I am now in my second week of the transition. My start date was on the 20th. It almost didn't happen. My new employer hired a third party to conduct a background check on me. I gave that third party all the information that they wanted.
The next day, they wanted some W2 forms to verify previous employment in Nevada and down here in Sorry Vista. I had those FAXed in, and asked for a callback to make sure that they got them by leaving a voicemail to the point of contact. I didn't hear anything until the next day. "Well now we want W2 forms for this other employer". And I'm thinking, why didn't they ask for those the previous day? I called my point of contact again, and left a message. Just like the previous day, he refused to return my phone call.
I then had to escalate it. I called my employer, and was referred to their corporate HR. I made them aware of the situation. Then within one hour, my phone call got returned. He admitted that he got some of the W2s, but he wanted another one sent again, and then some others. OK. I got them sent.
The next day, they claimed I gave them the wrong birthdate. Yeah, like I would do that. They refused to fix the date. I had to do it all over again. I called corporate, and corporate pretty much asked me to humor them. So I did.
The second time, it went thru, giving credence to a saying I came up with two years ago: you need to do things twice in order to get them done once.
The pain of onboarding may or may not be over yet. I got an assignment from someone else over in corporate. Yes, I filled out the W4 forms, but now I need to call this toll free number and get a confirmation number from Ernst & Young, who are somehow involved in determining something called WOTC eligibility, which I know that I am not eligible for. But I had to go over that with them all over again, was issued a confirmation number, and that was emailed to that corporate lady who came in out of left field to want that little tidbit of information.
Meanwhile, I'm not getting any real work done. I haven't been issued a laptop yet. That has to come from their customer, through whose network I must interact. My task lead (who is a great guy) told me it might take three weeks. Then, I can request that my badge be accessed to the labs that I will need to get into (not to mention the building where my office is). He pointed out that the customer is low on computers, and that there's no guarantee that I will get one that will actually work. He told me it would be his job to worry about that and not mine. While I am waiting, I am reviewing test procedures and documentation for some rather specialized methods of radio communication. One standard I am very familiar with and the others are new. Being a ham radio operator, I'm being paid a good salary to read this. That said, they'll be getting their money's worth out of me once we are up and rolling with funded task orders.
As I (think I) explained previously, this is essentially my old job again. The employer back then lost the contract to the employer I have now, and it has taken both the new employer and the customer 18 months or so to transition this. Neither side expected that length of time.
I'll have to be honest about something. I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing going back to this job. The Good Lord opened that door, and as painful as it has been for me to get settled, I ought to stay in this one. The task lead is a great guy. The engineering manager who hired me likely is also but I have yet to meet him in person (I'll try to get that taken care of this week). The deputy program manager is as down to earth as anyone can come. And the company has an excellent reputation.
On the other fronts in life, I have been very busy in ham radio (still). I put up a new antenna for the 40 meter band and results have been great. I've already worked Spain, France, Curacao, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Japan, Korea and Australia. Lots of hams are complaining about conditions lately (and I remember when they were better), but when there's a solar minimum then great things happen on 40 and 80 meters.
You just have to go where the fish are biting.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
A Surcharge to Help the Environment?
This link caught my eye when I looked at Drudge yesterday. It's a story out of the Sacramento Bee. Environmentalists in the People's Republic of California are trying to get restaurants there to tack on a one per cent surcharge at some Sacramento restaurants. It's not mandatory by means of sales tax hike (yet) and restaurant participation is "voluntary". The proponents are doing this since it makes them feel good; they have a cause; they can proudly trumpet to their Twitter followers and Facebook friends about what great global citizens they for caring about the environment while not having anyone in Organized Media following them to see if they will eat in these restaurants to pay the fee.
When you think about it, it's somewhat ingenius. Guilt the restaurants into setting up and collecting the surcharge, the restaurants in turn will guilt the customers into paying this surcharge, and those who pay get to spend the drive home esteeming themselves over the fact that they've "done something" to help the environment. It's a win-win solution, right?
Well let's think about this some. One per cent of the tab goes towards the fight against what's now called "climate change" (they don't like using the term "global warming" anymore). One per cent's not so bad, right? No, I don't suppose that it is, in and of itself, but then what?
Someone else will then come along and want their one per cent for their cause. Consider the fight against breast cancer. That's a very serious fight which I personally would like to see us win some day. What if we have another one per cent for that? How do I argue against that? I would personally prefer writing out a check to a trusted charity as opposed to paying a surcharge, but those advocating a surcharge aren't going to like my way of doing it. They might say "well not everyone is going to write that check! We MUST raise awareness of this at the point of sale! If you guilt them, they WILL pay!"
What about one per cent to fight homelessness? That's a serious problem in California. Relief organizations are in need of volunteers and support. Wouldn't it be a good idea to hit those up who can afford to go out and eat for one per cent to help those who are homeless? Now here is where you can really guilt the customers. We can ask them, "is it fair for you and your wife to have this nice meal here while some homeless guy goes to sleep hungry tonight?"
You see where I'm going with this, right? There are lots of good causes out there. I'm sure there are enough to where you can have twenty of these one per cent surcharges on eating out. Would everyone pay an extra twenty per cent? Just how much money can you guilt someone out of anyway?
Yes, I'm skeptical about some of the charities and causes that are out there. I'm even more skeptical about "man made global warming", but that's beside the point I am attempting to make. I have my own local pet charity here in Tucson and I have another local cause that's important to me. I could publicly beat my drum here about either of them but my own personal feeling is that giving is best done by a sincere motivation to give rather than doing so out of being guilted into giving.
But let's now get to that point I want to make.
Isn't there a better way to fundraise?
I'm convinced that there is more than one better way. Corporate and political groupthink says there isn't, and that bothers me.
When you think about it, it's somewhat ingenius. Guilt the restaurants into setting up and collecting the surcharge, the restaurants in turn will guilt the customers into paying this surcharge, and those who pay get to spend the drive home esteeming themselves over the fact that they've "done something" to help the environment. It's a win-win solution, right?
Well let's think about this some. One per cent of the tab goes towards the fight against what's now called "climate change" (they don't like using the term "global warming" anymore). One per cent's not so bad, right? No, I don't suppose that it is, in and of itself, but then what?
Someone else will then come along and want their one per cent for their cause. Consider the fight against breast cancer. That's a very serious fight which I personally would like to see us win some day. What if we have another one per cent for that? How do I argue against that? I would personally prefer writing out a check to a trusted charity as opposed to paying a surcharge, but those advocating a surcharge aren't going to like my way of doing it. They might say "well not everyone is going to write that check! We MUST raise awareness of this at the point of sale! If you guilt them, they WILL pay!"
What about one per cent to fight homelessness? That's a serious problem in California. Relief organizations are in need of volunteers and support. Wouldn't it be a good idea to hit those up who can afford to go out and eat for one per cent to help those who are homeless? Now here is where you can really guilt the customers. We can ask them, "is it fair for you and your wife to have this nice meal here while some homeless guy goes to sleep hungry tonight?"
You see where I'm going with this, right? There are lots of good causes out there. I'm sure there are enough to where you can have twenty of these one per cent surcharges on eating out. Would everyone pay an extra twenty per cent? Just how much money can you guilt someone out of anyway?
Yes, I'm skeptical about some of the charities and causes that are out there. I'm even more skeptical about "man made global warming", but that's beside the point I am attempting to make. I have my own local pet charity here in Tucson and I have another local cause that's important to me. I could publicly beat my drum here about either of them but my own personal feeling is that giving is best done by a sincere motivation to give rather than doing so out of being guilted into giving.
But let's now get to that point I want to make.
Isn't there a better way to fundraise?
I'm convinced that there is more than one better way. Corporate and political groupthink says there isn't, and that bothers me.
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
I Can Now Go Public With This
Effective this morning, I have separated from my employer that I've had for the past year and a half. It was brought about by a confluence of events that I can now make public. I was offered employment two weeks ago down in Sorry Vista by the company that took over the contract I was working on in the last half of 2017.
I had kept tabs of what was going on down there, mainly out of curiosity, but more recently out of my desire to not retire just yet. After one month of furlough, I began to realize that I had better get a plan B going, and with not even three weeks of searching I landed something.
Upon advice of Sheila, I held fire of resigning what was until this morning, my present position. I made some discreet contacts with connections that I had with their Oro Valley customer, and learned that the new management is going to make the attempt to squeeze blood out of the turnip, and they are suffering from the delusion that they'll be the first to succeed.........even though corporate managers have been trying that for decades.
Their other major customer up in Phoenix that I supported kept trying to convince me to take a 30% pay cut to join them. They went through a third party recruiter to keep their fingerprints off of this scheme (as of yesterday they are still trying to get me to take it). As interesting as commercial aviation can be, I was realizing that the good money was going to be elsewhere, thus one month ago I initiated a serious search.
One of the possibilities was my old job down in Sorry Vista. I kept tabs on the new company coming in. They have an EXCELLENT reputation, and I felt it was in my interests to apply for an opening that emerged. It wasn't quite my old job......instead of leading efforts to test and certify HF radios, the requisition was more steered towards UHF SATCOMM....where I had previous experience as a satellite engineer.
I applied for the position on a Monday, the 16th of April. On a Wednesday afternoon I got the phone call from a hiring manager. It was a great conversation. It was positive. I trolled for information, as in has the engineering manager been identified? Have the other team members been selected? I heard the names I wanted to hear and did not hear the names of who I did not want to hear.
I then asked, "are you bringing me down for an interview?" "We just had that. I'm going to put together a package." The next day I got the offer, and I accepted. And then now what? I've got to write a resignation letter that I hoped I would never have to write.
Sheila talked me out of doing that right away. The plan was to resign this coming Friday. But then I got a phone call yesterday.
I was told that due to business conditions, they couldn't continue my furlough very much longer, and I was going to be laid off. Then I brought up that I had gotten an offer two weeks ago, and that I was going to have to resign anyway. What do we do now?
I learned that if I resigned, one of the owners would veto any attempt to return to them in the future. However if I accept the layoff, they pick up my medical/dental/vision for the month of May, and I'm eligible for rehire. I felt it was in my best interest to accept the layoff.
Whether or not I go back is unknown. I'm leaving a company that is really great to work for to join another company that is also great to work for. Yes, the commute to Sorry Vista is long enough to where I'm going to stay down there and live out of a motel room three nights a week. But the new employer is going to pay me more (they even exceeded my salary request) and I will be allowed to flex hours and go home early on Fridays or get every other Friday off.
Yes, they really wanted me. Part of it is that I know where some of the bodies are buried, and that I can start on day one and be up to speed one day before I report to work.
As for my now ex-employer: I hated to see it end, but the commercial aerospace industry is an in extreme state of dysfunction as I write this. It will be one year minimum before things change for my ex-employer. And the other issue is, is that even if their Phoenix customer restores funding for environmental testing of that new unit and creates a job opening for me............how do I trust them?
About half as far as I can throw my house.
I had kept tabs of what was going on down there, mainly out of curiosity, but more recently out of my desire to not retire just yet. After one month of furlough, I began to realize that I had better get a plan B going, and with not even three weeks of searching I landed something.
Upon advice of Sheila, I held fire of resigning what was until this morning, my present position. I made some discreet contacts with connections that I had with their Oro Valley customer, and learned that the new management is going to make the attempt to squeeze blood out of the turnip, and they are suffering from the delusion that they'll be the first to succeed.........even though corporate managers have been trying that for decades.
Their other major customer up in Phoenix that I supported kept trying to convince me to take a 30% pay cut to join them. They went through a third party recruiter to keep their fingerprints off of this scheme (as of yesterday they are still trying to get me to take it). As interesting as commercial aviation can be, I was realizing that the good money was going to be elsewhere, thus one month ago I initiated a serious search.
One of the possibilities was my old job down in Sorry Vista. I kept tabs on the new company coming in. They have an EXCELLENT reputation, and I felt it was in my interests to apply for an opening that emerged. It wasn't quite my old job......instead of leading efforts to test and certify HF radios, the requisition was more steered towards UHF SATCOMM....where I had previous experience as a satellite engineer.
I applied for the position on a Monday, the 16th of April. On a Wednesday afternoon I got the phone call from a hiring manager. It was a great conversation. It was positive. I trolled for information, as in has the engineering manager been identified? Have the other team members been selected? I heard the names I wanted to hear and did not hear the names of who I did not want to hear.
I then asked, "are you bringing me down for an interview?" "We just had that. I'm going to put together a package." The next day I got the offer, and I accepted. And then now what? I've got to write a resignation letter that I hoped I would never have to write.
Sheila talked me out of doing that right away. The plan was to resign this coming Friday. But then I got a phone call yesterday.
I was told that due to business conditions, they couldn't continue my furlough very much longer, and I was going to be laid off. Then I brought up that I had gotten an offer two weeks ago, and that I was going to have to resign anyway. What do we do now?
I learned that if I resigned, one of the owners would veto any attempt to return to them in the future. However if I accept the layoff, they pick up my medical/dental/vision for the month of May, and I'm eligible for rehire. I felt it was in my best interest to accept the layoff.
Whether or not I go back is unknown. I'm leaving a company that is really great to work for to join another company that is also great to work for. Yes, the commute to Sorry Vista is long enough to where I'm going to stay down there and live out of a motel room three nights a week. But the new employer is going to pay me more (they even exceeded my salary request) and I will be allowed to flex hours and go home early on Fridays or get every other Friday off.
Yes, they really wanted me. Part of it is that I know where some of the bodies are buried, and that I can start on day one and be up to speed one day before I report to work.
As for my now ex-employer: I hated to see it end, but the commercial aerospace industry is an in extreme state of dysfunction as I write this. It will be one year minimum before things change for my ex-employer. And the other issue is, is that even if their Phoenix customer restores funding for environmental testing of that new unit and creates a job opening for me............how do I trust them?
About half as far as I can throw my house.
Friday, April 12, 2019
The Situation Report for 4/12/19
There hasn't been much change in my situation to report other than that today I am under the weather and have some flu-like symptoms. Sinus issues have come largely into play due to unusual weather this week. Two straight days of gusty winds (and a session this afternoon of them) have kicked up lots of pollen and I think that's what's really got me slammed.
I remain on furlough. It's been passed along to me that they're trying to bring me back. Meantime, they are paying my medical/dental/vision benefits and I'm accruing vacation. Two of our biggest customers have had recent management shakeups and the new sheriff in town always takes it out on the subcontractors. I've seen this before and I will see it again as long as I remain in the industry.
I have intelligence that one of our customers is trying to bring in some help via independent contractors, but lowballing them by offering rates 30% less than what they were paying before. That's their right to do that of course, but they're not getting any takers. They certainly are not going to lure away people from our other major customer that needs that kind of talent, and it should go without saying that engineers who are smart enough to qualify flight hardware are also smart enough to qualify medical devices, and the medical device industry appears poised to expand in the near future.....along with mining.
On a brighter note, aside from the past three days, the weather here has been great and I've taken to barbecuing again. It is amazing what you can do with a grill. Did you know that scrambled eggs from the grill taste a whole lot better than those cooked in the kitchen? Yes, I've done that before....spraying cooking spray into a foil pan and then cooking eggs in that pan.
Yesterday I slow-cooked some pork tenderloins, potatoes and green beans.....wind be damned. I don't have the energy to do that again this evening, but later on this weekend I've got some ideas I want to try out. One of them is marinating some chopped steak in tequila, and then cooking that out on the grill with the intent of it being burrito filler or fajitas. Salmon and ribs are on the short list as well.
On the political front, I'm not going to say very much of anything this post. The political theater these past few weeks has been unusually good. We haven't had a President like this since Andrew Jackson. As far as Congress goes the whole lot of them get better at being more useless as time goes one.
And on the ham radio front, it's been a slow week but a good one. My last time on I was able to get Spain and Chile. A few weeks ago I bagged Uganda and I now have the WAC, or Worked All Continents award pending. The equinoctial propagation conditions will give way to the sporadic E season, which for me means more time on VHF. We're about one month away from that.
With that I'm going to sign, and slam down some liquids.
Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.
I remain on furlough. It's been passed along to me that they're trying to bring me back. Meantime, they are paying my medical/dental/vision benefits and I'm accruing vacation. Two of our biggest customers have had recent management shakeups and the new sheriff in town always takes it out on the subcontractors. I've seen this before and I will see it again as long as I remain in the industry.
I have intelligence that one of our customers is trying to bring in some help via independent contractors, but lowballing them by offering rates 30% less than what they were paying before. That's their right to do that of course, but they're not getting any takers. They certainly are not going to lure away people from our other major customer that needs that kind of talent, and it should go without saying that engineers who are smart enough to qualify flight hardware are also smart enough to qualify medical devices, and the medical device industry appears poised to expand in the near future.....along with mining.
On a brighter note, aside from the past three days, the weather here has been great and I've taken to barbecuing again. It is amazing what you can do with a grill. Did you know that scrambled eggs from the grill taste a whole lot better than those cooked in the kitchen? Yes, I've done that before....spraying cooking spray into a foil pan and then cooking eggs in that pan.
Yesterday I slow-cooked some pork tenderloins, potatoes and green beans.....wind be damned. I don't have the energy to do that again this evening, but later on this weekend I've got some ideas I want to try out. One of them is marinating some chopped steak in tequila, and then cooking that out on the grill with the intent of it being burrito filler or fajitas. Salmon and ribs are on the short list as well.
On the political front, I'm not going to say very much of anything this post. The political theater these past few weeks has been unusually good. We haven't had a President like this since Andrew Jackson. As far as Congress goes the whole lot of them get better at being more useless as time goes one.
And on the ham radio front, it's been a slow week but a good one. My last time on I was able to get Spain and Chile. A few weeks ago I bagged Uganda and I now have the WAC, or Worked All Continents award pending. The equinoctial propagation conditions will give way to the sporadic E season, which for me means more time on VHF. We're about one month away from that.
With that I'm going to sign, and slam down some liquids.
Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Situation Report for 3/19/19
Last night I had a dream of the type that I hadn't had for a while. It was again about that jury trial. I dreamt that I came on here and spilled the beans about it, without giving away very much. I know that I have mused before about venting, but I stopped thinking about it a couple of months ago. Life was returning to its new normal and I got involved in other things.
No, I'm not going talk about it here. I'm not going to talk about it in any online forum that I frequent nor do I say anything about it over the air. I have discussed the matter offline with a ham radio friend of mine who knows the details, but not on the air. My co-workers know about it. My family knows about it.
I am willing to discuss what happened, but only with those that I know well. I'll leave it at that.
My furlough from work is now in its fourth week. These past two weeks have been more sabbatical in nature than the first two weeks, although I have been busy with other projects. I am occasionally heard joking that I need to get back to work so that I can get some rest.
I have been catching up on a lot of reading (mainly ham radio magazines) and I've been on the air too. This time of year, being an equinoctial period, has been good for propagation to South America in the mid to late afternoons. I tend to go QRT (off the air) around sunset, though I should stay on longer to see if I can get Australia and New Zealand. Propagation to Japan is almost year round; I either talk to them when it's late afternoon here and morning there, or I get up at 3:00 AM when it's past their sunset (which I've only done once).
One thing I am doing. Whenever I make contact with someone, I will later on go online and look up where they are on Wikipedia to learn more about their area. One locale I learned about in Argentina turned out to be a tourist destination in the province of Córdoba. It's a great way to learn about the world.
Unless you've been on Mars for the past six months, you can't help be aware of the alt left hijacking the Democrats. They've got what.....20 people running for President? All of them in favor of reparations, strict gun control, strict Internet control, Green New Deal, free healthcare, free college tuition, free pre-school, etc..
I know that I have raised the question before, where is the money going to come from? It's like no one stops to think about that anymore. Where the money is going to come from is a non-issue. They might admit taxing the rich, but a lot of wealth is in stocks and bonds that are worth something because there are a lot of people who think it's worth something. In other words, the entire global economy is based on an illusion that a piece of paper is worth something. Yes, you've heard me say this before.
Asking the question "where is the money going to come from?" doesn't work with these people.
So......I'm going to propose another question.
If something is free, is there ever going to be enough of it to go around?
No, I'm not going talk about it here. I'm not going to talk about it in any online forum that I frequent nor do I say anything about it over the air. I have discussed the matter offline with a ham radio friend of mine who knows the details, but not on the air. My co-workers know about it. My family knows about it.
I am willing to discuss what happened, but only with those that I know well. I'll leave it at that.
* * * * * * *
My furlough from work is now in its fourth week. These past two weeks have been more sabbatical in nature than the first two weeks, although I have been busy with other projects. I am occasionally heard joking that I need to get back to work so that I can get some rest.
I have been catching up on a lot of reading (mainly ham radio magazines) and I've been on the air too. This time of year, being an equinoctial period, has been good for propagation to South America in the mid to late afternoons. I tend to go QRT (off the air) around sunset, though I should stay on longer to see if I can get Australia and New Zealand. Propagation to Japan is almost year round; I either talk to them when it's late afternoon here and morning there, or I get up at 3:00 AM when it's past their sunset (which I've only done once).
One thing I am doing. Whenever I make contact with someone, I will later on go online and look up where they are on Wikipedia to learn more about their area. One locale I learned about in Argentina turned out to be a tourist destination in the province of Córdoba. It's a great way to learn about the world.
* * * * * * *
Unless you've been on Mars for the past six months, you can't help be aware of the alt left hijacking the Democrats. They've got what.....20 people running for President? All of them in favor of reparations, strict gun control, strict Internet control, Green New Deal, free healthcare, free college tuition, free pre-school, etc..
I know that I have raised the question before, where is the money going to come from? It's like no one stops to think about that anymore. Where the money is going to come from is a non-issue. They might admit taxing the rich, but a lot of wealth is in stocks and bonds that are worth something because there are a lot of people who think it's worth something. In other words, the entire global economy is based on an illusion that a piece of paper is worth something. Yes, you've heard me say this before.
Asking the question "where is the money going to come from?" doesn't work with these people.
So......I'm going to propose another question.
If something is free, is there ever going to be enough of it to go around?
Sunday, February 24, 2019
20 Years Ago Today
It was 20 years ago today that I arrived in Tucson. It was Wednesday, the 24th of February, 1999 that I came here to begin a new chapter in life. I was in the townhouse that afternoon accompanied only by my cat Sylvia, a mattress, and some odds and ends. The rest of the stuff was delivered on Friday the 26th, and I spent the weekend unpacking. I reported for work the following Monday, and by Friday I either had AZ plates on the truck or the new driver license. I know I did them in two separate visits but I can't remember which one I did first.
I had no idea how long my stay here would be. There was no where else in the United States where I wanted to live at that time and it was that way for some time (I can now be talked into relocating to New Mexico, or elsewhere within Arizona). I was in the process of recovering from some adverse circumstances and I think coming here accelerated that process.
I have, for some time, lived longer in Tucson than anywhere else, and yes, that includes that 15 month exile that I had in Las Vegas. Although there were 23 years in California, 16 of them were spent in San Jose, and another 7 elsewhere. I don't miss San Jose, I never have, and although I can reminisce about the good times I had there, most of the people I had them with have left too. I told Mark a few months ago that six days in San Jose is seven days too long. And that's a shame, as that there was a time where San Jose was one neat city to live in. That was many years ago. By the late 1980s it had already become unlivable.
Unfortunately Tucson isn't what it used to be. I like my house, I like the scenery here, I like the cuisine here, and I like the attractions here, but Pima County is on its way to becoming a third world country (we might already be). The roads are in poor condition, law enforcement won't respond to a call unless someone is killed (not necessarily their fault; the fatass politicians are more interested in illegal aliens), and I don't see things getting any better.
I could move to Phoenix metro, but I don't think I would like it much better. I'd consider Prescott, but the cost of living there started going thru the roof years ago, as it is in Flagstaff. There's not much to do in Kingman, Yuma is unbearable in the summer, and I'm not a fan of Sorry Vista.....excuse me....Sierra Vista. Casa Grande has some problems I don't want to deal with, and I don't think Sheila would like the other areas I haven't mentioned.
That said, coming here 20 years ago was the right thing to do. It changed my life, and very much so for the better. I had to learn some lessons about some things during my time here, but not at a cost that others would have had to pay.
That said, I think I'm staying here. Maybe not in this house. I could move farther out, and yet be close enough. The local ham radio scene here is a good one and I'm much more involved with the local ham clubs (note the plural) than I have ever been before in my life.
I remain grateful to the Good Lord for bringing me here.
I had no idea how long my stay here would be. There was no where else in the United States where I wanted to live at that time and it was that way for some time (I can now be talked into relocating to New Mexico, or elsewhere within Arizona). I was in the process of recovering from some adverse circumstances and I think coming here accelerated that process.
I have, for some time, lived longer in Tucson than anywhere else, and yes, that includes that 15 month exile that I had in Las Vegas. Although there were 23 years in California, 16 of them were spent in San Jose, and another 7 elsewhere. I don't miss San Jose, I never have, and although I can reminisce about the good times I had there, most of the people I had them with have left too. I told Mark a few months ago that six days in San Jose is seven days too long. And that's a shame, as that there was a time where San Jose was one neat city to live in. That was many years ago. By the late 1980s it had already become unlivable.
Unfortunately Tucson isn't what it used to be. I like my house, I like the scenery here, I like the cuisine here, and I like the attractions here, but Pima County is on its way to becoming a third world country (we might already be). The roads are in poor condition, law enforcement won't respond to a call unless someone is killed (not necessarily their fault; the fatass politicians are more interested in illegal aliens), and I don't see things getting any better.
I could move to Phoenix metro, but I don't think I would like it much better. I'd consider Prescott, but the cost of living there started going thru the roof years ago, as it is in Flagstaff. There's not much to do in Kingman, Yuma is unbearable in the summer, and I'm not a fan of Sorry Vista.....excuse me....Sierra Vista. Casa Grande has some problems I don't want to deal with, and I don't think Sheila would like the other areas I haven't mentioned.
That said, coming here 20 years ago was the right thing to do. It changed my life, and very much so for the better. I had to learn some lessons about some things during my time here, but not at a cost that others would have had to pay.
That said, I think I'm staying here. Maybe not in this house. I could move farther out, and yet be close enough. The local ham radio scene here is a good one and I'm much more involved with the local ham clubs (note the plural) than I have ever been before in my life.
I remain grateful to the Good Lord for bringing me here.
Monday, February 18, 2019
Global Warming? Not Here.
Some winters down here are mild. The last three were. This one isn't. We had snow earlier this month, which can and does happen in Tucson, and it wouldn't surprise me if it happens again this week.
We've had cold temperatures, and rain......a lot of rain as far as a February goes. It's drizzling outside as I write this. We had some last Friday. We have another installment this coming Friday. And once again, we're in for some freeze warnings this year.
Last year about this time, we had a few days where it was in the lower 80s. I remember talking to another ham in Cold Lake, Alberta. He told me what the weather was doing there and yes, Cold Lake was living up to its name. When he turned it over to me, I said "Mike, you might not want to hear this, but it's 80 Fahrenheit right now". I explained that those temps were unusual for Tucson in February.
I haven't talked to him since. The three Alberta hams I've talked to have been great guys; one of them I've chatted with a few times and he has relatives down here in Tucson.
There's been some chaos at work. The customer I'm supporting has abruptly decided that there won't be any environmental testing for a unit we're supplying them that monitors other aircraft components. I was told today I'm being furloughed for one month, though there's a possibility of my returning to help out another customer we have in Oro Valley.
To be honest, I could use some time off......but not a whole lot of time off. I have a week's worth of ham radio projects to work on. Two of these are antenna related. And I need to work on the coin collection some.
When our Phoenix customer decides they want my services again, then my employer will have to make a decision on who gets me if I'm tied up in Oro Valley. My preference at this point is the Oro Valley gig, even though the commute is a pain. (I support the Phoenix customer from our business office right here in Tucson). I have a very good friend working there in OV and we and our wives get together once a month or so for a Saturday night dinner.
As it is though, my employer will put me where they need me the most, and our Phoenix customer lacks the expertise in environmental testing. It's also possible that my furlough may be delayed as that I might be needed for an odd job.
I wouldn't mind a situation where I work three months, and then take one month off. I could do that for the next five years. That's not how it works, as that we're task-driven and work at the whim of our customer(s).
We've had cold temperatures, and rain......a lot of rain as far as a February goes. It's drizzling outside as I write this. We had some last Friday. We have another installment this coming Friday. And once again, we're in for some freeze warnings this year.
Last year about this time, we had a few days where it was in the lower 80s. I remember talking to another ham in Cold Lake, Alberta. He told me what the weather was doing there and yes, Cold Lake was living up to its name. When he turned it over to me, I said "Mike, you might not want to hear this, but it's 80 Fahrenheit right now". I explained that those temps were unusual for Tucson in February.
I haven't talked to him since. The three Alberta hams I've talked to have been great guys; one of them I've chatted with a few times and he has relatives down here in Tucson.
* * * * * * *
There's been some chaos at work. The customer I'm supporting has abruptly decided that there won't be any environmental testing for a unit we're supplying them that monitors other aircraft components. I was told today I'm being furloughed for one month, though there's a possibility of my returning to help out another customer we have in Oro Valley.
To be honest, I could use some time off......but not a whole lot of time off. I have a week's worth of ham radio projects to work on. Two of these are antenna related. And I need to work on the coin collection some.
When our Phoenix customer decides they want my services again, then my employer will have to make a decision on who gets me if I'm tied up in Oro Valley. My preference at this point is the Oro Valley gig, even though the commute is a pain. (I support the Phoenix customer from our business office right here in Tucson). I have a very good friend working there in OV and we and our wives get together once a month or so for a Saturday night dinner.
As it is though, my employer will put me where they need me the most, and our Phoenix customer lacks the expertise in environmental testing. It's also possible that my furlough may be delayed as that I might be needed for an odd job.
I wouldn't mind a situation where I work three months, and then take one month off. I could do that for the next five years. That's not how it works, as that we're task-driven and work at the whim of our customer(s).
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