Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: Part 1
Topic: Retirement
When Kathy went back to college in the late '80's, one reason was that I knew eventually I wouldn't be able to do Laborer's work with any consistency. It was a good plan, her income is kicking in at the right time. My big time construction days are over.
The last couple years I've been trying to figure out what to do, for me to gain some income. There's things like Home Depot, Costco, the pay isn't that great, but the benefits are good. The deal is, I'm not looking for benefits, I get those through Kathy. I can get down to the Hall and pick up some work, but it kind of aggravates me I won't get "my fair share". The benefits are set up for families; not like us with double coverage. When we are double covered on medical, it's amazing; the insurance companies still figure out how to get money out of us.
The computer is fun:
But there's a lot smarter people than me trying to figure out how to money money with it. I thought about my movie program, putting together peoples' camcorder footage. I could do the handyman thing, but I'm slow, and the competition is cut throat. Hang out at Home Depot, look at all the guys with pickups, I don't think they're making their fortune. Homeowners don't want to pay very much for services.
But I want "real" money in my retirement. According to financial advisers I need to have a million dollars in the bank to retire. I'm not seeing that happen. The common perception is the baby boomer's will continue working, I'm not sure companies are going to go for that.
I have good home improvement skills from working on our house, and acquired a lot of tools. I really think it is good to use the resources and abilities you have, I'm not seeing retraining into something new to be cost effective.

Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Old Fart Bitching
Topic: The Young Generation
I saw a boy at Costco the other night with a T shirt: "Hard work pays off later, laziness pays off now". In my grumpier moments I would say that is the slogan of most kids. There were two young couples renting the house next door for 2 1/2 years and they had two dogs. They seemed to think of dogs as a fashion accessory. In two years they very rarely would clean up after them. They would sit on the back wood deck-surrounded by dog shit-and smoke.
There's three guys there now; looks like one of their Mom's bought the house. It took them an entire weekend to move in, very little stuff, they'd just make a load with one or two things at a time. I can't complain that they have gardeners come in to clean up the yard, god knows, this area needs all the cleanup it can get.
Tom Leykis was advising young guys to not lift boxes for woman at the office. From the guys that called in you would think offices are just full of boxes needing to be moved: What a whiny group! I disagree with Tom on this one, he's creating a whole generation of office wimps.
It is just a different work philosophy, I'm doing manual labor at 52, they're avoiding it in their twenties. I guess if you can get your mother to pay for it.

Mood:  incredulous
Topic: Senior Moments
I had a Pickles moment this week. With Kathy laid up I've been handling the kitchen and it hasn't been totally successful. The truly unpleasant Mrs. Johnson complained this week that I destroyed the coffee. I drink black, while I fix hers with dry creamer and sweetener. I kept adding more creamer as it wasn't changing the coffee color. Turns out I filled the creamer container with sweetener!
My neighbor, Elliot, considered home remodeling like cooking: It would all come together in the end. After about 10 years, he lost interest and sold his house half finished. The trait that makes me good at construction-the ability to focus on one task and complete it-doesn't help me in cooking. This whole multitasking thing isn't my style.

Now Playing: Seafair
Topic: Party Time
It was a pretty good weekend down at the Hydro races. Since Kathy couldn't deal with the shore hillside; we brought the portable chairs and sat above in the old peoples' section. It worked out good as we no longer worry about access to the water, we'll probably do the same next year. The chairs and rolling cooler are a lot easier to haul than the old recliners, especially taking the shuttle bus the last few years.
Speaking of the shuttle, it was a great middle age slacker experience on the ride back. We got the front handicap seats and I was facing the middle of the bus. The return trip is always packed and I was surrounded by hot, young chicks. I just sat there for 15 minutes staring at belly buttons (and other things).
When beer was first banned at the races, Kathy wrote a Seattle Times "Letter to the Editor" complaining. So, we generally agree with Seattle Times writer Ron Judd:
"Back in the day, when the next best form of local entertainment was watching glaciers recede up in Newhalem, hydro racing had a certain appeal to it.

The sport was bigger than life and faster than car racing. Plus, it paid homage to three of the Puget Sound's greatest traditional summer pastimes: drinking heavily, ogling scantily clad bodies on the log boom, and drinking heavily while ogling scantily clad bodies on the log boom.

Alas, sometime in the '80s, a bunch of busybody Seafair folks got together and decided activities A through C were unwholesome, and the summer hydro race was cleaned up and turned into an event suitable for small children.

This proved very popular with the 700 or 800 local residents who enjoyed paying to sit inside a galvanized-fenced area and watch infantile people shriek and poop in the water ? an activity the rest of us knew could easily be replicated at home, for free, by tuning in Congress on C-Span.

For everyone else, it was the death of what has become known ever since as the is-it-time-for-the-Blue-Angels-yet boat race."

Time to Get Fit
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: Pre Season
It's not too early to start thinking about the upcoming ski season. Mike has some tips for conditioning.
With summer winding down, I'll have to cut back on beer consumption, and start ramping up the Jack Daniels for the winter months.

Mood:  a-ok
Topic: New Start
After two tries (and two calls to qwest support) I got MSN working. I'm just taking things slow and easy to get this thing correct. My next project is to get my hardware (software for it) installed as I'm now at the library using up my printing bank account. I hate leaving money someplace, even though in this case it was only $2.
I can hear the Blue Angels flying overhead, I wish I had had time to go down there; I'm still trying to get my bicycle on the road. We'll be at the hydros this weekend, but Kathy-with the bum wheel-won't be able to negotiate the hillside. We're just set up on top.
We've always gone to the races, it's just a ritual, not many of our friends go. Actually, Bill said he and his wife might go, it's just us old people anymore! I do miss the old days: People just strolling along the road drinking beer and having a good time. The cops were cool, we just wanted to party. This new generation couldn't handle such freedom, they'd have to knife or shoot somebody.

Topic: Computer
Well I'm back on line. This is going to take awhile, reloading all my preferences and programs. I've got a backup of everything but I think I will just start over. When I started the computer I didn't really have a clue what I was doing so it's not a bad idea to start from scratch. I just hope I don't have to spend a lot of time on the phone with various support people.

Mood:  down
Topic: Computer
This just sucks, my post yesterday just vanished. I'm at the library, this computer is not filtered, but the mouse barely rolls. With an hour limit, the time is clicking down rapidly! I should get my CPU back this week sometime, if it wasn't on warranty I would just buy a hard drive and install it in an hour.
I'm trying to convince Kathy that this is the reason I need the Sony Vaio laptop but shes not buying it. It's around $2,000, but its the only laptop that appeals to me.

DAMN
It's been a hard week down in the basement at the computer. It was my fault deleting this blog, I was hurrying and not paying attention. Computers are like woman: Just when you think you figured them out, they zing you!
I started out this morning with a complete hard disk failure. Luckily when we bought the system a year and a half ago, Kathy got an extended warranty at Compusa.
Anyway, Kathy got her walking cast this week, starting to make progress, I don't have to carry her on the stairs. The handicapped parking really helps out, but I don't understand why it is free. I don't mind paying for things, just because you've got a disability doesn't mean you're poor.
I'm feeling kind of broken down. I got new tires for my mountain bike; it has a flat, haven't gotten to it. Yesterday, I had a blowout on my street bike, so I need to fix that. When I don't have my bikes available, it really cramps my lifestyle.
So I'll get to work. I'm here at the library on a filtered computer, so that should really reduce my Internet surfing!

Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: LIUNA Laborers' International Union of North America
Topic: Union Issues
I have done pretty good as a Union Laborer. It's hard work-I'm not opposed to work-I just feel I deserve decent pay, benefits and working conditions. Since I'm 52, my physical laboring days are in the past, I can plug along, but construction is a young person's occupation. Laborers' is a good career choice for kids so inclined. If they can do the physical work-which is difficult-and take as much training as possible: They'll do good.
Right now, there is some dissent in the AFL-CIO and LIUNA is one of the dissident unions. The "backeast" bosses want to protect the status quo, we want to organize. The Laborers' need more members, the difficulty of the work is such; us old guys are not going to be able to do it.
My Local (Building Laborers' 242) has been really successful in signing up new contractors. The reason is we provide a good product. A skilled workforce, even with higher pay, adds value for a contractor. It's the weirdest thing when I hear so many people claim they deserve high pay, yet construction work is considered unskilled. I've seen the homes of some friends with this attitude. Home Depot should prosecute them for abusing their products.