This Old House

 Well, it's 75 (F) outside, however our only supposed to climb into the mid 90s (F).  Yesterday it got up to 99 (F) and we had spotty thunderstorms with gusty winds.  They were drenching, and when they'd passed we were left with thick humidity which made everything tacky and sticky.  Our forecast is for temps to drop back into the mid to upper 80s (F).

I did work yesterday.  For the most part, business was slow in the flooring and decor departments.  The appliance sales person called off, it was his last scheduled day, so I was called over to sell a refrigerator to a nice couple.  That popped my sales much higher than they needed to be.  

The agent who gave me the quote on my windows was supposed to be working, but evidently called off, so I didn't get the chance to give her the bad news about my windows, that I'm going with another company.  Maybe today.  I'm wondering if I'm going to need to give one or two people my spiel on Corporate Greed, and how I'd rather work with a smaller, more localized company.

And, speaking of my windows and how I'm going to be replacing them, I snapped to few pics of those that are getting replaced and shot them off to the salesman this morning.  Here's a rarity, this is one of the windows from my attic.  It's old, but probably not as old as the house.  You can see how the light leaks in at the top left and on the right hand side.

One of the headlines in the Washington Post this morning shouted out how the Orange Anus has increased the volume of his inflammatory accusations.  Even the New York Times has published a headline piece on how conservative media outlets are posting deceiving videos of Biden in an attempt to make him appear slow, and out of touch.  I find this interesting because up on until now, especially for the NYT, while they haven't been obviously Pro Trump, he's gotten the lion's share of the headlines, and they haven't always been as negative as they should be, like they'll call him the "presumptive candidate," rather than felon.  Does Trump want to start a war?  I think he'll do what ever he thinks necessary to keep from going to prison, remember he's trying to model himself after his idol and blow bro Vlad Putin.

Polls

 Rainy Tuesday has begun.  Temps are going to hover in the upper 40s (F) and low 50s (F) throughout the day, and we will have drizzle.  Yes, the soaking rains are upon us for the next 3 days.  The only bad thing is that all my bulbs are going to be growing like crazy, and I'm not going to doing any yardwork in the rain.

Work was, as expected, very slow yesterday.  How slow you might ask?  Well, I got in over 15,000 steps, which is a bit over 5 miles.  I was going to but some small things I still need to finish the kitchen completely, but I'll be honest, when quittin' time came, I definitely wanted to quit and go home.  

Cori gave me the cover art for The Body in History yesterday.  I can't wait to show it to you... but not today.  There is that long wait until the book is finally published, which will be, if things keep moving at their current pace, in mid April.  For those of you interested, the entire process from my writing down my first notes to  publication takes about a year.  There was a time when I felt they need to be on the market as soon as possible, those days are past.  Working with audiobooks is partly responsible.  Also research, I find I'm looking at so many different sources.  I'm growing more communicative with my editors, as well.  I find talking about how things are developing, and why things happen the way they did, a lot of fun.  

I cancelled my subscription to the New York Times this morning, mostly because of this:

For the past few days the New York Times has been reference a poll the commissioned to basically disparage Biden.  Luckily, more and more people are beginning to understand that polls are terribly inaccurate, not that there wasn't a time when they were much more dependable.  Now, however, there are some serious issues.  What the NYT needs to do is detail for the general public how the results they get are achieved.  Most people don't know that a certain percentage of their pollsters make are to landlines.  Who still has a landline?  Being a flooring specialist, I have to list the best form of communication for a customer and those with landlines that they use are all older and more conservative; this automatically skews the poll.  Pollsters need to hand dial, they can't use robocalls where they can pick up once a connection is made; the vast majority of people will not pick up an unknown caller.  That fact alone is enough to invalidate the poll.  Still, will see a poll and run around like their hair is on fire.

Here comes the Groundswell

Yesterday turned out to be fairly productive.  The weather was nice, not hot (supposedly that's coming this week), and while a bit overcast, there was no rain.

My new HRM arrived a little after 0700 and it transmits.  I got a 12.3 mile ride in somewhere in Bavaria, the scenery was nice, and a chest workout.  The chest workout is new.  I'm not worried about the legs, but I do want to maintain the muscle I have in my upper body.  That's not going to happen by lifting the occasional box of tile at work.

I found the death of Alan Arkin sad.  The first movie I saw him in was The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming (what a long, strange title).  He stood head above the the rest of the cast to an impressionable boy, and it wasn't just because of his pornstache, though I don't doubt that it helped.  Back then, facial hair on men was a rare commodity.

And I saw this in the New York Times this morning, an echo of one the things I said yesterday regarding the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision.  It is going to effect so many aspects of what we call normal life because now conservatives have put support beams under their belief that certain races are more special than others and should be exempt for rules and regulations that aide minorities.

And then there was the Student Debt decision.  Conservatives love them their wealthy donors, the rich are always welcome at their table.  That fact this decision and the LGBQT decision are going to hurt them at the polls never occurs to them.  They don't see that kowtowing to the wealthy is most likely going to lead to a groundswell of campaign donations for Centrist and Liberal candidates is something they don't even consider.  For that to happen, conservatives would need to understand that the wishes of a majority of Americans are more important then those of the few wealthy individuals who want to rule the country.  We're a democracy for a reason, so everyone gets a fair shake.  Conservatives see fairness as a weakness.  Perhaps that why so many of them love the Orange Anus

 

A Little Court Intrigue anybody?

Friday is Funday and Humpday for me!
As I write this, Biggie is laying by my side.  He usually does this in the mornings after his breakfast.  Lily prefers the sofa in the living room downstairs.  She likes looking out the window and has managed to nap with one eye shut, the other one open, scouring the front yard for a wayward bunny.  I live in bunny hell.  In a few minutes she will spy one and begin to bark, and Biggie will race down the stairs, and shortly after that, I'll head down to open the back door so they can both go out and bark and the bunny.
And, of course, the Idiot Jerk in the White House is a tad upset because the NYT published an anonymous Op-Ed... badly.  This so reminds me of the Court Intrigue from days of yore.  While not nearly as bloody as with Henry V, this has nearly all the same earmarks.  Rather than using swords, and knives, and poison, in this Administration they're using words.  Could the culprit be Sir Penceiful?  He desperately wants the job.  You can bet he's realized that the longer the Idiot Jerk stays in power, the less likely that is going to happen.  The BBC seems to think he might be the author.  Might that not be his rapier piercing the Idiot Jerk's back? 
Unfortunately, there are so many villains.  From Sister Sarah, a novitiate from the Holy Order of Liars, to Nanny Niki, who just might be tired of nursing the Idiot Jerk's failures on the world stage.  Let's be honest here, the Idiot Jerk's dance card is filled with names of people who are simply dying (figuratively) to dance him into history.  We have Lord Mnuchin, whose blonde, bimbolina wife is fervently egging him on, "Stick in in, Stevie.  Stick it in! (I'm talking about the knife, here).  There's Friar Giuliani, who has so many sharp and phony syllogisms tucked up into his robe he can't keep them from falling out every time he turns, and Lord Larry of the Kudlows, who can't stop whispering "this fool's giving me another heart attack."  And we haven't even gotten to the tip of the iceberg yet.

There have even been rumors that Kellyann might be the author...  Nah, I made that up.  She has no idea that a complete sentence is, so how could she write anything.

GODZILLA... Can you hear me roar?

Godzilla opens today... and I'm excited.  Ever since I was a wee tot I've enjoyed a good civilization smashing monster movie.  Now this doesn't mean I will be part of the opening night crowd.  That's not for me.  I like to wait a week or so and then go on a week night, when there will still be an audience, but they're not packed in like sardines.  

In anticipation, I started looking at the movie reviews a while back, not because I value their opinions, rather it's the 15 and 20 second clips the studio gives them, clips not usually incorporated into the official and unofficial trailers.  Because of this habit of mine, I do tend to glance over the reviews.  Usually the first sentence tells me if they loved the film or hated the film.  With Godzilla the biggies didn't care for it, by biggies I mean the New York Times and the LA Times.  NPR, on the other hand, liked it.  So did Leonard Maltin.  Check out Rotten Tomatoes if you want to get a more accurate idea of what people think.

One of the things I did find amusing in the reviews I'd checked out was that the Wall Street Journal gave it a bad review.  This movie is going to make a lot of money, it made 9.3 million in the late night Thursday shows alone.  Box Office Mojo thinks, world wide, it will end up in the 500 to 600 million dollar range till all is said and done.  Wouldn't you think the Wall Street Journal would want to give it kick, a little boost, hoping it might earn another couple of million more?  Maybe their reviewer doesn't like Warner Brothers and thought he might sour profits by a couple of million.  Or, could be he's just enraptured with next week's release of X-Men: Days of Future Passed.

A word of warning to those who might decided to check out some of the "biggie' reviews (they're all available at Rotten Tomatoes).  These reviewers like to reveal spoilers to prove their points... and they don't always warn you.  Some pudding head by the name of  A.O. Scott at the New York Times actually gives away a major plot element.  When I'd read what he'd written I thought "what a dick head."  Was the information he revealed essential in validating his review of the film?  Absolutely not.  Will it ruin the movie for me?  Hell No!  Yo!  Godzilla!  Can you hear me ROAR!?