No New Tales to Tell

This is the last regular week before we head off on a vacation.  We are meeting Katness et al and going to [some place].  Then we have a month before we visit Chicago for a week.  Then hopefully Nightingale gets a month off before starting her new job.

As for me, I have been unlucky in getting re-employed.  A guy I use to work with at the No-Name Software Company, former Tech Lead JT, reached out to me last month.  He was let go and freaking out.  The thing is, he got a new job within a month.  

I've written about him here before.  I suspect he reached out to me because he thought I could get him in somewhere and then he realized that he hasn't kept in touch.  he also discovered that very few people were in his corner.  I guess I was probably one of the few people who didn't write him off entirely, although I had every reason to.

Now that he has a new job, he has disappeared, which is all well and fine.  A year ago I interviewed at the place he was let go from and I didn't reach out directly to him because...the year before I reached out about a similar position and he was his usual toxic self.  I might have faired better if I had tried being more humble.

Life isn't fair and this guy JT knows how to play the game.  He has all the confidence of a sociopath with the ego of a narcissist and the unawareness of an old white guy. He will be a director someday.

Last Day of May

We went to Huntsville, Al for Memorial Day weekend to see the NASA Rocket and Space Center.  We thought the kids, especially Boris, would love it.  They did have a good time, but we set our expectations too high on how much they would want to be there.  

Huntsville is a very nice blue dot in the middle of a Red State.  And we had a genuinely nice time there.

I was worried about getting my steps in but managed to get them in quite early each day.  As of right now I'm 29/31 and will likely get today's in as well.  What does this do for me?  nothing much.

Before we left for vacation, I tried to get my haircut at the place I go to down here.  I had an appointment but when I arrived, they were taking walk-ins before me.  After 15-20 minutes I got up and left.  No point saying anything and I don't think it was personal.  Another person experienced the same thing.  I suspect they were being loyal to their regulars although I've been going there for about a year so I would hope I was recognized.  Of course, I will never go there again so it doesn't matter.

I got my hair cut yesterday where I take the kids.  Not only is it closer to the house, but it's an even better overall experience.  MC wasn't much on creature comfort.

Step by Step, slowly I turn

Do these steps mean anything:  With eight days left in the month, I am on pace to have 30 out of 31 days with 10K steps.  The one day I missed so far I had 9583 steps.  It was a Sunday and I got a late start on everything such that I was trying to get the last 1K steps in before bed, but obviously failed.

And we are going out of town for Memorial Day weekend so it's possible I'll miss the travel days since we spend 4 hours in the car.  

Nightingale and I go for a 2-mile walk almost every day, which gives me about 4K steps.  But do the other steps count for much?

Speaking of cars, I just put about $5K in my Element on a new exhaust system, tires, and rear wheel brakes.  I'm positive Midas took advantage of me.  Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of nearby options for mufflers and I didn't want to drive around for a 2nd opinion.

Friendship Dynamics:  Lastly, a dear friend from College sent me a card for my birthday.  It arrived two days after my Bday and after she had sent me a birthday text.

Last year, I suggested to Jewel that we didn't have to wait for our birthdays to give each other a call.  I suggested maybe one quick call a season or so and we did slightly better than that in 2022.  

We talked in January for her birthday but not since.  I figured time just moved quickly for her and she was waiting for my birthday for our next live talk.    Her text didn't mention calling to chat, but her card did, so a few days later I texted about it.  She said she's on a crazy schedule for the next few weeks and would let me know when she catches a break.  

I've never been a high priority with Jewel and she's not one for continuous communication through texts or emails.  But this really hit the feels in a hard way.  She's one of the few people I do talk with on the phone and one of the handfuls of friends I still have left in this stage of life.  My neurodivergent brain asks, how hard is it to hammer out a half hour in your day?  I also know this time of year might make her feel wiggy since her younger sister died from a sudden heart attack a few years ago.  I wouldn't think the two are related but you never know.

 

Crab Fried Rice

 Don't worry, this isn't turning into a recipe blog.  I found another easy yet tasty dish to make.  What's even better is the ingredients are a subset of other dishes I make around here so it is likely they will often be in supply.

Nightingale had bought some artificial crab meat last weekend and I wanted to use it up.  She also happened to have some leftover cooked rice.  I googled crab meat and rice recipes and this one came to the top.

 I did skip/substitute a few things but it turned out fine.  

• we didn't have any medium onions.  
• We usually use minced garlic that we keep in the fridge which often works better than cloves.
• Skipped the white sugar and cucumber, even though we have both.

Edit from the Future:  I've said it before, but whenever I attempt a new recipe, I use the required ingredients (unless I don't have them) and follow the directions.  The second time I made this, I used a couple of packets of these:

In addition to using up the rest of the green onions and cilantro on hand.  It worked out just as well and saved me a little time.

Zupa Koperkowa - Creamy Potato Dill Soup

I've been wanting to make this soup for some time but could not find any fresh dill.  You can substitute rice or even pasta for the potatoes.  and you can add celery or even mushrooms in addition or instead of carrots and scallions.  But Dill is in the name of the soup and dried just won't do.

Looking for the good news

 So let's talk about some minor good news.  For years I've been managing a Facebook Page and a Twitter account, initially for promoting the stuff over at ChicagoNow, though the FB Fan Page is more of a MEME page for the last couple of years.  I'm finally getting the kind of traffic I would have killed for when I first started.  Although not nearly as much as the heavy hitters get on an hourly basis.

How did it happen?  Well in the beginning very slowly.  I begged friends and fellow bloggers to like my page and only a small minority acquiesced.  We were told not to buy followers but for some reason, that sounded a tad suspicious.  I mean I know that most of the purchased likes are likely fake accounts but what if everyone else is doing it?  I did a little experiment and invested a measly $25 (I think, it's been a while) and bought a few followers to get me up over some number.  After that, it seemed that my visibility increased slightly.  More of my organic likes were seeing my Page.

Months or perhaps even a year or more later (maybe I'll spend some time looking up the stats) I invested $100, a birthday present to me.  I managed to surpass the 2K mark and now my page seems to get more traffic.  Some of my friends don't even remember that it's my page but they share it as if it's a real celebrity lol.

As for Twitter that's even more of a mystery.  I had an account since nearly the beginning but didn't do much with it.  It was a long time before I surpassed 1K.  I think I worked the TwitterVerse slowly and steadily and the number increased the same.  Then one day (March 19, 2014) I started getting tons of followers, most with middle eastern and Arabic handles.  Our theory is someone with a similar Twitter name or ID bought some followers and I got them instead.  I'm still short of the magic 10K which supposedly makes you an influencer unless that number has increased but I don't mind.  

Life in a Southern Town

 Every Wednesday I have to take Boris to his OT at 8 am.  It's only a half hour so I wait in the parking lot and then drive him to school.  At first, I used to stress about getting him there as soon as possible because, even though he has a note, he's technically tardy and missing some class time.

However, as the days and weeks pass in this Mid-South town, I realized: it didn't really matter.  He's in 2nd grade, it's not like he is missing out on anything crucial.  I still get him there quickly, but I don't stress if I miss a light or if the Therapist talks too long while giving me the summary report.

My FIL sometimes complains about traffic down here.  I know it's mostly an "I'm an old guy, that's what we talk about" thing.  But on some level, he really feels like there is traffic here.

The worst traffic here is nothing compared to the "best" traffic in Chicago.  

The annoying thing is how most people who are turning left don't pull out into the perpendicular street.  It's annoying because as it is when the light or arrow turns green, the first person is typically slow out of the gate.  If you are more than 5 cars back, you're chances of making that light are slim to none.  

Also, honking your horn at a car for vehicular misdemeanor is frowned upon here.  And given the recent landscape, you don't want to find out the person has a short temper and is armed.  So it goes.