Peace of Mind in General

It was such a mild winter. The mildest since I have been back in Maine. Last winter was a nightmare, snowstorm after snowstorm. Got stuck twice, and got rear-ended twice. Chicks both times, go figure.

This winter we had 4 minor snow storms. The biggest gave us all of 8 inches of snow.

Spring has been more wintery than winter was. It got down to 22F last night. Good sleeping weather if you crack the bedroom window.

But it is 55F now, and might make 70F on Sunday. Time to break out the beach gear and load up the car. I still need to find a replacement shorty wetsuit. Last summer I ripped the zipper out of the one my parents gave me a couple of years ago.

Refuse the Tech.

I have taken to stiff arming the tech. I don’t carry my cell phone with me on a regular basis. The iPad stays in the kitchen. I can go days at a time without logging onto this computer.

Gen X were the first to embrace tech, first as radio shack TRS-80s, then arcade video games, then Ataris, then Commodore 64s, the cell phones. We were the first to text.

I am in the vanguard of rejecting the tech. There is simply nothing that important going on on your phone that requires the lizard-like staring at the screen.

I drive maybe 20-30 miles a day. Every day I have at least 4 close calls because someone is drifting across lanes while staring at their lap. It used to be the most dangerous drivers on the road were young males. Now it is younger female drivers and the elderly. They are all over the fucking road. I have taken to not even taking my eyes off the road when driving. I do everything else by feel.

TV

I gave up on Shadow Hunters. No matter how gorgeous the girls are, the writing was so consistently cringe-worthy I just couldn’t any more.

The Catch. Interesting so far. They are going to speed things up to keep my ADD brain engaged.

Heartbeat. It is sort of a mash-up of House and Grey’s Anatomy. Melissa George is the lead. How long will I be watching this you ask?

Game of Silence. Just watched the pilot episode. Intriguing. But like so much on TV these days relies way too much on the back and forth in time device. It will be interesting to see where that goes.

TWD. The second half of this season was great, almost as good as the first season. Then. The finale. That was unmitigated bullshit. They managed to piss off everybody who watched.

FTWD. Second season will have 15 episodes, compared to the first seasons 6. I am still trying to figure out how everyone will fit into a cohesive team. Also there are way too many cast members of indeterminate ethnic origin, I can’t keep track of whose kid is whose.

Verizon strike. Kinda hard to be terribly sympathetic to rude fuckers making 130K a year in call centers. Verizon customer service is the worst. Coverage is fine, but I dread having to call in to change anything, or ask a question.

Christine.

In 1999 I was in port in Yokosuka, Japan. (I told this story back on OD, so bear with me.) I was at the pool in the officers club, rolling dice for drinks with about half of VAQ-131, the squadron I flew with. I was part of the flag staff for the Constellation Battlegroup. Connie’s sister ship was the forward deployed carrier, the Kitty Hawk. The Kitty pulled out, and Connie pulled in. Unless they were really observant the locals wouldn’t know the difference.

So. At the pool I hear someone call my name, so I turn around. Christine. She was my second skippers wife when I was with the Scorpions. Her husband was the flag Operations Officer for the Kitty Hawk Battle Group. She gave me a big hug and we talked for a while. About kids and careers and the like. 5‘8” of smoking hot blonde in a white bikini and heels.

When she left the Lancers (VAQ-131) were beside themselves trying to figure out how I knew her. I didn’t say a word.

Skipper was later the CO of Naval Facility Bahrain, which didn’t allow families. So while he did his 3 years there, she took her kids and moved back to Oak Harbor, Washington. When he retired he wanted to move to Florida. She didn’t. So they divorced. I’d feel sorry for skipper, but he was always a chick magnet, and he took a job as the Dean of Military Studies at Florida State.

Can you believe this angel is 55 years old? Some people are just genetically blessed.

She’s single. But on the wrong coast.

Job Search

I have taken to applying for a job every day. Even if i am not particularly enthused.

But like my dad always says “if you get an offer it doesn’t mean you have to take it.”

Unfortunately the buffer my retirement gives me might be making me too picky. But all I need is $40-50K. Flying money.

I have a folder with contact info for Aviation Medical Examiners to get my class III.

And the brochure for the local flight school. About 5K and I can be back in the air. If I get the bug I might go on to get my CFI and change careers. Otherwise a couple of hours a couple times a month would keep me happy. In the back of my mind I have this idea I would eventually get qual’d in a Cirrus - but it would take about 20 hours at 800 bucks an hour.

My last car payment goes out on the 15th of next month. I have a pristine 2010 Ford Fusion with 65K miles on it. Damn thing should last me another 10 years, but
I’d be happy to get another 5. By then maybe the bugs will have been worked out of the Tesla Model 3.

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Last updated April 15, 2016