kaizen
what's
been floating my boat lately:
"How fortunate for governments
that the people they administer don't think."
-Hitler-
"Only two things are
infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the
former."
-Albert Einstein-
10/19/21 (20:23)
Neighbor had car
broken into today. In other words, it's Tuesday.
Things
are pretty fucked up when Russell Brand is the voice of reason.
If a PDF is emailed
to me it requires clicking "print" three times to actually print the document.
Once the PDF is open in the browser I click on the printer icon. Then it
opens the same PDF again in another tab and I click on the printer icon
again and it loads the print dialog screen and I click on "print." Only
then does it actually print the document. This is inefficient and bothersome.
When I go to the
bank and withdraw funds it requires probably 30+ clicks and several minutes
for them to get the cash to me. There has to be a faster way for them to
load my account, verify my identity, and specify what bills I want. In
no world, should this simple transaction required so many clicks.
Still in the process
of refinancing the warehouse loan. The amount of documentation they have
requested is insane. None of this makes sense. Everything is far less efficient
than it should be. In an age of data the fact that I have to give the same
data over and over again is just maddening. Not just info like name and
address, which should prepopulate in every form I'm given, but also information
like environmental questions (which should be available in the environmental
report I paid to have done) or loan note or title documentation. Such a
painful experience for someone who hates pushing paper.
My kids are the
best part of life. Work is pretty shitty overall lately. Financially doing
as well as ever, but spending way too much trying to settle into a new
house and warehouse. Really hoping that in two years we can be done with
spending money on those things and put things on cruise control a bit.
10/3/21
(08:11)
Mailbox stolen
at 1am last night (checked camera). Not broken into. Not mail was stolen.
The entire mailbox was stolen. $17k worth of checks and probably other
things in there as well. I love this place.
So far this year
has been pretty good in terms of theft and loss. No tools stolen yet this
year. The usual amount of tools being lost. More than the usual amount
of losses from jobs gone wrong. Product of not being at every job every
minute. Relying on others means more things will go wrong. Just have to
build that into the business. Same goes for living in Oakland. You just
have to assume that someone is going to steal your mailbox once in a while.
This is a society in decline. Some will say it's because fathers aren't
around or because we don't believe in god anymore. Others will say it's
because of systemic racism and capitalism. Whatever the cause, the result
is the same - gradual erosion of society. I've tried to believe otherwise
for a long time, but it's really difficult to argue otherwise.
10/2/21
(21:36)
Trying to get my
PPP forgiveness letter since the bank wants it for our home loan. Here's
one of the many annoying questions I had to answer from the government:
10. Does Applicant
present live performances of a prurient sexual nature or derive directly
or indirectly more than de minimis gross revenue through the sale of products
or services, or the presentation of any depictions or displays, of a prurient
sexual nature?
Getting pretty
tired of everything lately. The next two years will be pretty pivotal.
Do we grow the business enough to step away from being hands on every day?
Do we get the house and settle down finally? Do the financial markets implode
and leave us in the wake of the destruction?
Buying this house
is a pretty big gamble since we'll be carrying 3 properties at once. Fixing
up the new place while trying to run a business and carrying the warehouse
and carrying our current house while the new one is being remodeled. I
think we have a tough year ahed of us, as if the last year wasn't tough
enough.
I've been trying
to adjust my thinking to a world of opportunity and abundance, instead
of one of scarcity. On the one hand that means not taking every job that
comes along and that means better quality of life. It also means trying
to stress less about every dollar. It also means growing. On the other
hand it could mean growing beyond demand and overextending the business.
Most of the time
I'm running at 90% capacity. I'm pretty much always in a rush. I'm working
60 hours a week. I'm trying to refi the warehouse loan. Coordinate the
home loan. Juggling multiple jobs and multiple crews. It's not something
I really want to do for the next several years. But if it's like this for
a year or two while we grow and get two new properties then I'm fine with
that. Getting those things and moving towards a goal will always require
a lot of hard work. It just has to have an end point.
Meryl's birthday
is tomorrow so the girls and I planned a surprise activity day for her.
Re-listened to
1984 and Animal Farm this week. Super depressing to see the parallels to
today. The power of changing and manipulating language. The power of the
media. The power of incrementalism (frog boiling type). The importance
of shutting down free speech by those in power. The sad thing is that most
of this is coming from the Left these days. The Left own the mainstream
media, they're responsible for cancel culture, they're changing language
on a variety of fronts, they're moving the goalposts on COVID, etc. This
would all be less depressing if there were an alternative. But the Right
is owned by the Republicans and they've been off the reservation for an
entire generation. It's a choice between Walmart and the neighborhood fentanyl
addict who has a few wares laid out on the sidewalk every couple days.
I don't really want to shop at either.
SF mayor London
Breed was caught without her mask on inside. This is a classic "rules for
thee, but not for me" situation. There have been many of them now. Her
excuse
was incredibly lame and idiotic. No more respect for her. "My drink was
sitting at the table, said Breed. I got up and started dancing because
i was feeling the spirit and I wasn’t thinking about a mask." "We don't
need the fun police to come in and micromanage and tell us what we should
or shouldn’t be doing," She talked about how the real story should have
been that Tony Toni Tone were in town and playing live again. I mean, you
can't make this shit up. She's nuts.
Zoe has soccer
twice a week and, during the last game, everyone wore a mask (except her).
Both teams' goalies were wearing masks. These are kids playing outside...even
the goalies are wearing masks. What about that makes sense to anyone with
half a brain? We're in performance mode here.
Masks are the American
flag pin of the 2020s. After 9/11 the flag pin marked you as a "patriot"
and supporter of the president and his dumb ass wars and foreign policy
decisions. Today masks are essentially the same. I see many people around
here wearing them outside while walking alone. Wearing them inside their
cars all alone. These are people who are either as stupid as the flag pin
Bush-supporters of 20 years ago or have come to enjoy the faux-safety of
the mask because of their own doublethink. Remember, at the end of 1984
he learns to like big brother...he learns to believe that 2+2=5. Not just
for lip service, but to actually believe it. That's where we are.
Depending upon the issue or the time, approx. 45% of the population truly
believes that 2+2=5. Critical thinking is lost when the party declares
its position on a given topic. Pathetic.
The Theranos trial
has been going on and there's been a lot of talk about it. I've listened
to the podcasts and the book written by Carreyrou. The thing that almost
everyone buys into is the narrative put out by the charlatan Holmes herself
- that Theranos is a tech company. No, it isn't a tech company. It's a
healthcare company that tried to develop a new technology. It bears very
little resemblance to other Silicon Valley tech companies and shouldn't
be compared to them just because she went to Stanford and it was located
in the area. The "fake it till you make it" ethos is fair enough when you're
selling some shitty app and you don't lie about everything. When you're
telling people whether or not they have AIDS and you lie about everything
then you've crossed a few lines. If she doesn't do time then it's yet another
lack of accountability. She's going for the battered woman defense because
she's a pathetic manipulative loser. Hopefully no one buys this garbage.
Copyright
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