Category: Daily Life

Cool, Daily Life

Who Doesn’t Like A Software Upgrade?
  • I think Scott Adams, the Dilbert guy, said it best about our current situation: “When you upgrade software, there is a moment in time in which you no longer have access to the old software but you have not yet completed loading the new version. That’s us, right now.” As someone who spent an entire previous life in the technology sector, I can assuredly say that all new software features and bug fixes are done with the best of intentions. But software is designed and written by people and best intentions sometimes have unintended consequences. For example, we put in a very clever new feature in at one point, designed to thwart DOS attacks on our system. It unfortunately took out the entire network for hundreds of thousands of people trying to tune in to watch the super bowl. Oops. We’re all waiting to see if this upgrade is the one we really wanted.
  • Overnight a Portland Antifa mob attempted to break into a police department, then went on to smash up businesses. Representative Nadler, chairman of the judiciary committee, says they’re a myth. That’s good, because otherwise I might be worried about living in Portland.
  • Update on the ginormous TV. The problem with the weird look (the soap opera effect) did indeed turn out to be the built in motion graphics. Turned that off and we’re back to the 24 frame look that’s expected.
  • The number of people fleeing CA, WA, hell, every big city, to our little town is overwhelming. Last year my local cross-country ski place on a Thursday afternoon would be empty. Maybe one other car in the parking lot. Yesterday the lot was completely full, cars circling for parking spots. I expect that on a weekend, but mid-day on a Thursday? I’m not sure I like this development.
  • The authentic voice discussion continues. Mrs Troutdog and I have been having some serious discussions. It’s getting less scary and a little more fun to think about what might be coming next. It can be overwhelming to realize that you only have so many years left to see and do things. How do I want to spend those years? First up will be some work changes. And keeping an actual budget that we stick to. I got all excited planning some road trips, then realized you also have to plan out what’s actually open these days. Damn virus. She hasn’t bought into the Sprinter van idea yet, but I’m crafting a killer power point presentation that may change her mind. Stay tuned.
  • Speaking of vehicles, I’m at a crossroads with my truck. Ten years old, runs great, have had very few (minor) service issues. Paid off long ago. I *think* it could reliably go another 75k miles without crazy expensive repairs. At least another 5 years at my annual mileage. The unknown is that it is of the age where the transmission could fall out tomorrow. Do I put money into it, bringing it up to the modern era and adding some desired upgrades? Or do I put that money into a new truck (likely my last new vehicle) that in theory will be more reliable for a longer period of time? Or do I hold out for the Tesla Cyber Truck? Opinions?

Song of the day: Cake – The Distance (Official Video)

Daily Life, Government, Lists

The Authentic Voice
  • I don’t have a list of resolutions for the New Year. No goals that probably won’t be met. No platitudes about becoming a better person or striving for world peace. I’m in a unique place in life. I’ve been very blessed. Through a combination of dumb luck, good planning, seizing opportunities, and hard work, Mrs. Troutdog and I find ourselves at a happy crossroads. Retirement is looming around the corner. What is that going to look like? Will I spend my waning years puttering around my workbench in the garage? Will we be taking exotic motorcycle trips across southeast Asia? Maybe I’ll finally become a world famous YouTube star, or figure out what it is I’m actually trying to say with this blog. Perhaps I’ll start taking pictures again or figure out once and for all which of my 27 hobbies I want to focus on? When you were younger the saying was “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. Well, here I am all grown up and I still don’t know. So that’s my plan for the year – to try and get a handle on what I want my remaining time on this planet to look like. To find my authentic voice. What do I want to say, do, and leave behind. It’s not an achievable plan. But I think it’s a good theme for the New Year.
  • I finally made the Machaca. I think it came out pretty damn good. It will certainly be a do-over. There’s so many things you can do with it – tortas, street tacos, breakfast, burritos. Good stuff.
  • I don’t know why I find this so frightening. The engineering is damn impressive. It’s amazing where we are from a technology perspective. I guess I just don’t trust human nature. The sci-fi conspiracy theorist in me envisions getting tased by one of these things as I try to enter a store without my Covid-39 passport.
  • You’re already seeing the media reporting the administration is bungling the rollout of the China virus vaccine. What a disaster, only 3 million doses have been given by the end of the year. We were promised 20 million dammit! Ignoring what an amazing R&D accomplishment this has been, the media conveniently doesn’t report that 14 million doses have been shipped. The bottleneck is at the local level. The same thing happens with every hurricane, wildfire, and flood. Clearly we don’t teach civics any more. We are a republic of independent states. The federal government can supply resources, but it’s up to the individual states and cities to implement those resources. When you saw those rows of empty school buses unused and flooded while people frantically tried to evacuate during Katrina, that was the state and cities fault. The federal government (FEMA) prepositioned those assets and the local authorities didn’t use them. It’s a dangerous road to go down letting people think that a massive, federal big brother is in charge of everything. The framers would be appalled at what their republic has become.
  • This article about the imprisonment of Assange is a bit convoluted, but a good read. What we’ve done to him is a travesty. I really liked this statement: “Whether a society is truly free is determined by how it treats its dissidents, those who live and speak and think outside of permissible lines, those who effectively subvert ruling class aims.”
  • I finished my last shift and last task of the year, New Years eve, in a fitting fashion. Giving a soap suds enema to a confused, combative patient who hadn’t pooped in a week and vomiting up tube feeds every thirty minutes. Thanks 2020 and fuck you. Moving on to 2021!
  • Finishing up with pics of the best dogs on the planet, the mighty Vizsla.

Song of the day: Beck – Loser (Live 2003)

Daily Life, Government, Health, Politics

Death By Jingle Bells
  • Time of death was 1735. Ten and a half hours into the shift. The Christmas music loop playing over the hospital loudspeakers had just begun the forty seventh repeat of Jingle Bells for the day. He was found slumped over his desk, eyes rolled back, drool pooling in the corners of his N95 mask. The charting system was open and his last known note had not yet been saved… “Patient observed laughing while on phone call. Patient informed this nurse that pain was 10/10. This nurse provided education on pain medication schedule and alternative pain relief strategies. Patient was observed yelling obscenities at staff members. This nurse will continue to monitor patients pain levels closely….”
  • Thank god we finally have some diversity at the highest levels of government. The media proudly gushed that Pete Buttigieg will be the first openly gay cabinet member. Pete himself made a point of saying this during his acceptance speech. Apparently Richard Grenell as DNI doesn’t count because, well, he was appointed by Trump. And he even though he’s gay he probably secretly hates the gays. And he’s a racist obviously. Does it worry anyone else that Mayor Pete, who couldn’t even get the potholes fixed in South Bend, is now in charge of Transportation? Optics and symbolism are clearly what’s most important.
  • 8 inches of snow overnight. I’ve got stuff do this morning, so the first downhill day will have to wait until tomorrow. We’ll get some skate skiing in with the hound this afternoon.
  • The backlash over Jill Biden insisting on being called ‘Doctor’ has been hilarious. Reviews of her dissertation have not been kind. Tucker Carlson’s skewering of her academic prowess was pretty damn funny. You didn’t really think, after four years of being called racist, and trashing the first lady, folks would just magically unite did you? Silly rabbit.
  • Remember the days of riots, looting, and police officers being shot over the tragic police shooting of Breonna Taylor? Well, it turns out when someone does actual journalism (remember that?) reality doesn’t match the mob outrage. Poor miss Taylor doesn’t seem to have been the innocent bystander she was portrayed as. Will the media report on this? Nope. It doesn’t fit the narrative and we wouldn’t want to upset people with minor details like the truth.
  • While a bit long, this thread is worth reading. It asks some interesting questions about the flu and why it’s been nearly non-existent this year. It shows how little we actually know about Covid and if our myriad of strategies for dealing with it are even doing anything. You know, science.
  • Magically after the election, Twitter returns the retweet button back to its original functionality. All is well, nothing to see here folks, move along. Twitter will add a “fact check, disputed claim” to a video posted by a conservative. They don’t when the exact same video is posted by a liberal account. If you’re an honest, thinking person this should bother you.
  • I don’t normally read James Bond type books, but I’ve been hooked on the Gray Man series by Mark Greaney. Been binge reading. I’m on book 8 of 10. Good stuff when you want an easy escapism read.

Song of the day: Beastie Boys “Root Down”

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Health, Politics

The Fat Lady Sang
  • The election is over. The proverbial weight to height ratio challenged person who prefers the pronouns she/xe/zie has sung (but not in a non-socially distanced room). Could there still be a weird twist that throws this to the courts for years? Sure, it’s 2020 after all. Highly unlikely though. It’s time for Trump to show grace and concede. A bitter pill to swallow, for sure. How do you show grace to someone who’s called you a racist white supremacist over and over? How to you show grace to a party that spent more than four years going after you with every possible vicious attack, including the kitchen sink? How do you show grace to a party who had many members who refused to attend your inauguration? How do you show grace to a party that spent four years extolling their members to harass the other party whenever you see them in public? To vow to make lists of people in the current administration to ensure they never get jobs again? If it were me, I’d declare that I’m leaving because I value the peaceful transfer of power, then go scorched earth nasty. Refuse to participate in any of the pomp and circumstance of the new inauguration and declassify investigations, documents, and otherwise find ways to harm the incoming administration in any way possible. Because I’m petty like that. Trump’s in a no win situation. He does that and the media will excoriate him even more (if that’s possible). The swamp and the deep state are too big – they’re going to win no matter what. Trump’s going to have to swallow the huge shit sandwich and then use whatever money and influence he has to attack the swamp from the outside. It’s a sad mess all the way around.
  • As states and cities are busy ramping up lockdowns again, I stumbled on a ZDoggMD video from back in August that perfectly describes why lockdowns were and are such a horrible idea. Well worth watching.
  • As I read this article it dawned on me why nobody in government is ever held accountable for anything. This country managed to create, test, and distribute a new vaccine faster than the Durham report investigation. He’s been investigating since April with no end or results in sight. We’ll be well into the Harris administration before the Durham report comes out. I’d love to have a job that has no time accountability.
  • I had to change my password at work this week. Unlike every other password I have, what I choose at work has consequences. I have to log in to our EMR/charting system approximately 50 or so times a day. The password you choose has to be easy to type while standing up (try it!). I waited until the very last day and then during a brief lull in the action, reset my password to something I’d practiced and knew would be a good one. And… something went wrong. I had to get on the phone with IT who said we need to reset it and start over. So on the fly, while the support dude waited on the phone, I had to pick a new password that met all the security requirements. I panicked and chose badly. I can’t type the damn thing to save my life. It takes me at least two (if not more) attempts every time I log in. Hard to believe I was a technology guy at one point.
  • Outside Magazine put out an article titled “A Bad Uncle’s Guide to Dangerous Gifts“. I fully endorse this. You are not doing kids any favors by protecting them from every conceivable danger (real or imagined) they may encounter. Go ahead and give ’em a pocket knife when they’re wee little sprouts. Sure, they’ll probably cut themselves but it’s not like they’re going to slice off a finger. They’ll heal and have a new learned respect for it. We used to send out ten year olds to tend the sheep, and help work the farm. Kids are capable of far more than we give them credit for.
  • I’m scheduled for my Wuhan China Plague vaccine next week. Stay tuned. I’ll let you know if I grow a third eye or develop a rare neurologic disorder.
  • I’m faced with yet another first world problem dilemma. My truck is 10 years old and has about 100,000 miles on it. Runs great, no obvious issues after my last major service. Here’s the problem. I’d like to put some farkles on it that will better fit my lifestyle. They’re not cheap. Do I spend a bunch of money on an older truck or wait until it dies and invest in a new fancy truck? Sell it and get a new truck now? Sigh, I can’t decide.
  • Speaking of trucks, I still really like the Tesla Cyber truck. I would buy one in a heartbeat but I don’t think it would fit my lifestyle. I almost put my $100 deposit down the other day. Need to think about this some more.

Song of the day: Stone temple pilots “Vasoline LIVE Farm Club“

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Politics

Dude, Do You Even Contrarian?
  • C.S. Lewis said, “When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind”. I love that quote. As a country we’ve gone from Timothy Leary’s “Question Authority” in the 60’s, to blindly worshiping the high priest of Covid, Dr. Fauci. As a contrarian, the goal isn’t to blindly reject everything you see, or to embrace every crackpot claim you read on the internet. The point is merely to question. Read other news sources. Actively read opinions you don’t (think) you agree with. The media, big tech, government, all have an agenda. That’s ok as long as you recognize the agenda and take what’s presented with a grain of salt. One of the most discouraging developments in the last few weeks was the plummeting of Fox News ratings. Their viewership were unhappy with election and post election coverage by Chris Wallace, et al., and loudly proclaimed on Twitter they were done. Never watching Fox again. Sadly, that makes them no better than the average CNN viewer. These folks are saying that if they don’t hear what they want to hear, they’ll go find someone else to tell them what they want to hear. Come on man! That’s wrong. Be a contrarian. There are tiny elements of truth in everything. You just have to think critically and find them. It’s ok to think for yourself. Really. Try it.
  • The single biggest story of the entire election should be the Hunter Biden laptop/emails. The allegations may or may not be true… I don’t really care. What’s important, and what should make you angry (if you’re being intellectually honest) is that the media, big tech, and possibly the FBI, actively suppressed a potential bombshell story at a critical time. A story that could very well have swung the election. The same media and tech giants that ran 24/7 for two years with vague Russian influence claims. We’re supposed to live in a society that values truth. We’re not supposed to be an authoritarian country that has state run media. I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on, this should piss you off.
  • I’m not sure what to make of it, but Pat Sajak is getting angry. “Don’t!”, on a recent show Sajak yelled, “You won! Don’t argue, Darin!…You got the puzzle. Ungrateful players! I’ve had it!”
  • I give up. Obama won a Nobel prize for, I have no idea. May as well give Biden and Harris Time Person of the Year. For what? The man is a confused 80 year old who can’t get a coherent sentence out. He literally did not campaign, rarely leaving his basement. When he did appear in public it was in front of six people in weird crop circle things. His running mate, Harris, did not take a single question from the press during the campaign. I couldn’t find a single sentence in the very long Time piece describing why they picked these two for the cover. We get it, you didn’t like Trump.
  • Melinda Gates is “incredibly disappointed” that President Trump has put Americans first in line to receive the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine. A globalist who married her money, money earned from an American company (that I used to work for), lecturing the very country who drove development of the vaccine. The ego and lack of self-awareness of the these people amazes me sometimes.
  • If you like black and white portrait photography like I do, this is very cool. For eight years, photographer Lee Nye tended bar at Eddie’s Club and took 125 portraits of regulars. They’ve been put into a book with biographies of each patron.

Song of the day: Jeff Healey – “See The Light – Night Music 1988”

Daily Life, Government, Motivation, Politics, Solving the wrong problem

I Caught A Case Of The Apathy
  • Yesterday I was mad and frustrated. I was fed up with people on Facebook posting virtue-signaling Covid case count memes. Frustration at the lack of media coverage around alleged election fraud. I’ve had it with government lockdowns and killing of the economy and small businesses. I’m pissed that nobody in government is ever held accountable for anything. As a healthcare worker I’m exhausted with the hospital working conditions and no end in sight. I sat down and started writing a long post about all this. About two-thirds of the way through I suddenly felt a huge wave of apathy settle in. Why care about any of this? It feels like the massive engine of the deep state, big tech, and the media empire is an unstoppable force. Nothing will change. There’s too much money, too much power, too much corruption. What’s the point? Why bother writing (venting) for a grand total of about three readers? I deleted my words and walked away. I’m not as apathetic today, but I do wonder if I’d be happier if I stopped paying attention to the news? I suspect this blog would do better if I just focused on one thing… cooking or fly fishing or something.
  • A powerful solar storm is occurring Dec 9/10 that may produce northern lights visible in many northern states. We had cloud cover last night, so no luck. I’ll be looking again tonight.
  • It’s amazing how shameless the media is. They’re now shocked that the Hunter Biden investigation went largely unnoticed prior to the election. WTF. How do these “journalists” look at themselves in the mirror in the morning?
  • My hospital is drowning. Our staffing shortages are dangerous. Despite what the media reports, it’s not entirely due to covid. The city and state are frantically waving their hands in the air and desperate to do something to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. The solution? Let’s pass more regulations preventing youth sports and further limit restaurant capacity. That’s like when someone says they can’t afford new tires for their car, the government solution is to try and create smoother paved roads to reduce tire wear. How about, oh I don’t know, add resources to the health care system? We have a perfectly capable national guard who could spin up a response within days. I get that there are cost and liability issues when interacting with private entities, but I’m pretty sure we can figure that out. Rather than fix the leaks in the dam, we’re too busy educating people on the importance of wearing Gore-Tex and galoshes.
  • I saw an ad for a bracelet with a little symbol for every national park you’ve visited. Made me look up my list. I’ve been to 13. Not bad. How many have you been to?
  • Watched Hillbilly Elegy. Very good, highly recommend.
  • This is seriously freaky. Don’t watch if home alone at night.
  • Still have not made machaca. Haven’t forgotten, the timing just hasn’t worked out yet. I have a week off coming up and plenty of snow in the forecast. Skiing and cooking sounds like a fine way to spend my time.

Song of the day: The Who “Young man blues – live at Isle of Wight“

Daily Life, Government, Politics

Yogi Bear And Pic-a-nic Baskets
  • We had a bear come visit the other day. Our security cameras caught him in all his glory sauntering around our front door and then making his way over to the garbage cans. He was a big fella with obviously no shortage of pic-a-nic baskets in his diet. It’s always good to be reminded from time to time that we are not the top of the food chain. I know nothing about bears, but clearly it’s not hibernation time yet. I guess I’ll need to take the dogs random barking at seemingly nothing more serious now.
  • Filed under, time get the pitchforks out yet? If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth watching this short clip of an LA restaurant owner in tears. She’d spent thousands of dollars trying to comply with the random lockdown rules, creating outdoor dining with tables properly spaced. All so she can stay in business and try and pay her rent. She shows up and what does she see? A catering company for a movie shoot right across from her restaurant, setting up huge tents and tons of tables… not spaced out like she’d been ordered to. Hollywood will have different rules because they’re woke and are big campaign contributors. If that doesn’t make you want to give a big F-you to the government and bust out the tar and feathers, I don’t know what will.
  • Speaking of lockdowns, a bunch of Bay Area counties are rushing to make sure they kill all business just in time for Christmas. I’m not exactly clear on how you can enforce “stay at home except for essential business”? Last I checked, you are under no obligation to tell any government official where you’re going or what you’re doing. I’m pretty sure we don’t require “travel papers” to move about in this country.
  • While on the subject of Third Reich analogies… The city of Pasadena will now have “volunteers” walking the city streets to ensure people are wearing mouth diapers. Snitch on your neighbors! Earn fun prizes!
  • I’m always suspicious of people who seem to like publicity a little too much. Dr Faucci certainly seems to be milking his 15 minutes for all it’s worth. The dude is on any TV show that will have him, multiple times a day. Clearly doing “science” doesn’t take much time out of his day. It was no surprise that he jumped at becoming Biden’s “medical advisor”. Cue the book deal in 5,4,3….
  • On December 5th 1933 the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibition, was repealed. I’ll drink to that!
  • The other day China landed an unmanned vehicle on the moon and planted (another) Chinese flag. It’s unfortunate we don’t have actual news anymore in this country or you would have heard about it. DNI Ratcliffe thinks China is the worlds greatest current threat to freedom. Come on man! China’s our partner.

Song of the day: Junkie XL, Elvis Presley “A Little Less Conversation (Elvis vs JXL)”

Daily Life, Government, Health, Politics

Basic Dude Stuff
  • I’m sure I’ll be accused of perpetuating “toxic masculinity“, but oh well. Pat Mac is clearly on the far end of the masculinity spectrum, but his general message should be shown to the youth of today. He started posting some silly clips to his Instagram titled “Basic dude stuff”. Quick little clips of general stuff most guys of older generations knew. Tying knots, gardening, taking care of your tools, chivalry, cooking, driving skills, exercise, shooting, etc… Things that I took for granted, but seem to be lost on the current generation of youth. I look at my younger nephews and just shake my head. I love ’em to death, but worry for them and their generation. Even though they’re of driving age they have no interest in getting a drivers license. No interest in being active in the outdoors. It’s all about gaming. They’ve never had a job. By the time I was their age I’d had paper routes, mowed lawns, and been getting on a Greyhound bus each summer and traveling across the state to work as a lifeguard for months – alone. No parental supervision, no cell phone, and had to walk across town to the laundromat each week to do laundry. Thirteen years old. I couldn’t wait to turn sixteen, be able to drive and explore. I honestly don’t know how my nephews will survive and what kind of men they’ll grow up to be? Maybe the online gamer, manbun, intellectual is what women want today? And speaking of women… I think “basic dude stuff” should apply equally. Actually I think the young women of today are becoming more badass than the boys. It’s a brave new world.
  • A laundry list of voting infractions in Georgia was presented yesterday. Most shocking was video footage showing suitcases of ballots being revealed from under desks in Georgia vote counting facilities after poll workers were reportedly told to leave the room. Yawn. Nobody cares. Almost zero media coverage. How is this even possible? It’s frightening to think about what sheep we’ve become.
  • Speaking of sheep, the Governor of CA, apparently worried that the LA mayor was upstaging him in the unchecked power department, shut down the entire state. I still don’t understand how one man or woman has the power to unilaterally destroy businesses and livelihoods like this?
  • If you still think the mandatory mouth diapers everyone wears are the magic anti-covid solution, you should read Alex Berenson’s investigation into mask research. He’s busy doing what journalists used to do in a bygone era.
  • Was Covid here much earlier than we have been lead to believe? Eh, who knows. Maybe we’ll find out in 2026 when the Durham report comes out.
  • Sorry if I’m sounding a little cynical today. I was pulling my dogs tail in the shower, tripped over him and broke my foot. Hmm, ok. No, you’re an eighty year old man who tripped getting out of the shower. We’re one broken hip or getting the ‘rona away from President Harris.
  • If you’ve ever worked in a tech company, the Work Chronicles comic will make sense to you. This is why I no longer work in tech.

Song of the day: 311 “All mixed up (live)”

Daily Life, Government, Politics

The Delicate Art Of Zoom Cooking
  • Last night Mrs Troutdog and I participated in an on-line Zoom cooking class. It was sort of a corporate thank you gift. They sent a meal kit with all the ingredients, aprons emblazoned with the corporate logo, and a bottle of wine paired for the meal. Everyone connected on-line at the appointed hour and a celebrity chef walked us through putting our meal together. Or at least that’s how it was supposed to go. To the chef’s credit, this would be a hard forum to work in. He’s got an hour to get this done. It’s not in-person so people can’t really ask questions. Because it was real-time there was no way to go backwards if you missed a step. The chef was high energy and moved quickly. The end result was a frenetic hour of us trying to chop, stir, sauté, and mix while desperately trying to keep up. There were zesting accidents that drew blood. Literally every bowel, pan, and dish in the kitchen got pulled out at some point. We were laughing like maniacs as we just randomly threw ingredients in pans because we’d missed what he did. It ended up being pretty fun, but the kitchen looked like a war zone at the end. Good times, but I sure miss doing things in person with people.
  • Project Veritas dropped another recorded call from CNN. In it they discuss that they are not going to air the Hunter Biden emails. If you’re an honest person and have been a fan of CNN, I’d hope this at least makes you wonder what else they’re choosing not to report.
  • The great shearing event happened yesterday. To my great surprise, Mrs Troutdog said she likes my hair a little long, it just needed to not be so unruly. I feel sorry for the hairdresser trying to interpret my cutting instructions. “We’re trying to cut it today, so it will grow out correctly in a Brad Pitt look. Not Fight Club Brad Pitt, but Legends of the Fall or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Brad Pitt. Can you do that?” She gave me a long look and said, “so do you want it above the ears or over the ears?”. Sadly, I did not come out looking like Brad Pitt.
  • While they haven’t all been Democrats, the vast majority of the “rules for thee, not for me” crowd have been. Why is that? At some point, people are going to have had enough. The randomness of the rules shutting down bars, restaurants, and boutiques, yet the Walmarts and Costcos remain open isn’t going to be tolerated forever. At some point this is going to get ugly and violent. Do these power hungry elites really want to put our police in the position of enforcing arbitrary rules on some poor schmuck who’s going to lose his business? I can’t eat at a restaurant, but I can go to Home Depot and stand in line with hoards of other people to buy tacky inflatable Santas and other Christmas crap? I hope people start pushing back soon.
  • It’s interesting how peoples perception of distance changes. We’ve got friends who just moved to our little town from LA. Previously they would have thought nothing of driving 45 minutes to go 20 miles just to do an errand. I caught him yesterday complaining that there was no easy route to get out of the neighborhood to the store (that’s two miles down the road).
  • The clock is running out for Trump. The electoral college votes on December 14. Seven business days left to make something happen. I don’t see it occurring. Do I think there was pretty significant fraud? Yep. To the level that Powell and Giuliani are claiming? Not so sure about that. Mrs Troutdog gets frustrated at me for being so pessimistic, but I think the swamp, the establishment, the deep state or whatever you want to call it, is just too entrenched. These people don’t want the status quo to change. I honestly don’t think the republican party wants to be in charge – they’d have to actually take a stand on something and that might risk their re-election chances. Much easier to run to the TV cameras and make fiery speeches, then go back and do nothing. Sorry, I’m a little cynical today.

Song of the day: X “More fun in the new world (live 1983)”

Daily Life, Health, Politics

Yo Hippy, Get A Haircut!
  • Everyone has a chore they hate doing. Dusting, mowing the lawn, cleaning the inside of the microwave, organizing the Tupperware, everyone has something they dread. For me it’s getting a haircut. Don’t ask why, I just do. Maybe in part it’s because in my head I’m convinced I’ll soon look like Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall. The reality is closer to greasy Appalachian trailer park resident. The same with facial hair. Any day now I’m going to have a Jack Murphy beard. Reality is… well not that. So my cycle is let it go until it’s embarrassingly long and I’m coating it in major amounts of hair goop to keep it out of my face (or wear a hat every day), then shave it all off. And every time I cut it I swear I’ll schedule a haircut every five to six weeks like clockwork. At my age I guess I should just be grateful I still have a full head of hair to worry about. Anyway, today’s the shearing day.
  • Speaking of hats, an update on the surgical cap. I don’t particularly like it, but it’s doing the job and saving the tops of my ears from the surgical mask ear loops. It’s clear that even though they say “unisex”, they were designed for women. I ordered something that’s more like a doo-rag to see if that works better. Stay tuned, part two.
  • The injury update – I have a bruise that goes from my hip almost to my knee. It looks gruesome, but doesn’t really hurt. When I landed on the key fob it created a tennis ball size hematoma. All that blood has to go somewhere. It looks like I got hit by a truck.
  • So Project Veritas manages to secretly record CNN editorial calls for months. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that CNN is nothing more than a propaganda machine for the left. I’m sure secret Fox news meetings would be similar. Never air anything that hurts your political agenda. These are not news organizations. I’m not sure we even have just straight news anymore? For me the most humorous part is CNN “referring this to law enforcement” when they have no qualms about doing the exact same thing.
  • I was going to make a joke about the woman who “lured” a 14 year old boy to her home and had sex with him. I suspect my sarcasm wouldn’t be appreciated by the outrage crowd, so never mind.
  • I had a patient go AMA last night. For those who don’t know, AMA stands for “against medical advice”. The patient had a fall a week ago, finally came in and had an unstable vertebral fracture. The neurosurgeon ordered bedrest until a rigid clamshell brace could be fitted. The patient completely ignored the bedrest orders and spent the day walking around the room (complaining of pain) despite everyone’s attempts to describe the potential for further injury. At the very end of the shift the brace arrived and the patient took one look at it and said hell no I’m not wearing that, I’m leaving. After spending the better part of an hour (and ignoring all my other patients) trying to convince this person to stay and wear the brace, printing paperwork, explaining the consequences of leaving AMA (the massive bill insurance won’t pay), etc… the patient packed up to leave. Several minutes later he hit the call light so he could ask where his pain pill prescriptions were? I informed him that if you leave AMA there are no more scripts. Cue the lengthy, expletive filled rant on how we don’t care about people and do we not understand he’s in pain? Oh, and can I help him get his shoes on because he can’t bend over that far. Is it any surprise that I’m becoming very cynical about the human population?

Song of the day: Nena “99 Luftballons (Live 1983)”