A couple thoughts on a windy, sunny Sunday afternoon

This is me on a Sunday afternoon, around 3:30pm.  It was a beautiful day in Pittsburgh, 73F with returning birds chirping happily away.

(News alerts say thunderstorms are on their way in the next hour or so.  I love a good storm, don't you?) 

It's hard to believe that just 4 days ago, we awoke to 2 inches of snow on the ground and a frigid temp of 20F.  My friend Diana said it was "Winter's Last Hurrah".  I had a haircut appt at 10am, and walked thru a blizzard to get there.  

Afterwards I sat in my barbershop another 30 minutes, waiting for the snow to die down.  Just another Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

I tried going outside earlier today for a bit, but my scalp and face had a pretty adverse reaction to all the sunlight.  Came back inside, laid down for an hour or so... it's just a waiting game.

I wish I had a clue how long these long covid symptoms plan to continue.  Aside from a couple afternoons in early December and February, it's been a pretty constant battle since it returned September 12.  

It makes me feel abnormal, isolated.  I was already weird before all this, and this doesn't help! 

I've never minded being a hermit, but when you don't have a choice... anyway, I just need to remind yourself, it could be worse.  I am hoping, hoping this will end by summer.

Hey, can I include a little rant here?  Do you see this "Very Local" app on my tv screen, second row, far right?

It's for locally produced programs (I just watched a good documentary about rehabilitating inmates by having them train guide dogs at the prison downtown) but I suppose my favorite feature is the News.  It airs the most recent local broadcast from WTAE-TV, our ABC affiliate.  

However, every commercial break--EVERY ONE--is for one of those cheesy, awful gambling apps you can download to your smartphone.  I think those things are the absolute worst, and you just know some poor sucker is going to blow the few bucks they have for a hopeful "big score".  Phones are too convenient for gambling!  I think that people who want to use these apps should be required to register and prove they have the resources to waste if they're married with a family.  End of rant.

Speaking of addictions, as long as my tv is up there... a couple weeks ago I signed up for "You Tube Premium Lite".  It's $7.99 a month and allows you to watch everything on YouTube (with the exception of music videos) ad-free.

Those ads are what kept me from watching more than a few YT videos in one sitting.  (They aired twice as many ads if you watched YouTube vids on your tv instead of your computer, so I never did.)   Now I catch myself watching that YT app a good hour a day or longer.  It's why I'm on here writing another blog post so soon instead.

Today I'm having a Sunday dinner of chicken tenders (I made a pan of these a couple weeks ago and froze 6 baggies worth), garlicky spinach and white cheddar mashed potatoes.  A friend recently asked why I go to the trouble of cooking every day.  She said if she was single like me she'd be having cold sandwiches or cereal for dinner.   

What can I say, I like a hot meal to end my blog with.  Thanks for letting me share.  (I wish I could share this chicken too--it's good.)

These might be relics now, but I am still the Trek Master

Recently, my friend Margaret from the blog 'Stargazer' posted a photo of a little dog with snarling teeth and a horn on his head, and a black cat wearing a gold Star Trek tunic.  She wrote "It's Trivia Time, does anyone know what Star Trek episode this dog is from?"

It took me 0.02 milliseconds to recognize the dog from the Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within", where a malfunctioning transporter begins beaming things up--twice.  It was a brilliant episode, and a frightening one as well when a duplicate Captain Kirk goes on a violent rampage.

After I responded with my answer, she said "Right!  The black cat is from the episode with Gary Seven, do you remember that one?"

I almost spit up my Romulan ale; did she seriously just ask if I remembered the 1968 episode "Assignment: Earth"??  That would be like asking if I knew the name of the spaceship that Captain Kirk & Mr. Spock flew on!

All joking aside, I am very grateful to have good friends like Margaret from Washington, Jase from Colorado, Roger from Georgia, and Chuck & Robin from Canada who enjoy Star Trek too.

I thought I'd use this as an excuse to show off my Star Trek TV dvd collection.  I told my Trekkie friend Roger recently that given the awfulness of the new show Starfleet Academy, I was streaming Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on Paramount Plus instead.

He said "You should consider buying Deep Space Nine on physical media, DVDs are making a comeback."

I do not believe dvds are making a comeback, but I still almost choked on my Tarkalean tea.  I DO own Deep Space Nine on dvd!  I own all the Trek shows, movies, everything!  I am the Trek Master!

But in a way, Roger is right.  I don't own the "official" episodes of DS9.  When they were first released in 2004, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was $599.99 for the boxed set.  I couldn't bring myself to pay that much, so I began looking in some pretty shady corners of the internet.  

I found a Chinese company that sold bootlegs of Trek TV shows, and I got all seven seasons of DS9 for $79.00 total. 

The set arrived in these wonderful silkscreen boxes.  I loved their packaging so much, I didn't feel guilty for buying bootlegs.  The discs were high quality, affordable--and even had an option to hear the episodes in Mandarin!

Finally, a couple years before I retired (and was still in my old apartment) I found a graphics website RixGrafix where you could download his artwork and make your own DVD boxes.

I wanted a more uniform option to display my Star Trek dvds, so I downloaded the art for all the Trek series, and printed them at an office supply store on hi-grade paper on my lunch hours.

I bought 50 dvd cases from a DVD container warehouse, and they turned out really nice.  The first picture below is my Star Trek: The Next Generation dvds in their fan art boxes.  

The second photo shows Star Trek: Enterprise, Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager.

When you line them up on your shelf, the spines form a spacey Trek collage.  😏

I no longer display them.  When I moved to my new apartment in 2017, I sold or gave away my bookcases, and all of my Trek dvds went into storage.  As long as I can stream them on Paramount, that's where I'll watch them.

Oh and for the record, I went on Amazon last night to see if ST:DS9 was available to purchase, it is.  But unlike that $599 price tag in 2004, they're only $66.00 now.  I'm not buying, but good to know. 

Microblogging, Teepee style: The Good, the Sad and the Ugly

It's been awhile since I did a "Micro-blog" (written on a variety of subjects under one title) but I've got several things on my mind.  So if you'll indulge me...

1. Missing any teeth?  I am, 3 molars in my lower left quadrant.  And Japan may save the day.

Back in September (when I assumed I was recovered from long covid and underwent a lengthy dental procedure which somehow triggered a relapse)  I was all set to begin preparations for an "implant bridge" for 3 missing molars.

I may not have to go that route.  Japan is completing testing of a drug that will REGROW TEETH IN PEOPLE WITH MISSING TEETH.

Apparently people are born not with 2 sets of teeth, but 3.  A protein in our system called USAG-1 prevents the third set from coming in.  Japan has created an intravenous drug called TRG-035 that inhibits the protein and causes missing teeth to grow in, with no adverse affects.  

This has been tested successfully on mice, ferrets and 30 people with missing teeth aged to 64.  The ADA said it should be on the market in 3 years and will have a profound effect on dentures and dental implants.  Let's hope so.

2. Do you have any strange habits you can't really explain?  Here's one of mine

Every morning when I make my bed, I rub a lemon fresh Clorox bleach wipe over my fitted sheet.  I put on the top sheet, and do the same thing again.

Why am I doing this?  I wear an extra large t-shirt to bed (and nothing else).  I change my sheets every dozen days or so.  But there's something about getting into bed every night with that faint smell of disinfecting lemon that really turns me on.  Am I a weirdo?

3.  Remember Susan Richardson from 'Eight is Enough'?  You should see her now

This show ran on ABC from 1977-1981.  Susan Richardson played Susan, the "jock" of the family.  Born on March 11, 1952 she turned 74 a few days ago.  This was her then, and how she looks now.

You should play this 20 second video of her.  She hasn't had an easy life,  I'm just shocked and saddened how poorly she's aged.  It seems like every day I'm reminded I'm getting old myself.  

And finally, speaking of aging... last week one of the people who read my blog (Carole) sent me a link to a long-covid drug study being done in Massachusetts.  Thank you Carole.

I contacted them, and was told the study was closed to new enrollees but even if it wasn't, I was over the 50 years age limit.  They expressed their regrets but asked if I'd still answer some questions and I said yes.

They said people in the study had been dealing with this for 2 years or longer.  I said mine began in January 2024, about two weeks after recovering from covid.  I said it was 16 months of hell, and then in the spring of 2025 I began having "well days" every 2-3 days.  I told her I belonged to a senior club at the time, and used those 'well days' to visit the center and go on a couple restaurant outings.  Finally, near the end of July 2025 it was mostly gone for good.

(It returned Sept 12, 2025 after that disastrous dental procedure and yadda yadda, you know the rest.)  It's pretty much been bad ever since, with no "well days" like l experienced a year ago.  In fact, every blog-post I've written this year I've been tempted to say I'm taking a break.

The woman I was talking to (Stacey) asked if I was maintaining a healthy mindset, I said yes and no.  I said I was dealing with depression and guilt, she said that was not uncommon.  I said I had three friends I talk to on the phone--Mary from the Senior Center, Diana & Pen who I went to high school with a hundred years ago.  I added that I write a blog and follow others blogs, which helps me feel less alone.  

Stacey asked me to contact her again when I feel I'm making a recovery, I said I'd do that.  That's it.  Thanks for letting me share, everybody.