Rusty's Ramblings

[Rusty Edge]

So, it ain't over till it's over. My wife got notices from ATT threatening to cut off her service for non-payment. One of the iPhone purchases was still charged against our account. A few folks and hours later...  It may be fixed. Might have happened sooner today, except that she got cut off at one point.

Meanwhile with this Equifax breech, we're looking at credit security services. Leaning towards IdentityForce. LifeLock would be 2nd choice. The trouble with the #3 rated IDShield is that they are only a notification service. They will help you recover your identity, but not your assets. The other two have guarantees/insurance and help you get back your identity and hold your hand with the fraud asset recovery, but the cost is based per person/SS# , not per couple or household.  Needless to say, these services are getting slammed with new business right now, and the ques are long according to online complaints.

[Geo]

Wow. Just read up a bit on this Equifax business.
It's good to live in Europe now. For as long as there's no central databank of all EU residents financial and personal stuff of course.

[Rusty Edge]

My niece got hacked. Somebody bought some men's athletic shoes with one of her charge cards.

Sure enough, I got a notice from Identity Force about recent company database breaches which indicated how her identity was compromised. Damn impressive to know the likely source of her problem the same day it occurred. I stand by our decision to go with them.

[Rusty Edge]

  At the end of our fall season/beginning of winter I cleaned the gutters and installed a heat tape with a thermostat.  I raked the snow from the lower portion of the roof before the sub-zero, but it snowed again and I didn't venture out to rake it ( that cold dry air is hard on my lungs ). I saw some ice dams last night on other homes, so I went out to inspect today. It's around freezing today, rather than 10 degrees bellow zero. I have an ice dam started in the gutter below the skylight. I raked the bottom few feet of the roof again and then went up the ladder to take a look. Things were actually pretty good. The heat tape kept the bottom of the gutter open, so water could drain away. I broke some of the ice, which is much easier when it doesn't fill the gutter, and scattered some ice melter there abouts. I'll check it again later this afternoon.

******
Well

This year I installed some permanent heat cable on the eaves of the roof and up around the skylights. It would have been easier with one person on the roof, and another one on a ladder.  I guess I'll get a chance to see how it works tomorrow.

[Rusty Edge]

It's working, but it doesn't seem nearly as warm as when I tested it during installation. I guess that means the snow and ice are drawing away the heat.

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Political parody from The Onion.

https://politics.theonion.com/baffled-dnc-plant-roy-moore-not-sure-what-else-he-could-1821234868

[Rusty Edge]

*Right now it's too cold to use the heat cable on the roof, but then again, it's also too cold for much snow and ice to further accumulate.

*Went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra on Friday afternoon. It was a pain getting there. Traffic in that part of town was gridlocked. Parking was inadequate because they demolished a parking garage to make room to build a new civic arena. This had to be done because the NBA basketball team changed hands, and the new owners had some demands to keep the team in town. Yes, there are taxpayer subsidies. Anyway...

We got seated late, but the opening opera was about the lost child returning home for Christmas, so we weren't exactly lost. The stage now takes 18 trailer trucks to transport and 100 people to assemble. It does snow and dry ice fog, smoke and flame, sparkler type fireworks, lasers, lights, videoscreens, several elevating platforms and a moving catwalk. It was a loud show, but mot excessively so like previous times. Almost 3 hours and no intermission, kind of an endurance test on those folding floor seats. Encore was sort of built into the finale. This was the early show.  Glad we went.

I didn't realize founder Paul O'Niel was dead from drug abuse this year.

[Unorthodox]

TSO was a good show.  Not necessarily one I want to repeat, mind you.  Especially since I find their stuff way too overdone these days.  Hell, it's in a car commercial this year.  As cliche as I'm dreaming of a white christmas. 

Which one are they touring now?  Or is it a jumble of all the albums?

I've always thought they should make the albums with the narration in them as well.  Anywho, my brother did a mini TSO show last year.  He knows a hell of an artist that can pretty much do anything you give him.  The other parts were more hit and miss like you expect from local acts, but the one guy probably should be a lot better known than he is. 

[Rusty Edge]

I'd call it a jumble. The Lost Child had some of the same songs and story, and some different. She was sheltering in an old theater, didn't call from a bar.

They did Hall of the Mountain King, Joy to the World/Nutcracker Suite. The lead vocalists had solo songs that didn't seem so Christmassy. I'm probably forgetting something. I was thinking at the time that it was medley stuff, your brother's kind of music.

I was thinking during the show that they had sort of reached a Pink Floyd/ Led Zeppelin point where crowds and expectations are such that they can't play all of the venues they want anymore. They can't play all of the songs in 3 hours, either. Ultimately the Rolling Stones solved the same problem in the late 70s by losing the baggage, playing the current album and Whatever they felt like that night for encores.


Speaking of Paul O'Neil, at the first TSO show I saw ,maybe 2003, he was working from the control panels  in the mid-court area. At intermission he happened to be standing close to me when he saw a boy about 8 or 10. There were few kids at that concert, it may have been a night show. O'Niel was  touched, asked him if he was enjoying the show, if he were here with his parents, if he had any siblings at home. Then he gave him two $100 bills, and said "Here, buy something nice for yourself for Christmas, and for your brother, too

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A lot of New Year's traditions feature eating something that isn't really that good ( like pork backbone and sauer kraut ) for luck. Sort of the idea that everything will improve from there.

I finally got the family flu about 1 AM today. It's sort of like a combination endless colonoscopy prep, and dry heaves. If that's any indication, this is going to be my lucky year, because things can only get better!

[Unorthodox]

I'd call it a jumble. The Lost Child had some of the same songs and story, and some different. She was sheltering in an old theater, didn't call from a bar.

They did Hall of the Mountain King, Joy to the World/Nutcracker Suite. The lead vocalists had solo songs that didn't seem so Christmassy. I'm probably forgetting something. I was thinking at the time that it was medley stuff, your brother's kind of music.

I was thinking during the show that they had sort of reached a Pink Floyd/ Led Zeppelin point where crowds and expectations are such that they can't play all of the venues they want anymore. They can't play all of the songs in 3 hours, either. Ultimately the Rolling Stones solved the same problem in the late 70s by losing the baggage, playing the current album and Whatever they felt like that night for encores.

I think where they are struggling is they are a CHRISTMAS tradition, that quit making CHRISTMAS albums in 2004. 

Their non-Christmas stuff is decidedly hit and miss IMO as well. 

A lot of New Year's traditions feature eating something that isn't really that good ( like pork backbone and sauer kraut ) for luck. Sort of the idea that everything will improve from there.

I finally got the family flu about 1 AM today. It's sort of like a combination endless colonoscopy prep, and dry heaves. If that's any indication, this is going to be my lucky year, because things can only get better!

Never heard of eating the crappy stuff, but life has taught me it can ALWAYS get worse. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Fatback, cooked cabbage and black-eyed peas.  Healthy, wealthy and wise.

-It A.) doesn't work, and B.) indeed tastes horrible, aside from the extra-fatty bacon.

[Unorthodox]

Why on earth is that a thing?  LOL. 

My family was primarily Welsh and Germanic with a sprinkling of Norse in the familial traditions, so I'm guessing it's not from those regions. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Mostly German, with a smattering around the rest of western Europe.  It's probably a regional thing, though.

[Unorthodox]

http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/bud-kennedy/article192309964.html

Sounds like it is/was mostly a south thing.  Which would explain Utah's insulation from it as well. 

[Rusty Edge]

The sauer kraut and backbone was a PA Dutch thing, although it was often re-interpreted by the younger people as hot dogs and kraut, but still from the same pot. Everybody assumed it was a German tradition, but maybe it didn't go back that far.

We knew that some regions of Germany ate carp for luck on New Year's, so we always assumed lucky New Year's foods were about starting slow and getting better and better through the year. Not that we participated in those traditions, we weren't superstitious, and as farmers we were used to eating well. I guess I did manage to choke down some hot dogs at New Year's Eve parties, to be polite, but kraut was something I never ate.

Looking into it last night, eating lucky foods seems to be a popular custom, but the rationale varies quite a bit. A lot of it has to do with prosperity, but the focus isn't on humble food so much as eating things that symbolize coins. Fish, because of the scales. Hence carp and herring. Various lentils because they are round also symbolize coins. The more you eat, the more prosperous you shall become.

As I recall, in France the idea for celebrating New Year's is to set a new standard for living in luxury, but I didn't read up on it last night. Perhaps Geo could speak to that.


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Personally, the only thing I like about New Year's Eve  is that it is a holiday geared towards night owls. Christmas is my favorite because of the Christmas spirit. Most wonderful time of the year. The rest of the year I want to be an introvert. Whenever somebody asks why we can't keep the Christmas spirit all through the year, my answer is because we always celebrate NYE a week later, and shift the focus to selfish decadence. Beyond that, NYE and Valentine's Day are the worst for single people. /RANT.

[Rusty Edge]

! No longer available

This song makes me happy, but it makes the guest cat growl.