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 What the heck am I doing today? Shenanigans, General Tomfoolery or What? You never know |
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Talk about perks, my career had one of the best I can think of! I traveled in the course of business, delivering classes for my employer. I was a Senior Training Specialist for Motorola Solutions, and taught classes on a wide variety of subjects centered around 2-way radio communications. I knew that when the time arrived that I would retire, and I have. I've always said that if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, get out! I can't handle the heat anymore. I was qualified to deliver approximately 32 different classes, but about half of those were 'Legacy' classes, and were not in demand anymore. My students were technicians, those who maintained, programmed, calibrated, and repaired large 2-way radio systems. Some of these systems are statewide, and use TCP-IP networking to allow sites to communicate with others. Some are small, traditional type radio sites. The size doesn't matter, in each case the systems must be kept operational at all times, since many of them are Public Safety Systems. So I traveled, sometimes frequently, 3-4 weeks in a row.... where have I been? Some of the places I've been (I can't list them all here, the list would be too long) are pretty interesting. 1. Hawaii - Four times, Oahu, Maui (twice), and the Big Island, Plus I lived on Oahu from 74-83. 2. Bangkok Thailand, twice 3. Frankfurt Germany, twice 4. Algiers, Algeria 5. Melbourne Australia 6. Bismarck North Dakota, Summer & Winter 7. California, especially the Los Angeles area, Too many times to count 8. Washington DC, Too many times to count 9. Seattle three or four times 10. Texas, all over the state 11. Florida, all over the state 12. New Mexico, HOME! Several times  Best Cultural And Regional Honorable Mention |
Great Lakes Naval Station Visit It was time for our 'Quarterly' visit to the Great Lakes Naval Station. Well, it was really to the nearby Burkey Mall Pharmacy to pick up her Trulicity. It was a nice trip, except for one thing. She has become the epitome of a Back-Seat Driver. IF I don't drive exactly like this does, well, no details here, but you get the idea. The really bad part is, she would fall asleep then wake up and see something 'wrong' (example: When she woke, I was following a truck too close in her opinion. But I was waiting for a car to come past so I could change lanes and pass it), and fly off the deep end. The ride up was fine, it was the ride home when things started. Part of it was fatigue on my part I'm sure. We'd been going to over 5 hours now, so yep, I was tired. Still, all things combined, it made for a rough trip home. There, rant, and whining over. Thanks for listening/reading. Today is a new day, it's warm, and everything is good, just like always. Y'all have a great day! |
The World As It Is Okay, another topic that will likely cause a lot of responses, maybe some resentment. See what you think. We attacked Iran about a week ago, and President Trump received a lot of flack about not seeking the permission of Congress before the attack. Yes, Congressional permission is required to declare war on another nation. We haven't done that, we have not declared war. I have to ask one question about that though. And, if he had sought Congressional approval before the attack, would it have then been a surprise attack? I've drawn my conclusions, you do the same. No, I'm not happy that we attacked a country like we did. The people of Iran (the general public) deserve so much more. How many of them want war? I bet it's a low percentage. I've not been there, I'd love to go. Everywhere I've been on God's Green Earth, the general public has been very friendly. War is never an answer in my opinion. But, negotiations, embargo's and the like had failed, the country's leaders kept the Military & Scientists building weapons and enriching Uranium to weapons grade. I am not comfortable with them having Nuclear Weapons, are you? I've also seen a few things written about how cowardly it was a US Submarine to sink an Iranian Warship. Hmmmm, as a Retired Submariner, I have to really disagree with that statement. First though, this is why it was labeled as a cowardly attack 1. Attacking a Returning, Non-Combatant Vessel: Critics argue the Dena was not engaged in active combat, but was returning from a, "peace" mission (the MILAN 2026 exercise in India). My reply - Active combat? It was a warship capable of sinking other vessels, including submarines. Yes, the boat could have messaged Washington DC about it's status, that would have been easily picked up by almost anyone. Suddenly your peace mission is gone, so is the element of surprise. 2. "Defenseless" State: Claims suggest the ship was essentially unarmed or operating under "peace protocols" that restricted carrying live ammunition. This is something that experts need to discuss, not me, not you. We have no idea of their weaponry when attacked. I will provide an incident from WWII. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis (a cruiser) after it delivered the Atomic Bomb to the island of Tinian. It completed it's mission and was returning home. Almost 890 men died because of that attack, 3. Asymmetric Warfare: The attack involved a highly advanced U.S. submarine attacking a much smaller, 1,500-ton frigate, which was characterized as "not a fair fight". Oh for crying out loud! Since when has any country concerned itself about a fair fight? Has any sneak attack been a fair fight? 4. Lack of Warning: The vessel was reportedly struck without warning in international waters, thousands of miles away from the primary combat zone. So critics think the vessel should have been warned in some way? Should the submarine have broadcast a message that it was going to attack the ship? And they were in International waters? Oh my. How much of the Earth's oceans are 'International Waters'? Far more than you might realize. 64%. ," These areas lie beyond the 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of coastal nations, representing a "global commons" not under any single country's jurisdiction. 5. Abandoning Survivors: A major point of condemnation is that the U.S. submarine did not stay to assist, but rather left the ship's crew to drown, which some legal analysts and critics argued violated international humanitarian law. This I am not happy about one bit. I want you to notice one thing though. Has the hull number/name of the Submarine been published anywhere? Not that I know of. Why not? Because Iran would likely use that information to attack almost any crew members family, especially the Senior Officer families. If they had taken prisoners, that information would have been easily learned. No, I'm not happy we didn't pick up survivors. I think maybe they could have jettisoned life rafts and the like. Again, thinking back to WWII, how often did submarines of any nation pick up survivors? It happened, but not very often. 6. "Bragging" about the Attack: The tone used by U.S. officials, such as describing it as a "quiet death," was viewed as callous and unethical. No comment because I don't know details. A submarine operates in a stealthy manner. It's job is to sink enemy ships, or in the case of Ballistic Missile Submarines, act as a deterrent, causing any enemy to rethink attacking the US when they may be attacked from unknown locations. A Submarine's operation might seem cowardly to many, but that's how submarines operate. I've referenced WWII a couple of times here, mainly because I know more about them in that conflict in WWI. Yes, submarines were used in WWI. Germany had over twice as many in service as the allies did. I'll leave it at that. |
The Illinois Product Expo Today ended up being a great day, despite a slow start. Why a slow start. My other half woke up after having a rough night, up and down on the Porcelain God. At least she wasn't vomiting. Maybe in some ways she wished she was. I took personal notes, mail, and the like to what we term Shred Day. The city provides a truck, All city residents have to do is show up with boxes of documents they want shredded. We never have a box, only a plastic bag. Still, it's nice to be able to do that. Afterward, I stopped by Einstein Brother's Bagels to get us breakfast. Despite the night she had, Kathy was able to really enjoy her Nova Lox. We had planned on going to Springfield Illinois for the Illinois Product Expo around 10 or so. When I realized the kind of night she'd had, I figured that maybe we'd get to go tomorrow. Around 1 or so she said we should go. Needless to say, I was ecstatic, we needed to get out after being home almost all winter. So we drove the 55 miles or so to the Illinois Product Expo at the State Fairgrounds in Springfield. I have to say, we had an excellent time while there! There were many exhibits, most were selling something, and we spent too much. Not that we couldn't afford it, it was just more than planned. Some of the things we bought included some outstanding Garlic Brats, Pickled Garlic, a jar of Horseradish Mustard, Some Jalapeno Jelly, Bee's Wax bowl covers, and so much more that I don't remember right now. Leaving the show we came back to Bloomington and went to dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant. Saturday night, 6 pm, it was packed. Our server had a party of 25-30 at 3 different tables, a party of 6, and three other smaller tables, one of which was us. He was slow and rightly so, but very good. It was probably the worst experience we've had at that restaurant, but in reality, our server was overloaded. Overall, a great day. We went out and about after all! |
A Day Like One We Haven't Experienced In A Long Time So how was today different from most others? Well, at about 11:40 or so, we lost power! It quickly came back, but only for less than 5 minutes. It came back again, and left us again. Then it started going out, and returning for a few seconds, yes seconds. We spent more time without power than with power. It wasn't until I used my phone to look at outages that I learned that this outage hadn't been reported yet! WOW. We haven't lost power in a long time, and not for this long either! Right after that, crews appeared on the scene. They were here about 3 hours checking things out. One thing I learned was that the lines on the poles had power, the house didn't. I don't think they realized that our neighbors are on a different circuit than we are. It might have been those lines that had power. Anyway, power came back for good almost 5 hours after our initial loss. I did think of one thing though. The two upright freezers in the basement are powered off a GFI outlet. I checked them and sure enough, no power. I reset the GFI and all was well. All thru this experience, I had an earworm going in my head. At first, I couldn't think of the songs name, but it finally came to me. It was Whiskey In The Jar, by Celtic Thunder. |
Taking Dexamethasone (Dex) One would think that finally being given permission to take a certain medication more than once a week, that I would be chafing at the bit to take it. So what did I do? I forgot to take it yesterday, and suffered through the pain I normally experience. And today? I didn't take it early, but I did take it. With a little reminding. Now I wait for it to completely take effect, I'm better, but not 100% yet. When I take Dex, or shall I say when I take 2 tablets at once, I feel about 45-50 years old in a few hours./ Taking just one takes a bit longer. So I wait. My Oncologist said that based on Blood Work, I'm in Deep Remission. I sure wish my body would hear that and cooperate. But as the doctor said, the pain I'm having has nothing to do with Multiple Myeloma. That's the main reason he agreed to allow me to take it twice a week. I bet you all realized that I can't wait for the 18th (two weeks from yesterday!) to arrive. There's no guarantee I'll be pain free afterwords, but it should be a lot better. The 'truth will be in the pudding' in this way - Can I sleep in bed with Kathy, and not on the Love Seat. Only Time Will Tell. |
Doctor's Visits, Yesterday & Today Yesterday I saw my Oncologist, a regularly scheduled appointment. He is very pleased with this body's response to the Oral Chemo drug I've been taking for almost five years now. He is a little worried about the level of pain I've been experiencing for months now. He did say I could take the Corticoid Steroid Dexamethasone twice a week (One 4 mg tablet each time). He also said to take two pain medications at night. It would be Tramadol, Tylenol III, or Tizanidine. I would not mix them, it would be one of those medications at bedtime. No mixing/matching for me! Today I saw the Neuro-Surgeon, the same man who performed my back surgery in October. Let me say that I have lived in pain almost 24/7 for months now, before the first back surgery. It affects my sleep, sleeping more than 3-4 hours at once is a dream to me. He showed me the MRI results from last week (that's pretty interesting if you ask me), the sad thing is I think of the software required to get those views, I don't focus on the views themselves. Anyway, I've been in pain almost 24/7, and sleep an average of 2-3 hours/night, usually on the Love Seat instead of the bed due to the pain experienced trying to sleep in bed. To cut to the chase, I am now scheduled for more back surgery on March 18th. At the L5/S1 vertebrae, a nerve is really pinched. This is the same area he worked on in October, it's just a different nerve. He plans to remove the remaining disk material (It's a bit herniated), insert a spacer (he called it a cage) in its place to lift the vertebrae off the nerve. He will also place two screws in the vertebrae (maybe a third one on the far side), and use pins to keep L5/S1 separated. This will most likely require an overnight stay in the hospital, I'm left wondering how or when I'll get those daily tasks done. More importantly, how will I create the daily post in "Smile! (Groan?) You Know You Love These!" . As I love to say, Only Time Will Tell, huh! |
Estate Sale Adventures Today 2/28/26 Well, as I thought would happen, I went to an Estate Sale in Peoria alone today. It was fine really, I think we both needed the alone time. I took along my 'Cane-Stool', the left photo from four months ago.  At the Estate Sale I bought 33 Hardy Boy's Mystery Novels! That was the drawing feature of the sale for me. I looked at everything in the sale, but I didn't see much that drew me. Kathy wanted a framed picture, but it was $250, a little more than we wanted to spend. We could always go back tomorrow after noon and if it's still there, get it at half off. There's that key word though, IF it's still there. It's about 45 miles to get to it, it would have to be something we both really wanted. I had a surprise when I tried to pay though. My card was declined, despite having plenty of money there. I spent almost 30 minutes on the phone with the bank, the employee even connected to their fraud alert desk. What they decided is that the chip in my card is faulty. I was told the scan of it should have asked for the CVV number. Noooo, that didn't happen. The screen went to 'Card Declined' immediately. That's why the bank said the chip is faulty. Oh well, it didn't stop me from withdrawing enough cash to pay for it that way. Still, an unpleasant surprise. Heck, I even showed the lady my account balance, far more than enough to buy those books. An interesting day to say the least. Now it's time to fire up the grill for Ribeyes tonight! |
No Idea What To Say, So just Typing Here Please allow me to start by saying two things. 1. I don't follow Politics or Politicians. I think almost everyone who read my reply to JACE  's post about the SOTU realizes that ("The Political Future" ) So why did I reply openly to it, or reply at all? Beats me.2. I don't argue well, if at all. Both of these statements are very true. If I argue with someone, I usually clam up quickly. Why? Because I am not one who is quick on the reply. My mind works super-fast, except when I get in an argument. If someone makes a point that needs a counterpoint, I don't have one. At least not right away. Maybe 30 minutes later I'll have one, but not right away. And of course by then, it's too late. I feel I owe an apology to everyone who has responded to my reply to that entry. I have not responded to anyone because I don't know what to say. Am I wrong and they're right? Or am I right and they're wrong? I honestly don't know. All I know is that I should have done what I always do, keep quiet. To everyone, I apologize. Not for being wrong, not for being right. For opening what I see as a Pandora's Box. I dated a girl in High School, we never argued once. She never started an argument with me, and vice versa. We're still good friends 56 years later (we met long before graduating in 1972.) One day we were chatting on line, and somehow we got into a political discussion. You know what happened of course. We had an argument! She commented one time saying, "Buddy (My nickname growing up), we've never argued! Why now?" We both knew why, we both apologized, that was it. Over and done with. I apologize especially to JACE , Davy Kraken  , and Elisa the Bunny Stik  }}. If I could take back what I typed, I would. I can't though, an Apology is about all I can do.I realize I should feel free to provide my opinion, but when you don't have all the facts, and can't provide a counterpoint to someone's point, you should stay out of it. Yes, I feel free to provide my opinions, but I keep them to myself for the most part, because I hate starting arguments or discussions that I can't contribute further to. I hate arguments in general. In other words, I know my limits, and live by them. For the most part.  |
Minor Physical Things I'm Doing I've tried to be more active each day. Instead of sitting here on my PC all day, I get up and walk down the hallway into the kitchen, from there to the Living Room, then back to the hallway. I usually do at least 5 laps like this & repeat this about 4-5 times each day. Before anyone gets the idea of saying "Bravo!", you need to know something. I know I've mentioned that we have a small house. A Very Small House. It's less than 1000 square feet in size. What that means is, those laps are about 40 paces total! Yeah, not a lot at all. Since I'm a little afraid to walk outside (like around the block) because of worry about my left leg giving out, I walk in the house. I will say that I'm walking better, and faster. Even my wife commented on how I'm walking!The other things I'm trying to do, at least once a day are: 1. Remember those calisthenics we did in school? You know, the ones called the Windmills, the Wood Chopper, Trunk Twisters, and such. I do 10 of those at least daily. I don't do them all each day, but I do try to mix and match them, never the same sequence daily. When I think back, the PE teacher was really teaching us about staying physically fit in our old age! It all adds up really. 2. I go up and down the 11 steps to our basement, probably 3-4 times a day. But, I do it when necessary, and my left leg hollers at me the whole time. I'm doing it at the wrong time of day is all. When my left leg aches. Once the weather warms some, I will be spending more time outside, getting that necessary Vitamin D. Baby steps though,baby steps. |
Just A Quick Question I'm writing this question more to get a feel for your answers. I can't say this is going to happen, I can't say it won't happen. But, there's always that word, (But) huh! But, with all the health issues I've encountered in the past couple of months, should we keep that 2018 RAM Promaster CamperVan? Let's give you an idea of what we've had done so far. All prices are approximate, none are what was actually paid. Purchase price - $65,000. Five new tires - $1,500. The tires it had were in excellent shape, but were seven years old. On RV's, the DOT says change them at the seven year point. It was purchased 'As Is', I should have checked closer on things. You know, those unimportant things like a jack for changing tires should a flat occur. Not only that, but the small extension that allows the Spare Tire to be lowered from beneath the van. $200 for the Jack & Extension. $1,200 to have the Van inspected by a qualified RV Inspector. $450 to have deficiencies found by the RV Inspector repaired by an RV Technician. Yes, the inspector can only inspect, the technician is the one who corrects those deficiencies found. Not all were corrected, but all that were life endangering have been corrected. $1,500 Tax & Licensing in Illinois. Summing that up, we've paid just shy of $70,000 so far! (Again, these numbers are not exact, I use them as a guide is all). And now, if my left leg doesn't support my lifestyle, I may have to change my lifestyle. It's a bit of a HUGE step to enter the driver side of the van. (Almost a waist high step). The sliding door is much lower, and might be used. But, entering the sliding door means I'd need some amount of Dexterity to get to the Drivers Seat. My left leg has to have some amount of mobility to it. So we're back to that original question. Should we sell it or not? Not included here because we haven't done it yet, is a new radio with Bluetooth, Android Auto & Backup Camera. That is to be determined, currently on hold. And again, your responses will probably not sway our decision one way or the other. I'm just looking to see what y'all think. |
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