Cool and clear to start, and hopefully warming later. It was like a Fall day yesterday with sunny and clear, but a chill in the air. I’d call this Spring the result of global cooling but weather isn’t climate, right? Today should be a nice day to be outdoors but IDK if I’d want to swim.
Spent yesterday sleeping in, then puttered around the house. I did get some stuff cleaned up and put away, which was good. I kept moving most of the day, but it still wasn’t super productive.
Today, D2 is having a pool party for her birthday. ~40 kids at our old rec association pool. It’s in the afternoon, so I hope it warms up by then. Getting ready for that should take most of my morning, and the event will keep me busy the rest of the day. I’m not going to get much done on the list, but hopefully we will be making some good memories, which is probably more important.
Stack up some good times. They are food for the soul.
nick
I have found I have to restart Quicken to get my downloaded FI transactions to show up in the register. Problem started after an update last year, I have given up hoping an update will fix it. One more annoyance, pushing me that much closer to not renewing my subscription later this year.
I’ve been looking at Monarch Money. Won’t have much old data to import so that’s not a concern. No decision yet though…
Hmm, last comment (as of now) for Saturday and first for Sunday…
Okay, off to bed.
Sunday. Good morning!
Wishing D2 an excellent party.
The search for the workbench continues. I got badly sidetracked this morning by boxes of computer hardware, network hardware and snakes’ nests of cables. Sorting, zip-tying and labelling. Entropy is not my friend.
Ch. 28? WFTS? Circa 2008-2009?
I’m sure that the staff members of the 24/7 pill mill operation around the corner were happy to keep the weather department supplied with caffeine during the storms.
I never saw that place closed.
When we drove through that section of Tampa two weeks ago, we noted that the Sam’s Club closest to the station had closed and been converted to a Walmart. That building originally opened as Pace in the 80s.
It is 55 F and very clear outside this morning. Heading to church back in a long sleeve shirt in a while.
I had that problem just a few days ago for the first time. Removing Quicken by uninstalling and removing all traces of leftover fragments, then doing a new install seemed to have fixed that issue. It was strange that the problem existed on my W11 system but not on the W11 ARM version on the Mac.
I have looked at them also. They fall short of my needs in a couple of categories and they are more expensive than Quicken. Quicken will not stop working if you don’t renew, you just cannot do any downloads of anything. At least that is the way it was the last time I looked. If Quicken stopped all access to your data, simply because you did not renew, that would be a death sentence for the product.
I wish Microsoft would bring back MSMoney. It was a very well designed product. I paid for a new version every time there was a new version.
It is 40F and clear here this morning. Seat heat came on for the truck. There was a frost advisory last night and tonight. Places in southern Kentucky were at freezing according to the weather liars. Global warming at its finest.
My friend in Atlanta had solar panels installed about a year ago with Tesla battery packs. Smaller than I thought they would be. His electric bill, in Atlanta, last month was less than $17.00. I think I would like to get solar on my house. But the payback is about 20 years and I will be dead by then. I am also concerned about the life of the batteries and the cost of replacing them. I average $170.00 a month for the 12 months of a year so not too bad for keeping the house at 76F during the day, 74F at night.
Temp at about 0530, when I opened the chicken coop, was fractionally above freezing. That annoyed me a bit because it wasn’t supposed to get that cold and I didn’t do anything to protect the garden hose (which someone who is not me left out), the chickens’ water tank, etc.
Pessimist.
Or possibly optimist, depending on your view of the world’s or our society’s trajectory.
This. Because I fully expect to be nothing but ashes in less than 15 years. My family expires in their mid-80’s. I suspect the genetics have carried on that tradition. If? that holds true, in reality I have less than 10 years.
“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.” — James Branch Cabell
Up, fed, starting the caffeine cycle…
Expecting the invasion of teens in about 30 minutes. D2 is “pre-gaming” with a couple of friends.
And I’ll be doing something I detest, going to Costco on a Sunday, because I accidentally knocked the camping freezer’s plug out of t he wall. All the ice cream melted. Pretty sure it was me getting my snack before bed.
Getting replacement ice cream and ice for the coolers is a pretty minimal effort, I have to admit. W stepped up and organized the whole thing.
——
77F in the sun with clear blue sky. Not perfect, but darn close.
n
Optimist thinks the glass is half full, pessimist thinks the glass is half empty, I wonder who’s been drinking out of my cup.
n
Optimist: half full
Pessimist: half empty
Cynic: you spit in it, didn’t you?
You don’t have enough battery-backed thermal alarms to have one in each freezer?
Corrected for the world today.
About 44F overnight after a day in the low 90’s. I believe our little heat mini wave is about to break, it is only 64F at 11am local -the winds are already up into the 30s and it was overcast last night.
I felt a bit better yesterday so I pulled the pavers that I put down early in the week and redid the compaction and the borders and put down the pavers again. I actually ran out of pavers to finish the job so I picked up a few this morning while doing my grocery shopping.
I’d planned to move the chickens today. Every couple-three weeks I move the run to a fresh patch of grass, and it ought to be closer to every two weeks now because there are 8 fat little butts pooping all day. However, the decent but chilly weather of the morning turned to “kind of breezy” with 100% cloud cover just as I was starting. I could do the job but it would be more difficult and much more unpleasant. Especially because I also clean the coop, hose things down, and let them dry in the sun. What with, you know, pretty much everything having poop on it, what with, you know, chickens having no class at all.
The birds didn’t even seem disappointed to be called back in to the run. They went trotting in as soon as I called them. I’m not sure if that’s because they weren’t loving the weather, either, or because they hoped for a treat. Could be both but I’d guess the latter was more significant.
I’d also planned to do some other chores but again, weather. Technically I could power wash the house but I’m almost certain I don’t want to in this wind.
Guess I’ll have to see if there’s any paying work I can do. Wah.
>>Ch. 28? WFTS? Circa 2008-2009?
Yup, Denis Phillips. It’s the local ABC affiliate.
My brother had made noises about getting his teeth fixed. Implants and freaking expensive, too. Yeah, don’t know why his front teeth were messed up and never asked.
He sent a txt message with a sorta smile to show his new teeth. On a 5 inch screen, looks fine. I told him he needs to grow his hair out a bit so he doesn’t look like Anna’s FB picture.
He responded today. “Wow, she has not aged well.”
I’m first born. She’s a year younger. In school we could pass as twins. Except I have the bulge in pants people seem to stare at and she has boobs. Skipping a sister… brother is six years younger.
I do not claim to looking good in photos. Or real life. No matter what folks says.
But Anna looks rather desiccated. She really ought to be a bit plumper… female and looking at how Mom was shaped and how Granmama was shaped, she needs about 20 pounds.
But what do I know? Maybe she thinks she should at 68 weigh the 140 pounds she weighed in HS. Shrug. Not my circus.
I took a closer look at Monarch as a replacement for Quicken. Uh, hard no. Web application or iPhone/iPad app. No thanks. I don’t like having my data on the web, on someone else’s server, with security I cannot see or control. I understand the advantage, as in syncing across multiple platforms, available on any computer, but I don’t need any of that as I am not checking my finances while at the local coffee shop. Local storage, local control, on my terms. How much Quicken stores when I download transactions is not fully known but I suspect it is not the full contents of my files.
I suspect if Microsoft were to bring back MSMoney, it would be web based, probably require Office 365, with OneDrive storage required as MS is pushing that cloud stuff hard. Call me old fashioned but I just do not trust these providers to do things in my best interest.
Now where did I place that 5″ floppy case?
Texas geography explained:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOVsrJ3khlc
I wonder who soup-bowled in my cup.
Engineer: you have way too much glass for the water you have there.
DIE Engineer: you have way too much glass for the water you have there.
FIFY
Mondami: All your glasses belong us and you get water if you have social credit.
Traditional Engineer: Get a couple more glasses and refill when they drop to half.
Prepper: Keep the one glass half full but hide a 500 gallon tank in the barn.
Survivalist: Plans on getting shot trying to take your water.
Moonshiner: Why would you drink water?
There may be some validity to the moonshiners question.
I seem to recall an episode in the 1700s where both British and French astronomers went abroad to view a eclipse (or perhaps it was a transit of Venus).
The French astronomers returned home, the English astronomers died almost to a man.
The difference was that the French drank wine almost exclusively at every meal, the British tended to drink the local water.
So, when the end of the world as we know it comes you might consider facing it with a slight buzz all the time.
I suspect if Microsoft were to bring back MSMoney, it would be web based, probably require Office 365, with OneDrive storage required as MS is pushing that cloud stuff hard. Call me old fashioned but I just do not trust these providers to do things in my best interest.
Around ten years ago, my partners were demanding that we port our software to the web. I thought about it for a couple of months, did a lot of research, and talking to my employees and industry experts. The next time we got together, I told my partners that I needed $5,000,000 to make that happen. I needed five experienced software engineers to port our user interface from Windows Win32 API to the JavaScript UI in the common internet browsers. probably taking five years. They laughed at me. I laughed at them. We had $150,000 in the bank. They told me to go raise the money which I refused to do.
After that, our relationship kinda went south for a while. And I think that I did not even tell them about the ten million javascript instruction kill switch in all of the browsers. I did not even think that we could load a saved simulation file flowsheet into the internet browser without activating that kill switch.
Since then, I may have a better way to move our software to the internet using 3 or 5 man years of work using AWS. But supporting both user interfaces would be beyond our current capabilities. And I have severe reservations using other peoples computers for proprietary work.
We noted that the rapidly escalating p*ssing contest between the Geico Gecko and Buc-ee the Beaver came to a boil this weekend in Hillsboro, TX.
The Gecko put up a “Coming Soon” sign for a Pilot Travel Center at a half finished mega gas station across the street from the Buc-ee’s at that freeway exit, and the Beaver’s staff removed most of the Coca Cola products from their building with the exception of the less popular soda flavors and Monster energy drinks.
Apparently, the plan to take on Buc-ee’s at Berkshire Hathaway continues despite Buffett’s retirement as CEO.
“KILL SWITCH AGENDA: You’ll own your car — until the government’s AI says you don’t”
https://www.theblaze.com/align/kill-switch-agenda-youll-own-your-car-until-the-governments-ai-says-you-dont
“New safety regulations aim to turn your pink slip into a permission slip.”
“If you still believe you “own” your car, you’re already behind the eight ball. What you actually own is a permission slip on four wheels. A machine that watches you, evaluates you, and decides, in real time, whether you’re allowed to drive it.”
“Not a police officer. Not a court. Not even common sense. But instead — an algorithm.”
Shoot, we may have to log into our vehicles just to be able to start the engine or move them. Just wait for the two factor authentication to validate who you are, supposedly.
You’re assuming that the algorithms will work flawlessly.
GM’s Austin tech center is another corporate campus dominated by Colonist labor.
I just saw something about a guy whose new Ford truck wouldn’t go into Drive because the facial scanner (?) detected that his pupils were dilated and he was moving unusually fast. He’d gotten a call about an accident at a work site and was kind of panicked and needed to get there fast, so the symptoms were understandable but misdiagnosed.
(I made no effort to verify whether the story was true. Just skimmed it and moved on. But it sounds plausible.)
“In Vino Veritas”. In wine, there is truth.
In beer, there is strength.
In water, there is bacteria.
Not my beeswax. But dude, don’t you ever sit around the house, maybe even wearing underwear if the kids are around, and putter around the house? Like, ever stay home and do domestic stuff like mowing the yard. I mean, driving all over the place is usually fun. But so is just staying home.
Anyway. If you are having a good time, carry on, 🙂 …..
Says the guy who hasn’t been east of the intersection of CR333 and Highway 29 for about four years now.
In cervisia, pax.
Tonight’s movie was Excalibur. Made in 1981. Never heard of it.
I saw a little clip from it on a web site a couple of weeks ago and hey, that looks good. Geeze, 2 hours and 20 minutes.
I’ve always been sort of a King Arthur fan/fanatic/kook. Good movie. Lots of gore for a 1981 movie.
Not at all diverse…. not a single not white person to be seen and everyone spoke English. Ok, maybe a Scots accent in a few places.
Good movie. Onto the keep stack it goes.
My F-150 has a camera that monitors the face when using BlueCruise. I supposed it might be doing something else although there have been no indications of additional use.
Ford’s latest patent scans your face before you drive — with new cars going all-in on surveillance tech, privacy advocates say analog is dying
I read a few years ago about how folks were always drinking beer in colonial times.
It wasn’t the same beer we have now. Sort of like Coor’s Light and watered down. Enough alcohol to kill the germs but not enough to give a buzz. Because quarter drunk folks don’t get stuff done.
I read this on the Internet. So it must be true.
But they didn’t have Clorox to treat their water back then. And somewhere I read that in China they drink hot water. Not even tea, just freshly boiled water. The weather is cold, so that makes sense.
It’s time for bedtime potty walk. But it can wait. Buddy the Beagle is snoring like crazy and all four feet are twitching.
This, the dog that seems to wake instantly if I get up and leave the room for another cup of coffee.
I wonder what he’s dreaming of.?
He seems happy all of the time.
The weather isn’t the reason. They do the same in south China. The reason is the untrustable water systems, whether urban or rural. Even in the US, mainland Chinese people middle aged or older will not willingly drink tap water unless it’s been boiled first, and preferably only hot. I don’t know how much of this is because of bacteria in the water “back home” and how much is superstition about drinking cold water hurting your stomach. The superstition exists but I don’t know how much derives from unclean water going back centuries.
We had child obligations in Dallas this weekend. Spring student concert at UT Dallas.
I mowed the lawn Thursday night before we left, but the back yard needs serious weeding after all the rain.
Last night was the first time I managed eight hours of sleep in a night in several months, despite the strange hotel room bed.
Usually, if I’m home, I work.
When I can break op sec about what happened in Florida last month, I have quite a story to share.
The trip stopped being about decompression on Monday of that week.
I had 2-4 hours of sleep nightly the rest of the week.
For now, I will leave you with this:
Ferengi Rule of Acquisition 111 – Treat those indebted to you like family – exploit them.
We have to go back for more exploitation in June and then I am home until October.
Hot Helen Mirren as Morgana? That was another one which ran on HBO endlessly in the 80s.
Yeah, it looks like that is the one. Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne are Irish, BTW.
Helen Mirren’s costume breastplate alone would result in a studio being MeToo-ed out of existence these days.
Huntington Beach Has to Pay $1M in Lawyer Fees in Library Censorship Lawsuit
https://hotair.com/headlines/2026/05/03/huntington-beach-has-to-pay-1m-in-lawyer-fees-in-library-censorship-lawsuit-n3814539
First Take: Pure bullshit. Just because a bunch of attorneys take up a cause and bill hundreds of hours does not mean the “offense” of restricting 10 books merits reimbursement. Those 10 books are readily available elsewhere, and there is nothing in the state law requiring a library to carry a particular title.
[And I would make a bet in real money that the judge in the case would not allow testimony on the books in question to include the passages which were deemed not age appropriate for unrestricted access]
Let’s Make Lemonade: California law (and other states, too) allow males to participate in high school sports, denying females a place on the team, making females feel unsafe in locker rooms, using an unfair genetic physical advantage to dominate the sports–and possibly causing injury to opposing team members–and damaging females opportunity for college scholarships and national team qualifications.
California law is in direct conflict with federal law, and the time of reckoning is coming. Before it arrives every conservative attorney in the state and every conservative organization should take up the cause and bill thousands of hours. Inasmuch as the standard has been set at an average of $100,000 for trivial restriction of the availability of one book, an offense causing real damages such as those listed above should carry a much higher price tag, and a realistic multiplier would be in the range of 100 to 1000 times.
Cue Sean Connery as a Russian submarine commander.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWU9g1Fce3U
“Halsey acted stupidly.”
Meh, accents were accents. No one knew or cared what they were authentically. And nothing produced by BBC Wales would ever have been aired anywhere in the rest of the world without subtitles….
—-
Perfect weather today. Nice cooling breeze. Hot sun. Clear sky. Kid’s party was a success. We’ve got a lot of leftover pizza, soda, and cupcakes though. I guess I’ll freeze some of the pizza.
I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have. Something I ate yesterday gave me ‘the wind’… and there was enough entrained non-gaseous material to make it completely untrustworthy. I spent far too long sitting in the smallest room.
When I got home, the carbs from the pizza took me out for a few hours. Soon as the blood sugar was back to 100 I woke up. At least I’d gotten comfortable on the bed thinking I would read first.
—-
W has been binge watching stuff like Outlander, Poldark, and some other ‘women doing extremely improbably things back in the stinky times.’ Time travel tropes in a regency period piece? Who’da thunk it.
—-
I feel like I should sit out and enjoy the beautiful weather, but another part of me thinks I should just go to bed early and enjoy some sleep. We’ll see who wins.
n
Video of security guards running at the WHCD assassination attempt.
Male guards running after the suspect or staying in position, facing that way with weapons drawn. (Though at least one should have been looking the other way just in case.)
Female guards running away.
Sorry about the Facebook link. I haven’t been able to find the video elsewhere.
Ok, it’s now 65F, and damp so that’s a bit chilly. My decision is made, I’m going to bed.
n
Watch: Wild Video Captures Plane Striking Bakery Truck During Newark Landing
“a little help from God went a long way tonight”
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2026/05/03/watch-wild-video-shows-bakery-truck-getting-hit-by-plane-coming-in-for-landing-in-newark-n2201965