Blue Update

For those interested, I thought I give an update on the Blue situation.
When I got to work yesterday I went in to talk to Jen (she and I have the same HR level) about Blue taking pictures.  Lucky for me Wendy, District AP and Mike District HR were there for the day.  Wendy started asking questions and Mike began pulling up HR policies on his laptop.  Things Wendy asked?  Time of day?  Where was I at?  Which phones were used?  And with those questions, and her access to the store surveillance videos, about a minute late I got to watch Blue, standing at the back of the paint counter, lift her cellphone up and take her pictures.  And then Mike, reading from his screen, let all of us know that "the taking of videos or photographs on either the parking lot or in the store is strictly forbidden and to do so in a major violation of policy."  Since it's a major violation, the acting MOD needed to file a complaint with corporate.
Today is my day off.  I spent most of the day working out in the yard, bought myself 2 new pair of pants, and went to see my 83 year old mother.  I also took a short nap with the dogs.  I simply relaxed.

Indigo Blue

As for Blue?  She worked today and may have already been terminated.  I was told it might be as early as today, though it might be as late as tomorrow.  You see it's all about privacy, and security, and keeping associates safe.  Depending upon what corporate says, they may put a restraining order on Blue to keep her away from the store.  Do I feel threatened?  Only slightly.

How photogenic am I?

Since this was a boring political weekend, I thought I'd write a bit about work.  I am now in charge of 33 cashiers, 7 head cashiers, and 3 lot attendants and for the most part, they are all good people... except for one head cashier whom I shall call Blue.  She's blue because she hates me, not because I did anything wrong, well that's not right, you see according to Blue she doesn't think she can work with me because of something I did last November.  Of course, only Blue seems to know what I did.  Since I'm in training my head cashiers will need to show me how certain procedures are done.  Blue has let it be known that she's only going to show me the basics, nothing more.  Of course she didn't tell management this, just the people she trusts. What she doesn't know is that those people she trusts.... well, they tell me.  Blue is not a very popular head cashier.
Yesterday I got a call from one of my paint associates.  "Did you know Blue's been taking pictures of you?" she asked.  Of course I didn't, so I went over to talk to the paint department.  Evidently she'd framed me up right nice (this might be a pun) but wanted one the paint associates to actually press the button and take the picture... while she was holding the phone.  And he, of course, said "no."  So Blue went behind the paint desk and took the pictures herself.

You see we have some sort of SOP regarding the taking of pictures of associates.  There's no problem with taking selfies in groups or things like that, however you can't sneak around and take picture of someone without letting them know.  Anyway, upper management, as in the Store Manager, is going to have a long sit down with Blue and I suspect she's going to get even bluer still.  Unfortunately for me, I'm probably never going to see those photographs which means I'm never going to know just how photogenic I really am.

Inchworm delight

A little something light today.

Last week I bought my dogs some new toys.  They get a lot of toys and always love the new ones.  Well, last week they got an inchworm.  He is/was about a foot long, inch worm green, with little arms and legs.  Holy Crap, the dogs fell in love with him.  I found Big Seig sleeping on the sofa with the little inchworm head in his mouth... and he was snoring.  Lilly would prance around with the inchworm in her mouth, every now and then giving his body to make him squeak.  How much did they love their little inchworm?  Well, so much that they tore off his little arms and legs, that way they could both run around with a little appendage in their mouths.
This morning, around 0445 I heard Big Seig throwing up.  When a 108 pound Boxer throws up, it is always rather loud.  So I got out of bed to clean up the mess and what do you think I found? One of the little inchworms feet.

All that remains

That's right, Big Seig love the inchworm so much he ate one of his feet, which didn't sit too well with his stomach.  As a result, I picked up the remaining 2 arms and foot and have thrown them into the trash.  I guess when I get home from work tonight they will most likely have ripped off his head.  This is how it goes.

Ann Coulter, Trumplodite of the Day

Let's be honest here, there are some funny things in life... and then there are some really, really funny things in life, and one of the funniest things to happen in a while is Ann Coulter's reaction to Trump's flip-flop on immigration, in fact it's so funny I'm going to nominate her for the Trumplodite of the Day award.  You see, Ann, the ever greedy capitalist, realizing that Trump might provide a field day in royalties wrote a book celebrating Donald Trump.  You see she expected all of his racist Trumplodites to buy her book because of his stand on immigration - all the illegals were  going to be kicked out.  But then he flip-flopped just as she's starting a book tour.  This means she's probably not going to cash in the way she was expecting.  I mean who's going to buy a book in which she quotes Trump as saying one thing, when now he's saying something totally different.  This is bad for her since this change of heart makes her look... well... stupid.  I mean, she actually wrote a book.  Now, people are making fun of her, and it is funny.

This is what's called Karma.  All the hate she's been spouting for years is coming back to bite her in the ass.  And what takes this funny thing and almost makes it hysterically funny is that it never occurred to her that those loyal Trumplodites don't read.  Books have words... and things like commas and periods in them.  Not that she cares if they read her books, they just have to buy them.  This is why she is our Trumplodite of the day, because she thought she'd make a buck off pedaling Trump's hate monger message... and he... well, changed the message. 

Work and Politics

Well, two opening shifts and 2 days without blogging and I'm back, you know, those 0300 mornings are bad if you're not working them regularly.
I have a Head Cashier who believes "she must be obeyed" in everything, that "she" sets down the rules, such as highlighting an associate's name in green on the schedule when they are at work, and in pink when whey call off.  When I told her she didn't need to highlight, she could just put a line through their name if there weren't here, she bristled.  I didn't tell her I'd had complaints from 3 other Head Cashiers about her inability to be flexible, all I said was that she needed to be less rigid.  She replied, "I'm not being rigid, I'm consistent."  Nope, not in the least bit, she wants to be in total control, in fact, she reminds me of someone who's never been in a management position turning into a dictator.  Another thing I didn't tell her is that management would have absolutely no problem with her handing in her two weeks notice.
And speaking of dictators, what about Trump?  Flip-flopping on immigration, eh?  And I understand some of his loyal Trumplodites have no problem with his change of heart.  Excuse me, but wasn't that one of his rally cries?  This is one of the many reasons why he'd be terrible in the White House, his sheep would follow him everywhere.  They'd do anything he wanted them to do.  Form a special police force?  You betcha.  Oh, wait, I can't say that.  Isn't that what that bimbodeer Sarah Palin used to say, isn't it?  You betcha.  Of course, would she sign up for that Trump police force?  You betcha.

Can you say Secret Police?

Anyway, I did watch Hillary's hate ad,  Very apropos, I thought.  I don't think Trump and his Trumplodites know just how baaaahd they are.

Work and Politics

Well, two opening shifts and 2 days without blogging and I'm back, you know, those 0300 mornings are bad if you're not working them regularly.
I have a Head Cashier who believes "she must be obeyed" in everything, that "she" sets down the rules, such as highlighting an associate's name in green on the schedule when they are at work, and in pink when whey call off.  When I told her she didn't need to highlight, she could just put a line through their name if there weren't here, she bristled.  I didn't tell her I'd had complaints from 3 other Head Cashiers about her inability to be flexible, all I said was that she needed to be less rigid.  She replied, "I'm not being rigid, I'm consistent."  Nope, not in the least bit, she wants to be in total control, in fact, she reminds me of someone who's never been in a management position turning into a dictator.  Another thing I didn't tell her is that management would have absolutely no problem with her handing in her two weeks notice.
And speaking of dictators, what about Trump?  Flip-flopping on immigration, eh?  And I understand some of his loyal Trumplodites have no problem with his change of heart.  Excuse me, but wasn't that one of his rally cries?  This is one of the many reasons why he'd be terrible in the White House, his sheep would follow him everywhere.  They'd do anything he wanted them to do.  Form a special police force?  You betcha.  Oh, wait, I can't say that.  Isn't that what that bimbodeer Sarah Palin used to say, isn't it?  You betcha.  Of course, would she sign up for that Trump police force?  You betcha.

Can you say Secret Police?

Anyway, I did watch Hillary's hate ad,  Very apropos, I thought.  I don't think Trump and his Trumplodites know just how baaaahd they are.

Jane's vagina

Well, yesterday was my first day in the new position and I... already had to yell at an associate.  I have a 77 year old woman working for me, whom I'll call Jane, who feels that her age entitles her to do what ever she wants.  Wrong.  She's a cashier, she needs to stay at her register.  Yesterday there were people waiting at her register and... she was nowhere to be found.  Oh, yeah, I found her, helping a customer at the paint desk.  So, I yelled at her.  She got mad, of course.  She doesn't understand she needs to follow the rules, but when you try and explain them to her or enforce them she cries "age discrimination."  This is how it goes.
Two months ago Jane was out on medical, she needed to have a minor surgical procedure done.  She told everybody that she had peed out her vagina.  That's right.  She said she knew this because she used a mirror to look, and that she knows what her vagina looks like.  Personally, I think she was looking at her ass and just didn't know the difference.

Jane's future with the giant retailer I work for looks rather dim.  This has nothing to do with age, but rather customer service and performance.  If you're 98 and can play by the rules, and do just an adequate job there's no problem.  Had she told any customers that she'd peed out her vagina she'd have been out the door.  She needs to stay at her register and not make people wait.  Retail can be relentless.

Feeding the hate with Republican propaganda

Well, the vacation is over.  I'm going back to work this morning, moving into a new position where I'l be trading the overnights and heavy lifting for Front End Drama.  Things will be fine.  I didn't get as much accomplished last week as I had planned, this is almost always the case, though after last week, because of the all of the rain, my 'to do' list is still rather long.  Oh, well, it will get done in time.
One of my friends on Facebook is an old Navy buddy of mine and quite the conservative.  As a result we 'tit for tat' back and forth, mostly he poses Republican propaganda as truth and I, very politely, run it through the wood chipper of truth.  Right now, for example, or maybe it was last week, I can't remember exactly when because they pump out so much propaganda, they were pushing some phoniness about Hillary losing $6 billion while she was Secretary of State, and of course my friend piped in as though this was gospel.  So, I did about 10 minutes research.  There's pretty much on the Internet, almost all on "conservative" websites and all anti-Hillary, except for Slate.  They actually provided a link to the actual documents: a report from 2014 from the OIG that went back 6 years contracts that were missing documentation.  That's right, 2014.  The one day that pops out is from May of that year, when George W. Bush was in the White House and Condoleeza Rice was Secretary of State.

A number of these contract issues were with the WPPS, and some of the dates listed go back to 2007.  Of course, that type of honest is not going to appeal to the Republican Party.  They're going to throw as much shit on the wall as they can because they know eventually something is going to stick, a least for a few minutes.  Feeding the hate, you know, they're all about feeding the hate.

Windows and Lilly and... the election

So, I haven't written anything in 2 days... well, this is my vacation time, of course that doesn't meant all I've been doing is drinking wine and playing video games.  I've managed to do some lawn work, plants some stuff and shift around the pea gravel.  Did a lot of cleaning.  Changed the curtains in the dining room.  All of the fun stuff, you know?
Yesterday I had salesmen in the house - I'm putting in some new windows.  Two of them did that one thing I truly hate in a sales person, give me a price, tell me it's carved in stone, and then when I tell them I'm going to think about it say "well, if you really love these windows I might be able to swing another 10% off."  I'm not buying windows from them.  If you want to sell me a product, give me a price, don't dick around.  I ended up going with Renew by Andersen.  They are the most expensive, but only by about $250, and the salesman said "we don't do that surprise discount if you sign today, that 10% is listed right here," as he pointed to the same day signing discount.  I keep telling people over and over, it's all about customer service.
And yesterday was also Lilly's birthday.  She is 3 years old.

Cutie on the couch

To celebrate, we all had white cake and French vanilla ice cream.  They only get 'people' food on their birthdays and both dogs love it.

And, of course, we've only got 88 days (give or take a day) until the election.  Prepare yourselves, because if Trump loses, his Trumplodites are gong to raise holy hell.  On the bright side, a lot of those people will never, ever vote again, so disgruntled will they have become at democratic politics.  That's fine.

Oh, and I have been drinking a little wine and playing video games as well.  

A little night music with Florence

Normally, August in central Pennsylvania means hot, dry weather, the grass long since turned brown for lack of rain, which is why I always take a week's vacation - but not this year.  Humidity reigns.  This August seems to be our rainy season, torrential afternoon downpours are now part of our daily routine, and I'm not talking about a short-lived, 10 minute storm, the rains easily drench us for 30 to 40 minutes.  Nothing every really dries.  The insect population is thriving, let me be more precise, the blood sucking insect population swarms around you the second you step outside.  I had planned to finish up on the veranda... well, that might not happen.
Anyway, I went to see "Florence Foster Jenkins" last evening.  It was very good.  How good?  Can you say "nominations?"  Plural.  Many.  Lot's of them.  Streep's Madam Florence is endearing.  Even though she has the musicality of a rock you understand her sincerity, she loves music.  A scene where she and Simon Helberg play the Prelude in E Minor is magic.  And speaking of Helberg, he's amazing.  Watching him play piano while Florence sings is the definition of comedy, it's almost like watching slapstick without the slap.  Then there is Hugh Grant.  I've never been a fan.  He's always seemed to play fluffy, pretty boy parts, even as he's aged, however, this might be the one role which defines him as an 'actor.'  He is perfect as St. Clair, an over-the-hill Shakespearean actor who seems to have discovered late in life that he has a soul.

And in case you're wondering, and haven't seen the movie, listening to Florence Foster Jenkins sing is excruciating; if you weren't laughing so hard you'd be in unbearable pain, and it's not because she's just a little off pitch, or that she's taken a meat cleaver to her phrasing.  Her vocalizations are a Christmas present to those millions of tone deaf people who are oblivious to the fact that they can't sing, and in her reckless abandon those artless notes become... well, art, as she proves that music is in the ear of the beholder.

A saucy vacation & Trump buffoonery

Well, yesterday was the first day of my 7 day vacation.  I always take a week off in August because on September 4 is my anniversary date and all of the vacation I've been accruing for the past year rolls over.  Yippee.  I've already scheduled 2 days for September - my friend Betsy is coming up and we're going to see Elton John.  Yippee!
I managed to get quite a lot done here on day 1.  Two need cabinets installed in the kitchen, and I made tomato sauce with my very own tomatoes - the ones the dogs didn't eat.  They love their fresh vegetables and fruits.  I had to fence in my pepper plants because they love green peppers, even the hot ones.

Adding white wine to the sauce makes it delish!

Of course there was a big uproar because Giuliani, seeking Trumplodite knighthood, bragged that there had been no Islamic terrorist attacks in the US before Obama.  I wonder if dementia is a requirement in the Trump campaign since ol' Rudy tried to skid his way into the White House using 9/11... which happened in W's first year in office.

And I read about Donald's "extreme vetting...."  Did he like.... well, buy a ticket to boohoolaland?  He didn't say who's going to be in charge of this process but I'm sure he'll have no problem setting up his version of the Gestapo... nah, that's probably a bit too harsh, he'll model his secret police force after his buddy Vlad's, they'll be Putinesque, you know?  I mean, they're already paying for his campaign, aren't they?

Anyway, I'm going to see if I can mow my lawn this morning.  We've been having thunderstorms daily, torrential downpours included, so it's very, very wet, and still very, very green, which is odd for the dog days of August.

Trump's Pennsylvania Problem

Before I head out for work, I thought I post a couple of comments about Trump's Pennsylvania problem - it's huuuuge!  In fact, his problems are so bad in this state he's already singing the 'voter fraud blues.'  Even though we are seen as a battleground state, we almost always vote in a Democratic president.  Right now we have a Democrat in the Governor's Mansion.  None of this is good for Donald.  Still, he's been saying that if he loses Pennsylvania the election has been rigged.  This is a consistent whine from Republicans, especially in states they're losing, the fact that they might be turning off enough voters to lose elections never occurs to them and so the election is always rigged, it's always stacked against them.  Bullshit.
While polls may seem to be frivolous at times, they do imply trends.  In Pennsylvania, those people most likely to vote this November 8, are trending towards Hillary in a big way.  Because of this, he's already complaining.  Be prepared, his complaints are going to increase.  I suspect that his little Trumpadoodle mind can even conceive of the fact that he's going to most likely lose.  The concept that people of education, people of color, people of gender, and people of race might actually vote against him is truly alien.

What the Republicans really need to do is get themselves an audio-animatronic Trump with a recorded message to keep him on point to keep him spewing out their hatred for people of education, people of color.... and, well, you know who I'm talking about, everybody who isn't a Republican.

And in the Center Ring we have... Reince Priebus

I've only actually been to the circus twice, once under an actual 'big top' tent, and the other time in an arena.  The big top was better because it wasn't that big so there was really only one ring you needed to watch.  At the arena they actually had three rings laid out, with different shows going, sometimes simultaneously in all three, and, since we were in an arena, we were much farther away from the action.  Currently the  Republican Party is running their own circus, and thanks to modern media, they only have one ring, and everybody is watching that one ring.  They don't have any side shows with which to distract your attention, and that is killing them.
First of all, way back when, we had their clown parade of candidates and Reince Priebus was the ringmaster.  Then, however, instead of giving us the 'daring young man on the flying trapeze,' he gave us Donald Trump - clown asshole at large, and old Reince has jumped right into the center ring with Trump.  This is quite bizarre when you consider that Reince was in charge back when the RNC released their Growth and Opportunity report in 2013.  I don't know what he did with that report, maybe used to to wipe his ass, maybe used it to line a bird cage, or most likely, used to to wrap up Romney's loss and throw it out with the trash because he's totally ignoring it.  And, up in Erie, PA, it played the good ringmaster and introduced Trump to his adoring hoard of Trumplodites.

Where's the popcorn?  Where's the cotton candy?  Cause this old elephant is trudging around the same old ring.  The jokes are growing tired.  In an attempt to shore up the party's failed hate message Reince is moving into the center ring.  You see, he will do anything to get the party into the White House... anything.

Trump's Mormon Problem

This is kind of funny.  While Trump was speaking to a group of pastors and religious leaders down in Florida he started whining about Utah.  Evidently the conservative Mormons are not buying his rhetoric, most likely, I suspect, because he turns their stomachs, in fact, as far as they're concerned he was the GOP's worst choice among that whole hoard of candidates on the slate.  Maybe it's because the Republican Party has turned from a conservative party to a hate party.  Perhaps they realize that as a minority religious group Trump might single them out, should he ever become president.  As we've all seen, if your a minority group you're fair game to Trump, we've all heard or read him talk about minorities "you know, they just don't get, you know, you know, you know what I mean, they just don't get it," except in regard to Mormons he'd be speaking about the Christian thing.  He doesn't care if the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion because... well, he just doesn't care.

Which is why he brought up Utah, and the Mormons, while speaking to a group of evangelicals.  He needs to get the evangelical base out to vote for him since it now seems possible that red Utah may turn blue.  This is why he's speaking to the Christian base, pretty much telling them that the Mormon's might possibly swing the election.  If he's treating the Mormons this way now, practically writing them off, what's he going to do if he ever becomes president?

Of Bourne and Trump

So I went to see "Jason Bourne" last evening and this was supposed to be about the movie, but then Trump spoke yesterday... about party unification, at least that is what both his campaign and the NRA are saying.
Anyway, back to "Jason Bourne" - Matt Damon is good, Tommy Lee Jones is great - but then he plays a prick and he's always been good at playing pricks, in fact, I hear he plays a pretty good prick off screen as well.  In fact, there is a resonating resemblance between Jones' need to control and Trump's, though one is grounded in ruthlessness and the other in buffoonery. Watching Jones act and react gives you insight into his character, how dark he really is, where as Trump is all about inciting his Trumplodite hoards.  While they elbow and wink at each other thinking his comment about the 2nd amendment people is so sly, Independent voters and moderate conservatives cringe.  He is the reason people are beginning to say "if the election were held today, Hillary would win by a landslide."
The big problem with "Jason Bourne" was... well, if you've seen "Now You See Me (2)" you know the plot because it's been used before.  When one of the minor characters says "this could be worse than Snowden," I knew the screenwriters had failed to get on the original story line bus.  Outside of the chase and fight scenes, there's not a lot of originality here.  The same thing is true about Trump who is nothing more than a 2nd rate wannabe dictator, relevance is important and he is rapidly becoming irrelevant.

"Jason Bourne" tries really hard to be a thinking man's thriller... and succeeds most of the time.  Trump, on the other hand, wants to be... well, not president, the definition of that office does not match Trump's ambitions, and the Constitution was just not written to suit a "reality star ruler."

I call it a veranda

Today was my first of 2 days off in a row and, of course, I spent most of it, so far taking care of the essentials, you know, laundry, cleaning, going to the supermarket.  I spent an hour or so working what I call a veranda hauling in more pea gravel, arrange pavers and step stones.  I picked up a yellow rose which will hopefully be planted tomorrow morning as well as spread around another ton of pea gravel.

Like the frisbees?

Anyway, now I'm going to go take a nap.

Bits on paint, Republicans and the Olympics

Well, this is my last week running the Paint Department.  That means there will be no more paint customer stories.  Maybe I'll get one more before the week is up, but I doubt it.  This isn't paint season.  Families are either on vacation or getting the kids ready for school - no one buys paint.  We will be slow.
On the political scene I saw that one of those idiots named Bush said Republicans should endorse and vote for Trump.  I just kind of shook my head.  You would think that by now this guy would have realized that the name Bush has just about as much political value as...oh, let's say... Bush.  Now, I'm sure there is some small group of Republicans who value that name... but they are small, otherwise Hillary would be going up against Jeb.
And the Olympics are going on... who cares.  Again, I know there are people in this country who are ecstatic that we are racking up the gold medals, of course, thanks to some serious drug issues the Russians are really there in force to compete.  Me, I don't care so much.  We are a vast country with many, many corporate sponsors who fund training for those with Olympic potential in the hopes of getting endorsements down the road.  We have training camps beyond compare.  We are a country of over 300 million with a vast supply of top athletes to draw from, as opposed to, say Ireland, or Thailand, or Mozambique.  We're sort of like the New York Yankees playing against the winners of the Little League World Series... you know?
Anyway, yesterday, while I was mixing paint, I mixed this:

Squeezing one out for Trump

Before I took the picture, I showed it to some of my associates, and Cori, one of my most reliable said "wow, it looks like Trump pooping out a supporter."

Hhhm, words and pictures, aren't they amazing.

Politics and our current religious war

In this election year both the politician and the businessman are saying they will defeat those Krazy Muslim Extremists.  I wonder how they're planning on doing that.  Neither gives details.  The truth is that is just verbiage Americans want to hear, specifics are not required, they just want someone to tell them "hey, I'm going to kill those mothers."  In campaigns, people say a lot of things.  What they don't say is several things will need to happen in order to take out those extremists.
One of those things is putting troops on the ground.  No one wants to say that.  No one wants to hear that.  Bombing alone creates a lot of damage, buildings get destroyed, people die, and anger grows towards those bombing.  The US carpet bombed the hell out of Vietnam and achieved... nothing.
More important is getting those people on our side.  This means you're going to need to cut back on the anti-Muslim rhetoric, which is where Clinton succeeds and Trump is a total failure.  Republicans completely fail here, mostly because they've got that big Evangelical foot up their ass.  Islam is the enemy.  In other words, if we end up with a Republican president this war will go on for years.. and years... and years.

And if Trump wins he just might start throwing nukes all over the place because he doesn't really understand nuclear weapons, or the damage they do, or the amount of radiation they produce,or how using them is the ultimate failure.  

Whether you like it or not, Islam is here to stay, so make nice with them.  This means our troops can't call them ragheads, or what ever the current derogatory slang is for Muslims.  This is how the world is and we may be a super power, but we don't rule the world.

Trumps speaks Trumplish

Am I the only one who's notice that Trump doesn't really speak... well, English... well?  He sort of wanders his way through words in something I feel we should start calling Trumplish.  And it's not only Donald, his Trumplodites have the same problem.  Now I realize that most of them didn't graduate from high school and those that did hated English but can't they at least try to be a little coherent?  Here's an example from Facebook.

I agree life is going to get worse if Hillary becomes president and Obama is not done trying to kill or destroy so much more for us before he leaves office. It is crazy and sad our own president against our country and Hillary is just like Obama. 😓 worried for all of our Safety.

Now, I don't know this person, but evidently they he / she has no concept of just what is a run on sentence.  Or maybe this is just they way they think... stream of consciousness.  One can only ponder if this is what Joyce aiming for in most of his work, and that maybe he has succeeded in ways he never conceived.  Nah, this is just some dumbshit.   This is just like Donald.

He doesn't even know how to conjugate.

Can you even imagine his acceptance speech if he wins?  

My kind of Chai

Several years ago I began drinking chai tea.  For me it's coffee in the morning (3 large mugs) and chai in the evening (1 large mug).  After trying several brands, I settled on Tazo Chai, Original and everything was find and dandy, until a month and a half ago when I noticed my chai was no longer on the shelf at my local Giant supermarket.  So I sent them an email saying "hey, what's up with that?"  One of the things I pointed out in this email was that a new Weis (pronounced wise among us Dutchies) was opening right across the street from Giant.  I also pointed out that even though Weis might not carry the Tazo tea I enjoyed, if Giant didn't carry it, well, that was one less reason for me to sit at a red light and wait to turn in to Giant (it's right turn on red in PA).  Though I said they didn't need to contact me, one of their managers did, left me a nice voice mail in which he said "no, we're not going to carry" that product anymore.  Pissed me off, of course.
So, what did I do, went on line and looked for a recipe on how to make Chai Tea.  There lots and lots of variations, all of them including several specific spices.  I now have a nice spice collection.

And what's really nice is that I can purchase these spices just about anywhere, even at my 'soon to be open' local Weis supermarket.  It's the little things, you know?  And though my chai doesn't exactly taste the same as Tazo's I think it's better.  The ingredients are fresher.  So now, in the evenings, I find myself settling down with my kind of chai.

Two for the Road

Well, they just finished delivering the 3 tons of pea gravel I ordered last week; all part of the plan to get the dust out of my house, well, not all of it, but to slow it down in a major way.  On dry days, when the dogs are out playing, dust just billows up and into the house.  This is the remedy, I hope.

On a lighter note, the GOP is coming apart at the seams.  Reince Preibis evidently is very, very angry, furious, apoplectic, pissed (take your choice) that Trump will not endorse Paul Ryan.  There's word about that some high ranking officials are thing about having an intervention... and Trump's people are saying one is not necessary.  One of the names being bandied about as part of this team is Newt Gingrich.  See the humor? 

What the GOP doesn't realize, or perhaps doesn't want to realize, is that there is only one person in this whole wide world who might be able to talk any kind of sense to Donald Trump.  The problem is Vladimir Putin is not a Republican.  But you all know in your hearts that if Vlad did call and tell Don to tone down his rhetoric old Don would say, "sure thing baby."  They are close you know.  I know because this picture proves it.

Of course, I might be wrong. This might all be happenstance.  Perhaps Vlad was just riding his horse shirtless (as he most always does) and saw Don standing shirtless along the road, and, of course, when Don saw Vlad he probably stuck out his thumb and asked "Going my way?"  And of course Vlad would have nodded and said, "hey, jump on board and I'll give you a ride."  But then again, maybe this is just an excerpt of the continuing GOP soap opera nightmare.  Think of it as American Horror Story with a Russian twist.... except this versions funny.

Ch..ch..ch..changes

What an interesting Monday, yesterday was, evidently Hillary received a big... big bump because of her well run convention, and I found out I'm being moved to manage another department.
The problem with the Trump convention was that neither he, nor the Republicans could manage to pull themselves out of that cesspool of negativity the seem to love.  Everything is terrible in this country.  Everything is bad.  And Trump, a man who's mental health is now beginning to be questioned, a man who can be baited with a simple tweet, tell the world he's the only one who can save America.  Well, that's pretty much horseshit.
Warren Buffett baited Trump on his taxes.  Trump called Clinton the devil... well, that was to be expected, he has to throw a couple of bones to the evangelical crazies on the right.
And, of course, Hillary did get a big bump... 8% seems to the average when you tally all of the results.  This means we all need to get our shit boots ready because Trump and his horde of Trumplodites are going to go ballistic.  He has already started spouting idiocies about the election being rigged.  He is totally incapable of understanding there are millions, and millions, and millions of people who are totally unimpressed by his own self anointed greatness.  Let's just hope our boots are high enough.

And I had a nice conversation with my store manager yesterday... I'm no longer going to be managing the paint department.  This means there are not going to be anymore bad paint customer stories.  Nope.  In a few days, I will be taking over the reins at the Front End, managing over 40 cashiers, plus the lot attendants and the Pro-Loaders.  This will mean no more 'overnights.'  No more hoisting around 60 lb buckets of paint.  I will now have a schedule which will be similar to the one I worked when I was in accounting.  I might actually give up gaming and start watching TV again.... nah.

Beyond Star Trek

Well, I saw  Star Trek Beyond last evening.
And I liked it... a lot.
The reboot starring Chris Pine as Kirk was also very good, the 2nd in the series, the remake of "The Wrath of Khan," was not.  Abrams trampled on hallowed ground with that one and domestic box office suffered.  Beyond is an original screenplay.  The initial writer was dumped about two weeks into filming and Simon Peg and Doug Jung took over.  After filming was complete another character was added and more scenes were added.  This birth was difficult, but worth it.  Totally.

Since the original Star Trek aired the supporting characters have become leads, but originally there were just three prominent characters:  Kirk, Spock, and Bones.  While the supporting characters all play integral parts, the story mostly revolves around... you guessed it, Kirk, Spock, and Bones.  And those three have conversations.

And let us not forget the action.  Directed by Justin Lin, better known the the "Fast and Furious" films, the action practically goes none stop.  The Enterprise gets destroyed (if you've seen the trailer you know this is not a spoiler), and the scenes inside the ship as the attackers rend it apart are amazing.  How much so?  I actually sat there with my mouth hanging open as I realized Kirk was racing down an exterior passageway bulkhead... his feet pounding on the observation window.  If you were expecting an old-school, contemplative Star Trek, this is not it.  How good is Beyond?  I would go see it again.