WTIT: Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing is per WTIT again.

1. What is a big dream you have for the future?

To go to several Major League Baseball stadiums in the same season. I know some people have gone to ALL the stadiums in one season, but I’ve given up on that. Maybe one year, I will do the Northeast (Toronto, Boston, New York (2), Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. Then, another year, tackle the Midwest et al, preferably by train.

2. What are your favorite hobbies?

Genealogy. Do I HAVE other hobbies?

3. If you could change the world, what would you do?

Have news, especially quasi-news, Twitteresque “information” poured through a truth filter.

4. What places have you traveled to?  What was your favorite?

Thirty-two states in the US, Mexico, Canada, France and Barbados. The latter was my favorite, partly because I didn’t have to pay for it; I won it on JEOPARDY!

5. What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

I don’t eat weird things. Well, not by my definition. My daughter thinks eating cottage cheese and maple syrup together is weird. Nah.

6. What are your favorite places to eat?

The truth is that several eateries have come and gone. It’s challenging to narrow down places. The last place my wife and I ate was Sabor a Campo, 485 Delaware Avenue, Albany, NY, in a half-filled strip mall at Whitehall Road. The name, “which translates to ‘Taste of Country,’ is an eat-in buffet, carry-out style restaurant, specializing in value-driven multicultural foods, and set in a relaxed, homey, and familial environment.” A couple at church recommended it, and the food was excellent.

A friend calls me “Mister Music” – seriously.

7. What kind of music do you like?  Talk about a favorite artist or songs.

I can’t do that. Too many choices. Pop music from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s. A bunch of classical music. Jazz. Search the blog; I write about music almost weekly. 

Meanwhile, listen to the William Tell Overture by Rossini. Here are people who have birthdays in February, so I’ve listened to them all recently:  Funkier Than A Mosquito’s Tweeter – Nina Simone. I Don’t Remember – Peter Gabriel. Shut Up and Kiss Me – Mary Chapin Carpenter. The Mercy Seat – Johnny Cash. Lay Down (Candles In the Rain) – Melanie (with the Edwin Hawkins Singers).

8. What was the last book you read?

Prequel by Rachel Maddow

9. If you could meet a character from a book, who would it be?

Bartholomew Cubbins, who spoke truth to power in Bartholemew and the Oobleck

10. Do you prefer books or movies?  Why?

Movies because I can commit to them more easily. I started reading many books, both paper and audiobooks, but I didn’t finish them. I also like to GO to the movies because watching at home tends to be too hard to focus on.

Fear, and lack of the same

11. What is something you used to be scared of but aren’t anymore?

Embarrassing myself publicly. I may still do it, but it doesn’t fuel anxiety as it used to.

12. What is something you were never afraid of but are now?

The end of democracy is not just in the United States but in several other countries. Global warming.

13. What item is your most cherished possession?  Why?

I have a metal box with all my important papers, including genealogy notes. If there were a fire, it’d be the single thing I would grab.

14. What awards or contests have you won?

I won a racquetball tournament in 1989, I think.

15. Do you like working jigsaw puzzles?

Not really. I have no patience for them. And I don’t “see” the connecting parts well.