Category: Friday Fives

1. How often do you typically shower/bath?

In work from home mode I go about two or so days between showering. In work in the office mode everyday.

So I guess four or five times a week.

2. Do you prefer showering or taking a bath?

Showers. I have a great shower and it has a steam room setting on the shower head that makes the whole process pretty invigorating.

3. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without a shower/bath?

In the army on an assignment went 6 days. I was pretty ripe.

4. What’s your favorite personal hygiene product?

My razor and the silicone strop I use to sharpen it. I can usually go about 14 or months between disposable razor blades.

5. Do you shave your legs and/or beard? If so, how often?

I trim my beard about every two weeks. I tried to grow it out to a big bushy beard during quarantine but it drove me crazy and I had to trim it back.

1. What is the best board game?

Risk is the bomb. Although I have seen it make friends seethe.

2. What is the best card game?

We have this card game that we play at family gatherings that we call 9 Card (I don’t know if that is its official name) it is a modified trick taking game that is quite addictive and can accommodate many players (we had about 12 folks playing together one Thanksgiving !)

3. What is the best video game?

I an not much of a gamer but back in the day as a teenager working at Safeway we would stay after the store closed and play Atari’s “Tempest” for hours. And also as a teen, I had a friend who’s family owned a laundromat and we would usually go there after a high school football or basketball game and play “Galaga” for hours on end.

4. What is the best word game

Scrabble. I was going to use this for answer number one as the best board game but I think it is more aptly listed here.

5. What is your earliest memory of playing a game?

Well the questions have no qualifiers so I am going to go hide and seek and grandmas house with my sister and cousins using our new clown flashlights that we all got in our Christmas stockings.

1. Have you ever stayed in a hostel? If so, where? Did you like it? If you haven’t stayed in a hostel, would you?

I have not, although I did get at one once in Stuttgart but I am not going into all those details because I am just a teasing minx.

2. What is your favorite airport that you’ve been to? Why?

La Guardia. It took several years and I flew through there a number of times during the renovations and it was a big ol’ mess. But two years ago I had a long layover there and it is magnificent. A great mall, great seating. great views of the bay and the runways and some spectacular people watching.
I did not get laid at the airport however.

3. What is the best museum you have visited on vacation?

This sounds lame or maybe quaint but there is this tiny museum and historic farm display in Dixon/Savpru, WY just a bit down the road to the east of Baggs, WY.

4. Have you ever made friends while traveling whom you keep in touch with on a regular basis?

No I haven’t. Most of my encounters on the road or random strangers at the bar stool or beach chair next to me and the conversation tends to be very superficial.

5. Have you ever had a conversation with a seatmate on a plane?

I have. The Southwest flights from Denver to Kansas City tend to have some of the same folks on them and occasionally you end up sitting next to them and have those “well look who’s here” kind of vibe. Coming back from Kansas City once I sat next to a kid from a small Missouri town going to Steamboat to mountain biking and climbing. He was full of amazement about being out ‘In The Real World.”

1. What is a genius item to bring to the in office potluck?

I had a coworker who would also bring a couple of dozen of basic McDonald’s hamburgers and cheese burgers and hands-full of ketchup and mustard packets.

2. What was your mom’s quick supper shortcut when time/money were an issue?

She kept a can of La Choy chicken chow mein – the two step can with the chow mein in one can and the dry noodles in a second can taped together.

3. What’s the best food hack you have learned.

I had a professor in college and his wife was a registerered nutrionist and she was pretty picky about food and sugar. She didn’t like to give her kids orange juice but instead would keep a tube off frozen orange juice concentrate in the door of her freezer and then simply scoop out a spoonful of the frozen juice and stir it into a glass or water. I always thought that was quite genius as it limited the sugar and was still really refreshing.

4. What’s a food/cooking hack you learned from a television show or a movie?

From “The Sopranos” Joey Pantaloon’s character always added some sour cream to his scrambled eggs. It works. It’s genius and makes them extra creamy and fluffy.

5. Did you ever buy a kitchen gadget from those late night infomercials?

I bought a set of non stick pans from Mirro that were nearly indestructible. I used for decades until the nonstick finally started to fail.

1. What is something you collect? Why?

I kind of came to this conclusion earlier this week. I collect pens and am kind of obsessed with roller-ball and gel pen technology.

2. If you could make one ice cream flavor, what would the ingredients be and what would be the name?

Raspberry lime and tonic.

3. What can’t you go a day without?

Raspberries. They really should be considered an essential food group.

4. What position do you sleep in? *back, right side, left side, stomach . . . etc.*

Generally on my left side. I can’t sleep on my back. That causes me to snort and triggers some light apnea.

5. What is your typical morning routine before work/school?

Coffee and knock out the NYTimes Games (Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Mini-Crossword and the daily NYT Crossword Puzzle.

1. They are bringing back the Presidential Physical Fitness test to schools. Thoughts?

I am fine with it as long as Donald Trump has to take the test too and is also required to pass it to remain in office. Also, Trump is up to his eyeballs in this Jeffrey Epstein thing.

2. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. is ending all research on MRNA treatments. Thoughts

It is a travesty. There is significant research and data that MRNA vaccines can cure cancers and AIDS. Also, Trump is up to his eyeballs in this Jeffrey Epstein thing.

3. The Smithsonian has removed all references to President Trump’s impeachment. Thoughts?

As a museum and historical record keeper it is a travesty and unnerving. Also, Trump is up to his eyeballs in this Jeffrey Epstein thing.

4. Locusts have swarmed in southern Ukraine. Thoughts?

It is a Biblical sign of the end times. That should get to the GOP Jesus freaks all worked up. Also, Trump is up to his eyeballs in this Jeffrey Epstein thing.

5. What would you do if you woke up to discover a black hole in your house?

I would use it for extra storage. Also, Trump is up to his eyeballs in this Jeffrey Epstein thing.

1. One place you volunteer (or would like to)? Why?

I like volunteering for the Food Bank of The Rockies. I ave done some volunteer work there on a few occassions and it is a nice feeling to help those less fortunate.

2. One book you’d like to see made into a movie? Why?

We were just talking about this yesterday at work. “The Initial Fold” by Nick Adams should be made into an animated feature film. A funny sci fi thriller that would transfer to the visual medium quite well. Get on that, Netflix!

3. One creature (living, extinct, or mythical) you’d like for a pet? Why?

There used to be commercial for Comcast cable and this guy had a miniature giraffe, about 10 inches tall. Next time you are at the animal rescue shelter, get me one of those.

4. One place on Earth you’d like to visit? Why?

Vietnam and south east Asia. After growing up with the Vietname war on the television news every night I have always been curious to go there

5. One talent or skill you’d like to develop? Why?

Become a better photographer – that would require me to leave the house.

1. What was that dream career you had as a middle schooler?

By middle school, almost every subject I studied, hobby I explored, or book I discovered led me to change my career path. By eighth grade, I was going to be a professional saxophone player.

2,. What’s something everyone pretends to understand, but most people don’t?

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

3. On Ted Lasso, the catch phrase is “Football is Life!” What is an appropriate catch phrase for your life?

Everybody lies.

4. Today would have been my father’s 88th birthday. Are birthdays important to you?

They used to be a huge thing. The birthday falls around the Memorial Day weekend, and as a kid, there were events, parades, and rodeos that accompanied the event. As a young adult, I turned the holiday into a big binge event. This year was just meh, so instead, I took a long weekend over Mother’s Day to attend a wedding and visit my stepdad. Gosh – I may be maturing over age.

5. When did it hit you that you were more privileged than you thought?

Traffic stops. As a college-educated white male in my early 60s, I get a pass from law enforcement, at least for the petty stuff.

1. What is that one simple unspoken lifehack you got from your parents that you realize is just part of your life?

Keeping my kitchen knives very sharp. My dad was a meat cutter by trade before joining the post office and sharp knives in the kitchen were just part of life. It is confounding when I am at someones house and need to use a knife to prep something for a meal and the dang knifes have no edge.

2. What is something that you’re tired of seeing in 2025?

That God Damned face of Mother Quacking Donald Trump! Just make it end !!!

3. What’s the average amount of time you take to shower?

From entering the bathroom to exit I can shit, shower, shave soap, rinse, shampoo, condition, brush teeth, comb hair, take the pills and do the sinus rinse, dress top to toes in under 3 minutes.

4. You’re back in 2008 with your current knowledge. What’s the first thing you do?

Buy a couple of houses during the real estate crash and hold on to them long enough to flip them for a sweet profit.

5. You get $1M, but the last thing you Googled becomes your full-time job. What’s your new job?

A few crossword puzzle clues (I needed a quick hint.) So I guess my full-time job would become a professional crossword solver. I could live with that.

1. Did you participate in Summer Reading Programs growing up?

Absolutely. I was a huge fan of the library as a boy (still am) and vividly remember the summer reading programs with the ribbons and the badges and themes on bulletin boards in the children’s section.

2. Do you feel like summer is an especially great time to read? Why or why not?

I am a voracious reader and no time of the year is more inclined than others but autumn or spring in cooler weather, wrapped up in a blanket, curled up in a cozy nook and a good book.

3. What are you currently reading?

Audible: “Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut and read by John Malkovich

Nonfiction: The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Fiction: a really light sci fi series – The Fold by Nick Adams.

4. What is on your To Be Read pile?

There is a character limit on this blog post – so I may have to pass on this as the list is too long ! I think next up will be The Portable William Faulkner anthology.

5. Before the internet and Amazon and social media how did you discover new books and new authors to read?

Well as mentioned above the library and magazine’s and newspaper’s books section. In my later teen years, Omni magazine was pretty influential on finding authors and discovering science fiction.