Solving a Problem Like Maria

This afternoon's high is supposed to be in the low 80s (F).  We have 71 (F) right now.  The sun is shining.  Though, as we should all expect by now, there is a threat of thunderstorms this afternoon.  In fact, for the next week our afternoons are going to be threatened by thunderstorms.  Highs are expected to be in the mid to upper 80s (F), though there does seem to be a cooling trend on the horizon.  This is a good thing.  Everyone I know is ready for Autumn.  Though what late Autumn and Winter are going to be like is anybody's guess since El Nino seems to be supersizing out in the Pacific.  If I'm remembering correctly, the last time we had a serious El Nino, out winter was extremely mild.  

Yesterday was quiet here.  I'm in the process of taking all of my Trainwell workouts and and modifying them, keeping certain exercises and routines and throwing others out, like squats.  Squats are out.  There are quite a few other quad and glute focused exercises in which you don't need to squat.  I did one of the preliminary routines yesterday and was rather pleased.  Other exercises will be added until I end up with a routine that runs around 50 minutes, or so.

I also broke the 3 pounds of angus ground beef I'd bought at Karn's in 8 oz servings, that's 6 servings at about 380 calories each.  Those servings should last for a while since I tend to eat more chicken and pork than I do beef.

And, of course, the breaking news was about Maria Bartiromo getting fired by Fox.

So, Fox Entertainment is no longer asking "how do we solve a problem like Maria."  I'm hearing that she has already hired a "high profile attorney."  This means that Fox is once again going to be going into court because of the Orange Anus.  They last time this happened they settled out of court with Dominion Voting, paying Dominion $787 million.  Can you hear me laughing?  Things are going to get real interesting if this makes it to the Discovery stage of the trial.

People are wondering if this means Fox Entertainment might be trying to cut the umbilical cord of propaganda between themselves and the White House.  Have they, so to speak, seen the writing on the wall?  Possibly... somewhat.  More likely I think they're trying to butter both sides of a slice of bread, cover their asses, so to speak, if the midterm elections go horribly wrong for the Republicans.  How would something like that effect their viewership?  The only time Fox will take the side of the loser is if they find that by doing so viewership is going to increase.  At this point, with Orangie's approval rating on the economy at 29% I'm suspecting they're not seeing a good return on an investment by claiming he is now one of the downtrodden.

Oh, and the government just released the jobs report for August.  Don't believe them.  ADP reported that only 38,000 jobs had been created.  Orangie's team, on the other hand, pulled the number 162,000 out of their ass.  

 

Mandatory Retirement

The temp outside is a nice, almost toasty 74 (F).  This afternoon we should be hitting the low 90s (F).  Originally, the forecast had them hanging around for a few days.  That's changed.  Tomorrow our high will be in the upper 80s (F) and Thursday it will be a few degrees cooler as more seasonable weather moves back into the picture.

I paused my Trainwell subscription yesterday.  I was going to cancel, but chose to pause it for the time being.  I did take screen shots of the routines and print them off, so I'll still have the structure for the next few weeks.  At some point I'll have to decide if the expense balances out with the daily contact I get through texts and the occasional videos.  

The husband of the woman who returned that tiny bit of carpet was in yesterday to buy padding.  I nodded to him, he didn't nod back, but then he didn't glare at me either.  As I mentioned to Treaders, one of the big reasons we have problems with returns is that our corporate office has an algorithm that predicts if a customer is likely to shop with us again.  Refusing a return drops that likelihood a small %, and every teeny, tiny bit is a step towards failing to make our projected growth.  

Today's going to be fairly busy.  One of the things on the to do list is to get a haircut.  Tomorrow, I'm getting my picture taken for my driver's license and that means looking civilized.

And I have this pretty, white flowery thing growing along the top of my fence.  Last year Howie chewed most of it away.  This year he's left it alone.  I guess it doesn't taste good anymore.

 

I saw where Steve Scalise, a big supporter of the Orange Anus, was talking about the Supreme Court and how the Republicans like the fact that there are  only 9 justices, and that this are lifetime positions.  In fact, Republicans are so enrapture with the way things are set up, he's going to initiate a constitutional amendment to keep the Democrats from changing anything.  There are a bunch of MAGA yokels out there who have no idea how difficult the job is to amend the constitution.  His statements are aimed at those louts.  Also keep in mind that there is also serious concerns among Republicans that should Democrats get enough votes in November, they might just add a judge or two.  This is most likely the reason Alito, who had said he was going to retire, has put off his retirement.  Though, if the Democrats do get in power, they don't need an amendment to the constitution to set a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court Justices.  Retiring Alito and Thomas would change the makeup of the court until more judges could be approved, and a majority of Democrats in the Senate would keep the Orange Anus from putting in a real loser. 

Fasten Your Seatbelts

Boy, did we have a loud thunderstorm last evening.   The lightning was dazzling, not blinding.  This was the first storm that Howie took notice of, he slept through the others.  Last evening he sat up looking startled.  From what I could see, most of the lightning strikes were happening over in Harrisburg, and there were quite a few.  Today's high is supposed to be in the low 80s (F), but then for the rest of the week daily highs will be in the mid to upper 80s (F). 

Yesterday was sort of a meh day here.  I don't like having 5 days off in a row and though I do have things planned, yesterday I just frittered away the time.  To be honest, mostly I spent the time trying to make sense of Ad-sense.  One thing I learned is that if I'm approved adds will only show up on my current entries, the over 7000 posts that I've already made will be unaffected.  Maddie said a friend of hers signed up and thought the whole thing was a bust.  If that's the case, the ads will be gone fast.  

My neighbor's son works at the local AMC.  Unlike his mom, he's chatty and I've talked to him on several occasions.  For the past 2 years he's gone to Temple University in Philly.  When I went to see "The End of Oak Street," he told that this year he was going to be doing the "local college" thing.  I didn't ask if he meant Harrisburg Area Community College, or the Penn State Campus in Harrisburg, quite a lot of students attend that one.

After my workout this morning, I'm going to be pausing my Trainwell for 3 months.  We will have to see if I renew my subscription at the beginning of December.  I just feel as though I need a break right now.

We had a little bit of rain early yesterday afternoon and a friend of mine (Karen S.) took this picture of Harrisburg.  For those of you who don't know, the Susquehanna River is over a mile wide.

Franklin & Marshall a nearby liberal arts college that does lean somewhat Left released their latest political poll yesterday.  Their tabulations are not good for the Orange Anus, with him getting a very low 27% approval rating.  Accuracy is always questionable with polls, however a number of polls have now come out with his approval rating at less than 30%.  Keep in mind that these low numbers, even if sort of questionable, do demoralize his base.  This is a good thing.

In an interview Hillary had with Kara Swisher yesterday, she said one thing everybody truly needs to take to heart.  If the midterms go the way people are now suspecting they will go, the Orange Anus is going to rip off that last of what remains of his human mask and we will see the face of a Spawn of Satan.  Well, she didn't exactly say that, but I think most of you are getting the gist of her comments.  He will try and destroy as much of America as he can through Executive Orders.  Everything bad that he does now will be amplified by 1000%.  In doing so, he will obliterate the Republican Party, as well as the Evangelical Christian movement that helped to put him in power.  We may have some very serious protests.  So, fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy flight. 

Those 42 Days

Our outside temp is sitting at a comfortable 67 (F).  Yesterday, our afternoon high got up to 89 (F), which I consider warm.  Today's high should be a single degree cooler, though knowing the inaccuracies of weather forecasting, I'm suspecting we'll be topping off in the low 90s (F).  Tomorrow we're supposed to have rain, of course I have plans for tomorrow.

Yesterday bordered on being one of those meh days.  Rather than do my morning workout, I spent an hour out chipping away at the branches.  I am pleased to say I am quite possibly 1/3 of the way down with my sawing and chipping.  That may not seem like much, but when you think about what I was dealing with it is rather amazing.

I was chatting yesterday with my trainer.  He thinks I should work through the end of the August before putting my Trainwell subscription on pause.  We are of 2 different minds.  I'm going to do a short upper body workout this morning, and then I'm going to start a 90 day pause.  I will resume the workouts in the middle of November, that will give me 2 weeks to decided if I want to continue working with Trainwell.  I'll be 74 by then and I may find something more interesting than Trainwell.  Tai Chi might be interesting.  Lower body strength is important in keeping us older people from falling down.

Today's going to be somewhat busy since I'm scheduled to sit at the flooring desk for 6 hours this afternoon.  I'm interested in seeing if any of the measures I set up have sold.

With all of the chatter about the Abraham Lincoln, I thought I'd post pic of the little boat I was on.

I spent a small portion of yesterday chatting with some of my old Navy buddies and the longest time we ever spent at see was for 42 days back in 1973.  Most of that time was spent doing air operations in the Tonkin Gulf.  Our normal schedule was to be "on station" for ten days and then 14 days spent off, with most of our off time being spent in Subic Bay.  We spent those 42 days at sea because our relief, the USS Ranger, developed elevator problem and couldn't move aircraft from the hanger bay to the flight deck.  What do I remember most about those 42 days?  The UnRepS, or Underway Replenishment Services, when helicopters lowered hundreds of pallets of food onto our flight deck.  A well fed sailor is a happy sailror.

The understatement of the day goes to the Washington Post which this morning printed that the Orange Anus is "very unpopular in swing states."  

Conniving Coward

Good Morning from Central PA.  Our outside temp is 71(F) and our afternoon high is expected to be in the low 80s (F).  We only have a 1% chance of rain today, which is nice because things need to be done.  Our next rainy day is not supposed to be until Sunday.  I have plans for Sunday, so that figures.

So, what did I do yesterday?  Not a lot.  Well, that's not completely true.  I did about half an hour of lawn cleanup pulling together branches that need to be run through the wood chipper.  I tried that little handheld chainsaw and it works well.  I'm going to try and get them chipped this afternoon.

My excitement for later this morning will be paying off my school tax.  After that I'll be paying off the credit card I used to purchase the lawn cleanup tools, chainsaws, wood chipper, etc.  I haven't paid interest in years, except for the car loan, and do not intend to start now.  

I'm also going to be pausing my trainer.  There are too many other things going on right now for me to focus properly, yard cleanup for one.  I don't want to pay for something that I'm not using, and I have been looking for reason to skip my training sessions.  I find my thoughts wandering, not absent mindedly, but usually towards one extremely sore subject.  

The chicken toy Howie got for his birthday?  Its lost a leg... er... drumstick.

The Washington Post has a 2+ minute clip on this morning's front page detailing how the Orange Anus swapped planes.  This is a good thing.  For the Washington Post, owned by Orangie supporter Jeff Bezos, to post this video is important because we are probably seeing the beginning of divorce proceedings.  The Wall Street Journal, owned by another Orangie supporter, Rupert Murdoch, yesterday said that Orangie is in a very "precarious position."  Other media outlets are calling him a Conniving Coward.  I don't doubt for a second that these betrayals of their tax break benefactor are one of the reasons Orangie decided all aircraft carriers need to go back to steam based catapults.  I don't doubt that this is also the reason he is once again attempting to put his name on the Kennedy Center.  As Mark Kelly said yesterday, Orangie should have stuck "to what he does best, ballrooms, bullshit, and bankruptcy."  

Speaking of aircraft carriers, the Abraham Lincoln is finally heading back to the states.  I feel so sorry for those sailors.  I was on an aircraft carrier in a warzone, and the longest we were on station was 15 days.  Believe me, that was stressful.  The sailors on the Abraham Lincoln have been at sea for over 250 days.  This shit is Hegseth's fault.  He will be tried for war crimes and I do not doubt he will cry like a little girl.

Trump's Golden Jesus

Outside we have 76 (F), humidity thick as a sponge, and a seriously cloudy sky.  Drizzles and showers are on tap for both today and tomorrow.  Tuesday?  We're supposed to have sunshine, though that's supposed to be followed by more drizzles and showers.  The past few days have been breezy, so we could use the rain.  

I did a half-assed workout yesterday because I simply didn't feel like putting a lot of effort into picking things up and putting things down.  I'm not going to renew my Trainwell subscription.  With all of the branches and limbs I have to cut up, I will have natural cardio and strength training for probably the next 2 months.  I'm thinking possibly of reactivating my Planet Fitness membership.  $45 for 3 months is a lot less expensive than $552, and with my hours being cut I'm starting to look thriftiness again.

Yesterday afternoon I worked at the Paint desk.  I enjoy mixing pain for people, or I should say most people.  A painter I remembered for my days managing the desk showed up for one of his special orders.  This means that the paint he buys must have 20% less tint because that makes his colors special.  He's short, about 5'5" so I suspect his aggressively demanding nature is cause by a Napoleonic Complex.

The Orange Anus was doing some unhinged shit posting last evening, and one of the pics he posted on his Truth Social account was him kissing a golden Jesus.

We've always known that he worships gold, so I don't doubt he'd kiss any religious icon if it were made of gold.  The important thing here is not that Jesus is involved, but that He's made of gold, like the golden calf.

And Capital One just came out and said they'd closed Orangie's accounts in 2021 because they suspected he was using them to launder money.  Why is this coming out now?  Because Orangie claimed the closings were politically motivated and sued Capital One.  He has always found that attacking with a lawsuit has worked in his favor, that tactic isn't working anymore and losing so many court cases.  This is a good thing.  He's never been too smart and now his attempts at strongarming are proving that not only is he dumb, he's weak, too.

I'm wondering how many Republicans, after the midterms, will never, ever vote again.

Storm Damage

Outside, our temps is a comfortable 70 (F) and the humidity is gone.  Today is supposed to be nice and sunny, and, since today is Sunday, I have to work.  This is a pisser since I do have... yardwork* that needs to be tended to.  The rest of the week is supposed to be nice and sunny, with daily highs in the low to mid 80s (F) with no humidity.  This means that I'll have plenty of time to do my tending.

I postponed my workout for yesterday morning.  My knee was feeling a bit cranky.  I'm thinking of not renewing my Trainwell subscription when it expires at the end of August.  I'm looking at what expense I have and the fact that I am, as I get older, working less and less.  This means starting to rely on my social security, something I'm loathe to do at this point.  Even though it's easy to rationalize spending over $500 for an online trainer, I do realize that sometimes the rationalization is being forced.

And at work we discovered that there was an improvement in the recording of our sales goals.  There was a time when if you set up a measure for installing blinds and someone else built those blinds, you would both get credit.  That disappeared.  Well, it seems that corporate has decided to bring that back, so yesterday when I checked out my sales I had a nice little $3000 credit.  This is a good thing.

*The yardwork.  Last night we had some storms come through.  We got the warnings for lightning striking, but nothing on the high winds and torrential rain.  Well, we got all three: lightning strikes, high winds, and torrential rains.  We lost power for about 10 seconds.  Then this morning when I went to let Howie out, I saw that there was also storm damage.  Several large tree limbs were ripped from the maple trees on the hill behind my house.  The back corner of the fence was smushed; that'll be an insurance claim.  Of course, Howie was delighted.  I could almost hear his little heart singing, "look at all of those sticks, sticks, sticks!"  I got rid of my chainsaw years ago; it was broken, and though I do have my saw on a stick, it's no match for these limbs.  My brother has chainsaws, but he hasn't used them in years, and they run on gas.  I sent out a number of texts and, probably not surprising, none of my friends happen to own a chainsaw.  This means I'm going to have to buy one.  Shit.

On the political scene, it seems as though Lisa Murkowski is going to vote against all legislation that contains the Save Act.  Lisa's not running for re-election.  She has also been served up several plates of shit even though she's been a loyal Republican.  Obviously, Lisa has been reading the Tea Leaves.  If she wants to run again in 2029, she knows she's going to need to get on the side of the majority of Alaskans, who now hate the Orange Anus.  Without McConnell's vote, the Republicans need every vote to pass any legislation.  This is a good thing.

Prepare yourselves, the Iran war is about to go from bad to worse.

AI Mitch

Our afternoon temps got up to 91 (F) yesterday, that's much warmer than predicted.  According to the thermometer our outside temp is 68 (F).  The forecast is the same as yesterday's with a high in the mid 80s (F).  Will that happen?  Probably not.  We have another mini heatwave coming our way.  Tomorrow's highs are supposed to be in the 90s (F), with Wednesday topping off in the low 100s (F).  I suspect this summer is going to be a real cooker.

Yesterday was, as expected, rather boring.  Sundays are usually a full shift for me at the giant, orange, home improvement retailer, but yesterday I was only scheduled for 6.5.  Business was slow.  Some customers wandered in looking for something specific, but there were very few browsers.  Those that did make their way back to the flooring department told me the same thing:  "I'm just starting the process."

I'm not going to the training session down in Maryland.  The store specialty associates are all going down on Tuesday, August 4, and my availability specifically says that I don't work on Tuesdays.

My Trainwell subscription is not  going to be renewed at the end of July.  I've found that the texts I get from my trainer are not as much of an incentive as they once were.  I have the routines down, so paying $550 for 3 months of "at a boy's" doesn't seem to be a wise expense.

So, so many people believe this picture of Mitch and his wife Elaine is AI generated.

Besides the fact that, if this is real, he's had some work down with fillers, people have zoomed in on the  newspaper he's holding and discovered the photo is from a football game in Florida and is dated in 2006.  I guess 20 years ago, Mitch wouldn't have had nearly as many wrinkles as he does today.

There was a laughable headline in the Washington Post about some Republicans are beginning to feel positive about the midterms, in spite of the war with Iran and the rising prices.  This means, I suspect, that the Washington Post is using the same AI generator as the Kentucky GOP.

The big problem with the Republican party is that they are truly living in a land of delusion.  Reality is being kept at an arm's length away... well, maybe they're keeping reality 2 arm's length away.  No matter what the difference, they are so out of touch with the world they are setting themselves up for a terrible fall.  The total collapse of their party is essential for America's survival.  They will sacrifice themselves upon the alter of stupidity simply because they cannot live in a world where they are not in charge.

 

Squirrels

 Our out door temp is 65 (F).  It's going to be a stinker of a day.  For the next 3 days our highs are going to be in the mid 90s (F).  They'll drop back into the upper 80s (F) after that.  No rain is in sight for the next 10 days.  It looks as though summer has arrived 2 weeks early.  So be it.

I did get a decent workout in yesterday.  I've signed up for another 3 months of Trainwell.  The results so far are, by my standards, impressive.  The goal is not to just maintain muscle, but build it, too.  And, well, I have biceps now.  My core muscles are stronger and they are essential if you have lower back issues.  They keep you spine in place, don't let it jiggle around so much when you walk.

Work yesterday was filled with issues, all of them other people's problems that I got stuck fixing.  My first 3 hours zipped by.  The last 3?  They were on the slow side.  I did hit my measure goal for the week, one of them a commercial tile floor installation.  Management will be very happy if that goes through.

Without any rain in the forecast, I will need to water my garden every day.  In case you're wondering, this is what it looks like.  The only problem I'm having is with the squirrels digging up the seeds I've planted.  

And, while having a meeting in the Oval Office, the Orange Anus fell asleep yesterday... again.  He has also now officially canceled his Freedom 250 concert and will now be the lone speaker.  Or, at least right now that's the plan.  Believe me, this will change. His declining health will require he share the spotlight.  I don't doubt that the crowd will be small.

Also, yesterday Pammy Jo Bondi said that Todd Blanche, Orangie's personal attorney, was solely responsible for the release of the Epstein files.  While this is probably true, it shows she's desperate enough to throw Blance so badly under the bus.

Trainwell

 So, our overnight temp did not drop below freezing.  This is good when you want the snowpack to melt.  It's also a very good sign that spring, which is only 19 days away, is going to be here sooner rather than later.  That doesn't mean we here in Central PA are going to have cold spots, in fact we are going to have 2 today and tomorrow when our daily highs will not get out of the mid 30s (F).  However, by next Tuesday and Wednesday we should be up in the low 70s (F).  Since I don't work those days, I plan on getting a little yardwork in.

And I did manage to sell 3 measures yesterday in spite of how slow the store was.  We are well over $100,000 under plan for the week.  I will be hitting my sales go and my measure goal, however, that should keep management happy for a while.  I also get to work today.  I'm hoping it will be another slow day.  I have no problem spending 8 hours getting laps in.  Steps are good.

Since we're starting a new month, sometime later this morning, possibly when I'm at work I will be reactivating my Trainwell subscription.  What the past 2 months have proven to me is that I do need those daily notes, and texts reminding me that a workout needs to be completed.  I don't know if it's my age, but I do seem to be becoming a rather lax individual when it comes to working out. 

And the Iran issue continues to be the headline attraction for Orangie, and he has, momentarily pushed the Epstein files onto the back burner.  However, it's quite possible he's jumped from the frying pan into the fire.  One thing that has changed is that now Orangie is telling the world the attacks on Iran were for regime change.  This is coming form a guy who's constantly lying about tariffs, and who's failing to convince the American people that other countries pay them.  Regime change has never worked.  History proves this point over and over again.  But then Republicans and Conservatives have never been too smart.  They think all that they need to do is say "shut up, we're in charge," and the people will listen.  They are simply not prepared for the consequences.  I saw where the Netanyahu's government has said there will be no "boots on the ground."  Well, we all know that's horseshit.  The only way that would happen if the Iranian Army would suddenly start shouting "Yippee!  Skippy!  We're glad you're here."  They are already forming another hardline government.  The GOP and the Israelis just don't understand that those Iranians are just like the parties that are in power in both the United States and Israel, though the Iranians don't have people who suffer from bone spurs in charge.

Tiny Little Putin

We're above freezing and our high this afternoon is expected to be in the low 60s (F).  Tomorrow night another cool front is going to be moving through Central PA.  The original forecast had us receiving about 2 inches of snow.  That has now been changed to rain, with smattering of ice late Monday night into Tuesday morning.  After that, temps are going to zoom upwards.  There are actually a few days in which we're expecting to breach the 60 (F) barrier.

And yesterday was one of those, hhhmm, lets get this done sort of of days.  I set up the dehumidifier in the basement.  Thinking that my basement was rife with humidity, I set it up to run nonstop.  This morning, I reset it, taking it off nonstop and setting the humidity lever at 45%.  I also did some research online.  Most of my humidity problems will happen during the spring and summer, not the fall and winter.  This means the new dehumidifier will probably be sitting in standby mode until April or May.  That's fine.  

I also managed to get a little workout in using the new piece of gym equipment.  Tomorrow I'm going to activate Trainwell for another 3 months.  I need to.  I've gained weight.  My trainer and I will have to re-evaluate my workouts since I've changed my hours.  This means I will have to put the rowing machine back together.  I may rearrange the workout room while I'm at it, or maybe not.  

One of the things I did yesterday was back a chocolate olive oil cake... from scratch.  Most recipes are for vanilla or lemon flavored cakes but I was craving deep, dark chocolate, so that's what I made.  With a peanut butter drizzle frosting.  Yum.

So, I guess everyone knows that the Orange Anus, in conjunction with Israel, has started a war with Iran.  This is not a good thing.  It's also the ultimate distraction from the Epstein files, especially after they realized questioning the Clintons was a non-starter.  You can only kick a dead horse so many times before the village idiots begin to lose interest.  That's one of the many things the GOP has never learned.  Keep in mind, Iran and Russia are Best Friends Forever.  It's my understanding that Iran supplies many of the drones to Russia for their war with the Ukraine.  Vlad thought his puppet Orangie would play by Vlad's rules, however Orangie doesn't want the Epstein files to come out because it would be catastrophic for the family business.  If you want to look for a source for all of the shit going down in the world, you need look no further than Vlad Putin, a failing dictator who no matter how grand he sees himself in his head, is really nothing more than a tiny little man, at least this is how history will portray him.

The World is Watching

Good morning world. Outside temps are in the low 50s (F) with a projected high to be in the low 70s (F) with full on sunshine.  Today's going to be a perfect day for a peaceful rally here in Central PA.  The weather will change towards the end of the weekend.  Some forecasts are predicting an inch of rain on Monday.  We need the rain.

Yesterday was a good day when it came to getting things done.  The 2 aquariums were cleaned and I painted more of wainscoting in the bathroom.  I will be finished with that soon.  After that I will move on to bedroom doors and freshen them up.  A few years back, when I was running the paint department, one of associates was from India.  He and I got to talking about, of all things, painting, and I was surprised when he told me that in his culture people rarely repainted rooms.  He told me that if there's a hole, or scratch, or scrap, they will simply patch it and just touch the area up, and I thought their walls must be spotty as hell since time changes everything.

Trainwell is making changes to their app.  Now you'll be able to move your workouts around, change the times, or only do certain exercises.  This is all starting Monday.  I'm wondering, hoping they're not moving to some sort of AI format.  That would probably not be good for the people they hire to be trainers.

My sister told me that my brother in law came home from work on Wednesday and told her he'd retired.  This was rather abrupt.  Originally, he was supposed to work until December, and then go part-time for a while.  He managed dry wall installations, and she'd also told me there wasn't a lot of work and that he'd said "people were just standing around."  That's a wasted payroll expense.  I don't doubt that America's sinking economy is to blame.

And, of course, today is the 2nd No Kings Day.

The world is watching.  A bold statement is being sent the the Conservatives in power, one they simply cannot believe:  No one wants an authoritarian government in America.  I've said this before, these people are delusional.  They truly believe that all they need to do is shout out "shut up, we're in charge," and Americans will simply accept this as true.  These people are idiots.  Not only are they idiots, they are a minority group.  Their small numbers need to be taught a painful lesson.  No matter how badly they want to dictate how we live our lives, they are not in charge.  By voting, Americans hire them for a period of time.  This means they can also be fired.  Because they are incapable of reading the room, the firings are going to commence.  

Conservative Ineptitude

 We had a rather warm night.  The outside temp is a very mild 57 (F).  That doesn't mean our afternoon temps are going to climb into the upper 70s (F).  Nope.  They're going to be stuck in the 60s (F).  There is a Nor'easter plodding up the eastern seaboard which will keep the temps mild.  Rain showers will continue throughout the day and into to tomorrow.  Predictions are for a total accumulation of about an inch of rain.  We need it.  

I did my morning workout yesterday.  It was fine.  This may surprise some of you, but I'm on a 25 day stretch.  This is a good thing.  I think one of the reasons these sessions work is because the routines are varied, also, the fact that they were designed by someone who knows what he's doing, rather than me sitting at my computer picking and choosing exercises I think will be beneficial.  Even the sequence has turned out to be good.   I used to do 3 sets of one exercise and then move onto the next.  Now I complete the entire routine, and then repeat it two more times.  There are even yoga poses in the after workout stretching.  

I did work yesterday and it was slow.  I talked to one customer about ordering blinds and then he decided to buy out stock blinds instead.  They were a lot cheaper.  I also talked to a gentleman who believes we sold him more carpet than he needed.  The carpet has already been installed.  If he had a problem, he should have brought it up before he paid for the installation.  I told him that if he wanted, we could send a measure tech out to do a remeasure, but he would have to pay $100 for it.  He said he was going to think about it.

And Christmas has arrived.  In the past, our Christmas displays have had a large selection of trees.  There have been way, way too many inflatable lawn ornaments, and quite a few large indoor ornaments as well, like 6 foot tall, talking and singing Santas.  We have no Santas this year.  We have no large singing elves, or carolers.  And the number of artificial trees on display is small.  Most of this stuff we get from China.

And evidently Dementia Don doesn't remember he was president on January 6.

The chaos is never ending, isn't it?  This is why Conservatives need to be kept completely out of power.  They live for the words, "shut up, we're in charge," but whenever they are, they are constantly showing the world their incompetence.  Take those 4000 people Russell, the Idiot Vought, joyously bragged about terminating.  Well, they're hiring many of them back because their jobs are essential.  Conservative ineptitude is astounding, so much so, I'm wondering if they all might have dementia.

  

Boots

Okay, so this morning is cool enough to edge on being cold with the outside temp at 41 (F).  We weren't in the 30s (F) as they'd been predicting, but they were close enough.  Autumn is now officially here.  Our long distance forecast has out daily highs hovering around in the mid 60s (F), with periods of rain this weekend. Now the leaves will really begin cascading from the trees.  I may mow those in the backyard, but the ones out front I'll rake into piles around the shrubs and let winter turn them into mulch.  I like putting the ground back into the ground.

And I did work yesterday.  It was slow.  I had a sale go through on Tuesday, so I've reached my sales goal for the week, and someone gave me two leads, so I've hit that goal.  Will I get a measure this weekend?  That's difficult to say, especially if the weather falls apart.  There used to be a time when people would plan on getting new carpet installed for the holidays in order to impress the relatives; those days are past.  

Since I don't work today, a bike ride is scheduled for this afternoon.  One thing that's good about this Trainwell program I've signed up for workouts and rides are planned.  Too often I'll find myself scheduling something and not following through, so far this small bit of accountability is eliminating that.

I watched the first few episodes of Boots last night on Netflix.  Based on the memoir of Greg Cope White, The Pink Marine, its the story of a gay young man who enlists in the Marines in the 1990s.  It's a comedy, it's a drama, it stars Max Parker as the company commander.  I like what I've seen so far.  Warning: there is male nudity in case you find that offensive.  And it's getting good reviews. If we get enough people watching it, we can move it into Netflix's Top Ten.

Yesterday at work I decided to confront one of the several MAGA cultists I work with, mostly because he's an idiot.  I was chatting with another associate about RFK Jr's claim that circumcision was one of the causes of autism.  Of course the cultist interrupted because that had to be wrong, RFK Jr would never say anything like that... and there was an escalation, not volume wise, I'm glad to say.  But I can only take so much idiocy, like being told that Orangie's approval ratings were in the 50s, or that inflation is dropping, and that millions of criminals were no longer coming across the boarders (yes, these were his talking points).  I ended the conversation by telling him that when Orangie dies, he's going to go to Hell and you'll be right behind him.  He didn't like that, so we mutually parted ways.  And I'll be honest, I felt so good inside.

And ending on a bright note.  Orangie did not get the Nobel Peace Prize and MAGA world is exploding. This means he will do something stupid and his approval rating will drop even lower.

The Lessons Republicans Fail to Learn

We had nice weather here in Central PA yesterday.  Our temps were supposed to climb up into the mid 80s (F) but that didn't happen.  I think we might have reached 77 (F), which was fine.  Today is supposed to be a repeat of yesterday.  As always, when it comes to the weather, we shall see.  

I'd like to say that yesterday much was accomplished.  Nope.  That didn't happen.  I did get my cardio completed, 7 miles in Sardinia.  I was not impressed by the ride.  There was nothing to look at because, except for two right turns, the route was straight.  There was a hill with a 6.7 % grade.  That was okay.  But, overall, I'll probably neve ride it again.  I also had a bit of a problem with my HRM.  And another first for the ride was the music I listened to:  Hosier.  Meh.  The only good thing was that my riding stats finally started moving over into Trainwell.  Garmin Connect doesn't import automatically, so I have to link through Google's Health Connect, and for some reason, it needs to go through my phone.  I tried syncing the apps on my tablet and it was a no go.

For those who don't know, I prefer rock and roll over the very floofy pop song currently being played today.  It's not that some of the melodies are decent, a few of them are, what's wrong are the vocals.  There is a reason we have a voice box and way too many of the trendy singers simply don't sing.  The modulate every tone and nuance until their songs are as bland as Velveeta cheese, which is fine if you have undiscriminating ears.  For those who've forgotten what a singing voice sounds like, here's Rainbow Kitten Surprise performing live at Red Rocks.

And to be honest, mostly what I wasted my time on yesterday was perusing social media following the Jimmy Kimmel atrocity.  There are actually 2 reasons he was canceled, the first being the deal I mentioned between Nextstar and Tegen (spelled wrong yesterday), and the second being that the Orange Anus has terribly thin skin.  Orangie, the pedophile from Hell, does not suffer comedy well, especially if the joke is about him.  Here's a quote from him yesterday afternoon.

He refuses to understand having comedians poke fun of him goes with the job, unless your Vladimir Putin and you live in Russia.  Orangie is an idiot.  I'm old enough to remember Johnny Carson and believe me, on more than one occasion Johnny made rather glib comments about the sitting president.   Orangie is older than me, so he should remember, too, but for that to happen he'd need to have a brain.

Every time the administration does something like Kimmel, Orangie's approval rating drops.  It does not go back up.  And when his approval rating drops, so does the approval rating for the Republican party.  Because they are a minority party the further they move towards authoritarianism, the less likely they will survive American wrath, and they do not have a good enough understanding of the country to learn that lesson.