Marietta's Birthday

Today (February 28, 2026), we remember my great-aunt Marietta (R.I.P.; my maternal grandfather Giuseppe's sister) on her birthday. Here is a photo of her on her 100th birthday in 2023.

at home

R.I.P. John Wheeler

R.I.P. John Wheeler (June 20, 1930 – February 6, 2026)

February 28, 2026, at home

Skyward

Look at the sky this evening (February 28, 2026). Planets align.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1482938446508060/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Today Is ...

from husband Bill, February 28, 2026, at home

Yes, I did have a rare, potentially fatal disease in May 1977, when I was 16 years old: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I most probably caught it in the backyard of my house in West Islip, Long Island, New York, from either a tick bite or ingesting the feces of an infected tick or even by rubbing my eyes or in my nose with my infected finger.

• 1977 Cases/Trends: While 1977 saw the highest recorded annual total of RMSF cases in the United States at that time (1,153 cases), Long Island specifically was experiencing a significant increase in cases during the mid-1970s (1971–1976 study period).
• 1977 Fatalities: In 1977, the national case-fatality rate for RMSF was 4.9% (42 deaths out of 856 reported cases, based on surveillance reports often finalized a year later).
• Long Island Context: Data from 1971–1976 showed 124 cases in a six-year period on Long Island, with 8 deaths (6.4% case-fatality rate). In March 1977, reports indicated the disease was spreading on Long Island, and fatalities were being reported in the NYC area. 

from husband Bill, February 28, 2026, at home

Not often, but I have enjoyed chocolate soufflé.

from husband Bill, February 28, 2026, at home

When I was a young kid, I would cash in with the "Tooth Fairy." I then started saving my teeth in a small plastic tooth (with cotton) that once contained chewing gum. It was my idea, but I just realized the possibility of my parents agreeing with me so that they could save a few quarters. 😁 I no longer have that plastic tooth, but if I did, I wonder if I could have coaxed my mom into switching my baby teeth for the comparable number of quarters ... or even adjust the amount due to inflation. Maybe the statute of limitations is long gone. ... and I can't really prove that my mom or my dad was actually the Tooth Fairy.

from husband Bill, February 28, 2026, at home

Fendrich Videos

Today is my favorite pop singer's 71st birthday. Here are several links to Rainhard Fendrich music videos. I have been a fan since 1983, when I was 22 years old. He released his first album in 1980, and he is still recording albums and touring.

"Der Himmel würfelt leider nicht"  (1991) ... This is my favorite Fendrich song.

https://youtu.be/qOjp8DglkUM?si=vdwpsKWOV_uoedhn

"Es Lebe der Sport" (1982) ... This is the first song by Fendrich that I heard (in 1983).

https://youtu.be/7mF-h-wvhQI?si=k9u83TL-pJus4AsK

"I Am From Austria" (1989) ... This is Austria's unofficial national album.

https://youtu.be/Xi_8DB7zsD4?si=uPH5GShw9ujDf7xE

"Soy Tu Vida (...weil ich dein Leben bin)" (2004) ... duet with Carmen Jaime

https://youtu.be/CFoL1IqUJ5U?si=aIarVgWyw_H5MZQ0

"Angelina" (1993)

https://youtu.be/mCTNhvrTIRg?si=2i3LaicEjwsCJlLE

"Der Mensch ist wie er ist" (2010)

https://youtu.be/4mHF_q0VohU?si=gOMAY2Lb1_8VeaCl

"Schwarzoderweiss" (2016)

https://youtu.be/zIXuVth76AA?si=OmCaTzyUbkruLkoD

65th Birthday Video

February 27, 2026, at home

I indulged myself by creating and uploading onto my YouTube channel this relatively short video to commemorate my 65th birthday on February 26, 2026. (4 minutes, 49 seconds) ... My mother, my wife, and I celebrated at my mom's nearby home. I created this video because I really wish my friends and my family members could have all been here with us to celebrate, and this is a way for them to share in the festivities.

My 65th Birthday (Feb. 26, 2026)

https://youtu.be/EoOeXpK8KDg?si=Bnyee6SBRoAIz1gi

R.I.P. Neil Sedaka

February 27, 2026, at home 

R.I.P. Neil Sedaka (March 13, 1939 – February 27, 2026)

"Bad Blood," his duet with Elton John, is my favorite Sedaka song. I like the line: "The bitch is in her smile."

https://youtu.be/zXpLlpJ5Qnc?si=Urndw5lKnGM3iaAx

He co-wrote "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille. Toni Tennille sings "Sedaka's back" in the song.

https://youtu.be/_QNEf9oGw8o?si=dyF1pCEIfJm27UaS

Today Is ...

from husband Bill, February 27, 2026, at home

I am perpetually retro, well, anachronistic.

from husband Bill, February 27, 2026, at home

I somewhat like Kahlúa. I used to drink White Russians.

from husband Bill, February 27, 2026, at home

The polar bear population is thriving, so: no worries about them.

from husband Bill, February 27, 2026, at home

One word: YUCK !!! I dislike strawberries: the taste, the texture, the everything. My least favorite dessert is Strawberry Shortcake: I don't like strawberries, yellow pound cake, and whipped cream.

from husband Bill, February 27, 2026, at home

Anosmia is the loss of the sense of smell. I had a school teacher many years ago who lost his sense of smell following a car accident. I sort of had something somewhat related. I had nasal/sinus surgery several years ago to remove eight polyps, and to clean out and expand all eight of my sinuses. I guess it's not that I couldn't smell, but more like I couldn't breathe through my nose. A month or two after my surgery, I was able to smell again.

from husband Bill, February 27, 2026, at home

I never became interested in Pokémon.

Thanks For Wishes

February 27, 2026, at home

Thank you for all of your well wishes yesterday on my birthday. 🎉🎂🎁

65th

 February 26, 2026, at home

YEAH !!! I am officially 65 years old !!!

I was born at 9:08 a.m., Eastern Time, at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, Long Island, New York, on February 26, 1961. In the 1960s and 1970s (and later), the windows of the hospital were much lighter.

I was happy to be age 64 because of The Beatles song "When I'm 64." It was good while it lasted.

When I was a kid at school in the 1960s and 1970s, I would jump up and say "YEAH !!!" at exactly 9:08 a.m. on my birthday in whatever classroom I was in, invariably interrupting my teachers.

I share my birthday with my cousin Jackie, also Victor Hugo, Tony Randall, William Frawley, Jackie Gleason, Johnny Cash, and Antoine "Fats" Domino. I am quite happy that my birthday is sandwiched between the birthdays of my dear friend Bryan, whom I have known for 65 years, and George Harrison, both on February 25, and my favorite pop singer, Rainhard Fendrich (from Austria), on February 27.

Today Is ...

February 26, 2026, at home on my 65th birthday

I like a mixture of chocolate and pistachio Jell-O puddings. I miss the pistachio nuts in the shell and dyed red.

from husband Bill, February 26, 2026, at home on my 65th birthday

I have long considered my life to be a cautionary tale. 😁 ... My primary role model for decades is His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. My idea of good role models these days is: Donald J. Trump, J.D. Vance, Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, Jesse Lee Peterson, Greg Gutfeld, and Hannah Pearl Davis. Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, and Ayn Rand also comes to mind. There are also two fictional characters: Daryl Van Horne and Eleanor Abernathy. I'm sure there are more.

66/65

Happy 66th birthday (February 25, 2026) to my dear friend Bryan, who has always been a year and a day older than me. As per personal tradition, we speak on the phone, either on his birthday or on my birthday tomorrow.

He visited me here in southeastern Florida from almost across the United States for two days in November 2025. Unfortunately, I was not doing well:

On November 4, 2025, I had artery bypass surgery that lasted almost six hours. I had a three-foot-long blockage in the main artery in my left leg, so my two vascular surgeons, with my podiatrist observing, removed a three-foot-long vein in my right leg and inserted it within my left leg.

On November 8, 2025, my podiatrist performed surgery to remove part of the third and fourth toes of my left foot due to my artery blockage.

So, Bryan visited me on November 11 in the hospital and on November 12 in my physical rehabilitation facility.

(Since March 2022, I had eight surgeries: heart, two chest, two spine, right ankle, and those two.)

Bryan and I have literally known each other for 65 years. We were neighbors in Babylon, Long Island, New York, from the moment of my birth on February 26, 1961, until the summer of 1972, when my family moved several miles away to West Islip. Although we lived on different streets in Babylon, only a hedge separated our backyards. I was still able to shoot a tiny hole in Bryan's kitchen window with my dad's BB rifle from my backyard in the late 1960s, when my age was in single digits.

February 25, 2026, at home

Harrison

February 25, 2026, at home

Happy Birthday to George Harrison (R.I.P., February 25, 1943 – November 29, 2001) !!! One of my favorite Harrison songs is "This is Love" from his 1987 album "Cloud Nine." I requested that the DJ play this song at our wedding reception on February 4, 2006. I thought the lyrics best represented our marital celebration. 

"Vicious words drift away from their meanings

And the sun melts the chill from our lives

Helping us all to remember what we came here for

This is love ..." 

https://youtu.be/wqWkBk2ixs8

George

February 25, 2026, at home

Happy Birthday to George Harrison (February 25, 1943 - November 29, 2001) !!!

I have been an official Beatles fan since the summer of 1964, when I attended a theater showing of their first movie "A Hard Day's Night" with my mother and one of the two teenaged girls who lived in the house next to us. I was 3 years old. I really became a fan before that because my mom and the two teenaged girls next door were big fans.

George Harrison was always my favorite Beatle and still is. I like his songs best, plus he was a major influence regarding my conversion from Roman Catholicism to Gaudiya Vaishnavism (Hare Krishna).

"Love Comes To Everyone" (link below) is my favorite song by Harrison. It appears on his 1979 self-titled album, which is my favorite Harrison album. Eric Clapton plays guitar during the introduction of this song. Steve Winwood plays keyboards on this song.

I also like Harrison's song "This Is Love," which I requested that the DJ play at our wedding reception on February 4, 2006.

As a devotee of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, as was Harrison, I also like his songs "My Sweet Lord," "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth,"" "Beware of Darkness," and "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long." I also like his songs "Run of The Mill" and "Pure Smokey," the latter a tribute to singer Smokey Robinson.

My favorite Harrison song with The Beatles is "Savoy Truffle." This song warns Eric Clapton about eating too much candy. TRIVIA: Clapton married Harrison's ex-wife Pattie Boyd.

https://youtu.be/peTMq9lVBoA

Nuts & Chowder

From husband Bill, February 25, 2026, at home

Chocolate-covered almonds are OK, but I prefer chocolate-covered cashews.

From husband Bill, February 25, 2026, at home

I like Manhattan clam chowder, but New England clam chowder is nice, too.

Sometime in the mid-1980s or so, I voted for the best chowder at a chowder contest on the Jersey Shore, specifically Long Beach Island. I only voted for the Manhattan version by placing a poker chip in a jar at the restaurant booth with what I thought was the best chowder. I didn't vote for the New England version because, being from Long Island, New York, near Manhattan, I didn't consider myself as a competent judge of New England clam chowder because it was never my go-to chowder, and also, I wanted to keep the poker chip as a souvenir. I still tasted several contestants.

Many thanks go to my university buddy/fraternity brother Jim and his family for inviting me. During several summers in the 1980s, they would rent a cottage on the Jersey Shore and invite me occasionally to spend a few weekends with them there.

We have a fraternity brother Bill whose nickname is "Chowder" because he's from Boston.

(Of course, the photo below is the New England version. The Manhattan version is based in tomatoes.)