1974

I spent the winter of 1974 in a small, unheated cabin near Hickory, NC. To get to the cabin, I would take one of the east-west roads in Hickory, like 1st or 2nd Avenue, and drive to US 321 and then head north. Not far up 321 there was a dirt road on the right and I'd turn into that. (No doubt the road is paved now.) I'd enter a forest (now a subdivision) and drive until I came to a small cabin. It was a summer cottage and therefore it was unheated. At night (winter, remember), the room would get cold enough to freeze water left in a glass. I slept on a sofa under an electric blanket on the highest heat setting, with several "regular" blankets on top of the electric blanket. There was a sheet metal shower stall in the bathroom, but in the morning the water faucets could not be turned because they were frozen. 

I had no TV but I had a radio. At night I listened to the Larry Glick radio show that was broadcast on clear-channel WBZ 1030 in Boston. That show was a hoot. Glick would call people on his studio phone and talk to them, not telling them their conversation was being transmitted over the air as they spoke. One night he called an airplane pilot who had recently been in the news for being involved in some kind of aircraft mishap. Larry got the pilot to talk about the accident in a fair amount of detail. At the end of the conversation, the pilot asked Larry to not reveal to anyone what he had said. Larry agreed not to tell anyone about their conversation. But, of course, the entire conversation had gone out over WBZ's powerful clear-channel radio waves that probably reached all the way to Mexico.

A popular movie at the time was American Graffiti. The film was set in 1962, on the last day of summer vacation for friends Curt (Richard Dreyfuss), Steve (Ronny Howard), Terry (Charles Martin Smith) and John (Paul Le Mat). They cruised the streets of a small California town, while a mysterious disc jockey (Wolfman Jack) spun classic rock'n'roll tunes that were broadcast over 150,000 watt radio station XERB. That station today is called XEPRS-AM. (For radio aficionados, XEPRS is a Class A, 50,000-watt clear-channel station using a non-directional antenna in the daytime and a three-tower array directional antenna at night. It is licensed to Playas de Rosarito, a suburb of Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico. You can listen here.)

The year 1974 was also the year that a friend and I bought a Chevy camper van and traveled all over America with our three dogs and often with one or more hitchhikers. Fun times!

Lancaster

It's Sunday morning. Church services are on the television. I suspect the only people watching them are the believers who don't need to attend church. Ironically, the people who really need to attend church are out smashing car windows and stealing what isn't nailed down.

My partner Nuria is going to Pennsylvania tomorrow with a group of friends. They're going to the Lancaster area, where the Pennsylvania Dutch live. I've been there and I can attest that it's a beautiful area, with green pastures and white fences and, of course, horse-drawn buggies. The Pennsylvania Dutch eschew all modern inventions, except for the telephone (which must be located outside the house). They don't own automobiles or tractors, and they live the agrarian lifestyle of their forebears.

I visited Lancaster with a lady friend years ago, and I recall we had dinner in a large room with tables that seated about a dozen people per table. I think the restaurant was designed to accommodate tour groups, inasmuch as all the people seemed to be familiar with one another. We (my friend and I) went for a ride in a horse-drawn wagon that was full of other visitors to the Amish countryside, while a tour guide informed us about the Amish lifestyle.

It was a nice trip, and memorable. I'm sure Nuria will enjoy it, especially being with her friends. Anything you do is more pleasant when you have a friend with you. In fact, the person doesn't have to be a friend. I recall the first time I went to Manhattan, I made an aquaintance through a chance meeting on a Manhattan sidewalk, and he gave me a "tour" of the city. I put "tour" in quotes because we were on foot but we saw a lot of the Manhattan tourist spots, from the top of the Empire State Building to the steps of the Kennedy Center and many places in-between. On another trip to NYC I went to Radio City Music Hall and ate a meal at one of the Automats (which no longer exist).

I hope Nuria returns with some nice memories of her trip to Pennsylvania. And if not memories, then photos.

Bump In The Night

My domestic partner, Nuria, hates to drive at night. She has told her employer again and again that she can't work late because she doesn't want to drive home after dark. Nevertheless, they seem to constantly require her to work until after nightfall.

Last night Nuria was again driving home in the dark when BANG! ... she collided with another car. Here's what happened.

The night was dark. Nuria stopped at a stop sign, looked both ways, and proceeded to make a left turn to drive to my house which was located only about 100 feet from the intersection. Suddenly her car was hit by another vehicle. The other vehicle was being driven by an intoxicated individual who was driving with headlights off. Not being able to see his car in the darkness, Nuria had inadvertently pulled in front of him, The other driver tried to pass Nuria's Toyota on the right, but grazed her Toyota's right front fender. Both drivers got out of their vehicles and inspected the damage. Then Nuria ran to my front door to call the police. When I answered the door, Nuria ran into the house muttering some letters and numbers repeatedly. She was repeating the license plate number of the other car. She didn't have a pen to write it down until she got inside my house, and she didn't want to forget the plate number. Meanwhile, the other driver left the scene.

The police came and took Nuria's information. Then the officer, armed with the license plate number, looked up the address of the other driver and then drove to his house to get his side of the situation. (The other driver lives two streets from my house.) Then the officer returned. He said the other driver was indeed drunk, but claimed to have only gotten drunk after he got home. The officer printed out a police report for the insurance company (he assigned blame for the accident to the intoxicated driver who was driving with no headlights), and he gave Nuria a copy of the report for her insurance company. 

The officer left and, for a while, our conversation was about Nuria's accident. The Toyota's damage consists mainly of scrapes on the vehicle's right front fender. It certainly could have been worse. But matters slowly settled and returned to normal. Now it remains for Nuria to have her car repaired, and that will likely be a story with further adventures. 

Right Said Fred

I've been somewhat overweight for a long time. I recently weighed about 216 when my "correct" weight was 155 pounds. I will hasten to add that for me, 155 pounds would have made me a very thin person. At that weight, a breeze would have blown me over. I carried most of the excess weight around my middle. My arms and legs and even my face were fairly "normal" but, as the years passed, my middle went from size 34 to 36 to 38 to 40. 

Then in August of this year, I got sick. I don't know what the malady was, but I was sick from August 1 to August 16. Over those sixteen days, I could eat no food. I could drink water or soft drinks, but I ate nothing and struggled to swallow medicine. When I began eating again, I ate one small meal at dinnertime. That's all I could keep down. Over 16 days, my weight dropped from 216 to 197 pounds. But I thought I might be on to something. I've continued eating one small meal per day in the evening, plus snacks once or twice during the day, and my current weight is 194. My partner Nuria says I should stop losing weight when I reach 190. She says that if I go any lower I'll be too thin. I know what she's afraid of: she's afraid I'll be too sexy for my shirt. Wait -- wasn't "too sexy" a lyric in Right Said Fred's 1991 hit song "I'm Too Sexy"? I think it was.

The song of the day is I'm Too Sexy by English pop band Right Said Fred featuring brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass. The song was featured on their first album, Up, released in 1992.

Voting, Etc.

I drove to the City Hall yesterday (September 25) and cast my early vote in the 2024 Presidential election. I got there about 12 noon, and they were moderately busy but there was no line and no waiting. I picked up a ballot, then took it to a desk where I marked my choices, then took the ballot to the vote-counting machine and fed it into the machine. That was all there was to it. From leaving my home to getting back home took about 30 minutes. The ballot also enabled voting for town council, but I didn't know any of the names on the ballot, nor their positions on any issues, so I couldn't cast a vote for any of them. I decided to vote early because last year I tried to vote on Election Day and the line to vote was so long that I knew it would take hours to get to the Voting Room, and so I left without voting. I didn't want to repeat that experience.

My partner Nuria and I went to Walmart this morning and got our 2024 flu shots. The pharmacist pushed hard for us to also get our Covid shots along with the flu shots, but we resisted just as strongly. We did that last year and we both felt miserable for several days after getting the shots. So I did some research and discovered that many people who got both shots at the same time last year reported feeling bad after the shots. We'll return next week and get the Covid shot.

I was sick last month (August). For the first 19 days, I was unable to eat a bite of food. The thought of eating anything made me want to vomit. So for 19 days, I didn't eat anything. My weight went from 216 to 197 pounds. Since I resumed eating (one small meal per day plus a couple of snacks during the day), I gained a couple of pounds to 199. I need to lose more weight so I'm going to have to double-down on not eating during the day. A small meal at dinnertime is all I really need. But it's hard to resist the call of crackers and cookies.

It's been cloudy all this week. It's overcast today, though the National Weather Service shows a picture of fluffy white clouds in a blue sky. The forecast for today reads, "A chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm." Does that sound like blue skies and fluffy white clouds?

I mowed my yard about two weeks ago, and it needs mowing again, but to do that I have to buy a battery for the lawn tractor. Those small lawn tractor batteries last about two years, and if I buy one at the end of the mowing season, and the battery is dormant this winter, it may not last two full years. So I'd prefer to pay someone to mow the yard, but there are two kinds of lawn-mowing crews. There's the crew that shows up and does a bad job, and there's the crew that shows up only once and you can never contact them again. It looks like I'm going to have to buy that battery and mow the yard myself.

Stay well people, and don't forget to vote.

Keys

I was going to a university in Richmond, VA, in 1966 when we had a big snowfall. On one Tuesday it snowed about 13 inches. I don't know if "official" observations recorded this amount, but I was there and I shoveled snow for two or three hours to free my '55 Chevy from the snow, so I remember how deep it was. Then two days later, on a Thursday, it snowed again, about 12 inches, and my Chevy was buried again. So once more I had to spend two or three hours digging it out. You don't forget experiences like that. No, they're not major life changing events, but they're unusual enough, and pain-in-the-ass enough, that they stay in your conscious memory bank.

That same Chevy has another small story. One night I drove home and parked in front of my house. I got out and shut the door of the Chevy. Only then did I realize that I had just locked my car key inside my car. I had no spare key. So I went inside the house and told my dad what I had just done. He pulled his Buick key out of his pocket and handed it to me. "Try this key," he told me. Chevy and Buick were both made by General Motors, so he had the idea his key might fit the lock on the Chevy. 

And it did. I unlocked the Chevy and retrieved my key and all was good again.

A week or two later I was at my college campus in Richmond when I overheard someone complaining that he had locked his key inside his car. "What kind of car is it?" I asked. He told me. I don't recall the particular make of car, but it was a GM brand. "Take me to your car," I told him.

We walked a couple blocks and he stopped beside his car. I took out my Chevy key and inserted it into his door lock and turned it. The lock popped up and the vehicle was unlocked. All was good again.

I guess that trick with the key is probably in the past. But you never know, so if the situation is dire, you might try it. What do you have to lose?

Golden Gate Bridge

It has been fifty years since I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, so a couple days ago I did it again. I mainly wanted to see if the toll booths had been taken down. I had heard that they weren't collecting tolls on the bridge any longer.

I had forgotten how tall the bridge's supporting towers are. They are impressive. The roadway seemed different. A little more narrow, perhaps. Did they take part of the roadway to create a sidewalk? 

I entered the bridge from the northern end. The last time I drove across the bridge, the toll booths were at the southern end of the bridge. I thought perhaps they would be gone, but the toll booths are still there. But now, they are devoid of employees. There is no one manning the booths. Signs read "Do Not Stop". The toll is still collected, but it is collected by an electronic mechanism rather than human tolltakers. Virginia uses those automated toll collectors, too. I guess the technology spreads fast. 

Crossing the Bridge, you can pay with FasTrak, License Plate account and one-time payment, or toll invoice. If you have two axles (a car) the toll is $8.75, License Plate and One-Time tolls are $9, and a Toll Invoice is $9.75. But if your vehicle has three or more axles, they sock it to you. A License Plate account or a One-Time payment are $27 for 3 axles, $36 for 4 axles, and so on.

I used to think that "Golden Gate" was the name of the bridge. But I learned long ago that "Golden Gate" is the name of the strait that connects San Francisco Bay with the Pacific Ocean.

Full disclosure: I didn't travel to the West Coast. I visited the bridge electronically. I've driven from Virginia to California (and back) and I've traveled to California on business trips when I was younger, But this time I made the trip the easy way: I used Google Maps. You can go there, too, the same way.

Shower Chair

Because of my age and condition, my partner Nuria decided that I might fall down in the shower and therefore I needed a shower chair. In case you don't know this, you can buy a shower chair and sit in it while you bathe. So she bought a shower chair at Walmart. It came in pieces in a box.

We opened the box and took out bag after bag of parts. There were instructions on how to assemble the chair, but assembly required as much guesswork as reading the instructions. It took 30 minutes but we got it assembled. We took it to the bathroom and tried to fit it into the bathtub, but it wouldn't fit. It would fit sideways, but who takes a shower with the water coming at them from one side? Nobody.

We took the chair to the living room and disassembled it. Taking it apart took only half the time that putting it together required. We put the parts back into the plastic bags, but we had bags left over. We stuffed those into the box and taped it shut.

A day or two later, Nuria brought home another chair. This was just an outdoor folding chair that you might use to seat your friends around a BBQ pit and enjoy the warmth of the flames and the smell and taste of pit-cooked BBQ. We opened up the chair and put it in the bathtub facing the shower head. It fit perfectly. 

Now it remained to try it out. I had doubts, but I turned on the shower and adjusted the water temperature and then sat down in the chair.

The warm water sprayed over me. I washed my hair and face, my chest and stomach, and my arms and legs. Nuria washed my back. It was like a massage combined with a warm shower. It was better than I could have ever guessed it would be. I've had a massage done by a professional masseuse and this felt better (though not nearly as long). I'm a believer now. 

What happened to the first shower chair? Walmart said they'd refund our purchase price but they didn't want the chair returned to them. It makes sense. They'd have to open the box, remove all the parts, make sure all the parts were present, repack the parts, and put them back into a new cardboard box. The cost of the labor for doing that was more than the profit they'd make on the chair. 

All in all, it was an interesting experience.

Alcohol

I've never been much of a drinker of alcohol. I used to hang out at an Applebee's bar, and sometimes I would have a beer, but usually it was just iced tea. 

However, in the past year, I've put the pedal to the metal and my consumption of vodka went through the roof. I'm an artist (writing is an art) and everyone knows artists are flawed -- especially the great ones. Look at van Gogh -- he cut off an ear. Artists are famous for drinking themselves to death. Hank Williams. John Bonham. Amy Winehouse. It's a long list, my friends.

My father was an alcoholic. His brother (my uncle) was an alcoholic. His brother's son (my nephew) was an alcoholic. I've no doubt that my family tree, especially on my father's side, is littered with alcoholics.

So I've been trying to cut back. I think I will have to stop completely. I'm okay with doing that. My father was a heavy drinker for many years, and then he stopped completely. But if he went to a party where alcohol was available, and if he was offered a drink, he would accept it. It's a social politeness, But he would never drink more than one or two drinks and he never resumed buying bourbon. But he did have an incentive to quit drinking: his doctor told him on several visits that if he (my dad) didn't quit drinking then he (my dad) would die soon. 

continued a day later... 

I too have an incentive. I've been drinking to get to sleep. My doctor refused to prescribe sleeping pills or even mild tranquilizers for me. So I turned to alcohol. However, I have to drink a lot more than I should in order to get to sleep.

Early Monday morning I got up to drink another shot so I could go back to sleep. But something went wrong and I fell down and hit my head on the floor. I think it knocked me out. Nuria found me but I was too heavy for her to get back into bed, so she called 911 and asked them what she should do. Fairly quickly the street in front of my house looked like a parking lot for emergency vehicles. There were two police cars, two fire trucks, and the paramedics in an ambulance. She said there were eight men in my bedroom trying to talk with me, but I was not responsive. So they took me to a hospital. I "woke up" in an ER room next to a nurse's station. I was there for about six hours before they released me.

I told Nuria that I wasn't going to drink any more alcohol and I meant it. Alcohol is not good for me. 

I had some debate about whether I should publish this blog. I felt like I shouldn't. Nuria encouraged me to publish it. She said there were millions of people like me and some of them may find my blog and benefit from reading about my experience. If you are one of them, you know that what happened to me can happen to you. Don't let it.

VPN

Do you value your privacy? Me too. That's why I use a VPN when I'm on the Internet.

What's a VPN? It stands for Virtual Private Network. One end of the VPN is at my PC and the other end is at the VPN provider. The VPN scrambles my communications so that no one who intercepts my web-surfing or email can know what I'm doing. My data is flowing through a "tunnel" which encrypts the data and obscures my IP address. The other end of my VPN is in Washington D.C., although there are many cities around the world that I could connect with. When I connect with the other end of the VPN, it unscrambles my communications but it continues to use a fake IP addrss. No one out there who may intercept my communications knows my identity. 

There are many VPNs from which to choose. I use PrivadoVPN. Due to a special deal I have with EasyNews, I don't pay for PrivadoVPN. However, if I did have to pay for it. it would cost $1.99/month for 24 months Their website gives a lot more information. If you want to sign up, go to https://privadovpn.com/

Biden Drops Out

Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. I almost breathed a sigh of relief. Although I liked Biden's record during his first four years, I had come to believe that I could not support him for another term in office. He is just too old. Worse, he stumbles through his thoughts and speech. He doesn't look like a man ready for four more years in a high stress job.

At the same time, I knew I couldn't support Trump. He is a convicted felon and an admitted woman molester. Remember the "hot mic" moment on the Access Hollywood clip in which Trump bragged about being able to molest women and get away with it? Except, one woman sued him and won a judgement against Trump. I can't support a molester (and possible rapist) for president. Our country deserves better than that.

So who is going to take Biden's place? My bet is on Kamala Harris. If elected, she would be the country's first female president (it's about time!) and the first Black president. Her father was born in Jamaica and her mother was born in India. That would make her the first president of South Asian descent.

Compared to Harris, Trump is the pasty, old, rich White billionaire. It's not a good look.

Name Tag

This happened a couple of days ago.

My partner Nuria wears a Macy's name tag. It's a white tag with black letters that spell her name, "NURIA". A magnet inside her blouse holds the name tab in place.

A few days ago, Nuria was leaving for work. She put her name tag on, and left the house. When she got to her car, she noticed that her name tag was missing. She looked in her car and under the seats, but no name tag. She left the car and retraced her steps to the front door, but no name tag. I joined the search, walking up and down the front sidewalk, looking in her car, searching under the seats, but it clearly was not there, nor was it on or beside the front sidewalk. It was gone; it had vanished. We continued looking, even taking her car to the back yard so we could search it more thoroughly in safety. I retraced her steps over and over, as did she, but the name tag was gone. In the twenty feet between our front porch and the street, her name tag had utterly vanished. She found the magnet inside her blouse, but the name tag it had held in place had vanished during her short walk down the front sidewalk.

How? 

Procyon

Sixty years ago I enjoyed reading and writing science fiction short stories. I never had any of them published but, all these years later, I have the frst page of one of my stories on my PC. The name of the story is/was "Procyon". I am posting that page below:

A thousand miles from the planet Earth a starship blinked into existence, bringing with it a smaller ship. In the smaller ship a man named Rymer turned his face toward the round viewport beside him and watched the starship dwindle as the engine of his ship placed distance between the two vessels. As he gazed upon it the starship snapped back into nothingness, like a burst soap bubble, and he was alone.

In the warm darkness of his cramped cabin Rymer continued to stare at the space where the starship had been, while his mind braced against the isolation that was already beginning to wash over him. If he could remain alive for the next seventy-two hours he would again see that starship and would move toward it, watching it loom larger and closer until the thin metal shell that was his ship gingerly touched the other silvery hull; then the stars would disappear and he would be on his way home.

He extended a gloved hand toward a switch and the stars began to rain past the viewport. He let the ship roll slowly until he saw the burning spark called Procyon, and then his mind flashed toward a world spinning about that distant sun. His friends were there, as was his life - not here, he thought, on this strange muddy ball called Earth. The starship would reach that distant world in a few days, but his vessel was not a starship and could never make the journey. He was stranded here until the starship returned and nudged against his tiny craft and gripped it in the field of its generators and tore it out of space to hurtle back with it toward that star eleven light years away.

He touched another switch and Earth rose in the viewport, then stopped huge and motionless to fill all space outside the aperture. Rymer stared with cold dislike at the bright planet, for it had caused him to be here and to chance losing his life in hostile space far from his native world. He stared and frowned, while the bright planet gleamed its warm radiance into his face and onto the cabin wall beyond, and at last he rolled the ship away so that he could no longer see the golden world outside.

His eyes skipped among the dials and gauges glowing reassuringly around him before resting upon a screen that held an image of the world outside. As the ship's flight computer executed maneuvers necessary to wrestle the ship into an earth orbit, Rymer adjusted a grid over the image and turned on his reconnaissance equipment. He consulted charts and aimed his instruments at selected points on the planet below, while a machine tabulated radio emission spectra, infrared sources, atmospheric spectrograms, and a dozen other factors. At the completion of his survey Rymer noted with considerable surprise that he had discovered a radio beacon on the planet's surface. Further investigation was required, and as he programmed a computer landing, Rymer wondered if he was about to step into a trap.

A rocket flared silent flame and the ship banked into the first thin stratum of Earth's atmosphere, slowly steepening its angle of descent until the craft began pushing before it a thundering shock wave that streamed back and away from the ship, carrying off the searing heat generated by ramming through miles of atmosphere. Rymer sat inside his small metal world and looked without thinking at the fiery death beyond the viewport.

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July and, like the man said, try not to destroy the neighborhood when you're celebrating...

[Play Video]

The 2024 Election

In about 4 months, on November 5, 2024, Americans will vote for their next president. I support Joe Biden and I'll be glad to explain why.

Compare Donald Trump with Joe Biden:

Donald Trump:

• signed a new tax bill into law that gave permanent tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy, but then applied deferred (for 10 years) tax increases to lower and middle income taxpayers.
• downplayed the severity of Covid, which led to more deaths in the US than anywhere else on earth.
• abandoned our allies and coddled the world's dictators. (I remember when Trump met with Putin; only three people were in the meeting: Putin, Putin's translator, and Trump. Trump had his own translator but did not allow him to be in the meeting with Putin. Why?)
• enacted a policy of separating migrant children from their families at the border.
• emboldened neo-Nazis and white supremacists to the point where they were marching in the streets (remember Charlottesville?)
• Trump's final act in office was to prevent a peaceful transfer of power for the first time in this nation's history.
• Trump is an aspiring dictator and has said so.

Joe Biden:

• led the US to the fastest economic recovery in the entire world.
• secured record climate spending.
• got the government to finally negotiate lower drug prices for Americans along with capping out of pocket healthcare costs for seniors, and lowered the cost of insulin and inhalers.
• passed the inflation reduction act.
• increased veteran health care benefits with the PACT act.
• upgraded our nation's infrastructure with the Infrastructure act.
• created a clean energy boom with the CHIPS act.
• made kids safer with the gun safety law.
• added 800,000 manufacturing jobs.
• added 300,000 clean energy jobs.
• added 15 million total jobs.
• presided over a record stock market, a record economic recovery, sinking inflation, higher wages, and the strongest economy in the entire world.

Gender Roulette

I've been encountering increasing numbers of articles about people who don't identify with their birth gender but want to be considered a member of the opposite sex. So there are men who want to be referred to with the pronouns she and her. And there are women who want to be referred to with the pronouns he and him. 

But there's more. Some people claim to identify as they and them. So we might hear the following conversation:

"Have you seen Blake today?"

"No, but I saw them yesterday."

And if you don't agree that this is acceptable, they will claim that there is something wrong with you. 

This is insanity. Although, I shouldn't be too harsh on him/her/them. Frankly, I identify as a cabbage. I spell my name Brassica Oleracea, I have a glycemic value of 10, and I love sunny days. 

I, too, can play this stupid game, and I think I just won.

Sales

Nuria, my domestic partner, works at a well-known department store. It's called Macy's. She has a flex-time job which means she works 20 to 25 hours per week. Despite this, her sales numbers are ranked number one or number two most weeks, meaning she is outselling full time employees. She also opens more credit cards than the other ladies. How does she do this?

Nuria doesn't wait to be approached by a customer. She walks around the store and asks people if she can help them find what they want. She meets and greets customers and tries to help them. Meanwhile, many of her colleagues are standing in small groups in their departments, talking small talk and polishing their nails. So Nuria is out in the store selling products while her colleagues are waiting for a customer to come to them. Of course, this makes Nuria a leader in sales.

Her colleagues don't like Nuria's outstanding sales record and some of them are now telling Nuria that she should let some of them have credit for a portion of Nuria's sales. They want to have the appearance of doing a better job than they are really doing. They are jealous of Nuria and want to steal the credit for some of Nuria's work.

This really disturbs Nuria, and I don't blame her. I told her, don't give away your number one position in sales just because some people around you are lazy or incompetent. I know she works hard to make sales and I think it's only fair that she is recognized for it. 

What do you think? Do you think Nuria should give credit for some of her sales to her under-performing colleagues, thus misleading the store management? Or do you think hard work should be rewarded with recognition?

Flat Tires

These events happened many years ago.

I got into my vehicle and I drove twenty miles to Richmond, Virginia. I went into a store and when I came out I saw that my right front tire was partially deflated.  I assumed (correctly) that there was enough air remaining in the tire to get me home. When I got to my hometown I went to an auto shop to get the tire repaired. Imagine our (the mechanic and I) surprise when we found a spoon inside the tire. Yes, a freakin' teaspoon. That was the cause of the flat tire. Normally, one might expect to find a nail, or possibly a screw, to be the cause of a flat tire. But this was a teaspoon. Strange s**t happens to me.

Another time, also many years ago, I was driving home from work and my car developed a flat tire. I got out the jack and the spare tire and I began removing the lug nuts holding the flat tire onto the wheel. I removed all of the lug nuts except for one nut. It was "frozen" to the wheel stud and I could not turn it. After struggling with it for a while, I hired a mechanic to chisel that lug nut off the wheel stud. Of course I could have chiseled it off myself, but I don't carry a hammer nor a cold chisel with me in my car. Silly me. And I was in the Boy Scouts. "Be prepared" is their motto. Or rather, that was their motto back in the day when the Boy Scouts was for boys and not boys and girls. When are the Boy Scouts going to change their name? Like, to Boy and Girl Scouts. Or maybe, People Scouts? Hey: are the Girl Scouts admitting boys now?

I know. Off topic. Waaay off topic. It's almost midnight and I'm typing in a dark room with a couple shots of vodka on my desk beside my keyboard. Sorry about that. Uh ...  no I'm not. Not at all.

Those were the times.

Hey Baby

Nuria got home from work and was tired. She didn't feel like cooking. So I drove us to a nearby Texas Roadhouse restaurant. 

We entered the building and a hostess—a young white girl—greeted us. I would guess she was 17 or 18 years old. She said to me, "Hey baby, follow me." We began following her, and I—not fond of being disrespected by children—said to her, "Say 'Hey baby' again and I'll kick you out the front door." I didn't mean it literally, of course. It was my way of saying I don't like being disrespected.

She showed us to a booth and gave us menus and disappeared. A minute passed and a young black waitress walked past our booth and, without looking at us, said "Hey baby."

So now it was on.

I stood and walked to the front of the restaurant and asked to speak with the manager. I told the manager—a young (compared to me) black man—what had happened. He asked me where we were seated and I showed him. A new waitress quickly appeared. She was the sweetest person I have encountered in a long time. Her name tag read "Hannah" and she was friendly and smiled a lot. From the first moment we saw her until we left the restaurant, she was friendly and very helpful. Hannah deserves some kind of reward for exceptional customer service and courtesy. We did leave a tip, of course, but I mean something beyond that. If I ever go back to that restaurant it will be because of the customer service we received from Hannah.

Some people have manners and some people don't. I think it comes down to what their parents taught them. We see the result of poor parenting all around us. And occasionally, we are fortunate to see the result of good parenting.

Paraprosdokians

Paraprosdokians are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected and is frequently humorous.

1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you ...but it's still on my list.

3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

5. We never really grow up—we only learn how to act in public.

6. War does not determine who is right, only who is left.

7. Knowledge, is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

9. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

10. In filling out an application, where it says, "In case of an emergency, notify..." I answered "a doctor."

11. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

12. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

13. I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.

14. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

15. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

16. You're never too old to learn something stupid.

17.  I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find someone older than me.

Sadly this is true!!! 

Spread the Laughter, Share the Cheer,
Let's be Happy, while we're here!

Bookkeeping

When I heard Bill Maher say the following on his show Real Time, I had to laugh.

"It says a lot about justice in America ... Trump was convicted for falsifying business documents, Hunter was convicted for lying on his gun application ... I think it just shows that porn, lying, election interference, drugs, guns, that's all good, but do not fuck with bookkeeping in America ..."

Irony is funny because there is truth in it.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that uses natural language processing to create humanlike conversational dialogue. I use it now and then. I am exploring its possibilities and I thought that it might be interesting to my readers to see what AI can do today. So I decided to ask a short question, and it responded with its answer in less than two seconds. It was probably processing hundreds or perhaps thousands of other requests at the same time it answered mine. So here, below, was our interaction:

---

Me:

my blog is at https://virtualwayne.blogspot.com - can you suggest a topic for a new blog post

ChatGPT:

Your blog, Virtual Wayne, covers a variety of intriguing topics, from personal reflections and everyday observations to philosophical musings and stories about daily life. Here are a few ideas for your next blog post:

Exploring Insect Consciousness: Building on your post about roach consciousness, delve deeper into the scientific research on insect awareness and behavior. Discuss how this changes our perspective on dealing with pests and the ethical implications of insect suffering.

Nuria’s Sales Strategies: Write a detailed post about effective sales techniques, inspired by Nuria's success at Macy's. Include tips on customer engagement, the importance of bilingual skills, and handling workplace conflicts gracefully. This could serve as a practical guide for retail workers aiming to improve their performance.

Music as a Reflection of Emotions: Given your interest in music, explore how different genres and songs reflect various emotional states. You could analyze a few favorite tracks and discuss how they resonate with your personal experiences or broader societal moods.

The Ethics of Karma: Expand on the idea of karma mentioned in your reflections on killing pests. Discuss how different cultures and religions interpret karma, and how these interpretations affect our daily actions and decisions.

The Role of Flex Work in Modern Retail: Drawing from Nuria's experience with flexible hours at Macy's, examine the pros and cons of flex work in the retail industry. Consider how this impacts employee satisfaction, productivity, and customer service.

Daily Philosophies: Finding Meaning in the Mundane: Reflect on how everyday experiences, like dealing with pests or working a retail job, offer deeper life lessons and philosophical insights. This could be a thoughtful piece on finding meaning and mindfulness in routine activities.

These topics not only build on your existing posts but also offer fresh perspectives that can engage your readers. Happy blogging!

---

The above response indicated that ChatGPT read five of my most recent posts. My blog has 1,979 published posts plus 53 posts that are still in the draft stage. Artificial Intelligence is already very powerful and it's just beginning. It will grow exponentially. Will it be a Blessing or a Curse? They say the devil is in the details, and humans had better watch out for those details.

The Next President

On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, Americans will go to the polls to elect a president. Biden is 81, and if he wins the election he will be 82 when he is sworn in. Some people say that Biden is too old to serve another term as president. I agree. But I feel the same way about Trump.

On June 14, 2024, Trump will turn 78. Is he too old to be president? Most voters are not as concerned about Trump's age as they are about Trump's character and temperament.

Here are the words that came to mind when members of a focus group were asked about Biden:

• "Struggling"
• "Senile"
• "Concerned"

Here are the words that came to mind when members of a focus group were asked about Trump:

• "Jackass"
• "Unhinged"
• "Offensive"

In a country with hundreds of millions of people, these two guys are the best candidates we have for the highest office in the land?

Here are the words that come to my mind: "We're screwed."

Elections

My last post discussed Trump and his legal problems. He has been convicted in four trials -- two civil cases and two criminal cases -- that involved 42 jurors. He has lost those trials by 42 - 0. The 42 jurors were picked at random. In Virginia (my state), potential jurors are selected randomly by the jury commissioners using lists designated by the courts, such as the voter registration list and the driver's license list. In some courts, this is done by hand, and in others, it is done by computer. The aim is to be as impartial as possible.

Trump says the civil and the criminal cases were rigged, just as he says the 2016 election was rigged against him. He offers no evidence to support this rigging and no explanation of how it would be possible, other than the statement that if he lost an election or trial then it was rigged against him.

Recall that Trump lost the 2016 presidental election to Hillary Clinton. Trump became president because he won the Electoral College -- an institution that dates back, literally, to the days of travel by horse and wagon. The United States is the only country that still uses the antiquated Electoral College system.

And speaking of the Electoral College, other countries that have given up using an Electoral College system and moved to Direct Elections are:

Latin America

• Brazil
• Columbia
• Argentina
• Paraguay
• Chile

Europe

• Norway
• Finland
• France
• Spain

China

South Korea

Apartheid South Africa

The United States stands alone among nations in using the unfair Electoral College System. Why do I call it "unfair"?

I'll give you one example. Consider the state of California. All of California's electoral votes will go to the candidate who wins the election in the state, even if he wins by just one vote. 270 electoral votes are needed to elect the president and vice president, and the candidate who wins in California will have 54 votes from that state alone. If a candidate wins in California, that one state will give him 20% of the electoral votes that he needs to win the national election, even if he won the state by only 1 vote!

Does that sound fair? Of course not! Why does the U.S. use an antiquated election system when the rest of the world uses the "one man, one vote" rule to elect their leaders? Can it be that Congressmen and Senators know which side their bread is buttered on? Can it be that the people who make our laws don't really want a fair election?

Hillary Clinton got the most votes in the 2016 presidential election, but Donald Trump became the new president. 

Tell me again how elections are supposed to work.

Trump

A reader of my blog asked me to write about Donald Trump. The first thing that comes to my mind is Trump's many legal problems. So let's examine them. Here's an overview of Trump's legal issues and accusations:

Criminal Indictments and Charges

1. New York Criminal Case (Manhattan District Attorney)

   • Charges: 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
   • Context: These charges stem from allegations that Trump was involved in a scheme to pay hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair and then falsified business records to cover up the payments. The case is being prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
   • Outcome: A 12-person jury found Trump guilty on all counts. Trump has vowed to appeal the conviction.

2. Classified Documents Case (Mar-a-Lago)

   • Charges: 37 criminal counts, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements.
   • Context: This case involves allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents after leaving office and obstructed efforts to retrieve them. Special Counsel Jack Smith is leading this investigation.
   • Observation: I have handled classified documents, and I have created classified documents. I authored the documents, and I stamped them with the appropriate classification and a reference to the section of the legal code that governed the classification, but I did not own the documents. They belonged to the organization that employed me. Every night the documents were locked in a special file cabinet in my workplace. I could not take documents home with me. For more information on classified documents, go here. 

3. January 6th Capitol Riot

   • Charges: 4 federal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to violate civil rights.
   • Context: Trump is accused of efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which culminated in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. This case is also being prosecuted by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
   • Observation: the Capitol riot is detailed here.

4. Georgia Election Interference Case

   • Charges: Multiple felony counts, including racketeering, conspiracy to commit election fraud, solicitation of election fraud, and making false statements.
   • Context: This case involves allegations that Trump and others attempted to interfere with the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is leading this investigation.
   • Observation: this case is detailed here.  

Other Legal Issues and Investigations

1. Civil Fraud Case (New York Attorney General)

   • Charges: Trump, his family, and his business are accused of inflating asset values to secure favorable loans and insurance terms.
   • Context: New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit seeking $250 million in damages and barring the Trumps from serving as officers of any New York-based companies.

2. Defamation and Sexual Assault Cases

• Charges: Trump has faced multiple civil suits alleging defamation and sexual assault, including from E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of rape and subsequent defamation when he denied the allegations.

At this date (June 1, 2024) Donald Trump is running for the office of President of the United States of America. The U.S. Constitution states in it's 14th Amendment, Section 3, that:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

It would seem that the 14th Amendment, Section 3, would bar Trump from holding office again. But it's not that simple. The applicability of the 14th Amendment, Section 3, to Donald Trump is a matter of legal interpretation and is currently a subject of debate. 

Key Considerations

1. Previous Oath: Donald Trump, as a former President, took an oath to support the Constitution.
2. Engagement in Insurrection or Rebellion: The key question is whether Trump's actions related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot constitute "engagement in insurrection or rebellion." This term is not precisely defined in the Constitution and would require interpretation by courts or legislative bodies.
3. Legal and Judicial Proceedings: Applying Section 3 would likely require a judicial or congressional determination. Various lawsuits and legislative actions might be pursued to address this issue. There have been attempts to use this provision in various states to disqualify Trump from appearing on ballots, but these efforts would need to be resolved through the legal system.

Arguments For and Against

• For Application:

  • Proponents argue that Trump’s actions leading up to and during the January 6th events, including his speech and alleged incitement, amount to engagement in insurrection.
  • Legal scholars and some lawmakers assert that Section 3 was designed to prevent individuals who have betrayed their oath from holding office again.

• Against Application:

  • Opponents argue that Trump's actions do not meet the legal definition of "insurrection or rebellion."
  • Some believe that using this provision would set a concerning precedent and should be avoided unless there is a clear, unambiguous case.

Current Status

As of now, no definitive legal ruling has been made on whether the 14th Amendment, Section 3, disqualifies Donald Trump from holding office again. The issue remains contentious and would likely require resolution through the courts or a significant legislative process.

In summary, while there are arguments and efforts to apply the 14th Amendment, Section 3, to Donald Trump, its application is not straightforward and would necessitate judicial interpretation and possibly legislative action.

The Roach

I had a roach in my house. I gave it 24 hours to leave the premises. Then I killed it.

I have three methods of killing roaches. One way is to grab a can of roach spray and give the creature a good dose. If that doesn't work, then I hit them with the can. The third way is to use a glue board.

The trouble with the glue board is that when I pass by I see the roach struggling to free itself. I feel sorry for the little creature. It didn't intend to harm me. It was just looking for a meal when it got stuck to the board.

But after watching the struggles of the last roach to be caught in the glue, I began to wonder if roaches have feelings. Are they tiny robots or are they conscious? I never thought much about it, but I decided to look it up. I went to Google and typed "are roaches conscious" into the search bar.

I found an article online that had sentences like:

"Far from being six-legged automatons, they [insects] can experience feelings akin to pain and suffering, joy and desire..."

and

"...insects have thoughts and feelings..."

and 

"Cockroaches have complex social lives."

So, are insects conscious? There is a growing consensus that insects are, indeed, conscious. They are aware of themselves as distinct from the world they inhabit. 

So I guess that when a cockroach gets stuck to a glue board, it is aware that it is having a bad day. All it can do is struggle until it dies or until it is killed. So it suffers. Its suffering and death is a tiny bit of karma headed my way.

Don't even ask me how I feel about killing a mouse.

Nuria Part 3

My partner Nuria has a job at Macy's. She's not a full-time employee, but rather, she works something that Macy's calls "Flex". I assume that is short for "flexible hours". Most weeks, she works about 20 to 25 hours.

Nuria's biggest complaint about Macy's is not the company itself, but the other employees she works with. Nuria says they don't work hard enough. When Nuria sees a customer wandering the store, she goes to the customer and greets them and asks how she can help them. This action often initiates a sale, and Nuria may end up selling that customer hundreds of dollars of product. 

As a result of this action, Nuria is consistently in the number two or three spot with regard to sales, and I am referring to the total dollar amount of daily sales. She is one of the store's top sales people even with her part-time hours. Nuria works. She doesn't dawdle. She gets out and engages with the customers.

Another asset is the fact that Nuria is bi-lingual. Her native language is Spanish, and Macy's has many Hispanic customers. Her Hispanic customers feel much more comfortable speaking with Nuria, because many of them have a poor command of English. 

Nuria sells Macy's products in the truest sense of the word. She doesn't stand around and wait for a customer to bring a product for her to "ring up." No, she's a sales lady. She sells the product. She's friendly with her customers and puts them at ease while she shows them things that they may like to purchase.

Another thing she does is sign up people for a Macy's credit card. The store considers credit cards to be very important. Signing up five or six people for credit cards is a good day.

So a couple days ago, Nuria was at the point of making a big sale -- hundreds of dollars -- plus signing the customer up for a credit card, when another sales clerk came over and told the customer that if she didn't buy that day, she could come back in four days when a sale was scheduled and save money by purchasing the items on sale. So the customer canceled the entire transaction -- both the purchase and the credit card. Nuria was furious but she held her tongue.

Next, I expect the other sales people will be telling Macy's customers to which competitor they should take their business if they want to pay less. But that is not why Macy's is paying them.

The purpose of a sales clerk is to make the sale by helping the customer decide what he/she needs and wants, and to fulfill the transaction. In this instance, Nuria carried out the first part: she helped the customer decide what she wanted. But then the other clerk intervened and the sale was lost. Will the woman return and buy the product she wanted? Maybe. Maybe not. 

There's an old saying: "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Nuria had a sale, it was worth a certain amount of money. With the interference by the other clerk, Nuria traded her sale for a smaller sale that may or may not take place in the future.

Maybe the Macy's sales people need to be reminded that their job is to sell. Some of them seem not to have gotten the memo.

Nuria Part 2

My last post was about my partner, Nuria. There is a little bit more to know about her, so kindly allow me to expand upon my previous post.

In addition to running my home like a business, Nuria is currently on the Board of Directors of a Costa Rican corporation. She is the Treasurer of the corporation. She is also an interpreter and she facilitates communication between the English-speaking owners of the corporation and the Spanish-speaking lawyers and bureaucrats in Costa Rica. 

I often find her on the phone speaking in Spanish and then I know she is doing her corporate job. I took a nap today and when I awoke and came out to the living room, Nuria was in the den with the door closed, speaking in Spanish. She closed the door because she didn't want to awaken me. She's very thoughtful that way; when I'm in bed, she walks around the inside of the house so quietly that it's like she has cat paws. 

Side note: how does Nuria speak with people in Costa Rica? She has two cell phones: one phone has a USA number and the other phone has a Costa Rican number. She uses the phone that is appropriate for the call she is making. (I have three phone numbers, but that's a longer story.)

While living in Costa Rica, Nuria worked as an Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of Manufacturing for a multi-national corporation. When he (the Vice President) had to make a trip to a Central American country to scout and facilitate building a manufacturing plant, Nuria would organize the trip and arrange for necessities such as airline and hotel reservations.

How this talented woman ended up living in my house and sleeping in my bed still amazes me. She has many activities: she recently went on a tour of Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina. She goes to the local Senior Center four times a week for exercise and other activities. And as I mentioned, she took a job at Macy's just to prevent herself from becoming bored. She should be running Macy's. If she were running Macy's, maybe they wouldn't be on the verge of closing a bunch of their stores. She has a sharp eye and she knows where Macy's is falling short.

To sum up Nuria, I would call her a go-getter, a doer, a dynamo, a hustler, a self-starter, and a workhorse. But maybe I'm a little bit biased.

One more thing: she's a very good cook.

Nuria Part 1

My partner Nuria will be home soon. She worked today.

Nuria doesn't have to work, she just likes working. She has a job with Macy's. She is always among the top three or four sales people at her store and the managers there like her. Even though her job is part-time and she usually works 25 to 30 hours per week, she sells more product and opens more credit cards than most of the Macy's sales clerks. 

One time, she was the administrative assistant to the Vice President of Manufacturing for an American clothing company. She had a lot of responsibility including arranging trips for her boss to various places, including some Central American countries.

She's taken over my house. She cleans it, cooks meals, washes dishes, does the laundry, and in general runs the house like she's managing a business. I just try to stay out of her way.

I take meds twice a day. If I'm still in bed when it's time for my morning meds, she brings them to me with a little cup of water. In the evening, she reminds me or she might just bring them to me, along with water. 

She just pulled up. Gotta go. Talk at you later.

... later ...

Sorry for the long delay after the last sentence, but Nuria was giving me a briefing on her day. She sold something that the computer said they should have five in stock, and they had none — because of shoplifting, which goes on constantly. And their security guard quit. The shoplifting is overwhelming, and everything at Macy's is good quality. The store is set to close in about a year, and the closing is probably due to losses that result from the ever-present shoplifting. Do people not realize that nothing you steal is free? You can pay cash now, or you can pay with your soul later, but you're going to pay.

Finger-Pointing

From the news:

"A woman checked out of a Florida hotel and told staff that she was going on a God-directed shooting spree because of the solar eclipse, then shot two drivers on Interstate 10 before being arrested and charged with attempted murder Monday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol."

I wish I could say that this is the first time I've read about someone killing people because they think God wants them to do it, but it's not. I've also read about people killing people because a dog told them to do it.

Readers: make a mental note: If you think you hear God telling you to go outside and shoot people, it's not God who is speaking to you.

What is it with "God told me to do it" and all the crazy, hurtful stuff people blame on God? Like, "Sorry that I have to hold you under water (or crush you under heavy stones) but this is what God wants me to do." That has to be the lamest excuse for torture and murder that has ever been conceived.

On the other hand, I'm fairly sure that God wants me to enjoy a nightcap at bedtime. If He didn't, then He wouldn't cause me to have insomnia every night. Am I right, or am I right?

Brain What?!

Seen in the news:

Brain worms like RFK Jr.'s are more common than you think, doctor says

Brain worms?

Brain worms?

Is that a thing?

For those who don't read the news, here's the news: RFK Jr. wants to be president of the United States of America. Having "brain worms" must throw a wrench into the gears of a presidential campaign.

For me, just the possibility that a candidate has brain worms is enough to make me think "No thanks, there are other candidates."

On the other hand, if "brain worms" are a real thing, it could explain a lot of what our government does.

Writings From the Past / 2003

From a blog I wrote in 2003...

December 8th, 2003

Time is short now. It’s Monday already, and cuz’n Ron and his wife Betty will be driving up from Florida on Wednesday, so I’ve hustled today to get things done. Washed the bathroom and kitchen, vacuumed, put stuff away. My house still looks like the place the Beverly Hillbillies moved from. 

I’ve got a special treat for cuz’n Ron and Betty. I’m gonna plug the fuse back into the electric water heater circuit. Because I know how married women get ... spoiled. And the guys who live with them for any length of time ... spoiled. Just a hint that they might bathe in cold water and it’s whine, whine, whine. Heck, when those married guys were 15 they would go camping and bathe in a mountain stream, which is basically melted snow, and they’d hop around and holler and have a good time. But now, the mere suggestion that the shower nozzle emits ice water and it’s ... you guessed it ... whine, whine, whine. People are getting soft.

So I plugged the fuse back into the water heater circuit. I’m trying to keep people happy here. 

---

December 9th, 2003

My concern today is food, ‘cause I know Ron and Betty aren’t going to want to drive 800 miles to visit me and then spend their time buying groceries and cooking meals. Of course, I could give them a choice - buy groceries and cook food ... or ... don’t eat for five days, take your pick. But I will admit that five days is a bit of a stretch. When I do it I run out of energy after three days. Of course I, being a single guy, just scrounge food wherever. Usually, my kitchen holds enough food for maybe two meals, one of those meals being peanut butter.

I don’t cook. Never have, never will. But I can “cook” simple things ... meals so simple that what you’re really doing is more “heating up” than “cooking”. So tonight I decided to prepare their first meal in advance. Beans. Yes sir. Betcha that was a big surprise. But these won’t be any ordinary beans, no sir. These beans are gonna be sweet-'n’-sour beans. These beans are gonna be tasty beans. These beans are gonna be great beans.

I had a little trouble finding enough bacon grease for the beans. There’s only so much grease in a pound of bacon. I hope it will be enough.

In The Beginning

Before the universe … I almost said “was created”, but that would be jumping to a conclusion … before the universe existed, there was nothing. There was a void: no space, no time, no matter, no energy. Nothing. Nada. Zip. You may reasonably think that before the Big Bang, there was just empty space, and the Big Bang was an incredible explosion that took place at a point in this empty space. But that is not the case. Before the Big Bang, space did not exist. Hence the term void. The Big Bang was the event that created SpaceTime and all the matter and energy in it.

While the void was empty of space and time, and empty of matter and energy, it was not without its own properties.  We know this because something happened in it (or to it): the Big Bang happened. Before the Big Bang, the universe did not exist but the void existed. It was empty but it was something.  It was not Nothing. Even if it was only some kind of purely mathematical space, it existed and it had properties. Perhaps it was a thought generated by a non-material mind.  Perhaps the void was Potential.

From the instant of the Big Bang, something else seems to have come into existence. Something besides time and space and energy. That something was all the laws of physics, and all the laws of mathematics, and all the laws of geometry, Plank’s constant, the speed of light, quantum mechanics, and all the rest.

Where did these laws come from? Why should there even be any laws?  We think of these laws as governing the behavior and interactions of sub-atomic particles, or the way those particles interact with other kinds of energy. But perhaps the particles and the energies created by the Big Bang are what define and give rise to physical laws. (Certainly the characteristics of SpaceTime gave rise to the laws of Euclidian geometry. Humans can think of alternate (non-Euclidean) geometries that don’t exist in our universe but which are internally self-consistent. Perhaps those geometries exist elsewhere.) If the void had existed for eternity without spawning a universe, then why should our universe have suddenly popped into existence 13.7 billion years ago? Why did the Big Bang happen at that particular moment? Why did it happen at all?

The properties of the void made the Big Bang possible. Perhaps when the Big Bang occurred, a subset of the void’s properties crystallized out of an infinity of Potential and became our universe.

And now, theorists theorize that there may be many universes … perhaps an infinite number of them. This collection of universes is called the multiverse. The laws of physics may be different in each universe. In many universes, the laws of physics are such that matter could not form … or stars could not form … or life could not develop. In our universe, the laws of physics turned out perfectly for us. We live in the rare “Goldilocks Universe” where all the laws of physics are finely tuned for us to be here. That’s not a very satisfying explanation for why the universe is so finely tuned for matter to exist, for stars to form, for life to be possible. Instead of invoking deity, science invokes the multiverse. But if we can’t prove the multiverse exists, we might as well say it was magic.

Alice

Alice was 29 years old when I was born. She was 34 when my brother, Kenneth, was born. When Alice was 35, she and my father, Durward, moved into the house on Lafayette Avenue. I started school that year. When Alice was 47, I graduated from high school. When she was 52, I graduated from college. Alice still lived in the house on Lafayette. She had lived there for 17 years.

After 5 years and suffering from a severe anxiety disorder with panic attacks, I left my job and moved to another city.  Alice was 57. For a short while I traveled the country in a van with my dog Shadow. My anxiety and panic attacks made it impossible to work and nearly impossible to do anything normal, so I moved back home to the house on Lafayette. I stayed there for 12 years. While I was there Alice retired. She was 65 and had lived in the house on Lafayette for 30 years. Eventually a friend who knew about my anxiety problem offered me a job. It was win-win. I had an income and he had a less expensive employee than he could otherwise have hired. I moved to take the job. Alice was 69. She had been living in the house on Lafayette for 34 years.

Eight years later her husband of 50 years, my father, died. Alice was 77 years old and had been living in the house on Lafayette for 42 years. She lived there alone for another nine years until she died at age 86. By then she had lived in the house on Lafayette Avenue for 51 years.

She always hated the tiny kitchen.

Rudimental

The song of the day is Waiting All Night by English band Rudimental. 

I wrote about this song in a previous post that was also titled Rudimental. That post contained Rudimental's Waiting All Night soundtrack, but the video was about the true-life injury and recovery of BMX champion and actor Kurt Yaeger. The soundtrack to that video was Waiting All Night and it is Rudimental's performance of that song that is shown in this video.

Immigration

My partner Nuria had a meeting with USCIS (U.S. Customs & Immigration) in Norfolk, Va, yesterday. I drove her to the USCIS office. There was a line at the door because they only admit one person, or a couple, at a time. We waited outside for about 30 minutes (it was cold) and finally they admitted us. Nuria was called to an office almost immediately, while I waited in a room with the hardest chair seats I have ever sat upon. 

The meeting lasted about 40 minutes. Nuria had been hoping that at the end of the meeting, the interviewer would say, "Welcome to America. We will mail you your green card." The words she least wanted to hear were, "We'll mail you our decision." But those words were exactly what she was told.

The interviewer went into great detail, questioning Nuria about an incident that happened in 2010. At that time, Nuria was living in Roanoke, Va, and one day she received a letter asking her to come to the courthouse on a certain date for jury duty. So Nuria followed the instructions and went to the courthouse. She waited a long time while other potential jurors were interviewed. Finally it was Nuria's turn to be interviewed. 

The trial involved a person who robbed a BB&T bank in Roanoke, Va. At that time, Nuria worked for BB&T bank, though at a different branch. Nuria knew the woman who was robbed. That caused the judge to excuse her from participating in the trial.

Later, she received a $30 check in the mail and a thank you letter from the Court. The USCIS interviewer asked Nuria if she considered the $30 a "payment." Nuria told her "No," and that she considered it a reimbursement of expensives (gasoline, missed pay, etc.) that Nuria may have incurred as a result of going to court for jury duty. But the USCIS lady was very intrigued over this incident and asked Nuria many questions. At the end of the interview, she told Nuria that USCIS would mail their decision to Nuria.

Nuria is a fine person. She is a blood donor and a plasma donor. She participates in community activities such as picking up litter from the streets. She has filled out hundreds of pages of forms and questionaires about herself and her life history for the USCIS. And yet while putting Nuria under a microscope, this country appears to allow entry of millions of illegal aliens about whom we know little or nothing—including their whereabouts after they've entered. I'm sure that most of them are decent people who deserve some kind of refuge, but there seems to be a double standard at play.

It reminds me of the Mariel boatlift in which over 125,000 Cubans entered Florida in 1980. Many of them were convicts, as Fidel Castro emptied his prisons and mixed those people among the other Cuban refugees. Except what is happening on our southern border is so much larger and longer lasting than the boatlift. And Nuria, a small, elderly lady who loves America, is scrutinized by Immigration as if she were a Mafia member. It's an upside-down world sometimes.

Shoe Battle

Fashion shoemaker Christian Louboutin is well-known for their line of red sole women's shoes. In fact, the red sole is trademarked by Louboutin.

Trademarks are important. They have value and are considered to be part of a company's assets. So when fashion house Yves Saint Laurent brought out a line of shoes of various colors, including red, that were the same color all over the shoe, including the sole, Louboutin filed a lawsuit against their competitor. Louboutin claimed that by making a red shoe with a red sole, Yves Saint Laurent was infringing upon Louboutin's trademarked red sole.

A district court in New York gave an opinion that agreed with Louboutin. But on appeal, an appellate court's opinion was that a shoe may have a red sole if the remainder of the shoe, inside and outside, is also red. Louboutin's trademark relied on the fact that the red sole versus a different color on the shoe's "upper" is distinctive and thereby worthy of a trademark. But the appellate court decided that Yves Saint Laurent's line of shoes having the same color all over was also distinctive and trademark-worthy.

Enter Donald Trump, hawking his own brand of sneakers. The sneakers are gold-color and have red soles. Of course. With all the colors of the rainbow available to him, Trump chose red for the soles. 

I see another lawsuit on the horizon.

Kavinsky

The song of the day is 2012's Nightcall by French musician, producer, DJ, and actor Kavinsky (real name: Vincent Pierre Claude Belorgey).

And God Said

Nothing has been happening lately. I have to drive Nuria to the USCIS field office in Norfolk, VA on Thursday next week. I think I may have a small hole in my left rear tire. I pumped it up to 35 pounds and I'll be checking it from day to day to see how long it takes to leak down. I plan to buy a can of Fix-a-Flat to take with me. I'll also be taking my tire inflator, which I always have in the back of my Jeep. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Other than getting ready for that trip, nothing has been happening to me. Oh, there was one thing. God visited me while I was lying in bed. I couldn't sleep, as usual, and then God appeared. I was alone in bed. Suddenly God stood beside my bed. He was very glowy. 

"Are you God?" I asked.

"I AM," God said.

"I think I just pooped in my underpants," I said.

"Don't worry. I will magically clean them when I leave."

"What brings you here tonight? Are you always with me?"

"I am. Always."

"Were you with me when I fell off the pier in Hickory?"

"Yes. You swam back to the pier, and you don't know how to swim. Remember? That's why you're alive today."

"Were you with me when I got swept out to sea off the coast of Nags Head?"

"Yes. I showed you how to slip into the water and kick while holding onto the inner tube. That's why you're still alive."

"Were you with me when..."

God interrupted. "What part of  'I am always with you' are you having trouble understanding?"

"You have me there. But so much bad stuff has happened in my life, that I have doubts that you were always with me."

"I understand. You had bad times. But remember, those times could have been much worse. You never got killed or killed another person with your car when you drove recklessly as a teenager. You did so many reckless things and skated through them without a scratch. I was with you."

"Will you be with me until I die?"

"I will be with you for long after your body dies."

"Thanks, God." 

"You're welcome. Good night."

I went to sleep immediately, which was strange, because I usually have insomnia all night.

Nuria Homeward Bound

My partner, Nuria, is flying back from Costa Rica to Richmond, VA, today. Her plane left Juan Santamaria International airport at 1:21PM CST and is due into Fort Lauderdale International airport at 5:30PM EST. Her next flight leaves at 10:05PM and takes her to Orlando, FL at 11:22PM. Then she gets on a flight at 9:10AM tomorrow morning and arrives in Richmond at 11:33AM.

After all that traveling and spending two days awake, I know she'll be tired. I hope, when she arrives here, she has enough energy left to go to the grocery store, buy food, then come home and cook a meal, clean the house, change the sheets on the bed, and wash and dry the laundry.

I know what you're thinking. Why don't I do some of those things? The answer is: because I'm a man, and men don't know how to do any of that stuff.

The odd thing is, before Nuria moved in with me, I used to do all those things. Come to think of it, I mostly ate frozen dinners, I didn't clean the house, but I did wash and dry the laundry. The washing machine and the clothes dryer did most of the work, but I did have to push a button and turn a dial. Cooking a meal usually involved pushing a button or turning a dial, too. That's my strong suit: pushing buttons and turning dials. If Nuria can carry the dirty clothes to the cellar and put them into the washer and add soap, I can handle the rest. "Hey Nuria, where do you set the dial on the washing machine?" After she answers me, I can handle the rest. And people say cooking and cleaning is a lot of work!

The truth is, Nuria is very old-fashioned in some ways. She feels certain things are her job, and everything else is my job. I mow the yard. I call a roofer to fix a leak (I don't climb on roofs any longer). I call a technician to clean the boiler every year. I keep the oil tank filled with #2 heating oil. I paid to replace ten windows on the ground floor ($8300). I paid for a new sliding patio door ($2430). I paid for a new garage door ($1900). If you're a homeowner, you know the list goes on and on. I'm glad that Nuria wants to cook and clean. I just hope she doesn't read this blog post and get some new ideas.

5:30PM:  

Nuria just landed at Fort Lauderdale. She sent me this photo as the jet was arriving. Next leg of the flight: 10:05PM to 11:22PM. It will, of course, be dark, so probably no photo.

Winter Monday

It's a beautiful winter day in central Virginia. At 3PM the sun is shining brightly and the temperature is 54°F. I just went out to the garage and cranked up the lawn rocket. I mean, the lawn tractor. (Sometimes when I'm driving it, it's a lawn rocket. That's when I'm flying across the yard, with the uneven earth bumping my butt up and down on the seat.) The tractor's battery still works. So I put a charger on the battery and in an hour I'll go out and remove the charger. I try to boost the charge every week instead of letting the battery sit dormant through the winter as I usually do, so that maybe, when spring and grass-mowing season arrive, the battery will still start the tractor. The battery usually lasts for two seasons, but with periodic charging and luck, I may get a third season out of this battery. 

In six days my partner Nuria will return. She left to fly to Costa Rica on January 9, but it feels like she's been gone six months. I wonder how it feels to her. She's with her family, and she's been visiting her doctors and her banker and she took a two-day trip to a beach with one of her family members—daughter, or sister, or both—and I'm glad she's getting some fun. I'm sure it makes living with me more tolerable.

I'm charging Nuria's Garmin. I gifted her with it a couple years ago. Bad idea. She's never used it. I've never used it. I've tried to use it, but it's too difficult. I used to have a Tom Tom and it was easy to use. I thought a Garmin would be similarly easy, but I was wrong. If I need a GPS on the road, I use Waze on my phone. It's easy to use and is a very handy program. It is not without the occasional error that sends me in a circle, but those are easy to figure out and get out of. In times gone by, I've driven all over the United States, from Atlantic Coast to Pacific Coast, from Montana to Texas, with nothing more than a paper road map, and I never got lost. I didn't care if I did get lost—it would simply have made the adventure more interesting.

It's almost 4PM. In other words, it's time for breakfast. Breakfast is the first meal of the day, regardless of when it's eaten. It is the meal that breaks the fast of not eating since the previous day. Hence the name "break-fast". I haven't eaten anything today and at 4PM I'm becoming mildly hungry. Until next time, stay safe.

Bob Seger

The song of the day is 1980's Against the Wind by singer/songwriter and musician Bob Seger. Seger is accompanied in this video by country music singer Jason Aldean.

Etiquette

Every day I receive a phone call from a person who sounds like a young woman, possibly a young teen, but maybe not yet a teen. The voice asks to talk to Wayne. The caller never identifies herself, nor does she state the reason she is calling. She just asks, "Can I speak to Wayne?"

I don't reply. I don't reply because I don't know who she is or why she wants to talk to me. It could be a con, a trap of some kind. More than that, I don't reply because she treats me with disrespect. I am far older than this young person, and I expect someone of her age, who doesn't know me, to address me by my last name. I think I've earned that. When I was a young teen, I called older people mister or missus and I used their last name. I would never think of calling a much older person whom I didn't know by his or her first name. That would be very disrespectful.

But of course, many kids today are not taught the rules of respect. Their parents weren't either. They are being rude and don't know it. That's not my problem. I don't take their phone calls because they don't give me enough information to make an informed decision. Who is calling me and why are they calling me? They never say. They just ask to talk to Wayne. 

I look upon this behavior as a small example of a larger problem, which is the general decline in respect and civility in our society. I see so much of our society becoming a society of savages. They have no manners and they don't care. They respect nothing and no one. People who respect no one, including me, may find that they receive little respect in return.

Children and young adults: try to learn basic manners. The effort will always be in your best interest.

Elmer

When Nuria left for Costa Rica, she put me in charge of her plants. What could go wrong?

I know how to water plants, and she told me when to water them, and how much water to use on each plant. Most of them have done well. Except for this plant, which I call Elmer.

Since the photo was taken, I've cut off all the brown leaves, which doesn't leave much of Elmer, but he does look better.

I've watered Elmer and he gets plenty of sunlight, so why does he appear to be dying? Maybe Nuria's green thumb can save him when she returns. She'll be back on Super Bowl Sunday. I hope that's not too late for Elmer.

To Connect With God

1. Be truly authentic. Be yourself no matter who you are around. Your authentic version of yourself is who you are, not the version you show others. There is beauty in authenticity, which you see in the very young and the very old, because as you come into this world, or leave it, you don't care what people think. Accept yourself.

2. The reason you are here is to learn, to create, to embody love, and to use the power of love to create.

3. Love everyone. Truly, unconditionally, love all people and all of creation.

4. Listen to your inner voice. Listen to your conscience, it's a direct connection to God.

5. Use technology responsibly. If you get too distracted then you will not recognize the inner voice.

6. Release all prejudice. Love the soul that exists inside each of us.

7. Exercise the power of creation. Earth is the classroom. We can create; it begins with our thoughts, our habits, our actions, our character, our destiny. So control your thoughts.

8. Avoid negative influences: toxic environments, relationships, jobs, schools. Call on the Creator to bring a barrier of protection between us and negative energy.

9. There is a purpose for evil. We are always learning from our mistakes. Without evil there is no good.

10. We are all one in creation—in God's body—because we carry the spark of God within us. All earthly beings carry that. Harming another being harms God.