Crabby Old Bastard

Amongst the aches and pains and other nuisances of being fragilely mortal , I recently got to add a new one: severe sleep apnea . This latest bad health adventure started about a month ago, when I became extremely dizzy while typing at one of my PCs.  I had stupidly positioned this PC on a small " kiddie desk ", and thus had been hunched over it, day after day, for several months.  My neck and upper back were getting stiffer and sorer, and finally one day had decided enough is enough, and rewarded my lack of self-care with a bad case of vertigo .  Of course nausea accompanied this vertigo, (try not to feel sick to your stomach when it feels like the room is spinning around you!), so my wife was concerned that I may be having a stroke, as high blood pressure is another bad trait I possess.  We took my blood pressure , and it was awful: 175/105, or something like that.  Yikes! My wife immediately insisted that she drive me to a nearby medical clinic, and thus began a health ody

So what's an ignorant, old, grumpy, white man 's opinion of this recent " Black Lives Matter " movement? To begin with, I'm not comfortable with ANY organization that separates people based on, well, anything other than behavior or gender.  (Yes, I'm reactionary enough to believe in only two genders !)  Physical traits, (excepting gender, of course), is absolutely the WORST criteria by which to judge people.   Lump me in with all the folks who proclaim that " ALL Lives Matter ". As for the BLM movement itself, I have serious misgivings with many of their " beliefs ", particularly this one quoted directly from their website : "We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable." Considering that over 60% of black children

Having nothing better to do, (thanks, stupid Corona Virus! ), this past Tuesday we decided to take a road trip. Leaving early in the morning of July 14th, we drove up to Pittsburgh, PA, and returned home to Macon, GA late on the evening of the 17th. Four days isn't enough to do the Pittsburgh area justice, let alone the parts of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia we zipped through, but the purpose of this short trip was to show everyone the houses Old Grump grew up in, as Pittsburgh was where he was raised as a child. Fortunately we picked an opportune time to go, as summer in Pittsburgh is mostly pleasant.  (As opposed to summer in Macon, which is mostly oppressive.)  Early autumn is also a good time to visit the " City of Champions ", but winter and most of spring are horrible seasons up there, unless you enjoy cold, damp weather. Day 1, July 14th. These first couple pics were taken at a rest stop of I-85 in South Carolina, near the sprawl of Lake Hartwell. Mam

Image by Jordy Meow from Pixabay As we celebrate another anniversary of American independence, I wonder how many of these celebrations are a bit muted this year?  With the unwanted arrival of the stupid Corona Virus , and the recent social unpleasantries , no one could be faulted for wondering if the " American Experiment " has finally run its course. Benjamin Franklin's famous exchange, (which like most famous stories, is interesting whether it actually happened or not), with a "lady" outside of Independence Hall in 1787 keeps running through my mind. Lady:  “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” Franklin:  “A republic, if you can keep it.” Lady:  “And why not keep it?” Franklin:  “Because the people, on tasting the dish, are always disposed to eat more of it than does them good .” This is eerily similar to the famous Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, (what a fantastic name!), quote:  " A democracy is always temporary in nature; it

I've got some bad news for lovers of well written prose: Old Grump has dusted off his keyboard, and is " back in the saddle ", figuratively speaking. The stupid Kung Flu killed his job , so now, with lots of time on his hands, (and less intelligence than ever), he has teamed up with his offspring to not only start writing on this blog again, but has started a new, " money making " blog.  (Cough, cough ..... we'll see how much money, if any, the old guy makes.) In the meantime, he can do as he damn pleases on this old blog, and maybe even l ink back to some of his more cringey, ancient posts on his old, old blogs that he really doesn't acknowledge anymore. Speaking of making money, (which the old guy loves to do more than anything else , now that he is, uh, you know, OLD),  this blog also has its fair share of affiliate links, particularly to Amazon.  However, it uses a different affiliate id than the one on  https://gimmethecash.blogspot.com/  , which m