Monday, April 27, 2020
Dad, I cannot sleep.
Amicably divorced ex-wife and I are focused on our beloved son. HE is why we are civil and calm, you must be. The rest of his life? We will still be his parents, and need to be able to go to events with class and politeness.
Every other Sunday the boy and the dog switch houses. Week with Dad, week with Mom. I’m sure you know the drill. According to the boy, Dad’s house is the house of discipline, structure and schedule. There are chores to be done. Wake up exact same time daily Routine is expected and established. Mom’s house, however, is the house of creative arts, excitement, hang loose, do-as-you-please … but dinner is not always on the table at 6pm. Through these differences, he is learning to navigate the grey areas, and how to be more self sufficient. With two parents and a rescue dog who love him greatly.
“Dad, I cannot sleep” standing next to my bed at 2:15am. “I am anxious about things, and I need to talk”
My brain wanted to say “Get to your bed before I paint your back porch bright red”….. however, I knew “in these uncertain times”.
I let him climb into my bed. Dog followed. Three beings in a full sized futon, at least two of the beings had pretty fierce gas as well. The fancy mental doctor at Stanford’s Pediatric Children’s Center that helps with high-functioning autistic spectrum-boy recently gave solid advice. “He is 13. You are not hurting him letting him sleep in your bed. In another year or so? He will never want to be in your bed again, enjoy the time you have”
Channeling my father (may he rest in peace) I asked “Well Son, what’s on your mind?” not saying “that isn’t so important it cannot possibly wait till after 6am and I can get some needed rest”
Completely bowled over by the discussion
I am anxious
I am worried about the ‘rona – what if I get it, and give it to someone else
Will you keep your job
Do I have to go to a new school next year
I have weird dreams
Penny is farting
Can dogs get the ‘rona
Will you die
What happens if you die before mom
How can they say go back to work – but there is no cure or vaccine
Can dogs get the ‘rona
Will you die
What happens if you die before mom
How can they say go back to work – but there is no cure or vaccine
Why do people think money from the government is free
What do they call the ‘rona in France
How can I help find a cure
Did you know Chocolate is the best ice cream
I think that lady down the street likes you
If I am home all day, why do I have to wear clean underpants
Where does your poop go when you flush the toilet
I hate the possum in our back yard digging up plants, but I don’t want to be a hater
Grandma Jan’s minivan would look cool with 24” rims
I’m glad she didn’t live to see the ‘rona – something her chicken soup cannot cure
I’m teaching myself C-sharp so I can better utilize the unity gaming engine platform
I think a girl in school likes me
and he kept going…. At risk of being overbearing… I stopped him.
Son – it is normal to be worried about the future. A really wise gal I once dated, yes, she was so wise she ran offt cause she knew I was nothing but trouble, anyhow, she told me this phrase, I hope it helps you.
“We cannot know the future”
Its true. We want to know, we wish to know, but the future is an uncertain place that has not happened yet. If you spend all day worrying about it? You risk missing out on the present. Which is lost to you when it becomes the past.
I know you see all sorts of scary stuff in the news, on the interwebs, on social media. This is an uncertain and scary time. BUT! You are doing your best to stay healthy. You are sheltering MOSTLY in place. You are minimizing the Vectors of disease, by not spreading it around.
But you cannot live in fear.
In 1665, when London was in the grips of the Bubonic Plague – (it has nothing to do with boobs) – Sir Isaac Newton socially distanced himself at his family’s farm north of Cambridge. Where, isolated, he invented Calculus. Think of how freaking bored he had to be, to invent calculus!
Saul actually already knows how to do integration to measure the area under a curve – at 13, by the way, I did not fully understand it till my late 20s.
Sir Isaac had choices. He could sit around the farm and mope about, OR he could do something productive with his time, while being socially distant. No cell phones, iPads, laptops, internet. No way to check up on the pretty ladies. He was at a farm.
THINK of the amazing things you could do - if you logged off Minecraft for a bit, worried a little less, then got productive.
AS with ANY discussion of calculus – his eyes grew heavy, and he finally went to sleep.
Leaving me WIDE awake to ponder the effect of the shelter-in-place on his peers, at home and afar. All kids going through this now. Parents are losing their minds, instead of sheltering kids form the bad – they are allowing them to dive into the toxic media cesspool, and suck up all the fear
I’ve heard reports of anxiety, weird dreams, odd fixations. It makes me sad. Kids shouldn’t worry about the future so much. They should have time to celebrate the present. Till they get older and have to take care of other people. Then? They can have all the fierce anxiety, mental issue, etc, all adults do now.
How can we make the world better for kids at home?
I’m getting mine to play with airplanes and read books. Sure, the books are a little ahead of him. Great, he can catch up later.
Do your best. Be kind to others. Stay the Fuck at Home. And for cryin out loud – do anything you can to make a kids life easier.
NO going out for chicken noogie and tootie wipes.
Stay home (unless your job wont let you)
How can I help find a cure
Did you know Chocolate is the best ice cream
I think that lady down the street likes you
If I am home all day, why do I have to wear clean underpants
Where does your poop go when you flush the toilet
I hate the possum in our back yard digging up plants, but I don’t want to be a hater
Grandma Jan’s minivan would look cool with 24” rims
I’m glad she didn’t live to see the ‘rona – something her chicken soup cannot cure
I’m teaching myself C-sharp so I can better utilize the unity gaming engine platform
I think a girl in school likes me
and he kept going…. At risk of being overbearing… I stopped him.
Son – it is normal to be worried about the future. A really wise gal I once dated, yes, she was so wise she ran offt cause she knew I was nothing but trouble, anyhow, she told me this phrase, I hope it helps you.
“We cannot know the future”
Its true. We want to know, we wish to know, but the future is an uncertain place that has not happened yet. If you spend all day worrying about it? You risk missing out on the present. Which is lost to you when it becomes the past.
I know you see all sorts of scary stuff in the news, on the interwebs, on social media. This is an uncertain and scary time. BUT! You are doing your best to stay healthy. You are sheltering MOSTLY in place. You are minimizing the Vectors of disease, by not spreading it around.
But you cannot live in fear.
In 1665, when London was in the grips of the Bubonic Plague – (it has nothing to do with boobs) – Sir Isaac Newton socially distanced himself at his family’s farm north of Cambridge. Where, isolated, he invented Calculus. Think of how freaking bored he had to be, to invent calculus!
Saul actually already knows how to do integration to measure the area under a curve – at 13, by the way, I did not fully understand it till my late 20s.
Sir Isaac had choices. He could sit around the farm and mope about, OR he could do something productive with his time, while being socially distant. No cell phones, iPads, laptops, internet. No way to check up on the pretty ladies. He was at a farm.
THINK of the amazing things you could do - if you logged off Minecraft for a bit, worried a little less, then got productive.
AS with ANY discussion of calculus – his eyes grew heavy, and he finally went to sleep.
Leaving me WIDE awake to ponder the effect of the shelter-in-place on his peers, at home and afar. All kids going through this now. Parents are losing their minds, instead of sheltering kids form the bad – they are allowing them to dive into the toxic media cesspool, and suck up all the fear
I’ve heard reports of anxiety, weird dreams, odd fixations. It makes me sad. Kids shouldn’t worry about the future so much. They should have time to celebrate the present. Till they get older and have to take care of other people. Then? They can have all the fierce anxiety, mental issue, etc, all adults do now.
How can we make the world better for kids at home?
I’m getting mine to play with airplanes and read books. Sure, the books are a little ahead of him. Great, he can catch up later.
Do your best. Be kind to others. Stay the Fuck at Home. And for cryin out loud – do anything you can to make a kids life easier.
NO going out for chicken noogie and tootie wipes.
Stay home (unless your job wont let you)
Sunday, April 26, 2020
In these uncertain times
In These Uncertain Times.
My first ex-wife, well, that’s a great way to start a
paragraph. It lets you know, not only do
I make mistakes, but I repeat them.
Twice so far, I do not plan on a third, but you never know.
Back to our story. My
first ex wife Rona. Might as well
sidetrack here too. My pals from Texas
ask me “if you survived one Rona, do you think you may have some immunities to
the current ‘rona?” I’m positive I do not. Whatever the worst case is? So is my life, so
bring it on. I am well and truly tired
of “life’s lessons” and “building character” please bring on the land of milk
and honey, the good stuff, and more smiles with miles.
Where were we? OH, yes, My first Ex Wife Rona was a copywriter. She may still be a copywriter, I do not know. As they years march on, either my brain has grown soft, or my soul has grown strong, but I wish her the best – and do not need to find out. Rona LOVED a great sentence. The proper turn of a phrase. She celebrated when writers changed the world.
“Lather, Rinse, Repeat” was probably her favorite story. Some copywriter managed to double Proctor and Gamble’s bottom line with this simple phrase. No, you do NOT need to wash your hair, condition twice, etc… but with a crafty phrase, said copywriter made a “huge business impact.” I wondered if he/she got a big bonus that year.
One of the interesting phrases I’ve seen popping up almost everywhere during this pandemic is “During these uncertain times.” What the hell is uncertain? We know it’s a virus. We know staying home, avoiding contact, washing hands, keeping clean and truly separate is the ONLY way to slow this, …. until some lab in Israel backwards engineers the virus, probably finds a signature from the lab that developed it, and builds a vaccine, a cure and a reliable test.
But until those scientists get it right? We get bullshit phrases:
In these uncertain times
Social Distancing
Flattening the Curve
Return to work
Where were we? OH, yes, My first Ex Wife Rona was a copywriter. She may still be a copywriter, I do not know. As they years march on, either my brain has grown soft, or my soul has grown strong, but I wish her the best – and do not need to find out. Rona LOVED a great sentence. The proper turn of a phrase. She celebrated when writers changed the world.
“Lather, Rinse, Repeat” was probably her favorite story. Some copywriter managed to double Proctor and Gamble’s bottom line with this simple phrase. No, you do NOT need to wash your hair, condition twice, etc… but with a crafty phrase, said copywriter made a “huge business impact.” I wondered if he/she got a big bonus that year.
One of the interesting phrases I’ve seen popping up almost everywhere during this pandemic is “During these uncertain times.” What the hell is uncertain? We know it’s a virus. We know staying home, avoiding contact, washing hands, keeping clean and truly separate is the ONLY way to slow this, …. until some lab in Israel backwards engineers the virus, probably finds a signature from the lab that developed it, and builds a vaccine, a cure and a reliable test.
But until those scientists get it right? We get bullshit phrases:
In these uncertain times
Social Distancing
Flattening the Curve
Return to work
George Santayana, the often misquoted and rarely attributed Spaniard
said “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When
change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set
for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among
savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned
to repeat it.” Of course everyone
remembers Churchill repeating it, and simplified it to “Those who fail to learn
from history are condemned to repeat it.”
Well, we have historic pandemic information and research to look back on, but? Screw that. Studying is hard. SARS, Swine Flu, Ebola, Aids, Polio, Spanish Flu, Black Plague, I could go on, but you’d get bored. We have learned NOTHING from the past. Hoarding bad, Cleanliness good, Isolation, Science.. these things work.
Back to our story. In these Uncertain Times:
Stay Strong
Self Care
Manage your time
Care for your Brain
Learn to make Sourdough
Buy a Toyota.
What? What the actual fuck?
Nothing is more important than Family. - Hyundai
We are here for You – Toyota
Well, we have historic pandemic information and research to look back on, but? Screw that. Studying is hard. SARS, Swine Flu, Ebola, Aids, Polio, Spanish Flu, Black Plague, I could go on, but you’d get bored. We have learned NOTHING from the past. Hoarding bad, Cleanliness good, Isolation, Science.. these things work.
Back to our story. In these Uncertain Times:
Stay Strong
Self Care
Manage your time
Care for your Brain
Learn to make Sourdough
Buy a Toyota.
What? What the actual fuck?
Nothing is more important than Family. - Hyundai
We are here for You – Toyota
We will get through this together – American Airlines
The copywriters are churning out gems. You may get sick and die, but until then, buy our stuff. It will make you a better person.
You are here for me? Toyota? Really? Then sell me a car at 5% over your manufacturing cost.
Get through this together? American Arilines? Wow, thanks Bruh! Where were you when my bag was 50.5lbs and you made me unpack and repack at the ticketing checkout line. I couldn’t even give you a tenner to let it go. Together? Are you gonna share that big fat multi billion dollar check of MY taxpayer dollars the government is gonna bail you out with?
OH FUCK NO – you DON’T get to blow this off as “Trump’s a bastard”. I don’t like ANY politician, and we might get to that in another entry.
What happened during the last mortgage meltdown? 2008 – TARP. Bailout for banks. What did the banks DO with that money? Maybe you are old like me, and noticed they bought up and converted every restaurant, corner store and Chuck E. Cheese to new branch locations. In my old neighborhood – Second Ex-Wife – Chase bought a Napa Auto Parts store, and converted it to a branch.
Why? Because the government gave us your taxpayer dollars, so we are going on a real estate buying spree. NO, we are not using the money to boost the economy, help with mortgages, help people. No, we are lining our pockets and expanding.
2009 - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - $831 BILLION dollars – Billion, with a “B” - $15 billion to allow companies to use current losses to offset profits made in the previous five years. Did you or I see any of that. No, no we did not.
Both Parties are very good at giving corporations lots of cash because - “crisis.” In these uncertain times, there is something I AM certain of: it’s good to be a mega corporation and feed at the trough of taxpayer dollars.
The copywriters are churning out gems. You may get sick and die, but until then, buy our stuff. It will make you a better person.
You are here for me? Toyota? Really? Then sell me a car at 5% over your manufacturing cost.
Get through this together? American Arilines? Wow, thanks Bruh! Where were you when my bag was 50.5lbs and you made me unpack and repack at the ticketing checkout line. I couldn’t even give you a tenner to let it go. Together? Are you gonna share that big fat multi billion dollar check of MY taxpayer dollars the government is gonna bail you out with?
OH FUCK NO – you DON’T get to blow this off as “Trump’s a bastard”. I don’t like ANY politician, and we might get to that in another entry.
What happened during the last mortgage meltdown? 2008 – TARP. Bailout for banks. What did the banks DO with that money? Maybe you are old like me, and noticed they bought up and converted every restaurant, corner store and Chuck E. Cheese to new branch locations. In my old neighborhood – Second Ex-Wife – Chase bought a Napa Auto Parts store, and converted it to a branch.
Why? Because the government gave us your taxpayer dollars, so we are going on a real estate buying spree. NO, we are not using the money to boost the economy, help with mortgages, help people. No, we are lining our pockets and expanding.
2009 - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - $831 BILLION dollars – Billion, with a “B” - $15 billion to allow companies to use current losses to offset profits made in the previous five years. Did you or I see any of that. No, no we did not.
Both Parties are very good at giving corporations lots of cash because - “crisis.” In these uncertain times, there is something I AM certain of: it’s good to be a mega corporation and feed at the trough of taxpayer dollars.
The company I work for, works for a bigger company that
makes computer chips. “It is essential
you are ON SITE, ON CAMPUS, just in case any of our people need to walk the
job/site” Really? It is essential that instead of crunching
spreadsheets, sitting on con calls, making paperwork from the relative safety
of my isolated home? You need me to come in to the plant, and sit in a tiny
room (it is not an office, four people sit in it, no windows, next to the
elevator service shaft). And do all those essential activities?
In these uncertain times? I am certain big companies, the very same suckling at the government’s teat, the big ones who figured out how to really care for their employees? Will thrive.
In these uncertain times? I am certain big companies, the very same suckling at the government’s teat, the big ones who figured out how to really care for their employees? Will thrive.
The big monstrosities who demand asses in chairs – also feeding
at selfsame trough – are going to lose their top talent and hardest workers –
once the Israeli doctors and researchers come up with the cure.
Stay home. It is certain that helps.
Stay home. It is certain that helps.
Do NOT hoard toilet paper.
Really? Toilet Paper? For fucks sake.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Opened my garage this morning - and there, by the door, center front? Was a GIANT RAT!!!
Just sitting there looking at me
I do not want giant rats or giant rat babies in my garage
Did the only thing I could think of
Swift shaolin soccer style kick down the driveway kaPOW !
It was moving slow, either from my badass kick - or rabies - or some rat-virus that hasnt concocted into a soup yet
Not wanting it to end up in a stewpot or taking up residence in the house? I scooped it into the recycling bin as a present for the bums who are gonna go through my recycling as soon as the sun sets!
How was your Sunday??
Just sitting there looking at me
I do not want giant rats or giant rat babies in my garage
Did the only thing I could think of
Swift shaolin soccer style kick down the driveway kaPOW !
It was moving slow, either from my badass kick - or rabies - or some rat-virus that hasnt concocted into a soup yet
Not wanting it to end up in a stewpot or taking up residence in the house? I scooped it into the recycling bin as a present for the bums who are gonna go through my recycling as soon as the sun sets!
How was your Sunday??
Caged samurai
I just discovered my pal Louise who made a wonderful quilt for me? Actually blogged about it!,
http://myquiltodyssey.blogspot.com/2018/12/caged-samurai.html
I sleep w this quilt every other week. ( don’t want penny ripping it um making a nest)
It’s a fave
Tomorrow is “return to work”. Cause even though shelter in place works? The company I work for needs their profits
I hope I don’t get the Rona and die
http://myquiltodyssey.blogspot.com/2018/12/caged-samurai.html
I sleep w this quilt every other week. ( don’t want penny ripping it um making a nest)
It’s a fave
Tomorrow is “return to work”. Cause even though shelter in place works? The company I work for needs their profits
I hope I don’t get the Rona and die
Friday, April 17, 2020
work fun
i work for a facilities management company, that works for a large silicon wafer mfg company
the client decided their profit is essential
as old-skool- 1980s company? they need "butts-in-chairs"
I'll stop shelter in place, and be at work starting monday. so the client can see "butt-in-chair" working.
I am questioning how important my health vs my paycheck is. And the requirement to have health insurance - vs the possible unfortunate need to utilize it.
The main thing I have learned is: I am very good at working from home, getting the job accomplished. And I need to work for a place that values humans - more than dollars only.
Be good
Be kind
Stay as safe as you can
the client decided their profit is essential
as old-skool- 1980s company? they need "butts-in-chairs"
I'll stop shelter in place, and be at work starting monday. so the client can see "butt-in-chair" working.
I am questioning how important my health vs my paycheck is. And the requirement to have health insurance - vs the possible unfortunate need to utilize it.
The main thing I have learned is: I am very good at working from home, getting the job accomplished. And I need to work for a place that values humans - more than dollars only.
Be good
Be kind
Stay as safe as you can
Oh and I will pass along 2 more tricks I learned from having MRSA
Safeguard brand antibacterial soap - easy to get - amazon delivers - shower with that every other day - it will kill any bacteria on your skin, without making you dry and ashy
Listerine - the brown kind - deep gargle with it as long as you can stand, 2x/day - And it will clear anything out of your throat
Do NOT swish your mouth first, swish last Becaus it will burn like hell and you won’t be able to gargle as long
Brown Not the mint
Safeguard brand antibacterial soap - easy to get - amazon delivers - shower with that every other day - it will kill any bacteria on your skin, without making you dry and ashy
Listerine - the brown kind - deep gargle with it as long as you can stand, 2x/day - And it will clear anything out of your throat
Do NOT swish your mouth first, swish last Becaus it will burn like hell and you won’t be able to gargle as long
Brown Not the mint
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Breaking my rules
After Sara picked up saul and penny? I broke my rule and went outside
I had some checks to deposit - and get some cash
Then I stopped at Home Depot to buy some grass - I knew exactly what I wanted - in and out in under 5 mins
And threw some more grass in that back corner To make more area for penny to lay in
She was spending a lot of time in the dirt Just to be out in the sunlight
So I tossed about 6 rolls of sod
After Sara picked up saul and penny? I broke my rule and went outside
I had some checks to deposit - and get some cash
Then I stopped at Home Depot to buy some grass - I knew exactly what I wanted - in and out in under 5 mins
And threw some more grass in that back corner To make more area for penny to lay in
She was spending a lot of time in the dirt Just to be out in the sunlight
So I tossed about 6 rolls of sod
Friday, April 10, 2020
Yak Shiving in the time of the 'Rona
Yak Shaving in the Time of the ‘Rona
One of my best pals called the other day, to ask “Since you survived your first ex-wife Rona? Does that mean you have any built up tolerance for this current ‘rona’ – sadly, I do not.
Two weeks ago, I realized I am not getting paid enough at my job to die for it. So I asked them if I could work from home, while sheltering-in-place. Or they could fire me… I’m at that point in life where I don’t much care anymore.
So I’ve been working from home – sheltered in place, and really working more than I was at the plant. BUT! After I turn off the computer, and stop answering the company phone (yes, I carry TWO cell phones, it is ridiculous) --- AFTER all that stops – the Yak Shaving commences.
In the early 90s on Nickelodeon, the Ren & Stimpy show described “Yak Shaving Holiday.” It may have been the first popular culture mention of Yak Shaving, however, I have been an active, unwilling practitioner since about 1977, when I fell in love with motorcycles, but was too poor to pay someone else to maintain them, and had to learn mechanics.
Yak Shaving refers to starting one project, becoming distracted by another project, until it waterfalls into you sitting in a field in Outer Mongolia helping a farmer shave his Yak.
With the ‘rona? I have time. I cannot leave the house. I have a garage and basement CHOCK FULL of vintage projects. (or old rubbish, as my second (fortunately amicable) ex-wife refers to it all). This is a fantastic time to start in on some of those things….. Did anyone notice I used parentheses inside another set of parenthesis? We could have a discussion about algebraic order of operations here, but I don’t have time to digress..
Allow the Yak Shaving to commence!
Building stick and tissue balsa model airplane models has long been a hobby of mine. I’m not particularly good at it, but it requires a modicum of concentration, so I dot slice the fingertips clean off with an xacto knife. My model building room is in the basement, and as I am headed down to work on current airplane, I realize, it is VERY bright in here..
Building stick and tissue balsa model airplane models has long been a hobby of mine. I’m not particularly good at it, but it requires a modicum of concentration, so I dot slice the fingertips clean off with an xacto knife. My model building room is in the basement, and as I am headed down to work on current airplane, I realize, it is VERY bright in here..
I will change the light switch in the basement for one of
those fancy slidey dimmerey switches. I
have all the parts. I just need a
diagonal wire cutter to trim the existing wires.
So a quick trip out to the garage to get said cutters to trim a wire in the house.
So a quick trip out to the garage to get said cutters to trim a wire in the house.
As I open the tool chest, in my peripheral vision, I see a
loose screw on the workbench.
I KNOW, for a fact, that screw is from my dad’s old
Hallicrafters shortwave radio, sitting right there on a shelf above the
bench. I might as well get a screwdriver
to finally put the Hallicrafter back to right... 20 minutes, one screw, two tubes, a little
soldering, and I get it running. Radio Lisbon is coming in loud and clear. I decide I might as well dust it --- which
leads to getting out tung oil and properly clean up the wood on the box.
Since the tung oil out and on rags, it would be a great time
to refinish the butt stock on that old .22 squirrel rifle... which is leaning against the wall, behind the
Royal Enfield.
With just a few turn of a socket, I could remove those
hideous turn signals, put a fresh sparkplug in,
It will totally crank up now, right?
Might as well check while the stock on the .22 is drying….
Hmmm, if I wear a
helmet, jacket, n95 mask, latex gloves….
I bet I could quickly take it around the block for giggles...
and? all of a sudden,
I am in Outer Mongolia shaving a Yak, and trying to remember why I have a set of
diagonal cutters in my back pocket......
Shelter in Place is the ONLY way we are going to beat this thing. STAY AT HOME. If you get bored? Start working those projects.
And for cryin out loud – do NOT hoard toilet paper. Really? Toilet Paper?
Shelter in Place is the ONLY way we are going to beat this thing. STAY AT HOME. If you get bored? Start working those projects.
And for cryin out loud – do NOT hoard toilet paper. Really? Toilet Paper?
