On the Bright Side

 Okay, so it's New Year's Eve.  Can you feel the electrified excitement flowing through my fingers as I type?  You can't?  Golly Gee!  I wonder why that is.  Could it be that I learned a long, long time ago that nothing's going to change at midnight?  Probably.  There's also the possibility that I realized, again, a long, long time ago, that New Year's Eve was just an excuse to party hearty.  That is the excuse most people rely upon.  And it's already started - I received a notification a short time ago that New Zealand is the first country to celebrate the new year.  Excuse me, but what's to celebrate?  While some countries might be a little better than they were last year this time, there are also some countries which aren't, some are even worse.

Of course, in America, Conservatives refusing to get vaccinated will end up getting Covid over and over again until it finally kills them.  I guess that could be considered a bright spot.  I tell those who believe the nutso jobs on The Daily Wire when they say there's no concrete proof you can catch Covid more than once that they need to come work in my store.  A number of people have already had it twice.

On the bright side, I am off today.  I do work tomorrow, but I get holiday pay, and they're bringing in food for us.  Now, ain't that a jolly treat.  Business will be slow, except for the duffers who think we're going to be running New Year's Day sales.  That'll never happen.  

Other Bright Spots?  My back is feeling great.  The dogs are healthy.  The fish tank is evolving into something old (photos when I get the live plants).  Oh, and I'm thinking of baking chewy, spice cookies today.

Another bit of Bright Side news is that Ron DeSantis appears to have disappeared.  Family vacation in Cancun?  I think they're saying it's been about 2 weeks since he's made a public appearance.  His spox (that's short for Spokesperson, though let's be honest, it sounds a lot like something Republicans spread among themselves), said that his wife is  battling breast cancer, and he is raising 3 children.  We know some of that to be true.  Still, with Covid raging across the state, you would expect Ronnie to make an appearance... oh, wait, I forgot, he really doesn't care if people are dying across his state.  So, my money says he has taken the family on a vacation... maybe to Mar a Lago.

Bake this

 Welcome to Thursday.  I get to work today.  7.50 hours.  Something I've noticed about the scheduling is that I'm never schedule for a full 8 hours, it's always 7.50.  Maybe our scheduler believes that half hour is one of the definitions of 'part-time.'  We're also heading into our slow time of year, so my hours will drop.  After next week, I'm down to 20 hours per week.

I didn't go to the movies last evening - my friend wasn't feeling well.  Honestly, going every Tuesday or Wednesday for the past 4 weeks has me just a bit movied out.  I like going to the movies, that sort of frequency is a bit too much.  

And, what did I do yesterday?  Well... napped quite a bit, the after effects of my shingle's vaccination I don't doubt.  The dogs loved it.  This doesn't mean I didn't do anything.  Several loads of laundry were run through the washer and dryer.  Cleaned up the kitchen.  Worked on the rewrite.  I'm steaming through that at about 20 - 30 pages a day.

Speaking of The Body in Repose, I'm picking up the cover art today.  Are you ready for your tease sometime this week?  Or maybe next week?

I'm off tomorrow, so I might bake spice cookies.  With raisins, since they're for me and not the dogs.

Will they look this good?

Work will be interesting today.  You see, as a very large retail organization, corporate has decided to go through with the vaccine mandate.  Good.  While I am sure there are several reasons, I don't doubt the most pressing is $$$.  At present, when an associate gets hospitalize with Covid, insurance will cover it.  The last I knew we had 2 hospitalized.  Take that number and multiply it by 2700 stores.  Then there's the emergency pay associates get if they test positive and have to take time off from work.  Believe me, those $$$ add up quickly.  While I'm sure some associates will shriek and moan about needing to get vaccinated, or tested weekly, they need to know we're caving into the government.  I do not doubt for a second the real reason behind this is good, old fashioned American Capitalism.  

Subtitle This

 So, I received my 2nd shingles vaccination yesterday.  My shoulder was a little stiff.  I also pulled the blankets tight around me while sleeping because I was cold.  And this morning?  I'm a bit tired, feeling like I should lay down and take a nap.  I may do that after this gets posted.

I use my Garmin Fenix Pro 6 to track my sleep.  This morning it said I had a fairly decent night's sleep.  It evidently missed the part at 0105 when the dogs needed to go potty.  We had a slow drizzle as I opened the door to let them out, but no sooner were they halfway across the veranda when the heavens opened.  Hell.  In 2 seconds it went from a light drizzle to a heavy downpour.  They were not happy.  While they love the drying off process, they detest getting rained on.  And I had to dry them thoroughly, the last thing I wanted was we dog on the bed.

There's a movie in store for tonight, however we're going to a different theater.  For some reason, AMC has started showing some of their movies with English subtitles.  Now, I don't mind subtitles when I'm watching a foreign film, but they are totally unnecessary when I speak the language.  AMC is doing this because of the tens of millions of deaf people who don't go to the movies because they can't hear well enough.  Translation: they're trying to get more ticket buyers in their seats.  What it will do is send people to the theaters where the open caption films aren't playing.  Tell me, how many people want to be distracted by subtitles during the latest Spiderman movie.  If you're not hearing impaired, do you really want to sit through this?

I follow Adam Kitzinger on Twitter, mostly because he understands that most conservatives are dumbasses, but also, now and then Adam is bit of a smartass, which is fine with me.  Take yesterday when he corrected an angry Trumper by telling him "It's Rino, not Rhino, there's no H."

The Daily Wire

 So, yesterday we had snow... in fact, for about half an hour we had 'white out' conditions.  And then in the afternoon it began to rain.  We haven't had rain for a while.  They're calling for more rain today.  Forecasted high temps are in the mid 40's (F) for the next 2 weeks.  Accuracy is not always the forecasters forte. 

This morning I get to drive down to the Lebanon VA Hospital to get my 2nd shingles shot.  The drive is nice.  I get to think and listen to music.  I have Sirius XM and they recently sent me a survey, which I promptly filled out.  They're desperately trying to be Amazon Music... they're not.  I only listen to the alternative station and not only do the DJ's aggravate me, I find I'm paying for a lot of repetitive recorded programming.  I'll end my subscription in a couple of months, when the cheapo deal they gave me runs out.

I rode 11.14 miles yesterday in the Rhone valley.  The ride wasn't hilly, which I like.  For the time being I'm going to alternate between the treadmill and the bike, so when I get back from Lebanon I'll put a few miles in on the treadmill.  I'm up to 3.2 miles per hour.

Now, I don't watch The Daily Wire because it's filled with Cracker Jack Crazy Quacks like Candace Owens.  She fits right in with Ben Shapiro's team of authoritarian conservatives.  Loser #45 loves The Daily Wire, possibly because they offer him free diet Coke whenever he makes an appearance.  It was on The Daily Wire when he bragged about creating 3 (that's right 3) vaccines and told Candy that vaccines were good, that it's the unvaccinated who were getting sick and dying.  Well, he also said he was against a mask mandate in schools while on that show and, of course, Candy jumped on it, comparing American kids in schools with the Chinese.  Of course, Candy cackled when Loser #45 told her Chinese schools rated much higher than American schools.  She crackled when he said, and I paraphrase, "their schools are rated third in the world, while ours are rated around 44."  Ouch.

Bingo!

 And a fine, happy Monday morning to all you!  From what I'm hearing, quiet Christmas's seemed to again be the norm this year.  Sometimes, I think the media hypes the holidays too much.  But a lot of it also has to do with 'keeping up with the Jones's.'  Many people feel they need to have bragging rights about their holiday dinner, and they need to back up those bragging rights with pictures on Facebook, and Instagram, and Twitter (or whatever social media platform they're on).  Personally, I could really care less if you jammed 40 people into your house just to create a photo op.  I really do think if every time we saw one of these pictures we'd comment "Jesus, that's big fuckin' crowd,' people might stop posting them.

I had one of my memory dreams last night except this one was different.  I went back to Lebanon Valley College, though I didn't go back in time.  The English Department was, and still is, housed in what used to be an private residence.  However, everything was current.  Every professor I ran into had been a fellow English major, except they had all aged and I had to match their names with their older faces.  It was a fun dream.  LVC is one of the top 10 Liberal Arts Colleges on the Eastern Seaboard.  You can see some of the old private homes housing, the English Dept.  and the Foreign Language Dept. This is where I went to school.

And I had to guffaw yesterday when someone on Twitter posted, "Candace Owens ending Trump's political career was not on my Bingo Card for 2021."  Her saying "he is old, born before TV," is a freaking hoot.  Alex Jones is calling him a Dirty Liar.  I can only wonder about the Evangelicals who believe he was sent by God.  I mean do they think Trump is speaking for God when he says they should get vaccinated?  Holy Shit!  My money says that's not on their Bingo Card.

The Truth

So, did everybody have a nice Christmas?  Quiet?  Fun filled?  Mine was both.  The dogs each got a toy; Lily will play with them, Biggie probably not.  That doesn't mean he won't walk around with one of them in his mouth or lay on top of one to prove ownership.  The weather here in Central PA was fairly meh.  Drizzle until mid-afternoon, and then rain, with a high in the 50's (F).

I didn't hit the treadmill yesterday, not did I put any miles in on the bike.  I will compensate today, even though I'm scheduled to work.  Yepper, I'm supposed to be at the Flooring Desk from 1330 until 1900.  Those 5.5 hours are going to be excruciatingly slow.  Fear not, I shall endure knowing that I'm not scheduled to work again until Thursday.

Later on this morning I'll be hitting the treadmill while watching this.  Treaders, who's worked in Switzerland, has probably already been to Bern.  I haven't, so this will have to make do.

I have been thinking quite a lot about the Universe and how it shatters any theology claiming to have a deity responsible for it's creation.  Keep in mind, these theologies were developed when mankind believed the Earth was not only flat, but was indeed the center of the Universe.  I would have thought someone would have told these theologians our solar system is actually located on the spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy.  Oops.  So much for divine knowledge.   

I also found this nifty little article on how a certain group believes Religious Freedom only applies to Right Wing political agendas.  One of these groups is being sued because an employee chose to wear a mask, claiming it was his religious freedom.  He was eventually terminated from his position because his religious freedom was as important as his employer's religious freedom.  Kind of sounds like hypocrisy, don't it?

Happy Holidays!

 The dogs are still sleeping,.  I didn't tell them they're getting presents, so they're going to  be very, very surprised.

I hope your holidays are filled with happiness.  May your beliefs give you comfort.

As I was making coffee this morning, I started thinking about the Earth, how since the moment this planet began forming all of those billions of years ago, not once has it ever stopped changing.  There have been many dominant species over those eons, mankind being the most current.  No matter what people may desperately want to believe, this planet is not going to stop changing.  We will change, too.  When I look up at the night sky I see stars, and galaxies, and solar systems with planets, and I know there are many rooms waiting for us on those planets.

Mysterious Island

Well, a happy Christmas Eve to everybody.  Unless you're in Retail, most of you have already begun your Christmas holiday.  I'm off for the next 2 days.  I've been loving my schedule lately.  Lots of days off.  Honestly, I didn't know how these part-time hours were going to be beneficial or not.  So far, they've been beneficial.  Here's an example:  my blood pressure has dropped.  I check my numbers every morning, and I'm coming in low borderline.  Now, ain't that nice?

All the ingredients for Biggie's birthday cake are warming up to room temperature.  I am making one adjustment to the recipe, which called for raisins.  Dogs shouldn't eat grapes, which means they shouldn't eat raisins either.  Believe me, I don't think Biggie is going to object.

To start off my holiday, I watched Mysterious Island last evening.  This has always been one of my favorite movies.  Great special effects by Ray Harryhausen.  Men running around half naked on a mysterious island, with 2 women thrown in because... well... without the women people might start talking.  Two of the actors are still alive:  Michael Callan, who actually got his start playing Riff in the Broadway production of West Side Story, and Michael Craig, who's career was very successful in Australia.  

So, I see Loser #45 is not advocating vaccinations, no mandates for masks or vaccinations, though.  Believe me, he never does anything with out a grift involved.  He needs his base to pay through their noses, that's the only thing that makes him happy.  That, and having them believe he was sent by God.  The religion that has that as one of its precepts desperately needs to be drummed out of existence.

 

The Arrivals

 Good morning, afternoon, or evening, where ever you may be.

Yesterday was one of them hhhhmmm days.  I had breakfast with my brother at Denny's.  I had some sort of fried dish with potatoes, sausage, onions, and peppers with 2 eggs over easy on top.  Meh.  My breakfasts at home are always much smaller, a single egg over easy, or a bowl of oatmeal.  Breakfasts out usually make me feel like I should come home and take a nap, which is what I did.  Not good.

In fact, all I really did yesterday was nap and move furniture around.  I ate some ice cream, too.  I love ice cream.  And the real stuff, not the fake crap made with hydrogenated oils.  All those calories are going to force me to work out even more.  Did you know you can eat what ever you like, as long as you burn off those non-essential calories?  The problem most people have is they love to consume but hate to burn, and so they blow up to be the size of a house.

Oh, and I went to see the new Spiderman movie last evening.  It was very good, though I will admit to wishing the producers would have just dispense with the first 20 minutes in order to get to the juicy parts.  Yes, because I knew what was coming, I was anxiously waiting the... arrivals, multiple arrivals with some serious visitation rights.  This movie's been breaking box office records with $$$ and pre-Covid movie would have been proud of, and most because of the... arrivals.  Some will call this a spoiler, I'll call it a hint, but there was a scene in which the audience screamed, and let me tell you for a Wednesday night during a Pandemic, that theater was packed, and this is a hint:

Politically speaking, we're heading into a very slow couple of days.  Christmas.  Now, I know many are praying Trump gets a lump of coal in in stocking in the form of an indictment, I don't think that's going to happen.  However, we all have something to look forward to, his January 6 presser at Mar a Lago.  He's going to shriek his Big Lie, all the while everyone else is going to visually give us his attempt at a coup.  This should be interesting.

Crossroads

 Okay, so I got up early this morning.  I'm having breakfast with my brother.  He and his wife are getting their Christmas present:  that nice wine cooler I no loner use.  A microphone and an assortment of cords is also going to be included since... well, I don't need them anymore and he might put them to good use.

We're breakfasting at Denny's, which is just a hop, skip, and a jump from my retail home.  Don't worry, there's no hopping, skipping, or jumping planned as an after breakfast exercise.  Nope, I'm going to head on home, with a quick stop at my neighborhood Giant supermarket.  Biggie's birthday is rapidly approaching.  He was a Christmas Eve puppy.  My big question is should I bake the cake or buy one?  The ice cream will be bought.  Maybe a spice cake?  With cream cheese icing?  

For those interested, the first draft of The Body in Repose should be finished either today or tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to the rewrite.  One of the changes planned is merging chapters 1 and 2, and adding a bit with a character named Trawley, he heads up the murder investigation department for the New Orleans police.

I find it interesting that we, the human species appear to be at a Crossroads.  Some of us will make the correct decision and survive, others will be remembered only in history books as a people who failed to understand the importance of moving forward.  Science and life are intertwining.  Life and mythology are unraveling.  We are a linear species moving towards a non-linear point of view.

I saw Madison Cawthorn spit out some sort of nonsense about kinetic energy...  yes, I am talking about that Madison Cawthorn, just in case you were wondering.  He was talking about a possible future conflict between those who think like him and normal people.  Of course, people were making comments about his stupidity and one caught my eye:  this asshole doesn't understand we are armed to the teeth.  You know, these assholes who pose their families in front of Christmas trees holding their weapons are so out of touch.  They have already reached that Crossroad and taken the wrong turn.

The Expense, not to be confused with The Expanse

 Wow!  This is the longest night of the year!  That comment is for everyone who is into size, i.e. length in hours.  These are the same people who will throw their hands up in the air and shout "it's sooo short!"  Not that it really matters since in 16 or so hours this day will be done.  This will satisfy all of those people who can't wait until tomorrow to nod with satisfaction and say, "yes, longer is better."

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, today is also Tuesday.  I don't know if that means anything to some of you or not, but if it does, I want you to know I'm putting it out there.

Things are being rearranged in the living room and the writing room (formerly the dining room).  Space is opening up.  I'm giving that wine cooler I bought to my brother since I only buy a bottle of wine ever few weeks.  For a while, I was using it to chill my Gatorade, not that I needed my Gatorade chilled, I just wanted to put the cooler to use.  So, tomorrow morning it gets delivered to my brother.  I'm sure he and his wife will keep it well stocked.

I'm keeping the porcelain figurine and the lamp

I stopped by my local Giant supermarket yesterday to pick up some things, one of which was Pup-peroni for the dogs.  I was so shocked when the cost rang up at $22.15 I let loose with an expletive.  You might have heard me, I was very loud.  I know the woman next to me opened her mouth in surprise.  Holy Shit!  So I had the clerk remove the charge and take the bag of dog snacks.  Once I got home, I went to Chewey.com and ordered the same size bag for $9.96, no freight charge since it's part of the autoship with the 2 bags of Beneful I get delivered every 4 weeks.  This is how life works.  You make the smart choices.

I understand the January 6 committee would like to talk to Scott Perry.  Good.  Is office in Harrisburg is a little over a mile and a half from where I live.  What a wonderful thing if it were to be shut down.  This loser's been a crucible for right wing hatred for too long.

Build Back... what the hell?

 Well, my alarm went off at 0500 this morning and I rolled over and shut it off.  Biggie had me up twice during the night to go potty outside, so a little lay-in was acceptable.  

Yesterday was a good day down in York with my friend Betsy.  Funny thing though, I got a call and a text from the store asking me if I wanted to work a couple of hours.  The answer was, as you might expect, no.  This scheduler has been doing this job for 2 years and still doesn't understand she needs to schedule for coverage, not hours.

Also, my Epson printer stopped printing in color right in the middle of a picture of the rooftops of the the French Quarter.  I was not very happy.  The regular printer head cleaning wasn't working, so I had to do a power clean.  I hope this isn't going to be an ongoing problem.  It's less than a year old.

I took this picture of the moon yesterday afternoon when I got home from York, almost looks like the sun, doesn't it?

And, of course, Manchin ignorantly knifed the Build Back Better plan in the back yesterday.  One of the bits I read said he had never been fully on board.  This is not me defending him.  If that's the case he should have been far more vocal.  Instead it appears he teased his vote for the legislation.  I understand he's a moderate Democrat from a Conservative state, however I doubt very much if his antics are going to win him any votes back home... except maybe Republican votes.  And, of course, he does like the pleasure of the Corporate company he keeps, thanks to them and his business dealings he's managed to buy a Maserati. 

An Early Christmas

Traffic through the blog is always slow on Sundays, so welcome to Slow Sunday.

Today is the first of 4 days off, and I'm looking forward to each and every minute of them.  I'm also heading down to York to see my friend Betsy for lunch.  She's getting her Christmas present.  A surge protector.  Now, I know there are some of you who are thinking, 'my, that's a crappy gift,' and it might be if she had 4 or 5 laying around.  Well, she doesn't.  Because this is one of those things she never thought to buy, she ends up rotating what gets plugged in, meaning her laptop is not always fully charged.  After today, that's going to change.

Yesterday work was... tedious.  We have a lot of college kids back to work through the holidays except not all of them want to work.  Some do, but there are a number who just want to get paid to hang around with their bros, or their friends, or what ever they call them.  I'm sure there are some who find it convenient that I'm part-time since I do tell them to get off their asses and do something related to their job.

And I know not all of us believe in Santa, but, surprisingly, he must exist because we're all getting a nice present this year... and it's early!  Yep.  What, you might ask?   Well, Loser #45 and Bill O'Reilly have just started their 'history' tour, he's trying to reinforce his Big Lie, just as Omicron rears its ugly head as it spreads like wildfire.  Attendance is not breaking box office records... it's not even close.  Those who are attending are unvaxed, diehard supporters who will never wear a mask.  Many will be infected, and I don't doubt, many will die because... well, they've been told Covid is no worse than the flu... or a bad cold, so they will wait until it's too late to seek medical attention.  Oh, and if you're wondering how sparse the attendance is at these arena shows, here's a pic from Florida, last week.

Evidently, when show time rolls around, the upper levels have been cleared and those with the cheap seats have been moved down onto the floor so the crowd looks bigger than it actually is.  Loser #45 took a page from Madonna's playbook for his Houston show and arrived 2 hours late.  Now, tell me, isn't this a good reason to break into Jingle Bell Rock?

Religious hypocrisy and Covid

 Well, I woke up to a drizzly, wizzly day outside and tiny rain drops are hanging from the branches of my river birch.

And since we're not on the sunny side of the street, I do have to work today... for a full 6 hours.  I'm thinking the store might not be too busy.  Though, I did talk to a Slovakian couple on Thursday who might be back in today to set up a measure.  They were nice; a little surprised by the cost of the carpet they chose, but then they went very, very expensive.  If they come back, I'll try to get them into something less expensive.

I've been thinking about the religious hypocrisy of anti-vaxxers.  You know who I'm talking about, those who seek a religious exemption so as to avoided being vaccinated.  They do seem to drop their religious objections rather fast once they've been diagnosed.  Sure, there are those who turn to Ivermectin, which was developed with minimal science, but when they get seriously ill they turn to the medicines developed by science.  Or, in some cases, they will pray first and then turn to science, going so far as to pray for God to let the science heal them.  Hypocrisy, yes?  Of course.  I know unvaccinated people like this.  My personal belief is that individuals who object to getting inoculated on religious grounds should rely totally on their beliefs to save them.  But then we all know that in their heart of hearts, these people are phony as hell. 

Right Off The Boat

Well, hello.

Friday here in Central Pa, just as it is where ever you might be... as long you're on this side of the International Date Line.  For all of you Aussies, and Indonesians, and everyone else on the other side, well... hello.

A number of my co-workers have become Delta Disciples, two of whom are now in the ICUs of 2 different hospitals, both having serious difficult breathing, both on oxygen, though I understand neither has so far been intubated.  Oh, and both are unvaxed Trump supporters, as if I needed to tell you that.  As John Gray says, "hey ho."

An older couple stopped in on Monday complaining about issues with their install.  Older and, as if I need to tell you, MAGAs.  A serious problem was discovered when they removed their old carpet, a large crack in the concrete pad of their family room.  That, however, was not the problem.  Nope.  Their problem was with the installers who just happened to be Asian.  "Right off the boat," the woman said several times.  "And all they did was scream and yell at each other."  At one point she said, "and I was worried you might send Mexicans, and what you sent were Chinese, and you could tell they were right off the boat."  I suppose you've already surmised what they were complaining about.  What this couple didn't know was that the installers were in constant communication with us, emailing a number of pictures of the crack, and documenting the treatment they were receiving. What did we do?  We refunded their installation charge and politely sent them packing.  They will have to find someone else to do their installation.

Just think, in a few days winter will be here!

I saw that in the UK BoJo and his Conservatives have lost a seat they've held for at least 200 years.  This man has always been an ass and I do believe the country has finally had enough of his bullshit.  And speaking of asses, we have a number in this company.  Over here we call them Republicans.  The truth is their enemy.  Here's a little bit of truth.  The RNC is paying some of Loser #45's legal bills, over a million dollars worth of legal bills.  He's not only going to take them back to Hell with him, he's going to bleed them dry all they way down.

The Truth

 Holy Crap!  It's Thursday, and I'm scheduled to work a full 8 hour shift!  Of course, I'm off tomorrow.  Saturday is the last day I work this week.  Of course, the downer bit is that the schedule posted yesterday for 3 week out has me working 4 days.  Ouch.

While almost all of the reviews for West Side Store have been very good, I did see 2 that slammed the movie.  Andrea Gonzalez-Ramirez wrote for New York Magazine that the 2021 version, just like the first version, as well as the original Broadway show failed to truly show the Puerto Rican experience.  Richard Brody, from the New Yorker, cited the fact that one of the neighborhoods referenced in the movie was a black neighborhood and there was only one black speaking part in the movie.  I'm sure these people must have hated The Sound of Music, the most popular musical ever put on film, because the story is an almost complete fictionalization of the Von Trapp Family experience.  There was no escape from a music festival, no hiding in a nunnery, and no climbing over every mountain.  Nope.  The Von Trapps simply packed up their belongings, got on a train, and moved to Switzerland.  And as for the movie's portrayal of nuns?  Well, I don't believe there were any actual nuns cast.

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This  Never Happened!

And aren't the Fox Fools funny, throwing their little hissy fits about their texts being made public?  I think so.  I also think it's rather sad that the red-handed lies are being revealed and instead of showing remorse or contrition, the part of the Orange Anus is simply lying even more, or denying the truth.  This is the 'do nothing' party showing their true colors.  They don't like democracy.  They want to be in charge of an authoritarian government that dictates.  We've heard it from them over and over again, so this should come as no surprise.  "Shut up!  We're in Charge."  This is why they needed to be voted out and taken down.

West Side Story

 Well, I have to say my appointment with the UPMC pain management doctor was pretty much of a bust.  I had to wait 40 minutes for him to show up, (I really hate to wait) and when he did there was no 'how are you? where does it hurt? what makes it hurt?'  Nope.  The first thing out of his mouth was "epidurals work for most people."  He almost allowed me to explain what I have been doing to help with the pain before repeating the bit about the epidurals.  Other forms of pain management never entered the conversation.  The appointment taught me quite a lot about how he practices medicine, as well as most of the patients he sees.  I'm supposed to have a follow up 'video' appointment which I will cancel, no use wasting the governments money on this yoyo's horseshit.

On the much brighter side, I went to see  West Side Story last evening.  The movie was very good.  Back when I was in college I had the pleasure of directing the Phi Mu Alpha production, so I'm quite familiar with the show.  This adaption works quite well.  I'm not a big fan of Ansel Elgort, but he hits all the high notes and the part of Tony can be an average tenor's nightmare.  In the original movie version, the song "Cool" was moved to after the rumble.  Singing a song about staying "Cool" after 2 murders just didn't work for me.  In the Spielberg version, as in the show, the song now proceeds the fight and works much better.

My opinion on why it didn't tear up the box office its opening weekend:  Not everybody wants to go see a movie with a sad ending after living through 2 years of a pandemic.  There was also the Kentucky tornado tragedy filling the airwaves.  I do think those had a big effect on the box office.  That being said, sitting in the audience last night, attendance was high, between 40 and 50 for a Tuesday night showing.  My friend turned to me and said, "Dave, there's a whole shit load of people here."  Honestly, I suspect this movie is going to have very long legs.

And, of course, the House of Representatives has found Mark Meadows in Contempt.  I don't know which is getting more press, that little tidbit, or Liz Cheney's reading of desperate texts from January 6.  There are some who are upset that this information isn't being released fast enough, let me remind them that timing is everything.  Some... well, let me rephrase that, quite a few Americans have long term memory issues: they can't remember in November what they heard and read a year earlier.  A big info drop might end up being useless.  Besides, isn't it fun to slowly add salt to the Republican wound?

Splish Splash

 Well, it's Monday Morning and my oatmeal has just finished cooking in the microwave, not instant oatmeal, mind you, the real stuff.  Today's flavors are anise and honey, olden tastes.  Yummy.

This morning I get to go chat with the pain management person at UPMC, not that I'm in a lot of pain anymore.  Walking has helped realign my spine, at least that's what I'm thinking.  We won't know unless they do another MRI and I don't if that will be in the works or not.  Since I track my mileage with my Fenix 6 Pro, I can tell you that in the last 30 days I've walked over 41 miles.  Only recently have I begun walking daily, and two days ago I got on my bike for the first time in months.

This afternoon I'll be working on the aquarium again.  Big changes happening there.  I'm so glad the fish haven't been complaining about things being moved around.  I've reduced the lighting, adding in more reds and blues.  Some of the plants didn't survive, others seem to be thriving.  Algae is still a problem, even with frequent water changes so I'm thinking of purchasing a cellular shade for the window that hits the tank with direct sunlight.  There hasn't been a blind or shade in my house for decades, so this is still in the 'thinking' stage.

One of our garden associates is in the hospital because he 'can't breath.'  Big MAGA supporter whom I heard claiming several times that Covid is no worse than the flu because...  well, you don't need to be an Einstein to figure out why.

And what about that ice shelf in Antarctica possibly breaking off within 3 - 5 years?  Splish Splash.  This would raise water levels by 3 - 5 feet.  I work with a Conservative doodle brain who has no problem telling you that because we haven't been keeping climate records long enough, there's no way to tell if we're in climate change or not....  Oh, and in case you didn't know, he's a Republican.

And don't you just love that January 6 Committee?  I do.  They released texts that Hannity, and Ingraham, and even Donny Jr, sent to the Spawn of Satan during the riot.  The wording was only slightly different in their messaging: that the rioters were going to "destroy everything we've built."  And why didn't Loser #45 do anything?  Because he was having too much fun.  He thought his coup was going to be a success and his Orange Anus was going to be made president for life.

Opening the Box

 Well, it's Monday morning.  I work this afternoon.  Six full hours, though I get a break.  I made a chorizo and pepper dish yesterday, that will be my lunch.  

My department has not been busy.   We've had several customers, I ended the week with 3 measures, but this time of year flooring sales are always slow.  I don't mind.  Covid is moving through the store.  Three of our cashiers are out, as is one of our flooring specialists.  Interesting.  Because I'm part-time I wasn't around him that much.  He had been vaccinated back in early March.  Antibodies don't hang around forever, for those who don't know; this is the second go round for one of the cashiers.

Terrible storms out in the mid-west.  I feel bad for those people.  Many lost loved ones and even more lost everything they owned.  You can still be living and have your life wiped completely away.  What really irked me was Rand Paul, who has voted against hurricane relief multiple times, was so quick on the phone to Biden asking for help.  He is one selfish sack of shit.

On brighter side, I still have roses blooming... in December.  Took a pick of this cutie, a yellow climber, outside my front door.

We owe Gavin Newsome a big tip of the hat.  With his decision to use the same legislative tactics Texas legislators used to go after abortion providers for gun control in California, he has stuck his fingers into the eyes of those political hacks sitting on the Supreme Court. Yep, that's right, Amy Coney Boney, and Sammy Alito, and Clarence ( I want to be white) Thomas, as well as Beer Belly Kavanaugh, set a precedent when they allowed the Texas law to stand.  In California the target might well be gun manufacturers, in Ohio?  Perhaps Big Pharma... or maybe pharmacists, that would be sweet, wouldn't it?  Go after the guy who sold the pills your kid used to overdose? Yep, those selfishly conservative dolts on the Court have shown us the way.  And, since most of them are overly zealous in their Christian beliefs, believing they are doing God's will, I'm sure they will understand this is exactly what God wants.  Hey, some smart legislators may even decide to go after Evangelical Preachers. 

Wang Chung Tonight

Yesterday was a pretty good day, even though I had to go to work.  I climbed onboard my bike after what has been a long, long time.  Sure, I only rode 5.22 miles, but that's a really good start.  You have no idea how happy I was to just get my leg over the saddle.  And before the ride, I walked over 2 miles on the treadmill.  Exercise works.

As for my job?  I did get a measure for hard wood flooring.  Hardwood flooring is an asset to your house.  Hardwood flooring is also more difficult to maintain if you have kids and pets because they do things that scratch.  Most people don't understand that the stain used by manufacturers is proprietary, which means fixing scratches can be extremely difficult.  After buying a similar colored stain, home owners also need to think about matching the sheen since stain does not have a shine.  This family had kids.  Young kids.  So I gently reminded them that hardwood flooring is not waterproof, nor is it scratch resistant.

Biggie got off the bed around 0230 to go sit at the top of the stairs.  Thinking he had to go outside, I followed.  Nope.  He wasn't budging.  He just sat there.  So, I went downstairs and got a biscuit, thinking he might need a bit of an incentive. After I gave him the biscuit, he looked at me for a few seconds, and then went back to bed.  What he really wanted, I guess, was a midnight snack.

Quite often, when someone covers another musician's song, their own personal spin jars with the original intent of the composer / lyricist.  Now and then, the cover artist comes up with something far better.  Here's an example of a Wang Chung song that was very popular a number of years ago.  This is so much better than the original.  Oh, and it was used in a video game.  This thing would have made a fortune if they had released it.

I saw this morning at 60% of Republicans believe the election was stolen.  At first glance, that seems like a really high figure, until you realize that the Republican Party is the minority party, making up between 29% and 30% of the electorate.  This means that approximately 18% of all voters believe Trump's lies.  That doesn't mean this terrible losers can't do damage, they can, it's just not as insurmountable as some want to believe.  And if you think they're going to change their minds, forget that.  No matter how desperately they want, this group will never make it to the dance floor.  They will never Wang Chung Tonight.

 

The Creator of the Universe

 It's difficult to believe today's Saturday already, the weekend is upon us... or, to be more precise, the weekend is upon some of you.  Not me.  I'm working, coming off of a 4 day break is which much was accomplished.  I don't have to be at the store until 1330, so I have the entire morning to do what I want which means either a walk or a ride.

That's right.  I powered up my Tacx yesterday, first time in a while.  As expected, there was an update to the software.  This morning I'll check and see if there's an update to the trainer, probably.  Garmin is fine tuning.  

The weather outside is rainy.  The tornadoes that ripped through Kentucky are headed our way, though our forecast is only calling for high winds, with gusts over 50 mph.

I baked dinner rolls yesterday rather than bread.  I'm using this as an excuse for why I didn't walk 3 miles, though I was surprised to see that kneading dough also counts as steps taken; I hit 3000 steps halfway through the first knead.

Wow, isn't it amazing how fast truth flies?  I first saw that bit about the 38 page Coup Plan in a Tweet on Tuesday.  Then Rolling Stone published a bit, and last night The Guardian had published a more in depth article, and today it's... everywhere.  I'll bet the Spawn of Satan, Donald Trump, is really lava angry.  Everybody is wondering who the 'select' group of Republican congressmen are who got to sit in on the presentation.  Son of a bitch, those names are pretty damn important.  I mean, can we talk about corruption?  And as for all of those damned Cracker Jack Crazy Christians who think God sent Trump?  You would think they'd question why the Being who created the entire Universe found it necessary to have a Power Point Presentation created so his followers would know how to steal an election.  Of course, maybe the Being who created the Universe had nothing to do with this...  Maybe their downfall is the result of their own deceitful selfishness.

The 38 page Power Point

I got my haircut yesterday.  Different barber than last time, so there was no heart to heart with the gent who had been in jail several times.  This time a woman cut my hair.  When she found out I worked for the great Orange Box retailer, she launched into a tale of how her mobile home had caught fire:  her kitchen burned.  I smiled to myself as she told me she went to our store in Shippensburg (we don't have a store even close to Shippensburg), and how the employees permitted her use their discount to buy her appliances (we don't get an employee discount).  Thankfully, she was fast with the clippers which cut her story short.

While I was sitting at my desk yesterday, this little lady came up and sat down beside me.  My, isn't her muzzle getting gray?  And her nose is in need of moisturizing nose butter. Both she and Biggie had dry skin and so need to have 'treatments,' always with a biscuit or two.

For those of you who haven't been following the on again, off again relationship between Mark Meadows and the the January 6 committee, it's off... again.  Maybe.  Kind of.  Apparently, after they had officially broken off talks, Meadows handed over a 38 page Power Point Presentation describing in detail how they could overturn the election.  This document was circulated among the privileged Republicans fully supporting Trump.  And now everybody's talking about what's in the details.  In fact, one speculator went so far as to ask why Meadows would turn over something so incriminating.  Personally, I'm thinking that behind the scenes his team is working with the committee to work out a plea deal where he's going to turn State's Witness.  We should start preparing for the naming of names, I think.

This is an interesting complication for the Evangelicals.

Gutchie, Gutchie, Gucci

Yesterday was nice and quiet.  The snow failed to make an appearance.  That's fine.  We'll end up with a few inches sooner or later.

There's a good possibility blueberry waffles might be on the menu for breakfast this morning.  Someone was talking about blueberry pancakes a couple of days back, and as I was puttering around in the kitchen yesterday, the idea occurred to me waffles would be just as tasty.

I walked 3.36 miles on the treadmill yesterday, a new record.  I'm pleased.  My lower back continues to improve so I suppose this means my vertebrae are falling into alignment.

Last evening I went to see The House of Gucci.  Hhhhmmm, that's better than a meh, in case you're interested.  Al Pacino and Jared Leto put in solid performances, especially Leto as Paulo Gucci, the aging,  overweight, and balding fool of the family.  He stole some scenes.  As for Gaga? (wince)  Her accent came and went, was Italian at times, however, there were also times when she sounded Hungarian.  Perhaps if the others on screen had not been so good... well, I'm sure it was a good learning experience working with solid actors.  Returning to Leto:  here for your comparison is what he looks like as Paulo Gucci

And here's another little tease from The Body in Repose.  What's that about stained glass?

According to the Dallas Morning News over 21 police officers of the Dallas Police force have died from covid since the pandemic began.  These are human beings whose lives are being basically swept under the carpet by Republicans as they grab for power.  I cannot even imagine what life would be like if their dreams ever come to fuitition.

 

A bit about blessings

 Good Morning.

Because I tv binged the night before, yesterday turned into a bit of a nappy affair, with a quick side-trip to Giant for some groceries.  As is always the case, realized this morning I should have picked up juice, not that this bothers me.  My local supermarket is a mere 3 red lights away.

I did manage to get in a 3.06 mile walk.  My Fenix 6 Pro doesn't track simple walking on the treadmill, I need to put some speed into it, with a dash of incline, so most of my hourlong walk was done at 3 mph on a 1% grade. 

And I put together a little stained glass video for... well, you'll have to wait and see.

I have a Facebook account that I only look at once in the mornings.  I do have friends who constantly scroll through it on their phones.  When they do, I can only wonder what in hell is going through their heads?  

Sometime this morning I'm going to decide if I want to sign up for a course in German.  I tried once before, only to discover the language is difficult.  People who believe English is a difficult language, should sit down and try one in which you can say 'the' 7 different ways.

For those who don't know, there was a time when I dabbled in 'song and dance,' and yes, this is me with my long hair center stage in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Just looking at this makes me laugh

Just a little bit about 'blessings.'  I'm not a big believer in them.  The Cracker Jack Crazies like to believe every time something good happens to them it's a blessing, that they are being singled out because they're special.  They aren't.  On the opposite side of the coin, when something bad happens they don't go around wailing about being condemned, that they've done something that justifies disapproval.  Nope, don't hear that at all.  Then it either becomes bad luck, or they blame someone else.  Here's a perfect example.  A few years ago, my nephew's car was totaled in an accident, he was fine, but suddenly he was in need of a new car.  His wife's father is... you guessed it, a car dealer, so a shortly thereafter he was the owner of a new, white car.  On Facebook, she said this was a great blessing.  A year later my mother passed away.  During her memorial service it began to snow heavily.  We got a lot of snow.  By the time we began leaving the church we had 4 inches on the ground.  Traffic was snarling to a stop all over Central PA.  Guess who tried to leave the church first?  Guess whose car got stuck, unable to make it up the smallest of several hill on the only road  into the church?  Guess whose car kept everybody from leaving the church?  That's right the 'blessing.'  Except for me.  I drive a Subaru, a car that was not a blessing, but a car that handles the snow very well.  It took everybody else almost 9 hours to get home.  Me?  I stopped off after an hour and a half of slow traffic to pick up a bottle of wine to celebrate.

Size

Holy Crap, did I sleep in late this morning... late night for me here.  I binged on the last season of Lost In Space.  I have to say the writers and producers finally managed to understand what genre of show they were dealing with; not a sci-fi family drama.  The action / set pieces needed to be focalized, that never happened in in the first season.  Most people don't know that the show had it's roots in a comic book, Space Family Robinson, about one family's adventures.  The showrunners for the reboot never understood how important that fact was in telling their updated story.  Season 2 had more about the Robinsons, they had adventures, but the 'colony' story was always in the background.  Season 3 was the last of the series and the writers almost got the adventure part right.  I'm not saying there might not be a spin off called big Will Robinson and his robot, I say big because Will Robinson is now 5'11" (1.8m) and towers over many of his cast members.

Parker Pose and Max Jenkins

And for those who haven't heard, Devin Nunes is leave the House... fast... within the month.  He's going to join the new Trump Media Group.  This leaves most people scathing their heads.  Judd Luegum at Popular Information has done some fact checking and believes the media group is nothing more than a mirage.  With the redistricting done in California, there were questions as to whether Nunes could get his ass re-elected.  And, being a true conservative thinking only of himself, when he heard the Song of the Grifter he decided he wasn't going to just sing a few bars, he wanted to become the conductor for this grifter orchestra.  And Devin doesn't know a single thing about media management.

Distressed

 Quick entry here because I have to be at work by 0930 and chose not to get up at 0500 to read the morning news, write this, and suffer through my morning ablutions.

It was terribly slow yesterday afternoon at the store.  They're calling for rain today, so I suspect the same may be true.  How do I spend my time?  Doodling around, taking notes, and researching things on the computer.  I've had a number of thoughts about winter on Mackinac island: the wind, the snow, and the ice.  For some odd reason, I thought the place shut down.  I was wrong.  There are people living in the community all year round.  And, of course, I do need to find out if there winter cycling.  Interesting.

One of the things I read about the Chumbley's capture, was that they were described as being distressed.  That's it.  Simply distressed.  An assumption was to be made since no reason was given.  This is important.  Were they distressed because of the son?  Or, were they distressed because they had been captured?  They are two totally different things.  Or, adding to the mix, were they distressed because the were more concerned about their own asses and the jail time they might potentially face?  I think the answer lies in finding out just how selfish they are, I mean, let's be honest here.  On a scale of 1 - 10, with 1 being the least and 10 being the most, most Conservatives are a 10 when it comes to selfishness.  Notice how I didn't grade intelligence since it's obvious this couple is scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Greed

 Hello sunny Sunday!  Slow day!  And a workday, too.  I'm scheduled to work tomorrow as well.  Rain is in the forecast.  This is how it goes.

I was talking about Climate Change with an associate... let me rephrase that, a conservative associate, who told me that there is not concrete evidence that the climate is changing.  His logic?  That Earth has been here for millions of years, has gone through so many different changes, and we as a people, have only been keeping records officially for a few hundred years.  When I pointed out that core samples taken from the ice provide an excellent record of past climates, he said, "but they were only taken in certain areas, they don't show what the climate was like all over the world."  There's not getting around stupid.  He also doesn't understand why we should take actions now when, as he says, "there's no definitive proof."  As a true conservative, he'd rather corporations make money that will he believes will 'trickle down.'

As some of you may have seen, Jack Dorsey is no longer the CEO of Twitter.  He wants to focus on Square, a financial services company.  Twitter management is in a bit of chaos, not because there are certain losers (I'm speaking of you, Loser #45), who would like to be reinstated, rather, they're trying to figure out how to monetize the social media platform.  That's right.  They want to sell more ads.  This is Greed in America.

Jack Dorsey, notice I chose a picture with him wearing a shirt

I don't know about you, but I'm really getting fed up with ads.  I have an Instagram account and I can remember where ads were sparse.  Not any more.  Instagram is owned by Meta, which is, as most of you know, Facebook, and Meta is monetizing the hell out of Instagram.  This is Greed in America, the Zuckerberg version of Greed.  Meta tracks the number of times people click on ads, so if people would stop clicking, eventually the number of ads would go down.  Of course, that will never happen because there are dumb shits out there who will see and ad for Quaker Oats and think, "wow, Quaker Oats, I wonder what that's about."

MAGA Breeders

 And the weekend has started for some of you.  Weekends are when I work.  We are approaching the slow times of the year, so by the middle of December I'll just be putting in time to get a paycheck.  My hours will go down, but that's okay.  I'm sure some of you know what I mean.

Yesterday I had my car inspected.  $158.  That's terrible for a brand new car which has no problems.  $80  of that was for the oil change.  Me thinks I'm going to need to start going to one of those places that changes your oil for $35 in order to save me some bucks.

I did chat with the NYT yesterday about cancelling my subscription.  Previous experience has taught me to always chat, never talk on the phone since you're always connected to a high powered sales shark.  As some of you might suspect, I didn't cancel, however my subscription rates have changed... dramatically.  I will pay 50 cents a week for the next 52 weeks, and then my rate will go up to $2 per week... for eternity, or as long as I decide to subscribe.  That's a big drop from $18 per week.  It's digital, believe me, they can afford it.

In my book The Body in the Tower, something happens in what I call the Greek statue garden of the Louvre.  The museum calls the space something else, however for my purposes I redubbed it the Greek Statue Garden.  Since not everyone has been to the Louvre, this is what I was talking about.  It probably doesn't look the same today, since I took this about 12 years ago.

I saw where they arrested the parents of Ethan Crumbley.  Good.  For those who haven't realized it yet, they are MAGA breeders, a none thinking couple who have never quite made it into reality.  The only thing missing from the photo of their front porch was the Trump sign.  They were not too shy about posting their opinions on social media, because of that we have a long MAGA history to look draw from.  One of my favorites was from a letter the mother sent to Trump in which she said, "I'm tired of being fucked in the ass, I would rather be grabbed by the pussy."  Because of their stupidity, their lives are now over, since, they somehow avoid being incarcerated, they will face years, and years, and years of civil lawsuits.  Sadly, we all know they will never pay enough.  

Some little Changes

 It Friday, a little after 0600, and I've been up for about an hour:  load of laundry in the washer, a quick scan, through the news, and breakfast eaten.  I had been sleeping in until around 0630, but I have to get my car inspected this morning at 0800, which means I have to leave at 0730 because of traffic.  This is fun stuff, right?

I cancelled my Panda anti-virus yesterday, my current subscription runs until the end of the year.  A long time ago, when I originally signed up, Panda was considered great and inexpensive.  Well, in the years since then the price went up because they were offering services I was already getting, like a VPN, which comes with my Verizon, and password protection, which comes with Google.  And, it did grow expensive.  I will look around and see if there's another anti-virus service that strikes my fancy.

Cancelling my subscription to the NYT is also preeminent.  When I look at how often I click on one of their articles, or opinions, and compare that to the $18 a month I pay... well, it just isn't worth it.  Quite often when you threaten to cancel, they'll drop their subscription price.  If the deal is good enough, I might reconsider.

For those of you wondering how I'm going to spend the hour while my car gets inspected, well, I'm taking this baby along, all 188 pages (and I'm just getting to the denouement).  One thing I am really pleased with are the character's names.  I struggle sometimes with the names, changing them over and over again.  In this book there weren't a lot of changes, and for those who read it... well, you'll get to meet Cookie Lindquist, and Ally Lawrence.  There's Remy Devore and Raj Benet, and of course that inimitable torch singer Sheila Caine.

And evidently that loon Tom Cotton has written an op-ed piece for the WSJ, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, that the real person responsible for the current inflation is Jerome Powell.  Of course, this means that Trump, who put Powell in the position, is also responsible.  Interesting, eh?

Oh, and a number of Republicans voted to increase the debt ceiling.  I'm sure that will go over well with Loser #45.

Ghostbusters, Afterlife

 Well, if it isn't Thursday morning, and, as usual, we're heading into a forecast of showery, drizzly, and a not so very dry day.  Oh, and I have to work for 5 hours.  That shouldn't be too bad because of the weather.  If temps were a little cooler we'd have snow showers on and off.  They don't seem to be occurring in the the next few weeks.

The dogs are still sleeping.  Blame the weather.

I went to see Ghostbusters, Afterlife last evening.  It was very enjoyable.  There are some important cameos, in case you didn't know.  If you don't, I'm not going to spoil anything.  Paul Rudd, the handsomest man alive is funny in the beginning, but then... well, not so funny, and not in a not so funny good way.  That's the problem with most of the cast, but then the writing loses sharpness, at times blunting through the minutes.  I do have to mention the 2 standout performances, though: McKenna Grace as Phoebe, and Logan Kim as Podcast.  These 2 young actors steal every scene they are in.  They are funny and they are smart.  I get the impression the story was written about them and everything else was added as filler.

Interesting discussion yesterday.  Keep in mind that while some of you are activists, I am not one, except when it comes to politics.  As such, I do not follow activists on social media since there are times when they tell you what you desperately want to hear.  While being terribly opinionated, those opinions are mostly centrist, except for politics, and as such may rub some of you the wrong way.  That's fine.  Discussion is good.  Eliminating discussion leads to blindness.

On the shooter in Michigan:  so much information is coming out, and it's bad.  While no one in the media is saying it, the kid appears to have been radicalized by his parents... in a bad way.  They had been called to the school earlier in the day to discuss behavioral issues and his mother complained about 'immigrant children' in the classrooms.  I suspect most of us can surmise their political leanings.

Can you Imagine

Okay, today is the first day of the last month of 2021.  Time for me to flip the calendar. 

I walked almost 3 miles on the treadmill yesterday.  Fun stuff.  My mind gets really creative.  How do I know?  I had another one of my different dreams last night.  Very vivid at times.  Suffice to say that someone saying "the town is being invaded by naked robot men," indicates how memorable it was.

Okay, so how odd is this?  The evening I watched Journey to the Center of the Earth, Arlene Dahl, the romantic lead, died. She was 96.  

Yesterday Bob posted something about JK Rowling, here's my 2 cents.  Some people are furious she has not jumped aboard the trans train; they thought she was going to be an ally.  No matter how much it grates the cheese in your heart, she is entitled to her opinion.  It is a fact that three people were so outraged they posted pictures of her address on their individual Twitter accounts, pictures that were retweeted numerous times to who knows how many people.  It is also a fact that they are  being investigated by Scotland Yard.  As a not so gentle reminder, Mark David Chapman, an obsessive fan, discovered where John Lennon lived and shot him four times outside his Manhattan apartment.  Can you even Imagine the blowback the Trans community, and these 3 individuals, would feel if something similar was even attempted on Rowling?  The movement would be set back for decades.  Is that what you want?

On a lighter note, Milky Chance has released a cover of Tainted Love that is so twistedly good.  Sadly, no naked robot men make an appearance.

And finally, I see Mark Meadows is talking to the January 6 committee, albeit through his attorneys, but communication is happening.  I do not doubt for a minute this is because he now realizes the courts are going to give the committee all the communications from the day of the attempted coup.

Not Nearly

 My weekend begins today.  That sounds odd when you consider my workweek only started yesterday.  Hours wise, this will be a lite week for me, only 20.4 hours spread out over 3 days, the longest being on Thursday when I'll be working almost a full 8 hours.  This is fine.

For those who don't keep track, 1962 Americans died of Covid over the past 24 hours.  You can guess who they were.  More power to them and their freedom.  I don't think they understand that freedom is a two way street: we no longer have to listen to them bitch and moan about how their freedom to mask, or not to mask, to get vaccinated, or not, is more important than curtailing the spread of Covid.

Last evening I watched "Journey to the Center of the Earth," the 1959 version.  I remembered seeing it as a kid when 20th Century Fox re-released it (studios did that back then since were no streaming services and VHS players were in the distant future).  I later read the novel and realized the movie had very little in common with Jules Verne's story, which had neither romance, nor Pat Boone running around wearing only a pair of shorts for over an hour.  Two things I decided after last night's viewing:  Pat Boone was extremely well tanned when he made the movie, and he was not nearly as attractive I originally thought.

And, how about that fight between Boebert and Ohnan?  For those who haven't been paying attention, the short version is that Boebert said Ohnan might be a terrorist.  They had some sort of conference call which was supposed to lessen the tension, and which failed.  Keep in mind, Boebert is white, unintelligent, and a Cracker Jack Crazy Christian.  Ohnan is a Muslim.  Boebert is desperate because she realizes that for varying reasons, including Covid, every day there are less people like her in the United States and more people like Ohnan.  In the end, things will go badly for Boebert because of her inability to come to terms with reality.  No loss.

More Power to Them

 Well, it's Monday, the beginning of a new, three day work week for me.  I'm scheduled for a little over 20 hours this week.  I can deal with that.

Yesterday was very slow at work, which helped me get my steps in: well over 15,000.  I was pleased.  Today I plan on getting a long walk in on the treadmill before heading in.  No goal has been set.  I'm not one for setting goals, not because I'm worried I won't achieve them, rather there are times when life just gets in the way and something with a higher precedence happens.

And how are things going with my back?  Well, I've begun to put the heating pads away, not all of them mind you, just the two that seemed like they were going to provide a lot of help and didn't.  One, I just might throw away.

The puppy nsaids I give to Biggie for his arthritis work well.  He is really bouncy again, something which might make a lot of people uncomfortable because of his size.  Well, they'll just have to get over it, won't they?

As for Omicron... As always with every new strain, there are always questions.  I'm boosted, so hopefully my ass is going to be protected.  They're suspecting it's going to be more contagious, the symptoms may not be anymore severe, however the more people who get sick with it, the greater the strain on our health care system.  That's the problem.  Stupid anti-vaxers don't understand that.  Right now, America is losing about 1200 anti-vaxers per day.  You would think they'd learn... but they won't.  Hey, more power to them.

I just took a look out the window in the computer / cycling room and the air is gray with snow flurries.  No accumulation is expected.  That's fine.