Beef Stew

My wonderful wife made beef stew this evening.

April 21, 2025, at home

One-Word Retorts

I get a lot of one-word retorts from liberals: "Source?" Are they really that ignorant, or is it just a knee-jerk reaction, like throwing around such stale buzzwords as "incel" and "misogyny" without really knowing their meanings?

April 21, 2025, at home

Cashews & Rendering

Cashew is one of my favorite nuts.

April 21, 2025, at home

From 1992 to 1996, I was a reporter, writer, editor, and researcher for an international weekly magazine on the financial and technical aspects of the chemical industry. My first position there was titled "Oils, Fats, and Waxes Editor." (I still love that title.)

While I wrote about such substances as Carnauba Wax and High Erucic Acid Rapeseed Oil, in regard to today's celebration, I also wrote about grease, both white and yellow; lard; and tallow (all from an industrial lubrication perspective). I also wrote about biodiesel fuel.

I was later promoted to more complex coverage areas: Flavors and Fragrances Editor; then Heavy and Agriculture Chemicals Editor; and then Market Research Editor.

April 21, 2025, at home

Only 2 Pieces Of Cake

Trump is like a parent denying a child a third piece of cake. Two pieces are OK, but a third piece is too much and can be unhealthy.

April 21, 2025, at home

Me As The Easter Bunny

In 1991, when I was between journalism jobs, I was working as an architectural assistant in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York, thanks to my dear friend Mark. I also had another job at the same time: Easter Bunny at the Walt Whitman shopping mall in Huntington Station, Long Island, New York. Here, for your enjoyment, is the classic photo of myself dressed in that furry costume, scaring a child and making another one smile, albeit uncomfortably. If you look closely at the bunny's mouth, you can see part of my face.

April 20, 2025 (Easter Sunday), at home

Easter Greeting Video

Happy Easter !!! Today (April 20, 2025), I recorded and uploaded a short Easter greeting onto my YouTube channel. (length: 1'11")

Happy Easter !!! (April 20, 2025)

https://youtube.com/shorts/KPn-1FZ1YXc?si=g6Jj0DwOQ86Vbr53

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Today (April 20, 2025), I created and uploaded an Easter greeting video onto my YouTube channel. In only 20 minutes, I got more than 1,800 views. Amazing. I posted it as a "short." It's only 1 minute and 11 seconds long. "Shorts" usually get lots of views very quickly and then taper off very quickly. I never expected to get that many views. To be honest, during that 20 minutes, I only received 1 thumb's up and no comments, so many people watched it, but I don't know if more than one person liked it. 😁

(The link is in my previous Facebook post.)

##

UPDATE: My number of views has dropped from 1,909 to 1,307. I have no idea why.

Easter Visit With My Mom

My wife and I are visiting my mom for Easter. (04.20.25)

Today Is ...

April 20, 2025, at home

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

I am watching live coverage of the fifth race of the 2025 Formula 1 racing season on April 20, 2025. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is being broadcast on ESPN from a feed from Sky Sports F1. The 50-lap race started at 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. Eastern Time in the United States).

Below is a diagram of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit (capacity: 50,000), a street circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 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.

Today Is ...

On this date in 1995, Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. (He was pronounced guilty and then later executed on June 11, 2001.)

From 1992 to 1996, I was a reporter, writer, editor, and researcher for an international weekly magazine about the financial and technical aspects of the chemical industry.

Shortly after the bombing, the FBI came to our office in the Financial District of New York City because McVeigh had a subscription to our magazine. At that time, I was writing about heavy and agricultural chemicals, including the fertilizer ammonium nitrate, which was the explosive chemical that McVeigh used in his truck bomb.

I was NOT questioned by the FBI. After all of these many years gone by, it is still disturbing to be tangentially (remotely?) linked to someone that evil. He most probably read what I wrote.

April 19, 2025, at home

I love Amaretto, an Italian almond liqueur. Long ago, I used to drink Bocce Balls (Amaretto mixed with orange juice; no vodka). I also like those Italian Amaretto cookies. Sipping Amaretto straight is nice, too.

April 19, 2025, at home

Being half Italian, I absolutely LOVE eating garlic. However, my religion (Gaudiya Vaishnavism) forbids me from eating it. I still eat it. TRIVIA: The country that consumes the most garlic is South Korea.

April 19, 2025, at home

My good friend (still) and I, while at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia in the early 1980s (in my early 20s), went to a standardbred race horse auction. He suggested that I make the opening bid on this nice, small horse. So, I made the first bid, not knowing what it was. A few seconds later, the bid flashed on big boards: $30,000 !!!

I obviously didn't have the money, and I had no place to stable the horse. So, my friend and I are laughing until a full five minutes passes without another bid. We start to panic a little. My friend said that he would drive the car home and that I would be riding the horse home. Thankfully, there was another bid. After a couple more bids, the horse sold for $75,000, which was a lot lower than we had anticipated.

April 19, 2025, at home

Columns & Crackers

Today (April 18, 2025) is National Columnists' Day.

I was a journalist from September 1982 to April 2017.

My religion is called Gaudiya Vaishnavism, also known as Hare Krishna, which is a sect of Sanatana Dharma, also known as Hinduism. I wrote this column (below) in 2014 about my religion. It was published in almost all of the 24 southeastern Florida weekly newspapers in the chain for which I was working at the time (Forum Publishing Group, Sun Sentinel, Tribune Company).

My column was part of a series of columns written by the editors about living in today's world according to our religious tenets. It was published in our April 16, 2014, editions. At the time, I was one of two Assistant Editors (editor and page designer, and sometimes writer and photographer) for five of our weekly newspapers.

Click/tap on the (scanned) photo below to enlarge it.

Also, during my first paying journalism job (1989-1990), when I was the founding editor of a weekly supplement to a daily newspaper (as a reporter, writer, editor, photographer, and page designer at the Newburgh Evening News in Newburgh, New York), I wrote a weekly opinion column.

Today (April 18, 2025) is National Animal Crackers Day. I prefer the former, traditional box design when the circus animals were still in cages (below).

Banana Bread

This evening, my wonderful wife made two loaves of banana bread topped with walnuts.

April 17, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

I thought cheeseballs were more of a Christmas thing or a 1970s thing.

April 17, 2025, at home

I attended a crawfish boil with my wife many years ago at the home of my former co-worker. It was OK.

April 17, 2025, at home

Since 1986, I have written more than 300 poems, and many of them have been published in anthologies. During this time, I have never written a haiku. I did write a haiku in school when I was very young (in the 1960s), but that is long gone.

April 17, 2025, at home

What more can you say about bats?

April 17, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

I do like Eggs Benedict.

April 16, 2025, at home

Stress Test Today

My stress test at my cardiologist's office was at 10:15 a.m. today (April 15, 2025). Because I still can't walk due to recent surgeries, I must endure the injection (intravenous?) method rather than the treadmill method. I have experienced stress tests before but never like this. It took about three hours to complete (including the waiting).

What Happened To Me: ... intravenous needle in back of right hand after a miss in my right arm ... electrodes and wires attached to my chest after a quick, partial chest shave ... blood pressure monitored ... drug infusion to expand my blood vessels ... drop in blood pressure ... lightheaded, nauseated (more than usual), cold sweats for a few minutes ... infusion of antidote to normalize my blood vessels ... coffee, not hungry for bagels still here at the office ... CT scan of heart with fewer electrodes and wires, infusion of dye into bloodstream, another CT scan of heart ... removal of intravenous needle ... done ... results in a week.

My Fairly Recent Surgeries:
March 2022: quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery
May 2022: two chest surgeries
September 2023: spinal surgery
October 2023: another spinal surgery
April 2024: right ankle surgery

Today Is ...

I have had much success in my life by taking a wild guess, and then doing the opposite of my wild guess. Truth.

April 15, 2025, at home

EQUALITY v. EQUITY

EQUALITY v. EQUITY

DEI means Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. Equality is OK. Equity is evil. Equality means everyone gets an equal chance. Equity means everyone gets an equal outcome.

Let's say you and I take a test in a course we are taking together. You get an A, and I get an F.  With Equality, you get an A, and I get an F. With Equity, we both get Cs. Is that fair?

April 14, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

I once enjoyed a piece of pecan pie topped with chocolate ganache. It was absolutely delicious.

April 14, 2025, at home

My maternal grandfather had a wonderful garden with tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, and more, with a huge fig tree right in the middle.

My paternal grandfather had a tomato patch.

My dad had a garden one year, when I was a kid in the 1970s, but he put it under a tree. He got eggplants the size of eggs and romaine lettuce that grew to five feet long. Yeah. The lettuce didn't grow in bunches, just straight out; it tasted good. However, he planted pole beans in the sun. We had quite a substantial harvest. I remember picking them.

April 14, 2025, at home

I occasionally look at the sky and ask, "Why?" I often look at the sky and ask, "Why not?"

Today is more to admire the beauty of the sky and what is in it: the sun, the clouds, the moon, and the stars.

April 14, 2025, at home

When I was 12 years old in 1973, I attended a showing in a movie theater of the film "The Day of the Dolphin." It was OK.

Overview (from Google):

"Marine biologists Jake (George C. Scott) and Maggie Terrell (Trish Van Devere) have for many years been doing dolphin research in the Florida Keys, and have even coached some dolphins to speak primitive English. But when two of the dolphins are kidnapped, an investigation proves that the Terrells' financial backers, the Franklin Foundation, have had sinister intentions all along. The dolphins are to be used to deliver and detonate explosives beneath the president's yacht."

April 14, 2025, at home

Stuffed Shells For Dinner

My wonderful wife made pasta shells filled with ricotta cheese with the tomato sauce that we made together yesterday, topped with shredded Italian cheeses, and then baked. 

April 13, 2025, at home

F1 & Cannolo

F1 racing on TV and a cannolo with coffee: quite pristine. (04.13.25)

Aileen Santos

Bahrain Grand Prix

I am watching live coverage of the fourth race of the 2025 Formula 1 racing season on April 13, 2025. The Bahrain Grand Prix is being broadcast on ESPN2 from a feed from Sky Sports F1. The 57-lap race started at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States).

Below is a diagram of the Bahrain International Circuit (capacity: 70,000) in Sakhir, Bahrain. 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.

Today Is ...

I do like peach cobbler, but I prefer it with chocolate ice cream, as I do with fruit pies (peach, apple, cherry, blueberry ...).

April 13, 2025, at home

I play many games of Words With Friends on my phone. If you want to play, my user name is Wsantos3434.

April 13, 2025, at home

Posts On Facebook

I have discovered a way for me to cut out 75 percent of my Facebook posts. I get a thought in my head and then analyze it for one second.

April 13, 2025, at home

Tomato Sauce

My wonderful wife and I made tomato sauce this evening for my terrific mother (single batch in pink pot) and for us (double batch in steel pot). Here I am stirring the pots, still seated in my transport chair.

April 12, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

I am not a fan of American cheese, so I prefer my grilled cheese sandwiches made with brie, cheddar, provolone, or Swiss.

April 12, 2025, at home

I have been to Colorado twice: once to go skiing in the mid-1980s and once to cover the opening of a sodium bicarbonate solution mine in the mid-1990s when I was a reporter, writer, editor, and later researcher for a weekly, international magazine based in New York City on the financial and technical aspects of the chemical industry. I worked there from 1992 to 1996.

April 12, 2025, at home

While I don't really like the taste of licorice, I do like the tastes of Anisette and Sambuca.

April 12, 2025, at home

I grew up as an only child. I was blessed with a stepsister in my early 20s.

April 12, 2025, at home