The Banishers

Below freezing.  That would be 0 for you who use Celsius.  For those of use who use the out of date Fahrenheit scale, that's how we say our current temp is 28 (F).  If you're living in Central PA, don't plan on the outside temps climbing more than a notch or two today.  We are day one into what might be a two day big freeze.  This will pass.

Things were done yesterday.  Chores were completed.  I was going to do a pork stir fry for dinner and ended up opting out for a much simpler bacon and eggs.  Sometimes easy peasy is best.

I did do a lot of what I call running around yesterday late morning and early afternoon.  I bought stuff, including new shoelaces for my sneakers:  $12!  For shoelaces.  Hells Bells!  I also bought another sweatshirt because we're approaching the dead of winter and I love sweatshirts.  I also wanted one that didn't have any stains.  My favorite yellow one was all blotched up when Howie ran into me while I was holding a glass of red wine.  

There was also a stop off at the store, not to purchase anything, but to see why my vacation hours hadn't been added.  Since I was shorted hours for the last 2 weeks, I decided to use some of my vacation pay to keep my paychecks balanced and those hours were not included.  An assistant manager found the forms I filled out (along with several other associate requests) and discovered they had never been entered into the system.  The problem is solved, however the woman whose job it is to enter requests is probably in trouble.

I did begin playing a new game.  The Banishers is about two people, a Scotsman and a woman of color, in the mid 1600s who banish spirits to either heaven or hell.  Of course, there's a twists.  She dies early in the game and he has to decide whether to kill people to keep her alive, or, in the end, send her to heaven.  I'm enjoying sending spirits to hell.

As we all should expected, couch fucker Vance broke the tie to kill the War Powers Act giving Orangie the power to send American troops into Venezuela.  As I said in an earlier blog, this is going to be Vietnam (pt 2).  The Republicans don't care if Americans die.  The truly terrible thing about this is that everything is being done to keep the Epstein Files secret, at least that's the primary reason.  Another reason that's in a very strong 2nd place is the need for Republicans to demonstrate their power.  They are the "shut up, we're in charge," party.  They desperately want to dictate how Americans live their lives.  In reality, they are only focused on their own selfishness and greed.  Conservatives are a flawed group.  They have always been like this.  The only way they will learn is if they are severely punished.  Our only choice is to vote them out, and prosecute them.  Those that don't learn, need to be banished to Hell.

   

Twinless

 The outside temps this morning when I checked was 29 (F).  While our afternoon high will not be hitting the 50s (F), our thermometers will be recording temps in the mid 40s (F).  Heading into the dead of winter, I'd call that a win.  Temps will slowly increase over the next few days until rain, once again, arrives in the region.  Then, they will drop once again. How low will they go?  Well, that's anybody's guess.

I did work my full 8 hour shift yesterday.  When I walked out of the doors on my way home, we had made plan for the day.  This is good.  Wednesday and Sunday were the only days that we hit our goal, all of the other days were misses.  We have a few weeks left in the fiscal year, and I'm guessing store management is hoping that we don't miss by $1 million.  In my 17 years with the orange retailer, I've never seen us be this far under plan.

We also had a not too bright customer attempt to make return.  A woman came up the the returns desk with an armful small pieces of molding, trim, and quarter-round, the longest being about 15 inches.  These were the leftovers after her project had been completed.  She was upset when she was told that in order to get a refund, she needed to return the entire 8 foot piece she had paid for, not the 15 inches she didn't use.  

Last night I watched a really good movie, Twinless, with Dylan O'Brien playing identical twins.  Rocky is gay, and Roman is straight.  After Rocky dies suddenly, Roman goes to a support group for twins whose other half has died.  The movie's listed as a comedy, but there are moments  of both laughter and grief as Roman learns to live without his brother.  And in case you're wondering, you do get to see Dylan's... pornstache.

Of course, nothing changed yesterday, we're still living in the same old shit show, or maybe I should say variations of the same old shit show.  

Orangie posted a picture of himself as the "acting president of Venezuela," on his Truth Social account.  I'm sure that's going to go over well the the paramilitary groups down there.  Everything he's doing is giving them one more reason to kill Americans.  One of my associates in flooring has a son in the Marines, so I asked him if his son had said anything to him, and I was told there are rumblings about sending troops.  I think this will be a certainty, rather than an option.  Orangie is pissed that the CEO of Exxon Mobile told him that Venezuela is uninvestable.  Since Orangie has no regard for human life, I don't doubt for a second he and his minions have decided to fix that.

Because Orangie wants the FED to drop interest rates again, the DOJ is attacking Chairman Powell.  Prepare yourselves, he is going to bankrupt the country.  That's the only thing he's really good at.

Venezuela is Vietnam (pt2)

Well, weather forecasters had predicted some serious rains and winds before our temps descended into the 30s (F).  They were right about the rain, not so right about the winds.  When I left work last evening things were a bit breezy, but the serious winds were definitely missing.  As for our descent into colder temps?  Hhhmm.  Now our daily highs are going to be hovering about in the mid 40s (F) instead of the 30s (F), as the forecasters had predicted.  Those colder temps?  They're going to be moving into the area next week, at least so our weather people say.

I did work yesterday.  The store was a few thousand $$ shy of hitting our goal when I left, so in all likelihood, yesterday was a greenback day for us.  Sadly, we are underwater for the week.  I do have a sale that's going to be going through today.  This is going to be another sale that gets a discount because the customer couldn't be measured before the promo ended, and they went to California for the New Years.  However, this markdown isn't going to be as hefty as the one I had to do last week.  

Otherwise, yesterday was not too eventful.

Today's going to be even less so, since I'm going to be at the store for a full 8 hours.  I will probably use my spare time sitting at the flooring desk to work on the book.  I estimate I've got another 9000 words to go before the first draft is finished.  

And for those of you who don't know what the country looks like, this is Venezuela.

For those of you who haven't heard, the State Department is urging Americans in Venezuela to leave because Paramilitary troops are setting up roadblocks to get Americans.  Believe me when I tell you that very soon Orangie and his administration will make the decision to send troops "in country."   That's right, boots on the ground.  This is going to be Vietnam (pt 2).  The main difference between that war (which wasn't called a war) and this war (which will not be called a war), it that we went into Vietnam attempting to try and set up a democracy.  Regime changes never work.  We'll be going into Venezuela because Orangie wants the oil.  Big oil told him the country is uninvestable, so Orangie is going to try and change that because his greed is one of the few things he lives for.  This will splinter the cultists even more, since very few of them will want their kids going off to fight and die for Orangie's Oil.

Bubbles

 Our temps are still in the low 40s (F) but that's going to be changing when the rain moves through the area.  Originally, the prediction was for us to have a period of long, soaking rain.  That has now been updated to showers.  Then the wind will begin to blow and the temps will drop.  Tomorrow's high is expected to be in the mid to upper 30s (F).

Some things were done yesterday, not nearly as much as I had planned.  I did get a nice workout in, almost an hour long, that burned off 223 calories.  Some people have no idea how good that is, but then they don't realize sitting down and scrolling through their social media burns about 6 calories for the same period of time.  Moving finger muscles do not burn up a lot of calories.  I expect to be a bit sore today, but that's fine.  Working your muscles is a good thing.

An interesting thing about Howie is that he has 2 food dishes.  Not because he eats so much.  One is his normal ceramic bowl, and the other is a Chinet bowl (stiff cardboard).  He has 2 because occasionally I will pour drippings (bacon, or beef, or whatever) onto his kibble.  The drippings go into his Chinet dish and when he's finished, I throw what's leftover away. 

I did get some writing done, as well as work on my Spanish a bit.  I had shrimp and rice for dinner.

Here's a pic of the tank in the living room.

Am I the only one who wonders just what in hell is going through the minds of all those Republicans sitting out and watching this shit show unveil itself more and more every day?  Do they even understand that only their cultist base watches Foz Entertainment, that the rest of America is watching, or getting their news, from some other media outlet?  Personally, I don't think they do.  I think they have isolated themselves in a little bubble of beliefs of their own making, and nothing exists outside of that thin delusional membrane separating them from fantasy and reality.  I think this is what happened in Minneapolis.  I think that when Jonathan Gross was confronted with the smiling face of Nicole Renee Good, who told him, "hey dude, I'm not mad," his bubble burst.  I think he was so enraged by the reality that she offered him a smile, rather than terror and fear, the only choice he felt he had was to kill her.  His is the soul of Donald Trump.

Oh, and prep for things to get worse in the Venezuela arc of Orangie's storyline.  The CEO of Exxon-Mobile told him yesterday that the country was uninvestible.  So, Orangie's going to try and send American troops there to change that, because he is in his own bubble, too.   

  

Blue Balls

Rain is coming.  Yepper.  The temps wee above freezing this morning.  Things are going to stay warm until this front passes.  That's means we will be getting rain and not snow.  We need the precipitation, so it doesn't matter to me if it's white and wet, or simply wet.  Snow does provide free cardio to hose of you so inclined to take advantage.

Yesterday was things were done, not just as many as I'd wanted.  The aquariums were cleaned.  Laundry was done.  Many words were written.  Still, it does seem as though I slacked off for most of the day.  I don't doubt some of this has to do with the chaos going through our country right now.

Today's my last day off for the week. To be rather frank, I'm not too wild about having 5 days off in a row.  One of the things that quickly became obvious is that I don't think about the days of the week; there's no difference between Tuesday and Wednesday.  I remember talking to a gent at the store and he tole me he loves that, not knowing or caring which day of the week it is.  Well, shit.  I like things better organized.  This is why I maintain a workout schedule, and a laundry schedule.  I have all sorts of little schedules.  On certain days I start writing at 2 in the afternoon, on other days I start writing at 4 PM.  Regularity in one's life is a good thing.

I had a subscription to Nuts.com for dried blueberries.  I canceled it this morning.  They reduced the bag size from 16 oz to 13 oz.  They also reduced the cost, however the per ounce price actually went up.  This is called a price increase.

And here's a pic of Howie with his blue ball.  I posted 2 different pics on social media and called them "blue balls."  It's a joke.

Within a few hours, the Supreme Court is going to release their decision on Orangie's tariffs.  Does he, like the despot he wants to be, have the authority to put them into effect outside of Congress.  Our constitution says that he doesn't.  If the court rules that he doesn't, this is going to be a cluster fuck on the grandest scale this country has ever seen.  How Wall Street will act is anybody's guess.  If the court rules against Orangie, do not expect our prices to go down much.  Corporations have already made adjustments to their fiscal plans to include the extra revenue they're getting by passing these tariffs onto customers.

And as expected, the administration swung into full lie mode regarding the murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis.  The only ones believe Orangie's side of the story are the hard core cultists who would, if directed by Orangie, eat shit sandwiches.

This should come as no surprise, but Big Oil is saying "now wait a minute," on sending their people to Venezuela.  They say the country is an unsafe environment.  But then, what's safety to Orangie, he's not going to work there, and he has no problem sending young Americans to go die there.  And Marcado offering to give Orangie her Peace Prize?  That woman is delusional and has absolutely no idea who she's dealing with.

This is Not Going to End Well

Our outside temp is a chilly 29 (F).  Today will be warming up, however, climbing up into the mid 40s (F).  By Thursday our temps should be in the mid to upper 50s (F).  There's nothing wrong with temps like that when your heading into the dead of winter, and that is our current direction.  Personally, I feel that Spring should be right around the corner, not a little over 2 months away.  On the bright side, I saw that 30 days from now we'll be getting a full 54 minutes more of daylight.  Now, isn't that a nice thought.

Yesterday was a workout day and a writing day.  I've upped the poundage on my dumbbells for the bench press to 25 lbs in each hand.  Actually, I upped the weight that I use in all of my dumbbell exercises.  Needless to say I'm a bit sore today.  There's nothing wrong with having a little bit of ache in your triceps, or your shoulders.  Or your quads, even.  Six months ago if you'd told me I'd be doing squats with 20 lb dumbbells I'd have called you crazy since I hate squats.

I did print off my 1099 SM yesterday in preparation for doing my income taxes.  All I need now is my W2 from the home improvement retailer I work for, and my taxes will be done.  

And game playing.  I've been playing Outer Worlds 2 since October 29.  I've leveled up to the point where I rarely die, and when I do it's usually my fault because I've done something stupid.  

Dinner yesterday was a chorizo and rice dish with lots of cilantro.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but I will tell you it was quite tasty.

I saw that Stevie Miller as on CNN last evening shrieking about the United States being a Super Power, and as such should start acting like one; that we should forcibly take Greenland.  This little man is dumb as a brick.  He's a big mouthed man in a tiny body, think Napoleon, however Napoleon was intelligent.  Miller?  Let me be redundant and tell you that he is dumb as a brick.  This is going to turn out badly for the United States.  He will be arrested and quite probably executed for war crimes.  Then Tommy Tuberville said there is no such thing as International Law.  I am starting to believe that RFK's brain worm is not dead, but rather has been quietly breeding, most probably at Mar a Lago.

The apposition leader for Venezuela, Machado, the woman who won the Nobel Peace Price also went on TV saying that the Orange Anus she'd give that prize to Orangie if he allowed free elections in Venezuela.  That woman evidently doesn't understand how Orangie works.  He doesn't want a Democratic government there, he wants a colony that is subservient to American Big Oil.  This is why they are calling Marco Rubio a Viceroy.  What is most likely to happen is that her opposition party will join the revolutionaries when they begin attacking the American troops Orangie will soon be putting on the ground.  This is not going to end will.

Oh... Shit

Temps are on the rise here in Central PA.  Our high this afternoon is predicted to hit the 40 (F) mark, and by Thursday, we should be in the upper 50s (F).  The big question is just how cold will we get once this warming trend ends.  Long range forecasts have us back down in the upper 30s (F).  I'd say that's likely.  I'm really supper happy as long as we don't have to deal with any subzero days.

And yesterday, being Sunday, I worked the entire day not selling carpet or flooring installations.  Oh, I was on the clock, but foot traffic was light.  Corporate has seen fit to adjust our fiscal plan down.  There is no way the store is ever going to be make up the 6 figure deficit we have accumulated since January of last year.  We did have customers wandering through the department, but every one of the said they were just looking.

This up coming week will be interesting since I'm not scheduled again until next Saturday.  There are things I would like to do, but they will cost money and now is not the time that I want to spend my hard earned dollars.  We are entering a time of savings.  Being a spendthrift right now is not part of the plan.

I'm going to try cooking up something new today with chorizo. If it looks good, I'll post pics tomorrow.

The Venezuelan shit show continues.  The Orange Asshole with dementia who, at this point, is most likely nothing more than a puppet of those around him like Stevie Miller, is going to take this country into war again.  The Vice President of Venezuela, who has been sworn in as president, has come out against the occupation by the United States.  Oh... Shit.  Orangie says he has no problem sending in troops who will have to deal with a jungle environment, just like in Vietnam.  Oh... Shit.  One of the big problems is that Conservatives have this inherent belief that all they have to do is say, "Shut up!  We're in charge!" and everybody will do what they want.  And that ain't gonna happen in Venezuela.  And he's threatening more air strikes and all that is going to do is piss the Venezuelans off even more.  The people of that country may have hated Maduro, but they sure as hell don't want the Orange Asshole handing their oil reserves over to Big Oil Billionaires, who are unified in their conservative stupidity.

Expansionism Fails

We have 38 (F) outside.  The forecast is, as I expected, for temps to continue to rise.  My Wednesday we should be in either the high 40s (F) or low 50s (F).  The long range forecast is for temps to consistently hover in the mid 40s (F).  I have no problem with that.

Yesterday I did work.  The store is not going to make plan this week.  Without giving any actual details that might be considered proprietary, right now we looking at missing play by 6 figures.  Corporate has reduced our plan, but at this point nothing will help.  This is how it goes.

I did have a far eastern customer who paid to have a measure.  He's selling his house.  His wife asked when carpeting was going to go on sale, so I told her that never happens.  There is a big difference between buying carpeting and a washer/dryer combo.  Oh, and here's a big hint to all of you interested in buying appliances that are on sale.  They are never, ever sold at the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price).  Like a new car, that sticker price has one intention, to make you think you're getting a great deal.  Spend a few minutes online and you'll discover that the "sale" price is, in fact, the standard price.

And I do get to work today.  But then I have off for the rest of this week.  The same is true for next week.  I did put in to take 5 hours vacation, both this week and next to keep my paycheck from falling too low.

Here's a random picture I've pulled from my files since I wanted something interesting to look at.  It's picture of Harrisburg from the west shore.

And someone is saying that Venezuela is going to be run by both Hegseth and Rubio.  This is going to go poorly, as these things tend to do.  Expansionism is dead.  That is one of many things that conservatives totally fail to understand.  Three hundred years ago, Orangie's invasion of Venezuela would have worked for a time.  In today's world, with easy access to guns and assorted other types of killing weapons, failure is eminent.  Venezuelans are going to fight.  However, as I've mentioned before, conservatives have this "shut up, we're in charge" mentality.  They have always been wrong.  Take those Venezuelans down in Miami who were dancing around yesterday, this morning they're scratching their heads and asking why Orangie's Hegseth and Rubio are going to run their country.  They are on their way to being very unhappy campers.  And the idiots in Orangie's government literally have no idea what they have gotten themselves into.  This will be another Vietnam.

And if you don't believe me about the expansionism, just look at that idiot Putin.  He's 4 years into a war with over a million Russian casualties and there is no end is sight. 

Venezuelan Pardons to Come

We had another cool one last night, though this morning's temps was a few degrees shy of the 21 (F) we had a few days ago, we still dropped into the low 20s (F) overnight.  Today's high should be top off somewhere in the low 30s (F),  Tomorrow, however, our daily highs will be back up in the 40s (F).  That's a good thing.  The only thing I don't like about winter is spending money on the heating bill.  While I do use the Central Air in the summer, the thermostat is set high enough so the unit is not running constantly.

Yesterday was a shopping day, workout day, and writing day.  All three were accomplished.  Buying a triceps pull-down was first on the list.  They are available online, but at far more $$$ than Dick's was charging.  Then I zipped over to my local BJs for coffee and Spam, that's for Howie, and then to my local Giant supermarket.

The rest of my Christmas ham was turned into ham salad.  I love the stuff.  One of my memories of being stationed in San Diego is walking down to the mobile canteen on the pier and buying a ham salad sandwich, Ding Dongs, and a Dr. Pepper.  I don't eat Ding Dongs anymore, and only rarely drink soft drink, but I still love a good ham salad sandwich.  Sometimes I will toast them with cheese.  Let me tell you, that is truly delish.

Back before Christmas I did order a smaller pull-down bar before Christmas.  The last time FedEx scanned the package was on January 1 in Latham, Kansas.  The bar was supposed to be delivered on January 2, but didn't arrive.  Now I'm waiting for them to give me a new delivery date.

The ACA subsidies have expired because Republicans wanted them to.  So, who is going to be paying more for insurance?

In general, insurance is going up for everybody in one way or another.  My friend Patty works in the insurance industry and she tells me that some of the premium increases have been as high a 81%.  This makes Republicans happy.  They do not believe that your tax dollars should go to help someone disadvantaged to get health insurance.  Their view is that if these individuals can't afford health coverage, well it's just too damn bad.  This is going to get ugly.

And a bit about the Maduro capture.  I heard notifications popping into my in box overnight, so I knew something was up.  I know there are dipshits out there who are happy that the wanna be dictator in America has supposedly taken down a Venezuelan dictator.  In truth, this whole invasion is to benefit big oil; their greed never stops.  As for Maduro?  In spite of Pammy Jo Bondi's posturing and Rubio's almost ribald rhetoric, Maduro really has nothing to worry about, as long as he can afford to pay the bribe.  For those who don't know, Orangie just pardoned the Honduran president/dictator who was found guilty of smuggling tons of cocaine into the United States.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting that pardons are running between $1 and $6 million. Just start prepping yourselves for gas prices to go up.

The Wannabe Gods

 The cold front that is slowly moving through Central PA is still slowly moving through Central PA.  Our current temp is 31 (F) and we're going to climb a full 1 degree to 32 (F) to reach our high for the day.  According to Accuweather, our temps will not return to the 40s (F) until sometime around December 20.  After that, our daily highs will be considered seasonably warm.

Yesterday was kind of a mixed day.  I did get my workout done in the morning, though I will admit to not being at my best.  Part of the problems was not sleeping well Tuesday night.  And then yesterday afternoon I had lunch with friends.  That was fun.  We get together every 3 months.  This works out well.  Since we're all retired, I think if we met more often our conversations would soon tend to veer into repetitiveness, or worse, the dreaded ailment of the month category.

One thing that did make me laugh was the suggestion that I might want to build a dumbbell stand.  Right now they are lined up along the wall on the floor.  That would entail using a drill, and measuring, and building and... well, let me be perfectly honest.  I am not a constructo type person.  Not in the least.  As such, the dumbbells will stay where they are.

And the new piece of workout equipment is arriving today.  This means I'll be taking a personal day away from the flooring desk since I don't want the boxes sitting out on my front porch until I get home this evening.  This also means I'll start putting the thing together.  Notice, I can assemble, I simply can't build.

And here's a pic of my Christmas cactus which is blooming again.

And evidently we've become a pirate nation now, mostly because of big Oil.  If anybody had any doubts why Orangie's administration was so interested in Venezuela, the truth came out yesterday.  For those of you among the uninformed, Venezuela is sitting on approximately 18% of the world's oil reserves.  Wowza!  This has nothing to do about drugs, or sinking drug boats and everything to do with simply, unadulterated greed.  Big Oil can never, ever be rich enough.  And those billionaires at top?  They truly do believe themselves to be gods.  These people simply refuse to understand the way of the world.  They do not look at history, which constantly reminds us that those on top always fall, because, being mere mortals and not gods, they over extend themselves in so many, many ways.  They will never learn because they always believe themselves to be smarter than those failures who came before them.  They are not.  The only difference between our current crop of wannabe gods and those of the past is that when this group fails, those failures will be spectacular.  

Stone Ice

 Well, yesterday was Black Friday and I didn't work.  The temps were cool, never getting out of the 30s (F).  Our outside temp was 29 (F) when I woke up, and I woke up late.  Again, the forecast is calling for a high in the low 40s (F), however, like yesterday, I doubt very much if we're going to hit that.  And, looking at the long range forecast, it does appear as though we're going to be doing a rerun of the early December weather we've had for the past 3 or 4 years.  Next week, we're supposed to have overnight lows in the teens.  This will be a recurring weather pattern if, as we approach the start of Winter, temps begin warming up.

Yesterday was fairly quiet around here.  The neighbors were loud for around 10 minutes, and then the volume of their TV dropped significantly.  This is fine.  I don't believe they will ever learn.  They don't seem that smart.  He's been sorting mail for the Post Office most of his life, so he's in a non-thinking job that pays well.  She can't work because she loves her marijuana too much, at least that's what she's told me.  Unless something drastic happens, I suspect they will be walking that same path for the rest of their lives.

I did go to my neighborhood Giant supermarket yesterday.  It was my only venture out of the house.  I have no need to go looking for Black Friday deals.

And in the afternoon, I got a nice long, slow ride done in San Remo.  That got the oxygen supply flowing to my brain pumping, and I came down wrote over 1000 words.  I'm working on a chapter called The Haddonfield Hop right now, the musical reference being the Hop, or a dance.  A long time ago, there used to be things called Sock Hops, where people would dance around in their stocking feet.  I'm probably one of the few people who still remember that.

Of course, there is no holiday from the shit show in Washington.  I am serious.  Every single day some piece of ugly stupidity breaks.  We have a drunken frat-boy in charge of the military who said "kill them all," to make sure 2 individuals who survived an attack were killed.  This man has no clue as to what it means to be civilized.  The only thing he knows what to do is follow Orangie's orders in between shots of whiskey.  

And Orangie?  He's going to turn Venezuela in Vietnam part 2 just to satisfy the greed of big oil.

Prices are not going down.  In fact, the only thing in a continuous downward spiral is Orangie's approval rating.  So many are starting to say that the tide is turning, and it is.  Sadly, a turning tide is not going to make Orangie stop.  His ego refuses to understand.  His dementia lies to him constantly.  This will not stop until the GOP hits rock bottom, and then America is going to rise up and stomp the shit out of them.