I am a Hottie

 Today's my birthday, and I'm pleased to say it's going to be sunny here in Central PA.  I'm 72.  There was a time, when I was younger, that I thought people in there 70s were old.  I talk about this with my friends because I feel bad because quite often I didn't give them the respect they deserved.  But then those were different times.  Back then people were forced to retire when they hit 65, and they weren't allowed to work a part-time job, so, unless they were financially fine, they just sat around waiting to die.  Things have changed a lot since then.  Today older people do things.  They get part-time jobs.  They travel.  They enjoy life, I know, I do.

Yesterday was busy.  I mowed my leaves, went for a bike ride (6 miles), played with Howie (he goes outside a lot since the weather is still so fine), wrote (I'm up 60,000 words in the new book), and played my new video game Dragon Age:  Veilguard.  It's a role playing game, and as with most, it has extensive character creation.  That mean you design how you look.  As always, I play as a male (you can play as either male or female).  And, as usual I made myself into a hottie.  And yes, I am a ginger with a beard.

And as the reality of the 2024 election sets in, I, like a lot of people wonder how in the Hell so many Democrats could choose not to vote.  There are many explanations, but one that occurred to me last night was how important social media shaped opinions.  Take the way each candidate's rallies were portrayed.  Harris had big ones, filled with dancing, and singing, and great speeches.  Trump's, on the other hand, were poorly attended and people walked out.  I can't tell you how many pictures and videos were posted of his rallies, but they were a constant.  I don't doubt that many out there seeing these pictures and videos assumed that on election day, his performance among voters would match his rallies.  They made a bad assumption that his cultists would stay home.  Well, they were wrong.  As one of my main protagonists says frequently in my books, "assume nothing."  They jumped to the very bad conclusion that he was going to lose badly, based solely on those pictures and videos, and chose to stay home; he was going to lose badly.  The thought never entered their minds that Republicans would vote for Trump simply because they hated Harris, and now we're screwed.

We Are Not Going Back

 Okay, so it's November 5, Election Day, and this morning when I took Howie out for his morning pee and doodle, the temp was 46 (F).  That's warm.  Temps are supposed to climb up into the mid 70s (F) today, and right now there's not a cloud in the sky.  Tomorrow our high temp is predicted to be in the upper 70s (F), that's practically a heat wave.

I worked yesterday and managed to get a measure.  I vaguely remember the customer, I've set him up before and he never went through with the installation.  I got to know him as an acquaintance a long time ago, when I work with his sister at Marriott, she was a sales manager.  A few years back she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and, as is the case with too many cancer patients, she died.  So, I told him I remembered him, and that I worked with her over 40 years ago.  He was surprised and happy, and talked a bit about his sister.  I don't think he'll go through with the carpet installation.  

Harris had a rally on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art last evening.  The crowd was large.  I find this picture very impressive.

Today is the big day.  One of the things everybody needs to remember is that is some states, the early returns might go in Trump's favor, this is because small, rural communities, where the population is rather small, will get their votes counted first.  These rural towns tend to go conservative.  This happened in Pennsylvania in 2020, and the Orange Anus was in the lead... until precincts in Allentown, and Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia began posting their numbers and the bottom dropped out of Trump's lead.  This is also where his lie of 40,000 stolen votes came from, a lie that was easily disproved in court.

And, once again, do not believe the polls.  No matter how much they try and fine tune the algorithms, there's no way pollsters can account for how angry women are about Roe v Wade being overturned.  It's also extremely difficult for them to calculate how many Republican voters are putting country over party.  Right now they think it is between 10% and 15%, however, there are a lot of angry Reagan Republicans out there.  The end is coming for Donald Trump.  His Karma is horrific.  He is going to lose to a Black Woman.  We are not going back.

The Waiting Game

 So them temp outside is a balmy 52 (F).  Temps are predicted to climb up into the 80s (F) today with a lot of sunshine.  Being that is Halloween, that means there are going to be a lot of Trick or Treaters out this evening.  I'm not excited.  My drapes will be drawn and my front porched light turned off.  I did the candy thing once, about 28 years ago.  Once was enough.  I think I had 12 trick or treaters.  I ate most of the candy, and ended up shutting the door, grabbing a beer, and turning on the television.  I am not a big one for playing dress-up.

I did work yesterday.  Five hours.  My new availability has not been activated.  I no longer work mornings, only afternoons, four days a week.  I cannot be scheduled for more than 24 hours, so far it looks like I'm getting around 20.  That's fine with me.  

And last evening I had to deal with a bit of an issue with Amazon.  I ordered the new Dragon Age game from Amazon, it's released worldwide today.  I was expecting the game to arrive today.  When I got home from work I checked the delivery status.  At 4:26 PM yesterday, the game had arrived at the shipper, in Kent, Washington.  I immediately realized there was going to be a problem.  Not surprisingly, a few minutes later I got an email from Amazon apologizing, and letting me know the delivery was going to be delayed and should be arriving by Monday.  Of course, I was on the computer to Amazon who again apologized and changed the delivery status to 24 hours, meaning the game should be arriving today.  Adding insult to this issue, I get a promotional set of armor for purchasing the game early, however, the game needs to be loaded into my Series X and I can't do that until the game arrives.

Here's a bit of a palate cleanser.

Counting today, there are only 6 more days until the election. I don't know anyone who wants it to be longer, everyone I've talked to is that they want it to be over today.  The media coverage has been relentless.  Just about every group with a vowel in their name is publishing a poll and those polls represent nothing but their own interests.  The media wants you to click on their websites, so they publish clickbait headlines that deal in assumption rather than fact, assumptions rather than details.  The media wants a horserace, and so Biden says something and Harris is held accountable.  The observant American will notice that JD Vance seems to have been muted since his presence was an obvious liability.  On the other hand, Elon Musk's dipshit energy is spewing out negative vibes; his mental immaturity is growing more apparent as the seconds tip by.

The only thing we do know is that in early voting and mail in ballots, turn-out is Democrat heavy.  There is an indicator that the turn-out among women is higher than average, the turn-out of younger voters, the Gen-Z ers, is higher than normal.  We're in a waiting game, and Tuesday can't come fast enough.