Sunday Stealing Searches for Meaning

When I was 25….

Photo taken 6 Nov 2025 in an office park outside of Troy, NY

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

The website A Life Untold poses questions crafted to gain new insights into your mother and/or father. This week we’re using them to learn more about you.

Meaningful Questions – The Blogger Searches for Meaning

1. If you could go back to any age, which would you choose and why?

I never know how to answer this. The first answer, I suppose, is 25. I had just started working at the Schenectady Arts Council after having bounced around the previous year in Charlotte (NC), Binghamton, NYC, and New Paltz (all NY).  I actually started the job six days before my birthday, and my new coworker Nancy gave me a little SWAT truck for my birthday. Meeting her connected me with a bunch of other folks, which led me to move to Albany and work at a comic book store, FantaCo.

The other was 37. I quit working at Empire Blue Cross on March 1, with no job prospects. I ended up working the 1990 Census and then going to library school at UAlbany.

2. If you could snap your fingers and change any single aspect of your life today, what would you change?

Definitely lose weight, which would make my left knee less sore.

What Is Success -Bonnie Raitt

3. Define a “good” or “successful” life.

I don’t know. But I’ve been obsessing over an October 5 interview Jon Stewart of The Daily Show did with Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher who spoke out about the dangers of artificial intelligence

“The two discuss the future, AI-led utopia that tech companies are trying to sell us, the megalomania and riskiness that underlie the industry, and the terrifying capabilities Coxon witnessed while training AI models at Anthropic and OpenAI.”  

Will AI flow down to the middle class so no work is required and we can chill like George Jetson at work, with Rosie the Robot doing the cleaning at home?  How will the technology flow to developing countries? And what will give people meaning in life?

Ultimately, I think it will continue to be in community with others, engaging in art, music, intellectual pursuits. It is NOT “who has the most toys wins.”  

You’re Kind – Paul Simon

4. What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?

The best? No clue. But here is a recent one. A woman I do not know introduced herself online; she is not a native speaker of English. She’s a shareholder in an AI company and has become increasingly interested in the future of artificial intelligence. She was also interested in and encouraging of the book review I was working on.

I wrote: “I loved the idea of the book I reviewed but the solutions, not so much. It is easier for me to talk about what I love, but it is an interesting muscle to excercise re: what you don’t love.”

She replied: “I just read your message and actually read it twice. There’s a lot of wisdom in what you said, and I feel like it applies to so many things in both our personal lives and our work.” 

Later that day, she commented, “Today, I shared your words with my friends and discovered that everyone had a different perspective. Each of them offered their own interpretation of what the quote meant to them.”

I was just answered a question. It wasn’t particularly profound, but itf it were meaningful to her, then that’s great.   

5. What’s the most valuable thing your parents taught you?

My father taught me the love of music, while my mother shared her joy of numbers. I know 432 is divisible by 9 because the digits add up to 9. 

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

#1 Alternative Rock Hits for 1996

**** Surfers

These are the Alternative Rock Hits for 1996 that reached #1. This is the second of three Rock Charts; this one started in September 1988. The distinctions are fuzzy to me.

Swallowed – Bush, seven weeks at  #1; also #2 on the mainstream rock charts (M) for two weeks, and #27 as an album cut on the pop charts

Standing Outside A Phone Booth with Money in My Hand – Primitive Radio Gods, six weeks at #1. Also, #32 M, and #10 as an album cut on the pop charts.  I was largely unfamiliar with it. I love the sample from the 1964 B.B. King song “How Blue Can You Get

Champagne Supernova – Oasis, five weeks at #1. Also, #8 M, and #20 as an album cut on the pop charts. My working theory is that a number of folks own one Oasis album, and that it’s  (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? It is true of me.

Salvation – The Cranberries, four weeks at #1. Also #25 M and #21 as an album cut on the pop charts. Some folks thought the song was too preachy. I own the first three Cranberries albums. This song is from the third one, To the Faithful Departed.

Ironic – Alanis Morissette, three weeks at #1. Also #18 M and #4 pop.

Mother Mother – Tracy Bonham, three weeks at #1. Also #18 M and #32 as an album cut on the pop charts.

Pepper – Butthole Surfers, three weeks at #1. Also #19 M, and #26 as an album cut on the pop charts. The group has existed since 1981?  I continue to be mildly amused that, when I read aloud the word Butthole, my Microsoft Surface Laptop changes it to ****

What I Got – Sublime, three weeks at #1. Also #11 M and #29 as an album cut on the pop charts. 

The rest are #1 for one week

1979 – Smashing Pumpkins. Also #1 for two weeks M, and #12 pop.

Counting Blue Cars – Dishwalla. Also #2 M for four weeks and #15 pop. 

Who You Are– Pearl Jam. Also #5 M and #31 pop.

I’ve seen this scam before

“a bit of discretion”

I’ve seen this scam before. I got an email from a First Presbyterian pastor. But not one of MY First Presbyterian ministers, but a guy in another city.
Good Morning,
I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to ask if you’re open to communicating via email.  I have a task I’d like to entrust to you, and it requires a bit of discretion. Please let me know as soon as you’re able. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.
Many blessings in Christ,
[name and title, plus a thumbnail photo]
Out of curiosity, I reply:
Warily, I’m saying OK.
The “pastor” writes:
Thank you for your response. I’m a little busy this week, and I have been working on incentives. I aim to surprise some of our members with gift cards today. This should be Confidential until they all have the gift cards in their email, as it’s a surprise, and you will keep one for yourself too. Please, let me know via email if you can help purchase them now, so I can tell you what to get in the next email.
Many blessings in Christ,
Warm regards,
{name and title]

I looked up the church. There was a pastor by that name there, and it is his picture, but the URL included the church name.org rather than Gmail.com.

I wrote to them:
Hello. I am a member of First Pres Albany, and I received this obviously fraudulent message.
Not coincidentally, some of our parishioners received a similar message, purportedly from our pastors.

The real church replied:
Thank you!! I will be sure to report to our team.

BTW, in an e-blast, my church noted that our pastors “would never reach out that way randomly for assistance. Thanks to all who notified them of the problem.”
Previously

I got the exact same email a while ago, but I forgot who it was from. 

A few years ago, I received an email from another preacher I know. This message suggested that “he” had been traveling – which he, in fact, did often – and he was stuck out of the country after being robbed.
I contacted a mutual acquaintance, who assured me the message was bogus. While I expected as much, the verification comforted me.
The Royal Scam – Steely Dan

Patrick Stewart (1940-2026)

more than Jean-Luc Picard

David Shankbone (1974–) wikidata:Q12899557

The death of Patrick Stewart on October 28 saddened me more than I expected. It’s not just that Jean-Luc Picard was MY Star Trek captain – copping the term from blogger buddy Nik Durga – though he was. James T. Kirk was my father’s captain, even after I watched the first five movies, not to mention the cartoon series.

I started watching The Next Generation early on and followed it regularly throughout.

But it was the backstory of his casting, which I learned about early on, that intrigued. Though I had never heard of him, he was a well-regarded British stage veteran. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wasn’t enthralled by the idea of a bald guy from the UK as a starship captain.

While Stewart won him over, the actor figured he wouldn’t last. “When it first started, I didn’t think that I would survive beyond the pilot. I did not unpack; I didn’t see the point.

“‘Every single person I spoke to…  said, ‘Oh, don’t worry about six years. You’ll be lucky to make it through the first year,’ Stewart recalled in 2010. So, on the basis of that advice, I signed the six-year contract.” He ended up on the show for seven years, 1987-1994, plus movies (which I didn’t see). 

After 17 years away, he returned to a familiar world to star in [streamer]Star Trek: Picard, which debuted in January 2020; I did see a few episodes and liked them a lot.

American TV actors

He also had to learn that the American way of television was different than English theatre. “Stewart and his cast of Americans became known as one of the closest in television, but in the early years, the theater veteran had trouble accepting the jokes that accompanied a typical 14-hour day on the set.

“‘Those guys taught me that you can do good work and have a good time at the same time,’ he said in 2013. ‘Before that, I had always thought the two were unconnected completely.'”

He brought one specific linguistic item to the show. “According to Brent Spiner, Stewart largely affected the way Americans pronounce the word “data”. On ST:TNG, the name of Spiner’s character, Data, was intended to be pronounced ‘dah-tuh,’ as was commonly used in American English at the time, but Patrick Stewart used the British pronunciation ‘day-tah’ during the first table read, and that was subsequently used for the series.”

But what I really enjoyed about the man: he could be uproariously funny. “No Celebrity Has ZERO Filter Like Patrick Stewart.” I could have picked a couple dozen clips that proved that. 

Poor Patrick 😉

Here’s a self-deprecating story he’s told more than once. “Every now and again I sit in a hotel room, watching the show on television and I go, ‘Hello. I don’t remember this episode.’ I’ll be sitting there watching and forgetting that I ordered room service, and there’s a knock on the door. I let the guy in, and he comes and sees that I’m watching the show. He’s going to go back to the kitchen and say, ‘I’ve just seen the saddest thing ever. This guy is sitting there watching his old show.'”

He was worried about being typecast when he took the role of Charles Xavier in the X-Men films. However, he loved working opposite longtime friend Ian McKellen, who played the villain Magneto, and Stewart appeared as Xavier in several films, including the forthcoming Avengers: Doomsday, which I’m more likely to see.

Son of a soldier

Patrick Stewart was born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, to Alfred and Gladys Stewart. His father worked as a semi-skilled laborer and was a World War II veteran, among the last men evacuated from Dunkirk. I recently saw an episode of Who Do You Think You Are, in which he learns a lot about how the war had affected his father.

“I managed to find my own refuge in acting. The stage was a far safer place for me than anything I had to live through at home — it offered escape. I could be someone else, in another place, in another time,” he wrote in 2009. Here’s his IBDb page. 

According to IMDb: “The three things that I am most proud of doing in my life are firstly, Extras; secondly, my appearance on The Simpsons and thirdly, appearing on Sesame Street (1969). Here is Soliloquy on B.

There were SO many tributes; I’ll post only two. Ian McKellen Pays Tribute to Close Friend Patrick Stewart: ‘He Wore His Heart on His Sleeve’ (Variety).  William Shatner Says Patrick Stewart, Like Picard, ‘Stood for the Best of UsBest of Us’ (Parade). The NYT obituary. Wikipedia. Some music. 

 

Doing it twice or more

Sometimes you feel like you have to do it twice or more

ITEM: Last Tuesday evening, my wife, daughter, and I went to a Moth-type event at Cindy B’s. It is a new cafe on the former campus of the College of  St. Rose. We had a nice time.

A few days later, my wife said we should go back for breakfast on Friday morning, and I agreed. But a bit later, she said she couldn’t because she had to pick up some shoes for her mother at the podiatrist’s office. I felt a bit melancholy that we weren’t going on a date. We don’t do that that often enough.

But a little while later, she said she couldn’t figure out which of the doctor’s offices she was supposed to pick up the shoes from. Apparently, the doctor’s office couldn’t give her the info either, so she canceled that, and we rescheduled our date.

We had a nice sandwich. As we walked back home, I noticed it was kind of chilly.  A couple hours later, one of the organizers of the Moth talk, who I had known for years, said Cindy B. texted her to ask whether I had left my coat; sure enough, it was me.

Later on that day, I had to go back and get the coat.

ITEM: I had an oral surgery in mid-October, and then on Thursday the 29th, I went back to the surgeon’s office. They looked at the fixture, and it seemed fine.

When I went out to lunch with my wife on Sunday afternoon, the piece came out. I’ll have to go back there. Oy. Oh, and though it wasn’t immediate, the pain turned out to be quite exhausting. 

It’s a gas, gas, gas

ITEM: Our First Presbyterian church choir was starting our regular Thursday night rehearsal on October 29. The choir director wasn’t there because he was working on casting a musical for next semester at the University of Albany. So the organist was going to run the rehearsal, which had happened before.

When we entered the church, we heard a beeping noise, but it wasn’t loud or annoying, and one couldn’t hear it in the sanctuary. We completed our warm-ups and then were going to go to the music for Sunday. About 7:15 p.m., a couple of people from the fire department came in and said we had to evacuate the building. After a time, the building was deemed likely safe, but the FD was waiting for the power company, National Grid, to give the all-clear.

A couple of us had a nice chat in the church parking lot with a neighbor who wondered what was going on; we really didn’t know. We encouraged one of the neighbors who had been curious about the goings-on to attend the First Friday events this week and in December, the latter, the Benjamin Britten Ceremony of Carols. At this point, about 7:45, the organist decided (correctly) that we would cancel rehearsal.

Change music

On Saturday, the choir director explained that the CO2 issue on Thursday was due to an external piece of equipment being used by the folks working on the building (see Updates). We’re in the midst of some renovation. Everything was checked thoroughly on Friday and is back to normal for Sunday. The choir director swapped out the most difficult piece for a simpler one; we got a music track to listen to and a copy of the music.

But on Sunday, the cello accompanist brought their instrument. So we went back to plan A. It seemed to have worked well enough.

Songs:

Do It Again – Steely Dan

Do It Again – The Beach Boys