The Manic Mechanic

What a way to start the New Year here at Mayhem Acres but with a nice winter snowstorm! Jeff had to work on New Year's Day (I always get the earworm thanks to U2 when I see or use the term) as well as NYE, the weekend before, plus yesterday and today, so he had a long week already. On his way home yesterday the snow had already begun falling. Thankfully he got home without a hitch, I had walked the dogs before the airborne crystalline assault began to gather ground troops and we were safely ensconced in wood-heated bliss for the evening. By early morning when Jeff was ready to head off to work (he's critical personnel) about six+ inches had fallen. By virtue of living off of a road deemed critical for emergency traffic (a police station, fire and paramedic department is about a mile-and-a-half away), and this road intersects three major highways, the road was clear enough for Jeff to carefully drive in to work. Once near the hospital, though, it was a different story, ironically the roads right up to the hospital were a mess. He got in without incident, and had an otherwise normal day. I waited until he got home before I attempted to tackle the snow in the driveways and walks, just in case I would fall, get hurt, or have some other unkind fate befall me. I'm pleased to say I managed to clear the walk and most of the driveways before the snowblower ran out of gas. I have maybe a fifteen minute job remaining, if even that, for tomorrow. After the dig-out we headed to the pet store and grocer for our week-plus of food and supplies. It was only after all that work and walking that I was finally breaking down and in need of a rest. All if this without a fall, a sudden burst of pain, a heart attack, shingles, athlete's foot or any other nasty body problems. Go me!

The PT I've been undergoing has been doing me some good. I am quite sore the next day, with enough DOMS to make me feel like I am accomplishing something at the gym. I weight less now than I did as a sophomore in high school. I'm not too concerned about the weight loss at this point since I don't need be be trying to haul a lot of bulk around. Part of the therapy involves electrostim treatments on my lower back. The therapist always comments on how much "energy" I have them set the machine for, apparently more than most people can handle, and I only increase it through the run of stim. I tell her that in addition to 40+ years of working with electricity and having it "greet" me on its own terms countless times, I've been hit by lighting as well. Makes for amusing conversation if nothing else. One of the things I'm going to try for is to get a decent home-use e-stim unit, the therapy does do my body good, and it might also have some, ahem, extracurricular use later on. I still have a long way to go until I can no longer walk looking like a stand-in for Quasimodo trying to imitate the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but I'm getting there.

Speaking of working out, weight loss and gyms, Jeff has been going to a local gym here trying to better his health and lose some weight. Earlier in the year he was attending a kettlebells gym. While he was increasing strength and flexibility, it was doing nothing for weight loss, something his doctors were insisting on as part of ongoing work since the heart attack. He found a decent deal that also includes a personal trainer, who not only set him up with specific routines and goals at the gym, but some pretty strict initial dietary guidelines as well. Since starting this about a month ago, he's down a good 14 pounds or so, with obvious changes to his physique to boot. Woof. The two of us will be heading through '14 leaner and meaner. I'll definitely be rockin' the meaner part, as I'm turning into a grouchy old cuss as 52 rounds the corner in less than a month.

I've also been getting back into some studio-oriented work, mostly with "remastering" some of my favorite music and making my own mixes. If I finally get the nerve to try without getting frustrated, I might pick up the guitars and basses here and give the old fingers a workout. I love music, and recent upgrades to the stereos, home theater and digital music servers are part of my getting back into serious listening and involvement with music. My recent setback after surgery with becoming quite deaf in my right ear is either beginning to subside, or I am getting used to it. I will soon upgrade my studio monitors, I was using headphones as my primary monitoring means, and a recent purchase of a different style of headphone hasn't really made a difference in my discomfort in using cans as monitors that has crept in recently. I might spring for that pair of Mackie bi-amped nearfields I've always lusted after. I can crank them while Jeff is away, and resort to the cans for nighttime listening.

As I often do when it snows, I poke my camera lens out the front door and take spooky, available-light shots of the snow falling on the trees in the front yard, so this is my first photo for the new year. Kinda blurry, but it's a handheld shot for a second or less.



Tomorrow, since Jeff is (finally!) home during the day, I might take shots of the dogs frolicking in the snow. Last year, Snickles didn't want anything to do with the white stuff. He'd stand around shivering, picking his feet up one by one and generally be miserable in the snow. I worried this year how he'd handle it, but it appears he's beginning to love the stuff. Kodi was always a snow-dog, he can't get enough of it. Snickles can potentially get around better in it than Kodi, thanks to his long thin legs. He still gets cold after a while, since he's a shorthaired pooch with less body hair than I have, apparently. We have a little jacket to help with that issue.

I hope everyone is starting off 2014 on a good note. I know I am trying to do so, and we'll see how it turns out as it progresses.

N. B. It seems LJ has been lazy with comment notifications with me lately, I didn't realize my last few posts had collected a fair amount of comments until tonight. I'll probably be going into my previous posts and answering some of them. Damn Russians!

The garden has started producing tomatoes in earnest. This evening Jeff and I gave my recently acquired Champion juicer it's first try, since I had also gotten my desired optional screen. In about 15-20 minutes we ended up with several gallons of juice! This sure beat the hell out of my old hand-cranked method by a mile. The juice itself is nice and thick but without the seeds or skins, I will begin cooking the stuff down tomorrow with the ultimate result being pasta sauce/marinara. This is only the beginning, however. The harvest of the last several days is only the tip of the tomato-y iceberg. Some of the Roma tomatoes will be frozen as they are, quite useful later on in dishes needing whole 'maters or things like soups and stews. More sauce will be made and frozen, and lots will be had in upcoming meals too. Quite a bit of the harvest will be shared with friends as well.

The smell of tomato sauce being made is one of my favorite smells, it reminds me of late summer, and, these days of course, Mom. So I am sure I'll get a little more than wistful as my olfactory senses go into overload. That's not a bad thing. One thing I know, Mom would have loved this juicer. I hope I make her memory proud.

Tomorrow morning I get to experience the unbridled joy of having needles plunged into my lower spine. I am simply hoping for some much-needed relief to this spinal stenosis. From what I know about it all, this will only be temporary, and getting stuck in the future will bring increasingly limited returns, with surgery being practically unavoidable. I'll cross those bridges once I arrive at them. In the meantime, wish me luck.

( tl;dr text about gardens, weedeaters, keyboard drawers, closet doors and anger management )

So, the biggest announcement out of Macworld was the inevitable iPhone. Yeah, it's sleek, has a cool touchscreen, undoubtedly gets completely smudged by fingerprints and cheek grease thereby spawning a huge raft of aftermarket cases and skins to keep it as pristine as possible...

Still, it's just a glorified cell phone. Worse yet, it is also a Blackberry-like email/PIM/PDA/net tablet. The latter fact will surely cause a rise in dazed, inattentive-to-their-surroundings automatons wandering sidewalks and hallways creating traffic jams and running into other people, and dont get me started about those who will use it as such while driving. I guess I will get double points while 'Blackberry Bowling*' if I manage to cause an iPhone-to-floor interface.

Sorry, I just cannot get excited about a tiny gadget that causes large monthly bills and adding to already poor behavior among the gadget distracted.

I made a joke about this quite a while back, and apparently it's a reality now. It appears that John Cage's groundbreaking work 4'33" is available as a ringtone. For those unaware if this piece, it is written for piano, and consists of four minutes and thirty-three seconds of blissful silence. If you ask me, this should be the default ringtone built into every phone made.

* "Blackberry Bowling" is the name I have given to a new contact sport that I currently engage in. It is played with two people. Me, and ostensibly an oblivious, self-absorbed yuppie type using a Blackberry, Treo, or other similar handheld device. The game starts with said device user walking through a corridor or hallway completely enthralled with his device and not paying attention to where he is walking. If this person is on a collision course with me coming in the opposite direction, I will prepare myself for the collision rather than take evasive maneuvers. I will usually let out a warning a split-second prior to the collision, whereupon I lead with my shoulder and take the impact. A bonus point is awarded to me if the collision causes the dropping of the device. It seems appropriate to double the bonus points if the dropped device is the new iPhone, simply due to the outrageous cost of the unit. Please not that in none of these instances am I the 'aggressor', i.e. I am not walking down the center of the aisle nor do I cause the actual 'hit'. Blackberry Bowling is a game played off the gutter, similar to a good roll in tenpins. I simply take the 'hit' when I have nowhere else to go. I simply lead with the shoulder and a stiff arm.