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So Orange Man’s Big Beautiful Bill has a lot of disturbing elements – the one that has been on my mind of late is the selling of public lands. I simply don’t understand this – but not but of what comes out of this blubbery, feckless blowhard makes sense.

Our public lands is what makes America Great – the ability to protect such amazing lands is unique to the US (at least in scope).

Looks like this part of the BBB is being taken out: https://newrepublic.com/post/197167/republicans-remove-sale-public-lands-budget-bill

Good.

Asshole.

Ah – nothing like the smell of fresh roasting, pre-packaged, stale, coffee coming from a flimsy, dinky single-serve in-room ‘machine’.

Well that, and being greeted by a dead tenant on the way to the bathroom.

Townplace Suites, Gateway East, El Paso TX

Gavin and I typically go snowboarding during Spring Break. This year we had to ‘skip’ for a few reasons:

1. I was overseeing Colorado at work (hm, would have been perfect if I had the time – but was driving by all the resorts to visit stores. It was really hard doing that …).
2. We were waiting for the new Defender to arrive – which we’ve been waiting on for almost a year and a half. We were hoping it would arrive before Spring Break (and tariffs, obviously), but it showed up about 3 weeks after break (but before tariffs!).
3. Snow was really light this year in the Rockies. It was there, but just was really lighter than usual.

And now, after all the resorts have closed and we are in May – we are hit with days of storms which are yielding the mountains a lot of snow. Figures.

Well – at least it’s giving us good moisture for the summer. Hopefully that means less burn restrictions for the late summer camping …

Visiting Utah stores this week. Was in Logan last night.

This is what greeted me upon filling up a glass before bed …

Wow – very raw post-superbowl interview tonight.

Head hurts around the eyes – about 3 inches out, all over. I feel like I’ve been punched about the eyes. And it’s not like I’ve been crying this whole time. Sure, there have been moments. But not eating hasn’t helped, either.

Another weirdly curious thought passed quickly today. Wallie lived for 17 years. She lived once, will never live again. In the entire existence of Earth and all of the lives lived and those yet to live, this was her time. And we got to be a part of it, and her of ours. We’re all special, but very small in the scope of things. Hundreds of years from now, no one will have ever heard of her – or us. But we have, right?

Petted her when she was gone.

Her eyes were black. The conjunctiva wrinkling as her body stiffened and the limited moisture evaporated, after life left her body.

Being sad and crying is exhausting.

Elyce crying. Exhausting. She picked Wallie at the shelter when she was 4.

Sad days.

Love you Wallie. Thank You for sharing your life with us.

Gavin and I took our “One Game” trip this past weekend – each year we select one college game to travel to. This year it was Utah Utes at CO Buffaloes in Boulder. We bought the tickets 8 months back when Cam Rising was predicted to play and the Utes were forecasted to be ranked.

Turns out Cam Sank and the Utes were terrible. CO won convincingly. But it was fun. UC/Boulder was beautiful and the fans were great (even though I wore my Ducks attire). And … I finally got to wear my Deon shades.

Next year and going forward, unless it’s within 5-6 hours of driving, we will be flying as we did back in ’22 when we went to Michigan v Ohio State.

Also (pro-tip) … buy the game tickets the week of. We payed a lot when I bought 8 months back. As game time nears, I found that we could have even better seats for about half the cost!

In today’s world of scrolling and news overload, it can be easy to get caught up in what ‘pundits’ may say – be it with practically anything. One of the topics I always follow in my newsfeeds (not Facebook) on my news apps is/are stocks. It can be easy to read a flashy headline or quip, then question things or even your own strategy. But keep this in mind:

So – you’d be better off doing The Opposite of what Jim Cramer suggests, folks.

More here if you’re bored.

So Zuckerberg (Meta CEO) announced the Orion Glasses this week.

I wouldn’t wear these even if paid.

Okay – it’s freakin’ late August. A neighbor is shooting of fireworks (illegal ones, at that), ugh.

So I sent my drone over.

You can guess the house from the pic above.

Unfortunately, in my giddiness, I failed to record video (only have this pic), but it was brilliant.

I honed in within 50 yards (like I had the thing circle the fire for about 3 minutes) and everyone scrambled. At first, there were roman candles shot at the drone, then they all ran and the fire was out. The signal (looked like the drone was about a mile away from home) started fading but I quickly hit “home” and it flew back and landed in the courtyard.

Fireworks stopped. Quiet evening since. Noice.

At Poco Diablo in Sedona for a VP Meeting.

This fellow greeted me upon returning to my room on night one.

Huh. First I’ve seen of this in my travels.

UberEats delivery on a bicycle?

A few concerns here. Mad Respect for this guy – he’s pedaling for a living. Got to be in shape – delivering my fried shrimp and all. But this is a long distance …

We’ll see.

In the spirit of April Fool’s Day, I submit to you the store of Sidd Finch – the Mets Buddhist pitcher who threw a 121 MPH fastball while wearing one hiking boot.

2nd posting to Gross Things in Hotels. Looking down whilst sitting in my chair at the desk.

I’ll note: I put a towel over these things when I see ’em.

Home2 in Las Cruces, NM

A bit of a weird post … about car oil.

Recent studies have found that the age of the oil in your vehicle is less of a determinant than mileage. Which really makes common sense. The oil in your engine is in a closed environment, not really exposed to the elements. I guess it just validates many suspicions.

A weird post I guess because I would presume I don’t come off as a gearhead. But with 3 vehicles now (1 costing $600 to change the oil, 1 at $200), I change my own (I have to change my Lexus RC’s oil every 2 months due to the mileage I put on it traveling for work each week). Beyond having a lift (like my boss – who owns 12 cars[!]), I have every tool/element one needs to do this simple, 15-minute process.

So … After years and years of traveling, I have decided to create a new ‘category’ on dope … “Gross Things in Hotels”.

I’ve traveled practically every week of the past 12-15 years (12 certainly, 15 maybe not every week). With my prior employer, there were questionable hotels even on paper. With my current employer, I’m able to stay in pretty respectable spots. But without fail, I find a ‘nugget’ or two during my stay that puts most off. I can deal with most issues, and can say I’ve only demanded a different room just a few times over the past 10ish years. But thought, “why not collect pics of what I see?”. May be interesting.

My primary area of coverage currently is NM/El Paso, but do travel to PHX consistently. Also CO, UT, OR, WA and maybe soon elsewhere.

But here’s the first post … from the desk chair at Hilton, UTEP Campus, EP TX:

Yes – possible.

You need a VPN.

Once you’re in, the following countries DO NOT ALLOW YouTube to have ads.

Albania. Moldova. Myanmar.

Connect your VPN to one of these points, and you’re in. It’s pretty glorious!

You’re Welcome.

Finally took Ozzy to the groomer – it’s been since last November.

Cats don’t normally need to be groomed; however, he’s gotten so fat by eating/sneaking Wallie’s (she’s now 14) soft food that he can’t groom himself that well. As a result, he’s gotten a few mattes and he just stinks.

Gavin and I went boarding during my week off between Xmas and NY’s, as we’ve done the last couple of years. Went to Purgatory (in Durango, CO), about 3 hours north of home. This is where Gavin went for his first time with Elyce right before COVID. This time was better, but still not quite on all edges and switching for him. He’s SO CLOSE!

He got Burton Step-On bindings for Xmas – which completes his setup. No more lessons! Tina (er, Santa) bought me Spy Marauders which I LOVE!

Really Sad that Shane is gone. Not unexpected, per se. Just – I’m sad.

I remember driving around in David George’s Honda Civic during Christmas break … listening to the Pogues. Good times … Loved the Pogues. Loved the Popes, too. RIP Shane …

Great Vid of the playing of Fairytale of NY at his funeral here.

Another great tribute (bio, etc) here.

I hate getting old – keep losing all these legends.

I think I will dance to this song, with Tina, by the fireplace, this Christmas Eve. Seems a fun way to acknowledge.

Oh – and the parasite referenced is the Loiasis, or African eye worm, if you’re wondering.

Word is that The Longest Yard is being remade AGAIN (this will be a remake of the remake).

Ridiculous.

Bad enough we have so many remakes (full list HERE of the hundreds), but we’re going a level deeper here with a Remake of a Remake. Ugh.

Are there not any minds out there of the 4.7 billion on the earth to create or imagine or write something new rather than ‘remaking’ or ‘remaking a remake’? Just seems to be a real waste of resources, etc to have to reinvent or remake a movie/song/etc.

/rantover(maybe)

So I’ve been traveling regularly since forever for work. At least once a week I’m out of town. And I only just thought of this last night.

Some hotels have ‘governors’ on the AC in the room – meaning, you can only go down to a certain temp … no more. I love sleeping COLD, and sometimes this is a pain in the ass. I even have a OneNote on hotels in cities I frequent so I don’t make the same mistake of staying at hotel for this very reason (and others).

Last night was a new hotel for me and as I was gearing up for bed and getting the thermostat to <65, I realized this was such a room … limit was 68. Ugh. I stared at the thermostat for bit and had a thought: “this is just a circuit board surrounded by plastic. I bet there’s a way to override the board.”

I googled. Lo and behold, there’s a whole slew of videos on just how to do this, by manufacturer. It took me about 3 minutes and I had the circuit board reset and the temps down to 64. Boom.

There are other settings you can adjust, as well – constant fan, disabling motion detection, etc. Just be sure to carry a philips screwdriver (I have a leatherman tread apple watch band, which has helped so many times).

Here’s a link if you’re bored.