Duckburg Gazette

Monday, March 30, 2026

Mmmmmmm

A friend introduced me to a drink called Chi and it is pretty amazing. Great taste, refreshing and the best part, no sugars and calories! Now the calorie part doesn't bother me but the no sugar is very important to me and I could drink these all day. A LOT of the sparkling water drinks have zero flavor to me and usually it makes me even more thirsty or my mouth dry. But this, it has a lot of flavor without any after tastes you would get from artificial sweeteners and the flavors are really good. I would say the cans are small (11.16 fl. oz) compared to a regular can of soda (which is 12 fl. oz). I think with the cans being skinnier but slightly taller it feels much smaller than what we are used to but one can is still a good amount. The pack at Costco only has four flavors which are lychee, peach, pomelo and my favorite, strawberry but honestly all four flavors are good. I have seen pictures of a grape and orange which I would very much be interested in trying both but I don't see any where that sells the individually (yet), just in that four pack of flavors at Costco. Maybe those are two new flavors but I'll drink them all!

Weekly Update:
One of the tools I am using to try and declutter my stuff is eBay. I can't remember if I talked about this before but it warrants another mention. Now, I am trying to declutter for the past several years and been doing it through eBay for the most part. It's semi-easy but not quick because you never know when someone may be looking for something you have so you just have to keep reposting it. But at least reposting is a simple two click process and that makes it using it very attractive. I would say I probably sell about 10 to 12 things a year but they range from something the size of a ring or pin to a big board game sized item. It is very random and when it's something small, I don't even notice the impact it makes in redeeming space in my house. When it's something big, that is awesome and I see the small difference but the challenge with that is finding the right size box to ship things in. You don't want to oversize the box because then you have to find extra packing materials plus the bigger the box, the more expensive the shipping. The smaller the item, the easier the shipping (an inexpensive) but the impact of space it makes, negligible. But what is the overall impact is the money that I can earn and set aside, that is the best part and I'm not just throwing stuff away... my junk is someone else's treasure as they say.

At the movies:
No surprise holding ground at #1 is Project Hail Mary with another 54.5 million and that is an incredibly small drop of only 32% from week 1. It is at 164 mil cume and should hit 200 probably by mid-week at this pace. Also holding at #2 is Hoppers with 12.2 mil more and gradually slowing down. New at #3 is They Will Kill You with 5 mil and probably a quick burn out. Drop down to #4 is Dhurandha The Revenge with an extra 4.8 mil and will continue to fade out. Holding again at #5 is Reminders of Him with 4.7 mil which is surprising but should be out by next week.

New movies that did not make the top 5:
Just one this week at #10 is Forbidden Fruits with only 1.2 mil on a wide release and only doing less than $800 per screen.

Quote of the week:
"Where there is great love, there are always wishes." - Willa Cather.

Facts & Tips:
One brow wrinkle is the result of 200,000 frowns.

"Only a fool makes threats he's not prepared to carry out." - Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister in the series

Monday, March 23, 2026

Sprin... SUMMER is here!!

HOT HOT HOT!!

I went to the parks this past week getting some friends in and talk about a scorcher. Monday through Wednesday I would say the average was 95 degrees. Thursday and Friday were both in the low 90's and it didn't break till Saturday when it only hit 88. First day of Spring was this past Friday but I think we completely skipped it and went right to Summer! What does this mean for the Summer weather than? I hope we aren't for record breaking temperatures this year when we officially go into Summer. We already had record breakers for this past week in the start of Spring! Global warming and climate change are such a real thing. It is like if someone sees how green the grass is in front of them and say it isn't green simply because they prefer it to be any color but green. They end up saying I didn't see any green grass. They deny the truth to fit their own mindset and do nothing to correct or help the situation but simply make it worse and worse. People are stupid.

Weekly Update:
It is interesting how maps and map programs have changed over the past 20 to 25 years. Before it was all folded road maps or if you were lucky, a Thomas Guide which was detailed down to the street as long as no construction work had taken place. Then we evolved to things like MapQuest and other programs such as having a navigation system in your car. What was interesting about your car nav is it was only accurate up to the point of when you purchased your car and if you want a more accurate map, you had to get a new CD. Now, the apps for location are so accurate and car navs are connected to your own app or a global tracking system. They now knew traffic alerts or if a car is pulled over to the side that might cause some delays on the road. You can watch someone move blocks by just being connected to them and watching them walk down the street. Even games have mapping that can you help you get around like Pokémon Go! It uses probably Google Maps because I can see the roads and if it's a dead end street or not and my location on the map is so accurate! It is easy to know where anyone is now these days!

At the movies:
Big opening at #1 with Project Hail Mary earning a huge 80.6 million and very positive reviews. Should get to 100 mil in no time and continue it's way to a potentially quick 200 at the box office. Drop down to #2 is Hoppers with 18 mil extra and another 37% drop which is very good. Movie broke into the 100 mil category but 200 may be a stretch. New at #3 is Dhurandha The Revenge with 10 mil to open and this might be a quick burn. New at #4 is Ready or Not 2: Here I Come with 9.1 mil which isn't bad for this film. Rounding off the top 5 is Reminders of Him with another 8 mil and should fade out fast.

New movies that did not make the top 5:
Just one this week in wide-release is The Pout-Pout Fish with 1.5 mil and less than $1000 per screen, this one will be out of theatres fast.

Quote of the week:
"Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out." - Robert Collier

Facts & Tips:
The first vacuum was so large, it was brought to a house with horses.

"You can tell she's a good dancer by the way she drinks her soda pop." - Oscar Nunez as Ramone in The Proposal.

Monday, March 16, 2026

SUMMER!!!

It's about to get HOT!! Ok so this past week was warm (mid to high 80's) but it felt really warm because the lack of breezes. I slept most nights with my windows open and ceiling fan on and wasn't enough some times. But, this week we are about to go into will be a scorcher! Starting early week it will be 90 and then by mid-week it should mid-90's and higher! This is March, right? Where is our Winter we never got and the Spring we are supposed to be in? This is NOT normal at all! The East Coast is getting hammered with a blizzard, that seems normal. As well as parts of the Mid-West, also normal but here, what the heck!! Why are we so off than the rest of the country right now? I know as a country, we are so broken but feels like this side of it is off-kilter a bit. I just want some rain...

Weekly Update:
Recently Panera Bread came out with this new Dubai Chocolate Cookie and I had a thing for a free desert so thought I would try it. First off, it's very small, a little bit bigger than say a Chips Ahoy! brand cookie. It's also a very soft, chewy cookie which is fine but the size is disappointing. Then, there is very little of the pistachio filling inside that you don't even taste or notice it. It was more like a soft bake cookie with some pistachio on top that you could taste but the rest of it, doesn't take anything but chocolate and I really like that pistachio/cream and kataifi pastry filling. That is the key to this Dubai chocolate craze, I mean forget the chocolate just give me that filling please! But the Panera cookie for $4.99 is not worth it, not even if it's half that if they do that 50% offers. Get the better value for the Kitchen Sink cookie when it's 50% or free.

At the movies:
Holding at #1 for a 2nd week is Hoppers with another 28.5 million and only a 37% drop! Movie is close to 100 mil cume and should get there in another couple of days. New at #2 is Remindersof Him with 18.3 mil and could be a fast burn. Also new at #3 is Undertone with 9.3 mil and not much on this one so will likely drop fast. Drop down to #4 is Scream 7 with 8.4 mil extra as it passes the 100 mil mark but likely not go too much further. Rounding off the top is GOAT with 4.7 mil and closer to 100 mil, will get there but will take more time.

Quote of the week:
"Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within." - James Baldwin

Facts & Tips:
Lizards communicated by doing push-ups.

"Do you ever get the feeling that you were meant to do something extraordinary?" - Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli in the TV series Heroes.

Monday, March 09, 2026

What time is it??

It's that time of year again... Daylight Saving Time! But, the one I don't like where we lose that precious hour of sleep since it generally occurs just after midnight so 12AM is actually 1AM. What is funny is how Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe it... most of Arizona? How do you get most of a state and not all of it, that is odd to me. You know what is interesting, I learned last time we changed that other countries do it too! For example I know that Finland does it but not the same time we do and I thought that was pretty interesting to learn. I know they are more Northern hemisphere so I have to imagine it affects them a lot with longer hours of no sun maybe? But I'm glad to know that the US is not the only place that adopts the time change and honestly, I do not mind it. I'm not sure if it's because I've lived with it all my life, I'm just used to it. I know several people who hate it but why? The sun has already been changed due to the rotation of the planet but maybe they are flat Earthers and don't believe it's round and we just flipped to the other side of the coin? Now THAT is just silly.

Weekly Update:
Ok time for Summer to start? Wait what?? Last week wasn't bad, mid-70's to 80 during the day but the weekend ended in the high 80's and looking at the weather forecast for next week... in the 90's. I hope (and I've said it before) this isn't a pre-cursor to what our Summer will be like and will it start now, earlier than normal and will it last longer? What has happened to our weather because just 2-years ago we were having massive rain fall for months, up through most of May and then it switched to Summer and moderately warm but wasn't a complete scorcher. But then last year, barely any rain and just like this year so far, same. A day here, a day there maybe and only for a few hours instead of days. And the rise in temps so soon from what is usually 60's is now 80's, even at night! This is not normal people, you are all doing it wrong.

At the movies:
Hopping in to take the crown this weekend is Hoppers with a solid 46 million to open for a non-holiday time frame. Overall reviews are good so as we start spring break, hopefully it will hold into week 2. Big drop down to #2 is Scream 7 with 17.3 mil which is an above average 73% loss from week 1. It is only inches away from hitting 100 mil, likely will get that in a day or two but it will crawl after that. New at #3 is The Bride! with 7.3 mil and a very low opening as I'm sure they were expecting a lot more. Dropping down to #4 in week 4 is GOAT with 6.6 mil as it gets closer to 100 mil, may take a couple more weeks. Rounding off the top 5 is Wuthering Heights with an extra 3.8 mil as it may cap out below 100 mil but came close.

Quote of the week:
"Tomorrow is only found in the calendar of fools." - Og Mandino

Facts & Tips:
1/4 of the bones in your body are in your feet.

"Eric Bachman, this is your mom, and you, you are not my baby." - Jimmy O. Yang as Jian-Yang in the TV series Silicon Valley.

Monday, March 02, 2026

I can sort of see...

On Tuesday I had another eye ball injection but this was only for the right eye, the one that had the blood vessel burst. This time the aftermath wasn't as bad as before. They cleaned it out much more than before and applied some ointment as well so though the sunlight was very sensitive to me, at least I could deal with it. Also the next day, I could open my eye without pain but it just felt like pressure on the eye all day. But, it did get two injections (anesthetic and the stuff that is supposed to reduce the veins). Still not an overall fun experience at all and I can only hope that is the end of it but who knows. As a precaution, I did take that day off plus the following two and I think that helped. As soon as I got home (within the hour after getting the injections this time), I napped in the dark and the day after, napped more in the dark. I think that in itself made a big difference compared to last time where I was stuck in a parking lot in the middle of the day trying to figure out how to get home! Ugh eyes... such a necessity and such a pain to take care of something goes wrong.

Weekly Update:
Well... we did it, we hit 90+ degrees this past week and it was still FEBRUARY!! It's supposed to be in the 50's, tops but to be in the 90's?? What is happening here and where did the rain go that we had? I haven't checked the mountains lately but I hope its still cold up there so the snow doesn't melt right away. I've been sleeping with the windows open at night as well and the ceiling fan. The AC did turn on a few times over the last few days, I just want it to be cool, doesn't have to be cold but just not HOT. This weather is not good for us right now because it might mean an even hotter Summer when that time frame hits. We are going to be in trouble but we are kind of already in trouble so... we'll just make it worse. I miss the months of rain we had a couple of years back. Where did that all go?

At the movies:
New at #1 is Scream 7 with a solid 64.1 million but reviews are somewhat mixed. Could it be one too many or just not the best time of year to release this one? Next week will be the big tell on how the hold-over lasts. Drop down to #2 is GOAT with 12 mil extra as it gets closer to 100 mil and another small drop. It could potentially hit the 100 mil mark if it maintains this pace. Drop down to #3 is Wuthering Heights with an extra 6.9 mil and a decent drop. It's not far from the 100 mil mark but it will be a struggle to get there. New at #4 is Twenty One Pilots: More Than We Ever Imagined with 3.7 mil and a low number for under 1000 screens with that per screen average. Rounding off the top 5 up a bit is EPIC: Elvis Presley in Concert with 3.5 mil as it gained 9% at the box office.

Quote of the week:
"Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion." - Martha Graham

Facts & Tips:
Pigs can get sunburn.

"Because I enjoy my own company more." - Emily Hampshire as Stevie Budd in the TV series Schitt's Creek.