What I Heard This Week! 02-11-2021
Public Service Announcement: It is Sunday evening, and I am here at my office opening mail. When I came to the Verizon bill, I madeout the check, and was stuffing it in the envelope when I saw something printed very tiny in red inkat the bottom of the tear-off attachment. NOTICE: Bank account and routing numbers will be retained to enable future payments by phone or online. To opt out, call 1.866.544.0401.I opted out because, OF COURSE, I do not want them to keep my bank account and routing numbers in THEIR files…if I did, I would have already given them this information. That took a good ten minutes out of working time. Good grief.
So far, 2021 is like looking both ways before crossing the street, and then getting hit by an airplane.
My foreheadhurts telling you this story. Maybe it’s because the guyis staring at me right now from my computer screen. There is a 26-year-old rapper named Lil Uzi Vertthatvoluntarilyhad a massive 10-plus carat,natural pink diamond,placed and then pierced into his forehead. He says that he had been paying for the diamond since 2017 because it is worth $24 million. I believe it is called a marquise shape, and the lower end of the diamond is positioned between his eyebrows, like it is sitting in a hole.It doesn’t look like it is centered either, maybe it was the angle.The story said it is being held in place by a long bar that will be replaced by a shorter bar once his swelling subsides. He said, “I’ll get a short bar, so it won’t move.” Hmmm. I can promise if someone wants to jerk that diamond out of his forehead, there will not be a ‘bar’ long enough to stop them. Sorry, but there is not a tiny portion of this story that I comprehend. He could just pick up a rhinestone from Claire’s,and hotglue it on. Hmmm. I have got to go take Tylenol.
We need to re-think gender reveal parties. During such an event party in Michigan, a 26-year-old man was killed when hit by metal shrapnel as the small gender-reveal cannon device blew up. It also hit three parked cars and a barn. In September, a couple’s plan to reveal their baby’s gender with blue or pink smoke, sparked a wildfire that burned more than 7,000 acres in Southern California. The family that hosted the party are facing potential jail time, as well as multi-million-dollar fines to cover costs of controlling the blaze. In 2019, a homemade explosive used to reveal a baby’s gender killed a woman. It was meant to spray powder but instead blew up like a pipe bomb. On a much lighter side, in September, a couple holding two flares pointed up to the sky that were supposed to, when used correctly, shoot a plume of blue smoke into the air. But they were upside-down. The mom-to-be just received a bit of blue powder on her dress, but Dad got it straight in the groin and ended up on the ground, moaning in agony. A voice is heard in the background, “No need for a vasectomy.”
Do you need a solar charged jacket that glows in the dark, made of a highly responsive material that can be instantly charged, and made to glow like kryptonite by any light source you can find? You can charge it with car headlights, a 60-watt light bulb, whatever. It is waterproof, stretchy, breathable, and so soft and lightweight, you can roll it up into your hand. I first saw it in TIME Magazine in December 2018 where it was listed for $350. Current online price is $445. Yikes. Expensive, but great for hikers and runners who do not always follow the rules and might need to be rescued.
The CDC is now suggesting to double-mask and to improve the fit and quality in order to better protect you from what is coming with the new variant of COVID-19. One idea is to wear a cloth mask over a surgical mask. The second is to improve the fit of a single surgical mask by knotting the ear loops and tucking in the sides close to the face to prevent air from leaking out around the edges and to form a closer fit. It is also suggested that you can upgrade to an N95 mask. I found a package of ten for $9.99 at Office Max. If doubling up hurts your ears, use one mask that loops your ears and one that ties. We can do this!
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Actor Jennifer Aniston is 52. Singer Kelly Rowland is 40. Destiny’s Child. Actor Taylor Lautner is 29.Country singer Moe Bandy is 77. Actor Maud Adams is 76. Octopussy. Guitarist Steve Hackett is 71. Genesis. Actor-talk show host Arsenio Hall is 65. Singer Chynna Phillips of Wilson Phillips is 53. Actor Christina Ricci is 41. Saxophonist Dennis “DT” Thomas of Kool and the Gang is 70. Country singer Travis Tritt is 58. Actor Robert Wagner is 91.Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is 80.
Magician Teller of Penn and Teller is 73. Rapper-actor Ice-T is 63. Guitarist Don Wilson of The Ventures is 88. Wipe Out, Hawaii 5-0. Actor Bo Svenson is 80. Walking Tall. Actor Stockard Channing is 77. Talk show host Jerry Springer is 77.Singer Jimmy Carter of The Blind Boys of Alabama is 89.Opera singer Renee Fleming is 62. Actor Meg Tilly is 61. Drummer Mick Avory of The Kinks is 77. Actor Marisa Berenson is 74. Actor Jane Seymour is 70. Singer Melissa Manchester is 70. Guitarist Gary Clark Jr. is 37.
Jazz singer Peggy King is 91. Actor LeVar Burton is 64. Actor Lisa Loring is 63. Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family. Guitarist Andy Taylor is 60. Duran Duran. Comedian Dame Edna (Barry Humphries) is 87. Actor Rene Russo is 67. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips is 59. Comedian Larry the Cable Guy is 58. Vocalist Yoko Ono is 88. Drummer Robbie Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive is 68.
Mary Wilson, one of the original members of the Supremes, the 1960s group that helped define Motown sound and style, died suddenly at age 76. She said, “It is difficult to see why lace should be so expensive; it is mostly holes.” Leon Spinks, the former undisputed heavyweight boxing champ, who defeated Muhammad Ali in 1978, died at the age of 67 after a five-year battle with prostate cancer. Christopher Plummer, an actor with old fashion manners, great humor, and the music of words, died at 91.He said, “Most of my life I have played a lot of famous people but most of them were dead, so you have a poetic license.”
Thanks to Mr. Slaton and Mr. Heaton for the kind words about this column. Trenton for cleaning our windows at the office. Debby from Castleberry Insurance for the miniature “art cow” with newsprint decorating its cute bovine body. Debra for the green bananas. I printed out the recipe she suggested, Guineitosen escabeche or Puerto Rican Green. Then today at lunch my neighbor Carol, gave me more green bananas from her yard. In the Caribbean, green bananas are often prepared as a vegetable, mostly in savory dishes. Sandra for the Pueblo Lindo Tortilla Chips from Aldi and the container of Culinary Cowgirls Queso Blanco Dip from HEB. They are both fabulous. I ate the dip cold from the refrigerator, but I bet it would be so yummy served warm over grilled chicken or a burger. I am starving.
We all know that Valentine’s Day is the day you are supposed to tell someone… anyone…everyone you love… that you love them. Especially if you’re cold-hearted and neglect them terribly during the year. Yes, a day of cards, flowers, hearts, candy, and love. Many people become engaged on Valentine’s Day. I believe it is just an excuse to say and do nice things that you should be doing all year long, platonic, or romantic. But let’s just pretend that you live by yourself in a cave in the woods, and you like it that way. You are not lonesome, you hate chocolate, and flowers make you sneeze. Well, someone started Singles Awareness Day… sort of an anti-Valentine Day, a humorous holiday to celebrate being by yourself. You can still take the opportunity to send presents to your other single friends, or even send flowers to yourself. This day, otherwise known as S.A.D., just happens to be the day after Valentine’s Day on February 15th. If all else fails, Parks and Recreation featured a unique holiday called Galentine’s Day that falls on February 13th. (Obviously, someone had spare time on their hands.) This is a day to celebrate the bonds and friendships between females. At the end of it all, there are those that still believe Valentine’s Day commemorates a massacre. Enough said. Celebrate. Your choice of how.
This is interesting. 800 people in the UK will be part of a trial starting in mid-February to determine whether a person can be vaccinated with two different types of Covid-19 shots, offering the same protection, or hopefully, even more protection. It is a 13-month trial and the first of its kind in the world. It could really make a difference if vaccine shortages continue long term, allowing countries to mix and match vaccines, and hopefully bringing high levels of immunity to our communities more quickly and efficiently.
When does Season 2 of2021start?I do not like Season 1.
In Australia, a man was tired of not getting to hang out with his neighbors in the evening, so he figured out a way he could still have a drink with them. He used his drone to fly two glasses of Johnny Walker Gold Edition from his home to his friends next door. Hmmm. I like it!
1998: “Don’t get into cars with strangers.”
2008: “Don’t meet people online.”
2021: “Get online, order a car to climb into with a stranger inside, then drive off with them.”
Remember this? “Aye Yi-Yi Yi-Yi.” Desi Arnez would smack his head when he said it after finding that Lucy had done something silly. Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem will be playing Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez in an upcoming biopic about the couple, titled Being the Ricardos. Two weeks ago, I watched The Dig with Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes, both fabulous actors. It is the true story of the famous 1939 excavation of priceless treasures on a 1,400-year-old Anglo-Saxon ship, complete with a burial chamber that likely once held an ancient king. These spectacular finds changed historians’ understanding of early medieval Britain. An incredibly beautiful, quiet, thoughtful movie. Then I started and finished Firefly Lane with Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke on Netflix. It’s the story of two women from their teens to their 40’s, one famous and one that chose to marry and have children. It was good. Hope it gets another season.
A Soul Cycle instructor received her vaccine for being an educator. Soul Cycle star Stacey Griffith (52),is generously compensated at $800 per 45-minute class… and her classes always sell out. She is extremely popular, teaching riders difficult maneuvers like how to turn a knob for resistance, how to ride to the beat, and how to find passion and purpose on a bike that stands still and goes nowhere. She used her credentials as an “educator” whose priority is to, “keep my community and their respiratory systems operating at full capacity so they can beat this virus if they are infected by it,” to get her vaccine. Because their studios aren’t open, coworkers are not happy about her putting the already financially struggling company in a bad light. She issued an apology saying she made a terrible error in judgment. Yep.
Fifty years ago, I spent all night in line for Rolling Stones tickets. Now it’s for a vaccine.
Inquiring minds want to know… which is the best arm for your vaccine injection site? Since it is not unusual to have a little soreness for a day or two, this is a good question. When you get vaccinated, your body’s immune system is learning to fight off a virus and it calls in all available help to the injection site, which causes inflammation. Therefore, soreness. Left, or Right? There is no right answer. Some recommend your non-dominant arm because the soreness is less likely to get in the way of your everyday activities. Others believe that your dominant arm is the way to go because you will have more movement to the arm which can increase blood flow to the affected area, therefore helping clear the inflammation away quicker. If you have soreness, ice the site for 20 minutes or add Tylenol.
Don’t forget…LJ Farmer’s Market and Peach Street Farmer’s Market Saturday. Cover your plants and faucets. It will be very cold.Happy Valentine’s Day. I could never stay 6 ft. away from you!
Lisa
