Tag: Why California Sucks

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Just about when I think California isn’t that bad…

California slaps me in the face.

I guess that’s better than my Brother punching me out and waking up in a deprogramming camp somewhere in a flyover state. Don’t laugh, I wouldn’t put it past him.

My brother is absolutely convinced that California is the worst state in the union. This is coming from a guy who has lived in New York, Washington D.C., and Minneapolis, MN. I think he looks at California as a contaminant to the rest of the United States.

I’ve lived here so long a lot of the insanity here seems “normal”. When I’m out of California for a while I find myself thinking how strange this place is.

Then there are days like Wednesday…

I had my car in for service. I had a loaner and as usual I returned the loaner with a full tank of gas (even though they gave it to me with less than 1/4 of a tank) Hey, They Loaned me a brand new car. I treat it like when a friend loans you their car. Custom was, that you return your friends car clean, and full of gas.

All was well. The issue with my car could not be reproduced so It’s a waiting game until the failure becomes a bit more obvious if it’s really a problem at all. It’s one of those things that is a weird sound. But it might be nothing at all.

Nonetheless I got two new tires and an alignment. The two old tires were showing their belts in a couple of spots. It was time! Especially since we’re coming up on winter and wet roads.

I went out to my car and opened the door.

WTF?!?!?!

Someone had been using my iPhone cables that were stored in the center console. I wouldn’t have minded except that it was obvious the person had also been playing their music through the car’s sound system. This was easy to determine because the cable was connected to the USB AUX IN (inside the console), and the entertainment system said “NO USB SOURCE”

But it didn’t stop there, both seats, Passenger and Driver’s were covered in greasy dirt.

Okay…

Time to go bring this to someone’s attention.

I tell the supervisor that we have a problem, as I’m heading into the parts department to purchase a package of leather cleaner wipes. $5 no big deal and I’ll use them next time I hit the car wash.

As I’m wiping the Driver’s seat I discover two deep gouges in the leather. Not quite cuts, but deep narrow gouges. Probably caused by a tool in someone’s back pocket or a clip of some kind attached to someone’s belt.

Now I’m seriously annoyed and I march back to the supervisor’s desk to bring this to his attention.

On the plus side, if the car hadn’t been dirty when I got it back I might not have noticed the gouges.

I was nice, but I told the dealership this kind of thing is beyond unacceptable.

They agreed!

Next time, I’m pulling all the cables out of the console. Oh, and there will be a next time because they’ve told me they will repair the damage to my seats.

I needed a drink. So I called a close friend and we went to lunch.

That was nice, and I was much happier getting back on the road. I really do like my car better than the loaners.

It’s 2:30 as I pull out of the restaurant parking lot. I make it to the 261 out of Orange County by 2:40 and the toll road is pretty clear.

I should have made it home in about 90 minutes. NOPE!

2.5 hours later I’m in the line to get off at my exit. I’ve been creeping up the hill for the past 20 minutes. And as I approach the exit, assholes start cutting in from the left. Why? Simple, because they are dicks! All the rest of us had been waiting patiently. Cutting in from the left like that is just jumping the line. These assholes know they can do it because no-one wants an accident and that’s the only way you can stop an asshole from cutting the line at an exit.

Them cutting the line like that by the way just makes the problem at the exit worse because now there’s more turbulence and more danger.

After the 10th motherfucker (This one diving directly in front of me,) I lost my shit and started laying on the horn.

For those of you living outside of California, that is supposed to be the height of rudeness when driving.

But wait it gets worse…

There’s road work near the exit. They’re putting lights in, (about fucking time!) Actually we did fine without lights since 1992 when I moved up here. There was only a stop sign. It was a 4 way stop and people OBEYED the law.

Now we’re getting lights. They’ve made one lane left turn only. The other lane is right turn only or straight through. The lights at the freeway exit are operational. The left turn lane turns into a single lane and YET, people insist on making left turns from both lanes then causing accidents when they run out of lane, and into concrete barriers.

I’ve watched an 18 wheeler make the turn illegally from the right turn only lane and damn near decapitate a motorcyclist in the process.

Again…

It’s about obeying the LAW. But apparently people in California have decided that the law applies to everyone else not them.

Kind of like the Biden clan. Or a lot of the Democrats in congress.

The thing is, 200 miles outside California, driving changes. Get past the Las Vegas strip and people even in NV are halfway decent drivers. Arizona, on the I-40 people get super courteous. Phoenix and Tucson are a lot more like California was 20 years ago. Don’t worry, they’ll both get as shitty as California traffic is because the Californians are bailing to Phoenix and Tucson.

There are also a lot of illegals driving there too and the mix of these drivers and those who learned to drive in the United States tend to breed a lot of shitty traffic and / or a lot of accidents.

All of this is to say that by the time I manage to get home, these days, I’m really wound up. It’s also why I don’t really like leaving the mountain. Driving has become such a chore. Either you’re expecting someone to barrel into you from 1 (or more) of 3 directions. Or you’ll drop from 75 MPH to 0MPH for absolutely no reason.

Well, there is a reason, some moron ahead of you is tapping on their brakes in time with a RAP song and the uncertainty and randomness of the flashing tail lights is causing everyone to tap their breaks too because they think there’s something happening on the freeway.

All it takes is one idiot in the fast lane farting around and the whole freeway turns into a fucked up traffic jam.

Anyway, after I got home, I had time to take the pup for his walk. It was a short one because I don’t like walking him in the dark.

We have bears, mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes. Generally, they’re all happy to avoid a human and his dog in the daytime. But at night, things change. These critters conclude they might have an advantage and things can go south from there.

I’d hate to be responsible for one of these beautiful creatures being put down, because I did something really stupid and looked like I was walking a tasty treat, or worse yet… That I was a tasty meal. Either event would result in one of these creatures being hunted and killed.

That would be tragic.

I need to schedule a spa day for the dog. I’ve got my haircut scheduled. I’d like a massage maybe I’ll schedule that in the upcoming week or so.

I’ll keep tossing stuff out of the house through the winter. The goal is to have the place in shape enough to put it on the market the first day of spring.

As I started this post. Just about when I think staying in California would be okay… The reality of California slaps me in the face. One of those realities is traffic getting consistently worse.

Another reality is $425 registration fees for a vehicle. And let’s face it, jobs are problematic. Both of my 2 oldest friends. Guys I met when I first moved to California, we started working at Toys R Us in our teens, have retired in the past year.

Why? Because they were being chronically fucked with by managers who couldn’t manage their way out of a wet paper bag.

I retired because no-one claiming they’re hiring will return a fucking phone call.

Note, none of us have reached “Retirement” age. We’re taking our Social Security early.

We’d all like to work…

But we’re apparently the wrong sex, wrong color, and the wrong age.

So we’ve all decided to take our football and go home.

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I do not like this “New Normal”

I went shopping and did some errands on Tuesday.

The Auto Club was helpful and easy to work with. This was a new one for me, I’d been going to the one in Victorville and honestly hated it. I tried one near Rancho Cucamonga and had a much better experience.

I suppose that’s why we always went “down the hill” instead of to the closer towns in the area. It was just a nicer and more civilized experience.

After the Auto Club, I dropped by what used to be a great Best Buy…

This experience was not as nice. The shelves were bare, horribly disorganized, and over all the store was dark and dingy. I was completely ignored by all associates. This was particularly clear when I asked an associate to scan something so I could know what the price was… I was told, “I gotta clean up, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” as he walked off.

Let me be clear, this was not a janitor. This guy had been helping another person literally moments before, he hadn’t even logged out of his computer terminal yet. WOW! What fantastic customer service!

If I hadn’t really needed the item, I’d have bailed. Instead I finished my shopping, picked up a couple more items then went to the cash register.

I had the lady scan the questionable item before we began the transaction. I had a backup selection if the questionable item had been too expensive. It turns out the price was acceptable, so I left the backup selection at the register. They can restock it or simply throw it on some random shelf as it appears they’d done with most of the rest of their inventory.

There were employees wandering around in masks and it was a very unpleasant shopping experience. Best Buy will probably go the way of Frys. The employees are acting just like Fry’s employees acted near the end.

Then I headed over to Ralphs. I was able to find all but two items including a ton of stuff that I hadn’t been able to find at my local Stater Brothers for months.

The aisles were neat, people polite, and they had two doors to get folks into and out of the store easily without a traffic jam. Also I wasn’t being shocked every time I touched a freezer or shelving unit. I spent less at the Ralphs than I do at the Stater Brothers. That was surprising too.

As I was driving home, I was thinking that COVID panic really screwed up a lot of things. My local grocery store is much like the Best Buy. Dark, poorly organized, and with plenty of bare shelves and more than half the staff running around with masks on. It’s like they never recovered from the COVID mentality.

Then I thought about shopping in Florida. The Best Buy in Tampa is well lit, well stocked, and the employees are helpful. The Publix grocery store is like the Ralphs I was just in. I suppose Kroger owned stores in Florida would also be to the same standard although I haven’t, to my knowledge, shopped in a Kroger owned store in Florida.

Now with the Fall season upon us, we’re hearing about COVID again. “Mask Up”, “Get Jabbed”, “Be prepared for lockdowns” Why? COVID is technically endemic. It’s like the flu. Are the “Powers that Be” just trying to squeeze another year out of COVID panic, or are they really concerned? How can we know? They’ve lied so much, and been caught in their lies often enough that I, and apparently a lot of other people don’t trust them.

Is this too part of the “New Normal”? Once trusted organizations within and outside the government sphere are to be nothing more than noise, conflicting information, and lies?

I don’t like it one little bit. The “New Normal” SUCKS!!!

I suspect that nowhere does it suck worse than California and New York. Both will be stupidly compliant with whatever suggestion the government pulls out of its collective ass.

If Sniffy Joe said that we should all wrap our heads with Saran Wrap to ward off COVID while in our homes, and that it was mandatory. You can bet your ass that California and New York would fine anyone who disobeyed. No one would wrap their heads…

Well maybe there are some incredibly stupid people who would suffocate themselves with Saran Wrap, there were people who used aquarium cleaner as a cure for COVID and nearly died. Yeah, the aquarium cleaner has ivermectin in it, but the OTHER chemicals were completely ignored by these rocket scientists! Ya need to read the whole label morons! Honestly, they should have been allowed to Darwin themselves in peace. I digress…

We know the fines would go right into the stupid pile of money California and New York “BURN” everyday providing their respective citizens such lovely services as tattletale hotlines, and drone surveillance of our homes and yards.

The “New Normal” is new to us in the United States. But it’s old hat to folks from the former Soviet Union.

I suppose that’s why I don’t like the “New Normal” it feels a bit like what I imagined living under Soviet rule would have felt like.

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I’m very conflicted

I was thinking about removing the other half from the voter roles. There’s no conflict there, it should be done for the sake of clarity and also to make sure that some damn mail in ballot (Automatic in Kommifornia) doesn’t end up being used in his name. What’s that old joke? Something about voting Democrat all your life and well beyond? I can’t remember…

But then I got to thinking about it. Why not remove myself from he voter roles too?

I’ve become so disheartened voting in California that I feel it’s pointless. The recent Redistricting has reduced the power of what used to be a fairly conservative voting block in this area to almost nothing.

Our town is now part of Pasadena. The towns to the north have been sliced and divided into the liberal gimme gimme gimme crowd in the large city North of them, The other mountain communities have been folded into the crime ridden Democrat utopias in the valleys.

All this, mind you was done in the interest of “Joining like minded communities, with similar needs.” Uh Huh… sure, gerrymandering the lines the way it was done was about similar needs.

Nope! It was about weakening the voice of a fairly conservative block of voters in the mountain / high desert communities. Who by the way have almost nothing in common with the urban areas they were sliced and diced then distributed into. I can tell you without much doubt the only time Pasadena thinks about the mountains or the people living here is when they want to ski.

Then, the only concern they have for those of us who live here, is when they treat us like “THE HELP” and bitch that their TESLA can’t make it up the icy road. It’s so gratifying to be coming out of the grocery store with a couple of items and be screamed at to “DO YOUR JOB, clear this ice out so I can be on my way…”

But it’s also funny when a working guy who’s walked a mile or two, to the grocery store to get milk for his kids whips out a largish buck knife and punctures the sidewalls of two of the TESLAS’s tires as he walks by, never saying a word.

I’ve actually seen that happen. I thought the Tesla driver was going to have a stroke! I’ve also been screamed at as though I was a servant. I didn’t have a large buck knife at the time. (I do now.) But I lost my shit at the woman screaming at me, demanding that I dig her out.

It should be noted that I didn’t have a shovel so apparently this insane bitch thought I should be on my knees in the snow digging with my hands, instead of going back to my warm home with the goods I’d just purchased in the store.

UHHH NOPE!

I told her to call AAA. She replied they told her the wait was going to be 6 hours. Well, I guess you’ll have to wait 6 hours then… That’s what started the extremely hostile exchange between that bitch and myself. She didn’t seem to understand that 1) I didn’t work for her. 2) The town wasn’t like Disneyland or WestWorld. 3) That speaking to a free man like she was speaking to me less than 2 miles from his home wasn’t likely to get her the desired result because surprise! I wasn’t a slave. 4) I hate with every fiber of my being entitled skanks like her.

I did feel sorry for her son sitting in the back seat. He seemed truly mortified at his mother’s behavior. Every time she started screaming, he slid further down in the seat.

A couple of enterprising young men approached her with shovels, they had a large well equipped 4×4, & really nice tow straps, (the kind that are unlikely to do damage if they slip or break). They offered to get her back on her way for $500.00. These guys directed her to the bank ATM because they wanted cash.

Smart boys.

She really freaked out then. Threatening to give the town a bad review on yelp. The young men, several other locals, and myself all had a good laugh over that one. Fuck Yelp!

She refused, and the young men left to go “Help” the next unprepared moron.

It should be pointed out, this particular moronic woman and he child were not in any danger whatsoever. They could retire to the grocery store, or any of the restaurants within easy walking distance.

I digress…

In any case, I don’t much see the point of voting in California anymore. I honestly don’t see the point in voting in national elections anymore. The evil machine in Washington DC will NEVER release its parasitic hold on the levers of power.

The never ending impeachment / indictment/ sabotage / corruption / and double standards we’ve see over the past 16 years in our Government is plenty of evidence.

The United States of America is dead. May it rest in peace. The great experiment ran its course and the conclusion is humans were born to be dominated. When given freedom and justice they squander it, preferring instead to be ruled over by emperors, kings, dictators, or whatever else.

The bottom line is humanity desires to be slaves to anything, just as long as they don’t have to be responsible for themselves.

This country died and nobody noticed. I wonder how similar the USA’s death was to the Roman Empire’s? Did Rome just one day cease to be relevant? Did the Roman emperor just one day realize he controlled nothing?

With all the migrants, the divisiveness, and dysfunction, whatever rises to replace the USA will probably look a lot like the governments the migrants were trying to escape. It’s not the migrants fault per se, they’re coming here and bringing what they know and are familiar with. The fact that these migrants are from virtually every country on the planet means that all those voices will demand things be done “their way” and then it’s just a matter of time before the country gets sliced and diced up so that it looks more like Europe or the Middle East.

There was a time when I actually thought voting mattered. There was a time when I believed that my voice counted. I was stupid and terribly naive.

I do hope someone keeps a copy of The Constitution. I fear however that we’ll have an orgy of book and document burning that would be the envy of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

Yeah, I think I’ll remove myself from voter registration. At least until I move somewhere that my voice might have a chance of being heard, and my vote counted. Neither of those things will happen while I’m in Kommifornia.

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My GOD! I hate Bureaucratic little despots!

The saga of the solar panel installation may be coming to an end.

That’s a good thing. I’m really kinda over it. As in losing my ability to give a shit!

This morning, the final inspection is supposed to take place. The representative from the panel installation company has been out. He’s doing some final tweaks which is a good thing.

But first thing this morning he hands me a clipboard with a a county form on it asking me to sign to attest that I have smoke a CO2 sensors in my house. The paperwork also wanted to verify that the water heater is grounded. It’s natural gas, and the pipes in the house are copper going to ground. So uh yeah! The water heater is freaking grounded!

I ask him what any of this has to do with the dang solar panels on the roof.

He’s not sure, it’s just something The County requires.

I look at the form and tell him I’m going to get my glasses to be able to throughly read the document he’s handing me, so that I know what I’m actually signing.

When I come back, the first thing I notice is that the documents have someone else’s name and address on them. So I ain’t signing shit.

But it got me to thinking.

The invasiveness of regulations has been a royal pain in my ass since this house was rebuilt, and even before then.

When I bought this house, there was a fire suppression system installed. This was mandated by the County when the house was originally built in 1992. For 15 years or so, I paid $300.00 every year to have someone come out and inspect the system. This was to prevent the antifreeze from draining out of the suppression system back into the main water lines.

When the house burned, the fire alarms worked, the fire suppression system didn’t. One of the inspectors had left the dang valves closed so that fancy assed fire suppression system was offline. (That’s what comes from constantly fiddling with something. The possibility of mistakes increases.)

When we rebuilt the house, the county mandated that he have 6 CFB fixtures built into the ceiling of the house (This was more lights than we had total in the house prior to it burning.) Supposedly this was to make the house more energy efficient. I asked the building inspector how having more lights in the house made the house more energy efficient. Those lights still pulled, (at the time 40W). 

Five years later someone in the State of California noticed that compact fluorescent bulbs contained mercury vapor. Fluorescent lights have always contained mercury vapor. That’s how they work. OMG! These bulbs if improperly disposed of can be environmentally dangerous! 

A few years after that, someone else realized that as these bulbs age they can emit high levels of UV, which might be hazardous. Again, DUH! It’s not rocket science. Pass a current at a specific frequency through mercury vapor and it emits UV light, coat the inside of a glass tube with a fluorescent material that glows when exposed to UV light and you get visible light.

It’s simple science. Pity we apparently don’t teach Science anymore.

At the time I was laughing because it was another case of unintended consequences due to petty bureaucrats deciding they had a good idea with absolutely zero knowledge of the underpinning science and therefore no understanding of the potential consequences. I also had a good laugh at the sudden plethora of UV sensors that hit the market to make sure you were safe from the evil older CFBs the State demanded you put in your house.

My sensor, was my glasses. Yeah, my Photo-chromic eyeglasses. See, they darken due to UV light so if I suspected that a CFB was aging or the fluorescent coating was getting flaky, I’d hold my eyeglasses near the bulb. If they got dark, I knew it was time to change the bulb.

Again, if you know how things work at a basic level, you can save yourself $29.95! Unfortunately, retrofitting the fixtures to LED costs a lot of money. Although, all of the other lights in the house with standard A26 screw in sockets have been updated to LED and if those lights are on full blast they use less power than the fluorescent fixtures. 

Move forward a couple of years and the County comes through telling us that we have to remove plants at the very edge of our property line from our landscaping because these plants can burn. Uh yeah sure, but the plants in question have been in that position on the property for 20 years. Oh and they survived the actual house fire that burned the house to the ground. Not to mention that ALL plants can burn!

Another expense, due to bureaucrats. I just know one day these morons are going to figure out that native Pine Trees can burn and demand the removal of trees from my property.

FYI, some of these trees have been here since before the house was. I also water them regularly because I happen to like trees. That’s becoming more difficult due to water restrictions in California, however I’ve adapted.

In Winter, I pile the snow up around the trees and in my yard in general. It doesn’t last the whole summer, but the trees are watered by this process throughout the spring and into early summer.

Again, not rocket science, just using the natural elements and conditions to my, (and the trees,) advantage.

It’s really common sense. 

Move forward 10 years after the house was rebuilt, and the fire suppression system FAILS, flooding my living room. Oh, we’d been having it inspected every year like usual. Guess what? While the specialized Fire Suppression contractor was repairing the system, they discovered that the system had been installed incorrectly in the first place and the petty bureaucrat of a building inspector has missed the fault. At this point in time however, I got to pay for the repair and fight with the insurance company about it.

Ahhh, my tax dollars at work!

I probably wouldn’t be so annoyed except that county inspectors kept blowing off their appointments when the house was being rebuilt. It was so frequent that about 3 months got added onto the building cycle and not one of them ever thought to apologize about missing appointments.

So here we are, trying to get the solar panels finished. Once again I’m being held up because of a country inspector who probably doesn’t have a clue about the actual power going through the cables or how the system works in detail. This is the building equivalent of TSA bag checks, or the masking controversy with COVID or half a dozen other examples of hand waving without actually doing something functional.

That’s the sad part of this, we’re trying to “Go Green,” after all. Isn’t that what gruesome Newsome & Sniffy Joe want us to do?  Note the panels have been on the roof since June 2022.

Today the solar panel company sent their guy out and he arrived on time, we’re still waiting for the County Inspector to show up. At this point that county jackass is two hours late after specifying a two hour window. The difference between a business, and bureaucrats feeding on the tax payer dime is striking!

I doubt that the panels will be operational today, and it might not be until Spring of 2023 at this point. I could still be surprised, but I’m not foolish enough to hold my breath.

I’m debating about giving the county jackass a dressing down when they get here. If you’re going to make an appointment, you keep it. If you’re going to be late, you call. It’s just common courtesy.

On the one hand that might prevent me from getting the panels online, and could subject me to a bunch more County bullshit. On the other hand, if no-one calls jackasses out for being jackasses, they’ll never change except to get worse.

The County person arrived. She was late but didn’t bother to apologize. I kept my mouth shut and went back inside the house. 

A half hour later, the solar guy says the inspection is good, and that the panels are online. 

I guess I could have held my breath! I’m calling this a good day.

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As if living in California wasn’t shame enough…

When the redistricting goes into effect, I’ll be in Adam Schiff’s district.

Good God Almighty!

The new congressional district map even looks like a penis. Schiff’s district has traditionally been Pasadena, Hollywood, La Cañada Flintridge, and mostly the snooty rich folk in LA.

The new district, in a breathtaking act of insanity draws Schiff’s district from those places right across the spine of the mountains into San Bernardino County and encompasses my little town.

There are Democrats here in town that are I’m sure, giddy with anticipation.

As If Adam Schiff (or his staff) could even find our town on a freakin map!

Our soon to be previous congressional representative lived in Big Bear. He wasn’t a career politician, he was a businessman. And he knew the communities of the mountains and desert.

Folks from Pasadena and the areas Schiff has traditionally represented assume that past the 605 Freeway is “Off the Map, There be monsters here.” I’d bet very few even know of the communities up here much less have any clue about the people or our needs.

The penis shape of the district map is appropriate. We’re going to get fucked!

Ewwww fucked by Adam Schiff.

Honestly, I can’t imagine why the hell they’d draw the lines like that. So much for the redistricting committee attempting to keep community needs and like interests together.

Personally I think it was about making sure that our little Redneck Town and the others along the spine of the mountain who voted pretty much RED got our votes cancelled by the dazzling urbanites.

A great deal of the desert communities vote RED every election. That’s why we have Republican House representatives and Republican State representatives. Often our representatives are business people and / or retired military and police.

It’s California! We can’t have that!

While California is overwhelmingly represented by Democrats, if you look at the counties that are not coastal shitholes they’re pretty red. Trouble is the large majority of the coastal cities are way more densely populated so they carry the state.

Although… Given the past 18 months that might just change.

While I don’t think I’ll be able to vote for Schiff’s opponent in the upcoming midterms I’ll be very interested to see who it is and how well they do.

I’m sure that Schiff, Waters, and all the rest of the Democrat dumbasses in congress will win their elections. Californians love their jackasses in Congress.

For any state that wants to make a case for term limits.

California is the poster child.

I can only hope there is a RED wave in November and that I get to watch Schiff and all the rest having to answer Congressional Subpoenas!