Horror in Henderson

Donald Trump held his first indoor campaign event on Sunday in Henderson, NV.  It was the first such event since his “Embarrassment at the Tulsa, OK Corral.”  The whole idea of indoor events with throngs of people standing shoulder to shoulder has been unthinkable since then as COVID-19 ramped up all summer long in the states.  In fact, there are restrictions against indoor gatherings of 50 or more in Nevada at this time.

But pesky things like rules and laws didn’t stop Trump.  If you watched the images you were supposed to see, you saw Trump at the podium with a crowd of fans behind him, all of them safely wearing masks (no social distancing, though).  

Plenty of masks.  No people of color, though.

This was the ONLY group that was masked, as it was MANDATORY in order to sit in the back.  This served two purposes – made for a “good image” for Trump, and helped protect the known germophobe.  The rest of the crowd inside the event and those on the outside were mostly mask-less and packed in like sardines.

Mask-less and Clue-less

And speaking about those images, all the major networks (including Fox) decided to sit this one out.  Local stations were inside as did the members of the White House Press Pool.  Still, one source said, “There is definitely some anxiety in the pool,” as the seats were kept close together and “no serious attempts at COVID containment.”

Trump knows how dangerous the virus is.  In an April 13 interview with Bob Woodward, he retold a story about the virus.  He said it’s “…so easily transmissible, you wouldn't even believe it. I was in the White House a couple of days ago.  Meeting of 10 people in the Oval Office.  And a guy sneezed, innocently.  Not a horrible—just a sneeze.  The entire room bailed out, okay?  Including me, by the way.”

That’s why he’s tested regularly.  His staff is tested regularly.  The staff at the event in Henderson were all wearing masks, and they outlined the floorway for him to walk to and from the podium with plenty of space between him and the crowd.  He feels confident that he’s protected, telling the Reno newspaper, “I’m on a stage and it’s very far away, and so I’m not at all concerned.”

Yet he still held this event.  Indoors.  At a site whose owner has already been fined before for holding events in defiance of the 50-or-more restriction (a beauty pageant and a Trump fundraiser).  Officials in Henderson warned Don Ahern, owner of Xtrmeme Manufacturing where the rally was held, that he would be in violation (again) of the restrictions.  Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak minced no words.  “At a time when Nevada is focused on getting our economy back on track and protecting public health, the president’s actions this weekend are shameful, dangerous and irresponsible.”

 

Trump responded to the threat of fines in typical Trump fashion.  Speaking to Ahern, Trump said, “If the governor comes after you, which he shouldn’t be doing, I’ll be with you all the way.”

So, to recap:

• Trump cares about his own health, and takes many precautions to avoid the virus
• He could care less about anyone else
• He could care less about rules designed to protect everyone else

Got that?  Oh, and it’s not just my opinion.  Here’s Tim Miller, who USED to be the spokesperson for the Republican National Committee:  “…it was so appalling that it would stand out as the single most appalling and reckless political event hosted by any presidential nominee in my lifetime before yesterday by a long shot, if you just didn’t count anything else that Donald Trump did.”

And we still have almost two months to go.  Buckle up.

Stuff Always Happens

Why, yes – it HAS been a long time since I posted to this blog.  A lot has happened since last July.  Can that be right?  THIRTEEN MONTHS?  Dang.

Well, let’s recap all that’s happened in those thirteen months, quickly:

• My brother in Michigan suffered a heart attack, and had quad-bypass surgery.
• He had been caring for my mom, who suffered from dementia – she became unresponsive, and passed away in August last year.
• Did I mention these two events occurred simultaneously?  No?  Yeah, that was fun – not.  Spent some time back in Michigan dealing with it all.  The good news is that Tom has recovered nicely, and is back to work.
• My wife and I had our own medical issues.  As of today, three of our four eyes are “fixed” (cataracts and glaucoma); my left eye is slated for early 2021. 
• We also had to replace three of our specialty doctors (and the dentist) due to retirements.  Fortunately, we got great replacements (and young’uns, too, so they’ll be around for a while).
• A plethora of other issues regarding the house, Medicare overbilling (for the insurance, not for specific treatments – that’s been OK so far), and stuff going kablooey around the house (not the new house itself, thankfully).
• Oh, yeah…COVID.  And now forest fires galore in Oregon and the whole west and smoky skies and horrible breathing and…

So let me stop right there.  These are either reasons for not writing here or “excuses” depending on how one wants to at them.  For many months I considered them excuses – I really felt overwhelmed and in no mental state to write in my blog.  Then I realized that writing was sort of cathartic and starting putting “Blog” on my list.  (It is not a “to do” list as I am retired; more of a “possibilities” list).  If I had a nickel for every time I put it on my list I’d have about six or seven dollars by now.  Intentions were good; follow-through was bad.

This is not to say I haven’t been writing.  I’ve written to my Facebook page and even sent out a few tweets.  I usually only respond to tweets, as you can imagine how difficult it is for me to limit my thoughts to 256 characters (OMG I just learned how to LINK TWEETS!).   Goodness knows there’s been plenty to comment on in the world today, but I must admit that more of my time was spent reading others’ posts and hitting the ANGRY icon, which didn’t put me in the right frame of mind to write anything.

But I did write…a book.  A novel, actually.  It’s “just a story” and may not go anywhere (I am shopping for agents and small publishers and so far, nada but I keep trying); still, it felt good to complete it and it gave me a good feeling to do so.  And now that Mona can read again (she no longer needs glasses at ALL), she can read it and probably edit the hell out if it and THEN maybe I can get it published.  We’ll see.

But this week I was determined to do SOMETHING here.  And here we are.  I’d love to say, “I certainly won’t be so long at getting back to the blog” but I hate to promise what I might not be able to deliver (and that’s the secret of running a successful business – or a government – take the hint, Donnie). 

I have a backlog of stuff I think I’d like to put words to paper about.  Believe it or not, I’ve mellowed some in my almost two years of retirement so far, so I won’t be the old curmudgeon that I used to be. 

On the other hand, I still know how to swear, so there still might be an edge.  Plus, the election is less than two months away.  Wheeeeeeee!

So Long, Seaside!

The papers are signed, the process complete, the utilities shut off, and the money is in the bank (what’s left, anyway).  We’ve finally sold the house in Seaside, and officially as of yesterday, have cut all ties from the coastal community we called home for 18 ½ years.

It’s been a loooooooong process.  Everything took longer than planned – finding a new community and house to live in, selling the business, and then selling the house in Seaside.  Now I’m only going to discuss the first part, as the business sale (eventually) worked out great – the new owners are doing a super job and enjoying themselves (and we got what we wanted from the sale), and as for the real estate transaction...  As you may know, Mona wrote a (humorous and only slightly exaggerated) book about buying a house, and that pretty much says it all except that if she ever writes a sequel about selling real estate I have the perfect title: “Clusterfuck.”

Anyway, it’s over.  And throughout the process people asked us the same question: “Why do you want to move?”  I’ve decided that there are two types of people in this country – people who move, and people who don’t.  Of course, there are a multitude of reasons for both moving and for not moving, including not being able to move.  I’ve met folks who live in the same town, the same neighborhood, and in one case the same house all their lives.  I know others who have lived in different towns, different states, different countries even.  In my opinion, if “travel broadens you,” then living elsewhere broadens you even more.

Is there something about being where you are that makes being where you are that much more special just because that’s where you are?  Is it like the psychology experiment where the moderator gives you a $5 coffee mug, then asks how much you’d sell it for, and you always say more (or much more, the so-called “Endowment Effect”)?  It seems that way.  “Why do you want to leave Seaside?” was the plaintive cry.  As if this was the perfect place to be.

Don’t get me wrong – there are many good folks who consider Seaside a wonderful place to live, and it had a reputation as a great place to retire.  It’s certainly a popular tourist attraction, and the retirement population is growing (as is the town itself, one of the fastest growing in Oregon).  But that alone doesn’t mean it’s the right place for us now.

Seaside was a fine enough place to live while we owned the business, which is frankly the reason we moved there.  We could have lived in neighboring towns like Gearhart or Cannon Beach, but they were too expensive and too far away.  If you’ve ever tried to negotiate US 101 on a summer day in tourist season, you’ll know why we chose to live where we did – in walking distance of the store.  Smart choice.

We had specific desires (which our real estate agent called “requirements”) for a retirement location.  We wanted to be much closer to the Portland metro area because of medical issues.  Seaside does have a hospital, but if you’re in need of a specialist, you’ll make the 2-hour drive to Portland.  We wanted more room – in Seaside, we could see into our neighbor’s kitchen from our kitchen – on BOTH sides.  There were no large lots or acreage in Seaside, and anything close by wasn’t close by.  If you have to drive several miles to get to a grocery store, bank, whatever…why not live somewhere where you have a much larger choice of groceries, banks…AND you don’t have to wade through tourist traffic for nearly four months every year.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the drive to Portland from Seaside is a fine drive for two-thirds of the year.  From November to February there’s always the danger of strong storms and heavy snow in the Coastal Range, and while you can drive around on US 30 and avoid the higher elevations, you’ll add 30-40 minutes to your drive on a dry day, and you can still run into snow, ice, and freezing rain.  No thanks.

There were other factors, of course.  We spent nearly 10 years researching the “ideal” spot to retire, and we actually settled in the #2 spot on our master list (on the #2 piece of property we found).  It’s not a “perfect” location but it meets most of our requirements, more so than Seaside (and the house is brand-new and larger than the cottage we had there).  So we moved.  To us it was an easy choice, but it was still difficult for others to understand why we’d want to move. 

Every place we’ve lived before this we can tell you good things about and not-so-good things, too.  Every community has stellar points and sore spots.  Ann Arbor, MI was a great place for education, but has lousy weather (six months of winter and six months of bad skiing).  Plus, we had economic issues there (it’s not a cheap place to live).  Ypsilanti (next door to AA) was OK, but it suffered from many of the same problems.  Eugene, OR was very nice, with great summers, but we moved there when the city was going through a tough economic spell (they also have great parks).  Monroe, LA has great food, friendly people, but it’s in the “David Duke” section of the state.  Boise, ID was dynamic – great university, parks, and recreation galore – if it ends in “ing” you can do it in Boise.  However, Boise has the unfortunate condition of being located in Idaho.  It’s isolated and red as all get out.  Too bad.

Seaside has the beach, of course, and more restaurants and banks than a normal town of 6,000 people.  That’s due to it’s being a tourist destination.  Problem is, everything else about the town is geared to tourism, meaning that all other shopping and services are best found elsewhere.  In the last few years neighboring Warrenton, 13 miles north, has grown with chain-store strip malls that fill in some blanks, but it’s not enough for us. 

The woman who bought our house is moving from Washington and is delighted with all of what Seaside has to offer.  She’s always wanted to live by the beach with her three little rescue dogs, and now she has the chance to do so.  We’re sure she’ll be very happy here.  Funny thing is, even she wonder why we were moving away from Seaside.  She actually thought we were reconsidering our move (even though we moved in to our new house five months ago) when we asked for a time extension on the sales agreement. 

Of course, it HAD to be that, and not the fact that she had beaucoup items on the Buyer’s Repair Addendum that has to be fixed before the prescribed date AND she gave us this list on short notice RIGHT before the Fourth of July weekend AND Seaside suffers from a shortage of plumbers and electricians AND they are all busy AF during the summer because that’s when EVERYONE gets work done. 

Which is another reason why we wanted to move.

PokerStars Can’t Find Me – And Doesn't Care - and that’s a problem

I admit it’s a small problem, because where I live I can’t play for real money.  Yet.  Still, it highlights a flaw in the system, and because I got a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ when I asked about it, I felt it was time to go public.

Yes, I participate in “play money” games.  I’m not ashamed to admit it.  I’ve been a member of PokerStars since 2003, so I’ve had an account there for what seems like forever, and back in the “good ol’ days” I did play for real money.  But now, sometimes when I am bored (or feel like multi-tasking), I’ll open the laptop, sign on to PokerStars, and get into a quick “spin-and-go” table.  It helps pass the time.  And until April of last year, I had no problems.

But because of a lawsuit in Washington state, PokerStars became pro-active about offering play money gaming, and prohibited players in that state from playing any of it’s play money games.

Pisser.

Problem is, I live in Oregon.

Back then, I lived in Seaside, and while we’re close to the border, we’re not that close (a good 18 miles).  When the pop-up “can’t play here” screen first appeared, I wrote to PokerStars support about it (and got the “shrug” response).  Basically, they blamed it on my ISP, EasyStreet, which sort of made sense, as they have servers located in Vancouver, WA.  The thing is, I wasn’t always blocked – just most of the time.  There were occasions when I could get on and play, and I never did think as to why I could.  It could be that the ISP has other servers (in Portland) and I was hooked into those on those lucky days.  I just was thankful that I could play again (even if it was only play money, it beats Zynga).

Fast forward to 2019, and we’ve moved to Warren.  I’m still in Oregon, but now I have CenturyLink as my ISP.  I attempted to log on and play on PokerStars right away, and – bingo!  Access!  I thought my problems were over.

But just yesterday the bugaboo was back.  I logged on as always, and instead of getting action, I got the damn “can’t play here” pop-up.  I tried again today (after shutting down and rebooting) and I still can’t play.  I have no idea how long it will last.

But I can tell you that this is a problem.  Sure, it’s only play money now.  But it sends a signal (get it?) that there are STILL issues with the geolocation programs.  PokerStars has a whole page devoted to the issue, but it doesn’t help me a bit.  And that makes me very unhappy – not just for myself, but for the online gaming industry.

Someone should look into this, and take it a bit more seriously than ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I’m Having Trouble Understanding This. Can You Help?

Amazon's logo or Peyronie's disease?

Before I tell you the story, I need to give you some background.  Full disclosure and all that, so that you don’t think this is coming from a feeling of getting ripped off.  I just genuinely do not understand how this company does what it does.

The gist of it:

• I have been shopping online for years.
• I have been shopping online with Amazon for years.
• Up until this last purchase, I’ve never had a problem with anything ordered from Amazon.
• Even though there was a problem, I am satisfied with the end result and I will continue to shop Amazon.
• I just don’t understand what happened – or why.

We ordered three sets of curtain rods for the new house.  It was a bit of an unusual order in that two of the three sets were long rods (one was 180 inches, another 240”).  All three were of the same style and color, made by the same company (the aptly-named “Rod Desyne”), and all three were handled by “Amazon Fulfillment.”  Here’s where it gets weird:

• All three were shipped in the same size box.
• Each rod set was shipped on different, separate days.
• Two came by USPS and one by UPS.

Still, it wasn’t until I was putting up the third (and longest) rod that I noticed that two small parts were missing from this last shipment.  Yeah, I should have checked all three first when they arrived – stupid me.  I went online to see about getting those two missing parts (which came in a small box inside the bigger box).  There were only options for return or replacing the whole item, and since part of it was already up, that wasn’t happening.

So I used the online chat feature to see if I could get the two small parts that were missing from the third rod sent to me.  The customer service rep only gave me two options – return the item (like I said, not happening) or accept a $15 credit for the missing parts.  I asked if I could use that $15 toward ordering the two missing parts, and was informed that I’d have to buy the whole rod ($15 didn’t cover it by a long shot).  I told the rep that wasn’t acceptable, and disconnected the chat.

Then I noticed that you could have a rep call you.  I thought that maybe if I actually spoke with a real person, I’d have a chance to explain what I needed and actually get results.  I clicked “call me” and just like that, the phone rang.  I spoke with a real person (who sounded like English was their first language) and explained my situation.  Unlike the first rep, this one had a way to get those missing parts to me.  Sort of.  Here’s what he said:

“We’ll ship you another complete rod set.  Take out the two missing parts and then send the rest of it back to us.  All on our cost, of course.”

Rather than ship me just what I needed, they shipped me the whole thing, all over again, and then, after taking my two parts, I sent it back to them with the label they provided.  Just like he said – no cost to me.  And while it was “easy,” it certainly could not have been cheap to do this.  I received confirmation yesterday that they’ve received my return, so we’re all good (and now I can talk about it – I didn’t want to jinx it before everything was deal with).

So here’s what I don’t understand.  Yes, this act “kept the customer satisfied” but couldn’t the same results be achieved with a simpler and LESS EXPENSIVE method?  I have to assume that I’m not the only customer who received an item with missing parts.  Do they do this with EVERYONE?

Remember, Amazon made more than ELEVEN BILLION DOLLARS in 2018.

They also paid ZERO in Federal Income tax.

I don’t understand that, either.  Anyone have a clue?  Post it.  Thanks.

Nor Normal

When the news about the doctored video seemingly showing a drunk Nancy Pelosi first surfaced on Thursday, I made a couple of comments about how I expected it to show up soon on a few conservative friends’ Facebook pages.  I never thought it would show up in the President’s Twitter feed.

Check that – I never considered that it would show in a normal President’s Twitter feed.

This one?  A cinch.  If there’s one continual thread that we’ve seen over the last three years, it’s that Trump attempts to destroy and demonize ANYONE who is against him.  Even previous administration officials and personal friends who Trump once spoke glowingly about are now on the Trump (s)hit list.  Rex Tillerson, Steve Bannon, Michael Cohen, Jeff Sessions, etc.  I can’t wait until one of his kids does something that causes Donnie heartburn – no doubt he’ll toss them under a bus, too (hey, Tiffany!).

So sure, Trump posting the doctored video from Fox “News” was sadly expected.  As is the [crickets] from congressional Republicans and the usual condoning (or outright praising) of his posting the vid from rabid Trump supporters.

Look – you may continue to support Trump’s policies and programs.  You can cheer his continual spending of (your) money for his golf outings at his properties.  You can keep going to the rallies and buying the hats and proudly proclaim (despite any evidence) that he’s the greatest President, ever.  But you can’t give him (or Fox News) a pass on this.

You protested Obama’s use of Dijon mustard and his wearing of a tan suit, and yet Trump’s obvious slander of the Speaker of the House goes by without ANY CRITICISM?  Shame on you.

I have come to the conclusion that there are only two types of Trump supporters who can condone his posting of this obvious fake video: Bots and assholes.

Bots are programmed to always support whatever Trump does, no matter how awful, degrading, or harmful to America.

Assholes are...pretty much the same.

Don’t be an asshole.

Lawning and Fawning

Forgive me Father, for…it’s been a month and a half since my last post.  And I really thought that once I got hooked up online at the new house that I’d actually BE online more.  It hasn’t worked out that way for a number of reasons.  First off, we’re down to one computer, so I have to share.

Secondly, there’s the lawn.

I’ve never owned anything but a manual lawnmower prior to this, because I never had much of a lawn.  Two acres required something more substantial, so I bought my first riding mower.  It’s electric, so I still avoid using fossil fuels to zip around the yard. 

Except I’m not exactly zipping around.  Like I said, this is my first riding lawn mower, and there’s a learning curve.  It’s also a helluva yard.  Big, yes, but it’s also bumpy as hell from ruts left by the construction crews and the former tenants – field mice (they left holes and tunnels everywhere).  It’s mostly field grass with some weeds, clover, and some other unidentified fibrous growth.  And it grows like crazy, so I’m going v e r y slowly over the terrain.  One charge is supposed to be good for two hours or two acres.  I get the two hours, easy, but it takes three installments to get it all done.

So there’s not been much time to be on the computer.  And when I’m online, I spend most of my time in worthwhile pursuits – there’s little time to check the news and Facebook to see what I can rant write about.

And when I do check Facebook, I still see what I saw before I dropped offline.  Fawning.

Some of my friends are Republican and conservative, and many of them think Donald Trump is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  They never have issue with anything he does.  Ever.  And some of them post every conservative meme ever created, and comment with the most glowing verbiage every time someone else makes a similar meme post, or is combative with any liberal (or factual) post shouting to the rooftops that Donald Trump is (a) the greatest President ever, (b) God-like, or (c) God.

No honest debate, no fact-slinging, just the same empty-valued praise like you’d give a silly puppy (who’s a good boy?).  It gets real goopy real quick.  Three examples:

ONE:

Guy posts a meme on his FB page about the “skyrocketing ratings” for Trump.  Since I saw the news the day before, I commented on the fact that the approval rating had actually “skyrocketed” to 45% from…44%.  All of ONE percent, and with a Margin of Error of +/- 4%, this meant that statistically there was NO MOVEMENT.  After some back and forth, he said he believed that Trump’s approval rating was probably closer to 50% or more, but it didn’t matter, because “I don’t really believe in polls.” 

Pro tip:  If you don’t believe in polls, don’t post about polls.

TWO:

Guy rants about Democrats, uses usual name calling, and ends with “Their nothing but a bunch of idiots.”

Pro tip:  When calling someone an idiot, it’s a good idea to check your spelling, else you look like an idiot.

THREE:

This –

Even more amazing were the comments made AFTER the obious was explained.  My favorite was the guy (why is it always guys?) who said, “It’s not bigotry, it’s ignorance.”

Yeah, that makes it all better.  Pro tip:  Think, people, think.

I gotta go mow the lawn.