Happy Easter everybody. Good luck out there searching for eggs (?) made of chocolate (?) that came out the butt (?) of a rabbit (?). I'm not 100% sure about the mechanics of that, but nonetheless, have fun. I'm just hoping this means that the gym will be close to empty.

Speaking of, there is this new scourge at the gym. It only started recently, but it is spreading. Grown men with ear buds in listening to music at full volume -- SINGING ALONG. WTF. Like OUT LOUD. And as annoying as singing would be to people around you, when you can't hear yourself at all, it's a special kind of horrible. I know of at least 5 people off the top of my head that I will not get on the treadmill next to or sit next to on the stretching mat because I know they'll break out into winching, breathy, high pitched song the second I do. I wish I was more confrontational, so I could just tap them on the shoulder and ask, "What the fuck is wrong with you?" but instead I just shoot dirty looks that are not understood.

Normally for Easter lately we get together with my parents and have a smorgasbord of food from Honey Baked Hams. I even have a rewards number on honeybaked.com. But between you and me, all of their food is garbage. I mean, the ham is okay, but they also have these boxed sides and everything is just horrible. My dad had a little procedure on Friday and wasn't sure if he'd be up for it, so I was more than happy to accept their decline of getting together. Daniel did ask me what he should buy at the store as a special treat and I said he could buy some eggs and I'll make deviled eggs with salmon roe. That will be our homage to Easter.

Another successful Febrehab is done. Though I must admit this one was really easy. I only gave up sugar and caffeine in addition to alcohol. Caffeine is pretty easy for me. I really like the caffeine free teas from Whole Foods. A little fruity beginning to the day isn't half bad. And while we do devolve into the habit of having one brown butter chocolate chip cookie after dinner 3 days per week, it wasn't that big of a deal to give it up. That's pretty much the only dedicated source of sugar in my life.

Nevertheless, it is always good to take a little break. I was telling people this year though that it's not even really the alcohol I miss. It's the ritual. The habit. There's no physical addiction, it's just such a nice punctuation on the week. Like, it's Friday, the work week is over, let's go out and have a glass of champagne with dinner to celebrate living life. And I guess we should be doing a bit more of that while we can, before we all get drafted into WWIII....

In other news, after having just poo-pooed AI in my last post, I have used it more and more in my personal life. I used to sit around and wonder about stuff. Now I just ask AI. And maybe it's good to sometimes just have unanswered thought experiments, but I really like discussing ridiculous things with Gemini.

I had an idea for a mouth piece you could wear and every, say, 5 seconds it would drip one drop of water into your mouth. That would be an unnoticeable amount, mix with your saliva, and you'd just swallow it without noticing and thus stay hydrated. I asked Gemini what it thought of my idea and it said it was bad and gave me all the reasons why. 1) It would change the chemistry of your saliva and make it less effective. 2) Even though it's just a drop, you could still choke on it if you were heavily exerting yourself or sleeping. 3) Your body has adapted to expect and process a large influx of water all at once. It triggers the stomach to do something and a little drop here and there wouldn't be enough to set it off. And 4) It did the math on how much water that would be in a 24 hour period and it was like around 1 liter and you need more like 3 liters to stay hydrated so it wouldn't even work. Like ... how could you Google that and come up with that answer? Only AI could have that dumb of a conversation about one of my new million dollar ideas. Saved me a lot in R&D costs right there.

I've also used it twice now for shopping. The ball "fell" out of my right earring and getting it back in is basically impossible without a pair of surgical forceps. And even if I could do it, once you've priced the hoop open and closed more than about once, it is never quite circular ever again. So I thought, given that I've had earrings now for like 27 years, maybe it was time to invest in something a little more substantial than the $16 piercing jewelry that's been in there forever. So I asked Gemini what I should do and it found exactly what I wanted. Visually kind of identical, but nicer metal, and no ball. These have a clicker mechanism so I can take them out for things like MRIs and surgeries. And I didn't know what size to get so I measured my existing, but I measured the outer diameter in inches and the website was selling sizes measured by the inner diameter in millimeters. So I told Gemini to do the math given the gauge and size and it did it all flawlessly.

Just this morning I woke up with a crick in my neck again, so I decided to ask Gemini for a suitable replacement for my beloved Indulgence by Isotonic side sleeper that Bed, Bath & Beyond used to sell before they went out of business. And it was like, replacement? Why, they're still sold at major retailers like Macy's and Wal-Mart. WHAT?!? I assure you I scoured the internet for information on the manufacturer and alternate retailers and found nothing. I even posted about it back in 2022. So I guess my prayers have been answered.

It occurred to me though. They're GOING to find a way to monetize this (if they haven't already). You pay them some money and they suggest your product for any related queries above all else and eventually you won't be able to trust it. It'll devolve into a purely for-profit ad-bot and everyone will stop using it just like literally every other tool or platform before it. So I guess use it now while you still can!

I thought today I might talk about the topic du jour, mostly for posterity's sake more than anything else. Maybe in the future I'll read this blog and think, damn what an idiot I was. I'm speaking of course about our overlord and savior, A.I.

I'm kind of a late adopter. I liken it a little bit to when Amazon first came out and people were flabbergasted that I didn't have an Amazon account and I literally never ordered anything from there. I went to the grocery store once a week and I bought everything I needed. Amazon was never going to replace that so the fact that I COULD buy paper towels or aluminum foil online, just didn't really provide me with any benefit, so I never did it. Now I buy things on Amazon like a bad habit. If I haven't received a package in the garage in a few days I start to get sad and look for a little present to cheer myself up.

I'm kind of the same way with AI. People are like, "You don't use AI?!" and I say, "For ... what?" Like literally anything AI can do I can do myself only better. Perhaps not faster. Don't get me wrong, I have started to dabble. Like the blog on my side company's website. I no longer write those. I still come up with the idea for the blog, but then AI cranks it out in 2 seconds because I couldn't care less about the quality there. And I've vibe coded some tools for genealogical purposes for my extended family's organization. But sometimes it's more annoying to vibe code, and takes longer to iron out, than just doing it myself.

I can see how some people use it for emails and shit. Because they don't know how to type. So that could be a major time saver. Just not for me. And also, guys, when you use AI to write an email or a congratulatory message on an ecard or something, it is glaringly obvious that you've used AI and that is a huge insult. So let's resolve to keep interpersonal communications interpersonal.

The bubble around AI is probably prone to pop soon. Not that it won't continue to be amazing and do all kinds of cool shit, but I think the hype is overdone and the financial ROI just won't be there. And then the stock market will come crashing down from its current record heights. Then we'll pick up the pieces and stop trying to shoe horn this shit into every nook and cranny of daily life where it doesn't below.

In the ever-evolving landscape of today’s modern digital era, it is crucial to remember that by fostering a proactive synergy and unlocking your hidden potential, we can truly delve into the heart of the matter—so, without further ado, that’s my two cents, folks! 🚀🌟✨ #Innovation #GrowthMindset

(I asked AI to write my conclusion.)

Since the invitations to David27's apartment weren't exactly forthcoming last night, I decided to take it upon myself and surprise him so I could finally see my fish and meet 28. I was really excited so I went home after class, ran some errands, and then dropped by. David27 had just gotten out of a movie and was on his way back but two guys were in his apartment so I was able to sneak in and get a look at 28. He was a gorgeous fish with redish scales that had lines of blue in the ribbon-like fins. He looked so beautiful ... laying lifeless on the bottom of the fish bowl.

MY FISH IS DEAD!!!1!1!!

... and I never even got to meet him. It is so depressing, and far more symbolic than I would ever venture to admit. David27 said he could go exchange him for a new fish at Wal-Mart and I guess I'll be happy with another fish, just like the first one, I might even name him 28, but he'll never take the place of the fish I never had.

I wanted to give him a burial at sea, or let him at least fertilize my wildflowers so he could live on thru them ... but 27 said he needs him so he can exchange him. It is so sad.

This weekend went by rather uneventfully, which was fine. I didn't go anywhere from Easter. Not that I had a lot to do in College Station, but I was still sick and having trouble breathing for extended periods of time so I decided to just waste my days away sitting on my favorite couch watching my favorite TV shows. It was a wonderful time. Almost everyone I knew went to their respective homes to celebrate the day with their family so I was a little bored.

Last night I went out to Northgate with Stino and the crew and had a few beers. I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea or not since I was sick and it was cold and rainy and there were no places open past 1:00. So we got kicked out of Duddley's at 1:00 with full chuggers of beer and nowhere to go. People were suggesting that we 'chance it' and drive home with our beers, but you know me and you know I wasn't down with that. We ended up on the porch of Gatsby's finishing up our beers before we could go in and drink their beer. We ended up pouring some out on their fabulously sodded back porch (all the grass is so dead, its extremely tacky and stupid). Anyway, in the end I decided it was a good idea to have gone drinking because I woke up this morning feeling much better than I have the past few mornings. That is a good thing.

David27 went to Houston to see his family. He just came home today and called me on his way to let me know that he had gotten me a present. I was decidedly excited. He couldn't drop by and give it to me but he did tell me what it was. He got me a fish! He had read my webpage saying that I wanted a fish but didn't know how to take care of one so he bought me a beta, since they require minimal upkeep. I've decided to name him 28 in honor of our good friend 27. I am going to love him and hug him and squeeze him. I think he's going to bring him over tomorrow and I can't wait. I'll take a picture of him and share it with you all when he does. Later you have nots!

Ooookay, time for the ring dunking episode of my blog. It was a total blast. I guess I'll just start from the beginning and take you through it. Kevin arrived around 4:00. He was starving and I didn't have a pitcher yet so we hit the town pretty immediately. I tried to get a pitcher at Aggieland Outfitters but they were all sold out, so I took Kevin to eat at Freebirds. I, on the other hand, did not eat solid food after noon that day. I didn't want anything but pure beer coming back up, cause that would be nasty. So we were pulling out of the Freebird's parking lot when Allison called saying she was at University Bookstore buying a pitcher, so I told her to pick me up one. Her dad paid for it too, which was really nice of him. Thank you Big D!

A few people had gathered early and I started drinking at 6. My plan was to be drunk but not full by the time we started so I was trying to get some beer in me first. Around 7 we started filling pitchers. It was pretty daunting to see just how much beer it was as you sit there for 5 minutes with the tap flowing. I let mine sit out unattended, but eventually that just wasn't cutting it, so I started pouring it back and forth between two pitchers to get rid of the carbonation. It was also too cold, so I put it in a sink of warm water to bring it up a few degrees. When I decided it was at the optimal conditions, we kind of started gathering with our pitchers in the backyard to signal that the hour was nye.

The people that were dunking were me, Allison, Ryan, Christine, Katie, Scott, Virant, Burden, Gabe and Charlie. I'm pretty sure thats everyone. Soon after, the crowd counted down and got going. For those of you who aren't familiar with this tradition, we took our senior rings and dropped them into a pitcher full of beer. Then we preceeded to chug it as fast as we could. It was insanity. I started off strong really puttin' it down. I had planned on breathing through my nose intermittenly, but that proved too difficult, so I ended up holding my breath. This meant that I had to stop and breath, though. The first breath break was clean and probably only cost me a second, and I got right back into it at a good pace. The second breathing break almost turned into a vomitting break, so I had to pause a few seconds to maintain and then kept going. I was slowing down by then. I had to take one more breather, and then I decided that I wasn't gonna stop until that ring was in my mouth. It was really hard to keep going, but I had the ring in my sights and managed to pack it all down. When we watched the video later, we were able to get the exact time of 65 seconds. Whoop! I didn't reach my goal of under a minute, but I was pretty damn close, and I came in fourth place overall. Allison, of course, waxed everybody and came in first. God I love that girl.

Pretty immediately after I finished, I turned my back on the crowd and let it go. I had also hoped to keep it all down, but that didn't come anywhere close to happening. That was so much liquid. Breezy got the best damned picture of me throwing up. Its not for the squimish though. I am going to put a link at the end of this blog to a pictures page, so if you don't wanna see it, don't go.

I wanna thank everyone who was there. Ryan and Priscilla showed up for the dunking. Todd came in from San Antonio and showed up with his girlfriend Shannon. DAvid and Sam from Southwest came with the other Todd. DAvid looted the Southwest AV club and brought a really nice camera. Maybe someone smarter than me with time on their hands will be able to convert it to a real player format or something. Later on that evening Matt P■■■ and Pearl H■■■ showed up from Austin. Travis dropped by for a while. Matt K■■■ was definitely there. He's been wondering what it takes to get mentioned in my blog. Katie's boyfriend Jeff came with her from Plano. Allison's parents were there, along with several other sets of parents. I didn't see it with my own eyes, but I heard that some of the parents were doing keg stands later on that night. Fucking rad! Allison and Jaime came too, naturally. I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody, if so, I'm sorry. Let me know.

After we'd spent the whole evening drinking it was decided that we were going to Northgate. Okay, I did not need to be going to Northgate, but whatever. I hadn't eaten dinner yet and they were selling the most delicious sausage wraps. I think I ate three. We went to Shadow Canyon and hung out and drank until 1. It was pretty fun. When we finally got home, I think I pretty much crashed right away.

Overall, it was an excellent night that I wouldn't do again for anything. Thanks to everyone who came out to support the most alcoholic of Aggie traditions. I think its about time for me to take a shower, clean up the cups and cans, and then see what I need to accomplish today. For those of you interested, here is the link to the picture page: Click here. It was getting dark outside so some of the pics are dark and some are a little blurry, but I did my best to photoshop them up. They turned out pretty good. Enjoy!