Cooking with Gas

A few weeks ago, one of the side handles on my stove broke. I glued the broken piece back on, but it looks rather janky now (see below). So I bought a replacement handle, but in order to get it on, a whole You Tube video worth of work is required. (I thought I'd be able to pop the old handle off and pop the new one on, but I was wrong.) So I need to have someone do this for me. In the meantime, I keep reading about gas stoves being outlawed in New York for new construction places and how gas stoves cause harm to people and the environment. I grew up with a gas stove and I have a gas stove now. I love having a gas stove! I've had electric stoves in the past and I didn't care for them. I cook with gas, baby! Does that mean I don't care about the environment or potential illnesses from gas stove vapors? No, but gas stoves have been around a long time and they haven't killed us yet, so I'm willing to stick with mine. Besides, if your power goes out, how are you supposed to cook all of the food that has the potential to go bad because your fridge is out if you have an electric stove? At least with gas you can light the burners and keep on trucking. 

Post-MLK Day Greetings

I enjoyed having a long weekend thanks to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday this past Monday. The break from my day job was nice and I was able to get some writing done. I'm working on what I think will be a short story. I'm a slow writer these days, so I'm not churning out the number of pages I used to. But, since the work on my day job has eased up a lot, I'm hoping to have more time on the weekends and in the evenings for my own writing.

Earlier today, I got some bad news that one of my cousins had passed away from Covid. I'd heard from my father over the weekend that she was in the hospital and that she was, apparently, unvaccinated. I'm not the kind of person who tells grown folks what to do and how to live their lives but, if asked, I'll give you my opinion. I've posted about being vaccinated and I believe it's the best way to stay alive these days. Covid impacts different people in such different ways, but why roll the dice with your health and not use every available resource that's out there to help you stay alive? My cousin who passed away wasn't a close cousin. (Just as a side note, I have around 50 first cousins who live all over the country, so I'm closer with some more than others.) I don't know if my late cousin had underlying medical conditions or why she wasn't vaccinated, but I suspect she'd still be here with us if she'd simply gotten vaccinated. RIP, cuz.

Gen X Kids

The Illinois State Museum is working on an exhibit about Generation X and, as a Gen Xer, I'm happy to hear this. As the often forgotten generation sandwiched between the Boomers and the Millennials, we don't get the kudos we deserve. 

Although the 1970s and 1980s (when I was a kid and a teenager) had their own distinctive (and often terrible) issues, I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything. There was a lot of freedom in being a kid in the 1970s and 80s that kids who came of age later just didn't have. I do think Gen X kids were fed too much of a conservative world view, particularly in the 1980s when Reagan was president. I know I have conservative views of drugs (thanks Nancy Reagan), but I've also seen the effects of drug use for people in my own family and the effects on certain communities during the 1980s. 

In other news, so many celebrity deaths over the past few weeks. RIP Betty White, Sidney Poitier, Ronnie Spector, Bob Saget. Wow. 

New Year Greetings

Happy New Year? Yeah, okay. I am holding out hope that 2022 will be better than 2021 but I'm sure I hoped that 2021 would be better than 2020 also (and, I guess, it was in some ways: vaccines, no more Donny T as POTUS, etc.). 

I have to say I've been having some relaxing days off from my day job to read, write (yes, write), and watch more TV than I probably should be watching. I've watched a number of programs:

1. The Staircase: This series dragged on far too long, but it was interesting. I don't know if Michael Peterson killed his wife or not, but something is not right with that guy. My gut feeling is that maybe his wife did fall down the stairs (either on or her own or with assistance from him) and he either finished her off or let her bleed out before he called 911. I don't believe for a minute that he just came in and found her body at the base of the staircase and then called 911.

2. Filthy Rich: This series was, thankfully, short but the main thing I got from the whole Epstein series was that the rich and powerful are protected. It's sad, but that's the way the justice system works in far too many cases in this country. I fully understand why some victims don't want to come forward after an assault when they're going up against someone with more money and more power than they have. I hate to quote that blonde Kelly from Fox News, but she said something when she brought charges against her perv boss Ailes like "if you shoot the king, you'd better kill him." She was right. If you're going to take down someone that rich and powerful, you'd better take him out because if you don't, he's going to come back and do everything in his power to destroy you, your character, your family. What I found interesting about Epstein was that once he fell out of everyone's graces after the New York indictment, his so-called friends just distanced themselves from him. They loved him until they didn't. Jeffrey who?

3. Justified: I've been watching the first season of Justified mainly so I can see Timothy Olyphant. I doubt I'll watch the entire series (because it went in for many seasons), but I'm enjoying the first season. Tim is great. He's so good looking and underrated as an actor. 

In other news, I'm trying to do a no-junk January where I'm cutting cookies, cake, donuts, etc. from my diet this month. I'm snacking on too much junk! I also haven't been to the gym since early December because of Covid, but now that gyms in my area are going to start requiring proof of vaccination to get in, I might go back this month.