Dave's Journal / Feb2023
My vintage cameras are giving up a shelf to vintage cars (purchased fully assembled). Here's a 1930's Ford.
Doors, hood, trunk open and wheels turn.
About 100 years ago, I helped Erynn with HS math. But at some point, she started explaining "the new math" to *me* !.
Then on to college, and now she works at Brown University caring for animals.
Watched it last night. They don't make them like this anymore.
(I was 11 at the time and wouldn't be caught dead to watch this stuff !! )
Blue died a few years back (he was 2YO) and last night, I finally stopped telling God that he seriously f###'d up the design of this existence that he created. I still feel extremely awful about Blue, but I put that anger down and walked away from it.
This morning I am giving French press coffee another try. Done this before and ....meh ....
But I tweaked the recipe and it's not bad. Good first cup in the morning - decaf and lower acid, gentle on you stomach.
Must be nice to my stomach this morning .... the look ahead ....
(I am already in a bad mood ! )
Days later ......
Well .... I asked Aetna a simple question - "Does my policy cover the cost of cochlear implant batteries?" They sent me 3 pages of policy guidelines, not one word referring to cochlear implants or batteries.
We did this 3 times, each time they sent me more pages from policy guidelines, none of them included the words "cochlear" or "batteries"
So I finally said "Please, I am not looking for pages of explaination, I just want to know if you will reimburse me for my batteries". ..... now the world waits ....
Next: Filing federal taxes electronically ..... I prepared the paper verion of my tax return in 67minutes and expected to scan it and send it in by email ..... oh oh it is to laugh.
I'll spare you the details, but it took me two whole days to complete their electronic forms correctly, navigating through the Devil's mindfield of buttons that do stuff you don't even know they are doing, so the feds can send you a polite rejection by email, and you then hack your way back to fix what you didn't know was broken. They send the rejections sequentially one mistake at a time, not all in one rejection - so if you make 4 mistakes they send 4 rejection emails sequentially after you fix each mistake.
Anyway, after scaring poor Deb with my screaming, I finally made it through the minefield, and am waiting for my tax return.
Next: Real Estate senior citizen tax reduction ..... what a joke. You basically must be on welfare or confined to a hospital bed with tubes running in and out of your body to qualify for this. But, I must say, the nice lady was polite and took the time to hand write a nice note, so I had to calm down.
You think I'm grumpy ? This guy has me beat by miles ....
Very good movie (I watched the Swedish version with subtitles - watch the new Tom Hanks version: "A Man Called Otto")
Good thing I paid attention in 1st grade. Pencil coloring these days is very relaxing. I do this for about 30 minutes at a clip. Helps me to chill, when I need to.
Amidst all the turmoil .... today was good.
Had my annual cardiologist check up. Went in convinced my blood pressure and pulse would set a new personal high. In the waiting room, I watched relaxation videos and took slow, deep breaths until they called me in.
Well, we were very happy to find that my scores were excellent, and no need to change meds or doses.
They took some blood for a cholesterol check (it was 140 when we tested 2 years back, but I've been bad since then).
Came home and threw caution aside and celebrated with Stewart's Cream Soda. One bottle has 86% of all the sugar you should take in in a day. What the hell, something's gonna kill me, may as well be cream soda.
After much anxiety on my part, Mike wiped my beloved computer and installed the latest Linux OS, and much to my happiness, it worked flawlessly right out of the box and is better than ever. I've had this netbook since the Jurassic age and would hate to part with it.
Here is a screencap of the two screens, as currently configured.
(Hats off to handbrake for easy file conversions and ffmpeg for easy editing commands.)
