Category: whatever

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Some Updates

It’s been a really good month thus far.  Updates…

  • For over a month I’ve been drinking half caffeinated/half decaf coffee. The first few days were rough. Now it is fine. Next month I will drop down to 1/4 caffeinated. Goal is to get caffeine mostly out of my diet. Also stopped adding sugar to my coffee.
  • We went to see Rush twice this month in Fort Worth. Awesome both times.
  • Played D&D and Traveller several times. Taking a week break to prepare more stuff.
  • Going to see family this weekend. Looking forward to that.
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Deaths of Politicians

If a politician votes against the rights of my niece, who is trans, like Lindsey Graham did, they are not worth mourning.

Same goes…

  • If they vote against the rights of my friends who are gay
  • If they vote against protecting the civil rights of anyone

It’s not complicated.

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My Retirement Uniform

A couple of weekends ago I needed a nice plain leather work belt to put my Rush belt buckle on. I went to a western wear store. Cavender’s Boot City, in Plano. That is totally not my style, but damn it was nice to be in a really nice clothing store, with quality clothing and knowledgeable employees. The enshittification of everything makes such experiences a real pleasure. I found a nice leather belt that actually smells like leather.

I actually wrote that last paragraph a couple of weeks ago. Since then I’ve been thinking about this even more. Apparently I don’t have enough important things to think about, so the little man in my brain comes up with stuff like this.

Before that trip to Cavender’s I ordered a leather belt off Amazon. When it arrived one of the little snaps where you change the buckle was already broken. ENSHITTIFICATION.  I returned it for a refund. Cavender’s was 95% stuff I would never wear. The whole country/western/cowboy aesthetic doesn’t appeal to me. For one thing it would be so fake on me. It would be like cosplay. For another thing, and this is not fair at all (but may be accurate), I associate that whole shit-kicker look and culture with characteristics like ignorance, religious bigotry and stupidity, bigotry in general, and anti-intellectualism in the grandest of anti-intellectual American style.

BUT – the merchandise was super nice! My style or not, man, being in a store full of quality clothing and intelligent employees made me feel like I was in the right place! At least for a plain leather work belt.

Yes, I know perfectly intelligent good folks who dress like that sometimes. But it’s just – not – me. So indulge me please in my rantings.

One of my nieces works for a very nice men’s clothing retailer. A few months ago, after talking with her about her work, I had a dream that I was shopping for clothes in a nice men’s clothing store (note: all great blog posts mention a dream). The kind of place where knowledgeable professionals work and help customer find clothing, that carries nice stuff, and is kept up well (not a mess). Weirdly I am developing a desire to own some higher quality clothing, especially during my upcoming retirement years. These days, cheap and shitty clothes aren’t inexpensive any more.

Now, inside I am still a dirty old skateboarder. I’ll always sit around the house in old shorts and tshirts, but in the future I want to present myself to the world in a well-dressed but not “old guy” style. Example: My wife got me a nice Ben Sherman shirt. That’s an English brand. I am not really a “brand” guy, but I like these shirts a lot. It is of course not made in England, but the quality is nice. It fits well.  When we go out to a show or somewhere nice now I like to wear that, some nice Dockers pants, and my black with green tint Doc Marten shoes (made in China these days, but whatever). We recently went to the Addition Improv to see comedian Kevin James Thornton, and I wore that. My wife wore a nice casual outfit. A lot of the men in the crowd looked like shit. I would be ashamed to take my wife out looking like that. You see this all over the place, adult men, at places nicer than Taco Bell, dressed like adult babies. Yeah, I’m leaning a bit elitest here I guess, but I also have this idea that our culture has slidden way too far down Low-Brow Hill, and I just don’t want to participate.

So I started looking at dedicated brick and mortar men’s clothing stores in the area. There are a few. Looking at their websites I see that most of them cater to what I’d call the Young Douchebag Demographic. You’ve seen this look. A suit with pants that are way too tight and a jacket with weirdly small or strangely-placed lapels. Add to that wearing no socks and some fucked-up looking shoes with that abomination in the form of a suit.  Oh, I almost forgot the comically oversized wrist watch.  I understand this is a style, but it’s a douchebag style, and one that in my nearly 62-year old but fit body I can’t pull off. I’d feel like an idiot.

There are a few stores that are possibilities. Sooner or later I will check them out. During retirement I want to have about 3 nice knit shirts – probably Ben Shermans, and a couple of nice pairs of trousers, and maybe another slightly different pair of Doc Martens. I feel like this look kinda honors my cool skateboarder history and persona (heh heh) while being presentable as an adult human being. I’ll make sure I have a proper, nice, classic suit and whatnot as well and a nice sport coat. I’m not talking about buying a lot of clothing. Just a few things that are nice, high-quality, and will last a while.

So I guess my point here is that finding nice clothes that feel authentic to me is what I’m wanting to do. I’m not a shit-kicker and I’m not a skinny young influencer. I’m a fit but slightly overweight skateboarder in the early senior years.

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Flow

Two weekends ago my friend Dale and I were at the skatepark up in McKinney, Texas. There is one feature we skate at the park. It’s kind of a little ditch-style bowl with banked walls (not round wall) that empties into a round-wall bowl. The surface of this run is not typical skatepark-smooth. It has a weird texture to it. When I ride hard wheels they never feel right in it. So for this particular trip I slapped some 56mm 87a OJ Keyframes on my larger street/ditch board. With the softer wheels my speed and flow were increased a lot. The bowl as a lot more fun to skate.

Dale and I weren’t doing that much. Dropping in, carving around, bending our knees, compressing, etc. I had a better time in that bowl than I’ve ever had. A young kid, about 13, came up to me and said “You look like you are flowing on water.” I was really surprised by this. I told him “Thank you – that is a really nice thing to say and I really appreciate it.”

I hope I see that kid again. I feel like I need to thank him again. At the time I didn’t realize how impactful that simple but kind comment was to me. It really made my day. Hell, I suppose it made my week, since I’m still talking about it.

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Rest

This morning, unlike most mornings, I did not wake to an alarm clock. I woke up about 7am. I let the dog out to do his business. Then he and I both went back to bed. So the whole family, including the cat, in bed til about 8:30am. I slept.

I feel so damned when I can just sleep in. Got out of bed feeling great.

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Influencers

This week FaceBook decided I am a weak loser man who needs to see “reels” of men who are more manly than me giving me advice on general masculinity improvements, how to be an alpha douche, and stuff like that. Apparently I need to also be more tan, grow a beard, and have big veins in my over-muscled arms and neck.

Side note: If I have need to kill one of those guys, a simple razor blade cute to one of those easily-found bulging veins should do the trick.

Oh, I have also learned that people who aren’t happy simply haven’t “decided” to be happy. Isn’t that amazing? For the record I am happy, in general, except when I’m watching these stupid videos. Also, everyone has the right to be unhappy. It is a natural emotional state that humans have, and it is sometimes appropriate.

It’s been an amazing and educational delve into the dungeon of alpha male wisdom influencers.

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Recognition

My old skateboarding website was mentioned on this week’s episode of a popular skateboarding YouTube show/podcast.

It was cool to hear it mentioned.  It was a fun project for about 10 years and I made a lot of good friends because of it. Knowing that someone remembers it is nice.

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NASA, the Moon, and a Good Start

My first job as a librarian was at the Johnson Space Center library – the Scientific and Technical Information Center. I was there from 1996 to 1998. It was a great first job. As a young person it made me feel great to be part of something important. I got to work with some incredible people. I was there there morning of the fire on Space Station Mir. When I got to work I was immediately pressed into service, retrieving documents and specifications as engineers worked to keep the astronauts alive. It was a great start to my career.

Watching the Artemis II moon flyby mission today is very moving. Thirty years ago you needed NASA TV on cable to watch this kind of thing. Today you can watch the mission from launch to splashdown on a phone in your pocket.

Remembering these words from Carl Sagan seems appropriate today, as four smart and brave people travel farther from Earth than anyone ever has, to loop around the moon and come home. We can still do great things. BUT we need great people in charge, not the orange scumbag and his circle of religious kooks, bigots, and nincompoops.  We could provide healthcare and education to everyone. We could shelter and feed the world’s hungry. We should do that and more.

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Ephemeral Stuff

I’ve been in my job for 20 years. Before that I had other jobs. I’ve been a librarian for 30 years. In that time electronic tools on the computer have come and gone.

We are always switching to the “next big thing” that will without a doubt make our work easier and “more productive.” They always involve learning a new system, which will be abandoned in a year or two for the new next big thing. It’s all wasteful bullshit. Wasteful of our money and our time and our energy. I have rarely seen it actually save time or money or improve anything. I can’t actually think of a single time.  In almost every case, a simple Word (or a plain text document!) would be better, saved in a logical files structure that no one fucks with.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my job and my profession and my colleagues. We (and probably you, if you work somewhere) are simply caught up in a consumerist cycle of bullshit.

When I retire in 9 months one of my goals is to not pay attention to any ephemeral bullshit again. I’m going to write by hand and on the computer. I’m going to read novels, both science fiction and some classics, that are timeless. I’m going to enjoy the time I have with my wife, which is the  most precious thing I have. I’m going to take naps with our now 16-year old cat. I’m going to play with our sweet little sheltie dog.

 

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Lucky

I am lucky…

  • To have met my wife
  • To have had the parents and family I was born with
  • To be in a good situation
  • That we (my wife and I) are both still alive

These four facts are never lost on me.

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Moon Shot

I watched the space launch yesterday. It reminded me that we can, as a nation and a people, still do great things. Instead we choose to argue over who gets to be a citizen, can’t agree that everyone can be provided healthcare coverage, and allow a few individual scumbags to hoard the wealth generated by our collective creativity and hard work. Fuck Elon Musk. Fuck anyone who drives a Tesla. Fuck AI. Fuck Trump and Fuck all his supporters.

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March 2026 Update

So, here’s what I’ve been doing this month.

  • Playing Traveller
  • Reading science fiction
  • Playing D&D
  • Went to the No Kinds rally in downtown Dallas
  • Went on vacation to San Diego and to Catalina Island, where I discovered my fear of heights is worse that it used to be.
  • Teaching at aikido

As always I find myself feeling rushed to do everything I want to do. I hate feeling rushed. I am looking forward to the end of the year, retiring (becasuse, again, I am old now), and enjoying a non-rushed lifestyle with my wife.

Getting back to my practice of reading at least 5% of a novel every day has gone pretty well. I have failed a couple of days, but in March I finished 5 books, 4 of which I actually started in March. Short SF novels, but it is a really enjoyable practice. I love it. I don’t really understand people who don’t like to read. I feel like a lot of people have reading beat into them as children and learn not to like it. I also think that the internet and social media have ruined many people’s ability to concentrate for more than 30 seconds or to simply slow down their brains and enjoy what they are doing. I think it’s pretty clear that is the case.

Speaking of reading…I have noticed a trend on various social media/video sites of young people (they are all young to me) talking about…GASP!…reading books! I think this is an entirely positve thing, even if those folks are attention seeking monetizers. I think people reading books is just a good thing, and to some extent I think posting on social media about reading, which is the antithesis of social media, is a wonderfully subversive thing (even if it is unintentionally subversive).

Overall it has been a good month! Heading into April I am already loathing the upcoming Texas summer. It is a bummer. Next year maybe we’ll pack up the cat and the dog and go somewhere nice during the hell-months.

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Confusion

It must be confusing to be a Republican voter in Texas (or elsewhere), especially in the primaries. How do they figure out which candidate is the absolute stupidest asshole they could pick? I suppose they have reach down deep in their dead souls and figure it out.

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Wheels

I ordered these wheels a few weeks ago. I’ve had the smaller versions of them and the slightly larger versions. They’ve all been pretty good. These are the 56 mm ones. I’m thinking about bumping up my wheel size to 56 mm from 54 mm on my ditch board. 2 mm might not seem like that much to a non-skater, but it makes a difference. Significantly smoother role. A little bit more inertia. A little bit heavier but that won’t make any difference to me. When you’re putting together a board everything is about balance and proportions. I think these will work on my current set up without making it feel like a monster truck.