Behind the Blogger: The Death of Blogging

Well, perhaps "death" is a little harsh, but it is Halloween, after all. But there is no doubt I've let my blog languish these last two years, and lately especially. I've addressed the matter several times, and tried to alternatively apologize and explain myself. The truth is, I'll always have this blog as long as the blogger service is available, and though it might get dusty and cobwebby, it will always be here. But, I'm now clearly prone to long stretches without blogging.

I guess since it's my own singular endeavor, and really pretty much a hobby, that's not so strange or even bad. But maybe a little sad. Because I do have a lot to say, there is a lot going on, and I feel like I can contribute--in my own small way--to public discourse. I know this, because even though I never had a huge audience, I did get eyeballs in here, sometimes quite a few. But ultimately this is for me, more than anyone. And I've found that with today's social media applications, and multiple devices at hand, constant "plugged-in" status, that getting those little zaps of catharsis come easier there. Coming here to write a blog post is destination surfing. I have to log in to the blogger software, I have to concentrate on writing a coherent post, or even posting a video, I have to do a certain amount of formatting.

Sometimes, that just isn't on my mind, not like it was in the blog's first six or seven years. I mean look at this year, it's both Halloween and the run up to probably the most consequential presidential election we've ever had, and there are crickets around here!

Still, I felt motivated to put this post up, and I'll likely get several more up between today and election day. If the unthinkable happens, and Orange Hitler gets voted in, something tells me my motivation to blog will go up. And maybe even if sanity prevails, all the crap Hillary Clinton will have dumped on her from day one will inspire me also.

No promises, but I'm going to try!

Behind the Blogger: The Land of Confusion; or These are the Contents of My Head

I'm sitting in the calm at the center of a storm I can't see, and I'm confused. I'm not even sure there's a storm. And it's as metaphorical as it is literal. It's a weird day, and the full moon is over. So, what's going on?

Weather-wise, I'm finding Ohio to be very a deeply weird place to be. Nevada? Pretty much it's hot and sunny, warm and sunny, cold and sunny, or there are very obvious and clear storms. Here? There can be hourly predictions of 0% precipitation while it is pouring down rain. You can have predictions of certain rain, 100%, with thunder, lightning and the wrath of God, and. . .nothing happens. Right now, from north of Columbus to east of it, where I live, we have simultaneous storm and flood warnings, with the threat of hurricane-force winds, coupled with hourly forecasts of 0% rain and 4mph winds.  Which is it? damned if I know.

The forecasts are actually starting to finally line up, but to the bad
side, not the good.

Couple that with a spouse who is unforthcoming about work strife--but clearly unhappy. Family members with further inter-member strife that seems to only whirl around me when I'm not present (for the most part), and then this deeply weird stuff going on in the news. Sit-ins at the House of Representatives over gun control? A buffoon with the most bizarre hairdo and makeup job as a major party presidential contender (who could win!), versus another that people openly treat as if she's the devil, but only have the vaguest reasons for treating that way (I just don't trust her. . .where there's smoke there's fire!). And an uncertain current lifespace, personally.

I wonder if it's just me, or if the whole country is having a no good, very weird day. Personally, I'm anticipating both a medical and dental visit on the very-near horizon that could either yield easy and quick answers to immediate problems, or lead to protracted, painful, more serious efforts to correct. I am sort of between careers, thinking that at this time, that's the best thing--kind of the perfect thing, as a bridge between life events. But not so much when the spouse isn't feeling the same way. And much of this all came in the space of an hour or two, this odd assemblage of sometimes contradictory, sometimes confusing input.

The U.S. House of Representatives Sit In; Reuters

Reading this, it may not even make sense to you. Part of it is the still not-quite-settled new life chapter The Other Half and I are dealing with after our uprooting from both careers and location, having spent nearly two decades with Very. Little. Change. It may be almost a year and a half later, but much of it is still shaking out, and frankly, still feels surreal. We're doing that while I'm transitioning into my 50s, finding myself with new medical issues (not serious, at least I don't think so), new feelings of mortality and finality (eeeeek!). We're doing that after voluntarily jumping into the abyss from both our careers without the benefit of a safety net (or insurance!). We've gone from living 2,000 miles from family, living in the outer orbits of family events, missing most of the bad and the good of having family nearby; to being much closer to the vortex. We're doing this during the passing of the baton in perhaps the strangest, longest presidential campaigns we've ever lived through.

And I'm typing this on a blog I've nearly abandoned, not really for any reason, other than it just kind of petered out. And here I am, typing what may be the purest kind of old-school web log post of all, the pointless emptying of my head into my online diary! Probably no one will read it. Or if they do, it'll make them angry at me! Such is life, I suppose.

[Excerpt]

House Democrats broadcast 'sit-in' on social media after cameras shut down


Democrats demanding action on gun control turned to Twitter's Periscope and Facebook's live video platform to broadcast their "sit-in" on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday after the chamber's cameras shut down. Representative Scott Peters of California told Reuters he downloaded the online video platform Periscope from the House floor after it became clear that chamber cameras were not operating. . .

Read more at: Reuters

Behind the Blogger: Political Overload Leads to Apathy

Wow, this is what you don't want to happen. I'm so sick and tired of every Donald Trump utterance being at the top of the news, I'm starting to tune out. The media clearly loves having Trump around, and is currently employing double standards aplenty for him.

For instance, Hillary Clinton--still the Democratic front-runner, though not the only Democratic candidate--is rarely talked about in anything but negative stories, even if there is no new news. Her negative polls are up! Even though she's still beating every one she's matched up against. Even though her standings in any polls that matter have barely budged. Even though we're well more than a year out from the election. She compared GOP candidates to terrorists! She needs to apologize! Even though she really didn't, and even though Trump says several worse things each and every day and never has to apologize.

I've detested this man since the EIGHTIES. It would be easy
to blame my blogging apathy on him! Image from Huffington Post.

For instance, Bernie Sanders. . .crickets. He's packing stadiums and auditoriums, has enthusiastic supporters, actual policy positions and details, and is every bit as unfiltered as Trump. Almost no coverage, other than as a curiosity.

But, Joe Biden might run! Curtains for Clinton! What? Biden has run twice before without making much of a ripple. He's even older than Bernie, Hillary or Trump, and his positions are virtually identical to Hillary's. And good grief, on the GOP side, SEVENTEEN major candidates are running! So what if Biden runs? Run, Joe, run, if that's what you want to do. Though, truth be told, I'd rather see him end his career on a high note, than with an ugly campaign.

And outside of presidential politics (and yes, other things are actually going on out there), we have a wildly see-sawing stock market, with impossibly skittish, cowardly investors freaking out over their own shadows. Tell me that between 3:00 pm on an odd Tuesday things are looking rosy, then by 4:00 pm the world is coming to an end, and then the next morning, rally! I mean what the actual fuck, you guys?

People being shot on live television, and the shooter turns out to be both black and gay, which is confusing (and rare). Liberals want to bring up gun control, conservatives finger-wag that it's "too soon," and it's "politicizing a tragedy." And yet, they're simultaneously politicizing the tragedy by whining about the prospect of gun control, and--bizarrely--trying to equate the rainbow flag with the Confederate flag. Attention conservatives: you do not understand humor, sarcasm, irony nor analogies.

Closed caption is wrong! It's "meh." M-E-H.

So, clearly, there is no shortage of things to write about. So why is the blog languishing with nary an update for days at a stretch? Well, beyond burnout, change of life circumstances, change of residence and environment, and more, I'm just feeling apathetic about it. Yes, I've been horrible at updating the blog all year pretty much, but I'm blaming the Dog Days of August. Life is feeling that way, or rather, my online life is. Actual life is going pretty well.

I'm trying to plug back in, at least better than I have been, but it's a toughie. It's like rolling that rock uphill sometimes. I also find myself participating in smaller, nugget-sized ways via Twitter, Facebook comments sections and other social media. I'm going to have to curb that a bit if I want to get back to something resembling a daily blog again. So, I'll try. As I said before, it's not like I don't have the time these days, being on semi-sabbatical. I just need the oomph, the zazz. The blog's not going anywhere, I just am having difficulty with putting new stuff on it!

Stay tuned.

Behind the Blogger: Waiting for SCOTUS, and The Other Half

I've resigned myself to blogging much more sporadically than I used to. Discovering--after eight years of doing this--that I'm under no obligation to post anything if not motivated has been kind of liberating. A strong argument could be made for giving up the venture, it being an unpaid, generally unacknowledged effort in the first place. But I enjoy having my own tiny corner of the internets, a place to shout out to the universe about whatever is on my mind.

Though I have much more time this year and this summer to blog, I'm finding that time isn't really the issue. It's a changing world, with social media making it so much easier to consume data, interact and comment on what's going on, and frankly, making it more difficult for me in particular to focus on a single subject at a time. I'm a multi-screen, multi-tasking, fragmented, near-ADD level media consumer these days. I spend far too much time doing all of the above, and with the freedom to do so, I'm still struggling with the whens, the hows, and the whys of having my butt planted in a chair in front of my screens when I could be doing something else.

Even when I force myself to change my venue, going out to get exercise, running errands, working on projects, I find myself with my screens (smart phone, touch-screen car media center) and my headphones, still consuming, still taking in data, stimulation. You'd think that this would spur more blogging activity later, not less. But I have often taken to commenting right there in Facebook, Twitter, the comments section, the letters to the editor. I've found my butt back in that chair when I didn't mean to, and the blog still gets ignored. Sorry about that, dear reader (if you actually exist!).

Summer has begun, and I've got some social obligations on the horizon, so the ramping up of chores and events and errands is about to hit in earnest. The Other Half--currently an absentee around here, as he's still commuting for an indeterminate time--returns after a lengthy time away, at the same time that friends and family are converging at our new home. Also, the Supreme Court of the United States is set to announce life-changing and politically explosive decisions in the space of the next week. Obamacare (of which I may soon be a consumer) and marriage equality (of which I've already consumed!) cases will be decided either Thursday, Friday or Monday.

When The Other Half and I moved to Ohio, we left a state where we were (only recently recognized as) legally married, fully equal to any other married couple, and to a state where we were not recognized. We will also soon be moving into a world where we don't have secured health insurance, with his retirement. So, both decisions are huge for us. It feels odd having such large question marks looming (especially since the question of future careers also loom in front of us), to be decided rather arbitrarily by nine people. Or even one person, if these cases come down to a 5-4 SCOTUS split.

For the most part, I'm relatively optimistic that both cases will be a win for the "liberal" side. I think the ACA/Obamacare case hinges upon a rather obviously partisan, paper-thin argument. A conservative win there would be just as transparently a political decision, more than a well-reasoned legal argument. On the marriage equality argument, a win seems even more certain, with virtually every indicator pointing toward 50-state legal equality for gay couples to marry. But SCOTUS has shocked us before.

Citizens United, Hobby Lobby and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act are all cases that stomp around the edges of my certainty. All of those decisions were WTF moments for people who look at things logically, not just because they were losses for my "side," but because the arguments for them seemed so bad, and the ramifications so obvious. Whenever I see someone say that the court wouldn't decide on my two cases in the conservative affirmative, because of the legal chaos it would create? I think of these other cases, where the chaos was either ignored, or even predicted by SCOTUS as "not going to happen."

If the ACA case goes to the conservatives, millions of Americans could lose their insurance, and people will die, directly because of the decision. That's relatively indisputable when you realize that nobody has a Plan B. If the marriage equality case goes to the conservatives, tens and tens of thousands of gay couples' rights are thrown into question, and the equality of unmarrieds seeking to marry becomes more of a patchwork than it already is. More chaos. But let's face it, would Scalia care?

Still, I'm optimistic. Though the court has in the past made manifestly political decisions, I'm hopeful that with these two decisions, legacy is the more important factor. For some of these justices--given their ages--legacy has got to be important. As they head into the sunset of their careers, do they really want to have deciding negatively on either of these huge cases as the thing they're remembered for? For the relatively youthful Chief Justice, does he want preside over negatively deciding them, only to have to revisit each issue again, and potentially have them overturned, or to have them overturned by the next guy? Either of these scenarios would cloud their legacies. So, that's one hope for me.

Another hope is that both cases will actually be decided on their merits, on legal precedent, and on simple logic. That may be a high hope, but if it happens, we win again. The case against marriage equality is just weak, weak, weak. I've followed this closely for its entire existence, and the one constant is just how bad the legal arguments are against equality. And the ACA case, as previously stated, comes down to intent versus semantics, and there is ample precedent that intent should win out over political sentiment over what "the state" means.

Timing over how these things are released adds to my suspense and frustration, and you have to wonder how much of the SCOTUS calendar is engineered by necessity, and how much is for dramatic effect. From my perspective, gay rights cases in general have been dragged out for as long as is possible by nearly every court. Though it seems like an incredibly fast progressing issue to many, when you follow it, it is glacially slow. But SCOTUS seems determined to wait until as late as they possibly can to tell us their decision. The wait is excruciating. And the timing is going to be momentous either way.

See, religious objectors? Not married in church, but at this
awesome city hall in Palm Springs. No Jesus, no "holy
matrimony." So, chill out.

The Other Half and I got married during the 2008 marriage equality "window," the time period between legal same-sex marriage in California and when Prop 8 shut it down. For five long years, I followed every legal wriggle, and watched the marriage equality progress in other states (including in Nevada where I then lived, and Iowa, The Other Half's home state). And finally, one day before our five-year anniversary--which we were spending back in California with our wedding party in tow--we were fully legal again, thanks to SCOTUS. Now, two years later, I'm waiting again for my home state to join the other two-thirds of the country in recognizing my marriage. And I'm waiting for The Other Half too!

If SCOTUS announces on Thursday or Friday, it will be just ahead of our anniversary again, and right before NYC's gay pride festivities. If it announces on Monday, it will be immediately after The Other Half's return. A positive announcement (hopefully in both cases) will provide a very jubilant summer. A mixed bag is going to hurt, no matter what. My best guess is a slightly mixed bag. I have a feeling we're going to get a mostly liberal victory on both of these things, but somehow tempered by the conservative justices.

With the ACA case, I'm not enough of an expert to know how they'd split the baby. But I'll bet they'll try. With the marriage equality case, I'm betting we get 50 state recognition with--at a minimum--recognition of marriages performed in other states, but possibly leaving in-state marriage up to the states. This would be a loss for our side, but would still have the practical effect of legalizing same-sex marriage everywhere. And that last domino would likely eventually fall. More likely, we'll even win on the "can get married anywhere" side, but conservative justices will muddy the win by tacking on some sort of BS "religious protections," or other minimizing language to coddle the conservatives a bit.

In short (I know, too late), I'm betting that the liberal side gets plenty to celebrate, and a little bit to bitch about, and the conservative side will be dealt big losses, but have a few nuggets to cling to. I hope that my prediction is at least what comes to pass, and that it actually comes out better. A worse case scenario is likely to drag down my summer, and drag me back to some blistering blogging.

Either way, I'm optimistic, but nervous.

Behind the Blogger: The Return of Greenlee Gazette (for the Last Time, Again. . .)!

Though I've slowed down gradually over the last several years, it's only been since the Christmas and New Year's holiday season that Greenlee Gazette has really hit an iceberg and become a derelict craft of a blog. Bobbing around in the ocean, looking for all the world as though it's going under. And who could blame me if it did?

I've been captaining this ship for close to eight years, sometimes accompanied by a poo-flinging ship's chaplain (thanks for stirring me, Rev. Stu'!). And in that time, I've logged thousands of entries, and thousands of hours of unpaid blog-mastering. Though it's a hobby I greatly enjoy, it can be a slog. And some of my favorite bloggers--much more successful ones too, mind you--are actually throwing in the towel this year. Is blogging even still a thing? I'd argue it is, it's just more fractured than it used to be. For all of the social media we have these days, it still largely links to destination sites, and I enjoy being one of those destinations.

Chez Greenlee

But as I've said a few times here, getting back into the habit is difficult. It's kind of like trying to jump back onto a diet, when your schedule is all out of whack. And this past two weeks spanned a time when I was in transition between my parents' rural, snowed-in, remote house and my new suburban one. Now, finally, we're really in, with the bulk of the living space at least partially finished. Staple goods are re-stocked. Utilities are settled, appliances and electronics mostly placed. We've got some blank spaces and some place-holder furniture, and other assorted things to do, but at last, none of it really feels pressing.

The Other Half goes off on another extended work jaunt tomorrow, and my goal is to jump-start the blog--again--along with the diet! So, wish me luck! With all that is going on in the news, getting a few posts up should be no problem, and I'm itching to add my two cents.

For tonight, I'm staring down a 4 am call to get TOH to the airport, so it's early-to-bed. See you back here for the re-booted blog on Monday morning. Promise!

--Ed.

Behind the Blogger: Back to Ohio, Winter Update

Okay, so I've been back to Ohio now for roughly three weeks. After driving for the last four days of January from Las Vegas to Central Ohio (with a couple of stop-overs in Iowa to visit family), we managed to stay ahead of a big winter storm that had basically followed us all the way. We safely ensconced ourselves at The Other Half's sister's house on the west side of Columbus that first night, and then stayed for one more night before moving north to my parents' manse in the woods.

Since that time--all of February--I've been up here, in various stages of "snowed in," mostly. I picked a weird time to move from the Mojave Desert, didn't I? I know, because I kept my Las Vegas weather app on my phone, and can see the seventy-degree temperature gap for myself! At first, I was like a typical Las Vegan, one who had rarely or never driven on snow: a bit freaked out by the prospect. Odd, when you consider my very first experiences driving solo were in a very snowy winter, circa 1982-83. My sister--an experienced hand at both driving on snow and in a big honking diesel pickup truck--has been awesome about driving out here, (where the only access to the road is a half-mile long driveway in the woods, along a cliff) to tamp down the snow a bit for me.

Our poor cars, which have prior to now only known the desert.
Mine was cleared off 8 hours prior to this shot.

So, with the occasional melts, and my sis' efforts, getting out hasn't been 100% impossible. I've ventured out a few times, and in fact for one whole afternoon was unknowingly driving around in a level 1 snow emergency. I've--somewhat--got my "snow feet" back underneath me. Now, however, we've been buried under snow again. And I say "we" euphemistically, because in reality, I've spent most of my time up here in Frozen: Ohio Edition mostly alone. The Other Half went off to do some back-to-back-to-back trips for his work over a week ago. And he's not due back for another week!

The view from my temporary bedroom this morning.

Ah, so I have all this time on my hands. I'm not working, other than some few-hours-per-week tele-commuting design work. So, why am I not blogging? What in the world am I doing with my time? Aren't I bored? Yes and no. I'm finding that it's entirely possible to "do nothing," and still have a day zoom by. I'm managing to diet and exercise, including time on the treadmill, and the one-mile round trip in the snow for the mail. I've been cooking and cleaning up after myself (fortunately, I suppose).

Initially, there was the house hunt, and all that entails, including getting the financing, inspection and all of that. There was also the flurry of socializing with local family, though that's been largely curtailed because of the weather. So, right now, I'm in a holding pattern on the house, and pretty much a hermit under the snow. I had to go out to a funeral yesterday, but have no social engagements lined up. I have some work that's likely to come in, but probably won't go beyond a couple of hours' time in the next few days.

So, I'm going to try to get back into the blogging habit! For real! I hope. Here's the surprising thing: after blogging nearly daily for almost 8 years (even given the gradual reduction over the years), I've completely fallen out of the habit. It was a compulsion, a personal obligation for so long, I'd actually feel guilty if I skipped a few non-weekend days. I'd feel compelled to put up something, anything to let people know, "hey, I'm still here!" But I found out, once you willingly put yourself on hiatus, and then return with a "I'm going to slowly come back to this" disclaimer? The daily tug? Evaporates. I've utterly lost the feeling--when I'm once again sitting at the keyboard doing nothing in particular--to blog about this.

The new abode, assuming all goes as planned. Obviously before
the snow-mageddon.

Well, I'm going to try to get it back. I know I don't want the blog to go permanently dark, and I know also that there's not much point to a once-a-week blog either. I never want it to be a burden though, and I don't want to have a random assemblage of posts that only exists to fill some space. It's still got to interest me, and it's still got to be (hopefully) interesting to others. Now is as good a time as any--in fact, it's not going to get more opportune--for me to find that blogging desire and voice again. Barring an emergency or an unforeseen amount of work obligation, I'm going to re-train myself to blog again, and it begins this weekend.

 

Behind the Blogger: 2015 New Year's Resolutions

New Year's resolutions are a silly tradition. For the most part, we never get started on them. Occasionally, we commit to them. For a week. Maybe two. If you keep it up for three weeks, you've got maybe a 50% chance of going past a month, and if you make it to a month, I'm betting you're in rare company.

That said, in 2011, I gave up smoking as a New Year's resolution. Other than the fact that I picked January 3 as my start date (since that was a Monday that year), it took. I have had zero ciggies since January 2, 2011. Truth be told, I could have given them up on Dec. 31, since I think I rationed out my last pack over two days, and ended up giving the rest to The Other Half (who is still occasionally puffing, by the way). Other resolutions have not been nearly so successful, though I often do make it through long past when others drop out.

Usually, it's lose weight, get in shape. I've done that many times. I rarely ever stop exercising completely, so that one is usually stepping up my exercise. But I often fall off the diet. I'm a yo-yo dieter with a really long yo. I can go 18 months at a good weight, then life gets in the way, and boom, chubbo again. Doggone it. Some people think it's as easy as simple math, calories in, calories out. This doesn't take into account differing metabolisms, differing types of food that either stick or pass on thru, and other factors. And it doesn't take into account that Atkins really works, and you don't have to count calories to do it. It's just bloody boring after a while. But...

My resolutions for 2015:

- Lose weight, 20 pounds or above, keep net 20 off for the year. If I lose 25, and end up with just the 20, I'll take it.
- Keep up and ramp up the exercise.
- No smoking (this one is easy)!
- Keep blogging, even though it's mostly for me. Everyone needs a hobby.
- Grow my business/get a job. One or the other or both will be necessary after quitting my job, and moving cross-country with The Other Half.
- Save political arguments for the blog and online shouting matches. No need to start unnecessary arguments with politically incompatible family members!
- Enjoy the changes the move will bring, don't panic, don't overthink, enjoy.
 

Behind the Blogger: Leaving Las Vegas, Back to Ohio

[Every so often, I use this site as a personal confessional. That's kind of what "blogs" originally were: personal web logs. Since I haven't written in a while, I thought I'd do one of these, to explain what I've been up to, and where I've been]

It's the end of a personal era. It all began in 1994. Rather, it didn't begin there, but things that were already in motion took off there. I'd been in the amusement industry for about six years, and in 1994 Las Vegas was experiencing an amusement ride boom. Along with several other principal members of the company I'd worked with in Ohio, I made the decision to journey across America, a 2,000 mile trek to the desert. I landed here almost exactly 20 years ago, plus a couple of weeks.

This year's Christmas card (with apologies to Berkeley Breathed)

The first two years were exciting and new. I'd never lived so far away from my family. Prior to this, I was still a 30-minute drive away, and sometimes went weeks without seeing any of them, but it was possible to get together on a moments' notice, or for holidays, birthdays, gatherings or lunch. Now, I was alone, except for my four other fellow travelers.

Initially, we spent a whole lot of our time together, and didn't much wander out of our own little group, especially me. I was the fifth wheel, the perpetual single to the two couples. More than that, I was the gay one, to their straight-married normalcy. And I was also shy and didn't date. So, we spent way too much time at The Rio, The Hard Rock Hotel, and other "new-to-us" gambling meccas. Eventually, I tired of being alone, and dipped a toe into the dating waters. After a few tries, I started dating a guy of considerable charm, but with a dark side.

We dated for six weeks. After escalating just-short-of-violent behavior (and other sketchy behavior), I dumped him. He spent a week winning me back. We dated for six more weeks, his sketchy behavior picked back up, moved to the actually violent, and I dumped him again. All the while, I funded his favorite activity, namely: video poker and pool. I did this--stupidly--to my own financial detriment. But, in a very wise move, I dumped him again. Unfortunately, because we traveled in the same circles, I knew I could not avoid him. So, though we no longer dated, I maintained a distant but not hostile "friendship" with him. Every so often, I'd watch him play pool, though I no longer gave him a dime.

My favorite vehicle, a '98 Jeep Wrangler, owned for 9 years, entirely
here in Las Vegas, now gone for five years.

I had no dimes! They were spent, along with future dimes! And the timing couldn't have been worse. Unbeknownst to me, my (at the time) high paying job was quickly coming to a close, due to malfeasance by a principal member. I had a crucially bad combination of factors: 1) exhausted savings, 2) growing personal debt, 3) an already scheduled Christmas vacation, 4) naiveté about just how bad the work situation was, and how quickly a financial crisis can snowball. I continued to work for no pay, continued to incur expenses, and didn't know enough to drop the job as quickly as I'd dropped the boyfriend.

I married The Other Half in '08, during
the brief window it was legal in California
that year. Now it's legal in Nevada, and in
most of the country. . .but not Ohio!

The new job paid half what the old one did. I inherited a sibling (also down on his luck). And my finances were a shambles. During this time, I pretty much withdrew into my own life and troubles, and my group of friends and I had a lengthy period of separation. Fortunately, we all came back together. But one set had started a family, and remained in a slightly removed orbit for most of the rest of this story (still love 'em, still see 'em, just not as often). I spun off the sibling into his own story, dated a little more, and my job grew into a career.

The story greatly improved the following year, when I met The Other Half. We had a fast courtship, a brief separation, and then a solid relationship and cohabitation, all in just over a year. We've been together ever since, with a relatively consistently improving or steady time of it all along the way. Debt problems are in the distant rear view (where I hope they stay). Two cats have come and gone. A couple of cars, though far fewer than most people. I gathered some friends with the relationship, and for the most part, the two circles have remained steady, and tend to overlap on special occasions.

But there is the pull of family, and of something less tangible. After having been here twenty years (and The Other Half nearly as long), we could both see that both of our very long careers would likely end before too many more years. Our nieces and nephews are growing up fast (some have grown entirely from infancy in this time). Our remaining parents are getting older, siblings too. Family health problems are beginning to crop up with alarming regularity. So, the 2,000-mile buffer has become more abrasive lately then comforting. It's time for a change.

Jinx the Cat came and went, but managed 14 years
here in Las Vegas, 12 of them with us.

It was somewhere about year 13 when I took up hobbyist blogging. It's difficult to believe, but when I moved here, Bill Clinton was still in the first half of his first term in office. In the early days of my relationship, we had The Lewinsky Affair and the impeachment. Next was the 2000 election nightmare, followed by the Bush/Cheney night terror that wouldn't end. It wasn't until Dubya was three-quarters of the way wrecking things when I just was so damned sick of it, that I started this blog as an outlet for my frustrations.

I'd been a keyboard commando since the days of bulletin board services. I can't claim to have gotten too into it until the age of Prodigy, and early AOL though. I'm an early adopter, but not that early. Still, my political arguing skills have been honed online for all of my 20 years here in Vegas. And it occurs to me that pretty much the entire internet age for most people has happened within those same years. When I left Ohio, I had a modem, but it had seen only sporadic use!

The blog started slowly, grew quickly, consumed tons of my time in the first and second years, and then waned on an almost imperceptibly slow decline ever since. I've never gone more than a week without a post, and rarely longer than a weekend. But a quick look at my posting history will reveal that my output here has nearly crashed this year. Life, finally, has gotten in the way lately.

One of several things that didn't exist 20 years ago:
Flat-panel TVs and monitors.

I imagine I'll keep the blog going as long as Blogger is a "thing." I see no reason to kill it off, or make some big declaration ending it. It is rare that a week goes by when I don't have something I want to write. I still enjoy sharing things, and regularly cross post on Facebook and Twitter. But I can't deny that a daily routine is becoming a drag. There's a reason I've almost eliminated blogging late Friday-to-Sunday evenings, and reduced or non-existent posting over holidays. I no longer panic and seed time-released posts when I know I won't be around. If I don't get a post up for the night, sometimes I explain why, sometimes I just don't worry about it. [Story continues below]

BETWEEN 1994 AND 2014

- Flat panel TVs and monitors didn't exist, outside of portables or laptops, and they were extremely small and expensive. They are now ubiquitous. Our household has at least seven. We have no glass tube screens, and used to have at least 5.
- Cell phones were rare, expensive, huge and heavy. They are now ubiquitous, and smarter than any PC from 1994.
- FOX "News" and MSNBC didn't exist until 1996, and the 24-hour news cycle wasn't really a thing yet. CNN was unique.
- We had no idea who Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Ted Cruz, Rachel Maddow, Adam Levine, Ryan Seacrest or Simon Cowell were. Or what a Kardashian is.
- We went from VHS to DVD (mostly skipping LaserDisc), and on to Blu-Ray along with instant, streaming high definition, sometimes 3D video. Often over wireless wifi, which would have been indistinguishable from magic twenty years ago.
- Speaking of wifi, our connected world would all seem like magic to a computer user with a 14.4 dialup modem with CompuServe, in 1994. The internet and the many ways we connect to it should amaze us more than it does.
- Google and other search engines have rendered trivial knowledge a useless talent.
- In 1994, Justin Bieber was an infant. So was Ariana Grande. Miley Cyrus was 2. One Direction's entire lineup was 0-3 years old, with an average of less than 1.

And that's probably how the future will go. As we move back to the Buckeye state later this winter, the blog will mostly remain static unless something really interesting/exciting happens. When I arrive at my destination, I'll undoubtedly pick it back up. In fact, at first, I'll probably have the time, and want to post things. But hobbies are a time-available thing, and our time will be in demand, both with the practicalities of moving, and with visiting our newly-close-by families. We'll be looking for jobs (though maybe not right away), and a house. There are going to be other things to do.

So, if you've made it this far, thank you for reading, thanks for stopping by. If you enjoy this blog, know that it isn't going away. Just maybe check in less often, or just expect that I might not have anything new that day. If I ever do decide to end the blog all together, there will be a final post saying so. But I can almost guarantee that there will still be new posts after that! I just can't imagine that I won't want an outlet sometimes.

 

Home Improvement: the Easiest, Cheapest Upgrade that You Never Get Around to (Shower Heads)

Ugh. . .we were taking showers through that!

Here at Chez Greenlee, we've put a lot of money and effort into upgrading the joint. Initially, it was due to a renewed pride of ownership after a seeming eternity upside-down. Back in the black, we thought we needed to freshen the place, and make it a more happy place. We finished some time in the spring.

Better!

But this fall, we made a decision that we're finally going to start planning for a future move. That move could be anywhere from months to years away, but we want to be ready. So, we started looking room-by-room, for things that need fixing. Outlets that don't work. Grout that needs cleaned and sealed. Paint that needs patching. Doorknobs that need replacing. A water softener so that all of our lovely sinks, faucets and appliances don't get crusty. And showerheads. Because they're already crusty.

Also better!

I've been meaning to replace them both for years, and especially meant to during our recent renovations. But we just--for some reason--never got around to it. Today, I went and bought a couple at Home Depot. I didn't want to go nuts, since we won't be in the house for all that much longer. So, we got one for the guest bath for $20, one for the master for $35. One's a Water Pik, the other a Delta. Both installed with little effort. If you can work a wrench, you've got it. It's the cheapest, easiest upgrade you can do, and almost everyone gets by with the crap ones the builder put in!

Here's the embarrassing part: those old crusties that you're used to? When you have guests, they see them. Up close, when they're showering. I know, because I've seen them at others' houses! Rusty, limey, yucky showerheads. I was once one of you! No more! And I tell ya, if and when we get a new house, if those ones are crusty too? Out they go, first couple of days.

 

Behind the Blogger: Why on Earth do People Install Tiny Kitchen Sinks? (UPDATED)

UPDATED 09/05/14, 09/13/14

I may have written about this subject before, but if I have, it is my insatiable curiosity for why so many people apparently intentionally hobble their kitchens! I do a lot of looking at houses online, both out of curiosity, and because I'm planning for the future. There's a strong possibility that we'll be moving to a different state in the next couple of years, and I'm trying to get a feel for what's out there.

See what I mean?

At the same time, we've recently done some home renovations, so I am familiar with the decision making process when doing so. Picking countertops, faucets and sinks--for instance--takes a lot of research, comparison shopping, compromises, and weighing pros and cons. We were stuck between a 60/40 split kitchen sink, and a large single-basin for our kitchen. We settled on the 60/40, with the large side for doing dishes, and the small side to hold a dish drainer. We love it, it works for us. But our friends opted for a large single basin that could hold their cookie sheets, and roasting pans, etc. For the record, our large basin holds almost everything we use (including a turkey roaster), but we're not gourmet cooks, just your usual workaday types.



Looks a little wider, but still. . . At least it does
have a tall faucet.

A large single basin was our second choice, but for the way we do things, we would have had to store a dish rack on the counter, or make room under the sink. Ditto for a rubber wash tub, because you wouldn't want to be filling that huge sink up every time you do dishes, right? Oh, and by the way, we do have a dishwasher, but there are several items we don't put in there, and some things the dishwasher just doesn't clean well. Anyway. . .

To get to the meat of my irritation, whenever I look at houses on Zillow, particularly in Baltimore (but also in other cities), it is the kitchens that are the make-or-break the property for me. Having just completed our counter/sink/faucet/fridge/microwave overhaul, I just can't go back. Not unless the rest of the property just knocks me out. But in even 90% of the houses with great or passable kitchens, I am sure to find a single basin sink. A tiny, single-basin sink. They might be deep, they might be shallow, but they're like 20" wide, over a cabinet space that will hold a 30"-35" wide sink.

The "before" sink in our house, used for about
15 years.

My question: Why on EARTH would you intentionally hobble your kitchen in this way? And why are so many people doing it? Was there a fad or hot kitchen trend for tiny sinks? Was there a surplus? I can't stand it, I want to know! Is there a water shortage in Baltimore and surrounding areas? Do none of these people cook or do dishes?


And while we're at it, here's another question. Tiny sink or not, why would you redo your kitchen counters, and drop in a top-mount, ugly, tinny, $75-range, Home Depot sink? And then, put one of those hideous, 4"-arched, 70s-era faucets? And I'll go further!!! Those tiny, 4" nubbin-sized, crystal-plastic-knobbed bathroom faucets? Okay, okay, YES, we did too, before the renovation. Though after, I marveled that we kept them for so long. Faucets aren't that expensive. Who decided that the standard sizes would be little, cramped things with no utility? Arrgghh. But, I'm getting off on a tangent. The core question, somebody please explain to me: Why did little, tiny, single-basin sinks in kitchens become a thing?

Whether it's a double like ours, or a single, why go small?

UPDATED 09/05/14: I still haven't found anything online, or gotten any responses for my central question. Why do people do this? What's the deal?

Why does it bother me? Because I get daily alerts via email from Zillow.com, and I keep running across great houses with gorgeous kitchens and tiny, stupid sinks, that's why! Scroll down, I'm gonna keep adding pictures to this post every so often until I get an answer!

Tiny Sink Update #1

Tiny Sink Update #2
 

Tiny Sink Update #3

Tiny Sink Update #4

Tiny Sink Update #5

Tiny Sink Update #6

 

Behind the Blogger: A Malware Infestation at Greenlee Gazette

I'm a computer guru. I'm not professionally trained, but I'm naturally inclined toward tweaking and poking around in computer settings and whatnot. I'm "that guy" you call when your computer is doing weird things or is on the fritz. 99% of the time, I can either fix it, or tell you what to do to fix it. I've been using Windows computers since they were MS-DOS computers. But what does the guru do when he's got a problem?

Every so often, even I get a problem. I can get complacent, trust something I ought not, accidentally clicked the wrong thing, or even have gotten suckered by a warning that looked real, but wasn't. Usually, I realize my error quickly, and reverse course. I know a lot of the tricks of the trade to restore things to normal without too much fuss.

Two things have plagued me that have no known source of infection, and one even happened both at home and at work. That first one was a very strange audio anomaly. Commercials would play over the speakers with no program running them. They would be both in English and in foreign languages, and they would eventually pile one on top of the other until it was an unintelligible cacophony. I could isolate the audio on my mixer settings and silence them, but eventually all of the processing power would be leached away. It was maddening. But, after running the proper tools (Malwarebytes), using the Googles to isolate the proper files in the registry, and slogging through the guts of the computer, I killed the problem. And again at home.

I still don't know what it was, or how I got it. And to be truthful, I'm not sure what the final thing was that worked. Funny how that goes, you try so many things, you can't remember the sequence. Anyway, though I slayed that beast, there is a new one plaguing me the last two days.

First, I should explain that I run dual monitors, and I am usually running Internet Explorer 11, Firefox and AOL at the same time (AOL?!? Yeah, I know. Shut up, it's how I work, okay?). And this new demon affects both AOL--and get this--FIREFOX. Not IE. It's working just fine. No, this one is throwing up random ads from Firefox and AOL, for both bogus and real products. Sometimes it's TuneUp Utilities, a program that used to be very helpful but bloomed into a nuisance, sometimes it's WIX.com. Other times it's for very shady programs that cause the very thing I'm trying to get rid of. And sometimes, it's bogus upgrade notices for video players I don't even have, to the point of attempting to start downloads of the programs.

It's driving me bananas. I've gone through my bag of tricks. I'm using Windows 8.1, so I've got Windows Defender already. I've run Malwarebytes several times. I installed and ran Avast! I've tried SUPERAntiSpyware. All of these programs found problems and allegedly cleaned them. And the problem remains exactly the same. No change. Presently, I'm going into my old bag of tricks, a program called SpyBot Search & Destroy, something I haven't used for years. But I'm desperate! I'm really not sure what to try next. At present, this problem doesn't seem particularly dangerous, it's just incredibly annoying.

So, I'm sending this out to the universe, in the hopes someone stumbles upon it via Google or Bing. Any help will be appreciated. And also, could someone please tell me what purpose this crap serves in the first place? It's garbagy, clunky, obviously crap stuff popping up. I can't imagine it fooling a neophyte. A lot of work must go into this kind of malware. But how in the world is it worth it? If their aim is simply to torment and annoy, then mission accomplished. But if the aim is leaching money from people, they really must be trolling for dummies. Because if I wasn't a guru? I'd throw my hands up and call "that guy" to just come fix it.

UPDATED: I should also say that whatever is going on, in both AOL and Firefox, ordinary ads that appear on websites have been replaced with really ugly, very cheesy "your computer is running slow," "Microsoft certified"-type ads with blinking "click here" and "PLAY"-type buttons. We're talking 90s-style, wouldn't-fool-an-idiot ads. These are very annoying also.

Behind the Blogger: My New Obsession is the Jeep Renegade, But It's Not Out Yet!

Over the seven-plus years of this blog, I've written several times about cars. Specifically, my cars. I've written and rewritten a "Cars I've Owned" post, which began as one of those internet trends. After re-reading it though, it's in desperate need of a complete rewrite. Was I drunk when I wrote it? Wrong years in a couple of places, repeat sentences, I don't know. It's not my best work.

High-end Trailhawk on the left, mid-range Latitude on the right.

But I'm going to hold off rewriting it until I get my next car. That wasn't supposed to be until several years from now. My most recent vehicle, a 2009 Mitsubishi Galant, was bought four and a half years ago, to replace a 1998 Jeep Wrangler I'd had for nine years. I even bought an extended warranty that doesn't run out until 2018. But you know what? I've got new car lust.

My mom is to blame. She gifted my siblings with some car-buying help, and offered the same to me. My first response was, "I don't need a car." And I don't, my car's in good enough shape. Upon reflection, however, I thought "Am I NUTS?" Why would I turn down an offer like that? So, I embarked upon a plan: accept whatever she offers, couple that with the proceeds or trade-in from my car, plus some cash of my own. If all of those puzzle pieces come together correctly, I could actually buy my first brand new car ever! If I stick to a reasonably-priced one, of course.

The super-nifty interior (I think the red is only available on Trailhawk)

And I know, buying new is a gamble. They say it depreciates the moment you drive it off the lot. Which is why I was initially focusing on a Toyota product, namely a Scion xB, just like The Other Half drives. They barely depreciate, and when they do, it's at a much slower rate than most. I thought this was a great idea. Mom thinks the car is ugly (yeah, Mom, but funky ugly!). Mom's got other ideas, and I'll entertain them when her summer of travelling is over.

Meanwhile, I've fallen head-over-heels for a vehicle that hasn't even reached our shores yet. A Jeep Renegade. I know what you're thinking. "Jeeps are made in Toledo, dummy." Yeah, but the Renegade is based on a Fiat, and is built in Italy. "An Italian Jeep? They were part of the Axis!" Sure, but Chrysler is owned by Fiat, and used to be owned by Daimler-Benz, the Germans!

See? Similar, but different. Better different.

Except for the lack of air conditioning (in Las Vegas), and the high cost of maintaining a 12-year-old vehicle, I really miss my old Jeep Wrangler Sport. I'd wanted one since childhood, and I just loved it. This new Jeep has enough flavor of the brand to suit me. It's almost exactly the size of the xB I was also considering, but with a nicer interior, more attractive exterior, available dual sunroof, backup camera/touchscreen stereo, more hauling ability, the possibility of a trailer hitch, and four wheel drive.

All of this has me over-anxious and a little obsessed. I have a Google alert set up for it, and even triggered it myself by writing on the Jeep Renegade Forum! I've dwelled over the spec sheets, trying to figure out what iteration (Sport, Latitude, Limited, or Trailhawk) I want, with which options. Which things are deal breakers (no A/C, no sunroof, no 4-wheel drive), and which I can live without (leather seats, fog lights, tow hooks, rock-crawling package). And this might be a complete waste of time, because I have no idea when it will be coming out, or how much it's going to cost.

There are tons of guesses out there for price and timeline, but little in the way of definitive information. I'm just hoping that Jeep doesn't price this to the stratosphere, and that the dealers don't tack on thousands in "just because you want it so bad" fees.

Please Stand By: Blogger is Overwhelmed!

I'm on a collision course. I have my work-a-day job, which is really only a work-four-days-a-week job. I have my part-time job from home, which is really anywhere from zero hours in a given weekend, so several hours a day for days and days at a stretch! I also have this blog, I have its presence on Facebook and Twitter. I have my family obligations, and my time with The Other Half. And somewhere in the mix, I'm supposed to get energized about the news items of the day; the scandal, the outrage, the horrible and the exciting.

Sometimes, that gets difficult. Especially when the things the news tells you to be energized about leave you. . .disengaged? I mean, beyond the four deaths that happened which were awful, I don't give a damn about this nitpicky crap about Benghazi. Yes, fix whatever can be fixed. Ascertain if there are any failings that should be addressed. Stop using it as a political sledgehammer. It's obvious, and it's  not at all engaging. IRS? Still not getting it guys, I don't see the scandal, at least not where you're
sniffing. And the Justice Department thing seems to be on a low simmer, doesn't it?

Of course, the tornadoes this week in Oklahoma and Texas were awful, but the news treats it as tragedy porn. There are nuggets in there that bring us together, some uplifting things, like the old lady who found her dog. But I tell you the truth, I find myself consuming more and more information, but simultaneously missing the things I feel I should be paying attention to. Nothing crucial, I just feel scattered. Stretched too thin? Burned out? Maybe just an angsty period. Maybe I need to score some Xanax for a week or two. Do we have pot dispensaries in Nevada? Heh.

Anyway, it's nothing serious, and probably transitory. I just wanted to pop a note up on the page explaining the seeming lack of focus and small amount of posts lately. This week, it's mostly the part-time job. On the up side, it's summer, it's light out later, and there are a number of holidays and events on the horizon! It gets better!