I probably wrote about this a bit yesterday, but my justice bone has been on fire as I watch Putin mass murder who knows how many people in his campaign to take over/or do whatever he’s planning to do with Ukraine. Just thinking about it… gets the blood a boilin’.
Part of me is ready to grab an AR-15 and head on over. I’d have thousands of little notes made up to hand to Russian soldiers that say something like this: We understand that you are acting under orders and may not agree with those orders but are afraid of going against those orders. We offer you asylum. You have 30 minutes to lay down your weapons and join us. Otherwise, we will fire on you and all of you.”
Something like that.
And then I’d wage a guerilla war, not unlike the movie Red Dawn. When I was young, I would have little imaginary wars in my creative make-believe mind, and that was one of the situations–having been overrun and fighting the type of guerilla war tactics.
I know the quote likely didn’t come from the Japanese general, as it’s been attributed, but the “behind every blade of grass.” That would be me. You want to take my freedom and force your will upon me? You will find a gun pointed at you behind every blade of grass, in every open window. We will not yield.
You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to donate money to the cause. I’ve been trying to find a simple way to donate money to the Ukranian military. People talk about it all over, but good gravy it’s not easy. How is it that there aren’t little donate buttons? I mean good gravy. The National Bank of Ukraine gives instructions on how to donate, but it’s so convoluted it’s a massive barrier to entry. I mean really? A simple donate button. I’d have donated long ago already.
Oh well, I’ll call my bank in the morning and have money wired over to the bank.
Of course you have to be careful about what organizations you give your money to, but really? Where are the donate buttons. So easy. Enter a credit card number, or use your Paypal/Venmo/Cashapp, whatever. Should be easy.
(sigh)
Go, Ukraine! Go Russians who are protesting Putin and his murderous, greedy, power hungry meddling.
(sigh)
…
Well… sorry about the passionate tangent. But these are my people. I know I’ve never been to Ukraine, but they’re still my people. And I loathe/detest/abhor injustice. Need to remove Putin. Full stop.
…
In other news, it was still really cold today. I wanted to get some stuff done off site here, so I braved the driveway, and my van slid down the ice (400+ foot steep icy driveway with ditches for water runoff). Gratefully, I made it down, and gratefully, I made it up the north stretch of Degraff Rd going back toward Lee Town. There was just enough melted snow in the tracks from other vehicles, that one rear wheel had traction all the way up the hill. The south portion of DeGraff wasn’t even worth trying. Way too icy still.
Anyway, I went out, picked up a part, got a bunch of paperwork stuff taken care of at AutoZone, including submitting all the receipts for stuff I ordered but that didn’t show up in my credit card accounts. $1400ish, I think. Not so fun to have to pay that, but I guess I benefitted improperly from their software mistake, and the money wasn’t ever mine anyway, so… is what it is.
After the paperwork stuff was done (as much as I could do today, anyway), I headed out to do one job, an overheat near Cave Springs. They’d had an overheating problem for months, and they’d changed the thermostat, the water pump, and finally the radiator. The radiator was the culprit, but after putting it back in, the car was still overheating, so they called me. Given how much it had overheated, and given their descriptions, I thought it was going to be a blown head gasket. Fortunately for them, though, it was just that the engine was not accepting the coolant–a massive air pocket stuck inside. I had to put in almost a full additional gallon of coolant after he thought he’d topped it off. It had me stumped for a while, though, because it wasn’t accepting coolant for me either, so I didn’t know it was just an air pocket, although I did suspect it a bit. Finally, it accepted enough coolant to stop overheating, and that was the end of it. I had plenty more to do, but by then it as after four, and the other jobs on my schedule were long jobs, and it was freezing outside. Crazy cold.
Anyway, so I came home, and I’ve mostly been busting my butt on my 2021 finances.
Oh, I’m so close to being done with them. I ran into some snags here and there, but I’m working through them. I forgot to note the start and end dates for when I stopped using a given vehicle and started using another. Fortunately, I noted down enough, that though it’s going to take a heck of a lot longer than if I’d just remembered to note down the mileage in the first place, it still won’t be as bad as it could have been, as it used to be.
Again, another reason I’m grateful to be Google Maps stalked. Super super helpful.
Alright, well, I’d best be climbing into bed. It’s almost 2 a.m. again.
Love to all of you.
Go Ukraine!
Lift the World.
~ stephen
Lift the World 