I've been writing this now for about six months. In the corporate world where I work, this would be the appropriate time for a review. This is not the corporate world, but it is time for a review.
Predictably, the amount of these posts that have been viewed is pretty paltry. That is fine, this is more for me and my alias than anyone else. Some of the posts have been pretty lame, but I've yet to see a blog where that isn't the case. At least I recognize it. Happily, I've avoided politics to a large extent. While I used to have a real interest in politics and still follow pretty closely what is going on, the topic is too mundane. My interest is more in the humor and hypocritical behavior and "both sides" as my personal leanings are far right on some issues, far left on others. With that, I would love to see a presidential race between Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich. The country would be better served by a race between John Breaux and Bill Richardson.
What has been surprising over the last six months has been how difficult it was on some days (weeks) to find something that I want to pen. There is always something going on, but mundane chores and work consume most of my (and likely our) lives. As this has gone on, I wonder how difficult it is for Leonard Pitts to find something to write about for every column. He writes politics though, which is cheating...and fleeting.
When I started writing this, my mind was consumed with the events surrounding the sale of the old house. It has been surprising how much that has had a continued affect. The liberation of selling it has allowed significantly more enjoyment of the new house and life in general, even though most of the improvements I may do are pretty low priority right now. I would never have expected simply moving a few miles could have this significant effect on my general outlook for life. Work is overall the least enjoyable it has been with too much work, too much responsibility and a lack of resources. We are nearly half way through a multi-week project with these idiot consultants. I have never had so little respect for people in that field as I do right now. There is just a total lack of understanding of the reality we work in every day.
What I have liked writing about the most, is things currently happening, and how they relate and remind me of things from my past. There are a few posts in the near future I'm already mentally writing that I am looking forward to.
For now, I'm going to continue to try to write about once a week. I saw a news story on TV a while ago where research was done on writing within the US public. Without remembering specifics, a huge percentage of the population said they had a book they wanted to write, while only a very small amount actually do. I would add, or can. Having a story, or something to say is easy. Every toddler has a story. Forming words in a way that others want to read is a gift and a skill. I claim neither, but practice make habit (practice almost never makes perfect, and only rarely improvement). I can only hope that habit makes better.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Potato Chips
A first test of the new health care federal law (Obamacare) is headed to the Supreme Court this week. The focus seems to be the "individual mandate" part of the law. The argument for this, seems largely to be that the law won't work without it. That is hardly constitutional justification. The argument against is much stronger. If you want to breath in the country, you must buy this product from a private company. Pretty bold. A person can live a modern nomadic lifestyle in the barter and cash economy and pay only a small amount of taxes to the various governments in trade for some of the service they provide, but if you want to live, you must buy insurance.
There are a lot of red herrings on both sides of this. Most (~75%) of us have insurance of some kind already. The rest get care, although possibly not as good and it isn't free, the rest of us are already paying for it. Very few people are being harmed by an individual mandate, but that isn't the point. I'm a little skeptical that the care available to the poor will be much better than their current options. The Obama administration should have stuck to their guns and gone for the single payer option. It never would have passed, but at least the argument would have been principle-based. And, if/when it passes, the inefficient system being put in place would be replaced by a bureaucracy - at least that is an uncomfortable known. Perhaps a better compromise would have been a single payer minimalist system with employer based coverage above this - sort of like codifying the previous poor arrangement.
Somewhere in here it also only seems right to provide at least some protection from truly frivolous lawsuits. Mistakes will happen and doctors need to be accountable to a different level than mailmen but doctors are human. There might be some malpractice lawyers who are as well.
The largest most bone-headed part of the law is the requirement that kids MUST be allowed on parent's insurance up to the age of 26. This is horrible. This is approximately 1/3 of a person's life. Cut the umbilical chord already. A person is old enough to vote at age 18, and be put to death by the state. Old enough to drink themselves into oblivion by 21, but still tied to parents. When will we see a federal mandate to grow up already.
If you are going to live, you must buy this product from a private company. And, that company must provide it to your offspring for a third of their life. Does the single payer system sound worse?
So why is this post called "Potato Chips?" Food has strong influence on our health. I'm sitting here eating potato chips while I type this. This has been a poor food week overall with an offsite training for work on three days. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but the stuffed cookies, blondies and cheese cake at 2:00 in the afternoon was too good to pass up.
Oh well, I have health insurance.
There are a lot of red herrings on both sides of this. Most (~75%) of us have insurance of some kind already. The rest get care, although possibly not as good and it isn't free, the rest of us are already paying for it. Very few people are being harmed by an individual mandate, but that isn't the point. I'm a little skeptical that the care available to the poor will be much better than their current options. The Obama administration should have stuck to their guns and gone for the single payer option. It never would have passed, but at least the argument would have been principle-based. And, if/when it passes, the inefficient system being put in place would be replaced by a bureaucracy - at least that is an uncomfortable known. Perhaps a better compromise would have been a single payer minimalist system with employer based coverage above this - sort of like codifying the previous poor arrangement.
Somewhere in here it also only seems right to provide at least some protection from truly frivolous lawsuits. Mistakes will happen and doctors need to be accountable to a different level than mailmen but doctors are human. There might be some malpractice lawyers who are as well.
The largest most bone-headed part of the law is the requirement that kids MUST be allowed on parent's insurance up to the age of 26. This is horrible. This is approximately 1/3 of a person's life. Cut the umbilical chord already. A person is old enough to vote at age 18, and be put to death by the state. Old enough to drink themselves into oblivion by 21, but still tied to parents. When will we see a federal mandate to grow up already.
If you are going to live, you must buy this product from a private company. And, that company must provide it to your offspring for a third of their life. Does the single payer system sound worse?
So why is this post called "Potato Chips?" Food has strong influence on our health. I'm sitting here eating potato chips while I type this. This has been a poor food week overall with an offsite training for work on three days. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but the stuffed cookies, blondies and cheese cake at 2:00 in the afternoon was too good to pass up.
Oh well, I have health insurance.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Late Winter to Late Spring
A few weeks ago, I was complaining about this time of year. Nothing going on, weather teasers, etc.
What a difference a few weeks makes. This past week has been nothing but unusually warm weather and decent motorcycle weather - which means great motorcycling weather for March.
Temps in the mornings have been in the 50s (or higher). Temps in the afternoons have been in the upper 70s to near 80. This is unusual, or at least it feels that way. Trees are budding, and grass is growing. If the forecasts are correct and this continues, there will be mowing needed by as early as next week.
This is a huge change from last year. Last year at this time, the weather was cold with an overwhelming amount of rain. We were trying to sell the old house at the time with the basement going from spring damp to wet. Our Realtor assured us that with the type of basement it was, it was not a big concern. She was right, of course, but it wasn't helping. At least not mentally.
The difference highlights that this is a new year, and right now it is hard to not be somewhat optimistic about it. There is a touch of grey to this silver lining however. The next hard frost can almost be counted on since it is still March. What will happen to the budding and flowering trees then.
For now, I'll enjoy the weather and the pessimism that spring is just started.
What a difference a few weeks makes. This past week has been nothing but unusually warm weather and decent motorcycle weather - which means great motorcycling weather for March.
Temps in the mornings have been in the 50s (or higher). Temps in the afternoons have been in the upper 70s to near 80. This is unusual, or at least it feels that way. Trees are budding, and grass is growing. If the forecasts are correct and this continues, there will be mowing needed by as early as next week.
This is a huge change from last year. Last year at this time, the weather was cold with an overwhelming amount of rain. We were trying to sell the old house at the time with the basement going from spring damp to wet. Our Realtor assured us that with the type of basement it was, it was not a big concern. She was right, of course, but it wasn't helping. At least not mentally.
The difference highlights that this is a new year, and right now it is hard to not be somewhat optimistic about it. There is a touch of grey to this silver lining however. The next hard frost can almost be counted on since it is still March. What will happen to the budding and flowering trees then.
For now, I'll enjoy the weather and the pessimism that spring is just started.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Everlasting Stream: Clarity, Focus
I recently finished the book The Everlasting Stream by Walt Harrington. I saw a very short write-up about it in a magazine and thought it was about hunting. It was, but only peripherally. The book was more; it was about rabbit hunting, class and race, life, family. The author relates how hunting brought clarity to his life that it otherwise was missing. He also writes of his move from the race-paced East Coast to the Midwest at the end of the book. He writes one of the most poignant descriptions of hunting for food, in an era when it isn't "necessary."
He wrote several times in the book of one incident that sticks out in his memory. One of those moments we all hope we have of clarity and focus. Not really of purpose, but lack of purpose. Those moments are precious because they can be so rare. I expect that we all value those moments when they happen because they are rare, and in that sense we should be glad they are.
It resonated with me since those moments have occurred while I have been hunting as well. While the type of hunting I do is different from rabbit hunting, the quiet and solitude of the tree stand allows for a different kind of introspection when I can clear my mind of other thoughts. Some of the most amazing things I've ever seen have been while sitting in a tree stand. Watching a mother bear with three recently born cubs at a distance of 20 yards for over an hour is something I'll never forget.
I've also had them while on vacation, touring the country on two wheels. Never on the first day, my brain is usually going to fast then and still decompressing from work and the rest of normal life. But after a few days, I've exhausted lots of the frantic thoughts and they've been replaced by something clearer. A couple of occasions stick out: Early morning in Canada on the second day of a 3-week trip riding my motorcycle to Alaska. Early morning leaving the Black Hills towards Devil's Tower. Early morning in the Southwest watching the world heat up from the desert cold to the inevitable heat. It has been too long since I've busted out across the country...
Work is absolutely crazy right now. Last week I put in more hours in a week than I ever have since I got my current job. It was a great time to read that book. I have six days of last year's vacation I was thinking of just letting go, but this book brought me back to what is more important. I'm not ready to go over that hump in my life.
After reading The Everlasting Stream I did something I've never done before. I wrote the author. The book was published in 2004 and I really wanted a post script about whether he was still hunting given his hunting was strongly tied to his in-law family and his father-in-law was getting older. I assumed a near-zero chance of his responding but he did. It was a short note, that he isn't actively hunting and misses it.
What would the 30-year-old me think of the 40-year-old me?
He wrote several times in the book of one incident that sticks out in his memory. One of those moments we all hope we have of clarity and focus. Not really of purpose, but lack of purpose. Those moments are precious because they can be so rare. I expect that we all value those moments when they happen because they are rare, and in that sense we should be glad they are.
It resonated with me since those moments have occurred while I have been hunting as well. While the type of hunting I do is different from rabbit hunting, the quiet and solitude of the tree stand allows for a different kind of introspection when I can clear my mind of other thoughts. Some of the most amazing things I've ever seen have been while sitting in a tree stand. Watching a mother bear with three recently born cubs at a distance of 20 yards for over an hour is something I'll never forget.
I've also had them while on vacation, touring the country on two wheels. Never on the first day, my brain is usually going to fast then and still decompressing from work and the rest of normal life. But after a few days, I've exhausted lots of the frantic thoughts and they've been replaced by something clearer. A couple of occasions stick out: Early morning in Canada on the second day of a 3-week trip riding my motorcycle to Alaska. Early morning leaving the Black Hills towards Devil's Tower. Early morning in the Southwest watching the world heat up from the desert cold to the inevitable heat. It has been too long since I've busted out across the country...
Work is absolutely crazy right now. Last week I put in more hours in a week than I ever have since I got my current job. It was a great time to read that book. I have six days of last year's vacation I was thinking of just letting go, but this book brought me back to what is more important. I'm not ready to go over that hump in my life.
After reading The Everlasting Stream I did something I've never done before. I wrote the author. The book was published in 2004 and I really wanted a post script about whether he was still hunting given his hunting was strongly tied to his in-law family and his father-in-law was getting older. I assumed a near-zero chance of his responding but he did. It was a short note, that he isn't actively hunting and misses it.
What would the 30-year-old me think of the 40-year-old me?
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Tornado
There was a considerable amount of violent weather across the area yesterday. Weather is like water in a river; almost nothing can be done to stop it. The wind was pretty wild and it wasn't too long until the power went out here. It has been a long time since I went to bed at 8:30.
When I was a kid, a tornado went through the town I lived in. I remember being at my piano teacher's house for lessons. I remember the odd weather that was going on outside. It was raining, but one side of the street was raining very hard and on my piano teacher's side of the street, there was almost no rain. As I recall, the tornado actually went through around the time we went home from the piano lesson, but it was likely several miles away. This is still very close by tornado standards, but a safe distance away. In my juvenile mind, the sign of an imminent tornado became rain visible in one area and not another. Because there were numerous open fields in my neighborhood, and a large parking lot for the church across the street, seeing waves of rain coming across or dividing an open space was not a rare occurrence. I don't recall this striking fear of the next tornado, but more anticipation that it was coming. Nobody I knew was hurt in the tornado and I never saw the destruction, so how bad could they be. Looking back now at news stories from 30 years ago, the tornado hit downtown on May 13, 1980 and killed 5 people; there were 79 hurt and massive devastation.
Another thing I remember about the tornado was that even though it went through the downtown area, the library was barely touched despite being in the devastated area. My dad told me the only damage was a hole the size of a grapefruit in the roof. The library held divine powers of safety. The library also held a small museum with a real Egyptian mummy and a gift shop with giant marbles, so it was good it was spared.
I still rarely seek cover from bad weather. Like most people, there is a complacency about it. Despite the amount of devastation a tornado can do, and the personal injury and death they cause, they happen over a relatively narrow area. At one time, I had a weather radio. It only lasted a short amount of time until I got sick of it going off for a garden variety thunderstorm in another part of the county. The foolishness of this is not lost on me.
What was most notable about the weather yesterday was that when I got home from work, the sky was a calm blue and it was a warm late winter evening. People were being hurt and houses destroyed at that time about as far from my work location as I was, only in the other direction. Nature wins, always.
Hopefully bed time won't be at 8:30 tonight.
When I was a kid, a tornado went through the town I lived in. I remember being at my piano teacher's house for lessons. I remember the odd weather that was going on outside. It was raining, but one side of the street was raining very hard and on my piano teacher's side of the street, there was almost no rain. As I recall, the tornado actually went through around the time we went home from the piano lesson, but it was likely several miles away. This is still very close by tornado standards, but a safe distance away. In my juvenile mind, the sign of an imminent tornado became rain visible in one area and not another. Because there were numerous open fields in my neighborhood, and a large parking lot for the church across the street, seeing waves of rain coming across or dividing an open space was not a rare occurrence. I don't recall this striking fear of the next tornado, but more anticipation that it was coming. Nobody I knew was hurt in the tornado and I never saw the destruction, so how bad could they be. Looking back now at news stories from 30 years ago, the tornado hit downtown on May 13, 1980 and killed 5 people; there were 79 hurt and massive devastation.
Another thing I remember about the tornado was that even though it went through the downtown area, the library was barely touched despite being in the devastated area. My dad told me the only damage was a hole the size of a grapefruit in the roof. The library held divine powers of safety. The library also held a small museum with a real Egyptian mummy and a gift shop with giant marbles, so it was good it was spared.
I still rarely seek cover from bad weather. Like most people, there is a complacency about it. Despite the amount of devastation a tornado can do, and the personal injury and death they cause, they happen over a relatively narrow area. At one time, I had a weather radio. It only lasted a short amount of time until I got sick of it going off for a garden variety thunderstorm in another part of the county. The foolishness of this is not lost on me.
What was most notable about the weather yesterday was that when I got home from work, the sky was a calm blue and it was a warm late winter evening. People were being hurt and houses destroyed at that time about as far from my work location as I was, only in the other direction. Nature wins, always.
Hopefully bed time won't be at 8:30 tonight.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
It's the End of the World as We Know It
I hate this time of year.
The end of the previous year has constant distractions of hunting, extra time off work for Holidays while the season's are changing. For a while, the cooler temperatures are kind of nice. As per my last post, I often have a trip South Carolina in the winter. But after that, it seems there is nothing to look forward to.
We get teaser days this time of year where we see warm weather. And, it was warm (and dry) enough to ride the motorcycle to work one day this week. However, lasting days of warm weather are at least a month away, and probably more. The current teasers are just that. Almost as importantly, unless I can find some something else to do with last years left over vacation, my next adventure is still many months away.
It is during this time of year more than most, where work seems to fill my synapses almost constantly. This year is worse since there is so much activity at work, which equates to stress. With nothing else to occupy my brain I end up thinking about work nearly constantly. Depressing.
This to shall pass. It will soon start getting warmer. The grass will soon need mowing. By the end of April I'll be forced to take the last of last year's vacation - which is probably a good thing. I'll get excited about projects around the house like moving the patio stones and redoing the driveway rocks (thrilling, right). The contentment of a freshly mowed lawn, even if there are muddy tracks on it will be here. Even thinking about some of the things I want to do outside almost acts as a slight elixir to my mood; I know I won't in reality do many of them though. This time of year, that is beside the point.
For now, I'll just try to find ways to turn off after work.
And, I hate this time of year.
The end of the previous year has constant distractions of hunting, extra time off work for Holidays while the season's are changing. For a while, the cooler temperatures are kind of nice. As per my last post, I often have a trip South Carolina in the winter. But after that, it seems there is nothing to look forward to.
We get teaser days this time of year where we see warm weather. And, it was warm (and dry) enough to ride the motorcycle to work one day this week. However, lasting days of warm weather are at least a month away, and probably more. The current teasers are just that. Almost as importantly, unless I can find some something else to do with last years left over vacation, my next adventure is still many months away.
It is during this time of year more than most, where work seems to fill my synapses almost constantly. This year is worse since there is so much activity at work, which equates to stress. With nothing else to occupy my brain I end up thinking about work nearly constantly. Depressing.
This to shall pass. It will soon start getting warmer. The grass will soon need mowing. By the end of April I'll be forced to take the last of last year's vacation - which is probably a good thing. I'll get excited about projects around the house like moving the patio stones and redoing the driveway rocks (thrilling, right). The contentment of a freshly mowed lawn, even if there are muddy tracks on it will be here. Even thinking about some of the things I want to do outside almost acts as a slight elixir to my mood; I know I won't in reality do many of them though. This time of year, that is beside the point.
For now, I'll just try to find ways to turn off after work.
And, I hate this time of year.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
The South (as it wasn't)
I just got back from a trip to South Carolina. I've gone there many times at this time of the year. It is usually an easy trip to take, weather permitting and as a result I've seen countless sunrises at the Kentucky/Tennessee border. I'm typically on the interstate, but that part of the country is in the Appalachians, nearing the Smokies. The mountains seen from the interstate are pretty and I often think I should stop to take a picture, but always just try to snap a photo through the window. Taking pictures in the low light of a sunrise from a moving car doesn't work very well.
A few family vacations aside, we didn't travel much as a kid and when we did it was often just to close-by relatives. Growing up in Michigan, the South always had a mystique about it. I saw the South as a place where winter never happened. All those states were always warm and people wore shorts year round. Exploding fireworks were legal there and I could only imagine that they were available at nearly every store. Since few things were more fun than roman candles ore M-80s, I had to assume they fireworks must be a daily part of existence in the South.
Now that I've traveled more, the truth is more mundane. Kentucky is only a few miles away and it routinely gets snow in the winter. I've been in southern coastal South Carolina and seen snow on the ground, although it didn't last long. Fireworks availability is much more wide spread now, but 30 years ago many southern states restricted them while some northern states allowed them. I only recall one day when I was in the south where fireworks were lit off. This was at an acquaintance's house in Florida in early March a few years ago, and the fireworks were actually brought from Michigan. So much for the belief in Southern Romanticism.
For now, there is always the sunrise on the Kentucky/Tennessee border.
A few family vacations aside, we didn't travel much as a kid and when we did it was often just to close-by relatives. Growing up in Michigan, the South always had a mystique about it. I saw the South as a place where winter never happened. All those states were always warm and people wore shorts year round. Exploding fireworks were legal there and I could only imagine that they were available at nearly every store. Since few things were more fun than roman candles ore M-80s, I had to assume they fireworks must be a daily part of existence in the South.
Now that I've traveled more, the truth is more mundane. Kentucky is only a few miles away and it routinely gets snow in the winter. I've been in southern coastal South Carolina and seen snow on the ground, although it didn't last long. Fireworks availability is much more wide spread now, but 30 years ago many southern states restricted them while some northern states allowed them. I only recall one day when I was in the south where fireworks were lit off. This was at an acquaintance's house in Florida in early March a few years ago, and the fireworks were actually brought from Michigan. So much for the belief in Southern Romanticism.
For now, there is always the sunrise on the Kentucky/Tennessee border.
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