As somebody who sweats more than what you'd think is humanly possible. Especially when it's unbelievably hot or muggy outside, there are few antiperspirants that really work for me without going for a prescription. My current one of choice is the Old Spice "Soft Solid.

As the name implies, it's not a liquid that you roll on... and it's not a solid that you brush on. It's in-between. You screw up the product through a top that has a bunch of holes in it. A really good idea which works well.

What doesn't work well? The fucking knob you use to twist up the product. It is not a solid piece of plastic. It's a knob with three small tabs that connect to the screw mechanism. Tabs that break incredibly easily. If you drop it on the floor? Knob breaks off. If you turn too hard? Knob breaks off. If you don't press in the right way while turning? Knob breaks off. It's incredibly frustrating given how a tube of the stuff is around $9.50. Your only option is to throw the tube away when the knob breaks off... or glue a piece of plastic into the screw so you can turn it.

Last month I was at the store and couldn't find the soft solid. I was mortified it had been discontinued, but then found out that they had stopped making the tube red, but changed it to white. The first thing I did was turn it over to see if they had fixed the stupid-ass knob. They had not...

And, sure enough, the fucker breaks as easily as ever. If you look closely at the photo, you can see that one of the three flimsy tabs that connect the knob to the screw has already broken off (the red one on the left broke off completely).

Now, one could infer that this is a money-saving or environment-saving deal. But it really can't be. The amount of plastic involved is fucking miniscule. I mean, just look at the knob on this tube which is 1/3 the price...

Which is to say that the only reason Old Spice pulls this bullshit is in the hopes that the knob breaks off so that people have to toss it and buy more product sooner than they otherwise would have if the knob wasn't a piece of shit.

Guess I'm looking for another deodorant. Try to have some understanding if I walk up to say "hi" and am sweating through my shirt.

I had to run home to meet somebody this afternoon.

And then had to rush back to work afterwards because I had a Zoom call I needed to be on. Usually this wouldn't be an issue because it only takes me 4 minutes to make the drive.

But this is me we're talking about, and so...

=sigh=

I don't know why I can't catch a break lately.

Probably because this is me we're talking about.

This morning on the way to work I noticed the bare mountains in the distance and started wondering if we were going to get decent snow-pack this year so we're not facing drought come Summer 2027. This year was more brutal than I had hoped, but certainly not as bad as it could have been. I mean, sure I wasn't able to float the river because water levels dropped before I had a chance... but at least there wasn't water rationing.

I had to leave work for a bit to have my annual plumbing inspection back home. While the inspector was wandering around my home turning water off and on and draining my water heater, I was wandering around picking up my messy house. At one point I took out the recycling and noticed that there were more mole holes dug in my lawn. I really, really hate that, but when the alternative is killing the poor things, I'll just try my best to ignore them. The sad thing is that I've tried everything I can think of to get the moles out of my yard... from sonic stakes to mole repellant. Nothing works. At best all I manage to do is move the moles from one part of my yard to a different part of my yard.

After a hectic day at work, I arrived home to greet my cats and finish cleaning the house. Somewhere in the middle of it I realized that it would have been my grandmother's 109th birthday today! We were very close, so that was a punch in the gut I wasn't prepared for. I toyed with the idea of running out to the cemetery and leaving some flowers since I gave her flowers on her birthday and Valentine's Day every day, but I didn't want to attach sad memories to something that ended up being a tradition between us.

And then I saw the new extended trailer for Avengers: Doomsday...

Pretty amazing, that.

And now... time for bed, so I can get up in the morning and start all over again.

It's gotten to the point where I must disconnect from the world for at least one waking hour each day. It's just too much. The level of cruelty, ignorance, violence, and stupid that's inundating all aspects of our lives day after day after day is simply not mentally sustainable.

And so... I'm trying to read or play a board game each night before bed.

It's not the perfect solution. The perfect solution would be a giant meteor destroying the planet. But it does make the assault of daily living a tiny bit smaller.

And I feel incredibly grateful I am lucky enough to be able to dip out for a bit each day. All too many people are not so lucky.

   
Last night I had to put a blanket on my bed. I'm so ready for Fall.

The night before I left for vacation, I stubbed my pinky toe on a door frame. It was more painful than you'd imagine it would be, so I'm guessing I must have hit pretty hard.

While I was on vacation, I was wearing shoes most of the time, so my toe wasn't a big deal. At night I was always so tired that I would just fall asleep without thinking about it.

Then I got back home.

My toe feels mostly healed because it's not in pain or even all that tender.

But every once in a while I will bend my foot wrong and the entire side of my foot is aflame in pain. Not just my toe. It's agony, and I have a hard time getting my foot to "unlock" itself so I can move it again. No idea what that's about, but it's annoying as all get out. Jake likes to lie on my legs when I'm on the couch. Last night he was asleep on top of me when, out of nowhere, crippling pain. And it was all I could do to keep still so Jake wouldn't be thrown off.

I sure hope this nonsense ends sometime real soon. Otherwise I'm going to have to start wearing shoes in the house, and I am most definitely not a fan.

I am mostly dead today. Sitting in my living room with air purifiers on full blast trying not to die from having been out in an Air Quality Index of 258.

In other news... the surprise fourth season of Ted Lasso has been airing. And it's got a real meta thing going on.

This series is about Ted coaching women's football. Which, as you can imagine, has many fans of the show outraged because it's a different take on Ted Lasso than the show they fell in love with. Which proves the entire point of the new season. And the show-runners drove that home by having a shareholder's meeting. After the Greyhounds were discussed (or rather, not discussed, thanks to Roy Kent being Roy Kent) and the conversation switched to the Lady Greyhounds, most of the room got up to leave.

But, hey, to me even the worst season of Ted Lasso is better than most of the other crap on television...

And now? I need to pack a suitcase...

The problem with having smoke allergies during wildfire season is that you're sick all the time. It never stops. All the classic allergy symptoms plus a constant headache plague your every waking moment. And while you'd like nothing better than to sequester yourself in a room with multiple air purifiers, it doesn't work like that because life must go on.

You dope up with antihistamines and Advil and go to work.

Or you try to.

This morning I left the house without my backpack containing my weekend work and my laptop. Turned around and went back for it. Then I got all the way to work and realized that I left my MagSafe wallet at home. Turned around and went back for it. And then I walked into my office and remembered I wanted to bring some toast with me. At which point I said "screw it" and found some stale crackers in my filing cabinet that were close enough.

And the week is just starting.

I woke up in a coughing fit. At first I thought I was dying because I had my 11th COVID vaccination, but it turns out I had just spent too much time outside yesterday.

The coughing was bad enough, but it turned out I disturbed my cats, which got me death stares. They may sleep for 20 hours a day, but losing even the five minutes they were awakened before they fall asleep again is infuriating to them.

Oh well. They don't have to sleep on my bed. They choose to.

I have an industrial washer and dryer that was left by the previous owner. To save water I've been waiting until I completely run out of something before I was a load. Because the size of my appliances means I can. For example, I don't wash T-shirts until I've worn all my T-shirts. Today I just put on my last pair of clean underwear. Which means I have to wash underwear when I get home from work.

Any bets on whether or not I'll forget?

Just checking in to let everybody know that I'm still alive during my 11th COVID vaccination and the 7.3-second full gravity reversal that happened yesterday! Sure I woke up with a bit of a sore arm, but I'm totally not dead. At least not yet.

OR AM I ?!?

For all you know I could totally be dead and typing this from beyond the grave.

Given that the air was new levels of toxic thanks to the wildfire smoke everywhere, I certainly feel like I'm dead...

You can just make out the nearby hills on the left-hand side there. Which is to say it's not a good day to have smoke allergies like me. I end up taking all kinds of pills and inhaler shots to keep my lungs from itching and driving me insane... and aspirin to help push through the headaches.

There ain't enough medicine on earth to take care of the watery eyes and runny nose though. Those I just have to live with.

OR DIE WITH, if you're paying attention.

Though it's entirely possible that I've been AI all this time. Which would be cool because it means the trillions of dollars spent on the crap was worthwhile for something.