Rhyme and Reason: Last Monday of 2013

There, the universe gets complicated...

I'll let Krystyn explain it.





Little more Wonder about the serendipity of the world around us...


I'm getting back to work for my End of Month push and End of Year preparation.


My horoscope says to stop doing what doesn't work.

Gotta do the work that works.

What are you going to do?

R you ready for 2014?

Keith

more on the Miserable for the fun of it.

The tendency to contrive the "miserable" is so common it is in our funny pages.

Even in today's Dilbert.

This one is right on time for the topic.  Today 12/29/2013

It is a special talent to see the connection with another person as a time to inflict emotional distress on that person for the fun of it.  Being Miserable for the fun of it.

I will work to avoid this stuff.   I will listen for it in myself.  I will focus on the happy on what is going on.

Thus I'll have a much better 2014 etc.

Others like above...

Poor old Charlie Brown will never win with Lucy.  Lucy will always move the ball or change the rules to suet her need to be right and put him down & humiliate him for her amusement.

Lucy Van Pelt will assume that you believe her words even if blatantly un-true on the face of it.  It is her shield of imperiousness that is a level of wretchedness to me.

Unfortunately when I was in a jury room deliberating a court case with my fellow jurists... One fellow juror would not accept that one of the people on the stand was lying.   All but this one fellow could see that the defendant was lying.  Yet, he took it on faith that the man could not be telling us a lie as he was a officer in the military(Army Sargent).  And had sworn in to tell the truth. So we came back to the judge with a hung jury.  Why some do not allow themselves to see that some lie and cheat is beyond me.  Most do it for their own reasons.  Some believe that people are not cruel.  Some just are.   Lucy is a mean bitch to Linus and Charlie often.

In the end...   If one is a skilled person at being miserable you/he/she can turn anything into a bitchy problem.

Once you recognize this wretch, see you have a no win situation...  Stop playing it.

I refuse to be the abused going forward.

Control freaks be warned.

I see the lie.

I'm done.

K L


My apologizes to the Comic Creators above and Thanks for illustration of my points.
Thanks to GoComics.com for the laughs.

Find your "Happy" or Find your "Miserable." What do you Focus on?

The below is blatantly lifted from psychotherapynetworker.org
but it describes a few people in my and in my Carolene's world.

See my notes at the very bottom...

The 14 Habits of Highly Miserable PeopleHow to succeed at self-sabotage
 November 18, 2013  |  By Cloe Madaneshttp://www.alternet.org/personal-health/14-habits-highly-miserable-people

Most of us claim we want to be happy—to have meaningful lives, enjoy ourselves, experience fulfillment, and share love and friendship with other people and maybe other species, like dogs, cats, birds, and whatnot. Strangely enough, however, some people act as if they just want to be miserable, and they succeed remarkably at inviting misery into their lives, even though they get little apparent benefit from it, since being miserable doesn’t help them find lovers and friends, get better jobs, make more money, or go on more interesting vacations. Why do they do this? After perusing the output of some of the finest brains in the therapy profession, I’ve come to the conclusion that misery is an art form, and the satisfaction people seem to find in it reflects the creative effort required to cultivate it. In other words, when your living conditions are stable, peaceful, and prosperous—no civil wars raging in your streets, no mass hunger, no epidemic disease, no vexation from poverty—making yourself miserable is a craft all its own, requiring imagination, vision, and ingenuity. It can even give life a distinctive meaning. 

So if you aspire to make yourself miserable, what are the best, most proven techniques for doing it? Let’s exclude some obvious ways, like doing drugs, committing crimes, gambling, and beating up your spouse or neighbor. Subtler strategies, ones that won’t lead anyone to suspect that you’re acting deliberately, can be highly effective. But you need to pretend that you want to be happy, like everybody else, or people won’t take your misery seriously. 

The real art is to behave in ways that’ll bring on misery while allowing you to claim that you’re an innocent victim, ideally of the very people from whom you’re forcibly extracting compassion and pity.  Here, I cover most areas of life, such as family, work, friends, and romantic partners. These areas will overlap nicely, since you can’t ruin your life without ruining your marriage and maybe your relationships with your children and friends. It’s inevitable that as you make yourself miserable, you’ll be making those around you miserable also, at least until they leave you—which will give you another reason to feel miserable. So it’s important to keep in mind the benefits you’re accruing in your misery.

• When you’re miserable, people feel sorry for you. Not only that, they often feel obscurely guilty, as if your misery might somehow be their fault. This is good! There’s power in making other people feel guilty. The people who love you and those who depend on you will walk on eggshells to make sure that they don’t say or do anything that will increase your misery. 

• When you’re miserable, since you have no hopes and expect nothing good to happen, you can’t be disappointed or disillusioned. 

• Being miserable can give the impression that you’re a wise and worldly person, especially if you’re miserable not just about your life, but about society in general. You can project an aura of someone burdened by a form of profound, tragic, existential knowledge that happy, shallow people can’t possibly appreciate. 

Honing Your Misery Skills
Let’s get right to it and take a look at some effective strategies to become miserable. This list is by no means exhaustive, but engaging in four or five of these practices will help refine your talent.
1. Be afraid, be very afraid, of economic loss. In hard economic times, many people are afraid of losing their jobs or savings. The art of messing up your life consists of indulging these fears, even when there’s little risk that you’ll actually suffer such losses. Concentrate on this fear, make it a priority in your life, moan continuously that you could go broke any day now, and complain about how much everything costs, particularly if someone else is buying. Try to initiate quarrels about other people’s feckless, spendthrift ways, and suggest that the recession has resulted from irresponsible fiscal behavior like theirs.
Fearing economic loss has several advantages. First, it’ll keep you working forever at a job you hate. Second, it balances nicely with greed, an obsession with money, and a selfishness that even Ebenezer Scrooge would envy. Third, not only will you alienate your friends and family, but you’ll likely become even more anxious, depressed, and possibly even ill from your money worries.
Good job!
Exercise: Sit in a comfortable chair, close your eyes, and, for 15 minutes, meditate on all the things you could lose: your job, your house, your savings, and so forth. Then brood about living in a homeless shelter. 

2. Practice sustained boredom. Cultivate the feeling that everything is predictable, that life holds no excitement, no possibility for adventure, that an inherently fascinating person like yourself has been deposited into a completely tedious and pointless life through no fault of your own. Complain a lot about how bored you are. Make it the main subject of conversation with everyone you know so they’ll get the distinct feeling that you think they’re boring. Consider provoking a crisis to relieve your boredom. Have an affair (this works best if you’re already married and even better if you have an affair with someone else who’s married); go on repeated shopping sprees for clothes, cars, fancy appliances, sporting equipment (take several credit cards, in case one maxes out); start pointless fights with your spouse, boss, children, friends, neighbors; have another child; quit your job, clean out your savings account, and move to a state you know nothing about.
A side benefit of being bored is that you inevitably become boring. Friends and relatives will avoid you. You won’t be invited anywhere; nobody will want to call you, much less actually see you. As this happens, you’ll feel lonely and even more bored and miserable.
Exercise: Force yourself to watch hours of mindless reality TV programs every day, and read only nonstimulating tabloids that leave you feeling soulless. Avoid literature, art, and keeping up with current affairs. 

3. Give yourself a negative identity. Allow a perceived emotional problem to absorb all other aspects of your self-identification. If you feel depressed, become a Depressed Person; if you suffer from social anxiety or a phobia, assume the identity of a Phobic Person or a Person with Anxiety Disorder. Make your condition the focus of your life. Talk about it to everybody, and make sure to read up on the symptoms so you can speak about them knowledgeably and endlessly. Practice the behaviors most associated with that condition, particularly when it’ll interfere with regular activities and relationships. Focus on how depressed you are and become weepy, if that’s your identity of choice. Refuse to go places or try new things because they make you too anxious. Work yourself into panic attacks in places it’ll cause the most commotion. It’s important to show that you don’t enjoy these states or behaviors, but that there’s nothing you can do to prevent them.
Practice putting yourself in the physiological state that represents your negative identity. For example, if your negative identity is Depressed Person, hunch your shoulders, look at the floor, breathe shallowly. It’s important to condition your body to help you reach your negative peak as quickly as possible.
Exercise: Write down 10 situations that make you anxious, depressed, or distracted. Once a week, pick a single anxiety-provoking situation, and use it to work yourself into a panic for at least 15 minutes. 

4. Pick fights. This is an excellent way of ruining a relationship with a romantic partner. Once in a while, unpredictably, pick a fight or have a crying spell over something trivial and make unwarranted accusations. The interaction should last for at least 15 minutes and ideally occur in public.
During the tantrum, expect your partner to be kind and sympathetic, but should he or she mention it later, insist that you never did such a thing and that he or she must have misunderstood what you were trying to say. Act injured and hurt that your partner somehow implied you weren’t behaving well.
Another way of doing this is to say unexpectedly, “We need to talk,” and then to barrage your partner with statements about how disappointed you are with the relationship. Make sure to begin this barrage just as your partner is about to leave for some engagement or activity, and refuse to end it for at least an hour. Another variation is to text or phone your partner at work to express your issues and disappointments. Do the same if your partner is out with friends.
Exercise: Write down 20 annoying text messages you could send to a romantic partner. Keep a grudge list going, and add to it daily. 

5. Attribute bad intentions. Whenever you can, attribute the worst possible intentions to your partner, friends, and coworkers. Take any innocent remark and turn it into an insult or attempt to humiliate you. For example, if someone asks, “How did you like such and such movie?” you should immediately think, He’s trying to humiliate me by proving that I didn’t understand the movie, or He’s preparing to tell me that I have poor taste in movies. The idea is to always expect the worst from people. If someone is late to meet you for dinner, while you wait for them, remind yourself of all the other times the person was late, and tell yourself that he or she is doing this deliberately to slight you. Make sure that by the time the person arrives, you’re either seething or so despondent that the evening is ruined. If the person asks what’s wrong, don’t say a word: let him or her suffer.
Exercise: List the names of five relatives or friends. For each, write down something they did or said in the recent past that proves they’re as invested in adding to your misery as you are. 

6. Whatever you do, do it only for personal gain. Sometimes you’ll be tempted to help someone, contribute to a charity, or participate in a community activity. Don’t do it, unless there’s something in it for you, like the opportunity to seem like a good person or to get to know somebody you can borrow money from some day. Never fall into the trap of doing something purely because you want to help people. Remember that your primary goal is to take care of Numero Uno, even though you hate yourself.
Exercise: Think of all the things you’ve done for others in the past that haven’t been reciprocated. Think about how everyone around you is trying to take from you. Now list three things you could do that would make you appear altruistic while bringing you personal, social, or professional gain. 

7. Avoid gratitude. Research shows that people who express gratitude are happier than those who don’t, so never express gratitude. Counting your blessings is for idiots. What blessings? Life is suffering, and then you die.
What’s there to be thankful for?
Well-meaning friends and relatives will try to sabotage your efforts to be thankless. For example, while you’re in the middle of complaining about the project you procrastinated on at work to your spouse during an unhealthy dinner, he or she might try to remind you of how grateful you should be to have a job or food at all. Such attempts to encourage gratitude and cheerfulness are common and easily deflected. Simply point out that the things you should be grateful for aren’t perfect—which frees you to find as much fault with them as you like.
Exercise: Make a list of all the things you could be grateful for. Next to each item, write down why you aren’t. Imagine the worst. When you think of the future, imagine the worst possible scenario. It’s important to be prepared for and preemptively miserable about any possible disaster or tragedy. Think of the possibilities: terrorist attacks, natural disasters, fatal disease, horrible accidents, massive crop failures, your child not getting picked for the varsity softball team. 

8. Always be alert and in a state of anxiety. Optimism about the future leads only to disappointment. Therefore, you have to do your best to believe that your marriage will flounder, your children won’t love you, your business will fail, and nothing good will ever work out for you.
Exercise: Do some research on what natural or manmade disasters could occur in your area, such as earthquakes, floods, nuclear plant leaks, rabies outbreaks. Focus on these things for at least an hour a day. 

9. Blame your parents. Blaming your parents for your defects, shortcomings, and failures is among the most important steps you can take. After all, your parents made you who you are today; you had nothing to do with it. If you happen to have any good qualities or successes, don’t give your parents credit. Those are flukes.
Extend the blame to other people from your past: the second-grade teacher who yelled at you in the cafeteria, the boy who bullied you when you were 9, the college professor who gave you a D on your paper, your first boyfriend, even the hick town you grew up in—the possibilities are limitless. Blame is essential in the art of being miserable.
Exercise: Call one of your parents and tell her or him that you just remembered something horrible they did when you were a child, and make sure he or she understands how terrible it made you feel and that you’re still suffering from it. 

10. Don’t enjoy life’s pleasures. Taking pleasure in things like food, wine, music, and beauty is for flighty, shallow people. Tell yourself that. If you inadvertently find yourself enjoying some flavor, song, or work of art, remind yourself immediately that these are transitory pleasures, which can’t compensate for the miserable state of the world. The same applies to nature.
If you accidentally find yourself enjoying a beautiful view, a walk on the beach, or a stroll through a forest, stop! Remind yourself that the world is full of poverty, illness, and devastation. The beauty of nature is a deception.
Exercise: Once a week, engage in an activity that’s supposed to be enjoyable, but do so while thinking about how pointless it is. In other words, concentrate on removing all sense of pleasure from the pleasurable activity. 

11. Ruminate. Spend a great deal of time focused on yourself. Worry constantly about the causes of your behavior, analyze your defects, and chew on your problems. This will help you foster a pessimistic view of your life. Don’t allow yourself to become distracted by any positive experience or influence.
The point is to ensure that even minor upsets and difficulties appear huge and portentous.
You can ruminate on the problems of others or the world, but make them about you. Your child is sick? Ruminate on what a burden it is for you to take time off from work to care for her. Your spouse is hurt by your behavior? Focus on how terrible it makes you feel when he points out how you make him feel. By ruminating not only on your own problems but also those of others, you’ll come across as a deep, sensitive thinker who holds the weight of the world on your shoulders.
Exercise: Sit in a comfortable chair and seek out negative feelings, like anger, depression, anxiety, boredom, whatever. Concentrate on these feelings for 15 minutes. During the rest of the day, keep them in the back of your mind, no matter what you’re doing. 

12. Glorify or vilify the past. Glorifying the past is telling yourself how good, happy, fortunate, and worthwhile life was when you were a child, a young person, or a newly married person—and regretting how it’s all been downhill ever since. When you were young, for example, you were glamorous and danced the samba with handsome men on the beach at twilight; and now you’re in a so-so marriage to an insurance adjuster in Topeka. You should’ve married tall, dark Antonio. You should’ve invested in Microsoft when you had the chance. In short, focus on what you could’ve and should’ve done, instead of what you did.
This will surely make you miserable.
Vilifying the past is easy, too. You were born in the wrong place at the wrong time, you never got what you needed, you felt you were discriminated against, you never got to go to summer camp. How can you possibly be happy when you had such a lousy background? It’s important to think that bad memories, serious mistakes, and traumatic events were much more influential in forming you and your future than good memories, successes, and happy events. Focus on bad times. Obsess about them. Treasure them. This will ensure that, no matter what’s happening in the present, you won’t be happy.
Exercise: Make a list of your most important bad memories and keep it where you can review it frequently. Once a week, tell someone about your horrible childhood or how much better your life was 20 years ago. 

13. Find a romantic partner to reform. Make sure that you fall in love with someone with a major defect (cat hoarder, gambler, alcoholic, womanizer, sociopath), and set out to reform him or her, regardless of whether he or she wants to be reformed. Believe firmly that you can reform this person, and ignore all evidence to the contrary.
Exercise: Go to online dating sites and see how many bad choices you can find in one afternoon. Make efforts to meet these people. It’s good if the dating site charges a lot of money, since this means you’ll be emotionally starved and poor. 

14. Be critical. Make sure to have an endless list of dislikes and voice them often, whether or not your opinion is solicited. For example, don’t hesitate to say, “That’s what you chose to wear this morning?” or “Why is your voice so shrill?” If someone is eating eggs, tell them you don’t like eggs. Your negativity can be applied to almost anything.
It helps if the things you criticize are well liked by most people so that your dislike of them sets you apart. Disliking traffic and mosquitos isn’t creative enough: everyone knows what it’s like to find these things annoying, and they won’t pay much attention if you find them annoying, too. But disliking the new movie that all your friends are praising? You’ll find plenty of opportunities to counter your friends’ glowing reviews with your contrarian opinion.
Exercise: Make a list of 20 things you dislike and see how many times you can insert them into a conversation over the course of the day. For best results, dislike things you’ve never given yourself a chance to like.

-----
I’ve just listed 14 ways to make yourself miserable. You don’t have to nail every one of them, but even if you succeed with just four or five, make sure to berate yourself regularly for not enacting the entire list. If you find yourself in a therapist’s office—because someone who’s still clinging to their love for you has tricked you into going—make sure your misery seems organic.
If the therapist enlightens you in any way or teaches you mind-body techniques to quiet your anxious mind, make sure to co-opt the conversation and talk about your misery-filled dreams from the night before. If the therapist is skilled in dream analysis, quickly start complaining about the cost of therapy itself. If the therapist uses your complaints as a launching pad to discuss transference issues, accuse him or her of having countertransference issues.
Ultimately, the therapist is your enemy when trying to cultivate misery in your life. So get out as soon as possible. And if you happen upon a therapist who’ll sit quietly while you bring all 14 items on this list to life each week, call me. I’ll want to make an appointment, too.
----

___________________________________________________
Keith's notes on topic

I'm hopeful that you, my good reader, see the above as the OPPOSITE of what a sane person does.  You do like humorous juxtaposition and sick comedy a little right?   Please be intelligent enough to see the above as the road to ruin and recognize it.


A good motivational quote:
If "Better" is possible then "Good" is not enough!

   This is what would get a kid to do better grades in school or myself to take the time to write a better letter or contract...  etc.etc.  A real motivational quote.


Miserable person's version would be:
If "Pissed off" is possible then "Angry & Moody" is not enough!

    This is what the miserable person would use to brow beat me and Carolene into submission whenever possible.

    We must let them go their own way.  They are at that point where they have to take their own pathway in life.  We can not be a part of it in a daily way.  It has been heartbreaking.  We want to be a part of their lives.  Not that we want to be abused daily.  We Can and Will love them.  Just not enable them to ABUSE us.

No longer am I willing to be their fixation of "I'm Pissed because you _____!"  And I'm (we're) not the one focusing on being angry.

Most recent examples of the miserable for no good reason fixation...

• Thomas mad at me because I would not let him stay out all night.
• Devon mad at Carolene because she had to get off the phone.

Both of these kids are punishing the parent by not talking to us right now.  The only way that they can hurt us is to denigh us the pleasure of their company.  When the company is not pleasurable in the first place... Is that more of a blessing?  Maybe.

One time Trisha was mad at me for my not wanting to stay mad.  Claimed that I was broken because I would not focus on the bad.  Claimed that I was the bad person because I wanted to sweep the anger under the rug.   How many of the above 14 items did she use regularly?  At least 9 and used the 4th one to extreme levels.  Thank goodness I'm done with that.  Divorce is costly.  But ...  Never-mind.

In the end ...  I hope that all see the comedy in the above 14 habits.  And avoid them!  Do not do them.  Do not let someone do these things to YOU.

You and I live inside our own minds.  You must guide your mind to focus on good stuff.

The Universe will bring you what you focus on.  It will not see the "no" or "not" disclaimer.  Focus on the happy goal in successful travels in life and not the possible flat tire on the road trip.   Focus on the "We'll have a good trip full of adventures to remember."  And that is what you'll have.

My Fish Wish for you all is a Happy and Prosperous 2014

Keith

Merry Christmas

Home.

Family.

Good Eats.

Shared love with people who I care about.

Life is good.   Merry Christmas to you all.

Carolene and I are happy together.

We have been in the new home since Sept 26th.

We have had a great year.  Travels and Boating and Fishing and Jazz.

But most importantly fun times with lots of dear friends.  You are the best.
(You know who you are.)

Golf with Ryan

Fun Stuff...

So my son, Ryan, comes over.  I feed him and he is all set to "chill" for a while.  Then he suggests we go play golf.  I say... Hmmm my clubs are all the way over at my SM storage and ...  Then he says "I've got two sets of clubs in the car."

I have no way out.  Yes you can talk me into going to play on a Saturday afternoon.  Forget going to work on the boat or clean or do whatever is was that I was thinking of doing.

We picked a nice green course for a fun 9 holes of father and son time (the Lakes in El Segundo). We shared a bucket of balls.  Then walked the 9 hole course.  He loaned me Grandpa George's old clubs.  Even though it was a limited set and very whippy shafts I managed to out play the whippersnapper just fine.  Felt great to play and relax.  Fine blue sky day. 

First two holes just us.  He had a significant lead after two.  Teamed up with a youthful couple for a foursome.  They were a hoot.  Then I finally got a few shots together and he hit a few over the green etc.  We were neck in neck.  Really was nice.

I'm making this post so that I do not forget the day.

K  ^.  .^

DRYC Calico Bass Tournament

Hi All...  Yup, I went fishing again.

Luckily I was invited by my good friend Richard to ride along on his boat for the DRYC Calico Bass Tournament and fish the back side of Catalina Island.  It as fun and a very good weekend out in the beautiful ocean again.  I had to go!

Led by Richard we fished up the back side from Cat Harbor and launched the dinghy to let a couple of guys to get in tight and fish behind the kelp lines for big bass.  It worked.  But not for the big ones.

After seeing how tight to the shore and rocks we were getting Richard insisted we put on a life vest to be a little safe in the event we were forced into the water.

 Jeffrey got a nice calico bass but it did not stay alive for the weigh-in.  Then Brad got the top fish at the end of the day when were were fishing all the way up near the end of the island near Eagle rock.

At 4.6 lbs and released alive at the official weigh-in we took first place at the dinner party.

Nice Event...  I'll definitely be back again.  Look for it on the calendar of events yourself.

The next day we went south to San Clemente Island for a little more fishing and managed one notable fish of a nice home guard yellowtail by Jeffrey.

Brad did the honors on the gaff.  It made a delishious dinner in Avalon that night.  We fished the front side of Catalina on the next morning for a few throw back fish like barracuda and small calicos etc.

All in all we all enjoyed our time on Richard's boat.  Wavelength is fast and comfortable for 4 anglers for 3 days.  A great ride.  Thank YOU!

The Capt

Good-bye to Catalina, until next time

Another beautiful fishing / boating trip.

Keith

Fishing trip on the OCEAN ODYSSEY - MDRA - 2013 Tuna Trip

Hi

You may know my fishing club Marina Del Rey Anglers.  Well I'm the president this year.  And was the charter master on the annual Tuna Trip we just had.  For the fourth year strait we used the Ocean Odyssey out of H & M Landing in San Diego.

We booked 29 people and chartered the boat thanks to a deal via 976-Tuna for Two and a Half days.  We filled the boat with good people.  Mostly MDRA members and a few friends and extras.  Meals were included!  The trip left on a Sunday Evening to fish hard on Monday and Tuesday and arrive back on the docs on Weds in the AM.  That extra 1/2 day gave us the travel time and range needed to find the fish and then fish for two full days.

We struck it rich on the water!  The fishing was great on day 1.  Okay on day 2.  We were 100 miles south of Point Loma Light and maybe 40 miles off the shore.  We found nice sized Bluefin Tuna.

I caught Tuna and Dorado and Yellowtail.  I wanted more Yellowtail and at least one of them with some size.  But the plentiful big Bluefin Tuna was enough.

Here are some photos...

Line pealing off the reel...  Be patient and work it...

Putting some line back on and gaining ground...

Success and putting some blood on the decks.

This is a typical fish of the day for most of the anglers aboard.  Most of us fished 40 # test line and landed them without much problem.  Except when my buddy Jeffrey hooked into a big Jackpot winning 65# fish that dragged him around the boat 5 or 6 times.  Luckily for him a crewman was able to help him with untangles and keep him free of problems (and there are always plenty) for a Jackpot Winning Fish!

That is Captain Rick at his side who was a champion at gaffing and ran a very good boat.  The crew and the anglers worked well together and landed limits of fish.  The positive attitude of the crew makes it an extra fun trip.  It was a fine day on the ocean.

A really great aspect was that there were 6 lady anglers aboard.  They put fish on board!

Carolene pulling on a good one while
getting coached by Captain Rick!

Victory and she's so relieved that it's over!

Deborah P. loved the action and getting dirty in this fun sport

Ola S. landed plenty.

Yes West Coast Girls can catch fish too!  They landed some beautiful fish and had a great time.  Above is Carolene and Deborah and Ola.  You ladies rocked the boat with your fisherwoman skills!  Nice!

Day two was able to round our most of the second day of limits and had some bigger Yellowtails caught.

I sould have put down the camera and fished harder.  But then I would not have these photos to share.

 My last tuna of day one

Port side

Starboard side

Day One Jackpot Contenders

Day to Jackpot contenders...  Team Big Momma

Fish Wish Granted,
A fantastic two days of fishing.

Keith

See more on this fishing club at
www.MDRAnglers.com

Overnight Parking District (OPD) - Why this Sucks

It does not matter if it is Santa Monica or the City of Los Angeles.  I have issues with this parking plan that backfires on the average person that gets slammed with the cost and in the end gets very little benefit.

My area of Santa Monica is adding it.  Two buildings I have to work and park near have them and I must carry two parking hang tags now.  Venice beach is debating it.   See the image below.  A Brilliant promotional flier that looks like the ticket that the typical local working stiff will get.  That working guy is best characterized by the three monkeys.  Hear no... See no... Speak no... because they let others do the local politicking for them.  IMHO if you leave it to the NIMBY's you will get over regulated and live in what eventually feels more and more fascist in actuality.  (review the definition of fascism)

The bottom line...  It is a rip off of people to put in these systems (Useful only by NIMBY's) to tax and fine all the rest of the people who are part of the local community.

First Cost…
"…Resident (Annual) permits are valid for one year for $15.00 each and each household is limited to three annual permits…"   really that is $30 to $45 per year. Just to beg for them NOT to ticket you.
Second Cost…
Your house guests get tickets.
Third Cost…
"…The following documents must be used to satisfy the proof of residency requirement:
Driver's license.
Property tax bill or rental/lease agreement.
Utility Bill (Cable TV, Telephone (landline only), Gas, Water, or Electric).
E.G. Not everyone will be able to get all these. Some Residents are roommates or sub-tenants in a furnished rental on Speedway (etc) and the utils are in the other residents name.

Fourth Cost… Your time
"…applicants for new overnight parking permits must purchase the permit in-person by visiting one of our four convenient walk-in Customer Service Centers…" ""Convenient"" in this context is a lie.
Only one office on the west side. Near Roxbury at 9911 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035
Hours of Operation: M-F (excluding holidays) 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Forget about weekends. YOU MUST GET TIME OFF WORK TO GET THE PARKING PASS
Do you think they will have the helpfulness of the DMV or the helpful Honda salesman?

Biggest Cost…
The Fine you pay when they write you the ticket. When you have a rental car and leave your main car in the repair shop (with the sticker) or when you forget to hang the tag. YOU WILL GET ONE. Everyone does eventually.

I use Preferred parking now. IT SUCKS.

See

Doggie moment of Fame

I have a dog.

He likes to play ball.

I have to take a little time in the am and again in the pm to give him some love and attention.  Good thing too.  It is good for me.  I read a poem on Facebook this am about someone having to let go of their dog and make that hard decision to put their old dog to sleep.  Heartbreak.  Moving.  Tears flowing.

So it is good that the sun is coming out.  I'm letting it out here.  I've got to be careful not to let that out on my FACEBOOK page.  Really.  No one wants that depressing stuff.   AND I'll admit that this blog has suffered neglect as I use F'nbook instead of blog posts here.

SO...  here is a re-post of some recent Dog posts.

Winzer is a TV personality.  He is more well reviewed too.  To see his stuff try this link...
http://ktla.com/bio/allie-mac-kay/#axzz2RbJVYXoQ

Allie does a news bit.  She did three little filler bits on the Dogromat.  We went in to support our local business.  It was cool.   It was way to early.  It was a little educational to see what they go through to make a part of your morning T V News show.  Silly mixed up antics between the news reporters in the studio and the reporters in the field.  Camera man getting the shot (or not) at the right moment.  It's a job.

Back to Winzor...

He was one of four big dogs who were on hand.  And there were another 4 small dogs at the shop that morning.  The young woman in the middle takes great care of the pooches at the Dogromat.  Bob the older man in the blue shirt is retiring.  Sold the shop to a local man who is going to keep it going and refresh it a bit.

I wish Alex best of luck.  The Venice Dogromat is a good service place.  Do it Yourself or drop off your dog and let them groom your doggie.

Many of my last 40 Facebook posts have a photo of Winzer when out and about.  On the beach.  At the Santa Monica Bluff.  About town.  He gets a lot of "likes" when I post his handsome mug on the page.  Perfect camera fodder.  He has gotten used to the..  Sit, Stay,  Click,  "Good Dog" routine.

When a few weeks after I moved out of the house Trisha told me that I had to take the dog I was surprised   He would miss the back yard and the boys I was thinking.  Then shortly after I realized.  She did me a favor  I have company.  I have someone to care for.  It makes me stop and think harder about what I need to do for hime and his needs.  Thereby planing my time better and incidentally doing more for me.  Healthy.  Walks. Timely meals.  (at the beginning and end of the day - as I still forget to eat lunches if at my computer)

This post is to say...  I Love My Dog.  He keeps me sane. He is my sidekick. 

Thank you God for my Dog.

He is a very good dog.

I strive to be the man my dog thinks I am.

It is a worthy goal.

IMHO having a dog is good for me.

A Clean Bottom is Great

Well the M/V Ramblin' is back in the water.  Out of the yard.

With the new bottom paint and a few improvements we are ready for the season!

I took her out for a quick run on the fresh paint.  With light tanks... a little more than 1/3rd full of fuel.  1/2 to 3/4 full of water.  No heavy provisions. I was ready for the perfect run to test her out.  And the weather was just right too!

I gave her a little exercise and got the Cummins Diesels wormed up.  This is what I recorded.

• At 2000 RPM she ran at 14.8 knots
• At 2100 RPM she ran at 16.5 - 16.8 knots
• At 2200 RPM she ran at 17.1 - 17.3 knots
• At 2425 RPM she ran at 20.0 - 20.4 knots <= WOT

What a sweet thing to report.  

Slower than 2000 RPM she squats and slower than 1700 she does not have the Turbo kicking in so you may as well drop to Hull Speed of just under 8 knots at 1,000 RPM or just push a little at 1100 RPM for 9 knots.

At my favorite speed of 2200 RPM I think I'm not quite at 1:1 gal per mile but at 2100 RPM I think I am getting really close to 1:1. 

I'll have to repost this to my www.MVRamblin.com web page too.  

Thanks for checking in.  Feeling Good about the boat.

Keith <"><