Thursday, November 19, 2009
Thotz and Obsuvashions.....
Yep! It's time for another dose of musings and ruminations from yours truly, so let's get started!
Have you ever seen those commercials on late night TV for tax lawyers? You know, the ones that show people saying "I owed the IRS sixty gazillion dollars, but thanks to Ronnie, I only paid thirty two cents!!!" Well, have you ever thought that it's deadbeats like this who are costing YOU money, as the gummint raises taxes again to make up for losses like this??? PAY YOUR TAX BILLS you effing moe-rons!!!
The average age of a US car is now 9.4 years, according to a study conducted by R.L. Polk & Co., an automotive industry consulting firm. My own car, as noted in a previous post, is now past 200,000 miles and counting. That's amazing, when you consider that cars from the 40's and 50's didn't usually get past 100,000 miles about 70% of the time. Even though people seem to be hanging onto their cars longer, I gotta think that when the economy gets better, a lot of these older cars are going to be replaced by owners who would like something newer and fresher. That'll be fine with me. I've never bought a car brand new, and never will. I buy them when they have about 20k on them. This means I'm not taking the two to five thousand dollar depreciation hit new car buyers take after they sign on the dotted line. I still get as many miles out of the used ones as many do with new ones.
If Carribou Bambi didn't want herself on the cover of Newsweek in shorts, then why the hell did the stupid woman pose for that photo in the first place??? Sheesh. And this truth-challenged air head thinks she's competent enough to be your president.
I see Oprah Winfrey is shutting her show down, after a 25 year run. You may not like her politics or style, but you have to admire her for the empire she built. She started from nothing, and ended up being one of the world's richest women. And after all, isn't that the American dream??
And last, a sad story from up here. Last Friday, a newly minted pilot took off from Airlake Airport in Farmington Minnesota. He left around five pm, heading for a weekend of hunting with family and friends in far northwestern Minnesota. He never made it. They found the wreckage of his plane Wednesday evening, and recovered the body the next day. The thing that caught my attention is the fact he left so late in the day. It's my opinion, based on the ticket, (Instrument rated or night. From what I've read, he was VFR rated only.) it's not a good idea for freshly minted pilots to be making cross country flights at night. At night, it's a whole different environment when it comes to flying. Flying around the city is easy enough because of the sea of lights surrounding you. That gives you a visual reference to maintain your planes orientation. To be sure, flying VFR rules at night is legal. But, as I discovered from my own flying experiences, when you're flying over rural areas at night, you are, for all intents and purposes, on instruments due to the near complete lack of visual ground references. It wouldn't surprise me that when the NTSB comes back with the final report, they'll find he was in a descending turn, and impacted the ground at speed. Pretty sad. From all accounts, the newly-wed man was a decent guy. May he rest in peace.
“Death is a part of all our lives. Whether we like it or not, it is bound to happen. Instead of avoiding thinking about it, it is better to understand its meaning. We all have the same body, the same human flesh, and therefore we will all die. There is a big difference, of course, between natural death and accidental death, but basically death will come sooner or later. If from the beginning your attitude is 'Yes, death is part of our lives,' then it may be easier to face.”
Dalai Lama
Have you ever seen those commercials on late night TV for tax lawyers? You know, the ones that show people saying "I owed the IRS sixty gazillion dollars, but thanks to Ronnie, I only paid thirty two cents!!!" Well, have you ever thought that it's deadbeats like this who are costing YOU money, as the gummint raises taxes again to make up for losses like this??? PAY YOUR TAX BILLS you effing moe-rons!!!
The average age of a US car is now 9.4 years, according to a study conducted by R.L. Polk & Co., an automotive industry consulting firm. My own car, as noted in a previous post, is now past 200,000 miles and counting. That's amazing, when you consider that cars from the 40's and 50's didn't usually get past 100,000 miles about 70% of the time. Even though people seem to be hanging onto their cars longer, I gotta think that when the economy gets better, a lot of these older cars are going to be replaced by owners who would like something newer and fresher. That'll be fine with me. I've never bought a car brand new, and never will. I buy them when they have about 20k on them. This means I'm not taking the two to five thousand dollar depreciation hit new car buyers take after they sign on the dotted line. I still get as many miles out of the used ones as many do with new ones.
If Carribou Bambi didn't want herself on the cover of Newsweek in shorts, then why the hell did the stupid woman pose for that photo in the first place??? Sheesh. And this truth-challenged air head thinks she's competent enough to be your president.
I see Oprah Winfrey is shutting her show down, after a 25 year run. You may not like her politics or style, but you have to admire her for the empire she built. She started from nothing, and ended up being one of the world's richest women. And after all, isn't that the American dream??
And last, a sad story from up here. Last Friday, a newly minted pilot took off from Airlake Airport in Farmington Minnesota. He left around five pm, heading for a weekend of hunting with family and friends in far northwestern Minnesota. He never made it. They found the wreckage of his plane Wednesday evening, and recovered the body the next day. The thing that caught my attention is the fact he left so late in the day. It's my opinion, based on the ticket, (Instrument rated or night. From what I've read, he was VFR rated only.) it's not a good idea for freshly minted pilots to be making cross country flights at night. At night, it's a whole different environment when it comes to flying. Flying around the city is easy enough because of the sea of lights surrounding you. That gives you a visual reference to maintain your planes orientation. To be sure, flying VFR rules at night is legal. But, as I discovered from my own flying experiences, when you're flying over rural areas at night, you are, for all intents and purposes, on instruments due to the near complete lack of visual ground references. It wouldn't surprise me that when the NTSB comes back with the final report, they'll find he was in a descending turn, and impacted the ground at speed. Pretty sad. From all accounts, the newly-wed man was a decent guy. May he rest in peace.
“Death is a part of all our lives. Whether we like it or not, it is bound to happen. Instead of avoiding thinking about it, it is better to understand its meaning. We all have the same body, the same human flesh, and therefore we will all die. There is a big difference, of course, between natural death and accidental death, but basically death will come sooner or later. If from the beginning your attitude is 'Yes, death is part of our lives,' then it may be easier to face.”
Dalai Lama
Friday, November 06, 2009
Iffen Yer Good at sumpthin'........
Toby came to live with us in October of 2003. He's the puppy you see in my avatar. He's 80lbs of pure love, affection, and loyalty.
I'd never owned a dog before. I'd always owned cats all my life. So this was a new experience for me. We got him from my Son's girl friend. She'd move into living arrangements that didn't accommodate owning a dog. She was kind of desperate to find him a home, and older dogs (He was 10 at the time.) aren't as adoptable as cute puppies. One day my sons, treading lightly, asked if I'd ever consider adopting a dog. This came out of left field. They told me about Toby, and asked if I'd at least considering meeting him. I told them I'd consider it, but reminded them I wasn't much of a "dog person." I'd always considered them kind of dumb, and maintenance intensive. The girlfrend brought him around that weekend. They suggested that perhaps I could take him for a walk and see what I thought. He seemed nice enough, but I was still doubtful. But, eh, "what the hell!" I thought.
When I returned from the walk, they were all sitting on the front steps of the house with looks of doubt, yet hope on their faces. I walked up to the GF and said "You DO realize you're not gonna get him back, right???"
The rest, as they say, is history. He's proven to be a wonderful companion. He always seems to know when I'm in a crappy mood, and has the ability to bring a smile to my face.
That picture in the avatar (Shown larger above.) was taken about ten months after we got him. He's about 16-1/2 now. Really old for a full sized dog. Various calculators put him between 90-95 years, based on his size and breed. (Mixed, black lab and husky) He's doing pretty well, considering. He's just about completely deaf. You really have to holler to get him to hear you, so I've learned to use body language and hand signals to get him to do what I need him to do. If he's excited and distracted by something, the trick is to get his attention first. He's not quite as agile as he used to be. His rear legs aren't quite a strong as they used to be. But he's still basically healthy and alert.
He never was much for playing. He doesn't "fetch" retrieve sticks, play with balls, toys, or anything like that at all. I think he believes that's all "beneath" him. In fact, I think he believes he's a human. He just doesn't have any pockets for his wallet.
Some things he is good at:
Begging for food in the kitchen:
He's pretty good at that alright. He's learned that whenever I'm cooking, he needs to hang around to snap up anything that might fall off of the counter. You've got to be pretty quick to beat him to something that falls. He will eat anything. I mean that. Meat, of course. But also vegetables, including lettuce, carrots, and even onions. And bread. He LOVES bread. He will do ANYTHING for bread. Get a piece of bread out, and he's yours. You own him. It is the one time he will consent to do "tricks." Once you're out of bread, it's over. Since he's good at eating, it would follow he's good at.....
Shitting:
I'll spare your the pictures of that. You get the gist. And, especially lately..........
Napping:
He's been getting better at this the last couple of years. Notice the carefully arranged papers he's laying on. We didn't do that for him. His usual habit is the shuffle around in a circle several times, before flopping down and arranging himself to his liking. After a minute or so, this all is followed up with a contented sigh. We feed him Iams "Active Maturity." I checked to see if they offered "Inert Old Fart." No luck.
We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us.
Maurice_Maeterlinck
I'd never owned a dog before. I'd always owned cats all my life. So this was a new experience for me. We got him from my Son's girl friend. She'd move into living arrangements that didn't accommodate owning a dog. She was kind of desperate to find him a home, and older dogs (He was 10 at the time.) aren't as adoptable as cute puppies. One day my sons, treading lightly, asked if I'd ever consider adopting a dog. This came out of left field. They told me about Toby, and asked if I'd at least considering meeting him. I told them I'd consider it, but reminded them I wasn't much of a "dog person." I'd always considered them kind of dumb, and maintenance intensive. The girlfrend brought him around that weekend. They suggested that perhaps I could take him for a walk and see what I thought. He seemed nice enough, but I was still doubtful. But, eh, "what the hell!" I thought.
When I returned from the walk, they were all sitting on the front steps of the house with looks of doubt, yet hope on their faces. I walked up to the GF and said "You DO realize you're not gonna get him back, right???"
The rest, as they say, is history. He's proven to be a wonderful companion. He always seems to know when I'm in a crappy mood, and has the ability to bring a smile to my face.
That picture in the avatar (Shown larger above.) was taken about ten months after we got him. He's about 16-1/2 now. Really old for a full sized dog. Various calculators put him between 90-95 years, based on his size and breed. (Mixed, black lab and husky) He's doing pretty well, considering. He's just about completely deaf. You really have to holler to get him to hear you, so I've learned to use body language and hand signals to get him to do what I need him to do. If he's excited and distracted by something, the trick is to get his attention first. He's not quite as agile as he used to be. His rear legs aren't quite a strong as they used to be. But he's still basically healthy and alert.
He never was much for playing. He doesn't "fetch" retrieve sticks, play with balls, toys, or anything like that at all. I think he believes that's all "beneath" him. In fact, I think he believes he's a human. He just doesn't have any pockets for his wallet.
Some things he is good at:
Begging for food in the kitchen:
He's pretty good at that alright. He's learned that whenever I'm cooking, he needs to hang around to snap up anything that might fall off of the counter. You've got to be pretty quick to beat him to something that falls. He will eat anything. I mean that. Meat, of course. But also vegetables, including lettuce, carrots, and even onions. And bread. He LOVES bread. He will do ANYTHING for bread. Get a piece of bread out, and he's yours. You own him. It is the one time he will consent to do "tricks." Once you're out of bread, it's over. Since he's good at eating, it would follow he's good at.....
Shitting:
I'll spare your the pictures of that. You get the gist. And, especially lately..........
Napping:
He's been getting better at this the last couple of years. Notice the carefully arranged papers he's laying on. We didn't do that for him. His usual habit is the shuffle around in a circle several times, before flopping down and arranging himself to his liking. After a minute or so, this all is followed up with a contented sigh. We feed him Iams "Active Maturity." I checked to see if they offered "Inert Old Fart." No luck.We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us.
Maurice_Maeterlinck
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Who Says???
A little under a month ago, I managed to get some pictures of the odometer of my car as it was rolling over to 200,000 miles.
Here's one just as it turned to 199,999.
Here, it's just rolled over to 200,000 miles.
Now, the younger people amongst you might thing "So what??"
Modern cars are pretty impressive. At least they are if you're as old as I am. I'm here to tell you that people used to throw parties when their cars made it to 100,000 miles. Now, that's just getting broken in.
In my case, I bought the car in 2003, with 28,000 miles on it. It was a lease return. Since then, it's been rock solid reliable. Other than the usual tires, brakes, spark plugs, etc, the only maintenance I've have to do is replace the serpentine belt idler pulley. It still has the original exhaust system.
The car is not a Toyota, or Nissan, or Mazda. Nope, it's a 2001 Buick Regal.
Now, it's true that in the past, Detroit built some truly gawd awful cars, while the Japanese auto makers were handing them their butts. The bean counters that were in charge at the time figured Americans would keep on buying their crap no matter what. They were wrong. In the process, Detroit pissed a log of people off. Many I know will never set foot in a Detroit showroom again, and I guess I can't blame them. But, don't tell me that Detroit still builds junk. If you do, I'll look you in the eye and tell you flat out you don't know what the hell you're talking about.
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ..."
Isaac Asimov
Here's one just as it turned to 199,999.
Here, it's just rolled over to 200,000 miles.
Now, the younger people amongst you might thing "So what??"
Modern cars are pretty impressive. At least they are if you're as old as I am. I'm here to tell you that people used to throw parties when their cars made it to 100,000 miles. Now, that's just getting broken in.
In my case, I bought the car in 2003, with 28,000 miles on it. It was a lease return. Since then, it's been rock solid reliable. Other than the usual tires, brakes, spark plugs, etc, the only maintenance I've have to do is replace the serpentine belt idler pulley. It still has the original exhaust system.
The car is not a Toyota, or Nissan, or Mazda. Nope, it's a 2001 Buick Regal.
Now, it's true that in the past, Detroit built some truly gawd awful cars, while the Japanese auto makers were handing them their butts. The bean counters that were in charge at the time figured Americans would keep on buying their crap no matter what. They were wrong. In the process, Detroit pissed a log of people off. Many I know will never set foot in a Detroit showroom again, and I guess I can't blame them. But, don't tell me that Detroit still builds junk. If you do, I'll look you in the eye and tell you flat out you don't know what the hell you're talking about.
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ..."
Isaac Asimov
