Here in New York City, it seems as if everyone hails from somewhere else. In my social circle, native New Yorkers are a rare breed, but I’m proud to say that I’m the real thing. A Brooklynite, born and raised. I entered the world at Caledonian Hospital, in 1960. (Caledonian Hospital closed in 2003. It’s now a bunch of luxury…
In 2015, I sold my cat hospital, Manhattan Cat Specialists, to a corporation that owns and manages several veterinary clinics. I continued to work at my hospital, however, in June of 2017, I decided to retire from veterinary practice. My hospital continued on, in the very capable hands of Dr. Victoria Sheheri, and my faithful technician Hiromi Karagiannis, who started…
One of the great joys of retirement is to be able to pursue interests that you’ve always had to put on the back burner. I’ve always liked and have had a great appreciation for photography, but all of the technical details – ISO, shutter speeds, aperture, f-stop, the different lenses, etc. – made my head spin. It felt to me…
One of the things I had to get used to when I retired was not having a regular routine. My workday used to be pretty structured. When I retired, it took me a while to formulate a new routine. The fact that Mark had to still wake up every morning at 5:20 a.m. dictated the start of my day. I…
I’m sure we’re in for more stock market volatility. For example, I checked the MSNBC app last night, and stock market futures were plunging. The Dow was down 900 points. As I type this, however, the Dow is up over 400 points. That’s a huge swing. If the market closed with a 1000 point gain today, or a 1000 point…
Like everybody else, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around our crazy new world. Every day brings more dire news, increased fears, and new adjustments into our lives. I’m trying to avoid the television except for an hour in the morning (Today on NBC), and a half hour in the evening (NBC news with Lester Holt). The rest…
Amongst the many news stories about the Coronavirus and how it has changed and affected everyone’s lives, there is no shortage of financial news. The economy is effectively shut down. Most white collar workers have comfortably shifted to working from home. Blue collar workers and gig workers, however, are feeling the financial strain. They’re waiting for their government checks while…
Everyone is affected by this pandemic in one way or another. As I mentioned in my last post, I am fortunate that the impact on my life has so far been minimal. As a retiree, I was already used to being home most of the time. I have been the author of the veterinary advice column for Catster magazine for…
I debated about writing some clichéd blog post about the coronavirus pandemic, given that we’re all rapidly reaching the saturation point. But this is a lifestyle blog, and everyone’s lifestyle has been altered by it. Plus, like everyone stuck at home, I’m bored as hell and I might as well write. I am fortunate. So far, the impact of this…
In March of last year, I visited the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. I had purchased a MuseumCard which gave me access to a slew of museums in Amsterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands, and I had been methodically going down the list and visiting each one. The Allard Pierson is an archaeological museum with a permanent collection that contains…
This was a really good, practical book. I go through phases where I meditate regularly, and when I do, my life is much better. But I sometimes let my travel schedule distract me from the practice, and I forget to do it on the weekends, and before I realize it, I’ve let the practice of meditation fall by the wayside. …
Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya after Nairobi, and it’s on the coast. There’s city stuff to do, and beach stuff to do. In all of the guidebooks that I had read, they recommended staying at a beach hotel and NOT in the city proper, as there are potential safety issues for tourists. Diani Beach was the recommended…
I mentioned in a previous post about how Mark overpaid for a bowl in one of the souvenir shops. Mark doesn’t like to haggle, and neither do I. It’s demeaning to negotiate prices with someone, especially when you know this is how they make a living and you want to pay them a fair rate for their goods. And yet,…
I’ve been accumulating books for years, waiting for retirement to finally hunker down and start reading them. In 2018, I made a good dent in them, reading 39 books. In 2019, I made the big breakthrough, I went nuts. With a book going simultaneously at the gym, on the subway, in parks, and by the side of the bed, and…
Every December, Mark and I try to take a big trip somewhere. Mark works for a huge international pharmaceutical company, and his company closes down the week of Christmas, and the week after. He will usually tack on a few extra days of vacation at the beginning of this stretch, giving us a little over two weeks to take a…