Blogging can't be dead... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• CosMc's! McDonald's is going to take on Starbucks with a concept beverage shop they're calling "CosMc's." Now, I don't drink coffee, so I mostly don't give a shit about Starbucks, but I admit to being more than a little intrigued by CosMc's. Mostly because they don't look to be as coffee-focused (though there's a lot of coffee on there). When you look at the drink menu, there's plenty of cool-sounding beverages that I'd 100% try. Plus there's some food items I might like... and sandwiches I'd give a shot once I modify them to be vegetarian (why the fuck they can't put a single fucking vegetarian sandwich blows my mind). But, alas, I'd have to fly to Chicago and drive a while to get to the only

I WANT ME SOME McPOPS, DAMMIT! And all of those sundaes.

   
• SPEECH! I'm a sucker for a good wedding speech (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

   
• NEWSFLASH: No joke: Feds discourage humorous electronic messages on highways Oh thank heavens. Because we have no bigger problems to work on. Guess what? THE ONLY REASON THAT PEOPLE PAY ATTENTION TO THESE SIGNS IS BECAUSE THERE'S A CHANCE THEY'LL BE FUNNY!

   
• Emmy! I don't give a shit about the Emmys. I really don't. The shows I love and feel deserve recognition rarely win, so what's the point in getting invested? As an example, Andor, one of the most remarkable shows to ever appear on television (and my favorite show of 2022) didn't win anything. Insanity. They gave it all to Succession, which is one of the shittiest fucking shows I've ever endured, and I remain dumbfounded that people love it as much as they do. But anyway... one show that I was happy to hear won again is Last Week Tonight, which is hilariously funny while also being incredibly disturbing. And John Oliver is a genius, as you can see in his post-Emmy appearance on Jimmy Kimmel...

He's a national treasure. By way of Britain. But now an American citizen.

   
• Nine Months to Make a Baby! I don't know if anybody else is following the drama that is the Royal Carribbean Nine-Month World Cruise... but it's been a lot. Remember just a few days ago when I was talking about the rough seas of the Drake Passage? The cruise just sailed that. And even though the people documenting the cruise were taken back by the strength of the waves, they actually look calm compared to what I remember going through. But even so, there's been flooding on the ship which has created even more drama. It's delicious.

   
• Inclusivity is Good! It's so fucking hilarious how assholes outrage farm over the stupidest stuff. Like Santa, who... SPOILER ALERT... is a fictional character, must be a white, able-bodied character. And if he's not then, HOLY SHIT, it's an attack on the REAL Santa! AND I AM GOING TO RAGE ABOUT IT AS IF IT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT FUCKING ISSUE IN THE WORLD TODAY! Well, if that's a pressing issue for you, then good. Because THE ENTIRE WORLD IS NOT ENTIRELY ABOUT YOU! (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

And it just gets crazier and crazier the deeper you go. People talking about how Santa is Nordic, so he has to be white and can't be anythng but white. AND IF HE'S IN A WHEELCHAIR, THEN HOW CAN HE DELIVER ALL THOSE PACKAGES?!? Oh... I dunno... THE SAME FUCKING WAY HE'S ABLE TO GO DOWN A CHIMNEY?!? Jesus.

   
• NERD! I gotta tell you... as a architecture nerd, I am finding the most amazing content on YouTube. My latest find is a show called How Did They Build That? and it's SO. FUCKING. COOL. Right now I'm on the second episode, which covers the Twin Copper Tilted Towers of New York, the Cultural Center and Library of Athens, and The Hive building of Nanyang Technological University of Singapore. It's glorious. I could watch this stuff all day long day after day...

If you're into this kind of thing, I can't recomment the Banijay Science YouTube channel highly enough.

   
Have a blogtastic day!

Yesterday I was all ready to have Apple unleash the "nuclear option" to see if the data of mine that they destroyed could be restored. This morning I called. The guy I talked to had no clue what this "magical restore" could be. He'd never heard of it. He didn't know why I was told it existed. It doesn't. Apple makes no backup of their customer's data on iCloud Drive in the event they have a catastrophic failure. There's nothing. There's no data saved anywhere that they can restore from. So first Apple doesn't tell you that Time Machine won't backup iCloud Drive files. And then they don't take any precautions to save your data if they fuck it up.

Sooo... what's gone is permanently gone.

Not because of anything I did. I used the service as it was designed. I dutifully bought an iMac with a pricey external drive to back up my stuff via Time Machine. But because Apple doesn't give a FUCK... and doesn't give a single shit about their customers... I'm screwed.

I fucking hate Apple with the passion of a thousand suns. THEY misrepresent. THEY lie. THEY screw up. But not a penny of their BILLIONS OF DOLLARS is used to safeguard their customers over THEIR mistakes.

After fuming all day, I arrived home to make banana bread.

I'm one of those people who buys bananas and "forgets" to eat them so they over-ripen, then the only thing I can do about it is make banana bread...

But I make banana bread MY way.

No lumps in my banana mash. I purée that shit. No spices. I want all the banana flavor and don't want it covered up. Extra walnuts. AND ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NO RAISINS! I only eat raisins in oatmeal cookies or on their own. Never in cinnamon rolls or breads or pastries or anything else. Oatmeal cookies have that oatmeal texture to take the edge off the raisin texture so I don't get skeeved out.

A sweet end to a shitty fucking day.

I became a vegetarian on Earth Day, 1986. Back then it was no easy task because the many food options we enjoy today didn't exist. Finding meat substitutes at the local grocery store was difficult if not impossible, so I ended up making weekly trips to the health food store... a very expensive endeavor.

As the years marched on, access to more reasonably-priced and better-tasting vegetarian options for all my favorite foods became easier. Burgers, bacon, hotdogs, sausages... it was all there. And my diet today is much the same as it was in the 1990's. Except now I can get an Impossible Whopper at Burger King. Now-a-days, being a vegetarian is easy. It's going vegan that's hard.

Because there's one dietary staple I simply cannot give up: dairy & egg products.

But not for lack of trying. This past year I've made a real effort to ditch milk. I mostly buy almond or soy milk. And it's fine. I love to drink chocolate-flavored faux-milks (mylks, they're called now?). I have no problem putting vanilla or plain mylks on my cereals. Everything that I used to do with milk works with imitation milk. I'm good. But there's three things that there is no adequate substitute for...

Ice Cream
This is not a deal-breaker. I can live without ice cream. I don't eat a ton of it anyway. Juice bars are good enough. But still... there are times that it's the perfect treat, and the vegan options aren't great.

Eggs
I don't really have to eat eggs. So long as there's a substitute to use in baking cakes and such, I could give up eggs without too much issue. I use maybe a maximum of a half-dozen a month (mostly in baking). I'd eat a lot more for the protein content, but I don't like the smell that comes from cooking them. When cooked at home, I eat them mostly scrambled inside of breakfast burritos. But if I'm at a restaurant? Over medium on toast all the way, baby.

Cheese
I love cheese, I live for cheese, most of my favorite dishes are built around cheese, and giving up cheese would require a radical shift in my diet that I'm not prepared to make. Currently, I've not been able to find a vegan cheese that is in any way acceptable to eat.

If a vegan cheese is developed which has the texture, cooking properties, and approximate taste of real cheese, I could become a vegan overnight. I wouldn't even have to think about it. And I really hope that day is coming. If Burger King's "Impossible Whopper" has taught me anything, it's that the science of plant-based foods is seriously breaking barriers.

It's only a matter of time.

But will it be before I die?

Food-shaming "influencers" can fuck all the way off.

Because what they're about has absolutely nothing to do with wanting people to eat healthier. It's all about making people feel bad about what they're eating... regardless of WHY they're eating what they're eating.

Especially "influencers" like this nightmare who honestly thinks that they're doing something with their shitty condescending attitude...

I've covered up this "influencer" because I don't mean to be sending any hate their way...
this is just one example of a huge problem that I picked to illustrate my point.

"This is not food." YES IT IS. It's not the healthiest food, but it's food. And if you'e working three jobs to get by and the only thing you can afford and have time to eat for breakfast is an Egg McMuffin and a McHashbrowns THAT'S OKAY. If you have difficulty cooking for whatever reason and this is what you can manage? THAT'S OKAY. If you don't have a kitchen available to cook food? THAT'S OKAY. Eat what you can eat and don't let people who don't care about you shit all over you for it.

"Imma keep saying it until y'all hear me!" Okay, I heard you. Now if I tell you that I don't give a shit about your food-shaming rhetoric, will you leave people alone? Because everybody already knows this. It's not news. Nobody eats at McDonald's for its health benefits. And your treating people who eat McHashbrowns like they're stupid and don't know any better just makes you a horrendous piece of shit.

If you want to suggest a way for people to eat healthier and peddle it to people who are looking for that information content, then go right ahead. But food shaming makes me crazy because the gall it takes is just beyond the pale.

Unless you are going to pay to have healthier food made available which people can afford... and have access to... and fits their particular situation...

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP!!!

Seriously. Go eat a head of lettuce and just fuck off already.

Yesterday on my way into work I decided that I wanted some of that cheddar popcorn I like so much. So I stopped at the mini mart, grabbed a Coke Zero and a bag of the popcorn and made my merry way to the office.

Then, once lunchtime rolled around, I grabbed my Coke from the refrigerator and opened the bag...

And was disgusted by what I was tasting. It was awful. Tasted like chemicals poured over a pair of crusty gym socks. I couldn't understand it. Until I looked closer at the packaging and saw that Smartfood didn't just update their packaging... this was a "Simply" version of the product that was low-calorie or whatever...

   
"GAH! THIS POPCORN IS WOKE! I exclaimed.

Because people seem to be incredibly fond of using "woke" to describe things they don't like now-a-days, despite it simply meaning to be awake and empathetic to what challenges other people are facing. But People who don't give a fuck about other people have co-opted it, branded it as "wokeness," and use it to show people just how un-empathetic they are towards anybody but themselves...

Brilliant creator unknown.

Today I went back to the mini mart to buy a replacement for the WOKE popcorn I had to throw out because I was still craving it.

Mmmmmm. Yummy.

Yes, from now on I'll be very careful to buy only UN-WOKE popcorn.

The way God and the Founding Fathers intended it to be.

The thing about using a grocery delivery service is that you never know what you're going to get. Although with services that are independent of the store, you can reasonably expect that a good shopper will shop on your behalf and pick out nice produce and try to find everything you buy. Not so much when the service is run by the store. Because they want to give you the stuff that they won't otherwise sell, which means older, less nice produce.

Take for example my last grocery order.

I had a recipe which needed 1-lb. of shredded carrots. So that's what I ordered...

But what I got was one massive carrot that was as big as two bananas...

Which would have been fine, except it was only 12 ounces. Just 2/3 of what my recipe called for. Which meant I had to head to the store after all...

See... it's times like this that I would have avoided a big headache if I would have just gone to the store to buy my groceries to begin with. Which is why I'm seriously questioning if I want to renew my "Fresh Pass" when it comes due. Something to think about, I guess.

I had just finished cleaning up my kitchen after dinner, and then I noticed that... oh noes... I had bananas going bad! Which of course means I am required by law to make banana bread. This time I made it in tiny little loaves. So convenient! And they cook in 35 minutes instead of an hour!

I was anxious to try the new egg-replacer I bought, but I don't want to waste the eggs I have left, so I did not. I did use plant butter in the recipe and on my plate though! That makes them almost-vegan!

Late night surprise nanner bread is the best nanner bread.

This morning I was hungry enough to eat breakfast, but not hungry enough to cook the eggs, hash browns, and toast I wanted. So I microwaved a couple hotdogs and headed off to work. Yummeh.

When I got home I wasn't nearly as exhausted as I usually am, so I nuked two more hotdogs for dinner and decided to install my guest bathroom speaker into the ceiling behind where the access panel will go. My cats hid upstairs because I was screaming obscenities the whole time. But I did it...

...barely.

If I could have found a quality bracket I would have gladly paid for it, but instead the only one that would work for the position I needed was a $20 cheap piece of crap. The screws in particular are soft, cheap, and shitty that were stripped out with zero effort (like more screws you get with cheap crap). Plus the hinge mechanism is stupidly designed. And, as if that wasn't enough, the instructions left out a critical piece that I had to figure out on my own.

Hopefully it doesn't fall down and ruin my grossly overpriced Sonos speaker. Wouldn't shock me in the least.

Now what I really need is to celebrate this achievement with a couple of hot dogs for dessert. Considering people in my home can continue to party with music while using the bathroom is worth celebrating. Because one of those people is me!

I have come to terms with the fact that ALL vegan "cheese" is going to suck. Yes... even that vegan cheese you think is awesome... it sucks at being cheese.

Which is not to say that some "cheeses" aren't good in their own right. Like Chao Field Roast. It's not cheese... but I do like it for what it is.

I've tried a few fake parmesans, but they are gut-wrenchingly awful. So I've been leaning hard into Nutritional Yeast, which I love. My beloved Caesar works extremely well with vegan mayo because there's so many other things in that dressing which are vegan and taste great, and extra Nutritional Yeast gives it a cheesy kind of bite...

Soooo... along with the many vegan recipes people have been kindly sharing with me... I think I'm set. No, I am not 100% vegan. I will likely revert back to being vegetarian when eating at restaurants and traveling and such. But I'm "vegan enough" for me now, and not suffering too much. Hopefully there's a health benefit in that.

Don't worry, I don't take a day off for my birthday, so it's business as usual up in here... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• NEWSFLASH: Apple co-founder calls out 'hypocrisy' of politicians calling for TikTok ban — I am really glad that more and more people are speaking up on this bullshit. Especially when they are as respected as Steve Wozniak. As I have said over and over and over... why is TikTok being singled out and punished for something ALL American social media companies and American tech giants (like Google) do? Facebook can take my tracking data and personal viewing habits and sell them to Chinese companies... and that's okay... but a Chinese company monitoring my viewing habits and location directly is not? American social media companies can promote their interests to their users EVEN WHEN IT PROMOTES CHINESE INTERESTS, but Chinese companies can't do this themselves? By all means, continue to monitor how our information is being collected, distributed, and sold. We should definitely be tightening up on that and forcing companies to keep their users informed. I 100% support that. But when it comes to banning companies who collect our data? Either you ban it for ALL or you ban it for NONE. Period.

   
• NEWSFLASH: Delta pilot shitfaced on Jaegermeister jailed for 10 months — Oh come on. Who among us HASN'T attempted to fly a plane while shitfaced on Jäegermeister? Oh. Only me and this guy? Never mind.

   
• MAKE MINE REPAIRABLE! My dryer stopped working this past week. I have absolutely no money for repairs or replacement. But three hours and much Googling got me on track to fixing it myself. Thankfully. These old school dryers with physical switches and knobs are a godsend to self repair. I could have never got through this if I had one of those modern touch screen models where you have no choice but to replace the whole board (which is often more expensive than buying a new machine). And this is exactly why manufacturers use them now, of course. If your appliances have to be replaced every six years, they make more money. — I am thankful every day that my friend told me I was stupid if I got rid of the original Speed Queen appliances that came with my home when I bought it (these were made before Speed Queen had to go on the cheap and started making models that weren't as good). I would have almost certainly had to either replace or pay absurd amounts of money to repair my washer and dryer if I had replaced them with "modern" appliances.

   
• Quiet! I watched the new documentary, Quiet on Set about all the horrific shit that went on at Nickelodeon during its heyday, and I am both mortified and not the least bit surprised. It just goes to show that exploiting and endangering kids for entertainment is still going strong...

But here's the thing that really gets me. The primary guy the documentary focuses on, Dan Schneider, offers up a half-hearted defense with "Multiple network executives approved the content and look of his shows and that dozens of adults were on set and never raised concerns." And it's like... YEAH! THAT'S NOT AN EXCUSE! IT JUST MEANS THAT ALL OF YOU FAILED THESE KIDS!! How is that not fucking glaringly obvious? There's a lot of responses being bounced around, but the only one I care about is what Cory Feldman has to say, because that guy has been sounding the alarm for decades...

People independent of the studio need to be on-set to look ou for child actors. Period. Because studios only give a shit about money. Period. And they don't care what they have to do and who they have to exploit to get it. Period. Just look at the guy Corey is talking about... Brian Peck. After he was fired from Nickelodeon and served prison time for sexual abuse of a minor, HE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY HIRED BY DISNEY! Good Lord. It's unreal how children in the entertainment industry aren't looked out for by somebody.

   
• Babe Bullshit! To this day I wonder whether or not Vani “Food Babe” Hari is just a straight-up liar... or if she's a self-delusional ignoramus who has absolutely NO idea what the fuck she’s talking about. Because the amount of misinformation she throws out is mind-boggling. And people somehow believe her crap...

In a day and age where we should be questioning where we get our information, not enough people are challenging these dipshits in the world who are making a buck off of people's ignorance. That's how we get crap like "The earth is flat!" and "MSG give you cancer!" or whatever. But fortunately there's a growing number of educated people like "Food Science Babe" stepping up to do the job. The problem is that not enough people are listening.

   
• Pizza! This is not safe for work. But it's funny enough that I am compelled to share it...

That must be some amazing pizza.

   
Hope you're celebrating my birthday as hard as I am!

I had to wake up early so I could have an early drive to an early doctor appointment that was early.

Color me shocked, there was no traffic down the usually-heinous-especially-on-a-Friday 405 East of Seattle. I anticipated a 40-45 minute commute. I did it in 18 minutes. Which means I was nearly an hour early for my appointment. I was a bit hungry (and finally feeling like eating again), so I decided to grab breakfast. Much to my delight, a Panera was 8 minutes away. Perfect.

Boo! BOOOOO!!!

Boo, Panera Bread!

Instead of the gooey, delicious, egg over-medium that you used to get, they’ve switched to that same gross, spongy, slimy "egg" that McDonalds has! DAY. RUINED. I was all "Guess I’ll just sit here in the parking lot of the eye clinic and cry." AND COULD YOU BLAME ME? LOOK AT THIS! JUST LOOK AT THIS!!!

Argh. And the shit was really expensive too.

Boy oh boy did I used to love being in a city that had a Panera in it.

But back to the traffic (or lack thereof)... what is going on? Roads in Bellevue were practically empty. In Bellevue! Didn’t even have to use express lanes to drive 65 the entire way to the city... ON THE 405, FOR GOD’S SAKE. Did The Rapture happen three days early? Are we in a National Day of Mourning because somebody famous died?!? Please tell me it’s not Skylar Astin! I need more So Help Me Todd!

But anyway... mission accomplished.

More or less.

Going vegan has been a lot easier now that I've killed my dream of finding a fake cheese that tastes any good. Almond and soy milk? Great. Plant butter? Fine. Fake sour cream? Okay. Veggie mayo? I'm getting used to it. Fake cream cheese? Eh. Fake eggs? Nah. Fake cheese? No. Fuck no. Absolutely not. So... for my peace of mind, I'm going to keep eating regular dairy cheese on occasion, just in vastly smaller amounts. Probably when I am at somebody else's house, eating out with friends, or want a small treat for myself. What's weird is that I feel myself kinda getting over it. I'm betting in less than a year I won't even miss it very much..

What's been harder? Cutting down on sugars. Especially processed sugars.

I threw out all my chocolates, candies, and sweets. I have some sugar-free stuff that I'm hanging onto, but I'm going to try to cut down on it too (all except the Coke Zero, because I need that). And it's been tough. Not being able to grab candies or cakes or cookies or whatever is hard when you were raised in the USA. That's our diet here.

In order to curb my sweet tooth, I've gone back to one of my most favorite things.

Freeze-dried fruits.

Mostly apples, but also strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, mango, bananas, and such. Unlike dried or dehydrated fruits, where the vitamins and minerals are cooked out of them, freeze-dried leaves all the nutrients intact. Also, instead of being tough or chewy, they're light and airy and crisp. Also, freeze-dried doesn't have sulfites or added sugars and whatnot. It's just delicious fruit and I love it.

The problem is that freeze-dried fruits are RIDICULOUSLY expensive.

And so I'm going to start saving up for my own freeze-drying machine. A good one (AKA Harvest Right) is $2,400 because I only need a small one. But you need replacement vacuum pump oil and a a chamber vacuum sealer and other stuff. Which is to say that you need closer to $3,500. And it's like... okay. That's a lot of money, but being able to buy fruit on sale in season and freeze-dry it myself will have the machine paying for itself in about two years (if I keep eating fruit at the rate I am now).

I mostly eat it right out of the container or bag. It's like candy. But I like putting it on crackers or even toast (crispy toast!)...

And, if you like the idea of stocking up for after The Rapture, many freeze-dried foods can be stored for a very long time.

But that's not all...

You can freeze-dry all kinds of stuff. Herbs and vegetables being other great ideas. You can store all the ingredients for an amazing vegetarian soup. Or veggies to make anything, really. I love rehydrating a teaspoon of onions for a veggie burger (I actually prefer freeze-dried to fresh on burgers, it's what McDonald's uses!). Freeze-dried tomatoes and peppers are amazing to add to just about anything (or just eat by the handful). Freeze-dried corn, green beans, and peas are also good snacking. I love tossing them in with rice to steam microwave. Or with cooked potatoes. Or throwing them in with pasta a couple minutes before draining. The possibilities really are endless.

And so... yeah... really want my own freeze-drying machine. But saving up $3,500 will take a bit because I've got a few more repairs to make in my home, a bunch of stuff to do outside, and I'll need wood for my Summer projects. There's always something to spend my hard-earned cash on.

Except clothes. I figure I'll just pick those up off the street from all those people who got raptured without me.

Yesterday I spilled pizza sauce on my T-shirt and ended up doing a load of laundry for all my T-shirts. Today I spilled chocolate soy milk on my T-shirt... but since I didn't have any T-shirts left to wash, I washed it with my dress shirts. I don't know what I will spill on my T-shirt tomorrow, but whatever it is, that T-shirt is going to have to be washed with a load of denim. So I should probably plan on wearing a dark-colored T.

Ah to go back to the day before all this madness happened when I was just eating tacos and not spilling shit all over myself. It was a simpler time...

I guess from here on out I need to start wearing a bib or something.

Proving once again that life really does come full circle.

Deciding to treat yourself is something that's increasingly difficult to afford. But after the bad week I had been having, I decided to stop at McDonald's on my way home yesterday for a couple breakfast biscuits (hey, I'll eat vegan at home).

But instead of the delicious fluffy biscuit I've come to expect, I got a tough, chewy, mockery of a biscuit that was (literally) hard to swallow...

It's like COME ON. Why would you serve an overcooked, shitty biscuit like this? Especially when you're charging a butt-load of money for the privilege of buying one? It's as if restaurants are all too happy to serve crap food and make unhappy customers if it saves them 10¢ to just cook another biscuit. Well, lesson learned. McDonald's doesn't care about serving food worth buying, so I guess I won't.

And then there's this...

Keith Lee is the hero we need right now.

I stopped eating at Chipotle Mexican Grill a couple years ago for exactly this reason. Don’t keep raising prices only to give me less food. And, yes, I know that it's the individual restaurant franchise which sets portion amounts. But if enough people refuse to put up with it and enough people stop eating there, then Chipotle Corporate is going to have to do something.

So now I’m taking a pass on Chipotle for crap portions and McDonald's because I’m tired of getting stale fries and tough biscuits. That's on top of other restaurants that I gave up on long ago like Quizno's and Johnny Rockets. The only fast food I’m eating now is Burger King for their incredible Impossible Whopper (and onion rings)... and Wendy's for everything they offer that’s vegetarian-friendly, because it’s always fresh and tasty (PERFECT FRIES AND BISCUITS EVERY TIME!).

I’m happy that people are done with being taken advantage of by fast-food restaurants that are no longer worth it. Maybe they’ll get the message and stop expecting people to pay for their bullshit.