The October Surprise of October Surprises

While out on a day trip yesterday I learned that the FBI is re-opening their investigation into what is largely called the Hillary Clinton email scandal.  As most of you know, FBI Director James Comey held a news conference last July announcing that he would not recommend charges against Hillary "What Difference Does it Make?" Clinton.  This came a few days after a so-called accidental meeting on the tarmac at Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix between Bill "I Did Not Have Sex with That Woman" Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch where we are told that they only discussed grandchildren.  They discussed grandchildren?  Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and it snows in Death Valley in the summertime.

Now for reasons that are known at this time only to Director Comey and God, the investigation is being re-opened.  There has been, of course, a lot of speculation about this, with theories being posted on the internet and social media, and discussion on talk radio and cable news channels.  I am not going to offer any speculation as to why this happening, but I will offer speculation as to what's down the road on this.  I don't very often make predictions because I might be wrong more often than I would be right, but on this one I'm going to be upfront on this and tell you that I very much want to be wrong on what I'm about to say.

No matter how bad or how damaging the information to be revealed is, Hillary Clinton will not be indicted.

I will say this again.

Hillary Clinton will not be indicted.

There are two reasons why.

One:  she enjoys the protection of Organized Media.  Organized Media very much wants her in the White House no matter how corrupt she is.  Organized Media, that self-appointed Fourth Branch of Government has an agenda, and they want to see it carried out.  They know that the Donald won't carry it out, or at least, have no reason to believe that he will carry it out, and they've been in the tank with her for far too long to get out of that tank and throw her under the bus.

Of course, Organized Media isn't quite the monopoly on news that it used to be, and if you know were to go you can get other opinions and perspectives on things.  But the support of Organized Media is, lots of times, a formidable obstacle when it comes to elections, and they've been known to publish known false stories in order to advance their agenda.  But the support of Organized Media isn't the only factor here in why Hillary will not be indicted.

The second reason she won't be is that Hillary enjoys the support of the Establishment Republicans.  If you doubt me on this, then do some googling on Republicans who have announced they are going to vote for Hillary.  There's a former President said to be on that list, we have Republican Senators up for re-election who have said they are going to vote for her, and we have Republican Congressmen and Congresswomen who have said they are going to vote for her.

You have heard of the "Never Trumpers", haven't you?  Your very own beloved Organized Media has told you about them on more than one occasion.

With the support of the Establishment Republicans firmly in place, Hillary also knows that she will not be impeached, even if she is indicted, which she won't be.

Do you honestly think that Speaker Ryan will allow an impeachment vote to reach the floor of the House for a vote?  And even if he does, will there be 67 votes in the Senate to convict her?  Do you think for one moment, that the public "Never Trumpers" in the Senate will vote to convict?  They're on her side!

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has publicly stated that no matter what President Obama does, impeachment is off the table.  One surprise I can identify at this time is that he hasn't (yet) made a similar announcement regarding Hillary, although he's going to wait until the votes (including the fraudulent ones) have all been counted.

Impeachment, in my mind, is an impossibility.

Indictment, although not impossible, is extremley unlikely, in my opinion.

I think it would be much easier to get the Beatles back together than it would be indict Hillary Clinton.

The Bombing of the Republican Office in North Carolina

The Republican office in Orange County NC was firebombed over the weekend.  Organized Media hasn't had a whole lot to say about this.  Hillary "What Difference Does it Make?" Clinton has spoken out against it, as well she should, but she really should consider asking her supporters to join her in this.

Looking at online comments on the Yahoo boards and sound clips from Organized Media, you would think this incident is the fault of Donald Trump and his supporters.  One yoyo even suggested that the Trump supporters did this in order to generate sympathy for the Republican party (oh please!)

I'm going to give the Trump supporters this:  they are not going to take to the streets for a protest designed to escalate into a riot.  They won't be throwing rocks at police officers and setting fires to police cars.  They won't be smashing storefront windows downtown.  They won't be looting Nike stores to steal Air Jordans and they won't be trashing convenience stores that they steal beer from.

Yet Hillary's supporters seem to think that Trump supporters are what's wrong with the country.

Go figure.

A Favorite Silicon Valley Attraction (and more)

I've been up here in San Jose for almost a week.  There has been a lot to do in terms of people to visit and necessary family things that need to be done.  Until today I haven't had the opportunity to go out and visit a place purely for pleasure, until this afternoon.

The place that I visited was Weird Stuff Warehouse in Sunnyvale.  I've known about this place for several years and visited it a few times when I was living and working here.  It's a museum of old abandoned surplus computers and peripherals, except that if you come across an exhibit that you really like, you can purchase it and take it home.  I've gotten an old computer monitor there before, and a power supply for use in some electronics experiments, even though I've built a power supply.

I was telling myself that I needed to drop in look around when I got up here, and before meeting Franz and his new bride for dinner I did just that.

I wanted to spend more time hanging around, and maybe my next visit here I will.  I picked up a surplus surge protector that I intend to use in my garage, because during this sabbatical I see spending some time in my garage doing some more experimenting.

I have it in mind to build a low power transmitter for ham radio use, though the idea of building an FM radio transmitter is also lurking back in the recesses of my mind.

* * * * * * *

The drive up here last week was a blessing, in the sense that it was uncomplicated.  Oh, the luggage key did break in the Samsonite suitcase that I bought, so I had to wear the same clothes on day two of my drive here, but fortunately my parents had a Samsonite key.

I don't normally lock my suitcases, but I had to before leaving Quartzsite, in order to comply with California's laws regarding transport of a firearm.  I couldn't get my gun case to lock, so I locked up my revolver in the main luggage.

Now the gun case is locking, and the revolver is safely there, until I'm back across the state line in Arizona.

There's no doubt that California's laws cause great inconvenience to the gang members whenever they transport their guns, but everyone knows that they don't want any trouble with the police so they very much cheerfully comply.

* * * * * * *

This was my first time meeting Franz' wife Diane.  My regret was that Sheila wasn't there to meet them too.

I think Franz did as well as I did in getting the wife that he got.

* * * * * * *

I'm already homesick and missing Tucson.  I wanted to leave Friday but rain is in the forecast, and I don't like having to go through Pacheco Pass in that kind of weather.  So, it looks like I'm out of here on Saturday, but if it rains then I'll be here a while longer.  I may not want to leave on a Sunday and thus have to share the road with those nice wonderful super-considerate southern California drivers on their way back to the smogberry trees in Los Angeles, so I may hang around here a while longer.

* * * * * * *

I guess that I'm supposed to comment on the latest in the Presidential campaign, and about what Trump said some 20 years ago when he had no idea he would run for President.

I'm not going to defend what he said.  I'm convinced that he regrets it, just as I regret saying some things I said back in junior high, high school, or college.  Yes, I have skeletons in my closet too.  As do you.

What gets me is that those who are going to great lengths to appear genuinely outraged about this can't wait to vote for the wife of a serial rapist.

* * * * * * *

I'm thinking that I will be in San Jose again for Thanksgiving, and possibly also for Christmas.

I don't particularly like San Jose, but I spent several years here and in one way this place is part of my being.  I got my degree here and I came away with some lifelong friends.

This place isn't a trashcan, though I do frequently think the state is as morally bankrupt as they are financially.

Sunday Evening, 10/2/16

My last day of the contract on Friday went very well, and although I am glad to be getting some time off I also felt some regret in having to go out.  I chatted with some other managers there and was told by all of them that they want to see me back next year when things ramp up.  It will be something of a drain financially but it won't break us as that I've had two years worth of house payments in the bank for the last several years just in case.   As stated last time, I will be keeping in touch with my boss, and if there's an indication that the up and coming project slips or gets cancelled (which I doubt that it will be) then yes, I might have to do some serious looking.

In the meantime, I have been resuming my radio hobby, and picking up where I started some 40+ years ago in high school, and that is, tuning in distant radio stations on the AM broadcast band and identifying them.  I can't recall if I ever told the story of how I got into this, and if I don't see where I have told the story then I'll have to address that in a near-future post.  With winter approaching, the "season" for medium-wave (AM broadcast band) DXing (long distance listening) is starting to kick into gear, and I've already logged some good catches.

So far the easternmost station I've gotten is KFAB out of Omaha.  I remember getting WWL out of New Orleans when I was in San Jose but I haven't gotten them here yet, but I think I will before too long.  Another one I'd like to get here is KMOX, which I heard when I was in high school back in New Jersey, and getting them again would bring back some memories.  One station that I was pleased to get was KLPZ out of Parker, AZ, which runs only 58 watts at night.  They came in one night last week but the conditions must have been unusual as that I haven't gotten them since, though I think it was KHEY out of El Paso that I was getting last night on the same frequency.

Some lower power stations out of Oklahoma and Texas have also been logged, as well as a high power border blaster out of Ciudad Acuña Mexico.  I'm fairly certain that I've also gotten with regularity XEP out of Ciudad Juaréz on 1300, but I'll have to listen to their internet stream to make sure it's really them (though who else could it be?).

I'll be taking the radio with me when I'm on the road next week.  Maybe in San Jose I'll be able to log stations out of British Columbia, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.  I may also tune the shortwave bands some, but I haven't heard very much here aside from time signals and the rantings of Brother Stair, who is as of today conveniently forgetting about his rapture predictions he recently made about it happening this weekend.

On the coin collection front, I've done some organizing and sorting, and I plan on returning some rolled coin from my box searches to the bank in drips and drabs as that I think it might be bad form to drop them all off at once.  Well, I'm not taking them back to the source bank, but I do take them back to three other branches.  I try to use only one or two banks as a "source" and two others as a "sink".

Sheila has tomorrow off, and we'll be spending some time together before I leave Tuesday morning.  Regrettably she doesn't have vacation time on the books to come with me, and I'm not sure how long I will be gone.  I'm thinking of two more trips to San Jose this year after this one.  On the way back from this one there might be a detour to Las Vegas to visit with some friends I have there, though to be honest I might want to get home sooner to be with Sheila.

Another Transition for Me

My contract with my current employer ends on Friday.  The project I was assigned to officially ends that day, and product launch I'm told is already happening.  There is a lull in projects so I am officially out of work when I go home on Friday.

The good news is that I've been assured that there will be more work for me early next year, and that I'll get a phone call offering another contract position.  My boss and I had a good talk about this, and we'll be in touch every other week or so to see what's in his crystal ball.

As for me, there is a rationale for taking a three to four month sabbatical.  I could certainly use a sabbatical right now, but not one that long, of course.  The agency that placed me has already started a search on my behalf, and I've already been in some conversations with recruiters.  It's prudent to cover all bases and to learn what else is out there.  What I really want to do here is leverage my recent experience into my next position, though I could do the same with my experience in a private spaceflight company.

That industry is kicking into gear, but it is not without its complications, as SpaceX showed us in a pad test a few weeks back.  SpaceX won't quit; we'll be hearing plenty more from them.  We'll also hear from Blue Origin.

So, what am I going to do?

I'm going to look at what else is out there, but not before I spend some time with my parents in San Jose.  It's long past time for me to get up there and I figure on two more trips up there before the end of the year, if I decide on the sabbatical option.  My present boss is extremely credible and if he says he'll have more work for me next year then I'll believe him.  Another manager there told me he'd hire me on the spot if he had anything for me.  

Yet I am one of those who feels the need (most of the time) to have something to do.  I've been re-kindling my interest in the radio hobby and I'm thinking once again of purchasing a new shortwave receiver.

I could also go back into songwriting, but I don't have anything to write about, unless I decide to do something with the lyrics I wrote some time back about Jackrabbit Road, which if it exists, I'm not sure where.

Anyway........that's what it is.

Love, peace, and chicken grease!

Searching Thru Boxes of Coins

As of late I have resumed an activity that's part of my coin collecting hobby.  I've purchased rolls of coins at banks before and gone through them when I've gotten home.  The goodies are cherry-picked out and the rest find their way back to circulation.  I've also acquired coins to look thru by paying for my cash purchases in whole dollar increments, though when there's been a lot of roll hunting and purchasing then it's time to win the "War on Change", meaning that I pay in exact change until the amount of change on hand has been drawn down to my liking.  But when you do something different, like what I have resumed, coins are now bought by the box.

Let me explain that some.

A roll of cents contains 50 coins.  I have bought $3 or $5 worth of cent rolls to look thru.  I've also roll-searched nickels and half dollars.  But upon reading the posts in the Coin Community Forum, I learned that there were avid box searchers out there.  I've read about guys buying $2000 worth of half dollars from the bank to look for silver halves.   I know of people searching through boxes of nickels and cents, looking for rarities.  Yes, there are dime box searchers looking for that silver dime or two that has somehow escaped capture.  I don't read very much about box searchers getting quarters, but it does happen.  I'm sure that somewhere out there, there are a few who search through boxes of small dollar coins, looking for NIFC (Not Intended for Circulation) coins, and yes, there are plenty of those to be had with smalll dollars and half dollars as well.

Well as I am writing this I am presently going through a box of cents.  This isn't, in my mind, your ordinary box of cents.  I traded for this with a friend in Massachusetts. I have noticed that in previous visits to the northeast, that your chances of scoring wheat cents is better than here in the southwest, but that's not all.  You get more Canadian cents than you do here, and I save most of them that I find as that they're not being made any more.  But the real reason for going through an East Coast box is that coins minted out of Philadelphia are the dominant mint encountered, and the Philly mint throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s produced some cents with a rare die variety that wasn't produced out west on the Denver cents.  You'll have to google "WAM" and Lincoln cents if you wish to know more about this.

The box I'm working on now is my fourth from the East Coast, and I think I may have finally scored one of these varieties.  I now need to get over to my local favorite coin shop for an evaluation, and if they concur then I might sell the coin.  I can't find anything (yet) on eBay on 1998 WAM cents, and research thus far suggests that the variety for this year is not as rare as it is for other years.

As for other denominations of boxes, I've done them for all except the small dollar coins, and I've kept records on a spreadsheet as to what I have found.

My intention is to report these in future posts.

To New Mexico and Back

On Friday, 7/29/16, Sheila and I did something that we haven't done for a long time.  We went on a road trip.  We had been kicking it around a few weeks before it happened because we weren't sure that it would happen at all.  Life complications have been rising up it seems, like it's some sort of whack-a-mole game, except that the moles were popping up just as a weekend was about to get underway.

There was something that needed taking care of that morning, and we knew that was coming so our appointment to take care of that was at 9:00 AM.  Once that was done, we packed for a long weekend, and then it was off to Deming, New Mexico.

One reason why we went there was because it was Sheila's choice.  Another was that we hadn't yet gone out that way together.  And one reason why I was pleased with the choice was that it was a chance to see if that New Mexico style of cuisine was the same as what I can get here in Tucson at Poco & Mom's.

Our intention going out there was to stay in Deming for one night, and make it up as we went along from there.  I wanted to fit in City of Rocks State Park and Silver City, but Silver City was at first uncertain since they were getting slammed by afternoon thunderstorms; courtesy of the 2016 Monsoon Season.  We rolled into Deming on Friday afternoon, and after a one hour rest we walked over to a Mexican restaurant that was nearby.

The food there was good, but the booth was a little on the cramped side.  We both ordered a combo plate, and true to New Mexico style, we were asked the State Question, which is "red or green?"  That's referring to the color of salsa that you want.  I think they consider one of them to be "mild" (I can't remember which one) and the other to be "hot".  I think most folks not familiar with New Mexico style would consider one to be "hot" and the other to be "rocket fuel".  I went green for my choice as did Sheila.

The next morning we had the lodging-provided complimentary breakfast, after which we checked out and then pointed my truck in the direction of Silver City.  We knew that City of Rocks State Park would be on the way via a ten mile detour down a state highway, and when we found that road we turned.

I had known of City of Rocks via a friend of mine who once camped there.  I had seen some pictures of it, but with a place like that the pictures don't do it justice.  It's best appreciated by being there and wandering around.  We were there for an hour or so before we left for Silver City, passing throuh Hurley and Bayard on the way.

We arrived around lunchtime, and per a recommendation from a co-worker we looked for Jalisco's Cafe and found it downtown.  Again, it was that New Mexico style, which is my favorite, and this time I had the meat enchilada plate.  Per local custom enchiladas in New Mexico are served with a fried egg on top of them and it's over easy unless you tell them you want it scrambled or you don't want it at all.  I personally think eggs are best scrambled, which is how I make mine when I make them, but quando in Roma you do what the Romans do and I had it over easy.

The food at this place was absolutely delicious, and better than what we had in Deming.  I came away glad that Poco & Mom's here in Tucson was equal to Jalisco's.  After lunch we walked around downtown Silver City, which is a neat place to walk around in, and after that we searched for lodging.

Had we done our due diligence we would have stayed downtown.  I instead checked out the places we saw on our way in, and as the saying goes, they were very proud of their lodging.  Both places, owned by the same outfit and next to each other, had some remodeling going on, and if anything they should have not allowed themselves to suffer from the amount of greed that they do.  As it was, a nasty thunderstorm was on the way, and I figured we would drive down to Lordsburg and spend the night there.

Now if you go back and read my previous posts, you'll know that Lordsburg has come up before here.  I've done lots of fireworks runs to that place over the years, and I even dream about the place on occasion.  I wouldn't call it the crown jewel of New Mexico but I wouldn't call it an armpit or a trashcan either.  The town has been losing people over the decades.  That said, you won't see any grafitti there, and you can walk around to your heart's content and not be hassled by panhandlers.

After a night there, we drove around it some, and again, if I had done my due diligence, I would have had us eat at this place called Ramona's Cafe which along the old US 70 when it was the main drag.  What used to be the main drag of Lordsburg fell into abandonment long ago, when I-10 was built roughly a mile south of where US 70 used to be.

We left Lordsburg in midmorning and took I-10 on the way home, though maybe next time we'll take that active part of US 70 on up to Safford and then US 191 back to I-10.  Who knows, we tend to make up our trips as we go along, since it's more fun doing it that way.

As for The Land of Enchantment, Sheila wants to go back in a few weeks.  I'm game, but there's possible overtime at work for the next few weeks so I don't know if I'll have my off Fridays off.  Perhaps the next visit to our neighboring state will take us to Las Cruces, or Hatch.

We'll figure something out the next time we're there.