On 8/9/2026 at 3:57 PM, LadyCrimson said:

there was this time where we had like, four plates, four bowls,

I feel an odd need to mention/add that this is why some friends of ours bought us a cheap blue ceramic set of 8 dinner/snack plate/bowls set for Xmas. They got tired of eating off our 4 mismatched plates. :D Hubby's broken a few bowls/a few plates, and most of the small plates were either broken/lost/tossed as I kept using them as cat-dishes. We still use the larger plates sometimes. I bought stand alone larger soup bowls from grocery stores over the years. So there's this wild mish mash of different bowls in the cupboard.

--- The four glue circles finally fell/peeled off hubby's back. It's been 3+ weeks and most of the surgery-pain is gone for him I think, but no improvement in general. But still very "early." Doc actually said while it could be a lot sooner, it could potentially be 4-5 months - which seems odd it would take that long but ok. He's allowed to do his short swims in the pool again.
---Have had this single-sized hard foam mattress as a bed that I've used for years and years. Finally getting extra unhappy with it. Am tempted to pull my mother's old 60's/early 70's style sofa into the room and just sleep on that since I find it comfy/nice for the back (most couch designs today suck). Problem is I'm not sure I could get it through the bedroom door/hallway angle (by myself). It's not at all heavy (not a pullout-sofabed type, nor heavily upholstered, 4 skinny legs) but it's 7 feet long, meaning it has to be on-end and be tilted and angled quite a bit. Where's the friendly neighborhood teenage son when you need one.

Edited August 25Aug 25 by LadyCrimson

clear another 70gb of space on hard drive

some of those stuff must have been important 5 year ago

feel old and exhausted

Drove my prairie route to work for the first time since holidays have ended. Wheat is already being threshed!

There's a small female medium-haired tabby-ish cat who comes around our yard to drink from the pool late night. She was very shy regarding approaching us, for months. I'm assuming she has an owner, she seems healthy enough, although sometimes kinda unkempt. Anyway, over time she became less afraid re: approaching, and I'd occasionally give her a piece of chicken or something. One day at the store I thought I'd buy a small box of those snack "tubes" - which I've never used/bought before. Not sure they existed when I still had Mr. Black.

Anyway, cat loved those. Since I'm pretty sure she's not a stray, and I don't want her to think she's "my" cat - plus I'm not convinced how healthy the tubes are, I think they're mostly oils - I only give her one a couple times a week. Still, there she is, now every night around 9pm-midnight, hoping. I've become part of her nightly check-in rounds I guess, as outdoor kitties tend to do/have. I seriously think they must put a tiny bit of heroin in these things - eg, fresh piece of real chicken, or a "tube" - they want the tube. Almost scary, really. :D

--"Grocery shopping. Non-meat items for stew (hubby), a few things need restocking, plus I think I'll experiment with a no-leafy-green salad (shredded squashes, cabbage, tomatoes, dressing etc). Really need some recipe changes (again)."
--Check out: $232. (mostly lots of small bags of produce at $3-$6 a pound, a few frozen veggies, 3 cottage cheese ($9 each for the larger tubs now, wtf). No meat (I get that at CostCo), mayo/mustard, canned olives/jarred jalapenos, no processed/convenience foods/"snacks", but a few non-food items etc.

Larger jar of the Star extra-virgin olive oil? A few months ago it was $17. Today it was $19 (same store). 6-8 years it ago it was $7-8.
Every time hubby and I go to CostCo, where we largely buy almost the exact same items+a few "I'll try that once" items, or sometimes, say, socks, it's become a resigned joke-game who can be closer to guess the total. "$300! $350! $420!"

Inflation over decades - there's always gonna be levels of grandparents "back in my day" syndromes.
Inflation the way it's been going over the past 5-10 years tho - FU. :D

I originally interpreted the inflation under Biden to be a consequence of systemic shock resulting from the pandemic. But the inflation now seems entirely self-inflicted: massive tariffs, oil wars, AI over-investment, and mismanagement of the Fed. Somehow we're supposed to be better off? It's not a great situation for those of us on a fixed income.

We were in Cancun for a week and let me tell you, debauchery is exhausting.

I do the household grocery shopping and I find prices largely the same. Theres some variations but nothing that made me think twice about buying it. Where they get me though is in shrink-flation where the package contents are lesser. Annoys me to no end.

Shrinkflation has been around forever, at least in terms of when I've done grocery shopping (mid-late 80's/early 90's) although it used to be something one noticed only infrequently. I remember when cereals and stuff like detergents started doing it in droves tho.

And produce in California at least is nuts. Especially when one can't just eat bread/potatoes/pasta/rice (diabetes) as a main bulk, heh.
Since Covid (and maybe slightly before) I think our grocery/CostCo has more than doubled, maybe tripled, and again, that's largely buying the same things all the time.

Outside of Covid/stupid gov. tricks, hubby has been saying for years (long before Covid) that rapid (US) grocery inflation like this was long overdue. Much of it's the pandemic/oil crises and gov spending stuff, sure, but also companies just taking those excuses and running with it in excess to hike prices even beyond, like they've probably wanted to do for years.

Edited August 31Aug 31 by LadyCrimson

Binge watched a few Anime that had been on my to-do list for a long time and catching up some of my youtube subscriptions. While I am not much of a WH40k these days, I remember that I used to be one. Wondering which type I was?... 🫣

Currently working on designing and finalising a 12-month practicum for leadership training ...

Set up a VPS so I can hang out on IRC

Have been banned from IRC, so now have a VPS for no reason. I guess I can chuck my groceries DB on there.

13 hours ago, Malcador said:

Have been banned from IRC, so now have a VPS for no reason. I guess I can chuck my groceries DB on there.

That didn't take long. Which IRC were you on?

5 hours ago, Sarex said:

That didn't take long. Which IRC were you on?

DALnet, seems ok with a new VPS. Well except when VNC dies. Oddly they didn't detecting using Konversation but did when I tried HexChat.

Ok, current 1st world gripe - I've used a front-loader washer (came with the house, average/not fancy one) for 5 years now, and I still think they suck. As someone who is very persnickety about rinsing all the soap away (skin allergens), but even hubby dislikes it. It's also terrible at actually truly removing odors/body oils, for example, on bedsheets/pillows/undershirts, re: still becoming odorous after folding/put away for some days (can't/don't use perfume detergent either, that might hide that). Only thing that seems to marginally work for me is at least Heavy Duty cycle (sometimes Heavy/Bulky) and telling it to rinse 3 extra times. >.> And no, I don't overstuff it. And on that note, ofc terrible for even smaller blankets. I suppose if I only ever washed two shirts and one pair of pants at a time, but -

We're thinking of trying one of those top-loading, "agitatorless" units (some of them have an agitator you can insert/remove I guess). Anyone try one of those?

Edited Saturday at 07:38 PM4 days by LadyCrimson

I mean heavy duty (60C sometimes 90C) is what I use for mine, except for the silk set, which has it's own program that runs at 30C. I have no issues with regular bed sheets and towels they come out very clean, I did have issues with the silk set where it would come out discolored by body oils, now that I think about it the same thing happened with the duvet, probably because it too has to be washed at 30C and also needs a mild detergent. The way I solved it is by adding Vanish whitener and stain remover (I think Resolve is something equivalent in the US) every time I wash them.

Although my washer/dryer is very fancy and I never used a top load one so I can't really compare.

As for rinsing properly, that is just the bane of modern washers. They now aim to use the least amount of water and electricity, so you need to play around with the settings and increase the water consumption.

Family outing. Free beer and shots. Not so great mood with work and private stuff. Equates drunk. Very. Probability of regret tomorrow: high. For now? Feeling pretty good.

Oh, forgot to mention, I got the boot. Client is downsizing (somehow convinietly lined up with the setup of Claud) and with the combination of my seniority and my long term project being closed, I was left in a position where I had the least amount of experience. They say they want to keep me and will try to find another position for me with the same client, but I am not holding my breath. Now the firm which outsources us will need to find me a new client. Managers are saying that there are positions available and there will not be any issues, but again, we shall see. Not really looking forward to being put on an AI project, but whatever, I guess I will start looking at other companies, especially if the new project has mandatory office time.

Did pass the Foundation level Anthropic exam, I guess I will go for the professional next as it's somehow easier than the foundation, or that is what I have been told at least.

In other news, I ordered up some posters/prints by Alphonse Mucha "La Primevere" & "La Plume". There was an option from the US, but I found a place in China that offered slightly bigger formats and 50% the price.

Ah that sucks, Sarex. Hm, I should update my resume.

It's a dead end job and position so the silver lining is that it's a kick in the ass for me to find something better.

Congrats on passing the test!

Got my leatherbound Wheel of Time book, now in 13 year I will have the full collection...

8 hours ago, Sarex said:

Got my leatherbound Wheel of Time book, now in 13 year I will have the full collection...

Pics?

On 9/5/2026 at 3:31 PM, Sarex said:

Oh, forgot to mention, I got the boot. Client is downsizing (somehow convinietly lined up with the setup of Claud) and with the combination of my seniority and my long term project being closed, I was left in a position where I had the least amount of experience. They say they want to keep me and will try to find another position for me with the same client, but I am not holding my breath. Now the firm which outsources us will need to find me a new client. Managers are saying that there are positions available and there will not be any issues, but again, we shall see. Not really looking forward to being put on an AI project, but whatever, I guess I will start looking at other companies, especially if the new project has mandatory office time.

Did pass the Foundation level Anthropic exam, I guess I will go for the professional next as it's somehow easier than the foundation, or that is what I have been told at least.

In other news, I ordered up some posters/prints by Alphonse Mucha "La Primevere" & "La Plume". There was an option from the US, but I found a place in China that offered slightly bigger formats and 50% the price.

So sorry to hear this, Sarex. Hope the universe reveals new and unexpectedly great opportunities!

3 hours ago, Fionavar said:

Pics?

There are much better pictures here, but they changed how the book is embossed because they had lots of returns from people who were not happy how the foil and embossing were uneven. The original version had the leather pattern raised wherever there was foil, now the foil is flat.