Diacritical Mark

Leading up to my 50th birthday today I have been reflecting on the past five decades and what has transpired in my life. Not since I first added a zero (and a digit!) to my age at 10 have I spent so much time focused on my age. It’s just a number, right?

Today marks the 365th consecutive day I have been improving my fitness. I am proud to say I’ve lost over 30 pounds. I weigh (much) less than when I graduated from college. I weigh less than when I got married (only a little). In fact, I cannot remember when I last weighed what I weigh today.

I am in the best shape of my life, ever.

I think they get a bad rap.

Sure, when you call them on the phone, their automated menus are infuriating, and when you do get to a human, you’ll be lucky if that’s the last person you’ll need to speak to about your issue.

However, at least in my recent experience, their on-site technicians are five-star, top-notch professionals.

Today we had FIOS Business Internet installed at the house. (The 20Mbps down/5Mbps up package with a static IP address.) The installation could not have gone more smoothly nor have been more pleasant. (That being said, I will report that I was prepared to grease the tech’s palm to make him do what I wanted. But I didn’t have to.)

Shock is the only word to describe it. We learned last night of the tragic and unexpected death of a wonderful man, Dr. George Marcus, z"l. He was literally a pillar of the Jewish community in MetroWest, and all over Eastern Massachusetts from the South to North shores, and indeed Greater New England. He will be sorely missed, as he was such an integral part of so many things for so many people and organizations.

There is nothing more satisfying than not having to call a plumber. Doubly so when you have completed a task yourself for which most mortals would call a plumber. It is a feeling of joy from both having completed a home repair task and saved $75 bucks for a house call!

Case in point: Our upstairs sink faucet’s hot water valve had been leaking for months. Maybe even more than year. In addition, the rod that controls the sink stopper had rusted away. While having the water heater replaced recently (for which I did call a plumber!), I had the plumber look at the sink. He didn’t have the parts (the valve or the rod) and couldn’t identify the brand of sink. I watched carefully as he disassembled the various components, though…

There are certain home maintenance jobs I do not particularly enjoy. Re-caulking the bathtub is one of them. I especially dislike this job when I have to do it twice in a 2 week period!

I had the perfect scenario a few weeks ago: The family was away, and I would be joining them for a few days, leaving the house empty, and more importantly the tub and shower unused, for several days. A perfect chance to recaulk the tub and have it perfectly cured when we all returned. Or so I thought.

Or more specifically, who cares what I have to say?

I’ve had this blog up for months, more because I knew how to set one up on the Linux system I have in my basement than because I thought I had anything to say that anyone would want to read.

But having the blog available means that occasionally I run across some topic on which I have an opinion and think to myself, “That’s a great blog article!” But then I think, “Do I really want to put that out there for the world to see? Who cares, really?”

The ubiquitous first post.