DS

made the final contractor payment this morning - done and done with stuff. I need to do that long post sometime this week!

Who would have thought housing around Denver and suburbs would be more expensive than northern Virginia? My colleagues swear it is so and when I hear what they pay for rent or the house listings they keep sending me to prove their point I am like wow you guys are right! And I thought northern Virginia was already atrocious.

That Texas pregnant woman story is scary and pitiful. Fuck Texas. As if I don’t say it enough, but no really fuck Texas.

A cousin of mine is headed to Japan for a 18 month stint at his job. I am glad he is not coming to Germany or USA as most people do, but instead chose to go to Japan (he had an option to pick Europe or USA).

Took my Acura for oil change and coolant flush and guy calls me back and says the SUV is leaking oil from timing belt and steering area, and the cost to fix/replace both will be around 3200$. The latest KBB value of the SUV itself is around 4300$ so I wonder if its worth it to fix it at all or just trade it in at CarMax for another SUV? The SUVs run like 115000 miles and I was really hoping to keep it till 200k but I guess decision time now!

The kid is having a sleepover with her bestie at our house. We took them out for dinner last night and generally started talking about their common friends, and both kids go “Oh her, she is such a pick-me-up!". We are like whats a pick-me-up? Then her friend says, you know the middle school girls who throw themselves at every boy they see so they can be picked up by them, those. Then says, its just a nicer way of saying the other word that begins with S.

I am just too old.

We got a blinds person to give us a quote in house and she quoted an absurd 5k for 10 windows. I told her I had a few more folks coming to give us quotes and give us time. She got aggressive about how she traveled 1 hour to come to our house and how she will get a bonus if we signed up today itself. I was like no lady, your products may be the best in world but if I have to shell out that much moolah I sure as hell taking more quotes. She left in a huff and we were like WTF! Whatever chance this company had in getting our contract is totally lost at this point. Also WTF, how can blinds be this expensive? I’d rather just install blinds from amazon!

For all mankind has really sunk - whatever happened to the absolute genius of season 1 and 2. It’s a pity how far this show has fallen. Midway through season 4 and it’s just terrible.

We’ve been watching Modern Family daily these days with the kid, and last night’s episode (The Future Dunphys) has probably one of the most iconic comic scenes of its entire run where Lily goes to the restaurant. We couldn’t help but identify with Gloria’s predicament. We feel like we are losing (or lost) our kid to America and I dont feel good about it. I want my kid to be… umm less American and more Indian, but I feel like that battle’s already lost :(. Its hard to explain what being more Indian and less American is, but I am pretty sure a majority of desi parents like me relate to it in one way or other.

Well, I guess she could start by not talking back at me all the time I suppose, which is very much an American trait I think lol.

I have been wanting to make a long post for a while but just not getting to it. Maybe today afternoon? Who knows.

We watched the finale of Squid Games, The reality challenge last night. I had no idea that we coincidentally ended up watching the last episode as rest of the world did - i always thought this came out way earlier. Anyway, the reality show part of this sounds fun but its so drab because there is literally no one that you can connect or cheer for. Add to it, 3/4 of the “games” are just so random and involve people just voting each other out its just pointless. The amount of time the show spends on banter between people vs actual games is just laughable. I finished the entire season over two nights just by fast-forwarding all the banter and focusing only on games.

The concept of a reality show based on the TV show might have sounded fun on paper but it does not translate well at all. The thing with the show is you kinda always follow a singular character so you know no matter what this character is going to go all the way. The fun is really the how. I wish that if there is a next season, they start off with the winner - and then lead the audience through how this person actually won. I think it would be far more fun than watching 400 odd people dwindle to 2 with zero investment in any particular candidate.

In as many as 2 weeks we’ve gotten email from county superintendent about fatal drug overdose in high schools. Both same high school students who died. On the other hand know from our friends that one of the kids in middle school threatened to pull out a knife during a fight in middle school, then yelled he’d shoot down folks because he keeps a gun with him at all times. Two days later, a separate kid posted on snapchat with image of father’s gun that he would bring in to teach a few kids a lesson.

Just a normal week in United States of America ya’all. Nothing to see here. Move on.

Ugh, spring is at least 3 more months away. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Winters should just be banished forever.

I find Shabbat mode on appliances hilarious. I wish there was a Hindu mode on appliances that made them light up during Diwali, or change their colors on Holi.

My faith in China reporting anything truthfully is near zero, let alone believe anything they have to say about the pneumonia outbreak there. I will just wait for experts on our side to say so that its not a threat. Or in other words I am just waiting for @AnirbanM@mastodon.social to tell me whether to worry or not!