Monday, June 30, 2025

Social Media & Meteors

I engage in four social media: Facebook; YouTube (I have a YouTube channel, and I watch YouTube videos every day); Truth Social (Donald Trump's version of Facebook); and Nextdoor (a hyper-local version of Facebook).

June 30, 2025, at home



Sunday, June 29, 2025

Today Is ...

June 29, 2025, at home





Trump Victory

GOOD NEWS !!! MAGA !!! 👍🇺🇲

"Trump, lawmakers react after 'big, beautiful bill' clears Senate hurdle"

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-lawmakers-react-after-big-beautiful-bill-clears-senate-hurdle

June 29, 2025, at home

Austrian Grand Prix

I am watching live coverage of the eleventh race of the 2025 Formula 1 racing season on June 29, 2025. The Austrian Grand Prix is being broadcast on ESPN from a feed from Sky Sports F1. The 71-lap race started at 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States).

Below is a diagram of the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria (capacity: 105,000). Each circuit (track) around the world has a different configuration, therefore a different dynamic, regarding turns and elevation fluctuations.

This season's 24-race schedule is as follows: Australia, China, Japan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Miami (U.S.), Italy, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium, Hungary, The Netherlands, Italy (different circuit), Azerbaijan, Singapore, Austin (U.S.), Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas (U.S.), Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.

Before each race, there are two or three days of practice/qualifying. The races run every week or every other week from March into December, with a month-long summer break.

In Formula 1 racing, there are 20 (male) drivers, with ZERO drivers from the United States.

There are 10 teams (with two drivers on each team), so not only do drivers compete against their rivals, but they also compete against their teammates. There are two championships: one for the drivers and one for the constructor teams.

The 10 constructors are Alpine, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Haas, Kick Sauber, McClaren, Mercedes, Racing Bulls, Red Bull Racing, and Williams.

This season, as with last season, there are three races in the United States. In fairly recent years, there were no drivers from the United States and no races in the United States.

Formula 1 racing is the only sport that I actively follow. I have been a fan for decades. I watched my first F1 race decades ago on television at the home of one of my many Austrian cousins while on vacation in Austria.


Saturday, June 28, 2025

Long Way To Go

June 28, 2025, at home



Today Is ...

My father owned and operated an insurance agency for decades, from the 1960s into the 1990s. He specialized in automobile insurance and "property and casualty" insurance.

I studied insurance between my two university degrees (between January and September 1985).

My dad employed a guy who just did life insurance. I went to a Paul McCartney concert with him at Madison Square Garden in New York City in December 1989.

My father also owned and operated a real estate agency and a travel agency. My mother operated the latter.

In 1991, I was an editor for a national monthly magazine titled "Risk Management" based in New York City. It was the magazine for the nonprofit association "Risk And Insurance Management Society" that represented corporate insurance buyers.

June 28, 2025, at home

I am a gourmand, not a gourmet.

June 28, 2025, at home

TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY.

JUNE 28, 2025, AT HOME

I have dabbled a little regarding logistics for some of my business/financial journalism gigs.

June 28, 2025, at home






Friday, June 27, 2025

Boys Beat Women In Soccer

U15 (meaning Under 15 years old), a soccer team comprised of boys 14 years old and younger, beat the Women's Nation Soccer Team of Switzerland 7-1. 

"U15 Boys Dominate Women's National Soccer Team"

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/u15-boys-dominate-womens-national-213144684.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAL4d0ISUqBs84yYAuPuNXmHRreYp9l0ji2Wq6WZNDcT-cADXvW33heCMtDyWgVSfV8mLZft4x2Gs21Be_sHsApE0lOFVJaNLepWdZzrGVGsO9zu6SJobn_ICc6K6jdRNu426D4V6h5pc3aInL4iK4iDpQ4LpBjT6jb4_c8tvnLo3

June 27, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

Bromelain, an enzyme in pineapple concentrated in the core, not only helps to digest proteins but also is an anti-inflammatory and an analgesic, especially effective in the sinuses and other soft tissues like the lungs. I used to chew on bromelain tablets in an effort to reduce inflammation in my sinuses. I finally had to resort to sinus surgery several years ago to remove eight polyps after oral and topical prescription steroids did nothing to alleviate my medical issue. All eight of my sinuses were also cleaned and expanded. I still occasionally use a corticosteroid nasal spray to prevent polyp recurrence.

June 27, 2025, at home

To be honest, I think that I may have a mild version of PTSD that seems to be fading. Between March 2022 and April 2024, I had six surgeries: 1 heart, 2 chest, 2 spine, and 1 right ankle. Between the severe pain and the chaos of residing in two hospitals and a physical rehabilitation facility, I was just so majorly frustrated, and physically and mentally tired for so long. While I am still dealing with health issues (Diabetes with Peripheral Neuropathy in both of my feet; Congestive Heart Failure; and Restrictive Lung Disease), I am actually doing much better than I was.

June 27, 2025, at home

I typically enjoy ice cream cake on my birthday.

June 27, 2025, at home

I ate leftover Orange Tofu for lunch today.

June 27, 2025, at home

I prefer yellow onions, sautéed. I do not like shallots.

June 27, 2025, at home







Thursday, June 26, 2025

R.I.P. Peter Yarrow

R.I.P. Peter Yarrow (May 31, 1938 – January 7, 2025)

June 26, 2025, at home



Happy Birthday To Derek

June 26, 2025, at home




One of my favorite snacks is Doritos nacho corn chips dipped in chocolate pudding. When I was in sixth grade (1972-73; age 11 or 12), I first ate it in the cafeteria of Bayview Elementary School (West Islip, Long Island, New York) in an attempt to make two girls disgusted. They didn't care all that much, and I discovered that I really like it. I have eaten it many times over the years.

June 26, 2025, at home

I like coconut.

June 26, 2025, at home

When I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s, I would occasionally eat bomb pops.

June 26, 2025, at home







Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Day After Roe Overturned

Today (June 25, 2025) is the day after the third anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. Of course, I posted my celebration announcement yesterday on Facebook, on my personal blog, and on my YouTube channel. However, today, I wanted to post the photo below, which I took of myself on the day after the Supreme Court ruling.

At that time, I was in a physical rehabilitation facility following open-heart surgery in March 2022 and two related chest surgeries in May 2022. I arrived on June 3, 2022.

So, it was June 25, 2022, when I first was offered a newspaper. I am not a fan of The New York Times due to its heavily liberal/politically leftist bias, but that is all she had to offer. Anyway, I accepted the newspaper, mainly because I was and still am extremely happy that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and because I wanted to see the large bold headline printed onto the front page. After all, it really is good news, as well as an important historical event. Unfortunately, someone threw out the paper. I had hoped to save it for posterity.

I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on March 9, 2022, and the two related chest surgeries in May 2022.

I developed severe chest pains, so my wife drove me to the hospital emergency room on May 13, 2022.

For my chest surgery on May 19, 2022, my surgeon removed a metal sternal plate from within my chest due to loose screws and also attended to a staph infection within my chest. The plate was holding my broken breastbone together from my heart surgery. My chest was left open with a wound vacuum attached for about a week.

For my chest surgery on May 25, 2022, my surgeon partially closed my chest by clipping off the tips of my ribs and reattaching my chest muscle flaps to my body, so he told me. He used seven spaced-out sutures to close the eight-inch-long, vertical incision from my lower neck to my upper belly initiated by my open-heart surgery and made worse by my two subsequent chest surgeries, leaving me with eight holes in my chest to heal. The wound vacuum was reattached. My sutures were removed on June 20, 2022. I arrived home on July 21, 2022, one day before my wife's birthday.

Since then I have had two spinal surgeries in 2023: one surgery to clean out an infected disk in September; and one surgery to attach a titanium metal rod to my spine which was collapsing due to a bone infection in October. I would then have surgery on my right ankle in April 2024 for a bone biopsy, a fluid draining, and a deburring due to a bone infection.


June: Men's Health Month

June is Men's Health Awareness Month. This includes men's physical, mental, and emotional health.

June 25, 2025, at home


Today Is ...

I officially became a Beatles fan during the summer of 1964 after my mom took me to a movie theater to see the Beatles first movie "A Hard Day's Night." I was three years old.

June 25, 2025, at home

My dad retired at the rank of Commander after 22 years in the U.S. Navy. He spent some time on a ship in the North Atlantic Ocean. During the 1970s, when I was a teenager, I became a seafarer aboard dad's several boats with Dad and his friends as my teachers on the Great South Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. I also had my own small boats. My dad's father who emigrated from Portugal was in the Merchant Marines.

June 25, 2025, at home

It's six months until Christmas Day. (Leon is Noël spelled backwards.)

June 25, 2025, at home

I have only eaten catfish once. It was frozen, breaded, packaged, and in the form of nuggets. I got so stomach sick that I never ate catfish again.

June 25, 2025, at home

That's not my style. I really dislike strawberries, both the taste and the texture.

June 25, 2025, at home







Tuesday, June 24, 2025

3rd Anniversary: Roe Gone

I created and uploaded a very short video celebrating the third anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I noticed a post about it on Facebook during the mid-evening today (June 24, 2025) and decided to let you know of my quiet celebration. (length: 56 seconds)

3rd Anniversary: Overturning Roe v. Wade (June 24, 2025)

https://youtube.com/shorts/da0VN1qqODM?si=5S8JzqdLrTw_cYSa

Roe Is Still Dead

Happy Third Anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade !!! I am celebrating !!!

Many thanks go to the five Supreme Court Justices who voted to overturn: from left, Brett Cavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito. Many thanks also go to President Donald J. Trump who nominated Gorsuch, Cavanaugh, and Coney Barrett, making this much-needed ruling possible.

June 24, 2025, at home



Short Message To Liberals

I created and uploaded a short message to liberals onto my YouTube channel. (length: 1'31")

Short Message To Liberals (June 24, 2025)

https://youtube.com/shorts/ti0q57wbmxo?si=PrkwTwyOQN5ubriP

June 24, 2025, at home

Non-Toxic Masculinity

June 24, 2025, at home



Patches & Pralines

I have a dark blue ski jacket that I wore in the 1980s, when I was in my 20s, with various patches from the various ski areas and resorts where I have skied, including many places in Austria, plus many places in Colorado and in many states in the northeastern United States (Vermont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts). After I stopped collecting the patches, I skied in Canada. I grew up on Long Island, New York, but I never skied Bare Mountain there.

June 24, 2025, at home

I do somewhat like pralines, although I am definitely NOT fond of caramel.

June 24, 2025, at home



R.I.P. Bobby Sherman

R.I.P. Bobby Sherman (July 22, 1943 – June 24, 2025) ... When I was a very young kid in the 1960s, my parents introduced me to pop music by buying me two Bobby Sherman vinyl records. I also had a Sherman cassette tape.

(Actually, my mom had already officially introduced me to The Beatles music when we attended their movie "A Hard Day's Night" in 1964, when I was three years old.)

Then later, my Aunt Doris got me a Humble Pie cassette for my 13th birthday in 1974, as suggested to her by the guy at the music store. That expanded my musical interests.



Monday, June 23, 2025

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Selfie Day Yesterday

Oops. I missed National Selfie Day yesterday (June 21, 2025). You know that I can't go without posting a recent selfie. Here's a photo that I took of myself on January 24, 2025, that I used as my Facebook profile photo and as the main photo on my personal blog. It was the day when I received my MAGA hat in the mail. I ordered it shortly after Donald J. Trump's presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025. I have been a political supporter of Trump since 2015. Make America Great Again !!!  I purchased my VOTE MALE T-shirt (with a huge logo on the back) in the early 1990s, when I was in my early 30s. That's when I officially became a Men's Rights Activist, making attempts at preserving and expanding men's rights. Back then, I was even a card-carrying, dues-paying member of the National Organization for Men. I never directly protested, but I tried to promote this worthy cause. I still promote it on Facebook, this post as an example, and to a lesser degree on Truth Social and on my YouTube channel. VOTE MALE simply means to vote for men and women who support Men's Rights and Father's Rights. That typically tends to be male, Republican legislators, hence my support of President Trump.

June 22, 2025, at home


Today Is ...

I like éclairs, but never with whipped cream. I prefer them filled with chocolate pudding, but vanilla pudding is good, too.

June 22, 2025, at home

I prefer onion rings to french fries.

June 22, 2025, at home





MTV Starts in 1981

On August 1, 1981, MTV began broadcasting. The first video on MTV was "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles. https://youtu....