A busy day running around

 

Yesterday I had to go to the Long Beach. The drive wasn’t as bad as it could have been. And the drive home wasn’t all that bad either.

People are still doing stupid things on the road but it’s not nearly as irritating to me as it used to be. It’s amazing what NOT having to put up with LA traffic Day in and Day out will do for your attitude.

I noticed the other morning that I was smiling for no damn reason. In fact I couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off my face. I’m much happier today than I was say, 4 weeks ago.


AND in the foot in my mouth department….

I’m sitting in the eye doctors office. One of the nice ladies asks why I’m here, I say I’m having a problem with a trial set of contacts. She asks if I have an appointment I say yes. She looks at me quizzically and then at her book and says “wow you’re  really early”.

I say well it’s better for me to be early than late and demanding to be seen.

OOOOPPPPS..

There’s a dude sitting in the waiting area that did EXACTLY THAT! I’m getting the stink eye from him but that only tells me he’s very aware he’s in the wrong.

Ahhh I can’t help it sometimes… Being an asshole comes SOOO NATURALLY to me! Sometimes I don’t even know I’m being an ass.

Judging by the overheard phone conversations this guy is chronically having HE’S GOT PROBLEMS even without whatever problems he’s got with his eyes. I know way more about his personal & business life than I should.

Considering that he was practically yelling into his phone, and I could hear the other side of the conversation From the phone pressed to his ear. I think that in addition to needing help with his glasses, he probably needs either a new phone, or a hearing aid. Possibly both.


It’s grey and overcast on the coast. But further inland it’s sunny and pretty. All the more reason to smile, here at home it’s beautiful and while there is yet stuff to do in the yard and around the house I’m in such a good place I find myself smiling more often than not.

It’s amazing how much being really stressed and unhappy at work can affect your outlook on EVERYTHING!

I’m wondering how long it’s going to take the dofusses at work to actually send out the paperwork telling me when I’m really going to be laid off. Thus far they haven’t been able to actually decide on a layoff list much less when it’s going to happen.

Just a few weeks ago this would have driven me to a frothing rage. Now it’s like whatever, whenever, I just don’t care.

Until they actually tell me with a letter or something  I guess I keep turning in a time card.

Just when I Thought I was done…

There’s yet more to do!

I’ve been doing a lot of chores. Yesterday I insulated the pipes in the basement. This after having a plumber in to replace a valve that was threatening to inundate the basement.

I’d already dug up and replaced every single sprinkler head in the back yard. Not because they were all broken mind you, the easy way would have been to repair the risers that were broken and leave it be.

Not Mr. overachiever here. OH Nooooo!

The dogs play in the back yard. Believe me two 80 pound Goldens can cause a lot of damage if they’re into a wrestling match.  All the existing sprinkler heads were sitting ducks. So I replaced the old “fixed” heads with nice Pop-ups that are buried flush in the ground. The dogs can roll right over ‘em and not cause a problem.

Then while I’m at the hardware store. I see a bunch of very nice plants. I think wow those would look nice in my yard D’OH! Digging any kind of hole here is hard labor. I’ve seen guys in their front yards using picks and shovels and I’ve heard of folks using fractional sticks of dynamite to plant a sapling.

I’ve been wanting to add more plants in the back yard for a while. Along my North fence line I have blackberries On the East fence I’m going to be planting raspberries, on the west fence will be grapes. And to top it off, I’m putting an apple tree back there too. This will take digging 8 holes… Awww shit!

Wonder if I know anyone with dynamite?

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Well, when its done and the plants have grown a bit It will nook nice.

The next project is the front yard.

I’m looking at hot tubs that would fit in a spot next to the deck…

It never ends…..

Our Media is out of control

Perhaps I’m a little Grumpy this morning. DSC_0843

Well in truth I’m usually grumpy in the morning. I’ll eventually become human at some point during the day.

In recent history we’ve seen major news organizations take what they’ve read online for granted. Then without vetting the information, or checking any ancillary sources they’ve published as true and correct, completely fictitious stories.

The most recent example of this are the blog posts supposedly from a “Gay Girl in Syria” These posts garnered a lot of media attention. Mainstream and local, news outlets were taken in.

All anyone had to do was check the originating IP addresses on the blog posts or the emails supposedly coming from this poor girl. And the hoax would have been immediately apparent. Eventually someone technologically savvy did precisely that, discovering that the emails originated from an American in Edinburgh.

Faster communication doesn’t necessarily mean better communication.

What someone writes on a blog isn’t necessarily true. ANY Idiot can write a blog, (I’m an Idiot and you’re reading my blog) when did blogs, which are essentially the personal opinions of the writers become valid news sources? At best blogs should be treated as editorial pieces and at worst ignored completely.

Our media need to return to being Journalists instead of talking heads looking for the most salacious, sensational bits of information or misinformation they can find.

They need to actually investigate their stories, and they need to stop relying on purely online resources for their research.

There was something called Journalistic responsibility once, perhaps it’s time to make that concept a priority again.

Just THIS Village idiots opinion…