2019 FAll December 21 Saturday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_of_19

79 Degrees this morning 94% humidity (Panama City, Panama) 

Last day of fall of 19, Winter starts tonight.  I call it the “Winter of 20," since most of it will be in 2020.

Left yesterday for our vacation.  The airport “International Gate” always makes me realize that there is a whole world out there I’m not familiar with.  

So far, so good.  I am actually starting this on the flight to our destination on Friday.  We are getting there about 9:30 p.m. so I figure by the time we get to the hotel, who knows what time it will be. 

It is “always Summer” here which is my kind of place.  It also rains a lot, which isn’t my kind of place!  This is supposed to be the the start of the “dry season”.

It is about 4 hours here from Miami, Atlanta and Houston.  Seems rather strange, but that is the way it is.

This is my first trip as a “backpacker”.  We still checked some bags of course, but I put all of my computers, phones, cords, books , etc., in a backpack and that is all I have with me.  

Actually I can see it working out fairly well, it is nice to have my hands free and the load is distributed.  I am still learning how to wear a backpack, I think I may have not worn it right, I’ll check on Google.  

I thought the plane (at least the international flight) had wifi, but it is more expensive than I am willing to pay. There is enough other things I can do I don’t need wifi on the trip itself.  Fortunately our hotel will have wifi.  

Going to finish this tomorrow morning so I write it at the actual site

(Written on 12-21-19):  Landed on time, then “congestion” caused a delay of about 40 minutes.  Add customs, getting to the hotel , etc., we got to bed very late last night!

Panama City is active, to say the least.  We came in around 11:30 p.M (’m not sure about that, it’s all a blur.

We are staying in a hotel that is the first hotel in the country (opened in 1874) and Teddy Roosevelt etc stayed here.  It is very nice, the rooms are small, but well designed and very adequate.

Obviously it has been restored several times and no one knows where Teddy Rosevelt actually stayed. 

Like all hotels, you need to read the astounding prices they charge for the water and snacks they leave out.  They do provide 2 small bottles of “free” water.  We will will be shopping for water and snacks as soon as possible.

The Panama currency is the same as the United States currency and it is accepted here without any currency exchange.  Panama doesn’t have any paper money.

Also, Panama doesn’t have a military, which I thought was interesting. 

Spanish is the language, and I started to feel the “immersion effect”.  Someone asked “De Donde eres”  (I may have the second word wrong) and I knew they were asking where I was from.  Obviously they were not familiar with the major city I am from, and no reason they should be.

I remember in China, someone asked me where I was from and I said “near Memphis”.  They looked puzzled, so I said “Tennessee”. They still looked puzzled, so I said “United States” which of course they recognized.  (Vice versa, I had no idea of China geography either!)  (I also leaned in many cases you could say “Memphis where Graceland is” and get a response!)

That’s it for now, Saturday, December 21, 2019.

#Resist

2019 Fall December 20 Friday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_of_19

44 degrees this morning, 42% humidity 

Weather yesterday as about as has been, cold, but no wind or snow , etc.  

Ribs , etc., were started to feel a lot better, in fact I had generally forgotten about it when I coughed and pulled something else.  Hopefully just the same thing, but it is very painful when I cough.  I would just quit coughing if I could, but that is not an option! Hopefully I just pulled a muscle or something.  

A major mall in this area had a shooting last night. (Probably a personal matter.) Makes you wonder what the Governor and legislature were thinking when they approved “criminal carry” where anyone can haul around an assault weapon if they want without any kind of training.  

There have been severaL similar shootings in this state since criminal carry was legalized 

Nothing against guns, but  the “wild west”  concept allowing guns without any training or permit and carried anywhere is not the answer.   Makes it too easy to use guns in a fit of anger. 

I really think it is a form of bullying.

The lying coward lunatic is a disgrace to the United States, much less just the Presidency.  Almost worst are the boot licking cowards who defend his sick comments and actions.  He is seriously mentally ill and should be removed based on the 25th amendment, must less impeachment.  

When I see the lying coward lunatic with the loose jawed “supporters” in back of him, I really wonder about there really being people like that in the United States.  

When I hear his Press Secretary, I really wonder how anyone can be so needy for a job they grovel and lie and try to defend the indefensible.  

On a different subject, I have never understood the advantage (in face it seems there area a lot of disadvantages) to the Amazon “one click”.  What is even worse, when you buy a “digital book,"  Amazon “forces” you to buy a digital book with “one click”,m which leads to errors.  

I accidentally ordered a physical book (had to wonder at $9.95 for a trash paperback) when I meant to order a digital book.  Returned the book, but they told me to keep it. I’ll donate it or leave it for someone to read.  

Maybe since I get most of my books from the Library (except for digital books), I may not have realized how physical books have increased in price.  This seemed like a $4.95 book, but maybe I am now aware of the pricing situation.  Anyway, I’ll remain ignorant on this, “Ignorance is bliss”. 

I don’t get digital books or audio books from the library, since it is just too much of a hassle.

That’s it for now, Friday, December 20, 2019.  

#Resist 

2019 Fall December 19 Thursday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_of_19

36 Degrees this morning, feels like 29 degrees, 46% humidity 

Yesterday was relatively cold, but with no wind wasn’t that bad.

My ribs still hurt some, but much, much better.  Cough is still a problem when I hit cold weather.  

Cox Cable really disgusted me tonight. 

Briefly, a year ago, I agreed to a “firm” 2 year rate, without any increases.  Of course, as always with Cox communications, their first priority is how much money they can ripoff, so I made sure it was actually a “firm” 2 year rate.   

So of course after one year I see an increase of almost 10%.  I called up and was advised that the “rate was the same, but I had a one year 'promotional rate” which of course  they didn’t bother to tell me about.

What REALLY enraged (that is the right word) is that I called and the “customer service” person (a real joke), refused to listen to me, refused to let me talk to anyone else, said she was the “highest” I could go , etc.  Of course I just hung up rather than waste my time.  

I have never talked to a more hateful, uncaring, “customer service” person.  

I then called Cox itself and of course got the same stone-walling.  

I will be heard and I will put aside a certain part of each day to call Cox and insist they send me proof that I had a “one year promotional rate”.

The “highest” person said if they lied, tough!  I really wish I had recorded the conversation, it was a picture case of someone not listening and not caring.  

 I will notify the City and request that they not renew the Franchise for the company in the City.  I also will file a FCC complaint.  I am sure that the Franchise Agreement has a provision for complaining other than being told “tough, so we lied”.  

Of course, most of all, we will start looking for a new service provider, someone who is honest and doesn’t lie or mislead customers.  (Which may be very hard to find.)

Anyway, such blatant poor customer service is probably a violation of FCC rules.  

It may be time to become a “cord cutter” but we still would need to buy the internet.  

Anyway, I will work on it a little at a time.  It is important to be persistent in demanding decent customer service from a company that has a franchise agreement and refuses to discuss complaints and continually lies about its rates.  

People talk about government bureaucracy, it is nothing compared to a customer unfriendly, monopoly, money grubbing private company like Cox, who really knows they don’t t have to listen and don’t.

That’s it for now, Thursday, December 19, 2019.

#Resist

2019 Fall December 18 Wednesday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_of_19

26 degrees this morning, feels like 20 degrees,  65% humidity

Yesterday was very cold for this area.  Not all that bad, since there wasn’t any wind, but still cold!

Still some coughing and occasional rib pain, but overall feeling a lot better.  Still coughing as a reaction to cold weather which makes it difficult to exercise. 

Recently I heard the issue of a “Cyberwar” bought up again as one of the hazards we are facing.  Cyberwar referring to another country or whatever attacking our computer systems that run the financial system, utility systems , etc.  

A Newsletter I read mentioned this several months ago and since then I see the hazards of a cyberwar mentioned this as a major threat and I continue to see signs of it. 

One example is the “extortion  ware” that freezes computers unless you pay a “ransom”.  Many cities , etc., have been victims of this.

I have to wonder what would happen if they froze a lot of computers , etc., and did’t request a ransom?  

If they could freeze many of the financial institutions, utilities , etc., that wouldn’t even really be a “cyberwar” in a sense, but it would have the same effect.  

I figure if a foreign country can impact our elections, I figure they can affect anything.  

What is really scary is with all the interdependence  of all of our financial, transportation and utility systems, any stoppage will affect anything.  

The obvious is the utility system, even a small electrical system can actually impact a major area due to the interdependence of the electrical grid.  

Everything now depends on a interdependent transportation, and one small outage can impact the entire country.  All of our food medicine , etc., depends on this system and it is really scary to think of the impact.

Of course, in the middle of this, the lying coward lunatic and his coward cronies are only concerned about playing golf and enriching himself, sending out cowardly, childish “tweets” and flying around at taxpayer expense for “political rallies” which are nothing more than hate filled, racist childish tantrums.  

He has appointed so many incompetents who know they can’t criticize the little baby or he will throw a tantrum and he changes his mind so much they don’t take any action in terror of upsetting the lunatic.  

They all are living in a ivory delusional world tweeting  while the world is destroyed by their incompetence and depravity.  

That’s it for now, Wednesday, December 18, 2019.  

#Resist

2019 Fall December 17 Tuesday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_of_19

 21 degrees this morning, feels like 14, 97%  humidity

The temperature this morning is a shock to say the least.  While I was expecting it to be cold, I wasn’t expecting it to be this cold!

A lot better than much of the country has, at least we are not having snow or ice , etc.  

Yesterday was one of those days where you wait for the other shoe to drop, so to speak.  The morning stared with a slight mist (with 30 degrees temperatures, the roads would have been horrible) and some slight snow mist around noon.  

While it never became nice (it was very cold), at least there was no rain or snow.

We started watching the movie “A River Runs Through It”.  It is one of those movies I always intended to watch and just never got a “round tu it”  

So, after 27 years, we are watching it. 

It is truly a wonderful movie, both the scenes, performances and the story.  We actually “watch” it and don’t read or whatever while we watch it.

There are many movies on my “a round tu it” list.  This was on PBS, so it is especially nice we can watch it without any commercials. In our case, it means we can concentrate on the movie and not have to zip through the commercials.  

Of course, now we have a lot of options when it comes to movies without commercials with all of the streaming services.  

On Netflix, Amazon Prime , etc., the problem is that somehow the movie we want to watch is never available!  

Another dream:

December 15, 2019

Dreamed I had purchased a Semi truck, one with a weird cab.  

I dreamed I was hauling swimming pools with water in them, not quite sure of the point. 

I also was hauling something else, I don’t recall what. 

In the dream I used it as my personal vehicle, with resulting parking problems.  

I volunteered to let the truck  be used for the annual Christmas Party.  (I believe it was my current employer.)

However, a small conflict developed when I told them I had to be b back to work at 2:00 p.m., and they said the party went until 3 p.m. 

They grumbled a little but got it cleaned up.   (The truck bed was used to hold the food , etc.) I didn’t want to go to the trouble of disconnecting the cab from the trailer.  

I was taking some cranberry sauce with me from the party and for some reason the jar I was putting it into seemed like it never got full.

I had many short scenes in the dream that I can’t remember.

One of the dreams that I have no idea of the point or even where the dream came from!  

That’s it for now, Tuesday, December 17, 2019. 

#Resist

2019 Fall December 16 Monday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_of_19

 29 Degrees this morning, (feels like 19), 95% humidity, wind 10 mph.

Yesterday was rather a nasty day, light mist and temperature in the mid 30’s.  Fortunately never got icy.  Wind came up a little, which made it really nasty.

May be freezing rain this morning, although right now it looks like not. 

Exercise, 31 minutes Stationary bicycle.  Went well, which was encouraging.  Hopefully I can start swimming and walking soon.  

Rib cartilage (or whatever) still hurts, but not quite so bad.  It has made a real believer of (over the counter) Tylenol,  I only take it when it starts to hurt. 

Aliene finished the “Christmas fudge” yesterday.  I can testify it (and her Christmas cranberry sauce) are as good as ever. It is certainly a treat.  

Winter is less than a week away now, what I call the “Winter of 20”.  It actually will be at 10:19 p.m. (Central Time) on December 21, 2019, what will be the “shortest day of the year” and then it starts to lengthen a little each day!

Spell-check always sternly advises me that the seasons are not capitalized in most cases, but I just tell it I do!

Doing more research for our vacation, probably the last until we get started.  I’ve researched a lot and will do “on the ground” research when we get there.  

I have a guidebook I got from the Library which was good, an “app," which was unusable and a waste of time and as I mentioned before, “TripAdvisor”  which has  been much better than I expect.  

Unlike our last vacation, the humidity will be high, but at least the temperature will also be high. 

The newspaper delivery continues to be unacceptable, 9:30 a.m. this morning. 

I get “Apple News” and see the Wall Street Journal editorials that I don’t bother to even look at in the paper.  Notice I said  “see” since I don’t read past the headline.  

I always think if they are that stupid, why am I reading the paper?  They are full of conspiracy theories,  butt licking of the lying coward lunatic and his coward toadies , etc. It doesn’t seem to go into their stories yet, but I’m sure it will, so I may as well save my money.  

I tried to cancel once when I saw some idiot who had been a reporter for the Wall Street Journal spout weird theories about the “deep state” and squealing how federal employees  have to butt lick the President and follow illegal orders, which flat isn’t true.  That is what the War Crimes trials were all about.  

The lying coward lunatic has had 85 political rallies (probably stealing millions at taxpayer expense), over 200 personal golf trips costing billions of dollars and sends out 60 to 170 lies a day on twitter. 

Fortunately that means he never gets any work done, so some of the responsibility for destroying the country will fall on his coward toadies who try so hard to suck up to him and can’t think for themselves.  

That’s it for now, Monday, December 16, 2019.  

#Resist

2i019 Fall December 15 Sunday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_ofI_19

, 

33  Degrees this morning, feels like 25, 95% Humidity.

Chance of rain later today.  Hopefully the chances will stay low!

Another wonderful although cold day yesterday.  High of 46, but no rain or wind.

Feeling much better, still have some pain in my ribs.  Hopefully can start to gradually get back to exercise starting today.  (Stationary Bicycle.)  

Heading out for vacation in the near future.  It is just starting to seem real.  I will be glad to get to warm weather, even if just for a few days.  

I have used “TripAdvisor” to sort through restaurants and places we might want to visit.  (or places we don’t want to visit)!.  

I have to assume a lot of the “ratings” are fake, but I also have to assume most of them are somewhat valid and gives some indication of the quality.  

It is hard to determine some of the distances.  I am trying to use Google maps  to orient myself.

Update on the iPhone 11 Max, it is great.  Most nights when I take the phone to recharge for the night, the battery has 70% or so left, so it uses very little battery.  

While I am still learning all of the “swipes," , etc., it is really intuitive and easy to use.  Makes it difficult to go back to my “work phone” the iPhone 6+!

No doubt the best iPhone so far, although the latest iPhone should always be the best!  I never really cared much for the iPhone 6, but that may have just been a personal preference.

Saturday was an overall good day.  Strange eating day, ate a hamburger for breakfast and pizza for Lunch and Dinner (left over from lunch).  Not bad for an occasional change of eating pattern!

Started off the day watching a “dance recital” of a Granddaughter, which was fun.  It was short and fun and it can’t get any better than that!  

I think it is good that kids have access to programs like that.  While very few of them will ever be professional or even continue, I think it is good that they have the experience, especially of performing.  

As I have noted before, I still remember my first speech and I can still remember the first visit to my school by a highway patrolman.  

Still watching “Blacklist” on my lunch breaks and occasional breaks at Starbucks.  I always think I will get bored, but so far it has generally retained my interest. 

“Blacklist” has story lines I don’t  really care for, but then another story line come along that keeps my attention.  I always look forward to watching it.  At some point I will run out of episodes, although I understand it is currently being broadcast.

That’s it for now, Sunday, December 15, 2019. 

#Resist 

2019 Fall December 14 Saturday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_of_19

39  Degrees the morning, 76% humidity 

Yesterday was a wonderful day, if a little cool, high of 62 degrees.  At least no wind or rain and somewhat sunny.

Feeling better, still occasionally cough. Rib cartridge (or whatever) still hurts.  Not quite ready to start regular exercise again, hopefully won’t be long.  

Probably wait until after our vacation now (it is close), since I don’t want to get sick on vacation.  

Glad the weekend is here.  While I enjoy my job, I look forward to the weekend also.  The problem with my job is just like my personal life, not enough time to do what I want!

I might have to watch “Soylent Green” again.  I read that the lying cower lunatic and his coward toadies are  going to let oil companies pollute our streams and groundwater so he can get a bunch of donations I am sure.  Or promises of coward “dark money” illegal donations   

 I am sure a lot of the coward toadies who run the anonymous hate and attack ads get their money from the lying coward lunatic and his toadies “relaxing” the regulations to encourage pollution in the search for “profits”.   Hopefully there will be a special place in Hell for them, and not a good place.

Looking for another VPN again.  I especially would like to use one on vacation.  For some reason I haven’t had much luck with VPN.  My first one was just way too slow.  The last one worked great for a while and then developed problems when I tried to launch it.  

When I complained, they responded with a lot of archaic instructions and I told them to just cancel it.  I don’t have to deal with that.  Of course, regardless of their promise I could “cancel anytime," they advised they will “cancel at renewal”.  So much for honest advertising.  

I’ll find something that will work.  Somehow it seems this should be something that is on your computer and automatically launches when you connect, or at least be an option when you connect.  

When I was in China, I had to have one to check the Internet, since Facebook , etc., were blocked in China and you had to have a VPN to check them.  Overall it worked well.

I like to use one on any public wifi, just as a matter of safety, which is why I think it ought to be standard on any computer.  

Kind of like a “dash cam” for cars, I think it is something that should be  at least an option.  If it was integrated into the car it wouldn’t be easy to steal , etc. 

That’s it for now, Saturday, December 14, 2019.

#Resist 

2019 Fall December 13 Friday

#Purple_Days_and_GoldenI_Nights

#My_Journey-19

#Fall_of_19

41 degree this morning 77% humidity

Overall nice day yesterday, 57 degree high.  

Feeling much better, still cough occasionally and my ribs still hurt, but it is a lot better.  For some reason my ribs started hurting more last night, and hurt this morning more than yesterday. Hope that reverses!

Just heard another “Christmas Song” that isn’t really Christmas (in that it doesn’t mention Christmas) is “Jingle Bells”.  Actually when I think about it, most “Christmas” songs don’t mention Christmas, so maybe they should be called “seasonal songs”.   

Some people were discussing their early Christmas memories the other day and one man said they put their Christmas Tree up on Christmas Eve! That may have been more  normal years ago.

It made me think of when I was a a child and my Dad was teaching music.  NOTHING happened until after the school Christmas show!  I don’t blame him, I would be the same way.  

I am stunned by the way Attorney General Barr acts like he is the lying coward lunatic’s personal attorney and tout.  The lunatic should be paying the government back for his salary and benefits, although he isn’t much of an attorney and should be disbarred.  

The lunatic has gotten so nuts, I don’t see how anyone can support him.  Attacking a 16 year old kid because she made it on Time Magazine and he is jealous?  The lunatic has gone off the deep end.

The lunatic pulled the trick of “tweeting” something negative about the China Trade Deal that makes the market go down  and then about a week later tweeting something that will make the market go up.

Apparently “someone” (guess who) is literally making billions by buying and selling at the “right time”.  They aren’t satisfied with stealing millions from the taxpayers they have to steal billions. 

Still trying to get used to thinking “2020”.  Somehow it still seems like it is far in the future, but is only 18 days away.  

Perhaps one reason is that “Soylent Green” was based in 2020.  I’m not quite ready for that.  

Of course with the lying coward lunatic and his band of cowards selling out to polluting companies and reducing regulations to allow more pollution  it could come to that really fast.  

I remember seeing “Soylent Green” and “Westworld” as a double feature while I was in graduate school.  Maybe one reason was I rarely went to movies, but I still remember both of them well.  

Today was an “office day” for my job.  One thing I really like about my job is the variety of the “office day” and the “field day”.  Each has it’s good points and it may depend on the weather!  Bad weather and “office day” is better and sometimes in really nice weather I wish I had a “field day” instead of an “office day”!  

That’s it for now, Friday, December 13, 2019.

#Resist

2019 Fall December 12 Thursday

#PurpleI_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_of_19

 43 degrees this morning, feels like 35, 60%  humidity, wind 16 mph

Overall not a bad day yesterday, cold (54 degrees high), but them anything under 74 or so seems too cold for me.  

Slowly feeling better, very little coughing today, although it comes in spurts.  Thank goodness the rib cartridge seems to be healing faster than “weeks," although you never know.  

I have gone through extensive periods of not exercising before, especially in the winter, primarily due to the coughing problem.  I guess in the back of my mind I wonder when it will be a permanent change.  

It really shouldn’t be for years yet (that I have to permanently stop exercising).  Hopefully that won’t happen. 

My strategy now is to try to find a time when I can do my exercises each day, or even several times per week so I can stay in shape until I retire.  Who knows when that may be.  

I have now heard seven  different performers sing “Santa Baby”.  Some of the modern ones use “1954 convertible," some use something else (I haven’t figured out what yet).  

Two more weeks of Christmas music and then it will be over for another year.  For some reason December seems to have gone very slow this year, although it is only December 12.  I thought this week would be slow, but it is already Thursday.  

Actually, I think the reason it seems so slow is I equate December with the start of Winter.  While that isn’t something I look forward too, except I have to get through Winter to get back to Spring and Summer, it is a landmark.  Even though it is the start of Winter, it also signifies the end of Winter is coming.  

In a manner of speaking, it can’t end until it starts!

Had a “dirty Santa” (they didn’t call it that) event the other day?  It reminded me of what it will be like to “downsize” when the time arrives.   A lot of cute “stuff," but I found myself wondering what I would do with it.

Reminded my of the advice to “buy experiences” and “buy time” instead of buying items you don’t need! Once you have an item, it can own you instead of you owning it!  

Hopefully the need to “downsize” will be a long ways off, although we may decide to voluntarily “downsize," since it is always so difficult to find someone to repair or maintain the house.  

That’s it for now, Thursday, December 12, 2019

#Resist