The Old Blogger Interface

I am writing this post using the old blogger interface. The last couple of post that I have done have been with the new blogger interface. I used the new interface because when I logged in that was what came up. I finally took the time to figure out how to move back to the old interface. When I did, I was confronted with a note that said the old interface would disappear within the next month. I can tell you that I won't be pleased when that happens but such is life. This may be my last post using the old interface so I will enjoy it while I can.

Primary Elections

People in Alabama don't understand primary elections. It is because we have always been a one party state. Not the same party mind you but a one party state nonetheless. Back when I was growing up, everybody was a democrat. My maternal grandparents said the word republican with the same facial expression and respect that I use when I say dog crap. Back then, the democratic primary, which was held in May or June, was the election. Whoever won that won the general election in November 100% of the time. Therefore everybody voted in the democratic primary. In fact I am not sure that the republicans even bothered to have a primary. I think it was in the late 70's when Ronald Reagan came along that everything changed. Suddenly Alabama was a republican state. In the county where I currently live, very few candidates even bother running on the democratic ticket. The republicans win all of the local offices in the November election.

Back when I worked, everytime there was an election, folks wore those little stickers that said "I voted, Did You?". When it was the primaries, invariably some ass would come up and ask me where was my sticker, had I not voted, was I gonna vote after work? I always tried to explain to them that the primaries are for the parties to nominate their candidates for the general election and that since I was neither a democrat or a republican, it was not appropriate for me to vote in the primaries. Almost always they looked at me glassy eyed for a few seconds and then started lecturing me on how voting in a democracy is a responsibility. I could have pointed out that we don't live in a democracy but a democratic republic instead, but it would have done no good.

My father always voted in every election, or at least he did until Alabama became a two party state. The first time he went to vote in a primary and they asked him democrat or republican he told them he was neither one. I was not there but sources close to the scene told me that the polling person told him that he would HAVE to declare one or the other. To which he is reported to have replied "I don't have to do a goddamn thing but die" and he turned and walked out. I don't know if he ever voted in another primary election, could have, could have not, but I do know he missed that one.

Looking back on it I sometimes wish I had used his approach when folks challenged me about voting. Since I was hired out, it would have of course been untrue as there were lots of things I HAD to do, but I suspect it would have ended a lot of tedious conversations a whole lot quicker.

Motor Oil

A couple of days ago I filled out an online survey about motor oil. Completing that survey got me to thinking. Back when I was growing up I spent most of my free time at Miller's Garage. There were no gas pumps or grease rack at Miller's Garage, but we used a good bit of motor oil. A great deal of it was put into repaired vehicles or vehicles that came in and needed a quart added. Of course we did some oil changes as well, particularly for customers who came in to have some repair made and wanted their oil changed while the vehicle was in the shop. The oil of choice at Miller's Garage was RPM. I think it was a Standard Oil product. My daddy swore by it. He said it left the inside of engines nearly clean enough to eat off of. Naturally when I got my first vehicle I started using RPM. Some where during the years, RPM disappeared. I think it was replaced by some similiar Chevron branded product. I changed vehicles and although I had been raised to use the same type of oil in a vehicle and not be swapping brands, I was not too excited about one brand versus another. Over the years I've used Quaker State, Valvoline, Pennzoil and lord knows how many others.

Then in the mid 1990's I bought a used Astro van from my friend Wendell Pate. He and his family had bought it new and had named it "ole blue." It was like a family member and I think they almost cried when they sold it to me. One of the things that Wendell told me was that it had always had Mobil One synthetic oil in it. Now synthetic oil was a bit more pricey than what I was used to running, but that little voice in the back of my head told me to not be changing brands in midstream, so I opted to continue to use Mobil One synthetic in ole blue. The van had a lot of miles on it but the engine always purred like a kitten and never used any oil. I was impressed. So much so that when, in 1999, I bought a new Nissan Frontier pickup, I started using Mobil One synthetic in it. That was 13 year and 218,000 miles ago and the little Nissan still runs smooth and does not use any oil between changes. Who knows, I might have used reclaimed motor oil or re-refined oil as they called it at Miller's Garage and the Nissan might have done just as well but in the back of my mind that little voice keeps telling me use good oil and keep it changed and you won't be sorry. Sometimes I hear that same voice saying that the inside of that Nissan engine is nearly clean enough to eat off of.

Mi Español

As I reported back in December of last year I have renewed my efforts to learn Spanish. It is going slow, but that is mostly by design. I have set the flash cards that I am using to only provide 3 new words or phrases per day. Some of them I already know, most I learn within a half dozen tries and some are hard as hell. Many verbs still give me fits. This morning I was looking at something on the net and it reminded me of the scene in Casablanca with Carl the waiter and the old German couple who are immigrating to America. I am sure you know the one I am talking about. Anyway, it dawned on me that if and when I ever get in a conversation with someone that is speaking Spanish, I will probably sound to them like that old couple sounds to us.