Groceries. It’s a long, boring story why I needed to shop for groceries yesterday morning, but that’s what I did. At Walmart.

The place was a bit busier than on a typical weekday night, but nothing like I was thinking it would be. I was surprised, but pleasantly so. I guess a shitty economy, weeks of black friday sales, upcoming cyber monday, lack of decent discounts, and the shift to online shopping have reduced the crowding in stores on that one specific day.

Last night I looked around a bit online just out of curiosity. The sales and discounts were pitiful.

The only stuff that caught my attention were gaming related items, but nothing was compelling enough to actually purchase. The games are still on sale for a few more games, so plenty of time to change my mind. And for the controller, I figure I’ll wait and see what the pricing is on the new Steam controller. There was a part of me that considered buying the PS5 controller now while it’s on sale and returning it if/when the Steam controller comes out if I like that better. But then the color I wanted most was more expensive than the rest, so I said fuck it.

I went black friday shopping one time back around 2005 or so before online retail was a dominating force. I get why some people enjoy(ed) it and think fondly of it, but that was an experience I don’t want to repeat. All day long so many stores were packed with people, it was hard to get around and slow going. My anxiety is ramping up just thinking about it.

I ended up at Walmart yesterday morning (black friday). Not to shop the sales, but to get some much needed supplies. I was expecting it to be hectic and not looking forward to the trip. The place was barely more busy than any random weekday night. The only spot that was a bit crowded was at the entrance where they’d placed a bunch of pallets of TVs that constricted the space where people could move.

It was nothing like the great DVD stampede or the 256MB thumb drive fiasco of my first black friday shopping trip.

You probably know this, but for others who might not: MS is now allowing some/many/all (???) people to extend the security updates for Win10 for another year free of charge. You have to go into the Windows update area and click a button to accept. At least in the USA, this seems to be a somewhat newly available option, as it was there the last time someone asked me to look at their laptop to see if I could upgrade it to Win11.

Bock bock BAGOCK motherfucker

I like turkey. It certainly can be cooked in ways where it comes out too dry. I don’t like dry turkey breast very much either. But well-cooked juicy turkey dark meat is my jam, no pun intended. And besides, everybody with even the slightest modicum of common sense and good taste knows that the real treat is turkey sandwiches from the leftovers.

Swap a few of the tires with spares and change the color to gray and I’d swear I’ve seen that vehicle flying down the interstate at 80 mph (129 kph).

It was a single PHP file containing upper tens of thousands of lines of code (i.e. probably 60k+ but I no longer recall the exact amount). And the horrors didn’t stop there. Function names and code formatting were haphazard, some functions were descriptive enough to be helpful(ish) like check_if_first_friday_of_month() but most were literally along the lines of function12() with no comments to indicate the purpose. A̸n̶d̷ ̴t̵h̵e̵ ̸h̷o̵r̶r̸o̷r̵s̸ ̸d̷i̸d̵n̷’̷t̶ ̵s̶t̴o̸p̸ ̷t̵h̶e̶r̵e̶.̴ This application was storing sensitive personal information in the database in plain text. And the horrors didn’t stop there.

Congrats to the developer, though. This project was the one that finally got him fired and he immediately pivoted into a management position at a big tech company (don’t recall which but it might’ve been Microsoft or IBM) making an order of magnitude more money.

The more you learn the more you realize how little you know.

At the moment, I can’t even think of anything I miss that would still be there in my home town. The place has changed so much that the only thing it shares with the town I grew up in is its name. So, in a contemporary sense, I’d have to say I don’t miss much anymore.

If I could go back in time, I’d love to take another walk through the woods I used to play in when I was a kid. They’re gone now, cut down for a factory that’s no longer in business.

Also, I think it would be neat to go do my grocery shopping and run into my aunt and cousins or an old friend I haven’t seen in awhile. It was a small town, so it was almost guaranteed if you were shopping in town, you’d run into people you know and like.

And thus far, neither have you. Neither have you.

I called it the other day: This is the same crowd that has used “cocksucker” as an insult for at least as long as I’ve been alive, and now they’re going to turn on a dime – especially if this rumor ends up being true (or persistent).

But also, there’s a vast difference between mocking the head of a party that is overwhelmingly anti-LGBTQ+ in this manner to point out their hypocrisy, versus making homophobic statements about gay men in general. This is no different from making fun of trump/JD/Rudy for the photos of them dressed in drag when the whole party is and has demonized drag queens and the art of drag.

Taco Bell is the master of shrinkflation. Last time I ate there, the 5-layer burritos were missing 2 layers and the remaining ingredients were so microscopically thin I honestly believe an amoeba could safely wade through them without drowning.

Excellent example of reverse psychology. If you tell me I have to do something, I’m going to do the opposite. Time to wet ceiling.

Tell him it tastes like Bill Clinton, if you know what I mean.

I found a box turtle’s upper shell in the woods next to my yard. It was so old that all the scales had already fallen off and it was just the white colored shell bone itself. I thought it had potential as a decoration in my garden, so I bought it home, cleaned it up, and set it out to dry.

Next day, the shell is gone. I figured something like a raccoon might have picked it up and carried it away, so I went looking, and sure enough it was laying right up at the edge of the woods. I noticed it looked like it had some chew marks on it, but I figured I had just missed them when I was cleaning. Anyway, took the shell back home again, set it out. A day or two later, it was gone again. Rinse and repeat for a week or so.

Then one early morning I stepped outside first thing and saw a squirrel sitting at the edge of the woods gnawing on the turtle shell. And that’s when I found out that squirrels also eat bones of dead animals. From my understanding based on random internet searches, it’s usually pregnant females who are seeking supplemental calcium.

Quite some time ago, the messaging I was getting from Microsoft was that Windows 10 security updates were going to end this year. I didn’t really keep up with the news on that front, but I did notice that there was some kind of law suit in the EU that from what I recall basically came down to the fact that MS would have to continue to provide security updates to Win 10 free of charge for EU users.

Literally within the last week, a buddy of mine asked me to look at his computer and see if I could upgrade it to Win 10. I could not, as it doesn’t have a supported processor. But what I noticed is that MS now offers the option to extend security updates until 2026 with the click of a button.

So, thanks EU folks! Already knew ya’ll were awesome, but I assume this change of heart from Microsoft was a result of that suit. I appreciate it.

Hard to make any real conclusions or make any specific helpful recommendations/observations without making a lot of assumptions. If I were going to, though, I would say that it sounds like you’ve taken on too much and you’re burned/burning out. And it might be worth a little introspection to try and prioritize what’s important to you, then trim expenses and activities if there are any that can be cut.

When I see myself headed towards burn out, that’s what’s worked for me. Granted, this is still a lot of work and can take a bit of time and effort to get to a better place in life.

Sometimes there are low hanging fruit you can tackle. For example, some nights we just have cereal for dinner. Not the most nutritious thing, but easy to fix, easy to clean up (relatively speaking). Maybe it only amounts to 15 less minutes of work that night, but 15 less minutes of work goes a long way when you’re exhausted. Also, the kids are taught to help out with basic stuff like putting away toys, making beds, and even feeding the pets.

Another low hanging fruit is simply learning to say no (to yourself and others). If you’re the type that’s overwhelmed because you can’t help but take on more or you just can’t find yourself being content and enjoying the moment, then you’ve gotta put the work in there, realize you can’t keep it going or that it’s simply not worth it. Easy to say, I know.

A bit of an anecdote: A buddy of mine ended up having a health scare and basically cut back at work to the point where he qualified for various forms of government assistance. I know he wasn’t exactly proud of it, but it kept food on the table and a roof over his and the kids’ heads, and gave him the time and space to focus on his health and be more present for the kids.

Granted, we all know this is just bullshit divisive online drama meant to drive engagement, so this is mostly tongue in cheek.

I can’t speak for everyone, but here’s my deal. I’m already sporting the equivalent of a knitted sweater and wool pants BEFORE I even put on a single article of clothing and my body temperature runs higher than average. I simply do not experience cold the same way that a lot of other people in my life experience it. My feet, hands, and arms might get cold. Even my head and my core sometimes get cold. But I don’t think I’ve ever truly experienced “cold legs”.

Shorts are a major quality of life thing that allow me to better control my body temperature. Also, my modern adult life means I’m indoors 20+ hours a day, largely against my will. Let me maximize the quantity of my physical comfortable, especially if I’m already having to deal with miserable people in an overheated office/room/building with essentially no air movement. Just makes more sense to dress in a way that’s appropriate for the majority of my day.

Keeping in mind, though, that I also do wear pants at times, and it’s not always shorts 100% of the time. But it’s enough that people do sometimes make comments. Mostly lighthearted, but not always.

Doing crystal meth will lift you up until you break.

I did that once and woke up in Gaffney, South Carolina with a house wren stuck under my coat.