My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on January 6, 2021

Now that the final season of Last Man Standing has started (Jan 3, 2021), Brenda and I are finally catching up on the previous season that I recorded on the DVR. We had forgotten just how much we enjoyed this sitcom. It is hard to remember the last time both of us laughed at the same comedy, or political jokes that fit our political views, but it may have been a couple of years ago when we watch the same Tim Allen sitcom?

For us, it was enjoyable to watch several episodes back to back “together” since most of our “together TV” lately has been a weekend recorded, Netflix or Amazon Prime movie or a FoxNews or FoxBusiness show (most of which has been pretty depressing lately). I’ve been mostly avoiding television (no baseball, basketball or football this year) and Brenda semi-focused on Christmas movies or series rerun (again and again again – she says she just has it on for the mindless background noise, like I do for music). Anyway, it has been fun this week to laugh together and smile at the same things. We need to do more of it … “laugh and smile together” that is. 

Unfortunately after 9 season and nearly 200 episodes, we’ll need to find another show to watch together as “Last Man Standing is coming to an end, again.”

The Fox comedy will end with its upcoming ninth season, which will premiere on the network in January.

The move means that the Tim Allen-fronted series will have run for 194 episodes when it ends with its ninth season being ordered for 21 episodes.

It marks the second time that the sitcom has come to an end; the show, which is produced by 20th Television, ran for six seasons on ABC and was axed in 2017. Fox, which at the time was part of the same corporation as the studio that made it, picked it up for a seventh season that premiered in September 2018.

—DEADLINE

Category: Entertainment, Human Interest, Humor | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, comedy, last man standing, marriage, richc, sitcom, television, tim allen, together

Posted By RichC on January 5, 2021

I’ve watched the political divide and ideology between the right and left grow wider during the past decade … and probably longer, but the voices and actions haven’t seemed this divided since the 1960s. The debate is no longer on a hot-topic or two … or between the traditional bigger government. liberal Democrats and smaller government conservative Republicans. Even during my early days of following politics, debating and voting, I never really worried about losing liberty, our individual independence or the American way of life. I trusted that even liberal Democrats, who may have held different social views, still wanted to live free from others telling them how they had to live, etc … as in so many other dictatorial countries. I even understood their passion for a bigger government safety, better opportunities so as to improve income inequality and paying for it with a more progressive tax code. Back then, I concluded we were looking for the same outcome, but just disagreed over how much of a role we wanted government to take and how much should be handled by individuals themselves, charities and private industry.

Now it no long seems as if Democrat voters want to keep this 200+ year old American experiment going. I’m not sure they value two parties governing in three branches in order to check and balance our governing system? Our founding principles seem to be under attack, as is the capitalism economic system that has made America the envy of  the world. I’d like to believe that I’m over-thinking my concern, but it everything seems to be changing rapidly (which is always the plan when it comes to progressivism). This past year there has been a silencing of conservative views, a distain for laws and those who enforce them, lack of deterrents for criminal behavior, disagreements with our country’s’ founding principles and bureaucrats overstepping the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Journalists and news media organizations have almost all become opinion propogandists and our educational system is brainwashing student and teaching and supporting Marxist and Socialist views, rather than creating critical independent thinkers. How have we gone so wrong in what seems a short time in the annals of history?

Now it has come to one state that will decide just how one-sided and powerful we will permit one party to become. “The times they are a changin’” when even a traditionally conservative state like Georgia is “too close to call” (even if there are voting issues) … I’m sensing the America I once knew is changing, and in my opinion, for the worse. Thankfully I’m not alone … in fact, I suspect 74 million voters in 2020  think like me … but that means a significant number of citizens either truly believe the left’s message … or just really hated President Donald Trump (I’m hoping it is the latter).

What’s next if Georgia gives Democrats the Senate?

Category: Politics | No Comments »
Tags: conservative, democrats, election, georgia, liberal, opinion, Politics, Republicans, runoff, senate, thoughts

Posted By RichC on January 4, 2021

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Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: kenny chesney, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, pirate song

Posted By RichC on January 3, 2021

Looking at the tool for tools sake, but also the technique is nice!

Category: How-To, Tools, Video | No Comments »
Tags: hedge, mp4, trimmer, trimming, video, yardwork

Posted By RichC on January 2, 2021

Adam Savage, from Mythbusters claim-to-fame, has been regularly posting a few of his shop ideas online. A few months ago he triggered me into improving my portable Sailrite Sewing machine set-up (well my wife’s sewing machine that I use .. cough, cough). Anyway, a few weeks after he built his table for his impressive Sailrite stitcher (his is not portable), I decided to improved ours with a little added on, but still wanted to keep it portable.

A few weeks later, he added a small tuperware drawer add-on which made it convenient to drop the small pinch-clips that hold piece together similar to the way most use sewing pins. As one stitches along, each clip is removed and dropped in the tuperware, can or box one as a time. A month or so ago, I added a wooden holder for the small lidded can, but it was a bit small and “in my opinion” feminine for my tastes.

So as I was cleaning up the workbench and tossing my testing piece for the brass screwed miter corners (used for the Pie – Pi – Boxes), I split it into two “L” pieces and attached to an old cigar box that was salvaged from the days I helped Brenda stack newspapers at the drugstore she managed. This was in the early 1980s when Brenda managed a small drugstore in Shaker Heights, Ohio. In those days, the pharmacist was often also the store manager, especially when it was a tiny corner neighborhood store.

Only click more if you want to head down a rabbit hole … – Idiom

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Category: Business, Gadget, History, Idioms, Memories, Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: Adam Savage, box, brenda, cigar, clips, drugstore, feminine, gray drug, History, hudson, idiom, idioms, map, masculine, mp4, Mythbusters, ohio, Rabbit, revco, rite aid, sailrite, sewing, shaker heights, video, walgreens

Posted By RichC on January 1, 2021

After the previous challenging server update from years on Ubuntu Linux 12, 14 and 16 to a questionable 18 upgrade … I’ve been hesitant to upgrade the server to  “Focal Fossa” 20.04 in the spring and summer … so I didn’t. But now that we are at the end of the year (actually by the time this posts it will be January 1, 2021!), and  facing a Tech Friday need … it is time to deal with it … besides the MySQL database has been restarting too often. On the plus side,  I’m running 20.10 “Groovy Gorilla” on a Raspberry Pi successfully and figured it was time to start upgrading production servers to Linux 20.10. Hold on .. gulp!

Ubuntu’s version numbering scheme is based on year (YY), a period, and the month (MM). For instance, the previous stable version was released this past April and it is numbered as 20.04. In addition, Canonical (the operating system’s owner) assigns names — sequentially and alphabetically. The alphanumeric code name is always based on two words

If you are reading this, the update to this server must have worked,
so Happy New Year.

Category: Computer, Productivity, Raspberry Pi, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: 20.10, Computer, groovy gorilla, linux, raspberry pi, server, tech friday, techfriday, ubuntu, update, upgrade

Posted By RichC on December 31, 2020

I had lunch “out” this week with my good friend Jeff, although this routine has become very infrequent compared to previous years. Still, we had a chance to catch up, talk about politics (Ugh), the old-days backpacking in North Carolina (an old scanned photo for Throwback Thursday #TBT) … and I opened his cool gift to me that works with my Trangia backpacking stove. Nice (see small Solo Stove below the break).  He filled me in on his time in Orlando with family (aging father) and I filled him in about our Christmas with the kids.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

— Jeremiah 29:11

There is no better way to end the sour 2020 year than reflecting on the many blessings in my life… including good friends and family, I am so thankful we are all here and still healthy, considering how the Coronavirus has impacted others (although Brenda is still struggling with her compression fracture and osteoporosis … but she has a plan and is slowly mending). Hopefully, we will continue to remain COVID19 free and disciplined until the vaccine helps curtail the spread.

On remaining COVID19-free, Katelyn received her vaccine on Tuesday and Drew on Wednesday. Since they both work with patients and are in hospital settings, they are frontline workers and as I mentioned on Twitter, “One less worry for dad.”

As for winding down 2020 and preparing for 2021, I’m semi-busy closing out my books, getting the last of my “window-dressing” done on the stock trading (tax planning) and figuring out how to set up a new scaled-back accounting set-up for the future. Years ago I started the business with MYOB and moved to Quickbooks for the last 15 years. Now, I can really go back to something simpler and spreadsheet-based … I know, I’m going backward. HA!

For now, here’s wishing everyone a safe New Year’s Eve and a healthy and happy New Year.

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Category: Faith, Friends, Health, Memories, Personal, Photos, TBT | No Comments »
Tags: backpacking, blessings, camping, coronavirus, covid19, family, friends, hiking, jeff pitts, jeffp, katelyn, memories, Memory, reflection, solo, stove, TBT, thankful, vaccination, vaccine

Posted By RichC on December 30, 2020

When it comes to being the first to read a book, I’m not the guy to turn to, but eventually I do get around to some of them. I’m particularly fond of the history oriented books from the last century and “I Marched With Patton” by Frank Sisson fits that criteria. 

This World War II story starts with the downtrodden setting for the economy and the hardships of the Great Depression. Frank had to become the breadwinner for his family at a young age after the death of his father and knew he would soon be called to war when he turned 18. From a small Oklahoma town, his honesty in acknowledging his worldly knowledge was limited as he relates this to readers in situations such as meeting a US Jewish soldier from Philadelphia who explained the oppression of Jews by the Nazis … as well as other times in history. The naïveté of Frank likely wasn’t unique for the time when a lot of US soldiers came from smaller isolated town with schools barely able to teach the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.

I’m listening to the audio version and find the narration by Robert L. Wise excellent. He helps bring the story to life just as a good actor does in a movie. I’m about half finished but early in the story, Frank’s connection to General George Patton was while directing traffic in France and saluting Patton’s Jeep as he passed by – “He looked me in the eye as if to approve of the way I was directing traffic.”

If you enjoy military history and World War II accounts, then you’ll enjoy “I Marched With Patton.” A worthwhile read.

Category: Audio, Books, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: audio, Books, frank sisson, glose, History, patton, reading, ww2

Posted By RichC on December 29, 2020

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Category: Archive, Holiday, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, brenda, christmas, corbett, coronavirus, covid19, coyote, drew, ellerie, family, katelyn, lumix, megan, oostra, Photos, richc, taylor, toolkit, truth for life

Posted By RichC on December 28, 2020

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Category: Memories, Music | No Comments »
Tags: 1970s, coconut, harry nillssen, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, novelty, song