New year, new pictures?

Happy New Year?

The cold has stayed with us over the course of the last few weeks and this morning, we woke up to to the mid forties (as usual lately). The weather people announced yesterday that it would get in the low 20s in some places, and I'm assuming it was closer to the northern border of the state (we're talking Georgia area). I didn't pay too much attention to where that level of cold was going to be, as I know the 40-45 degrees are a bit on the cold side for southern Florida (and we wouldn't reach lower than that). 

As I had nothing planned for the day due to it being New Years Day; I didn't have to go work, nor did I make any plans to run errands. I figured most stores that would be open, would be on limited hours, if any hours. Therefore, I went to return some stuff to the library and made my way to the gym.

Driving through the drop off lane at the library, I noticed something hanging on the wall of the sidewalk area. It's not a sidewalk per se, but it's a grassy area that prohibits cars from continuing straight into the building. 

Upon closer (squinting) inspection, the thing I saw in front of me was one of the tree iguanas; the type of lizard that I lovingly refer to as "the plop plops" because you only see them on the ground when it gets too cold. Once the tropics here reach below 45°, the iguanas freeze / go limp, plop to the ground and don't move until they are warmed up.

 

The iguana I saw must have fallen close enough to library and into the sun, because he seemed pretty ready to run when I drove closer to him. 

I've taken a video of him, as I didn't want to get out of my car and disturb his moment in the bright light. Plus, "they" say not to go near these things and move them... the iguanas can still harm you if they feel threatened. 

This is the first time I've captured one of these reptiles on film, where he wasn't a solid color (green, brown, etc.). He must have been so cold, his skin changed and now that he was in the sun, he was turning a good orangey tan (check his head and tail). I guess the Vitamin D is good for everyone? 

It was so weird seeing the plop plop today. My friends said "how cool!!" and my mom's friends said "no!! Too cold!". A bunch of mixed reactions from a bunch of people. The locals didn't want to deal with seeing it and the northerners were amazed I shared pictures and a video. Like me, they're not used to seeing certain things in the wild.

I try to share this stuff when I can. 😁

It's after 7pm as I write this entry, and it's 60° outside (but "Feels like 59"). The windows will be open again tonight, and the longer we're doing this, the less our electric bill has been. We have yet to turn the heat on in this house and we are going on 15 years here (Oh Christ... 15 years?? 😒😧😨🙈) and there's now been way too many times during the winter it got under 70. Which is fine, because I don't do well in the humidity and my mother only likes it because the FPL bill is dirt cheap (we're talking around 75 bucks. In the middle of December). It's not to be confused with me turning a new leaf and liking it here. The lower bill does not equate to low costs of living nor me dancing with rainbows and lollipops. My stance is still the same as it ever was; the crispness makes life a little more manageable. 

Except at my current job when the AC is on in the building all day and I'm sitting at a desk in a sweatshirt because it's super cold in the office and outside. 

But the real temperature drop is out of the house right now and the weather report says it'll be 48° by 5am. We will see what it turns out to be, but I don't expect to be up at that time. I don't want to. 

If I happen to see an iguana out and about on the road again, I'll know it was cold enough that he needs to get warm before he goes back to his perch. 

Until that happens, I think I need to put on some long sleeves and get something to drink. I didn't drink enough water today, and am feeling a little parched. Even though it's cold, you still need to drink. Remember that when you're shoveling this week (because I know my friends in New England got a blast of snow), don't imbibe in any alcohol. Stay warm with tea or coffee. Get some water in you. Alcohol makes things worse. Only have that after you've warmed up and will be inside for a while.

Stay safe and may 2026 be positive for everyone.

Cheers;

See also:

* Photos and video taken on an iPhone 11

* Photos edited (my name) in Photoshop

* Video edited in Pinnacle Studio (with the program's stock music and sound effects)

As Nelson would say..

"Haw Haw!"

Gif found on Giphy

(can you believe The Simpsons have been on for 36 years?? Where'd the time go???)

A neighbor apparently had enough of someone / multiple people complaining about their refrigerator being on the curb for over a week, so they ended up taping a (somewhat rude) paper all over the outside of the (duct taped) appliance.

Note: I don't own that fridge, I don't know the owner, and I don't know what happened to instigate this.

I had walked to the gym on Wednesday and saw all the flyers attached to it, so I got closer to read the papers. 

I feel like the owner "obviously has nothing better to do" because they took the time to research, write, print / copy and then tape it to every side of the fridge. Again, I don't know what transpired to make them go full Karen on this, but I feel like the new refrigerator needs to be stocked with some chill pills. Something to tone down the argument. 

However, they got what they wanted on Friday (which was trash day), because they were tagged. 

I edited out the citation number, but left everything else in. So this means they've got 3 days to do something about it (according to their print out). But, the tag says someone needs to call Waste Management to schedule a pickup. 

Therefore, if the owner leaves this out and forgets it, by Tuesday it should disappear (I'm counting "business days" - Friday, Monday, Tuesday). If the person does what's right and makes a phone call, it can be any time because I don't know when the appointment would be made. 

It's like when someone else recently had their stove sitting out on the curb for 2 weeks. They got a tag but didn't do anything immediately. It did end up being picked up and no one was the wiser. Meaning, there was no "mind your business" sign on it, no squawking from neighbors on any of the social network apps. Nothing; all is quiet. All is fine.

But this Karen with the fridge... holy cow. Way to start the new year. 

My friend Erica said "Wow... we just continue to get dumber and nastier ☹". 

Which is true. There's no reason to post that paper six times on your trash (I didn't check the back, which is facing the house. I'm sure there was a few notes there too). If you're that upset over it, talk it out with the person who angered you. That person that said something did so in private, with no business to the rest of the neighborhood. Taping a nastygram now makes it a (public) fight. The owner should have done the right thing and kept it moving without being rude. 

It's also the times we're living in. People are getting angrier and angrier, nastier and nastier. You can't leave your house without someone starting something on your block, let alone in a store. What happened to being fair and kind? Now it's every person for themselves. No longer is it "love and war", it's just "war". It's sad.

I don't even know what else to say, without stepping into a political realm that I don't want to step in to on here. I wanted to point out what I see on my day to day business, and hopefully pass on some positivity. All it takes is changing one person at a time into something better. 

Be good to each other and do what's right. 

Cheers;

"Fire purifies. Fire makes people stronger"

PLEASE NOTE: 

The beginning of this post is about religion and why it relates to the post title. 

If any of this is offensive, please understand that I am not trying to upset anyone and am only trying to figure out how to relate the title to what's after the explanation of its context (kind of). It's going to circle a lot of ideas and thoughts, and I truly mean no harm. 

Please come back another day and read anything new I put up here, if the start of my comments below are not something you care to discuss or read. 

Trust me; I have little expectations and experiences myself some times. It's when I get on a squirrely roller coaster, I end up letting everything come out, free write and all (as noticed some days by my other tangents). 

I try not to put up a lot of religious stuff when I don't know anything about it, as well as not posting political information. I don't make the attempt to turn people away, but if there's something that piques my interest (an obscure quote, for example), I'm going to try to find out what it means for me to be able to share it here, when I talk about other things. 

Therefore... 

I was watching TV the other night and the news was on. 

They were talking about the New Years Eve attack in New Orleans and the New Orleans police chief included the single lined (blog title) metaphor as part of her speech. I thought it was interesting, and I wanted to put that passage in some where here. I just didn't know how I was going to incorporate it (I found a way; give me time and I'll get in to it).

I have to preface this by saying, again, I'm not religious by any means. I do not follow any of the Christian archetypes or denominations (my family is Jewish). When I googled the phrase, lots of hits came up, saying it is attributed to "Refiners Fire" in the Book of Malachi (specifically 3:2-3). 

However, the segment doesn't say that exact line. 

According to what I've found line for that specific scripture, it reads as follows (with 3:1-4 as context):

"I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years."

Everything I am finding keeps pointing to Refiner's Fire and those lines. So to take it out of context and twist it a little, a refiner creates things out of fire (like man), makes it clean and pure, and those things (men) can continue the cycle to make positive changes to their surroundings. 

Hey, I'm trying there. I see your eye roll and disgust that I am doing this wrong.

I don't totally understand it, in order to deconstruct it and explain it. Again, this (religion) isn't my wheelhouse. 

I don't want to take someone else's words either, and mix them up. 

From what I read (a little before and after), a Refiner's Fire is used to break down precious metals (like gold and silver) and get out the defects in them. Make the metal pure, since the fire heats it up to such a high intensity, anything negative should fall back into the fire or on the floor. Melt away. In context to the Bible, the fire is to cleanse people so their sins wash away (with the launderer's soap) and their bad isn't with them anymore. They then can go help the next group of people get their sins expelled and the cycle continues.

Didn't the Indigo Girls sing about washing sins blues away back in 1997? (track 1 for reference of the link)

Damn, I should have bought the "All my thoughts are Indigo Girls lyrics" (or something like that) shirt when I had the chance.... 🙎

So for the police chief to say this, she was saying how the New Orleans people are a strong people and they have to go through a constant fire to rise above it all and be a better community. It takes one bad event or person to take everyone down and create chaos, but if humanity can get together and go beyond the bullshit (sorry), the city can rebuild and get better. Be a phoenix among the ashes. 

Terrorism and any other attack is never good, and it does take the will of the people to join together and over come it all. Yes, people are hospitalized and have died from this. Yes, it's a hard lesson for everyone. It's not so much that "this too shall pass", but it's how you can create another layer of resiliency. In the years to come, people will (hopefully) be in a better place and (hopefully) the groups who feel like maintaining evil will go away. We need to force them into a space where they disappear, but do it by choosing good over evil. Don't fight back with weapons if you can. Fight back with the power of kindness. Show these assholes you mean business by being amazing. 

(I heard tonight on the news that NOLA residents are cleaning up and using the power of music to come together. Not a party per se. It's being used for healing and making sure people are okay. It's what they're used to; being vibrant as hell and taking no prisoners)

I know it's hard because the mean ones caused a lot of problems and you have to retaliate with what you have, but this also shouldn't happen. It's a core group of thinkers who don't know how to do good or separate good from bad. Everyone sins, but to cause that kind of evil, is just well, evil. There was no need for the people on Bourbon Street to be attacked like that. Everyone was trying to have an amazing end of 2024, and some man got it in his head that no one deserved to be festive. It's No Bueno for him!! 

I'm so getting off why I wanted to write that title. I know I am. And I'm sorry for not making sense, if you're still following me this far and are confused.

The reason I wanted to use "Fire purifies. Fire makes people stronger" is because we have a ghost in our house. We've had one since we moved in. 

We probably have a few because there are different times that different things happen. 

So ghost. Plural. 

I know of at least one ghost, because the original owner of this place turned it into a shrine for the girl (who died young) and we still get her mail (occasionally). One of them is not The Ghost With The Most. Nor is it the family he haunts. That's for damn sure.

Things happen in our house that we can't explain. 

When we first moved in, I had carpet in my room. It was the only place in the whole house that had carpet too. There were days that I'd smell cigarette smoke, even though my mother and I don't smoke and we had no one living directly next to me at the time (we still kind of don't, as those neighbors are snowbirds, but they moved in after we switched from carpet to tile). We had the house deep cleaned when we first moved in, so there's no way the smoke lingered from anyone prior. Considering there was no furniture in here at the time, there was ample opportunity to do a good scrub. Since tearing out the carpet and getting tile, I still occasionally smell smoke. 

My friend Cat says it's probably someone doing something malicious, but it could be something else too. You just never know, and there are too many spirits out there that could do any thing at any time. Cat's in to abnormal and paranormal, so she tells me stuff. Hi Cat 😀

Every once in a while, I'll see shimmering. My mother has said she'll see that too, but it's not often. The only way I can describe it is "you know how movies show a car heat on the road? Sometimes you can see it too, when you're driving and stopped at a light or something, especially during summer? You see the road kind of waver and there's a clear movement in the air?" that's what we see. Some sort of heat or gas or translucent movement that appears out of nowhere and quickly vanishes. 

However, it moves left to right or right to left, depending on where it's "walking" to, and in front of.

Like the other day, when we were watching the news, I had to rewind the segment to see if I was watching it correctly. I told my mother that "someone's here" and said that "the TV shimmered". She didn't know what I was talking about because she was engrossed in her game. When I went back to the point in the program where I saw the shimmer, it didn't repeat itself. So the person obviously kept going. They came from the right, which would have been the dining room or even from the hallway (my bedroom or bathroom, the guest room, front door or laundry room). It went left, as if to go directly to the lanai. My mother didn't see it, however, she said "maybe it was the people walking in the background of the shot", and I said "it wasn't. It was one of the ghost. She shrugged it off, but she has seen it in the past. 

I should have known something was up when I saw that, because I had used my bathroom soon after. 

TMI, I know

This is where I have to admit, I have a "ducking problem", if I haven't talked about it before. 

My bathroom has shelves of rubber ducks in it, including a 12x12 framed art piece of "Bath Ducks" (by a guy named John Booth... had to research his name). 

The ducks I have, range from teams (Man Utd & New England Patriots) to Countries (Union Jack) and Cities (Austin, Amsterdam) to the MCU (two different Batman, one Wonder Woman and one Joker [I call the César Romero version]) and everything in between (Disney, Pixar, confetti, hearts, charities, etc). 

People would buy me one for a holiday present or my birthday. It got to be a big deal. 

So the other day I had taken all the ducks off the shelves, cleaned them, and put them back. 

A few kept jumping off the shelf, but I put them back on and kept going.

I had peed a little later and thought that it was odd that one of the shelves was a little more askew than normal (none of them were perfectly straight, but they were secured on the wall). Then I saw the ghost shimmer. An hour or so later, I was in my room and CRASH! The shelf was completely off the wall. Ducks everywhere - my sink, toilet, floor. 

I don't know what happened or how. The shelves were fully hooked to the wall, and this has not happened before. My mother and I tried to get the shelf back up and hooked, but it wouldn't latch. So I ended up taking all the ducks down and boxing them up. 

Last night, I patched the holes and painted the spots. It's like nothing was ever there, even though you can kind of see a little mark in places. It's not great, but it's covered enough that you really can't tell. 

Which leads me to the quote. 

It's high time to smudge the house (again) because someone has effed with us. Again. 

My mother and I have previously smudged (saged) the house, so we have our own kit (Amazon sells various types) and intend on using it tomorrow. Today got a hold of us and we didn't have time. 

Since it's going to be cold tomorrow, we're intending on opening the windows (and doors for a minute because we don't have a screen for the front and don't want to let any critters in.. which is another story) and getting all the bad out of the house (again). 

Therefore, "fire purifies. Fire makes people stronger". Sage cleanses. If you do it right and believe in it, it purifies the room(s) you are in. It purifies you. It makes you stronger. You can create good out of evil when you do this. Even if you do it often, you keep the bad away. 

Love and light. Love and light 

We want to continue to keep the bad away. 

If all goes well too, maybe the bad will stay away and the housing market will rise and we can move (please?? Can we finally move or do we really have to stay another year? My friends will know this reference, even though I'd do anything to move back north. I'm looking to work back in Massachusetts or New Hampshire if anyone is hiring!!). 

But yeah, it's time to start cleaning. Use these cold Florida winter days to do good and get out the bad. Tell the ghosts they're not wanted right now. 

The critters comment is that my mother's friends (a couple who live a few houses to our left) said that if we see the iguanas this week, let them know. These are the lizards who stay in the trees all day, and when it's cold, they freeze up and fall to the ground. I call them the "plop plop effers" because they literally plop to the ground and play dead. They get pretty big, too. But the friends said that the iguanas are an invasive species here, and it's okay to kill them. They're going to be trying to come in the house where it's warm, so watch your garage. If we spot one, let the people know, and they're come track it and remove it (kill it? Take it somewhere? Just get it the eff out of the neighborhood). I've seen them at one of my jobs and accidentally 4 wheeled one while driving a golf cart. He came out of nowhere and kept running like a bat out of hell once I broke his back. Some gator probably had him for a mid day snack. 

You learn something new every day - these things are legit to be taken out. According to Florida Fish and Wildlife, "Like all nonnative reptile species, green iguanas are not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty law and can be humanely killed on private property with landowner permission. This species can be captured and humanely killed year-round and without a permit or hunting license on 32 public lands in south Florida." 

So there you go. Baseball bat to the knees! 

Another thing I don't want to do is, try any other flavor of the Wilde Protein Chips. We were able to get the Himalayan Pink Salt Chicken Chips through a store promotion (and not Amazon as linked), and they're not the best. They're chippy and addictive, but that's the salt talking (for the addiction). 

The ingredient list is as follows:

Antibiotic-Free Chicken Breast, Native Tapioca Starch, High Oleic Sunflower Oil, Egg Whites, Chicken Bone Broth, Contains less than 2% of the following: Himalayan Pink Salt, Sea Salt, Natural Flavors, Modified Tapioca Starch, Citric Acids, Spices, Sodium Citrate, Tapioca Syrup Solids**, **Adds a trivial amount of Added Sugar

Small food list, but large information. What is "natural flavor"? (Watch Stink! and you'll ask the same question. Thanks to Michael W. for the rec). My mother said the first thing she tasted was the chicken and that's all she tasted before the salt hit. I couldn't and can't taste the chicken It's not that I'm sick or anything, but I wasn't tasting the poultry for some reason. I tasted salt, even though there is some sort of weird taste to these chips (my mother says "an after taste"). The texture is gritty - in your hands and in your mouth. Maybe it's from the aforementioned salt, I don't know. It's just weird as hell.

I'm all for trying things, and didn't expect a full on chicken dinner in my mouth (if I could taste the chicken). If it was just a regular potato chip with a hint of poultry, sure, I'm game. But this isn't one of those woodsy meats you want to crisp up into a cracker. Unless you chop it finely and actually put it on a cracker. Add a little celery, mayo and whatever else to it... make a meal out of it. 

As its own deal? To each their own. If you're on a particular diet (Keto) and need proteins / gains, sure. Have at it. If you just want to serve this in addition to a chip at a function? Try a sample bag first before you go "Wilde" and buy a big bag. We ended up throwing out as much as we attempted to eat (unfortunately). 

 Outside of eating supper, answering a few phone calls and taking the trash out, I have been at this post for a few hours. I think I've worn out my welcome today, so I'm going to end it here. 

Thanks for staying with me this long, and stay warm if you're somewhere cold. Stay safe if you're somewhere bad. Stay you while being them. 

Cheers;

See also

* Amazon has various links to The Bible - shows and actual books, for those who want to get their reading on and learn more. This includes The Bible App for your smart device.

* Love and Light affirmations on Amazon (and other affirmations)

Last pictures of 2024 & First post of 2025

I didn't go to bed "as early" as I planned last night, as I made the attempt and failed. I had gone in my bed around 8:30, but was stupidly playing on my phone for an hour. I ended up having to go to the bathroom, so I got up, peed, and walked around the house. I looked outside and there was some fog rolling in, as expected. 

I went back in my room, took my iPhone 11 off the charger, and went to taking photos of the "back yard" (which is the main road, separated by a wall), a view of one set of neighbors (via the guest room) and a view of the other set of neighbors (via my room). 

From my room, you can still see the Christmas decorations up across the street, which won't be taken down until next week, possibly. 

I didn't do much editing, except a little "sharpen" and put my name on them. The little green light flare on the last photos (the ones where you can see the decorations across the street) are coming from a projector light. The people across the street have one, and Ed (who lives 2 units down on my side of the street) has one, so both lights face each other and the houses are lit. Ed also has a snowflake projector on his garage. 

When I was done getting these pictures, I attempted to go to sleep. I was able to, but around midnight, the booms were going off. Someone in my neighborhood had been setting off the type of fireworks that belong in an open space, not on a street surrounded by homes.

How do I know? My mother showed me a video posted to Facebook this morning. One of the home owners in the houses (we have 4 parcels in my community - 3 groups of houses and 1 group of condos) posted a 2 minute video of his view from his driveway. In the dense fog, you could see just enough of flash lighting, that people were setting off canister fireworks. Each little explosion set to the sky like a rocket, lighting up the clouds in various colors. The owner of the video made the comment on his post, saying he "took the video in case something disastrous happened". 

I think it was also a quiet tattle tale too. Because that doesn't belong in these communities. We are so tightly built together, that one little SNAFU and the whole street can go up in flames. 

Much like how many years were we saying that the guy who lives 5 units away from me, could blow up the block, purely based on the fact his garage was a hoarders paradise and he had dozens of propane tanks in the room and in various states of fill. As he's a smoker, all it would take is the wrong flick of an ash and "boom", we're all out of our homes. 

I'm so glad he's in jail right now. I'm sorry for the reason he's there, but it if means keeping him off the street, so be it. He doesn't deserve to be out of lockup. 

Great; I sure did an awesome turnaround for this post, huh? Maybe I should stop while I'm ahead and figure out what I'm going to do today. Stores are closed and I know my mother has a list of things she wants to accomplish, both in the house and then shopping tomorrow. 

Until I sort my stuff out, enjoy your hangover.

Cheers;

My room's lit up like a Candy Cane Christmas Tree!

I know it's been a couple weeks since I've posted and I've really wanted to make some comments to my blog about what's been going on, but it's hard since I can't fully comment about a situation without going into exact details. 

Which is hard, seeing how the news outlets far and wide are starting to share basic information.

What's happening is a sticky situation to talk about since I try to not put exact locations in my blog for a lot of reasons. I want to talk about what happened January 1, 2024 in my neighborhood, but I can't put down names, places, thoughts, etc, because then I start getting into a grey area that could get me into trouble for potentially spreading gossip, ill will and negativity. 

I can try to give a basic story and allude to things without giving a lot of information.

Now that the dust is settling... of sorts. 

January 1, 2024, I had attempted to go to bed early since I had to be at work on Tuesday. I'm always losing sleep when I've been off for a few days and have to go back to work.. even on Sundays, it's hard to get a full night's rest for Monday, because I just can't shut my brain off long enough to wake up refreshed on Monday. 

But I try.

So I get into bed around 8:30pm and I don't know what time it was, but EMS sirens are blaring. 

Since it's been cool enough to sleep with the windows open, my mom and I have done just that. Therefore, my room shades were up just enough to have my window open and get some air.

Around 9:05, my room is getting lit up like a dull candy cane Christmas Tree. Because my shades weren't fully up, the light was trickling in through what was open.

I got up to look outside, as my room faces our street, and all the units I could see, were doing a disco dance to emergency blinky blink. 

I went to find my mother, as her room is in the back of the condo and she can hear the main road out of our complex. I told her there's a ton of EMS lights outside, and she said that it must be all the noise she was hearing since 8:45. 

She had gotten up from bed, as she was watching TV in her room, and we walked into my room. She looked outside and said we should probably get a little more dressed and go outside. See what's happing. 

So we did. 

As we got out into our garage and opened it up, we were able to see a little more of what was going on. People were standing on sidewalks looking to what would be our left. We got into our driveway and counted two fire engines, one ambulance, three cruisers. At this time, it was roughly 9:08.

We struggled a bit to squint and see what was going on, without walking towards the commotion. Due to all the flashing lights, it was hard to tell who was on the ground, but we could tell by the cars who's house it was. We just didn't know who was being resuscitated by hospital workers. 

The longer we stood in our driveway, the more some neighbors walked around. We didn't know who they were, but we could make out the shadow of one person we knew, so we walked to that person to see what happened. 

The person told us it was a neighbor from across the street and a couple houses down. From what this guy (we were talking to) heard, some shady things went down, that I shouldn't be repeating here. All the guy knew was what someone else told him (which happened to be the owner of the driveway / the person who called for help). 

Shockingly, we all stood in this guy's driveway (the one who told us the news) and continued watching what was going on. The guy on the ground happened to be late 30s and was being worked on for roughly 30 minutes before a police officer asked us to back away because things weren't looking well and emergency services didn't want us all ogling in case worse happened. 

My mom and I went back to our driveway and the guy we talked to, stepped back into his. As the minutes ticked by, my mom and I kept thinking there was no way this dude was going to survive what ever was happening to him. Since he had lost consciousness for 45 minutes at this point, he would be brain dead if they got him breathing again. 

A couple minutes to 10, a neighbor from across the street came out to walk their dog. They came out just as the emergency service crew had given up on the man and put a blanket over him. 

Sadly, he passed away. 

We walked over to our neighbor, told him what was going on, and the neighbor was very much surprised. He had been friendly enough with the guy under the blanket, but didn't know how the guy was into some dark stuff. Without giving the dog a walk, our neighbor took the animal back in the house and brought his wife down instead. He had told her what was going on and she was in disbelief as well. 

At this point, it's about ten after ten and the partner of the guy is out, surrounded by neighbors. People trying to calm her down and not do anything stupid. Luckily she had enough support right there and they kept her quiet enough so that the police could do their job. 

After our neighbors debated on going over to give their sympathy, they opted to go back inside. My mom and I went back to our driveway and watched the fire engines go away, the ambulance leave and one of the cop cars disappear. All that was left was a body under a blanket, two cruisers and a lot of questions.

It would be a matter of time before a coroner and anyone else show up, so about 10:45, my mom and I go in the house. It was at this point, she had called a neighbor who lives closer to the scene, to ask a couple questions, as that neighbor had been texting my mom about what was going on.

Without giving out details of the conversation, I'm just going to say we got a little more information about what transpired. We all agreed that we figured something dirty was happening on our block, but didn't realize it was this bad. 

The next morning, I got up to find my side of the street covered with unmarked government issued cars. There was just as many plain clothed officers and high end agencies, that I'm sure if you're paying attention, you can figure out what happened. 

I will say this: the beaded metal necklace with police badge you see cops wear on crime shows... it's legit. They mean business, and I do have to say the people I spoke to, were nice to me. 

As the cars were blocking driveways, I had to ask if someone could be so kind and move their vehicle. The gentleman who moved the car, approached me with a smile and a conversation, so I can't say it was a horrible experience. He was friendly and allowed me to crack a joke at the situation.

I said to him that "I'd like to wish you a happy new year, but given the circumstance, it's not too happy" and he essentially told me it's all in his job and it's his line of work, so it's okay to wish him a happy new year. When he said it's part of the job, I said "job security then" and he smiled. So at least it was positive?

We had talked for another minute and I explained where he could move the car (one of the empty driveways nearby) and he thanked me immensely because he said that he would park in that one, to save more movement on the street by them. 

Off we went and I got going to work. 

While I was working, I'd get random texts from my mom. Little bits of information here, a couple more thoughts there. 

By the time I got home, the word on the block was that some major stuff was going on under our noses and no one knew about it. 

The next day (Wednesday) was when the local news were breaking the story. The owner of the driveway was arrested on some charges unrelated to what happened on the street, as the police are actively investigating the death in the driveway (one thing led to another). 

What we know right now, January 13, 2024 is the owner of the driveway is in police custody until next month, unless he gets bailed out. There was a memorial service for the deceased on Monday and I would hope there was a big turnout to celebrate the kid's life. From the little I knew of him, he seemed like an okay fellow. 

I know I'm cutting a lot of information out, but I'm trying to be respectful. 

Yeah, yeah, since when does my filter limit what I say?? 

In cases of active police investigations and not wanting to get called in as a witness or anything, I have to stay as clean as I can. Even though what you are reading here is what I would tell police. I don't know much else except names, locations and opinions. 

I do know part of me wanted to desperately get my DSLR out and shoot photos that night (it's the Communications major & English minor in me) but I didn't. I could have easily submitted an essay with the photos to the news outlets instead of them coming here and wasting time talking to people at the gate, but I knew I couldn't. It's not my job to do this type of stuff, even though it'd be nice to use my major / minor these days.  

I want to share a lot more, but I can't. I'm obligated to be as neutral as I can and not give details out that could incriminate me or anyone else. It's the nature of observing and trying to relay everything back. You have to pick and choose what you say and do. I've probably already say too much in here, so I'm going to leave it at that. 

There's no positive right now for the woman who lost her boyfriend, but I hope she does find peace in knowing he's somewhere watching out for her and that she can move on knowing he's not suffering anymore. In time, wounds heal. I have seen much of these incidents, and you have to let life do its thing. 

Hopefully the police find the answers they need to close the investigations and the man arrested gets put away for a very long time (based on what I know of him and what has happened). 

Until the dust fully settles, take care of yourselves.

Cheers; 

Namaste for breakfast?

My mother and I did our usual run to Sprouts this morning, thinking we better go early enough in case they close due to it being New Years Eve. 

We didn't buy as much as we usually do (not that we buy a lot), because we're planning to try to use up what we have in our house (hello... it's the first of the year tomorrow... we all know what that means) and I also don't have work until Tuesday. Why buy stuff now, when there's still so much in our pantry and freezer?

Therefore, as per my typical browse and compare in the vitamin aisle, I saw that OM has some blend packages in this store. I've only ever seen it in Sarasota, so it was nice to know Sprouts carries it. 

However, like I've been finding lately, the cost per item in the store is slightly higher than the cost online. 

For example, the Om Mushroom Superfood Master Blend Plant-Based Protein Powder, 19.26 Ounce (chocolate) is $39.99 in Sprouts, where as Amazon has the same thing for $29.40 (or $26.46 as Subscribe & Save). 

Sprouts price per ounce, according to the shelf sticker is $2.08, it really should be $40.06 if I did the math correctly. 

If you look at Amazon, they are pricing it in two ways: 

* Subscribe and Save ($26.46), where the price per ounce is $1.37

* One time purchase ($29.40) with the price per ounce is alsoless ($1.53). 

The other win with the one time purchase is, again, if my math is right, it should really be $29.47 (round up, since it was $29.467). 

Add tax to the Amazon order and you are still under what Sprouts is selling it for, by at least $12 if you do a one time only purchase. Subscribe and save would net you roughly the same amount because again, you have to figure tax in on both businesses. 

The only challenge with Amazon is if you do the one time purchase, you need to spend $35 in one shot to get free shipping if you're not a Prime member. So decrease the savings and swap in shipping/handling. 

I'm sure if it were slightly less pricey at Sprouts, I'd pick it up to try it and see how long it lasts me (there is an estimated 14 servings ("2 heaping scoops") in this bag, which is a lot more than the itty bitty tiny bag I had bought a few years ago for close to $25... if I'm thinking this is the same product. I don't remember it being flavored). If I like it enough as a big bag, I'd probably purchase it routinely.

Because I don't really like chocolate flavoring, the good note for this product is the fact there is a vanilla version. 

Sprouts is selling it for the same price as the chocolate, even though the price per ounce is higher. 

Looking closely, the vanilla is smaller than the chocolate. The bag is 18.27 ounces with the same 14 servings.  

Cost on the A to Z site is that they are supplying the vanilla from third party sellers. This means you're apt to get a little less in cost ($24.80) but who knows where it's coming from and how many they have in stock ("5 left" at the time of this writing).

In all honesty, it's really a matter of literal taste when it comes to what you want to spend. Which is also why this shows you've got to pay attention to what you're buying and what the amount per product really is. Side by side, you can't see much of a difference when they're next to each other. 

Unfortunately, I don't have a side by side of the bags together and the pictures I took aren't even of a line to stitch the two to one photo. 

I like Sprouts for their fresh fruit and vegetables, the quick sales and my mom is keeping an eye on the big fillets of salmon ("it's cheaper than Costco and just as large of pieces) for the times she knows we may have company. The salmon is big enough that it can easily feed 4 people and that's how many people usually are at our table when we have company. Another win for the books, if you ask me. 

So yeah... all my crazy rambling... if you kept up with it... is just another excuse to watch what you're getting and seeing if you can find it somewhere else. Coupons or not, sale or not, you have to know what things cost and if it's easy on your wallet (think of the gas / wear and tear on your car to drive around finding this stuff. Or, if you live on a decent public transportation line, think of how you're going to get groceries home from the bus or train).

At the end of the day, it all goes to the same place: money out of my pocket and food in my belly (or clothes / cleaners on my body). Will I stop shopping at all these places? No. Will I continue to see if I can find an item for less money somewhere else? Yes, especially since the coupons site I was using (I had the app to boot) shut down, I'd like to be able to continue to save a little. You never know what's around the corner...

Cheers; 

Last night's fireworks set off this morning's low hanging clouds

 Happy 2023.

January 1, 2023. 

Need to keep writing "2023" so the next time I write a check, I don't write "2022" on it. 

Ever notice it takes a couple weeks to stop writing the previous year's date on checks?

Who still writes checks??? 

Me. 

Anyway, I didn't make it past 9pm last night, but at one point, random fireworks woke me up. I didn't go see where the boom was coming from. I just went back to sleep. 

I haven't checked in with all my friends yet, but I'm sure the ones who treated themselves to expensive drinks, probably didn't make it til midnight either (yes, Foamy, I'm talking about you. LOL). But I am sure everyone did fine. Even the ones with sparkling cider in their mugs. 

So this morning, we wake up, and the sky has fallen. 

What a way to start the new year?

I didn't do any major editing on some of the photos because the "auto" created a bit of crazy on the zoomed in pictures. It was interesting, but not worth posting. Maybe next time, though. 

All the photos were taken on an iPhone 11 and edited on an HP Pavilion G6. 

Oh, I found out something interesting the other day - speaking of the fruit family. 

My Apple Watch Series 3 can no longer be updated to the newest iOS. It's going to be permanently on 8.7.1 as Apple stopped supporting the watch. 

Wait... what??

Apple officially stopped supporting the Series 3 watch back in October (2022). So the last update it got was 8.7.1 and will not go further. Upon research, everything points to Apple going forth to launch all the newest models, so the one I own (which I bought November 2019, so it's not that old fer Chrissake) basically is literally on borrowed time until I decide to get the newest and greatest. 

Which is a waste because it still works. It still does its thing. It just can't update anymore. Yet, my 11 keeps getting new updates. I bought that at the same time I bought the watch. 

Which now that I talk about it, it'll stop being supported to. I bet anything. 

No wonder why Amazon is listing the 3 as either "unavailable" (no price) or some third party seller has it for over $150. The Series 4 and 5 are being listed as "renewed" which means they're refurbished and on the way out too, considering the brand is up to 8 right now. 

How sad; a product not even 5 years old and already "obsolete" in tech times. No wonder why people go broke over technology. The depreciation value of your device far exceeds being able to use it for the six months it's working. Wait a year and there will be two more products on the line that push yours further down the "do not use" rabbit hole. 

Sorry, but I don't have money readily available to update my phone or watch at a sneeze. If I am still using an old HP laptop, there's no way I am getting a spanking new phone every year. I've updated my Canon Camera, sure, but that's because you can't buy 35mm film anymore and no one processes it. So I get as new of a model as I can afford that will gain me the right experiences to continue to take photos. 

Of which I still don't like using my phone, but this morning I didn't feel like setting everything up.

And if you couldn't tell, the palm trees are starting to grow back from the hurricane. 

The area is still having challenges and still picking up. It'll take well into the next decade to complete things. Definitely a scary thought and makes me want to get out of this place even more. Maybe the new year will bring a new job and something good? 

Until we can figure it out...

Cheers

#chillinlikeavillian #inthenewyear

 Way to start something fresh - pounding the blog title with a hashtag like I'm creating a viral trend. 😆

Housekeeping notes on the second day of the new year. 

• Product I forgot to talk about last week.
• Book I'm currently reading
• New pictures

One of the women I work with, is into tech (I think, as she has asked me how old the presentation laptop is and if it can run video conferencing software, quickly. Otherwise she will stick to her personal [new] laptop). 

She was given a Bluetooth speaker for Christmas from her manager, last week. It's called "YAyusi/Yayunshi BT800 Bluetooth speaker" and has a little light ring that strobes when you want it to, has a sub woofer that kicks out amazing lows, and is the shape of an over exaggerated egg that was cut in the middle so you have the top half seemingly hovering above the lights. 

Looks like this:

And it's not available on Amazon. Trust me, I looked. If it is, it's buried deep, as I didn't go past the second page, figuring if it doesn't show up on the first two, it's not there. I did search for it on Google and came up with one site. 

ONE. 

The site comes from China and is listed as "[a]  global cross-border E-commerce" and "is an international wholesaler and recommender as well as a Chinese purchasing agent. We assist our customers to purchase products directly from the manufacturer or supplier". The postal address is in Chongqing, China, so you know there's no other supplier in the continental United States. 

How the woman's manager stumbled on this site and purchased the speaker, I don't know. But the $21.45 price tag for this item seems highly reasonable, given what it does. I should have taken a video of it, but I didn't want the woman to have to go through that, especially since I'd have to explain my motives. 

Which is fine, but it's still weird to have to try to tell people I like to blog about random stuff. I'd rather just give the link and say "wanna know something cool?". 

I don't know.. I'm weird like that. 

When I've passed the woman's office, she seems to be enjoying it, as I've heard it on in a corner of the room. It's bassy enough that I can hear what she's listening to, even though it's not so loud (some low level things I can hear a little better, others not, given my ear problems). So I think she likes it. *Shrugs*

There's a book I'm currently reading, that I picked up somewhere in my travels. 

It's called Black Light and it's written by the team that brought everyone the Saw franchise.

 

The synopsis is as follows

"If you have a supernatural problem that won't go away, you need Buck Carlsbad: private eye, exorcist, and last resort.

Buck's got a way with spirits that no one else can match. He was normal, once. Until Something Horrible killed his parents and left him for dead.

Buck has spent years using his gift to trace his family. It's his only hope of finding out what happened to them-and what made him the way he is.

Now the voices say that something big is coming. Buck already knows what it is-a super high-tech bullet train running express across a stretch of unforgiving desert known for the most deadly paranormal events in history. A place where Buck almost died a few years ago, and where he swore he would never return.

But as the train prepares to rumble down the tracks, Buck knows it can only be the inevitable hand of fate pulling him back to the most harrowing unfinished case of his career at four hundred miles per hour."

I'm only on page 70, but so far I think it works. It's a little spotty in a page or two, based on descriptions, but I can definitely see myself finishing this book sometime soon. With all the spiritual / thriller / weird things I read, this is a book that I thought would be somewhere in my wheelhouse. As it turns out, coincidentally enough, I'm listening to a podcast series called "Into The Fray" while working. The episode I'm on now, a woman is being interviewed and is talking about spirits and mediums and how there are people who see things and want to help others. There are also people who try to force an ideology on others that aren't exactly true. Without spoiling both the episode and the book, I think there is a slight connection between the two, purely based on what the interviewee is explaining with contacting those who are "on the other side" and how the character of the book deals with his line of employment. 

Random pictures to add from the last couple days. As per usual, unless otherwise stated, the images have been taken on my fruit phone.

This tree was taken while on a walk around my complex. Someone obviously decided to spice up their spruce game:

Winter mornings equal cooler sunrises:

As yesterday was a slow day at work (yes, I worked). I figured I'd do something adventurous. I watched a 2 ½ hour movie while rearranging furniture. 

Hey, might as well take advantage of the time while I can, right? I mean, I was working... I ended up having to fix the chairs several times to maintain proper social distance (6 feet all around), proper viewing ration (the last few chairs on the ends don't get to see the full screen) and see how the sound comes out (not so great). 

The latter is always faulty. 

For some reason, the DVD player's output audio is super low, so you have to go to the main room audio and turn it to 11+ in order to feel like you're in a theater watching a movie (for not so comfortable seats). You shouldn't have to turn the room levels super chunking high in order to hear conversations. Moreover, the Listen Technologies two transmitters can not be turned on and in use at the same time. Creates way too much feedback and noise disruption in one receiver. I tried that too. Off I went, movie on pause, to turn one of the transmitters totally off, in order to listen to the movie without issue, since the ceiling speakers weren't coming out as loud as I wanted for the volume to be on 7 or 8. I didn't want anyone passing by the room to end up hearing things they shouldn't hear. I'm respectable like that. 

I just wish I know why the third party contractor we have for audio video work, keeps messing with the different inputs and won't adjust everything as we ask them to. I've had multiple conversations with them and citing various examples, they don't really like to configure the rooms the way they are asked to. It's maddening, but it's also not my job or responsibility to get so involved with it as I am. If I could do the AV work myself, I would, but I don't have access to the devices / programs / etc that I need, in order to make everything work as well as it should. 

Story of my life. If only I could get an actual job in the AV world, I'm sure I'd be better off too. I've got plenty of various experience at this point in my life... I know I can learn more as well. I'm open to it. Just got to get there.

Maybe this year will be different and will turn everything around for the better. 

Here's hoping we all have a prosperous new year.

Take care of yourselves.

Cheers;