Visit to SAMS

 Every other month, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, my wife and I travel to SAMS in Knoxville.  It takes about 45 minutes to get there, depending upon traffic of course.  Walmart is right besides, so we sometimes shop at both.

Today, it was just SAMS and what we look for are bulk items which at usually, but not always, cheaper.  Our trip consisted of toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex, McCafe pods, Mountain Trail Mix, cans of chicken and tuna, Olive Oil spray, toothpaste, and some salads...  There were a few items that we could not find.

Once we finish shopping, we purchase two hotdogs and 32oz drinks for $1.25 each.  The hotdogs are all beef and remind me of the hotdogs I used to buy at baseball games when I went to see the Washington Senators.

So, we paid $2.50 plus tax for our lunch that was delicious and filling.

Some of the items were on sale and the $15 in savings was offset by the $15 in tax.

Each box of coffee pods lasts me about 30-33 days, I had just opened my last box, so I will be in need of a trip to SAMS in about 2 months.

BTW -  we pay attention to prices of bulk items and sometimes it is still cheaper to buy the individual items at WalMart.  I have no idea if other shoppers make those price comparisons or not or just assume bulk is always better.

Atlas Goes Hands On

Term Limits

 

Chocolate

 

Guns

 

Replacement

 

Reagan

 

Black Cat

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Soccer's European governing body UEFA pledges $1B over the next six years to develop women's soccer across Europe (More) | Actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney sell minority stake in Welsh soccer club Wrexham to New York family (More)

> Morgan Wallen's "Love Somebody" ends Shaboozey's “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” nearly four-month reign atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart (More) | Grammy Awards to be simulcast across ABC, Hulu, and Disney+ beginning in 2027; CBS has hosted the awards show since 1973 (More)

> Federal grand jury in New York is hearing new evidence in Sean "Diddy" Combs' racketeering and sex trafficking case (More)


Science & Technology
> Study finds autism diagnoses in the US rose by 175% between 2011 and 2022, with people aged 26 to 34 seeing a 450% increase; researchers attribute rise to improved screening and other unidentified factors (More)

> Deep sleep helps recovery from heart attacks, researchers discover; immune cells that stimulate sleep neurons are released following heart attacks, which in turn reduces inflammation in the heart (More)

> Researchers create ultra-precise 3D tumor maps of kidney, colon, breast, and other types of cancers; "tumor atlases" reveal of the cancers evolve with single-cell resolution (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow -0.2%, Nasdaq -0.6%) after report shows US economy grew slower-than-expected in Q3 at a 2.8% annual rate (More) | Super Micro Computer shares close down 33% after auditor resigns (More) | Reddit shares close up 42% after reporting first-ever profit a day before (More)

> Microsoft earnings top expectations, with revenue up 16% year-over-year thanks to cloud business (More) | Meta beats earnings expectations, posts lower-than-expected daily active users (More) | Russia fines Google $20 decillion over channel bans on YouTube; figure exceeds world's total GDP (More)

> Estée Lauder appoints longtime senior executive Stéphane de la Faverie as CEO (More) | Dropbox to lay off 528 people—about 20% of workforce (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Pentagon says North Korean troops in Russian uniforms are headed toward Russia's Kursk region, where Ukraine has launched a counter-offensive; number of troops estimated to be between 3,000 and 11,000 people (More)

> Taliban bars Afghan women from praying loudly, reciting prayers in front of other women in latest ruling (More)

> McDonald's E. coli outbreak spreads to 90 people across 13 states; CDC says slivered onions are the likely source (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Always Having Somewhere To Go

 

A couple of days ago, I early voted and since my vote is private, I am not going to share it with you.  

Yesterday, I went to see my orthopedic doctor to discuss the results of my knee MRI and discuss my path forward.  Since that is also personal, there is no need to share that either, except to say, it's a bitch getting old.

Today, I went to Fastop, a mile from the house, to get a couple of cups of vanilla cappuccino and receive my free gift for each drink purchased on a Friday.  Two, snicker's bars one of which was shared with my wife, who also enjoys snickers.

For the next THREE WEEKS, there is absolutely nowhere that I have to go nor is there anywhere that I need to be.  So, I am staying at home, and I may or may not shower and shave for a while.

It is somewhat of an irony that as soon as I retired, I could not wait to start going on vacations each month and my wife and I did, in fact, go somewhere every other month from 2016 until 2020 when COVID hit.

Not only did COVID slow us down, but it changed our mindset of wanting to go SOMEWHERE.  The last thing that my wife and I now want to do, is go somewhere.  We enjoy staying at home and not having to get cleaned up for anything.

However, doctor visits and appts have ruined that goal as it seems that some weeks, we have to go somewhere every day.

Somewhat Political

 

Light Travels in Both Time and Space

A groundbreaking achievement by physicists from Imperial College London has brought new insights into quantum physics by recreating the famous double-slit experiment in the dimension of time. 

Led by Professor Riccardo Sapienza from the Department of Physics, this research team explored how light interacts with a material whose optical properties can change within a few femtoseconds, revealing more about the fundamental nature of light.

The original double-slit experiment, first performed in 1801 by Thomas Young, showed that light behaves as a wave. Later experiments demonstrated that light also behaves as particles, revealing its quantum nature. 

In this classic experiment, light was passed through two physical slits, creating an interference pattern that displayed light’s wave properties. This experiment became crucial in understanding not just light but also the quantum behavior of particles like electrons and atoms.     READ MORE...

BTS "BTS Special 2018 KBS Song Festival" Reaction - So much talent in 1 ...

Simple Halloween

 

End of October in East Tennessee

 

Obviously, this is the last day of October 2024 and obviously, this is Halloween, but what is not obvious is that I am sitting on my back deck in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt because it is EIGHTY (80) degrees outside at 4:00pm.

I am sitting in the shade because the sun is on the other side of the house, and I am drinking Vanilla Cappuccino coffee that I purchased at Weigel's Convenience store, a mile from the house.

In point-of-fact, I purchased two large cups (24 oz) and when I finished with one, I simply heated up the other one in the microwave for a minute and I am again good-to-go.

The weather is supposed to dip down into the 60s tomorrow with rain but for the next 5 days, our temps will again be in the mid to high 70s.

Not trying to BRAG...  well, maybe I am just a tad, East TN weather is damn near perfect, and we still have four seasons albeit some of them short.

I moved here in 1990, and I am glad that I did.  I am also glad that I am retiring in this area because even though the rest of the country are experiencing inflation and high prices, it is not bothering us too much here.

However...  bear in mind, that my wife and I have had no debt for over 15 years and our lifestyle is simple and plain...  We buy only what we need, not what we want as a general rule.

Halloween Pumpkin

 

It's the Aging Process

 My birthday is today, and I am now 77 years of age.  I don't feel any different today than I did yesterday at 67.  But there is nothing I can do about time.  It is not that bad being 77 because I only feel like I am 80.   lol

I went to the Orthopedic doctor this morning about my left knee and both shoulders and was reminded that my problems revolve around ARTHRITIS that was brought about and exacerbated by EXERCISE and BEING ACTIVE.

My first thought was:  PISSER...

Hard to believe that trying to be HEALTHY would eventually bite me in the ASS.

On the other side of the coin, when I was 60 years old, I had a triple bypass-level heart attack and the cardiologist said had I not been as healthy as I was, the heart attack would have killed me.

Of course, this was 16 years earlier...  I am sure that a decade and a half made a lot of difference.

I will eventually have to have hip and shoulder replacements, but the orthopedic surgeon said he will not do those until I BEG FOR THEM TO BE DONE.

I still believe that I will live into my 90s but I wonder what my physical body will be like almost twenty years from now.

Haunted House

 

Halloween

 

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