Making Losing Great Again

 And welcome to a new Monday morning.   Outside, the temps are a cool 38 (F), and they'll be heating up into the moderate mid 40 (F) range.  The sky's overcast and while we don't have windy conditions shaking up the branches of the River Birch in my side yard, it is breeze.  I have to work, so I'm not going to miss anything.

I did place my order last evening for a new Concept 2 rower.  It should ship in a few days.  I have about a week and a half to get the workout room ready.   I was planning on moving many things.  That may not be necessary, well, maybe one thing.  The rest is just going to be... shall we say, a minor redecoration.  To be more precise, the exercise equipment is being reoriented.  I will shoot a picture once everything is done.

And I am going to be returning that Garmin blood pressure cuff.  This morning I took a reading and, I kid you not, this morning's reading was... 202/144 and my pulse was 142 and I was in a hypertensive crisis, except I wasn't.  Using my old Lumiscope cuff five minutes later, my reading was 139/81 with a pulse of 54.  My pressure is always a bit higher in the morning because I start caffeinating soon after I'm up.  My resting pulse is normally in the low to mid 50s because of... exercise.

To give you an idea of how shitty some customers are, one of the returned this tile mosaic that they cut poorly.  Of course, who ever this customer was, he covered up his mistakes by hiding it beneath other mosaics that hadn't been cut.  I'm betting he was a Republican.

Funny things are beginning to happen in politics, concerned citizens are beginning to warn Republicans about their Trump problem.  In Pennsylvania, former Senator Dent spoke this past weekend of impending, catastrophic losses for Republicans.  He understands that everything Trump touches dies.  I liked the bit where he said that Trump makes "losing Great Again."  To understand this, Republicans would need to reassess their beliefs, something they simply can not do. This is what makes MAGA a cult.  They're addicted to their own lies.  Trump is will be bringing their bad Karma to them with such a destructive force the party will not survive.  This is a good thing.

Row this Way

 I woke up really early this morning.  Lilly had a cranky belly night and around 0415 went out into the hall and threw up.  She usually gets one every other week.  After cleaning up the mess, I decided to put a little time into researching a rowing machine.  Jon, the PT who's my reference guide for all things Physical Therapy recommended a Concept 2, and it seems so does everybody else on the internet.  It's fairly inexpensive compared to a lot of other rowers, however it's long, over 8 feet long, and my space is limited. I shall have to do some pondering on this one.

I also took my blood pressure this morning, in both arms because I'm comparing cuffs.  In my right arm it was slightly elevated.  This is usually the case in the morning because I'm a coffee drinker.  The left arm, however, was through the roof.  My left arm usually reads higher, but this was super high, so I'm suspecting there might be wrong with that cuff.

Retail was steady yesterday.  Though I did something I never, ever do: I got to work late.  I regularly start at 1300 on Saturday, but for some reason my schedule was changed to 1200, and that change never made it to my calendar, not to my brain, and I arrived at the store at shortly before 1 PM.  This is how it goes.

Business was good.  I got 2 measures, and have a pending sale that should go through today.  

Oh, and it's raining outside.  Heavily.  In fact, we had rain throughout the night.  The temps are predicted to drop, becoming more seasonal... well, warmly seasonal rather than cold.  

This is the rower I'm thinking of getting.  Though, again, I need to consider size.

And since it's Sunday, there's not a lot of political humor for me to write about, except, perhaps Trump's speech in Las Vegas, where he was, as usual, all over the map.  His early stage dementia was apparent, something that was pointed out by many on the internet.  Coherence was a bit factor, though that has always been an issue.  This may have been the result of $83 million hit his flailing finances took.  And it's not going to get any better.  Judgement is coming for Trump.

Not bad for an old fart

As with many companies, the mega home improvement retail chain I work for provides health coverage for their full time associates.  And, as lot of other companies do as well, they provide a way in which you can receive credits to reduce your monthly payments.  We need to do a Health Challenge, which is a three part program.  You need to complete a health assessment on the computer, participate in a health screening (where they draw blood), and work your way through a health challenge that isn't too challenging.  I do all three since it's a $600 yearly deduction.
Anyway, you need to 'fast' before the blood draw since they're checking your cholesterol.  Now, I like my coffee in the morning, and while I prefer it with milk, I can drink it black.  On the morning of the draw I had about 4 mugs of black coffee.  The little nurse who did the draw squawked when I told her.  "That's going to raise your blood pressure!"  Right.  My blood pressure was 112/78, which is not bad, and I am not on any meds.  Yesterday I received the results of my blood work in the mail in a snazzy guide.

My blood work came back fine - total cholesterol is 166 which, I suspect, would be lower if I weren't eating a gallon of whole milk ice cream every week.  The cholesterol / HDL ratio is 3.5 which, according to the guide is "highly desirable."  In fact everything was either good, better, or best. and it's all done with out any meds.  Of course I do tend to watch what I eat (except for the ice cream) and exercise on a regular basis.

Some of my numbers

As you might guess, one of my main goals is to live as long as possible without needing to rely on medications.  I hate pills.  And, in case anybody is wondering about my age, I'll be 63 this year.  Not bad for an old fart.