Grumpa Joe's Place

Day 17-Quarantine-Sad Scams and Love

Posted on 03/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

I just completed reading a book titled ‘I Love You, Send Money.’ It involves online dating sites. Why would an eighty something be interested in dating sites? As crazy as it sounds I still long for companionship. Being locked up isn’t helping me one bit.

Recently, while on a soul searching session with myself I began to list all the things I missed the most since Peg left me. Most of them involved physical comfort like: sleeping in the same bed together, hugging, holding hands, kissing, cuddling, sex. A phrase came into mind ‘sexual grief.’ It sounded strange, but I googled it anyway. Bingo, the search yielded several hits under sexual bereavement. It is a very real emotion experienced by both men and women, but it is little talked about because of embarrassment. One cannot spend 20, 30, 40, 50 years with a partner sharing intimate relations and not miss it after God turns off the life switch and leaves a partner alone. The suddeness, and finality of the change is too dramatic to not take notice. I have experienced this twice now, and I am here to tell you that sexual grief is a real thing. After Barb died my emotions went crazy, and never settled until I married Peg two years later. Peg and I were very happy together and now that she died the same damned emotion has kicked in. This time, however, I was waiting for it, and my body is also seventeen years older, so raging hormones with the intensity of a flame thrower have diminished to a flickering candle.

Getting back to ‘I Love You, Send Money,’ A few weeks ago, I experienced an online scam for which I fell hard. This time it was an email from a friend who purportedly was traveling and not able to buy a her niece a birthday present. She asked me to buy an iTunes gift card and to send her the pass key via email. This friend had lost a brother and a sister within a week of each other in different cities, and I thought she may be traveling between. I emailed back using the address in her message asking for how much she would like on the card. It sounded plausible so I took the bait and rushed out to buy a fifty dollar gift card without waiting for her reply. I scratched the coating off the passkey, took a picture and sent it via email. I called her and left a message as to what I did.

Hours later, she called me to tell me I had been scammed. How can that be, it was from your address? She hadn’t gotten my email. I looked at the original message I got and discovered that her address in the header was correct, but the address in the body was not exactly the same. He address was her name, but the scammer added an additional vowel at the end to make it different, and the service provider was different. Damn! I got fooled. What can I do now? Gift cards are not returnable, so that was out. I asked my self, I wonder if this scammer has had time to redeem this card? I went to the iTunes store, logged in and found the section where you can enter gift card numbers. I did and iTunes accepted my card and I have a credit with them. I got lucky by outsmarting the perp, but it doesn’t change the embarrassment.

When I spotted this book I was searching of free e-books to read while my library is closed. The title tingled a nerve and told me to read it. The story is about people who are using online dating sites. These particular people are in their late forties/early fifties. One a widower, the other a divorced mom of two lookin’ for love. Supposedly they are both using the site for the first time. They begin messaging. The guy, I thought started talking about love a bit earlier than I would be in this situation. I wondered. The girl was very tentative at first but slowly opened up. They agreed to meet in Hawaii months later for their first date. The guy is an engineer who has a business helping railroads. To make along story short, his latest client is in Sri Lanka and while he is there he needs money to finish the job. His bank for some reason will not free up his funds so he asks his online friend to help him out. He needs fifty thousand dollars, and she agrees to send it to him. I was right this was a scam. She never gets her money back, he never made it to Hawaii for their first date, and she goes bankrupt.

Between this corny online love story scam and the third season of Homeland I am ready for COVID-19 to die and go to hell.

In the meantime, I am experimenting with online grocery shopping and keep striking out. The grocers provide the service, but they can’t handle the volume of business. A third store has now put me on hold waiting for a delivery date.

Filed under: Biography, family, grief | Tagged: Covid-19, Groceries home delivered, Online dating scams, sexual grief | Leave a comment »

Day 16- Quarantine-Random Thoughts

Posted on 02/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

I wrote the last three posts in the morning. This one is coming in late afternoon. That means I have more personal stuff to write about. No matter, it is the same stuff today as it was for the past few days. I live in a pattern. Get up, clean up, make breakfast, eat breakfast, read email, work in my shop, take a walk, and pray. Come back, eat lunch, then read a book, then after my lap top battery runs down I watch some videos on the desk-top, and finally I am writing. I could end it at this point, but there are some things on my mind that have to be explored.

I am still fascinated by the dumb questions people ask of President Trump at his daily press conference on the COVID-19 problem. I have concluded that most of them are asked in an attempt to trap him into contradicting himself or changing his answer. I am amazed at the level of patience he has with the reporters. Here they are trying to trap him into a situation that they can take hm down, and he politely answers. He knows what they are doing but remains strong to avoid the traps.

One of the situations that particularly befuddles me is the one where they try to get him to say he should have shut the country down sooner so the number of corona deaths would be reduced. Any ass hole who has a brain could answer that for himself, but that same a-hole would not be able to write an accusing news bit to tear down the Commander in Chief.

Another thing that amazes me is the level of detail Trump has on all of the subjects that come up. He speaks with authority on all of them. He is also smart enough to know that some questions are best answered by experts. He then passes the question to one of the doctors or bureaucratic heads to spout details.

The President and the task force are not afraid to change predictions based on new data obtained since yesterday. Scientists love data, and the more they have the better they can prognosticate the spread of the disease.

I am also impressed by the level of leadership being shown by the Vice President and all the heads of departments on the team. It gives me confidence to know that VP Pence can take over for Trump if the time ever arrives.

Trump is always positive, and he hates negativity. He sees successful solutions to problems rather than failure. That is a positive thinking technique called ‘visioning’. It happens to be a technique I myself use in my life and it worked very well for me in my career.

Yesterday, Trump announced what is going on in the war against Mexican drug cartels, and with Iran’s mischief. That tells me he is capable of handling many problems simultaneously not by himself but by directing his heads of office and his generals to assess and report conditions, so he can brainstorm with them. Once he makes a decision to go, he lets them do the job, and they do.

Trump is often criticized for declaring bankruptcy often. Yet, data shows that a typical entrepreneur business man fails three to six times before he succeeds. He doesn’t see failure as a negative, only as a learning experience.

After supper, I continue to binge watch ‘Homeland’ a TV series. It is based on the CIA effort to thwart terrorist attacks toward America. If only 10% of this story is true, it scares the crap out of me that this kind of stuff goes on. Since it involves Muslim Extremists I am completely engrossed in the story. So much so, that I ma dreaming up conspiracy theories of my own that can explain some of what is going on today. For instance, what if, the corona virus was intentionally released by a sleeper cell as revenge for China moving millions of muslims into concentration camps to keep them away from the general population? Who knows, my theory can be as feasible as any other. The Wuhuan area is known for its biological lab industry. It wouldn’t take much for one person to sneak out a vial of the corona virus and disperse it within the population. They are not afraid of dying in these missions when they are brainwashed into believing it is for the glory Allah.

I’ve made my points, and its time make supper, and listen to some of the daily press conference.

Filed under: Biography, family, muslims | Tagged: Bankruptcy, Corona Virus, Covid-19, Sleeper Cells, Trump | 2 Comments »

Day 16- Quarantine-War Story on April Fool’s Day

Posted on 01/04/2020 by Grumpa Joe

In one of my previous posts I stated a lot of stats regarding the deaths that occurred during the various wars we fought. I was disappointed in myself for not going further to explain that the deaths occurred over longer time periods than we will experience with the COVID-19 war. For instance the 65 million worldwide deaths in WW II were over a six year period, and the US deaths were over a 4 year period. Korea was over three years, and Viet Nam was over 18-20 years. The point I’m trying to make is that the COVID-19 war is only two months old at this point and it has already registered a huge number of fatalities.

This enemy is different. We aren’t sending uniformed soldiers into battle against other uniformed soldiers. This war is more like the wars fought in the Middle East. None of the enemy have uniforms different from civilians, so it is hard to discern the enemy from the friendlies. COVID-19 doesn’t wear uniforms, it doesn’t matter if you are white, black, brown or yellow skinned you can be an enemy or its victim. Going further, COVID-19 doesn’t care if he recruits your mother, father, wife, husband, son, daughter, sister, brother, grandparent, neighbor, friend, or anyone he runs into. He sleeps waiting for you to meet him face to face. He can transfer his weapon simply by shaking your hand or sneezing.

I sense that there is still a lack of understanding by people in dense populations about the need for social distancing. Consequently, the fatalities in big cities is bound to be higher. Perhaps it would be easier to get our attention if there were bombs dropping or bullets flying as there would be in a conventional war. This is an unconventional war that we can analogize to make it sound conventional. Imagine that the virus is the bullet or the bomb. See a handshake as a bullet headed your way, or a sneeze as an rocket propelled grenade coming right for you. How would you react to a situation if your mother pointed a gun at you and squeezed the trigger?

The death toll from COVID-19 will someday be compared to that of a nuclear bomb explosion over a big city, huge numbers in a very short time frame.

Please, please take this thing seriously and do your best to stay healthy while preventing you from becoming an enemy combatant.

I have received some very informative information about how to deal with COVID-19 and I am sharing it with you below.

-JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL

* The virus is not a living organism, but a protein molecule (DNA) covered by a protective layer of lipid (fat), which, when absorbed by the cells of the ocular, nasal or buccal mucosa, changes their genetic code. (mutation) and convert them into aggressor and multiplier cells.

* Since the virus is not a living organism but a protein molecule, it is not killed, but decays on its own. The disintegration time depends on the temperature, humidity and type of material where it lies.

* The virus is very fragile; the only thing that protects it is a thin outer layer of fat. That is why any soap or detergent is the best remedy, because the foam CUTS the FAT (that is why you have to rub so much: for 20 seconds or more, to make a lot of foam).

By dissolving the fat layer, the protein molecule disperses and breaks down on its own.

* HEAT melts fat; this is why it is so good to use water above 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) for washing hands, clothes and everything. In addition, hot water makes more foam and that makes it even more useful.

* Alcohol or any mixture with alcohol over 65% DISSOLVES ANY FAT, especially the external lipid layer of the virus.

* Any mix with 1 part bleach and 5 parts water directly dissolves the protein, breaks it down from the inside.

* Oxygenated water helps long after soap, alcohol and chlorine, because peroxide dissolves the virus protein, but you have to use it pure and it hurts your skin.

* NO BACTERICIDE OR ANTIBIOTIC SERVES. The virus is not a living organism like bacteria; antibodies cannot kill what is not alive.

* NEVER shake used or unused clothing, sheets or cloth.

While it is glued to a porous surface, it is very inert and disintegrates only between

-3 hours (fabric and porous),
-4 hours (copper and wood)
-24 hours (cardboard),
-42 hours (metal) and
-72 hours (plastic).
But if you shake it or use a feather duster, the virus molecules float in the air for up to 3 hours, and can lodge in your nose.

* The virus molecules remain very stable in external cold, or artificial as air conditioners in houses and cars.
They also need moisture to stay stable, and especially darkness. Therefore, dehumidified, dry, warm and bright environments will degrade it faster.

* UV LIGHT on any object that may contain it breaks down the virus protein. For example, to disinfect and reuse a mask is perfect. Be careful, it also breaks down collagen (which is protein) in the skin.

* The virus CANNOT go through healthy skin.

* Vinegar is NOT useful because it does not break down the protective layer of fat.

* NO SPIRITS, NOR VODKA, serve. The strongest vodka is 40% alcohol, and you need 65%.

* LISTERINE IF IT SERVES! It is 65% alcohol.

* The more confined the space, the more concentration of the virus there can be. The more open or naturally ventilated, the less.

* You have to wash your hands before and after touching mucosa, food, locks, knobs, switches, remote control, cell phone, watches, computers, desks, TV, etc. And when using the bathroom.

* You have to HUMIDIFY HANDS DRY from so much washing them, because the molecules can hide in the micro cracks. The thicker the moisturizer, the better.

* Also keep your NAILS SHORT so that the virus does not hide there.
-JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Courtesy of Ken Goddard: Director, National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory.

USEFUL INFORMATION ON VIRUSES

• a virus is not a living organism, but only a molecule of protein (DNA) covered by a protective layer of lipids (fats), that upon being absorbed by ocular, nasal and mouth mucosa cells changes the genetic code of the cells and converts them into aggressor and multiplier cells.

• Since the virus is not a living organism but rather a molecule of protein, it doesn’t die but rather disintegrates on its own. The length of time it takes to disintegrate depends on temperature, humidity and the type of material where is sits.

• The virus is very fragile, the only thing that protects it is a thin external layer of fat. That’s why any soap or detergent is the best remedy because suds break down grease/fats (that’s why you have to suds up for 20 seconds or more in order to make a lot of suds). Once the layer of fat is dissolved, the molecule of protein falls apart and disintegrates on its own.

• HEAT melts grease, that is why it is best to use water that is at least 25 degrees centigrade (you can do your math here or just use pretty warm water) to wash your hands, clothes, etc. Besides, hot water makes more suds and that is good.

• Alcohol or any mixture of alcohol at more than 65% will dissolve any grease/fats, especially the outer fat layer of the virus.

• Any mixture of 1 part clorox and 5 parts water dissolve directly the protein, which kills it from the inside. • Oxidized water can be used besides soap, alcohol, and clorox because peroxide dissolves the protein of the virus, but you have to use it alone and it damages the skin.

• NO BACTERIACIDE WORKS. Since the virus is not a living organism, you can’t kill anything that is not alive with antibiotics, except to rapidly disintegrate its structure with everything mentioned above.

• NEVER shake clothes you have worn (or not worn) nor sheets or anything made of cloth. As long as it is stuck to a porous surface, it is inert and will disintegrate in 3 hours (cloth and porous surfaces) 4 hours (copper which is naturally antiseptic and wood because it pulls away all of the humidity and it stays stuck and disintegrates), 24 hours (cardboard), 42 hours (metal) and 72 hours (plastic). Don’t dust or use a duster as the molecules of the virus will float in the air for up to 3 hours and can lodge in the nose.

• The molecules of the virus are very stable in outdoor cold, air conditioning in houses and cars. It needs humidity to be stable and also darkness. Therefore, in environments that are dehumidified, dry, and with a lot of light will disintegrate it more rapidly. • ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT on any object where it can land will disintegrate the protein of the virus. For example, it is perfect to disinfect and be able to reuse a mask. Careful as it also disintegrates the protein in the skin (collagen) and can cause big wrinkles and skin cancer. • No virus can go through healthy skin.

• Vinegar does not work because it doesn’t dissolve the protective layer of grease.

• NO FIREWATER OR VODKA work. The strongest vodka is 40% alcohol and you need at least 65%.

• LISTERINE DOES WORK! It is 65% alcohol.

• The more confined space the virus is in, the more concentrated it becomes. Open air and natural ventilation are the best.

• It is imperative to wash your hands before and after touching mucous areas, food, knobs, light switches, remote controls, cell phones, watches, computers, desks, TVs etc. And when after using the toilet.

• You need to use lotion on your dry hands, because the molecules can hide in tiny cracks. The thicker the cream, the better. Also keep your fingernails short! so the virus can’t hide in there either.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Day 14- Quarantine-Is It Really Going To Be That Bad?

Posted on 30/03/2020 by Grumpa Joe

In guess the answer to the title question is it depends on what age group you are in. If you are in my class the answer is “it is terrible.” I can only wrap my head around the projected death figures by comparing what happened during the various wars we were fought. The war I remember the best is WW II. I was only 0-7 years old during that time, but the impression made on me was lasting. Most of what I remember were the sacrifices my parents experienced to keep us fed and safe. The impressions of casualty were made by people who lost loved ones. As a kid, I hated to see adults cry, and I saw too many who did. I also remember seeing families who hung stars in their windows indicating they had a dead soldier. In some neighborhoods it seemed like every house had at least one star hanging. There is no question war is hell. During WW II 480,000 US men were lost or declared missing in action. Even worse than that is the world wide figure of sixty-five million deaths. That is a whole lot of bodies to bury.

The doctors of disease are telling us the COVID-19 virus can leave us with a casualty rate similar to those of WW II. WW I was not much different. The US lost 116,000 men and more than half were to the Spanish flu. I shudder when I hear reporters sarcastically deridide an official because he/she referred to Covid-19 as an invisible enemy who is at war with the world.

What would be really cool is if we the people could use all the guns and ammo we own to blast this enemy out of existence. This enemy is smarter and sneakier than those we are familiar with. Muslims like to sneak up on their enemies with bombs strapped to their chest and push a button. This new enemy likes to sneak up on us with weapons that need an electron microscope to find. We don’t stand a chance until we have a bio-weapon to fight back with. In the meantime we have to hide and stay away from sources of infection. Since we don’t know who is carrying we need to stay away from everybody.

Today, I completed my spring clean up in the backyard garden. I uncovered a stone tablet that one of my wife Barb’s girlfriends gave me after Barb died. It has a short poem on it and at first I thought what a nice idea. Then I read it again, and thought that no christian would ever want this to happen. Here is what the stone reads:

If Tears Could Build a Stairway,

and Memories a Lane,

I’d Walk Right Up to Heaven

and Bring You Home Again.

Here is what I think it should say:

If Tears Could Build a Stairway,

and Memories a Lane,

I’d Walk Right Up to Heaven

and Be Home With You Again.

Why would anyone want to go to heaven to bring a loved one back to this miserable planet? That is stinkin’ thinkin’.

That’s All Folks!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Day 13-Self Imposed Quarantine-On the Seventh Day God Rested

Posted on 29/03/2020 by Grumpa Joe

Today is Sunday. I have to remind myself of that. Last week I lost a day and celebrated Friday on Thursday. That means I didn’t eat meat at any meal before I realized my mistake, and then had to abstain again the next day. Not that fish is bad for me it is because I don’t have a stock pile of it my freezer. I have peanut butter, but my KETO diet keeps me from eating bread, and I love peanut butter sandwiches. Does that make sense?

After posting my rant about the stupidity of car companies offering to make medical devices I finally got underway filling the day with more productive activities. By then I developed enough courage to go outside and attack another flower bed clean up. I must have slept through some heavy rain because the leaves were soaking and the soil muddy. I wound up cleaning mud off my heavy shoes several times. I completed another one hour baby step toward a burgeoning upcoming floral season. I photographed the first blooms of spring to make my heart leap with joy. The next project was to strip naked in front of the washing machine to wash my muddy clothes.

After a quick shower and clean clothes I proceeded to cook a batch of KETO stroganoff. Actually, it is the same as regular stroganoff but without any flour as gravy thickener. When it was finished I thought the gravy a mite too runny, so I added some Xanthan gum to thicken it, and it worked. I didn’t have a zucchini to make zucchini noodles, so I decided KETO go to hell for this meal, and cooked up some wide egg noodles. I am not sorry I did that because the stroganoff was great! Today, I’ll have left overs, except I’ll substitute leftover cauliflower mash for the noodles and be totally KETO compliant.

After supper, I went to the TV and found a stupid movie called “Thirteen Going On Thirty”. It starred Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffallo, since they were in it I thought it would be good. I endured it to the end. I’d give it about a half star. The plot grants a thirteen year old girl’s wish to be thirty. The overnight transition from a thirteen year old to a thirty year old was too much to believe.

There was still an hour and a half before my usual bedtime so I turned to watch episodes of my latest series “Homeland.” Three episodes later and long after my bedtime I shut the TV off and forced myself to sleep. There is so much action in this series that my mind continues processing throughout the night. The sleep is not restful and I find myself dragging in the morning. My dreams are all wild with people from the series running and shooting and plotting. The Homeland series is several years old and there are over ninety episodes, and I have watched only thirteen. Either I slow down, watch in the daytime, or ration my watching to one episode per week. As tired as I was from the yard work, which usually makes me sleep like a baby, I woke up with my blanket bunched up and twisted in a roll. I was rockin’ and rollin’ all night long.

Filed under: Aging, family, Gardening, Islam | Tagged: Covid-19, Crocus, Giving space, Homeland, Keto, Stroganoff | Leave a comment »

Day 12-Quarantine-Respirators by GM?

Posted on 28/03/2020 by Grumpa Joe

This post will not be a reflection of my day, rather an opinion on President Trump’s latest effort to move the country through the COVID-19 virus. This morning I listened to a news bit about Trump’s direction to General Motors to make respirators by the thousands and in a hurry. GM offered to help the country, but is moving slowly so the president being a typical impatient CEO has taken over and is using the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to force them into action. My comment on that is “Good Luck Pres.”

At one time GM was the largest car maker in the world and they let the Japs take it away from them. If any company will work like government i.e. slow, sluggish, takes forever, gets lost in its own bureaucracy General Motors is it. One of their largest problems has been with dealing in downsizing in order to increase profit. They have not learned how to make more with less, and that is after thirty years of trying. One anchor around their corporate neck is the UAW union.

coronavirus_ventilators_032520getty

GM knows how to make cars, that is their business and that is what they can do best. How in the world will they be able to translate car manufacturing into respirators is a wish. Unfortunately, wishes don’t get things done. I give them credit for trying.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a disgruntled former GM employee. I started at GM in 1963 working for the Electromotive Division. At that time GM had over 90% of the world market share for diesel locomotives. What is their market share today? Who knows, but they lost the bulk of it to competitor’s because of two reasons; 1. They didn’t listen to their customers, and 2. They continued to kiss the ass of the UAW. GM finally gave up making locomotives in 2005 after converting the world from steam to diesel.

2020-gmc-yukon-mmp-1-1579200879

I can not picture the kind of respirator that GM will build. It will most likely have four wheels and great styling, and they will all look like a Chevy or Cadillac . . . SUV’s.

Another problem is that GM produces cars from components made in countries around the world. They only assemble them in the US. An internet search reports that 55 percent of GM car parts are from the United States and Canada, 20 percent from Japan, 15 percent from China,…

Any car company would be better off starting a new factory in an available warehouse with all new CNC machines installed for making parts. They would also buy ready made high volume components like pumps from companies that make pumps for a living. Put a team of engineers on this project and challenge them to get the problem solved, and respirators made in record time. I wouldn’t use GM engineers, because their culture is not to do things fast. The guys at Ford would be better suited for this type of project.

In my day as Chief Engineer, I would have had a field day managing this kind of work, and could easily have respirators in production quickly. The only requirement being that we don’t have to design the device from scratch.

Companies that make equipment like respirators for hospitals.

Resmed (USA)
Weinmann (Germany)
Philips Healthcare (Netherlands)
Carefusion (USA)
GE Healthcare (USA)
Medtronic (USA)
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (New Zealand)
Teijin Pharma (Japan)
MEKICS (South Korea)
Dräger Medical (Germany)
DeVilbiss (USA)
Apex Medical (Taiwan)
Air Liquide (France)
Hamilton Medical (Switzerland)
SLE Ltd (United Kingdom)
eVent Medical (USA)
Maquet (Germany)
Siare Engineering (Italy)

I don’t see General Motors on this list anywhere. I would use these companies to make respirators en masse, not GM.

Another thing, I would demand a realistic estimate of the quantity needed. There is at least one report I read that stated we need seven billion respirators. Really? That is one for every citizen on the planet Earth. That is panic reporting and stupid. Not all seven billion people on this planet are sick today. The panic sellers conclude that this pandemic has the potential for infecting the entire Earth. Even if that happened only a small percentage would need respirators. And if we all needed them who would be healthy enough to hook us up to them? Calm down folks, there comes a time when we have to let nature take it’s course.

People who worry about death from pandemics also worry that the population of the Earth is too large thus causing all kinds of pollution and global warming. Wars reduce population too, so does terrorism, and humans love to kill each other. A good purge might be healthy for Earth.

My prediction is that we will get through this pandemic in good condition because the virus will disappear for reasons we don’t understand. That will give us some time to finish and proof the vaccines in process, and that will happen long before GM can tool up to make seven billion respirators.

Filed under: Conservative, family, Government, health care, Manufacturing, Uncategorized | Tagged: Common Sense, Covid-19, General Motors, Respirator Manufacturing, Trump | 4 Comments »

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