The glasses are coming! The glasses are coming!

Featuring the Amazing Disappearing Tracking Number!

They're supposed¹ to be here tomorrow!

¹ As if everything in life went the way it was supposed to....

Getting a buzz....

Or, Shave and a Haircut... No bits

Decided to tame the unruly mane on top of my head by getting out the electric hair clippers today¹.  Then again, I have tended to prefer function over form anyway.  As long as it's inexpensi- on second thought, let's call it what it is, cheap, I don't have to find a barber or schedule an appointment, and I can do it myself, it's my hair and it doesn't really bother what other people think about ti  Plus, needing to use less shampoo and no styling gel means I save money, not to mention that I don't have to waste time maintaining it.  Finally, it'll probably be cooler (temperature-wise, rather than in terms of popularity).

Weird stat of the day: for some reason my page views spiked to 283 yesterday¹- or almost 5 times the 2nd most page views in one day of 58 and probably more than seven days¹ previous combined. At first I was wondering whether the comment I posted on disqus.com had drawn some attention, but that site isn't mentioned among the traffic sources.

¹ All references to days are from the perspective of June 29 (the date on the post) rather than June 30 (the date I actually posted it).  In other words, for the purposes of this post, today means the 29th, and yesterday means the 28th.

Not quite done with bedroom updates

Or, Which Books Where?

After finally getting the bookshelf up, I find myself at an impasse as to which books I want to move from the living bookcase onto it: the bigger ones, which would leave more space in front of the smaller ones left behind, or the smaller ones, which are less likely to warp the singly-stacked boards? Furthermore, I had to explain to my grandson that just because I had cleared off a shelf in the living room that that doesn't mean it will stayed clear (i.e., that I might have to move some of the books back out there) to make sure that he doesn't cover a bookshelf I might need later with photos or similar stuff. Finally, between starting this post and then eventually getting back to finishing it, I left a comment in an internet discussion in response to someone (who happened to be atheist) who said his significant other was dying of ovarian cancer. Shared some of my experience going through a similar situation with Lorena and how quickly it went from thinking she had years to live still to her death. A bit drained by it, so I'll end here.

Bedroom update update!

Seeing how my pageviews spiked to 57 yesterday (although probably most of those were mine from checking several tweaks I did on the blog), I figured I might as well try to see if using "bedroom" and/or "update" in the title would work again.  Anyway, while trying to place books on the bookshelf I wrote about yesterday, I discovered that a great many of the books were higher than the ~7½" height of the cement blocks I bought.  Thus, one little piggie and his nine "siblings" must hie themselves back to the market to buy blocks with more height and, since I'm at it anyway, wood for a couple more shelves.  Thankfully, I'll be going to a closer store (1.6 miles/31 minutes according to google maps vs. 2.2 miles/48 minutes) because my grandson isn't feeling well and won't be able to take me.  Of course, I'm writing this all out before I go, only to post it once I get back.
So, I grabbed a ½ gallon of horchata (I'll explain later) at Food 4 Less, a couple of machaca burritos at Chile Verdes , then swung over to Home Depot only to find out I forgot the order number and they couldn't find it under my name.  Therefore (oh, the horror of it all!) I had to go and grab the items myself .  Thus laboring and heavy laden, I pushed my cart (and I do mean my cart, not the stores- hmph!) home in about the ½ hour allotted by google maps).  There I gave my grandson his food (before anyone questions how I could have left him home alone, especially since he's not Macaulay Culkin, when he's not feeling well, I would like to remind readers he's over 20), chowed down on mine, took a quick cold shower (because of the heat, people, because of the heat), typed out this epilogue, hit first publish and then the hay.

Bedroom update!

Or, It's Not What You Think¹

Listen up, you yahoos!  I know what probably many of you might be thinking after reading such a titillating and tantalizing title: he's been recently widowed, he's posting this after a Saturday night (spent prowling meeting places, no doubt), and now he's talking about the bedroom, so it must be about that.  Puh-lease!  Give me more credit than that.  If I had found another companioness to companionate² with, I would have informed my family immediat... well, at least one week before our wedding⁴, if past performance is any indicator of future results⁶.
Anyway, after my wife died, I tossed the too-small cupboard (that's the closet... closest approximation that I can think of.  Although it wasn't made to hold cups, it was about the same size and had a shelf which we somehow lost) and only-slightly-bigger "media center" and moved the TV and the computer/computer desk about a month ago, during which time I somehow lost the cord that connects the TV to the cable box.  A few days later, while calling the cable company to find out why the TV wasn't picking up any channels, I managed to disconnect the cable box and lose misplace it as well (Trend?  What trend?).  Then, just yesterday, I built fabricated constructed formed a bookshelf, the details of which can be found in various footnotes. The next step I plan to undertake involves moving books that I had stacked on the bookshelf in the living room to the bookshelf I... had a hand in the formation of in the bedroom.  Plus, while I have more or less separated items of hers that I have no interest in keeping, I still have to get them boxed up and see if my grandson wouldn't mind helping me take them to a donation center.

Getting so much (or at least somewhat) better all (or at least some of) the time

Then again, I suppose it depends on what's getting better.  Physically, I feel good... like I knew that I would now.  Ok, maybe "know" is a bit strong considering how I have been feeling the past few days due to the heat.  However, at the moment, whether it's because it's early morning and it hasn't heated up yet, the temperature has cooled a little, or maybe my figuring out that the fan has a high¹ setting for a reason, I seem to have a bit more energy.  Oh, great.  Just as I finish writing that, my eyes don't want to stay open.  After these messages, I'll be right back.
So... did you miss me?  Of course you did.  But let's return to our feature discussion and turn to how I have been dealing with my wife's death.  That remains virtually unchanged: long periods of coping followed by gut-wrenching moments of one thing or another reminding me of her.  Even events as innocuous as buying a rotisserie chicken (the focal point of many of meal since moving to Los Angeles) become an opportunity for such an attack, as if going to or arriving at one of the bus stops near our home or shopping at the pharmacy that filled her prescriptions or the other stores and restaurants in the same plaza didn't provide enough.  Yet from the very fields of familiarity where grow such weeds of sorrow also sprout forth the soothing herbs of tender memories.  Perhaps time can teach me how to better tend the latter while eliminating the other.

'Cause this is filler, filler night...

Since I missed a few days of posting a while back and now find myself with some news I want to share, but don't find it interesting enough to put on the front page, I figured why not kill two birds¹ with one stone and simply postdate the post?  I finally got around to adding videos to my recent widower review posts that review song lyrics only to find that I must have clicked the "revert to draft" button instead of "update", so I had to fix that as well².

¹ Figurative ones only.  No actual birds were harmed in the writing of this post.
² I hope such news doesn't cause heart palpitations for anyone.

Brain-fried

If my posting the next few days seems sporadic, it is due to the lethargy-inducing heat here in Los Angeles.  Even when I have been able to come up with topics, developing them into a presentable post has sapped my already low energy.  The blog should show some improvement once I become acclimated to it, but for now, I'm just too tired.  That's pretty much all I can write on the matter at the moment.

Why must I be... let's just not go there

Today's Recent Widower Review of Dion and the Blemonts' "Why Must I Be a Teenager in Love" has been cancelled due to a complete lack of sympathy for the plight of the singer.  Being about 30 years older and having a wife recently die will do that to you.  But for those that really want to see it anyway, here it is:

Breakdown of the order

DESCRIPTION                                              QUANTITY      AMOUNT      TOTAL
Frame                                                              1.00                  $9.95               $9.95
1.56 No Line Progressive Photocromic Grey    1.00                  $68.95             $68.95
Prescription Type:   Progressive Lenses
Anti Reflective Coating                                     1.00                  $4.95               $4.95

Not bad for a pair of glasses, IMHO.  I would have preferred a metal frame, but I can't really complain at the price, especially with how badly I am need of new glasses at the moment.  I'll provide another update as soon as I get them and would like to see what they are like before giving the site any publicity.

Looking for Mr. Goodframe

Currently looking into buying a new pair of glasses and having to decide to buy locally or online. The main problem with the latter is that the place I got the prescription from refuses to give a pupillary distance without a purchase of glasses at their store, which means I would have to find a way to measure it for myself. While I don't have a problem with them having such a policy, the same cannot be said for their failure to notify of said policy before the exam since that may have altered my decision. Then again, that would not be necessary if I had just kept my previous prescription since it supplied that information. Furthermore, I have had a hard time finding a decently priced (read: cheap) pair of metal frames with a solid nose bridge instead of nose tabs online. On the other hand, there's no guarantee I would be able to do so locally either. On top of that, the optometrist I saw recommended that I get progressive and photochromic¹ lenses, which adds considerably to the cost. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Update (06/21/16): Bought some online, will give more info in a later post).

¹ Yes, you stupid spell check, "photochromic"² is a word.
² Suggested alternate spellings: "photo chromic" and "photo-chromic". Who creates these word lists anyway?

Important information for those getting an eye exam

When getting an eye exam, make sure to ask the optometrist if a pupillary distance measurement is included in the prescription, especially if you plan to buy your glasses online.  While you might be able to do the measurement yourself, it's one of those things best left up to a professional¹.  If they won't supply it, you might want to consider taking your business to someone else who will.  I found out the hard way at Target Optical, they will only provide one when you purchase glasses with them².

¹ In fact, I believe I read somewhere while searching online to buy glasses that New York (state or city, I can't remember which) law requires a professional measurement when buying eyeglasses.  I don't know whether or not this means an optometrist is required to provide one.  Yes, I'm too lazy to look it up, so if anyone who knows could leave a comment, it would be greatly appreciated.
² While I do not have a problem with them having such a policy, I think it's a bit dishonest to not inform people getting an exam of this beforehand.

¿Como te voy olvidar cuando no puedo?

Translation: ¿How can I forget you when I cannot?

Although this Recent Widower's Review includes another foray into my translating Spanish into English, my task should run a bit smoother as I won't have to decipher my wife's handwriting and spelling as well.  However, I will slightly change the format a little.

The song starts with repeating amor six times and although the word is literally translated as "love", a better translation in context would be "my love" since it's addressed to a person.  Note: count on hearing/reading this word a lot throughout the song.  Note the second: that certain describes my wife.
Even though the next line ("Quiero que me vuelvan a mirar tus ojos") is grammatically correct Spanish, it still causes difficulties for online translators because "in Spanish, changes in the word order can be heard in everyday conversation or seen frequently in everyday writing such as that found in newspapers and magazines."  Google, for example, bungles it completely as "I want you to look into your eyes again" by completely ignoring the "me".  Bing's rendering of the sentence as "I want to get me to look at your eyes" is a bit closer, yet confuses the object and subject.  However, in this sentence, it is the verb that determines the object rather than word order.  In other words, since "vuelvan" is third person plural, the subject has to be a third person noun- and the only noun that fits that description is "tus ojos".  It is easy to understand why the song writer chose this particular word order (i.e., he needed a rhyme for "rojos"), but placing the two "misplaced" subject in the normative spot before the verb (i.e., "Quiero que tus ojos [subject] me [object] vuelvan [verb] a mirar") fixes the translation problem for both Google and Bing: "I want your eyes to look at me again".  Unfortunately, something that is no longer possible for my wife.
After another couple of lines of thrice-repeated "amor", we come to "Quiero volver a besar tus labios rojos", which Google inexplicably translated as "I never want to kiss your red lips".  Bing wins another round almost by default with a closer-but-still-no-cigar "I want to kiss your red lips", since it omits that pesky "volver a".  Including a translation for those two words would make it "I want to go back/return to kiss (or kissing) your red lips".  Yet another nonviable option in regards to my deceased wife.
The next four lines also contain several pitfalls for translation.  Not only do lines one and two (Comó no acordarme de ti and De que manera olvidarte; literally, "How not to remember to me of you" and "Of what way to forget you"), for example, contain infinite verbs and omit a subject altogether, but they build on each other: "How can I not remember you/ In what way can I forget you / If everything reminds me of you ('Si todo me recuerda a ti')/ [and] You are ('estás tú') everywhere ('En todas partes')?".  More on this after the rest of the song.
The singer then goes on to mention a couple of places where "you" are ("estás tú" or just "estás"): a rose and (literally) "to breathe", i.e., "act of breathing".  I haven't seen my wife in any roses, but then again, I haven't looked at many roses since her death other than those that someone (probably one of her daughters or sisters) brought to her final viewing.  As for seeing her in the act of breathing, that comes and goes.  Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
This is followed by the repeated line "How will I forget you?" (Como te voy a olvidar), which will also repeat twice after the next two lines.  The next two places the singer finds "you" is in "kissing the cross" ("besando la cruz") and praying a prayer ("rezando una oracion"), both which carry a religious significance, the first of which (i.e., kissing the cross) I do not participate in and the second of which I would attach only to the love of God and not another person, up to and including my wife.
Now we come to the only part of the song that isn't repeated again:
Si te clavaste aqui en mi corazon (If you have embedded yourself here in my heart)
Y mi amor, has llenado mi alma (And my love, you have filled my soul)
Y tu sangre corre por mis venas (And your blood runs in my veins)
Y mi sangre me hace estremecer (And my blood makes me shake/tremble)
Yo contigo (I with you)
All I can say about this part is I guess it's supposed to be romantic... and maybe it is and I just have poor taste in judging whether something is romantic or not.

Trivia Time: what do Election, Notting Hill, Wild, Wild West, and Galaxy Quest have in common?

Yes, they all may be movies that you liked, disliked, or never heard of, but I'm looking for a more specific answer than that.  That they all came out in 1999 is closer to the desired response, but not close enough.  One may notice, however, a trend towards movies that came out sometime between the time Lorena and I met and when we married.  So if you guessed that they are all movies that Lorena and I saw while dating, you win an invisible, tasteless, and non-existent cookie.  Or it could be a real cookie as long as you or someone other than myself buys it for you.
I also won a "Nidorino" Pokemon card (I was aiming for just about anything other than that, though) from a claw crane in the movie theater arcade.  Despite how much I do not like Pokemon, it is not for sale, for what should be obvious (sentimental) reasons.
Postscript: all of the movies cost $7.25/person except for Galaxy Quest, which cost $4.50/person.  I don't think it's a comment of the quality of the movie, but instead that we saw it during an afternoon matinee rather than at night.  Our ticket sellers appear to have been Lexie (Election), Alex (Notting Hill), Claucia (Wild, Wild West) and Hicke, Rit (by process of elimination, Galaxy Quest).

It's my blog and I'll meme if I want to.

Feeling a bit out of ideas today, so I'll just share a meme I made yesterday (well, actually two, but they pretty much the same message):

Let me know if you like either/both/both, but one more than the other or if you have any other comments.

They didn't ring up this purchase (they just gave us a receipt)

How much would you think a pair of top-of-the-line wedding rings would cost back in October of 1999?  Would you believe a price of only $371.00?  Well then, how much would you think a pair of near-the-bottom-of-the-line wedding rings would have cost?  No, that was not anywhere near two months' salary for me and probably a lot closer to 1/3 of one month's salary.  Then again, the whole two months' figure was conjured up by a diamond company trying to get people to spend more money on their product.  Money was tight enough for both of us without buying more expensive rings.  Finally, considering how many people have spent a lot more money on wedding rings only to have their marriages end in divorce in less time than the almost 16 years our marriage lasted, it should be obvious that more expensive rings do not guarantee length.
Anyway, the exact date of purchase was October 9, 1999 at Del Pueblo Jewelers.  While the receipt gives their address as 1026 East Alisal Street, Salinas, CA, at least two online sources give the address as 1030, while at least one other place Foodsco at the 1030 address, and Google Maps shows nothing at the 1026 site and a Factory 2-U store at 1030.  If memory serves me correctly, they are within the Factory2U store with the Foodsco next door.  But it's been at least 16 years, so my memory could be playing tricks on me.  About the only other information the receipt supplies is that we were served by salesperson 25 and the tread-in¹ value was $0.

¹ No, that's not a typo... well, at least not my typo.

My wife, she wrote me a letter

Or a lesson on hard it is to translate something when
the person who wrote what you are trying
to translate did not spell it correctly

This is just going to be a semi-Recent Widower Review explaining the similarities and differences rather than go through the entire song so that I can get back to discussing the letter/note under discussion:

1. She was never my baby.  She was always a woman to me (although I have plenty of disagreements with those lyrics as well), both before and after she became my wife.
2. An airplane/train ticket wouldn't have helped anyway since she lived within walking distance.
3. I didn't need to spend any money for that same reason.
4. She did write me a letter (well, actually three), although many might call a missive of that length a "note" instead.
5. Lonely days were gone, but only for awhile.  They've since returned.
6. I was probably at the restaurant when I read the letter, so I did have to go home.
7. The closest thing the letter said about not being able to live without me was that she wants to know if I would like to meet her.

So, it's pretty much 2½  points of agreement among the 7, although it does include the major point (that she wrote me a letter) included in the title.  But let's get to the note itself (Spanish first, translation in green second).  Note: Lorena tended to confuse "b" and "v" (since they sound alike in Spanish), drop the "h" (since it is silent in Spanish) in words, and not add necessary accents, so I have had to make minor spelling changes and make a few guesses.  Some parts of the translation might not be perfect (please let me know of any better ways to translate this in the comments), but I've done the best I could.

"Jon" (I don't think that needs translation)
¡Hola! (Hello!)
Me platicó Lorena lo que les pasó anoche pero es que yo le dijé a Lorena que me ablará [= hablará] antes de benirse [= venirse] para saber si Jesus y su esposa se habían ido al baile y no mas me quede esperando la llamada.  (Lorena¹ talked to me about what happened to them last night but I told Lorena that she will speak to me before she went [to work?] for me to know if Jesus and his wife were going to go to the dance and I would no longer have to wait for the [phone] call.
Tambíen le dijé que iba a estar a las siete afuera del restaurant aber [= a ver] si podían salir pero como no salieron. (Also² I told her that I was present at seven outside the restaurant³ to see if they could leave but they had not left).
Me biene [= viene] para la casa y a las nueve me iba debolver [= devolver] para benirme [= venirme] con Lorena y conoceste porque de tanto que me habla ella de ti y a te conosco [= conozco]. (I went home and at nine, I went went to return to come with Lorena and meet you because of how much she has told me about you and to know you.)
Aunqué yo [no?] sé que te bas [= vas] a desepcionar [= decepcionar] de mi porque no sé si quieres tener una amiga chaparrita y gordita. (Although I do [not?] know if you will be disappointed in me because I do not know if you want a slightly short and slightly plumpish female friend.)
Tambíen aller [= ayer] en la tarde estube [= estuve] con una amiga comiendo en el restaurante y cada [vez?] que alguien asomaba de adentro de donde ustedes estan decía cera [= sera] él o no sera.  (Also², yesterday afternoon, I was eating with a female friend in the restaurant y each [time?] that someone looked out from where you are she said "Will it or will it not be him?".
... y me decía mi amiga pues que tanto mirar para alla pues nada le contestaba... (and my friend said to me because so many would look from there and yet nothing would answer)
... y tambíen estaba un muchacho sirviendose fruta y dijé a mi amiga que fuera  a ber [=  ver] como se llamaba y que decepcíon se llamaba Ezequiel. (and also a guy was serving fruit and I told my friend that I would go see what his name was and what a disappointment that he was called "Ezequiel").
bueño.  es todo lo que te puedo desir [= decir].  hasta pronto.  Lorena F.  (Well, that is all I can say to you.  Until soon.  Lorena F.)
Me contestas porque lo que me mandaste el otro día lo perdio y no me dio nada.  Me dijiste que allí abias [= habías] puesto tu numero de telefono (Answer me because that which you sent me, I lost and you did not give me anything.  You told me that you put (wrote) your telephone number there.)


¹ My co-worker at HomeTown Buffet who gave me the note.
² Since she used a lower-case "t" on tambíen, it may have been the last word of the previous sentence, but it makes more sense as the beginning of this one.
³ Probably HomeTown Buffet in Salinas.

My Mom... celebrity lookalike?

I'll just let you, the readers, be the judge:

Then again, I could just be falling into the temptations of letting my imagination run away with me.
Did I mention how much I love you, Mom?

This is the story of a lovely lady...

Or, A Story Written Because of a Request of My Mother,
Despite My Belief I Had Already Told Her This Before

Except... she had four girls, not three.  Furthermore, they were already grown by the time she met the man she married, his name wasn't Brady, he didn't have any children, and neither the mother nor her daughters had golden hair, much less curls for the youngest.  As for the possibility of a housekeeper, finances (or more accurately, lack thereof) kept that as a pipe dream.  So except for several major differences, we were just like Carol Martin and Mike Brady in that they met and they married.

Enlarging the (Google+) circle

Or, A Lesson In the Fine Art of Subtlety

Warning!            Warning!            Warning!
The following post is extremely graphic¹ in nature.

Alas and alack! It appears that perhaps some of my dear readers remain uninformed regarding the means by which to add another person to a Google+ circle.  For example, perhaps someone has a brother who has demonstrated that he loves his younger sister more by already adding her to his Google+ circle at least a week ago and to whom she has yet to reciprocate such feelings, however limited they be in comparison to his.  Or maybe one has a son or even a brother-in-law... it doesn't matter since I shall graciously provide the information to rectify this situation in my Jon Best's Creatively-Named "How to Add Someone to a Google+ Circle" Guide.

Facebook wants me to... say what?

Allow me to get the following clear from the outset: if Facebook requires someone to photograph or scan his or her I.D. and then upload it to them before they activate the account, I have no problem with that. However much I may think it's a bad idea to not provide an alternative means to verify I.D. for those who can't or don't want to do so, it's their prerogative as a business to choose whatever methods are acceptable to them and withhold services from anyone who declines to follow their stipulations. However, when they fail to inform someone of this requirement until after said person has already signed up for an account and then fail to provide for a way for that person to delete the account, that's just... plain... stupid. It's a catch-22: one can't delete the account without verifying his or her i.d. and one either can't or doesn't want to provide an i.d. to verify an account one wants deleted.

"Incumbents" may be exposed to... say what?

From an ad that I saw in the Inglewood City Hall lobby for a Food Service Aide:

Work may require frequent standing, walking, bending and lifting up to 20 pounds.  Incumbents may be exposed to repetitive motion, sharp objects or utensils, hazardous chemicals and infectious diseases and a valid California Driver's License.

 I could be wrong about this, but I think they meant to include "a California Driver's License" as part of the first sentence rather than the second.  Also, I'm fairly sure the writer misused the word "incumbent" as well.  On the other hand, I guess that's better than a news article a few months back that discussed a female singer's rapping during a recent concert... except they spelled "rapping" with only one "p".
In related news, if anyone needs the services of a talented orthographer, I'm always available.

We should turn at the... say what?

Continuing the "say what" series of posts (began here and continued here), today's tantalizing tale tells of a time that occurred shortly after Lorena and I moved to Los Angeles and had to fill out the forms to transfer the payments for her Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability from Salinas.  Our first attempt to do so landed us at the wrong building and one of the workers there told us where to go.  In our rush to get the task done, however, we forgot to get the directions for how to get there.  We soon remedied our lack of information at a nearby bus stop by requesting it from another lady waiting there.  I cannot recall most of what she told us mainly because I quickly concentrated on a single detail: that her directions involved us going north until we reached a green line.  Or rather, the green line, which seemed even more bizarre to me at the time, for I imagined my wife and I having to walk while searching for a literal green line (painted?) on the street (if you're reading this from the home page, you'll have to click below to read the rest...).

My lady in red (or whatever color[s] she chose to wear)

Today's Recent Widower Review comes courtesy of Chris De Bergh^22¾

I've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight
I've never seen you shine so bright

Every day she grew lovelier in my eyes.

I've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
They're looking for a little romance, given half a chance

I might have a few objections to that.

And I have never seen that dress you're wearing
Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes,

Then again, my wife was a prolific shopper, although there were several pieces of clothing (but only one dress) that I don't ever recall seeing her wear, some with tags still on them.  As the three packages of men's dress socks and three tubes of shower body wash that I found unopened further demonstrate, she always seemed to be buying items to use for later but then never got around to using them.  Furthermore, she wasn't much of a dress wearer, because I only found the one aforementioned dress.

I have been blind

But then again, we all seem to be in our own little ways.  I'm no exception to that.

The lady in red...

I haven't really come across much of her clothing that is red.  She did have a pair of pink pajamas and two (actually four, but two of them were quite small and designed to be worn with their respective piece among the other two and thus I wouldn't consider them separate) other garments that I would call sleepwear except however often I may have seen her wear them to bed, I don't recall her actually getting to sleep in them.

...is dancing with me, cheek to cheek

If we ever danced together, I don't recall it.  It doesn't seem to be an activity that she enjoyed.

There's nobody here, it's just you and me

And sometimes one or two of three grandsons, one daughter, or one sister living with us, if I remember correctly.  Although I think the total time would be less than a year.  Also, she went to visit various family frequently, so sometimes it wasn't even just her and me.

It's where I want to be

Always and forever, love of my life.

but I hardly know this beauty by my side

Maybe I should have asked more, but she didn't seem to like revealing much of her past life before she met me.

I'll never forget the way you look tonight

Sometimes such visions haunt me, sometimes they comfort me, and sometimes they do both.

I've never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight
I've never seen you shine so bright, you were amazing
I've never seen so many people want to be there by your side

And now we're back to a slight variation of the first few lines.  Although she was amazing.  Nor would I mind people wanting to be by her side (well, depending on the reason) like I would men wanting to dance with her while looking for romance.

And when you turned to me and smiled, it took my breath away
And I have never had such a feeling
Such a feeling of complete and utter love, as I do tonight

... and every other night.  The rest is mostly chorus and repetition until the last line, so I'll just skip to that:

I love you

 I can't think of anything to add to that.

It's Laundry Day!

Or, What I'm Going To Post in Lieu of Something I'm Working On,
But Have Not Quite Finished

Although I did learn one valuable (at least to me) lesson: I had a smilie of someone washing clothes ready to use, but it was on http which conflicts with the https protocol established by Blogger/Blogspot.  So all you would have seen is: .
Okay, now it is working in preview when it didn't previously.  So if you can see it, enjoy.  If you cannot, at least I have told you why.  All it was showing was a black square with a broken pane of glass in the middle that I'm sure most of you have either seen or seen something close enough and across the top of the post was an error message.  It was there... I'm telling you it was there¹ [sounds of hysterical sobbing ensue].

They're offering... say what?

While looking at various sites that offer to create an embedable¹ timeline (because I wanted to include one on a static page that shows important dates in my deceased wife's and my lives), one of the ones that I found have a paid and free (lite) versions.  At the risk of overwhelming you with their generosity, the latter includes allowing the user to create one timeline with a maximum of five events.  Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like they are hoping that people will sign up for a free account, invest time and effort into creating a free timeline only to discover they need to add more than five events (because seriously, how many timelines have you seen that have included only five events?), and then decide to upgrade to a paid account rather than waste the time and effort they have already put into making the timeline.  Thanks all the same, but I'll think I'll pass.
Oh, they also offer a 100% money-back guarantee "if you aren't able to create a timeline that you absolutely love", but one should remember that if someone really needs or wants a timeline and already has invested time and effort into creating one only to find out that he or she doesn't "absolutely love" it, how willing one would be to expend additional time and effort to start over.
While their "free offer" might skirt the legal definition of a scam, it is of such limited use that I think it makes their motives for offering one suspect.

¹ I had to look that up because my spell-checker was marking it as not a word. But what else would you describe something that can be embedded?

(NS)FAQ You're living... say what?

For those readers who may not understand Spanish, La Viudez Loca translates to "the crazy widowhood" or, in case one is referring to a guy, "the crazy widowerhood".  And, yes, it's a pun on the title of a song.  Not that I particularly like or dislike that song, I just thought the pun conveniently described the current stage of my life.

Don't try this at home (or anywhere else, for that matter)

I have always had a... peculiar... sense of humor as far as I can recall and I doubt I would have lived (and remained within shouting distance of sanity) as long as I have without the ability to find whimsy in even the most trying times.  Probably just as important to my continued survival (and avoidance of jail time), though, is that I lack the proclivity to follow through on such deeds mischievous despite how many of them I might dream up.  To put it another way, it is largely the same imagination that allows to think up such ideas that prevents me from carrying them out.  Case in point: while transporting my wife's urn/ashes back to Los Angeles from my step-daughter's apartment, I wondered what would happen if I "accidentally on purpose" left them on the train.  Mind you, I haven't taken leave of senses to the point where I would do that, for her remains are far too valuable to me to try.  For example, whoever found them might report them as a suspicious package and they might receive less than ideal treatment by those called in to deal and/or dispose of them, especially in this age of heightened security.  However, I don't think anyone has yet devised a way to punish someone for merely having such thoughts, thus allowing me to indulge in a capricious mental exercise of visualizing the reaction of the poor, unsuspecting soul who happened upon them had I actually gone through with it.

Until (a) death (certificate) do us part, the conclusion

In which we find our intrepid hero (i.e., me in case you missed the last two parts of this gripping tale) returning home to make an important discovery.  Sometime after returning home, inspecting the purchases he had made while downtown, and resting a bit, our protagonist decides not only to change his pants, but to put on the same pants he wore the day he went to Oceanside to get his wife's urn/ashes.  At which point, it behooves your humble narrator to make a slight backtracking in the story to revisit a significant detail that turns out to have been in error.  For instead of placing the death certificate inside the inner pocket of his coat as he had thought, someone (and I won't mention any names here mainly because it's me) had put them in his pants' pocket... the very pants which he had jsut changed into and whose pocket he now reached into.
[Please kindly ignore the sound in the background of what might be someone banging his or her head against the wall.]

Until (a) death (certificate) do us part, Part 2

When we last saw our intrepid hero (i.e., me), I... rather, he was leaving the Department of Public Health Vital Records at 313 N. Figueroa Street, Room Lobby-1, Los Angeles, CA 90012 ("X" on the map below, which you'll have to click on the post's link to see) with a couple of newly purchased copies of his wife's death certificate.  Looking up and down the Figueroa Street, however, failed to produce any sight of a stop for a Metro bus that would return him to downtown Los Angeles.  True, there was one a block southwest of him.  Instead, he started traipsing southeast down Figueroa and managed to turn what should have been a three-minute walk to the bus stop into a 2.1-mile trek.  But at least he eventually got home.  However, what he found when he got home... that's a whole 'nother tale for the next post.