When you hit middle age you really only have two choices: you can get fat and lazy until you roll over and die, or you can can get off your ass and do something, like maybe ride a bike.
Bluntness
I've also been told I have little tact, so if this offends you simply ride on.
Today is starting out warmer than yesterday when I woke up to 50 (F), outside, of course. This morning the temp was 60 (F) and the expected high is in the upper 70s (F). Because the weather forecasters are saying we will be having much sunshine today, I'll be using my drying rack. That's a non too subtle hint that my first load of laundry is in the washer.
Yesterday some things were done, and other things weren't. I did take out the window A/C unit in the workout/computer room and put it away. If my memory is correct, only used it 4 times over the summer, so mostly what it did was block the light. The unit in the bedroom will be removed today. That one has a thermostat so, while it was used more, I'd have to say that it was off more often than it was on.
And even though I did make a salad for dinner to compensate for the heavy breakfast I had yesterday morning, I still ended up snacking my way through the evening.
Late yesterday afternoon, I did get an email from UPS regarding the broken Xerox printer, they wanted more pictures. Well, I was told to pack the thing up and set it out for delivery, so I sent them the pictures that I'd already taken.
America's health care is descending into chaos because of this man. He is a Kennedy, and the Kennedy's despise him. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Literature, and a Jurist's degree which allows him to practice law. He has no experience in any of the fields of medicine. What truly defines him is that he is a wack job extraordinaire.
The only reason he is the Secretary of Health is because a coalition of anti-vaxxers whose votes helped put the Orange Anus into the White House for a second time. Orangie needs those voters to keep voting Republican so in order to keep them loyal, he made RFK (and his brain worm) the Secretary of Health. While the rest of the world moves ahead with research and development in the field of medicine, this guy is eliminating positions. He will be the death of many of the very people who voted for Orangie, the only problem is that many of them cannot die soon enough. You would think Orangie would realize this is a detriment to his administration, but then he has never been a man of forethought.
Holy Crap! Am I running late today, or what? Blame it on the great sleeping weather we had last night! Even at this late hour our outside temp has barely cracked the 60 (F) mark. We have a slight breeze and much sunshine. I do believe the time has come to start prepping for autumn.
Yesterday was a good day, though not because Xerox dropped the ball on my new printer, and they really did drop the ball.
My laptop, my TV, and my Xbox Series X? They're all connected to the router upstairs. No problem. The new printer was connecting, so I started a chat with a Xerox tech who was going by the name Janice, though, going by the dropped words and bad punctuation I suspected she(?) was not an American Janice, or a British Janice, or even a Canadian Janice. When Janice failed to come up with a solution, she (?) suggested escalating my issue by putting in a ticket for another team to respond. She asked for, and I gave her, a specific time for them to call. Well, that never happened. I do believe one of the big problems with people nowadays is that they desperately feel that someone else needs to solve their problems, that puts the blame on someone else. Not me. When I signed up for T-Mobile internet, I got the big router which is up stairs, and a smaller one that I can locate downstairs if I need it. So, I looked at this little router. Lo and behold, it has 2 ethernet jacks. Wow, I can connect my printer to the router with an ethernet cable. It needs a Cat 5, I have a Cat 6 on hand, because I'm a nerdy, geeky guy. Serious, 5 minutes later my printer is connected to the internet and I'm printing off the first 13 chapter of The Body in 4/4 Time. If Xerox asks me to review their support they will get a nicely worded reality check.
And then yesterday this also happened.
This is a landslide win by a Democrat in a very red, Trump Orange Anus district. Oh, and Susie Collins from Maine is super concerned because she was loudly booed at a ribbon cutting ceremony. "Shame, Shame, Shame," the crowd chided her and all the while Susie kept on smiling. That woman will never understand how badly she has sold out her constituents just to be a member of the Republican Party.
And Orangie had a 3 + hour televised cabinet meeting yesterday during which his sycophantic cabinet members constantly debased themselves in order to kiss his ass. Rolling Stone listed the details of how these sniveling losers groveled before him. I began to read the article and then stopped, unable to stomach what Rolling Stone called phony praise.
Also, the Secretary of Transportation said the administration is going to take over Union Station. I'm betting that's because when Just Dancing Vance was booed so badly, even called Couch Fucker, when he walked through it the other day. That's how this administration works, in case you haven't figure that out by now.
Well, our outside temps are sitting at a cool 55 (F). Forecasters say we have a 25% chance of rain for today, though there's a bit of a discrepancy between the daily and the hourly forecast. By the hour, we should have sun, sun, sun, until later this afternoon at which point clouds should begin to roll into the area. No rain is predicted on the hourly forecast. That's fine with me, as my first load of laundry is in the washer.
As I expected, I did take some personal time yesterday since my new printer was scheduled to arrive, and did so at 3:25 PM. I had been scheduled to begin work at 2. The UPS driver was a thin guy who struggled to get the printer to my front steps where he set it down. I asked him if he was going to take the old printer with him and he told me, "I don't have a ticket number to do that." He then left the printer on the front steps and drove away. So, I carried it the rest of the way up the sidewalk, lifted it up onto the porch, and got it into the house. The last printer arrived upside down. This one arrived right side up. Unpacked, it weighs around 35 pounds. Once it was out of the box, I had no problem moving it around. Nothing was broken. It was connected to the internet, but then that connection failed, so I will have to check with support later this morning.
While I waited yesterday, I did other things, laundry for one. I even baked a loaf of very tasty bread.
And the Orange Anus was once again on National TV yesterday afternoon. I honestly don't know if any of the Main Stream Media outlets actually televise his ramblings, I'd think not, other wise they'd be cutting away every few minutes because his dementia shows up and starts talking. I do know he spent some time talking about Comfort Women in both North and South Korea. For those who don't know, Comfort Women are prostitutes. He said something about how the North was managing their Comfort Women, while the South was failing to do so. And he said this while the president of South Korea was sitting beside him.
Of course, the bruised back of his hand also put in an appearance. He did make an attempt to hide it, though failed several times. It was pointed out that not one of the questions he was asked inquired about the bruising, so I'm betting reporters are given a list of subjects that are taboo and the bruising is one of them. Remember, these reporters desperately want access to him and asking the wrong question will get them thrown out. Don't believe me? Look at the reporters who are allowed to ask questions, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene's husband, someone who isn't actually a reporter but, with his bloated face, can definitely be defined as a toady.
We had another night of good sleeping weather. The outside temp when I crawled out of bed this morning was 61 (F). Today's high, if the forecasters are correct, should be in the mid 80s (F) with the chance of rain being minimal. We have the same forecast for Sunday, though our chance of rain increases by a very small percentage. Cooler temps and rain are in the forecast for this coming week.
I got in a very nice workout yesterday afternoon; I was pleased with that. The big aquarium got a decent cleaning. And I spent some time chatting an Hewlett Packard tech regarding my color jet printer. That's right, I had (have) 2 printers, one for documents, etc. and the other for pics. Of course, they both broke at the same time. The ink jet error concerned the printer heads. The tech and I managed to get it to print a few copies I scanned, but the error persisted, so he's sending me 2 new printer heads. That's nice, but I honestly think it's the printer itself which is the problem.
As for the trials and tribulations I've been having with the color laser printer I bought from Xerox, things have finally begun to look up. Someone named Aira has taken over my case and has kicked the resolution into high gear. The broken printer needs to be out on the porch for UPS to pick up on Monday. Also happening on Monday: the replacement printer will be arriving by 7 PM. I'm scheduled to work on Monday, so I'll be taking off. Believe me, I have no problem with that.
Howie and I went for a walk yesterday, and when we got back I tried the selfie thing again. He's getting better.
Of course, Orangie was on TV yesterday... again. This is an everyday necessity for him. His ego needs feeding. And he's almost always sitting down at his desk, though I do believe he did stand up in order to show the camera a glossy 8 x 10 photograph of himself and his blow bro Vlad. He told America that he was going to autograph the pic and send it back to Vlad. Dear Lord, this is so pathetic.
There are also more questions about his health. Yesterday, for the first time I can remember, he didn't look he'd he'd smeared orange shit on his face, in fact he looked rather pale and frail. People also noticed that he was using makeup to cover some serious bruising on his hands. So, is he deathly ill? One person noted that the answer will be in how frequently he golfs. He is still frequently being driven around in golf carts, but he no long walks. When he does walk, it's from the cart to the ball his caddied has conveniently dropped 10 or so feet away. Personally? I think it just a short matter of time, and then chaos will ensue as the Republican party falls apart.
We have a Sunny Day! At 61 (F), our morning is a bit cool, but that's fine, we had a good night for sleeping. Unless something changes, our forecast is calling for good sleeping weather for the rest of the summer. Long range forecasts, however, are telling us that we're going to be getting a lot of rain next week, so it looks like Autumn's rainy season might be getting here a bit early. Having a wet spring and a wet fall is better than dealing with a drought.
I did work yesterday, and managed to get a measure for a blind installation. Otherwise, I endured a long five hours at the flooring desk. I did get my steps in, so there is that. Fifteen minutes of that time I spent talking to a customer about vinyl plank flooring, but mostly it was just me, myself, and I.
The day wasn't a complete loss, I did get some words written on a chapter titled Cacophony. I'm also making notes on the next chapter tentatively titled I Hear a Waltz, but that could change.
I have not heard from Xerox regarding the broken printer they sent me since Wednesday afternoon, so later this morning I will be giving them a call. The great orange home improvement retailer I work for would have been on this problem in a hot minute, as my friend Patty likes to say. Sometimes you need to remind companies that the review they get relies totally on their efficiency of resolving complaints.
And here's a picture of the boxer thief caught in the act.
And last evening Orangie patrolled the streets of Washington DC with a small entourage of police and national guardsman. When I first heard this was going to happen I wondered if this was just an excuse for a quick road trip to MacDonalds. However, it didn't take me long to realize he was just pulling a page out of Kim Dumb Jerk's playbook in an attempt to make himself more popular with the people. No doubt some cultists looked upon this stunt with glowing admiration. I'm talking about those who fail to realize that Orangie would never go anywhere his team deemed to be unsafe. He must have had a long nap in the afternoon since he appears to have a problem with sundowning.
And Fox Entertainment did release some good information yesterday. They said that if Mamdami wins in New York, they will move their operations to Florida. Now tell me, doesn't that bring a smile to your face?
Well, we had rain on and off yesterday. Misty rain. Drizzly rain. Steady rain. There were no cloudbursts and nothing torrential, when it falls in sheets across the highway. Temps stayed in the lower 70s (F). We have the same forecast for today. Tomorrow things are supposed to brighten up, however if our long range forecast stands, it looks as though summer's quickly moving out of the picture.
And how can I describe yesterday? There were highs and lows. The highs were good and the lows weren't really that low, more like a heavy sigh that says "you've got to be kidding me."
The high: I've mentioned how my neighborhood Giant supermarket was out of walnuts, so I went to my brand new BJs wholesaled discount store. Their walnuts are... our you ready for this? 2 pounds for $9.99. Giant's price was $7.49 for one pound. So I bought 4 pounds for $18 and change. That should last me for a while.
The low: At 12:55 PM UPS dropped off my new printer. I moved the box into the writing room and began unpacking. Once unpacked, I moved the printer to its proper place and began the process of pulling off all the tape according to the instructions. When I lifted the scanner lid to remove the foam insert I discovered that the scanner glass was broken, and said, "you have got to be kidding me." Mind you, there were no obscenities. Not even a simple, "oh, shit." What I did do was go to my laptop and start a chat with their customer service. That led to a phone call, which led to an email with pictures. The printer has been packed up and is now sitting in my living room. Xerox will let me know when it's going to be picked up. I was told the process will take between 3 and 7 days. Here's a pic. I'm thinking that sometime during transit it was dropped.
Anyway, I ended up spending little time on social media because my focus was on my printer issues. Honestly, it seems to me that yesterday was a low profile day for the Orange Anus. About the only thing worth mentioning was Just Dance Vance and Petey Hegseth getting booed and hissed at while walking through Union Station. There was so much unmitigated bile being thrown in their direction. There were people loudly shouting "couch fucker!" Can we talk about misreading the room.
And this just in: Orangie's overall approval rating has dropped to 39%. That's just his overall rating. I haven't seen any specifics yet on how that breaks out. Last week is approval rating on the economy was down to 37%; that has probably dropped since he's evidently pulling a TACO with some of the European tariffs. His ratings are in a death spiral because he's an idiot. His bragging about being a great negotiator got the carpet ripped out from under it because of his Alaskan fiasco. He left the European leaders sitting for an hour so he could go call his boss and that's not good. Everybody needs to start reminding themselves that everything Orangie touches dies.
We're starting out a bit warm here in Central Pa with our outside temp sitting at 75 (F). Mugginess abounds. I haven't checked what the dewpoint is, but I'm betting it's fairly high. Will we have rain this afternoon? I work, so I don't really care.
I will also be working 4 days next week. That's unusual, so someone must be on vacation. I don't mind. Extra hours mean a little extra money and after yesterday I'm going to need a little extra.
And yesterday? Things began well but then pivoted sharply into "well, that sucks" territory. It all started with the loaf of bread I was baking. I use olive oil instead of butter and usually I measure in the required 2 tablespoons. Yesterday I just poured in what I thought should be 2 tablespoons. I was wrong, so I ended up so I ended up with a bread cake, rather than a loaf of bread.
Then I tried to print something off. My laser printer, which is probably abut 3 books old, sat there doing nothing. My print screen said it was ready, however, my system said it was offline, and when I checked the printer settings in HP Smart, it said it was sleeping. Well, nothing I did seemed to wake it up. I then tried printing to my color laser jet and got a print head failure. I contacted Hewlett Packard and the tech told me my laser printer was gone. Unfortunately, my ticket was for the laser printer, not the color laser jet and I would need to begin the process again. Since I'm going to need a new printer, I went to the Staples website and ordered one. Ten minutes later I get an email from Staples telling me the printer I ordered is unavailable and that they will be crediting my account. Someone else might have gotten frustrated. Not me. flexibility in the face of adversity has always been the key. I'd had enough of Hewlett Packard, so I went to the Xerox website, checked out their laser printers, looked at some online reviews, and made my purchase: a color laser printer. Because it was my first time purchasing from Xerox I got a 15% off, which made this printer less expensive than the one I had tried to buy from Staples. Here's the new printer:
And, as you might expect, I spent a bit of time yesterday watching the Orange Anus getting steamrolled by his blo bro Vlad. By the way, that was a reporter on Fox who said Orangie was steamrolled. Here's Brian Tayler Cohen on what Fox had to initially say.
I don't know about you, but I was embarrassed as hell watching Orangie standing there on the red carpet, as giddy as some school getting to meet K-Pop, waiting for Vlad to arrive. I hope that I wasn't the only one to see Vlad give Orangie the double thumbs up as he hurried towards him. Vlad played Trump like a two bit whore. Vlad sang the golden oldies that Orangie cherishes, like the 2020 election was stolen, or that mail in voting is crooked. Later on in the evening Sean Hanity threw him some powder puff questions. He didn't ask him why Karoline Leavitt and Witkoff, and everyone else on Team Orangie, walked into that press conference looking ashen faced; this was universally reported. Something was off. Witkoff left the room before Putin began speaking. Even Orangie looked soggy jowled. And, of course, there are those videos of his slow, lumbering climb up into Air Force One after his treasonous meeting with Putin was over. This was not a good day for America.
