20150128 – Mountain Hosting

Wednesday – warm and cloudy with the possibility of some snow – we hope.

Looking for VRBO or home Exchanges can be a nightmare. It never ceases to amaze me how stupid people are when advertising their properties. The really stupid ones don’t bother with any photos; those that show you the inside of their property just after a bombs hit it and in serious need of tidying up and removing cast off socks and underwear; finally you have those that have 36 photos of everything from a garden tap, to a staircase, fields and their town, but not a clue as to what the inside of their property looks like. Makes you wonder whether they’re truly so dim witted or just trying to hide something.

One of the predominant Italian themes seems to be having a crappy, uncomfortable looking settee in a lounge, covered by a tatty shell shocked blanket, but so uncomfortable that there’s no chance you’d fall asleep, even through East Enders after a full bottle of red wine. Best of all they have an ancient TV, probably built by John Logie Beard himself, and positioned behind the settee so that you need to be an owl with 180 degree head rotation to see it. What planet do these chuckleheads live on.

Thursday – cold and sunny.

Benedict Cumberbatch (never heard of him), who appeared in 12 Years a Slave, has called himself an idiot for using the word “coloured” when talking about black actors not getting enough opportunities.

Pathetic. If not coloured, then is black the PC flavour of the month? It certainly seems to be the popular term in the US. What term should we use – non-White, sunburnt, Pantone 426, heat absorbent, spectrum challenged. These Nazi PC storm troopers need to get a grip, at this rate we’ll be running out of PC acceptable words in the English language.

Friday – cold and cloudy. Need the trees or a sprit level to help stay vertical.

I’ve had my say on Republicans – the GOP – now it’s the turn of the Democrats. You Might Be A Democrat If…

You’ve ever said, “We really should call the ACLU about this.”
You believe that a few hundred loggers can find another career, but the defenseless spotted owl must live in its preferred tree.
You ever based an argument on the phrase, “But they can afford a tax hike because…”
You keep count of how many people you know in each racial or ethnic category.
You believe our government must do it because everyone in Europe does.
You can’t talk about foreign policy without using the word conspiracy.
You think Ralph Nader makes a lot of sense.

Saturday – cold and sunny.

You might be a Democrat if:

You don’t understand why anyone was bothered by Jane’s trip to Hanoi.
You think solar energy is being held back by those greedy oil companies.
You’ve never been mugged.
You actually expect to collect Social Security.
You think the Great Society has actually worked.
You don’t see the similarity between WONK and WANK.
You got teary-eyed during the film “The American President.”
Your house smells like a garbage dump because of your commitment to recycling.

Sunday – warm and sunny.

You might be a Democrat if:

You think political patronage describes the Kennedy family.
Your High School Year Book goals included the words “help people.”
You think the Free Market is where they hand out Government cheese.
You think Carter should be on Mt. Rushmore.
You believe personal injury lawyers when they say they are just trying to defend the little guy.
You know that those profit mongering drug companies could find a cure for AIDS if they really wanted to.
You actually believe the NY Times and Washington Post.
You know at least one Vegan.
You’d rather own Birkenstock than Merck Stock.

Monday – snow first thing and then sunny.

You might be a Democrat if:

You think public housing is great, but just NIMBY.
You think the anti-war protestors from ’60s are the real heroes.
You think that Supply Side Economics refers to your dope dealer’s stash.
You think Michael Jackson was a great example of diversity.
You actually think that poverty can be abolished.
You think that Joan Baez had something to say.
You admire the Swedish welfare system.
You think the Flat Tax should be at 95%
You go to Gay Pride Day parades so that no one can call you homophobic.
After looking at your pay stub you can still say, “America is undertaxed.”

Tuesday – cool and sunny.

After the other mornings debacle I can now understand why US healthcare is in crisis. A cast of thousands involved in billing and yet only a few doctors and nurses. Its a totally fragmented screw up. You pay your bills, then find you’ve a debt collector on your back for some blood works done 6 months ago that you’ve never been billed. Ah separate department. Our contracted provider can’t see the amounts involved or bill you. A so called customer service numbskull explains it all to me “it’s all too big and complicated to be dealt with by one department, YOU’LL need to ring the lab, I can’t ring them”. When asked if she really worked in “Customer Services” and could comprehend what those two words meant she hung up. It turns out that the lab did send an invoice to Rydal mount, Park City. I wonder why we didn’t get it? They did have the correct address, I should know as we had to quote it over 4 times in trying to get through to the right department. “Oh I’m sorry sir we can’t email you the invoice, we’re still using quill pens and left over blood for ink”. No email – yes this is the 21st century – and the good old USA still believes it leads the World.

2 bloody hours of frustration to unscramble this. Then to add insult to injury Skype just goes down just as you’re getting the final piece of the jigsaw. Typical SNAFU. Conclusion “the whole World is F..ked up, especially anything involving IT or computers”.

It really is time we introduced Saturday afternoon feeding of the perpetrators of this crazy, senseless, software and marketing driven crap, to the Lions in a local Colosseum. Just think of the benefits. Free entertainment for the masses. No need to pay ludicrous salaries to chuckleheads, who’s brain are so far under developed that they can only kick a ball around and attempt to water the local football pitch by gobbing on it every 38 seconds. Helps with natural selection by weeding out the common senseless. The threat of becoming Lion fodder improves software, customer service and eliminates marketing aimed at our exploitation.