So I recently took delivery of the Dodge Ram 2500 that I had ordered.

Now, having a new truck, I had no need of my old truck, a 14 year old Dodge diesel 2500.

As the old truck had a bit of rust over the rear wheel wells, the dealer really wasn’t interested in it, and, rather than make a crap offer, suggested that I sell it myself. They even did a valuation on it to give me an idea of a fair selling price.

So, I put a sign on the truck and placed it at the end of the driveway. Had several folks stop and look at it in the first week, but no one came ad threw cash at me, so I put it on craigslist on Friday afternoon.

Now, Thursday, a guy had stopped by with his wife (who disapproved) and looked at it, had taken it for a drive, and had even talked a bit about price. Said he’d call me in the morning. Except that I never heard from him, which was why I placed the truck on Craiglist.

I got the usual lowball offers via email, at least 2 scammers, and one guy came and looked at it…all before noon. This guy appeared serious, looked closely at the truck, drove it, crawled underneath it, etc. Asked all the right questions. Told me he’d call me Sunday. Which he did. He then told me he’d take it, and we arranged a time for him to come and pick it up, which happened on Sunday afternoon. Cash on the barrelhead….

Monday, the guy who looked at it THURSDAY BEFORE called and said he had decided to buy my truck.

“Sorry, dude, I sold it on Sunday”

“What?”

“Sold it on Sunday. Guy from Craigslist looked at it and bought it”.

“But I went to the Bank and got money and all”.

“You never called me”.

“I meant to, but I got busy”

“You never told me you wanted it….You were supposed to call on Friday morning. I told you I was gonna put it on Craigslist on Friday….Today is Monday. I sold it Sunday.”

“Yeah, but I got busy”….”and I had to go out of town on Saturday”.

“Dude, the Truck. Is. Sold.”

“But….”

“You. Never .Called……I. Sold. The. Truck……If you wanted it, you should have called and made an arrangement…. not waited 4 days.

“But….I wanted it!”

“Sorry bro, you snooze, you lose. If you wanted it, you should have made it plain. Put down a deposit…..”

“But…..”

“Gotta go, bro, good luck next time”.

And I hung up, shaking my head. 

If you have a Gander Mountain Gift Card or a Credit Card with points….

Tex.

Houston man returns fire at car during Drive By shooting, hitting all three occupants of the car and killing 2 of them. 

Calm shooting under fire. 

And everything works, even the target turners.

See, the guy (or guys) that built it in 1980 or so ran the signal cable(s) for the control for the (homebuilt!) target turners and timers in the same conduit as the power, clean into the breaker box, then out again through a hole drilled in the side of the breaker box (not to code).

Replacement of the (now doubled breakers) box of even older vintage necessitated cutting this wire in order to remove the breaker box…….With zero slack in the control cables.

Which led to a lot of work. Splicing and more splicing. With wires that don’t match to colors because I have NO idea where they got the unmarked multiconductor cable with the weird colors. (Pastels? Really?) Blue with gray tracer and brown with red and yellow with white and all sorts of other interesting combinations.

Then, a bad splice led to lots of fun, as there is absolutely ZERO documentation on this thing. And I haven’t done relay logic (and an odd mix of 1980’s TTL) in like 30 years, since my first job outa tech school. Which made troubleshooting interesting and fun. Especially since the logic appears to be in several widely dispersed relay enclosures…..

It would have been nice to have a diagram, even a wiring diagram, much less a layout of the relays.

But it works, and I have made notes that should have been made 37 years or so ago (and maybe they were, but some dickhead tossed em?) and have placed the documentation inside the control box for the next poor soul who has to work on this.

If you do stuff like that, PLEASE remember the guy in the future who has to work on your stuff. Document…..Place documentation in the main control panel or nearby. Maybe notes as to where everything is?

But hey, it gave my brain a real workout, and the range is up and working the way it was when I started. 

They elected Macron.

I said that the US had taken a LARGE step towards the Abyss when we elected Barry the O the first time, and I can say that the French have taken an even greater step towards Oblivion in their choice of leader.

Thing is, this infection will spread, the Rot will get to other countries. Germany is already circling the rim, and now the rest of Europe will follow (with the POSSIBLE exception of the UK).

Bet on it. 5 years or so from now, France as you know it will no longer exist.

Here, from the BBC, is a comparison.

It is still Subsidized, it is still Socialized Medicine.

AND IT ISN’T REPEAL.

Thing is, now Trump owns it.  So when it craters in 3 years or so (and it will, the fail has already begun), it isn’t BarryCare anymore, it is DonnieCare……

And this is the end of the chance the GOP had to actually, you know, succeed in regaining its power. (Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory…..)

Which is good……They paid the dude’s costs and offered some compensation.

The question I have, however, is did they fire the flight attendant in the video? You know, the one that lied about “federal law” and “federal regulations” regarding seating of children and/or “Federal Law” when it came to “following orders of a flight crew” (which is only applicable IN Flight (defined as terminal to terminal, and since the plane hadn’t left the terminal….))…Did they fire her? If not, then they approve of her antics, and are only apologizing to the passenger and covering his costs and such because there is video evidence.

Unless they have fired her, then I gotta believe that Delta thinks this is good behavior for flight attendants.

Until folks start getting fired for this shit, it won’t stop.

I’d not have been as calm and cool and collected. 

Today is the Holiday for Mexicans in the US, but nowhere else in the world, not even Mexico, except for the State of Puebla…where it is a tepid holiday, at best…maybe some parades and such.

For the rest of Mexico, it is nothing special. In the US, it  is, somehow, a special day for Mexican Americans and their illegal friends. And an excuse to drink for the rest of us because cheap Mexican beer and tequila is on sale and there are drink specials at bars and such.

But mostly it is an American Mexican holiday, not a Mexican holiday. Sorta like St. Patrick’s day only with darker skin and black hair.

154 proof Gin. 

Not for the timid. A bit harsh on yer innards….But I bet that it will make great Rheumatism medicine and such.

They want folks to return those bottles, but I bet that none are returned. 

This bill wasn’t a “Repeal and Replace”.

It was a “replace ObamaCare with a “less bad” version of ObamaCare”.

Those 20 Representatives who voted against this abomination of a bill are the only ones who stood true to the GOP promise to REPEAL.

All of you who use the words Repeal and Replace are liars. There is no Repeal. There is still Socialized Medicine. There is still the concept that the State owes some people health care insurance based solely on their “reported” income. That the rest of the people should pay their own way. That failing to participate in the shared risk pool can be rewarded when people discover that they need someone to pay for their medical expenses (preexisting conditions) on the backs of the rest of us.

The whole concept of Socialized medicine still exists in this plan. What it has done is to more firmly cement the concept that Health Care insurance is a right as a citizen of the US.

The GOP has greatly failed to meet even my very low opinion and expectations of them.