I Will

 She saw right through all my scars

Pretty little thing came and claimed my heart 

I didn't dare believe it would go this far 

I didn't know I could love this hard 

She wasn't shy but she'd been bitten. 

My heart melted for this lonely kitten 

She knew just what my heart was missin

She made me whole, and now I'm smitten. 

It took all this time for me to see 

That her and I were meant to be 

Our spirits healed, our souls run free. 

I love her, no doubt, and she loves me. 

We share her music, her arms, her bed. 

And she lives rent free inside my head 

Distant strangers no more, but lovers instead 

Without her now, my soul would be dead.

I want you to know The love that I feel 

It's meant to be, I know that it's real

Daring to hope, that someday we'll 

Have a moment to say "I will"

A Toy Story

  

There it was.  I had hear him say it.  "Yeah I'm a Tonka party".   This man, a man I have known my entire life, had revealed to me something that I should have very well been aware of:  He was a member of the wrong political party!  Being a card carrying member of the Mattel party myself, I found myself in a very difficult situation now.  Because this man, my friend, my life long friend... was running for re-election for Sheriff in his county, and I was wanting to do everything I can in my power to endorse his election and reaffirm his place in his office.... But HOW?! How did it get past me that he was TONKA party??? 

    Stacy and I had gone to High School together.  I was probably closer to his older brother Steve, because we were the same age, and Stacy was a year younger.  But we always hit it off.   And as we grew older, Stacy and I found a lot more in common with each other. And, as with most people, you pull your friends from the pool of people that you share values with, and Stacy hit quite a few of my buttons. He still did.  But I couldn't conceive how it was even possible that... TONKA PARTY????  All his values clearly reflected the Mattel party.  I mean his stance on gun control and abortion and taxes... All very clearly Mattel Ideals.  I guess I never asked or paid attention since we lived so far apart from each other. 

SHERIFF STACY WEBER PICKS UP DEBRIS ON THE ROAD TO INSURE DRIVER SAFETY

     I admit, our guy running for President is clearly a little off center.  But Tonka party guy is just absolute whack.  I mean how on earth could he possibly support that imbecilic air head?  My head was just completely spinning as I uttered "Oh, I didn't realize you were Tonka Party".  I still had him on the phone, and we were talking about his re-election down in Iowa. We finished our dialogue with a few exchanges about some upcoming plans and said our goodbyes. I hung up the phone in complete disbelief.

SHERIFF STACY WEBER RECALLS HIS FIRST VEHICLE, A CORVETTE THAT ALSO ENDED IT'S EXISTENCE IN A SIMILAR MANNER

     Over the course of the next several days, I chewed it over in my head when I had some free moments.  "There's no way". I would say to myself.  He is SO Mattel party material.  I mean he volunteers in the community, he goes out of his way to help people, he goes so far above and beyond... I would keep falling back to my analysis of my good friend right up until it finally hit me:  He wasn't wrong, I was.  

     I had been completely discounting the possibility that it was entirely possible to have ideals and values that crossed party lines.  I had been ignoring the fact that your political party affiliation really has less to do with your ideals than where you can find the most support to boost your campaign.  I was ignoring the fact that it was completely possible for people who laid claim to a particular political party to have independent and individual beliefs and mindsets that fall outside of the party dictated ones. I had ignored that fact that my friend was his own person.  With his own ideals.  With his own beliefs and morals.  I was ignoring the fact that my friend was human and made his own decisions.

SHERIFF STACY WEBER DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST; SCHMOOZING 

     The bigger problem is that this exact same thing is happening every day, in every city across this country.  We are letting this mindset divide us.  We are letting it prejudice (prej·​u·​dice: A pre-conceived notion or opinion) us against people we have never taken the time to actually get to know. People have lost friends over it.  Loved ones fight and don't speak with each other.  People are downright hostile to each other, sometimes violently.  All because we want to assume that people are driven by the political party that affiliate with?  Think about how absurd that really is. 

MY FRIEND; SHERIFF STACY WEBER

    If you are reading this, and you've made it this far, do yourself a favor, and make it a point to try to reserve judgement the next time you run into someone from the "wrong party".  Just try it.  Go out of your way to try to get to know them.  They may surprise you and reveal that you have a lot more in common that you first thought.  As for me, I'm going to go back and help my very dear friend Stacy in any way I can... He has a tough race this year against some filthy Mattel Member.   

Can build 42 shoot new life into Project Zomboid?

 At just over a decade, Project Zomboid holds the distinction of being one of the longest running games still in beta stage of development.  The small Canadian/English based Indie Stone has been feverishly working on their latest update for the wildly successful open world isometric game. Despite promising a complete overhaul of many essential game systems, and piles of new content, one can't help but wonder if the upcoming update will address the games single biggest flaw; The game still lacks an objective. 

"This is how you died."  Project Zomboid makes no promises to it's players.  The game is brutal, unforgiving, complex, merciless and insanely addictive.  The game launches you into the world that immediately makes every attempt to destroy you. So, at it's base, the unspoken objective of the game itself is simply to survive.  This objective alone can keep players entertained for days on end.  There is so much area to explore, and the many, sometimes infuriating, nuanced micro managing necessities are a delight to discover and explore for people who suffer from OCD. 

    The small team of developers have been hard at work serving a legion of very loyal fans. Adding heaps of new content, in a build that they are promising to release sometime before the end of the summer.  Some of those new features include all new lighting dynamics, new sounds, crafting benches with all new recipes, new weapons, farming and animal husbandry.  The coders have replaced the lighting dynamics, increased the elevation of the buildings in the map, and added all new areas to explore. They have addressed performance issues in both single player and multiplayer.  But even with all of these things, which has the community salivating for a release date, the underlying flaw of re-playability still exists. 

     Because of the nature of the game, it's location centered around Louisville Kentucky, the map is static.  Essentially, the topography never really changes.  So what probably amounts to the games most exciting feature; exploration, is diminished after the first couple thorough playthroughs.  We found ourselves harkening back to our childhood imagination days of self imposed meaningless goals for the game such as; Everyone has to build a base from scratch with harvested materials. Or, we can only walk backwards with a baseball bat and see how many zombies we can kill that way before we die.  (it was 2137 by the way). 

    Because of the nature of the game itself. it could be argued that the game does not really need an objective beyond staying alive.  One could further argue that to put objectives in place would stifle the open world exploration feel of the game.  It undeniably one of the largest sleeper hits of the last decade.  PZ has an almost cult following in it's player base and it's modding community.  So, perhaps the task of adding arbitrary objectives may be best left to those modders.  In the meantime, the zomb-o-philes anxiously await build 42.  

Turn Some Pages

   

   I had always thought that mans biggest flaunt against his own creator was to spend his entire existence in complacency.  To not take the time to enjoy and experience all the thing that his maker put here for him.  I understand now that I was wrong, or at the very least only partially correct.  I have spent a lifetime absorbing the musings of poets and bards.  I've listened to, and read about the finer trappings of the thing they called love.  I thought that I could relate to them and understand the many variations and creative ways that they attempted to explain what it is like to truly experience the deepest gift we have been given as individual thinkers.  I was clueless about all these things.   The biggest tragedy in a persons existence is to let the person that they are destined to share an existence with pass them by without a fight. I know, because I made this mistake.

      I can see now, and understand how so many people are drawn to the arms of the person closest to them which offers merely comfort in the moment, and a sense of normalcy and safety.  We do this because life doesn't make it easy to find our destiny.  It is not easy to find our muse.  But I can attest, it's worth the fight.  It is worth every single inch of the struggle.  To crawl on your hands and knees, bleeding out through your fingernails to claw your way to the person that will give you pure, unadulterated love, is worth every bit of that struggle.  Unfortunately for most, its not a fight they are willing to endure.  I failed this test when life offered it to me. 

    I was fortuitous enough to be presented early in life with someone whom I felt this truest of feelings.   Our most cherished time was spent for hours on end, laying in each others arms and staring into the others eyes, marveling at this purest form of love.  It was, and is, the most awe inducing, intoxicating feeling that I have had the pleasure of experiencing... And I carelessly threw it away.  I did so with the misguided thoughts of a young man who didn't understand the world, or love, or relationships to the extent that it would have protected us better.  I threw it all away because I was sure that I was not good enough for her, and that she deserved a better man than I was destined to be.  I believed that I was helping her reach a better place in life.  I was wrong on all of those assumptions, and we both paid dearly for my mistake. 

     I have learned that Lachesis is not in the habit of offering up second chances at life's most valuable achievements.  Life is very unforgiving about allowing us to rectify affairs of the heart.  It is almost unheard of to hear about a broken heart actually mending itself, yet this is where I find myself today.  I have not always been the man I wanted to be.  I have failed at endeavors that I should have easily succeeded at.  Many times, I have not been a good father, a good brother, a good partner or a good person.  But, I HAVE learned from my mistakes.  One thing I have had the very painful reality of learning recently is that I was given love in the arms of a woman that poets write of.  I was blessed with that opportunity and I also failed.... But fate has blessed us....

    I have been afforded what I consider a once in a lifetime opportunity to rectify my mistakes of my ignorant youth.  Finding myself back in the arms of my muse for a second time much later than we last left each other.  The pace and manner in which we reconnected to our souls was dizzying.  Most observers would probably consider it wreck less and fool hardy.  It is a sensation that cannot be explained with mere words.  It has to be experienced to be understood.  It takes your sanity, it takes your breath, it takes your fear and self loathing away and replaces it with elation and pure ecstasy.  Just to be near her is the most potent drug I have ever experienced.  My mind short circuits and I would gladly sacrifice my kingdom just to look into her eyes once again.  And it's happening!

    It is such a bittersweet thing to me to contemplate how much of our lives was spent away from each other.  Time that would have been magical, staring into each others eyes and finding the meaning of the universe.  But it is also an elation of pure happiness that I understand that we have been given a second chance.  We have the time left in our lives to make the most amazing memories, to take each others hand and explore what the truest definition of love really is.  It would be a terrifying reality for most to see their own world and plans for life turn completely on it's side, yet, I welcome it with eager anticipation.

I don't know what the future holds for me.. for us.  I do know now, that my life was never complete, it was never whole without her in it.  I KNOW that for us to truly find happiness, the path leads right through each others arms..... Which is where I intend to spend the rest of my life.

Kate I was wrong.  I know that now.  May this serve as my promise: I will never intentionally hurt you again.  I will protect you and cherish you as the love of my life that I now understand that you are!

H

Miataland

    

  I didn't know I wanted it.  I certainly didn't know that I needed it. A little over 2 years ago, I sat down with my wife and planned the excursion for the year:  We were going to take The General (My 1990 Mazda Miata) up to Deals Gap and the tail of the Dragon in North Carolina for the annual Miatas at the Gap celebration for a week in August. Plans were set. Hotels were booked. Everything at the ready, then I found it: Miataland.  A genuine Miata owners paradise in the Umbria region of central Italy. Miatas for days, and for a price, you could drive them. Knowing my wifes love of Italy and their wine, I front loaded a question and put the decision in her lap: "Hey babe, we COULD go to North Carolina this year, OOOORRRR we could do this little trip to Italy."  I didn't have to wait long for a response. 

     It took nearly two full years of planning and saving and arranging before we could actually take the trip. A journey around the world is slightly more logistically, and financially involved than a trip to the Smokey Mountains. Arrangements were made, and everything was put into place to head to Italy.  We made our plans for early October,  through a tour company that specializes in driving tours around the world. That way we could maximize our time in Italy with a minimum of planning required for the 3 weeks we had planned to spend on the continent. 

     It was about a 2 hour drive from our hotel in Rome, to the resort itself nestled into the hills of Umbria. There were 7 slots for the tour and all of them were filled.  We took shuttles from Rome to the resort.  While this seems like an insignificant detail, it becomes important when placed into context:  We had one unnamed individual in our group show up with what amounted to the black plague. He also decided to share it with the entire group by not covering his mouth when he coughed, touching all the food, and generally violating peoples personal space.  I'm going to take the time to say this; If you are sick, postpone the trip, or make alternate plans.  By infecting the entire group, this one individual cost the collective thousands of dollars in doctors bills, medications and cancelled plans.  

     

     As we rolled through the hamlet of Piedicolle and up over a hilltop, down a gravel driveway, Miataland came into view.  But as the vans rolled to a stop, there was no time to soak in the stunning view.  Bags were dropped, and every group was Introduced to Andrea, the proprietor of the resort, and immediately thrust into one of 7 waiting MX-5's that spanned 3 decades of production.  The next stop: Drive yourselves to the local restaurant for lunch. I recognized this for what it was, and I was impressed by the drill instructor tactic of it.

     This is a good time to point out another couple of important points.  Andrea has, what has been called the worlds largest private collection of 51 MX-5's,  that cover the 32 years of production of the vehicle.  Not a one of these cars are granny cars or barn finds.  Every vehicle in his collection is a rare or collector version of that production model.  (More on that later)  These are NOT rental cars.  They are well maintained, loved, and treasured collectors items.  You are coming to visit one of the foremost collection of Miatas in the world and given a rare opportunity to drive a hand full of them.  And more importantly, not a single vehicle on the property has an automatic transmission.   Every morning,  Andrea would diligently get up before everyone else, and personally inspect every vehicle that was road bound.   Checking the fluids and tires and road worthiness of every vehicle that would be traveling. 

Andrea personally inspects every vehicle,  every morning before they leave the property.

     The immediate trek into town was a driving test.  It yielded results almost immediately when one couple proved after 3 or 4 kilometers that they did not have a grasp on how a manual transmission worked, and almost slid backward into the vehicle behind them.  This particular couple spent the entire rest of their tour riding shotgun in other vehicles, nary to operate another MX-5 the entire trip. As the group drove to the restaurant, they were also being judged on how they were treating their individually assigned cars.  This would be important later as the group had to be re-addressed to explain to them that these were not rentals, and many of them were irreplaceable.  You are expected to act like adults and treat these cars with respect.

      A half dozen suites are available in various configurations at the resort, and each of them are decorated in varying themes of MX-5 and their generations. Our suite for the week was a NA themed room, and the details put into its decoration were well thought out. 

 The frame rails of the bed were even cut to match the frame rail design of the first generations of Miata.  The towels were monogramed and there was even Miata branded shampoo. 

 The villa itself has a disappearing edge pool with a breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside and the local village below. 

    In the U.S. the Miata is lampooned by some as a "hairdressers car".  Lets face it, between it's marginal power plant and the stance bois, the MX-5 really is low hanging fruit in the humor target department.  However, in Europe, the MX is quite a rare vehicle. It's actually a bit larger than your average commuter car, and the spyder configuration makes it a bit of a luxury expense that's entirely impractical in most places on the continent.  In our 3 weeks in Europe, we only spotted 4 other MX-5's, and one was in the Brussels Autoworld Museum. However, Andrea and his partner Claudias Miataland hid 51 Splendid examples for us to peruse. The collection ranged from a: 

1 of 4 Yamamoto series ND,

 

A first Gen NA with a factory Ford V8 crammed under the hood.

An exceptionally rare factory supercharged NA

And even a 1 of 1 Miataland commemorative ND in a one off white,  gifted to the resort by Mazda. 

     Miataland is itself a Bed and Breakfast resort.  You can book reservations and tours directly through their website and through the owners.  We opted to use one of their partner tour companies to get a longer stay with a more thorough driving experience through the hills of the region.  In our weeks time, we drove nearly 1000 kilometers through Umbria, Sienna, Chianti and Tuscany, every day driving a different car. The hills, mountains and back roads of the region gave Deals Gap a run for it's money.  Every single day was one breathtaking view after another, while challenging the drivers to the twists and turns of Italy's beautiful mountain roads.  All this, while being punctuated by the scheduled stops to sample the best food and wine the regions had to offer. 

     Make no mistake, all of this comes at a cost.  One that probably puts most car enthusiasts out of range of the trip.  So much so, that I would put that there really was only one other person in our tour group that was there for the cars. (At 53, I was the youngest member of our tour group) Most everyone else was there likely because they read about a lively tour through Tuscany drinking wine and could afford the trip.  So I am going to lay this out there now: If you have no skill driving a manual transmission, stay in the United States. Every other country on earth still uses manual transmission vehicles. If you still insist on going, I would suggest a 'Hop on-Hop off" bus tour.   That way you can ride around and not kill anyone else.  I would suggest a guided bicycle tour, however, all of them are manual shift as well, and you may injure yourself. 

     The Miataland experience is surely a once in a lifetime trip.  It's also an investment.  Depending on how you want to approach it, the entire experience can range from a minimum of 10 thousand dollars and on up.  We budgeted about 15k, and that was after the cost of our airplane tickets to Europe.  There a couple of ways that you can schedule a Miataland excursion. 

The author ALMOST Miata'd out.  Almost.

     The most obvious way is to reach out to Andrea or Claudia through their website.   We chose to use an outside tour company that has a partnership with Miataland called Blue Strada Tours.  They specialize in driving and riding tours around the world.  The advantage of doing it this way, is that they cover a bulk of logistical planning and meals and hotel accommodations.   They even arranged limo service to and from the airport in Rome.  There are several such companies that offer similar experiences of varying degrees, but I can't say enough good things about Bill and his Blue Strada tour company, and his amazing assistant Claudio.  It was worth the few extra dollars to have things pre arranged.  Be warned though, his tours sell out over a year in advance.  If you want to take advantage of this, you need to plan out a ways. 

     In the end, it was what I would call the trip of a lifetime for any Miata enthusiast.  We had to opportunity to experience and drive vehicles that we may never see again in our lifetime.  It was a chance to see the most beautiful sides of Italy and experience the wonderful people and culture of one of the most beautiful societies in the world.   I regret nothing about the trip, but next year, for the sake of my exhausted self, I will probably just take my Miata up to Deals Gap and brag to anyone who will listen to me. 

The Media Would'nt Lie to Us AGAIN Would They?

    Much has been made about the introduction of electric vehicles.  And quite a bit lately about the electric semi trucks.  My two cents on this: Electric vehicles are coming, and there isn't anything anyone can do to stop it.  That being said, I want to draw your attention to a video that popped up on my feed recently:

The Tesla cheerleaders quickly posted this all over the internet with claims showing how the electric vehicle just "blows the doors off" of it's diesel competition going up a 6% grade on Donners Pass by passing trucks at 15 miles an hour faster than they are traveling.  Something about this video didn't sit right with me.  It took me a few days to chew it out, and I finally put my finger on it.  But first some backstory.

Everyone who has driven in the last few decades has been privy to this situation:

  Two or more semi trucks having a drag race on the interstate.  One doing 64.7 miles an hour and one doing 64.8 miles an hour.  Running down the interstate for miles blocking all the lanes while one idiot tries desperately to assert his diesel dominance. And the slow ass accelerating trucks merging onto the interstate at half the speed limit, nearly causing collisions.  My personal favorite is waiting at a stop light behind a semi, and it pulls away so damn slowly that you get stuck at the light for another cycle.  There is a reason for all of this.  

      About 1990, engineers figured out how to efficiently electronically control internal combustion engines.  (They started putting computers in your vehicles).  Diesel engines were also included in this change.  This allowed carriers, fleet owners, lease agents and insurance companies to govern and restrict the speed and power band of big trucks.  Which was something they promptly started doing.   There were, and are a lot of reasons given for this, most of them are complete bullshit, but some have a valid foundation.  The most obvious one is simply money.  By locking down the top speed and torque of a vehicle, it can dramatically improve its fuel economy.  In the case of semi trucks, fuel economy went from 2-3 miles a gallon, up to as much as 8-10 MPG.  And lets face it, in a day when fuel is four dollars a gallon, that kind of cost savings is astronomical. 

Keeping in mind that technology is forever moving forward, the power efficiency of diesel engines has made staggering improvements over the last couple decades.  So much so, that on average, just about every modern semi truck operating on the roads today is governed to operate at about 25% of its potential power band.   Imagine trying to drive around in your car with a brick stuck under your gas pedal.  This is so common, that in my 10 years of driving trucks, I can count on one hand the number of vehicles I've seen that were "ungoverned".  And in all honesty, they were so powerful, that a couple were genuinely frightening to drive. 

Now, lets revisit the video of the Tesla truck "blowing the doors off" the diesel trucks that are struggling to climb Donner Pass.  Once you understand the technology of it, you start to realize that you are watching a race where all of the competitors except one have one leg tied behind their back.  And to make it worse, by not clarifying the restrictions on the diesel vehicles, the media is essentially showing the entire race by shooting the competitors only from the waist up.

I will leave you with one final thought.  Science measures the amount of energy it takes to accomplish a given piece of work in joules:

 J = kg⋅m2⋅s−2

I will spare you the long version of this, but i can summarize it pretty simply:  If you don't change the method of doing the work, (if you are still hauling the load with a truck) the amount of energy it takes to accomplish the task does not change.  In other words, if takes 1000 joules worth of energy to move a loaded trailer up Donners Pass, it takes the diesel truck 1000 joules worth of energy and it also takes the electric vehicle 1000 joules worth of energy.   Just keep that in mind when people start going on about how efficient electric vehicles are.

The Silver Lining

 

     While the ministry of propaganda is constantly reminding us of what a total catastrophe this most recent hurricane is, allow me to take the unpopular stance and say it:  This may be one of the better things that has happened to the area in a long time.   In the present, it may be really difficult to see through the generator smoke and debris strewn roads to see it, but I have the luxury of experience in this kind of thing allows me to be able to make this call.

     As of 2020, the mean population of Punta Gorda was 20 thousand folk.  That's a pretty small town by any measure.  Yet, this entire last year, I was constantly finding myself sitting through three entire light cycles at traffic lights because the traffic has grown to the choking point here. This last couple of years, the community has been overrun with people looking to get away from the political dumpster fires that they created in whatever areas they came from, buy a house in Southwest Florida, and create a brand new dumpster fire here for us all to enjoy.  This trend has driven housing prices to record levels, making affordable homes for the working class nearly untouchable.  

Politics in California

    This non stop drive for new housing has pushed the developments further east.  If you have ever driven into Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, or Fort Lauderdale, you will understand the dire consequences of this.  Strip mall after strip mall greet you for 20 miles on the main highways before you even get to the city limits.  This is the future we are facing here. Unmitigated growth and unchecked expansion, unsupervised by county leaders who only care about lining their pockets, insures a miserable urban planning disaster in the future for the rest of us. 

Lehigh Acres (maybe)

      In an effort to keep up with the growth and demand, commercial traffic has exploded.  U.S. 17 has been a minefield of frustration attempting to deal with the non stop dump truck parade.  Every vehicle I own now had a damaged windshield because of these trucks.  They run drag races down 2 lane Bermont road and have managed to successfully kill about a dozen residents down that way in the last year alone.  Law enforcement turns a blind eye to it while County Commissioners hem and haw and eventually do nothing about it.   When I bought my house in Cleveland 10 years ago, it was a 9 minute drive to City Hall.  Today, it's a 29 minute drive. 

Traffic in Punta Gorda

     It's not all road traffic, but air traffic.  If you live anywhere on the east side of the Punta Gorda area, the constant parade of jet traffic flying in has created a whole new level of unabated noise pollution.  There is a constant tug of war in the residential communities here to force the jets to fly in and out from ANY other direction to try and get 25 minutes of the silence that we originally purchased with our properties.  Any don't even think about trying to get a flight into our out of the area if you live here.  All flights have been overbooked for several years.  Based on my own experience, there also appears to be a 2 screaming baby minimum requirement for each flight.  That way we all get to enjoy our 2 hellish hours together in a sardine can.

EVERY flight into Fort Myers

     The good news is that this all changes right now.  The endless parade of fish-belly white tourists in their Crocks and surfing shorts is going to abate for a while.  There won't be nearly as many people trying to flush out real estate to escape their snowy homelands.  And while this is bad for tourism dollars, it gives the area a chance to step back and assess how we can work in the future to more adequately accommodate the influx of tourism and carpetbaggers.   This will give communities in Lee and Collier counties the time to repair their dated infrastructure, and rebuild properly with the next hurricane in mind. 

I'm gonna miss you guys SO much!

     I am not going to lie to you.  It is not going to be a fast process.  Punta Gorda was not quite right for 3 or 4 years after Charley in 2004.   The quaint old charm that people fell in love with, in some cases is going to be gone forever.   We can rebuild, but we can't build new-old.  I'm also sure that in many cases, with the implementation of stricter building codes, some places that you may have loved will just be gone forever.   The good news is, that new, amazing, hurricane reinforced businesses and residences are going to appear.  Yes, they will be newer, but they will be stronger, and more capable of accommodating the influx of travelers to the area. 

Waves of Grain bakery lost in Charley

     This disaster is also going to cool down some of the outrageous real estate prices at least for a while.  Once the rebuilding and reconstruction gets into full swing in a year or two, the prices are going to drive back up.  This is going to be the litmus test of your elected officials to see how they handle the problems of affordable housing for the middle and working class.  Hint: Charlotte County did almost nothing for this, and we are now paying the price for it.  New businesses will spring up and replace many of the ones that were lost to the storm.  New restaurants and bars will eventually open their doors and bring with them all manner of exciting new fare. 

     In the end, if you stick it out, you are going to find yourself in a newer, cleaner, prettier and safer community.  It may be hard to envision it now, but this is how it has always played out after these events in Florida.  It is reasonable to assume that the Southwest Florida area will be no different.  We need to demand that our elected officials take into account the explosive growth that this event is eventually going to bring with it.  If we handle this correctly, and use it to prepare for the future, Hurricane Ian could end up being one of the best things that ever happened to this area.  

     

Hurricane Ian winners and losers

 

I've been making a list of some of the winners and losers of Hurricane Ian based on my personal experience and observation.  Opinions may differ, but honestly this isn't about your opinion, it's about mine.  Make your own list of ya don't like it:

Loser: Verizon. 

Verizon immediately got busy doing an assload of nothing.  No service for days, yet the only calls I was getting were about my cars warranty. I wish I was making this up.

Winner: TMobile. 

The day after the storm, we passed 3 semis loaded with TMobile generators.  This was verified with a contractor who told me that a week in, he was still servicing all the TMobile equipment, and crickets from the other carriers.

Loser:  Starlink. 

Numerous unaddressed reports of equipment failure after the storm. Paying customers without internet, meanwhile, Starlink donating hundreds of systems to "help patch network holes" obviously created by Verizon, for people who don't pay for it. Starlink had a golden opportunity here to shine as the company that made a terrible situation a little better. Instead they came through as the company that only cares about the perception of their image, and not an iota about their costumers.

Winner: FPL. 

Talk about having your shit together.  They anticipate having almost all power back on by the two week mark.  Amazing. I could go on and on about this, but one only needs to flip a light switch to understand. I'm never gonna bitch about my power bill again.

Loser: Allegiant/Sunseeker. 

The Sunseeker resort under construction at the base of the 41 bridge had 2 massive cranes collapse onto US41.  The wreckage blocked one of the two main arteries for relief support for days.  Once again, through a complete lack of foresight, Allegiant proves itself to be a terrible neighbor.

Winner: Wayne Sallade. 

The long retired EOC director from Charlotte County tirelessly disseminating information from his home in Colorado keeping thousands informed, because:

Loser: Charlotte County EOC. 

Is there even an information department? Who works there? What do they do all day? Why do they rely on retired employees to do their job? One has to actively seek out information to find what Charlotte County is trying to convey, and usually, you find it on Waynes page.

Winner: Governor Ron Desantis.

 Boots on the ground within hours.  Doing his job and getting shit done right now. He came in and cooked breakfast for law enforcement at the Awful House. He may be a butthole, but he's a butthole who went to work this morning.

Loser: President Joe Biden. 

Since Ian Joe Biden has managed to hand 600 million dollars to Ukraine---and not much else. Joe came in and cooked meth for Hunter. Shows up a week after the storm, "declares: "We aren't leaving." Hell man, you gotta show up before you can leave.

Winner: Home Depot. 

Open the day after the storm. Generators and propane at the ready.   Already had a game plan.  Already had hired security in place.  All ready to help.

Loser CenturyLink. 

If CenturyLink was a horse, you would have no choice but to put a bullet in it's head for being lame. 

Winner: Publix.

  Also open within 48 hours and a convoy of trucks headed south to restock provisions.  They even had PubSubs.  A welcome taste of normalcy in a hellscape of nightmares.

Loser: Unprepared Insurance Carriers

Insurance carriers who have so few adjusters that people have to sit on their debris pile for weeks waiting for these idiots to decide to show up.  There's zero excuse why insurance carriers don't have a plan in place for this.  You people are the devil.

Winner: WaWa.

Open, and pumping gas with 24 hours.  This was a company with a plan in place, and they executed it brilliantly.

Loser: Lookie loos.

Rubberneck asshats are making 10 minute tasks turn into hours long tasks. Do us all a favor and go back to pulling the wings off of flies for entertainment.

Winner: Amazon.

I ordered an electrical meter that I needed for repairs, I didn't expect to see it for weeks. It showed up within 48 hours. I hope Jeff Bezos is reading this, because your employees aren't paid nearly enough for what they do.

Loser: Lying contractors. 

If you can't come, don't tell me you will.  I have a mountain of shit to do, and wasting 5 hours waiting for another no show just makes me pray that you get butt cancer.

Winner: Volunteers. 

God bless the people from ALL 50 of the United States. who rushed in to help everyone without blinking.  The assistance y'all provided is immeasurable.

Loser: Social Media shadow bans. 

I'm looking at you Farcebook.  When people can finally get onto a social media platform and ask for assistance, and their request is throttled to the point where no one sees it, all because of their political beliefs... There's a special place in hell for Fascists like you. 

Winner: Swamp Coolers.

  If you don't have one, you won't understand.  But this bad boy saved our sanity.  Best frivolous purchase I've made this year.

Loser: The "I'm not evacuating" Crowd. 

Congratulations, now YOU are the problem.  Countless man hours spent rescuing the ignorant from their own homes that could be spent on actual recovery efforts.  Way to go Florida Man, you did it again.

Chicken Dinner: Selfless Neighbors. 

I've lost count of the super human deeds I've already seen with people helping their neighbors.  People sacrificing their own supplies, time, money and energy to help their more stricken friends. I'm looking at you Cleveland... Well most of ya.  Give yourselves a round of applause.