No, even here I like summer better than winter. Love the long days, the afternoon storms, it’s too hot but that still feels better to me than cold. Plus the snowbirds go back to their summer homes up north so traffic gets easier.
Winter is nice for gardening though, can grow more things here in the winter.
No. I don’t care about living long, but do care about feeling good, and figure I have a body and might as well take care of it. Not obsessive by a long shot but eat well, exercise, sleep. All that feels good.
Not much yet this time, but in the last crash half the 401k disappeared. It crawled back over time though. Not sure I have enough time for that to happen again.
Oh but it brings joy to my heart every time I breeze through security while they are going through my husband’s suitcase. Because he is conservative white guy but born in Pakistan so they always stop him. I am progressive as fuck, white enough for Florida, smile and am waved through.
Agree though - our airport is wonderful but security and customs is a slog.
Wrapping up the week with an Amaretto/Bourbon sour. Split amaretto between Adriatico and Lazzaroni. Because I had egg whites as I used the yolks in cookies and who can waste eggs now?
I didn’t get a picture but it’s good!
2 oz bourbon, one of lime and one of St. Germain, shaken.
Where I live, they prop up companies with tax breaks, subsidies, sometimes will reimburse for wages even, to try to get businesses to establish and employ here.
That “chips act” was a national version, right?
We could also just do a lot more redistribution from the top, and try to advantage small businesses more. You can’t do everything from the top, a lot of a real economy has to grow from the ground, right? Nationalize healthcare so it’s not employer-based to encourage entrepreneurship.
I’m sure there are many more actions that could be taken - there is a huge opportunity for improvement in our economy but most of it relates to breaking up the top and growth from the bottom.
Tariffs are a tool, sure. But not the only one, and I’m not convinced they are tackling our main economic issues here, at all, certainly not as implemented. As one part of a more comprehensive progressive reform they might help but that’s not the way these guys roll.
No, they could use other means to reinvigorate manufacturing here, if that is even their goal. I tend to agree that this race to the bottom was a mistake, the chasing ever cheaper labor hasn’t done anything for the majority. But it’s only one part of the inequality we are suffering here. There is no method to the madness as far as I can tell. And to your last point (crashing the economy) I can’t even tell if they care about that.
Nobody is “against tariffs” - they are used everywhere. We are against this ridiculous random implementation that makes no sense. Mr. Trump is not using them like a scalpel, to grow manufacturing here, I don’t think he cares about that. He seems to think they are some way to bully other countries into doing what he wants.
Sentour.
No. It absolutely interferes with my enjoyment of shrimp, I don’t want to be interrupted with the crunchy unpleasant skin and tail, no. Take them off and make a shrimp broth, then you keep the flavor and the texture. I hate when the tails are left on in pastas & pilafs or similar. If it’s a shrimp boil I peel them.
Uneven numbers feel more alive and even numbers feel more settled.
Live vinegar is the one I like. But also - I’ve developed more tolerance for sour foods over time, your palate may adjust.
Try a “shrub” - use a little vinegar and some mashed berries and a little sugar to flavor cold water, sort of like making a lemonade but with vinegar and see if you like that; and also try a balsamic reduction.
I can’t imagine anyone likes straight up plain white vinegar on its own, and sometimes those vinaigrette dressings are way too sour, but vinegar can be such a good adjuster and flavoring.
Oh yes. I like to have a drink (obviously) but it has to be one drink, and early. No nightcap, no going to bed with any amount of buzz at all.
If you measure your life only in dollars, maybe. Maybe.
My mom came from a small town and said she’d never raise a kid in a small town - her cousins, all save one, were in jail or pregnant before they graduated high school. Because there was literally nothing to do.
I like having restaurants, a good library system, concerts, bars, not needing to drive to get anything. I like living in a mid-sized city, but if I couldn’t, would go bigger not smaller.
Tampa International Airport
I give thanks every time we land at home. Our airport is really awesome. Good layout, beautiful, long security line usually but otherwise so good.
I didn’t enjoy being a kid at all, but being an adult I do like, don’t mind working because they pay me.
“Everyone else got it” is a stretch.
It does sound like you are carrying a lot of trauma, I don’t want to minimize that, but if you are able bodied, can see and hear and move and think, you are ahead of a lot of people. If you live in a developed nation, you are ahead of a lot of people. I don’t think even a majority of kids get the idealized childhood you think they do.
If you have no kids or obligations - what I did was get a lot of roommates to get living cost low and yeah, did just work a minimal job and hang out for a few years before sort of getting more serious about work. Never did the career ladder thing but did get a good job and I can say with absolute honesty - it got better.
I think the worst may have been my dad dying suddenly when I was a teenager and can’t really think of anything good that came from that.
But my ex getting abusive was traumatic all round for me & the kids so maybe that was worse, and it did have some good knock-on effects - I got my older two kids into colleges away from home so they could be away from him and away from having to help with the younger ones, eventually got the rest of us out and wow did my life take a turn for the better. While his fell apart completely, which (while it’s not a positive development) did give me confidence that he was actually the problem.