Preserving traditions of Marine Corps

Press Release

The Marine Corps League, Hardware City Detachment, New Britain CT is actively looking for new members. You do not have to live in New Britain to be a member. We have members from Bristol, Southington, Berlin, New Britain, Hartford, Manchester, Middletown, Milford, New Haven, Plainville, Portland, Rocky Hill, Tolland and West Hartford.

Our mission is to promote the interest in, and to preserve the traditions of, the United States Marine Corps. The Hardware City Detachment regularly supports local veterans and their families in need and we actively participate in many local celebrations and remem- brances. Also, we have a very active “Funeral Honors Unit.”

The Hardware City Detachment meets the first Wednesday of the month, 6:30 p.m., at the Berlin VFW, 152 Massirio Dr. Please stop in and make some new friends and see what the Marine Corps League is all about.

If you would like to be a part of a dedicated group helping to honor our military personnel and veterans, contact Sal V. Sena Sr. (860-6146188, 4mermarine69@ gmail.com) or Al Urso (860747-0677, alurso@cox.net). Semper Fi. FACEBOOK.COM/

So I finally made the appointment for the fiber optic folks to come out and bump me into this century. They told me my landline will now be a digital phone. I could just feel my heels starting to dig in. So what does that mean? I have a cordless phone and a corded phone, the latter so that I still have a phone if the power goes out. But the Frontier folks assured me that my upgrade will include a battery pack in the event of a power outage. So I guess that will work.

The nice man who set my appointment for me said that I will have to reset my voicemail. Oh no! I will have to punch in a boatload of numbers to do that. I really wish the 21st century would leave me alone.

It all feels like so much effort. And that’s not all. I have a cell phone that is of the cheap variety, since I never use it. It lies dormant at the bottom of my purse, in case I need to call AAA when I am out and about. It is never on and I don’t even know my number. Rumor has it that soon it will not work, should I decide to bring it to life, because we will all have to upgrade to 5G.

I suspect my cell phone hangs out at 3G, whatever that is. I do hope, meanwhile, that my Honda Civic behaves itself and is in no need of a call to AAA.

In retrospect I am wondering if this resistance to all newfangled things hints of a genetic component. My mother also exhibited some resistance. For instance, she refused to use an electric mixer to mash the potatoes. I always thought that mashed potatoes were supposed to be lumpy. We had to chew them well. Really well.

Once I get used to the changes, though, things really are better. Like when I switched over to streaming TV. You all know how much I revel in that. So I imagine that, once I am done complaining about having to, with really no say in the matter, switch over to fiber optic and maybe have to learn a thing or two, I will be happy with it.

One way or another I will be dragged, kicking and screaming no doubt, into the 21st century. I see no way around it. I’m going to miss my buckboard.