RIP George Ariyoshi

 He made it to 100 years, sugoi! He was governor of Hawaii from the mid-70s to the mid-80s, so basically he was The Governor from when I was old enough to think about such things until the year I left Hawaii for the supposed greener pastures of the mainland. 

It felt like he was the default, the guy who'd be in his position until he was carried out feet first, but he was not actually governor all that long, and the feeling was that he'd always be voted in, no one could run against him yadda yadda. I think it was just the griping of butthurt haoles who were irked that a Japanese guy was governor. In reality he kept being voted in because he was a good guy. 

Doesn't it just figure; I didn't read up on him until today, having just learned that he made it to 100 and now hopefully is in the Pure Land. He was a good guy; born in Honolulu, went to a high school that I actually went to for a short while, served as a translator for the US Army in WWII, got his college degree on the GI Bill when it was really good for something, and went into politics. 

The write-ups on various Hawaii news sources says it all, he helped preserve a lot of land for agriculture or nature preservation, etc. He was just a good, competent governor. I guess the worst thing he presided over was the heptachlor scandal. This was a pesticide that was turning up in locally produced milk over the legal limit. Ariyoshi's slogan was "Quiet, effective" and someone made T-shirts with the chemical diagram of heptachlor and the words "quiet, effective" haha. 

I was living in a rooming house and going to college classes, working, a typical broke young adult experience. My room mates told me to pour out my milk, and I said that one more carton of milk isn't going to make any difference (I'd just bought a half-gallon and I drank a lot of milk in those days). I think the "scandal" was simply that Ariyoshi didn't act on the issue as quickly as some felt he should have. 

Yesterday was just about the same as the day before. Went to FedEx to mail stuff off. Collected boxes and other shipping materials. Got back here then rode downtown to the Amazon place for some bubble mailers, then to Walmart. 

I'd looked for Farmer John sausages to no avail there about a week ago, but this time I wanted to check out the cheese, and found for some reason, a huge amount of bacon and every Farmer John product imaginable, over at that end of the store. So while all I'd originally wanted was some Pledge, which I did get, I also got salami, cheese, and yep, a little box of Farmer Johns. 

Then, the ride back. I'd looked on the map and decided I'd take Alma, the major cross street near Walmart, West until I ran into Vine, then ride that back to Santa Clara street and to Whole Foods. Well, that worked, but Vine's a one-way for a good part of it and I ended up pooping along on the sidewalk through this homey little neighborhood area for blocks upon blocks. I think I need to go North on Almaden then jog over to Vine which gets re-named to Almaden and becomes two-way and that's the way to do it. 

I got over to Whole Foods and Petition Guy was there. I handed him more tape, as I had 3/4 of a roll of it I'd never use. He's about done with petitions so I may not see him for a while. 

I went in and got a slice of pizza, but it was a big one with, somehow, what amounted to half of another slice kind of attached to it. The guy at the pizza counter agreed that yeah, that counts as one slice... And a beer. I ate upstairs because it's kind of nice up there. 

Then I went back in and got more beer to take home, and I believe I stopped in at U-Save for some Guinness too but I'm not sure. It's been tons of riding and tons of busy-ness, trying to get my packing materials stocked up well again, and trying to work things around the rain that's coming. 

So, last night instead of listing things, I packed everything that had to go and I was glad for the packing supplies I'd just gotten in. Rain was supposed to come in "after 11AM" so all I could do was try to get to sleep and then get up early enough to get out of here shortly after waking up. 

I woke up around 12:30, and it wasn't raining although the sky was full of interesting and dramatic clouds. It felt like everything was holding its breath. I loaded up the bike, with the large box that wouldn't fit in the plastic tub everything else was in, in a trash bag on top of the tub. And rode off. 

I stayed perfectly dry. Everything was postal service and I dropped the things off there, then went to 99 Ranch for a couple of things, then rode back here without looking for packing stuff or anything, because I thought the way everything's holding its breath, maybe I can get downtown and deposit last week's paycheck and have a chance at getting more bubble mailers. 

I did, however, take a little jog by the natural foods place that puts things out, and got about 10 more Ritter Sports, hazelnut, and a bunch of other cookies, candy bars, etc. I just put everything in the tub, and put the empty cardboard boxes etc. in the dumpster.  

Right as I pulled up to the door here, I felt large rain drops. Well, I'll pull the bike in and see how this goes, I can still go downtown if it's just a little sprinkle... I thought. 

But once I had the bike and everything in, it gradually started raining more and more, and now it's rainy and stormy out there and I'm staying in. The check can wait. 

In other news, Our Most Zionist President wants banks to monitor citizenship, and if one is not a citizen, one is locked out of their bank account. A "Real ID" is specifically excluded as a proof of citizenship. A passport is OK, but if the information on your ID doesn't match the info on your birth certificate, it's difficult at best to get a passport. Examples are women who have married or divorced and thus had one or more name changes, or anyone who'd decided to change their name for any reason, trans people who have changed their gender marker, etc. 

Under this executive order by the pedo pants-shitter in chief, I'd be OK and Ken would be OK, but what about Ken's wife? She's under a different last name than what would be on her birth certificate. They went to Italy on vacation not all that long ago, so she should have a current passport and even an old one is proof of citizenship, so she might be OK. But this means is you can't be sure if you don't have a passport. 

Maybe this is a ploy, or more like  an unforeseen consequence, that tons more Americans will get passports.