Odds & Ends

There is so little happening around here these days, other than... well... you know... everything, that I find myself scrounging for blog material.  So here's a collection of disjointed recent happenings.

The ancient cooktop that was original to the building, hence some 30-40 years old, gave up the proverbial ghost with a loud bang a week or so ago.  New glass-top range has been installed.  Amusing anecdote: the range manual listed a specific cleaner for the cooktop, stating that other brands do not clean as thoroughly, etc.  Included with the range was a small bottle of cleaner, from a different brand.  Product placement fail.

My brother successfully underwent surgery to reinforce an aneurysm in his abdominal aorta.  These days, as the surgeon said, the procedure is rather like slipping a pipe into a pipe (they do this on a much larger scale when rebuilding aging water and sewer systems).  An incision further down and slip the repair stent up the femoral artery to the aorta.  No doubt it feels a bit weird when you wake up; my brother reported a headache, but I know they didn't go up that far.

The DC area just set a new record for number of consecutive days above 90º.  Yesterday we had 97º (36ºC) with the characteristic unbearable humidity of the region bringing the heat index to 107º (41ºC).  Fit for neither man nor beast, as they say.  Recreation now takes the form of driving around in a car with the A/C on.

Desperate for amusement as we are these days, I switched the setting on the Roomba so that the machine spoke German.  That was fun; I've now set it back to English.  Next time, I might try Danish.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night and stayed up for a few hours.  I hate when that happens.

The new modern, jet-age cooktop.  Full remodel of the kitchen is still a couple years off.

H.M. Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark.  She too speaks Danish.