False Start

So... I got off the dime today and went down to the DMV to get my new driver's license, register my vehicles, yadda, yadda.  But I should use the proper term, since it's called the MVD in New Mexico.  That ain't irony; it's appropriate.  The story...

In order to get my driver's license/new registration(s) I need (a) my current license (check), (b) two pieces of paper to prove residence (semi-check: I had one on my person), and (c) an actual Social Security card (no check: I haven't had an actual Social Security card since sumthin' like for-fuckin'-ever).  I asked if my USAF ID card would do, since my Social Security number is my serial number and the number is right there on that official lil blue United States gub'mint document and the answer was "no," I must have an actual Social Security card OR an application for a replacement card... validated by the local Social Security office, which is in The Big(ger) City™.  So we must drive over to Clovis and apply for a new card.  But not today.

I also found out that to get NM titles for my vehicles I have to drive said vehicles to the MVD for a VIN validation.  That's no problem for The Green Hornet (obviously) but I'll have to do a shuttle operation to fetch El Casa Móvil de Pennington to the MVD for its inspection.  I do believe we'll register and title TGH next week, but ECMdP will wait until her Tejas plates expire next February, if she's not sold by then.

Fucking bureaucracy.  I hate, hate, HATE it.

Beer me! 

It Turns Out the Answer ISN'T 42...

... it's 50.  50 grams.  If it had been up to me I'd have left the weight of the inter-tubes at 42.  Just for the poetry that's in it, yanno?

Too geeky?  You prolly don't watch Nova either, do ya?

Unclear On the Concept, In Two Parts

That would be me, for item Numbah One.  Which, specifically, involves my defective Kindle I wrote about here.  I mentioned that Amazon was MOST responsive to my complaint and had put a replacement Kindle in the mail (well, UPS... mo betta) on the very same day I informed them of my issue.  I received the replacement in two days time, fired it up, transferred my content, and was Good To Go.  Oh, and I mailed the broken Kindle back to Amazon, too.

I was under the impression that my replacement Kindle was a loaner until such time as my device was (a) repaired and (b) returned to me.  Not true, that.  I just got off the phone with Amazon and was informed that my new Kindle is mine to keep... we're done now that I returned the broken Kindle.

How about that?  Ya just GOTTA love service like that.

Unclear On the Concept, Part Two, involves the City of Portales, specifically the city's water department.  I'll make this as quick as possible: I received my first water bill day before yesterday and was literally shocked at the amount: 121 Yankee Dollars, 75 of which was for water and the rest for garbage collection, sewer, and various service fees and taxes.  "This CAN'T be right" thinks I, so I hie myself off to City Hall and protest mightily.  The very nice lady (no sarcasm intended, she was very NICE) agreed the water charge seemed excessive for a guy who lives alone and filed a trouble ticket with the Public Works people, instructing me to phone back the next day to see about the outcome.  So, I called back yesterday and was informed there are no leaks in my water line but my meter had been misread and the revised bill was ONLY $108 (and change).  Happy now?

Well, no.

I called my landlord, explained the situation and inquired if the landscaping watering system might be hooked up to my meter, perhaps?  Amanda, the (once again) very nice lady at Homespot Properties said she didn't think so but she would look into the situation.  Further investigation on Amanda's part reveals the landscaping water meter is reading zero at this point in time, which kinda-sorta indicates things ain't exactly right.  I learned this when Amanda rang me back yesterday, she further informed me that there would be a four-way discussion today between the contractors who built the apartments, the landscapers, the city, and Homespot.  Further information should be forthcoming this afternoon.

So my water bill hangs in the balance... and I don't have any ideer how much I actually owe the city.  Just for comparison's sake, my neighbor's bill was around 40 Yankee Dollars, and there are three people living in HER apartment... herself, her roomie, and her baby girl.  You just know two wimmen and a baby consume more water than an old geezer, that much should be indisputable.  Sumthin' ain't right here.

Update, 1500 hrs:  Fixd, bill paid.  It turns out the landscaping contractors broke a water line during construction and the resulting spill was billed to me.  Homespot and I are splitting the difference; my bill is now $53.98 instead of $108.00.  I think that's still a bit high but I can live with it.  BIG kudos and thanks to Amanda at Homespot for running this issue to ground.  Quickly, too.  I think I'm gonna like livin' here.

Harassment

 From the Usual Source:

I sure am glad I'm not working any longer.  Or running for office... ANY office... for that matter.

I Went Lookin'...

... for a teevee ad that Chevrolet is runnin' in the Dee-troit market and came up empty.  But I did find this, which Occasional Reader Virgil might enjoy:

No continental kit, but it IS a pristine '58 Bel Air.  Nice!

Wuss!

I was gonna saddle up and head down to the DMV to become a New Mexican this afternoon.  Until I looked at the WX:

I'm thinkin' I'll wait until tomorrow... or mebbe Friday.

Just Sayin'

At least one Gentle Reader was perplexed at my Wegman's comment on last night's post and one other Gentle Reader from Rochester got it.  For the record: buying groceries at Wegman's is an experience unto itself... a GREAT experience.  I've been around the block a few times and have lived and shopped ALL over this great country, from border to border and sea to shining sea.  There are no better food markets than Wegman's anywhere... and few equals... period, full-stop.  I'm not alone in making this statement; herewith some evidence.  First, from GMA:

Sept. 2, 2006

Shopping for groceries can be an exercise in frustration, fraught with experiences you'd rather avoid.

The ideal? Lots of checkout lanes, wide aisles, and consistently fresh meat and produce -- like at Wegmans, one of several stores which got top ratings in the October issue of Consumer Reports.

[...]

The Rankings

The top ranked stores were Wegmans and Trader Joe's. Top regional chains were Wegmans in the Northeast; Publix and Harris Teeter in the South; Raley's in California; and Hy-Vee in the Midwest.

"All of these stores, especially the regional ones, did well because of their selection and their produce and their convenience," Kleman said.

From a 2010 readers' survey in Daily Finance:

TOP 5 FAVORITE GROCERY STORES

No. 1: Wegmans

Headquartered in Rochester, New York, Wegmans was founded in 1916 by the Wegman family. Wegmans operates 75 stores: 48 in New York State, 13 in Pennsylvania, 7 in New Jersey, 6 in Virginia and 1 in Maryland.


Sample Reader Comments:

sweet sue 14218 says:
"Wegmans is absolutely the best food store I have ever shopped in. [It has] lowest prices, friendly and helpful staff and the store is always spotless. Another good thing is they have plenty of cart corrals to put your empty cart in to keep them from hitting anyone [else's] car."

Neesko says:
"One of the highlights of visiting my son and family in Rochester, N.Y. is going to Wegmans. [On my] last visit, I [took] the tour of the [flagship] store. Wegmans, please come to Virginia -- especially Virginia Beach!" 

Another thumbnail sketch (there's a slideshow of great markets at this link):

Wegmans, which originated in Rochester, NY, is a gastronome's Mecca. This supermarket of all supermarkets offers more than 70,000 products from the every corner of the world. From basics to the authentic sweets developed by one of France's top pastry chefs, Pierre Hermé. The fresh fruits and vegetables max out at over 700 varieties and are picked daily (sometimes twice) and delivered directly to the store.

Not to be missed: The bulk food section. Barrels of everything from candy to nuts to baking flour and can be purchased in various quantities.

More here, and at The Wiki.  Weggies really IS all that and a bag o' chips; my local Wegman's even had a sushi bar and the fish was EXCELLENT.  As Small-Tee said in comments below: "If you never been to one, you'll never understand."

Dinner

Sometimes we be lazy... and it's good to be able to go down the block to the local grocery store and pick up dinner and dessert in a bag.  Like this:

OK, so it ain't Weggies.  But then... what IS?

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

We're listening to "The Very Best of Linda" this afternoon...  and the tune below is but one of the cuts on this most excellent album.  I love Linda's singin' but I can't handle her politics.  It's a great good thang that I can keep her singin' and her politics separate, innit?  But we digress...

It's so easy to fall in love
It's so easy to fall in love
It's so easy to fall in love
It's so easy to fall in love
Oh-ooh It's so easy to fall in love

No.  No, it's not.  You don't know what the f*ck you're talkin' about, Darlin'.

I'm Beginning To Take This Personally

So... I mentioned in these pages that I'd never had one single trick or treater in the nearly nine years I spent in Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park and that I was expecting better this year.  Guess what?  Not one single trick or treater.  I now have about a six month supply of small Kit Kat bars on hand... but at least I was smart enough to buy candy that **I** like.  Do ya think it was all that "get off my lawn!" stuff I've posted?

―:☺:―

Last night wasn't a total loss; we did have a nice sunset:

Note that my new westerly view isn't as nice as it was in BLHTP.  But I have a classic view of the ENMU water tower.  It's lit up at night, too.

Update, 0940 hrs:  This is why I'm beginning to take it personally: The Things You Don’t Always See.

I Don't Often Do This...

... but here's a post from the Shoebox blog in its entirety.

This is not a spoiler, it’s in the trailer and it’s pretty key to the whole movie: in the future (which sucks, btw) everyone kind of freezes at 25, then you have a year to live unless you buy extra time. So… your mom can be crazy hot. Your mom. She’s gonna look 25, same as you. But she’s your mom. This would not be easy to deal with.


Navigating the fact that everyone kind of piles up and the rich get richer and time is literally money in kind of Occupy Wall Street, the movie, is absolutely real actor Justin Timberlake. And this is his mom.  In the movie. In real life, this is his mom.  She seems nice. But not nice. I hope the future does not turn out like it did in this movie. I could not act like it’s OK that this is my mom. Also, no jet packs.

Longtime readers know that I'm not a movie guy and that's putting it kindly and gently.  I could pull a Jack Nicholson and tell ya what I really think about movies but you prolly couldn't stand the truth. Yeah, a quote from a movie.  I'm into irony.  

All THAT said, I love the Shoebox "Tiny Little Movie Reviews" on a number of different levels.  First and foremost, they're TINY and there are no long-winded expositions on anything, let alone the nuances of this actor, that special effect, or the other bullshit.  Second: they're always funny.  Always.  Third: the reviews tend to validate my feelings about movies, in general.  I guess I'm kinda un-American in that regard, but I really don't give a Big Rat's Ass.  I'm of the opinion Hollywood lost whatever relevance it had 30 years ago.  At least.

Two Posts In One!

Politics and Halloween!

From the Usual Source.

100 Years

From the Freep:

Some brands transcend commerce.

Through an alchemy of great products, good timing and sheer magic, they acquire meanings that reach far beyond their original purpose.

Levi's. Coca-Cola. Apple. Chevrolet.

Sometime during 100 years of carrying families on vacation, hauling hay wagons, winning races and hosting nervous first dates, Chevrolet became the vehicle of our memories, dreams and hopes as much as it is a line of cars and trucks.

Chevrolet created emblems for American eras. Chevy measured our national mood -- from the pastoral postwar '48 Suburban, to the pastel '57 Bel Air, space-age '63 Corvette Sting Ray, self-assured '69 Camaro, diffident '76 Chevette, back-to-work '99 Silverado and electrifying 2011 Volt.

Those were just a few of the Chevrolet icons that packed the Woodward Dream Cruise in a pre-centennial drive-in this summer. If you forgot to get a gift then, there's still time. Chevy's actual 100th anniversary -- 100, what's that? Platinum spark plugs? Radial tires? -- is this Thursday.

I've owned a few of those icons (by model year, not the year(s) I owned 'em): a '64 Impala (well, it actually belonged to The First Mrs. Pennington, but I had privileges), a '67 Chevelle SS396,  a '72 Nova, a '92 Vette (above), and a '96 Impala SS.  Oh yeah, and one of those gotdamned Chevettes, which was known as The Winter Vette when I lived in Dee-troit.  THAT was an eminently forgettable and hated little car.

But.  Chevy and I go back quite a ways.  Not the whole 100 years, to be sure, but enough time to firmly establish the marque as an icon in MY world.  Happy Anniversary, Chevy... here's to another 100 years!

You'll note Chevy was celebrated at the annual Woodward Dream Cruise this past summer, and there are some cool Camaro pics on their home page.  Speaking o' the Dream Cruise... I drove in the very first Dream Cruise, all the way from Ferndale (where I lived) to my Buddy Greg's house in Birmingham, where we did some on-the-spot repairs to this beast (a 1954 Cadillac Sedan De Ville):

The repairs were needed in order for The Second Mrs. Pennington and I to get the thing home.  That was also our first summer with "The Smokin', Drinkin', and Partyin' Car," named as such by TSMP.  From an old post:

TSMP christened the car “The Smokin’, Drinkin’, Partyin’ Car” and she most certainly was that. The best story about that car can only be told in “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” terms and involved TSMP and I splitting the upholstery in the Caddy’s back seat. Or, to put it another way…we were exuberant and the upholstery was old. In our garage. On a Saturday afternoon. Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

Good times.

Broadening Our Horizons XXXIV

We're just in from the local beer emporium where we picked up a couple o' sixers to get us through the weekend.  Like this:

What you see is a good ideer from that lil ol' brewery in Shiner, Texas... which is a sixer of six different beers from Spoetzl, two of which... the Kosmos Reserve and the Brewer's Pride... will be new to me once I get around to drinking 'em.  Variety packs from breweries ain't exactly a new thang, but ya usually see 'em in 12-packs, not sixers.  And those 12-packs almost always have two bottles of sumthin' you don't like so I usually give 'em a pass.  But a sixer?  Yeah, I like that ideer... coz if I don't like one of the beers it ain't no biggie.  Are ya listenin', Sammy Adams?

But that said, our broadening exercise today is Alimony Ale, a name which intrigued me seein' as how Mother's Day is fast approaching (you know: pay this mother, pay that mother, yadda, yadda, not the least o' whom is the Mom of the adult boys, who gets a sizable chunk of my USAF retirement every month.  But we digress.).  And it's an IPA, of which there are very few of those I've met that I didn't like.  One of the Bros... Jason, specifically... likes it:

Presentation: 12oz brown. Turn of the century cartoon of a small man, big mouth character holding a sign. On the sign it states, "The Bitterest BREW in America."

Appearance: Very dark with ruby edges and a nice looking thin lace that retains.

Smell: Big and malty with caramel and rum notes.

Taste: Extremely smooth, rich malt sweetness that transforms into a roasted grain dryness becoming almost tart. Hop leaf flavours finish at the end, mixing well with the complexity of malt afters.

Notes: Not the bitterest brew, but, very malty and complex. The malts definitely reign in this brew. Very unique and enjoyable.

He gives the beer a B+ and I'm in agreement.  The beer is plenty bitter enough, though.  And now it's time to take this show out to the verandah where we can actually enjoy Alimony.  And a cigar.

Clarkson On Open-Air Motoring

That's the title of Jalopnik's Number Three choice of Jeremy Clarkson's Ten Best Lines, ever... and here's the quote, quoted:

3.) Clarkson on the joys of open-air motoring

Suggested By: AJ Supera

Why it's brilliant: "My epiglottis is full of bees!" Clarkson may have really gotten Top Gear going with his early review of the Ariel Atom, and it was lines like this, and, well, whatever flapping noise his face was making in the wind that got the world hooked.

And the video from whence it came:

I can relate to the above... speaking as a guy who rode sportbikes for over 40 years.  While we're on the subject I think I'd like to have an Atom; but with that said I'll stick with The Green Hornet.  TGH doesn't have NEAR the power of an Atom but it provides all the sensations of open-air motoring along with a kick-ass stereo AND air conditioning.  OK, so I am compensating.  What of it?

If you love cars and bon mots you can waste well over an hour at the Jalopnik link above; there's some seriously GOOD stuff there.  Mr. Clarkson can certainly turn a phrase.

Heh

"Leverage.  Portfolio.  Fiduciary."  Heh.

Getting Ready For Spook Nite

How d'ya like me so far?  I think it's an improvement over the usual me.

You can do this too... and here's a brief vid about how.

What's GOOD About "Inequality"

From last night's PBS Newshour:

Watch Does U.S. Economic Inequality Have a Good Side? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

A couple o' excerpts from the transcript, just in case you don't wanna watch the video:

PAUL SOLMAN: What's good about inequality?

RICHARD EPSTEIN: What's good about inequality is if, in fact, it turns out that inequality creates an incentive for people to produce and to create wealth, it's a wonderful force for innovation. So let's just go and take somebody like Bill Gates again or any entrepreneur.

Guy earns $50 billion, right? How much consumer welfare has he created by selling products? We can estimate the amount of gains to purchases, because everybody who buys one of his products or one of Steve Jobs' products, in effect, values it more than he receives.

The social gain from inequality to consumers of those goods probably dwarfs the entrepreneurial gain by a factor of 10-1 or 20-1.

PAUL SOLMAN: So you mean the incentive for great wealth had Steve Jobs and Bill Gates create products which created so much value that it far outstripped the compensation to them?

RICHARD EPSTEIN: Yes.

And one of the fundamental mistakes about the egalitarians is they're so interested in trying to minimize differences that they don't understand the completely adverse effects that it has on the size of the pie.

[...]

PAUL SOLMAN: In the period in which the American economy grew most vigorously, the United States had higher marginal rates, much higher, higher capital gains rate, and more prosperity and greater economic equality.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: No.

First of all, the highest marginal tax rates were also accompanied with tax shelters for everybody in those rates. The second thing is that the monies that were being spent in those days were being spent in much more intelligent ways. That is, if you go and you look at either state or federal budgets and see the amount of money that is spent on what we would call standard infrastructure improvements, and spent well, like the interstate highway program in 1956, that was very high.

The money that is spent today on infrastructure improvements of a good variety is a tiny fraction of what it was then. And the amount of money that is spent essentially on transfer payments has mushroomed enormously.

The fundamental truth is, the tax system is more redistributive than it was before, which will lead to a reduction in efforts, and the regulatory burden on the economy is vastly greater, and we would expect lower levels of growth.

Mr. Epstein... a Libertarian law professor at New York University of Law...  slays a few more liberal sacred cows and guts pet arguments for redistribution in this brief piece, which is well worth watching.  Or reading, your choice.  The whole thang is pretty refreshing.

Snowbirds...

... outside my front door:

And a clean and dry Green Hornet:

No outdoor Happy Hour today, methinks.

Still More Thievery

From the Shoebox blog:

Hit “random” in the lower left corner until you find a cool place.  Then hit “Rorschmap” in the upper right corner.

That's just pretty danged cool!