"The Whole World's Goin' Crazy"

Today's blog post title is also the title of a song and an album that April Wine released in 1976.  That album, I think, is one of their best, and the song itself is a whimsical light hearted commentary.  "The whole world's goin' crazy........hey baby would you like to go crazy with me?"

As I write this posting this evening, it seems as if things are going crazy both at the personal level and on the world stage.

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I don't want to get into what's going on at work.  All I will say is that the future is very uncertain.  Changing job conditions may or may not be forcing me into a relocation somewhere down the road.  I don't know what's going to happen.  It's too early to tell.  But I've had to devote a lot of mental energy lately to wondering about some changes that could (or could not) be happening for me.

* * * * * * *

Over in Egypt we recently saw mass demonstrations force longtime president Hosni Mubarak from power.  Over in Libya, we see Moammar Khadafy (or however that's spelled) on the brink of being forced from office.  There is unrest in Bahrain and in Yemen, and over in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the royal family is very concerned about things right now.

I'm no fan, of course of Khadafy.  There is concern though about his eventual successor.  My best guess is that once Moammar is gone, there will be a lot of celebrating in Tripoli, but I think we'll also see a lot of turmoil as those near the top fight for "King of the Mountain".  The new guy may not be the improvement that we hope he is.

This could have serious repercussions on the economy.  For good or bad, oil is the lifeblood of the world economy, and rising oil prices are being seen here at the gas pumps and also where you are.  The cost of energy gets folded into the prices of all commodities as that petroleum is used to get that food to your supermarket.  And in an economy where anyone who is not a CEO gets a 2% pay raise (if they get one at all), it seems as if the vise that's squeezing you is going to be squeezing you a bit more this year.

At the White House, I'm reading where the President is partying up a storm about celebrating Motown, while Detroit is closing half of its public schools.  The White House is also issuing pronouncements that they are not going to defend or uphold legislation that they don't like.

Seems as if the whole world is going crazy.

* * * * * * * 

In Wisconsin we have an interesting legislative battle going on.  The new governor and the new legislature, all controlled by Republicans, is trying to get some budget legislation that will be taking aim at the public sector unions.  It has led to several of their Democrat senators fleeing the state.  Democrat legislators have also fled Indiana, and I expect that we'll see a similar occurrence in Ohio.

In a sick way, this is amusing.  The Democrats for the past few years have enjoyed labelling the Republicans as the party of "No".   As these Democrats flee their job duties, I can't help but ask, who's the party of "No" now?

Don't get me wrong.  I favor the currrent filibuster rules in the U.S. Senate.  And if a bunch of Democrat state legislators want to flee their state (and the people they represent), let them.  Really.....I'm all for it.

I will never stand in the way of legislators or a party that wishes to make themselves look stupid.  The more they do that, the greater the chances of them being remembered at the ballot box.

And if you don't mind, I'm going to remind you that I'm a registered independent and I have issues with both Republicans and Democrats.  My own view is that the established leaders of both parties need to be run out of town on a rail, so that some average Joes from the real world can rise up and take over, and start making some fixes.

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If in the event you happen to be someone who prays, I'm going to ask that you remember the following people in your prayers:

1.  Robin W of Tennessee, who has some medical issues that I can't disclose, nor could I since I don't know what they are.  She's been an angel of mercy to a great many people, incluing me.  It's time for those of us she's prayed for to return the favor.

2.  Karin F of Colorado, another angel of mercy, who has been a big help in encouraging me thru the latest series of setbacks that I've had lately.  She's been trying to find some gainful employment in her field for over a year now, and her good spirits never cease to amaze me.  Please pray for her.

3.  Marge M and Karen M of Tucson.  Marge is the mother of Karen, and Marge's son who is in another state is undergoing some difficulties that I won't make public here.  This has to be a strain on both of them, and I ask that you remember them.

* * * * * * *

Yep, I think it's really easy to say these days, that the whole world is going crazy.

But someone else also said, centuries ago, that "there is nothing new under the sun".

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

Son of a [Female Canine]! It's Cold!

Tucson and the rest of southern Arizona right now is in the midst of record cold temperatures.  We hit a low of 18F, and we were below freezing until about 2:30 PM.  We are in for more of the same.  My citrus trees do not look like they will be living for too much longer and I likely have lost some other plants as well.

There was no running water this morning.  Online comments in the web page of the local viewspaper indicated widespread water and gas outages.  The City of Tucson, which owns the water company, reported that 1000 customers were without water but the plumber that I talked to said the figure is more like 4000.

Down in the Rita Ranch subdivision, they are without gas and will be until Tuesday.  I've already passed along an offer of help to Birdman and his wife to come over here if they need a hot shower as that my water is now back on.  I did have a plumber out here to confirm that I didn't have any leaks and to give me tips on proper preparation.  I got off lucky but one house on this street did not.....they have a broken water main.

I've seen two service trucks arrive to service heaters.  My next door neighbor had someone out and so did the house across the street.  I've had heat, gas and electricity.  I don't think there are any electrical outages in Tucson as that I haven't seen any reports.  It's mainly the gas and water that we've had problems with.

It ain't over yet.  We're in for a low of 20F tonight and the next night after.  Nature is dealing us an even more cruel blow than she did four years ago when I lost an evergreen and a lemon tree.  I'm thinking right now I might have to have my replacement lemon tree dug out, as well as my tangerine and grapefruit trees.  As for the fruits themselves, their only use right now is for target practice, or to take them out to some canyon somewhere and splatter them against the rocks.

Workwise, I took today off as that I did not have my morning shower, and didn't want to be bringing attention to myself with any malodorous conditions that I might be suffering from.  My truck is in the shop right now for another problem which may be aggravated by the cold; it had been acting up upon starting for two or three weeks and if anything I was finally able to demonstrate the problem to my trusted mechanic.

I guess if Todd wants to go out rabbit hunting, only the healthy ones are alive right now, but I'm not sure that there's that many of them.  I've seen more coyote sightings these past two weeks than usual, and someone I know spotted some javelina a few days ago, so the critters just might be coming into the neighborhoods as that we're at a slightly lower elevation than to the east and north of us.

We could use some relief from this, and my suggested remedy is that we get the Inventor of the Internet into southern Arizona to spout off about global warming.  If he keeps his mouth open enough, it might warm things up here by ten degrees.

Some More Odds and Ends

From the Department of Corrections:  in a previous posting, I made the suggestion that Arizona does not lock up people who are mentally unstable.  I was in error on that one.  I happened to catch the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News about a sesquiweek ago, and learned that Arizona does have an involuntary psychiatric confinement statute on the books.

My conclusion was based on an anecdote from two years ago, when I was dating Kathleen.  Her then son-in-law was on the receiving end of a marital breakup (for good reason I might add) when he called up Kathleen's daughter.  He begged to be taken back, and started threatening suicide.  He told Kathleen's daughter that he was going to slash his wrists.  Kathleen's daughter then hung up and called 911.

The Pinal County Sheriff's deputies quickly arrived, but son-in-law Mike told the deputies that he didn't really mean it, that he was saying that to try to get taken back.  He was not hauled off by them for a 72 hour hold like he might have been in some other jurisdictions.

As for Jared Loughner, he was told that he needed a mental evaluation, and it's obvious that there were plenty of warning signs and contact with law enforcement.  For some reason that threshold, wherever that was, was not crossed.

Although I agree that the legal definition of the threshold of when you're hauled off to the psych facilities should be revisited, I'm not sure that simply being told "you need help" is sufficient justification for that kind of action.

I guess what it all comes down to is, just where do you draw the line?  There's no obvious demarcation here, as that there's this gray zone around where that line is.  Try to define the exact time of when "daylight" ends and "nighttime" begins.  Sunset/sunrise?  That's a start, but does the sun have to be completely below the horizon, or does it have to be fifty per cent below the horizon?  What if it's just touching the horizon?

Where do you draw that line?

* * * * * * *

Todd came down Friday night, and we were out hunting rabbits in Pinal County yesterday.  We were off state highway 79, north of Oracle Junction by a few miles at first, and then gave the area near the county line a try too.  We didn't see any rabbits but we saw evidence of them being there, as well as signs of javelina and deer.  Our late start didn't help matters any.

It wasn't a wasted trip.  I brought along a Beretta Bobcat .22 pistol that I acquired some time ago, and undertook some target practice.  Todd got in some target practice as well with his rifle.

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Workwise, I'm in a temporary job as a "property manager" on a project that's winding down.  My job itself is already winding down, as that I'll be doing that part time very soon.

I anticipate being assigned to helping to develop contract proposals, until an offer emerges from that group that wants to develop some new technology.  If that one comes thru, I'll be glomming onto that one something fierce.  An opportunity like that doesn't come around every day.

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A few weeks ago I got the wild hare to purchase a box of pennies from the bank.  

That's right, a box.

A box of pennies containing 2500 of them, all of them neatly machine-wrapped in paper rolls.  Fifty of them too.

That idea had been festering in my mind for some time.  As you know, I'm a coin collector, and I like searching thru my change to see what kind of neat little goodies are in my pocket.  Some days I get treated to a "wheat" cent, and on a rare day I might score a silver quarter (that's happened twice in the last few years).

I'm not all the way thru the box yet, but a few wheats have shown up.  The oldest so far are two 1944 pennies; one minted in Philadelphia and the other in Denver.  There are a total of eight wheat cents out of the 2000 that have been searched so far, and only one Canadian cent, dated 1964, has shown up.

I've searched rolls before, especially on those occasions when I've been back east.  For some reason the eastern rolls are more generous in giving up wheaties.  I scored a 1929 cent when I was there last, and when a friend of mine from Pennsylvania was out here last year he brought me some rolls, and there was another 1929 as well as a couple from the 30s.

For those that aren't wheats, well already some of them have been rolled up and taken back to the bank.  Well, a different branch of the same bank.  It's bad form to get a box, go thru them, and then take them back to the bank where you bought them from, so what you do is what I did:  talk to the branch where you want to take some coins back to see if they'll take them.

Mine does if the coins are rolled, and they were even kind enough to give me empty paper roll wrappers to put them in.

I'm like a kid in a candy shop as I'm going thru these pennies.  I think I might attempt a box of nickels next.

Meanwhile, I'm still working on those half dollars that I bought some four months ago.  I bought $80 worth of them in a quest for silver halves.  No silver turned up, so I've been spending half dollars in my everyday transactions, and I'm about halfway done.

Some cashiers I think are saving them for their grandkids while others are sending them back to the bank in the hopes that they'll be melted down into cannonballs or something.

I've also been asking for two dollar bills at the bank, and using them in my purchasing as well.  Some cashiers are delighted to get them while others are probably wishing I'd go somewhere else with them.

* * * * * * *

That's going to do it for right now.

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

The Events in Tucson

Unless you've been vacationing on Mars for the past few weeks or something like that, you have no doubt heard of the tragedy that we had in Tucson eight days ago, which is, as I write this, still reverberating around the news channels and especially in the local and state media.  When the story first broke last Saturday, there were lots of unknowns.  We would get one piece of information, only to learn a few hours later that it was incorrect because it was overcome by another piece of information.  There's still going to be plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking and analysis by self-appointed experts in the media, many of whom have never even so much as set foot in Tucson, yet feel qualified to lecture those of us here on how we ought to be doing things.

I guess in something like this, it's human nature to fix "blame" on something.  What do you "blame"?  Who do you "blame"?  I've seen and read all sorts of divergent viewpoints on this.  Some say that we need to repeal the Second Amendment.  Others want more restrictions on guns, but not an overturning of the Second Amendment. Some say that Congresswoman Giffords should have asked for some sheriff's deputies to accompany her (that was apparently not her style) and others say the sheriff's deputies should have known better in the first place to not provide security.  One person whose opinion I respect highly portends that the root cause of this is the breakdown of the family structure that we've had in the past forty years and a lack of moral baseline being instilled in our children, and I'm going to confess that I largely agree with that sentiment.

However, a situation like this is complex enough to defy any simple solution that we wish to apply to it.  Think of it as a symphony.  You go to a symphony, hear Beethoven's Fifth or Fanfare for the Common Man performed.  You enjoy the performance, but no single instrument executed the performance in and of itself to make it happen.  All things and circumstances worked together to bring it about, and from what I know of the shooter, he was mentally deranged and there were a collection of factors which contributed to it in some degree or another.

That said, I'm going to buck the trend here as far as assigning blame.  Well, if you know me well, you knew I would end up doing this, but if you don't, then sit down for a minute.

The single and sole person responsible for this is Jared Loughner.

It wasn't the Tea Party.

It wasn't Sarah Palin.

It wasn't the Second Amendment.

It was Jared Loughner.

From what we now know, he had had it in for the Congresswoman for three years running at least.  He had attended a previous meet, asked a question, didn't like the answer, and thus took the first step towards a series of steps that led to this.  Sure, we can look back right now and say that we should have seen this coming.  The Pima County Sheriff's Department had previous contacts with him.  They knew about him, they knew he was unstable, but did not act on that.  That likely is no fault of their own; state laws about what should be done to unstable people vary from state to state, and I can tell you that in ours that threatening suicide is not going to get you locked up for 72 hours like it would in California.  So blaming the sheriff isn't exactly accurate, even if you happen to think like I do that we have a cretinous ass for a Sheriff.

The Second Amendment?  The Supreme Court recently ruled that it's an individual right.  In so noting, they did not overturn existing restrictions on the mentally ill from possessing guns.  I am in no way ever going to opine that someone who is presently mentally ill should have a handgun, but the devil is in the details as they say, and again with fifty states we have fifty different legal definitions on mental illness.  I'm not going to suggest that we federalize a standard uniform definition, mainly because the higher up the chain you go for an answer, the further removed from reality that the person you're seeking the answer from is.

I will grant that the state of Arizona should re-evaluate what constitutes mental illness.  Arizona Revised Statutes make it clear that the menstally unstable are prohibited from possessing firearms (and rightly so) but there's a suggestion here that the threshold of what constitutes mental instability should be re-examined.

What about Sarah Palin?  There is nothing in Jared Loughner's profiles on the various websites that he frequented to suggest that he had read her books or watched her interviews on TV.  I personally think it's absurd for those who comment on the online forums here in Tucson to blame Sarah Palin for it.  I've also seen it suggested that Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh might have been a factor, but again, we have one of his high school friends state that Jared Loughner did not really follow politics or watch the news.  He was simply deranged, had a fixation for Gabrielle Giffords, and guess what?  He's a registered independent.  So am I.  So are a lot of us.

I will want to, at some point in the future, maybe the near future, come back and re-visit the Second Amendment, not in the context of this tragedy, but instead with a companion re-visiting of the First Amendment.  I could do that right now but I'm getting ready to slap a ribeye on the barbecue grill, and plus, there are other things I like to do too.

However, suffice it to say that from this resident of Tucson, there's only one person to blame for all of this.

His name is Jared Loughner.

Here Come the Republicans

This week the first session of the 112th Congress got under way.  As expected, John Boehner was elected Speaker of the House, and Nancy Pelosi as the Minority Leader.  First on the order of business was the reading of the Constitution.  Some view this as a nod to the Tea Party; others dismiss it as grandstanding, and still others (Democrats mainly) seem to be upset that it was read in the first place, and using the word "fetish" to describe those who approve of this reading.

Next on the order of business will be a repeal of Obamacare.  On this one there's also criticism from the Democrats, as well as some pundits who grandstand on how this is a wasted vote.  We even have Barney Frank grousing about the process, about not being allowed to offer amendments.....to a repeal measure, no less.

On these two events, I'm going to come to the defense of the Republicans, or more specifically, to the defense of the "House" Republicans.  First I'll look at the reading of the Constitution.

I'll grant that I don't know exactly what was on the minds of the leadership when they made this decision.  I could second-guess them as grandstanding or trying to curry favor with the Tea Party.  The perception of grandstanding, is of course, depending on your frame of reference as as you watch the reading, but the reality is that the House Republican leadership is going to have to keep the Tea Party as part of their base.  The Tea Party has demonstrated that they are a force to be reckoned with, and I'm going to tell you right now that if such an accommodation isn't made then the Tea Party will either try to hijack the Democratic Party or they're going to dedicate themselves to making the Republicans the next "third" party.  Reading the Constitution doesn't take up a whole lot of time in the grand scheme of things, and personally I would rather have all Congressmen tested on the Constitution before they're allowed to take the oath of office.

And for those who are throwing around the word "fetish":  what's your problem?  Right before the election, your party had that comedian, whats-his-name Colbert testifying in committee and asking that his colonoscopy be entered into the Congressional record.  So who's got the "fetish" here?  I'd rather have a reading of the Constitution on the House floor rather than some clown testifying before another bunch of clowns.  If you're upset about some "fetish" with the Constitution, then I'm going to respectfully suggest that you re-evaluate your priorities.

Next, the repeal of Obamacare.

First of all, we all know that the Senate will not act on the repeal.  So why do it?

Here's one reason:  many of the newly elected ran on campaign promises that they would fight Obamacare and vote to repeal it.  So now they have a chance to vote on it early on, and thus quickly uphold a campaign promise.

How often do you see a politician keep a campaign promise?  Aren't most of us ready to march on Capitol Hill with pitchforks because we feel that those bums up there on the Hill are out of touch with us?

Here's another reason:  if they don't vote on the repeal, then when the next campaign gets under way, their challengers are going to say, "hey, they promised you to repeal Obamacare, and they didn't so much as even vote on it!"  Of course the challenger isn't going to vote to repeal it either, but you won't be thinking about that  once it's pointed out that your guy didn't vote on it.  I don't see the House Republican leadership as having much of a choice, politically, in this matter.  They talked the talk.  Now they have to walk the walk.  Vote on it, send it over to the Senate, and if the Senate doesn't act, then the Republicans can make that an issue next year.

And as for Barney Frank upset about not being allowed to offer amendments......hello?  You're voting to repeal something!  You're going to amend a law that you're getting rid of?  Cheese Louise!  Write up your amendment and introduce it as separate legislation, or attach it to something else.  Do you really need an engineer from Tucson to give you instructions on how to do your job?

To be honest, I'm not really sure that Republicans in charge of Congress is really a good thing in and of itself.  I certainly am wary about giving them control of the Senate, when you consider that the elitists like John McCain and Lindsey Graham will be running the committees, while the Rand Pauls and Jim Demints are assigned to taking out the trash and changing the light bulbs.

But I'll have to say this:  week one of the new House session made a positive impression on me.  Let's hope that Boehner and his help are serious about reining in the deficit and and taking the time to actually read the legislation that they're going to vote on.

I would also hope that they keep one thing in mind.

The Republicans weren't given charge of the House of Representatives because they were the better party.

They were given charge of the House because they weren't Democrats.

If they go back to their previous ways, of drunken spending and working with the Democrats to give illegal aliens the right to a welfare check and the ballot box, then we'll have to rise up and vote them out of commission.

* * * * * * *

I normally wouldn't add anything to a commentary, but I've got some odds and ends to pass along, mainly because I'm behind on my emails and having a few folks ask me if I'm all right.

Work-wise, I'm between assignments, as that my project had its funding cut off before we broke for Christmas.  I'm between jobs right now, but will be offered a part time assignment within the company by a program manager that I used to work for back in 2001.  I've got a lead on another part time assignment, which I'll pursue as well.

And, in six weeks or so, maybe eight, I'm going to be offered work helping out with some research, determining applications for some rather specialized components that I never heard of before until two days ago.  That sounds exciting as all get-out, and very promising.  The supervisor definitely wants me to work for him, but won't have funding for a while yet.  So, I'll be doing some odd jobs here and there until those higher up the food chain decide it's time to proceed.

On another front, State Farm has issued me one more check, as that the first one didn't cover the lodging and rental car in Lake Havasu City.  I split repairs and expenses between two credit cards and one bill has already been paid in full.  Now if the other issuer will only go ahead and send me their bill, I'll have that one paid off in one fell swoop as well.

And on another, I've caught up on a lot of reading.  I'm now working on Foundation's Fear by Gregory Benford, an Asimov Estate-authorized "Foundation" novel.  I am one third of the way thru it and it hasn't exactly been an easy read.  I think some of the backfill descriptions are superfluous, and I don't yet understand the relevance of the Joan of Arc and Voltaire "sims" to the Foundation story, but now I'm into a section where some political intrigue of the Galactic Empire and Emperor Cleon I is being explored.  This story may yet pick up, though most customer reviews of this book that I've seen online are negative.

That's all for now.

And.....(you saw this coming!).............don't forget to pet a dog or a cat!

Some Catching Up

I learned yesterday that my insurance is going to pay a significant chunk of the repair costs of my "wreck" some two weeks ago.  They're also going to pick up my lodging and the costs of the rental car.  The ball joints themselves are considered "maintenance" items and they're not covered, and I really have no quarrel of any with that.

To be honest, I didn't think they'd cover any of the repair at all.  I went in to office of my State Farm agent to get reimbursement for the towing.  I didn't know that they'd cover some of the damages under the "collision" coverage.  The word "collision", to me, suggests two vehicles colliding and causing damage to each other.  My collision, so to speak, was with US 95.  Anyway, the check is on the way, and kudos to State Farm for coming through.

As for the aborted trip, well there's been a lot of bad weather in this part of the country as well.  California got hit with a series of winter storms during the week that I would have left, and I would have arrived yesterday, with the inclement weather affecting Arizona.  We had steady cold rain for a good part of yesterday and the mountains to the north have a good dusting of snow (the mountains to the east are under cloud cover but I'm sure there's snow there too).  It's in the upper 30s outside as I write this, unusually cold for Tucson but not unprecedented.

In the meantime, we have one more night of madness left to contend with, then it's all over.  We can get back to normal.  I'm staying in tonight, and will probably listen to the police scanner as I find out where the drunks and crazies are.  I'm not going to blow $40 so that I can go out and drink in a bar tonight.  If I want to, I can knock off some Guinness here at home, or maybe some wine.  But that's it.

I guess I could have the TV on tonight.  The Sci-Fi Channel is running a marathon of commercials all day long today, interrupting it every now and then for three minute excerpts of The Twilight Zone.  The History Channel has a marathon program of "Pawn Stars" or "American Pickers" or something like that.....they just won't do history programming anymore, and that's a shame, because back when they did they were giving me a reason to sign up for a satellite package.

I don't have much in the way of reflections as this year ends.  It had some great moments and it had some disappointments.

As for what I want to do next year, I haven't bothered to figure that out.

Meantime, here's a picture of my "collision":

No Christmas in San Jose this year

Early Sunday morning I started my road trip to San Jose.  I left my driveway at 1:30 AM, or maybe it was 2:00 AM.  I popped awake, full of adrenaline, and was eager to get going on my annual Christmas road trip.  Initially my biggest concern was traffic delays at the Hassayampa River bridge on I-10 as that the Arizona Department of Transportation was warning that 90 minute backups were expected at peak travel times.  So, it was either start then, or take the long way 'round using US60 thru Wickenburg.

Anyway, I crossed that bridge in the early morning hours, and continued on.  Inclement weather in Southern California was in the forecast, and the L.A. radio station I was listening to was warning that the Southland would be getting their worst pounding in ten years.  I had already made the decision to turn north at Quartzsite, cross at Parker, and then catch I-40 at Needles and to do what I could to make Barstow or Buttonwillow or some such something town with a reasonable motor lodge.

I stopped off in Quartzsite for a quick breakfast of two hot dogs (OK, so I like hot dogs better than "normal" breakfast.....so what?) and for gasoline.  I noticed something not quite feeling right with the right front wheel, as if it was mushy or something.  I got out, thinking I might have had a flat, but it looked normal, so I was back on the road.  It acted normally then, so I thought nothing of it for the next half hour or so.

I crossed at Parker, and some ten miles later I was at the junction of highways CA62 and US95.  The steering wheel seemed to shimmy somewhat upon leaving the State of California Agricultural Inspection Station which is at that junction, but then it behaved itself.  I remember thinking, did it always act this way? 

One mile after that it happened.

I'm zipping up US95 at seventy miles per hour, when there was this jolt, like I had hit a pothole.  The right front of the truck dipped down somewhat and it wasn't steering any more.  I went along this nice long 200 foot skid thinking I had had a blowout, and that I was in the process of losing my rim.  It wasn't good.

Well, it wasn't a blowout.  I got out and saw that the tire had separated and had buckled underneath the truck.  By doing so, it protected the truck from undercarriage and body damage, but it was still not good.  I mean, I'm looking at my destroyed front suspension and brake fluid leaking along the roadway, and noticing this nice gash in US95 that's going to be there for a long time until someone comes along to repave it.....and it was recently repaved too!

For a few minutes I stopped to process my latest problem.  I wasn't quite sure what to do.  I had my cellphone on me, which these days is a necessity, and I called 911.  The dispatcher arranged for a tow truck, and within ten minutes an officer of the California Highway Patrol was on the scene to render assistance.

The CHP officer was a cool guy.  He set up cones to divert traffic away from my truck, as that I was only halfway off the roadway and his attempts at pushing me off didn't work.  We conversed about a number of things.  He told me about some pursuits that he had been on, with one of them having ended right where we were.  There was another one that started in Arizona on I-40 that the CHP had to take over when the big rig being pursued crossed over at Topock.  The Arizona Department of Public Safety had spiked the tires, but the big rig continued on that put a gash in eastbound I-40 that lasted for several miles.

Anyway, my truck ended up being towed to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, which is where I am at as I am writing this.  The guys at the Toyota dealership already have been able to fix my truck, and I get it back tomorrow after they've had a chance to road-test it themselves.  I have spent the past three days here in LHC, known for being where the old London Bridge is now at, and tomorrow I get to go home.

There won't be a Christmas in San Jose this year.  It will take me two days to get there from here, and by the time I'm there it will almost be time to drive back.  Plus, northern California right now is being slammed by some bad winter storms, my mother has a severe cold that she doesn't want to give to me, Chip has the flu which he doesn't want to give to me, my sister and niece are in Lake Tahoe with my brother-in-law, and my inclination tomorrow is to return to Tucson where I can sleep in my own bed.

These are no doubt circumstances that are somewhat more adverse than what I'm normally used to dealing with, but I find myself in good spirits.  I am grateful to the Good Lord for commanding His guardian angels to watch over me throughout my wheel coming off, because had this happened on the interstate surrounded by traffic......well.......I might not have lived to have posted this entry.

I'm going to call this one of the best Christmases I've ever had........ because I'm still here.  There hasn't been one like this since 1978, when I survived an armed robbery that was, if I'm not mistaken, 32 years ago as of tomorrow. 

What more can I say?

Stay safe, everyone.