Barbara Tuchman - Authors List

Barbara W. Tuchman - Authors List. 5 books read. I first discovered this amazing historian when I came across her new book A Distant Mirror a few months after it was published in 1978. I read it the following summer and loved it. This has been one of my favorite history books and still have a copy on a book shelf.

I then read four more of her histories over the next several years. Because of her I did read many more books on middle ages over the years and continue today.

• A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, 1978 - Jul 1979
• Stillwell and the American Experience in China: 1911-1945, 1971 - Jul 1980
• The Guns of August, 1962 - Nov 1983
• The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam, 1984 - Apr 1986
• The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution, 1988 - Feb 1989

Dinner @ Cafe 59

We had another wonderful dinner tonight at Cafe 59 on Allen Street and sat at a table in the front window. I had there delicious Harvest Wrap with roasted turkey, candied walnuts, dried cranberries, field greens, gorgonzola, and balsamic vinaigrette. This is one of my favorite items on their menu. Becky had their Chicken Finger Sub. We also had a side of their amazing Potato Wedges. I also had a Port City Belgian Wit. Cafe 59 has been one of our favorite restaurants for years.

Jim Thompson - Authors List

Jim Thompson - Authors List. 5 books read. This was a classic hardboiled crime fiction author. He wrote over 30 novels mostly in the 1950's. 

The first book I read was The Grifters in 1981. During that time period I was reading a lot of classic crime novels including Dashiell Hammett.

• The Grifters, 1963 - Apr 1981
• Savage Night, 1953 - Oct 1982
• The Getaway, 1958 - Dec 1984
• Wild Town, 1957 - Jan 1987
• The Killer Inside Me, 1952 - Nov 2004

100 Living Songwriters

NY Times

Repost @nytimes:

As soon as we decided to make a list of the 30 greatest LIVING AMERICAN songwriters, we could guess how readers would respond to the results: with a combination of enthusiasm and outrage, quickly letting us know which of their favorites we had unconscionably forgotten.

We didn’t want all that passion to go undocumented. So we invited readers to assemble their own list in a formal poll. More than 25,000 ballots were cast, producing nearly 12,000 distinct choices. We spent weeks combing through the votes to tabulate the results.

Finally, here they are: the top 100 songwriters, according to our readers. They’re annotated throughout with facts, testimonials and interesting patterns we noticed in the data.

30 Living Songwriters

The New York Times recently posted a list of 30 greatest living songwriters as determined by their critics. Posted here. 

The expanded list of 100 created by a reader's poll is much better. The NY Times post is here.

Ego Power Chaos

From Vets Against Trump

After Fred Trump died and left Donald Trump a fortune estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, Trump spent much of his life bouncing from one failure to another.

There are really only two undeniable successes on his résumé:
* The Apprentice, which transformed him from a struggling businessman into a television celebrity.
* Winning a second presidential term, which allowed him and his family to cash in on their political fame in ways most presidents never have.
But even as Trump profits personally, the list of failures surrounding this presidency continues to grow.
* Renaming institutions and attaching his name to everything in sight.
* The turmoil surrounding the Kennedy Center.
* Damaged relationships with longtime allies.
* Tariff policies that have created economic uncertainty.
* Continued chaos and turnover within his administration.
* An increasingly unpopular conflict with Iran.

And now there is another warning sign that even some Republicans are beginning to lose confidence.

The House recently passed a War Powers Resolution aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to continue military operations in Iran without congressional authorization. Four Republicans broke ranks and voted with Democrats, sending a message that cracks may be starting to appear in what was once nearly automatic Republican support for Trump.

That’s what makes the vote significant.

It isn’t really about four Republicans.

It’s about the fact that after years of loyalty, some members of Trump’s own party are finally willing to publicly tell him “no.”

Meanwhile, his polling numbers are slipping, public frustration is growing, allies are questioning America’s reliability, and controversy continues to follow this administration from one headline to the next.

Yet through it all, Trump continues to insist he is the greatest president ever, the smartest leader ever, the best dealmaker ever, and the most successful businessman ever.

The question isn’t whether Trump will declare victory.

The question is:

What could possibly go wrong next?

Because every time you think the chaos has reached its limit, Trump seems determined to prove there is always another level.

As this old veteran sees it, real leaders don’t spend all day telling people they’re great. Eventually, the results have to speak for themselves.

If you enjoy my political commentary, observations, and occasional dose of sarcasm, please consider following me. I may not always be right, but I promise I’ll always give you my honest opinion—and probably a few laughs along the way.

– Jim Lager, this old veteran

WOW 2026

This evening we attended the first Parkside Wine on Wednesday for the season. It was a perfectly beautiful night for a neighborhood party and there was a great crowd. We knew most of the people there and met a few more. A lot of old friends.

Looking forward to a few more of these get-togethers.

Tom Petty Anthology - Kitchen Listening

Kitchen Listening with a couple of Tom Petty anthology compilations. Started yesterday with the Anthology: Through The Years, 2000. A double CD album featuring the best of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. I followed that up today with The Live Anthology, 2009 which is a 4 CD compilation of live material recorded from concerts between 1980 and 2007. This awesome set of music played for nearly 6 hours. I'm sorry I never got to see him perform live in concert.

Scott Pelley & CBS

From Occupy Democrats

BREAKING: Iconic “60 Minutes” journalist Scott Pelley drops EXPLOSIVE allegations after the new pro-Trump CBS News FIRES him after 37 years, saying he “was told to lie" in news stories by Trump's corporate minions.

For years during the Trump era, Americans have watched one news organization after another bend the knee to political pressure, corporate interests, billionaire owners, and partisan agendas.

But what veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley just alleged may be one of the MOST disturbing warnings yet from inside a major American newsroom.

After 37 years at CBS News, Pelley says he was FIRED tonight because the network's new pro-Trump leadership abandoned the principles that made 60 Minutes one of the most trusted institutions in journalism.

And his allegations are HISTORIC in nature.

Pelley didn't merely complain about management. He didn't simply criticize corporate restructuring. He accused the new MAGA CBS leadership of attempting to CORRUPT the news itself:

"New management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story."

Read that again.

"New management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story."

WOW. Pelley is openly accusing CBS News of lying to the American people to hide Trump’s corruption. He continued: "I've been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them."

This represents a DIRECT assault on the core principles of journalism.

But Pelley says the problems didn't stop there.

"Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast."

That is an EXTRAORDINARY accusation.

The entire purpose of an independent press is that journalists decide how politicians are questioned — NOT the other way around.

As Pelley bluntly put it:

"Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done."
No kidding. The allegations become even more alarming when viewed in the broader context surrounding CBS and Paramount.

For months, critics have questioned whether CBS corporate executives were softening coverage and restructuring news operations in hopes of maintaining favorable relations with the Trump administration to enrich shareholders and ensure that Paramount’s multibillion-dollar upcoming merger with Skydance is approved by Trump’s FCC.

Now one of the most respected journalists in America appears to be CONFIRMING those fears from the inside.

"Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration."

"60 Minutes lost its DNA. Our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause."

"Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience."
"They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias."

"They stood for professionalism against chaos."

But perhaps the most heartbreaking part of Pelley's statement was his conclusion:
"The collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone."

"And so I must leave as well."

Let that sink in. Scott Pelley spent nearly FOUR DECADES building his career at CBS News. He could have quietly accepted the changes. He could have collected a paycheck and remained silent. Instead, he chose to walk away while publicly warning Americans about what he says is happening behind the scenes.

"I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return."

Whether you're a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, one thing should unite us: No corporation should be telling journalists to LIE in stories. No politician should be CHOOSING which reporters interview them. And no news organization should sacrifice truth in exchange for political favors.

We salute Scott Pelley for being a shining example of integrity in the face of Trump's war on truthful journalism!

Philip K. Dick - Authors List

Philip K. Dick - Authors List. 6 Books. An interesting science fiction author who has written about 45 novels and numerous short story collections. I've read five novels and one collection. I had known about this author for many years but it took the movie Blade Runner for me to read a novel. Then it was another 20 years before I starting reading him again. There are plenty more I should check out.

I also liked the TV series of The Man in the High Castle. 

• Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968 - Nov 1986
• Ubik, 1969 - Nov 2007
• The Divine Invasion, 1981- Aug 2009
• VALIS, 1981 -  Oct 2009
• The Minority Report: Collection of Short Stories, 2002 - Dec 2009
• The Man in the High Castle, 1962 - Jul 2016

Typical Day for the Orange Turd

Trump had another mental health episode today.

This is what trump posted on social media 57 times.

The photo is also from today

11:15 AM - Trump attacks judge who said he couldn’t put his name on the Kennedy Center
12:03 PM - Says he may perform and give a speech at the America 250 event instead of artists who cancelled
12:08 PM - Says Obama filled the Reflecting Pool with Garbage
12:09 PM - Attacks Biden
12:09 PM - Posts edited photo of Columbus Circle in DC with the caption “CLEAN”
12:10 PM - Attacks Biden again
12:11 PM - Posts AI photo of him and George Washington riding horses in front of the White House with a space shuttle and race car in the background
12:11 PM - Attacks Rosie O’Donnell
12:11 PM - Posts photo of him in front of the American flag
12:11 PM - Brags about his endorsed candidates winning
12:12 PM - Attack Obama and Biden over the reflecting pool
12:12 PM - Posts photo of him pointing at the camera
12:13 PM - Posts photo of the UFC event cage he’s building at the White House
12:13 PM - Posts an AI image of a “golden dome” for the White House
12:15 PM - Defends Jaxson Dart, calling him a “winner” and his critics “losers”
12:45 PM - Posts an AI image of him as a NY Knicks basketball player dunking on Governor Kathy Hochul
12:56 PM - Posts an AI image of him with Tom Brady
1:03 PM - Posts a garbage can labeling it “The Obama Presidential Library”
1:16 PM - Says America is back
1:16 PM - Says America is back again
1:16 PM - Says America is back for the 3rd time
1:55 PM - Posts an AI image of him golfing
2:55 PM - Says he’s in “excellent health” lol
3:17 PM - Promotes his Fox News interview with Lara Trump
4:33 PM - Attacks the Pope again
4:54 PM - Posts a weird image of him staring at Greenland (which he has posted already)
4:57 PM - Posts an AI image of the “drone port” he wants to build on top of the ballroom
5:33 PM - Attacks Biden
5:33 PM - Attacks Biden x2
5:34 PM - Attacks Biden x3
5:34 PM - Attacks Biden x4
5:34 PM - Attacks Biden x5
5:35 PM - Posts cartoon image of Governors Newsom, Pritzker, and Hochul saying they like crime (Trump is a felon)
5:36 PM - Posts meme about Republicans who voted to release the Epstein files losing their primaries
5:36 PM - Posts an old tweet of his where he attacks “disloyal” Republicans
5:37 PM - Posts an old tweet where he said he wants to stop the world from “killing itself”
5:37 PM - Posts a mock up of a “Trump Peace Prize” which may be the most useless peace prize known to man
5:37 PM - Posts a photo of a B-2 bomber with the caption “Trump energy 2026”
5:37 PM - Posts a photo of his face on Mount Rushmore
5:38 PM - Posts an image of him kissing the American flag (he’s the least patriotic president we’ve ever had)
5:39 PM - Compares himself to George Washington
5:39 PM - Says you were convinced to think a photo of a family sitting on a car is “evil” and billions were spent to do that (???)
5:50 PM - Says we should “physically audit” Fort Knox
5:50 PM - Posts an image of him cosplaying as a navy commander
5:51 PM - Posts another image of his face on Mount Rushmore
5:51 PM - Posts another photo of him and George Washington
6:09 PM - Attacks Biden again
6:09 PM - Attacks Biden x2
6:09 PM - Attacks Biden x3
6:09 PM - Posts an old photo of himself and King Charles
6:12 PM - Posts an old photo of himself and President XI in China
6:12 PM - Posts another photo of himself and President Xi
6:22 PM - Posts a photo of himself walking in China
6:48 PM - Says the U.S. should have a ballroom because China has one
7:03 PM - Says he wants to cancel his America 250 celebration and replace it with a MAGA rally
7:56 PM - Promotes Mark Levin’s show on Fox News
7:59 PM - Promotes his Fox News interview with Lara Trump
All in one day. This man is not well. Impeachment and removal NOW.

Yukio Mishima - Authors List

Yukio Mishima - Authors List. I read five Mishima novels all in one year. 1978. The first book I read was The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea but that was about a year or so after I saw the film version with Kris Kristofferson that was released in 1976. I was fascinated with the story and really wanted to read the novel the movie was based on. Then it was on with reading the Sea of Fertility series.

In June 1978 I just finished my four years at Temple University with a degree in Media and Film Studies. I relaxed that summer reading these books.

• The Sailor Who Fell Grace With The Sea, 1963 - Jun 1978
• Spring Snow, 1969 - Jul 1978
• Runaway Horses, 1969 - Aug 1978
• The Temple of Dawn, 1970 - Aug 1978
• The Decay of the Angel, 1971 - Sep 1978

Chicken Dinner

Becky made a wonderful chicken cutlet dinner with some nice potatoes in butter. Nice salad too.

It was a delicious dinner after a nice walk through the neighborhood.

Sonny Rollins - Kitchen Listening 4

Kitchen Listening. Sonny Rollins. The Freelance Years: The Complete Riverside and Contemporary Recordings 1956 - 1958, 2000 - 5 CD Set. 

Another set of listening to Sonny Rollins this week. This collection brings together many of the albums from that two year period where he played on other artist's albums and some of his own works on the Riverside and Contemporary record company albums. This box set also includes the Thelonious Monk album Brilliant Corners from 1957. 

Overall a nice addition to the series of his albums I've been listening to this week.

The Image

The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel J. Boorstin, 1962. I came across this book while recently browsing the American history section of the Canisius College Library. Browsing a library is becoming a lost art. So I came across this book and picked it up. I had read some of Boorstin's American history books over the years but not in a long time.

I finished this today and enjoyed it's perspective of it's time although I did skip over a few spots here and there which I don't usually do but some of this content was dated although interesting. I especially liked his views on some of the early concepts of American culture that we take for granted today but were relatively new when he was writing. Things like advertising, mass media, travel agencies, reader's digest, political polling, changes in technology, etc. 

Downtown Evening

Becky had to drop off some artwork at Book Arts downtown at Washington and Mohawk. We decided to go for a walk around the area and then go somewhere for dinner. We decided on dinner at the Streetlight Brassiere. We had a nice meal there last year.

We went down there at 4 pm, hung out a little bit talking with the staff and then walked around the area. Mike told us about a tiny mall nearby that was interesting to explore on Main Street. The entrance was a book store and a narrow hallway took us through to several businesses that ended with a ramen restaurant. We walked up and down several streets before heading over to the Streetlight at 5 pm. 

We had a wonderful dinner. Very tasty and the service was great. I had their Streetlight Smashburger and Becky had a Buffalo Chicken sandwich. We shared an order of fries. I also had a Sapporo Lager on tap.

When we came into the restaurant the host sat us at a prime location table at the front window where we had a great view of the downtown neighborhood and the happy hour bar crowd.

Sonny Rollins - Kitchen Listening 3

Another set of Sonny Rollins Kitchen Listening. Three compilation albums and then a live album.

The Prestige Profiles album features selections from his albums on the Prestige label 1953 to 1956. The Blue Note years cover 1956 and 1957. The RCA years were from 1957 to 1962. The live album at the Village Vanguard was recorded in 1957.

• Prestige Profiles: Sonny Rollins, 2004
• Best of Sonny Rollins: The Blue Note Years, 1989
• The Essential Sonny Rollins: The RCA Years, 2005
• A Night at the Village Vanguard, 1958

Bags of Mulch

Today we went over to the garden center at Home Depot and got 8 bags of mulch and a couple of bags of soil. A bag of grass seed too. It's that time of year and we are a little behind because of the week we recently spent at Katie's house. Tomorrow Becky is going to the garden center to buy plants.

It's nice to go there and buy this stuff then drive to the back lot and someone loads it into the car for you. But of course we had to get it out of the car, on to a wheel barrow and then get it out to the backyard... one bag at a time.

Sonny Rollins - Kitchen Listening 2

Listened to more classic Sonny Rollins today. This time some earlier albums from the 1950's in my collection. This set went on for about three hours.

I was a tenor sax player in my teens and Sonny Rollins was an early influence. I had some friends that played sax with me in the Uptown Mummers String Band who were older than me and liked playing music for me because I was always interested in hearing something new... like Sonny Rollins.

• Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet, 1953
• Moving Out, 1954
• Rollins Plays For Bird, 1956
• Tenor Madness, 1956

Crook Manifesto - A Novel

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead, 2023. This is the second book of the Harlem Trilogy. Looking forward to the 3rd volume in the trilogy to be published later this year. 

I enjoyed this book very much although it was a very intense trashy view of NYC and particularly Harlem life in the early 1970's. I was also reading this novel the same time I was reading Ibram X. Kendi's Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age, 2026. Another very intense book.

This is the fifth Colson Whitehead book that I've read so I really should add a posting for him in my Authors List series.

Sonny Rollins - Kitchen Listening 1

This is the first of several sets of Sonny Rollins albums from my collection that I'm listening to following hearing of his passing yesterday. I have about a dozen of his albums including a box set that I will be playing over the next few days.

This set ran about three hours.

• The Bridge, 1962 
• Sonny Meets Hawk!, 1963 
• Sonny Rollins on Impulse!, 1965
• There Will Never Be Another You, 1965

Sonny Rollins RIP

We woke up this morning to discover that Sonny Rollins had passed away yesterday at the age of 95. Wow, actually I didn't know he was still around. Haven't heard anything about him in a long time. When Becky and I saw him in the early 90's we thought we were being lucky to see an old classic sax player. I also saw him in 1986 at the Tralfamadore Cafe in downtown Buffalo. 

He was one of my favorite tenor saxophone players. I played tenor sax as a teenager. 

Clearing Out Clothes

Today I was on somewhat of a rampage going through closets and creating piles of clothes to get rid of. Actually it was more systematic as I was getting my summer clothes down from the plastic boxes on the 3rd floor and taking winter clothes out of my drawers and putting all the stuff in their proper places. Since Becky was talking about taking some old unused clothes over to Goodwill this week I was also looking in closets for things to take there... and I found a lot to go including quite a few of Sean's old clothes that somehow we still had stashed away in a closet.

We ended up with four bags of clothes. I even had some old shoes that were in somewhat good condition that I wasn't going to use anymore that went into the bags. 

Another Buffalo Marathon

Today another Buffalo Marathon sent runners down our street in front of our house. It's been happening every year that we've lived here on Crescent Avenue. Not a nice day but it could be worse. At least it's not raining on the runners. Cloudy and cool in the 50's but that is probably good for the runners. Not very many people on the block outside watching the race.

Well, except for the one house of neighbors who set up a table, screamed at the runners, played bongo drums and shook noise makers. Yep, same folks every year but this year they didn't last very long... about an hour. Maybe their voices gave out.

I took a couple of pictures from the upstairs bedroom of the race.

The people in the pic watching the race can be very obnoxious and that has been a long tradition from that house going back to Peter who liked to shout at the runners often mocking them if they slowed down or started walking. He thought his comments were funny but he was an embarrassment to the block and the neighborhood. Him and his family also backed on all kinds of pots and pans, drums, etc. He's been gone for a few years now but his family keeps his tradition going... well except the mocking runners thing.

Glass of Beer - Cape May Gold

I had a busy day. Our first day back home. Mowed the front lawn. Did three large loads of laundry. Carrying suitcases around the house. I needed to sit down this evening and have a glass of beer.

While at Katie's house in Mt Airy we stopped by the Brewers Outlet again. We try to do it every time we are in town. I've written about it before and described the store here and our history with it. This time I bought a 12 pack of Cape May Brewing variety pack which was a little different than the last time I got their beer there.

And today I had their American Golden Ale... Cape May Gold. It is very delicious.

Looking forward to checking out some of the other beers in this variety and I have had a couple of them before which I loved.

Cheesesteak Sauce and Onions

I had been wanting to get a Philly cheesesteak sauce and onions during our nearly a week long visit to Katie's. I finally got one on the last night before leaving when Katie ordered some cheesesteaks from Lorenzo's Pizza Steaks & Hoagies in Manayunk delivered to her house. She ordered several versions of their steaks and cut them up for everyone to try but for me she got their classic sauce and onions one which I loved.

Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age

Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age by Ibram X. Kendi, 2026. You will not replace us! The author describes how "the great replacement" theory has become the dominant political theory of our time and he writes about how we can safeguard our democracy from this racist maga dystopia threat that is trying to make America an authoritarian dictatorship. He tells a fascinating history of this theory where variations of it have existed for centuries from around the world. It was a brutally honest and critical read that was well researched and thought provoking.

I previously read his earlier book Stamped From The Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, 2016.

Grandkid Selfie

We've been having a wonderful time with our grandchildren on this trip and one of the first things we did together was take our regular selfie photo yesterday on Friday the day we arrived.

Dinner @ Tully's

After driving all day we stopped for an overnight stay at the Best Western at Clarks Summit near Scranton. We went next door to Tully's restaurant for some dinner. As we ate our meal the restaurant started to fill up for the hockey game that would soon be starting.

I had their Tully's Tenders chicken fingers. Becky had a chicken sandwich. The food was OK but not great.

Elmore Leonard - Authors List

Elmore Leonard - Authors List. Another list with 5 books read by the author. I first read a couple of his crime novels in the 1980's and then three more in 2014. I've always wanted to read some more of his novels but when I did read one I was not always excited or impressed. They were OK.  He wrote an incredible number of books over the years.

• The Switch, 1978 - Sep 1982
• Freaky Deaky, 1988 - Oct 1988
• 52 Pickup, 1974 - Sep 2014
• Swag, 1976 - Oct 2014
• Unknown Man #89, 1977 - Nov 2014

Joe Ide - Authors List

Joe Ide - Authors List. 5 books read from this noir crime fiction novelist. I enjoyed reading his books very much. The five books I've read were all part of the Isaiah "IQ" Quintabe series about a private detective who solves crimes the LAPD cannot or will not in a high crime neighborhood. An awesome collection of novels. There is another one in the series that came out in 2023 that I need to read. He also wrote a Philip Marlowe novel in 2022 that should be on my list.

Joe Ide books I've read:

• IQ, 2016 - Oct 2018
• Righteous, 2017 - Nov 2018
• Wrecked, 2018 - Dec 2018
• Hi Five, 2020 - Mar 2021
• Smoke, 2021 - Nov 2021

Nick Drake - Kitchen Listening

Nick Drake - Kitchen Listening. We listened to a set of Nick Drake albums from my collection today. It was very special hearing all of these albums together in one afternoon. They sounded great. He was such a wonderful singer/songwriter.

I first became aware of Nick Drake in the mid to late 70's from a friend who was very much into British folk music from the 60's and early 70's. He turned me on to a lot of incredible music including this artist although by that time he was already dead from a suicide overdose of antidepressants in 1974 at 26. One of the sad things about his life was his depression and stage fright. He only played a few live concerts and his albums were commercial failures at the time. They did become popular starting in the mid to late 1980's.

I learned a lot more about him a few years ago after reading Joe Boyd's memoir White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960's which was published in 2006. I read it in 2022. He was Drake's album producer and mentor for the first two records.

The last album in the set is a  collection of outtakes and alternative versions of songs from the three albums he recorded in his lifetime.

• Five Leaves Left, 1969
• Bryter Layter, 1971
• Pink Moon, 1972
• Time of No Reply, 1987

Charles Dickens - Authors List

Charles Dickens - Authors List. I read 6 of his books and started with Great Expectations back in high school which is probably when everyone read him. That was the only one for a few more years and then I read it again in late 1970 while waiting for orders to ship out. Then over the next few years I read five more of his novels. Now that I think about it it's been over 50 years since I read any Dickens. I know we have a copy of Great Expectations on one of our bookshelves but if I do read something I think it will be Bleak House. 

Charles Dickens books I've read:

• Great Expectations, 1861 - Dec 1970
• A Tale of Two Cities, 1859 - Aug 1971
• David Copperfield, 1850 - Dec 1972
• The Old Curiosity Shop, 1841 - Apr 1973
• Hard Times, 1854 - Dec 1974
• Oliver Twist, 1838 - Nov 1975

Psychedelic Sitars - Kitchen Listening

Psychedelic Sitars - Kitchen Listening. The other day I was playing a group of Asian underground beat albums and today I moved on but kept the sitars. I have in my album collection several albums from the Electric Psychedelic Sitar Headswirlers series which consisted of 60's and 70's psychedelic rock bands from around the world using sitars. Most of the bands I'd never heard of but there were a few I had albums from or were in other compilations. For the most part though this was listening to unfamiliar music with a very distinct sound... sitars in a psychedelic setting. A little over three hours worth today.

The albums I have from the series are Volumes 1 & 2 and 4 & 5. Never got a hold of #3. There are at least 12 albums in the series. That's a lot of rockin' sitar. 

Some of the bands here that I was already familiar with... The Pretty Things, Oregon, The Flames, Pentangle, Shocking Blue, Lord Sitar, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Blonde On Blonde, Tomorrow, Mandrake Memorial, People, Chocolate Watch Band, Lemon Pipers, Amboy Dukes, Folkswingers, Iron Butterfly, etc.

Ernest Hemingway - Authors List

Ernest Hemingway - Authors List. I read 5 books by Hemingway who when I was growing up was considered the classic American writer that everyone should read. 

I was 18 when I read The Old Man and the Sea. At that time I was a young man getting ready to go to sea. Over the years I read a few of his novels but I was never excited about his writings. However, he did have an interesting life working as a journalist and world traveler. He also sustained numerous very serious injuries throughout his career around the world which eventually led to his suicide. I think I would like to read a good biography of his life.

I also enjoyed some of the films made from his writings.

Ernest Hemingway books I've read:

• The Old Man and the Sea, 1952 - Oct 1970
• A Farewell to Arms, 1929 - Sep 1977
• To Have and To Have Not, 1937 - Aug 1980
• For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940 - Dec 1985
• The Sun Also Rises, 1926 - Jul 2012

James Michener - Authors List

James Michener - Authors List. I read 7 books by this bestselling writer and the first one was Tales of the South Pacific followed by Hawaii but it was The Drifters that was my favorite of his novels. Maybe it was something about the hippies traveling together around the world. I especially liked the parts in Morocco. I had just left the Navy shortly before reading this one. I was still on board a ship when I read those first two novels about places in the Pacific. I also liked his novel about the space program. The last book of his I read was an historical novel about the Caribbean where I had spent a lot of time.

Mostly a 70's and 80's reading experience for me.

James Michener books I've read:

• Tales of the South Pacific, 1947 - Jul 1972
• Hawaii, 1959  - Aug 1973
• The Drifters, 1971 - Jul 1974
• Space, 1982 - Apr 1983
• Chesapeake, 1978 - Jul 1983
• Poland, 1983 - Feb 1984
• Caribbean, 1989 - Dec 1990

Asian Beats - Kitchen Listening

Kitchen Listening a little deeper into my album collection and into the various artists compilation section and in particular the Asian underground fusion dance club tracks although this set is mostly South Asian and Indian. These four albums formed an interesting listening experience and not our usual thing although I do have many more similar albums especially in the Rough Guide series and have used many of these tracks in mixes over the years but it's a whole other thing to listen to these albums as they were put together. Maybe some of them are next.

The various artists compilations albums today:

• Anokha: Talvin Singh Presents Soundz of the Asian Underground, 1997
• Asian Underground Vibes Vol. 1, 2012
• Eastern Sonics: Asian Underground Beats Vol. 2, 2012
• Asian Massive: A Six Degrees Compilation, 2002

Ankle Pain

Two nights ago I woke up around 1 am with some severe shooting pains in my left ankle. I was surprised and it was hard to get back to sleep. The pain was coming every couple of minutes and would flare up lasting several seconds. This seemed like it was part of my ongoing problem with my arthritic pinched nerve and hip problems but it was a new and different aspect of it. At one point a little later I laid in bed and looked up ankle pain problems on my tablet and did narrow down some of the pain issues to my current problems. This was just a new aspect of it and could probably only last a day or so. There were recommendations of icing the ankle which I did today. 

I've also focused more on my exercises and the need to strengthen my leg and hip muscles.

We were out for dinner last night at Coles and there were a few times sitting in the booth when my ankle started throbbing again but overall it wasn't too bad.

I am concerned with driving down to Philly next week to see Katie and the kids. I'm glad my leg problems have all been my left leg and not my driving right leg. If it was my right leg I would probably not want to do any long driving.

Update 5/10

The pain is gone. The angle feels fine now. Not sure what happened but I'm still doing some exercises to strengthen the foot.

El Collapso

An old expression that came up the other day... we would say El Collapso when one of the kids would have an end of the day meltdown. An emotional collapse. A breakdown. Happened all the time.

Coles w/ Val

This evening Becky and I went over to Val's house and picked her up to take her to dinner at Coles. We all had a very nice time and a wonderful dinner there as usual. We sat in a booth in the dining room rather than our usual booth in the bar area. Val had a cheese burger, Becky had a beef on weck and I had their clancy roast beef sandwich. Some of our favorites.

Going there tonight on this particular Thursday night was carefully selected once we decided to go to Coles this week. The reason was the Sabres-Canadiens hockey games this week. There was a game last night and there will be another one tomorrow night so to avoid the crazy crowds heading to this bar we decided to go tonight. It was actually a very quiet night for a Thursday which is usually busy. The server told us they were expecting a somewhat quiet night between to very busy game nights.

Well, Val had a great time and she really appreciated us contacting her and asking to go out to dinner with us. She said she had been stir-crazy lately and needed to go out. We picked her up at 5:30 and were sitting in our booth about 15 minutes later. We sat in our booth talking and enjoying our food until almost 7:30 pm. She really enjoyed looking at some of the grandkid photos on my phone particularly the recent ones of Autumn and Clara. Overall we had a great time and we will take her out to dinner again sometime in the near future.

S. M. Stirling - Authors List

S. M. Stirling - Authors List. I read 6 novels by this science fiction writer. I read them all during the summer and fall of 2016 starting with the time travel Nantucket series and then the loss of technology alternate universe Emberverse series of which I read the first 3 of the 10 books in the series. I guess that was enough.

S. M. Stirling books that I've read:

• Island in the Sea of Time, 1998 - Jun 2016
• Against the Tide of Years, 1999 - Jun 2016
• On the Oceans of Eternity, 2000 - Jul 2016
• Dies in the Fire, 2004 - Aug 2016
• The Protector's War, 2005 - Sep 2016
• A Meeting at Corvallis, 2006 - Oct 2016

Getting Vent Cleaning Estimate

Today we got an estimate from Reimer for cleaning our duct vents. We haven't had it done in probably 20 years and we really need it done bad as there is lots of dust in our vent system. So a technician from Reimer came by. I called them because we have an annual maintenance account with them and they recently added vent cleaning to their services. 

The tech Greg was very talkative and we had a nice time talking about the neighborhood since he grew up down the street and he also attended Canisius College during the time I worked there. We spent time in the basement looking at the vent system and how they would access everything. I was surprised that he didn't need to see any of the vents or returns throughout the house or ever knowing the number of them... there are 14. 

Reimer is coming by on June 15th to do the annual AC inspection and tune-up and said they could also do the vent cleaning on the same day. He showed me the estimate but later I needed to contact the company to get the written estimate which was $2,495.00 along with a $500 discount because of our membership so the total would be $2,169.56 with tax added. That seems a lot more than expected.

I went online and looked at other companies suggest vent cleaning cost for a house with 14 vents and returns and they were all significantly less... usually around $600 to $800. I will contact Stanley Steamer and get an estimate from them too. I think they were the ones who did the vent cleaning last time.