Harleys, Cars, Girls & Guitars

My Declining Senior Budget

I'm up early this morning, as usual, counting my senior pennies. Not going back to work. That's not really an option. Don't want to bang out code or do corporate multimedia work again. And, I'm babysitting my grandkids virtually full time now that their dad has a new job. So, I'm going to have to live on what I've got for the rest of my days.

Well, I'm not really feeling despair, but I always liked this particular R. Crumb comic cover. And, yeah, there ain't that much on TV to fill up a senior citizen's day.

Can't wait for baseball season to start. I can afford the $150 or so to subscribe to MLB.tv so that I can watch all the Cubs' games. This promises to be a great year for the Cubs. More on that in another post.

So, I'm cutting all my expenses down to the bone, as they say. Any non-essential bill has been dumped. My few remaining debt obligations will be paid off when I sell my house, as I will be doing within the next couple of years. I'll be leaving Woodstock to buy a property jointly with my daughter and son-in-law. 

I don't buy anything unless I really need it, and I don't find that burdensome. I never was an ardent shopper. Although I like expensive musical instruments, fancy motorcycles and cars and expensive vacations, I no longer need such things nor can I afford them. I dress in sweats all the time, and only put on a pair of blue jeans to go to church.

I've even stopped buying weed because I can't afford it. That shit makes me fall asleep anyway.

I'm even thinking of selling the Harley. Bouncing off the pavement is no longer a good idea, and sooner or later every biker falls. Since Myrna died, I haven't had a girl who wants to ride bitch. Riding alone is pretty... well... lonely.

My truck will be paid off in a few months and I hope to avoid buying a new vehicle for at least five years. Doing that reduces expenses by several hundred dollars. It's cheaper to keep fixing up the old truck and I don't need to impress anybody.

So, I'm paring the bills down to the absolute minimum. Everything must go! 

Trump Uber Alles

My determination to remain uncommitted to any politician or political movement is being tested, I admit, by The Donald. I've been fed up with PC censorship since... well, forever. The era of denunciation, informing, shushing and blacklisting has to end. Is Trump the one to do that? Should I focus on that as the primary concern in the upcoming election?

I'll go back to my oft-repeated mantra that I don't care that much who is president. My interest in Trump is based on the forlorn hope that he will deliver a knock out punch to the hate whitey crowd. I'm sure as hell not going to vote for a Democratic candidate. The organizing principle of that party is hatred of straight white men, i.e., me.

How does that madness affect me? (I always try to go back to that measurement.)

Not much. I've been retired and I haven't set foot in a corporate office in 3-1/2 years. Slugging it out with the Diversity enforcers is almost entirely in my past. I'm certainly not going to take up the crusade to defeat them or to drive them out of their apparatchik offices.

The closest I come to involvement in corporate America is watching professional sports. I watched an entire NFL game yesterday, Broncos vs. Pats, for the first time this season and I got the full dose. Especially the commercials... diversity propaganda at its finest. Every black family in a corporate commercial is Ozzie and Harriet.

Once again, why should I care? My family is doing well. My grandkids are being raised in a traditional All American household. I can turn off the TV any time I want. (And, I do. I sit in silence for days sometimes out in the woods in the Catskills.)

Political corruption in the U.S. is beginning to look similar to corruption in a Third World country. Hillary really does resemble Imelda Marcos. Clinton shamelessly uses political office as an opportunity to collect every available bride and payoff. Every agency of the Fed has been politicized under Obama and committed to stifling free speech and dissent.

Am I going to get on my white horse and fight that?

Probably not.

I'm tired even of the political arguments on Facebook. But, I spend so much time alone that the urge to simply converse with another human frequently overwhelms me. Against my better judgment, I go to Facebook for companionship. By default, the only thing I have in common to talk about with strangers is politics. So, back into the abyss.

From a policy standpoint, Trump is problematic. He's been all over the place, and he has no public record. Who in the hell knows what he would do once in office? (Of course, it's a crap shoot with any candidate, isn't it?)

I'm all in with Trump's announced determination to secure the southern border, to build a fence and to stop further Muslim immigration. Since I no longer want a job, the issue of illegal immigration means less than it once did. However, I am within striking distance of New York City and another major Jihadi attack on the city (which we all know is coming) would have a major impact on me and my family.

Can The Donald stop the Muslim invasion? Can he stop the era of PC censorship and Diversity enforcement? 

Answer: Damned if I know.

Up All Night!

My sleep patterns have become disjointed since I retired. I only sleep in the normal way, that is for a 6 to 8 hour stretch at night, when I'm with my girlfriend on weekends. When I'm alone, I nap for 2 or 3 hours two to four hours a day.

The stretch from about 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. is my most productive time. Unless the girlfriend is here, I'm up, playing music, sketching and writing my weblog entry.

I don't like sleeping alone, but what can I do?

Myrna wanted to screw every night. I remember how cozy it was sleeping with her, both of us naked. That constant pleasure is never going to return to my life. I was in a panic over that for the first few years after her death. I searched for a while in the hope that another Myrna might be out there... but... no.

As we age, gluttony gradually replaces lust as our primary sin, by default or by design. By default, because a partner is no longer available or our partner has become obese or disabled or both. By design, because the struggle to get along with a partner has worn us out. I snack as a substitute for sex.

Out here in the Catskill Mountains at night, I am incredibly secluded. Nothing to interrupt me. I don't keep the TV running, as is common among seniors. When I am not playing music, I simply enjoy the silence.

I don't know if I am happy, but I am content.

One or two of my naps I save for my babysitting gigs with my grandchildren. They take a morning and an afternoon nap, ranging from one to two hours. Not much else that I can do but join them so that  I don't disturb them. The twins are 7-1/2 months old, still developing toward some sort of full consciousness of their existence.

I alternate between holding the boy or the girl of the twin set while we nap. Babies need a lot of holding. So do grandpas.

Retirement Blues

Our school careers and our working lives are organized around deadlines, crises, conflicts with other people and the struggle to achieve. All that is gone for me in retirement. I'm financially secure on a lower middle class level. So, every day, I'm free to do whatever I want with my time. My only obligation is babysitting my grandchildren three afternoons a week.

So, what to do?

I sketch, play music, attend church, go to the gym and take care of my house. What's missing is the sense of urgency that used to pervade my day. Nothing pressures me, which is good in a way and... well... bad in a way.

A couple of my friends are attempting to start up new businesses in their retirement. One has bought what I'd estimate to be $50,000 worth of photographic equipment in an attempt to start a video business addressing local shops and small businesses. I certainly don't want to do that. That kind of investment would just about wipe me out. And, what if the biz fails?

Besides, I spent my life working for the biggest corporations. I have absolutely no skill at dealing with mom and pop shops. Nor do I want to learn how to deal with them.

How to connect with other people? Work was always the way to meet people, make friends and find romance. Church sort of serves that purpose, in that I meet non-destructive people there who share my values. But, church only takes up a couple of hours per week. My girlfriend keeps suggesting that I find a part time job at one of the big box stores. That doesn't hold much appeal.

Some days, I hang out at Panera, a favorite of the old folks because the coffee is good and the refill is bottomless. I do find some companionship there. Most of the hanger outers are, however, women. And, I'm not looking for romance. In fact, I'm looking to avoid romance for the first time in my life.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning and I've got a long day stretching ahead of me with no meetings, no deadlines, no conflicts and no chores that I really have to do. Yes, it's freedom. It's also quite a challenge to find useful and compelling things to do. I don't want to sit down in front of the TV, at least until late this evening.

I plan to download C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. Perhaps, a return to the kind of serious reading I did decades ago as an undergraduate student is the best way to use all that time that stretches before me.

Hooked on the Narco Soap Opera

Once I watched one narco soap opera, El Cartel (57 episodes), Netflix flooded my suggestions list with narco soap operas.

Narco soap operas have everything... cocaine cowboys, wild beautiful women, machismo, chain saw dismemberments... Who could ask for more?

Here's a good article on the narco soap opera phenomenon. 

I've tried to get into the Pablo Escobar narco soap opera, which runs 61 episodes! But, it just doesn't seem to be getting my attention.

RT TV on Time-Warner Cable!

If you want to know the official Russian propaganda position on just about everything, watch RT TV. It's fascinating. Time-Warner now includes RT TV in its cable package! I also get the channel on Roku.

I'm not assuming anything here, or accusing anybody of anything, but the outlook and language of RT TV is virtually indistinguishable from MSNBC.

On RT TV, the U.S. interest in the Middle East is seen as purely a quest for power and an intrusion into what the Russians consider their rightful sphere of interest.

Of course, the conceit of RT TV is that Russia is a visionary democratic state, just as the former Soviet Union always advertised itself. Russia is very far from being a visionary democratic state.

It is, however, quite interesting to hear the ruthless criticism of the U.S. from what is, once again, an enemy... Russia. Russian criticism of the U.S., and U.S. criticism of Russia, is probably closer to the truth than the official propaganda of either side.

Cutting the Cord to Cable TV?

I'm about to cancel my subscription to Time Warner Cable. Reducing a monthly bill is my primary motivation. I also want to eliminate a distraction, which would be those 1,000 channels of crap. 

I don't have that much time left. 10 years of good health, mostly likely, ahead of me. Filling up my time with whatever's on cable... why do I need to do that? 

Streaming video through my Roku appliance gets me most of what I want to watch that is worth my time. That would be documentaries, nature programs and movies. News is everywhere on the internet. I can wait until the next morning to watch O'Reilly's Talking Points.

Here's what only the cable companies now offer... NFL games and big time college basketball and football. My alma mater sells its games, via the Big Ten Network, to Time Warner and the other big cable companies. Is that content worth 160 bucks a month? The answer is a resounding "no!"

I think that that content will become available on a subscription basis to non-cable subscribers in the future. I'll go without until it does. The major playoff games in the pros and college can be viewed at a sports bar or at the gym or at a friend's house.

I'll be losing what I call my "landline" phone, which also transmits via Time Warner's co-axial cable. My cell phone number will become my only phone number. It will take a while to get that message out there. Now that I'm retired, I don't receive a lot of phone calls.

I want my time to be focused on useful and satisfying pursuits. I don't have a lot of time left. Sitting there vacantly watching whatever comes on the cable TV channel can wait for the nursing home.

Streaming Internet Video to TV

Who isn't fed up with paying for cable TV? I subscribe to Time Warner. 1000 channels of crap for $160 a month. Of course that includes internet and phone. So, I'm looking for a way to buy only the programming that I want, and to be able to use my TV as, essentially, a projection screen for internet video.

The three main contenders in the internet streaming marketplace are Ruko, Chromecast and Amazon Fire. Each produce a box or stick that connects to an HDMI port on your TV.

I tried out Chromecast over the past few days. It is very easy to install and to set up. I had the whole thing running in 30 minutes. Then, an unanticipated problem asserted itself.

Chromecast provides very limited programming. All of these streaming video appliances work on the app model. If you want Netflix, there's an app for that. Same for YouTube. Chromecast offers very few apps. So, it is an adjunct to cable TV, not a replacement.

I want specific types of programming. Netflix covers movies, badly. They don't update their catalog often, so their offerings are outdated. Sports programming, specifically Fighting Illini and Cubs games, are big issues. I have a limited interest in NBA and NFL games. Nature documentaries are good. And, that's really all the programming I want. Chromecast's apps don't come close to covering this.

So, the really important issue in streaming video is not the tech appliance... it's the availability of programming. Here, Roku is the winner. It offers a voluminous catalog of over 1,500 apps. Conspiculously missing, however, is an app for the Big Ten Network and the NFL. So, none of these appliances are going to stream Fighting Illini football and basketball

New Mobile Device Strategy

Big changes. I'm putting aside my iPhone and my iPad, and replacing both with an iPad mini with retina display. Don't know if it will work, but I plan to use the iPad as my cell phone. Skype will be my gateway. At the same time, I'm canceling my cable TV and home landline service. Below, a pic that compares a full size iPad to an iPad mini.

Why make these changes? Cost is the first consideration. I'm trying to cut my expenses down to the size of my retirement budget. I don't want to go back to work just to support bills that can be eliminated. I'll cut my monthly bills by about $75!

Cable TV is a waste of money. Nothing I want to watch. I can get Cubs' games over the internet. I watch movies on Netflix. Of course, if cable TV is available, there are plenty of time waster shows I can watch, but why do that? I'm also fed up with having multiple phones and I've been wanting to dump my landline for some time. I'll visit Time Warner today and make the changes. (They've been fighting me over this.)

When basketball and football season arrive, I'll think about whether I really need to watch the games, and how I will access them. The NBA is available over the internet. Big Ten, not yet. I don't need to watch NFL games until the playoffs, so that can wait until December.

The iPad mini is going to be my cell phone and tablet. I already use Skype as my internet phone over my iMac at home. Works fine. I'll have to work out the wrinkles of using Skype for voice mail and call waiting. And, I only want to have one phone number. I'm sick of having multiple phone numbers. I'll install Skype on the iPad mini and use that as my cell phone when I'm away from home.

My primary uses for a tablet are:  (1) as a lyric prompter when I play for with the Old Dawgz, (2) to download, edit and crop pics when I'm away from home, (3) to access the internet and e-mail away from home, (4) and to write within some sort of word processing program. 

I've been taping my iPad to the top of my piano, and using it to display lyrics when I play with the Old Dawgz. It's a little too big and unwieldy, so the smaller iPad mini will be an improvement. People in the audience won't really see it. I need to be able to display lyrics when I'm onstage, because my Old Dawg brain doesn't remember shit like it used to. The smaller display size might present some problems, but none that I can't resolve.

My iPad mini will be wifi/cellular ready, which means that I can access the internet and e-mail anywhere I can access cell service. So, I won't be stopping into Panera for a cup of coffee and a pastry so often so that I can use their wifi. This might have a positive effect on my waist line, too. And, I'll save some money that I've been spending in coffee shops.

It will take me a little time to iron out the details. Gotta notify friends and biz associates that the home number is going to be phased out. New biz cards will have to be ordered. Etc.

Uncle Grandpa... My Favorite New Cartoon

When I babysit for my granddaughter, I turn the TV to childrens' cartoons. At six months, Baby Jane can't comprehend the action, but she really appreciates the movement and color. My current favorite is Uncle Grandpa, which airs on the Cartoon Network.

Uncle Grandpa, is an absurd character, an old codger dressed in shorts and lederhosen. Being an old grandpa is kinda ridiculous... take it from me. The job of the babysitting grandpa is to get down on the floor on all fours and make the baby laugh. I'm pretty good at it, too!

Episodes of the show often feature time travel and wormholes, things that young children cannot understand. The show clearly aims as much at an adult audience as at the pre-school audience.

Uncle Grandpa is sort of psychedelic in the style of the old Zap Comix. Grandpa drives around in a weird RV that seems to exist outside of the normal laws of physics. His friends include a flying tiger, propelled by his rainbow farts, and Pizza Steve, who is indeed an animated piece of pizza.

My other favorite cartoon shows are the oldies like Tom & Jerry. Given the level of violence on these cartoons, I'm surprised that they are still on the air. Popeye seems to have been banished from TV precisely because Popeye and Bluto do little except fight over Olive Oyl's pussy.

I'm studying all the animated cartoons for style tips. I'm just about ready to take some baby steps toward producing animated cartoon people. Stay tuned!