Odds & Ends

I had so many cobwebs on my front porch that it looked like I was decorating for Halloween.

Every time I see one of those awful-looking Tesla trucks, I am sure they are headed into combat or that the apocalypse is here, even when they are just innocently parked in the lot at my gym.

Speaking of cars, remember when you could drive into a parking lot and head for the parking spot nearest the door? Then came handicapped parking, so most of those spots were designated for people who had the plates and needed to be close, which I totally understand. Now, I don’t know where to park. There are parking spots for drivers with young children, places to park and charge your electric vehicle, designated spots for picking up your food order or having someone come out and hand it to you, and who knows what’s next? Oh well, I could use the exercise and extra steps on my smart watch.

By the way, if you want to check out at a variety of car makes & models, stop by my upscale gym anytime. From BMWs to Audis to Mercedes and Porsches, you’ll see them all. But lately, I can’t help but notice the large number of Teslas. I guess if you can afford a couple of hundred dollars a month for a gym membership, a luxury car is not out of the question. 

Nothing that is labeled “easy to open” is ever actually easy to open.

Am I the only person who unplugs appliances around the house? It’s not like I unplug a lamp if I’m not using it, but the hairdryer, toaster oven and other kitchen stuff are only plugged in while I’m using them. If I go away for a few days, I turn off and unplug my computer, too. You can’t be too careful, though I’m not sure of the consequences.

Someone needs to tell the makers of cauliflower rice that they are not fooling us at all. Cauliflower pizza crust, mashed cauliflower “potatoes” and rice are cauliflower, not what we are told they are supposed to be.

I wonder how many actual loads I get out of a jug of laundry detergent vs. what is written on the label.

Why do I sneeze twice? And can it be that as I get older, the sneezes are louder? There are so many times I am glad I live alone!

It is so hard to get an appointment with your doctor. My PCP will book an appointment and then insist after she sees me that I come back in 4 or 8 weeks – why, I’m not sure. But if everyone is getting 2 appointments and one they really don’t need, no wonder I can’t get in for the first time! That’s why the proliferation of Urgent Care has occurred and saved the day. I can ALWAYS book an appointment with the local urgent care place, often on the same day, where I can get checked for routine things like cold and flu. I’m not asking them to resolve the complex stuff, but sometimes you just need an antibiotic and boy, does urgent care come in handy. If I waited for the doctor, I’d be cured by the time I saw her!

One of the (many) nice things about retirement is that you can change your sheets on a Tuesday! You don’t have to cram all of your chores, errands and social engagements into Saturday and Sunday.

Like most people my age, I have my share of aches and pains. So, when I got my flu and Covid vaccines, I couldn’t tell if I was sore and achy from the shots, from my aqua exercise class or just from being 73! I was lucky this time – no chills, fever or swelling.

The other day I tripped over my own feet in my driveway and went down in a heap. Luckily, no real harm was done. I fell on my “bad knee,” (of course) and scraped it up. I also scraped my hands. But it could have been so much worse – a broken hip or wrist, or the ultimate indignity of having a neighbor see me fall! I didn’t see my life flash before my eyes, but I had enough time on the way down to realize, hey, I’m falling and this is going to hurt. Those “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” commercials make much more sense to me now.

I have found tons of video clips from exercise instructors that look perfect for easing me gently into a consistent exercise program. But apparently just watching them is not enough. I have to start doing them!

I am spending way too much time on Facebook and other social media. I’ll find something interesting and then an article on the 25 things to get rid of in your house pops up and I can’t resist reading it (instead of actually getting rid of stuff). I’ll be distracted by a post on the best movies, or new books to read, and then I start looking up information to see where I can watch them. Next thing I know, I’m watching a video on how to burp a baby or watching some guy mow and clean up a lawn or someone changing out light switches – as if I would ever attempt any of those things. The list of distractions is endless and apparently, I have no will power to resist going down the rabbit hole. Go read a book, girl!

I called a friend for her birthday the other day and heard the recording say to leave a message. It must have been generated by artificial intelligence, because the instructions sounded like, “Please REcord” your message instead of “Please RECORD.” Was that too hard to understand? 

We are done with fresh peach season and into apple season, and fresh Jersey tomatoes will give way to hothouse varieties. There is no excuse for a New Jersey restaurant to serve tomatoes that look orange and mealy in the summer when there is an abundant supply of bright red and juicy ones all over the state. You can say what you want about New Jersey, but our tomatoes are a reason to live here! That, and the fact that we still don’t have to pump our own gas!

Campbell’s Soup Company has announced that it is dropping the word “soup” from its company name. They have enough other businesses that just including just SOUP in the branding no longer accurately describes the company. In looking into this, I discovered that my beloved Milano Cookies from Pepperidge Farms are in the Campbell’s product line, as are Goldfish crackers, Swanson, Prego and Rao’s spaghetti sauce, V8 Juice, Pop Secret Popcorn, Snyder’s pretzels and Lance crackers. It’s not just about the soup! You can drop the name but please keep the soup!

Is it just me or do other people use Color Catchers in the laundry to prevent color bleeding? I know not to wash my red Rutgers shirts together with white underwear, but sometimes things that you don’t think will bleed DO bleed. And this stuff works as promised.

Has anyone seen my dryer ball? I use four in the dryer and one has escaped. I hope it wasn’t in the sleeve of something I just donated to Goodwill.

When I bought my townhouse in 1983, a local realtor used to drop off gadgets with her name and number of them to promote her services. There were pasta measuring devices and a strainer, a butter spreader, measuring cups, peelers and lots of other handy-dandy items. That was 40 years ago, and I still have and use my original Laura Sampson collection! I wonder if she is still a realtor!

Basketball season officially starts next month and, as usual, I can hardly wait! The Rutgers Men’s team is ranked #25 even before the season starts, and they have some real superstars on the roster. My beloved Rutgers Women’s Basketball team is not that fortunate, coming off a season in which they won just 8 games. But there is nowhere to go but up, and I’ll be there in my usual seat cheering them on and hoping for better days from this year’s talented group. Let’s go, RU!

September 2024 Movies & More

Here are a baker's dozen of programs I watched in September. New programs that I had not seen previously are marked with an asterisk. All programs are rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna fish, with numbering picked up from the previous months.

113. Selling Sunset, Season 8* (2024, Netflix) – The stylish (and over-the-top) real estate ladies of the Oppenheimer Group are back to sell their multi-million-dollar homes in the Hollywood area. The homes are gorgeous, the views spectacular, and the infighting constant. This year we have a case of infidelity to hash and rehash, a dog funeral complete with tattoos made with the dog’s ashes, and the usual changing tide of frenemies. The clothes often look more like lingerie, and certainly not suitable for showing homes and closing deals. Yet, here I am, buying what these ladies are selling. Again. There are 11 episodes this season, perfectly bingeable. Now I have to wait another year? 3½ cans.
114. Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos* (2024, HBO) – Perfect timing for this documentary to come out since just last month I finished rewatching all 7 seasons of The Sopranos. Here, documentary maker Alex Gibney interviews the show’s creator, writer and sometime director, David Chase, about the development of the show from the casting to killing off characters and to that infamous final scene where the screen turns to black. Did Tony Soprano die? Was a shooter waiting in Holsten’s while Tony and his family ate their onion rings? This was a fascinating look at the themes of the show (David Chase’s contrarian mother was a role model for Livia), the characters and the actors who portrayed them. Even Chase seemed surprised by the direction the show took at times. It was grueling for the entire company, with 12 hours on set for everyone. If you like a little behind-the-scenes story and you love the Sopranos, this 2-parter is perfect for you. 4 cans.
115. Moonstruck (1987, PBS) – What can I say about this absolutely delightful movie that I haven’t already said? It is a charming comedy-romance starring Cher, Nicholas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia and Danny Aiello, with John Mahoney in a small but important part, and each actor delivers the goods with panache. If you have never seen it, what are you waiting for? 4 cans.
116. The Boatlift (YouTube) – Tom Hanks narrates this literally uplifting story of hundreds of volunteers who used their boats to safely evacuate people in lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. This very short documentary shows the best in people, as a call went out to move people stranded at the piers after the attack. Water taxis and ferries were not enough to handle the thousands of people trying to escape, so the Coast Guard requested that local boat owners help out. They immediately raced to the scene to help strangers in this time of crisis. In just 9 hours, they evacuated thousands of people. You will watch this movie with a lump in your throat and a feeling of hope, knowing that there are good people in this world. 4 cans.
117. Stopping the Steal* (2024, HBO) – Nothing could be further from the heroic actions portrayed in The Boatlift, above, than the despicable behavior of former President Trump and his mob in rejecting the results of the 2020 election and trying to overturn it, leading to the infamous insurrection of January 6. This riveting documentary shows maniacal pressure being foisted on the election officials in Arizona and Georgia by Trump and his lawyers as they insist that the 2020 election was unfair and seek to overturn the results. Every possible path to declare the election illegitimate was proposed by Trump and his lawyers, with the President himself reaching out to election officials to try to coerce them. In fact, several of these officials were Republicans, at least one of whom campaigned for Donald Trump. Despite his threats and the backlash the officials faced from his ardent followers, these officials were determined to uphold the Constitution and preserve the democracy. They are the heroes of the film. 4 cans.
118. Apollo 13: Survival* (2024, Netflix) – It’s not like I don’t know this story; I have watched other documentaries and I am a big fan of Director Ron Howard’s drama, “Apollo 13.” But this one captivated me with its real-time account of what happened to the flight in a near disaster. The footage from NASA and previously recorded interviews depicting the astronauts and their families, combined with the panicked news coverage as people globally watched on in fear adds to the suspense here. This situation was unprecedented; the astronauts had to move to the small lunar landing vehicle because of the damage to the main ship. The engineers and bright minds of NASA had to devise a way to bring the three men back safely when all hope appeared to be lost. Somehow, they saved the day – and the astronauts. 3½ cans.
119. Challengers* (2024, Prime Video) – The challenge here was to get through this incredibly boring movie. Not only was it excruciatingly slow, but the last few minutes were played out in slow motion and often low light. I’m not a fan of filming in the dark because I can’t see what the characters are doing. Finally, the description of this movie lists it as a comedy-drama. Comedy-drama? Did I blink and miss the comedy aspect? Here’s the premise: Two young men are tennis players, both of whom are interested in a pretty, young woman (Zendaya), who is also a tennis player but competes at Stanford instead of turning pro like the men. She seems to appreciate tormenting the two friends and pitting them against each other as they vie for her affections. But even the relationship aspect of the movie was bad – the romance was mostly tepid and the young woman smug. I almost went to the movies to see this one, and then I almost rented it, but if I had paid to see it, I would have kicked myself. 2 cans.
120. Conned* (2023, Prime Video) – When you hear stories about people who seem reasonably intelligent but who are the victims of a scam, you probably think that you would never fall for the con. The four people here did. One woman had worked for the State Department and was an alum of MIT. Yet, when she met a “nice man” who offered to feed her cats AND be her financial advisor, she let him have access to her bank account. Three others had all written books, and their scammers were sure they could represent them and get them each movie deals. But the constant costs to do that and the money the scammers requested never led to any such success. Ironically, all of them got producer credits on this documentary, so they did get to make a movie after all, just not the ones they set out to do. The lesson here is to get it in writing, and if anything smells the least bit fishy, don’t bite. 3½ cans.
121. Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter* (2024, Netflix) – When 14-year old Cathy gave birth to a daughter, she and her mother realized that it would be best for the child to place her for adoption. Cathy had no contact with the child, but many years later, through social media, she learned that she had been missing since the age of 14. With the help of the authorities and amateur sleuths, she was determined to find out what happened, and she was not about to stop until she uncovered the truth. This 2-part documentary reveals the outcome and the gruesome things people do and often get away with. 3½ cans.
122. Big Kitchens* (2015, Prime Video) – If you have ever wondered how big restaurants, hotels and cruise ships manage to keep large groups of visitors happy and well-fed, this 12-part series is for you. From a crab restaurant outside Chicago to legendary Junior’s (the cheesecake people) in Brooklyn, this series examines large restaurants that turn out five-foot pizzas, thousands of pounds of pasta, and how they feed an actual army. I love these kinds of behind-the-scenes stories where they tell you how many pancakes they turn out in a day. I can’t believe I watched the whole thing! 4 cans.
123. My Cousin Vinny (1992, Hulu) – If you are accused of murder, you might want to hire a lawyer with a modicum of trial experience. But the two “yoots” in this case turn to Cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci), straight out of Brooklyn and headed to the South to defend his cousin (Ralph Macchio) and his buddy when they are mistaken for killers. Armed with his limited experience as a lawyer (none in the courtroom) and his fabulous and smart girlfriend, Mona Lisa (Marisa Tomei), Vinny faces off against the opposition and a cantankerous Judge (Fred Gwynne). This movie has a million laughs, is perfectly cast, and always a joy to watch. 4 cans.
124. Will & Harper* (2024, Netflix) – Part documentary, part buddy movie, part road trip, this true story is about the friendship of actor Will Ferrell and his long-time pal and Saturday Night Live collaborator Harper Steele, who, at age 61, transitioned from a man to a woman. Knowing the kinds of dive bars and weird excursions Harper liked when he was a man, Ferrell suggests they go on the cross-country road trip to see how Harper fares as a transgender woman and whether she can enjoy and feel comfortable with these familiar places and activities. Ferrell is interested in Harper’s life and she doesn’t hesitate to answer his questions even as she tries to conquer her fears and longs for acceptance. This is an unconventional but moving film about acceptance, love and friendship. 3½ cans.
125. Nobody Wants This* (2024, Netflix) – Adam Brody is Noah, a charming youngish rabbi looking to move up when he meets Joanne, a cute blond who runs a relationship podcast with her sister. Opposites attract, and these two are off and running. His mother (the wonderful-in-everything Tovah Feldshah) doesn’t like their relationship. Joanne is a “shiksa” (a derogatory Yiddish term for a woman who is not Jewish, particularly a blonde with her hooks into a nice Jewish boy), who, even if she were to convert, would never be the prototypical rabbi’s wife. This 10-part mini-series has very short episodes so bingeing it is easy to do. There are interesting/annoying characters, like his brother and her sister, but the two leads have enough chemistry to overcome their distractions. Good, not great. Shalom. 3½ cans.