Well, blow me down - America is still full of surprises, anyway. After my saga with trying to talk about mortgages to my Bank, I mentioned this to a friendly real estate agent, who put me in contact with her preferred broker. I talked to him on the phone, gave him some details and assent to perform a credit check, and 20 minutes later he calls back to inform me that I/we have pre-approval for a mortgage up to $170K - this without Cat even earning an income!
Of course final approval will require a sheaf of paperwork, and an evaluation of the house, but that only happens after we've found a house & struck a deal, so we're now free to go house-hunting, with a budget. I didn't realise things could happen so fast! I double-checked, and yes, this is prime-rate lending (in fact the best rate on offer), so nothing dodgy about it, and no strange ideas about interest-only mortgages or anything odd like that.
Feeling just a little dazed about it, to be honest: but I've started to dig up information about repossessed houses in the area, already, and we stopped & did a drive-by of a couple of them, last night.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
On an entirely different note, there is one aspect of living in the USA that I'm not sure I'll ever get used to: that is, the idea that it is legal to execute a right-hand turn through a red light (absent opposing traffic that is). Every time, I'm sitting looking at the red light until someone honks to remind me - the whole idea just runs counter to my instincts: whaddaya mean, run a red light? Are you mad, that's a cop car just over there!
*Sigh* maybe I'll eventually get used to it, I suppose, but it's sure going to take a lot of work to overcome the ingrained instincts. I do wonder, also, whether this doesn't actually breed a certain disdain among drivers here for red lights generally - I've certainly noticed a lot more willingness to run the red lights here than in the UK, or NZ (of course that might have a lot to do with the absence of red-light cameras!)
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Gogol has taken over the banking system
Possibly the Bank of America is plotting to drive me crazy: no, of course not, they're actually plotting to drive everyone crazy :)
After my unsuccessful attempt to talk to them about mortgages a couple of days ago, I tried applying for a credit card - after all, they had turned me down before because I wasn't a permanent resident, and that has been solved. I did this online, after my experiences with the staff (plus, I know from last time, all the staff would do is log into the same screen and do the typing for me, which, well, I can do easier than I can get them to spell my name right for one thing).
However, I got turned down - when I clicked on the link as to why, it referenced one of the credit check sites, and indicated that either there was a problem, or the bank deemed that I had all the debt I could handle, in their opinion. OK, annoying, but I know better than to argue with computer-moderated processes, and added to my mental list, an item to go elsewhere & apply for a card.
However, I log into my electronic Bank account before work this morning, and all of a sudden, instead of 3 accounts (cheque for each of us, joint savings), there are 4 - and the 4th is something called a Platinum Visa, with an assigned limit and no activity to date. So ... did they make a mistake? Did I misunderstand what 'You have been declined' means? No, actually I think some Gogol-like conspirators have taken over the bank and are using it to experiment with surrealist comedy: that might explain the Bank's performance for the last couple of years, and how it got so close to bankruptcy, after all.
And why was I applying for a new credit card? Not, actually, because I need more credit to go spending with, I've been down that road once, never again. No, because I discovered that the credit rating agencies - the all-powerful arbiters of the US financial markets - use the amount of unused credit you have as part of how you are rated: the more unused credit you have access to, the higher your rating.
So, to get a card and then never use it will improve my credit rating, something which still needs work as (of course) they only consider US financial history. Slightly bizarre. And, in case you're unaware, your credit rating will substantially affect not just the amount of mortgage you can acquire, but the interest rate and other terms you will be offered, so getting it as high as possible, fairly quickly, just makes financial sense. Seems a very odd way to run your country.
Oh, and Gogol? Russian satirist :)
After my unsuccessful attempt to talk to them about mortgages a couple of days ago, I tried applying for a credit card - after all, they had turned me down before because I wasn't a permanent resident, and that has been solved. I did this online, after my experiences with the staff (plus, I know from last time, all the staff would do is log into the same screen and do the typing for me, which, well, I can do easier than I can get them to spell my name right for one thing).
However, I got turned down - when I clicked on the link as to why, it referenced one of the credit check sites, and indicated that either there was a problem, or the bank deemed that I had all the debt I could handle, in their opinion. OK, annoying, but I know better than to argue with computer-moderated processes, and added to my mental list, an item to go elsewhere & apply for a card.
However, I log into my electronic Bank account before work this morning, and all of a sudden, instead of 3 accounts (cheque for each of us, joint savings), there are 4 - and the 4th is something called a Platinum Visa, with an assigned limit and no activity to date. So ... did they make a mistake? Did I misunderstand what 'You have been declined' means? No, actually I think some Gogol-like conspirators have taken over the bank and are using it to experiment with surrealist comedy: that might explain the Bank's performance for the last couple of years, and how it got so close to bankruptcy, after all.
And why was I applying for a new credit card? Not, actually, because I need more credit to go spending with, I've been down that road once, never again. No, because I discovered that the credit rating agencies - the all-powerful arbiters of the US financial markets - use the amount of unused credit you have as part of how you are rated: the more unused credit you have access to, the higher your rating.
So, to get a card and then never use it will improve my credit rating, something which still needs work as (of course) they only consider US financial history. Slightly bizarre. And, in case you're unaware, your credit rating will substantially affect not just the amount of mortgage you can acquire, but the interest rate and other terms you will be offered, so getting it as high as possible, fairly quickly, just makes financial sense. Seems a very odd way to run your country.
Oh, and Gogol? Russian satirist :)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Medical Bulletin Day
Well, first off, a trifle of good news: my calf problem is in fact just cellulitis, & I've gotten antibiotics to finish clearing it up. I have to say (immediately wandering off topic) that we were amazingly lucky in picking our doctor when we got here - she & her husband are in joint practice, are SF-fans (nuts) complete with photos shaking hands with Shatner (!) and a Deforest Kelly Award on the wall for providing medical services for one of the WorldCons, and she is so incredibly friendly, open and relaxed: we're never hurried through or given the brush-off, she never patronises us, she's quite open about her own medical issues (and issues with doctors' attitudes, to my great amusement), and we always feel well-informed, and well tended.
Not sure how we got so lucky, but she's the first doctor I've met since leaving NZ that understands (and complies with!) the concept of informed consent - not that all NZ doctors are up to scratch on that of course :) Given all the horror stories I'd heard over the years about American medicine and the mercenary nature of it, I feel like we've struck a tiny vein of gold in a bedrock of pure lead.
Yesterday, for instance, she spent an hour dealing with both of us (from our UK experiences, we'd learned to always to to appointments together, for a variety of reasons). By any other standards, that's at least twice what'd I would expect: and this is on top of the nurse conducting the initial formalities (weight check, temp check, taking initial notes as to the cause of the visit - all very efficient & a good idea of how to maximise the doctors' utility, I think).
And the hour was well-spent, don't get me wrong. In her relaxed & charming manner, she reviewed all our medications (quite a list, between the two of us!), checked symptoms, and carefully left openings to draw us out & find anything we might have been shying away from mentioning. All in all, really impressive as a technique, I think.
I was going to launch into another rave today, but it'll have to wait for another time: all of a sudden, I'm a bit busier at work - not actual functional things to do, just checklists and reports and paper-chasing for the new manager. Hmm, what do you call paper-chasing in the brave new world of email and the internet? Electron-chasing? pixel-chasing? tail-chasing?
Not sure how we got so lucky, but she's the first doctor I've met since leaving NZ that understands (and complies with!) the concept of informed consent - not that all NZ doctors are up to scratch on that of course :) Given all the horror stories I'd heard over the years about American medicine and the mercenary nature of it, I feel like we've struck a tiny vein of gold in a bedrock of pure lead.
Yesterday, for instance, she spent an hour dealing with both of us (from our UK experiences, we'd learned to always to to appointments together, for a variety of reasons). By any other standards, that's at least twice what'd I would expect: and this is on top of the nurse conducting the initial formalities (weight check, temp check, taking initial notes as to the cause of the visit - all very efficient & a good idea of how to maximise the doctors' utility, I think).
And the hour was well-spent, don't get me wrong. In her relaxed & charming manner, she reviewed all our medications (quite a list, between the two of us!), checked symptoms, and carefully left openings to draw us out & find anything we might have been shying away from mentioning. All in all, really impressive as a technique, I think.
I was going to launch into another rave today, but it'll have to wait for another time: all of a sudden, I'm a bit busier at work - not actual functional things to do, just checklists and reports and paper-chasing for the new manager. Hmm, what do you call paper-chasing in the brave new world of email and the internet? Electron-chasing? pixel-chasing? tail-chasing?
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Dorothy, I dont think we're in Surrey any more
Except maybe we are?
I went to the bank yesterday to send some money to England, which took the usual 40 minutes or so - they appear to have institutional Alzheimers, as it's a calamitous major issue every month when I do this, and it always takes much tut-tutting, consulting of colleagues, staring blankly at computer screens, looking up help screens, asking what IBAN number they need for the UK bank and ignoring my proffered advice that they dont use IBAN numbers, you need to use National ID (which is always the major stumbling block).
Anyway, that wasn't what astonished me - I brought a book and got 3 chapters read while they rotated in ever-decreasing circles.
After that, I asked about talking to someone about a mortgage. Not applying for one, not even asking for pre-approval so we could go house hunting, just an initial discussion. The girl* serving me told me that she wasn't permitted to, and in fact (if I understood her correctly), noone was allowed to until they'd called a special number to check (something) first. And of course she didn't know the number.
I spent another 20 minutes waiting while she tried to find the number, asked her colleagues, and did all the usual useless show of activity without achievement: then I told her not to bother, I'd go try to find someone who could actually talk to me about doing business.
I hadn't realised, Kafka was an optimist.
I went to the bank yesterday to send some money to England, which took the usual 40 minutes or so - they appear to have institutional Alzheimers, as it's a calamitous major issue every month when I do this, and it always takes much tut-tutting, consulting of colleagues, staring blankly at computer screens, looking up help screens, asking what IBAN number they need for the UK bank and ignoring my proffered advice that they dont use IBAN numbers, you need to use National ID (which is always the major stumbling block).
Anyway, that wasn't what astonished me - I brought a book and got 3 chapters read while they rotated in ever-decreasing circles.
After that, I asked about talking to someone about a mortgage. Not applying for one, not even asking for pre-approval so we could go house hunting, just an initial discussion. The girl* serving me told me that she wasn't permitted to, and in fact (if I understood her correctly), noone was allowed to until they'd called a special number to check (something) first. And of course she didn't know the number.
I spent another 20 minutes waiting while she tried to find the number, asked her colleagues, and did all the usual useless show of activity without achievement: then I told her not to bother, I'd go try to find someone who could actually talk to me about doing business.
I hadn't realised, Kafka was an optimist.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Another week, another boss
It appears the new boss really is the corporate hexagon, not just in wanting weekly written reports: we had a meeting of all the teams he supervises, to 'let the teams get to know each other' on Thursday .. of course, I just dialed in, and as almost none of the team members said anything (or got much chance to, to be honest), it didn't actually advance that cause at all. Possibly it worked better for all the people sitting in the same room in Albuquerque.
The most alarming thing about the meeting was probably the new boss(es) both urging how important meetings are, and how we should be having more of them to "get things organised". This bodes very ill - in my experience, meetings are what you do instead of getting things organised, or done, and are an excuse to bloat customer expenses, avoid responsibility, and provide the illusion of performance & management for managers who don't understand what they're managing.
In fact, I would have to say that 95% of all meetings, and 99% of those running more than 30 minutes, are a complete waste of time, from my experience. Typically when something is achieved, the meeting is dominated by exchanges between 2 or 3 people at most, and should have been limited to those people. The others are then included as a CYA manouevre, so they can't claim not to have been told about whatever it is (except of course they fell asleep or mentally wandered off, not being involved, and didnt actually take it in).
If I sound somewhat exercised over the whole topic, well, it's a plague I've been fighting all my working life, and it seems to be insidiously spreading - and the prospect of a boss who wants lots of meetings just makes my blood run cold. The last year has been a real blessing in that regard, my last boss wanted to be involved with all the emails, so she never needed weekly briefings as to where we are up to, on any topic, and didn't do meetings for the most part, just one on one phone calls. The only meeting she did was a fortnightly chinwag for the DBA's - primarily so we could sort out any confusions or issues between us, which was about all that was needed.
Oh well, other than doing my nut over new managers, had a pretty quiet weekend. Cat went to lunch yesterday with our nextdoor neighbour, Holly, & afterwards to dinner-theatre (Well matinee I suppose) - very indifferent, so I was happy to have missed it. Afterwards we went around a few of the open homes (the lunch thing ran late so we didn't have much time to see many)
- a cheap one very close to here, done up to the dernier cris of fashion, & will doubtless sell in days because of that
- a slightly more expensive one, obviously been given a very quick one-over by the current owners (lick of paint on the walls primarily): Cat thought it had potential, but it seemed boxey & in need of major fixing with layout, and the back yard was small, and horribly overlooked
- another in the same price range, nicely done & not needing work, with a great landscaped back yard with tons of privacy, and a great deck. The bedrooms were a bit small (hard to see one as a wargames room), but otherwise the only drawback Cat saw was that it was too well done, nothing left needing to be done to it (I dont see this as a drawback, personally! But Cat would really want a bargain fixer-upper that she could remodel to her heart's content).
Oh, and my right calf has been swollen for the last few days, with sharp pains running up it - I think it's just cellulitis again, as it's diminishing of its' own accord, but I'm planning to see a doctor about it tomorrow: never hurts to double-check in case it's PAD or something of that ilk, plus I haven't seen any doctor in six months, so it's kinda due anyway.
The most alarming thing about the meeting was probably the new boss(es) both urging how important meetings are, and how we should be having more of them to "get things organised". This bodes very ill - in my experience, meetings are what you do instead of getting things organised, or done, and are an excuse to bloat customer expenses, avoid responsibility, and provide the illusion of performance & management for managers who don't understand what they're managing.
In fact, I would have to say that 95% of all meetings, and 99% of those running more than 30 minutes, are a complete waste of time, from my experience. Typically when something is achieved, the meeting is dominated by exchanges between 2 or 3 people at most, and should have been limited to those people. The others are then included as a CYA manouevre, so they can't claim not to have been told about whatever it is (except of course they fell asleep or mentally wandered off, not being involved, and didnt actually take it in).
If I sound somewhat exercised over the whole topic, well, it's a plague I've been fighting all my working life, and it seems to be insidiously spreading - and the prospect of a boss who wants lots of meetings just makes my blood run cold. The last year has been a real blessing in that regard, my last boss wanted to be involved with all the emails, so she never needed weekly briefings as to where we are up to, on any topic, and didn't do meetings for the most part, just one on one phone calls. The only meeting she did was a fortnightly chinwag for the DBA's - primarily so we could sort out any confusions or issues between us, which was about all that was needed.
Oh well, other than doing my nut over new managers, had a pretty quiet weekend. Cat went to lunch yesterday with our nextdoor neighbour, Holly, & afterwards to dinner-theatre (Well matinee I suppose) - very indifferent, so I was happy to have missed it. Afterwards we went around a few of the open homes (the lunch thing ran late so we didn't have much time to see many)
- a cheap one very close to here, done up to the dernier cris of fashion, & will doubtless sell in days because of that
- a slightly more expensive one, obviously been given a very quick one-over by the current owners (lick of paint on the walls primarily): Cat thought it had potential, but it seemed boxey & in need of major fixing with layout, and the back yard was small, and horribly overlooked
- another in the same price range, nicely done & not needing work, with a great landscaped back yard with tons of privacy, and a great deck. The bedrooms were a bit small (hard to see one as a wargames room), but otherwise the only drawback Cat saw was that it was too well done, nothing left needing to be done to it (I dont see this as a drawback, personally! But Cat would really want a bargain fixer-upper that she could remodel to her heart's content).
Oh, and my right calf has been swollen for the last few days, with sharp pains running up it - I think it's just cellulitis again, as it's diminishing of its' own accord, but I'm planning to see a doctor about it tomorrow: never hurts to double-check in case it's PAD or something of that ilk, plus I haven't seen any doctor in six months, so it's kinda due anyway.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Change is Good
Too tired yesterday
And been too busy today - the trouble with taking a holiday is the work that piles up in your absence. On top of that, new site manager, with no understanding of what we do or how it's managed. That would be fairly predictable, but the new one seems sadly addicted to form-filling, and meetings: the first communique I had from him was a weekly report that is to be filled out & sent in every Monday, so he can see what we're doing.
Given that my work is not really susceptible to being divided into weekly chunks, and I don't have projects with weekly milestones, I can see that I'll be expending some of my creative energies on this every week, to try and fit in.
Also, and to my extreme dismay, this includes a section on 'Business Opportunities' or somesuch, which, well .... that ain't me. If I see something that we could extend into, I will pass it onto my boss, but given the type of maintenance role I'm in, plus being located 500 miles from the users I deal with, the idea that I could come up with weekly or monthly business openings is just silly: plus, I ain't a salesman, and I ain't about to start being one, and any attempts to press me into that role is going to lead to a brief but forceful reply of simple Anglo-Saxon*, followed by a decided deterioration in interpersonal relations (probably from both sides).
And when I was mostly caught up with the emails (at least), I get sucked into an hour long teleconference (well, for me - 90% of the teams were there face to face), featuring endless somnolence inducing promulgations and declarations by our new site bosses (2 of them). It all made sense, but both displayed a talent for using 20 words where 3 would have done: and apparently this is going to be a regular feature (weekly no doubt), in order to familiarise the teams with each other.
Which might be fine for those who are face to face, but I have no idea even who 90% of the participants were (i.e. all those that didn't speak, and about half of those that did as well), so I didn't perceive any actual familiarisation going on: I suppose that is just meant to be part of the warm fuzzies we get by getting consulted by our bosses.
Wow, that was all fairly victriolic - I have to chalk that up to a combination of disappointment at losing a really great (and informal) boss, and bitter past experiences (many many experiences) of bosses who don't know how to manage people, just paper.
Cat appears to have gone into shock over actually getting our Green Cards ?! - I'm not sure why, but the prospect of actually having to get a job at this point seems to be seriously freaking her out: I guess because she hadn't really identified what she wants to do now - she has a fairly serious longterm aim of setting up her own business in the interstices between floristry, home decoration, and botanical art (I think that's the best description anyway), but how to get there from here, and whether Little Rock is the right Here, is yet to be determined.
I daresay she'll come up with something, tho: it's too important to her goals, for her to remain stuck for long.
* or not, there seems to be vigorous debate over the point
And been too busy today - the trouble with taking a holiday is the work that piles up in your absence. On top of that, new site manager, with no understanding of what we do or how it's managed. That would be fairly predictable, but the new one seems sadly addicted to form-filling, and meetings: the first communique I had from him was a weekly report that is to be filled out & sent in every Monday, so he can see what we're doing.
Given that my work is not really susceptible to being divided into weekly chunks, and I don't have projects with weekly milestones, I can see that I'll be expending some of my creative energies on this every week, to try and fit in.
Also, and to my extreme dismay, this includes a section on 'Business Opportunities' or somesuch, which, well .... that ain't me. If I see something that we could extend into, I will pass it onto my boss, but given the type of maintenance role I'm in, plus being located 500 miles from the users I deal with, the idea that I could come up with weekly or monthly business openings is just silly: plus, I ain't a salesman, and I ain't about to start being one, and any attempts to press me into that role is going to lead to a brief but forceful reply of simple Anglo-Saxon*, followed by a decided deterioration in interpersonal relations (probably from both sides).
And when I was mostly caught up with the emails (at least), I get sucked into an hour long teleconference (well, for me - 90% of the teams were there face to face), featuring endless somnolence inducing promulgations and declarations by our new site bosses (2 of them). It all made sense, but both displayed a talent for using 20 words where 3 would have done: and apparently this is going to be a regular feature (weekly no doubt), in order to familiarise the teams with each other.
Which might be fine for those who are face to face, but I have no idea even who 90% of the participants were (i.e. all those that didn't speak, and about half of those that did as well), so I didn't perceive any actual familiarisation going on: I suppose that is just meant to be part of the warm fuzzies we get by getting consulted by our bosses.
Wow, that was all fairly victriolic - I have to chalk that up to a combination of disappointment at losing a really great (and informal) boss, and bitter past experiences (many many experiences) of bosses who don't know how to manage people, just paper.
Cat appears to have gone into shock over actually getting our Green Cards ?! - I'm not sure why, but the prospect of actually having to get a job at this point seems to be seriously freaking her out: I guess because she hadn't really identified what she wants to do now - she has a fairly serious longterm aim of setting up her own business in the interstices between floristry, home decoration, and botanical art (I think that's the best description anyway), but how to get there from here, and whether Little Rock is the right Here, is yet to be determined.
I daresay she'll come up with something, tho: it's too important to her goals, for her to remain stuck for long.
* or not, there seems to be vigorous debate over the point
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Home again, home again, jiggety jog
Whew ... made it back. Totally exhausted at the moment, will try to write something more substantive tomorrow. But, a couple of things in the mail:
1. A $50 ticket for turning right on red in Morristown (this is legal in Arkansas, and some states, but apparently not in W Virginia).
2. Letters for both of us from immigration, saying we'd been approved for our Green Cards!!! Woo hoo!!! Finally beat the bureaucracy :)
Now, off to sleep some more
1. A $50 ticket for turning right on red in Morristown (this is legal in Arkansas, and some states, but apparently not in W Virginia).
2. Letters for both of us from immigration, saying we'd been approved for our Green Cards!!! Woo hoo!!! Finally beat the bureaucracy :)
Now, off to sleep some more
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Bigger, brighter, smellier
Well, I got it together sufficiently to play the Theme tournament yesterday, or at least the 1st 2 games of it : an easy win against Norse Irish, due to some stupendously bad dice on the part of Ian Buttridge, then a narrow winning draw against Feudal Scots (Steve Payne) - which would have been a wide winning draw, almost a total victory, except that - without Steve or I being aware of this - the umpire had changed the time rules, so each round was meant to be 4 hours.
As that meant the last round wouldn't finish until after 11pm that night, I forfeited my last game and stomped off in ill-humour: it's probably 20 years since I've been able to play from 8 am til that late at night (and frankly a lot of the other competitors didnt look up to it either), and I regard it as a fairly silly change, and quite rude not to have told anyone at the start. As the same umpire was running the Open competition today with the same rules, I didn't bother participating in that: if winning tournaments is meant to be primarily a competition of stamina, well, that's a game I have zero interest in joining.
However, I spent today wandering around, watching games, and joining in a round or two of some of the demos - a spectacularly silly set of Napoleonic rules called Warfare in the Age of Napoleon - an extension of the Frederickan Warfare in the Age of Reason, but with quite a lot of changes by a different author, and frankly quite ridiculous in its' final effect: looking like nothing so much as a General Haig Spectacular (up & over the top, lads, and never mind how many thousands of dead). The cavalry interaction was unconvincing & seemed to put a premium on not moving so you could catch your opponent moving (with cavalry!?!), and the artillery would have done the Waffen SS Machine Gun regiment proud.
Also a refight of Cowpens (War of Independance). I forget the rules, but again it had a lot of fairly silly outcomes, such as skirmishers never being able to be killed, or to be routed for more than one turn (they auto-rally and return to the spot they routed from at the end of the turn), so essentially the British are -always- doomed by the superior American skirmishing, no matter the result of the clash of the main forces (I say superior, but in fact the scenario gave the Brits no skirmishers at all). Of course, given that this is written for the American market, I suppose that might be a good selling point, but still ...
Also watched (didnt play) a couple of truly pointless games - one a refight in 28mm of the Charge of the Light Brigade. Not the Battle of Balaclava, which might have been interesting, just the bloody Charge, which of course only ever has one outcome, and the 'win' measure was how little or much of the British cavalry gets massacred. Sigh. Oh well, it was truly gorgeous.
Equally gorgeous, and equally pointless, was a refight of the left wing at Fredericksburg, attacking Stonewall Jackson's Corps. Again, I can't see any other outcome than the massacre that actually eventuated in history - attacking into a steep hill with dugin troops and heavy artillery support, with only unsupported (and not that well-motivated, frankly) infantry is just an exercise in Haigism* really.
Ray also spent today (and yesterday) wandering around and watching, not participating in much I think. I'm a bit worried about him, he seems to periodically be in intense pain from his damaged back, and at times is definitely fading in and out of awareness, but he's pushing himself quite hard to get around and spend as much time at the con as possible: I suppose memories of all the stuff he used to do at old Historicons is part of that, and perhaps a sense of trying to make the most of it, as he may not be able to make it there too many more times.
The convention itself is huge, but this is a lousy venue for it - it's split up into at least 20 different rooms and auditoria, on 4 levels and every room seems to have at least half-a-staircase up or down to get to the next one: it's a real maze to get around, and a nightmare of hostility for wheelchairs, or those of us with dodgy knees who dont much enjoy stairs at the best of the time. Elevators and ramps seem to be more or less an unknown technology. As it is, I never got to the top floor to see the FOW / WW2 games, which I"m told were very pretty, because the stairs were just a flight too far. Oh well, next year they are (finally) moving to Baltimore, which is easily reached by airplane, and will have a much more modern venue.
Meeting internet friends (Tiff & Pete) tomorrow for the first time, for lunch - they are driving over from New Jersey to meet us: then hit the road and start the grueling trip back. Never again, at least not just for wargaming.
*If I seem a bit obsessed with Douglas Haig (of WW1 trench warfare and 2 million dead soldiers to no point fame), this is prolly because I encountered at the con another of the (apparently numerous) efforts to rehabilitate his reputation, which makes me mad enough to spit tacks. Rehabilitating Haig is like, oh, rehabilitating Judas ... oh, worse, really, because his evil had no point. The man was a bloody monster, who continued the pointless slaughter on the Somme for 4 months after he privately admitted in his journal that there was no possibility of success and nothing was being achieved ... and why? because he thought it would damage the governments' trust in his judgement if he called it off, and because he couldn't think of a better plan. Migod, I'd rather defend Subedei and Genghis for the slaughter in Kwarismia on account of their lovely table manners.
End of rant :)
More in a couple of days when I'm home, I think. Dunno where we'll be stopping tomorrow night, but I'll doubtless be shattered again - at least on the return journey we'll be breaking it up more evenly, 2 9 hour legs I think, rather than one horrendously long one. I dunno, maybe if we had a huge american car with tons of leg room to stretch out and lie down, the journey would be easier. OH well.
Update: oh, the title? Well, 3500 gamers gathered together is the biggest con I've ever seen, and ... well, it's hot, and bathing seems to be optional for too many of them. Amazing and alarming to see so many potential heart attacks gathered in one place - I felt positively svelte and lithe compared to some of them.
As that meant the last round wouldn't finish until after 11pm that night, I forfeited my last game and stomped off in ill-humour: it's probably 20 years since I've been able to play from 8 am til that late at night (and frankly a lot of the other competitors didnt look up to it either), and I regard it as a fairly silly change, and quite rude not to have told anyone at the start. As the same umpire was running the Open competition today with the same rules, I didn't bother participating in that: if winning tournaments is meant to be primarily a competition of stamina, well, that's a game I have zero interest in joining.
However, I spent today wandering around, watching games, and joining in a round or two of some of the demos - a spectacularly silly set of Napoleonic rules called Warfare in the Age of Napoleon - an extension of the Frederickan Warfare in the Age of Reason, but with quite a lot of changes by a different author, and frankly quite ridiculous in its' final effect: looking like nothing so much as a General Haig Spectacular (up & over the top, lads, and never mind how many thousands of dead). The cavalry interaction was unconvincing & seemed to put a premium on not moving so you could catch your opponent moving (with cavalry!?!), and the artillery would have done the Waffen SS Machine Gun regiment proud.
Also a refight of Cowpens (War of Independance). I forget the rules, but again it had a lot of fairly silly outcomes, such as skirmishers never being able to be killed, or to be routed for more than one turn (they auto-rally and return to the spot they routed from at the end of the turn), so essentially the British are -always- doomed by the superior American skirmishing, no matter the result of the clash of the main forces (I say superior, but in fact the scenario gave the Brits no skirmishers at all). Of course, given that this is written for the American market, I suppose that might be a good selling point, but still ...
Also watched (didnt play) a couple of truly pointless games - one a refight in 28mm of the Charge of the Light Brigade. Not the Battle of Balaclava, which might have been interesting, just the bloody Charge, which of course only ever has one outcome, and the 'win' measure was how little or much of the British cavalry gets massacred. Sigh. Oh well, it was truly gorgeous.
Equally gorgeous, and equally pointless, was a refight of the left wing at Fredericksburg, attacking Stonewall Jackson's Corps. Again, I can't see any other outcome than the massacre that actually eventuated in history - attacking into a steep hill with dugin troops and heavy artillery support, with only unsupported (and not that well-motivated, frankly) infantry is just an exercise in Haigism* really.
Ray also spent today (and yesterday) wandering around and watching, not participating in much I think. I'm a bit worried about him, he seems to periodically be in intense pain from his damaged back, and at times is definitely fading in and out of awareness, but he's pushing himself quite hard to get around and spend as much time at the con as possible: I suppose memories of all the stuff he used to do at old Historicons is part of that, and perhaps a sense of trying to make the most of it, as he may not be able to make it there too many more times.
The convention itself is huge, but this is a lousy venue for it - it's split up into at least 20 different rooms and auditoria, on 4 levels and every room seems to have at least half-a-staircase up or down to get to the next one: it's a real maze to get around, and a nightmare of hostility for wheelchairs, or those of us with dodgy knees who dont much enjoy stairs at the best of the time. Elevators and ramps seem to be more or less an unknown technology. As it is, I never got to the top floor to see the FOW / WW2 games, which I"m told were very pretty, because the stairs were just a flight too far. Oh well, next year they are (finally) moving to Baltimore, which is easily reached by airplane, and will have a much more modern venue.
Meeting internet friends (Tiff & Pete) tomorrow for the first time, for lunch - they are driving over from New Jersey to meet us: then hit the road and start the grueling trip back. Never again, at least not just for wargaming.
*If I seem a bit obsessed with Douglas Haig (of WW1 trench warfare and 2 million dead soldiers to no point fame), this is prolly because I encountered at the con another of the (apparently numerous) efforts to rehabilitate his reputation, which makes me mad enough to spit tacks. Rehabilitating Haig is like, oh, rehabilitating Judas ... oh, worse, really, because his evil had no point. The man was a bloody monster, who continued the pointless slaughter on the Somme for 4 months after he privately admitted in his journal that there was no possibility of success and nothing was being achieved ... and why? because he thought it would damage the governments' trust in his judgement if he called it off, and because he couldn't think of a better plan. Migod, I'd rather defend Subedei and Genghis for the slaughter in Kwarismia on account of their lovely table manners.
End of rant :)
More in a couple of days when I'm home, I think. Dunno where we'll be stopping tomorrow night, but I'll doubtless be shattered again - at least on the return journey we'll be breaking it up more evenly, 2 9 hour legs I think, rather than one horrendously long one. I dunno, maybe if we had a huge american car with tons of leg room to stretch out and lie down, the journey would be easier. OH well.
Update: oh, the title? Well, 3500 gamers gathered together is the biggest con I've ever seen, and ... well, it's hot, and bathing seems to be optional for too many of them. Amazing and alarming to see so many potential heart attacks gathered in one place - I felt positively svelte and lithe compared to some of them.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Lancaster
Whew, made it here.
Hit the road yesterday at 7 a.m. and finished in Harrisonburg VA at 11:30 pm, stayed the night in a nice enough hotel, and hit the road this morning at 9:30, arriving about 1 p.m. Registered at the con, had lunch, crashed out for the afternoon, then got up at 7:30 and went for dinner with Ray - Cat was still too tired & stayed in the hotel, so I brought her shrimp & beer from Red Lobster after we'd eaten.
Mind you, getting there was a chore - Ray was navigating (he;s been here before), so we spent an hour stumbling around Lancaster which - believe me - ain't that big. Did get to see an Amish buggy & horse tho, while we were lost: picturesque, but .... ekk, horse manure :((
Terribly afraid this whole trip was a collossal mistake: I'm still feeling beaten & bruised from the trip, I just dont have the resilience or energy for this punishing travel. Not sure I'm even going to play at the tournament tomorrow or Saturday. Horribly tired and depressed. Oh well, have to just sleep on it, we still have to do the journey back.
Hit the road yesterday at 7 a.m. and finished in Harrisonburg VA at 11:30 pm, stayed the night in a nice enough hotel, and hit the road this morning at 9:30, arriving about 1 p.m. Registered at the con, had lunch, crashed out for the afternoon, then got up at 7:30 and went for dinner with Ray - Cat was still too tired & stayed in the hotel, so I brought her shrimp & beer from Red Lobster after we'd eaten.
Mind you, getting there was a chore - Ray was navigating (he;s been here before), so we spent an hour stumbling around Lancaster which - believe me - ain't that big. Did get to see an Amish buggy & horse tho, while we were lost: picturesque, but .... ekk, horse manure :((
Terribly afraid this whole trip was a collossal mistake: I'm still feeling beaten & bruised from the trip, I just dont have the resilience or energy for this punishing travel. Not sure I'm even going to play at the tournament tomorrow or Saturday. Horribly tired and depressed. Oh well, have to just sleep on it, we still have to do the journey back.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Bennigans
Well Memphis went OK. Cat & I were separately interviewed, and the guy who interviewed her was pretty brusque and hostile: by the time he interviewed me, he had eased off somewhat, so ironically I had an easier time of it.
However, the upshot is that Cat is definitely approved, and no decision is made on mine - as they require proof that I was legally divorced when Cat and I married, and all I had was a notation on the marriage decree (god knows where the original divorce decree has gone). So, I've contacted Archives NZ to ask how to get a copy of this, & will have to wait for that. Fortunately, it doesn't make any difference to me when it happens, whereas with Cat, the sooner she gets her green card, the sooner she can start work.
We did have one other little incident. When we visited Baton Rouge last year, we ate at a restaurant chain called Bennigans, and Cat had a Monte Cristo sandwich, which she absolutely loved: we tried to find one in Little Rock, but it had closed down before we got here. Last time we went to Memphis, I checked the internet & found the address of a Bennigans restaurant, and made sure to take Cat there, which delighted her.
So of course, after our interviews this morning, we set off to lunch there again, following the same directions, pulled into the drive and .... no Bennigans, it had been renamed to the 'River Cafe'. Talk about thunderstruck! It must have been hilarious to watch our faces at the sight.
Nevertheless, we ate there, and fortunately the menu hadn't changed, only the name :)
Oh well, on the road in the morning, I'll cut this short.
However, the upshot is that Cat is definitely approved, and no decision is made on mine - as they require proof that I was legally divorced when Cat and I married, and all I had was a notation on the marriage decree (god knows where the original divorce decree has gone). So, I've contacted Archives NZ to ask how to get a copy of this, & will have to wait for that. Fortunately, it doesn't make any difference to me when it happens, whereas with Cat, the sooner she gets her green card, the sooner she can start work.
We did have one other little incident. When we visited Baton Rouge last year, we ate at a restaurant chain called Bennigans, and Cat had a Monte Cristo sandwich, which she absolutely loved: we tried to find one in Little Rock, but it had closed down before we got here. Last time we went to Memphis, I checked the internet & found the address of a Bennigans restaurant, and made sure to take Cat there, which delighted her.
So of course, after our interviews this morning, we set off to lunch there again, following the same directions, pulled into the drive and .... no Bennigans, it had been renamed to the 'River Cafe'. Talk about thunderstruck! It must have been hilarious to watch our faces at the sight.
Nevertheless, we ate there, and fortunately the menu hadn't changed, only the name :)
Oh well, on the road in the morning, I'll cut this short.
America
Despite what I might write here, things are hardly unbearable here, by any means. I guess it's human nature to focus on the discontents and rant about them, but there's plenty of good here, too: not least, my god! we are rich :)
Well, at least more affluent than I've ever been - we have a brand-new car (my first ever), a pleasant 3 bedroom house in a leafy suburb, and pretty much all the toys and gadgets that we want: and if we feel the pinch a bit financially, that is just a combination of Cat not being permitted to work for pay yet, and paying off the cost of moving here & setting up house again, more or less from scratch. In a year or so, we should have those all done, and be able to buy a substantial house quite easily.
And, there is a sense of, well, unconstrainedness here: calling it freedom is a bit facile, but after the crowdedness of Europe, and in particular after the tight-corseted attitudes of England, things are much looser and easier. If we have periodic clashes with BastardCorp (in all it's different names), well, that happens everywhere - I still remember, bitterly, my dealings with Telebastards NZ, and those crappy architects that screwed the pooch in the Kinghorne street extension.
Plus, we are away from the english passive-aggressive, negative, carping atmosphere: that alone is like getting out of prison. OK, the people here might be racist & sexist, but hardly worse than the grotesquely racist working class english, or the (largely) snide and vicious middle class sexism: and at least here they are friendly and open at first encounter.
Oops, time to hit the road ... Memphis here we come!
Well, at least more affluent than I've ever been - we have a brand-new car (my first ever), a pleasant 3 bedroom house in a leafy suburb, and pretty much all the toys and gadgets that we want: and if we feel the pinch a bit financially, that is just a combination of Cat not being permitted to work for pay yet, and paying off the cost of moving here & setting up house again, more or less from scratch. In a year or so, we should have those all done, and be able to buy a substantial house quite easily.
And, there is a sense of, well, unconstrainedness here: calling it freedom is a bit facile, but after the crowdedness of Europe, and in particular after the tight-corseted attitudes of England, things are much looser and easier. If we have periodic clashes with BastardCorp (in all it's different names), well, that happens everywhere - I still remember, bitterly, my dealings with Telebastards NZ, and those crappy architects that screwed the pooch in the Kinghorne street extension.
Plus, we are away from the english passive-aggressive, negative, carping atmosphere: that alone is like getting out of prison. OK, the people here might be racist & sexist, but hardly worse than the grotesquely racist working class english, or the (largely) snide and vicious middle class sexism: and at least here they are friendly and open at first encounter.
Oops, time to hit the road ... Memphis here we come!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Historicon
Well, we're off to Historicon shortly, so I imagine blogging will be spasmodic at best, for the next 10 days.
Actually, we're off to Memphis tomorrow for our interview with Immigration, to get our green cards, then we drive back. Ray is driving over from Oklahoma on Tuesday night, then we all set off together on Weds morning, early. (why drive back from Memphis only to repeat that journey on Weds? Well, the cost of overnight accommodation, primarily).
It's about a 1200 mile drive each way, so the plan is to drive around 900-1000 miles on Wednesday, find a local motel to crash out in, then complete the journey Thursday morning: with any luck, that leaves Thursday afternoon to register, and go gawk at the shops & tournament prep.
Friday is the Theme (Dark Ages) FOG tournament, and Saturday is the Open FOG tournament - each 3 x 3.5 hour games, pretty damn hard work. I dont have anything scheduled for Sunday, tentatively plan to go sightseeing with Cat for the day: and we have friends, Tiffana & Pete, driving from New Jersey to meet us (for the first time), for dinner on Sunday. Monday we drive back (not sure if we'll break the trip or try to do it in one hit), then Tuesday & Weds I've got off work to sit around home and recuperate :)
I'm fairly nervous about it, as the physical demands are quite high, both in terms of driving, and gaming - 3 games in a day is tough, and doing it 2 days in a row may be too much for me, have to wait and see.
That's all I've got at the moment: need to go pack toy soldiers! I'll try and write something more later, if I have time & energy.
Actually, we're off to Memphis tomorrow for our interview with Immigration, to get our green cards, then we drive back. Ray is driving over from Oklahoma on Tuesday night, then we all set off together on Weds morning, early. (why drive back from Memphis only to repeat that journey on Weds? Well, the cost of overnight accommodation, primarily).
It's about a 1200 mile drive each way, so the plan is to drive around 900-1000 miles on Wednesday, find a local motel to crash out in, then complete the journey Thursday morning: with any luck, that leaves Thursday afternoon to register, and go gawk at the shops & tournament prep.
Friday is the Theme (Dark Ages) FOG tournament, and Saturday is the Open FOG tournament - each 3 x 3.5 hour games, pretty damn hard work. I dont have anything scheduled for Sunday, tentatively plan to go sightseeing with Cat for the day: and we have friends, Tiffana & Pete, driving from New Jersey to meet us (for the first time), for dinner on Sunday. Monday we drive back (not sure if we'll break the trip or try to do it in one hit), then Tuesday & Weds I've got off work to sit around home and recuperate :)
I'm fairly nervous about it, as the physical demands are quite high, both in terms of driving, and gaming - 3 games in a day is tough, and doing it 2 days in a row may be too much for me, have to wait and see.
That's all I've got at the moment: need to go pack toy soldiers! I'll try and write something more later, if I have time & energy.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Cars
Well, today is my day off, so after I dropped Cat at a florists shop - she's doing a (6 hour) day a week for free, to keep her hand in, and to adapt her style to American tastes some - I got to take the car to Honda for a service & oil: due, but also a sensible precaution before our big road trip next week to Historicon.
Up til now, Cat had done all the dealing with the Honda service people, but she was fed up to the back teeth with them: as she was a woman, they would always ask to speak to her husband about any decisions (!), could never adjust to the idea that she has a different last name to me (!!), and generally acted like patronising sexist assholes.
I can't say I love them very much, either, but at least I get less crap to deal with than she did. Still, a 2 hour wait pretty much wasted the morning (not helped by sharing the waiting room with the Woman With The Bionic Jaw - an art teacher with an apparently inexhaustible voice, and store of opinions, mostly annoyingly christian).
Checked the mail, and there are our (replacement) insurance cards - the first set didnt list Cat at all (!), so of course this set does .... but with my last name, again. Despite having been told explicitly. Oh well, try that one again, I guess - and of course I have to call them, not her, as they won't recognise her authority to modify this, despite both our names being on all the paperwork. What is this, 1950? 1850?
Just part of what I mean about the relentless sexism. Oh well: just another reason to try and relocate to somewhere less backward (speaking of which, I reminded my boss about my request, but still no word on it so far).
* * * * *
And driving home reminded me of something else: I will never get used to the idea you can make a right hand turn through a red light. I mean, I can see the logic and the benefit, but it always feels like I'm breaking the law, fairly pointlessly. Of course, if I should actually forget, and sit there, the people behind me will remind me volubly and frequently of this.
Up til now, Cat had done all the dealing with the Honda service people, but she was fed up to the back teeth with them: as she was a woman, they would always ask to speak to her husband about any decisions (!), could never adjust to the idea that she has a different last name to me (!!), and generally acted like patronising sexist assholes.
I can't say I love them very much, either, but at least I get less crap to deal with than she did. Still, a 2 hour wait pretty much wasted the morning (not helped by sharing the waiting room with the Woman With The Bionic Jaw - an art teacher with an apparently inexhaustible voice, and store of opinions, mostly annoyingly christian).
Checked the mail, and there are our (replacement) insurance cards - the first set didnt list Cat at all (!), so of course this set does .... but with my last name, again. Despite having been told explicitly. Oh well, try that one again, I guess - and of course I have to call them, not her, as they won't recognise her authority to modify this, despite both our names being on all the paperwork. What is this, 1950? 1850?
Just part of what I mean about the relentless sexism. Oh well: just another reason to try and relocate to somewhere less backward (speaking of which, I reminded my boss about my request, but still no word on it so far).
* * * * *
And driving home reminded me of something else: I will never get used to the idea you can make a right hand turn through a red light. I mean, I can see the logic and the benefit, but it always feels like I'm breaking the law, fairly pointlessly. Of course, if I should actually forget, and sit there, the people behind me will remind me volubly and frequently of this.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Welcome to 1951, hold onto your temper
This is the sort of story that doesn't usually make it into foreign papers or TV, but we see a spasmodic drumbeat of this sort of stuff. This one is particularly rancid and left me gagging. I'll quote Pam Spaulding (who has a more complete version):
-------------------
Of course, by now the club has taken down its contact page, and in fact it appears any online vestiges of itself have been scoured. I can't imagine why.
However, to give a better taste in the mouth, there's an addenda:
---------------------
The staff at the Valley Swim Club in NE Philly must have stepped into the DeLorean and took a spin back into the days of segregation, as 60 kids were turned away from the pool there and apparently the people at the Swim Club didn't mind their inner bigot surface for all to see.
"I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor.
The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers' first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.
"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."..."There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.
Excuse me, what year is this? Am I watching a rerun of a scene in Far From Heaven (2002)? There was a scene in the Todd Haynes film, set in the 1950s, where a black boy, the son of service worker at a Miami hotel, dares to step into the hotel pool. His father rushes and pulls him out, but it’s too late—the white people in the pool race to get out of the “contaminated” water. Apparently that’s the kind of “change they can believe in” at The Valley Swim Club.
Contact information for the club is here. This is so outrageous that I’m almost unable to type.
I don’t see anything on the membership app asking about race, so when do they determine you can’t join—when you show up?-------------------
Of course, by now the club has taken down its contact page, and in fact it appears any online vestiges of itself have been scoured. I can't imagine why.
However, to give a better taste in the mouth, there's an addenda:
---------------------
After the treatment the kids attending Creative Steps Day Camp received from The Valley Swim Club, a private school has welcomed the children to swim in its pool. (NBC):
[T]he staff at Girard College, a private Philadelphia boarding school for children who live in low-income and single parent homes, stepped in and offered their pool.
“We had to help,” said Girard College director of Admissions Tamara Leclair. “Every child deserves an incredible summer camp experience.”
The school already serves 500 campers of its own, but felt they could squeeze in 65 more – especially since the pool is vacant on the day the Creative Steps had originally planned to swim at Valley Swim Club.
“I’m so excited,” camp director Alethea Wright exclaimed. There are still a few logistical nuisances—like insurance—the organizations have to work out, but it seems the campers will not stay dry for long.
And to sweeten the deal, the owners of Gumdrops & Sprinkles treated the kids to a free day of candy and ice cream making.
Bits & pieces
Well, we finally managed to get our MMR booster shots done this morning - something we'll need to prove for next weeks' interview with immigration. We went to get it done yesterday afternoon, but the waiting room was full, and after a couple of minutes it became apparent they weren't going to be processing all the people already in there, that day.
So we checked what time they opened (8 a.m.) and showed up early. Just as well, when we got there the parking lot was already almost full, and there were half a dozen people in the waiting room already.
I should perhaps explain this is a government health centre: dead-cheap, so of course under-resourced and always in high demand. Still, it's done now, thank ghu
* * * * * * * * * *
And our long struggle with the dreaded TV set is finally coming to a close, it seems: the repairman has given up on trying to fix it, as they no longer manufacture the parts he requires for it, so (as it is still under warranty), they have agreed to replace it with the equivalent model: so I went to the store last Sunday and picked out the model, then arranged for delivery & installation (not until this Saturday, alas). Finally, we may be able to watch more than half an hour of TV without the highlights being painted neon-green!
Still, it certainly added charm to some of the less interesting programs, and made for a rather, umm, abstract experience at times.
Oh, and what are we watching at the moment? (at least, the pick of whats available)
* True Blood (Alan Balls excellent version of some so-so* vampire books, with Anna Paquin starring)
* Royal Pains (highly recommended, very witty & tight so far)
* Weeds (although this is deteriorating substantially from the first couple of seasons, it still has its' moments)
* Saving Grace (passable cop show set in OKC, which makes a nice change all in itself)
* Big Bang Theory (limp sitcom, altho the best of whats available I think, mostly watch for Johny Galecki's exquisite timing ... not sure I'd recommend it to anyone)
Thats about all that's worth watching at the moment. Some of the TV channels have been quite, um, disappointing: the Sci-Fi channel, which I thought, great! when I saw it would be available, erh, not so much - it seems to be full of Star Trek (NG) reruns, Real-life Ghost Hunter rubbish, and other even less SF-ish things, plus getting commandeered for Ultimate Fight Wrestlemania Homoerotic Grope-a-thons periodically (can you spell sublimation, guys?).
And the History channel is, well, even worse than I expected (which is saying something). The UK History channel I watched occasionally in England was bad enough (sloppy, lowbrow, and full of myths, plus horrendously jingoistic & pro-British), but the american original is ... oh dear god, so much worse: hysterically patriotic, blinkered, and endlessly propagating, not just myths, but outright errors and lies. Did you know Vietnam was a draw? or that the South deserved to win the Civil War (or, the War of Northern Aggression, if you accept the racist bollocks that gets served up when you talk about that).
Still, for all that, there are a lot of channels available, and you can usually find something halfway acceptable if you want to vege out, either on the Classic Movies channel or one of the HBO movie channels. We have also been watching quite a lot of 'My First House' and 'Property Virgin' houses about buying in the USA, trying to pick up familiarity with how it's done, what tricks to look for & what to try out on sellers (heh), and also to gauge relative prices in different parts of the country, as the programs tend to flit all over.
As they also can date back 2 or 3 years, it's also giving me something of a feel of how prices are falling now (if not how much further they have to go yet). One universal, tho, every area, every year, is that the estate agents will always tell you the market is heating up, you better make a good high offer, and if you offer too low you can insult the seller so he won't consider any offer you make. Yeah right, that all depends on exactly how desparate a straight he's in, and whether there are other offers. Of course, as the agents commission is a percentage of the price, it's in their interest to keep this as high as possible.
We are contemplating trying to subvert this: if we buy in LR, we have found a woman who we like & trust as an agent, and if it proceeds that way, I want to discuss with her making a fixed-commission deal (i.e. stipulating a flat payment to her no matter the price of the house), and then getting her to check through all the foreclosures & bank-owned properties: by removing her concerns about her fee, we're hoping she can find us some real deals, rather than steering us to the top of our affordability bracket. Not sure if that'll work, but it seems an idea worth trying anyway.
Anyway enough of that: the other thing on our minds is, of course, planning for our trip to Historicon next week! More on that tomorrow, tho, time to get back to work.
So we checked what time they opened (8 a.m.) and showed up early. Just as well, when we got there the parking lot was already almost full, and there were half a dozen people in the waiting room already.
I should perhaps explain this is a government health centre: dead-cheap, so of course under-resourced and always in high demand. Still, it's done now, thank ghu
* * * * * * * * * *
And our long struggle with the dreaded TV set is finally coming to a close, it seems: the repairman has given up on trying to fix it, as they no longer manufacture the parts he requires for it, so (as it is still under warranty), they have agreed to replace it with the equivalent model: so I went to the store last Sunday and picked out the model, then arranged for delivery & installation (not until this Saturday, alas). Finally, we may be able to watch more than half an hour of TV without the highlights being painted neon-green!
Still, it certainly added charm to some of the less interesting programs, and made for a rather, umm, abstract experience at times.
Oh, and what are we watching at the moment? (at least, the pick of whats available)
* True Blood (Alan Balls excellent version of some so-so* vampire books, with Anna Paquin starring)
* Royal Pains (highly recommended, very witty & tight so far)
* Weeds (although this is deteriorating substantially from the first couple of seasons, it still has its' moments)
* Saving Grace (passable cop show set in OKC, which makes a nice change all in itself)
* Big Bang Theory (limp sitcom, altho the best of whats available I think, mostly watch for Johny Galecki's exquisite timing ... not sure I'd recommend it to anyone)
Thats about all that's worth watching at the moment. Some of the TV channels have been quite, um, disappointing: the Sci-Fi channel, which I thought, great! when I saw it would be available, erh, not so much - it seems to be full of Star Trek (NG) reruns, Real-life Ghost Hunter rubbish, and other even less SF-ish things, plus getting commandeered for Ultimate Fight Wrestlemania Homoerotic Grope-a-thons periodically (can you spell sublimation, guys?).
And the History channel is, well, even worse than I expected (which is saying something). The UK History channel I watched occasionally in England was bad enough (sloppy, lowbrow, and full of myths, plus horrendously jingoistic & pro-British), but the american original is ... oh dear god, so much worse: hysterically patriotic, blinkered, and endlessly propagating, not just myths, but outright errors and lies. Did you know Vietnam was a draw? or that the South deserved to win the Civil War (or, the War of Northern Aggression, if you accept the racist bollocks that gets served up when you talk about that).
Still, for all that, there are a lot of channels available, and you can usually find something halfway acceptable if you want to vege out, either on the Classic Movies channel or one of the HBO movie channels. We have also been watching quite a lot of 'My First House' and 'Property Virgin' houses about buying in the USA, trying to pick up familiarity with how it's done, what tricks to look for & what to try out on sellers (heh), and also to gauge relative prices in different parts of the country, as the programs tend to flit all over.
As they also can date back 2 or 3 years, it's also giving me something of a feel of how prices are falling now (if not how much further they have to go yet). One universal, tho, every area, every year, is that the estate agents will always tell you the market is heating up, you better make a good high offer, and if you offer too low you can insult the seller so he won't consider any offer you make. Yeah right, that all depends on exactly how desparate a straight he's in, and whether there are other offers. Of course, as the agents commission is a percentage of the price, it's in their interest to keep this as high as possible.
We are contemplating trying to subvert this: if we buy in LR, we have found a woman who we like & trust as an agent, and if it proceeds that way, I want to discuss with her making a fixed-commission deal (i.e. stipulating a flat payment to her no matter the price of the house), and then getting her to check through all the foreclosures & bank-owned properties: by removing her concerns about her fee, we're hoping she can find us some real deals, rather than steering us to the top of our affordability bracket. Not sure if that'll work, but it seems an idea worth trying anyway.
Anyway enough of that: the other thing on our minds is, of course, planning for our trip to Historicon next week! More on that tomorrow, tho, time to get back to work.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
It's the smallest things ... feeling very dopey today (no jokes please), after a distinct shortage of sleep last night: for the stupidest of reasons, really, I have an insect bite on the bottom corner of my left shoulderblade which is insanely itchy. I've tried several sprays and ointments but none of them seem to have much effect. It's more or less bearable during the day, but trying to rise above it at night while trying to sleep is ... trying.
I was re-reading a letter from Mum, about Shirley's funeral (amongst other things of course), and one part really made me grit my teeth, reading about how broken up her father was, at her death. I have no doubt it was genuinely felt, but it would have been nice if he'd shown some damn support for her in the last couple of years. I know she called on him several times, asking for financial assistance when things were desparate for her, without any real response: and things were desparate enough that I sent her money myself from England a few times, rather than see her lose her flat or some other terrible expedient.
I'm not sure I've spelled out exactly how bad it got, but between the crushing burden of her debts from her second marriage (and how I wish she'd declared bankruptcy! but apparently that was a cheat); and her illness causing enormous absences from work (and eventually losing her job of course); and the DSW screwing her around unmercifully and denying her the sickness benefit at various times: it was an enormous onus on her, just keeping body & soul together - something difficult enough to do anyway, when you're in the wells of depression and drowning.
Of course, Brian was such a controlling, withholding presence in her life, and always so disapproving of her, that this behaviour should come as no surprise. It's funny, really, that she was so vehement about her mother - and I could see why, she used to be quite shrewish and bitter - and yet I think her father did more damage in the end. I can - from a distance - understand why Valerie was compelled into her bitterness, from how he was so .... hmm, patriarchal sums it up: between his long absences at sea, his total control of finances and his philandering, it's hard to blame her.
That same pattern, of course, is what did the damage to Shirley, too, and it really seems to have determined what sort of man she kept choosing for herself. It's one thing I still regret: I urged her for the last 15 years to find a therapist of some sort, to try and dig out the poisons her family had left her with, but she never really took it on board as an idea.
I have a feeling I'm repeating myself here, but so be it: I keep chewing over the same ground, trying to find something worth learning in it.
It's funny, really, it's taken me twenty or more years to really take on the idea of the patriarchy, after so many go-rounds with my lesbian friends over it. The idea of a conspiracy, or an organisation, is ludicrous, but that's not it: it's a reflex, a habit of attitude, that they are talking about, and it does horrible damage to both men and women, in different ways. I guess I'm a bit dim, at being so slow to catch on to it, but ... it's like we were talking different languages, I guess.
* * * * * * * * * *
In passing, one other thing in my Mum's letter really amazed me: she regretted not seeing more of Shirley, and blamed herself for laziness. Laziness .. Jeanne? the Energiser Bunny of Miramar thinks she is lazy? That is bizarre beyond words: I don't recall ever seeing her being lazy or indolent; in fact my memories are all of her being on the go, doing things, being involved: dinners, parties, events, shows, committees, organising, helping, just extending a hand, you name it.
Oh, and I almost forgot (for Mum): If you can, get hold of a DVD of the the first opera from BBC's Ring Cycle, from around 2003-4. It has Bryn Terfel as Wotan, and wow! is it an eye-opener. I got to watch it broadcast live at the time, and was riveted, despite my considerable distaste for opera in general. He is magnetic, and the whole show is quite spellbinding (and it was a real misfortune that he took ill & couldn't complete the rest of the cycle - I don't recall who replaced him).
I was re-reading a letter from Mum, about Shirley's funeral (amongst other things of course), and one part really made me grit my teeth, reading about how broken up her father was, at her death. I have no doubt it was genuinely felt, but it would have been nice if he'd shown some damn support for her in the last couple of years. I know she called on him several times, asking for financial assistance when things were desparate for her, without any real response: and things were desparate enough that I sent her money myself from England a few times, rather than see her lose her flat or some other terrible expedient.
I'm not sure I've spelled out exactly how bad it got, but between the crushing burden of her debts from her second marriage (and how I wish she'd declared bankruptcy! but apparently that was a cheat); and her illness causing enormous absences from work (and eventually losing her job of course); and the DSW screwing her around unmercifully and denying her the sickness benefit at various times: it was an enormous onus on her, just keeping body & soul together - something difficult enough to do anyway, when you're in the wells of depression and drowning.
Of course, Brian was such a controlling, withholding presence in her life, and always so disapproving of her, that this behaviour should come as no surprise. It's funny, really, that she was so vehement about her mother - and I could see why, she used to be quite shrewish and bitter - and yet I think her father did more damage in the end. I can - from a distance - understand why Valerie was compelled into her bitterness, from how he was so .... hmm, patriarchal sums it up: between his long absences at sea, his total control of finances and his philandering, it's hard to blame her.
That same pattern, of course, is what did the damage to Shirley, too, and it really seems to have determined what sort of man she kept choosing for herself. It's one thing I still regret: I urged her for the last 15 years to find a therapist of some sort, to try and dig out the poisons her family had left her with, but she never really took it on board as an idea.
I have a feeling I'm repeating myself here, but so be it: I keep chewing over the same ground, trying to find something worth learning in it.
It's funny, really, it's taken me twenty or more years to really take on the idea of the patriarchy, after so many go-rounds with my lesbian friends over it. The idea of a conspiracy, or an organisation, is ludicrous, but that's not it: it's a reflex, a habit of attitude, that they are talking about, and it does horrible damage to both men and women, in different ways. I guess I'm a bit dim, at being so slow to catch on to it, but ... it's like we were talking different languages, I guess.
* * * * * * * * * *
In passing, one other thing in my Mum's letter really amazed me: she regretted not seeing more of Shirley, and blamed herself for laziness. Laziness .. Jeanne? the Energiser Bunny of Miramar thinks she is lazy? That is bizarre beyond words: I don't recall ever seeing her being lazy or indolent; in fact my memories are all of her being on the go, doing things, being involved: dinners, parties, events, shows, committees, organising, helping, just extending a hand, you name it.
Oh, and I almost forgot (for Mum): If you can, get hold of a DVD of the the first opera from BBC's Ring Cycle, from around 2003-4. It has Bryn Terfel as Wotan, and wow! is it an eye-opener. I got to watch it broadcast live at the time, and was riveted, despite my considerable distaste for opera in general. He is magnetic, and the whole show is quite spellbinding (and it was a real misfortune that he took ill & couldn't complete the rest of the cycle - I don't recall who replaced him).
Friedrich, again & some more (2)
This is getting to be a bit rambling, but never mind. A couple of other observations on 'Frederickan' vs 'Napoleonic', and the classic Prussian army.
One thing the napoleonicists make a big deal of, is the Grand Batteries and much higher concentrations of artillery in their period, compared to the SYW, and yet, when you look at the actual battles, the Prussians show a steady escalation in the proportion of artillery (although, it is true, their opponents generally dont). This reaches something of an apogee at Torgau, where Frederick is recorded as bringing 440 heavy pieces (that's in addition to the estimated 100-odd field and battalion pieces). This for an army of 45,000 - over 10 guns per 1000, a ratio not so much Napoleonic as positively Haigean*. It's true that he didnt muster them in a grand battery, but when you look at his extremely energetic battles, there is rarely any place where you would want a grand battery, so capability and need seem to fold neatly into eachother.
Interestingly, once the SYW was over, Frederick reduced the artillery establishment considerably, and seemed to regard it as unnecessary and ill-mannnered (ha): the rationale, I believe, was that the great decline of infantry quality during the war necessitated more artillery (gee that sounds familiar).
The other thing I notice is the great stress Duffy places on, and how he points out the importance of, the kleine krieg - the scouting of the Croats, hussars, bosniaks, freikorps, and other riffraff who weren't forced into the firing line :)
Again, the proportion of these grew - on both sides - as the war ground on: and in many of the battles, the success of the initial manouevres seems to depend enormously on the relative successs of the scouting screens (particularly noticeable at Kunersdorf, Torgau, and Liegnitz I think). Not exactly a surprise to anyone who's read Sun Tzu, and yet ... after the war, Frederick greatly diminishes the establishment of all his light troops: and, with all the European armies aping the Prussian fashion, that seems to lead to a great reduction of scouting troops in all the continental armies... including the British.
Nicely timed for the decade before the War In The Colonies put such a premium on them, really.
One thing the napoleonicists make a big deal of, is the Grand Batteries and much higher concentrations of artillery in their period, compared to the SYW, and yet, when you look at the actual battles, the Prussians show a steady escalation in the proportion of artillery (although, it is true, their opponents generally dont). This reaches something of an apogee at Torgau, where Frederick is recorded as bringing 440 heavy pieces (that's in addition to the estimated 100-odd field and battalion pieces). This for an army of 45,000 - over 10 guns per 1000, a ratio not so much Napoleonic as positively Haigean*. It's true that he didnt muster them in a grand battery, but when you look at his extremely energetic battles, there is rarely any place where you would want a grand battery, so capability and need seem to fold neatly into eachother.
Interestingly, once the SYW was over, Frederick reduced the artillery establishment considerably, and seemed to regard it as unnecessary and ill-mannnered (ha): the rationale, I believe, was that the great decline of infantry quality during the war necessitated more artillery (gee that sounds familiar).
The other thing I notice is the great stress Duffy places on, and how he points out the importance of, the kleine krieg - the scouting of the Croats, hussars, bosniaks, freikorps, and other riffraff who weren't forced into the firing line :)
Again, the proportion of these grew - on both sides - as the war ground on: and in many of the battles, the success of the initial manouevres seems to depend enormously on the relative successs of the scouting screens (particularly noticeable at Kunersdorf, Torgau, and Liegnitz I think). Not exactly a surprise to anyone who's read Sun Tzu, and yet ... after the war, Frederick greatly diminishes the establishment of all his light troops: and, with all the European armies aping the Prussian fashion, that seems to lead to a great reduction of scouting troops in all the continental armies... including the British.
Nicely timed for the decade before the War In The Colonies put such a premium on them, really.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
A nasty little trick
Well, I got a bit of an object lesson yesterday. A couple of weeks ago, I received an offer of a credit card through the mail, and as I still need to broaden & improve my credit history here, I thought it would be a good idea to take this up*, so I completed the application and sent it off, after reading through it fairly carefully.
Yesterday, I got my first statement for this through the mail (before I'd even received the card, which I thought was a bit keen in itself). For a card with a $250 credit limit, they were going to charge me $5.95 as a monthly fee, plus an initial $70 signing-up 'fee', so my brand-new credit card would have an actual initial credit limit of $175.
I went back and re-read the initial offer I'd been sent, to make sure there was no mention of monthly fees or of an initial signing fee, which - of course - there wasn't, and then phoned them to inform them that I hadn't agreed to this fee and that I did not wish to use this card & to close the account immediately.
The poor girl on the other end was obviously going through pre-written scripts, and first gave me the 'but this will help repair** your credit' line, then started telling me that I would still have to pay the fees as the account had been opened: but something I said*** must have triggered a different branch in the script, because she switched me to a guy who assured me the account would be closed and the fees reversed out (altho this may take up to 30 days).
Somehow I suspect if I'd sounded, ah, less educated, or female, the bullying to cough up the initial fee would have continued rather longer. Of course, now I'm going to have to both watch to see that they do reverse this, and to make sure that it doesn't appear on my credit history.
Parenthentically, until you've lived here it's hard to appreciate how important the credit score is, and how grotesquely powerful (and unsupervised) the credit ratings agencies are: there are endless horror stories of people getting identities stolen or just confused, and spending literally years and thousands of dollars in trying to get the agencies to recognise and amend their own errors (and of those errors repeatedly popping up every few years even after they are supposedly fixed). This may be just urban myth, but the extent of the stories makes me think that it's something that will - in a while - get addressed by the government in some way: at the very least, it is crying out for some legal remedy (a regulatory agency & appeals court would make the most sense, I think, but god knows what Congress will come up with).
Mind you, the whole financial services industry is absolutely rotten to the core: I'm not talking here about the financial whizkids that have invited the latest sturm-und-drang on all our heads - that is actually just the capitalist system going through it's usual spastic spasm, by and large, and those idiots will be with us always (see Jay Gould and many others). No, what I'm thinking of is the rotten stuff like:
* Credit card companies that will jump your interest rate from 18% to 39% if you are late in paying - not just if you're late in paying their bill, but if you're late in paying any bill, like the electricity bill. Oh, and then the interest rate doesn't go down again for 12 months, of course
* Banks that will always process all your cheques & withdrawals in a day, before considering any deposits, and if any of the withdrawals render you overdrawn, will bounce your payment and charge a $50 fee for this
* On top of that trick, when they have the opportunity, rather than reversing the largest withdrawal of the day, they will bounce the smallest payment first, continuing until the "overdraught" is eliminated - thus maximising the number of bounce fees they can charge. Of course, the bounce fees are also deducted, and can then cause more withdrawals/cheques to be bounced (if there are any), or the imposition of an extra $100 'unauthorised overdraught' charge.
I could go on - at some length, I might add - but why bother? you get the idea. The books are rigged, and unless you are scrupulously careful at all times, you are vulnerable: and they will rip you, every chance you can get. The ultimate Bastard society, I guess.
Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised: that's always been the reputation of the States, in the end: a wild west where the devil takes the hindmost.
sigh more tomorrow.
* As the credit ratings agencies consider the number of sources, and also the amount of uncommitted credit, in rating your score: so a couple of totally unused credit cards will actually boost the score substantially - just one way in which they prove their weakness to being gamed.
**ha!
*** I wish I could work out what exactly triggered this
Yesterday, I got my first statement for this through the mail (before I'd even received the card, which I thought was a bit keen in itself). For a card with a $250 credit limit, they were going to charge me $5.95 as a monthly fee, plus an initial $70 signing-up 'fee', so my brand-new credit card would have an actual initial credit limit of $175.
I went back and re-read the initial offer I'd been sent, to make sure there was no mention of monthly fees or of an initial signing fee, which - of course - there wasn't, and then phoned them to inform them that I hadn't agreed to this fee and that I did not wish to use this card & to close the account immediately.
The poor girl on the other end was obviously going through pre-written scripts, and first gave me the 'but this will help repair** your credit' line, then started telling me that I would still have to pay the fees as the account had been opened: but something I said*** must have triggered a different branch in the script, because she switched me to a guy who assured me the account would be closed and the fees reversed out (altho this may take up to 30 days).
Somehow I suspect if I'd sounded, ah, less educated, or female, the bullying to cough up the initial fee would have continued rather longer. Of course, now I'm going to have to both watch to see that they do reverse this, and to make sure that it doesn't appear on my credit history.
Parenthentically, until you've lived here it's hard to appreciate how important the credit score is, and how grotesquely powerful (and unsupervised) the credit ratings agencies are: there are endless horror stories of people getting identities stolen or just confused, and spending literally years and thousands of dollars in trying to get the agencies to recognise and amend their own errors (and of those errors repeatedly popping up every few years even after they are supposedly fixed). This may be just urban myth, but the extent of the stories makes me think that it's something that will - in a while - get addressed by the government in some way: at the very least, it is crying out for some legal remedy (a regulatory agency & appeals court would make the most sense, I think, but god knows what Congress will come up with).
Mind you, the whole financial services industry is absolutely rotten to the core: I'm not talking here about the financial whizkids that have invited the latest sturm-und-drang on all our heads - that is actually just the capitalist system going through it's usual spastic spasm, by and large, and those idiots will be with us always (see Jay Gould and many others). No, what I'm thinking of is the rotten stuff like:
* Credit card companies that will jump your interest rate from 18% to 39% if you are late in paying - not just if you're late in paying their bill, but if you're late in paying any bill, like the electricity bill. Oh, and then the interest rate doesn't go down again for 12 months, of course
* Banks that will always process all your cheques & withdrawals in a day, before considering any deposits, and if any of the withdrawals render you overdrawn, will bounce your payment and charge a $50 fee for this
* On top of that trick, when they have the opportunity, rather than reversing the largest withdrawal of the day, they will bounce the smallest payment first, continuing until the "overdraught" is eliminated - thus maximising the number of bounce fees they can charge. Of course, the bounce fees are also deducted, and can then cause more withdrawals/cheques to be bounced (if there are any), or the imposition of an extra $100 'unauthorised overdraught' charge.
I could go on - at some length, I might add - but why bother? you get the idea. The books are rigged, and unless you are scrupulously careful at all times, you are vulnerable: and they will rip you, every chance you can get. The ultimate Bastard society, I guess.
Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised: that's always been the reputation of the States, in the end: a wild west where the devil takes the hindmost.
sigh more tomorrow.
* As the credit ratings agencies consider the number of sources, and also the amount of uncommitted credit, in rating your score: so a couple of totally unused credit cards will actually boost the score substantially - just one way in which they prove their weakness to being gamed.
**ha!
*** I wish I could work out what exactly triggered this
Friedrich, again & some more
Still following Alte Fritz through his career, & gotten as far as the fiasco of Torgau(1), almost at the end of the Seven Years War. I have to say, looking over his battles, that the celebrated oblique attack looks a lot less impressive than its' proponents would have: one dazzling success, at Leuthen, one total fiasco (Zorndorf), and a series of minor victories or draws, mostly notable by the fact that the Prussians held the field at the end of the day, at the cost of considerably higher casualties than their opponents sustained (and with less ability to endure such casualty rates).
In fact, the whole problem seems to be that it is almost impossible to surprise your opponent with the whole march-to-a-flank manouevre, as your army is largely visible, and your opponent will have you well-scouted (unless he's an absolute idiot). Once your manouevre has been spotted, the defender actually has the advantage of interior lines, in order to redeploy to face you (although the restrictive methods of mid-18th century armies does nullify that somewhat).
I also need to bear in mind that these manouevres were conducted in the face of teh Austrians under Daun, who seems to have been careful and cautious to the point of supine indolence.
And what made the victory at Leuthen so singular? the presence of a range of low hills that screened the march columns as they headed to the flank, plus the surprise effect, as it was the first time Frederick has tried this against the Austrians.
So, summing up, the oblique attack will only really have great effect when terrain or other aspects grant the opportunity of (at least some) surprise. In other circumstances, it seems to partially nullify the disadvantage of superior numbers, but leads to very bloody and expensive attacks. I suspect, in the absence of surprise, it also exposes you to dangerous intercept attack opportunities against a dynamic and watchful opponent.
(1) over which, btw, I'm totally with Napoleon on this - he deserved to lose, dividing his forces in the face of a numerically superior enemy is a shocking risk to take, even against so supine an opponent as the Austrians: and given that he had not cut their line of retreat in doing so, the upside if everything went right did not nearly match the downside of the potential elimination of the royal army.
In fact, the whole problem seems to be that it is almost impossible to surprise your opponent with the whole march-to-a-flank manouevre, as your army is largely visible, and your opponent will have you well-scouted (unless he's an absolute idiot). Once your manouevre has been spotted, the defender actually has the advantage of interior lines, in order to redeploy to face you (although the restrictive methods of mid-18th century armies does nullify that somewhat).
I also need to bear in mind that these manouevres were conducted in the face of teh Austrians under Daun, who seems to have been careful and cautious to the point of supine indolence.
And what made the victory at Leuthen so singular? the presence of a range of low hills that screened the march columns as they headed to the flank, plus the surprise effect, as it was the first time Frederick has tried this against the Austrians.
So, summing up, the oblique attack will only really have great effect when terrain or other aspects grant the opportunity of (at least some) surprise. In other circumstances, it seems to partially nullify the disadvantage of superior numbers, but leads to very bloody and expensive attacks. I suspect, in the absence of surprise, it also exposes you to dangerous intercept attack opportunities against a dynamic and watchful opponent.
(1) over which, btw, I'm totally with Napoleon on this - he deserved to lose, dividing his forces in the face of a numerically superior enemy is a shocking risk to take, even against so supine an opponent as the Austrians: and given that he had not cut their line of retreat in doing so, the upside if everything went right did not nearly match the downside of the potential elimination of the royal army.
Monday, July 6, 2009
The vitriol Blender
Migod, but American politics is strange. Weird, exciting, bizarre, unpredictable, amateurish, fiercely poisonous, you name it. From Jesse Ventura to Richard Nixon to Sarah Palin to JFK, you never seem to know what rough beast is going to arrive in Bethlehem next. In the last month, we've had
Given that there are only 50, what are the chances of completely running out of governors by the next election cycle? And, bearing in mind that all three of these most recent ones were mentioned as possible presidential candidates for the Republicans in 2012, if the Democrats have a secret agency knocking off potential opponents, they deserve a bonus. A big bonus.
But, no, this is actually just an ongoing cascade of the typical arrogance of power: the 'I can get away with anything' mentality, or as I'd label it, the Muldoon mentality. It's something that seems -currently- more prevalent amongst Republicans, which I'd attribute to 8 years of rotten corruption of the Department of Justice by the Bush administration, turning it from a relatively independant bureaucracy to one with innumerable republican apparatchiks embedded, and carefully taught to only pursue the 'enemy' ... i.e. the Democrats.
It's hard to credit that people could be so egregiously one-eyed, even if they trained as lawyers. But after checking through several hundred different complaints and cases (these just the ones that are available online, from bloggers complaining about them), a really grotesque prejudice is evident, not just anti-Democrat, but blindly pro-republican even in the teeth of clear and blatant evidence. Truly, it is beyond shameful, and - even given the enormity of damage the Bush administration caused in foreign & domestic arenas - this is probably the single most poisonous and damaging legacy.
Hopefully this will change with the new administration, but it will be a slow process, as many of the appointees are in nominally non-political slots, and so not required to offer resignation at the change of administration.
And, of course, there's a possibility of just seeing a reversal of polarity, rather than a return of somewhat even-handed justice: but I doubt, very much, if the Democrats can muster that many mean-minded, petty, vengeful adherants (not that they don't have their faults, but they will be more, hmm, ideological in nature).
- One Governor own up to adultery with a staff members wife (but not resign)
- One Governor disappear without trace for 5 days, then own up to adultery, or possibly multiple adulteries (but not resign)
- One Governor resign, with such an incomprehensible resignation statement that noone can work out why she has resigned.
Given that there are only 50, what are the chances of completely running out of governors by the next election cycle? And, bearing in mind that all three of these most recent ones were mentioned as possible presidential candidates for the Republicans in 2012, if the Democrats have a secret agency knocking off potential opponents, they deserve a bonus. A big bonus.
But, no, this is actually just an ongoing cascade of the typical arrogance of power: the 'I can get away with anything' mentality, or as I'd label it, the Muldoon mentality. It's something that seems -currently- more prevalent amongst Republicans, which I'd attribute to 8 years of rotten corruption of the Department of Justice by the Bush administration, turning it from a relatively independant bureaucracy to one with innumerable republican apparatchiks embedded, and carefully taught to only pursue the 'enemy' ... i.e. the Democrats.
It's hard to credit that people could be so egregiously one-eyed, even if they trained as lawyers. But after checking through several hundred different complaints and cases (these just the ones that are available online, from bloggers complaining about them), a really grotesque prejudice is evident, not just anti-Democrat, but blindly pro-republican even in the teeth of clear and blatant evidence. Truly, it is beyond shameful, and - even given the enormity of damage the Bush administration caused in foreign & domestic arenas - this is probably the single most poisonous and damaging legacy.
Hopefully this will change with the new administration, but it will be a slow process, as many of the appointees are in nominally non-political slots, and so not required to offer resignation at the change of administration.
And, of course, there's a possibility of just seeing a reversal of polarity, rather than a return of somewhat even-handed justice: but I doubt, very much, if the Democrats can muster that many mean-minded, petty, vengeful adherants (not that they don't have their faults, but they will be more, hmm, ideological in nature).
Friday, July 3, 2009
Slipped
Damn, missed a day - oh well, that's how it goes. Thursday is my busiest day, as that is the day that the Change Committee approves or disapproves changes to the Production systems - and my job is limited to the production systems, not development or QA. As a result, Thursday is usually frenzied with applying the changes once they are approved.
On top of that, everyone has Friday off, so I got a ton of requests for people wanting things done before they took their 4th of July holiday.
Plus, to add a real cherry to the cake, our client is spinning off a subsidiary into a separate entity, and some genius decided that this should be timed for the 4th of July weekend, so last night I was up til 1 a.m. making backups of databases so they could be handed over to the new entity (so they get a copy of the relevant records/history to start with). Oh well, nice to be busy for a change, in all honesty: and I should get time off to make up for it at some later stage.
And for some good news, I got to talk to Jeanne last night - they've moved her to a ward, from intensive care (a good sign), so mobile phones & landlines are allowed. She sounded pretty weak, and a bit confused at times, but it was wonderful to hear her voice.
And she reminded me that I hadn't really written or talked about Obama, yet - and I should, at some greater length than this, but I have to say: we were immensely proud when he was elected, and we pretty much still feel that way. Of course, we did damnall to help except buy some bumper stickers, but without voting rights, we were limited - I did phone the Democratic Party HQ a couple of times and left voicemail, asking them if they wanted volunteers or assistance, but never got a reply .... eh, in Arkansas I guess being a Democrat is a bit of a hopeless endeavour.
We've still got our bumper stickers on the car, and it's funny, you see a very few others in Little Rock, and it's a bit like, oh, being a Porsche owner* - you recognise eachother as being part of a special tribe, and smile and wave at eachother reflexively. Mostly, tho, everyone here seems to be apolitical, or vehemently, insanely (and very loudly) anti-Obama: several times I've had to endure cafe patrons berating their companions (from several tables away, on occasion) about how he's a crazy Muslim, stupid, cowardly, socialist, oh you name it ... they won't stop at any smear, the crueller and more vicious, the better.
Anyway, that's a rant for another time, now I have to break into my day off, and go do some more work - of course it turns out there were things that got forgotten to be authorised, for last nights' change, so now the poor schmucks on the ground have to cover for poor project management. Well, that's a one-note song that has been sung for at least the last century - are there any really good project managers in the world?
*No, I'm not kidding, Porsche owners really think of themselves like that. Pretentious snobs, yes, but tribal pretentious snobs ... not just sad owners of "ass-engined Nazi bathtubs", in one of my favourite quotes (from PJ O'Rourke, "Ferrari refutes the downfall of the West")
On top of that, everyone has Friday off, so I got a ton of requests for people wanting things done before they took their 4th of July holiday.
Plus, to add a real cherry to the cake, our client is spinning off a subsidiary into a separate entity, and some genius decided that this should be timed for the 4th of July weekend, so last night I was up til 1 a.m. making backups of databases so they could be handed over to the new entity (so they get a copy of the relevant records/history to start with). Oh well, nice to be busy for a change, in all honesty: and I should get time off to make up for it at some later stage.
And for some good news, I got to talk to Jeanne last night - they've moved her to a ward, from intensive care (a good sign), so mobile phones & landlines are allowed. She sounded pretty weak, and a bit confused at times, but it was wonderful to hear her voice.
And she reminded me that I hadn't really written or talked about Obama, yet - and I should, at some greater length than this, but I have to say: we were immensely proud when he was elected, and we pretty much still feel that way. Of course, we did damnall to help except buy some bumper stickers, but without voting rights, we were limited - I did phone the Democratic Party HQ a couple of times and left voicemail, asking them if they wanted volunteers or assistance, but never got a reply .... eh, in Arkansas I guess being a Democrat is a bit of a hopeless endeavour.
We've still got our bumper stickers on the car, and it's funny, you see a very few others in Little Rock, and it's a bit like, oh, being a Porsche owner* - you recognise eachother as being part of a special tribe, and smile and wave at eachother reflexively. Mostly, tho, everyone here seems to be apolitical, or vehemently, insanely (and very loudly) anti-Obama: several times I've had to endure cafe patrons berating their companions (from several tables away, on occasion) about how he's a crazy Muslim, stupid, cowardly, socialist, oh you name it ... they won't stop at any smear, the crueller and more vicious, the better.
Anyway, that's a rant for another time, now I have to break into my day off, and go do some more work - of course it turns out there were things that got forgotten to be authorised, for last nights' change, so now the poor schmucks on the ground have to cover for poor project management. Well, that's a one-note song that has been sung for at least the last century - are there any really good project managers in the world?
*No, I'm not kidding, Porsche owners really think of themselves like that. Pretentious snobs, yes, but tribal pretentious snobs ... not just sad owners of "ass-engined Nazi bathtubs", in one of my favourite quotes (from PJ O'Rourke, "Ferrari refutes the downfall of the West")
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Friedrich, again
Still reading Friedrich's bio, and just come to the battles of Rossbach and Leuthen. Wow ... I mean, just ... wow. Rossbach of course I knew the outlines of, and Leuthen I'd heard of, and both were of course famous victories for Freddy, but to see them in detail, back to back, I'm just stunned.
Fascinating, fought just a month apart, and such comprehensive, devastating victories: and they work almost as bookends, with Rossbach such a sweeping, comprehensive cavalry victory, and Leuthen a crushing infantry victory.
The one thing I hadn't appreciated, with either of them, is just the odds facing the Prussians - at Rossbach they attacked with 21,000 facing a French/Imperial army of 45,000 (admittedly 10,000 were Imperial troops of no military value to speak of), and at Leuthen 30,000 against 61,000 Austrians ... two to one odds in both cases, and he never hesitated a moment to launch an attack. I don't know if I'd ever be that bold.
The funny thing is, when I look at the French manouevres at Rossbach, it actually looks like Soubise was aiming at Friedrich's Leuthen manouevre (indeed his favorite manouevre) - the attack en echelon on his open right. Unfortunately for them, instead of having some low hills to hide the fact of their columns turning to the flank, they were on an open bare hill, and Friedrich was the one with low hills to hide his manouevring, so their columns went head-first into his front, rather than outflanking it. Good thinking guys, some work on the execution still needed.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Just starting to plan our excursion to Historicon in a couple of weeks. This is the big (huge) toy soldiers convention, held in Lancaster PA each year (Amish country!), in mid-July. It's always enormous & well-attended, with 4000-5000 competitors and ghu knows how many spectators. Of course, everything is on offer - SciFi gaming, American Civil War, Ancients, Napoleonics, Renaiisance, Steam Punk, John Carter of Mars, Dinosaur-racing, and much more strange and exotic things.
Ray is driving over from Oklahoma on the Tuesday, and we'll set off on Weds - planning to break the journey partway there on Weds night, and arrive on Thursday (it's about 1000 miles driving from Little Rock); we'll stay til Sunday night, then drive back Monday - not sure if we'll do the return in one day or two.
I've also arranged to meet online friends from New Jersey, for dinner on Sunday night (that's always a bit nerve-making, sometimes it's worked well, others not so much). Cat will, I imagine, be busy doing the tourist thing, there seems to be quite a bit to do. I am only planning to be wargaming on Friday & Saturday (that should exhaust me), so I may join her on Sunday in looking around.
Fascinating, fought just a month apart, and such comprehensive, devastating victories: and they work almost as bookends, with Rossbach such a sweeping, comprehensive cavalry victory, and Leuthen a crushing infantry victory.
The one thing I hadn't appreciated, with either of them, is just the odds facing the Prussians - at Rossbach they attacked with 21,000 facing a French/Imperial army of 45,000 (admittedly 10,000 were Imperial troops of no military value to speak of), and at Leuthen 30,000 against 61,000 Austrians ... two to one odds in both cases, and he never hesitated a moment to launch an attack. I don't know if I'd ever be that bold.
The funny thing is, when I look at the French manouevres at Rossbach, it actually looks like Soubise was aiming at Friedrich's Leuthen manouevre (indeed his favorite manouevre) - the attack en echelon on his open right. Unfortunately for them, instead of having some low hills to hide the fact of their columns turning to the flank, they were on an open bare hill, and Friedrich was the one with low hills to hide his manouevring, so their columns went head-first into his front, rather than outflanking it. Good thinking guys, some work on the execution still needed.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Just starting to plan our excursion to Historicon in a couple of weeks. This is the big (huge) toy soldiers convention, held in Lancaster PA each year (Amish country!), in mid-July. It's always enormous & well-attended, with 4000-5000 competitors and ghu knows how many spectators. Of course, everything is on offer - SciFi gaming, American Civil War, Ancients, Napoleonics, Renaiisance, Steam Punk, John Carter of Mars, Dinosaur-racing, and much more strange and exotic things.
Ray is driving over from Oklahoma on the Tuesday, and we'll set off on Weds - planning to break the journey partway there on Weds night, and arrive on Thursday (it's about 1000 miles driving from Little Rock); we'll stay til Sunday night, then drive back Monday - not sure if we'll do the return in one day or two.
I've also arranged to meet online friends from New Jersey, for dinner on Sunday night (that's always a bit nerve-making, sometimes it's worked well, others not so much). Cat will, I imagine, be busy doing the tourist thing, there seems to be quite a bit to do. I am only planning to be wargaming on Friday & Saturday (that should exhaust me), so I may join her on Sunday in looking around.
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