Mon. Jan. 4, 2021 – ah, love the smell of fresh new year…

Probably quite nice out today.  Low 50s when I went to bed, and forecast is for sun and moderate temps.

Sunday was very nice out after late morning.  I ended up doing inside stuff, and not much of that before I headed out to my secondary location.   Once there, I went through some stuff and made some plans for today.   Kids are still home from school until tomorrow, but my wife’s office went back to everyone working from home due to the upswing expected in wuflu cases.  They can work from home so why take the chance?  She’ll be watching the flock from home today while I’m out.

Anyway, I’ll be headed over to clear out some more stuff.  So much stuff.  A lot piles up over 17 years.  This is going to be the longest I’ve ever lived in one place, including my childhood if we make it another year.  If you  move every few years, you get a chance to go through all your stuff and cull.  I’ve been too busy/lazy/preoccupied to do the culling on my own, so now it’s a daunting task.   The reward is there at the end.  If I can  make enough room to run my own online auction sales, I get to keep 40% more of the money.   I’ll be doing 80% more of the work, but them’s the breaks.  TANSTAAFL after all.


 

With the new year, it’s traditional to make some goals.  I’m not big on Resolutions ™ but  I do have things I want to work toward, if the universe is headed in the same direction.  If it’s not, no amount of work on my part will overcome that.  So, what goals?

Broadly, improve our living situation.  Improve our physical and  mental condition.   Improve our future.

I’m starting by getting all the superfluous stuff out of here.  That is number one.   Congruent with that is turning a bunch of it back into cash.    Then get somewhere to go, if it becomes wise to go somewhere else.  That goal has a large input from my wife, so compromise is the name of the game.  It will be an escape hatch, not a primary residence.  We are tied to this area for the foreseeable future with work.  If that changes, then other possibilities open up.

We’ll also continue improving what we already have here.   That means secondary power system up and running, and maybe a tertiary system as well.   It means doing upgrades to the house and grounds like finishing some remodel stuff, possibly doing some security upgrades, and doing some other projects that improve our current lifestyle and harden us against future problems.   We’ll be proactively doing some maintenance and upgrades to infrastructure too.  And I’ll be working on the gardens in the spring because hope springs eternal…

It also means working on myself and the family.  My wife is anxious to do more physical activities with the kids.  I’m realizing that I have to WORK at maintaining my physical self, or I will lose abilities.   I can’t afford to lose much 🙂  A bit more biking, hiking, boating, and certainly STRETCHING is in my future.   It means staying healthy.  It means working on new skills.  This is a good year to introduce the kids to firearms and to other defensive pursuits.  Both have expressed the interest, it’s just a matter of doing it now.  I’m no spec ops ninja but I can get them started with the basics.  If we can get some bushcraft/camping/fishing/hunting in, that will be even better.

All of those things can be applied to ‘working for the future’ too.   My planning horizon expanded dramatically once we had the kids.  I went from being a guy who wouldn’t commit to a multi-year magazine subscription to being a homeowner with college savings plans for the kids.  11 years has gone by in an eye blink.

GET STARTED by the way.  Whatever it is, in 5 years you’ll be well along the way if you just GET STARTED.  Continuing to accumulate stuff, skills, friends, and options is what I believe will give us the best chance of getting through what’s coming.  YMMV.

Seriously.  If you’re single, turning everything into cash (or equivalent) and becoming a modern nomad might be a better choice than digging in harder.  Or the two of you buy a boat and start the endless cruise…or RV…  or get into politics and join the parasite class.   If the rise of islam is inevitable, converting early and wholeheartedly makes the most sense- so there are other approaches than mine.

Whatever is coming it won’t be the end of THE world.  It might be the end of my world or your world, but there will be someone on the other side of it, just like the Civil War, WWI & II, the rise of the Soviet Union, and whatever happens here next.  Stick it out.  Get through.  Look for opportunities to thrive.  And keep stacking.

 

nick

 

67 Comments and discussion on "Mon. Jan. 4, 2021 – ah, love the smell of fresh new year…"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    You would be surprised how many databases are made in Excel.

    IIRC, ODBC can open an Excel spreadsheet like a database file for SQL queries, and I think Excel can open DB III and other single user database formats through the same bridge library.

    Another feature dating back to the mid-late 90s implemented as part of the strategy to kill the Clipper cottage industry and get everyone on VB.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    I’m getting disk full errors, but I’ve deleted the giant log files again. There is a file in /dev called ‘core’ described as ‘link to program crash data’ and its size lists as 140.9 TB. It’s property listing says ‘size on disk 0bytes’. SOMETHING is convinced my disk is full. Can I just delete that file?

    added- after a reboot, now the disk shows 400 GB free, although that file is still there….

    Doing “ls -l /dev/core” from a console should show the file as a symbolic link back to /proc/core. The /proc directory is a virtual file system sharing information from the kernel, and the 140 TB is not actually using any of your storage.

    That isn’t the culprit consuming the storage space. It sounds like something was using a big chunk of space in /tmp prior to the reboot.

  3. Ray Thompson says:

    IIRC, ODBC can open an Excel spreadsheet like a database file for SQL queries

    It can if the proper drivers are used. Some apps require the 64 bit driver and that is not generally installed by default. (Or is the other way around 32/64, memory fails me). That same connected can also write to Excel spreadsheets. It requires that a section in the spreadsheet contain a named range. That named range is what is read, and written, with the named range being the name of the table. Column names are the SQL columns.

    In my prior working life I built an application that would deliver a spreadsheet to a user with the spreadsheet populated with data. Different data for each user. Lot of trial and error to make it all work as needed and avoid multi-user issues corrupting data.

    Subbing again today, and tomorrow. Floater. Move from class to class to accommodate the demands placed on the teachers by mandatory student testing. Seems odd to be having some sort of state mandated testing the first two days after coming back from Christmas break.

  4. Greg Norton says:

    I joked a couple of months back that life was starting to imitate the art of the “Star Trek” episode “Patterns of Force”, but now that doesn’t seem so funny anymore.

    Put a big retro mike in front of the face of Biden in the picture, just like the way the “Fuhrer” John Gil addressed the masses in the episode. That’s what the Inaugural Address will look like. No parade — God forbid Biden has to show some kind of movement.

    https://bigleaguepolitics.com/joe-bidens-inaugural-parade-cancelled-citing-coronavirus-concerns/

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  5. drwilliams says:

    @Greg
    “Put a big retro mike in front of the face of Biden in the picture, just like the way the “Fuhrer” John Gil addressed the masses in the episode. That’s what the Inaugural Address will look like. No parade — God forbid Biden has to show some kind of movement.”

    Nailed it.

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  6. Ray Thompson says:

    “Patterns of Force”, but now that doesn’t seem so funny

    I have long thought that same thing when I see Biden speak. I don’t know if he is capable of an original thought.

    I also wonder who came up with the backdrop that states “Office of the President Elect”? There is no such office. Never has been any such office. Biden may be the president elect but he currently holds no office of any kind. Those backdrops were visible the day after the election thus indicating that those backdrops were prepared well in advance. Sort of like Super Bowl winner hats and t-shirts with the loser items getting destroyed after the match.

    I still maintain that Biden is just a stepping stone to get Kamala Harris into office without her going through a real election. Biden will resign, be declared incompetent, die, commit suicide by two gunshots to the back of the head with a rifle (the Hillary plan), or otherwise be removed from office. Shortly after Biden has completed two years as a puppet for Pelosi Biden will be out office. Kamala Harris could never get elected on her own and this method of getting her into the oval office is the best the corrupt democratic machine could devise.

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  7. Greg Norton says:

    I also wonder who came up with the backdrop that states “Office of the President Elect”? There is no such office. Never has been any such office. Biden may be the president elect but he currently holds no office of any kind. Those backdrops were visible the day after the election thus indicating that those backdrops were prepared well in advance. Sort of like Super Bowl winner hats and t-shirts with the loser items getting destroyed after the match.

    My former brother-in-law works for a company in Orlando that will put together those kinds of elaborate stages for presentations, complete with podium, monitors, AV gear, and backdrop. Mostly, they do Pentagon and military base briefing room work, but they will take money from anyone. Pro work, many employees with art backgrounds at the local theme parks or tech at Lockheed Martin.

    Biden isn’t the President Elect until Wednesday after the vote in Congress.

    As for Superbowl winner hats/t-shirts, I used to live across the street from the VF Industries (think Lee jeans or North Face coats) silkscreening plant in Tampa that did those. A few would be done in advance for each side, but, to fill the orders for most of the country, the plant would run all night starting the moment the clock ran out at the game, with a constant stream of trucks hauling boxes of finished apparel to the Fedex air cargo terminal at the airport a few miles away. Every city in the US would have some gear by 9 AM the next morning, with more following within 3-4 days.

    For now, we can still do logistics even if most of the manufacturing isn’t here.

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    Didn’t obamma start the President Elect nonsense? I remember push back on him, but again, Overton window…

    I don’t recall whether Trump used it.

    n

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  9. Greg Norton says:

    Didn’t obamma start the President Elect nonsense? I remember push back on him, but again, Overton window…

    I remember Bush 43 doing it as part of the mind game after the first court case ruling in Tallahassee.

    The Dems got better lawyers and PR after 2004 with Perkins Coie finding the car trunk ballots for Al Franken in 2006. 2008 saw the elaborate stage in Grant Park in Chicago using the science museum’s facade as a backdrop. Of course, the outcome wasn’t in doubt then, with the Chosen One’s coronation a foregone conclusion.

  10. Pecancorner says:

    ah, love the smell of fresh new year…

    LOLOL! That a a great line! Made me giggle!

    I also wonder who came up with the backdrop that states “Office of the President Elect”? There is no such office. Never has been any such office. Biden may be the president elect but he currently holds no office of any kind. Those backdrops were visible the day after the election thus indicating that those backdrops were prepared well in advance.

    Obama used the title, too, in 2008, complete with faux “seal”, in front of his fake Corinthian columns. His campaign was full of Silicon Valley marketing types, and they treated the entire campaign as a marketing campaign – they did the same with Biden, although not as successfully. Marketers don’t care whether what they show is true or accurate – they only want the look they want. That is why they did not care if anyone attended Biden’s staged events: they were only interested in the photos/video their people took: which was all their counterparts in the media ever showed on TV or print. Remember Obama’s staged Rose Garden speech, in which the staff passed out white lab coats to all the attendees, to create the impression that it was all “doctors” listening and approving Obamacare?

  11. Ray Thompson says:

    Remember Obama’s staged Rose Garden speech, in which the staff passed out white lab coats to all the attendees, to create the impression that it was all “doctors” listening and approving Obamacare?

    Plausible. I remember the ’50s when 4 out of 5 doctors recommended Camel Cigarettes. The media and advertising never stated the doctors surveyed were actual medical doctors.

    That also bring to mind the Ford Mustang commercial many years back. Ford depicted the vehicle doing some stunt that was carefully planned and staged. Then some idiot tried the same stunt with the same vehicle and crashed. Ford was sued. Thus the warnings on commercials “Professional driver on closed course”.

    Basically, many people are idiots. And the current crop in school is lowering the bar.

  12. Greg Norton says:

    Remember Obama’s staged Rose Garden speech, in which the staff passed out white lab coats to all the attendees, to create the impression that it was all “doctors” listening and approving Obamacare?

    The AMA sold out the country with regard to Obamacare so real doctors may have been present at the bill signing.

    We still receive JAMA even though my wife hasn’t paid AMA dues in almost seven years. Both the journal and the billing statements go into the recycle bin as soon as they arrive.

  13. MrAtoz says:

    Basically, many people are idiots. And the current crop in school is lowering the bar.

    Yup +1,000,000

  14. Nick Flandrey says:

    Trade magazines charge advertizers by the number of issues distributed. They have an incentive to distribute, thus the number of really odd mags I get. I like the odd though and it gives me some view into worlds I wouldn’t otherwise see.

    n

  15. SteveF says:

    it gives me some view into worlds I wouldn’t otherwise see

    Wouldn’t peyote accomplish the same thing, with less garbage going into the landfill?

  16. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ah, but would it make sense the next day? Or even 10 minutes later?

    n

  17. SteveF says:

    FFS. My wife was just bitching at me because me income was too high and raised the family income to the point that we didn’t get the second stimulus check. Why, it seems like just yesterday that she was bitching at me because I don’t earn as much as the husbands of some of her friends and that means she has to work instead of stay home and do stay-at-home-mom activities, which I think means screwing around on her phone all day instead of only half the day. Note that I do effectively all of the child rearing, which affects the amount I can work, which affects income. (About a year ago I was in discussion to become VP of Development for a medium-size company. Salary would have been about 50% higher than I’m currently making with performance bonuses doubling total compensation. Turned it down after talking it over with the kid. She wanted a dad who was home some of the time more than she wanted more money. Good kid.)

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  18. Nick Flandrey says:

    free icecream tastes better than purchased icecream…

    no checks here either.

    n

  19. Greg Norton says:

    FFS. My wife was just bitching at me because me income was too high and raised the family income to the point that we didn’t get the second stimulus check.

    Even my kids think most of those checks were used to buy unnecessary things.

  20. Ray Thompson says:

    no checks here either.

    Got my money last week. Of course, according to the 2019 taxes, my taxable income, on which the checks are based, was $0.00. Been that way for the last four years. Careful tax planning to minimize the amount that is ripped from my hands by the US Government. Yet still have plenty of income to live on, take trips, buy things. My standard of living did not drop even the tiniest amount with the shutdowns.

  21. Greg Norton says:

    I still maintain that Biden is just a stepping stone to get Kamala Harris into office without her going through a real election. Biden will resign, be declared incompetent, die, commit suicide by two gunshots to the back of the head with a rifle (the Hillary plan), or otherwise be removed from office. Shortly after Biden has completed two years as a puppet for Pelosi Biden will be out office. Kamala Harris could never get elected on her own and this method of getting her into the oval office is the best the corrupt democratic machine could devise.

    The current Governor in Oregon was the dress rehearsal for the scheme, but I still believe *Dr.* Jill Biden will be the spanner in the works.

    The problem with the plan is that, regardless of what happens tomorrow in GA, at least one Senate Republican will need to break ranks to confirm a replacement VP before 2022. That limits the choices for the nomination even if Mittens or Murkowski go along. Kerry *might* get through as part of a deal where he’s gone from the ticket ala Rockefeller in 1976, but you can forget about Fauxcahontas, Bernie, or Stacy Abrams.

    If the House changes hands and elects a new Speaker on Jan. 3, 2023, all bets are off on a new VP ever being sworn in before Jan. 20, 2025. And, again, a Speaker doesn’t have to be a member of the House.

    Speaker Trump?

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  22. Geoff Powell says:

    Here in UK, HMG isn’t doing any form of stimulus payments, at least, not that I’ve heard of.

    The nearest we get is the Winter Fuel Payment, of £200 per qualifying person (basically anyone born before October 1954) which means I get it, but Jane doesn’t – yet. 3 years time, if we live that long. This is a long-standing benefit, it’s been going for at least 10 years.

    Like you, Ray, I’m doing quite well since I retired 4 years ago, thank you very much. I could wish that our tax laws didn’t allow the Inland Revenue to tax my State Pension, but I don’t need any more do$h. We may be helped in this by the fact that my wife is a childminder, and the tax allowances for that are generous – she pays no tax, at all. National Insurance (which prepays for the State Pension) is a different matter, though, but the taxman doesn’t make it easy for her to pay that, as a self-employed person.

    G.

  23. MrAtoz says:

    FFS. My wife was just bitching at me because me income was too high and raised the family income to the point that we didn’t get the second stimulus check.

    That’s the same reasoning sheeple used after the tRump tax cuts. “Waaah! How come my tax return is less! Waaah!” Sheeple think their money belongs to the goobermint. The goobermint just generously gives them some back.

  24. Ray Thompson says:

    but the taxman doesn’t make it easy for her to pay that

    US Government has a different stance. They take the money and the taxpayer has to prove it does not belong to the government. Sometimes requiring great effort and demanding a full, time consuming, expensive, in-person audit, before the federal minions comes to their senses.

    Unless of course one is part of the elite. Then the tax laws are simply an inconvenience which can be trampled at will. Having a good sleazy lawyer helps.

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  25. Geoff Powell says:

    I think that it’s because she doesn’t pay tax – those generous allowances – and they normally expect to collect NI via a self-employed person’s tax payments. They have to tell her how much she owes, and provide a route for that payment to be made.

    But, of course, I’m not a taxman or bureaucrat, so what do I know?

    G.

  26. Greg Norton says:

    That’s the same reasoning sheeple used after the tRump tax cuts. “Waaah! How come my tax return is less! Waaah!” Sheeple think their money belongs to the goobermint. The goobermint just generously gives them some back.

    SALT deductions got cut to $10,000 max in return for an increase in the personal deduction. It still works in our favor, but with the new Apple campus going up less than 10 minutes from our house, increasing our home value and, thus, property taxes, we are probably only good for another couple of years. 800 yards from my front door, inside Austin proper, the homeowners are already hurting.

    Anyone receiving a sizeable refund has done something wrong, giving the Feds an interest free loan. However, I know a lot of people who base financial planning on getting that money on a delayed basis.

    We haven’t heard anything more from the in-laws calling in markers for the cousin’s property taxes in CA, but the principle is probably similar to dependence on tax refunds — if the family took the money eight years ago, it would be gone by now, but, by leaving the debt hanging, they were not responsible for keeping the money safe.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    That’s the same reasoning sheeple used after the tRump tax cuts. “Waaah! How come my tax return is less! Waaah!” Sheeple think their money belongs to the goobermint. The goobermint just generously gives them some back.

    SALT deductions got cut to $10,000 max in return for an increase in the personal deduction. It still works in our favor, but with the new Apple campus going up less than 10 minutes from our house, increasing our home value and, thus, property taxes, we are probably only good for another couple of years. 800 yards from my front door, inside Austin proper, the homeowners are already hurting.

    Anyone receiving a sizeable refund has done something wrong, giving the Feds an interest free loan.

  28. lynn says:

    I finally bought a non-contact thermometer the other day. Works great and easy to use. Made in China of course. I am buying one for the office too.
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088M61S19/?tag=ttgnet-20

  29. Nick Flandrey says:

    Sarah Hoyt makes this point in the middle of her post today, that totally caught me off guard but explains SO MUCH.

    The idea of women being able to work and achieve to the limit of their abilities is unimpeachable. The problem is that the feminists looked at women who achieved despite being blocked and who were exceptional people and therefore achieved very highly, and made a completely nuts theory that this meant women were inherently better than men, and would ALL be top achievers, if they were given a chance.

    Then when chances were given and the expected results didn’t happen, they built this entire theory of how women were still somehow oppressed: lack of role models, mean math teachers, the oppression of the male gaze, emotional labor, language…. And away we went down the rabbit trail of increasingly crazy things

    n

  30. Ray Thompson says:

    Anyone receiving a sizeable refund has done something wrong, giving the Feds an interest free loan.

    Not always the case. The interest free loan is correct, doing something wrong is not the case. I had a couple of years where my income fluctuated badly. I had no idea how much tax I was going to be required to pay. Not paying enough generally results in interest and penalties if the IRS thinks a person has done something wrong. The viable option was have more withheld than normal. Good thing for one year where I wound up owing about $50.00. Had I done normal withholding I would owed several thousand plus penalties and interest.

    The IRS has no problem keeping a taxpayers money for as long as the IRS can manage. But the IRS has a real problem with people keeping the IRS’ money longer than the IRS thinks is necessary.

    This year I had a lot withheld as I cashed in some funds that had not been taxed. The theory is that my tax bracket will be lower. It is, but not by much. Because of pulling those funds my SS income is now being taxed, thus further increasing my income. One fund I have to start pulling now as there is a 10 year withdrawal time frame, approximately 10% of the balance at the time of requesting the withdrawal, paid every year. No choice on that fund as it was the 401K of my former employer.

    What I do not understand is people that get $5K or more as a refund. They know they are withholding too much. They want that money from the IRS as they think they are getting something. Although the majority are so afraid of the IRS that they have more money withheld because “I don’t want any problems with the IRS”. That is a great impression, fear of a government agency.

    Having run afoul with the IRS more than once, I am not afraid to stand my ground.

  31. lynn says:

    “When You Can be Around Others After You Had or Likely Had COVID-19”
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/end-home-isolation.html

    I was not aware that the CDC had changed the guidelines for going back to work.

    My employee with the Covid last had fever on Dec 24 so he is coming in to work on Tuesday. He is way past the ten day criteria.

  32. lynn says:

    The IRS has no problem keeping a taxpayers money for as long as the IRS can manage. But the IRS has a real problem with people keeping the IRS’ money longer than the IRS thinks is necessary.

    The IRS will compute a tax return for you after a while, usually three years after when it was due. But they will not return any overage to you until you send in your own tax return. My father-in-law did not file a tax return for several years from 2008 to 2012 or so when we found out. We got his girlfriends accountant to do it for a while then the wife took it over with all of his finances.

  33. Chad says:

    “When You Can be Around Others After You Had or Likely Had COVID-19”
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/end-home-isolation.html

    I was not aware that the CDC had changed the guidelines for going back to work.

    My employee with the Covid last had fever on Dec 24 so he is coming in to work on Tuesday. He is way past the ten day criteria.

    Nobody can keep that crap straight. Between my employer, my wife’s employer, and my daughter’s school district we have 3 different sets of rules affecting our family. It’s laughable.

    Parents are also learning to not tell the school their kid was sick if they don’t want stuck watching their kid at home for the next two weeks. So, more and more parents that keep their kid home are just lying and saying they took a day trip or the kid had multiple appointments that day. It’s a little shocking how many parents have sent their kids to school the day after they had a fever or after a known direct exposure and the school was none the wiser. Like it or not, schools provide a critical daycare service that many parents cannot do without. it’s nothing new. Parents having been loading up feverish kids with tylenol and dropping them off at school for years.

  34. Alan says:

    If they do this for more than the first state, it’s grandstanding. It won’t get a majority in the House, and not likely in the Senate. No smoking gun has been found. Georgia’s recounts and the sampling of the mail ballot envelopes show no problem there. Fine. Do one state. Have (R) members of the Congress get up and demand the commission. Then after 2 hours, it gets voted down. To repeat this for more states will only make them look bad.

    So theoretically they can submit objections (must be written) for every state (26 iirc) that Sleepy Joe won which would amount to 52 hours of debate, not counting the time to announce the debate, have 100 Senators and their minions travel from the House chamber back to the Senate chamber to deliberate (and return time). This amounts to more than two full days at least (if working around the clock). Are there rules for all these details? Time outs for meal breaks, sleep, etc.? If not, who makes the rules? Is it Pence as president of the Senate? An opportunity to make quite a spectacle of the state of our partisan politics.

  35. Greg Norton says:

    The IRS has no problem keeping a taxpayers money for as long as the IRS can manage. But the IRS has a real problem with people keeping the IRS’ money longer than the IRS thinks is necessary.

    I got an IRS nastygram two weeks ago about filing a Schedule SE for checks my wife received from a couple of insurance carriers for doing the accounting properly at her last job in 2019. On the surface, it looked like we owed them about $1200 in additional taxes, but, when I went in and did the amended return and corrected a mistake I made in the initial filing, even after the additional Medicare/SS self employment taxes, I discovered they owe us $200.

    Of course, they know this at the IRS since they have all the paperwork such as the 1099-MISC and W-2s. They also know the mistakes I made which could have led to a larger tax bill.

  36. lynn says:

    Our 33 year old daughter has been without health insurance now since Dec 1, 2020 since BCBSTX declared her not disabled on Dec 17, 2020 and retroactively canceled her health insurance as a rider on my group insurance that I buy for all of my full time employees.

    We tried to get her on Medicaid but we make too much as a household. We would have to throw her out on the street and remove her from our taxes as a dependent for her to get on Medicaid.

    We got to pay full price for her anti-seizure and anti-inflammatory medication last week. The cost was $479 and $179. The wife found out that Walgreens has a special $20/year drug program that reduced the costs to $179 and $49 so we got her on that.

    We are appealing the BCBSTX canceling her disability category. It may just be a paperwork snafu. Her doctor’s nurse is working to try to get her back on BCBSTX.

    I do have a option that I do not want to do but will if needful. I can put her on as a full time employee of the company who works from home at minimum wage. The question is what happens if we got audited.

    So much for Obolacare. The signup window ended Dec 15 so we cannot get her on Obolacare until next October.

  37. SteveF says:

    We would have to throw her out on the street

    She’s living in basically an apartment in the house, right? Sounds to me like she’s a deadbeat tenant whom you can’t throw out because of the pandeeeeeeeemic criiiiiiisis. Really rough on you, the landlord, but it works out well for her.

    EDIT: On reading that after posting, I’m not sure if it comes off as mean-spirited snark. It was intended to be a helpful suggestion. #FollowMeForMoreGreatAdvice

  38. SteveF says:

    Nobody can keep that crap straight. Between my employer, my wife’s employer, and my daughter’s school district we have 3 different sets of rules affecting our family. It’s laughable.

    There are two sets of rules just for my daughter’s school, from the state and the county. Possibly a third, from the school district the school is physically located within, even though it’s a private school. The state “guidelines” change approximately weekly. The head of the school is pulling his hair out.

  39. Greg Norton says:

    Then when chances were given and the expected results didn’t happen, they built this entire theory of how women were still somehow oppressed: lack of role models, mean math teachers, the oppression of the male gaze, emotional labor, language…. And away we went down the rabbit trail of increasingly crazy things

    At the last job, the diversity initiatives were used by the mostly-divorced Boomer and X-er upper male management to hire women they found attractive. Part of what got me in trouble was lack of interest in doing the work to cover the deficiency in skills of the Baylor Music Ed grad.

    I’m at the age now that I won’t repeat the experience, trying to remain employed while looking for another job. So far, the new gig hasn’t exhibited any of the problems of the last place, but I’ll bail if I see the patterns developing again. I obviously don’t fit in with the industry anymore if the last job was the rule rather than the exception.

    I’ll definitely pass on anyplace where the recruiter yells at me after the first phone screen with management. Lesson learned.

    As much as I griped about CGI, their diversity initiatives were simply misguided, without less than honest motivation. Even my triple quota hire member manager was eventually shown the door when he failed to perform and got malicious with the next staff member to quit in response to my exit.

  40. Pecancorner says:

    @Lynn, something that may help in the meantime to be sure she is not caught flat-footed for something catastrophic that is not “pre-existing”:
    I don’t have insurance but I belong to a Christian medical cost-sharing co-op ( there are several, but Christian Healthcare Ministries is the one I belong to. At the “gold” level, it is $172 per month, which covers new “incidents” that exceed $500, plus I joined their catastrophic “Brother’s Keeper” program that bills different amts , usually around $35, each quarter. Coverage is immediate on application, and there isn’t any rejection.

    While it does not cover pre-existing illness for some years (nor medicines ever), they have some provisions to help with that. And since it is not “insurance”, it doesn’t interfere with programs designed to lower costs (ie, Dr/hosp discounts for “self pay”, or pharmacy discounts), and any discounts “count” toward the $500 total.

    I originally joined because I did not want to fund abortions with either premiums or tax penalties for not having insurance. Since then, it has helped me. In normal times, I don’t have many medical expenses so I’ve only turned in one claim in the several years I’ve had it. They recently lowered the cost for people with medicare, so when I become eligible in a couple years, I may keep it instead of a medicare supplement – depending on costs at the time.

  41. lynn says:

    @Lynn, something that may help in the meantime to be sure she is not caught flat-footed for something catastrophic that is not “pre-existing”:
    I don’t have insurance but I belong to a Christian medical cost-sharing co-op ( there are several, but Christian Healthcare Ministries is the one I belong to. At the “gold” level, it is $172 per month, which covers new “incidents” that exceed $500, plus I joined their catastrophic “Brother’s Keeper” program that bills different amts , usually around $35, each quarter. Coverage is immediate on application, and there isn’t any rejection.

    While it does not cover pre-existing illness for some years (nor medicines ever), they have some provisions to help with that. And since it is not “insurance”, it doesn’t interfere with programs designed to lower costs (ie, Dr/hosp discounts for “self pay”, or pharmacy discounts), and any discounts “count” toward the $500 total.

    I originally joined because I did not want to fund abortions with either premiums or tax penalties for not having insurance. Since then, it has helped me. In normal times, I don’t have many medical expenses so I’ve only turned in one claim in the several years I’ve had it. They recently lowered the cost for people with medicare, so when I become eligible in a couple years, I may keep it instead of a medicare supplement – depending on costs at the time.

    Thank you, I will forward this to wife. Very interesting and would be better than falsifying her employment just to get health insurance.

    Our daughter is 33, unmarried, and lives with us. She is totally dependent on us for care, meals, etc. She has Chronic Lyme disease with the side effect of continuous migraines due to a Lyme colony in the back of her brain (motor center) that is untreatable. She has had a couple minor strokes that have done some amount of damage to her brain. She is extremely light sensitive and sound sensitive. She walks in the house and the driveway with a walker, anything more than 100 ft requires a wheelchair due to increasing dizziness. She has been ill in some form since age 17, our first big problem was the total removal of her thyroid on her 18th birthday due to goiters (growths) constricting her throat, a known Lyme problem.

    So I am very interested in the pre-existing condition and read their documentation on those. I’ve got to think about that for a while and figure what a pre-existing condition would be. For instance, if she suddenly experienced a heart problem, would that be attributable to the Chronic Lyme ? I’ll bet that they cannot say.

  42. Pecancorner says:

    @Lynn, you’re welcome, and I hope the info is helpful, at least temporarily until you are able to get something that will cover all her medical needs again. Bless her, she is fortunate to have family who look after her, but still it is such a difficult life for her.

  43. lynn says:

    “”The White House” – Homeless Woman Shows Off Skid Row Mansion”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/white-house-homeless-woman-shows-skid-row-mansion

    Wow.

  44. lynn says:

    From my sister-in-law, “When your checking account has a negative balance of 27 trillion dollars, how can you write checks to foreign countries?”

  45. lynn says:

    “Tesla Was So Close to Delivering 500,000 Vehicles in 2020”
    https://www.pcmag.com/news/tesla-was-so-close-to-delivering-500000-vehicles-in-2020

    “The automaker was about 450 cars short of its goal.”

    That is a lot of cars. No trucks though.

  46. paul says:

    There isn’t much on TV Sunday night. So, Hee Haw. Looks like a new show.

    I’m in the kitchen charring the nightly gruel and what the heck? Johnny Cash. The rest of the group. Dwight Yoakam. What? At the end credits the copy write date was 1986. Just 35 years ago.

    Amazon is being weird. The string of C9 bulbs mentioned a few days ago? I looked. Amazon is sending a couple of e-mails a day recommending the product.

  47. SteveF says:

    “When your checking account has a negative balance of 27 trillion dollars, how can you write checks to foreign countries?”

    When you owe the bank 27 dollars and can’t pay, you have a problem.
    When you owe the bank 27 trillion dollars and can’t pay, the bank has a problem.

  48. lynn says:

    Opened up a new WD USB external 12 TB hard drive today. Formatted it and started a full backup of the office LAN. Should only take a few days.
    https://www.amazon.com/12TB-Elements-Desktop-Drive-WDBWLG0120HBK-NESN/dp/B07X4V2M3B/?tag=ttgnet-20

    The old 8 TB external hard drive that it is replacing is joining the permanent archive of backups. I do this every six months.

  49. lynn says:

    The Brazos River done has come up and now she be going down. 25 ft is not much for her today but the 55 ft we had during Harvey was downright unsettling. The 61 ft in 1913 must have been downright horrifying.
    https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=HGX&gage=RMOT2

    Floods on the Brazos River:
    http://lifeonthebrazosriver.com/Floods.htm

  50. MrAtoz says:

    The IRS has no problem keeping a taxpayers money for as long as the IRS can manage. But the IRS has a real problem with people keeping the IRS’ money longer than the IRS thinks is necessary.

    We work for the USPS occasionally. They are the only goobermint agency that paid us interest when they didn’t meet their published “net 30” rule.

    I do have a option that I do not want to do but will if needful. I can put her on as a full time employee of the company who works from home at minimum wage. The question is what happens if we got audited.

    Every book I’ve read on starting and growing a business has “higher your dependents” as a big benefit. I would hire your daughter if it comes down to it. In your corporate documents write “we need a pencil counter” and put it in your minutes. Fcuk the IRS. I bet you won’t get audited.

  51. lynn says:

    Every book I’ve read on starting and growing a business has “higher your dependents” as a big benefit. I would hire your daughter if it comes down to it. In your corporate documents write “we need a pencil counter” and put it in your minutes. Fcuk the IRS. I bet you won’t get audited.

    I am worried about being audited by BCBSTX. The IRS I could care less, they don’t care either.

  52. CowboySlim says:

    The rest of the group. Dwight Yoakam.

    10 – 4, Roger That, I’ve been to Buck Owen’s Crystal Palace in Bakersville.

  53. Greg Norton says:

    From my sister-in-law, “When your checking account has a negative balance of 27 trillion dollars, how can you write checks to foreign countries?”

    The USD is still the world’s reserve currency.

  54. lynn says:

    From my sister-in-law, “When your checking account has a negative balance of 27 trillion dollars, how can you write checks to foreign countries?”

    The USD is still the world’s reserve currency.

    No much reserve there.

  55. Greg Norton says:

    There isn’t much on TV Sunday night. So, Hee Haw. Looks like a new show.

    I’m in the kitchen charring the nightly gruel and what the heck? Johnny Cash. The rest of the group. Dwight Yoakam. What? At the end credits the copy write date was 1986. Just 35 years ago.

    “Hee Haw” was pretty solid in the ratings in first run syndication until the mid-80s. The decline took another four to five years before Gaylord pulled the plug.

  56. Ray Thompson says:

    “Hee Haw” was pretty solid in the ratings in first run syndication until the mid-80s.

    Gloom, despair and agony on me
    Deep dark depression and excessive misery
    If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all
    Gloom, despair and agony on me.

    Actually a more fun show than Laugh In.

  57. Greg Norton says:

    From my sister-in-law, “When your checking account has a negative balance of 27 trillion dollars, how can you write checks to foreign countries?”

    “The USD is still the world’s reserve currency.”

    No much reserve there.

    No one else wants to run the trade deficits which would be necessary to supplant the USD.

  58. Greg Norton says:

    Actually a more fun show than Laugh In.

    “Hee Haw” was a ratings monster in Tampa in the 70s.

    The local station’s horror movie show host, Dr. Paul Bearer, dictated the terms for his appearances in the cornfield — no overalls. He was the only guest granted that privilege.

  59. Nick Flandrey says:

    China has been working with Russia to supplant the US as a reserve with a “basket” of assets. They have done oil and gas deals denominated in yuan and rubles. They set up an alternative clearing system to SWIFT.

    When China is ready, they will nuke our currency from orbit and that will be that.

    n

  60. SteveF says:

    He was the only guest granted that privilege.

    George Gobel did a “Where oh where are you tonight” in black suit and ruffled white shirt. (And straw hat.)

  61. Pecancorner says:

    I’m in the kitchen charring the nightly gruel and what the heck? Johnny Cash. The rest of the group.

    When my husband and I were dating, in the late 80s, he was in the kitchen cooking dinner, and HeeHaw came on TV. I left it there, and was singing along with whatever old song Buck and Roy were playing that night. He called out from the other room: “Your roots are showing!”

    That might have been when I decided to marry him… LOL

  62. Richard says:

    We got to pay full price for her anti-seizure and anti-inflammatory medication last week. The cost was $479 and $179. The wife found out that Walgreens has a special $20/year drug program that reduced the costs to $179 and $49 so we got her on that.

    Drug prices are crazy. We use the free site GoodRX.com which gives discount prices at a several local pharmacies. Often the price given is lower than our Medicare D plan. Saved a bunch of money. Your mileage may vary.

  63. lynn says:

    When China is ready, they will nuke our currency from orbit and that will be that.

    How do you think that this will happen ?

    There is a proposed method using this book (wow, I am the number one review):
    https://www.amazon.com/Buck-Out-Ken-Benton/dp/1514666979/?tag=ttgnet-20

  64. Nick Flandrey says:

    I don’t know, dump treasuries?
    Announce that they won’t be buying any more because the fundamentals aren’t there?

    They have a plan though, I’m sure of it. They plan for everything.

    n

  65. lynn says:

    “More riots are on the way”
    https://gunfreezone.net/more-riots-are-on-the-way/

    “From Kenosha, Wisconsin:

    The decision whether or not to charge the officer who shot Jacob Blake is coming soon, rumored to be Tuesday.

    Methinks from the preparation that the expectation is that the officer will not be charged.

    It seems that the Governor might have been tipped off to this fact and is bracing for massive riots.”

    I think that people are getting real tired of this crap.

  66. Nick Flandrey says:

    I love the one star review… “book not received”. WTF lady? Are you really that ignorant? I guess so, because she hit ‘submit’ on the ‘review’.

    Oh well, I’m off to bed. I’ve got kids to wrangle in the morning.

    n

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