Que?

A couple of things showed up on my radar that were simply... ehh?
There was a prisoner exchange that made the news.
That link was from the Washington Post so I consider the source 'trustworthy'.
My first reaction to all the spin doctors and talking heads was this: It's too soon.
Despite what people say, I'm withholding judgement on the man. He is an American. Did he do something stupid? Maybe. I'll let others decide. Would have I done the same in his shoes? I don't know because the facts aren't in. No one has interrogated or debriefed him. Lies go around the world before the truth gets out the door.
Anybody with a breaking story I treat with cynicism. 7 times out of 10 these same news sources are issuing a retraction later on.
In this world where we need to have news fast, the fact checking gets skimped. Fox counts on that. Every day I hear how news isn't like it used to be. Perhaps I look at it differently.
Take Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America. He read the news and that's the way it is. People as a whole didn't see the time lag. A foreign dignitary gets assassinated in the Baltic region, there was a certain amount of delay. Facts and sources got double checked in time for the six o'clock news. Walter looked good, America got informed.
So now CNN is broadcasting 24/7 and the time between happening and reporting is nonexistent. Retractions that were once a big sin in broadcasting, now they're almost commonplace.
Perhaps this is a sign I'm getting old. I don't need my news fast. I demand my news accurate. Take a day or 36 hours to get the facts straight. Afraid of getting scooped? What would you rather be: first or correct?
Bottom line: He is an American soldier. Bring him home.

Surprise

Sorry for the absence, but things were afoot. Besides the family descending for my daughter's graduation, my brakes decided to demand attention. With funds a little low and the knowledge of having done this once before, I set out to change the pads and rotors. If it was just that, the plan would have worked. Of course no plan survives contact with the enemy. Turns out the calipers, the cylinders that squeeze the brake pads, were the true culprit. Of course the other things needed to be replaced as well.
I ended up doing such a screwy job, my brother in law and I had to undo the damage. Of course, we wasted two days and tried to track down parts that didn't exist. I'm also pretty sure we ended up spending more than we intended, even with returning the items that didn't work. So now I'm using the old rotor, which I wanted to replace, new brake pads and new calipers. I very nearly lost the wheel while driving down to my sisters house because of a tiny piece that I didn't know existed until the day before yesterday.
My old cable provider took some money. Memo to me: break that contract. Then this morning Amazon prime took out over 107 dollars. I think I know what this is about and I can hopefully resolve this before the checks I wrote earlier hit the bank.
I'm not having a good week, and it just got started.
After taking a good look at Amazon, I cancelled a service that I didn't know I had and didn't need in the first place. Two clicks and the funds will reappear in my checking account in a few days. Whew! I damn near hyperventilated this morning when I saw the bank balance. I watch my money very closely because I don't trust the bank. That and I'm prone to forget something I charged or my wife wrote a check without telling me... Normal stuff.
Speaking of Amazon, the distribution center e-mailed me with a job  offer. The shift would be from 1800 to 0230. In non-military speak English:  6 PM to 2:30 AM. Now keep in mind I get up at 5 AM to go to work at my first job. There is no way I can work two full time jobs on 2 hours of sleep. Not without having a psychotic episode, and I'm sure we want to avoid that. If they had a part time position, say 4 to 6 hour shifts, I'd do that. I may average 4 to 5 hours sleep a night, but I'd do that for the short run. Long term that isn't healthy for me or anyone else. Cross me when I've had little to no sleep is a death wish, we all know that. I'm going to try and have something blogworthy up for Wednesday, promise.

All I can do is laugh

The first words my friend said to me when she recieved the book she ordered: "It's huge!"
"Well," I said. "It's 500 pages."
"I don't mean thick," she said. "It's the size of a phone book with large print."
Now I was puzzled.
The next day in the break room, my friend (and customer!) slapped this tome the size of a photo album in front of me.
"Look at this thing!"
Remembering my promise, I got out a pen and signed it. I had no idea it would be this big. When playing around with the Create space program, this was the smallest I could get. Well... it was the one that I could get to work. Seems I have to go back to the drawing board on this one. Trying to salvage the situation as best I could, I said, "You know this is a collectors item now. I know of at least one typo and of course, the size of this thing."
My friend smirked in this cute but embarrassing way. Perhaps I was the one who should be embarrassed... At least chagrined.

Below it is a real suitcase

Here it is in all it's overblown glory. my hand is there for comparison. After I finish this entry, I'm going back to that self publishing site and fix this. 

Learning

I consider myself a better carpenter than a mechanic. On the same note; I'm a better mechanic than an electrician. Before we start assigning  numerical values to my ineptitude, consider this.
I've installed ceiling fans successfully. Saturday, I changed the brake pads and rotors and I've completely overhauled the bathrooms plus too many DIY fixes than I care to remember. Oh yeah, I built some funny looking statues too.
 When I went to work Sunday, I noticed something. There's a distinctive 'clunk' when I make a sharp left turn. Now I put everything back where it's supposed to go, and things went on as tight as they could go. I'm fairly certain the wheel isn't about to come flying off. What I am going to do is consult a friend who restores cars. We can talk shop and perhaps I can get some advice on how to make this better.
Upon reading the above paragraph, I considered deleting it, but then decided to let things stand. Besides I liked the analogy. Taking things apart to put them back together again may not be the best way to spend an afternoon, but it will be the only way I'm going to learn what is making that #@#$% noise. When I told him what happened, my mechanic friend didn't have a clue as to what it could be. His exact words were, "That's not supposed to happen." No crap. Back to the drawing board...
Last week I got one of those out of the blue questions. It was about how long it takes to write a book. There's no right way to answer that. King suggests it should take no more than a year, or a season, as he put it. Realistically it varies depending on the time you have to invest in it. 'So where's your book now?' my curious friend asked.
In response I typed up the title in Amazon to show him where the paperback can be published. Another writing friend, (I want to be a writer, too.) immediately punched up the page and bought the book. Yeah! First paperback sale! Bless her heart. She got the book Sunday night and will post her review of it by Friday. What are my thoughts on this? Flattered? Amazed. Scared. This is almost a second degree of separation. We are barely co workers because we  don't work alongside each other, but I want to say we're associates. This is how it starts. She promised to post her review on Facebook, that's how it gets around: word of mouth.

The deal

Last night I got a tentative agreement to be hired at Amazon. The pay is a three bucks an hour less than what I'm making now, but if you take a look at my take home pay minus the liens and deductions with Lowe's (car and health insurance IRA), I'm only making 5.65 an hour. I guess it's all in how you look at it. The main problem I'm having, (besides losing about 300.00 every paycheck to liens.) is the mandatory IRA everyone had to sign up for. Three of my friends and co-workers had heart attacks, two of them fatal. I'm under no delusion that I'm going to live to see a retirement. So why not let me have that money right now, it's not like I'm getting out of here alive anyway.
Still need to iron out the details with Amazon. The shift they mentioned for me isn't a perfect fit. I'd have to cut some hours at my first job to accommodate the second, still, if I work it out I might come out ahead in this... might.
I just got the parts to fix my truck. My trolley jack sprung a leak. Looks like I'll have to borrow somebody else's jack.
Sorry for the personal revelation, but I didn't find anything blogworthy over the last couple of days.
My garden needs weeding, I need to work on my truck, there are a hundred different chores that need to be done and I have to go into work on Sunday because retail workers have no life. But I do so happily because I like to have a paycheck, small as it is, and try and keep a roof over my family's head. Universe, if you can hear me, I need some good news. Not money, although that would be put to good use, but I need something positive to come my way.
There, that's as close as I get to prayer.

Barter makes the world go round

Universal truths.
When we hear them it's like getting hit with a hammer of realization. A great epiphany of Wow!
Other times it can be more subtle. This little quote came my way a few weeks back.
"Everyone you meet knows something you don't.' -Bill Nye
That can be taken in many ways. 

• There is always something to learn
• Nobody knows it all
• Each one of us is an expert, if only on one thing.

My friends and I tried to set up a services trade off deal. I'd put in that toilet and bathroom tile in if you'll help me fix my car. In theory that sounds great, but time and finances play a part in that. 

I offered all my friends to come and help me put my garden in. I wanted to make it a communal sort of thing. If a neighbor helped me pull weeds, we'd share the tomatoes when they come in. Incidentally, there is currently some zucchini beginning to flower in my garden. I should harvest the oregano and parsley this weekend for drying.

We don't know when opportunity will drop stuff into your lap. I happened to come across some wood flooring that was going to be thrown away. It was close enough color-wise to match the stuff in the rest of the house. I'm a big fan of re-purposing things. Curbs into fireplaces, pallets into paneling. Of course, how much effort and what the results will be should always be in mind. I saw a person take some pallets and put them in as wood flooring. All the nails they had to pull out. Running each piece through a planer to get it the right shape. Then there is the question of how good the wood is? Does it break easily? Is there dry rot? Seems to me like you'd go through a lot of work to get the results you want.

If money were no object (Ha!) we'd buy everything off the shelf. There has to be a middle ground. Taking bricks and building a wall. Building a porch or deck using wood scraps. I love going down to Habitat for Humanity and see what they have there. Often times I won't find what I'm looking for, but most of the time I don't know what that certain something is. That window may need to be replaced, but that porch isn't going to build itself. We must choose our projects wisely.

 

higher and higher

Starting this while the laundry is being done. What can I say? I'm sort of a multitasker. One of the things I like about my wife is the stimulating conversations we have. It's not all, 'What do you want to do?' or 'Will you please take out the garbage?'
This morning I came across this:


My wife did her quiet chuckle while shaking her head slightly.
"I'm surprised you're not offended by that." I replied.
A look of momentary reflection crossed her face. "Yes, and no," she explained.
"Both of us are spiritual,  but not religious."
I nodded in agreement. The universe is far more wondrous than we know. My wife and I agree that we humans are not on the highest rung of the evolutionary ladder. While I personally think no one religion is 100% correct, I think we should take bits a pieces from every aspect.
My wise dearest wife put it this way: 'The higher power is not sitting in judgement. Sending people to heaven or hell depending on circumstances. Instead, we have freewill. The superior being is sitting back and watching what we will do with the power of choice.'

What a smart girl. Did I luck out when I married her or what?

 For my part, life has aspects of heaven or hell. It's our outlook that determines if our time on earth is a cake walk or a living punishment.
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. -Native American saying.
To that end, I choose to recycle, live within our means, Vote with my wallet, conserve resources. Elect officials who reflect my values.
In a perfect world, I would bike to work. I'd still like to make that happen, despite the fact that can't ride a bike. At least not very far, fast or efficiently.

But back to my lack of religion.


Or you can listen to Carlin's take on things.


My personal ten commandments:

1. Be true to yourself. Lying to yourself only sets you up for disaster.
2. No person is your better. No person is your inferior.
3. Be humble because you are a human on this earth. Be noble because you are a human on this earth.
4. When you work, give 100%, but give yourself a break every now and then.
5. Call your parents. Keep in touch with friends old and new.
6. Don't kill, cheat, steal or lie. Be tough, but be fair.
7. Family is important. Show your love for them in what you do in life.
8. Don't think in terms of your possessions. Some things money can't buy.
9. Be the kind of neighbor you want to live next door to. 
10. Your rights as a person end where another persons' begin.