Category Rants

This past weekend was supposed to be a Randall visit which typically is filled with all sorts of sillyness.  Randall rescheduled for a few weeks in the future, leaving me with a more or less wide open weekend.

Saturday was a stark contrast to the weekend before that was filled with tons and tons of ass busting labor.  This Saturday may have been the most laid back weekend day I have had in a year.  Other than doing the normal weed pulling/garden tending, the day was almost totally void of chores thanks to Cindy knocking out most of it during her day off Friday. It felt weird not buzzing around like normal but the overcast and rainy skies made it feel almost appropriate to just hang out.

One of the things I did was start watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series of movies. (not the American Daniel Craig version)  Cindy had recommended this awhile back but I sort of disregarded it when she told me it was actually a foreign film with subtitles.  Reading a movie just was not something that interested me.  Well for whatever reason on Saturday I was more willing to give it a try.

As I expected, watching a film where everyone was speaking Swedish was pretty annoying at first.  Scanning between the subtitle and the movie seemed unnatural.  However Cindy had told me that after awhile it becomes less obtrusive. ( I didn’t believe her) It turns out she was right.  Eventually my brain adjusted to the format and I was able to take in what was going on without much difficulty.

The films are very dark but compelling.  The version on Netflix are the extended cuts, each movie is broken into two 90 minute sections which means in total I spent about 6 hours watching the first two movies.  I never thought I would give a subtitled film an A- rating but here it is.

On Sunday morning Cindy and I did the 30+ mile Ave Maria ride we had planned to do with Randall.  The weather was not as dreary as Saturday and the temps in the high 60’s when we started felt refreshing.  The ride went pretty well.  When we do it we switch off the lead every 5 miles or so to allow the other to benefit from a wind breaker.

Cindy actually struggled during part of the ride, her legs were tired from running 8 miles on the treadmill (while I played Haerthstone) the day before.  Several times when I was ahead I looked back and had lost her which is very rare since she is normally a stronger cyclist than I am.  However she had the last 5 mile lead segment, during which, she was averaging 21+ mph for the majority of it so maybe she was just playing possum to make me feel better.

I had ideas of knocking out half of the pressure washing jobs that are looming over me, the pool area and sheds.  I thought possibly after biking I would have time to do this before the Eagles game.  However after grabbing gas for the cans and running errands I didn’t get back home until after 11:30, too late to get it done. Plus it was abnormally warm yesterday which helped melt away any motivation to do the work. Instead I quickly planted the additional crops we bought for the garden, a tray of kale plants and some stevia.

Wow that Eagles game was truly a tale of two cities.  For basically three quarters the Eagles confirmed that they are truly a much improved team, pushing the Redskins around to build a dominating 24-0 lead.  Then, in the span of 15 minutes they erased that perception.

The Eagles completely imploded, allowing the Redskins to score two touchdowns AND convert two 2 point conversions while doing absolutely nothing on offense themselves.  I guess last weeks 9 minute plus drive to close out the Packer game was just a fluke.

When the defense allowed the Redskins to convert a 3rd and 25 during the final drive I felt sure that they were going to find a way to somehow lose the game which would have been one of the biggest collapses in recent NFL history.  I could feel the anger and rage boiling up inside me as the Skins drove down the field, only 20 yards from scoring a ridiculous third touchdown in the quarter.  Thank goodness RG III made a boneheaded throw which Boykin picked off in the end zone to save the game.  Not only did he save the game, he saved me from looking like a raving lunatic in front of Cindy.

It’s hard to feel great about a game such as this.  Despite the great start, the horrible finish was a sobering pull back into reality.  I will do my best to look at the bright spots like the Eagles being in first place  despite a thoroughly mediocre 6-5 record.  Or perhaps we can all celebrate the Eagles winning their first game at the Linc in over 400 days.  Yes a win is a win is a win.  I can only hope they learn from the black hole they stepped into in the 4th quarter and do a much better job of closing out teams consistently.

Sunday night we watched Bullet to the Head, my latest Netflix rental.  Cindy never heard of the movie and was skeptical that Stallone could pull off a solo action movie himself nowadays.  Her questions were answered, he still can.  Despite being in his mid-60’s I found the movie a quite satisfying rental.  It had everything a brainless action movie should have, good fight scenes, strong one liners, hot chicks and a revenge plot. It get’s a B+ all day long.

There were several high quality Vines produced this weekend.  I will leave it up to you to find them.  However ironically, the funniest one of all may have been produced by Jeremy.

So when I was doing my bills yesterday I noticed my Comcast bill was magically $20 higher than the month before.  I fired up Comcast chat and started ranting.  Evidently the promo I did in April where they gave me basic cable tv service, that I don’t use, and internet for 49.99 had expired.  I was on a new “step” promo where they ONLY raise the price 40% until April of next year and then I get smacked with another 5 bucks which is the full rate.

Argh I am so sick of doing this song and dance with Comcast.  I fired off my normal “I’d like to cancel my service” deal starter but was told only their phone reps in the “Customer Loyalty Department” could offer me any new deals.    In the past I have been able to secure better deals via Comcast online reps.  I angrily clicked the CLOSE CHAT button.

Obviously I need high speed internet service since a large portion of my tv entertainment is delivered down Comcast pipes however paying $70 for that service and throw away, crappy tv service (not even HD) annoys the hell out of me.  I may need to look closer at what high speed DSL can do for me nowadays.

So I read the Red Sox won the World Series last night.  Not only did they win it, they won it at home, the first time that has happened since 1918. I was happy for both Shane Victorino (ex-Phillie) and the city of Boston as a whole after the tragedy that went down at the marathon earlier this year.

However this World Series and most recent playoff seasons that did not involve the Phillies confirmed that I am just really not a baseball fan anymore.  I did not watch one pitch, not one second of the World Series or any of this years playoff games for that matter.  I just don’t have interest in major league baseball for whatever reason.  It’s an odd thing since much of my childhood revolved around baseball and my dream to make it to the big leagues some day.

Although I missed the game, I did see the highlights from it which spotlighted a recent trend that annoys the shit out of me, ski goggles in baseball.  David Ortiz had his largely branded Oakely helmet and ski goggles on before the game was even over.  He is out there on the field hugging everyone looking like he is ready for the Winter Olympics, it was stupid as hell.

Then in the post game locker room celebration every person in the room is handed Oakley ski goggles/helmets as well to “protect” themselves from the horrible, acidic champagne that is splashed around the room.  I mean what the fck?  How did professional athletes from the past 75 years manage to have champagne celebrations without Oakley ski goggles? What a hardship that must have been….

Of course this is all just a sell out to Oakley who surely has thrown down a nice pile of cash in order to have their equipment used in this unnecessary and unconventional manner.  It certainly doesn’t make me want to run out and buy any of their gear and makes my alienation from baseball an even smaller bump in the road than it already is.

So you may recall last March I had Rhinoshield repair and repaint my pool deck.  Back in 2008 I had them paint the house with their ceramic coating which has a 20 year warranty.  I have been very pleased with the product and how it covered up and eliminated any further hairline cracks from appearing on the walls of the house.  Based on that happiness I contracted them to do the pool deck, expecting similar results.

Well as documented here, getting the pool deck painted was extremely aggravating because of the person I was dealing with.  Repeatedly he would not follow through on work dates and often not bother to let me know.  The work was completed 2-3 weeks later than it was originally supposed to be.

Part of the job was repairing the various cracks in the pool deck.  When I talked to them about the work they said they couldn’t use the same elastic primer they used on the house which is so good at hiding the cracks. However they said they would repair any existing cracks using other methods.  Well these other methods appeared to be just jamming some thinset mortar over them.  After that they just sprayed some clear “primer” over it and painted the deck using regular paint, not the ceramic coating that is on the walls. When the deck was done it looked nice.

Well within 60 days I started seeing the cracks reappear.  I didn’t contact them right away because I didn’t feel like dealing with the bullshit again to be honest with you.  However several weeks ago I finally got out there with the camera and took several pictures of the cracks that have already returned. I sent the images to the guy that did the actual work asking for information about how I get Rhinoshield to come back out and fix them once again.  I got no reply, what a surprise.

I then contacted the main office which is up in Jacksonville.  It took a couple days but I eventually got in contact with the owner, who is the father of the guy I dealt with when getting the house painted.  I explained to him my situation, including the problems I had getting Giovanni to do the work in the first place.  The owner understood my issue but said the 2 year warranty I have on the work is just the paint itself not the concrete work.

I did my best to hit him from different angles, pointing out how Giovanni indicated the concrete repair he did should last and how I felt he misrepresented the expectations I should have regarding the repairs.  I reiterated how I went with Rhinoshield for the deck because I had them do the house first, hoping maybe some customer loyalty might get me somewhere.

The owner said that actually they are getting out of the pool deck painting business because of these types of issues.  So my hopes of getting a free crack repair went down the drain.  Needless to say my opinion of Rhinoshield has been knocked down quite a few pegs.

Whenever I get around to pressure washing the pool area again perhaps I will try my hand at crack repair, I can’t do any worse than they did.

Last night I spent pretty much my entire evening doing running club/race related activities.  Create this race, update that one, put in paper entries, update the website, add this event, send out e-newsletters, put stuff on social media, somehow it all rolled into a several hours of futzing around.

I had my dentist appointment this morning.  As has been the case for the vast majority of my visits since moving to Florida, no cavities mom!

Last night I took Cindy out for dinner for her birthday to Seasons 52, one of my new favorite restaurants.  Not only is it a beautiful place, they serve healthy, seasonal meals.  Supposedly nothing on the menu is over 500 calories.   We actually ordered the same meal, some grilled shrimp thing that was quite good.  I washed it down with two Miller Lites. 

When Cindy was in the bathroom I mentioned to the waitress that it was her birthday and asked if Seasons 52 does anything for birthdays.  The waitress said YES, but she couldn’t tell me what it was.  Haha, ok, fine.

So the waitress comes back with the mini-desert tray along with a cup with what looked like brown sugar and a candle in it. She told Cindy to make a wish and blow it out.  Cindy then was allowed to pick out her own desert which was free and I grabbed one as well.  Then the waitress comes back over and takes a picture of us with a camera and a few minutes later comes back with a 4″ x 6″ print already mounted in a Seasons 52 fold out frame.  Wow, I’m glad I asked.

Cindy had a great time which was my goal.

So I have done the Tough Mudder for the last 2 years and am once again signed up to do it in less than a month. However I have to tell you, this might be my last time, for several reasons.

When I did my first Tough Mudder, mud racing was still sort of a new thing and the Tough Mudder was seen as the king of them all, being the longest and most grueling of them.  It did not take long for others to try to cash in on the mud racing craze.  The event popularity sky rocketed with thousands of people showing up, all shelling out huge entry fees to get muddy, frozen and shocked.  Today, doing the Tough Mudder doesn’t have quite the badge of honor as it once did.  It’s become a “me too” event with a bandwagon that is quite large.  I never feel great about being part of that crowd.

I also have an issue with the way the race misrepresents it’s commitment to the Wounded Warrior Project, a great charity that benefits wounded members of the military.  To the casual web site visitor, you would assume a portion, a large portion, of the race proceeds goes directly to this noble charity.  The reality is not one dollar of the HUGE $100 plus registration fee goes to the charity.  The only money that goes to the charity is that which is raised by the participants outside of their race fee.  The race itself is totally a for profit enterprise and that profit is MASSIVE.   I think it is pretty shitty to prey upon the sympathy of participants that assume part of the reason they should pay the sky high race fees is because it is going to a good cause.

Finally there is the email I received yesterday from the race.  The email said you had three options for parking this year, all of which will cost you money.   They have always had a flat 10 dollar fee for parking which I found to be annoying considering what they charge you to do the race.  On top of that, the money you spent on parking certainly wasn’t used to plan for an efficient traffic control/parking system.  Last year there were participants that sat in 5 hours of gridlock, trying to get into the event.  It was utter chaos.

So this year to make amends for the horrible parking situation in the past they are now offering you, more EXPENSIVE parking options!  If you pay $25 you get PREMIUM parking which supposedly is less than 1/4 mile from the main area.  If you drop a 20 dollar bill you get select parking which is about a third of a mile away.  If you are a tightwad and only pay the $10 they have charged in the past you are rewarded with at least a 1 mile walk to the event after you park your vehicle.

To me it is utter bullshit to charge NFL stadium parking rates to attend a mud race you already spent triple digits on the entry fee.  Despite the huge steaming pile of annoyance I opted to get the premium parking because I don’t want to have to do a 5K if I need to run back out to the vehicle before the race starts.  Greedy bastards.

Plus there is the injury factor.  Who can forgot the horrible swelling in my right knee after running last year’s extremely treacherous course?

Anyway the combo of things listed above might be enough to make this year the last that I participate in the Tough Mudder.  Let them make their tens of millions on the backs of others in the future.  I proved my point already.

This weekend I am timing the same cross country meet I have done the last 3 years.  Timing a CC meet is a lot different than a 5K.  It also takes a lot longer since it is actually 4 different events.  I probably won’t get off site until lunch time.

So I have to wedge in other weekend work into that condensed time frame which is going to include mowing the front yard and other fun stuff.  I also am planning to make my chocolate cake as a belated birthday treat for Cindy on Saturday afternoon.  I am hoping to avoid a repeat of this situation.

I pulled out of work early yesterday to head up to the site of last evening’s race.  I had already assumed I was going to be getting really, really wet.  I drove through torrential rain for most of the 10 mile drive north.  When I got there the ground was wet but the rain had stopped.  The skies still looked pretty menacing, I assumed the rain would be resuming shortly.  Well the expected precipitation never returned, a very lucky break.

This race I had less things to worry about since we decided to not chip time it.  This race includes a ton of participants that are not regular runners, many of which in the past would show up, get a timing chip and never do the race.  We would lose more timing chips at this race than any other every year.

We used to advertise the race as a 5K when in reality the course is actually at least a 1/4 mile short of that distance wise.  We would have runners cross the finish line thrilled that they established a new PR only to realize that the only reason for that was a short course. So anyway, not chip timing the event made sense for these and other reasons.

Although I did not have to lay down timing mats I still found myself quite busy leading up to the race.  I had online registration for the race open all the way until two hours before the race, something I can’t do when chip timing is involved.  I had to get the last minute online entries pulled in on the race site, utilizing my wireless hotspot.  At first I thought I was having more bugs with the timing software when I was getting a multitude of errors downloading the entries.  It turned out the errors were tied to a flaky internet connection.  Once the link firmed up I was able to pull in the 30+ people that registered online yesterday.

After that was done I kept busy with race day walk up entries which we had a decent amount of.  In total the race wound up with just over 500 entries.  The registration table was greatly simplified by the lack of a race bib and timing chips.  Each team captain walked up and was handed wristbands for their team members which entitled them to a t-shirt and the food and drink after the race.  It kept the lines way down.  The only long line I saw all night was the people lined up for burritos afterward.

Timing the race was considerably simpler than I am accustomed to.  All I had to do was start the finish line clock with the start of the race, done.  With no chip times there were obviously no individual awards.  Instead they handed out race beer glasses to the top 50 male and female finishers.  The overall team winners were determined by team size.  The winning team had 47 people.

All in all the race went well and I felt quite fortunate to emerge from it totally dry.

Tonight should be an exciting one.  Earlier in the week Jeremy turned me onto a special discount code that could be used on Amazon Warehouse deals, it knocked 10% off already low prices.  In the warehouse they had one of the LG tv’s I was considering buying that has everything I wanted, LED, 120 MHZ refresh rate, internet connectivity, smart apps AND 3D.  Between using the discount code and my Amazon spiff dollars I got the tv very inexpensively, all along with free Amazon Prime two day shipping.    I plan to get a copy of Avatar 3D to try the set out.  It should be AWESOME.

Yesterday I had 3 boxes by my front door.  In them were the custom race bibs we ordered for our Thanksgiving race.   These bibs also include a disposable timing device on the back of them.  Using these bibs allows runners to totally bypass any lines on the day of the race if they pick up their race packet early.  Attaching the bib to your shirt means you are ready to go and be timed officially.

I have utilized this style timing device once before at the half marathon.  At that race I had a lot of problems, missing about 5% of the runner finishing times.  However that problem appeared to be tied to the distance of the race.  13 miles seemed to be too much sweat and jostling for some of the bibs, since at the halfway split we had nearly 100% read rates.

Another local timer I am friends with has used the chip bibs at many shorter races and has had very few problems so I feel ok trying them out once again. Plus, Ipico has done several revisions to the bib chips since January that supposedly enhance their reliability.

This is the first year the club is holding their own Thanksgiving Race.  They decided to step away from the long standing Thanksgiving race this year due to a myriad of issues, some public, some that were behind the scenes. .  Originally the plan was for the old race to simply transition to the new race which offers a better venue with more accessible parking, more race route capacity and ample space to house the many participants .  It’s the same place we hold the Naples Half Marathon.

Originally the race director for the old race agreed to go along with the new race and venue since it would still be 100% supporting the same charity as the race did the prior year.  Well in the last few months that spirit of cooperation apparently disappeared.  The race director developed resentment and anger about the race change despite the advantages the new venue offered to runners.  He decided he was going to relaunch the old race, creating something you typically never see, TWO Thanksgiving runs in a town.

I am friends with the race director of the old race.  I can understand to a degree his feelings but am disappointed that he has decided that personal vendettas are more important than the greater good.  I am also disappointed to hear some of the inaccurate information and half truths that are being spread regarding the race and our running club in general.  The existence of two Thanksgiving races is causing confusion and drama in the local running community.  The sport of running is all about releasing stress and escaping drama, not manufacturing it.

This weekends plan include a moderation of work seasoned with just the right amount of exercise and entertainment.

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

To atone for the lack of eating discipline Tuesday evening, my Wednesday night dinner was pretty sparse, an avocado and a sweet potato.  I mixed in a bunch of stuff into the mashed avocado including hemp seed, sunflower seed, chia, almonds, and hemp oil.  I had a huge cup of water to wash it all down.  For desert I chowed down on a protein bar that had been sitting around for quite awhile.

The meal was far from fine dining but it served its purpose.

I was very tired last night and fell asleep between 10 and 10:30.  A little before 2AM I woke up having to pee.  I did so and laid back down, expecting to immediately fall back asleep.  My expectations were not met.  Instead I rolled around and was unable to reenter the land of slumber, despite feeling exhausted.

Somewhere around 2:30 AM I gave up and shuffled out to the kitchen.  I spent the three hours that I would normally be sleeping in front of the computer doing a mix of work/play (WoW).  When my normal 5:30 AM alarm went off I felt like I was ready to go back to bed.  The drive into work today was quite challenging, my eyeballs just did not want to stay open.

To make matters worse, tonight there is a race after work.  By the time I get off the race site I will be in pure zombie mode.

So we are entering day 3 of the partial government shutdown, the end result of the Senate/Obama refusing to engage in the budget hostage negotiations that House Tea Party clowns are trying to force.  Although I think the shutdown is the latest example of just how dysfunctional our congress is, I can’t blame democrats or the president for flat out saying NO, and meaning it.

Allowing the tea party to derail laws/legislation in this manner would set a horrible precedent and only encourage similar behavior in the future.  So as far as I am concerned every day this goes on just puts another layer of mud on congress in general with an extra thick facial on the tea party “generals”.

It make me smirk when I see republicans acting like they are the negotiators, they are the ones looking for a compromise.  To me it is like the school bully trying to steal your lunch money but then kindly offers to let you keep half of it.  Congress must really believe the overwhelming majority of Americans are truly brainless lemmings that are unable to discern anything beyond the snappy one liners that fill social media and news outlets.

So yesterday I received an email from Network Solutions regarding renewing my duf.net domain name which has been in existence since 1997.  I clicked on the RENEW NOW link and was shocked at the dollar figure that flashed up on the screen, something like $185 to renew for 5 years.   When I broke it down was something ridiculous like $37 or $38 a year.

Now I knew that this is a common tactic of domain registrars, get you signed up with an attractive up front rate but then turn the screws on you when renewal time comes around, figuring many people will just pay the extra money instead of deal with the hassle of switching registrars.  Well I am not one of those people.  I picked up the phone and called their 800 number.  I told the woman on the phone that I just received my renewal bill and thought it was outrageously high, much higher than when I renewed 5 years ago.

Well that was all it took to get a nearly 50% discount, the woman said I could renew the domain at the same rate I paid in 2008, $99.  That was good enough for me although I could have still transferred to another registrar and saved even more money.  I was content to pay what I paid before and not have to go through moving the domain around.

This was just the latest of countless examples I have personally experienced where discounts and deals are there for the taking, all you have to do is ask for them.

Last night I sat down and watched the Homeland season premiere for the second night in a row.  When I watched it Monday night I was half passed out and missed huge chunks of it.  I am glad I took the time to watch it again, lots of fuzzy details became much more clear.

I had eaten my dinner while watching Homeland, finishing up with a Zone bar a little before 7.  I had planned for this to be the end of my eating for the night to assist in my goal of dropping a handful of pounds.  Well I pulled out my Blade MQX and did some flying/crashing, with an emphasis on crashing.  The copter was very difficult to control, more so than normal.  It did not want to hover in place, it would just keep drifting in various directions. It was frustrating me.

Well this frustration triggered a “must eat” reflex, I suddenly felt very hungry. Now I know this feeling was entirely caused by frustration and if I waited 5-10 minutes it would probably pass. I went ahead and poured myself a bowl of mini-wheats anyway and gobbled them down.  Doing so made me feel weak and disappointed in myself for not exercising more self discipline.

I messed around more with X-split and using it to capture and broadcast stuff on my computer.  Last night I used it to capture roughly a half hour of WoW play although I need to use larger video windows of both the game and my webcam feed.  You may find this interesting to watch or mind numbingly boring depending on your point of view on MMORPG’s.

Watch live video from greenmachine7691 on Justin.tv

Masterful.  That is the word I would use to describe the series finale of Breaking Bad, one of my most favorite shows of all time.  Unlike other finales for big shows that typically will leave fans with annoying unanswered questions, this finale delivered in every imaginable way.  I won’t spoil it for those of you that have not yet had a chance to watch it On Demand but damn, I was riveted every single second.

On the Stern show this morning they played the song the series ended with.  It gave me chills as I relived the final scene.  If you never got on the Breaking Bad bandwagon, get a Netflix account and start watching, now.  A fantastic show that may have the best ending of any tv series I have ever seen.  A+++ rating

So today the federal shutdown begins after congress was unable to agree to raise the fiscal ceiling.  More specifically, the Senate refused to pass a bill from the house championed by Tea Party douche bags that are trying to tie a lead weight to Obamacare in exchange for their cooperation in keeping the lights turned on.  I really think this strategy is going to blow up in the face of idiots like Ted Cruz.  This is like a bank telling you that the only way they will loan you money is if you agree to kill your cat.  The two items have no business being paired together.

Robert Reich, whose opinion I respect and value, summed it up like this:

The issue we are about to face as a nation has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act or any of the other of the demands Republicans are making. It has to do with political extortion: Republicans’ threats to close the government or default on the nation’s debts if they don’t get their way. The President and the Democrats must not negotiate. Once you start negotiating with extortionists, there is no end to it. Extortionists will hold the nation hostage again and again. Any law on the books they don’t like, any tax their wealthy patrons detest, any regulation their corporate bank-rollers would like to do away with, any subsidy or bailout their Wall Street underwriters desire, will be fair game.

Let Republicans carry out their threats. Let America see them do it and experience the consequences. And then let us send the Republican Party into the dust bin of history.

If this shutdown happened a few weeks ago it would have literally killed our Grand Canyon visit which is now officially closed today along with all the other things the National Park Service operates.

I was surprised to read the last this happened (an actual shutdown) was 95-96 since this pattern of drama approaching the debt ceiling deadline has happened so often in the last half decade.  Up until today, common sense had prevailed, the realization that partisan agendas are not worthy of disrupting the services of the federal government.  RIP common sense.

On my drive home last night I headed into what looked like a wall of black clouds.  Shortly after I pulled into the driveway the heavy clouds let loose, dropping another inch or two of rain on my already sopping wet property.  I am really ready for summer/wet season to come to an end.

Last night I was flying my Blade indoors in the great room.  It felt much less stable than before, it just wanted to drift around the room, requiring constant correction by me which often became over-correction followed by impact with some object.

I even tried setting the controller to it’s less aggressive control rate and still had issues.  Trying to trim the copter didn’t seem to make much of a difference, it just did not want to hover in place for shit.

I started on building my Tuffwing although I only spent maybe 10 minutes on  it until I reached a point where I would need to apply CA.  I need to get some wax paper to cover my work surface to prevent inadvertently gluing my wing to the table.   I need to abandon my normal somewhat play it by ear approach I use for many construction projects and make sure I follow the instructions to a T.  Failure to do so will result in an unstable, sloppy aircraft that will be a pain in the ass to fly.

I heard people talking about the ridiculous performance Miley Cyrus put on at the MTV VMA awards on Sunday night.  A 5 second search had the performance in front of my eyeballs.  It was like a car wreck, despite it being awful on multiple levels, I couldn’t turn my eyes away.  I don’t know what was the most terrible, her facial expressions, her creepy mouse back up dancers, her outfit or her disturbing gyrations.  The song was pretty damn awful too.

If this is the current state of what the music industry thinks is cool I suppose I am as uncool as it gets.

The performance and the associated buzz afterwards has somehow managed to drown out a legitimate horrific world news story, the use of chemical weapons, likely sarin gas, in Syria.  There have been reports of the use of sarin by the government against rebels for many months, evidently the most recent case was just the most extensive.  Syria’s government is claiming innocence, saying the the gas is actually being released by the rebels themselves to garner international support for their cause. Um yea, ok.

If this was the case, why is it that Syria blocked UN inspectors from entering the area of the attack for 4 or 5 days and instead proceeded to bomb the shit out of the area during that time to obliterate evidence?  Then yesterday UN inspectors were shot at as they again tried to enter the area.  Do these sound like the actions of a regime that has nothing to hide?

For most Americans that are wrapped up in the truly important things in life like how Miley Cyrus sucks, Syria may as well be on a different planet.  It seems incomprehensible that in 2013 there is Hitler style mass human extermination still going on.  Sadly Syria is only the latest example.  Human atrocities still occur all the time, however out of sight, out of mind keeps most of us from having to entertain that reality.

Kerry gave a speech yesterday that left little doubt that something tangible is going to be done by the US as a result of this attack.  The situation is made very sticky by Russia’s staunch support of Syria no matter what sort of genocide their government is involved in.

Evil is alive and well in the world, no matter how hard we try to insulate ourselves with ignorance.

On Friday night I knocked out even more of my chore list, trying to clear up my weekend for other things.  One of the Friday night things included replacing the cracked lid to the pool filter.  When I ordered the new lid I also decided to order a new pressure relief valve and pressure gauge as well since the old parts were beat to hell from 11 years in the Florida elements.  Hopefully this will extend the overall life of my pool filter another few years.

On Saturday morning I was once again doing work on Cindy’s Miata.  It suddenly would no longer start one day last week.  I did a lot of research on the problem and discovered that Miatas are infamous for crank, but no start problems, especially 23 year old Miatas.  Unfortunately there are 5 or 6 things that can cause this symptom.

In 1990, cars didn’t have very advanced diagnostics.  In order to perform some of the recommended tests I had to use a jumper wire across various points in a diagnostic terminal under the hood.

I have done a few things on the car so far.  As I dig through it, I am reminded of the 88 Vette I owned for roughly 6 months, there has been a lot of rig jobs done on the Miata over the years.

So anyway, my testing had determined that the engine is getting spark but no fuel.  My troubleshooting guide lead me to check out the fuel pump.  The first test was to once again use the diagnostic terminal to bypass a relay to see if I could hear the pump running with the engine off.  I couldn’t.

I then proceeded to access the fuel pump which you do via the rear deck inside the passenger compartment.  After removing the carpet and padding I pulled off the metal cover that hides the pump.  The pump itself was rigged as well with a wire spliced in and routed through a small hole in the top of the pump housing.

So I lifted the pump partially out and inspected it.  I didn’t see anything wrong so I thought maybe I would try the run test again, just to make sure it was not pumping. I expected it not to run.  Well imagine my surprise when it did.  Not only did it run, it spit some gasoline out since the feed end was still dipped partially into the gas tank.

I had pulled the rubber feed and return lines since my intention was to totally pull the pump out.  As a result the gas spilled on the ledge.  Luckily I was quick to kill the key but still enough spilled to make the car smell like a gas station, grr.  It was stupid of me to try to run it without the lines connected or at least a towel or something in place to catch gas.  I just assumed it wasn’t going to work.

So now the pump was working.  I am not sure if something was flaky with the rigged electrical connections  and my removal just happened to get it connected again or what.  I put the pump back into the tank and turned the key, the car started for the first time in 4 days.  Wow.  I ran it through a number of start tests and took the car out briefly on the road to see how solid my “fix” was.  The car was fine and has been fine ever since. Of course what I did got it going for now but sooner or later it could pop up again.  If it does, replacing the fuel pump and the rigged wiring would be the proper course of action.

On Saturday night I saw Pacific Rim.  I had seen some poor reviews of the film but I really didn’t care, it had huge ass robots in it, it couldn’t be that bad.  I actually liked it.  I did not realize that this was basically a 2013 Godzilla style movie, complete with Hong Kong being used as a a huge boxing ring for monsters/mega robots.  I found the movie to be fun and entertaining.  If you are looking for deep plot, meaningful dialogue and Oscar worthy acting then keep on walking.  If you want to see some kick ass robots beating the shit out of some hard core monsters from hell, strap in and take a look.  I actually would give it an A- just on entertainment value.

Sunday morning it was looking dreary and overcast but I wanted to get a brick in anyway.  The rain stayed away but the roads for part of the bike ride were quite wet, my bike was coated in sand and grime after the 12.25 ride.  I also got a fast 1200 yards in the pool, averaging less than 9 minutes per 400.

During the swim there was an encounter with an incredible dumb ass father.  As I was swimming, during one breathing head turn, I noticed some guy on the diving board wearing sunglasses.  You are not ever supposed to ever go off a diving board wearing glasses, the impact with the water could potentially break the glasses and smash the shards into your face.  Of course the dumb kid lifeguard didn’t flag the stupidity either.  I recall thinking, “what a dummy” as I continued swimming.

So a couple minutes later I am turning at the wall and see the same guy by the edge of the other lane with his wife and two daughters.  As I push off and head back the other way  I hear him say “get ready, go!”  This guy had just sent his two kids down the other lane, the lane that Cindy was occupying.  Not only was she occupying it, she was about 15 yards away from the kids and swimming right towards them.

Luckily Cindy saw the flailing kids before she ran into them.  She abruptly stopped and asked the brain dead dad what he was thinking, sending his children headfirst into an oncoming swimmer.  I had heard the noise and stopped at the far side.  The guy apologized but we were both dumbfounded by just how stupid his actions were.  It was confirmation of the guys habitual poor decision making based on his sunglass sporting diving action right before.

I tried to analyze the thought process he utilized.  Did his little girls say “daddy we want to race in the lap pool!” and he was unable to deny them, even for a minute, so he let them loose without thinking about their safety or of anyone else?  Maybe he was just really, really unobservant.  Perhaps he is just a moron?  I am leaning towards choice three.

That being said, if the kid lifeguard was doing his job, he could have saved the guy from his own poor decision making, twice.

Sunday there was more Miata work, this time installing headrest speakers.  I did not know that Miatas have the option for headrest speakers.  The only vehicle I knew of that had them were the old Pontiac Fieros.  Installing the speakers wasn’t hard, it just took some time to make sure it was done right.  It’s kind of cool having the stereo output come out right by your head, it’s like open air headphones.

Sunday night I saw the latest Bourne Identity movie, the first one without Matt Damon.  It was good although I once again made the mistake of watching it while drowsy, causing me to miss some elements that may have added to my overall enjoyment of the film.  Even with the gaps I’d give it a B+.

It was a good thing I got the grass mowed last week.  The unrelenting rain since has turned the property back into a swamp wonderland.  One of the few perks of this phenomenon is occasionally ducks will mistake the back yard as a pond and stop by for a visit.  I had two of them hanging by the bird feeders for quite awhile on Saturday.