I haven't written much for several days. I've been busy. There has been a birthday party for a friend, I've played a lot of Morrowind instead of writing, and on Sunday, I bought a car. Not a new car by any means, but lower miles and better fuel economy than what I have been driving. I am giving up cargo capacity and all-wheel drive, but I am getting easier parking.
Monday was a complete mess. It would be funny if it weren't all so infuriatingly screwed up. Aside from getting insurance switched to the new car, nothing went to plan, and I wasted hours trying to go do things that didn't work out. Snow delays, bad roads, scheduling conflicts, shortages, a flat tire, and so forth. No one else got hurt, but it was a complete wreck, and I hurt my back again. It was just a day where nothing went right, and I was drained of all energy. The only thing I had no complaints about was the car. I like it.
Today was a bit painful, but I survived. Good news: I don't think I did any permanent damage to my back, or inflamed my old injuries too much. Better news: new tires are installed, an oil change is done, and no surprises were found with a full inspection. The mechanic didn't see a need to sell me new brakes, tie rod ends, radiator hoses, or the like. Best of all: Work was largely unremarkable, with as much routine as one can expect from a job where weird things or encounters with strange people happen almost every day.
Today was also "Super Tuesday," so supporters of Donald Trump and Nikki Haley were squabbling over which disgusting human being was the lesser evil worthy of support. Don't you know this is the most important election of our lifetime? Yuck. And no, I am not saying Sleepy Joe Biden is better. To hell with that whole game.
Tomorrow, I should be able to finalize the title transfer with the state government goons. Why do we really tolerate all this bureaucratic nonsense? It seems like a perverse inertia maintains old government offices long after any real or imagined excuse for their operation is long gone. My insurance company cares about how good a driver I am, what car I own, and how safe it is. Government just wants tax money and leverage to control us. Modern blockchain technology could conceivably treat car ownership like an NFT tied to a physical object. The Vehicle Identification Number is already practically a public key for that purpose. I'm sure auto dealers and auto insurers could easily create a unified registry identifying ownership and tracking exchanges with a high degree of security.
Anyway, despite some hurdles along the way, it still looks like progress toward some of my goals. I am trying to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves to improve my options and open up further opportunities. Some days I only have the energy to just keep treading water, but it's time to swim for a destination.
Image made in Canva. 90s CCM nostalgia found on YouTube.
I'm sorry you had such a bad day. I hope you had a good night's sleep to erase it, and to rest your back.
I do not know. We've been made so suspicious of each other that we tolerate having to prove who we are and that we are not criminals, or undeserving in some of having basic requirements for living. We are being protected into a prison of sorts, a prison of unending paperwork, online registrations, licenses, insurance, returns, identification checks, and my favorite, taxation. I used to blame Congress for making these laws and regulations, and for allowing other agencies to make regulations, but now I blame us for going along with it all.
People tend to conflate compliance under duress with voluntary consent. This is not a new problem. Just look back to the Declaration of Independence. People are willing to tolerate evil for the sake of maintaining peace, but at some point it can no longer be tolerated.
Here's what the governor of NY had to say today, about why she deployed the national guard to NYC subways
so she's treating us all like criminals, to catch criminals. This is what we are tolerating.
Disgusting. This kind of police state overreach is why I never want to visit NYC.
Ah those days where nothing works for no apparent reason are never fun. Hope you got to rest up comfortably at the end with a beverage and snack of choice maybe after a nice hot bath or shower.
I played Morrowind and stayed sober. I have used booze with caution as a pain reliever, but I don't want to make it a habit. I know too many alcoholics.
I could well be mistaken but was reasonably certain that beverages could be non-alcoholic.
Quite, but the alcoholic ones are often referred to euphemistically, and I thought clarity was in order.
Monday's are always known for a busy and stressful day and this is well understood. In fact most of the time I always wish Monday should not come
I actually dislike every Monday because it is always busy but it looks like you’d be busy till the end of the week since you already told us what you’d be doing tomorrow
I hope you have a lovely weekend
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A friend's birthday is special and in the same way all friends' birthdays should be celebrated. It's a good thing that you have bought a car. Congratulations. Even if the car is not new. If a person takes care, the car runs well.
I really like what you said comparing current auto insurance systems to a blockchain system and how it could be improved. I couldn't agree more. I've been saying we need a 'linux' version of the government, meaning everything that we'd expect to be there is where we'd expect it to be, but its rebuilt to be a trustable version that actually functions how it's supposed to. Like how my linux OS has a clock on the bottom right and a start menu on the bottom left, just like windows, but it's not spying on me.
If only you could use the HIVE keychain instead of signing and juggling a phonebook worth of papers.
Glad to hear you like the car though so it's worth the hassle