Octopus Overlords

I just got a new CPAP about a year ago and it was around $26 a month for a year to rent-to-own.

I only replace tubes and masks when they get too stretched to fit anymore, once a year or so.

I probably need a new CPAP machine myself, my existing one is way too bulky for travel, but right now I'm between jobs and insurance.

I tried the Amazon Snack Sampler Box. It's a little underwhelming. $10, you get like 8-9 different snack items, and $10 credit toward the products.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BZVA8OU

The "Hippeas" blabs about its cheese puffs being gluten free and vegan. Huh? Turns out it's made of chickpea flour. And let's just say, while it's crunchy, there are ONLY THREE puffs in the whole bag. And flavor's barely comparable for the real thing. For this, they dare charge $1. Phooey.

I tried the RX bar. Who came up with this? it's like hard gelatin (Jello w/o enough water) mixed with nuts. Gah.

Will update as I try the rest of the pack.

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Wed Jun 20, 2018 4:23 pm The "Hippeas" blabs about its cheese puffs being gluten free and vegan. Huh? Turns out it's made of chickpea flour.

What's the issue? Chickpea flour is gluten free and vegan.

I miss the days when everything was made with soylent green. It had flavor and something I cant put my finger on.

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Wed Jun 20, 2018 4:23 pm I tried the Amazon Snack Sampler Box. It's a little underwhelming. $10, you get like 8-9 different snack items, and $10 credit toward the products.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BZVA8OU

The "Hippeas" blabs about its cheese puffs being gluten free and vegan. Huh? Turns out it's made of chickpea flour. And let's just say, while it's crunchy, there are ONLY THREE puffs in the whole bag. And flavor's barely comparable for the real thing. For this, they dare charge $1. Phooey.

I tried the RX bar. Who came up with this? it's like hard gelatin (Jello w/o enough water) mixed with nuts. Gah.

Will update as I try the rest of the pack.

1) Wait--it costs you $10 and gives you $10 credit? I'm thinking you knew what you were in for.

2) "Snack foods" of all kinds either taste bad, or are bad for you, or both.

Supposedly each of these bags are PREMIUM items and worth $2-4 each. Hmmm...

Next up: Sahale Snacks "tangerine Vanilla Cashew-Macadamia Glazed Mix"

Not bad, mix of nut crunch (and a hint of sweetness) with some dried fruit, though reminds me more of raisins than tangerines. May buy again.

Next up: Doritos Crunch Mix in that cardboard "hard" pack.

That's actually a pretty good package, harder to crush, I got the nacho cheese version, MSRP of $1.99, and it's tasty, not too salty, and due to the hard box, there are almost no flakes and crushed bits at the bottom. I may buy a box, but AFAICT these are sold only in 8-packs.

Next up: Powerbar "plant protein" dark chocolate peanut butter bar.

Sweeter than I anticipated. I guess I was more used to Nature Valley protein chewy bar. which is 1/3 the price ($2 each vs. 0.70). Probably will NOT be buying this one. It's not that much better for 3 times the price. I have the Nature Valley one on subscribe and save... 30 bars every month.

The Barnanas are awesome! That's what I spent my $10 credit on...

This may be an "Only in Japan" thing:

Japan’s commitment to addressing its dismal record on work-life balance has been called into question after a civil servant was punished for “habitually” slipping away from his desk a few minutes early to buy a bento lunch.

The 64-year-old, an employee of the waterworks bureau in the western city of Kobe, was fined and reprimanded after he was found to have left his desk just three minutes before the start of his designated lunch break on 26 occasions over a seven-month period.

Senior officials at the bureau then called a televised news conference, where they described the man’s conduct as “deeply regrettable” and bowed in apology.

Snapple Straight Up Tea, I love you.

WFAA

Northbound and southbound Central Expressway at I-635 remains closed after a tanker carrying a volatile liquid crashed early Thursday morning in Dallas.

Eastbound and westbound I-635 has reopened but could once again close as Hazmat crews work to cleanup the scene.
...
Dallas Fire-Rescue was called to the scene at about 4:20 a.m., according to Jason Evans, a spokesman with the fire department. Evans said the truck was carrying "a resin commonly used in the production of plastics."


...
"Unfortunately, the tank was in a position that could compromise its integrity if moved, so TxDOT had a company come out to off-load the resin prior to any efforts being made to upright and tow the truck away," the Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman said.

No one was reported injured in the crash "but a small amount of resin did leak onto the ground below," Evans said. The resin is flammable, which led to the closures as Hazmat cleaned the scene.

Our car insurance screwed us again. We have had the same place for about 40 years but the original agent retired a few years back and a new couple took over. We have it set to pay $35 a month and I used to pay online. But I can't get that to work now so we have to call it in. Well the agents wife works there and answers the phone sometimes. Another lady works there also and she is great at her job. The wife not so much. She messed it up once before when my wife called a payment in and my wife doesn't like dealing with her because of it.

So the wife calls to make a payment and it's her again. D asked to speak to someone else to make a payment but the agents wife refused saying she can do it. Well she fucked it up again. You know we live month to month....well there was enough to cover that $35 payment but that woman charged a double payment. Didn't realize it until today when I tried to order those screws for my lawnmower and was payment declined. So stuff is closed and we have to go straight this out tomorrow and face an over draw free on top of it all. Going the wife to make the insurance place pay it. Damnit. So gotta fix it before I can order screws. Steam sale is out of the question .

Fun life. Tempted to sell all we own and move somewhere even crappier.

EDIT fuc k you you fuckin g dam n tablet replaces wife with site and all kinds of other stupid fuckin g spell check bullying dam n tablet

Z-Corn wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:07 am The Barnanas are awesome! That's what I spent my $10 credit on...

You're right, they are pretty good. Just enough sweetness to be a snack, but not overcloyingly sweet like candy. it actually tastes like banana too. The flakes of coconut are almost un-taste able. You can see them, but they're so embedded in he chew you can't really taste them.

The texture is reminiscent of the rxbar I mentioned earlier. Maybe RX bar ought to cut them up and market them as chews instead. Hahaha.

Crap. I just bought a game a couple of hours ago and now I can't remember the name of it.
I have got to stop buying games.

You purchased Rolling Line. Never heard of it.

Build your own tracks and scenery or explore a huge pre-made model railway set in New Zealand in virtual reality and on PC! Build, organize and drive trains in human scale, or explore the world on foot in miniature!

I went and looked up my deleted receipt before coming back.

Okay, finished all the snacks except the RX bar kids.

The Pepperidge Farms Milano 3-pack... well, it's only 3 cookies. Dang. Somehow I want to eat a whole bagful. But it'd be too many calories. (3 cookies is already 180 calories).

Next to last item is a large bag of Doritos "Blaze" chips. They are a bit hotter than usual, but my scalp never burned. Tongue did tingle a bit. But this is in a regular foil bag and there were a lot of flakes at the bottom. Meh.

Saving the Rxbar kids for breakfast.

I think there needs to be a separate Kasey Chang snack thread.

So, um, according to this Rolling Stone profile, maybe Johnny Depp is not doing so well after all.

It's long, and a bit dramatic in that Rolling Stone way, but you kind of can't look away. A lot of it focuses on legal and financial troubles, but there's a very strong sense of a talented guy who got blindsided by his own appeal and is now dedicated to a kind of self-destruction.

Friday! Handmaiden to Saturday!

My niece was recently interviewed on NPR about her time in the Air National Guard and her career as a tattoo artist.

Article and Interview

It's been really nice to see her find her niche as an artist, and find a way to create art that she can actually support herself with.

I really like redheads.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:47 pm Fun life. Tempted to sell all we own and move somewhere even crappier.

Quenca, Ecuador
I think a couple can get health insurance for $80 a month with pretty decent facilities.
You probably won't even need a car, or an air conditioner, or a heater, or a lawnmower.

Why do bridges not have shoulders?
If there is one place on the road where having somewhere to pull over is helpful, it's on a bridge.
If a car breaks down in 1 lane of a 2 lane bridge, traffic behind it is screwed.
Who designs these things?

Bean counters.

I'm almost certain it's cost related. But that's based on pure speculation.

Yeah. bridge square footage is wildly more expensive than non-bridge square footage.

I'm going to start every call to a vendor with my name and the line, "You've probably heard of me. I'm a pretty big deal.".

hepcat wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:42 am I'm going to start every call to a vendor with my name and the line, "You've probably heard of me. I'm a pretty big deal.".

Anchorman quotes are a bit too mainstream for your tastes, no?

Bakhtosh wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:16 pm I really like redheads.

I think that used to be me... I also think that this fact eventually taught me what my teachers said on every report card since the beginning: "Does not play well with others" which probably has something to do with my own barba rosa.

hepcat wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:42 am I'm going to start every call to a vendor with my name and the line, "You've probably heard of me. I'm a pretty big deal.".

You know that slider only affects your avatar, right?

Big T? Is that you???

My exish is in the woods being stalked by a mountain lion. I'm sitting here texting and walking her through what to do.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 2:18 pm My exish is in the woods being stalked by a mountain lion. I'm sitting here texting and walking her through what to do.

I didn't know mountain lions knew how to text, let alone how to follow written instructions.

She ended up having to wound it, but she's safe.

"Wounding it" would not never have crossed my mind. You Indiana-ians are tough!

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 2:43 pm She ended up having to wound it, but she's safe.

Did she have a gun on her or do you mean she hit it with a stick or a rock or something?!

Gun. Not what you'd want if you were going after large predators, though. She knows enough not to try and track a wounded predator, so we're assuming 'wounded.'

Just found out our street has apparently been hit by mail thieves the last couple days, and we're one of the ones that got hit. While the chances of them getting anything actionable is minimal (a bill or two, maybe), I still will likely have to go through the hassle of putting on a credit freeze. Assholes.

Guess it's time to invest in a locking mailbox.

Wow, it's really nice sitting in the British Airways lounge thanks to my wife's silver membership instead of in the airport Starbucks like the other suckers!

Sunny England here we come!