Olympia

 Today we hit the archeological site of Olympia, home of the first Olympic games.  When we left Pylos it was raining, and right from the beginning people were wondering what the weather was going to be like in Olympia.  Will it be raining? they asked.  We stopped for coffee and cookies (I bought 3.  They were delicious.) and someone asked, "what time does the rain start in Olympia?" And I said, it's not going to rain.  The weather was nice and sunny.  After touring the museum, our tour guide walked us through Olympia, itself, she glanced at a cloud in the sky and said, "you may want to hurry before it starts to rain," and I said, "it's not going to rain."  Later, I reminded Christos, our tour leader that I'd told him it wasn't going to rain.  😎😎😎

I learned so much today:  gym, as in gymnasium and gymnastics comes from the Greek word meaning naked.  Doesn't that add a spin to what that pommel horse guy did in this past summer's Olympics?  Stadium comes from Greek word meaning "to stand."  The stadium in Olympia could hold 45,000 men (no women) standing.  Just imagine that many men standing there, watching sports for the entire day, I'm betting whoever had the wine bar concession made out like bandits.

Seriously, seeing the statuary in the museum was enough to make me tear up.  The only words I could say were "Oh, my Gosh!"

Let's start off with Hermes, whose sculptor used leather and fine grit to give him his sheen.

And then we have the statues lining the top and front of Zeus's temple, the largest in all of Greece with just the columns 13 meters high (and yes, I did use meters, since that's what the rest of the world uses).

And this is Apollo, we'll get to meet him in Delphi.

And this is what the entire thing looks like.

There was a debate last night and evidently Kamala Harris wiped up the floor with Don. While I didn't watch any of it, from what I've read, Donnie boy did not do well with getting fact checked, but then liars never do.  

Even better, while Donnie's singing "Don't nobody bring me no bad news," Taylor Swift endorsed Harris.  Now, I now know some of you don't like Taylor, but let's be honest 30 million Swifties going to the ballot box is something the Republican party never, ever dreamed of.  Trump's Karma is comin' at him full speed ahead.

The Essence of Awesomeness

 The temps are supposed to climb into the upper 50s (F) today, it isn't until tomorrow that we're going to crack that 60 (F) barrier again.  Of course, after Wednesday, when I go back to work, they're supposed to do a shallow dive back into the mid 40s (F).  We'll have to wait and see if that's true.

As expected, yesterday things were somewhat steady in the retail world of home improvement.  I got my 3rd measure for the week.  I also talked to a gent who had no idea how heavy a 96 inch wide faux wood blind would be (about 50 pounds).  People don't think.  I also sold some vinyl tile to a New Orleans police officer who had relocated up to Harrisburg.  I brought up The Body in Repose, how it was set in the French Quarter, and had even created an Egyptian night club called the Amon-Ra.  He thought that was amusing, then said "it's nice for a quick touristy visit, but it's a bad place to live because of the crime."  Just passing this on to those who might be thinking of relocating to a warmer climate.

And, of course, there was something called the Super Bowl on TV.  Since I don't watch TV I missed it.  Instead, I played Fallout 4.  Some guy named Mahomes was the winning quarterback.  He evidently was spitting out flapjack comments about how God had was responsible for being there.  This was his way of saying that his universe does not extend beyond the 50 yard line, that it's very small.  That way he can be very big and very important.

And then there's this:

 UFOs abound around us.  In case you thought these babies were only soaring over the US, think again.  The Russkies are claiming they shot one down last month.  Yesterday the Hindu Times noted that the Chinese were going to shoot down another UFO over the Yellow Sea.  I'll be honest, these incidents remind me a lot of Star Trek.  I mean, how many times did the Enterprise send out unmanned, unarmed probes that were shot down?  And while it didn't happen in every episode, the shooting down of probes did happen frequently.  Of course, this isn't a movie, or an episode of a TV show.  Any species capable of traversing the space between stars would have no problem of exacting serious damage to the planet.

Of course, there's the gods of old have finally decided to show up.  Could it be that Zeus is testing the waters, thinking about making a come back?  Honestly, I think that would be the essence of awesomeness.