Morning Update: 06/17/24
Monday morning often come as a bit of a shock to the system. I lose track of time so easily that it takes a moment to figure out which day it is. With the kids being home this summer, I’m having more difficulty than usual because every day feels something like a weekend. Endless weekends sound nice but then important stuff starts falling through the cracks. Jack-Jack woke me up a little before 7:00 this morning and the first thing I discovered was cat puke on the end of the bed. This had to be a Monday.
When Jack wakes me in the morning, it’s because he’s hungry. This morning, he was self-defeating in his method. He stood on my chest and would get upset when I tried to sit up. I tucked him under my arm, as best as one can tuck a 20-pound cat, and scooted off the bed. I think I’ve mentioned how G is re-arranging the kitchen and living room this summer. It’s a process that requires moving some pieces multiple times. Yesterday, he moved the cat’s food bowls. This may prove to be a problem.
Why would moving the cats’ food bowls be a problem? Because he now has them on top of the two file cabinets which are set some distance from each other. The cats are accustomed to congregating and eating together. This new setup allows for no more than two at each bowl, and Queen Bit doesn’t like to share. We have nine cats and only two bowls. See the problem? And no, the bowls cannot be set on the floor because the dogs, Hamilton especially, like eating cat food, too. They like eating everything. G’s going to have to work on his strategy a bit.
The computer presented a bit of a problem again this morning. Obviously, since I’m writing this, I was able to get it worked out, but it re-emphasizes the urgency with which we need a replacement, which means we need help. Our friend Michael turned me on to a source of refurbished machines which would likely be more reliable than Amazon and the pricing is still under $300. If you want to help: Venmo: @C_I_Letbetter, or CashApp at $ciletbetter. Getting this problem out of the way will help my sanity from being destroyed any more rapidly than it already is.
After getting the computer problem fixed, I then had to call the bank and dispute a significant charge. They reversed the charge and then, since this is the second time I’ve had to dispute a charge from the same source, they canceled the card and are sending a new one. I’m sure you understand the challenge that creates. All automated bill payments set to that card have to be reset once the new one arrives in three to five business days. I always plan on five, but since Wednesday is a holiday (Juneteenth if you’re not paying attention), I’m going to plan on not getting anything before next Monday. I hope we can make the milk last.
Once they open at 9:00, I’ll be making a call to the pharmacy. My doctor called in a prescription when she saw me last Monday (which feels like a month ago at this point). I watched the pharmacy’s app so I would know when to ask Kat to pick it up. It wasn’t until Friday afternoon that it finally showed as being filled, but Kat wouldn’t be anywhere close to the pharmacy until Sunday afternoon. When she stopped by, however, they told her that the prescription wasn’t ready and needed pre-authorization.
I have a couple of questions. 1. If the script needed pre-authorization, why the fuck didn’t they call the doctor back when they found that out? The doctor could have handled the pre-authorization quickly and moved things along. 2. Why is the script listed as filled in the app when it clearly is not yet filled? Kat wasted a trip. Once the new insurance takes effect on the first, they’ll pay for me to get a ride to the pharmacy myself. I’m fairly sure I won’t be as polite on matters like this as Kat is. I’m too old for such nonsense.
So yeah, it’s Monday. It’s supposed to be hot everywhere this week. I need to find ways to expend as little energy as possible, thus generating minimal amounts of additional heat. I’m thinking that soaking in a tub full of water sounds like a good idea. I’m old enough the prune-looking skin really isn’t that much of a change from normal. The biggest challenge will be convincing the dogs that they don’t really need to go outside between 1:00 and 7:00 in the afternoon.
By the way, did you happen to see the video we posted yesterday? It’s a fast-moving minute and 23 seconds. You may need to watch it more than once to catch all the details, like whether or not you’re included in the 26 images.
Oh, in case you missed it, and you probably did, the Surgeon General of the United States is demanding that Congress require warning labels on all social media apps. The demand is part of an op-ed in this morning’s New York Times, which is behind a paywall so I’m not going to bother linking to it. There is a CNN article about the op-ed, however. Click here to read that. The Surgeon General cites a JAMA study showing an increased presence of depression in teens who use social media more than three hours a day. The study says that most teens are on social media five hours a day. During the summer, that number is likely higher.
My question is this: does the Surgeon General actually think that teens are going to pay any attention to government-issued warnings? Has the Surgeon General met any actual teens that don’t live in Georgetown or summer in the Hamptons? I won’t challenge the findings of the JAMA study, but I don’t think government-required warnings are anywhere close to being an answer. I mean, we were teens when warning statements started appearing on cigarette packages. Did that warning ever stop any of you? Ever? I think warnings of this type are an empty gesture. The government gets to say, “We tried to warn them,” without doing anything concrete to actually solve the problem.
A more appropriate solution: require social media app makers to install a kill switch that automatically turns off the apps after three hours of use and doesn’t turn them back on for 24 hours. The technology is available and relatively easy to install. If you’re genuinely serious about teen health, then that’s what you have to do. Turn the damn apps off for them. They can do so based on the age of the user so that addicted adults can still get their fix. This is not a difficult fix. A simple timer and a two-line call for the user’s age is all it takes. Killing the app, not the entire phone, is the more responsible thing to do.
Yeah, you and I both know that will never happen. Government likes pretending to be responsible, but they don’t want any actual responsibility. And have you seen the idiots in Congress? I sometimes wonder if any of them can actually dress themselves of the morning.
It’s Monday. I need more coffee. A LOT more coffee.
Morning Update: 03/18/24
Negative Affirmations
There’s something different about my editing screen this morning and I’m not sure exactly what it is. The margins are off and that’s… unsettling. I’m not sure whether to blame one of the random software updates or my own ignorance, which seems to be growing by the hour. Being confident in one’s self is difficult when one loses the certainty of what one thinks they know.
Yesterday was mild. I read. I wrote. I napped. I read some more. I made dinner. Kat had a day full of haircuts, one right after another with no break. She fell asleep soon after she got home and I’m not sure she’s moved since. So everything is cool, right?
Not hardly. First, there was the matter of trying to get my prescription filled. I contacted the prescribing doctor who responded with, “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.” Ten minutes later, I got a second message, “All taken care of.” So, I check the pharmacy app and it’s back to “Getting refilled.” WHAT THE LIVING FUCK! I need the fucking medicine and I’m fucking tired of having to wait forever to get the damn thing filled!
Then, there was the matter of a recurring charge that shouldn’t be recurring or charging. We went over this with the bank three months ago. Yet, there it was again, $100 missing from my account. The bank replaced the funds, BUT their solution for preventing another incident was to replace my card. Again. Fine, order a new card. The problem with that is that not only will I have to go through and change every instance of my card number with every authorized service, but more importantly, I DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO THE MONEY IN MY ACCOUNT! I can’t buy milk or cat litter or a piece of sanity until the new card arrives. Normally, a new card would be here by the end of the week. However, there’s a freaking holiday in the middle of the week so who the fuck knows when I’ll get the new card and be able to make the necessary purchases.
Yes, the computer is still giving me fits, but no one seems terribly interested in helping resolve that problem. $300 takes care of it. Venmo: @C_I_Letbetter or CashApp: $ciletbetter. Feel free to help ease my suffering.
Since I can’t order more milk, which is the one food item we consume the most, I warned the kids last night to take it easy on the milk. What do I find in the kitchen this morning? Someone had finished the GIANT box of cereal and left the empty box on the counter with a corresponding amount of milk missing. Understand, we’ve only had that cereal a week and it’s already gone. Apparently, someone is using cereal as their primary source of sustenance.
All this and I woke up at 3:30 this morning, unable to go back to sleep. When I don’t sleep, I’m restless. When I’m restless, the cats get restless because I keep kicking them off the bed (it’s dark and I can’t see where they are). When the cats get restless, they get into things like the trash in the kitchen. Then, they wake the dogs. This morning started much too early.
Which leads me to the concept of Negative Affirmations. To hell with all the positive crap about, “you can do this,” and “make the day yours.” No. When a day starts like this, you have to accept the fact that things go wrong, things happen that annoy you and make you angry, and accept that how you feel about those things is okay. So, here are some Negative Affirmations for this morning.
It’s okay to be pissed off when no one takes out the goddamn trash.
Why is the trash bag sitting in the middle of the floor in the first place? No wonder the cats are tearing holes in the bag. If they can tie off the bag and set it on the floor, they can take it the fuck outside.
Go ahead and complain about the heat.
Everyone’s hot, everyone’s complaining about it in their head, so go ahead and say it out loud: it’s too damn hot. Alter your plans to stay where it’s cool. No one has the right to ask you to go out in this mess. It’s not healthy. Do they want you to fucking die? No? Then they can wait for this damn heat dome to pass before asking you to leave the air conditioning.
No, it’s not an oxymoron to drink hot coffee when it’s hot outside.
The only “moron” is the person suggesting you drink something other than hot coffee in the morning. Those are the kinds of suggestions that can get a person slapped, especially if I’ve not had my coffee yet. Coffee doesn’t increase one’s body temperature. Coffee keeps one from being homicidal in this heat.
Expecting everyone else to have their shit together is not unreasonable.
Never mind that I can’t remember my PIN or my passcode. My faults are not anyone else’s excuse for being inadequate. They don’t need to be adding to your bad mood with their incompetence. We’ll try to be understanding of innocent errors, but if you’re failing at the job you’ve been doing for twenty years, that’s a you problem. We’re going to expect better.
Being drunk before noon is a reasonable coping mechanism.
Just dealing with people is reason enough to drink and if they’re going to start being asshats early in the morning, then someone needs to spike the coffee. Make it a double if the person you’re dealing with is a fucking politician or telemarketer. Go ahead and drink, then take a nap. Otherwise, you might tell someone what you really think of them.
Telling a person to “shove it” is simply direct communication.
Everyone keeps telling us that “communication is key” and that we should be honest and direct. Okay, you can take all your positivity and sunshine and shove it up your ass. Let me have my bad day(s). How’s that for direct and honest?
You don’t have to give a shit about Taylor, Travis, or anyone else who may or may not be in a relationship.
There simply is no good reason for opening up the newsfeed and seeing a story about how much Taylor misses Travis right under the story about Netanyahu dismantling his war cabinet. No one with a brain fucking cares about celebrity private lives. No one with a working brain should. We have our own relationships to worry about.
No, the 70s rock music is not too loud.
There’s no such thing. You’re just jealous because your generation’s music is lame.
There are definitely more, but I’ll save them for another time. Right now, I need to refill my coffee cup that’s more than half empty.
Oh, and if you didn’t read yesterday’s educational post, you have homework to do.
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