THE WEISS CHRONICLES

 

I was on duty for a short time today at one of the Kosher Grocery Stores.

I noticed that parts of several shelves were labelled Kitniyot (legume content food that is acceptable for Sephardi but prohibited to Ashkenazi during Passover.).

I have not seen this before and I can't remember having seen a U.S. kitniyot labeled food product (although I'm pretty sure something like this exists).  We were in Israel a few years ago and there were a lot of kiniyot products labeled as such sold in groceries.

 There is a lot to do to prepare for Passover, not just the sedar but everything. A lot went wrong this year (image from an 1862 painting,

author unknown).

- I forgot to roast an egg until just as we sat down. I ended up roasting it on a burner which 'sort of' worked and besides it's just a minhag.

- I overcooked the lamb shankbone which is not a fatal error but still.

- We overbought Shumura Matzah. Also not a fatal error but annoying (second image shows, what I think is Shumura, Matzah being sorted in Bnai Brak).

- I forgot to fill Elijah's cup until we opened the door for Elijah, also just a minhag.

- We forgot to get the trash and recycle out before 630am on Monday morning (I probably depend too much on email from the county to remind me of this and since it was a yom tov I didn't look at my email). I woke up on Sunday morning when I heard the trash trucks and dressed and got the stuff out in time for the trucks to pick them up when they came for the other side of the street.

Anyway, a lot of anxiety but minimal actual damage.

 

I've been having knee problems. They make lots of noise when I get up after bending down and they hurt after I walk.

I went to an orthopedist today. They took x-rays. He said my knees weren't quite as good as the image on the left but no where as bad as the image on the right.

Thus he said to do a month of physical therapy and if it wasn't working well enough, they would inject cortisone or some bio lubricant.

 

The lack of heavy rain and wind will, I think, make this an extended cherry blossom season.

 

The blossoms around the tidal basin are still a week or two away from peak but some of the sub species are early bloomers.

 

For example, this image (click on it twice to get a good enlargement) was taken today at Park Potomac on Cadbury Avenue (about a mile from our house). 

 

It is probably a day or two away from peak but the way the perspective is makes for an impressive show.

 Yesterday I got email giving me a link to make an appointment today for vaccine dosing.  It turned out I had some time mid day and they had an opening.  It was at the White Oak Community Center (image 1). 

It is about 25 minutes from our house.

The parking lot was full and I had to wait for someone to vacate before getting a space. 

Then there was a long line to meet the first verifying employee who checked my name on her printed list (they had my first name as 'Howard' but they changed their record (so they said).

Then there was another long line to get to someone to look at my ID and re verify it. 

Then another long line to get the vaccine (Moderno - see image) and get the certificate (see last image).

Then a 15 minute wait to see if I had any allergic reaction (nope).

The whole process took about 50 minutes. Based on the number of vaccination stations, the time they said they were open and the time per vaccination, I guess they vaccinated between 1000 and 2000 today at this site.

The person in front of me in the line had a USPS wool hat but a throwaway mask. I asked him if the USPS gave him a mask with a USPS logo. He said it did but it made him too hot. I was thinking of telling him that the wool hat was probably making him hotter than the mask but thought better of it.

 Ann and I were at the Hair Cuttery today.  This was for our 'pre Passover haircuts'.

I asked about the 'Barbicide' sign.  

 

The barber said that this was required by the CDC.

I told the barber that 'germicide' means 'kills germs' and 'insecticide' means 'kills insects' so...

 

She laughed.

 

Like many (probably most) men my age I have an enlarged prostate with typical symptoms.

I had a cystoscopy today.  The reason was to see if my prostate gland is regular since this would allow a Urolift rather than a TURP (Transurethral resection of the prostate). 

 

The cystoscopy took about 2 minutes (really) and there was a large screen to see everything the scope was seeing.  Almost no discomfort at all.

The main advantage of the Urolift is there is no cutting and the downtime is easier.  Of course the relief from symptoms is better with the TURP. There are other differences of course. Contrary to the linked website, TURP is also an outpatient procedure now.

 

Probably I'll go with the Urolift.

 

We bought our range (a Kenmore Electric) in 2003. Basically it has worked well.  

 

In early 2020 one of the burners had a problem with the control knob not working. The problem was that the knob (images  2 and 3) could not grip the control shaft (image 1). We had it replaced and also had some of the electrical parts of the burner replaced. 

This was done by a service person. We have a service contract.

Then later in 2020 the same burner had the same problem with the control knob.  We had it replaced by a service person.

Then the knob failed again this month.  I called the service people and told them to send me the knob in the mail and, surprise, they agreed. 

Now I have to think whether I will reinforce the plastic grip with some metal scrap.  This wouldn't be too difficult but I'm thinking I shouldn't do it because it might invalidate the service contract.

 

 

It is warm this afternoon.  In the upper 60s.

Sure enough we have lots of crocus popping up.

I've been putting in bulbs now for several years. They are supposed to be a variety of colors but it seems the purple ones are by far the ones that seem to actually take root.

As the crocus plants get older you can see the dusting of saffron on them but I've never tried to harvest that.

 Since I began to drink coffee regularly (I think it started when I was in college), I have almost certainly been drinking it too fast.

Once I was doing a seminar with a guy from The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). The seminar was about financial planning (early 1990s) and I found that we had drastically over estimated the financial sophistication of government employees in transportation planning - but that is another story.

Anyway, the fellow from the GFOA would make a 12 ounce cup of coffee to have during his 45 minute presentation and after the presentation he would still have about 6 ounces left.  He also sipped slowly during our meetings.  Typically, I finished a cup in 5 to 10 minutes.  

Lately I have somehow begun to be a slower coffee drinker.  I noticed today that I made a 16 to 20 ounce cup for myself at about 930am and I hadn't finished it by 11:00. 

 

So there is a late life improvement for you.

 I was donating platelets again on March 3. Metrics were pulse-84, BP=110/80 Hg=15.2, covid=negative

I saw two movies. The first "Carnival Magic". It was a 1983 movie. For many years it was thought that no film of this existed. A film was discovered in 2009. 

The plot is actually interesting. An aging magician (the man in the second image) teams with a super intelligent chimpanzee to save a carnival but meets jealousy from the lion tamer and a threat from a scientist who wants to vivisect the chimp. Although it was supposed to be a family film there is alcoholism, sexual desire and violence. Production values are really low however and dialogue is inferior.  The chimp's name is Alex. Joke: a character calls out Alex and one of the robots says, "I'll take potent potables for $200". The magician's beautiful assistant in the second image is Regina Carroll a veteran of many vampire movies of the era.

The second movie was a 1976 film "At the Earth's Core", following roughly the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel of the same name. 

 

Peter Cushing (who a few years later had the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars) had the part of a thin awkward British Scientist. Joke: When the Cushing character wakes up a robot says, "It was awful. I dreamed I was a protocol droid".