Happy Veteran's Day

 In heartfelt thanks, we should always remember:

All gave some, some gave all

Changes are part of life - Part 3

 Working 2 jobs can be a tricky thing, but I managed it easily enough since my main job was just sitting and monitoring various processes with the over 800(!) servers that ran things at the property, plus when the new properties opened up in Boston and Macau it also got like juggling chainsaws for a bit.

I then had a chance to go full-time at my EMS job and do some more various things, so after 11 years at the Wynn, with few, if any, chances to advance further, I left there and took the plunge.

Since then there's been few more ups and downs, namely having another lady friend passing away, as well as my oldest brother, and my dad becoming more sedentary due to hip and pelvic injuries.  Fortunately my current lady of interest along with my current roommate are helping when they can with expenses and just being able to live.

So over the past 40 years, I have worked a variety of jobs, and I am always willing to do what I can to get by.  Having that mindset helps quite a bit when life hands you lemons, and hopefully with The Donald 2.0 back at it the economy should improve a little more to make things easier.

Here's to the next 40 years... 

Change is part of life - Part 2

 So to continue...

So after dumping the telecom tech gig, I got a help desk spot with a contractor for Eli Lilly(the drug manufacturer) and that worked pretty good for awhile.  Got to travel occasionally for work (Phoenix, Orlando, San Diego), and finished up with my AAS degree.  Then took a couple of months off then back to school to get my BS which I completed in mid-2009.  Once I got that I decided to take the plunge and go for my MSIT (masters in information technology.

So while busting balls to get my masters, I came upon an opportunity to do help desk for Wynn Resorts.  Great work environment, awesome benefits, and excellent pay.  So I went there and spent the next 11 years with them, some of the best time I had.  Managed to transfer to a network ops center (NOC) technician after about a year and a half for even more money.

Things were good up until my mom died in February 2012, and it got rocky for a bit, but managed to keep working, and was finally able to afford my own apartment and be truly free for awhile.  But even then, I was hitting some rough spots.  I've tried to wangle a spot in corporate cyber-security (think white-hat hacker) which paid about $80k, but after I interviewed with them (and got a great recommendation from one of the senior execs), it went to someone else completely.  Totally bummer moment.

At that point, I was beginning to get burned out, and by 2016 I was ready for a change.  So I decided to make one of my childhood dreams a reality.  I went to school and trained as an EMT and got hired on part time with a local ambulance company.  This helped out immensely as ti gave me something different to learn, and now that I was getting serious with Nicole, I began planning on upgrading my living arrangements (which I won't get into the various family drama right now, maybe another time).

So in March 2018 we signed a lease on a 2-bedroom (technically 3 bedrooms but the third was more a den so I made it my office/library), 2 bath duplex, and I thought things were really hitting my stride.

Then in short order, Nicole died due to sepsis in January 2020, then COVID-19 hit and body-slammed my work and my health.

So needless to say I really hit a dark moment in my life.

To be continued...hopefully later today

Changes are part of life - part 1

 Divemedic's recent post on getting his MBA made me think back on how often I had to change directions on my own path of life.

I started working in my mom's gift and craft shop when I was 11-12, kept doing it until she retired in 1990 and sold the business.  I also worked at Sears and at a fast-food place as well.

When the economy in Cali went under in the late 80's/early 90's, I moved with my folks to Las Vegas, and started the grind again.  Tried telemarketing (which I suck at because I wasn't any good at conning people out of their life savings), then worked at 7-Eleven until I got stabbed during a robbery in February 1994.  Kept at it for a bit then decided enough was enough and trained to be a locksmith (mail correspondence course from NRI Schools - any other Gen X/boomers remember them?), then got a job at a lock manufacturer assembling custom high-security cabinet locks.  I thought I had it made, then they laid me off after 2 months.

So time for another direction, I went to work as a ramp service agent at the airport.  That was fun and it actually got me in very decent shape for awhile.  I then moved over to air cargo as a cargo customer service agent, which seemed to fit my aptitude decently.  Would have stayed but management was just getting toxic.  I then got an offer from another company and moved to their place, getting little better pay, and eventually moving up to supervisor.

Then 9/11 hit, and it was just not the same...

Also, love decided to rear its head, I fell in love with a lady online, and totally upset the apple cart and moved to Vermont to be with her. 

Things up there were really rough for a bit (desert rats don't handle ice and snow well, y'know), but I managed with various temp jobs, eventually scoring a position with IBM at their chip plant near Burlington.  Very well paid and decent opportunities.  However, things with the girlfriend went south, plus my dad had a stroke and both parents really wanted me to come home.  So I moved back to Vegas in the summer of 2004, and having no other real prospects, decided to go to school and get a degree like my mom had urged me to.

So did a help desk gig for DirecTV for a bit to get the ball rolling while I attended classes, then moved to a local PC shop as a bench tech to start applying what I was learning in school.  Then I became a telecom tech at the convention center and learned more practical stuff about networking that I could have had in school.  Unfortunately, although I was only 'part-time', I was literally working 40-50 hours a week but no benefits, so needed to ditch that.

More to come later...

Why I like doing my job

 Working in EMS definitely has its own unique pitfalls, but the realization that you have the potential to make a difference in someone's life is what keeps me going.

Divemedic's recent post on what happened in his ER is a reminder that sometimes you can't save everyone, but what he mentions at the end is also what keeps me coming back:

The only thing that enables me to sleep is the knowledge that we did our job well, and managed to save the mother. I can’t think of a single thing we could have done differently that would have made a difference, and that is what will enable me to go back to work.

That is also what helps keep me going, despite the BS.

Respect those that give of themselves to help others, be it first responders or hospital staff.  Nurses like DM will always have my admiration and respect.

Sticking my head up

 Well the past few months have been 'interesting', as in the ancient Chinese curse 'May you live in interesting times.' meaning.

First: The assassination of Charlie Kirk, the head of Turning Point USA last week.

A definite tragedy all the way around, regardless of his ideology, this reminds me much of the shooting of MLK in some respects.  In both instances, the shooter was someone who feared the words of the victim, felt 'threatened', and decided the violent approach was the only way to go.  When one brings violence and bloodshed to the political arena in order to initiate the furtherance of a political objective, that is terrorism.  

And per the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of terrorism is:

    the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.

So here we are not too clear yet on Kirk's shooters actual motivations, but it should flesh out more as the investigation continues, and I will always try to keep an open mind.

Second: ICE deportations.

An extreme solution to the problem of illegal criminal immigrants in this nation, but unfortunately justified given the Biden admin's previous 4 years of throwing open the floodgates so to speak.  However, this just needs to reinforce the need for a proper 'guest worker' program to be implemented which will allow those who want to work to come into the US to do so but at the same time do two important things:

    1. Protect the ability of US citizens to work, and...

    2. Ensure that the guest worker does not get a 'free ride' on the public trough.

In addition, ICE needs to continue to focus on criminal illegals, not just the regular working folks just trying to make a living, and who actually pay into the system (i.e. taxes, social security).  Let's clean up the trash first, and hopefully by then both the deplorable D's and reprehensible R's can come up with a workable bipartisan solution.  

As you may be aware, I am registered as a Libertarian, but I do not hold with the 'open borders' portion of the national party's plank.  

Without borders, you do not have a nation.

'Nuff said...for now at least.

Happy 249th, America!

 I know it's late but wanted to get it in.

Plus anyone who can, please send good thoughts to Big Country as he is going through some personal bad stuff at the moment.  Hopefully things will be on the upswing for him very shortly.  If you want details go check his blog out, definitely worth the time.

Some random thoughts for a Wednesday morning

 I have recently noticed with interest some posts by Peter and a rebuttal by Divemedic on the efficacy of various pistol calibers in a self-defense situation, and how oftentimes the best use of a pistol is to allow the user to get to the rifle that will really get the job done post-haste.

I am a very good shot with my Glock 17 Gen 3, although not competition quality I did receive complements from the range master and CCW instructor on my groupings on target at 5 and 7 yards, which by most accounts is typical ranges for a self-defense scenario.  I do have my M4gery in 5.56 NATO handy with a full mag when needed at home in a good spot that I can fight to it when needed.  I did note in DM's posting that:

Still, I wouldn’t feel undergunned with that M&P9. In fact, I have fullsized M&P’s in 9mm, .357Sig, .40S&W, .45ACP, and 10mm. I love the M&P platform, and any of those calibers would suit me fine.

The problem is that I live in Florida. It’s hot. It’s humid, and open carry it illegal. So as a result, people wear lightweight clothes that make it a challenge to carry full sized handguns, so you leave it at home. 

Living here in a similar, albeit less-humid, environment also causes some difficulties in carrying a full-sized pistol.  However, unlike in Florida, Nevada does allow open carry so it is easier in some respects to have the means to defend yourself.  The unfortunate part is that open carry in the resort corridors and some businesses is very highly frowned upon, to say the least.  Besides, why try to give the bad guy an easy target when the next mass shooting takes place?

On a personal level, I have been having some serious ups and downs emotionally.  Fortunately thanks to some good friends that's been managed really well.  So overall I am doing good and just doing my best in dealing with life in general.

I have also been sitting back and watching Trump 2.0 trying their best to fix the country and the opposition totally losing their collective minds and shit trying to oppose it.  I think we're barely still in the first 100 days of the new administration, and things are still in a massive state of flux.  I think by the 4th of July everyone will have a better read on how things will go for this nation, and meanwhile I just keep the snacks handy.  

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah

 May the holiday season be good to you and yours.  See you all next year.

'The Lonely Libertarian' blog is back up

 After taking a nearly 5 year hiatus, The Lonely Libertarian is back up and active.

I haven't noticed until earlier today that there's been new uploads by Angel, and I am so happy to see her back up, and I look forward to seeing what she has in store for us blog readers.

So I've been doing something different

 I have recently been going to a local swinger's club with my lady friend here locally, and have been having a good time overall.

The club is a small local hangout that's been around for a very long time.  Admission is $40 for couples, and when you go in on Wednesday nights, you get a card for free return admission on subsequent nights until Saturday.  Pretty good deal in our opinion, and the fun usually lasts until 1-2 am.

There is a dance floor with DJs, a bar (it's BYOB), a pool and hot tub (very nice and well worth the price of admission alone), and multiple private bedrooms plus an orgy room for the pleasures.  On Friday and Saturday nights, there is an upstairs area reserved for couples only (no singles allowed), plus they also serve some food.  Very well-behaved bunch of folks as the first rule is 'No means No', and violators are asked to leave if they persist.  So no crazy shenanigans to be had unless it's with consent.  Also, no photography or cell phone usage are permitted inside the club.

It can be real easy to get yourself lost in all the lust, so my friend and I agreed to basically just go every other week and give ourselves a break in between.

There are other places in the Vegas area, but this one we seem to be more comfortable in, and less cliques involved than the other places.  It just gives us a chance to relax, be ourselves, and socialize with other like-minded individuals. 

This evening I am chilling at work awaiting a call, and hope things stay frosty tonight.

More to come later as usual...

A good point made by the Bayou Renaissance Man

 I came across this posting from Peter regarding the fragility of our infrastructure, which made me think of the potential for mayhem here in Sin City.

Contrary to popular belief, Hoover Dam only provides a small portion of electricity for the Las Vegas area; most of our power comes from natural gas turbine generator plants, with a bit of solar and geothermal power generation thrown in.  The natural gas supply mostly comes from western Texas and eastern New Mexico via pipelines thru Arizona, and IIRC there's also one coming from Wyoming via Utah.  Altogether, those are vulnerable to disruption from natural disaster, malevolent actors, etc.

Water is also an issue as almost all of it is pumped from Lake Mead, and over 90% of what we take out is put back in after it's treated.  Granted, it's still vulnerable to various things, and lord help us if the pumps fail.  The fabled Las Vegas Springs are just a memory as they literally stopped being a source of water here after the 1950's.

And since Clark County has been pretty much a big D stronghold since before I moved here (in 1991), expect the usual mindset from similar voices in other dastardly D areas.

Prep quietly, keep things low key, and keep your powder dry (easy to do with all the heat).

Another year older, yay me

 Today is another year passed since I started on this earth.

Hard to believe that I am now 55, I feel as horny as 25 (or 15 for that matter), and goes to show age can really be just a number.

By coincidence, an old acquaintance from my high school days came up to visit for a couple of days, and last night I took her down to Fremont Street, and had a chance to finally go into the Circa Hotel-Casino which I meant to go visit since they opened about 2 years ago.  Wasn't too bad, plenty of eye-candy to behold both inside and outside.  After extricating from there, I took her down on a cruise of the Strip, and it was typical assholes-and-elbows traffic even at 00-dark-30 on a Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Gave me a chance for one more look at the Mirage before they close up on the 17th of this month.  Sad to see an icon go, but change is the name of the game here in town.

Tonight, back to the grind.  At least I'll have my regular partner back with me on shift this week.

It beats the alternative I think...

 From BCE:

He's right, can't really do any worse this time around.

Keeping busy

 Just keeping busy with work and some personal matters.  Changes are coming, some good, some so-so.

Will keep y'all in the loop best I can.

A good example how spousal abuse is blind to the gender of the victim

 Link to story

Abuse is abuse, no matter what.

More from the blogosphere and some personal updates

 Some more tidbits from the blogs I try to follow:

1. BCE is reminiscing on 20 years since he went to Iraq as a civilian contractor and how times changed.  I will say this, he's now almost half the man he used to be.  Thanks for stepping up to the plate and still sending good vibes to you and Gretchen and hope her battle with cancer ends in a resounding victory.

2.  Not much from Electrospaces (formerly known as Top Level Communications) lately, there's an article (in Dutch) regarding how the Dutch government is proposing regulations on how their intelligence community is able to respond to cyber threats.

3. Over at Wirecutter's blog, I came across this interesting tidbit about how PornHub is going to block users in Texas in order to be compliant with a recently-passed state law that penalizes sites for not properly verifying the age of their visitors to prevent underaged folks from viewing the content.  Depending on how they got their gateways configured, this can be easily circumvented with a VPN client just like how lots of folks are able to view IPTV content from other areas which may be blocked.  Time will tell if this is gonna work out...

And on a personal note, my dad is once again back in the hospital for internal bleeding (his hemoglobin was at 4.5 :-o ) so hopefully they can find out where it's coming from and get it fixed.

Another personal and professional note, the live show that I regularly work as a backstage medic announced that they are closing and that the last day is May 11.  I'll post more later about that along with pics when I get a chance.

Some thoughts on combat survival from the Russian point of view

 In my usual tromps around the blogosphere, Peter at Bayou Renaissance Man posted this article from a interesting source on some suggestive advice to the Russian soldier on how to deal with the combat in the Ukraine.

I find it an interesting study on the mindset of the Russian soldier's mindset in particular and the Slavic culture and worldview in general.

Considering that Russia is trying to bring itself back to greatness on the world stage, it does bear some study.  Knowing your potential adversary is a basic tenet on preparing for conflict. 

An example of when hard data doesn't fit the paradigm

 This article about a professor at Harvard that had received a severe backlash when his study to determine if racial bias exists in regards to police shootings showed no such bias even exists.

Even after he redid the study with new assistants to formulate and tabulate the data, he still achieved the same end result. 

I would like to see the actual study and review the methodology used for manipulating the data, and see if it holds to generally accepted practices used for similar studies.  The fact that his peers warned him not to publish does make me wonder.  At least he was forthcoming in publishing the results and not trying to bury it somewhere.

Yet another example of the mob not liking reality, it seems...

Help requested from a blogger

 I've been following Big Country Expat's blog for awhile, and while he is definitely on the right side politically, I do respect his views on most things we have in common, plus he is a good source for some twisted humor when most needed.  And working in EMS, some days it is definitely called for.

He's had some issues come up with custody of his grandaughter Adrianna, which I have noted previously, and I've helped out with what I can financially.

Now he's got another unfortunate matter to deal with.  His wonderful lovely and bosomy wife Gretchen has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and they don't want to deal with the nasty route of regular medical treatment like chemo and such (and I can empathize with them on that, seeing my maternal grandmother going through that when I was a teen), and so they are pursuing non-traditional but purportedly effective therapies to fight this.

Obviously they need some major moolah for this latest fight.

He has set up another fundraiser on GiveSendGo named Help the Hair Diva! to help get the money together for Gretchen's care.  (Personally I would have called it 'Save da Girls!', as I commented on his blog, referencing Gretchen's lovely figure, but that is his prerogative)

Once I get paid tomorrow I'm kicking some money their way what I can spare, and I hope others can do that as well.