Christmas Eve 2012

Had a few minutes before I clean the bathrooms, so while I'm listening to classical Christmas tunes, thought I'd let you know what Christmas eve was like here.  Jake and Martyna took Gabe and Luke out to Seven Lakes State Park to romp around in the snow and maybe slide down a hill or two. Emma is finishing up some cookies that Brooke had started earlier.  Suhitha spent the night in Windsor partying with a friend.

The morning was spent playing with Omar and Gabe.  Brooke comes up with the most fun games that boys enjoy.  Brings back memories.  Toy cars were going over "Monkey-butt Hill" this morning.
Omar has a fever and I'm coming down with a little something.  My right ear is blocked and it makes sounds very different than normal.

Our nephew Ben was over last night and he had suggested jokingly that we could have the TV set to play a fireplace on Christmas.  I found a couple of them on Netflix and tried one out.  It was nice with christmas songs playing along.  Omar, being slowed down by  his cold, enjoyed sitting on my lap and watching the fire.

The tree is nice.  Jake, Martyna and I bought it at a farm and Jake cut it down with a saw.  We all trimmed it that night and it's so fresh and even.  It looks great with all the gifts underneath.  Gabe's big gift is a two-seater Jeep.  It is so big it is in the camper-van.  It is a beautiful blue with "chrome" accessories. Lots of decals make it very appealing to the very young group.  I wouldn't be surprised to find that Gabe buys a real Jeep one day.  

I gotta go.  We have a new toilet seat in the upstairs bath. The old one broke and I replaced it with a "no-slam" seat.  The occupants of the adjacent bedroom won't be awakened by the slam anymore.
Hope you are as blessed as we are this Christmas.   

How to Treat People

Once again I was reading last night before falling asleep.  That's almost as dangerous as thinking.  The author suggests asking someone how they would like to be remembered.  In their answer to this, they give hints as to how they would like to be treated by others.  I think the idea was to know what things they would like to hear in the form of feedback.  A person who wants to be remembered as generous would occasionally like to hear, "You're always so generous."  Or to be less obvious, caring, giving etc.

Some people like to receive gifts.  Flowers, jewelry etc.  Others just an occasional hug or maybe fixing them a favorite dish.  It would be good to know what your loved ones really appreciate.  There is a lot to be learned from the relationship between the father and mother in the Robertson family on Duck Dynasty.  The old man goes along with whatever his wife, Miss Kay, wants, it seems, as long as he gets some special dish or 20 minutes of rough sex in return. 

Just some thoughts on a Sunday morning.  Hope you are being treated well by your significant others and vice versa.  Perhaps some rough sex is in order or just a gentle wank.

  

Nation Lost

Hi all.  It is early morning on a Saturday.  I am up with the dog and cat.  I am going to break with an unstated "rule" and write about politics.  More to explain myself than to change any minds out there.

I was terribly disappointed in the results of the last election.  The choice of Mitt Romney over our President seemed abundantly clear, yet he lost.  

This has lead to many questions.  Mainly what are people voting for; or against.  Politicians use many techniques to get votes.  I don't know them all.  The parties do know them and will use them without shame.  To them it is just a game and all is fair.  If you can "paint" your opponent as mean, aloof, not one-of-us etc., and win with that strategy, then hooray, you won the game.  Never mind the lying and misrepresentation.

I didn't give politics and government too much thought until I was in my late thirties.  Most young people don't think about it too much.  The young are more idealistic and want "fairness" in the world. I was like that, too.  Robin Hood was cool, I thought, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor.  I guess it turns out that it was really more about over taxation by bad Prince John.  For me it was Maid Marian and archery.  

We don't live in an idealistic world, however.  The real world is very competitive and tough.   It is probably even worse than I know.  I've had it pretty easy and lived a sheltered life.  But, like Chris Farly says in the role of a motivational speaker, "You'll find out that you don't amount to "Jack-Squat".  You'll find yourself eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a Van, down by the river!"

Back to what happened in my late thirties.  My oldest son, Curtis told me about Rush Limbaugh.  Rush was a wacko right-winger on the radio, I had been told. I started listening to see what my son found appealing.  Rush was entertaining, funny and smart. He is not a Republican, he is a conservative.  The Democratic Party was much more conservative especially with Kennedy, by the way.  The thing that really startled me with Rush was when he was talking about some recent occurrance and predicted how it would be reported in the news.  A couple of days later here was the story on the evening news and being portrayed exactly as Rush had predicted.

I was impressed and still listen.  I still have my own mind, with my own thoughts.  I am concerned for the future of the country.  The human mind is pliable when young. When it sets, it is more like concrete, you don't want to change it.  Peace out.  

   

Papa Grande

It was the end of a long day for me.  I had watched MSU lose in over-time to Iowa and Michigan defeat Illinois 45-0.  I had made 16 pasties and since it had been a while between pasty events, I had  to spend time and energy finding all of the hardware that is used in the production of these culinary masterpieces.

All that completed I decided to watch the remainder of the first playoff game in the ALCS between the Tigers and Yanks.  The game was tied 0-0 in the fifth when I tuned in.  Soon Detroit scored two runs and all was well.  I wanted a couple of insurance runs and my wish came true.  A 4-0 lead going into the ninth.  Detroit brought in their closer, Jose Valverde, aka Papa Grande.  The closer's job is to retire the side of the opponent thus preserving the winning margin.

The last time Papa Grande had been called on was about a week ago vs the Oakland A's.  He had failed to hold the lead in that game and allowed them to win.  Something was off.  Usually his pitches are overpowering.  Now, with a four run lead, he was called upon to be the closer.  

The announcers on the televised game were Yankee fans.  One of them noted that Valverde's first fast ball was only 90 mph as opposed to his usual 94 first offering.  He later threw a pitch that was spinning, but not breaking sharply.  That indicates a lack of speed.  It was hit for a single.  Shortly after, a Japanese slap-shot artist, hit a home run.  Tiger fans held their collective breaths.  Another runner reached first and another home run.  There goes the lead.  The Tigers ended up winning the game in the 12th inning, 6-4.  I wasn't watching.

Checking social media, fans want Valverde dead.  I agree that he probably should not be put out there to preserve a victory at this point.  He, more than likely, is suffering some temporary "condition" that is affecting his performance.  It may be low testosterone,  a mild illness or lowered mental confidence.  
If the Tigers have a mind coach (hypnotist) available, put him to work.  Papa Grande will be effective again, even for today's game!  Then he can do his victory dance which enrages the opposing fans.

Missing Wife

I thought, before things go too far, that I would let it be known that my wife is missing.  Nothing to be alarmed about, but just in case, I wanted to get this on the record.  Don't want anyone suspecting dear old Ken.  Especially since I have been moving some dirt out of the crawl-space/tunnel with a wheelbarrow.  That has nothing to do with anything other than I wanted to clear some of the dirt out before I put the lawn furniture down there for the winter.  If only we lived in a climate where we could just leave the stuff out all year round.  

Last week-end we went to Toronto to help with moving Emma and family to new digs.  Suhitha's parents, Kumari(mother) and Nalaka(father), also were helping and had their mini-van, too.  These people worked their hind quarters off.  It's no wonder they are so successful in life.  The "kids" new house is very nice.  Older, but in good shape.  The rooms are large and have nice(to me) wood floors.  There is a front and back yard with grass.  There is a parkette very nearby.  The neighborhood is a mixture of younger families in condos and older people in houses, broadly speaking.  For details, check Facebook, if you are interested.

Nalaka and Kumari left Monday afternoon.  There was a cricket game he wanted to see.  I left shortly after them, bringing Luke back.  Brooke was to come later.  Not that day, but whenever.  Since their phone service wasn't in yet, I couldn't call and check on her.  I really wanted to but couldn't.  Please print out and save a copy of this, just in case.
I got home Monday night and Brooke hasn't shown up yet. It's Friday.  I'm not worried yet because with Brooke you estimate how long it will take her to do something, double that and then double that again.

I really, really hope she is all right.  Who would edit my copy?  I think I'll get drunk and listen to Conway Twitty, George Jones etc. It's funny though, I've been doing some strange things.  Digging in the tunnel and I got my air mattress out of the garage to see if I could fix the leak in it.  The last time I was with Brooke we slept on an air mattress together.  
P.S.  Just forget what I said about printing this out.

Hey, how about those Tigers.  I watched them close out the series with Oakland last night. 

Computer virus

I'm no expert on computer viruses but lately I've been forced to learn.
I have a laptop that I love.  I bought it on ebay and it came with a nice package of software on it, including Windows 7 Basic.  That's the first version of Windows that I've used past XP Professional.

It was working just great.  A few months ago, I can't say just when, an extra icon appeared at the bottom of my screen.  It looks like a shield,*suggesting protection.  I'm not sure it was there all the time but as time passed it was there more often and would flash as if there was some urgency.

This is a virus that mimics a security program.  The virus is called Live Security Platinum.  It runs a fake scan on your computer and shows a fake report that says you have 38 infections.  Trojan horses, maleware etc.  Of course you are fearful and feel vulnerable.
The program will not let you get on the internet.(says a program is trying to send your credit card numbers out to a third party) OMG. If you want to get rid of all the problems you must register you copy (which it claims is a demonstration copy)

You would use your credit card to pay for it.

In my case, I would think that maybe the Live Security Platinum was part of what came with the computer.

Welcome to the war.  I hope you never experience one of these, but I'm feeling we all will.  My advice is to take precautions ahead of time.  There is a good article on line from the university of Minnesota, which is written for students there, so they can avoid some or all of these problems.  One piece of advice is to make a user account on your machine and work from that.  Otherwise you will be the administrator and viruses can attack in that mode.  

My nephew, Don Miller, is a computer guy.  He's worked for computer companies all his life.  He has trained me in removing viruses.  I am awaiting hardware and software to continue my battle against these malicious programs.

I don't know the penalties for hacking but they should be harsh, dammit.  

Bye for now.  I'm watching the Ryder Cup.

*After further reading it seems the shield icon is a legitimate part of Win7.  I'm still thinking that that nasty virus is still lurking around though.    

  
 

Huge Yard Sale

We finally pulled the trigger and had a yard sale.  I say yard sale because we didn't use the garage.  I didn't want anyone in there.

I had done my research on how to have a successful sale but Brooke hadn't read them so they had minimal impact.  One useful tip was to have a fanny pack to carry your money in.  Of course you want good signs and enough change to get started. Another good one, don't badmouth your items.  One thing I read that I thought was good, was to think about your goals before you start, and let everyone who is helping know what those goals are.  Mainly, are you trying to clear out your house or are you trying to make money.

I'm not sure that we really defined that to ourselves.  I'd say eighty percent was getting rid of things and twenty percent higher priced things to make money.  The  great thing was we sold almost all of the bigger items.  We sold a set of chairs that I had been storing in the garage for ten years.  I also sold two dressers.  One was from the basement and was small, cute and painted...$50.  The other was an Eastlake style that Brooke had picked up at a church sale for $60.  I tried selling it on ebay but didn't get much interest.  It just happened that a young man stopped by and was very interested.  He was going to get it for his mother.  I was showing it to him and at the same time, an antiques dealer from Montana was looking it over too.  The antiques dealer, graciously took over the presentation.  He made many of the points that I had made and in the end said the price was fair for that piece.  That sold for $325.  

We had some items that we didn't know what they were until the customers showed us.  The antiques guy, again, bought a little wooden box Brooke had collected because there was a little wooden bird that popped up when the box was opened.  It was a Japanese cigarette dispenser.  Another item was in the shape of a rectangle with alternating plastic geometric pieces.  This turned out to be a Rubik's toy that you could make into various shapes...a cross, snake etc.

There were a lot of little vignettes with people, families, experiences.  People were generally chatty and in a good mood.  We had a lot of fun ourselves and worked well together.  

We sold a sterling silver ring for 25cents.  Brass candle holders 25 cents each.  Many other bargains if you looked carefully. I served cold watermelon on day one and cold strawberries on day two. How many yard sales serve hors d'oeuvres ?  Do you know what an hors d'oeuvre is?  So, these weren't technically hors d'oeuvres.

A kid of about 13 who had Down's Syndrome showed up with his sister.  The sister was probably 16 to 18.  The boy's name was Patrick.  He was wearing a t-shirt that read, "I DECIDED TO PUT MYSELF IN CHARGE."  We sold him a necklace with a moon on it.  He liked it so much he gave me a hug and Brooke a hug.  Later Brooke gave him another necklace with a starfish on it.  He may have been our most satisfied customer.

I don't know if we could duplicate this sale.  I doubt it.  The weather was perfect, other people were having sales and there were other activities(like the Crim) that were going on.
This was the perfect way for Brooke and me to spend our  anniversary.