Opus 2019-133: On the Street: Quality Checks

There are a fair number of people who don’t like to buy things on line.  I am one of them.  I like to see and feel what I am buying.  I know that many on-line businesses have great return policies but if I can hold something I don’t need to mail it back, just put it on the shelf. 

One of the reasons I would rather buy in person is because I agree with the idea of buying locally and supporting the people who pay taxes where we live.  It isn’t always possible.  I don’t know how many times I have wanted a specific item but could find no place locally that carried it.  I understand how hard it is to keep a large inventory.

So I wanted to buy some dry boxes for ammunition.  I knew what I wanted and had an idea of what was available so I checked out the local stores, on line of course.  I found that a sporting goods chain called Academy Sports had what I wanted so I went shopping in person.  I had the cash.  I knew what I wanted.  I was ready to buy.  To sweeten the deal I was handed a coupon when I went in the store that made them more than competitive with Amazon.  I wanted four boxes and when I got to the shelf there were four of what I wanted.  Sweet.

Or not.

I opened the first one and took a quick look.  It looked good to go.  The second one had the hinge pin half way out and would not work properly.  The third one had half the hinge pulled out and the rim bent.  The fourth was the same.  I looked at the first again and saw that the hinge on it was bad too. 

I went home, ordered from Amazon and had them in two days.  They were in perfect shape.

I tried, but if they want my business the local stores are going to have to step up to the plate and do their part.  I don’t live in a socialist country, at least not yet.  If they can’t get their act together the competition will eat their shorts.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-132: Nothing But

It does not bother me that AOC was “nothing” but a bartender until she was elected to congress.  There is nothing wrong with working jobs that do not require a college education.  The problem with her is that she didn’t seem to learn anything important or accurate at college or behind the bar.  I guess the wise-counselor bartender is as much of a reality as the idea that a college degree means something.  I don’t know any bartenders but I know a lot of people with college degrees and so I can testify to at least half of that.

We tend to have an ignored arrogance about people who work with their hands for a living.  You have heard people confess they were “just a truck driver” or “only an insurance salesman” as if that was a lowly past-time.  We act like we don’t but how many people brag about their child being a plumber as compared to the child who is a doctor?  I am guessing that more people would die from disease caused by poor plumbing than can be healed by poor doctoring.  I think this is a common error in thinking.

So lay off the working stiffs of the world.  Where would us old people be without the kid who has a part time job and helps us carry our groceries to the car?  They are more of a blessing than the CPA who can’t get your taxes done right. 

AOC has become a laughing stock for thinking people because she is a dangerous combination of naive and ignorant, not because she was a bartender.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-131: Spam Bots in Vulture Mode

Being out of the loop did interesting things to my page views.  I don’t get into all the different nuances of telling how many people visit my site.  I check what Google gives me in the stats every once in awhile but what I saw today just reinforces how meaningless it is.

I wondered how not publishing for a week would effect the numbers.  Would it be lower because people stopped reading or higher because they kept checking to see if I was back in business?  What happened seems to be that the bots thought they had discovered a site gone defunct and they went crazy.  My page views for July went off the charts.  It was like a teen age block party with free booze. 

The lesson to learn is not to get too egotistical about this blogging thing.  I have already accepted that I will not get a call from NPR to replace the Prairie Home Companion nor will the L.A. Times contact me about a column.  Maybe if I stick with it I will be banned by blogger for my insensitive posts.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-130: Time to Raise the Curtain

I guess it is time to get my nose back on the grindstone.  I had what is called a “trigger finger”.  If I made a fist with five fingers only four of them would open.  It makes it rough for shaking hands.  The treatment is routine minor surgery but it puts your hand in a useless state for a time.  I am at the point where I can pick up a piece of paper if I am careful and type if I keep proof-reading but it will be weeks before I can pick up a hammer or push a lawn mower.

It is amazing the actions that demand two hands.

Opening cans
Buttoning pants
Tying shoes
Washing the opposing arm pit
Touch typing
Cut a steak

Then there are tasks that can be done if you are very careful.

Blowing your nose
Putting tooth paste on a brush
Putting on sox
Making non-instant coffee
Eat a good hamburger

I told the doctor if this were a hundred years ago I would just work around the weird finger but it isn’t 1919 so let the cutting begin.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-129: Hiatus

Hand surgery.  It will be a few days.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-128: Weather I’m Right, or Weather I’m Wrong

As the current hurricane, I believe it is called Barry, plays itself out in the gulf, a word of reminder might be in order.  If you are into watching the weather on TV you need to keep in mind that even the weather can be Fake News.  We forget that the programs we watch are not really there to inform and educate.  Like public schools, the broadcasters are there to generate revenue to pay their salaries and indoctrinate to their own position.

The weather man is probably not hired because he is a highly trained, professional meteorologist.  He is hired because he can hold your attention until the next advertisement comes on and get you to tell your friends the exciting things you heard on their channel.  If the weather man is a sexy babe then you can add “sex sells” to the mix.  Their job is to take some dry data and make it into a remake of Gone with the Wind crossed with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

All the data I could pick up said our current hurricane was a minor issue.  I am sure that if you were at the wrong place at the wrong time with no awareness you could have some problems but for those of us 600 miles away in the opposite direction it is not time to buy extra water and put up the storm shutters.  We were in Texas for Hurricane Harvey.  It swamped Houston and caused a lot of havoc on the Gulf coast.  Where we live we got some robust winds and heavy rains. 

I remember being in California when we had some serious rain and a few mud slides.  My mother in law called from out of state to see if we were still alive.  Seriously.  She was worried that we had been overcome with mud slides when we lived on the top of a rise.  Such is Fake News Weather.

As President Reagan said about a more serious issue, “Trust, but verify.”  If the bouncy babe on the news tells you it is raining the least you can do is look out the window.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-127: On the Street: Fooling Only Yourself

I was a witness to attempted deception yesterday.  I think it is called a “comb-over”.  It has been awhile since I have noticed one.  If you have never seen it count yourself lucky.  A comb-over is when a guy who is bald on top lets the hair grow long on one side and combs it over the top of his head to try and cover up the baldness. 

I don’t know why people bother.  It is futile.  It looks worse than just accepting the shiny pate.  I am not sure why being bald is such a big deal.  The only problem I have with it is dealing with the shine in my eyes when I am looking in a mirror and the light reflects.  It is who I am and has nothing to do with my value as a human being.

Of course I feel the same way about dying my hair and jewelry.  I don’t understand the concepts.  I think of it as being like the ancient Chinese tradition of binding the feet of upper class women to keep them small.

So guys, if you have lost your hair embrace the reality.  At the same time I am willing to let the ladies wear wigs if they choose.

homo unius libri