Tag: Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing – Just Another Meme

Do I NEED business cards?

Created with the Imgflip Meme Generator

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!

This week we’re inspired by Blogography. More than 20 years ago, he stole this meme from Neil, his blogging buddy. Alas, Neil’s blog no longer exists, so that’s where the trail goes cold.

Another Sunday, Just Another Meme

1. Do you have a business card? If yes, what’s your job title?

No, but I’m seriously thinking of getting one. I would hand it out when I’m trying to get people to give book reviews or author talks for the Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library. Maybe my titles would be library volunteer and blogger. Optimally, it would be green and have a picture of the duck. 

When I WAS working, I had at least four different business cards, for each of our office spaces: SUNY Central (the castle), 41 State Street, 22 Corporate (frickin’) Woods, and 10 N. Pearl Street. I believe the phone numbers changed each time.  I was an Information Specialist.  

2. What day of the week were you born?

Saturday’s child has far to go.

3. What vegetable do you refuse to eat?

Kale. This past week, my ophthalmologist gave me a list of veggies good for eye health; kale was at the top, but I despise it. Spinach, fortunately, was third.

4. How many times have you stayed overnight in the hospital? 

Lessee: the nosebleed when I was five; the car accident when I was 19; and the arrhythmia, which was more than 10 but less than 20 years ago. 

Not Franklin Pierce, either 

5. Do you have more piercings or tattoos?

Neither. But here’s Tattooed Love Boys, from that great first Pretenders album. 

6. Do you like to shop?

Not at all. I DID like to buy music online for a time, especially during COVID, but I’m running out of room. As I wrote here: “One time this past decade, my wife was going to buy me a winter coat for Christmas, so we went into JCPenney’s. I looked at two coats and liked the second one. I tried it on; it fit, and I said, ‘Okay, we’re done.’ She said, ‘Don’t you want to look at some others?’ ‘NO!'” 

7. How much cash is in your wallet right now?

$37, three tens, a five, and two ones.

8. Let’s play MASH: Do you live in a mansion, apartment, shack, or house?

A one-family house. Before my wife and I moved here 26 years ago, she lived in a two-family dwelling which she owned. When she moved here, her voter registration carried over the Apt. 1; this was rectified about three months ago.  

9. Where are you in the family birth order (oldest, middle child, youngest, or only child)?

I am the eldest of three; two younger sisters.

10. When you were 5 years old, what did you call your parents?  

I am not sure. Maybe Mommy and Dad. 

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Sunday Stealing Is for Adults Only

Would I Lie To You

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!

Back in 2007, Sparky Duck at Philly Transplant took a crack at this meme aimed at those of us of a certain age. Now it’s your turn.

The Grown Up Meme, for Adults Only

1. Do you have a college degree?

Yes, a Bachelor of Arts from SUNY New Paltz (1977), and a Masters of Library Science from UAlbany (1992).

2. What was the amount of your last electric bill?

I want to say $235; it’s autopay and I’m too lazy to check.

3. Do you have life insurance?

Yes, which I took out some. My wife knows where the papers are, which is good.

4. Do you check your cholesterol on (at least) an annual basis?

Yes, just before my annual physical in October. My primary care physician is retiring at the end of 2026, alas. But I’m meeting my new one, who is also my wife’s PCP, in January. 

5. Have you ever attended a high school reunion?

Yes. Mine for my 10th, 35th, 50th, and 55th. The class before mine’s 20th. My sister Leslie’s 45th and 50th; I know a lot of the “kids” from her class because they are the youngr sibs of some of my classmates. 

6. Do you have a will or estate plan?

Yes, but only in the past decade or so, which was grossly irresponsible, given the fact that we had a minor child at the time.

I want my MTV

7. Do you remember when MTV played music videos?

Not only that, it shaped my musical tastes in the 1980s and early 1990s. In graduate school, I wrote a paper about how Michael Jackson made MTV what it was, and vice versa. From here: 

“The former president of CBS Records, Walter Yetnikoff, remembered with scorn that MTV would not play “Billie Jean”  or “Beat It” because it billed itself as a rock station.

“Looking back on that era, a 1991 Los Angeles Times article quoted MTV founder and then-CEO Robert Pittman as saying the channel’s format didn’t lend itself to other musical styles, including R&B and country. And Pittman accused his critics of attempting to impose their musical pluralism on the channel’s die-hard rock fans.

“Yetnikoff said he threatened to pull videos of his other artists unless MTV played Jackson’s videos.” Those other artists included Springsteen, Billy Joel, et al. 

I was a sucker for videos like “Would I Lie to You” by Eurythmics, “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel, and a bunch of songs from the book 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s. And, of course, I Wanna Be A Lifeguard by Albany’s own Blotto; the video appeared on MTV’s very first day, August 1, 1981, but I didn’t get my MTV for another year, because my cable carrier nixed it. 

8. Is there a bottle of wine in your refrigerator?

No, but there’s a wine rack next to the refrigerator. Is there wine in it, or does it just have liquor? I’d have to go downstairs to see. 

9. Have you been divorced? 

Yes.

10. When you were 16, did you play music on vinyl, cassette, or CDs? 

Vinyl. And I still have most of them, except for the ones purloined in the Great LP Theft of 1972. 

Sunday Stealing Breaks a Promise

GOAL!

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!

Ignore the above paragraph. This week we’re going rogue with questions inspired by a website devoted to giving penpals topics for their letters.

Sunday Stealing Breaks a Promise: Getting to Know You 

1) Describe yourself in three words.
Curious, observant, musical. 
2) What’s your favorite dish at your favorite restaurant? 
Do I have a favorite dish? I like lamb, and the lamb, in various forms at Kismet on Madison Avenue in Albany, a whole block away, was quite good the last time my wife were there. 
3) Did you set goals for 2026? If yes, how are you proceeding toward them?
For one specific goal, which got nowhere near started, I’ve been recalibrating.  Rethinking the goal, I can avoid trying for the perfect and accept the “good enough.” 
Beyond that, I’ve spent a substantial amount of time on a project which wasn’t even on my list. Somehow, a line from the John Lennon song Beautiful Boy is applicable here.
Just Say No
4) What’s something you have learned the hard way?
Don’t make goals. I have to relearn it frequently. 
Oh, and I have a finite reservoir of energy for things I don’t really want to do; saying no is almost always an option. 
5) If you could skip one item on today’s to-do list, what would it be?
Any of the cleaning tasks. I’d rather read the paper, write a blog post, even watch TV. But there is a piece of information I need that’s SOMEWHERE in this room. WAIT a minute – I came up with a workaround; it involved making three phone calls, but 1) it’s better than cleaning (which might not have unearthed the note, and 2) it worked. Sometimes, the brain cogitating incessantly is a useful thing. 

Sunday Stealing Has No Theme Whatsoever

You say Stephen and I say Steven

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!

This week’s highly random questions were stolen from Love Me Some Surveys. It Has No Theme Whatsoever

Survey Asks …

1. What was the last gift you received?

Father’s Day. Miniature Hess trucks. Interestingly, I didn’t actually RECEIVE it until early September.

2. Who did you last hang out with?

Probably friend Grace, who got a new reclining chair.

3. Do you often lose the remote?

We have two, one for the Roku and one for the DVR. One or the other is often MIA. 68% of the time, it’s on or in the sofa.

4. When did you last check Facebook?

When I posted my blog this morning. I usually note who commented.

5. Are there scented candles in the room you’re in?

No. I actually hate them. They feel like they deprive me of oxygen.

6. Next time you leave the house, where will you be going?

To choir rehearsal before church.

S.T.E…

7. Do you know anyone named Steven or Stephen or Steve or Stevie?

I know a lot of them. There’s the guy from high school who I last saw in Poughkeepsie in May 1971; we’re Facebook friends. Then there’s the awesome Stephen Bissette, a great comic book artist, my friend, and a fellow March Piscean.

At least three guys I know from 1980s Albany, all of whom I’m friends with on Facebook. One is an author who spoke at Albany Public Library. Another gave me tickets to see Maria Muldaur; he couldn’t go because he had tickets to ANOTHER show. Yet another was a local newspaper guy who appeared in one or more of the FantaCo Chronicles I edited; he’s moved to the Southwest. A couple others, including a guy from my previous church, are ones I’ve lost track of.

I also know at least four women named Stephanie, three of them from my church.

8. Which do you prefer: macaroni salad or potato salad?

I want to like potato salad, but I don’t. Macaroni salad can vary, depending on how it’s seasoned.

9. Do you have an ice maker in your refrigerator door?

No, it’s in the freezer section, the lower third of the fridge. One can stop it from producing too much ice, which is a good thing.

10. When you woke up this morning, did you get up straightaway or lounge a bit?

“Lounge” would be overstating it. It’s usually running my Sunday mental to-do list, which includes, in some order: go to my office laptop and post my blog post on Facebook and on Bluesky, if I remember the latter. Post my blog post on Sunday Stealing. Visit the Sunday Stealing posts for the week. Make oatmeal for breakfast. Look at my phone, hoping there are no actionable items. Then eat, shower, dress, go to church.   

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Sunday Stealing – Say What?

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!

This week we have returned to If By Yes, a Canadian blogger who describes herself as a “left wing left hander with two left feet.” It’s a shame she doesn’t update her blog anymore. Anyway, she inspired …

WHAT? Say what?

1. What are you currently excited about?

I’m excited not to travel this month. While I like BEING places, I’m not fond of GETTING there.

Beyond that, I’m vaguely interested in the Major League Baseball playoffs. At this juncture, my rooting interests are, in order. 1. The NY Yankees (old habits die hard) 2. Chicago White Sox (the Pope’s team who were terrible in recent years) 3. San Diego Padres (the team I’ve seen most often in person; never won a World Series) 4. Milwaukee Brewers (never won a WS) 5. Tampa Bay Rays (never won a WS) 6. Cleveland Guardians 7. Atlanta Braves 8. Los Angeles Dodgers (won the last two WS)

2. What do you wish you had more time for?

Everything. Specifically a book I agreed in principle to write which has not happened.

3. What would like to do less?

Waking up in the middle of the night, thinking too much.

Cash

4. What do you spend too much money on?

At this point, not much. I bought a few books and two compact discs this year. One could make the case that I buy too much takeout food, especially when my wife is working late, but meh.

5. What childhood wish never came true?

I had so many: being a minister, being a lawyer, being President of the United States. I’m fine with that outcome.

6. What did you do to celebrate your last birthday?

Playing hearts at my house, same as last year and the year before and the year before that…

7. What drives you nuts?

Drivers and pedestrians distracted by their mobile devices.

8. What keeps you sane?

It’s always been music. At church recently, someone about 45 years younger was working on a crossword puzzle and asked, “Is there someone named Roberta Flack?” Well, YEAH. Stevie Wonder just put out a 4-song EP in honor of the 50th anniversary of his monumental album Songs In the Key of Life. One of the songs, I Can See The Sun In Late December was recorded by Roberta back in the 1970s.

This led to mentioning other Roberta songs: First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Business Goes On As Usual,  To Love Somebody, Go Up Moses, Where Is The Love (with Donny Hathaway) and my favorite, Gone Away, which really does me in.

9. What historic date is etched in your memory?

August 28, 1955, the death of Emmett Till.

10. What one thing would make your life immeasurably better? 

Teleportation.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.