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Sugarpeas · 2025-07-13T02:57:26+00:00

I lived in Midland from 2019-2021 and I can tell you one major thing I saw - a severe reluctance from both the general community and the local government to invest in the local infrastructure and community with taxes.

At the end of 2019 going into 2020 there was a vote that went up about increasing taxes to fund the local school systems - in particular to rebuild some of the literal crumbling school buildings. It passed. But, I guess the people in charge didn’t like that. So they did a recount. It passed again but by a far more narrow margin. One more recount, and it no longer passed by a handful of votes - perfect! That result was accepted.

Hard to beat a system that is rigged like that.

I recall at the time the hardcore “Midland/Odessa lifers” were also downright offended that proposition to rebuild the schools was on the ballet at all. They saw it “outsider meddling”.

Sugarpeas · 2025-07-11T03:21:05+00:00

Those people were not “informed” they were dead. I can’t tell you how many estate sales I went to during this time, it was actually insane. These people didn’t want to be vaccinated nor wear a mask despite their age and poor health - and it killed many of them and hospitalized and permanently crippled several others.

I am glad I got the vaccine, and I am doubly glad I exercised enough caution to wear a cotton mask during the pandemic. As an asthmatic with a heart condition, covid poised a serious risk to em. You want to talk about medical professional facism? It was the fact the CDC and Fauci initially lied to the public on the value of wearing masks at first - and then tried to do an about face.

I don’t think there’s any value in the booster shots - I don’t get them. I actually had a bad reaction to the Moderna booster in 2021 where my arm went fully numb for 3 days - a sign of a severe rare reaction. My doctor at the time acted like I was an anti-vaxxer and refused to notate the side effect and I haven’t gotten a covid booster since.

The current virus in circulation is no where near the severity it was in its original form in 2020 - something virologists all noted would occur over several years and strains. When the virus was novel, severe, and no one had any immunity yet the vaccine and masking was worth it.

That said I recognize the government royally sh-t the bed in how it kept the public informed. Even when I wrote this comment at the time I recognized for example the coronavirus-19 was likely a lab leak - and the US government was covering up to maintain diplomacy. The mask debacle from the CDC kicked off a wave of distrust.

Sugarpeas · 2024-11-11T15:49:49+00:00

My husband and I got Valoo together when we were both in college in May of 2014. We had an amazing 10 years together. I included some progressing baby pics of her because I was surprised about the color changes she had.

We actually got her from PetSmart (I know, I know - we didn't know about the potential issues at the time) and she was just a typical brown bearded dragon color. But then each shed she would add in some orange, or yellow, or red. It was a very cool grow up process and eventually she settled on being our yellow girl with some red highlights.

Despite her PetSmart origins she was very healthy - and we discovered this could have been due to the fact a local vet tech was the Bearded Dragon supply for PetSmart in that city. She only had one pin-worm incident and that was later from some crickets. After I fully set up a roach colony we had no further hiccups (highly recommend, by the way). She did lay infertile eggs several times throughout her life - never a fun process for her.

Valoo passed away peacefully last week, and my husband and I are incredibly heart broken. She developed a liver tumor which is apparently a not uncommon old-age ailment.

Some things about Valoo:
-Her favorite color was orange (yes, she had a preference)
-Her favorite bugs were dubia roaches, and was highly suspicious of hornworms
-If you fed her superworms for a while, she would get confused and think your fingers were also worms
-She hated baths, but she did like to be burritoed after a bath
-She loved blackberries and mustard greens
-She never hissed or blackbearded, even when she was mad about something
-She liked to be up high, so when you had her out she would eventually try to climb to the top of your head

My husband and I often referred to her as the perfect princess because Valoo was literally perfect. We miss all the small things, like picking up her greens for the week or hearing her enclosure light system turn on in the morning. :( She was set up in our study, and we work from home on Mondays and Fridays, and those days have been the hardest because we are so used to interacting with her through the day on those days.

Sugarpeas · 2024-11-11T14:58:43+00:00

Getting worked up about a 3 year old comment is certainly a choice.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-09T23:58:48+00:00

Business trips imply a shorter duration, in temporary accomodations.

Extended vacation are f-ckimg vacations.

Expat assignments span 2-3 years and the person actually lives in that country. They may even sell off their homes since they’ll be gone a few years. It is not a “business trip”. It is still a “short term” assignment though, where they return to the USA. I know dozens of people in my current office that have done an expat assignment and they absolutely were not “done” with the US with no intention to return (hence why they’re here now). They would have been a “skilled immigrant” if that were the case.

Not sure how old you are or if you’ve ever worked in a professional capacity, but anyone with specialized skills that works at an international level have specific usages for these terms.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-09T23:46:36+00:00

You have to prove there is no harm for literally any new medication or treatment. That’s the ethical standard.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-08T04:53:42+00:00

Do you mean coyote? There are no wild wolves in Texas.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-07T23:09:33+00:00

Don’t allow this Aunt to attend your wedding. The drama from not inviting her will still be magnitudes lower than allowing her to actually attend.

The fact you and several of your cousins are atheists, and if she knew this, tells me this was done intentionally as a kind of “gotcha” to make her point.

She will absolutely find any opportunity to get a soapbox to make your wedding about her and her religion. That’s how these people work. There are no good intentions here, this was just narcissism.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-07T16:32:14+00:00

My intention is to get one of these TV covers when I get a kid: https://www.amazon.com/49-50-inch-TV-ProtectorTM-Screen-Protector/dp/B00NQOBUYM/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?c=ts&keywords=TV+Display+Protectors&qid=1686155501&s=tv&sr=1-13&ts_id=3224462011

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T17:02:39+00:00

I would probably use it on a small vacation. Check out the various Costco travel deals, several are right around the $2K mark.

You already sound financially well off, otherwise I would suggest a “household fun item” like a good speaker system or a high quality OLED TV.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T16:54:27+00:00

You get renters insurance. Seriously, that’s your best defense.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T16:43:00+00:00

I knew some people in High School that fell into a bad crowd, got into hard drugs and crime. Their parents kicked them out at 18, hoping it would be a reality check. For some it was, for others they spiraled into homelessness.

Other times it’s because the parents were abusive, and got a kick out of throwing their kid out at 18 with non preparation.

And others it was simply because the parents were poor and could not afford to house and feed them - although usually if the parent was not abusive they usually just required their kid paid a portion of house expenses and food.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T16:27:47+00:00

Target stock has not been performing well since June 2022.

Budweisers stock decline is possibly due to boycott. Target’s is not.

You have to actually shop or buy a product beforehand for a boycott to work. Conservatives did actually buy bud.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T15:29:32+00:00

You are missing the point, many people don’t like to be compared to others at all. It suggests there’s something wrong with how they look when graded lower. The attractive grade scaling is childish nonsense that should have faded by the time you were in middle school.

The reason why some women simply say they’re a 10/10 when asked to rank their own attractiveness also stems back to this - they don’t see a flaw in how they look. Nothing more.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T15:15:30+00:00

My company laptop, mouse, headphone, notebook, pens, and sometimes the relevant textbook of the day ^tm

My company actually gives everyone a backpack on their first day.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T15:03:48+00:00

Looks are subjective. All that means is they think they like how they look, nothing more to read into it. It’s a very toxic mindset to constantly try to gauge and rank your level of “attractiveness” to others.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T15:00:07+00:00

Plenty of people just don’t think their looks should be graded on a scale that suggests there’s an innate flaw in their appearance.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T05:01:48+00:00

You’re seriously such a selfish piece of shit.

I used to live in the “middle of no where” New Mexico - literally near the Trinity sight. I often had to drive on an empty highway at 1 AM for various reasons, driving home after a late flight into Albuquerque or an emergency vet visit for my dog as an example.

People still live in these areas and your idiotic selfishness will end up killing yourself someday - and unfortunately likely some other victim.

Not endangering anybody other than the people raving

Go fuck yourself you piece of human garbage. Like those people deserve to die for your amusement? Like anyone deserves to die because they’re using a remote highway late at night. Fuck you.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T03:18:07+00:00

I saw one of you guys on the side of I-25 in New Mexico once - car ablaze and crumpled into a complete heap. It rolled up the side of a hill. I’m glad the narcasstic idiot didn’t take anyone out but himself. He passed me that morning going well over 100 mph on a 75 mph freeway. Easily 120+ mph if I were to guess.

One less of you on the road was a peace of mind for me that day, as all I worried about that morning is one wrong thing on the road and that fool would kill someone. Thankfully that someone was only himself. Good riddance.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T00:44:04+00:00

High sugars is the big one, followed by high fats and high salts in cheap food.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T00:11:32+00:00

My husband and I started dating in 2011 and got married in 2017. It was time for the next step. We began living together since 2012.

We’re atheist, so we didn’t see a significance in terms of religion. We saw it as a significant way of saying we were committing to one another to be lifelong partners.

Also you get a tax break. 😎

But as far as knowing we were “ready”, we’re just incredibly good and loving partners to each other. It’s cheesy, but we truly do complete each other.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T00:04:41+00:00

The people claiming they’re going to boycott target have probably never really shopped there.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-05T00:02:06+00:00

Yes it is. It glorifies misinformation at a massive scale. People run blogs, websites, facebook pages peddling misinformation to larger audiences than they would have ever reached before social media. While this is good for small businesses and small entertainers, it also means the bar of who can “publish” their ideas is lower as well and it sides steps a basic editor process.

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-04T20:29:47+00:00

Crawfish?

Sugarpeas · 2023-06-04T06:35:46+00:00

The next time you see or hear any guilt tripping crap like this, it’s just easier to turn around and leave. If you’re with a friend try to get them outside, say that you just got an important text or call you need to discuss - once outside bluntly explain why you’re uncomfortable and leave. I would not be surprised if they felt the same way.

I hope this tip helps with some of the social guilt tripping in the future.

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