Dec 23, 2012- Hey We're Still Here

Yet another apocalypse has come and gone.  The Mayan Calendar will no longer be a concern.

I'm not so sure I'll be renewing my NRA membership when it comes up.  Their answer to school shootings is to post an armed guard at each and every school.

School budgets are cut to the bone now, so how many teachers will lose their jobs to make room for this armed guard job?  Making for bigger classes, and bigger body counts when the massacres do happen.  Because the armed guard will be part of the body count.  Anybody who's watched any action movie knows that the security guard always gets it.

As I understand it, Sandy Hook had a pretty good security system in place.  You had to be buzzed in.  I am pretty sure they did not buzz in a Bushmaster-toting guy with a ski mask.  He shot his way in.  Seems to me, the answer might be bullet proof glass or entry at a gated entrance.  But you can't really plan for every contingency and a motivated perpetrator will find a way around your best plans.

As for those calling for more gun laws, I think it is important to note all the guns used were legally purchased by the mother of the perpetrator.  Had she made use of a gun safe and trigger locks that were not accessible to her son, he would not have been able to use those guns.

My father used to own a .22 revolver but when I was born, he got rid of it.  There was always a .22 rifle and a shotgun in the house.  They were basic tools for varmint control on the farm and they were kept out of reach of us children and believe me, we knew better than to try to mess with them.  I never fired a gun until I was in ROTC in college and then it was only blanks.  I was in my 40's when I acquired my first gun.

In my state,  to buy a handgun, you get a permit to acquire from the county sheriff.  The first time I did it, it took about two weeks and the permit is good for one year.  The last time I got one prior to attending a gun show, I was able to get my second permit on the spot, because I had had one before.  As long as you aren't a felon or mentally ill or an alcoholic and maybe some other things I don't remember, you can buy a handgun here.

I don't own a gun safe and I've never bothered with the trigger locks that came on my newer guns but recent events make me think I should do that, even though I live alone.  If my guns were stolen in a burglary, they'd be a lot harder to use.

There Are None So Blind

A while back I dreamed that I went to a different eye doctor and he was able to completely correct my vision.

Last year, at my annual eye exam, my optometrist was doing the "which is better? One or Two?" thing but when he was doing my left eye, nothing looked good.  He shrugged, said something to the effect that it is what it is.  Macular degeneration was starting to take its toll.  Maybe my vision would fluctuate from day to day and I was having a bad day.  I was still having fairly frequent visits to the retinal specialist to monitor bleeding in my right eye.  The specter of disability can freak you the fuck out.

I started to read up a little more on myopic macular degeneration and how to test my eyes myself.  I started to eat a lot more spinach.  I started taking the Areds 2 formula vitamins.  I spent a lot of time closing one eye and seeing what the other eye could do.  I had triple vision in my left eye and mild double vision in my right eye.  Some days were better than others, focusing on the computer screen would be easy and I didn't have to squint to read the numbers on the screen.  I figured the multiple images were from the cataracts that are starting to form.  Apparently, being very myopic can make everything go wrong with your eyes, macular degeneration, retinal tears, cataracts and glaucoma.  Nobody's mentioned glaucoma yet for me.

I went back to the retinal specialist last week.  During the initial exam, the guy was able to make my left eye see things.  I was startled- there's only one thing there, instead of three!  He wasn't impressed and emphasized not squinting and rapidly deciding which was better.  He said both eyes could be corrected to 20/30.  So in a way, it was like the dream came true.

Then he dilated me, I got scanned and then I saw the retinal specialist.  He quickly looked around inside my eyeballs and was pleased to announce no bleeding and that I could "graduate".  I wouldn't have to come back unless there were problems.

So maybe the vitamins and the spinach have helped.  I'll keep up with them.  I am not so worried about being able to renew my drivers license next summer and do not feel as though I will be forced to retire early because of this.  I feel fortunate.

I Want My GPS to Cry and Beg

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Broken Tractor

I was driving my tractor up some steps when it died and began to hemorrhage fluids.  I walked back to where I had been and asked who works on tractors and was given the name of a business, I believe it was called San Man.  I found the business, but realized I couldn't give them the location of the tractor.  So I went back to find it and got totally lost.  I wandered through all kinds of buildings that were like mazes and never found the tractor again but met plenty of people who weren't happy to see me.

The tractor was green, like a John Deere, if that helps.

Check out my new ink!

First I was at work and a helicopter was flying really close to our windows.  Then the guy flying it smiled at me and just stepped out of it.  I freaked out and yelled to my boss that the helicopter was going to crash and she seemed amused.

Next there was something about being at church and I was changing clothes and I was not happy with how big my breasts were getting to be and definitely planning to have something done about it.  There were all these little kids and I got irritated with them and called one a "little blonde weirdo".  They were from a new family and were showing off the athletic skills of one of their toddlers.

"Just throw anything at him," they said.  "He'll catch it."  And he could.  There was a younger set of twins that  were kind of odd looking with lots of fresh stitching on their heads and faces.

I was on my way somewhere and ran into Doug from where I used to work and showed off my new tattoo.

Before I left for good, I had a conversation with a cat.  It was black and someone, probably those damn new kids had dyed its head yellow, and it's front torso red and it's hind quarters blue, like they were trying to make it look like Mr. Bill.  It seemed to not be that upset about it and told me to have a good trip.

Jennifer Livingston Is Smoking Hot Just The Way She Is

Jennifer Livingston is a news woman and a guy sent her an email that said stuff like "obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make" and how she should lose weight.  I think she should have just deleted the email and ignored him.  The very idea that someone would "choose" to be overweight is as stupid as the idea that one chooses to be gay.  And as the news is rehashing this, they refer to her being overweight and it just pisses me off.

We're not talking about a woman who has to have a wall knocked out so she can leave the house.  We are talking about a very attractive woman by any standard, as far as I am concerned.  All I could think about as I watched her video response to this douchebag was how smoking hot she is.  When she mentioned a husband, I thought what a lucky guy he is.

World is just messed up, giving a woman shit for not looking like Barbie.  Fuck you, world.  Eat shit and die.

It's OK.

I had a lot of errands to run this morning so my routine was all disrupted I guess and maybe my head wasn't where it should be.  I went to the post office and stood in line but it didn't take all that long and I could have stopped and picked up something to eat on the way to work but all I did was just get some gas.

It wasn't the station I usually go to and that couldn't have been the problem.  Getting gas is not a big deal.  You select your payment method, say yes or no to a receipt and maybe decline a car wash.  Let it fill, wash your windshield, put the nozzle back, put your cap back on and get your receipt.

For some reason I forgot the nozzle putting back part.

Some Mexican guys pulled up on the other side of my pump in a nice black Ford pickup and were talking back and forth in Spanish and I started to pull out and the one that was walking to the store pointed at me and said "Hey" and I realized what I was doing.  I stopped and sure enough, the nozzle was on the ground.  I thanked the man for flagging me down.  I talked about what a stupid thing it was I had done.

The man still at the pickup on the other side of the pump said "Ees OK."

I guess it could have been worse, I could have pulled away while it was still filling, the hose could have been yanked from the pump, etc.  The horror of the embarrassing, mistake in front of who knows how many witnesses was mitigated by the kind words of the man I didn't even see on the other side of the pump: "Ees OK."

Kindness is so humbling.  Makes you think to be kind to others, instead of doing or saying things that will make their day worse.  It's OK.

Gracias, amigo.

From now on, though, I'm standing right by the nozzle until it's done.  I'll wash the windshield after I put everything up.