[High] Stepping [Up | Out]

Dave's Undersea Forest

Dave’s Undersea Forest

We got our new air conditioner installed yesterday and I love it. The outside unit is almost twice the size of the old machine. The new AC is rated 50% more efficient than the old one was rated and since the old one was old, there was probably closer to a 2-to-1 ratio in relative efficiencies. The whole system is much quieter than the old system too. We should be able to sit outside on our back porch on summer nights and not have to hear it, especially over the noise of our neighbor’s AC. It wasn’t warm enough yesterday to run it, but today it was just barely warm enough. Normally, I wouldn’t have run the old machine. Now I’m feeling too cold. Some people are never satisfied.

Anne’s central hallway painting project is progressing well. It really looks nice. Maybe we should think about selling the house? My parents always put a lot of sweat equity into their homes and when the place was really starting to look nice, it was time to move. I’m just saying that that is the way that I was raised. All that she has left to do is the trim. She estimated that 90% of her time was spent on prep work and only 10% on actual painting. When I asked her about cleanup, she said that that was extra. Included with painting the central hallway, she also cleaned out and painted the central hallway closet. This makes for a very efficient way to pitch stuff. Maybe, she would be interested in painting the front hallway closet too?

My big news is that I have survived the first week of Spacely Sprocket’s annual ‘On the Move’ campaign. More than a few of my colleagues were feeling this week’s exertions today. This campaign is designed to get all of us old and sedentary Spacely Sprocket’s engineers up, out and moving on their feet. The campaign runs eight weeks and I am shooting for the highest bar, 13K steps per day, which is about six miles of walking. Steps are the Franca lira of this campaign, but there are conversion algorithms that allow one to convert almost any physical activity into steps, say bicycling for example. About the only physical activity that is not translatable is sex. There is no entry in the conversion table for sex. I suppose you could wear your pedometer to bed, but that seems a little kinky. Besides how would you attach it? I assume that Mr. Spacely has disallowed sex in his fitness campaign, because unlike most other physical activities that activity actually increases Sprocket’s healthcare cost. After all that’s how babies are made.

Orange Is the New Bad

Sea Nettles

Sea Nettles

If you are one of the one or two people and I can think of a couple of you, who did not watch the Super bowl yesterday then let me recap it for you here. Denver met Seattle in a New York stadium, which happened to be located in New Jersey. Denver received the kickoff and on their first play a high snap launched the football over the quarterback’s head and into the Denver end zone for a safety. If never really got any better than that for Denver, whose primary team color is orange, hence this post’s title, “Orange is the New Bad”. There is also a reference to a Netflix TV series in there, but I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure that one out.

I know for 99% of you readers that the preceding paragraph imparted no new knowledge, but this is America and we are an inclusive nation or at least we are supposed to be. I grieve for those countrymen who did not share in the communal enjoyment of the Super bowl. Who did not rejoice on hearing our national anthem and “God Bless America” being sung, I meant the one in the Coke commercial.

I know that like all of the other Super bowl commercials we’ll all be able to see and enjoy this ad again, but for those few, those unlucky few, those self banded brothers, I do mourn. For those today, who watched this shed blood with me, shall be my brother; be it ever so vile. This day shall gentle our national condition; and gentlemen in England now-a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhood cheap whiles any speaks that watched with us upon Super bowl Sunday.

Super bowl Sunday is America’s secular holiday. Shouldn’t we go out of our way to include all of our citizens? When I think of the Super bowl, I see one of the few remaining tent pole TV events that can still bring this country together. We no longer have Ed Sullivan, the Beatles or even Elvis to draw us all together again, but we still have the Super bowl.

No Anchovies

Northern Anchovies at the Monterey Aquarium

Northern Anchovies at the Monterey Aquarium

I like pizza. If anyone ever suggests ordering pizza, I’m instantly onboard with it. Immediately after someone suggests ordering a pizza, then the next logical question is what do you want on it? I’m pretty easy-going about this question, I’m fine with almost anything, anything but anchovies that is. Tomorrow is Turkey Day. Cooks all around America are slaving in the kitchen, preparing for tomorrow. So, what to you do for dinner tonight? You certainly don’t want to overburden the already stressed chefs. Typically there are only two possible answers. Either everyone goes out to eat or you order in. If kids are around then the only real choice is to order pizza. Just be sure that you don’t order any anchovies on it.

We’re going out tonight. Dave is motoring down from Purdue as I write. When he gets here, we’ll head on over to South Grand and have dinner at Lemon Grass, our traditional pre-turkey meal. Unfortunately, the originator of this tradition, Dapper Dan, won’t be joining us this year. He’s staying in LA. Even so, we’ll all carry on. Anne had the day off and spent it in the kitchen. In addition to all of the other things that she did today, she baked a ginger snap crust that will be filled with pumpkin. She had enough leftover dough to make ginger snap cookies, including two large hand turkeys. A hand turkey is made by tracing around your hand. I didn’t know this until last year, when my boss marshaled all of us to make paper hand turkey cards for his boss. I decorated the ginger snap ones. And I helped. We wrapped them up and presented to the neighbor kids, along with a few of the more plebian cookies for their parents. They seemed to like them, at least while we were speaking with their mom; they were munching on their parents cookies. Gracie remarked within earshot, “They’re warm.” No mean feat considering how cold it is here. We had to break-off this front porch conversation when Anne began to shiver.

In lieu of hand turkey cards, this year my boss had me present some results to his boss. Things went well. My boss’s boss even liked my jokes. I was rewarded with more work, for which I am thankful. It was a skeletal crew at work today. At one, I saw my boss’s boss’s boss, as he was headed out for the holiday. He wished me a happy Thanksgiving and I tongue-in-cheek expressed my admiration of his leadership. He was leading us out the door. I soon followed his lead and began my Thanksgiving holiday.