I talk about this today, but when I go back and listen to what I said, you always think about things that could have been said differently or emphasis changed in certain areas. Generation X is named so because it has no definition. Sandwiched between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials and waiting for the Boomers to step away with the Millennials fighting for the same positions it is hard to find a voice.
End Your Programming Routine: I realize that generation names do not define us as individuals. However, what is in common is a shared experience. There is an intangible feeling for how it was is common. Honestly, I don’t spend anytime worrying about whether my generation gets any credit or blame for anything. I just thought it was apropos that the voice of a generation was just a forgotten as the generation itself.
Just like when I read Atlas Shrugged and came upon the philosophical concept that ‘A is A’ this connection hit me in the face when I was writing about Animal Farm. I had never made the association that laws are moral when they fit our ethics. I have heard and even said, that law is immoral but I didn’t really get it.
But even more so than that, I finally figured out why all these things bother me. Despite the fact that I have little control over it, many of these laws violate my ethics. Don’t tell me what to do, dont prohibit by law items that have no victims, honor our tradition and culture. I don’t know, I have never sat down and figured them out. Maybe I should do that?
End Your Programming Routine: At the end of my podcast I holistically came to the phrase, “do things that matter”. This is what I try to do with all of the do-it-yourself projects and demonstrations that I do. But, I don’t emphasize that aspect of what I am trying to do enough (another epiphany). I try to offer ways to deal with programming, but I didn’t recognize that there is a second part to my tagline that I have left on the vine for far too long.
I hit all the hot buttons today like guns, abortion and drugs. I am attempting to make a contrast to different states going in different directions. For those of us ‘behind enemy lines’ it is hard to see any sort of light at the end of the tunnel. But, be awake we haven’t seen the fall yet… but it is coming. Rome took hundreds of years beginning with Nero in the year 54 and ending with the submission of the Roman emperor in 476 .
End Your Programming Routine: The reason Rome makes such a good parellel to the United States is because of the similarities of behavior. The largest global power falls because of narcissm. It’s no wonder the Afghanistan rejected our perverted form of freedom. Even the Taliban can recognize a bad apple.
My hair is on fire, I don’t have topics stubbed out for the week. I didn’t even finish my outline before recording this podcast. It was all I could do to edit a short five minute video over the weekend. To top it off, it seems like the world is closing in on us and I see some dark times ahead.
End Your Programming Routine: I don’t want to be all about problems, we have plenty of those. What spurred me to talk about this today was how I felt after doing what I did in the podcast. It is simple, why don’t I do it more? I am somewhere between glass half full and glass half empty. I hope that my little adventure spurs people to find the small joy in life despite the world burning around us.
My points here are that brands have some reflection of the consumers and that it is difficult to tell what brands are cloaked in conglomerates. This is some of the issues that I tackle today. Maybe I will talk about beer again, the research was kind of fun and informative.
End Your Programming Routine: Pepsi Clear didn’t kill Pepsi, New Coke didn’t kill Coca-Cola. OJ Simpson didn’t damage Hertz. But, all of these companies recognized the damage that was done to the brand and did something about it. Will InBev do the same or is this the signs of change? I guess time will tell but I think we have seen the end of Bud Light.
Join me on our road trip recap. I talk about our trip as well as some of the trips that we have done. We had a great trip and there are so many things that we could have done you have to pick and choose because of limited time. This is tips and tricks for inspiration of your own trip.
End Your Programming Routine: This was likely our last full family vacation. So, we did it with gusto. I wouldn’t say that we spared any expense. Someone on our trip that once you start to see some red rocks, they all start to look the same. I don’t disagree, so I would advise to make some variety in your trip, not just looking at red rocks. I have been thinking about a small RV for my wife and I to travel. Maybe that is in our future?
I have been doing a little watching of Seinfeld lately. This podcast is something like that, it is all over the place but actually going somewhere. I finished my book on the plane and I didn’t have a specific topic that I wanted to talk about. I did what I sometimes do and that is start writing. My topic was a phenomenon that often happens to me after business travel all week.
End Your Programming Routine: It is a very strange feeling to come home and feel like you don’t belong. I think that it is always a mental issue, nobody says or does anything otherwise, it is just the way I feel. It usually changes in a couple days and things are back to normal, but it is how it is.
After struggling with this all week, I finally got it to work. After my recent success of the podcast short episodes, I thought this would be easy. It turns out that I struggled every day with some issue or another. I literally spent hours trying to edit this and get the files in the right place.
A bad guy is someone that does you wrong. But there is more subtext than that. A Bad Guy not only does you wrong but also there isn’t much you can do about it. Notice the capitalization, this is a named title. So, when you spend your energy outside of your circle of control you are wasting it.
End Your Programming Routine: Am I admitting there is a problem? I sure am. People shouldn’t be bad and they shouldn’t make profit at the expense of others. However, it is easier to lay blame at some enigma rather than take responsibility for something . But when you spend your time fighting constant demons or specters, you fail to advance in the treasure map.
Let us not confuse gases with gas. Fortunately, the options for gases are much simpler. The big boy is propane and natural gas, but there is occasionally butane too. Natural gas is unrefined hydrocarbons, mostly methane. Propane is often interchangeable with natural gas and sometimes liquid fuels as well (more on that later).
First a chemistry lesson. All forms of fuel are hydrocarbons. The smaller the hydrocarbon molecule, the more likely its native form is a gas at human survivable temperature and pressure. In terms of stack ranking size: methane < ethane < butane < propane < pentane (which is actually a liquid a room temperature).
What is also true is that the larger the molecule, the more BTU per storage unit. This means that you can estimate the BTU potential depending on volatility. This means by BTU rank: propane < gasoline < diesel
What I am getting on about is that liquid fuels have more potential energy. And to punctuate that, one gallon of liquid fuel will burn more efficiently or longer than one gallon of propane. The good news is that it is propane is widely available at most gas stations. Many other retail locations also use a cylinder exchange program. It is running quite a bit cheaper than liquid fuels and something like half the price of gasoline.
Natural gas is primarily methane, an even smaller hydrocarbon than propane. The very nice thing about natural gas is that it is piped to your home. It also has a very strong track record of working if the grid is down. Pretty much if the pipe isn’t severed, gas is flowing. Hydrogen sulfide is added to both propane and natural gas so that you can smell it leaking. They are however not the same molecule.
The thing that I am most excited about is that many liquid using appliances can be converted to run propane. This often times means some custom parts, but often significantly cheaper than a second piece of equipment. As an example, my camp stove just needs something called a generator and a pressure regulator and a twenty pound cylinder will be cooking away, literally. Gasoline generators can also use propane or natural gas. This requires a change in the carburetor only. This solves part of the redundancy equation by fuel flexibility.
I am not a fan of the one pound, disposable cylinders. These would typically be the dark green ones that are the size of a fat water bottle. I find them wasteful as most recyclers wont touch them with a ten foot pole unless they have been visually punctured. They often won’t suffice for a weekend camping either. What I can say is that they are ubiquitous (if not in shortage like during the pandemic). It seems like every convenience store and hardware store has them.
I have recently found that there is a way to refill the one pound canisters using some specialized equipment. They are a little speedy once but I have seen the the single use canisters going for $7 each. That means that the system pays for itself pretty quickly. It seems like it was out of stock for years but now seems to be in the supply chain again and is on my short list of purchases to be made.
There are a plethora of sizes that cylinders can be purchased. Twenty pounds is the common barbecue size but there are plenty of 5, 50 and larger sizes at a lot of box stores. The one thing that gripes me about propane cylinders is that they have a stamped date and regulations stat that cylinders are only re-fillable ten years from that date. I am going to talk about that on Monday.
I would be remised if I didn’t talk about safety. If you are burning something indoors, you need a carbon monoxide detector. This goes for liquids and gas appliances. Things like stoves and heaters are generally pretty good about proper combustion but don’t ever run a generator inside. I have a battery operated one that I use in my shop for the kerosene heater. I will bring it inside if I am burning something, including the fireplace. Also, when the power is out, when you will likely be doing these kinds of things, you can’t count on a plug in variety.
End Your Programming Routine: As Hank Hill used to say there is quite a bit to “propane and propane accessories”. Given some of the limitations of portable gas, I don’t use it as my primary fuel. That doesn’t mean I don’t have any. At the very least if you have a propane barbecue, I think you should have a second cylinder. One to use and one to swap or refill before you need it. You might find that it is the gateway to other redundancies instead of a headache when your one cylinder goes empty.
Sometimes we joke that we are going on a Griswold Family Vacation. That is partially based on where we are going and how we are going to achieve it. I myself have some additional business travel that I am not really looking forward to as well as us driving all over the southwestern United States.
I also spend a lot of time talking about the types of trips that I took throughout my life during the Spring Break period. This is to give an idea about the things that we have done and provide inspiration for you to make your own memories.
End Your Programming Routine: Time seems to be accelerating. By the time we get to the Summer, my family is starting to scatter to the wind. I talk about some of the reasons we are taking this trip in the podcast. I am definitely not getting sentimental, but my kid’s futures are starting to get real. Enjoy your time while you have it.
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