Made It Through The Night

Well that was a pleasant change of pace for me. I actually made it through the night without waking and staying up a for a couple of hours like I normally do. I remember waking up and checking the time and thinking to myself that I need to sleep more and went back to sleep. Nice. Perhaps it was my reward for being rather productive yesterday. Hmm. Perhaps.

So here I am at just after 6am on Christmas morning having my first of a few coffees hoping to jump start my day somewhat. I have the dishwasher going and will have to pull the towels out of the dryer and fold 'em all up. I did five loads of laundry yesterday. That's unheard of in Schlewing World! Call up the descendants of the McWhirters as I need to be noted in the next version of their books. Smiles.

I'm going to spoil myself with a big homemade breakfast this morning. I do believe I have all the fixings except I am about to run out of half and half. Ugh 2% for my coffee. I may have to spike it when I get to that point. Ha!

I have to find my wood glue. I need to fix a dresser drawer. I really need to go through my clothes in the closet and get rid of some of it. I am running out of room. Gawd I am a hoarder. I don't think I will ever get back into a 34 waist size. Who am I kidding? LOL. No one!

I have some Christmas calls to make this morning. I am looking forward to those. I have to make a better effort in the coming year on that. I carry my independent streak a little to extremes sometimes.

I need coffee number two. Peace out.

Being Kind Of Productive!

Okay I don't usually write two of these within hours but I am amazing myself with how productive I have been so far today. Let me preface that with the productivity bar not being set that high. This is me that we are talking about after all. Mr. Let's Wait Before Doing Something aka Mr. Procrastination! LOL.

You know it may be that Kahlua that I put into two of my coffees this morning that gave me that extra get up and go go.

So here we about 4 or so hours after I got up and I have accomplished this so far. Three loads of laundry washed. Well the 3rd is on its' last cycle. A load of whites waiting to be folded. Pretty darn sure that I'll have to do that given that Jynx the Cat looks at clothes as a place to lay her plumpness down on and not a thing to help fold. Ha!

I even took a shower today. Cleanliness is important!

I did my Greene's run and now have some additional reds, ambers, ales and pales in my eventually to be depleted collection of spirits. As far as I know I have two places that I can go and get some decent priced and good tasting beers as well as decent enough lower priced reds. Greene's near the mall or Total Wines at the Shops at Greenridge. Let it be said that both of these choices are not places that you want to be near to on the last shopping day before Christmas if you have the lack of patience that I have for drivers in the Upstate. There were a few colorful words that escaped my lips as I was listening to Walter Rossi's "All The Best" on my CD player. I get stressed for nothing behind the wheel. My flipping out will do nothing to change the scenario except to raise my blood pressure which is not a good thing.

As usual I have "Deep Tracks" going and I just had to put on mute because they decided to play the deranged one's "Free For All". Up until a couple of years ago I could handle his music. Now that I know too much of his politics, it's instant ignore! Good thing that it is a short song.

Okay back to pleasant things like what I also have accomplished today so far today. I stopped at Food Lion to pick up a few things as mentioned earlier.

Here's the list of what I bought:
Cajun Andouille Sausage
Neptune Salad (crab and shrimp)
Green Cucumbers
Iceberg Lettuce (the Romaine didn't look too hot)
Jumbo Red Onions
Hothouse Tomatoes
Crumbled Feta Cheese
Hard Salami

It looks like I am planning on making some finger foods or snacks at some point today or tomorrow. I sure hope those sausage are good. I had the sampler plate at Mac's Speed Shop a couple of nights ago and andouille and kielbasa are rapidly becoming my go to snack food. I'm going to have to find a place here where I can pick up fresh and locally made sausage. I'll check Whole Foods or that other specialty food place out to source my fix for tastiness.

Okay the dryer just stopped. Now I have two loads to fold and one to transfer and another load to start.

Go Go Marc!

Critical Mass

Well I am waiting for my coffee to brew and bopping along to The Honeydrippers "Rockin At Midnight". You know I appreciate that song more now than I did back then. It's a sure sign that I am getting older. I love the "rhythm and blues" feel to the song with the horns blaring away in the background.

The reason why this blog is titled "critical mass" is because I have reached the point where I don't have a single pair of underwear that is clean and I don't have a single white T left either. I have piles in my bedroom. I always have piles in my bedroom but today I have more piles than I usually do.

I do believe that today is going to be known forever more as "Clean-Up Marc's Bedroom Day". The gravity of the situation signifies the need to commemorate this day. I just need the caffeine to kick in so that my energy level gets there and I have to hide from myself David Baldacci's "Hell's Corner" which I started to read this past weekend in between naps. I know myself. If I grab that book and head to the couch; that's it the rest of the morning or afternoon will be a total write-off.

I think I need to thrown in a grocery run to grab a couple of things and may have to make a Greene's run to pick up some reds, ambers and pales. I have to make some sort of dish with the hot Italian sausage that have defrosted in the fridge. I wonder if Food Lion carries rapini.

On coffee number two now as David Bowie is singing about the "Jean Genie". I have the heard this song tons since its' release way back in '72 and I still have no idea what the heck he is singing about on this track. It bops though! Interestingly when it was originally released in the UK, the B side was "Ziggy Stardust". Wow. Imagine that just those two songs would blast away most of the pablum that is on the charts today.

I have an app on my phone called "Song Pop" that I play more often than not with random people around the world and I typically ace the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, the hard rock, the hair band, the one-hit wonders categories but when someone choose today's hits as the challenge I just want to give up on the game right away rather than guess the song title or artist for the auto-tune drivel that passes up as music these days.

Okay that's it for now.

Saturday Morning 7am

So I am wide awake on a Saturday morning slightly before 7am and already having coffee number two and pecking away on the keyboard. This is a sign that obviously I did not partake in any spirits of the material world (ha Police song reference) last night. The biggest adventure I had last night was having a huge bowl of the last of my homemade chicken noodle soup at around midnight as I was listening to The Drive's Deep Tracks while catching up on baseball news around MLB.

I tell you what as one of my former managers used to say. That's what he used to say. I tell you what. I still think that doesn't make any sense. I tell you what. It sounds like a line that would fit right in the old Abbott & Costello "Who's on First" routine.

Okay there I went off the rails again. What I meant to segue to after my first paragraph was how much I enjoy listening to The Drive's Deep Tracks. Where else will I get to hear in a half hour songs like Led Zeppelin's "Thank You", U2 and B.B. King's "When Love Comes To Town", Joe Jackson's "It's Different For Girls" and Journey's "Walks Like A Lady". Nowhere else I tell you except perhaps in my tape and CD collection. Like now Cream's "Tales Of Brave Ulysses" is rocking my world as I type this up. So cool!

Anyways I caught Wayne LaPierre's presser yesterday online after I came home from work and it boggles the mind that this man and the organization (the NRA) that he supposedly was speaking for are this out of touch, obtuse and cold-hearted. I am sure that there are some sane-minded individuals in the NRA that are absolutely appalled by what LaPierre stated yesterday. In a nutshell his answer is that more guns are required. It's ludicrous!

Early on Friday morning I saw a story in my local newspaper that stated that my governor Nikki Haley thought the issue at hand is not some sort of meaningful gun control but better mental health screening. I commented on the editorial page that this was basically an empty gesture as her government doesn't really want to increase spending in a meaningful way there. Basically I stated on this editorial page that he comment made as little sense as Trey Gowdy's comment the day before. He's the representative for this area in the House.

You should have seen the vitriol thrown my way on this editorial page by small-minded infantile men suffering from penis envy hiding behind some computer screen using some made up Facebook ID with some avatar as their picture likely with some made-up pretend name so that the world can not identify these people as part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

The major part of their defense can be likened to the behavior of a baby that has had their pacifier or rattle taken away from them. These dips are worried that some left-wing or dare I say liberal posse will invade their abode and confiscate their guns (their pacifiers and rattles).

In the annals of time has there ever been a left-wing or liberal cabal gone door to door infringing on people's rights? I don't think so. This seems to happen way more on their side of the political spectrum. It wasn't that long ago that lynch mobs were commonplace in this state or area. It wasn't that long ago that there were laws about who can use what restroom where in this state.

The thing is that there does not seem to be a way of sanely discussing this topic with them because they are represented by the LaPierre's and the hiding behind some lame ass avatar dips of the world.

Hmm. So I went from listening to great songs to a little rant about Wayne LaPierre and his ilk. Dang! I rarely know where these fingers of mine are going to end up on a keyboard when I sit down here.

Almost time for my monthly massage. Yay. Going out for a late breakfast after that with a co-worker. I can see a western omelet in my near future. Time for coffee number three. Peace!

A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That

Okay Thursday night 6 something or other and I may be picking up the H at work as it is pouring rain here so this may be a short blog. Time for a state of the Marc address in the condensed Campbell soup form. Lately I have been wanting to throw in these out of left field comments. Never ever out of right field. If I ever played that position it would have to be called left of center field. Ellis Valentine and Rusty Staub will forever be known as the greatest left of center field players that my late, beloved Expos had in their time. They couldn't be playing right because then they would just be wrong all the time, Kind of like some dip named Gowdy that had his half-brained thoughts splayed in today's Greenville News front page. Not exactly the purveyor of the all the news that is fit to print unless they mean making me pitch a fit because then they are doing a fine job. There must be a saner way of getting crossword puzzles!

So it was pouring rain coming home tonight. You'd think that people on the road would factor in these conditions as they are moseying along to wherever they are going. Well you would be thinking wrong just like that Gowdy dipwad this morning!

There were some absolute brain dead individuals driving only with their daylights on even though it was effing dark just like my Yuengling Black and Tan. In my 10 mile drive home I saw at least four wrecks along my route. Brilliant. Cars in ditches. Cars turned around against traffic. Nah they weren't speeding! It's like an effing obstacle course some days. Unreal!

Good song on now. Our Lady Peace's "Somewhere Out There" from their 2002's Gravity album. Definitely an underrated alt rock band from Toronto. I'm listening to JACK-FM out of Regina, Saskatchewan right now where it is currently -17c or 1 degree Fahrenheit. Now that's cold!

Great thing about listening to JACK out of Regina or Vancouver is getting my Canadian content fix in music. A man can listen to only so much Skynyrd or Tucker before wanting some OLP, Triumph, Saga or Adams back in his life. Maple Leaf music rocks and rolls!

Okay that's it for now. Time to make a dining decision. I think tonight is a Mexican food night. I need some pico de gallo!

If It's Tuesday It Must Be Simpsonville

Okay so the title of the blog isn't exactly as good as if it is the Tuesday it must be Belgium movie title but it is semi-original because how often does Simpsonville get named in a blog title. Not too often I Dukes of Hazzard a guess.

So H and I just came back from grabbing a bite at Applebee's. It isn't usually a restaurant I frequent however I had gotten $100 in gift cards recently and after giving H $50 for his drinking and dining and more drinking pleasure I had kept $50 in cards handy for one of those nights that I didn't feel like cooking. Tonight was one of those nights so off we went to Applebee's.

Geezus the place was packed. No rhyme or reason except perhaps people feel a little more at ease spending money in places like this at this time of the year.

Here's a hint on how not to stretch the value of a gift card. Don't order large mugs of Yuengling because that will set you back $6.25 each. Talk about a mark-up. Two of those were almost equal in price to my Bourbon Street steak. I'm guessing that having fried onions on top of strip sirloin makes it Bourbon Street like. That must be it as it didn't come with beads or baubles. LOL. H had some lime jalapeno shrimp rice dish that he likes it seems.

It was nice time though. We talked about his upcoming Montreal trip. We talked about his 4 A's and his 4.0 GPA this semester (I am the proud Dad!) and we talked about what happened this past Friday in Newtown. I always find it interesting to look at things that happen from my unique Canadian viewpoint. It is so different in scope and nuance. I 'll leave it that.

All in all it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours. Laundry beckons!

Pleasant Saturday

Okay as the day progressed I got a little more serene. To say that I was peeved off in my last blog would be an understatement and rather than embark back on that train of thought I will leave it to another day.

So after being awake until 5am or so my body clock today is a complete mess today obviously.

In support of my manager's daughter's school I made the trek down to the Barnes & Noble on Woodruff Rd. to watch her perform in the kid's holiday pageant at the store and to get add some fresh new books to my library. B&N was kicking back some money to the school. No idea what the slice was and nor did the ladies at the register. I sure hope that it's 10% or something like that. I ended up getting 5 new books that will carry me through the holiday season as I will have quite a bit of free time off work then. I rarely go down to Woodruff anymore because of the ridiculous amount of stop and go or not go anywhere traffic. Noonish on Saturday afternoon is not a good place to be near the stores on that road. As I was in the car I kept of George Costanza's father's line "serenity now." That's all I felt like saying over and over. LOL.

After getting back from there I ended up making that homemade chicken noodle soup that I started on yesterday evening with my adventures in making a chicken broth from scratch. The broth turned out okay but I had to improvise to skim the fat off that was generated from the leftover rotisserie chicken I used to make the broth. I'm thinking that a cheesecloth would be more effective to use as a strainer than what I used. I will to try that out. The base could have been a bit more chicken-y. LOL. Probably not a word but you get my point. So I added some leftover chicken meat, parsley, carrots and celery and added some sea salt and cracked black pepper and I think that my first attempt at made from scratch chicken soup came out pretty well. I had several bowls for supper earlier tonight and it sure helped unclog me from that annoying cold that I have had for close to ten days. The soup got my sweat glands going that's for sure.

I ended up watching a pretty cool movie on InDemand called "The Human Resources Manager". It is an Israeli film that was released in August of 2010 and the film is mostly in Hebrew with some English and Romanian thrown in. That's a first for me watching a film that had more Hebrew and Romanian than my two mother tongues. LOL. This film won the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Soundtrack. It's weird I don't remember much music in the film. Perhaps it's because I had to keep track of the sub-titles so much as the film was going. It was a good movie. Not typically the light-hearted romantic comedy that I usually watch. It made for a nice change of pace. Time to grab a snack and beverage. I'll be back....

This Is A Man Of God? I Think Not!

Well it's almost 2am and I am likely going to be up for several more hours given that I fell asleep watching a Rush live in Cleveland concert on VH1 Classic earlier in the evening. I woke up about an hour ago as it is bit cooler in the living room than it is the other rooms in the house. I should really check the windows and door as it seems that there is cold air creeping in. I decided to write a blog rather bide my time cleaning up my bedroom or doing something else productive.

So I was on Huff Post a few minutes ago and saw a story about Mike Huckabee's comments on the tragedy that occurred yesterday in Newtown. This cretin of a human being came out with a theory about this tragic event where twenty children under the age of ten were gunned down by a sick individual and stated "that this crime was no surprise because we have systematically removed God from our schools." Okay Mike Huckabee is fucking insane! Mike Huckabee as an ordained Southern baptist minister represents all that is wrong with organized religion in the country. Rather than act as a human being offering condolences, thoughts and prayers for the immense loss that these families incurred today; this douche bag of a man came up with this incredibly stupid statement about what occurred yesterday morning. This guy came in 2nd in the 2008 Republican nomination race as that party's candidate for the office of the presidency. Holy fuck people are stupid! Or maybe another way of looking at it is that there were enough smart people in the GOP that backed John McCain that year. I could not imagine living in a country where this insensitive ass of a man would be shoving down our throats his ridiculous bile. This dunce needs sensitivity training pretty much like half of the other dumbasses on Fox News. TV for idiots!

A sure sign that I am upset is when I swear in a blog and I use the eff word without abbreviating it in my semi-unique way of doing it. Seeing Huckabee the A-Hole's comments this morning made me upset. This man will now be known as the A-Hole in all my future thoughts and writings. What the eff do they teach in these schools where these so-called men of God learn to minister? How effing perverse!

Likely A Short Blah Blah Blog

So I think I am just ending my first complete week with this cough cold thing and it's rather effing annoying. I'm good for a couple of hours then all of a sudden off I go to the races to empty a box of kleenex. It seems that my showers in the morning are lasting an extra 10 minutes or so just to get enough steam going so that I can clear my nasal and ear passages and get my chest heaving. Great way to start the day. I will say that it is better than what I used to do 3+ years ago which was to reach with my right hand to stop that infernal alarm clock and then grope in the dark for that top of the morning to ya cigarette. Gawd that was so gross!

I've come to the conclusion that gas stations may be one of those places that once you cross this invisible line entering the space occupied by this purveyor of fuel, cigarettes, crap ass beer and wine and these weird things on hot rollers that a couple days ago resembled a hot dog most people's brains go on complete shutdown. It's either that option or perhaps I am only just realizing today on 12/12/12 that in general people are effing moronic. I sure hope that it is that line crossing theory of mine. If it isn't it partly explains why Jim Demented is the junior senator in the state of SC. Sometimes I wonder how a day can go by here without a car driving into a gas pump like you see in some poorly written and acted action film brought to you by the fine folks running the WWE. Yes I am name dropping a wrestling organization. LOL.

I wonder who the heck buys those hot dogs. I wonder why they always have swill like Natural Light and Icehouse on sale and not a Sam Adams product or a New Belgium product. I wonder who buys that "Jailbird" newspaper that they have next to the cash. I think that is the SC version of Quebec's "Allo Police" without the stories. I guess that is how some want to achieve their 15 minutes of fame. I wonder who uses food stamps to buy stuff at my local StopAMinit. It makes me wonder what qualifies as food on that program if people are using it at the gas station. They are not exactly stocked with items not containing chemicals of some sort. I wonder who the eff uses that powdered cream stuff in their coffee. Does that stuff even dissolve in a hot liquid? I'm still wondering who the eff is eating those hot dogs! I am wondering that if chewing tobacco or snuff or dip or whatever that absolutely gross stuff is called wasn't sold at gas stations would it even exist. I am wondering whether or not if my bill added up to $6.47 and I gave the cashier person a $20 would he or she come up with correct change if the register didn't tell them what the correct change amount added up to. Or would that person look as befuddled as I did this morning stopped at a red light near my house where I was turning right and not realizing until I was there for a minute or so with nary a car passing by that it was okay for me to turn. Gawd I am useless in the morning! LOL. I wonder if I am anymore useful as the day progresses. I am wondering whether or not I was supposed to use question marks in some of those sentences above. Oh well I have typed it with periods. Live with it people! Big grin.

Well H is out again for a bit as he had today off. I was hoping to hear whether or not he ended up with a 4th A this semester and where his GPA ended up. I guess I will have to text the young man to get an update. I guess it's going to be leftover tilapia or rotisserie chicken for supper eventually tonight. They have that 12/12/12 concert thing going on tonight. Perhaps that will be the reason I use to avoid housework, laundry, work-work or anything else productive. LOL.

Gawd I want to stop blowing my nose.

A Smidgen, An Iota Or Un Petit Peu

Goodness gracious snakes alive I feel a smidgen better today than I did yesterday. Gone is the scratchy throat and that has been replaced by my eyeballs or eye sockets hurting as well my hair follicles on the top of my head. Just imagine how bad I would feel if I had hair growth on more than 40% of my head. I would be begging for a morphine drip or something.

I finally managed to get some clean clothes on and get myself to Costco to fill up the gaps in my fridge. I was out of milk, tzatziki, spinach artichoke dip and H's favorite snack lately which is taboule with crackers or pita corners.

The total bill was actually reasonable as I only bought a bottle of chardonnay for one of my cooking endeavors later this week when I can actually taste food. I am stocked on all other adult beverages at this time. LOL. Those items tend to take up a disproportionate amount on my total bill more often that not.

Under The Weather

So this day has been total write-off if I was thinking of getting anything done whatsoever. I haven't felt great for the last couple of days with a scratchy throat and now it has pretty much turned into a cold of sorts. My throat is still scratchy, my body aches and it isn't because I worked out yesterday or earlier today. I get these hacking coughs that remind me of the good old days 3+ years ago when I used to smoke a pack or so a day. Now that's a remember when for me.

I heard H leaving for work at around 630 this morning when the garage door opened and then I pretty much re-fluffed the pillows up and went back to sleep on and off for the next three hours. It hurt getting out bed. I know a sad, sad sight.

I managed to make some sunny-side eggs up with a few pieces of whole wheat toast and had a couple of coffees. You know that I am not feeling well when even coffee tastes like crap. Oh well this is likely the worst day of this nonsense.

I prepared some rigatoni with a marinara sauce for what either became my late lunch or early supper for me and H's supper. Now I am sitting in my room listening and watching a live 25 song set that The Tragically Hip posted online on YouTube. It's from an August 2009 show in Abbotsford in support of their "We Are The Same" disc from that year. I am not that familiar with that disc as my most recent addition of theirs to my Canadiana CD collection is 2006's "World Container" which I bought when I was visiting my sister at Christmas that year. Looks like I need to get busy on the Maple Music website as there are definitely a couple of items that I would like to get delivered before Christmas. A DVD and t-shirt for me and likely one for H as well.

Time for me to hop into a steamy hot shower and try to clear up my chest somewhat. Ugh I better be in better shape tomorrow.

Crick In My Neck

So obviously I am no Albert Einstein given that I repeat the same behaviour and expect a different result. Okay so this is not some huge grandiose thing I am talking about but my perverse thought process in continually falling asleep on my couch that is at least 5 inches shorter than my 6'5" frame. I was watching the Science Channel earlier and before you knew it Jynx and I were asleep on the couch. I only woke up when my I realized that my neck was feeling all scrunched up. I'll probably be up half the night now given that I may have been asleep three or so hours. I'm hemming and hawing on whether or not I should have a plate of baked tilapia that I made for supper Thursday night. I'm hungry!

Various Thoughts On Whatever Strikes My Fancy

Okay so I just finished a plate of leftover spaghetti and my body temp increased a couple degrees because of the amount of crushed chili peppers I put on top of the sauce. I'm actually sweating!

Just did my semi-monthly trip to Costco and wonder why every trip there lately costs something just south of $200 for two people. I guess if I backed out the cost for a case of Fat Tire and a case of Red Bull the final bill would not resemble half of a car payment.

My cat is amusing me in her never-ending quest to follow the sun streaming into the house either from the skylights or the windows. She is working on a cat tan I guess.

I'm thinking that my neighbors to the left want me to rake some leaves on the side adjoining the property line as their lawn is now devoid of any fall foliage. Well it will have to wait until Sunday because I need a nap as I was awake way too effin' early this morning.

Well I am back. It's 430am Sunday and I am wide awake. I guess that's what happens when one falls asleep on the couch at 9pm. LOL. Just about to have my first coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. Yum!

I have 97.1 The Drive Deep Tracks playing as I hunt and peck on here. They just played Bob Seger's "Brave Strangers" from the 1978's "Stranger In Town". I love this song. I read somewhere that it is because of songs like this that you don't buy greatest hit compilations or listen to radio stations that play the same old, same old. You would not hear this or "The Famous Final Scene" from the same album. Got to listen to that album song by song.

I read on Fox Sports' baseball page that there are Yankee fans that are giving Derek Jeter a hard time because he has put on some weight after getting that surgery for his fractured ankle. Let me say first that the only Fox website I will visit is their baseball page because they have a couple of decent baseball writers. Ken Rosenthal being one. Let me say second that I am not a Jeter fan but I will give props on what he has accomplished over his amazing career. That being said it makes me effing laugh when I read some of these a-hole do-nothings that think that Derek Jeter having gained weight 3-4 months before spring training is any of their effing business. When they have 3304 career hits then they can voice their opinion as if it means something. Besides that they should just shut the eff up!

Speaking of shutting the eff up I would suggest that "brainwave" from Wasilla had her 15 minutes of fame back in 2008 and she just needs to go back to hunting bears and other wildlife from helicopters like all other moronic yahoos with 18 brain cells. If the world wanted advice on what she is good at that would be her topic not her effing opinions on world matters. Her knowledge of the world was in plain sight when she claimed to be able to see Russia from her back or front porch. Maybe she can replace Lisa Ann in her next Hustler movie. LOL.

Back to Fox Sports now to rant some more about their journalistic standards. Do they even have editors on their website? The first hyperlink on the left side of their Sports front page states "Chiefs Fans Tailgate, Mourn LB's Death". What an idiotic and insensitive headline! Perhaps tailgating is a bit much especially in a location where a sick man took his own life yesterday. Who the hell is mourning his death? Perhaps his own mother I guess but given the fact that 30 minutes or so before he killed himself he murdered the 22 yr. old mother of his 3 month old child! What about a headline that recognizes the evil that he did. That should be the story not the festive atmosphere that they claimed was taking place a little over 24 hours after a tragedy. Boy oh boy their priorities are effed up!

Okay enough ranting for now. LOL.