The (Ugly) Forecast

Seven nights last shift without a flight, mostly due to weather...
Four flightless nights so far this shift, with lower-than-guidelines weather being the culprit.
This is the forecast for tonight:

KXXX 231722Z 2318/2418 15012KT P6SM OVC017
TEMPO 2318/2321 5SM -SHRA BR BKN009
FM232100 14014G22KT 5SM -SHRA BR OVC015
FM240300 12015G25KT 2SM SHRA BR OVC008
FM241200 13022G32KT 2SM SHRA BR OVC010

The important bits? The first line indicates the day guy will have
marginally flyable weather, but there is a temporary chance for a
visibility of 5 statute miles under a fairly solid (Broken) cloud deck
at 900 feet AGL. As I start my shift the weather will once again be
right at our (flyable) limits with 5 miles visibility and an overcast
ceiling at 1500 feet AGL, but in two hours that changes to 2 miles
visibility with overcast clouds at 800 feet AGL...
(And the wind... 14 gusting to 22 knots,
15 gusting to 23, 22 knots gusting to 32? Wow.)
Once again I'll be saying NO! every time the telephone rings.
Frustrating.

Brake Vs. SAE Horsepower

I promised myself when/if I successfully finished Officer Candidate School, one of the first things I was gonna do was buy myself a new car. I graduated OCS in October of 1967, and two days later ordered a car similar to the one pictured above, a 1968 Olds 442...
Oldsmobile's answer to the Pontiac GTO.

When I went to take delivery on the car the salesman felt it necessary to come and warn me:
"Be careful with this car... you ARE aware how powerful it is, aren't you?"
(Yes, you schmuck! That's the reason I want it!)

And it WAS powerful. It had a 400 cubic inch (6.6 liter) V-8 engine that produced 350 "Brake horsepower". My understanding is that brake horsepower was measured at the crankshaft with the engine removed from the car.
The car went faster than any 20 year old newly-commissioned Second Lieutenant needed to go. I loved the thing. I drove it 96,000 miles in six years and the ONLY thing I replaced on it in that time was the water pump. In 1973 I sold it when I bought a new Corvette. I've regretted selling that car ever since...
the Corvette was crap.
(And the kid that bought the Olds immediately took it Drag Racing at Indianapolis Raceway Park and won his class with it.)

New cars sing a siren song, don't they? I'm looking at the economy and realize it may fall completely apart, but hope that it doesn't 'cause I WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO BUY ONE OF THESE! (The graphics on that page took a LONG time to load on my machine.)

It comes in two versions... Fast, and RIDICULOUS.
Fast... is a 300 horsepower V6 that would make a nice daily driver and would get decent fuel mileage.
Ridiculous... is a 426 horsepower V-8 powered monster (that would eat the Olds 442 the salesman cautioned me about for breakfast and still have an appetite for more, while still going 9 miles farther on a gallon of gas than the old Olds).

Please consider...
The 300 and 426 horsepower figures I mention above? They're SAE horsepower ratings... which I believe is horsepower measured at the rear wheels where it is applied to the ground.
The '68 442 had 350 "Brake" H.P., and by the time that power got to the rear wheels, might have measured 300... maybe even less.
So that wimpy V-6 equipped Camaro? I suspect even it would probably blow the doors off my old 442.
... And we called those cars "Muscle Cars"!

Allen West- Are You A Fan?

He's scheduled to be on Andrea's radio program tonight.
Weather is likely to be bad, so I'm hopeful I'll get the chance to hear the entire kasmotch.
I'll watch for you in the chat room.

UPDATED:
Just finished an interesting 90 minutes listening to and chatting with the good Colonel...
This is the REAL DEAL folks, and he can use our help. When asked if he was getting any help from the Republican party he said, "Well, I'm on their radar screen", meaning, I suppose, not much. If you are as excited as I am to finally see a real leader who is not afraid to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States", maybe you oughta drop by here and think about writing and sending a check.
That's what I'm doin'.

UPDATE to the update:
Here's another review of the interview.

Obama's Misery, December Update-

October's misery index: 10.02%
The index for November: 11.84%, up more than three percentage points since September.

I'm reconsidering the title of these posts. Our
President(?), unlike the rest of us, seems to be enjoying
himself completely, oblivious to the misery around him.
What d'ya think? Care to suggest a new title?

Yes, we live in interesting times.

A Good Christmas For Man's Best Friend:

Read it ALL!

About Santa- News You Can Use!

I was listening to a 50,000 watt Midwestern AM radio "blowtorch" on my way to work the other night and heard a couple neat tidbits about our friend Saint Nick that need to be passed on to your kiddies-

Apparently a record number of children fall into the "Good" column this year. That means Santa will have a record load of toys on his sleigh. North Pole coordinators are asking parents to limit the amount of cookies and milk left for Santa in order to reduce the amount of weight the reindeer will have to tug airborne. (Notes to Santa are still encouraged and appreciated!)

Those of you with "Onstar" equipped vehicles that will be traveling with your kids Christmas Eve get a treat: Santa has apparently worked out a deal with Onstar...

On Christmas Eve you can press your "Onstar" button to inquire about Santa's progress around the world, thereby allaying kiddo's fears that Santa may be running late or miss them entirely. (Now I'm wishing I had an "Onstar" vehicle... I wish I wasn't working Christmas Eve... you can bet I'd find someone with kids and a GM car so we could all see how well this system works!)

The big day is less than a week away now. Be safe out there!

Precious Metals@ 18 December

Gold was down this week closing at $1112.00, compared to $1119.60 last week.
Silver closed at $17.32, up from $17.09 a week ago.
Considering this week's news, I'm quite surprised both aren't considerably higher.
But then, I think I'm probably digging deeper into the news than your average citizen/consumer.

What I'm seeing:
China caught on to the problem long ago, but China has a problem if they squeal...
Their economy is so dependent on ours, and they have so much of our currency they don't want anyone else catching on until they can unload a bunch of our dollars. When they start that process... hang on, 'cause it'll be like that first steep downhill on the roller coaster!

The media is still in the tank for democrats, trying to convince us that unemployment figures are improving. Unemployment is actually MUCH WORSE than reported, and the good news they're bringing is that the rising unemployment figures are not RISING SO QUICKLY as they were. (Isn't that GREAT?!).
Supposedly, the housing market is also improving. Do you see indications of that in your neighborhood? Houses on both sides of us are vacant, with no buyers anywhere in sight.

I keep trying to update my "Misery Index" posts, but for some odd reason that site is no longer providing the regular monthly updates it posted like clockwork until recently. (Why?)
The situation has reached a point where even left-leaners have to report
the box Bernanke/Paulson now find themselves in.
(Peekaboo! Inflation... I SEE YOU OUT THERE!)

And the one other thing I've noticed that is under-reported...
Bank failures continue, and the FDIC has apparently increased its budget dramatically and has hired a bunch of personnel to help out next year.
Now why would they do that, hmmmmm?
"The spike in failures has raised concerns about the FDIC's deposit insurance fund, which has slipped into the red for the first time since 1991."
(Remember, the economy in 1991 was considerably different than the economy today.)

A bunch of the TV commercials these days are trying to get you to bring in and sell your gold jewelry, or convince you to buy the gold resulting from all that jewelry being melted into ingots.
Are you buying, selling, (or denying)?
You know where I stand on that question.

UPDATED, 0715 LOCAL:
I complain that "The Misery Index" site isn't updating, and they update it between the time I complain and the time the post publishes... Check it out! (I'll update the blog later.)

Without Comment.

Thanks CJ

The Angle

Al Gore has figured out how to do it.
So has the leader of the U.N. group on "climate change", (formerly known as Global Warming).
By default, I suspect President Obama will benefit somewhere down the road, if only in campaign donations.
What's the angle?
How do the rest of us become millionaires... (In Gore's case, BILLIONAIRE?), using this fraudulent scheme as a vehicle?
My initial effort was apparently too open and honest!
(I need to go to "Snake Oil Salesman" school!)

Life Throws A Curve Ball

I was listening to Dennis Miller streaming the other day and as is so often the case he came up with another golden nugget-
"You're only as happy as your most miserable child."
We have just one child, but from watching others with a "Black Sheep" I can see that it's true...
You cannot avoid trying to herd that wayward sheep back into the fold. And unfortunately for some, the lost member of the flock sometimes doesn't take well to herding.

That's not the case with our young lamb... he doesn't enjoy the feeling of being lost.
He's been away from home three years now and has had an interesting time so far... at one point he had his full-time job and three part-time jobs. His full-timer was a 9 to fiver, and the part-timers were accomplished from his home office in front of his computer. For a while the money was flowing freely and he didn't have a care in the world. Then the 9 to 5 company pretty much went bankrupt and he started having to watch his pennies and dimes...
Still, there was enough to pay the bills and have discretionary money left over.
Then one of the part-time jobs folded.
Ouch. Now the outgo exceeds the income, and it's time to get serious about remedying that.

From a distance of 1700 miles we provided what support we could, which obviously wasn't much more than now-and-then advice. Staying in contact via cell phones and the occasional Skype video call is a comfort, but it's not the same as bein' able to reach out and hug your kid. He's not picky... would have taken a job as a greeter at a big-box store if it were offered. But of course, those hiring for those jobs look at his resume and fear if they hire him he'd soon find work more compatible with his abilities... they won't hire him.
So under these circumstances he went 8 months... I'm pretty proud of him actually... he had enough savings to pay his bills for 8 months before things got desperate. (He's still making enough money at the two remaining part-time jobs that he's not eligible for unemployment compensation.) His calls got more and more desperate and I finally said, "It's time for you to come back home so we can lend a hand."

Now, by "coming home" I don't mean "Move back under our roof", although that remains a last-choice option. Our thoughts were that he could move back to BigTown, two hours away, where I could use my network of friends and get him a "foot in the door" job where he could start over. Home for Thanksgiving, we imposed on several friends to try to find employment for him and they came through with flying colors. He was pretty much offered a job as a waiter at a restaurant that was being built and would open about the time he could get back in the area. He felt comfortable enough to sign a lease on a nice, nearby apartment. He went back home and we started making plans to pack a moving van and drive the two day drive back to the Midwest.

Then, guess what?
He got a job offer in L.A..
It's a dream job...
Well, almost. He doesn't want to live in the L.A. area... the traffic drives him crazy and he can't afford more than a one bedroom apartment there right now. But the job keeps him involved in the Science Fiction industry and will expose him to new faces and places there. The starting money is good and will get much better within the year.

Now it gets expensive, and he doesn't have much $$$ in reserve to play this game...
He has to break the lease he just signed in BigTown.
He has to cancel a contract he just signed with Dish Network.
He has to write a check for the lease on the new apartment in L.A., (a minimum 15-month lease, by the way.)

His old man is working Christmas night and will get off work the following morning. That day I'll fly to PHX and begin loading a moving van that will be headed West, rather than East. I have three days to get him moved and unpacked, then I'll be flying back home to spend my 29th Anniversary with my lovely bride. It's my hope I'll have enough energy remaining to stay awake and enjoy a little champagne.

Looking ahead at the next two weeks is no fun.
I hope, on 31 December when I'm watching the bubbles rise in that glass of champagne, we can finally relax and smile.
I'd appreciate your good vibrations, please.

B.O.P.

Big Brother Loves You, Part II !

Is our Socialist President planning a "surprise" for us?
Define "... other domestic catastrophe" for me, please!
Truth squads.
SEIU thugs.
Black Panthers threatening folks, then getting a free pass.
I DO NOT like the sound of this!

Boat Anchors

I bought 'em in 1967 from a friend that took a part-time job selling 'em... Collier's Encyclopedias. They're taking up space I could be using for other things. Problem is, I'm not sure anyone wants them. I hate to just throw them away, but I don't think they'd produce a lot of BTU's in the fireplace!
Ideas?

Col. Allen West

He'll be on Hannity tonight- Monday, 15 December.
There IS HOPE for CHANGE!
Check him out.

We Want Dudley!

Is it possible?
We've looked at the schedules at TCM, AMC, and the Fox Movie Channel, and find that The Bishop's Wife apparently will not be shown during this holiday season.
It's an annual favorite of ours...
Christmas won't be the same without it!

Oshkosh 2009

Neat:



Thanks OPD!

You're Greatful Tuscon Neice

I screw 'em up.
A lot.

From The Patient's Viewpoint-

"Then a band of EMTs pulled me out of the ambulance, still naked except for underwear, boots, and helmet, and shoved me on my plywood spatula into the helicopter like some giant pizza going into a wood oven."

Good stuff. Read it here.