Here is my 1SE for the month of July:
Archive for July 2018
1 Second a Day for July
July 31, 2018Shameless Plugs
July 27, 2018Okay, I thought I would share with some of my favorite blogs and newsletters. All are free and guaranteed to be interesting.
First is NextDraft by Dave Pell. This is a newsletter that contains a cut of the current trending news. It is published most weekdays at about 1pm west coast time. And what’s more it is free. You can subscribe on the main page for NextDraft.com
Next up is “Beautybeyondbones” written by Rachel Mankowitz. Rachel writes about eating disorders and her despair and her redemption. She has written a book about the despair of eating disorders. She lives in New York City has had two cute little dogs. One of which has recently died. All about life in the big city.
thefadingyear is a blog about Irish history, traditions and folklore. Here is an excerpt from the latest post.
Reek Sunday, the last Sunday in July, is traditionally known for the great pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, a mountain in County Mayo. Croagh Patrick, or Cruach Phádraig as it is known in Irish, literally means Patrick’s Stack, the site, according to hagiography, was where Saint Patrick fasted for 40 days. For over four thousand years Patrick’s Stack has has attracted pilgrimages, with the site originally hosting pagan gatherings which were gradually to become more Christianised from the time of Saint Patrick.
It’s a bit obscure, but for someone of Irish heritage, I find it interesting.
My brother is a published writer and has a blog about writing. The blog is richardbowker. By the way, you can buy his books from Amazon.com. Also, I have to buy them on Amazon. No freebies for his older brother, either. Note: He reads my blog, hint, hint. More about Richard.
Next, is TheClosetAtheist. This is a blog about the daily struggles a young woman has over her beliefs in becoming an atheist and her relationship with her Christian family.
Here is a bit about the author. Click here.
Here is a quote from one of her recent posts:
For the past couple of years, I have felt as though, in this area of my life, atheism itself is all that I’m interested in. I wanted to read books that specifically laid out arguments for or against the existence of God, and I didn’t have much interest in books that were just about religion or just about science. Most people in the atheist community that I have encountered on WordPress and Twitter also have a fiery passion for science.
There you have it. I hope that you find some of these blogs as interesting as I do. I am intending this for some of my friends that no longer do Facebook and might be looking for something different. Enjoy.
TTFN,
Joe
Ant-Man and the Wasp
July 26, 2018We
dnesday was date night again. This time we went to see “Ant-Man and the Wasp” at the Regal Cinema in PV. Regal Cinema is a place that has replaced all of their seats with big comfy reclining seats that are so very comfy. We had a couple of passes that we received last month for a billing SNAFU.
So we got ourselves a bag of popcorn and a bottle of water and sat down about a dozen trailers before the actual movie started.
So Ant-Man and Wasp are part of the Marvel Comics universe where they fight evil and crime. So the movie stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp. So somehow, Ant-Man and Wasp are joining forces to fight some serious bad guys. It doesn’t hurt things that Evangeline Lilly is so easy on the eyes.
The movie also has Michael Douglas starring as the senior scientist who has developed all of the technology that can turn our heroes into micro versions of themselves. Douglas has aged well. He runs some sort of lab that manages all of action. Lots of flashing lights and bells & whistles. They manage to miniaturize the whole lab building with some sort of remote and pick it up like a piece of carry-on luggage. The movie was great for all of the special effects.
It was a fun movie. I didn’t quite figure out why the bad guys were bad. But it doesn’t matter. They have some serious chase scenes in downtown San Francisco. How did the producers get permission to film that part. It kind of reminded me of Steve McQueen in “Bullitt” which also had good guy McQueen chasing bad guys in downtown San Francisco. Watch this trailer from Bullitt. Serious car chase in San Francisco.
Mary
July 23, 2018
Well, it’s been a while since I wrote a post on Mary. So today’s the day.
She continues to get more and more weak and frail every day. Her memory is pretty much shot. She remembers Paula and my names, but that’s pretty much it. I give her three things to do: brush your teeth, wash your face and get dressed. She only remembers “brush your teeth”.
Last week, Paula took her to her dentist to have one of her molar crowns replaced. Doctor put a temporary crown on the molar. He told her not to pick at her teeth. Mary has a habit of picking her teeth with a tooth pick. Her tooth picks have been put in hiding for the duration. (Maybe forever, disgusting habit.) Permanent crown will be installed first week in August.
So we took Mary to church this morning for the 10:30 am service. She knew about going to church, but she couldn’t remember the name of our church. (The church that she has been attending for over fifty years.) So after the service, I pointed out the view of LA Harbor out the back of the church. The name of the church is “Ocean View Baptist Church”. Do you think that seeing the image of the harbor will help you remember? Nope, not a chance. We went to the Pacific Diner for brunch after church. The owner comped her breakfast that morning.
We were going to go to the Chili Cook-Off at lodge, but decided that it wasn’t worth getting Mary out of bed and dragging her off to another function. Better for all of us to have a decent afternoon nap. Leftovers for dinner.
Every now and then Paula and I have the discussion about whether the time is right to put Mary in a nursing home. We have decided not yet. We have a regular sitter that watches Mary for short term gigs, so that we can go to a movie or something. We have an agency that we use for longer term service. We have a couple of weekends scheduled for August OES events. (One in San Diego and one in the Bay Area.) It will be good to get away for a weekend.
And finally, a hat tip to our Uncle Jack (Mary’s younger brother who lives in Louisiana) who is a faithful reader of this blog.
TTFN,
Joe
The Cancer Bus
July 8, 2018This past Friday I finished my last radiation treatment at Kaiser in Hollywood. I know that most people relate Hollywood to the movie and TV industry, but there is a lot more to the city than that.
So for the past seven weeks or so, I rode the Kaiser bus every day from Harbor City (south of LA) up to the Kaiser Radiation Oncology facility in Hollywood. Bus leaves at about 11 AM and arrives in Hollywood at about Noon. Everyone piles out of the bus checks in and head down in the basement where all of the X-Ray machines are located.
When the last patient boards the bus at about 1 PM, we head back south to Harbor City. Nobody gets left behind. The driver has a count of the people on board. Sometimes patients are delayed by doctor visits or additional X-rays that are required.
For example, today I had to see the doctor and I was delayed. I finally board the bus at about 1:30 PM. No one complains. They have all been in that situation at some time or other.
So over my seven weeks I got to meet many people all of who are suffering from cancer of some sort or another. Some will survive and some will not. One lady told me that she was taking the bus a few years ago and the bus was much fuller than. Less people on the bus means people are surviving longer. A good sign.
A lot of people wear hats. Once Desmond took his hat off to show a nasty carcinoma on the top of his head. He finished his treatments a couple of weeks ago. Hope he does well.
So the group tends to be an unofficial support group. We tended to chat on the benches by the bus stop. It is good to get it out. It’s a bit tough to talk on the bus due to road noise.
I listened to the biography of Ulysses S Grant by Ron Chernow. I still have a few hours to go. In seven weeks, I have learned more about the Civil War and Reconstruction than I ever knew.
Also, it seems that the length of treatment varies for each person. Some folks are up for only 5 treatments. Some like me are in for the long hall at 30.
So for now, I am done. I have a follow-up scheduled for the end of August. For now, I am waiting for my wounds on my neck to heal and get my sense of taste back.
I hope to never have to ride the Cancer Bus ever again.
TTFN
Joe
1 Second Every Day for June
July 1, 2018Without any ado, here is my 1 Second a Day video for June 2018. My goal is to take one or two pictures every day and create a video. At the end of the year, I will do one massive video for the entire year.
Sex and the City
July 1, 2018
So last night I decided to start watching some old episodes of “Sex and the City” starring Sarah Jessica Parker et al. Sex and the City first appeared in 1998 on HBO.
The series explored the sex lives of four unmarried young ladies in New York City. The first episode that I watched explored the ladies experience with dating younger men in their 20’s. Then, I watched the pilot episode.
One of the things that caught my eye was the set dressing. There were no cell phones, only land-lines. Sarah got up in the morning and had herself a cigarette. When was the last time that you saw an actor in a movie or TV show smoke a cigarette? It was interesting to see the differences. Wherever they go for fun, there is smoking, a lot of smoking. At bars and nightclubs, there is smoking.
So the point of the story is that Sarah writes a column about sex for a New York City newspaper. Occasionally, we see her typing out her column on her computer. The computer was some laptop of a certain vintage. (Ie. Old and clunky) I thought she might be seen actually using a typewriter, but that was not the case. Hard to tell what brand it was though, but certainly not thin and sleek like today’s models. And, definitely not an Apple device. Nowadays, it seems that Apple has cornered the market on product placement.
calherewecome 