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Allergic to peanuts?

Are Boiled Peanuts the Answer to Peanut Allergy? (answer: probably yes!)

A few weeks ago Abigail was trying on some fancy Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones my sister-in-law lent me. We were eating at Habit Burger and Abigail noticed the most amazing thing, all of the food tasted more vibrant while wearing the headphones!

I tried the headphones  and instantly the burger tasted even more “flame broiled” and the fries tasted over-salted! Headphones off = everything back to normal!

This would make a GREAT science fair experiment!

My friend Carol C. mentioned this on FB

I am mystified by Budget Car Rental’s business strategy. Routinely, if I reserve a car a month in advance, the daily rate is very high (up to $100 a day). However, if I then modify the reservation slightly (e.g., moving the time of pick-up back or forward by half an hour) closer to the day, the cost goes way down. Recent example: $80 a day initial cost, reduced to $36 when I modified. The cost almost never goes up when I modify (and if it does, I simply cancel the modification).

Why on earth would Budget want to discourage early reservations by using a rate that is much higher than they can realistically expect to get with later ones?

My friend Gil Patchett published his second book recently!

Hear Gil talking about the book

Find it on Amazon:

READY TO EXPLORE THE WORLD: Travel Alone and Meet More Friends Paperback – July 4, 2023

A retired sixty year old research chemist, set out to explore the world alone. Going into the unknown, Gil Patchett discovered that ‘magic happens’ when one boldly goes forth with an open-heart that brings ‘chance’ meetings with beautiful people. This is not a book of fiction, it is the honest, unvarnished truth of the unfolding of events during his travels. He was surprised how everywhere he went, he was welcomed as a single traveler. Gil came to wonder what was the magnet that drew people to him during his travels…it seemed that both he and them were hungry to know about each other. The fulness of the experience inspired Gil to share his memoires with the hope it will encourage others to travel alone and explore the wonder of diverse cultures on our vibrant planet.

A guy on Facebook asked a group for matchmaking advice. My response:

12 years ago I met my now-wife on match.com. I found OKCupid, PlentyOfFish, and a few other free sites to be full of women window-shopping for men which was horrid. I found other good relationships on Match.com years before also. I don’t know what the best sites are now but going with a paid site was better. A zillion years ago I used the Together Matchmaking service and didn’t like it. “5 matches for $750. Go!” The pressure to match was very uncomfortable! It all sucks. Good luck!

I’ve been carrying a Utili-Key on my keychain for about 20 years. It’s rarely quite the right tool for the job, but it’s always at hand and usually gets the job done, which is infinitely better than not having any tool! I carried my Leatherman Wave for a while but hauling 9 ounces of steel on my belt is incredible overkill for how often I need it!

A new in-law saw me using mine and asked for one. Thus began a hunt for a Utili-key! It’s turning out to be very hard! I think the company doesn’t make them any more and there’s a lot of crappy knock-offs out there. The in-law is my wife’s brother’s son’s new wife’s father John!

I looked online but couldn’t find a vendor on the company’s list that actually sells it. I bought some from Temu.com and they were all crap. Each one failed in a different way. One has sharp burrs, one doesn’t close, one doesn’t open, none have a decent regular-head screwdriver, etc. I bought some from eBay and they were crap in authentic looking packaging.

Here’s one of my authentic Utili-Keys (on the left) compared to a knock-off from Temu.

I’m coming to believe that this represents real packaging, and this represents knock-off packaging:

Real Utili-key packaging

.

Fake Utili-key packaging??

But who the heck knows.

Update 10-28-23: I bought a Utili-key from a seller on eBay in the “real” packaging as seen above and it turns out to be a legit Utili-Key! Hurray! Here is the actual, real packaging:

Here was my first experience with a self driving car: I was in San Francisco a few weeks ago to see Dog Man: The Musical with family and friends. I was standing on the SW corner of Geary and Powell, looking at Union Square. I saw a Cruise Self Driving Car pull up to the intersection IN THE BUS-ONLY LANE, stop, put on it’s left-turn blinker to turn onto Powell and proceed to DRIVE STRAIGHT through the intersection! It’s the future of transportation! :-(

Last night, Megan and Abigail treated me to a fantastic birthday dinner at Mi Casa Grill.

I’m so lucky to have Megan as my partner, best friend, and wife! And Abigail is her father’s joy!

Mi Casa Grill is a gem: presentation is always a fantastic three dimensional sculpture and the tastes so fresh, bold, and balanced! A joy from start to finish!

A zillion years ago I took a college English class on the Bronte Sisters. We were told about the intense literary rivalry of the three sisters. Each sister trying to outwit the other.

I couldn’t make heads or tales of the Agnes Grey story. It was just so… … so preposterous! So many scenes were outlandish but done with a straight face. It finally occurred to me that it must be a (secret) comedy!

Give it a listen or a read and tell me it isn’t the best kept secret comedy you haven’t heard in a while!