Hope you recover soon. One thing that helped my wife and myself a lot, as older high risk individuals, was taking a 5-day course of Paxlovid as soon as we found out. I recovered quickly, while my wife had a slight 2-day rebound before recovering.
I recently started playing pickleball at my health club. There are about 40 people who play there, so I've had to introduce myself many times.
My first name is Mario. When I introduce myself, I pronounce it with a flat "a", like in "bat". I've always preferred this pronunciation, as opposed to "Mahrio", like the word "mar".
Anyway, pretty much everyone wants to say Mahrio, and they always ask which I prefer. At first I used to give the flat a version, but I've gotten so tired of it that now I just say it doesn't matter.
(and forget about the number of people who have to mention the video game)
What's weird is that when I lived in NJ/NY I don't think anyone ever asked me for my preferred pronunciation, so it's taken me a bit by surprise.
As you can tell from my user name, my first name is Karen, pronounced kah-ren, accent on the second syllable. For the life of me, I can not get Alexa to pronounce it correctly. When I spell it correctly, she pronounces it almost like keer-an, accent on the first syllable. Very Upstate/Midwest. I tried to get my friends who grew up in NY State to pronounce it correctly and they couldn't...
On that note, in Hong Kong whenever you're called up by a govt agency / health clinic / anyone, they use the Chinese order of your name, which is LAST, FIRST MIDDLE. The way they pronounce my middle name is not how I pronounce it and because it's a family name I'm always thinking 'well, glad I don't use that as a password anywhere' (but banks do ask for it when I'm trying to get phone help as one of the secrets). They (HK officialdom) put the stress on the wrong (or right) syllable. I am no longer certain who is right but think both are OK and I don't bother even trying to change what is deeply engrained in the bureaucracy and its perhaps British English pronunciation.
Ohio beats NJ for Xmas light decorations. Lots and lots of elaborate setups. And the next town over, Stow, has the biggest display of lights I've ever seen around a town hall. The hell with separation of church and state.
As you can tell from my user name, my first name is Karen, pronounced kah-ren, accent on the second syllable. For the life of me, I can not get Alexa to pronounce it correctly. When I spell it correctly, she pronounces it almost like keer-an, accent on the first syllable. Very Upstate/Midwest. I tried to get my friends who grew up in NY State to pronounce it correctly and they couldn't...
I just had my car GPS tell me to turn right onto O ranj street.
Good ricotta is very hard to find here. Brands I never heard of and not very good. I guess to be expected where the supermarkets have "Canned Pasta" signs on their aisles.
Good ricotta is very hard to find here. Brands I never heard of and not very good. I guess to be expected where the supermarkets have "Canned Pasta" signs on their aisles.
if you feel like a road trip, my relatives near Youngstown make regular jaunts to Italian markets in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. Pittsburgh overall is pretty fabulous.
if you feel like a road trip, my relatives near Youngstown make regular jaunts to Italian markets in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. Pittsburgh overall is pretty fabulous.
that's an idea. I'm retired and always looking for things to do.
if you feel like a road trip, my relatives near Youngstown make regular jaunts to Italian markets in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. Pittsburgh overall is pretty fabulous.
My son called and told me I should look at real estate in Pittsburgh. He lives in WA state but has a lot of friends there, visits frequently and said he would move there. Not for a “roommate” situation, but he’d be closer to me, and …. He worries about me! (SFX: mother’s heart melting.)
And I was BORN in Pittsburgh! It was still black and sooty when we moved to Connecticut when I was six and a half. But I hear it’s bright and shiny now, with many colleges & universities – and now I hear Italian markets, too!
As a native, I still lay claim to The Incline, the Steel Curtain and Roberto Clemente. But I think I need to make a visit to the “new” Pittsburgh to get a feel for it. And maybe arrange a visit with DB, who would be a lot closer to Pittsburgh than NJ.
Also, as a native, my thanks to all who have included our "H" at the end of Pittsburgh. Nothing bothers a native more than seeing "Pittsburg"!
Drive-thru was a thing in California back in the day, too (don't know about now). I don't think they were allowed to sell alcohol via drive-thru, but there was always plenty at the gas station stores. Didn't seem like a great idea somehow. Drive-thru milk/bread/egg runs were great for people with little kids in the car.
In Texas, iirc, they even sold prepared drinks via drive-thru. Open carry of beer etc. in the car was not illegal for sure. Some time back.
drive-thru stores are a thing here. liquor and convenience stores for the most part.
I don't really understand how they work, and I'm kinda afraid to find out.
I’m a bit horrified by drive-thru’s in general.
Presumably, they originated as a convenience. Seemed quicker.
Now, they are a big, inefficient line for super-lazy people who can’t be bothered to get out of their cars, abetted by the fact that they can be pacified by their phones while they wait.
For a while, it was OK, because you could just go inside and be served much quicker while all the people waiting at the drive-thru paid for their laziness.
Now, the drive-thru line seems to be prioritized, so everyone has to wait.
Yeah, I've tried to short circuit a long drive-thru line by going in and ordering and I inevitably wait just as long or longer than the drive-thru would have been.
We are supposed to get some snow here too - but not sure how the stores are after having a couple rounds of bad weather. We still have bread, milk, and a lot of eggs. Guess we're ready here to make French Toast... or maybe some pudding.
Some time back. 
I just realized that YOU had moved - scared me for a minute thinking that they had closed…