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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
It is probably an understatement that I have been busy lately. I just came off of three days off and I barely had a minute to do anything other than the the things I have committed to. We are working on my wife’s office, selling trees at the Boy Scout tree lot, yard work and other seasonal activities.
For those that know me, they wouldn’t be surprised if I admit that I am kind of a Grinch. That being said, I am also a traditionalist. I am not happy to put up outside decorations or inside for that matter. But, I will never give into the artificial tree movement for the reasons that it is not right.
We have had the tree in a bucket of water for over a week now. Because getting the tree up requires my muscle, the only time I had to do it was before work, so I started working on the tree at 6:30AM.
Because I live in Oregon, natural Christmas trees are normal. I didn’t see an artificial tree until I was a teenager at least. I know that a lot of people live in places where you can only buy a tree from a lot, because it was shipped in from somewhere else. However, I thought that I would provide some tips about Christmas trees just in case.
Getting a wild tree
I have done this a number of times. I would have to say that far and away, this is my favorite tree activity. Permits can be purchased for $5 from the US forest service. You go up to the national forest and you find a tree (that is in the national forest boundaries) and you cut it down and take it home. They will provide you with a map and some suggested locations to get started.
Check the weather. Early snow can make access difficult to impossible. Nobles tend to be at high elevation, above 4000′ are are the first to lose access.
Plan for adventure. Bring supplies like lunch and drinks and tire chains as well as saws and straps to get that tree. But also think about sleds and possibly campfires. This is an outing more than a to do.
Don’t push it if you start to see snow. This can turn deadly if you don’t respect mother nature.
Wild trees are spindly and sparse. If you are into that, then your in luck. Some varieties like Douglas fir can have pretty wimpy branch strength.
There are some limitations. Trees have a slot window (bigger than, smaller than Y) for harvest. They must be a certain distance from the road and stumps need to be cut to the ground. It is surprising how big trees really are when you get up to them versus at a distance. This can make the hunt challenging, but rewarding.
Going to a tree farm
This is typically our go to. You go to a place that grows a lot of trees and you cut it or someone else does. Often times they are geared toward the younger family set with Santas or tractor rides and such. Think of it as the Christmas version of the pumpkin patch.
Dress for the weather, the fields are often muddy and wet.
Help is usually available to bale the tree so that it is compact for travel. They can help load it or secure it to the vehicle as well.
I find this a little monotonous. You can most likely find the tree that you want, size, variety and look. But, they all sort of blend in together after a while.
This will likely be the cheapest tree to buy. You are not paying the fuel to go into the mountains and you are not paying the lot mark-ups.
Tree lots
Press the easy button on getting a Christmas tree. Pull in, look around, pay and go. My boy’s Boy Scout troop operates a lot every year. We spend a fair amount of time working the stand and plenty of people buy trees that way. We did this year too.
For best selection, go early in the season. If you are looking for something larger or a particular variety, it pays to buy early. The business aspect of this leads inventory to shoot for the biggest sellers and to sell out if possible.
Price shop for the best value. There are very few options in our small town as most of the competitors have gone away over the years. But I have seen a range of prices that vary from “I can’t believe someone would pay that” to “we don’t even buy them at that cost”.
Most tree lots are fundraisers for programs (in our area). It doesn’t feel so bad to pay more when I know the profits are supporting good causes.
Tree lot trees can be cut over a month ago. If you live somewhere outside of the pacific northwest, tree cutting for Christmas trees begins November 1 for destinations like California and Panama (really? Yep). I can say for our tree lot, I saw the trees cut and then I hauled them to the yard that day.
I was going to go into tree care, but this is already getting long. So, I will save it for another day. I hope that if you haven’t gotten your tree and you don’t have an artificial one that you will get it this weekend. I think our stand will be out of trees by the end of Sunday.
There are some common truths in niche circles around gear, specifically footwear. As I have mentioned previously, my upbringing was frugal and I still have a hard time letting go of some of those tendencies. I have held on to shoes that as long as they are not falling apart, they still have life. As I age, I am starting to change my opinion on that definition of life left in shoes.
Several years ago, I trained for a half marathon. It was supposed to be a goal to be more healthy at 40 than 30. As life got in the way, and I mostly mean work, I didn’t make a half marathon at forty, but I did at forty-one. I ran a number of different races in preparation and I met a lot of people, most of which were much more serious than me about running.
A commonly held belief is that running shoes have about 150-200 miles in them before they are worn out. Training for a half marathon at 5-10 miles a day, that is about a pair of shoes every month or two. What I noticed is that my hip and or knee would start bothering me about that mileage and the pain would go away when I switched to new shoes. So, I guess that I concur with that consensus.
A lot of those shoes would not appear severely worn out other that what I would see is tread wear at the heal. I felt bad throwing out a mostly intact pair of shoes, but I couldn’t keep running in them. The pain was not worth it. So, they would get rotated into the casual wear pile. For that type of use, the pain would not appear unless I was literally on my feet all day, not something I would plan on but would occasionally happen.
I didn’t run seriously long enough to develop much experience with all the different brands. I have always had an affinity with Asics that goes all the way back to my cross country days. Trying and using multiple models from that manufacturer, some were really great and others I hated. I tried other brands along the way as well; I have never liked Nike, New Balance seem to take a long time to break in but seem to last longer, Fila – No. There are still others that I would like to know about but never got the opportunity.
I say all that because I believe that shoe comfort and performance is personal. I suspect that mass manufacturing has enough variability in the tolerances causing users different experiences in use. There are some specific stores focused on running apparel that take pictures of your feet and pressure points to provide optimal performance like Road Runner Sports. This of course comes at heavy price. Average shoe costs are running at $150-200. They do offer great returns and sell used items kind of like REI and Patagonia do for there circles.
Running is one example, but there is also a colloquialism in hunting that nothing ruins a hunt like bad feet. Boots also come in many different styles and features. There are many different designs for different applications and terrain. High lace is supposed to help for ankle stability. Mountaineering boots tend to be super stiff. There is insulation at different levels.
What I have learned about boots is that I would prefer a non-insulated boot if I am going to walk a lot because you feet tend to sweat with that kind of activity. I haven’t been in cold enough to benefit with the amount of insulation that I have in my current boots. Many have soles that are glued onto the shoe which makes them non-serviceable in the future, if the glue fails. I also like a waterproof boot because I don’t need to be as careful where I step.
This whole diatribe is about the fact that I need new shoes. As much time as I am spending on my feet delivering packages, I am noticing pain with my old shoes. I have one pair of shoes that I bought last spring to start training for a multiple day hike that are still usable. They are running shoes, so my feet are getting wet walking in wet grass and stepping in puddles. So, I am looking for a pair of waterproof, low hikers. I want to keep it light, durable and comfortable. I haven’t decided on a brand or model yet.
I wanted to go through all of this to encourage you to consider the condition of your footwear and provide some of the insights I have learned with my sporting activity. You shouldn’t need pain and being on your feet a lot, consider this some of the most important gear you can invest in. One more thing, I feel like you get what you pay for for the most part. I am not convinced a $50 versus a $75 pair makes much of a difference but $40 versus $180 could.
I had a few more things to say about being an Amazon delivery driver yesterday. I was running up against my deadline to get ready to go for work and I thought about putting the whole article on hold, but instead will continue today.
One of the things my employer asked me to do in my first interview is google ‘What I learned from driving for Amazon’. So I did. And I got what I expected. There were former drivers complaining about the pay, the pace or volume, the use of the phone and software and how it was wonky or clunky.
I guess that it is just me, but it is pretty much everything I expected on all of those fronts. Put it the other way, imagine only being on the job a week and delivering 180 packages in foreign neighborhoods. From my personal experience, nearly impossible. Half my deliveries are in the dark and I cant even read the addresses on the house. Without the device pointing me in the right direction (almost always correctly) I could probably only do it in the daylight. This time of year there is at most nine hours and we don’t get loaded until almost noon.
I have also been big on honoring the original terms of the agreement. So as for pay or work, those were stated up front. I find it disingenuous to complain about those things when they are constants set when the employment is started. I am under no illusions that this will turn into a salary replacing career, this is just something new to learn about and make some money.
7. Having a bathroom close by is underrated– This is one thing that takes some getting used to and strategy. Being on the clock, I cannot just leave to go to the bathroom. Sometimes, I am literally more than fifteen minutes away.
Why is that significant? Because lunch break is only thirty minutes long. So that is fifteen minutes there and fifteen minutes back. See the problem? In theory, if you are right next to one then no big deal, but if you have to drive somewhere then you have to clock out to do so. You are then impacting your route and finish time to use the restroom.
Being both winter and COVID, parks and other public areas like parks are often closed as well. I know, in the country… well getting caught is a termination offense so tread very lightly there.
8. Thirty minutes is really short- Back in my software days, I used to eat while I worked. I am not a break taker by nature. I was thinking that I would have to invent things to do during my forced lunch break. In reality, I don’t have time to eat while I am delivering other than snacking and I don’t really snack.
I typically drive somewhere to use the bathroom, take ten minutes to eat and then it is time to drive back toward my route again. Ten, ten, ten and lunch is over. I should say that we can take more than thirty minutes since it is a non-paid break. But, I don’t like delivering in the dark very much so I would like to get as much done during the daylight as possible.
9. I spent more time writing than I realized- Going into this, I thought that I would layer this job into what I was currently doing. It has proven more difficult than I thought. At night when I get home, I am tired and mentally drained. Then there are family responsibilities and dinner and getting ready for tomorrow.
By the time I leave the house at 9:45 AM and return at 9:30 PM, it doesn’t leave time for a lot of extras unless I am going to subtract sleep. So, I am working to try and get a couple hours in the morning to write and look for jobs and such where I was working in this vein until almost noon before I was delivering packages. On the plus side, I am only scheduled for four days a week, I have always wanted to have an extra day off.
10. A list is always better with a good end point- The sun is out today. It looks like the fog has lifted and this is the end of my week. I signed up for call-in work, if they need it but I am kind of hoping to enjoy my next three days off. I have yard work, painting and putting up the Christmas tree to do.
I plan on enjoying my day delivering packages and hopefully seeing new neighborhoods today. I hope that you enjoy your day too.
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