White Fear

White Fear: How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lost Their Minds by Roland Martin and Leah Lakins, 2022

I read this book in five days. I couldn't put it down but at the same time I was angry and fearful of what America was, is and could be in the future. As an old white man I really do fear that we are still a racist nation even after all these years and the many failed attempts to embrace our fellow citizens regardless of race and background. 

A lot has happened and progress has been made in my lifetime but the racist republican party and their efforts to control the federal court system has been turning back the clock to our more bigoted past. They have the slogan "make America great again" but we all know what they mean by "great" and it is disgusting. During my lifetime there were white only water fountains, restaurants, etc. Lynching black people was a regular thing. Emmitt Till was murdered. Martin Luther King had a dream and was killed for it. The list goes on and on.

This book was just published in late September and the other day I saw the author Roland Martin being interviewed on CNN. While watching the segment I went on my Libby app and was able to download an e-book copy from BECPL. I got a copy and almost immediately a wait list formed behind me. I guess I wasn't the only one in town watching that show.

World Cup Upsets

The Word Cup has been full of upset matches this week beginning with Saudi Arabia beating Argentina and then Japan winning over Germany. Lots of ties too. 

But the biggest upsets was with the fans and players towards the mullahs of Qatar and their bigotry. Their security people were keeping fans from entering the stadiums if they had any kind of rainbow on their person. They were also removing fans from the stands if they took off their shirts or if a woman showed too much skin which to them was a shoulder. 

Of course there has been the ongoing controversies of human rights abuses and bribery. Also there has been the controversy of holding the games in the winter during the regular seasons of FIFA around the world. Part of the bribery was to reschedule the games when it wasn't too hot in Qatar. The games have always been held in the summer at the end of the regular FIFA season so that players on the national teams didn't impact their regular league games. Not so this year. Bribery.

Then there is the lack of alcohol being sold during the games except to the very rich in the VVVIP seats. During the opening game between Qatar and Ecuador there were numerous chants throughout the game from the fans... "We want beer". That would be a favorite fan chant all week. I was glad to see Qatar lose that game and actually every time they played. They made the quickest exit from the tournament of a host team in the history of the World Cup. Good riddance too. 

Qatar was the first host nation in the history of the tournament with no historical background in football. None whatsoever. The Qatari team they put on the field had no Qatari nationals. They were all hired and not very good. When Qatar got the World Cup scheduled in their country by bribery they also bought a team and actually set up a little league about ten years ago. They didn't learn very much about soccer in that time.

The image posted here is not an official Qatari publication but it certainly could have been if they weren't so damn focused on public relations although they haven't been doing a very good job of it but there is still a lot of time left in the World Cup.

Andrew and Taco

We really enjoyed spending some quality time with our grandson Andrew. It's been awhile and he is growing up so fast during this second year. He'll be two in April. He really wants to talk and he has a lot of words already. Sometimes he just chatters away with occasional actual words but to him he's talking or reading from a book.

Apparently at his daycare center the teachers were doing some word associations and showing pictures of different foods while saying the word. He said the word taco and recently he has been saying it every time he refers to any food. It's very funny to see him sitting at dinner exclaiming taco as he eats something, anything.

Today I had him in my arms while watching some birds using the feeder outside our kitchen window. Andrew exclaimed "taco" as he pointed to the birds eating the seeds.

Family Weekend

We had some wonderful family time together this Thanksgiving weekend that happened after a long week of heavy snow in WNY.  Katie and Todd with the three kids arrived on Tuesday afternoon. Becky had made some pasta and meat sauce which the kids loved. They stayed with us Tuesday night and then stayed downtown at the Hilton Garden Inn for the rest of the weekend a few floors below Dick and Iris' apartment. They left their dog Stella with us for the weekend.

Katie spent most of Wednesday making pies for Thanksgiving dinners. They would be attending two on Thursday. First at the dinner hosted by Dick and Iris downtown and then over at Dave and Donna's later in the day.

The weather had become warmer and the snow was melting fast. Todd took Henry and Clara over to Delaware Park to go sledding with his cousin and their kids. They all had a great time. We spent that time with Violet.

A little later in the afternoon Sean and Ashley arrived with Henry. They stayed at our house Wednesday night through Sunday morning. It was great having all of our grandchildren with us together again. We had not been all together since last July in Long Lake. 

On Thursday morning Katie came by with the kids to do some more cooking. The kids loved playing together. Todd was running the Turkey Trot with his father. Katie and the kids left in the early afternoon and around 4 pm we went over to Dave and Donna's house with Sean and Ashley for Thanksgiving dinner. We stayed there until about 

Katie and the kids came by on Friday and the four grandchildren had a great time playing with each other. On Friday Sean made us a wonderful taco dinner. Unfortunately Katie and the kids needed to leave before dinner because of other plans with Todd's family.

On Saturday Sean, Ashley and Andrew went down to Hamburg to spend some time with Ashley's grandmother. They got back to the house before everyone arrived to celebrate Clara's birthday. On Saturday night we said our goodbyes to Katie and the kids. They planned to leave for Philly early Sunday morning to try to beat a rain storm. They also took Stella with them at that time. Andrew went up to bed and then we hung out with Sean and Ashley for a while before we all went up to bed. They wanted to leave early Sunday morning too.

Later in the day we heard from everyone that they got home OK and they all did run into some rain on the trip. Becky and I were exhausted.

Clara's Birthday

Today is Clara's birthday. She is now four years old. We had them over today to celebrate along with Sean, Ashley and Andrew and also her other grandparents Dick and Iris. Katie made her a wonderful chocolate cake. Dave and Donna were supposed to be here too but Donna was not feeling well and Dave had a sore back after their holiday weekend dinner party on Thursday.

We had decided to have a take out dinner and after went with Zios for sandwiches. We got an assortment of twelve subs/hoagies/sandwiches. They were all wonderful and everyone enjoyed everything. Of course we had some chicken nuggets for the kids too. 

Clara was very happy with her birthday gifts.

Thanksgiving 2022

We had our Thanksgiving dinner as usual at Dave and Donna's house. The table in the photo is just one of three tables for our dinner. Dave and Donna put out a wonderful spread as usual and we had a very good time enjoying their hospitality. The food was delicious and Dave had a couple of different style turkeys on the grill. One was smoked.

It was a treat to see Jimmy and Cassie there along with their son Sonny who is a little younger than our grandson Andrew. They were in town for just a couple of days. It was fun seeing Andrew and Sonny together. Two little blonde boys.

They had a good crowd as usual. It was fun seeing Donna's niece Amy interact with the kids. Especially Andrew. Katie and Todd showed up around the time we sat down for dinner. They had been with Todd's family for an earlier Thanksgiving dinner. Henry, Clara and Violet all had a good time hanging out with the extended family. We got there about 4 pm and stayed until about 8:30 pm.

We Want Beer!

During the opening match between Ecuador and Qatar of the 2022 World Cup the fans were chanting "we want beer"! This was in response to reneging by Qatar in allowing the selling of beer at the stadiums where games were being played. Now, typically of these Arab oil countries, they are allowing the luxury boxes to have access to alcohol but just not for the regular soccer fan. Owners and drink but not the fans. Budweiser has the sponsorship rights to sell beer at the stadiums but Qatar stopped the selling of beer two days before the games were to begin.

They have also stopped people from entering stadiums wearing any kind of rainbow shirt or display. They make me want to turn off the games and ignore the World Cup if their bullshit keeps up.

Dad @ 100

Today is my Dad's birthday. He was born 100 years ago on November 20th 1922. It's hard to describe how much you miss someone who's been gone from your life for over 52 years. That's longer than he was alive. He died from that ruptured brain aneurysm family curse in July 1970 when he was 47 years old. I was 18.

Dad never got to attend any of his children's weddings or to meet any of his grandchildren. He was still driving that old 1955 green Chevy back and forth to work in 1970. He tried to teach me to drive with that car but I couldn't get used to that weird standard transmission with a clutch that was worn down to his particular everyday custom way of shifting those worn gears. So instead he took me out in the big family 1965 Chevy Impala station wagon. Then he had me take the AAA driving course so I could get the discount on my car insurance but I learned to drive when I was 17 and he helped me get my first car... a 1960 Chevy. I guess he had a thing about Chevys.  Later in 1973 I bought a Chevy Vega but that's another story.

I was fortunate to have spent time with him not knowing how little time we actually had. When I was 16 he got me a summer job at the machine shop where he was the shop foreman. I worked there summers and weekends for two years right up until I went into the Navy. I got to see another side of my father and how he interacted with the guys who worked in the plant. There were about 30 men working there and I was the youngest. I initially did a lot of cleanup and then some quality control. Towards the end after I graduated from high school I operated drill presses and lathes. I got to hear my Dad tell some off color jokes in the locker room which was something new to me although I never heard him swear and curse either at work or at home.

So today he would have one hundred years old. Well, he probably would not have lived this long but two of his brothers that didn't die early of aneurysms made it into their 90's and Uncle Jack is still going strong. If Dad had made it into his 90's then he would have known his grandchildren and some of his great-grandchildren too. 

I can still see his face the last time I saw him. Him and Mom saw me off at the airport in Philly when I left for the Naval Base at Great Lakes after being home for two weeks following completing boot camp in San Diego. I waved to them up in the window looking down at me as I climbed the steps to the plane. The next time I saw him was at his funeral.

We never did get to have a beer together sitting in a bar which we talked about doing when I would come home sometime on leave after turning 21. 

I wrote more about my Dad here.

Storm`s End

The November Lake Effect Storm has ended. Well, at least for the city of Buffalo. It's nice and sunny today but windy and cold. 20 degrees right now. There is still some snow coming off the lake down south of the city beyond Erie County and Lake Ontario is still sending snow into northern New York State but we are done. Now it's time to finish the clean up.

Yesterday I was running our snowblower. It was tough work with this heavy wet snow with a layer of ice under it. The spout tube kept getting clogged up which was the first time that ever happened. I needed a screw driver to clear it out every couple of minutes. I got a lot done but left most of the driveway for the next round today. Shoveling this snow was heavy work.

The snow we got over the past couple of days was nothing like what was happening in other nearby communities that got over six feet of snow and of course the media was telling the world that it was Buffalo getting slammed with the snow.

Last night we were supposed to get slammed again as the snow bands moved from the northtowns over the city to the southtowns but the bands didn't linger over the city. We had a couple of hours of heavy snow and then it was gone. Moved on. So we got a couple of more inches. Other areas got a couple of more feet.

Snow No Yo Ma

We were supposed to go to the Buffalo Philharmonic tonight to see Yo Yo Ma perform on his cello but the lake effect snow storm intervened and the show was rescheduled for early May. Before the show we were going with our friends, who were taking us to the concert, to dinner at Trattoria Aroma. The show was changed the day before he was coming into town and there was plenty of warning of the coming lake effect snow event. We were looking forward to this night but instead we sat at home and looked out the window at the snow. 

The weather stations kept warning us yesterday that the snow was coming and it was going to be measured in feet. The photo here is from early in the evening last night. The national news was already talking about the coming storm as a major weather event. At the time I took this photo the media was saying that it was going to snow all night and then all day tomorrow at about 1 to 2 inches per hour and they kept saying it was happening in Buffalo. Well, as usual they got it wrong.

It certainly started that way and initially we were seeing significant snow falling about at least an inch an hour but snow bands didn't stay over the city very long and gradually moved back down south of the city. We had about 4 inches last night which started in the early evening and stopped before midnight. Then there was no more snow all night and none so far today either.

Some folks did get a lot of snow. Just a little south and east of us people got about 3 feet last night and today with a lot more coming tonight and tomorrow. People in Hamburg got 5 feet of snow. There have been some amazing and shocking photos posted on FB from all over WNY.

We'll have to see how it goes over the next couple of days. It all depends on the wind blowing over the lake and in what direction. If it shifts north than we get it.

Beeswing - Richard Thompson

Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice (1967-1975) by Richard Thompson, 2021.

This was a very interesting memoir written by the guitarist Richard Thompson who has been one of my favorite musicians for well over fifty years. I read this book over the course of about three months and three e-book downloads from the library. It was one of those books that was easy to put down but then I was looking for it to get back to it.

His viewpoint of playing London in the 1960's was fascinating and his years in Fairport Convention. I had also forgotten that he later became a Sufi Muslim in the early 70's with his then wife Linda and still is a practicing Muslim. I really loved those albums he did with Linda Thompson.

Another interesting anecdote was his story about his Scottish heritage where he describes an incident where his grandfather named Thomson had a plaque engraved with their family name to be placed on the front of their cottage in Scotland. The plaque arrived with the family name misspelled Thompson with the p. Instead of paying for a new plaque, his Scottish grandfather figured out it was cheaper to officially change the family name to Thompson to match the misspelled plaque which he did. So Richard Thompson was laughing about the cheap Scottish stereotype with a family example.

I saw Richard Thompson in concert with Fairport Convention in a Philly club in 1969 and then many years later Becky and I saw him at the Tralf in Buffalo where he performed a very entertaining solo concert.

I became really interested in this memoir after reading another memoir from the record producer and manager Joe Boyd whose book White Bicycles covers a lot of the same time period and situations in London. He was even the promoter for Richard Thompson's band Fairport Convention. 

Also from reading these two books I have added a biography of Sandy Denny to my list of books to read and will do so this winter and I'm looking forward to it.

Richard Thompson albums in my collection:

• Fairport Convention, 1968
• Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking, 1969
• Fairport Convention - Liege and Lief, 1969
• Fairport Convention - Full House, 1970
• Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want To See The Bright Lights, 1972
• Richard & Linda Thompson - Hokey Pokey, 1974
• Strict Tempo!, 1981
• Richard & Linda Thompson - Shoot Out The Lights, 1982
• Hand of Kindness, 1983
• Across the Crowded Room, 1985
• Amnesia,1988
• Rumor and Sigh, 1991
• Watching the Dark, 1993, box set
• Mirror Blue, 1994
• You? Me? Us?, 1996
• Mock Tudor, 1999
• Best of Richard and Linda Thompson: The Island Record Years, 2000
• Action Packed: The Best of the Capitol Years, 2001
• The Old Kit Bag, 2003
• 1000 Years of Popular Music, 2003
• Live from Austin TX - 2001, 2003
• Front Parlour Ballads, 2005
• RT - The Life and Music of Richard Thompson, 2006, box set
• Sweet Warrior, 2007
• Dream Attic, 2010
• Live at the BBC, 2011
• Electric, 2013
• Acoustic Classics, 2014
• Still, 2015

iTunes Shuffle 2014

I've had quite a few FB Memories post this week where I was tagged in a lot of people's post for the various iTunes Shuffle 25 games where people post a list of shuffled songs from their iTunes. This all happened this week of November in 2014. It was interesting to read the lists of so many people I know and who tagged me because they knew I had a lot of music. So I did it too. I got lots of good comments about my list.

Here were the directions:

Once you've been tagged...

(1) Turn on your MP3 player or music player on your computer.
(2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
(3) Write down the first 25 songs that come up--song title and artist--NO editing/cheating, please.
(4) Choose people to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you.

So here is my response I wrote in my post comment at the time on November 16, 2914

"I actually use the shuffle quite often at work. I recently moved my office to an out of the way place in the library where I can play music all the time. I purchased another 1 TB external hard drive and copied my mp3 collection to it for attaching to my compute at work. There's a little over 600 GB of songs on it which makes for a very satisfying shuffle."

1. Johnny Barleycorn – Frank Black 

2. Trapped (Live) – Bruce Springsteen 

3. Waiting On A Train – Mark Lanegan 

4. No One The Wiser – The Walkabouts 

5. A Year From Now – Blanche 

6. Instant Dharma – The Out Crowd 

7. She Smiles Sweetly – The Green Pajamas 

8. I Want You – Marvin Gaye 

9. Summer Teeth – Wilco 

10. Satan – Love Tractor 

11. Jordan River – Burning Spear 

12. Ice Rose – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 

13. Coffee and TV – Blur 

14. Homework – Peter Green 

15. Lookin’ For A Love – Ryan Shaw 

16. The White Ship – H.P. Lovecraft 

17. I Was, You Were – The High Dials 

18. River Song – Dennis Wilson 

19. In The City – The Jam 

20. So Long – Ruth Brown 

21. Pharaoh’s Dance – Miles Davis 

22. Moving The River (Acoustic Version) – Prefab Sprout 

23. Second Scepe – Autechre 

24. Wild Honey Pie – The Beatles 

25. Kerouac – Morphine

Winter Storm Watch - 1 to 2... Feet

Earlier this week I got a winter storm watch on my phone that said there was heavy lake effect snow possible this week Thursday through Sunday with an accumulation of one to two feet of snow. 

That was kind of a shock for mid November but there it is and the weather service has stated that they do not know exactly where the snow bands will take place. They just know they are coming this week starting Thursday. 

Now at first I was thinking this was going to be one of those south of the city snowbelt lake effect storms that generally bypass the city and especially the northern sections but the warnings are now saying that the heavy snow will fall all over the city starting tonight and going through the next few days.

We have plans to go the the Buffalo Philharmonic on Friday night to see Yo Yo Ma perform after dinner at Trattoria Aroma with friends. I guess we'll see about that.

A CNN headline today proclaims "Feet of snow is expected in western New York as prolonged 'crippling' lake effect snow begins tonight". 

I went out to the shed and brought out the snow blower, put some gas in it and started it up to make sure it would be ready if needed. I then put away the backyard lawn furniture that was still our and put it away in the shed. Then I cleaned up some of he leaves along the side of the house so we wouldn't have to walk on them under the snow if it comes to that. A couple of days ago I sealed the windows with weather caulk so that's done. Then I went into the basement and brought up the snow shovels and put them in a handy place. OK, we're ready. Filled up the birdfeeder with seed too.

Update 11/16: Now they are saying several feet of snow in the city of Buffalo. The snow began last night south of the city and they got about a foot already. The snow here will begin later tonight and go for the next few days. 

The Yo Yo Ma concert we were planning to attend Friday night has been rescheduled for early May. The Bills game on Sunday was moved to Detroit. 

Bruno, Chief of Police

Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker, 2008

I came across this book among a list of recommendations to read next from Goodreads after completing one of Cara Black's mystery crime novels that took place in Paris. The cover of this Martin Walker novel states that "Crime can happen anywhere. Even in a town in rural France". So I downloaded an e-book copy of this from the library.

I enjoyed the book very much and was fascinated by the authors knowledge of French country life and in particular the food and wine of the region which is described in great detail. The story also focuses on French history and the problems of their colonial policies that have impacted them at home including rural areas as described in this novel which is about the murder of a French-Arab man involved in World War II atrocities. 

Bruno, the main character, is a local policeman in a small village community and a former military man from the French army. He has his own farm and defends his community from French bureaucracy including the national police. He has his own way of getting things done.

The author is a British journalist and former U.S. bureau chief for The Guardian and has been a regular commentator for CNN. He lives in Washington DC and is a published novelist and poet. He has a summer home in St. Denis France where the Bruno novels are located.

I'm looking forward to reading more novels from this series.

That iTunes Dilemma

This post is a response to an online conversation with some long time music friends I med through online music mixing groups. I copied some of the dialogue below my post.

I think everyone who has used iTunes seriously for the organization and control of a major music collection including for the creation of playlist mixes has had that dilemma of what to do when iTunes crashes and data is lost. It's happened to me a few times over the years and even recently. 

I've always been very wary of Apple products and have avoided them over the decades if I could. I dumped my last Apple computer back in the early 1980's and avoided the mac like a plague. However, I did get an iPod and iTunes in the early 2000's which crashed after a couple of years. I gave it another shot in the mid 2000's with an 80 GB iPod but I learned my lesson with iTunes. I then separated my mp3 music files far away from any iTunes directory and loaded them into iTunes from their own drive. I also regularly backed up that drive to a different portable drive. I never used iTunes to download any music files. I never bought any music from Apple in my life.

Over the years I made sure my files were located in a different directories from iTunes but the software was able to locate my files in their alternate universe. I also learned the hard way to keep copies of my playlist which I did physically on a different drive but also copied XML text files of playlist using the Library/Export function and then stored them on my backup drive. On a couple of occasions I needed those text files to instantly recreate my lost playlists which was a real time saver. I also make backups of my backups.

I have been using the MediaMonkey program as a backup to iTunes but have not kept up with it since I've been able to make iTunes work for me but if need be I could take my backups

My obsession with backups is based on a long career working in computer technology, databases and libraries where I was often responsible for maintaining and preserving data files and scanned archival documents.

I started collecting music around 1966 and was doing it seriously and systematically in 1968. By the time I retired at the end of 2016 I had accumulated nearly 15,000 albums and many hundreds of self created mixes. All the vinyl, CDs and downloads had been scanned and stored on my various drives. 

Part of the conversation below was about Spotify. I started subscribing and listening to Spotify after I retired and have used it to keep up with new music releases. I've also posted numerous playlists there using an app that makes it quick and easy.

The dialogue from the FB music group.

Hi guys … need your opinions please. 

Due to a succession of stupid home IT decisions, poor back-up disciplines and other idiotic user-errors on my part I find myself at a cross-roads. 

Long story short, I managed to reset the clock on my PC & then wiped all my cloud back-ups in error.   I’ve managed to restore all but the last 6 months of music & downloads but have lost the last 8 years (!!) of iTunes back-ups (I wiped them in error). 

Question now is do I rebuild iTunes & the hundreds of playlists?   Or, is there a better alternative out there now?    I still can’t quite throw myself wholeheartedly at Spotify.  

What’s everyone else doing please?    Thanks in advance (feeling stupid 🙄🤷‍♂️🤫).

I'd love to see what the answer is, because I've been waiting for an iTunes alternative (one that recognizes .wav files with full coding and that allows me to curate my collection/transfer and create playlists) for at least five years, and am literally two operating systems behind on my 2019 MacBookPro (that I use for life) and my 2012 MacBookPro (that I use for music, despite the fact that several keys no longer work and the whole thing runs like it could very possibly shut down for good at any time) in order to preserve access to those curated properties. I loathe Spotify, Apple Music, and amazon music.

I have found MediaMonkey to be extremely robust, easy to use, and rock solid. Pay the like $10 for the Gold edition and you'll be set!

Violet's First Word... Hug

Our ten month old granddaughter's first spoken word is hug. She has been saying it for a few days now and we saw her saying it on a video chat too. So cute. She's very good at getting the G sound and is very expressive. She certainly knows what it means too. We've seen her say hug to her mother and then lean in and lay her head on her mother's shoulder.

It's been fun and exciting to see our grandchildren say their first words and their other early words. Then suddenly they start talking. Our grandson Andrew who is about 17 months old has recently become a real chatter box. He is not fully talking yet but you can pick out words among all the very expressive sounds he is making. Especially when he has a book in his hands. He sounds like he is reading. He is going to be talking real soon.

We're looking forward to seeing all of our grandchildren over Thanksgiving weekend. It will be the first time we are all together since we were on vacation this past July in the Adirondacks. 

Glass of Beer - Guinness Stout

It's a good to enjoy a glass of Guinness Stout on a snowy mid November evening. We had some Guinness in the house because Becky made some of her wonderful Irish beef and Guinness stew which of course calls for a pint of Guinness Stout in the pot. She uses her Instant Pot for this great meal. She learned out to make this wonderful dish after we had it in a pub in Dublin.

She got a four pack at the store so I was able to have three pints over the past couple of weeks and enjoyed the Irish stew. 

The Popular Bird Feeder

A couple of weeks ago I put up our bird feeder in it's regular spot on our back porch but did not put any seed in it at the time. Today I finally filled it up with some fresh seed I just purchased yesterday.

At first I went out on the back porch to move Becky's herb plants to the sunroom. It was cold and quiet in the backyard and between sleet/rain showers. It was going to get more of that wintry mix later in the day. A little earlier I had gone into the basement and filled my seed container from the new bag and I had it with me on the porch. After finishing up with the herbs plants I started putting seed into the bird feeder.

I immediately noticed a sudden increase in the bird activity around me. I could hear loud chirping coming from the nearby trees and then there were several birds on the shed roof next to me. It was getting louder by the minute as I filled up that feeder.

I went in the house and for the next hour or so there was a steady stream of birds coming to the feeder... mostly chickadees, finches, wrens, juncos and sparrows. Then by later in the afternoon there were huge flocks of sparrows swarming the feeder along with mourning doves, cardinals and blue jays. Now the jays, doves and cardinals cannot fit into the feeder to get seed but they still came around to get the droppings. It was really crazy to see all of the activity. Half the seed was gone from the feeder by dusk. I guessed they missed us feeding them but we only do it in the winter or when the weather gets freezing.

Taking That Shower

The other day one of my neighbors was telling me how much his gas bill has gone down since he went off to college earlier this fall. He told me his son consistently took 45 minute showers every day. You can certainly tell he is an only child.

That got me thinking about what it was like growing up and taking a shower in a house two parents, six children and two elderly great-grandparents with only one shower/bathtub. We had a second bathroom down in the basement and eventually when I was an early teen my father built a shower in the basement but taking a 45 minute shower was impossible or any shower of any length of time.

When my father built that shower in the basement I stopped using the upstairs bathroom. It had been getting harder and harder to get time in the bathroom with three sisters. By that time too our great-grandparents had moved into a nursing home and passed away shortly after but I had learned to take quick showers.

I also took my showers at night before going to bed so I didn't have to compete for much time in the bathroom each morning before going to school. I learned to take five minute showers and to this day I still only spend about that much time in the shower.

Taking a shower with limited fresh water on a Navy ship also taught me the value of a quick shower. I wrote about Navy showers earlier this year. My showers today are always short and I do them the same way I did fifty years ago in the Navy. In and out very quickly but thoroughly. I get cleaned.

This is Happiness

This is Happiness by Niall Williams, 2019. 

I read this book over the months of September through  November. I really loved this book but I was fortunate that I was able to take my time with it and savor the story over time. The book was lent to me and I knew I had several months before I would see Dick again and return the book. We had been over to Dick and Iris's apartment with the family and Dick saw me perusing the books on his shelf which of course is something I always do at someone's home when I have the chance. He pulled out this book and suggested that I read it.

It really was a fascinating story of life in rural western Ireland during the early 1950's and very well written. 

World Cup 2022

The FIFA World Cup is coming up. The first games will be this coming weekend. The US team is back after their embarrassing failure to qualify for the 2018 games. Their first game is next Monday against Wales. They will also play England and Iran in their group before potentially moving on. I'm looking forward to the games.

Unfortunately there has already been controversy surrounding these games. They are being held in Qatar which in itself is a problem because of the scandal involving the upper management of FIFA accepting bribes from Qatar to host the games. There has been much criticism of FIFA for the unfair process of selecting host countries. The selection of Qatar has also been criticized as a host because of it's lack of a football tradition, their human rights record, the lack of adequate facilities and the climate. 

One of the really awful controversies has been the allegations of slavery conditions for migrant workers constructing the stadium to be used in the games. There has been documented systematic abuse of workers, unsafe and unsanitary conditions. 

Drinking alcohol and being intoxicated is against the law in Qatar. FIFA has set up special areas within the stadium area for fans who have a drink but don't dare go anywhere else in Qatar for a beer or show up anywhere seeming drunk. There are very strict laws. The fans who drink must stay at the facility to sober up. They cannot be seen in public under the effects of alcohol.

Homosexuality is also against the law in Qatar and technically gay athletes and fans are not permitted into the country. Yep, it is illegal to be gay in Qatar. An official from the Qatar FIFA Ambassador described homosexuality as "damage in the mind". There have been calls to boycott the games. I hope to see some rainbow flags in the stadium during games.

Then there is the climate. The games were moved from the usual summer because the temperature in Qatar goes up to 122 degrees. The games are being played in the winter this time which is very unusual. 

Qatar when spoken sounds like gutter. Very apt.

Selected Denialism

Selected Denialism is when our election system is fine if a conservative republican wins but if they lose than the system is fraudulently corrupt and and the results should be denied and overturned. They don't believe in Facts.

Conservatives have been smothering themselves in denialism for decades and has mostly been associated with science such as denying the facts about evolution and climate change. Recently they have been denying the benefits of vaccinations during a pandemic.

Now they are denying our democracy and American freedom. They will do anything to keep their oligarchs in power including destroying our right to vote. Trump has latched onto this inherent conservative denialism and incorporated it into his maga extremism. 

Hopefully this election has shown that Americans will still defend their freedom.

A Veterans Benefit

On Veterans Day we remember and honor those who served in the military. Today I was thinking about how important college was to me and not having to pay for it. I attended Temple University 1974 to 1978 and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Communications. 

I was especially fortunate that the state of Pennsylvania offered free tuition to Vietnam Era Veterans who attended a college in the state university system as was Temple in Philadelphia. In addition to these veterans benefits offered by the state I received the regular GI Bill monthly benefit check that I was able to use for books, fees and living expenses since I was already receiving free tuition from the state.

I was also able to get summer jobs working at the Veterans Administration Regional Office where I could walk to work from my house in the nearby neighborhood. I really felt like I was taken care of by our country and used these benefits I received and earned with four years of service in the Navy. I got to see the world and then got a free education. 

Florida Turning Blue

Florida has become a sad example of maga extremism but of a slightly different sort. The maggat governor there has decided he was a bigger maggat than the trump maggat and he is trying to move on beyond the maralago creep. 

Americans around the country are fighting back against the maga extremist because of issues such as reproduction rights, voting rights, worker rights, heathcare rights, etc. and it is happening in Florida too. The big difference, however, is the maga grip on local governments due to gerrymandering voter districts and this is how DeSantis has stayed in power in Florida. He somehow thinks this sham political power will get him elected president in 2024 and he is going up against the trump maggats. This will be an interesting upcoming primary season to see how many republicans turn against the loser trump.

In the meantime Florida has a chance to turn blue as people reject maga extremism. There is also the chance that the maggats will continue to hold Florida hostage and the result will be the state going blue from climate change.

We are seeing that happen with the many catastrophic hurricanes battering the state and more will come. The coastline is already changing and communities have been devastated.

America will remember that when DeSantis was in Congress he voted against financial aid for New York State after Hurricane Sandy. Florida is now completely dependent on federal aid to survive the recent hurricanes and how will they ever rebuild their communities. Only by going Blue one way or the other.

Beer Club - Finally

I finally went to a beer club last night at Mr. Goodbar. It was the first time in almost three years. I think the last time was January 2020. This time I went more for the socializing than for the beers. In fact I didn't participate in the actual beer club. It was a Belgium beer night with lots of high alcohol content brews. I just wasn't into it. I didn't want heavy beers this time.

I sat in my usual chair against the wall and used my free pint card which is good for ten beers and I had only used it three times. I got the free pint card in one of the beer club raffles back in 2019. I used it for two beers for the night. First for a Bells Amber Lager and the a Community Beer Works Pilsner. I sipped those beers for about an hour each. 

This beer club night was particularly sparse. It was probably the least crowded beer club I've ever seen. Even our table was half empty and only included me, Tom, John, John Jr and Kara. Everyone else couldn't make it for various reasons. 

I'm not sure how many of these things I will go to in the future. I just don't feel like drinking a lot of different heavy beers. I really just enjoyed drinking that lager and pilsner all night and having conversations. Next month will be the Christmas beers and ales. I do like all of them and I certainly like the Belgium beers that I didn't drink this time but I just don't feel like drinking so many of them even though they are only 4 oz tasters although there were ten of them. I think I would rather just have a pint of one or two of them during a night and not get so buzzed.

Becky dropped me off at Goodbar as usual and I took a Lyft ride home.

Gal Costa RIP

Gal Costa, Brazilian pop star, died today at the age of 77. She was part of the tropicalia music scene in Brazil in the late 1960's. I saw her perform at a festival in San Juan Puerto Rico in 1971 along with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. She had a beautiful voice and put on a wonderful show. The music could best be described at psychedelic bossa nova. She was fun too although I couldn't understand what she said. 

Over the years I collected a few of her albums.  I also have some of her music on some various artists compilations of Latin and Brazilian music.

I'll be playing her music over the next few days.

• Gal Costa, 1969
• Gal Costa Cinema Olympia, 1969
• India, 1973
• Meu Nome E Gal, 1990 compilation
• Recanto, 2012

Voted Today - 2022

After I voted today I realized that it was 50 years ago yesterday that I voted for the first time. It was the Nixon vs McGovern presidential election in 1972 and the voting age had just changed from 21 to 18 years old. At the time I was overseas on a US Navy ship. I was going to turn 21 in a month and would have missed voting in this election if the voting law hadn't just changed. 

I also voted by mail from my ship somewhere off the coast of Central America. Probably Panama. Voting by mail worked back then for us in the military and it works today for everyone.

Yes, I keep one of my dog tags on my keychain. 

Phillies Season to a Close

Last night the Phillies season came to a close. They lost to the Houston Astros for the fourth time in their best of seven World Series. It was an amazing story that they got to the World Series at all and it was a fun ride watching the games. I didn't really expect them to go all the way and it was nice just having them experience the playoffs let alone getting to the series. 

I only watched a couple of games all season. I've not been a particular sports fan especially for professional sports teams. I do pay more attention to the post season. I was very surprised when the Phillies got into the playoffs this year as their season wasn't particularly good. Houston was the much better team and certainly expected to be in the World Series. In the National League one would have expected the Braves or the Mets each with 101 wins and the Dodgers with 111 wins to be in the series but not the 87-75 Phillies. Well, they peaked at the perfect time. 

They did win a couple of great games in this series including their 7-0 home run fest.

Betty Davis & Hattie McDaniel

I saw an article today about the actors Betty Davis and Hattie McDaniel that included this photo. I'm not sure why this information came to my attention but it did and it both troubled me and enlightened me. It made me feel good about Betty Davis who of course was an amazing character and also made me feel awful about America and the legacy of racism that overwhelms our nation today. Hattie McDaniel was a hero and during World War II she served as chairman of the Negro Division of the Hollywood Victory Committee that entertained black servicemen at segregated military bases. Betty Davis was the only white entertainer that participated in McDaniel's organization for which she was severely criticized. She was a hero too.

Hattie McDaniel who won an Oscar for her role in Gone with the Wind was not allowed to attend the premier of the film in Atlanta because it was held in a whites-only theater. At the Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles she was forced to sit at a segregated table off to the side of the room.

She was the first black woman to sing on radio in America. Her final wish when she was dying was to be buried in Hollywood Cemetery which was denied because the graveyard was whites-only. This happened during my lifetime.

Both of her parents were slaves in America.

During World War II Betty Davis founded the Hollywood Canteen that free to active duty US servicemen but she demanded that it would be integrated. This would mean that black servicemen would be able to dance with white women. She caught a lot of heat for her stance but she succeeded in going against the Jim Crow laws and threatened to shut down the Canteen if it was not integrated. She won.

At the time even the USO was whites-only or blacks-only facilities. Sometimes I feel disgusted with the history of America. I guess that is being woke.

Two Nights in a Row

Well,  we went out two nights in a row. Last night we went out and had dinner at Ristorante Lombardo's and tonight we went to an art opening at the Raft of Sanity over on Niagara Street which of course is the old space where I worked some forty years ago.

We had a nice time at the opening and talked with lots of people. It was exhausting when you not used to socializing very much. Becky and I are in this photo I took from the Raft FB page and we are in the center but barely recognizable. I'm the gray haired guy with the hat and leather jacket.

We were there for a little over an hour and then went down to Allen Street for First Friday. There was lots of construction down there and it was very busy too but a little on the seamy side which was somewhat unusual. We didn't stay very long and we were home by 8:30. Not a late night.

Sean had video called us while we were on our way over to Niagara Street and we talked in the car for a bit. Later I saw that Katie had tried to call us while we were at the gallery. She had also called us last night at the restaurant but it was too noisy to hear anything. So I had texted her to say I missed her call because we were at an art opening. She thought is was funny that we were out doing things two nights in a row.

So what's different about going out two nights in a row. Since the beginning of the pandemic that  has been very rare. In fact, going out at all was such a rare thing for so long and seeing people was unusual. Socializing and having long conversations was something we had not been doing for a couple of years. There are still a lot of people we know that even this day are at home with Covid-19 and were not at this art opening. We also know people who still don't go to any kind of gatherings of people. The last time we were at this gallery most everyone was wearing masks. It is still a pandemic world.

Date Night - Ristorante Lombardo

Tonight we had another Thursday date night. This time we went over to Ristorante Lombardo on Hertel Avenue which has been one of our favorite restaurants for decades. We also had a gift certificate which we had been sitting on for a few weeks. 

We had a wonderful dinner of wood roasted beet salad, linguini carbonara, melanzanie rollatini, rossi, rosati and pistachio gelato. The service was great us usual.

We haven't been there since our anniversary dinner last year in June. Since then there has been substantial renovation to the restaurant and it all looked very nice. We tried to make reservations last week but we couldn't get a table. It's been very busy lately and one needs to grab a table at least a week ahead of time. We had our table for two at a table in the renovated bar area. It was very nice and cozy. Last time we were there it was in the larger dining room. The outside patio has also been completely redone and has lots of nice heaters too. The prices have gotten higher than they had been but they also have plenty of lower cost items on the menu like their wood fired pizzas.