Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Winter is Leaving (eventually)

It is wintertime in Mississippi and the rest of the South. Usually, what passes for winter down here is a few below-30-degree days and maybe one snowfall. Since we moved here, and even a few Christmas visits before, there has been bigger-than-standard snowfall and colder-than-record temperatures.  

kids attempt at making us breakfast

The good news is that winter is usually just mid-December to mid-February, give or take a week. Typically, it will be biting cold in the AM, but by 1 pm, the sun will be out, and it will be anywhere from 45 to 60 or even 70 F.  

This year, Winter seems to want to stick around into March according to the weather forecast.  We might actually get more snow next week.  

Finally got the chicken right for the Alfredo

Every January I wonder what I should do with this space.  I've been blogging here for 15 years with 922 posts to show for it.  While blogging isn't dead, it definitely has taken a back seat to other forms of social interaction.


I could go over to SubStack and revive my ChicagoNow blog in hopes of growing an audience, but I don't think I want that anymore.  Writing, running, and playing volleyball were my passions in my teenage and early 20s.  But each one eventually became "work" and thus not as much fun.  

Beyond that, by the time I can make words about something it turns out that other people already said what needs to be said much better than I could ever say it.  

The reality is that I'm not gonna be a viral influencer or pundit and I'm never gonna write that great American novel.  And I'm okay with that.  Having a space where I can write my occasional this happened to me and here are my thinky-thoughts about it is fine.  


Thursday, February 6, 2025

A very simple meal

As I've gotten older, I've learned that I don't need to eat a Flintstone's brontosaurus-sized steak.  A simple few ounces will do the trick.




My hack is to buy the smaller 8 - 10 oz no-frills steak that is found at both Aldi or Kroger.  Kroger also offers a pair of lobster tails for $12.  So you can have Surf and Turf for about $10 per person.


And while my kids don't like the Lobster, Natasha will eat the steak.  Boris doesn't eat steak but if he had to eat it, he wants it well done.   He gets it from Nightingale's side of the family.  

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

What Streaming Services Might Cost a Family

After receiving one of my credit card Year-End Summary reports, I went down a rabbit hole of a sort.  I decided to see how much we spend on fixed services like our streaming services, and also our mortgage and utilities.  I limited it to things like Gas, electricity, Internet, and Water (which includes rubbish, recycle, and sewer) and also added Cell Phones and must-have-in-the-South Pest/Termite control.

I'm gonna share the Streaming services here because it isn't a state secret how much people pay for each individual service.   We have the 4 we explicitly pay for.  We also have 2 that other members of our family pay for but choose the plan that lets you add extra accounts for supposedly cheaper than each member getting their own account.  

[We aren't talking trip to Paris saving; it's more like we can supersize our quarter pounder meal.]  And then there are a couple of services that don't have extra account options but they don't care yet if you share with family members.


The four we have:



We have Amazon Music because my nephew re-enabled it once and I have been too lazy to cancel.  Plus the ability to play any song at will is worth the $10 to keep my kids entertained for 10-15 minutes when they use it.

The Paramount+ auto-renewed last Fall so we are stuck with it for a year.  My understanding is that if I do cancel it, I will not get a prorated amount of money back.  

We keep Amazon Prime because we use it more for the free shipping and whatever other benefits still exist. 

I think the point I'm trying to make is that barring some extreme series of unfortunate events, it isn't game changing to drop all of these Streaming Services, let alone any particular one.

It would be smart to drop all but one, bing watch everything we can, then cancel and add one of the dropped.  Rinse and Repeat.  But that takes timing and organization which is not currently in surplus in the Icarus household.  



Friday, January 10, 2025

My Eyes

 Last summer I signed on to participate in a Clinical Research trial.  I had tried before but didn't qualify but they had me on a list and called me back for a different one and I qualified.  


My thought was I have a lot of free time since no one wants to hire a 50+ year old dude who lives in MS.  


There was conflict even from the beginning.  The very first visit conflicted with my kids' annual pediatrician check-up.  I had forgotten about it and NG was pissed that we had to reschedule.  


Another visit prevented me from going to see my kids get an award or something at school.  


I just completed Visit 6 so I am halfway to the $1550 payout.  Of course, the story of my luck is that if I find a way to earn some extra money, a new expense shows up.  We had to replace our dishwasher and decided to replace the fridge too because the garage fridge died.  While we went frugal and got as many discounts as we could, the total cost was still higher than the Trial Payout, but it was close.


Nightingale and I believe that I have been given the placebo treatment.  The drops do not sting and I haven't noticed any real change in my night or short-sight vision.  


Tuesday, January 7, 2025

2024 Bears: What a waste of a season

 Another Bears season is over, and thankfully, it is over. We fans had high hopes after last year's surge to finish 7 and 10 and the drafting of generational quarterback Caleb Williams.  

Unfortunately, the Bears regressed this year.  I had them going 11 and 6 instead of 5 - 12.  My prediction record of 7 and 10 is also worse than last year.



This year they started off strong and were 4 - 2 at the bye week.  Then a series of unfortunate events occurred.  Not being properly prepared for the Hail May from the Commanders.  Getting pants by the Cardinals and the Patriots.  Losing to the Packers, Vikings, and Lions down to the wire.  


At that point, they were (4 - 8) not mathematically out of it but needed some help. Instead, they lost to the 49ers, who have been terrible this year.  



Even at 4 and 9 they still had a chance because other NFC divisions were not doing well.  Then Washington won a game they should have won and the Hail Mary came back to haunt them, except they had already dug their own hole.  


Two things can be true at the same time.  It became obvious they were playing to lose and get a high draft pick and their coaching sucked.  Not using times outs.  Not getting closer for field goal attempts.  Players are trying to extend plays and fumble instead of going down to fight again.



Our pretty solid defense also seemed to regress but really was just protecting itself for next year (and their next team).



The lone bright spot of this season is the win against Green Bay in the last game of the season.  It looked like they were gonna win again when they hit a field goal with 54 seconds left on the clock. Game-winning drives were not a part of the Bears equation since the Trubisky years.

But somehow they managed to get decent field position on the kickoff and move within field goal range and Santos got payback for the illegally blocked field goal from Week 8.  

I've always said that if the NFL were fixed, the teams from New York, California, Chicago and a few other markets would always make the playoffs. 

As a long time Bears fan, I've seen the Packers beat the Bears on the last game of the season many times, even when there was nothing to play for.  But times have changed and I suspect with a playoff spot secured, the Green Bay coaches were trying to just get though the game with the slim hope of improving their seeding.  




This game reminded me of the last game of the 2000 season.  The Bears kicked a last second field goal which kept the Lions out of the playoffs.  The next season they went 13 -3 and earned the second Bye in the playoffs, only to lose to the Eagles.  



Friday, December 27, 2024

Prime Rib Threepeat

Every year we have prime rib (or some other big meat) for Christmas dinner.  Every year my in-laws pay for the meat and my BIL cooks it.  And since the leftovers live here, every year the BIL and his youngest son eat off it, leaving no seconds for FIL the next night.



This year I suggested we "plate" everyone so there would be seconds.  Instead, the in-laws decided that the solution was just to buy a lot more red meat.  




BIL cooked it all on Christmas Day.  The next day we had a time figuring out how to warm it up without overcooking the beautiful rare done meat.  I discovered using the defrost feature on our microwave did a pretty decent job.  I shared this information but no one took me seriously, electing to eat it cold.  


I asked for the bones and was able to make a nice prime rib soup out of it. 


The strain of having upwards of 15 people in this house has led to some tense moments.  When we have family dinners here sans the Adamas, I get annoyed because we go through so many dishes, silverware, and cooking utensils.  At least with extra people this holiday it finally dawned on the family that it is perfectly possible and legal to use the same plate and fork more than once.

There is talk of having next year's holiday be a destination so that everyone has their own accommodations and food is purchased at restaurants.  There is always talk but rarely any action.  

Update from the Future:  I finally got around to writing this post but it belongs with the 2024 posts, so I am backdating it.


Friday, December 20, 2024

Some Random Thoughts

My cats seem to have an implicit agreement between them not to cuddle with the same human being at the same time. This was not always the case and I definitely remember it not being the case with our previous cats.  Elsa has become more of a cuddy cat than she used to be but still isn't a heavy snuggler like Ryder.

****
You meet the same people in different forms throughout life.  In college, I met a guy named Troy on the first day of moving into the dorms.  He seemed like a good enough guy but there was something that my spidey sense said don't get too close.  In retrospect, I should have hung out with him more.  


20 years later, on my first day of orientation at a new job, I met Greg W.  We became work friends and there are definitely some similarities between Greg and Troy.  


****** 

I have a related strange theory.  The light at the end of the tunnel we see when we die is actually us going through the birth canal and being born into a new life (or C-section or whatever form we are born unto).  


But here's the thing: we get to take a tiny portion of our knowledge, experience, wisdom, or whatever.  but really tiny.  that's why some people are naturally good at math or writing, etc. and maybe you can trade for looks and athletic skills, I don't make the rules.  it's just a theory.


****

 I often wake up in the middle of the night and remember some random memory and it is so cringe.  I really was born with two strikes and played against people born on 2nd and 3rd base.  


*****

In case it's not obvious, I am not a fan of #elfontheshelf.  When I was a kid, if a doll moved in your house, you cut that Fucker up before it could multiply and burned it for good measure.  luckily, we only have a week left of this nonsense.



We didn't have EOS when I was growing up.  And until we had children, I only had an obtuse cursorial understanding of what it was.  It seems it started out innocently enough: you moved a doll around the house after putting your kids to bed (instead of doing anything that might lead to more kids) and each morning they would try to find it (instead of getting ready for school).  


But someone, I suspect the mommy bloggers (what we currently call influences) had to take it to the next level.  They came up with elaborate concepts and designs and you are a lesser parent if your kid doesn't have a good story to share at school.  

I didn't get the choice to opt-in or out of it.  But this year Nightingale has decided that I have to come up with some ideas.  The thing is, there are no Easy Elf On The Shelf ideas.  If you google and find an article with 25 ideas, each one just has that one thing you don't have in house to make it work.