Ha!

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Stupid machines. This is really getting old. Whatever else did happen, both of my hard drives were dysfunctional after that was repaired. I believe the power source died. Thankfully nothing else seemed to be problematic. And, while it was in the shop, I had the guy tinker with the sound card. As I suspected, it was simply dead. Why other boards would not work though, I am not sure. He had an old one he put in and I have sound... if I can find my head phones which... drifted further and further from the machine in various clean ups and sortings.

After I got the machine home, I could not find my sign-in data. The sign-in name and password were simply not available! It is strange, you would think these things would be memorized by now. Then again, I have been changing them a bit more and recently, to try and keep ahead of the hackers, or at least the weak ones. In any case, I was able to find my blog spot and at least visit a few of my favorites while trying to think through the problem. Oh, to add insult to injury my sign-in name is an email address... an email address that is no longer functional. Argh!!!

I would like to fix the sign-in name, but I will not use the new email address which came with my new service because it is too personal. Therefore I need to create a new email address. The problem is I have not had a stable way to check the new address formats, I have not found their online email checking site (all this crap is way too complicated for casual users anymore (and yet somehow still child's play to hackers of all stripes)). So, until I figure out how to even check the new addresses, let alone even setting another one up, I am stuck using a dead email address since Google will not allow a Google email address to be used for their own blogging email address. Which... tells you how much Google trusts itself... innit?

Little has been happening here on other fronts. I have been getting up early, save for the last few days. I am going to try and stumble back and keep waking at 6:00, but we all know that may not be possible. I realize now, more than ever on this particular point, that my rolling sleep cycle is not something I can do a lot about. I can go to bed at the perfect time, I can control caffeine intake, I can eat well, or not on some or all of those and... it does not matter. Last night I was to bed by 10:00 but woke at 0:00 or 2:00 and could not get back to sleep for several hours.

On the good side, I have been eating well and rightly. I finally cleaned the kitchen and did a few other tasks I had fallen behind on. The kitty litter was a mess (first time I have let it fall), having sat for 4 or 5 days. Yikes. I think I am going to go back to 2 kitty litter boxes. It seems like more work, but ends up being less and uses less kitty litter by a lot, somehow. They choose the one with less odor, I think, meaning that urine smells do not build up so much in a single box. This also gives them much more room to poo without having to dig so deeply before I can get to the boxes. Yes, 2 boxes gives me two to three days where I can be inattentive and yet keep the odors almost completely at bay while still using far less kitty litter. Odd how a seemingly much more complicated system ends up being cheaper, easier, and better all the way around.

I do think I am going to start pulling out small wads of cash each month for my rainy day fund. A hundred or three each month. A hundred to start the month and whatever remains of the old on payday. I receive no real interest on what is in the bank in any case. The problem with stored money is, as always, security. This home is not secure and with only one person around, when I am gone the place is easy. A bolt-down gunsafe would be my best overall solution, but that takes... well, money! Nothing is ever quite as easy as it should be. I really regret not having set up a nestegg. Then again, I was never supposed to live this long. Heck, my doctors are not sure WHY I am still alive even now. Go figure on the planning aspect?

Sam and Sassy are doing well. I think a tom is "bothering" Sam though. She wants to go outside but is afraid to go outside. I wish I had more going on so that I could go out with her. I would also like to create an escape place for her and Sassy which would not allow other animals in. I do not want a cat door into the house for a thousand and one reasons, with or without electronic entrance tagging. It is something I am considering... a problem... a solution or three... I could easily kill the tom(s), but I would no more do that than I would like someone else to kill my fury friends. No, some other solution is necessary.

Another thing is the bats. I think I suggested that I have bats. Either I have very many bats or they simply travel in the house quite a bit. It can be unnerving and it causes Sassy to claw the walls. Beyond, the risk of rabies is enough that I do not want them here. It is a bit late in the year to attempt to kick them out, in my opinion, so that they might find a roost before death, so I will not be doing anything that way until spring at the earliest. That too is on my mind.

And pumpkin carving is on the menu. I have not checked the pumpkins, but I think they will be fine. I have not opened them up yet. They have simply been at rest in the kitchen. Tonight or tomorrow I will begin carving. I need candles for them too. Since I have to pick up some milk tomorrow or even later tonight, that should not be a problem. It is a silly thing for a silly holiday. Being my first year here, in my first home, it seems... proper to do. I best get to that though. Time is quickly running out. I am almost guessing Saturday is when the event will be held? Bah! Booh? Bah!

Well, later.