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Would we ever go cruising again?

Can a fat kangaroo cha cha? Is a pigs butt pork? Silly questions, just as the title of this entry is silly. Well of course we would go cruising again, but not like we did in the 2016-2020 time. We would love to find a reasonably priced, solid small vessel say from 30 to 46 feet in length. And have a reasonable location for a slip rental. Then of course we would happily go aboard again and cruise the waters of our eastern United States waterways.

It would most likely be a weekender type of boating experience. No more full time live aboard. Physically, I am not capable of that sort of life anymore. Too many things wrong with this old man’s body and internal systems now to even contemplate a live aboard lifestyle anymore. But I could certainly entertain the potential of weekenders and vacation type cruises.

I would still prefer a motor yacht with diesel engines, but would also consider a gasoline powered boat as well. I consider the diesel powered vessel as more safe than the gasoline, primarily based on the flashpoint of diesel fuel versus gasoline fuel. The reliability of the diesel engine for marine purposes is greater than the gasoline fueled engine. Our two Cat 3208T diesels had approximately 1200 hours on the clock and all of the marine engineers indicated that they were nowhere near their lifespan. Although we did blow the starboard engine when we first took possession of the Misty Lady, that failure was due to catastrophic failure of the water hoses supplying cooling water to the starboard engine, rather than a problem with the engine itself.

But, for a weekend or vacation cruise, either engine power would suffice for us. Having owned a gasoline powered motor yacht in the past, I still recall how to preflight the boat prior to engine start. Granted the prestart checklist for a gasoline powered boat is longer and more critical than that for a diesel powered boat, but either would make this old man happy as long as they were capable of taking our boat into the waters, cruise along the eastern waterways and have the ability to sleep overnight or for several days. Having a refrigerator, a stove top, microwave, coffee maker and a toaster would be all that one would need for a two day weekend, or for a four or five day vacation cruise. I still have my nautical software for my computer, tablet and phone to provide clear and concise navigational capability and especially the depth of the waters beneath us.

As for the boat’s age, well, I would look more at the boat’s condition rather than when it was built. Sure I would love a 2000+ year build for my next boat, but have also seen some 67 year boats that were clearly winners in the well put together status. For instance I viewed a 68 Hatteras the other day on the Boat Trader listings that was pristine as the day she was first launched. Her owners had maintained this yacht as it should always have been. Both of her engines had been completely overhauled just two years previously. Her woodwork, brightwork and bulkheads were all solid, no moisture leakage and her decks were pristine and obviously had been well cared for. So in short, she was a new old boat. The quality of workmanship for this manufacturer was excellent during the buildout of all her Hatteras product lines, and was even more so in the 60s and 70s. As for her engines, they were viable for several more decades or so of cruising these waters. Her electronics were a bit dated, but not by much. When we bought the Misty Lady, she still had several LORAN equipment units installed. We then replaced all of her bridge equipment with a multifunction single point control system. Augmented by our iPad with the navigation software we were capable of traveling all up and down the east coast from Maine to the Florida Keys. This Hatteras was better equipped than our old Blue Water by far.

So this 60’s Hatteras was a great value, and her size was near to perfect for what we had envisioned our future boating activity might entail. Sure having a 50+ length would be super, but far too much for what we would be using. This Hatteras was in the mid 40s length and that would be almost perfect for a viable weekender or vacation motor yacht. But alas, as with much of one’s searching online for things like boats, houses and even cars, by the time one makes a decision to visit or purchase, the odds are the item will already been purchased by someone else as was this Hatteras.

But never mind, we aren’t ready to seriously consider a motor yacht or even a slip rental at this point anyway. Far too many other considerations, from finishing the dress out of our new condo home, to the solution for our health considerations (especially the COVID attack we just had), to the potential of other financial requirements. So, for now, a motor yacht is simply a wish list item for down the road.

What’s up with the old man and other dumb thoughts?

Well, nothing super that is certain. But I am still on this side of the grass, am upright and breathing! So that’s a pretty good thing.

Of course that’s not to say that the old man is in tip top shape, actually far from it. But what the hell, I am 82 years old and still ambulatory, I’m not in a care facility and still aware enough to drive a car. What’s not to like> well, things like the malignant tumor they removed late last year, the diabetes that I have been blessed with for over 14 years, the prostate surgery that I had just a few weeks ago, the cancer that they found in my prostate when they did the surgery. Oh and now, an aneurism found in my lower abdomen just a couple of days ago.

I tell you boys and girls, as that older movie star Betty Davis once said, “Getting old is not for sissies”. But we must travel on, until we don’t anymore.

ME? I am happy enough I guess. I live in a comfortable home, have a wife who loves and cares for this old curmudgeon, with children and grand children who are also glad the old guy is still around. And now I hear that I have a great grand child, born of my eldest granddaughter. So there is that!

Apartment Living

We now live in a high rise condominium building with a nice two bedroom unit in our name (and the Credit Union of course). We moved to this apartment back in late March of 2023 from a house in Newport News, Virginia. I thought I would deliver my thoughts on the differences in living in a single family home and neighborhood, as differentiated from living in a multifamily condo apartment complex. They are very different of course and here’s a few points for explaining the difference in my humble opinion!

We have during the course of our over 45 years together, lived in a number of apartments, both rentals and in condo owned. During our time together we have lived in many areas of the United States and offshore as well.

We once lived on a 54 foot motor yacht as members of a DC area Yacht Club and as live aboard people in the yacht club’s marina. Four years we lived on that boat and in that yacht club marina. We found the residents/yacht owners to be very friendly, helpful, considerate and watchful of our selves and our yacht. Frankly, every where we traveled on that yacht, in marinas large and small, we found the people associated with marine life to be egregious, outgoing, and welcoming in their attitudes.

In all of the apartment buildings we have lived in, some for several years, we never knew our neighbors other than to say hello on the elevator, in the lobby or garage. There was no welcome from our neighbors on our same floor, and the hello nods was pretty much the extent of our neighborly interaction. Sad, huh? Part of this was our fault, we are not party people and shy away from large gatherings. So this inhibits our interaction with neighbors in these settings. But by the same token, in the marina or in our single family house neighborhood, we quickly integrated ourselves with the community mainly through the resident’s inclination to be outgoing and welcoming us to that community, either water borne or land lubber.

EV vs ICE

Confused, well the EV stands for the all electric battery powered cars and trucks that are rapidly entering our world. And the ICE stands for Internal Combustion Engine or the motor drive cars and trucks we are all familiar with that use fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel.

Having lived through several instances of the oil and gas industry companies foisting phony crises on the driving public over the years, this latest one was basically the straw that broke the camel’s back for this old man. So we have arrived at the decision point, stay with our Buick ICE Small SUV, trade if for a newer model of the same car, or purchase an all electric drive vehicle (EV). What ever way we finally wind up, (heavy leaning toward the EV side), our next vehicle will be from GM. We have, over the years owned quite a few General Motors vehicles, from Chevy, Buick, GMC, Saturn, Oldsmobile, and even Caddy’s. We are staunch GM supporters, not only for the great cars, but also for the OnStar systems that comes with these vehicles. OnStar has saved our bacon for a number of instances, some minor and some intensive and worrisome.

But be that as it may, I am sick and tired of the big oil companies screwing over the American motorists. So, the EV is looming large in our next vehicle decisions. We will wait until the spring of next year to hope that the knuckleheads in the Federal Reserve get their heads out of their nether region and correct the idiotic high interest rates. The economy is in pretty damn good shape so those jerks need to stand aside, lower their interest rate back to where it was before they started their stupid game of manipulation.

EV? Oops

In the several months since I first began this blog entry, I discovered that the major auto companies are not really serious with regard to the EV environment. 

Ford has dramatically withdrawn from the EV production of their vehicle products. The Mustang EV is still being sold, but there are little indicators that Ford is really behind this product stream.

GM has also played games with the EV. This company had one of the best selling EVs to be made available. The Bolt and Bolt EUV were extremely popular even with the older type of battery packs. Yet GM decided that 2023 was the last year for this car, , , until they found out that the public was irate at their decision to kill this great small electric vehicle. GM then decided to bring the Bolt back in a new format, using GM’s newly designed batter system. They also promised an EV platform for the Chevy Equinox. It was to be priced in the same area as the Bolt. Every indicator had this small SUV to be released in the product year of 2024, but, times changed and GM postponed the release of this vehicle to the year 2025 approximately.

Chrysler (owned by Stellantis) was barely in the playground. Their focus was on their Dodge and Ram products both with ICE drivers. They claim to have a great EV coming soon. One simply must trust that this corporation will follow through.

WELL, this old man decided that he might be dead before any of these powerhouse vehicle manufacturers actually started moving EV cars for the masses, not the wealthy. So we will stick with the ICE class of automobiles for now. Going back to the GMC small suv, Terrain.

Facing my Cancer Spread

The blog writeup below was also posted on my other blog in my OldVirginian.com web site, my blog entitled Musings of a Geriatric Curmudgeon. Thought I would place it here as well on the off chance that someone might pick it up on this venue.

Yesterday, I had an appointment with an Oncologist! This was be the initial appointment since a set of tests over the past few weeks have determined that the cancer cells in my prostate have spread to the other areas of my body. My urology professional team and I had hoped mightily that the small level of cancer showing in the prostate would remain just another item to watch out for in my aging 82 year old body. Turns out we were wrong. Now it is going to be up to both my urology folks and my new Cancer specialists.

As some may know, back in December of 2022, when my wife and I were living in the Newport News/Hampton area of Virginia, I had a malignant tumor removed from my bladder. The urology/oncology physician determined that the entire tumor had been removed. He also discussed with me, during a subsequent follow-up to that surgery, the aspect of “shaving” or trimming the prostate gland in my abdomen. It had been diagnosed as being enlarged a couple of years prior to this and I had been taking medicine to reduce its size making my urethra more open. My wife and I had already made plans to relocate back up to Alexandria, VA because she had received a terrific offer with a company back up here, and had put our Newport News home on the market. Thankfully the first day of being on the RE market, we received several offers. We selected one and accepted the offer. I informed my Newport News area urology/oncology doctor of this and we agreed that as soon as we were settled into a home in Alexandria I would contact a urologist and have the prostate procedure performed.

Once we had completed the closing process on our new high rise condo apartment, I contacted my previous Primary Care Physician at the Virginia Hospital Physicians Group. He had been my PCP for more than 10 years before our relocation to Newport News and he was the first contact I made after we got our personal effects in our new Alexandria home. My PCP referred me to a VHC urologist and my first visit was scheduled. We determined that the prostate “shave” surgery should be performed very soon. The prostate surgery was performed by the Virginia Hospital Physicians Group Urology specialist on April 19, 2023. Lab analysis of the shaving samples from my prostate discovered the presence of cancer in the prostate. While it was a small amount, we felt that it was simply a case of monitoring to ensure that it would not spread in the prostate or elsewhere. Several months later, in October, a decision was made to test for the Cancer’s status using a PET scan test. Results of that PET scan caused the medical folks to schedule a biopsy of my lymph nodes to confirm the results found in that earlier scan. Turned out, the Cancer has spread from my prostate into other areas of my body and was found in those lymph nodes. I was informed of this status and an appointment with the Virginia Cancer Specialists organization was made for yesterday, November 30th.

I met with the Oncologist who would be in charge of my Cancer treatment plans. There were some tests performed and blood draws were taken. Turns out that the Blood Draw will be a regular event throughout the treatment process to monitor the red and white blood cells and other indicators, oh joy! Hate those blood draws.

Medications, both oral and injection were identified by the Oncologist and two other appointments were made with my new Oncology Team of professionals in this organization. One for palliative care and another for genetic evaluation; can my children be faced with the same type of cancer? Orders were placed for the specialized cancer medication, and another member of my new “team” will be responsible for interface with my insurance and my Medicare people. As they put it, the plan is to keep my focus on fighting this cancer and they will take care of the other things.

So, it seems this old man has hit another roadblock and now faces the aspect of the dreaded word CANCER. My father and one of my brothers died from Cancer so I just figured that this is perhaps a bit of Hodges male curse. I don’t plan on just rolling over and waiting for the Cancer to kill me through. With this great group of Cancer specialists, and my regular team of medical professionals in the Virginia Hospital Physicians Group, I hold great hope and confidence that we will put up a good strong fight and hopefully win this battle.

More on this as things progress. Just want to keep my cyber friends (primarily males because this is a male type of cancer), aware of prostate cancer’s danger and hope that they take lessons from this to keep awareness and evaluative testing to ensure that they catch any semblance of this disease in the early stage. Don’t ignore the danger, Prostate Cancer can be a horrible invasion, and in many cases a harsh end of life. I feel confident in my team of medical experts and specialists and do believe that this old curmudgeon will be around for quite a bit longer.

Update on the New Home

Inserted Update: I will have some words (promise to refrain from naughty words), about my earlier decision to give the finger to the Oil and Gas Industry by buying an Electric Vehicle. A paragraph or two, so try to wade through the initial paragraphs/subjects and then see the diatribe about the EV markets.

Well, here we are, the first of June and May is in the rear view mirror. I have been 82 for several weeks, my surgery has been sort of mitigated (pains have subsided quite a bit), and we are starting to make some progress on the settling in for our new condo home. We signed a contract for rental of storage space from the CubeSmart company and have made a couple of trips to put the plethora of boxes, plastic tubs and misc items that we will not need for a bit, into the storage facility Nice to see the carpet and walls in the guest bedroom/Harvey’s soon to be office work area. Yea ME!

Still have to worry about the health situation brought about with the bladder cancer and the newly discovered prostate cancer. Lots of trips for therapy for the edema swelling of my lower legs, and many tests to judge the status of the prostate cancer. But hey, I am upright and breathing, I can still type on my computer keyboards and can still drive my car so what’s not to like huh?

My bride, Charlotte traveled to Denver, Colorado (actually a suburb of Denver known as Aurora), on the 14th of May and she returned from her APA Congress sessions in Colorado on Saturday the 20th, it was so good to have her home. She spent the week at the APA Congress in the Rocky Mountain Gaylord Hotel and Conference Center. She conducted two seminars at the APA’s request and from all indications they were very successful, in fact when she was having her evening dinner after her last seminar, a lady stopped by her table to let her know just how much she enjoyed Char’s presentations. That would make a body feel pretty good huh?

Think I am a little bit proud of this lady who married me? You betcha.

We finally found a person to do some minor repairs and installations in our condo. We had started to despair of every locating a “handyman” to do several things that we found after we got moved in. You just know that is always the way, right?

Anyway, we laid out a task list for the gentleman, including leveling our kitchen stove (the former folk had it uneven, leaning toward the back and the difference was almost an inch from front to back. When frying eggs for our breakfast, I would put three eggs in our large skillet and very quickly they slid backwards to become one large egg, requiring me to separate them as they solidified later. We had several other things to work out, and our contractor person just submitted his proposal for costs, very reasonable pricing by the way. So in a few days, we will have all the necessary material in the condo and he can start to correct these problems.

Okay, now about the EV. As I stated in this area and on Facebook, I am tired of being shafted by the Oil and Gas industry every few years as they jack up the price of their fuel, both gasoline and diesel, at the retail pumps. As I have stated many many times over the years, people can point to all sorts of areas as the reason for fuel price increasing and every darn one of them is WRONG. Fuel prices go up and down at the manipulations of the oil and gas industry executives. Yeah I know, the Oil and Gas apologists try to put the entire blame on market impacts, well I call BS on that diversionary load of horse manure. These crooks sit in their big corner offices and decide it is time to increase the net profits and to pad the pockets of their big shareholders (not you and me), so they start playing with the price of fuels. Oh first they play the game of some crisis or other reason for creating a “shortage” and that is the “reason” for their increasing the price of a gallon of gasoline or diesel. Usually they raise the price very high, then after a period of screwing the driving public, the drop the price a penny or two, then a bit more and finally they are below the price point they are aiming for. So the price stays relatively low for a few days, then back up they go until the executives feel they have brainwashed the driving public enough to have the prices settle in to the costs they were shooting for in the first damn place.

This last time, when they used the pandemic, supply line impacts and the war between Ukraine and Russia to jack prices up sky high. In some places they hit 6 dollars or more. Of course they pretended it was such a hardship in delivery that caused the price to jump. And our right wingers in Congress went along with the ruse. We spent weeks being screwed by millions of dollars a month that flowed directly into the pockets and bank accounts of the oil and gas industry.

So, this old codger had been evaluating the evolving electric vehicle market, still not convinced that this was a good alternative to my little 4 cylinder Buick SUV. Then when it became more obvious that this time the criminals in the big offices of Exxon, Shell, BP, etc. were not going to reduce the prices of fuel anytime soon, I began to seriously consider trading our most favorite vehicle for a GM electric vehicle. Of course at the time, the Bolt EUV was the only thing I considered because it was reasonably priced, had very good distance numbers on a charge, and was a GM with my OnStar system. (We will never buy any car that is not OnStar capable). We decided to wait until the 2023s were out and more readily available and we were also looking at the relocation from Newport News back up to Alexandria. But the idea of a new Bolt electric vehicle was still very much in the forefront of my mind.

Then yesterday, I read an article that GM was going to stop production of the Bolt EV and EUV with this 2023 model year. There would be no 2024 version. DRAT! As I read the article the replacement was identified as the Chevy Equinox SUV which would be targeted at the customers who would have been looking for the Bolt. The Equinox would be the same size as the current gas powered ICE vehicle but would be powered by the General Motors Ultium platform. This platform was designed as such as to be the platform for ALL future GM electric vehicles, from the Caddy, to the Hummer, and then all the other GM products destined to transfer from gas/diesel to electric power.

So, even though I believe Ms. Mary (GM CEO) and her executive class have totally screwed the pooch with the death of the Bolt, I will still consider the aspect of purchasing a Chevy Equinox EV SUV when they become available for purchase. And I have informed our local GM dealers who sell Chevy of my interest and a check for a new 2024 Chevy Equinox electric SUV. Now, aren’t you impressed with this old man’s brilliance? Yeah, thought not!

My condo neighbor (we were sitting in the lobby library), asked why I wanted to wait when a Tesla store was nearby and I could have one of those. When I stopped laughing, I told him that if that egomaniacal asshat Elon Musk were giving the damn things away I still wouldn’t want one. Because by driving one and using his charging stations, I would still be putting money in his pocket and I would rather throw the money into the Potomac than let a single penny of my money go into his bank. Despise? Oh yeah, I would dance the Snoopy Dance of Joy down Constitution Avenue in downtown DC if the USA got smart and deported that fascist scumbag.

Anyway, so for now, we will keep on driving our Blue Baby Buick and wait to see what GM has up their sleeves (other than their arm), for the driving public. I would much rather see an electric version of my Buick Envision SUV come out and would happily wait until it was available. But believe this folks, as sure as God made little green apples, this old man will move away from the gasoline and diesel dependence on the corrupt thieves in the oil and gas industry as soon as a good GM vehicle becomes available, but I will stick with my sweetheart car, Buick Envision until that time.

And so it goes; hurdles abound

Well folks, we are ensconced in our new home, in West Alexandria. Our condo purchase closing went off without a hitch, our financial broker helped us for a smooth closing by ensuring that the money required from us for the closing costs was wired into the title company’s bank on time. We then simply had to meet with the closing agent, sign a million times on the plethora of closing documents and then receive the keys and access fobs to our new home.

Our real estate agent, Alanda was fantastic in her efforts to ensure that we had all the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted. She is a true credit to her profession in the Real Estate Industry. So, now we own two homes, but one is on the market, and we do have an offer and supposedly a ratified contract.

So, on with the new condo home, and the moving company delivery of our worldly belongings. We have now seen a confirmation that when one moves from a large three bedroom house into a smaller, high rise condo there will be a chaotic scene of boxes, boxes everywhere and the furniture placements are frustratingly complicated by all of those boxes. The super problematic situation comes from when you need something that you packed, but now can’t find that particular box and panic ensues. Power cords for the tv, computers, printers, bulbs for the lamps and power strips for providing power for our mobile phones, my hearing aids and so forth and so on, oh my GOD!!!

The evening of our closing activity, moving company unload and STUFF, we both agreed that this was IT, no more moves, and we are going to reside in this apartment until the time comes to spread our ashes over the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Tuesday, April 4, 2023 – It has been a few hectic days since we closed on the condo and I opened this blog entry. So, having a few minutes before another task has to start, thought I would drop a few notes about where we are in the settle-in status.

First and most wonderful, we got the Newport News house sold and closing on that contract completed. Now to convince some of the utility companies that we no longer own or live in that house. Seems that Verizon has decided to send me a bill for FIOS service and we have been out of that house, with the service disconnect order in place for almost a month! But there you have it, another multi-billion dollar company that can’t find it’s butt with two hands and a flashlight. Funny thing? I tried yesterday to connect with them, first the chat/online service that they PREFER, and that stupid computer system kept going in circles, enter this information, now that info, oh enter the first again, now that, lets go around again G****** it all!

Oh by the way, ever try to call Verizon FIOS? Good luck with that. Couldn’t find a freaking phone number but will try that again today. Not going to pay the Fios bill for the people who bought my Newport News house, no freaking way. It is their house and their cable system, no longer mine!

So also on the hurdle overcome agenda for today, a trip to the recycle drop place AND to the COVANT trash drop to get rid of many cardboard boxes (recycle), the remains of our TV cabinet that the movers broke during the move up here, and several broken plastic tubs (again that the movers broke during the move), plus a couple of metal things left from the previous condo owner. Spoke to a very nice person at that facility and was assured that all of our junk/trash was acceptable and there would be no charge since we were Alexandria residents. YEA US.

So, after finishing my late start breakfast (had to make a quick trip to Panera Bread), I will gather the address and head out for the two stops to empty the Blue Baby, of the recycle and trash we put into her cargo space this weekend. Then back to attack more of the hurdles involved with our relocation from Newport News back to Alexandria. I do so hope that we will be at least marginally settled into this new home before my 82nd birthday on May 1. Would be nice to have some semblance of order rather than the current chaotic environment!

Thursday, April 6, 2023 -Well another couple of days have passed and we are only a smattering of progress of the settle in process. We still have a couple of major tasks that must be accomplished in the next day or so. First, I have an appointment with my Primary Care Physician for a PreOP checkup. I am scheduled for surgery on the 19th and the docs want to make sure that this old body can take the procedures that they are going to perform. See, the old man had a touch of bladder cancer a few weeks ago, while we were still living in Newport News. The urology surgeon found a small tumor that was determined to be malignant and during a surgery procedure, he was able to remove the tumor completely, they think.

The next important task is to change our address at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles for our car and for our individual driver’s license. Then a check with the City of Alexandria to ensure that the change of address was transmitted to them. The DMV is supposed to notify/update the local government entity of any vehicles or individuals who register their address into the area of the local government.

Third task? Contact the mobile veterinarian to schedule an appointment for our remaining fur baby, Ms Penny. It has been quite a while since she has been seen by a vet to check out her health condition. We just lost one of our furry girls in January who had been with us for over 16 years, just like Ms. Penny. House cats do live a much longer life than their outdoor counterparts, but at 16+ our girls are approaching that point where the Rainbow Bridge gets closer each year.

Now I have to divert my attention from this blog and have a Come To Jesus meeting with xFinity, our internet provider. Their service for internet, wifi and the television is, to be kind, sucks to high heaven. So I have to make a list of all of the complaints for my time in the Chat application for this internet provider. Wish there was alternatives, but as I understand, they have an exclusive agreement with the City of Alexandria. DRAT!

Monday, May 1, 2023 – Well quite some time has passed, my apologies for the delays. But in reality I would think that readers of my little blog are few and far between. I have seen a few stats of folks who have viewed the blog, but there is no entry on any of the items as for as comments go. Guess it is just as I had envisioned when I restarted the blog after our sale of the Misty Lady, our 54 foot motor yacht. There was some encouragement to continue to post blog entries so I have done so. I do admit that the majority of time, I write simply to put my thoughts and our actions into words.

Anyway, here we are, on the day of my 82nd birthday, settling into a comfy chair, keyboard in hand, mouse close by, and ready to relate our latest information of our relocation, settling in and activity of late.

My daughter, my son, and my daughter-in-law treated us to a birthday lunch yesterday at a restaurant called Coopers Hawk. It is a wine themed play, Coopers Hawk has various wines in their own label and the restaurant has a membership function that my daughter belongs to. The service was very nice, food was excellent and it was really great being able to join my kids for this type of gathering, without the travel of 200 miles. More like a 20-30 mile drive outside the beltway into the Virginia countryside.

Charlotte is settling into her new position with this company and she is pleased with the company, her direct reporting management and with the staff who are assigned to the payroll department. She is still able to work from home with a requirement for occasional trips into the office for meetings and other tasks.

Charlotte was asked by the American Payroll Association (APA) to be a presenter at their upcoming Congress. She will be presenting in two seminar activities. She is due to travel to that APA Conference in a few days, leaving on the 14th and returning on the 20th. As a speaker/presenter her costs and tuition fees are waived so her costs are covered by the APA and her new company’s education benefit. She continues to impress me with how much she has grown into her profession and how the payroll industry recognizes her experience, expertise and knowledge evidenced by a continuing call for her to share her knowledge by way of seminars, presentations, classroom and other means of payroll profession educational presentations.

Next up, the surgery on April 19 was successful, they found no more tumors in the bladder, trimmed the prostate and declared the operation a success. However, the after surgery instruction was to lift nothing heavier than 10 pounds for at least three weeks, I would experience some ongoing pain but it should subside in a couple of weeks. Oh also, the urology surgeon informed me on a phone conversation that there has been some traces of cancer cells in the prostate samples. He feels we can keep a close watch on this situation, and take any action necessary. Okay,,, but what does that mean exactly? Well, I will probably find out when I have the post operation appointment in a couple of days with that urology department. Hope springs eternal.

We are beginning to gain on the plethora of boxes, still have a ton of them laying about, but we plan on putting the majority in a storage facility and winnow them down over time, all the while having a cleared bedroom and other spaces.

We’re Baaaack!

Now we are in the new Condo apartment! The closing happened on Friday morning, March 10 and by 3pm the movers had unloaded their truck with all our stuff from the Newport News house.

Oh my! boxes, cardboard and plastic tubs everywhere. Where are the power and HDMI cables for the TV? Got the internet and television connected in the new place but can’t find those power plug cables or the cable to connect the computers to our large monitor screens. The cable guy provided the HDMI cables for the tv/set top box, but we still can’t find the power cable to actually get the televisions to work.

Wow, okay, this is the LAST time we will do this crazy thing, called relocation move. Nope, not gonna do it anymore, done too damn old to play that game and too crotchety to life and tote all those boxes packed with our stuff and somewhere there are the cables we need.

But now we need to reconnect to all the folks and businesses

We’re Baaaack!

Well here we are, back in the neighborhood! We have completed the closing actions for our new condo home located in the Northampton Place tower in west Alexandria. Our new home is just about 2.5 blocks from the condo where we lived before and sold prior to our move down to the Hampton/Newport News area.

Feels good to be back, familiar streets, grocery store and pharmacy just two blocks away, several eateries providing good food within a five block radius and a very nice, secure building with a 24 hour concierge service, front desk, package receiving and a great communications system for the owner/residents.

We also recognize the asshats who get into their cars and become totally rude inconsiderate and dangerous jerks. Yep, back in the DC Metro area for sure!

One of the folks we met down in Newport News asked why we were moving back to this crowded, high traffic, violent prone area. I responded that we were going back home! And truly, this northern Virginia area has been our actual home for over 35 years. Is there crowded environments here? Yep, beyond a doubt, but we also have some truly great places to visit, shop, eat, and get entertained. And yes there is violence here, with shootings, road rage, assault and battery, and burglary, but hey, those things were also in the Hampton Roads area of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, etc. Tie ups at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel were quite often as bad as trying to cross the I-395 bridge into DC from Virginia at most hours.

Never mind all that, Harv and Char and of course Ms. Penny Kat are back in Alexandria, ensconced in our high rise apartment/condo and will spend the next few weeks trying to unpack and find places for our stuff. Remember moving from 1544 sqft house to 1094 sqft apartment requires some in depth consideration of what you need to have versus what you can discard, donate, or put into a storage locker. We do expect that our condo will be a disaster area with regard to boxes and tubs to be unpacked for several weeks, we have that much junk and need to either find places, find donations, or simply take things to the landfill area.

Moving on Up

We have a signed offer on our Newport News Home. Our mortgage is approved for our Condo in Alexandria, VA. So like that old tv show’s theme song, we are “Moving on Up” but not to the east side, our new neighborhood will be in West Alexandria!

Our purchaser for this home in Newport News’ neighborhood of Kiln Creek has asked for a closing date of March 20 and we are in agreement. Our closing for the Condo is March 10 and that will be our moving in date as well.

We will be heading up to Alexandria on Saturday to do a walkthrough of the new home, and to get a better idea of how our furniture will fit into the new space. Moving from a 1544sqft home into one that is 1054sqft requires some serious evaluation of items retained (that will fit into the new living space), and items to be eliminated. The moving truck will be out front of our Newport News house March 9, and we want to ensure that only those items to be used in Alexandria are loaded and transported.

I was very impressed with the posting of our home for market, the first viewing appointment and the subsequent appointments on the subsequent days, until we and our real estate agent decided to accept one of the offers and shut down any following appointment requests. Our house went on the market at 8am on Sunday, the first viewing was that day, shortly after noon. On Monday we had three viewings, Tuesday we had four! Tuesday evening, we accepted one specific offer, and the Real Estate Agent prepared the acceptance contract. By 8 pm that evening we had a contract in place, signed by all parties.

And now we have a ratified contract in place for the Newport News house. A Home Inspection and a Termite Inspection will take place on this Friday March 3, and then on to a closing date of March 20. We have no doubt that the house will pass with flying colors but agreed to a 1% cover if something is found during these inspections.

We actually had another offer on the house from the very first prospect. But their requirements were extremely onerous from our perspective and since we were the sellers, we said no to the offer. We have not been expecting a sale process this rapidly and completed in such a short time frame. BUT we are happy that it happened, now the way is clear, and we are truly Moving On Up, that being back UP to Northern Virginia and the Alexandria City locale.

SP-UHC Why Not?

This post is going to be a major difference from the usual things. Frankly, it is an introduction to a new and different blog that I will be creating in the coming weeks. In my case, the idea of a single payer universal health care plan was almost always in my mind. I was a military dependent and then enlisted myself when I was age appropriate. So, I have been exposed to essentially single payer health care for a good portion of my growing years and into young adulthood. We always felt secure in knowing that our health situation was always going to be cared for because of our being in the military (US Air Force for both me and my dad).

When I left the Air Force and entered the commercial job market, I was fortunate enough to gain employment in a small California desert community where there was still the old company town environment. The insurance was provided by the company, the hospital and medical clinic were owned by the two companies in the valley. So, our medical care was still pretty much a worry-free deal. But then I left that area, moving back across the country and encountered the present world of corporate health care industry operations.

Many years ensued for my family and I (wife, one daughter and two sons), in our health care situations where we spent many hours discussing the rightness of care that the insurance clerk was denying their responsibility to cover. Both sons played football all though middle school and high school, with the older son continuing his football play into the first two years of a college athletic scholarship. Luckily for us, those schools had insurance to cover most injuries that the players might encounter, but kids are kids and adults get sick. And I kept thinking that there had to be a better way for the health of American citizens. But alas, could find nothing out there that even remotely resembled the health care of my military days. For example, birth of daughter (Chennault AFB, Lake Charles, LA.) total cost out of pocket $1.98 for meals my wife had just prior to the delivery and post-delivery. Birth of eldest son, China Naval Weapons Station, Ridgecrest, CA) $2.75, the Navy charged a bit more for meals for the delivering mother. Finally, birth of third child, youngest son, (American Potash & Chemical Corp Medical Center, Trona, CA), $1200.00 my cost and the insurance deductible. Oh yeah, that was for more than the meals. But even then, it was far less than what medical care in hospitals and outpatient care costs for the same thing.

Several years passed, encounters of higher and higher costs along with more reticence by insurance companies to pay for care as they “promised”. One exception that stood out was during my tenure at a major computer manufacturer in Minnesota. A new type of medical care was presented by this company, it was new to the industry as well. HMO or Health Maintenance Organization. When originally conceived, this was a very good approach. My younger son was having hearing problems and ear infections. We took him to the HMO center for our company’s insurance HMO plan. They operated on my son’s hearing (ear drum, etc) for five plus hours. His hearing was almost totally restored and imagine our excitement when he asked that the tv sound be turned DOWN. When I went to check him out, there was no copay bill to cough up. The HMO covered the surgery, housing and meals.

Of course, that was years ago, and it was a brand-new coverage plan. To my knowledge gained from the experiences of relatives and friends who use the HMO type health coverage, that is no longer the case these days the HMO is just a different type of regular health insurance and the majority of these medical groups do not deliver quality care and patient compassion. Simply, like the rest of the health care industry companies, collect the money and deliver minimally acceptable care. After years of fighting with insurance company clerks and managers, I encountered a new plan in the making.

In 2003, in my early days of political activism, I discovered the Congressman from Michigan, John Conyers and his brand new legislative bill for health care. It was then called a National Health Insurance program, eventually morphing into the Expanded Medicare for All. Bill HR-676 had just 20 cosponsors in the first reading back in 2003.

At each congressional session, Mr. Conyers would update the bill content to reflect the current environments and resubmit it for consideration and hopefully getting it to the House Floor for debate and passage. Through year after congressional year, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Kucinich of Ohio and a growing group of likeminded Congressional Representatives signed on.

Mr. Conyers fell ill and died and the 2017 version of his HR-676 was his last submittal and in truth the memorial to his efforts to bring true universal health care to ALL American residents of this nation.

As a longtime supporter of Mr. Conyers and his HR-676 bill, I made sure to download and retain many copies of the changes and each version as it was released. Today, while it is still available, I understand, now the Congress has reassigned that bill number to another pieces of legislation from a different congress person, and the thrust of her bill has nothing whatsoever to do with focus of the original HR-676 by John Conyers. I frankly admit that I do not understand the reasoning behind the issuance of that bill identifier to that congressperson for her legislative bill but is certainly has put a huge hurdle in bringing that Conyers effort to provide universal health care to the American people.

We are way Behind!

Bear in mind that rest of the developed world has comprehensive universal health care, and those programs covered every single citizen/legal resident of those countries. Most of these countries have had UHC for DECADES, while we have been worried about “socialism” or adverse impact to our health care or health research. Point of Fact, none of those cares are valid or worthy of refusing UHC, they are all propaganda from the medical industry including (not medical professions or facilities) the insurance corporations and other shadowy external forces, including much of the Congress and we as a nation have fallen for the sales pitches from those sources, hook line and sinker.

So, while the rest of the developed world enjoyed better health outcomes, no health care anxieties, NO medical bankruptcies, better live birth rates, more effective treatments, solutions, procedures and medications, the United States fell further and further behind the rest of the developed world for health conditions of its citizens. We are well behind these countries in almost every single aspect of health, from overall longevity of adults to lower successful birth rates even the overall happiness factor of these counties as opposed to the United States.

Actually, according to the WHO (World Health Organization), at this time France has the best health care in the world and most of European countries are right there alongside them. Japan leads the Asian nations in their UHC program, and even Cuba has a better health care coverage for their people, than the United States!

These countries spend less than half of the costs for health care that we do in the USA. AND they have better outcomes, happier citizens, and the fear of leaving a job because of health insurance simply does not exist in those nations. A recent study and report from the Commonwealth Fund that analyzed the positions of the developed nations regarding the health-related lifestyles of their citizens, was not complimentary to the Unites States. I will provide a link to that report within this blog post.

Some quotes or the actual highlight listing from that Commonwealth report is as shown below:

Highlights

  • Health care spending, both per person and as a share of GDP, continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries. Yet the U.S. is the only country that doesn’t have universal health coverage.
  • The U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest death rates for avoidable or treatable conditions, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and among the highest suicide rates.
  • The U.S. has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions and an obesity rate nearly twice the OECD average.
  • Americans see physicians less often than people in most other countries and have among the lowest rate of practicing physicians and hospital beds per 1,000 population.
  • Screening rates for breast and colorectal cancer and vaccination for flu in the U.S. are among the highest, but COVID-19 vaccination trails many nations.

The link to the actual report is here:

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022

Please read this entire report if you can, it is very enlightening. We are not the greatest, especially in the area of our citizens and their health care.

And even back to 2014, this organization rated the United States thusly:

Where we rank comparatively with the rest of the world.

The United States ranks last overall among 11 industrialized countries on measures of health system quality, efficiency, access to care, equity, and healthy lives, according to this Commonwealth Fund report, despite spending far more of its GDP on health.

FUND REPORTS / JUN 16, 2014

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally

Reading this report, from 8 years ago, and sadly from later editions, we have not gained, but instead lost ground in the overall health of our US citizens. More’s the pity.

In the near future, I will be bringing live a new web site that will focus on this Single Payer Universal Health Care program and why the United States and its people should stop with the rabid propaganda and implement the entirety of the HR-676 written by Representative John Conyers and supported by well over 140 members of the House of Representatives. This bill should be brought to the floor of the House and passed following debate. I will provide information and links to this website to my fellow senior citizens and others as I can find. My prayer is that we see at least, the beginning of a full SPUHC for all of the residents of the United States of America, before my time on earth is over.

The Congress, especially the Democrats in Congress should determine the best person to pick up the baton of John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich and the rest of those members who have supported this bill from it’s inception in 2003.

WELL PAST TIME!

High Gas Price-Who is responsible

I hear from a lot of people who claim various people are responsible for the high gas prices. Well, I have been around a few decades, have driven thousands upon thousands of miles and buying gasoline from every single company putting the gas pumps out there. Those gas purchases include in the Middle East, Europe, and the Far East nations in addition to the majority of our United States of America. So, this essay/commentary is actually based on true experiences of my more than 8 decades of life.

I can tell you for a fact, that the president of the United States (every one of them since the invention of the internal combustion engine) IS NOT responsible for the high prices of gasoline in this country. The market has a small impact on price. The congress is partially responsible, mainly through their corrupt inactions that enable/assist the actual responsible parties. But even Congress is not totally at fault, they are simply the enablers of those who are truly the evildoers behind the gas price gouging.

One needs to look no further than the corporate offices of companies like Exxon, Shell, Conoco, BP, Valero, etc. These people have been manipulating the price of gasoline and diesel at the pump for decades and they are not going to stop until or unless the Congress passes some sort of law regulating price gouging. Which so far, the Republicans have blocked every legislative bill that has been put forth in this regard.

Not manipulating, because law reflecting some activity like that has been around for years and no one enforces it at all, period. More corrupt practices from our political class and the corporate class of super wealthy corporations that focuses on the rape and pillage of the working people in this nation will continue unabated and it will continue to do so as long as we have corrupted political hacks and immoral corporate executives.

And also consider that these selfsame oil and gas barons working with their wholly owned politicians have been stealing taxpayer dollars through congressionally allowed supposed Research and Development GRANTS and tax abatements to the tune of billions of tax dollars each year. Then they increase the level of theft by not paying the royalties to both the government and the native American tribes for the oil and gas they drill and extract from lands belonging to the public and to the Native American tribes for drilling wells on the Reservation lands. Over the decades, these companies have been guilty of avoiding these royalty payments and as a result their profits and stockholder payments have been obscenely large, much more so than if they had actually used integrity in their business dealings.

However, as one who has actually worked in that industry and for those executives, as an outside technology consultant, I can say pretty darn firmly, that integrity, honor, and honest dealings are not part of their make up.

This manipulation of fuel prices spans decades and across various types of fuel. For instance, they charge an exorbitant price for a gallon of diesel fuel when the cost for refining a gallon of diesel fuel is far less than gasoline. This quote from a question to the various resources shows this difference.

“Diesel fuel is heavier and less volatile than gasoline, which makes it simpler to refine from crude oil. As a result, diesel tends to be cheaper than gasoline in most countries around the world ” But not in the USA.

“Both gasoline and diesel fuel are produced from crude oil and therefore the cost of crude oil is the main factor influencing gasoline and diesel prices. However, fuel prices also reflect refining costs, taxes, and distribution and marketing costs. Additionally, retail prices are affected by market demand. These factors lead to a price spread between gasoline and diesel.

Refining costs: During the process of refining, crude oil is separated into different components and these components are converted through further treatments into gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum products. Diesel fuel is heavier and less volatile than gasoline, which makes it simpler to refine from crude oil. As a result, diesel tends to be cheaper than gasoline in most countries around the world. However, the introduction of Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) between 2006 and 2010 increased diesel production costs since ULSD requires more refining.” But not sufficient to justify the actual gap in prices between diesel and gasoline.

These comments were extracted from publications of various organizations who follow, monitor and report on the oil and gas industry. The facts are, that in this country, diesel is well above the gasoline prices at the pump. These same price structures are prevalent at marina fuel pumps where the fuel pumped are for motors in boats of various sizes. Whether gasoline or diesel, marine fuel is a major rip-off, because it is the same price as for cars and trucks on the highways, and I know that my old motor yacht never touched a highway. The idiocy is that the same highway taxes are applied to marine fuels as for fuels in automobiles driving on those highways.

One thing I noted with almost every single report of this type is that the authors are hesitant to point to the executive manipulation of the cost/price relationship. I can understand their reluctance, since much of their work is highly dependent on these same executives allowing them access to many items of their research. However, the facts remain that in the oil and gas industry, the senior executive level are very powerful, they have exorbitant amounts of money for lobbyists, and their demands as a result, are treated at coming from the absolute mandate for operations.

I have suffered through at least three instances in my driving life of the oil and gas companies manipulating the price of gas to move their desired base price point to a higher level. They increase the fuel prices blaming some “catastrophic happening” usually quite higher than their desired point price. Then they magically allow the price to float down slowly until their price point is reached. By then the driving public has been convinced the higher prices were necessary, but lordy, lordy, how nice and great these gas companies are for bringing the costs back down.

A prime example is in the early 70’s when the fuel companies convinced us that the Saudi Arabians had put a boycott on selling oil to us. What they didn’t admit to is their negotiation with this oil nation to perform this fallacy and then they would reap the increased price for their barrel of crude oil when the “crisis” is resolved! I recall waiting in long lines to purchase gasoline for my car when the last number of my license plate was either odd or even. I got the honor of paying three times the price for a gallon of gasoline as I had before this “crisis”. Then after a few weeks, the cost at the pump started to slowly drop. When it reached the price point of 1.25, the miracle of miracles happened and the fuel crisis was over, no more odd and even buy days, and plenty of gasoline was available.

Strange thing, some similar crises occurred a few years later when the price of gasoline soared to 5 dollars a gallon! That is when I sold my GM cars and bought two Toyota hybrid vehicles to save on fuel. Yep, even though I knew it was a made up crisis, I still was trying to break free of total subjugation to the Oil Barons and their need to increase their salaries, their bonuses, and some increase for the stock prices. BTW, I went back to my GM vehicles after a couple of years.

Well whoops, here we go again, in 2020 when they again manipulated the price at the pump again!!! This time it was the Covid Pandemic AND the invasion of the Ukraine nation by the Russian hordes. Well, well, fuel prices soared again to the 5 dollar and even beyond in some areas. Price gouging anyone? Of course and it was rampant. Then the master manipulators in Houston and elsewhere (oil and gas corporation HQs.), played a yoyo game, lowering the price, then jacking it back up, but not quite as far as before. Now lower, but raise again, not quite as high, lower again, raise again. Starting to get the picture now?

Hells Bells folks, time for the driving public to all grow a pair, hammer our congress critters over their delicate spot (their congressional seat, their access to bribe money, and their POWER). They need to understand that the driving public has gained some knowledge of the cons that the oil and gas companies are pulling, that they know about the price gouging, and that the members of congress are doing not a single damn thing to put a stop to the rape and pillage of our nation’s citizens.

Will we do it? See the first instance of this price manipulation and price gouging that I remember was in the 70’s for gosh sake, that was well over 50 years ago. And this time they are truly kicking our slats out, this fuel “crisis” is affecting most aspects of our daily lives. The supply chain depends on transportation of goods, fuel prices dictate the adverse pricing of goods and service. When the trucker fills up his transport vehicle paying an ungodly sum for that fuel fill up, (150 gallons usually) you can bet that we will pay the price at the cash register when we buy things. So, I truly wonder if we ever will put the fire to the feet of the politicians and the oil barons. Make congress stop their taxpayer money handed over in grants to these very wealthy companies. Make Congress pass enforceable laws/regulations that will stop or at least hinder the oil barons playing games with our lives and enriching themselves by billions of dollars.

Or we can just sit back, let the propagandists make us believe that the high fuel prices are the presidential administration’s fault or because of the war and other external things.

Sure, and Santa Clause will ride again on Christmas.