Get another Job

 Good Morning.  While it is still cold outside, the temps are predicted to start climbing.  By Tuesday, we're supposed to be in the upper 50s (F).  That's right, we will be closing in on 60.  I don't mind those temps.  I'm saving money on my natural gas bill.  According to UGI, I used 47% less gas last month then I did in 2022.  I'm fine with that.

The charges from my new electric supplier Clear Sky Energy, will begin on Wednesday.  We shall see how that goes.  One of the reasons I chose that company is that there is no cancellation fee.  If it turns out to not be the deal it's supposed to be, I'll just cancel.

They were working on the house next door most of yesterday, putting in the new windows and door.  I haven't seen the quality of the product they're installing, so I don't know how good it is.  I did see the flooring they purchased and it's mid-range.  It will look good on the floor, but durability has nothing to do with how appearance.  A lot of house flippers do this, put in a lesser value product knowing that brand new it will show well.

I made chicken marsala for dinner last night.  And pasta.  I made enough to take to work today for lunch.

The balloon is down.   The Chinese are upset because they were caught doing something stupid.  The media, conservative, liberal, and everything outlet in between, set this blaze afire.  Rest assured, however, that no matter which way this story drifted, the conservatives were going to fan the flames, anything less would be totally unexpected.

Marjorie Taylor Greene made grew some small headlines when she complained about her salary.  That measly $174,000 is wrecking havoc with her finances.  The old HR rep in me says if you don't like the job, or what it pays, then get another job.  I'm sure she realizes she could probably make a lot more money as a lobbyist, and we all know she's not in Congress to serve her constituents.

Pleasing all of the People

 Well, this is the last day of my Staycation.  In my opinion, much has been accomplished.  Starting tomorrow, I will work for 3 weeks and have another... Staycation.  Plan you time well. 

The little tank for the goldies is set up, they seem to like it.  I opted for a 5 gallon rather then a 10.  They're small, and will only grow to fit the tank.

I got the Rouvy app set up on my sporting laptop.  They've changed how things work.  I've downloaded 3 of my favorite rides.  Right now I'm planning on alternating, one day with the Tacx app, the next with the Rouvy app.  We shall see how this goes.

Both houses of Congress voted to approve making Juneteenth an official holiday.  How surprising is that.  While in the Senate the vote was unanimous, in the house there were 14 Republican dissenters.  Of course, they had their reasons... you know, the racism they constantly deny.  I didn't check, but does anyone know if these are the same Republicans who voted not to give the Capital Police medals?  Wouldn't surprise me.  and they had a reason for that... The Big Lie.

And what about the controversy about the lack of Afro-Latinos playing leads in "In The Heights?"  This leads to a whole bunch of questions, like:  Are casting directors going to need to go by a checklist every time they cast a film?  You know, one of these, and one of these, and one of these, and one of these? Does the reporter who asked this question understand there are million shades of people out there, and while representation is great, you can't have a million people playing leads?  We are in an evolving situation and people need to patiently let it evolve.  There's an old saying, 'you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.'  Change is happening.  History has told us that creating controversy rarely, if ever, accelerates that process.  

Finally, something our press, possibly even the world's press doesn't seem to be covering is the Chinese Space Station.  That's right, the Chinese have a space station.  They also have a rover on Mars.  

And instead of having a government working to stay ahead of the Chinese, we are dealing with partisanship because a minority group wants to create a socially conservative dictatorship run by a failed American Oligarch.  This group doesn't give a shit about the future, they are too consumed with their craven need for power.  We need to vote these fools into Oblivion.

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.

The bread of life

Okay, so yesterday started off great.  I got out my chain saw and cut down an immense Rose of Sharon tree.  Took me about an hour and a half.  Then I started bagging.  West Fairview Township picks up yard waste for free (no grass clippings) as long as it's in a brown bag.  I will have 7 bags sitting on the curb this Saturday.
I was also going to get a ride in... but I dawdled.  You see I had ordered 3 new water bottles and they normally deliver around 2 - 2:30.  Well, they delivered the bottles... and something else... something I didn't order.  Twenty pounds of whole wheat flour.

There was a gift receipt inside from an Internalist down in Delaware, an Indian woman.  Since I have no idea who she is I presumed some mistake had been made.  Being curious, I went to Amazon to find out how you send gifts - evidently some people set up lists for things they want, and you can't just randomly gift someone something by accident.  I don't have a list, however, if someone has my email address they can gift me something.  I told my brother that maybe this was a sign that I should begin baking bread... I don't think he found that too funny... you know?  The religious implications of bread being the Body.
Speaking of my brother, I had breakfast with him yesterday morning - I shot an arrow into his balloon regarding the Idiot Jerk in the White House by telling him the real power behind the thaw in North Korea was the Chinese.  All of the changes we've been seeing started what?  Two weeks after Kim's secret trip by train to see Li?  If you want to find out who the real deal makers are here, look to the Far East.  The Idiot Jerk in the White House?  They're going to play him for everything his bankrupt soul is worth.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to look up a recipe for roti.

Abstract Penises

Well, here it is Monday... and some will have to go back to work, but not me.  My work week will start tomorrow.  Then I will work for 5 days and then have off for 4 days.  That's fine with me.
I had a call from my Mom's Senior Living Facility yesterday morning, but there was no message to call them back.  They will call to remind me of 'family fun days' from time to time, however yesterday was not a fun day.  Evidently my Mom thought my brother was going to pick her up, and so stood outside waiting for him.  This was her being very confused.  No such plans had been made.  My brother had planned to go over last evening, which he did.  The sad thing is then she'd forgotten the whole thing.  Dementia.
Yesterday I rode 12.5 miles in 'race mode,' and my legs were sore.  That's not a bad thing.  There's a difference between pain and soreness.  Soreness means you worked the muscles, pain means there's something wrong.
I saw this AM that the Dow is on a bit of a bounce back.  The Idiot Jerk needed to Tweet something about Trade Wars, and how they might not be necessary for this to happen.  His henchmen Mnuchin and Kudlow hint at back door talks.  The Chinese, however, said that's not happening.  The Idiot Jerk also said he believes the Chinese will cave first... of course, he's also as dumb as a fucking brick.
And speaking of the Chinese, they've evidently been building resorts off their southern coast on man-made islands.  Phoenix Island is one such place.  So, I'm reading through Bloomberg this AM and I see a picture of some of the hotels and think... "wow, don't they look like abstract penises in condoms?"

Gee, the architect even gave them little heads.  I thought I'd investigate and... lo and behold, there's an abstract vagina as well, and brightly colored, too.

Leave it to the Chinese.  You know that the Crazy Christians who want dictatorial control of America would flip out if someone tried building abstract penises in this country.  However, I'm fairly certain that an abstract, brightly colored vagina would make them giddy as hell.

Immigration Flummax

Just saw an article in the NYT about immigrants coming into the US and wasn't surprised at all.  Just about every local and state governments, as well as our National leaders, jumped on board the Spanish train and published everything in both English and Spanish.  Retailers jumped into the mix too.  Now, according to the Pew Institute it looks as though the Spanish speakers are lagging behind.  It seems to be the Asians, (Chinese and Indians) who are immigrating in much larger numbers.  Oops.  Does this mean we're going to have to change all of those signs?

State of Hate - Arizona

I am always amazed by the things which happen in Arizona.  Back in 2010 the state passed legislation which permitted law enforcement to stop any individual on the street (read Latino) and see if they were a legal citizen of the the United States.  Two years later the Supreme Court said about 3/4's of that legislation was unconstitutional.  Now the legislation has put a bill on Governor Jan Brewer's desk which is supposed to be about protecting an individual, business, corporation, etc and their religious beliefs.  What it actually says is that these individuals and groups can refuse to do business with gay people because it's against their religion.  What's next?  Arabs?  I mean there are a lot of people out there who really don't want to come within five miles of an Arab, so at some future date is the state legislation going to at Arabs to the list?  What about the Chinese?  There's a growing anti-Chinese sentiment in this country and, if you listen to what the Chinese government says, they are all atheist.  How can those deeply religious Arizona citizens even consider doing business with atheists!  Or what about the Hindi's?  I'm sure, if you ask a devout Hindu, he will tell you Shiva, the destroyer of worlds, has posted a target on Jan Brewer's ass.

The truth is this bill is not about religious freedom, it's about discriminating against gays, a minority group which is making great strides in getting equal civil rights.  They have always been a problem for the GOP and Arizona is a Republican state.  Marriage Equality bills as passing, slowly but surely, in state after state, and law suits are being filed as though paper were going to disappear off the face of the earth.  The Republicans in Arizona are merely trying to give some sort of protection to their base.  In doing so, however, they are legitimizing hate.

Right now this piece of legislation is sitting on Jan Brewer's desk, waiting for her perusal.  If the GOP is smart they'll send a little birdy to whisper in her ear "don't sign it, don't sign it."  You see, the Republicans want to win a presidential election and in order to do that they need to come across as more moderate, more friendly to all races, creeds and orientations. Did the 2010 law in Arizona hurt them?  I'd say most assuredly with the Latino vote.  Why would you vote for a party that hates you?  Thanks to the science of genetics it's estimated that 10% of all humans are either gay or lesbian.  That's a big voting block.  If they had the other 90% the Republicans wouldn't have to worry about it, but they don't.  They barely have 40%.  Woah!  And every time a state sends a message of hate that percentage drops.  Someone should tell this to the Republicans of Arizona who are sitting so smugly in their state of hate.