So what's the big deal?

What I am about to say may be considered blasphemy by some people, especially by at least one person I work with, but it has to be said...

I don't like Krispy Kreme donuts.

I had my first chance to try Krispy Kreme donuts after they built one a couple miles down the road from where I live. I think it took less time for them to build the new building than it took for them to tear down the Bickford's that used to be on the same spot. And this new building looks much better than the old one.

So the Krispy Kreme, the first one in this area as far as I know, has been there a few weeks now, actually it has probably been a couple of months by this time, but I did not go in for quite a while. I have to be in the right mood for a donut and, because I am a Type II diabetic, I can't always have them even if I am in the right mood. That was the main reason I waited before I tried one, but it was not the only reason. One day, a couple of weeks after it opened, I was in a position to stop by and try one. However, when I got there I found that there was a line. Not just a line, but a LINE. There is no donut that is worth a line like that. The wait was (according to people who would know) between 30 and 40 minutes. That was the wait both at the counter and at the drive-through. FOR DONUTS!

However, a few days ago I was going by and there was no line so I thought I would see what the fuss was about. I stopped, went in, and bought three donuts. And by the time I turned around there were between 15 and 20 people in line behind me. Apparently I got there at exactly the right time. I bought three donuts with the intention of giving one or two of them, depending on how much I liked them, to my roommates. When I got back to the house there was no one else around so I ended up keeping all three. Not eating them, just keeping them.

So? How were they? What did you think of them?

I ate one (maybe two, I am not entirely sure) and really could not understand why anyone would stand in line for so long for these donuts. There was almost no substance to the donut itself, it was as if the ONLY point of the donut was to act as a way to give you the glaze without making too much of a mess. As for the glaze... It was extremely thick, viscous, and sickeningly sweet. And the most disturbing thing about the glaze was that even after leaving the remaining donut in the cab of my truck for two full days (unintentionally) the glaze had not changed consistency at all. It had not thickened, or dried, or hardened in any way.

Oh, I should also say that within an hour of eating the fresh donuts it felt like I was carrying a brick in my stomach.

I don't expect that I will be eating another Krispy Kreme any time soon. Not as long as I can get Dunkin' Donuts, or even better, Tim Horton's.

Namaje.

My weekend

I had a decent weekend. Not a great weekend, but certainly not a bad weekend. I didn't get much done, but I got out and enjoyed the weather.

I would have liked to head into the woods to hike, wander, sit, mediate, ... but I didn't. I suppose I could have, but I didn't think it would have been a good idea. Let me rephrase, I did think it would have been a great idea, but I didn't think it would have been a smart idea. I am a Type II diabetic, adult-onset, and my bloodsugar was not at a good level for hiking into the woods alone. So I went into Boston and walked around the city for the day. I figured that if I was wondering in the city there would be other people around, and if worse came to worst someone could at least call 911. I didn't really think anything would happen, but sometimes you have to think about these things.

So I wandered around Downtown Crossing and Fanuel Hall for a while stopping in Borders, Barnes & Noble, and checking out some other small shops. Eventually I got on the T, that's the subway for those of you not familiar with Boston, and headed over to Harvard Square to check out the Garage Mall. By the time I left the Garage I had bought three books. Two of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, and the new Robert Aspirin Phule's Company book.

I kept wandering from there, heading back along Mass Ave towards Boston. At Central Square I decided to hop back on the T and took it back to the Commons. Eventually I wandered back to my truck to head home. However I did not head directly home.

By this point I realized that I should look into buying a new pair of shoes. The boots I was wearing were OK, but not great for doing that much walking, at least not until I get used to doing that much walking again. I checked a couple of places but wasn't able to find a pair that felt comfortable. It can be hard to find a good pair of size 13 shoes. I will keep looking, but, like I said, the boots I have will do if I don't find anything.

And that brings me to something new I am going to be doing...

You may have seen people putting together photo-blogs. I have signed up for a service called Buzznet where I will have one of my own. This photo-blog will be hosted on Buzznet's servers so that I don't have to worry about the photos using up all my bandwidth.

So, if you wish, you can visit My Buzznet Photoblog. There may only be one or two pictures there at the moment, or at least there will be once I upload them, but the number should growing.

Namaje.

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UPDATE: I tried to upload a picture and Buzznet seems to be having some issues. I may decide to just put the pictures somewhere on this site. We'll see what happens. Watch for info here, and check my Buzznet link if I don't point you somewhere else.

Somehow this seems appropriate

Granted, any issues would be different from the ones mentioned in the strip, but it was the last line that really did it. That being said, I give you Queen of Wands for Monday, April 19, 2004.

I should probably point out that this is not a strip I read on a regular basis. It was mentioned to me and I have taken a look at it but I have only seen a couple of the latest strips. So don't take this as an endorsement of the site, only of the one page (or even one line) that I reference here.

Jeez, I can't believe I just wrote that disclaimer...

P.S.

Something I forgot to mention in the post I made last night...

With all this going on for my grandmother, when my mother went to visit and see how Nanny was doing, all Nanny had to say was that she was OK and she kept asking how I was. She lost her eyesight, can no longer really look after herself, and yet she worries about me.

It certainly helps put things in perspective.

Happy Birthday, Nanny!

Today is my grandmother's birthday. I haven't talked to her yet because although I knew her birthday was around this time of month I could not remember exactly which day. Part of my distraction is because on an anniversary that happened on Monday, but I will write more about that in another post.

My mother called me to remind me that today was Nanny's birthday, and also because we hadn't talked in a few weeks and she wanted to see how things were going. I love my mother but having around 1000km (600-650 miles) and a national border between us I don't get to see her that often, and we don't talk as much as we should. But we do talk every 2-3 weeks at least.

This time, after we got caught up, she told me that there was another reason she called. Apparently my grandmother is not doing very well. She has gone blind.

This happened a few days before her 95th birthday. One day she was knitting, the next day she took time off because her vision was blurry, and the next she was blind. It is my understanding that at this point she can see blobs of light colours if they are in bright light but that is about it. The doctors say the arteries to the optic nerves are blocked and there is very little, if anything, that can be done. The odds are that any recovery she might make will be limited and still leave her legally blind.

She is staying with my aunt for the time being, with my cousins (this aunt's children) living right next door and in-home-care coming in everyday to check on both of them. I say "both" because, as much as my aunt says she can and will continue to look after her, she can't. A few months back this aunt was diagnosed with clinical dementia, and while there are days when she is perfectly fine, there are other days when she can't even look after herself. It looks likely that my grandmother will end up in a nursing home. There is even a good chance that they both will.

Nanny is the last of my grandparents. While I have a few uncles and aunts, the only people I have left who form my direct lineage are my mother and my grandmother. I don't want to lose either of them.

When mom told me the news I got choked up. When I got off the phone I started to sob. Partly because of the news itself and partly because I had to get the news over the phone and have no idea when I will be able to make it up to see the two of them. It is hard for me to get time off work right now, due to issues I am not going to get into, plus the fact that I can't afford to fly up right now and if I was to drive I'd lose at least two days to traveling which means that a weekend trip is useless.

For now I am going to keep in closer touch and hope that something doesn't happen which would require me to take the time off and go. I would have no trouble doing it if it came down to that, but it would mean something worse had happened and I don't even want to think about that right now. I am also going to plan for a trip in the next few months when I can go and spend some time.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the anniversary I mentioned, Monday was the anniversary of my father's death. Even though it has been several years, I still strongly feel his absence at this time of year. It is one reason (among many) that I no longer celebrate Easter. Instead I do my best to celebrate the memory of my father, the man he was, and the man he helped me become.

But I said that would be for a later post, so I will leave it there for now and pick it up later if there is any interest. For now I will just say "Good night."

Walk in Beauty.
Peace.