Posted By RichC on April 12, 2017
It’s not exactly pristine landscaping this year at the Corbett abode, but seeing the rapidly growing grass and spring flowers popping out feels good. This is the first year that I recall actually missing winter.
Posted By RichC on April 12, 2017
Although this seems a tad bit goofy … as a backpacker, cruising sailor, vagabond traveler … there are occasions where water is limited or a proper bathroom facility is non-existent that this could come in handy.
Posted By RichC on April 11, 2017
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Posted By RichC on April 10, 2017
While listening to background music this past weekend (working on taxes), it became an easy decision post something on music. Next … decide 
which group and song to include without repeating something mentioned before on My Desultory Blog?
How about Three Dog Night???
The rock band was not necessarily in my record (or cassette tape) collection "back in the day," likely because their music was slightly before I was listening, but my college roommate Jerry Moody played their music all the time … so I listened.
One song, Shambala (written by Daniel Moore) never fails to get my toe tapping, so I’ll include the Three Dog Night version as the Music Monday song (it was also recorded by country artist B.W. Stevenson). Shambala was the first song on "side 2" of their CYAN album, but rose to a #3 single on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 back in 1973 — I really have never given any attention (so why now?) As a performing group, Three Dog Night was in it’s heyday between 1969 and 1976 … with the original three lead singers reuniting the band in 1981 for a few years. 
They continued perform in the 1990s and 2000s with occasional changes in faces. Of the original "Three Dogs" —lead singers — only Danny Hutton continues to tour .. but to sold out venues, proving their sound and music is still enjoyed today! (Cory Wells passed way in 2015 and Chuck Negron left in the mid-1980s in his continuing heroin addiction struggle).
| Shambala | Three Dog Night – 1973 |
EDIT add from YouTube:
Posted By RichC on April 9, 2017
Survey and ratings systems are a pet peeve of mine ever since finding out many places that use a rating scale (like 1- 5 or 0 – 10), will only count a perfect score as suitable to reward, 
complement or evaluate service, products and employees in a positive way. I’ve even stopped trying to offer constructive feedback since learning that often a slightly less than perfect score is recorded as a negative (particularly when it comes to a person and their service). Marking a 4 in a 5 point scale, or 9 in a 10 point scale is many times counted against an employee or team in an evaluation. Seems ridiculous right?
So my theory is to either rate a perfect score or not at all, unless a negative is really necessary … and in those cases post/add a comment as to why.
Netflix has decided against their old 5-star rating system and is going with a simple thumbs up or thumbs down (take a look next time you stream a movie). Good for them … it makes it easier and probably more effective … now how do we get service companies to do the same?
Posted By RichC on April 8, 2017
As happens every year, a "not so bright" woodpecker 
decides to wake us up by pecking on our chimney cap. The noise resonates down the flue and can be pretty loud in the house. Crazy Woody!
But since I’ve been wanting to experiment with my relatively new Lumix GX8 and long lens (a 100-300mm zoom), this was a perfect opportunity for a shaky handheld fully zoomed in photo and a short stabilized video. The quality was less than I had hoped. Watch the video and you can see the lens stabilization working overtime (a short 1 minute video below).
Posted By RichC on April 7, 2017
At one time or the other, 
we have all started to pull our hair out while on the computer and said, “this is ridiculous, why doesn’t someone fix this!”
Well after literally years of waiting for Google to do something about the “sensitive scroll feature” (or curse) when moving through the months in Google Calendar, I had had enough. It happened one too many times where I scheduled an appointment in the wrong month because the calendar jumps due to the sensitivity of the touch device (pad or mouse). So after complaining for years and expecting a “fix” from Google, I realized I was not alone and others had devised a fix. Ivan Morgillo made a simple extension and it solved the problem — disable the “annoying month change on scroll” … I just hope it doesn’t bloat and cause other problems!
To date, 3,468 users have given this extension a try … and several have left appreciative comments:
Thank goodness! This restored my sanity. Using a Magic Mouse with Google Calendars was annoying, until now.
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Thank you SOOO much! I use Google Chrome’s calendar with a magic mouse and the erratic jumping around has been driving me crazy for ages. This fixed the problem in seconds. I really appreciate someone doing something about this frustrating problem!
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Thank you ! I use Google Chrome’s calendar with a mac track pad and the erratic jumping around has been driving me crazy since day one! This extension fixed it immediately. I added it to chrome, refreshed my calendar and voila! Its amazing how something so simple can cause so much frustration and how simply fixing it can make my work day so much easier.
EDIT for 2020: After receiving both an email and comment, it was time to revisit the scrolling issue for the Google Calendar since switching from Chrome to Brave (a Chrome-based browser). Hopefully this Google Calendar Scroll Disabler extension will continue to work — updating the link and confirming all is still working with Brave on the Mac with an Apple Magic Mouse and the Google Calendar (to date over 10,000+ users are using it, so come on Google, update/fix your calendar for Mac users).
Posted By RichC on April 6, 2017
The banking giant Chase is not alone in their inefficiency — they mailed me a 1 cent check by first class mail (below) — since local Fifth Third Bank continues to send me a paper statement a decade after trying to close an old 529 college savings account.
I’m not sure how many dollars have been spent in printing and mailing statements over the years, but I’m sure it far more that the 10 cents left in the account. I is disheartening to see companies wasting money, as if they were the Federal government and spending our taxpayer dollars!
Posted By RichC on April 5, 2017
As California Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA) excogitated his ideas and explained the slow progress of repealing and replacing Obamacare with Neil Cavuto, he quoted one of his late fellow Californians, Paul Masson, "We will sell no wine before its time." How apropos to healthcare reform (listen or watch below).
That wasn’t the only smart saying Representative McClintock used on Neil’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast Fox Business program over the lunch hour yesterday, but was a good one.
His second quote was from Benjamin Franklin who in talking about John Adams debating the challenging process of creating a functioning government for our country. It is good reminder that robust debate and disagreement doesn’t necessarily mean that one’s "motivation is not good, even if the strategy is counterproductive." Elected leaders with different points of view are really what helps and helps "to form a more perfect union" … at least that was my take-away on this).
| Rep Tom McClintock (R-CA) | Cavuto: Coast to Coast – 4/5/2017 |
McClintock, who was once a Freedom Caucus member, looks at the handful of Republican members who refused to back the current GOP repeal and replace bill last month and explained them with a Franklin to Adams quote:
Mr. Adams has the best interest of our country at heart, he is always and honest man, often a wise one, but in some things, and at some times, he is completely out of his senses.
Posted By RichC on April 4, 2017
Although Pinterest isn’t my thing, it is a good place for "lookers" to collect ideas. One of the items yet to order for the kitchen upgrade will be counter height stools and my daughter, who is on maternity leave, said she would do some looking on Pinterest (whew, I don’t have to look there!). The task is not all that simple as neither Brenda or I have found the perfect stools. My current choice is on the Wayfair Business site and has a swivel. I like being able to pivot after bringing a swivel stool up from the workshop to try.
While waiting for the countertops and island area to be measured for granite (who know how long to cut and polish?), we’ll continue our searching for stools. One big accomplishment was that we agreed on pendant lights after a slight hiccup. That decision required another hole and patch in the ceiling drywall … and a bit more electrical, but for now we are satisfied with the look.
Unboxed 1 of 3 pendant lights and I temporarily hung one for Brenda’s approval.