Category: General

Posted on

Ahhhh That felt good!

NewImage

Sometimes trying to do work for friends is just not a good idea. I always feel guilty asking for what I’m worth and because I feel guilty I don’t ask.

The practical result of this little mind game is that I do good work, but always end up being taken advantage of a bit. You know, $80 keyboards, and $40 spools of cable add up. But I just gave the shit away…

That’s a problem that I’ve got to get over. Part of it will be the absolute certainty on my part that I am worth every freakin penny I charge for whatever I do.

I need to make sure as well that I’m billing for everything that gets left behind as part of the job. “OH, your keyboard is broken… well it can be replaced for $20 or you can have my really nice $80 keyboard for $80.

I’d been asked to take a look at some data and see if I could present the material in a better way. I said, “Sure” without even thinking about it. 

NewImage

That was mistake number 1. I should have thought about it, I know these folks and I know how one of them thinks.

Mistake number 2  I shouldn’t have offered to do anything until we’d discussed MY PRICE!

It’s about time that I stopped being a charitable organization. My Price was never discussed and I find that really odd given the circumstances.

NewImage

Mistake number 3 was that I should have called a halt to my doing anything when I wasn’t getting cooperation gaining access to the data I was supposed to evaluate. Instead I got directed to an incomplete website and was sorta left with nothing.

Mistake number 4 was not calling an end to the whole mess when suddenly I had a deadline to finish. I still hadn’t been given the materials I’d requested to make the evaluation in the first place.

In fact there had been an email wherein I’d been told that my friends had been sidetracked for several weeks. I took this to mean that they really weren’t committed to getting this little project off the ground.

NewImage

In this particular case, I’ve got other clients that are PAYING and know what the heck in general they want and are willing to work with me to deal with questions that come up.

You know what? Cash talks!

I just threw in the towel on the undefined unestimated project.

Sure I’m leaving money on the table, but you know what? I think it was going to be a never ending, a.k.a never satisfied project.  

NewImage

I’m cutting my losses, and calling it SKOOLING!

I feel pretty good about it. Now I don’t have this weird undefined thing looming over my head. It’s helped a great deal with my ability to focus.

I’ve moved on to a challenging project where I can see the $$ at the end of the tunnel and I’m learning something new too.

 

Posted on

HORRORS!

OMG!

Images

A gaggle of 4 shrill women in a Starbucks who are completely oblivious to the fact that they’re practically screaming within 3 feet of me.

I’m pretty obviously trying to concentrate on what I’m working on and yet that doesn’t matter to them. 

I’m treated to their pregnancy, doctors, and patient experiences all the while they’re screeching in that excited high pitched annoying voice that women get when they’re all excited at being able to gossip with each other about people that aren’t present.

Even as I write this at least one of these rude women is reading what I’m writing over my shoulder.

I have no expectation of privacy in a Starbucks, but I do have at least a slight expectation of decorum.

I’m leaving, my coffee is finished and honestly, even if it wasn’t I’d be bailing because this is annoying as shit! I thought the guy who was trying to crawl under my table to plug his piece of shit Windows Laptop in was annoying. 

I guess it goes to show that people can always sink lower than what you thought was the bottom of the barrel.

I wasn’t entirely clear about why this encounter with these women was so distressing.

I can tell you the last thing I wanted to hear about was those women’s episiotomy experiences or the vigor with which their afterbirth was expelled.

Women say Manspreading is a problem…. I’d say Gynospeak in a public venue where people are trying to eat is a more realistic and devastating issue.

As men, we typically don’t describe all the issues surrounding our annual prostate exams, nor do we in detail, discuss our preparation for a colonoscopy, in a restaurant. It’s just bad manners and puts everyone off their meal.

I’ve never understood why so many women seem to think the world needs to know all the details of their medical exams or childbirth.

Keep that stuff private, between you, your doctor, and your spouse.

I don’t need gothic images of husbands covered in blood because they were at the wrong place trying to be supportive as you explosively ejected afterbirth.

In particular I don’t need that image while I’m eating my meatball marinara sandwich…

Let that one sink in just a bit…

This has been a Public Service Announcement, you fucking feminist harridans! 

Posted on

Airlines!

NewImage

Is it just me or have the airlines gotten significantly worse at their jobs?

For a variety of reasons I’ve been looking at airfares to several destinations and have come to the conclusion that airlines are out of their minds!

For example if you want to go from the LA area to a lovely island called Bonaire you’re flown all over hell’s half acre with many of the flights routing you through Newark.

NewImage

WTF? After paying $1500 to $1800 for a ticket and then baggage fees which aren’t cheap if you’re carrying diving gear I’d kind of expect a freaking direct flight and something better than economy class with no changes.

Why not put passengers on a plane from Los Angeles to Houston then from Houston to Bonaire?

IMG 0010

There was even one winner of a flight that had passengers returning from Bonaire to Newark, then flying to Houston, then to Los Angeles. Or the other one which had passengers returning from Bonaire, to Newark, to Dallas, to San Francisco, to LA.

Really? 

If you ask the airlines, they say that its due to customs regulations. Which I’d believe Except that I’ve returned to this country though Houston several times and know for a fact that Houston has literally one of the NICEST customs areas I’ve ever been in.

NewImage

An added perk is that the customs officials in Houston are nice and God forbid! HELPFUL!

This is in stark contrast to the dank musty Customs facilities in Los Angeles International. Where you have to deal with some really shitty attitudes. Virtually all of the flights to and from Bonaire are routed through Newark, WHY?

NewImage

Newark is one of those airports I’ll PAY to avoid. I’ve never in my life been treated worse than in that airport. I honestly think I’d have been treated better in the former Soviet Union trying to leave the Ukraine, carrying stolen ICBM plans, speaking nothing but English, without a passport, wearing a T-Shirt that said, “Fuck the USSR” !

NewImage

I was looking at getting from the Los Angeles area to Minnesota. We’re talking making plans 1 month out just for the hell of it.

One of the flights requires 9 hours, on one leg and yet has you in flight for 5 hours on the other leg. NINE hours? What the hell are they doing? LA to Phoenix, to Dallas, to Minneapolis! There’s your nine hours! Oh, the price for the joy of bouncing around the country’s airports??? $680.00.

NewImage

I could see it if I was paying $250 to $300 round trip but this is insanity, especially when you factor in all the additional fees. How about LA to Phoenix, to Denver, to Minneapolis? If you want to stop at all. There are no non-stop flights. 

Don’t even get me started about trying to get to Florida! Last year it was so bad, I DROVE! By the time I’d figured the airfare, the luggage fees and being cooped up in the ever so convenient hands of the airlines without food or water for 12 hours, I started looking for alternatives.

NewImage

As it turned out, DRIVING was in the long run cheaper. When I got to my destination, I had my car which eliminated the rental charges.

I didn’t have to pay baggage fees, I could pretty much stop when I wanted to either to enjoy the scenery or just to get up and stretch my legs.

Gas cost me about $700 round trip and I scored OK hotels along the way so that cost about $300.00.

DSC 0442

I was able to stay as long as I needed to stay, and It was a lot of fun. The airlines wanted to charge me $1300 round trip with no flexibility in flight changes, plus the baggage fees, plus the lovely people from the TSA and their well renown “friendly” attitude.

NewImage

I may have broken even on the trip but I’ll tell you this, I arrived happy and unstressed.

My point to all of this is that in years past, you could route yourself via main hubs in the airline system. If I wanted to get to Kentucky for example, I could enter the airline transit in LA at one of the regional airports. If I got to Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, or Atlanta, I could make the next leg to Kentucky with no trouble.

NewImage

Every flight was changeable usually without a fee. Simply being in the transit system was enough to get you where you wanted or needed to be. I was one of those passengers that didn’t need much, If a flight was late and I missed a connecting flight it was no big deal. I’d chat the counter agent up and ask stuff like “How about if I bounced through Denver? Does that help me get to X around the time I need?”

The ticket agents were pros, and believe me they could get you where you needed to go and it was civilized.

They used to ask questions like “Have you had dinner?” if you said “no” they’d put you on a flight where dinner was being served. The goal was to have the passenger spend the shortest time in the system, and arrive relaxed and ready to do business. 

NewImage

NOW, its as if the connecting flights are built around being as inconvenient as possible and keeping the passengers in the system tired, hungry, and cranky, so that when they arrive they’re ANYTHING but ready to do business, or they need a vacation because trying to get to their vacation was so stressful.

NewImage

I find myself thinking that I need to figure a way to make enough money for a private jet.

Unfortunately, I think I’d have to become a citizen of another country, at the very least I’d have to move out of Kalifornia in order to be able to keep enough of the necessary funds.

NewImage

I suppose I could get elected to the Kalifornia House or Senate and take Leland Yee’s seat. You know business as usual selling illegal weapons to criminals and passing laws to make more types of weapons illegal.

Yeah, that would work, I’d only need a couple of years and some super restrictive gun laws. I’ll bet I could get Bloomberg and Moms Demand action to contribute to the campaign.

I figure I’d only need 50 to 100 million dollars and I could travel in style and have a nice getaway ride!

NewImage

I can drive anywhere in this country except Hawaii, and have a nice time getting there.

I wonder if it would be more fun for me personally, to drive to Miami and fly to Bonaire from there?

NOPE I’d have to go through New Jersey!

NewImage

ARRRRGGGGGHHHH!

That plane is looking better all the time. I wonder if a yacht would be better? Then I could get to Hawaii and Bonaire.

I should compare the cost to operate a plane versus a yacht. With a large ocean going yacht I could save big on resort costs.  

Hummmmm…

Posted on

It’s been an interesting week…

Pompeii Statue1

Though not without its price. I’ve apparently caught a cold or flu. I feel lousy!

Monday, we realized that the Pompeii exhibit was closing on the 11th of this month. We’d been meaning to go see it and for some reason thought it wasn’t going to close until the end of Jan. OOOPPPPSS!!!

As things turned out there were tickets available for Tuesday, and we got in to see the exhibit. The only problem was the number of people who were stopping in front of each of the items in the exhibit then listening to the prerecorded message thingy while crowding in, to completely obscure the items being described.

There was a time when children and people in wheelchairs were given room to get close, so they could press their noses against the glass.

Those days are gone! Folks you’re totally on your own. I had several really rude FEMNAZIS, (based on their attire, complete lack of courtesy, lack of personal hygiene and ample stink-eye toward any and all males,) actually shove their damn iPhones in front of my face so that they could take pictures. 

IMG 0359 300x225

They were afforded this opportunity because I was maintaining space between myself and the display cases, allowing children to press their noses against the glass!  

Had I been thinking I’d have snatched the phone(s) out of their hand(s) said, “Thank you” then walked away. These women were handing me the phones weren’t they? 

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the exhibition. I’d prefer to see Pompeii and Herculaneum “In Person” and perhaps someday I will.

I did find the exhibit a bit daunting simply because there was a ton of people in a very confined area. Picture the 405 in LA or I-10 in Houston, or the Holland Tunnel in NY, at 5PM. You know, a whole lot of people going absolutely nowhere!

I didn’t bother to take any pictures. To get decent quality you’d have to be able to get to the exhibit itself (or shove your camera phone in front of someone else) then angle the camera such that the glare from the overhead lights reflecting off the cases wasn’t obscuring what you were taking a picture of. In other words why bother trying to take photos yourself when professional photos of all the pieces are available online.

Images 1

They had a VERY TAME representation of a brothel that they also allowed you to bypass lest you were easily offended. Honestly, there was nothing, and I mean NOTHING in that brothel that was more racy than you’d see any night on TV.

I expected polished alabaster or marble phalluses that had been used as sexual toys. The only representation of phallic art was a horny little fertility god, who had a small penis growing out of a larger erect penis. BIG DEAL! (I can’t locate his image at the moment.)

This statue of what looks like a satyr having sex with a goat on the other hand, would have warranted a “Caution Parents, your children shouldn’t see this!” warning. However, this statue wasn’t on display in the LA exhibit.

I would have thought the casts of the bodies would have been far more disturbing, “Mommy, will that happen to us?” especially for children living in Los Angeles.

With the pointed explanation that earthquakes preceded the eruption of Vesuvius which then destroyed Pompeii, I picture that being of more immediate concern to a child than some goat thing wrestling with goat. 

Pompeii Necklace

The glasswork, farm tools, cooking utensils, coins, and jewelry were impressive. The jewelry was beautiful work. The tools and cookware were as common and comprehensible as anything in my kitchen or garage.

FYI, the LA version of the exhibit was very minimalist.

I know from photos, reading archeological reports, and generally being interested in both Pompeii and Herculaneum that there is a surprisingly large amount of well preserved artifacts from both sites.

At a guess, I’d say the LA exhibit was far less than 1% of the artifacts recovered and catalogued.

Looking at the artifacts on display at the Field Pompeii exhibit, it seems  that for some reason LA didn’t put out all the artifacts that the Italian authorities provided. Perhaps this subset of artifacts was due to space restrictions. I’m somewhat disappointed, given the significance to archeology of this particular find.

One thing that was really interesting is the stark contrast in human achievement afforded visitors to the California Science Center.

IMG 0480

After spending 2 hours patiently waiting for people to move along so that we could see the Pompeii artifacts, we found ourselves in a section of the museum dedicated to space. Apollo, Gemini, and a wide variety of space probes were well represented. But the crown jewel was the Endeavor.

One thing that might have been particularly interesting would have been to place the Pompeii exhibit in the Endeavor’s hangar. The contrast underscoring how far we’ve come, the skill of our hands, and our capacity for achievement might have provided food for thought.

For me exhibits like Pompeii are touchstones. Reminders, that our technologies may not have made us “better” only more technological. At our core we’re still humans seeking solutions to everyday problems and dreaming of the next horizon.

Posted on

Trying to just take a deep breath

After yesterday, I’ve decided to try to spend the day in my office writing, and looking for a new job.

torso

The doors are locked, the alarm is on, and I’ve got the office door closed with music playing.

The crowds were already developing at the base of the hill at 7:30 am.

I can think of some folks I know down that way who are no doubt just “Thrilled” to have people gawking in their windows during breakfast, or their shower.

One way I thought of that might be fun to drive all these people away would be if all of us along the wash just got naked and opened our drapes. We could go about our business, have sex etc and give all these unwanted “guests” an education.

The problem with that is that in effect we’d be stripping the innocence from the children who’ve don’e nothing wrong. Their parents brought them up here, plopped them in the snow and didn’t give a thought to the fact that this is a neighborhood and they’re interfering with our living our lives.

So giving everyone a show would be morally wrong. There is a part of me that would love to see the court battle though.

“Yes your honor, that man was naked!”

“How did you see he was naked?”

“I was in his back yard looking in his window with my kids playing in the snow…”

“Oh so you were being a peeping tom?”

“Uhhhhh…”

“Case dismissed!”

NewImage

This whole sudden snowplayer problem has opened my eyes a bit.

There are many things I liked about Wrightwood. But those were things I liked 15 years ago or more.

Time has moved on. When I look at the Wrightwood of today, it’s not as endearing a place.

The negatives have begun to outweigh the positives by an increasing margin.

Victomville, to the North, is a cesspit. Phelan, also to the North often has a crime rate that rivals the inner city. Meth, gangs, prostitution, theft, you name it, are rooted deeply in the desert.

Milky Way

Both cities are within 20 miles of us and loaded with exactly the kind of trash we’ve seen up here in the past few days. 

When I first moved here, The desert floor was dark. You could easily see the rest of The Milky-way. Constellations were clear and bright. Now the light from Victimville and Phelan obscure the sky.

It was easy to forget that just over the mountain was the cacophony of LA, Orange Country, and The Inland DIMpire.

beaterhouse

At the time, Victorville was a smallish place populated mostly by Airforce personnel, their families, and various support staff. It was a growing place, that’s true. But when Clinton started closing bases and gutting the military, Lots of houses under construction in Victorville were suddenly without buyers.

That inevitably led to HUD housing and lots of people from South Central LA moved to Victorville.

In fairness these were decent folks trying to keep their kids off drugs and out of the gang lifestyle. But it was too late. the gang affiliations had already been made.

NewImage

Now, I drive through Victimville just like I do South Central.

The only thing missing is my car saying, “WARNING! You have entered a Personal Hazard Area. Do Not exit your vehicle, Do not stop.” But I hear it in my head.  Logan’s Run had a district where the little bubble cars on tracks would start playing a similar warning.

I actually accelerate. I just want to get out of those zones as quickly as possible. The problem is, those zones are crashing on the shores of our mountains. It’s only a matter of time before all the same ills that exist below exist up here.

Map1

I can’t help feeling like its time to sell the house before the property values drop. Looking at the homes for sale here it may already be too late.