Interpretation Fallacies

Okay, so the Idiot from the White House was in Harrisburg last night.  He started to speak just as I was getting home from work.  I understand there were a lot of protesters there, or at least that's what a Conservative I work with was saying, and that "rioters should be locked up for 10 years."  When I told him protesting was one of our Constitutional Rights he just glowered at me.  Conservatives are high and mighty when it comes to the Constitution, as long as their interpretation is seen as the only possible interpretation.  They're as phony as the Evangelical Christians who see a Deity at work in everything that goes their way, but when things don't?  Well, there's evil in this world.  And they. alone, can decide what's good and evil, what's right and wrong, and their decisions are all based on their own interpretation.

Just looking at the picture above might lead one to interpret that there was quite a crowd, until you understand that at capacity, the New Holland Arena only holds 7318, or the local population.  The population of Harrisburg (the city) is around 80,000.  The population of Enola, the suburb I live in, which is 7 minutes from the New Holland Area, is around 6100 (as of 2010).  The population of Mechanicsburg, about 10 minutes from the Arena, is around 10,000.  In fact, once you start adding things up, the population within a 30 minute drive to the Arena is nearly 2 million.

And from all of those people, the Idiot in the White House managed to draw... how many, 5000?  Of course, we all know that their interpretation has always consisted of more lie than truth.  In fact, it's almost all lie.  I cannot even fathom the screwily twisted logic that goes in the Idiot's brain for him to him consider himself to be even remotely successful.

Lily's Beaver

So, I did my 35 minutes on the eliptical this AM and sitting here at the computer scanning the news and sipping on my Gatorade Frost, when Lily began barking from downstairs.  Where as Big Seig will just bark for the hell of it, she usually barks when she wants something.  I found her sitting in front of the sofa with her beaver in her mouth.  That's right, she has a beaver... a toy.  They both do, or did.  Big Seig ate his and then threw it up because fake fur is non-digestible.  Sitting down on the sofa, I reached for the beaver saying "you want to play?"  She took a step away and, looking up at the staircase, barked again.  She wanted to play alright, but not with me, with Big Seig.  Little hussy.

Anyway, during the 1st quarter of this year, the Economy weakened.  And, of course, the Trumpophones are spitting out their sour note excuses, one of which is... 'the weather.'  Isn't it amazing that every time the economy under performs one of the main reasons is always 'the weather.'  They're saying things are going to improve when the "tax cuts" kick in... but there's no guarantee that they're going to kick in.  And when they do?  Well, I don't know a single company out there that's going to say "oh, we just got a nice big tax cut, let's hire some unnecessary labor!"  But then this is always the problem with Conservative Economics.  Isn't funny how these people who want to reduce the size of government, lay people off to cut our expenses, want someone else to hire people to just sit around.  Nobody hires anybody until the demand for labor is actually there.  I have never worked in a place where an associate gave their notice and a new hire was brought in before they were actually gone.  That's wasted payroll hours, you know?  Nobody hires somebody in with the expectation that down the road there's going to be more work.  When I worked for International Paper we took over the billing for the entire Eastern Seaboard and they waited to see how our current staffing would handle the additional invoicing.  It wasn't until we were a month into it that I had to deal with my first interviews.  This is how life is.  A fact Conservatives like to ignore.

 

And the next War Zone will be?

Okay, so this is my 2nd day off in a row and the weather's just fine.  Took the dogs to the park this AM, they loved it!  They always do!
I'm also working getting my kitchen repainted.  There's a 7 foot section under the cabinets that I will probably be tiling - another new adventure.
In case anybody is wondering, Patty's Mom is still hanging in there and Patty's talking about going to see "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol II," so life goes on.
I see that the government is not going to shut down... at least for another week.  I guess the Idiot needs to say that he achieved something... anything in his first 100 days.  Of course, he's also said that we may become involved in a major conflict in North Korea.  Evidently he doesn't know we tried that once before and pretty much failed.  That's why there is a North Korea and a South Korea.  Things didn't go well then... and the Conservatives, never having learned anything, will probably get us into something that's not going to go well.  And they don't care.  They do like to claim they are the party of National Security however, don't they... well, they stopped saying that for a while after 9/11 because... well, because of 9/11.  I'm just curious as to what their excuse will be?  Weapons of Mass Destruction?  Well, at least this time we know that statement is true.  We won't have to watch any desperate fingers pointing at bombed out baby formula factories claiming they were something they weren't.
And, of course, we'll have to send troops.  That's not going to go over well with the Idiot's supporters.  As long as their own flesh and blood doesn't have to go off and fight, they're fine.  That's what killed 'W's approval rating.  Their children were coming back missing arms and legs and sanity.  Remember how the conservatives didn't want any photographs of Flag draped coffins?  Well, it's going to be more of the same.  Why is it the Rich have no problems sending poor and middle class children off to die?  They rarely if ever send their own because, well, they might die.

That's something Barron's never going to have to do, is it?  Sling a rifle over his shoulder, hunker down in a jungle with tracer bullets flying around him, or have his teeth rattled by the concussion of a grenade going off too close for safety.  This is why the Idiot doesn't understand and doesn't even care.  His spawn are safe.

Patty's Mom

On Monday night, around 11 PM, my friend Patty sent me a text.  "At the hospital with Mom, they say she's not going to live through the night."  Her Mom is 86 years old and bedridden. Since I get up very early, I sent her a sympathy text, planning on calling her later in the AM.  Around 9 she sent back "This is not a good day, I've been to 2 banks and the Funeral Home."
Now, I've known Patty for 9 years, she's a part-time cashier and one of my movie buddies.  Since we both work at the same place, when I got to work I told that her Mom had passed.
And they sent her a sympathy planter.
And then yesterday I found out that her Mom was still alive, that she hadn't died in the early hours of Tuesday morning, that she was still "hanging in there."
Now there are times when my sense of humor boarders on the macabre, so when HR told me that I started to laugh.  Some people didn't like that.  In case you're wondering, Patty thought it funny as well.  She said she was going to send them a card reading "my Mom and I thank you for the sympathy planter."  This is how it goes sometimes.

Segue into the Idiot's attack on Sanctuary Cities and the inevitable judge who declared that attack illegal, and, I believe unconstitutional.  And, of course, the Idiot is Twittering mad.  And only his minority group of supporters is upset.  He is so stupid.  The minute he verbally  attacked the Judge in the Trump University case, the Idiot shit in his pants.  While not all Judges see him as a marked man, the majority do, and they will repeatedly stab him with their steely, little legal knives.  This is what happens when you're an Idiot...  that, ant your campaign promise of a boarder wall gets put on hold by the very party you're representing.   

 

Fitness 22, Trump's Bumps.

Well, it's Tuesday and it's a shitty day so it doesn't bother me that I have to work: skies are overcast, drizzles abound, and the temperature's not going to hit 60 (F).
My business cards arrived yesterday - they're very nice.  I will have to take a picture of one and show you.  Interestingly enough, even though I was off for most of last week, my sales figures put me at number 2 in the district.  Everyone's jumping around shouting 'yippie skippy,' me?  There's pressure on people who have good sales.  I don't want the pressure, it's why I stepped down out of management, so I'll probably let them slide a bit.  That's fine.
I purchased an app for my phone, Fitness 22, actually, it's a subscription that lets you create your own workouts from about 2000 different routines.  I paid for the whole year but will probably cancel in a month or two so it doesn't automatically renew.  So far so good.  This AM it was free weights, some ab work and planks.... I don't usually do planks, so I skipped that one.  Tomorrow I'm running, or jogging, or maybe just walking super duper fast.
When I scanned the news this AM it seemed as though the Idiot in the White House was being abnormally quiet.  Billionaire Mnuchin's supposed to release some sort of info on his new Tax plan tomorrow which is probably going to be some sort of smoke screen.  You see, if people are talking about that, they may take their focus off the fact that the country's going to run out of money on Friday... and that the wall is probably going to be put on the back burner where it will quietly be forgotten - another campaign pledge failure.

So, which workout am I doing?

Time to head off to work.  I get to work tomorrow and then I'm off for 2 days again.  I wonder how much carpet I'll sell this week.

The Water Barrier

Okay, so I got on the scale this morning and the damage wasn't as bad as I was expecting, a gain of 2.9 pounds.  To off set that I jumped on the eliptical and burned off 364 calories.  It's all give and take, you see.  There's a price for everything.
Big Seig is out barking at Mrs. Puff's granddaughter, who's busy putting garbage out on the curb.  He'd be much quieter if she'd just walk over and pet him on the head.  That never happens though.
I also get to back to work today as well.  For 3 days, and then I'm off again for 2.  I have a fixed shift, now if only I could get a fixed schedule, well, that would be ducky.
This week will, I suspect, be tumultuous for the Idiot in the White House.  The problem with Conservatives is that he will have no problem if the country runs out of money.  How do I know this?  Four bankruptcies, at least I think that's how many he's filed.  If they don't give him what he wants, he'll just let the country go broke for a day or two.  He has even planned a weekend getaway to Harrisburg, which is way too close to me, as the crow flies, about 2.3 miles.  Luckily he'll be on the East Shore and a very wide Susquehanna River will create a water barrier.  There will be protests, of course, and if things don't go too well for him this week, I suppose they will more raucous than ever.

I actually live in the upper left hand corner, on a very high hill and the Idiot will be on the right hand side, near those white buildings.

My only worry is that those Crazy Conservatives will cave and give him what he wants.  Of course, that will make them look bad to their constituents, and would, pretty much, represent the defining moment of failure for their party.  Just imagine, American taxpayers saddled with paying for a fence only a bunch of racists want, and a health care package that everybody knows is bad.  Because it's not about what's good for America, it's all about the Idiot getting his way.

Growing a Beard

Okay, so this is the last of my 5 days off and so far it's the nicest weather wise.  I actually got some yard work completed, mowed the grass (with a rotary push mower), used the weed wacker to wack some weeds.  Earlier I took the dogs to the park - we did the 'nature' hike today and they loved it.
Did I go to the gym?  Nope.  Did I get on the scale?  Nope.  Because the weather has been so bad, today is my 'catch up' day.
Yesterday I went down to York and took my friend Betsy out to eat and to a movie for her birthday.  I'd been pushing for Kong Island, but the times did work, so we ended up seeing.... "Beauty and the Beast."  She has a unique perspective in that she's never seen the animated film... ever.  As she says "back then I didn't go to movies, I had too much other shit going on in my life."  To say she loved it would be an understatement.. except for Emma Watson.  As Betsy put it "she was much better in the Harry Potter films."  Seeing it a 2nd time, I spent much less time comparing the live action to the animated version.  The relationship between Gaston and Le Fou seemed much less... platonic this time through.  And even though the audience laughed in the end when Belle tells the Prince he "may have to grow a beard," I thought to myself, my, there's so many implications is that one little sentence.

And for those of you who don't know, the Idiot in the White House is coming to Harrisburg this coming Saturday.  That's the same night as the correspondents dinner, which he doesn't want to attend.  It will, I suspect, be one of those hate filled pep rallies just like the ones he had leading up to the election.  Because it's looking as though this is going to be a bad week for him, it wouldn't surprised me if he amped up the hatred.  He's going to need make sure his Trumplodite hoards ignore his mounting failures, and his historically low poll numbers.  Of course, if things go horrendously bad for him this week, people are going to wonder why he focused on a rally rather try and do his job.

Tomatoes and Trumps buffoonery

So, I planted my first tomato plant yesterday.  I can plant tomatoes in the yard, the dogs leave them alone.  Green Peppers are another story.  They like Green Peppers.  Last year they at those I had planted, even the jalapeno.  If I plant peppers this year, they will have to be outside of the fence where they'll be safe from the dogs, but lunch for the bunnies.

Politically speaking, I suspect the approaching week is going to be a hoot in hell.  The Idiot says he now believes getting anything accomplished in his first 100 days proves (except how much he's failing) nothing.  But then the repeal of Obamacare gets floated again, so it can once again fail.  And then the country is going to run out of money on Friday.  That's right.  Oh, and he's going to be releasing a new tax plan that's going to  be 'huge, really, really huge,' in which individuals and corporations will benefit.  Of course, the individuals who are going to benefit are going to be those in the Betsy DeVos, Steve Mnuchin tax bracket because they deserve to get a tax break.  Right.  Trickle down economics, you know? 

His supporters need to start learning that every time he says 'really, really huge' they're going to get nothing, that he's going to fail.  Let's be honest here.  America is Great, as long as the Republicans aren't in charge.  Their inability to govern is.. well, pathetic to say the least.  In the Idiot's first 100 days it's amounted to nothing more than Executive Orders, which the next Democratic President will over turn faster than the Idiot's mind flip-flops from one lie to another.  Speaking of failure, if you scan the crazy conservative websites you'll see they are already starting to call the Idiot ineffective, of course, what were they expecting?  They put a buffoon in the White House.

Lily had a tick

I discovered it last night as it prepared to chow down on the skin between her shoulders.  Now, I know there are people out there who go into screaming Mimis at the sight of one l - not me.  All I did was reach for the Front Line.  Normally I don't dose my dogs through out the winter; we get cold here in Central PA which is not a good thing for ticks or fleas.  From now until October they'll be getting their monthly treatments.
And I guess, from what I've been reading, their are storm clouds looming over the Idiot in the White House...  Hell, when aren't they looming.  His first 100 days have been marred by a constant stream of stupidity, the likes of which, had they been committed by a Democratic President, would have stroked out 3/4 of the Republicans electorate. (Keep that in mind, next Democratic President).  Any way, I'm talking about the encroaching budgetary battles between the Republicans and the... Republicans,  I'm sure that every now and then a Democrat will flash a bit of leg and say "you want some of this?  It's gonna cost you buddy."  Let's be honest here, a Government Shutdown is just one more example of how Republicans just don't know how to govern.

And I saw something that was supposed to be sad on Facebook regarding Aron Hernandez and his daughter, and how after all the jokes and snide remarks were said and done, she still lost her father.  I do feel sorry for her but in the end, when all is said and done, her father was a murderer who thought only of himself to the very end.

And finally, I haven't been to the gym at all during my vacation... I haven't lifted a weight, or took a 35 minute ride on my elliptical.   That's going to change on Sunday AM.  So, if you hear a loud wailing around 0530, it means I finally got back on the scale. 

Vacation review, so far

Today is the 2nd day of my vacation, at least that's what it's called, you know?  Those days off when you get paid from the hours you've earned the previous year.  I'm not planning on doing too many vactiony things.  Yesterday I went to see my Mom, primed and began painting some interior kitchen shutters, had a couple glasses of wine and watched "Rear Window" on my big TV.
The weather is supposed to be nicer today, warmer with more sunshine.  I'm planning on taking the dogs to the park (they love the park) and then working outside, wacking weeds and cutting up branches.  And tomorrow I'm getting my car inspected first thing in the morning!  Yippie Skippy!  And then it's on to more yard work.  This morning I realized I should have taken more days off.  Ah well, it's too late now.
Just in case nobody mentioned it, Bill O'Reilly got fired.  That's right, after years and years of harassing women he became more expensive then his ratings were worth.  I almost started laughing hysterically, you know?  Of course he'll make out like a bandit financially.  We  can only hope that this is just the beginning of his bad karma.
And down in Georgia, Jon Ossoff missed avoiding a run-off by 2% which is actually quite good.  The GOP jumped up and down, clapping themselves on their crooked, little backs with glee.  They are such dunderheads.  This does not bode well for them in the June election because people hate their interloper president.  And so, so much can go wrong, and most likely will go wrong for them until then.

Everything the Idiot in the White House does to try and improve his ratings fails:  59 Tomahawks in Syria and then nothing, the Mother of All Bombs only takes out 94 in Afghanistan, he brags about sending an "armada" to the North Korean peninsula which actually sales south away from where he said it was going... oh, and he blamed the US Navy for that one.

And one last chortley tidbit:  evidently some reporter asked Jon Ossoff when he was gong to marry his girlfriend because he's 30, and there is that small minded group of people out there who believe that if you're not married there's something wrong with you, oh, and it has to be a heterosexual marriage, other wise there's something wrong with you, and.... you know?

Georgia Votes

So, there's a special election today down in Georgia and even the Idiot in the White House is paying attention.  You see, the Idiot is not that popular (most Idiots aren't) and this election looks like it might be close.  And the GOP isn't happy.  If the Democratic candidate Ossoff gets 40% it'll go into a run off election - something they don't want.  You see, the Idiot's approval rating is low now, what happens if it drops even farther by the time the runoff election rolls around... and we all know it's not going to be improving any time soon.  You see there's a thing called the budget they're going to have work on, and the bad vibes coming from that showdown are already rumbling through the ground beneath their feet. And, if they happen to receive a drubbing today?  Well, that would rub their stinky little noses into their own agenda, not that they would learn any lessons.  Idiots rarely learn anything, that's why they are now, and will always be, Idiots.

And losing this special election wouldn't really do anything to stop the Idiot.  He and his party are like lemmings rushing headlong towards their fatal agenda.  There's nothing they can do to stop themselves.  In fact, it might speed them on their journey.  The more that run over this political cliff, the better it will be for America.

What do Conservatives hate?

Lots of things, most of which are guaranteed by our Constitution.
One of the things they hate more than anything are protests:  they publicly prove that they are not the party of choice and that their policy changes fail when applied to the majority.  But then why should they care about the majority?  This is the 2nd time they've managed to get a Republican into the White House through the electoral college.  And this one's an even bigger idiot then George W.  I mean, one thing you have to say about George W, he didn't lie.  This one lies, daily.  And his supporters don't seem to mind.  That tells you a lot about them, doesn't it, that most likely they lie just as much.  And he flip-flops constantly, depending upon whom is whispering into his ear.
I mean, there were Tax Day protests this past past weekend and he's asking who's paying for them.  The fact that a majority of the people don't like him has yet to sink in... but then I doubt if it will ever sink in because he'd rather lie to himself by telling the world he's popular.  This guy's dumb as shit.
His policies are scatterbrained.  We shoot missiles at Syria, but that's probably a once and done deal.  We drop the "mother of all bombs," with a 1 mile diameter kill zone, and only take out 94.  The fact that this bomb isn't meant for highly mountainous terrain where there are steep hills and valleys didn't seem to occur to anybody.
And there's the possibility he's going to initiate another Korean War because Conservatives like to tell themselves they're military smart.  Wrong, they are as stupid as the Idiot in the White House.  And they hate that.  They want to prove their superiority... and they fail consistently.

Not to be dropped in mountainous terrain

As always, they will never learn.  He will never learn.  And we will pay for their hatred.

Well, it's Easter

I wasn't scheduled today which is amusing since I'm not religious.  That means this is just another day off.  My sister is having me over for dinner, but for the most part today is going to be laundry and yard work.
One of my female associates was disappointed she was scheduled to work.  I'm not really impressed with her performance.  She actually said "with all the holidays we have, I thought the store would be closed."  I have no idea what she was talking about since we're open every holiday except Thanksgiving and Christmas.  In her early 30's, she has 3 kids, 2 from a previous marriage and one from a previous boyfriend, and she let herself get pregnant again because her current boyfriend told her he want the two of them to have a baby, at least that's what she's telling people.  She calls off a lot because of her "kids."  Once this baby is born, I suspect she'll go part-time... I mean, she's already getting support payments for 3 of them, is she really going to need a full time job?
I told Steve, another of my associates, that when he was off I'd run a $7000 carpet sale for him (our carpet can be expensive), and also mentioned that one of the "twins" had been in to change the color of the carpet his brother had ordered.  Steve asked "was their mother with him?"  When I said 'yes' he shook his head and said, "she's evidently the driving financial force behind their project, and from what the brothers say is incredibly difficult to deal with."  Says a lot, don't it.

Oh, and I had to deal with a creepy old man yesterday, meaning he was in his mid-seventies and flirty; at one point he winked at me (I'm surprised you didn't all hear that my inward groan).  I said "that's nice," quite a few times and tried to pawn him off on the pregnant woman when I went to lunch.  Didn't work.  He waited, said he only wanted to work with me....  Ugh.

Well, I'm off to pull a load of laundry from the dryer, and throw another one into the washer.  Fun day.

The Return of Nick

Yesterday was Good Friday - I don't know how good it actually was, I can tell you we were busy at the Flooring Desk - sales going through, measures being scheduled, and the return of Nick, one of the twins I've been working with as he and his brother rehab a house.  Oh, and I got to meet their mother.  She's making the color decisions for this rehab.  She thinks she's color savvy.  She isn't.
On Thursday Max had come into the store, changed the color of the carpet to something a bit lighter and paid for the installation.  Mom evidently didn't like the color even though it was more neutral than the color Nick had chosen previously.  You see she didn't like the way it looked with the color paint she'd chosen which was what you might call a muddy, steel grey, brown which has the potential for looking very dark.  Standing there in the glaring fluorescent lighting, she chose a color just as muddy, just as steel grey, and darker than the painted sample she was using to make her decision.
Now, as part of the measurement process we have pictures taken of the rooms that are to get new flooring; often we see potential problems homeowners do not.  That room is an upstairs bedroom in a Cape Cod, and has one small window at each end, and after that carpet goes in, and with that color paint on the walls, it's going to look like a cave.  That's not the way you entice potential buyers.
Anyway, I Googled Nick and got a pic - he's below, and he is, unfortunately, his Mom's favorite.

At one point I mentioned that the brother, Max, had taken a pic of the carpet color he'd chosen and sent to both his brother and his Mom for approval and had received no response from either.  He then called Nick on the phone and talked over the change of color and got his 'okay.'  Their Mom said, "well, it just doesn't go with the color of the paint," at which point Nick said that Max was "an idiot."  She said nothing.  And I just kind of smiled as I saw failure written all over this project.  Why is  it that some parents are the worst thing that can happen to their children?  

Notes before work

Some quick notes before I head off to work:

"The Fat of the Furious" opens tonight, I'm not going to go see it.  Not one of my favorite genres.  Remember when Vin Diesel was lean, albeit with over-sized pecs, but still attractive?  Well, those days are gone... oh, what?  It's not the Fat of the Furious?"  Jeez, amazing the difference a vowel will make.
The Air Force dropped the "mother of all bombs" on an ISIS cave complex in Afghanistan and killed 36 radicals...  Whoopee.  My comment?  Maybe they should have paid someone to drive a truck instead.
The Idiot in the White House sign a piece of legislation aimed at allowing states to cut funding to Planned Parenthood... and he did it in private... with out an hoopla, no doubt because someone told him this will not improve his approval ratings one bit, except among the common variety of Trumplodite.
I sold some carpeting to a set of twin brothers who are in the business of rehabing houses...no, not the cute ones on HGTV, the cute ones from Harrisburg.  The funny thing is we didn't know they were twins.  I talked to Nick first, and then one of my associates talked to his brother when he came in to pick out carpet. and then I talked to Nick again when he came in to approve the selection, and then yesterday I met his brother when he came to pay.  And, of course, I thought he was Nick, which he wasn't.  Very interesting.
My Wirthing's scale is syncing again... I had to reboot my router to get it to do so.  I told Nokia, the manufacturer that this was not a good thing... at all.
Later.

Withngs Fail

In what seems to be a long time ago, I used to be in shape.  I had a fixed schedule, a fixed shift, I worked out with free weights, rode my bicycle, and then International Paper decided to send my job to Krakow, Poland.  Life changed.  With my new job I lost everything that had been fixed.  Back then I used an Tanita Ironman analyzer to track my body fat, muscle, water, bone, but with needing to have a fully flexible schedule that stopped.  Well, now I have a fixed shift which works well for me, however the Ironman is a little old, the algorithms outdated, so I decided to update.  My first inclination was to go with Garmin since I've always found their products to be extremely reliable... however, there was a lot of positive feedback about the Withings Body Analyzer, and and it was $30 cheaper.
Right off the bat there were some accuracy issues, one day I'd gain 4 pounds and the next day lose 5.  I actually did a week and a half comparative study between the Withings and the old Ironman and the only consistent thing between the 2 was bone density.  Still, at my age my Ironman days are over and I told myself  "I can work with this."  Well, on April 9 the Withings stopped syncing with the App I use to track my stats.  Of course I did all the initial fix-it routines, rebooting, disconnecting and reconnecting it from my wifi, and nothing.  So I contacted Withings, whose parent company is Nokia.  Yesterday they escalated my problem to a Tier 3 complaint.  And I'm waiting.

And I'm also thinking that maybe I shouldn't have been so cheap.

Looking back over some of the glowing reviews, I suspect most of those opinions were from individuals who were not seriously looking for an actual analyzer, but rather something they can step on once a week.  I used mine daily.  Right now the data I get needs to be manually keyed into the App, which is a total fail of what this scale, this analyzer, is supposed to be doing.    

A cut below honesty

So, yesterday I sauntered over to the Returns Desk to see what our lovely customers decided to bring back for a refund.  For the most part these Returns are valid; they bought too much, realized the project was more complicated then they realized, or there's actually a problem with their purchase.  However, about 20% of the Returns are the result of customer stupidity.  In the winter, they bring back paint that's been frozen and tell us there's a problem with the paint... yeah, you let it freeze and now it looks like cottage cheese.
Yesterday a "customer" returned some blinds... real wood slates, saying they were too short.... and they were, I'm certain.  You see, we cut blinds for customers, and those cuts are dependent upon the dimensions the customers give us.  This means that if the customer measures the width of his window incorrectly, thinking it's 29" rather than 30 1/2", we're going to cut the blind too short... and they're going to return it because... well, we cut it wrong.  However, yesterday's customer was really special.  Her blind was cut way too short, and just didn't fit.  And, of course, she didn't want to exchange it for a blind that fit, she just wanted her money back.  When I got the blind back to the department, I opened it up and 'Voila!' it was cut too short.  The problem was that we didn't cut it, the customer did... with a circular saw.

Can you see that black, angular streak, that's where the friction from the saw blade started to burn the wood.  And this customer made 2 separate cuts, one from each side, you can see that because there's a 1/8" ridge next to the char mark.  So, the customer screwed up, and then returned the blind because they screwed up, and had absolutely no problem with no problem in doing so, without understanding that by doing so, they were putting themselves a cut below honesty.

A walk in the parkWell,

Well, it's Tuesday, another beautiful day and, of course, I'm working.  I'm off most of next week and, of course, it's supposed to be cool, cloudy and drizzly.
I took the dogs to the park for a nice walk this AM.  This is always fun, mostly.  The Nissan Rouge sits higher than the old CR-V which means Big Seig needs to be helped if I put them in the cargo bay.  He's a big dog, about 111 pounds, and he has absolutely no problem being lifted up.  Lily is all bouncy and has no problem.
When ever I take them, I usually do so in the morning, when there are not a lot of people, mainly because I have, in total, about 175 (give or take a pound) lbs of dog which some find intimidating.
I read in the NBC news page this AM that the only reason the Idiot retaliated for the poison gas was because Ivanka was infuriated - evidently nobody else in his family gave a shit.

The park

Well, it's off to work. Hopefully it will be as pleasant a day inside as it's going to be outside.

Casting for Darth Trump

So, I got up around 5 this AM and have spent much of the morning putzing around, doing little chores, cleaning up the yard (big dogs = not a small task).
I've been checking to see if the air strike in Syria did anything to improve the Idiot's approval ratings...   Can't find a single thing.  I saw Rubio was on some talk show huffing and puffing about Assad and ISIS, but that doesn't surprise me, I've always thought he was pretty much of a huffer.
And, of course, your seeing blow back on social media because runways weren't targeted.  I wonder if that's where the Russians park their planes... and the Syrians as well.  I did post a comment in Facebook this bit of Idiot Bluster, that a "Crime against Humanity" was only worth 59 Tomahawk missiles and it just happened to coincide with a dismal jobs report.  The fact that both happened on Friday is even more... shall we say interesting.  Keep in mind that those attempting to govern are Republicans, and they have never been too creative.
Of course, right after this bit of foo foo retaliation every one who is any one in the media was asking how this was going to change the Idiot's approach to Syria.  If they'd only waited until yesterday morning, they'd have had their answer.  Nothing's changed.  At all.  This is almost like watching Star Wars, with Putin playing the part of the Evil Emperor and the Idiot desperately wanting to be Darth Vader.  He wants the Force to be with him... now ain't that funny.

Anyway, it's a beautiful day outside, the temperature is supposed to balmy and... I have to go to work.  When the weather's this nice I open both doors so the dogs can have full run, and they love it.  Smart move, because when I leave to put in my 8 hours they're going to be tuckered out.

Carpet?

So, since I'm not a flooring / blinds specialist, I thought I'd chat about customers, since this breed is different than those I dealt with when I ran the paint desk.  For one thing, these people are debating, for the most part, about spending a lot of money.  Carpet can be expensive.  Hardwood is expensive.  Laminate... well, even though it's popular, you can end up with a lot of problems with laminate; it's not uncommon to have issues because most floors, in spite of what we want to believe, are not totally level, and with laminate 1/4" can ruin an install.
I had a carpet customer yesterday whom I'll call Sandy.  She told me she was selling her house.  We hear this a lot, and than the customer usually puts in a lower end carpet.  Not Sandy, she was looking at middle range price points.  She didn't want to pay for a measure, but she sure did want to take home samples... about 15, and she also signed out a sample board.  She also told me her husband needed to approve the color and style...   The sample board she signed out was for patterned carpet, which is unusual for someone wanting to sell their house; I mean, what if the buyer doesn't like it?  Will she buy new carpet?  Probably not.  She spent over an hour and a half looking at colors... you don't put that much time into carpet if you're selling your house.

And then there's another customer I'll call Josiah, a nice young man who lives in the heart of Harrisburg's gayborhood who's just bought a townhouse.  I get the notice that his measure is done so I give him a call and I get the following message "This mailbox is full, please try again later."  Not a good sign.  So I tried again the next day and got the same message.  This does not bode well, I mean, if he can't empty his mailbox he has a bit of a problem.  I did manage to get a hold of him yesterday and he told me he'd stop in to pick out his carpet....  Often, when the customer says that, it's like saying "the check is in the mail."

Anyway, I do get measures and I do get sales and so everybody is happy.  The only thing I really hate is cutting roll carpet and vinyl... I'm very clumsy when it comes to putting it on the cutter and usually ask for assistance.  Besides, it's a cheap product, and I never go cheap, and I can't understand why someone would want to install their own carpet or vinyl...

What retaliation?

So, there was a 'crime against humanity' in Syria and the Idiot in the White house.... retaliated, kind of, well... maybe not as strongly as the initial reports might have led people to believe.  Evidently the airfield is back in operation.  I understand, if you want to watch, there's drone footage of the 'destruction' that's been provided by... the Russians.  Yet there's no indication that any Russian aircraft were destroyed... or damaged, and yet I do believe the Russians use that base to fly missions against those rebels trying to remove Assad from power.
One of the problems Americans have is that when they're told that missiles hit airplane hangers, they picture large, cavernous spaces made of steel and aluminum.  Not in Syria.  The truth is that most of their planes are stored in places much more like bunkers, made of re-enforced concrete.  This doesn't mean that they did take any damage, but nothing as serious as Americans most likely imagined.
And then there's that little fact that the runways weren't targeted...  Ooops.

As time goes on more and more are beginning to understand that the Idiot in the White House has no problem with lying.  He does it regularly.  For him it's okay.  This was more a 'wag the dog' type bit of propaganda than a retaliation.  Unemployment figures also came out on Friday and they were anything but flattering and they needed something to keep the press from talking about that.

Missile Strike?

Opinionated little me, here, with a little discourse about the missile strike last evening, or, I guess, early morning if you happened to be in Syria.  The Idiot in the White House muttered Crimes Against Humanity as a prelude and now there are a lot of people in America who are themselves are muttering, 'ah, he managed to do something right.'  I'm not part of that group.  You see, I'm waiting for the next chorus of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" because they've already started humming the tune.
Let's be honest here, 60 Tomahawk missiles are not going to teach Bashar al Assad anything.  To him, people are expendable, besides, he has more than one airfield.  I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't called his friend Putin (that's right Vlad is on his side) and wondered why there were only 60, and why only one airfield.
And now the Russians are acting pissy, saying they're not going to be part of some very low level agreement on airspace incidents...  A little huff, and puff and a bit of smoke.
The Idiot's Trumplodite hoards are jumping around, waving their flags on Social Media and shrieking that this is something Obama would never have done, or that Hillary would ever have done, and they're not alone.  People with normally sane minds are viewing the footage of this missile attack and whispering 'yes' to themselves, even though nothing has changed.

What people should be doing instead, is wondering if this means we're going to put 'Boots on the Ground.'  Weapons of Mass Destruction, remember?  Crimes against humanity?  To be perfectly honest, the really cynical side of me is shaking his head, believing the real purpose of this missile attack had more to do with politics than morality, that an improved approval rating was the main goal.  As I said earlier, 60 Tomahawk missiles are not going to dissuade Assad from doing anything.

Manilow, more Bannon, and Andromeda

So, I see Barry Manilow finally came out of the closet... at 73.  The LA Times had a silly headline about how he was worried he'd disappoint his fans, but in the end he 'made it.'  Give me a break!  I really get tired of aging pop stars and celebrities (like Richard Chamberlain) who come out in their later years and use that terrible excuse.  They're fans.  As though they suffered in silence to keep their fans happy.  The truth is he didn't just stay in the closet, he made homophobic comments.  And those fan's loyalty is pretty cheap if they're going to desert because of your orientation.  Don't these people know it would be much better if they were honest, admit to being terribly insecure individuals who are simply terrified of publicly saying "I'm gay."  I'd rather that than this 'I'm old and they're old, so it doesn't really make any difference now,' excuse.
And then there's Steve'o, and not the one who used a staple gun on himself, though this Steve'o's just as crazy.  You know, the Alt-Right Svengali who managed to have himself declared the Idiot's 'right hand man.'  Didn't take long for the turf between those two to get muddy, did it?  All sorts of shit hitting that fan, like this from Breitbart.  If Steve'o thought he was going to be the Brain Behind the Idiot, he was wrong, and while he's not yet cleaning the White House shitters, that move might be just around the corner.  And you can bet this is fueling the flames of hatred in the America Haters who just 'love' Breitbart.
And then there's Andromeda...

Reviews have not been... kind.  And, the game does have some issues.  In fact, Andromeda has so many issues there was an update on day one, and another patch is coming today, 16 days after it was released.  If you go the Mass Effect Andromeda website there is a whole laundry list of things today's patch is supposed to start to fix, including more same sex relationships.  I'm not worried, things will get fixed at Bioware's expense, of course the game I'm playing now will not be the game I would be playing 6 months from now.  That's not a very good thing to have to say.

New Rug, Bannon busted, and other stuff

So, my Mom's back at Graysonview and more than a little confused.  I had breakfast with my brother this morning and told him that being sent to the hospital is always bad for her; she doesn't understand.  Her Cardiologists say they believe she had heart stress, and so varied her meds.  Sounds ho, ho, ha, ha to me.  Oh, I looked there is a Heart Stress diagnosis, but still, being sent to the hospital because she got a bit wobbly was probably the cause.
Saw this headline about the ACA and had to post it in Facebook.  This must really piss off Conservatives, you know?  They hate anything and everything sourced by Democrats, especially the ACA.  Wow, I wonder what it's like being part of an ever shrinking minority.
Saw that Steve Bannon has been demoted... though they're not calling it a demotion.  In fact, they lied and said he was part of the NSC just to keep his eye on Flynn.  Wouldn't be surprised if he was part of the transitional team's Russian Contingent.  Either that, or his hugely bad advice has finally been scented out as being bullshit.
After breakfast I zipped down to work and bought... a new rug for the living room.  The old was over 5 years old and been through both Lily's and Seig's puppyhoods.  Time for a replacement.  I've been looking for a while nothing caught my eye until this past week.  I walked into the flooring department one morning saw this rug.  At first I thought it was too bold and too busy, but after looking at it for about 3 hours this was the perfect replacement.

And since I didn't go to the gym today, I'll have to go tomorrow in the AM.

Oh, and I'm scheduled to work the next 6 days... well, maybe not.  I have personal time on the books so I may work 3 and then take a personal day.  Mostly it depends upon how my sales figures look.  If they're good enough to skip a day... well, more power to me.

No Deal

If you thought I was going to talk about the American Freedom Caucus, you're wrong.  Instead, I'd like to touch on a certain customer base.  We have a lot of Indians, and Asians, and Middle Eastern, and a lot of Slovakian groups in Central Pa.  It is not unusual to see women in Burkas wandering our aisles.  For these people haggling is a part of the buying process; a high price is negotiated down to one that is acceptable.  We don't work that way.   We advertise our lowest prices to get people into the store, we entice them into buying with discounted prices.  With the customer base, however, usually the first question they ask is "what discounts are you offering today?"  Right now we are having a deal on free installation on carpet, so I point that out, and their response is always.  "No, what deals do you have on carpet?"  We don't do discounts on carpets.  They don't understand this.
Sometimes they find this frustrating.  Coming from cultures in which prices are always elevated, in which the individual buyer works to get the best deal possible our low prices short circuit their logic.  I had a customer last evening who just couldn't understand.  He kept repeating "there must be a lower price."  He said that a local, Mom & Pop carpet store had given him a total measurement 100 square feet less.  I pulled out the floor plans we created and said "we use lasers, we are very precise," and showed him his square footage.  He then said, "they are smaller, you are bigger, you should give a better discount," to which I said, "we will price match if you bring us a quote for the same type carpet."  He mulled this over for about 2 minutes, and then said "no deal," got up and walked away.

Some of my fellow associates find this frustrating.  I don't.  This is how it is.  I know some who have caved in order to get the sale, which sets a bad precedent.  We have a customer right now who's managed to get markdown after markdown and, in the end, we will lose money because one person said "okay."  I have had people threaten to take their business to our competitor and I've smiled and said, "go ahead;" rather they take the hit than us.

Either we will change or they will.  Somehow I don't think we will start adjusting our sale's plan to account for haggling, so I suspect, in the end, they will have to stop saying "no deal."

The GOP Nuclear Option failure

Some guy named Gorsuch is up for a Supreme Court position, and Mitch McConnell says he will be confirmed this week, even if the Republicans have to pull the their Nuclear Option, which would stop the Democrats from filibustering the nomination.  Doing so would be a horrendous mistake for the GOP... and, of course, most of them are too stupid to know this.  You see right now a majority of Americans view the Idiot in the White has poorly, in fact is approval rating is terribly, terribly bad.  After years and years about hating the ACA, shrieking how they were going to repeal it, and the Idiot in the White house bragging about how he was going to do this in the first 100 days, they failed in a very public way.  To put this in a more simple vernacular, they shit in their pants.
And now the Gorsuch nomination is upon us and this very unpopular party, and their very unpopular president are threatening to go Nuclear.  This is the kind of thing dictators do, you know?  We're in charge, so screw you.  Making this even more worse for the GOP is the fact that now 3 Democrats have said their going to vote for Neil, which makes going Nuclear a purely partisan play.  And America is watching.  And a majority disapproves.  But do you think that matters to the GOP?  Of course not.  Since they managed to get their Idiot in the White House, they're going to do exactly what they want, no matter what the majority think....  Do I smell another pair of shitty pants?

And as I'm typing this my phone and monitor are turning into little Christmas trees with news flashes of bombs going off in St Petersburg... while the Idiot's bro Vlad is in town.  Not good for Vlad.  Sometimes this is what happens to dictators.  Of course, the Idiot's going to blame it on either fake news or the Hilary Clinton... isn't that what he always does?

The Joy of Having Hard Wood

While there are those who's preference leans towards a plushy carpet you can sink into, mine has always been towards hard wood.  Let's be honest here, good hard wood will last forever, carpeting, however, usually only lasts as long as the padding, and once that padding is gone... well... need I say more?  Hard wood is durable.  Spill something on it?  Wipe it up, quick and simple.  Spill something on carpet and you might be blotting for days, and, of course, then you have to worry about staining.  I have hard wood, I also have dogs, big dogs with big nails, so I know the definition of durable.  And I have the real stuff, not the faux hard wood.  You know what I'm talking about, the engineered hard wood, which is designed for those who want the look and lesser price.  The problem with this product is that it is only so thick, approximately 3/8 inch (4.5 mm) at best.  In other words, if you have the faux wood, don't scratch it... at all, because there's nothing there to sand away.  When I worked in paint, a week didn't pass in which I wasn't showing some distraught customer 'stain markers' in order to fix a 'problem.'  They don't work.
In this area, Brazilian Cherry is a very popular hard wood because it's a bit pricey.  Face it, if you want to brag about your wood, you'd better make sure it's top quality.  I had a customer about 2 weeks ago who was upset because we didn't carry samples of Brazilian Cherry.  As I talked to him, I realized he was more interested in the faux wood,  That's right, he wanted to boast about how great his wood was, when, in fact, it wasn't nearly as hard as he wanted people to believe.

This is Brazilian Cherry

Personally, I prefer bamboo.  Fast grower, you know?  Self-replenishing.  Bamboo is great!  Ten minutes after harvesting, it's big again.  Over and Over again.  Non-stop!  Talk about a joy to behold.  Let there be bamboo!

Quick notes

My free weights took longer this morning, added in some rows, upright and standing, and so I'm running in mite bit late.
Saw this hugely funny article this AM about the Idiot in the White House.  Is this administration as close to the brink as a majority of this country thinks?  I suspect so.  I like the part where Mike Flynn says that if 'you ask for immunity then you're guilty.'  Ha ha.  Bet he never thought those words would come back to chew on his ass.
I as expecting my legs to be sore last evening... that was not the case.  Not that I'm afraid of soreness.  I remember once my Mom telling me that if you work out and you're sore afterwards you did something wrong.  She hates pain.  She never understood that some muscle soreness after usually indicates you did something right.
In a little over two weeks I'm off for 5 days.  I have a lot planned, including yard work.  We have pavers on sale... unfortunately they're not as cheap as they were last year.  This year's sale price is $1.56, last year's was $1.37. that's a big difference, in fact, one my actually say that it was a huge, huge difference... Shit, I've got to stop using that word sarcastically.  Ha ha