Countersigned by Pierre Andre! In *Ink*!

Not far from our credit union is another place of business bearing the name of "Apline Castle Lake Insurance." Every time I see it, I wonder how much they had to pay per adjective.

Probably got the same deal these folks on on nouns, touting their "Proton Lottery Raffle Draw."

I mean, I guess people fall for this crap. I imagine if I'd followed through I'd be taken down one of two popular scam primrose paths (if I can also pile on the modifiers):

Path 1: Be prompted to surrender bank information so the lottery raffle draw prize money can be deposited into my account without them touching even a single penny that's there,

OR

Path 2: Be promped to pay a trickle of custom duty funds release fees (I got all of *those* modifiers for free) in the hopes they'll eventually send me my funds, on the pinky promise that once I pay just one more fee, the money will be in my lap, thus:

I'm too cynical, first of all, to believe this is real. Also, I'm not stupid.

Dreng Has No PT Cruiser

Twice today a very excited yet hard to understand woman from Pennsylvania has called to inquire about the PT Cruiser I have for sale.

I don't have one to sell or give away.

I don't know what's worse: Knowing she's dialed the wrong number twice, knowing she'll probably call again, or that she's looking to buy a PT Cruiser.

Wingus and Dingus, Listen Up

I just wanted to see how much this fancy dog food cost ($2.16 a day, they say, which is pretty expensive) but I didn't want to use my real name. Or the real names of our dogs. So these names came to mind.

I anticipate a lot of email from these folks over the next few weeks.

Do our dogs care? Not really. They eat their kibble and enjoy it. They get the occasional cheese tax, and other things. They're not overweight -- one of them is downright skinny -- and they're healthy enough for both being senior dogs.

They're always game when ol' Zapp wants to tell them the plan.

Excited Much?

I have seen a grand total of two of his posts. I shared one of them. Man, are they excited about that.

Today, I Was An Electrician

Today's adventure: Lots of switches. And a few outlets.

Michelle is painting the entry and living room. For the entry at least that meant moving from almond-colored switches and such to white. Which is just as well, as a few of the switches were showing their age.

As you can see in the picture, the boxes were sunk into the wall as well. That meant yet another trip to Home Depot for box extenders, but I figured since I had the boxes apart, doing them right was the best thing.

I did get one shock -- working in a switch box I forgot was fed by two breakers.

And I displayed my typical lack of brain in another box -- also fed by two breakers -- when I got frustrated that one of the switches wasn't working until I noticed I hadn't turned the second breaker back on. And I still had the wiring screwed up, since I jiggered with the wiring before I noticed the breaker thing.

I also put in a new light fixture, replacing one that I noticed was broken when I took it down, so also a good thing. The new one:

Got a few shots of Michelle painting, this time in the stairwell:

Everything I know about sketchy scaffolding I learned from Dad and Albert, and applied it here copiously. Note I am not on the scaffold I built -- but it did work, and we'll reassemble things for the second coat tomorrow.

Not to be outdone, Isaac helped me with my breaker wiring diagram:

For those not paying attention, he got his addition from this:

Got to go about 11:02 for the joke. Then pull the plug.

And about 9:46 for the tractor beam joke.

What, *My* iCloud Account?

I've been getting a TON of emails like this one, warning me my iCloud storage is going to be shut down:

I appreciate that these folks, whoever they are, keep kicking that deadline down the road, because at this point I'm convinced my nonexistent iCloud account will never be shut down, no matter how many emails I ignore.

Aside from the "from" addresses being total gobbledygook (they're not even trying to spoof anymore) there are enough tells here for me to know instantly this is a fake. Aside from the fact I don't have an iCloud account I actually care about.

They must get enough hits to keep trying, though. Could wish I wasn't on full blast for their scams.

$126 in Overcharge . . .

Here, I present evidence of . . . something.

On Saturday, I was at the Home Depot buying some hardie board as I continue working on the basement bathroom. They no longer carry the kind of hardie board I'm used to using, but the stuff they had was similar in price and size to what I'd been using, so I got it.

At the checkout, the UPC scanner couldn't read the symbol printed on the board. The cashier looked it up in the system and said "Okay, $36, does that sound right?"

No, it did not sound right. The price on the shelf was $14 and some change. But the cashier insisted the price was right for the merchandise. Maybe the sign was wrong, I thought. So I paid.

But all that day and into Sunday it nagged at me. So I got onto their website and found, yeah, I'd been overcharged $22 a sheet. What they'd sold me was their bigger sheets, but I'd come home with the smaller ones. The ones I need.

So back to the depot I went on Monday. That meant finding the receipt -- not a problem, I have them in a folder like the nerd I am -- but it also meant hauling the six sheets of hardie board out of the basement and back into the car so I had some kind of physical "proof" that I had indeed bought them. I wanted to avoid that step, but Michelle said it would probably be a good idea to take them.

I did get my money back -- a total of $126; the tax alone almost paid for a single sheet of the stuff I needed. And they did indeed want to see the stuff I'd bought. I'm glad it worked out. Next time, I'll be a bit more stubborn at the store.

Nevertheless . . .

Sundays are hard.

I watched my Dad get what we call the "Sunday Scaries," when he'd stew that the weekend was over and that Monday was coming, ready or not.

He knew he had to work to provide for his family, just as I know I have to do the same. Nevertheless . . .

I generally enjoy life. Church is great. I love my job. Nevertheless . . .

Sundays are hard.

Nevertheless . . .

Deep inside each of us is a desire to return to our heavenly home, and Jesus Christ is our heavenly guidance system. He is the way. His atoning sacrifice makes it possible for us to make sacred covenants with God. Once we make covenants, we will at times find ourselves swimming against the current. Danger, disappointment, temptation, and affliction will test our faith and spiritual strength. Ask for help. Jesus Christ understands and is always eager to share our burdens.

Remember that He is known as “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” The Savior taught, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” His atoning sacrifice allows our sins to be forgiven to the point that He no longer remembers them.

~ Elder Sergio R. Vargas

Decorated in Early Demolishkion

Yanno, I know I just got the floor done. But that was only the first of many, many stages to renovating this bathroom. On to the next phase, which is removing drywall where the hardiboard for the tile is going to go.

So I got all of the drywall coming out removed, cleaned up the ensuing mess (except for the crud that fell in the bathtub) started stringing ethernet wire through the wall so I can get a concealed connection to the router upstairs for the network swich I'm putting in downstairs, and got some insulation put in the wall that is shared with the study, becase I'm kinda tired of knowing when the whole western world is taking a dump.

Michelle, meanwhile, has been in the front entry, busily painting. We've had a greeny look to that part of the house since we moved in, and she finally decided she wanted to get rid of it. She and I (mostly her) spent some time patching holes and gouges in the wall, including from when we moved a piano in before we technically owned the place. It'll be nice to have a better-looking entry.

And in the basement, I'm looking forward to soon having the sink and toilet back.

Reading: Nathaniel Popper's "The Trolls of Wall Street"

"The Trolls of Wall Street" is less interesting for its exploration of the WallStreetBets phenomenon but far more interesting for the glimpses it gives of people living their entire social lives online and being much more interested in chasing money and "disruption" than they are in actually improving upon the entities they regard as corrupt and in need of disruption.

Distrust of mainstream media -- well earned, given mainstream media screw-ups, agenda-pushing and the like -- led to increased trust in social media, which Popper points out is even more ripe for screw-ups and agenda-pushing than the mainstream could ever hope or fear to be.

Distrust of the big Wall Street firms, also well earned, led to increased trust in the likes of Robinhood, which, per Popper, so poorly understood the industry it was disrupting they were confused as to what laws they'd broken when they were fined by government regulators.

And these little zealots have now been unleashed on government, God help us all. Too busy distrusting and "disrupting" that they're not pausing for a nanosecond to learn exactly what it is they're doing and what their activity will lead to.

Tears and revolution, most likely.

So read this book and weep for the species at large.

I wrote about the book here and here as well. Highly recommended reading (the book, not necessarily my posts).