life in the old lane

A sort of boring day today. But, there are worse things than being bored! I am not complaining.

Going to a friend’s 80th birthday party tonight. We are at the age where our friends start having birthday parties again. Birthday parties and funerals. Not to different really, except at the former the guest of honor is supposed to stay wake. Which is why birthday parties among the senior set are held at increasingly early hours.

Yesterday, I got exasperated by the diet. Moderation, a return to portion control and  banishment of all things sweet, buttery, or alcoholic from the diet were not getting it done. Quickly enough. So, I kicked the diet into one of deprivation, starvation portions, and  eliminated all  tasty carbohydrates. (High fiber cereal is still allowed.) As of yesterday AM the weight was solidly stuck at 130 pounds … Which is 9.3 stones. Doesn’t sound so bad.

This has to be some sort of a sick joke. See ds5513-proposed (Sorry, haven’t figured out how to to this more elegantly.) That would be the proposed New Improved Passport Application Form. I am one of the few people on the planet who could actually fill this thing out. And, this is really funny – but yesterday I was seriously considering deleting my old extremely high clearance forms. The repository of all such info.

 

There I was enjoying a fine afternoon at leisure. Day One of “Ain’t Doing Nothing in the Kitchen” Week. We had completed a nice lunch of leftover pasta salad, the aforementioned leftover tuna paddies, strawberries. Life was tranquil.

Carlton comes home from a bike ride carrying his front tire. It was flat. But, lucky thing number one, it went flat right outside the building.

So, he takes his tire down to the shop to get repaired. He has a very old bike and the guys at the nearby upscale bike works like him. Carlton takes money for the parking meter and some money for the bike shop. But, Carlton being Carlton – parked in the free Walgreens lot across the street from the bike shop. The bike shop is about one mile from our apartment. The second lucky thing. Soon, he comes steaming in the door carrying the repaired wheel. His car got towed.

We found where his car ended up – less than a half mile for the apartment. The third lucky thing. He went huffing off to rescue his car. Shortly, he returned… $115 poorer. Good thing he saved $1.50 on the parking meter. And got a lot more walking in than he normally gets.

I, however, share an apartment with him.

Yesterday, I expressed my displeasure with using drone aircraft to kill people. Today, am happy to report that the “pilots” of said aircraft do no get combat pay if their butts are safely in CONUS. They do, however, get flight pay.

Been here in the apartment one year next week. So, today, I installed the knife rack on the wall. The old apartment didn’t have anywhere to put the knife rack. So, for the first time in 6 years, my knives are not lurking in the drawer waiting to slice unwary fingers.

Carlton is a culinary philistine. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Last night he said he liked my cheap canned tuna paddies with salsa as much as my wild caught salmon with guacamole. He said he couldn’t tell the difference between tuna paddies and crab cakes. I guess, it is a good thing. Because I am planning on taking next week off from cooking. Oh, we’ll be eating at home – because Carlton doesn’t eat out – but everything is going to be nuked from the freezer. Or sandwiches. Or salad. And, it will not complain. In fact, he’ll like it.

Speaking of Carlton. The other evening, he delineated his plan to improve America.

1. First stop doing what ever it is we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan and bring the troops home. Now.
2. Then, by the end of this calendar year – come up with some sort of flat, VAT, whatever tax system that will be simpler and raise more money.
3. Revise Medicare and Social Security so wealthy old folks start getting less and paying more now. (That would include us).
4. Stop the the “all you can eat” Medicare as we know it now – for everyone. Bring on the “Death Panels” as the Republicans called them.

Actually, Carlton’s plan would cost us a bunch.  I don’t know if he is really willing to pay more. Maybe he is just sure nothing will happen until we crash and burn…

Easter: When christian celebrate a jew who got nailed to a tree by the romans by having a rabbit deliver colored chicken eggs. Go figure.

About froze my butt off walking home in the cold rain yesterday noon. And, it was cold and foggy and drizzly this morning.

But, I declared winter over already. Washed up my winter Ninja wardrobe and stored it away. Washed up the winter navy blue sheets and replaced them with the light blue summer sheets. Washed the fluffy winter robe. Got out the summer shorts and linen pants. And, if the weather doesn’t suit my clothes. Well, I’ll just stay indoors.

In my underwear drawer – there is a pile of granny panties and a pile of non-granny panties. The non-granny pile can go months without being used. I moved the granny panties to the back and moved the silky lacy things to the front of the drawer. Exactly what am I saving the lacy things for? At my age – any day now I could be shopping for Depends.

That is about it for my Spring Cleaning.

Started thinking about:

• iPad 2
• FujiFilm x100

I so don’t need either one of these… but this is not about need, is it?

About shooting at people using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. I do not approve of people playing video games in Colorado killing people on the other side of the world. I sure hope the UAV operators don’t get flight pay and/or combat pay. But, I wouldn’t be surprised. I have no problem with using drones as spy planes.

I saw my first iris while wandering home from the hospital today. Once again I’ll spend all of iris “season” trying for an iris image that pleases ME.

Whilst strolling home from the hospital this noon – what did I spy – Bus One??? The Presidential Bus??? Has our economy tanked that  much? Has Air Force One been mothballed? Is Marine One AWOL?

According the Internet – Bus One belongs to a Richmond based bus company. Check it out… But,  it did get my attention.

The Spreadsheet from Hell is all good now. However, my other hospital client now wants her spreadsheet spiffed up. Oh well, it beats doing Sudoku to ward off dementia.

Walking home from work – I didn’t stop and smell the roses. (It isn’t Rose Time.) Nor did I stop and smell the tulips. (Tulips are not worth bending over to smell.) But, I did enjoy them.

The Diet: The lying scale says I weigh more than I did when the diet started. Not acceptable.

The Spreadsheet From Hell: Spent all afternoon “revising”.

Chicken Livers and Apples for dinner tonight. You can always get really fine chicken livers around passover. Take that cholesterol.

Not much going on today. But, there is nothing wrong with that.

Mr C wanted to see what his head looked like this afternoon. I took a picture of it. Figured that would be better than having him look at it in a mirror and faint. It looks like a tiny little Chicago pizza.

We have had rain all day. The weather guy keeps telling us that tornadoes are lurking. I have my “good” camera at the ready in case one comes by. But, for now, the camera is doing a fine job of keeping the tornadoes away.

Spent the day working on my “Spreadsheet from Hell”. I think it is about as good as it is going to get.

We had some springtime today. And not a minute too soon. I was about to lapse into SADD.

Yesterday Mr C. had a little “procedure” on his head. This doctor punched a nice round hole in his scalp almost silver dollar size to excise some skin cancer. The hole was too big to sew up – he just has a nice round hole in the head. Well, Dr. Peg was changing the dressing this afternoon – and let the patient look at said nice round hole. I almost lost my patient. Had to revive him, right there in the bathroom.

Note to self: change dressing in the kitchen tomorrow – in a nice mirror free locale. I’ll treat him like a vampire.

About the sleeping air traffic controllers. I am not so sure the putting two controllers on duty will help. Remember the two Mesa Air pilots who fell asleep while flying a plane full of passengers from Honolulu to Hilo a few years back? The flight attendent had to go wake them up after they flew over the airport. (It is a 30 minute flight and was midmorning.) I am not making this up.

I used to work the night shift. It was my job. I stayed awake. What’s the big deal?

 

 

Confession at St Krispy Kreme – Forgive me father, I have Dunkin Donut-ed. The Chillax Church of St Krispy Kreme sent us the above bulk mail advertisement.

More religious news from the homestead. Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli has issued an opinion that it is OK to pack heat in the pews or choir as long as the owner has a good reason, namely “personal protection.”

I couldn’t make this shit up.

Speaking of chillaxing – that would be what I did today. No thinking about food or spreadsheets or anything for that matter. I didn’t even complain about it being cold and rainy.

Good news.

1. The spreadsheet from hell is coming along nicely. And the “customer” likes it. Now, all I have to do is make it “nurse-proof”.
2. The sun is shining and it is toasty warm.
3. The dreaded company dinner is an hour away and so far so good. Menu: Slightly baked salmon with guacamole sauce, cold sweet potatoes with cumin, nuked broccoli with tiny tomatoes and balsamic vinegar dressing. Dessert: mini vanilla cupcakes, big strawberries, chocolate truffles and coffee.

Cooking tip: Buy the biggest slab of salmon you can afford. Have the fish monger skin it. Oil your serving platter – I am assuming it is glass or china. Deposit said salmon slab on the platter. Now, rub some oil on the salmon. Put you favorite  seasonings – Cajun, teriyaki whatever… I am using mayo and topping every thing with panko crumbs. Pop the fish in a 200 degree oven for 45 minutes or “until done”. When it is done – I am going to put some  guacamole on top. This solves the problem of getting the big slab of salmon out of the baking dish onto the platter. Aside: It will not get brown.