Tires

I've been driving for well over 40 years.  During that time, I've had too many vehicles to list, and have probably driven over a million miles.  It always kind of amazes me how much of an impact fresh rubber has on how a ride handles.  I got new tires on my Ultra last weekend and man, it almost felt like I had a sport bike.  The handling is so light and responsive!  I'm really looking forward to Tail of the Dragon next month.

My Chair

One of the few things in life I'm finicky about is my spot in the living room.  I have a reclining love seat that's got the perfect view of the TV, great acoustics, and an end table next to me for my beer and snacks.  It's probably the one and only stereotypical behavior I share with TV dads.  Hell, I even defy the stereotype by sharing the remote.

Late last week, the recliner cable broke.  I've developed a habit over the years where I'd kick the recliner into its upright position when standing up, so my redneck repair was to use some creative cable kinking and a little masking tape to hold the cable in an extended position, so the recliner would not stay in the upright position.

The deeper discussion was what to do about the loveseat.  The material is a combination of leather and vinyl.  The vinyl has started to crack and flake away over the years.  The cushioning has collapsed in places, so I sit at kind of a cant.  In the grand scheme of things though, I'm not a "throw it away" guy.  The chair still meets my functional needs.

So, for Father's Day, I ordered a new cable, and it arrived today.  My Father's Day gift to myself was replacing the cable so I can recline again. 

This is a Nice Analogy for the Entire Administration

 For those of you unfamiliar, our illustrious POTUS decided a few months back that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool urgently needed a paint job.  In typical Trump fashion, he started the project without permission and without following proper channels, and bullied dissent into silence.  He then swore up and down that he could get it done for cheap, because he knows a guy, and he vowed that it would be quality workmanship.

The outcome has been... less than promised.  The cost skyrocketed.  The timeline dragged.  The quality sucks.  In less than a month, paint is already peeling off the reflecting pool.  I've grabbed my popcorn, because I don't want to miss how he tries to spin this.

This whole boondoggle is a nice analogy for his entire presidency... er, presidencies. 

Coming Into Her Own

As I mentioned back in January, I sent my dog Gilmour across the rainbow bridge.  When that happened, I was more than a little concerned how that would impact my other dog, Lainie, who followed Gilmour everywhere.  She had a lot of isolation anxiety and I was worried that she'd go a little crazy if left alone, and destroy my house like she did shortly after I brought her home from the Humane Society almost a decade ago.

That hasn't been the case at all.  She's happy, mellow, and perfectly content to lay next to me while I work.  When I walk her, she's off leash, never running too far before turning around and checking in.  She used to be wary around other dogs, and now she's happy and outgoing.  She still gets nervous during thunderstorms, but even that seems less traumatic than it used to be.  It's wild what a mellow, happy, outgoing girl she's become over the last few months.  She's really coming into her own.

Sick of News

I've hit the point where I'm really sick of consuming news.  I think it's because my definition of news is significantly different that of your average reader.  Does the title of your piece contain words like crushed, owned, humiliated or humiliated?  If so, it's likely I will pass your article, because that's not journalism, that's sensationalism, and it is written for a very specific audience.  Does the title talk about a celebrity who makes an inflammatory comment, or alternatively, talk about vague, unspecified behavior designed to pique the reader's curiosity?  Sorry, not interested.  Unfortunately, it seems that the overwhelming majority of news is written not to enlighten, but to trigger an emotional response.  Congratulations, mass media.  Mission accomplished.  My emotional response is a combination of disgust and fatigue.

Solution in Search of a Problem

I'd like to propose the idea that Artificial Intelligence is a solution in search of a problem.

For years, AI pundits have promised the sun, the moon and the stars.  For mankind, it can find a cure for cancer.  For business, it can automate repetitive tasks currently performed by people.  Spoiler alert:  cancer is still a thing, and each automated job is an unemployed person.

To make matters worse, I have yet to see a definitive return on investment.  Yes, the economy is going gangbusters on this, but I can't help but think back to the dot com bubble.  Here's what I actually see...

People losing their jobs.  There was a socially contracted promise that these folks would be retrained, but what's happened is that low-skill workers have been unable to learn high-skill jobs.

Business has had a difficult time quantifying how AI has improved the bottom line. 

Computer costs are going through the roof due to the insatiable demand for hardware.  Data centers have deep pockets, leaving consumers and small businesses paying a higher cost for no additional benefit.

Data centers promise extra jobs, but in reality that's just construction.  Once the data center is up and running, the additional jobs are a pittance.

Data centers drive up the cost for utilities, such as electricity and water.

Data centers cause huge headaches for area residents due to noise, light, etc.

And the craziest part about this is that we're building a huge infrastructure for an unknown payoff.

Please prove me wrong. 

Sooo Relaxing!

As I mentioned yesterday, wifey and I had a couples massage.  It was great.  It's only the second time in my life I've had a professional massage, and it was most excellent.  I think part of the reason I had gone so long without was because I had a deep tissue massage the first time around, and I left more sore than when I went in, and I was sore for a couple of days.

This time around, I kept the lesson from my first massage and went for a medium pressure massage.  I had fully expected I'd have muscle tightness, even though I do yoga, but I had no idea how much tension my muscles were carrying.  My neck and shoulders in particular still feel crazy relaxed compared to before the massage.  I asked the massage dude what he noticed as a therapist, and he essentially said that I was tense all over.

You may notice that I had a guy do the massage.  I know that some people are weird about having a male masseur, but not me. 

After I got home, I cracked a few beers and relaxed even further, and later on, I made fajitas for dinner.  The fajitas had beef, chicken and shrimp.  Yummy!

Overall, it was sooo relaxing!  I think I'm gonna need to take the wife out and do this again sometime.