Weekly Ephemera #133

• We returned from Guatemala late Sunday night.  Guatemala is in the same time zone as Nebraska so no jet lag.  We both returned without catching anything which is always a plus.  We both had a good time in Guatemala.  While I was in Guatemala I decided not to read Bluesky.  It was nice to have two weeks of no doom scrolling.  The Wife, who did monitor the news on Bluesky, did keep me informed though.
• While we were gone we missed winter.  While we were in Guatemala - Land of Eternal Spring - there was snow and below zero temperatures (one day the high temperature in our backyard was 1.8℉, -16.8℃).  It bounced back into the 50s when we got back so we missed it completely.
• On Monday I had a pre-op exam in preparation for my kidney stone removal this week.  Everything went well.  The procedure is scheduled for late Tuesday afternoon.  It was going to be early on Tuesday morning but they called to reschedule.  Not exactly happy about this but it is what it is.
• On Wednesday I started catching up on a few movies that came out during our trip.  I started with "Captain America: Brave New World".  I really liked it with its many, somewhat obscure, call backs to previous Marvel movies.
  
  On Thursday I went to see the Oscar nominated live action and animated shorts.  Watching the shorts at our local art house theater has become a pseudo-annual ritual of mine.  They were pretty good this year.  I don't really have any favorites.  Several ended without a definite outcome which was a bit disappointing but otherwise they were all well done.  It was nice that there really weren't any Pixar/Disney entries.
• On Friday I did our taxes.  We owe less than $50 which is the way it should be.  I have to admit, taxes are really easy when you are retired.