Saturday, March 29
Mar. 30th, 2025 01:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
I woke up more or less on my own, in good time today, since we did plan to go to the city.
Clear skies today, and warmer temperatures. The accumulated snow melted slightly, but it is very white, clean, and beautiful. Kind of a nice way to end winter.
We took the blankets off of Wonder, Dandy, and Ursula again. I am grateful that we have blankets for them when they need them.
We went to the city for the day. What annoys me, is one of the things I wanted today was a small vacuum cleaner. About two years ago, we bought a used one, and for a while it seemed great, but now it doesn't seem to be picking up the hair. No, it's not clogged, but it IS clogging, and I have to clear it almost every time I use it. When I clean it all out, it kind of works, but you can tell it's just sort of pooling hair in the pipe, it's not getting to the collection cup. It's also AWFUL to empty that cup, an ordeal every time. I don't know that it's worth trying to fix it.
What my husband did today was block me and gaslight me all day today about the vacuum. I wanted to LOOK at them and make a decision. I have been looking online for reviews, and a LOT of people say that Shark vacuums are very good for pet hair, easy to use, etc.
My husband just went "Milwaukee makes one, I'll just buy you one of those after work next week". I was like "do you know anything about them?" "no, but it takes the same battery as all my other tools, if it sucks we still have another battery".
So all day, I kept saying "can we go look at vacuums" and he was like "don't you want to see some of the stores that usually close early?".
All day he did this. Then all the stores are closing, it's time to go home, because he WOULD NOT take me to look at vacuums.
So, now, I'm going to talk to him tomorrow, and tell him that I don't want him to just buy a Milwaukee vacuum after work. We're going to go to the city again soon, and I'm going to research (but I think the research points to Shark vacuums), look at vacuums and make my own mind up. All he wants to do is buy something that aligns with his power tool preference, and ignoring things like does it actually pick up pet hair, how noisy is it, and is it easy to use (I've looked at reviews, and people are saying the kind he wants has all the weight up at the handle, is very loud, and that the dirt collector is horrible to empty).
What we did all day, while he was keeping me away from stores that have vacuum cleaners:
We went to a store that sells CDs, DVDs and records, and I had a list of movies prepared (checked IMDB first too, to see if they were any good). They had some of them, so we got those, and I got lucky and found several movies in a clearance bin that weren't really old movies, they were on my pick list in the past that I hadn't found.
Now we have some fresh movies to watch.
We did walk around and look at some of the stores that are usually closed right at four or five. The funky consignment stores and all the fun stuff on Whyte Ave. I went to Winner's and by pure dumb luck found two scarves that were actually silk (very rare at Winner's these days) that I liked, and were a pretty good price.
We went to the used book store and found something interesting.
We managed to make it to the natural food store that never seems to be open when we're down town, and I found the brand of cocoa nibs that I like to eat, that our grocery store has stopped carrying.
We had a nice meal at one of our vegan places that we rotate.
What's nice, is that we got "friend" discounts at both the book store and the restaurant, without asking. The book store has done this for a while, because we are very regular patrons. We bring books in for trade in, and we often buy books. They give us a discount just for being regulars.
The serving person at the restaurant today said she was giving us a discount too, for being good customers. We go there maybe twice a month, but we are always friendly and chatty so I guess we make an impression. She even gave my husband a bit of a special treatment on getting a side order of fries, she gave him her "employee fries" (maybe she doesn't eat her employee meals all the time?), as long as he didn't tell anyone. I guess that means don't tell our friends to go to that restaurant and ask her to make the same deal?
Either way, it's kind of a nice validation to get treated well. We like those places anyhow, have been going to the bookstore for years, and would go whether or not we got a discount.
Overall, I enjoyed our day, and I will likely manage to work through the vacuum thing with my husband. He's not really a jerk, but he can be bossy. He just thinks he knows better.
We came home, and it was weird that it's still daylight. We put Dandy back, and came inside.
We watched "Ferrari", about Enzo Ferrari more than the cars themselves, his complicated personal life, and a kind of shocking event at a race (no spoilers).
I thought it was pretty good, interesting that it was based on real events, thought Adam Driver did a good job,but it's a little weird that he also played a very similar kind of role recently as Maurizio Gucci. Again A film about an Italian luxury brand company. The characters ended up feeling similar.
It was a bit of a dark movie, which is too bad because it was someone's real life that was that dark.
Then we had a debate about Bryan Johnson, a billionaire who is using his own body to research longevity. I think it's interesting, and I've been watching some of his videos. No, I'm not really worried about taking a hundred pills a day or being all weird about my daily habits, BUT, there's nothing that extreme about learning things like which chocolate bars have very high levels of heavy metal in them, or understanding how sun exposure can affect our skin.
Yes, Bryan has a company related to his research, he probably gets to write off his expenses, that company does sell stuff.
My husband right away though, writes all of this off as being another Dr.Oz charlatan who's out to cheat everyone and put them at risk.
I kind of got upset at his dismissal, because it felt a lot like the vacuum cleaner. I'm dumb, right? I can't form critical thoughts?
So that's what we discussed. I'm not buying supplements. I'm not doing drastic things based on anything this guy is saying. I'm actually already doing most of the simpler take-home applicable things he's saying lead to a longer life, like getting more sleep, cutting out processed food, staying out of the sun, exercise. The "meta" message.
I never professed that this person was some form of Jesus walking the earth, trying to save us all with no selfish motives. No. I know this guy wants to live longer HIMSELF, and sees a way to profit by selling stuff. He's also being pretty open about what he eats, what he specifically does for exercise, how he gets ready for sleep, that he builds in time to meditate daily, to walk outside every day, and also all the whacked out crazy therapies that he does, like uses electrical stimulation on his muscles, or blood transfusions.
I'm not about to do any of that.
I just said that I thought that Bryan's personal health project was amazing, especially his level of commitment, disclosure, and the way that he's being so open about it all. He's just being a giant guinea pig, even if it is for the very selfish reason of wanting to live a long time.
I just really didn't like how my husband seemed to think that I was drinking someone's Cool-aid.
I woke up more or less on my own, in good time today, since we did plan to go to the city.
Clear skies today, and warmer temperatures. The accumulated snow melted slightly, but it is very white, clean, and beautiful. Kind of a nice way to end winter.
We took the blankets off of Wonder, Dandy, and Ursula again. I am grateful that we have blankets for them when they need them.
We went to the city for the day. What annoys me, is one of the things I wanted today was a small vacuum cleaner. About two years ago, we bought a used one, and for a while it seemed great, but now it doesn't seem to be picking up the hair. No, it's not clogged, but it IS clogging, and I have to clear it almost every time I use it. When I clean it all out, it kind of works, but you can tell it's just sort of pooling hair in the pipe, it's not getting to the collection cup. It's also AWFUL to empty that cup, an ordeal every time. I don't know that it's worth trying to fix it.
What my husband did today was block me and gaslight me all day today about the vacuum. I wanted to LOOK at them and make a decision. I have been looking online for reviews, and a LOT of people say that Shark vacuums are very good for pet hair, easy to use, etc.
My husband just went "Milwaukee makes one, I'll just buy you one of those after work next week". I was like "do you know anything about them?" "no, but it takes the same battery as all my other tools, if it sucks we still have another battery".
So all day, I kept saying "can we go look at vacuums" and he was like "don't you want to see some of the stores that usually close early?".
All day he did this. Then all the stores are closing, it's time to go home, because he WOULD NOT take me to look at vacuums.
So, now, I'm going to talk to him tomorrow, and tell him that I don't want him to just buy a Milwaukee vacuum after work. We're going to go to the city again soon, and I'm going to research (but I think the research points to Shark vacuums), look at vacuums and make my own mind up. All he wants to do is buy something that aligns with his power tool preference, and ignoring things like does it actually pick up pet hair, how noisy is it, and is it easy to use (I've looked at reviews, and people are saying the kind he wants has all the weight up at the handle, is very loud, and that the dirt collector is horrible to empty).
What we did all day, while he was keeping me away from stores that have vacuum cleaners:
We went to a store that sells CDs, DVDs and records, and I had a list of movies prepared (checked IMDB first too, to see if they were any good). They had some of them, so we got those, and I got lucky and found several movies in a clearance bin that weren't really old movies, they were on my pick list in the past that I hadn't found.
Now we have some fresh movies to watch.
We did walk around and look at some of the stores that are usually closed right at four or five. The funky consignment stores and all the fun stuff on Whyte Ave. I went to Winner's and by pure dumb luck found two scarves that were actually silk (very rare at Winner's these days) that I liked, and were a pretty good price.
We went to the used book store and found something interesting.
We managed to make it to the natural food store that never seems to be open when we're down town, and I found the brand of cocoa nibs that I like to eat, that our grocery store has stopped carrying.
We had a nice meal at one of our vegan places that we rotate.
What's nice, is that we got "friend" discounts at both the book store and the restaurant, without asking. The book store has done this for a while, because we are very regular patrons. We bring books in for trade in, and we often buy books. They give us a discount just for being regulars.
The serving person at the restaurant today said she was giving us a discount too, for being good customers. We go there maybe twice a month, but we are always friendly and chatty so I guess we make an impression. She even gave my husband a bit of a special treatment on getting a side order of fries, she gave him her "employee fries" (maybe she doesn't eat her employee meals all the time?), as long as he didn't tell anyone. I guess that means don't tell our friends to go to that restaurant and ask her to make the same deal?
Either way, it's kind of a nice validation to get treated well. We like those places anyhow, have been going to the bookstore for years, and would go whether or not we got a discount.
Overall, I enjoyed our day, and I will likely manage to work through the vacuum thing with my husband. He's not really a jerk, but he can be bossy. He just thinks he knows better.
We came home, and it was weird that it's still daylight. We put Dandy back, and came inside.
We watched "Ferrari", about Enzo Ferrari more than the cars themselves, his complicated personal life, and a kind of shocking event at a race (no spoilers).
I thought it was pretty good, interesting that it was based on real events, thought Adam Driver did a good job,but it's a little weird that he also played a very similar kind of role recently as Maurizio Gucci. Again A film about an Italian luxury brand company. The characters ended up feeling similar.
It was a bit of a dark movie, which is too bad because it was someone's real life that was that dark.
Then we had a debate about Bryan Johnson, a billionaire who is using his own body to research longevity. I think it's interesting, and I've been watching some of his videos. No, I'm not really worried about taking a hundred pills a day or being all weird about my daily habits, BUT, there's nothing that extreme about learning things like which chocolate bars have very high levels of heavy metal in them, or understanding how sun exposure can affect our skin.
Yes, Bryan has a company related to his research, he probably gets to write off his expenses, that company does sell stuff.
My husband right away though, writes all of this off as being another Dr.Oz charlatan who's out to cheat everyone and put them at risk.
I kind of got upset at his dismissal, because it felt a lot like the vacuum cleaner. I'm dumb, right? I can't form critical thoughts?
So that's what we discussed. I'm not buying supplements. I'm not doing drastic things based on anything this guy is saying. I'm actually already doing most of the simpler take-home applicable things he's saying lead to a longer life, like getting more sleep, cutting out processed food, staying out of the sun, exercise. The "meta" message.
I never professed that this person was some form of Jesus walking the earth, trying to save us all with no selfish motives. No. I know this guy wants to live longer HIMSELF, and sees a way to profit by selling stuff. He's also being pretty open about what he eats, what he specifically does for exercise, how he gets ready for sleep, that he builds in time to meditate daily, to walk outside every day, and also all the whacked out crazy therapies that he does, like uses electrical stimulation on his muscles, or blood transfusions.
I'm not about to do any of that.
I just said that I thought that Bryan's personal health project was amazing, especially his level of commitment, disclosure, and the way that he's being so open about it all. He's just being a giant guinea pig, even if it is for the very selfish reason of wanting to live a long time.
I just really didn't like how my husband seemed to think that I was drinking someone's Cool-aid.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-31 12:28 am (UTC)The big brand debate for a household vacuum is usually between Dyson and Miele, but Shark is often the option when longevity is not considered important. (They don't last long.) You might check out the opinions on Reddit (subreddit - vacuums) before your spouse comes home with a shop vac!
no subject
Date: 2025-03-31 05:01 am (UTC)I do need to research some more.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-31 06:22 am (UTC)Miele Triflex (the White Lotus) is expensive but it lasts 20 years. Sometimes they go on sale. The White Pearl is a Miele canister that is over 30 years old, but it is HEAVY, as were all vacuums from the Dark Ages.
Some people love Dyson, but I have no experience with them. They are also very expensive.
The Triflex is especially good for picking up dog hair and biscuit crumbs. I could not believe how filthy we were until I got it! The downside is that it has only about a half-hour of battery life before it needs an hour's recharging.