A Wining Vote in the House

Crap!  I slept later than I wanted this morning.  And I was in bed by 11 PM.  It must be the heat.  Or maybe the long treadmill session yesterday.  It was a run up along the shore of Lake Superior.  There was supposed to be a 200-foot waterfall which never put in appearance.  

Even though I can list quite a number of chores I completed yesterday, there is an overwhelming consensus between me, myself, and I that not much was accomplished.  

I'm almost at 32,000 words in the next book, The Body Under Ice.  I'm pleased.  I guess the big question right now is will Eli and Max find anything when they put a camera down through a hole in the ice?  Will there be something at the bottom of Lake Huron?  You should know by now, I'll never tell.

I designed a new controller for my Xbox Series X and ordered it.  You can click the link to see it or wait until I take a picture after it arrives in about a month.

Steve Bannon's trial continues today.  He's going to go to jail because he's an asshole.  He's in a lose, lose situation because he thought his loudmouth gave him the authority to do whatever he wanted.  I think he should look on the positive side:  2 years in jail might be the perfect diet he needs to lose some of his blubber.

Oh, and can we talk about the wonderful surprise yesterday?  The one about marriage?  The bill that passed in the House of Representative with some serious Republican support?  47 of them voted Yeah.  You know what I'm talking about.  The bill about marriage equality.  Now you have to remember that this bill protects not only same sex marriage, but interracial marriages as well.  This was because of Oreo Thomas, and his published opinion regarding Roe v Wade.  Will this bill make it to the Senate?  No one knows.  But remember, this is one more reason why it is imperative that Blue wins in the midterms.   We save the country by outvoting those who want an authoritative theocracy running America.

Danny, Say it's So

 Thunderstorms yesterday brought a change of temperature, so I turned the heat on before I went to bed rather than wait to see how cold it was going to get.  Good Thinking.  This morning it was a cool, chilly willy 43 (F) outside.  Inside?  A comfy 71 (F).  Getting older, that seems to be my 'go to' temp.  

Work was steady yesterday - I got 3 measures.  Not bad.  They still have not flipped the button making my part-time status official.  This does 2 things I don't like: keeps me from tweaking my schedule ( work until 7 this evening and back in at 0800 tomorrow morning), it also keeps my metrics high; part-timers have lower goals since they have less hours to meet them.

Social Security is giving me a nice increase, a 5.9% raise to keep up with the cost of living.  That's a nice increase.  Interestingly enough, I had just mentioned to Bathwater that I couldn't remember the last I got a 5% increase.  Well, now I can.

I'm going ahead with the new roofs.  The expected start date is towards the end of November.  That's fine with me.  After that, I'm planning on having some electrical work done, which I suspect will be just as pricey.  

Daniel Craig says he used to go to gay bars for 2 reasons, to keep from getting into fights, and to meet women...   To be honest, the only time I saw a fight was at the Strawberry on 2nd Street during the crush to get to the bar for last call.  As for the women...  only the occasional, usually showing up with their bestie gay guy and not looking for romance.

I understand GOP donors are handing money over to Sinema, this from the Insider.  This would not surprise me.

Finally, it seems as though 22% of Republicans believe the Orange Anus is going to be reinstated before the end of the year.  Who could ask for more conclusive evidence of their stupidity?  Will they turn out to vote?  Don't know.  What I do know is that Democrats and Independence need to turn out in droves for every election possible.  This should be a chilling thought: you can't even imagine the damage Republicans would do to this country if they were to regain control of either the House or the Senate.  Vote Blue

Storm Damage

Well, it's Wednesday and it's raining... and I'm off - don't work today or tomorrow.
Yesterday was interesting for several reasons:  we had primary day in PA - and there was a pink / blue surge... a rather large one, which most likely dumbfounded vast numbers of the GOP - How could large numbers of voters... including a sizable number of women, vote for candidates not associated with the GOP?  No one ever said they were smart.  I'm wondering if there was any relation between the weather and the politics.
Yesterday, at 4:41 my phone buzzed.  My watch buzzed.  The store phone I was holding buzzed.  Tornado warning.  So, what did quite a few of the customers do?  Walk into the plate glass vestibules that mark are entrance and exit to watch shit blow by outside.  That's right.  Carts are careening across the parking.  Branches and chunks of wood are flying through the air, and these people decide to stand in an area that has glass to their left... glass to their right... and glass directly in front of them.  They wanted a 270 degree view of destruction.
When I got home from work I discovered the high winds had ripped a number of  branches from my trees. Storm Damage.

Those are 2 branches the winds ripped from trees on the hill and blew 40 or so odd feet.

And this one was taken from my back porch, looking towards the hill.  Halfway up, on the right hand side, you can see the top of my fence.  Somewhere underneath are my garbage and recycling cans.  Oh, and there are more branches beyond the fence - to both the left and the right.  If the rain lets up, I'm going to go out and start cutting them up.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get out chainsaw.  That means I'll get to wear my lumberjack outfit.

Teach them a lesson

There is a thin red line running like a razor through out parts of this country.  Slicing rights into shreds, this sharp blade wielded by Conservatives stabs at democracy and hacks away freedoms.  The scar tissue left behind is filled with broken people whose lives have been diminished.  Their goal is a Faith based country in which the majority will be outsiders, ostracized and beaten back and crushed.  How do we stop this evil?

Vote.

Blue.

Today is primary day in Pennsylvania.  The decision is up to you.  Vote and triumph, or stay home and succumb.  Your life, your choice, your democracy, is far more precious than they believe.

Teach them a lesson.

Happy Blue Year!!!

So, I went last night I went to bed around 10:00 PM, slept through all the celebrations, and finally drug my butt out of bed around 0730 this AM.  My opinion for a number of years is that if the Earth is 4.5 billion years old (give or take 50 million) what's one more year.
If there was anything, it was that we've managed to so far survive the age of the Idiot Jerk in the White House. 
A more unpopular president has never been seen so early in his presidency, and for so long.
While some say it's too early to forecast 2018 in terms of politics, a number are already attempting to call the shots, and the handicappers are already beginning to place their bets.  Isn't it interesting that they're predicting an at least an additional 24 Blue Seats in the House, maybe more?  They're also predicting a shift in the Senate.  Now that's something to really celebrate!
With that in mind, I'm wishing everybody out there a Happy Blue Year!!

Let the Blue Flags Wave!!

Blue Update

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

Indigo Blue

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