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Well, I suppose I could recount my new adventures in ''Windows'' computer operating environment, but much of that stuff is still ongoing and most of my 'adaptation phase' has been taking place well into this month, so it really doesn't exactly qualify as a ''previous quarter'' report.
Perhaps the most eventful thing that I can relay is that I have been having to eat a little crow in relation to the marching progress of the era of ''King George II.'' All of the totally unexpected and sudden 'crashing & burning' this presidential administration has been doing is really beginning to make all of my earlier predictions about the dangerous track these Neo-Con thugs were taking us down seem like the ravings of a drunked-up madman.
I still stand by those predicted outcomes in relation to the scenario in which they were originally typed out at the time, for I was completely convinced then that media and political opposition were just going to continue sitting on their lackadaisical asses and let these brutes run roughshod over everything and everybody without making so much as a peep. But we got thrown some serious curve balls over the past few months: Tom DeLay gets indicted, ''Baby Doc'' is losing support for his illegal war even among his Repugnantcan toadies, the Senate Democrats finally show a little bit of spine and invoke ''Senate Rule 21'' to declare a ''closed session'' to hasten along the investigation into the 'pre-war' intelligence snafu, some attention finally being paid to the vindictive outing of CiA ''NOC'' Valerie Plame, Bush & Company's complete and utter incompetence in the handling of the New Orleans / ''Hurricane Katrina'' debacle, Bush's ''approval ratings'' slipping below the 40% mark (what took so damned long?), et cetera & so-forth, plus all of the other embarrassing exposes of unethical and criminal activities of Republicans across the fruited plain. So, once again, I had to write my mother a new letter with ''modified predictions'' (Re: "Oct. 29 & Nov. 8 of last year) in light of this battering new storm that these Nouveau-Fascists have been forced to weather since those earlier ''predictions'' were made.
Of course, the anticipated ''involuntary military draft'' did not occur as expected -- at least not ''technically,'' as the ''War President'' has been allowing for the military to ''stop loss'' personnel in reaction to recruitment targets not being met after successive months on end (in essence, a ''back door'' draft), and I am completely amazed that ''Baby Doc'' has been taking no real stand on the issue of homosexual ''marriage,'' considering how he simply loves to manipulate & jerk around the so-called ''Religious Right.'' But I did manage to hit it right on the head with the ''redistricting'' game being played by Republicans (though not nearly as blatant as what Tom DeLay pulled off in ''Tick's Ass,'' Gov. Ah-nuld 'Schwarzen-groper' did try to get Californians to change the way they redraw their voting districts in a special election and failed miserably).
Even though some of these predictions were not, in the strictest sense, ''right on the mark,'' I think it's unmistakable to see how the Neo-Conservatives are attempting to restructure government in this country for the worst. So convinced am I of their insidiousness that I reiterated to my mother to make no mistake that I am STILL on record predicting that another ''spectacular'' attack is being planned to occur in the United States sometime shy of the 2008 presidential elections (a la, another ''Reichstag Fire'' type of scenario) or at least something major in the form of a ''terrorist attack'' (quote/unquote) against Americans abroad is going to occur that will involve massive death & injury, and that the Right Wing or Bush himself will use that [manufactured] event to suspend elections (and quite possibly the Constitution) in order to keep either himself in power or to assure the ''victory'' of the Neo-Cons' hand-picked ''successor'' -- and I will CONTINUE to hold to that belief until such time as the ''swearing in'' phase of the next ''President Select'' (because it WILL be another Republican Neo-Con theft of office) has passed.
Unmentioned Highlights From Previous Quarter
December 13, 2005 (Tuesday)
Stopped by another account site prior to returning to the apartment after leaving work yesterday morning to pay a quick visit a former co-worker from years ago, with whom I worked at our former Pacific Palisades site (I had been called in to cover the other Hawaii Kai site on Lunalilo Home Road after I had gotten off of work at Kapiolani Community College the night before) -- I didn't mention it last night, because I didn't feel all that motivated to ''update'' the journal archives (very time consuming when everything is being done by hand).
Late last night I thought I had a stroke of good fortune when the inconsiderate and disrespectful bastard who has literally for years! been tossing all sorts of trash out of his window onto the neighboring apartment complex's roof and into the gas pipes cubicle where I keep my motorcycle parked on property made one of the two biggest mistakes I was hoping to eventually catch his despicable ass on: He tossed out a bag of rubbish which contained ''addressed mail'' linking him to the crime! (The other mistake would have been to actually be ''seen'' in the act, but for all these years he had successfully avoided detection, tossing his stuff late into the night when there's no one to witness his doing it.) I took the evidence (in the form of an addressed envelope) to our security officer on duty and asked him to (1) write a report on it and (2) to inform our resident manager. Of course, true to the curse I was born under, when I asked the resident manager about it he had confirmed what I knew to expect anyway, that the security officer never informed him about the discovery or the report made on it.
Also, again true to form, I had to make another angry & embittered call to those cursed ''GEEK-O'' insurance bastards to yell at them for the third time to stop sending me their $#!T... and again had to put up with that infuriating ''automated'' call answering/redirecting program which refuses to take callers to a live representative or offer a ''none of these options apply'' key sequence.
19:35, Hawaii Standard Time.
December 14, 2005 (Wednesday)
Have to make a slight correction/update regarding the ratting out of the ''trash man'' -- the resident manager told me yesterday morning that our security officer never informed him of the situation, but on the way to work last night the security guard said that he did submit his report to the resident manager. Even so, I'm still not expecting much to happen to correct the situation.
And just what in the hell is our president doing to screw up my vision of a grim future now? The S.O.B. has pulled yet another jackknife in front of me to throw me completely off by finally admitting that he sent this nation to war against an unarmed country on trumped-up charges! I can't take all these unexpected curveballs being thrown my way... they're starting to make me look paranoid and stupid (...and I'm already admittedly 'paranoid').
20:30, Hawaii Standard Time.
December 17, 2005 (Saturday)
Returned a couple of cans of complete and totally worthless roach killer spray (''Hot Shot'' brand) I purchased last month back to Long's Drugs after work this morning. Later, I went to the ''Customer Appreciation Day'' event at my Suzuki dealership early this morning and I was amazed at how many people showed up so early; I had to get a raincheck on the free ''service inspection,'' because they ran out of the stickers. While there I purchased a new motorcycle cover (from a different company this time) to replace my now deteriorated & tearing ''Dowco'' crap which loses its ''waterproofing'' abilities in about half a year and begins thinning & tearing about a year later.
22:00, Hawaii Standard Time.
December 22, 2005 (Thursday)
Tried using Microsoft's ''photo editing'' program a little while ago, without any simple 'step-by-step' instructions to guide me through the process, and as a result failing miserably. (First ever attempt to use any photo editing program.) An desire to resize a large photo file & hopes of finding a program which would facilitate such a desire is what led me to finally call (and spend over an hour with) HP's telephone ''Customer Service / Tech Support'' rep last night, to ask some other questions and clear up some performance problems I was experiencing. (Later that same night, it took some hard searching to find somebody who could instruct me 'step-by-step' how to import/export my web browsing ''bookmarks.'')
18:00, Hawaii Standard Time.
January 14, 2006 (Saturday)
Fully realized this morning that I had severely overshot the response deadline for sending off the documentation for my new computer's mail-in rebate, which leaves me kissing $200 to the void! I've always made the argument that there are only two surefire ways to get somebody's attention: either 'hit them in the nose' or 'hit them in the wallet' -- so perhaps NOW I've been given my incentive to force myself to overcome my addiction to procrastination! I used part of this newfound energy & determination to finally to go to ''Office Depot'' to see if they did indeed have the ''Maxell'' CD-R discs (model #648200) that ended costing me some 40 dollars, but I get to keep the money ''at home,'' somewhat (I tried ordering them from several different online merchants, and they all had these very attractive purchase prices, but every one of those miserable bastards would tack on over $20 in so-called ''shipping charges'' -- INCLUDING ''PC Connection,'' which was the ONLY one I found that would ship via US Postal Service! I then went to ''Mac Made Easy'' (where my last iMac was purchased) and coughed up another 47 dollars to buy the only remaining ''iFire'' audio adapter they had; a device that would allow me to transfer my iMac speakers over to the PC as part of my gradually establishing the ''Windows'' PC as my primary computer (the one they had was the only one I could find anywhere, which was a small miracle in itself, since the device had long since been discontinued by the company that developed it).
22:15, Hawaii Standard Time.
January 15, 2006 (Sunday)
You know, I really do try not to believe that there are some ''metaphysical forces'' actively manipulating my life from behind the scenes (I simply cannot bring myself to accept the idea that somehow I am someone of that significant ''importance'' to be 'singled out' as the focus of any such direct 'attention'), but all too often ''weird $#!%'' (unexplained and supposedly ''coincidental'') seem to occur to disrupt my normal life in some aspect -- usually negative. This morning's little event may mark this date on the calendar as the day when I started to become convinced that my paranoia is in fact a realization that I truly am becoming a ''target'' of some sort on some greater scale than I'd like to give any acknowledgment to.
For the past couple of months or so I had set my alarm clock and my wall clock to read about 15 minutes ahead of actual time (I honestly can no longer recall if my setting them that way was in response to my penchant for procrastination or was simply another case of my not being particularly conscientious about being precise). Both clocks ran thus consistently until this morning, when I noticed the wall clock displayed with a ''faster'' time than what had been displayed on my shortwave radio (which I now mostly use for its 'alarm clock' feature). Assuming that the battery in the wall clock was weak and in need of replacement was the reason for the time difference, I relied on the shortwave's clock for the time as I prepared for church services. But having one of the computers on also I was likewise able to check for ''time actual,'' should I start to panic that I was not making decent time (I do still tend to forget that the ''fast'' clocks are set ahead). It wasn't until I was about to wash my hair that I began to realize something was not quite right. I checked all the clocks again, and that's when I discovered that ''somehow'' the time on the shortwave radio was now running a half-hour slower than it had been set to... and there was absolutely no way that (1) I could have possibly ''reset'' the time ''accidentally,'' since there is a specific button that needs to be depressed to activate this function and the design of the radio does not at all make this an easy task, to say the least; and (2) there was absolutely no evidence of a ''power outage'' -- had there been one, my ''answering machine'' would have been flashing wildly like ''Lady Godiva'' on 'happy pills,' and all of the electrical connections were securely set.
In all honesty, I was expecting this, my latest (and hopefully last) reattempt to make regular church attendance, to be sidetracked by another of those motivation-killing ''illnesses'' which so 'conveniently' strike me during times like these -- but I guess maybe that would have been too 'obvious' to simply brush off. All the same, I'm honestly becoming slowly convinced that ''somebody'' really doesn't like me all that much for some reason(s) I cannot yet figure out.
09:40, Hawaii Standard Time.
January 20, 2006 (Friday)
Burned my very first ever audio CD earlier today and all went well: I recorded a couple of ''This American Life'' programs for one of my co-workers with whom I regularly discuss political, religious and racial issues but who is rather ill-informed and conditioned to accept talking points without giving much scrutiny/analysis. (Ironically, today is the first anniversary of President Bush's re-[s]election swearing in ceremony and one of the programs concerns ''undecided'' voters and the frauds committed during the 2004 presidential campaign between Bush and Kerry.)
22:00, Hawaii Standard Time.
January 22, 2006 (@day)
Well, I suppose it had to happen sooner or later.... I just laid my motorcycle down again right as I was leaving from work. This time it was completely my own fault, trying to make a tight turn from a parking lot onto a sidewalk with a very steep decline. Scuffed her up something ugliful and jarred a portion of one of the front panel loose which I currently have not been able to snap back into place. It's not anything super bad or whathaveyou, but I'll still be asking the guys down at the shop for a replacement estimate.
23:55, Hawaii Standard Time.
January 25, 2006 (Wednesday)
Well... I gave it a good two weeks to be responded to (either by posting it on his webpage or by personal email) and before I decided to make mention of it, but it would seem that once again our good friend BartCop-- in the typical self-denial mode that self-proclaimed ''Liberals/Progressives'' slip into when presented with their own set of uncomfortable facts --has dodged yet ANOTHER one of my non-lackey comments that he himself asked his readers for ''feedback'' on (proving yet again that it is not just these ''Neo-Con'' thugs who run & hide when presented with valid arguments and insights). This latest attempt to "set the record straight" presented itself as follows....
''Bart'' put the following quote on his webpage:
Quotes
"Hillary Clinton is a committed feminist. She promotes
-- Kato Burn, from her new book
Woo Hoo!
*
Bart . . .
Regarding your remark in response to the Kate O'Bierne comment you chose to highlight, I feel the need to set the record straight in an attempt to clear up once and for all this ubiquitous MYTH of women's 'unequal pay' for 'equal work.'
Supposedly, "studies" have been conducted which continue to show that women fail to make the same gains in financial compensation for their employment as do men. These particular "studies" tend to produce results that fuel the feminist agenda with the much needed ammunition they so desire in order to continue in their dishonest campaign of making "men" and "patriarchy" the basis of all ills in Western Society. Such "studies" are often very simplistic and leave out any number of important caveats.
For instance:
* Do these studies take into consideration the fact that very many women "take time off" (temporarily exit the workforce) to become "stay-at-home parents" or "housewives" or to "go back to school"?
* Do these studies take into consideration that women are far less likely to want to travel, work overtime, or "uproot & relocate" for their jobs? (Actions which almost certainly GUARANTEE "career advancement" and, by logical extension, salary increases!)
* Do these studies take into consideration the fact that it is "men" who overwhelmingly agree to work at the highest risk, most dangerous, and most physically demanding jobs which, understandably, do -- and SHOULD -- pay higher wages?
The facts speak plainly. Numerous other "studies" consistently show that women in the US have made (and continue to make) fantastic strides in both wage earning capacity and in educational advancement. Women now surpass men in college/university attendance. And when "comparable" job skills, length of stay on the job, and job "commitment" are matched against each other, women in the US earn roughly the same amount as their male counterparts!
If men were to begin treating their pursuit of the "American Dream" as something that no longer gave their lives meaning (since to most men their jobs and their successes in the job market give them a sense of identity and purpose) and they instead began insisting on marrying and leaving the workforce for months or years at a time to take care of "home & family," or if they simply decided that they no longer wanted to "keep their noses to the grindstone" or accept dangerous & potentially fatal jobs, and women began taking up the slack these men were leaving behind, you'd see the same "disparity" in pay scales you see today, only this time it would be tipped in "women's" favor.
Feminism is still a necessary evil in some areas of life and in many areas of the world, but let's not continue to promote a "victimhood" stereotype in those areas where such victimization no longer exists.
= Adrian =
But like I said, this is not the first time I took ''BartCop'' up on his offer to 'respond with a comment' to one of his posts -- a few months ago I shared with him the reason why I consciously refused to 'follow the crowds' on both the ''liberals'' AND ''conservatives'' sides in their trying to outdo one another in claiming the ''I Support The Troops'' mantra as their exclusive standard to bear and why I (a seemingly lone voice in the wilderness) simply could never stand on the side of the troops who are engaged in this illegal war in Iraq. I am unable to locate that original email I sent to him, but I had basically drawn from my own past military service to present a justifiable argument as to why the troops in Iraq were/are not deserving of the popular support everybody is claiming to give them. I reflected back on the fact that whenever new recruits are ''sworn in'' for military service they swear to two things: (1) to ''support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic'' ...AND (2) to ''obey the orders of the President of the United States'' -- and I placed emphasis on the fact that if the president was operating in stark violation to the U.S. Constitution as this president (G.W. Bush) has been doing (including having been unconstitutionally appointed) he was constituting himself a ''domestic enemy'' of the Constitution, and that ANY soldier or military officer who agreed to follow the orders of such a president was ''aligning'' him/herself with the chief ''domestic enemy'' of the Constitution, thereby making him/herself a ''domestic enemy'' of the U.S. Constitution, which amounts to Treason! (It has to take someone like myself who is NOT involved in politics to explain political realities to those who do take an active role. Sad.)
19:20, Hawaii Standard Time.
the myth of stunted progress for women's equality..."
To which ''BartCop'' supplied the following commentary:
Congrats to all the women out there.
Kato says you make as much as men these day.
Women are no longer making less than men - Kato says so!
Comments?
And so, taking him up on his offer (yet again), I submitted to ''BartCop'' the following email response:
But ''Liberals/Progressives'' are so QUICK to buy into the ''Femi-Nazi'' and 'Anti-Heterosexual' lies and propaganda that they cannot withstand the same degree of scrutiny they justifiably subject these Neo-Conservative swine to, proving once again that when it really all comes down to Tooth-&-Nails there is really not a whole hill of beans' worth of difference in their propensity to duck, dodge & avoid any facts that fly counter to their preconceived arguments.
To: bartcop-feedback@bartcop.com
Subject: FACT: U.S. Women "DO" Earn "Equal Pay"!
~ January 11, 2006 / Wednesday ~
Thanks for lending me your ear. Aloha -
Honolulu, Hawaii
January 30, 2006 (Monday)
I just called the main office a little while ago to inquire about why I never got credited with ''holiday pay'' (for working both ''Christmas'' and ''New Year's'') and got hit with the confirmation of one ''bad-ish news'' rumor and then with another totally out-of-the-blue really ''bad news'' bitch-slap, both in regard to a major work schedule disruption. (...What else is new?) Our contract with ''National Marine Fisheries Service'' (part of ''NOAA'') ends after Wednesday morning, and my ''fallback'' at ''Kapiolani Community College'' has also gone through a major restructuring which may adversely affect any scheduling I may have out there as well. (Now I'm beginning to feel somewhat like an idiot for spending all this money unnecessarily these past few weeks.)
14:25, Hawaii Standard Time.
January 31, 2006 (Tuesday)
Paid off some last minute bills, then went to the main office so they could have a photocopy of my driver's license on file -- which they claim they need (along with an updated driver's abstract) if I am to keep my schedule at Kapiolani Community College now that all of the changes are taking place there. I then went to our old location on Ala Napunani in Salt Lake to check on my other bicycle, and darned if it isn't still there! I dusted it off a bit and changed it's location slightly to give indication that it was not entirely abandoned -- I still have no idea as to when I plan on reclaiming possession of it.
17:10, Hawaii Standard Time.
February 2, 2006 (Thursday)
Went to request my latest ''driver's abstract'' this afternoon only to be told after I got there that they refused to accept personal checks! So I went from there-- in the rain --to update my driver's license which was due to expired at the end of this week, then gave it to the office so they could run off a copy for their (my) files employee files. I then went to the KMart to buy several extra pairs of shoes that were on sale, mostly to have enough 'work-related' shoes on standby. Back inside I finally decided to make my ''system recovery'' disc for the Windows machine, expecting it to take at least a couple of hours -- having been told over the phone with ''Tech Support'' that it would require about nine CD-R discs to complete... unless I misheard her and what she actually said was nine minutes, which is about how long it took on a single disc.
18:10, Hawaii Standard Time.
February 27, 2006 (Monday)
For a change, procrastination has actually paid off for me... literally. I thought I was ''cutting it close'' by putting off paying for the renewal of my motorcycle insurance policy until today, because I had mistakenly imprinted upon my own mind that the deadline to receive payment was today when, in actuality, it was yesterday. After having been assured that there was to be no ''penalty'' of any kind for late payment-- other than a temporary lapse in coverage --I went to the insurance agent with the check I had prewritten out on Friday, but I was told that the check information would have to be sent over the phone if I wanted coverage to be reactivated within 24-hours (as opposed to waiting until the check cleared). While she was on the phone, the receptionist gave the representative on the other end of the phone line some additional information which resulted in them knocking off an extra 5% off from the pre-printed statement. Works for me.....
20:40, Hawaii Standard Time.
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