Feeling the Grrrrr in Disgruntled American

Okay, I get that we are in the middle of an election year.  I get that the candidates, even the president, needs to put that somewhat first on his agenda.  I get it.  I don't like it, but I get it.  What I really can't abide is a theme I keep hearing on all the news and political pundit shows:

"Nothing will get passed until after the election."

If nothing truly is going to get passed until after November then why oh why are we paying them then?  Some say it's strategy, some say it's cowardice, some say it's just politics at it's worst.  But seriously, if they aren't going to work couldn't we save some money if we put the House and the Senate along with all their staff and toadies on furlough?  That's been the solution for the smaller government groups like the States and Cities, isn't it?  I know there will still be a need to have some people there, the paper doesn't push itself.  However the rest of them that are just waiting for the Elephant or the Ass to take up residence before they do anything.  The concept is equally repugnant and mind-numbingly inane that we shouldn't have to pay for it.  Both sides are screaming for reduction in spending, here's one way they can cut the fat, trim the gristle and maybe show the voters they are willing to go from a fillet mignon diet to chicken for a few months.

This would actually be a good time to put in a reliable, secure BYOD (as in they bring their own device they've paid for instead up upgrading on the tax-payers dime) so they can be just as mobile and responsive to their constituents as we have to be to our subordinates, peers and management.  (I'm not saying we need to run the country like a business, because seriously, you can't lay off the voters).

What are my political views, you might wonder:  I'm undecided.  I call myself a free-thinker because I look at both sides, see which one can do the most good, get the most done and then I vote for the lesser of the two evils.

P.O.T.s (Pockets Of Time)

I've come to the conclusion that I will never have a stretch of time that I can write now that I'm back in the salt mines with the rest of the working world.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.....much.  I miss being able to spend my time working on intricate plot twists, figuring out unique and un-written ways to kill people.  There's not a lot of need for that mining for nuggets of revenue in a virtual gold mine.  Between Job 1, 2, and 3, there isn't any time left for work.  Well, there is time, but my mind is completely blaaahhhh when it comes to anything creative.  Well, except sarcasm, I'm always game for sarcasm.

On Saturday last I was running late to the dentist grumbling because I had planned to spend the whole day just me.  Maybe a movie, get a manicure, do tea, a nice dinner...you get the idea, but that got changed because of family plans.  So, to my surprise and welcome my dentist had an emergency and was running way later than I was.  So, I went across the street to the SBux and got a protein drink and banana and pulled out my editing.  It hit me like a lightning bolt.  I can't have days any more, or even set hours per se, but I can carve out pockets of time.  Time to write.  Time to plot and plan and work on the exact way to kill someone where no one needs to know. In my Franklin now (Yes, I went back to a paper planner) I am penciling blocks of POTs.  No one need know what they are, I can erase them out when plans change, and they always change.  I think it was L.W. Lynett who said "The most effective way to cope with change is to help create it."  Well, I'm creating POTs for change.  This means more posting, more journal writing, more just being who I am.  I am a WRITER, and writers WRITE.

Angels and Devils and I

If my devils were to leave me,

I am afraid my angels

will take flight as well.

- Rilke

*****

When I say "I" I mean

a thing absolutely unique,

not to be confused

with any other.

- Ugo Betti



The Price of Blessings

View all problems as challenges. Look upon negativities that arise as opportunities to learn and to grow. Don't run from them, condemn yourself, or bury your burden in saintly silence. You have a problem? Great. More grist for the mill. Rejoice, dive in, and investigate.

-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Mindfulness in Plain English"

Very appropriate that it came today. The challenges to me normally come in mechanical packages. I went to the opera on Saturday in the City (That is San Francisco for those who aren't in the know), it's about 50 miles from home. I kept Lulu (my car) at a brisk 75mph all the way there and got through the basic streets towards Portola and Laguna Honda just fine. I started to climb Pacheco to get to 9th. street and there was a major hesitation in the car before it lurched forward into motion. I came to the next stop sign and I figured it was just a bad press on the accelerator on my part, but it happened again, and again I figured I was at fault. I always presume it's a PEBCAK* (Not the same for a car, but the premise is valid) so I tried it again. And again I had problems. Carol, my friend, lives on one of the steepest hills I've ever seen. Not one of the steepest hills in the City, but too steep to walk unless you want a coronary. So parking requires that you pull up to the curb, back up and curb your tires. Even with the emergency break on I wasn't able to control or hold my position on the hill well enough to maneuver into position. So, I backed out of it, using gravity and then went down the street thinking it would be easier to park on the flat of 10th instead of the hill of Ortega...but true to form, there wasn't any parking on the flats. So, I pulled up the hill again, trying to be as close to the curb as possible so I could curb my wheels and just turned her off and went to the opera.

The opera was FANTASTIC. Beautiful, lush, brilliant, everything that I had hoped and wanted in an opera. It almost made me forget about the looming problem ahead of me. Driving home. Well, don't fret, I didn't drive. I stayed over at Carol's and worked at finding a place that had a diagnostic department open on Sunday and had the techs on staff to do the work. Well, I found one....IN PLEASANT HILL. Which meant a $180 towing bill. Well, they couldn't diagnose it until Monday (today) but I was pretty sure it was the belts. To my knowledge they haven't been changed during the whole life of the car....162,000+ miles. It seemed about due.

Carol was kind enough to drive me home after Church. And I arranged with PJ to take me to work this morning and Isis to take me to Pleasant Hill tonight to pick up my car....which is all moot now because, well, it won't be ready tonight. It would be good if I can pick it up tomorrow.

Well, the good news is it's not the engine. The engine diagnostic came back fine. The bad news is, and you know there's always bad news when someone starts the sentence with good news...the transmission is shot. It's shot to the tune of $1,528. You know, horses don't cost that much and when they break, you can shoot them. I can't complain, I really can't. Like I said, I've got over 162,000 miles on her and I've only had her 10 years....you do the math. I can be assured with the new water pump (put on at the beginning of the year), the new (yet used) transmission, and the new tires (put on at the beginning of the year) I should be set with her for the next few years or so which is when I intend on putting the rest of the miles on her so I can trade her in for a hybrid of some sort. I'm hoping by that time competition will have driven the prices down.

But like the quote above says, look at challenges as opportunities. It's an opportunity to insure my safety, it's an opportunity to keep my car for as long as I want to/need to until it's time to upgrade to a more ecologically friendly model. And it has taught me to stop trying to think of ways to comfortably get out of going to church because if you look hard enough, Heavenly Father will provide you a way. I'm blessed that this didn't happen while I was trucking along at 75mph, or while I was at the top of a hill with someone behind or worse, with a person behind me. I could have hurt myself or worse, someone else. I am truly blessed, even with a $1500 price tag.

*PEBCAK: Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard

The Middle

Take heed that when effort is too strenuous

it leads to strain

and when too slack

to laziness.

So make a firm determination

that you will adopt the middle way,

not allowing yourself

to struggle or to slacken,

but recognizing that

faith,

energy,

mindfulness,

concentration,

and wisdom

are the fruits of a calm and equable way.

-Theragatha

My Axiom of the Day

I would rather stumble and even fall under the weight of my own dreams than excell in the pursuit of someone elses.

Me.

More Quotes

As promised over a year ago, here are more of my favorite quotes....

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If you think Genealogy is supposed to be fun you've either never had fun or never done Genealogy.

Carol Haws

Family History Class

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To come together is a beginning, to stay together is progress and to work together is success.

Henry Ford quoted by

KC Wu, Cisco Systems

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Enlightenment - That magnificent escape from anguish and ignorance - never happens by accident. It results from the brave and sometimes lonely battle of one person against his/her own weakness.

Bhikkhm Nyanasobhano

Landscapes of Wonder

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Worldliness is next to Ungodliness.

Cameron Shaw

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The soft bigotry of high expectations

Doonesbury

9/21/07

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More of an original word pairing than a quote...saving it for the moment of greatest impact....

Sphincter fatigue.

No Pressure

It is not sufficient for religious people to be involved with prayer. Rather, they are morally obliged to contribute all they can to solving the world’s problems.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

An Evening Quote

"He's one of those crazy liberal democrats that secretly is a closeted republican."

Denny Crane, Boston Legal

I laughed at first until the question echoed back...."is this me?"

Quotes

I have been having fun collecting quotes from different places, things and people. I thought I'd share some with you for a smile or for enlightenment.

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A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding.

Marshall McLuhan

*****

Be about the work, be happy or go to hell.

Brigham Young

*****

As long as there is a lack of inner discipline that brings calmness of mind, no matter what external facilities or conditions you have, they will never give you the feeling of joy and happiness that you are seeking. On the other hand, if you possess this inner quality of calmness of mind, a degree of stability within, then even if you lack the various external facilities that you would normally consider necessary for happiness, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful life.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

*****

Barbara Termaat Quotes:

Wrapped around the axel.

You look slicker than deer guts on a door knob.

*****

When you have children the days are long but the years are short.

Lonny Smith

*****

About raising daughters by Brett England:

When you have a boy you worry about a boy. When you have a daughter, you worry about ALL the boys.

*****

It's all very simple.
Or, it's all very complex.
Perhaps it's neither.
Or both.
(forget the author)

*****

She was not quite what you would call refined.
She was not quite what you would call unrefined.
She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.

Mark Twain

*****

Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.

Albert Einstein

*****

I have a whole list more but they're at home. I'll do another post soon when I have them all in one place.