Air conditioner

I fell for an advertisement. I rarely do but this time I did. As I noted before they ara working on our building and because of that we are unable to have our window air conditioners installed. The outcome of it is that our apartment became almost unbearably hot. We bought two portable vents from Home Depot which did very little except mixed the already hot air.

So the other day I saw an ad about a wonder cooler by the name of Chill Well. According to their ads they are the answer to everybody's prayer for cooler rooms. Humongous ad campaign. No matter where I turned, they were. They also had a 50% sale. Their ads swore on a three-day delivery time. I thought this was too good to be true, so we ordered three units.

The three day delivery time turned into eleven days and their customer service line does nothing but plays classical music. I called them several time and not once was I able to get through. Now that I have their stuff, I am convinced that this is a scam. They talk about good return policy but don't tell you how to return the merchandise. Now that is on and working it or they just don't cool as well as expected. 

My wife got impatient while we were waiting for delivery and ordered three similar units through Amazon. The Amazon stuff we got next day. The Amazon ones are working well (knock on wood!) but no ice cold air anywhere.

I mention the name Chill Well in case somebody is thinking buying from them. Scam, scam, scam! Live and learn!

Illusions

When one lives long enough, he or she sees many things change. Some changes are for the better while so are for the worse. Unfortunately, right or wrong we have to accept all of them. But there is a tghhing that is hard, at least for me to get used to.

In my years I did see a lots of movies, tv shows. I had my favorite actors and actresses, and I got used to what they looked like in those years. Years later, when I did not hear about them, I suddenly had some opportunity to see current pictures of them, in all honesty it scared the pants off me.

At award shows they always pull out some older performer for some self-gratifying presentation. Like at the recent Oscar ceremony they brough Liza Minelli on stage in a wheelchair. The woman could barely speak, she was a sorrowful sight. I used to love Ann Margaret. Now, she is 81 years old and nearly not as beautiful as she used to be. The same goes for Sophia Loren. Now she is 87 years old and... The same goes for many other performers from the old times.

I watch older movies and see these beautiful people and then the bubble bursts. All my illusions are gone when I see what they became. Child boy actors from years ago became bald, paunchy guys, while girls became barely recognizable old women. The trouble is that some of these people can not deal with age. They do not want to accept that they age. Just recently I saw a Sylvester Stallone movie, Rambo, last blood.

There was plenty of violence Rambo style, but Stallone should stay away from front of the camera. He wa never a good looking guy but now he looked terrible. 75 years old and in that movie, he looked at least ten years older. Thankfully this was the last of the Rambo series because he died at the end.

Fortunately, I look good for my age (says me)! 

Begging Republicans

In the 2020 election I voted for Trump. Not because I am a republican, I just voted for him because I liked what he stood for. I am a real independent. I don't vote for a party I vote for the individual. I emphasize that I don't belong to any party. And that means that I would have never voted for commie Bernie, even though he is an independent.

The independents in congress are just like Ukraine being a sovereign country during the soviet times. In the UN they never voted against their rulers just like the independents never vote against theirs, the democrats.

Now why am I writing this?

Ever since I showed my sympathizing with Trump, the Republican Part assumed that I am one of theirs. And as such the mail does not stop. Every day I get a ton of mail where the bottom line is that they ask for contributions. At this time their mails go directly to the shredder because I am fed up with this constant begging. They have more money than God, what do they need my hard-earned dollars for? I wonder if the democrats do the same thing?

Sunday

 Sunday!

Chimney cake

My wife loves chimney cake. In Hungarian it is called kurtos kalacs. This something that can be found in Hungary and in nsome neighboring countries. When a few years ago we went to Hungary, we sopped for a few days in Prague. In the center if the city this delicacy was very available and naturally my wife had a great time.

Here in New York, it is very difficult to find. This is a cake and making it is not very difficult except the special equipment needed. Thin dough strips are rolled tight onto a cylindrical surface and that form is then rotated over heat thereby baking the dough. Various stuff is used for filling and also for flavoring the surface. The end product can be very tasty. I never heard of it until my wife introduced it to me and I liked it.

We found an outdoor market where this stuff is being sold and tonight we plan to visit it. Not fat from us in the old World's Fair park there is a weekly international open-air market on Saturday nights and my investigative powers found that at one stand a Romanian baking company sells this cake.

Now we have tonight's program. We are going to chase chimney cake. I'll let you know how it turned out.

Mystery

When I was a young lad back in Europe and also here in the US I was very interested in the French and Italian movies. I was very impressed with scenes where I could see scenes where many people were sitting in cafes and restaurants during the days as the story line went on. In my mind and experience, during the day we were either in schools or at work. I never knew anybody who could sit in a restaurant or cafe during working hours.

My father worked all day from morning 'till around 6 and had no time to sit in such places. When I started to work and later on, I worked from morning 'till evening and couldn't imagine being anywhere else but at work. Those Italian and French light movies always showed crowds of people who were free to do whatever during the day.

When I go to this country and occasionally had time during the day (like when I was unemployed) I noticed that plenty of people were occupying the restaurants and cafes. I always wondered how come that I had to work, and those people did not. And how did they make their living. 

Yesterday I had a 2:30pm doctor's appointment in Manhattan. We drove in early to make sure we get there in time because of traffic. On the way, around 1:30 we drove by a restaurant, the same one we went to last week and I was stunned by the number of people sitting at the tables outside. As I coukld see it was a full house. This is what amazes me. What do people do for a living that they have all this time, in the middle of the week and in the middle of the day to sit around in restaurants?

This particular one is not the type of restaurant where workers just go for a bite to eat on their lunchtime. This was an upscale eatery. The bottom line is that people cry about no money, no work yet, in the middle of the week and in the middle of the day it is very difficult to m ove around because of the people.

Good country America! 

lots of people in restaurants

Comparison

I live in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. Russian and Jewish. Because of that on Saturdays the area is dead quiet. Almost all the stores are closed with the exception of a Russian (not orthodox) gourmet store, a Chinese kitchen and a couple of pizza places, and a few smaller stores. There is also a large Chinese restaurant that is kosher and is closed from Friday through Sunday.

The Jewish stores are all kosher or Glatt kosher. Just because something is kosher it costs more than the non-kosher designated item. Why? Because the rabbi is charging more for his time to certify the kosherness of the item? Because many times we don't feel like going to a supermarket further away, we are forced to subsidize the good old rabbi.

Interestingly in more Jewish neighborhoods there are Halal stores, also. Halal is the Muslim version of kosher. They are there and they thrive. Their meats and other food item are just as clean as the kosher ones. The difference is that they are less expensive as the kosher. Maybe the imam doesn't charge as much as the rabbi? Makes one think which place to shop.

In my area there are food trucks on the streets that sell Halal certified food. They are reasonable and very tasty. They sell lamb, beef and chicken items. We all love their lamb on rice and salad. It is filling and don't cost much. I call it street food because that is where they are selling it. They are very popular. The vendors are mostly from some formerly soviet territory, and all Muslims and don't mind the Jewish clientele. And they work seven days a week, so they are very reliable. Actually, this is what we are having for dinner tonight, inshallah.