Carried Away

 And here in Central PA the rain continues.  Purportedly, the showers and thunderstorms should end sometime tomorrow an we'll have a few days before they start up again.  Overnight lows are in the mid 50s (F), which is nice sleeping weather.  While the constant rain may be somewhat depressing, on the positive side everything I've planted is growing by leaps and bounds, but then so is my lawn; it will need to dry out before I can mow it.

More chores were done yesterday than I had been anticipating.  Having Monday's off is nice, however that extra day does mess with my mental calendar.  I was just sitting here thinking that it's Wednesday and payday is Friday, only to realize I've just moved into Tuesday.  

And I did get a rowing session in yesterday.  I tried linking the rower to my Garmin account and there was an error.  I'd tried it before and got the same error, so I guess Concept2 and Garmin are having problems communicating.  I may try it again today.  Maybe I'll make the attempt using my tablet, since sometimes it depends upon the device you're using.

Did everyone hear about Republican Mike Lawler's Townhall?  An elderly woman who's unhappy with the Republican party was carried out. 

I find it fascinating that the political party that so desperately wants to yell "shut up! we're in charge!" has totally failed to take into consideration the wants and desires of their constituents, those people who actually voted them into office.  I can't even imagine the mindset these Republican Congressmen and Senators have that permits them to think those people who cast their ballots did so in order to lose the benefits many of them consider sacred.  I know several Republicans who are furious that their Social Security might now be in jeopardy.  These people posted numerous memes on Facebook telling their representatives to stay away from their Social Security.  Now they're upset because those same representatives are ignoring them.  These Republican townhalls would not be erupting in chaos if these voters had simply paid attention.  But no, when the Orange Anus said that he wants to be a dictator for at least a day, they shrugged it off, saying "he doesn't mean it, that's just the way he is."  Now they're discovering to their horror that he really did mean it, and they're being carried away.

The Discussion and the Cultist

 Crap, can you believe it?  Another Monday has arrived.  This past weekend seemed to skip by me.  But than, of course, you have to remember that weekend starts tomorrow, an the weather's supposed to be very nice.  Temps are on the cool side right now with the current temp being 52 (F).  It will be climbing up into the mid 70s (F) this afternoon.  Tomorrow afternoon is predicted to be warmer.

And, as has been the case, yesterday was a boring day at work.  I had to sit at the Lead Generating table and, shock of shocks, I actually signed up a customer for a free consultation on purchasing a shed.  Management  was happy.  I checked yesterday and this lead generation push has created over 140 leads, however, upon closer examination, only a very small number (2) have actually led to appointments being made.  This has always been the problem.  People will sign up for a free consultation but then, after they get home and spend some time thinking about their project, will change their minds.  These are the wise ones who realize that going through with whatever they've signed up for will most likely lead to "buyer's remorse."  And, to be honest, none of the people scheduled to be talking to customers at that table want to be there, so they don't really do what they're supposed to be doing.

I'm picking up the cover art for The Body in History today, so a select few of you should be getting an email.  Since it's too early to post images of the final product, I thought I post this pic of the Castalian  spring, one of the settings in the book.  Now if only I had managed to get seven little goats into the picture.

As is usually the case, yesterday was a slow news cycle in regard to the Orange Anus, but never fear, he has some sort of news conference scheduled for this morning because a day can not go by without his fascist face in front of a camera spewing out hate and discord.  I had an interesting conversation yesterday with several associates and the main topic was the supreme amount of chaos he has painfully injected into common, everyday life.  His evil is pervasive.  When you have a Republican horse's ass like Kennedy from Louisiana complaining about how easily Putin twists Orangie around his finger it's bad.  We discussed how easily Hitler had taken over Germany, though there is a striking difference, all of Germany believed Adolph while here in the states it's only the Republican Party.  We talked about how Orangie and his cult following are embracing white supremacy.  And, while this conversation was taking place, one of his cultists in a MAGA hat and driving motorized wheelchair drove by us.  None of us said a word, simply stared as he slowly moved past us and he frowned at us.  He knew all of us were hating his little red hat and what it represented.  This was good.  Let them know they are despised.  If this cultists is pissed now, wait until Organie dismantles Medicare and he loses his motorized chair.

Fallout

 Well, it's Monday, the beginning of the work week.  Presently our temp is 49 (F) and it's expected to zoom, zoom, zoom up to 80 (F).  That's warm for this time of year.  We had rain overnight, and thunderstorms are expected later in the afternoon, early event.  With it being so warm, and with the rain, I can tell you that my lawn is going to go zoom, zoom, zoom as well.  

I do get to go to work today.  This will be the last shift I start at 0930.  That makes me happy.  Sure, I get to leave an hour earlier, but I'll be honest, that hour doesn't make that much of a difference.  I'm a morning person.  I get things done in the evening.  When I get home at 1930, all I want to do is either watch something on TV or play a video game.  The idea of starting a project, or continuing a project is the farthest thing from my mind.  I sure as hell not going to take a 14 mile bike ride.  In fact, as far back as I can remember, I've never been an evening person.  Perhaps that's why I was always late with my homework.

And, speaking of TV and video games.  I watched the new Fallout on Amazon Prime.  Loved it!  And I'm evidently not alone.  The show has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.  That same % is on Google reviews.  Yes, it's that good.  It has over the top violence that makes you laugh.  There is so much going on, I may have to watch it a 2nd time to get what I've missed.

Today is, also, the Spawn of Satan's first day in court.  Do you have any idea how good it makes me feel to say those words?  Finally.  Will he be held accountable?  I don't doubt.  I'm hearing that it make take 2 weeks for the jury to be seated.  During that time prepare for the onslaught of media reporting and opinionizing as America has never seen.  Will it hurt Trump in his attempt to win a 2nd presidency?  You bet.  He has always played the part of the injured party, but for this trial to help him he would need to play sympathetic and that's impossible.  He has always played the part of the angry victim, however, that's going to be difficult as people begin to testify.  As his sleaze factor goes on full display, Evangelical Christians are going to discover Trump was the test of Faith that they failed.  He is not the Herald they were praying for.  The cultists will rage, not because they feel sorry for him, but because he got caught.  It's always fun watching a phony great man fall.

Picture This

 Oh, my gosh!  It's Saturday.  I have to work.  Weather wise our temps are predicted to climb into the mid 60s (F), though the wind will be steady at 20 - 25 miles per hour, with the occasional gust.  Spring.  Isn't it nice that it is so easily undefined, a potpourri of weather patterns that shade and shine across our lawns, filtering with colors that both dim and dazzle.

Anyway, yesterday was interesting.  I've begun to play around with the digital camera I bought, a Canon.  It got good reviews, which is nice, and it was fairly inexpensive, which is nicer.  I used to have a Nikon, and the only thing I liked about it was that it was red.  Photo storage was cumbersome, the Bluetooth never stayed connected to my phone, and Nikon wanted you to use their cloud storage called Nikon Spaces.  Most digital cameras have the same set-up, so if you know how to work one you should be able to work another, meaning the Canon is quite similar to the Nikon, but without the crappy Bluetooth, and storage problems.

And, as is my habit, now that The Body in Motion is published, I started actual work on The Body in History.  I think of it as a little tale about identity theft and the intervention of fate.  The plan was always for it to take place in Greece, and now I'm going there.  Will Eli and Max meet a Pythia?  Will they have to deal with the Cult of Phoebus?  You'll find the answers to these, and other questions next April.

One of the settings for The Body in Motion is the Adelphi Theater, which was torn down in 1970 so they could build a Hilton Hotel.  One of the pieces of history that were lost during demotion were the murals painted by Mortimer Lichtenauer.  Among his other works is the ceiling of the Shubert Theater, in NYC.  Here's a photo of one of the murals in the Adelphi Theater.

Of course, I'm looking forward to Monday, as are many people in the country.  Trump in court.  Of course, this will on be for jury selection, and one thing you can count on, the Orange Anus will have his attorney's object to every possible juror.  There is no limit to the number of jurors an attorney can want dismissed, but for dismissal to happen, the attorney needs to have a reason.  Thin lips or narrow eyes doesn't count.  Trump will try and use this as a delaying tactic because he knows he's going to lose.  He also knows that the media will broadcast every filthy detail in All Caps.  This is just another way for him to destroy the Republican party.  More power to him.

From the Channel

 Right on time, the new week has arrived and the skies are a bit overcast.  The air's supposed to be a bit less humid today, with the temps climbing into the mid 80s (F).  There's only a 5% chance of rain, we got enough yesterday... again.  Yes, we had another deluge.  Yes, we had another flood warning.  Surprisingly, no, I didn't get water in my basement.  That's nice.  I will need to mow my lawn again this week.  I don't mind.

Retail was slow yesterday.  I did manage to get a measure.  That should keep people happy.  I did not make my sales plan last week.  That will turn those happy faces into frowns (small shrug).  There was a time when I could see all the sales data from every store in the district, that's been taken away, not only from me, but from many of middle management in the stores.  They're shifting to a new reporting system and at this point in my retail career I could care less.

I'm going to be uploading another little video to my channel either tomorrow or Wednesday, depending upon when it get's completed.  I'd like to make it a weekly thing, but that all depends upon whether I think I have anything to say.  One of my friends say that would be rare, meaning he thinks I talk a lot.  He might be right.  Anyway, here's the snippet I posted last week.  Can you tell I'm working to keep my voice from sounding way too animated?

And it seems that Ronnie DeSantis is getting a lot of flack from just about everybody in the Conservative world.  I don't doubt much of this is because he's decided to base his campaign on Wokeness, a word that has no definition.  Well, that might be a bit incorrect.  It seems as though Wokeness is everything Conservatives don't look, from books, to movies, to attitudes, and even social media.  

And speaking of social media, sometime yesterday Elon Musk, once again proving he is anything but a genius, Tweeted out "Zuck is a cuck."  Immediately afterwards hilarity ensued.  People were laughing at it on both Twitter and Threads.  As someone pointed out, if your 12 years old, "Zuck is a cuck" might impress all your other 12 year-old friends, but shortly after the age of 13 it practically becomes self-mocking.  I don't know if Musk is a cuck or not, but he sure is one dumb ass.

Pink

 Hello Monday!  I hope everybody had a good weekend.  The weather here in Enola was warm and dry while severe thunderstorms battered the area around my little suburb.  Because of this, I had to drag out the hose last evening and water my plants.  No rain is scheduled in the foreseeable future.  It's almost as if we're heading into the dog days of summer without the heat.

I did get another measure yesterday while working.  That really puts me up for the week.  My sales were good, too, for a part time associate.  

One of the higher-ups in our region is in a world of shit.  We were told there was an install promotion going on for vinyl and laminate surfaces, and signs were posted.  A number of measures were done before it was discovered our store was not included.  As a result, because people are now buying those installations, our store is having to do some major markdowns.  The kind that curdle the blood of any accountant looking at our books.  This type of mistake brings out the worst in customers.

Here's a bit of hilarity.  Evidently production of the new Barbie movie had some trouble getting enough of the right color pink.  If you've seen the trailer, you will realize how much pink there is in the movie.  If you haven't, well, here it is.  I think this movie is going to be a blast.

And here's a little bit of the NYT:  Ad revenue for Twitter is down 59% from last year.  I don't know about you, but I find that fascinating.  This is how Elon Musk learns how pricey his opinion of what constitutes free speech is going to be.  Oh, and advertisers are not flocking back.  They are taking their revenue elsewhere.  Of course, Elon doesn't understand how far his ego has led him astray.  Instead of changing course, he's going to continue down the same path,  Everyone is learning that even though Elon sold the idea to the world that he's a smart man, in real time it turns out he's dumb as a box of rocks.

Trump's documents Grand Jury reconvenes today.  Prepare yourselves for a stream of rage in all Caps.

The Big News

 Well, let's say hello to Monday morning.  It's supposed to be warm and sunny today, and, of course, I am scheduled to work.  According to the forecast, the weather's supposed to be nice for most of the week.  That's nice.  There's always yardwork to be done.  There's a bush growing in front of the porch I need to cut back and possibly remove completely because, little did I know when I planted it, that it's considered invasive.  

In spite of it being slow yesterday, I did manage to sell 2 floor measures.  That should keep management happy.  I made my goal for the week.  Yippee.  Otherwise it was slow, which meant for a long, boring day at the Flooring desk.  

I do have some big news, something that will delight a number of you.  My latest book, The Body Under Ice is being turned into an Audiobook.  That's right.  For those of you who would rather listen to Eli and Max as they drink their wine, this should be very good news.  I'm working with a talented narrator named David Magadan (link to his website).  A number of narrators auditioned, he nailed it on his first try.  I suspect that's pretty rare after hearing so many different voices.  

Otherwise, this past weekend was rather uneventful.  Besides the hours I spent at the store, I spent most of my time taking Lily for walks and playing Jedi Survivor.  

I do believe Tim Scott announced his candidacy and was endorsed by John Thune.  And Ronnie D. I supposed to make his announcement this Thursday.  I expecting the GOP primaries to make the blood sport games in the Colosseum look rather tame.

And the Nominee is....

Hello, Monday!  There was a snappy chill in the air this morning with the temps hovering at 35 (F).  A frost warning had been in effect, though it seems that in my neck of the neighborhood we avoided those freezing temps.  That's fine.  If the long range forecast is correct, that sort of cold might be gone until until shows his shaggy head.

Tomorrow, not only am I off, but the temps are supposed to climb into the mid 70s.  For those who don't know, that's the definition of lawn work.  There is so much that needs to be done.  Wednesday, the temps are to climb into the upper 70s (F), but rain is also in the forecast.  Yes, we're getting more rain.

Yesterday was busy at work, at least in the morning.  I ended up getting 4 measures and sold $4000 in shades.  You read that correctly, $4000.  That customer has far more disposable income than I do, though to be honest if I had that much money to waste I might spend it on shades... nah, I'd go to Paris instead.

Milky Chance released a new song.  This sort of an electro-ballad.  Very nice.  These 2 gents keep surprising me.

Asa Hutchinson, ex-governor of Arkansas has decided to seek the nomination of the Republican party for president in 2024.  He's older than I am and that's too old to be president.  That's 3 who have declared their candidacy and 1, Meatball Ron DeSantis, who hasn't.  That field is going to become quite crowded as more and more mini-Republicans begin to view Trump as wounded by the indictment (s).

While some faux conservative media outlets are implying that a large segment of the population is upset with Bragg indicting the Orange Anus, you have to look at where they're getting their source material; Newsweek relies on its own polls much of the time.  

And it's probable that the Democratic field will grow.  Manchin, another Democrat in his 70s, has dropped multiple hints about announcing his candidacy.  Dumb Ass.  There have also been whispers that he might run as a 3rd party candidate if he choses to run and doesn't get the nomination.  Dumb Ass.  This man makes a box of rocks look smart. Keep in mind, he has surrounded himself with people who tell him that when it comes to intelligence, he edge out that box of rocks... slightly.

 

Is there a Blizzard in your Future?

 Well, a happy Monday morning to everybody.  Another cloudy, drizzly day is forecast for Central PA.  Yesterday was overcast, but all we really ended up getting were showery sprinkles and were spotty, to say the least.  Today is going to be a replay, and then overnight the temps are going to drop.  Tomorrow's high is expected to be in the mid 30s (F).

I went down to York yesterday to have lunch with my friend Betsy.  Our routine is always the same, lunch at the Imperial Gourmet and desert at Dairy Queen.  Betsy decided on an chocolate dipped ice cream cone, which led to a discussion on ice cream cones.  She found it odd that we never had cones while I was growling up.  My mom always served up bowls of ice cream, never cones.  I see cones as messy, and, of course, her chocolate dip fell off and the ice cream began to melt and dribble down over her fingers.  Wisely, I chose a cherry Blizzard with chocolate chips and, for the first time, posted a picture on Facebook.  Quite a number of people recommended other Blizzards to try: Turtle, Butterfinger, Oreo, and Chocolate Chocolate Chip, to name a few.  Evidently Blizzards are very, very popular.  Here's the pic of the one I had for dessert.  You can see her cone (pre-melt) in the background.

I saw yesterday how Megyn Kelly decided to raise a bit of stink on social media about Dr. Jill Biden.  She riled up a lot of people, which was her intention.  I always find it amusing how easily some people can b e provoked, especial those who really ought to know better.  I'm sure Meg got a few chuckles out of the reactions her comment received.  Her sole purpose was to manipulate, and she succeeded.  If you really want to irritate Meg, simply mute her.  Believe me, getting only 50 comments rather than 800 is going to far more painful to her than you think.  Not commenting is an attack on her ego.  The only power she has is when people react.  If you want rile up Meg, say nothing.  If you follow her, unfollow.  Believe me, it will drive her batty.

One aspect of the horrendous beating and death of Tyre Nichols that I find fascinating was that while there were protests, none of the turned violent.  No cars were set on fire, no windows broken, no stores looted.  This is not what white conservatists were expecting.  They were hoping to point fingers.  That never happened.  This is important because when Trump gets indicted, you quite probably will see something totally opposite from his MAGA base.  Guess who will look bad?  Guess which political party will be hurt?

The Body Under Ice

 A new Monday and a new week.  As usual, I'm scheduled to work today, but only for 6 hours: 12 - 6.  I can do that, especially since I'm off for the next 2 days.  That's so nice.

I was down in York yesterday for lunch with my friend Betsy.  One of the gifts I got for my 70th was a $50 gift card to Outback Steakhouse.  While I don't mind a decent steak on occasion, I'm more of a poultry, pork, or seafood kind of guy.  And Outback is okay for a sit down meal of fast food.  If you want fine dining, you go to a restaurant.  I thought the food was overpriced, and their desert menu had 7 items, 2 of which were variations on the ever popular carrot cake.  I ordered a chicken sandwich which came with one slice of swiss cheese and one strip of bacon, I know, I looked under the bun.  I will admit, however, that for a free meal it was quite tasty.

Otherwise, yesterday was quiet.  When I got home, I finished the last chapter of The Body Under Ice.  78,000 words, right now.  That will increase as I start to polish the manuscript.  As you can see, I have lots of notes.  Are there any secrets in the post-it notes?  Hhhmm, I don't think so.

I don't know if anybody else saw it, but Michael Steele, who used to be the head of the RNC, said publicly that he hopes Trump is in jail by the time the 2024 election rolls around.  That made me laugh.  There is a small segment of Republicans who understand the amount of damage the Orange Anus is doing to the party.  Honestly, if I were one of those Republicans, I'd want him in jail by next week so the public furor has a chance to die down.  Well, that ain't gonna happen.  He's going to be indicted maybe 2, 3 or 4 times, and then we're going to have to wait for the trial (s), and all that time he's going to be taking a baseball bat to the Republican base.  He will stretch this out until there are no Republicans left standing.

Marjorie Taylor dumbass has said that had she and Steven Bannon been running the January 6 riot, they would have succeeded.  Every time this stupid woman opens her mouth she dumbs down the GOP even more.

Finally, Elon the Stupid tweeted some shit about how his intervention in Twitter is going to save civilization.  He evidently doesn't realize that  the number of people on Twitter is small, being dwarfed by the number of people on Facebook.  He doesn't understand that quite a few of those people on Twitter aren't really people, just bots who will never be paying for a subscription.  There's a good possibility he will not even be able to save his own ass, let alone civilization.  He does put the shit in dumb shit.

The truth about election deniers

Well, here we go, it's Monday, and it's raining, and I have to spend 6 hours at the store (from 10 - 4).  While working is no longer the fun it used to be, I haven't reached the point where I abhor sitting at the flooring desk.  Actually, the only issue I'm having at present is the app we use to punch in.  That's right, punch cards are gone.  Typing in your id number is done only as a last resort, mostly because the touch screen is slow.  And the app, which we've been using for over a year, has recently been updated.  Sometimes it connects through Wi-Fi, and other times you need to turn the Wi-Fi on your phone off.  What a pain in the ass.

I'm getting my car inspected tomorrow.  This is important, since it always happens around this time every year.  Why?  Because I wait at the dealership, and while I'm waiting, I begin the editing process of the next book.  So, while the mechanics are making sure my lights flash, and my horn honks, I'll be making notes and writing in changes in The Body Under Ice.  No spoilers here, but it's quite different.  I mean, what does the population of a town which is basically a seasonal tourist attraction do in the off season?

And for those who don't know.

This is because a lot of Americans believe that the opposing party is trying desperately to destroy a way of life.  All you have to do is look at pictures, or watch videos of a Trump rally to realize that most election deniers are white people.  And not only are they trying to be your governors and senators, they want to be your local council members.  Only you can point your town council in the direction you want them to go.  Conservatives and Christian nationalists desperately want to tell you how to live your life, and they will do this by passing local ordinances which effect you in ways you may not like.  Say Strip Clubs.  Conservative members of your town council may vote to change to zoning laws to either limit their hours, or shut them down.  Or, how about that nice tree lined view from your bedroom balcony?  Your council members may choose to change the zoning for that view from pastoral to residential, where now you get to look across the road at someone else's balcony, or even worse, they might vote to make it commercial, where all those trees which enhance your view are turned into a strip mall.  Democracy is about having a voice in how you live your life.  Change is inevitable, but voting lets you at least try to manage how those changes happen.

The Order of the Moral Degenerate

 Hello Work Week!  Don't it just fill you excitement to know you're going to spend 8 hours today in a cube, or an office, or at a desk, dealing with issues, or people?  I know I get to go to work... for 8 hours and sit the flooring desk, and deal with customers.  I can honestly tell you that my excitability bucket is nowhere near to overflowing.  It's not even close to being full.  However, I just paid my quarterly garbage / sewage bill so today's hours will allow me to keep banking my social security checks while only working part-time hours.  

Yesterday, a day I didn't work, was a day of mostly accomplishment.  I didn't take a single nap!  The lawn was mowed, laundry was done, grocery shopping completed, and the dishes?  hand washed, not popped into the dishwasher.  And I still had time for a long phone conversation with a friend to set up plans for next Sunday and get some Super Special armor in Elden Ring.

I also spent some time dickin' putzin' around with my TV.  I can't sign into Google Play Store, which is why the Paramount + app didn't update.  Shit.  I rebooted the TV, the router, cleaned up the Paramount cache.  Nothing was working, so I deleted the app and signed up for Paramount + through Amazon Prime; .99 a month for 2 months before the 9.99 charge kicks in.  I can probably live with that.

Here's another picture during my glory days in the Navy.   The date is Sept 73, which means it was taken almost 49 years ago.  I was 22 at the time. The blue thing in my hand was a piece of cloth that unraveled.  A few of us gave it a name as though it were a pet, Cleetus, if I'm remembering correctly.  Soon after it was thrown into the trash.

Politically, yesterday was fairly quiet.  There was a bunch of banter about Bannon's bullshit.  While most of us are smart enough to know he never had Executive Privilege, I'm sure MAGA world must be spinning on its head: a loyal member of the Order of the Moral Degenerate has lost his protected status.  Son of a bitch!  Will Bannon squeal?  Well, the January 6 committee may have to delicately parse his words to find slivers of truth as he belches out his testimony.

And finally, has anybody heard from Mark Meadows lately?  Cassidy Hutchinson mentioned him multiple times and we've heard nothing from his camp.  Could it be he's crawled so far back under his rock that we'll never hear from him again?   Or is there something else going on?

I Kid you not

 Monday.  They never really get me down because more often then not they are a day when I am not scheduled to work.  As in today, and in next Monday, and the Monday after that, all days I'm not working.  

I'm going to get the lawn mower out today and do some mowing.  This is something I'm not looking forward to at all.  This is a chore I have never liked even the slightest bit.  If my lawn were larger, I'd pay to have a landscaper do what I dislike so much.  While it's not the size of a postage stamp, it's not quite big enough to warrant that expense.  Of course, I could always talk to my young friend Justin about it.  He does lawn work.

Regarding my back, mornings are always the worst. Truthfully, during the day I rarely have problems, so I'm beginning to think I want to invest in a new mattress, or maybe begin to sleep sitting up.  One solution is definitely less expensive then the other.

Yesterday, while I was sitting on the sofa in the writing room, Biggie used my left leg as a pillow.  When I tell people his head is as big as a personal watermelon I'm being quite honest.

You can see Lily's 6 foot squeaky snake in the background

I saw where Kid Rock had to cancel a number of his shows after he and his band got Covid.  Dumb ass bragged, and played at Sturgis.  Now, I have to be very honest, there are breakthrough infections, some can be quite serious.  He, however, claims that both he and his band were vaccinated.  Me?  I'm calling bullshit.  If it were true, one of them might have suffered a breakthrough infection, the odds on all of them getting sick from Covid, while statistically not impossible, is rare.  Keep in mind, he does love his MAGA fans and the bucks they spend on his self-promoting paraphernalia. 

The Egg Salad Sandwich

Hello, Friday, not that I'm excited.  Monday there will be a little excitement in my words; I'm off.

When I checked my sales yesterday, I was already past my goal.  One of my customers is putting hardwood throughout their upstairs.  Smart move.  I always tell people, if you have hardwood, hold onto it.  Think of it as an asset.  And contrary to what some may think, older hardwood is more valuable then younger hardwood, as long as it ages well.

We have veggie plants at the store.  I didn't get a chance to peruse them yesterday.  Since I'm off Monday I'll give them a gander Sunday before I leave for the day.

And some might consider this blasphemy, but I've bought myself a bread maker.  A Cuisinart.  There are those who find therapeutic value in kneading.  And I find nothing wrong with kneading.  I just think I'd like to knead a little less.

I am aiming to get a little  run / jog in this morning.  What will I watch?  Dunno.  Definitely something less crash inducing.

As I was eating an egg salad sandwich for breakfast (your stomach doesn't know what time it is), I realized that the next book, The Body in Repose, will be more atmospheric.  You might want to think of it as Eli and Max meet Kolchak.  I was going to show a clip of that TV series but realized it might imply supernatural shenanigans.  There aren't any.  So instead I thought I add this clip.  As people are getting vaccinated, things are beginning to open up.  This if from the Broadway version of "Frozen," performed in Sydney on March 29.  Sometimes we could all use a little Disney.

As for politics, I find it quite amusing to watch Republicans shit their pants, and they're doing that quite frequently, almost daily.  They're beginning to realize the real problem with have Loser #45 as president, every day Biden is feeding him and his lackeys cesspool salad.  As a result, they're growing more and more extreme.  Looks like someone has finally let the Cracker Jack Crazies out of the box.

 

What we have so far

 Monday.  According to calendars, this is the first day of the week.  An accurate description of yesterday was slow.  After an initial rush in the morning, most people listened to the forecasters and stayed home... not all though.  Not all though, and in a way I was one, you see I stopped off a Giant on my way home from work and picked up an Italian sub and a bottle of red wine.  The girl at the counter complained, "they sent everybody home but me."  When I told her she was essential, she glared at me.  Nice.

So, here we are on Monday morning.  I looked at Accuweather and it looks to me as if most of this storm is slowly spinning off the Jersey coast.  They're still predicting around 8 to 10 more inches.  Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to take a personal day.  Wouldn't it be a real shitter if this was another bust of a snow storm after the way this thing has been hyped?  We will just have to wait and see.

This is what it looks like from my bedroom window.

I was talking to my friend Betsy last evening, and both got a kick out of the Idiot Jerk's defense team quitting.  Evidently he wanted them to lie about election fraud.  I find it sad that over 72 million Republicans believe his lies.  Personally, I don't think reality will ever enter their world.  They are too lost in the rapture and wonderment of themselves they will never escape that fog.  Let's be honest, they've been lying about elections for decades.  They will never understand their Conservative beliefs only play well to a minority crowd, and since minority political parties rarely win, they have have to cheat and lie.  The only time there will ever be an election without fraud is when they win.  They are never going to change.

Sinkers

Can you believe it's Monday already?

Did I tell you I don't have to go to work today?
Yesterday afternoon I did an FTP test, (Functional Threshold Power).  FTP is a good way to measure your fitness as a cyclist using wattage / kilograms (that's right, no pounds used here).  You ride a 10 minute warm up, followed by 20 minutes where you're supposed to push your limits, ending with a 10 minute cool down segment.  Being the first time I've taken this test, I made a few mistakes:  I slowed down to change gears and pretty much came to a stop for almost a minute - no wattage was recorded.  Damn!  My final score was 1.71 watts kg.  That's higher than the average of 1.41, but lower than I want.  Even at my age, a decent cyclist should have a 2.0.  I have my work cut out for me, don't I?
And what about the Idiot Jerk in the White House?  Holy Crap!  Heading into an impeachment trial, some dumb shit in his Administration thought assassinating Soleimani, however the attack also took out an Iraqi general.  Now Iraq wants the US off its soil.  And the Idiot Jerk is now threatening them with sanctions if they don't let American soldiers stay.  Oops.  And he's shrieking how they owe us money for the bases we've set up there.  Oops.  Oh, and we're now sending an additional 3000 troops to... well, hell if I know... maybe Saudi Arabia... except I believe they have a limit as to how many American troops can be on their soil.  Oh, and Lindsey Belle Graham wants the Senate to change it's rules so they can begin the impeachment trial ASAP.  That's because they thought the turd they thought was going to float even higher is doing anything but... float.  The Idiot Jerk will never be anything more than a real sinker.

Yesterday or Today

Monday, the beginning of a new seven day stretch.  Notice, I don't say week.  That implies having a 'weekend' which, for so many people, no longer exists.  Interestingly enough, the days of the week normally don't exist in our entertainment.  Oh, sure, they get a mention in music every now and then, but mostly to talk about the wonders of the weekend, or dismally having to get up and go to work on Monday morning.  They never get a mention in movies, or plays, or television.  No Marvel superhero is ever going to have the line "it's Tuesday morning and by my calculations Thantos will begin destroying the Universe on Thursday."  That would be too much reality, you know?  Complicating things even more is that some believe the week starts on Sunday while there are others who say it's Monday; they love their fixed work week.

I saw a humorous article in Bloomberg yesterday by a comedian who claimed the Idiot Jerk in the White House was on track to be re-elected.  He said polls tell you nothing.  When it comes to the ballot box voters will ignore everything else and vote for the economy.  He pretty much declares morals have no value, that people will always vote with their wallet.  No doubt, this was written by a Conservative, one of those flawed individuals whose life revolves around his portfolio.

Interestingly enough, there was another article in the NYT in which the author stated that the more the Idiot Jerk plays to and radicalizes his base, the less likely his chances of being re-elected become.  Plainly speaking, the more he alienates Independent voters, the less likely they are to cast their ballot for him.  By playing only to his base he not only ignores the Independents, but incites them to vote for someone less volatile.

And I saw Chris Wallace had a little chat with Kellyanne yesterday.  He brought up all of those closed door hearings Republicans had regarding Benghazi.  Here retorts was something like "well, that was different. they weren't trying to impeach the president."  All of that peroxide she uses to bleach her hair has done more than burn her roots.  In case you didn't know, that's how the Idiot Jerk plays to his base not the Independents.  At least she didn't say something really stupid, "like he's a great political genius."

Finally, I saw that the Idiot Jerk has waded into British politics.  He said things like "Brexit needs to go through in order to insure great trade deals," and "we will buy more from the UK than they sell to the EU."  If that's true, the British laborer is going to take a big hit.  We buy so much from Asia because they have cheap labor and prices are lower.  People in the UK, think about what this moron is saying.

Black Friday - fade to gray

For those of you who don't know it, and few there are, next week is Thanksgiving, at least here in the US.  Traditionally everybody eats turkey and watches football.  Traditionally, the next day, being a Friday, and marking the first day of the holiday shopping season, became known as Black Friday.  This is the day when retailers moved from the red side of their balance sheets to the black side.  This is the day when sales galore brought out shoppers by the millions.  This is the day which a number of companies started giving their associates as the 2nd part of their Thanksgiving Holiday.  Sad to say, but every year Black Friday becomes a little more gray.  One financial analyst blamed this on the growing popularity of Cyber Monday, that day when Internet sales trump those of brick and mortar stores.   That may be a portion of the graying, but not a major one, not yet at least.  No, the biggest reason for the changes in shade from dark to light has more to do with American Greed.

First it was Walmart opening late Thanksgiving day, and then Sears / Kmart jumped on the bandwagon.  The rational being "shit, if they're going to make money, we might as well too," and "hell, why should they rake in all the dough!"  Screw the holiday, they all wanted to get a jump on the competition.  Every year more retailers jump on board simply because if those customers spend all of their money at Target, and Walmart, and Toys-R-Us, they're not going to have any left to spend in your store.  Or, if they do keep a little aside it's most likely going to be for stocking stuffer bullshit, that inferior nickel and dime crap retailers put out simply because it's a dirt cheap deal.  Thanks to Sears Brand Central, if you're a brick and mortar store which sells appliances you're a day late and a dollar short, either that or you take a big hit on those $2000 dollar refrigerator and stoves.

There are a lot of people out there who really hate this commercialization of Thanksgiving.  As someone who work in retail, let me tell you a secret.  If you're open, people will shop.  Every year I hear a lot of moaning groaning because the Christmas stuff is up right after Labor Day and every year I see customers walking out the door with their newly purchased Christmas crap.  If it's for sale, people will buy it.  For those who don't understand it, this is American Capitalism.  Remember, it's all about making money - holidays be damned.