Update from New Hometown, Florida, or: Of Summer Weather, Colds, and Indy Blu-rays

 

Hello, Dear Reader. It’s early afternoon here in New Hometown, Florida on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. The current temperature is 88˚F (31˚C) under partly sunny skies. With humidity at 56% and the wind blowing from the east-southeast at 7 MPH (11 KM/H), the heat index is 96˚F (36˚C). This afternoon we can expect thunderstorms to pass through the area; the high will be 91˚F (33˚C). Tonight, scattered showers will occur, and the low will be 74˚F (23˚C). The Air Quality Index (AQI) is 38 or Good.

Well, where to begin? For starters, I have what seems to be a garden variety summer cold, so I am not exactly at my tip-top best right now. I’ve had a low-grade but persistent headache, intermittent sneezing fits, a nose that alternates between an uncomfortable stuffiness and an icky, disgusting runniness, and occasional (but mild) fits of coughing.

I’ve had worse respiratory ailments, to be sure, but this is the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out early last year that I’ve even had a sniffle. So of course I’m not feeling all that good lately. I’ve had these symptoms since late Friday night/early Saturday, and it sucks. Especially when my nose gets really runny and slimy strings of mucus drip out of my nostrils. I have tissues within reach, but the sinus headache and runny nose – I could really do without those, thank you very much!

On the bright side, the Indiana Jones: 4-Movie Collection 4K UHD Blu-ray box set arrived early last week (on Monday the 21^st). I wasn’t yet feeling sick, so I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark within hours of the set’s arrival here. And if you ask me, Raiders of the Lost Ark – which turned 40 on June 12 – has never looked sharper or better than in this 4K UHD reissue. (Here’s my review of the box set in my WordPress blog!)

I tried watching 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on Saturday, but by then I felt the symptoms of the current nastiness I have, so I couldn’t focus on it – at all. That’s how bad it is when my nose gets that runny feeling. Once it starts, it’s like Niagara Falls. Yuck.

Last week, also, I resolved to finally acquire the CD with the soundtrack from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s been out since 2008 and I should have bought it many years ago. For one reason or another, I never made it a priority, but I decided to use up my remaining Amazon Shop with Points rewards on the album, which was produced by John Williams and released by Concord Records.

My CD arrived via the U.S. Postal Service yesterday. I have not listened to it yet, but I will do so at the earliest opportunity.

Other than that, there isn’t much in the way of news, at least none that I have not shared either here or on A Certain Point of View, Too.

And on that note, Dear Reader, I’ll close for now. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.