Hours could seem like days.

On November 15, 2016November 15, 2016 By StevenIn Life At Home5 Comments

Today’s Nanopoblano post is kind of a cheat, because I feel like I have only a few words today. (Few words and kind of a head-ache.) Numbers, on the other hand, I have lots of. My brain doesn’t spin down much.

From today, it will be:

1 day to the Pet Shop Boys concert.

6 days to my elder brother’s 50th birthday.

7 days until I start my last week of On-call for Mr. Company. (And another few days after that until I get a full night’s sleep again without interruption.)

9 days to Thanksgiving. Earlier in my career, I usually had to work Thanksgiving. That doesn’t happen any more, but I kind of miss it. There was always a camaraderie among those who were tapped to work a holiday. Plus the food was always provided by management. Those mashies were delicious.

13 days until the start of the four-way Supergirl-Flash-Arrow-Legends crossover event on the CW. I am so fricking excited to see Supergirl interact with more of the established Arrowverse characters, you have no idea.

17 days to my birthday. I’m not super enthused about this one. I’ve got bigger things on my mind right now than reaching 44.

18 days until Amelie and I go to see the B-52s! That’s gonna be a fun show.

21 days until my niece turns 6. I could swear she was a toddler about five minutes ago. I have no idea what to get her this year- for a little while, I could just get something related to Frozen and it would be a winner. I think if I got her another Frozen-themed gift, her mother might lynch me.

22 days until I move out of my apartment. At this point, my to-do lists have their own to-do lists. I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff.

25 days until the next time Amelie and I visit a sci-fi convention. There’s a little one here in Ft. Lauderdale, which should be fun. The guest list for this one is not bad, including James Marsters, Summer Glau, Sam Jones, Judge Reinhold, Tim Russ, Billy Dee Williams, and Joey Fatone! (I’m enthused about all but one of those. Betcha can’t guess which one!)

30 days to the end of my job. Which means I should really go to fewer concerts and whatnot. (In reality, I am working far fewer than thirty days until the end- it’s just thirty calendar days.)

And, as a final treat,

30+1 days until the next Star Wars movie, Rogue One, comes out. This is the first feature film set in the Star Wars universe that isn’t about the Skywalkers and the Solos. I’m pretty jazzed about it.

What’s the next thing you’re counting down to? Where will you be in 31 days?

Editor’s Note: I’m attempting to blog every day in November with CheerPeppers. I don’t expect to succeed because life be crazy, but any blogging in excess of my previous post-free month is a win, right?

Jerry’s Fork Drawer

On November 14, 2016November 14, 2016 By StevenIn Life At Home3 Comments

Jerry left Mr. Company all the way back in January.

We all knew the end was coming for our business unit, but he found another opportunity he couldn’t pass up, so he beat the rush. Once he was gone, I got to nab his seat. Finally.

Our department is set up in two rows of cubicles, divided by a walkway. The back wall is enclosed, and all the cubicles face forward. This means that nobody can sneak up on you in my department. Traditionally, seniority means a seat further back in the row.

When I came back to the US in late 2014, I was not given the second seat from the back. It should have been mine by right of seniority, but Jerry had been sitting there for a while and the powers that be didn’t want to do a multi-person move. I wound up a few seats ahead, with several newer people between me and my proper seat. Over the course of that first year, people moved to other departments and other rows, but Jerry kept his seat until he left at the start of the year.

I moved in after a suitable mourning period of at least ten or fifteen minutes. While I was getting set up, I discovered that he had left an enduring gift. It was plasticware. Lots and lots of plasticware.

In our main lunch area, the company provides plastic utensils in a little fork-knife-spoon combo, contained in a cellophane bag with a tiny crappy napkin. For the past year or so, Jerry had been eating his lunches at his desk. He used the spoons for his little chocolate puddings.

kozyshackindulgentpudding A quick aside about those puddings: Kozy Shack briefly made these little dark chocolate “Indulgent” puddings which were surprisingly low in fat. They were also fricking delicious. And super addictive. Jerry wasn’t the only one who ate these; I bought them every time I went grocery shopping. And then one day, they stopped appearing at the grocery store. Soon, I couldn’t even find the lame flavors of the “Indulgent” line. Jerry and I were both completely verklempt! These little chocolate puddings were that delicious. After a few weeks of no restocking, I reached out to the Kozy Shack company via their Facebook page, and they confirmed that yes, indeed, the Indulgent line had been discontinued. No explanation was given. I still weep for their unforgotten flavor.

But I digress. Wildly.

Jerry had been taking the little fork-knife-spoon packets from the atrium, and he would use the spoon for his pudding. The fork and the knife went into his top desk drawer for later usage, in theory. Or maybe he just wanted to see how many he could collect. By the time I took over that desk, it was really quite a lot of plasticware.

I decided right then that I would try to use as many of them as I could before the end. Most of the forks were used for my own lunches over the next few months, and the spoons were always a scarcity. The knives, though, they just kept going on and on.

This blog post was nearly called “Every day, I use a knife.” That title has been in my little list of bloggery reminders for months. It’s true, though- every day I do use at least one knife. I use it to stir things into my tea or water. I use it to mix up instant oatmeal. Sometimes I even use them to cut things.

My last day is a month from tomorrow, and I’ve gotten Jerry’s Fork Drawer down to just a little bit less than what you see in this cup. Even using one or two a day as creatively as possible, I really don’t think I’m going to make it.

What’s the most pointless challenge you’ve ever set for yourself?

The Dog of Wisdom

On November 13, 2016 By StevenIn Life At Home1 Comment

One of my all time favorite memes is actually a fairly new one. The Dog of Wisdom was uploaded to YouTube in July of last year by Unklejoe, who is the creator of the web animation compilation show Great: The Show. The Dog of Wisdom clip was originally part of the show, but it was put on YouTube separately, and thanks to a post on the /r/videos subreddit, the video has now been viewed millions of times.

This is the Dog of Wisdom.

As you can see, it’s not very long and the plot is kind of silly. And yet, there’s something really endearing about it. Amelie and I watch this thing at least once a week now. Usually more.

For my German friends, here’s a version of the Dog of Wisdom with the subtitles translated into Deutsch. (With one notable error; they listed the singer of “Believe It Or Not” as John Scarbury instead of Joey Scarbury.)

What’s your favorite YouTubed meme?

Lost Photo Post: The Palm Beach Zoo

On November 12, 2016November 12, 2016 By StevenIn Florida1 Comment

Here’s another one in a series of photo posts where I took a bunch of photographs, intending to make a blog post out of them, and then never got around to actually writing the post.

In late August, Amelie and I went to the Palm Beach Zoo. We’d been meaning to go for a while because I kept telling her about various childhood memories of going there when it was still called the Dreher Park Zoo. The zoo was founded in the 1950s, and the name was changed to the Palm Beach Zoo in 1997.

As is my custom for zoo visits, I took the dslr camera and took a ridiculous number of photographs. Here’s a sampling of my favorite shots.

A passing staff member took this first one:

This is Mardi, a nine foot long American alligator. Mardi has Leucism, which gives him his white pigmentation and bright blue eyes.

Amelie wants to kidnap this African Serval, and to put a bow tie on it.

This sloth is one of my spirit animals. Excuse me while I take an upside-down nap.

Golden Lion Tamarin. These little guys are so fast!

Sleepy little Fennec fox!

This koala was wandering all over the enclosure because we got there right before his feeding time, and he knew it. Also, I kinda feel like he looks like Bernie Sanders, right?

There were a couple of kangaroos hoppin’ around.

Most of the big cats like this tiger were pretty sleepy because it was a warm day. I also have blurry pictures of sleeping cheetahs.

This one makes me giggle every time I see it.

I cannot remember what type of animal this little guy was. He was smaller than a golden retriever.

Here’s another alligator. He thinks we can’t see him.

Ah, the noble capybara! He’s such a stoic fuzzy fellow!

Parrots!

Look, a bear!

Bush Dogs! They’re technically canines, but they’re small and look a lot like sand otters. The sign said they’re active during the day and sleep at night, but these two were totally bucking the system.

Big ol’ anteater!

Lastly, a regular otter. I took at least thirty or forty pictures of the otter, and this is one of about three where he wasn’t moving. River otters are a lot like small children on too much candy, I bet.

What’s your favorite zoo animal?

Dance Me to the End of Love*

On November 11, 2016November 11, 2016 By StevenIn Life At Home1 Comment

Damn it, 2016, knock it off already. You’ve already taken Alan Rickman, Prince, Abe Vigoda, George Gaynes, Jerry Doyle, Gene Wilder, and David Bowie. And now I see in the news that you’ve also taken Leonard Cohen from us? This will not stand!

Leonard Cohen was beloved by many of my friends. I loved him too. Leonard has been actively writing and performing music for almost sixty years. Almost everyone knows his work, even if they don’t realize it- he wrote “Hallelujah,” one of the most covered songs ever sung. Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, and countless others have done hundreds of versions of this song, but the original is still the best. Leonard Cohen originally wrote around 80 verses for the song, and different artists sometimes choose different verses, which means that almost every version is just a little bit different.

My first exposure to Leonard Cohen was in 1990, when I was seventeen years old. A group of us (including Jade Walker and our good friend Chris Pine, who is now deceased) went to see the Christian Slater movie, “Pump Up The Volume.” During the movie, Christian Slater’s character spun up “Everybody Knows” and “If It Be Your Will.” I was transfixed, and I’ve been listening to Leonard Cohen (and the ridiculous number of covers of his work) ever since. Those first two songs are still among my favorite songs of all time.

A recent Rolling Stone article mentions that when he finished his “Grand Tour” in New Zealand on December 21st, 2013, he had been touring for five years and played 387 shows. He came out of that tour with serious physical problems. Leonard Cohen had multiple fractures of the spine, and severe mobility problems. His final album, “You Want It Darker,” was recorded from a makeshift studio in his house. His son set up a Neumann microphone on the dining room table, and set the living room up with recording gear, a laptop running Protools, and a set of speakers. Much of that album was recorded with Leonard in an orthopedic medical chair. “You Want It Darker” was released on October 21st, just a few weeks before Leonard left us.

(Editor’s note: I accidentally acquired a subscription to the Rolling Stone a few months ago. I’m still not entirely sure how this happened, but every once in a while the magazine is really entertaining. If you’re interested in reading this fascinating look at the production of Leonard Cohen’s final album, I scanned the page from the November 17, 2016 Rolling Stone. Here you go. Click the thumbnail on the right to embiggen. )

Leonard was 82 when he died, which means he was about 79 at the end of his final tour. Six months before the Grand Tour ended, I was lucky enough to see him at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany. I was thrilled to finally be able to see him live, and I had no idea that he was on the last tour of his career. Even then, in late June of 2013, he was spry and witty and a master of his craft.

Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I can show you what it was like to see him perform Hallelujah live in Mannheim, Germany, about three and a half years ago.

I’m tired of 2016 taking my musical idols from us. Someone keep an eye on Cyndi Lauper, Martin Gore, Andy Bell, and Vince Clarke, ok?

*If you’re not familiar, “Dance Me to the End of Love” is one of Leonard Cohen’s songs. There’s a live version on the 2009 Live in London recording you can get from Amazon and iTunes.

What’s your favorite Leonard Cohen song?

Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV.

Tag: nanopoblano2016