Empress of Earth

 Here it is, Monday, the temp is 39 (F) outside and the skies are overcast.  Rain is on the way.  Not much.  Still, autumn is usually a rainy season.  For those looking for a white Christmas, odds are rapidly stacking up against it happening, but then in this part of the country they are almost as rare as hen's teeth.  

Yesterday, the weather was wonderful, it was a terrible shame that I had to go to work.  The temps got up to 60 (F).  Howie and and I played frisbee before I had to leave, and for a moment, I thought I might call off.  But I didn't.  As a result, I wasted a super nice Sunday afternoon by sitting at the flooring desk.  On top of that, management cursed us by bringing in soft pretzel bite.  For those who don't know, a soft pretzel is a big doughy pretzel, and a soft pretzel bite looks like a little loaf of bread that's about as long as your forefinger.  In fact, a Lebanese who works in my department asked why they were serving us little loaves of bread.  Being a carb addict, I over consumes, so there's no stepping on the scale for me this morning.

My back is achy, so I took two Advil.  I was vaccinated for the flu, but there are several variations, so I'm hoping I'm not coming down with one of those that's not covered.  Of course, it could also be that I picked up Howie yesterday and I'm estimating he's up to around 40 pounds.  I'll find out tomorrow.  He needs to go back to the Vet for some booster shots.

One of the people I read is Stephen Beschloss, and this morning he was talking about how Cultists may have thought they were voting for a president, but in reality were voting for an oligarchy.  Cultists are not known for their intelligence.  Anyway, he used this picture, and while there isn't a caption, if there was one it would certainly be The Walking Dead meets the Terminator.

Elonia has definitely had quite a bit of work done.  At one time in his life he used to look like a balding doofus, now the scar tissue runs deep, and I wouldn't doubt that he's having the same procedures Michael Jackson used to make himself look... special.  As for the Orange Anus?  He's only going to grow more and more decrepit.  

Orangey was on Meet the Press yesterday, and... well... he did what he does so well:  Lie.  Though, there were those slim glimmers of honesty, like when he said he never promised to reduce prices.  All of those fools who voted for him because of this are in for one terrible surprise that is going to hit his them in the pocketbook super hard.  They're going to learn that he doesn't care if they starve.  Elonia doesn't care either.  I suspect that all Elonia wants is to be Empress of Earth.

The difference between Covid and the Flu

 And so we begin Sunday, the quiet day.  Almost as if knowing this is a day of rest for some religions, Mother Nature has bestowed upon Central Pennsylvania freezing rain.  Forecasts predict up to a quarter of an inch.  This is her way of saying "stay at home, don't go anywhere."  Will people listen?  Many will, but there is always that group of dummies who will get in their cars and drive to MacDonald's for breakfast.  These people with unfettered brains will be the death of themselves, and possibly others as well.

I'm scheduled to work from 3 PM to 7 PM, if I look out the window and there's a glaze on the sidewalk, I'll probably take some personal time.  "Better safe than sorry," I say.

I took this pic of the dogs yesterday.  Doesn't it look like they've just finished reprimanding me?  Of course, all I have to do is say "biscuit" and it's smiles all around.

And, of course, there was a large Twitter storm yesterday concerning Neil Gorsuch's verbal faux pas.  People were outraged that while questioning OSHA's interpretation of Biden's mask mandate he said "hundreds of thousands of people die every year from the flu."  At least that, or something very similar, is what the transcript listed as his statement.  However, the transcript interpreted him incorrectly.  The transcript missed a comma.  He actually said, if you listen to the recording, "hundreds, thousands of people die every year from the flu," and OSHA doesn't regulate that.  Personally, his actual comment is far more damning since he's comparing well over 800,000 deaths to "hundreds, thousands."  This is the type of thinking we have come to expect from Cracker Jack Crazy Conservatives.  

Germ Warfare

Today is a rather unusual day for me.  I called off sick.  About two weeks ago I developed a mild cold, runny nose for about a day and a half, that's all.  This is how colds normally effect me - here today and gone tomorrow.  On Friday one of my associates, the one who looks like Santa Claus, came in complaining of a vicious cold - sneezing, coughing, bad post nasal drip.  I told him "if it's that bad you should have stayed home."  We constantly deal with the public.  We want to sell them stuff, not make them sick.  Anyway, yesterday morning I noticed the beginning of a sore throat.  Shit.  So about 3 AM this morning, when I woke up to find swallowing very painful, I decided to take the day off.  Around 7 I called the store manager and told him I wouldn't be in.  His comment "I don't have any problem with you taking the day off."

Here it is, about 5 hours later, and my symptoms are pretty much gone.  My glands are a teeny bit sore yet, but my nasal passages are clear; breathing is easy.  I don't take medications, one of my little quirks, unless prescribed by a physician.  Anyway, I probably could have gone into work.  Maybe spread around a little contamination.  Shared a little of my discomfort with a lot of other people.  Practiced a little germ warfare on the unknowing masses who stopped in to buy a gallon of paint.  Nah, it was much easier to make a phone call and go back to sleep until the little dog decided to jump up on the bed with squeaky toy and shove it into my face.  Isn't this why we have 'personal days?'

Purell & the Gates of Hell

I stopped by my local Giant supermarket this morning to pick up some blueberries and a couple of asagio bagels.  While waiting at the U-Scan to check myself out, I notice one of the gentlemen ahead of me had covered the handle of his shopping car with Purell sanitary wipes.  The first thing which went through my mind was that maybe he suffers from some sort of immune deficiency.  But then I thought of an article I'd read in the Washington Post.  More and more people do seem to be developing a fear of germs.  Occasionally I have seen people using Purell wipes to clean off the handles of shopping carts and for the life of me I can't understand why.  It's not like you're going to catch Ebola, at least not yet, and not in this country.  So you might come down with a sniffle.  Sure, you may be a little uncomfortable for a couple of days, but it will pass.  What's really happening is that your immune system gets a little workout, a little P90X where it gets to jump around and make noises.  This is why you have an immune system.  Given the choice I'd rather mine was strong and studly rather then flabby and fat.  No one will come right out and say so, but I tend to believe that porky immune systems react slower.  It's important to mention that I rarely get sick.  For me, the worst symptom I get from a cold might be a runny nose for a couple of hours, and then it's gone.  I can't ever remember catching the flu.

Hell in a wipe

Now this might mean that I have a super-hero immune system.  I doubt it.  I just haven't bought into the continuous hype broadcast  in every audio / visual medium possible.  True, nobody wants to get sick, but it happens.  Deal with it.  I thought the bit of the article on asthma really interesting since so many people I know seem to have received that diagnosis from their family doctor.  And every one of them is on some form of medication.  Not that Purell Sanitizer is completely responsible.  Might it not be a wolf in sheep's clothing, however?  Leading you off the path?  Just think of the gentleman at Giant this morning.  Can you imagine what his medicine cabinet must look like?  Does his OTC drug expense need to be figured into his family's budget?  Do Purell sanitizing wipes disguise the gates of hell?  Or are the just the beginning of an even greater addiction?