Vacation & Issues

I have been away roughly three weeks.  One week was a vacation specifically where I planned to be disassociated from all electronics.  But, the other two weeks of my absence were associated with an Internet functionality issue where connectivity was spotty, such that I gave up trying to post until there was a positive resolution to the issue.  I had been on the phone with "help support" from my ISP and have through more time than I would like, further honed my abilities in understanding a wide array of ESL speakers who are speaking on headsets that allow a cornucopia of background noise to obliterate the consonants they are enunciating.  Because I did not wish to become a true expert in that skill, as it would take even more hours of practice, I gave up on trying to get the ISP to provide "support" for a spell.

It seems that there is now an understanding that the issue is not with my home, nor my computer, but within the infrastructure outside of my boundaries.  It has been worked on steadily the last few days and appears to at least be becoming less horrendous.

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One Ounce

For much of my life, I have smoked on average, about 4 ounces of pipe tobacco a week.  Sometimes, it would go as high as 6 ounces (one example of the especially high consumption occurred in the month or two leading up to my doctoral dissertation defense).  For the last three weeks, I have been smoking only one ounce of pipe tobacco a week.  For many that may seem like not much of a change, but in reality for me it is a considerable decline. 

I know it is not where I want to be yet, but I am heading in the right direction.

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Jack Elam

One of the best character actors I have ever had the pleasure to watch in a bunch of movies is Jack Elam.  If you want to see an 1987 interview of him (by Letterman), watch it here.

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At Mass

“I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.
Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;
thus will I test them,
to see whether they follow my instructions or not."

I keep trying to not worry in my life.  I know that worry does me no damn good.   But I am a worrier by nature.  Yet, I should not. 

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Gyros

One food I do not have anywhere near as often as I should is the gyro.  I really enjoy them, and if I let myself, I am sure I could polish off easily 4-5 of them in one sitting.  I do, sincerely, try to stop at one or at the very most two when I do get to have them. 

The cucumber sauce, the onions, and the dill added to the thinly sliced and spicy lamb in that soft pita is amazing.

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