Rave: I think it’s over. Had 2 weeks of horrific sleep and massive coughing fits. Got a solid 8 last night and just productive coughs. 40ish days from last cigarette.
RANT: I fucking hate this time of year. I really do. I'm trying to get another big outdoor plumbing job done, and I'm cheated out of two good hours of daylight.
Rant: Just got our property assessment(well looked online), my house went up 15percent. My house is now valued at 622k, i bought it for 330k 6.5 years ago.
RAVE: Gonna have a grandson. RAVE: I get to shop on the Blue aisle. I have five nieces and one nephew and the one nephew is JW and doesn't celebrate Xmas, Bdays etc RANT: Fuck, that sounds OOOOOOLLLLLLDDDDDDD
Rant: Somehow my take-home pay for 2023 at my day job has gone down about 5.6% compared to 2022. What the hell? Rave: I may be getting a bonus and raise soon. Rant: I am pretty sure that I have GERD. I have been having acid reflux symptoms since May and it hasn't gotten better, except for when I take medication and eat the appropriate diet. I am going to have to learn to live with it.
RANT: My kid bullied another kid today. Twice. During recess he and a friend were apparently "bored" and decided to alleviate that boredom by attacking another kid. Not sure who's idea it was, but it was definitely my kid that hit the other one hard enough to bruise the other. The second time was during lunch, independently of the friend of his. I'm feeling devo because of this. We haven't raised him to be a bully (or at least don't think we have), and we are concerned that there might be some underlying issues. Finding an English-speaking child psychologist is hard here, and even more difficult to find one who has trustworthy credentials. They're also pretty prohibitively expensive.
rave: time to get back into the freelance game. I've got a piece I'm gonna shop around soon, with quotes from some industry leaders (and more on standby if that isn't enough). Should be fun. bigger rave: I'm at the place in life now where whatever freelance compensation isn't exactly needed to pay the bills, it's more just doing it for fun. Hopefully, assuming it all works out, I'll get something accepted and can finally donate some money to charity. I have one in mind.
Rant: 10"-12" of snow fell last night. That isn't the bad part, it was that wet, heavy, solid water type snow. Took 3 hours to shovel my driveway then said fuck it, not going into work.
RAVE: I am SOOOOOOO glad that my Firebird has a manual transmission. I stopped at a store after work, and when I went back to the car, the starter spun... Then made a weird noise and stopped. After that, there was only a light click when I turned the key. FUCK. Then I realized I was parked on a slight incline, so I took off the emergency brake, let it drift back for about 20 feet, then put it in reverse and popped the clutch. BAM! Started right up! Suck it, automatic drivers! RANT: There is obviously something wrong with the starter I recently rebuilt... Check the automotive thread for details soon...
RAVE: There is nothing wrong with my freshly rebuilt starter! That same night, I got under the car and jumped the terminals with a screwdriver*, and it spun over just fine. Right now, I checked everything in the system, and everything is getting power where it should. My best guess is a bad connection somewhere, and I'll have to wait for it to show up again. "But Bandit, what are you going to do when it does? You won't always be parked on an incline!" you're saying. Yes, that's true, but I remembered ANOTHER "ace in the hole" on my car: my custom ignition switch bypass. Back in the bad old days of my probation, I had a breathalyzer installed on my car to "monitor my alcohol consumption." Well, I bypassed it the first night. Without getting into too many details, I spliced in a second power route to the starter solenoid. I did it in a really difficult spot, and the prick running that breathalyzer place never could find it (and trust me, he looked. Many times. Jagoff.) My bypass wire starts the car every time, even when the key isn't working. *You DO know how to jump a starter with a screwdriver, right?
RANT: I’m in Vancouver, a 5 hour flight from home, and I get a call from my mom today saying she’s at the vet with Zoe. Turns out that she’s puking a lot, and there’s a lot of blood. Our amazing vet had her under the x-ray gun within 20 mins, and it turns out she has “something” in her gut that she can’t process, that is cutting her up, and causing a ton of GI issues, blood, and a crazy high white blood cell count. A bunch of x-rays, a major IV to restore hydration, a bunch of shots at the vet, and they think she’s pretty stable for the next little while. She’s home now, with antibiotics, pain meds, stomach coating meds, and special “pre-digested” food, with an emergency referral going into the emergency vet that opens tomorrow at 7am. My mother and sister are handling everything for me remotely, but man does it suck being out here. The only real indicator I have are the CC charges being racked up on the card I gave my mom. Weeeee RAVE: Zoe is doing very well… she’s happy, comfortable, just tired and not feeling well. It should be a no-brainer tomorrow and any kind of surgery should be on an out-patient basis, and done quickly/easily. At least all of her blood work came back awesome… no cancer, no pancreatitis, nothing like that. Just her stupid ass swallowing the chunks of plastic she chews out of her frisbees. (We think, to be confirmed).
RAVE: In other news, Uber Eats in Vancouver kicks the ever-loving shit out of room service when it comes to booze and food. Pennies on the dollar, and insanely better quality. Makes a "working weekend from the hotel room" that much more bearable.
RANT: I am absolutely assured now that KitchenAid (outside of their standard stand-mixer) and CuisinArt (outside of their basic food-processor) have been ripping off suburban America for decades. Wouldn't even be able to cut my finger on any of their knives. Can't open a can of tuna with either of their products. Just brewed the most basic horseshit out of this CuisinArt Coffee Maker. All I am is just left wondering, why do you have seven buttons and a shit digital clock? Who has ever asked their coffee maker for the time?
RAVE: Zoe came home this afternoon, after spending 3 days in the doggie ER. Turns out she has Addison's disease. If she was 4 hours later showing up at the vet, she would not have survived. As it is we're just working with the vet to figure out the dosage of a med she will now take 2 times a day, and she will be fine. She's got 4 more days of "doggie bedrest" and then she can go back to doggie daycare and running/long walks. RANT: $6k vet bill. RAVE: She lives, and is totally worth it. Here she is, back home, resting well, dealing with heavy meds. It just sucks that I won't get home until late Thursday.
RAVE: So, no, she doesn't have Addison's disease after all. Turns out that the test they gave her to determine drug dosage (called a "stimulation"), came back normal, as in there was no response indicating it. That means she somehow just got an infection in her gut that bled badly. What a roller coaster of a few days.
Rave: Don't have to deal with my FIL and his wife this weekend. They were going to come up and visit the kids, but his wife "tripped over the cord to her oxygen tank while doing karate after seeing it in a movie" and broke her arm.