Before we know it

Oh right. I have a blog.

Escapism lately. Baseball, watching archived games—I’ve already mentioned, right? I’m into the seventh game of the 2023 season. Some interesting things so far. Giants franchise-first: two back-to-back home runs twice in one inning. Saw a pitcher penalized twice in one plate appearance for letting the pitch clock run out—penalty being one ball per violation. Saw a batter step out of the box assuming he was granted a timeout—nope, steeee-RIKE! Saw a ball hit so hard it that it ripped through the webbing of the first baseman’s glove and sailed into the outfield—scored as a hit, then later changed to an error, probably appealed later by both teams. Baseball is always interesting, always something new.

More escapism. As of last night, I have watched the first three films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2. Thor is next. In IM2 (2010) Larry Ellison of Oracle and Elon Musk both have brief cameos. That was cool. Iron Man is cool. I really like Robert Downey Jr. in those films. Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson, too 👀!

Congratulations to friend, local writer (and former KWVA DJ!) Vanessa Salvia for scoring a correspondent position with the soon-to-launch Lookout Eugene-Springfield digital newspaper! Should I be italicizing that? Lookout is looking to fill the shoes of our sold-off, remotely-operated and much-diminished local daily, The Register-Guard. Read the FAQ. Notably: “Our journalism is completely local, nonpartisan and factual. We believe all communities need robust, trustworthy news sources – covering all the ‘beats’ that the best daily newspapers used to. We carefully hire and fairly compensate experienced, professional staff to earn and win community confidence.”

We met with our insurance agent for a little “Medicare 101” consultation yesterday. Very interesting and informative. I feel a lot more confident in making a decision. Leaning toward Medigap rather than Medicare Advantage, for various reasons. But first, we’ve got a Zoom-based webinar on the same subject coming up later in the month with a Selco rep. Final decision and enrollment will come in March.

Mrs. Random’s long-anticipated surgery (bilateral mastectomy) is coming up next week. I’ll be cooking meals and playing a major support role (draining and measuring post-op fluids, making the bed, and other mundane chores). It’s a big scary thing looming now, but we’ll get through it and be on the other side in the recovery and healing phase before we know it.