Interesting – Page 6 – Really Right

Conversations with the Naïve III

Wow, do we have a great one this week, coming live from Safeway in Elk Grove on a Thursday at noon.

While traversing the aisles of said grocery store, I was grabbed by an older lady, around 70. On occasion the thought of being grabbed by an older woman may have its appeal but this was no such encounter. This gal looked at me and said, “You look smart. I need to axe you a question.”
I said, “Your first strike is assuming I’m smart but go ahead, just don’t axe me.”
She looked at the pharmacist and said, “He looks smart right?” The pharmacist nodded in approval. The lady said to me, “Can you believe the shots for the flu are not free here?”
My response was, “Well, this is a business so I wouldn’t expect them to give something away for free.” She looked at me in total disbelief. I added, “Corporations are in the business of making money and I’m not quite sure why she thought it should be provided at no cost to her.” She looked like her mind was in a total pretzel, so I said to her, “Well by no means should I be considered a census of the store. Feel free to poll other shoppers here. Take care and good luck with your free-for-all.” Her last remark was she is going to Kaiser because they give out shots for free.

Holy smokes! There is a lot to unpack here but to keep it simple, this lady should probably not be upright, let alone free to terrorize our shopping centers! It reminds me of a store concept that went out of business by Panera called “Pay What You Think its Worth.” Yes, that same Panera, the group thinkers, thought, well people would pay more to subsidize the people who didn’t want to pay at all, and viola…wrong.

Panera Bread is closing up its last pay-what-you-can cafe in Boston, admitting that the experiment aimed to combat hunger was “no longer viable.”

Link: Panera Bread pay-what-you-can test ‘no longer viable’; last cafe closes in Boston

This lady, I mean, what the hell? Why would you get a shot for free? …Safeway doesn’t even advertise that. By the way this lady didn’t have a cart or basket so obviously she came for the free stuff only. This lady wants people to give, give, give, and she has zero intention of opening her purse! Say what you want about evil corporations, greed, and the like, but Safeway, through parent company Albertson’s employs thousands of people and is a source of their livelihood. Why would they just give things away, no strings attached? Sorry Robert Kraft, before you get too excited, the items with no strings attached here are groceries and shots.

People are completely unreal these days. The sad thing is, here in California, she likely found quite a few people to agree with her that it should be free. This type of thinking from her generation (Baby Boomers) has destroyed what is left of America. First they bankrupted Social Security and put Medicare on a very unsustainable tilt. Now they think everything should be free, but I’m sure the string attached is raising taxes on the working folks (err, the rich)…because they can afford it.

To people like this lady, corporations are evil, and should be driven out of business. Her ilk pay no attention to the number of people employed by said Evil Corporations. This person thinks Kaiser gives out shots for free; mind you….I guess she never became aware of Medicare or health insurance or well, just common sense? Sadly, the latter is in short supply these days.

Now her generation and their likeminded offspring want Medicare for all.

Free stuff for everyone. Isn’t that what our country is, “the land of the free?” The hidden secret is they want everyone paying in to keep the Ponzi going till after they expire then who cares. Perfect example, I pay $420 a month for healthcare. Imagine if the federal/state government got that action every month instead of Anthem Blue Cross?

Enough facts and logic, I would hate to confuse the naïve any further. Hopefully this lady didn’t have time to put out the bat signal in reference to the free shots because I guarantee you that 90-Day Guy and his ilk would have broken every land-speed record to get to their local Safeway.

Cold War Tome on Socialism More Relevant Now

If you want a cold, honest assessment of socialism you will not do any better than David Chilton’s forgotten book, Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators. Written at the height of the Cold War (1981), it is more relevant now than it was when he wrote it.

I have owned my copy of the book since I met David back in 1989 but I never read it. Why? Back in 1989 is when the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed. I considered reading it back then, but we thought socialism, like the Soviet Union, had been disgraced and relegated to the scrap heap of failed human experiments. Sadly, like a bad movie or a fatal case of cancer, socialism is back.

One reason that I like reading the book is because Chilton is far removed from the current controversies raging in our country. This makes him a disinterested party free from opinions on Bernie Sanders and A.O.C. He is looking at the facts of socialism from a philosophical and historical perspective.

David goes further by not just describing the disease but the cure. In his writings, all things are measured by Scripture including governments and their ideas. On its surface, the book is a rebuttal of a “Christian Socialist” named Ron Sider.

I’m not done with the book, but I just had to blog on it after reading the excerpt which I quote below.

Envy is the greatest disease of our age. It is often confused with jealousy and covetousness, which have to do with wanting the possessions and privileges of others. Envy is much more insidious – and deadly. Envy is the feeling that someone else’s having something is to blame for the fact that you do not have it. The principal motive is thus not so much to take, but to destroy. The envier acts against the object of his envy” not to benefit himself, but to cut the other person down to his own level-or below. The American Puritan divine Samuel Willard defined envy as “a man’s repining at his neighbour’s Prosperity, looking upon himself to be Hurt by it.” In his massive study of envy, Helmut Schoeck points up this central factor: “the envious man’s conviction that the envied man’s prosperity, his success and his income are somehow to ‘blame for the subject’s deprivation, for the lack that he feels. ‘ It can be summed up in Pierre-Joseph Proudhon‘s famous epigram: Property is Theft!

This explains why “Envy and Malice are inseparable”; as we can see from the example in Genesis quoted above, the envier’s goal is destruction. Henry Hazlitt writes: “The envious are more likely to·be·mollified by seeing others deprived of some advantage than by getting it for themselves. It is not what they lack that chiefly troubles them, but what others have. The envious are not satisfied with equality; they secretly yearn for superiority and revenge.”

And it is this envious, destructionist mentality, nursing itself on the notion that ”your wealth is the cause of my poverty, “that is the basic ethos of socialism. For socialism does not…..and cannot – build up capital. It seeks only to expropriate or destroy the capital of others. It exalts a malignant, misanthropic disposition into an article of political economy, a machine for tyranny. Socialism is institutionalized envy.
Pages 139-140

David Chilton’s book can be found here

Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators

The PDF file is a free download from the publisher. If, like me, you like the dead tree version try searching Amazon.

David Chilton Wikipedia page

Thoughts on “Kill It and Grill It”

On internal combustion vehicles, the front end is often called “the grill” because it has an area that allows air to flow thru the radiator to cool the engine. But now Californians may mean something entirely different when talking about their automobile and “the grill.”

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Get ready to break out your recipes for roadkill. Eating wild animals killed by a car could soon become legal in California.
State Senator Bob Archuleta introduced a so-called “you kill it, you grill it” bill at the Capitol this week.
The bill reads, “each year it is estimated that over 20,000 deer alone are hit by motor vehicles on California roadways. This translates into hundreds of thousands of pounds of healthy meat that could be utilized to feed those in need.”

Kill It And Grill It? Roadkill Could Become Legal To Eat

Ok, so thought number one was the parody that Rush Limbaugh did many years ago on the subject. He illustrated serving roadkill with a parody of diners eating the special of the day at mythical Furs Cafeteria. About the third day of running the parody, he got a polite cease and desist letter from Furr’s Cafeteria letting him know that they were offended. Rush had to alter the parody as a result.

Furr’s claims it doesn’t really serve roadkill

In the old days roadkill was given to jails and prisons as a way to supplement the menu. Since Jerry Brown let so many felons out of prison without serving their sentences (over 50,000) maybe this is the Democrat’s way of making them feel at home in the “real world.”

However, there is more to this juicy story…

UC Davis has maintains a website documenting roadkill incidents across California.
In 10 years, the California Roadkill Observation System has recorded 60,000 cases of roadkill collisions, mostly with deer.

Ok, color me shocked. Did you know your tax dollars were hard at work funding the California Roadkill Observation System? Is the guy running this vital government agency a double major in environmental studies and traffic engineering?

Please note that you’ve been paying for this for at least the last ten years. Does that mean Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized this boondoggle too?

Next please note the math in this story. Bob Archuleta claims there are 20,000 deer killed each year on California highways while the taxpayer funded California Roadkill Observation System claims that 60,000 animals—mostly deer—have been murdered by passing autos in a ten year period.

Using Bob’s statistic, we should expect over 200,000 deer to be killed in a ten year period. That sounds like we are supposed to celebrate deer genocide by destroying the evidence that there were ever any deer in California.

As a former deer hunter, I’m saddened by this issue. In many parts of the state, deer are almost as scarce as jack rabbits these days and now government is trying to give you an incentive to run over them with your car. Need a bambulance?

Bambulance–Actual 9-1-1 call

The bill, notwithstanding any other law, would authorize (a) a person who unintentionally strikes and kills a deer, elk, antelope, or wild pig on a roadway in California with a vehicle to recover, possess, use, or transport the whole animal and salvage the edible portions of the animal…

Link: Will Californians Eat Roadkill For Dinner?

The bill is discriminatory in several ways.

First, after hitting a deer with my vehicle, how does anyone know what my intent was? The only other witness to the carnage (good word choice in this context) is dead.

Second, besides a town baring the name, are there any antelope in this state?

Third, this bill discriminates against other species of animals commonly hit by vehicles and consumed by groups living in the state. Rabbits, coons, and possums come to mind. But why stop there? What about cats and dogs? If they can’t stay on the leash and happen to wok in front of you then aren’t they fair game too? Cows and horses are both consumed in this state and occasionally wander in front of vehicles as well.

I personally have hit one dog, one cat, two owls, one pheasant, at least one snake, and a possum since getting my license at age sixteen. Oh, the owls and pheasant were all airborne when the fatal blows were struck.

If you look at the economic direction of this state, are they anticipating a time when we will be like Venezuela and need to eat anything we can grill just to survive? Is this the end-game of healthcare for all and other utopian ideas?

Lastly, don’t you find it curious that vehicle insurance statistics are not cited to prove the widespread slaughter of furry mammals by motorized vehicles? We are all required by law to have our cars insured so clearly hard numbers exist as to the actual number of such collisions that occur annually.

Johnnie Does Firehouse Subs

Recently, I found myself at a chain restaurant called Firehouse Subs. I have visited this location twice, both unannounced. Here is my full report and experience.

The Firehouse Subs location that I visited was on Truxel Road in north Sacramento County. Upon walking in, a crew leader or watchperson calls out “12, 10…3..2..1”…..and every employee yells “Welcome to Firehouse.” This greeting is a copycat of Moe’s Southwest Restaurant. Frankly it is too much; especially since it’s called out each time someone walks in. When you dine at a chain restaurant and this kind of racket is breaking out every few minutes or someone is having a birthday and the siren goes off every ten minutes, its overkill. Stop copying the concept…. find something new.

Once you enter the place, you’ll notice that the décor is awesome. It’s all firehouse and emergency service: photos and gear like hoses and ladders. It looks like a firehouse!

Also donning the walls were copies of checks donated to the local firefighters and county sheriff departments; really nice touch. The employees were all gracious and dressed in shirts giving credit to their favorite sub…. pretty cool if you ask me. For the ambiance, décor etc. solid 4/5, just change the welcome to firehouse thing.

The menu board is semi-intimidating because some of the sandwiches have a firehouse/exotic name. Just to name a couple: Hook & Ladder, Engineer, and Firehouse Hero. Other subs have a standard/traditional name like turkey, bacon ranch, or meatball. The sub’s veggies can all be modified; you can even add/subtract things for no additional charge, unlike Togo’s or Subway where there is a fee.

All subs are served hot on toasted bread and warmed meat via a steamer but can also be ordered cold. The subs come in small 4”, medium 6”, and large 8” size, I ordered the medium both times and was satisfied. On my first visit, I ordered the Hook and Ladder which is turkey, ham, and Monterey jack cheese, which I was told comes “fully involved” meaning I get a pickle on the side in addition to my sandwich…nice touch.

You order, swipe, and take a seat, and your food is brought out to you in a neat little firehouse basket.

I devoured my sandwich, it never stood a chance. The sandwich was perfectly cooked, and the perfect temperature…..again, it never stood a chance. I found the warm bun and meat paired with cool veggies and mayo was right on point. The other visit I ordered the Firehouse Cajun Chicken which was cut chicken, cooked with Cajun spices, on a sub with hot peppers, onions and homemade Cajun mustard…..WOW, I loved it!!!!! 5/5 no question asked. Firehouse also offers soups, chili, chips, and soda, like most other sandwich places, I have yet to try the signature chili. There is also a hot sauce bar with roughly 30 hot sauce bottles all ranked 1-10, great touch. I tried several, came away impressed!

As far as price goes, the medium size subs are $8.99 which after tax puts you right around $10 which is the sweet spot for lunch. The price is a little more than a cheap Subway but less than a Togo’s and the flavor makes it very worthwhile. They offer a daily special like every other chain, have a rewards club, and have seasonal specials like the Cajun chicken sub for $5.55. 5/5 on price, very affordable and great value.

Overall solid 14/15

Bloggers note: On the 2nd trip to Firehouse, the regional manager from corporate was there, and I have to say it was a fairly awkward visit with him there. It was too bad really. I get it it’s a franchised operation and quality assurance must be made; however, this guy looked like Chuck “The Shermanator” Sherman from American Pie.

It was awkward. He did the strangest stuff during the lunch rush like pulling the ice dispenser in front the soda machine, taking photos and storing it on his iPad, or grabbing and squeezing every bag of chips…really weird. Firehouse needs to clean this up…. other than that, I love the place.

Yardhouse is next….

My Dream for MLK Day

My dream for Martin Luther King Day is simple; namely, that people that follow Dr. King would believe him.

Nobody praises him as a Christian and man of the Word.
Nobody that claims his legacy talks about the fact that he was staunch Republican.
Nobody that claims his legacy believes in his Dream.

Yeh, I just said that, “nobody that claims his legacy believes in his dream.”

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Almost all black folks vote for Democrats; a political party that only cares about their skin color and views them as a block of voters, just another interest group among many. These same Democrats created the KKK, Jim Crow, segregated schools, and everything they claim oppressed them in the past, yet despite all that, they cling to the Democrats like a baby to its mother. The black community seems to be suffering mass hypnosis, Stockholm Syndrome, or something even more diabolical.

If insanity is really defined as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”, then these folks are insane. They faithfully vote Democrat every two years, get nothing for it, and then do it again.

I would argue that Dr. King was telling his people to wake-up. Nobody is going to help you but yourselves. He also advised the protesters to work with others willing to work with them. He says it will be work but is worth the struggle.

I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

King take the promise of John the Baptist and converts it into a metaphor of brotherhood and transformation.

I have a dream today … I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain; shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

In my opinion, King’s dream was highjacked decades ago and replaced with a stay on the plantation mentality (Mason Weaver’s words not mine).

The black community now looks to the government for justice not God. When government is your God, it only leads to slavery and oppression not freedom. Like Esau, they have forfeited their birthright–which Dr. King tried to remind them of–for a bowl of soup.

Its not too late to believe in King’s dream but clearly it requires, work, sacrifice and vigilance; things they will never get from Jackson, Sharpton, and Farrakhan.

Link: National Archives–text of I Have a Dream

Saint Nicholas

Since tomorrow is Christmas, I thought readers might enjoy a glimpse into the life of Old Saint Nick.

Oh, and yes Virginia there really was a Saint Nick. He loved the poor and had no tolerance for corrupt politicians or heretics.

The history of Nicholas is blurry, but there are many legends associated with the man. Apparently, after his parents died, he inherited their fortune and chose to distribute it to the needy. Most famously, he lobbed bags of gold through the windows and down the chimneys of three sisters who had no dowry to allow them to marry.
Soon, Nicholas became bishop of Myra, the city where he preached.
Ted Olsen, assistant editor of Christian history at Christianity Today, wrote that “it wasn’t long before Diocletian and Maximian began their persecutions of Christians, and the new bishop was imprisoned.” However, when Constantine assumed emperorship, Nicholas was released with many other persecuted believers and he returned to preaching.
After his release, Nicholas became a defender of the faith against Arianism, a heretical doctrine which asserted that Christ was not the Son of God, but a being nurtured by God the Father to the position of Son of God. Saint Nicholas reportedly traveled to the Council of Nicea and actually slapped Arius in the face in defense of the Gospel of Christ.

The real Saint Nicholas

FYI: today we know the modern followers of Arius as Jehovah’s Witnesses. They claim Jesus was the greatest created being. In contrast, historic Christianity summarized by the Creed maintain that Jesus was, “begotten not made…”

When the first major heresy – the Arian Heresy – began to split the Christian Church, Constantine ordered all the bishops to go to Nicea to settle it, which they did by writing the Nicene Creed. The tradition is that St. Nicholas attended the Council of Nicea and was so upset at Arius for starting this heresy that he slapped him across the face. Evidently, Jolly Old St. Nick had a little temper!
Nicholas preached against the sexual immorality Artemis or Diana fertility worship, as did the Apostle Paul according to the Book of Acts, chapter 19.
The Temple to Diana at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, twice as big as the Parthenon in Athens, having 127 huge pillars – and temple prostitutes. It was the Las Vegas of the Mediterranean world. Nicholas’ preaching led the people of Myra to tear down their local temple to Diana. Shortly after, from the preaching of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (A.D. 397-403), the people tore down the temple to Diana at Ephesus.
Nicholas confronted dishonest government politicians. One story was of a corrupt governor who was about to execute some innocent soldiers in order to cover up his misdeeds. Nicholas broke through the crowd, grabbed the executioner’s sword, threw it down and then exposed the governor’s evil plot. The governor, realizing that Nicholas had no way of knowing his plot except by insight from God, fell on his knees and begged Nicholas to pray for him.

Why everyone should know real story of St. Nicholas

Paradise Fire

Camp Fire map November 16, 2018

It’s a week since Paradise was Lost. I wanted to recap on what we think we know thus far and what’s next.

In a nutshell this is it:

At about 6:15 AM last Thursday (November 8th), Pacific Gas and Electric electrical sensors reported a fault in a line near Camp Road. At 6:33, a fire was reported in the area of this fault.

Thursday morning at 6:43 a.m., Butte County firefighters called dispatch after seeing flames across the Feather River from Poe Dam.

“It is on the west side of the river, underneath the transmission lines,” the firefighter went on to say. “Probably about 35 mph sustained wind on it.”

CBS13 obtained a report that PG&E made from the California Public Utilities Commission. It described an incident at 6:15 a.m., 28 minutes before that call from firefighters. It read: “PG&E experienced an outage on the Caribou-Palermo 115 kV Transmission line in Butte County.”

CalFire records show the Camp Fire started at 6:33 a.m., just 18 minutes later.

PG&E Could Be to Blame For Sparking Camp Fire In Butte County

Whether the fire caused the fault in the electric line or the line caused the fire will be determined first by investigators and secondly in some as yet to be filed lawsuit on behalf of victims.

It was a windy day. The wind was blowing from the mountains into the valley. Before noon that day, the city of Paradise—population about 28,000 souls—and the surrounding area were burned to a crisp. By sunset, 70,000 acres had burned.

The lands to the west of Highway 99 are agricultural and thus a natural barrier to further spread of the fire in that direction. Much of the area is used for rice production. Maintained lands have less fuel available to be burned. Also, the growing season is over and fields are traditionally plowed and left fallow during the winter months.

As of this writing, 142,000 acres have burned, 63 people are confirmed dead and over 600 are listed as missing. Most of the missing are elderly and were likely indoors going thru their regular routine when the fire struck their homes. They were not warned in time or unable to escape the flames.

Authorities searching through the blackened aftermath of California’s deadliest wildfire have released the names of about 100 people who are still missing, including many in their 80s and 90s, and dozens more could still be unaccounted for.

List Of Missing In Camp Fire Includes Many In Their 80s And 90s

For readers not familiar with this area, this part of northern California is rural and poor. Unemployment is chronically high. There once was a thriving timber industry in this area but it was run out of the area decades ago. Now, government is the only employer offering middleclass wages to most folks in this area. Paradise was the type of place folks could go to get more for their money in terms of housing. You could get a place with a view or at least some pine or oak trees on your property. Chances are that a house there had no sidewalks and is on a septic system not connected to a city sewer. Many driveways are gravel not paved. The pace of life is slower than the big city and folks like it that way.

The rural lifestyle is part of the reason for the loss of life. Another is that communication with citizens is more difficult in today’s society. We get our information from a varied and decentralized network of sources.

In the wake of the political season, how many of you would answer a phone call from a number that you don’t recognize? If the sheriff’s office called me with a warning, I’d probably let it go to voicemail. We all know telemarketers can spoof the name and number of the call so caller I.D. has limited effectiveness. Plus old folks might not answer the phone because they didn’t hear it ring.

Anything short of a welfare check on your neighbor had limited effectiveness. Many people were heading to work or school when the fire struck Paradise. People didn’t know who was home and who was not. Often they didn’t have time to check on their neighbors. Often they grabbed the car keys and left with nothing.

Today, the south and east sides of the fire continue to burn. The area near Highway 70 and Oroville Lake is inaccessible and contains lots of fuel so it will be a while before this part gets firm fire lines.

Let’s talk about rebuilding.

· Roads must be cleared and burned structures must be removed and disposed somewhere.

· Land must then be surveyed to mark property boundaries.

· Basic infrastructure—power, water, and sewer—must be restored before structures can be rebuilt. Concurrently, communication is also necessary whether that be cellular or land lines.

· FEMA, CalOES, and insurance companies must get all their paperwork organized so money will be available to rebuild.

· State, county, and local officials need to find a way to fast-track permits for all this to happen and of course winter is coming.

Unless you opt for a mobile home, you are probably a year or more away from occupying a rebuilt house. Even with insurance, who can afford a year in temporary housing waiting to get their life back?

I know people that have lost everything short of their lives in the fire and others that were evacuated and still don’t know if they have a place to return to when they are able.

I have more to say on this tragedy but I will refrain until a later date. Meanwhile my heart goes out to those suffering loss. Let the smoke be a reminder that whatever inconvenience you think it is causing, it’s nothing compared to what people in Butte County are experiencing now.

Review: Ancestry DNA

I was inspired by the Sith Lord several years ago to consider doing Ancestry DNA and 23 and Me.
(FYI it’s called 23 because you have 46 chromosomes with 23 from each parent.)

The Sith Lord said that each website does it differently and provides different information. I’m still working on getting both done. At a retail price of $99 per test, you really have to want to do it.

In brief the Ancestry test gives you two things:

First, the obligatory breakdown of origins. Where in the world did your ancestors come from? Some of the breakdown is logical but there are some trace outliers that raised a few questions with me. Hopefully 23 and me will address these when I get around to doing their test.

Second, Ancestry provides a list of other people that are related to me in some way. The trick is they don’t say how. It claims that 998 people in their database are my 4th cousins or closer. I know one person in their list but the others, nope.

Ancestry lets you use an online version of Family Tree Maker to try to add information to build-out your family tree. If you haven’t done this before you can really get carried away. Ancestry treats all family trees on their website as containing valid data and relationships. The old saying about garbage in, garbage out applies here.

I have some information about my family history and I still had to correct instances of the same spouse or child appearing on the tree as different people. You can only go back so far before the trail gets cold, unless someone really famous crops-up in the list. I traced my mom’s father back to William the Conqueror in 1066 AD. To get such results you must rely on other people and if one relationship is incorrect then the whole tree turns to nonsense. Ronald Reagan’s “trust but verify” applies to genealogy research too.

I researched a couple of nagging issues from a few years ago and did turn-up new facts while on the website this time around. The main one being a wedding record of my great-great-grandfather. His first wife died three years before the birth of my ancestor and this has always been unexplained until this summer. Since I looked last time, Ancestry has added more records to their database and I was able to answer one of my questions about this period of the family history.

I think its worth doing if you’re curious about genealogy.

Johnnie Does a Frozen Dinner

By Johnnie Does…

Greetings, if you don’t know me I’m actually a very good cook, as proclaimed by a former professional chef I know. Things took a rare turn this week and I felt the need to blog about it. As a Safeway club card member I received a free offer, or as the Blog Father would say…an offer I couldn’t refuse, for a PF Chang’s frozen dinner for 2 meal for a low, low cost of FREE. Free? Whoa! That’s weird! I perused the aisles and discovered about 8 choices for said free meal, there was a shrimp one (yeah no) an orange chicken one (basically panda express) nope, I finally settled on Mongolian Beef. The bag seemed small, but I returned to my dwelling, opened said bag and into the frying pan it went. Don’t know why it’s called a frying pan when it sits over a burner, but oh well, away I went. I took a gander at the ingredients; and was pleasantly surprised; beef with sweet and savory sauce, onions, string beans, and red bell peppers not a bad combination at all. I immediately recognized the beef, string beans and red bell peppers, I didn’t understand the odd brown blocks that looked like Lego’s. After a few minutes of cooking it all came into focus, the sauce was frozen into the Lego looking bricks.

After about 15 minutes in a “frying pan” again…whoa that’s weird, the meal was ready and transferred to a plate. I was not able to obtain the brown almost bamboo esque plate in the “serving suggestion” on the front of the bag, nor was I able to acquire the fancy looking chopsticks, so a generic white plate, and a small fork were used. All my large forks were in a cleaning device most call a dishwasher.

The meal was actually very good, sauce was great, the string beans and bell peppers had a nice crunch and great taste, the beef was right on point. I would go a solid 7.8 out of 10 on this meal. Again not an everyday staple but an every so often when the girlfriend or wife is gone and I need something quick and easy (other than a hooker) I would buy this one.

My big drawback was the meal is that it’s not big enough for 2, it barely fed me…….Blog Father will collaborate my story I’m an average looking (besides the face for radio) 6 foot 200lb man… and it barely fed me. Which is fine, but the branding of a meal for 2….unless you’re feeding Lindsay Lohan and yourself epic fail. The cost when not free didn’t seem too out of line, $8.99 for the meal. Every so often I see Raley’s advertisements saying $5 on certain Mondays. 310 calories per serving, which means 620 for me, because I ate the whole meal, not complaining, but yeah I would go for it again.

Johnnie Does

San Francisco coming this week.

I See Dead People

“I see dead people walking around like regular people”
Haley Joel Osmen
The Sixth Sense

At work, occasionally I see dead people too.

The State Agency for which I work is carrying debts owed by former state employees that have gone to their eternal reward; often, their demise can create an accounting legacy that lasts for years. You see, we have no ability to go after the estate of decedents to collect on the debt but we also have no way to write-off such debts even when we know we cannot collect them.

Back in the day, this was called a Mexican Stand-off (somehow, I think the plastic bag straw police will decide to make this term politically incorrect soon).

If you die before we tell you that you own the State money due to overpayment, then our legal department determined that you were not notified in a timely manner and we can write-off the debt. This risky and brilliant legal determination was committed to writing just last year. Note to readers, our unit has been dealing with this issue since 2011; thus it took six years to extract this legal opinion.

However, if we notified you prior to your passing then welcome to purgatory. Much like the infamous Hotel California, you may be checked-out but your debt may never leave.

We have no guidance on what to do in such cases. Managers are so risk-averse that they are fearful to put the debt out of its misery. The usual reason stated eventually goes to having proper documentation to withstand the dreaded accounting audit.

For those not familiar with accounting, the function of the auditor is to come in after the battle and bayonet the wounded. ( -:

Example, one guy met his maker in 2012 and the debt which is less than $500 is still on the books in 2018. We have had a copy of the obituary in our office for four years now. In fairness, last month we came up with a way to write-off the debt but as of this writing, it is still in limbo.

Eventually these uncollectible accounting items will be laid to rest but whether they stay buried is out of my control. Should they be uncovered by the dreaded auditors then it may require more silver nitrate, garlic, salt, stakes, or other assorted remedies for fighting the undead than we can muster.

Yeah, the way government accounting rolls they may be back but hopefully not on my watch.