I have this longstanding superstition. I’ll never put a new music player in an older car. I’m sure the moment I commit to some nice little luxury like that the vehicle will come down with a dreaded car illness — beyond repair. The CD player in the Xterra never worked properly, but never got replaced in the five or six years I owned it because … doom. Old Blue doesn’t even have a CD player, just a radio that jumps randomly every few seconds from NPR to heavy metal to Mexican oompah music. So I never use it. I’ve missed…
46 CommentsMonth: February 2017
Funny. When I was a teenager I had three big dreams. I wanted to own my own house, write a novel, and travel. Now I’ve owned 10 or 11 houses and am in the one where I hope to stay for the rest of my life. I love it. Don’t regret a minute of it. I wrote a novel. Two if you count the compilation of Hardyville Tales. And I don’t know how many non-fiction books. Not the Great American Novel I had in mind at 16, but I did what I could and am glad of it. I also…
23 CommentsGood news! Old Blue made it all the way to the Big City without a hiccup. AND there was no snow, ice, or even hellacious amounts of rain to hinder us. (I mean, there was rain of course; there always is. But not the biblical deluge the weather person warned of.) Even better. The specialist recommended against surgery. He says he’ll do it if I want, but that no harm will come to me from not having it. Well, that’s a no-brainer. More good news. I made it to the town with the float tank and am now safely ensconced…
11 CommentsWell, that’s it. I’m off to the Big City for the surgical consult. After that, I’m off to a little city for an overnight stay and a long float tank experience tomorrow. I’d hoped to have a “real” blog for you this morning, but time’s not on the side of blogging. Since I have no idea how much Internet I’ll have for the next two days, please hold the fort. In your off-duty moments you can enjoy some very good dogs.
7 CommentsGot an Internet-connected Vizio TV? Smile, you’re on Candid Camera. And in marketing databases everywhere. The FTC says: Consumers have bought more than 11 million internet-connected Vizio televisions since 2010. But according to a complaint filed by the FTC and the New Jersey Attorney General, consumers didn’t know that while they were watching their TVs, Vizio was watching them. The lawsuit challenges the company’s tracking practices and offers insights into how established consumer protection principles apply to smart technology. Starting in 2014, Vizio made TVs that automatically tracked what consumers were watching and transmitted that data back to its servers.…
10 CommentsI didn’t watch the SuperBowl. Sounds as if it was a whopper of a game. But Atlanta and the Patriots? Yawn. Did watch a few SB commerercials, though, and it looks like a rather dull year for that. Too much preaching. Too little humor. And lame humor at that. (The ghost of Spuds MacKenzie? Cute thought, but meh. Would have worked better as a Christmas commercial, and ya know, Budweiser, there’s really good technology available that makes it look as if animals are really talking.) Here’s the best I’ve seen (this is the long version; I gather a much shorter…
11 CommentsI haven’t been looking forward to this week. Midweek I’m scheduled to go to The Big City (the real one; not the nearby Walmart-bearing berg I laughingly call the big city) for a consultation with a surgeon, a specialist at a formidable teaching hospital. I dread both the doctor encounter and the drive, which is three times longer than any I’ve taken in Old Blue. And Blue is … old. And kind of creaky. Heck, while I’m at it, I might as well dread freeways, traffic jams, and ridiculously expensive Big City parking — all of which I worked hard…
27 CommentsAs of about a week ago, I am no longer with TZP. Finest people you could ever want to be associated with, and I’m grateful to everyone who supported (and supports) TZP. But as an organization TZP didn’t have it. I wish the remaining folks and the group itself the very best.
4 CommentsGetting weirder all the time. Cops use data from a man’s pacemaker to charge him with a crime. (H/T M) And while of course it’s long been a crime to “drive while black” or even walk or bike while black in the wrong neighborhood, now apparently it calls for police action if you’re a prosperous brown woman walking in your own neighborhood. This woman really handled the abuse with grace, though. (Tip o’ hat to PT) Now we’ll see if it gets through the Senate. But the House has v*ted to repeal Obama’s Social Security-related gun ban. Judge halts Trump’s…
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