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 wincing, 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!

Like the late, great Albert Einstein once said, "I have a dream!" Last night, I fuckin had one.

Let me recap. On Tuesday morning, I went to see the ENT doctor that specializes in the Pillar Procedure. I had 3 small surgical foam pillars inserted into the soft pallate at the back of my throat. It was crazy. I got sprayed with some numbing stuff. Then I sucked on a sponge-sicle soaked in some kind of gooey anesthetic that ran down the back of my throat like ... syrup. Achem. Then, they injected me like 5 times with a needle full of the real anesthetic. Next came 3 huge, hollowed out needles with the pillars inside them. It was so freaky. I could feel every millimeter of them as they went in. I knew where they were and could tell that he was dead on where I thought they should be. But, I felt no pain.

After that ordeal was over, they sprayed some stuff up my nose. Then I got an epinepherin (sp?) shot in each nostril. They said it would cause my blood vessels to shrink limiting bleeding, but as a side effect, it acted like a huge adrenalin shot. My heart started racing and I started sweating. He said it was just my body's natural fight or flight mechanism kicking in. I almost flew. Once that took effect, he shined a laser up my nose and burned out tissue. I could smell it very well. Nasty. The next 30 minutes I spent sitting in the chair shaking waiting for the shots to wear off. And then, it was over.

Daniel was sweet enought to take a day off to take me to the doctor and bring me home. I got some good pain medicine, and was pretty comfortable on the couch watching movies holding tissues under my nose to collect the massive amount of blood rushing out. Not a bad way to spend your afternoon, I must say.

Today, I'm still very sore. My lymph nodes are swollen as they attack the foreign bodies in my throat. My nose is sore and runs a lot although the red faded to pink, and is now almost entirely snot colored. And last night, I had a dream. I didn't wake up fully refreshed or anything, but I think that's good progress. It could potentially take up to 18 weeks for me to get the full effect. If this doesn't work, I'm having more surgery. So wish me luck.

I haven't really been to work in a long time. I pop in now and again, but I have had other things to do deal with. I took off today to go see United 93 (awesome) and now I'm going to spend the remainder of my afternoon painting my bedroom. Yeah I had a change of heart and a change of colors. But it looks really hot. I'll surely show you all when I'm done. Laaaaaaaaaaaate.

Well the weekend is upon us. I'm not drinking or being crazy this weekend though. Not so much because I don't have the time to do it, but I don't want to be hungover when I suddenly get my second wind and decide to study. I spent last night at home curled up with a good book.

Yes my friends, Shelters of Stone, the fifth installment in the Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel (author of Clan of the Cave Bear) has finally arrived. I've been waiting for this book to come out since the sixth grade. I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. I'm on Chapter 5 now and its been really good so far. The only downside is that I've read the first four books (Clan of the Cave Bear, Valley of Horses, Mammoth Hunters, Plains of Passage) each 13 times. Now this fifth book is just in its infancy. Its gonna take a while to even out the playing field. I may like it so much that I just start it right back over as soon as I finish it. Thats been known to happen. Surprised, anyone?

I had a great new idea for the new SideshoViD.com. Not that one was planned, but I had a great idea so now I'm planning one. This new one will be less red, and more me. There's some equipment and preparation I need to do first though. Unfortunately I'm not quite sure how to do it. But if anyone has a digital camera they can loan me for a while, that would help a little. Lets just put it this way: Some very exciting things are happening at SideshoViD.com. Stick around to see what they are!

Oh and vote in the new poll (bout damn time).