Follow the Money

 Another lazy Sunday has arrived.  Since I'm scheduled to work, however, I can't just laze around.  For about 7 hours I will be at the Flooring desk.   Sunday afternoons are usually slow.  Luckily, I'm not scheduled to work alone so conversation will help pass the time.  Most of the college kids who work the summer have gone back to school, meaning staffing is bad.  Payroll accounting dictates you don't begin to hire any replacements until they are gone.  Paying a seasoned associate and a trainee to do the same job is bad business.  Supposedly, they have hired an PM associate for flooring, but until I actually see someone, I'm going to bridle my anticipation.  Oh, and if anyone is wondering, the Haitian has moved on.  An interesting thing about him:  his last name was Jules, and one of the recurring characters in my books is a Frenchman named Jules Laurent, so when I was talking to him, I was having a conversation with Jules.

My high school graduating class had a mini reunion on Friday evening.  I didn't go.  I say mini because my class was 286 strong and only about 17 showed up.  Whomever is in charge is either not communicating well enough, or there's simply not enough interest.  I'm betting it's the interest.  While I wouldn't mind meeting up with some of my class members again, my life has moved on so much from high school.  There are not a lot of cherished memories, perhaps because I never truly fit in.  Not that I wasn't involved in a lot of extracurricular activities.  I was.  The Drama Club, the Spanish Club, the Bowling Club, the Astronomy Club, a member of the Yearbook Staff, I was one of those who wrote the cute, little captions that went with the pictures, and the blurbs that went besides every Senior's picture.  The activities were fun, but none were gamechangers for my life.

Today's picture comes from when I was in Paris.  Notre Dame, pre burn, of course.  What you can't see are the small group of young men who were standing to my right.  They were taking pictures, too, holding each other upside down.  You know, that's what you do when you're young and in Paris, hold your friend upside down so his feet are pointing up in the air and have your picture taken in front of Notre Dame.

And finally, can we talk about Republican financing?  Everyone was stunned when the RRSC began pulling funds from Senate candidates.  Now we know they burned through... oh, let's just say $140 million to be kind.  They're accounting looks sketchy.  Some of them are eyeing Rick Scott, whose Health Care group was found guilty of Medicare fraud and fined millions.  Now, heading into the midterms, the Republicans are finding themselves desperate for cash and the only ones they can turn to are their MAGA base.  That's right, the same ones they've been bleeding dry for almost 6 years.  Unfortunately for the GOP, they're in competition for those $$$ with Trump.  Every other day he seems to be starting a new "Save My Ass" fund, and that's who the MAGA $$ are flowing to.  He's helping to kill their party.

Oh, and he's evidently going to be in Wilkes-Barre on September 3 to help Mastriano and Oz.  Wouldn't it be nice if he was indicted by then?

From Mother's Day to Notre Dame

It's Sunday.  It's Mother's Day, a holiday initiated by Hallmark Cards to sell... cards.  Now every retailer in America wants you to buy something for Mom.  Oh, and it's not just big box retailers.  Anybody who has any item or product available for you to purchase, wants you to buy one for Mom.  You can buy your Mom a special phone, or tablet, or bicycle, or Kitchen Aide appliance.  I have to admit, however, this year we didn't get in truckloads of flowers.  Our main display was Toro lawn mowers, something Mom isn't too keen on getting.  Our big sales event is going to be Memorial Day and that makes Mother's Day small potatoes.  This doesn't mean we're going to ignore this faux holiday, rather we seem to be giving it the unimportant attention it deserves.
Evidently there's going to be an architectural contest for designing the new roof of Notre Dame.  It hasn't been announced yet, but designs are already being submitted across the Internet.  I guess about 55% of those surveyed feel it should be rebuilt to its original form, however the French do not have a very good reputation for detailed restorations.  Rather, they have been groundbreaking when it comes to innovative architecture, the glass pyramid entrance to the Louvre being just one example.  People hated it when it was revealed... and now it's iconic.  While many feel the new roof should represent the religious aspects of Notre Dame, I'm fairly positive the secular, culture importance will win out; like it or not, the building is evolving.  Turning the rooftop into a more public space, a park perhaps, seems much more appropriate then the edification of an old style.  The cathedral is turning into a monument for the ages.

What ever design is eventually chosen, you can bet the French will hate it... at first.

Ghosts of Notre Dame

It's Tuesday, they're coming to do some work on my gas meter this morning.  Supposedly it's only going to take them about 2 hours... I hope it takes them much less.  There are things to do today.
Bernie released his taxes... he's part of the 1% group.  Most of his money comes from a book he wrote... don't ask me the title, not a Bernie fan.  Evidently he sold around 273,000 copies.  That means he was making over $4 a book - a lot more than I get.  This means I will probably never be part of the 1%.  Of course, for me writing is a lot of fun.  While I do deal in mystery and suspense, my writing also has a lot of humor.  Sometimes I will write something and have to pause because I'm laughing.
And Notre Dame burned yesterday.  My sister called me at work to let me know, of course I had already been watching the clips on my phone.  I've been there.  I have pictures.  While I can take pictures like this:

I also take pictures like this:

The above shot is the better of the two, I think.  Sometimes, I will get artsy and take pictures like this:

I call this Ghosts of Notre Dame.  At first, it looks like a blurry picture of people walking... until your eye focuses in on the couple in the center.  Suddenly they become the focal point:

And your mind starts to wonder... just what was going on?
If you're wondering what my most favorite picture of Paris is, it's the one below.  I flew to Paris for my birthday.  On that cool morning in November, I walked to the Eiffel Tower.  This was my first view of it up close.... and I was amazed.

How was I to know that years later it would be one of the settings for The Body in the Tower?