Grab a mug and pull up a chair!
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Monday, January 13, 2025
Monday's at the gym...
Got to the end of my workout this morning and spent more time arguing with myself if I should or should not do the last machine than it takes to actually do the damn machine...
...yes, I finally did the damn machine.
Dear HGTV...
Perhaps it's time that HGTV changes it's programming format. At the gym. Usual elliptical machine at the end of the row away from the bank of monitors running the nonstop Cable News channels. I have two options directly in front of me (other than the workout meter on the machine); the GoPro channel (today was actually a video of someone doing a Sonny Bono!) and HGTV. The Monday morning selection is almost something like "Farmhouse Makeover" or some such nonsense. Today was no exception; a clueless couple wanting to renovate their home. A "Husband and Wife" design / contractor duo taking up the challenge to deliver everything wanted. The end result (IMHO) shockingly, predictably awful and dated before the end credits began to roll. Bringing me to... the end credits. A disclaimer by HGTV that "...the contractors shown in this preceding video have been indicted and convicted of fraud...."
So... HGTV... are you so desperate for content that you would rather keep this series on your line up rather than, say, rerun another batch of "House Hunters"?
Sunday, January 12, 2025
The Good 'Ole Days.
I waxed nostalgic last night when I went to clean out my SPAM folder and found an Email from a Nigerian prince, and all I have to do is provide my checking account information!
Saturday, January 11, 2025
Friday, January 10, 2025
No, it's not a badge of honor.
So, Judge Juan Merchan has an "unconditional discharge" against Donald Trump in his hush money trial. It is not a dismissal, but something that will stay on his permanent record for the remainder of our his miserable lives life.
Well... at least it's something.
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Lumen
“You, too can look like me! Buy this product!”
So I am at the gym and on the elliptical machine under the requisite bank of monitors. The two nearest me are on the Planet Fitness channel and on CNN. I am on the machine for my usual 30 minute warm up, and during that time, I manage to catch several commercial blocks on CNN that include a product called “Lumen”. There is no audio (you can stream it through your earphones if you would like). The commercial shows several vignettes of very attractive, trendy looking twenty-somethings doing trendy looking stuff while puffing periodically into this… thing that reminds me of a kazoo or one of those “Whoopie” whistles. Followed by high-fives and overall happy jazzy vibes while numbers from 1 to 5 flash on a wheel and they go back to their granola and yogurt parfaits.
After several weeks of watching this commercial pop up, I decided to investigate. Lumen is this (gizmo) that you blow into, and the technology analyzes your Co2 to determine if your body is burning fat or carbohydrates. Coolness. Okay.
Searched YouTube for the Lumen product and tens of hundreds of videos popped up for Lumen and like products. Hmmm… so I started watching. Of the videos I sampled, all were produced by very attractive, trendy looking under-40-ish people, all of whom seem to have about 5% body fat, all hawking Lumen and like products. All stating that Lumen trained them in “…eating carbohydrates and fats and the importance of tracking and counting calories!”. Also, the related app wants to know ALLLLLL about your health.
Okay, so what will Lumen do for me that (Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, MyFitnessPal, my nutritionist, etc.) did not do? I am left with the impression that it was nothing more than a gizmo that will make some trendy, attractive people feel like they are actually doing something when the Doctor won’t renew their Ozempic prescriptions.
It really reminded me of the 1980’s fad diet pills (that I heavily bought into) – “Take two of these pills 3 times a day, and exercise at least 60 minutes each day! You should see results in 60-90 days!”.
I just shake my head, finish out my warm up and got my workout in.
Onto the next.
January 9, 2025 - I have officially left Facebook; deleted my account.
I had been on the fence about leaving the platform since November, 6 2024, the day after the election, when Mark Zuckerberg ("Zuck", rhymes with "Fuck) decided he had to donate $1M to the Trump Inauguration fund. My stomach began to churn. Last week, it was announced that Meta/Facebook had begun using AI generated accounts and bots to "generate content that would be of interest to the users!", followed by this weeks declaration by FZuck that Facebook will no longer provide fact checking; instead relying MAGA "Average Joe's to govern the content!"
I don't need to welcome that vector into my life. Account deleted. I do not feel smug or self-righteous, just... relieved.
Hopefully, I can make something of this blog. We'll see.