Tanking Badly

 Okay, we're just one degree below freezing.  Today's high is supposedly going to be about 7 degrees higher.  Oh, and we're expecting rain, too.  In fact, showers are in the forecast for the next 2 days.  Then the temps are supposed to drop again.  Our high temperatures appear to be trending in the upper 30s (F) for the next two weeks with occasional days when they will be either much higher or much lower.  Right now we seem to be tracking with a winter that's similar to last year, then previous years.

I did work yesterday.  It was slow, though I did have a sale... with a truly terrible markdown because my supervisor told him that we would honor a promotion after it expired.  True, she didn't know he was going to wait 20 days after the promotion to purchase his install.  How much was the markdown?  $910 plus change.  Even though I told the customer that he needed to purchase as soon as possible, he delayed, and always quoted my supervisor.  Perhaps she should have put some restrictions on her promise.  She might actually get written up for her words.

And the store was really slow yesterday.  It's going to be slow today.  It's the season, the slowness came early this year.  Evidently Friday, the day after Christmas, the store was somewhat busy in the morning, and then dead.  In the past, this would have been a very busy day with people returning unneeded gifts and using gift cards.  This is not a good thing.

And someone has had a rough time since Christmas morning.

One thing people need to remember is that Democrats create jobs, Republicans create billionaires.  These two things are not the same.  Tariffs will always be passed onto the consumer no matter what.  For a corporation to "eat" a tariff, they would basically have to accept a cut in revenue, or to put this more simply, they would need to take a "cut in pay."  Billionaires and billionaire corporations are neither beneficent nor benevolent.  One of the main reasons is that Wall Street hates both benevolence and beneficence.  To satisfy the appetite of their investors, corporations will continually raise costs until consumer's stop buying.  That's happening now.  Affordability is not only important, affordability is essential in order to keep our daily lives running smoothly.  Get ready, because once the fiscal year ends and Wall Street will begin to react negatively once corporations start releasing their less than stellar profits.  Will corporations lower prices so consumers buy more?  Absolutely not.  They will cut payroll hours and lay people off.  Corporations would rather cut payroll expenses than cut prices.  Get ready for things to tank... badly.

Dancing Around on Wall Street

 Our outside temp is a cool 62 (F).  That's a bit cool for this time of year, but fear not, things are going to get a bit toasty over the next few days.  Our high today is predicted to be 88 (F) and from there it's up into the 90s (F).  While it's true we're going to be dealing with some warm days ahead, none of them are going to be warm enough to put us in the red zone.

Looking at the calendar, I admit that seeing we're almost halfway through August is surprising.  Days seem to be suddenly disappearing n the rear view mirror.  I don't know who's driving this car, but I wouldn't mind slowing down just a bit.  Supposedly time speeds up the busier your are, however, they also say your age plays a large part in this acceleration; all of those seconds and minutes you have accumulated over the years evidently put you on the fast track. This make me wonder how fast they'll be going when I hit 100.

Because I always work a full shift on Sunday I did relatively nothing yesterday except sit at the flooring desk.  Well, that's not quite true.  I did get in over 13,000 steps.  That's a lot of laps around the store.  Oh, and I dealt with a customer who is going to be a nightmare.  He had set up his measure while there were promotions running, but since he couldn't get measured before they ran out, they extended them for him.  This meant over $500 in mark-downs.  That's way above my pay grade.  Also, this was just the beginning.  He didn't know why he was being charged for this... and that, and why was an $800 underlayment necessary?  Unfortunately for him it was a Sunday.  Our installers are closed.  Our Customer Order Specialists, who could answer some of his questions don't work weekends.  I spent an hour with this customer.  He was not an angry individual, but he was insistent.  He also came into the store last week to get this taken care of and was told and was told by the individual at the flooring desk that he needed to come in and talk to the associate who had sold him the measure.

Howie and I were playing with Sven, his hard rubber hedgehog for about twenty minutes and then this happened.

A lot of people are upset that the Orange Anus is deploying National Guard troops to Washington DC.  On every post that I see, I repeat the same response:  This is a distraction in order to change the subject to something other than the Epstein files.  This administration is throwing everything they can come up with at the wall in order to change the conversation.  They have a serious problem though because their tiny dingy of lies is constantly being swamped with so many bad truths.  The Epstein files are a horrific problem for Orangie, but so, too, are the increasingly high prices Americans are paying for the necessities.  He keeps shrieking about how good Wall Street is doing because that's all he cares about.  Wall Street represents that satisfaction of billionaires, it does not represent the satisfaction of Americans, or the fact that food prices are rapidly climbing.  Corporations make more money when Americans pay higher prices and that makes both corporations and billionaires happy.  Do they care that Americans are not happy?  No, they're too busy looking at their bottom line and dancing around singing "yeah, yeah, yeah."  Seven out of ten Americans are very unhappy that the cost of living is continually going up.  Does Orangie care?  Nope, he's dancing around with all of those other billionaires, except when he dances it looks like he's jerking somebody off.

Better Under Biden

 Ha!  The forecasters were wrong.  We did not drop below freezing last night.  Nope.  Howie woke up around 4:15 AM heeding the call of bladder nature and I checked the temps while he was outside.  At that time our low was 35 (F), which is still cold, but nothing was freezing.  Now, ain't that nice?  Today we start warming up. I'm fine with that.

Not a lot was done yesterday besides going to work.  I did a little putzing around the house before leaving to put in my 5 hours at the flooring desk, but nothing to mention.  Before heading home, I did pick up another pack of flooring for the workout / computer / music room.  The first pack I put down looked so good, I thought I cover some more of the old hardwood flooring.  

Today is garbage day an a large part of my treadmill is sitting out front in my garbage can.  Once it gets dumped into the garbage truck later this morning, I roll it to the back of the house and put the rest of it in for next Tuesday's pickup.  I did the same thing when I got rid of my elliptical.  I get asked why I didn't try and sell it.  No one wants the buy used treadmills, in fact, for most people, a purchased treadmill ends up being a storage unit.  The number of people who buy these things and then only use them for a week or two is vastly greater than those who use them regularly.  I am in the smaller group, but even I know when it's time to say goodbye.  This is what the updated room looks like so far.

Of course, there was no super crash on Wall Street yesterday, just the constant erosion billions of dollars.  One of my associates told me his wife looked at their retirement account and was surprised by how much it had dropped.  He said they're hoping it comes back up in 4 years, that's when he wants to retire.  I reminded him that there was a good possibility the stock market had not stopped crashing.  He groaned and said something derogatory about the Orange Anus.

Bloomberg has this really great video detailing how his tariff formula is poo poo.  It's my understand that those people in his administration behind the tariffs relied on AI to generate the formula.

It has come to my attention that a number Orangie's billionaire bros are more than a little dissatisfied with his handling of the economy.  They are losing money... lots, and lots, and lots of money.  That's fine with me.  One of the few things I find pleasing these days is the knowledge that many of that 1% who celebrated Orangie's victory by giving him a million $$$ are now finding themselves on the losing end of the stick.  Isn't it nice to know that hidden in amongst all of their frowns and complaints they're muttering, "hell, I was doing much better under Biden?"  This is what we call Karma.

Here We Go

 Well, here we go!  There is a definite chill in the air.  Currently it's 39 (F) an today's high will not climb out of the 40s (F) and the overnight low will be hovering down around freezing.  Tomorrow is supposed to be worse, with the overnight low dropping down into the high 20s (F).  This is why you shouldn't plant you garden in April.

With my new work schedule, I'll be working most of the day on Sunday, so there's not much time for anything but meh.  The other days I'm schedule to only work 5 hours.  That's doable.  I have no problem working 22 hours a week, mostly because it isn't really like working.  For me, it's kind of a meet and greet social hour since I always manage to get into a conversation with customers.  

Because I was spending time at the flooring desk, I had zippo time for any sort of exercise, and when I got home I played Avowed.  While I do spend sometime on social media when I'm home, I don't spend a lot.  Mostly because it's a lot of the same stuff over and over again.  To be honest, I tend to spend more time on it when I'm working and there are no customers to talk to.

I bought some foamy tiles for the gym floor yesterday.  I'll spread them out when I finish this entry.  I'm debating if I want to buy another pack and surround the bike with them.  They're cushy under foot.

Here's a interesting bit:  You know how car manufacturers brand their cars with a very specific logo/symbol?  Honda has an H on the front, Ford says Ford, an Subaru has their oval starfield?  Walking to my car yesterday, I saw vehicle with a very odd brand, so I went to see what it was.  Lo and behold, it was a Tesla, however the owner had take black electrical tape and made an X across the T.  So, was he worried his car my be vandalize, or just upset that he owned a car from a company owned by a neo-Nazi?  They're expensive, so not everybody can run out and trade their in.

In case anyone was wondering about Republican presidents and recessions:

I understand that Wall Street is crashing again.  The Orange Anus is doubling down on his tariffs because to do otherwise would be to admit he was wrong.  That will never happen.  He will go to his grave always blaming someone else.  It will always be the other guy's fault.  It's not his fault that the EU has chosen to set retaliatory tariffs, it's their fault because they didn't cave to his demands.  Every time they retaliate, it's a sucker punch to his ego.  It infuriates him.  They are laughing at his phony authoritarianism.  Orangie will initiate a "nuclear trade war," as billionaire Bill Ackman has said, rather than concede.

There will be 2 fronts in this war: international trade, and the Domestic Home Front.  Over 5 million people standing up to him in the Hands Off protests is not a one-off.  The next one will be so much larger.  Republicans are not used to dealing with their constituents pushing back, and because they love their jobs so much, it is they who will begin to cave.  So, we all need to hold on to our hats because Here We Go.

Repeating 1929

 Today started off as cloudy with the temps in the mid 50s (F) with the possibility of rain on an off throughout the day.  Temps are not supposed to vary much.  This is downer weather in my opinion. Sadly, we will be dealing with this soup for the next 2 days.

My lower back is a bit achy this morning, the result, no doubt, of my dragging the treadmill down the staircase in bits and pieces, some of which were on the heavy side.  This is how it always works for me, the aches and pains show up about 2 days later.  The same thing happens with muscle soreness after I workout out too much.

As for computer/workout/music room, one of the old area rugs was rolled up yesterday.  There was quite a bit of sand underneath from the backing breaking down, an the rug itself had become foldable.  It's now rolled and folded and sitting on the back porch.  After garbage day on Tuesday, I'll dump in in the bin with the rest of the treadmill.  Now all I need to do is figure out what to do with the floor, which was never sanded down or refinished.  Here's what it looks like now.  For those interested, the wall is cover with Romeo and Juliet to give the room a little Shakespearean class.

Everybody seems to be talking about the stock market as if its crash over the past 2 days was unexpected. I mean, I don't know about you, but I was expecting it, just not this soon.  I'd figured that steady downhill slide that began when he mentioned tariffs would continue for a few weeks, but then China retaliated.  Something I'd read about the crash of 1929 was that it took about 3 years until it finally stopped, but by then we were heading into the great depression, and the only thing that stopped that was the start of World War II.  Are we going to be repeating ourselves because Republicans never paid attention in history class?  Or is that the believe that if they don't think about the problem they're creating it will just go away?  I'm suspecting the latter.

And, since Trump seems to be spending most of his time golfing, people are beginning to wonder just who is running the country.  Many are beginning to suspect that it's Stevie Miller, another idiot of the first degree.  Oh, and with some input from wingnut Laura Loomer.  This means that the shit is only going to get a lot deeper.

We Are Smaller Than The World

 Good Morning world!  Our outside temp here in Central PA is 58 (F).  That's mild.  I've been outside wearing just my shorts and T-shirt, my way of transitioning to summer.  Storms did blow through the area last night, lots of loud thunder and lightening, and heavy rain.  The forecast for the next 3 days is pretty much the same, and then we're going to cool off.  Some of our lows next week are predicted to be in the high 20s (F), which downright cold.

I did work yesterday and it was slow.  We are not hitting our forecast plan so far this week... by a lot, and with the weather forecast calling for showers and colder temps, I'm not expecting sales to pick up.  I did get my monthly review yesterday, yes, that's right, we now get them monthly.  Once again my focus is supposed to be on signing people up for credit cards.  That discussion led to a conversation about interest rates and how the rate on our cards was so high.  Not surprising, my supervisor was fairly clueless on the subject, once again telling me it was not my responsibility.  That's one of the big problems in not only America, but the world.  No one wants to accept responsibility.  It's always someone else's fault.  

And in a comment, Treaders asked me if I didn't have a recycling place nearby.  No, not really.  There used to be a landfill about 5 miles down Wertzville Road, but that shut down years ago.  Hershey, Dauphin, and Cumberland county have drop-off spots for yard waste.  I did check, there is a scrap yard on the other side of Harrisburg, but their rates for dropping of scrap metal are what I consider exorbitant.  To make up for this, Waste Management has given us all supersized garbage containers, so bit, it usually takes me a month to fill both the garbage and the recycling bins.  I will have to go online and make an appointment for them to pick up the treadmill base.  This is a hassle.  We used to be able to just set one piece out, but now their garbage trucks have robotic arms that pick up your cans and dump them into the top of the truck.  No more garbagemen.  This is what our cans look like.  You can see the metal bar the robotic arms hook onto.

And, of course, the stock market sell-off continues.  As soon as I saw that China announced retaliatory tariffs of 34%, I knew Wall Street was going to crash even farther.  With zero tariffs for Russia and high tariffs for every other country in the world, many think the Orange Anus is following orders from his blow bro Vlad.  You all know who Vlad is, the dictator who has already sacrificed almost a million Russians in a war that only supposed to last 3 days?  That man has totally over estimated Russia's strength by a very large margin.  In his mind, having the United States as a vassal state would give him Supreme Power.  He simply does not understand that we are smaller than the world.  The world is not going to cower before Trump and his blow bro Vlad.  Nope.  Trading alliances are circumventing us.  Orangie is going to crush the world's economy.  This is how the Republican party dies, and don't be surprised if it takes Evangelical Christianity with it.

Babies, Babies, Babies

 Well, if the forecasters are correct, we're going to be cooking records today, that is the temps do indeed climb to 84 (F).  That's short sleeved shirt weather, and I'm going to wear one to work.  We had rain last evening, steady and soaking.

The forsythia on the hill is in bloom.  I didn't plant it, which means that some bird at a seed and pooped it there, and it grew.  I didn't realize that I had planted so many bulbs, but I must have since they're springing up all all over the place.  I don't even know what half of them are.  One thing I am certain of is that none of my dahlias survived the winter.  It was very cold and the ground froze days, if not weeks, at a time.  I did save some seeds from the flowers, so rather than plant tubers, this year I'm just going to throw out some seeds and see if they take.

Howie has gotten very picky when it comes to eating.  For a while, it seemed as if he preferred the more expensive kibbles, then he seemed to go for the less expensive brand, then yesterday afternoon he began snubbing both.  I put out some canned food and, after giving it a sniff, walked away.  What does he like to eat?  Fruit.  I loves blueberries and bananas.  So, I'm going to have to get experimental and try different combinations. 

My new heart rate monitor is out for delivery.  Good.

And here's a pic of my daffodils.  The ones out front are in full bloom.

And wasn't yesterday a fun day on Wall Street.  Inflation is heading our way much faster than Republicans expected and the stock market reacted as expected.  Wowz!  And prepare yourselves, Orangie's tariff retaliations come on Tuesday and they're bringing with them another ouchy ouchy drop on Wall Street.  Larry Kudlow started his show on Fox Entertainment last evening with a whine about the stock market, and the tariffs, and the taxes the Republicans want to raise on the average American.  See... even billionaires are beginning to worry.  I'm thinking a good stock market crash would do them all a bit of good, why, we might even see one or two jumping out of windows.

And Elonia was on Fox Entertainment again last evening.  Doesn't he seem to be having as many "on air" interviews as his toy president?  Anyway, one of Elonia's complaints was on the slowly declining world population.  In case you're wondering, his worries are not about the future of mankind, but rather the future profitability of corporations.  You see, if there are fewer people to buy products revenue will fall.  That's the big worry. His concern is about continuing that annual 5% growth.  To maintain that, he wants people worldwide to become breeders, making babies, babies, babies.

The Boxed Set

 Temps really warmed up yesterday here in Central PA.  Even though the forecast was for a high in the low to mid 50s (F), by 3 in the afternoon we were hovering at 63 (F).  That was nice.  The sun was so bright overhead.  Today is going to be a different story.  Today we're going to be getting the temps the forecasters said we were going to be getting yesterday.

I did have a long lunch with friends I haven't seen in decades... well, that's not quite correct.  We had lunch together for the first time in decades 3 months ago, and chose to repeat every 3 months.   Some routines are very good.  I've been friends with Tammy for around 45 years; we used to go out to the bars together.  In fact, I fell down the steps at an old lesbian bar that no longer exists and she drove me to the hospital because we thought I had broken my ankle.  Yes, there was a time when I was a bit... wild.

Anyway, she and Ann gifted me with an essay by Nate White, "an articulate and witty writer from England," concerning the Orange Anus.  There were so many funny bits, but the one that stands out was his comment that "If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

Otherwise, yesterday was close to being meh.  I did bake a nice corn pudding, and cleaned the big aquarium, and was proud that I got through the day without taking a nap.

I did see this in Reuters and decided that this means it will now be honky dory to not where a suit in the Oval Office, in fact Russian camo might now be the preferred fashion.

Speaking of routines, the stock market did continue its downward slide yesterday.  As expected, Orangie and his team are blaming Biden, even though the Dow Jones was not falling while Biden was in office, it was actually climbing.  That horse's ass Lutnick was again muttering things like "recession is not that bad," especially when you're a billionaire... I added the last part, but you can tell that's what these losers believe.  You do know that if the Dow crashed by 20% we'd never have to worry about him again.  In fact, I don't doubt there would be quite a few billionaires who'd chose to splatter themselves onto the pavement rather than deal with their own horrific fallibility. 

It looks like some fool took a bullet for Elonia and bought some Tesla stock.  I'd read somewhere that he's quite the emotional baby when things don't go his way, perhaps in Raw Story.  It seems that rather than break into a screaming rage the way Orangie does, Elonia breaks down in tears.  This is, no doubt, why Orangie turned the front lawn into a car dealership, to keep the tear stains from the Resolute Desk.

A house upon the sand

 We're going to start this brand new week with a rise in temps... a decent rise, up into the lower 50s (F) today and even higher tomorrow.  A word of caution however, lest we think this is a good Bon Voyage to winter.  We have 3 weeks until the official arrival of spring, and after this week our temps will be falling back into the chilly zone, but only for a bit.

Starting at noon yesterday, I worked retail.  No exercise was done. I ended up putzing around until it was time for me to leave.  Work, itself, was boring.  I did manage to get a measure, and sold $700 in shades to a customer who was surprised by the cost... they were only buying 2 shades, but they were sheer shades with a double layer of striped fabric.  Nice.  They really dress up windows, however $350 a shade is a bit more than I'd be willing to spend... oh, and that was the sale price, already marked down 40%.

Business was slow.  I had a nice conversation with the store manager.  Business is slow across the entire region, 90+ stores, and it started to decline before the mini stock market crash on Friday.  From what I've been able to garner, Walls Street is set to recover a bit today, but will that recovery eliminate Friday's losses?  Probably not.  For that to happen there would need to be some really good financial news and I don't see that on the horizon.

I did stop off on the way home and picked up a new heater for the large aquarium.  My fishies are now swimming in much warmer water.

And, as far as I know, this is not real, though it is amusing.

Our door and window specialist stopped by the flooring desk to have small chat with me yesterday.  Earlier in the day, he'd had a conversation with the "associate," I mentioned last week, the one who thinks Elonia is doing a good job.  I did experience a moment of not too stunning surprise when I was told that the "associate" had said, "of course I voted for Orangie, you didn't think I'd vote for her, did you?"  This is very telling.  For a while I thought it might be possible that Elonia had indeed managed to hack into voting machines, however this statement plus the fact that the extreme right in Germany failed to take control of the country leads me to believe otherwise.  Nope.  We have the Orange Asshole because too many people in this country saw him as a better alternative than "her."  And now they're in the Find Out stage.

Will Orangie destroy Democracy?  I don't think so, though he's mounting a significant challenge.  Unfortunately, it seems to be turning out that many of these people voted for him because of gender, rather than "her."  Now, ain't that sad.

And another unqualified incompetent has joined his administration:  Dan Bongino (sp), a right wing podcaster who may, at one time, have also been a commentator on Fox.

I saw that James Carville has said that he doubts very much if this administration can last another month before it all comes crashing down.  I wouldn't be surprised if the trigger is the attempt by conservatives to shut down Medicare, or Medicaid, or possibly putting the United States Post Office into the Department of Commerce.  With all of his supposed real estate acumen, you'd have thought Orangie would know not to build a house upon the sand.

The 28%

 And so... the warmup begins.  Today weather forecasters are predicting that our temps will hit the mid to upper 30s (F).  That's nice.  For 3 sequential days next week, they're telling us that are temps will hit 50 (F).  I'm fine with that.  I have a lot of yardwork to do.  Many sticks to pick up, so Howie doesn't bring them into the house to barter.

Not only did I work yesterday, but I got a nice 7+ mile ride in.  Corsica again.  A long time ago, this was a 55 mile ride, but wisely, Tacx has done a re-ride, cutting it into smaller sections with updated footage.  I've ridden the older version and it's interesting to see how much things have changed in a few years.  

And I did work yesterday.  It was terribly slow.  There was a note for me concerning the sale I had on Monday regarding a balance due.  For some reason the customer is being charged and additional $500.  There was no explanation, however, they did want me to call the customer and to collect the $$$.  So, I sent the note back asking why this cost has suddenly gone up.  They also know that I won't be back to work until Sunday.  Honestly, I'm hoping the customer has a change of mind and cancels.  

Today the big aquarium gets a new filter.  It's in place, I've just got to do one more cleaning before I toss out the old one.  I'm looking forward to this.  Hopefully, the fish will appreciate it, too.

Needing to keep myself informed, I just glanced at the Dow, as in Dow Jones Industrial Average.  Not being a stock market person, I realize the necessity of trying to understand all aspects of America, Wall Street being one of them.  Yesterday Walmart took one to the chin.  There's been some sort of mini-rally in Hong Kong, though Futures are down.  The outlook is not perky because inflation data is going to be released and everyone knows that prices have gone up.  Nothing has gone down in price. The more expensive things are, the less people buy.  The last time I bought eggs they were $7.49 a dozen, that was on Valentine's Day.

There have been several Town Halls that have not gone well for Congressmen.  One down in Georgia with some guy named McCormick who won in a Red district by 60+ % turned into a shouting match.  Isn't it amusing that these cultists are all for cutting the size of the government as long as they aren't the ones losing their jobs.  From what I understand, a large part of the CDC is in Georgia and 1300 jobs were cut.  That's a lot of people who will have to look to the private sector for employment, and all at the same time.

Elonia was at CPAC wearing sunglasses.  It's also my understanding that if you're a Ketamine addict, you tend to frequently wear sunglasses because, not only do you pupils dilate, your eyes rove around trying to find something to focus on.  The words that came out of his mouth didn't make a lot of sense.  

And finally, Orangie's approval ratings are tanking... badly.  Even Fox Entertainment is sounding the alarm.  Did they really think people were going to celebrate our fall into recession?  People hate Elonia, and by now, a large majority understand that old Orangie has no interest in running the government, and all of these decisions are being made by Musk.  The anger is already spreading to other billionaires.  That's fine with me.  For those who don't know, that 28% is the entirety of the Republican party.

A note to Jaime Dimon

 Holy Crap!  The outside temp was 16 (F) when I woke up this morning!  Even though forecasters only predicted yesterday's high to be in the low to mid 20s (F), it actually climbed up to 28 (F), and today they are telling us that we're supposed to hit the low 30s (F).  Knowing that the change in weather patterns is effected by the Earth's rotation, I'm wondering if this Polar Vortex is going to continue across the Atlantic.  If it does, people in the Europe prepare yourselves, it's a real cold biter.

The new thermostat is working well.  It's toasty in my house, well, except for the living room which has always had a bit of a winter chill.  That has more to do with a lack of insulation, something that did not exist when the house was built in 1905, than anything else.  To be perfectly honest, you only really notice it when we have subzero weather.

Work yesterday was ho hum heh.  The full time associate had customers.  I didn't.  Not that I had a problem with that.  They have me scheduled for 22 hours for the next few weeks, but then in the 2nd week of February I'm down to 17.  Years ago, when I was first hired as a part-time cashier, the February doldrums meant I might get 5 hours a week.  This is not a good time to be a part-time cashier.

So, tell me, do you think Howie did something bad?

So the Orange Anus has set up a DEI snitch line.  If you're a bitter white person who believes that your company or organization is hiring People of Color instead of white people, you can send a snitch email accusing them of... what?  Racism?  I saw several bits about this yesterday, all of which included that detestable email address so good, American citizens could flood, and hopefully crash the website. 

Orangie's administration has also put a freeze on hiring minorities because they feel it is so much better to give an unqualified white person that job.  I don't know what the number is, but quite a few People of Color working for the Federal Government have been put on paid leave.  In case you think this is just a temporary problem, don't, this is the work of that white supremacist Stevie Miller and that apartheid Aryan Elonia.  Every time Orangie makes an appearance, he tends to lose incoherence.  While this continues, the unemployment rate is going to constantly increase as these decent human beings lose their livelihoods.  This adds to the Chaos, and let me remind you again, Wall Street hates Chaos.  Wall Street hates unemployment because that means people who aren't earning wages are not spending money.  Wall Street needs people to spend money.  Conservative stupidity has always crushed the economy, and it's doing it again.  Jaime Dimon, a billionaire douche if there ever was one, said yesterday that Americans are just going to have to get used to paying higher prices.  Here's a note to Jaime, people can't spend it if they don't have it. 

Sticks

 We have 19 (F) degrees outside, and the expectations are for it to only get a few degrees warmer.  Tomorrow, things are going to heat up a bit, but then we're supposed to have flurries spreading through the area.  Warmer temps are only expected to arrive next week, then we should be up in the 40s (F).

Much was accomplished yesterday.  Normally, on Tuesdays, the day after I've worked for 3 days straight, some things get done, but many of the chores get put off until later in the week.  This was not the case yesterday.  I baked a loaf of bread, cleaned the tank in the living room, prepped 2 pounds of beef so I can make jerky, completed an upper body workout, and that's not all of it.  And last night, I got a really good night's sleep.  That doesn't happen all of the time.

This morning some gent from UGI (my gas company) is coming to change out my gas meter.  The one I have is old.  I don't know if the new one is going to be more accurate, or if it's just going to be a change of color.  Right now, the one in the basement is brown and tech who checked it out 3 months ago told me they don't use brown anymore.

Howie has learned a new game.  He brings a stick or leaf into the house every time he goes outside and then trades his little bit of detritus for a treat, usually a small piece of Puperoni or a biscuit.  I've been savings them because it is kind of cute.  This is what I've accumulated so far.  Today they get thrown out and we'll start again. 

So, Pete Hegseth was questioned by the Senate yesterday as part as his confirmation hearing to run the United States military.  The man is incompetent.  I'd say a majority of the US Senate knows this, however they will confirm him and put him in charge of the largest military force in the world because...?  They want to please the Orange Anus?  When civil unrest happens, and notice that I say when, not if, he will try and use our military to put it down.  I don't doubt that Americans will die.  At some point he will be removed from the position, perhaps by falling out a window.  I don't doubt that a year from now many who voted from Trump will deny doing so.  Wall Street hates chaos, and that is exactly what Hegseth will bring.  There's a good probability the economy will crash.  There are a number of hard line Republicans who hope this happens, believing they are going to rebuild the country the way they want.  That will never happen.  This will be their time of learning.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

 Yesterday turned out to be nice.  The sun did come out in the afternoon and temps warmed up, so the forecast wasn't far off.  Today, however, clouds are supposed to be moving back into the picture and, again, this afternoon we're supposed to have shower.  Temps will be cooling down until Sunday, when they'll be stuck in the 20s (F) all day before they zoom back up into the high 40s (F) and low 50s (F).

Even though the day did nicen up, yesterday was still a bit of a meh day.  Howie and I went for a walk.  I worked on the book.  This denouement chapter is going to be long, maybe the longest I've ever written.  How well it will go over remains to be seen.  I have shared the first chapter with some people (it's very different).  Their reactions were pleasantly surprising.

I also bought and downloaded the new Indiana Jones and the Great Circle game.  It's a Machine Works game, and they are owned by Bethesda.  Every game has a tutorial section in the beginning where you learn which buttons do what, since every game is different.  For this game, the tutorial section is the opening sequence from Raiders of the Lost Ark, you know the one I'm talking about, the one with the big ball that nearly crushes him.  I got crushed once.  Having seen the movie many times, I thought it was a lot of fun!  The tutorial, however, is just a flashback, and the story jumps ahead a year to the time after the Ark incident.  And yes, if you're interested, you do need to use the whip.

So, if you live in America, how are your food prices?  Mine are going up.  Eggs are 8 cents higher.  Here in Central Pa, a dozen large eggs is going to set you back $4.07, they're going to blame it on Bird Flu.  Roma tomatoes?  2 months ago they were $1.99 a lb., now they cost $2.49 a lb., and it ain't because of the Bird Flu.  I went grocery shopping yesterday and mostly what I did was look at people's faces.  No one was happy.  There were a lot of seniors in the supermarket and I felt really bad for them, many live month to month on their Social Security, and God knows how many Christian Conservatives hate Social Security.  These people are going to have a rough time ahead, especially if our morally degenerated president succeeds in privatizing Medicare.  People who don't have to pay for insurance, should never be in charge of creating legislation that forces others to pay for the same benefit.  I have to admit that I do find it more than a little satisfying that health care stocks across the board are experiencing a down turn.  What a joy for so many rich people to lose money.

Here Comes the Future

 Well, a happy Sunday morning to all of you in the world!  Outside, our morning temp here in Central PA is 35 (F), that's very close to 0 in Celsius.  Predictions are for our temps to be up in the mid 60s (F) tomorrow, but then dropping back down into the 50s (F) on Tuesday.  That's fine.  Wednesday, hopefully, we're supposed to be getting more rain.

Yesterday, up until around 6 PM, we were relatively busy in the store.  We hit our forecast plan, which should keep corporate happy.  I've been telling people that if you're going to make a big purchase, they need to do so now, rather than wait, as prices are going to be going up.  Maybe that's part of it; I don't know.  No one seems happy.  I've also been seeing things on social media about buyer's remorse regarding the election.  Sorry, there are no returns on this one.

And I do work today.  It's going to be my last 8 hour shift.  As I've said before, I've changed my availability: no more 8 hour days.  The most time I'll be spending at the Orange Retailer is 6 hours, though for most of my upcoming schedules I'm only going to be there 5 hours.  I remember back when Covid hit I was concerned about getting only 20 hours a week, now I know it presents no problem.

While I cancelled my subscriptions to every Main Stream Media news outlet, I still have their front pages bookmarked, and I do read their headlines.  Besides the major headlines, there are smaller headlines and department headlines, like movie reviews and cooking.  With the recipes, they always post a picture.  This morning, in the Washington Post, they had a picture of sweet potato filled orange cups.  The photo is nice, but I can't think of a single family hosting Thanksgiving who is going to spend the time to make one of these for everyone who's going to be seated at their table.  Perhaps if you were wealthy enough to afford a cook this might happen, but otherwise this is just a pretty picture that ain't gonna happen.

Do not fear, the Trump Klown Kar will continue to fill this week, I mean, if he's not nominating mega-idiots, he naming billionaires whose only expertise is making themselves richer.  Cultists don't understand this.  They have this skewed belief that billionaires are going to enrich their world.  Ain't gonna happen.

Another not so surprising turn of events is that Ronnie DeSantis is getting a lot of push to replace Marco Rubio with Lara Trump.  Dumb little Ronnie should have seen this coming a mile away, but didn't, most likely because he was picturing his own little feet climbing the ladder of success in a Trump administration.  For someone who graduated from Yale (?), Ronnie seems to be lacking in the smarts department.  As for Little Marco, if he gets confirmed, I'm betting he'll be out in a year, maybe less.  The goal was not to give him a promotion.  Nope.  The plan was to get Lara into the Senate to help Trump consolidate power.

Also, rumor has it that Big Pharma is working hard to stop Kennedy's nomination cold, since he wants to stop research on an entire host of projects, including cancer research.

One final also.  If you have a 401k, keep you eyes pealed on Wall Street.  They prefer stability over chaos, and if those billionaires who own the majority of stocks begin slowly dumping their portfolios and the market begins to erode (as it seems to be doing now), then you may want to consider transferring your savings into something more stable.

The Wall Street Effect

 So, we've finally arrived at the weekend.  It's warm outside, mid 50s (F), and supposedly there are showers moving through the area.  Temperatures are predicted to climb up into the 60s (F) for the next few days, and then drop back down into what are considered normal temps.  Of course, nothing is normal these days.  I can understand why some people find things unsettling.  We live in different times.

Yesterday was sort of a meh day.  I had done legs on Thursday, so my quads were a bit stiff, at least that was my excuse for not riding the bike.  I did rake around the topsoil in my back yard.  I work  in the flooring department today, so I'm working under a time restriction today and, joy of joys, I'm really happy about that.

I also spent some time attempting to hem up the cuffs on those new pants I bought.  Wow, sometimes patience is definitely one of my virtues at times.  It wasn't difficult, but I no longer have the temerity to sit and stitch away.  I sewed for about... oh... maybe fifteen minutes and had completed about 5 inches of one cuff when I decided it was time to put the needle and thread away.  Iron on hem tape is arriving today.  I have no problem opting for the easy way out.  

For dinner, I made, as the British might say, a lovely shrimp salad.  It was tasty.  The remainder will be my lunch before I go to work.  I also made pickled eggs using vinegar, sugar, and red beets.  Here in Central PA, we call them red beet eggs, but just about everyone else says they're pickled.  They are tasty, too.

An interesting side effect of Trump's picks for filling his cabinet is the reaction of Wall Street to his selections..  This isn't getting a lot of press because the Main Stream Media is still trying to sane wash everything he does.  They don't talk about how Evangelicals are upset about his choice of Kennedy to run Health and Human Services because Kennedy is Pro Abortion.  Wall Street, on the other other hand, does not like Chaos, and the Orange Anus is trying to destroy the institutions which provide stability.  Wall Street knows that no country in the world will talk to Tulsi Gabbard about intelligence, except those who are already cozying up to Putin.  Wall Street does not want a House of Representatives that is focused solely on retaliation and retribution.  Wall Street understands that Matt Gaetz hates America as much as Donald Trump, and disapproves.  As a result, Wall Street has been in decline.  Wall Street understands that people living in a chaotic America are not going to spend their hard earned dollars the way Wall Street wants them to, and this will be a shocking surprise to the cultists.  Trump doesn't care, he loves Russia, not America.

Putting our Feet Down

 Well, we're having a mini-heatwave here.  Temps are very warm, in fact most of you would say it's damn hot and I might just agree with you.  Yesterday our mercury climbed to 97 (F) with a real fee of 101 (F) and I stayed inside the house throughout the afternoon.  I did go for my walk at Adams-Ricci in the morning, but the temps were cooler than, in the upper 70s (F).  And we have more on tap for today, Monday, and Tuesday.  Drat, there goes my electric bill.  For the past 2 years, our summers were cool and my Central Air was only run sparingly.  Yesterday, that baby was going on every hour or so, and I have the first floor temp set at 74 (F).

My brother had a family cookout yesterday and invited me, and I politely declined because of the heat.  Usually, I work on Saturdays, but yesterday I had off and if it hadn't been so hot, would have accepted.  I get along well with he and his wife, and his kids.  

Instead, I spent most of the day working on The Body in History.  I wrote an entire chapter tentatively titled Labyrinth and yes, if you're are curious, Eli and Max do get to meet Pan... or maybe it isn't.  Maybe it's just a college student with 7 little goats.  And maybe Max, the smartass, makes one of the most groan inducing puns in the world.

And for those who think the economy is bad, just look what the stock market is doing.

You would think that those stock holders who've been raking in the $$$ for the past 3 years would realize that the resulting chaos of a Trump presidency would drive the market down, but they don't.  All they can think about is another tax break, which would be bad news for a majority of Americans since the last tax break Trump gave them hasn't been paid for yet.  In fact, Wall Street is responsible for a lot of the economic problems facing Americans today.  The price you pay for breakfast cereal is totally dependent upon how much money General Mills, or Post, or Kellogg needs to make on each box of Cheerios, or Frosted Flakes they sell.  The more revenue they earn, the happier Wall Street is, and their stock price goes up.  Wall Street doesn't care if you have to pay $4.59 for a box of Grape Nuts, as long as you keep paying it.  Most people don't understand that in today's economy, inflation translates to corporate greed.  Prices go up and will stay high in order for General Mills, and Post, and Kellogg to insure Wall Street that they're going to be keeping their 5% growth their stock holders expect.  The Average American is always going to be screwed over by Big Business until we Americans finally put our foot down.

Signs

CPAC was a bad place to visit this year.  At least 5 Republican Congressmen have gone into self-quarantine.  You do have to remember, however, that CPAC is a gather of older, white Crazy Christians desperate to force the country down the narrow path they hold so dearly in their hearts.  It looks to me as though they've been given a Sign (capital S), not that they're going to recognize it as one.  That would mean they've made an egregious error.  Personally, I think it's a bit of a hoot, those holier than thou individuals on their way to becoming a Coronavirus hotspot.
There were some of the Idiot Jerk's supporters at the flooring desk, an older couple, he was wearing an camo cap with the Idiot Jerk's name emblazoned in red.  They spit out the same phony talking points the Idiot Jerk spits out: "more people die from the flu."  We all bite our tongues.  Correcting customers is not in our job description.  They do not understand, but every time the quote the Idiot Jerk, they are a Sign of his imminent downfall.  People want the truth.  He tells them what he thinks will make them happy.  The sad truth is he's only concerned about Wall Street.  The sadder truth is that this older white couple don't know they are the primary targets of the Coronavirus.
And, back to those 5 Congressmen in self-imposed quarantine (at least that's what they're claiming).  One of them just happens to be the 'new' Chief of Staff.  Son of a bitch!  How's that for bad luck?  My money says the Idiot Jerk is just about in a frenzy behind the scenes.  He's a fat, yellow-skinned (by that I mean cowardly) old man whose sloth-like body offers little defense against the new virus.
The sad truth is, rather than admit this is a serious health issue, he's going to wear a MAGA cap to the CDC because this is an election year.  Oh, and now he's talking about payroll tax cuts, and extending sick hours... for something he still calls a Democratic Hoax.  Really, all he's looking at is the Dow Jones.  You know how it works, a tax cut makes the stock market go up and his orange ass looks shiny.  If you give voters a tax cut they'll vote for him this November.  This is not the kind of Sign Americans are looking for, which is why he'll go down as the worst president of all time.
Finally, speaking of Signs, Tacx likes it when you post an image of yourself.  It can be a photo, or a letter, or drawing.  I had thought of using a picture of the dogs, but, well, there are 2 of them and their heads would have to be rather small.  Then I thought about where I live, not only in Pennsylvania, but in Pennsylvania Dutch country.  We do have images that represent us.  So I chose one of those to be my sign.  Here it is:

For those who don't know, it says "Welcome."

A shapely muscle group

Friday!  My new week starts today... kind of, since I only work 4 days before I have my next day off.  That's right, I'm off on Super Tuesday, not that we're voting here in PA.  Our Primary is on April 28.  A number of states jumped on board the Super Tuesday train, they want to be among the first voters to help choose our next nominee.  What that really does is give the candidates a smaller time window to visit your state.  Instead of being able to spend time in your state, they fly in and fly out.  They hold a rally and move on.  Voters need to rely on the either the Internet or the media to find out about their potential candidate.  Sound bits are a poor way of educating oneself.
I went for another ride in the Dolomites yesterday:  Passo Pordoi.  I rode a smidgin over 3 miles in 45 minutes... all uphill.  Hills are great.  Afterwards I could feel it in my quads and my buttocks.  Yeah, that's right... my buttocks.  For most of us, buttocks are a fairly large muscle group.  They are not just a wobbly slab of fat you sit on to watch TV.  Next time you see a cyclist, check out his buttocks if you want to see a shapely muscle group.
And, of course, Wall Street did a bit of a crash dive yesterday.  I wasn't really following it, so I was fairly surprised when, after finishing my ride, I checked out my Bloomberg app.  Son of a Bitch!  I really feel sorry for people with 401k's...well, except for Republicans, they deserve the pain.  By the looks of it, the markets are not going to stop their free-fall quite yet.  Not enough damage has been done to the MAGA heads yet. 
On a much brighter note, I took another picture of my Christmas Cactus yesterday.  I think I'm going to start calling it the Crimson Bloomer.

Something's Coming

My next schedule was published late yesterday afternoon and  I have 4 days off in a row,  one is going to be a vacation day and the other 2 were requests off.  At least I'm getting consecutive days off.
I understand there was a bit of a raucous.  There, that's a nice word for it.  I didn't watch.  I prefer gleaning the important bits from various media sources the next morning.  I guess Fox News was shrieking "out of control!"  "out of control!"  Evidently some of the candidates chose to ignore the moderator.  Some of them were out for blood.  The problem all along has been too many freaking candidates, and now that the voters are going to have their say, those candidates are freaking out.  They are complicating what should be a very simple issue.  We need the Idiot Jerk removed from the White House.  Unfortunately, a number of these candidates do not understand this is not their time, and it is not their place.
And, speaking of raucous, there was another fun-filled ride on Wall Street yesterday.  Yowza!  Don't look at your 401k's.  There's a good possibility the same thing is going to happen today.  There's a fly in the economic ointment... or maybe I should say 'bug.'  You know what I'm talking about.  That little thing called Covid-19... is that still what they're calling it?  People are getting sick, and not just in China.  A long time ago, back when I was taking Biology 101, we did a little experiment.  The professor passed around a tray of sugar cubes, 2 of which had been dosed with a  harmless bacteria.  Every student took one, rubbed it into our palms, and then walked around the classroom shaking hands.  We each grew the results in a petri dish.  It's rather interesting to see how disease spreads from one person to another, skips the person who shakes the most hands while targeting the one who only shakes 2 or 3.  Obviously the Idiot Jerk in the White House has never taken Biology 101, otherwise he would never have said the Coronavirus has been contained.  The CDC is right.  It's coming.  And, of course, the Republican response has been... tepid.  I mean, we're talking about them spending tax dollars in order to help the Common Man.  They don't understand.  Now, I'm not religious, but if I were I'd say their Judgement is coming.
Anyway, I thought I'd leave you with Tony's warning.

Weakest Link?

Well, my weekend is over.  I'll be working for the next 5 days.  I did apply for that fixed schedule position.  The hours would be 9:30 - 6, Monday thru Friday.  I could live with that.
I also got a letter form the Social Security Administration explaining my increase.  The whole thing stems from my early retirement when I was 62.  Major back surgery had been planned and there was a question about how well I'd walk afterwards.  Well, the surgery didn't happen because I retrained myself to walk (I have a bit of a shuffle now) and I went back to work... full time.  If you're retired you are only allowed to work part-time without being penalized.  My thought was, well, let them penalized me.  I was making a lot more full time than I would have made working part-time and collecting benefits.  They sent me letters:  You're making too much money, we can't pay you benefits.  For almost 4 years they didn't pay me benefits.  Now, those benefits are being paid in the form of adjustments upwards and higher monthly checks.  They also notified me that they may go up again.  I'm all for that.
And, for those who didn't hear, there was a bit of an oopsy on Wall Street yesterday.  A drop of over 800 points!  And, of course, the Idiot Jerk blamed the Fed (Powell) for not dropping interest rates.  You see, investors want companies to make lots of money, which means consumers need to buy, buy, buy.  Investors want you to be in debt up to your eyeballs.  Your financial pain is not their responsibility.
This morning John Hickenlooper is going to end his run for President.  He is going to run for the Senate instead.  This is what Republicans are afraid of... losing the Senate.
I also saw this bit about multi-tasking, evidently that bit about women being better than men is not quite right.  Both men and women made the same number of mistakes when doing simultaneous tasks.  While there may be some tasks where one gender might excel better than the other, in the end we are all equal.  Republicans will never believe this, however, since in their minds women are always the weakest link.  But then everybody knows Republicans are dumb as bricks.