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May 4, 2023 – Adventure Has to Have a Risk Component

May 4, 2023 /

I have alluded to this recently that I have been babysitting occasionally. Again, I am not going to get into the whys. What is important is that what does a nearly fifty year old man do to entertain a five year old girl? I certainly don’t want to play with dolls for an extended period of time nor do I want either of us sitting in front of the TV all day. My answer is go on an adventure.

Now, would it be an adventure if the result was guaranteed? The answer has to be no. We had nice weather and my mind has wandered to get out fishing somewhere. I know enough that hunkering down all day with a five year old is not going to work. My plan was to find this lake I had never been to, fish for thirty minutes (or more if possible) and then head back home. It sounds like Win-Win to me.

I have listened to Meateater and talking about getting kids out into the outdoors. Clearly you want to have a good experience to build on. That means that if you only spend thirty minutes out fishing, then it is an investment in the future. You want to slowly build kids into the activity, not cause them to dread it. This is why I picked a destination that I had never been to. The adventure was really finding it and testing it out, not hauling out a good catch.

Friday, we had a temperature in the upper eighties. Saturday, the day of my trip we were expecting high seventies. Mind you, Monday of that week the high temperature was 47 degrees. So, we just barely left winter this weekend. I knew the risk of encountering snow was high if the elevation got high enough. But again, this was an adventure.

As we started climbing in elevation, I started noticing that the ferns were all matted down. This was a sign that they had been compressed with weight. So, I started to get the sense that we were going to find snow. Within another minute, I started to see snow on the side of the road. Another minute and then there were ruts in the road. Finally, I saw that the tracks that I was following stopped and so did I.

I was hoping that this was just a shady spot, so I hiked up around the bend to see what it looked like. It was snow as far as I could see and the road was still climbing. I learned my lesson years ago that a vehicle can get stuck and with it, comes a long walk. A five year old, a dog and no cell service was a risk too high for me to chance. I made the call to turn around. There was another route to take, but it was another hour around. So, I thought that I would try it.

It turned out that about ten miles up the second route there was too much snow as well. So, we had to bag it for the day. I headed back toward home. This wasn’t quite the trip that I had hoped for, but I packed snacks and turned on the DVD player in the car and so it allowed for about a four hour car ride to seem bearable for all of us.

I say that adventure has to have risks because otherwise it is an outing. Now, probably to a five year old adventure/outing are semantics. I didn’t even realize the context until I was explaining that we were heading back home. I didn’t mean to have a philosophical conversation in my head but that is how it turned out.

The day wasn’t a total bust. I learned that some new roads existed and renewed my desire to go back to the lake and get my pole in the water. I built a campfire when we got home and we made smores and popcorn over the fire. I survived another full day watching a child and I think that she had fun.

End Your Programming Routine: I have tried to find this lake twice. Once, I was blocked by a gate and now this time I was stopped by snow. I am going to get there. I enjoyed my day regardless of the outcome. Isn’t that the most important thing? The purpose was to entertain, get out of the house, enjoy some warm spring weather and be home safely. It just leaves next time to find the lake.

May 3, 2023 – Unclog Your Sink Like a Pro

May 3, 2023 /

Another day in the life… Since I barely go upstairs anymore, I don’t happen to peak in on this bathroom much. This is my kid’s primary bathroom so I don’t know how long the drain has been slow. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that it has been a while. My wife told me it wasn’t working and wanted it fixed, so here it goes.

End Your Programming: It’s hard for me to believe that people don’t know how to do things around the house anymore. But then again, some people probably find it strange that I struggle with the emotional side of things. Yes, plumbing can be an unsavory past-time but clearing the drain yourself not only saves money but it could be weeks before you get a scheduled appointment. You can do it.

May 2, 2023 – Need For Speed

May 2, 2023 /

I purchased this video on our recent vacation of me driving a Porsche 991 GT3RS. It was an awesome drive. The whole experience was expensive, but I paid the extra $70 for the video because everything was happening so fast. It is a new car, a new track and driving like you don’t normally do. If you watch it, you will see all of the instructions coming at you.

Even though my work is 90% serious, sometimes you have to have fun. I talked about my liner notes in the podcast that I couldn’t ever test drive a Porsche without putting in an offer to buy it. How do I know that I would like the car? I am not the kind of guy to buy a car just to see if I like it.

I have always been a race fan. I have gone to Indy, NASCAR and F1 races. I never really had a desire to drive a performance car until I started playing Need For Speed on the X-box. I won almost every achievement on the Shift version and then I suddenly came to an epiphany. This pastime has no real world value and it took a ton of time. At that moment, I pretty much quit playing video games. That was about the time I bought the Mustang.

I did enjoy driving the Mustang, but I never really felt that I got to enjoy the full potential. I wanted to drive it on a track but never got the opportunity. So this was the culmination of several dreams.

End Your Programming Routine: You can’t live your life in a video game. It is enjoyable, no doubt but all that time could be spend doing much more productive things. I paid for two extra laps so all told, it cost about $500 for those ten minutes of driving.

May 1, 2023 – The Tale of Two Countries

May 1, 2023 /

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.

April 28, 2023 – Animal Farm, Chapter 9

April 28, 2023 /

We are getting close to the end of the book. There is one more chapter to go. I will tell you a secret, not only have I read this book before but I also finished this weeks ago. The book is so short that you can probably read it in a long evening. But that is OK, I am taking it slow to dissect and enjoy it. I have to clear the cobwebs a bit. Now that I have scanned through the chapter again, I am ready. So, let’s go.

Boxer worked himself to death. After the windmill was blown up and they had to start over, it was Boxer that did the heavy work. In the process he got old, injured and used up. Boxer’s last appearance in the book had him taken away to the glue factory while the pigs were saying he was going to the hospital.

I have been Boxer in my life. I have ignored problems thinking that I can solve them by working harder. This was a huge lesson in my life. In some ways, this is the inspiration for this AltF4.co endeavor. It came across in a different time and a different manor, but I now know what it means.

I was in my twenties and I was running the laboratory. Every plant task that failed to work properly, I would assume as my own. Pretty soon, I was running formulating, wastewater, quality, IT and automation. I had a mentor and he told me as I was leaving that the company would always let me take more work. It was up to me to stop it.

I think more than I was trying to do it all, I was not getting anywhere other than convincing myself that I could do it better. What I was ignoring was the system of accountability for the people not doing a proper job and the consequences for not doing so. I was so vested in the outcome that I couldn’t see my effort was self-harmful as as much as helpful. I didn’t leave as a result of that (story for another day), but I left wiser as a result.

I won’t say that I completely got this lesson, it probably took another 15 years but now I have it. If you work for someone else, you do not own the output. It doesn’t matter if there is profit sharing or employee ownership, you still do not own the output. I think of it this way, any form of revenue sharing is actually a trap to provide the illusion of effort equals results.

The ones that set the rules are limiting the distribution pool. Then there are others that do not deserve to be rewarded. Decisions are made with no input and rules are made to prevent risk or innovation. For all of these reasons, I have realized that for me to be happy with my career and output, I need to be in control of it. Ultimately, this is what drove me to leave my job and it is a strong driving factor in Altf4.co.

Those concepts are the reason that socialism will ultimately have it’s detractors. I didn’t work like a madman because I wanted to get rewarded. I did it because I believed it needed to be done. That being said, when it comes to compensation, I saw that I did all this and this is all there is. Oh and to top it off, things aren’t really better.

Getting back to the book, this chapter is the perfect illustration of the iron law of bureaucracy. There are those committed to the mission (Boxer) and those committed to the organization (pigs). I think that it goes without saying that whichever side you pick, you are all in. How would it look if your star performer actually worked himself to death. That was a situation that had to be dealt with for PR purposes.

It seems completely logical that the pigs would lie about Boxer’s disposition to make everything seem normal. After all, a revolution would be pretty dangerous to the organization. That is really the moral of the story. You can trust the when a choice between the organization and the constituents has to be made, those that are on the other side of the iron law are going to make the choice for the organization.

End Your Programming Routine: Of course, charity is a tenant of Christianity. That being said, charity is not collectivism. And speaking of morality, thou shall not steal. If you are not doing your fair share, then that is stealing which is a sin. Collectivism actually fosters inequality. Reading this is a warning, if you work yourself to death then you have to know that it is your choice, not because there is personal profit.

April 27, 2023 – Don’t Be Afraid to Ask

April 27, 2023 /

As a follow on to last week, I have been doing a reloading series using up all of my stored brass to make room for the actual components that I want to store and need to reload in the future like primers, bullets and powder. Also in this time of scarcity, then beggars cant be choosers so I have started to utilize websites to filter what might be in stock at certain stores.

What I have been doing is looking at a powder and filtering what is in stock. There were three Alliant rifle powders that said “On-Sale” for $19.99. I thought, what a deal, other brands were running $35-45 a pound. I thought to myself that I am going to get my limit of 1lb based on the price (this is partially why there is actually powder on the shelf).

When I arrived at the store, I went to the reloading section, found the powder shelf and it was there. But when I looked at the price, it was $50.99. There was no indicator of sale either. So, I grabbed it and went around looking for some help. The gun counter was swamped as usual and nobody was in sight. After about five minutes of standing around, I decided to just go to the register.

When I got to the register, I said to the cashier “before I buy this, I just want to verify that the price.” I explained what I saw online and what was on the shelf. They looked it up and called a manager. The manager said that they were going to honor the web price but that their cost was $30/lb. So, I was buying it at less than they were paying for it. If it weren’t for the 1 lb. limit, I would have been tempted to buy some more.

Somebody messed something up. My guess is that this was one of these changes that were applied programmatically and somebody didn’t check the output. Like I said, this price was applies on all powders of a certain brand. They went and pulled all the powders off the shelf right after my transaction. This event probably caused a somebody a long day with tech support.

Components are still hard to find. I only bought this powder because of the price. It actually was not my first choice. But, my first choice is not on the shelves. This will work. Actually, I did more research after buying it and have discovered that published loads are for the longer/heavier target bullets. So, while I got a deal on the powder, I am going to end up paying double for the bullets to use with it.

That’s OK because I am still in the experimental phase. To date, I haven’t shot more than a single, popular bullet weight. I have no idea if my rifle will be accurate, so this will be another data point using these target bullets. The price we pay for science…

End Your Programming Routine: When I saw the price, I didn’t believe that it was true. In fact, it really wasn’t. But because I suspected something was wrong and questioned it, I came out on the right side of the deal. I was prepared to put the powder back on the shelf but I didn’t end up having to, because I asked. If in the situation, you should too.

April 26, 2023 – HP Pavillion Battery Replacement

April 26, 2023 /

Nothing fancy here. There are very few videos on how to do this, and none with my specific vintage of HP. So, while those other videos might be all you need, this may be exactly what you need. The hardest part in my opinion is prying off the back.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t remember what this repair costs, but I know it wasn’t expensive the last time I paid for it. There is a reason, because it is not difficult. It takes about 10 minutes to do the replacement if you are practiced.

April 25, 2023 – Where’s the Bunny?

April 25, 2023 /

This probably won’t play well. I say that because even though I took the picture, I have a hard time seeing the rabbit in the picture and I know it is there. Regardless, I have no problem making stuff up on the fly.

Back when life was good (just kidding), I drove my Mustang through a National Wildlife Refuge twice a day. Once on my way to work and once on my way home. This was a significant asset to me because it was nearly mid-way and it was really the only bathroom via outhouse after you leave the freeway and town. Driving that everyday, sometimes I would stop on the way home, because I could.

It was 2018 that the gates were closed and they remained closed until a few months ago. In the meantime, they tore down the outhouse and built an interpretive center. I don’t know what the hold-up on opening was, but I think Covid was part of it. I don’t commute every day but I still periodically drove by wondering what this fancy new structure looked like inside and what was actually there.

In the last year, we have become weekend babysitters. I wont get into the details now, but someone needs help and we can provide help. Sometimes, I end up having to be solo babysitter and I need things to do. I am not great at this and it does sometimes crimp my life on the things that I want to do.

I was babysitter this weekend and so I decided to take an excursion to the wildlife refuge. When I said wildlife refuge, I think the child thought that we were going to see animals everywhere. Of course, I knew better but how can you convince them when the mind is made up. There is a short little 1/2 mile path that we walked. It was pretty barren but I did see a rabbit in the bushes. So, we took a picture of it. Did you see it?

Listening to podcasts about children and the outdoors, you don’t want to push too hard. Fishing turns into a walk to the water and 15 minutes of pole time. Hunting turns into snacks and coloring. You have to think of this as an investment, it is going to take a while to yield some returns, especially with a five year old.

When we were around that age, we couldn’t wait to go out with dad. It was such an adventure. But, he could only handle one of us at once. When my brother got home he would regale me with tales of the woods and I would do the same on my weekends. It was a long day for a young child and I am sure that we didn’t add much to the experience for my day but it was those moments that made me who I am today.

My biggest fear is not seeing nothing but seeing nothing consistently. I want to gently lead a young child into this new world without making it a chore or a dread. Who knows… maybe this will lead to nothing, but maybe it will lead to a love of the outdoors. So, we will keep trying new a different things. I want to be entertained too.

End Your Programming Routine: Because it is spring, my mind really starts shifting to getting on the water and getting a few fishing outings in. I also end up being a sort of father figure to this child. So, it is the perfect opportunity to do both. I have to be prepared to fish for thirty minutes but it beats watching TV all day. That I cant do.

April 24, 2023 – Hair On Fire

April 24, 2023 /

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.

April 21, 2023 – Animal Farm, Chapter 7 and 8

April 21, 2023 /

This week I am combining chapters seven and eight. The reason is that I feel like they are continuations of the same themes. I had to sort of scratch to see if there was actually something new in these chapters. The truth is, I don’t feel like there actually was, but I looked a little deeper to see if there was anything else.

Starting out, the move to the boogeyman has become absurd. Chapter seven is where I think Orwell jumps from generally foretelling to the protest against totalitarianism. For some unexplainable reason many animals admit to conspiring with Snowball and against the Animal Farm. This of course has fatal consequences.

Knowing that they will be killed, the animals knowingly fabricate false and ongoing relationships with Snowball. Ultimately, they are punished for their crimes. I don’t know if this is because things are so bad that death is better than innocence? Or maybe it is this impending sense of fatality that whatever is going to happen regardless of what they say?

I was doing some reading, and this book was published in 1945. There is a thought that this is a direct corollary of the relationship between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. It very well could be that Farmer Fredrickson is Hitler personified and that Hitler betrayed Stalin with attacks on the Eastern Front.

In the book, Fredrickson buys the stack of lumber from Animal Farm. It turns out that the cash that was used was counterfeit. To make matters worse, this was immediately followed by the farmer’s attack and the sabotage of the windmill project. The animals fought back at a very high cost, just like Stalin.

I suppose what I am struggling with a little bit is that if Orwell is protesting totalitarianism in his writings, why then would he personify Stalin/Napoleon as a hero? It very well could be that Orwell is justifying Napoleon’s behavior by the sequencing of events. Or even possibly, this is just an interpretation of the facts and how they translated into history. I guess that we will have to wait until the book is finished to see.

I suppose that it is also possible that when the book was written, the opinion of Orwell of Stalin is not colored by the full force of his actions. Said another way, Stalin’s career was far from over in the mid 1940s. So, what may have looked like a hero in 1944 may not be so shiny in 2023. Again, I will form an overall opinion at the end of the book.

Finally, the cabal between the opinion of friend and foe and it’s daily change be it Snowball, Fredrickson and Pilkington is representative of politics. Hussein was a friend in the Iran/Iraq war and bin Laden was a friend against the Soviets but a foe in the war in terror. The time frame was different in real life but the concept is the same. It doesn’t matter what is said or who is the target, it only matters that everyone is focused how bad everything is at the moment.

End Your Programming Routine: Propaganda is programming. I think like I said last week that the Iron Law of Bureaucracy applies and that the minute a person starts blindly following a person versus an idea, they are fraught with the potential to be mislead. This is particularly true when that person is more into advancing the organization than the objective because it could be that the person is more misinterpreting the idea or that they know that they don’t have to justify their actions.