"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
I have recently bought meat at two different grocery stores. Weighing the packages at hom on two different electronic kitchen scales, the scales agreed: EVEN WHEN WEIGHED IN THE PACKAGING, all but one of eight packages of prepackaged packages of meat were short of the stated NET weight (weight WITHOUT packaging, supposedly), anywhere from 0.15 pounds to just over .26 pounds.
And that was INCLUDING the packaging in the weighing, so NOT even “net weight.”
Thankfully, our eight year old Bosch (Bosch? Gosh!) dishwasher does still work, though “work” means “as long as it is started with an arcane button sequence not noted ANYWHERE in the documentation or on the Bosch support site, AND I hold my mouth juuuuuust right.”
It has had the electronics replaced once, already–a few months after the manufacturer’s warranty ran out (thanks Squaretrade!), and that seems to be the failure point, now. *sigh*
Since I’m the only one who seems to be able to “dance the dishwasher startup jig,” if when I die, my Wonder Woman will just have to buy a new one. . . unless we replace it before then. Probably a Whirlpool (since, currently, Whirlpool has a MUCH better repair record than Bosch.).
(As noted on this blog before, and sung to “Mohammed Ali (floats like a butterfly, etc.)”)
“Katrina, Katrina the cat,
Floats like a butterball, ‘cos she is fat. . . ”
She also had a couple of other issues that have improved in recent months, but not completely disappeared: many, many skin bumps (no detected insect infestation, though frequent flea/lice comb uses) and pretty common vomiting. Still ate like a horse–her food and the other cats’–and kept the pounds packed on, though. Tried lots of things, including diet variations and topical skin treatments (which resulted in angry red rashes abating, but not in eliminating the irritations or the skin blemishes entirely). In fact, thanks to the abatement of the angry rashes, which had seemed to quite literally drive her insane–seriously!–she seemed quite happy, apart from the skin bumps and the irritation they caused her, along with the vomiting.
Other problem: finding a food our 18-year-old male cat would eat more than one bowl of. Sure, new bag of food or new can (of new kind), and he’d eat some while it was “new” to him, but then turn his nose up on further offerings. And we had tried all kinds of the expensive stuff.
So, my Wonder Woman saw a bag of dry food that proclaimed it was for sensitive skin and stomachs. Not even expensive. “Why not?” we thought.
He has liked it for three weeks now. And Katrina’s skin and stomach issues? No vomiting from the first serving on, and within a week of starting on the new food, the skin blemishes almost completely disappeared. Now? Gone.
Hadn’t even hoped that the food would appeal to the old guy, and had little hope it would impact katrina’s issues, but there you are: both positively affected.
Oh, and Pixel (lil rescue kitty)? Makes no difference to her. She already ate anything we put down for her (although she more eagerly eats dry food. *shrugs* go figure) and had no apparent stomach or skin problems. She likes the new food anyway.
Happy trip to Serendip.
Ever have one of “those” meetings? You know, one that explores such stupid topics as, “In a perfect world, in light of what your job description is, what would you do?” Answer: I would be doing my job without meaningless meetings like these wasting my time.
So, three lil rough spots in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallway re-flooring project. Just conquered one of ’em–a transition from the living room to the dining room. I had attempted to match up a couple of partial pieces to link up well with the flooring coming down the hallway, and though they seemed to fit nicely, glued to the laminate planks coming out of the living room, once the hallway pieces moved into the dining room, a wee crack opened up due to a less than 1/32-inch difference in floor height. I tried ameliorating that and ended up exacerbating the problem to slightly over 1/32-inch, so backed off that.
Filled it and stained the fill. Hoped for the best, but was never satisfied. When my Wonder Woman asked if there were a transition piece I could put in that was similar to what I used transitioning between the laminate and some tiling in the kitchen, but with a lower profile, I was stumped. . . until I began digging around in a storage area under the laundry room where I had various pieces of scrap molding and found a 3/4-inch wide, very low profile piece of oak molding. “Hmmm,, I bethought meself, “if I stained this juuust right. . .”
And yeh, some nice, dark walnut stain, nicely wiped to yield a lighter walnut appearance then “varnished” with a satin polyurethane, applied to the eensy-weensy crack with a (transparent and stainable when dried) “30-year” caulk/sealer, and my, that looks nice!
On to the other minor “Oopsies,” now, then baseboards and other trim (particularly doors) changed out, new paint all around (yes, I do have drop cloths and painter’s tape, TYVM ? ), and a few other detail touches (NOW can I install the crown molding? Hmmm? *heh*), and this part of our live-in renos will be finished. Mostly. . . ‘cos the bedrooms haven’t been “re-floored” yet (though that will entail mostly just cleanup after removing the carpeting, since the oak flooring underneath it–as much as I have been able to see so far, at least–seems to be in excellent condition).
Having some real fun, now. ?
The “selfie” phenomenon generally gives me a rash. Nevertheless, here’s my most recent self-portrait. Methinks it doest have a certain je ne sais quoi, non?
Now, off to apply some Budreaux’s Butt Paste for the rash. . .
So, ordered an external enclosure for a laptop optical drive from an Amazon retailer knowing full well it would come by “slow boat from China,” since it wasn’t a critical piece of equipment and not needed tout de suite. Eventually, it arrived. Again, no problems with the six week delivery time, since I ordered it with an expectation that delivery would be glacially slow.
But.
It was neither as described in the product description nor as pictured on the product display. It was missing the ONE essential element that allows using a laptop optical drive as an external, portable drive: an interface card. The card was neither built into the enclosure nor flopping around loose in the box. I had a plastic box, a couple of short USB cables, and a faceplate. Useless, except perhaps for target practice.
Corresponded with the seller. Seller wanted pictures of what was missing from the box. Yes, that is indeed what was stated.
*head-desk*
After several emails back and forth (and a complete unboxing sequence sent, along with copies of the text and pictures from the product page for comparison), the company offered to “make me whole” by refunding all but $0.44 of what I paid them for the trash they sent me to dispose of for them.
*sigh*
But at least they didn’t ask me to send their trash back to them.
Still, one strike and the seller is OUT. I’ll never buy from this seller again. Seller “TOOGOO”? “Disrecommended”
A farce of populism (isn’t it always. . . until it degenerates into a Reign of Terror?) is currently playing out in Mexico. . . again. López Obrador’s “goo-goo” policies are more corrupt populism than actual socialism: pure vote-buying via “benefits” paid for by “handwavium” and backed by the hardline “drug war” policy turn of amnesty for drug lords and jobs for po’ folks created out of thin air, etc., etc., are gonna be fun to watch crash and burn. All the popcorn and beer his policies call for are gonna ruin my keto regimen. . .
Of course, corrupt populism of López Obrador’s type is indistinguishable in the short run from socialism–and frequently even claims high socialist “ideals,” but real socialism is slightly more brutal, and he’s not yet shown a socialist tyrant’s facile use of force, so. . . on with the show!
Expect the ricos to come out of this richer than ever, and López Obrador’s base to–as always–eventually get the shaft, and watch as Mexican politics once again demonstrates that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
. . . why some folks use “straightjacket” to refer to a straitjacket, but I wish they’d use a dictionary instead.
Methinks my Wonder Woman’s “Welkommen” door plaque clashes with my “Go Away” door mat. . .