This and that, over two weeks.

I've had lots of thoughts I've wanted to write about here, but the thought of the time it takes me to put electronic pen to electronic paper always puts me off. Maybe if I do bullet points, ay?

*I fucking LOVE my new HP laptop. This is the fastest, best sounding, best keyboard laptop I've ever owned. I should have dumped my piece of shit Dell for one of these ages ago.

*Speaking of sound, I've just discovered Two Steps From Hell, a production group that makes music for movie trailers and such. Great background music while I write this. And the the computer is also running my Carbonite restore program re-installing my 170 gigabytes of photos, music, and what not on the new laptop as well. The computer isn't even breathing hard.

*Who coined the new term "Amazeballs"?  It's a lame ass word. "Awesome sauce" is equally stupid.
There's a 26 year old woman who writes a blog and uses these words every time she writes a post and it makes her sound like a 13 year old. I've had to stop reading her.

*Why is it some of the most judgmental people in this world are those that are not suppose to judge. In fact they are taught not to judge, but to leave that to their god to do. And when they take offence at something someone else says and are rebuked, they act the martyr. My mom had a saying for religious zealots: So heavenly bound they're no earthly good. Nuff said.

Week Two.

*I don't like the sound of Doves cooing. (I thought of writing a post titled "When doves cry") I also don't like  the sound of single engine planes flying overhead, or damp cloudy overcast days and nights. All things that remind me of my youth. I grew up in southern California, Orange County. Right next to what's now called John Wayne Airport. In the land of "late night, early morning low clouds", a term the local weathermen always used. It was depressing, and perhaps why I liked living in the low desert areas years later. While I didn't have a bad childhood, I don't have the best memories of some of it either. Quite complicated really, as I suppose many others can relate too as well.

*Just started hearing about how medical centers in the US are turning away cancer patients for treatment because of the sequester cuts. SO many things about this makes angry. Stupid political party posturing, the inability of our current President to act presidential and make things happen, the Republican party being run by fucking idiots. That the richest county on earth won't even take care of it's own (from birth to death).
I read some comments last week on a news story, one of them said America is a laughing stock of much of the world today and another person replied that wasn't true and that America is the greatest country ever. I commented back that they must have their head in the sand and have never traveled out of the US.
I was talking at work about this subject to a good friend I've know for years, and he said "well, there's still no other place you'd rather live though, right?
I told him I could name at least three... Don't get me wrong, this is my country of birth and even if I could live in another country my family ties here would not make me leave. But in many other countries, my quality of life (i.e. healthcare, work environment, retirement) would be much much better than the shit many of us have to put up with here.

*I'm almost to the point that I don't want to vote anymore, I'm getting that disgusted with politics. The only thing that stops me from doing that is the thought of Republicans gaining control again. Because when and if that happens, this country truly is doomed to fail on many fronts.

*I'm still waiting for my Carbonite to restore my 170 gigs of photos, music, and stuff on the new computer. Guess I'm the impatient type..but it has been a week and a half...sheesh!

*It's taken me 2 weeks to write this out, well parts of two Sunday mornings really. Glad I'm not trying to write regularly here...

February 20th

This was the day I said Enough. 

Enough with the cold, the snow, the dreary cloudy days of sunless melancholy.

Maybe it was because I was suffering through a head cold  I don't know. This winter hasn't even been that bad, not much snow, only a few weeks of really cold temps. It's just that I've had a harder time of staying warm this winter. Maybe the last few. And of course as I write this on  March 3rd, I have sunlight streaming through our multiple front windows and the high yesterday was 56, which had to be pushing a record. And I feel much better than two weeks ago.

What I don't want to admit though is that maybe the reason I'm feeling this way is because I'm getting older.
And tired.
Of long cold days with little sun.
Of shoveling the snow. I have a snow thrower, but it doesn't seem necessary to fire it up when you only have a few inches on the ground.
Of driving in the snow with some drivers who don't know how to slow the fuck down and then spin out or roll over on the interstate, sometimes taking innocent drivers with them.
Of putting on extra clothing to try and warm up in the house without cranking the heat up to the "un-payable" level...

I used to enjoy watching the first snowfall of winter, even looked forward to it.
Now I find myself beginning to understand the mindset of the "snowbirds", people who flock south to their winter homes only to return up north for the milder summers we enjoy here.

Terry and I have talked of moving back to California to be closer to my disabled sister and her parents as they get older, but until my stepson is finished with high school in 3 years Spokane will remain our home. And it would cost so much to live in Cali these days.

I still dream of living in Prescott Arizona where I used to own property. The climate there is good, winters get a few light snowfalls and temps in the 40's mostly. Summers don't usually go above 90 and have lots of thunderstorms, which I love. And the area has many art and photography galleries. But Terry isn't keen on it, so I suppose we'll compromise on another place should we decide to relocate.

Terry jokes we need to win the lottery so we can do what we want when the time comes, which makes us laugh. I could think of quite a few places we could move to and/or visit with that kind of money.

Of course that has nothing to do with the fact we bought 5 tickets yesterday...

POS

This is Byran J Storms, a 38 year old POS. In the retail business POS stands for point of sale, but in this instance I'm using it for something completely different. This last Sunday afternoon Storms was driving around Spokane when he caused a horrible accident. I'll let you read one of the news articles that will explain the rest:

(Storms) had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest when he drove past a marked patrol car as he headed north on Helena Street.The officer saw something suspicious about Storms or his black Honda and had made a u-turn to follow the vehicle when Storms punched the accelerator and then ran the stop sign at Helena and Empire (at around 100 miles an hour).
"There was no pursuit; we weren't chasing the car. He just observed the car driving at a high rate of speed at Helena and then the accident happened before he even had a chance to get it behind it," Captain Dave Richards with the Spokane Police Department said.Storms' speeding Honda hit a Ford Ranger in the passenger side door, killing the driver instantly, the force of the impact driving the truck into a power pole, trapping the victim inside. "After the collision occurred, the suspect driver got out and fled on foot and then a citizen pulled up and then went after the driver along with the officer who saw him to begin with, and so with the help of the citizen, we took the driver into custody," Richards said. Two passengers who were in the car with Storms suffered serious injuries; one of them broke nine ribs. After he was apprehended, Storms was also taken to the hospital with his own injuries where a sample of his blood was taken to determine if he was driving under the influence. He was subsequently charged with hit and run, a single count of vehicular homicide and two counts of vehicular assault. Storms has previous convictions for theft, possession of a controlled substance and two counts of eluding. In addition to the warrant out for his arrest for escaping community custody, Storms did not have a valid Washington driver's license. The passengers inside Storms' car also told police at the hospital that they felt he was under the influence of methamphetamine, which would also be a violation of his release from prison. 

Here's a photo of the truck he hit. It was later confirmed he was high on meth. Police also later released the driver's name and age, Kevin Smith, 53. He had been going to the store for groceries and was on his way back home, 7 blocks away. He left behind his wife Renee whom he had been married to for 30 years and two sons. We knew all this before it was released because Renee works a few cubicles down from Terry. Monday was a very sad day at her office.

One of the things that concerns me about this incident is that Storms will not serve the rest of his life behind bars or face the death penalty, because even though he's been charged with vehicular homicide it seems like others in the past charged with the same crime tend to get lesser sentences, the courts system in essence saying that killing someone with a vehicle isn't the same as stabbing or shooting them. Given this circumstance I hope not, because he murdered Kevin as surely as if he'd walked up to him with a gun and pulled the trigger.

And there may be those that say he had a hard life growing up, he was addicted to drugs, or out of his head because he was high at the time. That no one had helped him clean up his life. But you know what? I don't fucking care. He made his choices, and now has to live with the repercussions. The damage he has left behind to Kevin's wife, sons, friends, and family is permanent, as is the pain and sadness that will be with them forever. Bryan Storms deserves to spend the rest of his days on death row in Walla Walla, and hopefully that is where this piece of shit meth head ends up.