<$BlogRSDUrl$>

THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Chronological Account of the Weiss family with contextual remarks, some weather, sports and other news. You can write to me at: mhw20854@yahoo.com The people in the Weiss family are: Martin, Ann, Beth and George. I also sometimes write about other people or our pet.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

A View of the Grocery

After various errands today, Ann and I went to a Starbucks that is part of a complex inside a Harris Teeter near the White Flint Metrorail station.

The Starbucks is one floor above the Harris Teeter and has balcony seating which allows one to gaze over much of the grocery store.

Perhaps not as exciting as gazing over a seascape or a mountain lake but not bad for the suburbs.

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:02 PM

Friday, June 23, 2017

The spanish word, "whatever"

I was working a job and the staff were discussing the work day.

One asked, "Cuando hacen terminamos el trabajo (when do we end work)"

The other said, "Cinco p m"

The first said, "Pero no estaremos listos hasta cinco treinta (but we won't be ready until 5:30)"

The other said, "whatever"

I asked her later, "Es 'Whatever' espanol?"

She said, "Si."

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:25 AM

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Cat's kidneys get better (or first test wrong)

In November 2016 we brought our cat (second image) to the Vet (Pet's Dominion).

The Vet took blood as part of their exam (they also take urine and stool) and sent it to the lab.

The lab reported a creatinine level of over 6 mg/dl which is stage 5 or worse for feline kidney failure.

Per one website, a cat with this high a level should be losing weight (she wasn't) and be more lethargic than normal (she wasn't) and wouldn't be expected to live more than 50 days (she did).

We got some lower protein food for her that is easier on the kidneys (this course of treatment is debated with some website saying lower protein food is worse than regular food).

We brought our cat in again yesterday and her creatinine level was down to 2.3 or so which is elevated but within normal values for a cat her age (11 years old).

Theories: miracle, bad first test, some trauma to kidney elevated the level in November

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:10 PM

Tornado devastates several trees near where I used to live

A small tornado was on the ground in the DC area for a few blocks yesterday. It struck an area only about a mile from where I lived in most of the 1960s.

I knew people who lived within a block or so of the tornado path.

As the chart (picture and chart from the Washington Post website) shows there were no injuries.

Several trees were downed and the downed trees damages several homes. Probably damage is between $1M and $5M

posted by Martin Weiss # 2:39 PM

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Que es Más Delicioso

I don't usually do taste tests. Its too difficult to eat while being blindfolded and if you don't blindfold, its not really a good test. However, I did do a sort-of-a-test today. The contestants were the Giant store brand of chocolate ice cream and Breyer's chocolate ice cream.

The Breyer's had a more creamy consistency which probably has nothing to do with cream. I'm guessing it has more to do with how much MSG they use and how long they take to emulsify the mixture.

The Giant brand tasted more chocolatey.

The irony of that last bit is that the Giant brand uses no actual chocolate and the Breyer's brand advertises itself as using real chocolate.

Both were wonderful and I could easily eat a whole carton in one sitting if I didn't control myself.

posted by Martin Weiss # 3:24 PM

Monday, June 12, 2017

Mushroom Strudel - on the wrong table

I was doing mashgiach work at a Bat Mitzvah party. One of the things they had was mushroom strudel. They put the strudel on the table with the made-to-order omelets.

Later in the party, the leftovers were brought in to the kitchen and the staff (including me) had some during the party clean up time. A few of the staff took the strudel and put in on plates with the left over salmon. I had some and thought that the strudel should have been on that table during the party meal serving time. The strudel and mushroom are both offset foods so they went well with the strong tasting salmon.

The image is of a beef and mushroom strudel which sounds like it could stand on its own without anything (except maybe a sauce).

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:49 AM

Tuesday, June 06, 2017

early 1990s IT Saves a Smartcar Deal

George's Toyota was consuming oil and had other problems so we decided to get a new used car for him.

George saw, online, a Smartcar for sale at the CarMax near Dulles Airport. We drove down and after the test drive he decided he liked it enough to buy it. The car actually has pretty good leg and head room (because of no back seats) but has some rough gear transitions accelerating from 0 to 20 mph. To get an idea of the scale of the car, the first image shows George (without shoes) and the car (and yes, it does get pretty good gas mileage).

Anyway, CarMax wanted us to verify our account balance before they accepted our check. Irritatingly, the website of my credit union was not accessible from the CarMax computer (I don't know why). So to confirm the balance for CarMax, George suggested we use the old telephone tree system that the credit union began in the early 90s. Amazingly, I remembered my old 4 digit passcode (on the 3rd try). We used a land line like the one in the second image. The land line had a 'speaker' function so the CarMax people could hear the balance.

Once this was done, George told the CarMax people, "I think I just traveled back in time to 1994"

posted by Martin Weiss # 3:51 PM

Sunday, June 04, 2017

Bat Mitzvah Party with a Surprise

I was doing Mashgiach work at a party today. It was for a Bat Mitzvah. I noticed that the family was pretty fussy about some of the items on the menu. They had potato pancakes that had to be made into squares and they required the crust to be taken off french toast strips and served with individual portions of maple syrup in a cocktail glass.

Then during the event, I learned that the girl who had the bat mitzvah had gotten a kidney transplant just 10 months earlier and the donor was from the extended family.

It was nice affair, they also had salmon and rice and mushrooms and the music included YMCA and We Are Family and Don't stop believing and I Will Survive.

The biggest difficulty was getting the chocolate fountain to work but certainly worth it for the desserts.

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:15 PM

Archives

09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003 10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008 10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008 11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008 12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009 01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009 02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009 03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009 04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009 05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009 06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009 07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009 08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009 09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009 10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009 11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009 12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010 01/01/2010 - 02/01/2010 02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010 03/01/2010 - 04/01/2010 04/01/2010 - 05/01/2010 05/01/2010 - 06/01/2010 06/01/2010 - 07/01/2010 07/01/2010 - 08/01/2010 08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010 09/01/2010 - 10/01/2010 10/01/2010 - 11/01/2010 11/01/2010 - 12/01/2010 12/01/2010 - 01/01/2011 01/01/2011 - 02/01/2011 02/01/2011 - 03/01/2011 03/01/2011 - 04/01/2011 04/01/2011 - 05/01/2011 05/01/2011 - 06/01/2011 06/01/2011 - 07/01/2011 07/01/2011 - 08/01/2011 08/01/2011 - 09/01/2011 09/01/2011 - 10/01/2011 10/01/2011 - 11/01/2011 11/01/2011 - 12/01/2011 12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012 01/01/2012 - 02/01/2012 02/01/2012 - 03/01/2012 03/01/2012 - 04/01/2012 04/01/2012 - 05/01/2012 05/01/2012 - 06/01/2012 06/01/2012 - 07/01/2012 07/01/2012 - 08/01/2012 08/01/2012 - 09/01/2012 09/01/2012 - 10/01/2012 10/01/2012 - 11/01/2012 11/01/2012 - 12/01/2012 12/01/2012 - 01/01/2013 01/01/2013 - 02/01/2013 02/01/2013 - 03/01/2013 03/01/2013 - 04/01/2013 04/01/2013 - 05/01/2013 05/01/2013 - 06/01/2013 06/01/2013 - 07/01/2013 07/01/2013 - 08/01/2013 08/01/2013 - 09/01/2013 09/01/2013 - 10/01/2013 10/01/2013 - 11/01/2013 11/01/2013 - 12/01/2013 12/01/2013 - 01/01/2014 01/01/2014 - 02/01/2014 02/01/2014 - 03/01/2014 03/01/2014 - 04/01/2014 04/01/2014 - 05/01/2014 05/01/2014 - 06/01/2014 06/01/2014 - 07/01/2014 07/01/2014 - 08/01/2014 08/01/2014 - 09/01/2014 09/01/2014 - 10/01/2014 10/01/2014 - 11/01/2014 11/01/2014 - 12/01/2014 12/01/2014 - 01/01/2015 01/01/2015 - 02/01/2015 02/01/2015 - 03/01/2015 03/01/2015 - 04/01/2015 04/01/2015 - 05/01/2015 05/01/2015 - 06/01/2015 06/01/2015 - 07/01/2015 07/01/2015 - 08/01/2015 08/01/2015 - 09/01/2015 09/01/2015 - 10/01/2015 10/01/2015 - 11/01/2015 11/01/2015 - 12/01/2015 12/01/2015 - 01/01/2016 01/01/2016 - 02/01/2016 02/01/2016 - 03/01/2016 03/01/2016 - 04/01/2016 04/01/2016 - 05/01/2016 05/01/2016 - 06/01/2016 06/01/2016 - 07/01/2016 07/01/2016 - 08/01/2016 08/01/2016 - 09/01/2016 09/01/2016 - 10/01/2016 10/01/2016 - 11/01/2016 11/01/2016 - 12/01/2016 12/01/2016 - 01/01/2017 01/01/2017 - 02/01/2017 02/01/2017 - 03/01/2017 03/01/2017 - 04/01/2017 04/01/2017 - 05/01/2017 05/01/2017 - 06/01/2017 06/01/2017 - 07/01/2017 07/01/2017 - 08/01/2017 08/01/2017 - 09/01/2017 09/01/2017 - 10/01/2017 10/01/2017 - 11/01/2017 11/01/2017 - 12/01/2017 12/01/2017 - 01/01/2018 01/01/2018 - 02/01/2018 02/01/2018 - 03/01/2018 03/01/2018 - 04/01/2018 04/01/2018 - 05/01/2018 05/01/2018 - 06/01/2018 06/01/2018 - 07/01/2018 07/01/2018 - 08/01/2018 08/01/2018 - 09/01/2018 09/01/2018 - 10/01/2018 10/01/2018 - 11/01/2018 11/01/2018 - 12/01/2018 12/01/2018 - 01/01/2019 01/01/2019 - 02/01/2019 02/01/2019 - 03/01/2019 03/01/2019 - 04/01/2019 04/01/2019 - 05/01/2019 05/01/2019 - 06/01/2019 06/01/2019 - 07/01/2019 07/01/2019 - 08/01/2019 08/01/2019 - 09/01/2019 09/01/2019 - 10/01/2019 10/01/2019 - 11/01/2019 11/01/2019 - 12/01/2019 12/01/2019 - 01/01/2020 01/01/2020 - 02/01/2020 02/01/2020 - 03/01/2020 03/01/2020 - 04/01/2020 04/01/2020 - 05/01/2020 05/01/2020 - 06/01/2020 06/01/2020 - 07/01/2020 07/01/2020 - 08/01/2020 08/01/2020 - 09/01/2020 09/01/2020 - 10/01/2020 10/01/2020 - 11/01/2020 11/01/2020 - 12/01/2020 12/01/2020 - 01/01/2021 01/01/2021 - 02/01/2021 02/01/2021 - 03/01/2021 03/01/2021 - 04/01/2021 04/01/2021 - 05/01/2021 05/01/2021 - 06/01/2021 06/01/2021 - 07/01/2021 07/01/2021 - 08/01/2021 08/01/2021 - 09/01/2021 09/01/2021 - 10/01/2021 10/01/2021 - 11/01/2021 11/01/2021 - 12/01/2021 12/01/2021 - 01/01/2022 01/01/2022 - 02/01/2022 02/01/2022 - 03/01/2022 03/01/2022 - 04/01/2022 04/01/2022 - 05/01/2022 05/01/2022 - 06/01/2022 06/01/2022 - 07/01/2022 07/01/2022 - 08/01/2022 08/01/2022 - 09/01/2022 09/01/2022 - 10/01/2022 10/01/2022 - 11/01/2022 11/01/2022 - 12/01/2022 12/01/2022 - 01/01/2023 01/01/2023 - 02/01/2023 02/01/2023 - 03/01/2023 03/01/2023 - 04/01/2023 04/01/2023 - 05/01/2023 05/01/2023 - 06/01/2023 06/01/2023 - 07/01/2023 07/01/2023 - 08/01/2023 08/01/2023 - 09/01/2023 09/01/2023 - 10/01/2023 10/01/2023 - 11/01/2023 11/01/2023 - 12/01/2023 12/01/2023 - 01/01/2024 01/01/2024 - 02/01/2024 02/01/2024 - 03/01/2024 03/01/2024 - 04/01/2024 04/01/2024 - 05/01/2024