"O! How full of briers is this working day world!" (As You Like It)

Today while RH+ went to play cards and the cleaning lady was coming, I took myself to IHOP for breakfast. They had a wondrous 2x2x2= Two eggs, two strips of bacon, and two pancakes. Who could ask for anything more? Before that I took my car to Firestone in order to have them fix my A/C switches. The A/C button that circulates only the air inside the car just always kicks over to the button that takes in outside air, and negates a lot of the cool air. However, I was told that the A/C guy wouldn't be in until tomorrow. So, I took myself to a movie called, "Iron Man."

I'm guessing Iron Man was or is a cartoon character. It was a fun movie, but the special effects were specially suspect. The mayhem that Iron Man was capable of doing were significantly impossible. It involved this guy who owned a company that manufactured incredible weapons for the government. So, after coming back from a war zone, he engineered his iron man costume that had the firepower of a battleship and the jets from his iron feet sped him across the Earth at the speed of light. It was OK and I guess worth the five bucks.

Some bad news. I loaned a neighbor my Yonex driver to try out, and he did fine with it. I asked him for $50 and we made the deal. However, today he told me that someone stole that club from his bag. Now when you lose, or someone steals one of your golf clubs it's like losing a favorite pet. I felt really bad for Jim and decided that the fair thing to do was to split the loss and settle for $25 even though he offered to pay me the fifty bucks.

Yesterday, our travel agent sent us the flight plans for our Scandinavian cruise in July. We will be flying on British Airways to London and then on to Amsterdam where we will board Celebrity's ship Century. We'll stop at Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, and some other place whose name evades me. At the end of the cruise, we'll spend two days in Amsterdam before returning home on July 20. It will take us nine hours to fly to London. I'll freak out!

Polonius: "What do you read my lord?" Hamlet: "Words, words, words."

Mothers' Day has come and gone, and I suppose Hallmark made more money than the oil companies yesterday. I believe it was Hallmark who probably invented Mothers' and Fathers' Day. If I'm wrong, correct me. Perhaps they also invented Grandparents' Day, but Rho and I have never, ever gotten any cards of any kind when that day comes around. It doesn't sadden us; we're used to it. We'd actually prefer that our children and grandchildren do not enrich the card companies when they could send us an e-mail or use the phone--invented by Alexander G. Bell. (Or was it Alexander AT&T?)


I've been doing a lot of research about Josephus Flavius during the Judean rebellion from 67CE to 70CE when Herod's Temple was destroyed by Titus's
Roman Army and tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered. Josephus was an odd kind of guy who worked both sides of the fence to survive. While he was a captive in Rome, he predicted that Vespasian would become the next Caesar, and after Nero committed suicide and the prophesy came to pass, Josephus's fortunes improved. He eventually become a Roman citizen and took on Vespasian's family name of Flavius. Vespasius gave Josephus a virgin wife whom he subsequently divorced, went to Alexandria, married once more and his wife bore him three children, two of whom died, and his son. Hyrcanus survived. Josephus said this wife "did not behave very well" and he left her, went to Crete where he wed wife #3 and had three more sons.


I'm not certain why I started doing research about the goings on in the first century, since I had in mind to write a fictionalized bio of Spinoza, the philosopher in the 17Th Century??? But to say the truth, the research went so deep that the events, battles, names of people and sects were going way beyond my ability to comprehend, and I really don't know if I have the skill to write such a novel.


So, back to the mundane life of Condoland. Yesterday, Rho and I went to Boca Town Center Mall because I had a prescription for new glasses that required that I buy "Varilux" progressive lenses. The glasses I'm wearing now are not giving me any problems, but Rho encouraged me to do what the Ophthalmologist said. Bingo! $510. For that money I could buy 132 gallons of gas with which I could travel about 3300 miles.


Perhaps I'll write another blog tomorrow. One never knows.