Cake

 Well, here it is Thursday.  Outside the temps are in the upper 60s (F).  It's nice.  They're supposed to climb up into the lower 90s (F) today.  That will be nice, too.  I do have lawn work to do.  Most importantly, however, is the fact that there is no rain in the forecast, not until tomorrow and Saturday, at least.  I work Saturday, so the weather is not going to bother me in the least.

Plans for today include not only some yardwork, but a trip to Staples.  I simply cannot connect to that HP laser printer.  I tried a factory reset and it remains offline.  As a last resort I'm going to do a hardwire connection and to do that I need a USB 2.0 A/B cable.  No cable was included because it was deemed unnecessary; everything is wireless these days.  This will entail rearranging things around my desk.  So be it.

Yesterday was one of those, sort of do nothing days because I had lunch with friends.  I've known Tami for over 45 years.  We used to hit the bars together a long time ago.  We don't reminisce a lot, rather we talk a lot about things that are happening now.  Her partner Ann just finished reading a book about Johnson & Johnson, and all the terrible things they've done for greed.  And, as might be expected, we discussed the Orange Anus because it's good to share detestable thoughts about that losing sack of shit.  And, since my blood sugar is a bit high, I celebrated by having a slice of Chocolate Lava Cake for desert.  It was tasty, but I don't doubt it was premade, frozen, and then nuked for my gastronomic pleasure.

I understand they're hiring people to fill the stands at Orangie's parade on Saturday.  Pay's pretty good, $1000, but it's in Crypto, which means it's pretty worthless, just like our phony president.

And, if you happen to have plans for heading into DC for the weekend, don't go.  Many, many roads have been shut down to make way for the parade.

I see that David Hogg is not going to be running to be part of the DNC after they decided that his and Malcom Kenata's elections were invalid.  David and Malcom's real problem?  They're young.  They rock the boat.  Aging Democrats want someone more mature, like 73 year old Chuck Schumer, who said he's waiting for Republicans to come to their senses.  He is out of touch with the real world.  

Advocacy groups are reporting that dozens of activated National Guardsmen are very unhappy with being sent to Los Angeles.  The only people who are happy about this are Republicans, of course they have been spoon fed hatred since birth:  Democrats are evil, communist monsters who will destroy America.  There is no way of getting them to see reason.  They are a minority group that will need to be punished extensively for years to come.

Isn't that Nice?

 When I got up this morning, the outside temp was 54 (F).  Nice sleeping weather.  In fact, the forecast is full sunshine ahead of the next week and a half, not that I trust long range forecasts.  They're rarely correct.

Yesterday I got some things done around the house.  Several loads of laundry were done, a little work on the kitchen floor, some writing.  I did get in a 11 mile ride on the bike, but no walk.  The walk will happen this morning.

For those interested, I did begin packing... sort of.  I stored about 40 lens cleaners in a little pouch in my pack.  I also shoved my newly purchased rain poncho into one of the side pouches, but decided against that after seeing how bulky it made the pack.  It will go in the one piece of luggage I have, leaving the pack (as intended) mostly for souvenirs.  That's what I did when I went to Paris, took a bag with clothing and another for souvenirs.

And this happened last evening.

According the Washington Post, the Democratic National Convention was a ratings powerhouse!  That alone must have pissed the hell out of Orangie the asshole.  They also said she has put him into a box he's struggling to get out of.  Now, isn't that nice?  He has always been terrible at Defense.  He has always been on the offense.  He had a serious meltdown last night, at one point posting the single comment:  "Where is Hunter?"  Yes, I know, that makes no sense at all.  At one point, he called into Fox Entertainment, and, after giving him a polite amount of time, they cut him off, forcing him to call Newsmax.  He knows the Democrat's convention knocked the socks off the ratings dial.  Now, isn't that nice?

There was a lot of buzz about a secret guest showing up, and rumors flew thick and heavy that it was going to be Beyonce.  I don't doubt that those rumors got people to turn in, though let's be honest, Beyonce would have stolen some of last night's fire.  The special guest was Leon Ponetta, who came down hard on Trump.

Adam Kinzinger, one of many Republicans speaking at the convention, gave a strong speech about patriotism and democracy.  While many thought he was there to convince Republicans to vote for Harris, I don't doubt that his presence was a flaming arrow into the heart of Trump, and those Republicans who've sold him their souls.  

And Harris's speech?  It was amazing (yes, I stayed up and watched it).  She had some great lines, including one in which she told America why tyrants and dictators wanted Trump to win:  "they know how easy he is to manipulate." There.  Now isn't that nice?

Torching Republicans

 It's 57 (F) outside and I'm wearing a sweat shirt and sweatpants.  Autumn wear.  Temps will be warming back up to more summer-like ranges, highs in the mid to upper 80s (F) as the week continues.  Right now, however, it was so cool I put another blanket on the bed.

I got some sad news yesterday, Joe Radle, the electrician I've been using for the past couple of years was killed in an auto accident.  One of the reasons I used him was because he advertised he was "pet friendly," and every time he was here, my dogs seemed more important than me.  He will be missed.

Work was boring.  No measures.  I did sell a pallet of porcelain tile.  Really, what I'm doing right now is counting the days until Greece.

I pre-ordered the new Assassin's Creed and the new Dragon Age games.  They won't be out until late October.  Assassin's Creed is set in Japan and you get to play as either a Samurai or some other character that's female.  I'll be the samurai.  That should be fun.

Of course, last night was Day 3 of the Democratic convention.  Have I been watching it?  Yes, but I watch it my way.  Around 10:30 PM, I turn it off, then the next morning I watch the important speeches on YouTube.  

While I like Bill Clinton, last night I thought he talked for too long.  And Nancy Pelosi?  I was scanning social media on my phone while she spoke.  Bill was important.  Nancy?  This will probably be her last public, official appearance.

Stevie Wonder was great!  

And during a rally yesterday in an attempt to steal away some of the convention's thunder, Orangie Anus, upon seeing a woman suffering a medical emergency, left the safety of his bulletproof glass booth and went to help.  Can you hear me laughing now?  Two weeks ago Tim Walz did something similar, handing out bottles of water to a woman who was showing signs of heat exhaustion.  Orangie must be very desperate to stoop to such phony theatrics.  Did his team truly think this was  going to make headlines?

Orangie's not the only one worried.  After a series of texts from a conservative friend, I can tell you that Conservatives are furious.  Running against Biden and his age was going to be a winning ticket for them.  They believe this election was going to be a cakewalk, and now those beliefs have been shattered.  Harris is filling up venues and Orangie is struggling.  His dearly beloved Project 2025 has gone through several name changes and is still getting roasted multiple times a day.  

The DNC is rocking the ratings!  The first night it beat the Republican convention by 21%.  Night 2 the DNC whipped the RNC by 55%.  Wowza!  Saying Republicans are furious might be a bit of an understatement.  This is a good thing.  The angrier they get, the more frequently their candidate will make mistakes.  Any day now, Orangie's switch will flip and his public meltdown will torch the Republican party for good.

Torturing Donnie

The weather for today, Monday, here in Central PA is predicted to be cloudy, very cloudy, with occasional showers, with a high in the low 80s (F).  It's going to be a repeat of yesterday, though we did have at least 2 thunderstorms sweeping through the area.  they both dropped a substantial amount of rain in a short period of time.  They're predicting our temps for the rest of the week to be in the low to mid 70s (F).  That's fine.

I had a decent sales day yesterday.  Well, saying it was decent might just me being a bit modest since I had an $18,000 flooring sale go through.  That should make management happy.  My total sales for last week were around $29,000.  Because so many of my installs went through last week, my sales for this week will be weak.  That's okay.  

On thing I do wish people would stop asking me is "have you started to pack yet?"  So, just in case any of you would like to ask, the answer is no.  That won't start until the day before I leave.  This doesn't mean I have been preparing.  I've been taking pictures with the camera and sending them to my laptop for easy posting to my different accounts.  Luckily, if I post a picture to Threads, it automatically posts to my Instagram account, as well as to my Facebook account.  I am surprised that so many people are planning on vicariously going along with me to Greece.  One nice thing about this is that I won't need to bring back nearly as many souvenirs.  

And, of course, the Democratic Convention begins tonight.  I am nurturing a spark of interest, so I might end up watching some of it.  Tonight's Joe Biden's night.  There are a number of speakers scheduled, including Republicans.  They know the assignment.  Democracy for a win on November 5.

The Main Stream Media, believing they'll get more clicks if something goes awry, is hoping protestors get out of hand.  CNN was airing some sort of hogwash with "undecided delegates," because, even though Harris is guaranteed the nomination, they need to try and force some drama.  I don't know if Fox is covering the event, but you can bet that if they do, their views will be more jaundiced than the Orange Anus going through full blown liver failure.

And, speaking of Orangie, his paranoid dementia was boiling over yesterday, evidenced by the over 50 long comments he posted to his Truth Social account.  Now admit it, that does make your heart sparkle with joy.  And just to add more than a smidgen of salt to Orangie's wounded brain, projection artists spent the night decorating his Trump Tower in Chicago.\

I don't believe in torture... still, I never would have believe that torturing Donnie could be so much fun!

Go Biden, Go!

 It's Friday.  I don't work.  I will be working 5 consecutive days before I have another day off.  That will be fine, since today is the last day of nobody's favorite specialist.  He's headed down to the Wilmington, NC store.  I asked him if it was high volume, lots of customers.  He told me there were 2 stores in Wilmington and his new store was the one to the north, so evidently he doesn't know.  One of the first things people ask is when they transfer is "how busy is the store?"  You want to gauge what your workdays will be like.  He doesn't know.

Anyway, I slept in this morning because I stayed up last night to watch the final night of the Convention.  What about Brayden Harrington, the 13 year old overcoming his stutter, a disability?  Didn't that bring a tear to your eye?   That was an amazing moment.  There were several moments like that.

And of course Joe's speech.  I watched the NYT stream, with running commentary.  The comments from the NYT political writers have been concise throughout the convention.  One of them was monitoring Twitter to provide the Social Media input, another was watching Fox News to get their biased opinions.  Me?  I was impressed.  Biden was clear and concise.  I couldn't help but think how Republicans have been trying to paint him as... well, a bit feeble.  That man is sharp as a tack.  They think the Idiot Jerk is going to run rings around him during the debates, but then Republicans have never been too damn smart.  Biden is going to call their president a liar to his face, he may even call him a 'damn liar,' and America will get to see the Idiot Jerk seething with rage.  Won't that be nice?

 For those who missed it, here Joe's speech:

I understand the Idiot Jerk wasn't impressed.  He really is a joke of a human being.

Handbasket to Hell

 Yesterday did not go as planned.

I did remove one of the Chinese algae eaters from my tank.  He was very aggressive towards the other fish, and don't doubt for a second he was responsible for the death of the gourami.  He's now in a large jar in the kitchen awaiting a decision on his fate.

The installation of the track lighting in my hallway went as planned.  It took me about 5 minutes to take down the original chandelier.  Wiring in simple.  I plotted out where my track was going to go (it hangs vertically from supports), drilled the holes, put in the supports.  The main fixture, however, came in pieces which needed to be assembled.  The metal covering plate was about half an inch thing so all the wiring had to be snug and secure before it could be screwed into place.  I ran the tracks, attached the lights, and turned on the switch.... Zippo.  Nothing.  So I took off the covering plate to check the wiring.  Fine.  I checked the connectors providing power for the track and realized they were not attached.  They had been pulled out of the supports that hold them in place.  There was no way it was going to provide power to the track.  Son of a bitch.  The power head was broken.  So I took the whole thing down, packed it up, and processed a return.  From start to finish, it took me about 4 hours.  It took me 5 minutes to remount the chandelier.  A new set of track lighting has been ordered.

So, I see the backlash is beginning in regards the the Idiot Jerk's attempt to steal the election by putting a Henchie in charge of the US Mail.  I understand that yesterday, speaking at his private golf club, he tried to put some distance between himself and his decision.  Neither he no the Republican Party understand they are a minority group trying to foist their Conservative policies upon a majority and this majority realizes his actions are those of a failed president knowing he's going to go down.  Voices are being raised and he doesn't like the sound of them.  They speak of his future and it is ugly.  And he's angry, because his ratings are going to hell in a hand-basket.

How angry is he?  He's planning campaign events during the DNC Convention.  Not to reach the American people, rather this is his desperate attempt to keep his base from splintering away.  It's almost funny, you know?  You can almost smell the stink of Republican fear.

Raise your voices.  Let them all know they're in that Hand-basket  going to Hell.

To jab or stab?

Tuesday... and the rain is back.  The first thunderstorm came through around 0200.  Today is supposed to be pretty much of a wash out.  Tomorrow the sun is supposed to come back out.  By Thursday things should be dry enough for me to saw, and wack, and bag... and I had been hoping to take the bike out on the road.  We shall have to wait and see.  I'm off Friday, so maybe I'll just save the wacking until then.
I've been pretty much of a slug for the past week.  I've done little more then sporadic rides on the trainer.  Some weight training, but nothing regular.  I'm blaming the weather.  Like right now, while I'm typing this, the air is so thick with humidity you could almost cut it with a butter knife.  The temperature is in the high 60's, so I can't turn on the Central Air.  What most people forget is that this type of weather is normal for Central PA.  Summer and winter aren't bad in the part of the county.  One gets hot (occasionally) and one gets cold and snowy (occasionally), it's spring and fall that are the shits.
So, I guess one of the messages the DNC has settled on for the mid-term elections is "corruption."  There are so many choices, though, so many choices.  One thing they do need to be careful of is shrieking overkill.  This is a lesson so apparent in what I'll call 'recent history.'  You need look no farther back than Bill Clinton's re-election to see what I'm talking about.  Sure, Democrats loved him.  The Dot.com money was starting to flow in.  Those things helped, but what really worked in his favor was the Republican Overkill Machine.  The loud, endless attacks by Republicans worked against them.  The American Voters punished them by re-electing the source of their hatred.  We meed to avoid that pitfall, that tar trap which will suck us under.  The last thing in the world we want is for people to begin feeling sorry for the Idiot Jerk and his minions.  This means attacks against them must be varied and loud enough to be heard.  Constant little pinpricks is what we need.  Little jabs all over the Republican body.  Don't copy their failed strategy of overkill.
Of course, they're still using that same, tired old strategy.  The Idiot Jerk in the White House is blindly stabbing away at the truth.  And his supporters love that shit.  They are a minority.

Believe me when I tell you, a jab is better than a stab when it comes to building up long term anger.  The fool who blindly stabs very rarely does little more than superficial damage.

Aaannnd, they're off

Last night I was supposed to work an overnight, I didn't.  The night before I condensed 8 skids of 5 gallon buckets down to two skids, putting about 30 buckets out on the floor, and all of that weight stretched my arthritic back a bit too much.  Yesterday I was real sore.  So, I took off last night.  I watched Hillary's speech.  She's a good speaker, not great.  She gets her point across with out adding any frills. Some people like the frills, I don't.  Be plain spoken, be brief, and get it done.  She did a fine job at attacking Trump.  I got a big laugh from the line about baiting him with a Tweet.  I suspect that will be one of the avenues of attack.  They are going to bait him incessantly.  I can already hear her, during one of their debates, calling him Don.  How fast would that knock him off point?
As the camera panned over the crowd to focus in on Bernie Sanders I could only wonder why no one had told him he needed to pull that bitter stick out of his ass.  He is one angry old man.

And speaking of Hillary, she's going to be in Harrisburg tonight.  In fact, as the crow flies, she's going to be about 2 miles away from my house.  I'm not going.  Eight years ago I went downtown to see Barack Obama speak from the steps of the state capital.  Believe me when I tell you that was a magic moment.  Not that tonight isn't going to be magic.  I'm just older and don't want to deal with all of the traffic.

On an lighter note, I saw where Melamia Trump's website was taken down.  Evidently she has a lot of veracity issues, especially regarding her academic background.

On an even lighter note, Donny Trump, Jr, complained that Obama had plagiarized some of his father's speech.  Evidently he didn't realize Obama has been using that phrase for years.... hhhmm, obviously this egg didn't hatch far from the nest.

And for poll watchers, now you can start to watch them, but always take them with a grain of salt.  Remember, Republican polls showed Mitt Romney winning big.

Work & Politics - 8 days a week

Eight Days a Week is an old Beatles song, one Paul McCartney, it is also the length of my work week... and I'm in the middle of it... and it's only going to get worse.  Tomorrow I get to open which means a 0330 wake-up call.  Wednesday and Thursday I get to stay up all night.  I can remember, when I was younger, staying up all night was not a big thing.  Now I hate it.  Oh, I do get Friday off, but after working a couple of overnights the day is pretty much a waste.  Besides, on Saturday I have to open the store again which means another 0330 wake-up call.
The following week I have someone named Stephen schedule in the department.  Since nobody knows who Stephen is, I asked the scheduler who flippantly said, "oh, don't worry, I'm just hiding him there, his hours are going to Admin, not you."  That's right, she's hiding somebody's hours in my department and charging them to another department.  They hired a guy a while back to work evening freight but I understand he now wants to work days so maybe she's trying to fudge his hours which, accounting wise, is not kosher.
The Democratic National Convention begins this evening.... I don't watch conventions.  Anyway, Hillary will get a big bump in the polls.  This always happens.  Poll watchers know this.  If you're not a poll watcher and read this blog... well, now you do.  Three weeks from now polls might show a little more relevance, but not now.
I think it's funny, the Ruskies seem to like Trump.  Way back when the DNC computers got hacked?  That's the first thing I thought of, you know?  Putin and Trump - soul mates.

The home improvement retail giant I work for does a 'healthy challenge' every summer.  This is a 6 week challenge in which associates are supposed to work on creating a more healthy lifestyle for themselves and their families.  If you want to continue getting a discount on your health insurance, you need to participate.  This year, unfortunately, they are showing participation by state.  Pennsylvania has a little over 10% participating, which is just another way of spelling 'failure.'  And you can bet, 99.9% of that 10% are only doing it for that discount.  If they want to promote healthy living, they need to link it to something other than the discount because I can tell you, most of the people from my store who are participating cheat.  This is how it goes.