General

I just like to be aware of the time without necessarily wanting to awake at that moment lol (but i like the option of being able to, if i want)
There’s reasoning behind it haha
It helps i can basically fall asleep whenever i want so it’s not like it really disrupts my sleep or anything

I went for a walk/jog yesterday despite a bad knee. Felt fine afterwards. Woke up and it feels like I broke a bone in one foot. Getting old sucks.

You ever try a knee brace...the ones that just wrap around your knee? Anytime I hurt my knee or have to move; it helps a lot

rayzor6 wrote:


Yeah, I've tried multiple knee braces (at least half a dozen different ones), visited an orthopedic surgeon, etc. Nothing alleviates it. I get a stabbing pain in the back of the knee at around a mile. It doesn't go away unless I stop, and when I start back up it comes back much faster. I never actually ran a marathon, but I used to be able to run to that mileage. 5-15 miles was my norm, and I only stopped out of boredom. I was able to hit a 6 minute mile. Still pissed at the $400 I wasted on the orthopedic surgeon... Knee joint "looked fine" by X-ray. "take NSAIDS" they said, fudging joke.

As for my recent injury, compression makes it worse. I noticed my pinky toe was misaligned; that's where the pain line was. I cracked it back into position. Elevate it and we'll see if that fixes it. I wonder if I had a dislocation or broken bone mid-foot? Hopefully it's gone soon enough. I've broken a toe twice before, feels similar to this, it's not fun.

DrizzDrizzDrizz wrote:

That reminds me of something that I like to do. Whenever I'm with someone and they casually look at their watch. Right when they look away from their watch, I ask them what time it is. They almost always have to look back at their watch. The only reason I do this is to amuse myself.

Sad how covid has turned some people into germophobes. Following good hygiene is probably a good/healthy thing. But when it starts becoming obsessive, it's not good.

I've watched people struggle to open doors/opening doors in funky ways because they're afraid to touch the door handle. I can't blame them, especially if they themselves or people close to them got very sick, but it's sad when you see someone, especially someone you've known for years, suddenly acting a bit obsessive.

Flip side is I enjoyed not getting sick thanks to people not going to work when they are sick. Good while it lasted.

KCPenguins wrote:

On this very narrow front: I agree with you. I have family that has no problem coming over and then telling you that their freaking kid puked this morning but he isn't 'contagious'. I freaking hate it.

nonamesleft wrote:

I'm doing that more - not because I've become obsessive or anything -- but simply because Covid has made me much more aware of how bad I am at NOT touching my face and such after touching things. Plus, Covid is still pretty prevalent -- and now we've got flu season starting up. It just makes sense to be more careful.

Also, I've realized how easy it is to have hand sanitizer around in the car and such. So, am I using it much more often than I did pre-Covid? Absolutely. But only because I've finally given things more thought -- not because I'm becoming obsessed with it.

That being said, sure, I might try to open a door without touching it as much -- but if it is overly difficult, I don't worry about it. Just try to remember to stop touching my dang face randomly!

Since the weather FINALLY started getting cooler - a whole month late, thanks global warming - I finally started digging upstairs for all the gaming stuff I want to try to sell to a local reseller so I can actually raise money to get the ball moving on selling the house.

But I have a lot of things that would probably be better off going to people who actually want it.

And I don't want to deal with ebay... or paypal...

Bleh.

John wrote:
This doesn't sound obsessive, more like being more aware/cautious.

I think the whole thing hits a certain nerve with me because when you've known someone for years who suddenly starts opening doors with their shirt and telling others to wash their hands before touching things, it's, well, I'm not sure what to make of it. Somewhat sad I guess. If you're going to wash your hands anyway after going inside, why open the door with your shirt?

Don't touch your face? How do you handle an eye itch? a cheek itch? chin itch? an eyebrow itch? Sweat? GTFO with the nonsense, John.

nonamesleft wrote:

Members of my wife's family wash their hands barely after going number 2. They'll go to Cedar point, use every handrail they have access to and then want to eat without cleaning their hands. Oh, and they are sick puking at least once a month, but I know those two things aren't related in the slightest.

@rayzor6 You have a point. Obviously it's smart to practice good hygiene. But I think it is possible to overdo it. For example, if you're going to wash your hands anyway after returning home from being outside, then why avoid touching the doorknob? If you were to tell me that you don't like to wash your hands, and therefore you try to avoid touching other things that many others come in contact with such as doorknobs, okay. But avoiding the doorknob + washing your hands after? That, imo, seems a bit excessive. But this is a very hazy area. Everyone is different.

rayzor6 wrote:

Are they washing their hands, or just running the water from the sink for a bit to make people think they are washing their hands?

If you started marking the level of soap in a liquid dispenser, how often would it actually go down after their bathroom activities?

lordly_llama wrote:

The point is, if you've been touching OTHER stuff (i.e. doors and such that other people just touched), then you wash your hands (or sanitize them) before you touch your face.

Like, even pre-Covid, this was always a good idea to avoid the flu and colds and such. Covid just made it a little more obvious that it was happening.

If you just keep your hands on your face and use your feet to open everything it works out the same

@nonamesleft: I fully agree. When my daughter was born in winter 2006: I was a crazy person with handwashing and hand sanitizer in the hopes that she would not get sick before her little lungs could handle it better. I avoided getting any little colds, but it was at a big cost because anything else would FLOOR me to bedrest. You need some germs to not get KO'ed.

@benstylus no soap measuring needed. The adults will wash, but the two kids run their hands over the water in such a short amount of time (and no soap bubbles in the sink) that I know what they are doing. Now if I go past the bathroom and I know they are in there, I wait with hand sanitizer and make them take a few doses. It's better than nothing.

A close 2nd to how gross it is to be touching my home with buttfunk hands is the eyeroll and acting like *I'm** am a freak because I want them to wash after taking a dump! They act like I'm asking them to scrub up like they are going to do surgery.

I agree, but do you use pocket hand sanitizer after every store you enter? The point is, if you've been touching OTHER stuff (i.e. doors and such that other people just touched). I doubt you cleanse your hands after you enter. Minus the restroom.

Foxhack wrote:

In the same boat. Really debating selling off the collection to help fund a new home ... but the amount of work and eBay/Facebook/etc. just a pain in the ass. Collector items, pictures, questions, big ol' hassle. Be curious to hear what you end up doing.

lordly_llama wrote:

I'm not sure if you are talking to me or someone else...but I do use hand sanitizer after leaving a public building and getting back to my car unless I didn't touch anything like a pin pad at the check out.

MrBean wrote:

I'm 50/50 on selling it all or just burning down the house with me inside it.

Foxhack wrote:

Haha! I've been there...

In the Netherlands, if you're handicapped you can have government-sponsored trips to the Red Light District up to 12 times a year because sex is a human right there.

I have been craving a hot dog lately real bad. Haven't had one in over a decade and usually only ever had them at Fenway Park anyhow. Not a huge pork guy but I'm gonna have to snag one soon.

theJaw wrote:
I think there are beef and chicken hot dog options too. Though, I don't know how you would tell the difference without tasting it first (unless you ask the store/stand).

I prefer both beef and chicken to pork dogs personally

Anyone ever had a tofu dog?

No and I’m pretty confident i never will lol

Porksta wrote:

I tried them maybe 15 years ago and they were absolutely awful. They added smoke flavoring which made the whole thing taste even worse. I don't like throwing out food, but I determined that they didn't qualify as food with how bad they were, so the rest of the pack went in the bin.

I know that the plant-based meat substitute industry has made some pretty significant upgrades in quality in the past few years, so it's possible they wouldn't be completely wretched now.

Porksta wrote:
I had part of one. It honestly wasn't bad. In fact, it was decent.

I really like tofu in stir fry.

Can't stand Tofu... But I have tried some various plant based Hamburger patties one being mushroom based. It looked like dog food though, until it was cooked. I believe they had hotdogs also.

The tofurkey I tried at one Thanksgiving wasn't terrible, but it was so overloaded with salt to make up for the lack of umami that it was likely way less healthy for you than a regular turkey. They actually extruded the tofu into strands and lightly smashed them together in a failed attempt to replicate the texture of meat. Kudos for trying though. I ate 1 slice then went back to the real deal.

We once had a bird build a nest inside our microwave vent.

One morning, we heard a bunch of noises coming from the cabinet above the microwave. I open the cabinet and see a baby bird jumping around. After it had hatched, it had fallen down from the vent area through a small space into the cabinet below.

I made a space for it to live outside, safe from the elements, hoping the mother bird would come and feed it. It did. I was pretty excited when the mother appeared. Sadly, the baby bird didn't make it past a couple of days. I don't know what happened. I went to check on it one morning and it was lying on its side. Even though it wasn't my bird, it hit hard. I so badly wanted the bird to make it. I buried it. I think I teared up at some point.

Caved, and agreed to grow our family, +1. 9 week old goldendoodle (F1). She’s the cutest thing ever. Good grief, I forgot just how much patience is required.

loztdogs wrote:

Haha, I was so against a golden doodle as well. We're 2 months in and Kirby (boy) is awesome. He's so much fun! Glad you're enjoying her!

Puppies are a handful for sure. Hope you have another pup to help her burn off the energy! We just got back from an 8 hour outing at a wine maize and brewery and watching him and and our 4 yr old lab going absolutely bat crap for a solid hour was so much fun.

@MrBean we have a 9 year old female pug. She is being super tolerant of the new puppy but she has always been super well behaved in almost all situations. Probably one of the best dogs I have ever owned. They say dogs get separation anxiety… I get separation anxiety from her lol.

I’m hopeful she can show the puppy the ropes once the puppy settles in a bit.

I was walking outside and saw a black squirrel (not native to NY) and two chickens. In a residential area. The squirrel was doing squirrely things, like scampering around, but the chickens were just hanging out on a gate.

I didn't know that black squirrels were rare in some areas. Here in Michigan, we see them all over the place -- daily. heh.

Get your BB guns out

Not my thought: a round pizza pie comes in a square box, so maybe a square pizza should come in a round box.

Subject line of a spam email I got: you have won an Milwaukee power drill.

nonamesleft wrote:

A few months ago I started getting multiple e-mails every day claiming to be from Wal-mart, Lowe's, or some other well known company saying I had won a prize. Sometimes I get the exact same e-mail two or three times in the same day. The e-mail does not address me by name and says I needed to take a survey to be entered to win a prize worth $90. I guess the law on fraud changes when the amount is over $100. The return address is always some very long string of letters that is probably from a random generator so blocking the address will be useless. I dutifully report them as spam, but few get send directly to my Junk folder. If I click "unsubscribe", I get a message saying the page it is taking me to is unsafe. I've been using the same e-mail address for at least 20 years and the amount of work to change it everywhere would be enormous. I have two addresses and actually tried to change my e-mail address for a restaurant Rewards program and it wouldn't let me.

I get those emails a lot, too. Gmail's crapty filters won't let me set it up to automatically delete them, so I have to go in and mark it as a phishing attack (which is what they are) and it took months but it's finally getting rid of them.

The unsubscribe option is fake, they use that to make sure someone is reading the emails and so they can bombard them with more crap.

Random thoughts? Alright...

My friends are getting divorced. I'm friends with both of them. It's weird. I'm trying to be there for both of them while remaining Switzerland about it all, but it's hard. They're both my friends, and they both do their best to make the other one unlikable. Well shut up friends, I'm not gonna take sides.

I started a job almost a year and a half ago, working at Costco. I'm in a call center. I got hired for their eCommerce support. I didn't know Costco had call centers. We didn't have one in Oklahoma until they bought the old Hertz call center building a couple years ago. Anyway, now I'm in a different department and it's amazing and I love it.

I need a gavel.

I started getting edibles about a year ago. The idea was that it was supposed to help with anxiety and depression, though I'm not sure how well it's been doing at that. I'm pretty non-plussed, but I feel pretty good. Thank goodness for the spelling corrections too. They also make me terrible at video games.

AEW has been crap for the better part of 2022. After the March one where Punk and MJF fought, it's been downhill. I have mixed feelings about WWE, but they're definitely telling better stories right now.

I have too much crap. Some of it needs to go. I also have too much debt. Selling off too much crap won't cover the too much debt. If I do that, I won't have enough money to put a good dent in the debt, and I'll be all out of cool crap.

I need some wall shelves and/or a bookcase or some sort of shelving apparatus to display all my Funkos. I don't really want to get a bookcase, since I don't know why. But I just don't. Kinda think I want the cube organizers, but I don't wanna spend the money. All I know is those Funkos need to get out of my closet.

I'm too fat. I need to do something about it. But I'm too lazy. Excuses, I know, but also facts.

BucketofJustice wrote:

At the end of the day you might have to, or you will lose both of them as friends. Depends on the reason for divorce, also sometimes how contentious it ends up being.

AEWs getting back on track, a bit of course correction happening.

I hope so. I hope all ends well sooner than later. I don't think it's going to be easy, or quick, but I can hope. They're both good people, just not to each other.

AEW needs to get it's crap together on camera. As much as everyone sucked for Brawl Out and ensuing drama... having the stories be bad or not followed up on or in some cases both... it hasn't been good. The wrestling has been, and always will be, good. Though, if they stop thinking it's Indiemovemania every Wednesday, there may be less injuries, which would let these guys wrestle better, for longer.

Every little bit of debt relief helps. I'm working on it myself for the first time in 11 years. I'm in sales so when the economy goes down: my pay goes down.

You didn't go fully into debt in a day, give yourself more than that to get out. I'm of the mind that it's fun to see how you can still get the things that are important to you, but cutting out things you don't really care about or took for granted. Like we went out to eat at least 3 times a week. Now it's a special treat when we do it. That sort of thing.

Does anyone have an Ea Play subscription? Is it me or are they just not really adding games to it? Except for Fifa like a few months before the new one comes out

I loved the sub at first bc i played through a bunch of the games on there (Unravel 2, Titanfall 2, Mass Effect trilogy, It Takes Two, A Way Out), but now it’s just kinda useless

I have it through Game Pass. It definitely isn't great.

I honestly don't know where I first heard about this...I am really thinking it was here. But this is really freaking me out because of just how real it looks. A website that generates pictures of people who don't exist:

https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/

That's insane.

rayzor6 wrote:
Wow! That's seriously impressive. A bit scary. Almost feels somehow wrong in a way.

But how do we know they're not actual people? (present or past)

It's trained on millions of faces, so in a way it is. It's just randomized in a way that you actually getting a 100% facial match would be like winning the powerball six times while being struck by lightning twice.

You really wanna go loco, check out https://thiscatdoesnotexist.com/

Imagine you're flipping through that site and see a perfect picture of yourself...

DarkFact wrote:
Just checked it out. It generated a cat with such green eyes, woah.

image

Sometimes when I feel that the weather has gotten cold and not to my liking, I look up the weather in Fairbanks, Alaska. It's not necessarily always colder there, but sometimes the weather there is MUCH colder than other places.

image

UMMMMM, well let's see last week it was -27. It was an early cold snap. The coldest it will get here over the next 30, is -24 but that is at night.

About 30 years ago, my wife and I decided we would drive from southern Indiana to Mackinaw Michigan the first weekend in February to watch the Mackinaw Mush dog sled races. When we woke up that Saturday morning, the radio announced that it would 30°F below zero with a wind chill of 50°F below.

A couple of years later we decided to go again. The weather was in the mid 20°F range overnight and just about 32°F during the day. Some of the racers cancelled saying it was too hot to run the dogs. Others were concerned the snow on the track was melting during the day and freezing overnight creating patches of ice that would be dangerous to run on. They sent out crews to shovel snow over those areas.

Unfortunately, they stopped holding the races due to lack of interest and sponsorships.

I can't go further north than Cadillac without an awful good reason, too fudging cold and miserable

3-6 feet of snow expected in Buffalo this weekend.. Insane!

shadyfozzie wrote:

A long time ago (before I was born) my grandpa's job wanted to move him to Buffalo and he and my grandma decided against it for this reason.

DarkFact wrote:

Just as a point of interest... I grew up in Cadillac. 2nd grade through high school. Graduated from Cadillac High in 1991.

I was in first grade in 91! 25ish miles south right off 131 tho. K-12 and then some

I tell you what tho, I made special trips up there for Taco Bell, nobody else did their Chalupas right. Things I miss. I miss Olga's too (GR), though I see Goldbelly's got kits for sale, might buy a big pack after Christmas for the memories.

DarkFact wrote:

Fudge I’m old.

loztdogs wrote:

I imagine DarkFact repeated kindergarten 16 times because he kept mouthing off to the teacher.

Cue a Billy Madison remake

My left ear just closed up on my way home from work. Like an earplug slowly expanding. So far 4 hours of hearing like I have an ear plug in my left ear. This year sucks worse than the last two combined for me. I think I've only been healthy for a total of maybe a month.

benstylus wrote:

They kept passing me because I was such a crap, I like to think. I was placed in advanced classes and they sent me to college on the weekends to learn how to sign "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson and sing Happy Birthday in Spanish. Eventually I got tired of trying and asked if I could go learn with the dumb kids again because they had fun looking toys to learn with

I still remember the lyrics but I do not remember ASL at all. When they say kids are a sponge and absorb a lot at a young age, that doesn't mean they remember the practical stuff, they can just repeat and mimic a lot. The only thing I remember from that age is the Contra code

DarkFact wrote:

To be fair, that's about the only thing from that age that is still a useful life skill.

benstylus wrote:

And 867-5309

KCPenguins wrote:
I heard the following trick. Maybe it will help you. Maybe it depends on why your ear got clogged, idk. But here it is. Sit down, and lean forward until your shoulders/chest area are leaning on your knees and your head is below knee level and hanging down. Probably won't hurt to try.

Tried Arby's el diablo return. Still good, hot, not quite as flavored as I remembered. Best actually spicy chicken sandwich though. Didn't get a milkshake with just the sandwich... :(

recently I was googling the potential dangers of consuming food dyes, and came across this photo of a girl apparently consuming red. (which allegedly is associated with ADHD and aggression in children)
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/red-dye-40

and I thought, ok, I hope to god they didn't tell a child to consume junk food for the photo, maybe the child was eating it anyway and all they did was take a photo, or maybe the photo existed beforehand and they borrowed/licensed it. The morality on this seems kind of hazy but I something tells me it doesn't work. I'll be damned if it isn't an effective photo though. "Gasp. Look at that garbage that girl is being given! The shame! The parents should know better.."

egg wrote:

My son can't have red dye.. he accidentally had it once after not having it for months and he was saying how he felt like his body was on fire and he was bouncing off the walls.. the Dr. told us to give him Alka Seltzer to counteract it.

egg wrote:

Looks like the kid is just having an otter pop or other freezer pop that comes in a plastic sleeve, not just downing a tube of red dye