The Red Planet
On May 8th last year, (in response to a Musk post about how he was going to have an uncrewed flight to Mars by 2026) I wrote about how that was complete and utter bullpucky. We are not going to Mars anytime soon. Probably not within my lifetime. Internet trolls stomp on me every time I comment on the latest article about riding there in Musk spaceships and how great it is going be. There are four very real scientific reasons this is not going to happen. If you want to read about them, revisit my post "Fly Me to the Moon" from last year. If you don't know how to do that from my site, pop me a note?
Apparently, the great man has just figured out what a retired janitor (me) has known for many years. Gloating is never a good look, but I had to take a victory lap after reading this: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/08/science/elon-musk-spacex-priorities-moon-intl-hnk?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=user/CNN
Big surprise, he now thinks Mars might be twenty years away? He thinks maybe we should concentrate on the moon first? Or could it be ... that after giving Trump $290 million for his re-election campaign, he got one of his billionaire buddies (Jared Isaacman) placed in charge of NASA? Was that the quid pro quo? There are several billion dollar contracts being put out for tender soon? Spend $290 million, get back a few billion? Mmmm?
I will say it again out loud. We are nowhere near advanced enough to go to Mars. There is not much to be had once you get there ... other than a ~$100 billion dollar selfie. If Musk is right, I would be eighty-nine? Hopefully, he will have succumbed to some viral flesh eating venereal disease before then. I would quite like to see someone walking around up there, but not at the cost of living on the same planet with that POS.
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Bait & Switch
SWMBO likes those baked-in-store oatmeal raisin cookies. I think there were 15 to a box for $5.00. Then they went to $6, but you could get them on sale for $5. When they went to $7, I stopped buying them. The other day, I noticed an oatmeal raisin cookie mix at Bulk Barn. She had said she missed her cookies, so I bought a few cups along with fresh raisins. Headed home and made a batch. I am not a baker, but I thought they were pretty good. "Thumbs down, not the same" was her verdict. Sigh. So the very next day, Maddie and I get an Optimum Offer to spend $15 on baked goods and get 3000 points. The cookies are now $7.50, so I bought her two boxes and my net was six bucks a box. We froze them in batches of 5 and left half a box on the counter. When she wasn't looking, I squirreled those away and swapped em out for the ones I made. Over the next few days, whenever I saw her eating one, I felt bad. So I would go to my stash and snarfle one. That made me feel better.
The Lap
I got some input on my dilemma for rebranding our weekly shopping list. In deference to the daily walks that many of us took around two gigantic data centres, I will call it The Lap vs. The Loop. The loop is a golf reference for the rich. Eat the rich. The direction is that the list is now slightly abbreviated and will guide you in a clockwise lap around the perimeter of your Zehr's store. You will hit all the essentials, get the sale prices and maximize your points. It was slim pickings from the offers this week, but check the status on the March 11th ones (fruits, vegetables & seafood) from last week and ensure you are on track to hit those? The flyer was better and included a great deal on my favourite cut of chicken. Here's the list:
We Are Not Watching
Cortina Winter Olympics - on CBS, ABC, NBC, TSN1, TSN 2, etc.
Here are some headlines from my Flipboard feed:
- Expletive-filled cheating scandal between Canada and Swedish curlers
- U.S. will not appeal bogus ice dance results
- Italian ski jumper disqualified over boot size
- IOC bans Ukrainian athlete over stickers on his helmet
- Biathletes to receive reallocated medals after Russian results disqualified
- China is paying U.S. born athletes millions to compete for them
Amateur athletics at its finest, no doubt. I hear Crosby is doing well. Perhaps it is time for him to go pro? Oh, and one more headline. This time, good news:
Winter Olympics plunged into crisis as entire inventory of 10,000 free condoms have been handed out. (Independent - UK Edition). Valentine's week has apparently been embraced enthusiastically at the Winter Games. The entire supply of free prophylactics has been exhausted with one week still to go. You put 3,000 fit,young people together in tight quarters ... someone is going to go for the gold? I predict a whole new generation of gifted athletes is being launched right this moment? Check back for results in nine months!
We Are Watching
Marty Supreme on Netflix - I hope they gave Mordecai Richler's estate some money? It's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz all over again, but with ping-pong (no, really), instead of land around a lake. He has no redeeming qualities except that he is a fast thinker and a faster talker. Near the end, he partially redeems himself, and while you cannot like the character, this performance will surely generate Oscar buzz. Three stars.
Mare of Easttown - I told you there were slow sections when we started this series. Well, buckle up boys and girls. While waiting for Season 3 of Lioness, this is the best thing on television. Five stars.
After The Flood (Season 2) on Britbox - It was not as good as the first season, but it ended well. I don't suspect they did enough to get a third kick at the can.
... and finally
A buddy (KM) once lamented about how all these losers try to start a new diet on the New Year every year. Easy to say for a guy who has had the same waist size for thirty years. I always take this opportunity to re-commit myself to our family's unceasing challenge to not be fat. To that end, I bought a new app this season. After my normal Google search (best weight loss app for old, fat, one-eyed piano players), I settled on the Better application. You log your food, your intermittent fasts, and it plays nice in the Apple empire for steps, elliptical, etc.
I also bought a new dog late last year. Milo is doing much better. Thank you all for asking. We are once again using Puppy Potty Log to track meals, piddles and brown minnows. These two apps are constantly open on my phone, and they have a similar look. I never get far enough to actually log a turd for my lunch, but sometimes I stare at the screen and am not sure what to do next? I even went to the help menu once. In the meantime, I will continue to cheer on those Alzheimer's researchers from the cheap seats. It's going to be close.
Mitch and Maddie
