ndrosen

There’s a table in the laundry room downstairs where people can put stuff to give away. I remember putting an extra box of Girl Scout Cookies there. The other day, I saw a bunch of compact disks, most of which were not of interest to me, but there were three classical CDs: one with several compositions by none less than Johann Sebastian Bach, one with Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” and one with Ravel’s “Bolero” and “Piano Concerto in G Major.”

That was a good haul; I should leave something which someone will appreciate there. I have, so far, listened to “Bolero”, and to all the Bach.

A few days ago, I wrote about azaleas, and said that I would follow up with a grimmer post. There was a recent article in The Atlantic about the Trump administration’s efforts to make the country fascist. The author does not think that we are doomed, but does sound the alarm.

Slate magazine published a piece by Radley Balko about attempts to intimidate lawyers and others from giving advice to illegal aliens, or doing various other things which displease the MAGAts in power; lawyers are not the only ones being threatened. There is the temptation to lie low, and not stick your head out. You don’t want to be arrested, you don’t want to be bankrupted with cost of defending yourself against a bogus prosecution. You may have your own children to think about. You may not want to be fired from a civil service job, or from a position at some business or law firm that sees the need to stay in the jefe’s good graces. You don’t want to be clubbed by cops, and then sentenced to years in prison, or made to disappear into CECOT in El Salvador. Let someone else be a hero or martyr.

Not being naturally brave myself, I understand all of this. Nonetheless, if we are to have any hope of preserving constitutional government, we will have to summon up our courage, take risks, and act in solidarity. We will have to suffer various hardships — some of us, at least — to speak out, to dig into our pockets, to give up our ambitions of worldly success, if we are to have any hope of securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

Do what you can, according to your skills and resources. If you have time but not money, attend a demonstration. If you are pressured at work to do something to advance the Fascist agenda, refuse, and prepare to look for new employment as a busboy. If you have money to spare, make donations to groups standing up for democracy, or contribute to the legal defense of people being unjustly sued or prosecuted. If you have a way with words, or with graphic design, speak up. Don’t be a scoundrel, and don’t be a bystander. Be as much of a hero as you can manage.

I remember the warnings of Holocaust survivors, from past Holocaust Remembrance Days. “Don’t be a bystander,” was the plea of one survivor. Another said that there are not enough truly evil people in the world to accomplish all the bad deeds that are done, and that the actual Nazis could not have managed without the assistance of the cowards and the conformists. Don’t enroll in either category. Support and defend the United States Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

A Blessed Easter to all my Christian friends!

No new amendments appeared this week, and I didn’t write Office Actions on any existing amendments, so I still have four cases on my Amended docket.

I have been working on my oldest Regular New application, which has presented various complications, so I have still not finished the Office Action, but I’m working on it.

I have begun reading Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time, the latest choice of the No Strings Attached Book Club, and so far, I like it. Even though it has been heavily praised by literary types, it appears to be a well-written book.

I did make borshch last night, and enjoyed that.

And now, I need to start work.

Last week, I bought some yogurt, as cold yogurt goes well with hot borshch, and also contains protein. The plan depended on buying beets at the farmers’ market on April fourth, but the vendor who had had beets for sale wasn’t there, perhaps on account of the rainy weather. I’m hoping to find beets this weekend, and make borshch, which may depend on Sunday being unlike today; we have had heavy rain basically all day.

Someone asked about borshch on Quora, and the answer elucidated the differences between Russian and Ukrainian borshch, the Russian version typically using beef, and the Ukrainian version being more likely to use pork or chicken. Also, Russian borshch is typically eaten with sour cream, and Ukrainian borshch with lard. I don’t think I would want extra lard with my borshch even if I were not a vegetarian. Probably no country in Eastern Europe has a tradition of eating soy yogurt with borshch, but that is what I hope to do! As I have done before, even if this form of fusion cuisine offends the purists.

And slava Ukraini, heroiam slava!

I should really order a copy of my birth certificate. It may be necessary to have such proof of citizenship in order to vote, and it may be necessary to have it in order to avoid being deported. If things get really bad, though, even having a birth certificate may not protect natural born citizens from being hustled onto an airplane to El Salvador.

With a blood donation scheduled for ten thirty this morning, I drank only a little instant coffee at breakfast; I didn’t want too much caffeine in the blood I donated, but I did want my blood pressure high enough that I wouldn’t have any trouble being allowed to donate. It worked out, and after donating, I went upstairs to my office, examined for a bit, and then went to Whole Foods for groceries and a little more coffee — just a little, I didn’t want too high a daily caffeine intake. Also, with coffee scarce and the price high after a bad harvest in Brazil, I didn’t want to take more than I would actually drink.

There was a pot of medium roast coffee available, and other stuff behind the counter. I told the barista I wanted regular drip coffee, but would he please pour just four or five ounces or so. He said he could give me a sample size cup, and asked me to wait a minute, since a new pot would soon be ready. I asked whether that was dark roast, and when he said that it was, I said that I didn’t like dark roast. (In my opinion, one mostly tastes the charcoal, not the coffee beans, so down with Starbucks.) He gave me a small cup, and when I started to present my credit card, he told me that it was free. I thanked him, put a few coins in the tip jar, and drank the coffee. Being lukewarm, it wasn’t great, but it gave me the dosage of caffeine I wanted.

Early last week, I finished an Office Action on my oldest amendment. Later in the week, a new amendment appeared, so I’m back to having four cases on my Amended docket.

I also worked on searching my oldest Regular New application, and began writing an Office Action, although I didn’t finish it. More work to be done this coming week.

Today was rather chilly, but the cherry blossoms nonetheless seem to be making some progress, and there are other flowers to be seen: daffodils and forsythia, as well as flowers on (non-cherry) trees.