A Few Winks in the Oval Office

 It's 41 (F) outside.  That's chilly.  Well, I might even go so far as to say that it's cool.  Temps will be warming up for this afternoon.  We will again be in the mid to upper 60s (F).  For those dreaming of the hot days of summer, don't fret.  Next Wednesday we should sitting in the low 90s (F).  That's right, we'll be sultry, but only for a few days.

Yesterday morning's workout went well.  I'm doing alternating bench presses with 25 pound dumbbells.  Of course, at some point I'll be upping that to 30 pounds.  Monday is also the day for alternating leg extensions.  We'd adjust that down to 20 pounds after the pull on my quad.  Well, that was a pretty useless weight, so I upped it to 30 pounds.  Next week it might be back up to 50 pounds.

Retail was so damn boring.  I easily got my steps in.  And whether we wanted to or not, corporate has moved us into the new the Specialty Project Tool.  In some ways it's complicated.  Using it will entail have a lot of windows open.  Floor plans are on one screen, pictures are on another.  I worked on a quote that had some issues with the first time the customer had been measured, so a second measure was done yesterday morning.  None of the previous notes transferred over to the new system and we don't have the ability to see earlier comments by the measure tech, or changes that we did to the quote.  I suspect this will only be a problem with the older quotes.  I suspect there won't be a problem with the newer quotes.

For those of you interested, here's a picture of me on a cold January morning in 1993 at Bill Clinton's first inauguration.  I had a lot more hair back then.

Did you all get a chance to look at the video of the Orange Anus sleeping yesterday?  For those who missed it, I took a screen print.  If you get a chance, look up the video, it's quite amusing to watch the people behind him as they realized he's zonked out to the world.  Dr. Oz, in particular, gets an "oh, shit," look on his face. 

So, how desperate are the Republicans about the midterms?  Very.  That's why their involved in so much illegal gerrymandering.  The idea of losing both the House of Representatives and the Senate simply terrifies them.  It also terrifies the Supreme Court as well.  Accountability is something they dread in every cell of their bodies.  They're also terrified that all they're doing to stay in power will proved to he useless.  Except for billionaires and cultists, no one is happy with the job that they are doing.  But then, this should be a known fact by now:  Republicans simply have no idea how to govern.  They want to dictate.  They don't care how badly they ruin things, just as long as they're in charge.  That's going to change, and they're terrified.  Good.

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Good Monday morning!  We are starting the new week with temps in the mid 40s (F).  Things are supposed to heat up a bit and by this afternoon we should be in the mid 60s (F).  That's not bad for this time of year.  There is a heat wave that's going to be moving east that's threatening to ratchet up the temps quite a bit, but that's not until next week, and how high they'll go is anybody's guess.

Since yesterday was Sunday, it was a full work day for me.  Boy was it slow.  We did have a customer come in wanting to pay for an install, but he also wanted us to give him a $700 credit from a promotion that expired a week ago.  I told him no, he would need to come back and talk to the associate who, he claimed, told him we would give him the discount.  That was wrong of me.  I should have called management and let them give him the bad news.  You have no idea how often these incidents happen.  They are a constant.  This customer will come back in on Wednesday when the associate is working, and they'll give him the expired promotion.  Last week we had a customer who had an $8000 install and he told us that he'd pay for it then and there, but only if we gave him $700.  There was no promotion going on.  I told him "no," and he insisted on talking to management.  The manager gave him $200 off.  These people are breaking the system and management is going to let them break it in order to get the reduced sale.

I watched Remarkably Bright Creatures last evening.  It's on Netflix.  I liked it a lot.  Sally Field, who going to be 80 (something) does a remarkably good job portraying a mother still coming to terms with tragedy.  Lewis Pullman does a good job a portraying a man realizing that not all dreams come true, and why EELS are important.  It's quite touching at times.  And, of course, there is Marcellus, the octopus.

And there was a very good opinion piece in the Guardian this morning on the Republican party.  Sydney Blumenthal makes some very good points about why the GOP refuses to stand up to him.  My opinion is that in their heart of hearts, every Republican Senator and Congressman is as cowardly as the Orange Anus.  They are both loud and spineless as they bend their knees to the power they've always wanted.  They will parrot and amplify every lie because it's so easy to do.  The truth is that they simply don't care about either America, or it's people.  Like Orangie, it's all about themselves.

Does anyone know if the ceasefire with Iran is on?  Or is it off?  Because it's Monday, I suppose that it is still on.  TACO doesn't happen until Tuesday.  Either way, gas prices are going to go higher.  This is a given.  Not that anyone in the GOP objects, that would mean opposing their glorious leader.  In the meantime, Iran is going to continue to troll the hell out of him.