annoyance

A ‘Bobbie Burns’ Day…

Or rather two of them…

Yesterday, I had a usual scheduled doctor follow-up appointment (having chronic conditions, and all).  It went generally well, but, afterward, I had more pain than I usually get, and it continued throughout the day.

Even after application of the ‘extra-special’ meds!

So, I’m running some errands last night, and AGAIN, my SES (Service-Engine-Soon) light comes on!  Since I know very little about auto mechanics, that always scares me.  I do know it could mean my gas cap isn’t tight enough or my engine is getting ready to fall out.

Today, I’m going in for an oil change.  Not me, the car.  Hopefully, that will happen quickly, ‘they’ can check the SES light meaning and it can be fixed tuit suite cheaply.  We’ll see.

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley.–Robert Burns*  (To a Field Mouse)”

A Bobbie Burns day.

*Robert Burns – the poet laureate of Scotland

Addendum – Whole thing took about 45 minutes.  Oil changed, fluids topped.  Windshield cleaned.  SES light decoded.  Came back to an air injection malf (pollution control), and cam sensor (may need alignment or replacement)
She’s an old car and there are oil leaks – could be affecting the sensor, too!

No repair today, cannot afford it.  But, she runs – next the emissions/registration thing.  Not today.

Cudos to Oasis Auto Center (who gives me nothing but great, fair service, FTC!)  $22.62 for everything!

(More) Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam…

Oops, I did it, again!

I recently (due to problems I had with Firefox and IE10) opened up Google Chrome.  I know, it’s the dreaded Google.

And I’ve been very happy with the result whilst blogging – lightening fast, no pop-ups.  Secure and stable.  A good choice.  (Which coincidentally works with my new (to me) smartphone (Android – another Google product).

But, I’ve noticed not only did I not have SPAM, I also wasn’t seeing email copies of post comments by many folks – some regulars.  And I finally got around to checking my SPAM files.

Huzzah!  Therein lie the heretofore unaccounted emails…

Hopefully, all has been corrected, now.  We shall see.

Cheer Up!

I began writing this morning on today, the 18th anniversary of the loss of my 12 year old daughter, Molly.  And I started wallowing:

(redacted specifics re: the crap in my life and the lives of everyone I know)

I decided rather than wallow, to take a page from my dear friend Rev. Paul and lighten up.  All is not lost.  I still have friends and family who love me.  The Nation, while thought to be circling the drain in some circles, is still here.  As is her Constitution.

I know and believe this as fact:  All you can do is what you can do.  Fretting about the past or the future is pointless - be in the now.  And hold those you love close and tell them you love them, because you never know!  Do it now!

How can you look into that face above and not smile?

(I’ve chosen to make commentary unavailable on this post – go and hold your loved ones, instead!)

An Observation…

Didja ever notice…

The same folks who either want to severely restrict our rights, or eliminate them all together, are the same folks who insist they have their rights, and we shant infringe on them?

They demand the right to to force you to eat what they demand appropriate (or not eat things they deem inappropriate), worship (or not);  their right to ‘free’ health care, welfare, food stamps, citizenship, protection both from and by the State (can you say paradox?), ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

And demand you give up your natural (and Second Amendment enumerated) Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Just an observation.

Call your Senators and Congressman, repeatedly to stop the continued erosion of our rights.  Yes, my request is ironic.

Boy, It Just Doesn’t Stop!

I receive some diverse emails from varied sources.  Last night, not so much…

First from the National Association for Gun Rights:

Dear Guffaw,

“You bet!”

That’s what Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake said when asked if he supports President Obama’s nationalized gun-control agenda. ¹

To make matters worse, he’s now touting President Obama’s rhetoric when it comes to expanded background checks.

“All of us Republicans and Democrats recognize that we need more effective and broader background checks,” he recently told Politico. ¹

This sort of Washington beltway blabber is what we’ve come to expect out of Arizona’s Senior U.S. Senator, John McCain…

But watching Junior Jeff fold like a house of cards after spending months paying gun owners lip-service is disappointing. ~

This, after many of us wrote our Senators pleading with them NOT to buckle to Senator Feinstein and the state socialists!  I heard back from Senator Flake’s office just a few weeks ago stating he supported us!  Is he lying?  (I know, his mouth is moving – he’s a politician!)

THEN,

Dear Guffaw,
TODAY, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on Senator Dianne Feinstein’s anti-gun bill…which would BAN millions of commonly owned semi-automatic firearms and BAN ammunition magazines that hold more than ten rounds.

YOUR SENATORS NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU RIGHT NOW!!!

Please call both of your Senators today at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to OPPOSE the Feinstein Gun Grab bill.

Tell your Senators that President Barack Obama’s own Justice Department recently reported that any ban on semi-automatic firearms WILL NOT WORK…unless it includes mandatory gun buy backs, which is federal GUN CONFISCATION!

Senator Feinstein herself told CBS’s 60 Minutes that if she could get the votes “for an outright ban, picking up every one of them — Mr. and Mrs. America turn ‘em all in” she would do it!!!

If you live in Arizona, please call Senators Flake and McCain, TODAY!  Hell if you live in Flotsam’s Mistake, NJ! call them.  And call your own Senators, too.

I’ve called and sent emails, more than once.  They need to hear us…RIGHT NOW!

Don’t count on someone else to do it.  Take action!  Call the number above an let your voice be heard!

RINO Form Letter

Some days back, when voting on the Feinstein Make-It-Illegal-To-Possess-A-Modern-Firearm ‘Assault Weapon’ Ban bill seemed imminent, and Senator McCain was supporting measures designed to stop the filibuster measure against it (?!), I both called the offices of both AZ senators and sent them E-mails expressing my concerns and disapproval of both measures.  And ANY and ALL ‘gun’ control measures.

(Have you contacted YOUR Senators, yet?)

The same day, Senator Flake sent me an Email confirmation of my communication, along with verbiage stating he was not in support of any such measure.

Senator McCain’s office response? (crickets – chirp-chirp-chirp)

Until, a couple of days ago!  I finally received a form letter from Senator McCain’s office.  It says in part:

On January 16, 2013, President Obama and his administration introduced a twenty-three point plan which lays out both executive and legislative proposals that would attempt to prevent future violence. As the details of the President’s proposals become more clear, I look forward to reviewing them, and working with my colleagues to find sensible solutions that respect the Second Amendment but also help us prevent these type of horrific events from ever happening again.

While I am an unwavering supporter of the Second Amendment, please know that I will seriously consider all reasonable public safety legislation…

The RINO is charging, yet again!  When is he ever going to learn that more control simply means more control?  And that acceding to the demands of the ‘reasonable-sensible solutions’ folks is simply more tyranny for the law-abiding?

There was a time that Republican meant smaller government.  Of course, this was before a P.O.W. and veteran came forward to claim Barry Goldwater’s seat in the United States Senate.

Barry would be outraged.

Sigh.

Message Received

So…

Ol’ Guffaw has his routines.  Routines are comforting, because they provide order and structure in an otherwise disorderly world.  I like my routines.

I’ve been ‘carrying a gun’ now, on-and-off since 1974.  Thirty nine years.  That’s a long time.  And since Arizona has had CCW laws in place, almost daily, unless I was severely restricted (like at my former workplace).  I carried.  Of course, I did carry to-and-from the workplace.  Don’t tell anyone.

It’s part of my routine.  Shower, dress; put wallet in one pocket, keys, cellular telephone, speed strip and folding knife in another, the snub in her holster in another. (Unless I’m carrying the 1911 IWB).  I’ve taken to carrying the snub more.  Laziness, I guess.  It’s my routine.

Unless I’m distracted.  My roomie had to work late, so, I was on my own for din-din, a rare occurrence.  Not my normal routine.  A distraction.  Went to Ted’s, a Buffalo NY origin hot dog place (charcoal-grilled, don’t ya know!).  Then to an event at a nearby public library (I know, I’m wild and crazy!)

Upon arriving at Ted’s, I did the usual self-frisk, checking to have keys before locking the car, wallet, knife, and sidearm.  (This is known in my circle as ‘spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch’, if you know the joke.)

And I had no firearm!  For some reason, I simply didn’t gear up before leaving home!  I had my wallet, keys, cell, speedloader and folder.  No gun.

I thought, “Oh, well, I have my knife” (like I’m a freakin’ ninja!) and had dinner @ Ted’s, then went to the library thing.  The usual door was locked, with a sign reading, “Must Enter By Front Door”.  So, I had to walk all the way around to the front, a semi-serious distance for a disabled guy like me.

And I asked at the information desk.  Seems they are now locking secondary entrances after 1830, due to increased crime in and around the facility!  WTF?  Fortunately, nothing happened.  (There was a security guard who looked up from her smart phone long enough to see I was in the building, then went back to more important stuff.)

And tonight’s the night I was the opposite of vigilant!  What a maroon I am!

Message received. 

It’s gonna be ‘spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch’, with more emphasis on the watch, in the future!

How Time Flies…

January 26, 2013…

January 26 has always been a weird day.

• My Mother passed away on this date when I was in primary school.  I’ve very few memories of her.
• My nephew Brian was born on January 26, 1966.  Guess that makes you almost OLD, huh bud!
• And I left my last employer on this date in 2009, admitted to the hospital, as I was having difficulty breathing.

Turned out to be diffuse large cell lymphoma.  I spent the next six months enduring chemotherapy, weird pain, weakness and hair loss.  And weekly doctor visits.  It looked for a while that I wasn’t gonna be around to write this blog nonsense.

But, here I am .   I’ve been more than fortunate.

People sometimes gasp when I recount certain chapters in my life.  My leg disability at age 12, loss of my daughter, and being a cancer survivor.  While I’ve had my moments, it’s nothing compared to Brigid’s brother and his battle against lymphoma.  Or CoolChange (c)(c) watching over his beloved wife, now in hospice.  They need all your good thoughts, and prayers, if that’s what you do.

And if you donate blood, please continue to do so.  Or start.  And mark that organ donor spot on your driver’s license.  It’s the least we can do.

Sad PS – Rick (CoolChange) announced in his blog today that his beloved wife passed @ 5:55 yesterday.

Compulsive? Me? Naw…

So (I told myself) “I’ll get all these different tasks accomplished in my roommate’s absence.”

Fat chance.  (Why are a fat chance and a slim chance the same? – George Carlin)

To be fair, I did go to two grocery stores this morning, in preparation for the Christmas feast.  But I thought I’d be able to rearrange my bookshelves to accommodate more books, and clear the remaining boxes from my room after emptying their contents into precise spaces in the closet.

Fat chance.

I did get some of the bookcase rearranged, but, between the bending, kneeling and having to wear ‘Ed’ (the really big shoe) to keep my pain level at a minimum, work took it’s toll.  (Note-to-self:  realize that self-made projects expand to fill the time allotted, plus 25%.)  My back, knees and hands are now killing me.

But, I DID make a dent.  Progress, not perfection.

More tomorrow.

PS – I wrote this the next day.  It’s been three days more, still having ‘issues’.  Guess I’m officially old and out-of-shape!

Big Brother is Watching You DRIVE!

Instapundit brought us this little noticed gem (after the NDAA passed the Senate - quietly)…

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU DRIVE: Feds Requiring ‘Black Boxes’ in All Motor Vehicles.

If you don’t like the idea, you can submit comments here.

Coupled with Progressive Insurance’s Snapshot, both the private and public sector can now monitor your driving!

Don’t you feel safer, now?

h/t Glenn Reynolds