Author: Doug McCaughan

Noticed my phone becoming burning hot in my pocket. Turns out I pocket dialed 911 for 40 minutes. Mea culpa emergency services.

It’s that time of night where I debate pulling an all-nighter to complete my commitments or decide to get some rest and wake early. That waking early is the gamble but staying up is almost an assurance that I’ll pay for it for the next 3 days. I really wish I could stay awake a solid month. I’d accomplish so much!

Seems lately I find myself spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about what I would say at various funerals. All I can really say is several of you really, I mean really, do not want me speaking at your funeral.

Never say “It cannot possibly get any worse.” You have no idea the power of the demons that incantation releases.

I’m so tired my brain hurts

Breaking point? I passed that sometime back in 2007.

Every 5 minute job turns into a fucking multi-hour job because my tools apparently get up and love themselves around in the night. Bought some nice cutting blades for the kitchen repair and cannot find them to save my life. Shot I only put my tools in 3 places in the house. Wtf!

Yes, today is the Fourth of July. A holiday in the United States. I’m going to try to squeeze in 5 days of work into this one day. Todo: plumbing, cleaning/organizing, computer programming, car shopping, appliance shopping, and antenna hanging.

As an entertainer, you learn early that a microphone will always be hot at the worst moment. A “hot” mic is a microphone that is turned on and will carry your voice to the audience. People in Zoom meetings, Google’s Meetup, MS Teams, etc. learned the hard way during COVID that microphones will carry your spoken word, bathroom sounds, barking dogs, and whiny children and the most inopportune times.

If you have a microphone nearby, assume it is hot. Assume that someone is going to hear what you say because of that microphone. Even if it is unplugged assume it is listening. Think of all the microphones near you. It’s not just the boom mic for your meetings or recordings. It’s the microphone in your phone, the voice assistant in your house, the mic on the Roku remote control, your camera, your security cameras, your drones, your Xbox and other game systems, and so forth. You are surrounded constantly by listening devices.

Every now and then I’m reminded we once lived without cellphones.

My happiness comes in accomplishments. And today I’ve been getting things done!

Getting work done. My hvac died on April 5 and I finally have 4 replacement quotes so we can return to a livable house soon. I’m making cleaning progress. And more.

From an outsider’s perspective, we may look like a mess. Yes, our kitchen plumbing failed. We have electrical issues in the house. The hvac isn’t working and the humidity today sucks. The car got some scratches in a minor accident. And I’m trying to buy a second car.

From my point of view, so much good is happening and coming together that I’m going to have to put on sunglasses to look ahead in my calendar.

A tree branch took out one of our outdoor chairs last night and I just heard another come crashing down. The joy of living in Woodland Acres.