A house upon the sand

 We're going to start this brand new week with a rise in temps... a decent rise, up into the lower 50s (F) today and even higher tomorrow.  A word of caution however, lest we think this is a good Bon Voyage to winter.  We have 3 weeks until the official arrival of spring, and after this week our temps will be falling back into the chilly zone, but only for a bit.

Starting at noon yesterday, I worked retail.  No exercise was done. I ended up putzing around until it was time for me to leave.  Work, itself, was boring.  I did manage to get a measure, and sold $700 in shades to a customer who was surprised by the cost... they were only buying 2 shades, but they were sheer shades with a double layer of striped fabric.  Nice.  They really dress up windows, however $350 a shade is a bit more than I'd be willing to spend... oh, and that was the sale price, already marked down 40%.

Business was slow.  I had a nice conversation with the store manager.  Business is slow across the entire region, 90+ stores, and it started to decline before the mini stock market crash on Friday.  From what I've been able to garner, Walls Street is set to recover a bit today, but will that recovery eliminate Friday's losses?  Probably not.  For that to happen there would need to be some really good financial news and I don't see that on the horizon.

I did stop off on the way home and picked up a new heater for the large aquarium.  My fishies are now swimming in much warmer water.

And, as far as I know, this is not real, though it is amusing.

Our door and window specialist stopped by the flooring desk to have small chat with me yesterday.  Earlier in the day, he'd had a conversation with the "associate," I mentioned last week, the one who thinks Elonia is doing a good job.  I did experience a moment of not too stunning surprise when I was told that the "associate" had said, "of course I voted for Orangie, you didn't think I'd vote for her, did you?"  This is very telling.  For a while I thought it might be possible that Elonia had indeed managed to hack into voting machines, however this statement plus the fact that the extreme right in Germany failed to take control of the country leads me to believe otherwise.  Nope.  We have the Orange Asshole because too many people in this country saw him as a better alternative than "her."  And now they're in the Find Out stage.

Will Orangie destroy Democracy?  I don't think so, though he's mounting a significant challenge.  Unfortunately, it seems to be turning out that many of these people voted for him because of gender, rather than "her."  Now, ain't that sad.

And another unqualified incompetent has joined his administration:  Dan Bongino (sp), a right wing podcaster who may, at one time, have also been a commentator on Fox.

I saw that James Carville has said that he doubts very much if this administration can last another month before it all comes crashing down.  I wouldn't be surprised if the trigger is the attempt by conservatives to shut down Medicare, or Medicaid, or possibly putting the United States Post Office into the Department of Commerce.  With all of his supposed real estate acumen, you'd have thought Orangie would know not to build a house upon the sand.

Voting for Survival

 Showers are on the menu for today.  The morning temps were 69 (F), though they've already climbed to 71 (F).  Besides the spotty showers (yes, no steady rain, just occasional drizzles that will do nothing to help the dryness) our high is supposed to be in the upper 80s (F).  Just a little bit less nice than yesterday.

Speaking of yesterday, it was another day of accomplishments.  A walk in the park (2.3 miles), a ride on the bike, and the big aquarium got cleaned.

I'm also trying something new and odd with my kitchen floor.  Old houses like mine do not have a subfloor.  My hardwood planking sits right on the studs.  Over the past 119 years flexibility has crept in, they will go up and down slightly when you walk on them.  To fix this, I installed MSB because it was cheaper than 3/4 inch plywood.  This doesn't eliminate the movement, but reduces it a lot.  Still, those floor boards do shift a little.  To eliminate the possibility of the vinyl planks unlocking, I'm gluing them down.  I'm also going to be cementing all of the seams to make them look more like porcelain tiles.  When that's done, I'm going to poly the top since there's going to be at least one dog in the house when I get back from Greece.

I was looking to see if the RNC convention gave the Orange Anus any boost in the polls, and so far there's none to speak of, which seems about right.  This loser survived a domestic terror event and got zilch.  That tells you what America thinks of Donald Trump.  Even though polls lie, he's pretty much tied with Biden, the 81 year old candidate who's possibly in decline, across the board.  What people really need to come to grips with is that this election is not about the candidate, not at all.  It's really about Democracy vs Authoritarianism.  Because the Supreme Court gave the presidency far reaching powers with their decision that they have to a large extent full immunity for their actions, if Trump is sworn into office he will immediately begin spitting out Executive Orders over ruling everything.  Nothing he does will help the average American and when all those millions realize he and the Republican party have no problem hitting them with the shitty end of the stick, chaos will erupt.  I've said this before, Trump's blow bro Vlad doesn't want us as a political partner, he wants to knock America out of it's place as the number one Super Power in the world.  Putin wants there be violent civil unrest in America.  So, for all you dummies out there, it's not about voting for the candidate, it's about voting for survival.  

Furniture

 The heat dome has cracked... at least for a few days.  The prediction today is for our temps to only climb into the mid 80s (F), which will be nice.  By next week, we're supposed to be in the slow cooker.  One thing I have noticed, and this is probably because I am getting older, is that I don't seem to be minding the heat.  The Central Air is set at 74 and there are times when I'm downstairs playing a game, or writing when I think that's a bit cool.  And the truth is that I am getting older.

Yesterday was one of those sleepy days, not that I spent the entire day napping.  I got in an 11 mile ride on the bike and tossed around my dumbbells for a bit.  The kitchen floor was swept and mopped, and the kitchen cabinets got a good cleaning.  In fact, I spent a lot less time on Threads than I usually do.  My Twitter account was shut down a while back.  

My new kitchen scale arrived.  It just weighs the food.  I'm not nearly anal enough to buy one that provides nutritional value as well.  

I also placed the order for my chair.  It's costing a pretty penny, as they say, though I doubt very much if anybody still uses pennies.  It should be arriving in 10 - 12 weeks, or week or two after I get back from Greece.  Interior Define is the company making it.  Furniture makers; I never thought I'd be using them so frequently.  Anyway, here's what it should look like, though hopefully, the color will be less green and more brown.  The swatch is a dark tan.

And Democrats are in a bit of a bind; our presumed presidential candidate is 81 years old and quite a few people think that's too old to be president.  Does it matter?  For someone who's been advocating age limits for members of Congress, the answer is yes.  You can go to old wise men for advice, but I don't think one of them should be running the country.  Even though I'd hoped he would have realized that he was a one term, caretaker president after the Orange Anus left office, I also always suspected he run for a 2nd term.  I do believe he and his advisors thought it would be a much smoother ride.  I also think the plan was, after he was sworn in for a 2nd term, he'd resign and the country would have almost 4 years of Kamal, setting her up to run for re-election.  He has a live interview with Lester Holt on Monday.  No matter how well he does, the Republicans are going to hammer him on his age, not that this is really going to matter. People's minds have already been made up.  They are either going to vote for good or evil, Democracy or dictatorship.  We already know that turn-out for the Republicans has already been damaged by the Anti-Trumpers, this means Democrats need to show up at the polls in force.  As Bob says, "Vote Blue."

Troll Farms

 Supposedly, today is the last day of this heat cycle we've been stuck in for the past week.  The outside temp was 76 (F) when I woke up, with the predicted high for the day to be around 97 (F).  However, this afternoon storms should be moving through the area (the remnants of Beryl) and they're saying that is going to cool us off.  Tomorrow, temps are predicted to be more seasonal.

Being that it is so warm, my forays outside have been rather limited.  Mostly to my local Giant supermarket.  However, I've bought my way through all of the bonus point deals for this week, and since I have more than enough food in the house, will be spending money there until Friday or Saturday.

Even though I hate doing it, I've realized that I need to begin counting calories again.  Rats!  I had to order a new kitchen scale because my old one stopped working.  It lights up, and you can change from ounces, to pounds, to milliliters, however it just doesn't weight things.  No matter what you put on the scale, the readout says it weighs nothing.  This would good if it meant food had no calories.

I started watching Hit Man on Netflix last evening, and after about a half hour turned it off.  This was supposed to be Glenn Powell's breakout roll, his character, however, is just not that interesting.  This might because of his constantly changing appearance.  The makeup is very good, but so many changes make it difficult to identify with the lead character.  Which Glenn Powell are you supposed to like?  Hit Man is another one of those Netflix movies that only played for a week in theaters to make it eligible during award season.  This is a good indicator that they thought it didn't have box office legs, not even little ones.

Honestly, I can wait for this election cycle to be over.  I feel so terribly sorry for those who have cable, who have to watch commercials, because they are just beginning.  And it's not just commercials, it's every where.  I'm tired of getting texts begging for money.  The fact that so many have access to my phone number is frightening.  As soon as the text show up, I just block the numbers.  If I get a text asking me whom I'm voting for?  I block it.  I don't respond to any of them.  I do believe my feelings and my actions are common among so many people.  Do not believe anything you read or hear about the candidates.  The troll farms are working overtime.

Do not vote for a candidate, vote for Democracy.  Republican authoritarianism will destroy America as we know it.  They truly don't care if they burn down the country if they can rebuild it the way they want, however, I've yet to see an arsonist do that.  Mostly, they just glory in the ashes like pigs in shit.

 

Juror #7

 Well, here it is, Sunday, and I have to work.  Not a problem.  Temps are predicted to be on the cool side, only making it up into the mid 50s (F).  Tomorrow things are going to be warmer, but even than highs will only be in the mid 60s (F).

For the most part, work was boring yesterday.  I did manage to hit my measure goal for the week and had an $8800 sale go through.  That should keep management happy.

I have this sofa in the the writing room that the dogs used to spend so much time on, however, it looks like the dogs spent a lot of time on it, so I'm thinking of getting rid of it.  The problem?  It's very heavy.  Waste management will take it on garbage day if I call them, the trouble is getting it hauled out to the curb.  I'm going to have to start talking to people.

It seems as though I will need to turn into Max Sullivan for a bit and eliminate the Fluffy Foods from my diet.  Climbing on the scale every morning is becoming a very gainful experience.  I guess that every time I look at food I'm going to have to ask myself, what would Max think?

And I know they're trying to keep this information out of the press, but I thought you'd like to see a picture of the 7th juror.

My sister called yesterday while I was at work and left a message.  It seems as though my brother in law went out to buy a generator.  One of the many purchases he's been making which indicate he believes we're going to have a war... he's a Cultist.  Among his other purchases are light bulbs with their own battery packs, freeze-dried food, and dime-sized pieces of gold.  He loves Trump, or rather I should say the authoritarianism Trump represents.  In fact, that's one of the ties that binds most cultists together, the craving for an authoritarian government in which they are in charge.  Yep, they are the Republicans.  The same group whose mantra is "shut up! we're in charge!"  Of course, when you look at the GOP it's easy to see that when they do manage to get themselves into positions of authority, they give tax breaks to the wealthy and to corporations.  They simply don't understand that the vast majority of Americans, given the choice of an authoritarian government and one that is Democratically Centrist would chose the latter.  Nor do they understand that trying to force that form of government onto the nation would be terribly disastrous for them.  Face it, you can't fix stupid.

Conservatives have always been Bad Losers

 So, we've reached the middle of the week.  The heat and humidity are moving east.  Forecasters are saying to today's high temp might hit 79 (F), not that the past few days have been torrid, really, it's just been heavily humid.  The central air is on, though it seems to rarely run.  

One of the things that's changed since Biggie died is that Lily rarely gets what I used to call her nervous belly.  At least once every two weeks she's stop eating and you could hear her belly making growling noises.  Sometimes she'd throw up clear liquid.  That has all changed, so evidently Biggie must have gotten on her nerves a lot.  Of course, she's also getting spoiled rotten.  It turns out she like to eat bananas, so every morning when I'm making my breakfast she get a couple slices of banana.

Tammy from across the street stopped me yesterday when I was coming back from my Giant Supermarket to ask me about the neighbor on my right.  She told me he was diabetic and that last week an ambulance came, and then she asked if I knew anything.  Gee, I didn't even know he was diabetic.  He and I will talk on occasion, but that's about it.  I just can't be bothered to monitor the activities of everyone who lives on my street.

The lung screening survey turned out to be a bust.  I stopped smoking too many years ago and the possiblity of anything going wrong with my lungs is unlikely.

Some may find this odd but I bought myself a white board to track my exercise / workout routines and hung it on the wall of the computer / cycling / weight training room.   I don't know yet if it will inspire me to be more physically active or not.  Honestly, I think I'm fairly active already.  But being more so can only help.

Yesterday the Supreme Court handed authoritarian conservatives a big loss.  You see, they so desperately feel they need to say "shut up, we're in charge," they tried to change the way elections are run in the states.  If their candidates were losing, or had lost, they wanted to have the state legislatures decide on elections, and some states have what are called super majorities, in which one party runs the state, they could continue to insure elected officials were of the same party.  The Supreme Court said no to that cheat.  And, as might be expected, conservatives are pissed that they got their hand in the cookie jar and they have taken their pissing and moaning to the Internet.  Conservatives have always been bad losers.

Being Tricky

So, what will today bring?  Any ideas?  Yesterday, was fun, in an odd sort of way.  I had my driver's license renewed.  While this may seem a mundane chore to most, this was my first time at the new PA driver's license office, which is located in Enola.  That's right.  No driving into downtown Harrisburg anymore.  Not only is it in my home town, it is, as the crow flies, about 3/4 of a mile away.  The building used to be a supermarket, now it's used solely for renewing and applying for driver's licenses.  My visit was fairly uneventful except for one thing.  Now, everybody knows their picture on their driver's license looks like crap.  Well, there was this blond woman who wasn't satisfied.  From where I was sitting, I could see the screen with her pictures.  At first there were 2, which she didn't like, so they took another, and another, and another.  She kept dismissing them all.  I laughed.  The only time anyone is going to see that picture is if you get pulled over by a traffic cop, or if you're getting carded going into a bar.  At her age, she was definitely not going to get stopped going into a bar, so I suppose the police must pull her over a lot.

I went for an 11 mile ride in Oregon.  Small hills, and fairly flat.

Also, for those looking to buy an appliance, the big sale starts today.  This is the Black Friday special.  Pay close attention.  This sale ends 12/1 and a Christmas sale begins.  That sale is not as good.  Of course, most people will think this is one continuous sale.  Tricky, we are.

The rest of the pumpkin pie is gone.  Good.  Now my hellish carb addiction is satiated, at least for the time being.  I made 2 stuffed peppers.  Since I had a couple of plum tomatoes on hand, I made the sauce, too.

And last evening I saw the pertinence in yesterday's blog.  Evidently Kash Patel was given immunity to testify.  This is going to be very tricky.  The immunity covers a very narrow area and has no effect on other crimes he may have committed.  He will sit there with an attorney who will prod him to use the 5th as often as possible.  Even more important to remember, is that Patel is a lying sack of shit; he's prone to falsehoods and partial truths, what ever he thinks will save his ass.

Biden spoke last night.  I didn't watch.  I'm doing a replay of Assassin's Creed, Valhalla with studly Alexios.  I don't think I need to tell you that everything he said was true.  We may end up with several years of chaos if a number of election deniers win.  I'm thinking the Democrats are going to keep the Senate, and possibly the House (by the skin of our teeth).  I'm thinking we're going to do better than the Republicans think.  Why?  Because on a Fox Townhall, J.D. Vance, a celebrity non-politician who thought this would be a cakewalk, said he thinks the abortion issue would be settled if we went back to Roe v Wade.  Does he believe this?  He may have written a bestseller, but when it comes to the American people his brain is witless.  He's just being tricky.  When lies fail, Republicans turn to trickery.

 

Flight Ops

 I have an 8 hour shift scheduled today.  Doesn't bother me in the least since the temps are supposed to hover around 54 (F).  The drizzles are still hanging around, with 84% chance of rain and more is expected tomorrow.  Later this week, Indian Summer might arrive with a high of 74 (F).  Of course, that's not true Indian Summer.  The real one occurs after the first frost.  For the past several years we've had fake ones since the temperatures have never truly warmed up into the 70's after a certain date.

Of course, everyday is a surprise when I head into work.  Some of the changes are good: they got rid of the rug table, a large 6' x 8' table covered with area rugs that was just behind us.  The rugs were stacked high, usually 18 x 20, on top of each other and we sold very few of them.  When we did, however, customers always wanted one near the bottom of the stack, which meant removing the 17 or so rugs on top.  While a number of people would look through that stack, very few bought.

I'll be dribbling out old, old Navy pics since they're now all in my computer.  This is an A7 coming in for a landing.  They were called maneaters since the intake was so large.  I was on watch one night when an acquaintance I went drinking with was sucked into one.  I can still remember the chatter on the headphones as the airmen on the flight deck went into panic mode.  They took the plane down into the hanger bay so the corpsmen could remove his body.  The whole thing was heart wrenching.

Flight Ops in the Tonkin Gulf - 1973

And, of course, the Supreme Court is set to begin hearing cases today.  A number of cases are on the docket which are considered controversial.  A majority of American believe that this court will continue their attack upon Democracy.  They will continue to break down the barriers separating Church and State our fore fathers put in place.  The more they attempt to make the country conservatives, the angrier Americans are going to get.  In fact, Republicans in general don't understand this.  They believe that all they need to do is be in charge.  In their minds, no price is too much to pay for the control they crave.  They do not understand America is going to teach them a terrible lesson, one they will all too quickly forget.

Shaken Up

 So, the first thing I did this month was start a list of things needing to be done, including chores not on my normal Friday routine.  Every now and then we need to shake things up.  For those who don't know, things do need to be shaken up, given a rattle and a roll, like sharply snapping fingers rousing us from our too comfortable drowsiness. 

Yesterday for was, as far as my supervisors are concerned, rather successful. 2 measures, though one was done using the old system which is being treated more and more like a derelict.  Nothing worth salvaging there, though for old dogs, you know...  Updates are coming fast and none of them are being explained.  Reliable icons are soon to be as obsolete as the carpet carousel every flooring specialist despises.

I watched some of Locke & Key last night.  I'm enjoying it.  Very mysterious.  Murder and mayhem seem to be on the menu.  This is, I believe, it's 3rd and final season.  Doesn't surprise me.  One of the stars is young whose growth and maturity must be creating a serious problem.  Remember the problem Lost in Space had when Will Robinson grew from 4 feet 8 inches, to six feet 2inches?

Of course, Joe Biden gave a speech last evening.  Wow.  I don't normally watch speeches, but last night's I watched.

Even the lighting played a part.  Notice how the Red is surrounded by the Blue, for those looking for political imagery.  I like the clock, especially since this was a speech about time, about both the past and the future of our Democracy.  Symbolically, the red is framing not only Biden's anger, but also ours.  In very precise words he called out Trump and his MAGA cult.  He proved that he has no problem pissing on their beliefs. Everything he said was true.  This speech popped.  

And for those whiny people who always lament "they always talk, and nothing happens," well, maybe it's time you got off your asses and helped instead of simply waiting for things to be given to you.  Democracy is 'for the people,' and 'by the people.'  Don't expect a free ride.

The reaction by MAGA Republicans was... humorously expected outrage.  They want an apology.  How absurd.  You don't apologize to liars, and charlatans, and grifters, you shut them up and shut them down.

Just Leave It

Well, a new workweek begins, and since it is Monday, I have to work.  I'll be racking in 8 hours at the Flooring Desk.  Yesterday business was steady for the 3 hours when the 'after church' crowd showed up, but from 2 in the afternoon things slowed down.  That's fine.  The associate who fell off the roof returns to work today, that will help.

One of the things I've begun to dislike about working till 7 PM is that when I get home, I don't really feel like doing anything.  It's almost as if I'm entering a veggie zone.  So, I'm thinking of doing a change to my availability, maybe only work till 5 PM on the days they can schedule me to work.

As I've told you, while on the treadmill I watch YouTube videos.  One is of the Acropolis.  During the walk it's mentioned that back in the early 1800s, the Brits chopped some marble horses from their pedestals and took them home.  This has evidently created a big controversy because the agreement they made appears to be somewhat surreptitious, and the Greeks want them back.  Personally, I think the Brits are in the wrong here.

I've always been a big fan of the group Yes, having seen them multiple times in concert.  Back in 1984 they came out with a smash album titled 90125, which had two of their big hits: Owner of a Lonely Heart and Leave It.  What is truly interesting about Leave It is that the band made 18 individual videos to go with the song, 15 of which aired on MTV.  While they have notes and very short clips of some of the videos, on Version 11 is complete and is considered the official version.  If anybody out there has any of the other videos, let someone of importance know, they're trying to locate them.  Here is Version 11.

 I saw an interesting piece in the New York Times titled Mike Pence is Spineless.   I wondered how many Americans came to this conclusion a long time ago.  Any aspirations he has in running for the presidency are simply delusional.  No MAGA worth his weight in shit will ever vote for him and the line of Democrats queuing up to vote for him is still empty.

And, of course, the big news yesterday is that Democracy in now the number one concern among Americans as we prepare to head towards the midterms.  Republicans gambled that it would be inflation, but then Republicans have never really had their finger on the pulse of what Americans want.  Rather than ask, they have always preferred to simply say "shut up, we're in charge."  As for the investigation into Trump?  40% of Americans wish the DOJ would Leave It alone.  I suspect this is because the more scabs that get pulled off, the more people realize how badly Republicans have wounded Democracy.  Of course, we're going to keep pulling off the scabs, and while the video is interesting, the GOP is just going to be left hanging upside down, which surprisingly enough is Version 1, the one version MTV viewers turned off the most.

Anniversary Day

 Hello, Thursday.  

Lily's eye is improving.  Her nictitating membrane is only covering the inner corner of her eye, and depending upon what she's looking at will disappear completely.  The swelling has also started to go down.   This is a good thing since she is not a 'vet friendly' dog, not that she's mean, though she's very picky about who is around me.  She loves my friend Justin, but will bark at my neighbor until he leaves.  Right now, she and Biggie are sleeping in on the bed.

I did bake spice cookies yesterday, though I didn't quite follow the recipe.  They're supposed to be small, around an inch in diameter.  I like my cookies large, so mine are almost 4 times the size.  Believe me, they are tasty!

And, of course, today is the anniversary of the Republican's attempt to overthrow Democracy.  We should have expected their attempted coup.  They've been becoming more desperate ever since Reagan's re-election.  They went through their T-Party stage, where they felt they alone could define Democracy.  With Obama, they became the obstructionists known as the Do Nothing Party, refusing to compromise.  At that point, we should have realized how much they desperately wanted an Authoritarian Government they, themselves could run.  Then, because too many Democrats stayed home thinking Hillary had it in the bag, they pulled off an Electoral College win that put a wannabe dictator in the White House.  He obligingly gave them everything they'd ever dreamt of, except a 2nd term.  And they were angry.  They were going to steal back the election.  Not only did they fail, their failure was televised around the world.  We have only just begun to put them down.  Keeping them out of office is our job.  Vote blue.  Be a true American and vote them into obscurity.

Power vs Democracy

So, today I'm halfway towards my vacation, which is going to be a staycation.  Everyone who hears I'm taking some time off asks "where are you going?"  While they don't frown when I tell them I'm staying home, I can still see their surprise in their eyes, in the way some of them feel the need to force a small smile.  These people all know I have 180 pounds of dogs.  I can't just pack them up and take them with me.  And Kennels?  They're out.  Lil and Seig just wouldn't understand.  When the dogs have moved on, then I will travel.

I baked another loaf of bread, this time without the olive oil, and it's perfect, stays together.  This one will not crumble to pieces when I try and cut it.  I also bought a bamboo bread cutter, now isn't that nice?  it even has a crumb tray!

Here's a new video from The Brothers Osborne which I thought fitting since it's Pride month.  His voice is quite reminiscent of Springsteen.

And I saw where Russia took a giant step towards being a police state yesterday, outlawing opposition parties.  Those in charge over there, Putin and his allies, have no regard for human life what so ever.  For them, power is everything.  They do not understand the world is changing.  They, like the Republican party in America, will only ever see things through old lenses.  Their desperate attempt to turn back time, to return to the infamous days of Stalin and Lenin, will lead to Civil War.  They will never learn until they get the snot beaten out of them.  Power is the most corrupting force in the Universe.  Democracy is the only answer.

 

Frantic Fingers

 Crap, the timer on my washer has started to go.  I put a load of pants / trousers / jeans in last evening and the damn thing just kept washing.  Rinse Cycle was a distant place that timer was never going to find.  The quick solution is to just start farther into the wash cycle.  That works... for now.  Eventually, I'm going to have to decide whether I should simply replace the timer (something I should be able to do) or purchase a new unit.  I'd like to wait on the buying bit.  One of the last things I ever want to do is spend my hard earned bucks on a new appliance when I'm 87 years old, so I'm thinking to just wait until the thing finally crashes before doing anything.

Yesterday was relatively slow at work, at least in the afternoon.  In the morning, we cut a lot of vinyl, answered a lot of questions, and dealt with customers until around 2:30 PM and then everything just died. Up until then, customers bought, bought, bought.  Where are people getting all of the money?  Well, you have to remember that while large swathes of the country are suffering from the pandemic, our local infection rate is low.  The state capital is located 5 miles away.  Our next door neighbor is a very large Navy supply base.  We also have a lot of hospitals, two within 3 miles of where I live with a 3rd opening within the next few months.  We are almost at Shangri-La status.

Don't worry, we're working on the architecture

And what about that three ring shit circus down in Washington.  Lots of memes went around yesterday showing the Idiot Jerk desperately trying to sign in to Twitter.  Can we talk about frantic fingers here?  Of course, that doesn't stop him from spitting shit out through fascists like Jared, and the rest of his crime family.  Of course, the far-right crazies are flipping out because Parler is now without a host, Amazon cloud services shut them down.

A majority of Americans want him out now, of course, that's only 57% according to Reuters.  Quite a few Republicans want him out, too, but they don't want to impeach since that would make them legally complicit.  The want to just wait for his term to expire.  They do not understand the damage they are doing to themselves... but that's fine.  Senators and Congressmen are being called out by name... and picture.  You see, a lot of them who were in Washington for that riot thought this was a great idea.  Vote them out.  Show the world how a Democracy does this legally and without violence.  Vote the party into oblivion.  

Yesterday

 Yesterday was... well...  I believe the last time America and the World sat glued to their TV sets and fervently watching their computer screens, and their smart phones, was on 9/11.  The events which unfolded seemed to have come straight from the warped mind of some 'B' movie scriptwriter: a failed president inciting acts of treason in a desperate attempt to start a revolution.  And he called these traitors to the constitution patriots. He Tweeted praise until his account was shut down.  I suspect this will be permanent since reactivation is contingent with his deleting photos of the insurrection, photos he Tweeted, photos he praised.  For him to do so would be admitting publicly how terribly wrong yesterday was, something he cannot do.  And when he finally asked them to leave the Capital, he continued his lies about the election.

I watched some of the speeches last evening as the Senate and the House gathered again.  I noticed a tremor in McConnell's voice as he spoke.  He knows that yesterday was a bullet in the heart of the GOP.  The party has splintered into disparate factions and not one will survive.  I listened as the hypocritical Lindsey Graham suddenly decided to switch sides.  His political career is over.  Romney stated the obvious, the seditionists will never believe the truth, they have been too deeply indoctrinated by the constant lies.  Schumer and other Democrats placed the blame directly on Trump.  Republicans, except of Graham, danced around his name.  They feared call him out and placing the guilt on his shoulders would associate them with his attempt at tyranny.  They are just as guilty. 

Over 100 members of the House and 7 members of the Senate still voice their objections to Biden's win.  There will be no unbinding them from their deceit.  The newspaper in Hawley's, a newly elected instigator from Missouri, has openly blamed him, saying he has blood on his hands.  Media outlets across the country and around the world are publishing the names of those traitors to the Constitution, those Trump insurrectionists by name.  They are now worse then shit on your shoe.

And yesterday was not all horror.  There were winners!  The Democratic Party now controls the Senate!

The Republican Assburning

Well, today I get rid of my weight bench and one of the two attachments I still have, the other went out front to be recycled some time ago.  As I slowly empty and rearrange my computer / workout room, I realize just how much space I really have there.  The room is becoming quite minimalized.  As we get older, that we should begin to aim for.   I know people who are my age who just can not seem to stop adding to the clutter surrounding them.

I understand the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, is dealing with quite a bit of legal bullshit.  But then this is to be expected.  He began his career as a Tea Party Republican, and like most Republicans, loved wallowing in his own selfishness and greed.  Of course, he became a fanboy of the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  Yesterday the Supreme Court presented him with the gift of shit, and they didn't even wrap it nicely with a bow.  Nope.  Why did he go to so much trouble for a failed president, offering the courts a baseless lawsuit?  I'm betting he's hoping for some sort of pardon.

Yesterday, in the lunchroom, one of the fascists' supporters of the Idiot Jerk said, "Biden will never be president, and I'm so glad Texas took the imitative to got to the Supreme Court."  This was about an hour and a half before the Justices stood up for Democracy.  I did not see this fool after the decision, not that I would have said anything if I had, sometimes there is great joy in just smiling wisely at someone who's just had their ass burned.

And finally, as most of you know I like to be interactive when I workout.  While cycling, I use Tacx and ride all over the world.  Well, running (or slow jogging) has the same sort of thing.  This run is in New Zealand.  Nice... huh?

 

Dirty Manipulation

 It's an early morning for me.  The father of one of my fellow associates died, so I'm going in to work early.  I suspect they'll want me to do supervisor things since the associate was an aisle manager for the paint and specialty departments.  There's only so much I can do since I'm now just a lowly, hourly specialist.

For those who don't have Twitter, yesterday a lot of gay men pissed of the Proud Boys by showing them how Pride brings out the really Proud Boys. #ProudBoys was trending heavily for a while.  Here's a screen shot to show you what many were seeing.  Can we talk about being armed and dangerous?

Anyway, I got my storm door hung yesterday before I went into work. I will need to play around with the framing since my house is old with no straight lines and no 90 degree angles.  This is fine.  Lily wasn't too pleased with it at first, but she's fine now.

And how sick is the Idiot Jerk in the White House?  His doctors are giving conflicting information.  Supposedly he's on a steroid used only in very severe cases, yet he's well enough to go for a ride to wave at his mentally ill supporters.  Of course, the glass was tinted, he was wearing a mask, and when I looked at the pictures I couldn't tell if it was the Idiot Jerk or Boris Johnson riding inside that SUV.  For all we know, that might have been a body double.  There's also the possibility the conflicting reports we're getting from both the White House and his Medical Team caused by their inability to stick to one lie. Remember, after failing to kickstart his campaign so many times, his last, most desperate option might be to appeal for the sympathy vote.  There are fools out there who will fell sorry for him without understanding this might just be another form of dirty manipulation.

He does need to do something to counter that abysmal debate.  His approval rating dropped among everyone but his rabid base.  Biden when from being 10 points ahead to 14 points ahead in his race for the White House.  More and more you're hearing people say "enough of the Idiot Jerk."  America is fed up with this dirty reality show.  They want it to end.  The only way to do that is by voting Big and Blue.  The time has come to squash the GOP and take back America... forever.

Irresolution

New Years Eve and it's my... Friday... again.  My fifth day Friday was yesterday.  This is my sixth day Friday.  I don't have to work tomorrow.  That doesn't mean I'm going to let my ass get sloshed tonight.  Nope.  I think it rather odd that some will stay up, celebrate the coming New Year with way too many libations, and then spend the first day of that New Year recovering from a hangover.  Ask yourself, is that how you really want to start the next decade?
And, of course, there are a lot of bumble brains out there who jump right into their pre-failure mode and set resolutions.  By now, you'd think they'd know just how badly their going to fail.  They don't.  And they always just shrug off these failures.  That tells you quite a bit about their lack of fortitude.  Makes you wonder how many other failures they've had in their lives.  I don't understand the ability to dust your resolve with lack of importance, stow it in the forgetful box, and hope you can remember to unpack it next year.  Maybe what these people should do is make irresolutions instead. Yeah, don't that make you nod your head?  That makes so much more sense if you're a bumble brain.  Irresolutions take away the commitment... and responsibility.

That's from Patrick Henry.  Remember him?  He's also responsible for that catchy little phrase "give me liberty, or give me death."  Believe me, Republicans hate that phrase.  In their world view, they desperately want to circumscribe liberty with very narrow lines.  They do not believe in Democracy.  Keep the truth alive.  Show your resolve.  Be resolute.  Vote Blue.

Back to our Roots

Well it's Sunday. 
The Tour de France ends today.  The winner is going to be Egan Bernal.  He is 22 years old.  He is the first Colombian cyclist to win.  This is amazing!  This is the future.

As for me?  I'm going to work again today. 
And out in Hell Creek, North Dakota a college student discovered a 65 million year old Triceretops skull.  Dinosaurs... you got to love them.  A long, long time ago, when I was in grade school, we could buy paperback books from a Scholastic Press, and publisher specifically geared towards juvenile literature.  One of the first books I ever purchased from them was something call "The Enormous Egg," about a boy whose chicken lays a very, very large egg that hatches a baby triceratops.

This was my introduction to evolution, in a round about way.  Written in 1956, I doubt very much if Oliver Butterworth had any inclination that eventually we would learn that birds, even chickens, are the descendants of dinosaurs.  Can we talk about scientific foreshadowing here?  Believe me when I tell you I loved that book and read it dozens of times.
Evolution never stops.  Just look at homo sapiens.  We originated in Africa, moved north and experimented with the recessive genes of blue eyes and lighter skin tones.  Genetically speaking, those genes were a dead end and are in the process of being written off.  The dominant genes for dark eyes and dark skin have taken helm of our ship.  Makes sense, doesn't it?  Look at the Greece, for example.  The birthplace of Democracy.  Ain't that amazing!  People with brown skin gave us Democracy... oh, and Geometry...   I guess you could say we're going back to our roots.

Blue

It's Monday.  My stint on Jury Duty begins this morning.  Will it be a long week... or short.  The last time I was there for only one day.  Everything depends upon the number of Civil Court cases pending for this week.  I have a funny feeling I will be going back tomorrow to sit and wait in the 'jury selection room.'  The last time all I had was my phone and I'm not one of those who enjoys reading articles on a tiny screen.  Today "The Body in the Tower" is going with me... and a highlighter.
And, of course, Mueller dropped the other shoe and the Attorney General appointed by the Idiot Jerk in the White House chose not to tie up the laces.  Now, I know there are many who believe collusion was a foregone conclusion.  The report apparently states the Idiot Jerk did not actively seek assistance of the Russians even though they were apparently offering help.  This does not mean there wasn't an 'unofficial' agreement in place, sort of an 'I'll scrub your back, you scrub mine' sort of acknowledgment going on between the Idiot Jerk and Moscow.  He's a business man, remember, and as such has no problem with things being handled 'under the table,' so to speak.  He handles everything the way he handles his taxes, from a crooked corner of his life.
The minute Barr released his summary the Idiot Jerk's minions and spawn popped on their little, red hats and started doing the MAGA Dance, as though this is going to change anything.  No way.  His approval rating isn't going to start climbing the charts.  Halfway through his presidency, everybody knows just where the Moral Degenerate, the Idiot Jerk in the White House stands when it comes to racism and white supremacy.  People see an ego seething with anger when ever someone else gets the respect he, himself is denied.  He is an ugly, fat man deserving nothing, representing his MAGA Party, a group that also deserves nothing... and expects everything.  The American voters need to deflate this pompous bag of wind.  We need to defeat the Crazy Conservatives who seek to destroy everything normal.  Our only option is to vote Blue.  Stand up.  Be Counted.  Let's drive these beasties back under the rocks from which they crawled.

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.