Day One-hundred-and-twenty-eight: Paper shortage?

Admittedly it was after noon but while I was out mailing something and buying some salad, I had to go to three places to buy a paper.  I wasn't trying for anything historical, I just wanted a paper for the puzzles in my Life after Layoff without TV, but after getting the absolute last paper at my third stop, I wonder if I shouldn't keep it for history.  But then again, newspaper doesn't really keep all that well.

I did call Comcast to cancel my cable TV.  They have to come out to the house to put a filter on the line.  This is the only way I can keep my Internet connection without TV.  But wait, there's more.  The smallest window in which they can schedule this task is ALL DAY, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  Now I've stayed close to home several days when I didn't have to, just this last Monday for example, but there is something galling about having to stay this close.

Well, a day without TV is more productive.  I decided to start my Almost No Knead bread this morning so I could bake it tonight.  I had to.  I foolishly bought a couple heirloom tomatoes, Caspian Pinks, yesterday and didn't want to waste them in something that would dilute their flavor.  As expensive as they are, I didn't want to take the chance that they may not last until Friday.  So, with my excuses all lined up, I now can eat some great homemade bread.

(By the way, I just thought to check and Cooks Illustrated has their Almost No Knead bread recipe online.  The magazine article has the Whole Wheat variation, which I use in two forms, whole wheat only with two tablespoons of honey dissolved into the water, and without the honey for my olive bread.  Whole wheat just substitutes one of the cups of unbleached white flour with one of whole wheat.  If I wait the prescribed 20 minutes for cooling, it is entirely by accident.)

I've done a number of other things as well but won't bore you with a list.  One of the things though, let me discover that my HP 17" laptop is really messed up.  The other, was that I got my first draft of my Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund flyer/post started.  This is what I hope to post in friendly spots across the country as I drive back to see family over the holidays.

I've also restarted keeping track of my calorie, fiber, and fat calorie percentage.  Today I've eaten 1,565 calories with 7% of them fat.  I've over done the fiber even though I'm short three grain servings and one fruit serving.  I need to do meal planning if I am to eat the right number of servings from grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes.  Now its hard to believe that others ever thought me to be a planner.  (It isn't on my 100 favorite things to do.)  At least I need to start reading some of my cookbooks to get better ideas on stuff to make and maybe buy the ingredients.

Being responsible for the "word" last Thursday at Toastmasters made me find at least some of my dictionaries, including a compilation of Ambrose Bierce's definitions from his writings, The Devil's Dictionary.  Ambrose was born in Ohio in 1842.  I am including one of the definitions below, but it is hard to choose.

"Acquaintance, n.  A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.  A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous."