Trump's No Flight Zone

According to the forecast, we're in a bit of a cool down and our daily highs are going to be in the mid 70s (F).  I don't know if I'd call that a cool down since those temps pretty much define my comfort zone.  The long range forecast doesn't have a single day where the high  heat will be approaching the 80 (F) degree mark.  Keep in mind, we are still in Spring.  We're a little over 3 weeks out before the commencement of summer.

Yesterday turned out to be a very good day.  Many chores were completed.  I finished recording all of the snippets of video I'm planning on using to introduce The Body in 4/4 Time.  I hope this thing looks presentable.  Originally, I had thought of doing something with animation, but a friend of mine just happened to have a metronome that he let me borrow.

And I do get to go to work today.  Memorial Day is over so I suspect it will be a fun, lap filled day.  I know that I have 2 customers I'm going to need to call, since sales are important.  We are heading into that summertime zone when the kids are home from school and plans are just starting to be made for the family summer vacation.  Though things might be different this year with prices continuing to go climb.

I made chicken marsala for dinner last evening.  It was quite tasty.

I saw an interesting posit about the Orange Anus.  Let's start of with Don Jr.'s wedding, which was in Bermuda.  Orangie said he was too busy to attend.  Then Orangie had his physical, after which he stood in front of a column and talked about it for approximately 3 minutes. Some people thought he was diaper dumping.  But sometimes when people get bad news, while they don't always talk about columns, they will do something, anything, to stop thinking about the bad news.  Then he moved his cabinet meeting from Camp David, about 60 miles away, back to the White House because of the bad weather.  Bad weather?  We had rain showers.  By helicopter, Camp David is only a 30 minute flight away.  There are a number of serious health concerns that would keep Orangie from flying.  So, did his doctors put Orangie into a no fly zone?  People are waiting to see how it is before he flies back down to Mar a Lago.

Trump joins the cast of The Walking Dead

 I woke up this morning to the sound of a steady, soaking rain quietly tap dancing on the roof above my head and lay there in bed for a few moments asking myself, "was rain in the forecast?"  I remember there being a 50/50 chance of showers.  Checking Accuweather, I see that % has now changed.  We're up to 95% chance of rain.  Temp wise we're in the upper 60s (F).  The cloud cover and rain will most likely keep today cool.

Today's weather does not portend a good day for home improvement retail, and I will at the store for a full shift.  Because I'll be at the store for the entire day, I'm taking my lunch.  Chicken and asparagus are roasting in the oven as I type.  The asparagus cost me $4.57 and the chicken is 1/2 of a chicken breast I cut into pieces.  I figure that my total cost, including the natural gas I'm heating the oven with, will be around $6.50.  This is something I think about regularly, especially when I see my fellow associates ordering something through Door Dash, or Grubhub costing them between $14 and $16.  Convenience has made so many people lazy.  To be honest, however, my cost will be going up because the asparagus is imported from Peru.

This past week was a long week for me as far as working goes: 22 hours.  This was because someone was on vacation.  That person return on Tuesday, so I'll be back to my normal 17 hours of sitting at the flooring desk chatting up the occasional customer.  A friend of mine will be retiring next week and she's decided to take up dog sitting as a way of keeping herself busy.  She'd had a golden retriever named Max (of all names) who died a few months back at the ripe old age of 15.  This is a good way for her to fill in that hole.  It's also good news for me when I decide to take my next trip.

And, of course, a lot of people have been talking about Orangie's health ever since he foisted his face once again on national TV in order to feed his ego.

When I first saw it I thought, wow, he forget to put on his orange makeup, but then I looked at his hands and thought, wow, his orange makeup is barely keeping him from looking deathly white.  So, how pale is the orange schlock?  Take a look at his hands.  This is also the ego driven press conference where people noticed the thick smearing of makeup on the back of his right hand, the one he has covered with his left hand.  So, the question everybody is asking is "how sick is he?"  "At death's door?"  Unfortunately, he has the best medical care in the world.  His doctors are good enough to keep a cadaver walking if need be.  Purportedly, he is going to be golfing today, but again that needs to taken with a grain of salt.  Here lately what passes for him playing golf is driving to a spot where one of his caddies drops a ball, he gets out of the cart and takes a swing, then get  back in the cart to be driven to another spot where the caddy will once again drop a ball.  In truth, this might actually be a new episode of The Walking Dead.

 

A Better Selfie

 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.

 

Declutter this

Like many corporations these days, the one I work for offers several ways in which associates can reduce the amount they pay for their health care.  For example, non-smokers receive a $20 incentive every month tacked onto their paycheck.  Unfortunately they don't go that extra step to verify you are a non-smoker, most likely because it would require a pee test.  I suspect it's because the cost of having those non-smokers dribble a few drops in a little vile in order to verify their veracity isn't worth the logistical expense.  Pee may not be as cheap as we think.

In the past, they have also given an additional $50 per month incentive if you participated in a "hidden health screening," where they do some blood work to check you cholesterol, triglycerides, and sugar. I always pass because, as my personal physician says, I have good genes.  Translate this to read "I can eat a gallon of real ice cream every week without having adverse effects."  The only thing I have to worry about is the weight, and if I worked out more I wouldn't have to worry about that.  This year, however, to get that extra moola in your check you also need to participate in a Health Challenge.  There is no way to option out.  So, being the cheapy I am, I signed up.

The challenge is broken down into 3 areas: exercise, diet, and stress reduction.  Starting July 10 I will need to sign in and provide answers to questions in order to earn points.  Of course there is no real tracking here.  There is no audit process for those taking the challenge.  Oh, and the questions are rather simplistic.

Which BMI would you prefer?

I can't make note that I ate a pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia this afternoon, but I can click the button recording the fact that I ate 6 helpings of fruits and vegetables.  I can report that I did at least 30 minutes of "moderate exercise," but I can't let them know I did 45 minutes on the elliptical followed by 20 minutes of free weights.  The "stress reduction" bit is more then a little amusing with questions like:  "Did you simplify you finances?" and "Did you take 15 minutes to declutter?"  Usually I declutter every morning, before I take a shower.

The 'challenge' runs for two months.  In order to continue to receive the incentive you need to participate for at least 3 weeks.  Since they are doing it from the privacy of their own homes, associates can be as honest or dishonest as they like.  I'll bet a gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream many of them will fudge it.  Me?  I'll give them the facts as best as I am able.  Do you think they really care if, right after I publish this, I'm going to chow down on a large pepperoni pizza?  Nah.  Most likely those in charge are gambling that many of those participating will fail and the corporation will end up saving some money.  Hey, maybe they could use the money they save to pay for a pee test.