Cool Yule

It's five hours long, so it means you'll have to hit 'play' like three more times.

Just curl up and enjoy the day the Jedi way.






Song by:  Bette Midler

the Night Before

Here it is......the day (and night) before xmas.

Or as we call it - Mom's birthday. 87 she is.

However, I called her yesterday, as it would have been my father's 95th.....you know, had he lived.

As the "holidays" go, we are as ready as we are ever going to be.  What presents there are have been purchased.....though not wrapped, at least not mine.

And we will have to take an appetizer to my mother's tonight - as it's really just appetizers and desserts on this night. But I'm letting 710 take the lead on this one. I'm happy to make whatever he chooses as our option, but I'm out of creative ideas.

We actually will have some plans for our normal lazy 25th. Oh, sure, we'll laze in the morning, but we have an invite to a neighbors for bagels and mimosas in the late morning. And then of course, Chinese with David and his wife.

But until we get to that point, I "get" to endure my sisters and their broods for an evening.

I will be bringing beer.

Since I'm new at the job, I technically do not have today off, but I'll be leaving early. Sneaking out, if you will. No one has been around most of the week, and even more people are off tomorrow - so no one will even know I'm there, let alone gone.

As it is, I spent the last two days doing a few emails, but mostly doing my on-line compliance training.

I suppose one of us will have to run out and get Petey something special to open on Friday. Sophie won't care a bit about anything, but Petey seemed to love a cat toy that was at my sister's house.

For tonight, I am still hoping we are home by 21:00.  We won't take Petey tonight. Too many people. Too much food.  Too much havoc for a puppy.

It hardly feels like the December holidays. We hit 70 yesterday.  70!!!!  In December!

Call it El Niño. Call it Global Warming. Call it Climate Change. It's freaky. But whatever it is, you can't call it a white christmas.



Song by: the Beatles

Record of the Month

I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!

This month I am going with the Watkins Family Hour and their self-titled debut album.

They are and aren't a real group. Sara and Sean Watkins are brother and sister who play in Nickel Creek, as well as do their own solo stuff. But for years, they've been playing monthly in a Los Angeles club with an on and off group of musicians - though mostly they've consisted of Fiona Apple (I know, right?), Benmont Tench (from the Heartbreakers) and some fairly well known session musicians (well, well-known if you're a geek like me, I guess).

Earlier this year, they took three days and recorded an album.

The songs are covers. Nothing original - except maybe in the way they perform them. But that is what they've been doing on stage for all these years - just playing music that they like and admire. Nothing more than musical friendship. The songs and the album is fine - better than fine, even.

The problem is I want it to be 'more'.

The concept is great. Even the execution is fine - as they are all expert musicians, but I feel I'd probably like this whole set-up more in a live setting than in a studio. Some of it translates to studio, I'm going out on a limb to say other aspects

I like Nickel Creek. I like their harmonies. But those are needed when Sara Watkins takes lead vocals, as she does with a lot of these songs. She has a fine voice, though she can tend to sound too similar song-to-song. It is what builds around her that make the songs interesting.

Nickel Creek likes to play Lindsey Buckingham songs in concert from Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. I was never sure who was the fan of this, but the WFH (as I will just call them from here on out) single out another Buckingham song from Macs Say You Will disk: "Steal Your Heart Away".

Again - it's all fine. But leaves me wanting more.

I really like "Steal your Heart Away". I like "Early Morning Rain". But I think the standout is the mostly-Apple lead, "Where I Ought to Be".

It's with that last mentioned song where I wanted this disk to go - more shared vocals, more partnership. It is what I imagine the live performance to encompass (though I've never been to one).

Still, the Watkins Family Hour is a solid disk, and an unusual one in this musical world of sampling, auto-tune and all around splicing together separate bits of music to make one song.

App of the Month

Let's just say for a free version of the app, Word Chums, you've probably paid too much.

I suppose I could leave my review at that, but what does that actually get you?

A neighbor, with whom I used to play Words with Friends, for some g-d knows reasons switched to Word Chums and encouraged me to play this game with her.

She's in her sixties, not her teens, so I am confused as to why she wants to play a lesser WWF version that looks like it was developed by someone who throws up a truckload of Skittles on a regular basis.

So as you might have guessed, Word Chums is similar to Words with Friends.

There are a few differences, of course - only one of them that I can tell is a good one.

First, you have to create an avatar. How very Yahoo.....1994. You can't see mine clearly, as my cycloptic (that's a word, right?) eye is closed. And the avatars react when you score a good word - by jumping up and down and the other one frowning. It must have taken minutes for the programmers to come up with that jewel.

The lag time from hitting 'play' for a word to it calculating the score seems to take forever. That just annoys me. And that where you'd normally hit 'play' is now 'chat', so more times often than not, I waste time opening a dialogue box, only to have to close it and then submit your word.

For the improvements over WWF, there are two. One is that the tiles turn green when you've created a word that works. This eliminates the trial and error when you have crappy letters and you try to make words that might exist, but of which you are unaware actually do exist.

The other improvement is, you can hit 'bomb' and swap out all your letters and not lose a turn. In WWF, you lose give up your turn if you swap out any letter.  The caveat here is, you have to swap out ALL your letters. If you only swap out one or two, I believe you lose your turn.

Still, the look of the app just bugs me. It's all very childish.

Oh - and the ads. Lots of pop up ads, as I have the 'free' version. But you'd never catch me paying for this.

My Music Monday

I can't seem to go too many months without a Blondie or Debbie Harry song - and really, why should I?  It's Debbie Frickin' Harry!

Erik and I are still doing soundtrack songs - or songs that appeared in movies, at least before they showed up on other disks.

I culled through my music liberry and the Married to the Mob soundtrack. There were quite a few songs there from which there were to choose. You almost got Chris Isaak's "Suspicion of Love", which might rank in his top 5 songs of all time - my opinion, of course.

You almost got the Tom Tom Club's "Devil Does Your Dog Bite".  I'd have done Sinéad O'Connor doing "Jump in the River", but it came out simultaneously came out on her second album.

Still one of the best songs on the disk is Harry's "Liar Liar".  Oh sure, it's a horrid video, but it's a great song. And Deb sure loves her repeated one word to two words songs ("Jump Jump", "Rush Rush").

The recording put Harry back in partnership with Mike Chapman, who arguably produced the best Blondie disks.

And the movie - Married to the Mob is fun. I mean, you never see Matthew Modine anymore. Or Mercedes Ruehl. You don't even see Michelle Pfeiffer that much, come to think of it. Or Dean Stockwell......though to be fair, he is dead.

Debbie Harry works more than all of them put together.

Enjoy the song.  I do.

Awakening

So last night we finally went to this small independent movie called Star Wars: the Force Awakens.

You've probably never heard of it. That's why I'm here - to help inform you.

I gotta say - it was great. But let's keep that 'great' in context too.

(this is an updated review (if you read this blog between 12mn and 8a EDT) - as I probably should have given myself a few hours after seeing the movie to gestate my thoughts into my post.)

Fisher-Ford-Hamill were hardly the best trained actors of their / our time. And Portman - McGregor - L. Jackson had their acting life sucked dry by George Lucas himself (though McGregor was the strongest of that trio).

I am not here to provide spoilers and will try not to do so. However, if you are planning on seeing the movie, you might want to come back to this after you've viewed the film.

This was a well done cast, even with the inclusion of the original three. Fisher was more than passable, Hamill too. Ford is Ford. Trying to hard to be gruff and sometimes too over the top with that act. He's Indiana Jones in a vest. He's fine, but you've seen it before.....and often.

No, the new cast members excel. Oscar Isaac, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley are great. All of them, maybe especially Ridley. Adam Driver is just fine too, but he looks odd to me without facial hair. And this was the third movie this year I've seen Bill Weasley Domhnall Gleeson in....and one he was in with Isaac.

Sure, as the story goes, everything old is new again, but it was just so well done, you don't matter that much.

Let's just discount Episodes I-III....everyone else has.....and should.

Episode VII builds upon the supposed myth of the Jedi, as it is set decades later. The Dark Side still exists, as does the Rebellion, though the new Empire is a little more like Germany circa 1939. There is still a weapon of mass destruction that needs to be eliminated. There is even a weakness to said weapon, though it's not an exhaust port.

That said, when you get to the heart of it, I feel J.J. Abrams throws more than a wink and a nod to the original episode - now called A New Hope.  If I'm not mistaken - and I really am not - he even throws in actual lines from the first movie. Or movies, as J.J. kind of brings too much of the first two movies into one, instead of creating a lot of original material.

There is even a cantina scene. The new place is cleaner and the music is better.

Like Episode IV, there isn't a lot of back story to the newer characters, so things are left to your imagination - like who was Max von Sydow supposed to be, and why was he supposed to hide?  like - why was it such a big deal to say Lupita Nyong'o is in this film, when she is pretty much a voice for a character who is the galactic Edna Mode (though I thoroughly liked her character).  Who is Rey's family.....though one can and does make assumptions?

With the Force Awakens, there is a little more believability with some of the action scenes. New people handling a lightsaber without really knowing what they are doing. The Stormtroopers actually hit and kill people....and there is actual blood. The violence, while not extremely violent, isn't totally sanitized like it used to be.

Both 710 and I thought they incorporated the original characters in a good way and in a fairly organic manner - and not bombarded them.

And while he is not credited, Daniel Craig plays a stormtrooper. For folks looking for him, he's in a holding cell that contains Rey, the new female character.

I did get a laugh after the movie when our friend James asked why they never discussed why Luke's hand looked the way it did. I was confused, until upon further discussion to find out he had never seen the Empire Strikes Back.

The theater, as you'd expect, was filled. We saw it in 3DXD and some of the 3-D scenes were extremely well done - like an Imperial Cruiser coming right out of the screen.

In the lobby they sold Star Wars related 3-D glasses. I tried them all on, and while I liked the white Stormtrooper-ish googles the best, they didn't provide a great view when you had to put them over my existing glasses.

Sure I could have used the free ones that came with the movie, but no......I went like this....

Abrams did a good job - if not an original one, as I had higher hopes than a reboot. The cast did a good job. The special effects were good. The movie was good, though I won't say it was the best movie of the year.



2015 Movie Count / Goal:  19 of 12



Song by: Lucinda Williams

One of Two

This working away from home is playing havoc with taking kitty and doggie pictures.  I walk Petey before sunrise or after sunset - so that photo op is out.

As it turns out, not only are there only two pics of this last week, one wasn't even taken by me.

 710 worked at home part of the week, and Sophie was blocking his access to his laptop. 

I'm not 100% sure he minded even a little bit. 

This was last Sunday at my mother's. It seems we end up taking Petey most every Sunday now. As we sat around after dinner - still at the table - he just crashed. Big time. 

Song by: the Bangles

Can't Complain

"Lisa, if you don't like your job you don't strike, you just go in every day and do it really half-assed - that's the American way."

- Homer J. Simpson


Homer know more about the American work force than most of us would care to believe.

I know I said I wouldn't blog about work - and technically I am not. Not about my work; my job. Not exactly.

So I just finished my fourth day. Well.....I guess my 2.5 day. The first 1.5 was "orientation".  Lord most of that was painful.

Yes, the presentations were boring. Yes, the ice breakers were tedious, considering I will never ever ever seen any of these people again, and two of the women sitting next to me were vile human beings, considering they are considered "caregivers". You'd hate to have them taking care of you or a family member, that's for sure.

But it was really on day two where I just wanted to stand up and scream: "SHUT UP".   ...to the presenter and the participants.

The presenter really needed to refine his shit. But some of the folks who were hired........man! I mean, I'm not sure why they wanted jobs in the first place.

There is zero exaggeration, when I'd say a dozen of them only wanted to know about FMLA and when could they get it (!), or EAP and could folks there prescribe things, and what is the organization's attendance policy - - - and my favourite, "if I get fired for tardiness or attendance, how soon can I reapply to get hired?".  That was a direct quote. Hand to g-d!

O.M.G.  These people hadn't even clocked in once yet and they're already assuming knew they'll be fired for their shitty attendance record. They thought being allowed to swipe in six minutes late wasn't good enough. I agree - just in a different manner. If you're scheduled to work at 08:00, you had best be swiped in and at your desk by 08:00.....not swiping in and then walking to your work area after the fact.

Of course, they are the same ones bitching about the parking garage they were assigned (the same one I'm in) and that is is a THREE minute walk to the building.  Three. Fucking. Minutes.  Well, assuming you're not a lazy lardass with attendance issues.

"I ain't walkin' that far in the snow!".

Well good luck with that honey (yes, every single complainer about parking or attendance was female), considering the only attached parking garages are for patients only.

They'll be gone by February. It just fucking amazes me that people are like this. I'm sure some of my former employees, and current ones too, have this attitude. I just have layers of people between me that I rarely deal with ones like these on a day to day basis.

Honestly, it was depressing to listen to.

Almost as depressing was the "educational" video on workplace violence.

Sure I have worked for a big organizations before, but have not been in an office for a long time. If these last years has taught us anything is that they times they are a-changin'.  Something's blowin' in the wind.

Mostly madmen with guns. Seeing a video about a shooter entering a building and taking out people was quite..........odd........and graphic. And it's on Youtube.



I would say, I was more surprised by the actions they say a worker should take. Not so much the 'Run' or 'Hide' - as I'd run like Bruce Jenner and hide like Caitlyn's penis - but the 'Fight'. I guess a fight or flight instinct kicks in during these situations. But what is the corporation's liability to having the employees fight back against an armed shooter? Chances are, it is only ending badly for the worker.

I don't play video games and I normally stay away from violent movies, so I gotta say, I was a little surprised at this. Unfortunately, it's the new reality.

Honest to g-d, I thought of it all too during the organization's holiday party the next day. Allowing thousands of folks to get food in an atrium, all surrounded by armed guards who blocked access to non-employees.

It's the new normal.



Song by: Nickel Creek

Baking with Blobby

My friends, Phyllis, Cindi and Kristin do these major major cookie backing things during the holidays.

They do these independently, as they don't know each other and live states away. It is just their thing. I believe both women give most of their cookies away.

When they worked in physical offices, I think they brought many in for the staff - Kristin and Cindi telecommute and Phyllis is now back to working in an office. Kristin will send out care packages, Cindi does a huge cookie exchange with her friends, and well, I don't know what Phyllis does.

Phyllis has cut way back on her output since here kids are gone. Kristin still takes a few days of PTO to do bake.

I have no desire to compete with either one of these ladies. But I'm good at trying a new cookie recipe now and again. Phyllis has given me most of mine. Kristin provided this one:  Brown Sugar Toffee Cookies. With chocolate chips. I added those. They weren't in the recipe. But you know......chocolate.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Heath toffee bits
3/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Extra dark brown sugar for rolling cookies, about 1/2 cup


Combine flour, baking soda, cornstarch, salt and cinnamon in a bowl, set aside. No pic. It seems like you should know how to do this by now.

Cream the butter and sugar together for 3-4 minutes.  Then add vanilla and egg. Mix. Add chocolate and toffee by spatula. 

The dough is dense and dry. Use a scoop and roll into balls.  Hehehe....balls. 

Roll said balls (hehehe) into more brown sugar. 

Place in a pre-heated 350F oven for 10-12 minutes.

Let cool on a rack. 

They're good - not crisp yet not too chewy. I wish there were more toffee flavour. The Heath bits are smaller than I expected. And the cinnamon and dark brown sugar are really the main flavours. That's ok. I was surprised at for how little cinnamon actually exists in that flour mixture that it would be as predominant as it turned out to be.

Still, a good and yet rich cookie. Two at a time is enough. I can easily do double that if they were just chocolate chip.

a Mighty Wind

They say - well, Rebecca does, and possibly Edith Wharton - that 'things are never as good as I'd hoped or bad as I feared'. 

Possible. Or possible I might be calling bullshit on that.

I'm talking about that stupid colonoscopy. Cutting to the end result - I'm fine. Clean as can be and no need to return for a decade. That I can live with.

The prep I was so worried about......it might not have been worse than I imagined, but it certainly met my expectations.

I had the option so split the process. Half the evening before and half the next morning, or all the morning of.  Either way, on the morning of, I had to start no later than 05:00. Well fuck if I was going to ruin my evening too, so I did it all in the morning. While still the better option, it still sucked.

For some reason, the first two-thirds of the solution seemed to go quickly, but it never seem like the last third was leaving the bottle. And the more I drank, the worse it tasted. I don't know about all the flavours, but I don't think I'll be eating or drinking anything lemon-lime again.

And I haven't "chugged" so much since college days. You had to drink 8oz every 10 minutes. And you had to drink four liters.

For the first 90 minutes, I don't think I had to use the restroom once. After that - well.........let's just say our water bill will be higher next month.

The procedure itself - as I was on the table, they told me I could keep my glasses on and we'd converse through the entire thing. Lies. All lies.

Of perhaps I did, but the versed and fentanyl put me out enough that I don't remember a thing until I was in PACU. It is all a blur.

They let 710 come back - which btw, it is really nice to say on these occasions that my 'husband' is with me and no one flinches....at least externally - and they updated me on what they saw (nothing) and my post-op stuff.

I was cramping, which is normal after an abdominal procedure, with trapped gas.  And they wouldn't release me without farting passing some gas.  What?  TMI?

I've had lots of abdominal surgeries. Never before has the gas been so painful. Nor could I get rid of any of it. Honestly, I tried many things - and nothing. We are talking this went on three or four times longer than the procedure itself.

Funny story - true story:  in the PACU, there were two nurses, two other patients and three family members including 710. When I finally farted passed gas....it went on for a while.  Yes, I was in the restroom, which I just somehow was under some illusion that it was like Kal-El's Fortress of Solitude.

It was not.

In the world of SBDs, I will attest that these were not D, but were also definitely not S. Oh no - they were SO not S.

Coming out of my "fortress", I got three thumb's up signals. One from a nurse, one from 710 and one from the patient's wife in the cubicle next to mine.

I'd say - 'OH, the horror', but really, what could I do?  I just laughed and shrugged.





They let me go home, but the pain was pretty acute for the rest of the evening and partly the next day. And let me tell you, Costco and Whole Foods are no more soundproofed than an ambulatory surgery center.  Just sayin'.......

Let's just say I skipped yoga on Saturday on the off-chance things didn't go my way. You hear yoga / fart stories, I just didn't want to be the anecdote for someone else's tale.

And I won't be worrying about it much for another 9.5 years.




Song by: the Folksmen, Mitch & Mickey and the New Main Street Singers

Working Again

Yesterday I embarked on a new leg of my career.

Well.....today, I guess. Yesterday was orientation. Paperwork, I-9s, stuff like that. Today starts the job.

Yes, I have a new job. It's still in healthcare. And it is possible this might be the most you hear about it.  You know I don't blog about work all that much and certainly no specifics.

I will be leading multiple departments in creating an specialized medical institute (which have been the rage for the last decade). Not only does it span multiple departments, but locations, both ambulatory and inpatient (i.e. hospitals).

This job has been a long time coming: in need, in want and in process. Actually, for the employer, it's not been too too bad, almost 3.5 months from initial contact to start date. And that included maybe 10 interviews.

And as people will tell you, and I now firmly believe, you don't get jobs through on-line postings (the Ladders is the best one I've encountered.....Monster, possibly the worst), but through contacts and that dreaded word: "networking".

Technically for this one I was not networking. I was at the Apple store.

I didn't bother blogging about the broken phone because....who cares.....but in September I dropped my phone and shattered my screen. Curses!  (yes. More Mojo Jojo). Yes, I had insurance, which would get me a new phone if I paid $149.  Or for just paying $109, I'd get a new screen.

I did the latter. FYI.

But while in line waiting for the "geniuses", I ran into an ex co-worker. She dropped her phone as well, so we passed the time just catching up when she mentioned this job she knew was opening up and I should call the person (whom I also knew) about said job.

As I was on my way to NYC the next day, I just dropped an email whilst 710 drove. Within an hour I got a reply to contact her the second I returned. I did and I was then talking with HR two days later and in my contact's office two days after that.

Of course, things slowed down, but with enough movement to not make me completely pull my hair out (I mean......if I had any). And  during all this I had been chatting with the "other Brett" as he was going through a similar search - he kept me sane more than once.

But a little while ago I got the offer I wanted. Negotiations were quick and painless - and everyone got what they wanted:  ME!

I was hoping to start first of the year, but they needed me sooner than later. Since they really met my requests in other ways, I had a hard time denying theirs.

Timing might actually work out. With the holidays quickly approaching, I'm hoping things will be slower and give me time to ramp up a little bit without too much pressure right out of the gate.

I'd say I'd keep you abreast of the situation, but you know that's not my style when it comes to work related stuff.




Song by: the Michael Stanley Band

My Music Monday

Love him or hate him, Prince is certainly unique.

I like him, but let's be honest, he's put out more bad music than he has good - though I get that it is all relative.

Even during his heydey, some of his selections were questionable. Post Revolution, he still created some good stuff alone and with the New Power Generation. But I'm not digging his 3RDEYEGIRL iteration. And his song "Breakfast Can Wait" is just horrible.

Still, even Milhouse understood what it felt like 'when doves cry'.

And I'm using "When Doves Cry" today.  Shhhhhh.......don't tell His Purple Majesty. He Who Once Could Not Be Named doesn't allow social media to use his music. You'll find none of his videos on YouTube and except for Jay Z's shitty shitty Tidal, he doesn't do streaming either.

Mr. Nelson is a man with an ever-shrinking audience and no real marketing skills, or no desire to actually expand his base. I'm sure he has all the moolah he needs, because it doesn't look like he's earning much on his new releases.

Hell, you got a wiki link to his name because for all intents and purposes, he doesn't even have a website. I think he may be a wee bit crazy.

But I remember, prior to the movie Purple Rain being released, "When Doves Cry" was released in 1984. I remember where I was, and with whom. I think this song really ranks up there in terms of being one of those most perfectly crafted singles ever.

That's kind of saying something.

Technically, I believe the song is credited to Prince & the Revolution, but no one plays on the song other than his royal highness.


Prince & the Revolution - "When Doves Cry"

12 of 12

So I'm doing my 69th 12 of 12.

Hehehe......69. 

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, any number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad is no longer doing this, nor is successor coordinating the linking of other 12 of 12'ers anymore. Now it's just Erik (and sometimes Jim) and myself - that I know of. 

I still continue to do this, because of all my consistent post topics, I actually like this one the most.

 07:40.  Sophie got me up, as I slept in late after "the procedure". And she waited for me on her heated floor. 

As for the procedure - stories later, but end result is: good health standing. 

07:42.  I fell asleep with my hospital bracelet still on.  Time to take it off. 

10:45. Dressing. Like I said it was a late start to the morning. No yoga for me. 

12:05. Mail call.  

12:30. Lunch. DiBella's Subs. 

12:50. Pit Stop. 

Welllll......finishing the pit stop. 

13:50. The Hell that is Costco on a Saturday.

14:39.  December 12th. And 67F. In Cleveland!

Helllooooo Climate Change. Glad to make your acquaintance. 

15:15.  Tree shopping. 

We found a decent one. And drove away (almost) without remembering to pay for it. Oops. 

16:45. Doggie meet-up. 

Jake (barely), Lola, Petey, Shane and Caliegh

17:05. Needing some documents from the hidden safe.

  19:10. Dinner. Or the start of.

21:25.  Your Baker's Dinner.

Homemade chocolate chip cookies and milk. Why mess with perfection?

Shadows

Not the most inspired Petey Porn and Sophie Smut I've done. It's been an off week. The fretting of the colonoscopy and stuff. They are still cute in their every day lives.....I just didn't capture it well.

Part of our walks means, "hey, who is that behind us".....even if no one is behind us. 

It's something about the paws and chin on the pillow. I'm not quite sure he's used his actual dog bed in the last two months. 

Yellie. 

We taught Sophie to converse at a young age. And man, she is a talker. 

Petey and his shadow.

Song by: Rufus Wainwright

Clean

I've been dreading this day for years. Years, I tellz ya!

For two and a half years now, I got a reminder on my electronic health record that I am due.....then overdue....then really overdue for a colonoscopy.

It is one of those things I was fretting over that I mentioned the other day.

But today is the day. Later today, at that. Which is like adding insult to injury. S(h)it around and wait. Literally.

I knew of the ironically-named GoLYTELY™. I figured {wrongly} of me being NPO after midnight. I didn't really realize no certain meds for five days prior to the procedure. I did not know of the no fiber (including no fresh fruit or salad!) for three days prior. Or only clear liquids the day prior to. Hmmmm....green jello.....but only because they don't allow you to eat red jello!

As it turns out, I can have clear liquids the day of, just up to the point of a few hours before the appointment. They want you to keep hydrated.

For the record, I'm drafting this at 18:26 and I am STARVING. Well, I'm hungry. Kids in Somalia are starving. Only another 21 hours to go!

I've had enough surgical procedures in my life that they don't freak me out. As a friend of mine told me, "it's the best 20 minute sleep you'll ever get".

Another friend of mine {who will remain anonymous} has put his procedure off too. When I told him that normally use conscious sedation for these, he "joked" that maybe if he tells them he's a "complete top" that they'll use general anesthetic to make sure he's totally out.

I think that is called a "roofie".

We assumed a total bottom would want to feel everything.

Top or Bottom, I should be porn-star clean.

What?  TMI?

And of course, I'm counting on bad results. That is just the way things work with me and medical tests. I can't even give a complete family history on this. Allegedly, my grandfather died of colon cancer, but then someone else will say he had a bad heart. The family is notoriously tight-lipped about such things, so who the fuck knows.

"Sleep" and probing aside - I can do with out drinking the concoction that is going to make me void my bowels for the better part of the day. Put me under sedation, you can do anything you want to me. I mean, I signed the consent form.

Well, not anything. I don't want them to be douches like the staff was to that verbally demeans the patients while they're "out".  If you've got something to say to me, do it to my face. Don't charge my insurer for that pleasure.

And hopefully they'll keep the joke to being able to hear their own echo to a minimum.

Here is hoping that you will all do the same.




Song by: Depeche Mode

Standing in the Breach

I guess it was only a matter of time.

I rarely shop at Target and am not even sure what VTech might be. I do go to Homo Depot, but haven't been on Ebay in years, so I figured the risk of having my personal information compromised was less risky than it might be for others.

But two days ago I got a letter in the mail telling me otherwise.

Curses.   (yes. say like Mojo Jojo)

With one of my jobs, I had government security clearance at more than one government agency. To get such access is quite extensive - in length of time and scrutiny.

Let's just say the government know everything about my finances, education, car buying history, overdue book fees and my neighbors. Oh yes, they needed to know about neighbors and interviewed some of them about me.

I totally got it though. The risk of passing along information (not that I had any!) or someone thinking you had any, put you at risk - as a suspect or a victim.

So when government files were hacked in June (!!!) - 21 MILLION of them - for government workers or contractors (me), my ears pricked up, but after hearing nothing, I kind of assumed I was in the clear.

Until two days ago............

You can see the letter from the Office of Personnel Management. It's not a scam, though they urge folks to type in the URL and not do a search, as it might take you to a phony site. They provided me a 25 digit PIN to access free credit reports and other such things to see if anything has been compromised.

So far, so good.

And I get three more years of free access reporting. I'll just need to remember to do a weekly or monthly check, I suppose......for the next 156 weeks.

My rub is - besides the breach - the length of time from the event to the notification. Granted, 21.5 million got hacked, but I'm not sure out of how many employees / contractors. And I guess someone had to sift through all those to find the 21.5 million.  Then they had to sort our 300,000 deceased and pass that information along to their dependents.

But still.........six months? And, a former co-worker got his last week and his husband got his a week prior to that. Mind you, the husband got it because his SSN was on the co-worker's application. And here we are and 710 has yet to receive his, though I now am sure it is coming.

I should mention that this former co-worker lives a mile away, so I can't explain the delay in me getting mine. But again, 21.5 MM of these had to go out.

Bother.



Song by:  Jackson Browne

Cooking with Blobby

This isn't any every day side. It's not too labour intensive (except for the cooking time) and makes too much for two (it serves 8).

It is good though, if you're having a party You can make - though not cook - it in advance, to help with the labor intensity of it all.

It comes from Ina Garten - and it's a gratin. And I made it as the Thanksgiving potatoes, though 710 made mashed, as he didn't want to mess with tradition.

Everything came out fine, but I won't say it met my expectations. I think my expectations were just different than Ina intended.

Baking Potatoes - 4 medium
Shallots - 8-9
Cream - 2 Cups
Butter - 6 T
Sugar - a pinch
Canola Oil - 1 Cup
Sage leaves - 10
Salt and Pepper

With a mandolin, slide peeled potatoes at the 1/8" width. Soak in cold water to remove some starch and then drain and pat them dry. 

Put a layer of potatoes on bottom of a baking dish. Drizzle with cream and season with salt and pepper. 

Repeat this layering until potatoes are gone. Pour rest of cream over the potatoes evenly. 

Cover and bake for 30 minutes; remove the cover and continue baking until the cream has been absorbed, the potatoes are cooked through and the top is browned, 30 to 45 minutes longer.

Slice shallots 1/4" thick. 

Heat butter, add shallots to a medium heated pan, add sugar.  Slowly cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized, about 40 minutes; season with salt and pepper. 

Here you're also supposed to deep fry sage leaves in the canola oil for less than a minute to get them crisp. I know my family well enough that this isn't for them, so I didn't actually do this part. 

But if you did - evenly distribute the shallots and sage leaves on top of the potatoes. 

Since we made this dish at home, we waited to put shallots on until we got to my mother's house. Then we popped it back into a 350 oven for 15 minutes to warm up. 

Looked good.  Tasted good. Though honestly, I hoped the shallots would have crisped up a bit. Wishful thinking since they were caramelized, but that's where my unrealistic expectations were dashed. 

I would totally do this again, maybe with a modification. Maybe instead of frying the sage, do it with the shallots, not caramelize them. But that might just be me.

How Beautiful You Are

I guess I'm just in one of those good-guy moods today.

I know, right?  Whodathunk?

In reality, I think I'm really anxious over a few other things - holidays included. So maybe I'm looking for solace in other venues.

Or maybe, just MAYBE, deep down, I'm just a real softie.

....it could happen!

Anyways, I saw this floating around a week or so ago. A high school video project where the filmmaker approached folks she knew - and didn't - to tell them they were beautiful. And you get to see the change in their reaction.

Most of the video is positive. One is extremely awkward......and very defensive. I would say the common thread is disbelief, in that they themselves don't think they are beautiful or that someone else does. Or that someone would actually say it without an agenda.

And of course, there was an agenda: a video project; a grade. That doesn't necessarily make it less genuine.

Still it is nice. It is a good five minute distraction. And sometimes that is all you need.







Song by: the Cure

My Music Monday

Soundtrack Tracks.

That is the December theme for both Erik and myself. We were both quick to discount 'holiday songs'. You've heard them all - and who really wants to hear Adam Sandler's most updated version of his so very tired "Chanukah Song"?

Aren't his movies punishment enough?

So the theme is songs from movie soundtracks for movie soundtracks. Not a song from an existing album slapped onto a soundtrack, like say, Supertramp's "the Logical Song" which showed up on the Magnolia disk.

I'm not stupid enough to know that some songs that artists record for their own albums don't make the cut and get thrown onto a compilation like a movie disk, but that's ok......I suppose. And some of those movie songs end up on an artist's disk down the road. I can't control that....but those can make the cut too.

This week, I'm going with a song made for a movie. Annie Lennox's "Into the West" from the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. 

Peter Jackson always ends his movies with a song, be it Enya, Neil Finn or some other artist.

Lennox co-wrote "Into the West" and won an Academy Award for the performance.

The song itself starts softly and builds. The lyrics fit nicely into the text of the book - and the script of the movie itself. The music and vocal arrangements are well done and Lennox's performance is hard to beat.

Once Around the Sun

Another 365






Song by: Solace