Tuesday July 11

It is above 100 F outside and the CNS units are not provided with a chest of cold water.

 I am inclined to think that CNS does not care at all about its patients. So in order to be clear during my lunch I called again Anna at the reception to reiterate the importance of water. We will see how they decide to play it today.
I bet they will come with one or two cold water bottle...

No comment poor job CNS.

 I have no words to describe how much I feel you are taking advantage of everybody around.

Move on,  I sent this letter to my mother in Italy. It is 4 stamps to mail it over there from US.

Obviously whenever I am writing to her it is in Italian my own mother language.

It will take 20 days to reach her. Sometimes it take up to a whole month.

My mother told me that it has become an ordeal  sending  a mail letter to US from Italy.

First the traditional  stamps showing the amount of money  have been replaced with new ones. They are  now  using letters of the alphabet  rather than the amount of money for the face value of the stamps.

So each mailing area requires to buy a stamp with the associated  alphabet letter.

The trick is that to get to some hard to go place one has to combine multiple stamps hence multiple letters.

For the US however only certain central mail service are allowed to sell the new  stamp.

Pretty convoluted if you ask what I think.

Anyway I  made time to write a letter to my boys.

For the boys  the letter is written in English and block letter. They are used to read it this way.

I am collecting all letters in my apartment for when they will come to visit me in a future 

I have several thick envelopes for them.

I also have a little glass blown ornament that my Nurse brought me back from her trip to  the Niagara Falls. The curious feature is that she purchased it at a place called Rossi's glass. 

Rossi is my family name. I suppose this is what attracted her attention.

When the boys will be coming back they are going to be busy.

So far only our eldest  Chicco is spending time reading my letters.

Our youngest Lapo has not  shown yet any interest for it. 

Nevertheless I am writing my letter addressing the whole family: my wife and both our kids.

Yesterday I did not go to the gym  I had been busy otherwise.

Beside I am taking a break from the gym to see how my back and piriformis muscle will be healing 

I made some good trofie pasta with my own tomato sauce

Here is the sugo for the Trofie pasta.

This is a well proven recipe  for me . I am always tweaking it to make it better.

It all starts with making the soffritto with  a few smashed garlic gloves.

I finely chopped a few celery stalks, a large carrot and a couple of ripe Heirloom tomatoes.

Here they are presented in three different containers.

I set up two cooking pots

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On the left he large one with lower rim was used for the sauce. 

I adjusted the sauce's flavor  with a piece of bouillon cube and red pepper flakes.

On the right the  larger one with a high water capacity   was used to cook the Trofie pasta. 

A lot of boiling water for the pasta. 

Before pouring  the trofie colore pasta I  added  a couple of pinches of pyramid salt.

Both the sauce and the pasta cooked gently

 I made sure the pasta was cooked al dente before draining  it from the hot water.

I do not like  overcooked pasta of course.

I drained the pasta and tossed it inside the pot of the cooked sauce. 

I mixed it  carefully with a wooden spatula.

I added Parmesan cheese, crumble Feta cheese and raw Olive Oil

Here is the trofie with the sauce and the cheese.

I stirred all together and voila.

A very healthy dinner is ready.

I had my wonderful pasta for dinner. 

It is about half a pound of pasta.

It is too much for one time.

  I made sure to partition it  for the next following days.

Obviously I am not going to eat half a pound of trofie pasta at once.

Even for me it would be excessive. 

So no gym it  was fine like that. 

As mention my piriformis muscle and my shunt are both grateful for me to take care of it first by conceding  a break.

I got ready for the evening by cleaning the kitchen and cleaning myself for the night.

I slept well and that is it.

I woke up no headache and made my very own breakfast

No newspaper at the kiosk I went to the Swain Center or as I call it the Shack. 

This is really a square building with a few windows and nothing more. In this aspect it is a real shack 

Just large tables in it, a faucet for water and several chairs. No restroom in it either.

Nothing of nothing. Apparently for CNS  it does not matter. 

It is supposed to be the best rehab in the Nation... I do not want to see the worst ones in the nation.

I mean it is a stripped down place with no whatsoever equipment. 

Pretty boring and  rather intolerable to me to be confined in this place.

Finally I understand, it feels like a real prison ... a prison from  which there is no escape.

I feel  free to repeat myself  and to say it ad nauseam  I do not like it. I have done nothing to deserve it. I do not care about the others. I am not deserving it. Full stop.

It is hard for me to accepts the few moments I am spending there reading the newspaper loud for the ones that are not lessening otherwise... because you have to overcome to cacophony  of that place.

 (def of cacophony : a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds)

 As already mentioned to you this  word cacophony comes from the Greek word Cacos and Phonos combined together. And it means bad sounds.

Yes too intellectual for the common person to understand the etymology of this word.

Here at HH I have learned to eat my lunch quickly at my desk and to avoid all the environment that I not find agreeable to me.

Everybody here stays in its own office and eats inside only the kids are downstairs.

I am gobble  my food up  during lunch ...

So much unhealthy but yet so much necessary for my own quiet living.

I eat peacefully only two meals: breakfast and dinner.

Or the reality is that at CNS I have no place to be quiet.

There is always something going on... 

living the high life in Bakersfield...

Enjoy the reading

Sincerely

Giuseppe

Monday July 10 2017

Well I had a pretty good weekend.

Last Thursday  I came back to the apartment compiled the list for Grocery Shopping for Saturday morning. Then I cooked something good and went to the gym
I signed out at 5:15 arrived at 5:54

I did body combat wit Scott and Zumba with a new person.

Finally at 7pm I left and walked back to the apartment
I signed back in at 7:25pm.

Last Friday HH was closed.

I had a chance of doing what I wanted to do

I wrote a letter to my boys

I made a lentil soup, a lot of healthy vegetable in it.

I cleaned the kitchen and the fridge ( more below)

Here is my memory book to help  me navigating thru that day

In the afternoon I went to the gym with CNS.

I started following my own program reported above.

At some point I had body combact  with Scott.

At the end of it I greeted Damian.

He told  me his girlfriend Trish was about to go back home and that I should ask her to get a lift back to the apartment.

And so  I did,  she drove  me back to the apartment.

Obviously when I signed back in Taylor was very inquisitive with me.

I repeated telling her the truth. That is Trish gave me a lift back.

She stated she was not believing me.

Well this is what happened.

As expected I woke up with my right hand of the head hurting. My inner right eye is pulling from the inside.


I am always expecting my head hurting on the right hand side which is the side my shunt is located.

I definitely have been working too hard at the gym. In the spur of the moment I am not holding back.


It is the result of me working out. I am doing a lot of cardio stuff, not the heavy lifting. I stay away from that section. You can see I am using the machine on a regular basis with pretty low intensity weight.


I had a healthy breakfast today holding on my head a bag with ice as recommended by my Case Manager. It did help a bit.

As I am writing to you I feel my skull hurting.

Sunday morning  I went to church. I paid my duties.

Once a week is as much as I do it.

I had $3.50 left to balance my outing money.

Finally I went to the gym gym as expected

I was driven to the gym by a sup.

I then followed my own work our routine.

I stretched a lot and then came pack at  4pm.

I walked back by myself and signed back in at aboyt 4:45 pm.

It takes me about 45 minutes to come back by myself after the gym.

I asked the gym about the membership. Caesar the sup had asked me for this info.   This is the information I was given

The boys have been  in Verona, Italy my home town visiting my mother for a couple of days.

Left my mother, middle the boys Chicco and Lapo, right my brother Francesco

I made some overnight Oat for my breakfast

It is a well proven recipe for me

This is the recipe I am following

It has been written in my memory book on June 6.

Since then I am following it whenever I am making it.

the family in Italy keeps spending time with my mother and brother

Because my brother is an expert paraglider at home he has this set up.

Our kids have enjoyed jumping in the bags for the paraglider.

This is our youngest Lapo

This is our eldest Chicco

Chicco again enjoying some time in Verona.

Of course I have been cooking a rise salad ... because I like it a lot with the temperature in Bakersfield

It is fun to make and to combine basic ingredient that I have at the apartment.

First washing the brown Basmati rice.

I cooked in water for 40 minutes

I washed some raw vegetable

I cut the vegetable in small piece and opened a few cans.

The first can was corn the second was tuna fish in Olive Oil

I  boiled several eggs  to use it with the rice salad.

 Finally I mixed it all added condiments and Organic Mayo.

My weight On July 9 is 179.6lb.

Hard to read the LCD display. You have to tilt your head to get the right angle.

Last Saturday evening I went to see the following movie

The movie was played on MPX theater and costed $12.

I had a snack - dibs and tea for a  total of  $8.5

This gives for church exactly $3.5 and it balances out the outing money.

The news of the week is that CNS allows patients to go to the movie only once every two weeks.

It is a new policy they have come up with.

One week Innovation the other week active... go figure out  what CNS is thinking to achieve.

The actual truth of the matter  is that at the movie there were only 2 other people with me.

This is not definitely a capacity matter.. something fishy is going on 

We will see more.

I went down the kitchen and consumed my lunch in a blizzard because then the kids came to play on the TV. Eating relaxing or what... as always the French says J'ai beien bouffe.... it is argot.. the unofficial French language.

I  am not eating down there I am guzzling on my food without having the time to taste it like a real American person is used to do.. obviously they purpose is to become

My fault as I should plan to eat at my desk like the other normal people are doing, that is they stay out from down the kitchen...

Here is what I have been doing over the weekend. Extra cleaning of the fridge.

I washed all the different parts of the fridge. Cleaned the inside and checked on the food supply.

This is what it looked like afterward.

I have to make a Personal Remark and critics to CNS.

The temperature is well above 100F and there all have stopped to get water on the unit

Last Saturday there was no water.

I called the sup and Daurine has been very very very inappropriate in her language with me.

I told her that the Sup of transportation have being slacking because there is no water in the unit.

She did not act appropriately nor the situation had moved an inch.

Hence CNS is still being negligent regarding the water supply.

In my opinion you are a sup if you take care of certain things, if you do not want tot take care you just walk away. Dear Daurine it is not written in the stars you have to work at CNS.

However there are policies in place you have to follow.

If you do not follow it is called to be negligent.

And there are no really excuses for negligent people like you.

In addition the ice machine is broken and there is no ice either...

You see dear CNS and Jolanta Baranoski, and all CNS at large.... I hope you will go trough some similar experience once in your life to make sure that you  get to the same level of care and experience.

I said once and I said again, 

 I do not get what you are planning to achieve with all this petty negligence of yours.

For sure in my experience you have been negligent.

Because having a water  chest with fresh clear water is very basic amenity here in the land of the free that is in America.

As always on Saturday I clean the apartment and later  I did my grocery shopping. Because it was hot I took the bus to get there.

So I reached the store in a relatively good way.

I shopped, spent $113.98 used my master card for payment.

She is Jamie my go to person after shopping there.

I spent $113.98. I made a mistake because I put the total balance on my MasterCard believing I am a normal person. And in fact I am not a normal person as I am a patient of the CNS. Were I a normal person I would not be stuck here. 

I put my grocery shopping in my bags and returned with the bus.

It works pretty well.

Once back I sorted everything, applied label and put it in the fridge.

I retrieved my laundry that I had left drying, folded and put it away.

My mother is wondering if I iron anything.

In Italy it is very common to spent a few hours ironing the clean laundry.

Here I never been pressing at the apartment, and for that matter I will never be doing it.

While at CNS, there is really no need to have a  good looking dress code.

Where I in the real word I would be dressing differently. For the time being as this is not the real world I am not paying attention to the wrinkle on my clothes.

Simona and the boys are doing fine.

Simona has just called me. She doing well. She is in Italy and she keeps working even oversea.

She is telling me that her responsibility is to get things done at work.

She has Skype calls with student of hers. she has to keep up with the work she is involved with at Caltech.

Enjoy the reading

Giuseppe

Thursday July 6

I  am doing well.

Simona called me from Italy. She is doing well. Keeping track of the kids, and of her long due time with the family.

We commented that wherever she goes in Italy, she always find good food for the whole family.

The family is having another memorable experience. It is a gastronomical feast.


This morning I had a very busy day already.


I had money management completed.

I did my morning walk in the park... it is a really hot day.

I got the newspaper of the day. I returned the money because the kiosk was broken and it opened by itself. I gave back the money to Miss Mary at the reception.

I had a good breakfast. Oatmeal, cereal, blueberry, banana and yogurt and high fiber fruit and Nut Multi grain Medley Cereal


I also took care of meal prepping my breakfast for the next few days.
I made overnight oat.  I have already tried it several times. It is a well proven recipe.

It is based on uncooked oatmeal which is  let soaking overnight with a very healthy bath of ingredients. I am using Chia seeds, protein powder, a tad of salt, peanut butter, a half a cup of  milk and  coffee.

Overnight the Chia will absorb the liquid and expand becoming chewing.

I am using this glass jar that I have saved. It used to contains Coconut Oil.

This is the preparation I am following. I have got it from the internet.

I tweaked a bit and here it is revealed.

My back has been improving. 

I am using an overnight  Salompas patch for my piriformis sciatic nerve. 

It is getting better over time.

I stressed it at the gym by doing too much of the stepper machine.

It is my fault as it all on me this time. 

Anyway since several months I stayed away from it. Keeping the pain at bay.

it is hard to get the nerve back on track.

The flowers near the apartments are always doing great.

The heat is making it to be blooming.

Yesterday I set up my latest gizmos. It is a fitness tracker. I asked my wife to buying it on Amazon and to ship it to me.

This is a waterproof device. It is designed to be more durable than the past one I had which was not water proof. 

I guess for the first generation they tried and failed. 

C'mom  a sport cardio wrist band not waterproof...

This device links to my phone by Bluetooth and  to alert me about any incoming call. 

I like it very much and I keep it dear.

I am frankly hoping it is going to be lasting me for long time.

Simona and the boys  are in Rome back home.

Today they have been at the swimming pool.

Together with the boys there was Johannes a cousin of them

He has the same age as Lapo our youngest.

Yesterday I distributed the latest schedule of the week then booked for the movie at the Maya for  this incoming Saturday.

I am going there based on the movie showing.

Three weeks ago I went to see Wonder Woman and I liked it.

A week ago my family came to visit me and we went to eat Sushi at Ichiban Sushi.

It is also the same day when I felt on the bus returning from Grocery shopping.

Two weeks ago I went to see Beatriz at Dinner.

Last Saturday I did not go to the movie there was nothing interesting to me based on the available movie.

Whenever I do not go to the movie I use the money outing for offering at church. 

Over there they must think I have a lot of disposable income to get rid off.

In reality this is far from the truth.

In the next few days Simona will be visiting with the boys my mother in my home town.

She was able to have the AC going and ready for them.

The temperature over there is as hot as in Bakersfield.

Tomorrow the HH office is closed.  I will resume operation on July 10

Yesterday at the apartment I cooked a really good chicken.

I called it chicken fantasy style.

As it came out of my really ingenuous brain and passion for cooking.

I had some chicken tights available. 

In a large bowl I prepared the rubbing mix by combining white wheat, salt, pepper dry herb and cumin.

I coated the chicken very carefully and rolled it with the rubbing.

As always I used Coconut Oil to cook the chicken.

This is a very good Oil. It is composed by fatty acids for over 90%. It is the perfect oil for   high temperature cooking. 

While it was cooking in a large pan I carefully and slowly added some fresh squeezed lemon juice.

It all cooked slowly and  very accurately. 

This method allows to amalgamate the different ingredients and flavors by binding  it together to the chicken  tights.

As a side I had some large heirloom tomatoes filled with Quinoa that I had made at an earlier time.

Love to cook... for sure as nobody cooks for me at CNS.

Whenever I am back home Simona is taking care of this matter for the whole family.

Normally she cooks for herself and the kids. 

Because she is always in a hurry she does cook well.

Anyway I am cooking because I like to cook for me.

Right now I am taking care of it.

It is fine by me

Today I have to compile the grocery list for shopping next Saturday.

I am better taking my time to make sure I am not buying too much as it is my habit.

For sure I have run out of Quinoa.

By the way the other day my water bottle from Caltech broke and it was spilling water all over me.

I resorted in  picking from my kitchen the old water bottle.

This is holding there.

It really broke my heart, because the other water bottle was from Caltech where my wife works as a Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering.

I can make some Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini during the weekend 

We will see how well this matter goes on.

Right now I am a Quinoa fan 

It is a super grain very healthy, protein packed.

Speaking of healthy food this is my lunch.

It is based on yesterday's dinner. Quinoa with Chicken ...and with a lot of grapes 

yum... it makes me hungry again..

I love to eat you eat to stay healthy...which one goes first?