The "wonders" of typing

I always admired people who were able to type with more than two fingers and also without looking at the keyboard, like searching for the letters. I can not. I have been using computer for almost 30 years and still type with two fingers and looking for the letters.

The Hungarian alphabet has 44 letters versus the 26 in the American ones. 14 of the Hungarian vowels have accents. These result in at least 44 letter keys (I think). Learning those is no small feat yet, people did learn it many are very good at it.

My good friend went to business school in Hungary where typing was a separate subject. This was shortly after we went from runic writing to the alphabet, that long ago . Anyway, in those days they used the good, old fashioned typewriters with carbon ribbons. He told me that the typewriter keys were marked with the proper letters, but their assignment was to memorize them.

After a certain time the letters were removed, and the students were expected to know them by heart. They had to type certain texts and were grade on their accuracy. I asked him recently if he still remembered these. He told me that like a lot of stuff one learns in school then forgets upon leaving this fell into that category.

I used to have a secretary who was a crackerjack typist. She was able to look at the pages, type them without looking at the keyboard and at the same time carry on a conversation. She was the best. I wish I could type that well, but I guess if I hadn't learned it by now I never will. 

This will not get into my bucket list.

Sunday

 The week went by like an express train. Sunday is here again!

MRI

I had a little accident and that necessitated an MRI. The other day they did it for me and I tell you it was the worse I ever had. They MRId my hand and wrist and I found out that these body parts and the elbow are the most difficult ones to do. When it is difficult it means they twist you like a pretzel until they find the correct pose for the pictures.

In my life I did have several MRIs but none was so painful and difficult as these. The pose I had to lie in for 40 minutes was so uncomfortable that I can not begin to describe it. I am convinced that the engineers who design these monstruous machines don't care about patient comfort. If they did would have changed their design.

The poor technician who operated the machine was trying very hard to make me comfortable but with no success. She kept apologizing but I told her it was not her fault. Anyway, like a good trooper I heroically endured all the pains and discomforts with the knowledge that I, hopefully will never have to have this thing done again.

Kosher, again

I think this entire kosher thing is a rip-off. At least where businesses are concerned. They sell food products labeled kosher and because of that they cost more than the same food that is non-kosher. Well, the rabbi has to make a living, right?

There was an article in a local paper a while back how to different organizations were fighting for the "kosherization" territory. Each claimed the other was not the real authority for this. thaI couldn't care less who certifies the food or if it kosher or not as long as it is good.

Unfortunately, good beef cuts are not considered kosherable. Like filet mignon is the wrong cut. For some reason they cut beef differently if the cow dies like a Jew. Now, pork which is one of the tastiest meats I know is a big no-no. 

Interestingly, in this area there are several food stores that are considered Halal. This is the Moslem version of Kosher. As far as I know that is not much difference between the two except in one the rabbi gets paid in the other the imam. Halal tends to favor lamb or goat and fortunately I do like lamb.

From where I sit, they are all playing with our monies and our simplistic believes. 

Just a short story:

Years ago I went to a Hungarian restaurant in Manhattan. Small place, tables by the wall next to each other. Next to me was sitting an Israeli woman who ordered Wiener Schnitzel. This supposed to be breaded veal but the menu said breaded cutlet. After taking a few bites she asked the waitress and inquired if that was veal or pork? The waitress affirmed that it was pork and they never claimed that to be veal. The woman got all upset and true to being a good Jewish person returned the food. Then went on complaining to me, being the only person within earshot that now that she ate pork, what will happen. My cool, calm and collected response was that about five minutes passed, God did not send down lightening so she should be allright.

Kosher

Kosher food rules are complicated. I only know the tip of this iceberg. No pork, no fish that have scales, no shelled seafood, no pepperoni pizza. That is about it all. Understand that I am not kosher. I eat whatever I like regardless religious restrictions. But it takes ingenious thinking to overcome some of these rules. 

For instance, not far from us a new burger place opened up. They sell very good burger and shortly they became popular with the kosher crowd. Every time we go in, they are crowded. They sell burgers and cheeseburgers. So, I got to thinking. 

How can they sell cheese and burgers together. According to kosher rules dairy and meet shall not meet. It turned out that they sell vegan cheese. And that is not considered dairy. We usually visit a Jewish food store on Fridays where they sell very good, prepared food and salads. For my luck they also sell very good cholent (sholet in Hung.). I love cholent. I could eat it every day. A good cholent has meat and whole eggs in it. At least the kind my mother used to make.

The cholent we buy here has the meat but no eggs. And the other day I realized that meat and eggs do not mix because egg is a dairy. Too bad, it would be better with the eggs in it. But I'm sure they will discover vegan eggs one day.

This is what I call Jewish ingenuity!

Me

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a major day for me. I was totally overhauled. Not internally but externally. I had a pedicure, a manicure and a haircut. I usually have these once every six weeks or so. During that time my nails grow and with my longer hair I look like an old madman.

I go to this older Russian barber who thankfully does not charge me by the amount of hair he cuts. Everybody says that in my age I do have a lot of hair. As far as I remember nobody was bald in my family. My father had sparser hair but was not bald so there is no reason why I should be. Actually, that would make my life simpler. No money for haircuts and no reason to buy shampoo.

My nails also grow pretty well, and they do need to be professionally cut. Years ago, I stubbornly rejected such pampering with the exception of haircuts but lately I really don't mind. A little pampering doesn't hurt at all.

This all purpose hair salon is owned by a Russian couple and all of us, except Robin goes there. It is not upscale, very neighborhoody and even though they are Jewish Russians, actually they are Uzbeks, they are very nice. Also, the store is not far from us.

So, now I feel like a civilized human being.  

Kiyiv

Our glorious president visited Kiyiv (or Kiev as I knew it) the other day. For obvious reasons it was hush-hush trip but once there it was shown on tv. Biden and the sweatshirt kid met at the Ukrainian presidential palace. Looking at the inside of this "humble" abode one wouldn't think that there is a war going on and a few blocks away building were bombed to the ground. Or were they?

Inside it was gilded, palace guards in impeccable uniforms, no sign of war raging on. Biden was dressed all right but the host in his sweatshirt looked totally out of place. I can not imagine what statement is he trying to make. Obviously, if any I just don't get it. The president promised more help and told them of our devotion to democracy and freedom. All that sounds great except the European allies are getting pretty fed up with this situation. Biden is not representing them so he should not speak on their behalf.

I don't say we should walk away from this situation and leave Ukraine to their own but instead of feeding them military aid we should try to arrange some kind of peace between those warring parties. If he is such a good statesman, he thinks he is why not trying harder to end this fiasco before more people are killed. 

Carter brought the PLO and Israel together, Trump brought several Arab countries (former enemies of Israel) together with Israel. What does this guy do? Feed weapons to Ukraine against Russia. Now if this does not sound crazy then I don't know what does.

He goes to Ukraine but does not go to Ohio to visit the trainwreck site. Nice president we are having. 

Robin

I used to have cat by the name of Micu. We got him shortly after he was born and stayed with me for 22 years. He was with me through thick and thin. When he expired it was due to old age and not because of any health condition. The vet said he was very well kept and that contributed to his longevity. When he died, I was very sad. It was like I lost a family member and at that time I couldn't see myself getting another pet and go through another heartbreak.

But now we have Robin. He is six years old and there is a good chance that he might outlive me. But who knows! Anyway, he is now part of our family, and I just can't imagine us without him. Everything we do revolves around him. And he knows it. Robin is very funny. He is extremely attached to my wife. He thinks he is her main protector. When any one of us try to go near her he starts to snarl.

If Abigail, my wife and I stand up and do a community hug he jumps up barks and wants to be included. He also understands English and Hungarian. If we say "let's go" in any of those languages he understands it and immediately jumps up and ready to go.

We are sitting quietly, and my wife calls out to me, Robin starts to bark to me like saying "hey stupid old man, didn't you hear it". Aside that he needs to be taken out five times a day he is still good to have. I know that in his own way he loves us and loyal to us. Regardless that he bites me over and over again he still loves to curl up on my lap and that is worth a lot.

Originally, I was against getting a dog but now I really don't mind that we have him. Can't imagine our life without him. This family never listens to me any way but this time I'm ok with it.

Sunday

 One word: Sunday says it all.

Optimism

I am an optimist. I believe in the good and try to avoid the bad. I believe if I don't concern myself with the bad it eventually will solve itself and disappear. This is a good attitude that does not work all the time but works enough times to keep believing in it.

Here is what an optimist I am. A few days ago, I signed up to a subscription for the next three (3) years. after when I thought about it in my age three years from now, I will be almost 90. That is a very respectable age if I may say so. And furthermore, I DO PLAN to be here!

I guess getting a 30 year mortgage is a little pushing it, no?

I hate this not being realistic as far as the future is involved. I know that I and my friends of the same age group live their lives normally without any thought of what the future holds. There is very little we can do about it so why worry? 

Obviously, there are doors that are already closed for us. Like if we would want to work there is really nobody who would hire an 86 year old person (maybe because we are too smart). There are certain physical activities that may look doable in our minds, but the body tells us, forget it, you are too old for this.

My bucket list now fills a very small bucket. Things that I aspired for now are just unfulfilled dreams. The plus side of this equation is that we are smarter than anybody around us, we have all the answers and there is very little we didn't do yet.

Maybe that is why people don't like us oldsters!

Politics

It is very interesting and at the same time scary the political situations we are in right now. 

For one thing this Chinese balloon affair. Reminds me of the old U-2 incident. We went into their airspace and when we were found out we were indignant. The Chinese came into our airspace and when they were found out they act insulted.

Ukraine. Well, this is becoming old news. The war is going on with no end in sight. Zelensky shows off his large supply of sweatshirts he keeps wearing. Reminds me of good old Fidel who insisted to wear his (tailored) fatigues even after he won his revolution. 

This terrible freight train derailment in Ohio which is already labeled as the America's Chernobyl.

The immigrant stories are with no end in sight. Unless Biden builds the wall that thing will continue, and we will be overrun by Hispanic immigrants.

Biden's son, Hunter is part of the political landscape. If he were not the son of the president, he would have been prosecuted a long time ago.

There is a lot more, but I don't feel like listing them all. Everything is a political powder keg. None of these are for the betterment of the people but for the politicians. Then at the top of these is a president who thinks all these are jokes because he just keeps grinning at everything. No wonder nobody takes him seriously. Not here nor internationally. 

Good country, America!  

End of the line

Yesterday it was in the news that Raquel Welch passed away at the age of 82. I remember her if not for superior acting but for her outstanding beauty. For years she did not make the news but now she did for the wrong reasons. I remember her, I saw several of her movies and really liked her. It is sad that she passed away but that's life.

Actually, 82 not a ripe age for ending life. I don't believe there is a correct age for that.

At my age this subject is not taboo anymore. Can't help but wonder what form will I or any of us will meet the Great Reaper. We all have our theories or wishes. 

For a while I imagined I would find my end in a plane crash. That is irreversible, or just go to sleep and quietly slip away. My friend told me he thought he would be in a car crash and that would be the end. The bad thing about it is that our spouses expressed that they would not be on the same plane or in the same car with us.

The bottom line is that nobody knows. But it is very depressing to hear in the news about people's passing who are invariably our age.

My cousin, God rest his soul, had a girl friend who always said that he (my cousin) had less ahead of him than behind. He passed away at the age of 85. At this point I outlived him!  

Donald

Trump is funny. He doesn't have a good word for anybody in this world. I can understand that he is a perfectionist and have very high demands. But then he goes to his campaign stops and mentions the local politicians just to rile up the public, but I am sure in private he labels each and every one of them idiots.

According to the Internet while he was watching the Superball halftime show with Rihanna he made negative comments about her. He said this was the worst half time show he ever watched. I agree that he is a billionaire businessman, and he is entitled to his opinion, actually we all are, but being also a politician, he should keep some of those to himself.  

Many times, I also would like to express my opinion about certain individuals but not being a politician and not being a billionaire, I keep those to myself. I am very curious to see how he will be able to get the voters on his side the next time. He said and did things in the intermittent years that not everybody looks at favorably. But on the other hand, anything is better than the Biden/Kamala team.

Balloons

Here is another political bombshell. The Chinese balloon thing. They claim they shot down a bunch of balloons that were flying over US and Canadian airspace. They claim only four but who knows. What is it they are not telling us. 

At first the Chinese claimed it was a wayward weather balloon. Now they are not saying anything except they are upset. Why? To be found out? Did they honestly thought that with today's technology those balloons will not be noticed?

This reminds me of the 1960 U-2 incident. The American spy plane was shot down over Soviet Union and its pilot caught. Embarrassing? Yes, very. Almost came to war. I just hope this little affair will be settled diplomatically because what we do not need is another war.

I read in the news that in one case the pilot missed the target and had to use another missile. I find very peculiar. The damn thing is as big as a house, how can it be missed? This is just like in the movies when there is a shootout between law enforcement and the bad guys, and all those pros can not aim right. I can see the bad guys, but the pros should be able to find their targets. This is what they train for. The same sentiment applies to the pilot. He just wasted half a million dollar of my hard earned taxpayer money!

Valentine's Day

The day this appears is Valentine's Day. A year has 356 days. One year a date people express their love and respect for their mothers and one another day people express their love towards their better halves.

That leaves 363 days left when nothing, no feelings need to be expressed. This is a very peculiar situation. I love my wife, but I only have to show it one day a year. The other days just melt into nothing. No showings of love and tenderness necessary. This kind of make life very simple and easy. This is almost like the confession in the Catholic church. One commits a bad thing, goes to church, confesses it to the priest who says say six Hail Mary and all is forgiven.

363 days a year we can behave badly towards our partner or mom as long as on those one days we show love, bring flower and maybe serve breakfast in bed. Apropos, after breakfast in bed the good wife usually cleans up the kitchen!

I never heard of Valentine's Day until I came to this country. This is a strictly commercial event when Hallmark can sell its cards, restaurants can create special menus and florists can up their usual prices. But when you in Rome do as the Romans do!

Superball Sunday

Today was Superball Sunday. You honestly don't expect me to sit down and write my blog on Superball Sunday, right?

Disappointment

I was very disappointed today when I found out that one of my dearest and closest friend, whom I know almost as long as I am alive will not come to visit to New York. A short while back he waved a carrot stick by saying they were planning to visit the colonies and I was really looking forward seeing him and his wife.

Today he informed me that on doctor's advice his travel plan was scrapped. Well, another disappointment I will have to deal with. At this point in my life, I guess I should get used to these things but nevertheless it is still unpleasant. 

It is also sad because I am still trying to believe that aside from our aches and pains, we are basically indestructible. Yes, we are!

TV

"Today I had a great day. I was not "unbusy". From the moment I got up, a little after 8am I was almost nonstop helping out. As the result of our moving around the cable tv didn't work as we would have liked it. So called the cable company and they sent a technician.

Actually, the tv didn't work yesterday and ther cable company figured out that one of our cable boxes (we have three) was not working. So, they sent one by FedEx which got here this morning. They said yesterday all we had to do was just exchange them and it should work.

Should, would, it did not! That was why the technician came out and worked on it for over an hour. Thankfully, now it works. After he left, we had to do major cleaning up (again) because he was all over the apartment.

It is very interesting to see on tv gadgets advertised how easy to use them. According to these people just smile press a button and voila, it works. Well, in real life it is not so. There are always untold steps we have to make and those steps we must figure out, and without much help. I would call these false advertising.  

Why

Why did I miss Wednesday? I have a very good and logical explanation. Here are the details.

Next door to us lives a youngish, single woman. Unfortunately, she smokes marijuana. For a while she smoked inside her apartment then when she was warned she went outside to the street but lately she resumed smoking inside. She was warned several times but somehow, she just didn't heed any warning.

Things got so bad that several times the smell of weed penetrated through the wall into our apartment. The last time it was the middle of last week. The room was Abigail's bedroom and her closet. You can imagine how upset my wife and I became but mainly my wife.

The building super told us that other people also complained but the landlord said there was nothing he could (or would) do. In New York now this is not illegal. Even though the lease explicitly forbids any kind of smoking inside the building the landlord doesn't want to do anything.

So, my wife decided to switch bedrooms. Ours with Abigails. She probably figured that at my age I lived through so much this kind of poisoning would not hurt me.

This is what we did on Wednesday. Switched contents of closets, rehung pictures, switched all the furniture. By this morning every bone in my body, every muscle in my body hurt. Even though I did just a small proportion of work compared to my wife. I also found out that even though my brain says I can do it the reality is that I have the fraction of the strength I used to have. Is this old age?

Well, if it is they can keep it.

  

Grammy

Sunday night was the 2023 Grammy Awards presentation. I had the misfortune to watch it. Simply because there was nothing else to watch. It was the biggest waste of my time. This show is nothing else but a night of self congratulations, screaming, inside jokes, bad music and even worse singings. The so-called artists are nothing but a bunch of lucky individuals who kissed the right behinds to get to wherever they are.

If today's youth like this kind of music I really feel sorry for them. I noticed that one thing these performers don't do. It is at the end of their numbers they do not bow for the audience. They just stand there with smug grins on their faces like saying come and adore me. That is not the way a true artist behaves. Even Pavarotti bowed before the audience, and he was a real artist.

Their fashions were atrocious. There was more decolletage than a man would really like to see. Every woman at this evening was convinced that they should show as much as possible. I think if law would permit it, they would be happy to show up nude.

Why all songs have to be screamed? I really don't understand it. There was also a mentioning that Hip Hop (whatever that is) was 50 years old and this resulted in an idiotic screamfest between a multitude of groups. Unpleasant is not the word. I have to note that Hip Hop is black and thus all the groups were such. The audience to show their patriotism stood during this very long number. I don't think there was anybody who dared to stay sitting!

The way I understand it only loud music was mentioned during this presentation. There were no classical numbers or artists noted at all. Very sad.

 

Robin

This past Saturday the day started at 6 degrees Fahrenheit then went up to a "balmy" 16 degrees. This necessitated the winterization of Robin. Earlier the week he had his monthly visit to his "beautician" and his fair was also trimmed.

Naturally being so small he needs to be looked after and made sure he is not cold outside. Thus, the sweater and fur lined jackie. This dog got it made. Interestingly, he doesn't mind the extra layers, like he knows they are for his benefit. Only thing he doesn't have are shoes even though they are necessary in the heavily salted sidewalks. We tried but he kept losing them while walking so we just gave up.

Just for information for those who don't know it all his important parts are exposed so he is able to do what he has to do.

Sunday

Off again! 

Retirement

I am absolutely not an American Football fan. I don't understand the game therefore I don't appreciate the game. It is a mindless meeting of overweight men who love to tackle each other while chasing an odd shaped ball. Since the American colleges and universities are the suppliers of these professional football players, they all seemed to be college graduates who decided to become millionaires by playing football.

This is not a totally wrong choice of carrier. Work for a few years, hope not to get injured then live off the millions made while playing. If they are smart, they saved their monies if not then they just have to be like the rest of us, common folk. 

I think there are less millionaires in this sport than the lower paid players. But like in every sport there are stars who make out well. Like this guy Brady. He is a quarterback, 465years old been playing for like 23 years. He just announced that he was retiring. He did this a few years ago but found ordinary life boring and got unretired. Now he says this time is for sure. We'll see. Actually, 45 is a little old to still play and he has to admit it. But if he wants to be around the players he can still be a towel boy in the locker room. There is no age limit on this job.

Actually, I don't know who this Tom Brady is and I really don't care what he does. But he is all over in the new. Apparently, his retiring is a major news item. Very interesting, mine was not!

Spaetzle

The other day my wife asked Abigail what would sh3 like for dinner. Her response was veal paprikash with spaetzle. Well, this all very nice. I love veal or chicken paprikash and like it even more with spaetzle. Abigail at this time is not very keen on Hungarian cooking but there are still afew favorites remaining. Her main choices are Thai, Spanish and Japanese/Korean foods. This always leads to argument at the dinner table.

My wife being the doting mother agreed to her choice and immediately started to prepare for it. The first and most important item is the spaetzle maker which she did not have. I was stunned at this finding. We have a very well equipped kitchen but no spaetzle maker? Unheard of!

Immediately we, actually she went into emergency mode, turned on Amazon which lo and behold had oodles of different types. She immediately proceeded to order two different types that were already delivered. Now she can look at both of them and contemplate which one to use. 

What a country. No shortage of spaetzle makers.

Snow

Everybody is complaining about the weather. At least here in New York. We are having snowless days and above average temperatures. It looks like they are making the tv weather people responsible for all this craziness. Like they have anything to do with it. If it is winter why it does not behave as winter should?

It seems we had record snowless days here, at least until Wednesday morning. When I woke up the outside temperature was 29 degrees Fahrenheit, and everything was white. At least the cars and the grass. So, the weather people were off the hook. We had snow! Actually, by noon it was only in our memory because all of it disappeared. But knowing the way news work I am sure the news people will make a big thing about it.

The only bad thing that in preparation, during the night they salted everything and that is not very good for the dogs. Salt gets stuck in their paws, and it irritates their skin. That is why it is not unusual to see dogs on the street with (dog)shoes on. We bought some for Robbin, but he is so small that he keeps losing them. So now we are just watching where he puts his feet while walking him.

I tell you, he's got it made.

Driving

I might have mentioned this before but at my age I am allowed to be forgetful. Sometimes I remember a story and begin to tell my wife, she cuts me off by saying I already told that before. It is good thing she has a better memory than I. Now, I forgot what I wanted to write about!

Hollywood if anything is not providing any good examples to the daily life. show. Coarse language, immorality are just a few of the negative things they show. And there is (un)safe driving to add.

Did anybody noticed that while two people are driving to somewhere and they are having a deep conversation for how long the driver takes his or her eyes off the road? I tried to time it and replicate it in a car. I tell you, anybody does that same thing will surely wind up in a serious accident if not dead. This is easy to do in a film studio in a made-up car but unfortunately people have the idiotic tendency to imitate what they see on the screen. 

Driving in city traffic one can not afford to take his or her eyes off the road because in a second an accident can happen. Yet, Hollywood keeps doing it in every movie I saw. Pretty stupid and irresponsible.

This was just a little remark I wanted to make.

Bathroom

It never sees to amaze me the number of stuffs we have in our bathrooms. In our apartment we have two bathrooms. One for my wife and me and one for Abigail. In our br we have two cabinets. One built in and one we bought and hung it up.

The built in one has three shelves, the other also three, plus the tops. Not mentioning the top of the sinks. Now why am I mentioning this? Because every shelf and all the flat surfaces are filled with stuff. Out of all these shelves I have one that I can call mine. My meds, electric razor, comb take up that one shelf. The rest is filled with feminine articles.

Creams galore, vitamins, liquid and God knows what else. The way I see it these things should be enough for a lifetime, but it seems there is still a shortage of something at any given time. That is not just for my wife, Abigail's bathroom is not any different. Hers is just as much filled as her mom's. She reads information from the internet then announces that she came up with some "miracle" cream and proceeds to buy it. Then that stuff along with the rest just stays on the shelf and ages.

Women are funny. They love to work hard on their complexions, on their skin health. Men just take what Mother Nature gives them and live with it. 

That is why I only have one shelf.