Stories and other stuff

Here are some things I've seen recently I never thought I'd ever see: I never thought I'd see the day when a Utah Republican would be considered a moderate.  By the way, if Jon Huntsman runs in 2016, that's the guy to vote for. I never thought I'd see the day when it was OK to be gay.  But then again, I never thought I'd see the day that a lot of what is OK in the world would be. I never thought I'd see the day that things that were a good idea in 1960 or so would be such a bad idea now.  Some of that stuff (voting rights act, medicare, etc...) were good ideas then. I thought Americans were smarter than they are.  We're our own worst enemy sometimes. I never thought I'd see the day I'd have to take time off without pay because the government was broke. I never thought I'd have to go without a pay raise for three years, either.  But here we are. I looked at my college transcript today.  The one class I finished I got an A in.  I ...

Maybe I should sweep and mop today.  The floors could use it.  I already cleaned the carpet in my bedroom. Maybe I should load the dishwasher.  There's a sinkful of dishes.  They're from last night and today. Maybe I should make that meatloaf.  I purchased some ground beef to make it and I have lots of chili sauce left from what I made last summer. (want a jar of your very own?) Maybe I ought to go down to the auto parts store today and buy the brake shoes for my car. Maybe I should read a chapter in that book I've started reading. Maybe I should google the address of the VA clinic in Ogden.  I have a doctor's appointment with them.  When I went to Turkey in 2009, I got sick, then got pneumonia.  Then in 2010 when I spent the night in the hospital with some pretty severe chest pains, they did an MRI and found a spot on my lung.  I'm a thinkin' the VA needs to have a look-see and see what exactly I brought back from Turkey. Maybe I...

I've worked for the Federal Government for a very long time.  24 years, in my estimation is a very long time.  In that time, and for the most part, I think I've been a good employee.  The last three years maybe not as much as before, but that's because, and only because, of the circumstance I've found myself in that have impacted how much time away from my job I've had to take. I try to give a fair day's work for the wages I get paid.  I don't just sit around and "sponge" off the taxpayers.  I work.  So do the majority of Federal Employees. For two and a half years, now, we've seen our wages frozen.  For longer than that, those of us blue-collar workers have seen our wages capped.  For those of you that don't know, the Federal Wage Grade employees are paid by locality.  The lead agency in the locality does a wage study of comparable trades in their area and what their FWS employees are paid is based on that wage study.  I'd be makin...

Apparently, it's car week here on the blog. Here we go. I don't like it when things don't work like they should.  I worked on airplanes too long and I share that philosophy with pilots.  If it's installed on the jet, it ought to work like it should.  I feel the same way about cars. You wouldn't know it from my car, I suppose.  In my car, some things don't work like the driver's side door lock.  It hasn't worked since I bought the car.  The power locks don't unlock, but it doesn't affect the drivability of the vehicle.  Same with the rear window on the passenger side.  I fixed this once but then the window went down when you pushed the switch up.... I think either the motor was the wrong one or it was wired backwards.  I just lived with it. One thing I didn't want to live with was having two keys for the car; one for the doors and one for the ignition.  I thought that was gonna be a pain in the butt.  I'm back there, but not ...

I should be at work.   I started to head that way by disconnecting the electrical connector to the air conditioning compressor clutch.  That eliminated the smoke from the clutch trying to turn the air conditioning compressor, which, judging by the oil on the surface of said component, has suffered a failure.  Methinks that the pulley bearing was overheated and damaged also.  I think the truck is drivable for short trips, but that bearing is gonna fail sooner than later.  It's got one trip left in it and that's going to be to the mechanic. And air conditioning work ain't cheap, so it ain't gonna happen tomorrow. As I mentioned, I started to work, but with the radio off and that feeling that if I tried to get there, I wouldn't.  I think everyone who drives and older car eventually gets to the point where you'll wonder if the car will actually get you where you're going.  I've owned Chevron for 15 years and sadly, today, that answer was "no". ...

I figured it would take a couple of months for the effects of the expiration of the "payroll tax holiday" to take effect.  Today, I read an article that would seem to indicate it's happening faster than I thought. For background, at the time the disaster hit the economy about four years ago, we were paying a 6.2% tax for social security wages.  Most of us don't make enough to worry about the fact there's a cap on social security wages (around $110,000 if I remember right).  The reason we had a 2% "holiday" if you will, was that roughly 2/3 of our economy is based on consumer spending.  Not manufacturing, but buying and selling goods and services to each other.  66% of what drives our economy is consumer spending. The story today was about some leaked e-mails between wal-mart executives about their February sales and their words paint a dark picture of what's probably happening to pretty much everyone.  If Wal-mart is using words like "disast...

Normally, I would have just kept this to myself because it's stupid. But stupid was in store for me today so here we go. I dislike being late to things (although outside of work, you'd probably not know it) and I was doing my level best to be on time for breakfast with the men's group today.  However, when I got in the car, I remembered that I needed to buy gas yesterday and forgot.  My head was someplace else yesterday, what with trying to get the doggie licensed and everything and it slipped my mind, even though the "idiot light" on the dashboard was illuminated, telling me I was low on gas. I was going to try to just squeeze out one more trip this morning, so I'd be on time, and at about 26th street and Harrison, I ran out of gas.  Fortunately, there is a gas station on 24th and Harrison and I thought I'd just coast my way down to the pumps.  After all, it's downhill.  But, um, yeah.... The car came to a stop at the intersection just across ...

Oh, I've got the itch.... but a little lotion will clear that up.  I was vacuuming out some crevices in the airplane last night and the insulation that rubbed against my skin gave me a bit of an irritation. Oh, you never know what you're gonna get when you look at this, do you? Seriously, though... I haven't had a real vacation in quite some time and boy, was I ready to run away from home until.... Well, the memo came out that if sequestration happens, your old pal Coop (and maybe some of y'all that read this thing) may be looking at every weekend being a three day weekend.  Those would be days without pay, by the way... So instead, I just made a road trip around Ogden.  First I went to the municipal building to license my doggie.  That didn't work out so well.  The lady, I'm guessing, was not having a good day because she insisted on having a copy of the dog's rabies certificate.  I had the tag but nope, gotta have the certificate.  OK, but I ...

The basement project is 99.5% done.  Just some baseboards left to install and it's a wrap!  The guy from the bank was here today, took his pictures, commented on the plumbing fixture, and left.  He was happy.  So am I.  There may or may not be one little issue with the insurance company.  I haven't heard from the contractor about it so I'm thinking it may have resolved itself. Next up is what to do with said basement and stuff in the garage which certainly isn't going back into the basement without being gone through and repacked.  Item by item, it's going to be sorted through.  I need the garage back because there is some automotive repair work that needs to be completed. I dislike working on cars.  I know that's odd for a man who makes his living as a mechanic, but airplanes and cars are two completely different animals. Next update is about the little project I mentioned.  I was involved with creating a devotional for the member...

I dunno what runs through my squash or why.  I can tell you I have absolutely no idea where today's post came from, so I'll just explain where I'm going with this. I was looking for some old photos I used to have of the basement and the house from when we bought it in 2004.  They were in my desk at the Guard base forever, but you think I can find them around here?  No, not so much.  I found all kinds of things, but not them. I have photos from my Guard days.  I have a plastic tub full of orders, travel vouchers, paystubs, and the like; all things I was told by the old guys never to throw away.  That was good advice.  I have paper money.  No, not dollars, but paper coins that AAFES printed up for use in the overseas theatre of operations.  They're like pogs.  I thought they were cool and they were given to my by someone who deployed to the region.  I have a bunch of baseball cards that aren't worth squat.  I don't know why I...

It might seem like it's easy to write this thing.  Some days, that's true, and other days, well, if you've noticed I don't post as much as I used to, it's because it's harder than you think to write this thing. It's not for a lack of things to talk about.  I have some things to say to gun nuts.  I find it absolutely intriguing that the government has more control over my dogs than most firearms.  And before anybody gets all preachy about the Constitution, let me just remind you that the words "well-regulated" appear in the Second Amendment.  The Constitution gives you the right to keep and bear arms.  It does not allow you to do so "carte blanche".  I also find it interesting, gun nuts, that one organization you're most likely to despise probably has more of your interests at heart than does the National Rifle Association:  That would be the American Civil Liberties Union.  If anybody tries to take away your guns, these folks will h...

Have you ever known by the ring of the phone or the doorbell that when you answered, it wasn't gonna be good? Well, that wasn't the case this morning, but it should have been because when I opened the door, I was greeted by an Animal Control officer from Ogden City.  They were inquiring about Bucket being licensed. I knew he was because when he went to jail last July, the Mrs. let me know she wadn't 'appy about having to pay the license fee.  I thought though, that he was licensed under her name but this address.  Um, well, not so.... And, because I have two dogs, the officer quickly went from asking me questions about Buck to asking questions about Katie.  Is Katie licensed?  I thought so because I thought that's what the immigrant told me the last time she took Katie to the vet for her shots.  I guess I need to call the vet and make an appointment for Friday so I can get Katie licensed.  She needs her nails clipped anyway, so I guess both will ...

I started writing this last night and for the life of me, I couldn't find the right words to fit what I wanted to say.  Part of it may have been that I was tired.  Part of it is that I don't know if there are big enough words to explain the lesson I learned yesterday. I'm going to try to find the right words, though and hopefully these words will convey something bigger than words. I'm very thankful and grateful for what's going on downstairs.  I mean that.  My gratitude goes beyond real words and thank you doesn't seem to be enough, sometimes.  I told that to my contractor today.  I'm really thankful for everything he's done downstairs.  It's absolutely beautiful in my eyes and so much better than what was.  There are still reminders of what was, but what is blends in so nicely. Anyway, I was showing some of the guys I was working with the photos of my new plumbing fixture last night, when that still small voice asked me a very pointed ques...

I have a lot to be grateful for and later on today I'm going to properly write about something that happened to me last night at work. For now, though, I just want to publicly thank God for the carpet, cabinets, walls, light fixtures, nails, boards, bricks, and fuzzy little people I share my life and my home with. All of these are blessings from God and I don't want to trivialize the importance of that realization.  I mean that.  I'm so grateful to God for these blessings and I just want to take a moment before bed and thank Him. God is so Good!

Well, it's not quite finished, but it will be tomorrow.  The basement ought to be all finished tomorrow.  There's just a little bit of odds and ends that need to be done and the bathroom vanity needs to be set, but past that, we're pretty much done. You can't take good pictures with a cell phone.  OK, I can't take good pictures with a cell phone but I took one of the urinal.  There will be a little bit of clean-up of the install later on today, but I couldn't wait.  Here's the preliminary photo of the thing. I thought the beadboard was a classic touch.  Yes, there's a shelf above the thing so you can set your beer down while you pee.  Yes, I know that sounds so low-brow, but nobody's ever gonna accuse me of being, well, sophisticated. Sophisticated people I suppose, would have installed a bidet.  First off, a bidet costs hundreds of dollars more than this thing did.  Even at that, this wasn't cheap by any means  Second off, I'm...

I was supposed to work yesterday.  I showed up and everything, even though my heart wasn't in it.  The funny thing was that with all there was to do around here, I had really thought about staying home in the first place, but I said I'd be there, so I went. But things would work out differently.  Security where I work is taken very, very seriously and for reasons I don't know, we weren't allowed into the building yesterday.  I waited for about an hour to see if the situation was going to resolve itself; it didn't, and with permission of the on-duty supervisor, I just called it a day. The rest was nice but I wish I would have remembered I needed to take something to church for the fellowship hour after church last night instead of this morning.  I would have baked.  Now I'm going to shop. I really had a nice evening.  Me and the dogs hung out.  We played.  June came over for a bit and I went and got us food.  She wanted Arbys, me ch...

Today's little post is just a short one on the basement.  I was hoping to post pictures today, but there are just a few finishing touches left before it's done-done.  The kitchen countertop still has to be installed, then the new sink.  After that, the kitchen will be finished.  There is just a little bit of tile work left in the bathroom, then the vanity and sink will go in.  The urinal turned out to be just a little bigger project than I think the contractor thought, but he's pretty ingenious and I'm sure it'll be done shortly as well. It'd be installed, I think, but he's still waiting for the flushometer valve to come.  The carpet guy came yesterday and finished up his work.  I think it turned out nicely and I can't wait to show y'all. Other than working too much, that's really all there is today. And that's really not a bad thing.