And, just like that, Summer vacation is over.

Now I need a vacation from my vacation...

...which is how you know it was a good vacation.

The third deepest lake in the USA is Lake Chelan, which is an hour from my home (the first is Crater Lake in Oregon, the second is The Great Salt Lake in Utah). Friends and I decided to spend part of our week hanging out at the local big deep.

The weather yesterday was perfect. Plenty of blue sky and sunshine, which means the lake was fairly calm and we could take a boat out to swim and soak up the sun...

Half-way up the 50-mile lake is 25 Mile Creek, where we stopped for ice cream...

It was a fantastic day and a fantastic trip on the lake.

But not all was perfect when we got back.

The condo room I rented inexplicably has a set of stairs immediately after walking in the door...

Now, keep in mind that from the perspective of the photo above, you can actually see the stairs. But if you are on the top of the stairs, you don't see the sides. From your perspective, you can barely see stairs exist and it looks much like this...

Which means that I charged right through the door, concentrating on not catching my bag and suitcase on the closing door, didn't see the stairs... and walked right off the edge, catching myself on the little sink there.

I wrenched by back pretty good, and spent two days of my vacation in pain.

I don't understand how this is even a legal construction. Don't stairs have to have guardrails to keep you from falling off? I'd think that the owners would want to have a railing of some kind for safety. Because even after I learned (the hard way) that the stairs are there, I was still running into them (particularly at night, because the bathroom is just past the sink.

Oh well. I had pills on me so I could push through and have a good vacation despite it all. That's probably the thing to focus on.

Some friends and I decided to do some floatin' on Saturday.

It was bordering on hot, but the water was cold, so it all balanced out in the end.

It seems strange how the water just gets lower and lower every year. Used to be you could float until August. Now it's almost too late to float in July...

Lower...

And lower. I was close to dragging ass at this point...

Duckies were out again this year...

Some with babies...

I didn't see any deer this year, but I did see a raccoon, which is more rare since they usually only come out at night. Guess he just wanted a drink and a quick dip to cool off...

And despite being warned, there were no bears again this year...

And that's my first and only float in 2025.

Yesterday afternoon I was rushing to my car because I was in a hurry for a meeting. I was so wrapped up in the crazy number of things I had to do that I very nearly stepped on a butterfly that was laying on the hot pavement. Despite being late, I ran back to get some sugar water in an effort to revive him. There was no shade, but I moved him to a place that was out of the way and dribbled the water in front of him. He moved a bit, but didn't appear to be drinking.

I had done what I could then headed out to my meeting...

   
When I got back, I saw that the poor thing was back on the street and had been crushed... assumably run over by a car. I'm pretty sure he was a goner anyway, but it was still pretty upsetting.

Remarkably, his wings were still intact and, if you didn't look too close to see that his body had been destroyed, he was still beautiful.

I went on with my life. Maybe appreciating it just a tiny bit more.

But all I could think about was this... If I would have had the ability to put the poor thing out of his misery in a way that was quick and painless (assuming that butterflies can feel pain), would I have been able to do that? Not by stepping on him, which I could not do, I mean finding a killing jar or something. Despite the fact that my beliefs do not endorse taking a life... any life, including a bug... I think that I would. — If one of my cats were suffering, I'd certainly find a way to end their pain. Absolutely. It would kill me to do it, but I would force myself to extend that kindness.

And then my mind took this leap: Would I be able to do that for a fellow human?

And that's a different thing entirely, isn't it?

First of all, it doesn't matter if you're extending them a kindness... it's still murder. You still go to jail over that. But if it's somebody you truly care about. Somebody you love. And you know that they're suffering terribly, and you can end their suffering? Well... what is jail time compared to that?

I thought about this a lot when it came to my mom, but I was grateful to have found perspective at the time that she wasn't suffering. At least not how somebody from the outside would think of it. Her mind was gone. She didn't know and didn't remember. But I sure did. Which is to say that I wouldn't be ending her suffering, I'd be ending mine.

In which case the only life that I was entitled to take would be my own.

Alas, I am totally lacking in compassion for myself, and wouldn't extend myself that kindness.

I may be broiling in the Summer heat, but I must be good to blog... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Stranger, Newer! Look, let's just get this out of the way... it is highly unlikely that ANY show is going to eclipse Andor, The Residence, and Poker Face in my #1, #2, and #3 spots for the best television of 2025. They're just too phenomenal. But if any show has a shot at it, that would be Strange New Worlds. It managed to eclipse the original series as my favorite Trek, and the third season looks like more of the awesome I've come to expect...

   
• Cricket! GAH! I've been replacing some of the outlets in my home with Eve smart outlets. This morning I was replacing the outlet for all my television devices because I want to know how much electricity I'm drawing to be sure I'm not overloading the breaker. The outlet ended up having dual black & white wires, which meant the wire nuts that came with the switch were too small. I quickly ran to the electrical kit to get bigger ones while my Uninterruptible Power Supply was beeping angrily because it had no power. As I was running through the garage, I saw a clump of dirt that must have fallen off the gardening tools I was using this morning. I kicked it under the car so I could sweep it up later. BUT THE CLUMP OF DIRT CRAWLED BACK FROM UNDER THE CAR! BECAUSE IT WASN'T A CLUMP OF DIRT, IT WAS THE LARGEST CRICKET I'VE EVER SEEN! After screaming GAAAAAH! I ran into the house for a paper cup to drop over the insect while I wired the outlet so I could get power back to my UPS. Then I slid a piece of board under the cup and took the cricket out to a nice shady spot in the rock wall behind my home. Sorry, cricket, but I don't want you chirping in my home.

   
• Dip! A friend called and asked what I'm up to. After telling her the killer cricket story, I told her I was making my grandmother's chip dip recipe... except I'm using vegan cream cheese instead of regular cream cheese, vegan mayo instead of regular mayo, tamari sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce, and nutritional yeast instead of cheese. Then I add a little ground black pepper and chili powder to help make the taste of the veggie mayo more palatable. She said "If you're changing all the ingredients, you're not really making your grandmother's recipe tho..." And I was like "Well, the lemon juice in it is still lemon juice... I just substitute vegan ingredients for the non-vegan ingredients. Which is most of them, I guess. Which is to say that I'm not actually making my grandma's recipe after all. Except... I totally am, I think.

   
• Big, Bold, and Beautiful! Well this looks wonderful. A movie that's right up my alley...

Doesn't hurt that the cast is so good.

   
• a-ha! I've never understood the one-hit-wonder status for a-ha. Their debut album and lead single Take on Me are great. Love it. Definitely a hit. But they created a lot of amazing music after. Including Holyground, a beautiful song that defies description...

Lead singer Morten Harket has announced he has Parkinson’s disease.

I flew to New York to see the band on their farewell Ending on a High Note Tour (they were only playing NYC and Los Angeles in the USA). After that they slowed down, but I was so happy they actually kept going.

   
• Pick Me! Lock company sues McNally for showing how easy their locks are to pick. They claim that he "altered" their lock. McNally orders a fresh lock and films himself retrieving the lock from an Amazon locker, opening the sealed box of the lock, cutting an aluminum can to make a pick for the lock, then picks the lock... all without the filming being interrupted. The entire video is two minutes and thirteen seconds long...

I laughed and laughed and laughed. Because this lock company just made things far, far worse for their reputation. He should pick one of their locks live during the trial, assuming the lock company is stupid enough to go through with it.

   
• VARIETY NEWS: ‘Andor’ Creator Says Disney Spent ‘$650 Million for 24 Episodes’ and ‘We Fought Hard’ for Money After Being Told in Season 2: ‘Streaming Is Dead. We Don’t Have the Money We Had Before’ — And every fucking cent is on the screen. This is budget filmmaking. Disney should be thrilled that Tony Gilroy handed them 8 feature films at a budget of only $80 million each. Because every three episodes IS the equivalent. And who makes feature films for only $80 million any more that are this fully-realized and have the talent and dazzling special effects that made them this great? Andor is easily one of the best TV series ever made. It’s the best thing to come out of Star Wars period...

Disney should be begging the guy to do more Star Wars. They should be filling a dump truck with money and backing it up into Gilroy’s driveway to get him to do more Star Wars. This series was an absolute gift to Disney, Star Wars fans, and people who relish great storytelling. Fuck the Empire.

   
And now I'm off! Off the internet Because I'm trying to free up space in my garage.

I really cannot be trusted with dangerous instruments any more.

Yesterday I took a phone call while I was in the middle of cutting out some cardboard pieces. After I finished the call, I went to hang up my phone... didn't realize that I was still holding my X-Acto knife... THEN PLUNGED IT INTO MY FINGER!

It hurt for a second, but I honestly didn't think it was that bad.

Until I pulled the knife out of my finger.

Blood. Everywhere.

I wrapped it in a paper towel I had in my desk, sent a couple texts one-handed on my blood-spattered keyboard, then rushed to clean out the wound and get it bandaged up.

Then come back to clean up the mess... which looked like a murder scene. I felt like I needed to call one of those mafia cleaners or something.

Anyway... it bled through multiple banadages before it clotted. Then this morning it was in pretty good shape, all things considered, and I got to clean it up. Good as almost new!

There was a casulty amongst the carnage, however.

Some of the keys on my keyboard were sticking. Since it's Apple, you can't just unscrew it to clean it out, so I did the best I can with soaking a rag in solvent so I could un-stick the keys. As I was scrubbing to get the residue out of the keyboard, I noticed that my key caps were being wiped clean!

But no problem there. I have a fine-point Sharpie marker!

I thought I was being smart by letting the keyboard dry for a couple hours, but it made no difference. The Sharpie started smearing almost immediately. So much for Sharpies being a PERMANENT marker!

Oh well. Probably need to order a new keyboard anyway since the A, W, and Q are still sticky no matter what I do.

I could be in serious trouble if I need an A&W Root Beer, and we can't have that.

This morning while I was waiting for my second meeting of the day, I took a minute to look at picture frames. I bought a couple prints while I was in Hawaii that arrived, and I wanted to find a frame that might match so I could hang them up.

I was surprised, but not really, to find that a lot of the frames I looked at were made to look like wood... but were actually plastic. And it's like... they've been making cheap picture frames out of wood for forever, so why aren't they still doing that? Is it really so much cheaper and easier to make plastic crap? Heck, even when you find an actual wood frame, it's usually a wood veneer over some kind of cheaper wood. Which ain't great, but at least it's real.

My first instinct was to just make some frames myself, but I honestly don't have the time to do that. It's not a particularly challenging task... but even simple jobs take time that I just don't have right now.

And something tells me that even if I had the time, the wood I'd buy to make the frames would be more expensive than tracking down ready-made wood frames... because that seems to be the way it goes. Big box stores have to add a big markup to cover their overhead and still make a profit, whereas frame manufacturers get to purchase wood direct at wholesale prices.

What I really need to do is grow and mill my own lumber!

But if I don't have time to make a frame I'm sure not going to have the time to make a forest.

Just like I watch Once Upon a Time in Mexico every Cinco de Mayo and listen to I have a Dream every Martin Luther King Jr. Day... I've decided to watch Taking Chance every Memorial Day. It's one of those works where you can't help but tie it to an event in your mind. In the film, Kevin Bacon plays a Marine entrusted with taking the remains of a fellow Marine killed in battle to the soldier's home for burial. It's a well-made movie which isn't worried about embellishing events as much as it is telling a respectful story that's based on something which actually happened...

I knew today was Memorial Day. It was on my calendar and everything. But after my morning meeting (the rest of the world is still running), I somehow forgot. I just started in on work. Then, just before I was going to take a shower and head into the office, one of my foreign colleagues texted "Enjoy your holiday" and I remembered again.

So instead of microwaving my morning veggie burger, I took the time to fry it and harvest some lettuce to go on top. Then I set out my SourJo starter to make bread. And then I decided to play electrician and install the smart outlets I've had sitting in my garage for way too long.

Then it was time for dinner and Taking Chance and my Memorial Day holiday was over.

I only spent about three hours working, so it actually was a holiday. At least as far as I'm concerned.

I was working outside, decided it was way too hot, then decided it was a great excuse to come knock out some bullets... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• New Marriott! New James Marriott is here! Weird video, as usual, but the song is one of my favorites he's ever done. It's always a pleasant surprise when musical artists keep pushing forward like this...

His previous release was darn good too...

His new album, Don't Tell the Dog, will be released on June 13th.

   
• Holiday Road! Even if Rogue One sucked (spoiler alert, it most definitely does not suck), we'd still have one of the most terrifying scenes to come out of Star Wars. And it loses none of its impact no matter what you do to it...

That's Darth Vader unleashed as you'd always imagine him. And, hey, isn't Holidy Road a great song? Makes me want to rewatch Christmas Vacation for the hundredth time. But here's an interesting factoid... Holiday Road was played in all the National Lampoon's Vacation movies EXCEPT Christmas Vacation. And, here's another one for you... did you know that Kesha covered the song last year?

I always love it when somebody decides to make a cover song their own by putting some kind of spin on it that's different from the original.

   
• Justice for Luko! Mickey 17 came to HBO Max and it's surprisingly good, which I wasn't expecting given how it failed hard at the box office, not even making back the money it cost before marketing. I didn't know much about it other than I wanted to see it because Bong Jo Hoon is a genius...

It's a great story that's expertly told (which I did expect). It's also got something to say. Worth a look if you're into thoughtful sci-fi.

   
• 5+5=10!
Well this is interesting...
"That'll be five dollars, mate.'
"Do you have change for a tenner?"
"I do not."
"No worries, mate!"
RIIIIIIP!

You really do learn something new every day.

   
• New Fraser? I kinda lost track of Man Can Cook because while it was fun at first, it ended up being always the same thing... a guy cooking while his dog (Fraser!) sat there. But the other day Facebook had this video in my feed...

Dan is likely not planning on trading in Fraser permanently, but it's nice that he realizes he needs to try different things from time to time.

   
• Young Hotness! Nothing quite like running across an old driver's license to make you realize how old you've gotten!

Dang. so hot back then. No idea what happened. I'm talking about my signature, of course. I'm just as hot as I've always been! My signature is a complete mess now.

   
• Feed. Hungry. Kids! I'm going to put this riiiiight here...

The fact that lunch programs in schools aren't free to any child, regardless of money or paperwork, is abhorrent. The fact that there are people who are perfectly happy to let children starve says all you need to know about where humanity is at right now. These kids have absolutely no control over their circumstances, and people need to stop acting as if they've somehow done something wrong just by existing.

   
And now back to our regularly-scheduled nonsense.

Spending money is something that I try to avoid whenever possible. I'd much rather save it for a rainy day when something goes wrong and I really need it. Which is to say I don't have to have a bunch of luxuries because I'm a lot happier knowing that I have some savings in the bank. Which, when you think about it, is the ultimate luxury anyway. Rare though it may be.

After you get past the true luxuries needed to survive in the modern world (at least to me)... your health, clothing, a place to live, food to eat, a job, health insurance, a car, a phone, a computer, internet, a television, music, and books... most everything else is gravy. Here are my top ten unnecessary luxuries once the basic necessities have been covered...

1. Central Air — When you live in the middle of hell during the Summer, this is the very definition of luxury. Going from window or wall air conditioning to an HVAC system seems very much like magic. Cool air in every room of the house... all at the same time?
2. Washer & Dryer — Not having to go to the laundromat to wash your clothes? Being able to wash whenever you need to? Does luxury get much better than that? Like a garage, you never realize how nice it is until you have it. Could I go back to doing my laundry away from home? Sure. Would I want to? Not really.
3. A Garage — The winters can be brutal here. The Summers are brutal here. Yet I never had a garage until I moved to the home I'm in now. I never even had covered parking. Which means I've scraped a lot of snow and ice off my automobile. And I've climbed into a blistering hot car more times than I can count. But that's not even the most luxurious part of having a garage... it's the storage! And if you're a woodworking fan who has a lot of power tools, that's about as good as it gets. As is being able to park outside and use the garage as a wood shop.
4. Lawn Sprinkler System — I don't need a yard. I'd honestly rather not have one. But if I do have one, watering it is something I dread. Having to set a timer to move a sprinkler around your yard, then having to get up and actually do it isn't a horrific task. It's just a really inconvenient one. But the best part of having a sprinkler system isn't even that... it's luxury of being able to water at 2am when the sun won't evaporate it off your lawn and waste expensive water! And even better than that? Not having to find somebody to water your yard while you're away. That's brutal.
5. Garage Freezer — I've never had any freezer except the one that was in my refrigerator. And it's never enough space. Whenever there's a big sale going on for frozen goods, I find myself playing freezer Jenga to try and make as much room as possible for cheap food. Except that's never all that much space because there's barely any to begin with. As food prices were reaching all-time highs early this year, I saw a sale on a garage freezer and slapped down my credit card. And, let me tell you, it's a luxury of luxuries for me. I've cashed in on so many sales that have saved me a ton of money on things I am eating anyway. It makes me wish I had spent a bit more money and bought a bigger one. I didn't because I thought I'd never fill it up waste electricity freezing nothing. I was so wrong. But still... I now have triple the freezing capacity, and that's not nothing.
6. Power Tools — Being able to fix stuff that breaks so you don't have to hire somebody... or being able to make something more cheaply than having to buy it... is a critical necessity to me. Never mind that I've likely spent as much money on tools as I've ultimately saved, but having a hobby you enjoy is the real luxury here.
7. Automated Litter Box — It's not that I care about having to clean a litter box, it's that I am not available to clean it constantly and Jenny doesn't like to use a litter box that's too dirty. That's a serious problem when I have to travel or go to work. Not having to clean cat poop up off the floor or using an odor removal spray when cleaning up urine is pretty great. The problem is that most automated litter boxes make a worse mess or are unsafe. Getting an actual Litter-Robot to keep things clean and safe for my cats is a luxury on many levels.
8. Air Fryer Multi-Oven — When appliances drop in price to be so cheap as to be ubiquitous, the least expensive models usually having the least amount of features. Air fryers can be found really cheap, but all they can do is air-fry foods. Which means that you end up with four different appliances doing slightly different cooking things. But when my fryer died, I ended up spending a bit more money to try and consolidate appliances and free up some room in my kitchen. My air fryer (which is bigger than my old one) also doubles as an oven, a grill, a rotisserie basket cooker, and has a dozen other modes for all kinds of cooking. It's quickly become my go-to way to cook. The only thing I don't use it for is baking bread. It's so remarkably handy and energy efficient as to be considered a luxury to me.
9. Backup Cam — Where I live, a car is more a necessity than a luxury. The real luxury for me was paying off my car and not having to make that payment every month. Until last December when the used car I've had forever finally died and the cost to repair it was more than it was worth. Not caring about having an expensive car, I walked into the showroom and asked what was the cheapest new-ish car they had on the lot. I was expecting a car that was 2 or 3 years old used. Instead I ended up with a new car because it was only slightly more expensive than an older car with a lot more miles and far less warranty. I was pretty raw about the fact that I was paying for a bunch of features I didn't want and didn't need. Including a backup camera. Except... once you have a backup cam, it's very hard to go back. It's a luxury that you get accustomed to very quickly.
10. Floor Scrubber — I spent countless hours with a scrub brush trying to get my kitchen grout clean. And almost as much time trying to get my hardwood floors looking clean. Never worked. Getting an Oreck Commercial Orbiter Scrubber changed everything. Scrubbing floors has never been so effortless and effective, and that's a luxury that I'm increasingly grateful to have.

HONERABLE MENTION: Ninja Creami — I don't eat a ton of ice cream, which means whenever I buy some means it goes bad before I can eat even a quarter of it. And the smaller containers are way too expensive. Being able to "creamify" ice cream or other frozen treats from just about anything on a small scale at any time at all is a dessert luxury! The good news is that you can often find them at a good discount. The bad news is that they release new models with added features (the latest of which can dispense soft serve!).

Not on the list as it currently stands is travel which, for most of my years, was a priority to me. Couldn't really afford to do a lot of it, and so I did volunteer work that had travel attached so I could add a few days for myself once I was sent somewhere. It's a lot cheaper to pay for a couple nights of hotel and food after the flight was covered by work! But now that I've been lucky enough to have seen a lot of the world? Not such a priority. Very happy to stay home with the cats.

Oh yeah...

I was going to say that having a voice-controlled "smart assistant" is a luxury, but here's a conversation I had with Apple's fucking useless Siri "assistant" tonight...

At which point I had to go back upstairs and get my laptop so I could open the Find My app, locate my iPhone, tell it to play a sound, then run to back downstairs to find it before my cats freak out.

Such a luxury.