And maybe we’ll get it. We got plenty yesterday, but we got it all in a short time. That is how I like it, followed by cooler weather, and a bit less humidity. We are supposed to maybe get rain and cooler temps. I guess we’ll see.
Yesterday was nibbled by ducks. Kids and wife out the door. Finish clearing trailer and return. Hit the Goodwill since it is right there. Home for lunch. Pick up kid from school. Call the auto repair guy. OH, yeah, you can pickup anytime, but the battery isn’t holding a charge. Ok, I’ll come by and swap it at Costco. Proceed to do so. None in stock. Get gas. Head to the OTHER Costco where it is showing in stock. Do the swap, $70 back on 2.5 yo battery, grab new one, head back to repair shop. Head home to meet the wife for a ride BACK to the repair shop. Pay and head home…
Oy.
Today will involve a couple of pickups, kid rides, and a Dr visit. Maybe I’ll get something done in between. It’s a good life if you don’t falter…
But it doesn’t leave much time for stacking. Find some time…
nick
Fall weather is starting to happen in Texas. Austin got pounded with rain this morning.
Our grill was uncovered after seeing use last night. I had to run out at 5 AM when I heard the rain start.
Yesterday’s Tyler Durden cowardice on the RV “apocalypse”.
At one time, the founder of Lazy Days RV owned the most valuable house on the tax rolls of Hillsborough County (Tampa), FL. I can’t remember exactly when, but it was the last 20 years.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rv-downturn-entering-apocalyptic-mode-largest-dealership-offering-55
My Subie has been in the shop for a week. It wouldn’t start, so I had USAA Roadside come over. It started, but the battery still showed bad. I had it towed to the Subie dealer. The battery was changed under something called their “golden” warranty, but showed a parasitic drain. Something in the ECM chain was the culpret. The part was ordered and came in yesterday, under warranty. The center touchscreen was ghost changing settings, that had to be ordered and is scheduled to come in today, under warranty. The “golden” warranty covers parts, not labor, add in a major 30K mile service and I’m heading for a $1,000 bill.
It should be ready Wednesday. Of course, I’m heading to Vegas for a week to work on the new house. MrsAtoz wanted new flooring in the house. I recommended vinyl planks. The installer is almost done, and they look great. She also wanted to paint the kitchen cabinets to match her color scheme, so that is being prepped. I’m finding a mini-split installer to cool the garage for a workshop. I’m forbidden to keep my “junk” in the house. LOL.
The fourth bedroom of the house is a casita with its own entrance and shower/bath. MrsAtoz has wanted a studio office since she has been doing a lot of virtual work. This fits the bill and is pretty cool. I use the fourth bedroom in the SA house for my office/shop, so it’s her turn to have the sweet spot. I don’t mind the garage, but it has to be cooled most of the time, heated a little of the time.
A heated/cooled garage is life changing.
Took a bit longer than the current average time between conspiracy and fact, but once again….
: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Finally Admits Biden-Harris Regime Pressured Him to Censor Millions of Americans — ‘Regrets’ Colluding with the Regime!
Jim Hᴏft
Aug. 26, 2024 7:40 pm
n
Hmmm. The super cheap and a little bit shady auctioneer I’ve been buying from has no new auctions running after last night. I hope they’re open and have my items when I get there this afternoon…
n
Zuckerb
The admission to Jordan‘s committee now doesn’t matter. The Wine Moms are going to give Kamala the House as part of working out their Bad Daddy issues.
Yeah, fascism. Trump tho.
The comments on Twitchy cement why tRump is heading into less than 50/50 again:
The Redumbo National Committee needs to shake a leg and show/actually help tRump. Maybe they are waiting until September? Spineless, tho.
What is the House margin now?
I know the numbers have depended on the four seats DeDantis delivered in Florida for a while, but how thin is it?
Corn Pop expiring now means no VP until January. Why risk Speaker-in-waiting Hakim Jeffries taking the gavel early?
Fluffed the earlier comment:
Zucker is reading the election tea leaves.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/08/gabbard-unsheathed.php
Wonder Woman has joined the Justice League.
RFK, jr
Please.
Whatever happened to Gabbard’s page on the WEF web site?
Elect her to the White House with a pliant Congress and you will get Medicaid For All within 30 days.
Of course we may yet get that under Trump.
The Alliance Against Evil has a big tent.
Visited Anakeesta. Another time sink.
https://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/Anakeesta/
Thanks. That’s on my list for when we get to finish the abbreviated trip.
Any big changes at Ober Gatlinberg yet?
The name. It is called Ober Mountain. Same tram as before.
If doing Anakeesta do the tickets online as you can save some money. Biggest benefit is that you can skip the line. The tickets can be stored on a phone.
The RV park we are at has a trolley stop at the entrance. We opted to use the trolley instead of paying the $20.00 parking and dealing with the traffic. Recommended as the trolley is now at no charge to the riders. We were pleasantly sooprised (TN surprise). Yes, getting to the location may require more time. Our trolley went some distance past our stop before turning around and heading back in the direction we desired. The is no trolly stop going the direction we needed. Still easier than driving I think. Plus we could look rather than concentrating on traffic.
Anakeesta is quite well done. Clean, well maintained. Tree top bridges are nice but are steep on the ends which can be difficult. A lot of steps to the two mountain coasters. The ride up on the chair lift is slow and slows significantly or stops frequently to unload, or load, people with difficulties.
The tickets are good for all day so we are returning tonight for the light show. Of course, that little option costs money beyond the attraction entrance. So do the mountain coasters.
Food is expensive, so are the drinks. Best option is to buy a souvenir cup for $15.00, share it with everyone, and get unlimited refills.
After tonight I will add some pictures to the link. Pictures of the light show.
All those pictures were taken with my iPhone, basically the camera I carry with me all the time. My big camera is relegated to special events. Amazing the pictures from such a small device.
The Alliance Against Evil has a big tent.
You lost me.
Same late 60s mall vibe at the tram station at the bottom of the mountain?
What? No moonshine distillery?
Looking online, it doesn’t appear that the shops on Ober Mountain/Gatlinberg have changed that much since I was a kid.
Just gave my youngest brother $1,850 in cash to bail his 29 year old son out of jail. DWI plus under one ounce of cocaine. Not his car but he claims that the driver ran when she wrecked the car. He said that he woke up in back seat and was looking for the keys when the police pulled up at 4am. He says the cocaine is not his. The other guy got a public intoxication ticket.
This is his one chance from me and rest of family. Dad, his grandfather, found and paid a lawyer who practices in that court. $10k to start, another $6k to go to trial.
Not my business, but is this “gave” or “Loaned”?
Driver of other car? Other passenger in the same car? Confusing.
The process is the punishment. Assuming the facts, as given, are true, and the lawyer is good, sounds like he’s only guilty of being stupid drunk with stupid friends in stupid places.
My intimate knowledge of addicts says that it’s likely the facts differ from the story.
Family. Gave.
Not my business, but is this “gave” or “Loaned”?
I have given my youngest brother tens of thousands of dollars over the years. He calls it a loan, I am smart enough to always say gift.
One damaged person can waste ten other peoples time and money.
Now his son is going down the same road of misery and failure.
Driver of other car? Other passenger in the same car? Confusing.
Passenger in front seat. Passed out. My nephew says that he was passed out in the back seat before the wreck. He says there was a woman driving. He says she ran away after the wreck before the police showed up. The police say that he was the only driver that they saw.
One car accident. The supposed driver hit the curb and blew out a tire.
My intimate knowledge of addicts says that it’s likely the facts differ from the story.
Addicts and Alcoholics, same old disaster and same old story.
Lynn, I’m sorry you find yourself in this situation.
Often, it’s the people we love who hurt us most deeply. We expect our enemies to hurt us. Not friends and family. That’s personal.
As the father of an addict, I’m offering some unsolicited advice. Set your limits, and hold to them. I see you said “This is his one chance from me and rest of family. ” Whether that ends upu true or not, ultimately you need to make sure you protect yourself.
Got some rain, then later we got some more rain. It’s 80F and sunny at the moment though.
Carnitas in the crock pot. Dinner soon… smells REALLY good.
n
This is the sauce I use, too bad I can’t find it anymore.
n
https://www.kroger.com/p/frontera-garlicky-carnitas-slow-cook-sauce/0060418312176
Well, if you can’t find the frontera sauce, how about a slow-cooker carnitas recipe from its developer, Rick Balyess?
My girlfriend makes carnitas on the stovetop using the Homesick Texan recipe.
I’ve been avoiding industrial lubricants in my food for a couple years now. Canola oil is an ingredient in your sauce packet.
Yep. Candy stores, t-shirts, junk. Hasn’t changed in 30 years.
If the lawyer is smart he/she/shim will get the case moved to criminal court. The burden of proof is higher and prior traffic violations are not admissible.
That is what that lawyer did for the turd pile that caused my accident. The five pending DUI charges were never mentioned in court. I asked before court and was told it was hearsay and not admissible. The cretin got off easy.
Hmm, interesting recipe, but the opposite of quick and easy crock pot… and normally the pork would simmer in the flavoring for hours,not lard…
but I might give it a try…
n
30? More like 50.
The top of the mountain opened in the 60s and the tram started running in the 70s.
We use pork tenderloin for Crock Pot carnitas.
I’ve done Pibil braising, but that marinade has a lot of acid to cut the fat.
Pibil is pork butt cut into cubes.
I just watched Letters From Iwo Jima. Pretty good. It’s in Japanese with subtitles. Two and a half hours….. Almost all of the Japs die. I hope the “star” made it home to his wife and baby.
The letters from SS arrived today. It’s kind of confusing, the letter reads like you get your and spouse’s SS. But the numbers say differently. I think the way this works is the survivor gets their SS and one half of the deceased spouse’s. It’s good, an extra grand a month is nothing to sneeze at. I’m very happy to have it.
Who would have ever thought about this? The plan in my head was getting by on my SS and $800 (after ta withholding) a month from my 401k. Every thing is paid for. I can make this work. I sold Mom’s house and that was a bonus 50 grand boost to savings. I have plenty of clothes and a lot of stacked stuff like TP and canned food. Might have to stop drinking beer. Perish that thought.
You have to be married for at least 10 years to get survivor benefits. Unless you are both over 65 when someone dies. We just did it because of the horror stories we’ve heard of un-married partners can’t visit the other in the hospital, because “not family”. So why not? Eighty bucks and a visit with a judge, done. It doesn’t change the wills or bank accounts. I got lucky. He wanted to do this, I wasn’t real keen on the idea. So we did it in Travis County.
SS returned the marriage license and stuff as promised. In my envelope stuffed into a slightly larger envelope. Sent Certified, with the card to sign and all. The mailman filled the card for me and shoved it all into the mailbox. I’m sort of pissed off about this. Isn’t that some kind of fraud? At least he didn’t crease the envelope in half.
Anyway. The nice lady at Fidelity called a week or so ago. Said to watch the mail for a payment from AT&T, some kind of deceased employee benefit. That was in today’s mail. A 25 grand check but with $2500 withheld for taxes. I deposited it with my phone, it’s still pending. Unlike little checks that are added to my balance immediately.
And “have you returned the forms to Met Life?” No, sorry I haven’t, my give a crap meter is on zero for the last few weeks, I’m doing good to make my bed every day and sweep the kitchen, forget cooking anything. She said “I understand, it’s normal. But fill the forms, that’s 15 grand.” I did that today. Had to get it notarized.
I have nothing but good to say about Fidelity. They could have sat on their hands and I would have been no wiser.
Looks like it’s all coming together.
Time to walk Buddy the Beagle. It’s looking like rain at 8pm.
My wife’s associate’s new-ish house in Vantucky.
I’ve half joked for a decade that part of my price to consider returning to that h*ll would be a house on Prune Hill. Now we know what that would cost.
https://www.redfin.com/WA/Camas/2851-NW-Hill-St-98607/home/25734973
Daddy Cash.
Daddy is a Bad Daddy, a rich Republican dentist from Houston.
“Not 2 million”
https://areaocho.com/not-2-million/
“Harris claims that she is going to use executive orders to institute an import ban on “assault weapons” and have a mandatory “buyback” of the 2 million “assault weapons” that are in the US. Here she is in 2019, outlining her plan:”
https://youtu.be/AfdCguhDLuE
“She is a lying stupid wannabe dictator. First off, there are about 50 million AR15s in this country. She also says that she is going to do it without Congress.”
I just imagine what a scary looking gun seizure in the USA looks like. It will be nasty and start a civil war.
Confiscation is a red line for a large number of people.
n
More pictures uploaded.
https://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/Anakeesta
Enjoy another time sink. I added the pictures from the Astra Lumina nighttime light show. I did take some video which is what is really needed to show the light show. A good presentation but a lot of walking.
Egregious violation of the Second Amendment after tippy-toeing up to it with egregious violations of the First Amendment, etc.
See the story about starting a frog boiling with cold water.
“Still, it’s going to get uglier that we can possibly imagine. “
Former associate. We escaped Vantucky 10 years ago in June.
Have you been down to see the big three attractions in Chattanooga?
Ruby Falls and Rock City involve a serious amount of walking. The Incline Railway not so much.
Anakeesta seems to be trying for that Rock City or House on the Rock vibe while being a brand new attraction.
Even the NYT has turned on Kamel.
NYT turns on Kamala! Liberal paper brutally slams Harris as ‘weak, ignorant phony’… so is her ‘Brat summer’ finally over?
n
Someone on the Anakeesta payroll has read “American Gods”.
Well, Far West San Antonio finally got a little rain. VERY little rain. Enough for the sidewalk to look damp, but not QUITE wet. A “trace”, is the term for this, I think.
Rock City! My family went there, once, as a one-day stopover when moving from West Palm Beach, FL to Lincoln, NE. 1959, I think, because this up-and-coming senator wanted the Air Force to stop flying over his mansion in Palm Beach. So the Air Force closed West Palm Beach Air Force Base, and we moved to Lincoln AFB, NE. Somewhere, I think I still have a photo album containing the pictures – terrible, blurry pictures, taken by a fidgety 9-year-old with a Brownie box camera.
Confiscation is a red line for a large number of people.
The other red line is people disappearing from their homes.
@ken, in Phoenix we’d say “it rained but it didn’t stick”. Cuz most of us were from somewhere where it might have “snowed but didn’t stick.”
n
>> : Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Finally Admits Biden-Harris Regime Pressured Him to Censor Millions of Americans — ‘Regrets’ Colluding with the Regime!
“Regrets”??? What’s the going price for them these days? Wouldn’t want to see his net worth impacted too much…
>> This is the sauce I use, too bad I can’t find it anymore.
n
https://www.kroger.com/p/frontera-garlicky-carnitas-slow-cook-sauce/0060418312176
From an Amazon review:
The unfortunately this is no longer make by the mega corp. spoke with them about this and they confirmed they had stopped production. Too bad, it was hands down the best carnitas summer sauce on the market.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2K3UNIUC0ATNX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00TRRZY8A&tag=ttgnet-20
Um…sure. Why was he looking for the keys? Even in the best light, he’s hanging out with the wrong people.
One chance is fair. It needs to be clear to him that there won’t be a second one.
I had a good-for-nothing cousin whom the family just would not cut off. His mother (my aunt) kept giving him money, until her hubby (not the father) took her name off of all their accounts. He drained my grandmother. Lots of other older relatives also gave him money.
After he couldn’t get any more money from the older generations, he turned to us cousins. We told him to get lost. He finally got shot in a drug deal that went bad. Good riddance to bad trash.
Good for you, for seeing it as it is. Still, there comes a time when “no” is the right answer.
– – – – –
I went to a hearing aid center yesterday, and I’m now trying out a pair. The specialists say that my hearing loss isn’t really enough to need them, but I have huge loss in particular frequencies, and it makes women’s voices difficult to understand. In the classroom, I cannot understand my female students unless I am standing right next to them.
Anyway, we’ll see. The initial settings aren’t right – they overcompensating the missing frequencies, and I actually hear worse at lower frequencies. Adjustment appointment next week. I keep these for a month, then they want me to try out another model as well, probably for another month. All with no obligation, and there really is no pressure to buy unless I am happy. On the other hand, if I do buy, the price including a couple years of service is $8k. Jeez.
Coffee is in the cup. D2’s lunch is made. Sun is peeking out. No rain yet.
————
The “Junkyard Cats” book is WEIRD. I think I like it but I’m not sure yet. Are all romance writers working off the same basic plot? I guess that’s sort of the definition of “genre” writing. They have to go to pretty extreme lengths to make their story stick out…. it kept me up an extra hour last night anyway…
n
Of course. Some more than once, quests you know. The aquarium is actually quite well done. Rock city is interesting, Ruby Falls is unique. The incline railway I have done once, probably 30+ years ago.
No, I think they are just competing for the Gatlinburg tourist dollars. The number of people that think the place is great are crazy. The traffic is horrible in the summer, especially on weekends. Pigeon Forge is not much better.
Yes, the price of hearing aids is insane. The devices cannot be that expensive to make. I am lucky the VA pays for mine, new ones every three years if I request. Otherwise, I would probably not get hearing aids. Medicare seems to think that hearing, seeing and eating are entirely optional as Medicare pays nothing towards glasses, hearing aids or dental.
The adjustment may take a couple of attempts. It did for mine. The problem I had is that I started hearing things that I had not really heard before. To determine if that hearing was normal was difficult. I settled on something that sounded OK to me and left the adjustments at that.
With the devices I know have I can adjust the volume overall, the high, middle and low frequencies. There is a setting on the hearing aids that auto adapt to the environment. That seems to work fairly well and that is where I leave the volume.
If you do keep the units, see about insurance. The devices are easy to misplace. I have not done so in four years but a friend did lose one of hers.
You might also want to delay until the new AirPods Pro arrive. They are supposed to include some hearing aid functions that might be good enough for you. Other than looking like a dork. The advantage of real hearing aids is that they are almost invisible. I have behind the ear devices rather than in ear. I now have ear molds that fit in my ears which allows a stronger sound unit. The mold is still inside the ear so not really visible.
The technology of the devices is amazing. I like being able to use them when using the cell phone, as speaker and microphone. I can also stream music.
Nice looking house. Cool coffee table.
Yup. I’m hearing a couple of high-pitched things that I *think* are artifacts of the hearing aids. But maybe they’re insects or birds? Having missed a chunk of frequencies for years now, I’m not quite sure…
I’ve though about that. There are several manufacturers working in that dirction. On the other hand, I’ve been thinking that would happen for a couple of years now, and it still hasn’t. My current earbuds have a very rough equalizer function, but that’s it. Plus, they don’t fit into my ears nearly as well as the actual hearing aids I’m trying – I can’t wear them for extended period of time, and they tend to fall out.
Right now, I’m trying fully in-ear devices. I’m suppose to try ones like you describe next, so towards the end of September. Having such a long try-out period is really nice – I suppose that’s part of the crazy price, though…
Those were an option for me. I opted against because of the small size. When I got mine the fully in-ear did not offer all the connection options and were not rechargeable, at least the ones the VA offered. That may have changed with new technology. The behind-the-ear were available in battery or rechargeable option. I have been able to go almost 20 hours on a single charge. I also have a rechargeable battery hearing aid recharge case. It works quite well.
It does take a few weeks to adjust to wearing the devices. I am to the point now where I forget I even have the devices.
I really doubt those sounds are artifacts of the hearing aids. I think you are hearing stuff that you have not heard in a long time. I was surprised when I got mine. The audiologist said my brain would adjust to the change in my hearing and things will sound much better after a few weeks. She was correct. I hear stuff I have not heard in years. Removing the hearing aids and the world seems “dull”, for lack of a better word.
Good luck, and be patient.
Will tokay’s implosion of SuperMicro’s stock price be the black swan event ending the AI bubble?
Is Batman a transvestite?
Another bad sign for the AI monkey trick — my new “work” laptop arrived at the house.
i5, 16GB RAM, 256 GB storage
If they‘re serious then, in the words of Shrub, “This sucker could go down.”
We make the laptops for chrissake.
Adding to the insult is that my 2017 Thinkpad with identical CPU/memory specs runs much faster and cooler *than a brand new machine*.
PC specs are increasingly complex, and specs from manufacturers are often deceptive. My current PC I “built” in the sense that I picked out the individual components and the seller assembled and tested them for me. That’s obviously harder with laptops.
I’m currently in the market for a new microserver, because the one we have, with 8GB memory, isn’t really up to all the services I have running on it. It is several years old. However, finding a passively-cooled microserver with better specs? It doesn’t seem to be possible. Which is just bizarre…
26% loss on SMCI.
My employers stock price is starting to move back to the price where the execs received their RSU grants this Spring.
More layoffs?
Passively cooled…
Having engineered cooling for much larger and higher-powered systems, I am a fan of, ahem, fans. I would not trust passive cooling without some test data. Some I have seen are poorly designed.
Of course, so are some active systems. Don’t get me started on how poorly the ATX cooling design became after the initial good concept.
Prune Hill is all about the views.
The house is otherwise typical Vantucky. The neighborhood around the old HP campus is filled with identical homes:
The coffe table either belonged to the previous owners or the staging company.
I’ve written before about the associate’s idiot husband, a “spirit blogger”, and his custom bar which doesn’t appear in the pics.
@brad, look at industrial PCs. I won two in my returns auctions, and they are decently spec’d.
n
https://www.amazon.com/HUNSN-Industrial-Watchdog-Barebone-Storage/dp/B0D1VBS37K?th=1&tag=ttgnet-20
ATT had some problems…
and this is funny,
– I don’t know if they still do, but t-mobile used to ride on ATT’s network with no towers of their own…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13787427/Yet-T-outage-left-millions-without-cellphone-access-911-calls-states-including-California-Texas-Kentucky-Florida-resolved-company-says.html
– supposedly it “primarily affected i phone users” and was a “software glitch.” Hmmm. wonder what is different about iphone users, and has a chokepoint that affects cities in different states and that are widely separated in space. THAT would be interesting to hear about.
n
Work crisis avoided.
The cr*ptastic laptop was a “mistake”, but I’m getting the blame for not using the ordering system properly.
Whatever. As long as I get a decent system and management doesn’t get billed internally twice, I don’t care.
NVDA reports earnings today.
Less than stellar results could tank the market.
amazon search is starting to suck.
Try to find a pair of shoes in a specific model and size… it will pollute the results with near misses and won’t even put the hits at the top. If I need a 10.5, showing me size 8 isn’t helpful at all. Neither is showing me out of stock items.
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13789365/Trump-Thomas-Matthew-Crooks-assassination-attempt-rally-FBI-update.html
Nice rifle. Where did he buy it? Did he search for bom b instructions?
n