I found an unopened bottle of almond butter in the cupboard. It has an expiration of Aug 2021. I opened it, and it doesn’t appear to be spoiled. DoesItGoBad.com says I should shouldn’t risk it, but I’m going to. If I’m not blogging the rest of the week, blame my death or illness on spoiled almond butter.
“Confidence isn‘t walking into a room thinking you are better than everyone. It‘s walking in, not having to compare yourself to anyone at all.”
Get Human will tell you what buttons to press and what phrases to say in order to bypass any automated system.
I found a discount flight booking website: skiplagged.com. They supposedly exposing loopholes in airfare. What I like about it, something I have trouble finding on other travel websites, is that after entering my departing and returning dates, it will show me a list of fares. For me, it’s not so much wanting to travel to a specific location, I just want to know what affordable options I have to anywhere. I also like that when I search for flights for three passengers, it gives me the total cost of the trip. Most websites just tell you the price for one passenger and you kinda got to do the math in your head.
Scientists collaborated with citizen scientist Judy Schmidt to translate data to form the composite images from the telescope, which help give a better look into Jupiter’s life, NASA said. Jupiter is hard to translate into images because of how quickly it rotates, said Schmidt, who’s based in Modesto, California. “This one image sums up the science of our Jupiter system program, which studies the dynamics and chemistry of Jupiter itself, its rings, and its satellite system,” Fouchet said.
If you are nostalgic for 90’s television and want to watching something now and for free, this should scratch your itch – My90stv.com. I love the format, you select what you want to watch (commercials, movies, dramas, gameshows, etc.) and you hit the “Channel” up or down button. I miss this kind of channel surfing. I love the menu option we have now with digital television, but sometimes I long for regular channel flipping. I also think this will be great just for some general background noise. People like me work best with some noise in the background. Oh, there are links to other decades as well.
I really like the way this photo of BoyGeeding playing in the rain came out. It would look better if his face was a bit more in focus; otherwise, I think it’s cool.
DaughterGeeding was going through some of my old things and found a Cowboys XXVII Super Bowl shirt. It was one of my favorites. She asked if she could have it. I said sure. She said, “Thanks, I love vintage clothing.” I’m not sure what made me feel worse. That I felt old in the moment, or that I realized the Cowboys haven’t been to an NFC championship game in 16 years.
I really miss owning a home and doing DIY projects. I can’t even bring myself to watch any of those home improvement shows. Watching cool things I can no longer do is torturous. Not too long ago, I caught myself saying, “God, I wish I could own a home again.” I didn’t mean it as a prayer, but in my overthinking ways, thought it could have come across as a prayer. And that got me thinking about how I used to feel comfortable praying like that. It’s hard for me to pray like that now. I compare my desires of the heart to the genuine need of the poor, sick, and neglected, I feel more comfortable thanking God I had the opportunity to own a house and my dreams of being a husband and father came true. You have no idea how much it meant to me to bring my children home to a house as opposed to apartment. As much as I would like to pray that one day God would allow me to own a house again, it just seems too selfish of a prayer. The same thing goes for a desire to be a husband or being loved again. I had something so many others never get to experience. It just sounds selfish praying to have something so fantastic again. I feel I just need to be grateful for what I had than anything I want for the future.
I’m sure we all agree The Munsters were better watched in black and white than in color.
This guide says we should clean the toilet every day. Eh, that’s excessive. Once a week is fine, just make sure to flush appropriately. Also, why do laundry every day?
A faithful reader sent me this article since I mentioned teens wearing hoodies and jackets in the summer. I’m fascinated by the weighted blanket theory, but here’s the skinny of the article:
Yesterday, Barry posted his opinion about a human trafficking article being misleading. Well, the woman I had dinner with last week is working on her PhD. in human trafficking at SMU. I was looking for a reason to reach out to her, so I took advantage of this opportunity. So, Barry ended up being an unintentional wingman. This woman is also a college professor who teaches U.S. history, and y’all know how much I love to explore U.S. history. It’s nice getting to know her. She’s just very busy and pretty reserved. But, there’s nothing wrong with taking it slow getting to know a new friend.
Barry is also making the early prediction that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will win the Republican nomination. I totally see that, and I think a perfect running mate would be Greg Abbott. However, Texas is already in the bag for whoever ends up being the Republican nominee, so there’s no real benefit of adding him to the ticket. The smart move for selecting a running mate is to find someone who doesn’t align with you perfectly, but someone who can bring in voters from outside the demographic of the person at the top of the ticket, and what electoral votes you can steal away from your opponent. So, I bet DeSantis will pick someone from a swing state that Biden won. The major swing states Biden won are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. It’s early, but offhand, I’m going to say it will be former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. And that’s my arm-chair political pundit thought of the day.
I’m a fan of actress Aya Cash. It was a welcome surprise to find her in the new sitcom Welcome to Flatch.
The roundabouts keep vehicles flowing, but they also slow traffic down, and slower traffic makes the roads safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Roundabouts don’t require electricity, so they continue to function during power outages and severe weather that can black out a traditional stoplight intersection.
Someone I once admired gave me this bit of advice: “The best time to look for a new job is when you don’t need to find a new job.” With that in mind, I’m job-hunting for the first time in over a decade. I love the company I work for and the people I work with, it’s just I loath this current project I’m on. Management is aware of my unhappiness, but right now, there’s nowhere to move me. Hopefully, I can find something like a project management business analyst role or something to do with training or being an instructor of sorts. For the last twelve years, I worked at the IRS for two government contracting firms. With my security clearance, I can probably find a similar role with another company, but I want to see what’s in the private sector. Before the IRS, I contracted at Southwest Airlines for two years, and before that, I worked at Fidelity Investments for nine. Maybe they will have me back, but off hand, I think I’d be a good fit at Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, with my IRS and finance background. I majored in finance, and my MBA’s focus was e-commerce. Here’s a rough draft of my CV or resume in PDF form if you are interested.
If I ever fall in love again, I’d like to make this pencil and give it to her. But, I have a feeling her second or third sentence would be, “Where did you buy it?”
Several weeks ago I bought a laser engraver. Above is a sample of some of my latest work. The Batman artwork is just a white ceramic tile painted black, but I used the laser to do the etching. Below is a pair of earrings I made using the laser to cut into some basal wood. There are a lot of little imperfections in both, but I’m just starting out. The bottom Batman tile was one I did last week, except I did it in white. It’s way too light in color, so I needed to slow down my laser and increase the power to make the marking more visible. I’m thinking of starting a small side business doing this stuff. Maybe I’ll call it BagOfNothing Graphics or Bag of Nothing Inc. I’ve also used my laser to etch my kid’s names into their pencils and the names of my dogs into their new flea collars.
I’ve gained almost all the weight I lost back. It’s both a good and a bad thing.
I take paying child support very seriously. I always pay at least a week in advance. But I hate the way Texas makes former spouses go about it. We have to log into the AG’s website and go through some protocols that make you feel like you’re a criminal and being punished. If my ex and I would have made arrangements outside of the court, I would have paid her more monthly instead of us having to deplete our savings on lawyers.
I also pay my rent a full week earlier than needed.
I’ve noticed teens these days love to wear jackets and hoodies even when it’s extremely hot outside.
As kids return to school, a new Texas law that was co-authored by Houston State Rep. Tom Oliverson is allowing groups to place “In God We Trust” signs on multiple campuses. The law states that the signs must be displayed in public schools if they’re donated privately to the school district, Houston station KHOU reported.
In the call, CEO and President Selim A. Bassoul said the company has offered too many discounts and that “the philosophy of filling our parks was not the right strategy.” According to Bassoul, the strategy involves attracting customers who are willing to spend more money inside the parks. “It was a cheap day care center for teenagers during breaks and the summers,” Bassoul said. “… we had to start going after customers who wanted families, young adults who are willing to come and spend the money in our parks.”
