Category: California

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Rainy Day

IMG 1240Woke up to rain on the roof this morning. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

There’s nothing I need to do outside. I suppose I could park the car outside for a free wash.

Nope, too much effort to get dressed.

I will get out of bed eventually, but right now it’s nice just sitting here listening. 

Something about rain is soothing. As long as I don’t have to drive in it with all the other people on the road, many of whom don’t have the skill to be driving, or the sense God gave a goose.

I’ve often wondered if putting a 21 day wait time on the purchase of a car would impart to people that cars are at least as dangerous to use as a gun.

In what universe does it make sense to fly up behind and sit on someones bumper who’s already doing 80? It make less sense to do that when you can see that the traffic ahead is coming to a stop. All it takes is a little common sense to realize that the person whose bumper you’re rinding is likely to hit their brakes.

That’s the situation I found myself in on Sunday afternoon on the I-15. The moron behind me was totally shocked when I hit my brakes to stop. The idiot locked their wheels and darted into the emergency lane to avoid hitting me (there was at least that mercy). I’d been slowing and tapping my brakes to accommodate the traffic in front of me. The woman riding my bumper was heedless, and I suspect distracted by her damn phone.

I figured that my car would be in the shop again, but no worries I’m going to be out of town and with luck my car would be repaired by the time I got back.

Thank goodness it was a clear sunny day and the roads were dry, otherwise the silly person would’ve spun and taken me and a bunch of other people out with her foolishness.

Maybe today in the rain she’ll cause the destruction she so narrowly missed causing Sunday.

Today I won’t worry about it. I’m going to be home, snug and warm listening to the rain on my roof. I could look at the live traffic maps and enjoy the mayhem vicariously.

Nope! For the next foreseeable hour or two, I’m turning off the tech and going back to sleep. 

If you’re out in the rain, drive carefully and try to take a moment to enjoy the sound of rain on a roof.

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Language

America doesn’t have an official language. (I think I should, but that’s beside the point I’m shooting for.)

I speak American English. I can work with German, French, and Spanish. I am by no means fluent in any of them. That being said I don’t have a problem with broadcast TV or Radio having commercials in other languages. Commercials cater to the demographics of a particular market.

So If I lived in an area that has a high percentage of say, German speaking folks I’d expect to hear commercials in English and German. (In reality, I could be living in the middle of a predominantly German community in America and I’d not hear one commercial in German.)

I actually live in an area with a high percentage of Spanish speaking folks and therefore expect to hear broadcast (by broadcast I mean over the air) TV and Radio commercials in English and Spanish. I’m good with that. Again it’s market demographics.

However, I’m quite confused as to why in my Amazon Prime, and Hulu accounts, where there are specific markers that I prefer ENGLISH, I’m getting commercials and reviews in Spanish and English. It’s about 50/50 lately.

I’m paying for these services. Shouldn’t I have a say in what language is presented? Shouldn’t we all? If you’re paying for a service shouldn’t you have the option to have the service presented in your preferred language?

The vendors paying to have their commercials aired are wasting their money throwing Spanish versions of their commercials into my home.

In fact, I’m less likely to consider shopping those vendors products because I’m annoyed. Not by their product per se, but switching from an American English style of commercial to a  commercial with a Latin flair is jarring.

Latin TV and Commercials are dramatic and attention getting. They’re somewhat reflective of the culture and that’s to be expected. 

When I’m in Mexico I’m always impressed by just how exciting a floor cleaner can be. 

A Mr. Clean commercial in Mexico is very different from a Mr. Clean commercial in America.

As an aside: Fabuloso is actually a nicer product and I use it all the time. Yes, I saw their commercial while in Mexico and when I saw the hotel crew using the product I thought, “That’s a nice smell and based on the bathroom and hotel floors, it works.”  When I saw the product on the shelf in a grocery store stateside I bought it, and have been a happy customer since.

In Mexico, I’m going to do my best to speak, listen, and read Spanish, I’ll even laugh when I blow it and a kind Mexican person corrects my botched sentence in flawless English.

Likewise in French speaking provinces of Canada, I’m going to switch to French and pray that I”m not too offensive with my mispronunciations.

Most of the Mexicans & Canadians I’ve met are very patient, kind, and respectful, that I’m at least trying. Often hilarity ensues when they get what I was trying to say, and then think about how I said it. 

That being said, when I’m home in America, paying for services, I’d like for those services to be presented in my preferred language. 

If I’m brushing up on other languages, I’ll specifically tune in to Univison, CBC en Français, or DW auf Deutsch.

All I’m asking is that my wishes and choices be respected and that other folks wishes and choices be respected too.

Is that too much?

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PG&E Makes Northern California like a third world country

Purge anarchy 0In an effort to curb wildfires, PG&E started shutting down the power due to high winds in Northern California.

It may take them up to 7 days to restore power to the affected areas.

SAY WHAT?

How about PG&E simply fixing or maintaining their equipment? Oh Right… They’ve filed for bankruptcy because of all the law suits from the last major fire that they were apparently responsible for. Uh, what the hell is going on here? They didn’t have to kill the power in the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s so what’s changed?

Could it be that in order to keep profits and executive salaries high they’ve skimped on maintenance? Could it be that zoning and over development have created a situation where too many high tension lines have been run out to places that are inaccessible and therefore not easily maintained?

I’ll admit that I think it’s funny as hell.

Rickandmorty ep210I’d love to see San Francisco and Sacramento plunged into darkness. Both bastions of insanity could do with a nice long dark wake up call.

How would all the electric cars be recharged? OMG it would be a disaster and people’s cell phones have to be recharged. What? no computers, internet, streaming services? You mean we have to, gasp… talk to each other face to face?  After the first night it would probably look like something out of The Purge.

And why would it take up to 7 days to restore power?

All PG&E is doing is shutting down the grid.  Assuming no damage, shouldn’t it be a simple matter of resetting the system and powering it back up?

Of course, while the power is down maybe PG&E should use the time wisely to make routine repairs and improvements. However, doing that would require planning and certainly overtime pay. Since they’re in bankruptcy it’s unlikely that there is a lot of cash for the overtime, but I’ll bet the top executives are still getting their obscene paychecks.

The mental image of Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Sacramento residents having to resort to cooking fires while living in their million dollar homes tickles me to no end.

But we all know that isn’t what’s going to happen. In fact here is the outtage map.

It’s mostly the people who can’t afford to live in the cities who are being affected. You know, the workers that have to get up at 4am to get ready for their commute of 2.5 hours to work. Then they’ll have to deal with streetlights being out and signal lights not working, when they finally do get to work the odds are pretty good they’ll have some jerk supervisor that chastises, or outright punishes them for being late.

I guess my point is that instead of PG&E killing the power, they should be working to make sure that the power lines don’t come down in the first place. 

But California is apparently fine with being plunged into the dark ages. So long as Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Sacramento don’t go dark. 

I could make a killing selling flint knives and stone clubs.

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And yet ANOTHER example of inconsiderate behavior

IMG 0996So I get into the shower, preparing to load up my car on Saturday to leave. 

I come out of the shower at 7:40 to find that I have no hope of getting where I need to go. 

Yes that’s my car on the right side of the photo with no hope of getting out and no reason to believe these guys would be doing this on a Saturday. 

in just 10 minutes they’d deployed a cherry picker and had men hanging from ropes in the tree they were cutting down. They kept saying just a few minutes. I went back inside to wait.

Come ON! A little notice? How about a little consideration? Common Sense? Maybe a little thought that there are people who MIGHT have plans on a Saturday morning?

Oh and NEVER mind the sappy sawdust raining down all over the place, especially considering that the car was washed and waxed yesterday. If I’d had any clue whatsoever I’d have parked elsewhere.

We can’t do our laundry before 8 am what makes it okay to fire up heavy equipment and chainsaws at 7:30 in the morning?This is just another example of why I’m so damn tired of humanity in general and being in high density population areas in particular.

Well soon I’ll be moving back to the mountain, for a time at least. Then it’s up to me to figure out where the hell I want to go.

It’s not about this one instance. California in general is turning into a real shit hole.

Lets make a list shall we?

1 No plastic or paper bags anymore. Oh you can buy them, but it’s for the environment. (Mandated by law!) You know… paper bags are a biodegradable, renewable resource…

2 No smoking, and you better believe that the anti-smoking patrols will hunt you down. (Not even going to debate the pros or cons of smoking. It’s about freedom of choice to live your life as you see fit.)

3 No vaping (In San Francisco, give it time… pretty soon the whole state will adopt that rule. It’s about the Children don’t ya know.)

4 No junipers (the plant) in your yard this year in mountain communities. Yep, apparently a single 2×3 foot plant on the perimeter of your property is an unacceptable fire hazard. Of course it doesn’t matter that the plant has been in the same position for more than a decade, and has survived multiple fires including the house itself and subsequent reconstruction.

5 Excessive, convoluted, and confusing laws about the ownership of firearms. A gun you purchase legally this year may be illegal next year.

6 Ammunition registration (and taxation). Now you have to pay an additional fee on ammunition. It’s one rate if you purchase it by registering your address and that address is the address you previously registered 3 years ago. It’s an entirely different and excessive fee if you happened to have moved within the last 3 years. (It doesn’t matter that pretty much only law abiding citizens will be the ones paying the fees. Criminal elements of course don’t) It’s for your protection! Uh no, the ammunition is for my protection and perfectly legal target practice at approved gun ranges.

7 An additional fee for fire suppression in mountain communities. Yep, this on top of your property, state income, school, and sales tax. This one is being challenged in court but you pay the fee until the case is decided. (This fee, by the way, is used to fund the people who drive by your property and send out citations if they don’t like the plants in your yard. However very little of the money is used to remove dead pine trees from the California national forests, you know… where the real danger is.

Every year you have to spend your time fighting for the right to landscape your yard the way you choose. My yard is landscaped with California Native plants for water conservation and those plants are trimmed down when they finish their blooming cycles. Many of these plants are taller than 6 inches at maturity. Anything taller than 6 inches above the ground results in a citation.) This is for your safety.

8 Mandated compact fluorescent bulbs in your home. It’s getting tough to find a nice old fashioned incandescent light. So California wants you to have Mercury vapor and a bulb that as it ages can produce unhealthy levels of UV. Uh GREAT! You want to save energy don’t you? It’s for the environment.

9 Poor and congested roads, littered with potholes and trash of all kinds. But the worst of this is the gravel and rocks left behind by trucks driving four abreast on the freeways. All with signs that say, “Keep back 300 feet. Not responsible for broken windshields” At 70 miles an hour being 2000 feet behind the morons driving their uncovered, overloaded trucks, isn’t going to prevent your car from being sandblasted. But it will prevent you from being able to identify the trucker or trucking company. Well, the police force is stretched too thin to enforce the laws about obstruction of traffic, littering, or driving on the freeways with an uncovered load. Besides, these drivers are on the lower end of the economic scale and they have to drive as many loads in a day as they can. They don’t have the time to cover each and every load. But what about the time and expense of windshield replacement? Well you’ve got insurance right?

10 A legislative body which is, at best incompetent, and more often than not simply corrupt. This body thinks nothing of consequences of their actions assuming that whatever problem they create can be solved by raising taxes so they have more money to piss away.

11 You can’t use oil based paints in California. That includes car paint, house paint, or deck paint. Oh, we don’t want VOC’s [Volatile, Organic, Chemicals] in the air it causes air pollution. You should use water based paints they’re environmentally friendly. But they’re not as durable and require very specific preparation and temperature conditions to apply. Oh and as an added bonus… to make a minor repair requiring paint on your car you have to remove all the factory paint down to the metal. Increasing the cost of the repair and subsequently the cost of insurance. That’s ok… Don’t you want to paint your house every other year? You’re not going to keep your car for more than 3 years are you?

One or two of these issues wouldn’t be so annoying. I know that I’ve not enumerated all of the ills of California. However, in just this short list the conclusion is that Freedom of choice is being usurped one item at a time and there is no sign of end. The feeling is that “Our Betters” will continue to decide how we live and act because they know best.

I’m not built to have anyone tell me how to live my life. I don’t accept this from Religion, or Physicians, and certainly not Politicians.

I was raised to believe that I lived in a free country. But increasingly I question that assertion. The more rules and regulations, the more likely you are to be in violation of one or more of them.

I’m reminded of a colleague who was from Russia. She once casually told me that everyone was criminal in the town she grew up in.

When I asked how that was possible, she replied, “Politicians were elected by the Russian Mafia. They were called ‘ New Russians’, they were all Mafia and they made so many laws that we could not live, or go to work, or to school without breaking some law or another. The politicians and their friends were immune to the laws they made. But we were not, so eventually the common people were all arrested and jailed at various times,  for various infractions, then released when their punishment was through Now they had records. This made it easier for the criminals to continue committing crimes and through intimidation, the common people who just wanted to live their lives were silenced. The government was all Mafia and were very rich and getting richer all the time. Eventually, we couldn’t make a living without working for the Mafia so most of my family left and came to America. Those that stayed are now big criminals but have no freedom outside Russia. Those that left for other countries made new lives, and walk in the sunlight. But I and my husband are leaving America. We are trying to go to New Zealand. America has changed and it is not as free as it was. It seems as though Politicians here are more like ‘New Russians’. They are driven by greed and wealth. So we leave, and hope to live our lives in freedom and peace without government telling us how to be.”

That was the last time I saw her. At the time I thought she was wrong. That was 15 years ago, now… I’m not so sure.

I can say, over the past 15 years I’ve found California to be more oppressive, and dread each and every election, because I know yet one more onerous law or regulation will be passed. With each new rule, my personal freedom is eroded and I’ve reached a point where I no longer wish to participate in a system that seeks to control so many aspects of my life.

Perhaps I’m too sensitive to it. Perhaps it’s my Rebel upbringing. Perhaps it’s just my personal refusal to submit to domination. Perhaps it’s simply that I’ve always had a problem with authority.

I realize that people are inconsiderate everywhere in this country. It’s the “ME” syndrome. The best I can hope for now is to find a place where I can keep space between myself and the next person. The chronic inconsideration may just be a function of dense living, I’m not sure.

All I know is that I no longer like being in California. I also know that I do not want to live my final years in this place.

Well, it looks like the tree trimmers are still going at it. Thus far this has put a two and an half hour delay into my day. I’ll also have to wash the car AGAIN, that’s twice in two days. It’s 86 degrees and the sappy sawdust is baking on my car which means I’ll probably have to wax it again. At this temp I don’t really feel like humping shit down to the car only to drive another 2 hours up to the mountains and unload it. I’d planned to load everything in the cooler portion of the morning and be gone by 8. I’d planned to be on the mountain by 10. Obviously that isn’t going to happen.

10:35 AM 7/27/2019 So I’ve now cancelled my weekend plans. Gee thanks ASSHOLES! This will mark the 5th week in a row that I’ve not been able to get to the mountains for a little peace & quiet. Oh well only one more week at the job, then I pack this place up and move back home.

I can take it… after all I haven’t any fucking choice now do I?

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Sometimes trying to help is more dangerous than leaving well enough alone…

MaxresdefaultDriving to work this morning there’s this car on the freeway driving with only their parking lights on.

Ok yeah, it’s dangerous but I’m sure that the person driving had no idea. Their instrument cluster was probably lit and they were driving a new car. I’m sure they were still getting used to the car.

Hell I’ve done the same thing in my car after it’s been serviced. The dealership always turns the automatic headlights off while they have my car. It’s the first thing I check when I pick it up after they’re done.

Anyhoo, so I’m cruising at 80 and I see the dark car coming up in the lane to my left behind him, there’s another car flashing his lights.

The flashing light car was very insistent about trying to tell the dark car that their lights were off.

They were on the dark car’s bumper, then the dark car is passed me immediately changing lanes in front of me. The flashing guy sits right next to me adjusting their speed to continue flashing their high beams at the dark car.

The dark car accelerates obviously trying to get away from flashing guy. Flashing guy stays right on the dark guys bumper. Dark guy slows down. I have to brake. The two of them continue this dance at 75 to 80 miles an hour for the next 4 miles.

Eventually I decide that this is all too dangerous at 4:45 in the morning and accelerate past them both, continuing to open distance between them and me.

They continue their dance in my rearview mirror for the next 5 miles.

And it’s getting more and more dangerous. The Dark car obviously doesn’t have a clue but they’re equally obviously getting erratic in their driving and just trying to get away. They blow blow by me at 90 on a curving freeway transition. Flashing guy is just not giving up.

They round the bend and I see the reflected red light of taillights on the concrete barrier. I’m not far enough along in the curve to actually see them.I take my foot off the gas and coast as I round the curve. Yep! there’s smoke and that distinct smell that tires make when someone has slammed on the brakes.

No accident, but it’s pretty obvious what happened. They rounded the bend and saw a line of 18 wheelers transitioning from the other freeway and both had to brake hard. Neither of them learned anything because they’re both racing along in the fast lane continuing their dance.

I make the transition to the other freeway and continue on.

I couldn’t help but think again, that San Diego has some of the shittiest drivers in California.

These are people who will play pace car and actively prevent other people including emergency vehicles from passing. These are people who commonly blow through stop lights and stop signs. These are people who will sail out into traffic from parking lots and never even make an attempt to stop at the parking lot exit. These are people who will pull into a parking lot with a string of traffic behind them then stop trying to decide if they should go right or left, leaving that string of traffic blocking an intersection until they figure out what they’re doing.

5It’s like driving in Eastern Kentucky in the 1970s when people didn’t have to worry about getting hit, because there were so few people in the area. In San Diego it’s that times a thousand, except that there are a million cars on the road at any time and the odds of getting hit or hitting someone a pretty much 100%.

I thank my drivers ed teacher from a Kentucky High School every day for teaching us the value of defensive driving.

I respect that the one driver was trying to tell the other that their lights weren’t on, but give them -1000 points for not realizing that they weren’t going to get their message across and not having enough sense to break off and go on about their business.

Sadly, that seems to be the way of things these days. Folks just won’t leave shit alone, and instead of focusing on the bigger issues they want to focus on the little details.

In the overall picture of the freeway, there are streetlights that make it very easy to see the road. In the rain or fog, those same streetlights are actually a problem because they decrease visibility. But even without headlights, the car running dark wasn’t a particular danger. I could see the car and even what color it was. Yeah it wasn’t as obvious as it would have been if it was properly lit up but it wasn’t a particular hazard.

The real danger was “Mr Flashy” because he or she was escalating a minor danger into a major one.

At some point you need to know when to give it up.

If you were really concerned about safety, you could call it in to 911. Tell them a gray Lexus sedan was running on the 56 freeway heading west transitioning to the 5 south with no lights on and wasn’t always using their turn indicators.

CHP would have sent an available unit and I guarantee the Lexus would have stopped when the Red & Blue lights pulled up behind them.  Or not… and then there would have been another problem.

I guess it just brought home to me, it’s way better and safer to attend to my own shit. I’ve got enough to deal with, without looking for more.