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UGH! I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.

Had a bit of a workout yesterday, couple that with the time change and lack of sleep and all I want to do today is nap.

This desire is being fueled to some extent by the overcast weather and the threat of rain. I love to sleep with the sound of rain on the roof. If it starts raining I can tell you that I’ll be napping in no time.

I have managed to clean a little and will clean some more during the day. Got dishes to do and clothes to wash. That being said, I’m feeling a lot lazy today.

Other than just the routine stuff, nothing much else to report.

While reading the various news today I see Coronavirus is still spreading. I also see the political parties are trying to spin it to their respective advantage. That’s cheap and sleazy, there are people that are truly afraid & others that are sick. If there was ever a time for political figures to put down their battle axes it would be now.

Part of your job is to reassure the public. So DO your freakin jobs!

Also saw that Trump declined to attend a St Patrick’s Day luncheon where speaker Pelosi was the host.The media is all up in this saying Trump is an ass for not attending. 

D’uh. On the other side of the coin, perhaps it’s best if we keep those two apart just to avoid further national embarrassment. I can’t say I really blame him for not wanting to attend. No matter what he said, he’s be giving Pelosi ammunition. 

Even if he walked in, said, “Thank you for the invitation. Happy St Patrick’s Day,” then sat down. Pelosi would probably find something to bitch about.

As you may have gathered, I’m totally over their drama and would love it if they’d both sit down and shut up.

Hmmm, I guess I’m a little cranky. 

Maybe it is time for that nap…

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I hate DST!

clocks.jpgWho doesn’t?

I never sleep well the night it’s going to take effect. I’m always worrying about getting to work, being on time and it takes me a week to begin to get adjusted.

I worry about the one clock (there’s always one) in the house that I’ll forget to change, and invariably that forgotten clock will be the one that I’m looking at while planning to get out the door to go somewhere.

I feel like I’m late for everything for days after the time change even when I’m actually on time. 

It’s like a mandated jet lag for the whole damn country.

Thankfully my phone, computer, and most of the tech in my house figures it out for itself. Unfortunately that actually makes it more likely that I’ll miss a manual clock somewhere.

plane.jpgNext weekend, I’ll be taking a trip. The time change during the trip will make things more interesting and coming back home will force me to “Reset”. I just hope that I’m not going to be totally screwed up for the week after I get home.

Yes, I’m getting on a plane. God help me. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to sleep most of the way to/from my destination. I’ll probably end up next to some chatty kathy who wants to tell me about their life. The whole time we’re airborne.

Thearing protection.jpghis is going to be a real test for my AirPod Pros. Can all annoyances be blocked out? or just the drone of the jet engines?  I had another type of noise cancelling headphones years ago when I traveled a lot. They were great at cutting out background noise, but allowed me to hear every word spoken by the passenger next to me.

Maybe I’ll fly with my shooting range ear protection. If they can kill the sound of a .45 perhaps they can kill the sound of annoying talking and baby screaming in a plane cabin.

I’m going to be traveling light. Just enough clothing to be comfortable and if I need something else I’ll buy it when I get there. I’ll have my computer with me, I think that the battery will last me the whole flight and if I can’t sleep I’ll write. I doubt that I’ll need the aircraft WiFi but I think that’s an option.

Don't fuck with time!What still is to be determined is if I’ll need to extend my stay. From what I understand I have relatives that may not be with us much longer and that means that perhaps I’ll have to make the rounds to several states.

Well, I can look for a job from my destination as easily as I can from home. The corona virus will give me a great excuse to do Video interviews.

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Clean cars are so nice

IMG_1159.jpegJust got back from the car wash.

There’s something satisfying about washing your car. I like washing my vehicle myself and It’s a quiet time with simple rules. 

You wash the car, you dry the car, you notice little dings and fix them. You spend time waxing and polishing and when you’re done, your car is pretty and you can be proud of your  accomplishment. 

I’ve always liked black cars. They look great for about 10 minutes after a wash.

Yeah, they can be a pain to keep clean, but when they’re clean, they’re stunning. 

My favorite color black is BMW’s Astro Black Metallic. I like pretty much any metallic paint color. My current car has a fine gold colored dust embedded throughout the surface. I’ve always liked the shimmery look.

3 out of my past 4 cars have been this color.  I’m predictably boring, so sue me! 

Washing, clears my head.

Now what to do with the rest of the day.

Back to the job search. Sigh!

I hope you’re having a good day.

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On The President

First thing:

Every other western country has very specific rules about immigration. For example, I’m too old to immigrate to Australia. Yes, they’re agist about it. In their defense they wouldn’t let me immigrate because I can’t work long enough in their system to pay enough taxes to fund my pension and healthcare post retirement. They are logically limiting the number of people in their country that could be dependent on their form of welfare.

I can’t immigrate to Canada because my skills aren’t in high enough demand versus their own population and therefore it’s likely that I’d be a burden on their society.

Germany would require that I learn the language, German history, and be employable. Unless I was a refugee.

England, has rules very much like the Canadians. I couldn’t immigrate unless I brought skills that were in short supply.

So why then is America “The evil bastard” in the room?

Isn’t it more reasonable for America to institute similar rules to be more in line with other Western countries?

Even Mexico has immigration guidelines.

So why the hypocrisy?

More curious, is why aren’t our media outlets pointing this out? Oh yeah, hatred of Trump.

I was in Palm Springs yesterday.

While waiting at a counter to purchase something, A gentleman volunteered that he’d just moved to Palm Springs from Los Angeles. He said that the traffic in LA had driven him out of the city, but that his out of state friends couldn’t grasp how bad the traffic actually was. The clerk said, “Yes, that’s why I moved out here,” 

The clerk acknowledged me, “Is that all for you?”

I said, “Yes thank you.” Then offhandedly mentioned if you want to give out of town friends a real taste of LA Traffic invite them to LA when the President visits. The clerk laughed, the other man got a sour face and said, “I wouldn’t go anywhere near the President.”

I realized he was thinking only about Trump, so I explained that I meant any President. And that I personally had been stuck in traffic for seven hours due to President Obama’s visit.

The clerk immediately said, “Wasn’t that a cluster fuck?” I agreed and told him eventually I’d weathered the nightmare traffic in a bar.

The newcomer to Palm Springs simply said, “Oh”

It was at that moment that I realized Trump has been living “Rent Free” in a lot of people’s heads. Apparently a significant percentage of these folks somehow think that Trump controls everything.

This dude is only a President. He’s not in direct control of much of anything. He’s bound by rules, regulations, Congress, and the Judicial branch of our government.

Don’t take this to mean that I think Trump is a good president. He’s a bombastic, hyperbolic, rhetoric spouting messenger.

Yes, he can champion initiatives. He can veto bills, He does have some control over the direction the country is heading, (although apparently no control over his tweets,) but if you think of him as generally a messenger, a face of the government, then you might start to see that the real power in Washington is in Congress.

The next logical question to ask is, “What have those assholes done for us lately?” Aside from each party battling the other to complete impotence in virtually every state and the hallowed halls of congress. Really, what have they accomplished?

Following that train of thought, since both the House or the Senate are distracted, It’s only logical that a President might be able to grab more of the reins of power and pursue his or her personal agendas. Nature abhors a vacuum.

Which points right back at the problem. Congress! Were they actually doing their jobs instead of fighting like children, President Trump would just be a “meh” President.

Presidents come and go, some are leaders, others are ventriloquist’s dolls. Others still are rogue operators. History determines what a President was.

President Trump may have correctly identified the problem when he described Washington as a swamp. Hey, give credit where credit is due… However he clearly overestimated his ability to change it.

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I know it’s been a while…

I’ve been busy.

Unfortunately not with a real job, unless you call looking for a real job, a job.

I guess you could call it that; lots of busy work and following threads into rabbit holes, ending in dead ends.

I’m in Big Bear for about 5 days. In 2 weeks I’m finally going to take a long overdue trip. I’m going to see my brother and I’m looking forward to it.

Of course the flight is booked on a a 737 (Not the Max) so I don’t think there will be insurance payouts forthcoming. Sorry Bro!  Of other interest is that I’ll be flying, in a closed environment where the spread of various diseases is freaking rampant. 

Coronavirus anyone?

I’m too mean for it to kill me but I’ll probably mutate it into something truly awful.

You’re welcome!

Since I wrote my other blog post about the Coronavirus I’ve been checking in on the disease every couple of days. It’s been interesting to see the narrative change from within China and now watching the world reacting to the virus spread.

Seen the stock market lately?

I really wanted an iPhone 11 max. Sigh…

I’ve particularly been interested in the WHO take on it. In one article, they said that quarantining was a good thing, and in another article they castigate the USA for halting travel from affected nations. Yet Australia does the same thing and the news media plays a cricket soundtrack.

WTF?

Have we really gotten to the place where hatred of Trump overrides the wellbeing of our nation?

The world said nothing when China locked down millions of people with their travel bans. Although the bans came too late to prevent spread of the Coronavirus.

No one said too much when cruise ships were denied docking privileges, stranding hundreds of people at sea.

But let America institute a moderate travel ban and suddenly the WHO has something to say about it. Must it always just be about hating on Trump?

Trump BTW isn’t the only voice in the travel ban. The CDC has a lot to say about the proper protocol.

If the CDC says get ready and have 2 weeks of food & water laid in at your home, then perhaps it’s not just about Trump. Perhaps the CDC knows something they haven’t shared with the public yet.

After all America is a twitchy place. What would happen if folks in America lit their hair on fire and started running in little circles?

I’ll tell you what would happen; Mad Max in some cities. 

I’m planning on staying away from large population areas as much as possible. Which is not to say I’m canceling my trip. 

I wonder if I can buy a space suit from NASA between now and when I’m supposed to fly?

Humm, there’s a thought.

Nah, they probably wouldn’t let me on the plane.

I am curious to see how many people will be flying with face masks. I wonder if the airports will look like China.