Your Milner Moment – August 3, 2024

Welcome back to Your Milner Moment. I know it’s been a while but, as some of you may know, my Dad passed away during the first weekend in July. It was a bit of a blessing as he had been suffering from dementia for over a year and that suffering is now at an end. It’s probably a cliche to say he’s in a better place but I truly believe that.

With Dad gone, there have been a lot of changes in our lives. My Mom is still dealing with a lot of the paperwork and financial wrangling over my Dad’s estate. I’d like to think we’re near the end of it all, but you just never know. Just the other day, someone contacted us about a will Dad made in 1970! (It was more of a due diligence call than any huge issue.)

It’s been a weird month. After Dad passed, I had a week of bereavement leave. Then I went back to work, and a week later I went on the two weeks vacation I had scheduled.

As per my usual vacation, I always go into it thinking I’m going to get a lot done, but then I come out of it with just a big a To Do list as I went in with. My Mom and I have been out and about a fair bit. Mostly to London and Ingersoll on business, but we also went to Stratford and Glencoe, the latter for their town-wide yard sale. (Wow! That seems like such a long time ago now.)

I also went to Shelf Life to pick up the new issue and some new books. I’ve been reading Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, about a service robot who has killed its owner. (I’m still in the early stages of the novel so I don’t know what all will happen.) I am hoping to update the website for the new issue this weekend.

I’ve been watching “That 70s Show” throughout my vacation and am up to the final season. (Spoiler Alert: It’s one of the many shows that probably should have been about five seasons and then ended. Two of the main cast members left during the last season and the characters they were bringing in over the last couple of seasons just weren’t funny.)

I was hoping to go see Twisters in the theatre during my week off but decided to stay home and watch the original – held up pretty well. I also got Hiding Out on Blu-Ray and my Mom and I watched it. It also held up well but having watched it a dozen times back in the 80s, I can’t believe I never saw the gym teacher wearing a Blue Jay cap or the Slushie cup with Robert Gibson on it. (I spent the majority of this watch checking to see if we got the trifecta and there was a NASCAR reference.)

It’s weird because for everyone else this is the start of a three-day Civic Holiday weekend. For me it’s the end of my two-week vacation. I am very tempted to take tomorrow and just veg on the couch watching as much of the 1986 NASCAR season as I can (or Daisy Jones and the Six again or Hiding Out with the trivia track on).

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