Frequency

It's, apparently, getting tougher and tougher for me to maintain daily entries in this blog.  I forgot to post anything yesterday.  This seems to be occurring more regularly.  Perhaps this says something about my life right now - interpret that however you want.  Perhaps this says something about my motivation to do this blog.  It is making me question whether I want to maintain a daily blog.  It might be easier if it's every other day, or weekly, or even if I just bring this blog to an end.  But, for the time being, I shall endeavor to keep doing it daily.  But be warned that the quality of my entries might not be very good.  Like this one.  

Gratitude

In the space of a few days, I've been awarded 3 of what our company calls gratitude awards from different people.  Finally some recognition, no matter how minor, of the amount of hard work I've been doing recently.  Clearly someone has said something, and surprisingly I don't think it was me, although I was definitely feeling underappreciated.  The total monetary value of these awards only comes to about $400.  So not exactly the big bonus I really deserve.  The way this thing works now is that you get awarded points, and then you go to this online store where you can spend these points.  Since the selection of gifts in this store is so poor, I just spend it on gift vouchers for myself.  In this case, I got $400 of Lego gift cards because I know I'm about to make a big purchase (the next Lord of the Rings set).           

Gas Pump

I was at the gas station today, and noticed this sticker on the gas pump pointing towards the display and the exorbitant amount of money it costs to fill up your car nowadays.

I approve.  Simple but effective.  Since Trump wants to get his image on as much as he can, we should see this sticker on every single gas pump in the country. 

Nearly Forgot

Just going to bed, and nearly forgot I hadn't done a blog entry today.  I got distracted this evening by something I've been doing way too much recently, and something I really need to cut out.  And that is mindless scrolling through YouTube shorts.  A classic symptom of digital addiction, with the inevitable result of brain rot.  Nope, not good.  If it goes a step further and I start properly doomscrolling all the time - then I will really start to worry.

Backyard Highlights

Here are some highlights from my trail cam over the last few months.  A good selection of the usual suspects, plus I might have finally uncovered photographic evidence of aliens (I'll let you guess which photo that is - if you squint it looks like a face).

USPS

I generally haven't had any problems with the United States Postal Service.  Despite the fact that they have seemingly, and without any kind of notice, stopped delivering mail to me on Wednesdays.  But a particular item that I had ordered has apparently proved problematic.  It was supposed to be delivered a week ago.  Here is some of the USPS tracking on this item:

May 8, 6:10 am: arrived at Seattle WA Distribution Center

May 12: in transit to next facility

May 13, 4.28 am: arrived at Everett WA Post Office

May 14, 6.10 am: out for delivery

May 14, 11.37 pm: arrived at Seattle WA Distribution Center

May 15, 1.11 am: departed Seattle WA Distribution Center

May 15, 1.40 am: arrived at Seattle WA Distribution Center

What the heck is going on?  It's apparently in the same facility this morning as it was a week ago.  For a third time.  And yesterday it was out for delivery, but I never got it.  What are the chances I will never see this item?  I fear quite high.   

Chips

I think one of the food items I miss the most from the UK, maybe even THE food item I miss the most from the UK, is crisps.  It's really surprising that America doesn't do good chips (crisps).  They lack variety and flavor (flavour).  And as with every other American food, they are full of preservatives, chemicals and other inferior ingredients.  It's why whenever I return from a trip to the UK, I always bring back loads of crisps with me.  And frankly I wish I could bring back more.  It's a bit of a thankless task, but I have tried to find some "chip" varieties I might like here.  And in that spirit, I came across these today:

You won't be surprised to know, but pineapple (and chili?) flavored crisps do not taste particularly good.  Just weird.  Nope, these do not scratch the itch.