Rebcake-o-rama

1. Another bitterly cold day, actually worse than yesterday. Woke up to no hot water in the shower - per the Super, the pipe had froze. Apparently the folks in the apartments on the 6th and 4th floors barely use the hot water (they must be very stinky?) and the 5th is now vacant.

Me: What happened to the new tenant in the 5th Floor apartment, did they leave already.
Super: They passed away.

So they took heaters up to the 5th floor and 6th and got the hot water working. Apparently the 4th is fine. (I'm annoyed I was dripping the hot water - and had even taken a hot shower at 11 pm). Their solution is to put another radiator in the bathroom (I already have one in there) and close the door - apparently this worked on the 5th and 6th floor. And open the hot water valve.

They also decided to turn on the radiator in my bedroom. Because 64 degrees in the bedroom, with the windows covered and the cracks patched up, is too cold. The building code is 70 degrees.

After all that work to get the radiator turned off in the bedroom - it's back on again, because the temperatures decided to go below 0 this weekend.

So, how's your Sunday going so far?

Some church services were cancelled. Mine wasn't - I'm watching it on Youtube on time delay (I kept pausing it to deal with the Super). And no it wasn't done virtually - they are actually there having service and live-streaming it. People came from Chinatown - for the first time. Now, that's dedication.

2. Speaking of dedication? Found this via brithistorian yesterday....

"The rule: In order to prevent ski jumpers from going full flying squirrel with their suits, they undergo a 3D body scan, which determines the dimensions (and hence the surface area) of their suit.

The allegation: It has been alleged that some ski jumpers are having their penises injected with hyaluronic acid to make them bigger and thus net them extra cloth in the crotch of their suits. It's not a lot, but given the tight margins of victory in some Olympic competitions, it could make a difference.

The ruling: WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) has said they have no definitive evidence that this has ever been done, and in fact they aren't even sure that this would fall under the definition of doping, but they do say they'll be looking into it."

Now, assuming folks are actually doing this? That's dedication. It didn't say what the women ski jumpers do - but yes my mind went there.

[Personally? You couldn't pay me enough to do ski jumping. I don't ski. Tried that, won't do it again. It's a real good way to permanently injure yourself for no good reason - which is why my father refused to ski - he considered it an expensive, cold, dangerous sport with no point.]

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3. Watching Angel S4 and Buffy S7 back to back or together kind of hammers home how impossible it is for Angel to be redeemed. ( Read more... )

Now, I'm kind of watching Katee Sackoff and her husband watching herself play Starbuck in BSG, they've never seen it. (This is a thing, now? Actors watching themselves in iconic/popular 25 year old television series in podcasts. And you get to watch the actor freaking out over the show, and their own acting, and realizing, wow, this was a great show.) Sackoff is kind of similar to Juliet Landau, because both know filmmaking, and they are doing it with another person.

This is just making me want to rewatch Battle Star Galatica and I have enough shows in my to watch queues without adding re-watches. Stopped.

Hibernating in my apartment (because it is -16 degrees F outside with windchill, that translates to - 26 C (correction - it's now dropped to 6 degrees and is between -12 and -14, so I guess the wind is leveling off at least?), it's 68 degrees inside with radiators). I'm wearing a turtle neck, sweats, and fluffy socks. So I'm warm. Had hot coco earlier.

( Read more... )

I did finish "Buffy S7: Storyteller" - and the ending isn't bad? ( Read more... )

Then watched two episodes of The Pitt S2 - which were excellent. I love this series. (It's a hyper-realistic medical procedural that focuses on one 16 hour shift in an American inner city ER. It's less personal than This is Gonna Hurt or ER, in that we don't see the home lives of any of the characters. The only set is the ER and the immediate area into and out of it. We see Dr. Robi riding his motorcycle to the ER to start his last night shift before leaving on sabbatical, but after that? It's indoors. Medical health care workers - have stated that when people ask them to describe what they do? They point to the Pitt.)

I can relate - I have troubles explaining my profession too - although it's not that, and no one in their right mind would do a television show off of it. The viewers would go to sleep, god knows, I do.

Mother called after the figure skating (partly to apologize for the American's short program being a disappointment - it isn't usually) and to tell me about a comedy sketch she's working on for her retirement center's variety program. The center's self-appointed theater director has grown weary of writing sketches and has asked people to write or develop their own acts to be edited together into one program. They just have to write it about the center and issues involving it. Mother's decided to do a "Who's on First, What's on Second" sketch - except using maintenance workers.
( Mother's skit - well so far )
I wished her luck with it. She's presenting it to her friend (the self-appointed theater director) tomorrow. (Mother is 83 turning 84 this year, and her friend is about four-five years older, I think.)

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The self-appointed Buddhist expert on FB posted a list of things to do to change your life and become...I don't know? Calmer? More empathetic? A better person? One never knows with self-appointed internet Buddhist experts.

Their list?
( 6 month plan to become unrecognizable.. )

Anywho - the first three aren't bad: Get sun regularly, practice gratitude, practice detachment (unless of course it means becoming a sociopath - in which case? Bad Buddhist, and I do not think that's what Buddhism is about). But the fourth one kind of lost me and I fluttered away after that, arguing with the person who posted in my head (assuming of course it is an actual person? It could be Generative AI or a Digitial auto pilot account, one never knows these days. (And also not very Buddhist. Techie, yes, Buddhist, no.)
( Read more... )
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Against my better judgement, I caved and made brownies. ( Read more... )

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I've managed to do my knee exercises or most of them - the important ones at any rate. Not necessarily three times today, but the knee was hurting still from yesterday. I'd stood on it too long - so it wanted to rest. It finally stopped hurting sometime around noon.

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Memage

4. How old is the oldest book you own?

God knows. It appears to be On the Road with Jack Keroack - 1955. I was going to say my copy of the Hobbit or the Last Hurrah, but On the Road wins. (I don't tend to keep old books - since I'm allergic to the dust and book mold - and I don't have the space, and I can barely read the small print any longer.)

5. It’s the 60th anniversary of the game ‘Twister’ – have you ever played it?

Yes. Although not since the 1980s. I vaguely remember enjoying it a lot in the 1970s as a kid.

6. In 1869, Harper's Weekly published the first picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers. Do you know anyone with a beard or a moustache?

Most of my neighbors and male co-workers. My boss has a beard and moustache, his boss does. Most of the young men in the neighborhood do. Most of my male neighbors - next door, across the hall, downstairs, the guy in the basement. It's incredibly trendy at the moment?

7. Is there a subject at school which you disliked, but you would consider learning now?

No. The ones I disliked, I ended up learning in spite of myself, and unfortunately doing for a living and figuring out on my own. So I don't think it matters? There's no avoiding math. It's a fact of life. As is business law, contracts, and property law. Whether you go to law school or not. Same with computers. Can't avoid it.

Science? No. I hated biology then, I hate it now. Dissection really wasn't my thing. And chemistry - too many annoying formulas and you kind of need to know calculus.

1. Ah, protest songs throughout the ages that are still relevant today and we've all been rediscovering out of..I don't want to say desperation?

This one was written in 1941 by Irving Berlin and it works just as well today for ahem, someone else (albeit someone who is basically the same guy - Berlin wrote about, just in the 21st Century).

"When that man is dead and gone" by Irving Berlin


And here's When that Man is Dead and Gone as sung by Mildred Bailey in 1942.

"The world is hell for you and me, but what a heaven it will be when that man is dead and gone, we'll go dancing down the street and kissing everyone we meet...When that man is dead and gone, what a day to wake up upon, what a day to smile upon when a certain man is dead and gone."

It's kind of on the nose? But it made me happy listening to it five to six times. (Honestly, I'd like to go ONE day without hearing anything about that man, at all. I get emails about him. He's in the news. My Boss mentions him. Right now he's threatening to withdraw Federal funding if they don't put is name on Penn Station instead of the name Penn Station. Sigh. I really despise fascism.]

2. Started watching Buffy S7, Episode 16 (?) - Storyteller - it does NOT improve with age. ( Read more... )

3. It's going to be bitterly cold this weekend. Dropping into below 0 territory with wind chills. Which is kind of dangerous in NYC. NYC doesn't have the infrastructure for the lower temperatures. Lots of above ground trains. Homeless population. Ferries. Etc. Also, there's a lot of apartment complexes that don't have great heating.

I'm fine. Although...I'm very happy that I cancelled my hair appointment on Saturday morning - and rescheduled it for President's Day (it's supposed to be warmer on that day.)