Has It Been That Long?

I clicked a stray link in a document I have saved on my work computer and it took me to one of my old blog posts.  Frankly, it’s been long enough since I’ve blogged regularly, that all my posts are “old” posts.  Anyway, that got me clicking back through the history, where I learned that it’s been 4 years and 5 days since my original blog post, made shortly after FedEx decided it no longer wanted my company.

My former employer is going through another resizing, although this time it offered long-term employees the opportunity to take buy-outs, instead of involuntary separation that I went through with 2,999 others back in 2009.

I was lucky – in the midst of a recession – I was only unemployed for 2 months.  I remain gainfully employed, I’ve been able to pay off some bills, the mortgage is covered, and I even bought a new car.  Interestingly, I’ve probably produced as many videos for FedEx in my new job as I did when I was in the company’s video production unit.  But I usually turn to UPS for my shipping needs.  Okay, I’m holding a little bit of a grudge.

It’s funny how things work out.  Several members of my family spent their careers working in state government in Ohio.  Me, I wanted the adventure of a career in the news business.  One of my younger brothers, and his wife, had been in their jobs long enough to retire from them – while they’re young enough to enjoy it.  I’ve moved around so much that I’ll probably be spending my retirement asking if you want fries with that.  I do still hold out hope that either PowerBall or MegaMillions will come a’calling.

Getting older bites – as those of you who are getting older already know.  Things slow down, you don’t move as fast – or as pain free as you used to.  But things aren’t all bad.  I may owe the IRS some money, but I’m refinancing the house, so I’ll come out ahead.  And, I’ve got a trip to Jamaica planned for August.  The only thing I have to do now is get down to Speedo weight!

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.  Which goes to show that I was really focused on other things in 2012.  Maybe I’ll actually blog in 2013.  We’ll see.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,800 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 6 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Time for a Change?

You have to wonder: why are some people so convinced that the president is so… evil. It certainly seems that way when you listen to some of the conservative voices in our land. Give a guy 2 wars and the worst world economy since the Depression – while spreading rumors that he’s Hitler, or the Antichrist, or a socialist, or a communist or a Muslim (after complaining about his Christian preacher) or not from this country (even though the state he was born in released an official copy his his birth certificate – people aren’t satisfied because the document says “certification of live birth”).

What has all this given us? The Associated Press is out with a poll that suggests that a majority of Americans now like black people less than they did before. A former Republican governor (John Sununu) says, on camera, that Colin Powell is supporting President Obama because they’re the same color – then having to backtrack when people complained. I’m like most people – I’ll slow down when I drive past a car accident because I’m curious to see what happened. But I don’t know that applies to Donald Trump. The government, in the form of the State Department, which issued a passport, the Social Security Administration and the IRS, which gladly takes the president’s taxes; have accepted Obama as a naturally-born American citizen for decades.  And I really doubt that Harvard would have allowed him to be editor of its law review merely on the basis of affirmative action – since putting an unqualified person in that role would have hurt the university’s reputation for years.

Has the president solved the nation’s problems?  No, he hasn’t.  Has the Republican-controlled House of Representatives offered workable solutions – or have they spent more time and effort opposing the president in an effort to stymie his plans?  If both sides had met in the middle – without the “our way or no way” influence of the Tea Party – would we be better off than we were four years ago?  I think even the most strident Tea Partiers can answer that (and if they are honest, their answer would be the same as the answers that sensible people would give).

On that note, when Gov. Romney makes the point that he can reach across the aisle to engage Democrats in Congress, I wonder whether he’s really aware of his record in Massachusetts.  Several outlets went back and counted; 844 vetoes.  That’s a lot of reaching across the aisle – to slap down Democratic legislation.  And they reached back across the aisle, overriding 707 of those vetoes.  As Frontline noted, Romney cooperated with the Democrats in the Massachusetts Legislature to create a “legacy” issue for a presidential run – RomneyCare.  His bad luck that he had to turn his back on his own effort when he was forced to go “full conservative” during the GOP primaries and first weeks after the conventions.

And do we need a “businessman” in the White House?  Didn’t Mr. Bush have an MBA and a background as a “successful” businessman before turning to politics?  Business people have to turn to experienced government hands to navigate the halls of power.  If Romney turns to the same type of people that Bush turned to, isn’t it likely to have similar results?

Sunday morning coming down

Housekeeping showed up early, so I headed down to Starbucks around 8:30 (big ups to Fremstad for hipping me to their phone app).
Grabbed the Star-Advertiser and plopped down by the pool to wile away the morning.
I feel bad for Pam, who is on a dock somewhere, working. Not dock work, but that communications thing she does.
I feel a nap in my future.

Sitting by the Pool

DATELINE: Wakiki

So, it’s been a while since I’ve actually wanted to post anything.  Politics is such pain.  The president passes a healthcare plan that’s basically Republican in its origins; but the Republicans are in such a “get him” mode, they’re willing to scorch earth to cal it rampant socialism.  Even after a conservative Supreme Court upholds most of it.  I just can’t understand why so many people think the world is going to end because the government is requiring people to pay for health care.  The Affordable Healthcare Act doesn’t require the purchase of insurance – so if you don’t want to buy it, don’t.  This just makes you pay a penalty to cover the cost of caring for you if you get sick or hurt.  The way it was, the rest of us had to pay for your not-having-insurance tail by paying higher premiums.  So if my premiums drop; isn’t that a good thing?

Anyway, to the reason for this post.  The girlfriend had to travel for work and asked if I wanted to come along.  I’m busy at work and had recently paid off all my credit cards, so I wasn’t head-over-heels, but I understand the value of going with the flow.  And this flow was heading to Honolulu.  I’m not going to go into this international delivery company’s purpose for being here, but it’s got to do with a long-lost aviatrix (keep your eyes on the news).

Leaving the mainland

Anyway, if you’ve ever had the opportunity to come here, the first thing you have to suffer through is the trip itself.  We flew United, which changes in Chicago.  And just so you know; it’s 9 hours from Chicago to Honolulu.  We were on a Boeing 777, which is an incredibly large plane.  we changed seats pre-flight, otherwise. I’d have been in the middle seat of a 5-seat row.  So, two hour delay at O’Hare.  First, there was a door on the plane that wouldn’t close.  Then a summer thunderstorm shut down everything.  Did I mention this was a 6:30am (or, damn that’s early) flight?

We finally got off the ground.  Skipped the in-flight movie, which was The Rock in “Journey 2.”  Sorry, Dwayne, no desire to see that one.  I had “Sherlock Holmes 2; Game of Shadows” on the laptop.  Okay, but not as rollicking as the first one.  I think the Sherlock series on PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery has spoiled me for Holmes movies right now.  We were close to the lavatories in the middle of the plane; good for convenience, bad for ventilation.  I hope you’re listening Boeing; that’s a design flaw.

On the ground in Honolulu

Instead of landing at 2pm, we landed at 4.  After getting the bags and the rental car, we didn’t hit the interstate until the height of rush hour.  And, as I knew from the last time I was here, it’s a slow go on I-25.  It took 2 and a half hours to get from airport to hotel to check-in to room change (construction) to bags in the room to car in the garage to back in the room.  By this time, we’d been up and moving since 5am Friday in Memphis.  It was 6:30pm in Honolulu, or 11:30pm back home – and we still had to meet the team for dinner – and I’m not even a part of the team!!  Although, if you’re in Honolulu, stop by Town, the food is excellent.

Diamond Head in the distance

After Pam headed off to work, I took a jaunt up the beach toward Diamond Head.  Sand made it a slow-go, but there’s nothing like cooling your feet off in the Pacific Ocean.  I have a couple of observations after watching the people enjoying the beach.  Kids love the beach.  Running, splashing, jumping, squealing – kids do, while adults are more content to sit, watch, read and limit movements.

After a few miles, I got the laptop and headed to the pool to work on this.  Got a gin & tonic and wrote until the other half showed up.  No luaus, boat trips, tours or much else besides eating too much, but this is only the first day.