People places and food, on a Wednesday afternood

I don’t really have a lot to share at the moment, but I’m tired of seeing that tiki-idol in my last post, so here we go.

Earlier today (it’s a late and sunny Wednesday afternoon as I write this) I shaved & dressed, swallowed a couple pills for my sore tailbone, gritted my teeth and headed to the Lutheran Senior Center for lunch.

It could not have been a nicer time; many of my favorites like Mary and Cussin’ Connie (who were both sporting new ‘dos) were there, and I love those characters like family.

Speaking of characters, the reason you’re seeing Bette Davis on here is because we got to talking about heavy smokers, and I just had to do my impersonation of Bette Davis from her final appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.  Why Doug… why?

Anyway, here’s a few photos I took of the day.  Nothing exciting to look at,  but I’ve been wanting to share a couple of these people for a long time.

My friend & neighbor Lida, who I ran into in the lobby downstairs.  I’ve known Lida for 7 years, she’s a special needs person who is both funny & kind, and remembers every ailment you have. “Doug!!  How’s your back!  And your front!”Here’s the infamous Kuhn’s Market I’m always talking about.  If you were familiar with the area, you’d notice a BIG empty space to the store’s left that was formerly a YMCA and other building.  They’re constructing a new Kuhn’s “Superstore” that will be more than double the size of our 1950’s sized grocery store. 

I’m not crazy about it, but that’s progress!This is Bridget who works at the Lutheran Center, and one of the nicest people you will ever meet.  I adore her.  When I visited the center’s Open House in June 2023, she was the first person I met and was sold.

(She’s also an expert on all the superheroes in the Marvel & DC universe and we’ve had some great discussions.  Well, she does have 3 boys!)Today’s lunch—pulled pork sandwich, Texas-style corn, coleslaw, cantalope, hunk of cake.  Don’t let the simplicity of this meal fool you, the center serves the best pub steakburgers and pulled pork I’ve ever eaten.  Finally, this is for Cathy & Sharon (my neighbors) who wanted to know what a single man has for Easter Dinner.  That’s a Bavarian ham sandwich with butter & horseradish, roasted broccoli with red peppers, au gratin potatoes with onions and a deviled egg.

I know it’s nothing fancy, but it suited this single man just fine.  The End

There must be a cursed tiki idol somewhere in my house—I mean, what else could it be

This past week I was supposed to go to Red Lobster with Evvie, Deb & around 20 others from the Lutheran Center.  I’d known about it for weeks, looked at the online menu a couple nights before, was all set for some fun times with friends and linquini with lobster sauce.

The day before our outing, I wrenched my back and couldn’t go.  It’s gotten a little better, but my lower back still hurts.  It’s not like I slipped & fell, or picked up anything heavy… so what happened?

I admit I’m not in the best of shape at the moment.  I spent the last 15 months with long covid, and have yet to resume any daily exercise.  I’m still dealing with relapses too, but they’re becoming fewer and only lasting a couple days.

But back in mid-March, I got the flu and was laid up for a good 8-9 days.  Made a shaky recovery, went to the Pittsburgh Aviary not fully well but was anxious to get back out there.  And exactly one week after that, got one of the worst colds in my life.  Coughed nonstop for 14 days & nights straight.

And now I’m dealing with this back pain AND a swollen abdomen which isn’t too painful, but it is uncomfortable.  I’m pretty sure it’s related to my non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (which hasn’t bothered me much since I was diagnosed with it in 2018).  Ugh!

Remember when the Bradys were cursed?  Greg wore the tiki and had a wipeout while surfing; Peter told the gods to come & get him, and got a big hairy spider on his chest; Alice wore the idol and threw her back out during a hula dancing lesson

Here’s how I can tell the difference between belly fat and fluid rentention.  When I’m feeling chubbier than usual, I can do a good job of sucking it in when I’m out and about.  When it’s abdominal fluid, you cannot suck it in.  Why am I sharing all of this?  I’m sorry, I just had to get it out of my system—and if I can’t do it physically, I’ll do it with words.

This is a good reminder to cut back on the sugar (which may be giving my liver some problems).  At Christmas, Keurig sent me a gift-box of iced coffees, and I hated all of them EXCEPT the McCafe k-cups which I loved a little too much.  (Boy are they super sweet.)  I ordered a lot more of them, and got into the habit of having an iced coffee every night around 10:30 before bed.  Every night.

I know, I know… I used to have so much more discipline!

Well, I don’t know if I’ll be posting this.  If you’re reading it, you should probably act surprised.  I hope everyone has a nice Easter.  And I hope this time next year, I’ll be at my sister’s house, enjoying deviled eggs and spiral ham.

 

Mary, SNL and my red dresser, the object of my affection

The other night I was watching videos on SNL’s (Saturday Night Live) youtube channel, celebrating the show’s 50th anniversary in 2025.

BTW, can you believe SNL has been on the air 50 years?  As God is my witness, I still remember the week that first show aired, in 1975.  A girl named Mary P. in my 8th grade homeroom was asking if anyone heard of this new show premiering Saturday night on NBC.  Her older brother Frank learned it wouldn’t be airing in Pittsburgh, so he fashioned an indoor tv antenna to pick up the NBC affiliate in Johnstown, Pa.

George Carlin would be hosting, my brother Duke was a huge Carlin fan—so we did the same thing.  Made a giant UHF antenna and hung it on his bedroom wall to pick up Channel 6 Johnstown, and that weekend watched the first SNL on his 13” b&w tv in disbelief at the shameless antics. 

It would be another 4 years before SNL aired here in Pittsburgh.  The hugely popular “Chiller Theater” held onto that 11:30 time slot until 1979.

Anyway, I’m watching this SNL clip from 1992 where Adam Sandler is singing a love song about his red-hooded sweatshirt.  (Believe it or not, the song is now considered a classic.)  And it got me to thinking, I have something red I love too—my bedroom dresser.

When I was moving to my new apartment in 2017, my sister Shawn said there was a dresser at IKEA she thought I’d like, would I like to go see it.  I said “Why?  I already have a bedroom set without a single scratch.”  She said “Doug you bought that 30 years ago!  It’s so big and dark, and you got rid of everything else in your old apartment, why not that too??” 

I said okay.  So we went to IKEA, saw the red dresser and it was love at first sight.  My brother-in-law Jim and niece Sophia assembled it while Shawn helped me move the rest of my stuff in, and I plan on it being the only dresser I own until the day I die. 

Speaking of objects of affection… when I first became friends with blogger Rian of “Older but Better”, she would sometimes mention her Aga, in her kitchen.  I assumed she was talking about her Spanish maid or cook.  I later learned she was referring to her blue enameled stove from the UK!  The manufacturer’s name is Aga and it’s a beauty.

I don’t know if Rian loves her stove, but it seems like a member of her family.

So I was wondering… is there something you own, something atypical like an IKEA dresser or English stove or red-hooded sweatshirt you’re especially fond of?    

Lastly, that classmate I learned about SNL from in 8th grade, Mary P?  Three years later I asked her to be my date at our Junior Prom.  She said yes and here we were. 

 

Rainy days & turkey days never get me down—as for everything else in the world…

This Thursday morning I awoke (after a really restful sleep, probably the best sleep I’ve had in six months), turned on the local news to confirm all the pitter-patter outside was rain (it was) then saw that Trump was backpedaling on his frigging tariffs and turned the tv back off again.

My retirement account has dropped 140K in value since January, all thanks to that flop-top Mussolini and his MAGA cronies.  I have enough set aside for living expenses for the next 18 months, but this felon has probably put the kibosh on a lot of other’s retirement plans.

But today I was happy, it was “Turkey Flatbread Day” at the Lutheran Center, and I’d be seeing some of my favorite people like Mary, who is a fan of this sandwich as much as I am. 

Waiting for the elevator downstairs after coming home from the center; made a stop at Kuhn’s for some eggs

I was also at the center a couple days ago, but things did not go as expected.  If I share something really honest here, please no lectures—I’m not a kid, I know when I’ve done wrong. 

Every month on Tuesdays, the center has nurses on site who do blood pressure readings.  Before getting long covid 15 months ago, I always got mine checked and always had good numbers.  The other day however was the first it’s been checked in a long while and didn’t go well.

The nurse took my reading, said “This can’t be right” and did it again, and got the same numbers.  She said “Let’s do it old school, with a hand pump and stethoscope” but it wasn’t much better.  She asked if I was on BP medication, I said I was, and she said “You better make an appointment with your doctor then.  Your numbers are very high.”

Here’s what I was hiding:  for the last few months, I’ve been halving my BP meds.  For most of 2024 I was in too much pain to leave my house for extended periods, and my (former) PCP wouldn’t renew my 6 month BP prescription unless I came in for an office visit.

I figured it would be okay to chop the pills in half as I’d lost a lot of weight after getting long covid.  I’m now guessing this wasn’t such a good idea.

I do want to say, I didn’t feel this nurse was doing accurate readings.  She kept putting the cuff over my sleeved arm (it’s supposed to be on bare skin) and kept making small talk with me.  (You’re supposed to remain totally silent during BP readings.) 

Also, this was right after lunch, and that’s a no-no.  Still, I heeded her warning and as soon as I came home, contacted my insurer and set up an appointment with a new PCP at a much more convenient office location than my old one.  I’ll be seeing my new doctor on May 1, and until then I’m back on my regular BP dosage.

I take it at bedtime, and I really think that’s why I’ve slept so well these past 2 nights.  

I was sharing this with Mary today, and she generously offered to give me a lift to that appointment—I was going to go via Uber, but I’d much rather go with her.  

By the way, today there was a new member, Jim—but I have a feeling he won’t last long.  He just moved up from Florida, is staying with his daughter’s family, and kept grousing how awful Pennsylvania is with all it’s hills and cold weather.  Cussin’ Connie finally said “You’re full of shit!  Now shut the hell up!”

After she and most of the other ladies headed downstairs to their exercise class, Jim said to me “What’s her problem?”  I told him he wasn’t exactly making many new friends today.  He said “I’m not HERE to make friends, I want a woman dammit!  Now tell me about this herd!”

Finally, here’s that lunch:  a tasty dish of potato salad (sweet but with lots of onions) and a large square of flatbread topped with sliced roasted turkey, ghost pepper cheese, barbeque sauce & cole slaw.  Trust me, it just works.

 

Getting hoodwinked, sort of—it happens to the best of us, right?

Can I share something mildly annoying that isn’t a big deal, but still managed to surprise me?  But I want to start by sharing something else first.   

I recently bought something online (phone case) that needed to be returned, so they sent me a return shipping label by email.

I contacted the Lutheran Center and asked if they could print the return label for me as I don’t have a printer.  They said sure.  When I went to pick it up, they said “Oh good, you’re just in time for our presentation on senior scams & swindles!” 

I had no place else to be so I said okay.  I sat there and tried to look thoughtful as a retired bank security manager lectured us on different cons and how they target seniors.  I inwardly sighed and thought “This kind of stuff doesn’t happen to me, I’m too savvy.”

Okay, jump to this week.  I drink my fair share of coffee, and for the last couple years have used a subscription service from Keurig.  Once a month they send me my month’s supply of k-cups.  I get three 24-ct boxes and two 10-ct boxes.  With a 10% discount & free shipping, it costs around $45.00.

This past Thursday, I got my order.  Exactly one hour later I get an email notice from Keurig: 

FOR OUR COFFEE SUBSCRIBERS ONLY!  CHANGE YOUR NEXT ORDER TO ‘SHIP NOW’ BY MIDNIGHT TOMORROW AND SAVE 30% OFF YOUR ORDER!!*

I thought “No thanks, I just got this month’s order—and I already have plenty in stock as it is.”   But I couldn’t stop watching that countdown to midnight clock.  You can’t beat an additional 30% discount. 

I changed my May order to SHIP NOW.

So here I am, a couple days later with yet another case of k-cups.  But when I checked the invoice to see how much I saved… there’s no 30% discount!  It’s $45.00, the same price I always pay!

I went back to that 30% email and noticed that asterisk in the promo.  When I read the fine print at the very bottom, it said The additional 30% discount only applies to Starbucks coffee products.

Wait, what?  I’ve never ordered Starbucks products—why did they hide that in the fine print?  To see if yahoos like me would double their order?  Well, they got me.

It’s no big deal, I just have to remember to cancel my next order before it ships automatically in May.  But I still feel like they tried to pull one over on me, a loyal customer at that.  Have you ever encountered a “soft scam”? 

It happens to the best of us, you know.  Even us so-called savvy types.

 

My 63 year old look at the universe, and the Queen of Outer Space

Recently on the non-Trump news, scientists reported the discovery of amino acids in yet another comet. 

These same amino acids were found in a comet in 2006, and again in 2016.  What does the discovery of all these acids mean?

It means that the building blocks of life are common in space, and that life may be abundant throughout the universe.

I am of the firm belief that life is very, very abundant in the universe. 

Many people of faith believe life exists only here on Earth.  If they’re referring to human life, they’re probably right. But I bet there are 100 million varieties of intelligent life in the cosmos that could teach us a thing or two.

Unfortunately, we’ll never get to know them, or they us. 

Too many sci-fi movies, books & tv shows have compartmentalized outer space, inadvertently brainwashing us into believing we’ve been visited by aliens since the ancient Egyptians—and it’s only a matter of time before we’re landing on new planets ourselves.  It’s never going to happen, folks.

YOU:  We don’t need to travel that far, Doug.  The star closest to us is Proxima Centauri, and that’s only 4.25 light years away!

ME:  Without the ability to travel at the speed of light, it would take us 70,000 years to reach Proxima Centauri. 

I don’t want to be a wet rag, but nothing besides light can travel at the speed of light.  “Warp speed” like on Star Trek, that’s fiction.  

However, our telescope technology is amazing.  Who knows what we’ll be seeing in 10 years?  25?

Look at these 2 images of deep space using the Hubble Space Telescope in the 1990s, and a more recent image using the James Webb Telescope.

Those aren’t stars or planets—these globs of light are GALAXIES.  The updated photo on the right shows us galaxies we didn’t detect before.

And each of these galaxies contain billions of stars, and those billions of stars usually have solar systems (planets & moons) in their orbits. 

Psst--the galaxy closest to our own, Andromeda—even if we COULD travel at the speed of light, it would still take 2 1/2 million years to get there.  Just saying, we’re never leaving our own galaxy.

Scientists estimate there are 2 trillion galaxies in the universe.  And I have no doubt that on countless worlds, beings are doing their own stargazing and wondering who or what is out there.   I just hope most of them have better leaders than we do.  Or less gullible followers. 

Finally, this is something I’ve had stuck in my head for 50 years, and as long as we’re in outer space…

When I was around 12-13 years old, my parents were headed out one evening and Mom asked me to run in her bedroom and get her good cigarette lighter from the top drawer of her dresser.  I go in there, pull out the drawer, and notice a yellowed newspaper clipping underneath her small wedding Bible in the right corner. 

It was an old advertisement for “The Queen of Outer Space” at our local drive-in.  I took the clipping into the other room (where Mom was applying her make-up) and asked why she had this in her dresser. 

She said “Oh, your dad took me to see that after we were married.” 

I said “But what was so special about this one?  You told us about the great movies you saw when you two were dating like A Place in the Sun, On the Waterfront…. but The Queen of Outer Space?  You don’t even LIKE science fiction.  Or Zsa Zsa Gabor.” 

She said “Honey I don’t know what to tell you—now put it back where you found it and get my damn lighter!” 

I learned it had a sneak preview at the Waynesburg Drive-in on August 16, 1958.  Exactly 9 months to the day after that showing, my older brother Duke was born.  I think the mystery of the Queen of Outer Space clipping is solved.