Anaconda

 Well, it's Wednesday, December 31st and once again we're at New Years Eve.  It's cold outside, 24 (F) and the day is not going to be getting much warmer, at least not over the next few days.  I did check out my electric bill this morning and I've used less electricity this year than I did last year.  Even though the thermometer has been sitting at the cool end, last December was colder.  This year's average temp is 39 (F), last year the average temp was 36 (F).  Those 3 degrees are a good thing.

I did not work yesterday.  Chores were done.  I was going to bake a loaf of bread, however, I can't unscrew the lid off the new jar of yeast I bought.  I've tried all sorts of methods:  holding it under scalding hot water, tapping the lid against the granite counter.  I even have one of those rubber grabbing things that are supposed to help twist off lids.  Nothing is working, So, this morning I'll get out my trusty tin snips and cut the damn thing off.

I did get a nice 10 mile ride in yesterday afternoon.  I'm supposed to get a workout in this morning, but I want to go to the supermarket first.  

And I went to see Anaconda last night.  And some of the humor... well, most of the laughs, were juvenile.  And I have to tell you Anaconda was one of the funniest movies I've seen in years.  Big belly laughs!  There are times when you need to put the cerebral on hold and just laugh at stupid stuff, especially after the freaking awful year we've just been through.

And does anyone know if the Kennedy Center New Years Eve bash is still on?  Or is not only tonight, but the entire season dead?  One of the things Orandie's dimwitted henchies, we're looking at you Rick Grenell, never took into consideration was that the artists that are cancelling signed contracts with the Kennedy Center, prior to them changing the name to kiss Orangie's ass.  Once they added Orangie's name, the venue became a new entity which pretty much nullified every contract that had been signed.  These people are idiots.

Tatiana Schlossberg died from leukemia yesterday at the age of 35.  She was John F. Kennedy's granddaughter.  As we have all come to expect by now, Orangie and his cultists attacked not only her, but the Kennedy's themselves because of the cancellations.  These people are soulless sacks of shit.  They are totally clueless, not that they care, on how much America is beginning to despise them.  Their little world is going to be shattered so badly.  This will be a good thing.

Frugality

 Outside the temp is 27 (F) and we seem to have reached our high for today.  Yepper, we're in for a cold couple of days.  While our temps will climb up into the mid 30s (F) during the week, the forecasters are warning us not to expect anything balmy until... well, maybe next week.

Yesterday was a meh day.  I don't know why.  I didn't do my Monday workout because I started early on the last Monday I was scheduled to work.  This is a bit odd, seeing my hours decrease.  What I dislike mostly is knowing that I might have to use some of my social security check to cover expenses.  I may have to start learning to be frugal.  As I typed that, I remembered The Frugal Gourmet, a man who created a mini-cooking show empire by making dishes that were anything but frugal, and who lost everything when word broke that he was having an affair with his assistant Craig.  The two of them had mutual interest in Hot Rolls.

Being that this is Tuesday, laundry is already in the washer.  Since my bread machine died, I baking today's loaf the old fashioned way, kneading by hand.  This should be fun.

And I have a ride scheduled for this afternoon.  I've been chatting with my trainer about what happens when I training program goes on hold on the December 31.  I told him I have a schedule to implement and he told me to do screen prints of everything.  In my opinion, this is good customer service.  

For those of you who are curious how things ended up with Howie's Wubba, I have to report that the ending was not nice.  That's right, he's lost his head, and will very shortly end up in the trash.

This weekend in politics was interesting.  The Orange Anus now has bruising on both hands, this is not a good look and implies he's being pumped intravenously with some sort of joy juice to keep him functioning.  He met with Zelensky at his Swamp Palace in Mar a Lago.  Their meeting was behind closed doors and when the did speak to the press, Orangie was beside himself with happy dementia.  He actually said Russia invaded the Ukraine because the 2020 election was stolen by the Democrats.  

Orangie also met with Netty the Israeli war criminal and, of course, Orangie had to lie again.  He told the world press that he had spoken with the Israeli President and told him that Netty needed to be pardoned for the corruptioin charges he is facing.  Orangie then went on to say that the President agreed and that this was a done deal.  Later, the Israeli President issued an official statement saying this pardon had never been discussed and that for all intents and purposes it was horseshit.  But then, everybody in the world know how much Orangie lies. 

Going Down

Well, here we are at the start of a new week.  Temps were 37 (F) this morning when I rolled out of bed.  They're going to fall.  This afternoon a blustery cold front is going to blow into the area.  Tomorrow's high is expected to be in the low 30s (F), but only for a day.  Things are going to warm up, though our highs will not be in the 40s (F).

Yesterday was spent at the store.  I got a measure.  As a Christmas present, a customer is having carpet installed installed in her daughter's house.  This is a very nice gesture.  The install is happening at a slow time of year, which will make management happy.

Otherwise the day was slow.  I got my steps in.  Made some notes on the book.  I tend to do that a lot when there are no customers in the store.  Details of the plot advance.  Lines of dialog get written.  Bobby Tussel, the ex- Baltimore police officer with the bullet in his brain, has a number of unfiltered lines.  He still guzzles beer, but since Anchor beer went out of business, he now brews his own at his very own micro-brewery.  His most popular brew is none other than Hunky Donkey Draft, so named because when runs on a treadmill at his local gym, things tend to go flippy floppy in a big way.

And since I don't want to post an proprietary information on the retail market, I'll use our competitor.  This is what Orangie's economy is doing to the home improvement industry.

That's right, many people are not considering home improvements at this time, though if you commit to one right now you might be getting a deal since prices are only going to go up.  I share some info with my brother and he asked what I thought was causing this, my response was the tariffs.  Prices go up, purchasing comes down.  Our store did beat plan when Biden was in office, but beginning in January last year the bottom began to fall out.  People are very wary right now.

Lowes usually employs around 300,000 but recent reports indicate that number has dropped to 270,000, that's a lot of people losing jobs, and that figure doesn't include the number of hours that are being taken away from part-time associates.  Orangie's tariffs are having a snowball effect on the economy and things are not going to improve any time soon.  

Best Buy is hitting their sales plan, but those people purchasing new electronics, laptops and tablets, appear to be replacing items they purchased during the pandemic.  Translation:  that stability and minor growth is temporary.  These people are not going to go out and buy another new laptop or tablet next year.  In fact, as hours continue to get cut, they are going to hold on to the one they have, at least until the economy begins to improve.

Tanking Badly

 Okay, we're just one degree below freezing.  Today's high is supposedly going to be about 7 degrees higher.  Oh, and we're expecting rain, too.  In fact, showers are in the forecast for the next 2 days.  Then the temps are supposed to drop again.  Our high temperatures appear to be trending in the upper 30s (F) for the next two weeks with occasional days when they will be either much higher or much lower.  Right now we seem to be tracking with a winter that's similar to last year, then previous years.

I did work yesterday.  It was slow, though I did have a sale... with a truly terrible markdown because my supervisor told him that we would honor a promotion after it expired.  True, she didn't know he was going to wait 20 days after the promotion to purchase his install.  How much was the markdown?  $910 plus change.  Even though I told the customer that he needed to purchase as soon as possible, he delayed, and always quoted my supervisor.  Perhaps she should have put some restrictions on her promise.  She might actually get written up for her words.

And the store was really slow yesterday.  It's going to be slow today.  It's the season, the slowness came early this year.  Evidently Friday, the day after Christmas, the store was somewhat busy in the morning, and then dead.  In the past, this would have been a very busy day with people returning unneeded gifts and using gift cards.  This is not a good thing.

And someone has had a rough time since Christmas morning.

One thing people need to remember is that Democrats create jobs, Republicans create billionaires.  These two things are not the same.  Tariffs will always be passed onto the consumer no matter what.  For a corporation to "eat" a tariff, they would basically have to accept a cut in revenue, or to put this more simply, they would need to take a "cut in pay."  Billionaires and billionaire corporations are neither beneficent nor benevolent.  One of the main reasons is that Wall Street hates both benevolence and beneficence.  To satisfy the appetite of their investors, corporations will continually raise costs until consumer's stop buying.  That's happening now.  Affordability is not only important, affordability is essential in order to keep our daily lives running smoothly.  Get ready, because once the fiscal year ends and Wall Street will begin to react negatively once corporations start releasing their less than stellar profits.  Will corporations lower prices so consumers buy more?  Absolutely not.  They will cut payroll hours and lay people off.  Corporations would rather cut payroll expenses than cut prices.  Get ready for things to tank... badly.

This is How It Is

Yesterday brought us an icy, snowy, sleety mixture that wasn't nearly as bad here in Central PA as the forecasters had been predicting.  The total accumulation out on the veranda is about 1/4 inch.  That's right, just thick enough to require a sprinkling of ice melt.  The temperature is already above freezing, so that 1/4 inch will be melted in no time.  The long range forecast has our temps climbing into the 40s (F) and rain in our future.  Yippey!

And besides getting a workout in, I didn't really do much yesterday.  Well, I did write one of the Intermezzo chapters that are sprinkled around the book.  While most of the book takes place in the present, the Intermezzo chapters tell the story of Eli's mother.  The unspoken question is:  can you love someone's creativity without really loving that person?  

I did my workout yesterday, and got a response from Dante, my trainer.  That surprised me.  There's a banner across my home page telling me that he's off until Monday.  He and I have been chatting about the next few months, especially since my hours are being cut.  Since I use my paycheck to pay for all of my expenses, the next few weeks will be tight. To compensate, I've begun cutting back on my subscription services.  Mubi has been canceled, as has my subscription to the Rolling Stone.  Having these subscriptions is nice, but I simply do not use them enough to warrant the monthly payment.

Someone is having a very busy Christmas.

And among all of the tweets the Orange Anus is pumping into the system some stand out.  There's an amusing tweet where he speaks of himself in the 3rd person:  Trump is doing a great job!  My favorite is the one in which he falsely claims that the Epstein Files are a Democratic hoax, and that the justice department needs to release all the files with Democratic names.  This tweet is made more special because he also tells the Department of Justice to stop investigating and releasing files and focus on election fraud, a lie that is very near and dear to his heart.  

And all of the while his approval rating continues to drop.  We're approaching the start of a new year.  Many media sources, including the occasional article by the Main Stream Media, are somberly telling the GOP that they need to brace themselves for the upcoming elections in November.  America also needs to begin bracing, because Orangie will get crazier and crazier.  I find it fascinating that more and more media sources are beginning to take note that Democrats are "over performing," as they put it, in just about every special election.  And instead of understanding this and making course corrections to avoid a mid-term massacre, Republicans are continuing to barrel straight towards the cliff.  The truth is that they have lied to themselves for so very long, they would rather die on a sword of their own making, then to admit they are wrong.    Well, this is how it is.

On Becoming a Billionaire

Well, we're just about at brunch time on the day after Christmas.  A winter advisory will be taking effect very shortly.  Snow, ice, and freezing rain are in our forecast for this afternoon and this evening.  Now, doesn't that sound simply wonderful.  Our temps are sitting just below the 30 (F) degree mark and are not expected to rise much.  This is how it goes.

Yesterday was Christmas and it was nice and quiet... mostly.  My neighbors did pop their volume up for a bit, so filled the same Christmas spirit, I popped mine up, too.  I put on some terrible Christmasy romance on Netflix with voluminous string orchestrations.  And, as expected, they shortly dropped their volume down to an acceptable level.  This was me being the good neighbor and reminding them that I can be just as loud as they are, something they are not too particularly fond of.  

Otherwise, yesterday was fairly quiet.  Howie and I ate ham and scalloped potatoes.  Both were delicious.  I have leftovers will will keep my belly happy for the next week.

I did have breakfast with my brother this morning, the reason this is a mid-morning post rather than morning.  He's fine.  He has a well paying job now.  It's 12 month contract.  He's going to try for an extension, if you getting himself permanently hired.  He hasn't said so, but I suspect he and his wife had accumulated a lot of debt.  He also reminded me he's out of touch with what's been happening with the Orange Anus.  So, I did some enlightening.

And I watched City of Shadows on Neflix.  This is an intense psychological thriller.  And it was good.  Some might find a few of the scenes a bit grisly, burnt cadavers can be disgusting.

As I said early, my brother's a bit out of touch with everything the Orange Anus is doing, and saying.  I think this is quite common, not only with Republican voters, but with Democrats as well.  My brother also said that he only checks the news about once a week.  Ignorance is bliss, isn't it.  Again, I suspect that there are a number of Democratic voters who do the same thing.  When I was growing up, we watched the local news and the national news everyday.  I don't think that happens anymore.  Republicans will watch Fox Entertainment because they like the disinformation the hosts and talking heads spew out.  Sleazebag liberals watch NBC, ABC, CNN, and CBS.  But even we, the sleazebags, are turning away from the sources of Main Stream Media.  There are too many other viably accurate sources.  This is why Larry Ellison, the 81 year-old billionaire who bought CBS is throwing his money away.  Even though he's older, he's a lot like me, in that he, too, watched the local news and the national news when they were still legitimate.  That's changed.  Americans are going to tune into CBS the way Republicans tune into Fox Entertainment, because there already is a Fox Entertainment.  Becoming a billionaire doesn't make one smart, just ruthless.

Happy Holidays!!

I am so pleased to report that Santa did stop by last night!  And believe me, I have it on very good authority that nothing beats getting a giant bag of pig ears and a new Wubba for Christmas!  Oh, and the bouncy blue ball is nice, too.

From my house to the rest of the world.  Try and have a happy, peaceful holidays.  And, if you get a chance, gnaw on a pig ear.  I, myself, declined the offer, but Howie says they are super!!!

Not Christmas Eve... yet

When I got up this morning, the temp was a balmy 47 (F) outside.  That, unfortunately is going to be our daily high.  The thermometer has already dropped by 5 degrees.  We are supposed to warm up on Christmas day, but then temps are going to drop.  Friday is predicted to be a sleeting, freezing mess, at least for the afternoon.  That is just what the retail industry needs, bad whether to keep shoppers away.  Those people getting gift cards are going to want to spend them as soon as possible.  

As I'm typing this, I'm listening to my bread machine die.  Sadly, the paddle stopped turning just seconds before the 2nd knead was finished.  After this loaf is baked, the machine will go into the trash and I'll have to think about buying another one.  Though not right away.  As I said, they've cut my hours back to twelve.  That money will cover my living expenses, my movies, the occasional pricy bottle of wine, and nothing else.  

This also means I'm going to put a pause on my personal trainer for a month or two.  While I like the routine, and my trainer is really nice, I would rather sacrifice that for a few weeks than cancel my subscription to Mubi, Dekko, France Channel, and In Film... and skip that occasional pricy bottle of wine.  I'm making a list of all the exercises he has me do and on which days, so I'll still be doing the workouts, I just won't be reporting them to him.

And today is the day before Christmas.  For those who don't know, this is pre-Christmas Eve.  Eve stands for evening, not morning or afternoon.  This is just a short public service announcement from me to you.

And Orangie was up all night hate posting on Truth Social.  He hosted the Kennedy Center Honors last evening  I did a check on the overnight ratings to see how well or poorly the show did.  First thing I saw was that the ratings were the best they've been in years; the top show on TV last night.  Remember, however, The Kennedy Center Honors aired on CBS and CBS is in Orangie's pocket, and we all know how bad he is with numbers.  Other assessments are coming in and it doesn't appear that the show was everything CBS was hoping for.  Initial reports are that viewer ship was down 9% from last year.  The real barometer, I suspect, for last night's ratings is Orangie's hate postings.  He was pure hate and venom.  He shit posts a lot, but when he gets bad news he hate posts, and he was angrily hate posting last night.  There was one about wishing Colbert would die.  Yikes!  I'm betting Orangie's getting a lot of coal in his stocking this Christmas.

Just Who is the Ginger Lad?

Our outside temp is 34 (F) and we have drizzle, with some occasional sleet and flurries thrown into the mix to make driving fun.  The temps should climb up into the 40s (F).  That's fine.  The  sun will not peer down at us because the clouds are going to keep him entirely shielded.  I don't mind the drizzle as long as the temps stay on the milder side.

Yesterday retail was slow.  Not a single customer walked within talking distance of the flooring distance.  One or two did a rapid walk through on their way to some other location in the store. I did cover a lunch at the paint desk at the end of my shift during which I mixed a 5 gallon bucket of a variation on white for an Asian couple.  They wanted a paint that would allow them to wipe off ink and crayon marks; they have at least one child who likes to write on the walls.  I told them there is no such paint.  I peeved them off a bit when I told them that.  I peeved them off even more when I told them the best solution was to keep their kid from writing on the wall.  My words brought a frown to the mother's face.  Whatever happened to simple parenting?

I was supposed to have breakfast with my brother this morning, however he texted me last evening to tell me his daughter's flight from Florida was delayed and he wouldn't get home until nearly 0230.  I replied that these delays were normal now that a reality TV star was running the Department of Transportation.  He did not respond.

Christmas lunch is going to be baked ham and scalloped potatoes.  

And since not everyone follows me on Insta, or Threads, or FB, here 's what I posted this morning.  Hhhmm, just who is the Ginger Lad?

And the big news yesterday was Bill Clinton put out a statement that said "I have nothing to hide," and then challenged Orangie's administration to release the Epstein files.  Afterwards, in one of his unhinged rants Orangie claimed that this Democratic hoax will make Clinton look good.  In their response, the Department of Justice did release another batch of the files in which Orangie is mentioned a substantial number of times.  They also released a statement saying that while some of these released files will make Orangie look bad, readers need to understand that they are all lies.  Can you hear me laughing now?

Orangie also threw another piece of shit at the wall yesterday hoping change conversation away from the Epstein files.  He's naming a new class of battleships after himself.  Hahaha, it didn't stick.

Finally, God Bless the Canadians, they have released the 60 Minute CECOT video and it is zooming across the internet.   This will stick to the wall.

The Cancellation

 We have a "shiver me timbers" cold outside, with our current temp being in the low 20s (F).  Forecasters are saying we are going to warm up into the low 40s (F) this afternoon.  They are probably going to be close to hitting the target.  We are in a warming trend that will continue for about a week, then, if they're still right, our daily highs will drop down into the mid 30s (F) for a day or two.

Yesterday, being Sunday, meant I spent a full day at the store.  I did have a decent flooring sale go through to a senior woman who's putting vinyl plank throughout her home.  She told me that her husband's been in the hospital for over 4 months; he had his foot and lower leg amputated.  I feel bad for her because I suspect he will probably not be coming home.  She's uses a cane and I asked if she ever leaves it someplace, adding that my mom used a cane and seemed to be forever forgetting it at K-Mart.  We had a decent laugh or two. I also felt bad because, even though she didn't say so, I think she's trying to fix up her house so she can sell it.  Being uprooted at her age is difficult, and unfortunately that happens to a lot of seniors.

Our store did hit its sales goal for yesterday, but not for the week.  How busy will we be for the next 3 days is anybody's guess.  Our Christmas set up was much smaller this year, and we have some serious mark-downs going on to try and eliminate our stock.

I have another full-body workout scheduled for this morning.  I ordered a smaller pull bar so I don't need to keep moving the large one around.  Legs are part of the exercise today.  I'm looking forward to working the old quads.

And one of the biggest headlines yesterday was that 60 Minutes cancelled a story that was going to make Orangie's administration look bad.

This was on top of all the flack the administration, particularly the Department of Justice was getting on their seriously flawed release of the Epstein file; the fact every word, every picture of Orangie has apparently been expunged.  And so, being the cynical person I am, the idea occurred to me that, while this 60 Minutes segment did show how terrible immigrants are being treated in the deportation process, this was also a good way to get people to stop talking about the Epstein files.  Are the 2 related?  Without a doubt.  And the problem for this administration, in fact for Conservatives in general, is that no one is buying into the authoritarianism they are trying to sell.  In fact, this administration is underwater in so many place because of Conservative policies.  And things are just going to continue to get worse for them.

12/20, 6:31 PM

When I woke up, the temperature was in the low 30s (F) and has been steadily increasing.  We'll hit a high in the mid 40s (F) today.  Except for a few dips down into the upper 30s (F), our daily highs have, I suspect, reached their winter plateau.  

In just a few hours, just before I head into work, we will as close to the sun as we're going to get this year.  That's right, the Winter Solstice is at 10:03 AM EST.  From then on, our days will begin to grow longer, at first by a few seconds each day, and then by a few minutes each day as our small blue planet moves farther and farther away from the sun.  And yes, that's right for all of you astronomically uninclined. Even though we are at the closest point our orbit around the sun takes us to that fiery inferno, our axis has the northern hemisphere tilted away, and so we are cold.  

I did work yesterday.  I'm not going to make sales for this week.  I'm not going to hit my measure goal.  I will be having a sale go through on next Saturday.  That sale is large enough to cover my sales goal for next week.  Just in  case you were wondering, sales for the store are down.  They always drop in the winter, though usually after the beginning of the new year when, because of the season, most people do not chose to do home improvements.  Yesterday, a Saturday night just 5 days from Christmas, this is what our main aisle looked like.  For reference, the Paint Desk is just past aisle 4, and Checkout is to the left.  And, again, we are only 5 days from Christmas.

And, again, a few more of the Epstein files were released by the Department of Justice yesterday.  The few references to the Orange Anus that were released on Friday and not redacted were deleted.  According to the AP, 16 separate files, including the printed picture of Orangie known as 468 and found in Epstein's desk drawer was disappeared.  There were more pictures of Bill Clinton, as well as some other celebrities, non of which intimated anything bad was happening.  The DOJ also included several pics, one of Clinton, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross that were part of the public domain and not, per se, pictures that were not in the files.  This is against the law, but when has breaking the law ever stopped Orangie, and the Republican Party. 

Simple Truths

 Overnight our low dropped down into the low 20s (F).  Right now our temp is between 21 (F) and 24 (F).  Forecasters are say we're going to get around 15 degrees (F) warmer today, and tomorrow our temps are predicted to be up in the 40s (F).  That's fine with me.

I spent some time yesterday repotting several plants, a rubber tree among them.  When I was in Athens I saw one that was what I suppose might be fully grown and was well over thirty feet tall and more like a tree/bush than a tree.  Mine's about 2 feet tall.  It will never get as tall as the one I saw in Greece.

And I did a full body workout yesterday with the new piece of equipment.  Things well well, though I now know that changes will be happening as far as the equipment is concerned.  I work today, and I'm going to see if I can pick up 2 non-locking carabiners.  Changing from the triceps pull down bar to the biceps lift bar requires moving the bar and they provided locking carabiners, and they take time.  I'm also going to look into getting a smaller bar, the one they provided is almost 4 feet wide and can be cumbersome.  Even no workout is scheduled for today, I'll probably do something.  

And I do work this afternoon.  While the traffic on the roads might be heavy, the flooring department will most likely be slow.  Appliances might be somewhat busy, you know there's nothing like getting a new refrigerator, or a washer/dryer combo for Christmas.  Most of our business will be in our hardware department, after all, nothing says "I love you," like getting your Mom or Dad a tool.

I stole this pic from Adam Kinzinger.  I think this is a rather simple truth.

And, as expected, the Epstein Files were not fully released yesterday.  Only 2.5 gigs of the 300 gigs that comprise the files were made public. While there were a number of pics of Bill Clinton, and a few others, not one picture of the Orange Anus was included.  Searches with just his name came up empty.  There was not a single reference to the Orange Anus included.  The simple truth here is that the Department of Justice is hiding more than mere volumes of deeply incriminating evidence.  Whole documents have been redacted, even though that was not permitted without some form of justification.  There was no justification.  This leads one to believe another simple truth. that Orangie's face, and ass, and other unmentionable parts of his anatomy are spoken of, and pictured throughout the files. 

Another simple truth is that yesterday Elise Stefanik jumped ship.  She's completely withdrawing from politics.  She sold her soul to Orangie thinking he would make her a Republican superstar.  Well, that didn't happen.

  

Breaking the Law

Holey Moley!  Our outside temp is 57 (F).  Of course, we are also having some serious rain. We all know what serious rain means, don't we?  Mud puddles.  We also know that there's a Red Fox Labrador living in the house who simply loves to dig and splash in mud puddles.  For the present, Howie's time outside is being limited.  He doesn't really mind.  He got a bone this morning and had a lot of juicy beef fat melted over his breakfast.  Now he's quite content to just mellow out on the living room sofa. 

Yesterday was quiet.  Cleaning was done.  Writing was done.  A went for a ride in France.  I was busy, and yet I wasn't.  Today there will be more cleaning.  Some plants need to be repotted.  

I have a list of things to be done.  This is essential.  I also have a long workout planned.  The new piece of workout equipment has been added to my routine.  My workout schedule has also been changed to strength training Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with cardio on Tuesday and Thursday.  I will be working the weekends.  The total weight that I'm pulling, and pushing, and lifting is still in flux.  My trainer loves squats, so I always seem to be doing variations with either 30 pounds to 40 pounds.  My friend Jon, the physical therapist, tells me squats are the king of all exercises; they work your largest muscle group (legs) core, and back.  As I've said before, I hate squats.

This is the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Yesterday the Orang Anus had his hand-picked in charge of the Kennedy Center tacked his name onto the front because he's an asshole.  Actually, Congress has to change the name since this is a National Memorial for John F. Kennedy.  This is also one of the many distractions Orangie's administration is throwing at the wall hoping to keep people from paying to much attention to the Epstein Files which are due to be released today.  Word is that they have been heavily redacted, even though the legislation passed by both the House and the Senate forbids any such alterations.  If these changes have been done, Pami Jo Bondi may have criminal charges brought against her, not that they will not be ignored.  But then all of this is dependent on whether or not the Orange Anus allows the files to be released.  Remember, this loser has no problem breaking the law.

Blame it on Biden

Our temps climbed into the mid 40s (F) yesterday.  The warming trend will continue for another day, with temps tomorrow predicted to crack open the middle 50s (F).  55 (F) is the projected high.  I have not problem with that.  Not having to pay for heating my house is nice.  Temps will drop down on Saturday, but then they begin to rebound on Sunday.

The new queen sized sheets I bought at BJs are on the bed and they're a bit baggy, but they'll do.  

Yesterday was my first full workout with the new piece of equipment.  Honestly, I should have done a trial run.  While most of the exercises went well, I'm too big for two of them to be done they way that they should be done, so I had to make some adjustments.  I need to sit facing the back of the machine for the lat pulldown, and for the leg raise, I need to be sitting on a small cushion for the leg raise.  There are always ways to make it work, which is why I now know I should have played around with different exercises before my first workout.

Otherwise, yesterday was fairly normal.  

So, my work schedule is out for the first week in January and I'm down to 13 and a half hours.  I'll probably wait and see how this paycheck looks before deciding on whether or not to start using up my vacation time in bits and pieces.  Hours always get cut this time of year, but because of my tenure I'm usually the last to get cut, so this is not looking good for the other part-timers.

Rather than pay any attention to Orangie's speech last night, I had a couple of glasses of wine and watched Alex Strangelove on Netflix.  It's cute.

And Orangie did speak to the nation last night... well, most comments I've seen have said that he yelled at America.  Many think that he was hopped up on Adderall. As is always the case, he lied.  He blamed Biden for the economy.  He said affordability was a hoax.  He blamed Biden.  He said that eggs had dropped 83% in price.  He blamed Biden.

So, why does Orangie hate Biden so much?  This is an easy one.  Biden won the election in 2020 and proved to the world that Orangie is a loser.  Orangie tried to stage a coup and failed.  So, he also a failure, and in his screwed up mind, Biden's to blame for all of that.  That was the hugest blow his ego has ever had to deal with, and his ego lost it.  

Inflation numbers are out this morning and to quote Justin Wolfers, "they're unexpectedly good."  Would Orangie fudge those numbers?  You can bet your bippy he would.  Inflation did increase, just not as much as economists had been expecting.  One thing I know to be certain, we are raising our prices and this administration will never report that... and if they do, don't worry, it will be Biden's fault.

Funeral For a Friend

Our outside temps are a balmy 27 (F) 🤣😂🤣 And even though the day is supposed to be overcast, the brightness will happen when our afternoon high reaches the mid 40s (F).  There is the possibility of showers, both today and tomorrow, when our thermometers will be ascending into the stratospheric upper 40s (F) and possibly low, low 50s (F).  This is almost like Spring arising, and we're still a week away from Winter.  Oh, joy!

Yesterday was busy in an odd sort of way.  I went to BJ's and exchanged the twin-sized sheets for a set of queen-sized that would fit my bed.  Not surprisingly, there were full-sized sets as well as other twin-sized sets on the shelf labeled queen-sized..  This is the handiwork of uncaring customers who will pick up a product and then change their minds about making the purchase.  Aisle associates should be fixing this problem, but I suspect BJs doesn't really have aisle associates, per se.

The aquariums were cleaned.  The new desk chair was assembled; I left the arms off since I don't know if I'll need them.  I got in a small ride along the shores of Sardinia, the scenery wasn't that impressive.

And then I puttered around with the electric piano a bit; yes I used to play and still do... sort of.  The keyboard was moved downstairs in order to make room for the new piece of workout equipment.  I was pleased to see I still remembered the opening bars of Elton John's Funeral for a Friend.  That was my audition piece when I joined Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia back when I was a sophomore in college.  The song at the heart of The Body in 4:4 Time is one I wrote a number of years ago.  A friend of mine told me that it's very Broadwayish, I told him screaming guitars help a lot.  If I have an email address for you, you may receive a copy.

And now a bit about the Susie Wiles interviews (there were 11 separate sessions) with Vanity Fair.  Orangie's administration is saying this was a hit piece.  Remember, they lie.  As someone else pointed out, the timing is interesting because the Epstein Files are supposed to be released on Friday.  They are going to be throwing as much shit on the wall as possible to change the subject.  Was she being true?  Yes, I think so.  Susie Wiles is a survivor, and while she's claiming what she said is being taken out of context, I suspect she wants to be on one of the lifeboats watching Orangie's ship sink.  Someone else said that she appears to be consolidating her power, and that's true, too.  These little truths were warning shots across Bondi's bow, and Vought's bow, and Rubio's bow, and Musk's bow.  She has no problem in letting everyone in this administration go down with the ship.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she's hoping that's what happens.

   

The Face of Evil

Our morning low was 12 (F).  We are now up to 13 (F).  This is cold.  Today's high is expected to reach freezing.  This cold snap will end overnight and tomorrow's high is expected to be in the mid 40s (F).  Thursday, our temps are predicted to be in the upper 40s (F), maybe even reaching 50 (F).  We are heading into a warm spell.  After that our temps appear to be leveling off with daily highs in the low to mid 40s (F).

Work was very slow yesterday.  Flooring hit sales plan, but many of the other departments did not.  With the economy growing weaker, do not expect people to suddenly start spending money.  

The desk chair upstairs in the computer/workout room is being replaced with a newer, smaller model.  Several years ago, I had wanted a chair that was softer and cushier and bought one that was advertised as being oversized and leather.  Well, 3 years ago the chair basically broke, and two years ago the thin film of leather began peeling off.  The new one arrived this morning.  So, now I've got to bring the old one downstairs and put it in the trash bin.  That will be a chore for this afternoon. 

American Water also added a courtesy credit on my water bill, almost $40.  Evidently they'd been reading my meter wrong and been charging me for extra gallons.  Since they didn't break down the credit to gallon cost, I have no idea if what they've given me is right.  

Of course, the internet was screaming about Orangie's attack on Rob Reiner.  For those of you who didn't get a chance to see what the Spawn of Satan wrote, here it is.

Reiner's son, Nick, a man struggling with mental instability most of his life, has been taken into custody.  Reiner's daughter was the one who discovered her parent's bodies.  This is an American tragedy.  And the Orange Anus used these murders to incite open anger and hostility towards those who don't like him, and stooped so low as to make these terrible deaths about himself.  We all knew he was petty, but this post of his almost makes pettiness look honorable.

This will make his approval rating drop another notch, or three.  Many Republicans will stick with like dog shit on your shoe because without him, they are just shit.  I told my friend Patty that when he is gone, there will be no Republican Party and she, being a Republican, was surprised.  These people simply do not understand the hatred that is growing against them.  They live in this delusional world.  To actually live in reality would break them to pieces.

Wake Up Dead Man

 Howie and I woke up to an outside temp of 16 (F) this morning.  When I opened the back door for him to go do his morning business, I warned him, "it's cold out, so pee fast and don't wait for the icicle to form."  That dog is smart.  He listened, though took enough time to pick up a fallen stick in the yard to traded for a peanut butter puppy cookie when he came back inside.  Luckily for him, temps are about to warm up.  Our cold December is about to end.  Tomorrow's temp will be in the mid 40s (F).  Wednesday and Thursday our daily temps are predicted to climb into the upper 40s (F) nearing 50 (F).  For those keeping records, this is what's been happening over the past years, at least here in Central PA.

I did work yesterday.  Our store did make plan, not because over all sales were good, but because two large sales went through in Millwork, either doors or windows.  That's odd, because this is not the time of year when people have either of those two installed.  Cold temps, you know?  Even with moderately cold temps, replacing doors and windows means letting outside air into your house.  This is also why flooring installs slow down.  No one wants their doors standing open while the product is brought inside.

My trainer sent me a text, apparently I will be utilizing my new piece of workout equipment starting this Wednesday.  Also, my new work schedule goes into effect starting today, so my workouts and cardio will be happening Monday thru Friday with my weekends off.  That's fine with me.

And I watched Wake Up Dead Man, a Knives Out Mystery last evening.  This one is so much better than the last one, though still suffers somewhat from the same problem:  not enough clues are given to justify the denouement.  In a mystery, clues and red herrings should be scattered throughout because much of the fun is in trying to deduce who the killer is, and while there are more of them in Wake Up Dead Man than in Rian Johnson's previous endeavor, the denouement still plays like a separate film.  Josh O'Connor is great as a troubled priest trying to make good, and the rest of the cast is also for the most part, superb, though I didn't for an instant believe the young, black man was a Republican for an instant.  The movie is a fun watch, just don't waste too much time trying to decided what is a clue and what isn't.

And the turmoil in America continued yesterday.  Orangie gave some sort of Christmas speech at the White House rambled on about sea snakes.  He's also talking about taking over the golf courses surrounding Washington DC.  More and more you are beginning to see Main Stream Media publishing articles regarding his weaknesses.  Even the Washington Post had an article this morning about his MAGA base beginning to crack.  This is because Conservatives always lie.  While the economy under Biden was improving from the hell hole left by Orangie's first administration, Republicans demonized it, promising to make everything better.  And they lied.  What they were truly saying was that they were going to make the economy better for billionaires.  And MAGA cultists who believed the lies, are beginning to understand how badly they've been played by groups such as the Heritage Foundation.  This doesn't mean they're growing wiser, they will always believe the lies, because growing wiser means dealing with change and that will never happen.  So they will grow angry, and not vote in the upcoming elections, and when they do vote again it will be for another Republican because they will once again believe the lies.

Root of all Evil

 Well, we got snow.  Not much. An inch, possibly an inch and a quarter of the stuff fell overnight.  Unlike most dogs, Howie was much more interested in finding a stick, or a stone, to bring in the house to trade for a treat.  Our temp is hanging around 25 (F).  We will not be warming up today.  That's our high.  After tomorrow, our temps will be moderate up into the mid 40s (F).  That will be fine.  December has been an expensive month for heating.

I did my morning workout yesterday, and that went well.  Because of the new piece of gym equipment, I've moved the weight bench and the dumbbells into another room where there is more space.  Who'd have thought that my second floor would become a gym? By the way, for those of you who haven't been to Greece, the root word for gym means naked, so a gymnasium is a naked training area.  Unlike those Greeks of long ago, I do wear clothing when I'm working out.  I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Being that yesterday was Saturday, I also worked.  Retail was slow.  While the store did hit our sales plan yesterday, the flooring department didn't.  For the week we are quite a bit below plan.  During a chat with our store manager, he implied that our district was doing much better than most. j This problem is not going away anytime soon.

And, as I said, Howie was more interested in finding a stick, or stone than playing in the snow.  That doesn't mean he didn't get a snow nose.

Orangie was chosen to do the coin toss at yesterday's Army/Navy game.  The idea is to get the coin to flip end on end and he chose to use some sort of floofy launch toss.  There were a lot of comments on social media because he truly did not look as though he knew what he was supposed to do.  This is abnormal.

And there were more shootings, but in Rhode Island and and Australia.  Hate is a seed that needs to be planted before it can grow.  Both religion and politics plant a lot of seeds.  Does this mean they are the root of all evil?  That is something I do not doubt, especially when it comes to religion, and religion is not going to fix itself.  That will need to be done by others.

Hoax

We're going to be having a bit of a warmup this afternoon when temps reach the mid 40s (F) here in Central Pa, but fear not, they will drop overnight as a cold front rushes over the state.  We're also supposed to be getting a coating of snow.  After tomorrow, forecasters are predicting more seasonal temps will return.  Daily highs are expected to be in the mid to upper 40s (F).  Right now, however, the sun his hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds and temps are in the low 20s (F)

I did some shopping yesterday morning, hitting both BJ's and my neighborhood Giant supermarket.  I will have to return one of my purchases to BJ's.  I bought a set of sheets, however, someone must have inadvertently put a set of Twin Size sheets in the box labeled Queen Sized sheets and I purchased the wrong size.  I work in retail, so I should have known better.  I know how often a customer will pick up a product and then return  it to the wrong place on the shelf.

Yesterday, I was supposed to ride the bike, but instead I spent that time finishing up the assembly of my new gym equipment.  I have one more thing to screw in place today and then I'm finished.  I thought the pulley system was going to be tricky, and was pleasantly surprised at how easily the wheels, sprockets, and wires went into place.  Why... they practically strung themselves.  I rescheduled the ride until next Thursday, rather than canceling it.  

Of course, yesterday I had to laugh at this:

 

Orangie, and everyone else in that meeting was wearing cowboy hats.  His hat was the only one with white strings.  Cowboy hats don't normally come with strings.  They are on little kid's cowboy hats, though, so they can be tied to keep them from falling off of their little heads.  

More Epstein pics were released and as usual, Orangie's administration said they were a Democratic Hoax.

Maria Barti (something or other) went on Fox Entertainment and said that affordability was a Democratic Hoax.

In fact, hoax now appears to be the word of the day, week, and month.  Every Republican out there is now calling every bit of bad news out there a hoax.  I suppose that will keep the cultists happy for the time being.

Good News

 Well, we've got 28 (F) for a temp and partly cloudy skies.  Occasionally the sun pops through, so if the snow is ever heavy enough we might to see a snowbow.  Temps are on the rise, though, with a high this afternoon expected to be in the upper 30s (F) and tomorrow's high in the mid 40s (F).  Sunday?   According to forecasters, that will be another cold one.  I suspect this will be an interesting winter.

My new piece of equipment arrived and I spent most of yesterday putting all the parts together.  I'm almost finished.  One of the things I found amusing was that when I purchased it, some of the complaints were that assembly took a few hours.  Gimme a break, people.  But then these complaints usually come from people who have never assembled anything.  The only mistake I made was in moving my desk.  I thought this would give me more space, well, I was proven wrong, so once assembly is complete, I'll be moving the it back.  Here's a pic of what it looked like unpacked.

The game of the year awards were held last evening.  Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ran away with the awards winning more than any game ever.  I love this game, (spoiler) about a mother trying to keep her dead son alive in a painting during the Belle Epoque, and a father who wants to destroy the painting to let their son die.  Sandfall Entertainment, which produced the game is an independent studio.  Many of the people who worked on it have never worked on a video game before.  The classical style music is original.  The artwork is amazing.

And yesterday, the Republicans in Indiana told the Orange Anus to shut up.  They voted against redistricting.  His party knows that if they lose the midterms, he will be impeached a again, and this time America will get rid of not only him, but many of his minions.  That's if he's still alive, rumors abound that he's going downhill fast.

For laughs, Kristi Noem walked out of Congressional hearing, exorcised perhaps by a priest and protestors chanting, "the power of Christ compels you!"  I wonder if she has any sort of an inkling of what's in store for her, or is she just that stupid.  Inkling might be too weak of a word.  Just think, she may have spent all that time and money on plastic surgery just to have her face wrinkle to hell in a prison cell.

The Wannabe Gods

 The cold front that is slowly moving through Central PA is still slowly moving through Central PA.  Our current temp is 31 (F) and we're going to climb a full 1 degree to 32 (F) to reach our high for the day.  According to Accuweather, our temps will not return to the 40s (F) until sometime around December 20.  After that, our daily highs will be considered seasonably warm.

Yesterday was kind of a mixed day.  I did get my workout done in the morning, though I will admit to not being at my best.  Part of the problems was not sleeping well Tuesday night.  And then yesterday afternoon I had lunch with friends.  That was fun.  We get together every 3 months.  This works out well.  Since we're all retired, I think if we met more often our conversations would soon tend to veer into repetitiveness, or worse, the dreaded ailment of the month category.

One thing that did make me laugh was the suggestion that I might want to build a dumbbell stand.  Right now they are lined up along the wall on the floor.  That would entail using a drill, and measuring, and building and... well, let me be perfectly honest.  I am not a constructo type person.  Not in the least.  As such, the dumbbells will stay where they are.

And the new piece of workout equipment is arriving today.  This means I'll be taking a personal day away from the flooring desk since I don't want the boxes sitting out on my front porch until I get home this evening.  This also means I'll start putting the thing together.  Notice, I can assemble, I simply can't build.

And here's a pic of my Christmas cactus which is blooming again.

And evidently we've become a pirate nation now, mostly because of big Oil.  If anybody had any doubts why Orangie's administration was so interested in Venezuela, the truth came out yesterday.  For those of you among the uninformed, Venezuela is sitting on approximately 18% of the world's oil reserves.  Wowza!  This has nothing to do about drugs, or sinking drug boats and everything to do with simply, unadulterated greed.  Big Oil can never, ever be rich enough.  And those billionaires at top?  They truly do believe themselves to be gods.  These people simply refuse to understand the way of the world.  They do not look at history, which constantly reminds us that those on top always fall, because, being mere mortals and not gods, they over extend themselves in so many, many ways.  They will never learn because they always believe themselves to be smarter than those failures who came before them.  They are not.  The only difference between our current crop of wannabe gods and those of the past is that when this group fails, those failures will be spectacular.  

Ellen Higgins

 Well, our outside temp is above freezing.  That's nice.  This afternoon we might actually hit the upper 30 (F).  I can live with that.  There were a few moments yesterday when I thought the house was too cold and I was tempted to turn the heat up to 70 (F), but didn't.  Over the next few days we will be hitting daily highs in the 40s (F) and the house will warm up.  The bones of the house get cold when we have more than a few days of really cold temps.

I cook up beef bones for Howie to gnaw on' they are special treats given on rare occasions.  He got one this morning and was so delighted.  Fifteen minutes after he'd been chewing, he wanted to go out and, unbeknownst to me, took his newest bone with him.  Five minutes later when I checked to see if he was ready to come back inside, he was patiently waiting on the porch, bone in mouth.  They are very special to him for about 3 hours, then, once their beefy flavor is gone, he casts them aside.

I've been doing much research on NDAs for the new book because... well, NDAs might play a part in the mystery, or then again, they might be another red herring I'm throwing out for the reader to ponder.  Did you now they need to be very specific about forms of communication?  For example singing.  Singing is not spoken.  The same holds true with American Sign Language, or British Sign Language (there is a difference).  And NDAs need to be quite specific since even blinking a yes or now answer is a form of communication.  This is so interesting.

And the voters in Miami and a new Mayor, and she's a Democrat!  The first in 30 years! And it wasn't even close.  Ellen Higgins beat Orangie's guy by 18%.  Believe me, that ain't peanuts.

Latino voters are realizing that Orangie and his regime see them, and I mean all of them, as brown skinned immigrants who should be sent back to where ever they came from.

And, as if Higgins' win was not bad enough for Republicans, Eric Gisler. a Democrat had an upset victory in a House Seat in Georgia.  Let me repeat that, the Democrat beat the Republican in Georgia, in a district that's been Red since the earth was formed.  Wowza!

To celebrate his continued destruction of the Republican Party, Orangie started his Affordability Tour, a campaign type rally, the first of which was held in Pennsylvania.  As anyone with half a brain might have expected, he continued whining about his losses.  He also repeated his claims that kids don't need 37 pencils, they only need 2, and that 7 dolls is way too many for a little girl to own.  That's right.  He told his audience that they need to just get used to the fact that they're going to be paying those basically tax exempt billionaires even more of their hard earned wages.  Even the cultists with half brains were not impressed.

And So It Begins

 They said that the temps were going to drop over night and they were right.  Our temp is sitting at a very cold 10 (F).  That is cold  Everything outside is frozen.  We are going to stay below 32 (F) or 0 (C) until sometime after midnight.  There's another front coming through which should be warming things up... a bit.  And a reminder, we're still in autumn.  Winter doesn't start for another 2 weeks or so.  One bright thing to keep in mind, once we hit the winter solstice, days will begin getting longer again.  Just a few seconds at first, but by the time we get into February we will have an extra minute or two of sunlight every day.

I worked yesterday.  The first thing I do every Monday is check my sales figures.  I made hit both sales and measure goals, however there was a change between Sunday and Monday.  On Sunday I needed one measure to hit my goal, I got 3 last week.  Yesterday, that goal had some how miraculously increased to 2.  I still hit my goal, however no one else in the department did.  We also received a communication letting us know that carpet prices were being "standardized."  Prices were changed to reflect the density of carpet pile.  According to the communication, 40% of our carpets went down in price.  The other 60%?  Well, their prices increased.  The communications regarding price increases are all worded in such a way as to make it sound as though customers will be getting a better deal.  They are not.

On top of that, I eat dried blueberries with breakfast, either in my oatmeal or my cooked barley.  I get them from a company called Nuts.com.  I got an email from them telling me that the one pound bags I buy are now going to be 13 ounce bags.  But rest assured, the prices have been adjust accordingly.  This means that the price per ounce has gone up by 2 cents.  And so it begins.

This doesn't mean that prices haven't been going up for some time now, just that the increases are going to be coming at us faster with more ferocity.  Fasten your seat belts, for I suspect the crash that's coming is going to rock and roll them billionaires who have no idea how thin the ice is they're standing on.

And, in case you missed it, Orangie signed some sort of Executive Order to bail out the farmers his tariffs have been killing.  How much of our tax dollars are going to be spent to salvage their lives?  Between $11 and $12 billion.  As expected, Orangie lied and said that these monies are going to be coming from the tariffs Americans foreign companies have been paying.  In some sort of odd way this is almost like being taxed twice, isn't it?  Not that the billionaires care.  Nope.  I don't doubt that Orangie views billionaires as gods of business and commerce, and since he's fascinated by gods, and dictators, and authoritarians, he's going to give them everything their dirty little hearts desire.  Billionaires really do need to start studying the French Revolution, and just what it was that led up to all of that bloodshed.

The Price Dam is About to Break

Apparently our outside temp of 28 (F) is very close to being our daily high.  Overnight, our low is expected to be in the upper teens.  This means it's wooly blanket time.  And maybe a cup of hot tea while I'm killing aliens and scrappers in Outer Worlds 2.  Things will be warming up.  After this pinch of cold, temps are expected to begin warming up.  That's fine with me.  I don't mind the cold.  But moderate temps are better for my heating bill.

Being that yesterday was Sunday, no workout or rides were planned.  I did work however, and surprisingly managed to sell 2 installs.  That should keep management happy.  I also had to deal with a customer who wanted to pay for a carpet measure and wanted us to give him the measurements.  That's a no.  Room dimensions and square footage are considered proprietary until the customer actually purchases the measure.  I am being paid to sell installations, not the measurements.  There are people, if given the measure documents, who will seek out a cheaper contractor for the installation.  This customer was one of those people and, as a result, he was sorely disappointed.

I had already decided on a picture to post in today's blog and then this popped up in my Facebook feed.  A long time ago, in a land oh... about 30 miles away, I spent some time involved in theater.  Yes, at one point in my life I was a song and dance man.  Thinking about those days makes me laugh, they were a lot of fun.  Anyway, here I am center stage in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Being that we did have a weekend, political news was a bit lite.  Rumors are circulating that a number of Republicans from safe are not going to be running for re-election.  While this might seem to imply something, keep in mind that these are so-called Safe Districts, meaning no matter which Republican runs, he or she is most like going to be elected.  Now, if the districts were considered Purple, where a swing either way could happen, then I'd say this is big news.

A rumor also went through social media the John Fetterman was going to be quitting.  Again, this is just a rumor.  Evidently big John wrote a book in which, in one sentence, he said something to the effect that if he'd known what the stroke was going to to do his brain he'd have quit.  Of course, desperate people will always take things out of context.  This is something that the Republicans count on.

And finally, the WaPo had a headline this morning about how Orangie was heading into Biden territory when it came public dissatisfaction with the economy.  Adding to that was another one of their headlines telling people that tariff price increases were about to come home to roost.  This is because leading up to Orangie's tariff war, many retailers bought extra thinking that by this time our trading partners would be ready to throw in the towel.  Well, that isn't happening.  I suspect that a number of them want to break us in two.  Others, like China, have only seen their trade improve greatly.  Get ready for the price dam to break.

Squirrel

Well, we've had a warmer start today than we did over the past few days.  Our temp was in 36 (F) when I got up this morning.  Sadly, only a few degrees are going to be added to that before cold moves into the area.  Tomorrow's low is supposed to tie our all time low for December 8.  My house temp is still set at 69 (F), so I will have to see if the chill effects my aging bones.  Every degree higher on the thermostat will raise my natural gas bill a smidgen and I can think of far funner things to spend my money on, especially when sweatpants and sweatshirts are in season.

I did get my morning workout in yesterday, and then I went to work.  Boring.  Really.  I talked to 2 customers.  For the first 2.5 hours one of my fellow associates and one of our aisle associates talked football.  Very boring.  So, I ended up doing laps of the building in order to get my steps completed.  Saturdays are usually our busiest day of the week, yesterday was not busy.  I suspect this is the case in many places.  When I left work, I was surprised at how little traffic there was on the roads. We are 18 days from Christmas, and all I could do was wonder where are all of the shoppers.

My computer/workout room is going to be going through a change.  I did buy another piece of exercise equipment that is supposed to arrive next Friday.  Assembly is supposed to take several hours.  I'll post pics after that happens, until that happens, here's a pic of a squirrel in my gingko.

Besides the laughable FIFA peace award created to make Orangie happy dappy, evidently he hosted the Kennedy Center Honors.  Wait, is the building still called the Kennedy Center?  Didn't he change the name to the Trump Disposium.  You do know what a disposium is, don't you?  That's a fancy name for a gathering of trash made up entirely of actors and musicians whose careers are way past their expiration date.  Being old and dementiated, Orangie still believes these individuals are still in the prime of their careers.  Nothing else matters to him.  The Kennedy Ceneter Honors used to go to individuals who achieved greatness during their careers, whose lives stood for something.  Orangie only wants "has beens," probably because they're the only ones who want him.

FIFA Fool

So, here we are on Saturday and our temperature hasn't changed that much.   We never got out of the 20s (F) yesterday, though that's supposed to changed this afternoon.  Forecasters say will top off in the mid 30s (F).  Warmer temps will melt the ice in my yard and that's good.  Howie like chewing on ice and will bring chunks, and everything frozen inside them, into the house.  He's learned the definition of bartering.  He brings in a stone, a twig, or a chunk of ice and sits waiting for me to offer him a tasty treat in exchange.

I did manage to get in a 13+ mile ride in yesterday in Thailand, of all places.  Described as an "easy ride along scenic beaches," those miles were anything but.  I should have realized this when I got to the "small hill" with the 10% grade at the beginning.  My average heart rate was 121 BPM and I rode for over 55 minutes.  That's some damn good cardio.  My trainer was impressed.  

I also finished a chapter in the book called EGBDF.  Those of you who have sang in a choir or learned to play an instrument know those letters stand for Every Good Boy Does Find... well, maybe.  Evil laugh.

And Spottify sent me my yearend wrap up.  My listening age is 28.  I posted this info on social media saying "nothing new here."  I also sent a copy to my trainer, who likes listening to Classic Rock and is 28 years old.  He sent his to me.  His listening age is 73.  My friend Jon (the physical therapist) is 26 and his listening age is also 73.  What in hell is wrong with young people?

And yesterday this happened.

I know people in foreign countries.  We are the laughing stock of the world.  FIFA gave him a phony peace medal because the Nobel Peace Prize is not given to pedophiles and dictator wannabes.  For those who didn't see any of the clips from this award ceremony, I can tell you Orangie's face lit up like a kid in a candy shop.  You see he doesn't need an legitimate award, a piece of fluff and deceit will work every time.  

He then went on to have his name put on another building because he seriously thinks that makes him important.  This old fool does not realize that the minute he's out of office every building bearing his name is going to be scrubbed clean, decontaminated, sanitized, and renamed.  That day can't come soon enough.  

Matthias & Maxime

We got a cold one outside, folks with our current temp at 20 (F).  If the forecast holds, we're not going to climb above the 30 (F) temp today, which will make this the coldest day so far this winter.  I don't know how cold we actually got overnight, but according to WGAL-TV we might be breaking a 99 year old record.  Over the past few years, we've always had cold beginnings to December and this year looks to be fitting right in with that trend.  We'll have to wait to see if we warm up, as in previous years.

Yesterday was a rest day, so there was no workout and no bike ride.  That will come to an end on 12/18.  December 11 is the last Thursday I'll be earning money by sitting at the flooring desk.  This is fine.  I don't think I'll be missing those hours.  I'm a talker, but after 7 years of talking about flooring to people, I think that subject has just about worn itself out.  However, there was a standout moment yesterday.  There was a customer who looked very familiar and he and I began chatting.  I asked him his name and as soon as he told me everything popped into place.  It turns out we worked together 48 years ago when I was an auditor at Marriott.  He used to be a hottie back then, that has changed.  I've also talked to him several times since I've been working the great orange home improvement retailer; those times he doesn't remember.  This is how it is.

I watched Matthias & Maxime on Mubi last evening.  It's about 2 long time friends in their very late 20s who are short film that changes their lives.  No spoilers here, but they struggle to define what friendship is, and what it isn't.  The movie was nominated for best picture at Cannes, so this is no lite weight film.  It's in French Canadian (different than French) and English.  I liked this a lot.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had just one day in which the shit show in Washington was quiet?  That will never happen as long as the Orange Anus is in the White House.  He needs to expose his dementia on a daily basis, and when he does so, he gets praised by those sycophants around him.  I hear what comes out of their mouths and... sometimes I feel like I'm lost in a play by Ionesco.  This is not the way it is supposed to be.  We are supposed to be a species that is both intelligent and civilized, yet so many of us seem to love wallowing in the stupid.  I do not doubt for a second that a century from now this time period will be known as the Modern Dark Ages.  Conspiracy theories will no doubt lead to a great die off, and only those retaining some smidgen of intelligence will survive.  Too many conservatives want people to be kept stupid since that makes it easier to lead them around by the nose.  These conservatives simply don't understand that the human species needs intelligent people to survive, not sheep.