What You've Done Today - We do not remember days, we remember moments

[Sarex]

Happy new year!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

16 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Happy new year!

Let's hope so, I'd prefer to not see December 32nd.

[Malcador]

4 hours ago, melkathi said:

Happy New Year!

For those still living in the past, spoiler: nothing changes, still no need for a Voight-Kampff test.

They used to show Blade Runner on TV every New Year's here, until the station ditched everything original to be another syndication channel

[LadyCrimson]

Neighbor told us they saw some kid/teen crawling under my car in the wee hours. They shouted at them, scared him off, but he was doing it again not long after. Reported to cops, sirens finally scared him off etc. Cops didn't knock on our door - or if they did, we didn't wake up   Guess past few days there's been some other weirdness like that reported. Troublesome teens. The way my brain works I wasn't thinking about safety concerns but rather why in the world someone would want to crawl (repeatedly) under a very low to the ground, very old small passenger wagon car. Any metal worth stealing under there?  Lost a cat?

Our driveway/garage front is pretty lit up, btw. Not a dark hole. Not a very good hiding spot.

Edit: oh and yes, Happy 2024, everyone, hope it's a good one.

Edited January 1 by LadyCrimson

[Sarex]

2 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Neighbor told us they saw some kid/teen crawling under my car in the wee hours. They shouted at them, scared him off, but he was doing it again not long after. Reported to cops, sirens finally scared him off etc. Cops didn't knock on our door - or if they did, we didn't wake up   Guess past few days there's been some other weirdness like that reported. Troublesome teens. The way my brain works I wasn't thinking about safety concerns but rather why in the world someone would want to crawl (repeatedly) under a very low to the ground, very old small passenger wagon car. Any metal worth stealing under there?  Lost a cat?

Our driveway/garage front is pretty lit up, btw. Not a dark hole. Not a very good hiding spot.

Edit: oh and yes, Happy 2024, everyone, hope it's a good one.

The neighbor probably saved your catalytic converters. Check if he didn't cut them partway off. Also check your brakes.

Edited January 1 by Sarex

[LadyCrimson]

2 hours ago, Sarex said:

The neighbor probably saved your catalytic converters. Check if he didn't cut them partway off. Also check your brakes.

Ah. So metals. I remember a decade or two ago when it was copper, people stealing pipes/wires, fixtures/towel bars and whatever else, from anywhere/neighborhood. Seems like it would've been easier to go under hubby's van for a "quickie" hack theft of that sort but what do I know.

Not that one (known) attempt in 40+ years is something to get fussed over but if hubby's back=no need re: workspace/that old van anymore maybe we can turn into 1 car family and put in the garage. I've been considering us going to 1 car anyway if we can find something we can be both easily drive. It's extremely rare we need two cars anymore.

[LadyCrimson]

postscript:

If it wasn't for hubby's back (or if I was single) I'd probably eventually just find one of my old "Junker" cars used somewhere. Like the '74 Toyota Corolla 2-dr coupe. Or this orange '77 corolla hatchback. No fancy AI/computer chips/cameras/screens etc. I weirdly miss them. Although I don't miss their ability (or lack thereof) to pick up speed going up hills. Simpler times.

[Keyrock]

Happy 2024 ya scalawags.

Edited January 1 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Mid winter blahs and we're both pretty much

I am tempted to turn the living room - that we hardly use - into nothing but a giant mattress with a 75" TV on the ceiling. Hubby could watch movies while lying flat that way, too. Giant circular heart bed? It's a thought.

Edit: actually what we need is a tv thingie that acts like an auto-garage door, sliding it up to ceiling angle but then you could put it back down to wall angle. And then super powered electric adjustable bed/s. Yup, I'll get right on that.

Edited January 3 by LadyCrimson

[ShadySands]

Our favorite gift this year is the lava lamp that we got our son. My son's favorite gift is the sticker and mouse weights that came with a new mouse that I ordered for myself because my scroll wheel stopped working on my old mouse.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

My dad got out of the hospital a few days ago, I thot I posted about it but forum software must have eaten the post. He's going to be on oxygen for a while (if not forever) and has got a couple of oxygen compressors. Obvious issues with that aside, he's doing better than he has in a long time.

[Sarex]

Worked the last couple of weekends. Sucks, but it's an opportunity to advance a couple of roles up the ladder and get out of QA. The only question is what the new contract would offer, if I get the offer at all, but things are looking good so far.

[Malcador]

Second Monday of the year is when I realize there's another year of this bull****

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I turned 32. Maybe it's eating (marginally) better or exercising or reducing the intake of certain substances but I feel and look better than I did back in covid year 1. Huh.

[Malcador]

Back in office, so much collaboration going on with literally no one in a 15 m radius.

[Sarex]

49 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Back in office, so much collaboration going on with literally no one in a 15 m radius.

I'm being asked by HR to select 2 days a week to go. Luckily can still somewhat doge it.

[Gorgon]

 

It's commander Shephards cabin. I actually think it's pretty doable as appartment interior. the floor elevation would take some doing though, probably not worth the effort.

[LadyCrimson]

Headlines were telling me that there's a gajillion more plastic micro-mirco particles in even 1 liter of bottled water than previously thought. Which of course is probably not a great thing for anyone's long term health. Is this supposed to be a scary revelation?

*unwraps a plastic wrapped piece of sugarless candy to eat*
*drinks a drink from glass/metal that probably still has oodles of micro-plastic in it because of the water filtering they do in factory*
*drinks home-carbon filtered water that still likely has plastic because of filter structure in the metal unit, but hey at least it tastes better*
*wearing a robe largely made of "plastic"*
*walks on carpet largely made of "plastic"*
*sits in a room with a bunch of heated plastic all day*

I'm still waiting for the 3rd arm mutation. Which would actually be handy. Two arms is so limiting. Humans should've evolved with more redundancy, darnit.

[Azdeus]

13 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Headlines were telling me that there's a gajillion more plastic micro-mirco particles in even 1 liter of bottled water than previously thought. Which of course is probably not a great thing for anyone's long term health. Is this supposed to be a scary revelation?

*unwraps a plastic wrapped piece of sugarless candy to eat*
*drinks a drink from glass/metal that probably still has oodles of micro-plastic in it because of the water filtering they do in factory*
*drinks home-carbon filtered water that still likely has plastic because of filter structure in the metal unit, but hey at least it tastes better*
*wearing a robe largely made of "plastic"*
*walks on carpet largely made of "plastic"*
*sits in a room with a bunch of heated plastic all day*

I'm still waiting for the 3rd arm mutation. Which would actually be handy. Two arms is so limiting. Humans should've evolved with more redundancy, darnit.

Quite so, most people are infact unaware of such things.

[LadyCrimson]

22 hours ago, Azdeus said:

Quite so, most people are infact unaware of such things.

More than fair enough.

I think my point was mostly that trying to avoid microplastics (in modern civilization) at the moment is kind of a lost cause. Especially for an older person like myself. I mean it may improve 20-50 years from now with more bans, laws, manufacturing changes. But I picture some reading such articles and thinking if they mostly stop using bottled water they will be "safe."  Tap water is likely to have a lot of microplastics in it, as well, at this point - although probably less than bottled water - and most consumer "water filters" use ... well, plastics of some sort.

I believe the knowledge/studies re: microplastics breaching the blood-brain barrier is relatively newish and it's still unclear exactly how much ... er, saturation level? ...  is significant re: serious/much higher health risks. Between that and all the other chemicals most of us - especially in larger metro areas/lifestyles ofc - are likely absorbing/already have within, I've even seen mention re: the safety/viability of general blood donating in some future date, assuming nothing changes. But that last is quite speculative, of course. It was an interesting speculation tho.

Edit: disclaimer, am not any expert on plastics or polluted human blood. Just vague remembrances of articles I've read during periods of time where allergies made me want to reduce plastic materials in the home/life. Outside of non-"plastic" bedding/blankets and most of my clothes (robe not included), I sorta gave up.  

Edited January 12 by LadyCrimson

[majestic]

Look on the bright side, at least none of us come from Wittenoom.

[Azdeus]

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

More than fair enough.

I think my point was mostly that trying to avoid microplastics (in modern civilization) at the moment is kind of a lost cause. Especially for an older person like myself. I mean it may improve 20-50 years from now with more bans, laws, manufacturing changes. But I picture some reading such articles and thinking if they mostly stop using bottled water they will be "safe."  Tap water is likely to have a lot of microplastics in it, as well, at this point - although probably less than bottled water - and most consumer "water filters" use ... well, plastics of some sort.

I believe the knowledge/studies re: microplastics breaching the blood-brain barrier is relatively newish and it's still unclear exactly how much ... er, saturation level? ...  is significant re: serious/much higher health risks. Between that and all the other chemicals most of us - especially in larger metro areas/lifestyles ofc - are likely absorbing/already have within, I've even seen mention re: the safety/viability of general blood donating in some future date, assuming nothing changes. But that last is quite speculative, of course. It was an interesting speculation tho.

Edit: disclaimer, am not any expert on plastics or polluted human blood. Just vague remembrances of articles I've read during periods of time where allergies made me want to reduce plastic materials in the home/life. Outside of non-"plastic" bedding/blankets and most of my clothes (robe not included), I sorta gave up.  

Not entirely to be honest, you also wouldn't be doing it only for yourself. Getting rid of teflon pans, plastic spatulas, bowls and stuff like that would be helpful overall if everyone did it. We'd still be stuck getting alot of it from different food processing industries, and that is for everyones favourite regulators to deal with. The biggest hurdle is that regulators can't keep up with the market, when scientists learn the problems of PFAS and ban it, the industry is moving onto the entirely... not different PFAS2 and it continues.

I wouldn't be saying that it's new new, concerns been going on for a while. I remember hearing concerns about it long ago.

59 minutes ago, majestic said:

Look on the bright side, at least none of us come from Wittenoom.

Could be worse, could be living and working in Asbest

[LadyCrimson]

10 hours ago, Azdeus said:

Getting rid of teflon pans, plastic spatulas, bowls and stuff like that would be helpful overall if everyone did it.

Oh, yeah, I've always used wooden spoons/metal utensils. Hubby has this one cheap plastic wide spatula that he's had for 30 years and won't toss but otherwise. I also bought a lot more glassware/storage containers, don't heat plastic in the microwave, tried other variations of non-stick cookware that's made now and the only nonstick I'm concerned with to begin with is frying pans, everything else is non-coated metal, ceramic crockpot, all that. But almost everything non-produce in a(US)  grocery store comes in plastic, wrapped in plastic, maybe a plastic inner lining coating of some sort etc. Certain things come in glass jars but not tons.

My mother would always save things like plastic butter/other food containers to use over, so it wouldn't be landfill trash, and I've always done that but then now you wonder if you should be storing food in them (so I don't anymore) and ... can't win.

10 hours ago, Azdeus said:

I wouldn't be saying that it's new new, concerns been going on for a while. I remember hearing concerns about it long ago.

I meant the blood-brain barrier aspect specifically, not mirco plastic/plastic contamination is harmful general. Seemed like the stuff I read where some tests were confirming particles were small enough to bypass that (vs. theory) was a few years or so old.  But I didn't specifically research that, just random articles.

Edited January 12 by LadyCrimson

[Azdeus]

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

Oh, yeah, I've always used wooden spoons/metal utensils. Hubby has this one cheap plastic wide spatula that he's had for 30 years and won't toss but otherwise. I also bought a lot more glassware/storage containers, don't heat plastic in the microwave, tried other variations of non-stick cookware that's made now and the only nonstick I'm concerned with to begin with is frying pans, everything else is non-coated metal, ceramic crockpot, all that. But almost everything non-produce in a(US)  grocery store comes in plastic, wrapped in plastic, maybe a plastic inner lining coating of some sort etc. Certain things come in glass jars but not tons.

My mother would always save things like plastic butter/other food containers to use over, so it wouldn't be landfill trash, and I've always done that but then now you wonder if you should be storing food in them (so I don't anymore) and ... can't win.

I meant the blood-brain barrier aspect specifically, not mirco plastic/plastic contamination is harmful general. Seemed like the stuff I read where some tests were confirming particles were small enough to bypass that (vs. theory) was a few years or so old.  But I didn't specifically research that, just random articles.

Almost all my drinking glasses are old mustard containers.

I've never really liked teflon frying pans anyway, so it wasn't precisely a hurdle to not aquire one, and I've got close friends and family that are woodworkers so getting butterknives, spoons and such hasn't been much problem. A good spatula for scraping bowls has been harder though.

The blood-brain barrier thing too from what I remember, but memory is pretty faulty and the first few hundred episodes of that podcast has pretty scarce content info

[Hurlshort]

For the new year, I bought a new road bike.

I've had my Specialized Roubaix for 6 years, and I've put 20k miles on it, along with a few major crashes. So it was definitely time for a new bike. I went with a Specialized Aethos. It's a pretty good upgrade and has the fancy electronic shifters. I love it so far. I'm still using the old bike for my commute, but the new bike will keep me happy on weekends and for races.

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/aethos-comp---rival-etap-axs/p/199444?color=335127-199444