Sunday Stealing Archives - Page 6 of 22

Sunday Stealing: LEP Autumn

sharpening pencils

autumn meme The Sunday Stealing for today is LEP Autumn. LEP is the League of Extraordinary PenPals.

1. Do you decorate for Autumn?

There’s a pumpkin on our porch right now. The leaves aren’t swept, so that’s sort of decorative. One of our former next-door neighbors used to have banners for many occasions – Thanksgiving, St. Patrick’s Day, etc. I thought at the time that it was rather corny, but in retrospect, I liked it.

2. How often do you clean out your closets?

I don’t have a closet. When we bought the house, there was a closet in one of the spare bedrooms, but that space was converted into our daughter’s bedroom. (She subsequently moved to the other bedroom, which was larger.) So there’s an armoire in our bedroom for my shirts, etc. I hated it at first, but now I merely dislike it. And I’ve NEVER cleaned it out except when I pull a shirt out, and I decide (or more likely, my wife decides) it’s too worn.

3. When was the last time you planned a surprise for someone?

I used to do so regularly, but I can’t recall a recent time.

4. Are there foods you really don’t like?

Anchovies. Sardines. Most canned vegetables (spinach, beets…) Cucumbers. Watermelon. Any candy that has the faux flavor of watermelon or bananas, though I do like real bananas.

Diversity?

5. What is something you recently learned?

Charles Curtis, Vice-President under Herbert Hoover, was “the first Native American and first person with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach either of the highest offices in the federal executive branch.”

6. Items you’re most likely to buy at a convenience store

Cough drops or Vitamin C drops, diet Pepsi.

7. Do you believe in the paranormal?

I don’t either believe it or not believe it. That’s a solid maybe, but I spend almost no time thinking about it.

Have you got good religion?

8. How would you describe your spirituality?

The idea of religion is quite appealing. But it’s too often ruined by its supposed believers. Some evangelicals called Jesus “liberal” and “weak, forgetting that Jesus hung out with pretty scuzzy people who heeded the call to follow Him. Others have mistaken Jesus for an ATM. No wonder Mahatma Gandhi famously noted: “I like your Christ, but not your Christianity.” As a Christian, it alternately depresses and enrages me that some of my nominal fellow followers make it difficult/impossible for others to embrace the faith.

And I won’t even get into talking about the heretics of other faiths because it’s not my area of expertise.

9. Do you make plans far in advance?

I HATE doing things at the last minute. But FAR in advance? Aside from our trip to France, which had many moving parts, I avoid planning so far in advance that I can’t envision the end goal.

10. Do you like being scared for fun?

No. Not at all. I don’t see scary movies. Haunted houses are not for me.

11. What has been difficult for you lately?

Time management. Some of that is directly related to my wife’s job as one of the two employees of an afterschool tutoring program. One of the two became sick with COVID, so I spent about 15 hours helping her with simple tasks (sharpening pencils, taking out garbage, etc.) It was fine, but the things I had previously had on my docket got crunched.

12. Have you ever written or read fanfiction?

No; and a smattering.

Barren walls

13. What type of wall art do you have in your home?

This is a bit of a sore point. We have quite a bit of art we COULD put on our walls. My wife said she wanted to wait until the walls got painted before decorating. So they were painted over a decade ago, and still, no art on the walls. Now, you might say, “Why don’t you put them up yourself?” Mostly, I lack the artistic eye to ascertain what piece should go with another and at what height. Maybe I can get my daughter to help me at Christmas.

14. Are you more likely to be private or overshare?

I’ve thought about this a lot. When you have a blog you’ve written for 18.5 years, people think they know all about the blogger. This is not true, but I rather enjoy the myth.

15. What have you recently learned to live without?

Reading a daily newspaper. It tends to collect, and then I’ll pour through a week’s or fortnight’s worth in one sitting. I can skip the stories I already know about, but there’s always something I learn.

Sunday Stealing – LEP

USDA definition of a sandwich

This week’s Sunday Stealing is again via LEP, the League of Extraordinary PenPals.

1. October reading & writing goals and plans

Reading: any one of the dozen or so books I bought THIS YEAR before the end of 2023. Writing: limiting myself to one blog post per day.

2. Something I did that totally paid off

I was putting away money for retirement. To my surprise, I stayed at my last job long enough that my wife’s health insurance is paid until she hits 65 and my daughter’s until she turns 26.

3. I want to see this make a comeback

Civility in public discourse when talking/writing about politics. Not to my surprise, I noticed that one rightwing online outlet described djt lawyer Sidney Powell agreeing to a plea deal as stabbing djt in the back.

4. Generational traits I really value

It’s a cliche, but my daughter has helped me with some technology.

5. Changes I’d like to see in my daily environment

I wish some cars would not drive at 50 MPH/80 kph down my street. There’s an elementary school, the attendant school buses, parents, and kids.

6. Favorite soup dishes

I misread this as my favorite soap dish initially. I’m a New England clam chowder guy. As a kid, it was Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup.

7. Start with the best part, or save the best for last

I’m not sure this answers the question, but I tend to go to the farthest one first when I have a series of tasks involving travel to several stores.

8. The most chaotic part of my daily life

Waking up, feeding the cats before they caterwaul, feeding my wife and me.

What I’d eat

9. If I could only eat 10 things, I’d pick

Two of them are easy: sandwiches and pie. Sandwiches have an interesting Wikipedia page. “In the 21st century, there has been considerable debate over the precise definition of sandwich, and specifically whether a hot dog or open sandwich can be categorized as such… The USDA uses the definition ‘at least 35% cooked meat and no more than 50% bread’ for closed sandwiches, and ‘at least 50% cooked meat’ for open sandwiches.

“In Britain, the British Sandwich Association defines a sandwich as ‘any form of bread with a filling, generally assembled cold,’ a definition which includes wraps and bagels but excludes dishes assembled and served hot, such as burgers.'” My definition is quite liberal and would include tacos, tortillas, et al. Now, this is a sandwich.

Similarly, a ‘pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit…, nuts, sweetened vegetables… Savoury pies may be filled with meat…, eggs and cheese, … or a mixture of meat and vegetables.'” I will make the case that pizza is also a pie.

Beyond that, grapes, apples, blueberries, spinach, tuna fish, salmon, oatmeal, and oatmeal raisin cookies.

10. What Autumn feels like where I live

Early October was ridiculously warm, c 82F/28C for a high. Now, it’s closer to 61F/16C. (BTW, I love the 104/40, 82/28, 61/16 connection; this is how I track the comparison between Fahrenheit and Celsius on the fly. The changing leaves’ color seems muted, though they were better in western Massachusetts last weekend.

11. The teacher who would be most proud of me

My 6th-grade teacher, the late Paul Peca.

12. My go-to Halloween snacks & treats

Mounds bar, York Peppermint patties

What is life?

13. 10 ways my life is great right now

A: I have a congenital heart issue, and every six months, I get scanned. It’s no worse this month than last time, so I won’t have open-heart surgery this year. B: The church choir is singing in person. We’re singing a significant piece next month. C: I went on two trips this year. It’s the first year since 1995 that I’ve traveled, requiring airlines twice. D: Seeing our daughter last weekend was great. E. I live in a place with excellent local bus access. I was on a CDTA bus when a woman told me only two local buses were in Middletown, NY.

F: I haven’t had COVID or the flu this year. In the past month, I received vaccines for both. G: I have no credit card debt, and I have in the past. H: I have made some genealogical breakthroughs, two of which I’ll mention in November. I: It’s great having a library, movie theater, and grocery store in my neighborhood. (RIP, my local CVS.) J: I get to listen to music almost all day.

14. A perfect day indoors looks like…

I’d read the newspaper, do my Wordle, write a blog post, have my friends come over to play hearts, and watch a recorded episode of JEOPARDY. Except for watching TV, I’d listen to music.

15. Pumpkin spice…

Meh. I don’t HATE it, but I don’t get the appeal.

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-bot For today’s Sunday Stealing, here’s Swapbot redux

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.