This is a continuation of thankful, which I started last week. I’m not including the Thursday night choir rehearsals, Sunday morning church services, or events presented in some standalone posts, all of which would qualify.
DATE: Tuesday, the 11th. I was to meet Jim at an Albany restaurant, Ale and Oyster, a guy from far out of town visiting his adult daughter, who now lives in the Capital District. He opened the restaurant door and saw a black guy. He said, “Is your name Roger?” And it was! Just not the correct Roger.
We, including his daughter, ate. He and I swapped stories, some about the Beatles; he remembers the ABC-TV cartoon series better than I. His hometown didn’t have an ABC affiliate until 1970, whereas Binghamton got one in 1962, still later than the bigger cities. Hmm—I know most of the lyrics to Mister Ed, a show his daughter does not recall and I haven’t seen in decades. I was challenged to list the Presidents backwards; yes, I can do it.
Charter schools
Then onto the library. Ryane McAuliffe Straus discussed and read from her book, Divided by Choice: How Charter Schools Diminish Democracy. She based her work on a few dozen interviews involving parents and others in the Albany area. She pushed back on many of the racially tinged tropes about the Albany City School District; as well as being an academic, she’s also a mother of children who are or were students in the ACSD. Read the description on the NYU Press website.
Since she was formerly a professor of political science at Saint Rose College before it closed recently, it was not a surprise, but still that Smallbany thing, when one of the attendees knew people I knew; our church choir director had also worked at CSR.
DATE: Wednesday, the 12th: I went to see my allergist for my annual evaluation at Corporate (frickin’) Woods. While I like the new person – my previous provider warned me last year warned me two years running that she was going to retire – I don’t miss going to C(f)W.
Computer games
Then I went to Best Buy. My keyboard has been driving me crazy for several days. The J, Q, and Delete keys failed to operate. When I got to the Geek Squad counter, a man was berating the customer service rep because he had tried to make an appointment online but was unable to. I noted that I couldn’t either, but said it wasn’t the rep’s fault.
The irate customer said that he had driven two hours. He was told that he could make an appointment for three hours out, which he did.
The rep, addressing me, noticed that there was a cancellation for a slot in ten minutes and that they could try to help me. Though I said that I had owned my laptop for three or four years, he determined that it was built in 2018 – I had bought it secondhand – so they couldn’t help me. If they had sent it off, it would have cost me $85; it wouldn’t have been fixed, and I would have been out the 85 bucks.
Instead, he recommended that I buy a keyboard, which I discovered cost a whopping $12. Incidentally, the sales clerk was a friend of my daughter’s.
Since I had previously found a block to plug into my USB ports, I could utilize not only the keyboard but also my backup stick and a mouse, which I still love to use.
When I want to use voice recognition (Windows + h), all I have to do is unplug the whatchamcallit. It’s a clunky but workable solution.
Old friends
DATE: Thursday, the 13th. I had a 100-minute conversation with my oldest college friend. He may be coming up one of these days.
DATE: Friday, the 14th. I talked for 110 minutes to another old friend, a former comic book store customer with whom I’ve worked occasionally over the years. He subsequently texted me that my penny post led him to a “unique historical moment,” which pleased me greatly.
My wife and I went out to dinner at Suwan Thai on Western Avenue in honor of our lunaversary. We try to go out somewhere once a month. It keeps things fresh. But I should not order the spicy versions, I have determined.
I like going to that location. For years, I patronized the Ginger Man for decades until it closed in 2017. I used to live a block away.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I don’t think I do the Thanksgiving thing exceptionally well. I really am thankful for a lot of stuff, but it always feels like I offer the same thing as I said some recent year.