Yippee-Ki-Yay Motherf*ckers!

So today is Christmas. Had the big Bryant Family Reunion last night. A tradition that still endures after Grandma Bryant’s passing. The gift exchange was White Elephant Style, and I brought an extra one just in case. It wasn’t needed. Lots of fun, good food, and I ended up giving my uncle a Klingon dictionary.

So this morning, I gave my brother 2 variations of Uno, and a Target gift card (that was actually the spare present I brought last night). This afternoon, we’re going to my sisters where bread is being shoved up a Turkey’s ass (it will be my first Gravy Volcano in years), and a secret Santa (I drew my older Sister, and she didn’t give me her list, so she gets what she gets).

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written here. Yes, my cyber Monday purchase arrived, and I installed. And since it was replacing the system root drive, I had reinstall everything. And then life happened…. And in a couple of weeks, I’ll have to do it again, because SSDs were still on sale at Newegg. And I’m a fool.

Monday is normally my day off. I took PTO for Christmas Eve at work (overnights don’t work owing to being closed on Christmas Day). So I didn’t think anything about it when I wasn’t scheduled today (again this being my normal day off). Anyway, I found out right when I was leaving work yesterday that notwithstanding Monday night being my normal night off, and not being scheduled that night (I even screencapped my schedule), I was still expected to come in and work (apparently they couldn’t schedule me because I took PTO the day before, which they had to approve). And nobody communicated it to me until the very last minute. An email to manager later, and I was explicitly told not to come in tonight. I’m sure there will be an attempt at repercussions (retaliation does happen on a routine basis)…

So I survived yet another Black Friday….

Ok, for the record my day-job is in retail (I’m not disclosing where I currently work at as my opinions may not exactly mesh with my employer’s, and plausible deniability….)….

So this weekend I survived another Black Friday. In fact it was Black Friday #29. I thought it was #28, but I’ve apparently lost count. It started in 1995 at The Original Cookie Company (before the merger with/buyout by Mrs. Fields). Then Target (yes, I worked there for 3 1/2 months 25+ years ago). Then back to Mrs. Fields, this time with 2 stints in Corporate owned stores and 3 franchises. And then Home Depot. And now my current employer.

Anyway, several retailers that I purchase from (namely Steam, Gog, Spamazon, Newegg, etc.) started their Black Friday sales early. And I had willpower. I resisted. All weekend long.

And I get home from work Monday morning, and sat down to my computer, and Cyber Monday. I had resisted all the Black Friday sales. But my willpower has its limits. And I realized that the prices on SSDs are going to go up in the upcoming months. And there was a 4 TB one on sale at Newegg. And I could afford it just barely.

Long story short, I’ve just broken my promise to myself on no more computer upgrades….

Happy Shove Bread Up A Turkey’s Ass Day!

So, Happy Thanksgiving. Or, Happy Shove Bread Up A Turkey’s Ass Day. Owing to the work schedule, I have to work tonight, and my roommate/brother was invited out for Thanksgiving. So, for me, it’s just Thursday. But while I can’t celebrate with the excessive protein and carbo intake that is traditional for a day like this, I can still be grateful. I may not be sitting down to a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, I still have food in the pantry. I have to work tonight, but I’m still gainfully employed. I didn’t sleep that well last night, but I still got up and wore pants today.

Loosely translated, even though life may not be the best that you want it, it is still good. Always look for the good things and be grateful for them….

Well, it took about 6 hours….

Well, it took about 6 hours, but my laptop is usable again. Just for comparison, my Tower only took about 10 minutes to update yesterday….. I guess I have a usable laptop now. For another month, at least….

Just another slow night….

So I thinks it’s documented that I can’t leave well enough alone. Tonight, I’m redownloading my Epic games library (I think you can pretty much figure out why), so I set my downloads up and stepped away from my Tower. Sat down in the easy chair with my laptop (which again if you recall, I wiped completely 2-3 weeks ago). And it was slower than molasses. Yep. Patch Tuesday strikes again. Given the age of my laptop, the only choice I have is to just let it run its course. But that means I have two computers, and both are down for the duration. A part of me really wants to say that it’s that time of the month, but that just sounds too misongynistic….

I guess it’s India vs. New Zealand tonight in a World Cup semi-final, then…..

Just a reminder:

This is just a reminder. A courtesy, perhaps. But there is to be no Yippee-Ki-Yay Motherf*cker until you’ve stuffed bread up a Turkey’s ass.

One holiday at a time, people….

Just a lazy night off….

So, it’s my night off. And my tower is not running. I turned it off. I figured since I spent most of my vacation trying to get my laptop up to date and working, I might as well use it. So I’m sitting in my easy chair, rooting for the Dutch (England vs. Netherlands in the cricket World Cup). It’s also ideal for the ‘midday’ nap attack. When I had my big office chair, I could just lean back and have a quick snooze. But the chair broke, and I replaced it with a regular desk chair. It’s a better fit. I now have more space in my room. And from my easy chair, I have  a better sight line to watch my TV.

Now, about the tower: Sunday night, I pulled it out again. If you remember, when I put the Ryzen 7 5700X in it, I decided to go with my Wraith Prism cooler. Sunday night, I decided to put my Thermaltake cooler back in (no link, it appears to have been already disco’ed) mainly because it’s designed for 170w tdp vs. 105w tdp, And my processor averages about 30 degrees cooler.

Now about Sunday night: yes, I called out. I looked at the weather forecast, and saw that it was going to rain all night long, and my shoes aren’t the most waterproof. And then I woke up at 4 with the serious cast of the runs. A review of my time off showed that I had accrued sufficient sick time to cover my shift, so I used it. Good thing as I had to make another rush trip to the men’s room at 9, when I would’ve been normally on the bus… This was a decision that essentially made itself….

23H2 is underway…..

So apparently Windows 11 23H2 was released. Well, at least the .iso files so you can do a complete install. For those of us waiting to ‘update’, apparently Microsoft was working on patching the MCT, it should be out in a couple of weeks. But being the inpatient sort, and having just finished yet another system wipe, I downloaded the .iso file and used Rufus to create a usb flash drive (another advantage to using Rufus to create your usb media is that you can also disable the compulsory Microsoft account as part of the Windows 11 installation).

So skipping a bit, brother, I’m now on Windows 11 23H2…..

I have space in my room again….

For those of you keeping score at home, my really big office chair broke a couple of weeks ago. Last week while I was on vacation, I ordered the replacement. This time, I didn’t go for the really big, high-backed boss’s chair. I just went for a plain, desk chair. It arrived Friday, and today I dismantled the old, broken chair and assembled the new one. It’s much smaller. But, on the bright side, I now have space in my room again. Which means I can watch TV from my easy chair now. While using my now recommissioned laptop.

Oh, and I upgraded my processor. This time I went with a Ryzen 7 5700X. I was looking at the Ryzen 9 5950X, but the price is an issue. The 5700X was on sale at Newegg, and I figured save a few bucks. When I installed it, I also switched coolers, going back to the Wraith Prism, just because of the ease of installation. The TDP of this processor is 65w, vs. 105w of the 3800X/2700X that I was running before (and I still have, just as a backup…), so I should see cooler temps…

Having said that, I think that this will be the last upgrade I make to this computer. If something breaks, I’ll probably replace it, but I also need to remind myself that what I have is perfectly good, and this isn’t cheap….

Another first this fall….

Can’t sleep today. One of my UPS deliveries is signature required so I have to stay up for it. Which means I slept for most of last night. And as I woke up, the heat was on…..

For the first time this fall, it got sold cold it tripped the thermostat…

The turning of the seasons….

I can tell the seasons are turning. While I was able to take down the AC in my room earlier than normal, my window stayed open 24/7, and that was sufficient to keep my room comfortable. But now it’s down into the ‘30s at night. And this is the second night in a row that I’ve had to close my window. I may have to turn on the heat soo, but not yet.

It’s getting colder…

The Last Day….

Tonight is the last day of my vacation. Agenda tonight is: nothing. Except for the part about getting ready for the return to work. And another cricket match tonight (I should always take vacation during the World Cup).

Ordered a couple of items from Newegg this week, too. The UPS man should be delivering them tomorrow.

And all those posts about working on my laptop this week? This post was written on it. Hello World…

I’m awake! I’m awake!

Tonight would normally be a work night, but I’m still on vacation here. So I went to bed this morning, and somehow my alarm was still set as if I had to work. Side note: it was irrelevant since I got up before it went off.

So I’m up, showered, and I have a night off before me. Agenda: nothing….

Vacation Day 4 Status....

 I think this attempt to rebuild the laptop took. It just takes a lot of patience. Now I'm copying files over to it. In the Cricket World Cup, tonight's match is Australia vs. Netherlands. Hooray the Dutch. Though I'm probably going to take nap through it (I'm trying to keep my circadian rhythm constant as I work overnights).

So, onward with doing nothing...

Ok, so I did write it off as dead…

Ok, so I wrote the laptop off as dead. But by the same token, I now have nothing to lose. And I have three days left on my vacation, and I want something constructive to do. I can still work on it while keeping with my established goal of doing absolutely nothing, aside from watching the Cricket World Cup. Besides with the order I placed this morning with Newegg, I might need a backup system at least momentarily…

Vacation Day 3 Report/Update….

I slept all ‘day’ (I work overnights, so my ciradian rhythm is artificially maintained the opposite). Yesterday, I tried pushing my limit and staying up to the point that I could watch Monday Night Football. And I lasted only through the first quarter. So I pretty slept all night. First time in over 5 years.

Now I’m up for a few hours at least. And now I have to take a break from vacationing for a quick session of adulting. Namely the laundry. And possibly a trip to the grocery store. Than back to doing as little as possible for the next 3 days…

Success!

Success! or a Vacation: Day 3 Update…

Like I posted this morning, I had my target run delivered. And then for lack of anything else to do went back to screwing around on my laptop. Another session of Windows/Microsoft Update that lasted 3+ hours when the same updates on my Tower took only 3 minutes at the most. But I stuck with it being as it’s a 17.3” with a touchscreen.

But it finally happened. I succeeded in rendering it completely unbootable. Yes, I still have a restore flash drive, or I can just use a recent Windows 10 thumb drive to start over again, but what’s the point. It’s over 6 years old. Even more than that because I got it refurbished. It’s slow. I can’t just throw it out since I have my personal info on the hard drive, and it’s gonna be a (four letter word) to take it out. So, I think it will go into the equivalent of The Drawer.

I may end up rebuilding it again if I end up fucking up my tower.

Now to watch what I can of the Monday Night Football game…

Vacation Day 2 Update

Pretty much did nothing today. Needed a Target done, so I'm having it delivered. Decided to pull out the laptop and work on it some more. Currently watching Afghanistan and Pakistan go at it in the Cricket World Cup....

Tonight's agenda: nothing.... 

Vacation Day 1 Update

Currently watching India and New Zealand go at in the World Cup. It took a second wiping of the laptop to make it work. But it is patched and up to date. It is slow, and I’ve realized that I’m never going to use for anything productive (just a backup in case I fuck  up the tower). So I think I’m done with it for now. I’ve copied enough stuff over to it, so that if I ever have to use (God Forbid)….

And I think I saw a cricket match almost get called for fog….

End of update back to Vacation…

Vacation: Day 1 Agenda….

So the laptop still had issues, especially with hangups and freezes. Suspected a hard drive failure. Not that big of a deal (especially since the last time I turned on the laptop was over two years ago, when I rebuilt the tower). So this is just an exercise in the craft, more than actually using it for something productive…

Anyway, I decided to wipe it. First attempt was a system reset with the HP issued recovery partition. And it failed. Second attempt (successful, BTW) was with a Windows 10 22H2 flash drive. Also on the plus side: No HP bloatware that I have to uninstall…

Anyway, Day 1 agenda: work on the laptop, watch the Seattle Kraken on TV, India vs New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup, and the Rugby World Cup.

Failing that, the agenda will be doing as little as possible. After all, I am on vacation….

Vacation: Commence!

First of all: the laptop still works! It’s 6+ years old, and it’s a bit slow, but it still can turn on and surf the web. Proof: this post is being written on it.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I had three days’ vacation accrued, and thought it would be appropriate to use it. Booked it, and it was approved. Then, when the schedule was posted, I got an extra surprise: a bonus day off. I'm getting paid for it, but I’ll deal with that. So for the next 6 days, I’ off work.

Vacation: Commence!

14 Hours Later….

For those of us keeping score at home, I pulled my laptop out. Again. Literally the last time I turned it on was over 2 years ago. It took over 14 hours to patch and update it to the point of usability. There are still some thing I need to patch on it, but Windows 10 is up to date, and the current version of Firefox and Thunderbird are installed as well. I may actually be something productive with this….

It's been a couple of years.....

It's been a couple of years since I turned on the laptop. It's been so long that my brother put in storage....

A week ago I was at my computer, sitting in my big office chair. Nap attack hit. So I just lean back and rage a half hour snooze (it was my day off anyway, and that's what days is are for). And then I heard a pop, Ave my chair started leaning back even further. I broke it. Well, not exactly broken, but I can't lean back in it anymore. So, I cleared off my easy chair tonight. And remembered I still have a laptop. That I made Phil pull out of storage. 

It'll be a couple of hours before it's updated fully, but it still works. Battery is shot to shit, but that's par for the a 6 year old laptop.... 

Troubling Times Are Upon Us….

Troubling times are upon us, and I just have to say:

• Israel has a right to exist.
• The Palestinians have a right to exist.
• Hamas is a terrorist group.
• What happened Saturday night/Sunday morning was reprehensible.
• Targeting civilians deliberately is wrong. Period. This applies to both sides.
• What faith you practice is irrelevant. What your political leanings are is irrelevant. A war crime is a war crime. This applies to both Hamas and Israel.

What happened this past weekend was deplorable. And so is the ensuing retaliation. No matter who wins, it will be the innocent civilians who will lose. Make no doubt about it, this is a tragedy all around, and without peace, there will be no winners.

Shiver Your Timbers! Buckle Your Swash! Arrrr!

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Normally I’d call for a splicing of the main brace, but I gave up drinking almost 10 years ago, and I’m not really in the mood to go there again. But still, fire off a few broadsides, go out and plunder, and (optionally) make somebody walk the plank…

And it is also the day after my Grandmother’s birthday. So let me get a bottle of rum, and yo-ho-ho I’ll pour one out for her….

Just got a friend request….

So I just got a friend request on Facebook. It came from one of my friends who apparently had a second account. Or so I thought. So, I accepted it (based on the it appeared to be a carbon-based life form, and not a scammer). And within 5 minutes of accepting, I get a DM from them. Just the generic hey. Which for some reason raised a flag in my head. So I responded the same way I do with scammers and ‘compromised’ accounts: I blocked him. It’s not personal, it’s just me protecting my online presence. Especially since I had to change the password to one of my Yahoo accounts again after setting up Outlook last night.

So, there’s a new Outlook Preview out….

Actually it’s been out for a while, but a recent update to it means that you can use your IMAP mail service as well. I set it up tonight. And then I set up Outlook 365, and there is apparently a way to sync my google calendar with it. I think that Microsoft is trying too hard with this. The Mail and Calendar apps that are already with Windows 10 and Windows 11 already work perfectly fine. But Microsoft says they’re going away. Presumably to shove more ads down your throat (which I don’t see as I use a HOSTS file to kill most of the ads), since the new Outlook (aka LookOut!) is just a webmail shortcut.

But this was just an exercise is setting them up. There is a reason why I prefer to use Mozilla Thunderbird…..

I Think I’m Going To Regret This…

I think I’m going to regret this when the weekend comes, but I just took down my AC. Especially Saturday. One app is forecasting 84, another one is forecasting 78. But I’ll risk it. I just paid the electric bill (see the previous post), and I think my window fan can keep my room cool. For now. I hope.

Adulting is hard….

Turned 50 a couple of weeks ago. No candles were on my cake due to a burn ban being enacted that same day by the Fire Marshal, and I wanted to set the example….

So yesterday, my brother wrote me a check. Our financial arrangements are that I pay all the bills and he pays me a lump sum to cover his share of the rent and the bills (since the cable and phone bills are in my name. The electric bill is a joint account). Last night, I went to endorse and deposit said check (mobile phone photo deposit is a good thing). And as I was endorsing said check, I wrote the wrong account number. Having had experience with checks bouncing due to scratching out, I decided not to take the risk and I tore the check and asked my brother for a different check, which he wrote. Endorsed it, and pulled my phone to deposit it. First error message was that it was unable to read the account number. Then it couldn’t read the amount. So, finally I had to ask my brother for a third check. Endorsed it, and this time I was able to deposit it.

I think the problem here is what Mother once described: my brother and I both have Dad’s handwriting… There was another incident that happened 28 years ago when we got our first apartment in Puyallup. We each filled out our application and turned them in. And then a couple of days later we both had to go down there again and physically show our social security cards, and they couldn’t verify the numbers (apparently one number came back as ‘deceased’). We did get the apartment, though….

And after all this, I was able to pay the rent. Then I paid the phone bill. And I know climate change is real. Because usually August was once one the lowest electric bills in the year, as the windows were usually open, and we just ran with fans. Now, because we have AC (two portable machines), August now features the highest electric bill….

Paying bills on my day off. Adulting is hard….

All Things Must Come To An End

All things must come to an end. Including vacations. Now is time for me to retire. And go back to work tonight.

And last night I also decided to go back to Windows 11. For some reason it just looks better than Windows 10…

So I got a text from my brother this morning….

This morning while I was ‘adulting’ in Wally World I got a text from my brother asking what I wanted for dinner tonight. A thought about the matter, and I replied spaghetti. Then I added ‘or spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam, and spam’ (think the spam sketch). So he came home, and I snuck a peak into his shopping bag and saw spaghetti noodles. So, a while later, and I stick my head into the kitchen and he’s chopping and sauteing. And I noticed something different. He’s making spaghetti. With spam. What started as a gag text went full UNO reverse. Oh well. Live and learn. And it was good. In fact it was even better than his normal spaghetti.

BTW, it was my birthday today. Received lots of well-wishes on Facebook, and I tried to respond to them all.

So tonight is the last night of my vacation. All things must come to an end. But I only have to work 2 nights, and then my regular weekend starts….

Vacation Day 3: Report

Yes, I’m on vacation. But today was also payday, and adulting is something that sometimes you really can’t take off from. So I paid bills. And now I’m back to being broke. Did nothing last night. Aside from the Nap Attack. Weather forecast has it to be slightly cooler today than this past week. So hopefully I can get a full night’s sleep in one sitting….

Vacation: Day 3….

Nothing is on the agenda and I think will be the day that I actually achieve it. Finally got to Wally World this morning (since my circadian rhythm is fucked up, that counts as yesterday). The heat of the day has past and the AC is finally cooling my room down to a livable temperature. Even with both AC’s going, my apartment is still in the 80’s when the heat of the day hits. The AC in my room is generally good for bringing the temperature down about 20 degrees compared to what it is outside. So at about 5-ish when it finally got too hot for me to sleep, and I see that my AC has it down to 78, that tells me that we’re pushing three figures outside. In a semi-related story, I can’t sleep if it’s the mid 70’s or higher…. I think a nap attack will in order later on tonight…

Vacation, Day 2: Update, Yet Again….

After I put my laundry away, and started on the Diet Coke that I had purchased on the grocery store run, at about 11:00, the nap attack hit. So last night I did what most everybody does during nighttime. I slept. Now I’m up again and watching a rerun of a The Premiership match (btw Peacock carries Rugby).

Current Agenda: Another attempt at Wally World. And all the while, downloading all my games again, after wiping my computer on Monday. I’ve already reinstalled all the software I need to by something resembling productive on my computer, but we all know that not why I have a computer….

Vacation Day 2: Update

Got some laundry done. Yes, I’m on vacation,  but I still have to adult. And I now don’t have to worry about it for a while. And I was also able to get to the store today (basically, my usual Tuesday morning errands were done 1/2 day late).

Now to resume sitting on my ass….

Vacation: Day 2…

So after the aborted attempt to shop and Wally World this morning, I then decided to try and sleep off the heat wave. Ended up waking a couple of hours ago, and I couldn’t go back to sleep….

So, right now, I’m chilling in my air-conditioned room, watching the Mariners game. I should try and venture out to the store later….

Vacation Day 1: Final Report...

Didn't do laundry. Went to the local Wally World, and then decided I didn't need anything, so I came back home (the fact that there were no hand baskets, Ave nobody knew where they were at didn't contribute to my effort to stay there either.

Now I'm going to bed early age sleep of the great wave. No plans for 'tomorrow' as it should be on vacation days.... 

Vacation: Day 1 Update...

 Got home about an hour late. Actually even later than that, as I had to take the side trip through Puyallup, and so I got off the bus on Pacific Avenue right when that trip was cancelled. So I walked the final 24 blocks home. Right when it was getting into the '80s (yay heat waves).

So I get home and my first official act of my vacation was to peel off all my clothes and take a shower. And turn on both AC's.

Then I did the stupid. Decided I wanted to run Windows 10 more than Windows 11. And so I nuked it. Again. But on the bright side of this is that there was a recent major update of Mozilla Thunderbird, and I was able to get it to play nice with my google calendar and contacts (again)....

Woke up earlier this evening and ordered pizza. It is currently 2:20 in the morning (still on the work overnights, sleep during the day routine). The remainder of my 'day' will probably be watching TV, and a possible trip to Wally World and laundry run later in the morning....

Vacation: Resume...

Vacation: Commence!

Well, today starts my vacation. Nothing much is planned. I'm fact, doing nothing is my plan.

I just got off work, And my vacation is starting off proper. Both busses that I would normally take have cancelled there trips. So after a Subway break, it's the scenic route through Puyallup....

Vacation: Commence! 

Not Sleeping In Today….

For the past 5 years or so, I’ve worked nights and slept during the days. Today was no exception. Being a day off tonight, I should’ve slept in. But no. I was dreaming about closing at Mrs. Fields. So I got up early. I already know how to close Mrs. Fields, and I don’t need to reenact it in my head. Besides, it’s been over two years since it closed, well over 5 years since I worked a closing shift there, and well over 10 years since I worked there for anything more the 10 in a week. So I got up.

Commence excessive coffee intake. BTW, I got Pumpkin Spice creamer today….

I’m still here….

Yes, it’s been awhile since I’ve written here. Sometimes life just gets in the way. Or more likely I’ve been too busy trying to fuck up my computer, constantly floating between Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows 11 has won. I just need to remind myself that every time I start this I’m going to end up exactly where I started.

But I’m still here and I’m still wearing pants…

Begin: Yet Another Weekend....

So my weekend has begun. Normally I get home, kick my shoes off and immediately turn on the TV. If laundry is on the agenda, it normally waits till Tuesday morning. But for reasons, I did my laundry right when I got home today. May have something to do with fact that die to the holiday last week, the laundry romms weren't unlocked on time and I said fuck it.

In a semi-related story, I have enough socks and boxers to go three weeks without needing to do laundry.... 

‘Murica! F*ck Yeah!

So, once again, it is the Fourth. I’ve heard that some people don’t know why we celebrate it. I’ll answer the question: We celebrate the Fourth to commemorate George Washington single-handedly defeating Genghis Khan, Mecha-Streisand and Rodan.

And so we celebrate it by getting drunk, blowing ourselves up, and eating hot dogs. As for me, I just got back from Wally World with hot dogs for tonight. I quit drinking in 2003, so that’s out, and I’ll watch the trained professionals blow themselves up on TV,

‘Murica! F*ck Yeah!

There and back and there again….

Ok, so I had Windows 11 running on my computer for a month. I was happy. I didn’t need to wipe it completely. Note: I said that I didn’t need to wipe it. But I did anyway (reasoning be that it’s my computer, and I was basically bored). Put Windows 10 on it. There were some issues from the get go, namely a couple of apps that I used from the Windows Store (like AccuWeather) didn’t show up, but I worked around them. After a week, I decided to go back to Windows 11. So wiped the tower again, and started over. And a week ago, after finishing setting up Flight Simulator X, I messed up the file associations for Office. And I decided to nuke it from orbit. Back to Windows 10. This time, everything went well. And then tonight, I figured just fuck it and go to 11. Though this time, I went the upgrade route (normally I prefer not not to do this, but it appears to work well).

So, after three weeks and change, I’m back to square 1….

Almost 6 years later….

It’s been almost 6 years since I left Home Depot. Since I walked out of the store I’ve had nothing to do with them, aside from my taxes at the end of that year. And of course friends who still work there (there are certain bridges you don’t burn even if you do get fired). It’s not a bad place to shop at for home improvement, but still some triggers are best avoided….

So fast forward to today, when I get an ‘invitation’ to apply for a Home Depot card. Hard Pass….

I think I just placed my last Newegg order….

I think I’ve just placed my last Newegg order today. Their customer was always good, and they’ve seen to it that idiot UPS driver were properly ripped new ones in the past when things went wrong. But when I go to order a new charger for my phone, and I get greeted with 4 pop-up ads in a row for Rakuten related services, then I need to reevaluate whether or not I really need to shop there anymore.

Sorry, Newegg, it’s not me. It’s you…

Another hat in the ring….

I’m not going to endorse any candidate for President, yet (it is far too early). I will say that when I vote in 2024, it will be for the most qualified candidate. Mike Pence has thrown his hat into the ring, and declared his candidacy. I’m not going to endorse him, and I’m probably not going to vote for him. But I will say that he is the most qualified Republican so far. Cheetos-Face’s campaign will probably end with him locked up and facing multiple felonies. Ron DeSanctimonious is too far to the right, and some of his actions with migrants are bordering on human trafficking. And he’s also yet to learn that you don’t fuck with The Mouse. But Pence, let’s remember that on January 6, he was presiding over the certification of the Electoral College, and he shut down attempts to introduce “alternative electors” (no wonder why they wanted to hang him in the ensuing riots).

No, I won’t be voting for Mike Pence. Yet. But he is the most qualified Republican….

7 Years Ago….

7 years ago today, I went to Mother’s apartment…. A subsequent call to 911, and the responding fire personnel immediately called out the chaplain…

But enough about the circumstances about Mom’s passing. Let’s shake up a 2 litre of Safeway Strawberry Soda, chug a plate of deviled eggs, and walk up and down every aisle in the local Walgreens. And pour one out for Mom.

May Barbara Bryant continue frolicking in the Beer Volcano and Stripper Factory…

Ok So I didn’t need to panic….

So I didn’t need to panic last night. I did have coffee. In my pantry was a box of my last Smart Sips K-Pods, with three pods left. And when my brother woke up, he told me that put my K-Pods into the pantry, where I found them. With the tea, on a different shelf. Meanwhile, I had also placed an order for delivery, which just arrived, which included more coffee, along with some other groceries (I now prefer delivery when I need to get perishables, since I have to take the bus everywhere)…

I rebuilt my system three weeks ago, and I’m still happy with it. Normally by now, I’d get the wanderlust to go back to the previous version of Windows (especially when I was running Windows 7) only to go back to the current version 4 hours later… With my current motherboard setup (AMD X570 chipset for those of you keeping score at home), it was every two week, switching between Windows 10 and Windows 11. Or it could be when I run into something that I couldn’t fix right away, and I decided to nuke it from orbit, when all I needed to do was change a simple setting…

Sometimes I just need to remind myself that if it ain’t broke, then I shouldn’t try to keep fixing it…

Ok, it’s time to panic…

I’m out of coffee, that’s all. Everybody Panic!

Ouch…

Normally, I don’t post online when I call out from work. But I have been dealing with a blister on my foot, probably caused by my Columbia’s wearing out. I can’t afford to replace them right away. But I don’t want to spend 8+ hours limping tonight. So, I’ve called out tonight to give my foot an extra day to heal.

In a related story, if you need to drain a foot blister, the lancets you use in your blood glucose meter work really well. They’re short, sharp, and sterile….

Now back to radio silence for the night….

2 Bags of Garbage Later….

Laundry Day today. 2 loads washed, dried, and put away. And I decided to start a Purge. And by Purge, I meant cleaning my room. Usually, it’s a multi-day project, but I have to start somewhere. And today, it was my never used Easy Chair. Never used because of all the junk that was on it. Like my previous video card (still works, so into the Drawer). And a never-used USB 3 hub (right after I ordered it, I found another one that I liked, so I ordered that one. Still in the box, so into the Drawer again. I also found all three umbrellas that I thought I lost (could’ve come in handy during the past wet season). So that was the first bag of garbage.

Then my next Target was right in from of my TV. A lot of junk. Trashed. Then my TV stand. A lot of stuff on the bottom shelf that I never used. Like my electric tire pump (foot pump works just as well). Trashed. Old video cables. Trashed (I have the sad habit of just ordering new cables if I can’t find one right away). Old DVD burner from my HP 500-314 tower. Trashed, replaced by a Blu-Ray drive from when I was using the tower as my Blu-Ray/streaming box. Now I just use a Blu-Ray drive, and I can access all my streaming services via my cable box (with a voice activated remote).

These were only two areas in my room, and I filled up two 30 gallon bags. This is a work in progress. But I can sit in my easy chair again (though I should look into getting rid of it completely). And I can now walk from my bed to my door….

Finally After 4 Years….

<A History>

I use online game stores. A lot. It started with the Microsoft Store when I first started using Windows 8.1/Windows 10. Then came Steam (I actually initially set up Steam back when I was using Windows XP, though I never purchased anything through it). Then through the grapevines I heard that EA games had Origin (now the EA App), which had a recurring on the house game special. So I started with the free games. Then I was looking for SimCity 3000 (after realizing the CD-Rom version would no longer work), and I came across GOG. This is where I get a lot of my older games. Good thing about GOG is that when you buy the game, an offline installer is usually available, so you really don’t need to install GOG Galaxy to install the game, though I use it. Somewhere along the line, I had to install Ubisoft Connect because of my Steam Games required it, and they have a store, too. Somewhere along the line, I learned that Spamazon offered free games through Twitch if you have Amazon Prime. And they do. Though the Twitch app has long gone away, there’s still the Amazon Games App. They offer about 5-9 games a month, at least, and they’re still yours even if you leave Amazon Prime.

</A History>

When I built my computer in 2019, the video card I installed had a promo for free copy of World War Z. Available on Epic Games Store. They normally offer a free game every week. And now, I have filled up half of an 8 TB drive with them. But tonight is when I finally bought something from them (some DLC for Sim Meier’s Civilization VI).

And after all this there are still games that I have that I can’t install for various reasons. That is also why I still have my Windows ME and Windows XP virtual machines….

Our first heat wave….

We had our first heat wave this past weekend. Although since I sleep during the day and I have a westward facing window, I had previously set up my AC a few weeks ago, when the temperature first start hitting the ‘70s. I guess summer is here.

Mother’s Day was Sunday. May Barbara Bryant spend all eternity frolicking in the Beer Volcano and Stripper Factory….

So Cheetos-Face was found liable in the recent lawsuit, and the jury also stuck him for $5 million in damages from it. And he can get sued again for his comments he made after the verdict was rendered. Character is required to hold the office of President, and openly advocating sexual assault is an automatic disqualifier.

Wiped my computer again last week. Windows 10 works perfectly fine, but the urge to go with the latest and greatest was irresistible. So I went and installed Windows 11 again. Learning the lessons from computers past, I did not do an upgrade install. I just went with a ‘clean’ install. And this time, I even got the start menu set up to my tastes (the start menu is usually the reason why I end up going to the previous version of windows).

Change is in the air….

According to Foreca, it is forecast to hit 69 today. 78 on Friday. And 80 on Saturday. Since I have to sleep through the heat of the day, I thought today would be a good time to set up my AC. Yes, I’ll have to deal with the noise from the compressor, but it’s easier to sleep through that than try and sleep through the heat of the day…

There have been a couple of incidents in the past couple of weeks where I’ve gotten on my usual bus, but it was so late that I’ve missed my connection in Tacoma, and I ended up an hour late. Yes, I’m treading on thin ice with regards to attendance at work. So, on weekdays, I’m now catching the next earlier bus. Which means leaving for work an hour earlier. Which unfortunately means an hour less sleep….

Another season wrapped up…

Just finished the season finale of The Mandalorian. Here are the spoilers:

• Moff Gideon was just misguided. It turns out all he wanted to do was to put Bibles in hotel rooms on Mandalore…
• The real villain is actually William Shatner.
• That one scene where Din Djarin has to trade his N1 for a flying DeLorean (why else would they cast Christopher Lloyd?)

And you know what? I’ll spoil the ending:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The credits scroll…

From one, to another….

First I install Windows 10. Takes a little over a week to install everything. Then I decide I want to try Windows 11. Again, it takes a week and a day to get my system put back together. Then, I decided that Windows 10 is the way to go, so again I nuke my system from orbit and start over.

I guess it’s a good thing. It keeps me at home and out of trouble. And there are far worse things that I could be doing. I think it could also be I enjoy setting my computer up more than actually using it…..

With my previous HP tower, it was either Windows 7, 8.1 or 10. Currently, I’m running 10 with best of all worlds. With Start11 and WindowBlinds, I’m using a Windows 8 skin and a Windows 7 start menu. Now if I can only stop playing around with the settings….

It finally happened….

Cheetos-Face finally got indicted. For the cover-up payments to the porn star that he cheated on his wife with. And there were a couple of other hush money cover-ups, too. And he’s still being investigated for January 6. And for a bunch of classified documents that he had no business holding onto. I feel this may be the beginning of the end for him.

But all the metaphorical blood-lust aside, let us at least go through the motions. He is only indicted. In the eyes of the law, he is innocent until proven guilty (as it should be).

My personal prediction: he will end up behind bars. Probably even before the trial. It only takes one disparaging/threatening post on his supposed social network towards the judge in the case, and he’ll get a complimentary pair of stainless steel bracelets, 3 hots & a cot… I’m sure this will energize his base towards the next election, but felony convictions will energize his opponents’ bases and will put him on the losing end of a landslide….

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

Daylight Savings Time was the past weekend. As usual, I was at work. Because the clocks skipped ahead when we were at lunch, we just left an hour later than normal. So daylight savings meant that I just lost an hour of my ‘afternoon’ when I got home from work. What this means is that the real afternoon has a lot more sunshine. And given that spring is around the corner, the sun is now directly shining into my room. Who needs sleep? I must certainly not. It’s a good thing I’m off tonight, or I’d be a zombie….

It’s only weather and it will pass in due time. I guess I should get up and enjoy that yellow UFO in the sky while I can. All Hail Our Extraterrestrial Overlords….

About Flight Simulator….

I’ll admit it. I still have a preference for Flight Stimulator X. I still occasionally play Flight Stimulator 2004, but FSX is still my preferred game when I fly the virtual skies. I like that my Cyborg V.1 josytick immidiately works with them, so I can just take off and go.

Then I downloaded Flight Stimulator 2020 from Steam. And my joystick wouldn’t work with it. Oh well. I kept flying FSX. And then tonight, I tried it again. This time I used my XBOX controller (which I also bought a wireless adapter for. Yes I know the link I’ve given has them available together, but I had to buy them separately). And this time, I finally achieved stable ‘flight’ with it. And I also notice that it renders my workplace accurately. However there is a reason why I’m playing a PC flight simulator and not flying in real life. I don’t think my boss would appreciate me bouncing off the roof of the building in real life and then crashing behind it…..

Now, about the Joystick. After finishing up my rebuild last week, and calling out due to weather (I’m not that stupid when the roads are shit), I was trying to get my joystick to work with MechWarrior 4. After multiple attempts at troubleshooting failed, I found another one on eBay, and assuming a major hardware failure, I ordered it. And right after I finalized the sale, guess what started working again. Oh well. It’ll be a backup then until the other one dies….

Applying another lesson learned….

If you remember last December we had an ice storm. Freezing rain. Sheet ice everywhere. Bus weren’t running at all. I worked that night. And I didn’t get home till noon (but I did, thanks to Uber).

So tonight, I woke up to cocaine on the ground (some of you may call it snow). And a winter weather advisory from AccuWeather. Slick roads and sidewalks tonight. I’m no fool. I learned my lesson last time. I’m calling out tonight.

Yes, I take the bus, and that can be the best thing to do in winter weather, but always treat Mother Nature with respect….

Let’s play a new game….

So, I woke up early tonight. Early enough that the Mexican place right around the corner was still open. After going back and forth too many times, I decided that it’s time for some arroz con pollo (after all, even if it wasn’t Tuesday today, it’s still Taco Tuesday somewhere in the Universe). It’s right the corner from my apartment. I don’t even have to cross Pacific Avenue to get there. But, it is my day off, and I’m not really particular about leaving the house. So, I ubered it. Driver picked it up, and I tracked it with the semi-realtime gps that the UberEats app provides. My partment complex has four driveways. And the driver went into each one before he figured where I’m at.

So I propose a new game for Las Vegas. It’s call Uber roullette. You place your UberEats order, then take bets on which driveway the driver will attempt first…

Bear in mind I did thank and tip the driver tonight. In the end he did get it to the apartment. I don’t order delivery that often anymore because it’s not cheap. But I do tip when I do….

Lessons learned today.

No matter how tempting it is, don’t upgrade your cpu cooler if your current one works. Actually I learned that one last November. Next one is that if you do decide to do something that stupid, look at the instructions first to see if you can install it.

So for Christmas, Dad gave us all gift cards to Spamazon. And this caught my eye. So I pulled the trigger. Actually installing the heat sink wasn’t the issue. And even the fan fit my ram. The problem came with plugging in the fan header. I ended up having to take the fan off, plugging in the header, and then reattaching it.

The real trouble came when I put the tower back to together. I thought I had properly seated my video card. So I plug everything back in and turn the computer on. I see lights. Good. It’s not in a boot loop. Good. I hear the Windows XP startup sound, but nothing on the monitor. Uh oh. So, it’s pull the tower back out, pop it open, and the video card wasn’t even seated in its slot at all. Fixed that, screwed everything down, and plugged everything in. And now it works.

Remember kids, if it works perfectly fine then think twice about upgrading….

BTW, I’ll have to repeat this next week. Also ordered a new hard drive. But the way my tower was designed, I won’t even need any tools to do it….

Render Unto Ceaser, 2023 Edition.

Just filed my taxes. And the IRS has accepted my return. I think the toughest part this year about my tax return was scanning my tax forms….

But I’m still getting a refund, apparently…

On the Tyre Nichols matter….

I’m not going to post the links to the news articles here. Use your Google-Fu if you have to. So the officers have been fired and indicted. For Murder. As they should be. And the ‘elite’ SCORPION unit of the Memphis police department has been disbanded. I haven’t seen the video footage, and I probably never will. It is too disturbing. It is too much of a trigger. But I don’t have to see violence in order to condemn it. Clearly the police went over the line. And it appears heads are going to roll in other departments for failing to intervene and/or failing to help. Just this morning, I heard that the responding EMS personal were also fired for their response.

And it seems that every time I try to write something, my thoughts seem to scatter. Every idea I come up with is pretty much outright illegal, though I think we would have a lot less bad cops if there were floggings administered at roll call, or if the entire force were decimated when a major scandal broke….

But for now, let the judicial system run its course….

So, I got a reply from Comcast…

I just got a reply from Comcast to my Executive Email Carpet Bomb that I sent. And I have zero tolerance for fools. Especially in ‘executive customer service’ when they didn’t even read the original email that I sent. So I’ve dropped the matter. But the moment when you explicitly tell the CEO that this conversation is now over….

Yet another weekend is ending….

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. There’s really been nothing to report. Worked. Came home. Slept. Repeated. But life goes on. Just because I’m not writing here doesn’t mean I’m dying of boredom.

Another season of Battlebots is on. Because I’m at work when it comes on, I stream it on my weekend.

Pulled the trigger and went to Windows 11. With Start11 and WindowBlinds, I can at least address the main concerns I had with Windows 11, namely the Start Menu. I am going to miss the Windows 10 live tiles, but that’s an issue with the OS itself. I figure if I’m not going to have the live tiles, then I can at least have a Windows 7 style start menu…

So, a couple of weeks ago I got an email from Comcast that I need to replace the modem owing to a speed upgrade. However the shipping address they have has not been used for over 10 years (my building/apartment number had to change due to another utility company requirement), and Comcast at the time said it couldn’t be updated. The Executive Email Carpet Bomb I sent last week (along with a detailed explanation as to why all the other avenues to address this are now pointless)….

So now the weekend is ending. Soon, it’ll be time to go to bed and then start the work week again….