Mayer, AZ

Today life took me to Mayer, AZ. This is a small town between Prescott and Phoenix that I pass by a lot and enter rarely. Today I got some photos.

This old chimney left, visible from Rt 69, symbolizes Mayer for me.

Old smelter chimney Mayer AZ

There’s a business that restores old VW’s

Old VW Bugs in Mayer, AZ

Old VW Bus in Mayer, AZ

Water Flowing in Creek at Mayer, AZ

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My Work Project is in the Courier

Though they failed to mention my name :-(, the 1/28/2009 Prescott Daily Courier has an article about one of my current work projects, remote booking.

If you expand the photo of the officer at the top left portion of the article, look at the computer screen and you will see my work. I did the user interface and also wrote the code that transfers the booking data into the jail management system (DSI).

Firearms and Ammunition as Investments

An article on LewRockwell.com suggests buying firearms and ammunition as an investment.

• One of the reasons why firearms and ammunition can be expected to appreciate stems from the relationship between violent crime and the business cycle. As one might presume, violent crime rates tend to fall during the boom-phase of the cycle, and rise during the bust-phase.
• Barack Obama has made no effort to conceal his intention to not just reinstate the now-expired Federal assault weapon ban, but to make it permanent as well. The fact that firearms manufacturers have a reasonable expectation that the ban might be passed is enough to keep them from investing in the capital equipment necessary to dramatically increase the production of firearms.
• Add to this the fact that gun-control advocates have been pressing hard for years for other gun laws (such as legislation mandating so-called “smart guns”) that will also require firearm manufacturers to invest more capital to retool (and which will make guns more expensive), and you have all the ingredients necessary to keep firearms manufacturers from investing to increase production.
• Adding still more distortion to the firearms market is the government’s own demand for firearms and ammunition for war-making purposes.

Kirkland Steak House Closing??

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kirkland az, kirkland steak house

Update 1/25/2009: I’m relieved. The Kirkland Steak House is open though it is for sale. Thanks for the information, commenters. Blogs are a great multiway conversation.

GrannyJ reports that the iconic Kirkland Steak House is for sale (scroll to bottom of post). I sure hope it stays open. If anyone has info, please share.

I have some personal memories there. When Gary and I got married we had a dinner for our guests after the wedding. And on another occasion I made him a surprise party for his 50th birthday. He was very surprised when we walked in and a group of friends shouted “Happy birthday Gary!”. It is sad news the Kirkland Steak House might be closing.

Allergies and My Latest Attempt to Control Them

I’m fortunate to be in pretty good health. My biggest challenge is, and has been, really bad allergies. These are most troublesome in the spring when plants do their sex thing via pollen. I bear them no ill will, they are just doing what their DNA is programmed to do.

In the mid 80’s I had allergy testing done and I took allergy shots for about two years. An inconvenient process involving going to the doctor’s office weekly, getting 2 shots in each arm, and having to wait there 45 minutes after the shots to make sure there’s no bad reaction. These did help quite a bit. After 2 years the benefit plateaued so I discontinued the treatment.

I recently became aware of another option, called Allergy Easy (http://www.allergyeasy.com but this site is almost content free).  In this system the serum is taken orally instead of by injection and one does this at home. Instead of testing with hundreds of allergens and formulating a custom serum for each person, Allergy Easy gives everyone all the allergens. The ones you are allergic to you get desensitized to, the others don’t affect you. Quite a simplification, and as William of Occam said, the simplest solution is the best one. This is much less costly too.

Today I went for my 3 shot test. The nurse gave me 3 injections of the 170 allergen material of varying strengths. As soon as she finished she said “You really are allergic!”. Yes, I knew that. The spots got red and itchy. The doctor measured them after 20 minutes and determined what my starting dose of the serum should be. I went home with 4 bottles, each 5 times stronger than the previous one. I go back to the doctor for a follow up in late February.

I’ll keep readers updated on my experience with Allergy Easy.