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.
Friday, July 24, 2020
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
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.
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.
Sunday, July 19, 2020
The Next Day
Okay, so now it's Monday morning, July 19, 1999. I've been home about 45 minutes or so.
I turned on my WebTV unit, logged in, and checked my e-mail. Then I went into one of the rooms
at Talk City. I had been there just a few minutes when I got a private message from another chatter.
The exchange went like this:
"Hi."
"Hi."
"ASL?"
"33/M/NY"
"33/F/PA"
"I'm in Binghamton."
"I'm in Scranton."
"My name's Kevin."
"My name is Michelle."
Yes, that's how my late wife and I met. In a chat room twenty-one years ago today.
After chatting for about fifteen minutes or so, she asked if I wanted to call her. I said I did, and she
gave me her home phone number. We talked for about a half hour more.
When we said good night to each other, she asked if I would ever call again. I said I would, at whatever time was best for her. We talked every night that week. And I decided to meet here in person, on Monday the 26th.
We got married the next day.
I turned on my WebTV unit, logged in, and checked my e-mail. Then I went into one of the rooms
at Talk City. I had been there just a few minutes when I got a private message from another chatter.
The exchange went like this:
"Hi."
"Hi."
"ASL?"
"33/M/NY"
"33/F/PA"
"I'm in Binghamton."
"I'm in Scranton."
"My name's Kevin."
"My name is Michelle."
Yes, that's how my late wife and I met. In a chat room twenty-one years ago today.
After chatting for about fifteen minutes or so, she asked if I wanted to call her. I said I did, and she
gave me her home phone number. We talked for about a half hour more.
When we said good night to each other, she asked if I would ever call again. I said I would, at whatever time was best for her. We talked every night that week. And I decided to meet here in person, on Monday the 26th.
We got married the next day.
Friday, July 17, 2020
The Day Before Everything Changed
The year is 1999. The date is Sunday, July 18th. I was working part-time at WBGH-TV, which at that time, was owned by our sister station in Elmira. I was a Master Control Operator, and I was very good at the job. We still dubbed all our local spots to video tape and I could get an entire day's worth of them done in a single shift.
At that time, B.C. Transit still had yet to add service on Sundays. My dad, may he rest in peace, always offered to pay for my cab ride to and from work that day. So I called the cab at my normal time, went into work and had an uneventful shift.
Sundays, after running the news at 11 p.m., from our sister station in Elmira, WBGH ran "The George Michael Sports Machine" from 11:30 till midnight. The show was always fun to watch, and easy to run. The half hour always went by pretty quickly.
What was not easy, was what I had to do when the show ended. I had to run our last local break, punch into our sister station's feed, and start taping "The People's Court" from a satellite feed.
And I had to get all three things done in just thirty seconds. Once it was done, so was my shift. I would sign off on the official log book, turn out the lights, and call the cab for my ride home.
I'd then walk out of our office, and lock the door behind me.
I usually had a short wait for the cab and that night was no different. I got home around 12:15 or so Monday morning. I ate a light meal, watched a little television, and fed my cat.
To be continued...
At that time, B.C. Transit still had yet to add service on Sundays. My dad, may he rest in peace, always offered to pay for my cab ride to and from work that day. So I called the cab at my normal time, went into work and had an uneventful shift.
Sundays, after running the news at 11 p.m., from our sister station in Elmira, WBGH ran "The George Michael Sports Machine" from 11:30 till midnight. The show was always fun to watch, and easy to run. The half hour always went by pretty quickly.
What was not easy, was what I had to do when the show ended. I had to run our last local break, punch into our sister station's feed, and start taping "The People's Court" from a satellite feed.
And I had to get all three things done in just thirty seconds. Once it was done, so was my shift. I would sign off on the official log book, turn out the lights, and call the cab for my ride home.
I'd then walk out of our office, and lock the door behind me.
I usually had a short wait for the cab and that night was no different. I got home around 12:15 or so Monday morning. I ate a light meal, watched a little television, and fed my cat.
To be continued...
We Are Living In A Fascist State
The article to which I am linking covers things in better detail than I am able to. The city of Portland, Oregon is under occupation by federal agents in defiance of an order issued by the Governor of Oregon.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/17/trump-condemned-authoritarian-abuse-power-secret-federal-police-snatch-protesters
I do have a much more pleasant post that I will put up later today. But right now, this is far more important.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/17/trump-condemned-authoritarian-abuse-power-secret-federal-police-snatch-protesters
I do have a much more pleasant post that I will put up later today. But right now, this is far more important.
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
This Is Just Too Much
As deaths from Covid-19 continue to increase and as 30 million Americans draw perilously close to losing their enhanced unemployment benefits (full disclosure: I'm one of them), what critical issue or issues did the President deal with today?
None, as far as anyone can tell. What the President of the United States of America did see fit to use his time for was posting a photo to his Instagram account. The photo shows him holding his thumbs up with an assortment of Goya products arrayed on his desk.
Okay, you may be asking, what's up with that?
Last Thursday, Goya CEO Robert Unanue, while attending a press conference in the Rose Garden at the White House, said “We are all truly blessed … to have a leader like President Trump who is a builder.”
Robert Unanue is a private citizen. Goya, the family owned company that he heads up, is privately owned. Mister Unanue has every right to say what he said.
And we who now boycott his company have every right to do that, as well. But as so often happens, a backlash to such actions occurs, and occurs soon after such actions begin.
First, Mister Unanue accused boycott supporters of violating his First Amendment right to free speech. This is patently absurd. When I choose to no longer buy his company's products, I am exercising my right to do business with his company's competitors. I am not issuing a court order forbidding him to make any statements regarding the situation. I am not issuing an order forbidding newspapers from running paid advertisements for the company.
But it didn't end there, of course. Yesterday, Ivanka Trump posted an image of herself holding a can of Goya black beans to her Twitter account. This may be a violation of government regulations concerning "the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise" by executive branch employees.
The President is exempt from those regulations.
But even though what Donald Trump did today is legal, that doesn't change the fact that he wasted his time doing it. This country is on the edge of collapsing economically, politically, and socially.
And this is what our leader chooses to care about.
None, as far as anyone can tell. What the President of the United States of America did see fit to use his time for was posting a photo to his Instagram account. The photo shows him holding his thumbs up with an assortment of Goya products arrayed on his desk.
Okay, you may be asking, what's up with that?
Last Thursday, Goya CEO Robert Unanue, while attending a press conference in the Rose Garden at the White House, said “We are all truly blessed … to have a leader like President Trump who is a builder.”
Robert Unanue is a private citizen. Goya, the family owned company that he heads up, is privately owned. Mister Unanue has every right to say what he said.
And we who now boycott his company have every right to do that, as well. But as so often happens, a backlash to such actions occurs, and occurs soon after such actions begin.
First, Mister Unanue accused boycott supporters of violating his First Amendment right to free speech. This is patently absurd. When I choose to no longer buy his company's products, I am exercising my right to do business with his company's competitors. I am not issuing a court order forbidding him to make any statements regarding the situation. I am not issuing an order forbidding newspapers from running paid advertisements for the company.
But it didn't end there, of course. Yesterday, Ivanka Trump posted an image of herself holding a can of Goya black beans to her Twitter account. This may be a violation of government regulations concerning "the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise" by executive branch employees.
The President is exempt from those regulations.
But even though what Donald Trump did today is legal, that doesn't change the fact that he wasted his time doing it. This country is on the edge of collapsing economically, politically, and socially.
And this is what our leader chooses to care about.
Thursday, July 9, 2020
My Week Thus Far
As we find ourselves closing in on the weekend, I'd like to just talk a bit about how my week has gone, so far.
It's been hot, much hotter than normal for our area. A heat warning was issued yesterday afternoon. I get my weather information from MSN. Their site is easy to use and the information is always accurate. At 4 in the afternoon, they listed a temperature in Binghamton of ninety-five degrees. I checked the current temperature just a few minutes ago and it's much too warm for the 1 a.m. hour at seventy-six degrees. I've had my air conditioner running around the clock for four days now.
I know better than to go anywhere in such weather so the only times I left the building all day were to take out my trash, at about 4:30, and to go one block up to the convenience store, just before 8 o'clock. I really wanted to cook a nice dinner but just couldn't bring myself to do it. I ordered two pizzas and a garden salad from the Domino's just across the river on Vestal Avenue.
I left a note with one pizza telling my fellow residents to enjoy it. I ate two slices of the other pizza along with the salad for dinner.
That covers Thursday.
Wednesday I needed several things from Wal-Mart so I went to their store in Vestal. I was appalled at the number of customers not wearing face masks. Several people also ignored the color codes for which way to enter the various aisles. I got everything I needed in just twenty minutes. I should have had more time to work with, but the #57 bus got there behind schedule. I left myself ten minutes in which to check out before the next #57 was due to arrive.
No problem, right? Wrong. The self checkout stations were only handling debit and credit card transactions. I normally use one of them to check out, but the smallest bill I had on me was a $20 bill and the bus costs just $2. I found a regular register with just three other people in line, two of whom were together.
I should have been checked out with a few minutes to spare, but the first person, whom I've been in line with before, at other stores, took much too long, as usual. The other two people were nice enough to let me get ahead of them. I thanked them when they did that. But I still missed my bus by a few minutes.
No problem, right? Wrong, again. The #47 which would have gotten me to a transfer point with the #5 inbound (which has its stop closest to me just a few hundred feet from home) was behind schedule and I missed the transfer. Long story, short, I sat in the heat for forty minutes before the next #57 came through. That's the one that, had I taken it all the way downtown, would have had me sitting another half hour or so before taking the #5 the other way.
By that time, I was miserable from the heat. I was so relieved when the driver said that if anyone needed to transfer at Binghamton University, she would radio ahead and ask those drivers to wait for us if need be. We made it there with a few minutes to spare.
Tuesday, all I did was walk to the main branch of my credit union to get some cash. The ATM was out of service, but thank goodness, the lobby was open. I walked home and stopped to get a sub for dinner.
Monday, I didn't even leave downtown. I went a short distance, to get a sub and came home.
Today is expected to be a bit cooler, with a high temperature of eighty-two or so. There's nothing I need to do, or nowhere I need to go, so I'm going to take things easy. I'll leave the building just for the two minutes or so it takes me to take out my trash.
I am so bored these days. But I'm safe, which is the important thing. Chances are, dear reader, that you've seen the most recent numbers on Covid-19 by now. I want to write more about all that, but I just don't know if I have it in me to do so.
Wishing you a pleasant and safe weekend.
It's been hot, much hotter than normal for our area. A heat warning was issued yesterday afternoon. I get my weather information from MSN. Their site is easy to use and the information is always accurate. At 4 in the afternoon, they listed a temperature in Binghamton of ninety-five degrees. I checked the current temperature just a few minutes ago and it's much too warm for the 1 a.m. hour at seventy-six degrees. I've had my air conditioner running around the clock for four days now.
I know better than to go anywhere in such weather so the only times I left the building all day were to take out my trash, at about 4:30, and to go one block up to the convenience store, just before 8 o'clock. I really wanted to cook a nice dinner but just couldn't bring myself to do it. I ordered two pizzas and a garden salad from the Domino's just across the river on Vestal Avenue.
I left a note with one pizza telling my fellow residents to enjoy it. I ate two slices of the other pizza along with the salad for dinner.
That covers Thursday.
Wednesday I needed several things from Wal-Mart so I went to their store in Vestal. I was appalled at the number of customers not wearing face masks. Several people also ignored the color codes for which way to enter the various aisles. I got everything I needed in just twenty minutes. I should have had more time to work with, but the #57 bus got there behind schedule. I left myself ten minutes in which to check out before the next #57 was due to arrive.
No problem, right? Wrong. The self checkout stations were only handling debit and credit card transactions. I normally use one of them to check out, but the smallest bill I had on me was a $20 bill and the bus costs just $2. I found a regular register with just three other people in line, two of whom were together.
I should have been checked out with a few minutes to spare, but the first person, whom I've been in line with before, at other stores, took much too long, as usual. The other two people were nice enough to let me get ahead of them. I thanked them when they did that. But I still missed my bus by a few minutes.
No problem, right? Wrong, again. The #47 which would have gotten me to a transfer point with the #5 inbound (which has its stop closest to me just a few hundred feet from home) was behind schedule and I missed the transfer. Long story, short, I sat in the heat for forty minutes before the next #57 came through. That's the one that, had I taken it all the way downtown, would have had me sitting another half hour or so before taking the #5 the other way.
By that time, I was miserable from the heat. I was so relieved when the driver said that if anyone needed to transfer at Binghamton University, she would radio ahead and ask those drivers to wait for us if need be. We made it there with a few minutes to spare.
Tuesday, all I did was walk to the main branch of my credit union to get some cash. The ATM was out of service, but thank goodness, the lobby was open. I walked home and stopped to get a sub for dinner.
Monday, I didn't even leave downtown. I went a short distance, to get a sub and came home.
Today is expected to be a bit cooler, with a high temperature of eighty-two or so. There's nothing I need to do, or nowhere I need to go, so I'm going to take things easy. I'll leave the building just for the two minutes or so it takes me to take out my trash.
I am so bored these days. But I'm safe, which is the important thing. Chances are, dear reader, that you've seen the most recent numbers on Covid-19 by now. I want to write more about all that, but I just don't know if I have it in me to do so.
Wishing you a pleasant and safe weekend.
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