Category: Uncategorized

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Difficulties, Technical and Otherwise

 

Friends,

Quite a lot has transpired since the last post in mid-September. Well, it’s the last post that you can see. There are a bunch of posts hiding in a tin, buried in the basement of this blog that we can never talk about if I wish to remain employed. Sort of screedy, kinda stabby. The less said about them, the better.

What I do know is that a bunch of things just aren’t working right now. The webcam is failing to upload due to a server configuration issue (bad certificate?) so the last picture you see is from the morning before the earliest snowfall I can remember. No snow pictures for you, I’m afraid. There are plenty on the internet though, just do a search. You’ll be okay.

Also, for some damn reason, The Idyllwild Weather Clam is unable to update her spot on the Blogger clone of this site. Maybe it’s time to finally pack it in over there and redirect to Squarespace. They were great when we started this hot mess, but it seems that functionality is slowly falling away. Maybe Google’s losing interest in Blogger. That wouldn’t be surprising.

More later today…

– bob

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New Feature: The Destruction of Time!

My office desk.

View of my office featuring state of the art high tech equipment.

Friends,

My work schedule has been changed to what amounts to a trip to the Central time zone and back again every week, or starting and ending Daylight Savings Time twice a week. This is the first week of this and if I don’t get another cup of coffee in me very soon, there’s a very real risk that I’ll fall asleep at my desk and my head will land on the red button.

Did you hear me? The RED BUTTON, PEOPLE!

– bob

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Never Forget To Remember

A grand old flag.
Friends,

Remember when terrorists hijacked some airplanes in the United States on 11th September, 2001 precipitating a series of tragic events that killed a bunch of people? Then you’ll recall that the government overreacted and made air travel more difficult for everyone while also sending a lot of kids to war to punish the country where the masterminds of the terrorist attack were supposed to be hiding. Then the government decided that they should inspect everyone’s communications everywhere at all times and explain that constitutional overreach by saying that they’re listening for the next terror threat, but if anybody talks about the surveillance program they need to go to jail? Remember when that happened?

Dear readers, I hope both of you will agree that the steps the government has taken to “keep us safe” after the gut wrenching events twelve years ago dishonors those who perished on that day. Now, as the president contemplates launching a strike on yet another bad actor in the Middle East, to punish Syrian bad behavior, even the generals are hoping to avoid another fight.

Today has been designated by Congress as a national day of service. One patriotic thing you might consider doing today would be to write a letter to your representative airing your carefully considered opinion on the matters of war, punishment, surveillance and national security.

But please take your shoes off first and put them in the bin.

Your pal,

– bob

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I Will Stand On My Head

Friends,

I won’t actually stand on my head, but the late Cal Worthington, who passed yesterday at the ripe old age of 92 while watching football, certainly would have in his prime. He had dealerships up and down the west coast, and a jingle turned earworm that infected our little minds almost as much as Indio’s “Hub of the Valley” and 30-second descriptions of the travails of the Wacky Wicker Workers. His on-air enthusiasm will be missed, but I suspect that we’ve moved on from his brand of aw shucks hucksterism.

Now the most effective marketing is nuanced. The best campaigns, they will explain in webinars and marketing executive mixers, is more subtle and appeals to the buying public’s deepest wants and desires.

The difference between the honesty of Cal Worthington’s pitch and today’s deep mental massage marketers is that the new guys will gladly stand on your head to make a better deal.

Your pal,

– bob

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A Note From The Editor

Artist’s representation. Not to scale.

Friends,

I’ve been a bit lax in keeping up with the demands of work, home, and this fine journal of nonsense and paranoid delusions. I know it, you know it, and my editor certainly knows it. Here’s his note describing his displeasure with the current state of affairs…

(listen. i’ve just about had it up to here with you and your inability to get any sort of quality output done lately. i took a big pay cut when i signed on here ten years ago, because i saw real promise. now it’s pieces full of phony outrage, photo posts and something about deer? why don’t you call me when you wake up and start writing the stuff that people used to come for, even though i don’t remember what that was. – ed)

Well, there you have it. A well-deserved upbraiding from the editor. Guess I should do something about it.

Your pal,

– bob

P.S. Coming up later today, a financial incentive for me to unplug my dryer and what it means for smart meters! Exciting conspiracy therories!

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Run!

This was just the beginning of our troubles.

Friends,

You may have heard that we’re having a little hubbub up here. Due to an inconvenience we like to call the Mountain Fire, encroaching on our pristine and very piney paradise, authorities asked everyone to evacuate last evening. 

Reflecting back, maybe “ask” is the wrong word.

I have found shelter at a location very near the Festival of Dirt where I could see flames running up to the ridgeline this morning. Not very comforting at all.

I’ll try to keep you posted here as events unfold, but for more up-to-date news, I’m sharing other people’s posts on Facebook. Maps, photos, pessimism, it’s all there!

Stay safe.

Your pal,

– bob

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Great Minds

TWA lounge photo from Shorpy!

Friends,

Here’s a photo of the TWA lounge at Idlewild Airport taken sometime in 1964. Looks sort of like the departure lounge at the Idyllwild International Airport, without the pine tongue and groove panelling, of course.

And the squirrels scampering around.

– bob

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I’m Doomed

Friends,

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released their latest report on the crashworthiness of “compact SUVs” which groups the little Hyundai with the Ford Escape tall-ish micro station wagons with wee body on frame trucklets, which includes the only one extant—the Jeep Wrangler. Guess who did poorly?

C’mon, guess.

Yeah. I own one of those wee little trucklets and this report says that I’m going to die a horrible death in their new and redesigned crash tests. This is yet one more data point telling me that driving around is dangerous. Commuting 101 miles a day is crazy, right? I’m surely exposing myself to far too much risk every weekday.

But wait, there’s another big problem with a lot of driving that the insurance industry group fails to mention…

 

Stick with it until the end.

I’m smart! Not like everybody says, like dumb. I’m smart and I want respect!

– bob

 

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A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villany

 

Friends,

Banjo the dog was tied to train tracks by a fellow in Mecca, CA suffering from dementia according to this article in Riverside County’s newspaper of record. He was saved by an alert train engineer, but what lessons can be learned here?

Easy. Living in Mecca will make you a little daft. Obviously.

Your pal,

– bob

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Workplace Tips: Find Out Something Screwy To Stay Entertained

A lovely centered picture of a dragon slayer.

Friends,

I do a little writing for a couple of little things for little place down at sea level and I’ve been working on a project that’s required a bunch of research to get right. Our little endeavor is named after a character who makes a brief appearance in a reasonably popular book and I thought I knew her 2,000+ year old story. It turns out I only knew a small part from Tuesday’s catechism classes. New testament, etc. You get the idea.

What I did not know, and which I’ve been blabbing about at work incessantly since I stumbled upon it, is that the namesake of our little confabulation has a larger story. Our saint, after the brief mention in a book, moved to France and slayed dragons. There, I said it. There are people out there on several of the internets who are devoted to our saint’s late life badassery, but that’s not really my point here.

My point is that there are secrets hidden in plain sight at work. If you take the time to look for them, you can remain endlessly entertained and not lose what little is left of your spirt.

Or I’m just making excuses. Which is likely.

– bob

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Come! See The Weirdo!

A lovely centered picture of an bizarre thingamajig.

Friends,

I spent a lovely weekend away from the worry about forest fires burning down the Damp Dog Lodge, but on the way back, the Rule of 42 was proved once again. This might’ve been a terrible post about the horrors of traffic, but that’s really very boring. What’s more interesting is the comparison of my perfectly-sized hands to a starfish. You know, like a freak. Or an abomination.

Look, I’m not an animal.

– bob

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Graduation Day!

A lovely centered picture that surely won't get me sued.


Friends,



As you may know, I work at the Far Eastern Outpost of San Diego’s Omnipresent Charitable Organization and one of my part-time jobs (no, not kidding) is in the capacity of communications manager. That sort of means marketing manager, but not in the way you think because I don’t direct the marketing, but that’s a very different story.



What’s important here is that I spent the morning capturing the pageantry and majesty of the preschool graduation. It was touching. No Cybermen, though. We were not assimilated.



Win-win.



– bob
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This Is Coming

I’ve been writing this post for a week. Have a seat, grab the chair, and hold on. It’s coming. Dear god, it’s coming.

Your pal,

– bob

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A Little Housekeeping Is In Order

I hate it when you can't figure out what they're selling.
Friends,

I’ve been away for a little while doing a couple things, but I’m back and ready to use this to avoid having to write some other stuff on a deadline! Now that’s taking the bull by the horns! (and getting gored anyway. -ed) Let’s review:

  • I went on a little trip with The Man From S.T.I.N.K.O. from Chicago back to California. More on this in a bit, but in the meanwhile, think how you could use your lottery winnings in a systematic way to destroy Oklahoma. My secret plan has something to do with genetically engineering a super army of hammerhead sharks, but there are some kinks to work out.
  • We’re rebranding the Far Eastern Outpost of San Diego’s Omnipresent Charitable Organization and the whole thing drops in a week and a half (hope you like russet and taupe! -ed) so I’m going to be writing more here for the procrastination reasons stated above.
  • If you know somebody in rural Riverside County who has fire wood for sale at a cheap price, drop me a line. It’s still kinda chilly at the Damp Dog Lodge and I’ve run through my cord and a half of oak.

More stuff has happened since the last post those many weeks ago, but you might find those things sort of boring. I do have some pictures from the trip though, so you’ll see those in a little while.

Your pal,

– bob