Cosmic Insignificance Therapy

Sometimes, when things seem really bleak in your personal life, it helps to do a little Cosmic Insignificance Therapy.

It sounds bad but if you picture your tiny little life on the timeline of the infinite space and time of the Universe, you can realize that your problems are meaningless. Don’t worry about them. Your desperate struggle to make your life as fulfilling as possible will ultimately mean nothing.

Take it easy and appreciate the time you have. All the time you waste fighting against life isn’t helping. Go with the flow. A wise man once said, “Relax. Don’t do it.”

{ The Milky Way’s diameter is 100,000 light-years. }

New Year lunch alone tradition

I have a question for you. Get back to me quick because it’s almost time for lunch.

A few years ago I started a tradition of having a nice meal out to celebrate New Year’s Day. I’ve been going out on January 1st to have a steak dinner. Alone of course. There’s no alternative. But that’s OK. Why should this day be any different for me than the rest of the year alone.

There’s not really a steak place in my new small town and I don’t really want one anyway so I’m thinking a nice big bowl of Pho. My question is: Should I go today on New Year’s Eve because it seems a bit more festive or should I go tomorrow on New Year’s Day which doesn’t really seem very special.

I’m thinking I’ll go today as part of the celebration. I’ll have my special meal then get a few fireworks for this evening. I’ll probably watch Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, pop some works, sit in the hot tub for a while listening to a podcast then go to bed. Sound like a good plan? You wish you were here to partake.

Your Last Christmas

This may be your last Christmas. It’s not like you haven’t been warned. Due to the raging Omicron wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, and people who insisted on flying off to visit relatives, it’s likely that you will be dead soon

On top of that, you’re about to go out among strangers on New Year’s Eve. Do you really have a death wish?

You’ll come home and over the next week or so you’ll spread it around to all your loved ones at home and work. In a few days, you’ll get noticeably sick. Now it’s too late. Be sure you have your affairs in order while you are still able. Hopefully, you got vaccinated and will have a chance to survive. Otherwise, may I request you put me in your will?

It is necessary that we reduce the world’s population quickly and perhaps this is the way to do it. Be prepared to see the largest surge we’ve ever experienced. There have already been over 5 million deaths. Why do you insist on perpetuating this crisis? Get vaccinated and stay home if it’s not already too late for you.

I Miss my Porsche

_{Me and my Porsche}

Hindsight is always 20/20. What I wouldn’t do to have a time machine to go back and fix a stupid mistake.

Sometime in the early 90s, I bought a 1971 Porsche 911 for $6500. The 911 is probably the most iconic car ever created and I owned one. It was in great mechanical shape. I did some basic restoration. New paint job and interior. It was a gem for sure.

I took great care of it and drove it for 19 years. Eventually, I got tired of it. Can you believe that? Tired of a Porsche? It was a bad time for me. I was utterly alone. Lonely and depressed. I even prayed every night that I would die.

You might think that a young man driving a Porsche would at least have some visibility. Nope. I was just as invisible then as I am now. A flashy fancy car didn’t make me any more visible than the Prius I drive now.

Eventually, I came to the point where I didn’t care anymore. One day a man contacted me through the Porshe club I used to belong to. He asked if it was for sale. I was foolishly ready to sell it. He offered me $6500 for it and I took the offer not even thinking that it had any appreciated value. I was almost glad to see it go and break even after owning it for 19 years.

A few years later I found out that the price of 911s had skyrocketed. You can’t even get one anymore. Had I held on to it just a few more years I could have gotten $60,000 for it. Put a dunce cap on me.

My lifestyle has changed since then anyway. A Porsche wouldn’t fit my simple, tractor-driving, country life. I don’t even have a garage anymore. The money would have been a nice bonus though. Every once in a while I see one on TV or in a movie and the pain becomes unbearable. It hurts.

It’s a waste of time for an invisible man to drive a nice car anyway. I’ve now embraced my invisibility and often use it to my advantage. Still… It’s better to have owned and lost than to never had the experience. It’s a nice highlight on my life resume if nothing else. I still miss it.

Dear Santa 2021

Dear Santa,

It’s 9:00pm on Christmas Eve. I forgot to write you a letter earlier this year but since time means nothing to you, it’s not late.

I want to thank you for granting most of my wishes from last year. The Texas Snow Storm was wonderful. Many people didn’t like it but I thought it was awesome! The summer rain was excellent too. Maybe we can continue with that next year? My sunflower field got over 8 feet tall!!

I don’t have any personal requests. I would ask for a close friend again this year but I’ve given up on that. I’ll just have to make do. It’s fine. If you have some spare time during the summer maybe you could help me out but it’s not a big deal anymore.

If anything, I would like to request, on behalf of the entire planet Earth, that all this insanity will come to an end and people will relax and be nice to each other again like they used to be. I know that’s not your department either but maybe you can pass it along to someone who can fix it? It’s not supposed to be like this.

Thanks again and have a peaceful and merry Christmas.

The Acceleration of Time is Increasing

The evidence is becoming irrefutable. Time is accelerating and an alarming rate. Do you realize that the first Harry Potter book came out 24 years ago? No way. It has only been a few years.

Remember when Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans last year? Nope. That was 16 years ago.

Remember a few years ago when the planes crashed into the world trade center? Nope. That was 20 years ago.

Remember a couple of years ago when the earthquake in Japan caused the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant? Nope. That was 10 years ago.

Time is accelerating like a jet plane on takeoff. Our universe is now reaching the inner spiral of the funnel and is very close to dropping down the hole into oblivion. I feel so sorry for today’s children who won’t have time to appreciate life. They may be in elementary school now but in a blink of an eye, they will be getting social security. No time to enjoy what the world offered to me when I was young.

It’s a scary thought for me. Considering the 24 years that have passed in only moments since Harry Potter came out. In 24 more years, I’ll be 77. If I haven’t died of old age. That’s gotta freak you out. We’re talking eye blinks! I’m going to wake up and suddenly I’ll be almost dead.

Damn! Does it bother you? Does it bother you at all? Do you even care? Are you even sentient? Wake the fuck up you ignorant bastard. Something important is happening. Somehow this must be your fault.

I’m not a physicist but considering the ball in the funnel experiment, there should be a formula that will allow us to calculate when the universe will drop down the hole.

In the meantime, you better make the best you can of what little time we have left. It will soon be gone. Very soon. Probably exponentially soon.

Initial Off-Grid power test

YAY!!! Today is the first test of my Off-grid backup power system. The clouds parted and full sun was available so I decided now was the time to flip the switches.

I turned off the main breaker for the power input to the house. I turned off the water heater because it draws more power than I’m set up for. Everything else is on.

I switched the solar input to the Growatt 6KW off-grid inverter and turned it on.

I flipped the input breaker and the inverter sprang to life. I then went into the house and as expected, everything was running. I am COMPLETELY off the power grid!!! Power independence!

This is only the primary test. I think I’ll let it go either until I go to bed or the battery runs out which is highly unlikely since I have 4.8KWH of battery storage and it should still be full at sundown.

More to come later. Stay tuned for further updates and tours of the system. I’ll probably make a video as well. So exciting!

Resuts:

I’ve been experimenting with the system for two days now and have learned much. On a sunny day, the available power is virtually infinite during daylight hours. I’ve tried everything except the water heater and still end up with a full battery at sundown.

I learned on the first day that cooking in the evening using battery power will eat it up pretty quickly. It’s best to do all cooking and high current draw jobs while the sun is shining. After cooking a meal using an air fryer oven, microwave, and an induction cooktop, the battery only made it a few hours after that before I had to switch back to grid power.

On day two, I made dinner earlier and had a full battery at sundown. I was tired of messing around so I switched back to grid power at sundown. I’ll do an overnight capacity test another time.

I’ll also need to do a cloudy day test. The 1600 watt solar array maxes out around 500 watts on a cloudy day so input will be diminished.

It’s good to do these tests in advance to get to know the system in order to be prepared for managing power in the case of a long-term outage. I plan to write instructions for each situation because I can’t be expected to remember things, especially during an unpleasant event.

So good so far. More testing to come.

2021 Solar Power Savings Totals

The totals are in for 2021 and I’m pretty happy about them all around. I was able to get the actual measured power usage of my house from my Eyedro power monitoring system.

My 4KW grid-tied solar power system has saved me a total of $541 on my electric bill. That’s a 65% savings! Not bad!

It may also be interesting to note that my small, energy-efficient house used a total of 5897 Kilowatt-hours for a non-solar total of $830 for the whole year. You would probably kill for that number alone. Subtract the solar power generation total of $541 and imagine only paying $289 for a whole year of electricity. NOICE!!!! You probably pay that every month if you’re a regular person.

To make things even better, I’m in the process of installing a hybrid backup system that will run grid-tied when not needed and off-grid with battery power when the power goes out or energy gets unaffordably expensive. (That could happen!) That system will add another 1.5KW to the existing system for an even better return next year. Check back in 12 months for the results. Right.

To make things even, even better, I just found out that I get a 25% tax rebate on my new system which will refund me $1197 on the new system cutting the immediate cost down to $3397.80.

The original grid-tied system is pretty much paid for now so saving $600 a year will pay off the new hybrid system in 5.5 years. Not that I care about that. I consider purchased hardware to be an exciting asset and don’t care about it paying for itself. It’s just a bonus that it will eventually be free.

Free energy. What’s not to like.

Quick Movie Review – Paddleton

I stumbled onto this great movie on Netflix. If you’ve ever thought about cancer and death then you will want to watch this one.

Ray Romano plays Andy (with a bad haircut) who is BFFs with his downstairs apartment neighbor Michael. After many years of friendship, Michael is diagnosed with terminal cancer and is given a prescription for some drugs that will give him a dignified exit. The movie follows how close friends deal with the issue. It’s hard to not cry.

This movie is especially pertinent to me as I have seen my neighbor die of sudden pancreatic cancer. I have another acquaintance who doesn’t have long to live. I have yet another closer friend who was supposed to have died a year ago but is still going on with stage 4 prostate cancer. I also watched my cat die of cancer last year.

The whole idea has been washing around in my brain so it’s not a new story for me. It’s bad enough having to deal with the untimely deaths of people you know and love. But what if it was me? These people had no idea until it was too late. Even if you knew in time, would you want to fight it?

There are a few states in the US that provide for dignified deaths with doctor assistance. It amazes me that such a thing is not available everywhere for all the people who are suffering and want a better way out. I suppose I could travel to a state or country where I have an option. Of course, there are DIY methods as well.

Either way, I would much prefer the dignified option for both myself and those who might care about me. At this point, the best option is to hope for my continued health so it never becomes an issue but one never knows what curveball is heading one’s way. One should be prepared.

Don’t miss this movie. It’s totally worth watching. I wish you good health to the end.

Raised Bed Garden Planters

It was a nice sunny winter day in Central Texas so I decided to get out and start building my raised bed garden planters to get ready for next spring. I got lucky enough to get some free wood from a friend whom I helped tear down an old deck. Free is good. If you have to spend a lot of money building a garden then you are probably better off financially just buying your veggies in the store.

There were plenty of 2×6 boards that were probably treated so I might as well use them. The planters don’t need to be raised much. Just enough to separate them from the surrounding weeds to help me keep the weeds under control. I hope.

I found a good spot on the southwest side of my house that will get plenty of sun and a little shade in the evening. The Texas sun is brutal so that little shade will be appreciated I’m sure.

It was a nice day so of course, I didn’t bother wearing any clothes. When one is working, clothing is bad. It gave me a chance to get a little sun myself. Living in the country is wonderful. One never needs to bother with clothing.

When spring arrives, I’ll use my tractor to dump some fresh dirt into the beds and plant some good stuff. It’s near the water faucet to make watering easier too. Wish me luck!