Happy 4th!

Knowing I wouldn't be in my home country on Independence Day, I bought these napkins at Walmart before I left so I can share in a little bit of the fun.

Freedom Fest Road Trip--By the Numbers

Total days:  30 (6/29-7/29)

Total miles:  4,609

Average mpg:  13.9 (not bad when so much of it was towing!) 

Average speed:  44 mph

Nights in houses:  7

Nights in the trailer:  23

Number of loads of laundry:  3 

Wal*marts visited: 2 (corrected 8/3)

Audiobooks listened to:  6

Gas stations that sold marijuana:  1 seen (not visited!)

National parks/monuments/historic sites visited:  7

National parks/monuments/historic sites visited that I hadn't visited before:  6

Highest gas price paid:  $4.40/gallon on I-5 in the Central Valley of California

Lowest gas price paid: $2.85/gallon in Phoenix

Highest elevation:  Sandia Peak in Albuquerque, 10,378'

Longest stay in one location:  6 nights in Rapid City, SD

Since my purchase in February 2017:

Total mileage on my pickup:  27,374.3

Total mileage while towing:  10,384

 

Update, 7/31/21:  

Number of times I wore a mask:  1 (the cable car up Sandia Peak is considered "public transportation")

When Life Gives You Lemons...

I like this idea, it's creative:

Two of the most classic pieces of Americana are coming together this summer: drive-in theaters and Walmart.

Beginning in August, the retailer is converting 160 of its US store parking lots into drive-in movie theaters. As the pandemic continues, drive-in theaters have been making a comeback as a safe alternative to the traditional movie theaters that remain closed in much of the country.

Walmart (WMT) is partnering with Tribeca Enterprises, the Robert De Niro-backed media company, to program the films. Locations and movie titles haven't yet been announced, but they will be revealed later on a special website. The event will run through October and encompass more than 300 showings.

Perhaps they could show the anti-racist Blazing Saddles, or perhaps the first movie in which a black American won an Academy Award, Gone With The Wind.  After all, both films were chosen by the Library of Congress and were selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

But I doubt they will.

Blast From The Past

I remember learning about "layaway" as a child, I didn't know it was still done:

For the past two years, items on layaway for over 200 families at the Walmart here have been paid for by some generous soul who won't reveal his or her identity. Last year, this modern St. Nicholas paid off $46,000 in items placed on layaway by local residents. This year's total was $40,000.

Generosity is one of the most noble traits.

The Weather's True Impact

Yesterday I saw something that is notable if for no other reason than it happens so rarely that it's a big deal when it does occur.  We've had lots of rain here in the Valley this past week and severe weather over the Sierra.  Interstate 80 has been closed or highly limited, with a snowplow convoying cars through.  Trucks have been stopped on both sides of the mountains, which means Wal*mart has had difficulty being restocked:

That's the vegetable aisle.  Fresh fruits looked the same.  Even dairy was getting low.  I just wanted bananas.  There were no bananas.

BTW, I'm told that this is what stores in Venezuela look like.  And in the old communist countries.  All the time, not just for a couple days.

A Slow, Lingering, Painful Death

I remember the hoopla surrounding the opening of Sunrise Mall back in the early 70s.  Despite being a single story it was a large mall, and it was built out in the middle of fields in unincorporated Sacramento County.  People flocked to it, the area prospered, and today that mall anchors Sunrise Marketplace, a retail district in what is now the 21-year-old City of Citrus Heights.  No more fields are to be had!

About 15 years ago or so, a newer mall was built in the nearby city of Roseville, perhaps 20 minutes away.  At around the same time, the owners of Sunrise performed a $10 million upgrade and modernization.  Sunrise had seen better days, and the upgrade was seen as a way to keep shoppers there instead of at the new mall.  And little Citrus Heights had plans for a Walmart, Costco, and Sam's Club, all of which would compete with Sunrise.

But if that new mall wasn't the death knell for Sunrise, it certainly constituted a few of the early chimes.

When I was in high school, Sunrise was where you went.  It was a hangout, it was air conditioned (no small thing in the Sacramento Valley in the summer), it had Farrell's for ice cream, it had a movie theater.  It was a major transfer point for Regional Transit buses.

Today, not so much.  It still has air conditioning, and the theater is still there--I think the seats are the same ones I sat in over 35 years ago.  Of the 4 large department stores in the mall, two are Macy's, one is JC Penney, and one is a soon-to-be-closed 3-level Sears:

click to enlarge so you can get a better view of the situation

There are a few rows of clothing in there, and the rest is fixtures for sale (up to 80% off!).

Yes, I went on a Monday afternoon, but this is just sad:

There's no one in there.  And it's got to have a 25% vacancy rate; so many of the storefronts are closed up, serving as display windows for the few stores remaining.  Mrs. Field's cookies is closed down.  So is the children's portrait studio.  That's got to be a sign.

You know what else is a sign?  This:

This is what's left of the children's play area, and it's empty.  19 years ago I'd bring my son here to climb on and through the "toys", today there's not a single parent or child here.  There's not even a sleeping senior citizen on any of the couches.

I've got to believe Sunrise's days are numbered.  But what can you do with an empty mall?

There's always talk of building a university of some open land not too far from that new mall.  Could a shopping mall not be repurposed into an indoor university?  At least it's a thought.  I'm just trying to think outside of the box, because it seems to me that Sunrise Mall will soon be a new addition to this web site.

Be It Ever So Humble

I'm back, about a week early.  And there's a reason for that.

I left last Tuesday, towing my trailer with my pickup and headed for Colorado Springs.  I reached Ely, NV, that evening, and the truck was acting up.  It ran like crap.

On Wednesday I visited 3 different mechanics in Ely, taking up pretty much the entire day.  The last one figured out I was running on 7 cylinders; his solution was to replaced the grossly-fouled #6 spark plug with a new one and to send me on my way.  He said I'd make it to Denver and back and then might need a new engine.

Thursday I somehow made it into Grand Junction, CO.  No power on hills at all, and it shuddered as if not getting any fuel or air.  I called a GMC dealership--but they don't work on 1979's, too old.  (You can't plug a diagnostic computer into them.)  Another shop referred me to a 3rd, and they gave me directions to get there.  I made it about 100 meters before the truck died on the side of the road.  I coaxed and cajoled the poor thing and finally limped into the garage.

They checked and there's plenty of pressure in all 8 cylinders, so not an engine problem.  The #6 spark plug, with only a few hundred miles on it, looked as if it had a few hundred thousand.  A loose grounding strap in the distributor and a bad #6 spark plug wire looked like a a reasonable fix.

It was not.

They drove me to a hotel that night--which was a dump and exceedingly overpriced due to Country Jam 2017 being held less than 10 miles away that weekend.  Friday morning, right before checkout, I got a call that the truck was ready.  They even came and picked me up.

I got about an hour east of Grand Junction, where the climbs really start, and realized that the problem remained.  It died a couple times on the way back to town, but I made it to the shop.  They replaced the fuel filter and fuel pump.  Then they put in a 2nd fuel filter when the first one made it run even worse!  They stayed after quitting time to install these for me--but the shop isn't open on weekends.  It would either work or I'd have to wait till Monday.

It didn't work.  And because of Country Jam there were no rooms or camping spots to be had.  A dozen or more rigs camped out in the Walmart parking lot Friday night.

I was able to get a camping spot on Saturday afternoon, and reserved it for 2 nights.  My mother had offered to tow my Camry out to me and tow the truck home, and at this point in the debacle I took her up on her offer.  She and her friend showed up Sunday afternoon after driving with absolute minimal stops.  We swapped out vehicles and they headed back immediately--they'd put their own trip on hold to help me out.  I got the trailer ready for travel and left a few hours later, of course going much more slowly than they were because I was towing with a Camry.

They put my truck in the garage around Monday noon.  I stopped off in Reno for the night to blow off a little steam--and darn near every room in the city was occupied because of a rodeo in town!  I was lucky to get a (somewhat inflated-price) room via Hotels.com, as calls to reservation lines had lengthy waits.

I stopped for a $6 breakfast today and made it home around 1:30 pm, a week after I'd left.

There's no place like home.

Points Break

Yesterday I was at Walmart and thought it couldn't hurt to check out the $7.88 blu-ray bin.  In it I found the 1991 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze movie Point Break.  Knowing that a remake was just released, I bought it.  A friend and I watched it and then headed to the theater to see the new one.

The original was a good action movie, but the action mostly involved surfing (and one scene of parachuting).  Well, if some action was good, more must be better, right?  The new movie gave us not only surfing but dirt biking, freehand cliff climbing, flying squirrel suits, and parachuting.  It gave us exotic locales, sweeping vistas, ADD-inducing action, and a less believable story.  Still, I have to admit it was fun to watch.

The original certainly had a more believable story.  Its biggest flaw, though, was the wooden acting of Keanu Reeves, who at the time had already done Bill and Ted but had not yet starred in Speed.  Reeves' acting was almost Hayden Christensen-worthy, and I don't say that lightly.

I probably enjoyed each of these movies more than I enjoyed Star Wars VII.

Is Discrimination Acceptable If It's In Pursuit Of What You Consider A Worthwhile Goal?

I guess it is!  For our leftie friends, though, I'll point out that the CEO in question, the one trying to push personal views here, is from SAM'S CLUB, which is owned by the same company as the evil WALMART!

“Just today we met with a supplier and the entire other side of the table was all Caucasian males,” she told Harlow who asked her what she said to them.

“I decided not to talk about it directly with his folks in the room because there were actually no female, like, levels down,” she said. “I’m gonna place a call to him.”

Wow.

She also said she uses her position to “nudge,” Sam’s Clubs partners and suppliers to hire more minorities and women for the top spots.

This philosophy is not discrimination how?

The ends justify the means, I guess.  If she were pushing them not to give to Planned Parenthood, though, I'm sure there would be howls of protest from the fever swamp.

Update, 12/17/15:  I'm not the only one who noticed this:

Naturally the left, who would be going out of its mind if a white male suggested an all black female executive team had to be diversified, cannot understand what all the anger is about.

Greed?

It's fashionable in liberal circles to denigrate corporate profits as "greed", but...

Here's a kick in the pants for Wal-Mart haters and lovers of big government, two groups that almost perfectly overlap. According to Mark J. Perry, IBD Brain Truster, economist and American Enterprise Institute scholar, average big-box stores such as Wal-Mart earn only $3.10 in profit for every $100 in sales .

Meanwhile, government makes nearly $7 in (unearned) profit for every $100 in sales at these big discount chains, based, says Perry, "on the 6.94% average sales tax rate for the 46 states that tax retail sales." Governments in high-tax states can rake in three times the profit the stores earn.

Government makes more off a gallon of gas than the oil companies that bring it to you, too.

A Free Night

Today I took the first of (I think) six tests in my discrete optimization course.  I studied out the ying-yang, and the test certainly wasn't as hard as the one I studied for!  That doesn't mean I aced it, of course, just that it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I'm convinced I didn't make any egregious "strategic" errors; any mistakes had to be of the "silly" or "bad calculation" variety.

I usually devote 2 hours each night to my master's program, but not after a test.  I take the test and then take the rest of the evening off.  Watch out, single people, I'm free tonight!

(OK, so I'm headed to Walmart to get some groceries.  Whatever.)

Union Hyprocrisy

Will union members ever tire of the hypocrisy shown by their unions?  Watch how unions treat their staff unions during labor negotiations and strikes--they do the very same things they decry when used against their own members!  How about how unions treat paid, non-union picketers (the ones outside the Las Vegas Walmart were my favorites).  And now this:

The Michigan Education Association has been an outspoken critic of school districts that privatize custodial services to save money.

Yet, the MEA contracts out work with non-union companies for its own janitorial services. The state's largest teachers union had contracts with six companies in 2012-13, according to financial reports it filed with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The MEA paid a total of $155,623 for janitorial services in 2012-13, the records show. The MEA paid the companies between $5,500 to $86,112. Michigan Capitol Confidential confirmed that the companies are not unionized.

The MEA did not respond to a request seeking comment.

I don't fault the union for getting the lowest price. I fault them for thinking that they, and no one else, should.

No! Not Target!

It’s the store we’re allowed to like that’s not Walmart!  What to do now?

Target Corp. (TGT) will end health insurance for part-time employees in April, joining Trader Joe’s Co., Home Depot Inc. and other U.S. retailers that have scaled back benefits in response to changes from Obamacare. 

Who could possibly have foreseen this?  :-)

Walmart's Health Insurance Benefits

New Obamacare health insurance enrollees may feel a pang of envy when they eye the coverage plans offered by Walmart to its employees.

For many years, the giant discount retailer has been the target of unions and liberal activists who have harshly criticized the company's health care plans, calling them “notorious for failing to provide health benefits” and "substandard.”

But a Washington Examiner comparison of the two health insurance programs found that Walmart's plan is more affordable and provides significantly better access to high-quality medical care than Obamacare.

What will be the Left's next bugaboo?

Only A Leftie Wouldn't Smile After Reading This

Sometimes mockery is the best policy:

Wal-Mart released a statement Friday mocking the low turnout for this week’s staged walkouts by members of OUR Wal-Mart, an affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).

Protests and walkouts were held in 15 cities Thursday, with three protesters arrested in New York City on trespassing and disorderly conduct charges while trying to deliver a petition to a Wal-Mart board member, according to Berlin Rosen, the public relations firm representing the protesters.

“Once again, it looks like the UFCW threw a party and nobody showed up. Despite promises of ‘thousands of workers’ protesting this week, the union failed to deliver more than a smattering of paid protesters at their 15 orchestrated events. At most, 50 of the participants actually work for Wal-Mart, put another way, that’s less than one-tenth of one percent of our 1.3 million associates,” Wal-Mart vice president of corporate communications David Tovar said in a statement.

Among All The Crappy Things Going On In The Country Lately...

Here's some good news:

Wal-Mart is rolling out the first batch of new Twinkies in 1,600 stores on Friday. And by Sunday, Twinkies will be available in 3,000 Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) stores, according to company spokeswoman Veronica Marshall.

Wal-Mart is selling Twinkies in an exclusive collectible box that says "First Batch" on the packaging and has the new Twinkies tagline: "The Sweetest Comeback in the History of Ever." They cost $2.98 for a box of 10.

Be It Ever So Freakin' Hot....

...there's no place like home.

Three nights ago was spent in a Wal*mart parking lot, and the last two nights were spent in rest stops on the edge of the road.  But oh, the things I saw!

When I got off the Coho I pulled into the Wally World parking lot and slept for the night.  Then instead of heading southeast, towards I-5, I headed west, going down the Pacific Coast of Washington.  Made a couple stops on the way (pictures to be posted later)--and noticed the truism that the only people whose votes count in Washington can see the Space Needle. Those rural folks don't like Patty Murray at all!  And they think that DC and Olympia don't listen to, respect, or care about them.  It was very eye-opening.

Crossed into Oregon, saw Lewis and Clark's camp at Fort Clatsop, and then headed to Portland to see a friend from my Air Force Academy days, and his family.    After a visit of a few hours I was on the road again, stopping for the night at a rest stop near Albany, Oregon.

The next morning in southern Oregon I headed southwest, emerging from the mountains along the California coast at Crescent City.  That's some beautiful real estate!  Back on 101 again, I continued south, stopping for dinner in a mall parking lot in Eureka (I think), and bedded down for the night at a rest stop outside of Leggett.

I have a picture of my grandparents driving through the Drive Thru Tree some time before I was born, and now I've been there.  My Camry would have fit but I didn't want to disconnect the trailer to do it, so instead I just walked up to it and got some pictures.

A few hours later I broke out of the hills on CA-20 and got my first view of the Central Valley in 12 days, and the Sutter Buttes were right in front of me.  Back on I-5 again, it was a straight shot to suburban Sacramento, and then a turn east on I-80 put me back in "my" terrain.

The thermometer in my car registered 110 degrees today.  Thank God for air conditioning, both in the car and at home!

Pictures to be added soon.

Update, 7/1/13:  See new post for pics.

Not A Good Way To Run A Business

For all the Wal*mart haters out there--instead of whining, instead of boycotting, instead of ordinances to keep them out of your area, why not just practice what a Japanese friend told me was an old proverb: If you wait long enough by the river, eventually the head of your enemy will float by:

It’s not as though the merchandise isn’t there. It’s piling up in aisles and in the back of stores because Wal-Mart doesn’t have enough bodies to restock the shelves, according to interviews with store workers. In the past five years, the world’s largest retailer added 455 U.S. Wal-Mart stores, a 13 percent increase, according to filings and the company’s website. In the same period, its total U.S. workforce, which includes Sam’s Club employees, dropped by about 20,000, or 1.4 percent. Wal-Mart employs about 1.4 million U.S. workers. 

The market will solve such problems far more efficiently than government ever will.

I Haven't Done A Wal*Mart Post In Awhile

I've long said that Wal*mart has done more to alleviate the effects of poverty than any government program in history has.  It seems the author of this post would agree with me, and it opens with the transitive property:
Liberals hate Wal-Mart > Wal-Mart helps the poor = Liberals hate the poor

Teamwork

A couple nights ago, while working on my linear algebra, I just couldn't get my head around a fairly basic concept.  I read through my notes, read the formal presentation in the book, but I couldn't make sense of it.  It kept swirling around in my head, and in the maelstrom I couldn't get a grip on a simple fact that I needed in order to make sense of a huge part of what we were learning.  It was very frustrating.

So I called a retired colleague, who I know taught linear algebra at the Air Force Academy 28 years ago.  He was able to nudge me past the sticking point, and then it all made sense.

Tonight I saw a missed call on my phone, from a number I didn't recognize.  I'd have ignored it (assuming it was a political call) had there not been a voice mail, and it turned out to be one of our chemistry teachers at school--who's also pursuing (yet another) advanced degree.  Turns out that in his biomolecularchemicalthermodynamics course, or whatever the heck he's taking, he was given several non-trivial probability problems on an assignment.  Since I'm the only teacher at our school who teaches probability and statistics, and hence am the teacher with the most recent knowledge of the material, he called me.

We worked out some problems over the phone as I was walking the aisles of Walmart, but others I needed to hold off on till I got home.   Between the two calls we were on the phone for quite some time, and we got most of this problems solved.  There were a couple that presented difficulties, either from wording or just not being sure which way to proceed, but overall we did pretty good.

Karma.  What goes around, comes around.  Pay it forward.  However you look at it, it's teamwork.