Paying rent is pain & suffering

I went out yesterday to pay rent & I regret my actions.

Various things happened. 1st I decided the 3rd was best because it was going to be 34°F & partly sunny. I was concerned the heater in my van - more specifically the fan - wasn't going to work. But somehow it did until it warmed up. Then sheer force of will got outside air in through the vent & heated inside.

I got the cat pan waste out & 2 little thingies of trash. I think 1 of my tires needs more pressure but it held up. I will try to check it before using it again.

2 envelopes in my mail from J&FS just let me know things were continuing without change. I was expecting them. Bonus to checking my mail was free foodstuffs on a table. I claimed a deboxed bag of Coco Puffs cereal, a thingy of Rice, a bag of 4 oz juice cups (still cold), a sliced in half baguette bread thingy, 1 pound bag of macaroni, & a thingy of spaghetti. Woo!

Get down, out, & to Disney Drug Mart. Red chariot awaiting me having been just used but still charged enough.

Drop off my request for refills - 5 pills. This will be important later.

Get my payments, some shopping, recognize what I can't get there. FRISKIES CANNED IS IN STOCK!! I prefer getting the Tasty Treasures Turkey paté for Poofball because it's filled better than regular Turkey canned. I made a mistake & forgot to check treats.

Checked seasonal candy hoping to find a Special Flavor of KitKat instead of just special shapes. And to find more Cherry Cordial Kisses but not here.

I saw but did not buy the special cookies & wafer cookies. The special popcorn from last month seems to be gone. But I did find Holiday Roasted Peanut M&Ms!

So I get paged by the pharmacy & my refills are done. (Oh and my lottery ticket from last month won $4!) I now have a standard question for "Any questions for the pharmacist?" - Were there any pills you did not fill? Because 1 pill I asked for was Digoxin because I'm likely to run out before next month comes around - AND THERE WAS NO DIGOXIN REFILLED & no explanation as to WHY. And my $3 Vitamin D3? It was $8. I really need to look at these things before paying for them. All my other refills were $0!! Ehhhh?

Gas was $2.79 where I got some before going home. Guy who came out to pump for me - many thanks for your customer service in the cold.

That might have been the end but... Wal-Mart had $129 laptops on Black Friday. On Monday. I think I need one. Windows 11? 14 inch HP laptop. Let's get one & hack it. Price isn't bad. It's not a Chromebook. Maybe I can dual boot with Linux. I dunno. Expand the RAM & a bigger boot drive? I need to figure out how to clone an SSD or whatever it has. And get an external optical drive to boot Clonezilla. Might need USB thingies to connect a 2nd SSD. People make all sorts of things.

I sorta didn't feel all that great walking to my vehicle after Disney Drug Mart (who for once had decent pricing on 7up 6 packs [$4 in a deal], $2.50 on JIF peanut butter, $3.50 for a bag of honey puff Malt o Meal), but deciding to drive to Wal-Mart was possible anyway. Less than optimal parking spot but I didn't have to wait long for a chariot - #10 has some funky & busted steering but will work well enough.

Get back to Electronics & wait for an available associate. Tell them what I want. She goes into the stock room to check because there's none on the floor. And eventually returns with 1!

Okay. I took extra $$$ I saved from last month for this. I still need some SanDisk USB 2.0 64gb Cruzer flash drives... I try to buy them (last time I did from Amazon) in 5 packs. But Instead I decided to shop... SWISS MISS PEPPERMINT HOT COCOA. Bought. Got a ham for Xmas. Cherry Cordial Kisses for more of Maika Mallow's Piña Colada Cookies. I forgot the Evap Milk & Creme of Coconut... for Coquitos.

I was wanting to both get stuff so I didn't have to get anything for the rest of the month & at least the stuff I got only at Wal-Mart... And I was hoping to get back before my pain relief completely went & started getting dark.

And Get Back to find - MORE FREE FOODSTUFFS on the table! Yay! My cart was full so I stuffed my backpack clipped to the handle.

Oh - did I mention the phone call from my building manager while at Wal-Mart? She asks me about the printout of my medication expenses she asked for last month, the 2 sheets of yellow paper I enclosed in my rent envelope in the box last month. Yeah. She lost it somehow. She wanted to know if I could get (another copy) like soon. & I'm like well I could but it will be a while but the amount I saw was $147 for the period you asked about... It needs to be over $200 for consideration. I should have copied that for myself. Dammit.

And before I even LEFT the apartment FedEx North Canton called to let me know the driver who left my Wal-Mart order that one Saturday has been fired for numerous complaints about his performance. If it was to be delivered to my front door, that's where it should have been. That's their goal.

So after all that yesterday... & getting told Oh it'll warm up this weekend - 47°F and sunny... I'm in a LOT OF PAIN.

Kidney stones (again) & Smart Heal bandages

With what I saw in the toilet this morning & the incessant pain I felt last night, I am done with this kidney stone business. I lived most of my life without a single problem & here in these past 6 to 9 years I've experienced enough of this shit.

I had a horrible night. I thought it began with pain in my lower left back & it just kept going. And then I had discomfort in my gut like 3 days of Thanksgiving leftovers lead to a mutiny in my colon or something. I almost didn't get any sleep because of having to adjust my position to get comfort. At one point, I enlisted the presence of a big Lysol can to press on my back for relief. It was Very Hard to get sleep with all of this crap going on. Somehow I did.

Wake up & do things & take the morning pills. Have to pee. Barely poop anything for what I felt. Peed as expected but I take a look... And there's red in there. And it's not like the amount I saw 2 weeks ago, it's like "oh hey we made a thingy & this is proof." So yeah. Kidney stone. It's happened before as I recall. The pattern of suffering & discomfort is accordingly the same.

On a positive note, a patch on my right leg shin area which formed a blister which I popped, drained, picked the dead skin off, then was having a hard time healing & was just red from blood on the surface & not really stinging or irritating me... at least for a couple of weeks prior... I got 2 boxes (not cheap) of Equate "Smart heal" hydrocolloid gel bandages. Ideal for large areas, drug free, & helps reduce scarring... I put 1 on there & covered it last Sunday. Had to change it today & took a look. No longer bloody! Skin has regrown & healing cleanly.

If I compared this to anything, it would be those burn patches I used to get at Walgreens.

Heart Cure Watch & insufferables

I finally finished a VHS tape to DVD transfer project for a friend's daughter & translated something for another friend & I'm hoping to resume working on episodes even if for my own bewilderment. I have been collecting raws & scripts for Wonderful, have all of Adult PreCure from earlier, & the rest of Wide Open Sky PreCure. I might have the movie but I need to check. Oy vay.

One thing I finally did one day last week was get some more enjoyment from the Delicious Party PreCure Heart Cure Watch... I decided gosh darnit I'm figuring out the Okosama Lunch thing... And good thing I researched it. If Kome Kome hasn't grown up yet - don't use it! Also oddly enough discovered this device with a camera (which you can't offload pictures it captures so why the heck) can scan specially crafted QR codes & unlock content!!

I found & scanned the 1st code on the instruction sheet - a strawberry room design. Then a nice guy on YouTube showed codes on the bottom of Recipipi thingies. Some of those scanned. 1 did not & later found it won't work until the Okosama Lunch data module is used. And then I had to deal with insufferable YouTubers who were "Oh here's one but I won't show you right now - no spoilers until after the show ends!" & then NEVER DOES SHOW THE CODES. And 1 Reddit user who was going to hack the codes & figured there were 101 possible codes - but Instead of Publicly making his chart accessible you had to ask for it in a private message. Why do people do this? Why act like this? It's not a secret club!

I found a PreCure Fandom Wiki page with the codes, where they are found, & what they unlock. There's a few missing. So I spent a couple hours unlocking Cure Finale, the bakery, the fruits parlor, the park - from codes! There's a few more (mostly letters), & 1 code unlocks the Melon Pan at the grocery store & Cure Summer shows up. I must be the last owner of these devices to find this out.

Today's Do

Today went well for doing things. First time in a while.

Cleaned cat pan & took that out along with my trash. Almost forgot the list of refills I needed. Found my packet of money from last month with loser lottery tickets to check.

After rehearsing for a few days doing things around here with no pain relief buffering my activities, I was able to get down & out & over to the doctor. Lady doing blood draws was good this time as she distracted me about eating correctly & losing weight to the point I didn't feel the nail in my arm as she got the NPO sample.

Got back in my vehicle & ate a thingy of tamagoyaki & rice with Marumiya Chicken & Egg furikake. It had absorbed some moisture overnight from the hot rice after I stuck it in the fridge. Tasted delicious!

Went back through to the credit union & back to DDM. Got refills for what I needed but did not know they had filled 3 on the 1st. Aside from the 5 I really needed was a Super Tall 6 month supply of Metopro LOL. I didn't ask for that...

Shopped for what groceries I could get there & nowhere else. There was a Lot I didn't buy. Friskies canned food for Poofball had only 2 cans of Tasty Treasures Turkey Paté on the shelf... Harumph.

I bought a bag of Cat Chow Indoor to see how Poofball does with it. Oddly enough, DDM has it cheaper than Meow Mix Indoor & it's not kitten food. He seemed to like it by taking a couple sample nibbles & then racing around like a nut but maybe he was just happy to see me back?

And while I don't like paying $3 fricking 69 for a 2 liter of pop, I had to try 7up Shirley Temple flavor - pomegranate & cherry. They even had Sweet Popcorn - peppermint drizzled & 1 other flavor.

Everything made it home & now I shall recharge.

I WANT MY 88 CENTS SALAD MIX BACK....!!!

Since when did salad mix at the Alliance Walfart start costing over $2 a fricking bag??? Seems like after all this time supply chain issues should be cleared up & it can go back to 88 cents a bag.

Cole slaw mix is under $2 a bag. Maybe I should switch to that. I could start getting heads of lettuce & shred that. I'd need that stuff we used to rinse fresh cut vegetables in at LJS to keep it fresh longer, aside from rinsing uncooked vegetables because food chain issues. I mean I could go back to buying Romaine & chopping that.

Though in recent weeks my scale has indicated I've been losing weight when NOT eating salads, so maybe trying to lose weight that way wasn't working... Trying to starve the body & so it went into starvation mode & held onto fat.

I should look into more dried stuff & crock pot recipes methinks. Smoked turkey sausage cut up in stuff. Hmmm.. Fiber & protein together...

Is it even done....?

Well, here is my latest Crockpot Creation. I had to let this run on Low for 20! hours because the cubed potato wasn't done after 10 hours & even THEN the garbanzo peas never really got a cooked softness to match. It's still edible, has a nice flavor, & I can't complain. The chick beans are just texture for this but at least soft enough to eat.

Dried Garbanzos, underwear, cat hangout

Today I finally set up the crock pot with a dried Garbanzo Bean recipe calling for 1 pound bag dried garbanzos, 3 pounds cubed red potatoes (I used Idaho), 2 pounds (? Recipe said Packages) smoked sausage, sliced & quartered (I used a 2 pound Italian Chicken Sausage pack someone left downstairs - cooked it yesterday in hot water in the Dutch oven & cooled it immediately after) & Spanish Vigo seasoning which I was not able to find so I used 1 packet of Goya Spanish Yellow Rice. I'm hoping the seasoning is unique enough to give a distinct flavor in place of the saffron I should have been able to get. I added a chopped onion because why not.

Judging by the date on the bag, those Garbanzo beans are at least 5 years old. I don't know how long they keep while dried, so they could be older. Recipe said to use Chorizo for authentic flavor & to thicken the soup to remove some chick peas & mash & return to the crock pot 1 hour before serving. I think the rice will do that anyway.

Changes next time I would make:

After soaking the garbanzos overnight, I would reserve 2 cups of the soaking water so when the 4 cups of chicken broth / stock got added it wouldn't be necessary to remove some liquid before adding the cut up sausage & putting the lid on. I have it to add should it cook down. And I would use only 2 pounds of potatoes.

8 to 10 hours on low. Supper will be late tonight.

Also finally tried the underwear from Big Dude Clothing in the UK. I think I finally got something which isn't going to rip out in 3 months & nothing will "fall out." All the cheap DXL Harbor Bay product I was using all had the same odd ripout wearout pattern on the right side (as worn) while the left side was basically intact.

Also Poofball had odd behavior last night after I finished with some Computer Stuff I was doing by hanging out next to the bathroom wall next to the toilet. No explanation; he was just there. He wasn't sick, hadn't thrown up, or crapped on the floor.

Have I been eating the wrong stuff?

This morning on the scale I got a number that's 12 pounds off my usual. The number has been dropping over the past few weeks more or less but dropping anyway. The one thing I must be doing differently is a general avoidance of eating salads.

Salads were touted as THE way to lose weight. And why not? It's all VEGETABLE matter. Maybe it works for some people but not me. I have had weeks of 6 salads for 6 days at supper but I'd actually GAIN weight. But my recent diet of a sammich at supper with a serving of Arroz con Gandules (a rice dish) is doing something different.

The salad is loaded with Water & puts my digestive & other parts into Starvation Mode. It's got to be. I also add stuff to my salads so they're more like a meal like low sodium options - no salt canned peas, crunchy tortilla strips, diced onion, green pepper, sliced mushrooms... The occasional crumbled hard cooked egg. And Blue Cheese dressing. Measured to the GRAM.

So now I eat more complex starches & more fiber. More proteins. Getting good sleep. Really watching my water intake. And trying to get physical activity. That's my hardest thing to do. I'm going to keep observing.

Arroz con Gandules

Tonight, inspired by my favorite streamer, Maika Mallow, I finally made Arroz con Gandules aka Rice with Pigeon Peas aka Puerto Rican Rice. I may season it extra hard next time without increasing the sodium even though I followed the recipe I found exactly as written. The rice turned out a bright orange which may not come through in these pictures, adjusted for blue hued LED lighting & my cell phone's potato camera. I'm also now a fan of Sofrito, and excuse me if I want to eat the stuff right out of the jar! I did substitute regular sliced pearl black olives for the ones the recipe said to use because I'm not a fan of green olives regardless of the name.

This took a while to assemble because the ingredients aren't the usual things I buy. But I can rest assured I have enough to make this again & I likely will. I even took the time to whip out my Sushi rolling mat & with a sheet of nori made a maki roll with this rice, & I have to say this made it even better. I didn't have to simmer for more than 20 minutes - something I worried about because of the directions to heap the rice in the center & then put aluminum foil over it & then the lid. ALSO REMEMBER THE ADOBO. Yeah, I forgot but still put it in while simmering.

And now I get to taste it cold tomorrow to see if the flavors come through better than when it's freshly hot.

Hacking the postal service is almost too good

So anywho, get Shinobu's package ready. And last Saturday was a no-go. So today I try again. This time with my Rollerator so I can sit. Oh and I need help with that fricking head liner. Like either rip it out or fricking stick it up with something because jamming the Rollerator in & out ripped more of that disgusting thing off & I'm about to take scissors to it.

So I get in the Spangler post office & it's a different guy. Cool. He might know how to send a parcel internationally.

I pause here to state I have Shinobu's address in Japanese postal style. Postal code at the top, sender's name at the bottom JAPAN in roman letters at the very bottom.

And in kanji. I've done this before in Minerva with No Problem.

Either this guy is a comedian or what but he gives me a hard time about the address being in kanji & he can't read it. He has "not enough info to work with." I say it'll work - Japan is the only thing they need to know. Give me a declaration form to fill out & it'll work. Once it gets to Japan, it'll be fine. So eventually he relents & gives me a form to fill out.

Gone are the simple green declaration stick on forms. This is a more involved form. And man do they have a huge list of stuff Japan does NOT want you to send there. No copyright infringing items? No knives, swords, cremated ashes unless properly documented & handled & sent to the proper place. The list is crazy. Oh - be sure to weigh the items you put in your parcel. They need to know that. Never mind the total weight with packaging.

Anywho, I have no problem filling it out. He serves a couple other customers while I do my form filling and when he's ready, I hand him the form. He keys in the stuff I wrote, double checks my bad hand writing & gets it done.

$33 to send it First Class International. Yikes. Have air mail post rates really gone up that much? How do senders from outside the U.S. charge so little?

Anywho, his printers print the stickers needed & a receipt. The customs form has a tracking number. After 8 years, it is sent.

Orzo Pasta

Made Orzo pasta tonight for the 1st time. It's like rice but in pasta form. I used the recipe / directions specified on the back as I had no plan at all for it.

Instead of olive oil, I used the last dregs of a nearly empty bottle of Canola. Recipe said to toast the orzo in a sauce pan for 2 mins & stir. I felt at least 5 minutes without burning would be sufficient for a decent color. Canola has a higher smoke point & won't add to the flavor, so for my 1st time that's okay. I do have olive oil so should I get another 98 cent box of orzo, I have the option.

32 ounces of chicken broth was asked for, but I used 3 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in 4 cups of near boiling water to cut the sodium. 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper is the seasoning but I might use more next time. The recipe even asked for an additional 1/2 teaspoon of salt but I eschewed it.

Bring to a boil, set to low & simmer for 5 minutes. I let it simmer for 7 because pasta. Removed from heat, added 2 tablespoons margarine (unsalted), and let it sit for more than 5 minutes. Liquid absorbing time. Then stir in 3 tablespoons lemon juice.

It came out quite nice. I added the remainder of a open can of Diced Tomatoes & sprinkled a bit of grated Italian blend cheese over. 250 grams for a serving. Orzo this way is actually quite good. I think the diced tomato added some flavor.

I had no plan for supper & I bought this on a lark for no reason. And now I have the chance to taste this cold tomorrow.

BBQ Potato, Bacon, & Corn Salad

This is something my Mom had written down.

1/3 cup ranch dressing (or Duke's Mayo if you hate ranch)

1/3 cup BBQ sauce

2 tbsp Dijon mustard (or Stadium mustard)

3 pounds small red potatoes, cooked, quartered & cubed

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup chopped red onion

6 slices bacon (any kind), crispy cooked & crumbled

Mix dressing, BBQ sauce, & mustard in a large bowl.

Add all remaining ingredients except bacon & mix lightly until coated.

Sprinkle bacon on top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

I would like to hear Vaughn Meader's JFK Christmas single

At around 3:26 a.m. my bed frame decided to break again, this time completely shearing off the welded U shaped clip of metal holding a bed frame rib in place. I found the poorly welded bit of metal on the floor. Without support for one end, the other simply refused to bear my entire weight. This meant getting off my bed if the mattress collapse didn't suck me in & prevent it, go across the room, & turn on the overhead light.

Adrenaline fueled my proceedings from that point forward. Pulling everything off the bed & tossing it on the floor or flipping stuff over the head, removing the mattress but somehow figuring out how much & where on the remaining frame I could still sit, I assessed the problem.

I didn't have a suitably strong bolt to install by drilling or a strong sheet of plywood to eventually wear out & splinter. With neither of these solutions at hand, what I did have was a 3 feet long flat piece of iron I had been using in the kitchen as a pointer of sorts, button presser at other times, & object fetcher. This was left over from a failed plan of bending it to fix my previous bed frame. Since that had long been tossed along with the mattress, it could now be used for this one.

So now this flat piece of iron sits on top of my frame & other ribs with the errant end of the loose rib on top of it & Gorilla taped in place to keep it in. The other end also got taped in place since its U shaped clip still remains welded. This taping waa not easy as I had to place my right leg into the frame & for me that's difficult. Extremely difficult but as I said, Adrenaline was fueling my actions. Acetaminophen had long since worn off. My cane helped.

My big problem was extricating my right foot from the frame as I turned around to retreat from the scene. Every time I lifted my foot a certain height, something snagged my sock or something. I was rapidly running out of Adrenaline & I simply was not going to put up with this nonsense any further, so I pulled up a neighboring rib & barged out in a sense, suitably scraping my toes on my right foot in the process. But I was out.

These toes began to bleed. So off came the sock (eventually) so I could inspect the problem. The pain wasn't so bad with the smaller toes so much as the big toe was doing all of the bleeding. Spraying with a sterilizing bit of 91% Rubbing Alcohol proved to be negatively painful, but hey, that's what it does. I cut a 3x4 stickie in half & wrapped it around my big toe.

Then my toe proceeded to remind me until now as I type it is damaged & send up stinging sensations every few minutes. In spite of the fact of being in bed, I got very little sleep. I intend to check the dressing & use some Triple Antibiotic ointment after giving the toes a good clean.

I have more cleaning to do after revealing more of my dusty floor where my storage tubs used to sit, previously approved by Beckton but not approved by Mdme Umbridge.

This was after enjoying Maika's stream last night where her singing reminded me of "Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon - John Madden appears at the end - which led to Caliendo on Letterman doing his John Madden impression.. Which lead to Vaughn Meader who had a brief stint of success spoofing JFK with his impression... a career immediately cut short when JFK was shot. Meader oddly enough released a Christmas single spoofing JFK days before - and as he saw his comedy career die along with the President, all his records were removed from stores. Trashed or destroyed - making his Christmas 45 an extremely rare record - but it does exist & Rob Martinez at NPR station WBOI in Indiana has 1 copy. He hosts a radio program (as a volunteer) called The Nights Before Christmas & in July & December produces a special program featuring his collection of Christmas music. Anywho.

It's not supposed to work like that...

Saturday was interesting.

After living in a hot apartment for almost a week, I had lost about 10 pounds. My pants were plenty baggy around the waist. It may not be comfortable but it did wonders for that.

Friday previous I got 2 parcels. 1 was the Paris Olympics Phryge mascot keychain. The other was the replacement wheels for my shopping tote. I don't know how that 1 wheel got broken but after adjustment with my rotary tool, the new wheels went on just fine.

Anywho, went out & picked up the Xarelto. Headed over for books. Then went to Walfart. I see one row of parking spaces on the other side of the Pickup spaces are free to park in. Decently close to the doors. I will have to remember that.

Finally have Sofrito for making Arroz con Gandules. Got a $13 personal fan for the cooling situation. Instead of $5.18 for Coke (there was no caffeine free diet Coke in bottles), I got a $3 gallon of Hawaiian Punch Piña Colada flavor. And some other foodstuffs I really didn't mean to buy & stuff I probably shouldn't.

Go to pay & this is where it went weird.

My United Health Program Card is supposed to be FOOD ONLY. I had $26.86 of Taxable Non Food items. Program Card pays for $25 of APPROVED Foods like cereal, salad mix, milk, bread, lunch meat. No snacks, chips, cookies, pop, desserts. You get the idea, right? Imagine my shock when I get told to pay $10.39 cash. What???? I see $65 was taken off my EBT card. That should have been only $46.78!!!

I need to call the toll free on that Program Card & find out what the hell happened. It's for FOOD Only. Whatever it paid for removed 19 cents off the sales tax. That should NOT happen if it's paying for food.

If anyone already knows the answer, by all means offer your thoughts.

I get back & collapse. I manage to get the cold stuff put away. Before settling in to enjoy Maika streaming, I find out there's been a massive Ranma Remake leak. AND IT'S THE WHOLE CENSORED BUNCH. yarrrrr... I'm in pain but adrenalin let me be excited about that.

I paid for it Sunday.  so... Much... Pain...

Today, I got the fridge wiped where it was needed & have started mopping the floor... again... Maybe I'll get the bathroom done??? I got projects I need to do.

Life is a Series of Side Quests

As big as Tuesday was one huge Do, today's Do was a lot of little side quests. Before I even left I managed to clean the cat pan (again!) because I was going to be outside. Someone left a mattress propped up next to the dumpster which was trying to be in my way as I tossed my trash in...

Oh and my dashboard fan still does not work. Need some ideas on that. I should check the rear row climate control & see if that works on its own...

Make it over for my manga & do my order - & that was done with confidence with my new tire!!

Then I get over to Walfart... And I do not like nor approve of the changes they're doing with parking spaces near the entrances. If they're not reserving them for handicapped or pregnant moms nor law enforcement vehicles, they're now designating them as Pickup Parking. This means the one spot I really like to park because it's so close to a door is now one of those Pickup Parks. They're going to get a terse survey answer about that. Maybe I need to get parking tag... Designate Pickup spots but let them still be used by Persons of Diminished Mobility... As handy as getting groceries delivered is, I still want to try to enjoy in-person shopping mainly to see what else the store has. Like that time when they had those replica arcade mini games & I got the Fix It Felix game.

I was mainly doing a fill-in shopping run being in the middle of the month. Stuff I didn't get earlier & stuff I ran out of.

Side quest (ongoing) : Gather ingredients for Puerto Rican Rice. Somehow I have the pigeon peas already. Today I got closer to completion with the olives (though I got regular sliced black olives as I hate green olives & almost bought Manzanillia olives because Kalamata was not in stock), & Adobo, ham seasoning, & Achiote. Now to figure out what Sofrito is.

Oh yeah - Route 62 Walfart had only Puffs and A SH¡T TON OF Kleenex in stock!! Like what the hell! I had to settle for a tiny store brand cube waaay on the bottom.

Friskies cat food prices are starting to calm down but man, for some reason there wasn't much on the shelf. 9 Lives really needs to step it up. How come there aren't more competing brands of canned cat food? Am I shopping in the wrong place??

I bought no cookies, snack chips, or frozen treats. I can make cookies anyway.

Side Quest (98% completed) : Obtain Sailor Moon Hand Sanitizer at Gamestop

   This one has been a long time coming. Previously available ONLY AT TARGET..  at $5 a pop no less... I couldn't get Anyone to pop in our nearby Target with money & get me a set (minus Cape Boy) at the time... 😔 during the pandemic...

   And I never let it go. They'd show up on Evilbay for scalping prices. Ripoff prices & POSTAGE. Like frick off, scammer...

   So like last week, I did ANOTHER search for them... Evilbay again. Almost paid $15 for a lot which had 1 Jupiter. Until Google & Gamestop's website said the Alliance store had _8_ of them in. For $1.83 each. And Oh yeah - delivery would be $13 because they're not mailing them.

   This was the side quest which I was hoping to complete on the 3rd had my tire not taken a shit. Today I managed to get in, note the lack of benches, wait patiently for the guy to help someone pay on a game, & then proceed to find what they reportedly have.

The website was slightly inaccurate. They had _9_ in stock - AND THEY WERE RUNNING A SALE!!! BUY 1, GET 1.

   I was willing to pay almost $20 for the 8 I planned to buy but ended up paying under $10 instead!!! Now to make a deal with someone to get Mercury & Moon because I did NOT get those.

   So something which started out as a $5 Tarjzhay item I ended up paying 1/4 of that in the end.

Right now I do Not want another human to bother me as I lay in bed.

3 Tires Down, 1 Left

Tuesday was a Huge Do Day. Zippity Do Dah Day. I couldn't have done it without Andy Myers' help!!

I'm glad this flat tire problem was resolved in a week. I've been known to let problems persist but somehow not this time. I'm surprised the elements needed came together so quickly.

As some know, I had my right front tire go flat while driving back to Alliance on the 3rd. Just as I got back into Alliance. I pulled over as soon as I could in a parking lot where Arby's used to be. Tried pumping up the tire with my battery backed pump which was not super effective. Had the good fortune of someone from the hospital security people ask if I needed help & told them if they have a pressure tank... Upon which things worked out & I got back.

Over the weekend I got a Wal-Mart order delivered & got Fix a Flat. Having so much physical stress from the 3rd, I was in no shape to do anything, so it sat. On Monday, Mr. Myers calls me up & basically this tire situation needed to be resolved on Tuesday, period. I surprisingly got an appointment at Mr. Tire for 3 p.m. & had a vague plan as to how we're getting there. Only Fix a Flat had its own plans & so did the tire & they didn't match up.

So Fix a Flat got administered. Moved the tire around & Myers can see the leak because FaF flowed out through it. Sidewall leak, dry rot. Hoh boy. Pressure was attempted - at least it's not 0 & we try getting out of the parking lot. I probably get 1/3rd of the way & tire is flat & I pull off the road at some place.

And oh yeah - Myers was able to get my darn hood open!!!! I tried that months ago last time I tried in February which is why I bought the power bank pump.

Anywho, get some pressure in that, get down the road, make the turn, & have to pull off again. Used the other pump (which Myers says started smoking last time when he shut it off!), & dial says ~20 psi... Time to go for it! And it almost makes it... Had to wait for the last turn & just made it to Mr. Tire!!

Got the tire done & oil change & check up (it was about time anyway). I was worried when one of the mechanics brought in an older guy - that means it got serious - but that wasn't for me.

Just before 3 p.m. I see my vehicle brought out & guy says mine's done. No problems with the rim, no damage or cracks... (Remember, this is the tire last time I was there kept going flat & they said was OK but when I got some Tire Slime in it the leaking stopped!).

Practically $300 poorer... & 1 more "originally purchased" tire left. I might get it done in August before it actually goes bad. I hope.

Was thinking of going to Gamestop but my physical battery was spent. My body was buzzing later in my room with pain relief having been taken which reminded me of Monday at WDW when I felt that after Sunday at Epcot.

Now I need some sort of spray adhesive for the headliner & crumbling padding vacuumed out...

Yup, Chorizo

Made another pot of the Lentils & Brown Rice soup last night but finally I made it with Chorizo!!!

I did not know Chorizo came uncooked or unsmoked. I had basically ground meat in tubular wrapping & that's how it cooked up. I had Chorizo from Aldi before & that was cooked. The other part was this was from Wal-Mart & I chose the cheaper higher sodium brand without realizing I did.

I had a green pepper about to spoil & rescued an onion with mold on the outer skin so this had to happen tonight. I have 1/2 cup of dried lentils left now so unsure what to do with them.

Put a couple tablespoons of canola oil on the bottom, browned the diced garlic in it, & then chorizo on that & let it cook. Just as it starts to brown & stick, bouillon goes in & I used Beef Bouillon because I can't find the chicken cubes. Called for 1/3 teaspoons of a couple spices but I used 1/2 anyway. And while the recipe said simmer for 45-55 minutes, it seemed like it needed under 40. But I let it sit on the burner for 15 minutes after shutting it off.

I had a hint of the flavor last night & I was looking forward to this morning's cold congealed result & yeah... It's sooo good!!

A Poem about Cats I liked

Catalogue

Cats sleep fat and walk thin.
Cats, when they sleep, slump;
When they wake, pull in -
And where the plump's been
There's skin.
Cats walk thin.

Cats wait in a lump,
Jump in a streak.
Cats, when they jump, are sleek
As a grape slipping its skin-
They have technique.
Oh, cats don't creak.
They sneak.

Cats sleep fat.
They spread comfort beneath them
Like a good mat,
As if they picked the place
And then sat.
You walk around one
As if he were City Hall
After that.

If male,
A cat is apt to sing upon a major scale:
This concert is for everybody, this
Is wholesale.
For a baton, he wields a tail.

(He is also found,
When happy, to resound
With an enclosed and private sound.)

A cat condenses.
He pulls in his tail to go under bridges,
And himself to go under fences.
Cats fit
In any size box or kit;
And if a large pumpkin grew under one,
He could arch over it.

When everyone else is just ready to go out,
The cat is just ready to come in,
He's not where he's been.
Cats sleep fat and walk thin.
~ Rosalie Moore ~

Let GeoSpy AI locate those old family photos!

A lot of you might have heard bad things about AI uses but one I've found useful is GeoSpy AI. It attempts to locate where a photo has been taken & it has been rather useful & correct most of the time. My experiences:

A photo of my Aunt Vinette from the 1970s I had thought was taken out front of her San Francisco apartment building where she lived but GeoSpy says it was taken on a sidewalk in front of an art museum in San Diego.

A slide scan of a battleship my grandparents had visited GeoSpy told me to "find a more interesting picture" but in the meantime said from 3 sources among the ones it had it could be the USS Alabama.

A grist mill slide scan is from Pennsylvania. The McConnells Mill / Ohiopyle State Park in fact. Slippery Rock Creek Gorge. An accompanying photo of a 1970s model car & creek it claimed was in North Carolina but I doubt that since it was with the grist mill photos.

An aerial view in Pennsylvania taken by my dad with my mom's 35mm camera from up on a radio station tower GeoSpy says overlooks Allentown, PA & surmised the coordinates of the "hill" it thinks the photo was from.

And last for now a mystery rock formation my grandparents photographed is from the Bryce Canyon National Park in Southern Utah.

I plan to hunt up more mystery slide scans & have GeoSpy AI figure out where they were / are.

Crockpot Lasagna is sooo good.

Supper on Sunday was another round of Crockpot Lasagna after having found the simple recipe I had stashed away. And then finding I still had the No Pre-cooking Required Barilla lasagna I bought so long ago...

I used a frozen 1 pound roll of Ground Turkey. I made sure to season it while browning it & made sure to break it up. Seasonings included basil, oregano, thyme, maybe a little cumin, & a heaping teaspoon of diced garlic. I didn't measure the rest but got a nice dusting over the whole skillet.

The lasagna noodles were as I said... but what I didn't mention is they were at least 15 years old according to the date on the box. I think there was 3 packages obtained for a recipe Mom had in mind & I didn't know what it would use up. Probably bought at Marc's. I inherited 2 boxes which now finally got used up.

Next time I make this, I'm going to put the Ricotta in a storage bag & cut a corner off so I can pipe out a consistent cover over the meat mixture. Dropping spoonfuls just doesn't work with me.

For shredded cheese, I had Jalapeño & Habanero Monterey Jack because Walmart was out of Pepperjack. Maybe I'll use this & hot Italian Sausage next time for heat.

The Tomato Sauce worked like this: 8 ounce no salt can used in the bottom of the crock per recipe directions as the 1 cup sauce in the bottom. The 15 ounce can before adding to the browned ground turkey was taste tested & had a little sugar added to offset the sourness. If it was too sweet, I'd have added vinegar. I prefer a neutral tomato taste.

4 hours on low & it was done. Tastes better cold.

Spanish Rice finally done right

Made Spanish Rice.

It exploded.

2 CUPS RICE, 4 CUPS WATER...

I usually don't like Spanish Rice because it tastes funny. But I tried a recipe I found & this may be The One.

It calls for Coriander / Cilantro. I used a dash of Curry Powder instead. I sauteed minced garlic in oil before adding the rice to brown. I used a cube for Beef Bouillon instead of Chicken or no salt added chicken broth. And instead of Garlic Pepper I used Black Pepper since garlic was already in there. The 8 ounces no salt tomato sauce was from Amazon.

Initial taste tests indicate a decent flavor & no sourness. Let's try again after cooling in the fridge

I'm doing it today because it won't get done if I don't...

Yesterday was 1 Huge Do. I got out relatively early to get my monies & then over to Didney Drug Mart for payments & pills. Finally secured a 9 volt battery for my voltmeter. I had cleaned it out months ago after discovering the decimal point wasn't showing up & opening it up showed an impossible bug invasion of you know what. Thankfully a thorough cleaning was possible but that decimal point was stubborn. It was only last week I found the battery had exhausted itself. I don't recall ever changing it! A new alkaline battery has the display working crisp & decimal point as well. I had DDM points to get it for free. Free milk will have to wait.

Grabbed some clearance Valentine's candy at 75 cents each. Small little 3 piece chocolates. It's worth the price of admission. And they still had Voortman's Egg Nog Wafers??

My past entries at this time of year mention the return of those cheap freezer pops but I didn't see any. They're usually on the end display.

My other Huge Do was seeing Dr. Snuffleupagus. I fail to see the point of a guy who talks to me for maybe 10 minutes & lets me go. Maybe my ability to appear tells him plenty?? I do it for the refills. I need to call Dr. Joni for Xarelto though...

I paid dearly for my transgressions as my right leg has sore joints & today is Recovery Mode... & tomorrow...

But hey at least I didn't get the runs from my picked-over slightly moldy thick crusted bread loaves! I bought 2 on Wednesday & mostly forgot about them until Monday. Craving peekza, I picked off the moldy spots, microwaved for 90 seconds, topped them with sauce & Queso, then baked at 350° F for 15 minutes. Came out cripsy & yum! Had some for breakfast. So there's that.

A.I. Generated Art is Not Theft

 Twittiots have been spouting off on the issue of A.I. generated art complaining that it's theft of art because of the way it's trained.

This is NOTHING NEW. It's the computer equivalent of Tracing or Lightbox Abuse. Human Artists have been copying each other for decades. Masamune Shirow is the most often art-thefted artist. His stuff has been "stolen" more than any other.

A.I. generated art is DERIVATIVE. There is No Way to figure out whose styles are in the images it produces. I challenge anyone spouting negatively about A.I. art to find a specific style being used from a specific artist. And then I'll respond with "Are you sure you're not simply seeing something there just because you Want to see it?"

Another way they claim it's theft is from Loss of Income. Your Paid Artists worry about losing income because nobody wants to pay for fan art of their favorite anime characters doing things the official stuff never had them do. LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING - these A.I. art generators are good but there's still some concepts they still don't get. Sure you can make them churn out 100 images of pretty blonde girls but forget about specific cultural items from some place in the Asian Sub Continent. You want a depiction of a magic illusion trick on stage nobody has seen before and only you know what it is? A.I. can't do it. But beautiful white China style wedding dress with a cleavage window? It can suggest designs for hours. And each one is pretty good even if sometimes unfeasable.

And sometimes you get missing body parts, extra body parts, distorted perspective lines, messed up hands... It still makes mistakes. However, describe a scene well enough in generic terms it should understand, and maybe just maybe you'll get a good starting point of concept art. Still derivative from its massive data set which it draws from BUT DOES NOT DIRECTLY COPY. Get over it & find a thing you artists can make money at which A.I. can't do. You're supposed to be creative - so create already!