They Should Have Taken Off Their Shirts

 So early in the morning, and yet so late in the day, for met at least.  You see, I've already been out and about.  I had a blood draw scheduled for 0715 this morning.  Oh, and I had to fill the little pee cup.  Fun stuff, you know?

Yesterday was filled with accomplishments:  8 miles on the bike, cleaned and vacuumed the upstairs, moved the new PC to a better spot on the desk, and several loads of the ever-present laundry.  Oh, and a snapped a pic of some of my tulips.

Oh, and I went to see The Secrets of Dumbledore last evening.   My feelings?  Hhhhmm, which is better than a meh by a small amount.  It's been at least 3 years since I saw the 2nd part of this trilogy which wasn't supposed to be a trilogy.  What?  Yep, after the first film made a bundle upon release, the producers decided to stretch the story out for 3 films.  Bad idea.  Not enough source material.  Still, they decided to stretch the running time out to almost 2.5 hours.  Bad idea.  Also, three years saw whatever interest I had invested in the characters completely dissipate.  Eddie Redmayne gets top billing, but Jude Law is the title character, and the story is about him stopping Grindewald (sp), who's now played by Mads Mikkelson rather than Johnny Depp.  The special effects are strong, the story, however, is weak.  Things might have improved if, perhaps, the men had started taking off their shirts.

And finally, if you seem to have noticed a lot of Republican attacks on the LGBTQ community lately, you're not alone.  Mid-terms are coming up and they're throwing any red meat they can at their base to get them riled up and to the polls.  You see Donnie (the Orange Anus) Trump just ain't hitting the high notes anymore.  He's endorsed a New Jersey Muslim for the Senate seat in Pennsylvania.  Tennessee just kicked another one of his endorsements off the ballot because she failed to meet the state's requirements.  He threw a poorly attended rally.  Oh, and he just walked off of an interview with a desperate Piers Morgan over questions about The Big Lie.  They're savior is showing his charlatan colors and the Republicans need someone to attack, and... well, Hillary's isn't running and Hunter Biden's laptop has no legs.

The Texas Taliban

 So another none Friday has arrived.  I'm off today and, as usual, working the weekend.  My next day off isn't until Tuesday, after that it's Thursday.  I mentioned to the scheduler that I want Consecutive days off.  Working every other day is too much like working full time.  She has yet to actually make me part-time in the system.  Once she does that I can set up my own availability.  I don't what is taking her so long.  That should have been one of the first things she did last Monday morning, prior to writing schedules for the week.

Sheetz Roofing is going to get a call this morning with the go-ahead to shingle my roofs.  Working at the largest home improvement retailer in the world does give me access to 'professional' opinions, and across the board, every body I talked to said I was getting a deal.  I pretty much knew that, but it never hurts to check.

I ordered new running / walking shoes and they arrived yesterday.  Asics.  Very decent quality.  I've been wearing the last pair I bought to work, and to mow the lawn, and... well all over the place and they now look very well worn.  The new ones are definitely not meant to be worn anywhere other than on a treadmill.

And what about that Cracker Jack Crazy state of Texas, home of the Texas Taliban?  Well, they're not really Muslim so we can't say they are completely Taliban, they're Crazy Christians with a 2 term Governor who believes the only way to stay in power is to out crazy the craziest.  Only 40% of the population is white, yet white Cracker Jack Crazy Republicans have redrawn the maps to attempt to gerrymander themselves into power for another 10 years.  The state removed an LGBTQ page meant to help and provide answers to youth because an anti-LGBTQ loon started shrieking his loon tunes about its evil.  The Southlake School District, a site for home grown Texan white supremacy, has stated that there needs to be a balance to books talking about the holocaust...  that's right school library's need to offer opposing views regarding that Nazi horror.  I do not doubt for a second that the state will become a magnet for hate groups, since that appears to be the only way they can grow their MAGA base.

Lubed

 Okay, today's the day the temps begin rising.  Low 80's (F) being reached this after equals ceiling fans at level II upstairs - no Central AC.  If the forecasters are correct, we should be topping off near 90 (F) tomorrow.  Still no air, the fans might be spinning at Level I.  On Thursday, I have off, and the temps are supposed to begin their slow crash back into the normal 70-ish (F) range.  Oh, and there's a 64% chance of rain.

Yesterday was meh at the store.  Garden was busy, as expected, as was building materials.  People are doing a lot of home renovations.  The economy is booming.  Isn't that nice.  That doesn't mean we don't get asked stupid questions.  Phone calls.  Stupid people who choose not to look at a computer.  Yesterday a received a call from a woman who asked if we carried something called Fresetia (Sp).  Since I wasn't familiar with it, I asked her to spell it; we have millions of products on our website that are not in the store.  She got irritated:  "I don't know how to spell it!  I don't even know if I'm pronouncing it correctly!"  Yes, she said that.  When I asked what the product was she said, "it's an area rug.  I want to know if you have any in stock.  I want to see it.  I don't want to buy one without looking at it."  So, I told her if she's looking at our website, there will be a notation at the bottom letting her know if we have any in stock."  Her response.  "Well, you're not helping me at all."  And then she hung up.

Oh, and I got some new lube!

It's for the treadmill.  Now you all know.  You need to keep your belt lubricated if you want it to slide smoothly.

And what about that Supreme Court?  Are they going to make a long binding 2nd Amendment decision?  I suspect so.  Making it easy to carry a concealed weapon on the streets is fine for Conservatives.  Me?  I want more accountability, and fewer guns.  At the same time, however, their decisions to throw out Loser #45's elections challenges, as well as their liberal decisions on LGBTQ cases hands Conservatives a roll of burning toilet paper.  In an odd sort of way, they are keeping the country Centrist, spinning around in a circle like a well lubed hub, morselling out wins to the hungry mouths of both Liberals and Conservatives.  Someone once said, "you can't keep all of the people happy all of the time, but you can keep some of the people happy some of the time."  Their treadmill has been well lubed and they seem to be quite satisfied to keep running without moving fully to the left or the right, and in an odd way keeping the country Centrist.

Things Change

Yesterday was Monday.  I went back to work, but only for a day.  I'm scheduled off today.  Being scheduled off is very nice.  After today I get to work 4 consecutive days, however then I'm scheduled off for 3 consecutive days.  I like that a lot.

Monday was a momentous day.  The Supreme Court dumped a turd in the Idiot Jerk's hat.  Conservatives shrieked their hatred at the Conservative Judge who they feel betrayed them.  You see they believed he would betray the Constitution in favor of religion.  They were wrong.  We are a Democracy, something Conservatives and Republicans look at with great disdain.  Sucks to be them, doesn't it.  No matter how hard they try to ratchet the country into a small, conservative cube they fail because we as a people are round, we are oval, we have angles, we have curves.  Our depth and height exceeds their pale little blocky beliefs.  We are more then they will every be.  The fight is not over, but they reel because one of their own has bloodied their nose.

There was a really interesting article in Politico on how Republicans believe they're going to win the November election.  A number of them are predicting a landslide... in favor of the Idiot Jerk.  This is funny... an example of true denial.  I had to laugh when one of them said "the pandemic is over and the economy is improving."  They see only what they want to believe.  The same thing happened with Nixon, Republicans just not being able to believe a truth they didn't dictate, a reality they didn't write.

Another funny thing I read was that there is a group of Cracker Jack Crazy Christians who believe the pandemic and the crashing economy are signs that 'The End' is near.   They evidently never heard about The Spanish Flu, which was far worse for life, and limb, and the world's economy.  And what about the Black Plague?  They must have been sleeping through those classes, otherwise they'd know that pandemic ushered in The Dark Ages.  Oh, that's right, they were saying the same thing back then... and were just as wrong.

Today is a brighter day then yesterday.  No matter how desperately some might try and freeze time, lock us into a permanence which only satisfies their own selfish needs, change happens.  Life will continue evolving.  There is no stopping it.