My Last Post of the Year

Well here we are.  One year is about to end and another about to begin.  I'm having a quiet evening here at home, like I usually do.  And I'm glad that I'm not in Las Vegas for this one, as that not only is the weather there colder than it is here, they're going to have a higher concentration of crazies than my quiet neighborhood here will.

As is usually my custom, I'm not going to make any resolutions.  There are some things I want to do next year, and I'm going to call them goals.  I'm also going to reserve the right to let those goals be overcome by events.

One.  I have a new state to explore and to write about.  I have already made some visits Downtown to people watch.  Most casinos are great for people-watching as are airports, but with casinos what you see is simultaneously entertaining and depressing.  But there's more to Nevada than casinos.  There's ghost towns.  There's a national park up by Ely.  There's some scenery in southern Utah and the Arizona Strip.  I need to make use of the opportunity to see these things as that it won't be for another six to eight months before I decide what's going to happen house-wise.  I have Nevada tags on the truck but am keeping the Arizona driver's license since Nevada law allows me to do that since I own property in Arizona.

Two.  Mark is moving to Chattanooga.  I want to get out there and see him.  I don't know if that will happen as that I haven't yet accrued vacation, and I'd like the finances to recover some.  Once January is behind me I'm hoping that it will. 

Three.  I really need to, in my spare time, start writing the essays to complete the "Money Series" that I started a long time ago.  That will take some more offline research, but the trouble I have is that there are too many things I like to do and not enough hours in the day to do them. 

Four.  My apartment is livable, but needs some furniture.  I figure on visiting thrift stores to help me out with this.  For starters I need some chairs and a computer table.  A new computer table can be scored for $40 if you know where to look, and I may pick one up when I'm back "apartment" (not "home"!) next week if that chain exists up there and they still have some in stock.

Five.  I want to tour the Hoover Dam.  I have toured it before, but that was back in 1986.  I'd really like it if I could wander around unescorted to check it out, but I'll have to settle for escort.  Besides, where I work, I can wander around unescorted and walk inside life-size spacecraft mockups, and few people get to do that. 

I'm sure I could come up with more, but will stop here with that. 

 

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Our wedding will be in the not too distant future.  I'm not going to announce the date here but I'll announce it after it's happened.  Fortunately we are not being bombarded with unsolicited advice on what we should do.  We're going to do it our way.  Period.

 

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Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.

 

The Winds of Change, or, Politicians At War with Their Own Country

The winds of change obviously blew hard for me this year, and from the looks of things I am not the only one being affected by them. 

I forgot to pass along that they are now blowing for Mark back in San Jose. 

First, the backstory.

For over 20 years Mark has worked for a firm based in Campbell, CA.  This firm was acquired some years back by a company in Tennessee, and the parent company, aside from some interventions, left his acquired company pretty much alone.  This company has operated in a tech park within the city of Campbell, providing jobs for engineers, technicians, machinists, scientists, and the like.

About eight months ago the City of Campbell decided that they didn't like the industries there who are renting it out.  They didn't want microwave tubes, specialized materials, and prosthetics being built there anymore.  They instead wanted "green" industries.  You know, those industries that build solar panels or batteries for electric cars.  The city told them to either change their product lines or pay higher fees.  Mark's parent company decided to do neither.  They instead are responding by closing the plant and laying off some 200 people.  I'm sure other folks are being laid off. 

Yes, you read that right.  The City of Campbell is forcing companies to lay off hundreds of workers since the companies there aren't building the "right" products.

Mark and his wife are one of the few lucky ones.  As I type this, they are preparing to respond to a job offer that they got from Tennessee.  They will keep their salaries and will get a generous relocation package.  I told Mark he's doing the right thing though he may not know it for six months or so.  So sometime next year, I'm guessing March, they are headed to some beautiful country in a state populated by some of the nicest people in the country.

Meanwhile, you have to wonder what the City of Campbell is thinking.  Do they think Tesla's going to move in there to build a plant?  (Last I heard, their next expansion is in Reno).  Do they think Solyndra is going to come back, and this time make it?  Have they any idea about what kinds of hazardous materials are going to used in this facility for "green" industry? 

It is a shame that politicians are waging war against our personal freedoms by telling us what kind of light bulbs to use, what kind of food we should eat, that we can't be trusted with arming ourselves, and that we should gleefully welcome the confiscation of what we have earned so that it can be re-distributed to people who are in the country illegally.  It's bad enough that they're doing this as it is. 

Now the politicians are waging war against employment.

Christmas in Tucson

Well my new employer decided to give everyone a paid vacation this year for Christmas.  It does not count against vacation balances.  He (the company founder/president/owner) wanted all of us out of there effective 5:00 PM 12/23 and doesn't want us back until Monday morning, the 5th of January.  It's the first year he's done this and as far as I know most of my co-workers have left town like I did. 

I drove down here on the 24th, and traffic was pretty much kind to me until I got to Phoenix.  It was a backed-up mess in the opposite direction and thick in my direction, though we were held up by a multicar accident at the Warner exit.  Maybe Santa Claus will be giving some parties an insurance settlement and other parties a lawsuit.  Aside from that it was a good ride.

I'm kicking back here for most of these days, though I figure on working on the house some.  I wasn't motivated to do that yesterday.  I was instead more interested in admiring the lady who will become my wife next month.

Speaking of which, we're getting the marriage license this afternoon as soon as she gets off work.  After that I should book my tickets from Vegas to here, and hopefully Southwest will give me a good fare as a wedding present.  The date's been set; we're getting married in a small private ceremony on 1/24. 

As for what I've seen in Las Vegas.......I should devote some posts to what that place is like.  In a few ways I enjoy being there but in other ways I don't.  I can't complain about the entertainment or the dining.  I can complain about other things, but I don't feel much like complaining today. 

On another front, Franz called me yesterday.  We hadn't talked in some time so there was some catching up.  His employer was sold to a group of investors, and the new management is having sweeping layoffs even though the balance sheet and backlog of contracts hasn't been this good in a long time.  He thought he was going to get it in the last round but there's another one coming and he'll find out if he has that target painted on his back.  I can get him in to where I am now working.  He's been a satellite engineer longer than I was one, and would be a great fit.  If he comes to Vegas then maybe we could split rent on a house or an apartment. 

That's going to be it for now. 

Merry Christmas!

Home Sweet Apartment

On 11/24 I became a renter for the first time since 1991.  I signed a four-month lease, and I spent three days making visits to the apartment while continuing to rent the room that I had in the residence inn.  On Thursday morning 11/27, Thanksgiving Day, I checked out of the long-term inn and drove to Tucson for the annual customary turkey dinner.  On Sunday I drove back to begin residing in my apartment here in North Las Vegas, which is just a handful of miles from where I'm working.

I am still not yet where I want to be as far as living here goes.  For one, I've had to make several trips for supplies, such as pots & pans, groceries, cleaning items, toilet paper, wastebaskets, etc..  There's a lot of effort in existing.  One night it was Walmart Hell.......having to stand in a long line so that I could part with $100 for stuff that I need in order to support my existence.  The next night it was Supermarket Hell.............having to stand in a long line so that I could eat normal food in order to support my existence.  The next night?  Walgreens Hell, so that I could buy supplies that I somehow forgot to buy at Walmart, and to get behind someone who wanted to argue with the cashier about sale prices or expired ads or maybe even about the serial numbers on the dollar bills that he got back in change. 

Then it's Internet Hell, since Cox Communications decided to send me my modem via FedEx, where the package was promptly stolen from in front of my front door since I wasn't there during the day to sign for it, and then I had to go stand in a long line at their so-called "Solutions Center" to get a modem which the so-called customer service representative didn't want to give me since "we already sent you one by FedEx!".  A threat of cancelling the service changed his mind about not wanting to give me a modem, but the bastards at Cox do not provide you connecting cables so that you can use your modem, and their Technical Support has no idea why you would want a connecting cable in the first place.  So then it's back to Walmart Hell to buy the cable, and to waste more time in a long line because someone at Cox who is in severe need of a violent beating thinks you don't need to have a connecting cable supplied with the modem (have they hired a lot of ex-EarthLink people?)

Then it was Mattress Hell..........the process of having to buy a bed since the air mattress that I bought during Walmart Hell was murder on my back.  At least this wasn't so much of a Hell as the other Hells, but it still consumed evening time that would have been better spent relaxing, but something I couldn't do because of all the other Hells going on.

On top of that, I've been barraged by a lot of phone calls from people who think I have lots of free idle time to yak yak yok yok yibble yibble on the phone, when I really need some down time.  These are calls from people who know of me from my former employer who were laid off before I was, hoping that I can help them get into where I'm at now, and these aren't people I ever heard of in the first place........but they heard that I found work, and to be honest I can't blame them for trying to get back in the workforce..........but............I simply do not have 60 minutes of free time to waste on the blasted phone, when I really need that time to talk to Sheila.  Yes, my new firm is hiring, but I haven't been there long enough to have "street cred". 

Anyway............I now have a bed to sleep in.  I have pots and pans.  And I finally was able to cook my first home cooked meal in this place, which was a welcome relief from Fast Food Hell where you're always stuck behind some cretin who has no idea why he's there in the first place, and who has to ask the cashier thirty or forty questions about what a hamburger is or what a taco is and who invented it and then isn't sure if he really wants to eat something in the first place. 

And it's home sweet apartment...........being away from Sheila, the kids, my cats, and the comforts of a real home in Arizona where the City Council has absolute hatred for people who want to contribute to society.

No, I'm not in a cheery mood these days.