Bombing Moscow

Yesterday the temp got up to 89 (F).  I consider that warm.  Today and tomorrow the forecasters are saying that our high temps are going to hit 98 (F).  That's hot.  That's mid July weather, not middle of the month of May weather.  Thursday a cooling trend is predicted to start with high temps for the rest of the week hovering in the mid to upper 70s (F).  Start prepping for the heat waves now.

I had lunch with my friend Betsy yesterday.  We always do Chinese buffet for the meal and Dairy Queen for the dessert.  This is our routine.  Conversation is always good.  Sometimes if revolves around age, since both of us are getting older; there ain't no stopping that.   She rents and I feel bad about that for her.  But then at some point, all of us seniors will end up paying some form of rent, either to a landlord or to a senior living facility.  American capitalism dictates that unless we are wealthy, we will always owe.  At least I will have a financial cushion when I sell my house.  That's something many will not have.

The thought had occurred to me to take the day off using the warm temps as an excuse, but I probably won't. It's not as though I have any plans to occupy my time.  So, I suppose I'll be punching for my normal Monday shift.

And here's a real old pic of me from high school.  While this isn't dated, I think it's from 1969, the year I graduated.  This was long before I could grow a moustache.  Don't those lapels rock!

One of the things that came up in my conversation with Betsy yesterday was, as you might expect, the Orange Anus.  She had a very dim view of our future, believing the Republicans are going to destroy everything.  I did my best to convince her otherwise, whether I was successful or not is anybody's guess.  It did brighten her day when I showed her the pics and videos of Moscow being hit by drones and missiles.  It's my understand that internet coverage was shut down in large swaths of the country.  A spokesperson for Orangei's blow bro Vlad shrieked that Ukraine had stooped to terrorism, and the world laughed at him.  Vlad's in a bit of a stinky mood.  He had to cut short his VE parade.  The Russia economy is in the shitter.  He's relying on North Korean solders to help on the battlefield.  And now Moscow being bombed.  I'm wondering how long it will be before he slips, trips, and falls out of a wndow.

And finally, the blasphemers gathered on the Washington Mall yesterday in an attempt to spread their heresy.  Like everything associated with the Orange Anus and his regime, the fools our going to fail badly.  Everything he touches dies.

Expansionism Fails

We have 38 (F) outside.  The forecast is, as I expected, for temps to continue to rise.  My Wednesday we should be in either the high 40s (F) or low 50s (F).  The long range forecast is for temps to consistently hover in the mid 40s (F).  I have no problem with that.

Yesterday I did work.  The store is not going to make plan this week.  Without giving any actual details that might be considered proprietary, right now we looking at missing play by 6 figures.  Corporate has reduced our plan, but at this point nothing will help.  This is how it goes.

I did have a far eastern customer who paid to have a measure.  He's selling his house.  His wife asked when carpeting was going to go on sale, so I told her that never happens.  There is a big difference between buying carpeting and a washer/dryer combo.  Oh, and here's a big hint to all of you interested in buying appliances that are on sale.  They are never, ever sold at the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price).  Like a new car, that sticker price has one intention, to make you think you're getting a great deal.  Spend a few minutes online and you'll discover that the "sale" price is, in fact, the standard price.

And I do get to work today.  But then I have off for the rest of this week.  The same is true for next week.  I did put in to take 5 hours vacation, both this week and next to keep my paycheck from falling too low.

Here's a random picture I've pulled from my files since I wanted something interesting to look at.  It's picture of Harrisburg from the west shore.

And someone is saying that Venezuela is going to be run by both Hegseth and Rubio.  This is going to go poorly, as these things tend to do.  Expansionism is dead.  That is one of many things that conservatives totally fail to understand.  Three hundred years ago, Orangie's invasion of Venezuela would have worked for a time.  In today's world, with easy access to guns and assorted other types of killing weapons, failure is eminent.  Venezuelans are going to fight.  However, as I've mentioned before, conservatives have this "shut up, we're in charge" mentality.  They have always been wrong.  Take those Venezuelans down in Miami who were dancing around yesterday, this morning they're scratching their heads and asking why Orangie's Hegseth and Rubio are going to run their country.  They are on their way to being very unhappy campers.  And the idiots in Orangie's government literally have no idea what they have gotten themselves into.  This will be another Vietnam.

And if you don't believe me about the expansionism, just look at that idiot Putin.  He's 4 years into a war with over a million Russian casualties and there is no end is sight. 

Spain

 Well, we were down near freezing again this morning.  The temps will warm up.  They did yesterday.  We reached a high of 55 (F).  Of course, I was working, but believe me, so many people came in and talked about the weather and the warm temps.  Their most common comment was "this is so... unnatural."  A week short of December and we're experience early to mid autumn temps.  Next week we're supposed to cool off.  I'll believe it when it happens.

During my workout yesterday morning, I kneed my weight bench and a 20 pound dumbbell fell on the floor.  Wowza!  It did make a loud noise.  I usually set my dumbbells on the floor when I'm not using them, yesterday, I didn't.  A lesson has been learned.

And I did work yesterday.  Right now I'm leading the department in sales.  I work a  shift today, however, the weather's not supposed to be too nice, so management will just have to be satisfied with what I have.

Every now and then, out of curiosity. I will check to see where my readers are located in the world.  I'm always impressed that there are people in Indonesia, and the Philippines who read what I write.  Thank you very much!  A number of people in England sit down and look at my blog.  France, too, and it's nice to see you number in the hundreds.  Germany?  Many, many thanks to my German readers!  You rock!  There is one country, however, that doesn't have a single reader, and that's Spain.  People of Spain I adore you!  I love your movies!  I love your TV series!   Right now I'm watching The Crystal Cuckoo! Catalonia is the greatest!  I wake up dreaming I'm in Barcelona! (do you think I'm getting my point across?)

And now for a poetry break.

And something with worsted gold sat among the natty leaves

And everyone was flipping out about the so-called peace plan Orangie's administration was trying to shove down Ukraine's throat because it gave his blow bro Vlad everything he wanted, that was until word broke that it was nothing more than Vlad's wish list.  As expected, Orangie's not happy.  Vlad's not happy.  It's my understanding that there's been some rearranging and now the Ukraine, the Europeans, and the US are sitting down in Geneva to start working on another peace plan.  It appears that Vlad's not sending anyone because he's an asshole.  

And Orangie flipped out again because his wannabe dictator authority is still being questioned.  What the GOP fails to understand is that every time he pulls carp like this it hurts him.  They still cling to that belief that a majority of quiet Americans love and adore Orangie, and that they will bow down to his every whim.  They are totally out of touch with America, and it's killing them off.

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.

Face Off

 We have a chilly start to the day, that's if you think 67 (F) is chilly.  I don't.  We also have quite a bit of a breeze, the leftovers from a cold front that moved through the area late yesterday afternoon.  We did get rain, heavy torrential rain that fell in sheets across the highway as I was driving home from work.  And this wasn't like one of those quickie thunderstorms that's a flash, bam, thank you mam kind of storms.  We had heavy rain for over half an hour, heavy enough that I had to drive through waves.  What an adventure!  Today our high temp will only rise into the mid 70s (F).  That's fine.

Yesterday work was steady for the first three hours, but  then it died off.  The store did not hit plan last week.  This is going to continue.  I did set up a measure, but other than that the afternoon dragged on and on.  I had planned on stopping off at my neighborhood Giant supermarket on the way home, but by the time I got out of our parking lot the rain had started, and shortly after that drivers were slowing down and putting on their four-way flashers.

I did make Ukrainian Borscht yesterday morning before heading off to work.  One of the big differences between Ukrainian and Russian is that the Ruskies eat their borscht chilled, while the Hungarians eat theirs warm.  The recipe made a lot, so I'll have meals for the next 2 or 3 days.  

And, of course, Volodymyr Zelensky is going to be meeting with the Orange Anus sometime today, possibly this morning, maybe this afternoon.  Orangie has already attempted to lay the groundwork, the Ukraine needs to give up Crimea and not join NATO.  Zelensky has already told him to pound sand.  Some things everybody needs to remember are that Orangie is weak and caves under pressure, that's why they call him TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out).  At the same time we need to keep in mind that he's been given order by his idol, Vlad.  His shoe leather heart has been crushed and he's desperate to make things kissy, kissy again.  I don't think that's going to happen.  Vlad never wanted to be kissy, kissy with him in the first place, but Orangie did make a convenient tool for Vlad to use... and abuse.  Like a bad poker player, Vlad has played his hand too soon, probably because he's already lost a million Russian lives in this failed war.  Vlad is a tiny tyrant who wants his tiny feet to fit into much bigger shoes and that's not going to happen.  So, what will happen?  I don't know.  I wouldn't be surprised if Orangie raises the tariffs on Europe to 75% because being the terrible businessman he is, that's the only card he can think of playing. 

Dimwitted Wannabe Bomber

 Okay, so a new week has started.  This morning's temps were cool, but a warming trend is on the way.  By the end of the week we might actually hit 90 (F).  I'm ready for summer.

I did work yesterday.  I made both my measure goal and my sales goal for the past week.  Management is happy.  In fact, I was kidding around with the store manager yesterday and that very subject came up and though he and I were laughing, he didn't shy away from saying my sales were comparable to those of a full time flooring specialist.  While no specific names came up, all I have to do is look at the figures to see there is one in particular who is not approaching expectations, let alone exceeding them.

And, shock of shocks, we did have a mini-terrorist activity at the store during one of my days off; a wannabe bomber was arrested.  Now this not too brilliant individual wasn't planning on bombing the store; rather he was intent on acquiring bomb making ingredients and components in order to make a bomb.  Knowing that the purchase of such materials could be traced, this dimwit decided to steal them... and was caught... and arrested.  A short time later his wife and mother showed up to pick him up and were told he was not at the store, and was, in fact, in police custody.

The Wertzville Road is now open and I don't have to take a detour to get to work.  However, during the storm last week, my neighbor's cedar tree lost a number branches, both bit and little.  Being the consummate stick connoisseur, Howie found one and brought it into the house.

For those who missed it, Ukraine carried out a successful drone operation that destroyed at least 40 irreplaceable Russian aircraft.  The drones were smuggled into and launched from inside Russia.  This says a lot about the ineptitude of Vlad's boarder security.  And, this mission had targets as far away as Siberia.  This is not a good look for Vlad or Russia.  It also proves how wrong the Orange Anus was when the told Zelensky he didn't have any cards.  I'm betting Orangie's blow bro Vlad is wondering if Zelensky what other cards Zelensky might be holding.

In spite of what some might think, and while Fox Entertainment is truly doubling down on Biden's supposed decline, Main Stream Media seems to have noticed that attacking this administration's policies is getting them more clicks than praising the Orange Anus.  Blowback is starting all over the place, except for CNN, because networks are going to go where the money is, and the money is in the clicks.

Things Are Not The Way They Used To Be

 For some, the end of the work week has arrived.  I never work Friday, and I'm part-time so "end of the work week," does not pertain to me.  The weather forecast today is Sunny and mild, temps in the mid 70s (F).  That's something I can deal with.  In fact, that is the perfect invitation to spend time outside focusing on winter clean-up.  

I did work yesterday and scheduling was bare bones to say the least.  Flooring and Decor had a total of 14 hours scheduled, and while that may seem like a lot, it isn't.  No aisle associate was scheduled, so there was no one to bring down pallets of product.  This means we have to steal someone from another department.  I was told by my department manager that on Tuesday the department was over scheduled.  Our schedules are actually pre-built by corporate and downloaded Monday morning. The HR rep doing the scheduling should be able to adjust them by moving people around, that's what I used to do.  Frequently I would simply delete their schedule completely and write my own.  Unfortunately we are part of a corporation that likes to micro-manage hours, so her hands may be tied.  Things are not the way they used to be.

Here's an update on the seeds I planted.  The beans are sprouting like... well, bean sprouts.  The green peppers are coming along fine.  However everything else, including the tomato seeds?  Nothing.

Lots of things in the political mix today:

Little Marco says that the United States will pull out of the Ukraine peace talks because no one involved is kissing Donald's ass.  Now, I have to admit, that's not exactly what he said, but everyone knows it's the truth.

Senator Van Hollen met with Abrego Garcia down in El Salvador.  That's a crack in Orangie's illegal deportation policy.  His approval rating is constantly eroding.  This is not going to stop it.  

Lisa Murkowski, for the record, has said that Republican Senators are terrified of Trump, that's why they're not doing anything to stop him.  Lisa, this is a terrible message.  You were elected to represent your constituents, not bow down to the Orange Anus out of fear.

According to Bloomberg, the country is already in a recession.  Ouch.

And it seems that in these tariff talks, no one is bending the knee.  They all know that Orangie is a spineless blowhard and will cave, and then lie.  They are circumventing us.  They are going to punish us because of one man, and one political party.  We are going to pay the price because things are not the way they used to be.

Stupid as Elon

 Well, we didn't quite get as toasty as they were predicting yesterday.  Our temps decided to hang out at around 73 (F).  Don't get me wrong, that's still a very nice temperature and the day was simply lovely.  I wore shorts outside, of course, since I've been wearing shorts on and off for most of the winter that's not too special.

I spent some time chatting with a tech from Adobe yesterday learning how to size a PDf to satisfy Barnes & Noble's requirements for cover art.  The changes need to be done in what's called the Preflight tool.  I was so happy when I submitted the cover and it was accepted... until I got an error.  They were having a problem converting the PDF/x-1a.  Well, son of a bitch!  I've sent them an email for an explanation.  So far there's been no response.  My patience is running out.  I'm almost to the point where I'll only sell the ebook through them.

Last yesterday afternoon I received an email from Amazon.  My Cosori air fryer was being recalled.  There's a problem with some of the wiring; it might catch fire.  I saw that 2 million are being recalled.  That's a lot of faulty wiring.  They'll replace it for free, so I started the process, cut the cord and sent the pictures.  

Today's the one year anniversary of Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.  Things are not going well for Trump's Blo Bro Vlad.  Will wannabe authoritarian dictators learn their lesson?  Absolutely not.  They may temper their ambition for a short time, but that will pass.  One of the reasons they will never change is billionaires.  Money talks.  While Russian oligarchs have been financially injured by the war, those injuries are minor, scratches and nicks that will heal.  They may actually replace Vlad because he screwed things up so badly.  Unfortunately, they will most likely put another incompetent in power.  Money talks, but it doesn't make you smart.  Look at Elon Musk, if you want a good example.  That man is stupid.

It is Balloon!

While temps north of us are sub-zero cold, we here in Central PA are relatively warm at, what they must think to be balmy, 13 (F).  Last night was the coldest we're going to get in this vortex, I least I think this is a polar vortex, if not, it's something similar.  Our high today is expected to be in the low 30s (F).  Tomorrow, the forecast is for us to reach back into the mid 40s (F).

New windows are being installed in the house next door.  When I had Andersen replace some of mine, they came to the house and measured.  This is not happening in my neighbor's house.  They shopped at Home Depot and bought windows 'off the rack,' so to speak.  This means they need to cut and reframe every window, which leaves gaps in the siding.  Since the existing siding is yellow aluminum, I suspect that will be the next thing they're going to replace.

I watched Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom last night.  The last time I saw it was in the theater in 1984.  I was only mildly impressed back then, and was even less impressed last evening.  The Indiana Jones character holds up fairly well, but the rest of the movie does a deep dive into some cheesy special effects, bad dialogue, and a third act finale that's uninspiring.  Set as a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, had this been the first in the series I have no doubt it would have failed.

And, of course, there is the Chinese weather balloon.  I find the entire situation amusing.  It's almost as if the Chinese put on their thinking caps to decide what it was they could do to screw things up.  Oh, and evidently there's another one cruising above Central America.  And the Republicans in the House are so damn stupid.  The first thing on their agenda is to shoot it down.  Number two on their list is to hold investigative hearings.  They don't see a balloon.  Nope, as far as they're concerned, this is another dead horse they can kick to the gutter.  I thought Adam Kinzinger made a good point when he said that shooting it down would let the Chinese know about our high altitude weapons systems.  We all know that level of intelligence is far above that of your average Republican congressman.

Jimmy Jordan's committee issued it's first subpoenas yesterday.  They actually believe someone in the administration is going to pay attention to them.

Finally, for those who haven't been paying attention, the Orange Anus has been shrieking about how he could end the war in the Ukraine in 24 hours.  While a lot of this is his blustery buffoonery, I wouldn't be surprised this is also a desperate attempt to help his Blow Bro Vlad since things aren't going to well for him and his 3 day war.  Superior weapons systems are arriving in the Ukraine which have the capability of taking out Russian soldiers far behind the front line.  This is not good, especially when conservative casually counts put the Russian dead at around 200,000.  Trump's Blow Bro Vlad is sending his army into a meat grinder.  

Slapped

Wow, I cannot believe my weekend has arrived already.  Seems like only yesterday I went back to work... for a day, and here I am with another 2 days off.  In two weeks, I'm taking more than just a mini vacation, more than just 3 days in a row.  I've taken myself off of the schedule for a full 5 consecutive days.  This semi-retirement thing seems to be working out quite nicely.

And I saw this about the Kardashisluts this morning and thought Bob might find it amusing, I know I did.  It seems like the Kardashisluts are being sued by a former Kardashislut who claims they ruined her career (or something like that).  Jury selection for the trial began yesterday and potential juror, after potential juror, spewed the ugly truth about them.  Evidently many, many people are biased against these whores, and they had to sit in the courtroom and listen to people calling them trash.  Of coure, being publicly slapped by the little people will change nothing. I had a good, hearty laugh out of it.

Something that's been flitting across my brain for the past week or so concerns the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.  Not the fact that it's killing thousands of innocent people, which it is, rather it's the realization that the longer the invasion drags on, the more incompetent it makes Putin look as a leader.  This is especially true when you understand he believed this was only going to take a few days.  The longer this war continues, the more a loser he looks like.  Should he resort to weapons of mass destruction, he will be defined as the ultimate loser.  The world will both hate him, and mock him, as the ultimate failure.  The world will see him as nothing more than a tiny man with a Napoleon Complex desperate to prove he's as tall as... well... as Xi.

Finally, I got another big hoot this morning when I saw that Marjorie Taylor Greene is spitting bullets because the lawsuit to take her off the ballot is proceeding.  I do not doubt for a second that reality is going to slap this bitch multiple times, not that she will ever learn anything.  To do that, she would have to realize she's nothing more than a shit stain of a human being.

Embarrassing, isn't it?

 Yesterday was good.  Many things were accomplished: dusting, vacuuming, laundry, yardwork.  There was sunshine and warm temps, upper 60's (F).  Today, however, temps are supposed to drop, and tomorrow?  Rain.  All day.  And on Friday as well.  Son of a bitch!

Later this morning, I'm taking my car to the repair shop for them to quote me an estimate on getting the damage from my collision with the rock fixed.  I already know what I'm going to have to pay: $250.  That's my deductible.  Since this is all new to me, I'll be interested in finding out the process works.  I suspect they'll order the parts, and make an appointment for the repairs.  

Biggie's carprofen was supposed to arrive today, now it look like it might be arriving tomorrow.  The only issues he seems to be having are standing up and sitting down, so I'll have to decide if he gets both pills in the morning or split them between morning and evening.  I'll go with which ever works best for him.

I see where Clarence (I'm far more white than I am black) Thomas is still in the hospital.  He's missing oral arguments, not that he's going to let that matter since he's always going to come down on the conservatively white side of every decision.

Finally, I was reading in Al Jazeera this morning about Putin's problem with the Ukraine.  They're reporting that he actually believed the Ukraine would collapse in 2 days and that the Russian army is struggling with, not only supply issues, morale issues.  According to them, between 7000 and 9000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the past few weeks.  In other words, Putin is sporting a really big shiner (that's American slang for a black eye) the whole world is looking at.  I'm suspect that boner he so frequently tries to show the world is really nothing more than a prosthetic.  At this point, he looks like a fool.  And, should he decide to use a weapon of mass destruction, or two, he's going to look even worse: a terrible embarrassment.

 

Humiliating as Hell

 Okay, so is everybody ready to begin a brand new week?  I am.  Up and raring to go at a little before 0500.  Now, I know some of you will think of that as way too early.  Remember, I would rather be doing something than wasting time in a semi-somnambulist state.  That's my way of saying last night's sleep was more wakeful than most.

This is a work day for me.  A full work day, not one of my partial, show-up and put in 3 or 4 hours day.  Today might be somewhat busy.  Yesterday was a really sloooow Sunday after that bit of a shit show snow storm.  

I saw where Tom Brady is coming out of a retirement.  Pardon my English, but what a greedy dick.  At 45, he will end up injuring himself, probably badly, and regret his actions for the rest of his life.

The lyrics for this song might be used for karaoke night in the Body Under Ice.  Karaoke night, you ask?  I thought you knew, every murder mystery deservers a good song and dance act.

And now, can we talk about this bit of humiliating news?  It seems as though big bad Vlad's preparations for his invasion of the Ukraine weren't as thorough as he thought.  Or, maybe his people just lied to him because... well, he has been known to go horseback riding shirtless.  Anyway, it seems as Vlad has gone begging the Chinese for help, groveling for both military and financial aid.  Now, isn't that humiliating as hell.  Looks like this little invasion of his has cost Russia to lose it's shirt.  Vlad has become a putz in the eyes of the world.  As for China, they're staying mum on the situation.  You see, they were hoping Vlad's little invasion would go well, that this would be and easy peasy war.  Well, that didn't happen.  The EU, which Vald wrongly believed would roll over, has turned into a Super Power, and they are very tired of Vlad's shit.  The EU has the second largest, possibly even the largest, trading block in the world.  And Russia is really nothing more than a 3rd world country... thanks to Vlad.  That truth is humiliating as hell.

Traitors

Well, let's say hello to Friday.  The temps here in Central PA are supposed to top off in the high 50's (F).  Now, ain't that nice.  There is a smudge in the forecast, however.  Snow is predicted for tomorrow, possibly 3 - 5 inches.  Notice, I include the word possibly.  So far this year their predictions for an accumulation have been... off.  Originally the snowfall was to begin tomorrow afternoon, now the stuff is slated to begin falling around 0400.  I'm not holding my breath.

I ordered a doggy heating pad for Biggie.  He had trouble getting up the back steps yesterday.  I know what my heating pads do for my lower back, so I'm thinking napping on something warm and comfy may be beneficial.  

The new window A/C unit was installed in the computer / workout room yesterday, and even got a mini-workout while I did a slow jog on the treadmill.

Yesterday's breakfast with my brother went fine.  We avoided politics completely.

The copy of the PS4 Uncharted I had ordered was sitting on my front porch this morning, so I'm loading it right now.  I will give it whirl later in the day.  From the looks of it, I'd say the game was geared for teenage boys who want to have a lot of masculine fun.

One of the effects of Putin's ruthless invasion into the Ukraine is the continued splintering of the Republican Party.  For years the GOP had been pro-democracy, I mean, they were after all the party of Lincoln.  But the Reagan happened and their philosophy began to distort, they fantasized about running the country all by themselves, where they won every election, like Putin.  And the DOA Trump showed up and rebranded the party.  They became America First, which is a literal translation of "shut up, I'm in charge and we're going to be Democratic my way, and only my way."  You know, the way Putin has been running Russia for 22 years?  Suddenly, some of those old Republican bones began creaking.  Shit.  And some of the realized that dictators are always going to be on the selfish side, that they will always need to violently put down insurrections, making them bloody.  This is not what we represent, some of them said, and the party began splintering again.  The more the party splinters, the better chance for democracy to survive.  Helping it splinter even faster and farther are Tucker Carlson, and Fox News.  No doubt Putin sees them as an asset to his violent invasion.  Hopefully, more Americans are beginning to see them as traitors.

 

Desperation

 Can you believe the weekend is here already?  Some will be off work, others will still be doing their daily grind.  I get to work.  This coming week I have 4 days off, and still manage to get over 20 hours in at the store on Monday, Saturday, and Sunday. Weekends, I suspect, will be busy.  Ho Hum.

I ordered a A/C window unit for the the workout / computer room, a smaller version of the one I bought for the bedroom.  Sunday and Monday the temps are supposed to rip up into the mid 70's (F) before falling back into the high 40's (F) and mid 50's (F), so I guess the groundhog was wrong.  

An out of tank filter was ordered for the aquarium in the living room, the same one I have for the big tank.  One was included, since the tank was part of a 'kit,' however it's really a filter board which needs to be changed often in order for Netfin to make as much money as possible.  I'm also looking at replacing the top and buying a different LED light.  I expected to do this, since all I really wanted was the tank.

Biggie's on his new carprofen regime.  One in the evening and one in the morning.  We shall see how this works.

Another minor character has been added to The Body Under Ice :  Delores.  Now, isn't that a nice name.  She owns, manages, and during the off season is the bartender of Hennepin's, the bar / restaurant where Lois and Clark spend a lot of their time.  For those interested, Hennepin's gets its name from Hennepin Point, which is south of Voyageur's Bay.  I understand ice fishing is very, very good in Voyageur's Bay, at least that's what Charlie Beecham tells me.

The Ukraine is disappointed that NATO has not designated a no-fly zone for its airspace.  I think most agree that doing so would give Putin just reason he's looking for to expand the ground war.  Remember, he has absolutely no qualms about sacrificing the youth of Russia to get what he wants. Lives matter not to him.  He will only stop when the Oligarchs jerk his leash hard enough.  The fact that the Russian Parliament (or what ever they call their legislature) passed a law to jail those who speak the truth about the war, in conjunction with the decision to begin shutting down Social Media, is a sign of desperation.

 

Borderline

 Friday.  Yesterday was somewhat eventful in that my eyes were dilated for my eye exam.  My eyes are fine.  They're still blue.  A long time ago an ophthalmologist diagnosed me with Glaucoma., the same doctor that Maddie's mother went to.  Laser surgery was done on both of my eyes and eyedrops were prescribed.  Getting refills was an aggravation because the prescription was always for a very expensive brand not covered by my insurance. I began going to the VA when the Doc retired and... what the hey!  I don't have Glaucoma.  The pressure in my eyes has changed in 4 years.  I am borderline.  Honestly, I don't think that should come as a surprise to anybody.

My Veterinarian's assistant finally called me back yesterday as I was on my way to be dilated.  Biggie's going to stay on the carprofen.  Instead of 2 pills in the morning, we're going to try one in the morning or one in the evening.  Hopefully this will work.  The only other option right now is to add in Gabapentin.  Crap!  My mom used to take Gabapentin.

Two minor characters have been added to The Body Under Ice:  Lois and Clark, two barflies who hang out at Hennepin's, one of the few bars / restaurants that stays open year round.  Tourists flock there in the summer, locals hang out there in the winter.  Some may find it difficult to believe, but Lois and Clark drink more than Eli and Max.

  

Of course, Billy Barr's coming out with an explosive book on Loser #45.  I know this because Billy has started making the PR rounds, spitting out tasty little morsels of gossip whose sole purpose is to entice you into buying his book.  I won't.  That little bit about Trump becoming enraged when he was told there was absolutely no voter fraud?  Sorry, Billy's not taking us across the border into unfamiliar territory.  Now, if Billy had said Trump took the truth well, that there was no voter fraud, and had smiled and said "well, I guess we've got to come up with a big lie?"  That would have been fertile territory.  

And, of course, Putin is still pushing more troops across the border into the Ukraine.  I did like this bit in Al Jazeera regarding his Imperialistic beliefs.  The part about how Russia will pay for this invasion for years to come is so on point.  The only way this could have been in any ways successful from him would have been for the war to be over in 3 or 4 days, before the world had a chance to understand what was going on.  Now he's going to be sacrificing young Russians to guerilla warfare for years to come.  And it will spread across the borders.

The World is Royally Pissed Off at Putin

 Well, for some of you, another work week is beginning.  Mine never really ended.  In fact, today is going to be my Friday.  So, what do you think of that?  I have an 8 hours shift, leave the store at 5:30 (PM), and do not have to be back until Thursday at 1 (PM).  I can live with that.

There's been a bit of a tragedy in the Big Tank.  My algae eater has disappeared.  This morning, as I was feeding them, I realized he was no longer darting around sucking teeny bits and pieces of the green stuff from the sides of the tank.  This means a drive down to That Fish Place to get another.  The truth is I need to get a second one for the new tank, unless I want to scrap algae on a regular basis.  I will, at some point, need to buy a new LED light which will let me adjust the brightness.  While bright light is nice, it's also quite conducive to algae growth.

I did a mile on the treadmill yesterday, but something started rattling horribly bad, so I stopped.  I'm going to have to take the screw driver and makes sure everything is tightened up.

So, I started using Natural Dog Company's Skin Soother on Biggie's paws.  Firstly: he likes it.  More importantly: he doesn't try and lick it off.  It's an organic balm which helps heal.  Two of the ingredients are frankincense and myrrh, which probably make it holy shit good.

Oh, and in case you haven't heard, the world is royally pissed off at Putin.  And for so many reasons, one of which is that many, many realize his boner is never going to be satisfied until he 'rules the world,' or at least all of Europe, which ever comes first.  The Chinese are very mute on his invasion.  I suspect they see it as a trial balloon to gauge the reaction if they were to invade Taiwan.  The signs are not promising for them.  I saw this morning where talks have begun between the Ukraine and Russia.  That ain't going to go any where.  Every day that passes makes Putin looked dumber, one might go so far as to wonder if that boner of his is really nothing more than a cheap prosthetic.  Maybe he should change his name to Dildo Putin.

Finally, I'm old enough to remember the days of the USSR, when there was a Soviet Union, and back then, if one of the Premiere's screwed things up, the Oligarchs would simply replace him.  I'm not the only one to be thinking about this since Marc posted this link to the Palmer Report.  You see, most people believe Putin's running the show over there.  Wrong.  It's the Oligarchs.  As long as he keeps them happy, he's happy.  If they get pissed off, well there's a villa Gorbachev moved to that's now sitting empty.  Are the Oligarchs pissed?  Well, this morning I saw that the Belarusian army is arming up to go in and bail out the Russian army.  Oh, and the Russian Stock Market opened this morning.  Ouch!

Sacrificing Others

 Another sleepy Sunday has arrived.  Biggie is sleeping on the floor beside me.  I've ordered some cream that's supposed to help with the two furuncle between the two toes on his left foot.  They recommend giving him an Epsom salt foot bath, I'm sure that will be an experience.

I only have to work 4 hours today, 3 - 7.  That shouldn't be too bad.  Yesterday we were busy.  I ended up getting 3 measures.  Damn, the slow time of the year is ending, not that it was ever really that slow.  There were maybe 2 weeks when the store usually cleared out around 3 o'clock.  That didn't happen yesterday.  We'll see what today's like.

The mask mandate has come off at work.  I'm okay with that.  Vaxxed and boosted, if I do get Covid hopefully the symptoms will be minor.  Right now the unvaxxed make up the majority of deaths, between 2300 and 2800 a day.  I have no problem with that either.  And, if someone an unvaxed person comes up to me and whines about getting it a second time, I might laugh in his face and say "what the hell did you think was going to happen?"

And Putty's booty must be burning badly with all of the solidarity rising around the world for the Ukraine.  the NATO he hates so much is doing exactly what was planned, standing up to him.  And they don't need to be a part of NATO to stand with the Ukraine.  Turkey has the Dardanelles down to Russian warships.  These countries realize Putin will not stop with the Ukraine.  Will he be successful?  In the long run, no, but you he will have no problem sacrificing thousands and thousands of young, Russian lives to get what wants.  That's always been a problem with bad people in power, sacrificing others means nothing to them.

Big Losers

The fudge is gone!  It's a good thing I took several slices to work, otherwise I'd be 10 pounds heavier.  Tasty, rich, and delicious, the one good habit I have in regard to the bad habit of eating candy is that I get my fill fast.  Then I'm done, and the desire to chow down fades.  Right now, I'd say I'm good on skipping fudge for the next five or six years, or at least until an inkling inspires to be to order another box.

Temps here are supposed to climb into the upper 50's (F) today.  I'm only scheduled to work for 4 hours.  Tomorrow and Wednesday, they're supposed to top off in the lower 60's (F), but then they drop.  Spring can be such a tease at times.

So, I printed off a map of Mackinac Island in order to place 'the body.'  I frequently use maps.  Knowing the geographical location helps.  I spend a lot of time on the computer, too, looking at various sights in the area where 'the body' will be found.  For The Body in Repose, I learned quite a lot about the French Quarter from photographs various people had taken over the years.  One of the things that was a pleasant surprise was discover that there are rooftop bars in the French Quarter; not all the bar crawling takes place on street level.  Any way, here's the map for Mackinac.  Any ideas as to where the body is going to be found?

So, there might be a summit between Biden and Putin... maybe.  If it happens, I doubt very much if Putey baby is going to come riding in shirtless, and on the back of a horse.  And, if it happens, will anything be accomplished?  I doubt it.  As I've said before, Putin has a boner for the Ukraine.  I find it interesting how one of his demands has to do with NATO, claiming he sees it as a threat.  The Orange Anus didn't like NATO either, his claim was that the member countries weren't paying their fair share.  Keep in mind, the Orange Anus also desperately wanted to build a hotel in Moscow.  Well, that hotel ain't gonna happen.  Because Orangey's coup failed, his blow bro Putin now has to deal with a president who sees him for what he really is, a little man with a big ego, a little man who's going to lose even if he does invade.  Till all is said and done, he's going to be as big a loser as the Orange Anus.

A little contrived

 Yesterday was very productive.  I got in  40 minute fast walk (3.6 mph) on the treadmill; one of these days I'll actually begin jogging.  Probably sooner rather than later.  Laundry was done.  Work was done on the big tank.  The plants I ordered seem to have survived and are growing.  Pics coming soon.  Temps in the area are supposed to hit the mid-fifties, with rain and wind this afternoon.

I still haven't heard from the insurance adjuster.  When I called the repair shop, I was told they were booked up until March just to give estimates.  Son of a bitch.

There's a special package arriving tomorrow.  Good thing it's my day off from work.  Pics or video coming soon.

And, I went to see Death on the Nile last evening.  I liked it... kind of.  After all the shit about Armie Hammer's personal life came out, you know the bloody biting, the cannibalism, the violence... well, every time he was on screen I cringed a little.  As for the movie.  I'd read the novel a long, long time ago and while all the details didn't float to the top of my head, I remembered who the killer was so it really wasn't so much of a 'who done it' for me.  Instead, I thought about Christie.  Mysteries have changed since the book was written, back in 1937.  When I read it, about 40 or so years ago, I was wowed.  Watching it last night I thought, wow, that's a bit contrived.  So much of the plot relied on happenstance: this person just happened to see this, and this person just happened to see that, and this person just happened to put things together before Perot.  Also, there was a black and white prologue and a finale that I'm sure has Christie spinning in grave.  No spoilers.

I saw there was bad news this morning from the Ukraine.  There were claims, and pics, about a supposed attack on one the separatist states which wants to join Russia.  This is one of those false flags Biden talked about, Putin contriving to try and legitimize his invasion.  Oh, and than there's that bit about how Putin lied about the troops, they weren't withdrawing, in fact more troops were being added.  I don't think Putin understands how terribly blood his invasion is going to be.  Neither he, nor Xi understand the days of emperors are gone.  Oh, and a bit of a warning, if you have stocks, hold on to your hats, because the moment Russia invades, the stock market is going to go into a big dive.  

Location, Location, Location

Saturday, and the dogs are still in bed.  Yesterday the temps hit 62 (F), and we went for a long walk, too long, because last night Biggie was achy.  Sitting down was slow for him.  So, he got 2 of his puppy pain pills.  Even Lily had to pause for a few seconds before coming up stairs to go to bed.  Aging dogs.  Patience is necessary since their puppy brains don't know what's going on.

I used my Stryd yesterday.  Started off at 3.4 mph and went up to 3.5.  Will I get faster?  Right now, I'd say that's only a matter of time.  The picture I posted here?  Well, I posted the same one on Facebook.  Only one person had the initiative to Google it, the others asked what it was?  That tells you a lot about people.

And I do have to work today.  A full shift.  7.5 hours.  Wonderful.  I'm scheduled tomorrow as well.  Not being the sporty type, I have to ask, is tomorrow Super Bowl Sunday?  If it is, then business will be super slow.  If it isn't, then it will just be normal Sunday slowness.

This little vid was for The Body Under Ice was posted to my Instagram account.  I find it... rather humorous, but then my sense of humor is skewed more than a little.  This was done with my phone.  Maybe later this morning, before I go to work, I'll try the GoPro.

 And it looks like Putin's little boner is about ready to spew.  And, of course, he's not going to listen to anyone telling he might not only be premature, nor will he even begin to understand how this little ejaculation he's been planning since Trump was elected, is going to seed so much dissention.  Prepare for something that's going to be urban, long, and protracted.  And it will spread, and so will the Russian army until it is thinned to the point of collapsing.  Kazakhstan will erupt again.  The Russian economy, which is not too great, will be crushed.  Some losers will never learn.