Author: Michel McDonald

I live in Bakersfield with my partner of more than 30 years. I enjoy reading, crafts, sci fi, video games, and writing in my personal blog.

Premium M&M’s

On By Michel McDonaldIn FoodLeave a comment

mandm-premium-box-mocha-216x300I’m not a rich man, not by any means so when I buy M&M’s I have to buy them when they are on sale.  So when I was at the grocery store looking for the cheap candy I noticed that the premium M&M’s had a clearance on the Mocha flavor for $1.79.

They are kind of strange looking.  It’s kind of like a bronze color with brown flecks.  Normally when I eat M&M’s if they are the plain I suck on it until it dissolves completely.  That way I get the taste for a lot longer.  These are different.  The shell has no flavor at all.  It’s kind of like sucking on a marble.  So my instinct is to just bite down and chew it.

It tastes good.  I love anything that is coffee flavored and this is Mocha so it works for me.  But like I said, it had a clearance tag on it.  What does that mean?  It means they no longer make it and they are on sale to get rid of them.  I know this for a fact because I went to the M&M’s website and they don’t even have this flavor listed anymore.  I had to do a search just for the photo to add to this blog post.

So after this bag is finished (give me 5 minutes lol) I’m never going to buy them again because they are about $4 at the store at their regular price and that’s a bit too rich for my blood for candy.

You Don’t Get Paid To Recycle Bottles? Whaaat?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Green, RecycleLeave a comment

I am talking to a friend that I have known for many cycles.  We’ve been online buds since 1997 when I first got online and was using AOSmell going into the Astronet Chatrooms.

We are talking about recycling.  I was telling her about how much I get paid here in Bakersfield, CA for recycling cans as opposed to how much I get paid to recycle 2 liter bottles.  She lives in St. Louis, Missouri and she informs me that she gets money for recycling the cans but they don’t allow them to profit off of 2 liter bottles yet they charge her .05¢ on top of the regular cost to buy a 2 liter bottle.

This is just another example of how “the man” is trying to screw you out of your hard earned money.

This is what I asked her:

Mike:
ok just so I get my facts straight…

you can recycle 2 liter bottles but they don’t allow you to make any money? yet they allow you to make money from recycling cans correct?

and they make you pay for the blue recycling cans and make you recycle?

Susan:”
right you don’t get money from any plastics at all you can get money for cans it is like 30 cents a pound for cans but nothing for any plastics we have to have them recycled and picked up by the contracted trash company for the city. some cities don’t even get a choice

Are you listening America?  They don’t even give you a choice in some cities.  They charge you .05¢ for the bottles yet they don’t give it back to you.  That’s what the point of the California Redemption Value (CRV) is, that’s why they charge us the .05¢, so you will recycle it, so you may get your change back.

I was at the grocery store yesterday where I bought a 12 pack of diet Dr. Chill (a new albertson’s generic brand lol) and it was on sale for $2.67 which was the only reason I bought it in the first place then the total was over $3 and I was like what?  I thought it was $2.67 and she said CRV and she pointed on the screen that it shows .60¢ CRV charge.  That’s .05¢ per can.  Yeah, you are damned right I’m recycling that shit.

Bakersfield Californian Newsbloid

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YDJnJG7s4E

Since I don’t even read the newspaper I shouldn’t have an opinion but I think having a newspaper that looks like a tabloid is weird.  That one that this guy is reading looks so thin, why do they even bother printing the news if it’s that small?  Why not just abandon the newspaper altogether if you can’t even print it a respectable size?

Or, and this is just a suggestion, why not have more stories to tell?  First they shrink the newspaper down now they are shrinking it way.

I don’t know, I think it looks neat because it’s smaller and probably easier to hold since it’s like a tabloid so it’s not falling apart while you are reading it and when you go to read the different sections you don’t have to fidget with all that paper.

But still, it doesn’t look like a newspaper.  It looks too strange to be a newspaper.  How are all the spies supposed to hide their face when they are holding what looks like a tabloid?  Now if you are holding it up to your face people will know you are trying to hide your face because you are holding your arms high up to cover your face.  It just doesn’t look right.

Are We Alone?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Aliens, Science Fiction, SpaceLeave a comment

Ultra Deep Field in 3D: The most profound animation in history

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAVjF_7ensg

Now do you still think that there are no aliens after seeing that video?  How can Earth be the only planet out of 100 billion galaxies with intelligent life?  It’s impossible that Earth is the only one that is alive.

They may not all be human-like or maybe some of them are.  Maybe some planets have dinosaurs, maybe some have little green men but you can’t be so arrogant to think that there are no other “people” out there.

All those stories about alien visitors and anal probes are probably true.  I’m disappointed that I was never taken and probed lol.

Black Widow

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

blackwidowLast night I let the dog out and I glanced over at this fountain that is leaning against the wall, we’re lazy what can I say, and noticed this huge freakin’ black widow.  I’ve noticed the web before that “it” made, I’ve tried hosing it away but it’s so freakin’ strong and I’ve broken it up with my shoe many times and it just keeps coming back.

So last night when I let the dog out and I saw the spider I went back in the house to grab a shoe cause I was bare foot and when I came back it was still on it’s strong mofo web.  I smashed it with my flip flop but it wasn’t easy getting through that strong ass web.  It was so strong I could hear it making a crinkle sound and I could feel how strong it was too.  It was like this spider was eating her spinach or something like Popeye that it’s web was strong to the finish lol.

So after I smashed it there was all this brown crap all over my shoe, yes, brown.  I think that Black Widow spiders are from another planet.  Well, I guess if the guts were green then maybe so who knows. LOL

It’s scary how many black widow spiders are lurking around our house.  I’m always killing them either in the green can that we put our grass and leaves in or in the back yard or in the garage or our indoor patio.  Luckily I haven’t seen any inside the house, at least they respect me enough that they stay outside lol as if they respect anyone.

Oh so after I killed the spider, the web was still on my shoe and this web is so strong, I wouldn’t say it was difficult but I could feel how stuck it was.  But the web wasn’t made like a regular spiders web, it was just strings here and there with no real pattern.  Kinda strange.

Here is the Wiki on the Black Widow also known as Latrodectus hesperus.  This even mentions how strong the webs are.

Video On Demand

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

I don’t know if it’s just Bright House cable or not.  I’m sure it’s not although I asked my aunt if she had “On Demand” with her Direct TV and she said she doesn’t know what that is.

For those who do not live in Bakersfield, CA and do not have Bright House cable or any other service provider that doesn’t have On Demand, it’s the best thing since the DVR.

In fact you don’t even need to own a DVR for this.  Hell, you can just toss out your VCR for that matter.

You just flip to the On Demand channel of choice.  Take for example Primetime On Demand.  They have all the networks, CBS, FX, NBC, USA just to name a few.  You choose the network of the show you want to watch.  Then once it has a list of all that networks shows then you scroll to find your show and click Select then find the episode you want to watch and push the B button to play it.  It  has very very limited commercial interruption too.  Like instead of having to wait 2 or 3 minutes you just have to endure a 30 second commercial here and there.  That’s it.

It’s not just Primetime on Demand.  There is HBO and Showtime on Demand which will allow you to watch all the movies you have missed when they aired and you can pause, rewind and even fast forward.  If you missed True Blood then wait until the next day and see it on demand.  Or if you were just a half an hour late just click the Select button for the Start Over feature.  You can’t forward in that mode, just pause but that’s ok, you don’t want to cheat now do you?

The reason I brought it up is because I missed Merlin last night on NBC but they don’t have last nights episode there.  I checked the tv guide website and apparently there was no episode last night so I gotta wait another week lol.  That kinda bites but whacha gonna do eh?

Last Night for Chia Time-Lapse

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Tonight is the final night for the Chia Pet time-lapse project.  I still can’t believe my laptop hasn’t had a blue screen or rebooted on its own after being turned on 24 hours a day for the last 7 days.  When I first started it I had it on every second and immediately got a blue screen so of course I had to change it to 1 minute but then after the first 24 hours I saw that it hadn’t even started sprouting yet and I had accidentally moved it a few times so I thought well, it’s time to just start all over.

So on Tuesday morning I started it up again at every 5 minutes instead of every 1 minute.  I checked and there are 1200 pictures so that’s pretty good.  I’ve still been moving it accidentally every day practically lol.  Oops!  I try to move it back to the way it was but I’m sure I didn’t get it exactly right.  I’ll find out when the software I bought puts the video together.

I found a good song online (for free) that I’m going to use against the time-lapse.  I also have footage of me spreading the seeds and stuff.  I’m also going to do a short 1 minute video after I hit the stop button on the laptop that will be on after the time-lapse.

I can’t wait.

Video Professor Free?

On By Michel McDonaldIn ScamsLeave a comment

I see these commercials all the time for Video Professor where the “chairman” talks about how he gives away his lessons on CD for free.  Well, I hate to disillusion anybody but it ain’t free.

I ordered my “free” lesson and when it finally came in the mail I saw the fine print.  It’s free for a certain amount of time.  After that specific time is up they automatically charge your credit card $70.

I got the Frontpage lessons because I thought I was getting it for free for the cost of shipping.  I saw the warning and immediately called the number and told them I am sending it back the next day as soon as I wake up lol.  There is no way I am rich enough to be able to afford $70 for lessons for a program that I’ve been using since 1997 that I am clearly able to use without any of their lessons.  I just thought that they would be able to tell me something I didn’t know but every lesson in there was something I am aware of lol.

It would be one thing if they charged $20 plus shipping for a lesson, that’s at least reasonable but $70 that’s a bit much.  Is it false advertising that they say it’s free then you find out it’s $70?  I think it is.

Ok I have to admit something.  This happened like 2 years ago lol.  I just saw the commercial and it jogged my memory and so I thought I would blog about it lol.

The Bakersfield Californian Tabloid

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

Bakersfield, CA is going to change their newspaper to the size of the tabloid.  It’s already only a few pages per section so I guess they are going to just change it completely so it’s like a magazine.  I guess nothing good goes on in this town that they just don’t have anything to report.

The Bakersfield Californian will change to a tabloid-size product on Monday through Friday starting on Monday, Aug. 17. One of its many benefits is a unique new Classifieds section complete with color-coded sections for ease of use.

That is a quote from their Facebook page.  You know they charge .80 cents for their paper and then the store charges you .05 cents on top of that.  So we pay .85 cents for the newspaper that takes Darrin 10 minutes to read lol.  It’s kind of a rip off if you ask me.  I personally don’t ever read the newspaper, why should I when I can just watch the news you know?  I don’t care about the classifieds, cartoons, obituaries etc.

What I want them to do is put their newspaper on the Kindle because I really want an excuse to get a Kindle lol so maybe if it were kindlized I might buy a Kindle.  I already asked them and they said that they have a digital version but in a PC only program.

I bet you anything if they change to tabloid sized newspaper the price will go up again.