Monthly Archives: March 2020

03.22.20
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OCULUS QUEST VR, OWWW! COVID 19

My youngest son, I envy him. He has a sweet girlfriend, a job, and is about to graduate high school. Assuming there is a graduation this year. Well, he picked up a 3D virtual reality rig used a few weeks back…

And it’s AMAZING!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/solrogers/2019/05/03/oculus-quest-the-best-standalone-vr-headset/#382cba338ed8

I have only played a few of games on it, one is Arizona Sunshine, a zombie shoot em up, which is a lot of fun. Another I just started playing is Superhot. Superhot is like being Bruce Willis in the movies. You are dropped into all sorts of scenarios you have to fight your way out of, using guns/knives and fists. Also an absolute ball to play, and it requires some quick thinking. The problem is, Superhot requires a lot of up/down dodging bullets and hiding behind obstacles to shoot around, it is very physical. And my back can’t take too much physical.

Im sitting here in a lot of pain right now. But it will (mostly) pass. There might be some who would say I need the exercise, but they don’t say it too loudly. 😉 I can’t wait to go back in to VR. Even if that might be tomorrow. If I have to be locked down at home for a while I think I’ll be ok with that, with this thing in the house.

The one thing I do not like is, this technology is somehow through Facebook, which I utterly despise. For that matter #deletefacebook !! I know this link is a little outdated but still relavent IMO. FB is the ebil. (Waterboy reference, yes the movie)

https://www.businessinsider.com/deletefacebook-facebook-movement-2018-3

On a side note just got back from Wal Mart. Went in to grab some bratwurst for supper. It’s like living in a war zone these days with bare shelves up and down the aisles, almost surreal. That boy of mine I mentioned earlier, just came in with some toilet paper and a bag of sugar. He informed me the toilet paper was again cleaned out at the Wal Mart. (For us Wal Mart is the closest store unfortunately, and second on my list of hated corporations right behind FB)

If there is any good news out there, I bought gas this morning for $1.25 a gallon in a neighboring town. Taking my big ole 3/4 ton truck there to fill it up too.

I know a lot of people are losing their jobs right now, which is terrible. My sister in law just got laid off, a friend of mine says where he works there has been a lot of activity in the office, he is expecting a shutdown soon. My wife works in healthcare so she will have a job until either she or anyone in the house gets the virus, at that point we lock the doors and no one goes in or out for 2 weeks, maybe more. Or If anyone at the house she works at gets ill, obviously she won’t be able to go back until is safe to do so.  We live in an extraordinay time among extraordinary circumstances. I do hope we all get through this relatively unscathed. But the reality is even if we do not get ill with the virus, the impact on the economy is going to be long lasting and I fear will cause enormous suffering. Goodbye 401K, we will miss you.

Stay safe, and hang in there.

03.13.20
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Call Me A Boy Scout

We went out last night and stocked up on enough dry/canned goods to hopefully last us a couple of weeks, just in case any one of us comes down with a corona virus. Also snagged toiletries and food for the dog/cat. We want to be self sustained if it comes to that. There will be five adults here by this evening, my youngest sons girlfriend goes to UT Martin, they have cancelled classes till April 1. Im on my way out the door to go get her as soon as I hit the post button.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones thinking that way. Wal Mart shelves were wiped out in bags of rice and toilet paper in 2 towns we went to (no pun intended but I’ll take it.) We had to stop at 3 different Dollar General stores to even find any toilet paper.

Peanut butter and soups were also in short supply.

I hope it doesn’t come to having to having to deal with this. I’d like to think we are just well stocked for a while. May this post find you all healthy and well prepared.

SD

 

03.04.20
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Well That Was Freaky

Night before last, we were forecast to have rain, maybe a thunderstorm. Woke up around eleven-ish to the sound of thunder and rain. About the time I decided all was well and was trying to get back to sleep, gotta be up at 4:30 ya know, it started to hail. I could hear the little hail stones ticking on the roof. No big deal, we get a little a little hail now and then. Right?

The clicking sounds suddenly became thumping sounds, then the thumping sounds became banging sounds, then the banging became a horrendous cacaphony of dreadful bangs and clangs. It sounded like 50,000 elves with 50,000 hammers were out there banging on everything. We were looking out the door at hailstones from small, to large, and many as big around as half dollars and over an inch thick bouncing off of everything. We have a big cedar tree, I threw on my hat and jacket with the intent to run out there and drive the car under the tree, but wiser people than I kept me from attempting it.

We were all wandering back and forth from front door to back, looking outside, it was a surreal moment. I figured if a tornado might be out there, we were in the hail core, and that put us generally NE of the tornado if there was one. I kept holding my breath and trying to see if I could hear the roar of my worst fear, a fucking tornado. I did not hear one this night… (I have heard the train a couple of times in my life and felt the thunderous roar reverberating through my body. I’m a grown manly man and lived a manly life, and aint skeered of much, but tornados scare the crap out of me)

But one was there. It was just a little too far away for us to hear it. It carved a path maybe a mile long (as far as I know), absolutely destroying some homes, massively damaging others. Three dead at last count here in Benton County Tn.

We have four vehicles. Well, five. Three of which are driven daily. The other two are an old Camaro, and an old 1964 Chevy truck. They run, but need some TLC. Anyway, all of them suffered quite a bit of hail damage, except for my old work truck which was parked right beside that cedar tree I mentioned earlier, it got through the storm with no recognizable damage. Also my youngest sons girlfriend had just bought a car, she hasn’t even titled it yet, and it too has multiple dents. It’s a tough pill to swallow. Yes we are grateful everyone is alive. Yes we are grateful there is still a roof over our heads. But goddammit this is a shit sandwich. I tire of shit sandwiches…

Took our main vehicle to town yesterday morning to get a quote on fixing it. This one is our life support vehicle and the only one of the three daily drivers with full coverage. It’s expensive to insure three vehicles when you have kids driving them, so we were forced to settle for liability and uninsured motorist on the other two. Anyway the estimate to fix the Ford Fusion came to $4, 662. Almost 5 grand. I am waiting to hear from the insurance adjuster to consider my options. Good chance we will be stuck driving around a heavily hail damaged car for a while…

Before I came home from town, I decided to grab a bucket of blackjack (roofing tar). I knew I had to get up on the roof and inspect for damage, I wasn’t going up the ladder without a bucket of blackjack. Which was a good call, I used 3/4 of a bucket covering spots where the shingles were damaged. Yesterday was a long day…

Had we known things might have got this severe weatherwise, I could have put 2 vehicles in the shop, and got another 2 under the protection of the cedar tree. No one was expecting a supercell to form as far as I know. After the storm did its damage here, it continued on to Nashville where it dropped another tornado and did considerable damage there, along with many lives lost.

Yeah, a shit sandwich sucks, but I am truly grateful we dodged a real catastrophe. Hope this finds you all in a good place. Nobody likes a shit sandwich. And No One deserves the wrath of a tornado.