Category Archives: food

Bleach In Our Time

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So, I have spent a lot of time this past week learning about bleach. How to distill it, what not to mix it with, how to clean with it and how to use it to kill every germ around.

My earliest memories of bleach are my parents. My mom was a nurse and always mentioned how it could kill anything. My dad was in the Navy and reminded me to respect it and not go overboard with. He also told me not to let it touch my hands, not to breath it in etc…

But beyond that it was an afterthought. Not anymore!

If that was not enough, having been laid off at my main job, I accepted a technical writing assignment for a dental client. I have a few pieces in the hopper to do but the first one, was of course, about dental crowns and teeth whitening. What do you do for teeth whitening you ask? You basically bleach your teeth. There you go. It is everywhere.

Each day has been an adventure in getting projects done. At this point it is mostly decluttering and organizing music. I have a massive ‘to do’ and ‘to watch’ list.

One of the things I am doing to pass time is look at my collection of art books and coffee table books. I do not have a lot of them and I generally get most of them second hand since they are outrageously priced new. Anyway, I was looking through a book on Art Deco and it helped pass some time.

In case you do not know and because I want to seem cool (not really) here’s a quick summary thing. I know a bunch of my art friends will correct me but oh well.

Art Deco was introduced in Paris (isn’t everything) in 1925 where it captivated the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. It was a hybrid of sorts of engineering and art that became a big deal in the 1920s and 1930s.

But where this is going to is that this past September I had a friend of mine take me to see her and her husband’s place in Boulder Colorado. One of the big things I wanted to do there was see their court house building. It is on Pearl Street (a really nice area btw) and has some amazing Art Deco fixtures, design and architecture going on.

Built in 1933 it is also a terrific WPA building. The combination of that style with the Art Deco makes it pretty great.

This is one of the first things you see when you go in. it is a really nice overlook with the original lighting fixtures above it.
The front hallway. It’s pretty sleek.
Upstairs hallway by office.
Tucked away in a corner hallway. they use this door each day to lock access.

In front of the courthouse is a really nice fountain, donated by The Lion’s club in 1935. The building has some terrific landscaping around it as well.

When I travel I try to see Art Deco buildings as much as I can. So far, Chicago, New York, Paris and Prague are the best places I have seen it on a large scale. I know there is some cool stuff in Minneapolis.

St. Louis has a lot of great examples of it as well, but sadly a lot of great stuff is gone too. The Civil Courts Building downtown is great as is the Jewel Box in Forest Park.

While in Boulder, I also wanted to see the house used for the exterior shot for Mork & Mindy. I am that nerdy. As an aside, that show got stupid when they had their kid. Even though Jonathan Winters was great, it was a stupid idea.

If there is a video anywhere of Jonathan Winters physically beating the crap out of rich Little please show it to me. I would love t see it.

I was delighted that no one came out and chased me away with a shotgun.

When writing about teeth whitening is the high point of your day you really are a square. Just saying.’

Here is another announcement about the stupid. I am not sure what the girl upstairs does, but she is loud and has a lot of company. She cannot talk on a phone quietly and she has no ability to do simple things quietly. It’s like Paul Bunyan is coming in and out of the building each time she comes and goes. She has cackle that is shrill and she cannot greet her cat without everyone in 10 miles hearing it. My UPS driver noted he could hear her getting out his truck, even with the motor running. I will gladly put up with all of this if she just stayed the hell inside. Now, I have to wipe down the stair railing and doorknobs to the laundry room every day. But personality wise, she is very nice so I should be nicer.

In appliance news, the refrigerator and freezer are really doing their thing. They are pretty full with stuff. I wish I had a massive freezer like some people are getting right now, although for the life of me I cannot imagine putting that much meat in it.

I have been cooking more which is terrific fun. Digging around in the pantry I came upon a bottle of Bayou Fireball I got as a gift.

It is from Louisiana where they do not mess around with kind of stuff. It’s pretty much hot sauce, guns and LSU football. I wish more people in Louisiana liked Fats Domino, but that is not the point here.

Bayou Fireball is a pepper based sauce that uses minced garlic, cayenne and habanero peppers to bring the heat. In addition to the flavor what makes it great is that you don’t need to use a ton of it to get results.

Its big claim to fame is that NASA astronauts love it. So as a hot sauce, I guess you can say it is ‘out of this world.’ It certainly is much better than the stuff they use at Chipotle. Speaking of which, they need to bring back Tomatillo.

I hate to harp on this but, again, the kids are not alright. In fact they are morons. Sometimes I wish I could summon George Raft to give them a good what for.

My hands are beat to all giddy. I have been moisturizing them, using bag balm and other stuff but it still is a real annoying thing. Whenever I see Vaseline I think of the Flaming Lips song, She Don’t Use Jelly. I could have lived without that earworm.

Today I hope to finish a novel and read some magazines I had squirreled away. My sleep cycle is pretty much shot to heck these days so naps are terrific. I am also on a narrative film screening committee for a film festival which means I am going to watch a movie or two later today.

Days of Thunder is on later and I have never seen it.

I hated Top Gun so I have low expectations. Thus is my life. Hope yours is better.

Thank God it’s Friday!

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That sentence now has been rendered useless.

I know one thing, I am mildly happy about is that with all of this stuff going on there are no more stupid happy hours. All they really did was make people run around from place to place to get deals on terrible food or drinks they couldn’t really enjoy because it was still early in the evening.

Then there’s the social aspect. I am always awkward at happy hours. Even the networking one where I am getting to meet people that are actually interesting.

I’m not sure what the issues are but maybe it stems from the forced short term interactions of Catholic school. Maybe it is the fact that they are so short they never let you be comfortable.

Either way, happy hours suck. I think Dante would find TFI Friday’s happy hour to be a purgatory of epic proportions.

I took a walk yesterday. It was nice to have the Sun out and feel its warmth. I stopped to look at some budding limbs on a few trees and enjoyed seeing some flowers. St. Louis is a pretty green city in many ways and lots of neighborhoods have communal gardens and folks who plant their own gardens. Pretty cool. All of this is making me think about being that guy, who has a garden. you know, the weird older guy with all the plants that goes on about nothing all the time.

I think Agatha Christie had some cool characters that were gardeners. I know Sad Cypress and Peril at End House had some. She also liked poison plants from what I recall. That last title sounds like an indie band name.

I think it is interesting that she is one of those 20th century writers who has a legacy that doesn’t involve getting drunk in Paris. Although she was missing for a bit. probably aliens.

So all of you folks who wanted the Roaring ’20s back. Thanks! Speaking of which this is my next book.

I think it will be interesting. Burns usually writes very short, concise books and this one should be fun since I know a lot about the decade in general but not that specific year.

After that I am throwing myself into Peter Ackroyd’s history of England books and with a chaser of lots of Neil Gaiman fiction.

I have a Minneapolis excursion planned for September that is now unlikely to happen. Because of that I was gonna re read a bunch of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was hoping to see his house. He probably wouldn’t be home anyway. If Gatsby were around today I’d punch him in the face.

I think the girl upstairs put her wooden shoes on before she does any household activities. How can one person make so much noise walking across an apartment. She said she had no furniture and didn’t go out. this brings me to a big pet peeve. Every time she uses her cell phone I can hear it. It is always on speaker and she always talks doubt the vacuous jibber jabber that kids today in their mid 20s go on about. She is not deaf. She seems alert and responsive. is she just too lazy to use a phone the proper way? Then there is the rolling cast of cretins she is not properly socially distancing herself with. I have bene using the back door to come in and out so I don’t have to risk the germs. Except to get the mail.

I really miss the English and Japanese gardens at the Missouri Botanical Garden. MOBOT is cool. I bet the critters at the St. Louis zoo and thrilled to not have people gawking at them all day.

I have few things I want to get to on the telly. There is Decades, the New Order concert film and Is There Something I Should Know? the hour long doc about Duran Duran. I never really dug Duran Duran when I was young. I have learned to like the first few albums now.

Beyond that Nada Surf has a new album out. Never Not Together is their 9th album. It offers a nice collection of power pop songs.

I have always been hit or miss on them. This one isn’t too shabby. There’s a nice cohesion of melody going on here that is pretty great.

This is one of the movies waiting on deck. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is a spy flick from 1965 based on the best selling book. Richard Burton is pretty good in it.

I love John le Carré and this is a really solid interpretation of his work.

I mopped again last night. Good times.

Ok, I have to work on freelance stuff now.

Time I spent some time alone….

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It is totally weird to me that with everything going on I somehow have lost track of time. Before all of this I was always busy and had stuff to do and time commitments stuffed to the gills.

Now, with everything coming to an slow crawl I still have little time to do the stuff I want. I make lists, I set things out, I set goals. where the hell has time gone?

I am somewhat proud of myself for the beginnings of a massive declutter in the back room. I have gotten rid of some unused tings but also found some crazy forgotten memories.

I think I need to get a new photo album and fill it. Probably works better than shelves, drawers and random boxes.

I got laid off from my job at Webster University. It was completely expected. My boss said we all get to come back when this is over, but by then the place will look like an unearth archaeological site and the first few days of work will suck ass. Not that everyday there doesn’t drag in some way. I do like working on a university campus, even though the kids are stupid and irritating and have absolutely the worst taste in music, generally.

I went into the art building one day and no one there had cool haircuts. Sad. Back in my day all of us at KCFV radio folks in junior college used to make a trip over to the art building during the first few days of the semester to see what was shaking. I was not sure why any of the others didn’t figure it out. We played cool music, they were cool looking and interesting and both sides were outcasts, misfits and creatives in a way. And. seem to remember they all had really cool long coats.

The best part was wearing all black was like a secret handshake or a sly nod. Sort of like ‘yeah we get it.’

But now, the kids have a lot going on and they are savvy and smart so I should cut them a break. My generation lived through Third Eye blind, Paula Abdul and Collective soul, there’s is living through fascism and a pandemic. So I should lay off.

Circling back to “work,” I still have my PT job at a magazine/convenience store. I got a nifty note on letterhead yesterday telling me I was ‘essential’ so if I am stopped a can show my papers. It is a double edged sword, I generally like the regulars I meet but they need to stay the hell home.

In better news, I did get a technical writing project and I am going to knuckle under and start on that today. It’s for a dental client so there’s a lot of dry research ahead of me.

I got curbside Indian food last night. Lamb Krahi, Aloo Gobi & garlic naan. There are leftovers! I live near an international grocery store which is nice and with most of the college hoodlums away it is bearable. Despite this, I set up from grocery delivery from a few places and I am looking at getting some other options.

One of my friends made an apple pie and left it on the back porch. It was seriously the best pie ever. Ever.

I am cooking more which is nice. Lots of Simple stuff. I have my grandmother’s recipe box from the ’50s and I am gonna start doing some of this. She meticulously typed each recipe on an index card. it is very beautiful and poetic. She shared my birthday.

I have had little time to watch TV but there’s a ton of ‘movies I have been wanting to get to’ in there. So we shall see.

Top Chef would be more interesting if the other chefs had to eat the loser each week. Also watching Jeopardy! Trying to avoid the news.

I know Scott Phillips form the bookstore I used to work at and the coffee shop I went to before all of this. He write books that I don not want to categorize but will call crime fiction. But they are not like Columbo or James Patterson. They have really gritty people in them doing weird and odd things. Bad things.

This is his new book. I started to read it. it has art forgery in it an dis very compelling. I love the way his books flow and pace. If you want t pass the time with a great read check this out.

Concord Press is a nifty publishing house that gives away free books. They are giving away some now in fact. Yesterday I got Rut, a sort of historical fiction story (also by Scott Phillips) and Zig Zag a short story collection from Madison Smart Bell who has written 12 books, none of which I have read.

I like short story anthologies and thought this would be good.

In appliance news I worry that then the coin operate washer and dryer are full we won’t be able to use them. I called the company that handles this but they were morons.

My hands are beat to hell from hand gel and soaps. Been moisturizing but now I have hands like my mom had late it life. She loved it when we put nice smelling aloe on her hands.

I haven’t dove into the puzzles yet or my book of word searches yet. I have found out a nice bench I like where I can sit alone if I want and read. Mostly though I am chilling on my porch and watching and listening to birds.

Another thing I am trying to do is take short walks. I enjoy the quiet but again am annoyed to see people outside screwing around. Stay home!

It is opening day for MLB. I am sad.

So I host a radio show on KDHX. I decided this week, even though media is also ‘essential,’ to do it remotely or with prerecords for the next few weeks. I miss the getting out and rush I get doing it live. However, being in a small room with the potential for lots of germs was not ideal.

They are providing gloves and hand wipes but it is still a small place and microphones as pretty crappy in that they keep germs around. So I aired on the side of caution.

I find that Grinding Halt by The Cure has become my song of the week. If you are bored (and who isn’t?) you can see it on their Hyde Park Concert from 2018 which is on HBO right now.

Sorry are from London. They are gonna be a big deal. Their new album 925 is on Domino Records. It is pretty tasty.

Kenny Rogers has passed away. Growing up I heard this music everywhere. The Gambler films were a big deal. It played all the time. He also had a string of hits that were catchy and less hoosier than some of the other crap that folks were listening to.

I will say that he was very distinguished looking as he aged and then he got a terrible face lift. Dude. Dude.

I often played Ruby late at night during my live DJ sets when all the kids were drunk. Let’s not talk about Six Pack.

But seriously he had string of hits that few artists in any genre can get. I don’t think people today realize that he was a seriously big deal. He crossed over from music to films and books at a time when it was not done often.

So the plan for today so far is to mop the floors, declutter do some technical writing. Plus some TV stuff to clear out the DVR maybe. I probably will hold off on the leftover Indian in favor or a pork chop and ramen noodles. I drank an Emergency C already so I may have tea later. I also have some oranges and grapes. The day includes no plans for drinking a funky cold medina.

The Reboot

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I set this up ages ago but somehow was too busy, too nervous or just too concerned my ADHD brain would make this scattershot.

So, despite all of that I am here in the trenches writing stuff. It will be a good exercise for me, since I am someone who generally dislikes annoying people and is not the best person to be cooped up for long periods of time but also feels the need to vent every so often.

So, despite all of that, here I sit at a keyboard with the sun coming into the room and the great sounds of chirping birds to keep me company. After all, there is something nice about hearing them sing first thing in the morning.

I was reminded last night aboutt one of my juvenile pet peeves. It’s people who put their newspapers in plastic bags. I mean why? For decades people have put them folded under their arms and it has worked perfectly.

Now we have to have a plastic bag loose in the environment because someone wanted a handle. I wouldn’t even complain about it except it has been a thing since, I don’t know before WW2. This really bugs me. The next ting you know briefcases will be out of style.

If you think Humphrey Bogart would put his newspapers in a plastic bag than you are nuts. 

The girl upstairs is incredible irritating. Stop using the speaker on your phone. No one cares about hearing every stupid thing you are doing.  She is young and naive and doesn’t know who Prince is so there’s that too.

I am taking time to seriously declutter. I have more music than I can store. It is bloody everywhere. Some of it I don’t even remember having. So a massive purge is afoot. For now, I am not cleaning out the books or graphic novels.

But looking at a long pathway of indoor time, I decided to make lists of movies and TV I want to see and books, some long overdue for perusal, to read. 

Staying inside means I get to make lists. I kind of like making lists. Thus, I have made lists of stuff to see, read and hear. It’ll help me sort it out and not watch the infantile politicians on TV.

Interestingly enough, I have two Farley Granger movies on DVD, Strangers On A Train from 1951 and They Live By Night, a nifty film from 1949.

I am not even that big of a fan of his,  but I had both movies next to each other totally by happenstance. I noticed this while trying to sort out what to watch.

I am planning on watching Chinatown again soon. The plot kinds of falls apart but it is still excellent.  I also am planning watching some Godzilla movies and Ice Station Zebra again. Incidentally, Stan Ridgway name checked that movie in a 1992 song called I Wanna Be A Boss.Stan Ridgway is grossly underrated.

One of the things I am hoping to do in the coming days is clear out the guest room and really toss out some things I do not need.  The upside of this is that every day when I work on this I have decided to listen to an new artist so that there is a balance of work and play involved.

Top Chef is back on. I could be wrong but. bet Padma and Gail are terribly high maintenance and would probably get on my nerves. I love the show but wonder how folks can eat such tiny plates of food. Also, no one uses bacon.

I watched something called Aerial America yesterday. They profiled a state for each episode. I watched the ones on  Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin. I learned a lot and they gave a nice survey of each state and their history without glossing over any of the bad bits.

I am looking forward to getting out and taking  walks. I hate being around lots of people and there is something great in the solitude of walking, I am looking forward to not hearing a lot of extraneous noise made by bad drivers and ass clowns and hope to make new discoveries. For instance, I was on my back porch yesterday and noticed that the apartment building across the way has a cool little sculpture thing attached to its roof. It is no great shakes but it was nice to notice it.

A wise friend of mine told me to write two pages a day. So I am adding that to my list of stuff to do along with word searches, freelance projects, cleaning and walking. 

I would like to think that times like this bring out the best in people and build community. but I have little faith in people since most of my life I’ve hidden from people trying to kick my ass or worked form some terrible people professionally. 

I cleared out my wallet. I had a lot of crazy crap in my wallet.

Stuff I am listening to…..The labels are cutting back on sending me digital product so there’s way more digital stuff to check out which is kind of nice.  But generally, lots of classical music and some jazz. I like the new Moaning and Stephen Malkmus record a lot. I am trying to avoid sad things for the moment. 

Having said that, I totally blew it because I am reading a book about Joy Division. I got it at Tattered Cover in Denver awhile back. Jon Savage is a great author.

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Ironically, the paperback for this will be available at Target. Target. Really.

Savage is a compelling writer and he brings the band’s dynamics as a unit into focus. He also manages to give readers a broader picture of what they were all about than other books had. I had read Deborah Curtis’ book Touching From A Distance before and really enjoyed that.

This would be a good time to mention that if you get any books during all of this do it for your local bookshop. They need the money. I am fortunate that St. Louis has some really incredible indie bookshops, all of which should be supported.

My hands are a mess because of all the washing. Been using Bag Balm on it. It reminded me of how rough my mom’s hand were late in life and how I often had to moisture them for her.

Ok, off to recycle stuff and take out trash and get going with the day.