Category: Opinion

January 11, 2022 – The First 47 Years

January 11, 2022 /

Yesterday was my birthday. Another thing that I think makes me different than most people is that it seems like just another day. This is another huge difference between my feelings and my wife’s. For instance, through the years my celebrations are getting smaller and more subdued. Whereas my wife’s are getting bigger, grander and take a week’s worth of work to prep and several days to clean-up. I think that it is difficult for her to accept that I really don’t want much fuss to be made.

Last year, my birthday was on Sunday. It also happens to be the week of the month that we are committed to leading Children’s church. The pastor seemed genuinely surprised that I would do such a thing on my birthday. In fact, he has mentioned it several times over the year. I saw it as my commitment, regardless of what day it was and how crappy and selfish it would be to bow out at the last minute and cause extra work just because it was my birthday.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t want to work on my birthday. But that’s not different than the next day or any day for that matter. I suppose when you are born during the school year, it seems normal that it is a day of schedule and commitment from as far as I can remember. Transition that to work, it is the same as school and we just had a bunch of holidays.

Sunday, we had a nice dinner with my brother’s family and my parents. We drove about an hour to meet in the middle for everyone. Since we skipped our traditional Christmas Eve gathering this last year because of our caretaking responsibilities, it was nice to get together for a short period of time. I suppose that is my idea of an ideal party; people that want to get together, have a nice time and share some laughter.

I was thinking Sunday night as I was trying to fall asleep that I am 47. That is only three years to fifty and I will be on the back side of middle age, if I am not already. The strange part of it seems like this decade has been more enjoyable than the twenties or the thirties. Those two seem like a blur and were here and gone, but not the forties. This decade seems like it really has been six years since I was 40.

If I were to speculate, I would guess that there is a reason. In the early part of the twenties, I was focused on getting my degree. Then it was getting married, searching to find the ideal living situation and positioning in the career space. In my thirties, I had family born and solidifying career and sort of setting roots. Now, in my forties those roots have taken hold and the fruit is starting to come on.

With a fair degree of comfort and stability, I can fill up my gas tank if I want to, I don’t have anxiety over picking one holiday celebration or the other and I can find my way down the hallway in the dark. I think those are the things that make this decade more enjoyable than the previous ones.

End Your Programming Routine: I have had birthdays where it snowed (although that has been a while), I have had birthdays with flooding, I have had birthdays where I have been lucky to be on ‘Christmas break’ still but usually, it is a work day. I did have a good day. I enjoyed my time with the family and we had dinner and played a game. It’s not that it didn’t have some conflict and struggle, we did. But everyone made an effort to be more polite and accommodating. That was a great gift.

January 5, 2022 – PC Audio Comparison

January 5, 2022 /

Where are we going today?  It’s time to move beyond the year end wrap ups and goals for the new year for now.  I have recently bought two sets of PC speakers.  One retails for $30 and the other originally $200.  

I have never had the opportunity to compare items like this side by side so, I purchased them blindly.  The set on the right was purchased to give me consistent sound on my work setup.  In that case, the monitor had built in speakers but I was always having it changed to the built in sound and I was hoping that using the headphone output would be more reliable.

The set on the left, I purchase as sort of a luxury.  I had a set of speakers that was originally purchased in 2005 attached.  They worked fine, I was hoping to upgrade because I stream music and podcasts while I work.  Plus, I am also eventually going to send the old ones back to the Linux machine I setup so I can continue to play around with that setup (as soon as I get another monitor).

First and foremost, I cannot easily tell the difference between the expensive audio and the ones that were on there.  Yes, it also has a subwoofer and I think that I hear a richer and more balanced sound largely when I play music and I happen to be listening.  It doesn’t really happen when I have it on in the background and I am working away.

I did also test the set on the right before I plugged everything in for the final setup on my work side.  I thought that they sounded fine and everything works like I hoped it would.  I was considering buying a second set until I ran across the the Klispsch speakers.  I had seen them at Costco about a year ago and thought I might appreciate them on my computer audio since I play them a large part of the day but I couldn’t justify the price.  These were used (returns I think) and about a third of the original cost, so I thought why not.

Two years ago, I wrote about Amazon Warehouse and my opinion has only been reinforced with my continued trial of that business unit.  I bought another item from Amazon Warehouse where it works, however the on/off switch always gets stuck in the off position.  I have to manually flip it up each time I want to use the device. but it is not worth sending back as it does work. This is two in a row that there was some sort of defect or I didn’t get the deal that I thought I was getting.  I would say buyer beware when buying used items from Amazon Warehouse.  These particular speakers came in better description than described and were from a third party vendor, not Amazon.  But, I was already resolved to send them back immediately if there was some sort of defect other than cosmetic.

I do think the more expensive pair does a better job of more clear sound at higher volumes.  I can hear the subwoofer in the background along with the music which still sounds good.  That being said, I rarely have the volume up high enough to hear that difference.  I am perfectly happy with the performance of the more inexpensive speakers even though I do know what I am missing now.

End Your Programming Routine: I think it is hard to appreciate the subtle differences of more expensive PC audio.  I saw them advertised for use in gaming as well.  That may be a better justification as you are spending larger amounts of time in front of the computer than having it on in the background.  My recommendation, save the extra money and space and buy the cheaper set. 

 

December 29, 2021 – Snow Days at 46 versus 13

December 29, 2021 /

We had snow on Christmas Day. It wasn’t in the morning but started coming down in the early evening. It snowed all night and continued the next day. The last time I remember having snow (on the ground) Christmas day was 1992.  From my memory, there has been one, true ‘White Christmas’ here in my part of Oregon, that was in 1988 where it started snowing Christmas Eve.

I had a four day weekend.  Friday and Monday were holidays for me around Christmas.  I spent Friday cooking as I made mole from scratch.  We had a low country boil for Christmas eve dinner.  Saturday was Christmas and Sunday was a down day.  Monday, it was back to work, so to speak.  Since my mother-in-law was staying with us over the weekend, it was time to get her back home.

I shoveled a path on the deck, stairs, driveway and a few access points.  Part of why I did that was forecasts were all over the map in terms of high temperatures.  I didn’t want the packed snow to ice over and be days worth of problems, including the driveway.  When I got to her house, I knocked the snow off of the awning, shoveled the snow off the roof, shoveled a path to the door.  We then discovered that the water line was frozen.  I spent an hour defrosting that and getting the water running.

When I used to work outside of the home, a snow day was not a day the office was closed, unlike the kids school or working for the state, like my wife.  I would plan extra time to get the car cleaned off and drive half speed or less.  When I had the ability or forethought to take my equipment home before the storm, I would work from home while everyone is watching movies and playing in the snow.

In 1988, my brother and I got mountain bikes for Christmas.  We road them in the snow and ice for the first time.  Needless to say, we found that combination didn’t work too well.  I don’t remember my brother’s outcome but I know that I laid my new bike down several times that day.

I suppose that I get my tendencies from my parents because a snow day was just a regular day.  They would go off to work in the morning and we were left to ourselves. We lived on a hill in the country and there was some traffic but not a lot.  We would start a fire in the woodstove in the shop and sled for hours down the hill, every couple of hours going into the shop to warm up and dry off.  

There is a stark contrast between what we did and my kids.  They don’t really play together, not even making a snowman or snowball fight.  I would estimate that they barely spent an hour a piece over the last couple of days outside.  Maybe they get it from me?  I was spent from the month of December and the hours in the kitchen over the last week.  I just wanted to sit down and watch football for a couple of hours.

It seems like a lot of people appear excited to have snow.  Here, it is about a once a year event.  But, the truth is, I don’t see a lot of people doing stuff and really taking advantage of it.  Maybe it is just a good excuse to do nothing?  I guess what I feel like is that there is everything that needs to get done, plus more work and time to do it.

My son asked me if I was excited that it snowed. I told him that I have spent winters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Canada;  not really.  I used to work for a Canadian company and the majority opinion was that it was better to live somewhere where snow was not in the daily routine.  One guy even told me that people had winter cars because of the salt on the roads (at least he did).  

End Your Programming Routine: I like seasons, I don’t think I would do well in a semi-tropical climate.  Last year I wrote about the transition to Winter makes you appreciate the Summer and was necessary for life to recharge and grow strong.  That being said, I am OK if this is our annual snow event.  It has been a number of years since we have seen any accumulation of snow.  I really appreciate that I don’t have to add several hours to my drive or even leave the house at this point.

December 23, 2021 – Happy Festivus

December 23, 2021 /

As you know from last year we do celebrate Festivus here at AltF4.co. While most of the activities are difficult to convey in written format, the airing of grievances are particularly suited.  I think traditionally, grievances would be associated to people attending the dinner, but in this case I am not going to impose that limit.

I think that we all recall how the year started out.  January 6, a huge group of useful idiots stormed the US Capitol. With shock and amazement, six people died participating in a manufactured crisis and subsequent legal/PR/propaganda clusterfuck this turned out to be.  What a perfect beginning to 2021.

  • Oregon’s own Governor Brown – I saw a survey a couple of weeks ago that listed Kate Brown as the least popular governor in the United States.  It is no wonder that I have a problem here.  Granted, not all of Oregon’s problems are related strictly to the figure, but it is a good start.  Whether it is losing freedom or imposing administrative fear in the population, she has earned her Festivus place.
  • The ‘Rust’ crew – This has got to be one of the dumbest tragedies of the year.  Fools playing with guns mix live ammunition into stage work and someone dies.  I feel so bad for the director (and family) that was likely innocent but also the victim.  There is no doubt to me that Alec Baldwin is reaping what he sows here.  The flimsy excuses and nonsense that has subsequently come out as a result makes me hope that those involve pay dearly for negligence.  Even terrible accidents happen which I believe this was, the fact that no one takes responsibility for this is deplorable.
  • Useful idiots –  From Jessie Smollet, Antifa and woke culture to Proud Boys stooges both sides play parts in the ongoing drama.  As I keep saying, it doesn’t matter which side you are taking, if you take a side you are advancing the agenda of both sides of the political dichotomy.  We are all losers here.
  • Monetary Policy Makers, Politicians and Media reporting – The ‘official‘ inflation rate is 6.8% for 2021.  Those of us living in the real world know that the gerrymandering of the statistics that go into the number is a farce.  Let’s look at some items: OSB – 3X last year, 2x4x8 #2 studs- 2X last year, available ammunition – at least 2X last year, 20# propane tanks – 2X last year, ground beef – 2X last year.  I could go on and on about every time I turn around something is costing significantly more than it used to (anyone priced houses lately).  It turns out that if you take all the items out of the calculation that actually have inflation, then you can get to 6.8%
  • Politicians (again) – Let us not forget that much of the inflation is tied to ridiculous Covid policies and stimulus severely effecting the supply chain.  The claim that prices are driven by raw material costs and availability are direct reflections of paying people not to work, disbarring rental contract enforcement and economic stimulus that has no other consequences but inflation.  Many of you probably don’t realize (yet, until April) that the checks the government sent in the summer were advancements on the Child Credit.  That money will be factored into your total income and in my case, I will likely have to pay that back.  Thanks US Treasury.  I didn’t need it, nor did I ask for it but just tack $2000 onto my bill in April.

Here are some honorable mentions this year.  I will save some of my vitriol and describe a simply disappointed.

  • OSU Beavers football team – At times they looked brilliant and dominated opponents, including the PAC-12 champions Utah.  They were 6-0 at home but on the road they looked downright listless.  This includes getting shellacked by 5-7 Cal and losing to Colorado at 4-8 in overtime.  As much as I wanted this to be the year of change, it was clear after the LA Bowl that this was probably a fluke.
  • Las Vegas Raiders –   I have always been a Raiders fan but this year I was hoping for more.  The Raiders were also my father-in-law’s favorite team.  This was one sports team that we could cheer for in common because I definitely didn’t want to talk about how the Ducks are doing every year.  The rest of the family was hoping for a good showing too to help transition through the grief.  It’s not over, but it sure doesn’t look good especially after being blown out by Kansas City two weeks ago and squeaking by Cleveland’s third string offense last week.

End Your Programming Routine: Just because I listed a bunch of bad things above doesn’t mean there weren’t good things too.  This is however the Airing of Grievances so I stuck to topic.  As I wrap up the year here, I hope that you take time to enjoy the holidays and focus on what is important in life: God, family, friends and building the Quiet Insurrection.  We wont fix this by electing the right people, we will fix this by being a better neighbor, having compassion and loving those around us.  

 

 

December 15, 2021 – When Your Fear of Dying Has Already Killed You

December 15, 2021 /

This is a tough subject and I am going to obscure some of the details for privacy purposes.  I am sure that there are people who can guess the subject and circumstances because they already know.  To them, I would say please respect the privacy of this person’s wish.  I am, by not naming or getting in depth with the details I think that this is a lesson for all of us. 

There is someone that I know that has a likely, terminal illness.  After seeking multiple opinions and specialists, the prognosis is ‘never been successfully treated’.  As every person in different, we don’t know what that really means in terms of what is the quality (and duration) or remaining life is.  I have an opinion based on observing  progressing symptoms, but I will keep that to myself.   

Growing up, I frequently worked with a local doctor doing odd jobs.  He told me one time that 90% of the men that make it to age 80 have prostate cancer.  I know people that have it right now.  The good news is that for the majority of men, they die of something else before prostate cancer.  My point is that there is ‘living’ with a fatal disease.

Let’s be honest, some day our day is coming.  I remember sitting in church one time and the subject of salvation came up.  The pastor was trying to get across and the idea of ‘still having time’ is one of the primary motivators for people’s sin.  I think death is like that as well.  When we do not have a sense of when the last day will be, we ignore doing the things that we should probably be doing thinking we still have more time.

Why am I talking about this today?  My observation of this person’s behavior is that they are so scared of dying that they are not living.  What does that mean?  I got a communication on Sunday from this person out of the blue that if I had been around any unmasked people that I should self quarantine for the five days prior to visiting.  Everyone reading this knows that Monday I talked about running around mask less on Saturday and Sunday.  

It is not that I am intentionally disrespecting this person, it is quite the opposite.  I even had a conversation with them in November stating that they have the right to direct treatment in any way they see fit; that includes barring people that have not worn a mask.  If I can, I will accommodate and I will take reasonable precautions and respect their wishes.  At this point, I am not going to change my values and beliefs just because we have philosophical differences.

As I do, I will digress a moment here.  This is a person that had Covid about three months ago and survived.   This is a person that has had all of the shots, including the booster.  Granted, I am not an expert in the current treatment, but I have dealt with enough doctors and the medical system to know that they are never going to give the green light to live your life, your way.  There is just too much risk out there, including their own liability.  

This is also a person never got deprogrammed and would see a headline and that would immediately support delusional constructs.  Try this one on “Immigrant Children Detained for Illegal Entry”.  This turned into Trump is coming for all of brown people and they have been separated from their parents to never be reunited as they will die in the concentration camps.  

When I talk about sharing more in similarities than differences I am talking about this situation.  I didn’t investigate the source of the information.  I would love to see the border open, if we get rid of the welfare state.  I am probably against separating children and parents in detainment.  But, who really knows the circumstances?  Maybe they were picked up separately, maybe it wasn’t safe to have kids with adults, what if the parents disowned them because they thought it was more likely they would make it into the USA?  My point is that you can’t just assume that the story is as reported.

A long time ago, I liked to listen to Dr. Dean Edell on the radio.  He was talking to someone about an eating disorder.  He said that they have done studies that starving rats would slow down metabolism and that they would live a longer life.  His point was however at what cost?  And do we know for sure?  What if you starved for 40 years to get cancer or hit by a truck, was that extra life worth it?

I have a step-Grandmother.  When I was young, she used to scare me (and my brother).  She would yell at us and shoe us outside from the pool table so that we wouldn’t interrupt her soap operas.  This was in the 1980s.  Amazingly, she had three VCRs to tape all of the soap operas concurrently.  My opinion now is that she was rough around the edges and didn’t have the patience for children.  As time has gone on, I have come to see a change to a sweet, old lady.  I do think it is a change of personality from my youth as a result of realizing that loneliness is worse than missing out on TV shows.

Getting back to my point here.  Fear is the result of programming.  Combine hope with fear and you have premature death.  By no means do I want to remove hope.  This is one of the main ingredients in successful treatment.    However, hope is not the same as living.  Hope will lead you to wait until the treatment is done and I think likely too late.  

End Your Programming Routine: At this point, I am not in a position to make the same decision fortunately.  I can’t help to think that if I was, I would choose my path differently. My wife accuses me of living in the future and not in the present, so I am not immune.  This does cause me sometimes to pause and analyze my behavior.  I still have time.

 

December 13, 2021 – Fascism 2.0

December 13, 2021 /

I heard something interesting on Friday. One of the reasons that Texas is in a different state of mind than Oregon is that people just decided that they were not going to comply, regardless of the rules.  When I was in Texas a couple of weeks ago, there were still signs everywhere that said masks were required however I would estimate 1 in 20 actually wearing one.  The rule became unenforceable.

I decided to run an experiment over the weekend.  I went out and about to check on mask enforcement and compliance.  I didn’t push too hard, but if I saw people going in or coming out without mask I would not where a mask myself.  So, I am going to run an point by point of my experience.

  1. Semi-Annual Gun Show –  There were a handful of people wearing masks but it was a busy event.  I encountered no problems.
  2. Local Music Store – I try to respect private property rights and it was posted masks were required to enter, so I did.  While in the store, two men came in without masks and the store owner confronted them and made them put on masks.  Neither side were happy over the situation.
  3. Sportsman’s Warehouse – No problems there. I walked in without a mask.  I would estimate 2/3 of the customers were mask-less.
  4. Costco – I was in there earlier in the week and I would estimate that probably 25% of the patrons were without a mask.  On Saturday I saw none.  
  5. Local pawn shop- When the people working there are wearing mask it seems pretty safe to enter without one and there aren’t going to be problems.
  6. Walmart- No mask-less customers
  7. Regional agriculture chain – 2/3 mask-less
  8. Local second hand store – No mask-less customers
  9. Liquor store – There were two ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ slogans on the glass outside.  I figured I was not going to have any problems here.

Emboldened by my experience on Saturday, yesterday I went completely mask-less.  When I did this experiment before, I was operating within compliance of the rules, it seems that few were willing to test that.  This time I was not.  

I am not looking to cause problems per se but I am looking to be a leader.  To be ungovernable means that you think as an individual.  If we had true, non-biased data with policy decisions made as such then I could respect and comply with that.   

I am going to change directions here.  Traditionally, people ‘comply’ when it is in their best interest or there is more to lose not because someone else says so.   Using one example, why do bribes work in China?  The practice is illegal and the punishment can be public execution.  Here are the reasons why: 1) the risk of being caught is low 2) the practice is extremely prevalent, see number one 3) Punishment is only used as an example, you have to have done something else wrong as well.

Today, my government has superseded freedom for the attempt at safety and security to the naked eye.  This is precisely the results of combining government and things that do not belong such as healthcare.  Now because they have become entangled, not only do they feel a responsibility to keep it operating, there are so many entities that are making crazy amounts of money under this charade. They all have a vested interest in kicking the can down the road as long as they can.  

This is why all the governments are pouring tons of resources into analytics and data modeling.  It is all in efforts to prevent the hospitals and the medical systems at large from failing.  The medical cronies get together with the ‘big ag’ cronies to create a food pyramid and other such propaganda to keep us sick combined with a system to keep us alive.  Those two enlist the help of ‘big tech’ to collect the data and market those ideas.  To which our society is addicted to and cant resist.  Don’t forget about the big banks who have created the monetary policy to help themselves to a lot of profit while funding all of these other endeavors.

And who runs the government?  All of those interests.  We are the witnessing Fascism 2.0 and guess what is their business? A compliant flock of useful idiots who think they are making a stand by picking one side or the other.  To be ungovernable means that we reject Fascism. 

I ran across this graphic this morning.  It is no surprise to me that Oregon ranks in the bottom 10%.  If I had a crystal ball, I would be willing to bet that Oregon could end up at the bottom of the rankings easier than all of the other states.  Why? It has the smallest population and it seems like the willpower to make it worse.

End Your Programming Routine: My prediction is that mask mandates are here to stay forever.  The only thing that will change that is if the people decide that it isn’t going to be so.  I also think that there is a window where we the people will have an opportunity to reverse it.  Once that window is shut, it is going to be very difficult to open it again.  It is interesting that the mask represents double entrendre.  When you are not wearing one, your face is visible and identity exposed.  That is the way it should be.  

 

 

 

December 6, 2021 – What Is Wrong with Batteries?

December 6, 2021 /

It am starting out with anecdotal observation. It seems to me that say 20 years ago, batteries rarely failed. It also seems like today batteries nearly always fail. When I say fail, I mean that batteries leak and frequently ruin the device in which they are placed.

I use to believe when batteries were treated poorly for instance left in a hot vehicle for years, those were the cases where we would see a battery failure.  I can understand that.  I now deliberately keep batteries out of devices unless I am going to routinely use them.  You can see from the photo above that the battery in question was well within expiration date and kept at room temperature (below).

What you are seeing is my weather center display that is plugged in on the kitchen counter and has batteries for power back-up for things like the clock setup.  It is less than two years old.  That also means that the batteries have been in place less than two years.

Batteries that are labelled as ‘alkaline’ mean that the overall chemistry of the battery is basic or a pH higher than 7.  This is different than the chemistry of a car battery which uses sulfuric acid with a pH lower than 7.  Why does that matter?  If you are going to salvage the device, you need to neutralize the reaction in the right direction. 

Looking at the chemistry of the situation, the leaking battery forms potassium hydroxide which then reacts with carbon dioxide to form a crystal of potassium carbonate.  That then reacts with the plating on the terminals.  You must first stop the reaction.  Use an acid like vinegar to clean the corrosion of the terminal.  Then, neutralize acid with a base like baking soda.

Hopefully, the device is still salvageable at this point.  I have even gone to the point of filing terminals to try and get a new conductive surface with mixed results.  The only reason I even checked this was because my time was off and I unplugged the device to reset the time and date.  

There may be more to this story.  I am debating about calling the guarantee number because I am upset about so many battery failures.  I also have a remarkable situation as well that I might talk about this week.  Suffice to say, the weather center that this replaced was ruined by leaking batteries.  Remote controls, portable radios, LED lights and flashlights are all things I can think of off the top of my head that have been ruin in the last couple of years due to leaking batteries.

End Your Programming Routine: I also used to believe that brand and cost mattered.  It seemed like I had consistent failure with one brand over the other.  I also thought that paying more for batteries was less likely for failure.  I do not hold that belief anymore.  Like I said at the beginning, the only safe way to protect your devices is keep the batteries out of them unless you are using them.

December 1, 2021 – A Tour of the Free States

December 1, 2021 /

The trip we took last week took us from Oregon to California, Arizona, New Mexico and then Texas. On our return trip it was everything in reverse.  I had an opinion on what I thought I would see and I will say it wasn’t quite what I expected.

First of all, it was standard fair for workers in all states to be masked. As we headed south, I expected California to be similar to Oregon in customers wearing one.  That was not always the case.  What I observed was in rural California people were not wearing masks and suburban California they were.  

As we moved into Arizona, I really didn’t see any mask wearing.  We only made one stop in New Mexico both ways and it seemed as though masks were an afterthought.  Finally, I would say ‘Dont Mess With Texas’.

Prior to 1836, Mexico occupied the Alamo compound as a fort.  They abandoned it and some locals took it over, still technically Mexicans.  The winter of 1836 the Mexican Army came back to retrieve a couple cannons that were left at the site a battle ensued.  That was the spark of the Texas Revolution.  The idea that Texans would submit to policy if it suits them is derived all the way back to this time period.  Among the chief disputes that lead to the revolution were individual rights and taxes, sound familiar?

What I think I observed was a general consensus of will not comply rather than what I see here.  If I could try to describe it I would say here there are two distinct camps, hard left and hard right.  What I saw in Texas is an acceptance that we are just not going to comply.  For instance, in all of my travels I did not see a single pick-up flying a ‘Fuck Joe Biden’ or  ‘Trump 2024’ flag which I see on any given day here.  What I did see were signs that ‘such and such city government requires masks to be worn in this location’ and no one complying.

To me this means that in the hard left states like Oregon pushes the opposition into extreme positions.  It is like trying to block the daily tides, you might get lucky but that is really unlikely so all you can do is hope for a miracle.  In contrast, in Texas there is a general ease that this is the way things are and doesn’t require people to go to extremes to promote one side or the other.

My overall impression was pretty favorable with Texas.  I have lived in the south before and I would say that Texas attitude is more refined that of say South Carolina.  Of course not everything is roses, there is high heat and humidity.  Fire ants and cockroaches and other bugs and no real public land.  But, you cant have everything. 

End Your Programming Routine:  Where I will come down here is that the real difference is the urban-rural divide.  It is not necessarily state lines that define attitude and behavior but common values.  If you are ever driving on I5, there is a barn between Yreka, CA and the Oregon border that has a roof painted the statement ‘The State of Jefferson‘.  That has been there  before I was in college (mid-1990s).  Despite being in California that farmer shares more in values with Ozona, TX then the next closest neighbor in Ashland, OR twenty miles away.

November 30, 2021 – Lessons From the Road, Part 2

November 30, 2021 /

Let me just say that, I am bushed.  The drive home wasn’t as smooth as originally anticipated.  Day 1 we drove from Houston to Blythe, California, that is 1200 miles.  The plan was to drive from Blythe to home at a little under 1000 miles.  After Day 1, it should have been easier – nope.

Sunday, we were only able to get 200 miles in 10 hours.  I kept watching the arrival time get later and later.  We got to the point that our arrival time exceeded my start time for the work day.  The freeway traffic was showing red from LA all the way to Sacramento and we were running on 5 hours of sleep.  We decided to bag it for the night.

It still took us nearly 14 hours to get home yesterday.  By that, I will be getting to my finer analysis of the trip below.

  • I was worried about the weather, I never considered the traffic in the drive.  I5 was a parking lot all day Sunday and I never had any idea this would be the case.  I think about traffic during the weekdays but not weekends.
  • The original plan for the trip did not included driving my mother in law back (with all of her stuff).  We barely had room to move and when we stopped, we had to move stuff to move people to move stuff to get in and out.
  • Our overall planning for the time in Texas was weak.  I expected to work two days,  which I did.  That being said, the rest of the family did nothing on Monday.  We spent all day Wednesday driving to San Antonio (200mi one way) and back even though we past it both ways on I10.  I think that we could have done a better job of planning the trip so that we could have done more sightseeing while we were there.
  • It was extremely difficult to keep 11 people on track with only stopping for fuel and minimizing the down time.  I selfishly wanted to get home as early as possible because I wanted as much time as possible before work the next day.  No one else had the same urgency that I did.
  • I think a daily cap of twelve hours is probably a good limit.  That is still a long time in the car but it leaves a little more room for not keeping a blistering schedule.  There wasn’t a ton of sites that I would have liked to taken a little more time but having some proper rest in between days would have been beneficial.
  • Overall, the kids did a good job for the most part, the adults not so much.  There were several incidents of inappropriate behavior for no good reason.  For that reason, I will never do a multiple family unit in one vehicle again.  Between the difference in urgency and the plain ridiculousness, I will not do it.  It is not to say that I wont travel together, just not in the same vehicle.  That way, I have the freedom to go ahead if I want to.

I will probably post one more time about the trip and a different subject matter this week.  I plan to talk about my assessment of the states we crossed and how they compared with Oregon.  There are definitely some differences.

End Your Programming Routine:  I am not trying to be negative,  I am saying that I would do things differently if I could. Overall, this was definitely an experience for the memories.  And, I am not saying all memories are good.  The focus was on providing an experience for the kids and providing one more family get together as its current dynamic.  I think that was accomplished.  I am pretty sure the kids felt like this was an adventure despite what my opinion was exactly and that is the best I could hope for.

November 29, 2021 – Lessons From the Road, Part 1

November 29, 2021 /

Never having done anything quite like this before, some things sound like a better idea then before you try it.  This was a two pronged approach to getting from our place to Texas.  The first one was that it would save us some money ultimately.  The second one was that it would be a family adventure.

There is no doubt that we have accomplished both but I also think that there are some lessons learned this trip, this time and this approach.  The original plan was to drive 36 hours straight from our house to Texas, hot swapping drivers along the way.

  • We didn’t actually rotate amongst all the drivers.  Adding additional drivers raised the overall price of the rental significantly to where we were starting to lose some of the cost advantage of driving over flying.  All of the driving was done by my wife and I, with me doing most of it.
  • Starting our trip on Friday evening was a good way to getting started from a time perspective but we were already starting to feel the fatigue Saturday morning from being up all night.  We haven’t solidified our trip home plans yet but it might be better to not start through the night and make the first day longer.
  • We only made 21 hours on the first day.  We had planned to go to El Paso but we only made it to Tucson.  That is where we stopped for dinner.  The thought of four more hours and arriving at a hotel at one in the morning to leave by seven was too much at that point.  
  • Thirty-six hours in a van is a long time.  I would give it a slight edge over an airplane from a leg and elbow room standpoint.  Of course the ability to stop and stretch was an advantage, but it was also a disadvantage that I will talk about next.
  • To think that nine other people were going to have the same dedication to the schedule and forethought about when and where to stop was a mistake.  We rarely went more than 100 miles without stopping.  And when we did, it was an event to get everyone back in the van quickly.  Out of our 19 hours traveling yesterday, over three of it was out of the car.
  • I never realized that my wrists and hands would be sore from driving.  There were very strong winds most of the day which required tight control of the steering wheel for a high-standing van blowing all over the road at any moment.   By late last night, my wrists were aching.  
  • Cell phone service coverage made the drive largely peaceful.  I am generally not a fan of the kids incessant use of the phone, however there was almost no fighting or complaining for the duration of the trip.  Between fatigue and phones the kids did a great job getting along.
  • Starting the trip with two cases of water and a tote worth of snacks was a good idea.  I think that it helped stave off some of the complaining along the way as well.  It also may have contributed to extra stoppage however.  

Getting in at 1AM and starting work at 7AM is less than ideal after a twenty hour drive.  We did also lose two hours (time zone change) by heading east.  That time is important when schedule is driving behavior.  

End Your Programming Routine:  I will definitely have a final opinion and recommendations in part 2 tomorrow.  We are still on the road as I write this.  That will be part of the story.