ORDER # 114-2210858-4389843 Audien ATOM PRO 2 Wireless Rechargeable OTC Hearing Aid, Premium Comfort Design and Nearly Invisible ORDER PLACED May 24, 2024 TOTAL $289.00
ORDER # 114-1515381-1536207 ASURION 2 Year Personal Care Protection Plan ORDER PLACED May 24, 2024 TOTAL $28.88
audienhearing.com/surprise Need to provide Amazon Order # shown above to get $50 kit. Did not recognize order number today. Will give a day or so to see if the number gets entered into their database.
Mode 3 works well for listening to the TV. I wore the hearing aids out when I went shopping at the grocery stores & WalMart, but I couldn’t find a mode that helped me hear better. I tried Mode 1 which is supposed to be for conversations, Mode 2 which is supposed to help in restaurants, and Mode 4 which is for outdoors. Mode 4 seems to almost filter out everything.
Every once in a while, I start reviewing some old music videos on YouTube, and one of them is ELO (the Electric Light Orchestra) with Jeff Lynn. The video is of the band playing “Showdown” from 1973. The band is standing on the south side of the Thames, and their background is the Thames and St. Paul’s Cathedral across the river. This is a long time before the Millienum Bridge was built.
Below, approximately where the band would have been located in the above video (before Millineum Bridge).
Above, looking back at the Tate Museum from on the Millenium Bridge.
There is a “Meltdown Festival” celebrated at Southbank Centre, and apparently this is the 29th year of the celebration, and the singer, performer Chaka Kahn is “curating” this year’s festival (whatever that means). So, seeing Chaka Kahn reminds me that I saw her at a Louisville Redbirds (minor league baseball team for Louisville, KY) back in 1983. Apparently the Redbirds had just come to Louisville the previous year, and in 1983 they set an attendance record of over a million visitors. I’m not sure if Chaka Kahn sang the National Anthem at this game, or if it was another game, but I was there, with some friends (fellow students from Southern Seminary, where I was attending). We went in one gate at the stadium, but heard that the millionth customer had come in a different gate and they had received some attention & gifts for being the millionth customer at the game that year. *I just read that that league went out of business, and the Redbirds ended up at a different town, and representing a different ML team now. Louisville now has a minor league team called “The Bats” and they are now affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds. **I recall sitting in the stadium, and blowing a little, plastic, red “bird” promotional whistle.
I was walking down the isles of the IGA grocery store in Benson, NC several years ago, and “Showdown” began to play on the store audio. I love the beat and energy of this song… couldn’t have told you who did the song, at the time, or even who Jeff Lynn was, but since, went online, watched/listened to several of the groups videos, and now can at least remember Jeff Lynn. This was the same IGA, and might have been the same day that I ended up buying some Honeycrisp apples there, for the first time. These apples had a distinctive, and delicious flavor. I was on my way through town (Benson) and am not sure where I was heading, but made a point to come back through Benson on my way back to Fayetteville so that I could stop at the IGA and buy some more Honeycrisp apples.
So I went into the IGA and picked out four large Honeycrisp apples and took them up to the register. The clerk rang up the 4 apples. That’s all I was buying, and she said, “That will be $10.25.” The price for the four apples caught me by surprise. I realized, and I think I said, “That’s more than $2.50 per apple.” A quarter more than $2.50 each, but they were good, and “this time,” I went ahead and bought the four apples. This was a few years before paying that much for a grocery item would become the norm.
These apples were extremely large, and most apples that are offered today (at the groceries I regularly shop at) are much smaller. I fell out of love with the Honeycrisp because they continued to be “over priced” and the distinctive flavor wasn’t the same, or as pleasant as the first ones that I tried.
Well, “Small World, Long Time.” My thoughts, as expressed elsewhere, are that with all the stuff we do, or can do, in a lifetime, most of it is relatively meaningless. And, the American political climate has changed so drastically, from what I grew up with as a child and into much of my adult life. The Republican Party had the “high moral ground,” for many issues. But that has changed drastically. With the backing of Donald Trump, the Republican Party became similar to an alien race that comes to Earth, takes over, and says, “The Sun rises in the West. Oranges are blue,” and any number of items that are so “wrong” as to not be supportable, by me, in any form. It is as if labelling a person or belief as being “Republican” automatically makes it right and completely defensible, and even supportable… when they/it are NOT. I’ve still got friends that think Donald Trump is “the greatest thing since sliced bread.” And, it boggles my mind how they can still see him that way. I think Trump is a major threat to America and the American Way. *How can anyone justify in any way the attack by low-life pieces of shit Republicans on the US Capitol on January 6th? On that day, Trump is on camera telling people to go down to the Capitol in support of him. And when things get so out of hand and become so violent at the Capitol, Trump does nothing to step in to bring things in line, as they should be, and doesn’t even send someone down to protect His VP, Pence. It is obvious from his actions that day that he actually thought Pence should take action, and overturn the Election results, in Trump’s favor. What a piece of shit! The American Electoral System may not be perfect, but it has worked for hundreds of years,… before Donald Trump. And then he says, he was cheated out of the election… which is repeatedly never proven. But still he has supporters who would still, even enthusiastically vote him into the Whitehouse again. I DON’T GET IT! I only have one vote, and unless I go nuts, I would rather vote for an aged, or even dead, Joe Biden instead of a live Donald Trump. And that is even with the sorry assed way Joe Biden has handled (mishandled) the Southern Border crisis. I don’t understand that by Biden, and if the Republican Party offered any viable candidate for President, I would easily vote Republican instead of the decrepit Joe Biden. Biden shouldn’t be running for another term as US President. He is TOO OLD, and I AM OLD.
I came along after “sliced bread” so sliced bread was the norm for me. It was always white bread, perhaps Merita, Sunbeam or Wonder Bread. The cheese was usually sharp from Kraft or yellow American cheese for sandwiches. Dukes mayonnaise, Frenches yellow mustard, Heinz or Hunts ketchup and sometimes Miracle Whip dressing. Not sure, but it was probably Mount Olive Pickle Relish that would go into our potato salad. There were no Vidalia (sweet) onions.
Today was Homecoming at Red Branch Baptist Church, near Carthage, NC. Jeff Mitchell has been pastor there for several years. Formerly, he pastored a church down near Lumberton, North Carolina. I saw a sign hanging at the front of the church that said “102” so I am presuming that this was their 102nd Homecoming.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit today. Ray Sharpe, my cousin, had been invited by Jeff to provide the music during church. Ray and his daughter, Elle, performed several songs and the congregation appreciated their music and gave applause after several ditties.
At one point I turned, looking back from my pew, and saw Ann “Gibson Hines” Graham coming toward me, with her husband, Billy Graham (a slightly less famous one) who I had not met before today. We hugged and they sat just behind me. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with both Ann and her husband. Ann was a Gibson, not related to me, and had married E. J. Hines and had a long marriage with him, I guess mostly down in the Holly Ridge, Jacksonville, NC, Onslow County region of eastern NC.
But, I’m not focusing on the people in this article, but on the food. The fried chicken smelled wonderful as I stood in line. *It wasn’t as good as “the best fried chicken I’ve ever had,” which I had a the Seaboard Station Restaurant in Hamlet, NC, but it was good flavored fried chicken. The “best” fried chicken I had was just a couple of years ago, and when you consider that I had it at about age 68, you’ve got to either figure I’ve gone nuts “in my old age,” or it must have been pretty good fried chicken. And, the truth, which is subjective, is that their fried chicken was flavorful, and tender, and moist, and having gone quite a few times to this restaurant, they consistently fix some really good fried chicken. They also fix some good, thin cut, pork chops.
Seaboard StationThis is a picture of the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted, in my life.
The carrot cake shown above is from Sara Lee, but she makes a good carrot cake. The thin cut pork chop also had good flavor. The steamed cabbage has a sweetness to it. I don’t think they put any seasoning meat, or bacon grease in these.
The other one is a broccoli salad, with mayo, and probably bacon and maybe dried cranberries. But I sat down with my plate of food and my diet drink and at some point put a spoonful of this broccoli casserole in my mouth and what a wonderful surprise. I think what was most surprising was the texture of the casserole. It seemed like it might have been whipped because, and I don’t think I’ve ever described any other casserole as “fluffy.” Sort of a savory type of Heavenly Hash, which is a sweet dessert dish, but this was a savory casserole. *I even went back for the last remaining helping of the broccoli casserole, which I put in a plastic dessert bowl, and then added several other desserts.
I asked who had made this dish and no one seemed to know, or they weren’t “fessing up” if they did know. *I’ve now gone online looking for a recipe which might produce this casserole, and I haven’t found it yet. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the broccoli wasn’t in large, or even small florets, but I wondered if everything had been “blended” in some way. Could it be whipped cream added to the mixture? Would baked whipped cream even keep it’s fluffy texture? I don’t know who, but let me say, to whomever made this dish, YOU DID EXTREMELY GOOD!!! I like food, and I’ve had a bunch of good food in my life, and I’ve even fixed a lot of good food in my life, but this broccoli casserole would be right up there with “the best fried chicken I’ve ever had.” And, to “surprise” an old man. I’m 70 years old. Is rare. But this was a welcome surprise.
NOTE [05/21/24]: It was only at the end of my googling that I noted a comment that this casserole wasn’t “low cal.” I hadn’t thought of that at all. I was just focused on how delicious this was. So, this would be something that I shouldn’t fix a lot of, nor eat a lot of. But, it was sooooo good. [end NOTE]
NOTE [05/23/24]: I’m not sure I’ve ever thought to put a little water in the microwave onion cooker when I cook a potato, but I did this time and it turned out great. I cooked a small white potato and it ended up moist, and great for mashing. *I think I’ve always used either margarine or some kind of oil, and maybe chopped onion. I have put cinnamon & margarine on a sweet potato.
I’ve cooked a potato in the microwave and then rolled the outside in a saline solution, then finished it in the oven. This forms a thin, salty, crispy crust.[end NOTE]
Here are links to some broccoli casserole recipes that might be similar to “the best I ever had.”
Don’t mess with free speech. Are you going to outlaw everything that might obfuscate the recognition of a person? Then let’s have a bill to prohibit wearing those round, red clown noses. Or how about outlawing Botox because it changes the way we look, temporarily.
Some time ago, I came across a web cam that was located on Treasure Island and gave a live view of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island, Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco skyline and the Oakland Bridge. I used this web cam to view the “YM Warranty” as she entered and left the Port of Oakland. There did not appear to be much development on this island and I thought nothing more about it. Until tonight. A Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) movie, “Charlie Chan at Treasure Island – 1939” came on (YouTube). Another Charlie Chan movie had just ended which had Chan on an ocean going vessel, and there was a hunt for parts of a treasure map. Briefly, I thought this might just be the previous movie starting to replay again because of the word, “treasure” in it’s title. But, then I vaguely thought of “Treasure Island” as referring to the web cam Treasure Island that I knew about.
I then googled for Treasure Island and found it’s rich history. This island was man-made about 1936 in preparation for the “Golden Gate International Expo” held in 1939.
I was just reading about Warner Olan, who played Charlie Chan before Sidney Toler. To my surprise Olan was actually born in Sweden. And, Olan had a drinking problem. Apparently, he walked off the set, during filming of a Charlie Chan movie and the movie had to be abandoned. Olan also died in the same year, 1938. Sidney Toler was hired to play Charlie Chan later that year and had already made two other Chan movies before “Charlie Chan at Treasure Island – 1939.” *I personally like Toler as Chan more than Olan, but all the Chan movies are pleasing. The character of Chan is like that of Simon Templar, the Saint, or Hercule Poirot. Wherever any of these three personas go, they are greeted with a warm welcome, a handshake or a pat on the back, and treated as noted personalities, and old friends “with a positive history.”
“From the Beginning” was a song by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and was written by Greg Lake. I first heard it when I was attending Carolina, UNC-Chapel Hill, in 1972, the year it came out. This was always a melancholy song to me. I equated this song with my sense of “being out of place,” at Carolina. Hector’s, Silent Sam, the Ratskeller, Aycock Dorm, the Pit, Debbie, Chemistry and the Bell Tower.
I would get a couple of egg rolls from Hector’s, “Famous since 1969,” on the way back to my room, 318, in Aycock Dorm. The surface of the egg roll was crispy, and I loved getting the packets of Duck Sauce and Hot Mustard, and eating them.
On the way back, I would walk by “Silent Sam.” And the legend, which few probably believed, was that Silent Sam got the name because he would shoot his rifle each time a virgin walked by;-) Hector’s is no more, and Aycock Dorm had a name change after George Floyd, and Charles B. Aycock was determined to be a racist… former Governor of North Carolina.
There was a small bar in the basement, at the back of the Ratskeller. *For some reason I can’t recall it’s name, but it did have one. There was at least one “Foosball” table and a Pong Machine. Pong was the first video game I ever played. It was a simplistic game, extremely crude by today’s standards.
Don’t recall why I started listening to “From the Beginning,” tonight on YouTube, but I was mesmerized by it and have listened to it many times just tonight. I even watched about four different “reaction” videos by podcasters listening to this song for the first time.
Funny, but I watched the reactions by the women on the screen more than the men. I think that is because the song is sung to a woman as an apology. But, I don’t think these reviewers really focused on the lyrics as much as the music, but I think the lyrics are as important as the music, and the music is beautiful.
I bought a Tempur-Pedic mattress some years ago. At that time, one of the selling points was that this mattress would last 20 years. “Wow, it will last twenty years! That’s great.” Got it home, and started using it. Several years into sleeping on this mattress, the thought came to me, “Why would I want a mattress for 20 years?” That thought comes from the idea that with daily use a mattress becomes a sponge or dirt magnet for all sorts of sweat and grunginess. Mattresses don’t come cheap, but probably 10 or at most 12 years might be what I think I should keep a mattress before buying a new one. *So, I’m well over due for a new mattress.
The pillows that came with my new Tempur-Pedic were of the “Neck Pillow” style. I like these because I can turn them in opposite directions depending upon how I want my head to rest on the pillow.
I bought some pork chops at Lee’s Farm Market near Benson, NC a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t repackage them and put them in the freezer right away, and when I did, I noted an “off” smell. The first one that I cooked had a strong smell, and I thought, “did I let this spoil.” But, I cooked it and it didn’t taste bad. Several years ago, at I think it was called the “New York Cafe,” in Fayetteville, I had breakfast and some of the bacon had a similar, “off” smell, which smelled like urine. After this aroma recurred during repeated breakfasts, I think I asked about this. I think I was told that during certain times of the year, the meat took on this off smell, but the meat was still good. *And, I didn’t get sick off of three different pork chops that I cooked from Lee’s. However, I didn’t like this aroma, and I decided to buy some pork chops her in Fayetteville. I think I bought the pork chops at the IGA across town. They were thinly cut, maybe only 2 oz. per chop. Although they didn’t have that overpowering “taint” smell, they did have a hint of the smell. So, for the first chops I cooked today, I made some buttermilk (add a little vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk) and marinated them for a couple of hours, as I went about town getting groceries, drugs and money from First Citizens, before cooking. The soaking in buttermilk did make the aroma almost unnoticeable, and I will probably do this again.
I’ve made homemade buttermilk about 3 or 4 times since I read online how to do this and I’ve been very happy about the results. The milk thickens up and has a little tartness to it. For years, I’ve read about using buttermilk to marinate various meats, and I’ve done this a few times, but the problem was always that even a quart of buttermilk, meant that most of it would go bad before I used it again. Now I can make a cup or half-cup of buttermilk, use it, and not have to worry about wasting any left over.
For years I have loved driving through a “well to do” neighborhood. There are many nice, old homes and there are streets which travel along the edge of a small lake. On a single morning, I have seen a hundred ducks, most floating end to end in a crisp October morning. I have seen the lake, frozen over with snow on the ground. And, not too long afterwards, I have seen the lake almost completely drained, mostly mud, with just a very narrow channel of water flowing from it’s high end, and on down to the dam at the low end. There are two Little Community Libraries, but only one of them that I drive by quite often.
And then there was a large old home, two storied, that had a couple of full-sized dog statues standing out, in the front yard, next to the short, crescent shaped drive way. As I passed by, I could look past the house and see the lake, behind the home. For years, I drove by this house and looked at the two dog statues, one white and one black, standing faithfully in place. The statues had not been put out front at the same time, and so I had come to believe that each had been erected as a memorial to a long loved pet that had gone beyond the veil. And, after years, and years, one day I saw the statues had been removed, and the home began to look unlived in. Then the thought came to me. Our pets come into our lives. We love them, but eventually they die. At some point we usually acquire another pet, we love them in a different way, but they die also. Maybe we put up a reminder of this beloved pet. But, if we live long enough, it is us that die, and the pet lives on. At least for a while.
Our pets normally do not erect life-like likenesses of us, in our memory.
[NOTE 05/04/24]: I just started watching a movie, “The Judge,” and a lawyer’s mother has just died and he has returned to Carlinville, IN to attend her funeral. So, he is driving through town, and he’s turning to cross a small bridge across a small river, and I start to see a few things, like a footbridge, running “catty cornered” to the street & bridge. But, there is enough here for me to start asking myself if I have ever watched this movie before. I’m almost positive that I had not seen this movie, but that got me to Google Maps searching on Carlinville, IN. So, I pull up the map and almost immediately note that there is no river going through this small town. Then I google for filming locations for “The Judge,” and see that it was filmed in Shelburne Falls, MA. I don’t recall the name, but then I go to Google Maps for Shelburne Falls. And, there is the diagonal foot bridge crossing the river, and as I use Street View and cross the automobile bridge, I see familiar filming locations. I’ve looked at this town before, on Google Maps, but, not for this movie. I then google for other things that have been filmed in Shelburne Falls, MA. And surprisingly, to me, there are about eight different other movies or shows, one of them being Dexter. And, I watched several episodes of Dexter, and that is where I first became acquainted with Shelburne Falls. Without looking back at Dexter, I recall that there was a cafe, just across the bridge, that apparently was not an actual cafe.
This is one of the recent recognitions that I have come across where I’ve come to know a place through Google Maps / Street View and then later, recognize the place in some other realm. A Harry Bosch location from one of his novels, and then a video clip of an actual police chase where the person fleeing runs into a fountain in the middle of a traffic circle and damages it. Or, the Vincent Thomas Bridge near the Port of LA. I was watching a Dodge car commercial and recognized the bridge they were crossing. And, later in the commercial the cars are racing past a Port of Los Angeles Warehouse #1. I look and this warehouse is at the entrance of the Port.
And the first instance I recall is from Connelly’s description of the Hightower Apartments. I recalled seeing an old private detective movie from years ago, and the fictional detective lived at the Hightower Apartments, but I didn’t recall that name. What I did recall was the iconic elevator tower which was probably about 3 or 4 stories high, from ground (where there were rows of small garages on each side of the street). In Connelly’s book one of these small garages was used to house a victim’s, a young woman’s, car. *I went back and found the movie was “The Long Goodbye” from 1973, which originally was a Raymond Chandler novel about the fictional detective, Phillip Marlowe, and in the movie Marlowe is played by Elliott Gould. **There are many shots of the tower, elevator and the apartments both interior and exterior, and even a short clip of a car driving past some of the small garages, seen from above in Marlowe’s apartment. [end NOTE]
I love the way these pieces fit together for storage. This is a simplistic pattern that could easily be repeated. I did not “get” the symbolic shapes for the bishops & knights at first, and then… the slanted bishop wasn’t symbolic of their hats, but are diagonals, symbolic of the way they move on the board. And, the knight is an “L” symbolic of the knight’s movement on the board.
Below is a set I am making from the small, square wooden blocks, glued together and the painted. The colored thumb tacks are not “noses” but rather symbolic of shields. I bought the colored map flags to top the rooks (castles). I also bought a bunch of “small, plastic googly eyes.” Each pawn has a pair of googly eyes, and a colored shield (thumb tack). I placed a pair of googly eyes on all four sides of the rooks, symbolic of watchers upon a castle tower, defending against attack. I am thinking the King should have three googly eyes, with the third eye symbolizing his “wisdom.” The knights may just have one googly eye, opposite, symbolic of a horses eyes. There might also be something symbolizing a horses “mane.” A cross or crozier (cup holder) might work symbolically for bishops.
Still my favorite is the tubular metal set.
Not set up on board correctly. Not white on right.
This is my favorite minimalist chess set. The pieces are easily recognizable. The king & the queen are easily distinguishable. The bishops have a recognizable shape as do the rooks (castles). I especially like the knights, with the two sides having different helmet shapes. *I have started making a version of this set using PVC tubing. I have cut the individual pieces but have not started shaping the distinctive elements.
Not sure, but I must have seen a “pregnant” queen sitting on a throne some time ago, and then thought what Queen would be more viscous than if she were pregnant, so from then on, I wanted a chess set that had an obviously pregnant queen. Having said this, when I saw the tubular chess set, I imagined that you could symbolically create a pregnant queen by drilling a larger hole in the side of the queen and then gluing a marble to the piece thereby making a pregnant queen.
I’ve also seen a minimalist set that has a small protruding pipe, symbolizing a knight’s lance. You might use this piping in various ways to accent the other pieces. Maybe a cross on a pole being held by the bishop. Perhaps even a flag pole for the rook.
I was in a local antiques store and happened to see a package of wine bottle corks, and then I saw the above, both black & light corks, all about the same size. I realized that I could use these to create a similar set to the metal set above.
THEMED SETS I LIKE
ISLE OF LEWIS
I like this small Isle of Lewis Chess Set for two main reasons: The pawns are in the image of little warriors and the rooks look like castle turrets. Many other sets have a rook that looks like a large rune stone or a large warrior figure. In other sets, the pawns are small rune stones. I have seen something labeled “Berserker” that gives the figures a more warrior-like look.
Bill Gibson, II 