Sunday night I got like four hours of okay sleep and a couple hours of terrible sleep. I have got to put myself to bed much earlier, especially Sunday nights, which continue to be a problem for me and have been for decades. Which reminds me: resolutions, next post.
I wasn’t very productive at work, and I don’t think it was the sleep deprivation. My attention was just all over the place, and although I put together a decent outline for this story I’m working on about thirteenth year programs on the Big Island, it took most of the day. A terribly inefficient output.
During my late lunch break, I made a chicken-kabocha-carrot soup in the Instant Pot, mostly following the recipe I used for the broccoli-Brussels-sprouts soup and the acorn-squash-potato soup. I used less ginger, added some chicken breasts, and bumped the cooking time under pressure up to 15 minutes from 10. I mostly increased the time under pressure because of the chicken, but also because of the ginger, which has really been bugging me in these soups.
It was a good move. Even when bits of ginger evaded the immersion blender, they tasted much better (less rough and raw) in my spoon. I was enormously pleased. These soups are purees, but I removed the chicken (of course) and half the kabocha before blending, then chopped up the chicken in large bites and put it back. This is a good soup!
After work, I took a hard nap for about ninety minutes, then got up and finally replied to all the happy birthday messages on FB. More than a hundred and ten of them. I wrote sort of the same thing but I didn’t copy-paste, and I tried to make each thank-you its own thing. Social media is about engagement, and you can’t carbon-copy true engagement.
It took a while — long enough to hear the new Foo Fighters album all the way through twice. It’s not a very long album, which I appreciate. Makes repeated listens much more meaningful.
I did some chores, got ready for bed, and switched to Kiss music while I posted a new Social Distancing Top Five. Then stayed up far too late scrolling through news on my phone before going to bed. Fell asleep listening to my fall-asleep podcasts.
Breakfast was dried apricots and clementines again. Lunch was soup. I was going to skip dinner, but then I was up so late I got hungry and made a couple of very quick microwave quesadillas.
I had some work texts from my coworker Julie, then some otter video from Jennifer. I texted the other Jennifer to let her know there’s a new Social Distancing Top Five, not knowing she’s no fan of Kiss. That was it, but it was enough because of all the FBing. A lot of people responded to my responses, which was nice. I felt loved.
When Foo Fighters were on SNL late last fall, they debuted a couple of songs from the new album, including “Shame Shame,” which I found more than slightly unimpressive. In the context of the album, it’s a lot better, especially since it’s not characteristic of the entire album. I was worried they’d done some weird style shift, moving into funkier, slightly less melodic and definitely less rocking territory. The rest of the album does play around a little with styles, but it’s still definitely a Foo Fighters album, so “Shame Shame” is actually not bad.
If you weren’t paying attention, you might not have seen that two Oakland Raiders are going to the Hall of Fame. Tom Flores, who played QB for the Raiders and then was an excellent head coach, has finally been elected as a coach. He was the first Hispanic American to be an NFL head coach, so it’s a big deal. Also Charles Woodson, a cornerback with an incredibly long career, mostly for the Raiders and Packers, was elected in his first year of eligibility. Good day for the Silver and Black.
Going to bed early(ish). Reach out if you need someone to connect with.