Bingo...

The biggest thing in my life right now is the monster machine. That sounds ridiculous, but it is a personal victory for me. Don't get me wrong, it is far from complete. However, it is operational. I still need more memory, solid-state hard drives, and a video card. But now, the system will start up, and all the software is installed. I tested it today, and it will run the three programs I have not been able to run. Unity, Microsoft Visual Studio, and Daz 3D. I tested all three of them, and they started right away. I even created a scene in the 3D software and rendered it. The last time I tried this on the laptop, it took 21 hours and then crashed. On the monster machine, it took 17 minutes from start to finish. With more memory, that number will be cut in half. I was even able to get the Hexagon and Blender up and running. Now I need to do something with them.

It is only the beginning of the week, and I am already tired. Today made for one hell of a work day. I capped out at about 13 hours, but I did make my goal, and I saw my bonus come in before I went to sleep. We had tacos for dinner, and then it was time to visit the land of Morpheus. I am counting today as a good day.

Decision America...

Here is a spoiler alert. America has fallen. It is a dramatic statement but it is not that far from the truth. The people have spoken, and though the results are not final yet, it looks as if half of this country believes that a misogynistic felon with delusions of godhood should lead this country. At this point, I am so disappointed in the American people that I am having trouble dealing with it. If you are military, you are a loser because your commander-in-chief says so. If you are a woman, you belong on your knees and must spend your time serving your man. You have no rights, you have no status, you have no opinion and you do not matter. According to your leader. If your skin is black, brown, red, or anything other than white, you do not matter. If you are poor or the shrinking middle class, your rights will be dissolved, and you exist to serve your betters. This is the way things are, and this is the American people's choice. This is how democracy dies, with a mark on the forehead and cheers for the one who would subjugate us. America was warned, but they did not listen. America has been on the rise for four years, and we have reached a point of stabilization. All we can do, or hope for, for the next 4 years is to survive. I wonder how long before he declares himself king. NOTE: These are not my OPINION, but the words of the one allowed to take power.

Very tired...

I was able to push through the day, but by the time I got home I had no energy left to get anything else done. So I ate my dinner and stared at a wall until it was time for bed. This week is mentally and emotionally exhausting and I will be quite happy when it is over.

Open days...

I pushed hard, and I was able to get caught up for the week ahead, but it came with a price. I was very exhausted, and when I got home for the day, I had nothing left. Tomorrow is Friday, and today is just a wash. When I get up in the morning, I will figure out if I will work or not and, if so, which job I will go to. I have a lot I want to do this weekend, and it would be nice to get a jump start on it.

I did not waste the day...

I was still fatigued when I got off work, but I did not let that control me. I took a short nap and woke up, raring to go. The big thing for the day was the list. I have been working on my task board for weeks and am close to completing and organizing it. I set up the 3D printer, and I will test it tomorrow. I finished setting up the software on the monster computer and did quite a bit of writing. I am going to consider today a perfect day.

Bidda Bang, Bidda Boom...

I need to have more days like today. I came out of the gate at a full gallop first thing this morning, and I was pushing it all day. I finished another section of the whiteboard project, and then I finished a second part. It is almost done. I got the 3D printer installed and calibrated and even ran a test model first thing in the morning. Once the wife was in motion, we hit the grocery store and got stocked up for about a month or more of protein. I'm back at the house. I fried up some fish and ran some models on the 3D printer. I wrote more, watched some of my shows, played Dune Emperor, and caught up on all my journals and lists. Finally, I set up all the equipment and software necessary for the webcast. Tomorrow, I will try to put together the format while I am driving and maybe put together my introduction when I get home in the afternoon. As days go by, I believe this was excellent.

I have had many dreams in my life. Not many of them came true, but some of them utterly shattered. I do my best not to live backward in my life.

Getting it done...

When I got back to the house, I packed up the recycling and took it down to drop it off. Sometimes, it is good to have an uneventful experience. I hit the bin stores and found a cheap mouse and keyboard to use until I could get something decent for the monster machine. Speaking of which, I still have to name her. Pfft. I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my lists. I did caulk Willow’s tub, but we did not let it dry long enough, and I will have to re-do it next weekend. The 3D printer is up and running, and Willow made her own Die (20-sided), and it is working well. I will have to pick up some pads and filament for it, but not just yet. Then it was time to relax. Tomorrow is another day.

No rest for the wicked...

I did have a little time in the morning to get a few things done, but by the time I got back to the house in the evening, my brain was toast. I could barely string two thoughts together, and I wound up sitting and listening to music and doing some very minor edits on my novel. I have been very moody lately, and it is only getting worse. But I can do nothing about it so I will accept it.

More no rest...

The workday was horrible, but at least I still enjoy the job. It turned into almost a 15-hour workday to make my goal, and I was still $6 short. But that's better than it could have been. I got caught in the outlying areas during the surge, hoping that was just a coincidence. And by the time I got home, it was actually beyond my bedtime. So I ate my dinner, watched something I don't remember, and then headed off to bed.

Wireframe is eve6, multiple filters, render time 182 seconds. Creation time was four hours.

Tired, but moving forward...

Because work turned into a 15-hour adventure, I did not get home until close to 8:00 PM. I sat and put the finishing touches on my dark goddess, and the purpose of this piece of art was to test the processor and memory on the monster machine before the new memory arrives. Specifically, I was looking at the rendering time. I have a similar work that I will offer once the new memory is installed this weekend. I was exhausted but wired when I got back home, and it was the simplest thing I could think of since all I had to do was press a button.

Down time...

I was feeling good about the day when the shift ended, but I am still very Moody and not feeling quite myself. I chose to stop and get Chinese food on the way home even though there was food in the refrigerator. It might have been a little reward for having an incredibly positive week, or I just wanted Chinese food. Tomorrow is Friday, and I am very much looking forward to the weekend. I am far enough ahead at this point, so I may be able to take off early tomorrow. I am a little pensive about my visit with the cardiologist next week, but it only becomes an issue when I get tired. Tomorrow is another day.

The wireframe is Samantha, multiple filters, and a render time of 26 seconds. Creation time was four hours.

Done done done...

So, the week has come to an end. As stated above, I took an early day and did not waste the extra time. First, I had to take care of the shower on the second floor and reseal where the tub meets the wall. The grout and sealant have completely worn out. I tried to do a slap and tickle on this last week, but I failed miserably. So, today, I took the time to do it properly. But that was not the exciting part of the day. As wonderful as she is, my wife ordered me a dash Cam to the car. Considering all the things I had experienced on the road, it seemed like a good idea. I had picked one out, but I did what I usually do, and I went to the bargain basement. I chose an efficient device with no bells and whistles. As with most things, I send them to Laura for approval. I do this because she is more intelligent than me when buying stuff like this. I tend to look at what it will do right now and then get buyer remorse later. The wife, she researches. She purchased an Azdome M550 with triple cameras, including forward-facing, rear-facing, and interior. This thing is awesome. Granted, I am going to have to take time this weekend to wire the car correctly, but once it is installed, it is going to be one hell of a safety net.

The other fun thing is that my final memory for the monster machine came. Of course, that led to problems. This is my first time in almost 20 years building a computer from scratch. Until today, I thought I had done everything correctly. That was until I looked at the memory slots and the fact that my CPU fan was blocking one of the Memory connectors. Yes, my loyal followers, I installed my heat sink and the fan upside down. I did not blindly rush in and tear out the heat sink, even though it was a temptation. I've replaced the heat sink before, and I remember having to replace the processor because I damaged it. I jumped over, looked at about ten computer advice blogs, and found the proper procedure. The heat sink came off without a problem, and I was able to get it reinstalled and put the memory in place. As soon as I started up the computer, I ran my next piece of artwork through the rendering system, and it is lightning now. I still need some things for the computer, but I have to pull some other priorities first. For now, the monster machine is alive and kicking.

Since I felt quite satisfied with myself, I spent two hours working on my novel and trying to clear my head. I am still Moody as hell, and no amount of meditation or yoga is helping me to identify what is causing these mood swings. I may have to accept that I am getting old, which may be the reason. It would not be so bad if there were equal swings to the positive and negative. But the negative seemed to take precedence. And it is not one type of negative either. I may get sad, or angry, or even frustrated. These are not extreme emotions; they exist and make themselves known. I have looked a little into Psychology Today and some other resources, and I may not be broken now, just human. I am used to constantly being on an even keel with very little work, and it appears that the human animal is not typically that way. It is quite possible that I have become normal and I have been abnormal all this time. I have no idea.

I would also like to point out that I am stepping way out of my comfort zone next week, a week from tomorrow. I am headed up to Carbondale, IL, to go to a wedding of Phillip and Heather and then to a hip-hop show. I may be the oldest person there, and except for the performers, I may stand out in other ways. I should point out that this is not my music, but I have become acclimated to it by listening to Phillip, or Task as he is known, Sabertooth Tiger, and Acid X. Philip is an old friend, and the others are new friends, and they will all be in attendance. What freaks me out is that many artists who will be in attendance have stated directly that they cannot wait to meet me. Aside from social media, I have no communication with these people. I've looked through their timelines, and they haven't said this about anybody else who said they were coming, and I do not understand. The only reason it makes me reflective is that these people, as talented as they are in their own right, are well outside my circle. Maybe it's just one of those mysteries of life. But I double-checked with Heather, who owns Twisted Poet Productions, the company that puts everything together, and I am allowed to bring my cameras and my video camera. Even though I am pensive, I am looking forward to it.

Rocket on rails...

Continuing with the positive events around me, today was like a rocket on the rails. I did a severe amount of work in the garage and did some more testing of the 3D printer, and it has been working correctly since Willow calibrated the system; I cleaned both the air fryer and the regular fryer and even installed the new dashcam. There was time for family, and there was time for fun. I worked on the data and set up my educational goals for 2025, and I did not get lazy for the entire day. I did take about an hour's nap, but that is normal for Saturday. I am going to count today as a very positive day.

Continuing the trend...

I did not follow my regular routine for Sunday when I got home today. Usually, I tend to sit on my butt and do nothing, but not today. I did a little more work with the dash Cam, which is about halfway installed. I worked on my writing and some of my artwork, but nothing is ready yet. I was riding in a bit of a negative mood, I've done a little bit of extra exercise and meditation, and I have that under control. I rolled some of my shows in the background while I continued to work on the data and started getting everything together the way it was supposed to be. I am prepared for the coming week, but only time will tell if that is true. I have my courses installed and am ready to start them tomorrow morning.

Tired but well...

For the first day of the work week, it was not a bad day. I left bed late this morning because of kitten therapy, but I had a decent day and felt pretty good when I got home. Unfortunately, I got home a little after dark, and there was just enough time to watch one of my shows, eat dinner, and head off to sleep. I am still pensive about the visit with the cardiologist on Wednesday, but I am trying to put that out of my mind for now.

Pensive...

I'm trying to fill time because I am reflecting on my visit with the cardiologist tomorrow, and it has me a bit on edge. Even though I like my new primary care doctor, I am not a real fan of his physician's assistant. He left too much up in the air about why I was being referred, and there was no communication that that referral had moved from a simple ultrasound in Millington to a full-blown cardiologist. That is disconcerting. But all will be revealed tomorrow, and we will go from there.

All well...

The big news for today was the visit with the cardiologist. Aside from the fact that I carry too much stress in my muscles, all appears to be well. There are no significant problems with my heart other than being almost 60 years old, and if I change my exercise regimen a bit and relax a little, I should live a little bit longer. This means I must seek out a gym, a prospect I am not looking forward to. There are quite a few choices in the Memphis area, but I don't want to get locked into a long-term contract or wind up in a meat market. The YMCA is always an option, and that is something that I have to look into deeply. As for the relaxation, it is unlikely that I would go for a massage once a month because I don't like people touching me. But I have already begun to formulate a plan to go phishing mail and then go camping when the weather is viable. No decisions must be made today, and I have plenty of time.

The greater plans...

I cannot air dirty laundry outside my control or involve others in this blog. But suffice it to say that my plans for the weekend have gone astray. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will not attend Carbondale, IL, this weekend for the wedding and the show. This isn't very pleasant, but I will make the appropriate adjustments and go from there. Laura has suggested that I go camping or get a cabin. It is a bit cold to do outdoor camping, though it is not out of the question. right now, the cabins are booked up, and the remaining ones are extremely expensive. But I may consider a fishing trip, a photography trip, or both. Time will tell.

On the positive side, I am running ahead for the week, and in theory, I should be able to cut out early tomorrow and get some stuff done. Since I am not going out of town, I will try to take advantage of the extra time. When I got home this evening, I put on one of my shows to run in the background while I worked on my novel. I am getting closer to the end of this project, and I am not sure what I will do once it is done. I have contacted a few publishers, and that is a big scam. Traditional publishing no longer exists unless you've sold 1,000,000 book copies. What exists now is called hybrid publishing, which is a fancy way of saying give us money, and we will publish your book for you. The rates run from $5000 to $15,000, and there are no guarantees of distribution or even the number of copies that will be printed. That pays for a designer to do the cover and an editor to read the book. It isn't very reassuring. I can do the same thing through self-publishing and by using modern tools. But that's a conversation for another day.

Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan.

The week is over...

One of my favorite movies is Black Snake Moan, featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci. It has an excellent storyline and some really good music. But one of the things that I have always found fascinating was the interaction between the two stars. The image above is an extract from the movie heavily modified for effect. I think this is an extremely powerful image, and I am flexing my artistic license.

I finished my work day by noon today, and I got home and relaxed for a little bit. I ran out to the Super Walmart and bought myself a brand new fishing rod to have a little adventure tomorrow morning. I will head down to Wolf River at one of the trailheads and see if I can catch some catfish. I am not doing it for the catfish but for the experience. I'm going to take my cameras with me, and I'm even considering doing a webcast from the shores of the Wolf River. After I did my shopping and returned to the house, I started working on my Saturday list, and I even got the weekly bookkeeping out of the way so I don't have to worry about that tomorrow. I am feeling pretty good about this week, and we shall see about the weekend.

Once a year I do a meditation and reflect on the previous year. This is the image that came to mind, and I am unsure what it means.

Rest and stuff...

Today was a day for rest and reflection. I started out simply by getting a few things done from my list. That carried me until about 6:00 in the morning when I headed out on my Saturday adventure. I put my stuff in the car and I rolled out to the Kirby trailhead along the wolf river. I cast my line into the man-made pond and I sat in reflection for about 3 hours. I caught a bullfrog, a couple of turtles, and a bird they've tried to snatch my bait in midair. But I did catch some fish as well. I grabbed hold of four tiny catfish, but they were way too small to even think about bringing home. And then the adventure was done.

After my fishing adventure, I allowed about an hour to visit a few local yard sales. I found myself a standing rack of drawers for the garage, and one of the original insta-pots. When I say that it is original, it is the gigantic one that holds about two gallons. I have absolutely no idea how to use it or one I want to make first, but I have wanted one of those things forever. Now I have one.

With my wanderings for the day done, I hit the garage and started cleaning up the mess there. 1st I made sure that all my journals and blogs were caught up, and I put some stuff away. While I was at the pond this morning, I did the next version of the podcast, and i still have to get that off the camera. In order to facilitate that I took the time to set up the actual production part of the new computer and now I have both monitors in place and all software installed. I could get the Halloween stuff into the cubbyhole, and while I was thinking about it I went into the attic, with willows help, and I got out the Christmas stuff. The three of us, me and the daughter and wife, also took about an hour and cleaned out the art cabinet. That has been long overdue. And now it is done.

I ended the day by watching my show and relaxing why I continued to putter around the garage. I'm going to count this as an excellent day and move on.

Trying to recover...

An inauspicious start to the day put me in a terrible mood and when I got home, I just tried to recover. I rolled my show in the background. Fixing the lawn mower blade and sharpening some tools were among the things I did. I disassembled and repaired the 3D printer, and I started working on getting the garage back in some kind of order. I will not say it was a great day, but it wasn't a terrible day either compared to the beginning.

Behind, I guess...

This morning I woke up an hour later than I intended, and that did not make for a good morning. I rolled through the day and when I got home; I was so tired that all I could do was sit and stare. I had an excellent dinner, but I was so tired that I barely remember the evening and headed off to bed as soon as I could.

Not coming together...

Things are not coming together right now, and it is hard to believe it is the end of the year. In just two more days, it is Thanksgiving, and that means that Christmas and New Year are right around the corner. I cannot understand where this year went to. But we forge onward and see what tomorrow will bring.

Today was a bit of a rocky day because of work. I was up well before I needed to be and could take care of all my personal stuff before I went into work, but then everything ground to a halt. Before work, I got my e-mail done and I got the blog updated, they even had time to go through the Black Friday Deals for both Amazon and Walmart. Neither one has anything terribly exciting. There are a few things that I'd like, but nothing that is practical and nothing that is worth wasting the money on. I am curious to see how things are going to be with the ride share on Friday. One of the biggest reasons people hate Black Friday is because of parking. Rideshare takes that out of the equation, and I am curious to see if people take advantage of it. Just a couple more days and I will find out.

When I got home in the evening I grabbed some of the dinner that Laura made this morning, a delicious Mexican chicken dish, complete with black beans. It's funny that I never liked black beans until Laura made this dish. Now I like them. It is possible that it is the combination of the beans, the chicken, the rice, and the sauce, but you never know. And I did take the time to start weeding through recipes for this weekend. I'm still pretty sure that I'm going to do the ribs, but I am keeping my options open.

I ended the day by watching my show and doing some more editing. I am so close to being done that I am pretty sure that I will be ready to self-publish with the new year. I believe that I have given up on traditional publishing because every one of them is a scam. They are not actual publishers, they are printing sites that accept your money in return for printing your book. It is very sad that the big dogs, such as Simon and Schuster, are now falling into this category. It says something about the industry because the obvious reason they would do this is that they cannot guarantee that they will profit from whatever they publish. To me, this means that the publisher, or those who are calling themselves publishers, do not have their finger on the pulse of the reading community. They are unable to predict what will sell and what will not. Or, if they are, they are bullshitting writers and telling them that they might have a chance but only if they pay. It is an unfortunate state of affairs. But then again, we are seeing much of this across the board in the business world.

As long as I am going off on tangents, I want to point out that social media has sold out. Of course, everybody knows this because they are for sale to the highest bidder. But they are usually cautious with their advertisers. That seems to have flipped-flopped. A series of applications are being advertised on Facebook right now that are not only false advertising but downright dangerous. These applications tell diabetics that they can throw away their needles and stop doing daily finger pricks. All you have to do is download this application and run your finger over your camera. This is an outright lie. I've looked at a few of these applications because I was curious about whether one of them can test your blood sugar just by using your camera. I'm pretty sure that the technology does not exist. So, I reported about a dozen of these ads, and Facebook did their review. They refused to remove the ads, saying that they were not false. So here is the situation. A person with type 2 diabetes who is unfamiliar with the ways of the world is going to download this app and believe the story. They will use the app to monitor their blood sugar, which it cannot do. They've already thrown away their finger stickers and monitoring device, and because they are not monitoring their sugar levels correctly, they will lose a foot. Where they're going to go into a diabetic coma. And Facebook is directly to blame for a failure to act against their advertisers.

The above is an extreme case. And I hate to blame politics for this, but I will anyway. I have heard more assholes in the past two weeks than in the past two years. It is like recent political events have justified allowing certain people to act like complete asses. They used to do it before, obviously, but that usually required alcohol. Now, they just do it. I do not believe that I am becoming more sensitive to it; I think that it is becoming more prevalent. I have had people in my rideshare who have outright stated that they are better than other people simply because of the color of their skin. This is a powder keg. The reelection of the tyrant and would-be king is weaponizing to people. This situation has already led to a significant drop in numbers for the church. Since the election, churches across the country are reported the lowest numbers in history. As they are reaching out to their congregations, they are being told that people have no faith in God anymore, and many of them point to the election. It is an amazing phenomenon. One man may bring down the church. Now, I must admit that the numbers I am getting are coming from fringe groups, but by observation, some of the big churches I go by on Sundays when I am driving around the city have looked like a ghost town. It is a fascinating situation.

Boy, I have rambled on today, haven't I? So I will say one final thing. This past weekend, when I went to the Wolf River, I did my next episode of the podcast. I still have to get it transferred over to the computer and edit it, but it should be online shortly. And they did it out in nature on a brisk fall morning. I am curious to see how it came out.

Roll on you crazy kid, ya...

An interesting thing happened today. This morning, before I left for work, I posted something by an anonymous author about the existence and predisposition of God. It was not my work; it was just a reflection of the existence of God and evil. It is psychological nonsense, but it makes more sense. I posted it word for word, and the original author confused the word omniscient with the word omnipotent, but other than that, it made sense. It points out the difference between the ability of a being to act and the will of a being to act, specifically concerning the existence of evil. I have some pretty enlightened friends and I was astonished at what a trigger point this was. Regardless of which God you follow, people took this little bobble to heart. I received more hate mail pointing out that God tests us and this is the reason he cannot destroy evil, and of course the requisite statement about me being the devil. I have not been called the devil in a long time, but it makes me want to pursue this thought. I have absolutely no idea when I will have time to explore the multiple dimensions of this thought, but I have written it down, and I may get to it eventually.

I was up bright and early and could get everything done before I left the house this morning, and I pushed through the entire day with no significant problems. I hit my goal about an hour early and headed home. I was going to try and catch up for the rest of the week, but the traffic was horrible on the interstates and on all the major roadways. I took the back way home through Shelby farms and just called it a day. I left the family alone so that they could do their thing because they appeared to be in a groove when I got back to the house. I played some games on MSN and relaxed for the evening instead of breaking into my novel or working on a project. Sometimes, it is nice just to sit on your rear end.

Feeling it...

A bad mood is pushing against me and I am pushing back. I was up in plenty of time this morning to get my morning routine out of the way and get on the road on time. I did not get my education done first thing in the morning, so I will have to play pick up on that later. I am working programming and blender right now, but since I woke up with a bit of a headache, I decided to let those sit for the day.

The riders for the day were annoying. But that was mostly because of the holiday problems and the movement of packages. While I was in Love’s, I got to talk to the Gaga wannabe for the second day in a row. This time I did not let her in the car, Archie stood there and talk to me while I was fueling. I do not need a puppy. I understand that she feels comfortable because I don't stare at her or make lewd comments, but if she does not want to be stared at and cat called, she is in the wrong business. I did give her a little advice about her shoes, because she is wearing shoes that strap up the lower leg and because she walks up and down the street all day, they have dug into the skin. I suggested that she either wear stockings or change the shoes. It was instinct and it took me all the way back to Jennifer and the lady Lisa. Outside observation and grasping the obvious.

I got home about an hour early and I secluded myself in the man cave and did some serious meditation after I ate dinner. I think I have myself back on an even keel and I am ready to face the final day of the week. I was going to use the extra time to do some editing on the novel, but i chose instead to give it a break. To stay on schedule I have another 30 days, and then we will go from there. I have to decide if I'm going to go fishing this weekend and if so I have to pull out my warmer clothing.

I think that I am becoming too sensitive in my old age. We have worked very hard over decades to try and dissolve the lines between the races. Lately, a single word has slipped into the vernacular of the mainstream and it is getting on my nerves. With the word MAN, we are getting to see the creeping of a dialectical rendering of the word by spelling it MANE. This was originally only on social media by a select few, but it is now showing up on billboards, advertisements, and general media. I understand the etymology of the addition of the final letter as an African American vernacular English usage. I don't have a problem with that, what I do have a problem with is that it is being absconded by companies such as Lamar advertising where they put a goofy looking white man on a billboard using the phrase to try and get advertisers. I know that my reaction to it is ridiculous and silly, but I find this offensive. I also find an advertisement on a billboard by a legal firm with a picture of the head lawyer in a Santa Claus outfit and the phrase Felice LAWvidad used. This is the obvious appropriation of the phrase Felice Navidad. As an old white dude I have no right to get upset about the appropriation of an African American vernacular or a Mexican Christmas phrase, but every time I see them they just piss me off. I am getting way too sensitive in my old age and at least I recognize it.

Jiggity Jig...

The week is at an end, and I am home. I have a massive list of things to do for the weekend, and I got a good head start this afternoon. It is time to prepare for both December and the new year. I am exhausted and ready for this year to be over with and into 2025. Of course, that's going to bring its challenges, but we are not going to worry about those just yet. I spent the afternoon and evening getting my list done for the weekend, and I think I am in a comfortable place.

An exciting family development, if you can call it that. I have started receiving messages and phone calls from the Mulligan clan. I have closed off This part of my life and only deal with it once or twice a year when I have to talk to Kristine. I will not cut myself off entirely from her because we have a shared history. But now the rest of the clan is involved. Without going into significant details, they all have the same message. They want me to communicate with Melody. Melody is supposedly Margie's daughter. She was born after I ran away. I ran away in the winter of 1979, just before the holidays, and Melody was born in May or June 1980. A replacement child? I have no idea. I have no idea why she wants to talk to me or why the family is so intent on getting me to talk to her. It is bugging the hell out of me. What is more interesting is that Kristine refuses to discuss her. That makes it even more of a mystery. I have done a basic background check on her, and I have not found anything. Of course, I don't have much to go on yet. At this point, I refuse to give it any more energy, and I will move on.

Awesome sauce...

Rock'n'roll, baby. This is what is known as a kickass day. There is not a whole lot to tell other than the fact that I pushed through my list and knocked a significant amount of things off of it. The things that I knocked off include fixing the lawn mower, rebuilding my life board, doing some substantial work on my writing and the garage, and many others. I was even able to install my new card reader and get all the images and video off of all the cameras and devices. The only thing that I have not checked yet is if the card from the dash Cam will work or not. I will put it on my list to check that next weekend.

One thing that is starting to get on my nerves is the Mulligan clan. They are trying to contact me using different methods and means. I do not want to deal with this and will ignore it as long as possible. I hope this is just a holiday thing and that there is no other nefarious reason. I'm sure I could find out if I were to talk with one of them, but I do not want to because they are drama Incarnate and always have been. I cannot think of any conversation that would turn out well.