Disturbances

 So, when I checked the weather this morning I saw what I consider an odd forecast.  Today the temps are supposed to be up in the low to mid 50s (F).  Instead of saying things are going to be warming up, or warmer, the forecast was "not as cool."  I kid you not.  "Not as cool," implies temps are still going to be low, but 52 (F) is much warmer than 34 (F), so I think there description is a bit off.

I did work yesterday, and it was slow.  We're not going to hit plan this week.  This will continue the trend that started when Trump was inaugurated.  I'm not thinking that things are going to be changing anytime soon.  One thing that does appear to be changing is my schedule.  I'm down to between 16 and 17 hours, so I suspect they believe sales are not going to be rebounding anytime soon.  Payroll is the easiest expense to cut.  

Things are so much different with Howie than with my other dogs.  He is much more active.  Where as I used to make coffee and then sit down and peruse the headlines, now I make coffee and play with Howie for a least a half hour.  We play fetch, and he loves to wrestle, and, lucky for me, he's learned to faux bite.  This means he acts like he's biting me, but doesn't really... at least most of the time.  He loves that.  From time to time I attempt a joint selfie, Howie and I.  This is the latest.  And for those curious few, that's a Christmas ornament dangling from a window lock and not some ghosty demon dancing over my head.

My Social Security check gets deposited on the 2nd Wednesday of every month and usually I can see that deposit on Friday of the week before.  I just checked and so far there's not deposit.  This doesn't mean that Orangie and and his toady Elonia are not going to pay it, just that they may have gummed up the gears.  That is something we all need to be certain of, their screwing things up.  As part of the 1%, they have no concept of everyday life; none of the wealthy do.  Take Larry Kudlow, a man of little vision and pure greed.  He said on Fox Entertainment that there is a -2.81 decline expected in the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) which indicates a downturn in America's economic health in the first quarter of 2025.  He said "there will be disturbances," or in layman's terms, things are going to be getting more expensive for the common man.  Unless there is a complete crash of the Stock Market, Kudlow will never know of difficult and "disturbance" can be for you and I.  Truthfully, we all know he doesn't care how bad Americans suffer.  

And, of course, the on again, off again, some are still on tariff wars are still... well, right now they're on, and off, and Canada's keeping their retaliatory tariffs on... for now.  Right now the Dow is up around 84 points and they're calling it a rebound.  Sorry, that's not a rebound.

Mask This

Monday!  the start of a work week for many, now that restrictions are now being lifted.  Be Safe.  Be Careful.  Because of inept management by the administration of the Idiot Jerk in the White House, that responsibility is now up to you.

I did end up riding 80.1 miles last week.  In fact, yesterday I rode part 1 of the San Remo route and averaged 18.2 miles an hour.  My legs are getting stronger.  This is good.  As I've said many times before, your legs are the engines of your body.  They contain the largest muscle groups.  Use them.

Yesterday I also wacked my weeds, and started a little project for the backyard.  Once it's finished I'll post pictures.  That should be in a day or so.  I have a small list of things I need to pick up at the store today, after I punch out.

For those of you preparing to attend the rally in Tulsa, Larry Kudlow recommends you wear a mask.  But... wait a minute, why would he say that if this whole thing is a hoax?  Golly Gee!  You don't think the Idiot Jerk is concerned about his base getting sick and dying off, do you?  My money's saying that arena is going to stink so badly of disinfectant attendees will need to be wearing the M5 gas masks just to breath.

I had the joy of wearing one of these when I was in the Navy.  They're great at keeping out Tear Gas.  Covid 19... not so good.

Of course, reports of infections rates skyrocketing in Republican states are becoming more and more prevalent.  Arizona, Florida, and Texas.  In Florida, they're up to 2000 new cases a day.  But then this is to be expected when you relax all constraints.  Shit!  There goes their tourist trade.  No one wants to buy a T-shirt that reads "I went to Florida, and all I got was Covid 19."  There, I gave some smart entrepreneur an idea for a novelty item... can I get some royalties please?

I was talking to my friend Betsy last evening and we both remarked at how bad the Idiot Jerk looks, sullen, and whiny, and cranky as all get out.  We decided he is a very, very angry man because for the first time in his life he finds 'truth' assaulting his ego with almost every breath he takes.  Anybody got a spare M5?

Loaded with Cash

Well, here it is Monday, the start of a new work week and it just so happens to be my Friday... and I have half a weekend coming up.  That's right, I have off one day (Dental appointment) and then I get to work for another 4.  Yippee!
Some people were really surprised by the Dyson lady... well, retailers themselves are to blame.  We, like many other retailers, have very, very generous Return Policies.  This is because we're terrified that if we refuse a Return you will take your future dollars somewhere else.  Yepper.  The fear of you buying your next box of nails from Lowe's is the root of this evil.  This is also why Retailers push credit cards with expensive interest.  It's not the consumer they are concerned about, it's their purchases.  Let me load your cart up!  Buy more!  It's not their fault if you can't manage your credit.
And I was pleased to find out yesterday that I'm "loaded up with money."  That is what the Idiot Jerk in the White House said, in case you weren't paying attention to the farts he spews from his mouth.  Actually, this is his direct quote:

 "Our consumers are rich," he added. "I did a tax cut. They're loaded up with money."

Okay, now even I have to admit that was really funny.  Loaded up with cash... hahahaha, hohohoho.  He doesn't even talk about us as being...'people.'  Nope.  We're Consumers, and we're rich because 'he' did a tax cut.  The truth is he, and his minions and sycophants, are truly worried about a recession.  Here's a link for those who want to see the Republican Party doing what it does best... Lie.   The Big Guns came out.  Don't worry, the world is going into a recession, but we're not... because they're in charge.  When it was pointed out to Larry Kudlow that he had also poured water on the recession talk back in 2007, he farted out something about "being optimistic."  That's right, there's nothing wrong with being optimistic.  That's a pretty shallow way of reassuring the masses, isn't it?  At least he didn't say "well, let's look on the bright side, I got a really super great tax cut." 

Daily Jollies

Well, it's Tuesday... sort of the meat in my double weekend off sandwich... can I have a little mayo on the side, please?  On my first 2 days off, we had rain... steady, soaking rains.  You can almost watch my grass grow.  Tomorrow I will need to mow.  Because the weeds are high too, I will need to wack.  There's also weeding which needs to done among the Dahlias.  And boy, do I have peonies.
I'm kind of excited because when I get home from work today, my copy of Rage 2 will be waiting for me.  A first person shooter from ID studios, it looks like a lot of brainless fun.  Sometimes you need that, you know?

So, sometime this evening I'll be playing this on my PS4 Pro.
There was a little bit of a problem with the stock market yesterday... it dropped.  Certain things that I read and heard made me guffaw out loud.  One of my biggest belly laughs came when I saw the Idiot Jerk in the White House threatened China with this verbiage salad.  "It will be worse if you have to negotiate in my 2nd term."  In his next breath he announced $15 billion in what I suspect will be low interest loans to America's farmers.  He must have gotten this idea from that economic cesspool Larry Kudlow.  Remember when the government shut down and Larry recommended low interest loans to help unpaid employees survive?  At least I think it was Larry.  The truth is the Idiot Jerk has surrounded himself with so many unqualified sycophants blurting out inanities, it's difficult to tell one from the other.  Holy Shit!  His 2nd term?  That's not a threat, that's a dare, and a stupid one at that.  I'm sure a lot of MAGA heads got their daily jollies from that one.

Tolkien

Well, the weather's supposed to be crappy today... and I'm off.  I am planning to try and get some lawn work in:  I have spearmint and cilantro which need planting, and there's weeding... oh, my gosh is there weeding... and mowing.  Everything is so green.  When you have to mow your lawn more than twice in one week you're getting too much rain.
I went with friends to see "Tokien" last evening.  We all thought it was very good.  If you're hoping for a linear biography you will be disappointed.  Scenes of his childhood are juxtaposed against harrowing, almost hallucinatory scenes in the trenches of World War I, where dead bodies are left lying where they fell and disease was rampant.  There are those who wish the film had microscopically examined the author's early life and school years, however they fail to understand how much the war traumatized him.  Fantasy allowed him to escape those memories and deal with life after the Great War... the War to end all Wars.

As for the Idiot Jerk and his minions... I guess Larry Kudlow actually went on television and contradicted his boss by saying that yes, the American people were going to pay the prices for the tariffs against China.  And, it seems, China has pretty much decided to give the Idiot Jerk the finger.  Oh, well, this is to be expected from a financial moron who's early tax returns clamor loudly about his losses.  I'm betting when we finally discover his true net worth it's going to be shockingly low.

Abstract Penises

Well, here it is Monday... and some will have to go back to work, but not me.  My work week will start tomorrow.  Then I will work for 5 days and then have off for 4 days.  That's fine with me.
I had a call from my Mom's Senior Living Facility yesterday morning, but there was no message to call them back.  They will call to remind me of 'family fun days' from time to time, however yesterday was not a fun day.  Evidently my Mom thought my brother was going to pick her up, and so stood outside waiting for him.  This was her being very confused.  No such plans had been made.  My brother had planned to go over last evening, which he did.  The sad thing is then she'd forgotten the whole thing.  Dementia.
Yesterday I rode 12.5 miles in 'race mode,' and my legs were sore.  That's not a bad thing.  There's a difference between pain and soreness.  Soreness means you worked the muscles, pain means there's something wrong.
I saw this AM that the Dow is on a bit of a bounce back.  The Idiot Jerk needed to Tweet something about Trade Wars, and how they might not be necessary for this to happen.  His henchmen Mnuchin and Kudlow hint at back door talks.  The Chinese, however, said that's not happening.  The Idiot Jerk also said he believes the Chinese will cave first... of course, he's also as dumb as a fucking brick.
And speaking of the Chinese, they've evidently been building resorts off their southern coast on man-made islands.  Phoenix Island is one such place.  So, I'm reading through Bloomberg this AM and I see a picture of some of the hotels and think... "wow, don't they look like abstract penises in condoms?"

Gee, the architect even gave them little heads.  I thought I'd investigate and... lo and behold, there's an abstract vagina as well, and brightly colored, too.

Leave it to the Chinese.  You know that the Crazy Christians who want dictatorial control of America would flip out if someone tried building abstract penises in this country.  However, I'm fairly certain that an abstract, brightly colored vagina would make them giddy as hell.

Rack This

Well, here it is... Saturday, and I get to go to work.  As I'd said earlier, this is the beginning of our Spring Black Friday Event...  This is also the first Saturday so we'll be hosting the Kid's Workshop, and looking out the window right now, I see we have snow showers.  This is going to be a fun day... well, maybe not.  Hopefully it will pass quickly.  I'm off for the next 2 days, and that will be great.
Did some weight training this AM.  Felt good.
And yesterday I rode 10 miles... inside.  The weather was supposed to be crappy,
Today is also the first day of the Township picks up yard waste - my big Home Depot brown bags filled with sticks, and twigs just got picked up.  That's nice.
I saw where Steve Mnuchin, you know the Idiot Jerk lackey with the expensive trophy wife, said he's "cautiously optimistic" regarding the possibility of a trade war.  Using the word 'cautiously' should give you a reason to worry... a lot.  Especially since this is coming from a guy who made most of his fortune buying up stock after the "W" Recession.  Oh, and that horses ass Larry Kudlow says that there are all sorts of back door talks being held with China to avoid a Trade War.  This guy has always been a numb nuts.  Saying there are "back door talks" is like being "cautiously optimistic."  The Chinese people will suffer through a Trade War if their government feels they can win it.  Americans don't like to suffer.  If things go south for the American Economy, the country will seek vengeance on that group who put the Idiot Jerk in the White House.
Anyway, I need to pick up some things from the store before I leave this evening.  Peony racks for one.  They are large, wire grills that keep your flowers from drooping down to the ground.