Confusion

I've been confused all week as to what day it is. I have no natural sense in my head of which day it is. All week, it's felt like Friday and I disappoint myself when I realize it isn't.

I ordered dinner tonight and had no housework, no laundry, no nothing I had to do. I had left my glasses in my bedroom and so I couldn't read and so I decided to just sit. Which I did. Eventually, I put my head back and fell asleep. When the buzzer rang, and I couldn't have been asleep more than 5 minutes, at first I thought I was in bed and it was the phone, then realized it was the buzzer, but thought I was in bed, then realized it's the buzzer, get up and answer the door. All of that in one second.

It was a nasty day -- blowing, wet snow. Now there's about two inches of snow on the ground so I am equally confused as to which month it is.

Marilyn, my helper, came today and we switched out summer and winter clothes. I had nothing to throw away, having done that with the two pair of pants and the top last week, but I did have a shopping bag of thrift shop stuff. One is this top which may actually be stylish, since its relatively new, but it's part knit, part material and the material needs ironing which, of course, I never do and think somehow the wrinkles will come out by magic and when I reach for it, it's too wrinkly to wear so to the thrift shop it went. Maybe someone who likes to iron will find a great shirt.

I voted!

I was planning to go out to vote around 11 and then meet Barbara for lunch at 12:30. I was hoping that was enough time and it was. What's sort of ironic is that I vote in some sort of Mormon neighborhood house -- I don't know what you'd call it. When I got there, the place was jumping. I had brought the postcard with me that I had received in the mail to show where my polling place is which proved I am a registered voter.

Unfortunately they couldn't find my name. I said that was odd since I have voted regularly and have not moved in 20 years. So I had to fill out an affidavit and then a paper ballot. I have to say it took full concentration to fill out the affidavit. I was a bit disappointed as I don't believe absentee ballots are actually counted, unless necessary, which I don't think mine will be in a state as blue as New York. But nonetheless, I'm glad I voted.

Here are the photos:



But first, I noticed this must be the first garbage pickup since the hurricane. The curb was lined with it.




Close up on the garbage. It occurred to me that paper recycling is in clear bags and everything else for recycling is in blue bags. I don't separate it that well. I put all recycling in the clear bags.




This is my polling place -- some sort of Mormon facility.




The front door to polling. A good thing about this (for the general public) is that it is totally handicapped accessible since it's new construction -- no steps whatsoever.



If you vote for Romney, is your vote counted twice here?



I was given two pieces of paper -- the affidavit and the ballot and a pen and sat at a table and filled it out.



It was quite cool today, but sunny, and we'll have to see what happens tomorrow as a major storm is forecast, including snow.

Late fall on East 87th Street

Verizon Sucks

Ever since last Tuesday, my voice mail has been screwed up. People either can or can't leave a message for me; I have the constant interrupted dial tone; when I call the access number on my own phone, I don't get into my voice mail directly but have to punch in my phone again.

I assumed it was the storm, and didn't report it feeling that this was so minor in comparison to other problems people were having. Ov3er the weekend, I started thinking maybe this problem has nothing to do with the storm and maybe it's just plain broken.

So I go to the web site and just go on this wild goose chase of clicking things on that would turn out to be dead ends. And back I'd go clicking something else. I was essentially looking for something that said yes, we're having voice mail problems.

Somehow I landed on a page that had "contact us" and I called. Ok, fast forward through the annoyance of the phone tree and I'm trying to have a meaningful conversation with voice recognition software.  When it came my turn to state simply what my "techical issue" is, I said plainly "Problem with voicemail." That was easy... oh no, it wasn't... didn't quite recognizre "problem with voice mail" and the automated voice said, "I believe you are saying there is an issue with your voice mail... is that correct?"

For the love of god, yes.

So the automated voice told me that Verizon would attempt to fix it from there, and I should check my voice mail after 30 minutes to see if it's fixed.

OK.

She assured me that if it weren't fixed, and I had to call back, that the notes about the first call would be in my record.

Sure they will.

Of course, the problem wasn't fixed. I gave it more like 90 minutes -- even called my voice mail again just to make sure I didn't have to "clear it" or something -- well, it made sense to me at the time.

I call back. Same effing phone tree. Finally get Alphonso who KNOWS I'm calling about voice mail. He asks me to describe the issue. I do and then he  calmly says, "Well, voice mail is out in all of New York State."

WTF?

Now, you would think that would be in big letters somewhere on Verizon's website. I could have gone there, read the notice and saved some time. When the automated lady heard me say voice mail, she could have told me. Alphonso wasn't even fun to argue with. I pointed these things out to him and all I got was a bland apology.

So if you call me, and if you get that generic Verizon voice mail, you can still leave a message. You just have to re-enter my phone number.

How long until it's fixed? Who knows?

By the way, one of the links I clicked was something like "Updates on Service Impacted by Hurricane Sandy" -- and it was a page of news release headline type announcements. Oh yeah, that's quite helpful. Let me review news releases going back a week to see if they mention my voice mail.

Phone Call

President Clinton called me today. I was doing some work-work and was fairly engrossed in it. The phone rang and I picked it up, said hello, and the voice on the other end said, "Hi this is Bill Clinton..." and for a split second, I sat up straighter. I tried to engage him in conversation, but he must not have heard me as he just kept talking.

What I'm Reading

Susan Isaacs is one of the few authors where I will automatically buy her newest book. Her characters are always ballsy, somewhat cynical strong women and her books are funny too. So I am about to start her latest which is

So Wrong, but So Funny

I know this is a terible thing to do, but I have to say I love this image. I love how innocent the little kid looks

Break from the Storm

So many people are down over all the destruction from the storm so let's do something cheerful, something we haven't done in a long time:

PIE!!!

Haven't checked my Fond du Lac restaurant for quite some time for its daily selections, but let's start with the specials of the day.

SPARE RIBS AND SAUERKRAUT
Golden Brown HADDOCK FILLETS
Flavorful SALISBURY STEAK
[Mary happened to call as I am doing this, and I asked her "What is salisbury steak? I know what it is, but what is it?" Yeah, that question makes sense. She said it's basically hamburger meat in gravy. So I said I thought it was shreddy tough meat that you cook to hell. She said that's SWISS steak. Oh yes, I said. Definitely a food of the 1950s. Both our mothers prepared Swiss steak.]

Here's Wikipedia on Salisbury steak. Mary wondered where the name came from, and I said I'd research it so here goes:

Salisbury steak is a dish made from a blend of minced beef and other ingredients, which is shaped to resemble a steak, and is usually served with gravy or brown sauce. Hamburger steak is a similar product, but differs in ingredients. Salisbury steak was invented by an American physician, Dr. J. H. Salisbury (1823–1905), an early proponent of a low-carbohydrate diet for weight loss; the term "Salisbury steak" has been in use in the United States since 1897. The dish is popular in the United States, where it is traditionally served with gravy and mashed potatoes or noodles.

And it looks like this:

And now for Swiss steak:

Swiss steak is a method of preparing meat, usually beef, by means of rolling or pounding, and then braising in a cooking pot of stewed tomatoes, either on a stove (cooker) or in an oven.

The name does not refer to Switzerland, but instead to the process of "swissing," which refers to fabric or other materials being pounded or run through rollers in order to soften it. Swiss steak is typically made from relatively tough cuts of meat, such as the round, which have been pounded with a tenderizing hammer, or run through a set of bladed rollers to produce so-called "cube steak". The meat is typically coated with flour and seasonings and cooked in a gravy made from tomato and sometimes onions and peppers.

All these years, I thought Swiss people invented Swiss steak.

And here's what it looks like:

Back to the entrees:

Grilled Center Cut HAM STEAK

Deep Fried CHICKEN

I'll do the Salisbury Steak since it comes with mashed potatoes.

DESSERT TIME!!

Pick your pie:
•CHERRY PIE
•BANANA CREME PIE with Freshly Whipped Cream
•CHOCOLATE RITZ NUT TORTE with Freshly Whipped Cream
•APPLE PIE
•MINCE PIE with Rum Sauce
•PUMPKIN PIE
•WALNUT PIE

I'll do a piece of cherry with vanilla ice cream and a banana creme to go. And you?