Archives for December 2021

With an extended middle finger and a vertical half-moon we say “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out!”

Silver Linings?  You bet!   We are still standing!  Yaay!!

I think we all know the answer to that one.

This Quote on life by famous film Director Stanley Kubrick (The Shining, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove) is a valuable lesson, especially at this time of year.

Without light we cannot see and during winter storms the threat of a power outage is real.  Look between the lines of this message and heed the cautionary warning. GO IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR JUNK DRAWER AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SPARE BATTERIES FOR YOUR FLASHLIGHT.  Don’t be left in the dark!

And thank you Stanley for the great films and this invaluable tip.
P.S.  Also a good time to change the intake filters in your heating and cooling system. 

“We are going to have a guest today!”

The more sophisticated readers among you will recognize these words from the Gospel according To Walt Disney; words written in red from the Tuesday theme song of the immortal Mickey Mouse Club!  How I longed to be a Mouseketeer, to join Jimmy and Roy in their daily struggle to control the unruly kids.  To share a secret with Karen and Cubby, swoon over Annette and take a twirl around the dance floor with Bobby and settle in to watch the next riveting episode of “Spin and Marty” as the boys sneak across the river to the Circle H Ranch to visit the girls (again, Annette!); to defy the laws of physics and spontaneously put my ears in motion.

I have given up so many of my dreams; to be the Principal in a Bolshoi production of Swan Lake; to be the Fifth Beatle; to be Ricky Ricardo’s opening act at The Tropicana night club; to perform the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 at Carnegie Hall on the Vladimir Horowitz Steinway; to star in the Steven Spielberg remake of Gone With The Wind.  My audition: “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a doodle.”  When I say a line, I make it my own!
**Note to Steven: Put the blip on your radar screen of greatness (aka El Floppo), West Side Story, behind you and move on. Tara awaits!.

But I will not give up on my greatest dream.  I will one day proudly wear the ears of the original Mouseketeers, (forget the pretenders Justin, Christina, Brittany and Ryan).
“So wiggle your ears like good Mouseketeers, we’re going to have a guest today, ’cause Tuesday is Guest Star Day!”

OR…You could be a “Glass is Full” with room to spare guy like me!
New Year coming, new beginning, new resolutions to fulfill, new opportunity to make that budget and stick to it.  Time to get out of debt, start saving, train for a marathon…better yet, a 10K run; resolve to take that class, read a book, volunteer at the center and be a better person.

And then the Monday after next Christmas you will have experience in countering your depression for having accomplished nothing just like you did this year. 
I’m just kidding, you know, the way you do when you really mean it but don’t want to seem like a dick? 

Boxing Day is set aside for the celebration of the Pugilistic Arts. It is the one day a year you are allowed or rather encouraged to fight, maim and destroy without fear of retribution by the law so get going, start destroying!  What’s that?  Oh, my mistake.  That day is called “The Purge” and I have to check but I think it may be the last Thursday in November.

So what is Boxing Day?
Boxing Day got its name when Queen Victoria was on the throne in the 1800s and has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor.  It is primarily celebrated in the U.K., Canada and a few assorted places around the globe.  A bill was introduced to recognize a “day of charity” in the United States but was quickly rejected as another plot for the radical left socialists to undermine democracy by getting food and warm clothing into the hands of the less fortunate; an act inevitably leading to the loss of the right to carry assault weapons across state lines and kill. 

It is more popular locally as the day for “boxing up” the useless gifts you received and returning them for cash. 

 

Linda and I completed our annual viewing of the film “A Christmas Carol.”  Our version of choice is the 1951 production starring Alistair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge. But this year we gave the George C. Scott version a try and enjoyed it as well. Paired with “The Man Who Invented Christmas” a film about Charles Dickens and the creation of the eternal tale made for a warm and wonderful Christmas Eve that can be celebrated by everyone regardless of religious affiliation.  In the warm glow of that evening and as the spirit of brotherly love for all mankind that envelopes us once a year, I open my heart and mind to all and say “Merry Christmas!”

And, to assure you that I have not fallen victim to sugary platitudes and rank sentimentalism, I sign off with a resounding “BAH HUMBUG!”

Little Know Fact: 
In 47 countries around the world the night before Christmas is known as “Christmas Eve.”  It is believe this tradition was started long ago in The Garden of Eden when Eve decided to dress up and donned a fig leaf.  Adam, finding the fig leaf quite attractive called this version of his eternal soulmate “Christmas Eve” to differentiate her from the other Eve that goes around in her birthday suit.  As the world populated and grew beyond the Garden, and adding new holidays became all the rage when ye olde retailers discovered that frequent holidays meant increased business, the day before any holiday became known as that holiday’s eve.  It is unclear at what point the tradition of wearing nothing but a fig faded everywhere except at “Plato’s Retreat’ bathhouse on the lower east side of Manhattan where even the fig leaf is optional.

And for those of you enjoying a less traditional Christmas Eve, fully clothed and surrounded by friends and family, “Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

We live busy lives, it has been a crazy two years, you don’t have that gift for the one remote person you really wanted to show how you feel.  What can you do?
I want you to know I accept cash and will not think any less of you for it.  Secretly, many of us “Influencers” are really into it.

Christmas is almost here! “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!” 

It is as true today as it was 11 months ago when Dr. Nello Penello of Walnut Creek wrote it in his Journal; the one he keeps in his sock drawer.  “Right on, Dr. P!  That’s the problem with the unvaccinated; they simply don’t understand vaccinations, probably because it’s something new and nobody ever heard of vaccines before this virus.  So I will replace anti-vaxxer fear and ignorance with information. It appears the confusion is caused by a lack of understanding of one treatment option, Monoclonal Antibodies.

So let’s clear it up.  Monoclonal antibodies are among the most promising treatments the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.  When monoclonal antibodies attach to the spike protein, they can block the virus’s ability to enter cells.  The FDA has authorized several different monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19.  Two monoclonal antibody infusion treatment products are Sotrovimab and the other is a combination of the drugs casirivimab and imdevimab.

Hope that clears it up for you.  Go get vaccinated!