Guard Dog

3 days to go….

REVEALED: FACEBOOK’S SECRET BLACKLIST OF “DANGEROUS INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS” Very disappointed I didn't make the list. Have to up my game a bit!

No freaking WAY am I wearing a red shirt with him on board!

I was yawning through the first to acts of, like you said, generic horror movie tropes. I was hoping the payoff would well you know pay off. But I guess I just couldn’t suspend disbelief that far.

Now reading: &

I watched Malignant on HBO Max on Sunday. It sucked. No, I mean it really, really, really, really, sucked. Two hours of my life I'll never bet back.

Not happy. Not happy at all.

I call BS. No engineer is paid enough to afford that view!

The reality is never quite what you dreamt!

Apparently Trump had a rally somewhere this weekend and all but said he’s running for 2024. So any hopes of a GOP return to sanity appear to be vanishing. Maybe he won’t get through the Primaries this time. Maybe support will coalesce around a better candidate. There are a handful of Republicans I would not mind seeing in the White House. Ironically enough I don’t think any of them are planning on running.

A few years ago I might have agreed with you. But over the last few years Xi and the CCP are actively reversing a lot of the actions over the last 30 years that made China economically successful.

Interesting take on Ciri from The Witcher and Daenerys from GoT TV show story arcs

Oh I am so stealing this line!

Two years ago I read a book about Blockchain and was watching it a little bit. At the time bitcoin was selling for around $7200. So I bought one. I sold it a few months ago and made some nice money on it but I was no word the ceiling that it ended up hitting. Oh well. I’m going to have to agree with Bruce, crypto is literally buying air. How much can air really be worth? But I read a great article in Forbes a few weeks ago. Crypto, bitcoin specifically, Will likely be undermined by the fact that people are treating it as an asset and not as a currency. As a currency it enjoys a number of advantages in that there is a finite number that can exist so it is relatively immune from things like inflation. However, as an asset it has very little going forward in that it is not worth anything if it is not a currency. Since it has no intrinsic value it has no bottom price. So it can go all the way to zero. you can definitely make a lot of money on crypto and it is certainly a fad right now. But I’ve decided it’s not for me. My risk tolerance where my money is concerned is pretty minimal. I prefer to invest in things that can never be worthless even if they will never match the yields.

After everything the happened over the last month and a half I didn't keep up with the garden. Most of it was claimed by weeds/lack of irrigation. But the pumpkins did well and I got 21 well formed and medium to large pumpkins out of them. I cut them all yesterday, loaded them in the truck, and donated them to the Baptist Church in Covington for the kids to carve today. I was talking to the pastor who I've become friends with. He's a nice fella but then I've never met a pastor who was an a----e. He invited me to come to the carving after services today for lunch and what sounds like a good time. I declined. I'm a religious man in my own way. But I've become so introverted and anti-social in my old age that a gathering like that sounds.... ugh no thank you. I've spoken, texted or zoomed with G almost every day. Often more than one per day. I can't wait to see her Saturday Morning. Long distance dating sucks. That is definitely something I want to talk to her about next week. I've got some ideas about what a future with her might look like but I don't know how she feels about it. I'm always worried about "moving too fast" but at the same time, we're not kids. We're both over 50 and have "been around the block" and know how relationships work and how to make them work. So it really comes down to what we each want. I was thinking about what Shady & Hurlshot said. I'm willing to go "all in" and start a life there with her if she is. We're not there yet but if that is what it takes I've decided I'm willing to push all my chips to the center of the table for her. I feel good about this one. But I felt good about Stephanie too. The thing that is both good and terrible about having your heart broken is it makes you wary. Speaking of Stephanie she called me Friday night. I wondered if she would. She actually sent me a friend request on FB but I use it so infrequently I didn't even know. This board and a few others like the home improvement forums on Reddit are about the entirety of my "social media". We chit chatted for about 30 minutes. She asked how things are going with G. Made it a point to tell me she wasn't seeing anyone but didn't go beyond that. I'm really not sure what she wants or if she even wants anything. But I'm very wary about telling her much. I can't get a read on her. My first thought was she wanted to soothe her conscience by building a friendly relationship with me after such a bad parting and three years of passively hostile no contact. That may be all it is. I thought I knew her but she is the one who really taught me no one can really know anyone. I've been doing lots of work around the house lately. Catching up on projects I've postponed. I've deiced to get rid of some of the junk I've accumulated. I even decided to sell some of my firearms. I signed up with gunbrokers.com to use their service. They take care of all the legalities and documentation and keeps the transaction clean and legal. It is a worry that a firearm you owned is used for something terrible down the road. That's one of the reasons I never sell them. But I do need to keep my personal belongings a little leaner and easier to move if I decide to do that.

Going to be very busy in the near future. Lots of things happening at once. And maybe some big changes. I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

Good luck!

That’s true. The only way to actually stop and invasion would be to stop the transit of troops from the mainland. They would be extraordinarily vulnerable well on the water.

Taiwan is too far from Okinawa (the closest JDF airbase) for Japanese air interdiction

Completely agree.

I am so sorry KP. I know exactly how terrible you feel right now.