Two Months at Home

Slept in again; thankfully, when I got up around 9:30, the sun was out, the air was slightly warmer but not out of line for the time of year, and it was very windy. I started off my day with breakfast and finishing off the last Rick Steves' Europe disc. Skipping the Copenhagen and Denmark episodes (which I more-or-less already watched on the France/Belgium disc), I went straight to southern Europe to take in Greek and Turkish culture. Seeing the famous sighs of ancient Athens was cool, but I even more enjoyed learning about Greek cultures that don't get discussed as much, ones that came before and well after the tales of Grecian mythology. And Istanbul is just cool - whether you call it Istanbul or Constantinople, it has some really awesome historical sites (including a sultan's palace and massive mosque straight out of Arabian Nights) and an awesome indoor bazaar.

Called the Acme between shows. Donna, the head front end manager, said my disability papers were faxed, but she hadn't heard anything. She said something about a website to check, but she was busy and didn't have the time to give it to me. By the time I called her, she already left. I'll call back tomorrow.

Donna also mentioned that I was supposed to be off for two months, not two weeks! I thought they said two weeks! I just have a fractured ankle! I called the Foot & Ankle Center, and yes, the note said two months. Hopefully, my ankle will have healed enough by the time of my appointment there next Thursday that the full two months won't be necessary.

I worked on making a list of short-term and long-term goals, both for my business and personal life. It wasn't easy. I don't really have too many long-term goals. I don't know what I'll be doing in five years. Working in a better job.

I called Jodie earlier to see if she could run me to a grocery store. I really, really needed to make a food run. My refrigerator was nearly empty. Jodie said that her truck was being repaired in a garage on the edge of the Westmont Plaza property, next-door to Party Fair, so we'd do Super Fresh. That was fine by me; I could finally get the DVDs returned to the libraries, too. Oaklyn is on the way, and the Haddon Township Library is across the street from the Westmont Plaza.

As it turned out, Jodie's car (much to her disappointment) still needed parts. My DVDs were way overdue, so we still went to Super Fresh and the libraries. I refilled my vegetable crisper with romaine lettuce, apples, pears, green beans, bananas, baby carrots, and newly-arrived fresh cranberries and Brussels sprouts. I was badly in need of tea, milk, cereal, flour, sugar, and cheese, and I needed evaporated skim milk after using it for my Cream of Spinach Soup the other night. Stocked up on good vegetarian-fed eggs on a sale that made them the same price as Super Fresh's regular eggs, peanut butter, and Kool-Aid.

I spent the rest of the evening working on my goals list, then ran comedies while using the leftover Italian Sausage and Vegetables to make a Chicken Sausage, Vegetables, and Pasta skillet bake with roasted Brussels sprouts. Hot Shots is a hilarious Pat Proft spoof of Top Gun and other military melodramas of the 80s and early 90s. Charlie Sheen is the egotistical Navy pilot with a troubled past, Cary Elwes is his main rival, and Valerie Golino is the Naval psychiatrist they're after. Lloyd Bridges is the odd, pieced-together admiral. If you're a fan of the Proft/Zucker Brothers style of rapid-fire spoofs with something of a plot, or Elwes, Sheen, or Bridges, this is one of the better ones of the 90s. (The sequel, made two years later, is even funnier.)

Switched to a pair of Three Stooges shorts that also spoof the military while I cleaned up from dinner. Curly, Larry, and Moe are doorbell repair men who find themselves dealing with crossed wires and Nazi war rooms in the rather violent (even for the Stooges) "They Stooge to Conga." (A very young Lloyd Bridges has a quick stock-footage cameo as an annoyed phone company customer.) And Charlie Sheen is far from the only person to attempt to fly the unfriendly military skies. The Stooges have even less luck taking to the air in a plane of their own creation in "Dizzy Pilots."