My little PNW hometown can get a little crowded on the weekends. Lotsa traffic.

‘Bomb cyclone’ kills 2 and knocks out power to over half a million homes across the Pacific Northwest

What is a Bomb Cyclone? AKA bombogenesis. AKA Explosive Cyclogenesis Kinda fizzled out for Oregon Coast.

The central Oregon coast was mostly spared the so-called “bomb cyclone” that damaged northern California and the Seattle area this week, but that doesn’t mean the late fall storms are over.

The National Weather Service has issued a high wind watch for the central coast for most of Friday, forecasting that south winds could reach up to 60 mph.

Totes.

High Wind Warning

A High Wind Warning for the coastal headlands and beaches means a hazardous high wind event is expected or occurring in those areas along the immediate coast. Many of the headland areas and beaches are vulnerable to very strong wind gusts that may pose a safety hazard for individuals or high profile vehicles. The strong winds may also cause property damage. Sustained wind speeds of at least 40 mph or gusts of 58 mph or more are expected in those areas. Coastal headlands are characterized by high, rocky shores and steep sea cliffs. Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.

When Smokey Sings by ABC. More of their music here. Wikipedia.

Many changes around here layout-wise. I've been wanting to do a journal kinda thing for a while now, but I didn't want to use a CMS, they usually end up breaking (and when that happens, it can be a pain in the butt to fix, or, you lose all your data) and there isn't as much control over the layout (not that this layout is the layout to end all layouts, but I know what most of it does since I coded it myself, and changes are pretty easy). And, let's face it, I'm kinda cheap, so I don't want to pay for web hosting if I don't have to. (Thanks, GitHub.) There are aspects of a CMS that I'll miss - all that automated archiving and tagging and commenting sure would be nifty, but, like I said up there at the beginning of this run-on paragraph, all I really want to do is keep a bit of a journal like in the olden days where they wrote with fountain pens on parchment paper by candlelight.

Except I'll be writing with electrons, very 21st century-y, dontcha think?

And all this so that in twenty years I can ask myself, "Hey when exactly was that big blow we had on the coast? You know, when the power didn't actually go out" and then I can scour the archives and find what I'm looking for..

Exciting stuff.

There'll be some oft-used tags like #backyard, which will be about all the cool things that happen in my backyard; #pnw, which will be the nifty things I experience in the PNW; #ope, which will be about general life-type stuff; #mattifesto, which will be deep thots (to steal a spelling from a cool internet person about two decades ago); #earworm, which will be the songs that get stuck in my head, and, well, I'm sure there'll be others.

So welcome to the madhouse. If you're reading this it must be a mistake. Go outside and play or something.

Snow emergency! Snow emergency!

This is one of my favorite things that happens every year: the seasonal first declaration of snow emergencies.

I live about 2000 miles away from the Twin Cities, but I get a huge grin on my face when the text alerts for Minneapolis and St. Paul come in for the first decently sized snowfall of the year. Yeah, I get text alerts for snow emergencies for a place I don't live. Is that weird? Maybe that's weird.

Though, I'd like to live there. Just look at this. Snowfall and a nighttime walk around the city. Perfect.

So when I get those first snow emergency alerts of the season I go to the Star Tribune and look up their coverage. I do get a bit frustrated with the media coverage occasionally. Four to six inches does not a snowstorm make. It's a nice snowfall, but it's not a snowstorm. Snowstorm designations should be reserved for double digit snowfalls. Though, to be fair, the reports are calling for four to six inches with this first wave of snow then a second wave of snow bringing even more snowfall, so who knows? Maybe they'll see double digit snowfall? How wonderful!

I have a high tolerance for boredom. Always have had. On those exceedingly infrequent occasions when I begin to feel boredom crawling across my brain, moving like a marine layer off the ocean insinuating itself into civilization, creeping amongst the narrow winding roads and cedar-sided cabins on the headlands and promontories bumping up to the sea, well, I know I'm in for a couple hours of happy fun time.

Discontentment.

It usually starts with me wishing I was somewhere else. Oftentimes the Twin Cities, but sometimes its Chicago or New York or London. I've lived in the same town for nearly nine years. Nine years! My wife and I have been together almost 29 years, and in those 29 years we've lived in 23 different places, so to live somewhere for nine years when you're used to moving, on average, more than once a year?

And then I start thinking about the fact that I have at least 16 more years until official retirement age...and...I picture myself sitting at this same reference desk in this same book mine for sixteen more years. Sixteen! And that's followed immediately by two more thoughts.

1) That'll be what happens if I'm lucky.

2) The retirement age will probably be moved back to 70 or 75 by then.

So, as I'm looking at the absurd price of rentals in my ville du jour, I begin my best Judy Garland impression, reciting the magic words, "There's no place like home," over and again until I believe the truth of the matter: I'm very fortunate. I have an amazing wife. We have a nice house. We live in a crazy beautiful part of the world. I get paid fairly well to help people. Every day. And I don't have to say to them, 'that'll be $39.99...cash or credit?' when I'm done helping them. I simply get to wish them a good rest of the day and let them get on with their life.

It's good to experience discontentment. Occasionally, anyway. It helps you evaluate your life. It helps remind you of your good fortune.

I still wish I were living in the Cities, though.

High Surf Advisory

* WHAT...Large waves and hazardous surf conditions. Breakers up to 25 to 30 feet.

* IMPACTS...Destructive waves may wash over beaches, jetties, and other structures unexpectedly. People can be swept off rocks and jetties and drown while observing high surf. Minor beach erosion may damage coastal properties and buildings. Higher than normal water run-up is expected on beaches and low-lying shoreline. Enhanced possibility for sneaker waves.

Kid was running in the library today then stopped about a 1/4 inch from me.

"Watcha doin?" They asked.

"Nuthin." I replied. "What are you doing?"

I saw mom stop behind them as they said, "Oh, just being a kid."

They gave me a hug. I said thanks. Off they went to the kids room. I looked at mom, raised my eyebrows in question, and she responded with a perplexed look and a smile.

Searched high and low looking for good egg nog. 7 hours. Over a dozen stores. Struck out.

Both of us miss Kemps Golden Egg and we found Umpqua Old Fashion Egg Nog that tasted about 95% of the way there, but all the stores around here only carry Umpqua Premium Egg Nog which, if you notice under the picture it says "Old Fashion" BUT IT'S NOT!

Lies!

I don't know what the difference is, but if it doesn't say "Old Fashion" on the label then it just egg nog sadness.

We did, however, stop at a Macy's while we were out, and were able to grab some Frango Mints. Yum.

Bernie Sanders says income over $1bn should be taxed at 100%

It isn't the income that's a problem. Billionaires don't make billions in income, they have assets - stocks in companies, other financial assets and instruments, and goods like art or oil. They borrow against these and service the interest.

For instance, the CEO of a corporation (or corporations, brief aside - what exactly does it say about the value a CEO brings to a company when a person can be the CEO of multiple corporations?) can take loans against these assets to buy lots of yachts and mansions and cars and influence...oh so much influence.

What's needed is a tax on the loans they take out. Or even better, on their ability to take out those kinds of loans in the first place. Or best, make setting up a corporation in that way illegal. Force corporations to be structured in such a way that no one person becomes so wildly rich they can launch a car into space on a whim.

There shouldn't be billionaires. There shouldn't be hundred millionaires. Economic inequality should not be so vast. And frankly? That's just good business sense. The more money folk have the more they can purchase and invest, the more they can purchase and invest the better the economy does.

Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to murdering healthcare CEO.

The US DOJ defines murder as "unlawful killing of a human being with malice" and Cornell's Legal Information Institute defines murder as "when a person unlawfully kills another person."

The unlawful part of murder doesn't bother me much. Law does not equate to morality.

Love involves protecting, when possible, yourself and others from harm. Health insurance companies have been causing people harm. For decades.

What recourse is available? Health insurance lobbies are absurdly strong. Judges are bought. Industries kill whistleblowers.

Luigi Mangione allegedly killed someone who was killing people, someone who was causing harm to many people, and if he did, he was right to do so.

NHL players are totes adorbs. They group hug for celebrations, chew their mouth guards like pacifiers, and every once in a while they throw a big tantrum and get put in a timeout.

Alabama profits off prisoners who work at McDonald’s but deems them too dangerous for parole

Most jobs are inside facilities, where the state’s inmates — who are disproportionately Black — can be sentenced to hard labor and forced to work for free doing everything from mopping floors to laundry. But more than 10,000 inmates have logged a combined 17 million work hours outside Alabama’s prison walls since 2018, for entities like city and county governments and businesses that range from major car-part manufacturers and meat-processing plants to distribution centers for major retailers like Walmart, the AP determined.

Many prisoners work 40 hours a week outside their facilities and then get weekend passes, allowing them to go home without any supervision or electronic monitoring. So when prisoners are then told they’re too dangerous to be permanently released, England said, it looks like “another way to create a cheap labor force that is easily exploited and abused.”

Report.

A. The Committee Found Representative Gaetz Violated State Laws Related to Sexual Misconduct.
B. The Committee Found Representative Gaetz Used Illegal Drugs.
C. The Committee Found that Representative Gaetz Violated the House Gift Rule.
D. The Committee Found Representative Gaetz Dispensed Special Privileges and Favors to Individuals with Whom He Had a Personal Relationship.
E. The Committee Found Representative Gaetz Sought to Obstruct Its Investigation of His Conduct.

Based on the above, the Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas by Gayla Peevey.

It's not a very charitable feeling. There's very little 'good will toward men' in it. Santa may leave me a lump of coal. But...

I am so proud of myself for cultivating a relationship with my bosses where they completely ignore me in everything personal, including Christmas greetings, while still communicating with me professionally when necessary.

It's fantastic.

I was sitting at the reference desk talking to my wife this morning. One of the bosses walked by and wished my wife a merry christmas while completely ignoring me. A couple of minutes later they dropped the holds list off with a warning about a tricky book on it.

Perfection!

It's taken a year to accomplish this. I've finally made it. Merry Christmas to me.

The Republican Party and the Democratic Party both suck. There is no lesser evil. They are both evil. We keep letting them tell us the other party is the problem. The problem is that we believe that. The problem is that we should be keeping our parties honest, not blaming the other parties.

The other problem? The two-party system bites. Hard.

But back to the RNC and the DNC.

Republicans suck. Anyone who follows the likes Trump, McConnell, and Abbott needs a hug. A lot of hugs. All the Republican National Committee cares about is money and power.

Democrats suck. Anyone who follows the likes of Pelosi, Kennedy, and Adams needs a hug. A lot of hugs. All the Democratic National Committee cares about is money and power.

But mostly? The RNC and the DNC take. And there's blood on their hands. Lots of blood today. Lots of blood going way back.

Here's some other examples:

• Harry S. Truman(D) overthrew a democratically elected president in Syria. For oil.
• Harry S. Truman(D) overthrew a democratically elected president in Guatemala. For bananas.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower(R) overthrew a democratically elected president in Iran. For oil.
• I could keep listing all the coups we instigated overthrowing democratically elected officials around the world, but you get the idea.
• One more. Can't resist. Charlie Wilson(D) basically created Osama bin Laden. There's a whole Tom Hanks movie about it. (Not his best work (Charlie's or Tom's).)
• Tuskegee Syphilis Study from 1932 to 1972 (all those Republicans and Democrats in power).
• Franklin D. Roosevelt(D) created Japanese Internment Camps.
• All those Democrat- and Republican-led cities where police kill people (George Floyd, Justine Diamond, Breonna Taylor, Daniel Shaver, and Philando Castile to mention a very very very few) with few to no changes made to the police department.
• All of the families separated by immigration enforcement.
• Indian Removal Act of 1830.
• Destroying the USPS with good tidings and Dejoy by Trump and Biden.
• DNC stating, in a court of law, "and we could have voluntarily decided that, Look, we're gonna go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way. That's not the way it was done. But they could have." about picking the Democratic nominee for president.
• All those votes on both sides of the aisle for the Patriot Act.
• The increase in income inequality, systemic racism, institutional inequities, class warfare, tax gap, wage stagnation, wage theft, wealth inequality, and, since it's Christmas Eve, a partridge in a pear tree.

What it comes down to: What's above isn't even the tip of the iceberg. Stop giving money to the DNC and RNC - two private corporations who can do pretty much whatever they want. Give money directly to candidates you believe in...and there are (and were) politicians to believe in (AOC, Bernie Sanders, Rashida Tlaib, Pramila Jayapal, Elizabeth Warren, Russ Feingold, Paul Wellstone to name a few.

And give lots of hugs.

Nifty Christmas reads.

The Mighty 860: a Christmas transit tale

It was a sober but happy group that got off at the Everett Park-n-Ride. I thanked the driver before heading to my car, and said she’d probably sleep well tonight after all the effort. Her reply? She wouldn’t rest anytime soon because she was making another run to campus. “There’s kids depending on me to get them home.” With that the door swung shut.

As a Minneapolis cop, he closed encampments. Now he serves meals and delivers food to the streets.

“We feel like we’re good at giving people an experience that elevates their dignity, that makes them feel special,” he said. “If you do it carefully and you pay attention to the details, there’s an opportunity to blend people together. And when we all start hanging out together, we just start to understand each other better. That’s really what I am hoping for.”

Rudolph chilling, listening to More Bounce to the Ounce, in the backyard after a hard night's work (with special guest appearance by plastic pink flamingo #1).

Oregon Coast on Christmas day means rain, a high wind warning, and a high surf advisory.

Watched Season 01 Episode 01 of The Simpsons last night. Titled, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." I'd forgotten how 80s it felt. Kinda neat. Gonna watch a couple more Simpsons christmas episodes today. Also watched Scrooged. Favorite line from a christmas movie? "Bitch hit me with a toaster." Carol Kane was fabulous. So was David Johansen.

The smell of christmas dinner has filled the house, the comfy chair is supremely comfortable, there's a fire going, and Frowzy Du tops the tree. Seasons greetings.