Starcade

For the past couple of weeks, every time I've been in Safeway, I've overheard the employees complaining about people not showing up for work.

It happened again today.

Apparently many are reporting off sick-- which in the news yesterday, they did say Covid is on the rise again. But the employees seem to think some of their people don't want to work. I could imagine if they're understaffed-- which they are, it makes it harder on those that who are there.

Today it even affected the internal Starbucks inside Safeway. By 8am, they hadn't opened yet because no one showed up to work. One of the customers had wanted coffee and came by the checker to mention it. Weirdly, there's another Starbucks within walking distance in the same shopping center. 😐

#Safeway #Starbucks

Fed says they're keeping interest rates steady. No surprise there. Three officials were in favor of a rate increase.

Dow ended down 1,152
Nadaq went down 433
S&P 500 went down 112

Not a good day for the market.

PG&E wants to raise rates to give money to shareholders?!

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/pge-faces-backlash-over-rate-hike-request-for-26-6m-shareholder-reward/4120236/

"Why aren't oil prices higher? Staggering drop in energy demand leaves strategists puzzled."

https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/article/why-arent-oil-prices-higher-staggering-drop-in-energy-demand-leaves-strategists-puzzled-100000046.html

Today I'm going to head out and get an oil change.

This was something I need to do and had been thinking about lately.

That there could be a possible oil shortage and increase in charges as a result, added a new sense of urgency.

I didn't want to do this yesterday, because I figure Mondays are probably busier than mid-week.

Unfortunately I'm just going to sit in the waiting room until it's complete. Hopefully they'll be able to take me as a drop in. I'm going to head there, and hopefully arrive as they open.

Good times.

The digital version of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2026) has gone on sale this week for $10.99

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is a science fiction comedy film directed by Gore Verbinski and written by Matthew Robinson. The film stars Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry, Tom Taylor, and Juno Temple. It follows a man from the future who travels to the past to recruit patrons of a Los Angeles diner to help combat a rogue artificial intelligence.

US release date February 13, 2026

#Sale #Movies

Car wash was not open when I passed by a moment ago.

Are they performing maintenance?

I can't seem to find anything about it online, other than people thought it was closed a few months ago.

Did it change hands?

The entrance and exit were coned off and it was not running.

Hope they didn't go out of business.

Might have to pursue a plan B.

Looks like the US national average gas price has gone up .02 since yesterday.

It's now $4.53.

A year ago it was $3.18

#Gas

Gas this morning is $4.49 here, which is the same price it was about a week ago.

National average is $2.98, a .05 increase from a week ago.

#Gas

National average gas price went up again. I believe this is 25 consecutive days of increases.

It's now $3.98, a .01 increase since yesterday and overall increase of $1.19 since January

#Gas

White House is on lockdown after a significant number of shots nearby

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/23/politics/white-house-area-gunshots

The US national average gas price went down .03 from yesterday to $4.52

The price has been either holding steady or going down a few cents without much happening

Oddly, local pricing for the least expensive gas has held at $6.09 for 3 weeks now. That the national average goes down, but our pricing remains firm, means there's likely price gouging going on here or manipulation elsewhere. Perhaps both.

#Gas

US National average gas price has increased .01 since yesterday. It's now $4.56

A year ago it was $3.18

#Gas

"UN agency warns Hormuz block could trigger global food crisis"

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/un-agency-warns-hormuz-block-could-trigger-global-food-crisis

Mom dropped off her car today for an oil change. The GM dealership told her the cost is going up soon.

That pretty much echoes what I've read online.

Have one last item to complete on my car to do list, after having my tires checked, and the oil changed. Now need to get my car washed.

This is perhaps my least favorite activity, and one that I hold off on, in the event there's any chance of rain. I don't think it's going to rain anytime soon, so it's time.

On the TV news this morning they mentioned the motor oil shortage and increase in cost likely happening as a result, which is why I pursued an oil change. This first caught my attention late last week.

US National average gas price has climbed .02 since yesterday. Now at $4.55

It was $3.17 a year go.

#Gas

Dow is down 900 points, Nasdaq is down 350 points, S&P is down 80 points.

All because of the Fed having to make a decision on interest rates.

How much you want to bet they're going to keep the rate the same?

They're likely going to need to raise the rate at some point though.

25 years of Xbox...

(actually longer as I had an original Xbox with a different screen name)

I stumbled upon something most curious via Amazon Prime today. It's yet another way to sell the same movies over again.

You can now purchase IMAX Enhanced movies from Sony.

Some appear to be recently added.

Ghostbusters II is such an odd choice to enhance 🤔 You would think the original would be a better choice, and apparently Sony is or was planning to release the entire Ghostbusters collection in IMAX Enhanced versions.

UPDATE: Ah, come to find out this was a feature for movies on Sony Playstation 4/5 via an app, that they've made available outside of their service for the first time. While you can rent/buy some films directly from Amazon, others appear to want you to join Sony Pictures Core 😐

https://www.reddit.com/r/imax/comments/170w8nu/full_list_of_sony_pictures_core_imax_enhanced/

#Movies #Sony #IMAX

I'm almost through Season 2 of Halt and Catch fire. The series switches gears from computers to online services, for a company run by Cameron that has online games, and later chat during the year 1985. Along the way they touch on Commodore 64s, IBM mainframes, UNIX, and even Nintendo.

It's interesting that they deal with areas where I have familiarity.

I was involved with online services. Also worked with UNIX systems and IBM mainframes

There were some liberties that the show has taken, and there was an implication that they stumbled upon broadband before it was available. Also they pretend to put together a UNIX client in 24 hours, but it's really a Commodore client they already had

Like Season 1, there's complications that appear in every episode, to the point where I don't find the show enjoyable. Too much happens all the time. I don't know what the writers were thinking. I keep going back to that I don't like the Cameron character

I have a feeling that Season 3 is going to switch gears again

Kyle Shanahan was injured in a car accident?

And it happened 2 weeks ago?

He experienced a concussion, broken noise, ribs, hand, and facial injuries 🙁

49ers start training camp today. Although he may be there, another coach is taking the lead for the time being.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49446662/49ers-shanahan-limited-camp-car-accident