tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16420596654472884842024-02-28T18:44:27.742-05:00the rooster crowed at midnightroostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.comBlogger385125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-8010437628593981302019-01-07T19:41:00.000-05:002019-01-07T19:41:08.499-05:00holy hawk!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, just about to leave for the dentist today with the boy and I look out the back window. What do we see? A flippin' hawk!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2UQ3BHGQtBKEmeHOn5J2qw3Y3TAiPQZC1cSaNIuUpMGeu72vLZqeCsLhWLuK5KChzhE02n7t5CflCnHQk4aPZk8_gfLp40lcKGdpKjT9EgVNSVaSlVCuIIoiLjzZDCnceJ9IleXpxbY/s1600/IMG_20190107_075930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2UQ3BHGQtBKEmeHOn5J2qw3Y3TAiPQZC1cSaNIuUpMGeu72vLZqeCsLhWLuK5KChzhE02n7t5CflCnHQk4aPZk8_gfLp40lcKGdpKjT9EgVNSVaSlVCuIIoiLjzZDCnceJ9IleXpxbY/s640/IMG_20190107_075930.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">taken through a window, i stink at live photography</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Totally incredible. He was sitting on the barbecue just looking around. Obviously hunting. He then scooted in to the trees and looked around some more and then headed out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretty sure it was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk. I could be wrong as I am no expert. I used <a href="http://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/" target="_blank">Cornell University's Merlin app</a> on my phone to identify it. It offered the Cooper's Hawk, the Sharp-Shinned Hawk, and the Northern Goshawk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pretty sure it was not the Goshawk. The boy and I figured it was the Cooper's. I also think it was a female. Again, I am no expert. If anyone can confirm what it is, that would be great.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSssyZJgYDGSHxRi5ua54XCKs2S4q0YKZYdbgs57McxQeH3-gZSc_wNlutAthxhp1PtPYOxfWCQxvZ1wikqzm6gKTliPPYOfDHQgjwXm2Uo2qIx12VeqWeXage_HzYseLtjTA41MZCsqs/s1600/IMG_20190107_075932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSssyZJgYDGSHxRi5ua54XCKs2S4q0YKZYdbgs57McxQeH3-gZSc_wNlutAthxhp1PtPYOxfWCQxvZ1wikqzm6gKTliPPYOfDHQgjwXm2Uo2qIx12VeqWeXage_HzYseLtjTA41MZCsqs/s640/IMG_20190107_075932.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">turning around to check us out?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was just so excited to see this magnificent creature. I do know it was hunting and taking advantage of the feeders I put out that attract other birds. Yet, I do also know that it is part of the cycle of nature. It is what it is.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOal8eBgIP7exE3ATSjqfyudSAKpYLx6JxXeFichGbpXeOY9sqmljzIBPlPeNAuVu4kGMT8NwNnA1knkrORbLSUDniCdPKayqp0heaOUCEDtGY1p32h9ysY-DQscMtneCqMmV3tO9NCa4/s1600/IMG_20190107_075933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOal8eBgIP7exE3ATSjqfyudSAKpYLx6JxXeFichGbpXeOY9sqmljzIBPlPeNAuVu4kGMT8NwNnA1knkrORbLSUDniCdPKayqp0heaOUCEDtGY1p32h9ysY-DQscMtneCqMmV3tO9NCa4/s640/IMG_20190107_075933.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">starting to look back around for a snack?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blbbl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-33040367122772759692019-01-03T22:32:00.001-05:002019-01-03T22:32:25.695-05:00dumb job day<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, odd day today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A dumb job day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It could never compare walking around with a <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.com/2017/03/how-to-look-busy-clipboards.html" target="_blank">clipboard</a>, but certainly entertaining in an unusual way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had to help repack merchandise...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moving boxes from pallets to other, different, pallets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because the first pallets were the wrong pallets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And someone else loaded the boxes from completely different pallets, to the others, to the wrong ones in the first place!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, you gotta do what you gotta do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best part?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I get to do it again tomorrow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was, and is, a lot of product.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blbbl</span><br />
<br />roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-77791180672309487432019-01-01T20:46:00.000-05:002019-01-01T20:46:15.771-05:00the rooster crows again<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do I just think I could waltz back in here and act like I have not been away for seven-and-a-half months?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You bet. It is my blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, it has been very tough to get on here and post. I have spent very little time online since my last post. The job is better, but still soul crushing, in addition to extremely physically demanding and exhausting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why am I here today? Of all days?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have been wanting to post about the birds hanging out at the back of the house. So many new ones since I set up feeders.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, while getting used to my new Acer One 10 running Windows 10 (which I call a netbook), I am just listing the birds that I have encountered in my yard since moving here a little over twelve years ago. No Latin, no pictures as I cannot take photographs of birds very well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I used the 1966 edition of "Birds of North America" (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Field_Guide" target="_blank">a Golden Field Guide</a>), published by Golden Press of the now defunct <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Publishing" target="_blank">Western Publishing Company</a> as my main source for identifying birds.The book was republished in 2001 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martin%27s_Press" target="_blank">St. Martin's Press</a> and is still generally available. I like my 1966 edition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also used Cornell University's <a href="http://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/" target="_blank">Merlin app</a> on my phone and their website: <a href="http://allaboutbirds.org/">allaboutbirds.org</a>, for identifying the birds as well. It sucks that I cannot install it on this netbook. Not much app-wise can be installed on Windows devices by the looks of it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway. So.....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have definitely seen:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mourning Dove (there are at least a dozen and still hanging around this winter)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (generally just passing through spring and autumn)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pileated Woodpecker (mating pair this year, just passing through - gorgeous!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hairy Woodpecker (most recent addition, hopefully a regular)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Downy Woodpecker ( a bunch of regulars)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Eastern Kingbird (not seen them in a while)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Blue Jay (around eight or so, one is a really big bugger, but they leave for the winter)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Common Raven (they come and go)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Common Crow (like the ravens, they come and go)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Black-Capped Chickadee (tons of these guys, year round)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">White-Breasted Nuthatch (they have been with me for years, they stay the whole year)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Red-Breasted Nuthatch (joined the group this year, gone for the winter)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Robin (they disappeared this summer actually and have yet to return)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Starling (annoying birds, normally spring and early autumn, did not return this autumn)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yellow-Throated Vireo (a one-time visitor)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pine Warbler (showed up a few springs ago)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">American Redstart (saw a male for the first time this past spring)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">House Sparrow (hung around a few years back)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Red-Winged Blackbird (they come in clusters and will hang out with other birds)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rusty Blackbird (noticed them for the first time this year)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Brewer's Blackbird (like the Rusty guys, first time this year)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Common Grackle (I hate these guys, greedy bullies, normally around spring and autumn only, they stayed all summer then up and left one day at the end of August this year, I hope they do not come back next year!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Boat-Tailed Grackle (I know they are not supposed to be in my neck of the woods, but I swear I saw a couple/few this summer, a friend believes the same thing)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Brown-Headed Cowbird (same story as the Brewers and Rusties)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Baltimore Oriole (have seen them every year, they never get too close to the house)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Summer Tanager (not around here officially, but certain I saw one this year)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cardinal (every year one or two would stop by, last year they stayed, at least two pairs and one had offspring, one juvenile hung around and ground fed mostly)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rose-Breasted Grosbeak (passed through in the spring)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Evening Grosbeak (showed up one day and hung out with the Goldfinch, then left)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Purple Finch (came and went this year)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">House Finch (came and went)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">American Goldfinch (went from a few last year, to a bunch, to dozens)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Black-Eyed Junco (formerly called Slate-Coloured Junco, generally spring and autumn)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sparrows I have definitely identified this past year (they can be tough):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lark Sparrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chipping Sparrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">White-Crowned Sparrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">White-Throated Sparrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fox Sparrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Song Sparrow</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sparrows that are maybes:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Grasshopper Sparrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Henslow's Sparrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Vesper Sparrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tree Sparrow</span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other birds that are maybes:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Golden-Crowned Kinglet</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Black-and-White Warbler</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Blackpoll Warbler</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ovenbird</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Northern Waterthursh</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Connecticut Warbler</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pine Grosbeak</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Common Redpoll</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pine Siskin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lark Bunting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lapland Longspur</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />And a longshot:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Skylark</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, a simple post. I hope to see and identify more birds this year. Just not the Grackles and Starlings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Happy New Year!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">blbbl</span><br />
<br />roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-35435923165066535432018-05-16T16:34:00.002-04:002018-05-16T16:34:33.806-04:00flash update: ride the SOUL train<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have now confirmed, if my life's journey continues on its current path, where my soul will be crushed in to infinitesimally minute particles and scattered by the solar winds throughout the universe, never to be reunited for time immemorial.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It will be like an over-long freight train barrelling through a defunct railyard, scattering debris and flotsam to the farthest reaches its turbulent slipstream can muster. The final bit of my soul will be like a poorly placed penny on the tracks to be shot out like a bullet and lodged in a dark and dank corner to be lost forever; never to be found, never to be retrieved.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The hilarious part though? It will all be in the slowest of motions. Taking no less than a decade. Most likely that and one half as long. Even more hilarious? My personally expected natural life span will continue on for no less than seven more decades after that. Yup, I expect and plan a ridiculously long life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, there are those with pickaxes and blow-torches and the like, hacking and chipping away at my spirit. That is nothing. I can hear the bell chiming at the crossing. I can hear the whistle of the train blowing. They are painfully loud and drawn out. I even know their names, they start with a consonant and end with a consonant; one is a palindrome. Those are the only clues you get though. #;o[)></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess the Grim Reaper will surprised when she finally comes to collect. I will most likely be charged to wander this crumbling orb to the end of the cosmos's days. I might just change my name to Casca (this is a very obscure reference, by the way).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meh, it could be worse.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/f_B23QGCEmA" target="_blank">Slime and wave!</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blbbl</span><br />
<br />roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-56051362234301951182018-04-12T19:16:00.000-04:002018-04-12T19:16:07.197-04:00? regret - raw poem<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As with the images in this post, the following poem is raw: sudden, unrefined, unedited (somewhat like me currently). I scribbled this thing down on Monday just before the start of the clock job. I have not looked at it again until now. With a snatch of time I am throwing this up here as was scribbled.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">sunrise, monday morning</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my soul fractures</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my soul crumbles</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it does not vanish</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">regret</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">unfathomable</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i have done things</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that embarrass me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i have done things</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that make me proud</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i have dome things</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that amaze me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i have done things</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that make me shake my head</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i have done things (and do)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that i hate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">resentment</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">now that's the ticket</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to regret</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is to hate who you are</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i cannot</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to resent</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is to hate what you</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> have done</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> are doing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> will do</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nevertheless</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">everything one</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> has done</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> does</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> will do</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is who you</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> were</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> are</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> will be</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how can you not want to be</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> who you are</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(how can i loathe myself)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (sometimes it is hard not to)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i do not</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i cannot</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">fogrise #1, thursday morning (today) [my favourite]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">fogrise #2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">#3</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blbbl</span></div>
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roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-82583619541229019842018-04-08T11:08:00.000-04:002018-04-08T11:08:20.409-04:00away away . i eschew the embrace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the woodland</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">it calls to me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">yet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">like a preteen boy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">at a school dance</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">i vacillate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">turn away</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">pursue avoidance</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">why</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">do i deny myself</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that which i love</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">most dearly</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">blbbl</span></div>
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roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-75241712179861422362018-03-31T21:44:00.001-04:002018-03-31T21:44:20.187-04:00taking a break<p dir="ltr">So, I know I have not posted since the beginning of the month, but it has been a weird and hellacious thirty-one days.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The new clock job has kicked the crap out of me. A Sith, by the name of Darth Numbnuts, has been dogging me for almost a year and matters came to a head this month.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Several disappointments since just before the winter solstice, culminating with the final one I wish to (not) accept on this very day.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Multiple other brooding issues and, somewhat surprising, revelations. An unavoidable (only as I have failed to overcome) isolation from the woodland.</p>
<p dir="ltr">All this, and more, has put me in a space where I need to reflect upon and analyse myself, surroundings, and interactions. There is yet more than I care to confront. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Too bad, as I had/have a few posts brewing, with notes and drafts, that I wish to put out.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Unfortunately, I have convinced myself that I need to step back, take a break, and pause from the rooster.</p>
<p dir="ltr">That is correct, I am not going to post for an indeterminate period of time. I cannot focus on the rooster right now.</p>
<p dir="ltr">My break may be a day, a week, a month, longer? I may drop a comment now and again in the interim, I may not.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I apologise to my handful of dedicated followers, but it would be an injustice to the rooster and yourselves if I force it. You few, committed, fellow travellers will know when the rooster is back to disturb your slumber.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One last parting shot: Darth Numbnuts, take a flying leap off the back of something unmentionable. Oh, and get bent, you self-serving ass. blbbl</p>
roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-11691554868760528282018-03-10T23:24:00.000-05:002018-03-10T23:24:14.328-05:00jobbing the clock - five days - week in review<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I think this is almost out of my system. As a new (again) thing for me. I actually had all kinds of "stuff" I was going to cover, but much has left my mind. It happens sometimes. Some of you know why, some of you do not. Oh well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Work: Getting used to it, more and more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No choice really. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is one unexpected perk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">n the latter part of the week, a box appeared on the shop floor. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It said "free stuff".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yup.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took a casual gander; various crap.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a monitor too; I may grab it on Monday if it still there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is probably not so good; but the members of my Scout Troop that are going to the <a href="http://greatlakesjamboree.ca/" target="_blank">Great Lakes Jamboree</a> this summer are doing an e-waste fundraiser in April.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can add that to the pile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think I will call this occasional "free stuff": "Employment Bonuses"; it sounds classier.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The job does give my mind lots of time to ponder. I may have to get a voice recorder to note my thoughts before I forget them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Socks: All the socks came in!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was right about them; the one pair was of the smaller size, the others were thick and tall and actual work socks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did try on the "too small" socks and oddly they fit, albeit a tad un-tall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will wear these thinner ones, tall-ish and un-tall, for now and save the thick and tall ones for later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still not impressed with <b>The Bay</b> though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boots: I have yet to follow up on that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the love of my feet, I better soon as my feet are unhappy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These old boots do not have a lot of life left in them either.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hopefully this week sometime I will get new foot-coverings and the old ones will become yet another pair of truck boots.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My clothes jumble: Still a clothes jumble.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another thing to move on as I know I have more crappy tee-shirts; I just cannot find them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As with my hiking/camping socks, I will not sacrifice my </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hiking/camping</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> shirts, or any hiking/camping clothing, for non-hiking/camping activities.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, there you have it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do not foresee a change on the horizon for a long time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just need to get my ducks in a row before they peck me to death.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am sure most of you are relieved that I may just leave this topic for a bit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a few, maybe even a bunch, of other irons in the fire as to topics to post about.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just need to remember to remember them properly and restart taking notes, or, at least, give myself reminders.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Busy day tomorrow, the boy and I, and a couple of others, are going to start that hiking shelter repair.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think I mentioned that before?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The boy is repairing our home-turf hiking shelter as it is not much of a shelter any longer; it is like standing under a colander of draining pasta when it is raining.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is doing this for his <a href="http://wiki.scouts.ca/en/Chief_Scout's_Award" target="_blank">Chief Scout's Award</a>, <i>and</i> the fact that he thinks a shelter should provide shelter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also hope to get back to searching for boots for work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe even unjumble the jumble.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plus, Daylight Savings Time comes in to effect overnight.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spring ahead and lose an hour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, a very busy, and one hour shorter, day tomorrow.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazing though, how something as simple as work or socks, can weigh a person down at times?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boogie on down the Road.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>See</i> you on the trail! blbbl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-24036471881091857452018-03-08T23:03:00.001-05:002018-03-08T23:03:12.284-05:00travailler á l'horloge - jour quatre - chaussettes!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, for those who find my "French" incomprehensible, it is now day four with my jobbing the clock.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things are better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the wife said, I appear "happier" today than all week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess I am getting subsumed? enmeshed?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am apparently there to stay. (I better get those boots!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been offered overtime.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A standing offer, in fact.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every Saturday, from early in the morning (before the Monday to Friday start time) until daytime-midnight (not my creation; a phrase a good friend of mine introduced me to).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, this Saturday is out; too many things are a juggling this weekend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, I know I will be in on more Saturdays than I can currently fathom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, yeah, the suggestion yesterday of sweeping during lulls was taken up by myself today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know a work area has to be kept clean and tidy, but I always find sweeping to keep, or look, busy somewhat foolish. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, much of the floor around my work area is spotless, none the less.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will come to terms with it all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I have said, it is not where I thought I would be at this point in my life, but I am here (there am I?)...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey, the first parcel of socks has come in!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They actually were at the Post Office waiting for me...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have just opened the package...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Five pairs of socks!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not what I ordered?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Three pairs are the advertised size, but not the advertised socks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two pairs are the advertised socks, sort of, but woefully too small; they will go to the boy and the wife.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just not really worth the hassle to send them back.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the way, these socks were ordered from <b>The Hudson's Bay Company </b>(aka: "The Bay") off their website.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, beware; you may just not get what you thought you were buying.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, they are supposed to be wool work socks; yeah no.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They are wool, but thinner than what I would accept as a work sock, but I will muddle through, for now - they were free-ish.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, the next two parcels will be interesting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next one I should get is five socks again, but from a different manufacturer. So, hopefully, thicker and the right sizing?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The third package will most likely be the thin sock and too small. (I will <b>never</b> buy that brand again!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If they ask for feedback, boy will they get it; in spades!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Online shopping is awesome!?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May we sight each other on the flipside!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be the guy tugging at his socks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See you on the trail, here's hoping. blbbl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-22364802848308872702018-03-07T21:13:00.001-05:002018-03-07T21:48:09.320-05:00clock jobbing - the third day<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Hey, the crybaby's back!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You bet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"When will he stop?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Well, what do you want now?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh, just to check in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taking a very short pause after getting home and before making dinner and before our weekly Scout meeting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The meeting will be a busy one. We are "linking" with one of our Wolf Cub Packs tonight.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There will be over fifty youth tonight.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I suspect I will not have time to stand still.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, today was better, but the other shoe dropped.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The ubiquitous, "If you have nothing to do for a bit, grab a broom."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am surprised it took three days for that bit of instruction to be passed on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, right now, too darned busy to sweep, except where unavoidable for safety or maintenance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other than that, not so much a terrible day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, on to supper and Scouts. I will finish up later.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Holy crap! That meeting was somewhat chaotic!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, to let everyone know, the socks I ordered are in transit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yup. In three separate parcels!?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From three different locations!?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From one retailer!?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I need to find new boots for this job too. That is the next search.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The boots I currently have are just killing my feet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I mean, my dogs are barking!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These hush-puppies have gone well past their best before date.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The boots I wanted to get are no longer made. So, online for that now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh, I will find my way to bed eventually.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I better, or I will end up crashing to the floor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Keep on truckin'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">See you on the trail, hopefully. blbbl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-46537378298984664842018-03-06T21:40:00.001-05:002018-03-06T21:40:45.141-05:00clock job - day two<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, upon reflection over <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2018/03/clock-job.html" target="_blank">yesterday's post</a>, there are probably many of you thinking:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Boo-hoo, he has to work fixed hours at a fixed location. Everyday. Boo-hoo-hoo."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, you are not wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Tough luck!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">True enough, again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"What a whiner."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, maybe a little.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, everybody does not fit in the same slot as everybody else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have known people who cannot, or are even unwilling to, take permanent employment. They like always not knowing what will happen next.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have known people that could not make it outside of the military. They needed that kind of structure and oversight.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have known people who work for themselves. They just cannot abide others telling them what to do or they think they can do it better on their own.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have known people that went to and from work at the same time every day at the same place every day. It worked for them, always knowing when, where, and what they were doing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have known people that just drift along with the current of the universe. They just love the universe to surprise them. Probably more fun than not too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have known many very different and various people who fit in to many various and different slots in the work-world. Some fit happily, some did not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me, I no longer know what slot I need to fit in to. I just did not think it would be this one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, it is quite an adjustment for me. I actually was out with boy for a few hours and just got back. I am running sixteen to eighteen hours, and more, non-stop the last several days before I can take a breather. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow is much the same.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honestly, I am baffled at how people can work a clock job for decades.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two days in and I can barely stay awake. And I have had them before!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, my hat is off to all who do it. Willingly and reluctantly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the new me, I guess. I certainly will adjust. I always do in the end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I have more bits and bobs to do before bed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday, it was confusedly ordering socks online with gift cards as I do not have enough in good repair to get through the week. I am certainly not using my hiking/camping socks; those are for the woodland.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tonight, it is laundry. As I said, I need socks, <i>and</i> tee-shirts. Somehow, my clothing in general has become a jumble. I will need to take some time on the weekend, among all my other tasks, to find what the hell is going on in the hamper.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow? Something will pop up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, as I said earlier, this is the new me: clock jobber, and all the "rights and privileges" that go with it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't cry for me Argentina!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With hope: See you on the trail. blbbl</span><br />
<br />roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-30639241629307222022018-03-05T20:38:00.003-05:002018-03-05T20:38:38.541-05:00clock job<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, something new-ish for me today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started a regular job.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, sort of; I did, but not fully yet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I showed up to this new job today and spent most of the day in training and paperwork.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I actually, in the end, spent less than two hours "working", counting breaks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The funny thing is, I actually stayed a bit late. The guy I was working with was not completely done at the buzzer (yes, an actual buzzer), so I, personally, could not just leave on him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, this is very different from many jobs I have had over the years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a true and solid clock job.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is, a fixed start time, a fixed end time, a fixed work locale.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have had them before, but many clock-type jobs I have had in the past had many liberties, or freedoms, if you will.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I could move my start and end times around, I could work off-site, I could, generally, choose what days to work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have also had more rigid clock jobs as well, but it has been a very, very long time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honestly, I never thought I would end up in a true clock job again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I have, it was not so bad, but I am limited in many options I have freely exercised for a good many years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In particular, access to the woodland will be very limited to me; that will be tough.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently, I found a fantastic coffeeshop that I could do much of my other, sedentary, pursuits from; that avenue is shut to me now, except, if on a weekend I need to change venues from my home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Too bad, I just started a book exchange thing, with the coffeshop as the "drop"; good thing I left a parcel just yesterday.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is not that I hate it (the clock job, not the coffeeshop) or despise it. It is just I did not really see a return to this type of employment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know not if my new employer is aware the rooster. They should, if they researched me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, I cannot concern myself with that; I am who I am.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rooster is an extension of myself now; even if, currently, I am posting much less frequently.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have no intention to reveal my new place of employment, for so many reasons; we both need our confidentiality and arm's length from each other.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry, but that is how it is; in my "me" link with my bio (which needs some tweaking and updating), I do say I will not tell all, nor will I lie about myself either.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You will have to excuse me though; I have homework; more paperwork to complete for the clock job.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plus, I need to resolve myself to this new path I am on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Probably for a very long time indeed. (The clock job, not the resolution. Then again...)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See you on the trail; I hope. blbbl</span><br />
<br />roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-50772337823379515452018-03-02T14:47:00.003-05:002018-03-02T14:47:25.105-05:00a killer supper<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay. Some years back, I took part in one of those murder mystery dinner parties. The ones you did at someone's home before restaurants, whose business was flagging, started doing them in an attempt to forestall bankruptcy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is a brief telling of that event:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, it was thrown by the girlfriend, at the time, of my best friend. She did not like me very much and most of the people there were her friends that he had already met.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I felt a little weird being invited <i>and</i> it was supposed to be a surprise too. She called and asked if I would come. I said I would and we got our characters ahead of time. I think in the mail. The setting was turn of the last century or so and I was a bartender in a saloon/tavern, where the murder took place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me being me, I took my part seriously. I read my physical and psychological description several times. I secured a white bar-style apron, a bar towel to sling over my shoulder, a striped shirt with big sleeves, my dad had a pair of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeve_garter" target="_blank">sleeve garters</a> for some reason, which I used and I still have, the works.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, it takes me a very long time to grow significant facial hair. (Probably as I am an immortal of the woodland, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it keeps one quite youthful;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> but that is another tale altogether.) No way I was going to grow enough of a moustache for the role in the time I had.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, being pre-interweb, I called all kinds of places and drove around to all kinds of locales. In the end, I think I ended up in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Catharines" target="_blank">St. Catherines</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara-on-the-Lake" target="_blank">Niagara-on-the-Lake</a>; bear in mind this is heading out from Hamilton, not so very far, but certainly not close. I bought a really cool soup-catcher that was close-ish to my hair colour at the time. Hell, I even slicked my hair back as it was longish at the time too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all got to the dinner ahead of my friend and he was quite surprised by the reception; especially by my presence as he knew of his gal's dislike for me. Anyway...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the dinner party we got more of the scenario and the guilty party was informed in their final document package. Only the murderer knew, not even the hostess had an inkling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was much back and forth. There were accusations. There was deflection. Shouting. Outright lying. Fingers were pointed in many directions. Yet, other than a couple/few idle comments, no one suspected the true killer. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right to the end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All but one in the dinner party selected the same person as the murderer, with much assistance from the actual doer of the deed. The lone person, some joker, stood out with their selection. They were so way off in the end, one had to laugh. Some did, including the murderer. The rest? As I stated earlier, were utterly wrong as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the last bit of the documentation was opened stating the who-done-it, all but one were in disbelief. This criminal mastermind had fooled all. Some demanded to read the card revealing the truth for themselves. That is how convincing this blaggard was. To be able to sway all, that it was not themself who was the actual culprit. To hook all but one, that it was a particular individual? Dare I say they were a mastermind? A genius? I dare! And applaud their confidence and audacity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact, the murderer, in true <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizarro_World" target="_blank">bizzaro-world</a> fashion, turned the tables with one of the earliest known <i><b>reverse</b></i> <a href="https://everything2.com/title/Scooby+Doo+ending" target="_blank">"Scooby-doo ending"</a> admissions of guilt. Yet, there was still much disbelief and many were agog at this adroit assassin's prowess at guile, subterfuge, and outright trickery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think some, to this day, still do not believe the declared and official result to be so.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can certainly say that that supper was a delight. blbbl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-10918439144483337272018-02-24T10:21:00.001-05:002018-02-24T10:21:10.697-05:00mobile phone dying - reseat your sim-card - sorry apple users, you lose<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2018/01/sometimes-techonlogy-hates-me-i-think.html" target="_blank">previously discussed</a> the travails of my mobile phone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The battery was draining like crazy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried various techniques I knew about or I discovered online. Shutting down unused apps that ran in the background, shutting down or reduced permissions on greedy apps, reseating my battery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They worked. Sort of. These attempts were fleeting in results. I would execute them time and again, yet the problem of the rapid battery discharge kept returning and at times got worse. My phone actually crapped out after about four hours one day. At a time when I needed to be connected while on the move.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Funny though, because not so long ago in my planetary existence, I would just keep in touch through payphones, walkie-talkies, cork boards at cafés, prearranged rendezvous, and the like.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I find myself more dependent on mobile telephone technology as a tool to move through the world. It is a boon and a curse simultaneously.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, when the phone crapped out that time, I was pretty pissed. It does not help that my phone has a(n) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C" target="_blank">USB-C</a> connector. I do not know about where you all are, but in my neck of the woods, it is very uncommon. It is very difficult for me to cadge someone's charger to salvage my link to the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did in the end, finally find the correct cable connection, but by then, it was academic. I was at the end of my day's tasks and nearly on my way home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this point, I started carrying what I call juice boxes: portable power packs, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_charger#Power_Bank" target="_blank">power banks</a>. Still, my phone was drinking at an alarming rate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I resolved to go to where I bought the phone to see if they knew why this was all happening. Yet, I could not find the time to get there. Hell, I have been so blooming busy this past month, I have only posted once in this month of February.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During one of my bouts of insomnia, I was tooling around the interweb, hoping I would find that eureka site that would reveal all I needed to solve this mystery. I came across a page that said to remove the sim-card and and reseat it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honestly, I did not take much stock in it. Yet, I noticed that while running diagnostic software, I would get messages about weak wifi signals affecting performance. I figured, initially, that it was the boy with is multitude of tech bellowing back and for over the ethersphere.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the problem persisted when the boy was not trying to take over the world or I was at other locations using wifi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, a couple of days ago, in the middle of the night, or was it in the wee hours of the morning? Anyway, I did exactly what this site said to do. I pulled the sim-card out and reseated it. VoilĂ ! The crazy-assed, super-speedy battery draining stopped. It was just like when I first got my phone. I looks like I can go for a couple or few days without a recharge! I even left the phone off the charger overnight and it only went down a percent or two.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, a simple fix it appears. And perchance a touch of magic(k). No conspiracies, at least in this case. I certainly know the Gnomes are helping me out here and there. I had a leather punch I could not find for months. Two days ago, it reappeared in a drawer that I have checked tens, dozens, hundreds of times without luck. Until the last time. Thanks guys!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skynet is obviously busy elsewhere. The replicants have apparently determined I will be seen as a crank and a kook. Fine. Nothing new there. The squirrels though. Oh, the squirrels. Not done with those jokers, by a long shot.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry, I digress.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, this fix appears to work for phones that use removable sim-cards. As far as I know, Apple devices do not have that capability. Well, sorry and too bad. I am not a fan of Apple, I find their software largely counter-intuitive, much like how Microsoft appears to be trundling towards at an ever increasing pace.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyhoo, I appear to have solved the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hardy_Boys" target="_blank">Hardy Boys</a> Mystery of the Rapidly Draining Telephonic Device</i>. Now, if I can only figure out what happened to my <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/11/three-hundred-posts-egads-or-i-am-more.html" target="_blank">scarves</a> (aka scarfses) that vanished, yes vanished, at an event. I am so pissed and upset about that still. blbbl</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-40194746289254453642018-02-12T14:33:00.002-05:002018-02-12T14:45:19.152-05:00let's do lunch?!<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yeah, so, sorry for the tardiness in posting. Been a busy couple of weeks. So, here we go...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This whole thing of meeting people for lunch. I just do not seem to get it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You see on television, especially soap opera type shows, and in the movies, people going out for lunch together during the workday. In some <a href="https://youtu.be/Z3sLhnDJJn0" target="_blank">inconceivable</a> way, they manage to do this and lead fulfilling, successful careers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet, somehow, whenever I have attempted such endeavours, the day is lost. Not necessarily a bad thing. However, for me, meeting people for lunch is at least a two hour affair. If not at least a full-half-working day. (Conceptualise that one!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How can people "do lunch" regularly and still keep their jobs? Obviously, I need to live in one of the many alternate dimensions or universes where time moves at a slower pace, but people move at the same pace we do here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, the intrigue of a soap opera life would just knock the crap out of me. All those affairs, murder plots, diabolical corporate takeovers, having a relationship with your half-sibling and not knowing it, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan%27s_Hope#Production_changes" target="_blank">gorillas kidnapping my wife</a>? Just not my cup of tea, as they say.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even just going to lunch with co-workers? How can you go out and get your work done?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh wow!?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I started this post on Friday, then I had some tasks away from home and did not get back to it right away. I tried to re-engage on Saturday, got busy again and had to let it sit. Sunday, holy mac! I was away all day, some Scouting stuff, some personal stuff, then the day was over.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now it is Monday. Afternoon. Again, I was swamped all morning and now, I appear to have a window to get this done. We will see if I can finish this. It has been too long since I yammered on the interweb.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, where was I?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh. Yeah. So. Going out to lunch with co-workers. In the past, when I have had clock-jobs, I have gone out for lunch with my fellow cubicle-internees. The typical process is as follows.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Getting there: approaching a half hour to get to the rendezvous. Sit down and order: near on another thirty minutes. Scarf down the vittles and settle-up, another one-forty-eighth of the day. Get back to our boxes, same as the first leg. So, as much as two full hours and probably longer. Why were we never fired for job abandonment?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That is just going with co-workers out for a generally crappy lunch. Now, if you try to organise with someone who works a different clock-job from you.....All I can say is that it is a huge production to figure it all out. Actually, I can say more...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who are you going out to lunch with? Are they near your pen, or is their labour-preserve situated in a geographically distant workforce terrain?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Far away? Do you meet near their work-zoo or yours? Do you meet somewhere in the middle where there may be a strange and unknown resto-topography?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nearby? Are their any neutral feeding grounds where you would not be encroached upon by either of your fellow inmates?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or perhaps, you work in a desolate wasteland and have no choice but to forage afar regardless, thereby forcing you to search for a culinary safe-haven away from your natural territorial range?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Driving? Do you pick-up, get picked up, or converge upon the kill separately? Is traffic a bear? (ha!) Is parking a whole new adventure?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Walking? Are environmental conditions going to affect your temporary exodus? Does a straight-line walking distance deceptively appear shorter and faster, but only leaves you stranded in the middle of a multi-lane migratory route hoping that the lights will change soon, <i>and</i> long enough, to favour the boldness of your fitness-minded choice to hoof it?</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, now that all that has been <a href="https://youtu.be/tdhQWkTl1PQ" target="_blank">weighed, measured, and most likely found wanting in the end</a>, you are at your pasture. What now?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can see the table you want, you can smell whatever is wafting out of the kitchen. Ah, but here is the catch. Were you far ahead enough of the other grazers that you are at the head of the line? Are there any free tables? Sadly, the usual result is the need to wait and fidget for an indeterminate time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When, finally, you have been allowed to get your place at the trough, the often agonising process of getting service begins. How attentive is your keeper? How overwhelmed are they? How quickly can you decide on your consumables?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Get through all that have you? Now what? There is of course more. How long is it going to take for your slop-buckets to arrive? Is it the right slop-bucket? Is your water dish getting emptied faster than it is being replenished? Oh, have you managed to keep your appetite? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, after scarfing down your sustenance, you need to pay the piper. Right? I have, at times, had to wait longer to pay for my sins, than it took to gobble down my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_sandwich" target="_blank">Reuben</a> sammy, fries, and paltry dill pickle spear in the first place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At this point, is generally the easiest part. Hacking your way back to your corral. Or? Is it? Really? You may need to consider if anyone is still at the maze. If it is not quite that late, is it late enough that it would be really obvious you have been on the feed-bag for a really long time? Could it be better to slink back to your personal hovel and just show up the next day brighter and earlier before first viewing? Take that chance to catch up and mull over a hard to question cover-story?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At this point you are probably rethinking how much you really enjoyed that so-so sandwich with the incorrect, <i>and</i> store-bought, condiment that was slathered all over, despite your request to have it on the side. That is why the universe invented Tupperware in the first place. So, you can bring stuff from home and munch away at your homemade hay bale.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, I no longer "do lunch", unless I am on holiday, vacation, visiting, or plain dodging responsibility. I just do not have a watch with enough hours on it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You know, what started as something pithy and a bit innocent, really turned in to a bitter monologue about being co-opted by living to work instead of working to live. I wonder if there really is some deeper subtext here? Nah. Maybe... Nah. Well... Never mind, I am too tired and hungry from this whole thing. Want to go out for a bite to eat? blbbl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-56111982211561898952018-01-28T15:37:00.001-05:002018-01-28T15:37:06.582-05:00sniffle, cough, FVMNEGNJKLEBNJKL;QEGVB!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am sick. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quite sick actually.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hate being sick.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The boy brought home some plague variant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It took a week to get the filthy beast attached to me, but it is now living in my lungs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It notched up a few days ago. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sneezing, oddly, then coughing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then more of both.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then lots of mucous.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I retaliated with lots of tea with honey <i>and</i> cup-o-soup, no honey.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is doing its darnedest to shut me down, but I am stubborn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I even managed a couple of hikes this weekend; one with the Scout Troop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing I noticed, is that while out in the woodland, I feel great.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure, I am still coughing, but not so bad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing that sucks, is when I sneeze, I cannot help but speak in some ancient, unrecorded language.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same often when I cough.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hence, the title.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it means: "THIS SUCKS! I HATE BEING SICK; WHY ME?!?!?!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another thing that sucks?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sneezing and coughing is so intense, it brings on crushing headaches, verging on migraines.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The coughing has been so intense, that my ribs ache; they feel bruised.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I feel a coughing fit coming on, I have a great fear and trepidation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the reason I need to cough is that it feels like a squirrel, perhaps a badger, is trying to claw its way out through my windpipe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once the coughing starts and the chest and ribs ache even more, the trepidation is gone as my throat is temporarily relieved of its agony.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, it all comes back far too quickly along with the trepidation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of my fits have been so intense that the wife and/or the boy come running in to the room to see if I am okay; as in: did I collapse on the floor?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The coughs started to be accompanied by inhalation wheezing yesterday and varies in intensity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because of this, I suspect I may have developed a bronchial infection.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some years back, I was very prone to them and they led to pneumonia at least once a year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This went on for a half-dozen-odd years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hopefully, this is not the case this time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I did break out the <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/02/cepacol-army-cure-all.html" target="_blank">CÄ“pacol</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hopefully, its magical healing properties take hold.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Otherwise, to paraphrase a protocol droid I am familiar with: " I'm doomed."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, for more tea with honey and cup-o-soup without.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did I mention I was sick?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FVMNEGNJKLEBNJKL;QEGVB!*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THIS SUCKS! I HATE BEING SICK; WHY ME?!?!?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blbbl</span><br />
<br />roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-31813913527133077192018-01-23T23:39:00.002-05:002018-01-23T23:39:26.611-05:00sometimes techonlogy hates me - i think my phone is plotting against me<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have posted previously about <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/04/sometimes-i-hate-technology-mobile.html" target="_blank">my dislike for technology</a> at times.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, the tables appear to have turned.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, several days back my phone's battery was discharging at an alarming rate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It started about six days ago.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, I had to charge the phone twice in one day. This is extremely rare. Usually I am doing heavy-duty searching, reading news articles, and looking at some youtube videos.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was not the case though.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day I had to charge my phone three times. Usage was actually quite low though. I went in to my settings and force stopped a bunch of stuff I was not actually using. I even shut down twitter. I have come across articles and bitching about it using a lot of juice of late.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No change. <i>And</i>, it was getting worse. I was getting only four or five hours by day three.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I physically disconnected the battery. It was a little better. Sort of. The first discharge took eight hours, but then everything went back to sucking all the juice in a few hours. I did try it again, and no real change.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I went in to my running services and hit stop on "google services". It got a bit better, but not much. I tried it again and a little better, but not much more.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then. <i>Then!</i> Two days ago, it seemed the rapid discharging just stopped.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went through that whole day with normal battery usage. I did not even put it on the charger overnight. About ten percent battery drain overnight. Well, the first two nights of this odyssey, the battery drained until the phone died. The first night I had around forty percent battery life left and it was dead in the morning. The second night it was sixty percent and it died before dawn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After that, I left it charging. Only on Sunday night, two days ago, did it not discharge overnight while off the charger.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday, I had a meeting in the evening and wanted my phone to check my calendar and to be able to search if necessary. So, I charged it. I went down about six percent and I left it off the charger when I went to bed. Less than four percent discharge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I toodled around this morning and it only went down a couple of percent. I was out all day, doing my regular thing and it went down only about twenty percent. Less, I think.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I got home, I had about seventy percent charge and I started twitter up again and did some farting around. Right now. <i>As in</i> <b>now</b>! The phone is at forty-nine percent. Not sure if it is twitter or all the crap I have been doing on it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am monitoring it right now, but the first time I disable twitter, the battery still drained for days. I am starting to suspect it is twitter in allegiance with these so-called google services.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am going to step back from the keyboard for a bit and keep an eye on my phone. But before I do, some theories.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If it is not some weird confluence of twitter and google, I have other theories.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, even though there is supposed to be a <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/12/apparently-capitulation-has-its-benefits.html" target="_blank">détente</a> between me and the gnomes, they may be playing a part. I am sure I have heard gnome laughter the last few days. That, and a few little things going on that would suggest I am being tested. Now, I am not accusing them. Yet. But I do know they can get bored. Guys: if it is you? Very funny. Can I have my phone's functionality back. Please? Pleeasse?!?!?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Theory number two. I may be getting skynetted. It has already <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/search?q=skynet" target="_blank">happened once before</a>. By the way, there are at least two companies out there called cyberdyne: <a href="https://www.cyberdyne.ca/mg104/" target="_blank">this one</a> and <a href="https://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/" target="_blank">this one</a>. <a href="https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/theres-a-real-robotics-company-called-cyberdyne-and-now-1679979930" target="_blank">This guy</a> even adds another layer or two to the whole thing. Well, at least they should go after him first. It gives me some breathing room. Now, who's crazy? Not me. Well....., not because of this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Theory three. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicant" target="_blank">Replicants</a>. (Hey, do not fall for that reference to them being fictional. As if? Next there will be an entry about cyborgs not being real too.) But I have said too much already. I need to put safeguards in place before I can even get in to anything about these guys. But be forewarned. They are among us and I have circumstantial, <i>very</i> circumstantial, proof, so there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Distant theory four. Squirrels. I think I need not say any more on this topic. Go through my posts about the <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/search?q=expanding+legion+of+evil" target="_blank">Expanding Legion of Evil</a> (ELoE). If anything, they are in collusion with one or more of the above mentioned parties. There is a whole posse hanging out at the back of the property these days. Not just the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanism" target="_blank">melantic</a> (I use a really old version of the adjective I picked up from a book titled: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/273032.The_Sea_and_the_Jungle" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">The Sea & The Jungle</a>: <i><a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=4RHqi3jYEDcC&pg=PA223&lpg=PA223&dq=The+Sea+and+the+Jungle+melantic&source=bl&ots=rhWyZouY_4&sig=1m1GnhfkVWZS_ah7AWc2GYZmWrI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRlK67me_YAhUDgrwKHU-BDu4Q6AEIVDAM#v=onepage&q=The%20Sea%20and%20the%20Jungle%20melantic&f=false" target="_blank">see!</a></i>; a great book.) ones, which are more common, but also a full grey, and at least one brown squirrel. And not a chipmunk to be seen; who are known to be allies of my allies at times. Hmmm?!?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That should throw the replicants off my scent for now. Yeah, that's the ticket.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, before I step back for a bit, the phone is but at forty-eight percent. Time to monitor the situation before I may accidentally tip my hand. (I need to check my resources in the woodland as a fallback position.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple of hours later and now I am at twenty-nine percent. However, I did a bunch of intensive stuff on the phone. There was yet another update for twitter, so I did. We will see if it eats more battery up. I may have to shut it (twitter, not the phone) down for a while. Which is sad, as there a few "twits" I follow that I like to see when they post, not many, and they tend to be infrequent, but I love when they do add to the interweb. I also added one new poster; see if she figures it out, as I suspect she runs her profile really lean.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple of more hours and only down by five percent for a whopping twenty-four percent battery life left. Something is certainly funky. Much less drainage in this period.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Normally, I am really quite very good at breaking this kind of ridiculousness and turning the interweb to my advantage. Sadly, or more so, inevitably, it has become much less fun to dismantle software and technology to fix it or bend it to one's will. The interweb is so polluted now, searches that should be quick, easy, and simple, become a death march through junk and false metadata. Hell, it took me ages to figure out how to link to a youtube video at a specific time frame. Partly out of laziness, but really more from despising the overwhelming amounts of shizzle in the ethersphere. And laziness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I will plod along slowly with this, most likely, simple puzzle. I am also moving towards the idea of detechnologising many facets of my life. I do like to blog, and I will find my rhythm and stay online for that. Probably need to get a new computerising device for that as my current Dell Latitude D520 with Windows XP is making motions to retire. Too bad, great notebook. If chromebooks were not so pricey..... However, I do have two portable typewriters. I think I may write for the drawer, as was said behind the iron curtain, for a bit too. I will use the interweb to get some ribbons for those suckers. Oh, and acid free paper..... I wonder if I can find linen paper, like books used to be published with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also like being able to communicate in writing from remote locations, but I do not need the tons of apps I currently have. Being able to call too, especially if <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/01/the-importance-of-sensible-shoes-and.html" target="_blank">stranded or broken down</a> without having to walk several kliks is handy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tracking my hikes is handy, but I really do not need it, it is just a nice-to-have add-on. Same with GPS; I have plenty of roadmaps and am acquiring more. Just need to finish the American mid-west, Texas and the US West Coast. Plus Mexico. I also know how to read roadsigns.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I must say the phone-camera is nice to have. It saves me from getting a camera-only device. But I want one of the those pocket printers, but that is more for fun stuff, especially with the Scouts. It can be nice to be polaroidesque at times. Worst case, I always wanted to get a fully-manual film-camera. Maybe the wife remembers how to develop film?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, obviously, I will be cleansing my phone and seeking some additions to my low-tech arsenal of aids and conveniences.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, how much later is it now? Oh, about two hours again and the phone is down to six, no, five percent. However, I was dinking around a lot in the settings and other stuff. Not a bad sign actually. A couple of days ago and the phone would have died in a couple of minutes after that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, more experimenting. And also to figure out why some apps restart themselves, when they should not be doing that. Oh, the deleting will begin. I am reminding myself as well, that a mobile phone is a tool to be used as necessary, like a pocketknife. It is not a lifestyle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wow. I started in on how technology is turning on me. Went on to a bunch of conspiracy theories (or maybe not). What next? Oh yeah, going on about how tech failures and the like was looked upon as a challenge once, but more a burden now. Finally, eschewing technology, at least some of it; mostly post 1999 type-stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If that has not thrown the replicants off my trail, I do not know what will. Have a better one. blbbl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-39548710849257515422018-01-15T15:30:00.001-05:002018-01-15T15:30:04.897-05:00cooking - united nations goulash<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, wow, a whole week since I posted. Wanted to post on the weekend, but I was stupid-busy. <i>And</i> yesterday. <b><i>And</i></b> today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, on Saturday, after clearing an obscene amount of snow in the morning from the laneway after a major dump of the white stuff, which followed a major melt wherein almost all the previously dumped snow melted, including most of my anti-zombie snow berms, and raised our water-table to a ridiculously high level, we dropped the boy at Ray's Reptiles for his volunteering and went shopping for groceries and various other essentials that have run down since before the Christmas holidays.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got some awesome bargains. Many deals to be had, especially for meats. The freezers are all now stuffed again and we will be good probably past the vernal equinox. When we got home, the wife and the boy unloaded our bargains while I finished a strip of snow that had not yet been done. When all that clobber was done, no one was in the mood to cook.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, still no oven, supposed to be getting a used one today that is built like a tank. Just waiting for the delivery guys to show up, so, out came the slow cooker.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got a package of fresh Italian sausage at one grocery store for super-cheap. Eighteen sausages for six-and-one-third dollars. Woo-hoo!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, a little leftover gravy in the crock and put it on high. Then I cut the sausages in to thirds with a pair of scissors from the kitchen drawer and threw them in the bottom with the gravy. Super-super easy, better than trying to cut them with a knife. Then, a half-dozen potatoes cut in to quarters and threw them on top of the sausages. Seasoned with dry spices: garlic, onion, paprika, chili (real chili), white pepper, some fresh-ground <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_pepper" target="_blank">Sichuan pepper</a>, fresh-ground so-called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_peppercorn" target="_blank">pink peppercorns</a>. Oh yeah, and a few dashes of Worcester sauce. Then, I cut up most of a cauliflower and threw that on top of the potatoes. Then I just let it simmer while we all chilled and mucked about the house.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From time to time, I would give it a stir and mix everything up and around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wife took a look at it and said it looked kind of like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goulash" target="_blank">goulash</a>. Really, in the end, it was a simple goulash. So, with various nations represented: Italy (sausage), South American Andes (</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">potatoes</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Cyprus (cauliflower), </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">China (</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sichuan pepper), </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brazil</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (pink peppercorn), Hungary (paprika), Asia (onion), Iran (garlic), India (pepper), UK (Worcester sauce), South America again (chili peppers). It is my <b><i>UN Resolution 13012018 Goulash</i></b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, the only hitch? I do not know if all crock pots take a while to really get a move-on or not, but both of mine take two to two-and-a-half hours to really get percolating. No worries though, very UN-like in the end then. (Ha! I kill me!!). We just had a really late supper in the end which worked out really well this past Saturday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, the oven just came. Great guys who brought it by. <i>It is </i>built like a tank. The only thing that sucks? The interior is a touch narrower than our crap stove and the trays do not fit inside. No worries, those will be used for campfire cooking or cooling racks for baked goods. I just need to keep an eye out while driving around for stoves being dumped and grab the trays out until I can get enough trays to fill every slot. Three more needed, for total of five slots to be filled, as I want to try to make jerky and try dehydrating various product from the woodland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still going to continue experimenting with the crock pots though. But. But. Tonight, I think, it will be chicken wings. Yummy-yum-yum. blbbl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-46087155132491927522018-01-08T22:45:00.001-05:002018-01-08T22:45:36.775-05:00post 367 - here's the skinny<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, like I have been saying, today is the day that everything changes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This post is my last "in-a-row" post. I have now posted every day for a year. A leap year. Plus an extra day. Three-hundred-and-sixty-seven days. Some of you will have noticed that some of my posts lately were, at times, a stretch and a struggle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of forcing myself, any longer, to post mediocre material, I will take more time to develop my posts and consider what the rooster is putting forth. It does not mean that there will not be any posts on consecutive days, but it will be less likely. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It also does not mean there will not be mediocre posts. One person's awesome can be another's mediocrity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If something jumps in my head and I think it is worth sharing and it does not need much percolation, I will write it and post it. Otherwise, if I truly feel I need to develop it, I will take time to work on it. There are subjects I would like to get back to, which I planned and promised. I have follow-ups on <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/01/inaugural-post-handkerchiefs.html" target="_blank">handkerchiefs</a> and <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/01/lip-balm.html" target="_blank">lip balms</a> after some field testing. These will be coming up soon enough, but only when they are ready.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Expect one or two posts a week, but it could be fewer, or it could be more. I will still probably do the odd travelogue, but perhaps in a different format. The boy and I, amongst others, will be going to the <a href="http://greatlakesjamboree.ca/" target="_blank">Great Lakes Jamboree</a> this summer, so expect at least a few from there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is some good stuff in here, if I do say so myself. Feel free to peruse and check out the older posts if you have not read them. Reread them, I do. Hey, feel free to submit some comments. That would be nice. At least I would know I am not posting in a vacuum.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be doing some retooling of the blog as well. Not a lot probably, but bits here and there. You may have noticed that I have already started. I am hoping to add labels as well and finally finish cloning <i>this</i> blogger site on <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">my wordpress site</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A bit of an update on things around here:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lots of snow overnight and today and the snowblower still will not start. I have tried everything except for <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/08/my-lawn-mower-is-trying-to-kill-me.html" target="_blank">beating it with a stick</a>. I think there is moisture in places where it should not be, so a-shovelling I have been. The bright side? I now have a second line of <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/12/shovelling-snow-and-zombie.html" target="_blank">anti-zombie fortifications</a>. If they come this winter, I will be ready, because like it or not, the undead conflagration is coming people, or, as many call it: <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/03/the-zombie-apocalypse-is-upon-us.html" target="_blank">the zombie apocalypse</a>. Just not from where you may expect it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got my <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/12/tibetan-prayer-flags.html" target="_blank">Tibetan Prayer Flags</a> up today! Hooray!! According to my calculations, it was not an inauspicious day. It was a Monday. It was morning. It was windy. And, even though it was snowing, it was sunny. So, that should be all good. I really enjoyed putting them up and really like looking at them and watching them in the breeze. The birds do not seem to mind them either. The squirrels are indifferent to them. As soon as I have some time to go back to the shop and cash to spare, I think I am going to get some more prayer flags.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am going to leave you with some pictures of the prayer flags out back of the house. And yes, those round ball-like objects you see <i>are</i> Christmas tree ornaments that I no longer wanted to use on our tree, but could not just discard (they are the "unbreakable" type); I think they add to the whole atmosphere. Enjoy! blbbl</span><br />
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roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-85857792789657066052018-01-07T22:15:00.000-05:002018-01-08T13:28:34.748-05:00movie review (sort of) - the last jedi - no spoilers<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, maybe the wife and I are the last people in the free world to see <i>Star Wars: The Last Jedi</i>. But, we went to see it at a matinee with the boy today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I quite enjoyed it. The wife thought it was "okay". The boy, who saw it for a second time today, also thought it was "okay".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First some background. I have only seen a handful of the Star Wars films at the theatre: <i>The Force Awakens (Episode VII)</i>, <i>Rogue One</i>, and, now, <i>The Last Jedi (Episode VIII)</i>. The rest, on VHS and/or DVD.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of all the films, I of course liked all of them, but especially: <i>A New Hope (Episode IV)</i>, <i>The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V)</i>, <i>Attack of the Clones (Episode II)</i>, <i>The Force Awakens (Episode VII)</i>, <i>Rogue One</i>, and <i>The Last Jedi (Episode VIII)</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Basically, my favourites are the second films in each of the three trilogies, including <i>Last Jedi</i>. My absolute favourite is still "<i>Empire</i>". Sadly, much of that movie was spoiled (spoilt?) for me by spoiler ignorants. Nevertheless, I still immensely enjoyed it, and continue to still enjoy it; I think it is the best of every single Star Wars film, series, special (I did see the <i>Star Wars Holiday Special</i>) , what have you. Plus, <i>Rogue One</i>, probably because it is so anti-heroic (or more appropriately: non-heroic) in many ways, in a film and television kind of way. However, I will not state anything specific in order to prevent ruining it for anyone who may not yet have seen it. I am sure there are some out there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, I am a huge Star Wars fan, as well as Star Trek for that matter. However, I am not a (total) fanatic. I <i>can</i> discuss it for hours, but I do not really get bent out of shape over too much and "<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Monday-morning_quarterback" target="_blank">Monday morning quarterback</a>" it to death in how it could have been done differently or better. Sure, such things do get discussed, but not in a life shattering method.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, to <i>The Last Jedi</i>. As much as I liked the film, I found the write up during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_opening_crawl" target="_blank">opening crawl</a> a bit cheesy, but not a big deal. Maybe they all are? Not sure now?? The opening scene is quite exciting and has some pretty funny bits; I laughed out loud. Actually, I laughed out loud quite a few times. There were several exciting scenes, but again, I do not want to spoil anything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There were a few surprises and unexpected bits <i>and</i> a few little teases here and there, if you could notice them. As to the surprises and unexpected bits and turns, before Disney bought up this franchise, I read a lot about the "future evolution" of the Star Wars universe that were considered canon. Some of it was quite fascinating and I would have loved for it to have evolved that way, but, hey, what can you do?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Saying that though, there are plenty of "nods" to the evolution of the originally conceived (or is it perceived?) canon. Saying that though, in the past, George Lucas himself altered the canon periodically. So, again, what can you do?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, I thought the film was very well done, for the most part. There was one scene, not to harp about it, that could have been done a bit differently. It, like the opening crawl was cheesy. But I am not going to spoil anything. You will probably know what scene I mean anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The film also carries on with the circular nature of the the trilogies in how history (even fictional history) has a tendency to be repetitive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Say what you will about the direction that Disney is taking the Star Wars universe, it is still pretty darned good and not many out there can say definitively which direction or path it would have followed if Mr. Lucas was still at the helm or passed the mantle to some other entity or person.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you do not like how the story is progressing, move out of you parents' basement and make your own sci-fi epic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I liked and enjoyed it. It is a fictional story. Enjoy the story. This latest instalment is entertaining and well done for the most part. If I can get past the bits of cheese, anyone should be able to get past any niggly bits they perceive too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I cannot wait to get it on DVD to watch again and try to see bits and pieces I missed the first time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also cannot wait for the next Star Wars instalment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"May the force be with you!" (Sorry, had to do it.) blbbl</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[N.B. Everything changes in one day.]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-25854324264459103712018-01-06T17:23:00.001-05:002018-01-06T17:23:26.829-05:00cooking - quick and dirty pork<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, not dirty, that would be quite disgusting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And not so quick as I am cooking it in a crock pot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Actually, two crock pots.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, why two crock pots?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, we bought a giant pork loin roast last Saturday and kind of forgot about it. Originally, we were going to cut it in half and freeze one part and cook the other this week, but like I said, we kind of forgot about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Originally, we were going to do a dinner out and a film tonight, but changed our minds. So, we were jabbering about what to do for dinner now. The wife asked if we had any chops. I went down to the freezer to search and then it was an oh-oh moment. I remembered about the pork roast.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The roast was "fresh" when we bought it, meaning that it was just shipped in from the meat packers, and it was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_packing" target="_blank">vac-packed</a> as well. This was fortunate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I brought it upstairs and put it in the sink and cut the packaging open thinking it was going to stink to high-heaven and end up in the bin. But no. It was in fine shape. Yet huge. It was a lot of pig.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I cut it in half and then cut one half in to fist-sized chunks and put it in the slow cooker that the mother-in-law ditched on us. The other one, I left in one big roast sized chunk and one small roast sized chunk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fisty one got the remains of <i>my</i> home-made rhubarb relish as a marinade that has been kicking around the fridge for a while. I also lathered the chunks with dried granulated garlic and onion and white pepper and paprika. Then I topped it some freshish parsley left from Christmas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The roasty one got some hot pepper jelly, that again, has been kicking around the fridge. Thankfully, we got gifted some hot jelly in the Hammer by a friend. The roasty chunks also got the same dry seasoning treatment. But this time I added leftover dill. That is correct, dill. It should offset the heat with a unique layer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, for those slabs of pig, I just need to wait a few hours and voilĂ : main course for supper.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wife asked for mashed potatoes. So, mashed it is, with a few put aside for the boy as he does not yet find the pleasure in the mashedness of 'taters. However, I am in a funny mood, so I will also be making <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnocchi" target="_blank">gnocchi</a> and maybe pasta.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Veggies? Checking the fridges right now. Be back in a sec.....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grilled zucchini (needs to be used up), fried mushrooms (needs to be used up), broccoli (because I really like it), and <a href="http://theroostercrowedatmidnight.blogspot.ca/2017/08/guest-room-184-salad.html" target="_blank">Guest Room 184 salad</a> (avocados need to be used up).I have some habaneros that need using as well, so they will get in there somewhere.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, a "gotta be eaten" type of supper, but I guarantee you, it will be sup(p)er delicious. Ha! blbbl</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[N.B. Everything changes in two days.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-39361374036014331532018-01-05T20:09:00.001-05:002018-01-05T20:09:57.315-05:00trash<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah, so, I am going to write about garbage. <i>And</i> recycling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has been six weeks since we put out our trash.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Originally, six weeks ago, I misread the trash/recycling calendar and put out the paper recycling. For some reason they took it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, we went down to the Hammer for Christmas and did not want to burden our neighbour, who was keeping an eye on our place, with having to deal with the trash and recycling containers. That, and seeing the mayhem of our garage where we keep receptacles for such items.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey, in the cold of winter, the trash can sit, right? Definitely not during a heat wave in the summer. Maggots are just plain gross.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, with the holidays, they do this thing with pushing back the trash and recycling pickup by a day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, really, it is now six weeks and a day. Forty-three days. That is a long period for not putting out the trash.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me tell you, it is not a record for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where we live is under the mighty and powerful jurisdiction of the capital city of this nation of Canada: Ottawa. As an aside, I do not consider myself an Ottawan. A bit of a stupid moniker too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, Ottawa currently has a biweekly cycle for trash and recycling. Every two weeks they pick up trash and so-called blue bin items. Blue bin items are, basically: glass, metal, plastic. Plus they pick up green bin items, which are, basically again, biodegradable food waste and yard waste. On the other weeks, they pick up paper (black bin) and green bin items.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They used to pick up trash and all recyclables weekly, but decided it was economically wasteful. I do not wholly disagree. However, when trash was picked up weekly, we never put our trash out until the trash can was full. We could go for weeks and weeks before that happened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the great and powerful city of Ottawa used to recycle a lot more plastics. That is, until a bonehead <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Chiarelli" target="_blank">mayor</a> decided that less plastic should be recycled and more should be classed as trash. Bonehead? No, assclown! Full disclosure, I never voted for him. Ever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, we could go for over two months before putting out the trash, depending on the weather. Do not forget the maggots. We recycled everything that we could. We were very diligent. I grew up that way, so did the wife, and it is how we raised the boy. Then, bam, the wise and omniscient city of Ottawa, and its mayor, decided a "better" path for all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, after that, our trash started filling up with non-recyclable plastics. Mostly food packaging. It is somewhat hard to get away from this too. Everything is over-wrapped and over-packaged.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then it was another mayor who decided on the biweekly trash deal. Again, not in total disagreement.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The thing is, the recycling of plastics should have been expanded, but it was not. The corruption allegation dodging city of Ottawa has, as far as I am concerned, a pretty crappy recycling program. I will not get in to it right now. It would take weeks of locating documents to spell out the shortsightedness of Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, in how they operate with regards to trash and recycling. Then, of course, I would diverge in to innumerable tangents of their other foolish actions, policies, and behaviours. And, oh, did I mention corruption dodging allegations?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, where was I?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh yeah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, after six weeks <i>and</i> a day, we still managed to put all our trash in to one garbage can (we only have one garbage can). Now, we have four regular recycling bins and a a super-sized one full of metal, glass, and the plastics that are allowed. We were in a cycle of emptying various large containers so we kind of bloomed. Plus, we no longer save all our metal recycling for a local cat rescue that would take it to raise money. We would crush all our cans and when two bins were full, I would drop them off. We have gotten kind of lazy on the can crushing. I think we will restart the crushing. So much space is saved.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am digressing again. Six weeks, one garbage can. Here is my question. I knew I would get to it sooner or later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do I see people putting out several cans and bags of garbage every garbage day. It does not matter what neighbourhood or city I am in. Many people people toss a lot. Many people do not recycle at all. But still. That is a whole hell of a lot of garbage. I <b>know</b> people who who toss out as much as <i><b><u>nine</u></b></i> bags/cans of trash weekly (in other cities of course). I know people in the Ottawa area who toss out as much as <b><i><u>six</u></i></b> trash containers every two weeks! The maximum allowed in Ottawa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What the filth?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even when the boy was in diapers, we managed to keep it to no more than a bag a week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure, we go over the one trash can sometimes. It is usually when we are purging the various flotsam and jetsam I have collected. Still though, a lot of it is recycled, except for the evil and excluded specific plastics despised by the unfathomable city of Ottawa.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do people generate so much waste? Why are materials used that cannot be recycled or repurposed? Why do so few people seem to care?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was my point? You know what? I no longer know. My train of thought has derailed and broken in to many tiny pieces.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, everybody (including me and the rooster) needs to start thinking about their waste and recycling and not dismissing it as if there is nothing can be done. We, I, need to make better choices of what we are purchasing and the like. Over packaged? Packaging cannot be recycled? Look at another comparable product from a company that gives a damn about waste. blbbl</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[N.B. Everything changes in three days.]</span><br />
<br />roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-91954071127969607292018-01-04T21:57:00.001-05:002018-01-04T21:57:09.194-05:00isolation breeds vapidity<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am kind of stuck.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been semi-isolated for a couple of weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure, I travelled, with the wife and the boy, down to the Hammer and back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Had Christmas and New Year celebrations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Went out with the boy for some appointments and errands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was even out all day today and went to some meetings this week as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, I have been fairly inactive socially and globally.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What to post about then?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most anything that has happened in the last couple of weeks that could be written about, pretty much has been written about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No idea, really.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do actually have some ideas for the rooster, but they are just embryonic and they require more time than I have today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I, somewhat, foolishly pledged, more to myself than anyone else really, that I would post everyday for at least a year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, that year is still a few days off, and I would hate to blow it now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It can be quite difficult at times to be inspired when a person is, themself (themselves? thyself?.....), stagnating.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really do need to get out more and speak to more people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really, really do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It also explains some of my less than stellar posts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, you know what, they all cannot be gems.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It would be nice though if I had a few less lumps of coal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, here I am.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Posting about not having anything to post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Damned insipidness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I will leave you with something inspired by the boy. He is wearing modified 3D glasses right now and looks like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger" target="_blank">Kissinger</a>. It made me think of this.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hRKOenxiRaY/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hRKOenxiRaY?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blbbl</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[N.B. Everything changes in four days.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-52860850201557853592018-01-03T14:38:00.002-05:002018-01-03T14:38:37.296-05:00cooking - stew - on the fly<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is going to be a rambling recipe and process.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have about five pounds of various meats: beef, pork, chicken that are going to make the base of a simple stew. Any meat will do, normally I would also throw in kidneys, veal, turkey, and anything else I could find, but simple today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cut it all in to chunks and dust in a mixture of mostly flour with the following dried spices/herbs: ground bay, granulated garlic, granulated onion, ground white pepper, and paprika. Normally, I would add cayenne, but the wife picked up a bunch of habanero for me to use. I do wish I had some ground marjoram and thyme. Oh, well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dust the chunks in the flour mixture and fry briefly in some oil or fat in batches. Today I am using canola. You do not need to cook through, just enough for a crust to form is okay. Or skip this step altogether. Your choice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the chunks crisp-up, put them in your stew pot which will have some liquid in it: stock, wine, water, whatever. Today, I am using the left over broth from the fondue earlier in the week. Monitor the thickness. You will probably need to thin it a few times as it cooks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Add a couple of onions coarsely chopped to stew. You can fry/sauté a bit. Or not. O had some flour soaked oil left in the pan, so I fried a bit. Then, in the pot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The vegetables. Coarsely chopped. Anything you want, root vegetables are the best for this. This time I used: parsnip, turnip, carrot (purple carrots), some celery (I like celery in a stew), sweet potato, and some actual potatoes too. You can throw whatever else is kicking around in the fridge or larder, especially if it is not enough to do much with on its own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While cooking, keep the heat low enough to not scorch the bottom of the pot, but high enough to actually cook. You want it just bubbling. On most stove tops that will be a setting of around "3" or medium low.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Less than two hours, taking my time, everything in the pot and just simmering. I could have done it quicker, but I was having fun. It will be ready whenever I want it to be now. It does not need much seasoning, but everyone has to follow their own preferences. I may not use those habaneros for the stew. The pot is almost completely full, plus it tastes great. I will be making a soup this week some time, so maybe they will go in there. Maybe in a stir-fry. We will see.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It can be served on its own. Or with additional sides of potato or rice or pasta, sides of vegetables. A salad? Bread? Personally, I like a salad and bread. I think I may fry some mushrooms crispy though to toss on top.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, that is it. Quick and dirty stew. Good for a few meals or to take for lunch too. blbbl</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[N.B. Everything changes in five days.]</span><br />
<br />roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1642059665447288484.post-38598586669721910972018-01-02T22:43:00.000-05:002018-01-02T22:43:54.472-05:00i am stuffed<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been snack binging for two days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do people do that?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why am I doing it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is not like I really need these snacks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At least these snacks are mostly not super crap.<br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Funny though, I did not really binge eat over the holidays.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure I snacked, sure I ate some elaborate dinners.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, I never really felt super stuffed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One problem with </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">snack</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> binging is that that you eat more than you realise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, it does not necessarily end when you get stuffed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find with snack binging you "come down" from it pretty quick, so you can stuff yourself more than once.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I am gong to have some tea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oooohhh, nuts! And little chocolates! blbbl</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[N.B. Everything changes in six days.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>roostermidnighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03916885104824228339noreply@blogger.com0