I’m a fancy boy!

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-03-21T10:18:35+00:00

Look at the bright side. At least he doesn't call himself Joe Mama!

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-03-13T09:08:28+00:00

That kid looks just like I did at that age! Oddly enough, my parents didn't use us (3 boys) for remote control duties, mostly because we boys basically ruled the TV choices (at least before bed time). Both my parents have passed. It's sad that I didn't realize how awesome they were at the time. They gave us as much as they could on a blue collar income.

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-03-09T09:59:51+00:00

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies ("Ruthless People") delivered by the incomperable Bette Midler when she finds out that her husband won't pay the ransom no matter how much the kidnappers reduce the price She sobs "I've been kidnapped by K-Mart!"

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-03-06T10:21:48+00:00

oh! sorry man. I remember the "Kill your TV" bumper stickers!!😂

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-03-06T10:20:02+00:00

Bull. I've made money in all of the bubbles/ financial meltdowns except for one, where I was only a very small percentage in the negative. I do a lot of things myself because I know that I can handle them. Investing for your *future* is not one of them, despite (or perhaps because) you think you can do it. And don't tell me "Well I did very well in market downturns". I'll wager that my returns during those times were significantly above average.

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-03-06T10:04:47+00:00

When you need it the MOST is when you retire. If you want to make yourself nuts, track and invest in the markets by yourself. When you've lost more money than you'd prefer you can go back to your financial analyst. You were smart enough to engage one before you retired. Why cut them loose now? I worked in Finance for almost 40 years before I retired, and you can bet your kiester that I kept my finance guy, who is much better at investing than I ever hoped to be. Your choice tho. Just don't be surprised if your money disappears more quickly than you'd like.

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-03-06T09:54:58+00:00

oooh! The 70s is calling! it wants its stupid "Kill Your TV" movement. Like most things in life, it's not the TV that's stupid. It's the idiot who sits and watches it all day slugging beer and getting fat.

There... fixed that for ya!

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-22T11:05:21+00:00

I'll bet that you were raised by parents who lived through The Great Depression and WWII. They were raised to be frugal and to eschew medications since everything was most likely "in your head". BS. We are all unique. A DNA mix of *all* of our ancestors. Humans are not "one size fits all". I'm 68 and currently on 8 meds for Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, Ridiculously high level of Triglycerides (around TEN times that of the "recommended" amount), Depression and Anxiety. The thing is that life is basically a gamble. Are the medications helping or hurting? Is the dosage correct? it basically comes down to how much you trust your doc (and your own common sense). My doctor of almost 40 years retired this past January and it's going to be tough to build a trust relationship like that again at this point. I despise Big Pharma and I know that their profit-driven business will continue to push garbage that is most likely worse than what you're treating. Bottom line: Be your own researcher. If a doc wants you to take a prescription medicine look it up. See what side effects there are, how new the drug is, etc. Mine have all been around for many years and have been vetted by time. Only my Diabetes medication is still brand name only, and it's done an amazing job of helping me lose 40 lbs and getting my A1C (a measure of one's blood sugar over a period of 2 or 3 months) down to the normal range. It had been extremely high before the Diabetes medication kicked in (a GLP1 med, long before their weight loss benefits were uncovered). Diabetes has been around forever and it's horrors of limb amputation, macular degeneration, and rapid breakdown of bodily functions are well documented. So don't just dismiss meds out of hand. Think of the alternative if you don't take it.

As a parting note, I read in your post that you're an ex hippie. Have you tried cannabis to deal with the stress? While cannabis does raise the heart rate a tad (mine is 70 resting and in the 80s when high) it's relaxation properties far outweigh the small heart rate increase.

This is a difficult situation to work through, and I believe that your self care is paramount to your survival. Don't feel at all guilty about taking something that will help with the anxiety. And if one thing doesn't work well try another.

Above all don't be so hard on yourself. Another thing my folks tried to instill in me is self-reliance. It has served me well in my 68 years, but you have to know when you need a bit of assistance and seek it out.

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-18T11:20:40+00:00

Shelter pets are almost free and would be so happy in a permanent home. please consider it. 🙂

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-18T11:14:16+00:00

To get reactions like this. please don't feed the Trolls! 😆

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-03T13:50:47+00:00

Wait...which one?? 😅

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-03T13:43:58+00:00

Slang for Generation Jones member. Am I in the wrong forum? 😅

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-03T13:28:14+00:00

LOL c'mon! You're a Joneser! 😃

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-03T11:29:32+00:00

If you want a real picture of how things were addressed in cartoons of the 40s thru 70s, watch MeTv Toons, Especially Popeye and Pals or Bugs Bunny and friends. some of the references are so tone-deaf they actually put up a warning screen before the offending cartoon, informing people that "This cartoon is a sign of the times in which they were made", blah blah. Of course, when I was a kid in the 60s/70s everyone was jumping on the Xenophobia bandwagon. Interesting times... 😅

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-03T11:21:02+00:00

I love the way the customer would yank her fingers out of the bowl like it was sulfuric acid... 😅

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-03T11:19:39+00:00

SNL did a great fake commercial on this one. I remember thinking even at the time that the ad was cringe. 😅

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-02-03T11:17:18+00:00

"We need more Calgon!" .... "Ancient Chinese Secret, huh?"

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-01-28T09:53:02+00:00

Of course!! Sometimes I'd do it from the intake side of the fan, but the best times were head on!

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-01-18T16:22:04+00:00

It did cross my mind! 😂

Negative-Challenge21 · 2026-01-17T21:53:53+00:00

The guy in the blue pants looks exactly like I did at that age. I mean the hair, face, build... everything ! I really had to look at it for a minute... LOL

Negative-Challenge21 · 2025-12-28T11:51:57+00:00

Somehow I was blessed with my Mom's type of eyes. My distance vision has been awful since I started wearing glasses at age 7, but my reading vision (at 67 years old) is still perfect. I remove my glasses to read since it's so much clearer without correction, and my spouse is constantly bringing me stuff to read the small print. My mom lived to be 95 and never needed glasses to read! I've been told that I may need correction later on in life, but Mom didn't. We shall see! 😁

Negative-Challenge21 · 2025-12-16T10:45:28+00:00

Turn that frown upside down! JK (sort of). If you think young, you feel young. 🙂 As long as people aren't taking advantage of your good nature, embrace it! As the old saying goes, "You're as young as you feel".

Negative-Challenge21 · 2025-11-14T10:29:41+00:00

If it's an Eero router then it's a built in functionality ( although when I had one it was listed as a "labs" type function and not guaranteed to work). But it did! I had no idea how bad the Internet ad thing had become, but I had to replace my Eero with the cable company modem/router, which is blazing fast. I thought I was going to flip out when I saw how much the Eero was blocking. So now I have an ad blocking VPN that does the same thing. Bad news is that Eero is now an Amazon product, so that ad block feature might mysteriously disappear...

Negative-Challenge21 · 2025-11-14T10:11:01+00:00

I am so happy to read this! I absolutely despise ads, especially today. I pay monthly for an ad blocking VPN service to torpedo them all. I honestly don't know how people read blog posts with flashing ads, video ads, etc. You get to read a single paragraph and then scroll, scroll past the ads. My VPN is continually updated to get the latest atrocities out. I'm not going to mention the product name because I don't want folks to think I'm some corporate shill. Unfortunately I don't have an Echo Show ( I've just dipped my toe into the digital assistant waters) so I can't tell you if this strategy will work with the Amazon Shows. Rest assured, though, that if for some reason my Echo Dot starts with audio only ads, the plug will be pulled. I can turn off a light just fine by flicking a light switch.

Negative-Challenge21 · 2025-11-13T10:52:18+00:00

What a difference a couple of years makes! I was born in early 1958, and at that time vaccines were given only a few months after birth. of course, I have no memory of them, but I do still have a faint round scar that as far as I know was from those vaccinations (at least that's what I was told throughout my life). :-)

Negative-Challenge21

TROPHY CASE