Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, January 26
through
Saturday, February 1, 2020
It’s Saturday, February 1, 2020.
Welcome to the 666th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Astavakrasana Eight-Angle Pose is a hand-balancing asana in modern yoga as exercise dedicated to the sage Astavakra, the spiritual guru of King Janaka.
Astavakra was born with eight physical handicaps. 19th-century painting.
Unknown
Watercolor painting of Ashtavakra, a Hindu sage
_____________________
2.0 Commentary
Daughter Kat shares an “Eight Angle Pose” with us.
As well as a poster announcing an additional class time.
Yoga continues to be of great interest to her.
And a most helpful stream of cash.
Have had a bit of my joie de vivre knocked out of me.
The pain in my knee.
Seriously thinking of ging to the doctor to have it looked at.
Last night, at a rare opportunity to see the Celtics play live, had to leave the TD Garden after the first quarter: the pain in the muscles surrounding my knee making me pretty uncomfortable, the discomfort exacerbated by the closeness of the chair in front to my knee.
More generically, all of my doings lacking a bit of the joy that is normal to me.
More positively, the winter slipping past without the usual number of horrifically unpleasant days endemic to the season.
Except for early December, this a most tolerable season, and the forecast for the week ahead continuing the stretch of reasonable, if unseasonal, weather.
_________________________
4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
You have to be odd to be number one.
~Dr. Seuss
__________________
5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This fro Sally C:
Dear Dom,
I agree wholeheartedly with you with regards to social-media "justice."
Trial by Facebook Meme has no standing or value or credibility, and only ruins people as the masses glom onto it with glee and make exponential mountains from what hardly qualify as molehills.
And neither are tweets evidence of any kind.
Who cares what So-and-So said ten years ago?
It all only works because too many people think they are anonymous online, so they allow their emotions to run amok publicly, and too many of the rest of us buy into it and take their rants for gospel. Not me, thank you very much.
This is one reason why I have little to no patience for FB and other forms of social media. It's called "social" media for a reason, not "scientific" media or "economic" media or "legislative" media or "verified" media or 'accurate" media or any other kind of media. Just because such rants and vitriol are posted anonymously online does not negate the fact that they may also qualify as slander and/or libel.
Sally
Blog Meister responds: Well put, my dear.
_______________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
How delicious and simple, if expensive.
A ¾ lb piece of Dry-Aged Boneless Rib Eye, brushed with Garlic Oil mixed with ¼ t each of onion powder, oregano, salt, coarse-ground black pepper, and nutmeg, slow-roasted for 20 minutes, and then simultaneously seared and broiled for three minutes.
_____________________
11.0 Thumbnails
Ashtavakra is a revered Vedic sage in Hinduism.
His name literally means "eight bends", reflecting the eight physical handicaps he was born with.
His maternal grandfather was the Vedic sage Aruni, his parents were both Vedic students at Aruni's school.
Ashtavakra studied, became a sage and a celebrated character of the Hindu History Epics and Puranas.
Ashtavakra is the author of the text Aṣṭāvakra Gītā, also known as Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā, in Hindu traditions.
The text is a treatise on Brahman, Atman and monism (Advaita).
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s Friday, January 31, 2020.
Welcome to the 665th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Attached are some photos of my son in his costume that don’t show his face. He’s dressed up as Dirty, the backhoe loader from Stinky & Dirty, which is one of those cartoons I wish had existed when I was growing up.
_________________________
2.0 Commentary
Food’s been on my mind, a lot.
Immediately interesting me are two soups, Egg Drop – working out the recipe, and Clam Chowder.
We already share the perfect chowder recipe but my goal now is to work it out to a two-bowl recipe, which would eliminate leftovers.
Why is that a goal?
This recipe would be made entirely of half and half, no milk, and so I’d want to have it for just one meal to control the calories.
Hoping the half and half satisfies my desire for opulence without resorting to light cream.
Also, still working on my curry recipe and have received a generous offer from a friend, who makes a delicious curry, to visit him and wife and make the curry together.
Met with a man who’s developing a device to extend the senses of blind people.
Has a six-year-old son for whom last Halloween he made a back hoe.
See 1.0 Lead Picture, above.
The photos aren’t timely but are still delightful.
And impressive.
____________________________
4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
Reality is just a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs.
~Robin Williams
______________________
11.0 Thumbnails
The Stinky & Dirty Show is an American-Irish-British animated series that premiered on September 2, 2016 on Prime Video.
The adventures of best friends and unlikely heroes, Stinky the garbage truck and Dirty the backhoe loader, a dynamic and hilarious duo of resourcefulness that learn that when things don't go as expected, asking "what if" can lead to success.
Based on the books by Jim and Kate McMullan.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s Thursday, January 30, 2020.
Welcome to the 664th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Alice Catherine Evans
This photograph shows Evans at work in a laboratory at the Dairy Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, taken some time between 1913 and 1918.
Photograph credit: National Photo Company; restored by Adam Cuerden
______________________
2.0 Commentary
Been watching the Anthony Hopkins’ movie Two Popes, the soingle-season TV series, Young Pope, and its follow-up, New Pope.
While the Anthony Hopkins movie is art and to be discussed separately, I am finding the TV series entertaining and enjoyable.
Sunday nights I think.
And Monday nights, I’m watching the Outsider. Also enjoyable.
Bemoaning the premature loss of the House of Cards.
A wonderful series when Kevin Spacey was involved.
We viewers lost the enjoyment of seeing Spacey and his wife, Robin Wright, individually pinnacles of intrigue, square off against each other.
I don’t feel sanguine regarding the evolving dominating position of the social media in our justice system: accuse a person in 155 characters or less, let the Internet run with it, generate public opinion in the accuser’s favor, and the deal is done.
The accused loses endorsements and other contracts, all of which have clauses that might as well say, “If the name of the party of the second part negatively appears in any Tweet or Link or Face or Pinterest, Reddit, fill in as amny others as you may, this contract is instantly invalidated without regard to the veracity or accuracy of the content of such post.”
______________________________
4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.
Ursula K. Le Guin
__________________
5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Sally C:
Dear Kali,
I hope you do take to heart Dom’s advice to get involved with a writer’s group. It will help you grow in many different ways. You are right – creativity is an astonishing facet of our humanity, and none of us should hide the light of our talent under a basket.
I’ve been blessed with finding and belonging to good writers’ groups, but I’ve heard about other groups that have hurt their members with undisciplined critique or poor leadership, which can discourage one from looking for another one. If that happens to you, do not despair – there are good ones out there. Keep looking, keep asking, consult with other writers.
Dom recommends Colleen’s group that is part of The Room to Write, of which I’m a member, and I never cease to be amazed at the quality of work coming from my colleagues. Colleen has few cardinal rules, but one is that each of us must find at least one positive thing in each submission that really strikes the reader with its humor, insight, or whatever. It’s rare when I can find only one thing. Sometimes I have to cut myself short from filling pages with the work’s phrases that really hit a home run for me. Ours is a respectful group, and the critical comments are intended for clarification and to improve the piece. They are never directed personally at the writer. This group works for me and I don’t miss a meeting unless it’s absolutely necessary. We are serious about our work, but we have fun, and we have built valuable friendships over the past three years. (If it wasn’t for Colleen, I wouldn’t have met Dom, and he is now one of the bright lights in my life!)
Much love to you, Kali, in your journey to find outlets for expression. Keep on writing!
Sally
Blog Meister responds: I’ve loved observing the love growing among our readers.
Sally C also writes this:
Dear Dom,
Your inclusion of Billie Eilish in your post prompted me to listen to a song of hers. I was reluctant to do so, because of conditioning from recent ads on the radio that have promoted her. Usually in an ad, the best work of an artist is featured, just as a movie trailer features snippets from the best scenes of the film. Not so with these ads. In all of them, she grunts and groans, sounding like she is trying to effect a bowel movement. I thought I ought to listen to something of hers before criticizing her. And I heard some beautiful music. Thank you, Dom!
I’m thinking now that she should get her money back on those ads, for they don’t cast her or her work in a positive light at all. I don’t know where they got the audio clips of the grunts and groans, purportedly by her, or why they’d think those would attract listeners. (I admit it freely: more and more ads make no sense to me these days, and some of them don’t even tell what they are selling. I figure that if I don’t know what they are selling, then I don’t need that product or service.)
Sally
Blog Meister responds: Open-mindedness. Writer. Comes with the territory. Makes your work as good as it is, my dear.
11.0 Thumbnail
Alice Catherine Evans (January 29, 1881 – September 5, 1975) was a pioneering American microbiologist who conducted research at the United States Department of Agriculture.
She worked on refining manufacturing processes for cheese and butter and investigated the sources of bacterial contamination in milk products.
She studied the disease brucellosis, then known as undulant fever, linking it to the consumption of cow's milk containing the bacterium Brucella abortus.
Evans advocated the pasteurization of milk, but her results were greeted with skepticism, partially because she was a woman and did not have a PhD, only being accepted when scientists around the world confirmed her findings in the 1920s.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s Wednesday, January 29, 2020.
Welcome to the 663rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
______________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Billie Eilish at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles California on March 14, 2019 -Toglenn - Own work
Photo Attribution : © Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com (Email: glennfrancispacificprodigital.com)
_____________________________
2.0 Commentary
I was happy to pursue my interest in Lo Mein, enough to develop, execute, and tweak the recipe.
I’m adding the recipe to the blog right now.
Readers will find it by clicking the magnifying glass on any page of the blog and then type in the recipe name and click ‘enter.’
or
In the Index of Pages, find the Recipes Blog.
It’s in there.
Meanwhile, I developed a desire for Egg Drop Soup.
I worked out the recipe I’m going to try very soon.
Find the intellectually-developed but untested details in the 6.0 Dinner/Recipes section just below.
Egg Drop Soup, Italian Wedding Soup, or Stracciatella soups all easy for me and those like me who make their own chicken stock and always have a tub of it in the freezer.
But my desire for the Egg Drop Soup outstripped the development of my recipe so I bought a small tub from a local Chinese restaurant.
I ate a bowl not long before bedtime.
Forgetting how sensitive my body is.
Forgetting how casually some Chinese cooks use MSG.
Still awake at 3.00am.
Frustrated.
Not understanding why until, Eureka!
It struck me: the soup and its MSG content kept me awake.
Prior to last night, it was so long since I ate Chinese food at night that I’d forgotten my sensitivity to MSG.
Another reason home cooking has distinct advantages over store-bought.
__________________________
4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
A day without sunshine is like, you know, night”
~ Steve Martin
__________________
5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Kali L:
Dom,
Lately I've wondered about the purpose of life
and what humans do to manage the fact of our mortality
how do we accept it?
maybe i don't even have to bother myself with these questions
sending you love and hoping the surrounding muscles around the knee are feeling better today
love,
kali
Blog Meister responds: thank you, my dear.
i agree with your last thought: why bother?
I think we bring purpose to our own lives through our expressions: of creativity, of love.
people with your talent will never be happy unless they maximize that talent.
love you, my dear
dom
To which Kali L responded:
how does one maximize talent?
hmmm
i love you- thank you for helping me be brave-always
Blog Meister responds: You’ve made a great start with your writings and submissions to us. Find a writer’s group near you and attend a meeting. You’ll listen to your work critiqued by several talents and you’ll sharpen your own skills by critiquing others. One of your great supporters, Colleen G runs an excellent group, Room to Write. Another of your supporters, Sally C regularly attends.
More formally, there are classes you can attend, the well-known Grub St. being one of them.
We’re all available to you. We love and admire you my dear.
_______________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
EGG DROP SOUP
Egg drop soup is a Chinese soup of wispy beaten eggs in boiled chicken broth.
Condiments such as black pepper or white pepper, and finely chopped scallions and tofu are optional, but commonly added to the soup.
The soup is finished by adding a thin stream of beaten eggs to the boiling broth in the final moments of cooking, creating thin, silken strands or flakes of cooked egg that float in the soup.
4 cups of broth (3/4 cup reserved)
1/8 t ginger
chives
½ t salt
Bring to a rolling boil
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
Mixed with fork
Drizzle egg into boiling soup: egg cooks immediately
Reserved soup is mixed with
1 TB corn starch
Drizzled and whisked into the boiling soup until desired consistency is achieved
______________________
11.0 Thumbnails
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell (born December 18, 2001) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.
She began singing at a young age and gained media attention in 2016 when she uploaded the song "Ocean Eyes" to SoundCloud, and it was subsequently released by Interscope Records subsidiary Darkroom.
The song was written and produced by her brother Finneas, with whom she collaborates on music and live shows.
Her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me (2017), reached the top 15 in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
Eilish's debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019), debuted atop the Billboard 200 and became the best-performing album of 2019 in the U.S.
It also reached No. 1 in the UK.
The album contains six Billboard Hot 100 top 40 singles: "When the Party's Over", "Bury a Friend", "Wish You Were Gay", "Xanny", "Everything I Wanted", and "Bad Guy", the last of which became her first number-one single in the U.S.
Eilish has 13 platinum and four gold singles in the U.S. as of January 2020.
Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, two Guinness World Records, and three MTV Video Music Awards.
She is the youngest person and first female to win the four main Grammy categories, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist in the same year.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
Welcome to the 662nd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
____________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2015
Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant of Los Angeles Lakers
For more: See 2.0 Commentary and 11.0 Thumbnails, both below in the section.
_________________________
2.0 Commentary
Ask not for whom the bell tolls.
Kobe Bryant.
Death the ultimate democrat.
Title, wealth, standing: meaningless.
I ran to the rocks to hide my face
The rocks said there's no hiding place
There's no hiding place down here:
And there’s the takeaway from the newscasts.
We go on doing our best.
Achieving.
Helping.
Cutting our knees.
Getting muscular.
Getting sick.
Healing.
All in a delimited space of time.
Delimited.
Clearly.
Only after the fact.
We carry on with a sense of the profound:
No hiding place down here.
Not profound to freeze us in our steps.
But to imbue us with the humility attendant to this reality.
To make us kinder, more understanding human beings.
Rest in peace, Kobe.
_____________________
4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.
Saint Augustine
_____________________
11.0 Thumbnails
Kobe Bean Bryant (August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player.
A shooting guard, Bryant played his entire 20-season career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers.
He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships.
Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, and the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, he led the NBA in scoring during two seasons, ranks fourth on the league's all-time regular season scoring, and fourth on the all-time postseason scoring list.
Bryant was the first guard in NBA history to play at least 20 seasons.
In 2018, Bryant became the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and the first former professional athlete to be nominated and to win an Academy Award in any category for his film Dear Basketball.
On October 23, 2018, Bryant's book The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, with photographs and afterword by Andrew D. Bernstein, an introduction by Phil Jackson, and a foreword by Pau Gasol, was published by MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
The book looks back on his career with photos and his reflections.
Bryant was the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children in thirteen US cities.
Bryant also started the Kobe Bryant China Fund which partnered with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a charity backed by the Chinese government.
The Kobe Bryant China Fund raises money within China earmarked for education and health programs.
On November 4, 2010, Bryant appeared alongside Zach Braff at the Call of Duty: Black Ops launch event at the Santa Monica Airport, where they presented a $1 million check to the Call of Duty Endowment, an Activision-founded nonprofit organization that helps veterans transition to civilian careers after their military service has ended.
At 9:06 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on January 26, 2020, a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter owned by Bryant departed from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, with nine people aboard: Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna (Gigi), Gigi's peers and their parents (including Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa, Sarah Chester, and her daughter Payton, basketball coach Christina Mauser, and the pilot Ara Zobayan.
The group was travelling to Bryant's Mamba Academy for a practice session when the helicopter crashed in Calabasas.
Due to light rain and foggy weather that morning, the LAPD helicopters and most other air traffic were grounded.
According to audio records between the helicopter’s pilot and air traffic control at Burbank Airport, the helicopter was given what is known as Special Visual Flight Rules clearance, allowing the pilot and his passengers to continue on a foggy morning in Southern California.
Whether or not that was the right decision is likely to be at the center of the investigation into the cause of the crash.
The flight tracker shows that the helicopter experienced issues while above the L.A. Zoo.
The helicopter circled the area six times at an altitude of around 850 feet.
At 9:30 a.m. the pilot contacted the Burbank Airport's control tower,
notifying the tower of the situation.
At that time, the helicopter experienced extreme fog and turned south towards the mountains.
At 9:40 a.m. the helicopter climbed in altitude from 1,200 to 2,000 ft flying at 161 knots (185 mph).
At 9:45 a.m. the helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain in Calabasas, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and caught on fire.
At 9:47 a.m. authorities were called.
The helicopter had passed over Boyle Heights, near Dodger Stadium, and circled over Glendale during the flight.
Personnel from the Los Angeles County Fire Department attended the scene.
The fire had been extinguished by 10:30 a.m.
None of the nine occupants survived.
Initial reports indicated that the helicopter crashed in the hills above Calabasas in heavy fog.
Witnesses reported hearing a helicopter struggling before crashing.
The Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, and the FBI have launched investigations into the crash.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
______________________
It’s Monday, January 27, 2020.
Welcome to the 661st consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
______________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Modena Cathedral, Ducal Palace, Square in front of Ducal Palace, Ducal Gardens
Albypino -
Own work Palazzo Ducale Estense a Modena.jpg Giardini Ducali Estensi a Modena.jpg Piazza Roma
___________________________
2.0 Commentary
After a lot of thought I devised the final recipe for my first Lo Mein. (See 6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes below in this section.)
I broke the process into three parts: the spaghetti, the dressing, and the vegetables and thought carefully about each.
The dressing’s main issue was keeping the sodium level as low as possible. This I addressed by reducing the use of soy and teriyaki sauces, replacing some of each with vinegar.
I have plenty of experience with pasta which made it easy to write directions for a firm product.
As for the vegetables, I increased what is most often recommended in Lo Mein recipes, emphasizing the uniformity and size of the cut.
The result I think is pretty good.
Certainly good enough for a jumping off place.
With several applications, I’m sure the recipe will be improved.
Find the recipe in 6.0 Dinners in this section.
______________________________
4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
Abraham Lincoln
__________________
5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
Much of the time the mail we get is not meant for republication.
_______________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
LO MEIN: The Recipe
8oz spaghetti (Four side orders)
Dressing for Pasta
3 TB Asian Oil (our recipe for fresh ginger, scallions, and garlic fried in sesame oil)
2 TB low-sodium soy sauce
1 TB teriyaki
1 TB honey and
½ t each:
ground ginger
curry
cumin
garlic powder
Vegetables for pasta
All cut into twice the length and thickness of a wooden match.
All softened in 2 TB canola oil (being light, non-assertive, and heart healthy)
2oz celery
2oz carrots
2oz scallions
2oz red bell pepper
1oz chili pepper
Once the vegetables are softened, add in 1 or 2 TB of the pasta dressing and toss.
Spaghetti
Cook spaghetti, stopping the cook when the pasta is very firm to the taste.
Drain and run the hot spaghetti under cold water until it’s no longer hot. Doesn’t have to be cold.
Let the spaghetti drain for 5 minutes to get excess water out: water will kill the flavors of the dressing.
Dump the spaghetti into paper towels to further dry it.
Dress the spaghetti
In a stainless steel bowl pour the dressing over the spaghetti and toss until evenly spread
(Note: To ensure an even coating I put only a third of the pasta into the bowl and dress that with a third of the dressing. I add a second portion of undressed pasta on top of the first third, add a second portion of the dressing and toss that; and finally add the last third, repeating the process.)
Once the spaghetti is dressed, add in the double-wooden-match-sized softened vegetables and toss.
Eat as is or heat and serve.
_________________________
8.0 Video
I will be a day late in posting the video.
Sleep continues to elude me, another night of two hours sleep.
Too tired to face the cameras.
_____________________
11.0 Thumbnails
Modena is a city and comune (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy.
An ancient town, and seat of an archbishop, it is known for its automotive industry since the factories of the famous Italian sports car makers Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani and Maserati are, or were, located here and all, except Lamborghini, have headquarters in the city or nearby.
One of Ferrari's cars, the 360 Modena, was named after the town itself.
The University of Modena, founded in 1175 and expanded by Francesco II d'Este in 1686, focuses on economics, medicine and law, and is the second oldest athenaeum in Italy. Italian military officers are trained at the Military Academy of Modena, and partly housed in the Baroque Ducal Palace.
The Biblioteca Estense houses historical volumes and 3,000 manuscripts.
The Cathedral of Modena, the Torre della Ghirlandina and Piazza Grande are a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
Modena is also known in culinary circles for its production of balsamic vinegar.
Famous Modenesi include Mary of Modena, the Queen consort of England and Scotland;
operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti and soprano Mirella Freni, born in Modena itself;
Enzo Ferrari, eponymous founder of the Ferrari motor company;
Catholic priest Gabriele Amorth;
chef Massimo Bottura; comics artist Franco Bonvicini;
the band Modena City Ramblers and
singer-songwriter Francesco Guccini, who lived here for several decades.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
______________________
It’s Sunday, January 26, 2020.
Welcome to the 660th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
___________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Emilia Romana’s Val Trebbia, near Piacenza
Terensky
Alta Val Trebbia Diciassette settembre 2016
For more information see 11.0 Thumbnails in this section.
________________________
2.0 Commentary
It’s Saturday morning, 6.11am and I’m feeling better than I have for a very long time, at least a week.
After four days of two or three hours sleep, my body finally decided to take some rest. and took it in this manner:
I awakened several times during the night, as I had been for the nights prior, but instead the building tension I experienced during those nights while waiting to get back to sleep, which I did not because of the tension, last night I lay patiently, quietly, and comfortably awake, sleep coming each time until, at 4.30am, I decided I was rested enough and got out of bed refreshed and ready to go.
I did take an extra melatonin last night totaling nine mg instead of six.
And I did prepare (and eat) a small green salad (dressed only with vinegar) with a hard-boiled egg chopped with mayonnaise (very little of that.)
I’m sure those tweaks had some influence.
Today my friend Justin will be over to help me prep for a podcast (due with today’s post) and a video, due with Monday’s post.
We’ll enjoy a steak dinner together.
On Friday morning my stitches came out.
Annoying, the pulls and snips, but eventually all nine were removed.
The healing had gone well.
I asked the RN about the attendant pain around my knee; there was no inflammation around the cut to suggest infection.
And she reasonably explained that during the fall the muscles surrounding the knee strained to hold me up and, collaterally, were healing at a separate pace.
So here I am writing this, hoping that this day will be the first of my ‘return to normal’ days.
FYI: after the stitches were removed I visited the club and got back on the machines. A week ago the last time I lifted.
Today I used only three-quarters of my normal weights and only half of the reps, the repetitions.
I like taking it easy on myself.
Then I went on the massage bed, limiting the massage area to my legs only.
About a year since I was last on it and it did feel good.
I’ll return to the club on Sunday increasing both the weights and the reps.
Then, every other day, slowly returning to full strength.
_____________________
4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
"Internet users, that blue screen of death you were looking at this morning? That's the sky. If you're still confused, look it up on Wikipedia tomorrow."
~ Stephen Colbert
__________________
5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Sally C:
Dear Dom,
I too have been following the progress of your knee with interest. I'm glad it's coming along well, but your description when it happened was painful to read. (And yet, you walked to the doctor's office! You're one tough cookie!)
Phillip fell on the ice in our driveway the first week of December and really messed up his knee badly. X-rays and MRIs did not show tearing of soft tissues or breakage of bones, but the extent of the swelling and bruising was horrific. throughout his whole leg, from mid-thigh down, complete with colors that have not yet been identified. A month later, the knee wasn't ready for the scheduled physical therapy, but the therapist inspecting it informed him that he had ruptured at least one of the little bursa-like sacs around and under the kneecap. Neither of us knew such things existed, but then again, we haven't specialized in anatomy either. Full recovery will be six months to a year, although comfort and mobility are returning very well. We've purchased stock in an ice manufactory. Ice, rest, and elevation have been Phillip's primary since the incident.
With regards to sleeplessness, are you aware that preparing the brain for sleep takes a lot longer when one goes immediately from electronic screen to bed? I read about a study on this recently, and it makes sense. Computer use (including e-book readers) engages a different part of the brain than does old-fashioned hard-copy reading and keeps it active for some time after one stops for the day (or night). So, going to bed with your Kindle could well be contributing to your inability to fall asleep. Something worth thinking about.
Happier news: My new website is nearly ready for public exposure. It's live, but I'm still adjusting and cleaning it up a bit before I begin sending out announcements to my hordes of adoring fans. And I'm still noodling about a pithy name for the newsletter/blog - getting close, but not quite there yet.
In the meantime, I'm praying for complete healing for your knee as well as for Phillip's. Have a great weekend! (And that lo mein looks marvelous!)
Blog Meister responded: You will be a perfect web meister [feminine form?]
To which Sally responded:
No, I will never be a web meister (feminine form or not). Perhaps a blog meister - I can do well at that. But I have no affinity for the understanding of electronics required for mastering the intricacies of the web. It is likely that I will always be an electronics dolt. (Still trying to figure out how to make this stupid smart phone, which I graduated to last summer (the archaic flip-phone on its last legs), do what I want when I apply some kind of logic. I don't think logical people design these things. It's usually not intuitive.)
Sally
To which Blog Meister responded: Thanks for effecting a change of names to this section of my blog.
Let us know when your blog goes live! Exciting.
____________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Hope to make some Lo Mein today.
I’ll buy some Fried Chicken Wings from Peach Farm in Boston’s Chinatown, (and maybe Fried watercress and egg drop soup and, maybe, Egg Rolls,) and sit down to a feast thinking myself Marco Polo.
__________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
_____________________
11.0 Thumbnails
Emilia-Romagna is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the northeast section of the country, comprising the historical regions of Emilia and Romagna.
Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of 666 sq mi, and about 4.4 million inhabitants.
Emilia-Romagna is one of the wealthiest and most developed regions in Europe, with the third highest GDP per capita in Italy.
Bologna, its capital, has one of Italy's highest quality of life indices and advanced social services. Emilia-Romagna is also a cultural, economic and tourist center: being the home of the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the world; containing Romanesque and Renaissance cities (such as Modena, Parma and Ferrara) and the former Eastern Roman Empire capital of Ravenna; encompassing eleven UNESCO heritage sites; being a center for food and automobile production (home of automotive companies such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Pagani, De Tomaso, Dallara, and Ducati); and having popular coastal resorts such as Cervia, Cesenatico, Rimini and Riccione.
In 2018, the Lonely Planet guide named Emilia Romagna as the best place to see in Europe.