Adios Mayo

We had a boy’s video call scheduled for Friday, but it ended up being a one on one with me and #1.  He reminded me of the paucity of blog product, so I decided to do something about it.

This is the first post from my grandly refurbished home office.  No more popcorn ceiling and crappy light.  I have a new desk that moves up and down with the push of a button, but that is used for my Titan of Telecom activities. I have been sitting in the dining room for months so I’m glad to be back where the vast majority of my creative genius is usually generated.

We’ve been able to do some socializing during the pandemic.  I’ve mentioned our weekly cocktail party, driveway style, but we’ve also had some events in our back yard.  Last weekend the Hoteliers came over along with The Exec for a beer can chicken feast that included a new recipe my wife dug up for healthy BBQ style beans and the girl’s cabbage salad.  You see, I don’t have to do it all alone, just most of it. We somehow ended up with three bottles of Hendricks gin recently, so one was put in the freezer.  This was a new concept to The Hotelier.  We were glad to be able to introduce him to a trick most college punks know. He and the wives quite enjoyed it, but I stuck with the Zin.

Last night was the Mashie and Unc Show.  We provided more BBQ chicken, this time thighs with yet another new recipe, for marinade.  The wife and I decided that marinade was OK, but we need to “kick it up a notch”, as someone once said.  There were also more beans – different recipe – and cabbage salad.  Unc and Mashie’s daughter and boyfriend also joined us.

All hell is breaking loose in our country.  I got a report Friday night from 4M in San Jose about the nearby sirens, helicopters and brush fire smoke.  A bunch of knuckleheads blocked 101 and started attacking cars.  It would be nice if we had an empathetic president that could say some sincere words to try to calm things down.  Instead we get “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”. I saw on Twitter that his staff was trying to get him to make a statement on the rioting, but you know it will just be some teleprompter bullshit voiced in a monotone fashion with a blank expression.

#1 sent me this recent article.  He said it was right up my alley and he was right.  I think I could have written it, or at least most of it.  I do have to admit that I did not know who Amanda Palmer or Doja Cat were, so I consider reading it a broadening experience.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/05/29/celebrities-meltdown-may-doja-cat-lana-del-rey/

Boredom Edition

I have not felt like blogging for a while, but I have the itch today.  Let’s see how this goes.

I’m getting a little puked out by the Trump family, which probably comes as no surprise to you.  Daddy needs to stop egging on the fringe right wingers and anti-vaxxers, but that is old news. Recently, Junior called Biden a pedophile and Eric said that COVID will disappear after the election.  What the hell is wrong with these people?  There is no bottom.  And I came across an interesting tweet involving darling Ivanka.

Speaking of assholes like Musk, I’ve seen a few articles talking about re-working our economy so people like him, Zuckerberg, Bezos et al do not have such a ridiculous level of influence.  I’ll jump on the bandwagon, but I am not optimistic.  I could come up with a few altruistic ways to use some of their billions.

Not a whole lot of action on the home front.  My wife and daughter were talking yesterday about how cooking for one is difficult.  I am so happy at this point that I get to cook for three every night.  Tonight, I will be featuring fettucine carbonara.  The wife and I do not eat much pasta anymore, so I’m looking forward to a big pile tonight.

We have been enjoying the backyard a bit, although it is currently dominated by a tile saw, but I expect that to be gone soon.  This week we expect the shower and vanity areas to be done so we are closer to completion.  We passed our city inspection, so we are going in the right direction.

Last weekend we had a social distancing get together with my sister and LA.  They brought some cute bottles of cocktails and we provided pizza from Pazzo in San Carlos.  And we continue to have our Friday cocktail hour up the road.  We have an unbroken streak going back to early April.  And yesterday The Exec blessed us with his presence.  His recovery is continuing apace.

I also had a well-attended Zoom call with the FC boys.  We are expecting #1 and family to return from Singapore in July.  We discussed them adding goggles to their flight PPE, as an epidemiologist who studied Ebola recently got COVID and he believe he got it through his eyes, as everything else was covered.  #2 was down from Tahoe so he joined The Exec at TCG’s winter home in FC.  The Hotelier informed us that SFO is getting about 5% of their usual traffic.  All COVID questions were directed to The Belgian, who has contributed to the creation of cancer drugs at his day job.  He also mentioned his youngest had her virtual graduation from UC Berkeley.

Has anyone heard what celebrities have been doing in isolation, besides taking scantily clad selfies?  I’ll have to get back to you after I do further research.  I just hope they are OK.

I Kept My Promise, You Keep Your Distance

I got birthday greetings from Dr. Joe this morning.  Being a renowned infectious diseases doctor in the middle of a pandemic is a poor excuse for being three days late, but I think I am big enough to not let it affect our relationship.

We did the usual driveway cocktail party up the street for my birthday Friday.  I ate a burrito the size of my forearm and our hosts whipped up some tasty margaritas from scratch. None of that treacly mix was involved.  The girl and I had a laugh as she tried to carry both the leftover birthday cake and a folding chair on our trek back home.  It may have been the margaritas talking.

Saturday night brought us to Unc and Mashie’s deck to celebrate my wife’s bday.  Unc grilled up some steak and chicken to accompany brussel sprouts roasted to perfection.  We kept our distance, with maybe a few lapses.  We discussed doing a road trip with them up to Portland when the lockdown eases.  We are all dreaming of that day but will need to be satisfied with San Mateo re-opening parks this week as a small step forward.

I did a meat stock up this weekend at Draeger’s, but their counter was full, plus the president* will be invoking the War Powers Act where it really counts, at meat processing plants, so I should be able to relax.  Do we have a national stockpile of bacon?  I will ask Jared.

Can you guys believe Diamond and Silk got the boot by Fox?  They are so grounded. It does not really make sense given they are still letting Hannity, Ingraham, Pirro and the rest of the loons spew their poison. However, I do appreciate them bringing us the narcissist-in-chief from the Lincoln Memorial yesterday.

Celebrity news?  Is there any?  4M notified me that Kylie Jenner purchased a $36.5M mansion.  Nobody deserves it more, but I understand that there is some controversy as to whether she is a self-made billionaire.  Also, I can track down some cute celebrity parenthood quotes if there is a demand for that sort of thing.  Lastly, Madonna tested positive for COVID 19 antibodies.  One can only hope it has not affected her magnificent singing voice.