I have Spectrum cable at my current apartment. For the most part I get good service with Spectrum, though it is more expensive than my previous cable, and I no longer have HBO. When I first got Spectrum, I realized there were several channels that I wanted that I did not get, such as TCM (I love old movies), so I went with the expanded package to get TCM and some other channels I didn’t have. One of those channels was Heroes & Icons, which I didn’t realize I had until last night. H&I shows Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise every night. Though I won’t stay up until midnight to see all five shows, I would like to have the option. When I tuned to the channel, it says I need to upgrade, even though I already upgraded to this channel, also there isn’t a 🔑 icon after the channel title, which means I’m supposed to have the channel available. I can access the channel through the Specteum app on my iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Roku, but I cannot access it through the cable box.
Because it would not let me tune into the channel, I decided to contact Specteum. I was first told to reset the cable,box, which I did, and it did not fix the problem. My next option was to use the chat feature on their website. It was not working correctly because they were supposed to try resetting the box remotely, but it never reset. So, they then said I needed to talk to a representative instead of their automated system. It said there was a 25-30 minute wait, so I waited. And I waited. And I waited. Finally, I got “near the front of the line” before they said it was taking longer than usual and to continue to wait. I spent most of my evening waiting on a Spectrum representative, but eventually it was my bedtime, so I had to disconnect. I never was able to speak to anyone. I’ll have to try again when I get home from work tomorrow.
I hate waiting on customer service representatives. Usually, once I get someone on the phone or through the chat in the “Contact Us” section, the representative is usually very nice and helpful. The problem is getting someone to talk to. Oh well, I know like most people in the service industry of any kind, they are overworked, overwhelmed, and trying to do the best that they can.
Yesterday was the Vermont primary. It was my first time voting in my new town. The funny thing is that I was confused when I changed my voter registration to my new address (the confusion happened with the power company too). You see, my apartment complex sits at the junction of three towns. My address is one town, because my mailbox is on that side of the line. My apartment, however, is in another town. So, when I registered to vote here, I thought I was signing up for the town that is my address, but it turns out that I had to register for the town where my apartment actually sits, even though my mailbox is only about ten or twenty yards away from my apartment. Vermont is a strange little place. Half the people in my apartment complex vote in one town, and the other half vote in the other town. None of the apartments are in the third town, you drive through it while driving down the driveway of my apartment complex. It’s quite confusing. The way I initially found out that my physical address and my mailing address are in separate towns was when I called the electric company to set up that account. My physical and mailing address are different for them too.
Anyway, this was actually a pretty exciting primary for Vermont. With Patrick Leary’s retirement, his Senate seat is open, so our Representative Peter Welch is running for that seat. As I am writing this, 27 percent of the vote is reporting and Welch is winning with 86 percent of the vote. The AP has already declared him the winner, and he will likely win the general election, as well. This is Vermont after all, the home of Bernie Sanders. In the Republican primary, the front runner had been Christina Nolan, who is a lesbian. However, the hate group National Organization for Marriage, better known as NOM, came out against her solely because she is a lesbian. Gerald Malloy, a West Point graduate and businessman who has only lived in Vermont for two years, seems to have gotten a boost because of NOM and is leading the race with 43 percent to Nolan’s 37.5 percent. The other candidate has just over 19 percent of the vote.
The more interesting race is to fill Peter Welch’s soon to be vacant seat. Honestly, the Republicans in that race don’t matter. It’s the Democratic primary that everyone is watching. Three candidates are vying for the nomination. Becca Balint is a long-time Vermont legislator who is currently president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate. She is a former social studies teacher and the first lesbian to lead the senate. Her main rival is the current Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray, whose only political experience is two years as lieutenant governor and working in the congressional offices of Welch and Leahy, who both endorsed her. Bernie endorsed Balint. The third candidate is Dr. Louis Meyers, whose main campaign issue is that Vermonters care about the issues not sending their first woman to Congress. It was not a winning strategy for Meyers, who at the time of writing this had 1.5 percent of the vote. The AP called the race for Balint, who with nearly 40 percent of the vote reporting had over 61 percent of the vote and over a thousand more votes than Gray.
There are also a number of other statewide races up for grabs. With Gray running for Congress, the lieutenant governor office is up for election. The two front runners there were David Zuckerman, the lieutenant governor before Gray who stepped down to run for governor and Kitty Toll who was endorsed by Howard Dean and has had the most television ads.. I personally don’t like Zuckerman, so I voted for Toll, but it appears that Zuckerman May win as he has 45 percent of the vote to Toll’s 38 percent with 43 percent reporting. The other recently vacant state offices were for attorney general and Secretary of State. Both candidates I voted for in these two races are trailing in the reported results.
I’m most happy about Balint’s win. The others were not very important for me. I think we need more good social studies teachers in Congress. The good ones who teach civics and government know what really goes on in politics. They also tend to know the history of the American political systems and the ups and downs of American History. We also need more LGBTQ politicians.
The Migraine: An Original Poem About Migraine by Kathleen Dempsey
Vertiginous, Equilibrium off, Exhausted. Comparable to a drug-induced haze, I have fifteen minutes to prepare for HELL. Nauseated, I retreat to bed, In the fetal position, I hold my head. It pounds, like a sledgehammer against steel, As waves of fireless burning flow through my being. I’m hot, I’m cold, I’m a broken thermometer. I can’t eat, I can’t drink. It won’t stay down. Waves of sickness clutch my stomach, It will not settle without a pharmaceutical. An invisible knife punctures my head, Entering the base of my skull with perfect precision. I cry —— But only on the inside. Begging, pleading to an unseen force, I whimper, as my head is in an ephemeral vice, MAKE IT STOP! I wonder —is this punishment? for some mortal sin in a past life… Or is it a trial, of how much I can endure. I take another pill. It subsides a little. Enough to function, But not for long. Not long enough for commitment, Not long enough to make money. I have survived the first pang of days. But like a long-lost bad memory, It will return with a vengeance. Each time trying to break my spirit. But it will not because I persevere. Savouring the in-between times, When I can create, I can travel, I can live. And forget the shadow of my agony, If for just a time.
Yesterday, I had a terrible migraine. It started Sunday night, and I slept fitfully through the night, waking up to the pain several times. Yesterday, I had to call in sick. There was no way I could handle going to work: the bright lights, the noise, the heat (it was 92 here yesterday). I have mostly been doing good since the new treatment, but a major storm front came through Vermont. It’s the pressure changes before the storm hits that begin the migraine attack. Sometimes, they subside when the rain actually begins, but that did not happen yesterday. I went to bed in pain last night.
The poem above was written by Kathleen Dempsey of Toronto on January 4, 2018. She has suffered from migraines since she was 24 and has suffered from chronic migraines for the last three decades. I have suffered with them for more than four decades. (I’ve had them all my life, and I will turn 45 this November.)
I knew I suffered from migraines, but until I began going to the Headache Clinic at Dartmouth, no doctor ever really took them seriously. During my first visit, they diagnosed me with chronic migraines and began trying to find the correct treatment for me. For Dempsey, it took a few visits to the hospital before she was officially diagnosed. Like me, she has tried just about everything to manage her migraines. Some of her attempts to relieve her migraines included opioids, preventative medications, holistic treatments, a decade of triptan use, and even the silly suggestions on social media, like sitting in the bathtub with frozen peas on my head! I have tried many of the same things.
Sadly, like me, she has not been able to get more than temporary relief and has had to give her migraines more control over her adult life than she would like to. I learned a long time ago to persevere. I push and push until I can’t any longer. The pain becomes all-encompassing. Like many with chronic migraines, Dempsey was unable to work for many years. Despite this, she says she’s a fairly happy person with a life full of hobbies, family, and friends. As her poem shows, living with migraines can sometimes be depressing.
She comforts herself by knowing that when the attack is happening, it will only be short-lived, and then she will feel okay. She hopes that one day her migraine attacks will stop. I never know how long my migraines will last. Sometimes, it’s hours; other times, it’s days. Eventually, I get some relief.
Dempsey copes with her pain through creativity. She creates through poetry, photography, painting, drawing, and jewelry design. She has said that writing poetry about her migraines helps her show others the impact they have on her life and that they are not just another headache. Like Dempsey, I have learned we should never wait to do the things we enjoy, and we should spend as much time with the people that we love as we are able to. Like Dempsey, I try to incorporate this philosophy into my life, spending as much energy as I can creating through writing this blog, having fun, doing a job I love, and traveling when I can. I try to do as much as I can when I can. I make a point to learn something new every day and to know my limitations. For Dempsey, the purpose of life is to have fun and help others, making memories as she goes along — and that is exactly what she does when she is migraine-free. I try to do the same.
Friday, I was not feeling very well and ended up going to bed at 8 pm. I usually go to bed between 10 pm and 10:30 pm, but I was feeling completely worn out and went to bed early. I was also a little depressed, but I don’t know why. I was just feeling down. I slept for about an hour and a half before I was wide awake again and could not fall back to sleep.
Earlier in the day, I had planned to mix up some ham and cheese scones. I usually make them up the night before and put them in the refrigerator, so they are ready to take out and put in the oven the next morning. However, with the way I was feeling, I had not done this, but when I woke up after sleeping for an hour or so, I decided to mix up a batch of scones. I mostly use my food processor to mix everything up but the buttermilk, so it’s a pretty easy process, and cooking always puts me in a better mood if I can get myself motivated enough to start.
I put the dough in the refrigerator and went back to bed. Once I got up Saturday morning, all I needed to do was preheat the oven and knead and roll out the scones. It makes it a lot easier in the morning to do it this way. I am putting my recipe below. This is an adapted recipe from the site Damn Delicious, and let me just say, “These scones are damn delicious.” Once they come out of the oven, they are hard to stop eating. If you can resist eating them all, just put the leftovers in a container or Ziploc bag and save them for later. If you do save them for later, you will realize they aren’t quite as fluffy, so what I do is toast them before I eat them. It brings them back to nearly the way they were when they first came out of the oven.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. Whenever I make these, it makes my whole day better.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat or spray a cone pan with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.
In a food processor, combine flour and garlic powder. (For slightly sweeter scones, you can also add 1 tablespoon of sugar.)
Add cold butter, and pulse the food processor until the butter and the dry ingredients resemble coarse crumbs.
Add cheese, ham, and chives, and pulse to combine.
Pour the mixture into a large bowl and stir in buttermilk until a soft dough forms.
Working on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough 3-4 times until it comes together. Using a rolling pill, roll the dough into an 8″ circle, about 1-inch thick, and cut into 8 wedges.
Place scones onto the prepared baking sheet or into the scone pan.
(Optional) Beat egg and milk in a small bowl and brush onto the top of the scones. You may also top the scones with additional cheese.
Place into oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until firm to the touch and lightly browned.
Serve warm.
Notes: 1. If you don’t want to use self-rising flour, you can use 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. If you use these ingredients, use unsalted butter. 2. I like to use Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar 3. I use Smithfield Hickory Smoked Diced Ham
Then King David went in and sat before the Lord; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O God; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the rank of a man of high degree, O Lord God.
—1 Chronicles 17:16-17
It’s been quite a while since I used a hymn as my Sunday devotional. During my high school and college years, I was the song leader at the small country church I grew up attending. Half the people at that church were like family to me, and the other half were my family. The song leader I grew up with became unable to lead the singing, so he asked me if I would it. I had taken piano lessons when I was younger, so I had a little musical ability, i.e. I could almost carry a tune. I was never a very good song leader, and I only knew about two dozen or so songs well enough to be able to lead the congregation in singing.
If you don’t know, I was raised in the church of Christ (by the way, it is customary to not capitalize “church” in the name of the denomination, though churches of Christ do not believe they are a denomination nor Protestant, but a restoration of the original church). The churches of Christ have no musical instruments, though some of the more liberal ones today do. The churches of Christ believe that if it is not in the bible, then it should not be part of the religious service. So, the inspiration for a capella singing comes from Ephesians 5:19, “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Being a song leader in a church of Christ is not the easiest task. There are no musical instruments to carry the tune. It is completely up to the song leader to do so. All I can say is, that I tried my best. I was never very good at it, and quite honestly, even after doing it for years, I was never comfortable at it. When I went away to graduate school, they found someone else to take over. I was so relieved.
I had a few favorite song: “When the Roll Is Called up Yonder,” “Send the Light,” “Shall We Gather at the River?,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” and a few others. “Amazing Grace” was always a favorite of mine. The service always began with two songs sung while seated before the main prayer. Then, we would stand for the third song just before the preacher got up to give his sermon, and I often sang “Amazing Grace” for this song. After the sermon, we would sing the invitational, a call for those who wanted to join the church and be baptized. After the invitational, we served communion. Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, is served every Sunday in the church of Christ. After communion, we sang the closing song, my favorite being “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” and “Unclouded Day.” The latter begins with “O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,” and as long as I could get out the “O” in the right key, this one always went smoothly because someone else would pick it up and keep it going in tune.
Amazing Grace By John Newton
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come: ’tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we first begun.
“Amazing Grace” is one of the best-loved and most often sung hymns in North America. It expresses John Newton’s personal experience of conversion from sin as an act of God’s grace. At the end of his life, Newton (1725-1807) said, “There are two things I’ll never forget: that I was a great sinner, and that Jesus Christ is a greater Savior!” This hymn is Newton’s spiritual autobiography, but the truth it affirms—that we are saved by grace alone—is one that all Christians may confess with joy and gratitude. I, however, believe that it takes faith and good works. James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Now, back to Newton’s story.
Newton was born into a Christian home, but his godly mother died when he was seven, and he joined his father at sea when he was eleven. His licentious and tumultuous sailing life included a flogging for attempted desertion from the Royal Navy and captivity by a slave trader in West Africa. After his escape, he himself became the captain of a slave ship. Several factors contributed to Newton’s conversion: a near-drowning in 1748, the piety of his friend Mary Catlett (whom he married in 1750), and his reading of Thomas à Kempis’s Imitation of Christ.
In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and, in association with William Wilberforce, eventually became an ardent abolitionist. After becoming a tide-surveyor (customs inspector) in Liverpool, England, Newton came under the influence of George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley and began to study for the ministry. He was ordained in the Church of England and served in Olney (1764-1780) and St. Mary Woolnoth, London (1780-1807). His legacy to the Christian church includes his hymns as well as his collaboration with William Cowper in publishing Olney Hymns (1779), to which Newton contributed 280 hymns, including “Amazing Grace.”
Newton wrote “Amazing Grace” to illustrate a sermon on New Year’s Day of 1773. It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses; it may have been chanted by the congregation. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper’s Olney Hymns. “Amazing Grace” was published in six stanzas with the heading “1 Chronicles 17:16-17, Faith’s review and expectation.” After being published, the hymn settled into relative obscurity in England.
In the United States, “Amazing Grace” became a popular song used by Baptist and Methodist preachers as part of their evangelizing, especially in the South, during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than twenty melodies. In 1835, American composer William Walker set it to the tune known as “New Britain” in a shape note format; this is the version most frequently sung today.
With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, “Amazing Grace” is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world.
Joe
The Closet Professor 