I Despise "420"

 Yesterday was April 20th, which is celebrated by a lot of people as "420 Day". The distribution, purchase and use of marijuana is legal in New York state. The state treats smoking a joint in public no differently than it treats regular cigarettes. Because of that, the Binghamton YMCA also allows its residents to enter and walk about the building while under the influence.

This, people, is where I just want to sigh a very deep sigh. For several reasons.

1- The smell of marijuana makes me very nauseous.

2- My fellow residents can walk in reeking of it, and high as the proverbial kite, as well. But God forbid I should have a beer with my hamburger at lunch. To enter the building after doing so is still against regulations. If I want to drink, which I do every now and then, I have to wait until the alcohol is out of my system before I set foot inside the building.

3- It's no fun for me to have to put up with that smell when riding a bus or sitting in a restaurant (I've walked out of a few places without ordering food and have not hesitated to tell an employee why). Restaurant owners and managers can legally refuse service to anyone, as long as the reason or reasons don't involve any sort of illegal discrimination. If I owned a diner or cafe, I'd put a sign right in the door telling everyone that being under the influence of any non-medically related substance gets you banned from the premises. 

4- And that damned "420 day"...for the second year in a row, a 1/2 block of Hawley Street was blocked off for those gathered to "partake" (a word I despise, let's say "get high" because that's what it is). This is right around the corner from Isbell Street, which is the side I exit on when leaving the building. This year, just as last year, I could smell the smoke and hear the obnoxiously loud rap music from several hundred feet away. Said "music" included the repeated use of profanity.  As it did last year.

I get it, honestly, I do. A lot of people in this country waited a long time to be able to do what they've done all along but without breaking any laws. But the way they just shove it in the faces of the rest of us sticks in my craw every single day.

To quote George Costanza:

"We live in a society."

Also, for the second year in a row, several adults and teenagers decided that they just had to use spray paint to deface one side of the Broome County Office Building. This isn't street art or a mural. It's graffiti and it's ugly.

Look. If you're doing something that really sets me off, but it's legal, I have to find a way to deal with it. I just do. But when it includes behavior that is in poor taste, or actions that are, strictly speaking, against the law, then you've crossed a line I can't and won't ignore.

This year, just as I did last year, I will be calling the mayor's office to register my displeasure with all of this.

This is where you might ask, and reasonably do so, why I continued to walk through the "festival".

One, it's my city as much as it is theirs. And it's my neighborhood, while for most of those in attendance, it's not.

Two, same as last year. I really wanted a burger and fries from a small bodega on Court Street and walking where I did is the only way to get there without detouring by several blocks.

So, there you have it. I'm upset and I've said why.

Am I Back? We'll See.

 Look who's back.

I have no idea if this is going to be a one-time thing or if I'll begin posting on a regular basis again. I just know that I have things I want to say, things I want to share. 

Where were you on Thanksgiving Day 2022? Which, as a reminder, I'll tell you, was on November 24th of that year. 

I was in the hospital, having been admitted the night before. More specifically, I was in Binghamton General Hospital in Binghamton, New York. I went to the emergency room there at a little after eight o'clock at night. 

I had been feeling ill for two days, with cold chills, fatigue, and nausea. And my left foot was badly swollen. From the time I walked into the E.R. until the time someone initially examined me was about twenty minutes. From the time that doctor asked me what was wrong till the time the podiatrist on call came in to see me was five minutes. 

Which is a good thing, because the foot was so severely infected that she drew a line on it. A line that as she told me when I asked, meant we would have a problem if the infection progressed past that line. I was started on intravenous anti-biotics just a few minutes later. 

The infection never got past the line. But it did require surgery. There were two incisions made to drain the pus (sorry, folks, but that's the only word that's right for me to use). 

I was discharged from the hospital on December 5th. In all that time, I had just one nurse who was unpleasant and unprofessional. Every other staff member I dealt with was professional and polite, and some of them were friendly, as well.

Dealing with things after I got home was extremely difficult. I had to go every day to the hospital in Johnson City to get my infusion pack serviced, because I was still on anti-biotics around the clock. Every single Saturday and Sunday was a nightmare because my Medicab rides were cancelled. So, every day on those days I either took a cab or rode the bus to the hospital. There were two days I couldn't go at all. Christmas Day, when there was no bus service and December 27th, when the temperature was three degrees below zero. I simply could not go out in that weather.

Also, getting someone to come out to change the dressing on my foot was a real nightmare, as well. It took having my podiatrist make several calls to get things set up.

On January 7, 2023, I had the initial symptoms return. First the cold chills, then the nausea and then the fatigue.  By the time I had enough strength to get out of bed, it was almost 10 p.m. that night. I packed a bag and tried to call a cab. 

None of the local cab companies even had anyone answer the phone when I called, and after a half hour of trying, I gave up. I walked to the hospital in sub-zero temperatures (a bank sign I passed read -5). By the time I got there, my hands were so cold I had to wait a few minutes before I could even hold a stylus to sign the admission form on a computer.

(Just a thought here- if there's even the slightest chance you're going to be admitted to the hospital, bring your laptop or tablet or something. I didn't do it the first time, but I sure made certain to do so the second time).

I needed a second surgery, which involved the amputation of the middle toe on my left foot. Again, every person but one that I dealt with was very good to deal with. I was discharged on the 12th of January. 

My foot was pronounced fully healed on March 1st. 

Those fourteen weeks were, by far, the most difficult fourteen weeks of my life, because I had next to no help from anyone. No one to drive me to appointments. No one to do my grocery shopping for me (although a member of my mother's church did give me a ride to the store and home again one time).

I spent so much money on cabs I had to ask my mother for help with my bills in December. Which was the first time I'd done that in over four years. She came through for me, of course.

But what was worst of all? The fact that no one other than my mother and my cousin called me while I was in the hospital, both times. I did ask several people to call me, and those people made a conscious decision to ignore me.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Being alone is not easy.

Right Wing Traitors

 Today is a dark day in American history. Armed insurrectionists have stormed Capitol Hill in an attempt to violently prevent the official certification of President-Elect Biden's election. Donald Trump has incited these actions by refusing to concede and attempting to steal the election, even at this late date.

Members of Congress, all of them Republicans, tried and tried again to prevent the certification of the Electoral College vote. They have cloaked themselves in the flag, metaphorically speaking, claiming to be acting in the interests of everyone who voted for Donald Trump back in November of last year.

And now, someone has paid the ultimate price for these acts of sedition and insurrection.

 “Yes, the adult female that was shot inside of the Capitol was pronounced at an area hospital," per a statement by spokesperson Dustin Sternbeck of the Metropolitan Police Department. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If you voted for Donald Trump in 2016, in 2020, or both times, this is on you. You put him in the Oval Office. You stood beside him for whatever sick and twisted reasons you had.

This is my prediction: that Donald Trump will not go peacefully. That he will need to be forcibly removed from the White House after Joe Biden is sworn in as our next president. He may even attempt to declare martial law to remain in power.

The really sad part is that so many of you are perfectly comfortable with that. Your hatred of whatever group you can't stand (LBGTQ, people of color, or whomever else) is so deep, and so ingrained that you will gladly trade our freedom to get more of what the last four years has brought us.

May whatever god you worship have mercy on your soul for your actions.

Welcome To 2021

 I am so glad to be over the cold that I dealt with for almost two weeks. As we begin a new year, I wish you the best.

My first meal of 2021: Stouffers Macaroni And Cheese

My first beverage of 2021: Mexican Coca-Cola in a glass bottle

First record listened to: "Living In America" by James Brown

And that's how my first 35 minutes have gone.

I'm Sick

 I've been dealing with a bad cold all week and haven't done much of anything, on-line or in real life. I've slept a lot, and drank a lot of water. Between being sick, and the fact that we here in Binghamton got hit by a record snowstorm, taking things easy has been the best thing I can do for myself.

Well, That Didn't Take Long

 The nine justices of the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the lawsuit that the Texas State Attorney General filed. 

The reaction to this has been swift, and quite honestly, not entirely expected by yours truly. I thought that conservatives, having failed at their last, desperate effort, might finally give in.

I was so very wrong about that. 

Yesterday, Texas Republican Chairman Allen West released the following statement:

“The Supreme Court, in tossing the Texas lawsuit that was joined by seventeen states and 106 US congressman, has decreed that a state can take unconstitutional actions and violate its own election law. Resulting in damaging effects on other states that abide by the law, while the guilty state suffers no consequences. This decision establishes a precedent that says states can violate the US constitution and not be held accountable. This decision will have far-reaching ramifications for the future of our constitutional republic. Perhaps law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution.”

And there, dear reader, you have it. The first, but not, I fear, the last call for secession by Republican controlled states. 

I Told You He Was A Dictator

 It has been thirty-seven days since Joe Biden was elected as the next President of the United States of America. I was watching MSNBC when the NBC election desk called the election for Biden. I was in a hotel room, enjoying a well deserved micro-vacation. I said these words out loud, "Please let it be real".

Though I was very tired, I stayed up to watch the speeches that Biden and Kamala Harris gave that night. I was on cloud nine, as the expression goes, at seeing how many people came out to attend in person and how jubilant they were. 

I was jubilant that night, but I'm not anymore.

Because, over the last thirty-seven days, Donald Trump has refused to concede defeat. He has, rather, pulled every single dirty political stunt and trick that he and his minions can think of. As they have suffered defeat after defeat in the courts (what is it now, forty of them?), they have grown increasingly desperate.

They have cast their proverbial net ever wider, embracing nutcases and fringe lunatics who, in a saner and more decent society, would be limited in their scope of influence to perhaps a few thousand people. Their rantings and ravings would be restricted, for the most part, to newsletters and mailing lists.

And now, in what can only be called an attempted coup, the Republicans have gone nuclear on us.

The Texas State Attorney General, Ken Paxton, has filed a lawsuit seeking to have the United States Supreme Court overturn the election results in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.

This effort, if successful, would allow the state legislatures in those four states to appoint a slate of electors for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. 

Seventeen state Attorneys General have filed an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit. They are from these states:

Missouri

Arkansas

South Dakota

Florida 

Indiana

Kansas

Louisiana

Mississippi

Montana

Nebraska

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Carolina 

Utah

West Virginia

Tennessee

Alabama

Also, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has filed formally a separate brief  "respecting" the Texas suit.

So, there you have it, dear reader. Government officials in eighteen states that have gone on the record as supporting an attempted coup here in our country.

I'd love to be able to say that I feel 100% confident that this lawsuit will fail. But, with Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett all seated on the Supreme Court bench, anything is possible.

We are dangerously close to being totally f***ed. 

Here's Where Things Stand

 I'm back.

I have gone back and forth more times than I care to think about as regards the future of this blog. My readership is nowhere near what it once was, but those of you still with me deserve to at least know what's going on.

I've been going through a rough patch in life (but then again, who hasn't?) and the end is nowhere in sight. If you're even half way decently informed, then you probably know just as well as I do how bad the Covid-19 situation has become here in the United States of America.

If you haven't suffered at all, then all I can say is "wow". Because everyone I know has suffered. My mother, who loves to socialize at her local senior center, hasn't gone there in a long time. My brother, who is at high risk, as am I and as is our mother, are on edge. 

I go out only when I absolutely have to. Most days, I either don't go anywhere at all, or I go just one block up to the convenience store. I've walked two blocks to the heart of downtown Binghamton once in the last fourteen days, and I've gone to Wal-Mart for groceries just three times in the last six weeks.

I've been through this kind of isolation more than once before in my life, so I'm better equipped to handle it than most of us are. But that doesn't make it easy, it just makes it tolerable.

This is the first post of at least two posts I'll be putting up today. The next one is in draft status, and I'll be finishing it in a little while.

I'm On A Break

 Hello. I am dealing with a lot right now, and this blog just can't be much of a priority at this time.

Wishing you health and happiness.

I Am So About To Blow A Gasket

 Dear reader, greetings.

I haven't posted anything recently because I've been, as the expression goes, in a "bad place". I have a new neighbor across the hallway from me who is a complete so-and-so. I need to talk to the head of Residential Housing about him.

Among other things, there was Monday, when he woke me up three times in one hour by slamming his door loudly. And then, there is the fact that he has been using his cell phone to either record, live stream, or do both of all activity in the hallway. 

And this building is getting to me. I've spent almost six and a half years between my two stays. I am so tired of being crammed into this little s**thole of a room. Tonight, I came up from the kitchen with a freshly prepared meal of pulled pork, green beans and salt potatoes. The green beans and the salt potatoes I cooked myself. When I was putting everything on my television tray, I lost my balance when I turned to reach for something.

I knocked the tray over. One serving of potatoes went all over the floor I had cleaned less than an hour earlier. Butter went all over my blue jeans. I cleaned the mess up, mopped the floor, and quickly threw together a small load of laundry that included the jeans.

Down to the laundry room, I went. Where one of the washing machines is malfunctioning for what must now be the fifth or sixth time. Of course, this was the machine I put my clothes in. I lost one dollar and had to move everything to another machine (the first one isn't spinning the clothes properly, so everything was soaking wet).

Coming back up to the fourth floor, I then went down to the kitchen to reheat the green beans and the second serving of potatoes. Of course, Mister Moron across the hallway had his cell phone on the floor, watching everything.

There are so many things wrong in this building that upper management just flat out doesn't care about. It really is getting to me. Of course, here in my area, a lot of what used to be clean and affordable housing has been converted to student housing, complete with jacked up rents that working people just can't afford. 

The last time I looked on Craigslist, I saw six, count them, six buildings that used to be affordable. One of them I actually lived in, several years ago. The rent then was $300 a month for a decent sized apartment. The current owner is now asking $750 a month and rents to students.

The good news, if there is any, is that four months from now, I will turn 55 years old and several buildings that are for seniors only will become viable options. These are all owned by local municipalities and various non-profit agencies. 

I just have to hang in there a little longer.

Tell Me This Isn't A Dictator

When Donald Trump was elected President of the United States of America, I and a lot of other people predicted that he would become a dictator. If you can honestly disagree with me when I say that has happened, so be it.

Setting aside everything he's done already, these are three things that he has done just in the last five days.

He has had his campaign sue the Governor of Montana to stop counties in that state to allow voting by mail.

He has openly encouraged voters in North Carolina to illegally vote twice (by mail and then again, in person) to prove or disprove that the mail in procedures function properly.

He has ordered that "Stars And Stripes",  a military newspaper that has published continuously for almost 159 years, be shut down completely by September 15th.

For the record, that's two attacks on free and fair elections along with one attack on a free press.

This Has So Not Been A Good Week

It's been a bad week for me thus far. I was sick with something from Monday afternoon until early this morning. I had an upset stomach with chills and a mild fever so I spent a lot of time in bed sleeping. At one point I spent nineteen straight hours in bed.

This morning I started to feel normal, for which I'm grateful.

Of course, things have gotten even worse on a national basis. The unjustified shooting of Jacob Blake in front of his three sons, a shooting that may leave him paralyzed for life, set off a fresh wave of protests.

At which point, a white seventeen year old male named Kyle Rittenhouse drove across a state line, and wound up shooting three protesters. Two were shot fatally and the third survived. Rittenhouse then attempted to surrender to the Kenosha police officers that were present.

While rushing to investigate, those officers allowed Rittenhouse to leave the scene. He drove twenty miles back to his home. He was arrested by local police the next day on charges of first degree manslaughter.

Rittenhouse, of course, is a Donald Trump supporter, one who attended a Trump rally in January of this year. And to no one's surprise, his actions are being defended and praised by right wing figures such as Ann Coulter and Tucker Carlson.

In response to all this, the Milwaukee Bucks chose to not play their playoff game last night. The other scheduled games were postponed as well. The remainder of the NBA season may be cancelled outright, with no champion crowned or declared. The Milwaukee Brewers baseball team also chose to not play their scheduled game, in protest of the Blake shooting.

The athletes in question may come in for a lot of criticism but I support them 100%. To act as things are perfectly fine, perfectly normal, when they are not, is foolish at best and dangerous at worst.

To take a public stand in defense of ones beliefs is admirable and courageous.

This year has been anything but fine, or normal. It's one thing after another. COVID-19, and economic collapse, and the rapid dismantling of the United States Postal Service, and brutal attacks on innocent civilians and brutal attacks on peaceful protesters, and my god will it ever stop?

If we somehow reelect Donald Trump, it's going to be game over for America. We can not hope to survive four more years of what he's done to us.

Convenience Stores

Let's talk about convenience stores. Once upon a time, just about every gas station sold gas,k and not much more. Most of them would have a soda machine and a small display case for candy and nothing else. These days, most gas stations sell a limited but decent line of groceries. Many offer food of some kind.

The convenience store closest to me is just one block away. It's open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. and it never closes for any holiday. I spend, on average, anywhere from $100 to $150 a week there.

But that may be about to change. A few months ago, someone new started working there. This guy is very rude to customers. He berates us if he thinks we're taking too long to remove items from our basket and place them on the counter. He often talks to me like I'm stupid or something. He yells at customers who dare call him on it when he gives incorrect change or charges the wrong price for an item.

God forbid you should ask him to make a sandwich for you. He gets a real attitude if he has to make one. I feel like saying, "You know, it is part of the job.".

Here's what he did tonight that made me so upset that I walked out without buying anything.
He took a winning scratch off ticket that I had bought last night and checked it, then put it in the register drawer. He first complained that I hadn't completely scratched off the UPC code on the ticket.

Doing so took him probably all of five seconds. Then, he said, "You won five dollars, yes?".

To which I replied, "No, it was ten dollars."

Now, here's the thing. When I worked for a convenience store (actually, it was this one but long ago, under different ownership) it was standard procedure to pay out on tickets before putting the ticket in the drawer. That way, no one could claim to be short changed on their payout.

Now this guy, he just had to mess with me. Not once, not twice, but three times, he insisted it was five dollars.

For the record, it really was ten dollars.

Then, after I raised my voice and said "Sir, it was ten dollars.", he sneers at me, hands me a ten dollar bill  out of the register drawer and has the nerve to say "Why are you crying, little baby?".

That's when I put the bill in my wallet, put my wallet in my left pants pocket and walked out of the store. I am going to go back early tomorrow and tell whoever is working there that I have had it with this guy. I will also politely point out how much business I give them and that I have, in almost three and a half years, never complained about anything.

Then I'm going to say that just one more incident with this employee will cause me to never, ever buy so much as a pack of gum there, again.

Because, as the expression goes, they're not the only game in town.

Okay, Maybe I Am A Little Bit Weird

Am I a little bit weird?

I know, it's not exactly the kind of question that's easily answered. But I'm definitely something. Offbeat? Quirky?

Here's one example of the kinds of things I do. Several years ago, my late wife would watch a live telecast of the Grand Ole Opry on the now long defunct Nashville Network. Most weeks, I'd watch it with her.

But one Saturday night, when she asked me to come out into the living room to watch it, I said I didn't need to. I was, I explained, listening to it on the radio.

Now, that got Michelle's attention, for sure. She asked me how I could possibly be doing that?

Which is when I had to give a short explanation of how AM radio signals can bounce around at night time, like crazy. Listening to radio stations, in hopes of picking up signals from far away, is called "DX-ing".

It's something I discovered purely by accident one night. I began doing it every time I had the chance to do so. I kept very detailed logs of what stations I listened to, where they were located, what time I heard them, and how long I was able to listen to them.

I really wish I still had those logs. But all that is decades in the past.

Anyhow, once I explained how I was doing it, Michelle asked why I was doing it. To which I replied, "Because it's authentic."

I don't for one minute think she understood. But to me, sitting at the kitchen table with a radio, listening to the broadcast on radio, as countless listeners had been doing for decades, just seemed authentic to me. Watching it on television just wasn't the same.

Michelle accepted what I had said and was fine with it.

This Week In Review

I'd like to review the week we're close to ending, and what a week it's been.

The Senate continues to fail us, as Senators took a three day weekend this week. Nearly three months after the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, the act still has yet to come to a vote in the Senate.

Accounts of increasing delays in mail delivery are becoming more common. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy just fired or reassigned twenty-three senior executives last night. DeJoy and his wife, it appears, have substantial financial interests in businesses that compete with the Postal Service. Also, the Postal Service has announced that mail-in ballots must have first class postage of 55 cents, as opposed to the former rate, which is the bulk  mailing rate of twenty cents. This, of course, will make it more difficult for state governments to send such ballots to voters.

It's worth noting that all this has taken place in just one month, as DeJoy took over in early July. He's wasting no time in destroying the Postal Service, is he?

Of course, Covid-19 cases and deaths continue to mount daily.

On a personal note, my week so far has been good, for the most part. Monday I ran a few quick errands that took about 45 minutes. Tuesday, I went nowhere at all as it rained heavily all day with thunder and lightning. Wednesday, I went to Wal-Mart and got some very nice clothes on clearance.

Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday, with bad weather and my going nowhere. Yesterday and today, I just went one block up to the gas station and convenience store to get a few things.

Wishing you the best, dear reader.

Rest In Peace, America

This is the saddest thing I've ever had to write. As I've been doing the research all week, I have come to one single, inescapable conclusion.

The United States of America is no longer a functioning nation. It is now a failed state. Covid-19 cases continue to rise with 150,000 deaths in just five months, a number that may very well double by the end of the year.

Second quarter Gross Domestic Product contracted by 32.9%, which makes the months of April, May, and June the worst three months on record, ever. Thirty million Americans, of which I am one, are collecting unemployment benefits. Our extra $600 a week will cease to be paid unless Congress takes action by the end of the day tomorrow.

Some estimates peg the number of Americans facing possible eviction in August at 40%.

Republicans in the Senate continue to argue among themselves and have yet to take any action after taking every possible chance to delay doing so.

A U.S. passport is barely worth the paper it's printed on, as several nations across the planet continue to bar Americans from entering their countries.

Yesterday, President Trump tweeted the following.

"I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low-income housing built in your neighborhood," he said in the first tweet.

He then continued with "Your housing prices will go up based on the market, and crime will go down. I have rescinded the Obama-Biden AFFH Rule. Enjoy!"

That's loaded with so much racism, I don't know where to begin detailing it all. But let me try to do so.

Poverty affects all of us, but the simple and painful truth is that poverty is highest among people of color. That low income housing lowers property values is unproven. That people who live in such housing commit more crime than others is proven to be false. But it sure is easy to blame them for everything, isn't it?

And then, just a few hours ago, came this tweet.

"With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"

Let me take that one and break it down. First off, it's an attempt to de-legitimize the coming election. Then, as you can see, it proposes delaying the election. And finally, it tries to legitimize doing so by invoking three different issues.  Properly voting,  I think we can agree, means allowing every citizen to register, to vote, and to have that vote counted. Securely voting means not having elections tampered with in any way. Safely voting means not having to risk your life standing in line for up to twelve hours because the number of polling stations have been decreased.

All three of those are things that Republican governors, lawmakers and election officials have been viciously attacking for decades.

America is now a nation where the government can not or will not provide for basic standards of safety and well being. And if things keep going the way they are, there won't be an America by the end of this decade, I predict. The nation will splinter into smaller pieces, each struggling to survive in the darkest of times.

Please Vote For Joe Biden

It's time for another politically related post. Covid-19 deaths continue to mount at the rate of over 1,000 a day. The HEROES act continues to sit languishing in the Senate. Enhanced unemployment benefits have expired. Millions of people face eviction through no fault of their own. 

I am asking you, dear reader, to vote for Joe Biden and for Democratic congressional candidates.

I am asking you to stand up against fascism in this country. What has been named "Operation Diligent Valor" is immoral. It is unconstitutional in the extreme. Unarmed non-violent protesters
are being arrested. They are being tear gassed. They are being violently attacked. They are being ridiculed by the President of the United States of America.

This is not the America for which my father served honorably. He and countless other men and women have stood vigilant to defend our freedom. 

Have we no sense of decency anymore?

I have to believe we do, tattered though it may be.

July 27, 1999

Today would be our twenty-first wedding anniversary if my late wife Michelle were still alive.

We met in person for the first time on the 26th of July. I'll be honest in telling you that we spent the night together. We woke up early that morning of the 27th and were discussing what we might do that day when Michelle said "Let's get married".

I said "Okay" and she then said she was just kidding. I said that I wasn't. We sat and talked things over for several minutes, and then agreed to do it. She called City Hall in Scranton to see what we had to do. We got all the details and called a local magistrate to arrange things. Then we waited until it was time to go.

We then went to City Hall, filled out all the necessary forms, and paid the fees. I actually did get down on one knee, right there in front of several other people. I  had no ring to use other than my high school class ring, so Michelle put that on a chain to wear around her neck.

We went to the magistrate court, and the magistrate performed the ceremony. His wife served as our witness and played "Here Comes The Bride" on a radio that had a cassette deck. We were pronounced man and wife at 1:58 Eastern Daylight Time. The magistrate shook my hand and his wife hugged Michelle, then they both wished us good luck.

We stopped at a McDonald's for lunch. Michelle barely touched her food while I ate all of mine. From there back to our hotel room was a short drive.

Later that afternoon, Michelle called her mother and informed her of what we'd done. I then called my father and told him the same news. We then each called several other people, including her best friend, her sisters, and my brother.

It was decided that everyone would gather for a family meal. That, to be honest, was a bit overwhelming for me. Everyone from her family was nice to me, but still, I was glad when it was over.

That was all twenty-one years ago, now.

Your Week In Review

Well, here we are. It's Friday, and what a week it's been.

The Senate is in recess for the weekend, despite having taken no action on the HEROES act. All sorts of different numbers are being tossed around by the Republicans. We're hearing $100 a week extra in unemployment benefits, or maybe $400 a week, or maybe the full $600, or maybe nothing at all.

Covid-19 cases and deaths continue to rise, primarily in places that reopened too soon.

Much of the country has been dealing with severe heat. It was so bad out yesterday in Binghamton that I went nowhere. I left the building just for the few minutes it took me to take out my trash. I timed that just right, because ten minutes later a bad thunderstorm passed through.

Today, thankfully, it's a bit cooler so I was able to take a short walk.

Which is good because I had a very bad migraine overnight and had to get some kind of medicine. It was so bad that it made me slightly dizzy and nauseous. I took two Advil Migraine gel caps and I'm waiting now for them to kick in.

I've had some good food this week. My order from Domino's was good. I made myself a nice breakfast yesterday consisting of toast, a three egg omelette, and corned beef hash.

Wishing you a safe and happy weekend, dear reader.

Good Food Delivered

Today I took a nap, after doing the things that needed to be done.

While sleeping, I had a dream that I was eating chicken wings. For me to dream about food is a common occurrence. But it's usually about food I eat on a regular basis.

I honestly can't remember the last time I ate chicken wings. I did, however, read an article a few days ago about Domino's having recently changed the recipe on their wings. So when I woke up from the dream, I turned my computer on and went to their website.

The store closest to me is just a few minutes away. I order food from it once a week, on average. Their delivery drivers are always courteous. All deliveries are contact free, these days.
I usually use the two items for $5.99 each online coupon, and did so tonight. I added a 20 ounce soda to my order, so with tax, delivery fee and tip, my total came to just under $25.

From the time I placed my order until the time the driver arrived with my wings and pizza was twenty-three minutes. The estimate was twenty-three to twenty-eight minutes, so that was all good.

The driver was properly wearing a face mask, and kept the delivery process contact free.

The wings were delicious. I wanted to see what they taste like with no sauces on them, so I ordered them plain, with one side of honey barbecue sauce. The one side of sauce comes free with the wings and was just enough for the eight pieces in my order. They're baked, and not at all greasy. Whatever is used to marinate them gave them a really nice flavor that enhanced but didn't overpower the chicken.

The pizza was my usual order. No garlic in the crust, topped with sausage and mushrooms. It was baked to perfection and I had one slice of it. The rest will be tomorrow's breakfast and lunch.

I am a professional chef. A lot of my fellow chefs hold chain restaurants in disregard. But personally, I feel that some chains do offer good food at good prices. The food I got tonight was reasonably priced and of good quality.

As always, dear reader, wishing you the best in these times of uncertainty.