Virginia

So, Central Pa is heading into a warming trend, at least for the next few days.  When we cool off, and we will cool off, temps are not going to be as cool, with overnight lows down in the mid 40s (F).  As I look at the long range forecast though, it seems as though this year is going to be a repeat of the past few years in that the April showers that bring may flowers are going to be arriving in May... again.  It doesn't really matter when we get the spring rains, as long as we get them.  

And yesterday wasn't a bad day.  Much was done.  Dusting and cleaning up the Howie hair can take quite a bit of time.  He does shed a lot.  Sometimes, when you rub his back, his hair seems to just fountain off.  None of my boxes ever shed like this.  Howie's shedding is pervasive.  

Anyway, that was my yesterday.  Clean.  Do laundry.  Dinner was leftovers, so there was no cooking.

I did, however, take a bike ride that suffered from a computer glitch, and a rather weird one at that.  There's a ride in Corsica that I like.  It's stage 4 of a 6 stage ride that is, with all 6 stages, over 120 miles long.  Stage 4 is a moderate ride having some difficult, smaller hills.  Twelve minutes into stage 4, the small GPS window in the top right  corner of the screen accelerated into this super fast mode while the main screen flashed on and off.  This was the glitch.  When the flashing and the acceleration stopped, my ride had been changed.  I was now at the beginning of stage 2, a difficult ride, facing a 4 mile hill with an average grade of 6%.  Being a trooper, I continued to ride up that hill for another 28 minutes.  This is that hill.

And if you go to an open door or window and cup your hand around you ear and listen, you can hear the hypocritical screams of raging MAGA cultists.  While they had no problem gerrymandering Texas, and Missouri, and Ohio in an attempt to maintain their grip on power, they're having a horrible time accepting Virginia's decision to let the voters decide on whether to redistrict or not.  The voters said, "yeah, let's put the screws to that Orange shithole in the White House."  Texas, Missouri, and Ohio were gerrymanders by authoritarians, Virginia was done the democratic way.  Statistically speaking, had Orangie and his asswipes would have had a better advantage if they'd not decided to gerrymander.  Now they've shit in their pants, or, as in his case, shit in his diaper.

And Orangie extended the ceasefire with Iran yesterday because it was TACO Tuesday.  However, the Strait of Hormuz is still closed.  Iran is going to put the screws to us.  Where as Orangie failed at regime change, the Iranians are going to be successful.  Many polls have Orangie's approval rating at either 32% or 33%.  Main Stream Media may have it around 35%.  That's their attempt to put a psitive spin on it  Americans hate him.  That hatred is only going to grow as prices continue to climb.  In the end, the GOP is going to face the terrible truth at all their gerrymandering was a waste of time.

The Sound of Murder

Good morning world!  Right now, the temp here in Central PA is 32, but not around my house.  How do I know?  Water that isn't frozen in my backyard.  So, the temp might be cold somewhere else, but not here.  As a precautionary measure, I covered my 2 tomato plants last evening.  This morning they're looking fine.  Hopefully, that will be the last time our temps get that cold, at least until autumn has us in its sights.

Work yesterday was blah.  Slow.  I purportedly made a mistake in a blind install.  Our customer order specialist claimed that I sold a blind that was only 9 inches wide.  It was actually supposed to be 70 inches wide.  You can't design a blind that is less than 14 inches because there's not enough room in the headrail for the string mechanism.  If you try to, the system generates an error.  So, something, somewhere happened.

Since this is Tuesday, I'm not scheduled.  That's fine with me.  I have a bike ride scheduled for this afternoon.   That, too, is good.  I want to work on my Blender.  That's the software that let's you create your own 2D animations.  Why, you might ask?  Because I'm wanting to do something akin to this for The Body in 4:4 Time.  Can you hear it?  The 4:4 time?  That's the sound of murder.

And the bag of Orange shit who managed to get elected was in Virginia last night.  He's not happy.  The fact that Virginians are voting today as to whether on not they should redistrict has him rankled.  It was fine for Republicans to gerrymander in Texas, and Missouri, and Ohio, but the fact that Virginia wants to do the same to help Democrats is unpatriotic.  Both Orangie and the Republican party know that America is on the cusp of a Blue Tsunami and that scares the bejesus out of them.  The truly terrible thing for them about the midterms is that if they had for just a few moments put their selfishness and greed aside and put some sort of restraints on the Orange Anus this would most likely not be a problem for them.  However, they are the party of selfishness and greed.  There was no way they could stop feeding their craven desire for power.  The America of their dreams would have a permanent Republican, authoritarian government.  They never cared what other Americans wanted.  America was great... until the Republicans got the Orange Anus in the White House, now it will take decades to recover.

Retribution, and Thoughts, and Prayers

 So, tomorrow's Thanksgiving.  This is supposed to be a time when friends and family gather.  Of course, we know that's not going to be happening for a growing number of families.  Yesterday was just another day of the week when it comes to mass shootings.  First there was QClub, now a Walmart.  I haven't seen any Conservatives sending thoughts and prayers yet this morning, but it's only a matter of time.  People will ask what's wrong with America?  The answer is simple.  Conservatives.  They are desperate to dictate how America lives it's lives and they realized a long time ago, the only way this is going to happen is if they build a coalition of disparate groups:  the Evangelicals, the fiscal conservatives, the Qs, and the 2nd amendments loyalists.  In order to keep that coalition together, they try and give these groups everything they want, and always at the expense of others.  This is the only way conservatives can win.  We've started shutting them down, and we must continue because they will never learn.

The electricians were here yesterday.  They were not expecting the surprises a 118 year old home had in store for them, like cross beams in between the studs.  They made more holes.  Those in the ceiling will be fixed by the drywall contractor, who starts this morning.  The ones in the wall?  They are going to have to wait until this spring when I have 1/4 inch drywall installed to cover them, part of the slow kitchen renovation that is taking place.  Those striped throw rugs?  They're covering a window opening that used to look out onto my back porch.

The holes.

And, as you might expect, Kev McCarthy, standing on the boarder, told America that after the Republicans take control of the House, there's a good possibility they will impeach Mayorkas.  The party that can only say 'no' when they're not in power, needs to hand out a little retribution to keep their base happy.  If that retribution happens to benefit them politically, well, so much the better.  Conservatives need their dead horse to kick.  The base loves it.  Retribution helps keep their coalition together.  They need to continue fomenting anger against the party in power.  That and Hunter Biden's laptop; this will be their Benghazi for the next 2 years.

Great News!

Hold onto your seats, this is stunning great news!  The temps here in Central PA are going to top themselves off today at 59 (F) give or take a degree.  Full sunshine!  The hints of spring are definitely in the air.  And on my roses, tiny leaves are beginning to curl their way into the chilly sunlight!

On the practical side, all the dog poop has finally thawed and I can finish cleaning up the yard.

The Body in Repose has gone to the 2nd reader / editor.  I'm thinking of chronicling The Body Under Ice with little vids as the work proceeds, documenting how things work.  Blogger's odd about posting videos - many are too long, unless they're on YouTube.  Let's see what happens with the GoPro.

Speaking of temps,  the heater for the big tank is failing so I've got to run out this morning and buy another one.  This is the 2nd heater to go in that tank.

My Stryd is full charged so sometime, probably early afternoon, I'll take it for a slow jog on the treadmill to see how it works.  Whereas my Fenix Pro calculates cadence through the movement of your arm, this actually tracks your foot hitting the ground, or the treadmill.

And here's a funny for you:  the deputy Attorney General from Virginia, Monique Miglia, has resigned because... not only did she post lies to her Facebook account in regard to January 6, she claimed it was a coup by Joe Biden.   What makes this funny is that she's a black woman who is whining that the only reason there was any uproar about her posts is because... she's a conservative black woman.  Someone needs to sit her down and explain to her that it was her lies which pissed people off.  She needs to understand that by now most people in this country view Conservatives as lying sacks of shit.  People don't want a lying sack of shit as a deputy attorney general.

 

The Time to Change

 Yesterday afternoon was sunny, the temps were warm.  A loaf of bread baked as I began working on the aquarium: a change is on the way.  And then the temps outside began to drop.  As the sun rose, the temps were a cool 31 (F), cold enough to start putting the roses into hibernation.  The foliage for the dahlias will be gone soon.  This is the time of change.

I went to see "No Time to Die" last evening, the latest Bond flick.  This is not your average 007 thriller.  The color palette reminded me of a film from the late 50's to early 60's, filled with deep colors and shadows.  Daniel Craig played the oldest Bond ever, easily a man in his late 40's, a spy brought out of retirement.  There is a lot of dialogue.  And don't try thinking about the Nano byte threat which defies logic.  Rami Malik's villain seemed too wispy at times.  This is my way of saying there are some problems.  Nothing to keep me from not liking the movie, but things my brain needs to just pass by rather than think about.  

Oh, and there was an election yesterday, for those who weren't paying attention.  The Republicans did well, Democrats poorly.  This doesn't mean that Democrats didn't go out and vote, they did, especially in Virginia, however more Republicans and Independents voted for Youngkin.  Some want to blame Biden, yet the Democrats inability to show a united front hurts, paraphrasing Dana Milbank.  Sinema and Manchin's refusal to compromise demonstrated an ongoing problem:  Democrats can work together.  They need to take "my" out of their vocabulary and replace it with "we."  Americans don't want a maybe, they want a yes, and several Democratic members of Congress simply don't understand that.  Republicans defined Critical Race Theory as all white people are to blame for racism and scared the shit out of white voters in Virginia.  Democrats need to come up with a way to attack this lie, otherwise they will loose for the next 3 - 4 elections cycles.  This is the time to change... not wait.

Last night I had a dream

 An appointment has been made for my booster shot:  11/12/21.  This is a good thing, as a day doesn't go by that I don't get older.  Wouldn't be nice if we all got free, no aging weeks every now and then, sort of like Social Security checks?  You know?  A couple days here, a couple of days there, just to slow the process down a little?

Strange dream time:  So, I had this dream last night.  I was running through a vineyard with other people, and we were trying to escape from something.  Fiery explosions started all around us, and I was injured and for a few moments in a triage tent where I was given a shot.  Then I was outside on a lawn with a man and his two children; they were playing.  We moved into a large room with fine wooden wainscoting on the walls.  The walls above were bare, and I thought there should be paintings.  Several middle eastern men came in and I was taken to another room with a hole in the floor and they began lowering me into a room with water.  I realized the water was too deep for me to stand, so I told them to stop.  As I did so, I was outside watching and saw that we were in a tall skyscraper, and as I watched, the building began to crumble.  Then I was back in the room with the fine wainscoting, the man and his two children.  Another man wearing white shorts and a T-shirt joined us. I could not see his face.  He took off his T-shirt and laid down beside me on a chaise.  As he touched my leg and said, "you're hairier than me," and I understood that this other man was actually me, and we were the same person and yet different.  And then my alarm went off and I woke up.  I dream in color, so this was rather vivid.  Are there any dreamsayers out there?

And isn't politics running rife in Virginian, like a very Republican joke.  Did you hear the one about the mother who's complaining about a book her son read 10 years ago as a senior in high school, and who is only now objecting to it?  Did you hear, her son is actually an attorney working for the Republican Party.  Or that the book is actually by a black Pulitzer Prize winning author.  Or how this woman wants to 'Cancel' this book?  Oh, wait, that can't be right.  Republicans are all for free speech, at least that's what they say.  Wrong.  Vote Blue.  We need to move these losers way past the sidelines where their ugly, selfish voices will be moot. 

Separated At Birth

Holy Crap!  I slept late!  and went to bed around my usual time  2230.  Turning my alarm off this morning was not a good idea.  Crap.  Instead of my normal, healthy breakfast, I'll be wolfing down a nuked chimichanga.  How's that for great nutrition?

Yesterday I walked a little over a mile on the treadmill wearing the portable heating pad, which doesn't really work that well.  Could that be why I slept so much?  Don't really think so.  Rather than pain now, I have discomfort which is manageable.  My prescription for 500 mg naproxen arrived this morning so that should help.  Mostly, right now, I want to stop walking with a stoop.  As Cori, the woman who does my book covers pointed out, "you're walking like you're 90."

My front porch and side roofs need to be replaced.  The estimate arrived this morning.  $1400 Wow!  Fifteen years ago I had my main roof replaced for the same cost.  My, how things change.  And there will be an additional fee if they need to replace any of the wood.  Son of a bitch.  I will bite the bullet and use my SS to cover the expense, since the guy's dependable.  He's did my main roof back at the dawn of time.

I saw this in Marc Alexander's blog Voenix Rising, and just had to steal it from him.  I can't say I've never seen Mitch looking so... loverly.

Speaking of McTurtle, evidently the GOP is ready to give him his walking papers after he blinked on the debt ceiling.  If you haven't realized it yet, they would destroy the America in their attempt to gain control.  They don't care about human beings, just power, and their need to make this a fascist society.  The Election approaches.  Vote them into oblivion.  Vote Blue.  And you Democrats and Independents in Virginia?  We're counting on you!

 

The wrong path

Well, it's Saturday morning.  I did 40+ minutes on the elliptical .  I feel good.
Hey, what about Virginia?  Isn't that a shit show?  When this whole thing is over we're going to have a much tighter definition of 'consensual.'  It wouldn't surprise me if guys start carrying around a pre-coital, pre-cunnalingual, and or a pre-felatial form... you know?  Sort of like a pre-nup?  Both parties will need to sign before foreplay can begin.  This will eliminate the "I had too much to drink," and the "I felt coerced," excuses.  Let's be honest here, life for those in any position of power is becoming very toxic, for who are in power, and men are not the only ones being accused.  Fingers are being pointed at both gays and straights; some of the rightly so.  No one is even going to attempt to defend the evil of a Kevin Spacey.  In retail, we have something called 'buyer's remorse,' where someone buys something and then later feels they've made a mistake.  Many times they are simply swept up in the moment.  Time speeds up.  They make a decision they later regret.  I've seen customers buy $4000 in carpet, and when the installers arrive, they claim it's the wrong carpet, or the wrong color, and want their money back.  And, if they raise a big enough stink, guess who gets their money back?  Now, I'm not defending the Brett Kavanaughs out there, the ones who get drunk and fell sexually entitled.  That guy's an asshole.  But there are cases when things happen in the heat of the moment and they seem very spontaneous.  We need to be very careful here, rather than jump on the blame bus because we feel it's the right thing to do.  We must weight the facts from both sides carefully, to do otherwise might send us down the path towards Puritanism.  That would not be a good thing.
And finally, I saw this shot taken by the Chinese as part of their lunar mission.  Stunning, isn't it?

As I looked at this picture, I thought "That should be our lunar mission."  If we don't get off our asses and start doing something, we are going to miss the money shot, and all we'll be doing is looking at other people's pictures.

A little head?

Today is Super Bowl Sunday - I only work until 4:30, so I'll be home, but... I won't watch.  Duh.
I got a call from the delivery people while at work yesterday.  Wednesday's the day for delivery.  They will call me Monday or Tuesday with a 3 hour window.  I'm off.  The temperature is supposed to be in the mid 40's (F)... what could be better?
This guy named Northam, the governor of Virginia may (or may not have, depending upon which of his stories you want to believe) while back in college.  Was that him in the picture?  Maybe.  Was it a stupid thing to do?  Definitely.  Are we going to publicly punish every one of those students in that yearbook?  Nope.  Except for Northam, they're all going to go about their happy, happy ways.  You can bet some of those students matured into very conservative Republicans, Northam, on the other hand, liberalized his views and became a Democrat.  A lot of Democrats say he should resign.  A lot Republicans are saying the same thing, not because they find his prank racist, but rather because they want to stake a Democratic Governor.  He says he's not going to.  Me?  I say we should let the people of Virginia decide.  Democracy is for the people and by the people.  In the next election the voters of Virginia will decide if he's racist or not.  They will look as his record.  Is it Liberal or Conservative?  Has he been a good Democrat?  The calls for him to resign are well taken, they show we hold our own accountable, unlike those Republicans who voted for Kavanaugh.  At the end of the day, however, we need to let the Virginians choose.  It's their right as Americans.
The AI on my Galaxy 8 is acting up.  Yesterday, as my alarm was going off, Bixby said "today's going to be a good day for a picnic."  The sun did come out, but the temp only made it up to 33 (F).  This morning Bixby said "today's going to be cool and cloudy," and the temp's are supposed to go up to 44 (F).  Oops.
The other day, as I was laying in bed, Seig rested his head upon my chest.  For those who don't understand... this is not a little head.

Loud and Clear

Today is one of my days of rest - it just happens to be Sunday.  In retail, sometimes odd things happen.   Unfortunately, I didn't get the pedals on my bike changed.  This means no riding the roads today, rather free weights instead.  That's okay.  I'm also off Tuesday and Wednesday, I can go for a ride then since the weather is supposed to be nice.
My brother sent me a text inviting me to some sort of reunion today - my father's side of the family.  Notice was short, so I told him I already had plans... plans not to go.  Don't get me wrong, I like my cousins, but we are not close.  While my Dad (and Mom) moved to Lebanon, his brother and sister moved to Harrisburg.  They bought houses diagonally from each other, on the same street.  My cousins went to the same school, had the same neighborhood friends, and grew up together.  I lived in Lebanon and saw them usually once or twice a year.  When I moved to Harrisburg we made halfhearted attempts to get to know each other. They turned out to be rather futile.  This is how life is sometimes.
Oh, and the Idiot Jerk is going to the UK next month.  Remember when the plans were for him to get chauffeured around in a golden carriage, to meet the Queen?  Well, things have changed.  Now security is going to try their damnedest to keep him from seeing the massive protests planned.   The GOP is probably terrified he'll Tweet about how his meeting with Kim Jung Dumb was so much nicer.  It's the rapport thing, you know?  That affinity he feels towards dictators.  Oh, wait, he doesn't call them dictators.  The Idiot Jerk calls them Strong Leaders who were forced to do some 'bad things.'  Theresa May, in his book no doubt, is not a Strong Leader.  She struggles with the Brexit thing, trying to keep some sort of working relationship with the EU even as she tries to snub them.  As it is, he's only going to be in town for 'working day,' and then possibly a round of golf at his club in Scotland, (someone needs to play there).
Oh, and in case you didn't hear, Sarah Sanders Something or Other, was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant.  Conservatives are flipping out on social media.  They just got bitch slapped.  And they don't like it.  Of course, they opened this can of worms.  For some, political beliefs are just as strong as religion.  Discrimination is an equal opportunity street everybody walks down.  Not baking a cake for a gay couple because of religious beliefs is exactly the same as not serving Sarah Sanders Something or Other because because of deeply held political beliefs.  What that restaurant in Virginia did was say loud and clear, "no one is immune."  Whether they want to understand this or not is up to them, however this is exactly what the Supreme Court just told America.

All in the numbers

On November 8, 1952, at 0513 I was born. That's 65 years ago.  There are ramifications for such a birthday.  Firstly, I am a Scorpio.  Secondly, if you look at Numerology, I'm a 9, which is very good.  How am I a 9?  Take the month, 11 and add it together (2) and add it to the day (8), and add that to the year which as been added together (1952 = 17 added together = 8).  Add those 3 numbers together to get 18 and then add those two numbers together = 9.  This means I'm a Scorpio who's also a 9 or, in other words, I'm a very nice, sensitive person with a terrible temper.  I believe in equality for all but don't piss me off.  My Mom has told me she thinks I'm one of the most cynical people she's ever met - I don't call it cynical, I call it being astute.
I went to see "Thor - Ragnarok" last evening.  As of yesterday the movie had over $130 million in domestic sales, over $389 million worldwide.  It is very, very good!  Funny and sad, dramatic and light hearted and has Chris Hemsworth shirtless for over a minute.  My money says he reduced his body fat to 2% for just that 1 scene.  At 6 feet 3 inches, he's a little over 4 inches taller than I am... so what.  If you're interested, you also get to see the Hulk's butt crack, not surprisingly it's green.  I was a little concerned that Cate Blanchett might play Hela over the top - wisely she doesn't, but let me tell you, she's a Bitch with a capital B.

Also, there was an election yesterday.  Two governorships were on the line.  For those interested, the Democrats kicked ass.  While the New Jersey results were pretty much expected, Virginia was listed as being a toss-up.  No way!  Northam kicked Gillespie's ass by 9%, something like 54% to 45%, and overall the blue wall is beginning to surge (except for Utah....).  Voter turnout in that state was the highest in 20 years!  Shall we talk about slapping the Idiot Jerk in the face?  Especially since he thought his name might help Gillespie.  Wrong.  The GOP lost seats all over the place (except for Utah...).  These are number I really like.