Life | Piss and Moan

Free?

Posted on May 21, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

“…O’re the land of the free and home of the brave.”

That’s the last line of the national anthem. You know, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The one that apparently some find offensive, but that’s a topic for another day.

Anyway, I think we have seen rather clearly that “home of the brave” is not really the country we live in any longer. That is likely a subjective statement. I mean, there are lots of brave people out there still, but there seems to be far more people who would rather not rise to a challenge and would rather make things easy and comfortable.

With that ease, comes the previous line.

“Land of the free.”

That line refers to the rights and freedoms we have as citizens of the United States. Freedom from government control and abuse. That is something to be celebrated and protected.

BUT, the land of the free apparently has taken on a different meaning to an astoundingly large group of people (yes, Dems, I am looking at you…).

Now, it seems, land of the free means giving stuff away to those who don’t deserve it. Moreover, giving it away to people who aren’t even citizens of the country. We have already seen in California that the governor & legislature wants to give away $75 million in stimulus money to illegal immigrants in the state, not to mention health services and education and other benefits they already have been giving away. Lawsuits over this giveaway are in the process, but in the meantime those who don’t deserve taxpayer money are getting it for free.

Washington now wants to follow the same path, only Seattle wants $100 million. Not only does the state turn a blind eye to those who are here illegally, but now it wants to reward them too.

It makes no sense.

There are lots of things that I am willing to pay taxes for, even with the fact that there is a huge amount of waste and inefficiency in government. But what I am not willing to do is to pay taxes to give to people who aren’t supposed to be here in the first place. I wouldn’t go to another country and expect that I get a handout, regardless of whether I am working or not. I’ll earn my money, thanks. I certainly wouldn’t expect to get money after breaking the law to get there and stay there. How does that make sense?

Government should be small and responsive. When it isn’t, there is a problem. There’s been a problem here for a long time and the prospects for it getting worse are frightening.

The city

Posted on May 20, 2020 by backuphill

The ditch doesn’t look like this…Photo by Inge Wallumrød on Pexels.com

Just had a guy from the city stop by.

I called a month ago to see if I could get someone to come out and take a look at the ditch that runs in front of the house. Of course, the lockdown thing was keeping them from being able to come out and take a look so I figured I would disappear to someone’s “Yeah, we may or may not get to it” file.

The ditch out front of the house is a pain in the rear. Ultimately, since it is in the city’s right of way, I would like to have them put a pipe in it and then make it disappear so the front of the yard doesn’t have that stupid thing. The last guy that lived here tried to fill it himself and the city made him dig it back up because he didn’t do it correctly. As such, it has needed maintenance ever since.

So, the guy comes out. Asks some questions. Wants to know what I would like to have happen. He becomes non-committal about the options they have and then suggests maybe I could clean it out. I politely informed him that I am not going to do the work of the city if it is in their right of way. He said he would talk to some people and get back to me.

So, now I suppose I am officially in the “Yeah, we may or may not get to it” file.

What’s irritating is that they suggested, the first time I called the city, that I do it myself and pay for the supplies and the engineering company, with permits, of course, to fill in the ditch with pipe. Yeah, not gonna happen. What might happen is that I do pay for the supplies and just do it myself in the middle of the night…but then, of course, someone would find out and then I probably would end up either having to dig it out or pay the fees (because governments are always quick to make sure they get their fees) for them to dig it out and do it correctly…not gonna happen.

So, it will just sit there and be useless and unsightly.

Man, I hate that ditch.

500+

Posted on May 19, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Padli Pradana on Pexels.com

Milestone or millstone?

Seems last week I surpassed 500 posts on this here little blog.

Never thought I would enjoy Piss and Moan so much. Actually, enjoy might be the wrong word. Maybe it should be more of, I didn’t realize how much therapy it would be to just get stuff off my chest.

Vent. Complain. Express frustration and irritation. Whine. Grumble. Contemplate. Argue. Lament. Bitterness. Pessimism. Negative. Irrational. Insensitive. Etc., etc., etc.

I think I have done it all and, as it turns out, I had more to say than I thought I did. LOL

Milestone? Yes. 500 means that I have posted nearly every week day for about a year and a half.

Millstone? Yes. It means I feel responsible to post every week day for the foreseeable future.

Do I have more to say? Of course.

But do you have anything to say? I am willing to take guest posts, if you’re so inclined. I know I am not the only one who has something to Piss and Moan about. Weird thing is, no one has even approached me yet about sharing their grumbles. C’mon people! Take a dive off the deep end with me and let stuff go!

Anyway, thanks to those of you who are regular readers of my thoughts. Thanks to those of you who have shared your thoughts on my thoughts. I appreciate you checking in on me, even when we don’t agree. I wish I could say I have higher aspirations for the blog, but I don’t. It’ll continue to be my little corner of the internet where I can say whatever the hell I want. That’s all.

For all of those others out there who aren’t really readers but just spam followers hoping to get a “follow” back, you suck. Go ahead and just click the “unfollow” button anytime.

The mission of Pissing and Moaning continues. Feel enlightened, or at least feel like you got something ponder. Ether way, it’s all good.

Dreary

Posted on May 14, 2020 by backuphill

selective focus photography of corrugated metal sheet of house during rainy daytime

Photo by Nur Andi Ravsanjani Gusma on Pexels.com

The weather is dreary today.

I feel like the weather.

I have lost any and all motivation.

Whether or not the weather makes any changes will likely also have an affect on whether or not my attitude changes. It would help if the weather was sunny and warm, but the weatherman hasn’t given me any indication on whether that will happen or not.

So, dreary it is.

But, I suppose it could go downhill from there too. Whether that happens or not will also depend on the weather.

But dreary for now.

Level check

Posted on May 13, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by asim alnamat on Pexels.com

Loaded question…

How are you today?

Me? Thanks for asking.

Annoyance level is at high.

Like if your car had an Annoyance Level meter, it would be red-lined.

Not sure if some people will survive the day, particularly me. It can’t be healthy to hit your head repeatedly on a wall and not do some damage. But that’s what today feels like.

*sigh*

Refi

Posted on May 12, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Matthias Zomer on Pexels.com

I’ll tell you what, in a world where everything seemingly has to be done online right now, banks aren’t really trying to make the Refi process any easier.

When a bank contacts you about the possibility of lowering the interest rate on your mortgage it should be a breeze. They have all the info they need based on the current loan and short of a few updated documents for verification, it should be a seamless and painless process.

Nope.

At least not with Chase. Maybe others have been better.

Their website doesn’t work like it should. They are communicating, or at least trying to communicate with me, through two different portals instead of one. I can only upload documents in one of those portals, but have another portal to “e-sign” stuff in. Makes no sense.

Then the mortgage advisor assigned to me doesn’t communicate with me until nearly the end of each day so it takes another 24 hours to get anything done. This all could have been done last week, but they can’t print (or download) the documents already signed on their website, and they keep asking for things we have already done.

Irritating I tell ya! I stayed with them because it should be relatively easy if you’re already their customer. Nope. Not so much.

Frustration.

Hype

Posted on May 8, 2020 by backuphill

It’s getting rather old, isn’t it?.

Conflicting messages about what we should be afraid of…Covid-19, murder hornets, SARS, the flu, cancer, pollution, eggs, aliens, Russians and collusion…you name it and it’s likely been on the list at some point.

Sure, some are dangerous and some are likely even deadly. But to the extent that they would like us to believe? Not even remotely.

There have been lots of jokes on social media about the next big threat coming this summer, as in the Biblical plagues on the Egyptians or a really bad game of Jumanji.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much scrutiny to figure out there is something fishy going on. Rules apply to some, but not to others. Justice moves swiftly when those in power want it to move swiftly.

24 hour news cycles and billions of clicks later, there are definitely winners and losers are in this whole thing.

Some experts are more powerful than other experts. How does that happen? Whom is deciding who or what should be listened to and who we shouldn’t listen to?

There are a lot of questions these days and we, as the public, should be asking hard questions and then asking even harder questions. Maybe hunkering down and hiding in fear was the best answer, but maybe it really wasn’t.

What I do know is that I am tired of the hype.

**I am sure you have seen the viral video posted at the top. That about sums up all the hype. Credit to the owner.**

Tag-alongs

Posted on May 7, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

Nope. I’m not talking about small, over-priced cookies distributed by your little local vested gang…

I am talking about family members (adult children, really) who don’t ever make any plans on their own, but just “tag-along” on the plans of others.

Birthday parties, Thanksgiving, Mother’s/Father’s Day, etc…never their own plans, always the question that comes one of two ways, “What are the plans?” or “What are you doing?”

Both of those questions are then followed up by the assumption that they are automatically invited to the event (even if it doesn’t really involve them) and don’t have to put in any effort into it. Sure, sometimes they offer to bring something minimal but most of the time they just show up and consume with little to no appreciation.

I have watched from afar and up close and personal, so here’s an example of which I speak:

Mother’s Day planning is done for an elderly mother. Plans are made, set, decided upon, and food is purchased for said get together. Planning has been done by the child of this mother BUT what soon follows is the children (the adult grandchildren of the elderly mother) of said mother doing the planning don’t plan anything for their own mom. Instead, the children just horn in on the plans for the grandmother – they don’t make any effort to plan anything for their own mother, other than just going to the gathering for the grandmother.

Does that make sense? I tried to explain that as clearly as possible, but I am not sure I did it successfully.

Anyway, this kind of tag-along thing happens all the time and, quite frankly, the mother needs to say something about it but doesn’t have the heart to speak up and tell the kids they need to do their own planning.

Of course, I can’t speak up either because that is a battle I can’t win no matter how I approach it. I am sure you can assume you know how that would all go over.

Irritating, really. And all I can do is sit back and watch it happen…

Unsolicited Advice? If you have are an adult child with parents who are still around, make your damn own plans! That might be challenging depending on family situations and timing, but the effort is noticed and appreciated. DON’T just tag-along (even if you are invited to). Grow up, be responsible, and truly appreciate your parents instead of just relying on them.

Stepping back

Posted on May 6, 2020 by backuphill

photo of pathway surrounded by fir trees

Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

So, there was a pissing match and I didn’t want any part of it.

Turns out that the extra effort to prove me wrong wasn’t just about proving me wrong but to vindicate herself to another teammate too. As a result, a pissing match and tension.

I just decided to step back and not play along.

You can do your thing and the other can do their thing…but tell me what I m supposed to do to help clients when the info wasn’t readily available nor was it clear that there was much more involved than simply running a report on the data.

The problem with pissing matches is that everyone gets burned.

Weird play on words, but it’s true.

Have you stepped into something recently only to realize you best step back rather than get into the middle of it?

Better luck

Posted on May 5, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Gerd Altmann on Pexels.com

Projects. So much time for projects.

BUT, do you have a project you want/need to do but are putting off because you aren’t sure the results you’ll get are what you want?

Don’t you hate it when you work on something and you have it all laid out in your head but then it doesn’t turn out like you envisioned it? OR, maybe it doesn’t go the way you want and it ends up being more trouble than it was worth, falling into that “Better luck next time” category of tasks?

I had one last night like that latter of those two. A retractable screen door on the house needed to be fixed. The most expensive option was to just replace the thing and with a new one or the other option was to buy parts for half the original cost and attempt repairs with no instructional manual. There was a vote and I lost, so repairs it was.

After much grunting, Pissing and Moaning, and not so quiet mutterings under my breath, I got to the project last night after work. And it went about as well as I thought it would. It was more trouble than it was worth. I would have rather started over with a new setup, but there is now a semi-functional screen door again. It just doesn’t work like it did when I originally installed it…which was perfectly (if I do say so myself). Now, it will make due but its not operating as smoothly as it could be.

Oh well.

So, I ask, do you have any projects you are dreading to tackle? Or did you do a project you dreaded only to regret tackling it afterwards?

I’m curious.