LadyCrimson

As I've said before, as long as I have access to some kind of AC to take the brunt of high temps out of my indoor caves, I'm all right. If AC is not possible, but there was at least electricity for a freezer, I would make myself a pair of oversized, heavy overalls with a lot of large velcro pockets and stick those gel freezer packs in them (legs, back, chest/stomach area etc) rotating them in and out all day. I suppose I'd look funny, but at least I wouldn't feel like I was cooking in an oven.

The Ice Road on Netflix ...I love you Liam Neeson, and I've at least mostly enjoyed a lot of your later-life movies (Cold Pursuit was decent, for example). This one is pretty bad tho. Liam still gives that Liam stoic performance, but urgh. It's Ice Road Truckers + mining diaster politics, with some action thrown in. ...but it *was* one of those Netflix films where the visual quality was great. Still looked pretty sharp/nice from only 3 feet away!

Was bored. Went to Best Buy. Picked up a few small thingies. But on the way out I noticed the Samsung Fold phone/tablet. I thought it a was a small tablet - when I realized it folded I went "THIS IS SO SILLY YET SO COOL I WANT." Then I saw the price tag ($1800). Never mind. But man is that a cool tech phone/tablet in one, toy. If it was half the price I'd buy it.

To be clear, I wasn't talking specifically about bouts of problem insomnia. I just meant in general. Unless I'm having a fit of depression, I usually don't get remotely sleepy for at least 20-24 hours, good luck trying to go to sleep every 15-16. Daily exercise, even doing it in the morning vs. evening, makes it worse - pre-40's (when I was much more physically active) I was awake until dawn all the time, not one bit tired, and ofc. doing anything too brain-engaging late night makes it worse too (like gaming, or reading, or net-surfing...). I just figured it's because exercise gives you generally more health/energy then not. But then I see it listed as a way to help with insomnia, and thus ... I know why exercise is supposed to be good for depression, maybe it's kinda like that for most people, some kind of chemical regulation help? ...the one area exercise does help me at times is the back, because poor posture (back/hip/other alignment problems) can carry over into sleep posture. But that's quality of sleep vs. being able to initially sleep/feeling sleepy. ...anyway, for myself, if I need/have to sleep and I can't, I just stay in bed. I may get up briefly now and then, but then go right back to lying in bed. Hopefully I bore myself to sleep that way. Doing any activity - even listening to white noise - just keeps my brain stimulated and I'll be up until dark again the next day - this when I'm 'normal', not insomnia bouts.

Am I the only one where (a normal level of, not olympic level training) exercise actually wakes me up? And I mean, mentally wide awake for hours and hours, not just while doing it? I also have trouble staying asleep long enough, more and more, as I age. So it's like a double whammy sometimes.

That's a decent description of general insomnia. For me it's usually certain mental factors that may trigger it - not (current/recent) stress, more like PTSD. You say it doesn't seem related to any life event, but it still could be - just one that happened so early in life (under four years old, say) that you can't remember/don't associate it. It took me years/way into my adulthood to realize/consider many of my issues (including sleep) may have come from being abandoned/adopted (when I was around 2). eg, unconscious fear of going to sleep and then waking up and everything will have changed/disappear. Lack of control or something. Sucky thing is knowing that could be a major factor doesn't really help me control it, since the PTSD event happened so early it's almost ingrained. My life can be perfectly stable/going well and it still happens for some reason. Or something obivous may trigger it (like moving to a new house...) Anyway, not saying yours is like that (there are also, ofc, physical reasons for insomnia), but one never knows what early life event might still be having an affect on you as an adult.

I think a lot of people, even with systems built a couple years ago, may not be "ready" for Win11. At least from reading around on forums. There are supposedly steps that some can do to workaround requirements (whether it will still work on full version vs. that leaked version, who knows) but ... Some people just need to tweak their BIOS settings I guess because some of those things aren't turned on by default ... that might be my case too. I haven't checked and don't care. For myself it'll be like Win7-Win10 ... if I feel like getting Win11 three or fiveyears from now, I'll just build a new rig dedicated to it. To be honest tho, while I still love hardware porn (haha) in terms of actually using PC's - I'm starting to wonder how much I really care about desktop building in the future. I care less and less about gaming/keeping up with gaming, or doing anything with PC's in general, outside of internet browsing/multimedia, and a console, TV, or tablet can do that. >.> Yeah ... I don't like that either, even if I wouldn't use most things that (right now) would absolutely require logging into it (I haven't touched MS-Store or any "app" even once). But it's a hint that at some point they're going to want you to be logged into MS account 24/7.

Nothing that interesting, but ... when you have to watch your total carbs, you've already eaten a couple (small/thin) slices of bread for the day, and you're really wanting something to munch on. Thus ... turkey bacon (sadly no salami in the house), tomato, onion, pickle, romaine lettuce rollups. Or something like that. Summer and I want to nibble vs. cook "meals." Deli sandwiches on sourdough bread, potato salad, cherries/summer fruit, carbs carbs carbs. Dangit. At least pickles/onions/tomatoes/lettuce are a great combo. Honestly recently I could probably just eat a yellow onion like an apple. *munch munch munch*

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-specifications (Link also has the list of "feature-specific requirements" and deprecation/removals. ...I'm wondering if this is going to feel "steep" to a lot of business. eg, will they switch. Of course, lots of business don't switch windows versions until much later anyway (like many home consumers...) so I suppose MS has already taken that type of thing into account.

I know he's trying to relate to game addiction, but even if you remove that aspect, this is still me to a T. Especially the part where everyone told me as a kid how I was so smart/special and now I feel so stupid. Or something. So now I just say "I'm lazy."

Speaking of water ... California is again drought ridden. Although we personally haven't noticed any local resident specific use changes, we might before too long (some already have ofc). https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/23/weather/california-drought-satellite-images/index.html Water in a key Northern California reservoir -- Lake Oroville -- is expected to fall so low this summer that its hydroelectric power plant will likely be forced to shut down for the first time since it opened in 1967. ...it takes about 2000-3000 gallons for ... a pair of jeans. Supposedly around 30-35 gallons of water to produce all the ingredients to make a cup of coffee. Not that there isn't hope - industries are starting to make changes. Agriculture is still the big one tho, especially re: less developed countries. ...cut the population in half, that might help. Or stop trying to make utopia's in the deserts.

We are/were the types who would go into mountains taking extra gas in cans just in case, because we've run out of gas a few times in the middle of some gravel road and will never let that happen again. >.> Now, admittedly we are unlikely to do that these days and even less likely after another 10-15 years, so perhaps at that point if I'm still even driving (hah) I'd consider one then. Also, there's also stuff like this: https://www.newsweek.com/california-facing-power-crisis-frets-over-electric-car-charging-routines-1602755 eg, yes we need to lower pollution but there's going to be consequences and issues with any option. I'm still far more concerned with water usage. And I don't mean taking a shower, but industry. Look up how much water is used for most of industry (including clothes/textiles and tech) and then think about the throw-away/upgrade every year type culture marketers are encouraging. It's horrifying.

Yeah that's why I'm not interested in such unless it's to be a 3rd car. I mean I know they're (currently) meant for around town/commuting, but I need a car that can also be trip-driven across the US or through long windy mountains if I wanted, not just metro. I think electric is getting closer but still... By the time charging stations are as total widespread as gas stations are/were, I'll probably be like the old man in Cocoon trying to read DMV letters to keep their license.

Finished season 2 of that Manifest series. I think it finished a lot stronger than it started, and overall I liked most episodes. Netflix doesn't have season 3 yet, and I've heard their talks to pick the series up tanked, so it seems it will not have a series ending. Thus I think I will skip watching season 3 (which I hear is a major major cliffhanger sort) and pretend Ssn2 is the end. Ssn2 had no final answers either, ofc, but it had more of a closure feeling than I suspect ssn3 would.

A little OT but I still remember how bizarre it felt to realize that the actress playing Vasquez was also the actress playing an Irish mother in Titanic, and the foster mom in T2, and then I recall seeing her very briefly in one of the Star Trek movies, and ... another one of those examples of what hair and make up can do to appearances.

But I've been driving a station wagon (a pretty decent station wagon, but...) for 23 years. And I bought that largely because I can't drive hubby's van so we needed a "family" vehicle, plus his van is too tall for certain parking towers he has to go, so then he takes mine. I would like something a little smaller (the 70's Toyota 2-dr hatches did at least do ok for cat-height carriers) but ... SUV "crossovers" are dominant everywhere. ...if hubby insists on keeping that van I can't drive, maybe I'll just buy a third car. One that hubby physically can't drive. @Hurlsnot Nice! I like the interior dash setup, too.

Yes, that sounds about right. I remember trying to watch the US version ... didn't like it nearly as much, didn't finish it. There were some other series with similar concepts after those as well, I'm pretty sure. It was kind of a small trend at some point.

Because in terms of our generation automobile terms, they're typically trunk cargo vehicles. If they are not trunks, then they get called hatch or liftbacks. Occasionally you have the sporty coupe with a liftback, but then they tend to be low-slung with at least half of it being very short cargo height that often not even a full grocery bag would fit under. eg, I like being able to put seat backs down and slide a 55" TV box into the car, having the passenger be able to access all stuff while the car is still moving (being small I will often climb over the front seat and into the back to grab stuff, hah) and not having to get out of the car, and have the potential for a medium to large pet crate. Thus partitioned off cargo space is not acceptable, and those "pass thru" holes are not good enough at all. Edit: if hubby ever gets a car that I could actually drive comfortably (vs. a giant full sized van or something), that could change the equation a bit, but it's not a given Edit: I still miss my cat. Dunno if I'll get another one, but it's not completely off the table. Maybe w/a bigger house one day.

I've been watching Manifest on Netflix, which is apparently a CBS show ... that was just cancelled after 3 seasons (the creators intended a 6 season arc), meaning people are trying to get Netflix to maybe keep it going... Anyhoo, I'd guess it's a tiny bit like Lost, in terms of genre, except it's not on an island. The constant unanswered mysteries surrounding a group of people on a plane that disappeared, then magically shows up again 5 years later, plane/passgeners all. How they try to reintegrate into their lives that to them was just yesterday, and ofc they all now seem connected in some mysterious/supernatural way. I was never into/watched Lost, but maybe without commercial breaks, for some reason I sorta like Manifest. I keep watching. There was a French show re: dead people coming back to life (that some US shows were likely inspired by I think) that was really good and it sort of reminds me of that in a way, too. Except with more US-styled drama-cheese toppings.

So did you two drag race down the town strip? Me: "search: "best cars for short people" result: main focus is on seating position and step-out heights, = a lot of cars I don't want (sedans). Although the Subaru Outback might be the best option (I can reach it to close, it has a grab handle, and it has automatic button). Maybe a small truck? No hatch then? Pffft. Darnit, I'd give 5 years of my life for another 6 inches in height (I'd be ... 5 foot 5" then!) I know I said I didn't want a plugin car, but maybe I should just get one of these for about town. Ah well, I don't have to think about it for a few months anyway.

Wait ... cars these days "force" you to update their software? I assume it's kinda like how phones want you to update all the time? Does stuff stop working if you don't? I know that Crosstrek had a bunch of stuff but I was hoping I could turn off what I could and ignore the rest, just treat it like a "car." Arrgh. Edit: I couldn't even tell where the fuel gauge was initially...it was a dotted blue bar surrounded by other led display stuff and... Hm. Maybe I should just buy one of these instead (Toyota Supra, 1990). I see some for dealer-sale with 50-80k on them, for $20k or so, sometimes. I wonder if you can get parts for it still tho. Not to mention, trusting the used car sales....

I got to some platform style (sorta) jumping and combat areas, went "is there going to be a lot more of this kind of thing?" and haven't been back to it since. It's an interesting technical and sometimes visual showcase and there were some aspects I did enjoy, but eh ... didn't really capture my imagination. I probably had more "fun" watching other people showcase the funky combat style in videos, because they were good at it and I am not. Tell me if it suddenly becomes an awesome game halfway through or something, tho.

Ok, I discovered a problem which basically decided for me. Testing it with a grocery run. Got groceries. Opened hatch, put in bags. Went to close hatch ... and I cannot reach it! The top/edge of hatch is too high/over my outstretched arm even on tippy-toes. I jumped and jumped. There's a rectangular plastic depression at bottom of door that I could juuuuusssst reach with the right jump, jam my fingers in that and try to pull it down, which I finally managed to do after a few tries. Went home, showed hubby. He said I'd need a stepstool in the car all the time or we'd have to tie a rope somewhere. There is no automatic lowering of hatch etc, and it never occurred to me to check for such a thing because I've owned many many hatchbacks + been in friends larger cars etc. and never encountered such before, there was always a way to reach/close doors/hatches. Didn't occur to hubby either, ha. Lesson learned. I wonder if this will be only the Crosstrek or if modern hatch cars are often going to be like this now. Most of the ones we looked at were largely similar looking. I'm too short! Low-slung sports car it is?! Thankfully that $250 for the remorse-return option was well spent. I think we just lose the extra electronics warranty fee.

So, hubby thinks he figured out what was wrong with my original car. Went to a junk yard, pulled a part out of a car there (an alternator, which apparently Subaru discontinued making for my car/year), put it in. He says "the symptoms were really weird for that part, otherwise I would've realized sooner, but all fixed." I'm all "are you sure." "Yeah. ....so should we take that new car back then?" Honestly the Legacy drives better (ride, steering), but mostly since we felt so rushed buying the Crosstrek. We could maybe then just wait the 3-9 months for lot stocks to go up again, and be more picky then. Maybe I'd get a mid-life crisis sports car instead and hubby can get a Forester. I dunno wat to do guys! Re: new car headlights - I think the Crosstrek lets you turn the automatic-ness off by setting them (on the lever) to O instead of Auto. Then they don't do anything on their own/stay off and you just turn them on/off manually like usual. Which is what I'd do, because I want ME to be in control of what my car does, when, as much as possible, not some microchips. Also, the way the Crosstrek largely turns engine off while idling (like at a stoplight) then starts again when gas pedal is pushed is too weird for me. Supposedly you can turn that "gas saving feature" off, but you have to do it again every single time you get in the car. It all feels like struggling to wrest desktop control back from Windows10....

I'm still going to wait for the Ultimate FF7-Remake, Remastered, 8K/RT/DLSS PC edition that will have all of them (however many that ends up being - 3? 4? who knows?) in one package for ... ... $149? I might still be alive then.