Cav's Place

On July 22, the bathroom light failed again, though that LED tube was bought only nine months earlier. And dad had moved the box with receipts, so I asked him to tell me where it was, but he kept saying that he won’t bother with the warranty after such a long time and bought a new LED tube, from the same place and leaving the broken one there. And when that new one was identical and came with a warranty certificate, I remembered that I had kept the old one’s, actually in the kitchen, so I grabbed it and again asked him for the box with receipts, so he’ll at least be able to go back and get the old one replaced on top of buying a new one, since the fixture allows for two and we were only using one anyway. But he just said that he’ll do that next time, and when I pointed out that he insists on not defending his rights, since it’s not the first time when he refuses to make use of warranty or a right to return, he said “not at this level”.

After getting in bed when it was almost 5:30 AM, after dad left for the weekend, after getting up on July 23 I took out the part of my “stash” of food which I had bought for Micky in November, since dad seemed to want to keep giving that kind to Liza and there was a sale at Mega Image over the weekend but even so the price was higher than what I had paid for those back then, so I counted them as having been purchased at the price they had at that moment, making a “profit” of a few RON. But that was after having decided to count 100 RON out of what dad gave me for that month as not actually being for me, without telling my parents that I was going to do that, so it’ll be as if I contributed towards the vet expenses for Micky to some extent as well, not just giving my parents a part of the money out of what I had set aside but adding all of it to their “debt”.
I did also go out that day, however, taking the plastic and metal, the things that I take to Kaufland and some other trash and leaving at 7:45 PM, dropping off the recyclables and that trash in bins on the way… But coming back with the other things, since on top of the bin for masks having been removed, I could no longer find the other bins either at that Kaufland, which I reached after first getting what I wanted from Carrefour Park Lake and having the cashier ask how old I was and say that she was just asking when I asked why, which was odd, and then quickly stuffing the purchases in the backpack, putting them in a cabinet when I reached Penny, at 9 PM, and getting what I wanted from there as well.
After retrieving my things and once again putting them in a cabinet after reaching Kaufland, I ended up needing to wash my hands in the women’s bathroom, having no way to do so in the men’s, and walking in the store when it was just about 9:25 PM. I meant to go straight to the bakery area, but noticed that a single bundle of green onions was left and it had an evening discount, so I grabbed that first, and still holding it in one hand caused me to struggle to get the two breads of that kind that were left, eventually managing when another guy held that glass, or more probably plastic, open for me… Which made me wonder whether he had also wanted them but got there just a few seconds too late. Either way, I then grabbed some more things from that area and a few other products and, while the price labels weren’t changed again, at one point a 75% discount was announced for bakery products and they were indeed 75% off when I got to the self-checkout… And yet again almost stole something by accident, a discounted pack of biscuits, but at least I remembered it before paying and scanned it as well. Then, with the store closing just as I paid, after retrieving the other purchases from the cabinet I again had to use the emergency exit, and then went to the table that’s farthest from it in order to arrange everything, the others being occupied. Not that I did it properly, so I ended up stopping twice more before actually leaving that area, at 10:15 PM… And then stopped yet again after a little while, to put that cloth bag around my neck again, since placing it in one of the other bags had caused that one to be too heavy.
On the way back, I went to the Mega Image that’s next to Tei, walking in with the backpack and the bag that was around my neck and using two cabinets for the others. With that discount applying to all of the cat food, there was a better kind that I was looking for, and while none of that seemed to be left and I even asked an employee and he said that they didn’t have any more elsewhere either, I did find two last ones of a similar kind, from the same brand, so I grabbed those… And the cashier gave me 1 RON more as change, but I let her know and handed it back. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinets and got back here, but after dropping everything off, putting the peas in the freezer and giving Liza some of that new food and seeing that she ate it, I went back out and checked this nearby Mega Image as well, though it was almost certain that I won’t find any more of that food there, and that indeed proved to be the case.
It was almost 11:50 PM when I was finally back for good, then ate the sweet pastry bought from Kaufland, with added honey, and the last apricots and drank the tea. It was 12:55 AM when I went to shower and 1:30 AM when I got back to the kitchen… And only then remembered to weigh myself again, to see how much I had carried, so that difference of 21 kg compared to what I saw when I first walked in, carrying everything, probably meant that it had been closer to 22 kg, considering what I ate and drank before showering. Either way, despite still having some more things to do, I almost managed to stick to the schedule, cheating a little, taking the cheese and sour cream to my room and mixing them there, in order to start eating dinner seconds before 3 AM, and at 3:40 AM I was scraping breadcrumbs and sunflower seeds off the plate, though that took a few minutes. On the other hand, my legs were burning again, the right one in particular, the feeling going all the way up in that case.

Since I was again sleeping poorly, just getting some brief naps before waking up again, on the morning of July 26 I eventually got up and tried that test that I already mentioned, to see whether restoring from the backup and setting the date back to the day before the old license expired would allow me to continue to use Emsisoft Anti-Malware (EAM) as before, without it being connected to a workspace. So I unplugged the HDDs again, first tried to see whether the fact that I had repartitioned the SSD so the system partitions would be the exact same size as on the system HDD would allow me to restore on it directly, and when that failed I set its ID to that of the system HDD and it finally worked… Or at least it did after also using the repair option, since on the first attempt to boot from it I got an error stating that it couldn’t find what was needed. Of course, there were still things that it couldn’t find once it did boot, the HDDs not being connected, but I could update EAM and see that it did continue to work as before, also after setting the date back to the correct one.
However, when I rebooted the system seemed to freeze, just a couple of lines of the boot text being displayed, so after a while I pressed the reset button and it booted normally after that. But EAM only detected three external storage partitions instead of four, and if I shrugged it off at the time, when I rebooted again into the repair environment, in order to change that ID back, I saw that the external HDD was no longer detected at all. And after rebooting again, normally, and confirming that it wasn’t detected, I noticed that it seemed to keep spinning, and it resumed doing so after I unplugged it and plugged it back in. It even seemed to continue to spin after I turned the computer off, to reconnect the HDDs and close the case, once again resuming spinning after I again unplugged it and plugged it back in. I could only breathe a sigh of relief after booting back into the normal system, considering that test completed, and connecting the external HDD to another USB port and seeing that it once again worked. And then I tried the old one on the port which had seemed to cause the problem and that one worked just fine as well, and while I didn’t dare to try the new one there once again that day, I have done so since then and the problem didn’t reappear, so I have no idea what happened then. And I’m also not sure why Comodo Firewall forgot the HIPS settings again when I rebooted one more time, since it’s been a while since that last happened, it hadn’t happened the first time and nothing changed between those reboots. And it took many attempts before it actually imported the settings properly, though at least it eventually did.
Otherwise, that day I also received a reply from Carrefour, saying that they’ll send that cashier for more training, since employees are available to check prices until closing time, and that they corrected that price label but I will be able to go to the customer service desk and buy that yogurt at the price that was listed then. As for sleep, I only got in bed at 5:20 AM, admittedly after a late nap, getting in bed after dad left for work and getting up at 12:55 AM.

July 27 was when dad cracked the cutting board almost in half when he cracked some bones on it with the hatchet. The crack didn’t quite go all the way through, but I clearly needed a new one. On the other hand, that night I also made a lot of work for myself when I wanted to put the pot with what dad had made for himself in another, in water, so it’ll have a chance of cooling. That other pot was only a little wider, so there was little room for water and I put in far too much and also placed it on the counter, since something else was on the other side of the sink, and if at first I removed some of the water and only a little splashed on the counter on the next two attempts, so I was able to wipe it with the sponge, I eventually ended up being certain that I had removed enough and just dropped that pot in the other one… Resulting in a lot of water on the counter and flowing down, right where the drawers are, and into them, and into the second one in particular. And my teas are also in that drawer, so I had to take everything out of that one and remove it, also take out the things from the front part of the other drawers, spread everything around, wipe what I could, let everything dry, set the teabags that got a little wet to dry as well, and then put everything back. Still, even though I already put some of the things back before dinner, it only led to starting to eat at 3:05 AM and I still managed to finish at 3:40 AM.

On July 29, I went out at 3:05 PM, going to Park Lake and first having a look at refrigerators in that Media Galaxy. But the main reason for going there was to get detergent from Carrefour, that being one of the categories of products that they were giving those vouchers for those days, so I got a 13 kg bag and put it in a cabinet, then also took care of the second matter, asking at the customer service desk whether I had understood correctly that I could get that yogurt at the price that was listed then, since I hadn’t received another reply after asking for confirmation by e-mail. At first the employee told me that I should have bought it then, but I had taken a screenshot of the e-mails on my phone and let her read them, after which she made a call and then confirmed that I could get two at the current price and then come back to her and have the difference refunded. The problem was that I had checked those yogurts before getting the detergent and they were expiring on August 2 or August 7, and those were large cups, and small ones, also bio (organic), were among the expiring products, so getting two would have been a bad idea, but I first got three of those cakes that are three for the price of two, and as I was looking through those I noticed the employee from the customer service desk heading to that area and when I went back there I saw that more of those yogurts had been brought and they expired on August 14. So I did get two of those after all, along with two of those expiring ones. Then, after checking out a cutting board and not quite liking what I saw, that system that they have in that location assigned me to the same cashier who had told me that the price couldn’t be checked, so I moved to another line when I realized it, and also used the voucher, the receipt again being taken away.
After returning to the customer service desk and having the difference refunded, I retrieved the detergent from the cabinet and struggled to carry it, getting back at 5:25 PM, though that was after placing that bag on the bench that’s in front of the building and taking some time to pick some fruit from the tree that’s here. Then I had one of those cakes, the other two being for my parents’ birthdays, ate lunch, and just before 7:30 PM I went out again, rushing to Cora.
I hadn’t been there in a long time, but I wanted to check out a cutting board that I had seen on their site, so I got there at 8:05 PM, first very quickly glanced at refrigerators in that Flanco, then went in, explored a little, spotted large packs of chamomile tea and got one, then looked through those cutting boards and found one that seemed to be mostly made of a single piece of wood, only a small part on one side looking different, so I got that as well… Though when I had a better look after getting back I noticed that, while it otherwise looks like a single piece of wood, there are two more places, towards the middle, where different pieces seem to be joined together, so it remains to be seen how sturdy it’ll actually end up being.
Either way, I walked out just after 9 PM… And somehow took the same route back instead of heading straight for Kaufland and Carrefour. I realized it when I reached Basarabia Boulevard and recovered from there, but that meant losing some time that I didn’t have. Even so, and despite only jogging a little when I was already close to Kaufland, I managed to get there at 9:30 PM, washed my hands, didn’t bother to use a cabinet for the tea and the cutting board, rushed to the bakery area and grabbed some things. I couldn’t find any of the products that I was actually looking for, however, and the discount for those bakery products stayed at 50%, but at least there were no problems with the self-checkout, which allowed me to walk out just before 9:55 PM… And still rush to Carrefour as well, managing to get in at 9:57 PM, obviously once again without leaving the purchases in a cabinet. And, despite having so little time, I managed to find a watermelon that seemed good, again had no problems with the self-checkout, and actually left the checkout area at 10:01 PM.
After taking some time to check that I hadn’t lost anything and put the watermelon in bag, I got back here at 10:40 PM, had watermelon and a sweet pastry bought from Kaufland, went to the bathroom just after midnight, somehow ended up just wasting time on the toilet, and then showered. However, despite being back in the kitchen a little before 1 AM and not having much left to do, only dealing with one bread, which didn’t take long, and deciding to still use the old cutting board, not trying to oil the new one, as you should do before using it, I somehow still ended up starting to eat dinner at 3:05 AM. But at least I still finished at 3:40 AM.

This would have been a good place to end this post, but I’m too far behind, and with the next run that I’m yet to write about having been on August 23, I’ll go up to August 21, to get through the remaining odds and ends before that point, even if I need to post it after this section and then edit it later in order to add the rest. After all, this section already skips forward, covering August 16, when I woke up again when dad got back just as I was falling asleep, likely remained awake until he went to bed, and then got woken up yet again, at or just after 7:30 AM, by Liza going to the litter box and scratching a lot, as she tends to do. So I went to pee at that point, then had a look in the kitchen… And saw a note from dad that seemed to continue the previous argument, again saying that he smelled pee and asking whether I was making “experiments”. And I had checked the litter box before going to bed and there had been nothing in it, and all that was in it at that point was the pee which Liza had just “produced” moments earlier, so there couldn’t have been anything else in between. Plus that when I had gone to the bathroom I had been struck by the smell of feet, or socks, but dad apparently doesn’t notice that and therefore it doesn’t matter.
I was so angry that I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I considered going out, but I was too tired, so I just got back in bed and wasted time, too angry to sleep, too tired to get up… Though I eventually did get up again, getting on the computer at 9:05 AM and finally returning to bed a little after 10:20 AM. It still took me a long time to fall asleep, but at some point I did, and it was 1:35 PM when I woke up again… And again smelled what seemed to be overheated electronics when I went out of my room, like it was on August 8, so I checked the fridge and found that there was almost no ice left inside, but nothing else seemed unusual and it was running again by the time I once again went out of my room, at 4:20 PM, after sleeping some more and then finishing the part about July 25 and editing the post about July’s runs in order to add that as well. On the other hand, later I learned that dad hadn’t even actually used the last two bio (organic) eggs while I was at Carrefour the previous evening even though I had told him that I wanted them for the mamaliga which I had made that night, but only used one and threw away the other, supposedly because there was just yolk inside, though I’d have definitely used it.

I didn’t even manage to finish the above section before midnight, posting what I had and adding the last couple of sentences a little later, but the actual later edits start here, with this part which I added before going to bed in the morning, about August 17, when my initial plan was to look for some evening discounts again. However, in the early hours of the day I realized that I had what I needed until the next planned run, so I sent dad an e-mail to ask whether he’ll remove the stove top in the evening, so I’ll be able to wash it… And when he said that he will I wrote another e-mail, to ask whether I could get myself some pastries or if he could actually get them for me, so I won’t have to go out at all… And that just drained me, I panicked, started shaking and pretty much shut down. I still sent the message, but it was a mess and ended by saying that I had to recover, and when I woke up and went to pee after he got up, I struggled to tell him to not get anything, knowing that he was going out, and that was even harder to do because he didn’t hear the first time and I had to say it twice. However, after I went back to bed and only got up again when he came back, he said that he had forgotten to get bread for himself, so I asked whether he wanted me to go to Auchan, since that kind is much cheaper there, and ended up doing that, taking the plastic and metal and some trash and leaving at 4:15 PM. I dropped the recyclables and the trash in the appropriate bins, but kept the torn bag I had taken the recyclables in, meaning to throw it in a bin meant for plastic bags that I knew was supposed to be at Auchan.
Despite being in a hurry, since I went past it I decided to have a quick look in Supeco as well, though I didn’t find anything to get. Then I got to Auchan and rushed in, finding some of that bread but no price label, so at first I just took one and looked for a price checker, to confirm that it was still at that old price. Since it was, after wasting some time checking expiring products and yogurts, the discounts being too low for the former and the prices too high for the latter, I got four of those breads. Also looked for the other kind of bread that I’d get for dad from there, even asking an employee when I didn’t see any in the spot where it should have been, but she just said that if they still had any then it should be there. So I grabbed two more things and then went to the self-checkouts, finding that more had appeared and seeing signs stating that cash was also accepted. However, after an employee probably noticed that I looked rather lost while standing in line, asked whether I’ll pay with cash or card and pointed towards one side after I answered, I just waited for one of the machines from that side to be freed, used it to scan my purchases, saw that by scanning dad’s store card I received a 15% discount for one of the other products… And only then noticed that I could only pay by card, so not even all of the machines from one side accepted cash and I had assumed that they did, not checking again before that point. So I walked away and moved to the first machine that became available and actually did accept cash… Only for it to keep saying that the bar code was wrong. So I called the employee and she also tried, first with dad’s bread, then with the other products, then she logged on and tried again, but nothing seemed to work. Yet it finally did work after she logged out and tried again, that time starting with the other products.
Those problems with the machines had caused me to lose time that I didn’t have… And then I lost a little more by going to the other exit, since I remembered that the bin for plastic bags was there… But that had apparently been removed as well, so I just threw that torn bag in the bin meant for plastic and hurried back. However, on top of not actually running, when I reached the farmers’ market I decided to have a quick look, since I needed apples, and actually found a small quantity of cheap ones. So I picked some of those, handed the bag to the girl who was there, she weighed it, asked whether she should add a few more, to get to one kilogram, I agreed… And she picked those that seemed eaten by worms. But at least she gave me 1.2 kg, according to what I saw when I got back and weighed that bag. That detour really caused me to run out of time, however, so I started jogging after leaving the market… And finding that it was really hard to do so, the fact that I soon pulled my mask down not making it that much better either, so I really struggled and was soon drenched in sweat despite carrying only a few kilograms, one problem being that the bags didn’t allow my arms to move, and I couldn’t step properly either.
I got back a couple of minutes after 6 PM, even did the day’s squats, ate one of those apples, lunch and the large plain pastry which I had purchased, adding honey on it, and later I went to the bathroom… And only came out three hours later, after using the toilet, washing the stove top, also struggling for a while with those supports that the pots are actually placed on, though I didn’t put much effort into cleaning those and they were still soiled after I was done, and then showering. Forgetting to take gloves made cleaning that stove top a little harder as well.
After eating dinner that night, I also finally replaced that old Sudoku magazine which had been on my desk for so long with the other one, realizing that I should have done so when I cleaned my room… Not that said other one hadn’t also been in my room while I had COVID-19, but it had at least been behind me instead of right in front of me. Either way, before going to bed I took the teddy bear back as well, since it seemed dry enough, after having placed it in the washing machine two days earlier, along with the blanket, at which point I had also sewed a little tear which I had noticed in one of its legs. On the other hand, I again had that feeling of having fluid in my abdomen, and when I weighed myself the next day I saw 49 kg, and that was after going to the toilet, so I was obviously accumulating something at that point.

And now I’ll get to the last two sections, which I added to the post Monday evening, starting with the morning of August 20, when I couldn’t sleep at all, which unfortunately seems to now be the rule after running. I kept tossing and turning and there was no chance to fall asleep, so at 7 AM I got back on the computer and finished writing the notes about August 19, getting back in bed just after 7:45 AM… And, since there was still no chance to sleep, getting up again half an hour later and deciding to start reading a book… Which I have only “used” in this manner since then, just reading a little more on two other occasions when I couldn’t sleep, plus one chapter read while waiting for the family doctor, so I really should actually get to it. But, to return to August 20, I got back to trying to sleep at 8:55 AM and some time later finally did fall asleep. I got up to pee at 10:25 AM, but could get back to sleep quickly after that, albeit not for long, since the next time I woke up it was just after 1 PM and I got up at that point, so I only slept for a total of just over three hours. On the other hand, that evening I saw that the price of that TV tuner had dropped sharply, so I did finally order it… Apparently just before it went out of stock even for that store.

As for August 21, I had been thinking of going out if I’ll clearly decide to not do the half marathon run the next day and when dad got back and said that he hadn’t looked for some limescale remover from Mega Image after all, I had a good reason to go, so I left at 8 PM and went to the Mega Image that’s close to Penny, eventually finding that limescale remover, though I had to search for it for a while. Then I also grabbed some zacusca for dad and wasted some more time searching for a bag of raisins in dark chocolate in the pile, finding everything else from that line of products except for that. But I was able to find them when I looked in the candy section, so I grabbed a bag, and then also got two packs of those biscuits that were still on sale… And I accidentally gave the cashier 10 RON more, which she handed back.
After taking some time to arrange the purchases in the backpack and a bag, both inside and after walking out, I rushed to Penny, getting there just over five minutes before it closed. The guard told me to hurry and I grabbed some roes, but I was also looking at some sweets, reading the ingredients, when he walked past me and said that they’ll close the door in two minutes, and when I didn’t reply he stopped next to me and insisted until I said that I had heard him. So I didn’t get anything else… And since I was feeling so rushed and the cashier didn’t give it to me along with the change, which was rounded down, I forgot to take the receipt. On the other hand, the other guard asked whether I had walked in with what I had in my backpack, since I obviously hadn’t taken the time to put it in a cabinet, but when I told him that I could even show him the receipt he said that there was no need, he had just asked, and pointed me towards the emergency door, the main exit already being closed, at which point I also told him that all of those products were of Mega Image’s store brand anyway.
With Kaufland also closing at 9 PM on Sunday, going there was no longer an option, but I still went in that direction, to Carrefour Mega Mall, peeing and washing my hands after I got there, putting the purchases in a cabinet, walking in a couple of minutes before 9:30 PM and seeing piles of bags of discounted fruits and vegetables, plus some expiring products, including quite a lot of bakery ones. But before taking the time to search through what was there, I rushed to have a look at the bakery area, confirming that the sign stating that everything was discounted by 50% was there and that several breads of a kind that I could get for dad were left. So I thought that someone else grabbing something that I’d have been interested in from the expiring products area presented the higher risk, since a few other people were there at that time, and I turned around and went back there… Only to not find anything interesting after all. But, being confident that at least some of those breads will still be there for a few more minutes, I grabbed a bag of corn puffs and had a look at some sweets before finally getting back to the bakery area… And finding that it had been cleared, the employees having taken everything away, even though it was only around 9:45 PM. And since then I learned that they had actually left it a little late that evening, since they usually seem to do that around 9:30 PM, which is infuriating. But there was nothing left to do at that point, so after taking another look around I went to the self-checkout just with that bag of corn puffs, at least being able to use the voucher received for the garlic bought two days earlier without having the receipt taken away. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and took quite some time to arrange everything in the backpack, stopping once more after going up the escalator in order to also find a way to get the empty bags back in there.
With the area around the stadium being closed at that hour, I had to walk back on Vatra Luminoasa and Tony Bulandra, and all the streetlights were off on those streets for some reason, which made some areas almost completely dark. But I got here at 10:25 PM, put the purchases in their place, ate a few plums, washed what dad had left, wrote some more of that day’s post while eating some of the corn puffs that I already had, to post what I had just before midnight, then arranged some things in my room, even did the day’s squats, and it was at least 12:45 AM, and possibly even later, since I first cleaned the litter box, when I went to shower, finishing at 1:10 AM. And before dinner I had a slice of the old cozonac, adding honey on it. I had bought that one back in January and a small part of it was still in the freezer, but it still seemed to be good enough.