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Category: decline and fall

Sat. May 31, 2025 – Epcot? Hollywood studios? Somewhere else?

Supposed to be another humid, hot day, with a chance of rain. Disney parks are fine in the rain. Universal, not as much. Yesterday was mid 80sF with occasional cooler patches, mostly when it was raining. We avoided most of the rain, only getting sprinkled. I’m hoping for similar today.

See yesterday’s comments if you are interested in my day at the Magic Kingdom.

Today we’re either doing Hollywood Studios, Epcot, both, or something else. Sibling is a planner and an expert Disney user, so I let the wife and sibling plan the days. They’re built around the Lightning Lane availability, I know that much.

My mom has been doing great so far. We have a wheel chair to move her around the parks, but she ‘transfers’ to rides under her own power. She even rode Tron. The chair saves her a lot of energy and lets us move at our walking pace instead of hers.

Surprisingly, the park isn’t full of power chair scooters and double wide baby strollers. It must just be the time of the year. Lots of foreign tourists, mostly spanish speakers, but not the horde of brazillians we’ve had before. They are incredibly obnoxious so I’m happy to not have them. People say american tourists are loud and inappropriate, but the brazillians are horrible.

Just doing my part for international relations…

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FWIW, in the morning I walked through the security scanner without issue. And the entry system read my thumbprint fine. When we returned in the evening, the entry system wouldn’t read my thumbprint and the scanner flagged me for secondary inspection with a wand and a look under my shirt. I had my altoids tin first aid kit in the pocket of my shorts. The guard indicated it was what set off the scanner. They didn’t open it or look in it though. White male with an overshirt… walking alone. FFS, it’s like a stereotype. EVERY time I’ve been alone in the entry line I get pulled out. Airports too. Today I’m taking the kid with me.

I’m stacking some good times, I hope you have some too.

nick

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Fri. May 30, 2025 – Short shrift while I’m on vacation…

Probably warm and humid here in central Florida. Maybe some rain, although I don’t think we’re in the rainy season. There is a front pushing through that might get us some clear sky for the next couple of days. Or not. We’ll see.

Did my errands in the morning, made it to the chiropractor and Costco for gas and sunglasses, and made it home in time to pack and leave for the airport in plenty of time. Of course we didn’t. And then the airport was all kinds of messed up. We’d have missed the flight if it wasn’t delayed an hour by weather. This has happened before, and I’m pretty much done letting my wife do the travel day schedule…

But we got here.

Today is one of the parks, not sure which. The itinerary was worked out long ago and I’m just along for the ride.

I’ll be keeping my eyes open and looking for the stuff most people don’t see. No stacking except memories and good times.

Stack a few yourselves…

nick

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Thur. May 29, 2025 – travel day

Cool to start but then back to normal. Unless we get more rain. That might keep it cool for the day. Yesterday started with rain, but ended up sunny. The early rain kept the temperature down though and it was pretty nice. More of that would be great. Forecast shows the whole south and gulf coast in potential rain for the next couple of days. I’d like some nice days in Florida though, if we could get them.

Did my pickups Wednesday. Talked to my auctioneer, and generally did my normal routine day. Even did a load of laundry so I would have clean clothes for the trip. Just another day.

And today will be mostly getting ready to leave. Kids have school in the morning, but then we leave for our flight in the afternoon.

I’m not at all excited for this trip, but I should get into it once it gets going.

Can’t prep much, except for my normal carry on bag and relationships.

But these are the good old days, and we need to make sure they are GOOD. Time with family is good.

Building memories is good.

Stack the intangibles as well as the tangibles.

nick

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Wed. May 28, 2025 – another busy day, chicks to hatch and eggs to lay..

Cool to start, but warming rapidly. It was in the high 80sF or more by late in the day yesterday, although it started cool enough. Sun came out and it was actually pretty bright and sunny later. More of that would be ok with me.

I had lots to do, and it was awkwardly timed, so of COURSE I got a service call from my client on top of everything. I was able to flip some stuff around and accommodate him. I stopped on my way there and grabbed a new APC UPS. We have Cyberpower there, mainly because of cost, but I prefer APC. The store had an open box unit discounted enough I could go with the APC. He was back on grid when I got there, and the UPS was still beeping, so it was time to swap it. They do wear out, they do catch surges. At home, I try to replace the battery once, but after that, the power electronics seem to be just worn out and the unit needs replacing.

Anyway, got him back up and running, then picked up D1, dropped her home, did my trash run, came back to take D2 to the orthodontist, then took her with me to get two pickups before time ran out. Came home and crashed out in front of my PC. Wife took care of the other kid taxi duties last night.

Oh, and I cut myself. Details in yesterday’s comments. We’ll see today if there is any infection. I didn’t really want stitches with the heavy bandage, and water restrictions, especially with my trip to Disney coming up. Fortunately I had the steri-strips, antibiotic, cleaners, etc. Well, it’s not down to “fortune” exactly, but it’s down to preparation and stacks. Which is the whole point of prepping.

So fail for cutting myself, hooray for preps for treating the injury.

Stack stuff you might need, as well as stuff you know you will need. Then stack some more.

nick

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Tues. May 27, 2025 – winding down the month…

Hot and humid. Really. In Texas in summertime. Who would have thought? Add in a chance of rain too. We had such a beautiful long Spring, the transition to Summer is a bit brutal. Saying that, it was 67F when I woke up at the BOL yesterday. And 74F when I finally got moving. I did some extra work outside figuring it would be months before it was this cool again.

That extra work was cutting down a tree. The other work was cleaning up from the rain and wind storm. Neighbor had a huge oak blow down, I just had some standing dead wood and the top of one medium sized tree that landed on the deck.

It still took a while to get all the other loose debris and branches added to the burn pile. And I was pretty sweaty and hot by the end, despite the <80F temps. Got everything cleaned up and eventually headed home. This is a really short week for me. Kids have half days due to testing. Then we're going to see mom and sibling in Fla. Maybe see the new Universal stuff. Maybe some mouse stuff. That means, no bidding on stuff until I get back, and getting everything I previously bid on before I leave. Oh, and wrangling the kids through doctor's appointments and their normal activities. All while getting ready to go out of town. Joy. These are the good old days though, so I'll suck it up. Not much stacking goin' on... nick

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Mon. May 26, 2025 – Memorial Day, USA

Hot and humid today, on the unofficial start of Summer. It was steamy all day yesterday even after the rain cleared out. Dunno if we’ll get rain today, but it would be nice to have a nice day.

Flags at half staff until noon, then raised to full, as we spend the morning remembering those who fell in the fight, and the afternoon celebrating what they fought for. Friends and family. It’s always that in the end.

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I spent yesterday chipping away at the list. Some additional items ‘spontaneously’ got added, and were dealt with. I did get the grass cut, and trimmed, and the debris blown clear. I pruned trees. I even bagged the peach tree with a giant mesh bag that is supposed to keep insects and critters from eating your fruit. We’ll see if any survive to be harvested this year. Most years the critters spoil all the fruit before it ripens.

Spent a few minutes talking to one of the neighbors here who lives in Houston and is a bit more prepper minded than most. He just installed a solar system with two Tesla Powerwalls for storage. It’s some sort of leased thing, where he pays a fixed rate, which was less than his utility bill. Don’t know the details, but it sounds like more of the financial shenanigans that most solar companies are dealing in, except that he gets the storage too. He’s just done it, and I’ll be interested in his results and happiness in a few months or a year.

I’m not sure I would want a big battery next to the house… but there is an appeal to having the system.

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Went for a short cruise around the lake with my wife. She enjoyed it, as it was nice and cool with the wind after a day working.

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Today we’ll be doing things to get ready to head home, and I still have to put solar panels somewhere, and unload my truck. It’s gonna be a move this and move that kind of a day, I think. They feel like just shuffling the deck chairs, but it is important. I found some things I’d brought up here while looking for other stuff in the garage, which drove home the need to properly put stuff away. If you can’t find it, do you really have it?

Stack stuff. Learn stuff. USE the stuff.

nick

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Sun. May 25, 2025 – 05252025 Maybe we’ll get the boat out for a spin…

Sure to be hot and humid today with a chance of rain. We’ll see what we really get. Rain would be good for the land and the lake, but not so much fun for us.

It took me a while to get going yesterday, after rising at a reasonable time, getting out of the house took a while. Loading up the truck took some sweat and time. If I didn’t have a deadline for a pickup, I probably would have left even later. I did make my pickup with 15 minutes to spare. And it included 5 gallons of diesel fuel when I thought I had just gotten empty cans. I will move that to a proper yellow jug today. The rest of the day is in yesterday’s comments.

I’ve got a full slate today, with “unload the truck and put stuff away”, “cut the grass”, and “investigate a slow plumbing leak” leading the list. Freaking indoor plumbing. It’s one of the miracles of the modern age, but sure can be a pain to maintain. You never know what you’ll find when you open a wall…

But I’m hoping for a nail through pex and a very slow leak.

There will need to be some organizing of sheds and a lot of stacking stuff in the shed, with a bit of swapping out winter for summer gear involved too.

There is always more to do. Always more to stack. The stacks make it easier now, they’ll make it possible later…

Get busy.

nick

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Sat. May 24, 2025 – Headed to the BOL, eventually…

Hot and humid, probably. We did get a front that came through late in the day, and some wind with a little cooling, but IDK if it will really make a difference. All the rain missed me, and it was 101F in the driveway at 5pm… I think today will be similar. Forecast for the next couple days might have some rain in it.

That would be nice if we weren’t at the BOL for the long weekend.

I did get stuff done yesterday. All my scheduled pickups went well. I managed to get the kid where she needed to be on time. Picked her up too. She went to see an R rated movie with her girlfriend and regretted it. Too much realistic gore and she was really freaked out by the audience laughing at the gruesome deaths. Yeah kid, there are sick people in the world, and they get encouraged by the mass media. Desensitized to violence for years. It’s not an accident, it’s too pervasive.

Today I’m sleeping in a bit, then I will load up. W and the Ds will head up late morning, I’ve got a pickup on the way that I can’t do before afternoon. I’m hoping the solar install stuff gets here before my departure too.

I wouldn’t mind a little rain, if it happens overnight, but I don’t want to spent the whole weekend indoors. However, it’s not up to me, so I’ll just deal with it.

And I’ll be working to improve my situation. Like always. And probably stacking something.

‘Cuz you know that’s the right thing to do, right?

nick

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Fri. May 23, 2025 – some stuff to do, some to put off, some off putting…

Warm, and moist. Great in a cake, not so great in the weather. But it could be cold, and moist, which hurts. I’m assuming that we actually will get to hot and wet before the end of the day. It was certainly hot and moist yesterday.

I did get some stuff done. I got three pickups out of the way, with a bunch more to do today. Then it was grocery shopping for the weekend (and some sale items) and kid stuff. The kid stuff took until late, then dinner out, then finally home.

Today will be mostly pickups. Some shopping for stuff for the BOL. Some loading of stuff to take up. I am juggling possibilities to see if I go up today or tomorrow. It’s looking like tomorrow as I have some awkwardly timed pickups. Even then, I won’t be leaving in the morning tomorrow either. Which raises the question of picking up the solar panels today, or tomorrow on the way out of town… The timing really sucks though, with nothing quite lining up. The most annoying thing is that I didn’t win the major item in the auction with the last pickup, but I did win some minor things. So I’m stuck getting them later than I would have liked.

I was busy with the kid stuff and couldn’t adjust my bids.

Oh well. I like to combine trips, and have everything lined up, but I can’t always. W and the girls can’t head up until later Saturday either because of kid stuff commitments. As long as I get everything, it is what it is.

Probably time to buy even less, but I find it hard to pass on a great deal. And there is still stuff we need, like stuff for the boat. Freaking auction had a bunch of good stuff, on Lake Conroe, which was convenient too. But I didn’t win most of it. Had I known, I’d have been more aggressive bidding on lots once I knew I was making the trip.

It seems like there is always something to do, or buy. But that’s the story of my life. Always be working, always be stacking. Today’s no different.

nick

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Thur. May 22, 2025 – Still busy, just different busy

Still hot too. It was a bit cooler yesterday and was even pleasant in the shade, with a breeze. Since the overcast held up for a lot of the day, temps didn’t climb as high. I’m hoping today is similar.

Did my doctor visits. Apparently I’m healthy. Cardiac, oncology, bloodwork, all good. Ruling out any major issues is a good thing. I’ll do my follow up colonoscopy in the next couple of months, and some allergy testing. That should answer any remaining questions. After all that, I can stride confidently into my next decade.

Did some shopping in between docs. Grabbed 130 media at the Goodwill outlet. That’s about half movies, half CDs, and some books and games. Most of the books and games will go to my auctioneer. Everything else will get ripped to the server. It was a rare day to have all that stuff I wanted.

Stopped in at the fun store to see my friends. Had a nice chat and they did a steady stream of business while I was there. They had a lot of pistols on consignment. I’ve been seeing a lot of ammo in my auctions lately, even .22LR. Times are getting tight again, methinks.

Taking D1 and her friends out for dinner rounded out the evening. Good news from the docs, and a night with family. It was a good day.

Today I’ll be trying to get a couple of pickups done. I’ve got a few other things to do too, but most of the day is open. Tonight, D2 walks across the stage at her middle school. Time FLIES.

Use that power of time to do a little, frequently. Before you know it, you’ll have world class stacks, speak another language, have a solid new skill, or have saved for your BOL. Or all of those if you are ambitious.

Stack the good things.

nick

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