Sunday Stealing: SwapBot again

This Sunday Stealing was swiped from SwapBot again. 

1. Who is your best friend and why? What do you like to do together?

I have a handful. One, who I’ve known since 1958, is four hours away and we go out to eat breakfast every time they’re in town. Another, also from 1958,  lives in Texas and I see them every chance I can when they’re in the state. We were texting about the one four hours away this week. 

A third, who’s about an hour and a half away, whom I’ve only known since 1971 I was texting about genealogy when I saw the quiz. We went to Las Vegas together in September 2023 and chased a solar eclipse in April 2024.

2. What is your town like? What are your favorite places to go?

I’m sure I’ve described Albany sufficiently. That said, in the city proper, I like going to the Capital Rep theater and various restaurants; Sabor a Campo has an eclectic menu. But I probably spend most of my time away from home at the library and church. 

3. What is your favorite meal? Where and when do you eat it?

I like Italian food. Frank’s Ice Cream & Restaurant, a very unassuming place on Albany-Shaker Road in Loudonville, is quite decent. The first time we went there, it was only because D’Raymond’s, essentially across the street was booked for the next 90 minutes.   

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4. What is your job like? What do you like about it?

I’m retired, and glad about it. I liked the day-to-day work, doing research for potential entrepreneurs, and I learned new stuff almost every day. The advisors in the field were generally wonderful. But the organization at the Central office was… inadequate. 

5. What is your favorite place to go on vacation?

I don’t think I have one. The place we’ve gone most often is a timeshare in western Massachusetts.

6. What country would you like to visit one day?

Too many to list: I have relatives in Ireland and Nigeria, though I don’t know who they are yet. Italy, Cuba, and New Zealand. 

7. What bores you the most?

Meetings. The only things worse than in-person meetings are online meetings. 

8. What are you looking forward to this summer?

My wife is actually taking six weeks off this summer, unlike in 2023. So ANYWHERE we go will be fine. 

9. What is your favorite film?

I don’t know that I have one or a dozen or a hundred. That said, I’ve liked almost every old movie I’ve seen in the theater: Rear Window, Casablanca, and Cabaret, to name three. When I saw The Wizard Of Oz, I saw, during Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead, a female munchkin spinning the wrong way. I’ve watched that movie two dozen times on television but I never saw that. 

Of course, I do

10. Do you sing in the shower?

Invariably. The songs are determined by whatever the water is speaking to me.  

11. What is the best gift you’ve ever received?

I always try to answer this question differently each time. I’ll go with the 1999 Hess truck that Santa brought me. I’ve gotten them every year since then. 

12. Do you prefer being indoors or outdoors? 

Indoors. I worry about sunburn because of my vitiligo. Allergy season seems to be nine months a year for me. And carrying groceries while walking with a cane makes holding an umbrella a PITA, as I experienced this past week. 

13. When was the last time you cried, and why?

It was something sad on TV. Or it could have been a song that brought me tears of joy. I cry a lot easier than I used to. 

14. What do you keep in your bag or handbag?

When I walk out the door, I need three things, and I recite: wallet, keys, and phone. 

15. Can you play a musical instrument?

No. Well, kazoo.