cheerfulmonk.com

I love grapefruit and was cutting one in half yesterday when I remembered to check. Yes, Plavix is on the list of medications that grapefruit interacts with. So no grapefruit for 21 days. I’m glad I remembered!

So why didn’t I think of it earlier? Because there were a couple of higher priority things demanding my attention that morning. It was nothing like what Sandra (Mad Snapper) is going through, but the fact is our brains can handle only so much at one time.

I keep thinking of when Kaitlin was little and Andy’s mother told her something and told her to remember it. Kaitlin looked panicked and said,

My brain already has too much to remember!

Good for her for recognizing that so early in life.

September 5, 2026

I’m home and slept in my own bed last night — and we had a gentle, cooling rain. If that isn’t the height of luxury I don’t know what is.

My heart looks fine — I have to take one baby aspirin every day and Plavix for 21 days. If it gets more complicated later, we we will deal with it then. It’s so good to be back home.

And I love being able to blog on my desktop again. It’s so much easier. But bless the iPad for being there for me when I needed it.

December 4, 2026

Argh! I’m writing this on my iPad in the hospital and accidentally deleted what I just wrote. Note to self: keep saving as I write! So this will be shorter, not that I have anything else to do. 🙂

First, sorry about the glitch in yesterday’s comic. I have now corrected the post and here is the picture again:

Bliss

I’m writing this about 10:30 PM September 2, and here is a picture of the ER cubicle where I spent most of the day. (Click on the picture for higher resolution.)

Nothing serious, my left arm felt funny in the morning. It worked fine, but I checked with Perplexity and it said I should have it checked at the ER. So Andy drove me and they checked that everything seemed to be working, did an MRI, and connected me to a neurologist via video. He said it was a stroke, and apparently told the doctor here to monitor me overnight just in case.

I brought my iPad with me, of course, and Andy brought me my charger. More later!

September 3, 2026

Bliss

September 2, 2026

Or first day of September if you don’t go by meteorological seasons.

AccuWeather predictions aren’t always correct, but it is still satisfying that the highs are no longer in the 90s.

AccuWeather

Fingers crossed for us all!

Septemr 1, 2026

Ziggy

I wouldn’t be so sure, Ziggy. It’s the boring, routine things that AI is already starting to do. Notice how often we have to go through an AI bot when we phone for service. The bot takes care of the easiest problems, then sends us to a person when the problem is more complicated. I’m guessing the bots will gradually get more proficient, and the humans involved will be the ones with more expertise.

A lot of research is going on to develop robots that can do physical work:

But presumably the robots will be used when the work can be automated, which means repeatable procedures, or when they are being directed by humans.

Big changes are coming — we’re just seeing the start of it.

August 31, 2026

B.C.

It’s not just millennials and social media. A lot of people ignore the news for their mental health. Things are really getting wild.

August 29, 2026

Country legend Dolly Parton received a Buckingham Palace tribute after her death aged 80, with military guards performing a version of her hit single 9 To 5.

Household Division officers performed the song on Wednesday morning, hours after the loss of the much-loved singer who had been suffering from cancer.
—Daily Mail

How neat is that?

August 28, 2026

I would never hire him to do work for me.

Betty

Betty

Betty

Betty

Betty

Do you watch YouTube videos much? I have been lately, often enough to actually pay to see them without ads. I hadn’t expected that to happen.

August 27, 2026