The End Of Which Day?

November 30, 2022

Whenever someone says "at the end of the day" in reference to finality, I ask, "at the end of which day?". Flog me with a wet noodle if you ever hear me utter this expression. ... and do the same if I ever rhetorically ask you to do that to me. I truly dislike clichés, and I do my best to avoid them.

Stop Male Bashing

November 30, 2022

I found that I am happier when I avoid reading every post with the following words: husband, wife, father, mother, man, woman, boy, girl. 99 percent of the time, they are male bashing.

Beef Stew For Dinner

November 30, 2022

My wonderful wife made this delicious beef stew for dinner and beyond.

End Of Movember

November 30, 2022, last day of November

I have again grown a moustache for "Movember," but due to my continued weakness from three recent surgeries, this year, I didn't have the strength to regularly shave my beard. The plan is for me to shave my beard tomorrow, leaving the moustache, which I started growing on November 1, 2022. While I am technically supposed to be clean shaven after November ends, I typically keep my moustache for at least a few weeks longer.

Movember is an annual, month-long event when men around the world grow moustaches throughout the month of November to raise awareness of and to raise funds to combat cancers that afflict men (prostate, testicular, penile); men's suicide prevention; and men's overall physical and mental health. Massive amounts of money are raised worldwide every year through fundraisers, with the United States, Canada, Australia, and India typically raising the most money. European countries also do well with raising funds.

I have participated many times since its start in 2003 in an effort to strengthen us males and maybe influence governments around the world to pay at least a little attention to men's health.

Of course, the name "Movember" is a combination of "moustache" and "November." Men start clean shaven on November 1 (every year) and grow their "stashes" throughout this month, so if you notice more guys with moustaches during your travels, that's why. There is also something called "No-Shave November," when men don't shave at all during this month, so you may see more beards than usual, too. Many women also don't shave during November in support of us guys. (no joke)

For more information, here is the link to one of the many Movember websites.

https://us.movember.com/

UPDATE: December 1, 2022: It is not going to happen today. I still don't have enough strength to shave. I will let you know when it happens.

Men's Health Awareness

November 30, 2022

R.I.P. Christine McVie

November 30, 2022

Today Is ...

November 30, 2022

Medical Examination

November 30, 2022

general examination for renewal of insulin; also, follow-up exam after quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in March 2022 and two reconstructive chest surgeries, both in May 2022

UPDATE: EKG good; heart OK; lungs OK; ears OK; insulin prescription renewed (last renewal); referral for an endocrinologist, but I will make an appointment with my former endocrinologist for new insulin prescription; renewal of Albuterol prescriptions (nebulizer and emergency inhaler); new acid reflux prescription; make an appointment with my heart or my chest surgeon instead of with my infectious-disease doctor; blood extraction for testing not possible due to dehydration

Suffering

November 29, 2022

Oscar's Lunch

November 29, 2022

Oscar Madison would enjoy my lunch today. Do you understand?

Give & Greet

November 29, 2022

R.I.P. George

November 29, 2022

George Harrison, my favorite Beatle (February 25, 1943 - November 29, 2001), left his body (passed away) 21 years ago today. Hare Krishna !!!

Romance: Like A Cat

November 29, 2022

A friend shared this on Facebook, and I had to share it with you. That is exactly the way it was for me during my single decades (ages 20 to 40; 1980s and 1990s), trying to date women. (no exaggeration)

French Toast Day

November 28, 2022

Japanese Lunch

November 27, 2022

Japanese Lunch at home: Gyoza (Dumplings) and Sushi (Fried Bagel Roll)

What's Going On Today?

November 27, 2022

National Cake Day

November 26, 2022

I don't really like cake. Just give me a tub of frozen chocolate frosting and a teaspoon, and I will be happy.

Today Is ...

November 25, 2022

Blasé is my natural state of mind.

November 25, 2022

I prefer a straight chocolate parfait.

November 25, 2022

a vital day

November 25, 2022

I like white shoepeg corn.

Thanksgiving 1963: Mom & Me

November 24, 2022, Thanksgiving Day, Throwback Thursday

Here I am at the age of two-and-three-quarter years old with my mother outside of my paternal grandparents' house in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York, on Thanksgiving Day (November 28) in 1963.

A Thanksgiving Tradition

November 24, 2022, Thanksgiving Day, Throwback Thursday

More than several years ago, I decided to write a detailed story about one of our family Thanksgiving days in the mid-1970s and how difficult it was to get to my paternal grandparents' house for early afternoon dinner that year.

This is a rather long account of our struggle that day, so I am not sure how many of you will read it all the way through to the end. I just wanted to share it again with you as I do every Thanksgiving Day, so please enjoy it.

"The End of a Thanksgiving Tradition" (revised, 2022) by William Santos

5 a.m., Thanksgiving Day, mid-1970s, West Islip, Long Island, New York

The alarm clock cried out that it was the morning of Thanksgiving Day, even though it still seemed like nighttime. I awoke with a start, the adrenaline coursing through my teenaged arteries, much faster than on any other day of the year, because I knew that in about an hour, I would board my dad's 30-foot-long fishing boat and experience yet another nautical adventure. As was our tradition, we were getting ready to embark on our annual Thanksgiving Day fishing trip. The codfish were out there just waiting to be caught.

Dad and I loaded up the boat with our fishing gear, food, soda, and beer, and impatiently waited for our usual group of fishing buddies to arrive. All aboard, Dad cranked up Engine No. 1 (port side), then Engine No. 2 (starboard side), unhooked the lines from the dock a few feet from our house, and we were on our way.

Dad piloted the boat out of the short river (Willetts Creek, which is more like a canal, but wider) where we lived, across the Great South Bay, and into the Atlantic Ocean. Then, Dad gave it the gun, and we sped, cutting through the waves, the sea spray blasting in our faces, and the bounce of the boat agitating the recently eaten, and traditional, tuna salad sandwich on white bread within my stomach. Dad had already eaten his traditional Western omelette sandwich. He always called it a "Westren" omelette sandwich.

Back on dry land, my grandmother -- I called her Nana -- was preparing the Thanksgiving feast in anticipation of our arrival around 1 p.m.

Dad slowed the boat to check the display on the depth finder. When the ocean, at a cool 57 degrees, hit 200 feet deep, we knew that it was only a short matter of time. We would just have to continue until it rose back to around 100 feet deep, and we would be set to drop our lines into that mirrored, undulating, somewhat-sullen water and start pulling out some fish.

There it is: 200 feet deep. Now for the agonizing anticipation: 197, 184, 175, 163, 159, 144, 137 ... hurry up ... 123 ... I can't wait ... 118, 103 ... Dad clicked off the port engine, and then stopped the starboard engine, relative silence, and the boat continued to rock back and forth, up and down, on yet another cold, pristine Thanksgiving morning.

We had finally arrived, about two miles from land, just like we had done on this day every year for many years. We had everything we needed: rugged camaraderie, lots of fish just waiting to be caught, and, of course, tradition. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

We fished for several hours, pulling rather large codfish out of the brine. OK, they weren't all that large, but this is my fish story, right?

Then came the inevitable. It was time to head home. We had to get to Nana's house by 1 p.m., just as we had done, like clockwork, in prior years. Oh, well. Every Thanksgiving, I never wanted to go back, that is until I remembered that there, waiting for us, was turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and red cabbage thickened with corn starch and mashed kohlrabi (my favorite) and apple pie and ... OK, let's go back.

Dad cranked up the port engine. Success. Then Dad cranked up the starboard engine. Click, Click, Click. Dad tried again to crank up the starboard engine. Click, Click, Click. Dad then opened the hatch to that starboard engine and, to our horror, we all saw what we really didn't want to see or even needed to see: Both inboard engines were waist-deep in three feet of water. The electric bilge pump had failed, and we were sinking in rather cold water, 100 feet deep, and two miles from land.

Needless to say, a contagious shock of panic pierced us all, well, all except for Dad. Being a Commander in the Navy who spent much time aboard ship in the North Atlantic Ocean, and, at one time, the youngest Eagle Scout in the United States who could maneuver a mean canoe, my dad was able to keep a level head about such things. He said, "We have to call the Coast Guard. Where's our (ship-to-shore) radio?" He slid open the black-tinted plastic door of the cabinet under the steering wheel on the flying bridge where we usually kept the radio. Empty. Where was the radio?

Dad flew down the ladder and into the boat's cabin, found the radio (phew) in a wooden cabinet, flew back up the ladder, plugged it in, and spoke in calm tones for the Coast Guard to save us. The life jackets were a little easier to find than the radio.

In short order, and to their amazing credit, two brave souls clad in diver's wet suits aboard a Coast Guard cutter arrived beside our boat. One guard, rather young and with a somewhat-unsure look on his face, flew through the air, jumping several feet from his rocking boat into our rocking boat. Then, the other guard dropped a four-foot-high, rather wide, orange-and-white-colored, metal barrel into the drink, and we pulled it to our boat with a rope.

We all then pulled the barrel aboard and, to our surprise, it contained a gasoline-powered water pump with two four-inch-wide black hoses. With one pull of the starter cord, the pump rumbled like a lawnmower, and soon water was spewing out of our bilge and over the side of our boat.

Simultaneously, a Coast Guard helicopter was hovering overhead. My immediate thought was: "Wow, we're going to be airlifted back to land. Cool." But, it was not to be.

We were escorted a long two miles back to land, at a snail's pace, making sure that our one working engine wouldn't overheat. When we reached land, Dad just about had enough excitement for one day, rather for one boating season. He threw up his hands and said to a marina worker, "Just put it in dry dock," and walked away disheartened. I was not to see that boat until the following spring.

Needless to say, we were late for Thanksgiving dinner. Dad and I arrived at Nana's house at 5 p.m., yes, four hours late. There were no smiles, just worry, on the faces of our family members, who had already finished eating dinner. I'm not sure how the other members of our crew fared with their families.

We told everyone our rather implausible story as we ate the Thanksgiving feast that Nana had kept warm for us.

We never again went fishing on Thanksgiving Day, and while a tradition ended rather abruptly, the memory of that fateful day, and of my dad, who passed away in 1997, will forever fondly linger within my mind.

Oh, I forgot to tell you why our boat was sinking. We found out the next day that the vibration of the boat had loosened a quarter-inch-wide screw on a metal plate that secured one of the propellers to the back of our boat. Sea water was slowly seeping into the bottom of the boat during our carefree hours of fishing. As the old saying goes, Dad said we were "fat, dumb, and happy" as our boat was slowly sinking in the cold water of the Atlantic Ocean on that particular Thanksgiving morning.

My Wife's Thanksgiving Dinner

November 24, 2022, Thanksgiving Day

My wonderful wife made this beautiful Thanksgiving dinner for us. I profusely thank her.

Aunt Laura's 101st Birthday

November 24, 2022, Thanksgiving Day

Happy 101st Birthday to my Great-Aunt Laura. She was married to my (Italian) maternal grandmother's brother.

Here is a photo of her with a few holy men from her church just a few months ago.

My Mom's Pumpkin Pie

November 24, 2022, Thanksgiving Day

Many heartfelt thanks go to my terrific mother for making my wife and me this homemade pumpkin pie, slightly damaged during transport. As per my personal tradition that I established when I was a young child in the 1960s, I am not allowed to ever eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day because the song "Sleigh Ride." I will enjoy a piece tomorrow. (One of my recent posts explains my personal tradition further.)

No Pumpkin Pie Today

November 24, 2022, Thanksgiving Day

My decades-long, personal tradition forbids me from eating pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day. Also included in my tradition is that I must eat pumpkin pie on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day. Actually, I allow myself to eat pumpkin pie on any date throughout the year, except on Thanksgiving Day.

Allow me to explain. It's because pumpkin pie is mentioned in the song "Sleigh Ride," which I considered to be a Christmas song when my age was in single digits in the 1960s. The song appears with Christmas songs on the 1961 album "Holiday Sing Along With Mitch" by Mitch Miller and the Gang, a Christmas album to which I have listened every Christmas since 1961, the year I was born. I still have my parents' original album on vinyl, plus two copies on CD.

Here is a link to the song:

https://youtu.be/Vx4UJ57NcDo

These are the lyrics that resulted in my personal tradition:

"There's a happy feeling
Nothing in the world can buy
When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie"

As an adult, I realized, I think in the mentally foggy 1990s, that in reality this song technically isn't a Christmas song.

Now at age 61, I am once again following my childhood-borne tradition: no pumpkin pie for me today. Of course, I will continue to follow my tradition during every future holiday season.

National Sardine Day

November 24, 2022, Thanksgiving Day

I like eating anchovies in moderation, especially on pizza or in a Caesar salad, but I never really enjoyed eating sardines all that much.

What's Doin' Today?

November 23, 2022

I love an espresso, but my coffee of choice is a ristretto, which is a "short shot" of a more highly concentrated espresso. It is often enjoyed in Italy as a quick pick-me-up in the middle of a busy day.

November 23, 2022

Cashew is one of my favorite nuts, along with filbert (hazelnut) and Maroni (roasted chestnut). I will eat cashews today.

November 23, 2022

When I was a kid in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I would always play one of the tabletop jukeboxes when my parents took me to the Pioneer Diner in West Islip, Long Island, New York. The song I most often played was "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul and Linda McCartney, released in 1971.

November 23, 2022

I ate a little bit of cranberry today by dipping carrots in a cranberry-jalapeño dip for breakfast.

Selfie: New Glasses

November 23, 2022

Selfie (with new eyeglasses)

Breakfast

November 23, 2022

My Breakfast (assembled by my wonderful wife) ... That's cranberry-jalapeño dip for the carrots.

Moment Of Silence

November 22, 2022

moment of silence

No Ladies' Nights

November 22, 2022

Premonition: MLB

November 22, 2022

I had a premonition that New York Yankees baseball player Aaron Judge would go to a baseball team related to New York, but not stay with the Yankees. I predicted that he would go to the New York Mets or the Los Angeles Dodgers, which used to be a New York team. I just saw a sports article that Judge has scheduled a meeting with the management of the San Francisco Giants, which also used to be a New York team. Damn, I forgot that the Giants were a New York team, and maybe my premonition is coming true.

Cranberry Relish Day

November 22, 2022

I like it with the whole berries.

Epiphany: Sooner, Not Later

November 22, 2022

As men get older, there are more women available to them because men typically die before women. I knew that if I waited long enough and was able to keep myself alive, I would eventually be able to get married. My strategy worked. I was finally able to get married for the first (and only) time 22 days before my 45th birthday, which was way sooner than I expected. I thought that I would be able (allowed) to get married for the first (and only) time in my late 50s, maybe around 57. If I look at it that way, I actually got married SOONER than I expected, not later, as I have thought for decades. Good. Now, I feel better. 🙂👍 ... I originally thought that I would get married at age 26 because that's the average age for men, but when I reached 30 years old in 1991, I knew it wasn't going to happen any time soon. That's about when I employed my strategy of basically waiting, but also dealing with the hundreds and hundreds of rejections by women. With each rejection and with time continuing to move forward, I knew that I was moving much closer to matrimony. Time really was on my side in this regard, but I didn't realize it when I was young. I realize it now, and I am now quite happy about it. This has been an epiphany.

I just thought of something else. When I was at university in the early 1980s, when I was in my early 20s, I was in the pre-med program for two-and-a-half years. At that time, I was deciding if I was going to change my focus and my major to become a journalist. I knew that if I became a journalist, it would be infinitely more difficult, if not impossible, to get married, because the profession is one of the lowest-paid professions, and it is the least "sexy" professions according to a survey of women. So, I could either be a journalist or get married, but definitely not both. Considering my failure at romance, I decided to change my major to a bachelor's degree in communications (with a minor in the French language), get a master's degree in journalism, and then become a journalist. It turns out that I would eventually be able to become a married journalist, which is someone I never, EVER thought I could be.

https://fb.watch/gYAHoAgRdU/

Best Concerts

November 22, 2022

Too many, but probably Roger Waters' In The Flesh concert ... Rainhard Fendrich, my favorite pop singer, songwriter, guitarist, in Vienna, Austria ... Bryan Ferry twice in 1988, Philly (The Tower) and NYC (Radio City Music Hall) ... Joe Jackson at Radio City ... Eros Ramazzotti at the Hard Rock in Hollywood Florida ... U2, REM, and Paul McCartney at Madison Square Garden (separately) ... Frank Zappa at The Pier in NYC ... David Johansen (before he was Buster Poindexter) and The Who at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York ... XTC and The Cars at the Coliseum on Thanksgiving 1980 ... The Cure ... The Del-Vikings ... The Kinks ... Southern Pacific (including Stu Cook, John McFee, and Keith Knudson) ... Ringo Starr (with Colin Hay, Paul Carrack, John Waite, Mark Rivera, and Sheila E.) in Boca Raton, Florida ... Tom Tom Club in NYC not only because I got to see my rock 'n' roll crush, Martina Weymouth, but also half of Talking Heads. Her husband Chris Frantz was the drummer in both bands. ... Squeeze twice ... maybe Bittersweet Alley in a dive bar in Detroit in 1981 ... The Beach Boys ... Jan and Dean ... hmm, who else ... The Godfathers, The Pixies, James (one of four bands with Tom Tom Club) ... and last but one of the best: Bob Mould at Roseland in NYC ... oh, Sting was good, but only because I got to see Vinnie Colaiuta on drums ... OH, I attended two Sarah Brightman concerts, and I even appear as an audience member on her La Luna concert DVD.

Tweety's 80th

November 21, 2022

Happy 80th Birthday to Tweety Pie !!!

Today Is ...

November 21, 2022

I like chestnut stuffing.

November 21, 2022

Gingerbread cookies are OK, but mostly too plain for me.

November 21, 2022

Wear red mittens today in support of Canadian athletes.

To Do

 resting, recovering, organizing (11.21.22)

Vettel Retires From F1

November 20, 2022

Sebastian Vettel, four-time F1 world champion (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), has retired. He finished 10th out of 20 drivers in his last race today, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Good luck, Seb. You have been an inspiration for many years and will continue to be that inspiration.

Fudge & Absurdity

November 20, 2022

I prefer plain chocolate fudge.

November 20, 2022

I love absurdity, which is why I enjoy discussing politics with liberals.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

November 20, 2022

It's 8 a.m. here in southeastern Florida, and I have finally arrived at the day that I dread every year. It is one of the saddest days of every year for me: the end of the Formula 1 auto racing season. Formula 1 racing is the only sport that I actively follow.

I am watching a live broadcast of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sky Sports F1 (on ESPN2) this morning. It's the 22nd race of the 22-race 2022 F1 season and starts at 5 p.m. local time. Today's circuit (track) is the Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

The extended 24-race 2023 F1 season begins in Bahrain on March 5, 2023. None of the 20 F1 drivers is from the United States. However, there will be three F1 races in the United States in 2023: the usual race in Austin, Texas, that started in 2012; the new race in Miami, Florida, that started in 2022; and the inaugural race in Las Vegas, Nevada, that starts in 2023.

Dutch-Belgian driver Max Verstappen won the 2022 World Championship after winning the Japanese Grand Prix on October 9, 2022. He also won the championship in 2021 for a total of two championships. He is the second-youngest driver in Formula 1 history to attain two championships at the age of 25 years and nine days. Germany's Sebastian Vettel was about nine months younger when he did it.

Vettel, who won the world championship four times in a row (2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013) will retire at the end of today's race. This makes today's race even sadder.

Austria's Red Bull Racing won the 2022 Constructors Championship after the United States Grand Prix on October 23, 2022. In this race, the two members of the Red Bull team, Max Verstappen and Mexican Sergio Perez, finished first and fourth, respectively.

Dinner: Chicken Primavera

November 19, 2022, International Men’s Day

For dinner, my wonderful wife made Chicken Primavera Over Pasta: chicken, zucchini, mushrooms, minced garlic, onions, onion powder, and ground black pepper in a light Parmesan-cream sauce over fettuccine.

Statistics About Men

November 19, 2022

Today is International Men's Day !!! It is my second-favorite holiday celebration after Diwali.

Here are several statistics: