Guard Dog

I got G's christmas present today. Well, her big present anyway. This lady buys nothing for herself. She is still using a iPhone 5 with a cracked screen. It's a HSDPA phone. 3G. Her service provider is shutting down HSDPA next year and she uses that broken old phone for everything. Well, it's time she joined the the third decade of the 20th century. She is getting a new 5G capable iPhone 13 and an new iPad Air to go with it. I also got her a customized and matching case for each. I wanted to get a gift for B also but was really at a loss on what. Her whole life revolves around school. I ended up getting her a gift card from the place she likes for clothes. And I also got both of them a day at a spa in town call the Salt Room. It's a full service kind of place, hair, nails, skin all that good stuff. I don't think they have done anything like that together in a long time. If ever. I got myself a new phone and new plan to go with it. Long past time. I still have my same number from Florida all those years ago.

Interest rates are definitely going up. Now is the time.

Just had a cup of coffee with Janet and discussed next year's business. Two of my big properties were three year leases and they are coming to term next year. She advised a few way to incentivize renewal and I took her recommendation. There is also some changes in the Farm/Ag exemption for TN before those leases expire if renewed that need to be prepared for. I empowered her to handle maintenance since I'm not going to be around to do it myself. Details, details, details. I'm officially homeless now. Just a PO box in a packing store. I am stopping in Dyersburg to visit my stuff in storage and take a few things back to WI with me. Then it's a long drive to a cold place but a warm welcome when I get there.

How do you figure? I didn't vote for the son of a bitch either time. And if I had voted for Hillary Clinton or Biden that would have gotten them one step closer to the White House? Trump won my state 700k votes in 2020. More in 2016. Voting my conscience made no difference in the outcome. Besides you know why I do it. For 3rd party candidates total vote count is not irrelevant. As for the people who don't show up to vote take it up with them. I show up every time. There are Congressional and State and County elections where my vote actually does matter.

Trust me, a persons political affiliations are no more important and far less interesting to me than the sports teams they cheer for. It's past time our countrymen pulled that splintery stick out of our collective asses believing who we voted for in the last election is actually important.

G is a dyed in the wool true blue Democrat. Just goes to show nobody is perfect.

I watched Navy beat Army today. Great game all the way around. I took G out to dinner and we had a great time. Tomorrow I'm diving down to TN. I'm staying in Dyersburg but visiting the house to make sure no damage from storm. I already asked my neighbor from down the road and he said no real weather out that way. So that's good. What happened in KY & IL is just heartbreaking. Closing is on Tuesday. I'm sort of emotional about it but objectively speaking it's the right move.

The GOP is in complete thrall to the worst elements of their constituency. The Democrats are in thrall to the stupidest elements of their constituency. It would be incorrect to sat "they are all the same". It is COMPLETELY correct to say "they are all terrible". Would you rather french kiss an angry crocodile or swallow a live Bark Scorpion. And remember... you HAVE to choose one!

I learned something new today. I've always heard of the "paper bag test". I thought it meant the girl was so unattractive you had to put a paper bag over her face to "do the deed". The actual meaning it turns out is uglier, meaner, and pretty racist. And suddenly it's not funny anymore.

I was initially put off by the idea of charging the parents with the school shooting in MI. But then I read they gave the kid the pistol. They knew he was looking for ammo. They knew he was thinking about doing what he did. They KNEW his wrapper was loose and they didn't take the pistol he had no business having in the first place? To hell with them. I was 10 years old when I received my first "real" rifle. It was a bolt action single shot .22 and you had better believe my parents drilled into me what it was and what it can do. Safe handling of that rifle was so ingrained in me it's still second nature today. Because pistols are smaller, more complex, and more dangerous (by being concealable) kids should not have them. Not for nothing is the age for buying/owning a handgun set at 21 in most states.

I hate to admit it but this reference was a bit obscure even for me. I had to google this one. I'd never heard of peppercorn rent. You learn something new everyday. I am definitely going to tell her that! But I agree cash would be better off not spending too much time as cash. What to do with is is the question. Gold is around $1700 US. That is overvalued but not by that much. Nowhere near historic ceiling. What worries me actually is why isn't that trending higher faster? Inflation chases gold upwards. And the US has shown little interest (no pun intended ) in doing what needs to be done to rein it in. The answer might be crypto but I don't really know. Most of that trash is trending down. I've spun the wheel in the crypto casino once and really don't want to press my luck.

We started watching WoT last night. We are both in to it. G never read the books. So far I'm liking the actors and characterizations. Sure some liberties and changes are expected but it's still checking off the major plot boxes. My advice to the show runners is keep doing what you're doing. Stick to the broad strokes of the book plots and you've got a real winner on your hands.

Hey guys. I'm still alive and kicking. Just really busy with work. After taking a crash course in 5G technology and network architecture (which is extremely cool by the way) we've hit the ground running on optimizing systems that are already deployed. I've moved out of my place and right now I'm living with G in La Crosse. Things are still going great with us. My house in TN is in contract and looks like we're closing next week. The buyer offered the asking price but had a list of things they wanted completed as a condition. I don't have time for that so I've been throwing money at that problem. I've made the trip twice so far to follow up on that. One hang up is my property there was not a single plot but two separate plots. The house was on a 24.5 acre plot but a year after moving in I bought an additional 2 acres that abutted the river. I never combined them but listed the whole thing for sale as one property. That has created a paperwork hassle. The realtor probably should have caught that but, live and learn. So the buyer is getting the 2 acres for $1. Janet, my lawyer, said that should not be a problem. I've talked to G about buying/building since she is leased in her house for six more months. Undeveloped real estate here is dirt cheap. I mean really cheap compared to other places. Cross the river into MN and it get seriously expensive quickly. Buy dirt and build is the way to go I think. Problem for later I guess. I'm inclined not to make a big move until the economy tanks, interest rates go up and the real estate market corrects. It has to. Once mortgages become more expensive the prices drop fast and a cash sale can get you a good value. Hope everyone had a good T-Giving. Congrats LC on the new place! Take care of that shoulder Azdeus. You ain't as young are you used to be!

So is this an object lesson about not letting undocumented aliens into our country?

LOL I think you were missing Barti's point there.

Believe all of it, believe none of it. It really does NOT matter. Voting for Trump or voting for Biden would have made zero difference for either of us. Somewhere around 170M votes cast. You had one and I had one. We didn't make a difference. But I'm the one who wasted my vote because I choose not to vote for a lesser evil. Whatever. And yeah I think it is ENTIRELY probable that Biden COULD have used his position in the Obama Admin to help cover his son. It can't be proven one way or another so who gives a f--k who believes it. Even if it was all true it's not like anyone is ever going to suffer any consequences from it. I also figure anyone who will actually pay $500k for one of HB's s----y painting isn't buying art. They are buying a favor from the admin down the road. Can that be proven? Nope. It is probable? Yep. Even if I thought Biden was the greatest leader in the history of the office and Trump was the lowest villain in the history of the office and voted for Biden based on that it STILL would not have helped him become President anymore than you voting for Trump would have helped him. So yes, it makes no f---g difference.

I’m glad to see all of your years reading my posts have not been ill spent! JK!

There is something positively sublime about the silhouette of trees against a twilight sky long after sundown as the sound of day birds change to the cries of night birds and crickets. This is something so few people get the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate. I thank God every time I do.

I can't remember if this has been shared here before, so...

Currently reading and

That is a good point. I should’ve said there is no wrong way to get the right answer all of the time. A flawed process will not allow you to consistently solve problems. Even if it does sometimes.

CRT, where is is actually being taught, seems to be whatever the person talking about it at the time wants it to be. A boogeyman, a nothing burger, or somewhere in between. Even objectively speaking two different teachers in the same school are not going to apply it in the same way. Objectively speaking some of the things it's supposed to teach (with the caveat that I've never set foot in a classroom where it WAS being taught and only know what's in the newspaper about it. See previous comment) seem pretty wrongheaded but, whatever. I've decided I don't know (or care) enough about it to talk about it. If you ask me stupid s--t like this is far more damaging to education than whatever everyone thinks CRT is. The notion that insisting math problems be solved with the right answer, or that insisting on students understanding the logical process for math problem solving is somehow racist is both stupid AND damaging. Now that said there is certainly room for improvement in math instruction. In my own experience I was taught one method of solving most problems. And it was the same method that had been taught for decades. I read an article recently about a Geometry teacher in Cincinnati working in a largely minority school that taught her class transformations by having them design apartment layouts. The kids were having trouble grasping the concept so she used a real world example and they understood it. I think that is brilliant. There is no "wrong" way to get a correct answer. But it is VERY wrong not to insist on getting to the right answer. If you can't solve algebra and geometry problems you are not going to understand trig. If you can't wrap your head around trig you will never grasp calculus. Without that STEM is closed off to you.

Laziness is not a mental illness!