Fri. April 23, 2021 – Blank page, so much potential, but…

By on April 23rd, 2021 in decline and fall, march to war, WuFlu

Cool again, an supposedly rain with nasty stuff mixed in. Yesterday was nice, most of the day was clear, with some occasional overcast. Not to hot, but a little sweaty. Very light rain started around 11pm.

I didn’t get as much done as I’d have liked because I felt just a bit weird all day. My back was kind of on edge, with my neck doing strange feeling things, and I felt a bit dizzy at times. Not a day for a lot of driving, or hard lifting. (I mention it mainly so I have a record of it, not because I am looking for anything, part of this is a daily journal for me too. I was surprised when looking at old posts that it’s been 2 months since I thought about doing an article on buckets for example. Time flies lately.)

I did get some stuff moved out of the house and into storage. Some food got stored and organized, and some pantry stuff got restocked. Some small cleanup happened. A couple of auction items were picked up. I’ve got some tools and radio stuff still waiting for pickup today. House looks a bit better but there is still a lot of stuff here. I’m meeting with one of my local auctioneers today, and hopefully I can talk him into taking another big delivery. The auctioneer I was supposed to drop off the last of my next auction with yesterday begged off, she wasn’t feeling good after her second moderna shot. I hope she’s doing better today, I’d like to get the 450 pokemon cards I’m selling into her next toy and collectible auction.

Out in the wider world, I’m hoping that we get a little pause, a little chance to draw breath and rearrange our worldview before the next step down the slope. Heck, it would be nice to not take the next step down, but I don’t think that is likely at all.

I’d really like some more ‘normal’ time to get stuff in order. Lots of projects to do, lots of preps to stack, lots of stuff to sell, all dependent on things holding together for a while longer.

We’ve got a little time, use it wisely. Plenty of things that need stacking.

nick

64 Comments and discussion on "Fri. April 23, 2021 – Blank page, so much potential, but…"

  1. dcp says:

    Time flies lately

    “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    LOL!

    69F and wet this morning.

    n

  3. Nick Flandrey says:

    Wet but the rain stopped sometime late last night. General overcast and humid at the moment.

    India is in trouble. Little by little, then all of a sudden. Exponential change.

    Dying Covid sufferers lie on stretchers outside Indian hospitals while other medical centres stop accepting patients as the country sees ANOTHER record number of infections and deaths

    Daily cases soared to world record 332,730 on Friday, with a new daily death record for the country at 2,263
    Spike came as a fire in a hospital on the outskirts of Mumbai treating Covid patients killed 13 people on Friday
    Narendra Modi called it ‘tragic,’ as he approved payouts for the victims’ relatives, but he faces fury for staging election rallies despite hospitals running out of beds and oxygen tankers being escorted by armed guards
    Britain blocked travel from India on Friday amid fears that a new variant is causing the virus to spread faster
    As well as a lack of oxygen and basic medicines, beds have become scarce, with major hospitals putting up notices saying they have no room for any more patients and police being deployed to secure oxygen supplies

    How deadly is it?

    Again, scientists still don’t know for sure – but they are fairly certain it won’t be more deadly than the current variants in circulation in Britain.

    This is because there is no evolutionary benefit to Covid becoming more deadly.

    The virus’s sole goal is to spread as much as it can, so it needs people to be alive and interacting with others for as long as possible to achieve this.

    And, if other variants are anything to go by, the Indian strain should not be more lethal.

    –so, nothing more than wishes…. since we know there are viruses that spread and are more deadly.

    n

  4. SteveF says:

    What the heck??? I demand a recount!

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  5. Nick Flandrey says:

    Dang Steve, now it all makes sense!

    I think you need a Coke, so you can try to be less white!

    n

  6. Chad says:

    Then, a few years later, “Enterprise” did a really cool “Mirror, Mirror” riff on the key scene, even bringing back James Cromwell to make the point that history may have diverged in that moment.

    Isn’t that a parallel universe theory that every decision creates a parallel universe. So, the simplest example, when faced with a yes/no question and you choose yes there’s a parallel universe where you chose no. Then, multiply that by every decision made by everything every day and all the different combinations of decisions and there’s an infinite number of parallel universes. Some wildly different than ours and some indistinguishable than ours. Fun to ponder.

    Isn’t there also a theory that all the parallel universes inhabit the same reality but our atoms just vibrate at different frequencies and that’s why we can’t see or interact with the other parallel universes and it’s when that vibration is temporarily off that we can briefly catch a glimpse of the other parallels which we interpret as “ghost sightings.”

    Like I said, fun to ponder.

  7. Roger+Ritter says:

    That’s the problem with slippery slopes – after enough steps down one, you no longer need to take a step to keep moving.

  8. Greg Norton says:

    India is in trouble. Little by little, then all of a sudden. Exponential change.

    The Subcontinent has been lying and covering up as usual. My wife just saw a journal article to that effect — since the government doesn’t have any money, domestic Covid vaccine production, or the ability to print the reserve currency of the planet, they exaggerate their death counts *away* from Wuxu Flu to avoid a travel ban.

    It isn’t so sudden if you pay attention. I’d say something has been up since Daiwali (sp?).

    I see a lot more oldsters on the sidewalks in the nearby H1B development around sunset since the beginning of the year. Annectdotal, but they weren’t there a year ago.

  9. Nick Flandrey says:

    “I see a lot more oldsters on the sidewalks in the nearby H1B development around sunset since the beginning of the year.”

    -kid1 getting mom and dad out of dodge?

    n

  10. Greg Norton says:

    “I see a lot more oldsters on the sidewalks in the nearby H1B development around sunset since the beginning of the year.”

    -kid1 getting mom and dad out of dodge?

    That’s my guess. You don’t see the oldsters at HEB or Tarjay so I assume they overstay tourist visas and keep quiet.

    H1B Lotto is running again. Construction on Apple’s new campus is moving fast, and they’re expecting to put 20,000 there eventually. Then there is The Real Life Tony Stark’s (TM) Giga-factory, making a statement visible from the arrivals driveway at the airport — he wants employee housing subsidies now.

    What? You thought Tony and Apple would hire local? Puh-lease.

    I forgot to add that my wife had another near miss infection opportunity at work *just this week* due to a Subcontinent co-worker showing up in the office knowingly sick. Another provider, the third in a year, someone who should know better.

    The really scary aspect was that the previous two providers were specialists, Podiatry IIRC. This provider was GP and saw patients all morning until she got her Covid test results.

    Yes, the patients are being contacted.

  11. MrAtoz says:

    Oof:

    ‘I Didn’t Want to Go Through the Rioting’: Juror in Chauvin Trial Makes Stunning Admission over ‘Guilty’ Verdict

    So brave to admit this after sending a cop to prison for up to forty years. So brave.

    The appeals judge should immediately dismiss the case.

  12. Chad says:

    COVID-19 numbers out of developing and undeveloped nations have been a joke from the start. To look at a map of reported data a few months ago you’d think the virus only affected the developed world (which is, of course, absurd). I’m guessing the virus has been running rampant across much of South America, Africa, and South Central/Southwest Asian since the beginning. It’s just now getting attention as the truth works its way out of those countries.

  13. Greg Norton says:

    So brave to admit this after sending a cop to prison for up to forty years. So brave.

    A Hunter Biden-style book deal is in that woman’s future.

    Maybe faster. Like Buttigieg’s … spouse? Better hurry if you want one of those — the remainders are probably already headed to the pulping facility.

  14. Greg Norton says:

    Looks like Gavin Newsom will survive the recall election.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/caitlyn-jenner-launches-campaign-run-governor-california

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  15. Chad says:

    What? You thought Tony and Apple would hire local? Puh-lease.

    H1Bs have never been as much about pay as productivity. H1Bs will work 80 hours per week indefinitely and thank you for the opportunity. They don’t have a spouse at home that’s pissed off they’re never at home or children that will resent them for it. It’s built into their culture. Mostly they’re just happy they can drink the tap water and their kids will be US citizens.

    Looks like Gavin Newsom will survive the recall election.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/caitlyn-jenner-launches-campaign-run-governor-california

    Nothing prepares you for the duties of governor like Olympic sports, reality TV, and the trans experience. S/he will give the “best ever” speech during pride month and then will be like, “Okay, now what…” I suppose s/he can defer to advisors who were probably chosen based more on diversity than qualification. They don’t know shit about running a US state, but put them all in a room together and they look like a box of Crayola crayons and that’s what really matters.

  16. Greg Norton says:

    H1Bs have never been as much about pay as productivity. H1Bs will work 80 hours per week indefinitely and thank you for the opportunity. They don’t have a spouse at home that’s pissed off they’re never at home or children that will resent them for it. It’s built into their culture. Mostly they’re just happy they can drink the tap water and their kids will be US citizens.

    I’ve known for a long time that H1B is not about the money for either side of the sponsorship situation.

  17. Greg Norton says:

    They don’t know shit about running a US state, but put them all in a room together and they look like a box of Crayola crayons and that’s what really matters.

    The Progs already have that “Crayola box” with Newsom.

    The Dem establishment favors keeping Newsom. Republicans were burned by the Governator, and supporting Jenner would mean losing the Governor’s mansion for far more than a generation.

    People signed the petition thinking it would get the beaches and Disneyland reopened. The effort worked.

  18. nick flandrey says:

    “H1Bs have never been as much about pay as productivity.”

    –yes it is about the pay, because they sure as hell aren’t productive. It’s about filling slots as cheaply as possible. If they need to work 80hrs it’s because it takes them twice as long to get anything worthwhile done. AND it “shows” how important MANAGERS are because you have to drive them like a rented mule to get anything useful at all. Which the managers LOVE.

    maybe IT is different? but I can’t imagine it, since the people are people.
    n

    headed out

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  19. SteveF says:

    Subcontinent H1Bs in IT are almost completely worthless, in my experience. Not all, but the exceptions are few and far between. Many of them are in the office very long hours, but hours actually at their desks and working are few and far between.

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  20. Greg Norton says:

    –yes it is about the pay, because they sure as hell aren’t productive. It’s about filling slots as cheaply as possible. If they need to work 80hrs it’s because it takes them twice as long to get anything worthwhile done. AND it “shows” how important MANAGERS are because you have to drive them like a rented mule to get anything useful at all. Which the managers LOVE.

    Anyplace I’ve worked, the H1Bs were about subservience. They can’t go to another company without sponsorship for another H1B or a green card.

    At the last job, my salary wasn’t much different than the public filings showed the company paying the H1B visa holders in my group.

  21. Alan says:

    I pulled the Carfax on it. The Expy started off life in California and moved to Texas in 2006 with the second owner. There have been three owners. The first owner owned it for 9 months (sold at 23,933 miles), the second for 13 yrs, 9 months (sold at 141,941 miles), and the third for 1 year, 2 months(sold at 154,300 miles). No salvage, no flood, small accident on front right corner. Just passed inspection and emissions on Mar 13, 2021. No flags.

    I figure 10% of the life is left. At that point it will probably need a tranny or an engine.

    I just need a vehicle to run around town every other week or so. No out of town trips, I will use a personal car for that.

    @lynn; decent amount of tread left on the tires so you won’t likely need to replace them?
    And if you only drive it when it’s between 32F and 95F maybe you’ll stretch it to 15%.

  22. MrAtoz says:

    Someone noted that the FUSA is the only country not showing it’s flag. Obola’s Apology Tour 2.0

  23. Ken Mitchell says:

    Jenner for Governor of Cacafornia? Anything will be better than Navin Gruesome, but ….

    In 2004, the LAST time California fired its governor (and this time)  the election is in two line items

    First, should the governor be recalled, yes or no?

    Second, IF the governor is recalled, who will be the new governor? THIS is the tricky part, because it only takes a plurality. Out of however many bozos run, the one with the most votes becomes the new governor. Ahnold won in 2004, because he had the highest name recognition, and Jenner may be playing on that, because there will be DOZENS of wannabes running. If I still lived in California, I’d vote for John Cox, who was defeated the last couple of times. 2nd choice would be Richard Grenell, the former ambassador to Germany and later Trump’s DNI.

  24. Chad says:

    yes it is about the pay, because they sure as hell aren’t productive. It’s about filling slots as cheaply as possible. If they need to work 80hrs it’s because it takes them twice as long to get anything worthwhile done.

    For the offshore programmers in India I would agree. However, the ones that actually physically move to America under an H1B visa are usually somewhat competent or they get shown the door quickly and that fucks up their visa. In my experience, the programmers that stay in India and the ones that come here on an H1B are very different skillwise.

    Anyplace I’ve worked, the H1Bs were about subservience. They can’t go to another company without sponsorship for another H1B or a green card.

    Yep. It’s “Yes, sir, I’ll get that done right away, sir.” with no backtalk or complaint or opinion and they’ll work 16 hour days until it’s done. Joe Blow American citizen trying to avoid a divorce and get to their kid’s softball game can’t compete.

  25. ITGuy1998 says:

    Lumber prices are definitely high. Fence pickets that were 1.98 are now 2.19. Not a huge increase, unless you buy a couple hundred…

    Regular 2×4’s are stupid – almost 9 bucks. They are the same price as pressure treated. I’m glad I’m not trying to build a house right now.

  26. Chad says:

    Lumber prices are definitely high. Fence pickets that were 1.98 are now 2.19. Not a huge increase, unless you buy a couple hundred…

    Regular 2×4’s are stupid – almost 9 bucks. They are the same price as pressure treated. I’m glad I’m not trying to build a house right now.

    I was looking at hardwood lumber the other day for a woodworking project and almost choked when I saw the prices.

    When the country spends gobs of money it doesn’t have and minimum wages are shooting up everywhere then the price of EVERYTHING is going to go up. I hope everyone enjoys spending their $15/hr minimum wage paycheck on a McDonald’s combo meal that costs $14.

  27. RickH says:

    This month I have driven through Oregon (I-5) and to Long Beach WA (on OR/WA border on the coast).

    Passed by several lumber places, and saw stacks of finished wood – plywood, and dimensional lumber. And acres of logs waiting to be processed, with full parking lots at the ‘wood factories’. Lots of log trucks going back and forth from the clear-cutting managed forests areas.

    The product is out there. There’s something else at play that is causing the high prices. Maybe even market manipulation. Although I have also seen mention of high tariffs on imported lumber from Canada.

  28. gavin says:

    The virus’s sole goal is to spread as much as it can, so it needs people to be alive and interacting with others for as long as possible to achieve this.

    Is it just me or are news reports more commonly assigning agency to the virus? And is that an effort to distance the governments from the poor results of their lockdown and vaccination policies, or to try to distance the pandemic from its source?

    It reads oddly to me.

  29. SteveF says:

    re lumber prices, yesterday I saw a video on who’s making the money. Bottom line, it’s the major sawmills. I’d provide a link but I can’t find the video now.

    re sapient viruses, when a real scientist says “the virus wants to” (or “genes want to” or “the jet stream wants to”) it’s usually shorthand for “operates in a manner as if it wants to”. The problem is that a lot of people don’t seem to understand that.

  30. lynn says:

    I pulled the Carfax on it. The Expy started off life in California and moved to Texas in 2006 with the second owner. There have been three owners. The first owner owned it for 9 months (sold at 23,933 miles), the second for 13 yrs, 9 months (sold at 141,941 miles), and the third for 1 year, 2 months(sold at 154,300 miles). No salvage, no flood, small accident on front right corner. Just passed inspection and emissions on Mar 13, 2021. No flags.

    I figure 10% of the life is left. At that point it will probably need a tranny or an engine.

    I just need a vehicle to run around town every other week or so. No out of town trips, I will use a personal car for that.

    @lynn; decent amount of tread left on the tires so you won’t likely need to replace them?
    And if you only drive it when it’s between 32F and 95F maybe you’ll stretch it to 15%.

    Bummer, just got sold. I was getting ready to head over there.

  31. lynn says:

    “SpaceX Launches ISS-Bound Astronauts on Used Crew Dragon Capsule”
    https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-launches-iss-bound-astronauts-on-used-crew-dragon-capsule

    “The Crew-2 team took off early this morning en route to the International Space Station.”

    “SpaceX successfully launched four astronauts en route to the International Space Station early this morning. The mission, dubbed Crew-2, marks the first time a Crew Dragon capsule has been reused to fly humans.”

    “A veteran Falcon 9 rocket, previously piloted during SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission last year, took off at 5:49 a.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. Commander Shane Kimbrough and pilot Megan McArthur of NASA join mission specialists Akihiko Hoshide of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet, a French aerospace engineer from the European Space Agency (ESA), for a six-month mission on the ISS.”

    Man, we are recycling everything nowadays !

  32. lynn says:

    “”Very Shocked” – Las Vegas Residents Have Trouble Finding Gasoline”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/very-shocked-las-vegas-residents-have-trouble-finding-gasoline

    “Chevron’s Twitter account responded by saying: “Hi- Due to limits currently in operation on the pipeline serving the Las Vegas area, fuel deliveries have been impacted. Coupled with the increase in demand in the region due to travel and capacity restrictions being lifted, this has led to limited supplies available at times.””

    “The energy company blames travel and capacity restrictions lifted, resulting in a surge of fuel demand for West Coast states that has outpaced available supply.”

    “Besides the shortage, Nevadans are paying an average of $3.41 per gallon of regular gasoline, said AAA Nevada spokesman Sergio Avila. Last month, residents paid an average of $3.35 per gallon.”

    “The latest inflation data shows Americans are experiencing some of the fastest consumer price increases in more than a decade. The fuel oil index has increased 20.2% over the last 12 months.”

    When you import your fuel from halfway across the country, don’t be surprised when things don’t work perfectly all the time.

    And just wait, Biden and his cohorts want gasoline and diesel at $10/gallon.

  33. Greg Norton says:

    <i>Man, we are recycling everything nowadays ! </i>

    Dr. Pournelle often stated that the key to going anywhere in space was developing a means to reach low Earth orbit for the price of fuel and minimal maintenance on the hardware.

  34. TV says:

    The product is out there. There’s something else at play that is causing the high prices. Maybe even market manipulation. Although I have also seen mention of high tariffs on imported lumber from Canada.

    Trump put a roughly 24% tariff on Canadian lumber back in 2017 (orange man BAD) but that was cut back to 8.9% in December of 2020 (old man GOOD). This is all part of a decades-long dispute about lumber between our countries. We (Canada) have lots of it and you (USA) need it, but your domestic lumber companies cry foul because it is cheaper for us to produce. We then get into long, technical disputes because we manage the land differently (your companies claim that is a subsidy, we say mind your own business) so there is this constant bickering. You will note that it is a reduction in tariff, not an elimination. This happens in spite of the free trade treaty… So, lumber is more expensive in the US than it should be at any time. Recent prices seem a bit much though – I will note the prices are much higher here as well.

  35. Greg Norton says:

    Passed by several lumber places, and saw stacks of finished wood – plywood, and dimensional lumber. And acres of logs waiting to be processed, with full parking lots at the ‘wood factories’. Lots of log trucks going back and forth from the clear-cutting managed forests areas.

    Take 6 in from 101 to Chehalis if you’ve got time to kill driving back from the coast next time. Lots of managed forests and related facilities back in there. Or, at least, there used to be.

    The US screwed up the wood product pipeline with the insane TP buying frenzy over the last year, and the Brown Truck Mall and Food Court (TM) has created such a crazy demand for boxes that International Paper announced recently that they are getting out of every other paper product line except boxes. Specific products get certain trees and growing cycles, and the pipeline needs time to adjust to demand.

    We went to Long Beach once, but our favorite place on the WA/OR coast was Newport, staying at the Hallmark resort.

    Even going back a decade, anywhere within an hour or so of Portland was usually overwhelmed with jerks on the weekends. I thought the coast communities had pretty much closed up during the pandemic.

  36. Nick+Flandrey says:

    Sitting on a loading dock waiting for my auction pick up. Traffic is crazy because it’s raining and people can’t drive in the rain. There was some sort of firefighter funeral procession with trucks on all the overpasses that slowed traffic down. And it’s Friday which always has late afternoon heavy traffic is people trying to get out of Dodge.

    I did make it by my toy and collectible auctioneer and she will list my Pokémon cards so that’s good. And I went past my household guy and he will take a new load next week. he has my current load listing this week.

    Once I get this load picked up I’m headed to the airport to pick up my mom . She’s coming in for Easter a child birthday and my wedding anniversary . Gonna be a busy week.

    At least it’s not raining at this particular moment since I only have the pick up truck now and anything in the bed is gonna get wet .

    N

  37. Greg Norton says:

    At least it’s not raining at this particular moment since I only have the pick up truck now and anything in the bed is gonna get wet . 

    Austin is under a watch for severe thunderstorms this afternoon, and the mess will be heading your way tonight.

    My wife’s Exploder picked up a couple of major dings from hail last week. The vehicle is in the garage this afternoon, and I’m getting an repair estimate from paintless repair tomorrow — he’s so busy that the shop is open on weekends over the next few months.

  38. Greg Norton says:

    This month I have driven through Oregon (I-5) and to Long Beach WA (on OR/WA border on the coast).

    @Rick – How grim was Three Rivers Mall in Kelso? You couldn’t miss it since it is right where you get off the freeway to go across the bridge to take the fastest route out to Long Beach.

    That place was a “dead mall” when we went eight years ago for a video game show.

  39. Nick+Flandrey says:

    Currently waiting in cell phone lot at the airport. Just got a weather alert for tornado watch that’s a lot of fun. And my mom’s plane just hit the ground -wheels first – so I’ll be going to get her .

    N

  40. RickH says:

    @Greg – since we live on the Olympic Peninsula in WA, we took the eastern ‘101’ drive down into Shelton-ish, then 108 to highway 8 towards Aberdeen, then south on the the western ‘101’ into Long Beach. Route was nowhere near Kelso.

    Nice drive, well-paved/maintained 2 lane roads mostly, a few 4 lane divided highway.

  41. Harold+Combs says:

    China descending into Dilbertesque hell where the pointy hair boss is used as a good example.

    Read the Instapundit link

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/445849/

  42. Greg Norton says:

    @Greg – since we live on the Olympic Peninsula in WA, we took the eastern ‘101’ drive down into Shelton-ish, then 108 to highway 8 towards Aberdeen, then south on the the western ‘101’ into Long Beach. Route was nowhere near Kelso.

    We lived in Vantucky (Vancouer, WA) when we up were there so everything was in relation to I-5.

  43. Greg Norton says:

    China descending into Dilbertesque hell where the pointy hair boss is used as a good example.

    The US is the country where life is imitating the “Star Trek – Patterns of Force” art.

    I don’t know how “new” the boot liking bureaucracy and bowing to authority is in China. It wasn’t until we moved to Vantucky in 2010 and spent time around the in-laws that we learned about the “Number One Son” not being the invention of Hollywood screenwriters.

    We lived in the same town as the “boss” cousin, the Number One Son of Number One Son of the previous generation, and he played the trip on my wife that he was some kind of decision maker for family about things. My wife went along with it to keep peace, but the hierarchy was real in the family minds.

  44. Alan says:

    Bummer, just got sold. I was getting ready to head over there.

    Wow, even 15 year old used cars are getting snapped up. Gotta move fast as @nick has found out of late.

  45. Greg Norton says:

    Bummer, just got sold. I was getting ready to head over there.

    Wow, even 15 year old used cars are getting snapped up. Gotta move fast as @nick has found out of late.

    V8.

    Plugs hasn’t decided how far he will go with reinstating higher number for 2025 CAFE, but the manufacturers aren’t taking any chances. The pipeline started adjusting when Pelosi retook the Speaker’s gavel.

  46. Alan says:

    …H1B workers…

    Best I’ve ever had have been from the Philippines. Knowledgeable in their subject matter, hard working, courteous and well spoken in English.

  47. Ray Thompson says:

    since we live on the Olympic Peninsula in WA

    My last trip to WA peninsula was to scatter my aunt’s ashes at Beckett Point close to the boat ramp. I am certain Mr. RickH knows the location. Before that I spent 30 years traveling in the area due to visiting my aunt and uncle along with a couple of friends. Took three trips into Canada, two of them from Port Angeles on that slow ferry.

    The last trip to Washington we did go into Canada but we drove up on I-5. We also spent three nights and four days in La Push. You go to Forks in the middle of nowhere, then travel a few miles further to La Push. There was no phone, no TV, no internet, almost no communication with the outside world from the condo. Spent a lot of time on the beach walking, sitting, listening. Spent some more time flying my high performance kite because there is always wind.

    Nice place to unwind and detach from civilization for awhile. Recommended.

    What was amazing is that one can catch a bus in Seattle and travel all the way to La Push. It takes about 8 hours. And the cost when I checked, $5.00 for the entire journey. Several bus changes required.

  48. Jenny says:

    Spring has arrived, the snow is melting, and my to do list has hit high gear.
    Traded our 1968 travel trailer to a retired lumberjack for his labor and knowledge – he dropped, limbed, and bucked about six large cottonwoods, aspen, and birch. The brush pile is bigger than a large truck. And that sure is a lot of wood to deal with.

    Struggles to complete the move continue. Nose to the grindstone and no time for play.

  49. nick flandrey says:

    Rear ended on the freeway on the way home.  Some tweeks in my neck, mom feels sore.  Low speed.  Truck is gonna need more than a buff out but is driveable.  No drivers license, no insurance, no Ingles.   Showed my HPD lanyard and ID so he wouldn’t bolt, called for a report.  I was driving away after while he was still taking with PD.

    Gotta get some pizza.

    n

  50. Greg Norton says:

    Rear ended on the freeway on the way home. Some tweeks in my neck, mom feels sore. Low speed. Truck is gonna need more than a buff out but is driveable. No drivers license, no insurance, no Ingles. Showed my HPD lanyard and ID so he wouldn’t bolt, called for a report. I was driving away after while he was still taking with PD.

    That sucks. When I took driving school for the Alabama ticket from last Summer, the instructor indicated that both sides get points in Texas, and the party not at fault has to go to court to get their record cleared.

  51. Greg Norton says:

    Struggles to complete the move continue. Nose to the grindstone and no time for play. 

    What is the status of your laptop? Did it dry out ok?

    Find “The Last Blockbuster” on Netflix if you need some decompression TV and nostalgia trip.

    I played “Championship Wrestling from Florida” with the sheet metal of our washer last weekend ahead of a visit from the appliance repairman regarding our dryer, bending metal and replacing machine screws where necessary. My wife’s friend tried taking apart the washer 20 years ago to fix a leak when I was busy with work, and the housing was never right until last weekend. I didn’t want the tech to gripe if he had to move the washer.

    Dryer problem was the thermal fuse. I started to diagnose it myself, but was nearly electrocuted when the broken hinge allowed the control panel to drop and arc 220V against the rear panel.

    The washer/dryer have seen better days, but looking at new didn’t exactly inspire confidence in terms of build quality.

  52. Greg Norton says:

    The last trip to Washington we did go into Canada but we drove up on I-5. We also spent three nights and four days in La Push. You go to Forks in the middle of nowhere, then travel a few miles further to La Push. There was no phone, no TV, no internet, almost no communication with the outside world from the condo. Spent a lot of time on the beach walking, sitting, listening. Spent some more time flying my high performance kite because there is always wind.

    Colin Trevorrow’s “Safety Not Guaranteed” does a pretty good job showing off that part of the WA State coast.

    Watch the film cold, no Interwebs research, if you want the magic to work.

  53. lynn says:

    “2005 Ford Expedition XLT – $5,000 (Montgomery)”
    https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/d/montgomery-2005-ford-expedition-xlt/7311603935.html

    Man, only 106,000 miles. But no console next to the driver’s seat !

  54. Mark W says:

    I was an H1B a long time ago. I’m not from the subcontinent, as I’ve mentioned before.

    I guess I matched some of the stereotype. Single, worked long hours (sometimes), got treated badly by the company. I worked with some subcontinent  H1B and like everyone else, some were very good, some average. The company never hired any bad ones during my time there.

    Some of the white employees were a piece of work though.

  55. SteveF says:

    Twenty-five years ago, most H1B workers were good, some very good, and only a few duds. The rules or the interpretation of the rules changed maybe twenty years ago, the floodgates opened, and the majority of the H1Bs from the subcontinent and from the PRC were pretty much crap: marginal technical skills, crap work ethic, crap honesty.

    (By “work ethic” I mean more than simply having your butt in the employer’s building for many hours per day.)

  56. drwilliams says:

    @nick

    ”Rear ended on the freeway on the way home.  Some tweeks in my neck, mom feels sore.  Lo”

    Look after it assuming it’s going to get much effing worse. Put claim in for other driver’s organs—sorry, this isn’t Niven’s future, you are sol.

    Re:H1B

    Ain’t no such thing as value for the money. Big tech has been using this scam to keep wages down since the 80’s, with the enthusiastic cooperation of taxpayer funded universities making sure that only token numbers if US citizens could get advanced degrees.

    3
    1
  57. Alan says:

    “2005 Ford Expedition XLT – $5,000 (Montgomery)”
    https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/d/montgomery-2005-ford-expedition-xlt/7311603935.html

    Man, only 106,000 miles. But no console next to the driver’s seat !

    Do you really want to trust a guy on CL who has his phone number as
    “9three6-2zero7-94eight8” ?

    “I don’t have to sell this.” Then why are you? And no VIN #?

    “But no console next to the driver’s seat” – does it seat three in the front or does it have a fold-down arm rest?

    Nice neighborhood though…

  58. lynn says:

    “2005 Ford Expedition XLT – $5,000 (Montgomery)”
    https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/d/montgomery-2005-ford-expedition-xlt/7311603935.html

    Man, only 106,000 miles. But no console next to the driver’s seat !

    Do you really want to trust a guy on CL who has his phone number as
    “9three6-2zero7-94eight8” ?

    “I don’t have to sell this.” Then why are you? And no VIN #?

    “But no console next to the driver’s seat” – does it seat three in the front or does it have a fold-down arm rest?

    Nice neighborhood though…

    I texted with him. He did confirm that it is the 8 passenger of the Expedition which is a three person front seat. The front middle seat back flips down and becomes a half-butt console.

    I found a different 2007 Expedition Limited with 147,202 miles that I am going to pursue:
    https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=583165477

    It is a little more than I want to spend at $7,491 but I need a usable vehicle for the office. Mostly so I can put commercial auto insurance on it and cover my employees vehicles through it (hired and non hired auto insurance).

  59. Nick Flandrey says:

    “Do you really want to trust a guy on CL who has his phone number as
    “9three6-2zero7-94eight8” ?”

    –I do this with my listings. It’s a CL thing to try and avoid the robots and scammers. They are REALLY good at parsing the listings automatically and robotexting about their scam.

    n

  60. Nick Flandrey says:

    The “don’t have to sell this” comes after the ‘no lowball offers’ and is an attempt to limit the number of time wasters calling and asking “what’s the least you’ll take for it”?

    I always answer by just asking them what’s the most they’ll pay for it. They get confused and angry and hang up.

    n

  61. Greg Norton says:

    –I do this with my listings. It’s a CL thing to try and avoid the robots and scammers. They are REALLY good at parsing the listings automatically and robotexting about their scam.

    I know at least one marketing company harvests phone numbers and then uses data mining techniques to sell a list of 20 or so numbers most likely to be associated with a particular home address, vehicle registration, or, in my wife’s case professional licenses across all states.

    I receive recruiting calls all the time for my wife. They’re either working that list or assume my wife’s name is what I call myself post transition. Please. My wife’s name is a stereotype choice, and I would never do that. 🙂

  62. Jenny says:

    @greg

    laptop dried out and is still ticking. Husband found a local good deal on a current laptop w/more RAM and better processor. Replaced it.

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