A Bad Jobs Report

So, if the forecasters are correct, we're going to be enjoying the last of our summer weather today with this afternoon's high in the mid 80s (F).  They were correct about yesterday's temp, so they're is the possibility they may be right about today's.  Just keep in mind, they're not always known for their accuracy.  Next week's overnight lows are supposed to be touching down in the low 40s (F).  With a couple of blankets on the bed that will be good sleeping weather.

Yesterday was my first day as an aisle associate, and body did I get the steps in with almost 15,000.  Since I wasn't sitting at the flooring desk, I can honestly say that I picked things up, and put things down.  Also, one of my measure customers was waiting for me when I got there and had a $3500 sale, not that it counts any more.  Mine was not the only change.  The other part-time flooring specialist is now a cashier.  I talked to her yesterday and she's quite happy with the change.  The only people not happy are the two remaining full time specialists.  Their sales goals and measure goals are now double what they were.

I have today off, so there's some shopping planned for later this morning, and then some mobility exercises for this afternoon.

And this is not good, especially for retailers.

Ah, but the Republicans aren't worried.  The Orange Anus is sending out almost a million $500 checks to individuals on Medicare claiming they were overcharged during.... are you waiting for it?  The Biden administration.  And it seems that most of these checks are being mailed to Medicare recipients in battleground states.  That's right, he's trying to buy votes.  Will the bribery pay off?  Except for his cultists who believe every word out of his mouth is holy, that $500 is not going to be enough to swing many votes in the Republican direction.  I'm curious to see if I get one of the checks.  If I do, then I know it will be an out and out bribe since, even though I pay for Medicare, I use my Veteran's Administration benefits instead.  Oh, and one final note, these checks are your tax dollars hard at work.

I was also notified by the state that I should be receiving my mail-in ballot any day now.  This year, rather than mailing it back, I'm going to be dropping it off in an official drop box.  

Trump, the Certifiable...

Well, it's Saturday and I don't have to work, and it's truly weird.  The temps are predicted to climb up into the low 40s (F), which means Howie's backyard presents are going to thaw, and yard work will need to be done.  And the temps?  They're going to continue climbing until they hit the mid 50s (F) by Wednesday.  Then, as we should all expect, they're going to sink back down into the more seasonable 40s (F).

Yesterday was a good day.  The big aquarium was cleaned, the old filter was thrown out, and the new filter installed.  More work will be needed until it's ready, but that's okay.  Yesterday was a very good start.  I am concerned that the heater might be going, so I hung a small thermometer on the side so I can get a decent temp reading.  For some odd reason, I don't seem to have a lot of luck with heaters as they need to be replaced every year or so.  I also threw out a UV filter which was supposed to help limit algae.  It didn't.

I got a nice upper body workout done.  That's 3 days in a row and I don't doubt for an instant its the result of spring taking aim at our weather patters.  The sun doesn't set until after 6 PM, and the additional hours of daylight are simply invigorating.  Once the days are warm enough, I'll be taking Howie up to Adams-Ricci for walks.  Being the bundle of energy he is, that should be exciting.

Dinner was a stuffed pepper (homemade).  In total, 5 were made.  2 will be lunch/dinner tomorrow, and 2 will be lunch/dinner on Monday.

I posted this on Facebook because... well, for the compassionate soul out there it speaks volumes.

Who is this going to devastate?  Seniors, for one, but in truth anyone who lives in rural America who relies on Teledoc for their healthcare advice.  Think of all those people who live in a small town that doesn't have a doctor.  The ones who need to drive over 30 miles to get to the nearest clinic.  You know?  The same people who voted for the Orange Anus because they believed illegal immigrants were going to move into town and steal their jobs.  People will end up dying, and smug conservatives will throw out thoughts and prayers before claiming that it's not their fault these rural Americans, and Seniors, didn't make appropriate plans.  

While I don't know what Fox is reporting, most of the major media outlets I checked on this morning are talking about the anger that's begin to seethe within the hearts of America.  Constituents don't want their elected officials bowing down and kissing Orangie's ass and they are becoming extremely vocal.  As a result, Orangie favored Truth Service with a long meltdown because he hates this.   He hates it that, as one woman in Georgia shouted, Americans are calling him a megalomaniac.  He hates the fact that Elonia is now one of the most despised men in the world.  You see, every time someone writes about this, or talks about one of these instances, it's a sucker punch to his face.  Each one is like a neon headline screaming "you're a damn idiot," and, as everyone should know, Orangie is a certifiable... 

The Rabid Cultist.

 It rained like Hell yesterday.  You could hear it pounding down on the roof of the store, and a customer looked at me and asked, "is that rain?"  Of course, it was, and then came the high winds ushering in a new Polar Vortex, though this one is not supposed to be as Polary as the last one that came through the region.  No below 0 (F) degree days are in the forecast.

The retail business was very slow yesterday.  I did manage to get a blind measure.  Oh, and once again I had to go through the blind department taking down signage about our new prices.  Some fool things that by posting them in the faux wood, mini-blind aisle sales are going to be generated.  Wrong.  As a customer pointed out to me, the installation is only for special order blinds.  We do not install in-stock blinds.  If you work in retail you know, there's always going to be that one belligerent customer who's going to see that sign and demand we either install the blinds he just picked from the shelf, or he's going to sue.

Otherwise, yesterday was pretty meh.  I did stop off and pick up a bottle of wine on the way home, thinking I might have a glass or two, and ended up playing Skyrim instead.  The wine will not spoil.  I also bought a small stromboli to eat with the wine.  So, while the wine sat uncorked, I did eat the stromboli.

I'm off tomorrow, and besides getting a hair cut, I'm going to have to drag out the vacuum because the house is awash in Howie hair.  Oh, for those wondering how he spent Valentines day, well, he got a pink octopus.

Now something about Medicare.  Originally there was Social Security.  Then, realizing that private sector health care was stealing senior citizens blind, the Democrats decided to take a % of Social Security and form Medicare, a place where seniors could purchase necessary insurances without being taken to the cleaners.  This is the thing Republicans hate.  They say the government should not be in the insurance industry.  Being the party of selfishness and greed, Republicans desperately want to end Medicare.  They want seniors to should have to pay much more than they can afford in order for the profiteers in the health industry to take home big, fat bonuses.  They want to use the sweat of seniors to slack the greedy thirst of Wall Street.

And, on a personal note not related to Medicare, I happen to work with a rabid cultist; the very stupid, serious kind.  Yesterday, I asked him what he thought of Elonia.  He told me Elonia was doing a great job, finding all sorts of fraud.  Of course, he couldn't mention and single instance of fraud being uncovered.  I then asked asked what he thought of the termination of those people responsible for managing and maintaining our nuclear arsenal.  he had no idea what I was talking about.  He refused to tell me where he gets his information from, though I'm certain it's Fox.  He then went on to tell me everybody, except his private information site, lies.  Reuters?  "They lie."  The Guardian?  "They lie."  He then burst into laughter, claiming that we were all so pissed that the Orange Anus won by a landslide...  I'll give you a moment to think on that.  For some reason, I don't think this gentleman will mentally survive the FO stage.

Not Lost at All

 Well, I slept in again this morning and I didn't stay up late.  Over 7 hours of sleep which is rare for me.  I did go for a ride yesterday, so I'm going to use that as an excuse.  I did wake up to another fresh loaf of Italian bread.  One loaf lasts me about a week.

I am going to make an appointment to have my back checked out, not that it bothers me that much, but it's been about 6 years since I last saw my specialist.  And, as with all medical things, I'm going to transition to the VA.  Medicare covers some of the expense, and the VA covers just about everything else.  For example, when I had my hernia surgery my total out of pocket was $50.  That's way less expensive then the $2500 other people on Medicare have to pay.

And they're now calling for boosters shots to help with the fight against Covid.  Don't worry, I'm basically already in line.  The Delta variant is a lot like the chicken pox, if you're not vaccinated, you're going to be infected sooner or later, for most, infection will happen sooner. This doesn't bother me.  To be honest, I'm rather anticipating the infection of certain anti-vaxxers suspecting this is the only way to actually shut them up.

And wasn't that a shit show from Kabul yesterday?  This is what it reminded me of:

Everybody started pointing fingers.  Everybody started jumping to conclusions.  We were going to be leaving all those thousands of people behind to be slaughtered by the Taliban.  However, this morning the picture has changed.  Normal evacuation flights have resumed.  We are flying those who have helped us to safety.  In fact, I understand little Stevie Miller is throwing a hissy fit because the Biden Administration is going to be bring 22,000 to 30,000 Afghan immigrants to our shores.  We know how much Stevie hates brown skinned immigrants.  I'll bet he threw what my grandmother would have called a conniption when the census numbers began rolling out.  

Hard Lessons

 For those of you who haven't realized it yet, in 3 weeks the days are going to begin getting longer... again.  That's a very good reason to look forward to the winter equinox.  

Ending in less time, on December 7, also known as Pearl Harbor Day, will be the enrollment period for Medicare supplemental plans.  For those of you under 65, or who don't live in the US, this is the time of year when us older people get continually harassed by Cigna, and Aetna, and Mutual of Omaha, and United Healthcare, and the list goes on and on ad nauseum.  This has little to do with providing seniors with better health coverage, rather this onslaught has more to do with these companies hitting their forecasted 5% annual growth.  It's all about the money.

Surprisingly, I got 4 measures yesterday.  This time of year installs normally begin to slow down - no one wants their doors opening and closing constantly during the cold times.  Heat can be expensive.  Yet, even in this time of Covid people are willing to open up their houses to strangers.  Have I told you I live in a Conservative area where many, while wearing masks, still believe this pandemic is not nearly as bad as the media claims.  

I saw where the Idiot Jerk in the White House has raise about $170 million for his 'stop the steal' campaign.  Republicans refuse to accept the evil nature of his attempt to undermine our Democracy, but they they have leaned towards a socially conservative dictatorship for some time now.  They need to be in charge.  It's a conservative issue.  And they lie... a lot, about everything they don't like.  This is why they fit the Idiot Jerk like a glove.  They don't realize that after this thing is over the money they're raising will find it's way into his pockets, and Ivanka Danka's pockets, and Donny Jr's pockets, and even Eric the Dumb will get some.  They don't understand there is no way they can stop the steal.  This is who he is, and hard lessons will need to be learned and I doubt very much if they will ever learn the error of their ways.

Don't Lose Your Job

 Today will be my last day at work... for an entire week.  I'm expecting the 8 hours I spend on the clock to be... normal.  By that I mean the Specialist who is leaving, will call off.  This will 2 aisle associates and myself to run the department... the definitive word there is 'myself.'  This is how life goes sometimes.  It's not as though they're going to be pulling out my fingernails with a pair of rusty pliers.  At 4:30 PM I will punch out, come home, and maybe take a ride on my bike.  Mostly the week ahead is filled with... chores.  The Specialist who is leaving asked me where I was going on my vacation.  "Why would I want to go anywhere?" I asked.  "There's a virus out there."  I don't know why, but for some reason this idea has grown almost worldwide, that when you take time off... a vacation... you need to go somewhere and spend money... usually, lots of money; more than you earn in a week.  I can guarantee that I will spend some money, but the dent in my savings will be minimal.

The Idiot Jerk in the White House signed some Executive Orders yesterday in an other episode of "Who Wants to be a Dictator."  Neither party was going to budge, in fact I've read things which indicate both the Republicans and the Democrats wanted this to happen.  The Republicans because they're slovenly drunk on the power they think the Idiot Jerk gives them, and the Democrats because these orders have no validity under the Constitution.  We're a Democracy, not a right-wing dictatorship.

He's attempting to eliminate Social Security.  Republicans have always hated the program.  It's Socialism, they whine... yet they take advantage of it.  They complain about Medicare, too, yet they use it and save money on their medical expenses.  Just think, eliminating the Social Security tax until December benefits employers more than it does workers.  Suddenly, they're getting another tax break, courtesy of the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  Do you think they care about their employees, or how they're going to survive in their senior years?  Absolutely not.  Oh, sure, they'll say we have 401k retirement options, just don't lose your job, and pray nothing happens to the stock market.

Anyway, I took another picture of my Zins when I got home from work yesterday.  They are quite colorful!

 

Desperation stinks

Well, it's Wednesday and my 3 day weekend is over - I get to go back to work today.
It's also November 1st, the first day I'm able to go into My Benefits page and cancel my insurance - Medicare, you know.  I didn't cancel everything though, I'm keeping my Dental Plan since for the price it's better than anything else I've seen.  Last year I paid $170 a month for all of my health care, but only because I jumped through hoops to get the Healthy Living Credit, otherwise it would have been $195.  The end result is that my paycheck will go up about $36 a month.
And isn't Faux News pulling out all the stops on the "Crooked Hillary" distraction?  Holy Shit!  Every other word out of their mouths seems to be "Crooked Hillary."  To be honest, that was always one of their pet phrases used to incite anger and hatred in their followers.  Now, however, those two words are tainted with the sickly, sweet stink of desperation especially since it appears that Mueller is looking into the Idiot Jerk's finances.  My feeling is that the Idiot Jerk is on the verge of shitting out hundreds of misshapen adobe bricks, more than enough to build his wall.  In fact, conservative desperation is approaching a fever pitch.  Remember, this is the party that always thinks they're going to rule the world... not on my shift.  When they look down they see their power slipping through their opened fingers.  I've even heard that Bannon is urging the Idiot Jerk in the White House to fire Mueller.  Those fools, don't they understand that would lead to riots?  Don't they understand that would the next best thing to entering a guilty plea?  Hell, no.  They are failing and they are desperate. (can I get a tee hee hee hear?).
Yesterday I was going through some drawers picking out stuff to throw away - I'd rather do it now rather than have someone else do it later - and I came across a picture of me wearing a pig costume.  Back when I was with the Pride Festival, we decided to have a Pig Roast as a fund raiser.  We rented a pig costume and wore it out to the bars to sell tickets.  Let me tell you, wearing a pig costume out to the bars on a Friday night takes really big cajones!  Now, since I've always been super critical of my looks, I don't have a lot of pictures of myself... and here I am... without facial hair... in a pig costume.

Taking one for the Team

So, yesterday I called Corporate HR to cancel my insurance since my Medicare payments begin on November 1.  I ended up getting cranky.  You see, I can't cancel until the day "my life changing event happens," and even then there will be 2 more monthly deductions.  I was told not to worry, I'd be reimbursed.  And, as I said, I got cranky.  When you get hired, and sign up for insurance, it starts to get deducted on you very first check.  I did apologize to the woman I was speaking to, noting that she was dealing with the limitations corporate had saddled her with, and that she was really only following a policy set by someone else.
I did some bench presses this AM - which is pretty much all that I can do.  Walking is great, I'm told - on an average I walk the equivalent of 3 miles per day... in the store.  Anything that exercises my core muscles is evidently out of bounds until this hernia gets fixed.   Shit.
I also had the oil changed in my car yesterday... and there's a spot on the tailgate where the paint has chipped off, not big, about an inch long and a quarter inch wide.  I was told that they sell touch-up paint... and that made me cranky, I mean the car is only 18 months old, paint shouldn't be chipping off.
Oh, and John Kelly gave an emotional speech about the death of his son in combat.  I hate to be the cynical one, but my feeling is that he took a hit for the team.  He opened up a painful wound in order for people to feel sorry for the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  Unfortunately he lost me when he said he was "stunned" to hear this woman's Congresswoman was in the room when she received the call.  Excuse me, but how many people were in the room with the Idiot Jerk when he placed the call?  How many people were actually listening to what Kelly believes was a "private" conversation.  Was there, perhaps, a photographer there to document this "private" moment?  Wouldn't surprise me, you know?  To get the proof, so to speak.  I can even imagine photos and videos showing up in campaign ads.
Will the Idiot Jerk get a slight boost in the polls because of Kelly's speech?  Perhaps among Republicans.  Mostly, I think not.  People realize just what kind of self-serving asshole the Idiot Jerk is, that any compassion he shows is totally ego driven.  When he complained how other presidents hadn't made those difficult calls, he did so, not because he knew they were emotionally draining, rather that's the sort of thing he dumped on a secretary, someone who might actually care.

He's down by the bow

You don't have to look far to find out how most American's feel about DT, in fact, his low approval approval ratings no doubt are giving him that sinking feeling.  Now, I'm sure his transition team is saying things like "don't worry, this will get better," and "just keep slugging away, we'll hit the top."  Right.  And his bizarre doctor gave a very... odd interview.  Every time he see things like this he want to take a big step backward.  Cori, who works at the paint desk and who's brother is a Trumplodite, says the word going around is that DT is terrified of being assassinated, which may be why his appearances are so short and infrequent.  Didn't anybody tell him that goes with the job in a big time way?
I talk about Karma a lot, the fixing of mistakes, well, for DT this is Karma. A man who needs to have his ego stroked regularly steps into a position where half of the country already hates him.  No stroking going on there.  Winning the presidency was the worst thing that could happen to him.  Big chunks are about to be gouged out of his ego.  Good for him.  I do not doubt that he will go down in history as the "do nothing president," because everything he does that is unpopular with the public will be another sliver out of soul.
And the Republican Party?  They're all on the same boat.  All of their little, pet projects like rewriting the rules of Social Security, slashing Medicare, even gutting Obamacare?  They will fail the minute public approval starts to go south.  They now have a president who needs to be petted, and who wants to go down in the history books as being good, and being popular.  They would have been in a far better position had Hillary won, now they're going to be pretty much shackled by public opinion.  They have a Star who wants to sparkle, not piss people off.

And as for DT?  This is his Karma.  He now has to deal with the fact that not everybody likes him.  People really do hate him.  There are now people out there who now pray daily that something terrible happens to him, that he dies.  They chant "He's not my president!"  And he no doubt daily prays that history doesn't prove him to be the worst president in American History.  He is down by the bow and it ain't going to get any better.