Patricia Abbott (pattinase): Monday, Monday

Monday, January 02, 2023

Monday, Monday

Been a bit under the weather so I have nothing much to report but don't let that stop you for entertaining me.

23 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...: Sorry to hear that you're not well. Hope your birthday went OK.

We are slowly gearing up to leave for Florida (on Thursday) and look forward to seeing you there in March. We won't do the packing until Wednesday, but we're slowly emptying the refrigerator and freezer, etc. So far (fingers crossed), the weather looks OK for the trip, as I do not ever want to go through the scare we had in Fredericksburg last year, when snow suddenly moved in and I-95 was basically shut down for a day. Luckily we were able to just get through before the worst, but it was very nerve wracking.

We should have access to Netflix and our Amazon subscription channels in this apartment, but we are trying to finish up series of shows we're watching now. I've been surprised at how much of TREME season two I don't remember. GEORGE & TAMMY (Showtime) is making it's way to the last episode, but since there is no way it will get through 20 years in one week, I am guessing they are prepared for a second series. I find it hard to believe that George Richey was that much of a one dimensional villain as Steve Zahn's portrayal makes him seem, but I don't know. Everyone knows more or less how self destructive George Jones's behavior was, but I didn't know how bad Tammy Wynette's was.

The third series of the French Canadian THE WALL is on PBS Masterpiece/Walter Presents and we've started it, despite the fact we won't finish the 10 episodes before we leave. So far its a little confusing and not that compelling. We watch the second half (five episodes) of the Norwegian WISTING. Finished series of TANDEM and ASTRID (only one has been shown so far) and SPIN (third and final series) and CHERIF and CANDICE RENOIR (all French).

I finished the year with 868 short stories read and 60 volumes finished (out of 130 books read, more or less). Chris Offutt was my discovery of the year, with mysteries, memoirs, short stories all worth reading.

Hope the new Year is better for all of us.; 10:37 AM
Steve Oerkfitz said...: Happy Birthday. Hope you feel better soon.
Reading an Israeli crime novel by Lavie Tidhar. And The Silverberg Business by Robert Freeman Wexler.
Haven't watched a lot of tv this week. Tried Treason on Netflix but not finding it very compelling.
Been listening to the new Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 4 CD set culled from their 20 date run at the Fillmore in San Francisco in 1997. A lot of covers.
Got back blood work from my last doctor visit and it shows I have Acute Kidney Injury. They want me back in for another set of tests in 6 weeks. Not much I can do in the meantime but drink a lot of water. But I have read that it is reversible if treated early enough.
Weather to reach 46 today and close to 60 tomorrow. Now if we could only see some sun.; 10:48 AM
Jerry House said...: Sorry you've not been feeling well.

Christina came down with Covid this weekend and has been apending the last few days in quarantine, sleeping a lot and feeling punkish. She's fully boosted so the effects of the disease on her has been minor, relatively speaking. She may be cleared to go back to work tomorrow as the school winter break ends. Everyone else in the house appears fine.

Had a couple of doctor appopintments this week and, despite the aches and pains of being an old poot and having undergone radiation, I appear to be remarkably healthy. Good-looking, too, I may add.

Jessie starts her new job this week; her old position had been offering her raises, more responsibilty, and less interference from the Peter Principla she had been working with, but this one kept outbidding them and sweetening the pot in several other ways. It's nice to feel wanted. Amy, who works at the County Animal Shelter, which is already over capacity with animals dumped because of the pandemic, is about to be swamped. The County Human Society imploded this week among dueling accusations of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds -- the result of which was the entire staff of the Humane Society quit en masse, their shelter had to be closed, and many of their animals transfered to the shelter where Amy works -- a shelter built to handle seventy dogs but was housing nearly eighty, and now an additional forty-some dogs have been added -- and during the coldest part and most dangerous of the year. (**gulp!**). Ceili, who is now spelling her namne Cayley, has had her hours shifted to far more reasonable ones; she had been working so hard, they had to limit her overtime. Erin heads back to school this week for what might be her final semester -- it depends if she can schedule the few classes she needs to graduate in May. Mark and Walt are preparing for their great python hunt in the Everglades in the middle of the month. Me? I'm taking it easy and trying to settle a mountain of conflicting medical with a bureaucracy that seems to have never heard of checks and balances. **sigh**

Cold, rainy weather has kept us indoors for most of the week. Understand that Florida cold is roughly the equivalent of Speedo weather in New England, but after too many years down south it's affecting in ways I never thought possible. I did go book shopping on Boxing Day and wound up with a passle of goodies. Otherwise spent most of the week napping and overeating.

Streamed JACK RYAN, which I liked despite the ludicrous portrayal of the Czech president. On the reading fron, I finished Carl jacobi's collection of far-East tales, EAST OF SAMIRINDA, Henry Kuttner(?)'s Jim Thompson-like MAN DROWNING, and Jacques Futrelle's 1909 crime/science fiction mash-up THE DIAMOND MAKER. Am on the last few pages of Alec Navala-Lee's ASTOUNDING: JOHN W. CAMPBELL, ISAAC ASIMOV, ROBERT A. HEINLEIN, L. RON HUBBARD, AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION, detailed and facsinating look at four brilliant but flawed (some far more than others) men who did much to influence American culture, both in and out of the science fiction field. Am also slowly chunking my way through Charles Beaumont and William F. Nolan's anthology of 43 articles about motor racing, OMNIBUS OF SPEED --some of the articles are interesting but, in the main, motor racing holds little interest for me and I find it about exciting as golf.

It's time to have you feel better. Let's have 2023 the Year of the Patti, starting with a fabulous first week! Stay safe.; 11:41 AM
Todd Mason said...: Now fighting with the plumbing feeding into the dishwasher.

I hope the weather gets off you sooner rather than later!; 11:47 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: The lack of sun is just debilitating this time of year. Sometimes when it is very cold, it is sunnier. I think I may have a stye, which is making my eye water constantly. I don't remember having one before but the minor cold or allergy may have caused it. I have been mostly watching the screwball comedies on Criterion. The Passionate Friends, not a comedy, was good and I only remembered in the very last scene I had seen it before. I leave for CA on the fourteen, so this blog will be dead until 2/4. I just can't haul my laptop out there. But until then...
Sorry to hear about Steve's issue, which I had never heard of before. Life is certainly filled with death and disease after 70. See you later in the week. I am still hearing about many people coming down with Covid so be careful out there.; 1:12 PM
George said...: Happy Birthday, Patti!

Diane and I celebrated the New Year today by my climbing up a ladder and cleaning our gutters that are full of leaves put there by the 70 mph winds from our recent Blizzard of 2022. After enduring arctic temperatures for days, Western NY is basking in 50 degree temps. Diane decided we should take advantage of the mild weather and take care of the gutters before the ice and snow forecast for later this week arrives. Our neighbor's tree dumps enormous amounts of leaves on our house and gutters. Diane is always out there in the Fall with her leaf-blower. I'm at the point where I think we should invest in a Leaf Filter system to protect our gutters from the deluge of leaves we get each year. We have a gutter cleaning service, but they come around Thanksgiving. I hate climbing ladders!

Patrick is on vacation in Houston, Katie--after seeing three Broadway plays--took the train back to Boston. Buffalo Bills fans are fired up for tonight Bills vs. Bengals titanic game. Hope you feel better soon! Stay safe!; 1:52 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Wow. Be careful climbing ladders. Neither of you want to break a hip or head.; 2:37 PM
Todd Mason said...: Diabetics are among those who realy tax their kidneys. Indeed, hope you can reverse at least some of the damage, Steve.

Sunlamps or the like ever help with the lack of sunlight, Patti? Get the sty looked at before flying, I'd suggest...

Those gutter meshes should work, George...worth getting the estimates...no love of ladders here...; 2:51 PM
Jeff Meyerson said...: George, I second that emotion - STAY OFF LADDERS!; 3:16 PM
George said...: Patti, Todd, and Jeff: I cleaned the gutters--which were jammed with leaves--with extreme reluctance. We tried to get our gutter guy to come out, but he said he was too busy. So to prevent a Bigger Problem, Diane and I went out and did what needed to be done. I climbed and cleared the leaves while Diane steadied the ladder and took away the wet, soggy leaves in a bucket I'd hand down to her. It took about an hour to clear all of the gutters. Moving the heavy ladder was a pain.

We're going to get some estimates for the Leaf Filter system. One of our neighbors has it and likes the result. Hopefully, this is my last gutter clearing job. I prefer more intellectual pursuits!; 3:32 PM
TracyK said...: I started this morning cleaning out the bedroom closet (unintentionally) and got sucked in and just surfaced. Still a mess in the bedroom, I have to get back to it. And that will just dent all the clutter that has accumulated. It really needs to be done, no doubt about that. I just have decluttering issues that get in the way.

I finished up two short story collections in the last week. I just had a few stories left in each. MISTLETOE MYSTERIES, edited by Charlotte MacLeod plus I read the last four stories in THE MYSTERIOUS MR. QUIN. I also finished two books in the last week of the year: DEATH IN THE OFF-SEASON by Francine Mathews and SNOW by John Banville. I liked both of them a lot and I was not sure I would like either of them going in.

Happy Birthday. I should be able to remember your birthday but I did not. I hope you will be feeling better soon.; 3:54 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Yes, both of our last houses had the mesh and it worked well. You should get one. My brother fell off his roof a few years back (putting up Christmas decorations) and it was no picnic
recovering.
THanks, Tracy. I know no one's birthday on here. And only a few of my friends for that matter. After a certain age, we are more reluctant to share the dates.; 5:28 PM
TM said...: Let's put it this way--the first day of the common-era years Has to be a better bday than the anniversary of atomic warfare...

And there's always the Jack Benny gambit.; 7:56 PM
Gerard Saylor said...: Boy #2 turned 17 today. We drove over to Madison for dinner. He tends to deliberate quite a while when making a decision and we drove around a long time before he chose a Mexican restaurant.
I read Charles Willeford's COCKFIGHTER after finding a used paperback within the past month. A well done novel. Bird fighting does not disgust me like it did years ago. I think that is because I have begun thinking of chickens as little dinosaurs who would eat us if they were larger. Signed up an account on NetGalley and have been enjoying Anthony Neil Smith's forthcoming novel.
Listened to REMO WENT DOWN by Mike MCCrary. Second in McCrary's season and enjoyed the over-the-top craziness.
I'm watching 1899 on NetFlix. On the 4th or 5th episode and it tends to drag. I don't much care about these characters and the mystery of "What is actually happening?" is just dragged out.
Our weather has been manageable. Lowest temps were down to the teens and not a lot of snow. And now all the snow has melted away.; 10:35 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Yeah, I could not get into 1899 either. Too many characters and I both did not like the dubbed version or reading so much dialog. I have read most of Willeford including his memoirs.; 9:21 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: I wonder if today's audience would find Benny funny nor any of those forties-fifties era comics. Maybe Jonathan Winters.; 9:22 AM
Gerard Saylor said...: I finished watching 1899 last night. Bizarre and nonsensical ending. Overall the show was kinda pretty to watch and ultimately not worth it.; 10:24 AM
Todd Mason said...: I'm not sure that's the best argument for lacking empathy for chickens...certain canines and large felines have been known to consume humans, which doesn't lead the sane among us to slaughter dogs or cats (except when running kill-shelters, medical schools, Inquisitions/witch-hunts or dogmeat slaughterhouses). That said, chickens can sure be nasty to each other without human training.

Likewise, I don't think comedy is so very different now than it was 60-70 years ago, and Benny/Kubelsky was a creative comedian who would've found a place in the current community. I suspect, not too much different from, say, Ray Romano's. Certainly he was key to helping formulate the concept of the sitcom. It isn't too hard to draw a line from Lenny Bruce through Richard Pryor to Maria Bamford and Sarah Silverman and Jackie Kashian.; 6:45 PM
Kevin R. Tipple said...: Maybe that is why they cancelled 1899 yesterday?

Also pretty sure that comedy has massively changed the last few years. Not sure if the old guard could make it work in a world now where some are always looking to be offended.; 11:08 AM
TM said...: Lenny Bruce, and to a lesser extent Dick Gregory, George Carlin, David Steinberg, Tom Lehrer, and on down through Sarah Silverman and Jena Friedman, can or could tell us all a bit about how People Always Looking to Be Offended are not a recent development. Meanwhile, we have decidedly unenlightened comedians,ranging from Joe Rogan through Jeff Dunham, who are doing fine financially, despite being utterly P.C. for Trumpoids.; 11:57 AM
Steve Oerkfitz said...: One of the places edgy comedians used to be welcome was college campuses. No more. Comedians are told before they can perform-no jokes that might offend someone. Basically it leaves them with mother in law jokes I guess. Some campuses actually have waivers they must sign.; 2:33 AM
Todd Mason said...: Bluenoses will pout, as well as out. And then there's edgy, and there's simply obnoxious. Lenny Bruce could be both...but the likes of Pauly Shore or Andrew "Dice" Clay are almost always only the latter. And the whining of, say, Jerry Seinfeld is less persuasive to me than it is to some. Administrators do love to coddle, and even more to show how very important they are, however.; 10:13 AM
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acheter un permis de conduire en ligne
comprare patente; 11:08 AM