Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

All I want for Christmas is…

maybe eggnog, too

Hess Truck 2020When I first got married to my bride of one score and one, she was often buying me “practical” gifts such as shirts, and pants, and socks. I mean, they were nice shirts and comfortable pants and snazzy socks.

But I wanted the “fun” stuff. A Hess truck! Music! Books! Movies, in whatever format we were using at the time! And I tried to buy her fun stuff, such as some time at her spa, or a massage, or candy, or jewelry.

In the nature of things, I discovered that she really likes receiving the “practical” stuff. Baking items? OK! So that’s what she’s getting. And the odd thing is that I’ve developed an appreciation for the pair of warm gloves, or scarf, or the like.

What I REALLY desire…

I’m putting my list out here, OK? All I want for Christmas, what I’d REALLY want:

Real action to slow climate change such as sustainable energy
Ending food insecurity, because there is enough food
Ending housing insecurity and discrimination

Voting rights for all eligible people, ending voter intimidation, suppression, and disenfranchisement
An end of gerrymandering

A fairer immigration policy that will actually make America great, such as a pathway to citizenship for the DACA folks
The beginning of the end of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of xenophobia
Criminal justice reform
Fair labor policies, including the institution of a living wage

A belief in science, with the understanding that the scientific method means learning new things

Is this too much to ask for? I think not. But I suspect that no guy wearing a red suit, utilizing eight or nine flying reindeer is going to put these items under my tree. We have to continue to bring these things ourselves by demanding fairness and – dare I say – love to the process as we engage with our various levels of government.

But I still want the Hess truck! Do I have to offer it up to the  Christmas creature?

Holiday links

Christmas ads in New Zealand. 

Maybe Next Year On The Mistletoe – Freezepop.

Coverville 1338: The Christmas Cover Show 2020.

The Dream Isaiah Saw by composer Glenn Rudolph, sung by the Alma (MI) College Choirs (2011). The First Presbyterian choir sang this piece in 2016, which was played for our December 20, 2020 service. We were good! I miss choral singing. Maybe next year…

A very unique take on pet peeves

quietly vent

As I usually do, I was watching CBS Sunday Morning recently. Dr. Jon Lapook pointed out some of his pet peeves. His “mostly have to do with the use of language. Something cannot be ‘very unique.’ It cannot be ‘very one of a kind.’ It is either unique or not unique.” Truth!

He posits that perhaps pet peeves are actually a good thing. “I blew off some steam about something that means absolutely nothing in the scheme of things. And I do think I’m feeling a little better.

“Pet peeves are just important enough to irritate us, but not important enough to make a difference in our lives.” Yeah, I’ll buy that. I was watching the Spectrum News and they were featuring Small Business Saturday. For the clip, they filmed a little bit of footage from a well-known small business, one I’ve supported for decades. On the screen for less than two seconds was a sign that read LADIE’S TOPS. I glommed onto this right away.

If it had read LADIES TOPS, I wouldn’t have noticed. The use of the apostrophe seems to be the largest problem in spelling, from its/it’s to breaking into a word ending in S – the JONE’S GARAGE, e.g. When I’ve noted a while back that I had essentially surrendered my Grammar Nazi cred by giving up correcting it’s/its, I was chastised.

Buttoned lip?

But the doc says: “In this age of social media, should you keep your pet peeves to yourself?” Oops, too late. “Should you silently seethe, or try to inform? My vote, as we hope to enter an era of increased civility: keep them to yourself. There are enough people weighing in on other people’s faults.”

I suppose it depends. Who am I correcting? I have blogger buddies and we point out each other’s typos all the time. But its understood, I mean it’s understood that we have no editors and that we do it to fix the finished project, not as a gotcha.

Another one of my pet peeves my buddy Chuck wrote about recently. It’s that Coincidence does not equal Fact.

Dr. LaPook thinks “Our pet peeves actually serve a purpose. While they’re irritating, they let us quietly vent about something that truly does not matter … without ruining somebody else’s day.

“So, embrace your pet peeves, but don’t let them bite anyone else. Like all pets, they can be very therapeutic.”

Am I allergic to penicillin?

Over-diagnosed and Under-addressed

penicillinMy allergist’s office sent me, and I suspect, many other patients a letter this autumn. I was genuinely excited to receive it. The notice indicated as this FAQ suggests, that “the majority of patients (greater than 90%)” who believe they have an allergy to penicillin may not be. “Most people lose their penicillin allergy over time, even patients with a history of severe reaction such as anaphylaxis.”

Why did I think I was allergic? I was 16 to 18 years old, but it was definitely before I went to college. I had a cold or maybe the flu that lingered. My doctor gave me a shot of penicillin. In fairly short order, I itched like crazy, especially on my arms. For three days, calamine lotion became my best friend. It was so PINK.

On Veterans Day 2020, I received a penicillin skin test. I got poked four times on my forearm. The fourth one itched a bit; that was a marker to make sure I had not in fact taken an antihistamine such as Zyrtec in the past 72 hours, as instructed. I passed that hurdle. Then a couple more series of tests. The whole procedure took about three hours, including talking with my allergist afterward.

There is a good reason for me to know this information. If I were to have major surgery, such as for this situation, one doesn’t want to deal with the complicating factor of this patient having a bad reaction from the antibiotic.

Go to the link above for a couple of podcasts, including Penicillin Allergies: Over-diagnosed and Under-addressed.

The peanut

Since we’re on the broad topic, my daughter is for sure allergic to peanuts. I found this article on the nose. ” Things I Wish I’d Known About Raising A Child With A Peanut Allergy. My daughter’s diagnosis made me realize just how misunderstood life-threatening allergies are.” That is for CERTAIN, especially when she was younger.

The plan is for her to be in one of those trials that will, over time, to become acclimated to small bits of peanut. Unfortunately, because of COVID, that testing, to take place over several weeks, has been postponed. I do hope she gets the chance to participate in the next year.

Ask Roger Anything, or 2020 won’t end

Bring on 2021

AskThe Boston Globe listed the 20 best shows on television this year; I have seen NONE of them. I’ve done no sourdough bread baking. How is it that I now have MORE books to read than I did last year at this time?

Earlier this month, the NYS Council of Churches had its Gala, the recording of which is here. There were various speakers and presentations. The CoC sponsored a Youth Leadership Seminar in DC, which my daughter attended. Their info is at about the hour and 25-minute mark of the video. About 10 minutes later, see a pic of a chance encounter with our US Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand.

What’s weird is that the Seminar was in February of THIS year. You know, as people get older, they are always amazed at how fast time goes by. Yet, I would have thought that trip was two years ago, at least. It’s a 2020… what’s the opposite of a miracle?

Or else

In order to purge myself of this particularly infinite year, I’ve determined that you can Ask Roger Anything. You really should. If you don’t, 2020 won’t end. Or so I’m told. If they say it, it must be true. You may ask about 2020, or 2021 if it ever arrives. I’m not a big believer in the apocalypse. But fires, floods, pestilence, strife…

As always, I’ll even answer your queries, generally within the month. You are invited to leave your questions, suggestions, recipes, predictions of end times in the comments section of this here blog, or on Facebook or Twitter. Hey, if you send it to me on Instagram, I might actually have to go there. On Twitter, my name is ersie. Always look for the duck.

If you prefer to remain anonymous, that is permitted. However, let me know if that’s your intent. E-mail me at rogerogreen (AT) gmail (DOT) com, or send me an IM on FB and note that you want to be unnamed. Otherwise, I’ll assume otherwise.

The wonderful world of snowfall

snowfallThe projections for snowfall in the Albany area on Wednesday night and Thursday, even on Tuesday, were for between nine and fifteen inches. It ended up being closer to nine PLUS fifteen inches in my city.

It started to fall at an inconvenient time for my usual snow removal strategy. Usually, I like to shovel often, after four or five inches have hit the ground. But at 10 pm when I went to bed, there was really only a dusting.

By the time I got up a little after 6, there was well over one foot. After my Bible study, I went out for about 40 minutes, fully prepared, including sunglasses to protect me from the snow glare. It took 10 minutes just to clear the porch and the steps. I got only half way down the walkway.

After breakfast, including some hot tea, I went out for round two. And it was wonderful. Seriously. I got to talk to my neighbors, who were all socially distant. We conversed about things such as the fact that my wife, a teacher, had a snow day in her district, but my daughter had to do the mindnumbing online school. A couple of the neighbors had snowplows, but one of the machines stubbornly refused to start.

Is that our vehicle? I can’t tell.

After clearing the sidewalk, it was time to start with our vehicle, parked on the street. This is more difficult to liberate because I feel restricted as to where to put the snow. I don’t want to put it in a place that will make it harder for my neighbors to dig their cars out. You’re not supposed to dump it in the road. So I end up schlepping it farther. By the time I went back inside, it’d been another two hours. The snow had finally stopped.

More tea. After lunch, I asked my wife to help with liberating the car because she’d be the one who had to drive it to work the next day. Already, it was already getting colder. We didn’t want to have to dig it out the next morning when it’d be 9 degrees Fahrenheit. And about an hour later, we had succeeded.

A couple of snowfall notes. The mail never came. Given the stories I’ve heard about the Postal Service, I want to attest that this was the FIRST time this had occurred in years. And we did get that day’s mail the following day. The newspaper arrived the next day as well.

Apparently, our daughter had gone out at 1 a.m. and had shoveled the walk. So she had removed three or four inches before I had started. Thanks, dear.

My wife appreciates the fact that I shovel the whole sidewalk, not a shovel-width of it. That’s the way I learned how to do it decades ago. And as I get older, I HATE walking through those narrow channels that  some others call “shoveling.”

My hometown of Binghamton got over 40 inches from that storm. So we were lucky!

That day, we also took some pictures and recorded an Advent video. All in all, a great day. Well, except for my back. Where’s the Tylenol?

Ramblin' with Roger
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