Thanksgiving 2023

I’m Thankful for dental insurance so that I was able to have this deteriorated tooth removed in a timely fashion. I did this yesterday although the root broke several months ago (it had been crowned after a root canal and there were no longer any viable nerves in there). When I saw the dentist she remarked that the x-ray was the most remarkable thing she’d seen in weeks and wondered how I was going on my daily routine. On the other hand, if I could find an NHS dentist (they are all going private-only all over the country) my wait would have been weeks unless the infection made it more medical than dental, hence my insurance gratitude.

Also, I’m thankful for my cat who upon smelling the medical office on my backpack attended to my recovery (probably wondering what it was I had lopped off and why they didn’t put the Elizabethan collar on me before sending me home).

Originally we thought we’d have to postpone our Thanksgiving feast until tomorrow if not the more pedestrian weekend but the wound is small and the recovery seems to be going quick enough that I’ve decided to plough on with it. The turkey crown has been dry brining since 3pm yesterday and will go in for two hours at 3 this afternoon; the cornbread for the dressing was already in the freezer so veg, broth, and eggs–lot’s of eggs– are all that remain to prep it; a variety of seasonal veg and a white bean and spinach salad make up the healthy components; and, the sweet potato pie was assembled and baked this morning. There are wines for dinner, dessert, and cheese as well as some spiced rum to get us through cooking tasks and some bourbon just because.

Back Stateside, I hope yours is going to plan. Don’t forget to clean your DNA off the shovel after burying your Republican relatives who wouldn’t just let it be for one . . . god . . . damned . . . day.

Take no notice of that last para…I might still be on some pain killing medication because, y’know, waste not want not: I’m also thankful for free prescriptions if you are over 60 years old.

Paul Gustings Day

If you don’t know about Paul Gustings Day (6th August), then you are somehow living a dull and inconsequential existence. You may be doing so, anyway, but there’s the test with a criterium (sufficient but not necessary).

I won’t make any more of it than I treat it as a version of one of the annual ‘Buy A Stranger A Drink Day’ except that I act as an even more miserable sod than normal to my beneficiary.

Pontificating on water, Mr Gustings apparently said, “I don’t drink that shit.” Happy Birthday, sir.

RIP Dry January

The longest I have gone without an alcoholic beverage since I was 15 years old (barring the six weeks of ‘Total Control’ during Basic Combat Training in 1983, and even then one guy in my platoon managed to get some acid smuggled in on a letter during that period), has been about 5 days — when I was in a thoracic ward with a collapsed lung.

So, this year instead of mocking Jackie’s bid to do Dry January we put aside the liquor, beer, and wine at bedtime on January 2 when our Christmas break ended (late, sure but hey, we’re not the Taliban) and I haven’t touched a drop until the dram in today’s morning coffee. {She’s been a little looser with the taps but generally kept to the spirit of the whole thing.}

I’ve gained weight (but, my stomach looks like I’ve lost a bit due to the reduced alcohol bloat). I don’t feel any better, I haven’t noticeably slept better, my exercise performance is more-or-less static, and I don’t seem to think any clearer. I still sweat profusely upon any exertion and I still pee like I bear the kidneys of a much older man than I am.

I think this abstinence thing is a scam. Cin cin!

Time to restock the cabinet, I guess.

Ort is no more

The obits are fast and furious this month. Another Athens icon has slipped the coil: William Orten Carlton has passed at the age of 73.

Our first day as residents in Athens, me and the the missus were waiting to get a document from a teller at Wells Fargo Bank and were next in line after Ort who without introduction, hesitation, or prelude of any sort started telling us about some records he found stashed at the bottom of the pile of clothes (fill a garbage bag for a dollar) at the Potters House Thrift Store (that’s what they call charity shops in the States, brits). When he took a breath, we both pointed at the unoccupied teller window and noticed the teller wince as he headed toward her and tried, unsuccessfully, to cash a check (cheque) for $1.37 which was declined because he had an account that required a minimum balance of $5. The negotiation went on for at least a half hour.

You’d run into Ort everywhere, though. At the Globe, in the library, or parked in front of the records or old magazines in another thrift shop near the 40 Watt when it was on Clayton (or Washington? long time ago, now). You could never be sure if he was a customer or employee at any of these because he always acted like he owned the place.

The photo I captured from the web is captioned, “Ort is in jail without bond for not cleaning up his yard” and why should that a) have happened and b) surprise anyone.

Rest well, weirdo.

Beverage Recipe: Respite From Jimi

Jim can be stressfull…where does all that energy come from? {Note, we have already scheduled to have his balls removed}.

This may already exist but I have Horlicks around as a component of my liquid nutrition for a planned long run. Essentially, it has a really good calories:carb:protein:trace nutrient ratio especially combined with salt replacement and vitamin C & B12 tablets, crushed.

So, essentially it is 50 g (three spoons) Horlicks in a mug with two shots of bourbon and boiling water to suspend the solids. Ready for bed even if the kitty is tearing the house down around us!

Monthly Round-Up, January 2022

The amaryllis bloomed before New Year’s Day and bravely held on through the first two weeks of the year. I broke open one of the paper chromatography lateral flow devices I used over the break and found nothing really interesting there. Largely, that’s how the month went…things working the way they were supposed to without surprises.

Running: 140.1 miles, 80 of which were on the 9 Rail Runs. One bottle of bourbon (to finish the Christmas hoard), 18.8 bottles of wine, and 8 beers for an approximately 20% decrease from last January. End of the Christmas weed. No psychedelics left. 13 negative lateral flow tests. One kebab, one fish & chips, two pubs. Progress on living room floor, stairwell walls and stairs, and dining room trim.

Trump is still free. We’ll check back on that at the end of February update.

Found this message to Trump in the gent’s on the 7th – 8th floor landing. “And, the sign said to me it said, ‘Sir, only you can wet the floor so bigly and still with such caution,’ and I told that sign that I know some Russian prostitutes I can get to help out and do you know that that big, brawny, powerful sign shed a tear right there.”

2021 Review / Obit

If this review were like the Short Reviews, it would read, “Well, that sucked.”

But, it isn’t so it doesn’t. Bear in mind that it did so it could.

Running: at just under 1100 miles for the year (1083, precisely), a combination of injuries and sloth conspired to keep the distances down. The longest run of the year was a scant 15.6 miles a couple of weeks ago, more than the weekly average through much of March and April:

The Rail Run Project continues but most of the low hanging fruit is depleted with longer runs and rides involved from here on in. I still expect this effort to continue throughout 2022.

Drink: it must be taking a toll on my health but as I look back on my health this year and compare it to the Fines and Fees data I feel as if I am immune to the deleterious effects of alcohol.

With pubs closed much of the year, I only visited 19 new gaffs and quaffed a mere 56 beers (mostly at home) but made up for it with 154 bottles of wine (that’s my intake, or 308 bottles for the household) and the equivalent of 76 bottles of hard liquor (152 for the house). That’s about 3.5 times the average consumption in the UK (and, for the shock value, Russia). I should get a grip on this (the amount seemed typical to low compared to years past).

	Wine (bottles)	Beers	Booze (litres)
January	13.4	2	4.3
February	6.8	1	4.4
March	10.9	2	4.8
April	13.9	4	4.7
May	20.3	1	1.1
June	12.0	1	4.0
July	12.0	5	5.4
August	11.5	4	4.4
September	11.4	7	4.0
October	12.5	2	4.5
November	14.4	15	4.3
December	14.7	12	7.6
daily (mL):	316 mL	77 mL	145 mL

Not Andre the Giant levels, but I weigh 70kg soaking wet compared to his 236kg

The year ahead: more Short reviews, at least monthly chippy and kebab meals, try to stay healthy for the big run at the end of Summer, do serious damage to the Rail Run Project, keep hitting pubs albeit at an attenuated pace, and just continue to try.

2021 Week 1 Recap: Nothing, much, about the half-assed attempted coup in the US

A bottle of Sea Dog rum to find when we bring the Christmas decorations down next year

Despite the coup attempt at the US Capitol, this was a sedate week. We mounted the skirting boards in the bedroom yesterday and finished the painting today and started whittling away at the Winterval Holiday leftovers and other excess in the fridge so we can settle back into a winter dining routine.

Friday I received an email to the effect that due to the National Lockdown I should minimise my presence on site but as I have multiple sites I can spread my on-campus presence around to be immediately available 5 days per week. And, with the spirit of the directive being that I should work remotely I’ll consider heading in late or home early on Mondays and Fridays (when I am housed, alone, in the FTICR lab down at Chemistry), I provided some in person training till noon then some of my ICR work ahead of 2021 Commuter Run #2 in heavy snowfall along the iced over canal paths next to the iced over canal. Brilliant.

Thursday I went to the dentist about the filling I threw the week leading into Christmas. Looks like the tooth is not salvageable as it has already been repaired twice AFTER a root canal nearly 35 years ago — the tooth was among those damaged or knocked out in a motorcycle mishap in Atlanta back in me and J’s first months together.

The earlier part of the week was quite copacetic but snowy and icy.

Fines: £20

Fees: £49.50

Paid in: £70, so kitty is in the black

So, next winter’s holiday fund is already up to £109. I wonder if I should use this for the kitchen refurb fund, instead.

No devastating obits — to me, at least — although Gerry Marsden singing “Ferry Cross the Styx” is stuck in my head. Pleasing obit of the week goes to that scumbag woman who met her maker in the Capitol (no I will not, “say her name,” but do invite comparisons to Ethyl Rosenberg, Benedict Arnold, and Alfrich Ames).

Sixth-floor Biosciences Tower stairwell landing last Monday

2021 Week 0 Recap: The Rules for 2021 — Fines and Fees

January 1 started around 8 am with a hearty breakfast and NO RESOLUTIONS but instead a set of Fines and Fees to highlight and possibly curb poor behaviour. The idea is that you shouldn’t get high before 4 on a workday (or the conclusion of a workday if, for instance, taking the afternoon off or finishing a house project early for the day). Work related drink is exempt as are pints on runs (if pubs ever reopen…we’re in Tier 4 now); £10 fines for early doors and another £10 if mixed drink and drug intake is on the same day (complete exemption, though, for any day psychedelics are employed).

Spotted from bus; brilliant because for our Boris to complain would return focus to the biggest lie of Brexit

There is also a £10 fine for failing to either spend 30 minutes playing uke or guitar or 30 minutes doing some reasonable form of yoga. An additional £10 gets tacked on for the aggravating factor of doing absolutely fuck all for the day (anything qualifies as “productive” so this really requires professional level sloth).

The fee structure is this…pot costs £1 per gramme to use regardless its source. Any drinks not paid for at a pub or restaurant also incur a £1 fee (shot of booze, can of beer, 150mL of wine).

The kitty for these will be held until Thanksgiving when we decide how to spend the largess of my lard-assed-ness. (Note from February: we decided to use it to pay down the principal on the mortgage rather than have that much cash laying around.) After the first 2 days, it has already reached £33 and I am considering spending a pound when I finish this line.

The bike was at about the halfway mark of the canal run

Work recommenced today (3 Jan) and I had my first commute run of the new year. It has snowed off and on for 3 days now and the paths were beautiful and treacherous and fucking cold.

Ha…”fucking” cold. This is why I didn’t include a swear jar fine structure.

The post from the previous photo is painted to match the graffito behind it

Brexit has not yet affected us. Tier 4 has changed nothing about how we live our lives save for dining out and meeting up in bars. There is some excitement in the news next week with the US political shit show (again, no swear jar) but all is well, here.

What I Wanted Was @HendoRelish: Secret Santa 2020 and Recipe for a “Kentucky Grandma”

A “Kentucky Grandma,” unless there is another name for 2 parts Bailey’s + 1 part CHEAP bourbon

I shouldn’t whinge…it’s booze of a sort. And, it was pretty palatable as served above, with a couple ice cubes, 2 shots (100 mL) of the offending Bailey’s, a and a shot of the cheapest bourbon or other straight whiskey in your dominion.

Our principal investigator got a short bottle of tequila, for which she has at least once declared her undying affection, from her Secret Santa. I specifically asked for Henderson’s Relish on the app our organiser was using and wound up with Bailey’s, fer fuck’s sake. I wish I commanded respect, but anything is better than Oxford.

Or, as the soon-to-be-deported First Lady would say in these festive days, “who geeve fock abowt kreesmoose?”

The recipe:

Two shots (100 mL) of Bailey’s Irish Cream, one shot (50 mL) of bourbon … or Canadian whiskey or rye or Bushmill’s anything else without malt. Swirl in some ice (and some milk if it is a school night…if that is an issue). For a warm version, heat a couple of shots of milk and put boiled water in the glass first, then add the milk with the alcohol bits. Better than you might think, and you need to pay close attention to the units (if morning after is an issue). They sneak up on you.