Spring 2014 5 27 Tuesday

72 degrees this morning. Looks a little like rain.

Flat tire on my bicycle this morning coming up the final hill home. I know I ran over something and started hearing a "bump bump" and then then tire went flat. It doesn't happen often, thank goodness. I take my flats in to be fixed, so it is a little hassle, but not nearly as much if I tried to change my own! (I have tried, and I am just mechanically challenged).

I probably will go ahead and get the "Armadillo" tires or something like that, they are supposed to resist punctures well. One puncture and I'm ahead.

Maybe I will use this as an excuse to buy another bicycle so I have a backup!

Back to the apples. While I still can't bring myself to try apples yet after getting two packages of bad ones from Costco, I did take the bad ones I got Saturday back to Costco, if nothing else just to let them know. They not only refunded my money, they also refunded my money for the bad ones I had gotten the Monday before and threw away. When I returned the second package, I causally mentioned I had thrown away an earlier package (hardly expecting a refund) and she actually looked it up and refunded my money. A reason who Costco is so successful, I believe. However, I still can't stand the thought of apples, the last ones were so bad.

May be rain today, an end to the beautiful weather. It was a good weekend, even if "every day is a holiday" now for me. Had some friends over, went to a friends house etc.

Getting my MacBook Air out of the Apple hospital this morning, or at least today. Hopefully I can get both of them setup so all my pictures are on a hard drive and I can work off that hard drive, hopefully resulting in less duplication.

Six months ago last night I officially (so to speak) became unemployed. I wrote some thoughts on it, but mothballed my comments for right now. I can always publish them, but I can't take them back.

I wasn't too worried, I figured I would get a job soon.
What I didn't expect was the overwhelming age discrimination (much blatant) in my search for employment. I don't really have a problem with people wanting someone younger, professionally I feel that a Board/Council should be able to select whomever they want as City Manager, but it really doesn't blunt my resentment or, sometimes, rage, to be targeted strictly on my age. However, it falls into one of those categories that I can't do anything about it, so I won't worry about it. However, if the opportunity to help persons who experience age discrimination ever arises, I will grab it. I don't have any desire to work somewhere with someone like that, so I don't worry about it. I know it is illegal, but proving it is something else.

I do plan to make a detailed summary of my job search (no names, I'm not out to get anyone), and hopefully someone will see themselves as discriminating or being discriminated against. Well, hopefully, but not likely.

I wish AAA had bike protection where someone would come out and change your tire. It would be worth the money. I understand they do have it in Portland, and a few other places. Not likely to come to Lakeland, where the spoiled brat politician mayor and board of fools turn down $1,000,000 for a badly needed bike and ped path.

Going to be one of those days where I wish Lakeland also had Task Rabbit or a similar service, taking the bike tire to be fixed, picking up the computer and a mismash of other small errands that take up time.

I am so glad Summer is here. I love my patio, especially sitting out here in the early morning and just Summer in general. I hate to wast time on non-productive tasks.

Some nibbles/bites on the house. We know we have to sell the house and get out of this town (even if it is just across the street), but we hate to leave our wonderful house. Life isn't always what you want, and it may be our next phase will be even better.

Spring 2014 5 22 Thursday

66 degrees this morning, although it didn't seem as cool as 70 degrees did yesterday.  Thursday, already!  Time passes.

I read two stories this morning, one in the Wall Street Journal about how "suburbs are coming back"  and a story on the on-line USA Today that "cities are still growing at the expense of suburbs".  Since anything regarding cities and suburbs is interesting to me, I read the WSJ story earlier with great interest and then read the USA Today with equal interest and some bewilderment!  There is a logical exclamation that the USA Today was using past census date (updated) and the WSJ was probably basing the story on recent empirical  trends.  I'll need to go back to WSJ story now and read it again.

I expect that it actually depends on which City you're talking about although (if I recall correctly) some of the most progressive cities are mentioned as the areas where the suburbs are "coming back".  I'll research this a little.

Speaking of cities, I think Memphis is a city with a lot of potential to be a great city, and I think the suburbs contribute to it and hopefully will continue to grow..  The Memphis Mayor (Mayor Wharton) has displayed some courage and foresight in making Memphis much more livable and attractive, and some of the suburbs (unfortunately now excluding Lakeland, which is going backward) are also making major advances to being "livable".

One of the Memphis Grizzlies (the basketball team) mentioned Memphis was "gritty" and a "blue collar" city, or words to that effect.  That actually is probably someone true, but it also is part of the Memphis tapestry of a variety of incomes, people, housing, and urban geography that makes it a very attractive and exciting city.   I wouldn't mind living in the downtown area, myself (although I hate to thing of what would happen if "THE" earthquake should happen).  

Coming up on six months of being unemployed.  I have decided I am going to write a blog about being "White, Old, Male and Unemployed".  Not to mean other unemployed people don't have it worse, but my experience is my experience and I won't apologize for how I feel.  I am shocked that the obvious age discrimination, but while I was on the "other side" and hiring people, some of the older people we hired (or didn't hire) expressed the horrors of being old and unemployed and looking for work and discussed obvious age discrimination .  I am going to a job fair this morning and I am sure I will feel a good dose of it.  On the other hand, I can understand the need to provide younger persons employment, although with the "new" career of a series of short-term positions.  I think the flat discrimination against old people is what is absolutely unacceptable.  

I really feel the younger generations are going to get a nasty surprise when they get old (we all do, or accept the alternative) and don't have sufficient retirement income.  I think now is the time to look at how to resolve that problem.  

I am about to tackle my 3000+ photos I took on the trip to China (and  about 50,000 pictures of other occasions, including Christmas's long past!).  It is time to sift through the photos and send many away and highlight others.   My desktop computer is actually running slower trying to sort through 50,000 photos (many the fault of the Apple "Faces"  aspect of iPhoto).  I will have to delete, delete, delete and then figure out how to backup my photos.   I will work on my videos/movies after that.  

I didn't try to sit on the patio this morning, may have been a good day for it, but I have a busy day ahead, although "busy" is relative anymore.  

That's it for today, Thursday, May 22, 2014.

UPDATE:  Both of the stories on Suburbs and Cities (Wall Street Journal and USA Today) were using the same data!