Nom de plume: Rivrdog

Merry Christmas

Big family celebration of Christmas, biggest in years. 3 out of 4 kids, their spouses, friends, all here for a feast today, then more of it at mom-in-law's tomorrow (I'm cooking the main meats, stuffed boneless pork loin roast today, beef rib roast tomorrow).

Festive, gift-ive, and a "pax romana" in place for politics.

For the next two days, it's about the Joy of Christmas, as written in the Book of Luke. It's about the basis of our lives, too.

Somehow, it just seemed more important to "do it up right" this year. Maybe that's a portent, maybe not.

Celebrate in your spirit.

Merry Christmas.

I want my hero medal from Obama

...for single-handedly pumping up the economy.

For the past few months, My 2006 Vizio 42" Plasma TV picture has been getting worse and worse, with something in the white-balance section slowly burning up, probably.

I had a trusted tech over ($95 service call) and he applied a tech-knowledge solution, re-soldering the board in a particular place, as those boards were known to have a few factory defects.

No luck, didn't fix it, so the One-Eyed Monster went to the shop on Wednesday.

Called to check yestiddy, and was told the main board was toast, needed a new one. I asked for an estimate, and was told $250 for the board, and $100 to put it in. Doesn't fit the "one-time repair allowance" rule, since a new plasma in that size is less than double that figure. I had seen one at Fred Meyer department store, a Samsung, for $629, so I ran out (to beat a coming snowstorm) and bought it, and my neighbor and I installed it. Beautiful picture, installation went like a dream.

Then the gudwife gets home from Xmas shopping, and tells me that she thought we had a 5-year extended warranty on the old Vizio. I called BS, because I did not remember buying an extended warranty. SHE called Costco, and confirmed that they GAVE us an extended warranty, and it was still in effect.

I'm soon going to be a TWO flatscreen owner, because the TV manager at Costco said "bring it in, we'll give you a new one". We're planning a second-floor gym and rec room in my daughter's old master suite (this house has two master suites), so I will now have a proper flatscreen to divert myself with while working out on the treadmill, which has a video gizmo that shows scenery going by as you run (and it sets the treadmill to hillclimb when the video shows a hill, etc).

I think I deserve a citizen's achievement medal from Obama, for pumping up the economy in a sector that is weak (electronics sales are down 3.8% from last year).

I won't be greedy, Mr. President, you can strike that medal in bronze.

An adequate Demonstration

...of why the racist assholes that are the BOW movement, or the Black Panthers from where they sprang, and yes, ACORN, if they're supporting the assholes,

Will never win!

Early Winter

This is a little early, we usually don't get these Arctic Blasts until Christmas or later, and some years, we don't get one at all. NOAA predicted an El Nino winter regime for us, which was supposed to start out wet and mild, and transition to dry and mild. We've had about normal rainfall so far, but now seem to be locked in modified Arctic or Arctic regimes for the near future. Definitely NOT El Nino climate.

The current bulletin:

410 AM PST SAT DEC 5 2009
 
 ...ARCTIC BLAST HEADED TOWARD NORTHWEST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST
 WASHINGTON LATE TONIGHT AND SUNDAY...
 
 A COLD SHOT OF ARCTIC AIR WILL ARRIVE LATE TONIGHT AND SUNDAY AS
 AN ARCTIC FRONT SWEEPS WEST ACROSS THE CASCADES INTO NORTHWEST
 OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON. DAYTIME TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN
 IN THE 30S IN MOST AREAS OF THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY AND CLARK COUNTY
 SUNDAY...BUT WILL STRUGGLE TO RISE ABOVE FREEZING ON MONDAY.
 OVERNIGHT TEMPERATURES SUNDAY NIGHT WILL FALL INTO THE TEENS AND
 TWENTIES ALONG WITH INCREASING EASTERLY WINDS.
 
 WIND CHILL VALUES WILL DROP SIGNIFICANTLY SUNDAY NIGHT. IN THE
 COLUMBIA GORGE...WHERE WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH WILL COINCIDE WITH
 TEMPERATURES IN THE UPPER TEENS TO LOWER 20S...WIND CHILL VALUES
 WILL DROP TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES. SIMILARLY...WIND CHILL VALUES IN
 THE SINGLE DIGITS CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE PORTLAND METRO AREA AND
 CLARK COUNTY FOR AREAS NEAR THE GORGE. FINALLY...TEMPERATURES IN
 THE CASCADES WILL BE IN THE SINGLE DIGITS WITH WIND CHILLS 10 TO
 15 DEGREES BELOW ZERO AT THE PASSES AND RIDGES.
 
 SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE CASCADES AND THERE IS
 A CHANCE THIS SYSTEM COULD BRING SOME LIGHT SNOW TO THE VALLEYS.
 THIS WILL DEPEND ON HOW THE SYSTEM DEVELOPS AND HOW MUCH MOISTURE
 IS AVAILABLE...BUT NO SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED.
 
 IT APPEARS THAT LOW LEVEL COLD AIR WILL REMAIN IN PLACE OVER
 SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON THROUGH TUESDAY...THEN
 SOME WARMING IS EXPECTED...ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT. TEMPERATURES
 ALONG THE COAST WILL BE THE FIRST TO MODERATE...WITH SOME WARMING
 POSSIBLE AS EARLY AS TUESDAY.
 

YOU SHOULD TAKE ACTION NOW TO PREPARE FOR THE VERY COLD WEATHER.

This cold northeasterly regime will last until Wednesday or Thursday, but when it finally yields to the milder and wetter westerlies, there could be a significant ice or snow event, happens over half the time with these Arctic Blasts. I've made my preparations, and with luck, might even get my Tango Uniform parlor gas fireplace fixed on Monday. So far, no gas tech I've used has been able to find the parts for the obsolete Comfortec model CDV36RN, but I'm hopeful. I may budget to replace it with a pellet stove next year if I can't get it fixed. I would have more heating flexibility that way.

The modified Arctic air in place now gave us a hard freeze this morning, and I could have run a snowmobile on the heavy frost on my lawn. My food-cubby heater was running a +Delta T of 8 degrees out in the survival shed, so I will have to either bump the heat to 1500 watts or supplement with propane heat when the REAL cold wave gets here tomorrow. I've got my carefully-hoarded, illegal-to-sell, REAL steel-studded snow treads on the Little Black Truck, just in case...all I have left to do is hoist my winter survival box into the bed, strap it in and I'm set for the worst Ol' Man Winter can throw at me.

Time's compressing.......

Gaaah! The plate is full at oh-dark-thirty! Weather people changed their minds overnight, now say we're getting a "back-door" cold front, so I am caught with zero time to winterize instead of the 5 days I thought I had. Have to build my "warm cubby" in the survival shed where the food/water sits. Then I have to drive 45 miles out to my boat and set the engine heaters up. Then get some winter tires onto two vehicles, because NOAA says "it could get interesting" next week, and that's weather-code for a snow/ice event.

Somewhere in there, I have to visit a hospitalized friend who just had a lung-lobectomy. There's also the possibility that I will be attending the funeral service for the 4 police officers killed in Lakewood, WA, whenever that's announced, probably around the end of the week.

But, there's a rant coming, turn the page...

Think tactically, act tactically (UPDATED !)

Regarding the horrific assassination of four Lakewood, WA police officers, there are some early but obvious conclusions to be drawn, with the help of this article.

Think tactically:

• Reduce your profile to your enemies as much as you can. Yes, police have enemies, and any cop who refuses to believe that should turn in his/her badge.

Act tactically:

• No, this does NOT mean wear camouflage and have two flashlights, a laser and a TV camera hanging off your weapon. It means (in this case) you don't have your entire shift with you having a cup at the same time, in the same place every shift, sitting at the same table, Sergeant. It means not acting predictably, Sergeant, that's all.
• You NEVER sit with your back to the door or to the front counter, NEVER. I learned that on Day One at my first police academy.

Really, this is how police patrol work USED to be done. I did it that way back in the good old days. In today's more violent times, the shift meeting for coffee en mass is a luxury no one can afford, because it entails risk that shouldn't be tolerated.

It's sad that the profession has to take a blow like this to bring home really basic working doctrine.

******************************************************************************

UPDATED: 113009 0948 PST: Commenter "Bob" has a VERY GOOD link. Go to it and read about former AR Gov. Mike Huckabee's involvement in this case. My take on the Huckster's involvement:

Even more interesting than the fact of Governor Huckabee granting clemency is how he did it while in office, frequently refusing to give the required statement as to why the clemency was being granted. To me, this smacks of him having a personal "hobby" of running State Corrections on his own whim. Such actions, of course, are the hallmarks of megalomaniacs.

It's also curious, a coincidence or not, I'd have to check the time groups involved, but didn't the Huckster just leak YESTERDAY that he wouldn't be seeking the Presidential nomination of the Republican Party?

Could be too many Willie Horton moments in the file for the Guv'ner.

Be Thankful

Let's be thankful that:

• We still have our health, and the health of our families.
• We still have enough money to put a feast on the table, even as the value of that money shrinks by the day.
• We have the time to eat that feast, and enjoy the company of relatives and friends.
• We haven't had to climb into field gear and take up arms to save our Constitution.
• We still have enough freedom left to even mention the thought above.
• Our churches, increasingly the Enemies of the State, can still open their doors for us to worship in.
• Our enemies in the leadership lack the smarts or the courage to really come at us, their opposition, so we may hope that their wrecking-ball actions will soon be a thing of the past as we maintain our resolve to refuse their "change".

Today, we can afford to put the current political situation which commands our thoughts and many of our reactions these days, into the background for a few hours while we offer our God prayers of thanks for the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that we still have.

Amen.

I'm a "contrarian"

Yes, and it's now officially recognized by a prominent blogger!

Hmmm, didn't do a thing to my referrer stats, but then, if I lived by them, I would have stopped publishing this "contrarian" blog about two days after I started it (almost seven years ago).

Contrarian. Curmudgeon. Denier, even.

Yep, that's your Rivrdog.

The world should be happy that not all bloggers parrot the party line, whether it be of the Left or the Right.

As an official part of The World, I'm happy, and that's why I read blogs and write several.

Ta-Da! (UpdatedX2)

Bought the netbook: Gateway LT2016U with Verizon Wireless' card pre-installed. Blogging on it now.

So far, so good. The Windows update routine was a 2-hour slog, but I passed the time by putting a phone book in my new cell phone. It seems that Verizon Wireless now lacks the capacity to put your old phone book into your new phone at the phone stores...what sort of bulltwaddle is THAT? There is supposed to be some sort of BlueTooth way to do this, but I need some family in the phone book NOW, and the learning curve for that BT transfer might be slow.

 Back to the grind.

BTW, this new mini has a camera in it, so I might just have to make up some avatars for Yours Truly.

******************************************************************************

UPDATE: 111809 1015 PST: Got about 95% of what I want on this machine on it. Got a rudimentary phone book into the new cell phone (an LG texter's machine). Tested the webcam, it works. Still getting going with GPS mapping with Google Earth, but GE is running properly, so it must be me that is the hang-up.

One question: there's no disk drive on this machine. Does anyone have a recommendation for a portable, USB CD-ROM disk drive (R/W) that will also read DVD? VZW sells one which looks acceptable for $100, sounds expensive.

******************************************************************************

UPDATE: 112009 0913: I bought the Samsung SE-S084 portable disc drive at Newegg for fifty bucks (thanks for the reference, Geoff). It was half the price of the one VZW sells, and that one was a read-only, whereas this one will write to both DVD and CD-ROM disks. It runs right off the laptop's power via a USB port, but if I'm using it a lot, I'll plug it in to the Gomadic USB power supply I just bought also. There's only one problem, though: the shoulder bag I bought to carry the netbook in seemed to have enough extra room to put a 1911A1 in, so I was going to do that, but with the adapters, cables, and the disc drive, there won't be enough room, WAAAAAH!

VZW's Droid phone...voting with my feet

After considering this smartphone to replace my clunky, but functional Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, I have decided, and I'm voting with my feet.

No Droid for me.

In fact, no more smartphone for me.

First, the Droid is flashy, but it's keyboard is poor, and human thumbs don't come with the fine point calluses on them that would be required to efficiently use the phone. At least my Samsung schI-760 has rounded keys that give tactile feedback when pushed.

Second, and this is the biggie, I like to have broadband connectivity when I am away from Blog Station Alpha. I've been using the smartphone as a modem, and the Droid will do that, but Verizon now wants to nick me for $15 over what I've been paying for that privilege.

So, I am going to get a netbook, a pint-sized version of a laptop. It will run on Verizon's G3 broadband system, do everything the normal-sized laptop will do, and run twice as long on it's battery as it's big brother. It's keyboard is real, not virtual, and my fingers will fit on it for real touch-typing. Yeah, I know I could have gotten a folding keyboard for my smartphone, but then I would still be stuck with it's small screen. The netbook has a 10.2" diagonal screen.

Unless I wear field jackets everywhere, I will have to carry the netbook in a shoulder bag, and that's a minus, but the belt-carrying I've done with smartphones for five years now has had it's tense moments.

OK that decision's made.

Now what do I chose for a dumb-phone (something I can text with)?

What netbook do I choose, and do I go with an open one using a Verizon card or a VZW one with the connectivity built in? If I get the VZW one, I get it for about a third of buying it, and since I would have had to have paid for the broadband use anyway, it makes no sense to buy an unaffiliated model.

I like this Gateway, offered by VZW.

Once I dump the crap off the hard drive, it should be even faster than it's advertised blazing speed. I suppose that MicroSquish will have to maintain XP right into the long future now that these new netbooks are running it.

There is a Windoze Seven model that VZW sells, but it's out of stock, unknown waiting period, and my question of will 2GB RAM be enough to run the new OS is unanswered on the 'net.

Time for Geezer Coffee Klub, then off to the Verizon store.