Festing

Tonight I went to a birthday party for a friend -- very masculine (a real sausage fest, even if most of the crew are married with children) and almost retro, but quite fun.  Until, of course, the end; my friend is a bourbon enthusiast and the hooch flowed like water.  Anyways, when it was time to depart, I had in the back of my truck three drunk people, the grill and spit (it was a pig roast), and the pig's head, which one of the boys decided to take home.  Not sure if it was for head cheese, to amuse the kids, or to piss off the in-laws, but... well, it was a most interesting ride home.  Maybe I was more than glad to leave everyone in the bed and just roll up the windows and cruise home...

The 'Appeal to Heaven' Flag Is All Over Capitol Hill - NOTUS (Allbritton Journalism Institute)
I would fly one of these myself, but as I have no wife to blame (a la Alito), there is somewhat less amusement, and also to the fact that if it is good enough for San Francisco, it is NOT good enough for me.  On the other hand, I rather agree with the GOP types who fly them; even if it has been co-opted by MAGA types, there is no reason for anyone else to cede its historical origins.

Five days of the steps challenge for work, and I am averaging a little over 12,000, which is quite good; I mean, I was 6th on the company list so far, and the prospect of an active weekend, may boost that even farther -- or at least prevent me from falling out of the top ten.  Funny; I have some OC paperwork to handle, but the prospect of sitting and not doing anything has made me leery of undertaking them, at least until the fitness challenge has passed.  This is sort of cheating, albeit in a benevolent sense.

Media Follies

 'There's no pride' for LGBTQ community in Maple Heights, ex-council member says | Watch (msn.com)
Hahahahaha!  This amuses the hell out of me, mainly because no one seems to be saying the obvious thing -- the largely African-American voters of this largely Democratic city do NOT want to be on record saying they support LGBT rights, and of course no one in the local press seems to want to do some investigation...or, as I like to say, call them out for this.  Certainly the local Democratic party would want to sanction these moral reprobates, right?  I realize there are few GOPers around here, but you would think they would be assailing the local Dems -- and the media -- for not doing anything about this.

Fetterman had speeding tickets, distracted driving episodes before crash - The Washington Post
This is the sort of thing that Republicans should indeed be "pouncing" on; hell, every GOPer should be on the talk shows, the CNNs of the world, the left-wing pundits, and asking them WHY they didn't cover this story DURING the election?  The reason, of course, is that they were covering for him, as they are now, by not calling him out for this callous response, his history of driving issues.  Again, if GOPers had any sense, they would be on the offensive over this; no one seems to want to put the press on the defensive, and we must.  Someone like Vance or Cotton -- Ron Johnson -- would be ideal for this.  I realize they are colleagues, but there are times when this must go out the window.  

Birthday dinner with my sister today, and I chose Jibaro Latin in Parna for Mofongo.  I was there when it was a Mexican place and it was ok; with a more Puerto Rican theme, it was... much better.  Mofongo was quite good -- not too dry, and the accompanying pork was quite decent.  My sister had one of their loaded baked potatoes, and it was quite impressive -- large portions, almost enough for lunch the next day!  We email and chat often, but it good to get in touch in person and catch up.  Of course, she was only slightly snarky with my comments, and when I gifted her a box of Crumbl cookies -- a diabetic should eat just one box, I strongly suspect -- she was most pleased... as my brother-in-law will be as well!

Progress

 15,000 steps today, the result of hourly paces at work, a solid workout and bike ride, and plenty of walking at evening prayer and after.  This is quite good, though I do not think that this rate is sustainable.  I only hope that my coworkers -- or some of them -- are doing as much extra as I am.  I would say that I peeling off pounds, but as my dinner consisted of a peach CFA shake -- and a later Crumble cookie -- I do not think I can exactly claim that.  Both were quite good -- I have not had the pleasure of their cookies, and they were indeed sumptuous.  I got them as part of a fundraiser, so I am not sure as to the retail price... though it must be impressive, even now.

More -- albeit slight -- reorganization at work; this is not bad, I hope.  I have a new series of projects, which is good, and there will be plenty more, I believe.  The main idea is that there will be more integration between departments to get more ideas flowing...   Heck, we came up with a bunch of them at today's introductory meeting, which of course encouraged more collaboration and such.  Another thing; I have two screens at work now, and... I am getting used to it.  Certain work it does do quite well, such as cycling through spreadsheets, and I can monitor emails while doing that.  Not sure that I will fully master it, but...

High Housing Costs Are Consuming Household Incomes | Joint Center for Housing Studies (harvard.edu)
This is something that I am glad they are mentioning, though I am not sure how much -- and how quickly -- succor can be gained.  Need much more housing of course, and that cannot be built more quickly enough.  Similarly, while more apartments have been constructed, not enough are being built in the urban cores (though I do not blame builders for not going there).  Indeed, not enough are being built at all; one wonders why they don't link, say, welfare benefits to construction employment, which would at least alleviate (to some degree) the lack of skilled workers.

From Fire Hazards to Family Trees: The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps — The Public Domain Review
Fascinating stuff!  Had no idea this was a thing!

Drilling

The day did not exactly start out with a raging success; I had my dental appointment today to get the temporary crown put on, and for an event that started at 8, I wasn't home til after 11.  This, as you can imagine, did not make happy.  The dentist discovered some extra decay on the tooth, which had to be drilled out, and that meant he had to pack the filling more, and got the gum inflamed (he had to play with it to make sure all of the decay was gone), and yadda, yadda.   Oi.  Nor did they exactly get me out the door in a hurry... to be sure, this was the dentist I didn't exactly have a lot of confidence in in the first place, so... this is my fault.  Anyways, it was done, and while I have to go back in two weeks for the semi-permanent crown... well, we will decide what to do next.

Anyways, when I got home and talked to my boss -- a slight project shift, and he was worried that I had been captured, press ganged, or something -- and then it was off to work (at home), which was quite busy, as I had much to plug away... anyways, I worked a bit late and then watched an interesting film:  "The King's Choice," which dealt with the actions of King Haakon in the early days of the German invasion.  It was a war film, but not quite one, but still very interesting; namely, how no one in the government -- save for him -- seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation.  To be sure, it was a dire situation, and I could see how many of the officials in the civilian government would be grasping at straws to get out of it...

Then it was J! -- easy Final, poor question mix for me -- and then to the gym, where I had a solid workout and an extended trip on the bike.  I was able to put 2,000 more steps in -- good, given my corpulence and the company exercise fest.  I daresay that if I do hit the exercise goal every day for the next two weeks -- and not eat crap, which is less likely --  I might actually drop a few pounds.  One thing I need to drop is some emails, as some food pantry and other stuff has been piling up long enough...

Exercises

 I slept most poorly last night, and I even had -- and remembered -- unsettling dreams, which I seldom do.  I am not exactly sure why this happened, but it was quite odd.  I felt it today, as I was dragging a bit.  On the other hand, we have started a fitness initiative at work -- prizes for the department with the best (weighted) performance -- so I am doing my part.  Frequent walks on my hourly coffee break, extra time on the exercise bike today (which did not burn as many calories as I thought it would), and extra walking around the house.  For instance, during the commercial breaks for  J!, I would walk around, rather than lie about and do word seeks.  I was able to surpass my 10,000 goals this way, and intend to keep it up; I think it is certainly better health-wise to do so.  Other gimmicks, such as walking while praying and walking while reading, are also on the schedule; again, not that I am getting thousands of steps, but a few here and a few there...

I watched another film from the National Film Registry tonight -- "Alambrista," about a Mexican man who crosses the border (illegally) to seek work and better support his family.  It was interesting, sort of good, and Matt being Matt, my main thought was that if we haven't solved these issues in the 45 years or so since the movie was made... oi.  Anyways, we are now up to 834 on that list.  Couple of recent additions on it are practically impossible to find in public, and to me that IS a problem; I get that films can be culturally significant for a bunch of reasons, but if we cannot see them... does not seem very wise to me.  Not that I have any selfish reasons, of course!

Links

Full and busy day again today; after Mass was the parish picnic, and I was helping out with the grilling, running food, and the cleanup; I really believe it is my metier in life to be stuck as the dishwasher at these events!  On the other hand, it seemed to be a good event; lots of people -- just under 100 -- and they ate plenty of food (us Polacks like free food).  I got out at 2 (the cleanup was long but smooth, which is not the worst thing) and then took Communion to my friend in West Park.  Humorous interlude:  I commented in Polish about the stressful process of picking out a date for Christmas in July, and I ended with a phrase --in Polish -- that basically says "Mother of God." I thought she was going to pee her pants she laughed so hard; it reminded her of her mother and grandmother yelling at them when kids when they did something wrong.  I told her my Mom used that phrase on me, and also in a general WTF way... it was pretty cool, actually.  Then off to my sister's to catch up with her, and then home. 

I have to admit I am somewhat dragging today, with a busy weekend, lack of sleep, and general busybody ways.  Indeed, I have already nodded off on the floor here, so I suspect that if I do not get cracking on this post... 

New Benefit Bridge program to help Cuyahoga residents transition off public assistance - cleveland.com
You would think that someone, somehow, would be out and trying to fix/minimize this issue?  I sent an email to the Plain Dealer as to why this had not on the front page, and I have little hope of a reply...

The Insulin Empire | Edward Ongweso Jr. & Athena Sofides (thebaffler.com)
Interesting, though as I often say, the development of insulin has shifted people away from trying to cure it altogether, with the expected result...

Unruly crowds overwhelm officers at St. Gabriel’s festival Saturday; event closes early today - cleveland.com
This is interesting, in that St. Gabriel is out there, and that this is the second time this month this has happened...  I wonder what would happen if 1) Churches insisted that a parent/guardian monitor the kids at all times; 2) If they did not, they and the troublesome kids would be arrested and prosecuted fully, and 3) Their other children, if any, would be put into the foster care system... I wonder what that would do as a solution....

Survival

 I celebrated my birthday by not blogging, though, of course, I had planned to... It was fine.  I worked, took a lunch at the food pantry (had a nice chat with Monsignor over he wanted to do), and then went to Kamms Corner for dinner at Habesha, an Ethiopian restaurant.  It was quite good; I was the only person there for a while, and the staff had a modest knowledge of English, but I was directed off a spicy entree, though... well, what I ordered what quite spicy enough.  I had cabbage stew, lentils, and some chicken and tomatoes. It was quite good, but a bit hot, and the anjera on which it was served did not quite offset the heat.  Alas.  But it was good and I would go back and try some other dishes.  Parking is a bit off there; I need to park in the lot and hoof it rather than risk the street.  While at dinner I got a text from my cousin; one of my other cousins is in town from Florida, and all the family was together, so... off I schlepped to Macedonia to hang out, which was nice.  Bit long but good to catch up.  Then home and to bed, as I had an early day today...

Today was mostly fine; something of a zoo this morning.  I arrived at the food pantry bright and early to help set up; cones were put up to block the driveway/make way for the hearse, and a couple of volunteers and some signs were able to direct the clients the right way.  We didn't have an early crowd at first, but then, for an hour, it was a zoo, with people piled into cars and some people for whom English is barely known... so of course I had to translate.  Oi.  This lasted til about 10:30, when the funeral crowds arrived... funny; couple of priests used our bathroom to change and vest, as they didn't want to take the steps.  We closed right at 12 -- no clothing racks or tables for extra stuff out today -- and it was quite smooth escaping (for once).  I guess it was not too bad but given the to and fro before...

I have made some progress in cleaning out the bookmark list, but now the emails are piling up... to say nothing of the fact that I have another massive tome to read, and scarce any progress in getting through it... alas.