Time For You To Goat (February 2026 Scapegoat Blame Thread)
6January has come and gone. @somf69 gave us a strong start for 2026, but as time marches on, so must the goat. We’re not kids anymore. Get it, because kids.
Next in line to board the love goat and catch your 2026 blame is the lovingly chosen @cbilyak.
Goat to it. 
- 16 comments, 83 replies
- Comment
Does this mean I have to blame myself? Damnit! Let the blame game begin.
@cbilyak
No… I’m pretty sure we can fill that need!
Thanks so much for showing up. I figured we could shoehorn this between your two cruises so you’ll have a reason to celebrate.
BTW… Someone remind @extramedium that today’s Sunday!
A few photos from my recent Love G(B)oat adventure.
@cbilyak
Super nice. Glad you had a good time. Look forward to seeing more pics scattered about this month. We will be hitting the waves March 8th with the granddaughter (14yr old) for a spring break cruise with one of her friends.
@chienfou you are going to have so much fun!!
@cbilyak
that’s the plan!
@cbilyak @chienfou
I love the pics of the drinks with the bartenders ass in the photo, I really needed a good laugh.
@chienfou @Star2236 I aim to please. Prior to that photo that bartender’s ass was juggling bottles and shakers and lost control of one of the shakers. It came flying straight at me, hit my martini glass, snapped it in half and Martini went all over me and my phone and the bar top. It was actually pretty funny.
@cbilyak @chienfou @Star2236 Yikes! Lucky for him that you have a good sense of humor!
@cbilyak @chienfou
Talk about entertainment.
@cbilyak @Star2236
And you’re the star of the show!
@cbilyak WTH?!?!?! I don’t see Captain Merrill Stubing anywhere.
@cfg83
I’ll work on getting that photo on my next cruise…setting sail February 27, so I will be an MIA goat the last 2 days of my goat-ship.
@cbilyak @cfg83
Yeah, I mentioned that when I suggested you. Thanks so much for “showing up” and being active in this short window shoehorned between your two cruises!
(28 days til mine)
@cbilyak You should appoint (anoint?) an overlap blame goat for those two days, since
/showme Anthropomorphized goat clocking in to time clock with sign that says “Sucker … errr … Goat of the Month”.
@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “Anthropomorphized goat clocking in to time clock with sign that says Sucker … errr … Goat of …”
@cbilyak @cfg83 February seems to be cruise season for Mehitzens. I just got back on Saturday and miss it already.
@cfg83 @ironcheftoni it is hard adjusting back to the real world!!! What cruise line and which ports did you experience? I am a self-proclaimed cruiseaholic.
@cbilyak @cfg83 It was a 14 day cruise to Eastern Caribbean
Ocho Rios Jamaica
San Juan Puerto Rico
St Maarten
St John Antiqua
St Thomas USVI
Puerto Plata, DR
Georgetown Cayman Islands
Cozumel
I had been to all of them except Ocho Rios and St John. Although it had been over 30 years since I had been to Grand Cayman.
Cozumel I have been to 5 times but this time docked at a different pier than usual. It was weird because it was the pier next to the hotel, El Cid that I first stayed at 35 years ago on my first dive trip. The hotel building looked the same but everything else had built up around it.
Counting the days until my next cruise in October.
@cbilyak @cfg83 @ironcheftoni
we are gonna be in ocho rios with granddaughter and her friend next month. Did you do any excursions there?
@cbilyak @cfg83 @chienfou yes! I did a zipline and a Jamaican bobsled excursion. The bobsled was a blast! Like a single rider roller coaster through the rainforest.
@cfg83 @ironcheftoni wow, that is great!!! I just love cruising.
@cfg83 @chienfou @ironcheftoni my first job after school was for a tour wholesaler, Jamaica was one of our most popular destinations, so I have been to Jamaica over 20 times. Kind of a been there, done that thing so I haven’t disembarked when any cruise I take stops there. That said, 30 years ago my 2 favorite things to do aside from hang out like a local was Dunn’s River Falls, and when I had more time, a tour to Kingston to see the Blue Mountains and get coffee beans fresh from the farm as well as a stop to see all things Bob Marley - but that is a chunk of time you may not have on a cruise.
@cbilyak @cfg83 @ironcheftoni
leaning towards the bobsled and konoko falls right now. Dunns river seems to be pretty crowded most days…
/showme
the love goat
@cbilyak Here’s the image you requested for “the love goat”
Blame:
Daughter and her crew are STILL without power in the Nashville metro area (day 10)
Unblame;
Local friend is letting them stay in his downstairs Airbnb.
SIL is WFH so he is good. Granddaughter (student) and Daughter (teacher) went back to school yesterday after out all last week.
I think it’s getting old!
@chienfou The novelty has probably worn off.
@chienfou
That’s a long time to go without power in the winter. I was thinking of them when I was reading an article about it yesterday.
@chienfou My cruise companion is from the Nashville area. The morning our cruise set sail, she learned a tree cracked from the ice and fell on her car back home, shattering her windshield and damaging the hood. Poor thing was dealing with insurance people in between Love Goating at sea.
@cbilyak
Oh, that’s really sucks. OTOH at least she had something to divert her attention in between phone calls etc. Hopefully she got it resolved okay. Did she have any power issues at her house?
@chienfou no power issues, thank goodness since her 18 year old son was home. I think she is still dealing with insurance adjusters
She cannot blame me for it happening since I wasn’t goat yet. She CAN blame me for it taking this long to address since I AM now goat 
@chienfou I hope their place is new enough to have been built with the better grade of PEX plumbing. After this long without power, I’d be astonished if the pipes weren’t frozen, and pvc/cpvc can burst just as easily as iron or copper.
Unblame + Blame:
My wife has suffered a nasty cold for the last ~week. Low energy, congestion, cough, etc. I have been taking care of her and the household, and today she is noticeably better and on the mend.
Now guess who woke up this morning with a scratchy throat and runny nose?
Proving once again:
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
@macromeh
Ahhh…BTDT!
@macromeh I accept full responsibility. I am having the best scientists in the world working on an anti @cbilyak vaccine. Be patient with me, please and feel better soon.
I am blaming myself now, and Ticketbastard. My daughter is a huge Harry Styles fan, shocking. He has 30 concerts scheduled at Madison Square Garden - we don’t even live near there. The first half of the shows went on sale last week while I was on my cruise and she had school, so we missed out on those. The second half of his shows went on sale this week. Monday I spent time trying for the American Express presale on multiple devices, browsers, and tabs - no luck. Tuesday same thing for the official Harry Styles presale. Today, same for the general public presale, had Ticketbastard technical issues on some tabs telling me I am a bot, other tabs shows were sold out by the time I got through the queue. I AM NOT A BOT, and oddly enough, those bot accusations were the shows were I had a decent spot in line and maybe could have got seats. Methinks the ticket assholes knew I wasn’t a scalper and blocked me, or something.
I digress, I have disappointed my daughter, maybe disappointed myself more, and I am sad so I blame me.
@cbilyak
Go easy on yourself, sounds like you gave it your best shot!
Nobody has blamed me for anything in 5 days except for me blaming myself.
Is that good goat hood or bad?
@cbilyak A self-blaming goat saves the rest of us the burden of posting blames ourselves.
Keep up the good work!
Unblame! Look at this beautiful sight!
@Kyeh And I thought I was cool when I kept my gigabet alive for THE WHOLE 1998 Baseball season.
@cfg83 I had to look that up & I still don’t get it.
But as for my click count, hey - it proves I can accomplish something, sometimes!
@Kyeh Oops, yet another misspelling, gigaPet …
@cfg83 OHH! That makes more sense.
@Kyeh
Impressive! I’d say those are once in a lifetime numbers!
@Lynnerizer Thank you! They are for me, certainly!
Some people just can’t keep a good click streak
@lonocat You’re way ahead of me in quantity, but I’ve opted to go for symmetry.
@Kyeh I applaud
your work and symmetry, it’s so much easier just to click 
and move on.
@Kyeh @lonocat
Some of us go for a more minimalist approach.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@chienfou @lonocat That’s because you’re busy accomplishing more important things.
@Kyeh @lonocat
/ That’s because you’re busy (thinking about) accomplishing more important things.
There… FIFY!
@chienfou @lonocat
BLAME - I spent the last two days in the hospital (just got out) with not one but two kidney stones that decided to pass as the same time on the same side getting stuck for a while. They finally passed so I was sprung from there. Sucks big time.
Not to mention the ER doc was going to send me home at 4am with no pain meds (since I drove myself there) once the CT scan showed 2 stuck stones and backed up urine because of that. Then she said I should find a specialist to follow up to see if I passed the stoned. I reminded her it was the weekend, no doctor apts plus it takes weeks to get an apt with a specialist, no pharmacy is open at 4am, couldn’t she just give me pain meds until they’d wear off right before I could go to the pharmacy when it was open and she said no.
I told her if she discharged me I’d just go sign back in to the ER. So in a nasty tone of voice she asked me if I wanted her to admit me for pain control. I said either do that or what I suggested. She finally admitted me after someone pulled her aside. FUKCING ASSHOLE. I hope she gets kidney stones and shingles (I had those during chemo and the pain lasted 6 mo) at the same time. I plan to report the bitch.
@Kidsandliz I am so sorry you went through that and had to advocate so hard for yourself. People suck sometimes and when you are suffering, you should be allowed to focus on getting better, not fighting for yourself.
@Kidsandliz I got marginally better handling with my first stone; you’ve heard the tale.
That mess truly sucks. I hope somebody did kitty maintenance for you.
@cbilyak It would help if we had competent doctors here. We are last in the nation for health care for good reason. This is one of them. This is the armpit of the nation for so many reasons. Thanks though.
@werehatrack Yes the people who found fosters for the cats some people I knew left behind when they moved came and fed them for me.
@Kidsandliz
I’m sorry you had to go through this. Unfortunately that is a reality of the system we live with. Not having a pharmacy open in 4 in the morning is a big enough problem in a marginally metro area, a total nightmare in a small rural town like the one I live in.
And I can tell you from personal experience that while you may be responsible enough to stay until the pain meds wear off before you drive home or to the pharmacy, there is no way you can legally keep someone in the ER against their wishes. Once medicated they can sign out AMA (against medical advice), and with HIPPA laws being what they are we’re not allowed to report them to the local police (to have them pulled over for driving while impaired for instance). This creates a huge liability issue for the facility, as well as the potential danger for the community.
That being said, there’s no reason for the ER doc to be rude about the whole process. This should have been explained to you before discharge.
Hopefully they at least gave you some fluids and something like Toradol in an initial attempt to manage your pain. Also hopefully the inpatient experience was a bit better. Typically we would have sent you home with a strainer and follow up instructions. The anticipation would have been that you follow up after a few days (i.e after the weekend) with someone. I realize that it’s difficult to get appointments with specialists a lot of times, but your PCP can frequently facilitate that after you’ve been through an ER visit.
Glad you’re on the mend and back home. Did you ever actually confirm that you passed the stones?
@chienfou it was never actually confirmed that they made their exit because nobody was straining anything. I know the pain was traveling and eventually quit so I’m presuming that I did because it hasn’t come back.
When I finally saw the bulk of the notes, the triage nurse didn’t even mention. I was an excruciating pain and couldn’t stand up straight and I didn’t get adequate pain control until after I have been admitted.
The ER doctor said we’ve given you enough pain meds. It shouldn’t hurt anymore. I told her it barely cut the edge off the pain and it was still agonizing. Turns out it took three times what they originallygave me to stop the pain and then they switched to a more potent pain med.
Moral of that story is if I ever have to go back to the ER, and I hope I never do, if she’s the doctor assigned to me ask for a different doctor. I see she’s got online 1.2 google ratings so I’m not the only one who was unhappy with her.
At least the kidney stones have passed. For that I’m grateful.
@Kidsandliz
Glad you’re doing better, surprised they didn’t have you straining urine while you were inpatient.
Sorry you had to go through that with an ER doc that sounds like she could use a dose of compassion.
I can’t remember from previous discussions if you’ve had many stones in the past. One of the reasons that they will strain them is to analyze whether they’re uric acid or calcium.
At any rate, fluids are your friend (unless you’re a CHF patient)
@chienfou We have the worst health care in the nation. What happened to me is one reason why.
@Kidsandliz So sorry you had to go through that. A friend of mine always wishes people that offend her lifetime diarrhea with spicy butt so hope she gets that too!
Unblame
@Kidsandliz Awwww.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Nice… That’s how Bandit’s name was almost Potter
@chienfou @Kyeh I remember that photo you posted so long ago. Your little one has grown up. I remember to when you wore he’d never be an indoor cat watch. You live to eat those words didn’t you?
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Yep… And they were delicious!
I’m so glad SWMBO’s allergies have been able to tolerate the cats being indoor/outdoor. They have brought a bunch of joy to our lives over the past few years.
@chienfou @Kidsandliz I’ve heard that people can kind of develop a tolerance towards particular cats if they’re around them all the time. My brothar’s allergic & used to start sneezing when he came to my house, but he’s okay now with his own cat.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Adaptive allergies … that’s pretty cool!
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh I went through a period in my late teen years where I was horribly allergic to cats. Eventually it (mostly) passed - now I can hold them and pet them without issue (but still don’t want them near my face).
Blame:
Curse you, goat, for my apathy! I SHALL POST ABOUT THINGS!
Unblame: Posted something today
@Wollyhop There has been a reply to your post.
@werehatrack Yeah, I know.
@Wollyhop I accept full responsibility for your postingaphobia lately and am thrilled to have you back cluttering up the forum threads.
BLAME: Woke up this morning, powered up my desktop PC from hibernation, and my 8TB hard drive appears to be toast. The Goat ghost must have paid me a visit during the night and Goats past and present must have conspired to lull me into a false sense of security so that I didn’t do a backup for almost a year. I think I do still have the guarantee on the drive, but the data is lost. Then again, I’m not done puttering with it.
@ItalianScallion
@ItalianScallion
@ItalianScallion I accept all blame and am deeply sorry. I will call upon my psychic friends to see if any of them can assist in your recovery of data.
@ItalianScallion
@cbilyak Much appreciated. What a Goat!
@ItalianScallion Any luck with this?
@Kyeh Kinda sorta, don’t know yet. Just when I was about to give up and turn the drive in for a replacement, I noticed “Rescue Data Recovery Services” on the label. After doing some digging, I found that data recovery was included with purchase of the drive. Unfortunately I had to call Seagate’s customer service instead of just fill out an online form. An hour and a half later(!), Seagate had what they needed and I had a shipping label emailed to me to send it to their data recovery center. In four to six weeks, I should either have a new drive with all my data on it, or if the data wasn’t able to be recovered, just a new drive. We’ll see…
@ItalianScallion @Kyeh If the platters were still spinning, the outlook is pretty good. I had a WD freeze its spindle bearing at a mere ten years in service a while back, and that recovery went into four figures.
@ItalianScallion So it’s not all bad - you woke up this morning!
@Kyeh @werehatrack Oh, I went the recovery route another time and yes, the cost was over $1000, but they got back all but a handful of files. Didn’t want to spend that again, but when I saw I wouldn’t have to pay for recovery, well… that changed everything!
@macromeh Yes, I woke up and see the box with the hard drive in it that I have to take to the UPS Store. It looks like a lovely, not-too-cold day for a short walk today!
Well I see the failure. The cap blew its top off.
Wait, WHAT?!?
I’ve dealt a lot with bulging caps, but one blowing apart is new to me.
(No goat blame on this. I replaced the other one on the board for good measure too.)
@narfcake exploding caps? And here I thought it was exploding cats! This goat is confused apparently and willing to tape all blame. That is what I am here for anyway.
@narfcake I guess it’s a bonus when you don’t have to bother with testing them.
@narfcake Back that sucker up and get a replacement coming; that cap may have popped for a Reason.
@narfcake @werehatrack Depending on where it came from, the cap might just be old. If not, I’d replace it and if it goes bad again, it’s time for troubleshooting. I picked up a Hallicrafters SX40 shortwave receiver from 1946 and I immediately replaced the caps in the power supply circuit, so this wouldn’t happen… and also would hopefully fix the loud 60 Hz hum. It fixed the hum, but now the power transformer smokes a few seconds after being turned on. I’ll get back to troubleshooting it one of these days. I just hope the transformer isn’t gone; it’s the single most expensive (and hard to find) part in the radio.
@ItalianScallion @werehatrack It’s from a low voltage regulator board off a parts cleaner of unknown origins – it’s devoid of branding and model numbers; no part numbers on any of the boards either. Replacing the whole thing would pretty much be only option without electronics and soldering skills.
(This repair was done for work, at work. Two new caps, and it’s powered back up, so that’s good enough. If it blows up again, then we’ll consider something else.)
@ItalianScallion @narfcake @werehatrack @cbilyak Exploding caps you say! What would that look like?
@cbilyak @ItalianScallion @narfcake @yakkoTDI Mehdi at Electroboom has had way too much fun kabooming them, too.