Well, today didn't go as planned. At all.

There's a lot that I could say about current events.

But I think that this TikTok from Pastor Paul Drees is the closest to how I am feeling about things, so it's probably best that I just go with it instead of trying to dance around what I'd like to say... what I should probably say... or something I might immediately regret if I say...

"Health care" in these United States is utterly fucking horrendous.

You've got an entire industry whose entire point is to take money out of the system. It serves absolutely no other purpose.

If all the money that the American people paid into "health" insurance only for insurance companies to FUCK THEM OVER was instead put into actual health care, we'd be paying less for far, far more.

I had to go nearly three fucking weeks without medication prescribed by my doctor because my "health" insurance company wouldn't fill it without "prior approval." And it's like... my doctor says that I require it. That's all the fucking approval you fucking need. But no. They had to deny the prescription. Then my doctor had to send in paperwork asking for approval. Then the insurance company had to process shit while I waited. Then I'm guessing the CEO of the insurance company had to fly to St. Barts on their private jet for a week to consider if, in fact, they would allow me to have what my doctor says I need. THEN they decided to allow the prescription to be filled.

Two days after my medication was finally in my hands, I got a letter telling me how "pleased" my "health" insurance company was to approve my prescription request.

For the love of God I don't understand how Americans have been continuously conned into thinking that this is the way health care should work. Forget one greedy fuck at a fucking insurance company... the entire country should be in goddamn flames over this bullshit.

And perhaps one day it will be.

Blessed as I am, it's easy to find things to be thankful for.

But there's a lot of baggage that comes with this American Day of Thanks. Personally for sure, but also as a country. That's something that all too often gets overlooked and it really shouldn't.

This remains my favorite take on it all...

The two Addams Family movies are genius. I don't know why we never got a third with that incredible cast.

Snowy weather may have kept me from working in the yard today, but it didn't keep me from blogging... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Garbage! Remember how I was chuffed to bits that I managed to get everything in my garage put away so I have a dry place to park this Winter? This past Wednesday I realized that I forgot to leave room for my garbage can. In the Spring and Summer months I keep it outside because the heat makes it smell and I don't have to worry about trudging through snow to get to it. But now is when it's far smarter to have it inside, so I had to spend an hour rearranging all my junk so it would fit. WHY, LORD? WHY IS LIFE SO HARD?!?

   
• More Hallmark Than Hallmark! I lost access to Hallmark Channel, so I haven't seen any new movies in a while. Which is a wild adjustment for me to be making considering how I watched every new movie they ever released. But I can still enjoy the parodies, and this couple has some that are better than most...

This one is even more hilarious...

It's funny. But entirely accurate.

   
• XXX! I hate having my time wasted. And an increasing cause of time being wasted are companies adopting technology, then abandoning it without shutting it down. I bought a new Whirlpool oven. There's a Photoregister service where you can take a photo of a code and text it to register your product. But even though my photo is perfectly legible, I get the error "Sorry, we were unable to read that. Please reply with the code on the bottom of the camera icon."

I blurred out the number at the end because I don't know if having my serial number out there causes problems, but you can see how crisp and perfectly clear the number is in the image by the first three numbers

So I scream then enter the code manually, double-check I have it right, AND GET THE SAME FUCKING ERROR. Jesus. How is this useless fucking technology helping your customers? Just give me a fucking QR code for manually registering to begin with.

   
• Buggy Bugs! iPhone: You've Got Mail! Except when I click it tells me I don’t. This happens CONSTANTLY. It has been reported as a bug for years...

And yet Apple, with their billions of dollars, refuses to allot resources to fix it.

   
• Doon Episode Two! The money that HBO must be dumping into Dune: Prophecy is astounding. This series looks better than most movies. Everything from the sets to the costumes to the incredible special effects... it's so very cool that they're making sure the show has the budget it deserves. It's like they can feel that this has the potential to be their next Game of Thrones and they're doing what they can to make it happen. The preview for Episode 03 has me seriously bemoaning that we're only getting six episodes...

I choose to look at it as a very long movie instead of a short season. Here's hoping that they reeeeeally stick the landing on this one so we get a second season.

   
• WELP! Apple's "Apple Intelligence" ad campaign has been about the stupidest thing I've ever seen. It's not a tool to help you be more productive... it's a badly-implemented crutch for people who are lazy morons! This sums it up nicely...

Maybe eventually AI will become something I give a shit about, but from what we've got right now I'm more embarrassed than impressed.

   
• Start with Garbage, End with Garbage! And, speaking of AI, I can't believe that Adobe has their Stock Images defaulting to AI-Generated images being ON by default. If I wanted an AI-generated image, I'd go to a fucking AI-art generating tool. I wouldn't go to a stock art website. God this company has turned into the absolute fucking WORST. I just accidentally bought an AI-generated image because I didn't see the little "AI" tag they don't add until you hover over it. Well, sorry, I don't support that bullshit personally, and I certainly don't tie it to my place of employment where people would rightfully bash them for stealing photos and art. Lord. If you're going to sell this shit, default to it being OFF... and make the damn disclaimer tag be permanent and not turning off and on based on where your mouse is...

This isn't rocket science. Any guesses as to whether or not my excluding AI will stick and be permanent?

   
Back to watching the snow fall on this very snowy day.

This morning a so-called "Bomb Cyclone" (AKA "Winter Hurricane") slammed into Washington State. I'm across the mountains from the coast so it wasn't anything I needed to worry much about, but it did give us the first serious snowfall of the season. Things Seattle-side were a bit more dire as high winds, heavy rains, and power outages (600,000 people without electricity) were the order of the day. Then tomorrow night the forecast says we get to do it all over again, this time with blizzard conditions in the mountains.

As I'm typing this the snow has turned to rain, which is strange this late into November. I remember when our first serious snow used to happen late October and run through March. Now it's more late November through February or early March. Climate change is a heck of a drug.

In non-Judgement-Day-related weather news...

1. I managed to get all my Fall yard prep completed except cutting down my big hydrangeo bush. If I'm lucky, there'll be a break in the weather for the weekend to make things easier on me.
2. Remember how I was chuffed to bits that I managed to get everything in my garage put away so I have a dry place to park this Winter? Today I realized that I forgot to leave room for my garbage can. In the Spring and Summer months I keep it outside because the heat makes it smell and I don't have to worry about trudging through snow to get to it. But now is when it's far smarter to have it inside, so I had to spend an hour rearranging all my junk so it would fit.
3. I am seriously considering building a larger/warmer cat shelter when I build my new pergola/catio on my back porch. Something that can integrate outdoor-rated heating and be easy to hose-out and keep clean. The shelter would be a part of the design, but separated physically and visually so my cats and any neighborhood cats staying there wouldn't be bothering each other. I do love a project, and this sounds like a fun one.

And now back to hoping that my gutter drainpipes are clear and the drainage pads are directing water away from my foundation properly. I gave them a quick look-over, but if the rain really does end up being problematic tomorrow night, that's probably not good enough.

Story of my life.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was mad that the new faucet I bought was opposite in operation from the faucet that it replaced... despite being the same brand, Kohler! It was also opposite of every other single-handle faucet I've ever used where the HOT water is away from you and the COLD water is nearest to you. Which only makes psychological sense, because you'd want the more dangerous option to be the furthest away.

I thought I might be crazy in my expectations, so I posted the following photos to Facebook and asked which they would expect to dispense hot water. The overwhelming majority said that the left photo was the correct photo.

Except when it comes to the dipshits at fucking Kohler, where it's not.

A part of me wonders how shit like this happens. Is there like one designer guy who makes all the decisions and just doesn't give a shit? There's no quality assurance person there to say "Whoa! All our other faucets have the hot water dispensed when the handle is away from you! Let's fix that!"

I still don't know if I will swap the lines to the opposite way that they've been marked on the hoses. I'll wait until my ribs are mostly healed again to decide. Though I suppose I should ask fucking Kohler if there's some ramification from correcting their stupid fucking mistake by switching things up. Could be that there's a special gasket for the hot water and running it through the cold water part will void your warranty or some such stupid bullshit.

And now I'm fucking furious all over again.

This is bullshit.

I miss my mom most days... but her birthday, Mother's Day, and Veterans Day are probably the hardest. Veterans Day because that's when I'd take her to Applebee's Grill every year for her free dinner. It's a really nice thing they do, and I miss it.

Ten years ago I got ran over by a van at the Marseilles airport and ended up with a cracked rib. It was really, really painful. So painful that I thought for sure I had fully-broken ribs but, no. Apparently even a small fracture is enough to put you in agony if you breathe too deep or cough or bend wrong. I don't think it ever truly healed, because there's been a handful of times that I've banged my side or run into something where the pain comes right back.

As I was crawling under the sink yesterday to install my replacement faucet, I fell on the side with my once-fractured rib and... pop. Here we go again. Agonizing pain. I had to take a handful of Advil so I could sleep.

When I woke up this morning, I was groggy and not thinking clearly and rolled over on my side. At which point I terrorized the cats because I let out a yelp. Yep. Still in pain. But that was nothing compared to the pain of what I discovered when I was cooking dinner tonight.

My new faucet either A) Had the cold line label on the wrong line... or B) the temperature handle on this new faucet is the opposite of how every faucet I've ever used operates (including my previous Kohler faucet that this Kohler faucet is replacing). When I pull forward, it's hot instead of cold.

And, yes, I know which lines are which. Not only does the hot line have the dishwasher water supply coming off it it, I made sure that I had the right line by running hot water through it and feeling the pipe. I am nothing if not cautious and thorough when it comes to stuff like this.

I am understandably outraged.

Once I'm able to climb back under the sink without my ribs making me want to cry, I'll have to switch the lines. If I hadn't gotten used to having it backwards by then.

=sigh=

It's always something.

In the anxiety-riddled night before today's election, I decided to bask in the glow of a little retail therapy. Which is tough to do when you don't have extra money to spare but, hey, it's the little things in life, amirite? Just because you're web-shopping doesn't mean that you actually have to buy something.

Except when you do.

As I mentioned on Sunday, I've not had a working oven for months. Since the end of June, I think. I've always had it in my head that I'll make do with my air fryer and toaster oven until a compelling enough deal on an oven comes along. In other words, I want a good-quality mid-priced oven at a low-priced cost. And that usually means snagging a Black Friday deal, though I think I've historically gotten my best appliance deals on President's Day for some reason.

So while I had no plan to purchase anything, I started looking at various sites to see what model I might want to get if it ended up on sale.

And lo-and-behold, Home Depot had a "Special Buy" price of $750 on a $1,100 model that I would never purchase if not for the fact that the sale price was only $50 over than the high end of my $650-$700 budget (which ain't all that much given the cheapest models hover around $500).

And so... money be damned, I bought it. They're bringing it on Thursday.

Never mind that I had to spend an additional $40 for a new power cable to get my "free" installation, plus another $50 to have my junked oven hauled away... I'll be able to bake again, and that's what matters.

To be honest, I don't think oven I bought is worth $1,099 because it's pretty basic. I think they priced it that high just so they could create a "Special Buy" to get people to think it's this massive bargain they can't pass up. It does have "Air Fry" and "Air Baking" modes (like most ovens do now-a-days), which is nice I guess. But the big feature they tout is "No Preheat" technology, which is kind of silly because I've never preheated an oven in my entire life, and my air fryer already did this (an air fryer I'll probably still use because it's small, gives perfect results, and uses less energy than an oven). But other than that? Eh. I can cook stuff with it.

My old oven (which is comparable to this one and cost $600) lasted 8-1/2 years.

Which, to be honest, is 3-1/2 years longer than I expected, given how everything is built to be replaceable instead of being built to last any more.

I had toyed with the idea of getting it repaired because it's probably just an element gone bad, but the oven suffered some major damage almost immediately when my mom with dementia got confused and cooked plastic in it. I managed to eventually get it all scraped and scrubbed off, but doing so destroyed the finish of the oven box which made it impossible to keep clean. Spills never wiped off... they fused to the metal interior no matter how quickly you tried to remove them. Which hasn't been a fun way to cook for all these years. I lived in fear of grease spatter and drips. Hopefully my new oven will manage to stay cleaner longer.

And so... now I'm poor.

But at least I'll be able to bake bread again, because trying to do that in a toaster oven hasn't been great.

Lies and betrayal are very hard to get past.

Because it can be hard to break away from what you get latched onto.

Just like the octopus in this adorable video, some people are content to stick with trash they've somehow picked up along the way... passing up on something much better because they're waiting for something absolutely perfect to come along. Sometimes you're lucky, like this octopus, and perfect gets served up to you and you're able to leave your trash behind for greener pastures...

But what if perfect never arrives? Then you've just saddled yourself to garbage for the rest of your life.

I've worked very hard to let go of the things (and people) who have screwed me over, made my life worse, and had essentially became unhealthy trash I was stuck to. But throwing your trash in a garbage bin doesn't mean that you're entirely rid of it. You have to then take the trash out, which can be a messy task. So you might end up delaying and delaying and delaying, because you don't want to get messy. In which case it's still around, making you aware of it occasionally when the bad smell wafts your way.

Then hopefully one day when you've finally gotten tired of the smell, you take the trash out.

At which time you hope it stays wherever it gets hauls away to, all while secretly fearing it will come crawling back into your life one day.

Then the news comes that it got buried in a landfill a while back.

At which time you might be conflicted about your feelings. So you choose to drop the negative and focus on the positive. You try to be thankful for the happy times you once had. The times when you were blissfully unaware that you had become attached to trash that would eventually unleash an avalanche of garbage on your life.

What else can you do, really?

Clinging to bitterness and hatred turns you into the garbage you managed to escape from.

And do you really want to be the trash in somebody else's life?

I may have finally turned the heat on to make my cats happy, but never fear, I still have money left to blog... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Bread! Yesterday I baked a loaf of bread for a neighbor, but since my oven is broke I had to make it one of those flat loaves and bake it in my toaster over. It turns out pretty great, all things considered. But then all I could think of was freshly-baked bread, so I checked to see if my starter was good to go, and...

Bread for me today. Except I actually made rolls, because I figured it would be easier to make sliders or little sandwiches that way. =sigh= I sure hope that there's some really good deals on ovens for Black Friday... or, more likely, for President's Day. I want to be able to bake stuff again.

   
• Winner Winner! My favorite game show is Pyramid (which started as The $10,000 Pyramid). I remember watching it with my mom when I was a kid, though I think by then it was The $25,000 Pyramid

What's surprising to me is that even though you know all of these runs are winning runs, it's still stressful! There's some great players on here. Noticeably missing is Rachel Dratch, who is spooky-good at the game...

I kinda wish there was a way to play that game for everyday people. I mean, sure, they've made home versions over the years, but it's not the same experience as pairing up with a celebrity on a show stage with an audience and playing. Guess I'll just have to apply one day or something.

   
• And Speaking of Game Shows... There's loads of game shows out of the UK that I obsess over. The two most notable being Taskmaster and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Absolutely nobody does game shows like the Brits when they are celebrity competitions. Nobody. Since there's no real contestants and just famous people having a laugh, it gets absolutely bonkers, and is so much fun to watch. Take for example...

I don't know why we don't do more of this kind of thing on our side of the pond.

   
• Early Days! Somebody shared this video of gymnast Ian Gunther asking other gymnasts he's performing with to sign a photo for him... but it's not a current photo, it's a photo of them when they were young...

The reactions are priceless. I love stuff like this.

   
• Stranger Things! Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide and had a brilliant teaser for a sequel when Clea showed up in the post-credits scene. But the most exciting part? Somehow they got frickin' Charlize Theron to play Clea!

So where is Doctor Strange 3 on the development slate? We keep hearing about new Avengers movies, new Spider-Man movies and the like... but no sequel to a near-billion dollar film that people are dying to see? Is Kevin Feige still in charge at Marvel Studios? What's going on there?

   
• And speaking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Doctor Strage... You can't put this much thought into super-hero movies...

Wanda was done pretty dirty. I mean, yeah, I get it... kinda compelling to have an innocent hero get corrupted in a way that makes them become a villain. And Wanda did turning to The Darkhold would only speed up that process. But come on! The Scarlet Witch has been abused to death in the MCU, and it's beyond bizarre that they don't seem to be interested in redemption for the character. I keep hoping that this will be rectified... maybe it will happen in the Vision Quest mini-series... but the longer they wait the more it seems like nobody cares.

   
• NEWS: A Pregnant Teenager Died After Trying to Get Care in Three Visits to Texas Emergency Rooms! So much blood on these asshole's hands, and yet NONE OF THEIR SUPPORTERS GIVE A SHIT! This country hates women. HATES them. Their only purpose is breeding stock to make more labor and more cult members. Other than that? Oh it's always "Oh well" and moving on to more death.

As I'm typing this, somebody on Facebook just commented "...if women die because of a problem with the baby, that's God's will." And I am like, if absolutely everything that happens is God's will and He's an all-powerful being Who can make anything a reality, then why didn't God just design it so that terminating a pregnancy for any reason results in immediate death? If He's God, then He could absolutely have designed it to work that way, right? — Then the conversation spiraled into "the devil" and "temptation" and "God's wrath" and every other bullshit thing you can think of from a person with no critical thinking skills who hasn't studied the Bible even a little bit. I am so fucking tired of this shit.

   
And now back to my toasty 72° homestead.