Month: June 2021

June 30, 2021 – The Year is Half Over

June 30, 2021 /

With today being the last day of the month of June, this ends the first half of 2021. It is a good day to reflect on the accomplishments and failures of goals set at the beginning of the year.

January 4, I wrote a post about my goals at least professionally https://altf4.co/january-4-2021-altf4-co-looking-forward/ I stated my goals were

  • Q1 – Solidify branding and develop a marketing plan for AltF4.co
  • Q2 – Develop and implement a membership program
  • Q3 – Replace at least one blog post with a podcast a week
  • Q4 – Generate positive revenue

Those of you that have been following religiously know that life circumstances have changed dramatically since the beginning of the year. I will summarize the events of the last six months.

January – I was working for Amazon and doing a little side work. I had no real other prospects but I was running out of savings. I was hoping that I could make this a growing concern as well as build a business.

February – Suddenly a recruiter found me and tripled my salary from what I was making with Amazon. I had no choice but to follow the money and take a replacement position.

March – I started working to build a reputation and do what I could to get integrated into my new position. I needed to at least attempt my best effort. I also realized that I needed a separate space from the rest of the household and it needed to be conditioned.

April – After spending some cold weeks in the basement, I started in earnest building my office project. This has turned out to be taking most of my free time (of which there is not much).

May and June – More and more of the same. I am focused on finishing this project before spending time on other things.

So, by my own admission I have accomplished little of what I set out to do at the beginning of the year and therefore I am not on track to meet my overall goal. Largely, the biggest excuse is that my circumstances have changed but it may be because I didn’t really want to do it anyway. I think that I do, but a lot of that could have been done despite me working a new job.

My kids did buy me a microphone for Father’s Day. I am waiting to set it up when I have a little more time or maybe the weekend. That removes another excuse from getting started. It is always good to go back and review the ‘Toolbox Fallacy’.

End Your Programming Routine: As I sit here writing, I can’t say that this will become something more than it is. I am not even sure if this is precisely what I want to pursue. I can say that I enjoy it and I do put effort into it. So… I have to change my expectations, it doesn’t matter. I am going to throw a hand at podcasting this quarter. I have everything that I need to do so and I am going to find the time to do some pilot work.

June 29, 2021 – The Morning After and the Calm Before the Next Storm

June 29, 2021 /

Over the course of the last week, several events have been top priority, the weather, family events and my anniversary. Much of that comes to conclusion today. One of the most bizarre weather phenomenon happened yesterday, a return to normal.

At 1pm yesterday, I went to go get flowers and it was hot. Both the thermometer and the weather app said 108. By 2pm the thermometer said 111 and by 2:30pm it was reading 115. It was supposed to be cooler and the forecast said it was coming, but when?

It turns out that was the peak, because by 6pm the temperature was down to 85 and by 8pm it was down to 72. In the course of six hours our temperature dropped over 40 degrees.

When I say normal, I mean that it is normal to be highly scheduled because Fourth of July is this weekend. The Boy Scouts have a bunch of activities planned Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The annual children’s play performances will occur Thursday, Friday and Saturday (my son is in the lead). There are other family activities still to come like my mother-in-laws birthday party today. At least the temperature will be in the eighties.

Yes, they were already working on the hotel at 6:30am this morning. But that was the view of the serenity from our room. So you could see the serenity of the location. In a few short days there will be fireworks going off and throngs of crowds (to the left of the picture).

I think that we as parents want to give our kids the best experiences that we can. That includes enabling participation in all of the extra curricular activities. Especially after last year. Even though I went out of the home to go grocery shopping and miscellaneous errands, I think that my kids were homebound from mid-March through late April until we went to the airport to drop off our exchange student.

Most of the traditional activities were cancelled like summer camp, youth groups etc. Maybe I just notice it more because it was so quiet for so long and now it is return to normal with activities. Or maybe they are more involved because they are at the age where they can be. I am not totally sure.

End Your Programming Routine: I know at some point my wife and I won’t necessary have to escape to a hotel to spend time together. It doesn’t make the fact that we have very busy schedules easier, but it does mean that we took the time despite all that was going on to be together. Fantastic evening.

June 28, 2021 – What is Hotter, the Temperature or …?

June 28, 2021 /

Yesterday, an all time hottest temperature record was set at 113 degrees. That was after a previously recorded highest temperature recorded in June of 105. Needless to say it is hot for a place were I can remember a summer that didn’t get into the 90’s until mid-August. Even this morning it was 85 degrees at 4:30 AM.

When I was growing up, no one I knew of had any form of cooling in their houses, not even window air conditioners. The advent of the heat pump started showing up in the mid-eighties but it was still very uncommon. When it got into the upper nineties we were hot. We tried to slip and slide, eat popsicles and stay in the shade. Night was a sweatbox in the bedroom that I would estimate was at least twenty degrees above ambient.

Saturday, we had the state trap tournament and it was hot. We were outside all day, but at least when you were in the shade, it seemed bearable. Yesterday felt like nothing I had ever seen before (here). It was like an inferno being outside. Our struggling heat pump did manage to keep the main floor below 80 degrees. We only have central heat on the main floor. As long as you stayed inside, it wasn’t too bad.

I don’t want to just talk about the weather today. When I looked back to last year, I was roofing this time last year. Roofing is nearly always a hot activity at least every time I have done it. The real reason that I am writing this is today is my 23rd wedding anniversary.

It felt like the hottest day of the year even though I looked it up this morning and it wasn’t. It was eighty-five degrees. But, it had been raining all week and we were having an outdoor wedding so it was more humid than normal. Add to that, more layers of a black tuxedo and black rubber shoes and sweat was pouring out of me before the ceremony started. I remember that my feet were actually burning inside those crappy rental shoes. By the time we left on a limo ride to the hotel, we were both sapped and we needed to be at the airport by 6 AM the next day. I think that we were asleep by 9 PM.

When we first met nearly thirty years ago, my wife had a yin/yang flag hanging up in her dorm room. I don’t have any idea where that ended up but it should have been a sign for us because it really describes our relationship. Her family is big and loud, mine is small and quiet. She is passionate and wears emotion on her sleeve, I am stoic and guarded. It makes it really difficult at times because we would both prefer our partners to be more like ourselves.

That is what makes it work because we need what each other brings to the relationship. She needs my temperance and I need her free wheeling. Over the years, we have learned how to push each other’s buttons which have led to some pretty strong disagreements because we are so entrenched in our camp of belief or yin and yang if you will. For instance, I was essentially threatened that if I didn’t quit my job over two years ago then we should consider other relationships. I doubt that I would have ever been so bold as to quit without a parachute. But I can see her side as that I was miserable to be around. I was scare to do it but I was more scare not to.

Not having many comparisons to personally draw from, I would speculate that this yin/yang relationship is more difficult than couples who are more similar. I am sometimes envious of friends where they work on projects together or share the same interests. I think, wouldn’t it be nice if we both wanted to do the same things? It is the reason that I signed up to play softball this summer so that my wife and I could do something together.

I recognize that I have my flaws and contribute quite equally to the difficulty of our relationship. It is definitely not all bad and we don’t live in constant conflict. When we get time alone, we can enjoy time together. We had many years without children and lots of experiences together. We have travelled the world, lived in different places and made many memories. It takes work. I credit my wife for taking the rudder on keeping us on course because I avoid conflict if possible. As much as I don’t like it I recognize that it is necessary to iron out our differences.

End Your Programming Routine: So I ask again, what is hotter, the temperature, our conflict over beliefs, our reconciliation when we get to the root or something else? Every year we take time to do something special, this year we are staying at a new hotel in town. We have the best room in the place with a huge view (and serious air conditioning). It is still forecast to be 109 outside and maybe hotter inside. Hopefully we can make it last another 23 years.

June 25, 2021 – 1984 2:8

June 25, 2021 /

Before we get started, I am writing in anticipation of the hottest day ever recorded coming this weekend. It is supposed to be over 110 degF on Sunday. Current forecasts are between 111 and 113. So, while I am a little cold this morning setting at my computer at 67 degrees with shorts and sandals on, I know that the inferno is coming.

My feelings right now are probably a good metaphor for Winston’s situation in this chapter. This is the calm before the storm. We see Winston meet with Obrien and making his final commitments to his true beliefs. There isn’t a lot of transition between getting the invitation (last chapter) and the meeting where this chapter begins.

I find this chapter interesting but devoid of a lot of the heavy intellectual concepts that much of the book is full of. Part of what makes it interesting is that there are paradoxes that are not really well developed. For instance, Obrien lives and acts as a high party member but is supposedly a high level traitor who will disappear at any moment. I suppose that if you were to pin me down I could go with a couple.

Propaganda makes Enemy’s Friends and Friend’s Enemies- There has been a portrayal of the Eurasion race as sour, nasty and bleak. Now, it appears as Obrien’s servant Martin is an insider and confidant in the movement. Despite his lifelong training, Winston doesn’t react (much) to Martin being involved in the conversation. This is the perfect manifestation of political dichotomy today. Enemies are a far stronger tool to solidify an agenda and unite a faction. Once a faction is united, they are far easier to manipulate in the future.

Some Beliefs are Worth Sacrificing Your Life- As Obrien describes the process, it is portrayed as death is likely. It is also thankless and you will not see the results or know the strategy. This is a hard one to actually swallow as I have not been in this position. But, as I have written previously Winston realizes that there is no hope of the future. I can imagine that it is the final acceptance like the stages of death – acceptance.

I don’t want to reveal too much about the future of the book here but it seems like this could be a setup just as easily as it is Winston joining the rebellion. I am particularly wary of Obrien as it is hard for me to believe that he can be in the inner party and high level resistance at the same time. Corruption and politics are highly integrated, so I guess we will have to stay tuned to find out.

Another thing that I find interesting is that Julia has become a minor character in the book. I think that she was the vehicle to propel Winston into his thought position. It is clear that she has a role in his decisions and desired outcomes but really has had little interaction in the recent past including this chapter.

End Your Programming Routine: Maybe my mind is already baked and I am missing the significance of this chapter. It answers some of the longstanding questions about the existence of Goldstein, the Brotherhood, etc. The next chapter is the longest one in the book so maybe this is a transition primarily.

I guess the advice here is that the decisions have been made there is nothing left to do but accept it. There have been times in my life that I have made a major decision and not completely sure that it was the right thing to do. But without recourse, all you can do is move forward.

June 24, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

June 24, 2021 /

There is no doubt that even in Oregon the Fourth of July is summer and will be here in a little over a week. Time is ticking and hunting season is rapidly approaching if you need to get into shape. I wish that I could say that I am taking advantage of the nice weather and just enjoy summer.

In just a few days we will be in the Portland area for the state Trap tournament. Apparently, if so inclined we are also invited to the national Trap tournament in Michigan in July. At this point, we got too little notice to plan on that one but this one will be a good first start.

Today I wanted to talk about youth and shooting sports. In my brief exposure, I have found a generous amount effort to make it happen. Here are some examples

  1. Friends of the NRA donated half a pallet of ammunition to our team. Remember that a box is 25 shells, a case is 10 boxes and half a pallet is 50 cases.
  2. Before we got the donated ammunition, I had another coach drive over 600 miles to get our team 15 cases of ammunition to buy. That was enough to make our season work.
  3. Oregon Hunter’s Association paid our team to draw raffle tickets. After it was done, one of the members bought every team member a box of ammunition
  4. We shot an ‘away’ match at another club. One of the club members that was also there paid the fee (for targets) for the entire day.
  5. One of our coaches was driving over 150 miles per practice to coach our team and then coach another team after we were done.
  6. Our team is shooting on a range that belongs to the Elks. The Elks have given carte blanche to use the range and all of the facilities at will.
  7. A target manufacturer has shipped a pallet of targets out of distribution for us to pick up at a local location at cost.

These are some of the examples of the efforts that others have made to enable this team to happen. That kind of generosity is astonishing to me, but that is the way it goes.

I am not totally naïve, there is a degree of self-service helping youth shooting sports. This can be a lifetime activity, so discounts and building positive memories can build a lifetime participants (customers). But, when I read the body language of those giving, I get the sense that the act is genuine.

Wish us luck. The forecast has the temperature over 100 degrees, this is our first organized tournament and we haven’t shot in over a month. But, these are the things that build memories.

End Your Programming Routine: If you have a youth or interest, consider looking into the shooting sports. The largest national program is through 4H. But almost always local ranges have knowledge of the different opportunities available and from there, you can get more information. From what I have seen, people are more than willing to go the extra mile to get you what you need.

June 23, 2021 – Is the US becoming North Korea?

June 23, 2021 /

I ran across this article the other day. I am a sucker for articles about North Korea because I like to see the type of shenanigans that are happening. But I never drew the conclusion that the same kind of tactics that North Korea uses are showing up here.

This is an article written about an North Korean defector that is now a student at Columbia. Her name is Yeonmi Park and has even written a book about the escape. This is definitely something I am interested in looking into.

Yeonmi has some quotes that are just spectacular.

“The people here are just dying to give their rights and power to the government. That is what scares me the most,” the human right activist said.  

She accused American higher education institutions of stripping people’s ability to think critically.

“In North Korea I literally believed that my Dear Leader [Kim Jong-un] was starving,” she recalled. “He’s the fattest guy – how can anyone believe that? And then somebody showed me a photo and said ‘Look at him, he’s the fattest guy. Other people are all thin.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, why did I not notice that he was fat?’ Because I never learned how to think critically.”

“That is what is happening in America,” she continued. “People see things but they’ve just completely lost the ability to think critically.”

For some reason, WordPress is limited to embedding media within certain sources. And Fox News is not one of them. I really encourage you to take a look at the entire piece if you are into the subject. I half expected to not find it two weeks later, but it is still there.

End Your Programming Routine: Make no mistake that I think Fox News is any more a beacon of liberty than CNN or MSNBC. Remember, it is the other side of the dichotomy so they work hand in hand with their counterparts in advancing the machine. However, this one is a gem.

June 22, 2021 – Slum Lord Tactics, Custom Paint Colors

June 22, 2021 /

This post may not be super revolutionary but it can get you out of a jamb or at least save some money. For me, I am typically paying $60-$100 a gallon. To top it off, getting rid of leftover paint is also a pain. In my state, every container is charged a recycling fee. That is supposed to cover the cost of returning leftover paint for recycling.

A quick word about recycling. There is a company in the state that picks up all of the paint that is returned. Everything is sorted, for instance exterior and interior and by color. Then like colors are grouped together and mixed and finally standardized into a basic color palette to be sold at a value price.

I have personally never used the paint, so I cannot really comment on the performance or quality. I would consider it for applications that do not have high performance applications like interior paint or outbuildings that you just want to get something on. There is a lot of science involved in paint and just combining different manufacturers could effect the integrity of the paint.

Back when I was a youth and working with my grandfather, we would occasionally gather all of the leftover paint and mix it together. Often times, it would come out as a brown or olive color (as exterior). Interior whites were a no brainer, you ended up with some shade of white that was unique but just fine.

When you have multiple buildings to maintain, a smarter tactic is to standardize on one color. Many times we did use the same color, but there were times when it was inconvenient to drive across town to buy paint or a tenant had a special request or we were given paint and other such random events. Consequently, we always had a mishmash of paint.

I talked about this subject last year on July 1, 2020 when I referenced the color ‘Pandemic Pink’. That was a mixture of a lot of my random exterior colors that came out pink. Today I am going to mix leftover interior paint for my sheetrock priming. My plan is to mix about 1/2 a quart of yellowish/orangish with about 1/2 a gallon of purplish gray with one gallon of PVA drywall sealer. I expect it will come out as a light brown.

Ultimately, I am going to paint over it with something whitish because I want as much light as possible in the room. I just haven’t totally decided yet because I want to minimize the inventory of leftover paint. I also want to minimize cost so I am weighing total cost versus future utility.

Additionally, I wont go as far as saying paint has a shelf life but in practical terms nothing lasts forever. What I have found is that the container fails before the the paint actually goes bad. The ammonia used to buffer the paint (water-based) rusts steel and causes pinholes to let air in and dry out the paint. My point is that if you are saving partials for eventual touch-up you may find that your partial is no longer paint some day when you open the container.

End Your Programming Routine: As I mentioned above, there is a lot of science to paint. I am going to end it here today and save getting more detailed into the qualities of paint later. If you have a bunch of paint that you no longer need or want and a project that needs some painting, consider recycling it yourself.

June 21, 2021 – The Weekend Hangover

June 21, 2021 /

It has been quite a while since I have had one. Of course a lot of it was the lack of having a weekend (or job). Then with all of the social restrictions over the last year we just didn’t get a chance to have one. We made up for it.

It was kind of a belated family gathering because we didn’t get together for Christmas. We all had different things going on and just couldn’t quite swing it to make it work. My sister was the one that suggested we get together for a trip and that is what we did.

We spent the weekend at the house my brother-in-law’s family has owned since the 1940s. It seems like this area is a well known secret as we only a mile or so from Bill Gates’ and the Nordstroms’ homes. This is the water of ultimately the Pacific Ocean, in Washington. My mind is blown. I could never imagine anything like this on the Oregon coastline.

We left Thursday as soon as the my kids got home from the last day of school, around 1:30p and got back Sunday night at 10:15p . I am in full on hangover as we still have to unpack from our trip and get ready for softball tonight.

End Your Programming Routine: Welcome to summer; this is how things have gone in recent years. There is a lot more coming. I am going to try and recover for a couple of hours.

June 18, 2021 – 1984 2:6-7

June 18, 2021 /

So this week I read two chapters…what? That is right, two; primarily because the first one was only three pages long and the second one was six pages. Since we are gone today I am writing this in a hurry without a lot of time to really analyze what I wanted to say. I have kept this one pretty close to the facts without wandering around too much.

It may not have been one of the more impactful analysis I have performed, but there are some pretty powerful quotes particularly in chapter 7. These two chapters work nicely together. Chapter 6 has Winston finally meeting O’brien and arranging a meetup. Chapter 7 is his thoughts about and the consequences of that meetup.

Be aware of the deliberate action- When O’brien met with Winston, it was the first time that they had ever spoken in earnest. O’brien’s deliberate actions of speaking and writing his address was described in a theatrical manner. The conversation was innocent enough and in line with all expectations but the circumstances were not. As a result, Winston is aware that this is the beginning of the end.

Winston suspects that taking this step of meeting O’brien is going to result in his demise. He also knows that he is going to do it. It seems that the only thing that is not entirely clear is what side O’brien is really on. The implications of such is the duration before Winston disappears.

“The terrible thing the party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account while at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world. When once you were in the grip of the Party, what you felt or did not feel, what you did or refrained from doing, made literally no difference.”

Talk about a powerful quote from chapter 7. This is the quintessential description of the left/right dichotomy. It doesn’t matter which side you choose, playing the game is a losing proposition because either choice lands you in the system of control. This transitions into the second concept of the post.

To simply live is to be dead- In multiple places in the chapter, Winston references freedom over life. He says that the ‘Proles are alive, we are dead’ and ‘the object is not to live but to be human’. There is a strong connection being drawn between personal choice and freedom. This is why Winston is getting the feeling that the end is near because he is making those connection and realizes that he will never have the choices.

There are many anecdotal supporting stories from refugee camps or soldiers in battle or drug addiction where the people are alive but the circumstantial trauma has them devoid of emotion. I suppose that is my way of trying to relate something other that the post apocalyptical world of 1984.

End Your Programming Routine: 1984 is turning out to be a complicated work that is more than a bastion of liberty. That being said, these two chapters play right back into the cautionary tale of totalitarianisms. As much as I am not an emotional person, emotion is essential to humanity and by proxy life, buying Orwell’s Kool-aid.

June 17, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

June 17, 2021 /

Regardless of how you think you feel about the National Rifle Association (NRA), it is largely influenced by what side of the political spectrum that you subscribe to, whether you are a gun owner and if you have actually looked into the mission. I am here to say that there is the NRA that you think you know and the NRA that is.

First and foremost, the stated mission of the NRA is to promote safe firearm usage. That means it has to be accessible, which means that it must be permissible (legal) and affordable (to the majority). By far and away, they are the preeminent training the trainer organization, host organized competition and perform civil rights and legislation advocacy.

With that power comes corruption. Over the last four years or so the foundation has been crumbling. Some speculate that the NRA’s serious legal problems impacted the presidential election as well as critical legislator races because they did not participate at all in 2020. Many industry insiders are speculating that the existence of the organization is in question and criminal indictments are a forgone conclusion. News about all this can be found by searching the internet if you like to look it up for yourself.

There is a common saying: ‘A right not exercised is a right lost’. When is the last time you thought about the ninth amendment? Oh, you mean the one that says if it is not written in the constitution then it belongs to the people? Well there is one that we have lost isn’t it? To be 100% clear, it has to work with the tenth amendment which says anything the federal government doesn’t address (in the Constitution) is permissible for the states to address.

There is the concept of enumeration which means that some rights transcend the federal/state border, like the first, forth and fifth amendments. Non-enumerated rights only apply to the federal government. The second amendment is on the edge of both sides right now. This is where the NRA has been so valuable and why it is important to all active gun owners what is happening with this situation.

I know that your eyes might be rolling but civil rights have to be part of the overall discussion of exercising your rights. Without the right, I am discussing history or something else in this segment. I will be completely honest, I have not renewed my membership to the NRA in the last two years because of the situation.

This is a fight for the existence of the the NRA. The problem is that they are using all of their funds not to fight for the second amendment but to justify all of the legal problems. From everything that I have heard, malfeasance and fiscal irresponsibility are the reasons that they are in legal problems to begin with. I don’t want to fund the legal effort, I want to support the second amendment.

This hasn’t completely played out. There has been some very good work from The Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee to Keep and Bear Arms. These have largely been in the court and not on the legislative and lobbying side. They don’t replace the role of the NRA in the space, they supplement and enhance it.

End Your Programming Routine: For now, there is no heir apparent or resolution to the NRA debacle. Supporting organizations doing good work is part of the overall effort for sure. My point for writing this was to bring up what is happening in this space which seems to be quiet if you are not paying attention. Consequently, I don’t really have any good advice for the situation but to stay tuned to the overall battle and the changing landscape.