Jay – Page 2 – The Boring Old Man

Independence Day 2025

John Adams on the 4th of July:

“It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

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This used to be one of my favorite days of the year, a celebration held near and dear to my heart.

Now it feel more like mourning a recently departed loved one.

Where did we go wrong? I suspect there was no ‘one thing’, but a series of events unleashed over the last several decades. Well, more than that – since at least 1913 – long before I (or my parents) were around. And I know, regretfully, that I was complicit in some of our degradation due to my lack of understanding of how the world works and buying in to the many lies we’ve been sold by our so-called “leaders”. For better or worse, my eyes have been pried wide open over the last decade and the rose colored glasses cast aside. We are a nation in turmoil. A runaway train bearing down on a blown out bridge, with the engineer asleep at the wheel. I don’t exactly fear the future, but I am less than optimistic.

I used to think we could all be as one, a childish, impossible fantasy to be sure. Our compassion and willingness to ignore the obvious has brought destruction and misery to our once great nation. Unintended consequences are consequences nonetheless, and ours are legion.

Sadly, the thing most absent in these United States these days is UNITY.

We’ve devolved back into tribalism. Every tribe out for themselves at the expense of every other tribe. That’s what ‘diversity’ has wrought upon us. Diversity is NOT our strength, UNITY is our strength. “A house divided…” and all that. Americans can be all shapes, sizes, creeds and colors, but above ALL, they must believe in the promise that is America. Charlatans, usurpers and communists need not apply.

I still strongly believe that our country has the strongest, most spectacular foundation ever conceived. Unfortunately the “home” built upon that foundation has been decimated by termites, wood bees, dry-rot and mold.

I think the only way forward is to cut our losses, tear down the rotten, irredeemable structure- right down to the Foundation- and rebuild anew, with intense care taken to stop the termites, mold, etc. from taking hold ever again.

I don’t know what my part in that is. I don’t know if it will happen in my lifetime. I just know that dramatic change is needed and it’s going to be painful in some ways. Not everyone is going to make it.

I just hope that someday down the road, I’ll be able to actually CELEBRATE our Independence Day once again and leave our grandchildren a Home to be proud of. I miss being a Proud American, and I know several others that feel the same way. If I’m to never have it again, I at least hope for my progeny to experience it.

May God bless America!

Note To Self…

I’m not really “back”, just putting these in an easily accessible location so I can find them quickly.

For motivation and whatnot…

But hey, if it helps someone else out there, all the better.

Be good to yourselves out there!

Thank You, Goodnight…

I’ll cut right to the chase, I’m taking a powder from the Blog. Not that I’ve exactly been a fount of entertainment or information these last several months…

The truth of the matter is that I had really high hopes for this outlet, and for a while was sincerely enjoying it, but my life has taken a series of unexpected downhill turns over the last two years and as I’m quickly approaching rock bottom I recognize that I need to put all my focus, my energy into rebuilding my life into something I can be proud of and excited about. Currently it’s neither of those things.

When it comes to writing, lately I’ve had nothing… I’ve got several drafts of things that I’ve been working on, meatier subjects and an attempt to go in depth, so to speak, and right now I cannot seem to finish anything. Nor can I seem to find motivation to put out any of the simple, fun stuff like the meme posts or the oddball music stuff that I love so much. It feels like I’m trying to force something that doesn’t belong.

One of my main “rules” for this blog when I started it was that I would not let it become saturated with bitterness and/or hostility. It was to be a break from the doom and gloom, a little beacon of light, some fun and positivity for me to share with whoever should happen to run across my little world here. If I were to write about my daily experiences at this point in life I would be breaking that rule and in a sense tainting what I have tried to accomplish here. Likewise, posting memes and such feels like trying to put on a mask. Anything ‘light’ I attempt to write feels insincere and phony. So after a lot of consideration, I’m putting the whole thing on an indefinite hiatus. Given the fact that today is my birthday, it somehow seems fitting that I make the cut today. It’s always bothered me when I frequent a blog and then is just stops with no explanation. Not that I have that many followers, but I didn’t want to be one of those guys that leaves their audience hanging and just disappears back into the ether.

Part of the motivation for this blog was to have a place for myself to go for jogging my memories, and it’s been great to be able to revisit past concerts or trips and such, but honestly when I come out the other side of this – and I will – I don’t WANT to be able to look back on this time in my life with clarity. I hope and pray it all becomes a blur. But with that said, I’ll post a few last updates for things that have happened over the last few months, so I’ll have a few highlights to look back on while I’m out slaying dragons and putting myself back together…

*The fitness regime is going well. I’m getting to the point of actually seeing a physical change as opposed to just feeling stronger. And I am absolutely feeling stronger these days.

*My “new to me” truck has been holding steady for me for a year now, without too much intervention. I haven’t got nearly as much done on it as I’d hoped to within a year – for reasons – but I have been tinkering here and there when I can. Most recently I rebuilt the rear brake system (first time doing drum brakes solo! It sucked, but now I know I can do it) and replacing sway bar links and bushings (something else I’d never done before). I’ve still got a stack of parts to install, but I’m grateful that she’s been a dependable ol’ girl. I’ve put about 13k miles on her in the last year, bringing the total up to roughly 317k – on the original motor. I’m telling you, they just don’t make ’em like they used to!

*I joined a new band about a month ago. Questionable timing for sure, given my current circumstances. I wasn’t looking, but when these fellas reached out to me, I figured I’d take a swing and here we are. It’s a cover band, which frankly I was not even remotely intersted doing again – been there, done that – but I was also EXTREMELY desperate for an outlet, any outlet that could get me outta my own head every now and again. Drumming is the only thing in the world that shuts out EVERYTHING for me. I need that right now, maybe more than ever. Even if just for a few hours at a time. And for a cover band, their musical selection is WAY more in line with my own musical tastes. No Motown, no Beatles, no lame Top 40 music from the last 5 decades… I’m having fun with it and I’m hoping we’ll be ready for some Summer time gigs soon.

*We adopted a new house rabbit a short while back. He’s a handsome devil – emphasis on Devil – but he’s still very young and as he acclimates to his new home and matures a bit, he should be a good guy to have around. I don’t recall if I’ve mentioned it in these pages here before, but the Mrs. and I have been rabbit people for over 30 years. This new varmint is our 5th House Rabbit, and as a teen I used to raise/breed rabbits at home in outdoor hutches. I guess you could say that I’ve got a soft spot for those long eared galoots.

*I usually do a trip to the record store on my birthday and dig through the racks looking for cool old used CDs, and this year was no exception. It was a great haul this year! 5 CDs and a DVD documentary/concert film of The CLASH, thst I have been wanting to see for a very, VERY long time. And all for just under 24 bucks!

*And lastly, though certainly most importantly, as of about two months ago we now officially have a Son-in-Law. That’s right, our “baby” and her Beau tied the knot back in April! It was an absolutely beautiful affair, held up in Sonoma, CA. If I’m being honest, it was the happiest day of the last decade for me in addition to being the happiest day of my daughter’s life. Just really epic vibes throughout the entire weekend. I sincerely couldn’t be happier for the two of them.

And thus concludes my personal highlights from the first half of 2025…

I want to thank my readers for coming around. True, the engagement wasn’t as I’d hoped it would be, but I blame myself for a total lack of consistency. The story of my life… I have a habit of trying to do too many things simultaneously, and that leads to half-assed results. Instead of focusing and giving my all to a couple of things at a time.

I won’t completely count out the idea of popping in here if something significant pops up along the way, I’m just taking “keeping up with the blog” off my radar to focus in other, considerably more important, areas of my life.

So long, farewell,
Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. For now at least.

Until we meet again, thanks for stopping by!

Product Review: Bates 8″ Ultralite Tactical Sport Side Zip Military Boot

Let me start by saying I’m not really a “tactical boot” guy. I did have a pair of 5.11 low boots about a dozen years ago, which were actually pretty decent, but this is the first pair of boots in this style I’ve owned, so I don’t have anything else to compare them to.

Not that I’m not a boot wearer, I’ve had many, many pairs of different types over the years. My go-to boot for the last 40 years is the classic Doc Marten boot, the good old 1460. In fact, I’ve got 2 pair of those at home that I still wear routinely, but decided to try something a little different for a change.

During the “Plague” years I went a little overboard on my ‘prepping’ as I’ve discussed here before, and one of the things I went a little crazy on was footwear. Considering everything is manufactured overseas and imports were slow, if at all, I figured a ‘lifetime supply’ of footwear would be a good investment. It’s not like I’m going to keep growing in my mid-50’s, so why not?!?

I purchased a few pair of Doc Marten boots and shoes, several pair of Van’s and because I’d heard good things about Bates and I found a pair on deep discount (sometimes wearing a size 13 gets you a good deal!) I decides to try them out.

I purchased them in January ’22 for $74.89 plus tax, which even then was a screaming deal. Not compared to the USGI “Jungle Boots” I wore as a youth, mind you – I used to pick those up at our local surplus store for $15-20 – but for modern footwear in the 2020’s, boots for under a hundred bucks is a bargain! Then they sat in the closet for about 2 years. Saving them for a rainy day, Zombie Apocalypse, or Mad Max scenario I suppose…

But when I started my new job a year ago, I broke them out. It seemed like a good place to put them to work. And I’m glad I did!

So, for my “review” prep I did some super unscientific data gathering. I picked 4 random weeks over the last year, added up my mileage from my step tracker for each week – Monday through Friday only – added those 4 weeks together, then divided by 4 to get my weekly average, then multiplied that number by 52. The number that I got after a year of work in these boots was 1206.66 Miles. Put into perspective, that is almost the same distance as walking from my house in the SF Bay Area to Amarillo Texas! Now it’s possible I’m a little under/over on the mileage put on these boots, but for the sake of argument, let’s just say I put between 1,200-1,500 miles on them thus far. I didn’t ONLY wear them at work, just primarily.

4 random weeks of walking on the jobsite!

During my review period, temps ranged from high 20’s to a peak day of 107 degrees. Terrain varied considerably, from blazing hot blacktop and concrete to mud and muck, dirt, gravel, ceiling joists in attics, tromping around over construction debris, through pouring rain and the occasional hail storm. A few times, I even tracked through both wild turkey and goat scat in ’em, unfortunately. They’ve pretty much been through everything except snow. And while I’m not a huge guy, I’m no pipsqueak at 6’1″ and averaging 230 lbs. Which is the long way ’round of saying, these boots were not pampered.

Maintenance has been pretty low key… I wipe them down with a damp microfiber towel every couple days and give them a quick polish every two weeks, give or take. (Side note – I’m a big proponent of shoe polishing, but these babys only get the Kiwi “cheater” polish, the liquid stuff with the sponge applicator.) They still have the original laces, since I rarely use them due to the side zippers.

My overall impression of these boots is that they are well made, extremely durable and quite possibly the most comfortable boots I’ve ever worn. No joke.

I was concerned that the zipper would be a weak point, prone to failure, but I’ve had no problems with them whatsoever. There were a few thread ends that popped loose when I first started wearing them, but I snipped them off flush and they did not continue to unthread. I suspect it was just a little excess material from the manufacturing process.

That being said, they’re kinda ugly. I certainly don’t get any style points with them, for sure! They wouldn’t have been appropriate in my previous office jobs, but for a construction gig they are perfectly suited.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d give these Bates boots a solid 9. I only take a point off for two reasons. One, they are a little slippery on slick surfaces, such as polished tile or hardwood floors. Also, due to them being manufactured in Bangladesh, rather than the US. But compared to about $250 for a pair of US made Redwings, I’d say I’ve got my money’s worth out of ’em, and they’ve still got some life left. I might throw a new set of insoles in them, otherwise they are still up to the daily grind. Certainly not ready for retirement!

The soles have taken the bulk of the wear & tear

I just checked ol’ Amazon today, and they are still available for $104.05 as of April 7, 2025. Considerably more than I paid for them, but I’d still consider them a bargain, even at that price.

If you find yourself in need of a GREAT pair of boots and don’t want to break the bank, give these a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!

Thank you Bates for making a solid, reputable product, and thank you Dear Reader, for stopping by!

Spring!

Hi again, it’s been a while…

Not gonna lie, been in a rut. Got too many things to do and not enough time to get ’em done. And yet, nothing that I felt was worth writing about.

Not that it’s been all bad, just not noteworthy.

I’ve only been to one show since my last post – Magic City Hippies at the Fillmore in SF. However, considering I’ve done something like 5 or 6 concert reviews about them on this blog and this was maybe the 10th(?) time we’ve seen them, I don’t really have much else to say. They are STILL gre,at, one of the best live acts out there. Seriously. If you like live music and you get the opportunity, go see them. You won’t regret it.

I also was surprisingly reunited with a dear old friend – one of my groomsmen as a matter of fact – that “fell off the radar” some 30 years ago and I haven’t seen or heard from since! We had a nice talk on the phone and he was coming to town from out of state, so we met up for lunch a few days later and it was fantastic. It really gave me a sense of joy that my feeble vocabulary can’t articulate. I’ve really come to appreciate old friends as I’ve grown old but it’s rare that I see mine, as we’re now scattered clear across the country. In different directions. I’m the only dumb sap that still lives in the area where we all grew up. Unfortunately it no longer even closely resembles the place of our youth and there isn’t much to draw them back here for a visit.

Such is life.

Still have a pile of parts to replace on my truck, but between the full to-do list and the absolutely crap weather we’ve been having these last couple months, I’ve not been terribly excited about doing the work.

But now SPRING is officially here, and today I felt pretty invigorated. Had a productive day at work, then came home and put in a couple hours of chorin’ , now throwing this little note out there just to pet you all know I’m still alive and kicking!

Hopefully the change in seasons will bring a change in output here on the old Blogstead.

Happy Spring. See you soonish.

Go call an old friend.

Thanks for stopping by.

Out of Sight, Out of (my) Mind!

This weekend the Mrs. was on a girls’ trip with our daughter, so I was left to my own devices and for some reason I decided to be productive. What was I thinking???

I started out simple enough, just a little organization stuff that was long overdue, then Sunday morning I decided to take a whack at our ‘extras’ closet that was LONG overdue… And the next thing you know, 6 HOURS had gone by!

This closet – really an alcove, but I threw a curtain over it and thus dubbed it a closet – is where I’ve been storing a lot of my “prepping” stuff since about 2012 and during “the Plague” years, especially early on when nobody really knew what was going on or what was coming, I STUFFED that closet with everything I figured was important should things go completely sideways.

On the surface, not a bad idea. BUT! I didn’t have anything organized and I didn’t inventory anything. If something I thought I might need became available, I bought it and stuffed it in the closet.

Fast forward a few years and Holy cow! I had stuffed every square inch of that space, had no idea what I had and couldn’t find anything without an ordeal.

On Sunday, I put an end to the madness!

On the bright side, I discovered I have more #10 cans of freeze dried goods than I realized. And I have a TON of first aid stuff, a lot more than I thought I had. On the downside, I have way too many bottles of hydrogen peroxide, and waaaaay too many kitchen sponges. These latter things primarily because everything was so disorganized I bought multiples not realizing I already had those things.

And happily I found some things I COMPLETELY forgot about!

It wasn’t fun, but it was time well spent. Time I SHOULD’VE spent two years ago! Better late than never I suppose.

Last but not least, it inspired me to get off my keister and keep the cleanup and organization going.

It’s great to have “stuff” in emergency situations, but its way better if you know what you have and where it is!

Anyhow, that’s about it for today. This year got off to a rough start with illness in the family, a rather unpleasant injury and the loss of a beloved pet, but this little project felt like my shell cracking and letting me get back to life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Showin’ 2024 the Door…

No idea what the New Year will bring, but couldn’t be happier than to have 2024 in the rear view mirror.

Best Wishes to all y’all that have been stopping by. May the New Year bring us all a better world!

I’ll be back soon…

Wrench Time

My constant readers may remember I took possession of a “new” truck back in June and it has been my daily driver ever since.

It has been relatively problem free, aside from a blown out radiator hose, and I’ve now put a little over 9,000 miles(!!!)on it for it’s initial shakedown. Aside from a new upper radiator hose, all I’ve done is an oil change and new spark plugs thus far. Though it is due for another oil change…

My first impression was that front end and steering would be the first task to undertake, then about 10 days ago I started hearing some brake screeching (not a metal on metal sound, but as though a caliper wasn’t opening up and dragging).

So, change of plans… This weekend I drove over to my Brother-in-Law’s place and took care of ‘Phase One’…

The truck is now sporting new wheel hub/bearing assemblies (Mevotech) on both sides with new, un-rounded bolts, new brake calipers, pads and rotors (Powerstop) and new braided stainless DOT brake lines (Russell). While I was in there I also put in a new set of front shocks (Bilstein).

It was a lot of work – a good 8 hours, start to finish. Should have been less, but dealing with some rounded off bolts, a couple broken sockets (Snap-On brand, no less!!), forgetting to look up torque specs before I got started and other assorted flys in the ointment really added to the slog. But, all’s well that ends well.

It’s reassuring to have new bearings and brakes up front, but there is still much to do.

I’ve got all the parts to completely rebuild the rear brakes inside and out and a new power brake booster to install, just ran outta time and daylight this round. And unfortunately when I was replacing the components on the driver’s side I found the CV joint had a cracked boot and was spewing grease, which means undoing some of the work I just completed to install a new axle half shaft, which I do not have just yet…

Hopefully between now and the next round of the big work I can get the new distributor cap, rotor and camshaft position sensor installed and the new Serpentine belt assembly that I’ve been sitting on for a few weeks now.

Despite all those parts sitting around waiting for me, the old girl is running well and stopping better, for which I am grateful! And no more ungodly sounds emanating from the front wheels!

I’m no mechanic, by any stretch of the imagination, and this job really pushed me to the limits of aggravation, but I gotta say it was a big boost to the ol’ self-esteem tank to conquer it. And lastly I must give a big, no actually MASSIVE thank you to my BIL, Kaptain Karel for letting me take over his driveway for the day and loaning me some tools so I didn’t have to schlep my entire mini-storage unit over there!! Not to mention helping me to figure out solutions when things went sideways! If you’ve ever considered wrenching on your own automobiles, I say go for it! I’ve been doing it for decades and always learn new things. Not to mention the money saved over the years by avoiding the mechanics shops! And what better excuse to buy new tools?! Even with all the dough I’ve dropped on tools over the years, I’m confident that I’m still thousands of dollars ahead.

More to come – stay tuned (pun intended)!

Thanks for stopping by!

Concert Review: Better Than Ezra at the Guild Theater, Menlo Park, CA

Sorry, I’m a few days late with this one, but better late than never I suppose…

Last Thursday, December 5th, the Mrs. and I attended a LONG awaited show with Better Than Ezra. If you don’t know this band, you should.

We last saw Better Than Ezra sometime in the mid-00’s, I apologize my memory is a little fuzzy, let’s just say 2005. They absolutely KNOCKED OUR SOCKS OFF! So needless to say, as soon as I heard they were coming to town, I snatched up some tickets.

This is maybe the 5th or so visit to the Guild Theater, and as I’ve mentioned in other Concert Review posts, it’s a great place for music and I was happy to be going back again.

The opening band was Cool Water Canyon, whom we’d never heard of. 5 piece band – drums, bass, keys and 2 guitars, and several of the guys sang. The sound was a bit of Americana meets Jam-band, with a little dash of funkiness tossed in for some seasoning. It was a mixed bag if I’m being honest. They were clearly talented musicians, but it just didn’t do it for me. There were some great parts, but then they’d throw in a gruelingly long solo and just kill the flow… They had really nice, top of the line gear but nobody had a particularly great tone. Honestly sometimes that’s enough for me – “the songs were OK, but man that guitar sounded awesome!” is the kind of thing that can win me over. Not so with these guys unfortunately. Overall, I’d give them an A on musical skill, but a C- on the show as a whole. I’ll give props to the bassist though, he was absolutely the bright spot of the set for me. Not flashy or over the top, but solid as a rock from start to finish.

Better Than Ezra then took the stage and…it went down hill from there.

For some reason, who knows why, they ALL played acoustic instruments. Yes, electrified acoustics, but the sound, the tone, was of acoustic guitars and bass. There was NONE of the power that made this band so great.

I tried, I really tried to just get over it and enjoy it for what it was but I just felt it was missing something. Then they started playing “I Wanna Be Sedated”, the Ramones scorcher, on FREAKIN’ acoustics and I started thinking “this is bad…”. Thank goodness they didn’t play the whole song, just a verse and a chorus and then they transitioned into one of their songs. But it left a bad aftertaste in my ears, I’ll tell.you that.

A few songs later they did ANOTHER cover this time of Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta”, again on acoustics and that’s when the Mrs. and I looked at each other and said “let’s go”.

Better Than Ezra, we still love your records and look back fondly and the last last time we saw you, but the show at the Guild was not the business. Very, sadly, disappointing.

Better luck next time.

And to think, I grabbed these tickets instead of John 5, who was playing the very next night. D’oh!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish you all a wonderful day, hope each and every one of you have something to be grateful for.

I know I do. It’s been a heck of year for me and mine, but I’m feeling a tinge of optimism for the first time in a long time and I’m truly grateful for everything I have that is left standing.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be back soon.