Woken up two nights ago at 3AM. Something on someones forehead. Had a Optho appointment next day she said it was Shingles. Made appointment with primary care. Yep Shingles. But someone never mentioned they’d ever had Chicken Pox.
And then it came back to someone – when they were six years old they had Chicken Pox. He’s on Acyclovir and it’s definitely drying it out.
So when my car was stolen I purchased two new remotes for the car. Just haven’t had the opportunity to spend 40 minutes programming them.
I had been removing the negative battery terminal but that was sub-optimal because lead and because it’s a pain. So I went and looked in my owners manual for the car and found the starter relay. Take that relay out and the car will still unlock , arm the alarm etc. But it WILL NOT start without that relay. I have to figure out how to jumper around it instead of removing it. I think I can come up with a jig that will let me cut the power and run it to a switch under the dashboard. But just popping the relay out is sufficient. And GM even marks the relay contacts so I know which one I’d have to break in order for the car not to start.
I gotta get a DMM and check the resistance of the coil on the relay. I could just toggle a resistor and a diode across so the computer won’t freak out.
The upshot, the cretin who stole the key fob can get into the car. The cretin just can’t start the car. Ha ha ha ha ha.
A string of LED Xmas lights – where you can change the colors of them with a remote control. And I note Amazon also has an outdoor solar powered string too. I might get that next. Because even though electricity here is super cheap compared to the northeast, I don’t want to pay extra for holiday lights outside.
I’ve already got two solar patheway lights out there. So why not go whole hog with solar?
It’s called Zevia. It’s iced tea and soda in various flavors and they’re awesome. Zero calorie too. So you’re not giving anything up when you eschew sugar. Interesting.
Plus we found Waterloo Seltzers in Black Cherry, Watermelon and Strawberry. All sugar free. Delicous too. It’s good to see that there are manufacturers who produce products without gobs of sugar in it.
So around the Metro area of Atlanta I note a number of different churches are proclaiming how all are welcome, including the LGBT community.
Look churches had their chance to be more inclusive and they failed miserably at it. As a result many churches are seeing attendance decline and they’re tripping over themselves now trying to be supportive. As if or Ut Si.
I walked away from Catholicism for two reasons, well three. First my studies in religion led me to realize it was a man made creation, not that of a divine being. The second was the anti-gay screeds by certain popes. And the third is the biggie, how they covered up the sexual abuse of kids And even today they keep trying to backpedal. Sorry that ship has sailed. Firstly I don’t need to get up early on a Sunday morning, nor do I need to tithe my money to any church.
As you may have guessed from this blog – I’m an atheist. Don’t believe in heaven, hell, god, Jesus, the whole of it even the devil. In fact I’m more a nihilistic atheist in other words one who thinks meaning, morals and everything are just human constructs not to be followed or believed. An old friend of mine said it, what we’re seeing now is the dying gasps of religion in general. They’ll go down either kicking and screaming or try to appear to by more accepting. It’ll fall flat. Just look at the rate of religious none in the different regions of the U.S. in the northeast a full quarter of the population doesn’t believe in religion. Even the region I’m in now the southeast where the none is 13-15% Belief is fading away.
So recently I had been pricing out mattresses and bed frames. First we went to furniture stores and I’ll be honest those stores are highway robbery. Come on $2,000 for a mattress? Really? and $700 for the frame? Total of $2,700.
I was looking for a queen size. Well stumbled on a Gel Foam mattress on of all places WalMart’s web site. For a queen it was $244. As you can see it cost only 12% of the cost at the furniture stores for the same type of mattress. It’s a Lucid mattress.
The bed frame was $89. It does the job and later on we can go for a platform but I’m a frugal sort and don’t believe in paying a fortune for stuff.
So grand total $333 – so if we compare the totals it comes out to roughly 12.3% the cost as opposed to going through a furniture retailer. Ut si.
Now the bed frame – it does require assembly. I think I glanced at the instruction sheet and said “Shit I can identify the parts pretty easily. And sure enough there are three rails, two have lat holders on only one side, while the central rail has them on both sides. Easy. Took about 20-30 minutes to assemble with the included hex key and wrench.
I will warn you though – WalMart ships via Fedex ground. And they take their sweet mother fucking time. The mattress came after two weeks, the frame a week later.
When it comes time to put another bed in the other bedroom I’ll likely go this route again.
And the bed – super comfy. I like the memory foam. You see, for a better part of my life I’d slept on waterbeds but now of course I don’t want the hassle when we move of having to drain it, roll out all the water etc. But this mattress conforms to my body. Only key difference is that it isn’t heated. But no biggie there. I’m not in the frozen north of the U.S. anymore.
So as I am wont to do I do something special. Be it a meal, or chocolates or flowers. But since the spouse lost his sight the flowers are a no go.
But the meal. I picked up some center cut filet mignon. I preheated the oven to 325F. Then put a tablespoon and half of avocado oil in the cast iron pan. Set the temp to just below medium on the pan. And seasoned the center cuts with pink Himalayan salt and black pepper. About 3-4 minutes per side then into the oven for 15 minutes.
While that was going on I cut three strips of bacon into lardons and chopped up two shallots. When the steaks came out of the oven I transferred them to plates. Then i set the pan on the burner and browned the bacon lardons about 7 minutes. Transferred the bacon to paper towel lined plate and then cooked the shallots for 2 minutes in the bacon fat. Once that was done I put the cooked bacon back in and added perhaps 1/3 cup of half and half. Seasoned it with salt and pepper and spooned that right over the now rested center cuts. Had it with some sauteed spinach. It was perfect.
Let me tell you the sauce is a keeper. It tastes awesome. I’m thinking it would work on chicken, fish, pork you name it.
For dessert it was two each dark chocolate covered strawberries.
I’m now 200 pages into the tome and I have to say the read I get of the Trump administration is that it’s an absolute and utter shit show. Date wise I’m up to the year 2017 and that was a banner year that proved the general ignorance of our President.
The Democrats would do well to read this book. It has enough ammo in it to completely derail a trump 2020 campaign. Because when you have a man who THINKS he knows better it’s a very dangerous thing. Just because you think it doesn’t make it true. And the gaps in his knowledge of European history and even Asian history are astounding.
I just read the part where Rex Tillerson called Trump a fucking moron. I think that’s the most concise summary of the President. The man is a moron. How he got elected I’ll never know well I do sort of know because those who voted for him are also morons. Hillary Clinton was wrong to call them the deplorables instead they are simply too stupid, too moronic and will always vote against their own self interest. It’s actually astounding.
It’s like the man cannot admit the simple phrase “I don’t know, could you please elaborate.” Instead he speaks off the cuff and does so much damage to our reputation as a country that it’s actually sad.
I recall a video I’ve seen of Trump in his more lucid days. He said in the video that if he were ever to run for office he’d run as a Republican because the Republicans were the more easily hoodwinked voters. That’s when he actually had some brains. But as he’s gotten older and more set in certain ways he’s doing an incredible amount of damage to this country. The only advice I could give him is it’s ok to occasionally admit you can’t know everything. It’s why you build a team around you that can help smooth out the bumps. But when the team is just lurching from crisis to crisis it cannot work.
I’m waiting to get to the part where Jared Kushner and Ivanka’s security clearance was just blanket waived as one of the dumbest moves ever.
In essence the authors of the book are simply hanging the President with his own words and deeds. I love it.
So as I’ve mentioned I’m allergic to the pollen of trees and grasses. For the past two days I’m getting nasal mucus but it runs clear which means no infection. And my eyes are itching out of my head.
So back on the allergy meds I go. And the eye drops. Because even at a low level of tree pollen my allergies get unbearable.
Back in December 2019 I’d written it was 72F. Well here we are in February 2020 and it’s raining and 72F. In February. I’m more familiar with it being close to sub zero this time of year.
I also note news media is the same down here as it was in the north. They’ll wax and wane about weather, dead bodies, etc.
Spewing Truth in the face of Lies 