Into the light of the dark black night...

So I'm back on my HGTV bullshit again, and I just watched an episode where Egypt and Mike designed "the ultimate bachelor pad" for a dude who plans to entertain his friends and family for cards and football games, and who has two enormous dogs, and they put a WHITE COUCH in his living room. Who DOES that?

Otherwise, it was a nice reno - the three-seasons deck especially. But a white couch just seems like a terrible idea for 99% of people, let alone a guy with 2 huge dogs.

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5 things make a post:

- This New Yorker profile of Costco was super interesting, I thought, as I ordered several pounds of pecans from Costco to make holiday gifts for various co-workers.

- The Giants once again had a lead for most of a game and then lost, plus their rookie QB ended up with a concussion. I texted the family group chat that that should be enough to finally fire Brian Daboll, and sure enough, today he got canned. Woof. What a miserable few seasons it's been. Hopefully whoever the next coach is (and the current interim coach) will protect Dart a little better.

- Will the Rangers ever win a game at MSG this season???

- It's the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, so give the song a listen. It still makes me cry every time I hear it. "Does anyone know where the love of god goes / when the waves turn the minutes to hours?"

- I don't have a fifth thing.

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Imagine my excitement at reading this interview with Bob Mould this morning: How Bob Mould rediscovered the great, lost live Husker Du record not because of Hüsker Dü, whom I liked but didn't love, but because he mentions that Sugar reunited. I LOVED SUGAR!!! If I Can't Change Your Mind is 3 minutes of PURE POP PERFECTION and one of my top 5 songs of ALL TIME. Back in the 90s, I saw Bob live solo at least twice (once pressed right up to the stage beneath him and his guitar at...Irving Plaza? I think?), and saw Sugar in concert at least once (maybe twice?). Copper Blue is full of great songs, as is Bob's first solo album, Workbook. (Black Sheets of Rain was also good but less accessible, imo.)

If Sugar actually tours, I might leave the house to see them!

I have other, less fun, work news, but I should probably save it for a locked post sometime later. Sigh.

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A few years ago - I feel like it was sometime in mid-2020 - I bought a pillow that was 1. supposed to be "cooling" and 2. supposed to be good for side-sleepers, and reader, I hated it. Also it fucked up my neck a couple of times, but it was not cheap, so I kept using it. Until earlier this year, when I began trying to make my whole sleep experience better. I couldn't find the pillows I'd had prior to purchasing the crimes against my neck pillow, which I'd liked but had worn out, so I ended up getting something similar, on sale from Quince, so I was able to get 2. Which would not have been my first stop, but they were highly rated, down-alternative pillows available in 3 different firmnesses (I went with medium). It turned out to be a good purchase, because I like them so much better than the old side-sleeper pillow, which I now use between my knees.

I also finally ended up buying not a big fluffy white comforter as I was looking for earlier this year, but a white "cooling blanket" from Rest. It was a NYT Wirecutter recommendation, and it was on sale, which made me feel slightly better about spending money on it. And I do like it. I like it enough that I bought a second one in navy blue to switch out while the white one is being washed. The one thing I dislike though, is that to get the full "cooling" effect (I put it in quotes, but the material is some kind of tencel thingy that cools off very quickly, so even when I feel too hot, I can kick it off and pull it back on after a few minutes and it is cool again), is that you can't use it with a top sheet. And I know some people never use a top sheet, but I was not one of those people until I bought this blanket. But the whole point is to have this fancy cool material against your skin. *hands*

It is lighter than a comforter and probably won't work if you need weight on you to sleep, but along with the pillows, and the percale sheets I've been using since the days of frequent hot flashes and night sweats (which have thankfully become much rarer these days), I've found my sleep has definitely improved. It also helps to keep the bedroom as cool as possible. Tbh, being hot is the #1 reason I can't sleep, and even now, after all these improvements, I do still sometimes have a bad night of sleep for whatever reasons, but I feel like it's a lot less often than it used to be.

In other news, I was off today for Election Day, but since I voted by mail, I didn't have to go anywhere. I ended up taking care of some chores around the apartment that needed doing since the cleaning ladies will be coming on Thursday. And now I'm watching the Rangers lose to Carolina. Sigh.

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Some Sunday sundries...

- Baby Miss L was sick for Halloween, but I did get a lovely picture of her from the previous weekend where she, her mother, and my sister were all dressed as witches. <333

- I made another pot of garlic and bread soup this evening and it's so good and my apartment smells like garlic and olive oil (in a good way).

- However, for the first time ever, cutting scallions made my eyes tear up like cutting onions - I guess the white part is really oniony.

- Yesterday, I also made the dough for those Levain-style chocolate chip cookies and I had one this morning and they're so good. I will be baking one off each morning for breakfast this week.

- Call me crazy, but every time I see that commercial with Paul Skenes (and Questlove and Francisco Lindor), I think it's Josh Allen at first. They look alike!

- Amazon is actually listing book 8 of Dungeon Crawler Carl (Parade of Horribles) but only on audible or in hardcover. Why is there no kindle listing??? The release date is either May 26, 2026 or June 2, 2026 - I have seen both.

- Despite my difficulties with audiobooks etc. I did try the first DCC audiobook, but the narrator sounds like he's an out of shape 40-year-old, not a jacked 27-year-old, so it didn't work for me on that level as well as the various other levels, though Donut's voice was fantastic.

- Still no word that I can find on a date for Alecto the Ninth.

- I was pulling for you, Toronto! Sorry about that. *hands* Was a great series, though, even with that ending.

- and now no more baseball until March. *sadhair*

- At least the Rangers have won a couple of games? Though I don't have a lot of optimism for their season. And I really dislike Chris Drury and his way of being a GM, and unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon. Sigh.

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