December 20, 2022

Just finished talking with a co-worker who's SO is a high-end realtor and property owner...

We were discussing housing in Coastal San Diego county (between them there's 6 school aged kids and they need a bigger house). He informed me that since 2020, 1/3 of the house and apartment purchases have been investment or realty firms - the Blackstone/Zillow/Redfin type - and they've been losing their shirts.
They buy houses sight,-unseen at inflated prices to snap them up, then try to flip them for half again what they paid.
Unfortunately, Southern California homes are susceptible to termites and dry rot, especially those built from 1960 on that are approaching their major renovation needed age, which can easily end up being half the price they overpaid... apparently Blackstone has told all the realtors that that aren't adding any more to their San Diego county portfolios after the September purchases get processed.
So they're stuck with about 10k to 20k empty homes they either have to sell at a loss or try to rent. A 3500 sq.ft near the beach on half an acre in Carlsbad they had looked at that was selling for $3.2 million this summer, (Blackstone bought it at $2million in 2020) was just dropped down to $1.8 million, then taken off the market to rent for $9k a month. Which made him sad, as they were planning on selling two of her high end rentals and their current house to make a 50/60% down payment, putting it well within reach. And my co-worker said his SO figured they still needed about $100k in structural renovations when they looked at it -as she said," new hardware floors, granite countertops, and paint isn't the same as fixing dry-rot, updating the electrical, and leveling of the foundations that have gone out of true on a 60 year old house."
She comes from a family that builds and renovates houses.

So - the housing bubble is starting crack. And it's going to hit the most "deserving" corporate flippers first.

Haele

December 19, 2022

San Diego homeless man borrows construction equipment to help motorist.

Okay, I fixed the headline.

https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/homeless-man-arrested-for-stealing-excavator-to-help-man-change-tire/509-c5c857d4-45d9-4125-b944-1ae2e720c1e8

Hoping the guy gets good karma points in court.

Haele

November 5, 2022

One of the things about knee surgery - you need a good sofa for recovery.

One that the seat is preferably around 17 - 19" off the floor (including cushion sink when sitting) and around 22 -24" deep.
A couple second-hand recliner/loveseats and my IKEA "club chair" on risers just won't cut it. Especially since the cats have pretty much destroyed the recliner loveseats over the past ten years.

So, what do y'all think of this model set? This is a local company that carries made in America or Portugal.

http://comfortsd.com/product/sofas-sectionals1003/
(The second pic with the sofa, chaise, and club seat, especially...)

Laz and the kidlet are going out tomorrow to look at this for me. We have a very pale blue living-room with a lot of the cafe-black Billie bookshelves and Kalex shelving.

Hopefully, this set meets the criteria! Especially since I just got an amazing bonus for this year's work saving the Navy close to $1.2 million with a new process and reporting artifacts for accurately assessing interoperability.

Haele

November 3, 2022

Who says a "Woke Navy" with women is soft?

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/11/03/chief-select-gives-birth-chiefs-mess-pins-her-at-the-hospital/

The day after giving birth, she gets dressed in uniform, gets up, gets pinned, and then slow matches down a hospital ward pushing her newborn in bassinet saluting all the way. Without help.

And of course, she's going to be standing around for a good half-hour afterwards getting congratulations and chit-chats. All while being expected to act like a Chief.

That's a level of hardcore most people can't do.

Haele

October 31, 2022

How the hell does anyone get addicted to Oxycodone?

I just had full knee replacement surgery on Thursday, and even at "low dose pain" level, all it does is make me constipated, nauseous and dizzy. My main issue is stiffness and muscle numbness.
Hell with it, I'm going back to Tylenol and stretches.

It may be hurt, but damn, the nausea and dizziness is worse.

Haele

September 30, 2022

(Spoilers) Timely discussion about fighting back at internet trolls..She Hulk show

Is anyone watching She-Hulk, Attorney at Law on Disney +?

This is Disney going against Internet Trolls and Incel 'culture'.

I'm seeing how major plot point development is how the villain is using 'Intelligenca - the site for crying Man-babies' to attack the hero.

The Mouse strikes back against toxic fandom. By incorporating and ridiculing their real antics into the storyline.

This is classic Marvel from the comics- a story about characters dealing with being superheros in a normal world, as well as tossing in the wierd to show how celebrity 'influencers' and superheros affect people in general try to go about their own lives.

Don't get me wrong -the Mouse is still casually evil in it's search for profits and market share, but there is quite a bit of holding a (funhouse) mirror to some of the problems in social media society going on here, and that's a good thing, in my opinion.

Throughout history, popular fiction has been used as a platform to make society more receptive to ideas that lead to change.

Haele

August 22, 2022

Test program in San Diego to help poor families.

Fancy that, the money is going to necessities...

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/guaranteed-income-helps-ease-inflation-pressures-for-san-diego-families/3028141/

The program really needs to be expanded, along with affordable housing stuff.

Haele

August 20, 2022

Honey with Pizza. Discuss.

This is based on seeing someone at a pizza joint whip out a squeeze bear bottle of honey and drizzle over on his standard pepperoni pizza as we were doing take-out.

Personally, I can see it on, say an artisan pizza with, say, gorganzola, pear, cippolini onions, and arugula, - or maybe BBQ chicken pizza; but plain pepperoni and mozzarella/provolone?

Haele

July 6, 2022

Sigh - Intersex people can become pregnant as well as solid XX women...

https://www.babymed.com/pregnancy/hermaphrodite-can-they-get-pregnant#

I know this because a cousin on my dad's side was born a hermaphrodite, or intersex, in 1963.
I am using the term "they, as that is what my cousin goes by now. They used to be a she, but that never seemed right to them.

Their parents were presented with "a solution" by the family Pediatrician at the time; cut off the penis and perform a vasectomy to have a girl, or do a hysterectomy to have a boy - on a baby.

So they had a "girl". It was cheaper and easier on the baby.

They went through school, got made fun of in gym, even though the testes never dropped, it still looked strange.
Went to college, got married to a safe nerd (their description), and eventually got pregnant. Which meant they saw an OB/GYN for the first time.
Their OB/GYN freaked. And all sorts of questions were asked of the parents, and the story finally came out.
Well, they had a baby boy after a very difficult pregnancy. With some health issues. As for the husband, well -he freaked out too, and there was a divorce. He got full custody, after he re- married, by the way.

So they went through life in a good career, tried to be a lesbian, tried to o be a "woman". But it never worked for them.

At one of the various family reunions, they got to talking to my widowed mom about loneliness and acceptance. Because my dad was well known as the raging liberal educator that could accept everything and everyone as they were.
My mom mentioned that I had talked about a trans male in the military I knew about 15 years ago, and they could talk to me because I was more like my dad than mom was.

So we talked. And we continue to talk occasionally. It helps them. And they have finally found a couple communities that accept non-binary/intersex people, which makes them more happy. They're working on getting the courage up to try and get back in touch with their son, but it's still a very scary prospect.

So yes, pregnancy is not just about women. It's also about trans men who have not yet gotten a hysterectomy or regular regeme of hormones and intersex persons with viable ovaries.
It doesn't "erase" women when HHS and DoD health policy talks to "women and people who get pregnant", because that term is inclusive of the .1% or so of people who become pregnant, whether or not the pregnancy is viable.

Trans men and intersex/non-binary are not as known in the general public. And they tend to be less accepted than Trans women, even within the LGBTQ+ community.
However, there is a small percentage of them in the US military, and that is something the DoD has had to come to terms with.

The more y'all know. Peace out.

Haele

May 20, 2022

Latest earworm in our family after watching Eurovision

The grandkids adore it, dance moves and all.
Don't say I didn't warn you...

(It's really a song about getting the COVID vaccine.)

Haele