Cool and clear, warming later, with a chance that we’ll be moving into some rainy days. That’s from the national forecast, which is generally useful. FWIW, if I want anything more detailed than that I use OpenWeatherMap.org I don’t usually need it, but sometimes the kids ask for something more specific. Of course, this being Houston, the weather is completely different in different parts of town and my joke is that “20% chance of rain” means that 20% of Houston will get wet…
Didn’t do much yesterday. I was feeling a bit off from the colonoscopy, and had enough “gastric distress” that I didn’t want to be far from the comforts of home… and then I fell asleep. Dunno if there is any lasting effect from the sedation, but I didn’t get much sleep while worrying about “leakage” so I was and am pretty tired.
I did get some domestic bliss stuff done. Did laundry, including folding and putting away! Voted. Made an appointment to get my Expy serviced and inspected for registration. My old guy shut down his business, and I’ve been reluctant to find a new guy. Yesterday I just said “F this, we’ll try this guy…” The office area was clean, guy was nice and told me honestly they were too busy to do the work this week. Read the code from my Check Engine light, and cleared it. Quoted for the work we know about, and we set a time for me to come back.
Spent an hour and a half getting kids from school to home. Made dinner. (Steamed the broccoli in turkey broth- since I have a bunch of broth open… it was tasty.)
All in all, the day was eaten by ducks (as JEP might have said.)
Today I’ve got the stuff I put off yesterday. I have an additional auction pickup to do that is in the same area as the others so that actually works better today than it would have yesterday. I’ll have to make some room in the pickup truck before I head out. I won’t be able to just leave the stuff for the BOL loaded like I hoped. And I’ll try to do at least a small drop off at my selling auctioneer. So, normal busy day. Oh, and get back in time to pick up D1 from school.
Beats working for a living.
And it helps with the stacking… which you should be doing too…
n
@Bob: Not a lawyer, obviously, but I agree that you should probably not open probate. It sounds like your son had negative assets, so there is no inheritance. Nothing but creditors and headaches.
The one problem might be the truck. Since he was still paying it off, you probably need to drive it down to the dealership, hand them the keys and a death certificate, and get a receipt. That’s what I did with my mother’s car, anyway. That’s assuming the loan is through the dealership; if it’s through a third party, it might be more complicated than that.
Whatever you do, don’t give his creditors your contact info; the same goes for the entire family. The girlfriend in the house will have to deal with a lot of sh!t, no way around it. She may want to pay for extra copies of the death certificate to help fend off collection agencies.
Thoughts on taking responsibility when things go wrong (same essay on each site)
https://www.dailypundit.com/dailypundit.wordpress/2023/11/08/maybe-its-them/
https://coldfury.com/2023/11/08/maybe-its-them/
The guaranteed student loan paper generates income for the Federal Government. The last numbers openly published, before the pandemic, showed that the loans were the largest single revenue producing asset the Feds owned.
We had to pass the bill to find out what was in it.
The education provisions of Obamacare are like the lottery: a tax on the stupid.
Texas is no longer a Republican state. The Governor and Legislature got everything their lobbyists wanted.
The Geico Gecko even got his generator slush fund.
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/election-day-2023-new-constitutional-amendments-texas
Consarnit, Skippy, why don’t you quit pickin’ on our Governor and go back to whatever hippie state you came from.
Cough.
Digging around for news about the Lake Travis ISD’s $140 million stadium bond — yes, really — I saw this story linked from the station’s Twitter feed sidebar. Did something happen to BillG?
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/bill-gates-steps-down-from-microsoft-berkshire-hathaway-boards
I find it interesting that Gates termination from both boards happened at the start of lockdowns. I don’t believe either resignation was voluntary.
Walk away, go home, enjoy the rest of your life. The situation is not your problem. Let the state handle any issues. You are not legally responsible for anything involving your son.
There is no estate. Taxes are the problem of the girlfriend, if any. Since they were not legally married I doubt the state, or the feds, have anything they can go after her for the taxes or lack of filings. If the girlfriend has any legal problems they are hers, not yours.
Again, walk away, drive back home, get busy in your shop, and move on with your life. In my opinion, since you had no contact with your son for 23+ years, you were not even obligated to make the journey to show up. But that is a personal issue and only you can make such a choice. I had no contact with my dad for 40+ years and showed up at his funeral. In retrospect a good choice so I think you made a good choice.
But don’t get involved in any legal issues, ever. It will just cause you problems that you don’t need.
I say it again, walk away.
Bob said the truck is a biohazard as that is where the son committed suicide. No dealer in their right mind would take the truck. If there is a lien on the truck it is the problem of the lien holder as they are still the owner. It would cost more to dispose of the truck than it is worth.
If the VIN doesn’t appear in a official report somewhere, someone will try to clean the truck to the point where they can put it on an auction lot and see if anyone notices.
Maybe not Ford Credit but a bottom feeder down the food chain.
The auction process is tough. Get a vehicle past those guys, and who knows what is possible as far as where the truck ends up.
The dealers are dying to get sub $50k for the used lots since Ford won’t send new trucks at that price point.
Ford Credit won’t go after the estate, but the branch manager alway has numbers in his rolodex for people to call for all kinds of situations.
And it will be a rolodex, kept in a locked desk drawer.
Beyond the revenue stream, nationalization of the loans and resulting inflation in education costs turned healthcare in the US into an indentured servitude arrangement for most providers graduating in the last 10 years.
Dentists, for some reason, tend to get into the most trouble with loans.
No dealer in their right mind would take the truck. If there is a lien on the truck it is the problem of the lien holder as they are still the owner.
– someone will still need to let the lienholder know where the truck is. They will take possession and send it to auction marked as a biohazard, or they will dispose of it. It might be in the police impound. A good friend had her husband commit suicide by cop in his car. After a month, the impound called her to come get it, and she didn’t think about the state of the car… That was unnecessarily thoughtless and cruel on the part of the cops.
@bob, it sounds like an awful mess. I’m sure you are having all sorts of thoughts and emotions and desires to do something to make it better. I don’t know that you can, but you will have to judge that for yourself.
All I can say (and my only qualification is emotional distance from the situation and that I see a LOT of estates) don’t act in haste, know WHY you chose whatever you chose, and move forward resolutely.
n
Can the biohazard be added to the Carfax?
Probably listed as “minor incident”.
“The guaranteed student loan paper generates income for the Federal Government. The last numbers openly published, before the pandemic, showed that the loans were the largest single revenue producing asset the Feds owned.”
I believe everything fedgov tells me. /sar
d
Thanks for all of the support. It is good to know that I’m not out of line on my suggestion to ignore probate.
Damn, I just wrote long post which disappeared; I will try recreate it off line but I have no idea what I wrote…
The girlfriend paid $900 to get access to the truck in the impound lot and recover her garage door opener. Yes, it would have been cheaper to replace it but she didn’t know what else was in the truck. She had the truck moved but I don’t know where.
One of my granddaughter’s also drove here so we have two partially empty vehicles to take whatever the girlfriend will let the daughter have.
Gregg guns and an inherited “classic” (the only description I have at the moment) motorcycle from an Uncle are his only physical assets. We want to get the motorcycle back into that side of the family so “gaming” for that is being discussed. We don’t know if the police notified DMV that he died. Back dating his “signature” on the title might work. If the bike is old enough we can get it titled in Alabama with just a bill of sale and pass that title and another bill of sale to the cousin getting it.
I hope the girlfriend knows his computer passwords so we can get into his bank account, etc.
I think the long comment I wrote about the girlfriend and daughter’s mother
not speakingscreeching at each other is not worth reconstructing. It should be a real ‘fun’ day. I dislike the girlfriend’s perspective and so I’ll be biting my tongue all day. I hope I don’t chew it off.Bob, get a boxer’s mouthguard. You’ll be able to bite down hard without breaking your teeth.
I’ve heard the statistic repeated on Ramsey multiple times in the last six months, and I usually only catch the YouTube show highlights.
Ramsey had his staff dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ on the reports he used on air regarding student loans because he took the somewhat risky position that the forgiveness would never happen, and I’m sure the sponsors got nervous.
I went looking for the stat myself, but the last number I found from the Federal Government was from 2018.
Carfax isn’t a complete record. It is about as error prone as a credit report.
Yes, but if it can be added it just might save some one from a bad purchase.
Wow. Who knew a car dealer was reading the board?
I am getting 1,040 ft2 of my 4,000 ft2 driveway replaced today by a concrete contractor. His four guys are out there working hard. They already broke up the old 1998 panels which did not have any wire or rebar in them (Thanks Mr. Perry !). They are planning on pouring the new concrete Thursday right before the rain comes.
When the contractor was here Monday to examine and bid the job, I asked him about his prominent statement that a) he takes takes credit cards and b) he charges a 3% fee for credit cards. He told me that his cost is actually about 3.5%. I told him I am paying 4.5% since I do not physically get the card and many of my charges are overseas.
He told me he just got burned for $15,000 on credit card charge backs. He has a concrete store over by Hobby Airport where he sells specialty concrete panels (ornamental) and concrete supplies. His store guy had a guy come in three separate times and buy $5,000 of stuff each time, charging to a credit card. At the end of the month, all three charges were repudiated by the actual owners of the credit cards that the guy had borrowed the credit cards from. A scam.
I did not ask and he did not volunteer but I got the feeling that he knows who they are and is getting his pound of flesh. The Hispanic community is fairly tight and does not approve of scams.
I have my truck parked on my front yard between the country road and the ditch. It is at a 30 degree angle. I may have to use four wheel drive to get back up on the road since that is over a foot climb. My wife parked on one of the neighbors three driveways with her permission.
BTW, my contractor showed me pictures of his seven grandkids. I am jealous, I have none. It is obvious what the demographics of Texas will be in 20 years after I am gone.
Jeff Duntemann reported this item in his ‘Odd Lots’ post today (link):
Shepherd, TX (60 miles NNE of Houston as per the googles)
https://abc13.com/san-jacinto-county-fire-shepherd-texas-petroleum-processing-center/14026810/
Last time I encountered a drunk bear I was in the wrong bar.
If at first you don’t succeed…you didn’t stuff enough ballots into the box…
Houston mayor’s race goes to runoff election
And it will be a rolodex, kept in a locked desk drawer.
And that Rolodex is worth gold. It has people that can fix almost anything in it. No questions asked either.
If at first you don’t succeed…you didn’t stuff enough ballots into the box…
Houston mayor’s race goes to runoff election
Nah, Houston don’t stuff ballots. They just deliver the right amount of paper ballots to each precinct that they want to vote. When the paper ballots run out at 11 am, the poll takers go home, they know the score. They can call the emergency number all they want, no more paper ballots are coming. Problem solved.
+1,000,000
Good luck, Mr. Bob. Remember all the good, and get on with your life.
Probably listed as “minor incident”.
In Texas, we would probably change that vehicle to a salvage title. It lets the buyer know that the vehicle had something happen to it (flood, hail, very bad wreck, etc). It lets the insurance company know that they should not carry collision and comprehensive on that vehicle, just liability.
+1,000,000
I miss the old emojis where I could drop a dozen of them on a posting.
Mr. Rick, this is not a complaint ! ! ! You are awesome !
@Lynn
Salvage title would be normal practice in many/most states when the % of damage reaches a threshold. It used to be common for such vehicles to be shipped to certain southern states to have their titles “ washed” before being moved north for sale.
And the bears just want to have fun. So they will continue do search out the spills.
I read once (possibly tongue in cheek) that increased intelligence and the drive toward civilization was fueled by the realization that alcohol could be made without having to find it in nature. Bears are already fairly intelligent, so possibly they are headed toward the next step.
“Gold vs. Silver: which is better right now?”
https://www.sovereignman.com/international-diversification-strategies/gold-vs-silver-which-is-better-right-now-148430/
“Gold’s rise will be fundamentally driven by rapidly deteriorating US government finances. And I’ve written about this extensively.”
“The US national debt is now $33.7 trillion; the debt is so large that the Treasury Department spent nearly $900 BILLION on interest payments in the last fiscal year (FY23), which ended about six weeks ago.”
Buy gold ! Buy silver !
The problem with buying precious metals is that you have to hold them or else the holder will steal them. Or, someone will steal from you if they figure out you are holding them.
The paper rolodex locked in the drawer also provides important legal protections for both the owner of the cards and the company.
After he retired, my father was a hired expert on the auctions for a bottom feeder dealer. I know something about the game, but not as much as the old man and his cronies.
I ignored my spidey sense buying the Jetta, but that was the wife’s nephew.
I had some fun today.
The power clicked off. The UPS software on my PC that always says 69 minutes with 29 watt load? Yeah, Not so much. More like ONE minute and dead.
Half an hour after the power came back on, it’s back to 69 minutes and 29 watt load. Magic.
Ok, I have a bad cell in one of the batteries. I’ve replace the batteries once. It’s time for all new.
So I looked at Provantage. I’ve bought a few CyberPower 900VA/560W from them over the years. They ship UPS. UPS in their infinite no longer delivers to the house. They /might/ cross the cattle guard….. which is about 1000 feet from the house.
I can buy the same thing from Big River for the same price and BR does come to the house.
So I sent Provantage an e-mail about all of this. And do they have an option to require a signature on a UPS package?
I’ll see what they say.
More fun today. The gate valve that shuts off the water to the bird pens broke. It’s about ¼ open which is enough.
I have a hose end shut-off valve on the pipe to the bird’s waterer. It has the swivel or whatever the name is, it’s like the end of a garden hose that attaches to the faucet. The hose washer has gone bad.
Ok. The power has gone out. PEC says back on at 5pm. I might as well fix my water leak.
Dig out a new valve. Check the washer and replace it. Go to install it and right about that time the power came back on. Yeah. I got wet.
The leak is stopped for now and I had a good laugh. 🙂
“All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, 1)” by Martha Wells
https://www.amazon.com/All-Systems-Red-Murderbot-Diaries/dp/1250214718?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number one of a seven book series of science fiction novellas. I reread the well printed and well bound hardcover published by Tor in 2017 that I bought new from Amazon. I purchased the hardcover since it was cheaper than the trade paperback at the time. This novella won the 2018 Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus awards. The series won the 2021 Hugo for the best series also. I have all six books in the series and am eagerly awaiting the seventh book to be released in November 2023.
Murderbot is a SecUnit, similar to a T-800 Terminator with a cloned and severely modified human head. There is a human brain in there but it is controlled by the AIs embedded in its genderless torso. There are lungs, there is a blood mixture with a synthetic, there is human skin over the entire body, there is a face, there is hair on the head and eyebrows. Everything else is machine. Somehow, the blood is enriched with electricity as there is no stomach or intestines. But, there are arteries and veins to keep the skin and brain alive. All of the major arteries and veins have clamps to stop bleeding in case of damage. There is a MedSystem computer with an AI, a HubUnit computer with an AI, and a governor module that can force the SecUnit to follow orders using pain sensors in the brain. It has a energy gun in each arm and several cameras, all directly wired to the brain. The SecUnit can sustain severe damage to everything but the head and still survive.
Murderbot is a self named SecUnit due to an unfortunate circumstance with 57 miners on a remote moon. It has hacked its governor and no longer allows the governor to give it orders or inflict pain. It prefers to internally watch its 35,000 hours of downloaded media such as episodes of “The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon” and “WorldHoppers”. Even though it has a face, it does not like to interface with humans, yes, very introverted. It will follow human orders if it sees fit to do so.
Murderbot is on security duty for a group of scientists from Preservation planet that are considering buying into a new exploration planet. There is another group across an ocean also looking at the planet but they are not responding to their calls. So, Dr. Mensah takes a few people and Murderbot to investigate.
Murderbot is an incredibly interesting character. It handles horrible situations easily and personal interactions difficultly. Like I said, interesting.
Quotes from the book:
1. “Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency.”
2. “I hate having emotions about reality; I’d much rather have them about Sanctuary Moon.”
3. “The sense of urgency just wasn’t there. Also, you may have noticed, I don’t care.”
Warning: There is violence and death in the books. Books one through four are a series of novellas, not regular length books. Book five is a regular length novel, book six is back to the novella, and book seven is a full length novel due out in November 2023. You can buy a collection of the first four hardbacks at a nice discount.
https://www.amazon.com/Murderbot-Diaries-Artificial-Condition-Protocol/dp/1250784271?tag=ttgnet-20/
There is a short story “Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” between books four and five.
https://www.tor.com/2021/04/19/home-habitat-range-niche-territory-martha-wells/
The author has a website at:
https://www.marthawells.com/
There is a wiki for Murderbot including various episodes of “The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon”:
https://murderbot.fandom.com/wiki/Murderbot_Wiki
and
https://murderbot.fandom.com/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Sanctuary_Moon
There is a much better review at:
https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/im-not-just-one-of-your-many-toys
My rating: 6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (42,802 reviews)
I liked the murderbot stories and am waiting for the next one. Binged them on Kindle unlimited…
n
“The Expanse” authors announcing a new scifi series tomorrow
Just got posted on twitter. Excited to see more from them!
https://x.com/orbitbooks/status/1722011047954174334?s=46&t=yPU7I9vYJoe0OROYDt9rKA
Stolen from
https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/17q6ww4/the_expanse_authors_announcing_a_new_scifi_series/
Is there an Altex nearby? They carry UPS batteries.
Not a good day. First the address I i was given was the old mortuary business location. Vacant and had been for some time. This address came to me from two sources. The granddaughter’s mother found the correct address on Gregg’s Facebook page.
The actual celebration seemed well done. I meet three of his former subordinates and they really liked him. Few other people spoke to me. They talked with my family but not me.
Second, and I expected this, the audio was garbled to my ears and I did not understand one word in a hundred.
Third, the granddaughter did not come. She was in an Illinois hospital for dehydration.
Fourth, the motorcycle has no title and is partially disassembled.
Fifth, the girlfriend’s family gave me sealed six cardboard boxes of Sprowl stuff indicating that it was everything. They filled the trunk of my Fusion.
Sixth they refused to give me: the girlfriend’s address, any employment data on Gregg, his wallet or drivers license, and any financial data. I only had her last name because she and Peyton’s mother were both realtors in California. Any details about the truck or its location. They completely ignored any questions about his guns; I only got blank stares.
Seventh, it was obvious that they have money. I can sue and their lawyers will delay any court date for years.
I’ll be out of here by 8:00 am tomorrow morning. No sense wasting anymore of my time.
@bob, that is really shitty. Do what you have to do to protect yourself emotionally. That sounds incredibly toxic and not something to get mixed up in.
Be careful on the drive home, maybe get a day away and then stop somewhere nice to crash out for a couple of days. I know that driving alone gives me far too much time to stew in my own juices if I’m in the wrong frame of mind.
In the few instances where I’ve had something I wished I could have said, I’ve written everything down, then made a fire, sat for a while, and burned the letter. The ritual aspects, and the discipline of writing helped with a sense of completeness and solemnity, with the idea the smoke and air would carry the thought where it needed to go. Corny and woowoo, but it helped me several times.
I wish you the best of luck dealing with this.
nick
Bob,
I hope that writing and sharing with your friends here helps a bit.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Take care on the way back.
Man Shoots Protesters Blocking Traffic (Video)
https://twitchy.com/aaronwalker/2023/11/08/watch-american-shoots-protesters-blocking-traffic-video-n2389586
It’s in Panama. The perp is a 77-year-old with alleged dual U.S./Panamanian citizenship.
The trailer to Falling Down is embedded.
I’m going on to California to take care a bit of business in my home town then down into the Valley to see some relatives I hadn’t expected to see before this happened. I should had back towards home early next week but may go and see my granddaughter first.
As far as I know there is. On I-35 between Braker and Rundberg. The batteries are the usual 12v 7 amp hour with spade connectors. The feed store has them for about $16 each last time I looked. I might do that instead of buying a new UPS.