In the Round

 The weekend is upon us.  The temps are cold, but not bitter cold, I know this because Howie's pee doesn't freeze into little stalagmites. their sharp little points thrusting up from the frozen ground.  Around here, the temps actually climbed into the 40s (F) yesterday day.  They're supposed to do the same thing today.  And then the Polar Vortex arrives with a flurry of snow.  Forecasters are calling for 3-6 inches starting tomorrow morning.  Yippee.  It's Sunday, so I'm scheduled to work 12-6.  I will have to wait and see what the roads are like before deciding if I'm going to drive to the store.

Things did get accomplished yesterday.  But mostly I spent time on the book, and cooking up a bean stew with ground beef and carrots.  It is really tasty.  There's enough left over for tomorrow's and Monday's meals.  That was the last of my ground beef.  I'm debating if I want to buy more.  I was never a big red meat eater, I like pork and chicken, or maybe I should say pig and fowl, since I like ham, which is pork, but everybody calls it ham.  I've been trying to schedule the occasional meatless day at least once during the week, and so far it's been working.

I started reading the 3 books used for The Three Body Problem a long time ago.  I've finished the first 2 volumes, though I'm struggling through the third.  My problem is that the story covers hundreds of years and instead of having one narrative thread as in The Lord of the Rings, it's structured around short stories and novelettes and at times the connecting threads are tenuous at best.  I like the things I read to have continuity.  It's also very pro-isolationist.  The thesis of book 2 is that space is like a dark forest and you don't want to shine your light, otherwise some other more advanced civilization with come and conquer you. 

And, of course, the inauguration has been moved indoors.  It's now being held in this shabby little joint.

The Capitol rotunda is just the right size for holding an intimate inauguration for Trump and his coterie of billionaire blow bros.  A vast majority of those who have tickets for the event now find that they have been shat upon.  Now, I'm not saying that the frigid temps might not have something to do with the change of venue, but this is 2025 and large heaters are no doubt already installed beneath the stage to keep the 1% warm and toasty while Orangey rants for an hour and a half.  And do not think for a second he has one wit of a concern for that half a throng of cultists who have descended upon DC to watch him being sworn in.  However, since their votes have been tabulated, they no longer have value.  Though that half throng might be more of a reason than the cold.  People have been checking, and it seems that few, if any, of the hotels in the DC area are booked to capacity.  To give you an idea how small the crowd was going to be, those who have traveled to our nation's capitol to watch, can do so in the warm of the Capitol One Arena.  For those who like numbers, this arena, when at full capacity, seats a little over 20,000.  Ouch!  For a loser who's so desperately in love with large crowds, this would be the fail of a lifetime.