Today is Fat Tuesday.

You can do as you wish with that info.

So I used to be a customer of “Drs Foster and Smith” online store for Pet medicines and other pet supplies.

They were bought by PETCO. I got the email about that a month ago.

In the past two weeks I have gotten more than 30 emails telling me about the wonderful deals available to me from Petco.

I unsubscribed… three times.

But they “want my business”…”to establish a relationship” as a pet owner . Nice way to start out there, assholes. I got maybe 3 emails a year from Foster and Smith, and I liked it that way. Spamming me at a rate of more than twice a day doesn’t do much to make me want to do business with you. In fact, It pretty much makes sure I won’t.

Does anyone in the marketing department have any sense at all?

That when I am judged in the afterlife, I get credit for the tings that I DON’T say.

Somedays I should get a medal and cookie for the fact that let some shit go.

Just sayin’. 

Seems that Mr Cohen has some words that we mere citizens are too fragile to hear, so today’s testimony is behind closed doors and private in order that special secrets are not revealed on television. 

Which means that the spectacle yesterday was just for show, and had no real import, but was, rather just a method of making TheDonald look bad as this dildo-holster was able to say really bad things about Mr. Trump with no real recourse by the accused.

And anyone who cannot see that Cohen was coached and instructed to say certain things in a certain way is either blind, stupid, or just plain so partisan that they will believe anything as long as it fits their belief.

So there I was, putting my stuff back in my pockets and putting my belt and shoes on after passing through the TSA checkpoint.

And, behind me in the line is some poor middle aged woman getting hand searched after triggering something on the  machine she had passed through.

And another TSA woman was gathering up her bins of stuff from the belt after passing through the scanner.

And I’m thinking”Poor lady, you can tell she’s a terrorist looking person” as she is taken away for further inspection, looking terrified.

And I, helplessly,watched it happen.

I am part of the problem with this country.

GWB should be hung for letting this happen.

And, Finally.

I didn’t do anything different the second time.

So I got my new ADS-B transponder installed.

I have a reservation for a $500 rebate. Which is nice, since the equipment and installation cost $4500. (I knew this cost when I bought the plane, and figured the installation cost when I made an offer).

So, today, perfect VFR weather. Skies clear to above 25,000 feet, visibility greater than 10 miles.

One of the requirements of getting the $500 rebate from the FedGov is a “validation flight”.

One must have at least 30 minutes of “Mauevering Flight” in class C or better airspace to “validate” the installation…. “Manuevering Flight” is, however, undefined.

That was the flight I did today. I flew around the outer shelf of a class C airport for 1.1 hours plus a bunch of class E and G airspace…total time 1.6 hours. No, ATC doesn’t have a defined route nor any procedure in place for ADS-B validation requirements….I asked. So I did turns, climbs, descents touch and goes and straight and level. ATC wasn’t thrilled.

And I just got my report. Not good enough.

Thing is, apparently LOTS of people are having this same issue. Yes, the system sees you. Yes, we fly the areas. Yes, we met the time limits. And No, sorry, not enough. Try again.

But it is kinda hard to meet requirements when the standards are undefined.

At this rate, I’ve burned $110 dollars worth of fuel failing to meet those undefined standards.

Gonna go do touch and goes and REALLY piss off the ATC folks tomorrow.

At this rate the fuel is gonna cost more than the rebate. 

Seems that the Media is decrying the terrible fate of all those poor people who are doing their taxes and are finding out that, while they got an overall reduction in taxes, they failed to bother to look at their payroll deductions and now aren’t getting as large a tax return (although other, more credible news outlets claim that tax refunds are up a tiny bit over last year.

It is, of course, Trump’s fault.

It’s his fault that they never learned how it works. That tax time is merely a time to settle up your accounts. To determine if you paid too much, or too little over the previous year. (Perhaps it is the fault of the schools that don’t teach this?? I dunno. I learned it school, but I am old)

All of a sudden, the media is trying to make Trump look bad, again, because some folks can’t manage their tax burden. Because they, apparently (and I heard this many times from folks who worked for me) “I don’t pay taxes….I get money back every year! “

I don’t, in case you haven’t figured it out, feel sorry for folks that are that ignorant of how things work.