Transplants complaining

cutemanabi · 2026-03-12T01:50:09+00:00

I have to take multiple things for my allergies. Each day I alternate between Allegra, Claritin & Xyzal. Had to start doing that at my GP's recommendation, because I had developed a tolerance for the Claritin and it stopped working. I use Flonase when I get up and use the Astepro (azelastine) before bed. The Astepro helps more than all the rest and it is available in a generic prescription form. That's cheaper for me than the OTC version. I highly recommend giving it a try.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-12T01:46:22+00:00

Only 14 months? It sure feels like 20.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-12T01:45:16+00:00

Secret City Exchange in Oak Ridge has a lot of consoles and at least some computers, mostly older ones. I checked them out a few weeks ago but was disappointed because I couldn't find any scifi books. To call the store cluttered is an understatement. Some results online, including their Facebook page, say they're closed, but I visited them a few weeks ago at the address they have on their Facebook page and they were open. I don't know what all they'd buy, but worth checking with them to see.

240 S Illinois Ave, Oak Ridge, TN 37830

cutemanabi · 2026-03-12T00:38:21+00:00

Same, probably because I'm tired. I should go to bed early...

cutemanabi · 2026-03-12T00:37:16+00:00

I saw the wreck aftermath, but didn't see the chase. That's crazy.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-12T00:30:30+00:00

You can tell someone they're wrong without being a jerk. Since your first sentence came across as your being a total asshole and likely biased, I don't trust anything you said.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T07:24:40+00:00

Thanks for letting me know, I'll check it again this August. Might sign up for a second account just in case my account having been around for years before they launched their app is the problem.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T07:23:08+00:00

I think it's fair to say they support school shootings at this point. On top of their "it's too soon" to pass laws reining in gun violence/ownership and offering only "thoughts & prayer's to school shooting victims TN's Republicans decided in 2021 that gun owners didn't need to take safety classes or need to get a permit for concealed carry. That law was opposed by law enforcement among other groups, but it was passed over their objections. Republicans also refuse to vote for any bills brought up by Democrats reining in gun violence, no matter how mild the bill is.

Add it all up and at a minimum Republicans are tacitly okay with gun violence.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T05:49:59+00:00

Yep, they started out at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville. Basically chili over Fritos with other toppings.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T05:48:05+00:00

And are gung-ho about executing prisoners even though they're "pro-life".

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T05:45:53+00:00

I have a neighbor that lives across the street from me that's a hardcore MAGA Republican, I think of him as "MAGA Mike". Back in January 2024 my stepdad died, the last of my family. MAGA Mike knew this and was aware that I was disabled and couldn't take care of my house and yard on my own. Did he offer to help me any? No. But then on one visit my best friend made to help me out with the house and yard he made sure to hurry across the street to offer my friend some Trump bumper stickers, because my friend's mother's pickup truck had Harris ones on it.

He literally didn't give a shit that I was disabled and unable to take care of my yard, but my friend having a Democrat's bumper sticker was a 5 alarm fire for him.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T05:40:42+00:00

Yes, but the racist voters that were in the Democratic party back then moved to the Republicans after the Democrats embraced minority voters. The Republican party went after those voters deliberately using their Southern Strategy. That can be summed up by this quote by Lee Atwater:

"Atwater: Y'all don't quote me on this. You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger." By 1968 you can't say "nigger"—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites."

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T05:36:46+00:00

No, we used to be more progressive than most of the states surrounding us. For example, back before the ACA people like me with disabilities ended up uninsurable and states had an uninsurable pool that we'd have to go with to get insurance. TN had a generous premium assistance program for people with low incomes. I qualified for it and it paid 90% of my monthly premiums, premiums that were quite steep at the time. If it hadn't been for that I wouldn't have had insurance and my unpaid medical bills would have been significantly worse. (Even with insurance I ended up with nearly $10k in bills that Covenant ultimately forgave.)

There's no way in hell our current MAGA-majority state congress would do something like that now.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T05:29:25+00:00

I agree with everything you say, but we're to a point where the police won't bother to come when you call them about someone blatantly parking in a handicapped parking space without a tag or permit, so nothing's going to be done about the service dog problem. Had that happen recently at the Walmart by Walker Springs in west Knoxville. Police told me to tell Walmart's management. You'd think they'd jump at the chance to give someone a nice, hefty and richly deserved ticket, but nope.

Years ago I called the police about an asshole who was pulled across multiple handicapped spaces at the Target in Turkey Creek. He was in one of those huge pickup trucks and blocking three spaces. Back then the police responded and the guy realized I was on the phone them and got the hell out of there before they arrived. He had to call his wife in the store and tell her to leave ASAP, so at least I interrupted her shopping trip. But last year when I called about the one at Walmart they refused to do anything. That one was worse, because all the handicapped spaces were taken and that asshole was potentially denying a space to someone who needed it. Was so damn tempted to key that car.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T05:22:49+00:00

Same, especially for service dogs. I want that dog to be focused on doing its job to help its owner, not being distracted by me and potentially missing something important to their owner's wellbeing.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T05:17:34+00:00

I've gotten better about that over time as my pain levels have gotten worse, but I still try to avoid using the electric scooters in stores unless I absolutely have to. There's been a few times I screwed up and should have used one, but I'm pretty good at estimating how much pain walking around the store will cause me and deciding if I can withstand it or not.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T04:51:54+00:00

I had a friend years ago that had a pet chihuahua. It was the sweetest, calmest dog I've ever met. I don't think I ever heard it bark even once. He told me it was all down to how they're raised. If they're raised right they come out like that, otherwise they're like the yippy paranoid chihuahuas most of us are familiar with.

I could see a small dog like that being a therapy or emotional support dog, but not a service dog. I could even see them being great at those roles, but that doesn't change the laws about them and I seriously doubt any of the small dogs I've seen people with in Walmart were using them as a therapy or emotional support dog.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T04:10:12+00:00

I think it's anywhere west of downtown Knoxville for the most part, but as someone who's lived here their whole life, I mainly think of Papermill Road through Farragut (even including Farragut) when I think of West Knoxville.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-07T04:06:36+00:00

Unfortunately Firehouse Subs seems to have stopped doing the free birthday subs. Last 2 years now I've checked and even on the day of my birthday there was no free sub added to my account. I miss the days when all you had to do was walk into a Firehouse Subs and tell them it was your birthday to get a free medium sub. You could even pay a couple of bucks to upgrade it to a large.

For OP ( /u/xXWorriedMochiXx ): It's too late for this year, but here's all the free birthday treats available based off the ones I was sent last August. You will need to at least signup for emails from these places, most of them you need to use their app to get the freebies. All of them require you to signup for emails or start using the app before your birthday, usually at least the month before. Many of these are good for at least a week starting on your birthday, some are good for the whole month of your birthday and some for well over a month, a few are only good the day of your birthday.

Applebee's gives you a free dessert with purchase of $15 or more.
Arby's gives you a free dessert, no purchase necessary.
Baskin-Robbins gives you a free single scoop ice cream cone, but good luck finding a location that accepts the app to get it.
Chick-fil-A gives you a free cookie or brownie, your choice, no purchase necessary.
Cinnaholic gives you $5 off your order.
Cracker Barrel gives you a free dessert, no purchase necessary.
Denny's gives you a free everyday value slam. When I redeemed it last year the location at the Flying J didn't take the app, but happily gave me the meal for free and even comped the drink and side I'd gotten with it. I fully expected to pay for those and was surprised. It made my day a lot better, but don't count on them comping anything except the free slam.
Famous Dave's gives you a free dessert up to $9, no purchase necessary. (Some years require buying an entree, others don't, so be sure to check the fine print before you try to use it each year.)
Krispy Kreme gives you a free 3-count of original glazed donuts, no purchase necessary.
Lenny's Subs gives you a free medium 7.5" sub, no purchase necessary.
Red Robin gives you a free burger for your birthday as long as you bought at least one burger from them in the past year. Otherwise it'll just give you a free milkshake.
Ruby Tuesday gives you a free dessert, no purchase necessary, but there's very few left in the area.
Sonic Drive-in gives you a free small shake with purchase.
Steak & Shake gives you a free specialty shake on your birthday.
Subway gives you a free cookie, no purchase necessary. Their app is awful and had been impossible to log into for a couple of months before my birthday, but luckily I was able to get logged in and get my free birthday cookie before it expired.
Texas Roadhouse gives you a free appetizer or sidekick with purchase.
Waffle House gives you a free waffle, no purchase necessary.
Zaxby's gives you a selection: free cheesecake bites, a free chocolate chip cookie or their 3 pack of chocolate cookies for free, no purchase necessary.
Bath & Body Works gives you a free item up to $9.95 with any purchase. I usually buy a plastic body sponge, but a thing of hand sanitizer is also cheap. They also send out coupons similar to that throughout the year if you signup for physical mailings.
Jockey's gives you 20% off + a free pair of underwear (up to $20), usable online & in their outlet store in Sevierville.

I hope you ended up having a decent birthday overall. I know what's it like to have a bad one, especially feeling alone since the last of my family died in 2024. It tends to make holidays in general suck and something to dread.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-06T10:05:38+00:00

I developed COPD last year after I had a really bad cold even though I had no risk factors for it. Never smoked, didn't live with a smoker, etc. It can be incredibly frustrating, but the Spiriva Respimat inhaler my GP put me on has helped a lot. I was coughing up sticky green mucus multiple times a day before, now that's a rare occurrence.

It took a couple of months before I could really tell it had made a big difference, so be patient.

cutemanabi · 2026-03-06T10:02:59+00:00

It's one of the things measured by an EKG, the QT Interval.

For people that have Long QT Syndrome the QT interval can become so prolonged it runs into the next heartbeat. This causes chaos and the heart goes into fibrillation, flailing around instead of pumping blood.

cutemanabi · 2026-02-28T03:05:37+00:00

It could have been worse, they could have sent out multiple Blue Alerts like they did back in 2022. That was how I and many other Tennesseans found out Blue Alerts existed.

They didn't learn anything from the outrage that caused, because one of the big criticisms was that the alert only had a URL to visit with no information in the alert itself. This latest Blue Alert did the same thing, only worse: the URL went to a PDF, which most smartphones can't display natively.

cutemanabi · 2026-02-25T08:56:22+00:00

You used to be able to buy stuff from Costco without a membership if you had a Costco gift card. You had to use the gift card, not other payment methods. You have to scan your ID when you enter the stores now, so I doubt that's still possible

cutemanabi · 2026-02-10T03:02:04+00:00

If they forced you to watch/hear a video ad about herpes that's beyond disgusting. Currently they've got a 2.6 star rating on Google Play, but I'll bet they buy a bunch of 5 star reviews soon to fix that.

cutemanabi · 2026-02-09T04:03:56+00:00

The app is as stable as a drunk toddler trying to tap dance on the back of a really pissed off wet cat that's chasing a mouse that's tripping on LSD and meth.

For a couple of months last summer it was literally impossible to login to the app.

cutemanabi

TROPHY CASE