ProfessorTomoe

It's not much, but Mrs. Prof and I hope you still enjoy them. Maybe they will help you hit your daily calorie goals. Om nom nom. In any case, If I don't hit up FB today, have a very Happy Birthday, kind sir. You deserve one, by all means.

I got a package from the River Store, with a gift inside.  Thanks @ProfessorTomoe.  I'm gonna open it on my birthday, the 11th, and not wait for Christmas.

I, due to a migraine preventing me from cooking, had a thing of Campbell's kettle crab soup and a glass of milk.  Gonna do the pork cutlets today, however.

While I've liked my various “no milk” teas, and the chia I was drinking with the self stable “not quite milk”, I'm delighted I'm back to unflavored black tea with milk and sugar.  I may have a 2nd pot this morning!

Well, shit.  I hope you get better.

It's working a lot better than the one that broke.  It's "keep warm" setting keeps the water at boiling, not just "hot".  Which is a good thing because it's 'beep' isn't as loud as the old one was.

Mrs. Prof made an Aldi trip yesterday, and brought home several refrigerated (i.e., not frozen) 4-pack trays of seasoned crab cakes. They had an expiration date on them of December 5th 2024, so we all joked about whether or not I'd be able to finish them off in time. I cooked up a tray this morning, thinking I'd only make it through 2 of the 4 cakes.
As it turns out, December 5th is going to be a breeze of a deadline to meet.
The crab cakes force me to invoke the "larrapin'" descriptive once again. They were most definitely larrapin', in every sense of my grandfather's word. Slightly crispy, with a smooth texture to the stuffing that held the cake together, and just enough real crabmeat (the #1 ingredient) to beat down the obligatory fake "surimi" crabmeat filler into the background. The whole experience was rounded off well when each bite was dipped in the enclosed seafood cocktail sauce, which had some definitive body to it. It wasn't just watery tomato squeezings augmented with a dash of horseradish extract. I wound up eating all four crab cakes, which is my only gripe - they were just a bit on the small side, leaving no leftovers. I'm going to wind up doing in the three trays in a very short time.
I normally prefer my crab cakes with tartar sauce, or with drawn butter. However, I think I'm going to stick with the enclosed cocktail sauce this go-round, unless I decide to make a crab cake sandwich. If I do that, I'll probably switch to either the tartar sauce or to just plain mayo (we use Japanese-style Kewpie brand mayo in our house), with a slice of Velveeta cheese or two to go with it.
Forgive me for waxing rhapsodic over a smegging tray of crab cakes. My emotions are going wacko lately. Gomen nasai.

Although I have never comprehended how whiskey is in any way a desirable thing, I congratulate you on your purchase.

 
There is one good Mexican restaurant in Small City, Kansas.  Fortunately, it's within walking distance of my house.

Two reasons:
First, they think that they themselves will be exempted from the persecution that they voted for, as long as they continue to demonstrate their loyalty/usefulness.
Second, they are hateful enough that they are willing to take a punch in the face as long as the people whom they hate have it even worse.

Yes, this seriously bothers me. One demented fool is an anomaly. Half the nation is a cancer. I'm afraid we have metastasized.

To quote several people that I don't specifically recall, "What the actual fuck?"
Well, I totally didn't call this result.

I'm staying off of Social Media, other than to post Explorer photos, for at least a month.  I feel physically ill. 

I had a hell of a thing happen tonight (well, last night, around 9pm). I got to talk to the author of a series of band orchestration books that I've been using when I arrange pieces for concert band / wind ensemble. Bret Newton is the guy's name. We discussed a lot of different things, but mainly orchestration, of course, and mainly my attempts to arrange Anton Bruckner's 2nd and 6th Symphonies for band. He agreed to take a look at what I've done, to see if I've been doing it "right" (i.e., using voicings, doublings, etc. that work). It'll be a couple of days before he gets to what I sent him, but he said he will get to it. Based on our conversation, I trust him.
The whole conversation was very cool. I'm very glad I got to do it.

You have inspired me.  I'll have a brat or two for lunch.  Horseradish sauce on them I think

For a change, I cooked. I felt up to it, so I caught the wave and rode it.
I made fried eggs and Aldi Nuremburg-style mini uncured bratwurst sausages for breakfast. Came out larrapin', even if I did slightly overcook the yolks (I was aiming for over-medium, but I hit over-medium-hard instead). I couldn't eat all of it (3 mini brats, 2 eggs), but considering the way my stomach has been acting lately, I did okay. Everyone else in the house seems to be finishing off their portions.

Good Luck!

THE LAPTOP IS BACK HOME.
It didn't arrive until almost 6pm, of course. Mrs. Prof was doing some cat work outside when the UPS driver pulled up. She signed for it and brought it in, then proclaimed she was too sweaty and tired to help me put it together for testing. I unboxed 93% of it (minus the power bricks), sat down, and promptly fell asleep. I woke back up around 8pm and finally got her to help (i.e., do most of the work hooking up the power subsystem). Once everything was connected, I booted the system, crossed my fingers, and waited for my login PIN prompt.
SUCCESS!!!
The system booted up to my old, familiar desktop upon entry of my PIN. I have yet to try out Dorico Pro, because I first need to apply an upgrade, and I first really need to backup my system in the event this new video card isn't stable. I'm not in the greatest of physical shape at the moment, though, or else I'd get right on that. Give me a few minutes to recover from the stress of opening up and restarting the system first, and *then* I'll get the backup rolling.
Sigh. Hurry up and wait. Motto of the Longhorn Band, as well as certain other organizations, or so I'm told.

For the first time since Thursday, October 10th, I woke up from a normal sleep today without any noticeable symptoms of Infectious Colitis. No gas, no gurgling, no cramping. Don't know if it's due to the Lomotil I took last night, or if things are truly slowing down. I really hope it's the latter.
Either way, I'm calling my PCP's office on Monday at 8am to set up a follow-up post-ER appointment. Should be fun.

Mrs. Prof with two of our cats, Baker (sleeping) and Pretty Girl (we didn't pick the name, bugging Baker). The phone doesn't have a name.

Mrs. Prof with two of our cats, Baker (sleeping) and Pretty Girl (we didn't pick the name, bugging Baker). The phone doesn't have a name.

Damn.  Glad you made it out ok.

Here we go again.
Wednesday morning, I got a panicked phone call from the doctor's office, telling me to get my ass to the ER ASAP. The reason? My blood tests came back showing that my potassium level was 2.6, in the very critical range. The absolute low end of normal is 3.6, so I'm a whole point low, probably thanks to all the electrolyte loss from my diarrhea over the (then) past seven days. So, without further ado, we head on out to the ER of the hospital where I had my knee surgery.
I get there and get put in Triage, no waiting, then get moved to a room soon after. They start an IV and pull blood, then give me an oral dose of potassium, just to get me started. They then come back with an IV drip of potassium and saline (did you know there's a national shortage of IV fluids at the moment? One of the hurricanes knocked out the place where almost all of the country's IV fluids are made). By this time, my potassium level is 2.5 - low enough to stop my heart. I almost died.
The IV commences. A few minutes in, my right arm where the drip is located starts to burn like Vesuvius is erupting on it. For the first time in my life, I pick up the nurse call button, punch it, and when they answer, I yell but one word: "HELP!!!" They come running in seconds and adjust the potassium-to-saline mixture. It helps. Unfortunately, it happens again, when the saline runs out. This time, the potassium is done, there's just residue dripping through and killing me. They get rid of it.
They wanted to do another drip, but I talked them out of it, since my potassium had been raised back into the safe zone with what I'd had (albeit the low end). They agreed as long as I took two 20meq packets dissolved in liquid before bedtime last night, and again tonight. They also gave me something for the diarrhea - Lomotil. I guess the doctor on Wednesday didn't want to give it to me because it's a controlled substance (it's got atropine, according to the ER doctor). They pulled my IV and let us go.
After a stop at CVS, we got home at around 5:45 pm. Just over 8 hours in the ER, which saved my life. The Lomotil is working, BTW, so it's saving my ass as well.

THE LAPTOP IS BACK HOME.
It didn't arrive until almost 6pm, of course. Mrs. Prof was doing some cat work outside when the UPS driver pulled up. She signed for it and brought it in, then proclaimed she was too sweaty and tired to help me put it together for testing. I unboxed 93% of it (minus the power bricks), sat down, and promptly fell asleep. I woke back up around 8pm and finally got her to help (i.e., do most of the work hooking up the power subsystem). Once everything was connected, I booted the system, crossed my fingers, and waited for my login PIN prompt.
SUCCESS!!!
The system booted up to my old, familiar desktop upon entry of my PIN. I have yet to try out Dorico Pro, because I first need to apply an upgrade, and I first really need to backup my system in the event this new video card isn't stable. I'm not in the greatest of physical shape at the moment, though, or else I'd get right on that. Give me a few minutes to recover from the stress of opening up and restarting the system first, and *then* I'll get the backup rolling.
Sigh. Hurry up and wait. Motto of the Longhorn Band, as well as certain other organizations, or so I'm told.

Just got the tracking number. It'll be back this coming Wednesday.