Category: culture

Sat. Feb. 21, 2026 – At the BOL, supposed to be working

It is supposed to be clear today. It was hazy and 60F when I got here last night. No idea what the temp should be like but I’m hoping for “not too hot” as most of what I’d like to get done is in the attic. It was a warm and moist day in Houston yesterday. It’ll probably be warm and moist here.

Did my auction pickups yesterday, then loaded my truck. Hit the Lowe’s for some supplies, and eventually got on the road. Lotsa cops on the road last night.

Today I’ll like to get started pulling in the electrical for a couple of bath fans, a reading light over the toilet, a towel warmer, a space heater for the hall bath, and power to my ‘server closet.’ If I can get all that in, and my buddy can be my safety officer while I do the connections, then I can maybe start on networking and cams. That is the overall goal for this weekend and maybe Monday. There is plenty to do besides that, if I need more or different work.

There is always more.

But I’m improving my situation and that’s a good thing.

If you can’t work, stack.

nick

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Fri. Feb. 20, 2026 – puns are no phun

Warm, possibly clearing and turning into a nice day. It never really did yesterday, staying warm and humid, but overcast or cloudy. Still, not really winter. I had the windows down while driving, and it was nice enough.

I did auction stuff in the morning, winning two things for the BOL, then pickups in the afternoon. I followed that with a couple of hours of sorting at the shop, then dinner at home. Then more auction stuff, with a whole lot of lots in an estate sale. All home and household stuff, all at steep discounts. I’ll be picking that up today.

I have the estate sale to pick up, and then I’ll try to load the truck and head to the BOL in the late afternoon. I’d love to get through The Woodlands before 5, and I can do a pickup on the way if I do.

I’ll need to do some shopping before heading out though. I want to be sure I have what I need to do the electrical work I want to get done this weekend. Turns out it will just be me there, so I should be able to crank out some work. I’ve got bath fans to install, lighting to install, a heated towel bar, and some outlets. If I get that done, I can start setting up the networking and cameras.

There’s plenty of other stuff to do there too, including yard work, so I don’t think I’ll lack tasks. I’ll have to put away all the stuff I bring up with me too.

All in all, the next couple of days should be very busy.

It’s a good life if you don’t falter. Plus, I’ll get to use some of the stuff I’ve been stacking! While also adding to stacks. Win – win!

Join me in stacking, won’t you?

nick

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Thur. Feb. 19, 2026 – paperwork, I’ve got piles.

So it never really cleared up yesterday and was quite dark and dreary by late afternoon. It felt like it would rain at any time, and the humidity was stifling. Didn’t rain though. I have no idea what today will be like, but the national forecast has us in the clear.

I did auction stuff in the morning, and then finally got out of the house (after some needed personal maintenance) to do my pickup. One of the things I got is a little 3d printer that is marketed as sort of “kid’s first printer”. It’s mostly made from plastic and has a small build envelope. I’ve got to see if it’s all there, and see if it actually works. The whole thing fits in about 1 cubic foot. It’s cute. $14 wasn’t much of a risk.

Today I’m not even making plans. I’ll just do what I can, where I am, with what I have.

All with the goal of improvement, and stacking.

n

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Wed. Feb. 18, 2026 – capon, kapo, Kapton, kapok, capo

Silly me, tricks are for kids. And today is supposed to be trick free and very nice. Clear and moderate, mid 70sF, maybe into the low 80sF? Nice. Yesterday I had the windows down for most of my driving around and it was refreshing. This mild weather has been a treat.

So I didn’t get much done in the morning besides auction stuff. And my afternoon pickup was not something I could combine with anything else, so it was like last year when I spent the whole afternoon doing pickups. I had hoped to get a second in, but the traffic was going to make a normally reasonable trip into a 2 hours round trip. I will get that one today.

I did hit the Goodwill for a pair of shoes and some media. Turns out I already had ripped 6 of the disks. Oh well, I’ll send them to the BOL, and maybe we’ll watch Young Frankenstein off the DVD instead of the server.

I feel like I’ve been fighting off a cold, or maybe it’s allergies, but I’m sure blowing my nose a lot and sneezing prodigiously… bit of brain fog to accompany the snot too.

Today I’ll do a couple of pickups and some work at the shop. No child to pick up after school, and more flexibility with dinner, so I can work a bit later if needed.

I did vac seal the sirloin I bought on sale an froze it a couple of days ago. It was nice to be stacking meat instead of drawing down the stacks. I still need to go through my canned goods and triage out the damaged and failed cans. I really need better storage conditions. And I should pull all the fruit and tomato cans at the BOL before they mess up my storage there…

It’s always something. Usually several somethings, and I don’t work hard enough to keep up.

Speaking of which, I’m skipping the Houston area hamfest this year. It’s this weekend, which is also the first time I can go to to the BOL in months, and the last time for another month, unless I go mid week. It’s a month early, and I don’t have much new stuff to sell this year, and no time to get ready before Saturday. First time I’ve missed it since I started going, and I feel weird about it. People seem to look for my load o crap in particular, and it’s a great day to see and chat with people. I won’t even be going to check out the show, which would be a lot of fun, because I’m gonna be in the attic pulling wire at the BOL. I’ve got to get that done before the heat really arrives.

There is never enough time for everything, and sometimes the choices suck. It’s also funny that two guys from the community at the BOL are guys I only see at the Hamfest… I won’t see them this year.

Oh well, I need to be working to improve my situation at the BOL right now. And stacking. Always stacking.

nick

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Tues. Feb. 17, 2026 – let’s get this show on the toad.

Cool again, and clear for the next few days if the weather liars can be trusted. It was partly cloudy/ mostly clear yesterday and very nice. Low 70sF was the best it could do. I’d like a bit more than that today, please.

Lost the whole day yesterday. Morning was more blood sugar monitor weirdness. Then D2 had an appointment in the afternoon that I was pretty sure I’d have to take her to. Because D1 wasn’t home yet. So I had to stay close to home and I did in fact have to take her.

W picked her up. I made dinner, pork loin roast frozen in 2023, and it was delicious. The sides were overdone because no one got home on time, but still tasty. I did apple slices pan fried in bacon fat with bacon bits and brown sugar. It’s a great way to use some apples with bruises or that are getting softer. 1/2 inch thick seems to be just right. Core before slicing. The rings look very nice on a plate. I deglazed the pan with Jack Daniels, so they were ‘bacon bourbon pan fried apple slices’ and they went very well with the pork. Baked potatoes with butter and chopped chives from the garden finished the plate.

Yum.

I did cut my hair, so that was one chore done.

Today, we’ll try again to make some progress. It could happen.

Stack.

nick

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Mon. Feb. 16, 2026 – Presidents Day

And it should be mild and clear for the extra day off. Well, mild-ish, and clear-ish. Yesterday wasn’t bad, mid 70sF by afternoon, but chilly by nightfall. 58F when I went to bed. The dampness made it feel colder. Today should be nice though.

I spent most of yesterday morning in bed. Weirdness with my blood sugar, or just weirdness with the monitor had me up early, and sleeping late. Then I spent most of the afternoon doing auction stuff while messing around on the internet. The day ended with a nice walk with the wife and dog.

Today the kids are out of school. D1 continues her girls weekend, D2 has plans in the late afternoon. W1 will be getting up and going to work. Me, not so much.

Plan is to cut my hair and do some of the many things I’ve been putting off and avoiding for the last week. I’m not super good at following up on my plans, so we’ll see what happens.

In any case, y’all should be preppin’ and stackin’. Even if I’m slackin’.

nick

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Sun. Feb. 15, 2026 – nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

It’s supposed to be clear and a bit cooler today, after yesterday’s overcast and then rain. We didn’t get the big storm that was predicted, but some people did. I guess we’ll just wait and see if it’s a nice day.

I had my non-prepping hobby in the morning Saturday. Sold a few things, but didn’t make any real money. Still nice to move some stuff along. I did buy one thing too, and it was an impulse purchase, and over my normal limit for that sort of thing. Oh well.

After that, I put stuff back into storage, and went home. Did a couple of things, then took a nap. Dang glucose intolerance.

Messed around on the computer, waited for D2 to finish her school thing, and then went out for takeout dinner. By then it had been raining a while but was starting to taper off.

Rain gauge says we got about 2.5 inches. That’s more than I thought.

Today I’m sleeping in and working the list. If it’s nice, I’ll do outdoor stuff, if not, indoor. Pretty prosaic.

Plodding even. But incremental improvement is still improvement.

Work on your stuff, and yourself. Stack.

nick

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Sat. Feb. 14, 2026 – The Feast of St Valentine…

Well, we’re supposed to be getting rain today according to the national forecast. I’m betting on warm and moist. Very moist. But maybe no rain. It was partly nice yesterday, and partly overcast and damp. Still better than three feet of snow.

I spent the whole day moving, except right after lunch when I crashed out for an hour. Met my people to sell them the toilets. Did some cleaning, sorting, and organizing at the shop. Loaded the truck with trash and debris and got rid of that. Did an auction pickup and stopped in to see my local auctioneer – still no date for selling my stuff.

Did some other stuff too and made dinner. Go me.

Today I’ve got my non-prepping hobby meeting, and it’s our quarterly mini swapmeet too. And we have to talk about finding a new space for our meetings. Of course I think the nearby place I found is the best choice. I suspect it will be a long meeting.

After that, I’ve got a wife to treat to Valentine’s stuff. I’ve got a card, and I’ll cook, but that is really about it. I forgot to get chocolate, and she’s started going to the gym so maybe chocolate wouldn’t have been great anyway. At least that’s my story for now. If I disappear, you’ll know it didn’t go well.

One kid is off with friends for a birthday “girls weekend” (the girl’s mom will be present) and the other has a couple of school activities to do. I’ll be lucky if I get anything on the list done this weekend.

Sometimes it be that way.

Stacking is the least I can do.

nick

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Fri. Feb. 13, 2026 – Friday the 13th falls on a Friday this month

And it’s a chilly morning but warmer later kinda Friday the Thirteenth. I hope. It did get pretty nice yesterday despite the forecast for rain. I’ve gotten used to the nice days and missed them. I know it is just setting me up for disappointment later, but I still like them now.

Spent the morning messing around. Spent the afternoon running around. Pickups in The Woodlands and then on the east side of town. Visit to my secondary to get some things and dump some trash. Then site visit for my hobby club finding a new space, then over to the shop to get the stuff I’m selling (toilets) together. (found that two more pieces were broken, so that sucked.) Then Home Depot, the chiropractor, and finally home for dinner. It was a busy day.

Oh, and I started by pulling my old sensor off (it left a ring of adhesive I can’t get to come off, and a mosquito bite where the needle was) and attaching the new sensor. Unfortunately, I seem to have stuck it right on a nerve. The first one didn’t hurt at all, but this one did. And does sometimes when I move my arm. At $150 each, I’m gonna try living with it rather than pulling it off and trying again with a new one. There is a down side to being a cyborg.

Of course the upside is that I get real feedback and can learn to moderate my behavior to get better outcomes.

Plus, it’s kinda cool.

Today I’ve got to meet my neighbors who are buying the toilets in the morning. Then I’ll probably work at the shop for a while since I’ll be there anyway. I should get some stuff together for my non-prepping hobby meeting on Saturday too, as that’s our quarterly ‘swapmeet’ day. The rest of the list calls to me too. It calls collect and in the middle of dinner. B@stard list.

But turning stuff into money is a good thing, so I should leverage that momentum and get some more stuff sold… so I can buy more stacks…

nick

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Thur. Feb. 12, 2026 – I’m the one that made the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs

Cool again, and maybe not clear. National forecast says rain today but clear tomorrow. Yesterday ended up gorgeous blue sky and mild temperatures in the afternoon. And end in the mid 50sF. So we’ll see, but I’m guessing damp and cool.

I spent the morning yesterday messing around and experimenting with my sugar intake, thinking it might be my last day to play with my glucose monitor (think sugar crash). I spent the afternoon at the doctor and doing one pickup and a run through the grocery store before getting home.

HEB had prime sirloin steaks on sale for $5.99/pound. I bought all that they had that were big enough cuts. There were also a lot more yellow tags (in store discounts, yellow tags on the shelf) than there have been lately. Even my favorite bacon had a price reduction from 32c/oz to 30c/oz. There was a buy one get one promo on nice Lavazza espresso cans too. My bill was ~$350 with a coupon and markdown saving of $120. I used to be happy to save 15% of the total. It was a good shopping day.

BTW, that broke the streak. I think it was 10 or 12 weeks without buying meat, other than one pork butt. Freezer meat for the win. I just wish there were some other cuts on sale besides the sirloin, but it’s a tasty cut.

Today I’ve got a couple of pickups to do, and I want to look at another church event space for my non-prepping hobby. The president picked one near his house, but it’s a 25 minute drive for me, vs our old location (7-10) and the new potential locations (<5 minutes.) I'm selfish enough to want my trip to stay short, but I'll present to the group and the board and hopefully the group will decide to stay in my neighborhood. Yeah selfish. Don't care. I also feel like if I could get two locations with minimal effort, wtf is up with no one but the president finding even one for consideration? Volunteer orgs run on the 10% who do everything. So, my prep is stocking the freezer, and building community. Stack something of your own. n

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