WHEN EVERYBODY “KNOWS” YOU ARE WRONG.... but you!

Repost, this was supposed to post while I was in Italy, stupid Google

NASA, the mission: land American astronauts on the moon and return them safely back to Earth before the end of the decade. 
The task would test the ingenuity and determination of some of the best scientific minds on the planet. Led by the most brilliant and accomplished rocket scientist in the world, ex-Nazi and lead engineer of the V1 and V2 rockets that rained hell down on London during WW2, Werner Von Braun. 
The first task of the grandiose vision was to conceptualize the vehicle that would carry the precious cargo of humans and equipment to the moon and back, a mere half a million mile journey. 
There was no frame of reference, no previous mission experience to draw knowledge from. This mission would be blue-skyed by a room full of geniuses. 
One lone reticent scientist stood at the blackboard and diagramed his unorthodox plan for the mission. 
It must have been excruciatingly embarrassing for the normally quiet scientist to have his carefully thought out proposal dismissed and somewhat ridiculed by his peers, but having his idea panned by the great Werner Von Braun must have been an unparalleled humiliation. 

During another era, in another place, a young immigrant inventor faced his own bout with humiliation and rejection. 
His promising start in the new world must have seemed like a dream come true working for the famed Thomas Edison. 
This young unknown inventor had a special understanding of the properties of inductance and electromagnetism. 
His knowledge of coils, transformers and the armatures of motors and generators were ahead of its time. 
Nikola assured Edison that he could vastly improve the efficiencies of his electric motors and generators. 
Edison told him that if he could do that, he would give him $50,000 bucks.

A pretty nice bonus by today's standards, in the late 1800's it would be the equivalent of roughly 1.3 million dollars.  
After Nikola had completed his work, it’s hard to say who was more shocked, Edison when he came to the inescapable conclusion that Nikola had indeed  done what he said he would, or Nikola when Edison told him that he had only been joking about the 50 thousand dollar bonus. 
Edison got his new greatly improved motors and generators and Nikola got a job digging ditches after he stormed out of Edison’s laboratory. 
This would not be Edison's last conflict with Nikola.

The next conflict would evolve into a major pissing contest that would change the dark world forever. 
Nikola would not spend the rest of his career digging ditches. He would team up with George Westinghouse in a competition against Thomas Edison, both sides vying for the same goal of creating a method of delivering electricity to America and eventually the world. 
Westinghouse and Edison shared the same vision of creating the first practical electrical grid, but Nikola and Edison had complete opposite methods in mind as to how to how to go about it. 
Edison would even go on a bizarre and sometimes macabre tour demonstrating the dangers of Nikola's method of power transmission. The Wizard of Menlo Park was attempting to show the world that the uneducated Serbian immigrant was out of his depth. 

The time is now. And I am being told by Obama and his minions, by the Hollywood elitist, by the radical leftist media, by the indoctrinators who call themselves educators and by the crooked union bosses that they “know” I am wrong about my belief in Capitalism, American exceptionalism, Christianity, patriotism, family values, the 2nd Amendment, hell the whole damned Constitution for that matter.  
They all will tell you and me that they “know” we are wrong. 
But we are in good company. 

Thomas Edison, The Wizard Of Menlo Park “knew” that his DC (direct current) was the only practical method of transporting electricity from his power plants, to the world.

He even went on a tour electrocuting dogs, cats and even an elephant with AC current in an attempt to demonstrate the inherent dangers of Nikola Tesla’s AC delivery system.

 
Problem was Edison’s DC requires electrons to make the round trip from the power plant through the grid, to the point of use, then all the way back to the power plant.

That dog just won't hunt. The friction of DC current causes a huge amount of line loss as wasted heat on long runs.

Power plants would have to be built every mile or so and the only way to offer different voltages to a home or business would require multiple lines ran for each different voltage need.
Nikola Tesla was the father AC (alternating current) and with the backing of George Westinghouse set out to show the world who was really right. 
The "War of The Currents" would prove Tesla was right. AC current does not require electrons to make the round trip from power plant, to load and back to power plant.

Tesla’s electrons reverse direction 60 times (60 hz) a second.

This produces transfer of power by means of eletromagnatism, electrons pushing each other back and forth.



AC can be transmitted long distances with manageable line loss and much smaller electrical conductors. It can be transmitted at very high voltages and stepped down or up with transformers to meet the need for the various load requirements of different electrical appliances.
Tesla was right, the Wizard was wrong. 

Werner Von Braun “knew” his idea of building a single massive spacecraft to fly from the Earth to the moon, land on the moon, take off from the moon and land back here on Earth was the correct method to achieve President Kennedy's challenge.

John Houbolt the lone voice in the wilderness did not back down from his idea

of multiple task specific vehicles to achieve that same goal.
The LOR (lunar orbit rendezvous) worry expressed by Von Braun turned out to be a non-issue. Houbolt didn't let Von Braun's stature at NASA sway him from his belief and went over Von Braun's head with his idea. Eventually Von Braun came to realize on his own that Houbolt was correct. When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, Von Braun turned to Houbolt and said, "you were right John, we wouldn't be here without you". 

If two geniuses like Edison and Von Braun could be so completely wrong about something that they “knew” was right, how much more likely is it that Obama and his minions are completely wrong about everything they “know” to be true about me?
They are not even close to genius.

DOCTOR NO

IT'S ALIVE !!!! IT'S ALIVE!!!!

Back from the abyss and have been chomping at the bit to write. So much so that I have been boring the hell out of someone with my Rumblings through email one at a time. So now I thought I would get back on here and bore all of you! All nine or ten of you.
Lets see where was I? Oh yeah spewing venom and bitterness from the vent. I deleted the last post As Bad As it Can Get, it has served its purpose. Update, the divorce is final and went as smooth as the maiden voyage of the Titanic. We have no more entanglements or reason to ever have any more contact and that's the way I want it.
On a positive note, I am leaving for Italy on Thursday. My final checkmark to mark the end of this saga of my life. This divorce like the last had to be chopped up into smaller pieces or tasks so as not to overload my circuits and cause me to go postal.
I mentally checked them off one at a time. The last checkmark is to reward myself for surviving this divorce from hell without the use of a hit man.
The X did everything she could to make this divorce as difficult and painful and hateful as she possibly could. I will try to ween myself off the drug of bitterness in my newer posts, this road I have traveled these last 8 months have been paved with angst so bear (is it bear or bare, I forgot, I looked it up once) bare bear with me and I promise that I will emerge my happy go lucky self once again. My outlook is really great! Through a series of misfortunes and serendipity I was able to retire while I'm still young enough to enjoy my waning years.In the last 8 months I have also improved my health enough so that I may live long enough to piss some x wives off!
While recovering from the accidents and all the operations I had gained a lot of weight. In 8 months I have lost 55 lbs, I keep reaching my goal weight only to set the bar lower and lower. I haven't been this thin in many decades. I feel great though I will always have to deal with problems from the wreck. I still get blurred and double vision when I look too far right or left, when I take my walks or stand too long my back kills me. I am restricted to a 20 lbs maximum overhead lift and still have occasional bouts of dizziness after a workout.

The back issue is the most troubling because it was never addressed after the wreck. The surgeon who did my cervical spinal fusion on two levels assured my that the back problem was reactive to the two ruptured discs in my neck. He said once the neck was repaired it would take care of the back issue as well.
After months of rehab for the neck and rotator cuff surgeries my back still gave me much grief. I remember my last checkup with, I'll call him Doctor No, because I kept asking him to MRI my mid back and he kept telling me No!Anyway I went to see Doctor No one last time and I told him my back was still giving me hell. Guess what he said.
"Well your back problem doesn't have anything to do with you neck" ??!!???
Huh? I had signed a document giving this hack permission to strap me down to a table, administer a date rape drug, slash the front of my throat wide open like Jack The Ripper, slide my esophagus over, take a set of Craftsman looking tools and grind and cut and gouge out 2 little worn out shock absorbers, jam two pieces of some dead guys, or gals bones in the gaping sections of neck vertebrae, run a Black and Decker cordless drill microns from my spinal cord and fuse 3 vertebrae together with a Titanium plate and now he tells me that my neck repair has nothing to do with my back problem?!?!
Damn that was one long sentence huh? But you get my point right? This guy told me for months that if I allowed him to earn 40 grand my neck and back would be good as, not new but not in agony.You know what I told him? Yeah you guessed it, I didn't say a damn thing, I just walked out of his office, my brain reeling. I should have dropped his ass, or at least told him what a quack and liar he was. Instead I slinked out trying to wrap my brain around what just occurred. I should have gotten clued in the first post-op visit when he had a side view and front view X-ray taken. When he pulled up the front view, I looked at it and the damn titanium plate holding my neck bones together was crooked as hell!He saw it too and quickly got it off the computer screen to show the side view. Post-op visits after that only had side view X-rays taken.
Hmmm, what do you think? Something's amiss? Months later I wanted to take it up with him and demand answers.Fast forward, to last October, I'm living with Mikey at the shelter, Mikes Halfway House For Battered Xhusbands lol, we are taking care of our cousin who is slowly dying in the bedroom next to where I sleep, or at least try to sleep.I am sleeping on the floor of Mikes computer room on a mattress that is shoved half way under a computer desk. I'm laying there one night still in disbelief of the turn my life has taken, still hurting from the betrayal by someone I thought I knew.My phone makes the you have a message ding. I pick it up and see its from Doc Todd. Doc is a personal friend and also my doctor. The message from Doc read "Doctor No axed himself. Wow. Stay strong."
I laid there in my little dormer bed trying to adjust the focal point of my IPhone. Surely I misread this, no glasses handy I read it over and over trying to see a different message.
No I would not get the satisfaction of grilling Doctor No.Seems I was not the only other human on the planet in divorce hell.There was at least one other person in the world going through his own personnel hell. A spinal surgeon going through the same thing I was couldn't see past the Petition For Dissolution Of Marriage order, the trips to the court, the endless visits to the lawyers office, the endless forms to fill out, the possessions to list and all the small details that that lawyers dwell on as Don Henley sings of in End Of Innocence. Doctor No will never see what I'm seeing now. I can see that I am so much better off without this person in my life. This person did me a huge favor. If Doctor No would have toughed it out just a little longer, long enough to emerge from the haunted woods where lions and tigers and bears lurked, oh my!Lightweight !Hell I'm an old pro at this stuff, lawyers come to me and ask for advise.
Italy is just the beginning, Key West is waiting and so is my dive gear, hiking Yellowstone is on the horizon. Flying lessons and someday my pilots license, something I've always wanted to do.I still think about Doctor No, the guy who had his scalpel a whisper away from my spinal cord, the man who couldn't see past an ugly tomorrow, the guy who put a gun against his head a blew apart a million dollar brain.When I pass through this life I'm gonna look up Doctor No, I want to ask him if he still thinks she was worth it. Then I'm gonna ask him why my damn back still hurts!

WALKERS HIGH

On the treadmill again, alternating my eyeballs between the monitor tuned to Fox News, ESPN and the occasional attractive middle aged women who happen to cross my field of vision (God I never will learn)!

I'm about 7 weeks into this latest diet and about 6 weeks into the knowledge that my wife wanted to be the next X. 

I joined the local fitness center by my new place of residence and everyday I start my workout with time on the human equivalent of the hamster wheel, the treadmill. 

I started slow and short due to the problems I have been having with my heart and shortness of breath. 

Losing several lbs and exercising every day dramatically improved my breathing and I worked up to doing the hamster wheel for a solid hour at a pretty good clip. 

After I hit the treadmill for an hour I workout with weights for 30 to 60 minutes. 

I have to remind myself that it's ok if I'm working out with weights that are lighter then some of the women there are lifting. My rotator cuff repairs let me know real quick if I am over-doing it. 

The biggest improvement was realized on the treadmill after a couple of weeks of adding minutes and speed until I was able to go an entire hour without falling down with a heart attack. 

Then one day after about 45 minutes of sweating and grunting I noticed my breathing rate slowed and I suddenly felt great. Wait a minute, this is the part of the treadmill workout I should be hitting the wall.

Instead I felt like I had just started the walk. 

That thought took me back in time, I was in my early 20's and I was in the best shape of my life. Considering I was a smoker and party animal back then, that's saying something. 

My exercise regiment consisted of working out hard and heavy with free weights one day, the next day I laid off the weights and went for a long run. 

After 2 miles I would feel the wall right in front of me, I would be gasping for air but I would push on through. 

Then one day as I felt the wall closing in, my breathing rate returned to normal and I closed my mouth and started breathing through my nose like I had just started running. I felt great and it seemed like I could run forever. 

I had heard of "the runners high", but this was my first time feeling the euphoria that comes with it. 

Too bad that feeling and the workout regiment didn't last. 

I eventually gave up the running and the most weight I was lifting after that was the 12 oz curls. 

There would be other sporadic fits of fitness in the intervening years, but I never got another taste of that runners high. 

That is till last week in the gym, never mind that I was walking not running on a treadmill, it still felt damned good. 

The only thing the X said that was true that night when she was laying out all the reasons she was voting me out of tribe was when she said I had put on weight and wasn't being smart about my health. 

I had started my latest diet a week before she laid her bullshit on me.
I'm not doing this for her or because of her, I am doing it for my grandson and my kids and the rest of my family, but mostly for myself.

I've lost 28 lbs and my body is in a lot better condition. I've still got a ways to go, at least 25 more pounds but I feel great achieving my "walkers high".

With feeling really great comes the memory of someone else that said he felt really great. 

He had been a college basketball standout and is the all time NCAA Division 1 scorer. 

He had a good NBA career that was cut short by injuries. 

He still enjoyed playing pick up games and some years after his retirement during a game he was heard saying "I feel great"!

He walked back on the floor and collapsed. 

At the age of 40, Pistol Pete Maravich laid on the floor dead of a heart attack.

Which brings me to this feeling of some angst about "feeling great" after my hour on the hamster wheel and my Walker's High.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!!

I have about 20 half written posts laying in state. It's not that I have nothing to vent, with all the crap that comes with divorce land, I have more to vent than ever. Mount St Helens got nothing on me.
Since my soon to be X flaked out and threw me under the proverbial bus, I can detect the caldera is at maximum pressure with magma building up.
But that can wait, now is the time to give thanks.
I'm thankful that I'm no longer being deceived, ignorance is not always bliss.
Trust but verify, is my new mantra.

I am very thankful for the people in my life I can always count on, family and friends.
Wives come and go, but I always have felt fortunate to have a great family.
I hope this day finds you with similar surroundings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

RING OF TRUTH

I was driving back from a doctor’s visit when suddenly I saw a gold clad Sphinx waving a cash for gold sign.

I look down in the ashtray and there lay a worthless piece of gold that had cost me dearly, in terms of money and years of my life that were wasted.

A few weeks ago I had slipped it off my finger noting that that would be the last time I would ever make the mistake of letting someone put a band of gold on that finger.

I pulled in the parking lot and went in to see the Pharaoh.

I laid the ring down on the counter and the Pharaoh looked at it with his magnifier and weighed it. I had no idea what he would offer me for this now worthless symbol.

I figured 20 buck?, I didn’t know, I didn’t care, I just wanted it the hell out of my sight.

Do I sound bitter???

I guess maybe I am, when I put that ring on, I made someone a promise.

I kept that promise, I guess the bitterness comes from the knowledge that she didn’t.

I watched the Pharaoh work his magic calculator wondering what number he would conjure up.

I figured it might be worth a pizza or something.

I was surprised when he said $101.00 smackers!

I didn’t remember what we paid for it, I know her engagement ring cost over 1500 bucks.

I told the guy that ring cost me 10’s of thousands of dollars and 10 years of my life.

Then I told him “Sold”!

I watched him take the ring back to the area where it would be melted down to be reformed into a new life. I hoped it would serve the next sucker better than it had me.

Now what to do with my reclaimed life and my reclaimed $101.00?

Maybe buy a supply of Viagra and spin the wheel of mis-fortune once again?

No thanks, dating is one thing, but as far as looking for a serious relationship, I’m good.

I am going to have one hell of a lawyer bill by the time we wrap this divorce thing up, I could just give it to her. Naaa that doesn’t sound like much fun.

Maybe I’ll buy the Viagra and go out on a non-serious date!

TEXAS TIMEOUT

Moving out continues and Sunday I got the rest of my clothes from ”her” that were buried in a back closet. Most of these clothes were seldom worn or even seen in recent years. In this pile of clothes were tee shirts from Texas and could not be worn during my most recently failed marriage. She did not like the “Texas” emblazoned on these shirts and especially Austin Texas. These shirts were given to me by a very cute little bartender living in Austin.

X didn't even like it if that state or city ever came up in conversation.

She was the young lady that I had a long distance relationship with for over a year and as it was pre 9/11 flights were cheap and we made many trips back and forth during that time.

I met Carolyn through the Internet due to our common interest in scuba diving.

I fell in love with Austin TX the first time I flew down there to meet her.

We had been communicating on the Internet and phone for a number of weeks and decided to meet in the real world.

It was a risky first semi-blind date, but we decided to give it a shot.

I walked into the terminal and was not disappointed, I just hoped she wouldn’t be either or it would be an awkward vacation.

She was a cute little doll and a little on the wild side, she was perfect for me.

We went to dinner with her daughter and me and Carolyn kept catching each other’s eye.

We found out later that night that neither of us were disappointed in what we saw in person.

I fell in love with Austin before I fell in love with Carolyn, but we eventually did.

I made several trips down there and she made several up here to Indy.

I had a lot of misconceptions about Texas, I thought it was going to be all desert, tumbled weeds and people with twangy accents, and she thought Indiana was all flat farmland and cornfields.

She was amazed at all the woods and forest and the hills of Brown County. Her friends were some of the coolest people I had ever met and they quickly became my friends. It was the most different kind of relationship I had ever had.

It was great, it was like going on a vacation that was going to have some ready-made romance built into the vacation package. And it was nice to have my own personal bartender too.

She knew everyone who ran every restaurant and we got most of our meals comped  She also knew some big wig who owned a fantastic lake house on Travis lake and we spent many nights there for free.

I have many great memories of my time with Carolyn but my greatest memory of her was one particular night at that lake house.

I was a clear Texas night sky and a very warm very strong wind was blowing across the huge lake. We dragged the mattress off the bed and laid it out on the deck that overlooked the beautiful lake. And the bonus was a full moon shining down directly overhead that made the whole night one that could never be reproduced with anyone in anyplace.

We spent the night out there and in my policy of keeping a PG13 rating for my blog, I will just say you have enough information to make the assumption of how much actual sleeping went on that night on that lake house deck.

Eventually the relationship took a more serious turn and there was discussion of one of us taking the big step and moving.

I just couldn’t be that far away from my kids and the rest of my family, I also had a new house to consider what to do with.

She had a very close family down there and she was a proud Texan through and through. She also couldn’t stand the cold weather.

In the end, this was the only relationship in my life that ended for no other reason but for the 1100 hundred miles that kept us apart.

We decided to part friends and give up our long distance romance.

Some time later I started dating my soon to be wife. After I had been seeing her for a while I got a call from my little Texas sweetie, she said she had been missing me and wanted to come up and see me. Things were far enough along with my now x that I told Carolyn I wanted to give my new relationship a chance and reluntly asked her not to come. She understood and in retrospect I regret that decision. Seems like my decision-making regarding relationships has always been suspect.

I have often wondered how she was doing and if she was happy. I would love to just talk with her again.

I went through my clothes this week deciding what to put in storage and what to put in the tee shirt rotation. I am happy to report that the beloved tee shirts given to me by the sexy little Texan bartender made the cut.

I am no longer in Texas timeout.

BUCKET LIST

to follow