Thanks to our "No More Wars" president needing to distract from the Epstein Files, my trip to Seattle and back is going to cost a shit-load in fuel. I nearly crapped my pants when I went to fill up yesterday and found out that I was paying $5.49. God only knows how much it will be next week when whatever new presidential scandal escalates the need for an even bigger distraction.

For the past several days I've been cleaning something in my home so that I come back to a clean house instead of the Pit of Despair that I've been wallowing in for weeks. Usually I'm a much better housekeeper than this, but I've been consumed with work and there's no time to keep up with it all. I just don't have the energy. It's all I can do to cook meals.

Which is a shame, because there's a list of recipes from my stack of vegetarian cookbooks I've been dying to try.

But frying a Beyond Burger or tossing a frozen meal in the oven is my current limit, alas.

Back in December of 2024 my faithful Toyota Corolla died. I had helped my mom purchase it in 2006, then took it over when she could no longer drive. Afterwards I donated my Saturn to the veterans, and the Corolla rolled on with not too many problems (except the brakes, which I had to replace in 2024). I am not a "car guy" so my plan was to drive the Corolla until it died, which I did.

My sister made it clear that I had to run out and get another car so I could make it over the mountains for Christmas. Not trusting myself to get a used car because I'd have no idea what to look for (I worried about inheriting somebody else's problems) I went to the Toyota dealership and asked for the cheapest car they had.

Which turned out to be another Toyota Corolla. It was so new they hadn't even gotten all the plastic wrapping removed.

After waiting for them to get it ready, I went for a test drive and ended up buying it. It was a car that could get me from Point A to Point B, and that's all I needed to know.

The car is fine. Nothing special. And since I have nothing else to blog about today, here's my thoughts.

• I like blue cars. All my cars have been medium-to-dark blue. But since I needed the car immediately, I got what I got. Which is grey. I didn't care. The issue is that this kind of grey is everywhere now because all the car manufacturers have been releasing new models with it. The tone is slightly different between manufacturers (mine has a nice purple-ish blue undertone), but this is the color of the moment. Which can make it a challenge to spot your car in the parking lot. I have walked up to totally different brands (and even other Corollas) from the beginning. I'm still doing that.
• Like all modern cars of this class, the construction isn't the greatest. I had random squeaks and creaks from the first week. It's disappointing, but unless you have $250K to spend, it's what there is.
• One of the features I was happiest to have was CarPlay. It's a screen that allows you to control stuff while using your iPhone as the "brain" of the car. The problem is that Toyota's system software is shitty, which means it doesn't always automatically connect to my phone. 75% of the time I have to press a button on the display to initiate it. And it pisses me the fuck off. Once I select CarPlay, I don't ever want to see the Toyota system ever again.
• Another feature I was thrilled to get was a wireless charger. Except the charger is shit. It doesn't work at all. It will start charging, but then fail-out in a minute. I have the most popular phone in the entire fucking world, and Toyota's charger won't work with it? And it's not just me... everybody complains about it. Why the fuck say that you have a wireless charger if it doesn't actually wirelessly charge anything? Toyota should be sued for lying and forced to fix it.
• One of the coolest features that comes with the car is remote access. You can remote-start the car, unlock the car, and the like. After a year it stopped working and you have to pay for it. And that's fine. I know that the cellular communication required isn't free. I don't mind at all. Except you can't just buy the remote access by itself. You have to pair it with Toyota's music service (when I already have iTunes and Google Music) or pair it with their mapping service (when I already have Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze, etc.). It's so fucking stupid, and I won't do it. Just let me buy the part I want, assholes.
• The backup camera (which I think it required in American cars now?) is nice, but it would be equally useful to have a forward camera that you could engage when pulling up to something in tight quarters. I wonder why auto manufacturers don't get on that?
• I was going to buy an electric car because electrical power is relatively inexpensive where I live. But I balked at the idea of having to purchase a new battery when this one dies, seeing as how they're almost as expensive as the car itself. Since I don't drive a lot, I went with gas-powered, figuring it would be cheaper in the long run. But now regular unleaded gas is $5.49 a gallon where I live thanks to the president being a dumb fuck asshole who needed a war with Iran to distract from his being named in the Epstein Files. All over nuclear weapons he had already "decimated" with his last distraction. Now I wish I had spent the extra money to go electric.
• This Toyota is slightly wider than my old one. Over a year later and I'm still not used to it. I have to turn into parking spots later than I used to in order to be centered, and it messes with my head. This is a basic car, not a luxury vehicle. I'd prefer something more narrow, not more wide.
• My car is nearing 16 months old and I've never washed it. I just let the rain clean it. When it's not raining, it's a bit dirty but I just don't care.
• The car comes with blind spot indicators on the side-mirrors. It's a nice feature, but I remain paranoid that they will fail, so I still do too many head-checks.
• The car also has lane guidance and proximity detection. This means that if you drift out of your lane, your car will guide you back to the center. If you come up too close to the car ahead of you, your car will slow down. Both would be great if they worked consistently, but they really don't. So I leave them turned on and stay on high alert like I always have.
• I have yet to read the manual. Which is nothing special... I've never read the manual for any car I've ever owned. But in this case I should read the manual because the electronics are so much more complex. Many times needlessly so. I want to make the dashboard illumination brighter. No idea how to do it. Instead of a knob somewhere, I'm guessing there's some menu setting hidden in a maze of menu settings. Annoying.
• I found out that it's next to impossible to purchase the base model of any car. Manufacturers make a base model so they can say the car is cheap... but dealerships make less money on them and don't want to carry them. So you always have to buy "packages" with extra features you probably don't want or need. That was definitely the case with my car. I paid nearly $3,000 over the base price. If I wasn't desperate, I probably wouldn't have done it. I would have tried to order a base model.

Ultimately, one year and a few months on, I'm happy enough with my car. It was more expensive than I wanted to pay and had more features than I needed, but it's still basic and fairly inexpensive by today's standards.

And it works, which is all I truly care about anyway.

Blergh. I was too tired to work last night, then didn't feel like working on Saturday, so here I am trying to get it all done on Sunday night. Just like I was back in school! But don't think that's going to keep the bullets from flying... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• D2! One of my most favorite video games of all time is Minecraft Dungeons. I love it so much that I ended up buying it for my Xbox S|X because the copy I had for my Nintendo Switch ended up stuttering when there was too much stuff happening on-screen at the same time. Fortunately, that's mostly cleared up on the Switch 2, even though the game hasn't been optimized for the platform. I have been yearning for a sequel ever since I played through the last of the DLC packs, and was beginning to give up hope. And now? Minecraft Dungeons 2, baby!

Such a fun game. I hope the sequel is beyond my expectations.

   
• Centimeters! This is the funniest thing I've seen in a minute, and I'm compelled to share it...

The pain on his face! Oh noes!

   
• Future Imperfect! Yeah, I don't know how "real" this video is, but the trajectory of what's being said seems like it's entirely accurate...

Which means this is nothing less than a horror film.

   
• The Source! WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT! WHEN ADAPTING A BOOK INTO A MOVIE, STICK TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL THAT PEOPLE ALREADY LOVE!

I'd say this is a no-brainer, but soooo many books I was dying to see adapted got fucked up beyond recognition. So, in that respect, Ryan Gosling is a fucking genius. But there's always some director or some studio exec who wants to "put there stamp" on something... which is just saying that they don't want to do their job. Your "stamp" should be STAYING FAITHFUL TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL! I can't wait to see this film because I loved the movie so much.

   
• Fade Left! Oh man. Coming from Washington State, I assumed that I could make a free left to a one-way everywhere. I shudder to think how many times I've broken the law when driving in other states. AND NO FREE LEFTS AT ALL IN MAINE??...

I used to go to Maine twice a year for work, and took free lefts ALL THE TIME! Yikes. It's a miracle that I didn't end up with a ticket.

   
• NEWSFLASH: Afghan father, former U.S. military ally, dies in ICE custody in North Texas. — I am disgusted to my very core. This man risked his life to save the lives of American soldiers in Afghanistan. He's a hero to this country. He was brought here legally. He was in the process of immigrating legally, as was promised him. By all accounts he was doing things "the right way." And yet he was still abducted by ICE and is now dead. We may never know what ACTUALLY happened. What we do know is the promise of ICE removing only "illegal" criminals is a fucking lie. The blood is on our hands for allowing this. There's a right way and a wrong way to go about the immigration challenges we face. This is the wrong way.

I hope his family sues. I hope they win millions. But it will never be enough to compensate them for their loss. Nothing ever will be. Rest in Peace Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal. You deserved so much better at our hands.

   
• Meta Versed! Apparently Mark Zuckerberg's "Metaverse" is now dead...

Which is essentially makes it NFTs 2.0...

Apparently Meta wants to take the billions of dollars they were pumping into the "Metaverse" and instead pump it into AI. And while I never cared about the "Metaverse" and wished them well, I don't have the same attitude when it comes to AI. I want that bullshit to become NFTs 3.0.

   
• Dig Duggar! So there I was looking through the news when I saw that old story about one of the Duggar kids from 19 Kids and Counting being arrested for child sexual assault or misconduct or something horrific. I didn't understand why they were rerunning the story from years ago until I realized it was a different Duggar...

I was just relieved that it didn't turn out to be one of my favorite YouTubers, William Osman...

For the love of God I don't understand this country's love affair with conservative evangelical "Christians." It's become a cult which seems to be encourages this kind of shit. Because when you can commit heinous crimes then it all disappears when you beg God for forgiveness, how could it not encourage it? But, yeah, keep blaming drag queens and trans persons for the crap that these assholes are guilty of.

   
And... back to work.

I've said my good bye to Aaron, have returned home from Kansas City, and am more exhausted than I can process, but never you fear about bullets gone missing... because a Very Special Ace Fontana Memorial Edition of Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• It's a Cluster! I headed to Seattle on Wednesday afternoon and spent the night at the airport so I wouldn't have to stress about making my morning flight (Seattle traffic can be notorious). And all day Wednesday and very early Thursday, I was desperately trying to check in with Alaska Air, but couldn't. Worried that something was wrong, I got to the airport three hours early for my 8:21am flight. And was met with a massive crowd of people. Nobody could check in. You had to stand in line for hours to get a boarding pass, and it was so badly organized that nobody really knew what to do. I barely made my flight. — Look, I know technology goes wrong sometimes... but when you have ZERO plans for how to handle things when it does (especially when you knew there was a problem the previous day) that's a serious fucking oversight. I love Alaska Airlines, but this was one of the biggest cluster-fucks I've ever seen in 45 years of travel. That's saying something.

   
• In Remembrance! Aaron's Celebration of Life was well-attended, and there were two things I took away from it: 1) Aaron touched a lot of people, and if only a fraction were able to be there, we may never know how many people that is... and 2) It was sobering to find out that our friendship, which I thought was atypically special, wasn't all that unique at all. Everybody there felt as though their friendship was atypically special. How many people have the ability to make most every person they meet feel like that?

His 51st birthday is on Tuesday and, as I found out on Saturday, it's hard to celebrate his life without him in it.

   
• Arena KC! Aaron's band performed at his celebration, which was bittersweet. Made even more so because they had just completed a new promo video last month...

A rock star from start to finish.

   
• An Aaron By Any Other Name! While I was waiting for my plane in Kansas City, I was looking through the many, many photos I had collected of Aaron over the years. One caught my eye, because it was double-Aaron...

I first knew him by his blogging handle, Jester. Then I knew him by his name, Paul. Then I knew him by his stage name, Ace. And then I knew him by his middle name, Aaron, which he took as his name because he thought he was more an Aaron than a Paul. But no matter what I was calling him, he was always a great friend.

   
• FindMy! It's interesting to note that the only person I've ever had in Apple's "FindMy" service was Aaron. Because we were either meeting up when I was in town for work or we were meeting up in some random city with other people, it was just easier to use the technology of the day to make our lives easier...

I don't think I ever bothered to open the app unless I was specifically trying to find him. Which is a shame. Because if I had opened it when I was in Anaheim last February, I would have seen that he was in the city at the same time. But, alas, I never knew he was there until he saw that I was in the city and texted after I had already flown home.

   
• The Football! My hotel was across the highway from Arrowhead. Just think how close I was to where Taylor Swift likes to watch her boyfriend play football!

Of course that's also where she played her KC stop for the Eras Tour. And where Travis Kelce attended the show in order to try and give her a friendship bracelet, which is far more historically significant than some silly sportsball game.

   
• MCI! I love Kansas City International Airport. It's beautifully maintained. It's smartly organized. There's plenty of places to sit. There's good variety of things to eat. It's just a generally great place to fly into and out of. In other words, the complete opposite of the shit-show that Seattle-Tacoma International has become. =sigh= I probably wouldn't be so jealous if only Seattle didn't keep ripping out seats to put in retail shops... and could manage to keep all the escalators running for more than five fucking minutes.

   
• Bright Light! Bright Light! For nearly a decade I had to stop driving in the dark because I couldn't see properly. Even the smallest light source would flare out and obliterate everything. Then I got the lenses in my eyes replaced and, suddenly I could see at night again. Driving back across the mountains from Seattle in the dark was a relaxing experience... except not really. It's shocking (or not) how many people drive with their brights on. And though it doesn't blind me any more like it used to, it is irritating. Whether they are coming at me or are behind me (or coming at me with regular lights and then turn on their brights before they fully pass), it's set me back to square one. I don't remember it being like this before I stopped driving at night but, given the way things are going, I shouldn't be surprised.

   
And now I really should get some sleep. Or try to.

Today I had to run to the Big City to get a haircut. Which is always awful.

Well, not the haircut... the drive to get there.

Despite the fact that Washington State has anti-distracted-driving laws, people 100% do not follow the law. Whether it's texting at a stoplight or watching YouTube videos while driving, people are insane. The average weight of a car in the USA is over 4,000 pounds. Not giving your entire attention to a machine which could easily kill somebody is beyond insane.

But pedestrians make me crazy too.

I was waiting at a crosswalk for somebody to cross the road.

They started across, but then stopped and stared at their phone in front of me.

Now, I have no idea what was going on and like to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to them existing. Maybe they got some terrible news and it shocked them so badly that they forgot they were in the middle of the street. Maybe they have a neurological condition where they can't concentrate on more than one thing at a time. Or maybe they just like torturing drivers by seeing how long it takes them to honk their horn or something. Anything's possible. And since I wasn't in any hurry I just sat there waiting for them to do something. Do anything...

Finally, the car behind me honked.

At which point the person continued crossing without even looking up from their phone.

Sooo... who knows? Maybe they were just a self-absorbed asshole who doesn't give a shit that there's people on the road trying to get somewhere. Maybe somewhere to save their life, like a hospital.

Or maybe they just need to get to their life-saving haircut appointment.

There's just no telling.

WHY?!?

WHY DIDN'T I BUY MICHELIN TIRES?

Because I would 100% do this...

Maybe I'll just draw the Michelin Man on my tires anyway!

Yesterday I headed over the mountains which, depressingly, was an easy drive. This time of year, the road should have an unfathomably deep layer of snow off the side.

Six feet. Eight feet. Maybe even more. But it was just covering the barriers, even at the very top of the pass...

Here I am coming down the other side of the mountain, and you can see that the barrier is still visible...

So right now we're having major flooding and rain in the valley, which is a bad enough sign because it means that it's too warm to snow. And now seeing this in the mountains has me seriously worried we're in for drought this coming Summer.

I mean, I guess I'm grateful that it was an easy drive.

But not really.

Yesterday I had one of the easiest drives home from Seattle-side that I've ever had. 2 hours and 10 minutes of motoring bliss.

This morning I had one of the worst drives to work I've ever had. What's usually five minutes ended up being ten minutes of hell that had me wishing I would have walked.

Honestly, I just don't understand what is getting into people lately when driving. They're hostile, inattentive, impatient assholes. I had somebody come up behind me and was so close I honestly thought I was going to get rear-ended. I had a car lay on the horn because I dared to wait for two kids to cross the street. I had one car come at me half into my lane, and I had nowhere to go... and if I hadn't braked and laid on the horn as quickly as I did, there would have been an accident.

So, yeah. Not a great start to my morning.

I'm building build building this weekend, but I haven't forgot about you, dear reader... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• DestructiPad! Apple introduced their amazing new iPads in the worst way possible. To illustrate how this miracle device is capable of a huge number of creative endeavors, from music to art to research, they released a commercial where a massive hydraulic press squishes musical instruments, art supplies, and other physical tools into nothingness. And they let you see the destruction in excruciating, closeup detail...

Now, I get what they were trying to do... but holy shit. Who thought this ad which celebrates the death of physical creativity would be a good idea? The first thing I thought was "Do they not speak with foreign culture consultants before releasing their ads?" Because the first thing I thought of was... there are cultures where creative tools are revered, and destroying them like this is an unforgivable act. And, sure enough, the outrage was immediate. Particularly from Japan, where something like this is unforgivable. But it should anger anybody who thinks this kind of waste is senseless. Apple ultimately apologized, but it is crazy to me that they were so stupid as to do this in the first place. They could have animated it... or used cardboard cut-out representations... or anything where the actual objects weren't destroyed.

   
• MaxiPad! Tone-deaf commercial aside, the new iPads are incredble. The display, the power, the larger size, the new stylus... it's a digital creator's dram come true. I don't use my iPad enough to justify buying a new one (I have a 2020 iPad Pro), but was curious to know how much my ideal iPad configuration with accessories would cost. It's $2000... not including AppleCare. But no worries... Apple will give me $65 to trade in my old iPad Pro! Yikes. I'll just wait for the MacBook Pro M4, thanks.

   
• Exit! Okay. Dang. Sometimes short films have more impact per second than a multi-million dollar flick...

This brilliantly illustrates how a film doesn't necessarily have to take its time and build up characters into fully-realized people in order to be entertaining. Sure traditional long-form movies are my preferred way to experience a story, but running into something like this shows that it's not the only way to tell a story. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out my last short film pick, Two Strangers Meet Five Times.

   
• THERE IT IS! And... scene...

Here's the thing: I have never had a desire to wear nail polish. It's never been my thing, even when I was into cultures where it was a part. But seeing all these snowflakes getting so triggered by FUCKING NAIL POLISH makes me actually want to start wearing it. The idea that guys can't accessorize their appearance without being trashed by the toxic masculinity brigade is absurd. Why the fuck are people so invested in what other people are doing with their appearance? Let them do them and you do you. It's not that hard to ignore shit that makes others happy that you wouldn't do for yourself.

   
• EXIT SLOW! Ah yes. The Union Street exit in Seattle. I have taken it many times. And have seen people nearly lose control many times. Never seen a crash... but I believe they happen often because of how it's designed. Some guy set up a camera to catch accidents of cars taking the exit too fast, and they do indeed happen often...

You'd think that people driving in an area that they are unfmiliar with would be following all suggested speed signs rather than ignoring them. Odds are, there's a reason that they tell you to slow way down.

   
• More Runner! One of my most favorite films of all time is Blade Runner 2049. It shocks me to this day that it wasn't a massive blockbuster success. This is the film that genius-director Denis Villeneuve made before his celebrated Dune films, and it's equally phenomenal. This week it was annonced that Amazon Prime Video is making a sequel series... WITH MICHELLE FUCKING YEOH!!! I gotta tell you, I have no idea when Blade Runner 2099 is going to happen, but I am already looking forward to seeing it. If it's even half as good as 2049, it will be well worth the wait.

   
• NEWSFLASH: Ted Cruz Called Automatic Airline Refunds a ‘Dumb Idea.’ Senators Disagreed. Do you think that if Ted Cruz blows enough airline executives he can take his next Cancún vacation for free? The refund is not immediate-immediate. It's only if your flight has been significantly delayed and you don't rebook another flight to replace it. The only thing this changes is that you don't have to fill out a bunch of paperwork and let the airline string your along forever... or issue you some stupid credit that you'll never use before it expires. Where the fuck does this boot-licker asshole come up with this outrageous shit? Do people even believe his ridiculous crap anymore? Ted Cruz is a fucking embarrassment, and the fact that he still has a job shocks the shit out of me. Republicans don't think that they deserve to get their money back with a minimum of inconvenience when they get fucked over by over-bookings or maintenance failures or whatever? Get real.

   
And now back to hammering...

Our winter has been relatively mild. It's snowed, sure, but it always melts away in short order. But then this morning it was bitter cold. And yet the sun was shining, so I anticipated it would warm up by the afternoon.

It did not.

When I left the office to get into my car and go home, the sun had been replaced with overcast skies and snow. Not tons of snow, but enough that the wind blowing it around produced whiteout conditions. As if that weren't bad enough, the snow had been fused to my car window by the cold, making it really difficult to scrape off.

But that's not all! Not only could I barely see, but my car didn't want to start and it was running weird. Even the turn signals sounded slow and clunky.

When I finally managed to get home, I was incredibly thankful that I had a garage to pull into...

Since I couldn't scrape the car itself, I just brushed off the snow as best I could. I expect the remainder will melt since my garage is slightly above freezing.

Which beats trying to melt it off with a blowdryer in this -6° heatwave we're having.

UPDATE: But that's not all! I never heard my heat pump turn on. I was then informed that it won't turn on when it's so cold that there's no heat to extract from the air. The only option is for my HVAC system to engage the Auxilary Heat. Which is far more expensive to run, but I'm awfully glad I have it...

UPDATE UPDATE: But that's not all! It's Saturday morning and it's -14° out... but it feels like -23°... which is to say I'm hiding in my house all weekend...

Times like this I wish I had millions of dollars to spend winter in a warmer client.