kochleffel

If the reference isn't clear: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRS_Sir_David_Attenborough#Naming_poll and: https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/nature/outdoors/news-plowy-mcplowface-wins-snowplow-contest

I wonder how the name was chosen. If they had let everyone vote online, it would probably be called Bridgy McBridgeface.

I'm in favor of cheetahs but not in favor of cheaters, so some folks need to speak distinctly. Banks are necessary but don't deserve a day of their own. Re: cookies, and the sugar shortage, I'll mention that your Christmas cookies will turn out better if you use cane sugar, not beet sugar. It doesn't seem to matter for other baking. No on the soup; I'm not very fond of coconut, except in cream pie. I would try the cocktail but wouldn't want it too frequently. Chenin Blanc is grown in the Finger Lakes, but not a lot, and the only one available now seems to be from Missick Cellars/Villa Bellangelo, fairly near me in Dundee, NY. I haven't been to Oranjestad but it's in my itinerary for a year from now. Yesterday in a Zoom meeting on another subject, a Methodist colleague asked me a question about Jeremiah. I happen to be teaching Jeremiah tonight, but the question was about a part that I hadn't yet worked on. I read it after dinner and composed a reply, then remembered that she needs the information for a class that she's taking for a D.Min., so decided to scan some material for her. My AIO machine, new, wasn't hooked up. First I had to get a hiking stick to poke the power cord behind my desk, and then figure out how to install the darned thing. Although it can operate over Ethernet, it has to be connected to wifi during the installation and the computer has to be connected to wifi. It took about 30 attempts over a couple of hours and a consultation with online tech support to get it installed in order to scan two pages. No wonder I was still half asleep all morning today.

Thank you. Oranjestad is in the itinerary for my Panama Canal cruise and I was wondering about that.

Persons with disabilities need more consideration, and not just one day a year. Not enthusiastic about green bean casserole, or about hugging, although I come from a family that likes both. Mushroom barley, or barley mushroom, soup is somehow a Jewish specialty, but many people make it wrong (according to my grandmother). Fresh mushrooms give little flavor to the soup; it requires some dried mushrooms as well. I wouldn't bother with the drink and I wish we would move on from Viognier, because of the lack of Finger Lakes varietals. I'll suggest Fulkerson Muscat Ottonel instead. I haven't been to Puerto Limon. Last night I was at a holiday street fair where my former organization had a booth. It was a big change from last year, when it was 20° F. at 5:00 p.m. and dropped rapidly after that. This year it was 50° at 5:00 and still 48° at 8:00. @grapau27 Graham, it is true that many people over here have no idea of the latitude of the U.K., or maybe of latitude in general, but weather systems in New England are very different from those in Olde Englande. In general winters in New England are colder and summers are much warmer. A couple of years ago, an American politician proclaimed that solar energy was OK for Germany, but the U.S. didn't have enough sun. Most of Germany is farther north than anywhere in the Lower 48; Munich is at about the same latitude as Grand Forks, North Dakota. Only a bit of the Maine coast and a bit of the Washington coast have less sun than anywhere in Germany.

Pollution prevention: one of my fellow students is the pastor of a downtown church that has a street ministry, and on Sundays they serve a lunch on the church lawn, with an outdoor prayer service to welcome people who might be uncomfortable inside the church. They take an offering, but not cash. Instead, each person is invited to bring an item, picked up in the street, for recycling. The meal is one that I make from time to time, using the recipe for poulet en cocotte from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Pass on the drink. I can't come up with another Viognier from the Finger Lakes, so I'll nominate a variety that is very little known: Rkatsiteli, from Dr. Frank's. "A Georgian grape variety that dates back to 3000 B.C. and the oldest known grape variety in the world." (That refers to Georgia in eastern Europe, not the peach state.) I haven't been to Cape Verde. Yesterday I noticed that the fares for my Panama Canal cruise next December had dropped, so I called and changed my cabin from an inside to an obstructed oceanview. I was considering changing to a different sailing because of a likely conflict with school, but the next several sailings are in the Christmas-New Year period, at much higher fares. The conflict, if it occurs, would exist because HIU closes for the week of Thanksgiving, which is not until November 28.

Rabbit, rabbit. When I said this to Mona Lisa, she looked at me funny. Incidentally, she is spending a lot of time near me and lets me pet her. DaVinci is still reclusive but I am seeing him more. I don't think that Columbus was the last to discover America. Old joke: Teacher: "Maria, please go to the map and point to America." (Student goes to map and points.) Teacher: "Class, who discovered America?" Students: "Maria." I would probably like the meal, although gribiche dressing would be a pain to make. I might like the cocktail but will probably never find out. For a Pinot Noir, Heron Hill 2019 IV. I haven't been to Fortaleza. Folk history holds that Rosa Parks refused to get up merely because she was tired. Actual history says that she was a civil-rights activist; if it wasn't actually planned, she was certainly primed for it. I stayed up well past midnight but didn't see any aurora. From my professor: "What a wonderful presentation you gave us last evening! I hope you could sense from the feedback and questions how much people enjoyed it." I think that I have the excursions set up for my January cruise.

The class presentation is over and I am self-medicating with cardboardeaux and cheese.

Nothing since April 25.

Computer security is a constant concern, but I grow more and more annoyed with the apps that make it a hindrance to what they are intended to do. It's important to distinguish between Mousse Day and Hair Gel Day, and also between Mousse Day and Moose Day or Mouse Day. I haven't been to Barbados, but I've drunk beer from there -- in Curacao, where the national brand, Brion, is actually brewed in Barbados. I might like the meal, but I'll probably never know. The drink is a waste of Maker's Mark and it sounds, anyway, like a fancy mint julep. For a red blend, I'll suggest Anthony Road Devonian Red from Penn Yan, NY. Penn Yan, BTW, is the home of Burkett Mills, founded there in 1797 and the largest packer of buckwheat in the country. I haven't been to Seydisfjordur. My class presentation is today. I timed several runs and removed some bits, then looked again at the grading criteria and added some. I uploaded the PowerPoint file a little while ago, so I can't do any more work on it.

One of the reasons I try to have lab tests done by a specific hospital group here is that the make the results available online right away. The other hospital group makes you get them from the doctor (although mine forwards them promptly). A second reason is that the first hospital group does blood draws by appointment. The other one has you show up and wait, wait, wait, and I'm too nervous for that.

I'm back from a trip to CVSinTarget, actual Target, and Petsmart. The Target store has about 15 closed checkout lanes, and four self-checkout stands. The only service checkstand is the Guest Services counter. It is enough to keep me from shopping there. The Atlantic must have read my mind, because when I got home, this was the first thing I saw: Self-Checkout Is a Failed Experiment Please, not another “unexpected item in the bagging area.” https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/10/self-checkout-kiosks-grocery-retail-stores/675676/?gift=RE2FVYLgi8HHZHj8LctIW2x5lfe6NLL6o4bArULFldo&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share (should be an unlocked link)

The meal suggestion would be OK, but rice is the only ingredient I have for it. No, no, no, on the drink. I don't think I would like the wine very much, but for a red blend I might suggest Fulkerson's Red Blend, "A smooth wine made with the Noiret grape (Developed by Cornell University) and Cabernet Franc. Aromas of white pepper, black cherry, and spice." I have visited Naples once, on the Norwegian Epic in 2018. It happened to be on May 1 and our tour operator didn't know in advance whether Pompeii would be open, so we booked a tour to which Pompeii could be added, with an additional charge, once they knew. It was. Our guide wasn't licensed for Pompeii, so a guide with the required license met us there. My main project today is to time the presentation for class on Thursday. I have only 20 minutes, and I tend to be long-winded -- plus it includes 3 minutes of video and 40 seconds of audio.

Medicare itself is a government program and is the same for everyone. Once enrolled, a person stays enrolled. Because Medicare benefits are less than comprehensive, many people purchase supplement plans ("Medigap") from insurance companies to cover deductibles, copays, and other costs that Medicare doesn't pay. (The confusing part is that Medicare sets a maximum amount that a doctor who accepts Medicare assignment can charge, but doesn't pay all of it.) The "Medigap" plans are highly regulated and denoted by letters, so (for example) Plan C from one insurance company has exactly the same benefits as Plan C from any other. Almost all doctors and hospitals accept Medicare. There are also "Medicare Advantage" plans that integrate Medicare, Medigap, and other possible coverage. They may provide higher benefits at lower premiums than a Medigap plan, but are more restrictive. While traditional Medicare covers almost every doctor, Medicare Advantage plans usually don't. This is the time of year when it's possible to change one's Medigap or Advantage plan, which is the reason for all the advertising.

Skipping the first two of the special days, thank you, but turtle adoption is OK if there are orphan turtles who need to be adopted. I've just finished off a casserole that contained butternut squash, so no on the soup, and the cocktail sounds awful. For Pinot Noir, maybe Ravines Wine Cellars Argetsinger Vineyard 2020, not that I can afford it. I haven't been to Mozambique. I finally have the medical appointments I was looking for. One is with a PA, which is standard in that practice for new patients, so may require a second visit to see a doctor. The one for an eye exam was easy to get, and it's soon enough that, if I'm getting new glasses, I'll have them for the January cruise. The third was complicated, because the doctor I've seen before is on an open-ended family leave and it took them a while to find a doctor anywhere near me with an opening before April. "Near me" means 30 miles over a winding, hilly road, which could be interesting since the appointment is in January. I have a friend who plays all three.

I'm not sure what an International Cake would be. There are a number of small breweries near me, but I'm not a frequent customer. The meal would be OK with me but I'm more likely to have fish. The drink would be OK, too, but drinks formulated to sell a specific brand of liquor annoy me. Cheaper Bourbon would probably be indistinguishable in this one; I'd drink the Maker's Mark by itself. For a Pinot Noir, Element 2012 is legendary and still available, at a price. I haven't been to Jakarta. @grapau27 Graham, I am envious. The Oosterdam went to Gran Canaria and Tenerife instead of Lisbon and Madeira. I'm thinking again about packing for the January cruise. It's on the Anthem of the Seas, 11 days with 2 days in NYC before. HAL's laundry service was incredibly convenient, but RCI doesn't offer laundry packages and, unless there's a mid-cruise special, it's all by the piece -- and anyway, RCI's laundry gets bad reviews -- so I'll be doing hand laundry, which means focusing on clothing that isn't too difficult to wash in a sink. But before that I have to finish a presentation for class on Thursday, and before that a lesson Isaiah to teach on Monday evening.

I'm still eating the Three Sisters stew, which is made with maize (as hominy), beans, and squash. I don't really enjoy stuffed peppers, but I wouldn't mind the cocktail. Not much Viognier is grown in the Finger Lakes, partly because Syrah tends to be lighter here and it's not needed for blending. I can still find only one, Swedish Hill 2018. I haven't been to Melbourne (or Sydney).

Maybe the hula will be broadcast on Hulu?

A co-worker in Oregon, decades ago, was fascinated by D. B. Cooper. The meal sounds really strange. I might like the drink, if I had cardamom bitters for it, and Fee Brothers, in Rochester, makes them. (Fee Brothers has an interesting history: founded by an Irish-Canadian family in 1854, originally a butcher shop, survived Prohibition by offering supplies and technical support for people to make wine at home.) For another Cabernet Sauvignon, let's try the just-released Dr. Frank's 2021. I have been to the original East London, the one in London, England; I stayed in Limehouse a few years ago when I had a lot of things to do in the East End. For a long time I planned the programming at the synagogue for Evolution Weekend, which is the weekend nearest Darwin's birthday, February 12. It's now Religion and Science Weekend and I don't know whether there will be anything to commemorate it. The hardware store offered me a Black Friday deal: $10 of $40, which I would consider if there were actually $40 worth of stuff that I needed to buy there.

Christmas shopping doesn't really figure in my world view anyway, but I detest shopping at this time of the year, to the point that I can hardly bear to buy groceries. My plan for Black Friday is to sleep through it.

I would do this if I lived closer to a port. Or, I suppose I could book flights, cancel them if necessary, and carry the flight credit over to try again.

It's hard to buy just one cranberry. I like espresso well enough but I don't have an espresso maker and I don't think that the cafés downtown will be open today. Pass on the meal and on the cocktail. If you want to put hooch in your tea, go right ahead. In central Europe you can order (hot) tea with rum. For a Cabernet, I'll suggest one from Shalestone Vineyards. I've been to Tallinn on the Serenade of the Seas, sailing from Stockholm, and I think I've posted pictures before. I've seen the Cutty Sark at Greenwich, the day after falling on my face in front of the Royal Festival Hall and getting sutures in the ER at St. Thomas's. Dinner tonight, in addition to the Three Sisters casserole, will be avocado (if one is ripe enough) or Castelvetrano olives, romanesco, and mandarin oranges. I would like a Beaujolais Nouveau but couldn't bother to go out and buy a bottle, so the wine will be cardboardeaux Pinot Noir.

I don't fault authorities for closing the other three bridges temporarily, although I wonder how long they waited after learning that there were no explosives involved. I'm annoyed, however, with the coverage on regional cable news (produced in Syracuse). After a reporter in Niagara Falls said that the other three bridges had reopened, an anchorperson yammered at length about the problems that would ensure "if the other bridges remain closed tomorrow." It is possible that the remote feed wasn't audible in the studio, but I think it's more likely that the anchorperson wasn't listening and spent that time thinking up something to say when back on camera. And if one more person says "abundance of caution" I may have apoplexy. They even said that the CBP officer who was injured was taken to a hospital "out of an abundance of caution." It would seem obvious to me to take someone who was injured by a car that crashed onto his booth and then exploded to a hospital.

I'm not prone to freckling, will not be making cranberry relish this year, and don't feel like going for a ride in the gloomy weather we're having. Vegetarian chili would be OK with me, but I'll probably have fish tonight. However, here is another squash recipe, not that we need another: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020565-three-sisters-bowl-with-hominy-beans-and-squash?smid=url-share. I plan to make this tomorrow, but without all the folderol of cooking dried hominy from scratch and using a type of bean I had never heard of (neither is readily obtainable here). I will add mushrooms and shallots, and use butternut squash, with chard for the greens. The drink would be OK but I'd use any old Bourbon for it. For a Merlot, Damiani 2021. I haven't been to Rotorua. I felt awful Monday and Tuesday and still feel below par, but I have to work on the class presentation I'm to give a week from tomorrow.

When I was in graduate school at Hebrew College, I joined the Simmons College Student Health Plan, because it was available, cheap, and convenient. The reason it was cheap was that most of the students were ages 17-22. It is, um, interesting for a middle-aged man to be a patient at the health clinic of a women's college. Once, a doctor there noticed a lesion on my face and referred me to the dermatology department at the Beth Israel Hospital, which is across the street from the Simmons clinic. I was examined carefully by a very young resident (think Doogie Howser) who consulted reference books and then called in the chief of dermatology. Examining rooms there are large, because sometimes groups of medical students observe. From the doorway, about 15 feet away, the chief bellowed, "It's an age spot!" He said it wasn't surprising that Simmons referred me, because age spots are something they would very rarely see. BTW, if your skin bruises even from gentle contact, you might be deficient in vitamin C. My mother consulted her doctor about this; he did not believe in taking vitamin pills, but he told her to drink orange juice. Now, my mother couldn't tolerate anything sour. She would take a small juice glass, pour it no more than half full with orange juice, stir a tablespoon of sugar into it, take a sip, and pour the rest down the sink.