Notes
Consumerism and House Buying Experience ποΈ
“Mr. Green, He’s So Serene, He’s Got a TV in Every Room” – Pleasant Valley Sunday, the Monkees!
Being in my forties now and researching buying houses and land, I am struck by how many consumer ads I am flooded with. I get that I am in my prime purchasing years in my life, and once I own a home, I will need to make repairs and get at least some furnishings and appliances, but the endless advertisements for dinning room sets, roof replacements, insulation and building systems, solar panels and especially those gutter leaf guards. As apparently leaf-filled gutters are the biggest menace ever to the suburban house-owner. I get it — leafs plug gutters, they rot, make gutters heavy and overflow, rotting the boards near them, then eventually the gutters fall from the building if not cleaned. Just like vinyl siding is convenient, even if it’s often poorly applied and accelerates underlying rot, as is case in one house I looked at earlier in the summer.
Maybe I am particularly annoyed by the web and podcast advertising as I don’t own a television so I’m not bombarded with television messages all day long, and I’ve cut back dramatically on listening to NPR as it’s mostly stories about how wonderful Kamela Harris is and how Donald Trump is a dark cloud of nation. And maybe it’s a good change over what was the advertising I got a few years back, which all way praising the benefits of Better Help and Mental Health Therapy, then weight loss and meal plans, then financial advisors. I get targeted advertising is just trying to sell to interested customers.
But it makes the whole idea of owning a home all the more repulsive. Buying a new house — you’ll want to consider renting a dumpster for all that shit you’ll inevitably rip out and not want to bring into your new life and instead send to that growing mound of toxic filth on the outskirts of the city. Don’t forget the convenience of garbage service, as the advertiser remind you. You can toss it one bin for pretend recycling! Don’t even think of burning it, that’s illegal even out in the country. And you’ll want home internet, because nobody can live without high-speed internet in every room. Got to recycle the paint, that you inevitably won’t use up, because they’re is lots of state money now for paint take-back programs. And so forth. Even thinking of buying a home, or expressing any kind of interest, fills you feed with so much repulsive advertising crap on all the things you will want to buy.
Including Nuts In Diet May Enhance Weight Loss
Rainy start to the Sunday morning π§οΈ
Probably would have not been the best weekend to spend out in the wilderness. That said, I’m thinking seriously about taking Friday off and heading north to Piseco-Powley for one last weekend of the summer, with the following weekend working remote on Friday from the Spectulator Library after setting up camp somewhere in the Mason Lake, Speculator Tree Farm or Old Route 8B area for the Labor Day Weekend.
It seems werid to think summer is coming to it’s logical conclusion so quickly. π Soon it will be camping season for long weekends at Rensselaerville State Forest π² as I can work remote from there, yet not be too far home especially with the shorter days. Seems sad that I’m losing out on this weekend, but yesterday was quiet, as I read, worked on some blog code (breaking some things), π» worked on some work stuff including improving my label generation and suppressions code for work, π€ and road out to Voorheesville and walked through the tick-infested fields π± of the Black Creek Marsh. πΈ
I was up around 5:30 AM as I am most days, π made up some ground oatmeal with blueberries and bananas π and had lots of coffee. β Off to Walmart before the crowds, then I may come home and read for a few hours π as many of my library e-books will automatically be returned this week after three weeks since July 31 comes and goes. Then it’s off to the parents house for Sunday dinner, probably the last time until Labor Day Weekend as I probably won’t come back particularly early from the Adirondacks next weekend. π Hopefully not hamburgers, because that seems like the only thing they cook any more, but maybe because it’s easy and they’re getting older. 
I’m increasingly horrified about what I see in their pantry, 
but then I grew up on that crap. And both of them have diabetes now. 
It will be the first meat I’ve eaten since I’ve been there last week. π₯© Hopefully not steak, as I have that dinner at 677 Prime next week. Got look all swanky for that. 
Taking the bus so I don’t have to worry about having a beer or two before heading home on ol’ 18. Sometimes you need a break from all that healthy shit.
Baked some bread for the first time since spring. π It’s been a long time since I’ve had bread. Came out a bit salty, I must have dropped too much salt on it. 
It seems like with the brining salt I use that often grab too much salt, and I know salt is unhealthy, but it’s not like I’m getting out of processed foods, as I don’t eat those. 
I’ve been looking for new things to eat, as I’m getting bored with having fried zucchini and onions six or seven nights a week, even if it’s relatively healthy and easy to cook. The egg plant was a change, 
but it’s still not all that unlike egg plant and summer squash. I was thinking soon it will be winter squash and pumpkin season, both which are excellent backed in the oven, the later with lots of cinnamon and ginger.
Yesterday was humid and smokey from the wildfire smoke. βοΈ Really nothing positive to say about the weather yesterday. The library was crowded and I worked outside until my laptop battery π was done after about an hour and a half. There was some things I’m trying to perfect with the blog’s revised style sheet, but I wanted to go a simpler style. I also think I will move away from SVGZ graphics, as I’m having trouble with the export with the latest version of R’s graphics device and SVGs that have been compressed, and most people prefer JPGs even if they are kind of silly in principle for vector-based on graphics. πΌ The space and bandwidth savings isn’t that much, and the thing is I’m now automatically cleaning up short-term photos, graphics and graphs with an expiration tag after about two weeks by defaults. πΎ