Archives August 2012

A couple years ago I had a problem with an armadillo that got into the yard.  It was a huge pain in the ass, literally digging dozens of holes around the back yard.  The dogs actually pinned it down one time and soon afterwards it moved on to somewhere else.

Well apparently my property has once again become an armadillo hotel.  I first noticed the holes showing up a couple weeks ago.  There weren’t a ton of them and they weren’t that big, at first.

Well this week the armadillo has stepped up his excavation.  He dug a HUGE hole under the landscape border next to the garage.  I filled the hole back up and put a brick on top of it, thinking it would be enough of a deterrent to more excavation.

Well the next day I come out and see the little bastard just pulled the brick out of the way and dug some more!  I found an equally big and deep hole under the large gate on the front fence line.  I think after refilling the holes the next time I will pour some bleach in the area.  Hopefully the smell will convince him to move on.

Armadillos are primarily nocturnal creatures (why you see so many as roadkill down here), so it is difficult to catch them in the act.  I hope I get lucky and see the armadillo in broad daylight so I can catch him and set him loose somewhere remote and far away.

Last night I was hauling some major ass.  After work I went to the bank, got groceries, mowed the grass, watered the plants, cleaned the bird cage, set up the pool cleaner, ran the dishwasher and did some laundry.  This wasn’t because I was feeling particularly motivated, it was because I am going to be gone all weekend on the East coast.

I will be pulling out in the SSR tonight, destination, Tracy’s place to hang with her and Randall for the weekend.  I started getting stuff ready for the trip last night.  I thought it might be a good idea to throw my spare tire for the SSR in the bed, just in case I would develop a flat. (SSR does not come with a spare)  Unfortunately there was no way I could get the wheel and my bike in there at the same time.  Oh well let’s hope for no nails in the road.

We have a fun weekend planned which will include a King of the Beach style vball tournament Saturday morning including myself, Randall, Jeremy and Tabby.  Saturday night we are going to see Expendables 2, which I am very excited about.  Sunday I will be doing my first ever road biking on the right side of Florida with Randall.

I am sure there will be plenty of alcohol consumed and laughs exchanged as well.  Should be fun.

Last night was the monthly running club board meeting.  For the first time in quite awhile I didn’t follow it up with a trip to South Street for beers.  I have a bunch of stuff to get done at home since I will be on the east coast for most of the upcoming weekend.

One of those things I needed to do was unbox my Neato. I used a big chunk of my Amazon spiff points to score one.

My house already is well staffed by a large collection of cleaning robots.  I have 3 currently functioning Roombas along with several more in need of some TLC.  I also have two Scoobas to handle the hard surface washing duties.  I love my robots.

The Neato is my first non-Irobot unit.  It utilizes some interesting tech to get the job done.

Roombas sort of use a brute force attack to clean a room.  It has a bumper in the front and some sensors underneath that give it some feedback but even so it is akin to putting a blindfold on and walking around.  You bump into something, you stop, you turn and then you walk again until you bump into something else.  Now thanks to some algorithms that randomize a Roomba’s movement it still manages to normally cover an entire room, albeit in a scattered manner.  Some spots may be swept multiple times, some spots once and some spots possibly not at all.

A Neato takes a much different approach and uses much more tech in doing so.  In addition to a front bumper that will let the robot know it ran into something, it has a laser, yes a laser.  No the laser is not used to attack pets or burn holes in your walls, it is used for navigation.

When the Neato starts in a room you will see it pause, turn and pause again.  During this time it is using it’s laser to complete a map of the room and the obstacles within that room.  Once it obtains that information it goes about the room systematically, hitting every area thanks to it’s tracking data.  It handles sweeping in a similar manner as you would take mowing a yard, it is actually quite fascinating to watch, at least for someone like me.

The other thing I immediately noticed about the Neato in comparison to the Roomba is it has a MUCH stronger vacuum.  It sounded like a mini-jet as the impeller spun up.  Even though I ran the Roombas the day before, the Neato pulled a bunch of debris out of the carpet during the roughly 45 minutes it was running.

Scheduling the robot is very easy via the easy to use LCD screen.  I also like that it is software upgradeable via a USB cable to fix bugs and/or add features.  If the Neato has a large house to clean it actually is smart enough to drive itself back home, gas up and go back out to finish where it left off.  I watched it drive from the back slider to the front corner of the house to it’s charging dock without a hitch.  When a Roomba runs out of juice it is done, plain and simple.

The Neato also supposedly doesn’t suffer from the same maintenance issues as a Roomba.  The brushes in the Roomba are famous for getting all wrapped up in shit, especially out by the bearings which can cause big issues if it isn’t cleaned regularly.  The Roombas also inadvertently deposit tons of dirt, lint, and scuzz up into the body of the robot due to it’s design.

The Neato doesn’t have a bristle brush and from all reports has very little issue with the debris getting wrapped around the beater bar.   I took a look last night after it was done and didn’t see anything wrapped around it at all.

The high power vacuum and increased tech require more juice.  The Neato actually has two separate battery packs as opposed to the single battery that powers a Roomba.  It will be interesting to see how long the factory battery lasts as the battery costs are always the biggest expense to cleaning robots.

So anyway, so far, I am quite happy with the Neato.  It has definitely taken the top spot as far as geekiest item in the house.  It really sucks!

Tonight I have a jam packed night ahead of me.  The hope is to quickly grab groceries on the way home and then hop on the mower to do a bare bones speed mowing session.  Then I want to try to get all my ducks lined up so I can shove off for Tracy’s place as quickly as possible after work tomorrow.

Well I wasn’t happy when I looked at last night’s election results.  The guy that spent 150k won by a 2-1 margin and the guy that attached signs to my truck won as well.  One result illustrated the power of money and the other the iron grasp of the local good ole boy network (and an old, uninformed voting public that just votes for whomever they voted for last time)

I really wish I could time warp to January 2013 (if the world still exists) to bypass what is sure to be just a horribly negative presidential campaign that will do more to divide the country than anything else, regardless of who wins.

It’s all about redirecting the focus of the masses.  You get them fighting each other and then the people that are truly in control are able to play their games without anyone noticing.  It is satanically brilliant.

I am already so tired of seeing all the political fodder fly about.  My conservative friends seem to solely focus on the leeching aspect of society.  The people that simply work the system and spend their lives feeding off of programs that allow them to exist without working for it. I have equal disdain for this practice and think this element of society should not exist.

I am also a realist.  The quick and easy answer that conservatives will give you for people that are receiving some sort of assistance from state or local government is “get a job!”  I have to laugh at how easily that rolls of their tongue and it is a clear clue that they don’t have any first hand experience of what the job market today actually is.

The white picket fence mentality really bothers me here.  “everything is ok in my little world so if it isn’t ok in your world, too bad”  Even though I have been gainfully employed my entire life and not received any sort of government financial support I still have compassion for others not as fortunate.

I am not willing to tell old people that if they can’t afford to pay their living expenses or medical bills, “tough shit, guess you should hurry up and die.”  If a long time employee of a company is cut loose through no fault of his own in a move to pad corporate bottom lines I wouldn’t tell him “too bad, so sad, I heard Wal-mart is looking for greeters”

Yes I expect anyone that is down on their luck to attempt to stand back up, and keep doing so.  Government assistance should not be looked at as a permanent solution to anything.  Yes I know there are plenty out there that view government as their “parent” that hands out an allowance as a reward for doing nothing.  These people suck, plain and simple.

But I am not willing to cut out the legs of the millions that are in true need of help because I hate the leeches.  Many of my conservative counterparts think that is exactly the course of action we should take and then we just deal with the consequences.  Hopefully they don’t mind shoveling the bodies off the street in front of their pretty white fence.  It would obstruct their view.

Moveon.org always does a nice job of breaking things down into easily digestable chunks.  Here are some Paul Ryan blurbs that may further illustrate why his selection is so disturbing. Click the link at the bottom if you want more info.

But to be clear, no matter whom is president we are all f’d until money is removed as the primary decider in the electoral and legislative process.  The odds of that happening, nill.

When I walked out to the parking lot last night my annoyance meter instantly shot up when I saw a politician jammed a paddle into the side window crevice of my vehicle and every other vehicle in the lot.  I don’t get it.

The other day on Facebook I commented how one of the local candidates had successfully annoyed me out of casting a vote for him purely because of the ridiculous inundation of junk mail I have received from the guy.  Literally I have seen at least 15 mailings from him.  When paired up with his signage that is literally everywhere it long ago crossed the line from informative to suspicious.

I read this guy has spent upwards of $150,000 on his campaign to take one of the county commissioner seats.  When a guy spends more than double the amount of the salary for the job he is running for it gives me pause.  Obviously there are some big dollars wielding big amounts of influence behind this campaign.

Of course nothing touches Rick Scott spending 60 million plus of his own personal fortune to brainwash the sheeple in the Florida governor’s race in 2010.  Dollars rule the world.

Last night I decided to do an unconventional quick workout, a 500 foot death crawl.  If you are wondering what a death crawl is, click here.

I still receive my free Newsweek subscription that I never asked for.  The magazine has a definite liberal lean so I find a lot of the opinions more or less in step with my general ideas about the world, both good and bad.

This month there was an article talking about the true state of the middle class in America.  As you can imagine, the picture is not rosy in the least.  The article talks about many aspects of the problem including the tremendous and accelerating wealth disparity between the 1% and everyone else.  It even goes as far as breaking down the 1%r’s .

In 2010, the average 1 percenters had their earnings increase 11.6% however the top .01 percent of the one percenters had their earnings jump by nearly double that, 21.5%, in ONE year.  Please keep in mind these are 2010 numbers while the country was still in horrible financial shape (as opposed to just really bad now)

I find hard numbers like this pretty eye opening as they appeal to the logical side of me.  However this number was the most shocking of all, 70 percent, when used in this context.

“Families headed by people under 35 are almost 70 percent poorer today, adjusting for inflation, than they were in 1984.”  HOLY SHIT.

If you can read this line and shrug it off, then you shouldn’t be reading my blog.  That is a staggering stat.  The curve for the rich is the exact inverse of this trend, skyrocketing upward to the point today where the country’s billionaires have the most favorable conditions in history and if you haven’t noticed, they are keeping it all to themselves. Corporate profits are at all time highs, yet the economic conditions for the masses are still pretty awful.  There is no “trickle down”.  Someone fixed that leaky faucet long ago.

First take a look at the official spin on Ryan from the Obama camp.  Obviously it is slanted but not inaccurate.

This article rolls right into my thoughts on Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s new running mate.  Ryan is a Tea Party favorite and is a pretty obvious attempt by Mitt to appease the new extreme right of the Republican Party.  Ryan has some pretty radical ideas when it comes to how dollars should be allocated moving forward including gutting Medicare as we know now it.  He also was a big proponent of allowing people to funnel social security dollars into the hopelessly corrupt and rigged financial markets. Seen this yet?

I think picking Ryan as the VP just further cements Mitt as being one of the most spineless presidential candidates ever.  He hasn’t flip flopped, he has somersaulted back from his positions and policies on abortion, health care and economics to whatever his advisers have told him was the most convenient stance to take at the time.

The guy, to me, represents exactly what we don’t need in a presidential candidate, a rich puppet that is having his strings pulled by someone else.  Plus the guy lost to John McCain for cripes sake.  Nothing like throwing a retread out there.

There is a theory that despite appearances, the monarchs of this country would actually be quite content to see Romney lose.  After all, even under Obama, they have flourished thanks to many reasons, including Obama being unwilling to follow through on his campaign promise to kill the Bush tax breaks.  If Obama stays in office the rich will continue to do fantastic while being able to blame the continuing middle class quagmire on Obama, a win/win for them.

If you have a history of blog readership, you know I am not an Obama fanboy either, I am not pleased with a whole bunch of things that have gone down during his first four years in office. Most recently, I am furious that the government decided to not push criminal prosecution of Goldman Sach’s for their deliberate role in the financial implosion.

However in this situation I think there is a very clear lesser of two evils.  Unfortunately with the way our political system is, those are the only two viable choices available.

I had another weird dream last night.

I was in my garage and suddenly found myself confronting a couple that wanted to steal my Cadillac STS (I don’t actually own one).  There was a physical altercation before the couple hopped back in their vehicle, drove towards the back of my property, realized that was the wrong way and spun around.  They headed back towards the front fence line and smashed through it.

I got a partial plate number and was in the process of calling 911 when another car pulled up in the driveway.  In the car was a man, a woman and two teenage looking girls. I was annoyed because I was just dialing the call in to police.  I hung up, walked over to the car and asked what they wanted.

The woman said she heard I was selling my Cadillac.  I told her no I wasn’t and became instantly suspicious that she even knew I had a STS, she had to be connected with the people I just chased off.  I tell her to get the fck off my property.  She flipped the switch into bitch mode and started screaming at me.  I went full Hulk Smash mode on her and told her if she didn’t leave I would drag her out to the street.

The entire time this was going on, the man was just sitting there in the passenger seat.  He sort of looked like he had some sort of mental disability.  However as the screaming continued I noticed the two girls got out of the car and tried to go around me into the garage. I stop my scream fest with the woman to intercept the girls.

I ask them what they think they are doing.  They say they need to use my bathroom and start walking past me. I snag both of them by the arm and pull them back out to the car and tell them to get in.  I again turn my attention to the woman and tell her this was her last chance to leave on her own before I make her leave.

That is when I woke up, I felt like I was ready to fight.  It took quite awhile before I was able to calm down and fall back asleep.

Friday night I had a triple header post work grocery shopping experience, stopping at Trader Joe’s, Publix and Sam’s in rapid fire fashion.  After grabbing my goods I stopped at Ali’s to help her with getting a refreshed version of the Run for the Paws website up and running.  The new site utilizes WordPress and looks much cleaner as well as being more functional.

My Saturday was once again stuffed full of to do’s.  I did the full load of chores as well as pulling out the new pressure washer to clean both storage sheds.  The larger shed I actually had blasted quickly maybe a month ago but it already was starting to regain some of it’s green tint.

The smaller shed was a mess as well, especially the back of it which receives no direct sun.  In addition to the green algae, it was also filled with black circles of mildew.  I actually blasted the area twice, the first time quickly to blow off the green, the second time, I went slower with the washer head a few inches from the siding to blast off the black mildew which is very stubborn.

The new washer definitely makes pressure cleaning easier. It is 3000 PSI, almost 30% stronger than the 2300 PSI unit I have used up until now.  The extra power makes the work go faster and easier.

On Sunday my brick training plans morphed a couple times.  Originally I was going to ride my bike the 16 miles to the water park, swim and then ride back.  Well once I got up I instead decided I would do the 20 mile Dunkin Donuts ride and then drive to the water park to swim.  That way I could  pick up the dogs on the way back to take them out to the house.

I hadn’t done the Dunkin Donuts ride in a long time, I think the last time was with Randall.  I pulled a good pace, averaging a little under 20 mph.  I was working hard to keep it at that speed.

So I got home, stripped off my dripping wet bike gear and headed out for the water park.  The skies, which looked overcast during the bike ride now looked stormy and ominous.  I hoped that it was just an isolated problem and the weather around the water park would be ok.

Well I arrived at the park a few minutes after 10 and the gates were closed.  I walked up to the counter where a girl said they were closed because of the storms for now, they had no idea if/when they would open. Damn it.

So I wound up picking up the dogs earlier than planned after a brief stop at Wal-mart.  I grabbed a replacement clock for the master bathroom (I dropped the old one) and a new bike water bottle to replace the one I somehow lost.

All day yesterday the stormy weather hung around.  I had a very lazy day and was feeling quite tired.  I should have taken a nap at some point.

Last night was the closing of the London Olympic games and as usual I was somewhat sad to see it all come to a close.  I watched some of the Olympics almost every day of the 17 that it took place over.  I never ever get tired of watching people compete for the ultimate prize.  The successes and failures can be equally compelling in different ways.  It just grabs me.

I was unable to prop my eyelids open to watch the entire closing ceremony but I saw a bunch.  They were better than the bizarre opening festivities for sure.  The most impressive thing to me was the thousands of LED’s that were installed throughout the stadium to make the entire building one big A/V orgasm. The musical acts last night were entertaining as well.

As a whole the US did really well in the Olympics this time around, topping the medal winners count.  Overall, these games were good but could not keep pace with the Beijing games four years prior, which for me were just amazing.

Also amazing is just how fast four years of my life passes at this point, and I mean in a really scary way.

Of course I have some thoughts on Romney’s VP choice but I’ll save them for a fresh day.

Last night I made an attempt at several different hand balancing moves.  None of them went particularly well. I really need to try to practice those skills more often than I do. The biggest positive is at least I have learned how to fall out of handstand without flopping on my back.

It was a good thing I got the mowing done on Wednesday night because last night was a total washout. It was storming the entire night.  Last night I worked on cutting further into my weekend workload by cleaning Tuki’s cage, doing some laundry and some cleaning.  It seems like I am walking up a hill of sand when it comes to the stuff to do around the house.  If I try to slow down even briefly I start drifting down the hill.

Last night I was watching some of the indoor women’s volleyball match.  The USA team has an outstanding hitter with a totally unbelievable name, Destiny Hooker.  I mean really, did her parents give any thought at all to just how ridiculous those two words sound when placed together?  Come on.  USA won their match at least.

This weekend I may take my new power washer out for another round of high pressure fun.  The smaller shed needs some attention badly.  I’d also like to get a training brick in since I missed it last week due to my alcohol filled, late night of social activities on Saturday.

I have some SSR projects that I have not gotten around to yet.  One of them is treating the weatherstripping with this expensive protectant .  I also have an enhanced windshield antenna that I want to install.  That job will require ripping the dash and various other things apart once again so I have been hesitant to dig into it.   The scars from the radio installation project are still pretty fresh.

I forgot to relate a funny Dunkin Donuts story from last week.

They recently opened a new location in Golden Gate City.  The reason I knew about it was a woman that I am friendly with at my normal location said she was being transferred there to run it.  I told her I would check it out.

So I pull up to the drive thru and order a large coffee.  I pull up to the window and hand over my DD rechargeable gift card and my spiff punch card.  The woman I know was nowhere to be seen.  I am handed back two cards and I start to pull out.

I glance at my gift card and pause.  The card in my hand was black.  The card I handed them was white with different graphics.  What the f?  I pull ahead to an alley and hop out of the still running truck and jog inside.  I was wondering if the clerk at the window intentionally was trying to scam me, pocketing my gift card with a $40 balance?

I tell a girl at the counter that I did not get my card back.  She asked me to describe it which I actually found somewhat difficult to do, even though I pull the thing out of my wallet on a very regular basis.  After some thought I told her it was light colored and had some logos on the front.  The card I was handed was black with a cup of coffee on the front.

She headed out of sight, around the corner to the drive thru area.  After a minute or so she came back and handed me my card.  She said the girl got “confused” and that my card was in the trash.  Really? I mean how confusing could it be?  I hand you a card, you swipe it and you hand it back.  I walked out of there skeptical that I was being told the truth.

I’ll be sticking to my home court DD.

Next weekend I believe I will be heading over to Tracy’s place to hang with her and Randall for a fun weekend.  I’m looking forward to it.

So last night the task at hand was to mow the grass to eliminate that from the list of weekend time consumers. As I stepped into the back yard, almost on cue, I started feeling some rain drops.  Luckily they stopped after a few minutes but the skies were definitely threatening to cancel my plans.

As I mowed along, the storms were getting progressively closer and more ominous.  Towards the end of it there were multiple lightning strikes in the nearby vicinity.  Despite the now black skies and thunderclaps I went into the shed and grabbed the weed whacker, a potential 5 feet long lightning rod.

I have a bit of a weird attitude when it comes to being outside in lightning.  Of course there is a part of me that thinks about the danger of being outside in the middle of a storm.  Each time I approached one of the tall trees I was quite aware I was standing by a potential lightning target.  I have seen first hand a cabbage palm behind our property get hit and glow red afterward.

The weird part is in a way, death by lightning probably wouldn’t be so bad, a flash and you are done.  I have never had any desire to fade away into old age and all of the various horrors that accompany it anyway.

If you had some sort of magical powers and could give me the choice of being taken out by lightning tomorrow or “living” deep into old age with a brain of mush or the body of a cripple, I would take a lightning ride every single time.  Plus it would save a boat load of money in cremation costs.

I was happy to see Misty and Kerri close out their Olympic careers with another gold medal win last night.  Their track record of success on the court is something that is unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.  It was touching afterward to see Kerri so happy for the victory but also choked up because she knew it was the last time she would be on that world stage with Misty.

So I am now in day 9 of August and have already made over 17 bucks in ad revenue, if this rate continues I am on track to almost double my revenue from the month before, which already was almost a double of the month prior.  I added to my advertising juggernaut by installing an AdSense plug in for the blog that throws a small banner ad at the bottom of a post.  Can’t hurt.

The Eagles preseason starts tonight.  I don’t have a practical avenue to watch the game but to be honest I don’t really care that much.  Preseason games interest me very little.  It is exciting though that the season is coming.

I am curious what is going on with the Sunday Ticket.  I heard that Directv is now INCLUDING it in their subscriptions for FREE.  Now since I JUST have the Sunday Ticket and no other DirecTV programming I will still be paying my $399 or so for it unfortunately.  However if you are a new subscriber you can get the Sunday Ticket included if you buy a package that is as low as $35 a month, not bad.

When I got home last night I headed out back to repair screens.  When I got out behind the pool cage I noticed there was a 4th panel that starting to tear along the spline, great.  I started work on the worst panel, a low panel that was never touched before.

This panel was sandwiched behind two rose bushes so it was a rather large pain in the ass to work on.  Eventually I just learned to ignore the pain from being stabbed repeatedly by thorns.  By the time I was done with the panel I was already sweated through my shirt.

I stood up, looked at the two other problematic side panels and reclassified them.  The tears are not down the entire spline yet, only a small portion.  This enabled me to reclassify them as something I need to worry about in the future as opposed to right now.  I put my repair supplies away and headed inside for dinner.

Last night was spent as most evenings the past week have been, watching some of the Olympic coverage.  Last night the beach volleyball match between the US and Chinese women was REALLY good.  Both games were close and jam packed with back and forth rallies with Misty and Kerri pulling out the win in dramatic fashion.

I was too tired from my 3 AM wake up Tuesday morning to watch much after that.

Have you caught the new season of Breaking Bad yet?  I have been watching it via Xfinity’s Xbox app.  The show is so damn good.  The constantly morphing relationship dynamics among the characters is just so compelling for me.  Walt’s transformation is the most compelling of all.  It’s too bad this will be the final season.

Tonight’s activities will probably include mowing the grass, yay.  I just realized we are now well into August and I still have not had any standing water on the property this summer.  I’m not complaining, believe me but that typically is a future indicator of a drought filled winter.

Last night after work I got to meet Bentley, the new puppy my neighbors across the street just adopted.  He is an adorable 8 week old yellow lab puppy.  They had to put down their long time family dogs a few months ago and swore they were done with dogs because of the intense pain when they were gone.  I am glad they reconsidered.  I am sure Bentley will be the source of much love and happiness for many years to come.

Last night I also went outside to survey the screen repairs that will be needed as well as simply replace some dry rotted spline that was hanging out after the pressure washing session.  It looks like I have two side panels that are ripped along the spline plus the one roof panel.  I may tackle the side panels after work this week or tack that on to the weekend work list.

Right now I am on a holding pattern with the bogus, bullshit FEMA flood insurance request from my credit union.  I have a county flood expert corresponding with the bank on my behalf, pointing out the error in their data.  If this works I will be off the hook.  If the bank still clings to their error then I will have to get an elevation survey to prove my house is 4-5 feet above the level of the road.  This entire situation is ridiculous. There are a number of people in my area that are all in the same boat.

So Saturday night I fell asleep at 3 AM.  Last night I found myself waking up at the same time.  I could tell I wasn’t going to be able to just doze off easily so I drug my ass out of bed.   I filled the roughly 3 hours of time with various activities like emptying the dishwasher, watching Freddie Wong videos, doing some race maintenance work, updating the Bar-barian Challenge scoreboard and playing through a few levels in Diablo 3.

I am sure I will pay for my early rise time this evening.  I expect zombie mode to hit me pretty early.