Precipice of total collapse

There's no way to dance around this: I have very little hope that Goodness will prevail and Biden/Harris will win the 2020 election. The alternative outcome with a Trump/Pence win will be a dystopian nightmare.

Trump has openly stated he will be stealing the election. Throwing out mail-in ballots, states directing elector (electoral college) to vote for Trump regardless of state's vote, installing a SCOTUS to give him the election, ala Bush v Gore.

That means we are so fucked!

• Balanced SCOTUS: GONE
• ACA: GONE
• Social Security: GONE
• Medicare/Medicaid: GONE
  
• Fair elections: GONE
• Covid-19 pandemic: UNMITIGATED CATASTROPHE
• Policing reform: Never had a CHANCE
  
• Civil war: RAMPING up quickly

Portland, Oregon is sure to be a hot spot as this civil war unfolds. (Update 9/26/2020: another Proud Boys rally in Delta Park.)

Alex Jones is a total nut ball but it's almost as if he and the co-author of the 2010 blurb below were projecting about the GOP and Trumpism in 2020.

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, July 14, 2010

"There can be little doubt that America, along with the west as a whole, is being set up for a total collapse in which life as we know it will be fundamentally altered and rebuilt around a collectivist model managed and controlled by the same criminals who engineered the crisis in the first place.

America has been targeted for an economic, military, and social coup d’état by globalists who know that to get people to accept a new way of life under the heel of the new world order requires that the pillars of everything they knew before are completely pulverized. Freedom, prosperity, and community have no place in a “post-industrial revolution,” and every assault on the living standards of American citizens is designed to infect and wither these ideals."

--

Update:

Thousands were expected at a Proud Boys rally today (9/26/2020) but actual turnout was about 200.

Clean air is back again!

 

Our AQI ranking has dropped down to #79 as it should be.

The PNW rain has returned to clean the trees and plants and make everything fresh again. (I hope.) The precipitation will extinguish the wildfires or at least diminish them enough for fire fighters to get the upper hand.

Poor air quality is back

Portland's ranking has been a yo-yo. We were #1 last week, then over the weekend we'd dropped to #67 or something way down on the Top 100. Welp, we're back to #6. 

There is a fire north of Carson, WA, northeast of Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks, OR and the wind is blowing in a southerly direction and blowing the wildfire smoke back into the Willamette valley.

Sigh. I have furnace/AC filters on the way for a Thursday delivery. The box fan for the DIY air filter should be arriving today sometime, fingers crossed. I have some KN95 masks and my painting/sanding respirator. I'm prepared, practically speaking, but the feeling of being stranded indoors is emotionally difficult. 

The one remedy for the stresses of the pandemic is getting outside and immersing myself in nature. Now that's not currently possible and we are at the beginning of a long fire season.

Time to tape up the doors again. Fuck!

We can breathe again!

The West Coast is on Fire!

 

We're on day 5 or 6 of record setting BAD air quality. The WORST in the world! The WORLD!

Several days with AQI readings above 500 but consistently 150 to 300+.

Holy crap! As if the isolation from Covid over the last 6 months was bad enough, at least we could go outside.

 

As small business like shops and restaurants are struggling to get by, now cannot offer outside seating. I even saw that Burgerville closed its Portland & Vancouver, WA locations recently due to wildfire smoke. If outside levels are 400-500 then inside levels could be 100-200, i.e. wear a mask with at least a PM2.5 filter.

I took my box fan + filter to my mom because she needs it more than I do as her house is old and not very air tight.

I've taped my doors and a couple of windows. I didn't open a single door to the outside for almost 3 days.

Here is one of my masks, cloth with pocket for PM2.5 filter.

It's scary. I know I had an issue with CO build up outside my bedrooms last year. Worried that my mom or her cat will succumb to CO and I will not know it until it's too late. She's annoyed with me for asking all the time. (Ha, it's how I feel sometimes when she's overly concerned with me).

Jeep Service, Sept 2020

August

Back at the beginning of August as my "oil life" counter was dwindling towards 0%, I went on the NW Jeep website to schedule an appointment. The first available slot was one month later, Sept 7th.

The oil life ran to 0% around Aug 31st and I was reminded every time I started the car with a message on the dash.

At my Feb 2020 appointment, NWCDJR was supposed to rotate my tires as they do with other oil+filter changes. I didn't notice until months later that note "could not perform tire rotation, wheel lock not located". The service person that checked me out never mentioned it. The previous oil+filter change was at a Valvoline stay-in-your-car oil change place (the old Oil Can Henry's in the Rose Quarter). The tires were not rotated then either.

September

On Sept 4th, I knew I had the appointment but popped down to Goodyear Tires in Lake Oswego where I've been several times before. I wanted their opinion if I'd worn too much tread to do the 5-tire rotation. The service manager Jahari went to take a look and determined they could.

I wasn't there for "free stuff" and agreed to get the oil changed as well with "free tire rotation". They've taken care of me in the past with a couple sets of tires. 

Labor Day

It wasn't until a few days before the day that I realized the appointment was a Labor Day. I arrived at the dealer at 7:30am to find the gate to the service center was closed. The sales office was closed but figured they wouldn't be open at that hour.

I was immediately annoyed that there scheduling system allowed me to schedule an appointment a month in advance that fell on holiday. I'm pretty sure you can't select a Sunday. Somebody dropped the ball. To add injury to insult, I'd received at least a couple email reminders and two text messages. I'm surprised that no one on the service staff thought to check for Monday appointments and maybe call those customers to reschedule. Nope. I left both a voicemail and written comment on the website.

Note: As of 9/15, I still haven't heard from NW Jeep.

The next day I called Everett Street Autoworks. I remember the place from when I used to wait for the #4 bus across the street. I checked out the website and Google reviews. Pretty high marks but you wonder about the negative reviews.

It seems as if someone reached out to each negative reviewer in an attempt to remedy the poor service/experience.

Service History

Over the next week I found all but one NWCDJR receipt as well as all other stuff like Lift Kit from Automotive Outfitters, the Gorilla Glass windshield and window tinting.

It was great exercise to really know what's going on with my Jeep, especially since it just paid it off in July. It's mine and no longer under warranty.

I even prepared a ballpark "guesstimate" for the 40K service + maintenance "catch up". 

---

I couldn't sleep very well on Monday night. I kept reviewing my notes and how I was going to present my information to the mechanic. I set my alarm for 7am.

Day of Service Appointment: Tuesday, Sept 15

 

I woke and put on my "gear" for venturing out in the dense Portland smoke. I considered rescheduling the appointment because I didn't want to leave my house but figured I'd could minimize my exposure. I made my way down to the shop. I was crazy to see the smoking haze on the Willamette as I drove over the Broadway Bridge.

I pulled into the shop and a guy greeted me to check in the vehicle. I grabbed by things (service history, notepad, my Viso, and jacket) and went into the office. The service person started to confirm my vehicle details and why I was there. I felt a little rushed but presented my documents. I made sure to mention the oil+filter and air filters had been changed recently as well as the tire rotation. It wasn't quite the intimate chat with the mechanic that had been rehearsing. He said they'd contact me by noon after the inspection.

I called a Lyft and came home.

When I got home I decided to send a followup email and attach the actually service history and restate the major points.

At 11:15am, I got a call from the shop with the "punch list".

Rear diff, brake fluid, transfer case fluid all need replacing. The way the person reviewed the work assured me they were following my "checklist" but no unnecessary maintenance.

The rear diff job is $159.00, the brake fluid flush is $159.00 and the transfer case fluid change is $139.00. These are at the top of the range for these services according to my brief internet research.

• A rear diff job should be $80 to $150 for parts & labor. The actual Mopar fluid (80w-90) should be about $45 and labor about $60. So, ESAW is charging $54 more.
• A brake fluid job should be $73 to $104 for parts & labor. The actual Mopar fluid (DOT3) should be about $12 and labor about $90. So ESAW is charging $57 more.
• A transfer case fluid job should be $75 to $160 for parts & labor. The actual Mopar fluid (ATF4) should be about $30 and labor about $50. So ESAW is charging $59 more.

The bill should be around $457 which is lower than the budget I'd set for this visit.

I should be able to pick the Jeep up after 4pm. Woot!