The Wait Is Over

I have completed one third of today’s trifecta, a vigorous pole-assisted walk through FC’s neighborhood two, its most posh. I now feel the need to post because, in the furthest recesses of my imagination, my audience is restless.

A late congrats to #1 for taking the Extended Village March Madness pool.  His SB1, who came in 2nd, had been leading in the early going. I came in 3rd and noted MI alum the Wolv was 4th. Four others that had picked MI took the 5 through 8 slots.  My wife came in 9th.  She had chosen Duke.  I had forgotten to remind her that our family does not root for Duke.

In my recent YouTube viewing, the Pod Save America dudes were discussing Tucker Carlson’s recent question re Trump: "Could this be the Antichrist?" I’m glad to see him coming around. Trump’s beef with Pope Leo and his posting of pictures of himself as Jesus – or maybe just a doctor – is not harming Tucker’s case. If you bomb a country to distract from the news that you could be a rapist and pedophile, you might helping his case.

Trump said the pope was weak on crime. Somebody needs to inform Trump that Leo is Bishop of Rome, not Sheriff. I saw a clip of a comedian making fun of this.  He said maybe the Popemobile is for fighting crime. JD jumped on the bandwagon, saying the pope should stick to theology. I expect JD’s career will be going up in flames soon enough that nobody will give a shit what he says.

I had a brief exchange with #1 about the bastardization of our language.  He brought up stanning and I responded with my disdain for that, and looksmaxxing, and all the other crap people come up with on a daily basis. I may get a DJmobile to fight language crimes.

One of the big proponents of looksmaxxing is Clavicular. I’m not sure if he smacks his cheekbones with a hammer as some of these knuckleheads do, but he did manage to OD while he was livestreaming. I myself have a strict no-alcohol policy when I livestream. I am also unclear on the origin of his nom de guerre. I did consult Merriam-Webster and, as I thought, it means of or relating to the clavicle. I’ve been familiar with the clavicle bone since I was a small child, as my brother busted his when he was three or four.

I was glued to the TV last week watching the Masters. I was rooting for Rory all the way. Things are starting to go his way. Sergio Garcia lost his shit and smashed a tee box with this club, but at least he apologized a few days later, which made me feel better. He also received the Masters first code of conduct warning.  Man, that’s gotta sting!

The Gray Lady recently did a profile titled "Someone Has to Be Happy. Why Not Lauren Sánchez Bezos?". I sometime put things I perceive to be witty on FB, and I was going to post it and say “read it and puke” but I decided to rise above it. I was glad to see Katie Couric chime in, along with a few thousand other commenters. Somebody said, “the NYT is rage-baiting us”. I appreciate the sentiment but not the use of “rage-bating”, which I put in the same category as stanning and looksmaxxing. In any case, I’ll close this paragraph by letting you know that Jeff and Lauren are currently visiting the Galapagos on their half billion-dollar yacht.

I’ve got my calendar marked for July 3.  That is when Confessions II, Madonna’s new album, drops. I just listened to a preview of “I Feel So Free” so you don’t have to.  It’s a whispery spoken word piece with some electronic music in the background.  I don’t know how she does it.

We had the 4Ms over for dinner on Sunday. The recipe for the masterpiece I created is below.  They found it tolerable.  As usual, 4M digs around in his wine cellar to provide us with his best.  He recently hit 70, so he dug up some of his 1956 wares. He brought this one to share with us. The bottle will have a special place in our kitchen hall of fame ledge along with his homemade vino from their last visit.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026287-one-pot-roman-chicken-cacciatore-with-potatoes

I’ll end by reminding you that my 69th birthday is a mere two weeks away, so get your gift shopping done quickly.  I’ll be celebrating with this dignified individual.

Disappointed Yet Again

Perusing my Statcounter, I see #1 and the Wolv visited earlier this morning. I can almost see their grief-stricken faces as they came across the same late March post.  I cannot, in good conscience, allow this to continue.  And the Wolv will be doubly glad this evening when MI pastes AZ.

We spent last weekend in Sacramento. Friday brought us to Golden 1 Center, where we watched the two women’s Sweet 16 games. UCLA had a slow start but came out in the second half to rout MN. The second game, Duke vs. LSU, was a tight one, with Duke dropping a buzzer beating trey to take it.  I felt bad for Kim Mulkey. I have an affinity with her because of our similar fashion styles. 

The next day we joined the No Kings protest across from the state capitol. My wife made us some good signs. I saw a few repeats of my “clean up on aisle 47” among the other witty and profane placards. It was well organized, with shady spots to sit down and abundant water bottles. We departed before the marchers arrived and somehow landed at Joseph A. Bank because my wife is tired of the shirts I’ve been wearing. I was annoyed because there were no selections from the Mulkey line, but I came away with two nicely patterned long sleeves that mitigate my protruding gut. We then headed to the home of a good friend of my wife from her SDSU days.  She and her husband treated us royally for our overnight stay, with sumptuous meals and fine selection of beverages.

I have ventured into new culinary territory recently.  I’m not sure what came over me, but I attempted not one, not two, but three new recipes this week.  The first one I got from Mrs. Wig. As I stated in my 2/21 post, I need to come up with a new blog name for her.  I’m thinking CC might do it, but I’ll give her veto rights before making it official. All new names need to go before the MBB (Mediocre Blogs Board) for their blessing. In any case, my first attempt at this recipe was not a sterling success, but it was edible. My wife pointed out that I should have used the non-stick pan to fry the meatballs. As always, she was right.

https://themodernproper.com/chicken-piccata-meatballs

I really went out of my comfort zone for this next one. It came out pretty well but made me do a little research on coconut milk. I will try it again, or something similar, when the spirit moves me.

https://downshiftology.com/recipes/chickpea-curry/

The big winner of the week was my Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe. I’ve always enjoyed this when I’ve had it at restaurants.  I did not actually follow one recipe, but watched a few videos, such as this guy who I enjoy, as well as read through different recipe versions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msi0RPjBZ40

I’ll close by saying goodbye and good riddance to Pam Bondi. Below is South Park’s depiction of her.