Month: December 2020

December 30, 2020 – AltF4.co’s 2020 in Review

December 30, 2020 /

Since I was a child, I always looked forward to that period between Christmas and New Years. The chaos died down tremendously and this was that brief period where rest seemed like the prescription before the new year cranked again.

When I was in my teens, it seemed popular to have the ‘best of’ countdowns on TV, radio, magazines and newspapers. It was the best 100 songs of the year or the top 10 news stories of the year. Since it was pre-internet, there wasn’t an instant access to video clips or music like there is today. There were those songs that you sort of forgot about as time moved on because they were on the charts eight months ago and no longer on the radio.

I was driving home from work last night and I was listening to the Sunday sermon on podcast. There was a statement that made a lot of sense and that was ‘You should live your life like you drive a car; mostly looking forward, but sometimes glancing back and side to side.’ And the point of that is that you can’t get to where you are going if you are only looking in the rearview mirror. But of course, this is the time to put an end to this year and everything that went along with it.

I have kind of batted around the idea what I wanted this to be. One thought I had was the top ten things of what happened in the world, but I think that would be too pedestrian. I thought about putting together some sort of song list or something that represented the year but that seemed boring. In the end, I settled on my year in review and the highlights of my year.

  • January- We rang in the New Year in Whittier, California. I picked five ripe oranges off a tree as we were heading back home January 4th. We had a tremendous week and a half family vacation which turned out to be tremendous luck that we took our trip when we did because travelling soon became impossible.
  • February- Right before our trip, we had a water leak that caused the ceiling to collapse in our pantry. Once the damage was repaired, I spent most of January and February building cabinets to replace the pantry and turn it into a more functional space. This was my most ambitious all wood woodworking project to date.
  • March- This was the month where our lives were impacted by the ‘Coronavirus’. School ended a full week before spring break, my wife’s office closed that same week. We cancelled our couple days of vacation that we were going to take and went into ‘lockdown’. Fortunately, we had some distinctly un-Oregon like spring weather and the weather turned mostly nice from here on out.
  • April- We said good-bye to our exchange student. Even though his Visa was good, he wanted to stay and both parents were OK with the decision the exchange program was not. After we signed a waiver for him to stay, they rescinded the support like insurance and such. All was quiet and melancholy at our house for a couple of weeks.
  • May- The weather changed for good toward summer this month. I went from working on the apartment four to five days a week to seven days a week. In the back of my mind, I already knew that I was behind and that there was so much to do that I really didn’t have time to waste, especially because we were still in quasi lockdown anyway.
  • June- This was the month that we started hosting small group at our house. It was really a rededication for me to get more serious about my commitment to God. I have gone through the waxing and waning of church attendance, devotional reading etc. Each time as I come back, it seems that my tuner gets a little clearer. It seems like I am hearing more.
  • July- This was all remodeling, all the time. I am trying to think of a highlight for this month but it is all kind of a blur. I guess if I were to pick one experience it would be roofing the new addition with my son. I don’t know if he learned anything but it was kind of fun teaching him. Side note: we got it right the first time, no leaks.
  • August- The apartment is complete. Tenants move in the first weekend. I wasn’t completely done until the second week. I still had, garbage to deal with, materials to donate, and a mess in the garage.
  • September- I don’t really remember this month. It was the month of wildfire, we had two weeks of smoke and maybe I was in a daze. I had to come to grips that I no longer employed a landscaper and started spending time in the yard mowing, pruning, etc. I now find myself watching the weather to find the dry days so I can attempt to keep up with all the things that need to get done.
  • October- This was a month of disappointment. I chose to do handyman work and job search over going hunting. I was really disappointed but my dad said that they saw zero deer during the whole week. You know, I always want a chance but the comradery is really fun too. I don’t know how many more chances I will have like that. I hope that wasn’t the last one.
  • November- I guess that this was a leap of faith. This was the month that I was looking to make a move for a more menial, labor type job since we were moving toward the holidays. The interview was easy, I think the test was just having the perseverance to try. I was hired without being asked a single question other than “can you do the job?”
  • December- I settled in for regularly driving for Amazon. I have really enjoyed my time. Part of it is that I know I am not going to do this forever. Truthfully, I haven’t worked as much as I hoped I would from a financial perspective. I have been averaging about thirty hour weeks and it takes the best part of the day: from about 9am to about 7pm on the days that I work. Now that peak season has ended, the number of drivers on the road has decreased by about a fifty percent and consequently it seems like that routes are getting longer. Yesterday I was ‘on-duty’ for nearly eleven hours, the max allowed for a day.

Conclusions for all of this… I guess if you routinely document your life, it is easy to remember. But seriously, the big one is that we are not leaving the year in the same fashion as we did last year. The pandemic stopped monthly trap shoots, it cancelled my kid’s summer camp and other extra-curricular activities. My daily EDC now includes a mask and unfortunately I have to wear it all day when I work. I fear that we have severely damaged our economy as well as raised false flags of hope that we are all doing our part to ‘flatten the curve’.

One more quick tangent. I had a nice Christmas. It was the first one ever that we did not leave the house after we got home from Christmas Eve service, including when we lived in South Carolina. It is strange when fourty plus years of tradition suddenly don’t exist. But on the plus side, it allowed us to take some time in the day and just relax rather than just feel rushed. We did spend significant time cooking, so we go a little taste of the rush.

I hope that you enjoyed my year in review. This will be the last post for 2020. My next post will be talking about goalsetting and plans for 2021 so I will save all of that for probably next Tuesday. With that, Happy New Year.

December 23, 2020 – Happy Festivus, the Airing of Grievances

December 23, 2020 /

Before I get started and despite the negative tone of yesterday and today, I truly wish my readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays of their faith and culture. This will be the last post before Christmas. I anticipate one more between Christmas and New Year’s day.

Today is the fictitious Festivus holiday of Seinfeld fame which has five distinctive components.

  1. Decorations – A bare aluminum pole as a Christmas tree substitute
  2. Dinner – Some sort of semi-formal, family style dinner with the invited Festivus guests
  3. Airing of Grievances – Bring up issues that have happened all year long with the guests present. This will occur before dinner.
  4. Feats of Strength – Two chosen participants will duke it out to determine the year’s winner
  5. Miracles – Anything that would lighten it up out of the ordinary. It is just fun to say.

Today, I am going to write about concerns that I have from the year and moving forward. This is not intended to be a downer list but rather a stimulating and thought provoking post. I don’t know if I have said in the past on this blog or not, but I truly believe the situation is what you make of it. Without discussion or awareness, things only maintain status quo at best.

  • Working for an hourly wage may sound good on paper, but it doesn’t pay what you would think. In my case, the expectation was that I was going to work four, ten hour days in a week. The reality has been that it has been 3-4, six to eight hour days. My time stubs are averaging 30 hours a week. I don’t think that it is enough to justify the time output.
  • Creativity is dead in entertainment. The brilliance of Seinfeld as an example. It was funny, witty and edgy without being over the top. I feel like the last sitcom to hold the ‘best’ title recently, Big Bang Theory was none of those things and I have a chemistry degree. I get nerd humor. Streaming is now the best way to get close but even so I can’t keep up with the volumes of choices and seasonal release schedules.
  • The difference between the ‘free’ states and the quasi-totalitarian states has been exploited this year. The west coast has gone full jack boot on some industries like fitness gyms, movie theaters and restaurants. Who the hell is going to eat outside in Oregon winter? My position remains that vulnerable people need to take appropriate precautions, everyone else should live as they see fit.
  • Logic and Reason is completely absent from the majority of the population. We have the group that still thinks Trump will keep the office of President. We have the group that thinks quarantine and masks will ‘slow the curve’. We have the group that thinks rioting helps the image of Black Lives Matter. We have ‘camping bans’ as a policy for reduced homelessness. It feels like it is a school district ‘snow day’ when it snowed for fifteen minutes at three AM.
  • Media of almost any form is in the tank for one side or the other. It doesn’t matter which side. And by the way, the major social media platforms are the worst at censorship. They are imploring politically correct only messages. The fact that they have successfully polarized the population means that they win. Control has been surrendered. If you are accepting any argument where ‘the science has been settled’ or you are opposed to any argument because that is the argument, then you are being controlled as well.
  • Convenience over privacy rules the day and people just don’t care. If you have ever uttered or agreed with the phrase, ‘it is a good first step’ then it works on you too. Bills such as the Patriot Act have fueled the collection of data on you. Granted, most people don’t have much to hide (yet). But, I am sure that most people have things, do things that they would rather not share, myself included. I fear that it is too late at this point. We do not have enough technology for complete monitoring but the path is set. Let me put it this way, our laws limit surveillance to telephone wire tapping only, not e-mail, not text messaging, not private forum posts.

That is probably enough. Remember, we are probably more alike than we are different. I believe that God created us in his image, and that cannot be a mistake.

December 22, 2020 – Is Christmas Really What You Think?

December 22, 2020 /

This is for sure a holiday that I struggle with. Call me selfish, call me a Grinch or a scrooge maybe. I wanted so much to assign a newer or different reality to the holiday but chock it up to a long line of non-conforming beliefs.

Growing up a Christian, it was ingrained that this was a celebration for the birth of Jesus. My world was rocked when I was a Junior in High School and we talked about the origin of Christmas in Latin class. I had never heard of such things, it was so foreign that it took me years to accept the truth.

Alright, rewind. It is well established that the winter solstice has been recognized by indigenous cultures throughout the world. Winter solstice has a place in agrarian life because it celebrated the transition between daylight getting shorter and daylight getting longer. One of those celebrations was the Roman version, called Saturnalia.

Saturnalia was a celebration named after the Roman god Saturn, who happened to be the god of agriculture. One description I read was that it was that it was akin to Mardi Gras; an over the top party. I suppose that you could see the appeal, I mean who doesn’t like to have fun. Gift giving was one of the traditions that went along with week long party.

As the church was growing in influence and Rome was diminishing, the popularity of Saturnalia was not. It is believed that Pope Julius I co-opted Saturnalia into December 25 as the ‘official’ birthday of Jesus. Even though it is believed that his actual birthday would have been in the early springtime.

Maybe I just haven’t accepted the reality that everything is what it is. I guess that I shouldn’t be surprised people believe in traditions that are not always what they seem or are even based on reality as we are told. There is a lot different brands around the type of holiday be it ‘Hallmark’ or religious or ‘the magic of the season’. For me, maybe I will lean toward Festivus, for the rest of us.

December 21, 2020 – The Shortest Day of the Year and the Possibly the Shortest Post of the Year

December 21, 2020 /

At least that is my intention. Everyone in my household is on their winter shutdown, except me. I am finishing my week after working six days in a row. I have been delivering packages in the rain and darkness out in the rural areas of my area and I am ready for a couple days off to finish my Christmas preparations. As a side note, this will be the first day I will be working Christmas Eve for probably my whole career.

This post has some significance, it is my 200th post. That counts the two or three I began with in 2016 and didn’t really get rolling until December 2019. As I have mentioned before, writing has turned out to be much more therapeutic than I had imagined. I prioritize my commitment to doing this because I think that it is good for me. It allows me to analyze my thoughts and assemble a picture from what appears to be a jigsaw of life.

Tomorrow, I am going to talk about the real Christmas story. It ties into the solstice and the origins of western culture. I will probably take a couple days off from writing as well because it feels right to take some downtime and prioritize family. But for now, take comfort in the days only getting longer from here until June.

December 18, 2020 – The Best Christmas Tradition That You Have Never Heard of

December 18, 2020 /

I have referenced our hosting a Spanish exchange student multiple times this year. He was with us last year and told us the most amazing, funny Christmas tradition that you would not believe. My mouth was wide open as he was describing all the steps in the tradition. It is called Caga Tio.

The basic way it works is that you ‘feed’ the log for several days before Christmas. Then, on Christmas, you put all of the presents down and cover them with a blanket. Then, you give a stick to the kids (or people) getting presents and you all sing a song while beating the Caga Tio with a stick until it poops out presents (That would be the end of the song). You lift the blanket to see what the the Caga Tio pooped out for you. A more thorough history can be read on Wikipedia.

Our exchange student was from the Barcelona area. The people there identify with a sub-region called Catalan. While Spanish, their independent identity remains strong. There is a subcurrent of Catalan first, Spanish second.

I suppose that they would consider this kind of a stocking type activity. I had totally forgotten about this tradition that he told us about until we receive a Christmas gift from Sergio about a week ago. Some day, I am angling to get this into our Christmas traditions, probably because it seems a little irreverent.

December 17, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

December 17, 2020 /

I am a tactile person. I am also a frugal person but also a value oriented person. I want to ‘buy once and cry once’. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is any one holster shopping solution.

Inside the Waistband or commonly called IWB seem like the best compromise in concealability and function. However, they require coordination with your clothes. Pants need to be at least one inch or more bigger than you normally wear to accommodate the holster in your pants. But then, what do you do when you are not wearing a holster, your pants don’t fit well. Or what do you do when you gain weight or lose weight, again, your pants don’t fit.

It can be pretty uncomfortable to squeeze into pants and then have this extra bulge to contend with. Not to mention, keeping that kind of holster concealed can be a challenge. I have had it fall out. I have had my shirt come up and get hooked over the top if it is a little short.

As I was saying at the beginning, there really isn’t a way to to look at the different brands or try one without ordering from the internet. But, I tried something completely different, called a ‘belly band’ colloquially. It is a big strap that you put around your stomach, so it eliminates a lot of the problems with IWB and clothes.

I tested it while I installed the floor the other day. Everything stayed in place like it should and I was able to keep working fairly physically with it on. The velcro can be a little scratchy until it warms up to body temperature and seems to soften a little bit.

This is a good solution for several options. It offers the deepest of concealment so it will fit in with almost any attire that is not skin tight. It is also the best solution for active people who do things like running for activities.

It is also one of the cheaper options at $20. Since it is flexible material, it is also universal fit for firearm and body and you don’t need a bunch of holsters to change out firearms. I still believe that you probably need options. Not every platform is the best for concealed carry. My 5 1/2″ barreled Colt 45 is probably never going to get carried concealed, that will go out in the woods, outside the waistband, open carried.

I never considered this type of holster before but after using it a couple times, I really like it. If you are looking for a solution like this, I can recommend it.

December 16, 2020 – Light and Indoor Painting Tips

December 16, 2020 /

Recently, I was helping my wife paint her office. We were painting after dark with artificial light. It was also white over white. I was trying to use the ‘force’ to make sure that I did a good job. Everyone knows that it can take a long time to master the force.

You would think that when you are painting a very similar color over another, that you wouldn’t have to be that careful when painting. That is not exactly true because depending on the lighting situation, the spots telegraph through. When painting with artificial light, the glare masks the missed spots or really light spots.

I really prefer to paint in natural light to begin with, but that is not always a surefire solution. I noticed when painting the lighter over the darker, I needed the artificial light to see the spots I needed to touch up. The point that I am trying to make is that you will probably need to use different lighting conditions to validate your paint job is the best it can be.

When it comes to paint, I can provide some tips as well. I hold a pretty tight opinion of exterior paint but for indoor the brand is not as critical as long as you accept some things.

  • Indoor paint has must less performance requirements than outdoor paint. I would keep the price above $25/gallon and you will get a decent product.
  • Cheaper paint uses more cost effective materials. So, in that $25/gallon range you are likely going to get a PVA (or blend) versus and acrylic. Excellent scrubbing capability but will yellow when exposed to UV light.
  • There is a place for solvent based paint on the interior. That is woodwork and cabinets or things that are going to be touched frequently. Without an absolute cure time of several weeks for waterbased that paint tends to stay gummy.
  • The paint job doesn’t have to last a lifetime. You might want to change the color or sheen after ten years. Plus, who really scrubs walls anyway?
  • I like the look of flat paint the best, but plan to touch up spots periodically. The pigments used in flat paints don’t reflect light as well and also tend to absorb dirt on contact.
  • To mask or not mask opposing surfaces is a personal choice. I find it much faster to cut in with a brush carefully than to mask in most cases. I would mask when spraying, but those people are probably not reading this. Windows included. I can scrape off glass with a razor faster than masking for sure.
  • Buy quality tools and supplies to do the job. There is very little overall cost to the project in a $5 brush and a $20, but with proper care, the more expensive one will last nearly forever and do a better job.
  • Off-white masking tape versus blue or green. The off-white is less expensive and uses a solvent based adhesive. That adhesive can get oxidized and leave residue or not adhere properly. If used fresh and removed quickly it can save some money but not if you are going to leave it up for a month (potentially)

This is a good starter list of tips. I think most people know how to do this but maybe you learned something too.

December 15, 2020 – Social Media and Privacy

December 15, 2020 /

How is it that that these social media companies have become so big and so valuable? How do they make money when their product is free? Because we are the product. Everything we are doing is getting recorded and stored and analyzed and sold.

Even after we leave these sites, by going there once, we have enabled the tracking to begin. I haven’t seen ‘The Social Delimma‘ yet, but I have heard all about it. This will be on my short list of things to watch in the coming weeks.

We are rapidly becoming a society that will no longer have privacy. Without privacy, we will have no freedom. I really think that people don’t even care. I think that they are already so strung out on social media that they don’t care about the consequences of continuing.

Part of the reason that I am writing this is the ‘Cancel Culture’ and the manipulation aspect of this is driving new alternatives that at least proclaim to respect privacy. Building a brand as I am, I want to build it on a stable foundation, one that I won’t have to move if I invest the time needed to get it going.

Here is a list of alternatives that I have heard good things about

FacebookMeWe
TwitterParler
YouTubeOddessey
WhatsApp/FacetimeTelegram
Safari/Chrome/Edge browserFirefox

You see, the browser or the application enables the functions and starts transmitting data. The safest way to use these things is to login using a secure browser and not the application and then log out when finished.

I know, it is inconvenient. I know that you are not going to get instant notifications. But you see, this is the point of appropriate use. We have to train ourselves that it is not important to immediately acknowledge every ding and post immediately. These are the behaviors that get us hooked on the action.

Admittedly, I have been a very slow adapter of this technology. The only two I use routinely is YouTube primarily for knowledge and entertainment and also LinkedIn which I don’t believe there is a suitable alternative.

The good news for a some of these platforms is that they have built plugins to simultaneously post in two environments like Oddesey. That is a great thing for content producers that need to be concerned about de-platforming because their business is on YouTube.

I was reading this articles about COVID the other day in the local newspaper, not very carefully and I came across a quote. I had to reread the article to find out the credentials of the person that made the quote.

This is what encapsulates the problems of our society succinctly. People that ostensibly know better, giving advice or permitting non-sensible solutions. I would say that we cannot have it both ways. We cannot know one thing and do another. I think everyone knows that I stand for freedom and choice, including the choice to be wrong. But, if we gave a shit about our future, our privacy, our patients or whatever, then we need to stand on principles.

Why would doing something that does not work be better than doing nothing? Maybe he was misquoted? It makes no sense at all. The same with social media. If we know that it is close to evil, then why would we use it? I grew up in a world without it, I am sure that it is not necessary. If we are going to use it, then let us know what we are getting into and do the best we can to avoid the very worst of it all.

December 14, 2020- Testing a direct imbed

December 14, 2020 /

Previously, I wanted to embed a video without uploading to a platform, like YouTube. I don’t always want everything that I post here directly associated with my other accounts. I couldn’t do it on the free WordPress hosting, I needed to upgrade. Well, now that I have my own site. I was curious if I could do it.

This is Raya who has figured out that if she bounces the toy filled with a treat, she can get pieces to fall out. Consequently, she does a lot of bouncing of all kinds of toys in hopes more treats fall out. I filmed it because I thought it was pretty smart of the dog and it is entertaining.

As a slight different note, I have found that my new job takes more time than I anticipated. I have to leave the house by 9:45 and often I am returning between 8-10pm. As a result, I am hoping to try and stage some posts on my non-working days to fill out the docket a little better through the course of the week.

December 11, 2020 – Recycled Floor, Good For the Planet and Good for the Wallet

December 11, 2020 /

Maybe I will sound like a broken record but I am not going to apologize for how busy I have been. Between working 10-12 hour days, my wife wants her office done. Not only that, but there is a lot of Christmas stuff to do and I am trying to carve the time out. The frequency of blogging is suffering a little temporarily.

Two years ago, the room in the picture above was our walk-in closet. It was originally a small bedroom that we commandeered when our kids were born to move upstairs with the rest of the bedrooms in the house. As they have gotten older, we wanted a little distance and moved back into the master bedroom which we previously converted to a TV room. We did a swap and now our bedroom is now the kids TV room.

I took down the wire shelves and filled the holes and fixed the worst of the crappy drywall job that was done. We replaced the carpet in the TV room, but we were trying to save some money so we came up with the idea of reusing flooring that I removed out of the apartment this last summer.

Originally, I was going to save the floor because we were out of dumpster space and I was in-between donating it or maybe building an office so that I had a dedicated place to work. I also had some new planks that I had reserved in case I ever needed to do some patch work. After being installed for twelve years, I figured we probably didn’t need to hold on to a bunch of extra material.

I promised that I would finish the floor on Thursday because I worked today (Friday) and tomorrow. So, that is what I did. This floor cost me $30 to install because I didn’t have enough underlayment.

Now, we have a little clean-up to do. I didn’t handle it with the greatest of care when we decided to replace it. There is a little paint slop on it because we didn’t remove the floor as soon as we should have out of the apartment once we decided to replace it. It’s going to clean up though with an hour or two of effort.

Before I finish, I wanted to take a minute and recommend Habitat for Humanity as a source of used building materials. It is not my go to source for things, but sometimes it is a really good value. For instance, I bought a partial spool of wire, still 100’s of feet for $3. I am going to use that to build an AM antenna soon. I have bought windows and electrical fixtures when I really didn’t want to pay a lot for them. You need to go in with an open mind, but really they have almost anything you need including appliances and lightbulbs.

Another idea I have heard about is people buying used insulation. It comes from old commercial jobs. There is also architectural salvage places that save details and period craftsmanship for people that live in old homes (like mine). Bricks and other stones are resold, I haven’t personally seen this other than on This Old House.

Hopefully, I have inspired you to make something new again. I know that I personally took pleasure in clearing up some space in my basement and I think that it looks nice too.