Happy Friday, Gentle Readers,
I pray this missive finds you well.
The honeymoon with our home is finally coming to an end. In addition to garage doors and pipes failing, my shower head decided to give up the ghost this morning, so I'll spend at least a few minutes of my time swapping that out. I was up in the early hours of the a.m., mopping up water and searching through the train wreck that is my tool bench to find some plumber's tape. As it turned out, there was no need to search. My new shower head comes with plumber's tape included.
I may sound like a crotchety old white guy here about to launch into a bout of mansplaining, but I learned early on that you always keep a roll of plumber's tape in the house. Although to be fair, that is one of those life hacks you learn as a youngster as you hold a flashlight for your father while he cusses up a blue streak with his head under the sink and reminds you to hold the @$#% light still. And since I have seen what should be grown men standing around helplessly in parking lots watching the AAA guy change a tire for them, I guess basic life hacks are in short supply these days.
Speaking of basic life hacks...
John Hancock would be so proud
I am not a social media person, which is odd since, given my occupation, I should probably crawl the various and sundry platforms out there practically 24/7. I could find all sorts of juicy tidbits and promote whatever I happen to be writing about on any given day.
While I have no social media presence, I do keep up with the news and am aware of the "challenges" that flood the various platforms. In the past, some of those challenges have included eating detergent or eating or drinking other substances that could induce nausea, vomiting, and possibly death. Others have included running up mountains of cardboard boxes or other feats of derring-do that will result in thirty seconds of internet fame and/or a subdural hematoma. Given the ludicrous and occasionally lethal nature of some of this jackanapery, this latest challenge is harmless and even benign by comparison:
Yes, the latest challenge for Gen Z is to write in cursive. If you are Gen X or older, you undoubtedly spent at least part of your elementary school day laboring over lined paper, learning cursive. You were even graded on it.
If you are anything like me and have naturally sloppy handwriting, you labored over cursive. But you learned it because it was considered an essential skill. Gen Z, by contrast, has keyboards and texts almost everything. And, since one's mood determines correct spelling at any given moment, I suppose cursive would be quite the brain-buster.
It's the "Write Your Name Without Taking Your Pen Off the Page Challenge." Throw in an analog clock, a stick shift, and a rotary phone, and it would be enough to make a grown man choke on his Tide Pods.
Wine recommendation
Because nothing goes better with home repairs than alcohol. That's something else my old man taught me, but that's another story.
Submitted for your consideration: the 2022 The Show Malbec.
A product of Mendoza, Argentina, this Malbec has a nice, deep, dark red color. It has a pleasant, smooth, bold taste and goes easy on the tannins. Look for the expected dryness from a Malbec, but at the same time, it won't tax the palate if you are not a massive fan of dry reds. It has a nice, long finish, and you should look for good doses of oak, tobacco, smoke, and leather, along with the usual dark fruits. If you let it linger on the tongue a bit, you may pick up some pepper and spices.
This would be a nice wine for a medium-rare piece of beef, but we enjoyed our bottle over some nice grilled lamb steaks, and the two complemented each other perfectly.
That's it for me. Have a great weekend, and I'll see you next time.
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