Winter Flowers

I went out in the backyard today because it was the first time in many weeks that there was no snow there. It had melted with the rain and 40 degree temperatures since last night. I was surprised to find some snow drops blooming. There were also some daffodils that had popped up. It looks like Becky's green thumb is at work.

Later this afternoon there will be snow coming to bury those plants again.

Some Spring Fever

Earlier today and this evening we had gone out around town. It was a sunny day and the temperatures were in the high 30's and low 40's and the snow was melting. Some people had spring fever. We saw people jogging in shorts and t-shirts. There were people all over the place walking around in shorts. From our table in JT's we saw lots of folks on Elmwood Avenue walking around and we saw one woman with a bare mid-drift outfit. It's amazing how quickly people in Buffalo jump into some spring fever before it's spring. All they need is a little bit of improved weather and some sun to get the fever.

JT's Tonight

Tonight we went to JT's for dinner to use that gift certificate we got for Xmas from Sean and Ashley. First we had gone to Hallwalls to check out an art show. Then we went over to Elmwood Avenue and parked the car on Bidwell. We stopped at Talking Leaves bookstore for a bit looking at potential belated birthday gifts for Sean. Then we walked down the street to JT's.

It was about 5 pm when we got there which is a little earlier than we usually get there. There were only a couple tables in use plus the bar was busy as usual because they have their happy hour food specials at the bar. We got a nice seat near the front window just under the heaters. It was very comfy.

We started off with splitting a Caesar Salad after I got my glass of Tuscan Blend red wine and Becky got an NA. Becky had the Rigatoni Bolagnese which is something I usually get. I ordered their Black Spaghetti and Shrimp. It was a wonderful meal.

Wd did have a little confusion with the gift card that I had on my phone but they are used to those things while we are not. All went well and we may sure the waiter, who was very good, got his tip.

Overall a wonderful evening.

Hallwalls Amid/In WNY

 

Becky and I went to Hallwalls this afternoon to see the Amid/In Western New York shows. We missed going to the opening a couple of weeks ago because not only the extremely deep frigid temperatures that night but there was also a big Sabres related event next door which would talk up most of the nearby parking. We would have had to walk a long way to park. We didn't go to the opening but Becky wanted to see the show.

So today we left our house around 3:45 and got there just before 4. We spent about 20 minutes, with the gallery to ourselves, looking at the art work of 11 area artists.

It was nice to be able to take our time looking at the artwork without the crowds of an opening reception which is how we usually see art shows. At least for me. Sometimes Becky will go down to a gallery during the time an exhibit is displayed to check out the artwork without the crowds.

The thing about the show today that I didn't like was the video exhibit which is in this photo. There was some really obnoxious loud audio from a video installation. The video of the camp fire was interesting but that audio drove us out of the gallery.

The Lost Symbol - A Novel

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, 2009. This is the third novel in the Robert Langdon series. I read the first two books in the series about twenty years ago... The Da Vinci Code, 2003 first in April 2004 and then Angels & Demons, 2000 in June 2004. So why read the third book now. I saw that the sixth book in the series was just published this past Fall and then I found the Da Vinci Code on a book shelf recently. It reminded me of those early books and I saw that the third one was available at the library to download the e-book. I got it right away and then I read it in six days. 

I got to say I had mixed feelings about this novel. In some ways I just kept reading and couldn't put it down for long periods of time but I was also constantly being disappointed by almost gibberish story telling. I think I got through the book so fast because I was skipping and skimming paragraphs which I don't usually do very much with books that I'm reading... and enjoying. 

When I looked back GoodReads at those first two books I saw that I gave both of those book 3 star reviews which means I had a problem with them. I also never wrote anything about them either.

So there are three more books in this Robert Langdon series and I don't think I will bother with them. This guy seems to write the same book over and over again but not in a good way.

Foggy Day... and Night

We had a foggy day today and then it was a foggy night too. We don't have very many foggy days. I think that may be because of the nearby lake and the wind coming off it. We just don't see very much fog and especially during the winter. I can't remember the last time.

Growing up in the Philadelphia area we always had lots of fog throughout the year. Also down the shore and up in the Pocono Mountains. Most of the time it didn't matter to me but then when I started driving it did. That was after the family moved to Harleysville in the Fall of 1968. Suddenly I was driving back and forth between Germantown and Harleysville to see my friends. That is when I really discovered the problem of the fog. There was lots of it on the road out to the country and I was constantly having to deal with it... very carefully. That went on regularly all the next year and then I was gone. In the Navy.

And the Navy was a whole other experience of fog. First I saw some strange fog out in San Diego and then it was the new experience of the fog at sea. 

Later I would again experience that fog driving from Germantown to Harleysville when I moved back to the city after getting out of the Navy and visited my mom. I liked it better when she moved down to Chestnut Hill and I stopped doing that drive in the fog. 

Then we moved to Buffalo and said goodbye to the fog. Well, even the fog we did very occasionally got in Buffalo was nothing like that fog on the Pennsylvania roads or out at sea.

Sandwich and...

For dinner tonight we decided to just make turkey sandwiches for ourselves on that great French peasant bread. Becky also wanted to make some salad and also some guacamole from one of those fresh avocados we had. Chips and guac. Sounds good. We also had some leftover home fried potatoes to use up so we heated them too.

Suddenly we had a feast and everything was delicious. 

Robert Duvall RIP

I was sad to hear that the actor Robert Duvall passed away today and then surprised to hear that he was 95 years old.

He was in so many of the films I loved over the years. He was also in a lot of TV shows early in my life when I didn't know him or who he was or who he would turn out to be later on but apparently I probably saw him a lot on so many shows in the early to mid 1960's.

Shows like The Outer Limits, Route 66, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Combat!, The Untouchables, The F.B.I. and many more. And then he was in that classic miniseries I loved from 1989... Lonesome Dove.

The films of his that really made an impression on me as a young person were these and so many more...

• To Kill A Mockingbird, 1962
• Bullitt, 1968
• True Grit, 1969
• M*A*S*H*, 1970
• THX 1138, 1971
• The Godfather, 1972
• Joe Kidd, 1972
• The Conversation, 1974
• The Godfather Part II, 1974
• The Killer Elite, 1975
• The Eagle Has Landed, 1976
• The Seven-Percent-Solution
• Network, 1976
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1978
• Apocalypse Now, 1979
• True Confessions, 1981
• The Natural, 1984

And the list would keep on going.

NBA All Star Game 2026

I've always enjoyed watching the annual NBA All Star game between the East and the West conferences and having grown up with the Phila. Sixers I naturally rooted for the East. I went to a lot of games during the Wilt Chamberlain Sixer years 1965-1968 and especially loved going to games when they played the Boston Celtics with Bill Russell on the court with Wilt. 

However, this year was something uniquely different with the all star game. It was the NBA's 75th anniversary so they created a different format to celebrate. They shifted to a 3 team mini tournament featuring four 12 minute games. Two of the teams, "Stars" and "Stipes" were made up of US born players and the third team, "World", was made up of international players. The players all played for some significant prize money.

I watched several games and it was some fun and very different. The international players lost both their games to the two US teams but they were close. The final game of the Stars over the Stripes was a blowout.

Overall it was a fun evening of NBA basketball.

Pasta Fasul

Becky made a Pasta Fasul dinner tonight. So called Peasant Food. 

It was very good. Pasta, beans and pancetta. And some very good cheese springled on top. 

And then we had some of that wonderful Heidelberg French Peasant bread with it too. 

Becky made enough of this soup that we will have some significant leftovers for the next couple of days... another dinner and probably a lunch for me too.

Dinner @ Coles with Brian

This evening Becky and I went out to dinner with our old friend and neighbor Brian at Coles. His wife Anne had to back out because of a medical procedure done to their dog who she didn't want to leave home. So after our dinner at Coles we stopped at Brian's house down the street where Anne had made a desert for us... peanut butter cookies. We hung out there for another hour or so and had a nice time.

Our dinner at Coles was wonderful as usual. I had their delicious Sheppard's Pie. Becky had their Buffalo Wrap and Brian had their Chicken Bruschetta sandwich. Brian and I had their black and tan Guinness and Southern Tier Pumpking... the Drunken Pumpkin which as become my regular pint at Coles. It wasn't on the menu this time and it looked like it was going to be reverted back to a seasonal Fall brew but they made them for me and Brian. I also had a St. Fatty's Irish Red Ale by Fat Head Brewery. Very tasty.

It was a cold Thursday night. I was surprised how quiet Coles was tonight.

Pizza & Salad

Some frozen pizza and a homemade salad. The pizza was a Rao's Pizza and was actually quite good... for a store bought frozen pizza. I liked the crispy crust and their sauce.

Becky's salad was wonderful and very tasty. A nice easy dinner.

The second picture is the salad before mixed on the plate.

The Clockwork Man - A Science Fiction Novel

The Clockwork Man by E. V. Odle, 1923. Finished this crazy thought provoking science fiction novel last night. It's considered to be the first cyborg novel written in 1923. It was a very strange story of some 8,000 years in the future when the male gender becomes indistinguishable from machine or what we now call AI allows people to pass through time and space. Then a malfunction sends this "clockwork man" stumbling back to 1923 England to pop up in the middle of a cricket game. 

This is the second book I've recently read in the series of very early 20th century proto-science fiction published by MIT Press in their self-described Radium Age of underappreciated forgotten classics from 1900-1935. 

New Tankless Hot Water Heater

Today we had a new tankless hot water heater installed. It took a little over 6 hours with two guys working. It was a lot of work and they had to rerun pipes in different patterns and also had to drill through the side of the house for the exhaust pipes. It as a very noisy job but they got it done.

He said it would take a day or so for everything to settle in. 

Bad Bunny Show & Puerto Rico

Watching the Super Bowl halftime show yesterday with Bad Bunny reminded me of how much I loved my time in Puerto Rico with the Navy. I made many trips to that island paradise in the early 70's. Here is a previous post I made about that experience. San Juan 1971.

It was shocking how racist trump and his ignorant disgusting maggats reacted to this show. How they complained about not being able to understand his singing and that the super bowl half time show should be performed by Americans. 

Like they don't know that the people of Puerto Rico are Americans. And how many half time shows over the years have been previously performed by non-Americans... like U2, Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Shakira, etc. 

YouTube Music

I also recently signed up for a trial period for YouTube Music that is included along with my YouTube Premium.

I spent several days loading playlist from my iTunes program to YouTube Music using the Tune My Music app. I had started using that app awhile ago when I was moving playlist to the Spotify app. I tried the trial period and liked it but I had used up the free uploads so now I had to purchase a subscription. It was only about $20 a year so I went ahead and got it. I'll use it this first year and then unsubscribe. So I started moving playlist from iTunes to YouTube. I also found out it was easy to also move other playlists from Spotify to YouTube Music. I now have quite a few playlist on YouTube Music.

I also moved the playlist I made for Artists in my Focus series. I still have a lot of them to move. Then in my YouTube Library I also added a lot of albums that will be easily available. I can access my YouTube Music app from my laptops, phone and tablet and play them on a speaker with Blue Tooth. Right now I'm playing a mix from YouTube Music on my kitchen speakers through the laptop.

I'm going to investigate how to play it with the car stereo next.

I decided to give up on Spotify and move to YouTube Music after reading a book on the AI driven curated playlist... Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify.

Hot Water Heater Problem

Today we had a problem with out hot water heater. I was sitting in the kitchen when I heard an unusual noise coming from the basement. I went down to check it out.

I immediately saw water on the floor. Lots of it. There was also a strange sound coming from the hot water heater. I looked around and saw there was water coming out of the bottom of the water heater in fast drips. I started cleaning up the water and directing the flow to the closer floor drain by the sinks. Most of the water had been going across the basement and then along the wall to the floor drain at the front of the house.

We have a service contract with Reimer Heating and Plumbing. It was a Sunday morning at 11 am and I called them to report the problem. They promised a technician would come by today and inspect the water heater. In the meantime I closed the valve for the water entering the heater. A few minutes the water stopped coming out of the bottom of the heater. The problem was that the water throughout the house stopped coming out of pipes. I waited a little bit and then turned the valve back on. Over the next few hours we did have water but not hot water.

In the meantime I went online to do a little researching of the problem. Mostly it had to do with our hot water heater aging out. It was just about ten years old. I saw that hot water heaters generally last between 8 and 12 years which makes ours about average for failure. The problem looked like it was leaking from corrosion at the base of the heater which is a very common problem for old water heaters. 

I started researching new heaters including the newer tankless water heaters both gas and electric. It looked like we were probably going to spending some serious money to get a new hot water heater.

The technician came by around 4:30 and looked at our heater problem. I highly recommended a new one which we were expecting. He was very knowledgeable and spent some significant time going over our basement plumbing and gas line layout. He mapped out where the new appliance would go and where the pipes would run. It was a big job because of the basement pipe situation and the labor would be a large percentage of the cost.

He used his tablet to map out the pipe installation and the set up of the gasless heater on the back wall. There would also need to be exhaust pipes going outside but the back porch made it necessary to run the pipes out the side along the walkway to the backyard. I would have rather had on the other side of the house but that was just too much work redoing all of the pipes in the basement including both water and gas.

He came up with a total cost $8,656.08. He sent me the estimate to my email.

He said the work could be done on Tuesday morning which meant we had one more day of water issues.

- 6 Degrees

When we woke up this morning the temperature was -6 degrees. The past several days have been full of frigid temperatures but this is crazy. We haven't had a winter like this in many years. Lots of snow and seriously freezing temperatures.

Another Bitter Cold Day

Woke up this morning and the temperature was -2 degrees. By 8 o'clock it was -1 and now at 9 am it's 0 degrees and snowing.

Von Trapp Kolsch - Glass of Beer

I've been enjoying a nice six pack of Kolsch Style Ale from Von Trapp Brewing of Vermont. A very tasty ale. Becky had picked up the six pack recently from Dash's Market. She really knows what I like.

I'm getting ready to start reading that Robyn Hitchcock memoir she got me for Xmas.

YouTube Premium

Today I signed up for YouTube Premium. Right now it is a one month free trial but I will do the annual fee in March because it is a better deal than the monthly fee and I know we will like it.

We have been watching a lot of YouTube videos over the past few years. We often turn it on later in the evening before going to bed to watch the clips of late night comedy opening monologues. There are a bunch of them we watch including segments from Saturday Night Live along with Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and occasionally Bill Maher.

Often times during the day I put YouTube on to watch classical music concerts. Lots of classical or Spanish guitar too. I also love watching old clips of jazz and rock music concerts. Sometimes I put the music clips on the TV and then read or putter around the house doing some chores.

So now we have all of that video activity ad free. No more interruptions at odd times in a concert or monologue. With YouTube Premium there are also many more options of films and shows to watch. This is going to be great... we'll see.

Dinner @ Saigon Bangkok

Tonight we had a wonderful dinner at an old favorite, Saigon Bangkok Restaurant, where we haven't been to in quite a few years. We've had take out but this was the first time we sat down at the restaurant and enjoyed their outstanding food and service. We were planning to go out to dinner with some friends but they had to postpone our going out together until next week so instead Becky and I decided yesterday to head out to Saigon Bangkok.

We started out with a couple of Crispy Spring Rolls. I had also ordered a Singha Thai Pale Lager beer which was great. Then we had some Tom Yom Goong Soup with chicken. We shared our main course which was Pad Thai Noodles & Chicken and a bowl of piping hot Yellow Curry. Yum.

The food was amazingly delicious and the service was outstanding... just as we remembered it. We won't wait very long before going back there and continue to explore their great menu.

We brought home a couple of containers of leftovers that will make a nice dinner tomorrow night.

Old Navy Belts

During my recent cleaning out some boxes of "stuff" on the 3rd floor I came across a couple of old Navy belts that I was issued at boot camp in 1970. The dark blue one I wore all the time for many years with my classic Navy bell bottomed dungarees. The other one, an olive drab cotton pistol belt, I don't remember ever wearing except for a brief time in basic training.

I'm giving them to Becky to sell on e-Bay. I'll never wear them and they don't come close to fitting anymore. I'm surprised they even fit me when I was 18 years old.

What We Can Know - A Novel

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, 2025. Another quick read. About nine days. This was a fascinating story about a search for a lost famous poem from the early 21st century by an academic scholar researching within the library archives in a climate changed drowned Britain in 2119. It's also a complicated love story too but mostly a look at our times as seen from the point of view of that dystopian future. We got blamed for the future. 

It was kind of like a science fiction novel but without the science. I think I read this novel quickly because I wanted it to be over. 

The only other Ian McEwan novel I've read was Atonement back in 2002. 

Old Neighborhood Irish Red Ale - Glass of Beer

The other day I went to the Co-Op with Becky and while we were there I went over and looked at their beer selection which is always very good. I picked out a six pack of Old Neighborhood Irish Red Ale from one of our local brewers Resurgence Brewery at a very reasonable price. This evening I had my first taste of it and it was delicious. Loved this beer and gave it a 4.25 on Untapped. 

Did my glass of beer pic with a book too. I'm reading this 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and The Lost Empire of Cool by James Kaplan, 2024. A book Becky got me for Xmas.

Mira Restaurant Reservations

For the past couple of months Becky and I have been interested in checking out the new restaurant on Elmwood Avenue located in the former Pano's Restaurant. The new restaurant is called Mira and is owned by several local experienced restaurant people and is serving Mediterranean cuisine from Spain, Greece and Italy. 

We had been waiting for it to open and several times we were on that block and could see the renovations going on. Then one day in early November we were walking over to Coles from where we parked on Bird Ave and saw that Mira was open. People were sitting at tables and at the bar. It was early in the evening and there looked to be plenty of room. We went in and asked for a table. The person at the staff entrance desk asked if we had reservations and it turned out that the entire restaurant was booked because it was the Grand Opening Night. So we went out and across the street to Coles.

The next day or so I went online to make a reservation but it was booked up for the next two months. I tried several times in November and December to book a table but it was always filled many weeks ahead. Almost two months. A few times we have been to Coles or in the neighborhood and saw that the restaurant parking lot was full and there were crowds on both floors.

I figured the best way to get a reservation was to book a table for 4 on a Thursday some time in the future and then ask someone to join us as the time got closer. Today I went online and made a reservation. The closes time I could get for an evening was in mid-March. I made a 5:30 pm reservation for Thursday on March 19th. I also tried to make a second reservation for April but the system apparently only lets you make reservations within a two month period so April and beyond was not available yet. At sometime over the next few weeks I'll make another reservation for a table for 4 in April.

At some time in early March we'll ask another couple to join us for dinner at Mira.

Last Day of January 2026

It's cold and dreary. Cloudy and snowy. It's the last day of January 2026 and I think it would be a good day to stay home and keep warm. Sometimes the sun would come out and there would be a little blue sky and then a few minutes later the clouds would come along with the snow. Back and forth all day. Lake effect cells passing by.

Parkside Meadow w/ Dave & Donna

Yesterday Becky was on the phone with Dave and during their conversation he suggested that we should all go down to the Parkside Meadow for a fish fry tomorrow. I contacted to ask what time and he initially said 4:30. I made a joke about it and we agreed on 5. Becky and I would have gone down there at 5:30 or 6. Then I called the PM and made a reservation for 4 at 5pm. 

This evening we walked down there at about 4:45 and it took about ten minutes to walk because of the snow. We took our time and it actually wasn't bad. All of the sidewalks from our house to the PM were shoveled and the street corners were OK to walk across. We got there and the bar area was full but we were the first people in the dining room. We were given a table in the middle of the room. It was OK but there were better tables. We asked for a booth but the waitress said they were all reserved. Then we asked about a table along the wall but they too were reserved. Friday night is always very busy for them and people ask for reservations at specific tables. Well, will know better next time.

While we were waiting for Dave and Donna to arrive Len, the owner and our neighbor, came by and chatted with us for awhile. D & D sat down and we continued talking with Len. Meanwhile some folks started coming in. By the time our ordered drinks arrived, me and Dave got beers, Donna got a glass of wine and Becky got an NA, people were coming in and those booths filled up. By 5:30 the dining room had almost filled up. By 6 the place was jammed, the bar area full and the back dining room was half filled too. 

Dave and I got the fish fry with their homemade chips. The cole slaw was good too. Becky got a beef on weck with chips and Donna got a tuna melt. The food was fine and we had a great time. The service was good and although it was crowded we could still sit at our table and have conversations. 

There were a lot of people I knew in the restaurant. Mostly from serving on the PCA board. I said Hi to about a dozen people in the restaurant.

We finished up around 6:45 and headed for the exit but it took a little while because we stopped at a friend's table and chatted a little. Dave and Donna had driven down to the restaurant but they had to park about a block and a half down the street so we walked along with them. After our goodbyes we continued down Russell and over Crescent to our house. It was all pretty quick and although it was cold we were dressed for it and there was no wind. Overall a very good night and we'll go again sometime soon.

Bitter Cold Again

Woke up to another morning of sunny weather with temperatures below zero. It's been very cold almost everyday for the past few weeks. It's usually been single digit temperatures and occasionally going up into the teens. It's been awhile since it was in the 20s. Above freezing... can't remember. There hasn't been a January Thaw this year.

We've had a lot of lake effect snow but the lake must have frozen over so why all that extra snow. We have about 7 or 8 inches on the ground now but it mostly came in small steady increments with nothing melting.

This bad January weather has been happening all over the East, Midwest and the South. We were talking with Katie and the kids on video chat and they were excited about all the snow they had in Philly. 

Yesterday I cleaned off the car three times. I've been trying to keep up with the snow shoveling. A few times this month I used the snowblower but mostly I've been shoveling. Yesterday later in the day the plows came by and buried our driveway with heavy street snow. So I had to go out there again and dig through it. Me and all the neighbors too. 

So later today we are going out for a fish fry with Dave and Donna down at the Parkside Meadow. We plan to walk there so we will be very bundled up. The temperatures will be about 9 or 10 degrees in the early evening.

2054: A Novel

2054: A Novel by Elliot Ackerman & James Stavridis, 2024. I read this in about a week in January. It was a quick read but rather unsatisfying. I think I read this one fast because I kept thinking something exciting would be happening just around the corner, just another chapter. Well, it did describe AI run amok and the results of lots of conspiracy theories. It was a novel of speculative fiction that takes place 30 years in the future. 

I read their first novel together... 2034: A Novel of the Next World War which they published in 2021 and I wrote about at the time. I liked that political thriller a lot but something was missing this time. It took the story about 20 year further into the future and shows us where our society is heading. And the coming Singularity and possible Civil War. 

Bruce Springsteen's Streets of Minneapolis

Bruce Springsteen has always been very vocal in his opposition to the trump regime in many ways. This week he released a new protest song he wrote specifically addressing the issues of police brutality and trumpian ICE fascism in Minneapolis and around the country.

Here are the lyrics...

"Streets Of Minneapolis"

Through the winter's ice and cold
Down Nicolet Avenue
A city aflame fought fire and ice
'Neath an occupier's boots
King Trump's private army from the DHS
Guns belted to their coats
Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law
Or so their story goes
Against smoke and rubber bullets
By the dawn's early light
Citizens stood for justice
Their voices ringing through the night
And there were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets
Alex Pretti and Renee Good

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We'll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of '26
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

Trump's federal thugs beat up on
His face and his chest
Then we heard the gunshots
And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead
Their claim was self defense, sir
Just don't believe your eyes
It's our blood and bones
And these whistles and phones
Against Miller and Noem's dirty lies

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Crying through the bloody mist
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

Now they say they're here to uphold the law
But they trample on our rights
If your skin is black or brown my friend
You can be questioned or deported on sight

In chants of ICE out now
Our city's heart and soul persists
Through broken glass and bloody tears
On the streets of Minneapolis

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of '26
We'll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

JT's with Dick & Iris

We had a wonderful dinner tonight with Dick and Iris at JT's. I had the Rigatoni Bolognese which I've had there several times and love. I also had my usual Tuscan Blend wine and then followed it up with a nice Peroni draft beer.

Everyone else had seafood. Becky had the Shrimp Scampi. Dick had a Dover Sole which was stuffed with clam and crab with a lobster sauce. Iris had the Grilled Whole Trout. Wow. And we started off with a large plate of Sauteed Mussels. All of us except Becky who doesn't eat mussels. It was delicious and a little hot too. 

The restaurant was busy for a snowy Wednesday night but it was also kind of quiet. It was nice sitting there at our table and enjoying our conversations. We ended up sitting at our table together for a little over two hours. The service was wonderful as always and the staff were exceptionally friendly.

It was also kind of a crazy snowy night on Elmwood Avenue and from our table we could see the snow coming down and at times it looked like a white out. Becky and I parked the car in our usual spot on Bidwell and as we walked the block and a half to JT's we had snow blowing in our faces. We couldn't believe how much snow was coming down. It was snowing when we left the house but not very much and it wasn't until we got over to Elmwood that suddenly we were in white out conditions. It snowed a little throughout the day but it wasn't forecasted for snow this evening. This was all some crazy lake effect snow. We had to shake ourselves off after we walked into the restaurant. Our reservation was for 6:30 but we got there about 15 minutes early. We sat at our table to wait for Dick and Iris. We were concerned for them. They arrived at 6:30 and Dick let Iris off at the door then we parked the car right out in front. We helped Iris in with her walker and got her seated at our table.

During our Christmas Eve dinner Dick and I talked about getting together soon to go out to dinner at a restaurant. We had been talking about this all year whenever we were together for some family event when the kids were in town. Going out to dinner would be a chance for just the four of us to get together. So because of Iris's mobility issues they should pick a restaurant.

Dick had contacted us recently and suggested dinner. We agreed right away and said we were flexible. They decided on JT's restaurant which is one of our favorite places for dinner and picked the day and time... Wednesday Jan. 28 at 6:30 pm. Everything went very well despite the snow.

Right before we left we talked about doing this again at another restaurant but in the Spring. Dick and Iris are traveling to California to spend time with Jeremy, Rachel and the kids and plan to spend about 4 weeks there. Now that's a nice break in the weather.

Woke - IFLA

Our friend in Australia has something to say about being "woke". Here he goes...

"WOKE": A BUZZWORD FOR DICKHEADS WHO RAN OUT OF ARGUMENTS

Right, let's talk about the word "woke", the favorite fucking weapon of every brain-dead culture warrior who can't form an actual argument to save their miserable life.

You know how you can tell someone's a complete fucking moron? They use "woke" as an insult. It's become the intellectual equivalent of just shitting your pants and declaring victory. Can't argue the actual point? Just yell "that's woke!" and waddle away like you've accomplished something.

Let me give you the history of this word, because these dickheads don't even know what they're saying half the time.

"Woke" started in Black American communities decades ago. It meant being aware, staying woke to racism, to injustice, to the systems designed to keep people down. It was about consciousness, about not being asleep to what's really happening in the world. Pretty reasonable shit, yeah?

But then white people discovered it, and like everything else we touch, we fucked it up completely.

Now "woke" means… what exactly? Depends which frothing dickhead you ask.

Teaching actual history in schools? WOKE!
Acknowledging climate change exists? WOKE!
Thinking maybe women should have rights over their own bodies? WOKE!
Suggesting we don't need seventeen guns per person? WOKE!
Not being a cunt to gay people? WOKE!
Putting a Black person in a movie? WOKE!
Teaching kids that slavery happened and was bad? WOKE!

It's become a fucking catch-all for anything that makes me slightly uncomfortable or challenges my worldview in the tiniest possible way.

You've got politicians ranting about "woke ideology" like it's some organized conspiracy. Mate, there's no secret woke headquarters. There's no Woke Pope issuing woke decrees. It's just people asking to be treated like fucking human beings and not wanting their kids taught lies about history.

Ron DeSantis in Florida, perfect example. This dickhead's fighting a war against "woke" by banning books, censoring teachers, rewriting history curriculums to make slavery sound like a fucking vocational training program. "Actually, slaves learned valuable skills!" Get absolutely fucked. That's not anti-woke, that's pro-stupid.

And the books they're banning? Not pornography. Not dangerous material. Books about Ruby Bridges, the six-year-old who integrated schools. Books about the Holocaust. Books with gay characters who have the audacity to just exist.

Apparently teaching kids that gay people are real is "woke indoctrination". But teaching them that God created the Earth 6,000 years ago and dinosaurs are a liberal hoax? That's just "parents' rights". Fuck off.

Here's what really pisses me off, these cunts use "woke" to avoid engaging with actual arguments.

"Maybe we should address systemic racism in policing."
"That's woke!"
"Okay, but what about these statistics showing"
"WOKE WOKE WOKE!"

It's intellectual fucking bankruptcy. They can't argue the merits, so they just slap a label on it and declare themselves the winner. It's what people do when they've got no actual counter-argument but their feelings are hurt.

And corporations, don't even get me started on corporations using "woke" as a marketing strategy, then conservatives losing their shit about it.

Bud Light put a trans person in an ad and you'd think they'd declared war on masculinity itself. Grown men filming themselves shooting beer cans, destroying cases of Bud Light they'd already paid for. Really showed them, didn't you? Anheuser-Busch is crying all the way to the bank while you're drinking Coors and pretending you won something.

M&Ms made their cartoon candy mascots less sexy. WOKE! Mate, if you were sexually attracted to the green M&M, the problem isn't woke culture, it's that you need therapy.

Disney has characters who aren't white and straight. WOKE! Yeah, because the real world only has white straight people, right? Representation equals woke propaganda apparently. Meanwhile, every movie for decades had all-white casts and nobody called that propaganda. Funny how that works.

The Australian version is just as cooked. We've got dickheads ranting about "woke ABC" because the national broadcaster has the audacity to report facts they don't like. Climate change is real? WOKE! Indigenous people deserve recognition? WOKE! Fact-checking politicians' lies? WOKE!

Pauline Hanson loves this shit. She's made a career out of it. Everything's woke. Immigration policy based on actual economics instead of racism? WOKE! Teaching Indigenous history? WOKE! Not being a xenophobic nightmare? WOKE!

Here's the thing these cunts don't understand, calling something "woke" isn't an argument. It's just you admitting you can't engage with the actual issue.

"Woke" has become a thought-terminating cliché. It stops you from having to think. It's a shield against reality. It's what you say when you want to oppose something but you're too fucking lazy or stupid to articulate why.

And the beautiful irony? The people screaming about "woke" are the most sensitive fucking snowflakes on the planet.

They'll cry about "cancel culture" while trying to cancel anything that disagrees with them. They'll scream about "freedom of speech" while banning books and censoring teachers. They'll whine about being "silenced" on their massive media platforms watched by millions.

You're not being silenced, you're just being criticized. And you can't handle it.
Some trans kid wants to use the bathroom in peace? These dickheads lose their fucking minds, form committees, pass laws, make it a national emergency. But try to regulate guns after another school shooting? "Don't politicize this tragedy!" 

Apparently dead kids are less important than making sure trans kids suffer.

Climate change? "Woke alarmism!" Never mind the scientists, never mind the data, never mind that the fucking planet is on fire. Exxon knew about climate change in the 1970s and buried it, but sure, teenage activists are the problem.

Want to know what "woke" actually means now? It means "I don't like this but I'm too intellectually lazy to explain why, so I'll just use this magic word that makes my fellow dickheads nod in agreement."

It's a tribal signal. It's a way to identify your team without having to think. It's the equivalent of a secret handshake for morons.

And the grift, oh, the grift is beautiful. You've got an entire ecosystem of right-wing grifters making millions by screaming about woke this and woke that. They don't believe half the shit they're saying, they're just selling outrage to idiots who'll buy anything that confirms their biases.

Jordan Peterson made a fortune crying about pronouns. Matt Walsh pretends not to know what a woman is. Ben Shapiro speed-talks his way through bad arguments and declares victory. They're not intellectuals, they're performers. And "woke" is their favorite prop.

Here's what "woke" used to mean, being aware of injustice.
Here's what it means now, anything that challenges my prejudices or makes me feel slightly uncomfortable.

You want to know if something's actually "woke" in the way these dickheads mean it? Ask yourself, does it make the world slightly more fair? Does it challenge power structures? Does it ask people to think critically?

If yes, they'll call it woke and lose their fucking minds.
Teaching accurate history instead of propaganda? They'll call it woke.
Acknowledging that racism didn't end in 1965? Woke.
Suggesting that maybe billionaires should pay taxes? Woke.
Thinking healthcare is a human right? Woke.
Not wanting the planet to be uninhabitable? Woke.

Basically, "woke" now means "thing that requires me to give a shit about someone who isn't me". And that's apparently too much to ask.

The funniest part? These are the same cunts who'll tell you to "stop being so sensitive" and "facts don't care about your feelings", right before they have a complete meltdown because a mermaid is Black or a beer can has a trans person on it.

THEIR feelings matter. YOUR feelings are you being woke.
So next time someone calls something "woke" as an argument, you know exactly what they're telling you, I've got no actual argument, I'm intellectually lazy, and I'd rather use a buzzword than engage my brain.

And you can safely ignore every fucking word that comes out of their mouth after that.

Because "woke" isn't an argument. It's a surrender. It's what you say when you've already lost but you're too proud to admit it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do something extremely woke, like reading a book, or believing in science, or treating people with basic fucking dignity.
The horror.

A Summer Dinner in January

Becky made some nice hamburgers today for dinner. We were joking around that it was a summer dinner... in January and it was snowing. She made some very tasty sweet potato fries along with a salad. 

A January White-Out

This afternoon we had a very sudden and intense winter storm white-out. Within less than a half hour after taking these photos the sun came out and there were some blue skies. Strange weather from our lake effect. We didn't even have a January thaw this year.

December was milder than usual but then the snows came from across the country. The Mid-Atlantic has had a tough winter.

Our winter this year and January in particular has been much stronger and more of the traditional Buffalo winter that we have come to expect over the years that I've been living here but that we hadn't experienced much of over the past several years. Our winters have been much milder overall with the occasional big storm.