I'm pretty happy to report that this week was, well, boring!  On both the home and work fronts.  For the first time in a very long while, I didn't have any appointments outside of work, there weren't any crises to deal with at the office and for the most part, folks were in a good mood.  

On a whim last weekend, while I was out on a walk window shopping the stores in my neighborhood, I called my old gym to see if they were open.  Turns out they are, at a limited capacity (along with masks, etc.), so I even managed to go to the gym three times this week (my pandemic weight gain is way out of hand).  As most of my friends know, I can't work both arms, but I've been able to do everything else.  I'm not going to lie, I hate everything about the gym and I don't enjoy a single second of being there.  I count down the minutes until I can leave.  I look for reasons not to go, even after I have my workout clothes and sneakers on and I'm walking up to the stupid place I think of ways to get out of going.  I won't even lie and say that I stopped going because of the pandemic.  I stopped going regularly WAY before Covid-19 showed up!  I think the guy I spoke to on the phone last Saturday probably thought I was lying when, after I asked what time they opened the next day, I said I would be there the next morning when they opened at 5am because he was really surprised when I showed-up at 4:55am... on a Sunday. HAHAHAH!  For about 15 minutes I had the entire place to myself, too bad the lights were set to motion detectors, so it was mostly dark.  I stayed for about 75 minutes and when I left, I think there were 8 people in different areas.  It used to be really crowded there starting at 6am, so I was kind of surprised.  Maybe most members are like me and didn't know they were back open?  I dunno!  What I do know id I can barely walk!  Since I can't use the arm machines, I've been focusing on legs, glutes and abs and it SUCKS.  I know it will get better.  I just hope the thunder thighs, man calves and flabby abs get a little bit smaller.  Fingers-crossed!

Spending so much time at home, I've kind of gotten into replacing things in my kitchen that are cheap or no longer doing what I need them to do with things that might be more expensive, but should last a long time and do a better job.  Don't get me wrong, I'm going out wildly spending money, I'm being really choosy and waiting for sales and stuff.  

It's amazing how dumb stuff can make you happy.  I found a 15-piece set of J.A. Henckels knives on DEEP sale.  These knives are so bad ass!  The blades are crazy sharp and the block they are stored in is pretty neat too.  I don't think there is anything I can't slice, dice or chop.  My old set of knives was okay, but it was 23 years-old and was really not one of those types of sets that you expect to last this long.  I've taken good care of it, but it had gotten to the point where even sharpening the blades wasn't making much difference.

I also found a Le Creuset 11-inch enameled cast iron skillet (the kind that's off-white on the inside) in clearance sale too.  I should be able to get rid of a lot of my pans and free up some space in the kitchen.  Surprisingly, it looks pretty nice next to the shiny black Staub cocotte my friend gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago (I love that thing!!!).  Being that they are different brands, I didn't think they would look good together!  Not that it's important, but it makes me happy.  I'm excited to use my new kitchen toys!  

Just a side note: enameled cast iron weighs A LOT more than regular pans, LOL! 

I just now watched the final episode of Season One of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier.  I don't want to give anything away, but I have to say, this series is the best thing I've seen on TV in a very, very long time (even though I guessed who the Power Broker was the second I saw them on screen).  Is it bad to admit I cried more than a few times during a few episodes?  I can't wait to watch it over again.

A new Thrilling Adventure Hour is tomorrow.  The Work Juice Players' shows and reunions have been bright spots for me over the last year and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to catch the gigs.  They were early adopters of the Zoom performances for charity thing and have done a lot of good things.  My friends and I haven't missed a single show.  If you read this beforehand, try and get a ticket.  The money always goes to a good cause.

Not sure what I'm doing the rest of the afternoon and evening, but I'm sure it will be low key and involve me not doing my chores.

I might check-in later, not sure.

I was going to proofread this post, but I don't feel like it.  Enjoy all the typos and stream of consciousness grammatical errors everyone.  I promise I'm not this stupid, but I am this lazy!

Have a good weekend!  

 Well, I'm relieved to report I had a VERY good day this past Friday (which was also a day off work).  YAY!!!

I had a follow-up doctors' appointment and found that not only don't I have to have two procedures my doctor scared the shit out of me with, but, in three weeks, the issue has almost totally reversed itself and I don't need to go back until my next appointment in a year.  You have no idea how relieved I am.  It was weird!  I saw it on the screen, clear as day with my own two eyes.  One month,- scary, next month - almost gone.  I'm so thankful to be healthy!  I mean, I'm still broken down and old, but biologically, I am super-healthy!

Speaking of being broken down and old, because of my advanced age, I'm fully vaccinated!  In two weeks, I'll be official.  I'm so thankful to have received the "one and done" Janssen shot.  I know a lot of folks think it's not as effective as the other two, but as it was trialed later in the onset of the pandemic, it was tested against the more contagious SA Variant, where the others weren't.  It's also a different type of vaccine.  I should have 85% protection against serious illness and 100% protection against death.  I'm good with both of those!  It's been a couple of days and no side effects yet.  I'm a little tired, but that's pretty normal for me.

Science is awesome!!!!

Happy Birthday CBLMW. I know the next year will be filled with love, joy, good fortune and happiness. You deserve the very best life has to offer. You have always been a force for change and helping those who need it, I hope you realize people see this and appreciate all you do. Enjoy your special day! Sending you good wishes.....

Well, I have to say-- all things considered, this was as good a day as I've had for the past year.  

Didn't get much sleep last night (as usual), but woke up easily.  Made early Sunday breakfast at 5am and got started with the Sunday chores.  You know, strip the bed and put fresh linens on it, clean the kitchen, fridge, freezer and  put stuff down I might need, clean the cat box, take out the trash.  Normal things.  The weather was so great today, blue skies, slight breezes and about 73F, so I threw as many windows open as I could to air the place out. I love doing that!

I wanted to make scones, but forgot to get dried fruit (craisins, golden raisins, cherries, etc.), so I walked to Target to pick up a few things.  It was so nice out!

One of my plans for the day was to make beans, so I'd put some on to soak overnight, I got started on them as soon at I made it back home,  Bacon, onion, spices in the pot first.... my house smelled so good!  Rinse the beans a zillion times before adding them to the pot with a bunch of water.  Turn the heat way down and cover.  Add more spices along the way with diced jalapenos and chilis and viola!  Delicious!  I put a pork roast in a couple hours ago, so I'll have them with that and some vegetables.  Tomorrow it will be a bean and cheese burrito for dinner.

So my house smells like scones, pork roast, beans and vegetables.  Heaven!

I did my Sunday afternoon routine of setting out clothes for work tomorrow, getting lunch together, soaking in the tub, washing my hair and all that stuff early today and my goodness, when I looked up and out the window, the gently moving palm trees looked like they had the glittery filter people use, you know the one that sparkles?  It was amazing!  Now, I don't really drink wine any more as is gives me headaches, but I made an exception, took some preventative pills and got a glass of Chardonnay.  I love Sundays like this!

I just checked and the roast is about 10 degrees from being able to come out of the oven and rest and I'm just about ready to relax into Sunday evening.

I hope you all enjoyed your day as much as I did mine.  It might seem like a boring day to most folks.....but for me, accomplishing normal, drudge type chores in beautiful weather felt exceptional today and I am grateful.  This year has been so challenging, I treasure times like this.

I hope this bodes well for the week ahead..........

(not checking for typos this time, it is what it is!)

This is going to be a post about this and that.  Nothing exciting.

So, as you know, I accepted the challenge by my friend to watch all the Marvel movies on Disney+.  I've watched all of them at least twice and most three times.  My first pass through was over a long weekend where, I think, I got three hours of sleep, lol!

The movies are much better than I expected!  The only titles I didn't watch three times were Ant Man (great movie, but I just couldn't with the scenes of ants swarming over things....I'm almost phobic about ants. Oddly, I was okay with Ant Man and the Wasp!), Doctor Strange (again, great movie, but I just didn't feel the need to see it again), Black Panther (I really LOVED this movie, but it broke my heart to watch it), Iron Man 2 (I just didn't care for this one) and Thor: Dark World (I love Chris Eccleston, but Natalie Portman didn't seem like she was interested in being in the movie, so she was really distracting and it took away from the movie).

The titles I've watched the most?  Thor: Ragnarok, Captain America, Iron Man (the only one I'd seen before the challenge and I think I have on DVD somewhere), The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

I was surprised at the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies.  First time I watched them I didn't really care much.  They were "meh".  Second time, I really liked them!  I think one of my favorite sounds in the world is the sound of Drax laughing.  It's such a big, hearty laugh.  I wish I knew someone who laughed like that!

Another surprise hit for me was Captain Marvel.  I first watched it late in the list (it was in phase 4), and it seemed out of place.  Watching it after Captain America, it made more sense.  Probably best that I didn't have any expectations going in to it.  I knew next to nothing about the character and really only watched it so it would advance the storyline of the overall story arc.  Such a good movie!

My final takeaway - Nick Fury is a complex and very interesting badass and I should have seen more Halloween costumes of him over the past how many years since these movies have been released.

On other topics, with the new strains of the virus, the insurrection, the subsequent shameful actions of the GOP and all the legends we have lost this year, so far 2021 has been really crummy.  People I know still believe the election was stolen, so I have to hear comments about that, which sucks.  One of my co-workers transferred to a different office this week and the main guy on his team is a nightmare and, until the replacement starts and learns our systems, everyone else has fill the void.  That guy makes mistakes and blames everyone else, so I'm not thrilled to have to deal with that. I miss my work friend and have to deal with his shitty team member.  BAH!

Trying to look to the future though and I'm sure it's going to get better.  POTUS Biden has been doing great things (in just one week!), the vaccine has begun rolling out and we don't have to hear about Trumps tweets every two minutes.  Such a relief!  I don't feel as tense as I have been for the past four years.

I took my handsome Gotham to the vet for his annual check-up for his hypertension and renal issues and, thankfully, the vet said everything is great.  Bloodwork and physical exam were better than I expected (his weight is good too, 13lbs!).  He said "whatever you're doing, keep it up!".  That means lucky Gotham gets to be spoiled for another year.  He's turning 15 this summer, so I'm prone to getting anxious about his health.  

Reading a really good book by T.J. English called "The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob". Very interesting look at Irish organized crime in NYC (specifically Hell's Kitchen) from the late 1960's through to the 1980's.  I'd read about and watched documentaries that mention them in relation to Italian groups (the DeMeo crew of the Gambino's in Canarsie), but I'd never read anything from the point of view of the Westies.  The main individuals are still alive too.  Micky Featherstone and Billy Beattie are in Witness Protection and the rest are or until recently have been in prison (Jimmy Coonan).  I was surprised to learn there weren't hundreds of people in the gang, but really only a few dozen!  So if you are interested in New York Organized Crime Non-Fiction, give it a read.  

I also just finished "The President Street Boys: Growing Up Mafia" by Frank DiMatteo.  This book focuses on the Gallo faction of the Colombo Family (formerly the Profaci Family).  If you can get past the grammar, language  and formatting issues, it's a good read as well.  Normally, you only hear about the Gallo's as a footnote to "Crazy Joe" Gallo's life and you really only hear about Joe Gallo as a footnote to the murder of Joe Colombo.  You never read stories about the crew itself.  I've always been interested in learning about Larry Gallo (Joe's older brother) and Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo (Joe's younger brother).  This book was written by the son of a close associate, who himself was also involved with the family.  If you're looking to read about the lion they kept, Carmine Persico or Joe Colombo, there are better books (two written by the same author).  They are small entries here.  There should be more books about these folks.  That being said, I haven't been able to bring myself to read "The Mad Ones" by Tom Folsom.  I saw a show he was on and just couldn't bring myself to buy or read it (yet), but hey, I might change my mind in the future.  Frank DiMatteo actually lived this stuff,  Plus, he has one of the best book titles ever (I just had to buy it) "Brooklyn Gangsters: 70 Square Miles of Blood and Balls". HAHAHA, that title is so great!

I don't read about organized crime and true crime exclusively, even though I know it looks that way!  To be honest, apart from "A Promised Land" (Obama), there haven't been many new books I've wanted to read.  Besides, watching 20 Marvel movies multiple times takes up a lot of time and limits what I could be spending reading. :-) 

Well, I guess I should do some chores.  The kitchen isn't going to clean itself.... 

 I'm not sure if I mentioned this in  my last post (I probably should have read it before posting this one, sorry!), but a close friend of mine has to test twice a week for Covid, so I figured it was safe to invite her over for Christmas.  It's also her birthday, so we celebrated that too.

Before she came out, I called my folks Christmas morning.  It's not the same as being there with them, but we talked about when I would be able to go up there.  Unfortunately, my dad believes a lot of what is on conservative television/websites and he has decided he doesn't want the vaccine, even though he's in the group that should have it.  I can only hope that enough people where they live get it and they reach herd immunity and he can be safe.  Maybe it was for the best that I decided against going to stay for Christmas?  Sometime after the inauguration is probably a better plan, pandemic or no pandemic!  I'm looking forward to it.  I haven't seen them in such a long time.  

Later in the day I made a roast with roasted potatoes ('cause, come on, you have to make roasted potatoes when you make a roast!) and a flourless chocolate cake for her birthday dessert and she brought amazing sides.  Mushrooms in a cream sauce with tomatoes and spinach, Mac and Cheese with peppers, Mashed Cheesy Buttery Cauliflower, and Roasted Broccoli.  Add that to the hummus and pita chips with chips / salsa, PLUS we had mimosas! ...... conservatively, I think I probably gained 10lbs from Christmas alone.  In my defense though, I didn't have breakfast or lunch and we ate all of that over the course of about 8 hours. Yikes! For the first time in a few years, I guess I'm going to be like the rest of the bloated, overfed Western World and back on an eating program January 2nd.  Nothing crazy though!  

We watched Wonder Woman 1984.  It was okay.  I think I probably would have liked it better on the big screen.  You don't notice as many things when you aren't looking at everything at once.  Does that make sense?  The acting was great, but to be honest, I expected a bigger part for Cheetah. Plus I figured she was going to be scary or at least kinda vicious.  I think I also thought it would be more 80's.  Or at least more accurate 80's.  They made the criminals at the start of the movie kind of dumb.  I don't think folks were  that stupid back then, at least not from what I remember. It also needed to either have more stuff explained or edited out entirely.  Maybe they'll come up with a better edit when they do the DVD?  A director's cut or something?  It wasn't a waste of time or anything..... just kind of "meh".

Later, after Wonder Woman, we scrolled through Disney Plus and watched some fun stuff (Forky Asks a Question).  I saw they had a bunch of superhero movies.  If you can believe it, I haven't seen any of the Marvel movies, apart from the first Iron Man, so after I finish up watching all of the episodes of The Office (it leaves Netflix on 12/31), my friend is having me watch ALL of the Marvel movies.  Jeez, there are 20 of them!  I re-watched Iron Man already, so 19 to go.  Yikes.  Disney Plus has a playlist that helps with what order to watch them in.  So far, everyone I've talked to about it has told me that Captain America: Winter Soldier and Thor: Rangorok (sp?) are the best two out of all 20.  I asked her if I needed to watch Iron Man 2 and she said no, except that it's the movie that introduces Black Widow, so I may want to watch it for that. I tried watching it once before and kinda never finished. Ah well, I guess now's as good as any to watch them, it's not like there's much else to do.  I certainly don't want to do chores or take down my tree just yet.

Work tomorrow.  BAH!  Lot's of last minute year-end stuff.  I've got three client meetings/calls scheduled all fairly close together, which I usually avoid, but they gave me no choice.  I hope they don't run long.  I also have a wild card client I was supposed to talk to this afternoon at 3pm (when I'm usually logging-off for the day), but they didn't answer their phone at 3pm or 3:30pm, so I left a message for them to call me at the office in the morning.  Fingers-crossed everyone calls me as planned and we can get their stuff taken care of.  I don't want to push anything back closer to the 31st, it's too stressful.   

Well, I think I want to stop looking at a computer.....

Be safe out there folks!

Well, Thanksgiving went well.  Quiet around the house, which was nice.  I'm used to not doing anything on that day since I always work the next day and this year was no different.  I got the usual invitations to go to small gatherings at friends' houses, but I stayed home.  I thought is was weird that folks were still inviting me over during this pandemic, but it was nice.

This morning I had to call my parents and break the news that I wont be able to visit for Christmas.  They took it better than I thought they would.  I know it's the right thing to do, but I'm still sad.  This is the first Christmas in my life I won't be spending with them, and who knows how many they have left?  I hope they have a lot of Christmases ahead of them, but what if they don't?  If I could make the drive up there, I would still have gone.  My bubble is small and (knock wood) I don't have the virus and no one in my bubble has had it either.  My original plan was to start working from home mid-December, get tested, then isolate for a few days, rent an SUV at LAX and make the drive, return the car to the airport closest to my parents' house and then rent an SUV to drive home, work from home, get tested and then go back to "normal".  My dad was adamant that he didn't want me driving through the mountains in the snow and ice, so that plan was rejected.  

We decided I would (if allowed) go and celebrate the holiday in late January/early February, once the lockdown is lifted and the vaccine has been administered to older people, as well as the front line workers.  Being that they are both in their 70's and both have some health issues, I'm hoping my parents will get theirs sooner rather than later (both doses).  The population size where they live is nowhere near what it is here in Los Angeles, so I hope that works in their favor as far as availability goes.  I'm guessing that my demographic won't be in line to get anything until July or August at the earliest.

When I was breaking the news to them, my dad (a proud  GOP supporter), who never really talks to me about politics, other than a few jibes here and there that I ignore, went on about how **IF** Joe Biden wins the election, we are going to lose all our rights and how this is all the democrats fault and how much he hates Governor Newsome (and my mom hates their governor).  I'm thinking "They just told me that it's probably safer to put it off and now it's about politics?  and BTW, what do you mean **IF**?  Biden DID win the election, over a month ago!"  I didn't say anything, but I wanted to, LOL.

I guess a doctor they know told them or one of their friends that it's not as bad as the news says and not to believe what they see, then in the next sentence they told me how two hospitals are out of beds.  What?!??  I told them about a client of ours who is in their mid-80's with cancer was discharged from a local hospital, but then started having issues 2 hours later, so they called 911, the ambulance took him back to the hospital he was just discharged from and they couldn't take him because they were out of beds.  He had to go two cities over to a different hospital!  

I was told a couple of days ago that the asshole who lives downstairs that has been having all the barbecues and parties with no face masks or social distancing throughout the pandemic contracted Covid.  I told the guy who told me that it may make me terrible person, but I don't feel bad for him one tiny bit.  He hasn't taken this seriously and he put people at risk, including himself.  I guess he's okay now and I doubt he learned his lesson, 'cause like I said, he's an asshole.

I'll keep wearing my mask and being safe.  Hopefully, that will be good enough.  

I'm sad.