Here’s today’s haiku for you…
Exercise is hard,
When you are in the office.
Make use of the stairs?
Category: Generic
I’m an Animal
Given the frequency with which I post pictures of cats, the expectation here may be that I am going to compare myself to a cat. That comparison works in some respects but not others. Cats sleep all day. They are often considered to be lazy. Well, domesticated cats are at least. Those are qualities that I feel are accurate descriptions of me. Unfortunately, cats are also known to be ass kicking hunters who are always down with killing everything around them. They are very much pro-slaughter. Those are not accurate descriptions of me. I’m a peaceful guy. Maybe even a pacifist (unless we’re dealing with Yankees fans… or fascists).
So no, cats are not animals that I would compare myself to. Sorry. I asked Google Bard, or whatever it’s called now, to give me a list of animals that might work.
Here is what I asked, “give me a short list of animals that are known to be slow and lazy and are easy prey for predators.” (note, the response is slightly edited as it included images and some links which I have removed)
Here are some animals that are known to be slow and lazy, making them easy targets for predators:
- Sloths: These masters of hanging around are incredibly slow-moving due to their low metabolic rate. This means they spend most of their day sleeping or hanging motionless in trees, making them easy pickings for jaguarandi, harpy eagles, and even some snakes.
- Pangolins: These unique mammals are covered in tough scales, but they’re also slow-moving and have poor eyesight. When threatened, they roll up into a ball, which can protect them from some predators but not from determined ones like tigers and hyenas.
- Armadillos: While some armadillos can burrow quickly, they’re generally slow-moving herbivores. Their main defense is their bony armor, but jaguars, cougars, and large snakes can still break through it to get to the animal inside.
- Koalas: Koala spend most of their days snoozing in eucalyptus trees. This slow lifestyle makes them vulnerable to predators like dingoes and pythons.
It’s important to note that being slow or inactive doesn’t necessarily mean an animal is defenseless. These animals have evolved other strategies to survive, such as camouflage, venomous bites, or prickly defenses.
https://gemini.google.com/app/855452ea7906df52
Those are all good. Well, Koalas are super cute so they don’t work. Armadillos and pangolins… I think their defenses are too good to relate to me. That leaves sloths. Full disclosure, I was planning on using sloths for this post even before I went to the Google for advice.
Sloths! That’s the animal I compare myself too. Slow… lazy… all they do is eat and sleep and hang around… kinda painful to look at…
Yeah, that’s me. Call me Robbie the Sloth. Best animal comparison ever.
A Good Week
This post has failed to upload multiple times. What’s up with that?
Induction Burner
Boilin’ water, induction style!
Moody Cat
She sprawled out on the bed. I sat down to pet her but she moved out of my reach. Moody little feline.
48 Years to Go
This one is dumb. Why would I write a letter to my future self? My future self would know everything I wrote about before I wrote it. Writing to your past self is an interesting exercise because your past self does not know what went down in the intervening time. Writing to the future? I guess you can argue that it is a time capsule. It works on that level. I guess. Oh well.
Hey, 100 year old me, it’s 52 year old me. Remember when you wrote this? We just had the kitchen remodeled. I hope the new cabinets and counters lasted a good long time. I hope you didn’t have to do it again, at least not too soon. How is Jen doing? How are the kids doing? If it is May 8, 2071 then Bellana is about to turn 70 and Harry is 68. I assume one of them is President by now, right? That assumption being on top of the assumption that We the People were able to do something about those pesky fascists who are trying to take over, of course. There is so much I want you to tell me about but you can’t because this silly exercise is not a two way street. I mean my future is a much more interesting topic than your past, right? Are they still making Star Wars movies and shows? Are they still as good as Andor? What about Star Trek? Still as good as Strange New Worlds?
There. I’ll send that off in the post, Back to the Future style.
Shopping Spree
Is this a fantasy type thing? Meaning money is no object, or are we supposed to give a realistic answer.
A realistic answer could have been IKEA, given that we basically just went on an insane shopping spree there in order to remodel our kitchen. It’s a case of blog imitating life… or the other way around, maybe?
For a purely selfish answer, I would go with a music dealer. Guitar Center would be the easiest answer. There was a story the members of Rush used to tell about when they got their first advance from Mercury Records. They all went to the best music store in Toronto and upgraded all of their gear. Neil Peart bought the Chrome drum set, Geddy Lee bought his first Rickenbaker bass, and Alex Lifeson bought his first(?) Les Paul. That’s sort of what I would do. I’d go into the store with nothing and come out with a whole new gig rig. A custom shop Gibson guitar, a high end Fender (or Marshall) amplifier, and maybe a few new pedals.
That’s a fantasy answer, but if I were really going nuts I’d go to a shop like Chicago Music Exchange (is there an equivalent in the Boston area? I’ve been Googling and found a few possibilities) where rather than shopping for new, high end stuff, I could shop for actual vintage gear. Legendary stuff. A Les Paul Standard made between 1958 and 1960 and a tweed Fender amp like a 4×10 Bassman from 1959 or so. The real stuff, not reissues. The stuff that’s worth about as much as a small house. Yeah, that would be my uber-fantasy shopping spree.
Honorable mentions would be someplace that deals in vintage cameras (if such places exist), or books, or records, or cats. Vintage cameras, books, or records, but not vintage cats… that would be weird.
Traffic
The ride home from IKEA tonight should have taken a bit less than an hour. Then I got stuck behind an accident on route 128. After that I got stuck behind an accident on route 128. Oh for crying out loud. It took almost two hours.
Here’s a cat to cheer me up.
IKEA
My Middle Name
Daily writing prompt
What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance?
We already did a prompt writing about our name, didn’t we? I guess focusing on the middle name is different… different-ish, I guess.
There is no deeper meaning behind my middle name, just as there is no deeper meaning behind my first name. My uncle, my mother’s big brother, had the same name but that’s not exactly where my name came from. I’m a junior. I was named after my father. James is my middle name (you can see it in the URL of this page) as James is my father’s middle name.
I’m named after my dad. I am proud of that, even if it often made answering the phone annoying because once I hit puberty our voices were pretty much identical over the phone and people would think I was him when I answered and just start talking. Nope, you have the wrong Robert. Hold on a second while I get him…
Inside the Red Head's Head 