Goodbye 2021

 It's just anoooother New Year's Eve...

Happy last day of this sucky year! Woohoo!!

We started watching "Maid" this week. Fantastic show! My favorite moment so far is Andie McDowell's whirlwind of a character angrily declaring that her ex-boyfriend's wife, Petal, who is cradling a baby in the background, "looks like a f*ing bitch!" Bwahahaa. (You may have had to be there. Seriously hilarious.) So far the lead character (played by Andie McDowell's real-life daughter) is making questionable life choices, but I'm hopeful she will start standing up for herself and taking help when it's offered. It's not really about being a maid, like I thought it would be. Looking forward to the next episode.

I've temporarily gone back to curbside shopping now, with the new covid spike in full force here. Hoping it will be shorter than the previous ones. Then maybe we can all start back towards actual normal-normal!

Saturday 9: Drivers License (2021)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song is about a girl who just got her drivers license. Who taught you to drive?

my boyfriend at the time, in his Fiat

2) Do you like your drivers license/state ID photo?
It's fine. 

3) Think back to the first ticket you received. How old were you, and what was it for?

I was 20, and it was for having an outdated registration sticker. He also mentioned the A&M stickers I had on my license plate were illegal (even though they were very cool and we ALL had them!), but didn't ticket me for those. 

4) In this week's song, Olivia Rodrigo is brokenhearted, driving through her boyfriend's neighborhood, certain that he has taken up with the sophisticated blonde girl. When it comes to romance, do you have a jealous streak?

not generally

5) Olivia grew up in Temecula, California. Temecula is home to 40 wineries and dozens of tasting rooms. Have you ever attended a wine tasting?
several, yes

6) Her first on-screen appearance was in a commercial for Old Navy stores. Old Navy is owned by the same company as Banana Republic, Gap and Athletica. Have you done any of your holiday shopping at one of those stores? (Yes, their websites count.)
Nope.

7) She went on to star in projects for Disney studios. That's also how pop stars Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, and Christina Aguilera got started. Arguably the first teen star created by Disney studios was Annette Funicello. Do you remember her?
I do, because she was in the Beach Blanket Bingo movie(s?) with Frankie Avalon, who was in Grease.

8) "Drivers License" was one of this year's most popular songs. One of this year's most popular books is John Grisham's The Judge's List. Do you expect to do much reading between now and the end of the year? If so, what's on your TBR (to be read) list?

Mostly cookbooks.

9) Random Question: What is the longest line you ever stood in, and was it worth it?

I have been in many, many overnight lines for concert tickets, back when we had to buy them at record stores. SO fun! Always worth it.

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Misc Wednesday

Laughing at the ad for dog treats covered in "peanut butter flavored yum." Whatever in God's name YUM is... *gag* 

We finished Part 5 of "Money Heist" on Netflix. Sad day. It is a very well-written action/drama show. Fun to watch. Now it's complete. Be sure to catch all the extra behind-the-scenes videos, including "From Tokyo to Berlin", to hear some funny and interesting production stories... and also to see the regular, non-geeky version of Álvaro Morte (The Professor). 

Luckily "Who Killed Sara?" season 3 is coming out sometime, so we can look forward to that for our next foreign TV thriller binging. 

Zoom Christmas was good. My brother-in-law and nephew had/have covid. They gathered with my in-laws and other local Dallas family members, but we declined to be a part of that. We've spent waaaay too long being cautious to catch covid on what may be the last significant round of it. *crossing fingers* 

Best Zoom Christmas conversation tidbit? Here ya' go:

Grandpa: I don't play golf, because the water always sucks my balls.

*mic drop*

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Keep Apple Music Curated Playlists Playing and Updated

So. I have been enduring this Apple Music problem. 

I most frequently listen to Apple Music's curated playlist 'A-List Pop.' Their playlists are updated weekly, so I'm always listening what's new in pop music. I went to the playlist on Apple Music and hit Play. I assumed that it would just play on (unless I listened to something else, of course), automatically updating every Friday when the list was updated. If the list had been updated since the last time I listened, I figured it would finish out the current song, then just play the first song of the updated playlist. 

But no.

If a curated list has been updated since the last time you listened, your device finishes the current song from the old version of the playlist, then ditches the playlist and starts playing random music from your Library. 

I have finally found and configured a valid fix, and it is workinggggg! Here it is:

If you mostly listen to one Apple Music curated playlist, don't play the playlist IN Apple Music. Download their playlist to your Library (just press the download button at the top of the list, or the "..." then "Download"). Then play the playlist from within your Library. It will auto-update every Friday from Apple Music to your Library, and work flawlessly, finishing the current song and moving on to the first song of the updated playlist if it has been updated since the last time you listened.

Ta. Da!

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Clash of the What?

Based on the ads, the bands on the show "Clash of the Cover Bands" aren't cover bands. They're tribute bands. Weird. Why not "Clash of the Tribute Bands"? Alliteration shouldn't be that important. If it is though, to be fair...

...there may not be a good T word to use for "clash." 

This morning in a "Happy Thanksgiving" text, Kimberly messaged me a photo of myself our senior year of high school. I'm at her house by the fireplace, on my way to a Prince concert (the Purple Rain tour), wearing high heeled boots, a mini skirt and a super-awesome 80's top, with my hair in an up-do, and I look mostly... SO TALL. YES! 

The only time I've ever actually been tall was in fifth grade. I reached my full adult height (5'4) the summer before that year, and the rest of my classmates spent the next 2-3 years catching up... and eventually passing me by. As an added bonus, my hair was thick and wavy, and it frizzed in the Houston humidity, and I would not figure out how to tame it until I got a curling iron (thankyouJesus) in sixth grade. 

I was in a trio of best friends during that time- Lori, Kim (another Kim!) and me- and Kim had a "boyfriend" in fifth grade for a few weeks. That little twerp always called me Amazon Woman. (It sounds vaguely racist today, right? They haven''t been around since 500 A.D., so it's prolly not an issue.) I had no idea what he meant. When I asked him, he said Amazon women were tall and had big hair. He could have said, "You know, like Wonder Woman!" But no. 

Now, living life in the petite section, it's hilarious that long ago, I was so freakishly tall that someone made fun of me for it.

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Randomness!

That Target commercial where they say "Come in for a soccer ball... leave a part of the team." should be "Come in for a soccer ball... leave with a cart full of crap you didn't need."

Can anyone tell me why Apple Fitness+ HIIT workouts do not go with the beat of the music? Is that typical of HIIT? It gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Sunday Stealing

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

Need mascara.

2. What shirt are you wearing?

Texas A&M t-shirt, baby! WHOOP

3. Do you label yourself?

I labelled myself "not a survivalist type" last night. We were talking about a worldwide catastrophe situation, where one would have to find their own food, build a shelter, etc. I know nothing about that kind of stuff. Also, I sunburn easily. That is the first clue that you are not going to survive the apocalypse.

4. What does your watch look like?

Looks like... an Apple watch, silver with a blue band.

5. What were you doing at midnight last night?

sleeping

6. Last furry thing you touched?

Maya the kitty

7. Favourite age you have been so far?

There are wonderful things about every age, but 30 was pretty great. The kiddo was a toddler and I was really active in my mommy club and Bunco group. Superfun!

8. What is your current desktop picture?

I have the dynamic "Tree" background on my MacBook. Pretty.

9. If you had to choose between $1,000,000 or to be able to fly what would it be?

Million bucks.

10. The last song you listened to?

OneRepublic, "Someday"

11. What do you do when vending machines steal your money?

Sigh and walk away. Eh.

12. Would you move for the person you loved?

Yep.

13. Name three things that you have on you at all times?

mask, credit card, allergy medical alert bracelet

14. What’s your favourite town/city?

Scottsdale, AZ or San Diego,CA

15. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
No

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Mmmkaaay

#BUTFIRST...

Howdy!!

Anyhoo... I was on my Amazon home page, and saw this:

Is that where I am now? Amazon thinks I would love some light bulbs for a little fall pick-me-up purchase? Oy. 

But I will take the Betsey Johnson earrings, thankyouverymuch.

Austin is finally starting to come down from the apex of our current and worst-yet covid spike, so YAY for that. We are masked in public unless we're outside with some good air flow. Hoping we can get back out more once we're down a stage or two. We take drives here and there on weekends, but don't do big group activities or dining out. It will be cooler soon, so eating outside will be more appealing. It's actually really nice out today.

Lately we've been watching Big Brother (Xavier fan since Day 1), Clickbait (finished) and Nine Perfect Strangers (finished). And of course, Ted Lasso. I also loved the Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson docuseries on Apple TV+. It is supercool. Megastars, music geniuses and very interesting content.

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Mistaken Identity

 

"I don't even know where the hole for this is." Bwahaha! Love the leather.

 

Jeff mentioned the other day that Daisy Fuentes and Richard Marx are married. WHAT? When did this happen? I'm a pop news junkie, for goodness' sake. How did I miss this?

 

Me: Wait wait wait. Isn't Daisy Fuentes married to the lead singer of Nine Inch Nails?

Jeff (NOT into pop news, Googling...): Trent Reznor?

Me: That doesn't sound right. I mean, yes, he is the lead singer, but it must be another band.

Jeff: No. She is married to Richard Marx.

Me: But she used to be married to a musician with leather pants and tattoos... 

Jeff: *shows me a photo of Daisy and Richard*

Me: Oh. That's not her. The lady I'm thinking of is less "girl next door." Maybe an MTV personality? CARMEN ELECTRA! That's who I'm thinking you said was married to Richard Marx.

Jeff: Totally different person.

Me: Yeah.

We went to Fredericksburg today with KathyL. Bought peaches at Jenschke's and had lunch at Altstadt Brewery. Visited Wildseed Farms. Good times!

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...Someone Else to Catch this Drift

I've been listening to Jagged Little Pill, so I'm in a "girl power" sort of mood!

 

Why are you so terrified of silence? 

Here, can you handle this:

 

... 

...

 

;-)

 

The second season of Who Killed Sara on Netflix is good, but not as good as the first. It's very "messy." The jumping around in time is sometimes throwing me off. There are a lot of things that feel randomly added. So many people involved in too many crimes to count at this point. Still watching!

We binged Halston in a few days. It was also medium-good. It is entertaining and has lots of pretty things to look at. I just couldn't find much to like about the title character. Talented, but his egomania and the careless way he treated most people just didn't give me any sympathy for him when things went wrong. The actress/singer who plays Liza Minnelli is outstanding, and of course, there's the greatness of Ewan McGregor!

I caught Valerie Bertinelli's new show, Valerie's Hot Dish last weekend. Comedic actresses Melissa Peterman and Nicole Sullivan ARE Laura and I cooking together. They are hilarious. I just looked it up, and there is only one episode. What the heck is up with that?! More please!

 

Dr. Mark Escott is stepping into his new role as Chief Medical Officer for the city, leaving his post as Interim Medical Director and Health Authority for Austin Public Health. For Austinites during the pandemic, he's kept us informed, and led at least once weekly press conferences, Q&A's, etc. He's been a voice similar to Dr. Fauci, always clear and firm on what is happening and why, explaining when we don't know the "why's" yet, and such. He's done a superb job. I'm not exactly sure what the CMO for a city does, but I'm sure he'll do that with the same integrity and competence. These days, those things seem in short supply all around.

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Mask Weirdness

I've been laughing at us- people including me- as we navigate not wearing masks and getting closer to each other. Some people are nervous and feeling a little uncomfortable with the huge change, but also, we've spent the past twelve months identifying people without masks as jackwagons, and none of us wants to be mistaken for them.

 

We were at the mall on Saturday, and I would say it was about 80% of a typical Saturday mall attendance. 90% of people were wearing masks. The mall itself is mask-optional for vaccinated people, but individual stores set their own requirements and most currently require masks. We were walking the corridors without masks, but it was SUPERWEIRD.

I've also been to Target and Kohls, both of which are "masks optional" for vaccinated people, and pretty much everyone was wearing their mask. I wore mine in both places. 

 

In the end, my personal policy is to first do whatever the rules require, and if it is optional, to wear it if I'm uncomfortable without it for whatever reason. Over time, we'll all get over the weirdness!

 

Went to Austin Land and Cattle last night for our anniversary. Our actual anniversary is tomorrow, but we thought Monday night would be less crowded. We were wrong. Ha! Super-crowded! The tables there are separated a little more than usual though. Steak was amazing as usual. Any steak would be good after 14 months without, but theirs is definitely awesome.

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No Masks for the Fully Vaccinated!

Your favorite Greek-Italian-American chef, Michael Symon, just said gyro as "jigh-ro" instead of the Greek pronunciation. WHAAAAA?? He says he goes back and forth. Mind blown, y'all.

 

Well, it's official- CDC says masks are no longer required for fully vaccinated people! Yahoo!!!! Finally! Businesses can still require them, but it should be changing soon, even in Austin. Unvaccinated people should continue wearing their masks (if they were wearing them to start with).

We're getting to the end of The Challenge: Double Agents. It's really gotten wacky now. My favorite moment of this season so far was Devin "pulling a Josh" after JUST absolutely destroying Josh for missing the helicopter rope during a mission. I used to find Devin completely obnoxious, but this season especially, he is hilarious.

Jeff took Friday off and we drove off to Blanco to get out of the house. Stopped at Peyton Colony on the way. It's a ghost town founded by freed slaves, with a couple of historical markers and a little Baptist church that has been continuously active since the late 1800s. We took a walk through Blanco's city park off the town square, which has some heeeUGE trees and about a million squirrels. Very pretty! Bought some jerky in Johnson City on the way back.

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Palmettos

Had a great Mother's Day weekend! We drove out to Palmetto State Park near Gonzales on Saturday. It's very shady/swampy, so it was nice in the dry heat. Later summer days at 104 with 1000% humidity, probably not so much. I had never seen palmettos, and didn't think we would have something like them in Texas, but there ya' go. Very cool!

 

Texas Monthly did an interesting write up about the park. I didn't know it is home to "a hairy biped called the Ottine Swamp Thing." Also, otters? Wow!! We didn't see either of those, but we did catch two gigantic black birds hanging out in a tree together on the Interpretive Trail.

 

Here is the other-worldy landscape. The light green is algae covering the water...

 

Afterwards, we tried to visit the Gonzales Museum (with the famous "Come and Take It" cannon), but it was closed. Too bad! Visited Santa Anna Mound, but it wasn't worth the time.

 

We watched The Mitchells vs. the Machines on Sunday. It is really good. Movies during the plague have mostly sucked, but this is a winner for family viewing. 

We also finished Season 35 of The Challenge, and started Season 36: Double Agents. Whee! This most recent season has so many twists and turns, your head never stops spinning. The rookies are putting all the vets up, so vets are falling like flies.

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Catching Up on The Challenge

Since Hulu finally added MTV, we've been binging the last two seasons of The Challenge that we missed since we cut the cord for streaming. We're almost to the end of Total Madness, and all I keep wondering is... Does Sting get a penny every time they play his "MTVeeeeeee" at the beginning of shows?

 

This season has been one of the best ever. LOVED the Bananas/Wes love story. Crossover with Big Bro is awesome. 

 

Speaking of those guys, Big Brother will start again soon! Yipeee!

 

My boss-of-eight-years left the company abruptly last week. Not sure if it was a re-org or she's leaving for greener pastures (or both). I also wonder if it was as much of a surprise to my full-time-regular colleagues as it was to me! (There's too little water cooler chat with the contractor.) I'll have to ring someone up and find out the story.

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Subtitles

Watching The Baker and the Beauty on Netflix, I wonder if the person responsible for the occasional subtitles knows the purpose of subtitles. The show is about a Cuban-American family living in Miami, and it is in English, with a tiny bit of Spanglish thrown in. When even a single word is said in Spanish, they'll usually toss up a full sentence subtitle with that word translated into English. Okay. But often, they just put up the sentence with the Spanish word. Mmmkay. Weirdest of all, they throw one up when there is a loanword used, like kimono. Do we need to see kimono spelled out and italicized to clarify something? So strange. The show is a little schmaltzy for my taste, but it's entertaining enough to watch if there isn't anything else on. The characters are super-likeable.

 

Speaking of weird subtitles... what is the deal with Everlywell and the full-on subtitling of their ads? If it were an ad for hearing aids, I would get it. 

 

We finished the first season of Who Killed Sara? on Netflix, and now we know! It's a keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat Mexican (English subtitled!) drama. The Lazcano family runs a casino in Mexico City. Just when you think they've done the most heinous thing plausible, another skeleton pops out of their closet. Sara is murdered in the first episode, and the Lazcanos force her brother to take the blame. After serving 18 years in prison, he spends this season finding out who killed his sister. The show was just released in late March, and the second season begins May 19. It's a good thing, because something BIG just happened in the season finale. Who did he find???!

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Area State Parks Drive

Thank goodness for the Chauvin conviction this week. We were literally holding our breaths waiting to see if it would go the right way. Not that it wasn't so incredibly obvious, but you never know. One step forward for us all as a country.

 

Last weekend, J and I went down to Bastrop and Beuscher State Parks, about 30 minutes outside of Austin. We drove Park Road 1C through both, which costs only $3 per person. Cheap date! Add two Dr. Pepper slurpees from Buc-ees and you're still in for less than $10. (The park ticket lady joked she would have let us in for a discount if we'd have brought her a slurpee. Ha!) The baby trees are adorable. So nice to see all the green where there was only black scorched earth and tall, ashen tree trunks. 

 

We remember the night the ashes from that fire were actually raining down on us at Kyle Field in College Station during a football game. The orange glow over the sky on the way home... Scary stuff.

 

There are a lot of pretty views in the parks. Beuscher is a quite a bit more lush and shady. The speed limit is 30mph, but you go about 20-25 most of the time. Windows down. All so quiet on the relaxing little hilly drive. If you wanna hike the many trails, it's $5 a person.

 

Progressive's latest ad...

"Now's not a good time, three-fifths of NSYNC."

"Read the room."

 

*snort*

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Genealogy Celebration!

Major genealogy breakthrough on my Wisconsin Kanes and O'Donnells! Whee! At least two other genealogists are as thrilled as I am that we've been able to combine our personal sources to figure out some mysteries we've been trying to solve for years. We brought a total of six siblings together on paper, five generations back, and are about *thisclose* to figuring out the names of their parents (...which will likely put us at a new dead end, somewhere in County Tipperary, Ireland. But I'm not going to focus on that yet.).

I've been playing Zombie Rollerz on Apple Arcade. You kill zombies with pinballs... special pinballs with all sorts of powers, having to do with fire or ice or poison, etc. Best pinball game EVER. I cannot win with the roly-poly robot dude though. Bah. I like it because no game is ever the same. You get all sorts of choices for which prizes you want when you win a match, so your powers are wildly different each time you play. It takes about 1.5 hours to complete all four levels (IF you complete them), and then you start over. The more you play, the cooler the legacy loot you start off with, depending on your character choice. Superfun!!

 

Today, it's been two weeks since my second Moderna shot! Done and done. So happy.

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Vaccination Complete!

Got my second Moderna vaccine on Thursday. I had a fever for about five hours on Day 2, and was super tired Days 2-3. That's it. First round, I had slight nausea, so I was worried about being really nauseated this time. I didn't have any nausea at all after the second shot. Whew.

 

Some lady on an online group was irate that pools aren't fully open, because "they are filled with chlorine," so there is no risk of coronavirus spread.

 

Bless her heart.

 

We finished Broadchurch Season 3. Surprise ending! I thought I had it figured out at episode 1, all the way through. Then BOOM. Who knew? Great show!

Saturday 9: Here Comes Peter Cottontail

 
1) Which do you prefer: colored hard-boiled eggs, chocolate marshmallow eggs, or plastic eggs with coins inside?

Um, Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs? Among these three, plastic eggs.

2) What's your favorite color of Peeps (yellow, purple, or pink)?

Purple

3) All this talk of sweets is making Sam hungry. What's for lunch?

We're going to be scavenging the fridge/freezer for lunch today. HEB was closed on Sunday, so all the curbside spots were taken until this evening. No groceries until then!

4) This song was introduced by country singer Gene Autry and it's still a favorite. Please share some of the lyrics.

Here comes Peter Conttontail, hoppin' down the bunny trail. Hippity hoppity, Easter's on its way...

 
5) Gene Autry was so popular that a town in Oklahoma named itself for him. Have you ever been to Oklahoma?

We visited Jeff's college friend, Steve, in Tulsa once. Steve now lives in Australia. We need to visit him again.

6) He and his horse Champion also had a TV show. Can you name another famous horse?

Secretariat

7) Gene Autry also recorded "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer," and it was, of course, wildly popular, too. Who is your favorite recording artist?

Ed Sheeran

 

8) In 1950, the year Autry recorded this song, Diner's Club issued the first credit card. Think of the last thing you purchased. Did you use cash, a credit card, a debit card, an e-wallet service (Visa Checkout, Paypal, Google Pay, Apple Pay ...) or a check?

Apple Pay

9) Easter is recognized as the start of the spring season. What are you looking forward to this spring?

 Getting out more! Yay, vaccine!

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Sunday SUNDAY

Jeff: BJ Thomas has stage 4 cancer.

Me: Oh, that's too bad. I met him once.

Jeff: Really?

Me: Yeah, he's married to Louise Mandrell. I met both of them after a concert at Opryland on vacation, when I was a kid. 

Jeff: He's married to someone named Gloria.

Me: Maybe they split up. Or maybe I'm thinking of someone else. <google search> Oh. I met RC Bannon.

Jeff: So anyone with two initials and a two-syllable last name...

Me: Yep. I've met them.

Sad about BJ Thomas though. 70's music memories.

Great news, my Dallas/Ft. Worth friends! HEB is coming soon! First two in fall 2022 in Frisco and Plano. Many more planned.

Finished Season 2 of Broadchurch on Netflix. I'm good with the punishment the murderer received. It took some HUGE twists and turns, yes? What will happen the last season? Will any other big-time British actors pop in?

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Music Shaming

When the A-List Pop playlist on Apple Music switches to the new list each week, it stops playing automatically in my car when my phone connects. By the time the first song comes on, it's playing random songs stored on my phone. So basically, it's throwback day for that trip. Today, I heard When in Rome, David Cook and Nickelback. "Far Away" was playing when I hit a stoplight, and I turned it down, so no one would know I was listening to Nickelback. Sad! I LOVE that song! Next time, I'll blare it and you can all laugh and laugh, but I'll know you're secretly singing along in your heads.

Here's a special version of one of my favorite David Cook songs, to brighten your day...

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Taco Sunday

We were watching an old episode of The Daytripper, the Texas Taco Roadtrip, this morning. They were at Henry's Puffy Tacos in San Antonio.

Chet: Is there any filling you can't put in a puffy taco shell?

Henry's Son: You could put an enchilada on there.

Chet: That is next level.

Heh. And now we want tacos.

 

Last night I watched Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American, his new Netflix comedy special filmed in October. HILARIOUS. Definitely see it.

Saturday, we went to a nearby neighborhood to get a look at their resident great-horned owls. We saw the mom and probably two fluffy white babies in the nest. Mom is enormous. She kept her eyes on us every second. Supercool. Jeff got a photo through his binoculars.

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So True

 

 Yep.

(Surfing some old bookmarks today. xkcd is awesome!)

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St. Patty's Day!

 

 

Ha! Happy COVID St. Patrick's Day! I'm a wee bit Irish. I've actually been working on my Irish family genealogy this week.

We've started watching Broadchurch on Netflix. It's an excellent British drama series about the murder of a young boy in a seaside town. My only very minor complaint is that it's easy to make everyone in town look suspicious. We are enjoying it a lot, even though I just found out it's from 2013. WHAT? Oh well, we'll take anything good.

The hubby is signed up for his vaccine tomorrow. So, in five weeks, when the whole family is finally fully immunized and antibodied up, we'll be gettin' crazy, maybe even eating outdoors at a restaurant! *dance of joy* Does Austin Land and Cattle have any outdoor seating? 'Cuz I would love a fabulous steak.

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Vaccinated!

Got Moderna vaccine #1! Woohooo! Halfway there.

 

We finally watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The ending was totally worth the three-hour, sometimes slow path it took to get there. Also watched Coming 2 America, which was at least as good as the first one, if not better.

 

I'm not a "fan" of the British royals, or any other royals really. I just don't understand it, especially today, when the money used to support these people in their lavish lifestyles could be put to so many worthwhile uses. Why should the Brits owe respect or deference to the royal family? Their value seems only to be ornamental. I couldn't do it.

 

I didn't watch the Harry/Meghan interview, but of course I'm seeing all the press coverage. They obviously want us to feel sorry for them. I have some sympathy for Harry, who seems to never have really loved the limitations of royal life, but Meghan chose that life. Maybe it was more than she thought it would be, but she claimed she had absolutely no idea. That's just silly. She said she "didn't google Harry." Huh? You don't have to google him to know what it is to be a royal.

 

Moving from England to Los Angeles isn't how you fix a papparazzi/privacy problem.

 

If you're going to call out a racist family member, you have to say that person's name. Otherwise, you leave your entire family under that cloud. The family should definitely say who it was, or all of them will forever be under suspicion. If it was a future king, I'd say that person isn't fit to be king.

 

Not that I care who is king of Eng... oy I've been sucked in...

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The End of the Texas Mask Mandate

Yesterday afternoon around 5 p.m., Gov. Greg Abbott said, "People and businesses don't need the state telling them how to operate." 

 

What an idiot. The government tells people and businesses how to operate all day every day. That is what government does. We are just now starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, and there he is, to return us right back to where we were.

 

It is great to see SO many businesses and school districts doubling down on masks this morning, and announcing continued reduced capacity service. We definitely won't be customers anytime soon of  businesses where there are people walking around without masks.

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Tiiiiiny Bubbles

Our recently restored water was quite milky looking Monday through Wednesday. (Very surprising and seriously gross at first glance.) Turned out it was just billions of eensy-weensy bubbles from all the citywide pipe leaks. Fizzy water from the tap! Now, at Day 5, I think we're down to mere thousands of tiny bubbles per gallon. Nice and clear. 

 

I finished Bridgerton Season 1! Stephen Colbert was right- it has lots of high, tight man butts. Very entertaining as well, of course. Lauren tells me next season is expected to be Anthony-focused, following the books.

Enjoying the Post Malone cover of "Only Wanna Be With You"...

 

Very cool.

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Water On!

We've got water service! Wheeeeeee!! Still under a boil water order, but we'll take it for sure. Showers, clothes/dish washing, cooking with water and toilet flushing are back. The guys can stop peeing in their yards!

 

We're all still conserving water until the rest of the city is back on. Austin Water says that should be sometime today. Then the only folks without water will be those who have broken pipes. Hopefully they are back online very soon.

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Snowmageddon 2021

We never lost power in the great Texas Snowmageddon 2021, thank goodness. SO lucky. We are beginning Day 5 without any water though. We had a trickle for a day or two, which we used to boil for drinking. We have several bottled waters, and a lot of melted snow that we collected during the freeze. Melted snow is only good for toilets really, because the dirt and gunk in it is so gross. Like...

Ha!

 

We're definitely coming to the end of Austin residents' drinking and toilet water at this point. Our community pool was opened to give residents pool water for toilets. We also have access to a friend's pool in the 'hood. Jeff's coworker has running water about 30 minutes away, which we may pick up soon, for drinking. Tick tock. We'll see how bad it gets.

My favorite neighborhood group comment when people were asking where to get toilet water was to "pee in the back of the toilet." Ahhhhhhhhahaha. Someone also suggested it is time for all men to start peeing in the yard. So, be ready for that while taking your daily stroll.

 

I hope voters remember Senator Cruz's Cancun trip when he is up for re-election. And the fancy lie he concocted to explain it. And the fact that the Cruz family left their dog in a home they declared too cold to live in. And yes, I feel exactly the same about the Cali governor and our Austin mayor, displaying elitist disregard for their communities. Find good people to fill those positions! Don't support bad behavior based on party affiliation. Whichever party you support surely has a far better human to put up for the job.

 

Concert survey making the rounds...

 

First Concert: Go-Go's

Last Concert: 10,000 Maniacs (a couple of years ago)

Best Concert: Prince

Worst Concert: I can't remember any "bad" concerts, but when we saw The Cars back in the day, they literally said nothing to the crowd the entire night. They just played through the setlist and left. SO weird.

Loudest Concert: Daughtry

Seen the most: tie between Prince, Duran Duran and NSYNC- 3 times each

Most Impressed: Lady Gaga

Wish I could have seen: Bette Midler

Next concert: would love to see OneRepublic sometime

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Superbowl 'n Stuff

Superbowl was interesting this year! We went for Tampa, because Aggie Mike Evans is a starter for them, while Aggies Armani Watts and Ricky Seals-Jones aren't starters for the Chiefs. Since we don't follow NFL, that was our logic and we stuck with it. When it ended, we felt bad for Mahomes. His team just didn't ever get it going that day. He looked so beaten up, but he kept going until the end.

 

My favorite commercial all night was the Gwen/Blake/Adam T-Mobile one. OMG, so funny.

 

"Did you ride a horse here?" *snort*

 

Also enjoyed "Drake from State Farm." (Is this commercial the reason Jake's been working out and getting all those muscles?) 

 

 

And the Alexa ad with Michael B. Jordan.

I guess I don't really get the "Eat Local" ad. Where else are we going to eat? Are people ordering take-out from an Amazon warehouse?

Impeachment trial #2 started yesterday. Trump's lawyers admitted the people elected Biden. Wait. WHAAAAAAAT?

 

And his side says we can't impeach a president for "political speech," even though federal law says, "Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."?  I dunno. It seems pretty specific. It also makes common sense to any normal person in any country on Earth. Where did he find these dummy dumb-dumbs?

 

Watching the Rom-Com Showdown on Today. It's down to four finalists. Pretty Woman vs. Sleepless in Seattle, and Something's Gotta Give vs. You've Got Mail. My votes are Sleepless in Seattle and Something's Gotta Give, with my final vote to Something's Gotta Give. GREAT movie.

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Scary Pharmacy Visit

I was picking up a prescription at CVS for my daughter yesterday, and ended up waiting an hour for it. (Not a knock against CVS, just a combination of frustrating issues.) There was a bit of a crowd in the area, ranging from 6-10 at any particular time. 

 

During that hour, a 35-ish-year-old guy came into the pharmacy area, speaking very loudly. He said he was picking up a prescription for his wife or someone, but he didn't know what it was for. They didn't have anything, but started looking into it. 

 

He became more irritated, randomly left the area in the middle of complaining, then returned a few minutes later, having found another senior pharmacy employee he knew by name. She explained that the lady who was helping him would continue trying to figure out what he needed to pick up. He kept randomly yelling to the pharmacist, saying he was the only employee there who does a consistently great job. (At least that was... a compliment?)

Over maybe 45 minutes, the guy kept asking where various department employees were, then leaving the area to locate them. Interestingly, he knew them all by name, but when they appeared, it was obvious they didn't know him. 

 

He got into it at one point with the pharmacy tech, saying that he had a covid test at the store, but never received the results. They couldn't find anything that indicated he had had a test there of course.

Eventually, he went to the adjoining Minute Clinic area and banged on one of the two exam room doors, then the other. A nurse came out and he asked her where a particular employee was. She said he was around the corner in another office. He banged on that door and the employee came out. They spoke and the guy yelled, "Your store policy is bullshit!" and stormed off.

The Minute Clinic staff watched him walk towards the front doors. Then the guy turned around and came back. There was some discussion and he turned to leave once more. The employee said, "Have a nice day, sir." The guy replied in a snarly voice, "Make me."

 

After the guy disappeared up front, the nurse asked if the other Minute Clinic employee knew this guy. He said, "No, he's just a customer."

 

A few minutes later, I was leaving and an ambulance was picking him up. My assumption, anyway. Either that, or they randomly had a medical emergency by the checkout at the same time this guy was ranting all over the place. 

All this time, I'm thinking I should get the heck out of here. Right? I mean, these days your mind goes to the thought that oddly angry folks might have some sort of weapon. I thought any minute I would be able to grab Lauren's script and leave. The longer it dragged, the more I thought I should go out and drive around to the drive-through to pick it up. I mostly didn't want to run into this guy one-on-one in the store as he milled around, or out in the parking lot.

This sort of thing happened around me once before. I didn't leave then either. I was at my oncologist's office, at a very large cancer center, in a huge waiting room with a bank of receptionists. A very agitated patient entered, yelling that he needed to see his doctor immediately. The receptionists tried to calm him down, but he was very belligerent. Other employees soon emerged after hearing the yelling, and eventually he said he had lost control of his bowels and bladder in the elevator, and he didn't know what was happening. They explained that this can be part of the disease process, talked him down, and removed him to an exam room. My heart went out to him, but it was definitely frightening for a bit there.

That whole time, I was eyeing the exit door to the parking garage beside me. In the end, we all just sat there and watched the drama go down. I guess we are processing the weirdness of the situation, and maybe feeling like a spectator, but in this climate, I think we should all slide out the nearest exit. 

Exit! It's not worth even a minimal risk, or quite frankly, the trauma. That's my PSA for today!

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Vaccine

People who have gotten a COVID vaccine out of turn, literally taking them from high-risk individuals, may not get coronavirus... but I sure do hope they get a big ol' karmic kick to the face at some point. 

 

Just sayin'.

Austin Public Health said yesterday they been giving vaccines to people who are not 1a or 1b, just because they waited in line and they didn't want to tell them no. (They won't do this in the future.) You have to tell these selfish jackwagons people no, or they come home and tell their neighbors on their online neighborhood groups that "anyone can get the vaccine via APH." And then their neighbors chastise them on the group for going out of turn, but some of them then go to get their vaccines out of turn. Yep. So irresponsible. You have to tell them no.

 

APH definitely feels like the central supply of vaccine for Travis County. Other than a few hundred doses shipped to hospitals and a few medical practices and pharmacies, they are receiving the most doses by far (about 12,000 per week). Dell Medical School is the other Austin hub, but you never hear about them.

 

Too bad we didn't have some sort of leadership on this from the beginning. All those months of vaccine development and testing, evidently no one was planning for distribution when the time came.

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Whole House Plumbing Blockage

So last night, while I was cooking dinner of course, the kitchen sink backed up. I had been cutting a butt-ton of veggies for breakfast tacos (for dinner, yes, delicioso), and also I had cooked bacon for pasta alla carbonara the day before, so I wondered if it was caused by a conglomeration of veggies and solid bacon drippings. I'm good about pulverizing stuff in the disposal, so I wasn't sure what happened, but that was my only guess. Yes, I know you're not supposed to put bacon drippings in the sink, but I hate collecting gross oils in a container. *gag*  I run lots of hot water after it, and it's almost always fine.

When I ran the disposal, the water flowed from one side of the sink to the other, which I've never seen.

Jeff started collecting the gross veggie water and dumping it into the powder room toilet, to get rid of it so he could investigate further. Then the toilet blocked up and water started flowing out of the bottom, where it meets the floor.

A few minutes later, Lauren flushed the upstairs toilet, and water came up into the kitchen sink. It was like a living nightmare. Where was something going to back up or overflow next? We were like, okay, EVERYONE STOP USING WATER.

Called the plumber, who spent until 12:30 am clearing out the sewer line about 15 feet down the pipe leaving the house. Every 25 years or so, these things can happen. I blame those toilet wipes we were all using years ago.

If more than one plumbing thing gets backed up in your house at the same time, stop using everything and get a plumber out. If you push things too far, you may get raw sewage oozing into your sinks, tubs, dishwasher, etc. Luckily we didn't!

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Monday, Monday

I was all psyched to bake dried apples, rather than buying processed apple chips, and then I read a comment under a recipe that said you basically spend 3 hours baking one apple's worth of dried apple slices on two trays. Bummer. I did read that if you bake thick slices, rather than mandolin-shaved ones, they are chewy and good, so that would at least make more servings per recipe.

We watched another crap movie the other night- The Assistant. We really like Julia Garner from Ozark, so we wanted to check it out, even though it is one of those movies with a higher critic score and abysmal viewer score on Rotten Tomatoes. Always a terrible sign. We should have known. It was an hour-and-a-half watching an admin assistant at a production company go through a single crappy work day, dealing with a dirtbag boss that we literally never saw. 

 

Long scenes of stirring coffee, washing break room dishes, walking to the adjoining building... She doesn't really speak to anyone socially, which is sad and strange, and also adds to the dullness of the day. It was just so laughably boring. We would have turned it off, but we began to think something ultra-dramatic would happen at the end of the day, then she went to get a muffin and... then the movie ended. Wow. We were tricked into staying with that thing to the very end. At least it didn't go two full hours. We're still Julia Garner fans.

 

We watched The Butler, which was good.  Next up in entertainment viewing, the new season of The Servant. YES. 

Laura is getting her vaccine tomorrow. She's in Hays county where people don't wear masks, so I'm not too keen on going there to wait in line for the shot. I may wait until the Johnson and Johnson vaccine comes, so I only have to go in once. We'll see how things go. Hopefully the process will improve a lot over the next couple of weeks. Right now, we just aren't getting enough vaccine in Austin, like most places, I guess!

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Staycation

 For my 80's pals:

 

And some vintage Go-Go's for funzies...

 

 

Who didn't want to dance like Belinda Carlisle? So cute. And I had those earrings. Well, not THOSE, but you know, ones just like them.

 

Sunday Stealing: COVID

 
1. Day 1 of serious isolation behavior: March 13, 2020
2. First trip you had to cancel. We had reservations for first weekend of April in Fredericksburg with my brother- and sister-in-law. :(
3. Other trips canceled: No Christmas in Dallas for the first time in decades.
4. Last trip out of town before isolation. Christmas in Dallas 2019.
5. Farthest from home since isolation. I feel like we drove down to Granzin's in New Braunfels at some point after the lockdown. Because, sausage.
6. Last Meal sitting in a restaurant before Isolation. Oh man, I have no idea. Might have been Mandola's or Pieous.
7. How many books have you read? 0
8. First event you didn’t attend due to virus. O'Henry Pun-Off
9. Date and event of last over 200-person event. Probably a show at Zach Theater or a homes tour.
10. Last live music event. 10,000 Maniacs at the One World Theater in 2018
11. Things you are eating more of since isolation. Popcorn. We bought a small popcorn maker to replace our huge movie theater-style one. MUCH easier to maintain.
12. Things you are eating less of since isolation. Meals out at nice sit-down restaurants. Takeout from most of them is not great, so we get takeout from casual restaurants.
13. What restaurants have you gotten take-out meals from? Mandola's, Chuy's, Kerbey Lane, Salt Lick, The League
14. Have you found yourself bored in isolation? YES
15. Have you gained or lost weight? Gained :(. Still in the same size clothing, just tighter.
16. Do you drink alcohol? yes
17. If so, more or less in isolation? less
18. What entertainments have you explored? mostly streaming TV/movies, puzzles, video games
19. Gotten into anything new? Nah.
20. Have you done crosswords? Board games? Jigsaw puzzles? No, no and yes. LOTS of puzzles. We lost our puzzlebuddies due to the lockdown, so we're a duo most of the time. Lauren joins us now and then.
21. Have you cleaned out some cabinet, drawer, closet, etc. thoroughly? Several! Biggest improvement was cleaning out and reorganizing the junk drawer in the kitchen. Last weekend, we finished paring down and deep cleaning Lauren's living space upstairs, which was quite an accomplishment.
22. Are you spending about the same amount of money? Much less. Reduced dining out, and no weekend road trips. Not spending much on Target runs and that sort of miscellaneous stuff either.
23. Done Zoom, Facetime, etc. meetups? Yep.
24. Had a social occasion with a small group of people you consider safe? The only in-person socializing I've done, other than very short interactions at a distance, is once with KathyL and once with Laura. We hung out outside, socially distanced. Jeff and I had dinner with Jim on the back porch one evening.
25. Did you vote? In Person? On Election Day? I voted early, in person.

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Aggies!!

 

WHOOP!

 

And congrats to the Alabama Crimson Tide, 2020 champs! What a game! SEC SEC SEC

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HBO Weekend

As someone said, if inciting an insurrection isn't an impeachable crime, nothing is. If this type of behavior by elected officials is tolerated, the country will fall apart. Censure is not enough.
 

After the insurrection, Trump told the participants that he loved them and they were special. This man-baby has not "touched a stove he won't touch again," for God's sake. Get real, Republicans who are still on the Trump train to nowhere.

Quantum leap to a very light subject... We tried to watch the movie Let Them All Talk on HBO the other night, and it is the worst. I thought it would be great, with the big talent lineup. Despite the title, no one really talks about anything of any importance whatsoever, and when they speak, they spend most of their dialogue on ummms and uhhhhs. (Every time someone says a throwaway word, take a drink!) We stopped watching about a half hour in. I couldn't take any more. I did enjoy watching Gemma Chan as a "real girl" after being so used to watching her as a robot on three seasons of Humans. Ha!

The Bee Gees documentary was fun to watch, with all their music, and bonus Andy Gibb. Reminded me of my Tiger Beat days, and my childhood bedroom literally wallpapered with magazine posters, including the Bee Gees and Andy.

Also watched Jo Jo Rabbit, which was great.

The Flight Attendant jumped around too much without much progression in any direction the first few episodes, so we stopped watching that. I also never could muster up any sympathy/empathy for Kaley Cuoco's character, since she's just drinks and parties and doesn't do anything to help herself. The show wasn't funny enough to overcome those things. Maybe it's not supposed to be funny?

Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling was super-interesting. I had no idea he was so into self-reflection and journaling and Buddhism, etc. Of course it was so funny, too. Lots of surprising scenes of small groups of giant names of comedy just hanging out together.

Did I mention Normal People before? It's a Hulu show, a great Irish drama series about a complicated young couple who go in and out of each other's lives in their teens and 20s.

We did get outside this weekend, too. (WHAT?! I know.) We hung out by the boat launch under the Pennybacker Bridge. It was FRIGID. Oh my god. We didn't stay long, but it was nice to just sit by the water and absorb some nature.

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Resign

The human garbage that is the President needs to resign. Seriously. We cannot tolerate any more of this insanity. It's only a few more days, but still. 

 

I made it through the shock and sadness stages of grief from Wednesday's insurrection, and now I'm on to the just ticked off stage. I think that may be out of order, but there you go.

 

The President and his goons have repeatedly encouraged and directed these traitorous anarchists' violent behavior for years, and they bear full responsibility for their part. If there is no punishment, it will continue to happen. They cannot be above the law any more than the people who carried out their bidding.

 

The current charges against the jackholes who entered the capitol are mostly unlawful entry. While that's better than trespassing, it makes it sound like they walked through an open gate labeled "Employees Only." It doesn't quite capture the fact that they stormed the country's capitol, destroying barricaded windows and doors, to stop the the government from confirming a President-elect. Prosecutors need to get this right. They must fully prosecute these people.

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Survey Time

Answer each category with a song title that includes something in the category. No repeats and don’t use the internet. (It's tempting, but try not to!) Go with the first song that comes to mind.

 

Something to Wear - "Raspberry Beret" Prince

A Place - "A Summer in Ohio" from The Last Five Years musical

A Food - "Watermelon Sugar" Harry Styles

An Animal - "Black Cat" Janet Jackson

A Number - "1, 2, 3, 4" Plain White T's

A Color - "Brown Eyed Girl" Van Morrison

A Girl’s Name - "Adia" Sarah McLachlan

A Boy’s Name - "Samson" Regina Spektor

A Profession - "Tiny Dancer" Elton John

Day of the Week - "Friday I'm in Love" The Cure

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Aggies!!!!!!

Happy New Year! #5 Aggies Orange Bowl win over NC 41-27! Whooooop! The game was close until the 4th quarter, which made for a good game, but... ack. Lauren went up to bed in the 4th, and immediately the Tarheels got a dramatic touchdown. I was about to tell her she needed to come back downstairs and get back in her seat, since she'd obviously upset the Aggie Football gods, but then we started looking like ourselves and took control of things. Whee!

In the TV recs department, I have the following for you:

"Letterkenny" season 9 on Hulu: a couple of lame-o episodes in this season, but still hilarious. Needs mores produce stands scenes.

"Home for Christmas" on Netflix: a very funny and entertaining comedy series from Norway, about dating, friend and family relationships. Total winner! 2 seasons available.

We just got HBOMax for a month, so I'm about to watch some things like Zen Diaries of Gary Shandling, The Undoing, and the Bee Gees documentary. 

 

Bee Gees, y'all!

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