Archive for March 2020

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Covid-19 Apps

March 31, 2020

Here I sit in our condo, looking for things to do. I’ve already finished all of my crosswords, read the newspapers, etc. So I thought I would blog post on new apps are available that pertain to the Corona Virus pandemic. All of these apps are free. I have included the link to the Apple App Store as well as the web site where applicable.

Apple Covid-19

This app displays all of the current info about the pandemic from trusted sources like the CDC. It includes information about symptoms and what to do if you think you have been infected. It’s free.

Watchworthy

This is an app to help you figure out what to watch on your video streaming services. if you’re anything like me, you’ve spent a lot of time scrolling through page after page of movies and TV shows looking for something to watch.

When you first start the app it asks you to enter all of the streaming services that you have subscription services (eg. NetFlix, Amazon, etc.). Then you can enter a genre that you might be interested in watching. It’s free.

Here’s the link to the Watchworthy Web site.

Zoom Video Conferencing

Zoom is an app for doing video conferencing. It has been around for a while, but has come into its heyday now that the pandemic has hit us. We have used it to connect to our church members to do Bible study. We have used it to connect with OES members back east.

There is a free version and paid version. The free version limits you to 40 minutes and 3 participants. The paid version removes those limitations. Only the meeting leader needs to get the paid version.

All you need to do is click on “create a meeting” and then choose participants. The meeting can be scheduled for later. All you need to do is click on the meeting ID. The app also works on a Windows web browser.

Click here for the Zoom website.

Categories: apps, Corona
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Quiche Lorraine

March 30, 2020

My turn to cook last night. Decided to make quiche Lorraine. Here’s my basic recipe

  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1.5 cups milk
  • Half onion, chopped
  • Half green pepper, chopped
  • 4 oz. mushrooms, chopped (I generally use fresh mushrooms. I guess canned would do.)
  • 6-8 slices of bacon, cooked. Sometimes I use chopped ham. We had some ham in the frig last night, but I couldn’t find it. So, bacon it is.
  • 4-6 oz shredded cheese, usually Swiss, I use whatever is in the refrigerator.
  • Pie shell. (Usually, I use a Pillsbury ready made pie crust. If you insist, make your own pie crust. I’m lazy.)

Pre-heat the oven to 450F

Sauté the vegetables in about 2 Tbsp oil until they are tender. Add them to the pie shell in your pie tin.

Add the cheese on top of the vegetables.

Mix the milk with the beaten eggs and pour on to the vegetables and cheese.

Put the pie tin on top of a cookie sheet (unless you like cleaning ovens). Bake in 450 degree oven for 40 minutes. Check that it’s done by putting either tooth pick or fork into the center.

Let it set for 5-10 minutes, then serve.

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Saturday

March 28, 2020

So here is a picture of the front of our refrigerator. We proudly post art work from our grand-kids.

In addition to all of the magnets obtained during our travels, we have added some letters and numbers. We first asked Jonathan and Sarah to make words and phrases with the available letters. It didn’t need to make any sense.

So we started adjusting the letters to form new words that seemed to make sense to our feeble brains. When we bought this refrigerator a year or so ago, we made sure that magnets would stick.

So we did some grocery shopping today. Things are getting much mellower. There was even toilet paper available. Not a lot and not upscale brands. Looks like the store didn’t waste time taking packages out of the boxes. Just cut open the boxes and stash them on the shelf. It’s going to take a long time for this to be completely back to normal.

So the store doesn’t want to deal with our reusable grocery bags. Sigh. We either pack the stuff ourselves in our grocery bags or buy the bags from them which the will pack. Starbucks is open but you can’t sit and chat.

We stopped at “Crazy Fish” to get some take-out for lunch. Many restaurants are open for take-out only. I had some fish tacos. Paula had a shrimp salad. They are very tasty. Support your local restaurants by doing take-out during the Covid-19 restrictions.

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Thursday

March 27, 2020

Yesterday, I made a quick trip to Costco in Torrance to pickup a replacement hearing aid charger that had arrived. Got the call from hearing aid department on Wednesday that it had arrived.

I had told them that without it my hearing aid charger was a $3500 paper weight.

So I was in and out in about 10 minutes. Costco is looking considerably more mellow than a couple of weeks ago.

So now that my hearing aids are working I can hear what Paula is telling me. I suppose that’s a good thing. At least, I’m not saying, “What did you say?”

We started using Zoom for our church’s Senior Bible Study. I also used it to meet up with some folks from our church in Billerica. We also managed a FaceTime session with Mary over in Long Beach. I don’t think she quite gets what is going on. Sigh.

We will be doing a FaceTime session with Mike and the grand-kids later today.

Meanwhile, the exhaust fan for our clothes dryer has died. We called our handy man Jeff to see when he could get over to work on it. On Sunday. It seems that Jeff is a busy man. Meanwhile, Paula has to take clothes to laundromat.

Keep on keeping on. We will get through this.

Joe

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Tuesday

March 25, 2020

Paula and I went grocery shopping. I toyed with the idea of ordering groceries online for delivery. Nope, not going to do it. It’s the one time we can legally go out and do something.

Alberston’s didn’t seem quite as crazy as last week. Reasonable lines at checkout. Some of the shelves are still empty. Especially, the canned food aisles and the paper goods aisle. It’ll probably be a while before they are back to normal.

Still plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Deli is running normal. We stopped and chatted with Alan in the meat department. He still had a smile on his face. Meat had reasonable selections.

Traffic seems to be returning to sub-normal. Traffic on Western was moderate. I went out on Sunday for an appointment for a PET scan at Kaiser at 5:30 pm. Roads were pretty much empty.

Some activities are coming back to normal. The grounds crew was outside raking and trimming the shrubs. Only thing not operating is restaurants.

One can see what cereals are must have for the ongoing saga. Seems like Honey Nut Cheerios are a hot seller.

Every time we go to the store there is some new rule. This time bringing your own bags was verboten. Turns out we could use our own bags as long as the clerk didn’t have to touch them.

In other news, our church is starting online services. We have Senior Bible study on Zoom tomorrow. Zoom has hit the big time. We will probably drop in on a Zoom service with our church back in Mass. Here is an article on Zoom in the NY Times.

We will try to get over to Long Beach to drop off some stuff for Paula’s Mom. Her facility is on “lockdown” so no visit, just drop the stuff and go. She probably doesn’t have a clue about what’s going on. We might try a face-time visit but I have my doubts that she will understand.

I can’t stand watching Donald Trump on the news. That SOB will kill us all. Is it November yet?

That’s all for now. Stay safe.

Joe

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Friday

March 21, 2020

So we went to Albertson’s for groceries. Here’s my comparison with our last visit on Monday. They had only one entrance open with a clerk managing the flow to prevent too many people joining in the fun. They moved the grocery carts inside where the tables and chairs for Starbucks were. So one person going out, then let another come in.

They’re allowing seniors (65+) to get a head start between 7 and 9 am. We’re not getting up at 0 dark thirty for the privilege.

Fresh produce seemed to be reasonably well stocked, including bananas. Bread was not so much. They stopped putting out fresh bagels and pastries on the shelf so that customers couldn’t be able to grab and put in a bag. I understand.

Meat section also looked pretty well stocked.

Canned goods including soup shelves are empty.

Paper goods aisle empty.

Still no run on beer, wine or gin. I heard that Cannabis stores are open doing business. We saw one woman who checked out with a single large bottle of vodka. Must have wanted it bad. Didn’t notice the brand, though

The check out queue was better managed. They had one line and a clerk to send the person at the head of the queue to next available cashier. Took us about 10 minutes to check out.

We managed to talk with some of our friends that work there. We learned that they got a $2/hour hazardous pay increase. They deserve it. I thanked them for their service. Our friend Dairy Dan had his trip to Boston cancelled. He had had tickets to a Celtics game. Also, our trip to Boston in May had been cancelled.

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Wednesday

March 18, 2020

I’m getting a bit stir crazy. Not a lot to talk about. Paula is off taking stuff over to Mary. Glad we have her over at the Regency Palms. Only places that seem to be open are drug stores and supermarkets.

So life goes on at a somewhat slower pace. Saw a picture of the 405 without any cars. Not sure that I believe that was taken recently. Amusing, none the less.

One of the interesting features of our condo is the master bathroom. The toilet has a view whereby one can sit watch what is going on in the neighborhood.

So I noticed that there was a steady stream of cars coming and going (mostly going, to work I guess). Trash is being picked up. Mail is delivered. Life goes on, sort of.

Our son, Neil and his wife are off in Hawaii for a vacation. They left before the fecal matter hit the air movement device. They are going be in for a rude reentry to every day living. Pictures were beautiful.

Good news is that gas prices haven’t been lower in a long time. Bad news is no place to go. Our trip to MA in May has been cancelled.

One of the amusing pictures that I saw was the barren soup aisle except for Manhattan clam chowder. Taken somewhere in New England. Starve to death before eating Manhattan clam chowder.

Family coming over tomorrow for dinner. Shepherd’s Pie.

TTYL, Joe

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Yes, We Have No Bananas

March 16, 2020

Today is Monday. We decoded to do our grocery shopping again at Albertsons. Here’s what’s different from last Friday. The first thing we noticed was they removed all the tables and chair near the Starbucks stand. Grrrrrr. We usually like to sit and chat about what’s on sale, what we need. Not today. Do your shopping and get out of here.

It was a challenge to find a grocery cart. Paula eventually snagged one. Parking wasn’t as bad as Friday.

Checkout lines were shorter. 8 out of 10 lines open for business. Wait time about 10 minutes for checkout. In the produce section, they were out of several different fruits and vegetables, including bananas. Made me think of an old song titled “Yes, We Have No Bananas“.

Here are a couple of pictures of the produce section.

They were out of green beans but there were plenty of brussel sprouts. I guess brussel sprouts are not that important for the end of the world crowd.

There was a moderate supply of fish and meats. We bought some salmon that we like. One can see what’s important for end of world crowd. Sold out of canned soups and such. But in the same aisle there was plenty of ketchup, pickles and salad dressing. Pasta was pretty much sold out.

Dairy was pretty much fully stocked. We got our 1% milk, eggs and half and half. We talked to our friend “Dairy Dan” I told him. “Not hiding in the refrigerator?”. Dan is going to Boston next month. He had planned on going to a Boston Celtics game. Very sad. He was looking forward to that part of his trip.

Categories: Corona, San Pedro
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Corona Rambling

March 15, 2020

So we went to church this morning. It seems that it was about the only event that wasn’t cancelled due to the Corona virus. Our church (Oceanview Baptist in San Pedro) had taken steps to control things. No passing the offering plate, greeters wore gloves, no snacks after service, but there was coffee (poured by kitchen staff).

Attendance was down a bit. I could tell because I didn’t have any problem finding a parking space. Rain had finally stopped and sun was shining.

We didn’t go out for brunch with our grand kids, but Paula and I felt we could use some pancakes and eggs/bacon. Restaurant was open though not very crowded.

So on Friday Paula and I went grocery shopping. Friday is one of our normal shopping days. The place was mobbed. All check out lanes operating. It took us 45 minutes to check out once we got into line.

So they’re running out of TP, hand sanitizer, Clorox and bottled water. I sort of understand the TP and hand sanitizer but I don’t get the water. Why do people think they need bottled water? The virus isn’t transmitted by the water supply. Do think it is or will be? Beats me.

Checkout line on Friday (note the wine shelves)
Picture taken on 3/10. Much emptier on Friday

So you can see the crowd waiting to check out. Paper goods aisle empty. There doesn’t seem to be a run on wine and beer. WTF? Nobody needs beer to make it through the impending doom? If this were Mass. before a blizzard the beer and vodka would be gone too.

We felt lucky that our guests from the Boston area were back home before all the Corona virus stuff hit the fan.

So now we have to figure out to do for the weeks ahead. Lodge cancelled, OES canceled. Assistance League cancelled. Grand kids and family will probably be over for dinner next week. All of their activities have been cancelled. Maybe we can watch some movies on Netflix? Paula has a bunch of projects for us.

Categories: San Pedro

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Onward

March 11, 2020

On Monday, Paula was working at the Assistance League Gift shop and I decided that I would go to the movies rather than sit at home surfing the web. So we discussed what movies that she would like to see when we go to the movies together. So I decided to see Disney/Pixar’s new movie called “Onward” Rated PG.

Weekday matinees are dirt cheap. I paid more for popcorn than I paid for my ticket. Monday’s price was $6. The theater was pretty much empty. There was a young family with two kids. First kid was about 3 and the second was a baby in a stroller.

The film runs about 1 hr 40 minutes which is about the maximum a child can manage. The story is about two teen age elves go on a quest to see if there is any more magic in the world.

So it is the 16th birthday for the younger elf named Ian. He is given a magic wand for his birthday that will allow him to regenerate his dead father for 24 hours. So the wand only works for regenerating his father’s lower half (from his waist to his shoes).

So Ian, his older brother Barley and the half-father go on a quest to find the magic jewel that will complete the magic that will allow Ian to meet with his father. Barley owns a beat up old van that has seen its better days.

Okay, that’s enough. If I wrote any more it would give away any of the film’s surprises. This wasn’t the best Pixar film that I’ve ever seen. I would give it about a 4 stars (out of 10). But, it was worth $6.

I will probably do this again next week when Paula is busy at Assistance League. Maybe I’ll go see one of the scary pics like perhaps the Invisible Man.

So as always, the links that I’ve provided take you to IMDB.COM

Categories: Movies, Reviews, Uncategorized
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