ouch

my little papal snit is over. i can't decide what irks me more; the pope himself, or the gullible rubes fawning over his eminence.

the love affair with the new pioneer receiver is fading. i have no problem with its performance but moving the son of bitch hurt my back big time. i'm not sure if it was lugging the new receiver around or putting the old receiver in the closet, but my poor back is aching. the old spinal column ran into trouble about 6 months ago moving furniture and carrying soil to repair a lawn. not only does it hurt, i've lost a lot of strength in my legs. riding the bike is very difficult these days.

just to prove that i don't hold a grudge, i pedaled up to the library in a reasonable amount of pain and picked up 11 cd's to feed the beast. the holly cole trio has caught my ear these days and since they're free, i grabbed several others. there was a time when i'd shell out 20 bucks for a cd only to discover that other than the song that interested me, the cd was basically crap. the cd section in our library seems to be shrinking but the dvd section is growing like a weed. the library, cable, streaming, downloading...... somebody up there likes me, which is nice.

i was going to reconfigure the new receiver and add a few more speakers but that thought lasted mere nanoseconds once i looked at all the wires in the back and realized i'd have to slide the son of bitch out to connect the new speakers. it's a daunting task for my 60 year old eyes to see through a maze of wires, select the correct terminal and insert a frayed wire into a small hole while all the time being careful not to dislodge some other wires. adding speakers is easy with banana plugs but i couldn't find any laying around so now i'll have to wait a month or so until a new supply arrives from china. 8 pairs are on the way and i'm thinking of ordering more. just-in-time delivery may be cost effective for manufacturing but i like to keep a reasonable inventory of trinkets and gadgets.

the new receiver sounds good and it looks good but it also provides piece of mind. i have a back-up receiver again. a few months ago i disposed of my old receivers in an attempt to rid myself of some clutter and since nature abhors a vacuum, the area i freed up by getting rid of the receivers was soon filled with stuff that had less value and less potential utility than the old receivers and worst of all, i lost the peace of mind in knowing that i had a back-up ready just in case something went wrong. now i can turn the son of bitch on and off ad infinitum and not worry about breaking it, because i have a back-up. (note to self, future back-up equipment must weigh less than twenty pounds.)

a man always needs a plan b and back-up toys in case things go askew. lucky me.

i love you sons of bitches.

the pope

the figure head of the catholic church is on a recruiting drive in the united states and LECTURING US ON ECONOMIC POLICY AND HUMAN RIGHTS.

if there's one thing that makes it impossible for me to enjoy the moment it's religious bullshit. i am 100% certain that i will never feel any remorse for the following statement:

FUCK THE POPE AND FUCK THE BULLET PROOF CAR HE RODE IN ON!

it is the height of hypocrisy for some asshole representing one of the most evil and profit driven organizations in history to lecture us on morals.

in case anyone forgot: Catholic mass grave sites of 350,800 missing children found in Ireland, Spain, Canada, we in canada are paying a fortune to the indian kids fucked over by catholic priests.

i would also encourage anyone to read about the spanish and portuguese adventures in their conquest of south america which were directed by and blessed by the catholic church. it ain't pretty.

i love you sons of bitches.

risk

behold the turtle, he only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.

this morning i stuck my neck out and wrote a post on syrian refugees. after an hour or so i decided progress was over rated so i deleted my thoughts on syria and pulled my head back into my shell. so it goes. as for syria and the european dilemma, i'm just glad that i live on the other side of the planet. it seems like a very difficult situation with no obvious solution. and i just can't figure out why germany is taking in 800,000 mostly muslim syrians. but those fucking germans aren't stupid so they must have a plan.

my current adventure is a new receiver. well it's not new, i bought it used but it's a new toy for me to play with once i find a good samaritan to hook it up. it's an older 7.1 pioneer elite with an honest 140 watts per channel. all the newer receivers are now "network" and 9.2 or 11.2 channels and don't even get me started about atmos. far too complicated for me. i just want something good and powerful so i can listen to music at a very low level and "feel" the music. it's quite ironic that in order to appreciate music at a low volume you need lots of power. as a younger man i always associated powerful amps with loud music. live and learn.

if and when i find a good samaritan to hook it up for me, this is the song i want to hear first:

i love you sons of bitches.

bliss

we all need a little bliss in our lives. bliss is not like pizza, you can't pick up the phone and order the nightly special with a side of bliss, then eagerly await some young man in a beat up old japanese car to knock on your door with a box of bliss under his arm enclosed in a bacteria infested insulated shoulder purse. no, bliss takes a little work. and of course there a lot of negative nellies out there who make a career out of avoiding bliss, preferring instead to become perpetual and professional wet blankets. so don't let some asshole wet blanket infringe upon your bliss.

at the moment i am not immersed in bliss but i have the next best thing, the promise of bliss this evening. i experience a dollop of bliss most evenings with the aid of music and television but tonight will probably be the last night of a seasonal immersion into bliss that can only be experienced in the summer weather. at this very moment my bed sheets and pillow cases are baking in the mid day sun. there are very few things that can match the feeling of bliss i experience when sliding into bed with fresh sheets that have dried in the sun. this will certainly be a blissful experience worthy of being imprinted upon my mind. perhaps with enough blissful events imprinted upon my mind, the magic of neuroplasticity will create some permanent pathways to bliss in my rapidly aging mind.

as my old buddy deepak is so fond of saying and it bears repeating; sat chit ananda, sat chit ananda, sat chit ananda..........

gutters clean, furnace replaced, mighty sonata serviced, adios cracker factory. yes, it is time to count my blessings and enjoy the moment. my pension is a little fucked up at the moment but as i am also so fond of saying, who gives a shit? i have clean fresh sheets.

this song has given me many moments of bliss since i stumbled upon a review that tied it to don quixote. did dylan have the knight errant in mind whilst writing it? i doubt it, but old bob is a mysterious guy so it might just be possible. turn down the volume on your sound system, enjoy the magical understated musical introduction and dream of dulcinea del toboso.

i love you sons of bitches, so you got that going for you too.

cold

i have an embarrassment of riches in the topic department; lawnmowers, suicide, refugees, drought, turtles..... but with the weather changing, heating the home is at the forefront.

we moved into the current house in the spring of 2014 so last winter was our first brush with cold weather and the furnace was not up to snuff. the fuel bills were sky high and the old furnace sounded like it was really laboring to maintain a comfortable temperature. i quickly decided we needed a new furnace but replacing the furnace in the winter meant being without heat while the change was being made so i decided to wait until warmer weather arrived. well the warm weather arrived, it was time to pull the trigger but i procrastinated until last week.

i soon learned that furnaces had changed since the last time i replaced one and "high efficiency" was the only option. no shit, i couldn't get a good old fashioned furnace so i was forced join the 21 century and go high efficiency. these new furnaces require different venting, rather than the exhaust going up the chimney it circulates via 2 almost horizontal pipes. almost horizontal because they're like plumbing, they have to rise 1/4 inch per foot whereas plumbing drainage pipes have to decline 1/4 inch per foot. i called 5 different companies for an estimate and 5 different guys spoke down to me explaining the ins and outs of these new furnaces. and since the furnace no longer sends its exhaust up the chimney i had to get a chimney liner for the hot water tank exhaust because it didn't provide sufficient hot air to "efficiently" rise in a large chimney.

the old furnace:

and of course my shadow followed me everywhere during the process:

the new furnace:

the new venting:

rather than hiding the pipes in the ceiling i had them left in open view. it reminded me of my old days in the coast guard when there were pipes and wires running under the ceiling on the bridge, plus they didn't have rip the ceiling tiles out. you'll notice my spare jugs of don quixote, sancho panza and the viking. a guy always needs back up jugs in case of accident.

so the new furnace has been installed and now i just have to wait for some cold weather. lucky me.

***CARBON TAX***

the price of our natural gas = $2.486 per gigajoule

the carbon tax on nat gas = $1.4898 per gigajoule

so it's a 59.9% tax! kinda high eh?

this is the song that kept playing in my head as i prepared for retirement:

i love you sons of bitches.