“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 777 (Monday) – smoke and quirks

Yesterday had an exciting moment where I realized I hadn’t smelled phantom cigarette smoke for about a full day. It had been about a month or more of smelling it which has felt like forever. It was decided to enjoy the break for as long as it lasted. It didn’t last long. Today, the disgusting cigarette smoke smell is back. It’s back so thoroughly that I can taste it. Yuck.

It isn’t the first time this has happened, but because the past couple years have felt like one big stretch of time, I can’t recall how long ago it happened. It happened “ago” and then it stopped for a delightful stretch of however long it was, and now it’s back. If I ever need to be a witness in a court case, someone is doomed. 

Toothpaste doesn’t really help get rid of the smoke flavor, nor does mouthwash. Eating a lot of different stuff was also not helpful. Believe me on that. Many things have been eaten in an effort to eliminate the taste. You know, in the name of science. The experiment seems to have failed, but the eating has been fun. 

Tonight's effort included mushrooms, carrots, and garlic sautéed in butter and red wine and tossed with chicken and sprinkled with parmesan. It confirmed that phantom smells can't be eradicated with real food. At least the food tasted good, despite the smoke before- and aftertaste.

In other “not the first time” news – that new phone that was set up two weeks and a few days ago has already begun waging war. The old phone had a square fingerprint pad on the bottom of the screen area. It was easy to access and mostly worked except for the quirk where it wouldn’t recognize the print if my fingers were cold or if I had just washed my hands and my hands weren’t chalk dry. 

The new phone fingerprint ID is on the power button, a skinny little strip in the side of the phone that is hard to access when the phone is in the protective case. It worked mostly ok for a couple weeks, except when my fingers were cold or had just been washed and weren't chalk dry, but today was the third day it has delivered an error message or worse, done nothing at all until it says “too many failed attempts.” 

Today, it didn’t work all day and required the passcode to open the phone. And now, just as mysteriously, it is working again. Clearly, my Bad Technology Karma is feeling frisky and having fun. Maybe it’s protesting me giving it the finger all the time. Or something.