Ranting Rex

I was sitting down and writing a long-awaited rant when I realized that it’s 2022!  I write a lot of rants that never make it onto my blog so you can only imagine what I DON’T post.  Anyway, Happy New Year everyone!  Yep…I’m that observant.  Just ask the wife.  Seriously at my age one year runs into the next in such a way that it really doesn’t matter anymore.  I just make sure I’m fed and get plenty of exercise.  It’s either that or I’ll need medication and plenty of professional observation.

Well…I think all of us can honestly say that the last three years have been the proverbial shit-show.  However, it hasn’t been without its good side for me.  Professionally and economically my life has improved dramatically from just a decade ago and this practice of working from home fits right into my anti-social tendencies.  Sure, I put on a show during the day like the trained monkey I am, but when the zoom camera is off, so are my pants (ok…sometimes even when it’s on).  

The world has changed a lot in the last few years and so much the better for those of us with anti-social tendencies.  I walked around with alcohol wipes and hand sanitizer years before Covid so adding the mask just comes as a bonus for me.  It fits in greatly for my desire for social anonymity.  I can now put on a hat, sunglasses, and a mask, and even walk into a bank without anyone taking notice.  It’s the movie star life without the movie star pay, but at least I can dream.

This last year has seen the addition of a new truck, new job, and even an addition of a new house my wife bought so she had a place to stay when visiting the grand kids.  Consequently, we have become snowbirds, living the summers in the Colorado mountains and the winters at her beach condo or now just outside of Vegas.  I have to say I never thought of this life when I was sitting in Mr. Borracci’s history class in 9^th grade.  He certainly never thought I’d have it.  To be honest, most of the people who knew me then never thought I’d make it past 16.  They’re right of course.  I haven’t.  Again…just ask my wife.

Regardless of what’s been happening in the world, I’ve been having the time of my life.  I have a great new job, mountain bike when I want, live in forever summer (or at least forever Spring), and am married to someone who loves me even though I drive her crazy.  

So, with that I hope you all have a happy new year.  I’m heading out for a mountain bike ride.  The house in Vegas is a stone’s throw from Sloan Canyon and I’m taking advantage of a long ride while the grandkids sleep on the couch.   Here’s hoping you and yours are safe and well and that the coming year settles down a bit more than the previous two.

Rex

I have worked in the technology and healthcare industry for my entire adult life. It’s always amused me how things change, but still stay the same. The one constant in the universe is the slow, glacial pace, at which business leaders accommodate change. With COVID dramatically altering the business landscape they still haven’t caught onto how it impacts their business. Prices are high, and jobs a plentiful. It’s not just the food that’s gone up in price, it’s the labor. If you want good help it’s going to cost you, and we’re not living in the office anymore.

This is my little way of hoping the message gets back to leadership that times have changed. Some people like the office, and some people don’t. What has always annoyed me is that when I was in an office, I’d lock my door, and get on conference calls from the time I got there till the time I left. If I had any face-to-face interaction, it was to talk about the weather, not about the work. So, spending $500.00 per month in gas (that was pre-Covid) and three hours of my life on the road every day just doesn’t make sense anymore.

I’m not alone. A growing number of the Great Resignation are people being told by leadership that they have to start driving back into the office. These folks look at daycare costs, fuel costs, bad food, and other expenses, as well as their work roles and go “what the hell for?” They then quickly find that they can do the same job for someone else at a higher salary and not bother leaving home.

Some small to medium organizations seem to have caught on. However the big players are still struggling with the concept. For example, I work for a company that divested themselves of their real estate holdings, saving millions, and gaining capital in the process, by moving to a mostly remote workforce. That doesn’t mean that we don’t sometimes meet face-to-face, but it certainly lowers the overhead.

I know, there are managers our there saying, “but how do I know they’re productive, unless I see them working?” My response is “How do you know they’re productive if you see them working?” I’ve seen a lot of unproductive people in my time look busy as hell. It’s not about looking busy, it’s about moving the ball. Too many people create a whole lot of commotion, and accomplish nothing while calm cool waters consistently provide nourishment to the business. It’s not about looking busy, it’s about being effective.

There are tools and processes that enable leaders to track progress. The options are endless. The argument that you have to see work happening to know it’s happing is so out-dated today that the idea has become silly. “How do I know I’m getting what I need?” The same way you know today. You actually got what you need.

I’ve decided that when contractors reach out to me about an opportunity, I’m going to reply to them, regardless of my interest in the position, with my complete compensation package and what I’m actually looking for in a job.  This is for the following reasons:

• I want them to keep me in mind for other positions and let them know that I will forward their job to others who might be interested.  You never know…they might have something interesting.
• About 25% of the people who contact me are for salaries that are 30% to 50% below the industry standard. With people able to work remote for higher wages, I want them to know they need to up their game.
• Some companies still haven’t realized that only a fraction of workers are coming back into the office, and that fraction is getting smaller every day. Most folks are shooting for 100% remote, and a few are hybrid. So…I tell them my salary, and that my company sold all their properties and is 100% work from home.

I hope I never again have to ever drive into an office every day. For at least the last 20 years it has made zero sense for my role. It I wasn’t on a business trip, I was holed up in my office on a conference call. It made not sense in the least and was a waste of time for me, and money for my company. There was just no reason for any of it. With that said, I wouldn’t mind an occasional business trip though. Oddly…I do miss those. Once a month is fine, but the twice a week got old FAST!

Several months ago I surmised that in the end the vaccinated would find that they are at more risk than was being communicated. As it turns out, I was right. There are thousands of factors as to why that is and blaming the unvaccinated is just moronic. The top factors are as follows in no particular order:

• The vaccines were tested in a population that was locked down, social distancing and wearing masks, providing a weak testing ground for the vaccine.
• The vaccine wasn’t tested with obese individuals. They were extremely particular about their participant selection and the obese population was virtually ignored. The same population flooding into hospitals.
• Children were not in schools. Seriously…putting that many people in a closed space and expecting good results?
• The vaccinated think they have immunity and they do not. They never have, and never will.

Hospitals are failing to coordinate patient care because we live in a profit-based society. Hospitals are losing 200 billion dollars annually. If they were making money, then the narrative would be much different. No one gives a shit about your health, not liberal, not conservative. It’s all about economics. This is why I’m so amused that many on both sides think they are superior than the other while all the while you are all being manipulated. 

There are roughly 91000 COVID patients in the hospital today. 3640 of those are on ventilators, and roughly 15,470 of the 91,000 will die. That’s a death rate of 17% if you are hospitalized according to the NCBI. That’s actually an improvement from 25% three months ago. That’s likely directly related to the vaccine and monoclonal therapies. 

Our hospital inpatient rate is sooooooo much higher than the rest of the world because 40% of our population is fat. To add insult to injury, 78% of the people dying of covid are fat. They are flooding the hospitals in DROVES but you want to blame healthy people for the problem. Good luck with that. 

Even with the MASSIVE US obesity rate, the chance of death if you are infected is 1.6%, only slightly lower than what it was pre-vaccine. That’s because 40% will never show a symptom and only 7% will see a hospital. If you find that level of risk insurmountable, then get vaccinated. If you are comfortable with it, then don’t. Knowing the risks and making a decision based on those risks is a personal decision. No one gets to make it for you no matter what high horse they ride.

The leading risks in order are being fat, having comorbidities, and being old.

People have refused to care for themselves for decades, driving up healthcare costs to the tune of 100 billion dollars annually and the obese over-run hospitals at alarming rates with Covid. Now they want a shot to save their ass for decades of taking up more than their share of gravity.

And all of a sudden, because they failed to make good health choices, they want to make them for me. Not because they have any concern for me personally, but because they think I hold some responsibility for their lifetime of bad decisions. I do not. 

Your health is your responsibility, it is not mine. I’m not a risk to you. That Big Mac and hot dog you ate are the risk. I know…you don’t know what’s in them so you don’t care. Well…it’s killing you so you should care. That’s why I care what goes into my body and that vaccine won’t come anywhere near it. Why is that? Because my risk of having an adverse reaction to the vaccine (nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue) are 100%. My risk of getting Covid and having long-term effects, or dying are statistically zero. 

Does that mean I am anti-vaccine? Only for me. You see, I’m a grown up. I get to make grown up decisions. On the off chance I ever get Covid there’s a 99.9999999% chance I’ll get over it. On the less than 1% chance I do end up dying from it you will NEVER hear me say “Gee…I wish I got vaccincated.” Why? Again, because I’m a grown up and accept my decisions and will loudly and if needed, violently, protect my right to make them.

Articles like the one below have been flooding my FakeBook feed for an entire year, and I feel I need to address it. So….

…hang on to your knickers…

Is someone like me to have a problem with this? I don’t. If you think when you go to an eatery that everyone there is washing their hands, good luck with that. I have walked out of more places than I can count after I saw a cook take a shit, got up and walked out without washing his hands, or a waiter picked their nose, or yes..someone combing their hair around my food. 

It is absolutely my choice to decide what risks I want to take. In the United States, there is a social contract that you must follow when leaving your home. That is that you accept certain risks. Those risks are that you may come into contact with situations that might kill you. 

Now, you have a choice to stay in your home, arm yourself (wear a mask) or do the other things to make you safe. Others have a choice NOT to do those things. If you have a business you have a choice to tell customers they can’t go in if they don’t have a mask. Others have a choice to either don said mask, or not go in. Welcome to America!

I’m annoyed up to my asshole with this idea that 2% of the planet get to control the lives of 98%. It’s bullshit. No different than 600 billionaires controlling the lives of everyone else. 

Covid is real. The vaccine is effective. However it is also true that this disease, left unchecked, would have still had little impact on our health compared to everything else in our lives. Masks are just something to get the masses around because our leaders determined that there would be mass panic if they didn’t find something for people to cling to.

People refuse to control the things that really reduce risk like eating less sugar, or exercising, not smoking, not drinking, etc. Nope… “Save a life. Wear a mask” Well…I am saving lives…thousands of them in fact by the many other things I do and don’t do. You want to blame me for granny getting sick? Then tell me the day and time I showed up at Granny’s house and I’ll apologize. Likely it was you who went to see granny and killed her and you fail to take responsibility. Should have stayed in that basement. Nevermind, it’s just easier to blame others. 

Here’s one. Want to save lives? Work in a homeless shelter. Work in a women’s shelter. Give to the needy, but stop acting like a fucking martyr because you put a cheap piece of cloth over your face. 

Know why no one does the things I mentioned above? It takes effort. It’s easier to wear a mask and act like you’ve accomplished something.

Rex

I was listening to the Ted Radio Hour while driving from Colorado to Boulder City NV, when Huang Hung came on talking about how China has been managing the Covid virus.  Hung is a U.S. citizen who has been living in China since 1991 and is considered the “Oprah of China.”  Anyway there has been a lot of criticism over how the U.S. has responded compared to China.  Hung offered her input and her opinion which I have quoted below.  I have also included a link to the recording  because I don’t want to be guilty of mis quoting her.  However, when responding on what China is doing, such as requiring users to scan QR codes when they enter a shopping mall, below was her response. You can find the entire interview here.

“I walk into a shopping mall and I have to say I’m glad, I feel safer that there is a scanning system.  It is for the greater good.  The Chinese kind of realize, in time of crisis it is necessary to bound together, and whatever inconvenience happens, <sic> you need to be able to tolerate it.  You need to be patient.  You need to work with other people. You need to support the collective, rather than just think for yourself. “

Depending on who you are, you will have completely different reactions to that statement.  If you are a liberal, you may be fine and dandy with it.  To a liberal, we need to come together in crisis, and regardless of what civil liberties may be at risk it’s more important to save the lives of as many people as possible, than it is to lose a bit of freedom and anonymity.  

To the conservative, this is complete blasphemy.  Of course you would rather die than give into someone tracking where you are, what you are doing, and the idea of giving up free thought is appalling.  How dare anyone try to tell you that you have to give up the ability to think for yourself.  

The irony, that I won’t get into here, is that after 9/11 the sides of the conversation were completely reversed. The conservatives were freely throwing away our civil liberties, and the liberals were fighting to keep them, but I digress.

Either way this is where the entire conflict over Covid, and masks and businesses staying open or closed comes to a head.  Libreral: You need to wear a mask to save the sick and elderly.  Conservative:  The sick and elderly need to manage their own risks.  Since the foudnations of this country were founded on self-reliance it’s difficult for many to understand how anyone would want it any other way.  

There’s a psychological piece to this as well.  It’s about risk.  Investors know a lot about risk.  Forgive me for using finance as an example, but the same applies to health and welfare.  It’s all about risk tolerance.  For example, if you have a low risk toleratnce, then Covid is pretty much a non-issue.  There really is a 98% survival rate.  If you’re solely looking at the numbers the likelihood of dying, or even ending up in the hospital is extremely small.  However, if you have a low risk tolerance, then taking any risk is just too much for you.  This is why young people are the absolute highest number of illnesses.  They are comfortable with risk.  The elderly are not.  However, unfortunately, the elderly are also at the greater risk of dying.  So now it comes down to how do they manage what’s left of their lives.

I think I’ve made my feelings clear in my writings on what I think of the reaction to the pandemic.  I also think that there is a greater desire to create hysteria than there is to actually solve a problem.  I also want to point out that Freedom and Safety are often opposing ideas. You can’t have both. You can only have one or the other. How much of each is a balance that this country has been trying to manage for over two centuries.

What this pandemic has done on so many levels is illustrate that changes need made to manage the needs and desires of both sides.  This is true of all things, not just Covid.  However, I will say this, if anyone ever suggests to me that I have to give up free thought, that will be the end of our conversation.  

Rex