FEB 26

2025

Wednesday: drove up to PetSmart on Washington to get a new litter scoop and some fresh corrugated scratching platforms for the cats. Acme was next, where I erred on the side of ordering too many groceries. I got our order of Taco Bell for a late lunch. Dinner was that fish stew I made once before, plus a four-pack of cook-and-eat lobster biscuits. They were not quite on the level of the Cheddar Bay biscuits from Red Lobster, but they weren't bad. Once I'd eaten, I finally logged into the "Undermined!" update in World of Warcraft, and I got a big chunk of the storyline and optional quests out of the way. Enthusiasm for this update is high; people are impressed by all the little touches, like the fact that the zone background music updates based on which of the cartels you've aligned with for that week. Unsurprisingly, I stayed up way too late because of this, but I can at least confirm that my technique of giving John his Delectables chicken/tapioca sauce in a little bowl with his new kidney-health food is a successful approach for getting him to continue eating the latter. I need to actually look up kidney health treats or hydration packs, though, because the liver-flavored packets we ordered before do not get anybody's approval.

2024

Monday: the horrors of the world proliferate, so it feels silly to keep making a big deal about how my day has gone like this. I guess I should confirm I've contacted my senators and reps a few times lately about stuff like the need for a Gaza ceasefire and the ways in which we're failing to protect trans people. I don't post about that stuff on here because I don't think my mayor reads my blog, so this is not a useful tool for communicating the ways in which we should strive to improve the world.

Work went well today, and I continued progressing on my my newest research project. I got confirmation in the afternoon that my application for an employee cruise was approved, so my fear that we wouldn't be able to purchase flights until the week of departure can no longer come true. I had to use the benefit before the end of next month, or I'd lose it. Neither the ship nor the itinerary (WN 03/17/24) were our first choices, but at this point we'll take what we can get. We spent the hour after my shift researching a lot of information I'd gathered about next steps and opportunities onboard.

At 7, we met up with Nolan at the local bar, where I had a random cider and watched thirty minutes from the middle of Erin Brockovitch. Once we'd finished our drinks, we met up with Justin for Monday night Quizzo, and while Nolan and I spent a fair bit of time chatting about my interest in interactive fiction and his new Muay Thai weekly routine, eventually his girlfriend showed up, and we were able to be seated at a table soon after. The trivia tonight was rougher than anybody expected, though. All of our rounds were in the 7 to 9 points range.

Once we got back home, we discovered John had somehow gotten closed into the bedroom, which is Mim's territory, so he'd wrecked the place trying to dig his way out through the carpet. I've gotta log into FFXIV real quick, but then I'll go to bed.

2023

Sunday: we went to the store, but our usual pizza crusts weren't available. Wound up getting "thin and crispy" instead. After a jaunt to the gym, I started dinner, and Julie's volume of toppings wound up creating a sort of pizza mountain, while my own pie was only a little more reasonable. We played Civ while we ate, but the game went poorly and we didn't stick with it for long.