07:36 – I said it a year ago today, and the only thing that needs to be updated is 12 years to 13 years.
09:56 – Speaking of Polar Pure iodine water treatment, that link to Amazon I posted yesterday was sold out as of last night. That poor little company must be wondering what happened. I heard from quite a few readers who’d successfully ordered the Polar Pure, usually two to four at a time. That’s what happened.
When I mentioned to Barbara that the company had sold out their stock within eight or nine hours, she said, “You do that all the time.” And it’s true that years ago I did that regularly. But years ago my journal got literally 10 to 20 times as much traffic as it does now. Nowadays, 1,000 visitors/day is a good day. Back eight or ten years ago when I was writing mostly about computer stuff, I commonly got 10,000 to 20,000 visitors per day. I think my all-time record day was something like 35,000 visitors. Nowadays, 35,000 visitors is a good month.
With Polar Pure sold out and possibly never coming back–in the US, that is; it’s freely available in Canada and many other countries–I happened to look down to my desk, where I noticed a small bottle that contains 100 mL of (very) strong Lugol’s iodine solution. It has about 28 grams of iodine and 42 grams of potassium iodide dissolved in enough distilled water to make it up to 100 mL. I’ll dilute that to make up 2.1 liters of iodine solution for the science kits. (A 2-liter Coke bottle holds 2.10 liters when full to top, which makes a convenient “volumetric flask” for this purpose.)
But as I looked at it, I was struck by a Cunning Plan. That strong Lugol’s iodine contains 28,000 mg/DL of iodine. It takes 4 to 5 mg of iodine to disinfect a liter of water, which means that 100 mL of strong Lugol’s is sufficient to disinfect 5,600 to 7,000 liters of water. A 30 mL bottle of that Lugol’s is sufficient to disinfect 1,680 to 2,100 liters. I haven’t priced iodine or potassium iodide lately, but I’d guess that 100 mL bottle has maybe $40 worth of chemicals in it, so a 30 mL bottle would contain maybe $12 worth of chemicals.
Not that I plan to make these up for resale, because I don’t want the DEA coming after me. (It’s not illegal to possess iodine, but its sale is very tightly controlled.) But if I can’t get more Polar Pure, I can make up a few bottles of the strong Lugol’s for use in other kits. Now the only problem is expecting people to believe that one standard drop (50 microliters, or 20 drops/mL) is really sufficient to disinfect about 3.5 liters of water.
11:53 – If you wanted Polar Pure but didn’t order in time from that Amazon.com link I posted yesterday, here’s another vendor selling Polar Pure on Amazon. Same price, $19.99 per bottle, but this one offers free shipping. I suspect that after I post this this company will also run out of stock pretty quickly, so if you want a bottle or three now’s the time to order it.
Agreed. And still the renegade Saudi princes and cousins finance the thousands of madrassahs around the world and foment terror, slavery and death and hey look, there’s a squirrel over there!
The Euro and UK political leadership apparently is content to lie prostrate before them and our own is likely to follow.
Very strong winds and gusts here overnight and today, and overcast.
The government of Saudi Arabia is our friend, as much as any Islamic country can be friends. But, the country is dysfunctional and getting worse. Apparently at least half of the men do not have wives or girlfriends since they cannot afford the bride prices. Meanwhile, 10% ??? of the men have multiple wives, which is a destabilizing influence on the country. Women are the civilizers, men are the takers. Kinda reminds me of feeding time in the snake cage at the zoo.
I have no idea how to fix Saudi Arabia but I suspect that it will fix itself in the next 10 to 20 years. And not in a good way. That is if ISIS does not take the country for the Caliphate. I actually expect the ISIS bad boys to take Kuwait in the next 90 days.
Our friend? The Saudis were behind 9/11. Geez.
We have no friends in the islamic world. None. All islam wants to do is kill or enslave all of us. And the sooner Western politicians realize that, the better.
I actually expect the ISIS bad boys to take Kuwait in the next 90 days.
Ugh! Nothing like that to fire up the chickenhawks. I am soooo glad I’m retired. There is no doubt I would be training for deployment right now. I heard McCain went down to Old Navy to enlist. 😉
Yesterday was my wife’s 65th birthday. She remembers in great detail what she was doing on her birthday in 2001.
It is unfortunate, but 9/11 has become this country’s Reichstag Fire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire).
I was just able to order two bottles of Polar Pure from the second vendor. One for home, one for the boat.
Rick in Portland
Will Polar Pure work with salt water (ocean water)? Will it work with contaminated water such as oil and antifreeze? Or is it just a bacteria killer?
All islam wants to do is kill or enslave all of us.
lol Not according to Obuttwad! Islam doesn’t kill “innocents.” Convert, pay or die. I guess if you aren’t Mooslim you aren’t innocent.
No to both. Polar Pure kills microorganisms, period. That includes bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. PP kills Giardia sp. cysts reliably but does not claim that it kills Cryptosporidium sp. because the government has never tested it specifically against Cryptosporidium. As always, if at possible, it’s better to boil water before drinking it.
Water contaminated by heavy metals, solvents, agricultural chemicals, etc. cannot be made safe by any practical portable water treatment system. The best bet is to distill it. If there are VOCs present, even simple distillation isn’t entirely effective.
Here’s what the half-page label on the water treatment kit gallon ziplock bag in our emergency kits says:
“Water Treatment Kit
Funnel, coffee filters, and filter cloth: Use these to remove sediment and other particulates before treating the water. Filter cloth may be rinsed/washed/boiled and reused.
If possible, always boil questionable water, which more effectively eliminates microorganisms than any chemical treatment or filter. Bringing the water to a full boil is sufficient; once it boils, essentially all microorganisms have been killed. Make sure to swirl the boiling water over the entire surface of the pot to kill anything that is not in direct contact with the boiling water. If you cannot boil questionable water, use either of the following methods:
Lifestraw personal water filter: Follow instructions on package. Note that package may list an expiration date. The Lifestraw company now says that unopened package has an unlimited shelf-life.
Polar Pure iodine treatment bottle: This bottle treats up to 2000 quarts/liters of raw water. Follow the directions on the bottle. Vitamin C tablets: iodine treatment creates a medicinal taste in the water. Vitamin C reacts with the native iodine to convert it to tasteless iodide ions. Dissolve one tablet per gallon of treated water to neutralize the iodine, but make sure to allow sufficient time for the iodine to disinfect the water before adding the vitamin C. Excess vitamin C does no harm.
WARNING: All of these treatments remove dangerous microorganisms, but none removes heavy-metal contaminants, pesticides, and so on. If you have a choice obtain your raw water from a source unlikely to contain such contaminants. In general, favor running water over standing water and sources in the woods over sources near industrial or farm land. A stream is generally better than a river, which is generally better than a lake or pond. If you suspect chemical contamination of your raw water source, the safest method to purify it is by distillation. (Boil the water and allow the steam to come into contact with a cooler surface that will drip the condensate into a clean receiving vessel.)”
Will Polar Pure work with salt water (ocean water)?
It wont’ work with salt water. I do a lot of my sailing in fresh water. I carry water. Polar Pure would only be for emergencies where I was out of fresh water and fuel, but had access to fresh water.
For the home, we have a creek at the end of our street. It shouldn’t be contaminated with heavy metals. Polar Pure would be a last resort.
Rick in Portland
Or as I would put it, European men built Western Civilization so that they could get laid. If they didn’t have the prospect of getting laid, they would just have had a drunken brawl.
My weekend work was postponed to next week, so I have today (prep day for the weekend) off, plus the weekend.
Got home too late to order yesterday, but just put in what appears to be a successful order for 3 bottles (one for me and both adult kids) with the new vendor.
…European men built Western Civilization so that they could get laid.
When I was a teen, I used to wonder about things like how often pre-agrarian men got laid. I’m guessing less than agrarian man. My dad’s maternal grandparents had 14 kids starting when he was 16 and she was 14 and lasted for the next 35 years, so I suspect the bed was pretty much on fire most nights.
I use the dual keyboard layout (US/German) a lot. Windows automatically made Left Alt+Left Shift the shortcut to toggle layouts if you install more than one layout. Mint can do the same, so I just found out, but it must be manually elected.
Keyboard > Layouts > Options > Switching to another layout > make selection (I’m sticking with the Alt+Shift I am used to), then Close.
Wow, whoever wrote the description for that second company that’s offering Polar Pure has absolutely no clue about anything. It’s so bad it’s laughable. Multiple major errors in just about every sentence:
“Polar Pure Plus uses a new manufacturing process that makes the Water Purification, Filtration Safer & More effective then ever before. Rated #1 Water Filtration Product by independent Backpacking Magazines. Polar Pure is used by the most professional Campers Hikers, Backpackers, Military, Disaster Zones and anywhere else clean water is hard to find. Effectiveness – Polar Pure Uses 100% Pure Prilled Iodine Crystals which completely Sterilizes the water. Unlike Straws or Filters Which Cannot Kill or remove Deadly Viruses which can cause Hepatitis!. Polar Pure is the only Product that can filter past 0.00004 Microns, In fact its effective on Deadly Viruses Which cannot be filtered by straws or other filtering Methods. Straws can only filter up to 0.1 or 0,02 Microns but Deadly Viruses are as small as 0.004 Microns, Polar Pure is the only product that can kill viruses. Viruses Mutate after being attacked by Tablets that try to Kill viruses as they use Chlorine Iodine Complex, which doesn’t create Nascent Oxygen (What is needed to kill a Virus). Polar Pure is the only product that creates a Nascent Oxygen Reaction Which Kills viruses after they Mutate Shelf Life – Tablets decompose and break down once the bottle is open In fact most tablet companies recommend throwing out the bottle after 3 months, Polar Pure has an indefinite shelf life as long as the product is sealed tightly with the included cap. Safe – Polar is the Only Product that is registered by the EPA, and DEA. Design – Patented Particle Trap Design Prevents the Iodine from falling out of the bottle. Cost – at $20 per Bottle Polar Pure Cost is only 0.01 Cent Per Liter / Quart. as Compared to tablets which at $6 per 50 tablets at 1 Quart / Liter Tablet it would cost 0.12 per tablet, Most Tablets need up to 2 tablets per Quart / Liter which would be 0.25 Per Quart / Liter as oppose to Polar Pure 0.01 Per Quart / Liter. Size – Polar Pure Weighs only 5 Ounces and takes up about 1″ x 3” of space Unlike Pills “
Incidentally, Polar Pure itself is fine. It’s that vendor’s description that’s totally whacked out.
Obummer is the “Reluctant Warrior”:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/09/11/media_mantra_the_reluctant_warrior
Unreal.
We have no friends in the islamic world. None. All islam wants to do is kill or enslave all of us. And the sooner Western politicians realize that, the better.
Mostly true. I used the wrong word, “friend”. I should have used “customer”.
We used to be the Saudis main customer for their crude oil. I suspect that their main customer is now China. Or it could Western Europe as the Libyan oil capability and the pipelines under the Mediterranean have been destroyed.
RE: Polar Pure
This is just crystalline iodine in a handy glass bottle that comes with aid of having instructions and dosage printed on the bottle. So, couldn’t one just buy a small air tight bottle and put crystal iodine in it? Is it really that difficult for a consumer to purchase iodine? I imagine there’s some forms and whatnot, but it cannot be outright forbidden, is it?
RE: heavy-metal contaminants, pesticides, and so on
Could you use charcoal filtration to remove non-biological contaminants? Seems to work for so many other filtration uses.
When I was a teen, I used to wonder about things like how often pre-agrarian men got laid. I’m guessing less than agrarian man. My dad’s maternal grandparents had 14 kids starting when he was 16 and she was 14 and lasted for the next 35 years, so I suspect the bed was pretty much on fire most nights.
It was on fire at least 14 nights (assuming no multiple births).
Rick in Portland
RE: Getting Laid
There’s also some societal changes on how women were treated. Nowadays, for the most part, a couple has intercourse as frequently as THEY decide to. 100 or more years ago they had intercourse as frequently as HE decided to. So, that plays a large part in it. “Putting out” was a marital duty of women before the 20th century and to not do so was grounds for divorce (and thus severe poverty for most women of the time).
This blog needs a resident militant feminist. I should go recruit one. 🙂
I’m a militant humanist. Doesn’t that count?
Re: Polar Pure
Yes, it’s simply iodine crystals (prills, actually) in a glass bottle with an iodine-proof lid. It also has an internal tube that prevents you from pouring out the iodine solid when you decant off the saturated aqueous iodine solution.
Cost to make: in small quantities, iodine runs around $0.50/gram. The bottle and cap would run around $1.25 to $1.50 for a generic brown glass bottle with a cap that keeps iodine from escaping. The PP unit contains eight grams, or about $4 worth, so the unit would cost about $5.50 to make. I’m not sure what the retail price is, but assuming it’s $20, that means the company probably sold it to the vendor for $12 (at 40% GM). I’m sure PP doesn’t pay $0.50/g for iodine but they may well pay $1.50/bottle and cap for that bottle with the silk-screened text and the thermometer on the side. Call it $0.25/g for the iodine and $1.50 for the bottle for a total of $3.50 in materials cost. When you consider their labor and other costs, $12 wholesale isn’t bad for a relatively low-volume product.
Uh, I think women have decided that pretty much since caveman days. If a woman doesn’t want to do it, she can make a guy suffer for forcing her. We’re bigger and stronger than women, but unless you’re a guy who enjoys hitting women over the head with your club, dragging them by their hair back to your cave, and raping them, you’re much better off convincing them to cooperate enthusiastically.
Shoot! Texas won the new PRC lotto!
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IMMIGRATION_OVERLOAD_NEW_FACILITY
For those not following, PRC = Public Residential Complex. Will eventually be sized at one million residents or more and designed by Soviet apartment architects.
BTW, Obummer mentioned three combatants in Syria. I only know of two.
1. Syrian government troops
2. Syrian rebels (also known as Al-Qaeda / ISIS)
Who is this mystery combatant?
John Kerry?
PRC = Public Residential Complex
“Public Residential Cluster”, sort of like in …fuck.
“Council Flats” in the UK.
I am catching up on some of the last couple weeks.
Re: water. I do not think so-called free markets (which are not really free) adjust properly for limitations of natural resource supplies, but compensate only for what can be produced under current methods. Even projections of ‘known reserves’ for many resources have been way off as the future becomes today. Which means dramatic increases will likely occur only when the water table drops enough to cause disruption in production, or dries up entirely.
I always thought — with all the rain Europe gets (it rained many more days than it was dry while I lived there and whole mountainsides slid away in spring melts), — that their very high pricing of water was way out of line. But I am coming to conclude that it is generally priced way too low in the US. I remember relatives who moved to California in the ’50’s and early ’60’s, had severe water restraints, and there were these restricters on showers that made them seem to dribble, instead of being a true shower. Now, those restricters are gone and lawns are watered so profusely that mosquitoes live in LA and bugs actually have to be scraped from windshields, while screens are now necessary in houses, but were unheard of in the ’70’s.
Tiny Town reduces the per-unit cost of water the more one uses. I can see that is outdated practice by what W-S does in our host’s case and with Miles in Oz, which is the exact opposite of what happens with me. Seems like raising prices is a better practice in a world where we are using more water over time, and not less.
Population: Germany pays for people to have kids (they increased the compensation substantially for each new grandkid as time went on), but population is still contracting nevertheless. Welfare babies may be an issue in this country, but I do not think it adds significantly to our population. What bothers me are the people in their ’50’s or thereabouts that I see in the grocery stores in front of me (and believe me, it is a LOT of them — in both Tiny Town and Indy) who whip out an EBT card to pay for 5 times the groceries I am buying to get me through another week. There are so many of these people that I wonder why I am paying with my own money when no one else around me seems to be. Really.
Living remotely: I do not see this as an advantage. America is mobile. Detroit has proved that — about 2 million at its peak, and now at 0.7 million — smaller than Indianapolis. Who woudda thunk? People get out of bad situations, even if they have to leave house, home, and relatives behind.
Actually, under an unlikely catastrophic regression, I believe life will be worse in rural areas than in all but the biggest cities. If there really are dystopian disruptions and consequent limitations on resources, you think rural areas are going to get power and natural gas before bigger population concentrations? I don’t. Think gasoline will be plentiful in the distant sticks, compared to cities? Not me.
My view is that rural living will all but disappear. It is already happening. Far flung single farm houses that dot the landscape miles from each other are disappearing, and will be gone in a decade, as electrifying them and delivering and maintaining cable and Internet (formerly phone) become unjustifiably expensive, as does the price of transportation to reach these remote places. About every month, I hear of some farmer around here who has hung it up for retirement and moved to a larger city, with his old farmhouse demolished, and groups of guys living in those smaller towns taking over the field work he once did from his farmhouse, only now they work in crews aggregated into an industrial building in the surrounding towns, and owned by consortia created by big business to do contract farming work. In fact, my uncle demolished the farmhouse and barn that was standing on his family’s farm that they have had for several generations.
Comparing security in cities vs. rural is not something I am qualified to do, but we have had a couple instances of the elderly being killed during theft invasions in farm homes in my county since I returned here 4+ years ago. Would those people have been targeted if they lived in a town? My guess is probably not.
Although I have always been a city boy, I definitely want to be in one as I get older. As I mentioned not long ago, we had a family friend who died of a heart incident, because the ambulance was about 30 minutes away, instead of just a few minutes had he been here in Tiny Town. That delay killed him.
Snowblower: I had a Toro back in the Minnesota days. Did a fine job on the relatively small walk I had to do, but needed yearly small engine work. I guess if I were buying one now, it would be Sears. But I actually have no idea how the quality of their products has been holding up in light of their financial problems. I do know their service fees on their own products has skyrocketed in the last decade. $350 to replace the fan that blows cold air from the bottom level freezer into the top part of my refrigerator. I found out later I could have gotten that part for $35 from the place that sells those parts in Indy (to anybody) and replacing 4 screws and replugging the electric cable was a no-brainer but apparently worth $300 to Sears.
Actually, on second thought — maybe I wouldn’t buy Sears.
When a company starts making their major profit, once a year every year, from spares and repairs; then you can just about guarantee that they’ll lose interest in offering the
suckcustomer value-for-money, in building a quality product with a lifetime warranty.Addendum or insertion to my GHB list (evidence I’m developing CRS disease):
Compass, and maps of the area. Preferably survey, topographic maps with contour lines, maps that will show utility and railway rights-of-way and walking, bicycle, motorcycle or horse trails. At least, laser-prints of Google-Maps and satellite pictures.
Not that I am complaining about my own treatment because I am not, but when I was hired or promoted in my career, an appropriate person sent out a memo with a couple sentences indicating what job I was taking and what station I came from, or how long I had been where I was before my promotion. Probably no more than 50 words.
No longer. Tribune promoted a guy and there was a near 1,000 word PR release with stuff that I am sure will be considered pie-in-the-sky false predictions in a couple years — maybe less.
Here are a some excerpts.
“John takes on this expanded role at a thrilling time. Our business is poised for growth.”
“We love John for his good humor, good sense and high energy. He’s also a thoroughly decent person. All traits will be critical in helping lead Tribune Content Agency to the status of most innovative and agile content solutions business in the industry.”
“The combination of the News Service’s daily flow of stories and our huge storehouse of syndicated offerings positions us as an unrivaled content powerhouse. With that size and strength comes a great ability to innovate across all platforms. We can now go to market — including an amazing array of new and non-traditional markets — with content solutions for every need imaginable.”
I really wonder how much creating that line of bullshit cost Tribune in terms of executive and minion salaries devoted to it, and how much it will actually add to their bottom line.
Speaking of corporate bullshit, one of the terms I’ve enjoyed seeing evolve, or devolve, depending on your point of view is the word “problem.” As in, we’ve got a problem, Houston.
Then it became an “issue.” We’ve got a serious issue up here, Houston.
Shortly after that, maybe the early 2000’s, we had a “challenge.” Say, you clowns on the ground in Houston, we see a real challenge ahead in a minute here…
Now it’s an “opportunity.” Houston, we have an opportunity staring us in the face right now….
The previous IT guru at my workplace was in today for three hours or so, and together we met and dealt with a number of opportunities, all but a couple of which stumped even him at first, being the guy who mainly set the whole infrastructure up and who’d been there for six or seven or eight years. So I didn’t feel like such a dunce finally this week, after batting near zero in solving chit there. Maybe I can have a slacker day tomorrow…oh wait…nope, gotta get the new kid up to speed. Ten-hour day yesterday plus the commute; twelve hours today, plus the commute.
And this morning a mini-hurricane from the Bay; blew in and broke a window in the master bedroom, through which event I evidently slept soundly, and cracked another one in the living room; 50-60-MPH gusts and branches blown all over the yahd. Trees reported down nearby. Dumb mutt a basket case, of course. So my weekend is accounted for already; cleanup details after taking pics of the damage.
And tomorrow we can install a new Windows 8.1 machine for the boyz in the gun shop, while stringing Cat-9 across their ceiling to the tune of about a hundred feet. My new machine should be enroute and I can’t wait to pimp it up. And rebuilding another laptop to run CentOS 7.0 and put it on two displays in the window of the adjacent server room. Meanwhile I’ll send the kid out on all the Windows help desk stuff….
Cat-9 cable?
Re “three combatants in Syria” – there are still remnants of the original rebels, i.e., the ones who just have the goal of overthrowing the government. This was originally a loose coalition of various groups (including Al Queda); ISIS absorbed the extremists, but the rest remains.
@OFD: Long hours, I almost don’t want to ask, but…do they get paid? Anyhow, survive the first couple of months, life will get better, as you weed-whack some of the silly stuff out of the way. Specially now that you have someone to take the front line in user support – he can at least filter it down to the genuine problems.
“Cat-9 cable?”
Yeah, it’s a new development in ethernet, just out; we’re so cutting edge there. No, that’s how tired I was. Could barely see straight to drive home in the dahk.
“Long hours, I almost don’t want to ask, but…do they get paid?”
I’m Exempt. So they’ve been getting their money’s worth the past three weeks. But I have some leeway as to my comings and goings and some independence and the ability to work from home if necessary for stuff that can be done from home.
I guess I’m out of the loop. The last cable I ran was Cat 5, and the most recent standard I was aware of was Cat 6a. I apparently somehow missed Cat 7 and Cat 8, along with Cat 9. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.
while stringing Cat-9 across their ceiling
You are so behind. I am string CAT-10 cabling. At least that is what the place I bought it from said it was. I guess you can’t trust Home Depot for your network cabling supplies. It strangely resembles Romex and I had to shave the wires to get them in the punch down blocks.
It is Cat 10, but they use Base0.
Maybe he meant Cat o’nine tails? You know how the Catholics are into flagellation.
You know how the Catholics are into flagellation.
Only with youngen’s present.
“I guess I’m out of the loop. The last cable I ran was Cat 5, and the most recent standard I was aware of was Cat 6a. I apparently somehow missed Cat 7 and Cat 8, along with Cat 9. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”
It’s all the time you spend on the assembly line. Gives you no time to read… 🙂
I’m Exempt. So they’ve been getting their money’s worth the past three weeks.
Sorry dude, you know there is no rest for the wicked!
I hope that you can hang there until age 70. Then when you drop dead your wife can get your full social security payment plus 12%.
What’s a cable?
“I hope that you can hang there until age 70. Then when you drop dead your wife can get your full social security payment plus 12%.”
Indeed, no rest for the wicked. I am no doubt paying for decades of sloth and gluttony and avarice and etc, etc. I only INTEND to work at this kinda stuff another two or three years as I segue into sumthin else, which I might then continue to age 70 or 72, maybe. If it’s IT that I’m still doing/stuck in, then 66, or five more years, is my limit. When I was at IBM there was a guy there in downstate NY who’d been at Big Blue for 47 years; he certainly knew his stuff, too. Considering, of course, he’d been with the whole IT thang from its beginnings.
I only INTEND to work at this kinda stuff another two or three years as I segue into sumthin else, which I might then continue to age 70 or 72, maybe. If it’s IT that I’m still doing/stuck in, then 66, or five more years, is my limit.
BTW, if you work ten+ hours per day today, they will expect you to work 10+ hours tomorrow. Just sayin…
http://thecodist.com/article/why_i_don_39_t_do_unpaid_overtime_and_neither_should_you
@Lynn, in re “Why I Don’t Do Unpaid Overtime and Neither Should You”:
As OFD revealed above, he’s exempt, which AIUI means his employer can work him ’til he drops.
A technically savvy programmer friend of mine, a good guy who’d basically been coerced into middle management (“You can do the work with or without the title and the pay increase, but you will be doing the work.”), had the temerity to raise the issue with his bosses after several of his exempt, salaried direct reports up and quit on him to return to previous jobs that required “only” 60 hours/week of on-the-road IT work, telling him that they really hated being strangers to their families. He’s still with the organization as a technical liaison with one of its major software suppliers, but with no one reporting to him and no future hope of advancement, and content with his lot.
Mrs. OFD is gone for one to three weeks each month, either working all across the country, being with her 86-year-old mom, or babysitting for our grandchildren down in Maffachufetts. Both our kids are grown and gone outta the house. So there’s just me and the dog and cats here much of the time. Occasionally the neighbors and I say howdy, or a brief chat at the post office or grocery store, and that’s the extent of my conversation outside of work. I am mainly a stranger, except for occasional emails, to my siblings down there, my own 82-year-0ld mom with Pick’s Disease, and our kids and grandkids. I also left home at seventeen. Cue up all the loneliness songs. Whatever.
“Hey, ya know that big ol’ creepy dude who lives in the old brick house? Whaddya think, he a creep or what? Serial killer? Child molester? Drug dealer?”
“I dunno, lives there by himself, never see anyone else around…takes the dog out, sometimes mows the lawn…keeps to himself…creepy bastid…”
Yup, I’m exempt; expected to be there from morning till night if need be, and stay until whatever critical issue is fixed. Can’t say much ’cause the GM and COO/Production Manager do the same (only they get paid a LOT more). I’ll hack the mission for a while; maybe just a year, maybe two or three more. We’ll see. They do seem to disappear around mid-afternoon on Fridays however, and the weekends are free and clear; I dropped in last Sunday and not a soul in sight anywhere near the place. So they put in their fifty to sixty hours in the four and a half days, I guess. And if anybody has to stay home for some reason, they apparently VPN in and work from there, too. (if they piss me off I’ll pull the plug on them, haha…)
Grandmaster key and I have root on everything. Better be nice to ol’ OFD.
Low fotties out there now, we expect frost to kick in pretty soon and guess what? Summuh is still on! Eight more days!
Just heard geese overhead..time to hit the sack…