Tag: Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: another swap bot

multiverse

Apparently, today’s Sunday Stealing is yet another swap bot production.

1. Write about the best decision you ever made. How did you make it? Was it reasoning or gut instinct?

Putting money away for retirement. My employer was matching it at some percentage. It was neither reasoning nor gut instinct; it was “I might actually live to be 70, so maybe I should do that.”

2. What ONE thing would you change about your life? How would your life be different?

I could spend dozens of blog posts musing that, if I did X, my life would be different in so many different ways. Jobs, and especially relationships. Too many variables – think multiverse – so that’s a hard pass.

3. What is the hardest thing you have ever done? Why was it hard for you? What did you learn?

Burying my father was hard because there was a lot of familial strife. And because he was my father, a complicated guy. If I learned anything, it was that, at that moment, it was right to stay the course I believe he had wanted us to take.

4. What is your greatest hope for your future? What steps can you take to make it happen?

I hope for my daughter, and I worry for my daughter. I try to be an educated citizen. Naturally, I vote. I try to be kind and a good listener.

I discuss issues in my blog – though not as often as I could because, frankly, it exhausts me, it doesn’t convince many people who weren’t inclined to that POV, and it tends not to bring me joy.

Talking with myself

5. If you can time travel, what will you tell your teenage self?

Not a damn thing because he wouldn’t listen anyway.

6. Write about the most glorious moment in your life so far.

This probably isn’t it, really, but still. When I was in high school, there was a Red Cross training event in Manlius, NY, near Syracuse. At the end of the week, there was a talent show, and somehow, a couple of guys, one a blues guitarist, asked me to play with them. I stood on stage, people expecting me to sing. Instead, I played the comb. The whole thing was about 3 minutes. I got a standing ovation.

7. Write about a moment you feel brave.

There was a kid whose parents ran a falafel shop on Delaware Avenue in Albany. He wandered into traffic, and I went out and scooped him up before he could get hit by a car. It was only scary after the fact.

8.  What made you happy today?

The blog post I wrote for October 25th.

9. What do you dislike most about growing up?

We lived in a district where we walked to school. So our superintendent of schools almost NEVER called for snow days, even when the drifts were a foot taller than I was.

Using time

10. Write about ten activities you love the most and why you love them.

Singing in choir, listening to recorded music, and writing this blog – because it feeds my soul.

Reading books, reading certain online articles/websites, playing word games (Boggle, Wordle)- because it feeds my brain.

Collecting Hess trucks, watching recorded NFL football games while fast-forwarding between snaps and during commercials – because it’s fun.

I buy books that I take forever to read – because it supports local authors.

I am doing genealogy – because it gives me insight into my roots and myself.

11. Do you have an embarrassing moment that still makes you cringe? Write about it in as much detail as you feel comfortable!

It’s hardly cringeworthy at this point, but I still remember elements of it. I was in a class at school – I don’t even remember when or what class, but probably junior high. We were all supposed to give a talk about whatever. The outline was on the chalkboard in the back of the room. I broke my glasses shortly before this exercise and couldn’t READ the chalkboard in the back of the room. So, I used binoculars to read. It got a big laugh, and I was mortified.

12. What has been your best trip so far?

Maybe the 2011 family trip from Albany to Niagara Falls to Toronto to Peterborough, ON in 2011.

Moi? Unique?

 13. Write a list of 5 things (physical or personality-wise) you love about yourself, and why they make you unique.

I’m desperately curious about a lot of things.

When necessary, I can be loud enough to get the attention of a crowd.

When I was three, I fell down a flight of stairs; as a result, I have a scar around my soul patch where hair won’t grow.

I’ve given over 22 gallons of blood and continue to do so at least twice a year, even though it’s more difficult now as my injection site has developed scar tissue.

I’m told that I read well in public.

14. Discuss 5 things you wish others knew about you.

When I say I don’t care about a choice – I don’t care what kind of restaurant we go to, I mean it.

Conversely, when I get insistent, I REALLY mean it: no anchovies! (I have two specific examples, neither having anything to do with food.)

I am more introverted than most people believe; I’m just fakin’ it, as I wrote.

Here’s something that seems obvious to me: I am thinking a lot of the time about the best way to do something, what I can do to remove obstructions, how to be aware of being in someone else’s shoes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The rest of the time, there’s music in my head.

15. Is social media a blessing or a curse?

Yes. While it’s a way to keep in touch with people I used to know IRL, there’s too much noise.

Sunday Stealing: The Last…

Congress of Racial Equality

This week’s Sunday Stealing from WTIT; The Blog features The Last…

1. the last song you heard

The current song is Stop Dragging My Heart Around by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from the box set. This is the demo for the Petty/Stevie Nicks duet.

2. the last food you ate

Ritz crackers, which traveled three time zones, then three time zones back.

3. the last drink you had

Apple cider was served after yesterday’s funeral of Dwight Smith, a longtime church member and choir bass at my church. I was out of town for a few days in a warm locale and walked quite a bit. When I was in the choir singing, the back of my calves cramped up; it must be dehydration.

4. the last line in a book/newspaper or magazine you read

“We’re also making it so that it maybe not possible to to do everything in one day.” This was a direct quote from the Times Union from 10 days ago about a Pizza garden opening at Indian Ladder Farms.

5. the last movie you saw

The Good Mother, filmed in Albany, NY

6. the last TV show you watched

The previous week’s CBS Saturday Morning, specifically an Anthony Mason  interview with musician Nick Cave, who “speaks candidly about how his art helped him through grief.”

Chicha

7. the last news you read about your hometown

I’m stealing this from John Hightower‘s Facebook page. John, who’s about a decade older than I, also attended the church of my youth, Trinity AME Zion. He wrote: “Yesterday (8/14/2023), I did a post here on Facebook ’bout my activist participation in my hometown of Binghamton NY, that included bein’ Treasurer of the Binghamton Chapter of C.O.R.E. (Congress of Racial Equality) …

“Of the many wonderful men & women (all of us volunteers) who gave of their time and risked their physical safety, there was … BERTA ‘CHICHA’ BERMAN … also known as … MRS. JACK BERMAN … wife of the prominent owner of Berman Trucking Express …

Her background included the horrible experience of being, along with her two sisters, a survivor of a German Death Camp … An article published in 1946 included this photo of our CHICHA; she’s in the middle, along with her sisters … The details of their near-death experience are beyond any horror movie or TV fiction, my Friends … “

I’ve read that article. It WAS a horrifying tale. “On the bright side, she met Jack, who was in the Army, the start of a happy life going forward … She passed in 2000, he in 2001 … Both outstanding Citizens of Binghamton were involved both in their individual participation & financial contribution in the areas of promoting peace, racial equality, and overall culture.”

I knew Jack and Chicha somewhat. Jack was a brother of Charlotte Yates, who was my mother’s aunt by marriage. They were lovely people. But I didn’t know they were involved with CORE, even though my father was also in the same time frame.

End of the show

8. the last photo you took with your phone , with a little explanation

I had a FABulous time.

9. the last video you watched on YouTube

John goes…to the UNITED NATIONS?

10. the last thing you brought in the supermarket

It wasn’t one thing. It was deli turkey, cheese, rye bread, 2% milk, raisin bran, orange juice, and other things. I take it back: it was one thing. After I bought the rest of those things, I returned and purchased a bottle of Mexican soda, which cost $1.19, to get some one-dollar bills.

11. the last time you were on an airplane

Very early on Friday morning.

12. the last long drive in a car

Yesterday, from Hancock, MA to Albany, NY

13. the last telephone conversation you had

Probably with my wife

14. the last letter you wrote

What is a “letter”? I can’t even remember. E-mails, texts, Facebook messages, yes, but letters? 

15. the last concert you attended

Maria Muldaur. Despite someone’s belief to the contrary, the 81-year-old is not dead.

Sunday Stealing: Swapbot redux

Sondheim

Swap-botFor today’s Sunday Stealing, here’s Swapbot redux

  1. What did you do today?

By “today,” I will answer for yesterday since I’ve done nothing consequential today. Or maybe I have. In any case, I washed all of the dishes and vacuumed the first floor. Then my wife and I went out and had dinner with old friends.

2.  What are the must-sees in your area?

Discover Albany has a page for this very thing. The Capitol is cool, but I haven’t been there in decades. One of my favorite underappreciated treasures in my county is the Overlook Park with the waterfalls in Cohoes. The Underground Railroad Education Center is cool and will be more so in the next few years.  I’ve visited Schuyler Mansion, Thatcher Park, and the USS Slater. My wife and I are members of the Albany Institute of History and Art. I understand that the ‎New York State Museum is getting a needed facelift.

3. What is your favourite quote?

It’s probably from Here and Now: Living in the Spirit by Henri J.M. Nouwen, a Canadian theologian who died in 1996. Here’s a piece of it: “Celebrating a birthday reminds us of the goodness of life, and in this spirit we really need to celebrate people’s birthdays every day, by showing gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, and affection.” A longer version I posted on my 60th birthday and probably subsequently.

4. What was the last thing you cooked or ate?

I prepared oatmeal with blueberries, strawberries, and bananas. My regular breakfast.

Grands

5. What is something you learned from your grandparents?

Playing cards. From my paternal grandmother, canasta. From my paternal grandfather, gin rummy.

6. What makes you happy?

Friends, music, learning stuff, leisure

7. What is your best travel memory?

Unexpectedly, we flew first class from Barbados to JFK in NYC from our honeymoon in 1999.

8. What’s the weather like today?

Rain

9. Share an interesting fact that you’ve learned

Almost anything I learned as an adult after college that I feel I should have learned in school. The Red Summer of 1919 and related activities, e.g.

10. What is your favourite book, movie, or band?

I’m going to go with The Temptations. I saw a musical about them called Ain’t Too Proud in May 2023. The group is still going with one original member, Otis Williams.

Poemlike

11.  Write your favorite poem or haiku.

I’m sure I don’t have one. So, I decided to think of something by Bob Dylan or Smokey Robinson. But then I saw the book Finishing The Hat by Stephen Sondheim on my bookshelf. I leafed through the table of contents and came across Anyone Can Whistle from 1964. At my previous church, I sang the title song at a cabaret.

Anyone can whistle; that’s what they say-easy.

Anyone can whistle, any old day-easy.

It’s all so simple. Relax, let go, let fly.

So someone tell me, why can’t I?

I can dance a tango, I can read Greek-easy.

I can slay a dragon, any old week-easy.

What’s hard is simple. What’s natural comes hard.

Maybe you could show me how to let go,

Lower my guard, Learn to be free. Maybe if you whistle, Whistle for me.

Here is Patti LuPone singing it.

12. What is a local festival or tradition from your area?

There are several, but my favorite may be the Tulip Festival in May, which I’ve attended at least two dozen times. The Dutch colonized New York before the English took over.

13. What was the best thing you learned in school?

The most interesting fact I learned is that if you add up the digits of a long number and it adds up to be 9, and that number is divisible by 9, the larger number is divisible by 9. For 123,456,789, the digits add up to 45, divisible by 9. When I learned this in 4th grade, it was MASSIVE.

Sunday Stealing: Pinterest

math

I do not know why this week’s Sunday Stealing is called Pinterest, but I stole the graphic from Alice’s Pinterest.

1. What is your favorite book?

I’m a sucker for a series of music charts books by the late Joel Whitburn re: singles and albums in the pop, soul, and country genres. As for actual books with sentences, it’s usually one of the ones I read most recently, such as How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.

2. Are you afraid of the dark?

I don’t see well in the dark. For that reason, I like to get to my seat at the movies before the lights go down. Also, I fear tripping hazards that I don’t see well or at all.

3. Are you mean?

I understand that the mean in math is “the average of a data set, found by adding all numbers together and then dividing the sum of the numbers by the number of numbers.” My age is above the mean. My intelligence? Who knows.

4. Is cheating ever OK?

I was contemplating whether lying, for example, could be justified. Possibly yes, but I’m not finding the same gray area with cheating.

5. Can you keep white shoes white?

Goodness no. Grass stains, mud, et al.

6. Are you currently bored?

Never. I find bored people boring, which sounds snobbish, but there it is.

7. Would you change your name?

I considered it for a time, but the circumstances changed.

Mass transit

8. Do you like the subway?

I love the subway. And I’m pretty adept at the NYC subway, the light rail of San Diego, and other major city systems.

9. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

My sister Leslie.

10. Dumbest lie you’ve ever told?

I can’t even remember.

11. Do you sleep with your door open or closed?

Closed, in order to keep the cats out. Okay, really one particular feline.

12. Favorite month?

March, which not only signifies spring in the Northern Hemisphere but the real harbinger of spring, my birthday.

13. Dark, milk, or white chocolate?

Milk chocolate.

14. Tea or coffee?

I don’t like coffee. I realize this is a cardinal sin. And I do like several varieties of tea.

15. Night or day?

Summer nights, winter days.

Sunday Stealing: Storyworth

Watergate

The Sunday Stealing this week is by Storyworth.

 

1. Did you ever have a commercial you really liked?

I used to watch the Super Bowl ads fairly religiously. Someone put together the 25 best ones, and I remember liking 1, 2, and 7.

 

    2. How did you learn to ride a bicycle?

I have no idea. When I was 16, I rode someone else’s bicycle from Binghamton’s First Ward to the South Side. I was crossing the bridge from Riverside Drive, gaining on my friend Carol, but I couldn’t stop. So I put my foot down, tumbled, and severely scraped my left arm, a wound I had for another three and a half decades.  I had never had a bicycle with hand brakes, having always stopped by essentially trying to pedal backward.

 

    3. How did you celebrate your 21st birthday?
It was a Thursday, and I was a political science major in college. Six days earlier, a “grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted several former aides of President Richard Nixon, who became known as the “Watergate Seven”—H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John N. Mitchell, Charles Colson, Gordon C. Strachan, Robert Mardian, and Kenneth Parkinson—for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation. The grand jury secretly named Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator.”

There is no doubt that Watergate was the source of gleeful conversation since the first three in particular were contemptible sorts.

 

    4. What fascinated you as a child?

The World Almanac. I received it every year from when I was 10 to 60. The longest rivers, the most significant cities, and the sheer number of Canadians in the list of Famous Personalities, folks like Lorne Greene of Bonanza.

 

    5. What was one of your favorite playground games?

I always liked slides and still do.

 

    6. What things matter most to you in life?
Survival of the species, justice, equality.
Time travel?
    7. If you had to go back in time and start a brand new career, what would it be?

I’m not sure that I would. Maybe I would have become a librarian sooner. Conversely, my experience working at FantaCo, a small business, was extremely useful in being a small business librarian.

 

    8. What do people get wrong about you?

They think I’m an extrovert. I have written about this a lot, most recently here.

 

    9. Do you believe that people can change? Why or why not?

Most people can change because the species would not have survived this long.

 

    10. What is some of the best advice your mother ever gave you?

My mother was not great with useful advice. It tended to be a lot of platitudes. To be fair, she might have agreed with that assessment if asked.

 

    11. If you could see into the future, what would you want to find out?

Nothing.

 

    12. How has your life turned out differently than you imagined it would?

Occasionally, I was directed to make a plan in work and non-employment situations. What do you see yourself doing in five years? Except for retiring, this has never been at all useful or correct.

 

    13. What is the longest project you have ever worked on?

Quite possibly, this blog. 18 years, four months. Unless you consider owning a house a “project.”

 

    14. What have been some of your favorite restaurants through the years?

Little Caesar’s in Binghamton, NY. Lombardo’s in Albany. The former is still operating.

 

    15. What is one of the best shows you’ve ever been to?
The reunion show of The Temptations and the Stop Making Sense tour of Talking Heads.