A very unusual thing happened just past midnight this morning. NY State passed a budget a day ahead of the April 1^st “deadline.” This is the first time that’s happened since 2005, and only the second time since 1984. Of course, it screws a lot of folks over (like kids and sick people), but – read my lips – no new taxes, and not even any old taxes (at least for rich people). This should make Governor Snotball even more of a legend in his own mind than he is now. Well, I have to give him credit as he really rammed this thing through, and everybody was terrified of opposing him (in stark contrast to Governor Blinky, who I think everybody found petulant and laughable). So good for him. But he’s no Mario.

Yesterday was a really nice day – warm (by our standards) and sunny. Until I got out of work. Then it was cloudy – but still warm. Our garage is now empty (well, hardly empty, but the stuff from the POD has been moved out), and the areas of the house that we don’t really use anyway are now full of crap (which is OK, ‘cuz it keeps the echoes down, and should help it stay warmer). Of course, the other house still has plenty of crap, too, so we’re not where we need to be just yet. But we’re getting there.

Today it’s kind of snowy and rainy. Mostly snowy. AKA, “spring.” In preparation for the snow finally being all gone (plenty of it still on the ground where the sun doesn’t yet get high enough to clear the trees), I got a new belt for my mower deck, and am eagerly awaiting the delivery (or at least the shipment; what’s the deal here guys?) of my bucket forks.

I also need to start thinking about getting a few yards of topsoil (gotta find the number for my dirt guy). And some stone, too, though that’s gonna be a while. Nice as it is to see some hope that winter will end one day, everything looks pretty brown and ugly at this point. Especially where I’ve got things torn up from plowing (I really need to figure out where the driveway ends, I guess). And the driveway has some pretty big cracks that need to get filled in. And then there’s….

Well, there’s a lot.

But first, I guess I have to go and do something to pay for it all (assuming Gov. Snotty hasn’t removed my salary from the State budget).

As you get older, you find yourself doing things you never thought you’d do. Or, more accurately, doing things you never gave a thought about one way or another. For instance, a while back, I bought a WaterPik. It’s just a lot easier to use that to blast the crud out from between my teeth than it is to floss (especially since I also use these little Christmas tree brushes to brush between teeth – speaking of things I not only never thought about, but never heard of).

Anyhow, I never gave it much thought, but it turns out that, unless you’d like to get very wet, the process of using the thing involves filling the reservoir with warm water (my teeth have become so sensitive that anything varying more than about three degrees above or below body temperature hurts like hell) and a shot of Listerine (speaking of things I never gave a thought about, I never knew where the name for that came from until I saw a movie quite a few years ago about a Scottish surgeon named Joseph Lister who apparently decided that if Carbolic Acid was good enough for sewage, it was good enough for his patients, thereby ushering in the age of modern surgery and the antiseptic method. I assume he became a physician because Dr. Lister sounded a lot less ridiculous than Mr. Lister. But anyways…), and then bending over the sink to let the water drain out of your mouth.

I never really pictured myself bent over in the bathroom with a pulsating tool squirting warm liquid into my mouth. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course – just never thought it would be how I’d start and end my day. Then again, I thought I’d be dead by now, so what do I know?

Not that I hadn’t spend some quality time hunkered down over porcelain in the bathroom back in the day, don’t get me wrong. It just typically involved inspecting the underside of the toilet rim. All-in-all, I have to say I much prefer the WaterPik.

Speaking of teeth, mine hurt. I’m starting to understand why George Washington always looks like such a miserable son-of-a-bitch in all those portraits you see of him. The big problem is my temporary crowns (in particular, the latest one). Any food or liquid of any temperature that gets near that bottom one sets off severe stabbing pain. Good thing these are both on one side, I guess, but I’ve come to find myself eating with my head tilted as far to the left as I can get it, in hopes of preventing anything sneaking over that way. I only hope I can make it another eight days ’til I get the permanent ones glued on. That’ll probably hurt, too.

I need drugs.

Speaking of bad teeth, today is Eric Clapton’s 66^thbirthday. Seems like he ought to be older than that, doesn’t it?

When I got home yesterday, I found a letter from President Obama. I’m not even sure how he found me. I mean, I didn’t send him my forwarding address or anything (but then, I guess he has his ways). His note to me said that, when he took office, he promised to keep the lines of communications open, and to prove it he had his hand out for money. Sorry, but I don’t have any money for you Mr. President. This whole line of communication thing seems to be one-sided. I say, “do what you said (or at least implied) you’d do when you were campaigning,” and you say, “fuck you, librul. Whattya gonna do, vote for Romney?” And then you drink Bud Lite. That’s no way to get me to open my wallet.

Speaking of the President, not that I watched him last night, but I guess he declared that “we have stopped Qaddafi’s deadly advance.” Sounds like Qaddafi made a pass at us or something. I’m really not in favor of all this, to be honest (not that I particularly approve of Libya oppressing and killing its own people, but unless you’re prepared to go after everybody – including your “allies” and the State of Wisconsin, which desperately needs regime change – I think you ought to stay out of shit like this), but at least he so far appears to be doing it in what I would consider to be a “smart” way – by getting cover from the UN, approval (for now) from the Arab League and other stakeholders in the region, and letting some other countries pay for some of this.

And while I’m not surprised by the Republican hypocrisy, I have to admit I’m kind of stunned at the depth and breadth of it – and the way they’re able to say the opposite today of what they said yesterday without missing a beat, and by and large get away with it by the media, lest they – the media, that is – be called “liberal.”

At this point, the only person who has the right to bitch about this is Dennis Kucinich. He called bullshit on Bush, and he’s calling bullshit on Obama. Agree with him or not, at least he’s consistent.

You’ve probably heard that the Supreme Court is taking up a class action gender discrimination lawsuit brought by women (lots and lots of women) against WalMart. Specifically, whether that suit can continue (as lower courts have ruled). Wally World’s argument seems to be that too many women are involved (so if you discriminate on a huge scale, you should be able to do as you please, I guess).

I think the suit is doomed, personally. I mean, first off, it could cost WalMart money, and that would be bad for business (for them, specifically, for businesses in general, as it would set a bad precedent, and of course for consumers, as this would cause higher prices). Second, it would be bad for women who want to work for WalMart. If WalMart has to pay them as much as they do men, then why would they hire women?

Like, duh.

And, anyhow, this is no place for the courts. The all-knowing, all-seeing, never-wrong Market will take care of everything. Companies that hire and pay fair wages to all employees regardless of race, creed, or gender will either be more profitable, or they won’t. Or something. I dunno – ask Rand Paul, he’ll explain it to you.

So, it’s still colder than hell out. Unlike Denver, there’s no spring in sight for us (and, by the way, spring is not 75° – that’s summer. Spring is 45°, and we would like some, please). Yesterday was at least sunny, and the sun and the wind combined to make some snow disappear. That’s a lot better than pouring rain, and, as of last night, my sump pump was down to 13:39 between pump downs. So, from 12 times an hour to less than 4.5.

That reminds me, I’d better go and do my morning building rounds, and make sure everything is still functioning properly.

Not surprisingly, that was a pretty quick weekend. And I didn’t win the $319 million mega millions (best I could have done was split it anyway, so I guess I’m glad I didn’t buy a ticket – who wants to share?). So, back to work I go. On the bright side, I was working in and around the garage quite a bit yesterday, and, despite the fact that it was colder than hell yesterday (nice looking day – sunny and all – but cold), and didn’t hear the boiler come on once. Normally I’d have heard it come on at least a few times just to heat the domestic hot water tank, so that investment was hopefully worthwhile. Now I have a storage tank that I can hopefully incorporate into a solar heating system. It’s a bit small, but if I can even use it to preheat, it’ll help.

I also got the new generator going. Didn’t do more than add gas and oil and let it run for a while, but at least I can run my sump pumps off extension cords if I need to. The next step is to figure out the spaghetti of the existing transfer switch. My panel is a mess and tangle of wires. There’s a subpanel that appears to not do much of anything, and a tangle of wires hooked up to the transfer switch that do not all appear to be in use and may not even be wired properly.

In other exciting news, while I really hate to jinx it, it appears that the latest Mac update has fixed this trackpad issue. Not that Apple would admit that something in the last update screwed it up in the first place, but that’s alright. I’m not even really sure that was it, because it was still AFU briefly after the reboot. But things have been OK for a couple of days. Still don’t have the guts to re-enable dragging, but I guess I can live w/o it.

Now if they’d just fix whatever it is that keeps making the WiFi drop out randomly.

Another cold, windy day today (it never got above freezing this weekend – normal high is 48 – it’s in the teens right now, and it’s not supposed to get much above freezing – maybe 34, if we’re “lucky” – today). Right now, they’re saying things will warm up next weekend. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Yesterday was really, really really f*cking cold. And windy. Also cold. Despite this, much was accomplished thanks to help from my buddy John (who thinks I’ll pay him back by helping him out at some point in the future. Sucker). So now we have a new water heater installed (and nobody drowned nor was electrocuted), an empty POD in the driveway (but a kinda full garage), a generator with wheels and handles (with an empty gas tank and crankcase – gotta get some oil and gas), and last night I slept in an actual bed for the first time in about five months. And yesterday was Leonard Nimoy’s 80^th birthday (it’s nice to see that’s he’s living long and prospering – even though he looks a little bit too much like Steve Jobs, though of course Jobs is, like, a 56 year old man that looks like an 80-yr old, while Nimoy is a guy that look pretty darn good for an 80 year old man). Plus I think I’ve finally figured out what to do with all my old typewriters. I can hardly wait to see what today will bring.

The parade of shit keeps on marching. The latest turd rolling in in the form of my latest utility bill – to the tune of $500 (or more than twice last month’s, which I thought was way too high, given that we keep the temperature in this place about two degrees above a morgue cooler). The big culprit – I’m guessing – is that the domestic water heater (why is it I have to struggle to refrain from saying “hot water heater?”) is heated by the the freakin’ heating hot water boiler (technically, a hot water generator since it doesn’t make steam). This is something I’d planned on addressing anyway (my plan was to build a solar water heater this summer, using some of the cash that keeps falling out of my ass). I really didn’t want to have to run the heat when it gets to be 90 out, just so I can take a shower.

This new bill, however, has forced me to act more quickly than I’d anticipated. My first choice would be a whole house tankless gas heater. In fact, I was planning on getting one back when I could get a 30% tax credit. Unfortunately, due to the configuration of the house, running the gas line where I need it would have been more hassle than it was worth. Next choice would be an electric one. But, holy crap, you need, like, a 120 amp circuit for that, and my panel just doesn’t have the room. I do, however, have a 220V well pump I’m not using, which means I can use that for a conventional water heater.

So, I bought one of those yesterday (fun fact: a 40 gallon one is $50 cheaper than a 30 gallon one), along with a setback timer for it. I figure the payback on this will be just a few months. I hope. But at least I won’t need to run the heat this summer. Speaking of which, time to set everything down to two degrees below a morgue cooler.

Anyhow, today is water heater installation day. And POD unloading day. And generator setup day. And then maybe plywood fetching so I can build a platform bed and some wall cabinets for my office. But then maybe I’ll save that for tomorrow.

Oh well, time for another shot of coffee, and then I have to get to work.

Much to my surprise, they actually delivered a generator instead of a BowFlex machine yesterday. I don’t know where the dude that called to set up the delivery got the idea it was a weight machine as it was pretty clear from the box – even if you were looking at the Spanish side (I mean, it had a picture, and even if you don’t speak Spanish, “Generador Eléctrico” isn’t too hard to figure out). And the best part is, it came on a pallet. You can never have too many pallets. It was a doubly big day yesterday, as the storage POD was delivered from the old house. Now we just need to empty it, and phase 2 of 4 will be complete. Perhaps it could refrain from snowing for a while now? Or would that be too much to ask?

Much as the snow was a bit depressing, as I was out plowing the driveway yesterday morning I couldn’t help but be awed. The moon was high and bright in the sky, with enough of a hint of twilight to tinge the sky a deep purple. Fog was rising up from the ground all around the deer who were grazing in the cornfield, and who scarcely give me a look now (I guess they realize I’m cool, and don’t want to shoot them or take any of their magic dust). A very nice way to start the day.

That was about all that was nice, though (well, that and not getting a BowFlex, though Granny is probably bummed that she’s stuck with middle-aged – assuming I live to 100; more like three-quarter aged – me, and not some young, shiny, oiled-up, steroid ingesting dude devoid of all body hair; certainly much more useful than me when it comes to unloading the POD).

Yesterday sucked, things turned to shit at work, and everybody seems to come looking at me to “fix it.” Remind to me to buy a Mega Millions ticket today – the jackpot is up over $300 million, last I heard, and while that might not solve all my problems, it would certainly allow me to trade a lot of them in for new ones.

The three-day training was terrible. A complete waste of time and money (and I’m not usually one to complain about that, as long as it’s work time and somebody else is paying).

Plus, my teeth – in particular my temporary crown – are killing me. Anything involving liquid that isn’t within about two degrees of body temperature hurts like hell. This really sucks.

A little more snow today, I guess. And tomorrow. Temperatures down into the teens at night, and not out of the thirties during the day for the next week or so (not even up to 30 today). This is when things get hard around here. Cold and crappy and snowy in January or February? No problem. Bring it on.

But now SU is out of the NCAAs way too early, we’ve had a few nice weather days, and a young (OK, old) man’s fancy turns to thoughts of lacrosse (hey, we’re #1, in case I hadn’t mentioned it lately), sunshine and temperatures above 40 on a consistent basis. Then reality sets in and you’re freezing your ass off plowing the driveway for the 12,247,853rd time this year, with no real alternative but to sit back and wait for better days ahead (or go to Florida, but I never really cared for it down there and am lucky I can afford gas to commute to work, never mind deal the hassle of traveling someplace for “fun”).

Oh well, at least it’s Friday, and no matter how shitty today turns out to be, sooner or later this shitty week will finally be over.

Gettin’ late – damn near 4:30. Guess I better get going.

It’s a regular winter wonderland out there, which would be great if it wasn’t supposed to be spring. As it it, it’s a bit on the depressing side. Syracuse got about 3.5″, but out here in God’s country, we seem to have gotten at least twice that, and maybe more. Hard to tell until I get out there and plow the driveway, which I thought I was done with this season (OK, I knew I wasn’t done, but even a grumpy old pessimist like me can hope). The snow’s done, but it’s cold. And expected to remain cold for, well, for the rest of the week. This blows.

On the bright side, my new generator is supposed to be delivered today. Except, I have a feeling it’s going to be screwed up. For one thing, the shipping weight is listed as 429 pounds, but this thing really ought to weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 200. Curious. Then the shipper dude called to set up the delivery yesterday, and said, “I think it’s a weight machine or something,” and I said, “nope, it’s a generator.” Didn’t really give it much of a thought until I was looking for an owner’s manual online.

This think is a “Power Pro” branded generator (made by WEN, I believe). While searching for a manual, what turned up but the BowFlex Power Pro. Oh boy. Is this just a coincidence? Somehow, I doubt it. I mean, what are the odds that a box with a generator in it would be mistaken for a “weight machine?”

Not that I wouldn’t just love to have a sculpted body like the gay guys in the BowFlex commercials, but if I’m gonna have something sitting around unused and collecting dust in my garage, I’d just as soon it was something that had the potential to run my sump pumps in an emergency (not to mention something I can throw on the back of my tractor along with a miter saw and compressor and head out into the woods to build shit).

And now these things are showing as “out of stock” on Amazon, but whether that means the generators are out of stock or the BowFlex is,I don’t know. In fact, I don’t see where Amazon even sells a BowFlex Power Pro that weighs 400+ pounds.

However, it’s been a shitty week, so I expect this to yet another piece-o-shit thrown my way.

Granny will be here awaiting delivery, and has instructions to not let it off the truck unless it’s a generator.

Oh well, I think I’ll try and squeeze in one more cup of joe before I saddle up and plow the freakin’ driveway. Gotta make sure they can get the BowFlex truck in.

It’s springtime in Central New York, and that can only mean one thing – snow. It’s supposed to start snowing within the next hour or two, and continue on until tomorrow or something. Depending on where you’re at and how the wind blows, it could be anywhere from two inches to a foot. Oh boy. I guess I won’t be putting the mower deck on the tractor just yet.

Did you know that yesterday Amazon launched an “Appstore” for Android apps? Well, guess who doesn’t like that? If you guessed “Apple” you’d be correct. Yes, Apple is suing Amazon, saying that, nuh-uh, they should have exclusive use of that word because users might confuse a place to get Android applications with a place to get Apple iWhatever applications. This tells me that Apple thinks its users are idiots, because Android apps won’t run on non-Android devices.

No doubt they’ll be going after the RIM “App World” for BlackBerry.

And of course Apple wants to charge Amazon 30% for any Kindle books that are sold via the Amazon iWhatever application.

You know, I’m sorry, but I think Apple kinda sucks.

Otherwise, one of the most unbearable training classes I’ve ever had the privilege of attending (which I was quite looking forward to) comes to an end today. It’s been made worse because I’ve been stuck with covering the support duties this week, and there have been a boatload of problems. I’m actually looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow. OK, not really. But at least it’ll be one day closer to Friday.

For now, though, I need more coffee.

So, in new entry into the “books I’ll never read” category, Sammy Hagar says he was abducted by aliens. I’m surprised by this, because, if anything, I’d have thought that the aliens dumped him off here to get rid of him.

Before I get corrected, The National Journal says those Tomahawk missiles we tossed at Libya go for $1 to $1.5 million each, as opposed to the $569,000 I quoted yesterday from the Navy (but that was in 1999 FY dollars; boy, how ’bout that inflation, eh?). So “Phase I” is apparently going to cost between $400 and $800 million, and then another $30-$100 million a week thereafter. In other words, in the first few days, we’ve spent enough to pay for the CPB and Planned Parenthood for a year, and have enough left over to, oh, I dunno, pay for death panels or something. This, of course, is worth it, because that Libyan guy is a very bad man.

Watch out, Yemen, we’re coming for you next. Oh, wait, I forgot. We’re pals with Yemen. I think. It’s so hard to keep track, and, really, I’m on the downhill side of things at this point. Let the youngsters worry about this stuff. Just quit raising the price of gas and my property taxes, OK? I’d like to get a few years of retirement in before I die. Also, I need to pay for that new generator I ordered.

Otherwise, yesterday’s training was pretty horrible. They hadn’t set up the computers properly, and it took about four hours to download and install everything. I do enough software installation in my life, and really didn’t need to do any more. And the instructor, while appearing to be a nice guy and also knowledgeable, isn’t much of a teacher. Add to that having to cover support duty remotely, and yesterday was actually worse than working. Two more days of this, and then back to real work, which only sucks slightly less.

Oy.