Month: March 2014

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Home again

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I’ve been away too long.

According to the computer I’ve been away 40 days, considering the movie Noah is in theaters I think the coincidence is ironic.

My Time Capsule backup drives are really pissed off! After my computer making many apologies and spitting 80 or so gigabytes of changed data at them they’ve quieted down and all is happy in the land of my home network.

During the backup process I noticed that it’s getting to be about time to add some additional network attached storage. Planning ahead, the question is what kind of NAS do I want to do? Also on my wish list is a new 16 port gigabit switch. 

While this may sound like overkill I suspect it’s going to be necessary especially since I think we’re leaning toward killing the cable TV altogether. If we go down that path I foresee that we’ll be streaming a lot more video from our local storage devices to our Apple TV.

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For several years now I’ve been tinkering with the possibility of purchasing something like a Mac Mini to use as a server or simply a media server. Perhaps now is the time to do that, but before I go down that road I really want to investigate some of the simpler options.

For now it’s off to breakfast and then the hardware store. Got me some ants to kill and a magnifying glass is just too damn slow!

 

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Some of the things I’ve seen

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Quite the mélange isn’t it?

I’ve been rained on in Texas. and I mean RAIN. I opened the car door in San Antonio this morning and thought I was at sea! The wind was blowing the rain so hard, there was no way to exit the car without the interior getting drenched.

I’m treating myself tonight to a Holiday Inn Express at a reasonable rate. I’ve had enough of cheap hotels and not sleeping soundly. Believe me, I’ve been in some really bad hotels on this trip.

This is a nice place and I needed it

Will be home in a couple of days, maybe…

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On the Road

Sitting in a Starbucks whose WiFi credentials are questionable so I have no idea when this is likely to be posted. I’ve turned off my WiFI but it might be too late if the router is being run by a bad guy.

Sadly, there is no LTE cellular connection either.

I’m in Pensacola after a rough nights sleep.

The room I got was a disaster, it smelled like an ashtray mixed with harsh chemicals. One of the beds hadn’t been changed and whew when I pulled the sheets back, there was a powerful stench. Thank goodness there was another bed that had been changed.

Ah, the little surprises of traveling.

I was too tired to fight about the room last night. I’d planned to stay in Tallahassee but refused to pay 139.00 or more a night for a hotel room. I checked with several hotels outside the Tallahassee city limits. Apparently the Florida senate is in session and all the hotels were full of lobbyists. “Your tax dollars at work” are being bought and paid for by entities outside your government.

I’ve been noticing folks having bible meetings in public places like restaurants, and this Starbucks in fact. That’s strange to me but what the hell, as long as the Christians and Satanists don’t try to have meetings in the same place at the same time I guess it’s going to be cool.

Of course God help them both if the Atheists, (who’ve made atheism a religion in and of itself) should happen to show up. I’d be outside selling tickets and taking bets. In this area I don’t know if I’d bet on the Atheists or the Christians, both are probably packing heat!

I will say there are a lot of damn cute and generally fit men in a lot of the places in FL I’ve been. Even the guys discussing religion are damn fine! LOL I suppose I could convert them. Uh Oh, they’re quoting from Luke and talking about forbidden things… I suspect the next topic will involve the abomination of homosexuality!

Oh give me a few hours… I haven’t converted anyone in a long time! I’d love to give Torquemada a run for his money.

What would Jesus think about the horrific expense of a cup of Starbucks coffee? Wouldn’t that $4 be better spent feeding the poor? If I was a real bastard, I’d point that little hypocrisy out to them… After all there’s a dunkin doughnuts across the street.

Nah… Not worth the time, but amusing to think about.

I’m taking the trip back to CA more slowly. I’m actually not sure that I want to go back to that way of life. Perhaps by the time I get home, I’ll have a better idea for the next direction my life will take.

I hope you’re enjoying your day as much as I am.

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T-Minus 18 Hours and counting…

Heading home tomorrow.

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I’d planned to leave yesterday or today. But Mom wanted to have a family Sunday dinner. I’m cool with that. The last time I visited FL was 7, maybe 8 years ago I doubt that I’m going to have as long a hiatus before my next visit.

You know the saying, “if you don’t use it you lose it,” that’s unfortunately whats happening with my folks. They really don’t move around a lot and as a result, it’s getting harder for them to move.

I compare my Mom to my Aunt and its night and day. Even though my Aunt is the older sister she’s in a lot better shape and part of it is that she just moves around all the time. She’s always doing something, whether that’s working in the yard or fiddling with some new recipe.

As a consequence, she’s lighter, stronger, and healthier, overall. Yeah she’s got a couple of problems with her hips but nothing like the problem Mom has.

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So I’ve learned a lot while I’ve been here. First and foremost is take care of yourself. It’s all too easy these days to plop yourself down in front of the TV and do nothing. All I can say is DON’T!

Stay in motion, work out, walk, breathe the air, and live your life, don’t let things pass you by.

The consequences of doing nothing are terrible and painful for you and for your loved ones to watch.

Imagine your family not wanting to visit; not because they don’t love you, but because you’ve become so disgusting that they don’t want to visit, or expose their children to you. 

That’s exactly what can happen if you don’t take care of yourself. Yes! There are boundaries even to love.

Watch what you eat. Salt is a killer! My BP has climbed steadily since I’ve been here.

Part of that climb is due to the fact that everything in this house is processed to the point that it’s just barely food, and it is loaded with salt! Part of it is that I’m used to drinking a lot of tea and water at home. Here I’ve not been thirsty and that means that I’m not flushing salt out of my system. This is BAD! Unfortunately it’s very easy to do.

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I think it’s going to take at least a couple of months for me to get stuff like diet and salt intake and fluid intake back on track again.

Yes, I could go to the grocery store and buy my own food and make healthy choices. Problem is, that would be somewhat rude to my folks. So I’ve decided to just tough it out, eating what they eat when they eat it.

Tomorrow at the gas stop, before I hit the interstate, I’m loading up on water and will start flushing my system on the drive home. So what if I’m pissing at the side of the road, there’s a whole lot of open lonely roads between here and home.

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I could use a massage, and some naked time! I don’t think I’ll get either until I get home. Yeah I can be naked in a hotel room but I tend to sleep, shower, and take off. It’s not like Palm Springs where I can spend a day by the pool just relaxing.

As to the massage. Well, do I take a chance on someone; I want a massage, not a quick jerk off. It’s difficult to tell the legitimate massage folks from the “I’ll rub your but for a minute and then get you off” crowd.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s room in my world for both practitioners, but I really want a massage I’ll handle my own dick thank you…

I’ll sleep on that one. I don’t have to make a decision right at this moment.

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It will be good to be back on the road. I’m tired of seeing the inside of the grocery store, the home repair store, staples, and the grocery store again. I’m also kinda tired of picking up after my stepdad and him leaving a trail of paper, crumbs, paper towels, tea stains on the counters, and greasy fingerprints on the fridge.

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Ding, Dong, Fred Phelps is dead!

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I thought I’d feel happy about it.

I don’t.

I’d planned a pilgrimage to his grave site so that I could piss on his grave, I find myself not wanting to waste the gas or time.  It would be relatively easy and not that far out of my way, since I’m driving back home soon.

It’s not worth it, I’m just not that much into the symbolism and all I feel, is that a very sick, very sad caricature of a religious man is dead. He’ll never learn anything about the consequences of his hate, or how to let that hate go.

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Perhaps he has taught me something though, holding on to hate, anger, and sadness, prevent you from seeing that there is more in the world.

Oh, I’m nowhere near being enlightened! 

I’ve spent years trying to connect the dots about anger and hate. Maybe another 30 or 40 years and I’ll get it right. Hey, I have issues, so sue me! Sometimes you have to go back to the beginning to understand why you’re so knotted up.

Just going back to your beginning isn’t going to help unless you’re in a place where you can understand objectively what you’re seeing and not get caught up in the minutiae. You kinda have to take the wide angle view and see your place in the interactions and you gotta accept your part in the mess. Yeah, you’re not a victim, even though you might want to think of yourself as one, you’re more often an active participant.

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I’m sure there will be plenty of people that will want to cause the Phelps family as much grief and pain as the Phelps family has caused. And they will… For my part, I think stopping the cycle of pain, anger, and grief is a better choice.

Fred Phelps deserves nothing but my pity. His legacy will be a footnote in history as a person that was misguided and who used religion to cause others pain.

Moving on…