the flight. It's not as though Delta would be waiting for people who may or may not arrive at the airport. These are passengers within Delta's control. Delta knows where they are. Delta can even arrange for one of those electric carts in the airport to quickly get the passengers from one gate to another. They know exactly when they'll get there. So they know that if they wait just five minutes, they can get people DELTA CAUSED TO BE LATE onto their next flight.

On the other hand I fly Southwest a lot and have never encountered this problem. Southwest seems to have built extra time into their schedules. For example a flight that takes one hour will have a scheduled flight time of 70 minutes -- and this gives them some flexibility. But, however they do it, they are focused on doing a good job for their customers. So traveling on Southwest is a much better experience.

Delta get your act together. Taking more than 30 hours to fly someone across the U.S. is ridiculous!

What's Going On? What's happened to quality & service?

While there are exceptions, I'm noticing that service and quality is getting worse and worse. I'm finding more to complain about and fewer good experiences. What's happening?

Does a recession cause quality and service to drop? Is it that costs are being cut so much that quality and service can't be maintained? I wonder about that because prices have gone up significantly over the past year. Things cost more but the quality is poorer. Is it that government regulations are forcing businesses into bad business practices? It seems the more government tries to fix something, the worse it gets. I don't know what's happening, but it's making want to stay home.

Stanfords Restaurant - Lake Oswego

The service is fantastic - but the food... well it's not my favorite.

I'm a fish and chips type of guy. So deciding what to order is easy... it's just about always fish and chips, unless fried clams are on the menu. So the other evening we went to dinner a Stanfords Restaurant in Lake Oswego and I ordered my usual. BIG MISTAKE.

I guessed my fish and chips might not be the best I've had when the meal arrived. The fish was piled on top of the chips. The result? Soggy fries. I like my fries crisp. At Stanfords it was like getting mashed potatoes that had been browned. There was no way these fries could be dipped in ketchup.

The fish was okay, meaning it wasn't bad. But it wasn't good. There was no flavor and the tartar sauce, was bland also.

That leaves the cole slaw. I love cole slaw. I don't know what recipe they used, but I couldn't eat it. Neither could my friend who had also order fish and chips.

Stanfords was packed and there was a waiting line outside the front door. So I guess there are people who like the food. But Standfords in Lake Oswego is not the restaurant for me.

Southwest Airlines

I'm making my summer travel plans, which include a variety of places. For airline tickets I turned to Southwest Airlines. I was a little surprised this year because their prices are about the same as everyone else's. Usually I save money by flying Southwest. Oh yes!! They don't charge for checking luggage. That saves me $100 and yes they do cost less.

But I also just like Southwest. I'm not the sharpest ladder on the highway, and I tend to make mistakes such as booking my flights on the wrong day. I thought I was in trouble and heading for some big fees to change the dates on my tickets. I called the SW 800 number and... no problem. They canceled my flight and gave me a full credit to use toward purchasing flights on the correct date. Which I immediately did.

Plus I like Southwest just because they are friendly. I'm typically flying across the country and a smile and good attitude really help. Thank you Southwest!