Here We Go Again

We're only 14 days into 2026 and it's already looking like a repeat of 2025. More chaos! More anger! More idiocy! It's hard to keep your sanity when there's so much insanity around you. Now we've got the gestapo not only dragging people off the streets and teargassing them, but also busting into their homes and killing them on the street. It's a sad day in America when this kind of behavior is being encouraged and applauded by government officials. I've been an American since I was born more than 50 years ago and I never felt like I would have to prove (or try to prove) my citizenship, but I do now! And what's the use of having a Real ID if you show it to ICE and they won't accept it? So it's good enough for me to use to fly domestically, but it's not good enough to prove who I am? Make it make sense! Do I have to start carrying my passport with me too when I go out? The gestapo probably would think that's a fake too! This country is really going down the shitter and it's sad to see. I keep telling myself it won't be like this forever and we'll turn a corner (eventually), but will the wrongs of this administration ever completely be made right? I doubt it.  

People need to keep speaking out, filming atrocities, and reporting on the evil that this administration is doing, but people also need to try and stay safe. You can't help anyone if you're dead! I watched a documentary on the life of Alexei Navalny a while ago that was very good, but I disagreed with his decision to return to Russia after living in exile for many years. He was immediately thrown in prison when he returned and died there. He had his reasons for returning to his homeland, but I wondered if he could have done more good to speak out against the atrocities of his home country if he had remained outside of it. He knew going back was basically a death sentence. I don't want to see anyone lose a life protesting Donny T and his band of idiots no matter how awful they are. And the days of thinking that these ICE thugs won't do anything to you because you're white, old, a woman, whatever, are over. These dudes don't care! People need to wake up and start making self-preservation a priority. Live to fight another day!

New Year's Greetings

Well, 2025 has ended and I'm just glad we made it through. I wish I could say I'm optimistic that 2026 will be better, but I don't feel confident that it will. At this point, I'm just trying to get through each day without having a mental breakdown. It would be nice to see some positive changes happen in 2026. One thing I intend to do this year is get my diet back on track. I fell off the wagon over the past two holiday weeks, but I'll get it together starting next week. I have to see my cardiologist next month and I don't want to go in having gained more weight than my last visit in 2025. I'm not making any resolutions this year, but I'm just going to work to make personal changes like keeping a consistent exercise schedule and reading more books. I also need to get back to writing because that's been sorely neglected by me for some time and I feel bad about it, but I also feel that we all need to give ourselves a break. If you fail or fall behind with something, that's okay. Just pick yourself up and try to move forward. People have enough stress from work, others, the world at large, etc. that no one needs to add to that by piling the stress of failed expectations on top of everything else. 

As I often tell myself (and others), you can't be all things to all people (and you shouldn't try to)!

Pre-Christmas Greetings and CPAP Dreams

I am so ready for Christmas this year mainly because I'm looking forward to having some time off from my day job. I don't know how I screwed things up, but I only left myself with 2 vacation days so I'm working more than I normally would over the holidays. I don't normally travel during the Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays because it's a hassle, but I do normally leave myself about 4-5 vacation days to use around the holidays. Not this year! I burned through just about all of them. I won't make that mistake again.

I was recently diagnosed with having sleep apnea, so my doctor recommended I get a CPAP machine. I figured I would hate it because the thought of having some contraption strapped across my face like the monster from Alien while I slept freaked me out. However, since I've been using the CPAP for a few weeks now, I've found it to be pretty soothing. I did have to change face masks because the original one I was given (shown below) kept leaking and leaving marks on my face, so I switched to one that covers your nose and mouth and it's a lot better. My only complaint is that I can't really wear the new mask with my glasses, so I only put it on when it's time for lights out. No more watching TV with it on before I go to bed (like I did with the old mask). I knew I snored so I wasn't surprised to find out I had sleep apnea. But the CPAP has really helped the problem. When I was initially tested, I was having around 24 epsiodes a night. Now I'm down to single digits (around 1-6). It's great and I'm glad my insurance helped to pay for the machine. I still have to pay out of pocket for part of it (and the accessories), but I appreciate the insurance help. With so many people struggling these days to have health insurance (or going without it at all), I'm always grateful that I do have it through my employer. Too bad we have idiots in the government who don't understand (or don't care) that high insurance costs can significantly impact a person's income. 

Why Didn't This Happen?

I was reading a thread on Datalounge earlier about why the metric system was never adopted in the United States. I remember being in grade school in the 1970s and being told that we would convert to the metric system soon. Alas, it never happened. Why not? For a variety of reasons: it's too "foreign" for Americans, we're too lazy to learn an entirely different measurement system, it's unnecessary at this point. I read somewhere that the US and one other country (that I can't remember) are the only ones who still don't use the metric system. Wow. Actually, metric measurements are used on labeling in the US for items like soda pop and included (usually in parentheses) on other goods like lotion bottles, milk containers, etc. 

Aside from the metrics push in the 1970s, I recall a push to make Europe and Asia into one continent: Eurasia. What happened to that? Nothing, apparently. I can't even imagine now European and Asian countries agreeing to align as one continent but, back in the 70s, this was a thing. It was a different time...

Post-Thanksgiving Greetings

I can't believe the Thanksgiving weekend is almost over. One more day and then back to the grind. It has been nice having a few days off from my day job. I few weeks ago, I had a dental procedure to pull a cracked tooth, so I've been eating my meals on one side of my mouth and, unfortunately, have to continue doing this until I get a bridge put in. The first week following the procedure was painful. My gums were killing me. Thankfully, the pain subsided and I was feeling much better about a week later. This is what happens when you get old and your body starts falling apart. 

I hope everyone had/is having a good holiday weekend. We could all use a nice break from the noise these days and a few days of rest and relaxation (if possible). 

Since today has been filled with falling snow here in the Chicago area, I've stayed indoors. I went out yesterday for provisions so I didn't have to bother leaving home in the bad weather. It's a good weekend to stay in and read, write, and watch TV (all of which I've been doing). 

As we inch towards the end of 2025, I can't say I'll be missing it, but I'm also not exactly looking forward to 2026. Will it be more of the same? Another year of chaos, anxiousness, and dread? God, I hope not, but I fear it will be. 

The Fall of the Slop Bowl

My sister sends me a lot of articles to read (because she's a former librarian) and lately she's sent me a number of articles about the rise and fall of the slop bowl. What's a slop bowl, you might ask? Bowls of food all slopped together and sold at various fast/casual restaurants. For example, a bowl at Chipotle or a bowl at Sweetgreen.

I was a huge fan of the slop bowl at Chipotle for a long time. I would get a chicken bowl and a lemonade weekly when I worked in New York. There was a Chipotle in the lobby of the building I worked in and the lunch lines would be long. I knew down to the penny what my order would cost (because I got the same thing every time). I loved my slop bowl! Then I fell out of love with it when Chipotle had problems with people getting sick from their food and cleanliness and food prep issues arose. But I went back to Chiptole after these turbulent times and back to the slop bowl. However, the return visit wasn't the same. Even when I moved to Chicago and went out for lunch (during the BC, before Covid times), I didn't visit Chipotle as much as I did during my NY years. The food just didn't hit me the same way. 

As I moved on from Chipotle, I fully embraced a new slop bowl: Sweetgreen. A Sweetgreen location opened in the city where I live and I was a frequent visitor to get myself a hearty harvest bowl. But soon, the longing wore off for that too. Maybe if I wasn't working from home now, I'd be more inclined to venture out for lunch, but why bother when I have food in the fridge that I paid a lot of money for. I can make my own slop bowl, if I want. Why go out and pay nearly $20 for one? As someone on Reddit said when commenting on a story about the fall of the slop bowl, "We got slop at the house!"

Apparently, the desire for slop bowls has fallen greatly. The Gen Z kids don't want them or can't afford them. Traffic is down at places like Chipotle and Sweetgreen. Some of this surely can be blamed on people not going into offices and going out for lunch. Some folks, like myself, never returned to the office after Covid or only returned on a hybrid basis and that huge group of lunch time eaters caused a huge decline in the earnings for many restaurants. 

Maybe, also, the slop bowl just isn't as appealing as it used to be. Calling something you eat a "slop bowl" is a huge turnoff too, but is it wrong? Sadly, it isn't!

Dirty ICE

Yesterday, around noon (Central time), I heard a lot of commotion as I was about to take my lunch break from my day job. The commotion was a lot of car horns and whistles. By the time I got myself together and headed outside to see what was going on, the commotion was over, but I later found out it was caused by ICE agents in my hometown right on the same block where I live! My city is turning into a police state. What is going on in my country? People are being pulled off the street by ICE goons, shoved into unmarked SUVs, and taken to unknown locations with no due process. This is insane. 

While I was on vacation a week ago, I had a conversation with a woman at the time share office (an office that has Fox News running 24/7). The woman knew I lived in Illinois and asked me why our governor didn't want to accept Donny T's offer of military "help" with crime in Chicago. I tried to tell this woman that people (American citizens and non-citizens alike) are being pulled off the streets in Chicago and ignored when they try to prove they're citizens and locked up. That's not the kind of "help" that's needed here. The woman told me she didn't believe that was happening and why would she when she exists on a daily diet of Fox News? People like this lady truly live in a bubble and they're not interested in finding out what's really going on in the world. They prefer to have their "news" spoon-fed to them courtesy of Fox. It's sad, but true.

Despite all of this, I refuse to be afraid to live my life. It's hard, but I can't let this crazed administration cower me into submission.