Mastered Spaghetti

Been about ten years since I posted "On Becoming Left-Handed" (link below).  Back then I still ate spaghetti and sushi right-handed.  I am pleased to share that I can now eat spaghetti left-handed, as shown below.  The twirling is opposite (i.e. counter-clockwise) while I'm being lefty, but the action is smooth and not at all awkward.  I can eat sushi left-handed, but it's not smooth and certainly awkward.  I just don't get a chance to use chopsticks that often, so it might be a while before I conquer that one.

https://lifeexperiences.paulishing.com/2015/12/on-becoming-left-handed.html

Ohio Rest Areas

I applaud the State of Ohio for its multi-year project to rebuild or refresh thirty-six of the highway's ninety-three Rest Areas by the end of 2026.  I've been to the one around exit 27 on northbound I-75 and it's very cool.  But what's not cool is that three of the four Rest Areas on eastbound I-70 from Dayton on the route to Pittsburgh are currently closed.  Only the Rest Area near mile marker 129 is open at the moment.  It's not a big problem to figure out alternatives, but nothing worse when you gotta go than coming up to a Rest Area only to find it closed.

The map below shows all the currently closed locations and you can use the link below to explore the entire Ohio Rest area system.

https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/traveling/rest-areas

Stretch The Legs

My son owns Absolute Fitness, a personal training gym, and recently showed me a new stretch he developed for himself to help relieve back issues.  As shown below, a wrap around my ankle is connected to a pulley that's attached to a weight stack.  The leg is supported by a foam cylinder and the other leg is tucked up to keep the back flat on the mat.  I just scootch myself back far enough to get some separation of the weight plates and lay down and relax.  A few minutes and I stretch my other leg.  The relief on my lower back as my leg is gently extended is remarkable.  This is now part of my routine after my other exercises.

https://absolutefitnessohio.com

Skillet Chicken Thighs with White Wine–Butter Sauce

Gourmet Chef Elaine made this decadent dish that includes two sticks of butter and a half-cup of heavy cream.  She opted for boneless chicken thighs to make eating easier and subbed chopped scallions for the chives on top.  The star of the show is the sauce, a reduction of vinegar, dry white wine, shallots, lemon juice, bay leaves, and the aforementioned butter and cream.  This is not a quick, mid-week meal.  Save this recipe for a special Sunday when you have plenty of time and nothing else to do.  

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/skillet-chicken-thighs-with-white-winebutter-sauce-11585712

 

Mashup Drinks

I like making my own mashup drinks to reduce calories and get the exact flavor I want.  I start with a small can of zero-calorie soda like 7-Up Zero Sugar then doctor it up with watermelon puree, strawberry daiquiri mix, or the Reàl Peach puree in the picture below.  The Reàl brand has a large selection of infused syrups including blackberry, raspberry, banana, and black cherry.  You can find their entire selection at the link below which includes a long list of delicious drink recipes.

https://www.realingredients.com/products

Quantum Computing For Dummies

I used the multiple four-hour flights back and forth to Las Vegas to learn more about Quantum Computing, one of the current "big things" in the technology world.  Borrowing a "for Dummies" book from the Dayton Metro Library was a fitting choice, as so much of this might make sense to a physicist or a mathematician, a lot of it was so far over my head it was spinning.  I boil it down to using some strange behavior that happens in the subatomic world (e.g. superposition, entanglement) to create a massively parallel system that speeds up certain types of problems (e.g. cracking encryption, route optimization) so solutions can be found in a usable timeframe.

Google recently announced that their new Willow quantum computer solved a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes which would take today's fastest traditional computer 10 septillion years (that is, 10 to the 25th power) years.  

The book also postulates that what happens in this subatomic world just might mean there exists a multiverse.  Woah!

https://www.dummies.com/article/technology/computers/what-is-quantum-computing-300551

Cirque Du Soleil

Cirque Du Soleil has five permanent residencies in Las Vegas including "O", the water-themed performance we attended in January 2025 at The Bellagio.  An hour-and-a-half full of synchronized swimming, high-driving, and gymnastic performances with some comedy during set changes.  The stage can be lowered in sections creating anything from a solid floor to a seventeen-foot-deep pool with 1.5 million gallons of water.  We opted for the VIP experience which included meeting three of the cast members, including the clown who gets set on fire.  

https://bellagio.mgmresorts.com/book-show/o-by-cirque-du-soleil

Las Vegas Sphere

We stayed at the Horseshoe Hotel during our last trip to Las Vegas and paid a little extra for a room with a view of the Sphere.  It was fun to look out our window and watch the ever-changing visuals on its massive dome.  Its exterior contains 580,000 square feet of LED displays and measures 366 feet high and 516 feet wide.  It cost 2.3 billion dollars and opened in September 2023 featuring a 40-show residency by the Irish rock band U2.  So cool.

https://www.thesphere.com

Rack Of Lamb

Lamb is not a meat we have all that often but while perusing the meat counter at Costco we spotted the small rack shown below and we thought to give a new recipe a try.  Gourmet Chef Elaine lined a baking sheet with aluminum foil, drizzled on some olive oil, placed the ribs bone side down, and cracked come salt and pepper on top.  She topped that with a spread made of garlic, rosemary, dijon mustard, honey, and olive oil.  Done in about thirty minutes in a 450-degree oven followed by resting for ten more.  

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a39026720/rack-of-lamb-recipe

No TSA PreCheck

Sunday morning at the Las Vegas airport is a really bad time to have closed the TSA PreCheck line, relegating us to the cattle call chute shown below.  The line consisted of ten, 80-foot lanes that snaked back and forth painfully slowly.  It took a little over thirty minutes to get through that 800-foot line and then we had to have our carry-on bags scanned twice because we had our iPads in them, which we don't have to remove when using PreCheck.  Fortunately, we gave ourselves extra time to get to our gate, but the whole process was such a pain.

OK, enough bitching...