Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Yes, today is the first day of the year 2022 as per the Julian calendar, as devised by non other than Julius Caesar himself. So we managed to survive another year of lockdown due to the seemingly never-ending , along with all the horrors of the post-trump-presidency error era.
So, for my first post of this brave new year I feel we need a little bit of celebratory music.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Our moving had a number of challenges, but one challenge we didn’t expect was having our electrical service cut off. But we did, at absolutely the wrong time. Not that there’s ever a good time to lose electrical service.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
So Winnie and I have successfully finished moving into our new old house. As it’s been 15 years since I last moved housing, this most recent experience re-taught me old lessons. With luck, I won’t need to re-use my re-learned lessons again.
This all comes under the heading of “The Tao of Moving: How to Move Gracefully.” As opposed to “Dear, where the hell is my other slipper?”
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
So after nearly fifteen years of being settled into the same house, Winnie and I are moving. It’s not a big move, as these things go. We’re only moving across town so local rates apply. But we’re self-moving, one trailer load at a time.
I’ve discovered that fifteen years in the same place means a lot of accumulation.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
This past week Winnie and I made a trip to Rhode Island to visit family. It was notable for several reasons; it was the first overnight trip we’ve had since this Zombie Apocalypse started in March 2020. The occasion was the 75th birthday of one of my cousins still living in New England, and lots of other family came in to celebrate.
So we had several days of hanging around family and visiting in New England in November. It turned out to be a nice visit.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
I’ve had a long post-Navy career at this point, and moved around a lot in my jobs. Within the different companies I’ve worked for I’ve had the great fortune of moving around doing different things, learning new skills, and working with different people. Some of the things I’ve done and people I’ve worked for were good. Other things and other people – not good.
I’ve also made some bad decisions throughout my career, mostly on basis that my word was the same as my signature, and other people’s word was the same as their signature. So when I had a chance to answer a Quora question ” Did you accept counter offer from your current employer when you put in two weeks, how did it turn out?” I went with my most infuriating job-related incident of trusting someone to keep their word.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
So yesterday was our wedding anniversary – this one marking eighteen years together. Over our years together we’ve been flooded out, moved across country, performed multiple home renovations, and worked at multiple jobs. We survived two years apart and now we’ve survived eighteen months of near-house arrest. We’re still together so that’s a good thing.
In other news; We’re getting into autumn with cooler autumn weather and shorter days. Such is the cycle of life.
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
On a daily basis, it feels like someone is trying to pick my pocket. The scams come in ever-increasing formats; from emails to text messages, phone calls, old-fashioned snail mail, and in-person. The one common denominator is that all these scams are focused on transferring my hard-earned cash to someone who feels they need my cash more than me.
The most recent attempted scam was this past week, when a person(s) replied to a Craigslist ad for an old guitar I’m trying to sell. The only notable part of this scam was that I exposed them. I’m going to expose these jerks even more in this post.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
So a few weeks ago Winnie needed an annual safety inspection on her 2013 Nissan Versa. Considering that the car is in excellent condition, this should have been a routine process of taking the car in, getting it inspected, stickered, and out the door.
Instead, the dealer service center broke bad and tried to extort Winnie for an expensive and unnecessary repair job. They made a really bad choice.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Yesterday was America’s twentieth anniversary of “9/11,” the day a handful of terrorists took down New York City’s World Trade Centers and damaged the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Yesterday was also just a few days after all American forces left Afghanistan, a nation we attacked in retaliation for 9/11 twenty years ago.
I’d like to share my personal remembrance of 9/11 twenty years ago.