The Friday Fives

1. What is your “techy” score between 1 – 5?

I give myself a 5. I run Linux. I have networked a desktop to be a home server, rooted my cell phone, and learned some coding – all in my middle ages.

2. What is your Kitchen score between 1 – 5?

I am a 4. I am not a great baker, but I do make some good no-knead sourdough bread. I can usually open the cupboards and the fridge and whip up a decent meal.

3. What is your garden/yard score between 1-5?

I am a 1 on that count. I hate it. Years of childhood choring (mowing, trimming, and pulling weeds). And I despised it.

4. What is your Garage/Fixit score between 1- 5?

Thanks to YouTube, I give myself a 3 here. I can usually figure out a way to fix broken stuff.

5. What is your “We can put a man on the moon, but we can’t – ” gripe?

Devise an automatic signal light in our autos that senses when the lane change is coming and turns on the light.

Friday Fives

1. Which long-dead celebrity do you wish used Twitter?

Mark Twain – reading his daily insights on the mundane would be a hoot.

2. You’ve been murdered. What fictional detective would you want to solve the case?

Poirot – the Flemish detective. Always good to have a sharp dressed man avenging your death.

3. What inanimate object in your house gets yelled at the most?

My laptop apparently can’t read my mind.

4. What was discontinued, but you miss like hell and want to come back?

Silly, but I miss the Nabisco Hey Day bars. Chocolate, peanuts, caramel. They were divine.

5. Do you talk to your pets as if expecting them to respond to you?

I am currently petless but getting close to getting one. But yes, in my pet-rearing days, I would always talk to the dog or the cat.

The Friday Fives

The Best of Times | The Worst of Times

1. What’s the best way to enjoy coffee?

Freshly roasted, freshly ground, piping hot served black from a French press .

2. What would be the worst flavor of gum?

Moldy Mushroom (however, that might be available at H Mart, the Asian supermarket.)

3. What’s the best movie you’ve seen recently, and why?

I can’t stop talking about it – “The Banshees of Inisherin.

4. What is the worst thing a teacher has said or done to you?

I was always a terrible math student in high school and, I had a teacher who used to call my “The Null” set – way to build up young people’s lives, Nagoda!

5. What’s the best nickname someone gave you?

During the GW Bush years, Rev Ed began referring to me as R Dub, and I took to that.

The Friday Fives

1. What books are on your nightstand?

I have a book on overcoming procrastination that I have never gotten around to reading. True story. The To Be Read List is long and varied, but next up is Salman Rushdie’s Quichotte: A Novel a modern retelling of Don Quixote.

2. What’s the last great book you read?

Reading but it is great George Saunders “Liberation Day: Stories”

3. What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

I am currently listening to an audible book on Rev. Jim Jones and Peoples Temple church. Fascinating. Such an astounding manipulator.

4. Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

Not recently. I have never read the Grapes of Wrath, and I think it is due.

5. Can a great book be badly written? What other criteria can overcome bad prose?

Sure. Confederacy of Dunces is considered a great book and a Pulitzer Prize winner but I don’t think of it as an especially well written book.

The Friday Fives

1. What movie has the greatest opening of all time?
The opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark with the resolve of the Paramount logo onto the mountain top and then down to Indy walking through the jungle – genius.

2. Which sitcom character was the worst human being EVER?
Ross from “Friends” is a terrible person who needs to get into therapy for his agro-ego-filled jealousy.

3. What’s the worst sitcom, and why?
Three Broke Girls is just plain awful. Terrible premise and bad writing. I couldn’t watch it.

4. What classic T.V. Series has the Best Theme Song?
Barney Miller.


5. What would you do if a duck attacked you?
I get chased/attacked by geese at my office parking lot from time to time. I stop and stare them down. I can’t imagine a raving mad duck would be any different.