I hope you'll forgive me for today's post!
This morning in my inbox I found an e-mail from the only friend I have who has been a friend for more than 20 years. He lives in what is generally considered "The West", having been smart enough to take a buyout from GM almost 25 years ago and go to school. He is an ICU nurse, a rancher, a hunter and fisherman. He gives 2nd Ammendment issues (right to bear arms for those of you overseas) as much weight as all the other issues; rightfully so because where he lives you need a firearm to protect yourself and your stock from predators both 4 and 2 legged. I was there once when the County Sheriff reminded him that if anything happens that it will take him at least 45 minutes to respond and an hour for the State Police to get there, if they can find the place...
He has had equipment stolen from his property while he was at work; gates left open and stock let out, though thankfully the horses were recovered, the chickens, geese and turkeys weren't. He has had horses killed by marauding dogs most likely dropped by "city folk"; dogs that had "packed together" to hunt. The last time we spoke he was trying to deal with a badger that was raiding his chicken coop.
He attached a YouTube clip of a right-wing rant against Obama's positions on the 2nd Ammendment (one that included not one word from Obama himself, only half-quotes) and asked me why he should "pull the lever for this guy, give me a reason".
My response:
"How can I answer your question...perhaps the following that greeted me on my news page this morning-
"GAO: Most U.S. Corps. Don't Pay Income Tax"
with a subheader:
"GAO: Trillions In Sales Untaxed For Years"
I'm surprised the powers that be let that one get out right before McBush tries to continue the current course!
I was interested in all the blather going on around the clips you found on YouTube. Just like the ongoing flame wars between "Faux News" and MSNBC, for any clip you can find of one thing you can find it's opposite:
Interesting, because in all 3, despite the dates, he seems to be saying exactly the same thing. Is it the truth, is it how he truly feels in his heart? It really doesn't matter, because even if he wins; even if the Democrats manage to take over the House and the Senate with enough of a majority to actually accomplish something, it will be such a slim margin that the 20 or so "Blue Dog" Southern Democrats will always vote against any legislation that would register or ban firearms, negating anything but the enforcement of current laws already on the books. As they should be!
Even if Clarence Thomas takes driving lessons from Robert Novak, there's no chance of appointing enough justices to change the currently accepted views of the 2nd Ammendment. I don't expect there to be a litmus test in the appointment of judges that asks "Why do you support the overthrow of the 2nd Ammendment" as a precursor to their being appointed as there was under Bushco...the one that the Attorney General announced this morning will not be prosecuted...
Something has to be done to wrest the control of this country and our future from the "Skull and Bones" crowd. That they can write off their corporate profits and pay no taxes on it, tax shelter their personal income and pay less than you and I, leaving us to try and build the roads, teach the children, take care of the sick, buy the aircraft carriers and everything else is just too much for us to bear.
Ross Perot spoke of that "great sucking sound" of wealth being pulled overseas 20 years ago; an even greater divide is emerging between those who "pay for our government" and those who control it.
Will Rogers said 75 years ago that "We get all the government we can afford". Though I can't seem to find online evidence to back it, I seem to remember hearing that when FDR began the New Deal, if you made more than $125,000/year you were taxed at 90%, which was part of why so many of the "robber barons" of old started building museums and philantropic organizations during that period; if they couldn't have it they would give it away rather than have it go to the government. (Just fine by me, BTW!)
I did, however, run across this:
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:D1urkGQS-DYJ:www.workingpeople.org/taxhistory.htm+federal+tax+brackets+under+FDR&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
The last paragraph provides some evidence of what I was raving about above:
"Between 1950 and 1990, the percentage of Federal revenue from corporate and excise taxes dropped from 45 to just 12 percent. During that same period, the share of revenue from individual income and payroll taxes jumped from 51 to 83 percent, most of the increase falling on middle and low income taxpayers. That increased burden on low and middle income families is one of the reasons why so many of those families are struggling, in spite of the economic boom of the 90s. The wealthy, however, have done quite well. Between 1952 and 2000, the maximum tax rate on the highest incomes has dropped from 92 to 39.6 percent. The Bush tax cut of 2001 further lowers the top tax bracket to 35 percent."
If that's not reason enough to pull the lever you spoke of, I don't know what is..."
Pardon my rant...
May the rest of the week be kind!
alan
5PM- I don't know what's going on with Blogger, but the comment line has disappeared for this post; I've turned it off and back on, reloaded the page, nothing seems to work...should anyone happen to read this, it wasn't me!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sunny "inside" though it's cloudy out...
Having lost my maternal grandmother to colon cancer gives an added relief to my "passing grade" on Friday. Thank you to all who encouraged and visited and crossed their fingers and cared!
I was asked what dinner was...
My last shopping run last week I picked up a George Foreman grill; digital with removable plates so they run through the dishwasher. Dottie's sister Jane and her husband had one when we were in Vermont the last time, and I was impressed with it and the ability to cook different things at the same time, or the same thing with different seasonings. Though Dottie wasn't particularly happy with the idea of something else to find a place for in our kitchen, my having cooked on it some over the weekend has convinced her that it might be all right. I'm hoping that "Big George" can help me become "Little Al" again instead of "Fat Albert"...
So when we got home on Friday I dropped a couple of chicken breasts in the sink to thaw, then she had to go get her paycheck and I rode along. When we got back instead of mixing my favorite Italian marinade, I cheated and poured some Newman's Italian salad dressing on a plate, flipped them through it, and a few minutes later we were having chicken breasts. I chased mine with a yogurt...
Dinner was a half sirloin off the gas grill; I cooked 4, but most of the time of late, cut mine in half figuring to eat half later or the next day. Mashed potatoes and brown gravy with mushrooms alongside.
Even though I had slept late the day before and through the test, I still was exhausted and we slept in Saturday morning. Breakfast was oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder and then we went out to run some errands we hadn't planned on; Angel (our going on 13 year old dog) is starting to hobble more despite the MSM she's on, and refuses to lie on the padded carpet in our room if we aren't in there, so we went and picked up a new pet bed for her, and a very soft rug to put in another place she always lies. Of course, right now she's lying on the hardwood floor just out of reach of my foot.
(A year ago her leg acted up the first time after Dottie tried to bathe her in the washtub we had used since she was a pup; just like us, she's not as flexible as she used to be. A trip to the vet comfirmed nothing out of place, but just arthritis settling in her joints. After a week she was fine; the MSM he recommended took 5 or 6 years off her. She could outrun Bill around the yard again, etc..
She and Frankie have always had a thing about chasing each other around the house in play; she will be lying in the living room, most likely when we are watching something, and jump up and tear through the kitchen to "wind him up". The other night she did it and came back limping...she's not young anymore...
Now, two days later, she's better again, though still getting up slowly.)
When we got home Bill and Laura were here; she's back from DC and her internship to do her last semester at KU and so the leftover steaks from the day before became their dinner and Dottie and I ate the halves we had left from the day before. Baked potatoes and salads, with a cheescake sampler for dessert. We watched "27 Dresses" from my Netflix list. when we used to watch "Roswell" I knew Katherine Heigl had a wonderful sense of comedy (her Christmas Nazi episodes were priceless) and enjoyed getting to see her really show it! I fell in love with Judy Greer when she guested on "Earl" and "Two and Half Men" and once again she didn't disappoint. Good movie!
There had been a lot of things in the theater we had missed out on these last few months as events transpired against us; we made up for a bit of that Sunday as we made a 10AM showing of "Hancock" (I'll buy that one when it comes out; damn good movie!) then bought tickets and made the 12:30 showing of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 3D. John and Noel saw it in Colorado on their vacation with my sister and they were disappointed, saying the animated sequences looked unfinished or something, they were just "off". We went anyway, and in 3D with the new glasses (no more red and cyan, but polarized ones that fit over Dottie's regular glasses) it was impressive. We found out later that evening that the print John and Noel saw was NOT 3D because the theater wasn't set up for it, and the only thing I can figure is that someone didn't "re-register" the two prints to make the 2D one so that is why they thought it didn't look right. Hopefully the DVD will turn out well, as I did some research and at this time the only 3D that works for TV sets is the old one.
My last 3D movie was Andy Warhol's "Frankenstein" in the early 70's. I have fond memories of it, though they might have been influenced by the chemicals I had ingested before I rode my motorcycle there along with some other guys I was stationed with, or the alcohol we consumed while we were there. I would love to see it in 3D again just to refresh my memory!
There's no way I could ever get Dottie to go to that one though...
:o)
When we got home I called John and found out that their little dog Abby we kept while they were gone had slipped her collar that morning and disappeared. They had been out looking for her several times and finally decided when she got hungry she'd come home. Dottie and I ate our dinner, and started trying to watch "Children of Men" from my Netflix list. It had a divot in it that wiped out chapters 8 & 9 so we pulled it, got some other things ready to mail, and then drove to the mailbox. It was almost dark, and John had said he had driven to our house looking for Abby thinking she might have somehow tried to find her way there. I told Dottie I wanted to look for her, so we drove towards their house, wondering if she'd have ever found the bridge over the freeway, etc..
We cruised the ball fields in the park below their house, figuring if she heard the crowd she'd have been drawn there, slowly working our way towards their house. The parking lots, the streets below their house...
We pulled up to the stop sign below their house and it was almost dark. Instead of turning towards their house I turned left back towards the 4 lane street a block away. In the headlights of Dottie's Malibu there were a little boy and girl on their bicycles with a little brown furball trying to get them to pet her...
So we cranked down the windows and started calling her; we stopped just short of them and while I opened my door to get out and grab her, explaining to the kids and thanking them, Dottie opened her door and Abby jumped in her lap.
We took her home; the grandkids were ecstatic to have her back and John and Noel thanked us for finding her...
We came home and Dottie showered and then we watched "The Myth", a Jackie Chan movie never released here until last fall on DVD. He had it for sale on his website for a while before that, and you could tell he was proud of it; I understand why now!
Not bad for what started out as a screwed up weekend!
So now that I've prattled on until my coffee is cold, I'll stop now and hope that Monday and the rest of the week are kind to each of you!
alan
I was asked what dinner was...
My last shopping run last week I picked up a George Foreman grill; digital with removable plates so they run through the dishwasher. Dottie's sister Jane and her husband had one when we were in Vermont the last time, and I was impressed with it and the ability to cook different things at the same time, or the same thing with different seasonings. Though Dottie wasn't particularly happy with the idea of something else to find a place for in our kitchen, my having cooked on it some over the weekend has convinced her that it might be all right. I'm hoping that "Big George" can help me become "Little Al" again instead of "Fat Albert"...
So when we got home on Friday I dropped a couple of chicken breasts in the sink to thaw, then she had to go get her paycheck and I rode along. When we got back instead of mixing my favorite Italian marinade, I cheated and poured some Newman's Italian salad dressing on a plate, flipped them through it, and a few minutes later we were having chicken breasts. I chased mine with a yogurt...
Dinner was a half sirloin off the gas grill; I cooked 4, but most of the time of late, cut mine in half figuring to eat half later or the next day. Mashed potatoes and brown gravy with mushrooms alongside.
Even though I had slept late the day before and through the test, I still was exhausted and we slept in Saturday morning. Breakfast was oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder and then we went out to run some errands we hadn't planned on; Angel (our going on 13 year old dog) is starting to hobble more despite the MSM she's on, and refuses to lie on the padded carpet in our room if we aren't in there, so we went and picked up a new pet bed for her, and a very soft rug to put in another place she always lies. Of course, right now she's lying on the hardwood floor just out of reach of my foot.
(A year ago her leg acted up the first time after Dottie tried to bathe her in the washtub we had used since she was a pup; just like us, she's not as flexible as she used to be. A trip to the vet comfirmed nothing out of place, but just arthritis settling in her joints. After a week she was fine; the MSM he recommended took 5 or 6 years off her. She could outrun Bill around the yard again, etc..
She and Frankie have always had a thing about chasing each other around the house in play; she will be lying in the living room, most likely when we are watching something, and jump up and tear through the kitchen to "wind him up". The other night she did it and came back limping...she's not young anymore...
Now, two days later, she's better again, though still getting up slowly.)
When we got home Bill and Laura were here; she's back from DC and her internship to do her last semester at KU and so the leftover steaks from the day before became their dinner and Dottie and I ate the halves we had left from the day before. Baked potatoes and salads, with a cheescake sampler for dessert. We watched "27 Dresses" from my Netflix list. when we used to watch "Roswell" I knew Katherine Heigl had a wonderful sense of comedy (her Christmas Nazi episodes were priceless) and enjoyed getting to see her really show it! I fell in love with Judy Greer when she guested on "Earl" and "Two and Half Men" and once again she didn't disappoint. Good movie!
There had been a lot of things in the theater we had missed out on these last few months as events transpired against us; we made up for a bit of that Sunday as we made a 10AM showing of "Hancock" (I'll buy that one when it comes out; damn good movie!) then bought tickets and made the 12:30 showing of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 3D. John and Noel saw it in Colorado on their vacation with my sister and they were disappointed, saying the animated sequences looked unfinished or something, they were just "off". We went anyway, and in 3D with the new glasses (no more red and cyan, but polarized ones that fit over Dottie's regular glasses) it was impressive. We found out later that evening that the print John and Noel saw was NOT 3D because the theater wasn't set up for it, and the only thing I can figure is that someone didn't "re-register" the two prints to make the 2D one so that is why they thought it didn't look right. Hopefully the DVD will turn out well, as I did some research and at this time the only 3D that works for TV sets is the old one.
My last 3D movie was Andy Warhol's "Frankenstein" in the early 70's. I have fond memories of it, though they might have been influenced by the chemicals I had ingested before I rode my motorcycle there along with some other guys I was stationed with, or the alcohol we consumed while we were there. I would love to see it in 3D again just to refresh my memory!
There's no way I could ever get Dottie to go to that one though...
:o)
When we got home I called John and found out that their little dog Abby we kept while they were gone had slipped her collar that morning and disappeared. They had been out looking for her several times and finally decided when she got hungry she'd come home. Dottie and I ate our dinner, and started trying to watch "Children of Men" from my Netflix list. It had a divot in it that wiped out chapters 8 & 9 so we pulled it, got some other things ready to mail, and then drove to the mailbox. It was almost dark, and John had said he had driven to our house looking for Abby thinking she might have somehow tried to find her way there. I told Dottie I wanted to look for her, so we drove towards their house, wondering if she'd have ever found the bridge over the freeway, etc..
We cruised the ball fields in the park below their house, figuring if she heard the crowd she'd have been drawn there, slowly working our way towards their house. The parking lots, the streets below their house...
We pulled up to the stop sign below their house and it was almost dark. Instead of turning towards their house I turned left back towards the 4 lane street a block away. In the headlights of Dottie's Malibu there were a little boy and girl on their bicycles with a little brown furball trying to get them to pet her...
So we cranked down the windows and started calling her; we stopped just short of them and while I opened my door to get out and grab her, explaining to the kids and thanking them, Dottie opened her door and Abby jumped in her lap.
We took her home; the grandkids were ecstatic to have her back and John and Noel thanked us for finding her...
We came home and Dottie showered and then we watched "The Myth", a Jackie Chan movie never released here until last fall on DVD. He had it for sale on his website for a while before that, and you could tell he was proud of it; I understand why now!
Not bad for what started out as a screwed up weekend!
So now that I've prattled on until my coffee is cold, I'll stop now and hope that Monday and the rest of the week are kind to each of you!
alan
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Clean bill of health...
and come back in 8 years...
Back "on my feed" and feeling better; Dottie and I have a movie and dinner planned for tomorrow!
See you all Monday!
alan
Back "on my feed" and feeling better; Dottie and I have a movie and dinner planned for tomorrow!
See you all Monday!
alan
Thursday, August 07, 2008
A few days off...
I started my liquid diet this morning and shortly have to begin the rest of the prep for my colonoscopy tomorrow. I'm not counting on feeling too good until sometime late Saturday or Sunday (one reason I avoided doing this while I was working). So, hoping you'll all forgive me, I probably won't pop up again 'til sometime Monday as Dottie worked last Sunday so she could have tomorrow off (you can't drive yourself home after) and has the weekend off.
So, I shall hope that Friday and the weeekend are wonderful for each of you!
alan
So, I shall hope that Friday and the weeekend are wonderful for each of you!
alan
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Things I don't want to know...
Dottie was so used to staying up until I called at midnight on my break that although I've been trying to make it to bed by midnight and get up around 8, she isn't ever ready to lie down before 12:30 or 1. We've spent the last few night catching up with the "Terminator" series that ran last fall as she and both boys were big fans of the movie and it was one she wanted to watch. Well written, well acted to this point; we're about 6 episodes in at this point.
Last night she talked me into watching a 3rd hour at a few minutes after midnight. Things had run late because when John got in his '98 Neon to go to work yesterday it would move about a foot in either direction and then "bind up"; he told me it was like the transmission was slipping. He took their van to work and called me at noontime, I told him to check his fluid levels, etc.. He called when he got home, 4-ish and was telling me this and that; it really sounded like the transmission was "gone". I told him call my nephew, the one that graduated Wyoming Tech last spring and pick his brain. Brett said it sounded like a bound caliper, and that is common in front wheel drive things.
So I took stands over, put in in neutral and tried to roll it backwards. A big "groan" came from the right rear. John came out of the house we jacked it up and I spun that wheel with my foot; it was bound but freed up- the left didn't.
I've never had any luck getting the rear drums off this car; I helped John do front brakes on it, and my other son with fronts on his 2003 Neon. I've checked Dottie's fronts and tried to slip the rear drums off her Malibu, which the manuals say all 3 cars should do; no "give".
Another call to Brett, and he said get a big sledge and beat the drum all the way around the edge and it will come off...
I did that once 25 years ago to an early 70's Impala I had, and yes, the drum came off...in pieces...
I told Brett that and he said not to worry, it won't break, but I'd best figure on putting some arm into it with a 3 pound sledge.
The left one took about 15 minutes of a steadily increasing beating. It still had friction material on both shoes, but the adjuster wasn't exactly "free" to turn.
The right rear I started out at the intensity that took the left one loose, and about 10 swings later it was off.
The friction material from the front shoe had popped loose and slid around, jamming into the rear shoe and locking that wheel after a half turn in either direction.
John went and picked up shoes last night and we'll put it back together when he gets off work tonight...
So dinner was late as I grilled when I got home from his house after 8 last night; she had put the trash out when she got home at 7 and hit the shower while I cooked. We watched the beginning of an episode then I went through the shower around 9:30.
We finished the 3rd episode a bit after 1; she was up at 8 to get ready for work; I set my clock for 9:30 and when it went off told her goodbye, then said "screw this" and reset it for 10. At 10 I turned on the kettle and set it for 10 more minutes.
10:05; the phone rings. Thinking something must have happened on her way to work, I don't even try to grab glasses to read the caller ID, I just answer it.
Heavy breathing...then click...
Get up, turn the clock off, more than a bit pissed off that my last few minutes of snooze was ruined. Get my reading glasses, check the caller ID...
It was my mother.
I didn't call her back...there have been a lot of issues I've never written about here and suffice to say there are reasons that Dottie is usually the one to talk to her. I could spend years talking to someone about things that have occured just in the last 25 years and never get to the ones from my childhood...
I just started to write some of them out, but I just can't bring myself to do it! My stomach is doing slow rolls and my heart is pounding...
Sorry!
Usually I manage to choke it all back and deal with her in a family setting; there are reasons I never go see her alone, and avoid talking to her on the phone.
If it were truly something important she'd have called back or the nursing home would call; I'm grateful I don't have to worry about that aspect of things!
Dottie was going to go by on her way home from work and see her as I'll be working on John's car anyway tonight, and then pick up barbecue from one of our favorite places that's 2 blocks from Mom's nursing home, so she'll try to figure out what's going on.
Sadly, it was all bothering me so badly that I told Dottie most of what I couldn't write above; she's not any happier about things than I am, but deals with it so I don't have to.
So now I'm going to go take my frustrations out on my lawn. I mowed and shopped on Friday last week, but this week I get to go have a colonoscopy on Friday; it's going to rain a bunch the next few days, and if I don't get ahead of it by the time I feel like mowing again it will be knee high. Tomorrow I run the weekly errands, and Thursday I get to start preparing for my "exam"...
May the week be kind to each of you!
alan
A couple of hours later...came in to cool off before I finish the lawn, and to "lose" the little neighbor boy who wants to help so badly. I was bloghopping a bit and went to type my name and typoed; not uncommon for me, and all kinds of variations on my name have come from my fingers before, but this one was new:
alian...damned if I don't feel like one sometimes!
:o)
Last night she talked me into watching a 3rd hour at a few minutes after midnight. Things had run late because when John got in his '98 Neon to go to work yesterday it would move about a foot in either direction and then "bind up"; he told me it was like the transmission was slipping. He took their van to work and called me at noontime, I told him to check his fluid levels, etc.. He called when he got home, 4-ish and was telling me this and that; it really sounded like the transmission was "gone". I told him call my nephew, the one that graduated Wyoming Tech last spring and pick his brain. Brett said it sounded like a bound caliper, and that is common in front wheel drive things.
So I took stands over, put in in neutral and tried to roll it backwards. A big "groan" came from the right rear. John came out of the house we jacked it up and I spun that wheel with my foot; it was bound but freed up- the left didn't.
I've never had any luck getting the rear drums off this car; I helped John do front brakes on it, and my other son with fronts on his 2003 Neon. I've checked Dottie's fronts and tried to slip the rear drums off her Malibu, which the manuals say all 3 cars should do; no "give".
Another call to Brett, and he said get a big sledge and beat the drum all the way around the edge and it will come off...
I did that once 25 years ago to an early 70's Impala I had, and yes, the drum came off...in pieces...
I told Brett that and he said not to worry, it won't break, but I'd best figure on putting some arm into it with a 3 pound sledge.
The left one took about 15 minutes of a steadily increasing beating. It still had friction material on both shoes, but the adjuster wasn't exactly "free" to turn.
The right rear I started out at the intensity that took the left one loose, and about 10 swings later it was off.
The friction material from the front shoe had popped loose and slid around, jamming into the rear shoe and locking that wheel after a half turn in either direction.
John went and picked up shoes last night and we'll put it back together when he gets off work tonight...
So dinner was late as I grilled when I got home from his house after 8 last night; she had put the trash out when she got home at 7 and hit the shower while I cooked. We watched the beginning of an episode then I went through the shower around 9:30.
We finished the 3rd episode a bit after 1; she was up at 8 to get ready for work; I set my clock for 9:30 and when it went off told her goodbye, then said "screw this" and reset it for 10. At 10 I turned on the kettle and set it for 10 more minutes.
10:05; the phone rings. Thinking something must have happened on her way to work, I don't even try to grab glasses to read the caller ID, I just answer it.
Heavy breathing...then click...
Get up, turn the clock off, more than a bit pissed off that my last few minutes of snooze was ruined. Get my reading glasses, check the caller ID...
It was my mother.
I didn't call her back...there have been a lot of issues I've never written about here and suffice to say there are reasons that Dottie is usually the one to talk to her. I could spend years talking to someone about things that have occured just in the last 25 years and never get to the ones from my childhood...
I just started to write some of them out, but I just can't bring myself to do it! My stomach is doing slow rolls and my heart is pounding...
Sorry!
Usually I manage to choke it all back and deal with her in a family setting; there are reasons I never go see her alone, and avoid talking to her on the phone.
If it were truly something important she'd have called back or the nursing home would call; I'm grateful I don't have to worry about that aspect of things!
Dottie was going to go by on her way home from work and see her as I'll be working on John's car anyway tonight, and then pick up barbecue from one of our favorite places that's 2 blocks from Mom's nursing home, so she'll try to figure out what's going on.
Sadly, it was all bothering me so badly that I told Dottie most of what I couldn't write above; she's not any happier about things than I am, but deals with it so I don't have to.
So now I'm going to go take my frustrations out on my lawn. I mowed and shopped on Friday last week, but this week I get to go have a colonoscopy on Friday; it's going to rain a bunch the next few days, and if I don't get ahead of it by the time I feel like mowing again it will be knee high. Tomorrow I run the weekly errands, and Thursday I get to start preparing for my "exam"...
May the week be kind to each of you!
alan
A couple of hours later...came in to cool off before I finish the lawn, and to "lose" the little neighbor boy who wants to help so badly. I was bloghopping a bit and went to type my name and typoed; not uncommon for me, and all kinds of variations on my name have come from my fingers before, but this one was new:
alian...damned if I don't feel like one sometimes!
:o)
Monday, August 04, 2008
Twists and turns...
After the events of last week, I wonder where and what and how to pick things up again. One of many reasons I was glad to retire last month was that I wouldn't have to go to work anymore to find the face of someone I knew taped to the front doors of the plant with the time of their services listed. Some weeks there would be several, never more than a couple of weeks without one. Sometimes active, sometimes retired, usually older than I, though some not by much; some were younger. The union newsletter always lists the union members they are notified of who died that month; it always seems none of them got long enough to enjoy things.
So with those thoughts in mind, a renewed vow to take it all a bit less seriously and enjoy things a bit more!
Having two extra dogs here for the last week was insane! My yard isn't fenced anymore, as a 5 foot high retainer wall collapsed some years back and without some serious (read bobcat) landscaping there isn't really a way to fence the upper side of it. Angel goes out the back door on a 30 foot piece of aircraft cable anchored just outside the door; when she comes in it lies underneath and hangs there 'til next time.
Everytime one dog went outside last week, all 3 had to go. So every two hours while home and awake, there was a half hour rotation of the critters. Their German Shepard is a "runner" and John has spent countless hours through the last couple of years trying to chase her down when she gets out and decides it's time to gallavant; having her do that in a strange neighborhood didn't enthuse me, so we used "kiddy gates" and doors to make sure only the one we were putting out could get to the door.
Their little one is prone to accidents in the house (we didn't have a one) so one gate stayed up to keep her off the carpet in our bedroom...it was a long week of moving gates and such as neither of us can just step over them like we did 30 years ago.
Late afternoon meant putting their little one in her kennel to keep her from mischief and driving to feed their cats, put their mail in and water plants. Come home, rotate the dogs outside again and start dinner.
So waking up this morning to our one dog and one cat was a treat!
Yesterday I managed to move my computer desk, unwire the tower and take it out to the living room to clean the inside of it and change it's battery. The howling noise at start-up is a power supply fan that I'll be changing sometime soon. Of late, whenever I shut it down during a storm if it was off more than 12 hours I had to designate "BIOS" and all that when it started; now it should be fine for another 5 years. After putting it back together and vacuuming my way out of that room, it was past lunch.
Then I tried to vacuum up all the dog hair and my day was done, it was time to start dinner again!
Off to grab a bite to eat and then go surprise my wife by meeting her for lunch break...
For those who might wonder about Kansas in the summer:
11:00AM- 91 Farenheit- heat index 100- humidity 56%
May the week be kind to each of you!
alan
So with those thoughts in mind, a renewed vow to take it all a bit less seriously and enjoy things a bit more!
Having two extra dogs here for the last week was insane! My yard isn't fenced anymore, as a 5 foot high retainer wall collapsed some years back and without some serious (read bobcat) landscaping there isn't really a way to fence the upper side of it. Angel goes out the back door on a 30 foot piece of aircraft cable anchored just outside the door; when she comes in it lies underneath and hangs there 'til next time.
Everytime one dog went outside last week, all 3 had to go. So every two hours while home and awake, there was a half hour rotation of the critters. Their German Shepard is a "runner" and John has spent countless hours through the last couple of years trying to chase her down when she gets out and decides it's time to gallavant; having her do that in a strange neighborhood didn't enthuse me, so we used "kiddy gates" and doors to make sure only the one we were putting out could get to the door.
Their little one is prone to accidents in the house (we didn't have a one) so one gate stayed up to keep her off the carpet in our bedroom...it was a long week of moving gates and such as neither of us can just step over them like we did 30 years ago.
Late afternoon meant putting their little one in her kennel to keep her from mischief and driving to feed their cats, put their mail in and water plants. Come home, rotate the dogs outside again and start dinner.
So waking up this morning to our one dog and one cat was a treat!
Yesterday I managed to move my computer desk, unwire the tower and take it out to the living room to clean the inside of it and change it's battery. The howling noise at start-up is a power supply fan that I'll be changing sometime soon. Of late, whenever I shut it down during a storm if it was off more than 12 hours I had to designate "BIOS" and all that when it started; now it should be fine for another 5 years. After putting it back together and vacuuming my way out of that room, it was past lunch.
Then I tried to vacuum up all the dog hair and my day was done, it was time to start dinner again!
Off to grab a bite to eat and then go surprise my wife by meeting her for lunch break...
For those who might wonder about Kansas in the summer:
11:00AM- 91 Farenheit- heat index 100- humidity 56%
May the week be kind to each of you!
alan
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Shock...
as I bloghopped a while earlier I found mention on a friend's blog that the husband of Becky passed away on Monday. Becky found her way here via Lori, her sister. Just last week they were arranging for people to attend a tribute band concert at Sandstone; the one I referred to in my post below. The photos are still up on Lori's site...
He was 52; my age.
I know we should never take anything for granted in this life; sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in the "the whirl" of our lives that we don't take that moment to enjoy it; to savor it. We race and run and measure time in nanoseconds and begrudge ourselves slack because we should be accomplishing something.
Then, in a blink, it's gone...
May Becky and Lori and all those affected somehow find joy in remembering the kind and wonderful things Randy made happen!
alan
He was 52; my age.
I know we should never take anything for granted in this life; sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in the "the whirl" of our lives that we don't take that moment to enjoy it; to savor it. We race and run and measure time in nanoseconds and begrudge ourselves slack because we should be accomplishing something.
Then, in a blink, it's gone...
May Becky and Lori and all those affected somehow find joy in remembering the kind and wonderful things Randy made happen!
alan
Monday, July 28, 2008
60 blocks east...
of where so many of those I care about were caught in a downpour while merrily engaged at the tribute concert the other night, we barely even got sprinkled on. Dottie and I were on our second trip back to my son's; when we went to feed the cats for the 2nd time that day, the doors of his garden shed were open (the grandkids had locked the padlock and left it somewhere in the house, lol). We went home and I dug up a spare padlock; we knew they had issued a thunderstorm warning and after we climbed the hill out of our ancient little neighborhood we started noticing limbs down; still it only sprinkled all the way there. The closer we got to his house the more and bigger the downed limbs were; he has one down in his backyard the size of my upper arm.
I am told that despite the soaking at the concert, a good time was had by all who were there the other night!
I did a bit of the shopping on Saturday, leaving the little dog that didn't like my cat in her kennel. Having gotten the check for the vacation hours that I hadn't used when I retired, I bought us a set of 600 thread-count sheets as a "present". They had a very small pattern on them; I couldn't feel it, but Dottie said with her psoriasis she couldn't sleep on them, so I returned them yesterday. I came home and unloaded, then went by my son's to feed their cats. One eats in a hurry, the other won't eat 'til the first one stops, but the first one thinks it's entitled to the other ones food. So I spent an hour and a half there with a magazine trying to cajole the first one into staying in my lap...things are never easy, it seems!
Today it's raining again; the dogs have just gone out for the 2nd time now Dottie's left for work and I'm waiting for the UPS man to bring me some things I ordered from ProSource. In the time I was off my diet, protein powder doubled in price (makes me wonder how much of what I bought came from China before the dog food scare!) so having bought some ZMA from them last month and been impressed with the price and quality, I thought I'd try some other things from them. Some creatine monohydrate, BCAA powder and acetyl-l-carnitine filled out my list at about half what I'd have paid otherwise.
Meanwhile, laundry is running and if the UPS guy shows up early enough I'll spend a few hours downstairs before Dottie comes home, along with taking care of John's pets. Since it's raining I really don't want all of that stuff sitting on the front sidewalk!
Amid the clutter...
The weight and extension benches I throw grill covers over just so Frankie isn't tempted to use his claws on them. Behind the pole with my tally board on it you can see the old 19" knob tune TV and perhaps the DVD/VCR below it, in front of the treadmill and the upright bike. The mountain bike some of you have seen before, back when I was down around 200...you will again by next summer as well!
The back extension bench I picked up on eBay, and a dumbell rack the way Dave Draper says Joe Gold made them in the original Gold's Gym...
Olympic bar and e-z curl bar set up for doing bicep curls...
The Weider 600 bench from Sears, with leg attachment. Rated for 300 pound user (which I no longer am) and 300 pound weight...
So that's my little gym. The floor is from Sam's Club and cost about $75; it's firm enough to do squats and such, comfortable enough to walk on barefoot (or sleep on if you're Frankie) and seems to be wearing well.
Dottie is off tomorrow, so I'll be playing hooky until Wednesday sometime!
May Monday be kind to you all!
alan
I am told that despite the soaking at the concert, a good time was had by all who were there the other night!
I did a bit of the shopping on Saturday, leaving the little dog that didn't like my cat in her kennel. Having gotten the check for the vacation hours that I hadn't used when I retired, I bought us a set of 600 thread-count sheets as a "present". They had a very small pattern on them; I couldn't feel it, but Dottie said with her psoriasis she couldn't sleep on them, so I returned them yesterday. I came home and unloaded, then went by my son's to feed their cats. One eats in a hurry, the other won't eat 'til the first one stops, but the first one thinks it's entitled to the other ones food. So I spent an hour and a half there with a magazine trying to cajole the first one into staying in my lap...things are never easy, it seems!
Today it's raining again; the dogs have just gone out for the 2nd time now Dottie's left for work and I'm waiting for the UPS man to bring me some things I ordered from ProSource. In the time I was off my diet, protein powder doubled in price (makes me wonder how much of what I bought came from China before the dog food scare!) so having bought some ZMA from them last month and been impressed with the price and quality, I thought I'd try some other things from them. Some creatine monohydrate, BCAA powder and acetyl-l-carnitine filled out my list at about half what I'd have paid otherwise.
Meanwhile, laundry is running and if the UPS guy shows up early enough I'll spend a few hours downstairs before Dottie comes home, along with taking care of John's pets. Since it's raining I really don't want all of that stuff sitting on the front sidewalk!
Amid the clutter...
The weight and extension benches I throw grill covers over just so Frankie isn't tempted to use his claws on them. Behind the pole with my tally board on it you can see the old 19" knob tune TV and perhaps the DVD/VCR below it, in front of the treadmill and the upright bike. The mountain bike some of you have seen before, back when I was down around 200...you will again by next summer as well!
The back extension bench I picked up on eBay, and a dumbell rack the way Dave Draper says Joe Gold made them in the original Gold's Gym...
Olympic bar and e-z curl bar set up for doing bicep curls...
The Weider 600 bench from Sears, with leg attachment. Rated for 300 pound user (which I no longer am) and 300 pound weight...
So that's my little gym. The floor is from Sam's Club and cost about $75; it's firm enough to do squats and such, comfortable enough to walk on barefoot (or sleep on if you're Frankie) and seems to be wearing well.
Dottie is off tomorrow, so I'll be playing hooky until Wednesday sometime!
May Monday be kind to you all!
alan
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Dark Knight...
appropriately named; visually stunning and sumptuous; a truly "good" movie.
I didn't say a happy one!
I'm not going to spoil a single frame for anyone. I was torn about seeing it because of Heath Ledger; I now know why things happened exactly as they did.
RIP, Heath...may you find peace...
alan
I didn't say a happy one!
I'm not going to spoil a single frame for anyone. I was torn about seeing it because of Heath Ledger; I now know why things happened exactly as they did.
RIP, Heath...may you find peace...
alan
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Leg day...
I tried to write Barb to answer her question about legs, but her mail was eaten by the Mailer Demon, so I'll lay it out here...
I'm still "easing" back into this, trying not to damage myself beyond what my weight already is.
I'm starting with 5-10 slow minutes on an excercise bike each session just to loosen things a bit, get my heart rate up a bit, etc..
I bought a back extension bench on eBay; I alternate a slow easy set on it with a light set of "good mornings", both of which work your lower back and hamstrings along with your glutes,; I've been doing 4 sets of each, slowly pushing the weight up on the "good mornings". My 4th set yesterday was at 75 pounds, 10 reps. When I first put the back extension bench together I could barely do 2 reps at a time; now I'm doing 4 sets of 8-10 (having shoes on seems to oddly make it easier).
Then I've been doing "back" squats (bar across back of shoulders), though I'm learning to do them without a Smith machine, so I'm not pushing the weight too heavy yet; form is everything, and weight will come later.
I'm taking 3-4 minutes between sets and not supersetting these with anything, letting my heart rate slow and my strength come back.
After 4 sets of them, I've been doing "front" squats (arms crossed, bar across the top of shoulders and arms), though once again not pushing the weight. They work your quads more than your hamstrings...last time I could only do 3 sets of them.
The bench I bought has a leg attachment so after those I'm doing leg extensions and hamstring curls.
For calves, I'm doing toe raises with the bar across my shoulders again, and toe board I made with a 2x4 screwed to a 1x10 to keep it steadier. I had to add another 1x to the top of it to get a better stretch at the bottom...
When I lose a bit more gut and my back isn't quite so tight, I'll start adding some deadlifts into the mix. Right now I'm a bit afraid of them...
Zilla had asked me to let her know how my floor worked out; it's interlocking mat from Sam's Club; I love it! My chest workout I actually did barefoot because it's comfortable and warm. My leg days I wear flat "wrestling" or "mat" shoes to keep my heels down, but I can't stand doing the toe raises barefoot. The corners on my toe raise board are a bit too sharp for my old feet!
I will try and upload some photos of my little gym in the next day or so...
All of that was finished off with 20 minutes on the treadmill; it should be more by now, but I'm going to have to work up to it!
Today not only do I still feel the pull in all of those muscles, but across my upper back from the day before. Tomorrow will be an "off" day as Dottie traded Friday for Thursday this week to help someone else out, and we're going to see the new "Batman" movie. I may do some back extensions and treadmill later this evening and again tomorrow.
Friday if I get whatever shopping needs done early enough, I will try and do another chest workout; I don't know yet whether I'll include back or let it wait an extra day or two. I'm still feeling my way through a return to all of this, trying to work things as they quit hurting and rest the ones that are...
May the rest of your weeks be kind!
alan
I'm still "easing" back into this, trying not to damage myself beyond what my weight already is.
I'm starting with 5-10 slow minutes on an excercise bike each session just to loosen things a bit, get my heart rate up a bit, etc..
I bought a back extension bench on eBay; I alternate a slow easy set on it with a light set of "good mornings", both of which work your lower back and hamstrings along with your glutes,; I've been doing 4 sets of each, slowly pushing the weight up on the "good mornings". My 4th set yesterday was at 75 pounds, 10 reps. When I first put the back extension bench together I could barely do 2 reps at a time; now I'm doing 4 sets of 8-10 (having shoes on seems to oddly make it easier).
Then I've been doing "back" squats (bar across back of shoulders), though I'm learning to do them without a Smith machine, so I'm not pushing the weight too heavy yet; form is everything, and weight will come later.
I'm taking 3-4 minutes between sets and not supersetting these with anything, letting my heart rate slow and my strength come back.
After 4 sets of them, I've been doing "front" squats (arms crossed, bar across the top of shoulders and arms), though once again not pushing the weight. They work your quads more than your hamstrings...last time I could only do 3 sets of them.
The bench I bought has a leg attachment so after those I'm doing leg extensions and hamstring curls.
For calves, I'm doing toe raises with the bar across my shoulders again, and toe board I made with a 2x4 screwed to a 1x10 to keep it steadier. I had to add another 1x to the top of it to get a better stretch at the bottom...
When I lose a bit more gut and my back isn't quite so tight, I'll start adding some deadlifts into the mix. Right now I'm a bit afraid of them...
Zilla had asked me to let her know how my floor worked out; it's interlocking mat from Sam's Club; I love it! My chest workout I actually did barefoot because it's comfortable and warm. My leg days I wear flat "wrestling" or "mat" shoes to keep my heels down, but I can't stand doing the toe raises barefoot. The corners on my toe raise board are a bit too sharp for my old feet!
I will try and upload some photos of my little gym in the next day or so...
All of that was finished off with 20 minutes on the treadmill; it should be more by now, but I'm going to have to work up to it!
Today not only do I still feel the pull in all of those muscles, but across my upper back from the day before. Tomorrow will be an "off" day as Dottie traded Friday for Thursday this week to help someone else out, and we're going to see the new "Batman" movie. I may do some back extensions and treadmill later this evening and again tomorrow.
Friday if I get whatever shopping needs done early enough, I will try and do another chest workout; I don't know yet whether I'll include back or let it wait an extra day or two. I'm still feeling my way through a return to all of this, trying to work things as they quit hurting and rest the ones that are...
May the rest of your weeks be kind!
alan
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Weight loss, slack time and such...
I haven't really gotten the time in my basement "gym" that I had hoped for until these last two days. What weight I've lost has been a lot more due to diet than excercise.
I have one of those metabolisms that craves carbs, and is very good at turning them into fat, so I've cut my carbs dramatically, along with cutting my calories by 1/3 or so. I'm not really tallying things, but am probably consuming around 2400 a day, split over the course of 5 or 6 meals. I've cut my beloved French Vamilla latte to one every other day, cut diet soda entirely, and am drinking lots of water. One or two of those "meals" are whey or whey and soy "protein shakes" with ice cubes and water through a single serving blender cup.
When you've broken 300, dropping 20 is nothing! When I hurt my back I was sleeping on the couch because I couldn't get in and out of bed, living on painkillers and muscle relaxers, and lost my appetite entirely. I dropped almost 30 in a month from the time I hurt myself 'til I started therapy.
So though the number is "nothing" it's the trend I hope to continue.
After I watched the cat for a while yesterday and he (finally forgave me and) seemed OK after his shots, I went downstairs and after a few minutes on the "bike" to warm up I did a push-pull chest-back workout that I spread over 4 hours, taking longer between sets than I would have were I not just "getting back into things". (Resting 'til my heart slowed down each time instead of trying to keep it elevated like I did in the gym last time around.) Since I'm using entirely free weights this time, instead of a Smith Machine and some Nautilus equipment, some of the things I'm doing are new to me and I need to get a feel for them as well. 11 sets of various things, quitting at 6:30 in time to get the trash out and get in the shower before Dottie pulled in.
I had put a movie on "her" Netflix list she hadn't heard of (mine is full of silent and classic stuff) when she didn't have anything on it a while back. "Hustle and Flow" is a Terence Howard movie I had heard him talk about in a "Fresh Air" interview, and he seemed very proud of it. I wasn't sure, especially when we watched the first 15 minutes, where it was going but it turned out to be a very good movie. Definitely not something for younger ears, though!!! Someday, if I'm around 40 years from now, I expect him to have a career like Morgan Freeman has...
So now, off for another protein shake and then downstairs to do a "leg day"...
May the week be kind!
alan
I have one of those metabolisms that craves carbs, and is very good at turning them into fat, so I've cut my carbs dramatically, along with cutting my calories by 1/3 or so. I'm not really tallying things, but am probably consuming around 2400 a day, split over the course of 5 or 6 meals. I've cut my beloved French Vamilla latte to one every other day, cut diet soda entirely, and am drinking lots of water. One or two of those "meals" are whey or whey and soy "protein shakes" with ice cubes and water through a single serving blender cup.
When you've broken 300, dropping 20 is nothing! When I hurt my back I was sleeping on the couch because I couldn't get in and out of bed, living on painkillers and muscle relaxers, and lost my appetite entirely. I dropped almost 30 in a month from the time I hurt myself 'til I started therapy.
So though the number is "nothing" it's the trend I hope to continue.
After I watched the cat for a while yesterday and he (finally forgave me and) seemed OK after his shots, I went downstairs and after a few minutes on the "bike" to warm up I did a push-pull chest-back workout that I spread over 4 hours, taking longer between sets than I would have were I not just "getting back into things". (Resting 'til my heart slowed down each time instead of trying to keep it elevated like I did in the gym last time around.) Since I'm using entirely free weights this time, instead of a Smith Machine and some Nautilus equipment, some of the things I'm doing are new to me and I need to get a feel for them as well. 11 sets of various things, quitting at 6:30 in time to get the trash out and get in the shower before Dottie pulled in.
I had put a movie on "her" Netflix list she hadn't heard of (mine is full of silent and classic stuff) when she didn't have anything on it a while back. "Hustle and Flow" is a Terence Howard movie I had heard him talk about in a "Fresh Air" interview, and he seemed very proud of it. I wasn't sure, especially when we watched the first 15 minutes, where it was going but it turned out to be a very good movie. Definitely not something for younger ears, though!!! Someday, if I'm around 40 years from now, I expect him to have a career like Morgan Freeman has...
So now, off for another protein shake and then downstairs to do a "leg day"...
May the week be kind!
alan
Monday, July 21, 2008
Back to the real world...
The grandsons spent the weekend; my sister took Talia, so next time it's her turn to stay.
Friday afternoon they ended up with time to ride their bikes a bit then I had to fix dinner for when Dottie got home. Saturday we hit "Hobby Lobby" and picked up some kits, a "Hummer" for the younger one, and two rubber band powered aircraft for the older one. One of them is going will take several days to work through, so we built the ornithopter, which was about 5 hours work on Saturday afternoon and evening.
With a range of 150 feet and way too many trees around here, we took it out to the park next to the Ampitheatre so many of you will be hanging out at next Saturday, where they have a model aircraft field. We also took a handful of foam glider kits and an F-18 rubber band launched glider I had picked up.
With the wind at 12 it was a bit much for the poor ornithopter; it made a dozen flights, several in the 75 or 80 foot range before the wind would overpower it. It's last "landing" popped a bamboo brace loose, so it's sitting on Dottie's desk now to have a drop of glue placed to hold it firmly.
On a calm day, I have no doubt that it's range will go up. It's truly amazing to watch something flap it's wings to fly...
Yesterday afternoon we met my sister at the nursing home and the 3 grandkids and my sister, Dottie and I all played dominoes with my Mom. We thought she'd be overjoyed at playing a game with the kids; she was more miffed because she wasn't the sole center of attention. The kids had a good time though!
Now I have to catch my cat and take him to the vet for his shots...hopefully he'll forgive me!
I got on the scale last night for the first time in two weeks; down another 10...slow but sure!
May Monday and the week be kind!
alan
Friday afternoon they ended up with time to ride their bikes a bit then I had to fix dinner for when Dottie got home. Saturday we hit "Hobby Lobby" and picked up some kits, a "Hummer" for the younger one, and two rubber band powered aircraft for the older one. One of them is going will take several days to work through, so we built the ornithopter, which was about 5 hours work on Saturday afternoon and evening.
With a range of 150 feet and way too many trees around here, we took it out to the park next to the Ampitheatre so many of you will be hanging out at next Saturday, where they have a model aircraft field. We also took a handful of foam glider kits and an F-18 rubber band launched glider I had picked up.
With the wind at 12 it was a bit much for the poor ornithopter; it made a dozen flights, several in the 75 or 80 foot range before the wind would overpower it. It's last "landing" popped a bamboo brace loose, so it's sitting on Dottie's desk now to have a drop of glue placed to hold it firmly.
On a calm day, I have no doubt that it's range will go up. It's truly amazing to watch something flap it's wings to fly...
Yesterday afternoon we met my sister at the nursing home and the 3 grandkids and my sister, Dottie and I all played dominoes with my Mom. We thought she'd be overjoyed at playing a game with the kids; she was more miffed because she wasn't the sole center of attention. The kids had a good time though!
Now I have to catch my cat and take him to the vet for his shots...hopefully he'll forgive me!
I got on the scale last night for the first time in two weeks; down another 10...slow but sure!
May Monday and the week be kind!
alan
Thursday, July 17, 2008
1st loves...
come in many forms, and at all ages if we're lucky!
When "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" was released I read about a graphic novel it was based on, and picked up a copy. I hadn't touched a comic since high school, while waiting at the barber shop. Not only was did I fall head over heels for it, but it also got me to go back and read some of the classic literature that I missed in my youth. (Another new love was found there, as when I bought my copy of "Dracula" it also contained Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". Finding that an 18 year old European girl was lamenting the fate of the Native Americans 200 years ago stunned me!)
I picked up the 2nd and read it in one sitting.
Last fall the 3rd came out, just before Christmas when all was ascramble between shopping and work. I made note of it and thought I would pick it up later...
I got an extra last paycheck yesterday, for one day, June 30th, as that was the last day of the month I retired in. I took part of it and a coupon to Border's yesterday and came home with "The Black Dossier". My first hardcover graphic novel, complete with 3D glasses. As I fixed lunch (a peanut butter added to a vanilla whey protein shake, not so good) I slipped the plastic wrap off, and was immersed in 1958 Britain, with ever youthful Mina getting a young spy named "Jimmy" to let her into a building, telling him her name was "Oodles O'Quim"!
:o)
It was all I could do to put it down and go finish the errands I had for the day!
"Oodles O'Quim" indeed!
Perhaps this weekend while the grandchildren are napping or something I'll find some more time to spend with it...
Off to mow after I put a tape in a VCR for "Zilla"...just in case...
This afternoon and tomorrow I'll be shopping and housecleaning as all 3 grandkids are spending the weekend; I most likely won't be around much until Monday again.
May the rest of your week be kind and your weekends all be fantastic!
alan
When "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" was released I read about a graphic novel it was based on, and picked up a copy. I hadn't touched a comic since high school, while waiting at the barber shop. Not only was did I fall head over heels for it, but it also got me to go back and read some of the classic literature that I missed in my youth. (Another new love was found there, as when I bought my copy of "Dracula" it also contained Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". Finding that an 18 year old European girl was lamenting the fate of the Native Americans 200 years ago stunned me!)
I picked up the 2nd and read it in one sitting.
Last fall the 3rd came out, just before Christmas when all was ascramble between shopping and work. I made note of it and thought I would pick it up later...
I got an extra last paycheck yesterday, for one day, June 30th, as that was the last day of the month I retired in. I took part of it and a coupon to Border's yesterday and came home with "The Black Dossier". My first hardcover graphic novel, complete with 3D glasses. As I fixed lunch (a peanut butter added to a vanilla whey protein shake, not so good) I slipped the plastic wrap off, and was immersed in 1958 Britain, with ever youthful Mina getting a young spy named "Jimmy" to let her into a building, telling him her name was "Oodles O'Quim"!
:o)
It was all I could do to put it down and go finish the errands I had for the day!
"Oodles O'Quim" indeed!
Perhaps this weekend while the grandchildren are napping or something I'll find some more time to spend with it...
Off to mow after I put a tape in a VCR for "Zilla"...just in case...
This afternoon and tomorrow I'll be shopping and housecleaning as all 3 grandkids are spending the weekend; I most likely won't be around much until Monday again.
May the rest of your week be kind and your weekends all be fantastic!
alan
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Firewalls and such...
Ange said something in a comment on my last post that probably bears further study.
Listening to way too much NPR through my working years, 5 years ago or so I heard a piece on an IT student think tank that bought 8 new desktop PC's and connected them to the net without a firewall to monitor how long it was before there was an intrusion attempt. They had told their professors they expected it to be 45 minutes, and they were right.
Two years later they recreated their experiment and predicted it would be 20 minutes as I recall; it was less than 15 for all 8 computers!
Though only an illiterate autoworker, my younger son convinced me early on to always run a firewall and antivirus (I have a brother-in-law who firmly believes that all the viruses are written by the AV companies in order to sell you their product). Since AdAware and SpyBot came out, I run both of those as well. Probably not as often as I should, but more than once a month.
I've still had a few virus incidents through the years, but only a few. I got so tired of ZoneAlarm telling me it had blocked another intrusion attempt that I turned off that feature years ago; it still logs them but doesn't report them to me. (My little hiccup the other day my son said was most likely just a one time thing where Windows got confused and therefore took away everyone's administrative privileges; when he started it up in "safe mode" he fixed things quite handily.)
I truly wish that those who spend so much time creating the need for these products would direct their energies towards ending the genocide in Darfur or something, but in the meantime what little I have in my bank account I'd like to keep there!
9:58AM, the trash truck just rolled by about 6 hours early, so in a minute I'll go drag my cans back in. Then I get to call and deal with benefits as for some reason I have to call them to opt in to my health insurance program now that I'm retired...gee, is there someone out there who is retiring that doesn't need to continue there insurance. Other than "W" I mean...
May the week be kind!
alan
Listening to way too much NPR through my working years, 5 years ago or so I heard a piece on an IT student think tank that bought 8 new desktop PC's and connected them to the net without a firewall to monitor how long it was before there was an intrusion attempt. They had told their professors they expected it to be 45 minutes, and they were right.
Two years later they recreated their experiment and predicted it would be 20 minutes as I recall; it was less than 15 for all 8 computers!
Though only an illiterate autoworker, my younger son convinced me early on to always run a firewall and antivirus (I have a brother-in-law who firmly believes that all the viruses are written by the AV companies in order to sell you their product). Since AdAware and SpyBot came out, I run both of those as well. Probably not as often as I should, but more than once a month.
I've still had a few virus incidents through the years, but only a few. I got so tired of ZoneAlarm telling me it had blocked another intrusion attempt that I turned off that feature years ago; it still logs them but doesn't report them to me. (My little hiccup the other day my son said was most likely just a one time thing where Windows got confused and therefore took away everyone's administrative privileges; when he started it up in "safe mode" he fixed things quite handily.)
I truly wish that those who spend so much time creating the need for these products would direct their energies towards ending the genocide in Darfur or something, but in the meantime what little I have in my bank account I'd like to keep there!
9:58AM, the trash truck just rolled by about 6 hours early, so in a minute I'll go drag my cans back in. Then I get to call and deal with benefits as for some reason I have to call them to opt in to my health insurance program now that I'm retired...gee, is there someone out there who is retiring that doesn't need to continue there insurance. Other than "W" I mean...
May the week be kind!
alan
Monday, July 14, 2008
Monday finds me...
a bit sore from putting that new bench to work on Saturday evening for the first time. Since the box had several holes in it, and as it had moved around the basement while I made room for it pieces had actually come out of it, I had my doubts about all the pieces being in it but they were! When we finished it after a long day, I started playing a bit with some easy bench press sets while she went to the shower. Before I heard the water turn off I had done 6 sets of those and 4 of preacher curls; not much compared to what I used to, but enough to come upstairs grinning when I tried to get a drink and my arm didn't want to bend quite far enough, lol!
My laptop crashed on Saturday, deciding that I didn't have the authority to open programs or turn it off; John, my younger son, came to the rescue and we didn't end up having to start from scratch with it. He and the grandkids were here for a couple of hours while he saved it.
(Zonealarm had quit working with the latest XP updates; I went and got a new firewall called Comodo; somewhere along the way one of them apparently had issues, most likely a one time thing, though I haven't reinstalled the firewall yet. I had also installed a new version of Norton in the few hours before it decided to melt down on Friday night.)
We had planned on going to a movie Sunday morning, but Dottie wasn't feeling too chipper and we slept in instead. After some "us" time and a leisurely breakfast, she said she wanted another set of some roller rack shelves I had bought at Sam's; on the way we stopped by the nursing home to find my Mom at a crossword puzzle "get togther" with her head almost lying on the table while she held her glasses in one hand, backwards, trying to look through the right lens with her left eye. The other lens had dropped out two days earlier, but she didn't want to call and bother us...
So we went to her room and got the lens; left her the "reading glasses" I keep in the truck for when I forget my bifocals, then ran to Sears and got hers fixed and returned them. Then to Sam's and Petco since it's close by, and home again just in time for dinner.
Dottie rather felt like I had taken away her Saturday as I had vacuumed when we first got up on Saturday, then John and the kids came, etc.. Last night we settled down to eat with the first episode of the 2nd season of "Burn Notice" and then watched "Two for the Money".
When the "riverboat" casinos opened here I would occasionally hear people speak of how much they won or lost that weekend or the night before. To me, some of the amounts were staggering. At time time I had been driving a car I bought for $800 for several years and it was our prime transportation. They would speak of losing $8-900 like it was nothing. Later, these last few, I would hear of someone losing their entire paycheck, and be smiling as they said something about "next time".
I'd have had to jump off a bridge or something if I lost that much...I just couldn't!
Knowing that I have an "addictive personality", I've never gone to the horse track or the boats, even though I've been told how wonderful the restaurants are. Though I've squandered my fair share of money in my 52 years, I couldn't deal with losing it that way.
Mickey Rooney used to tell a story about taking Louis B. Mayer to the Del Mar horsetrack to bet on a sure thing. Mayer lost $50, and claimed he spent several million trying to get that $50 back.
"Two for the Money" illustrates all of this so wonderfully! The numbers are as staggering as they are real; quite a movie as well!
For those who visited Mr. Krupa in my weekend post, perhaps I should have identified him as I'm sure that's not an automatic thing for most of you like it is me; I'm sorry!
May the week be kind!
alan
Late update: The same XP updates finally got to my desktop this afternoon, along with an update from ZoneAlarm that fixed the incompatability issue I fought the other day. As it reopened, it showed they had blocked over 240,000 intrusion attempts to my desktop in the 5 years or so it's been on there...I really like having a good firewall in place! Now off to go reinstall ZoneAlarm on the laptop!
My laptop crashed on Saturday, deciding that I didn't have the authority to open programs or turn it off; John, my younger son, came to the rescue and we didn't end up having to start from scratch with it. He and the grandkids were here for a couple of hours while he saved it.
(Zonealarm had quit working with the latest XP updates; I went and got a new firewall called Comodo; somewhere along the way one of them apparently had issues, most likely a one time thing, though I haven't reinstalled the firewall yet. I had also installed a new version of Norton in the few hours before it decided to melt down on Friday night.)
We had planned on going to a movie Sunday morning, but Dottie wasn't feeling too chipper and we slept in instead. After some "us" time and a leisurely breakfast, she said she wanted another set of some roller rack shelves I had bought at Sam's; on the way we stopped by the nursing home to find my Mom at a crossword puzzle "get togther" with her head almost lying on the table while she held her glasses in one hand, backwards, trying to look through the right lens with her left eye. The other lens had dropped out two days earlier, but she didn't want to call and bother us...
So we went to her room and got the lens; left her the "reading glasses" I keep in the truck for when I forget my bifocals, then ran to Sears and got hers fixed and returned them. Then to Sam's and Petco since it's close by, and home again just in time for dinner.
Dottie rather felt like I had taken away her Saturday as I had vacuumed when we first got up on Saturday, then John and the kids came, etc.. Last night we settled down to eat with the first episode of the 2nd season of "Burn Notice" and then watched "Two for the Money".
When the "riverboat" casinos opened here I would occasionally hear people speak of how much they won or lost that weekend or the night before. To me, some of the amounts were staggering. At time time I had been driving a car I bought for $800 for several years and it was our prime transportation. They would speak of losing $8-900 like it was nothing. Later, these last few, I would hear of someone losing their entire paycheck, and be smiling as they said something about "next time".
I'd have had to jump off a bridge or something if I lost that much...I just couldn't!
Knowing that I have an "addictive personality", I've never gone to the horse track or the boats, even though I've been told how wonderful the restaurants are. Though I've squandered my fair share of money in my 52 years, I couldn't deal with losing it that way.
Mickey Rooney used to tell a story about taking Louis B. Mayer to the Del Mar horsetrack to bet on a sure thing. Mayer lost $50, and claimed he spent several million trying to get that $50 back.
"Two for the Money" illustrates all of this so wonderfully! The numbers are as staggering as they are real; quite a movie as well!
For those who visited Mr. Krupa in my weekend post, perhaps I should have identified him as I'm sure that's not an automatic thing for most of you like it is me; I'm sorry!
May the week be kind!
alan
Late update: The same XP updates finally got to my desktop this afternoon, along with an update from ZoneAlarm that fixed the incompatability issue I fought the other day. As it reopened, it showed they had blocked over 240,000 intrusion attempts to my desktop in the 5 years or so it's been on there...I really like having a good firewall in place! Now off to go reinstall ZoneAlarm on the laptop!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Finding some joy...
in our lives is harder each day it would seem; fire, famine, political skullduggery and countless other ills all take their toll on us and dampen even the brightest of spirits.
I ran some errands and came home to find something playing on "Music Choice" as I settled down with a salad for a late lunch; as I went to add it to my Amazon list (where I keep track of albums and artists) I also checked for a video clip. There wasn't one of the track I was looking for, but I did find this one that expresses joy and exuberance and a complete love and devotion to something that takes you "there"!
May we each find a bit of it for ourselves this weekend!
May the weekend be kind to each of you!
alan
I ran some errands and came home to find something playing on "Music Choice" as I settled down with a salad for a late lunch; as I went to add it to my Amazon list (where I keep track of albums and artists) I also checked for a video clip. There wasn't one of the track I was looking for, but I did find this one that expresses joy and exuberance and a complete love and devotion to something that takes you "there"!
May we each find a bit of it for ourselves this weekend!
May the weekend be kind to each of you!
alan
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Wednesday "nooner"
Snuck up from the basement to fix a latte (my last vice) and get something to eat before I go back to work again...
I put together the hyperextension bench I bought on eBay Monday evening; beautiful, stout and half the price of anything I could find "in town". Dottie was off yesterday, though she had to go to a meeting, so we did "Sam's" after and I bought some matting for the floor to go under it and the weight bench/squat rack. Hopefully by this evening I'll have the bench put together.
I was going to try to mow this evening, but it rained so much last night it's still too wet for now, so back to the basement it is I guess!
When I finish down there I need to take the back off my desktop tower and vacuum it out and change the battery in it, then I'll start uploading some photos again...
So, as my break closes, may the rest of the week be kind!
alan
Addendum: A few hours later...as I was moving boxes and vacuuming the "shelf" around the edge of the basement that supports the foundation of the house, I ran across a "Kansas City Star" with a headline reading "Clerics Demand Holy War to Overthrow Iraqi Government".
The date was August, 1980...
I put together the hyperextension bench I bought on eBay Monday evening; beautiful, stout and half the price of anything I could find "in town". Dottie was off yesterday, though she had to go to a meeting, so we did "Sam's" after and I bought some matting for the floor to go under it and the weight bench/squat rack. Hopefully by this evening I'll have the bench put together.
I was going to try to mow this evening, but it rained so much last night it's still too wet for now, so back to the basement it is I guess!
When I finish down there I need to take the back off my desktop tower and vacuum it out and change the battery in it, then I'll start uploading some photos again...
So, as my break closes, may the rest of the week be kind!
alan
Addendum: A few hours later...as I was moving boxes and vacuuming the "shelf" around the edge of the basement that supports the foundation of the house, I ran across a "Kansas City Star" with a headline reading "Clerics Demand Holy War to Overthrow Iraqi Government".
The date was August, 1980...
Monday, July 07, 2008
Finally, after two weeks...
things slowed a bit yesterday! Mainly due to allergies, but still!
Thursday we made an hour run east to buy fireworks, as the indoor retailer we used to buy from gave up his license two years ago and we had been a bit disappointed buying from the local stands. We went to a warehouse with a retail floor, and got things that had been handled several times less, as well as stored inside and dry. We counted things up in our head and thought we were on budget ($250 we had set, we thought we had $260 when we stopped). There were two major cases of heart failure as the girl hit total and it came up to over $560! We started pulling things to put back, both in shock that we could have been so far off. The girl on the register was new and couldn't figure out how to subtract things; she called the manager over, who looked at the ticket and said "I don't see two cases of such and such here at $140 each, where are they?"
Of course, we didn't have them; they rerang the order and we were right on; I went back and grabbed one more thing for a "finale" then they gave us a $50 one because we spent $300...
Every year we say we're going to cut down, and that is down some from years past (blush). The 4th was always a big holiday as I was growing up; in my grandparents backyard, with all the cousins and such gathered, sometimes 2nd cousins as well. Grandpa would spend a hundred or so, as would Dad; I would spend around that from my lawn mowing money. Sometimes things went on for 3 or 4 hours! Grandpa would always sit off to one side, even after his stroke, and set off Roman candles holding them in his hand while our parents all told us to "not even think about it".
After they gave up their house the party moved to my Dad's, and the cousins stopped coming, but it was still a big deal, and Dad and I picked up the spending a bit. Dad would grill (and he was good at it). The 2nd year Dottie and I were back here Grandma got sick the night of the 4th; we found out a few days later she had begun her 4th and final round with colon cancer. She passed away that fall...
We had 11 for dinner and fireworks Friday. Bill was here, though Laura is in D.C. doing an internship. John, Noel and the grandkids were here, along with my sister and her husband and their younger son and his girlfriend. After lots of daytime stuff and dinner, the show started between 9:30 and 10; we finished sparklers about 11:30. As the last sparklers went out John yelled "Happy Retirement, Dad"!
Dottie and I told them they didn't need to pick everything up that night as we would do it the next day. My brother-in-law had to be up at 4:30 to get to work at 5:30, and it was well past the grandkids bedtimes as well, especially since everyone needed a shower due to the powder smoke). I hadn't counted on 3 hours and filling four cans, but it was fun making the mess! I awoke with my left eye "bugging me" to the point that allergy drops weren't working and I was outside wearing an eye patch. After we took a break and ate I checked all the gutters (nothing like having a gully-washer roll in and finding out a downspout is clogged with a cardboard tube or a half a sphere from a mortar ball) and cleared them. After that I took a nap hoping my eye would be better (it was) then we had dinner and watched "Fool's Gold", Dottie's Netflix movie for the week. Mine is still sitting from 3 weeks ago...maybe later today...
Yesterday when I woke it was the right eye, and less cooperative, so I spent most of the day sitting in the living room with the eye patch over it while Dottie caught up laundry. We watched 7 hours of "Battlestar Galactica" (she was only behind one, but I had gotten behind while working overtime and Saturdays) then two of "Men In Trees" (not sure I'll forgive ABC for cancelling it).
We got to bed around midnight, and she returned to work this morning after her two weeks off; I'm sitting here feeling a bit guilty about that, since I'm not! I'm waiting for FedEx to deliver a hyperextension bench I bought on eBay, running more laundry, and trying to decide if I dare spend enough time in the basement to finish making room to assemble my weight bench, knowing I might not get to the door when they show up.
Boring, huh?
Somehow it feels like it's about time!
alan
Thursday we made an hour run east to buy fireworks, as the indoor retailer we used to buy from gave up his license two years ago and we had been a bit disappointed buying from the local stands. We went to a warehouse with a retail floor, and got things that had been handled several times less, as well as stored inside and dry. We counted things up in our head and thought we were on budget ($250 we had set, we thought we had $260 when we stopped). There were two major cases of heart failure as the girl hit total and it came up to over $560! We started pulling things to put back, both in shock that we could have been so far off. The girl on the register was new and couldn't figure out how to subtract things; she called the manager over, who looked at the ticket and said "I don't see two cases of such and such here at $140 each, where are they?"
Of course, we didn't have them; they rerang the order and we were right on; I went back and grabbed one more thing for a "finale" then they gave us a $50 one because we spent $300...
Every year we say we're going to cut down, and that is down some from years past (blush). The 4th was always a big holiday as I was growing up; in my grandparents backyard, with all the cousins and such gathered, sometimes 2nd cousins as well. Grandpa would spend a hundred or so, as would Dad; I would spend around that from my lawn mowing money. Sometimes things went on for 3 or 4 hours! Grandpa would always sit off to one side, even after his stroke, and set off Roman candles holding them in his hand while our parents all told us to "not even think about it".
After they gave up their house the party moved to my Dad's, and the cousins stopped coming, but it was still a big deal, and Dad and I picked up the spending a bit. Dad would grill (and he was good at it). The 2nd year Dottie and I were back here Grandma got sick the night of the 4th; we found out a few days later she had begun her 4th and final round with colon cancer. She passed away that fall...
We had 11 for dinner and fireworks Friday. Bill was here, though Laura is in D.C. doing an internship. John, Noel and the grandkids were here, along with my sister and her husband and their younger son and his girlfriend. After lots of daytime stuff and dinner, the show started between 9:30 and 10; we finished sparklers about 11:30. As the last sparklers went out John yelled "Happy Retirement, Dad"!
Dottie and I told them they didn't need to pick everything up that night as we would do it the next day. My brother-in-law had to be up at 4:30 to get to work at 5:30, and it was well past the grandkids bedtimes as well, especially since everyone needed a shower due to the powder smoke). I hadn't counted on 3 hours and filling four cans, but it was fun making the mess! I awoke with my left eye "bugging me" to the point that allergy drops weren't working and I was outside wearing an eye patch. After we took a break and ate I checked all the gutters (nothing like having a gully-washer roll in and finding out a downspout is clogged with a cardboard tube or a half a sphere from a mortar ball) and cleared them. After that I took a nap hoping my eye would be better (it was) then we had dinner and watched "Fool's Gold", Dottie's Netflix movie for the week. Mine is still sitting from 3 weeks ago...maybe later today...
Yesterday when I woke it was the right eye, and less cooperative, so I spent most of the day sitting in the living room with the eye patch over it while Dottie caught up laundry. We watched 7 hours of "Battlestar Galactica" (she was only behind one, but I had gotten behind while working overtime and Saturdays) then two of "Men In Trees" (not sure I'll forgive ABC for cancelling it).
We got to bed around midnight, and she returned to work this morning after her two weeks off; I'm sitting here feeling a bit guilty about that, since I'm not! I'm waiting for FedEx to deliver a hyperextension bench I bought on eBay, running more laundry, and trying to decide if I dare spend enough time in the basement to finish making room to assemble my weight bench, knowing I might not get to the door when they show up.
Boring, huh?
Somehow it feels like it's about time!
alan
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Fried!
Physically and mentally, anyway!
I mowed for the 1st time this year; 7 hours between the gutters, the trimming, sharpening the blade, reattaching the rear carriage of the mower 3 times (5 years it never loosened, then 3 times in one day...hmmmm). Then there was spraying something to kill the grass coming up through the driveway and the patio.
Dottie hadn't let me mow this year and had been paying Bill to drive in from Lawrence and do it because she was afraid at my weight and with the constant ache in my chest I would "stroke out" before my retirement date. The ache it seems isn't heart related, only weight; all my other "numbers" were good last week, and I don't get quite so out of breath with the time I've spent on the treadmill of late.
So I covered my bald head with SPF 50, along with my face and shoulders, SPF30 on my arms and legs, and "went to it".
I had planned to also do something about the broadleaf coming up in the yard, but at 7 last night I had had more than enough and decided it could wait 'til after the rains today and after the 4th.
Angel survived her clipping and trip to the vet. I haven't posted nearly as many photos this last year as I used to, but perhaps can start again as there are more hours in my day!
From two years ago:
The first is full-winter coat; that year we clipped her twice, once partially down early in the year, and a 2nd time and much shorter about this time of year. This year, I just couldn't get to it sooner...
Today we make food and fireworks runs for the 4th of July, then back to the basement to finish rearranging things to make room for my weight bench!
May the rest of the week be kind to each of you; if I don't get back before the 4th then for those who get to celebrate the holiday, may you enjoy it safely!
alan
I mowed for the 1st time this year; 7 hours between the gutters, the trimming, sharpening the blade, reattaching the rear carriage of the mower 3 times (5 years it never loosened, then 3 times in one day...hmmmm). Then there was spraying something to kill the grass coming up through the driveway and the patio.
Dottie hadn't let me mow this year and had been paying Bill to drive in from Lawrence and do it because she was afraid at my weight and with the constant ache in my chest I would "stroke out" before my retirement date. The ache it seems isn't heart related, only weight; all my other "numbers" were good last week, and I don't get quite so out of breath with the time I've spent on the treadmill of late.
So I covered my bald head with SPF 50, along with my face and shoulders, SPF30 on my arms and legs, and "went to it".
I had planned to also do something about the broadleaf coming up in the yard, but at 7 last night I had had more than enough and decided it could wait 'til after the rains today and after the 4th.
Angel survived her clipping and trip to the vet. I haven't posted nearly as many photos this last year as I used to, but perhaps can start again as there are more hours in my day!
From two years ago:
The first is full-winter coat; that year we clipped her twice, once partially down early in the year, and a 2nd time and much shorter about this time of year. This year, I just couldn't get to it sooner...
Today we make food and fireworks runs for the 4th of July, then back to the basement to finish rearranging things to make room for my weight bench!
May the rest of the week be kind to each of you; if I don't get back before the 4th then for those who get to celebrate the holiday, may you enjoy it safely!
alan
Monday, June 30, 2008
Mom went home...
late Saturday evening after a 5th test that found nothing; her blood count had stabilized, and just like "Green Tea" said in the comments below, they sent her home and are adding iron to her supplements.
Funny, Mom always was iron deficient. She still complains to me about the family doctor that delivered me (he had also delivered her) making her eat raw liver in 1955when she was carrying me...
Meanwhile, Dottie's blood is so iron rich that if she doesn't go donate every once in a while it thickens and causes her leg cramps!
All of the numbers in my physical came back perfect; the doctor said "lose a 100 pounds by next Friday and you'll be fine!". Then he cautioned me against trying to lose this mass too quickly...
I clipped Angel for the summer finally last night as she has to go to the vet today for her annual (what is it about retirement and doctors?) checkup and shots. At 12, she seemed to get through it better than I did.
Which brings me to a close, as I need to eat something and get out the door!
May the week be kind to each of you! Thank you for all the prayers and the well wishes and words of encouragement...
alan
Funny, Mom always was iron deficient. She still complains to me about the family doctor that delivered me (he had also delivered her) making her eat raw liver in 1955when she was carrying me...
Meanwhile, Dottie's blood is so iron rich that if she doesn't go donate every once in a while it thickens and causes her leg cramps!
All of the numbers in my physical came back perfect; the doctor said "lose a 100 pounds by next Friday and you'll be fine!". Then he cautioned me against trying to lose this mass too quickly...
I clipped Angel for the summer finally last night as she has to go to the vet today for her annual (what is it about retirement and doctors?) checkup and shots. At 12, she seemed to get through it better than I did.
Which brings me to a close, as I need to eat something and get out the door!
May the week be kind to each of you! Thank you for all the prayers and the well wishes and words of encouragement...
alan
Thursday, June 26, 2008
A good time to be retired...(aka unplanned disappearance)
The first two days were great...got up earlier than I should have on Sunday, spent a half hour on the treadmill first thing; Bill came and mowed then we bought barbecue as a retirement celebration. He left just before 9, I went to bed before 10 with every intention of getting up early on Monday.
I slept 16 hours!
Still, I started trying to "de-packrat" the house a bit, and ran some other errands along with hitting the treadmill twice for a half hour.
Tuesday Dottie had to prepare for a colonoscopy on Wednesday, and just as she did we got a phone call from my Mom's nursing home that they had been worried about her, done a blood count and her levels were off, so they were having her transported to the ER. Mom has been fighting MS for 40 years, can't walk at this point, and these last few months we have stopped trying to transport her for fear of hurting her or ourselves.
Dottie couldn't leave to go with me, so I spent the afternoon and evening at the hospital while they gave her a unit of blood, one of Nexium then another of blood. They had thought she had either an upper GI bleed or an ulcer, but the scan they did yesterday showed neither. This morning they did a swallow test to make sure she can stand a colonoscopy tomorrowp; if they don't find an explanation (they seem to expect to, especially given that her mother died of colon cancer) then we are told a bone marrow test is next...
So I'm sorry I dropped off the face of the earth, and will continue to remain there at least through the weekend most likely...
May it be kind to each of you!
alan
addendum: I should have mentioned above that Dottie's test results were wonderful, and that she was told she needn't come back again for 7-10 years!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Down to 10 again...
so I came home, figured out how to run my Radio Shack heart monitor again, then spent a half hour on the treadmill with "The Pink Panther" (Boomer network). 1.5 miles with the warm up and cool down; no incline, and all my legs wanted for tonight.
Some "wag" at work figured out that the 300 of us leaving amounted to over 9,000 years experience walking out the door...rather a shocking number!
I've had a hard time not taking time to rant a bit, and I guess my shower is going to wait a few more minutes.
Last month our Peerless Leader said he didn't need to quit filling the Strategic Petroleum reserve because the supply of oil wasn't the problem.
Now he and his Dear John are both raving about how we need to drill offshore and in Alaska...
Meanwhile on "Marketplace" and other places they keep talking about the "Enron loophole" that did away with oversight on oil speculators in 2001...right after the guy who got the most campaign money from Enron snuck into office!
Should you wish to read much more literate discussions of this and things current, scroll down to the right and visit Robert Reich's blog.
May your Fridays each be wonderful and the weekend kind!
alan
Some "wag" at work figured out that the 300 of us leaving amounted to over 9,000 years experience walking out the door...rather a shocking number!
I've had a hard time not taking time to rant a bit, and I guess my shower is going to wait a few more minutes.
Last month our Peerless Leader said he didn't need to quit filling the Strategic Petroleum reserve because the supply of oil wasn't the problem.
Now he and his Dear John are both raving about how we need to drill offshore and in Alaska...
Meanwhile on "Marketplace" and other places they keep talking about the "Enron loophole" that did away with oversight on oil speculators in 2001...right after the guy who got the most campaign money from Enron snuck into office!
Should you wish to read much more literate discussions of this and things current, scroll down to the right and visit Robert Reich's blog.
May your Fridays each be wonderful and the weekend kind!
alan
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Curveballs...
It seems that the counting of hours and minutes that had me smiling last week and on Monday has gone out the window. Between some breakdown time and their trying to make up some of the 12,000 vehicles they lost while we were on the street, they've thrown sanity out the window and are pushing us beyond 10 hour days. Monday we did 10.5; last night it was 11.
Last night the line started at 5:00pm and stopped at 4:30am; I got home at 5...
I put a tailight bulb in Dottie's car, made a soy protein shake, paid bills, ran through the shower and got in bed at 6:30; I tried to get up at 3 but set the clock back to 3:30...
Now it's time to eat, go out the door and do it again!
Saturday can't come soon enough!
alan
Last night the line started at 5:00pm and stopped at 4:30am; I got home at 5...
I put a tailight bulb in Dottie's car, made a soy protein shake, paid bills, ran through the shower and got in bed at 6:30; I tried to get up at 3 but set the clock back to 3:30...
Now it's time to eat, go out the door and do it again!
Saturday can't come soon enough!
alan
Monday, June 16, 2008
Write faster, write faster...
Lots to do before work and I was sleeping so good I kept setting the clock back...very seldom that happens of late, whether it's my weight, or stress, or age...
Saturday Bill mowed and I went to Sears to pick up a weight bench; I came back home and we unloaded it and "dollied it" down the steps to join the treadmill. I stayed long enough for him to clean the gutters (in case he decided to fall or something, since he walked the roof to do them instead of using the ladder).
"Dick's Sporting Goods" used to sell Olympic weight sets with the bar for about 1/2 what anyone else did; after going to the closest store and finding them out, I called the next and they were as well. So I ran my other errands (Radio Shack for a phone battery and stopping to buy a fan for the basement) while Bill finished, stuck baked potatoes in the oven and showered.
I got home just in time to explain how to start the big skillet for mushrooms. John, Noel and the grandkids were already here; John was changing the oil in his minivan. Dottie got home from work as the first skillet of mushrooms were tranferred and the second was started, got the grill out and started it then ran through the shower while Bill started the steaks. After they turned the first time the potatoes came out and the shrimp went into the oven.
Dinner came out "together" and well.
While they were all talking I called another "Dick's" and found out those weight sets were discontinued; with everyone else selling plates at a dollar a pound and bars for $50 and up, I could see why!
John had a check engine light on his van, so he cleared it and wanted to go for a test ride. He and Bill were discussing "World of Warcraft" strategies, so I talked Bill into going, and told John lets go back to Sears.
The bench I bought in the early afternoon I put on our card. While there I saw Weider weight sets, one Olympic set marked down $40 which made it comparable to trying to buy the cheap plates elsewhere and a bar separately. The plates are rubber clad, making it a bit easier on my ancient concrete floor most likely. I added a 2nd bar, a stand for the weights and parted with a 3rd of the "bonus" we got for bringing the Malibu in at #1 in the J.D. Power surveys.
So, after some more rearranging in the basement, I'll be able to do most of what I did in the gym at work without having to give up the drive time or the gasoline or worry about the hours!
Since Dottie worked yesterday, I spent the afternoon rewiring our cable and dropping cable to a VCR in the basement, along with trying to get the "I-Control" function of our cable to work. I had been told it was the way I had it wired to begin with, so I changed it to the way their service rep said it needed to be; no such luck, but I have one piece left to change before I give up (a Radio Shack "booster" to bypass").
Last night when Dottie came home we both ran through the shower, called in an order to "Famous Dave's" barbecue for a "Feast for Two" then came home and watched "Charlie Wilson's War". Excellent movie, and very cautionary for our present time!
Time to get dressed, get the trash to the curb, then eat some of last night's leftovers.
58 more hours to go!
Tomorrow I have to get up and go get bloodwork done for my physical; it's really going to be hard to work 'til 3:30AM and not eat after midnight! I asked them to set it up for a Monday, and didn't realize they hadn't until last week. Since I skipped last year (we were broke, but I made sure Dottie got hers done along with a mammogram and having her joint replacements checked) and they aren't pointing it out to me, I figured I'd just go along with it...
May the week be kind!
alan
Saturday Bill mowed and I went to Sears to pick up a weight bench; I came back home and we unloaded it and "dollied it" down the steps to join the treadmill. I stayed long enough for him to clean the gutters (in case he decided to fall or something, since he walked the roof to do them instead of using the ladder).
"Dick's Sporting Goods" used to sell Olympic weight sets with the bar for about 1/2 what anyone else did; after going to the closest store and finding them out, I called the next and they were as well. So I ran my other errands (Radio Shack for a phone battery and stopping to buy a fan for the basement) while Bill finished, stuck baked potatoes in the oven and showered.
I got home just in time to explain how to start the big skillet for mushrooms. John, Noel and the grandkids were already here; John was changing the oil in his minivan. Dottie got home from work as the first skillet of mushrooms were tranferred and the second was started, got the grill out and started it then ran through the shower while Bill started the steaks. After they turned the first time the potatoes came out and the shrimp went into the oven.
Dinner came out "together" and well.
While they were all talking I called another "Dick's" and found out those weight sets were discontinued; with everyone else selling plates at a dollar a pound and bars for $50 and up, I could see why!
John had a check engine light on his van, so he cleared it and wanted to go for a test ride. He and Bill were discussing "World of Warcraft" strategies, so I talked Bill into going, and told John lets go back to Sears.
The bench I bought in the early afternoon I put on our card. While there I saw Weider weight sets, one Olympic set marked down $40 which made it comparable to trying to buy the cheap plates elsewhere and a bar separately. The plates are rubber clad, making it a bit easier on my ancient concrete floor most likely. I added a 2nd bar, a stand for the weights and parted with a 3rd of the "bonus" we got for bringing the Malibu in at #1 in the J.D. Power surveys.
So, after some more rearranging in the basement, I'll be able to do most of what I did in the gym at work without having to give up the drive time or the gasoline or worry about the hours!
Since Dottie worked yesterday, I spent the afternoon rewiring our cable and dropping cable to a VCR in the basement, along with trying to get the "I-Control" function of our cable to work. I had been told it was the way I had it wired to begin with, so I changed it to the way their service rep said it needed to be; no such luck, but I have one piece left to change before I give up (a Radio Shack "booster" to bypass").
Last night when Dottie came home we both ran through the shower, called in an order to "Famous Dave's" barbecue for a "Feast for Two" then came home and watched "Charlie Wilson's War". Excellent movie, and very cautionary for our present time!
Time to get dressed, get the trash to the curb, then eat some of last night's leftovers.
58 more hours to go!
Tomorrow I have to get up and go get bloodwork done for my physical; it's really going to be hard to work 'til 3:30AM and not eat after midnight! I asked them to set it up for a Monday, and didn't realize they hadn't until last week. Since I skipped last year (we were broke, but I made sure Dottie got hers done along with a mammogram and having her joint replacements checked) and they aren't pointing it out to me, I figured I'd just go along with it...
May the week be kind!
alan
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Saturday morning, just before sunup...
Came home, Dottie awake because her arthritis woke her just before I usually show up. Bill is here, so we shuffled cars as she works tomorrow, he's mowing and then going to the Dr. because of a tick bite, so my truck needed to be the furthest thing in our one car driveway.
I showed her the retirement plaque they gave me tonight; 58 more hours and I'm out the door.
We talked a bit, then I slipped on my shoes and went downstairs. The first night I did 3/4 mile in 20 minutes with only a quick up and down on the incline to make sure it worked, and had all I wanted. I skipped the 2nd night because of other things too hideous to detail; last night I pushed it to a mile in 21 minutes with no incline. Tonight it was a tick over a mile in a tick over 20 minutes varying the speed up to 3.4 for a minute or so, and the incline up to 10 at one point, though not for long. The calorie counter really jumped though, as I knew it would.
The heart monitor seems a bit erratic, probably because if I stay where I can hold the grips my feet catch the shroud over the front roller. Instead of dropping the $100 to put the RF receiver in it and get their chest belt, I'm going to put fresh batteries in the wrist monitor and chest belt I wore to the gym at work in the "old days" and use it for a while.
So now I sit here to cool off a bit and eat something before I crash. No more Cocoa Pebbles or Golden Crisp in the middle of the night, back to cottage cheese...a slow-digesting protein instead of carbs...
Dottie works today and tomorrow; she set up Father's Day dinner for tonight after she gets off but Bill is supposed to cook with my consultation. I'm planning to slip off to Sears to look at a weightbench and run some other errands when I get up; hoping before noon, so that means I need to run through the rain locker and get to bed!
I hope each of you has a lovely weekend!
alan
I showed her the retirement plaque they gave me tonight; 58 more hours and I'm out the door.
We talked a bit, then I slipped on my shoes and went downstairs. The first night I did 3/4 mile in 20 minutes with only a quick up and down on the incline to make sure it worked, and had all I wanted. I skipped the 2nd night because of other things too hideous to detail; last night I pushed it to a mile in 21 minutes with no incline. Tonight it was a tick over a mile in a tick over 20 minutes varying the speed up to 3.4 for a minute or so, and the incline up to 10 at one point, though not for long. The calorie counter really jumped though, as I knew it would.
The heart monitor seems a bit erratic, probably because if I stay where I can hold the grips my feet catch the shroud over the front roller. Instead of dropping the $100 to put the RF receiver in it and get their chest belt, I'm going to put fresh batteries in the wrist monitor and chest belt I wore to the gym at work in the "old days" and use it for a while.
So now I sit here to cool off a bit and eat something before I crash. No more Cocoa Pebbles or Golden Crisp in the middle of the night, back to cottage cheese...a slow-digesting protein instead of carbs...
Dottie works today and tomorrow; she set up Father's Day dinner for tonight after she gets off but Bill is supposed to cook with my consultation. I'm planning to slip off to Sears to look at a weightbench and run some other errands when I get up; hoping before noon, so that means I need to run through the rain locker and get to bed!
I hope each of you has a lovely weekend!
alan
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
A new beginning...
A few of you might remember that several years ago I injured my back. I weighed 288 at the time (a load when you are only 5' 8") and was stepping out of the tub when something "twanged" in my lower right back. I went to work, didn't survive and came home...after several days I tried again and was worse; finally it turned out to be a fractured ligament.
I ended up on the only sick leave I've ever used, for almost 4 months while I went through therapy. During that process I ended up down in the 240's; when I went back to work we were only working 8's and the gym at work was available 24 hours, so I stuck with it and got all the way down to 188 and a 34" waist. I was lifting weights two hours a day 4 or 5 days a week, and spending an hour on the treadmill afterwards each day. I slowly edged back up to 200, but my waist dropped to 33" and for the first time in my life I had something that resembled a physique. I was off the Celebrex that had replaced my Bextra, and I was off blood pressure medicine as well.
Our hours crept to 9, the time in the gym was shortened; then other things intervened and it became non-existent. My intention had been to return "when I found time". Then our work hours crept to 10...
If you've ever heard of "Newton's 3rd Law" (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction), you know where this is going...
A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had gone to the Dr. to get back on my blood pressure medicine (a good thing, as the headaches have stopped!). The scale broke 300that day, a shock to me as I figured I might be close but didn't expect it to be over. Just barely broke, but still...301!
Dottie found the "missing link" for the treadmill last night; the safety key that had been put away when the box was opened. Filed away for safekeeping, I had never seen it; I was sure it was left out of the box...
So when I got home at 4 this morning, I went downstairs, donned a new pair of Asics and did 20 minutes. Not nearly the speed or incline I was at 20 months ago, but a beginning! (All I wanted of one as well!)
So, knowing I did it once, here I go again...
May the week be kind to each of you!
alan
I ended up on the only sick leave I've ever used, for almost 4 months while I went through therapy. During that process I ended up down in the 240's; when I went back to work we were only working 8's and the gym at work was available 24 hours, so I stuck with it and got all the way down to 188 and a 34" waist. I was lifting weights two hours a day 4 or 5 days a week, and spending an hour on the treadmill afterwards each day. I slowly edged back up to 200, but my waist dropped to 33" and for the first time in my life I had something that resembled a physique. I was off the Celebrex that had replaced my Bextra, and I was off blood pressure medicine as well.
Our hours crept to 9, the time in the gym was shortened; then other things intervened and it became non-existent. My intention had been to return "when I found time". Then our work hours crept to 10...
If you've ever heard of "Newton's 3rd Law" (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction), you know where this is going...
A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had gone to the Dr. to get back on my blood pressure medicine (a good thing, as the headaches have stopped!). The scale broke 300that day, a shock to me as I figured I might be close but didn't expect it to be over. Just barely broke, but still...301!
Dottie found the "missing link" for the treadmill last night; the safety key that had been put away when the box was opened. Filed away for safekeeping, I had never seen it; I was sure it was left out of the box...
So when I got home at 4 this morning, I went downstairs, donned a new pair of Asics and did 20 minutes. Not nearly the speed or incline I was at 20 months ago, but a beginning! (All I wanted of one as well!)
So, knowing I did it once, here I go again...
May the week be kind to each of you!
alan
Monday, June 09, 2008
10 more work days...
and it can't go by fast enough! Going back on the 10 hour days then trying to get up on the weekends is wreaking mental and physical havoc with me...
Caleb (the younger grandson) spent Friday and Saturday nights. I tried to get up early on Saturday but didn't make it 'til noon. We had errands to run which included buying his first model; he picked an F-14 "Tomcat". Bill came and mowed while we were out, so Caleb got to play outside when we returned and again yesterday before the next round of rain began. I played catch with my bifocals on for the first time, as I was doing other things around the house and finally making the wiring drop for the treadmill.
After I finished and plugged in the surge suppressor, etc., we discovered that the safety key is missing, so in a minute I'll be on the phone...
Having screwed up my hours for the last two days, today I kept resetting the clock until 3, so I'm a bit short of time before I go to work now!
I hope you each had a wonderful weekend, that all of you are "high and dry" given the current situation so many places, and that the week is kind to each of you!
alan
Caleb (the younger grandson) spent Friday and Saturday nights. I tried to get up early on Saturday but didn't make it 'til noon. We had errands to run which included buying his first model; he picked an F-14 "Tomcat". Bill came and mowed while we were out, so Caleb got to play outside when we returned and again yesterday before the next round of rain began. I played catch with my bifocals on for the first time, as I was doing other things around the house and finally making the wiring drop for the treadmill.
After I finished and plugged in the surge suppressor, etc., we discovered that the safety key is missing, so in a minute I'll be on the phone...
Having screwed up my hours for the last two days, today I kept resetting the clock until 3, so I'm a bit short of time before I go to work now!
I hope you each had a wonderful weekend, that all of you are "high and dry" given the current situation so many places, and that the week is kind to each of you!
alan
Friday, June 06, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
A link about the fuel tank farm fire...
This link is from one of the noon news broadcasts and has both video footage and stills from last night and this morning of the millions of gallons of unleaded burning.
I haven't heard of anyone hurt or injured; damage to our wallets notwithstanding.
Heck of a way to have you all find out exactly where I work!
May the rest of you have a quiet week!
alan
I haven't heard of anyone hurt or injured; damage to our wallets notwithstanding.
Heck of a way to have you all find out exactly where I work!
May the rest of you have a quiet week!
alan
The fuel tank fire...
just in case any of you noticed it on the news, is adjacent to our plant but caused no damage or even evacuation. It wasn't really any louder than the thunder we had been hearing for an hour or so before hand.
The corner of the "tank farm" is about 75 feet from where I was walking picket duty last month...
alan
The corner of the "tank farm" is about 75 feet from where I was walking picket duty last month...
alan
Monday, June 02, 2008
Finally...
after months instead of the weeks I'd of thought, the treadmill is together. I have a wiring drop to make to it (easy) and then I'll start walking myself back down to a proper size...
I started to title this "Treadmill to Oblivion", which was what Fred Allen called his memoir, written 50 some years ago; I decided as long as I've had it on my Powell's list and not had it show up, I shouldn't get someone's hopes up if they Googled it.
We had a mini-Thanksgiving in July Saturday afternoon, with Bill and the grandkids here. Then Bill and I went out, him to mow and me to run the trimmer. It didn't get done last week (didn't really need it until after the rain started last Saturday and kept up for days) and took both of us about twice as long as it should have.
He spent the night and Sunday we put together the treadmill (in spite of the step they left out in the instructions) then I made a trip to Lowe's before they closed. Bill went home, Dottie and I did our Wal-Mart run, and by then it was 9 something.
She had "Flightplan" but didn't feel like watching something that might end on a sad note before she went to bed. When she finally did I finally caught up with "Tess of the Storm Country", my Pickford silent that had been sitting for weeks now.
I made the mistake when it first arrived, having fallen madly in love with "Stella Maris" of checking a few minutes of it to see if I might be able to get Dottie to watch it. I was disappointed in the print, which has a lot of acid deterioration early on.
Now I sit here disappointed in myself for not watching it sooner, as the "bad spots" go away a couple of "reels" in and the movie pulls you in until you wouldn't care if they did or not. At the beginning they have a quote from Mary saying this was her favorite of all her films (248 of them she did!) and I can understand that!
Off to check my list to see what's next!
May the week be kind!
alan
I started to title this "Treadmill to Oblivion", which was what Fred Allen called his memoir, written 50 some years ago; I decided as long as I've had it on my Powell's list and not had it show up, I shouldn't get someone's hopes up if they Googled it.
We had a mini-Thanksgiving in July Saturday afternoon, with Bill and the grandkids here. Then Bill and I went out, him to mow and me to run the trimmer. It didn't get done last week (didn't really need it until after the rain started last Saturday and kept up for days) and took both of us about twice as long as it should have.
He spent the night and Sunday we put together the treadmill (in spite of the step they left out in the instructions) then I made a trip to Lowe's before they closed. Bill went home, Dottie and I did our Wal-Mart run, and by then it was 9 something.
She had "Flightplan" but didn't feel like watching something that might end on a sad note before she went to bed. When she finally did I finally caught up with "Tess of the Storm Country", my Pickford silent that had been sitting for weeks now.
I made the mistake when it first arrived, having fallen madly in love with "Stella Maris" of checking a few minutes of it to see if I might be able to get Dottie to watch it. I was disappointed in the print, which has a lot of acid deterioration early on.
Now I sit here disappointed in myself for not watching it sooner, as the "bad spots" go away a couple of "reels" in and the movie pulls you in until you wouldn't care if they did or not. At the beginning they have a quote from Mary saying this was her favorite of all her films (248 of them she did!) and I can understand that!
Off to check my list to see what's next!
May the week be kind!
alan
Friday, May 30, 2008
Friday follies...
I've been home almost an hour; showered and read some news and visited a few of you. I promised Dottie I would vacuum before I went to bed, as she did Sam's and Costco after she got off work tonight; when I called at 9:30 she had just finished putting things away and hadn't eaten, showered or laundered her uniform yet.
We have the grandkids tonight, and I knew she would do it so I said I would...
We ate from the freezer for the most part through the strike; the next thing on our agenda was the turkey we had put away and that was when I got called back, so she's cooking it Saturday while they are here and Bill is coming for dinner as well.
Hopefully despite getting home at 4AM I'll get enough sleep to be able to enjoy some time with them!
May the weekend be kind to you all!
alan
We have the grandkids tonight, and I knew she would do it so I said I would...
We ate from the freezer for the most part through the strike; the next thing on our agenda was the turkey we had put away and that was when I got called back, so she's cooking it Saturday while they are here and Bill is coming for dinner as well.
Hopefully despite getting home at 4AM I'll get enough sleep to be able to enjoy some time with them!
May the weekend be kind to you all!
alan
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday's worse...
("Stormy Monday" playing in my mind...)
"They call it Stormy Monday...
but Tuesday's just as bad...(repeat once)
Wednesday's worse...
and Thursday's oh so sad!
Dottie worked the weekend, but got Monday off for the holiday and Tuesday for her normal day off. We got up early and made the 10AM show of "Indiana Jones" for $5 each; we both would have sat through it again, immediately!
I finished watching the F-1 race from Monaco off tape from Sunday while she did some odds and ends, then she held a flashlight for me while I replaced the light switch in our ceiling fan. I started doing laundry and moving some things in preparation for putting my treadmill together, then Bill called and asked if Laura could borrow a suitcase. (She has an internship this summer that ties into her accounting degree.)By the time we ran that out to Lawrence and got home it was supper time, so we ate and watched "The Contract" with John Cusak and Morgan Freeman. Something she had found on Netflix that I had never heard of; good movie!
While we were in Lawrence Laura asked me to look at the little "point and shoot" Nikon we had given them two Christmases ago; it had a "lens error" and you could hear the motor run but it wouldn't extend or retract, even with a gentle nudge. We had bought an extended warranty on it, and so today Dottie made phone calls and ended up with store credit for what we paid, so we went and picked up a newer one and another warranty. Not in time for Laura to take it on her trip, but at least Bill can take it when he joins her.
By then it was time for me to go to work; I left at 4:30 and got home at 3:55AM...
Only 3 more weeks...I just keep telling myself that...
Now it's just past 5 and my eyes are starting to cross...goodnight all!
May rest of the week be kind!
alan
"They call it Stormy Monday...
but Tuesday's just as bad...(repeat once)
Wednesday's worse...
and Thursday's oh so sad!
Dottie worked the weekend, but got Monday off for the holiday and Tuesday for her normal day off. We got up early and made the 10AM show of "Indiana Jones" for $5 each; we both would have sat through it again, immediately!
I finished watching the F-1 race from Monaco off tape from Sunday while she did some odds and ends, then she held a flashlight for me while I replaced the light switch in our ceiling fan. I started doing laundry and moving some things in preparation for putting my treadmill together, then Bill called and asked if Laura could borrow a suitcase. (She has an internship this summer that ties into her accounting degree.)By the time we ran that out to Lawrence and got home it was supper time, so we ate and watched "The Contract" with John Cusak and Morgan Freeman. Something she had found on Netflix that I had never heard of; good movie!
While we were in Lawrence Laura asked me to look at the little "point and shoot" Nikon we had given them two Christmases ago; it had a "lens error" and you could hear the motor run but it wouldn't extend or retract, even with a gentle nudge. We had bought an extended warranty on it, and so today Dottie made phone calls and ended up with store credit for what we paid, so we went and picked up a newer one and another warranty. Not in time for Laura to take it on her trip, but at least Bill can take it when he joins her.
By then it was time for me to go to work; I left at 4:30 and got home at 3:55AM...
Only 3 more weeks...I just keep telling myself that...
Now it's just past 5 and my eyes are starting to cross...goodnight all!
May rest of the week be kind!
alan
Saturday, May 24, 2008
I've always loved this song...
and though this isn't the definitive version, they tell a story I've read for years about the person who did record it...Louis Armstrong.
The story I read was that the police took Louis to jail, finally releasing him at the insistence of the owner of the club who had booked him. Then of course, they also wanted autographs and wanted to attend the concert as well...
Guess some things don't change as much as you'd think they might!
alan
The story I read was that the police took Louis to jail, finally releasing him at the insistence of the owner of the club who had booked him. Then of course, they also wanted autographs and wanted to attend the concert as well...
Guess some things don't change as much as you'd think they might!
alan
Friday, May 23, 2008
Things started a bit slowly last night...
as they tried to find enough people to make the line run. It took a half hour for it to start, then another hour for it to run steady.
By lunchtime (9:30pm) it was like we never left...
Mercifully, instead of the full 10 they sent us home at 9 hours. I got home just before 3 to find Dottie asleep on the couch.
Always before the company had said it didn't make sense to fire the ovens and do all the things it takes to make the plant run for less than two days. They must really want Malibus!
I saw our "General Foreman" and told him I had put him and our superintendent down for job references along with our "Department Head". He was shocked that I was already actively looking...
Dottie is off today and Tuesday; I'm off the 3 days inbetween. Since her employer doesn't believe in direct deposit, she just left to pick up her paycheck and attend the payday meeting (unpaid).
So my weekend will consist of more of those things I haven't gotten done, and hopefully watching Danica win Indy come Sunday morning (if all the rain that's blowing through here these last few days doesn't screw things up)!
May your weekends be kind and wonderful!
alan
By lunchtime (9:30pm) it was like we never left...
Mercifully, instead of the full 10 they sent us home at 9 hours. I got home just before 3 to find Dottie asleep on the couch.
Always before the company had said it didn't make sense to fire the ovens and do all the things it takes to make the plant run for less than two days. They must really want Malibus!
I saw our "General Foreman" and told him I had put him and our superintendent down for job references along with our "Department Head". He was shocked that I was already actively looking...
Dottie is off today and Tuesday; I'm off the 3 days inbetween. Since her employer doesn't believe in direct deposit, she just left to pick up her paycheck and attend the payday meeting (unpaid).
So my weekend will consist of more of those things I haven't gotten done, and hopefully watching Danica win Indy come Sunday morning (if all the rain that's blowing through here these last few days doesn't screw things up)!
May your weekends be kind and wonderful!
alan
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
We have a tentative agreement!
I was in the shower last night when our local news came on at 9 announcing it, with Dottie relaying it to me; a few minutes later my cell rang with the same news. This morning I went to the Union Hall to hear about it and read the highlights; "Division 1" which is all of us who work on the line lost nothing, keeping exactly the same provisions that were in our last local agreement. Skilled Trades lost a slight bit, but not nearly as much as was planned by management.
They aren't calling it a "signing bonus" but are saying we will get a payment for having brought the Malibu on-line and winning so many awards with it.
So, if it is ratified (and I assume it will be) I return to work tomorrow night; we are assuming they will hit us with 10 hours off the bat, even though those last few are actually part of the holiday (anything over 8 hours).
I spoke to the Shop Chairman and he said he hasn't heard anything about them invoking the dreaded "emergency clause" of the contract (7 day weeks, 12 hours a day), so hopefully I can slip out the door before they get around to that!
For the first time in 30 years I've actually been going to bed before midnight and getting up between 8 and 9 most days; now I get to flip my hours back the other way for another month.
This afternoon a doctor's appointment to get back on my blood pressure medicine; then home to cook dinner for Dottie one last time before our hours diverge again.
At least we got to keep our holiday for the weekend!
May the rest of each of your weeks be kind!
alan
_______________________
Update: 7:00PM Wednesday- We have a contract; 88% of Skilled Trades voted "yes" (they're the Division 2 I mentioned above); 85% of Division 1 approved (that's the assembly workers). We return to work tomorrow at 6AM for days and 5PM for me.
alan
They aren't calling it a "signing bonus" but are saying we will get a payment for having brought the Malibu on-line and winning so many awards with it.
So, if it is ratified (and I assume it will be) I return to work tomorrow night; we are assuming they will hit us with 10 hours off the bat, even though those last few are actually part of the holiday (anything over 8 hours).
I spoke to the Shop Chairman and he said he hasn't heard anything about them invoking the dreaded "emergency clause" of the contract (7 day weeks, 12 hours a day), so hopefully I can slip out the door before they get around to that!
For the first time in 30 years I've actually been going to bed before midnight and getting up between 8 and 9 most days; now I get to flip my hours back the other way for another month.
This afternoon a doctor's appointment to get back on my blood pressure medicine; then home to cook dinner for Dottie one last time before our hours diverge again.
At least we got to keep our holiday for the weekend!
May the rest of each of your weeks be kind!
alan
_______________________
Update: 7:00PM Wednesday- We have a contract; 88% of Skilled Trades voted "yes" (they're the Division 2 I mentioned above); 85% of Division 1 approved (that's the assembly workers). We return to work tomorrow at 6AM for days and 5PM for me.
alan
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
They're still talking...
and we're still walking.
There were over a thousand of us at the rally yesterday. We also had members of the Teamsters, all of the local contruction trades, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, along with the leadership of the UAW at Ford.
Only one TV station could be bothered to send a crew. We have one who sent a crew to the finale of American Idol because a kid from here is one of the two, but they didn't send one across town for us.
Makes you think!
Having had wicked headaches off and on for several weeks now, I dug out the last of my blood pressure medicine from before my weight loss and started taking it again. We have a cuff at home since Dottie had her incident, and mine wasn't super high, but consistent, so I started back where I left off and will be calling for an appointment in a few minutes.
Other than that I'm making more phone calls to creditors, catching up laundry, and trying not to think a lot about what's going on (or not). A lot of us were speculating last week that we wouldn't be back until after they could get out of paying us for Memorial Day; it's beginning to look like that was a given!
Not much else to say, just thought I should update...
alan
There were over a thousand of us at the rally yesterday. We also had members of the Teamsters, all of the local contruction trades, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, along with the leadership of the UAW at Ford.
Only one TV station could be bothered to send a crew. We have one who sent a crew to the finale of American Idol because a kid from here is one of the two, but they didn't send one across town for us.
Makes you think!
Having had wicked headaches off and on for several weeks now, I dug out the last of my blood pressure medicine from before my weight loss and started taking it again. We have a cuff at home since Dottie had her incident, and mine wasn't super high, but consistent, so I started back where I left off and will be calling for an appointment in a few minutes.
Other than that I'm making more phone calls to creditors, catching up laundry, and trying not to think a lot about what's going on (or not). A lot of us were speculating last week that we wouldn't be back until after they could get out of paying us for Memorial Day; it's beginning to look like that was a given!
Not much else to say, just thought I should update...
alan
Monday, May 19, 2008
The birthday party for Dillon and his friend (son of Noel's best girlfriend) Andrew went very well. We were at the park at 9 and stayed until almost 4; the kids played and had a great time.
My sister's husband is into geocaching, and there was a chache at the park, only 400 feet from the shelter we were at, so the grandkids and some of the rest of us walked up there with him. They think it's very cool to find these things that someone else left.
While I was there a friend from work called and said "we may have an agreement" and that if so they wanted to present it on Sunday so we could return to work today. She said she would call if she heard anything more. I never got that 2nd call.
This morning I read that they talked all weekend and until 11:30 last night; still nothing. So there is a rally in front of the plant today at noon, and I'm going to go. I'm not normally one for crowds, but perhaps the more of us they see out there and the news media see someone will decide they need to step up...
Thank you for all the kind words and encouragement!
May the week be kind!
alan
My sister's husband is into geocaching, and there was a chache at the park, only 400 feet from the shelter we were at, so the grandkids and some of the rest of us walked up there with him. They think it's very cool to find these things that someone else left.
While I was there a friend from work called and said "we may have an agreement" and that if so they wanted to present it on Sunday so we could return to work today. She said she would call if she heard anything more. I never got that 2nd call.
This morning I read that they talked all weekend and until 11:30 last night; still nothing. So there is a rally in front of the plant today at noon, and I'm going to go. I'm not normally one for crowds, but perhaps the more of us they see out there and the news media see someone will decide they need to step up...
Thank you for all the kind words and encouragement!
May the week be kind!
alan
Friday, May 16, 2008
6 hours on the picket line...
yesterday afternoon. SPF50 on my head and face before I left, though they said it would be mostly cloudy; it wasn't. Also wore a closed ball cap...
I was at the gate they usually ship our cars out through; several of the teamsters drivers stopped to speak to us as they came and went. There are only a couple of them that didn't get laid off, and they are gathering that if we aren't back by Monday they will be as well.
So, in a bit, I'll be on the phone again...Sears is due...
Tonight Bill is coming to mow; before he gets here I'm going to clear all the elm seeds from the gutters and trim some. Dinner will be grilled chicken breasts with Italian marinade. I started mesquite chips soaking last night; I haven't decided between rice or potatoes for a side dish yet.
Dillon turned 9 yesterday; his party is tomorrow along with his friend Andrew's at the same park we had the family party at a few weeks ago. Logistics dictates only one small present there because there will be so many people, so he'll get the rest tomorrow evening at John and Noel's house.
You would think that with all this downtime I'd be getting more done, but I'm actually just now starting to wake up and feel like doing something as we come up on the 2 week mark. My batteries must have been awfully low!
Thank you all so very much for the kind words and the encouragement through all this! Lois hit my nail right on its head the other day when she said that "One thing so many of us online types seem to have in common is, we lack in self worth." I've had that deficiency most of my life, and though I try to fight it, it's one of my larger demons. It has been trying to get the best of me since this strike began. Part of that I'm sure is being so very tired after the year of 10 hour days; part the uncertainty not only of turning life in a new direction, but having things thrown to the wind just beforehand.
At any rate, you all are the best friends someone could ever dream of!
May the weekend be kind!
alan
I was at the gate they usually ship our cars out through; several of the teamsters drivers stopped to speak to us as they came and went. There are only a couple of them that didn't get laid off, and they are gathering that if we aren't back by Monday they will be as well.
So, in a bit, I'll be on the phone again...Sears is due...
Tonight Bill is coming to mow; before he gets here I'm going to clear all the elm seeds from the gutters and trim some. Dinner will be grilled chicken breasts with Italian marinade. I started mesquite chips soaking last night; I haven't decided between rice or potatoes for a side dish yet.
Dillon turned 9 yesterday; his party is tomorrow along with his friend Andrew's at the same park we had the family party at a few weeks ago. Logistics dictates only one small present there because there will be so many people, so he'll get the rest tomorrow evening at John and Noel's house.
You would think that with all this downtime I'd be getting more done, but I'm actually just now starting to wake up and feel like doing something as we come up on the 2 week mark. My batteries must have been awfully low!
Thank you all so very much for the kind words and the encouragement through all this! Lois hit my nail right on its head the other day when she said that "One thing so many of us online types seem to have in common is, we lack in self worth." I've had that deficiency most of my life, and though I try to fight it, it's one of my larger demons. It has been trying to get the best of me since this strike began. Part of that I'm sure is being so very tired after the year of 10 hour days; part the uncertainty not only of turning life in a new direction, but having things thrown to the wind just beforehand.
At any rate, you all are the best friends someone could ever dream of!
May the weekend be kind!
alan
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
No news...
I've been up about a half hour and don't find anything new about "us"...so tomorrow I'll get to walk picket again.
I spent my afternoon on the telephone with Citi, who were kind enough to let me slide a month, and Chase, who took a lot longer. They want to close my account for 9-12 months, cut my payment by 60%, and drop their interest rate from 29% to 8% while they do; I'll know tomorrow if it's been approved or not (my fingers are crossed on that one. Had we realized they had raised the interest rate on it that high before we restarted a clean account, we'd have done something else; we took that one out of the drawer for a vacation, and when we came back were shocked to find their rate had doubled since we last used it).
My next round of calls will be the two vehicle payments and the mortgage company...
Meanwhile, I'm going to go make myself a coffee and get some breakfast and take my truck to the dealer for the free oil change it's due for. If I can catch the guy I bought it and the Malibu from I'm going to see what I can find out about getting some work driving for them, though I don't hold out a lot of hope. Only being able to work 2 days a week without losing my strike pay, and knowing I may have to go back to work at a minutes notice probably isn't going to make finding something easy, but by next week I'm going to have to do something!
While all of this plays out in my life, my eye (my ear?) is still on what's going on in this world...Burma, China, Iraq...my old carrier the Kittyhawk being sent home for mothballs or the scrapper...
I heard a radio piece as the debate over cutting the gas tax for the summer began; it may have been on "Marketplace". The commentator's question was "When did it become a crime to pay taxes"? I can't quote it but the gist was what is wrong with paying for that pavement you drive on each day, the sewer that carries your waste away and it's treatment? When did it become a crime to pay for a bridge that carries you, the food you eat, and brings your gasoline to you? When did it become wrong to pay for the education of the children that will be making the decisions for this nation when you can't?
As I related this to Bill the other day, that last line really struck me! Through the years I've heard people argue that they didn't have children, why should they pay for mine to go to school? I've heard arguments for and against free college for anyone who graduates high school with a "C" average.
How can anyone want not only the future of our country, but their own future shackled by the education of those who will be making the decisions for all of us in 20, 40 or 60 years?
Then it struck me- who would benefit most from an electorate that was easily led by mass media...whose world view is shaped by prime time TV? By Grand Theft Auto?
Those same people who are making 1200 times the national average...the same ones who truly profit from the tax cuts...that same 2% who own 98%...
I know, I'm getting old and cynical...
May the rest of the week be kind!
alan
__________________________________
Late addition: I ended up applying for a job while I was at the shop with my truck; the service manager seemed very interested in hiring me as well, not only for when I retire, but possibly even now until the strike ends! Perhaps an act, but my fingers are crossed. I'm feeling a little less "on the abyss" than I did these last few days!
alan
I spent my afternoon on the telephone with Citi, who were kind enough to let me slide a month, and Chase, who took a lot longer. They want to close my account for 9-12 months, cut my payment by 60%, and drop their interest rate from 29% to 8% while they do; I'll know tomorrow if it's been approved or not (my fingers are crossed on that one. Had we realized they had raised the interest rate on it that high before we restarted a clean account, we'd have done something else; we took that one out of the drawer for a vacation, and when we came back were shocked to find their rate had doubled since we last used it).
My next round of calls will be the two vehicle payments and the mortgage company...
Meanwhile, I'm going to go make myself a coffee and get some breakfast and take my truck to the dealer for the free oil change it's due for. If I can catch the guy I bought it and the Malibu from I'm going to see what I can find out about getting some work driving for them, though I don't hold out a lot of hope. Only being able to work 2 days a week without losing my strike pay, and knowing I may have to go back to work at a minutes notice probably isn't going to make finding something easy, but by next week I'm going to have to do something!
While all of this plays out in my life, my eye (my ear?) is still on what's going on in this world...Burma, China, Iraq...my old carrier the Kittyhawk being sent home for mothballs or the scrapper...
I heard a radio piece as the debate over cutting the gas tax for the summer began; it may have been on "Marketplace". The commentator's question was "When did it become a crime to pay taxes"? I can't quote it but the gist was what is wrong with paying for that pavement you drive on each day, the sewer that carries your waste away and it's treatment? When did it become a crime to pay for a bridge that carries you, the food you eat, and brings your gasoline to you? When did it become wrong to pay for the education of the children that will be making the decisions for this nation when you can't?
As I related this to Bill the other day, that last line really struck me! Through the years I've heard people argue that they didn't have children, why should they pay for mine to go to school? I've heard arguments for and against free college for anyone who graduates high school with a "C" average.
How can anyone want not only the future of our country, but their own future shackled by the education of those who will be making the decisions for all of us in 20, 40 or 60 years?
Then it struck me- who would benefit most from an electorate that was easily led by mass media...whose world view is shaped by prime time TV? By Grand Theft Auto?
Those same people who are making 1200 times the national average...the same ones who truly profit from the tax cuts...that same 2% who own 98%...
I know, I'm getting old and cynical...
May the rest of the week be kind!
alan
__________________________________
Late addition: I ended up applying for a job while I was at the shop with my truck; the service manager seemed very interested in hiring me as well, not only for when I retire, but possibly even now until the strike ends! Perhaps an act, but my fingers are crossed. I'm feeling a little less "on the abyss" than I did these last few days!
alan
Monday, May 12, 2008
Monday morning blues...
Up "reasonably" early for me, and checked e-mail then started writing down "availables" and due dates. After I go pick up my glasses and run a couple of errands I get to come home and start making phone calls. The union told us to call before we pay each bill and explain that we are UAW and on strike and see who will let us slide and who won't...
They did have a sign up when I picketed the other day that said if you get a job and gross more than $199 you forfeit your strike pay. So I guess next week if this is still going on I check into doing a couple of days a week somewhere.
Bill had taken my "click" torque wrench with him last week after we swapped off his winter treads so he could retorque his lugs; he brought it back yesterday, so I didn't pull Dottie's brake pads until yesterday afternoon (I still have the old beam ones, but leaning down next to the car trying to read that scale with my glasses while putting 100ft/lbs. on it isn't easy anymore!). The dealer had told me the front brake pads were down to 3 mils (1/8" nominally). I had bought a new set to have them ready to go in ($34). When I pulled the ones on it they still have 1/2 their life left; more like 3/8" than 1/8"...no wonder they looked a bit uncomfortable when I said I would take care of them myself!
Always ask to see the parts! Even if you don't know what they are, it will cut down on a lot of "the bullshit"!
I didn't turn my cell on 'til almost noon when Dottie was supposed to call, and found a text message about a picket rally at 11AM today; when I turned on the noon news they were interviewing our union president. Feeling a bit guilty now, but that's my lot in life anyway!
So, as I wander off to try and accomplish something with my day, I wish you all a happy Monday; may the week be kind!
alan
They did have a sign up when I picketed the other day that said if you get a job and gross more than $199 you forfeit your strike pay. So I guess next week if this is still going on I check into doing a couple of days a week somewhere.
Bill had taken my "click" torque wrench with him last week after we swapped off his winter treads so he could retorque his lugs; he brought it back yesterday, so I didn't pull Dottie's brake pads until yesterday afternoon (I still have the old beam ones, but leaning down next to the car trying to read that scale with my glasses while putting 100ft/lbs. on it isn't easy anymore!). The dealer had told me the front brake pads were down to 3 mils (1/8" nominally). I had bought a new set to have them ready to go in ($34). When I pulled the ones on it they still have 1/2 their life left; more like 3/8" than 1/8"...no wonder they looked a bit uncomfortable when I said I would take care of them myself!
Always ask to see the parts! Even if you don't know what they are, it will cut down on a lot of "the bullshit"!
I didn't turn my cell on 'til almost noon when Dottie was supposed to call, and found a text message about a picket rally at 11AM today; when I turned on the noon news they were interviewing our union president. Feeling a bit guilty now, but that's my lot in life anyway!
So, as I wander off to try and accomplish something with my day, I wish you all a happy Monday; may the week be kind!
alan
Friday, May 09, 2008
Life is wreaking havoc...
with my sleeping hours! I actually had them fairly close to Dottie's, then had to let them slip back to my working schedule for the midnight picket shift. I got home at 7AM yesterday, slept 'til a bit after 2, then "drug" around the rest of the afternoon and evening. By 10 I was falling asleep as we tried to watch "5th Grader", and went to bed, sleeping 12 hours.
As far as glasses for me go, in my youth my vision was 20/10 and stayed that way into my 30's. It slowly was tapering off to 20/15, and Dottie was growing very disgusted with getting new glasses corrected to 20/20 and having me read road signs yards before she could. But I was noticing that I couldn't read the numbers on beam torque wrenches anymore as I put a transmission pan back on working under a car, etc.. I cheated and used a yellow crayon or chalk mark, but when I went in to have a piece of steel removed from an eye, I asked about it and was told to get a pair of reading glasses for now and in 5 years or so I'd need bifocals.
My first 2 sets were clear above, but slowly as I hit 50 my distance vision settled to a bit below 20/20; I can still pass the driver's license exam without them and the vision test for my material license at work, but know the day is coming.
So this set will be the first glasses I've had with a distance correction in them. We'll see how it works out!
Picket duty was better than I had feared; I ended up with a "captain" that was someone I had stocked for and knew fairly well, and she and I talked away most of the 6 hours. The rain stopped before our shift, and though it got a bit cool towards sunrise, it could have been worse. Our next shift is next Thursday afternoon, noon to six. Sunscreen for my old bald head!
Today I have to go back to the union hall and sign up to draw strike pay, then run the shopping errands as we are finally having John's birthday dinner tomorrow night. His request was steak, fried mushrooms, mashed potatoes and brown gravy. It's supposed to rain tomorrow; as long as it's not pouring when I need to get the grill out things will be fine. I finally tried the new smoker box I found at Lowe's last week and it worked well, so I'll start some chips soaking this afternoon when I get back from buying the mushrooms.
So, off to the shower and then out and about!
May your weekends be wonderful!
alan
As far as glasses for me go, in my youth my vision was 20/10 and stayed that way into my 30's. It slowly was tapering off to 20/15, and Dottie was growing very disgusted with getting new glasses corrected to 20/20 and having me read road signs yards before she could. But I was noticing that I couldn't read the numbers on beam torque wrenches anymore as I put a transmission pan back on working under a car, etc.. I cheated and used a yellow crayon or chalk mark, but when I went in to have a piece of steel removed from an eye, I asked about it and was told to get a pair of reading glasses for now and in 5 years or so I'd need bifocals.
My first 2 sets were clear above, but slowly as I hit 50 my distance vision settled to a bit below 20/20; I can still pass the driver's license exam without them and the vision test for my material license at work, but know the day is coming.
So this set will be the first glasses I've had with a distance correction in them. We'll see how it works out!
Picket duty was better than I had feared; I ended up with a "captain" that was someone I had stocked for and knew fairly well, and she and I talked away most of the 6 hours. The rain stopped before our shift, and though it got a bit cool towards sunrise, it could have been worse. Our next shift is next Thursday afternoon, noon to six. Sunscreen for my old bald head!
Today I have to go back to the union hall and sign up to draw strike pay, then run the shopping errands as we are finally having John's birthday dinner tomorrow night. His request was steak, fried mushrooms, mashed potatoes and brown gravy. It's supposed to rain tomorrow; as long as it's not pouring when I need to get the grill out things will be fine. I finally tried the new smoker box I found at Lowe's last week and it worked well, so I'll start some chips soaking this afternoon when I get back from buying the mushrooms.
So, off to the shower and then out and about!
May your weekends be wonderful!
alan
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
They're talking again...
and tonight I get to walk a picket line for the first time; of course I drew the midnight to 6AM shift, lol!
No matter what happens, even if I never set foot in the door again, I draw my first retirement check on July 1st; I made sure I got everything done, signed and mailed before this "came to a head". Hopefully they settle this week and I'll go back and things will be fine; if we're out too long we'll be cooking the books even more than usual, but somehow we'll get by!
Dottie snapped the nose piece on her glasses Monday morning and tried to superglue it; had she not gotten it all over the lens in the process things would have been fine, but there isn't much way to clean that stuff off a plastic lens. She was off today, so we found a new eye doctor and ordered her a new set for the first time in 4years and one for me for the first time in 8 as my eye care and dental will expire the end of the month if we don't go back to work. I didn't want to get mine, but she said if I'm going job hunting it would probably make life much easier...I couldn't argue as my old ones were very "off".
The next line of storms is flirting with moving through, so I'm about to shut down and wander off to bed. I had flipped my hours to "dayish" but then having picket duty tomorrow night I stayed up more like I usually do so I'll have my wits about me tomorrow night.
At least the rain is supposed to be gone by then!
May the rest of the week be kind to each of you!
alan
No matter what happens, even if I never set foot in the door again, I draw my first retirement check on July 1st; I made sure I got everything done, signed and mailed before this "came to a head". Hopefully they settle this week and I'll go back and things will be fine; if we're out too long we'll be cooking the books even more than usual, but somehow we'll get by!
Dottie snapped the nose piece on her glasses Monday morning and tried to superglue it; had she not gotten it all over the lens in the process things would have been fine, but there isn't much way to clean that stuff off a plastic lens. She was off today, so we found a new eye doctor and ordered her a new set for the first time in 4years and one for me for the first time in 8 as my eye care and dental will expire the end of the month if we don't go back to work. I didn't want to get mine, but she said if I'm going job hunting it would probably make life much easier...I couldn't argue as my old ones were very "off".
The next line of storms is flirting with moving through, so I'm about to shut down and wander off to bed. I had flipped my hours to "dayish" but then having picket duty tomorrow night I stayed up more like I usually do so I'll have my wits about me tomorrow night.
At least the rain is supposed to be gone by then!
May the rest of the week be kind to each of you!
alan
Monday, May 05, 2008
Strike 2!
But since we're not talking about baseball, we're out!
Rather than explain it all, a link.
For weeks now I've watched people that were entitled to move to another job be stonewalled by excuse after excuse; people who have seniority and needed or wanted to go to dayshift being held on nights while temps and transfers filled the openings on the opposite shift. A friend, a single mother who has to leave her 3 year old at the sitter overnight because we are working 'til 3:30 AM building Malibus, spends her part of the morning and afternoon with him before dropping him back at the sitters. She was told by him in the middle of a Sunday afternoon the other week that he wanted to go home now...to the sitters! Yet she can't go days with 10 years seniority while someone off the street comes in on dayshift...
We've given up benefits, we've given up language in our local agreements (like the "hardship" language that would have guaranteed my friend a slot on days) these last 2 contracts; we've given up absentee protections, we've given up holidays and raises and bonuses. We are not trying to gain anything in this local agreement, only trying to keep what we have!
So, for the 2nd time in my 30 years, and the 2nd time in 6 months, we are on strike. The last was only a couple of days last fall to get our National Agreement; I've never worked this long without a local agreement, ever. Somehow knowing that it's the right thing to do regardless of the consequences makes it easier. Our seniority is the last thing we have; if management can disregard it and place us wherever they like for however long they like then we have no protection at all! I've done too many jobs through the years that I should have bid off of, paying the consequences with carpal tunnel and screwed up rotaters, bad knees, etc.. There are jobs that you get "too old" (more accurately too "used up") to do; not having the right to move when you need to will actually cost them more than they will save through the course of a contract!
Let's hope they pull their heads out of "the sand" and see the light soon!
alan
Rather than explain it all, a link.
For weeks now I've watched people that were entitled to move to another job be stonewalled by excuse after excuse; people who have seniority and needed or wanted to go to dayshift being held on nights while temps and transfers filled the openings on the opposite shift. A friend, a single mother who has to leave her 3 year old at the sitter overnight because we are working 'til 3:30 AM building Malibus, spends her part of the morning and afternoon with him before dropping him back at the sitters. She was told by him in the middle of a Sunday afternoon the other week that he wanted to go home now...to the sitters! Yet she can't go days with 10 years seniority while someone off the street comes in on dayshift...
We've given up benefits, we've given up language in our local agreements (like the "hardship" language that would have guaranteed my friend a slot on days) these last 2 contracts; we've given up absentee protections, we've given up holidays and raises and bonuses. We are not trying to gain anything in this local agreement, only trying to keep what we have!
So, for the 2nd time in my 30 years, and the 2nd time in 6 months, we are on strike. The last was only a couple of days last fall to get our National Agreement; I've never worked this long without a local agreement, ever. Somehow knowing that it's the right thing to do regardless of the consequences makes it easier. Our seniority is the last thing we have; if management can disregard it and place us wherever they like for however long they like then we have no protection at all! I've done too many jobs through the years that I should have bid off of, paying the consequences with carpal tunnel and screwed up rotaters, bad knees, etc.. There are jobs that you get "too old" (more accurately too "used up") to do; not having the right to move when you need to will actually cost them more than they will save through the course of a contract!
Let's hope they pull their heads out of "the sand" and see the light soon!
alan
Saturday, May 03, 2008
The lights are on...
finally, after about 38 hours without.
Since we had so much rain along with the storms, we got up every hour to hour and a half and used a battery operated sump pump to pump six 5 gallon buckets and carry them outside so the basement didn't flood. Finally at 3 yesterday afternoon when we didn't have lights, knowing I couldn't leave Dottie to do that with her replacement hip and knee (though I'm sure she could, she shouldn't) I called and told GM I would be late; went and bought a generator, dropped a cord to the sump pump, one to the fridge, one to the freezer and one to the living room for lights or whatever.
The float on the real sump pump was somehow damaged during all of this, so this morning I stayed up until Lowe's opened, bought a new one and installed it, then waited until it cycled one time on it's own. At 10:45AM I went to bed...
I'm tired! Going to eat now, and probably fall asleep!
May the rest of your weekends be kind!
alan
Since we had so much rain along with the storms, we got up every hour to hour and a half and used a battery operated sump pump to pump six 5 gallon buckets and carry them outside so the basement didn't flood. Finally at 3 yesterday afternoon when we didn't have lights, knowing I couldn't leave Dottie to do that with her replacement hip and knee (though I'm sure she could, she shouldn't) I called and told GM I would be late; went and bought a generator, dropped a cord to the sump pump, one to the fridge, one to the freezer and one to the living room for lights or whatever.
The float on the real sump pump was somehow damaged during all of this, so this morning I stayed up until Lowe's opened, bought a new one and installed it, then waited until it cycled one time on it's own. At 10:45AM I went to bed...
I'm tired! Going to eat now, and probably fall asleep!
May the rest of your weekends be kind!
alan
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Snuck in a vacation day...
as I had some things to do that couldn't be done without it. Dottie's Malibu needed to visit the dealer, meaning she needed to take my truck to work, meaning I'd have had to ask someone for a ride and though I could have, owing someone a ride when I won't be there anymore didn't seem fair!
Apparently they had a bad run of steering "racks"; ours was replaced at 32,000 under warranty; 8,000 miles later the 2nd one was "clunking" as well.
When we bought it I had them add the remote start option, as the base model didn't come with it in '06; they had some problems with a module when they did it and kept us in a loaner for two days back then. Since then it had developed an occasional "no crank" when you hit the key; no click, nothing. Release it and turn it again and it was fine for the next 20 or 40 times.
They found a burnt terminal at the switch in the column and replaced it, along with "loading an update" to the electronic control module.
The little covers on the vanity mirrors in the visor had quit latching, so they ordered replacements for those as well. I dropped the car at 9 and caught a ride home on their "shuttle"; they called me at noon with the details, along with telling me the front brake pads were getting a little worn.(I told them thank you, I was replacing them this weekend, along with changing the oil and rotating the tires. They might not have been happy about that!)
Since I had only had about 3 hours of sleep, I ate and then dozed off then until 5 when Dottie slipped out of work early so we could pay the $50 deductible on our warranty and go pick up her car with it's $800 worth of work done.
Before she jumped in the shower we called Bill to wish him a "Happiest 30th Birthday" and found out Laura was taking him to dinner at a restaurant they love just west of her, so when he found out I was home he asked if they could come by!
So not only did I get to play slacker for a day; not only did I get to not spend the day in the driveway and then wonder if I had the car close enough to aligned to drive it to someone to do it right; but I got to see my son on his 30th as well!
Being home in the evenings is looking better all the time!
May the rest of the week be kind to each of you!
alan
Apparently they had a bad run of steering "racks"; ours was replaced at 32,000 under warranty; 8,000 miles later the 2nd one was "clunking" as well.
When we bought it I had them add the remote start option, as the base model didn't come with it in '06; they had some problems with a module when they did it and kept us in a loaner for two days back then. Since then it had developed an occasional "no crank" when you hit the key; no click, nothing. Release it and turn it again and it was fine for the next 20 or 40 times.
They found a burnt terminal at the switch in the column and replaced it, along with "loading an update" to the electronic control module.
The little covers on the vanity mirrors in the visor had quit latching, so they ordered replacements for those as well. I dropped the car at 9 and caught a ride home on their "shuttle"; they called me at noon with the details, along with telling me the front brake pads were getting a little worn.(I told them thank you, I was replacing them this weekend, along with changing the oil and rotating the tires. They might not have been happy about that!)
Since I had only had about 3 hours of sleep, I ate and then dozed off then until 5 when Dottie slipped out of work early so we could pay the $50 deductible on our warranty and go pick up her car with it's $800 worth of work done.
Before she jumped in the shower we called Bill to wish him a "Happiest 30th Birthday" and found out Laura was taking him to dinner at a restaurant they love just west of her, so when he found out I was home he asked if they could come by!
So not only did I get to play slacker for a day; not only did I get to not spend the day in the driveway and then wonder if I had the car close enough to aligned to drive it to someone to do it right; but I got to see my son on his 30th as well!
Being home in the evenings is looking better all the time!
May the rest of the week be kind to each of you!
alan
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sons and such...
Having been told that the only thing that can stop me from retiring now is to end up on sick leave; having mentioned to you all that since we started the 10 hour days I haven't been able to get to the gym, and therefore have regained most of the weight and more inches than I lost; Dottie decided I had no business mowing until I get some of it back off and asked Bill to come in on Friday nights and mow so I won't.
Having fractured a ligament in my back a few years ago and gone out on my only sick leave for 4 months, the thing that worries me most is lifting things that are borderline "too heavy" from floor height; if it's above my knees I can deal with it, though if I have to carry them far I'm fighting some weight induced asthma at the moment.
So not only did he mow this week, but Bill stayed overnight on Friday and did the "heavy lifting" that was required to rearrange the basement enough for me to start putting together that treadmill I bought a while back. I ordered the mat to go under it tonight, and it's "where it's going" so I can figure out exactly what I need for wiring and boxes and such to set it up. (Last weekend I got John to pull the sandtubes from the back of my pickup as pulling the seven of them and lying them on the ground where I'm hiding them to keep them out of the sun so I don't have to replace them this fall would have done me in...)
Bill stayed until after dinner last night, by which time all 3 of us were exhausted. Today we slept 'til noon (my normal hours, but a treat for Dottie) then after some "us" time she cut my hair (I've been begging for 3 weeks now) and then we did Sam's and Costco before coming home to run laundry and watch TV. After we cleared the tapes for this next week (check out "The Big Bang Theory" sometime for a grin) we watched "Hitman". We had seen trailers at the movies for it last year, and when she cleared her Netflix list the first time I added it. Much better than you'd think...more plot than most things drawn from a video game!
Mine for tonight was supposed to be "Pandora's Box" but it's 10 'til 4 in the morning and I really don't want to start a 2:15 minute movie right now, so it's waiting until tomorrow night. By the time I finish here, finish programming recorders for tomorrow night (I watch way too much TV for my own good) and get to bed it will later than it should!
Tomorrow if they haven't gone on strike, I need to call to try to catch the guard at work who knows how to work the camera to take the picture for my "gold" ID card, then swing by the vet's to pick up some MSM for Angel.
Sorry to post and run, but the clock is ticking and it doesn't seem to slow!
May the week be kind!
alan
Having fractured a ligament in my back a few years ago and gone out on my only sick leave for 4 months, the thing that worries me most is lifting things that are borderline "too heavy" from floor height; if it's above my knees I can deal with it, though if I have to carry them far I'm fighting some weight induced asthma at the moment.
So not only did he mow this week, but Bill stayed overnight on Friday and did the "heavy lifting" that was required to rearrange the basement enough for me to start putting together that treadmill I bought a while back. I ordered the mat to go under it tonight, and it's "where it's going" so I can figure out exactly what I need for wiring and boxes and such to set it up. (Last weekend I got John to pull the sandtubes from the back of my pickup as pulling the seven of them and lying them on the ground where I'm hiding them to keep them out of the sun so I don't have to replace them this fall would have done me in...)
Bill stayed until after dinner last night, by which time all 3 of us were exhausted. Today we slept 'til noon (my normal hours, but a treat for Dottie) then after some "us" time she cut my hair (I've been begging for 3 weeks now) and then we did Sam's and Costco before coming home to run laundry and watch TV. After we cleared the tapes for this next week (check out "The Big Bang Theory" sometime for a grin) we watched "Hitman". We had seen trailers at the movies for it last year, and when she cleared her Netflix list the first time I added it. Much better than you'd think...more plot than most things drawn from a video game!
Mine for tonight was supposed to be "Pandora's Box" but it's 10 'til 4 in the morning and I really don't want to start a 2:15 minute movie right now, so it's waiting until tomorrow night. By the time I finish here, finish programming recorders for tomorrow night (I watch way too much TV for my own good) and get to bed it will later than it should!
Tomorrow if they haven't gone on strike, I need to call to try to catch the guard at work who knows how to work the camera to take the picture for my "gold" ID card, then swing by the vet's to pick up some MSM for Angel.
Sorry to post and run, but the clock is ticking and it doesn't seem to slow!
May the week be kind!
alan
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