tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56457868527422950962024-03-12T19:10:39.922-05:00Step Away from the BassoonRantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-64329557796661038092017-07-21T12:55:00.000-05:002017-07-21T12:55:22.164-05:00Old Computer Blues<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Old computers die, they don't just fade away, and if they don't demand constant attention on the way out their replacement requires tender loving care before they are ready to step up and do their job. My six year old desktop, Asmodeus, has been plagued by random crashes for several years. I sacrificed to it's appetite for components by installing a new video card and power supply at a cost of over $100 each before deciding it was never going to be reliable long term again. Which of course means replacement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe that Microsoft and computer manufacturers conspire to make the replacement of a computer only slightly less stressful than water boarding. Having been in IT for the last 30 years I have always backed up my computers obsessively. Not only to external hard drives, but by cloning to a second HD in the computer itself. Now Asmodeus refuses to run consistently even on the clone so replacement is the only option. The problem is that you can only back up your data files. All your applications and peripheral hardware have to be reinstalled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Find all those DVDs and CDs with software you bought. Find the ones with your printer/scanner/midi and other drivers. Now sit in front of the new computer for hours babysitting the installs. Oops here's one that won't register because you already have it on the old machine - Oh boy! Now you get to sit on hold while you wait for customer support to grill you like a criminal. Finally got all that software installed and now you get to try to install the software that you originally installed by way of downloads. Now where did I put the product keys for those? Inevitably there are some you pay for a second time because you can't find the keys and have to have them. Computer roulette = trying to guess which program won't run on the version of Windows® on the new machine because you can't buy a machine with the old version any longer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bottom line it usually takes me the better part of a week to get the new machine up and running. Worse, it make take months before I realize I overlooked something that I use infrequently but is essential. Do I have really have to say that this sucks like a lamprey? It's my belief that the source of this periodic frustration is Windows' registry. This was a bad idea 30 years ago and as operating systems and programs get more complicated it is a worse idea. When you buy a new computer you should be able to transfer data, programs, drivers and settings in a single operation. Come on Microsoft, its time for a no more tears OS!</span>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-30743186871224651902017-07-20T13:49:00.000-05:002017-07-20T13:49:59.079-05:00Life Happens<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes life's curve balls get the best of you for a while. But if you just keep doing whatever is next a sort of equilibrium emerges. With all good intentions of making 2016 a renewed year of rants and random wisdom, time got away and then my life's companion, best friend and wife was taken from me and paralysis and loss of motivation ensued. Now a sort of different "normal" is taking shape and this medium offers an outlet for what will now be the musings of an aging widower struggling through his remaining years in the company of a sometimes cantankerous dachshund.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Previously I've had things to say about dog rescue and adoption and when last I expressed myself here I had recently lost a longtime dachshund friend to Intervertebral Disc Disease. Having lived with these little long dogs most of my life I couldn't be long without one, so I soon found a handsome fellow in foster care after rescue in North Carolina. Transport was soon arranged to Iowa where he met his new roommates. His name was Pablo. Finding this slightly inappropriate for a dog with a strong Germanic heritage I decided to name him after a heroic figure from German opera, Siegfried.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One never really knows what a dog's life may have been like before he comes to his forever home and Siegfried seemed to have come from a place where humans were not entirely to be trusted. Siegi was very wary of human hands, especially if they were holding any object. Although he never bit us, he let us know by way of snarls and snaps that he needed patience and time to learn there was no danger here. To shorten what could be a long story, the point is that a dog will learn to trust where there is love. Two years later he shares my bed, sits next to me in my recliner, nuzzles my hand for comforting strokes and wants to accompany me wherever I go. When my wife passed away, he was a real comfort seeming to know our lives had changed forever and that it was his job to take care of me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having witnessed too often potential adopters who give up in the early days with a new dog, my plea is to give a rescue dog time. All any dog really wants is to please the one who treats it with love and kindness. And, as I have said elsewhere, rescue dogs seem to know when they have been saved from unpleasant circumstances and will make a companion second to none. Adopt, don't shop!</span></div>
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Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-91252511729265921142015-08-17T08:19:00.000-05:002015-08-17T08:21:09.719-05:00State of Iowa vs. Motorists<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The State of Iowa seems to be of the opinion that highways exist for
the primary purpose of providing employment for construction workers and only incidentally
as a means for travelers to get from point A to point B. This is most evidenced
in two ways. The first is the constant construction on highways throughout the
state where highway workers can be seen walking up and down behind the orange
barricades seemingly without goal or purpose. Deadlines for completion are
constantly pushed back and when “improvement” projects are actually completed
they are built to specifications put forth years ago and entirely inadequate
for traffic conditions when they are finished. Consequently new projects are immediately
begun to modernize those just completed. Consequently eternal employment is
guaranteed to highway workers and eternal frustration to motorists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The second indication is the complete misuse or absence of road signs. The
philosophy here seems to be that if you don’t know how to get to your
destination you don’t deserve to go. Road signs in Iowa tend to be missing,
misleading or wrong. My first indication of this was when traveling to Des
Moines from Peoria, Il. In no hurry and wanting to enjoy a leisurely scenic
drive across Iowa I was traveling on US highway 6 rather than the taking the
express route Interstate 80. As I approached Iowa City, a forest of the
familiar orange cones rose up and made driving through this busy college town a
test of courage and determination. As I neared the western edge of the city a
sign appeared “Detour US 6” with an arrow pointing to a two lane highway headed
north. I dutifully followed the sign and went off into the dusk expecting to be
eventually guided back to route 6 by further signs. No such luck. An hour
later, far into northern Iowa I realized I was on my own and that there would
be no further help from the Iowa Department of Transportation. I eventually
found my way to Des Moines by dead reckoning arriving two hours later than
planned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, having moved to Iowa and
lived here for sixteen years I realize that this is simply business as usual
for the Iowa DOT. You may or may not get a sign at a junction indicating to what
destination the crossroad leads. And if you do, the odds are very good that the
information may be incorrect. Yet I lived so long in the civilized world where
the realization is that in the maze of highways crossing and crisscrossing this
country travelers need indications of where highways lead that my expectations
frequently exceed what Iowa is prepared to offer. Just last weekend attempting
to find a county park in Warren county I turned right at a sign indicating the
park was 4 miles to the south.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forty
minutes later I had not encountered another sign or a park. Just another
frustration accepted as normal by native Iowans. Myself, I can’t say I will
ever get used to it.</span></div>
Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-86912592807654358342015-08-13T09:20:00.000-05:002015-08-13T09:22:14.152-05:00Dog Stress III all things come to an end<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last post 10 months ago. Originally this was meant to be a series about
the decision to give every opportunity for a good life to a pet with success,
however costly, at the end. But plans often go awry and it has taken this long
for me to be able to face ending the story. So finally here is the conclusion,
and perhaps we can return to more frequent entries and random rants. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After Sam’s first surgery
when we visited four days later he was not improving but getting worse so we
agreed to a second surgery. He came through this one as well and a week later
we brought him home to begin his recovery. It was a long road since his hind
quarters were still paralyzed. But over time he gradually regained about 98%.
He could walk well, chase squirrels again, take walks with me and wag his tail
joyfully as he eagerly went about his doggy life. There was physical therapy
involved and all sorts of logistic problems helping him get around before his
functions returned but we considered these things labors of love and we did
them willing. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then six months later the symptoms returned. Same routine – ER vet,
then as symptoms worsened and pain could not be controlled with oral meds it
was back to Iowa State and a second surgery. We were greatly encouraged when
the first day after surgery he was up and walking. But two days later a call in
the morning told us that he had “a setback”. He had regurgitated something and
aspirated it into his lungs. X-rays were indicated to see how his lungs looked.
The next thing we knew the Dr. was on the phone with us talking about did we
want him on a ventilator and when we might consider humane euthanasia! To say
we were alarmed is an understatement. Finally I realized that we were talking about end of life issues and the Dr. asked if we wanted to come and
see him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were panicked and ran to get
the car out of the garage and head for the clinic but then the call came that
his heart had stopped. Realizing that he had had enough and anything more that
we did would not be for him but for us we declined CPR since the Dr. had told
us that fighting to breathe had used up all his resources. And just like that Sam
was gone.</span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We spent a lot of money. A lot. And in the end we lost a wonderful
little companion. For weeks I was racked with guilt although I still cannot see
that there was an alternative. Let him live paralyzed and in pain? Euthanize
him when there was still a chance he would recover and have years more of a happy
life? No and no. People who have never accepted an animal as part of their
family will never understand the expenditure. People who have been in similar
situations will understand all too well. We bought 6 months of a happy, healthy
life for him and as a bonus had the pleasure of his companionship for that time
as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When the wound on our hearts scarred over some, and I had spent weeks
at home in a very empty house we decided to open our hearts to another homeless
dog. Now we have Siegfried (Siegi), another long haired dachshund. Not that
anything could every replace Sam but as my wife says “Each dog brings his own
gifts” and although tears still come as I remember and write about Sam, Siegi
is teaching us to love another dog in his own way.</span></div>
Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-74811700899103521972014-11-14T07:53:00.000-06:002014-11-14T07:55:31.307-06:00Dog Stress II<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Three weeks after Sam’s visits to the emergency vet when we thought he
was back to normal on a Saturday evening (again! Those with pets know that
these things always happen on a weekend or holiday.) Sam refused to walk up his
ramp to sit on the couch and retreated to the kitchen where he huddled in a corner.
Feeling his back it was clear that the spasms were back stronger than ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got to the emergency vet where the
staff was getting to know us quite well, it was obvious that Sam was in a good
deal of pain, quivering, refusing to stand up and panting – almost gasping
loudly. After his examination we had a long consult with the Dr. on duty and
concluded that conservative measures had failed and we were now looking at
surgery. And now comes the point where some readers may ask “What the hell were
you thinking?”. We were told that surgery would run three to four thousand
dollars. We knew as we drove Sam to the clinic that we were likely to be facing
this and what were the choices? Well, we could opt for palliative measures as
he became paralyzed and see if he could adapt to life in a cart (a type of dog
wheel chair), we could have him put down or we could opt for the surgery. Many
times there are reasons to choose each one of these and most of them are
financial. There are those who would say “let him go, it’s just a dog” and to
those people all I can offer is a sad shake of my head knowing that they have never
really formed such a bond with a dog that they realize how a dog becomes a
family member. For many the cart becomes the answer and when considering
surgery we were completely aware that sometimes surgery fails and the dog winds
up in a cart anyway. But we had the financial means and even if we had to
scrimp in other areas, Sam had brought so much love and pleasure to us that
there really was no question that we would try the surgery. So Iowa State was
called and they wouldn’t take him on a Saturday night unless he had lost all
motor function, which he hadn’t. So we elected to board him at the clinic until
Iowa State would take him so his pain could be controlled. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sunday afternoon we got a call from the clinic that Sam was rapidly
losing deep pain sensation and all motor function, Iowa State had been called and was
prepared to receive him, so we picked him up from the clinic and drove to Ames.
To shorten this long story, we consulted with a surgeon and he decided to
operate immediately as soon as an MRI was obtained. There being nothing more we
could do there we went home to wait for a phone call.</span></div>
Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-85322163428189889532014-08-29T07:44:00.000-05:002014-08-29T07:47:29.006-05:00Dog Stress Part 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I mentioned last time that our dachshund, Sam, was undergoing a bout
with Intervertebral Disc Disease. This is one of those breeder produced
diseases that comes from those in the dog show world trying to mold living
creatures to some imaginary “standard”. In addition to IVDD these ailments
include glaucoma, hip or elbow dysplasia, epilepsy, Cushing’s disease,
cataracts, hydrocephalus, cardiomyopathy, lymphoma, osteosarcoma, patellar
luxation, retinal atrophy, upper airway syndrome, and to mention just one more
result of breeding to produce a desired body shape, English bulldogs can no
longer give birth naturally because of the artificial selection of narrow hips
and all pups must be delivered by caesarean section. This list is unfortunately
but a few of the conditions caused by generations of inbreeding, and if you are
a dog lover it should horrify you. But it is the standards embraced by the show
dog circuit that have led to these problems and have cut short the life of many
an animal that those in the dog fancy profess to love. Personally I think what
they are in love with is self-aggrandizement in much the same way parents lose
all control when pushing their children into sports or other activities that
they wish they had excelled in themselves. But all that is a rant for another
day. See <a href="http://avetsguidetolife.blogspot.com/2014/08/messed-up-breedswere-responsible.html">http://avetsguidetolife.blogspot.com/2014/08/messed-up-breedswere-responsible.html</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for more information from a veterinarian. This
entry is an “up close and personal” account of one dog and his owners coping
with one specific disease.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Early last spring I got the first warning sign but didn’t recognize it.
I had Sam out for a walk and just as we started, instead of eagerly plunging
ahead, Sam sat down and refused to go further. I reached down to pet and
reassure him and noticed his body was quivering. I picked him up and carried
him back to the house and sat down next to him on the floor rubbing him and
helping him relax. I thought that he was having a very mild seizure. I had
owned other dachshunds that had occasional seizures – maybe once or twice in
their lives – it seems that this is a breed thing and doesn’t require medical
care unless it is regular and persistent. So finally Sam stopped quivering and
relaxed and spent the rest of the afternoon napping next to me on the couch.
Life went on and the incident was nearly forgotten. Then two months later the
other shoe dropped. Coming home from playing at a wedding on a Saturday night
we noticed that Sam didn’t come running to greet us. Instead he just sat on the
floor panting loudly. Then he would get up and pace as if looking for
something. It was definitely atypical behavior and touching his back I could
feel what I now could identify as muscles spasms all along his back and sides.
We had no idea what to do, so after a quick call to an emergency vet, at 9:30
at night we piled into the truck and away we went. At the vet’s he got a spinal
x-ray which looked normal and his spasms stopped so we were told to keep him
from vigorous activity and sent home with some pain medication.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Two days later we were back at the emergency vet with stronger spasms
and it was now evident that Sam was in pain. A different vet saw him and then we heard the dreaded diagnosis “herniated
disk” and told to give him strict crate rest for three weeks. Again his spasms
gradually receded and muscle relaxant was added to his meds. We set up the
ex-pen in the living room and began the routine of carrying him outside to do
his business. Three weeks later he seemed normal and enjoyed another three
weeks of regular activity. We didn’t know it but we had just been through a
warm up for the main event. </span></div>
Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-55589809783035005672014-07-30T08:25:00.000-05:002014-07-30T08:25:05.994-05:00Summer madnessSummer's half over and I'm trying to catch my breath. Late in May my mother-in-law passed away and my wife has been busy trying to help get her small estate in order and prepare the house for sale.<br />
<br />
About the same time our dachshund suffered a back episode requiring us to take him to the emergency (read "expensive") vet twice in a three day period. After three weeks of strict crate rest he seemed to have recovered and led his normal doggy life for another three weeks before another episode. This time he was sent to Iowa State Veterinary Clinic where he underwent two spinal surgeries within 3 days. (For those unfamiliar with the dachshund breed, because of their long backs, they - along with other long backed breeds such as Corgis and Bassets - have a congenital tendency toward Intervertebral Disc Disease. I won't go into it - you can Google it.) After 2 weeks in the hospital, much of it in intensive care, he is now at home where we are trying to help him regain use of his hind legs. The costs of this are massive and ongoing. My hair was thinning and I may resemble Mr. Clean when this is over. My sisters and brother-in-law set up a <i>gofundme</i> page to try and help out. You might want to check it out <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/c0hjv4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sam's Surgeries</a> . If you just want to see this guy and what's going on with him you can check his facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/samgordleynews?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Sam Chronicles</a> . I could go into a rant here about what the dog show crowd has done to purebred dogs from hip dysplasia in large breeds to breathing problems in bulldogs and pugs to these back problems in dachshunds, but you can research it yourself. Look at pictures of these breeds from the early 20th century and look at them now. Inbreeding has weakened purebred dogs for the amusement of dog show participants.<br />
<br />
In the middle of all this the community theater that my wife and I play in the orchestra for did their annual summer production. This year it was "The Music Man". Every community theater in Iowa <b>must</b> put this one on at least once and as a result it becomes hackneyed and overdone. Surprisingly under new direction this production was a real winner. It was a pleasure to rehearse and great fun to play the performances. I've complained long and hard elsewhere in these pages about inept direction for amateur production but this was a welcome exception. I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if we hadn't been dealing with an invalid pet.<br />
<br />
All of this took place after a sort of mixed blessing in that I finally retired from my support position in the banking industry. I looked forward to having a lot of time to do things I had put off doing for years but those things are getting but brief attention as I deal with every thing else rolling downhill. I considered a lengthy rant about the horrible inefficiencies of the banking industry - you know something is wrong when a whole industry can afford to waste so much money, but I'm sure that kind of information is available elsewhere and I would just like to put it all behind me.<br />
<br />
Now here it is nearly the first of August, with Labor Day a month away and where has the summer gone? I'm kind of glad we didn't try to have a summer trip this year, but looking forward to the early Christmas gathering of my family near New Orleans in November.<br />
<br />
<br />Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-39041322870807564392014-06-04T15:52:00.000-05:002014-06-04T15:53:59.650-05:00Do Not Drive Into Smoke(Please excuse any formatting peculiarities on this entry, blogspot has conveniently decided to not let me use their full featured editor)<br />
Long ago in a galaxy not so far away I made a trip from Illinois to California in a 1955 Chevy. People made trips similar to this in similar vehicles in those days and thought nothing of it. This was in the days before the interstate system was complete and much of this journey was made on two lane highways. On the outbound leg of the journey while driving through Oklahoma I noticed highway signs which said "Do Not Drive Into Smoke". I thought this was odd, but saw no smoke during my passage and thought little of it. <br />
<br />
A couple of months later on the return trip in the heat of August with no AC and the windows wide open I chose to go by way of Kansas and mid afternoon near Hiawatha I saw a cloud of smoke drifting toward the highway. Having seen no warning signs in Kansas I drove on. At 50 miles per hour and too late to do anything about it, I noticed just before entering the smoke that it looked strangely particulate. No sooner had I noticed this than I was in the cloud and <b>instantly</b> the car was filled with grasshoppers!<br />
<br />
When I say filled, I mean that there was not a cubic inch of space inside the car that did not contain a grasshopper. At highway speed I couldn't get pulled over until I was through the cloud and by that time I had grasshoppers in my hair, in my clothes, all over the seats, clinging to the upholstery and ceiling, covering the dash and floor, and in every vent and cranny of the Chevy. A long period of "debugging" myself and the car ensued and even a year later I was still finding grasshopper carcasses in forgotten crevices of the machine.<br />
<br />
I was irate and freaked out at the time and wondered why more information was not supplied by the warning signs in Oklahoma. But then what would travelers of the times made of signs saying "Do Not Drive Into Grasshoppers"?Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-90897466622316806682013-12-10T10:06:00.000-06:002013-12-10T10:07:40.196-06:00Catching up..<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last post was in March – wow. Certainly gives an indication of how interesting life is here in Iowa. Don’t know whether this may be a symptom of blogger’s block or not. It seems that even some of the most interesting blogs eventually either grind slowly down or deteriorate into minutia of day to day existence that really isn’t that riveting. Whatever the case, it seems that my creative juices get stirred the most when I am outraged about something. Maybe I’m calming down as I age. (yeah – right). <br />
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Now it seems that blogger will not allow me to edit and format this blog in their "compose" mode. I can get around in HTML but web technology has really progressed to where expecting WYSIWYG shouldn't be extraordinary. Blogger, I've moved this blog once, I can always move it again. But I digress. <br />
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Winter has descending on Iowa in full suck. Temperatures the first week of December hovered around zero at night while temperatures in Juneau, Alaska were in the 30s. What’s wrong with this picture? The first measurable snowfall of the season left 4” on the streets and the usual horde of clueless motorists learned all over again that this strange white stuff could ruin your plans as you selected your speed from two options – too slow or too fast. The Des Moines street department apparently uses snow as a Darwinian device to remove drivers from the roads since they steadfastly refuse to start to clean the streets until after the snow has stopped. Ten o’clock news casts become slide shows of bewildered doofuses standing beside vehicles firmly ensconced in ditches that arrived there by way of excessive speed coupled with a lack of understanding the coefficient of friction between rubber and frozen water. <br />
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I really find it ironic that the season of the year where people are in a frenzy of shopping, traveling and merry making has, largely because of climate change, become a season of very difficult, hazardous and dangerous travel. Years ago the coldest weather occurred in January and the holiday season experienced gentle snows and temperatures in the 20s and 30s. It’s been pretty obvious for some time that nature is trying to get our attention “Hey!! You people are screwing this up!” but it becomes particularly pointed as each December seems to get a bit worse. My extended family finally gave up and now celebrates the holidays in October or early November. I’m sure that there are some who would point to a deeper meaning of Christmas that now seems nearly forgotten.<br />
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Over the weekend spent seven hours rehearsing and the performing annual “sing along Messiah”. Tonight playing quintet gig at local hospice. In college I could play with a different group every day and performances most nights and still play dance jobs on Friday and Saturday. Nothing says aging quite like the fact that I need some recovery time.<br />
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So as I grind on toward retirement next June, after which I may have more time to ruminate by way of this medium, I’ll try to find more interesting tidbits to share here. </div>
Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-26991538505980080102013-03-28T08:46:00.000-05:002013-03-28T08:46:16.774-05:00Microsoft - you ignorant slut!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night my Windows 7 desktop informed me that it had “critical” updates available. This happens on an average of once a week since Microsoft seems unable to get their products right the <strike>first</strike> fiftieth time. The Windows 7 update application also watches out for any updates it thinks are necessary to applications other than those belonging to Microsoft, because after all, Microsoft knows more about everything you may have on your computer than anyone else including you. So when it informed me that it had an update driver for my Nvidia graphics card I was surprised but willing to give it a try since I had been having issues with the card crashing when I was playing a MMORPG. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So after a 20 minute wait – standard for any Windows update – the computer restarted (really Microsoft? Really?? After all these years we still have to restart the machine after all updates and most software installs. Bush league Microsoft, bush league!) and low and behold all the graphics settings were hosed. I couldn’t get back to my original screen resolution. I tried to open the Nvidia control application only to be told that no Nvidia card was available!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fortunately, and I almost hate to admit this, Microsoft did something right and included a restore feature in Windows 7 that allows you to return your machine to a previous state after they mangle the settings. This of course took half an hour and another restart but now I am back to where I was after over an hour of time totally wasted. The first version of windows came out in 1983. Thirty years ago!!! And Microsoft still can’t get it right. Seen Windows 8 yet? What a mess. Can you imagine using a machine with Windows 8 for business purposes? One can only hope that this is the final straw that pushes large business users like my employer over the edge and on to Linux.</span></div>
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Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-56357153499253606122013-01-28T13:12:00.000-06:002013-01-28T13:14:01.492-06:00Soul Sucking - Cable Company Style<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About 13 years ago I signed up with the local cable company. Since Des Moines is the equivalent of a little cow town sitting in the middle of nowhere when it comes to modern conveniences, there was only the one company. Our cable bill at that time was $30. I’m sure that by now anyone that has even heard of cable TV can see where this is going. Our cable bill last month was $80. No premium channels, no TIVO or other DVR, no cable box to eliminate punching in arcane codes to get each channel, no frills, just basic cable. $80 a month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’ve made several attempts to get some kind of satellite TV either DISH or DIRECTTV but we have this enormous 80+ year old oak tree in the way on the south side of the house. One installer came out and told us how much of the tree we would have to cut away to allow the dish to view the satellites. Four hundred dollars worth of tree work later the next installer told us we should have cut away more. So rather than keep pouring money into tree work and perhaps endangering the life of the tree we stopped going down that path.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So now we are trying to cut the cord by way of antenna TV and streaming internet. Our broadband connection is provided by our phone company and it has been satisfactory up to now. Service when needed has been courteous and prompt. Just last month our modem was swapped out at no cost to us either for the service call or the hardware. However this is DSL. And slow DSL at that coming in at purported speed of 1.5 mbps – when the wind is right and you hold your mouth just so. Contacting the company about higher speeds revealed they are not available because they are dependent on fiber optics and we are trapped in the 1950s Des Moines.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple of hours of frantic googling revealed that the only non-business route to higher speed broadband here in Hog Hollow is through (dramatic pause) our cable company! Their rates start at $29.95 the first year, but then start the periodic (monthly) increases so familiar from their cable TV service. So in order to get rid of cable and have a high speed internet feed we have to deal with the very company we are trying to escape from. This is capitalism? Who gave these guys this monopoly? This company (that rhymes with PediaPom) has a license to commit obscene acts on their customers without so much as dinner or a kiss.</span></div>
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Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-87014550524883774412013-01-14T09:49:00.001-06:002013-01-14T09:49:45.393-06:00Tires - Give me a break!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This morning when heading out to work at 7:10 AM with temperature at 12 degrees (F) a tire was low. An attempt to fire up the compressor ensued. When temperatures are below 15 the compressor tries to start up and then promptly trips a circuit breaker. Now the house must be unlocked and a descent to the basement to flip the breaker follows. Then the compressor operates normally – every time. It’s like a ritual. Below 15 degrees? Compressor on, breaker off, reset breaker – everything returns to normal. Even when it’s 10 below zero you only have to try once. The compressor is like a sulky little kid that wants a piece of candy before doing what you want. It’s just one of life’s little annoyances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The part that puts a burr under my saddle is the whole tire problem. Hold up your hands if you have tires on your vehicle over a year old and none of them have a slow leak. No one? I thought so. This is a case where “if they can put a man on the moon, why can’t they…” actually applies. We have had self sealing suits for our astronauts since the first space walks back in the 1960s. Is it too much to ask that this kind of technology be applied to tires? What good is a 50,000 mile tread warranty if the tire starts to leak after 10,000 miles and you are told “it can’t be repaired, it’s a break in the sidewall “ or some such nonsense? It’s a boatload of crap the size of the raft of the frigate Medusa. Just try and find a tire store that will actually repair a tire. There is always a reason why they can’t. Back when all I could afford to drive was a beater, when a tire leaked I bought a two dollar plug kit, stuck a plug in a leak myself and went merrily on with tires as bald as Uncle Fester and as old as the car itself. What changed? Now all you have to do is brush the curb and the next day you’re lucky if there is enough air in the tire to get out of the garage. We’re not talking about fly by night “Tires by Guido” black market specials either. These are Michelins or the equivalent. The tire industry seems to be the mac daddy of built in obsolescence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Give me a break!</span></div>
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</span>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-47370957625581861382013-01-10T10:41:00.000-06:002013-01-10T10:41:57.875-06:00ISPs, Phone Companies, and Service calls, oh My!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Rantmaster’s castle has experienced a bumpy road of late. Things are breaking down faster than I can even call for help. Before itemizing the list of crises for your entertainment I’d like to spin a tale of technical support buffoonery served up by my phone company / internet service provider. I won’t name the company but it rhymes with “sensory stink”. For the last two months my DSL (I know – but that’s all that is available in my area) has been dropping connection at varying intervals, sometimes several times a day. The tech support line was called on three occasions. Credit where it is due, I never had to wait long for a pseudo tech (script reader) but the heavily accented ladies were unable to connect the symptoms I described to a solution. In the hopes of a fix the old hot head held his temper through some very trying conversations none of which produced any results. Finally I resorted to the internet chat support option which I had to do from work since – catch22 – I couldn’t from home because of the bad connection problem. This tech was much more knowledgeable and was able, from my description of the problem, to tell me that they would have to send a service tech out to solve it. I was told, and soon received a confirming email, that a service tech would show up the next day “between 1:00 and 5:00”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m sure that you can see where this is going. There is nothing more frustrating than this type of service appointment. Essentially you are being told that “we really don’t give a damn that you have to work in order to pay for our services, we expect you to give up half a day to wait for a service call that may or may not happen in a timely manner.” But over the barrel I was. So I went home at noon to wait. At 3:00 I clicked on a link in my confirmation letter to see what the service schedule looked like. (I had learned that I could get a reliable internet connection if I took a phone off the hook.) The schedule said that a tech would arrive between 5:43 and 7:00. And that was the point where my patience ran out. I called tech support to confirm this and the heavily accented lady informed me that yes, the service call was now scheduled for after 5:43 PM. The next 30 minutes was an exercise in rantsmanship. I prefaced it by saying I understood that the lady had no control over this but since SensoryStink had no phone, address, or email available to express my displeasure, she was going to hear it and she could pass it on to her superiors. I won’t elaborate, but at the end of my diatribe – vivid and intense but free of profanity - I’m sure that the message was received that I considered the company’s service policies to be the equivalent of the throughput of a male bovine. She, of course indicated that she “understood” and that there was nothing she could do. I complimented her on her unfailing politeness in the face of raw anger and hung up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twenty minutes later the service tech showed up, spent 30 minutes at my house, installed a new modem and charged me nothing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I don’t want to suggest that flying off the handle like Peter Finch in Network had anything to do with this outcome, but the service came suspiciously fast. So thanks to whatever got this accomplished. Problem fixed after only four phone calls, one internet chat and one service call. Should this make me happy? I am somewhat perplexed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now on to other concerns. The recent cascade of problems started with the cord in a drapery rod breaking. Not earth shaking, but it took a month to get cord and find resources to figure out how to make the repair. Meanwhile we have a blizzard, fight an ice dam leaking into our three seasons room, desktop computer’s on/off switch on starts functioning only intermittently, kitchen stove oven starts turning on spontaneously due to faulty repair part supplied by Sears service, garage door opener chain jumps track leading to cracking my head on the malfunctioning door, slow leak develops in tire, squirrels chew bulbs off outdoor Christmas lights, orchestra rehearsals reach new heights of frustration, doofusses at work continue to prove their doofusity daily and it’s winter! My friends and associates are heard repeating the phrase “don’t poke the bear”. Color me cranky. </span></div>
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</span>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-37076456161914560892012-12-13T13:04:00.000-06:002012-12-13T13:04:50.023-06:00No Freebies!!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My wife and I play in a woodwind quintet that we founded and that has been in existence for 12 years. The members are all musicians of exceptional talent and abilities. Here in Pig's Rectum USA demand for live chamber music is limited, but we do eke out a few paying gigs each year and visit nursing homes and hospices gratis. Our repertoire is large enough that we can play for four hours without repetition (add an additional two hours for Christmas specific music). Our quality is such that during the Christmas season one large upscale national department store hires us year after year as the ONLY group that they pay to provide atmosphere. Our training and experience is collectively in excess of 200 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nevertheless, we constantly receive requests to play for free. I think that I have mentioned elsewhere that one of my wise teachers advised me “never play for free, people will think that is what you are worth”. These requests always mention that this would be “good exposure for the group”. At my age I have had decades of exposure! When does it start to pay off? Would anyone have the gall to call up a plumber and say “Our pipes are clogged up and we need your services. We can’t pay you but it will be good exposure.”? The very concept is ludicrous. Yet people who make these requests can get very bent out of shape when you refuse to provide free entertainment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The worst part is that most of these requests come from large non-profit organizations who are throwing a huge fund raising banquet or similar bash. The money expended on venue, food, decorations speakers fees, etc. etc. etc. must run into many thousands of dollars, yet $250 for live music? Can’t be done. It would be a different matter if the organization in question had previously established some kind of relationship with the group they approach, but it is as if they pull names out of a hat. “Hey this is Jenny with Millionaires for Muskrats and we’re throwing a gala. We’d like for you to provide about an hour of background music during the banquet. You’d be expected to donate your services of course.” Of course? Why of course? Is it so universal that musicians are considered to be all but orgasming over the possibility of an hour of unfunded labor that it is just assumed that requests for free services are taken for granted? I’ll have to try this at the local bar. “Hey I’m Rich with Donuts for Dachshunds, I’d like for you to provide me with a keg of Heineken’s finest. You’ll be expected to donate this item of course.” I doubt if I’d even have time to see the bouncer coming.</span></div>
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Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-75362335055803432942012-11-20T09:31:00.000-06:002013-03-15T10:17:25.459-05:00Are you people nuts?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone who doubts that the human race is collectively losing its mind has only to observe the juggernaut of absurdity known as black Friday. If any single event exemplifies the extent to which our national holidays have been corrupted by greed and a total abandonment of common sense it is this orgy of materialism. Even the media, which suckles at the teat of retail advertising, is becoming repulsed by the whole repugnant spectacle as this article on Marketwatch.com indicates. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-are-retailers-ruining-thanksgiving-2012-11-19?link=MW_latest_news">Retailers are ruining the holidays.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was bad enough when stores opened at 6:00 AM and eager sheep began lining up the previous evening but now retailers driven by ravenous mammonism cannot wait even 24 hours to revel in the squander mania of the crowds with pockets so fairly flaming with cash that they begin lining up days in advance. Retail employees are now required to forsake their homes and families during Thanksgiving Day in order to participate in the plundering. Rather than observing a day in which to give thanks for what we have already received, retail merchants trample tradition in the mud of avarice while demanding more, more, MORE.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And for what? It seems all too easy to decry a materialism where demonstrations of parental love seem to require vast expenditures to acquire extravagant playthings that will be unused and forgotten before the first month of the new year is out; where only the newest and most flamboyant entertainment delivery systems are suitable to display in our living rooms and where every living human being must be equipped with an electronic pacifier whereby they can keep in contact with other humans without actually having to deal with them face to face. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact is that the fruit of the frenzy for which people are willing to die (witness tramplings and similar tragedies of past events) is largely crap. Chinese and Japanese manufacturers turn out stripped down versions of products already burdened with built in obsolescence produced especially for this event so that people will willingly stampede to purchase an item on which they will “save” the cost of a Big Mac. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The psychology of black Friday is subtle and insidious. Once inside a temple of trash, mob mentality takes over and all thought of what is actually needed gives way to the desire to load the cart with anything perceived as a bargain. Additional incentive is the element of competition. Seemingly normal housewives will revert to feral behavior struggling over a bin of trinketry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I could go on – but to what end. Thanksgiving is morphing into a demonstration of what is the very worst about American capitalism. Black Friday. Indeed.</span></div>
<br />Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-79284335913341915162012-11-08T13:17:00.000-06:002012-11-08T15:36:08.576-06:00So long Mitt, don't let the door hit you on the way out.<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So our long national nightmare of the 2012 campaign season is over and the republicans have been handed yet another clue that the demographic they appeal to is shrinking and their fragmented party can’t seem to do anything about it. To the contrary they almost seemed to flaunt it in picking as their party’s nominee a man who not only could not shake the image of a rich arrogant white man but seemed to have no desire to. Maybe the fact that Romney’s religion teaches him that he will someday be an equal with God made him feel that it was his destiny to be President of the United States. Even while winning the first of the three debates his persona was one of a condescending know it all surprised that he even had to deal with his uppity opponent. His plans for a fireworks display over Boston Harbor and his failure to prepare two speeches for election eve as did Obama indicate that he believed that he could not lose. Only when the rest of the country already knew he had lost did he, after an hour and a half’s delay, finally deliver a hastily prepared concession speech which ironically was the most sincere and human of the entire campaign. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout the campaign Romney seemed to believe that no matter what he said publicly or privately he would prevail in the end. Caught in outrageous lies nearly daily he persisted in spewing enormous whoppers right to the end when even the head of Chrysler had to issue statements deploring his fantasies about sending the jeep unit to China. Behind closed doors he said things to supporters that he should have had second thoughts about even revealing to his closest aides. The 47% statement was beyond all comprehension for someone who had been in the political arena as long as Romney. His shameless pandering as he put on the spray tan for a Hispanic audience, affected a southern drawl for an audience of good old boys, and posed as an arch-conservative for two years only to repudiate it all and turn into a moderate in the final 30 days of the campaign underlined his belief that what he said and who he was had no bearing on his perceived coronation as leader of the corporate states of America.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Never since Richard Nixon had the republicans fielded such a dishonest slippery conman, but it seems that Americans have learned something since then. As the saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Even though half the electorate is below average intelligence there were enough in that half perceptive enough to see through the fakery. Mitt Romney could have easily done a walk on in a revival of Best Little Whorehouse in Texas singing “Sidestep” but without the humor of Charles Durning. It could have been his theme song.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now if we can just figure out a way to get elected legislators to do something that benefits the country instead of pouting over who is in the White House.</span></div>
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Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-2580711898079056842012-08-23T12:59:00.000-05:002012-08-31T14:20:10.218-05:00There are times...<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">when you just want to scream out of frustration. This election season is one of them. We've got Todd Akin in Missouri talking about "legitimate rape" and demonstrating abysmal ignorance of elementary human biology. We've got Mini-mitt Ryan and his dog torturing boss trying to set up a Republican platform that denies abortion to even victims of incest, rape (which they refer to as "forcible rape" - I guess as opposed to "fun rape") and mothers whose health is in danger. We've got congressman Steve King in Iowa who refuses to think about rape unless he has personal experience of it (maybe there's a big bear out there that could help us out with this) and refers to multicultural organizations on college campuses as being composed of people who "feel sorry for themselves". Airheads Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann are still making pronouncements that any number of slack jawed yokels are gleefully parroting and Rush Limbaugh has just announced that if Republicans want someone not to run for office, he can make sure that they don't (who’s really in charge??).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet evidently there are actually women, millions of them, that are going to dance off to the polls and vote for an administration that promises to push them back to an era sometime before World War II. There are millions of struggling middle class workers who cannot wait to cast their ballots for people who openly admit that they wish to increase their tax burden in order to lighten their own. There are many thousands of young people that are willing to support fetus protection but think it is perfectly alright if they and their friends be sacrificed as cannon fodder in future Iraqs and Afghanistans. And all of these people agree that it doesn't matter how long it took Bush and his billionaire banker buddies to create the current economic crisis, Barack Obama should have solved it all in four years even though opposed by a congress that refuses to do little more than pass their own pay raises.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Albert Einstein once said "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Al, once again you nailed it. I don't know if there is a word for government by the stupid, but I fear that we are about to find out how it works. Or maybe it's too late. Google "government by the stupid" and you get 220 million hits!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I take this very personally. At the beginning of the Bush administration I was looking forward in eight to ten years to retiring. Then came the destruction of my retirement accounts by the unregulated robber barons of the banking industry. So I am still working. Now at the end of Obama's first term I'm back where I was eight years ago. If things continue as they have I might have a chance to retire in a couple more years though at a significantly reduced standard of living than I anticipated BB (before Bush). If Romney is elected and succeeds in gutting Medicare, reducing Social security and letting the bankers run wild again I'm sure that I will have to die at my desk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no doubt in my mind that the Republicans are attempting to create a slave class that will support the one percent that controls the wealth in the United States. Let’s take a look at what creation of a slave class would involve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Create an educational system that turns out citizens incapable of critical thinking and who will follow orders and accept their lot to work at mind numbing jobs to produce wealth for their overlords. This has already been largely accomplished. Teachers now are required to do little more than practice crowd control while turning out students that can barely pass standardized tests.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Place the burden of economic support of the government squarely on the shoulders of the slave class and exempt the ruling class from same. In progress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Eliminate meaningful health care for the slave class while also eliminating birth control. This lets members of the slave class die off when they are no longer productive while ensuring continued production of future workers. An avowed goal of the Republican Party.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Create a police state where constant surveillance, suppression of free speech and control of mass transportation enhance feelings of helplessness in the slave class. Traveled by airline lately?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m not going to belabor this as it seems glaringly obvious. I remember in the 60s when a whole generation felt it was nearly in their grasp to make a brighter, friendlier future there was a radical group called the Weathermen. Though mistaken in their methods, their name came from the saying “You don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.” For those of us that are still able to and are still allowed to think the direction of the wind is all too clear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For one who saw the promise of the bright passionate youth of the 60s die, the thought that we may be on the verge of a totalitarian government supported by what would amount a modern reincarnation of feudalism makes me wonder what new horrors we may be exposed to before the transformation is complete.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(addendum)<br />
And now that the convention is over all I can say is - Seriously republicans? Seriously?</span></div>
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<br />Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-52131318034989133252012-07-27T09:11:00.000-05:002012-07-27T09:13:01.565-05:00Cell Phone Tyranny<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have consistently resisted the societal pressure to turn my entire telephone experience over to the not so tender mercies of the cell phone industry. My wife and I both have cheap pay as you go cell phones that we only use when we are either on the road or in case of emergency. The cost of both is around $18 a month and we have more minutes stored up than we will probably ever use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a many reasons for this stance. I do not wish to become assimilated and like the Borg have this device seemingly grafted to my head as I see so many of my fellow humans have. I do not want the temptation to be “that guy” that I hurl obscenities at while he endangers my life as well as his weaving back and forth in traffic while he tries to both drive and engage in inane conversation. I absolutely refuse to even contemplate engaging in “texting”, a pursuit which – if random samples I have seen are any indication – has been invented in order to give the mentally challenged some means, however primitive, of communication. I long for the days when phones were used for the purposes of communication and not as a pacifier substitute.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Currently phone jammers are illegal in the United States. In spite of that I am mightily tempted to order one from Europe. Jamming phones might be the only way to return some people to consciousness. How about the mindless twit shouting into her cell phone on the elevator? I’m so thankful that your friend’s cystoscopy went well; or the 400 pounder blocking the aisle at the supermarket while regaling others with instructions to the kids on how to clean up the dog poo; and the self important blow hard that absolutely has to “take this call” in the middle of a business meeting and lets his co-workers hear the details of his offspring’s stomach virus. Right now phone jammers simply cause phones to lose the current call and prevent outgoing connections. I’m waiting for a model that not only jams the call but emits an eardrum shattering shriek. I want to make these dolts think twice before returning the phone to their head. Any rogue techy who wants to cobble a jammer like this together in their basement will have me in line for delivery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just out of curiosity, what is it that makes people think that they have to shout to be heard on a cell phone? I can hear your end of the conversation from fifteen feet away. It reminds me of the movies where the rural phone of the thirties is shown, the mouthpiece jutting from a box on the wall and the earpiece on a cord held to the ear with a character hollering “Gertie! Can ya hear me Gertie?!” Presumably the user doesn’t entirely trust the technology and hopes that somehow the soundwaves they are emitting can make it to the listener’s ear on their own. I don’t think that the cell phone provider commercials with the guy saying “Can you hear me now?” have helped this situation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, the cell phone providers do it to you without either a dinner or a kiss. A friend has a cell phone from a well known national provider that rhymes with horizon. Stuffed with too much hot technology, the phone’s touch screen stopped working. Company rep says: a) this is a known issue, b) phone is over a year old so no warranty, c) contract only allows discounted phone purchase every 20 months – so you can either pay full price for a new phone or I’ll sell you a used one (very likely to develop the same problem). What’s wrong with this picture? You’re locked into a contract with these thieves, your phone develops a “known issue” (translation: we bought a bad batch of phones) and the company tells you your only recourse to have a usable phone for the remainder of your contract is to buy a new phone at full price or take your chances with a used one. And I thought extortion was illegal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cell phones – feh!</span></div>
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<br />Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-72858883866485940872012-07-19T09:22:00.000-05:002012-07-19T09:23:39.904-05:00The Down Side<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've posted in the past about the rewards of participating in amateur musical organizations. Today's post looks at the other side.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier this sping I found myself digging deep to find reasons to continue in my community orchestra. I really would like to find them because my wife almost literally lives for orchestra and I want to share things like this with her. We have had some really great moments as a result of both of us participating in the same organization and we have shared some disappointments as well. It has done our relationship good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frequently when someone is confronting a quandary people will advise them to make a list - or rather two lists, one of the pros and one of the cons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>First the pros:</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Performance can be very rewarding. Many of what could be called the "peak experiences" in my life have come during a variety of performances. Sitting next to a fabulous horn player during a performance of Alfred Reed's "The Hounds of Spring"; being in the midst of the huge volcano of sound that is Orff's "Carmina Burana"; being brought very near to tears during Elgar's "Enigma Variations"; having the rare privilege of participating in a dreamlike performance of the finale of Act I of "La Boheme"; conducting a community theater performance of "Gypsy" where the tiny amateur pit orchestra became more than the sum of its parts </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and rode its unexpected newfound standard for 2 hours; standing on stage after a solo performance with my instrument in my hand realizing I had just knocked it out of the park; all examples and there are more, but really surprisingly few considering 50 odd years of performances. These moments when you become more than yourself, become outside yourself, become part of the music do not occur often but they are heady indeed and reassure one that something about this is just "right".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Playing a wind instrument is good for you. It provides cardio and respiratory health benefits.It takes you away from routine and relieves stress. It is impossible to play well and concentrate on problems at work or home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As mentioned before, it is something to share with someone close to you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It can be a social activity and provides connections with others in the group - a sense of shared enterprise and camaraderie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Now the cons</strong>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is affecting my health. I have to fortify myself with strong antacids and IBS calming drugs before I go to rehearsal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is incredibly frustrating. Without getting into specifics, at the end of rehearsals I don't have relaxation that the feeling that something good has been accomplished would impart. Instead my blood pressure is up, my head aches, and I feel that much of my time has been wasted, that there is lack of respect for the sacrifices I make to belong to the group and that unreasonable expectations are constantly foisted on orchestra members.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I get so worked up by the inefficiencies of what I have just given 2 1/2 hours to (or 3 or 4 or 5 or whatever length of time I am expected to put up with in order to get to go home) that I cannot relax and I wind up venting my frustrations to my wife who I am sure is getting tired of hearing it not to mention it can't be healthy for her to be worried about my state when there is nothing she can do about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it is obvious that in order to continue the payoff has to be greater than the distress, but when performance quality is sacrificed to the perceived aggrandizement of the group, the payoff becomes sad and disappointing. Frankly I don't care how many people in Des Moines have heard of the orchestra yet will never attend a concert, I care about quality of performance - not quality of performance as judged by people that are attending to watch their kids perform or even as judged by the regular audience of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">music lovers - but quality of performance where I myself can walk away thinking "we did the best job we were capable of". It has been a while.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our season ended in early May. I was so soured on the experience I did not get the old bedpost out of his case until a quintet rehearsal late in June. This really saddens me as I have spent many enjoyable hours alone with the bassoon in my practice room. Currently I am returning to an earlier interest in classical guitar as a way to fulfill the need I seemingly have to express myself musically. The orchestra's programming for the next season is highly motivating, however, with several masterworks scheduled that I have yet to perform and one concert devoted solely to Richard Wagner. I'm hoping that another meeting with the quintet and determination to renew my relationship with the bassoon will help me put a more positive slant on the coming season. But if things don't improve dramatically in the realm of respect for the musicians and efficient use of rehearsal time it is likely to be my last.</span></div>
</div>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-31867366555057256062012-04-13T15:45:00.002-05:002012-07-27T09:19:56.054-05:00Lawn Mowers - Spawn of Satan<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was quite young, perhaps between 6 and 9 years old I was sometimes permitted(!) to mow my grandparents' yard using the only implement then available, the rotary push mower. For those who are too young to have first hand knowledge, these implements of destruction were heavy appliances equipped with a rotor on which were mounted from four to six blades which spun and mangled grass when enough forward propulsion was supplied by means of human muscle being applied to the wooden handle. Pushing one of these with enough force to both make it progress in a forward direction as well as spin the rotor took every bit of effort a young lad could muster. Frequently while straining over this contraption I wished for something better, something more modern. Sometimes we are cursed by getting what we wish for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My family's first power mower was a gold colored Lawn Boy which my father pushed home proudly from the dealer who lived only two blocks from our house. Glittering in the sun it promised adventures in lawn care hitherto undreamed of by boys previously indentured to creaking rotary antiques. Alas, it was not to be. Although that first day the shining new Lawn Boy started on the very first pull it was to be the last time for such compliance, thus foreshadowing a lifetime of combat to come. I made the trip to the dealer's garage many times over the next few years where he would disappear with the Lawn Boy into his shop. Usually after about 20 minutes of clanking and swearing I would hear the machine cough to life and be sent home to mow. Eventually it got to the point where he would bring the mower out to me still running and tell me that I should probably not shut it down if I wanted to get any mowing done that day. I became a familiar figure in the street trudging the two blocks to my house with the mower merrily roaring away. This led to many a taunt from passing cars of teenagers about how well I was keeping the grass down on the blacktop. In my youthful innocence I would think "someday I will have a mower of my own and it will be a good one." Ah, the foolish dreams of youth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now many many years later I have owned many many mowers. I have also owned and used many other gas powered tools - chain saws, weed whackers, snow blowers, stump grinders, sod cutters, and lawn aerators to name a few. Based on this record of experience my conclusion is that the lawn mower industry's goal is to screw the customer hard and long. Maintain your chainsaw properly and it will give you years of willing service. Follow the manufacturers advice and your snow blower will get you out of your driveway with great reliability. But no matter what you do, no matter how diligently you pamper and service your lawn mower, it will fail time and again and at the worst possible moment. And it does no good to insist that you get what you pay for as, over the years, I have come to such a white hot hatred of lawn mowers that money is no object if I could obtain one that was reliable. Starting with budget K-mart mowers and progressing over the years through Craftsman riders and pushers to the current state of the art Snapper, no matter what you pay, no matter what the sales literature insists, lawn mowers are designed to move heavy, unwieldy chunks of metal as quickly as possible from the dealer showroom to the city dump.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mower manufacturers are devishly clever in devising ways for mowers to fail. First it goes without saying that the day you bring the mower home will be the last time the mower starts as advertised. During the life of any mower arcane rituals requiring priming, pulling, cursing, and procedures from the sacred texts known as owners' manuals will be necessary to bring the machine to life. During my own long history I have had mowers defeat my efforts to start them in a variety of ways; starter rope breaking, starter recoil spring breaking, engine seizing, magneto failure, fuel line obstruction etc. Mowers that have any part of their mechanism driven by belts will slip the belts and/or tear the belt to shreds at least once annually and frequently more often. Self propelled mowers will throw belts, break c rings, jam, throw bearings or become clogged with debris. Any part of the mower that is expendable needing periodic replacement will be hidden behind shields and proprietary fasteners and will be so inaccessible that special tools and dental mirrors will be needed to effect a replacement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My latest demonic entity is a top of the line Snapper self propelled mower less than three years old bought at daunting expense. I thought that Snapper, having fended off the attempt by Wal-Mart to absorb it and being built in the United States, deserved my patronage after the latest Craftsman's starter mechanism failed like a cheesecloth pup tent. In the showroom I mentioned my doubts about lack of either primer button or choke. "New technology." said the satanic minion attending us "It will start on the first pull everytime." And once more I believed and broke out my checkbook. It did start on the first pull. Once. Taken back to the "we </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">service what we sell" folks they assured us there was nothing wrong with it and demonstrated starting on the first pull. Unbeknownst to me, it will start on the first pull once hot, but no power on earth will make it start when cold except yanking the rope at least a dozen times and then letting it sit for up to 20 minutes before trying again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the owner's manual I was warned that the oil must be changed after so many hours of use, so I attempted to change it. Of course the oil plug was concealed by the housing - but not to worry, the manual assured me that you could drain the oil through the filler spout by turning the mower upside down. Yes folks, I do possess a modicum of commmon sense, but there it was in the manual - turn it upside down and drain it through the filler spout. So I did. Huge mistake! Knowing what I know about the useful lifetime of a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mower I would have been better off just to run it until the congealed, gritty old oil ruined the engine. After this fiasco it took two days of effort and supplication before it deigned to start again. Then, as soon as it started spewing huge clouds of oil smoke it broke a retaining clip on the self propelling mechanism and pushing it became a task for the World's Strongest Man competition. It's going to the shop tomorrow. Do I have high hopes? HA! </span></div>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-53654079203547128642012-04-11T09:16:00.000-05:002012-04-11T09:17:37.025-05:00Playing for Nothing<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I majored in music education in college. I picked music because there was little I enjoyed more than making music (with my friends - thanks Willie). During my final two years while I was playing piano, bass, sax, clarinet, bassoon and trombone at every opportunity and conducting every group I could that I was not actually playing in, my clarinet teacher gave me a piece of advice that I have come to recall many times in the years since. "Never play for nothing", he cautioned me, "people will think that's what you are worth."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been on both sides of the pro/amateur musician profile and in previous entries in this blog I've gone to some lengths to explain the rewards of bringing live orchestral music to those who otherwise could never afford to attend and providing full pit orchestras in venues that could never afford the pros. Evidently full pit orchestras will soon go the way of the dodo everywhere as even shows appearing on Broadway are making every effort to replace musicians with digital synthesizers while musicians' unions make futile efforts to preserve these jobs. So even as amateur musicians are working to provide and preserve music performance that is either rapidly vanishing or becoming prohibitively expensive, organizations and individuals who recruit amateur groups to enhance their productions are doing their very best to demoralize and discourage the very people they depend on to complete their audience's experience.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our local ballet company has been trumpeting their pride in that our city finally has a year round professional ballet. Be that as it may, for a live orchestra this professional company still turns to the amateurs and it is easy to see why. For a recent engagement there were three rehearsals and two performances. The going terms of the musician's union local would be $90.00 per person per 2 1/2 hour service. $90.00 X 40 musicians X 5 services is $18,000.00, a sum that would leave this company, like many throughout the country, using recorded music were it not for volunteer musicians.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Faced with these facts you would expect volunteer musicians to be treated with respect and gratitude. Nothing could be further from the fact. Instead they are treated like galley slaves. Four to five hour rehearsals with no breaks are the norm. With no constraints on time or costs, rehearsals are disorganized and the musicians sometimes wait idle up to forty minutes while problems are worked out that could have easily been addressed in technical rehearsals requiring no live music. Promises as to rehearsal length are made and quickly broken. Offers of buffet lunches in return for early rehearsal times for people who all have day jobs are made and not realized. Musicians arrive and leave for each rehearsal and performance without a single word of appreciation from either those in charge of, or participating in, the production. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lest I be accused of picking on this particular organization, this has been the norm in various summer theater productions as well. It has brought home the perception that one of the reasons that musicians' unions exist beyond the obvious remuneration consideration is that union contracts force those in charge of productions such as this to realize that a musician's time has value and is to be wasted at financial peril. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My own perception is that money alone is not entirely a substitute for respect and gratitude, but it helps. People that wish to treat others like indentured servants should expect to pay for the privilege. If you can't afford to pay, then consider doing without if you can't extend common courtesy to those you wish to exploit.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My teacher was right. In spite of our huge contribution to these local performances, somehow because we play for nothing, far too many people think this is what we are worth. Personally I have been burnt too many times and am getting to old to expect things to ever change. I'm going to have to rethink the cost/reward equation of doing these things in the future.</span></div>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-71504569239090645662012-02-16T14:12:00.001-06:002012-02-16T14:13:37.504-06:00Guide to Musicians in the Wild<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone who has ever participated in an amateur band or orchestra becomes familiar with a similar roster of musicians. Stereotypical these descriptions may be, but stereotypes would not exist without a plethora of real life examples. The following is a list of the musicians you will be likely to find in your community band or orchestra.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Casey Concertmaster:</strong> First chair violinist in the orchestra or first chair clarinet in the band, this personage elevates the concept of big frog in a small pond to a near art form. Always eager to demonstrate their superiority to the rank and file as well as insinuating not so subtly that the conductor can't possibly appreciate the difficulties of their instrument, they are always bouncing out of their chair to correct tuning, demonstrate bowing, question the judgment of first chair players in other sections and in general produce a constant undercurrent of irritation in their peers.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Tracey Tenthumbs (percussionist):</strong> These people began dropping equipment in elementary school and have been honing their clumsiness ever since. They stand surrounded by an array of implements of cacophony that they cannot resist fumbling with even when their current task is simply to do nothing and do it silently. As they grow older and more skilled their intrusions into the softest most delicate passages of music grow from simple stick dropping in their tender years to the upsetting of trap tables, falling into bell trees, drop kicking cymbals and flinging wood blocks onto timpani heads as they mature. There is no end to their creativity and they can be counted on to introduce some new mood crushing burst of noise at the most inopportune musical moments.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Auntie Authority:</strong> Usually a geriatric member of the string section, considers longevity to be the equivalent of wisdom and wastes no time letting everyone in the orchestra know that she is in general disagreement with everyone else including the conductor and concertmaster. Often echoes conductorial instructions as if in disbelief: Conductor "This section is in three." AA (incredulous): "It's in three?"</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Lynn Lookatme:</strong> Often a dual role with <strong>Auntie Authority</strong>, Lynn Lookatme loses no opportunity to hold up the rehearsal with trivial questions to the conductor on issues that have long since been resolved. Many of these questions are held in reserve until the dress rehearsal. If the opportunity seems right, Lynn stands to ask these questions so no one will be in doubt as to who is so diligent. Other attention grabbing devices include standing and looking around aimlessly, turning around in the chair to demonstrate one of her favorite technical quirks (for a string playing Lynn an unneeded bowing demonstration is always good for an interruption) or asking a question immediately after it has already been answered.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Tommy Trombone:</strong> Tommy has neither any ability to count nor even a particle of relative pitch sense. At rehearsals he will reliably either come in early or fail to come in at all. When Tommy does make an entrance the notes emanating from his instrument are likely to be aleatoric (musician-speak = random). In spite of being the frequent target of correction by the conductor, Tommy remains unfailingly cheerful.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Vick Volume:</strong> Always a brass player and most often a trumpeter, no matter how early Vick arrives for rehearsal he will warm up without letup until the rehearsal starts and always at a fortissimo level. Vick seldom occurs alone and is often in the company of <strong>Lee Leatherlip</strong> who has the same warm up habits. The faulty intonation of some woodwind players is often due to hearing damaged by sitting in front of these two.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Owen OCD:</strong> Will invariably be an oboist. Anyone who can deal with the dreaded oboe reed has to be OCD.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Ashley Airhead:</strong> Always friendly, agreeable and technically highly skilled Ashley drifts into other planes of existence during rests and is constantly surprised upon missing entrances. Frequently found in flute sections.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Lesley Latecomer:</strong> (may be related to <strong>Lynn Lookatme</strong>) Lesley cannot make it to rehearsal on time. Has no conflicting appointments or emergencies. Just cannot get their ducks in a row because a total lack of organization. Has absolutely no shame or consideration for others. Week after week arrives after rehearsal has begun and then proceeds to step on feet, knock over stands, kick instruments and bang their instrument on other's heads on the way to their chair.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Darby the Delusional Diva:</strong> Under the impression that they are so skilled that they do not need to show up for rehearsal they attend 20% or less of rehearsals ensuring that at some time during the performance they will make an gaffe obvious to everyone in the audience. This does nothing to change their high opinion of themselves. Darby thrives in an atmosphere of permissive conductors and gutless boards of directors.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This brief menagerie is made up of the ones that come quickly to mind. Anyone have any favorites to add?</span></div>
<br /></div>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-38938083428012115172012-01-09T14:23:00.000-06:002012-01-09T14:23:02.048-06:00Is God a Republican?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A nonsensical question certainly. But the present primary season here in the US certainly has many trying to persuade us that if God is not a Republican, since He can't vote He wants all of us who are not abject sinners to place a Republican in the White House. (For the rest of this rant, let's try to forget that one of the messages of the Bible is that we are ALL abject sinners whether we hail from Texas or not.)</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The message currently employed by the evangelical right is that any of us deluded enough to vote for the other party have called the wrath of the almighty upon this country and unless we return to the Lord as defined by the eventual party nominee (which of course is presumed to be the message bearer) and elect that nominee as our president so that under his leadership laws can be passed to ensure that every United States citizen adheres strictly to the Biblical interpretation peculiar to his denomination or sect, our country is going to perish in hellfire (or at least a series of tsunamies or hurricanes both of which have lately been ascribed to the picque of a God with His nose out of joint). </span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it speaks volumes about the desperation of the republican party that "I should be president because God approves of me." has become a viable campaign strategy. With a total dearth of new ideas on how to relieve the country of its current economic woes while still financing the killing of muslims and other innocent bystanders the republican hopefuls have nothing better to offer than "I know God better than you do."</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, unfortunately, people who have more fear than intelligence are buying this steaming load. What the evangelicals' darlings are espousing is the gradual institution of a theocracy. They really hate to have to dance around it, but for those who still remember a document called the Constitution that pesky establishment clause keeps them from outright proclamation of the Southern Baptist candidate. Let's bear in mind that soon after the establishment of a theocracy comes the purging of heretics.</span><br />
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<div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course the critical observer has to laugh at the self induced paths of hypocrisy this produces. We have a Mormon candidate proclaiming that his being a Mormon won't in the least influence his decisions and policies. In my opinion that brands him as not much of a Mormon at all. If you really have faith you should definitely let that faith guide your hand in leadership. Which means that the stance of the gentleman from Texas who basically openly says "Every American should be forced to adhere to Bible teachings as I understand them" is the more honest of the two (dare I say "God help us."?). Then we have the spectacle of at least two of the candidates admitting that they used to be wrong (<em>mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa</em>!) but have seen the light and now can be trusted implicity in spite of: 1) now saying that they stand for things they loudly denounced in the past or, 2) claiming that in spite of being unethical servants, adulterous mates and unfeeling ogres they are now really good guys. </span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How gullible are we?</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Judging from early results here in the land of sheep, pretty gullible.</span></div><br />
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</div>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-73013645313684633002011-12-08T13:42:00.003-06:002011-12-13T13:58:06.360-06:00Some Holiday Cheer<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Last Sunday I participated in a holiday tradition I first experienced over forty-nine years ago. That makes me a youngster in the history of this tradition which began two hundred and seventy years ago in Dublin Ireland. That tradition was a performance of George Frederic Handel's oratorio "Messiah". This masterpiece has never fallen entirely out of favor since its beginnings and has survived grotesque though well meaning "editing/arranging" as well as monster concerts with numbers of performers undreamed of (and probably rightly scorned) by Handel.<br /><br />Evidently it was sometime in the late 1960s or early 70s when the phenomenon of "scratch" or "sing it yourself" Messiahs began to spring up in the United States. These events feature a core group (the orchestra and soloists) prepared in advance to which the audience itself adds the chorus parts. I began singing in these 25 years ago and for the last twelve have played in the orchestra for one that has a history of over 26 years in the same city.<br /><br />Evidently you don't have to be Christian (or really a very good musician!) to participate in these as I have seen people happily singing their hearts out that never darken a church doorway the rest of the year. And as our conductor reminded the audience this year, such an event now joins a community of hundreds of these events involving thousands of people around the world.<br /><br />What seems remarkable is that in this era of mass commercialization of the holiday season along with its frustrations and abuses, the spirit of good will, brotherhood, hope, and joy springs forth in these performances. As I sit in the orchestra and look out into the audience/chorus as they listen to the soloists I see the years drop from their faces and they look as they might have looked decades ago in the anticipation of Christmas morning. When they stand and sing the joy in their eyes is unmistakable. How does it happen? I'm sure that the genius of the music has something to do with it. During the three hours the venue where this takes place becomes a haven where you can forget the craziness of black Friday shopping, the resentments and disappointments of holidays past, the sorrow and strife that pervades the world. For this brief period those of us involved have our Scrooge personas drop away and somehow magically know what the words "spirit of Christmas" can sometimes conjure up.<br /><br />So once every December I am reminded that things are not all that bad, that there are probably more good people than evil in the world and that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."<br /><br />Hallelujah!</span></div>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5645786852742295096.post-71521426027931781762011-12-05T10:02:00.003-06:002012-02-16T14:26:09.432-06:00Housing Market Follies<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: arial;">I'm sure that there is no one left in the United States that doesn't know that the housing market is in the crapper and circling the drain. There is no doubt whatsoever that the largest part of this situation was created by greedy, near criminal, irresponsible banking institutions and other financial corporations trading obscure derivatives on wall street like bubble gum cards with about as much real worth.<br /><br />However, there is another smaller yet integral part of the puzzle that makes it nearly impossible to sell a house even if you have an willing buyer. That part is eagerly supplied by incompetent realtors, title companies, bankers (there they are again - what a coincidence) and small time swindlers. This will be a tale of a hypothetical situation (hypothetical to avoid any implied information about actual people who might be involved in such an actual collosal FUBAR).<br /><br />The story begins when the matriach and patriach of Midwesthappyfamily passed away. Midwesthappyfamily then embarked on a series of marathon weekends where members of the family visited from several remote locations to clean out the house and prepare it for the auction of its contents in preparation for the sale of the house itself. Now imagine how easy these transactions would be if the following desired events were to occur.<br /><br />1) Auctioneer takes charge of auction preparations per instructions from family, house contents are sold and house is ready for sale.<br />2) Realtor lists house and performs duties regarding communications of offers, counter offers, needed documents, etc.<br />3) Offer accepted<br />4) Bank sets up appraisal- appraisal is made.<br />5) Decision to make loan is made. If decision is no, return to #2.<br />6) Loan is okayed - closing date is set.<br />7) Title company performs title search.<br />8) All documents finalized.<br />9) House ownership changes hands at closing.<br />10) Buyer and seller go away happy.<br /><br />Now let's examine how in our hypothetical case things go wrong.<br /><br />1) Instead of auctioneering all items auctioneer forgets who he is working for and cherry picks what he wants to auction. The rest he leaves in the house after thoroughly trashing it. He also disables water to the house after breaking the water line when removing the refrigerator. All members of the family are authorized to remove any articles from auction prior to sale date. Auctioneer tries to deny granddaughter access to items previously designated for her. After auction takes place family is left with a massive clean up job and disposal problem with items auctioneer couldn't be bothered with. Proceeds from auction disappear mopping up unethical auctioneer's leavings.<br />2) Realtor does list house. Tells family she has cash offer. Family accepts cash offer for house "as is". Oops! Realtor now says it is not a cash offer but there should be no problem with the loan. Closing date set.<br />3)Bank appraiser doesn't show up on time, closing date postponed. Weeks go by.<br />7)Title company can't get title search done on time, closing date postponed again.<br /><br />Now buyer who has not had "as is" explained by realtor wants mold inspection and more cleaning done. Family declines. Realtor completely clueless and gives family false and conflicting information during this period. Finally family demands a firm closing date and buyer claims this is "too much pressure" and backs out.<br />So it's back to step 2.<br /><br />To skip all the feverish phone calls and urgent emails from family to the realtor with the realtor whining that "I've never had trouble like this before" let's move ahead to the offer which finally culminated in a sale. Once this offer has been accepted, the house appraised and the loan approved a closing date is set and the realtor tells family "we have all the documents we need, everything is all set".<br /><br />By now the family realizes that this statement means that there are going to be problems ahead and sure enough one week before closing each member of the family receives a packet of forms from the title company by email with an instruction list on which members need to sign which documents and which ones need to be notarized. The instructions are so incomprehensible that the family requests revised instructions that can be understood by normal human beings. A new set of instructions arrives the next day with instructions that totally contradict the first set. Requests for better instructions result in being told to call the office so "we can walk you through it." This produces an explosion from the family threatening to withhold commission from the realtor for non-performance. Finally this produces crystal clear instructions and the forms are returned from locations scattered all over the continent barely in time for closing.<br /><br />Finally after three months of blunders, false starts and stupidity the sale closes.<br /><br />The point of this rather lengthy tale is to ask - Why does it have to be this difficult? Of course corollaries to this question include "Why can't people just do what they get paid for?" and "Why is it so hard to keep incompetent people out of critical positions?" In this case our hypothetical family had a realtor that had to be told what to do and what was expected at every step in the process and who gave false information on numerous occasions, an auctioneer that was a borderline confidence man, appraisers that couldn't manage their work load, one title company that couldn't meet a deadline and one title company that had at least one employee that couldn't write comprehensible English. These aren't volunteers, these are people who get paid to do what they so egregiously fail to do in a satisfactory manner.<br /><br />The American economy is going down for the third time, and these are the people and thousands like them standing firmly in the way of recovery. Lets let incompetents do hard manual labor and get some intelligence into the places that make capitalism actually work shall we? </span></div>Rantmaster Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07552203377701621507noreply@blogger.com0