Local Elections

All votes on Election Day are not about Presidents, Senators, and Representatives.  Sometimes it is about local judges, Board Of Education members, and ballot referendums.

It is very hard to find out much about Board Of Education member candidates, for example.  But there is a source.  Do a search for League of Women Voters and your State "League of women voters Maryland" for example.  They don't make endorsements.  But they do invite resumes in a structured set of categories.  You can learn a lot from the candidates there.

Some resumes include code phrases.  If you don't like extremely religious people, home schoolers, or conspiracy theorists, you can often detect that in their resumes.  So it gives you people to cross off the list.  Equally, if the resumes mention years of public school experience, analytic professional work, and education from legitimate colleges and universities, you know they have a good background.

The League of Women Voters also provide a very good but neutral review of ballot referendums.  They give the arguments for both sides briefly. 

If you want to know about the local issues, they are the right place to go.

I have my sample ballot all marked up to the lowest level of choices.

Elections

I follow some political TV (MSNBC mostly).  I love Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow.  I get pretty worked up about elections, so fact-based analysis is good.

I am very glad the campaigns are about done and everything will be resolved in 3 days.  It all may go well, it may go horribly (from my personal POV), but at least it will be over for 2 years.  I EXPECT to be pleased with the election results, but then I thought Hillary Clinton was sure to win in 2016, so you never know.

I'll be honest.  I think Donald Trump is a lying wanna-be autocrat with no agenda other than to gain enough power to make him and his family rich (because he is far less wealthy than he pretends to be).

But what really scares me is his ability to lie routinely and in spite of corrections by fact-checkers who have no political affiliations.  He riles up people with outrageous claims.  One fascinating thing is that traditionally conservative Republicans are against him.  When George Will and Micheal Gerson are arguing against a Republican President, that President is doing something very seriously wrong.

Trump can't be allowed to run free.  The nation needs a check on his desire to become an autocrat.  The Senate looks to stay Republican.  But The House looks to go very "hugely" (to use a favorite Trump term) Democratic.  And he is desperate to avoid that.  The House has subpoena powers to investigate the financial corruption of many of Trump's Cabinet Members.  And many of them have taken advantage of their positions to enjoy a lifestyle of "the rich and famous".

They deserve to be investigated and removed from office.  I object to their goals of reducing environmental protections, clean air and clean water, allowing industry to pollute, etc, but also it angers me that they have some odd sense on entitlement to use taxpayer money for personal use.

True public servants don't do that.

I'm going complete Democratic Party ticket on Tuesday.  That's just my decision.  I have voted for some Republicans in the past, but not this time.  I'm voting for anyone against Trump.  I don't like the idea of voting a straight ticket, but Trump has to be stopped.

After Some Thought...

Well, not posting in order to try to escape some bad habits has been interesting.  I would say it worked about half-well.  The successful part was finding the sites that kept me up all night for no really good reason  But, as I sit here, I have a glass of wine at and and a pack of cigs.

Apparently, I am still stuck with wine and cigs when I'm on the computer for any longer than it takes to check email.  Old habits die hard, and sometimes don't die at all.

But less is better.  There is a difference between a pack of cigs and 2 glasses of wine vs 4 packs and a bottle.  The less is because I've stopped visiting a discussion board that kept me worked up all night and a game site that has been failing for a couple years.

The discussion board is an atheist site.  I'm an atheist, for anyone who didn't know.  I spent a lot of time there over the past 2 years.  I enjoyed the discussions and arguments, and there sharp people there on both sides.  But I realized that I wasn't changing anyone's opinion.  The other atheists just agreed with me, and the theists (ranging from creationists to philosophical believers) were as unlikely to be convinced to change their views as I was.  So there doesn't seem to be much point in debating there.

The game site was a wonderful discovery some years ago.  I joined because there were free classical games (Risk, Hearts, Backgammon, Scrabble, etc) and I enjoyed that.  Then I discovered that, by joining the site for a modest fee, I could play more dedicated gamers and earn a rating.  That interested me. 

But the site is losing paying members (who normally feel a duty to complete a game) and the free players just leave the instant they aren't winning.  I just received an email notice that my annual membership is up for renewal.  I think I'll give it one more year, but I suspect that will be the last.  Which is a shame, because I really worked for all those rating points.  Still, nothing lasts forever.

I've been busy while I was away.  Not staying up all night meant I slept better and was more active in the daytime.  I'll post about that soon, by project. 

I've decided I enjoy posting about things I actually do myself that mean something around the house and yard than arguing with intractable people about topics that will never be resolved or playing games that don't mean much.

My life is Not Going Right

Have you ever felt that too many things are just mostly not going right?  That you thought it was all OK, and then suddenly you wanted to screaming out into the night looking for a clue about how it should be going? 

I shouldn't be at 68, but I am.  Maybe I have lived alone for too long and it is finally catching up to me.  But I can't imagine living with another person 24/7.

Maybe I''ve just lived just lived in the same house too long.  But I can't find anything wrong with the house.  It is actually easy to live in, a nice circular arrangement of kitchen, living room and TV room with 1 and a half baths and 3 bedrooms at the other.  The yard is a 1/2 acre and that's not bad. 

Maybe politics is getting under my skin.  Sometimes it seems to me that we are collectively going crazy.  The world is getting crazier.  Nations are becoming more partisan and controlled by crazy people.  Evil people are learning to control the world again.  I used to think the United Nations could solve some things.  I don't think that now. 

Or maybe it is just domestic politics.  I used to think things were getting better there, but they seem to be getting worse too.  I used to hope about elections; now I just dread them.  Everytime the political commentators say we have hit the bottom, the bottom gets deeper.

Well, maybe the yard has gotten out of my control.  I was 36 when I moved here and felt I could tackle any problem.  32 years seems like yesterday in one sense, but ages ago in another.  I can't do what I used to do.

Or maybe it is just the same old same old furniture.  I've lived like a college guy in his first apartment with hand-me-downs.  And the furniture does mean something to me being old family stuff.  But I don't want "House Beautiful" either.  I live a relaxed style.  My parents once asked us kids what we wanted from their house when they moved to a Florida rowhouse.  I waited for my siblings to choose and then named some furniture after they chose what they wanted.  Dad kept bugging me to chose "something".  I didn't expect them to be alive when the time came to "claim the stuff". 

I didn't want what I had "claimed".  It was a fancy walnut dining table with chairs, china cabinet, lowboy, etc.  That's not me.  And I'm introspective to understand "why".  When I was a child, I wasn't allowed to do any rough stuff on the "fancy furniture".  Maybe if I bought fancy furniture on my own it would be different, but who knows? 

Rosewood seems interesting, but I would be afraid to live with the stuff.

The garden is frustrating.  Not enough sunlight.  I could poison a few trees to make enough sunlight get through, but I can't get myself to do that.  I found a spot where the sun shines brightest,  and planted 3 tomato plants there in July.  And I got more heirloom tomatoes from there in the past 2 weeks than I got in the regular garden all Summer.  All at once of course.  I picked 7 tomatoes today.  I can't eat 7 tomatoes today.

I understand this doesn't match the problems some people have.  But they are MY problems

But together, it means I'm not in the right place, I'm not happy here,  I want a different house (all one level) and I'm on emotional tear here.   I don't like my life.  I need to make some serious changes. 

And I think I am "losing it".  I'm going altogether nuts.  I want to move, but I'm afraid to because I have so much "stuff".  I'm afraid of losing my good city water.  I'm afraid of losing my Verizon cable service.    But I also want to get a good garden and escape this traffic jam of a city. 

When I moved here 32 years ago, it was on the outskirts of residential places, there were no trees round, and life was great.  Now it is a traffic jam morning to evening, I get no sun for gardening, and light pollution is so bad I haven't seen the stars at night for years. 

I'm being stupid.  But also real for me.   

2005 Toyota Highlander Car

I wanna new car,
Without scratches and dents,
One that looks like it should,
That costs only pence.

I wanna new car.
Electric would be good. 
That could haul a small trailer
And a small boat too.

I wanna a new car,
13 years is quite long
Its starting to die,
And it won't be long.

I wanna new car,
Black was never right.
You can't see that car,
In the dead of night.

I wanna new car,
Another SUV.
The height gets me up
Over headlights, you see.

I wanna a new car,
For the pride, ya'll.
But it has to fit the garage,

And the door's kinna small.

I wanna new car,
Without tech-stuff, ya know.
I don't call when driving,
And I know where I am.

I wanna new car,
One that keeps me alive,
And keeps me protected
In front or behind.

I wanna new car,
Hydrogen's good
But there ain't that stuff
In the neighborhood.

I wanna new car,
But maybe keep what I've got.
Get it detailed and painted,
Let mechanics fix it up.

I wanna a new car,
I could buy one you see.
But this one could last,
Another 10 years and three.

The Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation

I write tonight not to condemn Brett Kavanaugh.  That has been done to death, as have supportive statements.  That part is over; Brett Kananaugh is now a Supreme Court Justice and will probably be one the rest of my life.

My comment today is about the failure of the process of deciding who gets confirmed to the Supreme Court and how.  And it is about fairness.  And partisanship. 

Partly, it is about how politics have become more partisan over the past decades.  It has happened before, of course.  Early in US history, political arguments were intensely personal and slanderous (worse than today) where political parties owned newspapers and the editorials and editorial cartoons were uncontrolled and facts were not even thought relevant. 

A political cartoon today might exaggerate a person's appearance (Obama's long face, Trump's hair), but older ones had them actually portrayed as animals.  And in 1852 Representative Preston Brooks (D-SC) used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA), nearly killing him while others looked on.  Things got calmer later.

But we are returning to irrational anger.  It is a different kind of anger.  Today the political parties attack the reputation, honesty, and factual memory of others at any opportunity.  They attack when they don't even seem to believe what they say themselves.  When presented with facts disproving their arguments, they say "Oh well, that is just politics".

No, it isn't!  Politics is "the art of the possible".  It is the skill of reaching an agreement with someone you don't completely agree with to get something you both think more important than what you each give.  It is the idea that people you disagree with have honorable things that matter to them, just as you have things you consider honorable yourself.

It can be theoretical trades.  One Senator wants higher taxes on imported goods to support a national manufacturing base and another Senator wants higher minimum wages so that struggling workers can afford their rent and decent food.

Or it can be more practical.  One House Member sees a need in his/her District for a bridge to connect manufacturing to highways and another sees a need for road improvements between 2 large cities.

Or both sides want to change some social laws and agree to meet in the middle for things to be changed in the future as society changes.

But that isn't what is happening today.  Today, what happens is that both sides say they want 100%  and the other side gets 0% and they fight to the death about it as if the slightest degree of negotiation is fatal.

Because it is.  The US has not been so polarized since just before the Civil War.  When I was young, there were Liberal Republicans and Conservative Repulicans.  There were Liberal Democrats and Conservative Democrats.  Each Party had to first find some degree of agreement within themselves before they could nominate some Presidential candidate.

The result was that the candidates were either close to "centrist" or had to be close.  US politics, as a Social Democracy worked well that way. 

Nixon ruined that by enticing all the conservative democrats his way, Goldwater exemplified that, and the Democrats responded by slowing absorbing the Progressive Republicans (like me). 

And here we are now.  Civil Wars occur when a people are geographically split, ideologically split, religiously split, or politically split.  We are reaching all 4 of those.

What to do?  Get our elected leaders back toward the center.  Choose centrists in every election. Or at least the least extreme candidate.  Politicians don't elect themselves, it takes we voters to put them in office.

In Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan is a Republican.  I normally vote Democrat by default because the Republican candidates seem too extreme usually.  I disagree with some things he has done.  But he is closer to the center than his Democratic opponent. 

I will put my vote toward the more centrist candidate.  I have to start somewhere.  I'm not choosing a Party, I'm choosing a candidate.

Look at your own State's candidates.  Choose center.  Put people in office who can actually work together.  Because those are the leaders of our future.  That House Member you elect next month may be the President in 30 years,

Matching Paint, 2

So I went to Lowe's because Home Depot said they had the same (Duron Aztec Rouge) paint color in Valspar.  Well, of course Lowe's had no idea what I was talking about.  According to their computer, they had no such color.

It was maddening!

But I had info with me...  And all I wanted was a color card.  Lowe's sells Valspar paint.  I had the closest Valspar color name with me.  They couldn't find it!  Not the color sample card or even the color.  And Valspar had it on their website.  But Lowe's couldn't find it in any of their colr sample cards.

I showed the paint guy  the formula for the paint, but he didn't understand it, which was frustrating.  Paint color is defined in 3 numbers.  Hue, Saturation, and Lightness.  All paint companies understand that.  That is HOW they define their colors.  If *I* worked in paints, I would make sure to understand that.

My original color was Hue, Saturation, and Lightness 4, 46, 84.  I found that Valspar "Hearts Afire" was only one number different.  But they couldn't even find that in their own line of paint.

But I also had a Pittsburgh paint name of the litterally same color with me.  One number different in a different category.  Lowe's could find THAT!  They mixed a quart of paint for me.

I probably don't even care much if there is a slight color mismatch.  Its a black-out bedroom and the color hasn't faded much after 25 year but maybe some.  Better a close match than bare plaster patch, right?

But this experience of color matching is really reinforced my conviction that even the "experts" in retail sales haven't the slightest idea of what they are really doing.  They just learn "the system" and are good little employees.

Matching Paint

I have an odd color in my bedroom.  It doesn't bother me because I'm usually in the dark there.  And it is 25 years old.  The paint can is long gone.

But a few years ago, I had some electrical work dome and ended up plasterig some holes.  I sanded them down just fine, but I didn't have any paint left.

So there the patches sit mocking me in the whiteness of the plaster...  I mock back by turning out the lights... 

But there comes a time to fix all things and I decided to prime and paint the plaster patches.  I assumed that, because I knew the name of the paint, a match would be easy to get.  Silly me!  I looked up the color name "Aztec Rouge" and went to the DIY store to get a match.  And they had no idea what I was talking about.

They have some really cool equipment there.  They can match any piece of color I bring in.  But they only match colors by formulas in their books.  If I gave them a pice of my wall, they could match the color because their machine tells them to take a white base and add an ounce of this and 3.5 ounces of that.  Voila!  Which IS pretty impressive. 

But I didn't have a piece of wall to give them.  What I DID have was the exact hue, saturation and lightness numbers (which define a color).  Because I found that no-longer-existing paint color on the internet.  The exact numbers are 4, 46, 84 if you understand that stuff.  I do because a former art-major girlfriend didn't and I learned enough to help her pass her "you make it" color-wheel chart (and she probably doesn't understand it to this day, but I hope she has a great life).

So I cave the hue, saturation and lightness numbers to the DIY paint department, and they had no idea what to do with them.  In fact, they said the numbers meant nothing.

And I was sure they were defining the color.  But when several professional paint clerks say they mean nothing, there isn't much to discuss.  So I went home and did some research.

Don't be shocked that I was right.  I'm used to it.  At a paint color-matching site, I found my exact color, and changing the numbers changed the color slightly,  so the numbers did mean something; the paint clerks just didn't understand them. 

The old paint no longer exists.  But I found one with only one number different by "1".  I doubt I could tell the difference, and the paint I found is slightly paler than the original and that should match the old paint better anyway.  But the the nearest store that sells it is 20 miles away.

That should be my worst problem, LOL!  At least I solved it. At least now I can get them to match it.  In Pittsburgh paints, the color is called 'Cranapple' and their book tells them how to make THAT! 

Lawn and Flower Stuff

I mentioned previously deciding to overseed my lawn and improve it a bit.  That involved aerating the lawn and mowing the grass short, then raking all the clippings up for removal, roughing up the bare soil so seeds would have better contact, and planning to broadcast good quality fescue seed (shade and sun blend since my lawn varies in sunlight) before a few days of forecast sunny days.

Unfortunately, the sun never showed up (always a few days in the future).  Well, I think it managed to rain nearly every day this month (and not much from Hurricane Florence).  I have always been told to seed in dry weather so the seeds fall through the existing grass and reach the ground, and because the seeds might rot in wet weather.

But I was running out of the right temperatures, so I checked on the internet.  To my surprise, some sites (apparently not connected to sellers) actually recommended overseeding in mild rainy periods.  They said that wild grass naturally germinates in mild rainy times and it avoids having to water the lawn 2x a day.

Well, as I said, it is getting cooler, and germination rates go down (and emergence slows down) when it is cooler.

And forgive me, they said what I wanted to hear, LOL!  That's not something I usually pay attention to, but I'm running out of time.  The forecast is for drizzly weather for the next week at least (never pay attention to weather forecasts more than 5 days out).

So, today was dry.  I mowed the lawn short again, re-roughed the bare spots, and spread my grass seed according to the spreader setting recommended by the seed company.  And ran out of seed halfway!

So off to the DIY big-box stores I went.  Walmart was only selling little bags at high prices.  I went to Home Depot looking for big bags of separate Sun and Shade varieties of fescue.  Some bags didn't specify of were seed and fertilizer combos.  Earlier this month, they might have had each, but I finally found a good sun/shade blend.  Naturally, that was the only grass seed without a price label!

I found a clerk and he searched the racks for the pricing label for about 5 minutes without success.  Finally he pulled out a digital gadget and scanned the barcode and got the price in 10 seconds.

What IS it with some people?  He knew he had the scanner.  Does he hate customers and enjoys passive/aggressive punishment of them?  Did he resent me disturbing his rest against the shelves?  Does he hate digital gadgets?

But the price was "OK" and off I went.

I was also looking for a lot of pansies to plant for Fall color.  They only had single plants in individual 2" pots for $3 each.  I wanted about 50.  But not for $150!  But they did have a really unusual Mum that caught my eye.

Most mums are fluffy-flowered and red, orange, or yellow.  This one had vivid red petals with a bright yellow center.  It was called "Red Daisy".  It was only available in a 2 gallon pot for $11.  I usually buy smaller plants, as they grow well for me and I'm patient.  I just looked it up.  It gets BIG!  3' tall and 5' wide.  The label didn't mention that.  But it lives about 10 years and I bet dividing it every few years helps it live longer.  Well, I was planning to re-arrange the flowerbed anyway (many old plants dying off - even most "perennials" aren't "forever") and this will nearly force some changes.  I am planning to go with larger individual flowers interspersed with annuals.


So I went to the Lowe's next to them for Pansies.  They had the same $3 pots,  BUT they also had 12-cel packs in same color per pack for $10.  I bought 2 packs of yellow, and 1 each of purple, blue, and bronze.  And 2 of the blooming pansies in one purple pack are nearly BLACK!  I've never seen that before.  Those will go in a special pot on the deck.

I got the new grass seed spread after I returned home.  Now I just have to wait to see what grows in the rain.  The bare spots will be proof of success or failure.  If grass seed doesn't germinate and grow well in a week of drizzle, well, at least I tried!

Almost Delivered

The DR brand self-propelled brush mower arrived at the nearest delivery depot they use today.  Its a Fedex depot.  I chose that because DR ships stuff freight and the options were (since a freight truck can't back up into my driveway and get out in my dead end residential street):  I offload a 250 pound crate from the truck (yeah, right) at no charge or the truckers uses the tailgate to lower the crate to ground level and pushes it off (on the street) for $99.  I considered that, as the mower is probably mostly assembled and it would mean I mostly had to break the crate apart (we are not talking cardboard boxes here).

For no charge, I could have it delivered to a depot and pick it up or arrange redelivery into my garage.  Well, it was a Fedex depot, and they deliver stuff in trucks that can manage residential driveways.  And I could pick it up for free if I drove there and they would load it on my hauling trailer.

So I called Fedex about residential delivery.  I should have called them before I ordered the brush mower.  The depot is out of my delivery area.  They can have it redelivered by a contract company though.

But the Fedex person asked a question I did not expect.  "Do you have permission from the shipper to have a 3rd party pick it up and deliver it to you"?  I had to admit I did not specifically have such permission.  So they are emailing the shipper to receive that permission.

When you get a question you did not expect, it can be hard to think of follow-up questions on the spot.  So I said, yes please email the shipper.

Afterwards, it occurred to me I should have asked why permission was needed.  After all, the shipper had completed the delivery (to the Fedex depot).  Why would they be involved in any further movement of the crate? 

In my working career, I was very good at asking follow-up questions to surprises like that.  These days, not so much.  It might be age, experience with the subject matter at work, less frequency of experiencing surprise questions these days, etc.

But anyway, now I'm waiting for a company to give me permission to have a 3rd party pick up my crate at a depot and deliver it into the garage.  I expect they will grant such permission as a routine matter.

I could drive 40 miles to the Fedex depot and pick it up at any time.  But towing a heavy crate on a 5'x8' trailer is not the safest thing in the world.  And I really hate driving long distances.  40 miles with a trailer is "long" to me.

Everything will get resolved successfully eventually.  I can't WAIT to cut down that 1/8th acre of blackberries, plant some specimen trees and get that part of my back yard back!

Movies

I'm not a great movie-watcher.  Mostly sci-fi.  But I've watched some good movies.  One was 'True Grit'  (some movies are just unique) and today I found a remake offerred from 2010 free TV.  I had some doubts.  The Texas Ranger seemed sexist.  I mean, when I first switched to the movie, he seemed a bit "stalkish".  So I went elsewhere, but I went back.  I mostly never like remakes.  And I hardly ever remember names.

So, the girl character was right, Rooster Cogburn was right, the Texas Ranger was mostly right (Glenn Campbell seemed more honorable in the original) but got better as the movie went along.

The bad guys were good as actors (and bad guys are seldom good actors). 

In fact what impressed me was that all the characters were as good or better than the originals.  I think even the bad guys did a good job of being bad.   If there was an award for "best remake", I would suggest the 2010 version of 'True Grit'.

Watch it if you get the chance...