Soft Taco

 And we are having another chilly morning here in Central PA with the temp being a cool 61 (F) when I crawled out of bed.  Once again our temps are predicted to only climb into the mid 702 (F),though the skies are predicted to be seriously overcast for much of the day.  No rain, but cloudiness galore.  We have the same forecast for the rest of the week.  I'm not wild about the cloudy days, but there are things that do need to get done around the house.

I worked yesterday and it was boring.  Since there was no business, I caught myself up on all of my training, which was tedious to say the least.  I have to take refresher classes on bias, security in the workplace, proprietary information, and cyber security, you know/  Phishing, smishing, and vishing?  These classes are not that bad the first time you work through them, however I have to take these refresher course every 6 months or so which is horrifically boring.  And, unfortunately, you can not test out.  I also know that not everybody has to take them.  So, maybe I'm cursed because of my former position in HR.

My new printer arrives tomorrow.  I was going to put it by my desk, but because it's going to be bigger than the laser printer that is now in the garbage, I'm going to relocate it to another part of the writing room. 

One of my Navy friends posted this on Facebook.  For some reason or other we all had nicknames.  No one ever called me Dave, occasionally I'd get a Snyder, but usually I was called Oz.  Now you know one of my deep dark secrets.  When we were at sea there were 3 shifts working either 8 hours on and 16 off, or 6 on and 12 off.  We had an artistic guy in my shift who drew up this group caricature of my team.  Honestly, I don't remember being quite that tall.

And instead of having a hard shell TACO yesterday, we got one of those soft, floppy ones, and the entire world was watching.  Orangie's blow bro Vlad thought this between his pet and Zelensky was going to be a dunk and score, but then Europe decided to show up.  And Vlad got zippo.  Well, that's not exactly right, halfway through this meeting Orangie had to excuse himself and go call Vlad for advice.  Holy Crap!  You see, Orangie is not a skilled negotiator.  That ability is not in his extremely limited skill set.  And while Orangie was just on Fox Entertainment saying he didn't tell the European Leaders about his phone call because it would have been disrespectful to Vlad, the entire world knows all about the call.    Basically, the European leaders depantsed hm in front on live television.  Wait!  Stop! Do not think about that!  I don't want you going through your day visualizing Orangie being depantsed... even though, verbally, that's what happened.  Yep, yesterday we got the soft taco shell, and all Vlad got out of this was a more unified Europe... make that world.  As of this morning 30 countries from around the world had signed onto security measures for the Ukraine.

Take a Deep Breath

Finally, my day off or, as tends to be the case, the day I clean the house, do the laundry, and go to the store.  I've already been told I will find the toilet paper aisle in my local Giant stripped clear because there is a respiratory virus sweeping the land.  Maybe fear of catching it is giving everybody the shits.
Yesterday was an odd day at work... the 'odd' people are coming out.  I had an interesting conversation with a nicely dressed woman who claimed to have just come from our Blue Competitor.  One of their ladders had been parked in front of a selection of blinds she had been looking at, and when she asked an associate if she could move it he responded by saying "it's one of our toys, we'll move it."   Well, "it's one of our toys" incensed her to no end.  She told me she thought him very rude, and all I could do was think of how bat-shit crazy this lady sounded. What she really needed to do was just take a deep breath and move on.

One of their toys

And, of course, the Idiot Jerk in the White House spoke from the Oval Office last even regarding the Corona... Virus.  That's how he said it, putting a pause between Corona and Virus.  And yes, I did watch some of it... and then I took a deep breath.

I didn't hear him say really pertinent, no comments about 'flattening the curve,' the reason people are being quarantined.  As of Friday, travel to and from Europe will be restricted because this is a 'foreign threat.'  Someone should have told him the virus is already here.  He wants Congress to waive Personal Income Tax so that even if you're sick, you'll go out to the stores shopping.  (That was a pitch of his re-election in case you didn't know).  Take a deep breath, now.

Because denied the Coronavirus right from the beginning, because he eliminated positions at the CDC, because his administration funneled funding for the CDC to other areas, because the initial test kits were flawed and gave incorrect results, because even now only those who fall within a narrow criteria are getting tested, we have no idea how many people are infected in this country.  But he is going to make sure small businesses can get low interest loans to help them through this crisis.  Take a deep breath, now.

He did say something about companies giving associates with the Virus 2 full weeks of sick time, of course to qualify you will need to provide test results, and... as we know, at this point testing is still fairly limited to the criteria the Idiot Jerk's administration has in place.  Take a deep breath.

Be prepared, he will try and use this to his advantage because he is a duplicitous sack of shit.

Jane (and her vagina) has left the building

Permanently.  For those who don't know, Jane (not her real name) was a 77 year old cashier who I managed until this past February.  About a year ago she'd had some sort of surgery to keep her sagging genitals from... well... falling out.  She was rude to associates on a daily basis because she felt she was entitled to treat them in what ever manner she deemed fit.  Oh, and she was a rabid supporter of the Idiot in the White House, even taking time off from work to go see him when he was campaigning in Harrisburg.  In other words, she felt empowered to tell everybody else what to do... and always rudely.  Once, after she had barked an order at a Hardware Associate, I'd told her that she needs to be a bit more polite and ask, not demand.  Her response was "I never ask."
And yesterday, a little before 1 PM, she was escorted from the building.  No loss.
And just like her, I have no doubt, the Idiot in the White House will be escorted from the building... unless of course he runs away first.  Historically, that seems to be his "modus operandi."  In the past, when his bad decision making has caught up with him, he's filed for bankruptcy.  During the campaign he claimed that this proved how smart he was.  Horse shit.  Only fools like Jane believed him.  There are a lot of fools in this country.  Not so in Europe, they realize he's a bumblehead.  There was an interesting article in the LA Times this AM.  Very few were even slightly impressed.

Since I am no longer a manager, I was not privy to the reasons for Jane's termination, though whispers have said customer complaints were increasing to almost a daily level, which is precisely the same issue the Idiot has, terrible customer service.  It is totally beyond his ken to realize that we, the American People, are his customers, and that's all of us, not just that shrinking minority who voted for him.  The one lesson the Idiot failed to learn from all of his bankruptcies was that they do not wipe his slate clean.  His bad judgments have ruined people financially.  His inability to learn from past mistakes has led others to one hardship after another.  At 70 he is way, way too old to start learning.  As a result he will end up being removed from office, only the 2nd president in our history to get himself walked out the door.

The Eclipse that is Trump

Am I like the only one wondering what our Idiot Ringmaster is going to put in the Center Ring this week?  Let's be honest here.  People are finding themselves hypnotized by this slow motion political demolition derby.  This is a rare occurrence.  Like a once in a lifetime chance to be directly under an eclipse waiting for the darkness to fade to bright, white sunshine.  Now, I know there are some who are terrified that we are standing smack dab in the middle of ground zero and they are waiting for the bomb to drop... but that's not going to happen.  Only 29% of the American People approve of the firing Comey... that's the hard core crazies at the heart of the GOP.  No one else.  This is a minority group that is constantly shrinking.  If any one is standing at the center of ground zero it be they.
And, of course, he's going on another vacation... well, supposedly the Idiot's supposedly going to visit the Middle East and Europe.  Can you even being to imagine the security they're going to need?  The expense this foul fool is cost these governments.  And the Europe bit?  I believe it's for the G7 Conference, something Putin isn't invited to because his shit stinks so bad.  Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall when the Idiot walks into the room.  He's going to try and commandeer the whole thing and in unison all of those other leaders are going to say "shut up."  And, of course, he'll huff and puff... and they'll tell him to shut up again.  They're just going to say "no.
The way one of our Managers did to the couple who tried to return 10 gallons of paint.  "Absolutely not!"

One more thing about the eclipse we are now standing under... always remember to shield your eyes to avoid blindness.  Just look at what happened to the conservatives.