Tag: Politics

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Health, Solving the wrong problem

Do You Smell That?

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • We came home last night to an odd smell and a bathtub full of, well, sewage. I’m no expert, but that’s not normal. Our main sewer line to the house was completely clogged. This is where you realize that one of the most important things for you to acquire as an adult is to “have a guy”. A trusted mechanic. A handyman. A snowplow service. And, of course, a plumber. I firmly believe that the truly powerful people in life, from entrepreneurs to politicians to mobsters, got that way because they cultivated a rolodex of “guys” who can get things done when needed. Feminists please don’t get your panties in a bunch – I’m using the stereotypical “a guy” as a figure of speech. Yes I fully realize the “guy” you need may be a woman. For example, we stumbled upon a trusted decorator that’s done some great work for us who’s a woman. Wait, men can be decorators as well. Shit, now I’ve stepped in it. What was I saying? Oh right, we now have a plumber who did great work at a fair price added to our rolodex of non-gender specific trusted servicepersons.
  • Things that smell part two. Did you see the Trump campaign’s press conference yesterday about post-election lawsuits and alleged voter fraud? I don’t blame you if you didn’t as probably only two networks covered it. This brings up two points. Ok, three. First while I personally think most of the allegations will fizzle out, I do think there’s enough smoke to warrant serious investigation. Second, you cannot credibly claim the press is unbiased. Just like the Hunter Biden laptop, this is a major story and needs to be covered. The intentional choice to spike stories that don’t fit the media’s group think narrative is probably the single biggest reason Trump lost. And third, as he’s done for most of his presidency, Trump continually harms his message with his choice of messenger. Independent of the message or strategy being accurate, Giuliani is a horrible spokesperson for the campaign and should have been relegated to behind the scenes work a long time ago.
  • Update to the sore ear/surgical cap crisis. I’ve worn the silly wannabe do-rag bouffant cap for a week now. My ears are much happier because the mask ear loops are connected to cap, not my ears. My self esteem lost a few points, but at my age I don’t really care.
  • As California moves from stage Saffron-Yellow to Crimson-Burgundy, the governor announced a state wide 10 PM curfew. More keys to solving the Covid puzzle! Turns out the ‘rona is a night owl. As long as we stay below five feet, only go out during the day, and only dine at ungodly expensive restaurants – we’re going to be ok.
  • Started watching the Netflix series “Challenger the final flight“. Very good so far. I still remember exactly where I was when this happened. Working at a ski shop watching a tiny little TV. Didn’t have a single customer all day (wasn’t ski season) and no such thing as a cell phone yet (can you imagine?). I watched solitary all day with nobody to interact with until I got home. Was a very strange feeling.
  • Speaking of Netflix, proof of what I dork I am. Recently a friend asked what I was doing that evening. Mrs Troutdog was traveling so I said “Netflix and chill“. I had no idea that was actually a euphuism for sex. Awkward!
  • While I don’t think it will happen, the mere suggestion by the Biden team of cancelling student debt is enraging. I completed college working and without loans. Please explain how I’m going to be compensated for that. Otherwise, it’s not fair… and isn’t everything today about participation trophies and fairness?
  • A guy who drinks champagne and reviews pine cones.
  • And finally, some kick-ass outdoor sports footage by people wearing weird teletubby onesies. No, really. Worth the watch.

Song of the day: Lenny Kravitz “Are you going to go my way (pinkpop 1993)”

Confirmation bias, Daily Life, Government, Politics

Ye Olde Hypocrisy Cup Runneth Over

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • Let me see if I’ve got this right. Four years of non-stop obstructing, harassment, bias, calling half the country racist, xenophobic, white supremacists. Tearing up state of the union speeches for political theater. Literally calling for your supporters to get in the face of the opposition at gasoline stations, restaurants, and shopping at department stores. How many videos have you seen of leftist/Antifa/BLM crowds chanting and screaming in the face of people in restaurants just trying to eat a meal? (none if you only watch CNN) And NOW you’re the party of unity and healing? A man, who’s stated mentor was an actual racist and member of the KKK, said that he decided to run when he saw the president support white supremacy. Seriously?

    Look, I could care less you supported. Personally I think 90% of both parties are twatwaffles who care only about power and enriching their inner circles. But if you can’t at least admit there’s hypocrisy, media bias, and big tech influence… then you, my friend, are seriously part of the problem. A problem that can only be fixed by becoming a contrarian. Make an effort to expose yourself to many different opinions, not just the ones you agree with. Soon, you’ll realize that most of the steaming turds that run the media (which includes social media) and politics have only one purpose – to separate you from your hard earned quan. I implore you – please don’t be naive enough to believe these folks actually care about you. As the saying goes, if you aren’t paying for something you consume – then YOU are the product being sold.
  • In my never ending attempts at being creative, I’ve been really trying to learn how to make little videos for the YouTubes. It’s working out about as well as my blogging and photography have gone. But, I enjoy learning new things so it’s all good.
  • Just know that if I see you driving alone in your car and wearing a mask, I will laugh at you. Not to go down the mask rabbit hole, but just to illustrate for you that in the real world there is no “scientific consensus” about mask wearing… I’ve been observing the comings and goings of the various doctors at my hospital. Surgeons, neurologists, hospitalists, residents, there is no conformity on mask wearing. Some wander around with a paper procedure mask dangling from one ear. Others wear an N95, covered by a procedure mask and a face shield on top of that. These are folks who are smarter and more immersed in science than most of us and there clearly is no universal agreement on “the science”.
  • Ok, ok, just one more point and I’ll stop. Please find me a graph of any country, state, county, or city that shows the ‘rona case count dropping significantly after a mask mandate. I’ll wait.
  • Today was our first snow. I’m looking forward to forgetting politics and focusing on winter sports. I don’t care many times I see it – the first snow of the year and we run around like little kids. Every damn time.
  • Mrs Troutdog informed me that I’m buying a new motorcycle and gear. My bike (and gear) are from 2005. Can’t say I don’t get the most use possible out of my stuff. The problem is that I’m so overwhelmed by indecision that it’s now winter. I have five more months to consume every YouTube bike review and further paralyze myself. I expect to make a decision sometime around 2023.
  • If the news, media, politics, or the ‘rona are getting you down, do the following. Step 1: Open a beer, pour a glass of wine, or pop some champagne. Step 2: Scroll through images of Quokka’s.

    You’ll feel better, I promise.

Song of the day: Katy Perry – California Gurls ft. Snoop Dogg

Daily Life, Government, Health, Motivation, Politics

It Could Be The Ebola

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  •  I work in a hospital. I am literally surrounded daily by nasty bugs. I never get sick. Never. Mrs Troutdog has a new territory and had to fly to Vegas and LA. Sure enough, several days later she feels like crap. And… several days after that I now have the Ebola cold. It sucks majorly to feel horrible on my precious few days off. I don’t do well just sitting around. I tend to get very negative about life in general, nap, and buy useless junk on Amazon.
  • Speaking of bugs, have you been following the news about the latest epidemic? This year alone there have been 19 million cases, 180,000 hospitalizations, and 10,000 deaths. Oh wait, that’s the flu not the Novel Coronavirus. But yes, let’s freak out about 12 cases in the US. How about we put our critical thinking hats on people? (no, not the tinfoil one)
  •  We’re applying for a very hard to get permit for an outdoor activity today. Fingers crossed. More to share if it comes through.
  •  On that crazy running goal I was contemplating… I clearly haven’t been watching enoughDavid Goggins, because I bailed. I can’t seem to muster up the discipline to get my ass up early every single day. More importantly, Mrs Troutdog yelled at me for thinking I was 25 again. It was all in all very demotivating. I need to find some focus with activities and hobbies. I lurch from hobby to hobby, never getting good at any one thing. I think part of it is I have zero structure to my life. I know what days I work and beyond that, there is no plan. On my days off I wake up and try and figure out which of my 37 hobbies I’m going to do. No goals, no plans. There are certainly times I wish I had a more structured calendar. I’m sure there’s a YouTube video somewhere to help with this.
  •  I’ve completely enjoyed watching the goat rodeo that is the DNC this week. They better right their ship in a hurry if they want any chance of competing in the general election.
  •  I spent some time talking to one of our hospital case managers about insurance. Major insurance company A owns insurance company B. Patient who has insurance company A gets approved for rehab in hours. Patient who has insurance company B routinely takes 72 hours. The approval agent is THE SAME PHYSICAL PERSON for both company A and B. It defies description how convoluted our system is.

Song of the day: “Walkin’ On The Sun”  Smashmouth

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Health, Motivation

Groundhog Day, Again

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • Everyone has their own version of Groundhog Day. Some issue that keeps returning time and time again. Mine is this blog and posting creative content to the social medias. My last post was the end of December and after that I started asking myself why? (again)  What’s the point of writing and posting? I’m not angling to become a columnist or make a living with an award winning blog. Same with photography or YouTube videos. I love the creative part, but then ask myself why bother?

    Each time I post a picture or a silly video, if I don’t aggressively promote it to Facebook, etc… it will get a couple of likes or views (or none). But I don’t like the idea of promoting myself because then it makes me feel that I’m only doing it for the vanity of clicks and likes and views. That’s not me. But like the tree falling in the forest, if I post a picture or a bit of writing and nobody sees it… what’s the point?

    Yes, I know that all the creative advice stresses that you need to be creating for yourself. If you enjoy it that’s all that matters. If other people happen to see it and like it, then it’s icing on the cake.

    What prompted this is that out of the blue someone followed this blog the other day. It surprised me since I hadn’t posted anything in so long. It instantly sparked a feeling of enthusiasm towards writing simply because someone cared enough to read what I wrote. Let’s be honest, everyone likes validation of their efforts. Being creative, whether it’s writing, photos, or video is a time commitment. And time is not something I have a huge abundance of. So why am I doing it and should I bother continuing? Sigh… my Groundhog day.

  • In other news, I took up skate skiing. I thought that I was reasonably coordinated and in ok shape – I should be a wiz at this. I got humbled very quickly. It’s hard. As in I can’t go more than a couple hundred yards without stopping to get my heart rate down. I’m sure it’s because I have zero technique and need to invest in some lessons quickly. But… I’m loving it. I’ve even given up some epic downhill days in favor of skate skiing. What’s wrong with me?
  • The impeachment clown show is the end result of the horrible divide in the country right now. This is a partisan hack job of the worst sort by both sides. What worries me the most is that it creates a precedent for any single party control of the legislative branch to remove a president for any reason because the minority won’t have the votes to stop it. That has the executive branch serving at the will of the legislative branch – and I’m pretty sure that’s not what the founders had in mind. If you see this any other way you’ve already been sucked into the biased vortex of whatever mainstream cable news outlet you follow. Do you really think any of these politicians from either side care one tiny bit about you? No – it’s about power and fundraising. Don’t be naïve.
  • I’ve been off the Keto wagon for a while. In support of Mrs. Troutdog, I’ve gone back on. Re-breaking the carb addiction is hard. I’m pretty well fat adapted and it only took a couple of days to be back in ketosis. Unfortunately I’m having dreams about baked potatoes, bread, and rice. The addiction is real.
  • I had a TBI patient who was unpleasant, aggressive, and spent most of the day yelling and cursing the clinical staff. In the midst of yelling every curse word he could think of at me, he stopped and said “You have really nice hair”. So I have that going for me. Hey, at my age the fact that I still have hair is a bonus.

Song of the day: “Don’t doubt ur vibe” Emo G Records (a.k.a. Elon Musk. Yes, that Elon Musk)

Daily Life, Government, Health, Motivation, Politics

It’s A Conspiracy

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology reported that they had their hottest day ever on Dec 17. Expect that it wasn’t. As Tony Heller points out, a cursory look at history would reveal that the past was much hotter. The BOM chooses to ignore pre 1910 data, claiming the thermometers of the time had a several degree margin of error. The BOM (and the US too) happily ignores the modern urban heat island variability however. Is it a conspiracy meant to help push the climate change agenda? I don’t know. I do know there is no such thing as “settled science”. The entire point of science is to invite debate and independent validation of data… when that gets shut down I get suspicious.
  • I’ve been hooked on a YouTube channel called Itchy Boots. It’s a young woman traveling the world on a motorcycle. She’s currently going from the tip of South America to Alaska.
  • Had the first ski day of the season with the hound. I ran enough over the summer that last season’s “long loop” didn’t seem very long today. That’s a good sign.
  • Tulsi Gabbard decided to vote “present” at last nights impeachment vote. I haven’t decided what I think about that. Part of me thinks you should have to commit one way or another.
  • I’m still in a weird place with social media. Half the day I’m disgusted by it all and declare I’m done with it. Which is why I haven’t gotten the camera out in a long while or done much writing. Then I’ll watch a few YouTube creators and get all inspired. Sometimes when you have about 3 followers it’s hard to stay motivated… and I struggle with the idea of self promotion. Is that really what I want to spend my time doing for something that’s just a hobby?
  • The best charts of 2019 from Semi-Rad.
  • Google, Apple, Amazon, and ZigBee announced they’re creating a single standard for home automation. This is a good thing.

Song of the day: “Fly” Sugar Ray

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Health, Politics, Solving the wrong problem

The Shocking Truth

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • I am utterly flabbergasted at the number of people, in today’s day and age, that don’t wear a seatbelt in the car. Somewhere in the ’80’s the seat belt chime was standard in every vehicle. You have to go out of your way to not put on your seat belt today. Every single week (yes, EVERY week) there’s someone on our hospital floor who was ejected during a motor vehicle crash. Here’s the shocking truth just in case you weren’t aware… when an object travelling at a high rate of speed comes to a sudden stop – all that energy has to go somewhere. That energy is you being shot out of the vehicle like a cannon. Trust me, the outcomes aren’t good. Shattered pelvises and femurs from hitting the dashboard on the way out. Broken arms, destroyed shoulder joints. Broken ribs and pneumothoraxes. And last but not least – life altering head injuries. Wear your damn seatbelt.
  • On a whim I ordered a pair of pants from an ad I saw on Instagram (I never do that). So far I’m really impressed with the Northbound Gear pants. Tough, warm, and good fit. We’ll see how they hold up over the ski season.
  • We’ve set a record for the most number of days without a sunspot. It’s a good thing the sun has no impact on climate.
  • My resting heartrate is definitely bradycardic. We have so many stroke patients on our floor I’m freaking out now about my stroke risk. Time to make an appointment with my doc so he can talk me off the ledge of hypochondria. I’ll also be asking to add the Apo B test to my blood panel to find out more about my cardiovascular disease risk. Which is silly because I know that regardless of the result, the answer is to be strict with a better diet. Which I won’t do. I like nachos too much.
  • The Senate just passed the most recent National Defense Authorization Act. Under this deal we will be borrowing $2.75 Billion every single day to fund it. Eh, pocket change. Walking around money. But what’s really important is that you get outraged over this shinny object over here…
  • Gordon protects his little humans every day. We don’t deserve dogs.

Song of the day: “Freaking Out” Juiceboxxx

Government, Health, Motivation, Politics

Triggered

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • Someone posted some political crap on the Facebook the other day that seriously pissed me off. I even contemplated writing about it. This morning I stumbled on a Joe Rogan clip that made me realize it was stupid to even give it any mental time. If you only have, say 100 units of time in a day, do you really want to waste some of them thinking about a stupid comment? No, that’s for losers. I choose to use my units of time in a more productive way. Like reading a twitter thread by Kilian Jornet listing the ski resorts that allow uphill traffic.
  • I made a half-assed decision on the running goal. I will spend the next three weeks training as hard as I can and keeping the diet dialed in. At that point I’ll do an honest self appraisal. If I can stay disciplined, focused, and 100% effort for three weeks… I’m in.
  • We’re thinking about a vacation in March. I’m completely paralyzed about where/what to do. I honestly don’t know what I want to see. What a first world problem.
  • I’m currently reading New Gingrich’s book “Trump vs. China: Facing Americas Greatest Threat”. You can argue amongst yourselves about whether Trumps approach is right or not… What you can’t dispute is how dangerous China really is. If you don’t think so, then you seriously have your head buried in the sand.
  • I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to decide on a firearm for Mrs. Troutdog, mostly centered around pistol vs revolver. I finally decided on the Ruger SP101 in a 3″ barrel. For the limited time she’ll actually practice I think it was the right choice.
  • At the moment I think the democratic choice has to be Bloomberg. Personally I think they should embrace Tulsi. I could actually see myself voting for her. The democratic party is in a bit of a circular firing squad right now. The UK vote should be a serious wake up call for them.
  • I need to (re) learn my heart rhythms and reading ECG strips. Soon we’ll be responsible for our own monitoring (currently a telemetry floor does it for us and calls if there’s an issue). This worries me.

Song of the day: “Foxtrot” Tigerblood Jewel

Cool, Daily Life, Lists

Notions Of Cool V.022

A random list of things and shower thoughts that an old Gen X dude finds cool or worth pondering.

  • The American middle class is shrinking… but it’s because more people are moving to upper income levels, not dropping down. This is not what we’re being told (and not what I thought). The point of this is that you always need to be thinking like a contrarian. The narrative pushed in the media is not always true. Being a skeptic is good.
  • Speaking of media narratives… clearly these “journalists” failed to do even the most basic research when they declared the recent flooding as due to, wait for it, climate change! Unfortunately that region floods and has been doing so forever. But it’s different this time I suppose.
  • Here’s a cool animation of the worlds most populous cities by year from 1500 to 2018.
  • I went to the golf driving range yesterday. It went about as expected. Which means poorly. I came home and was in the process of scheduling a lesson when I stopped. I realized that of the 47 different hobbies I have, golf is not important enough to me to invest more time in. I’ll continue to play from time to time, but I no longer care. I’ll go flail about and enjoy the company and walk. A good decision I think.
  • A hobby I do care about is photography. I did an hour walk downtown to grab some photos. I got absolute crap because I wasn’t focused and didn’t pay attention to what I was doing. I will be renewing my efforts to learn and get better. What I can’t decide is sharing my work – do I post the good the bad and the ugly or just the occasional few I really like?
  • For the most part the media is unable to admit they were wrong about the Mueller investigation. They continue to double down. One of the best examples is chief Trump obsessed former republican morning host Joe Scarborough. The title of this mornings column is “The Mueller war is over – and President Trump won”. That is also the first sentence of his column. Literally the second sentence and every remaining paragraph is dedicated to declaring how horrible Trump is. Good grief. I don’t like Trump, but at this point I’ll vote for him just because I like seeing these pompous media asses get kicked in the teeth.
  • I made a bold move yesterday and decided to go minimal with my wallet. I rarely carry cash and wanted something that would fit in my front pocket. Ordered one of these. Stay tuned for a review.
  • Having hit my weight goal, I now need to decide if I’m going to continue down the keto road, or transition to a paleo-ish low glycemic way of eating? I don’t know yet. Part of me wants to continue keto for a while longer and then check my blood markers. Curious if this has impacted my triglycerides? The other part of me wants nachos.

Song of the day: Rage Against the Machine, “Guerrilla Radio”

Cool, Daily Life, Lists

Notions Of Cool V.021

A random list of things and shower thoughts that an old Gen X dude finds cool or worth pondering.

  • It’s hard not to laugh a little after the Mueller report release. But, as I said before – if you find yourself disappointed, or was hoping this was going to “take down” this president… you are part of the problem. Are you really more interested in allegiance to your tribe than the overall interest of the country? In two years we have another popularity contest and you can vote for the sock puppet of your choice. Until then, let’s try to keep our economy moving forward. Deal?
  • Speaking of sock puppets, if the democrats 2020 entire message is going to be the Green New Deal, Medicare for all, and Trump is evil… they’re going to lose.
  • This is an interesting look at an issue with the Tesla autopilot. I’m a big believer in autonomous vehicles… but we’re still in the beginning stages. It shouldn’t be shocking that there’s problems. As a former software test guy, I’m fascinated at what must be an unbelievably complex test environment for the Tesla software.
  • Yesterday we struggled to get a urine sample from a patient. When we had success I sent it down to the lab. Who then called me to tell me they threw it away. Why? Because I wrote “UA” (for urinalysis) on the label instead of “UCC” (for urine clean catch). Bureaucracy and mindless process drives me insane.
  • I listened to a podcast that had two really smart people with a bunch of letters behind their names debate the cause of obesity. Is it hormone driven metabolism and storage triggered by sugar or is it genetic driven by the brain? The discussion went way into the weeds and devolved into name calling and utter dismissal of the research papers the other guy cited. The entire time I had two thoughts. First, this is what science is – have an idea, do an experiment to prove it, and let your peers try to disprove it. Second, it’s interesting and not surprising that two very smart guys have widely differing opinions on an extremely complex subject – both backed by oodles of research. This almost sounds like… oh, I don’t know… climate research?
  • Cloud kitchens partnered with some sort of Uber model are going to be a huge deal.
  • It’s time to start playing golf again. I spent most of last summer vowing to quit this evil game. I really wish I didn’t enjoy golf, because I hate it so often. I’m generally pretty good at every sport I’ve done – except golf. For the life of me I cannot hit that goddam little white ball. Maybe this will be the season…

Song of the day: Morgan Heritage “Nothing To Smile About”

Cool, Daily Life, Lists

Notions Of Cool V.020

A random list of things and shower thoughts that an old Gen X dude finds cool or worth pondering.

  • The Mueller report dropped. As of this moment we know nothing other than the AG has it. The alphabet channels on all sides of the spectrum are in overdrive spinning and speculating. My thought? I don’t care which side of the aisle you’re on – you should be relieved if there’s nothing in the report. Why? Because it’s bad for country if there is. It would impact the markets, economy, etc… If you’ve been hoping and wishing for some bombshell finding, then you’re part of the problem. Do you really want a president Pence if you’re on the left?
  • The real problem this country faces, and always has been, is China. China will take over as the dominate superpower at some point.
  • I suck at any sort of construction. It doesn’t stop me from trying, but I clearly missed this part of woodshop class. Remember when we actually had wood, metal, and auto shop in high school? Anyway, I manage to strip most screws I attempt to put in or remove. Sigh…
  • A new route up Everest? A cool episode 1 video. Yes, I’ll be watching this one.
  • We managed to find a guy. A handyman. A laborer. Everyone needs a guy who you trust. This guy is from Peru. Came here knowing zero English and started out as a dishwasher. He’d eat scraps from peoples plates while working because he didn’t know how to order something from the kitchen. This guy works his ass off. We are very soft in this country.
  • I’m struggling with the bullet journal. I suppose it’s like any habit. I started out strong, then days go by and when you go back to it… it seems silly to write down things that you already know. Right now it feels forced to write stuff in it. I’ll keep at it. Maybe my thoughts will change.
  • Speaking of writing, I wonder if people like the list form of thoughts vs. a single blog topic? Ultimately I’m doing this for me and I enjoy this more, but I am curious though?
  • No new Instagram stories. Maybe this week. I might drift back to the Facebook. We’ll see.

Song of the day: Propellerheads, “History Repeating”