Abusive Maxi Miller

Today is going to be nice, with a high in the low to mid 80s.  The sun is shining brightly and there is nary a cloud in the sky.  Weather like this needs to be taken advantage of, so I'll be out back with my chainsaw and chipper.

I got a nice upper body workout done yesterday morning before I went to work.  This was good.  Even though work was slow, I did manage to get 2 measures, one for a blind installation, and one for carpeting in a bedroom.  Two measures are good at this time of the year.  

Corporate made a rather foolish decision.  Someone thought that sending every specialist to an 8 hour training session in Baltimore was a great idea... everyone except the part-timers.  Knowing that over 100 specialty departments were going to be unstaffed, one would like to believe that part-timers would be used for coverage.  Nope.  Nobody is scheduled except the aisle associates.  I told our scheduler that I was thinking of punching in for a few hours this afternoon, and was rather nonchalantly told, "sure, if you want to."  And I actually did think I'd go in for 4 or 5 hours, until I realized today's weather was going to be great.  I got 2 measures yesterday, and I am not responsible for coverage.  I've also decided that I like 4 days off in a row.

I'm supposed to have a cardio session this afternoon.  Looks like that will be replaced with the lifting and the cutting of limbs and branches.  One of the interesting things is that Deutsche Bank new way back when that Orangie was involved in questionable banking practices, and evidently he bribed some members of the board to keep his accounts open.

Another thing I find interesting is the way the Max Miller abusive, child beater, restraining order story is playing out.  

To be honest, if all of these allegations had surfaced under a different president, I don't think this story would have gotten too much coverage, knowing how Republicans liked to sweep their dirt under the carpet.  But we've got Orangie in the White House, and he has endorsed Maxi Miller.  With both his ex-wife complaints and Stephani Grisham's restraining order, he looks like he's on his way to being labeled a serial abuser.  And all of this is happening, not only across the front pages of main stream media, but in deeply red, Central Ohia as well.  Ouch!  Maxi says he's not going to resign because... I suppose... because physical abuse is part of the Republican playbook?  I'm betting Maxi has some serious anger management issues when it comes to women, of course, that shouldn't be surprising.  He is a Republican, after all.

Hypocrisy

 The temperature didn't really drop much over night.  If the air was so thick with humidity, we'd be sitting at a comfortable 75 (F).  Ah, but there is that humidity.  Rain is in the forecast.  Showers with the possibility of a heavy thunderstorm of two are quite possible.  Thanks to that little storm we had on July 4th, we're under a flood watch.  According to Accuweather, the rain should be starting in about a 30 minutes.

My upper body workout went well yesterday morning.  Riding the bike takes care of my legs.  I do, however, want my upper body training to be more than picking up boxes of tile at work.  I jokingly told my trainer that this routine makes me feel swol.  He thought it was funny.  I don't think he has very many semi-senior clients, which means this will be a learning experience for him.

I've decided to can my Norwegian lessons and focus more on refreshing my French.  I get Le Monde, so I have no problem reading French, it's hearing and speaking it where I've lapsed.

I was going to cut up the branch that the storm ripped from one of the maple trees on the hill behind my house, however, the weather is not working in my favor.

An amusing thing about my writing is that I tend to like characters whose names end with s.  This, as one of my editors has told me, creates a conundrum with possessives.   For example, is it Jules' or Jules's.  I sent him a copy of the first chapter of The Body in the Words and he replied how nice it was not to have a character whose name ended in s... so, I introduced him to Carlos Cassadas, the tall, handsome Spaniard who, along with his wife, runs the Hygia Wellness Clinic. 😂🤣😂

The dementia of our 47th president was on full display yesterday when the Orange Anus claimed that the Islamic Republic of Japan launched 111 missiles at the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln.  He also fell asleep again... on the world stage.

You got to hand it to Republicans, while their incompetence at governing is in full view, it has no problem sharing the stage with their boldly glaring hypocrisy.  You can show them a comparison of Biden's slight slippage next to Orangie's full collapse and they will still say "but Biden."  Now the Cultists will accept this, but do they really believe a majority of Americans are that stupid?  The answer's yes.  They have never come to grips with how intelligent Americans are, and so they double down on their hypocrisies. For a long time Americans did believe their deceit, that they were the party of Family Values.  If there is one thing that the Orange Anus excels at, besides lying, it's ripping the mask off the Republican Party.  He has made it so clear that the GOP is the party of selfishness and greed, that no lie is too false, that they celebrate their racism.  Their downfall is that they simply refuse to understand that today's Americans see right through their bullshit.

Translations

Outside it's 67 (F) and misty, drizzly.  Inside, there is high humidity.  This is going to last through much of the day with an occasional shower popping up to make things damper than they already are.  Tomorrow we might get to see the sun.  I'm hoping so.  Then I can get out my "saw on a stick" and cut up the branch that was torn from a tree behind my house.

And yesterday was pretty meh here in Central PA.  I called the store to see if they had electricity; they didn't.  That meant the computers were still down, so I took a personal day.  I was told that they were very busy.  Translation:  we're not going to pay you to sit at your desk doing nothing, so we'll put you to work in another department, like garden, or electrical, or.... I'm sure you get the picture.  

Since my left knee is going through a wrinkly stage, my workout is now focused on my upper body.  I'll still be doing my rides, but they're going to be long and flat.  Translation:  I'll soon be looking at pecs and biceps in the mirror.

My brother and his wife got there electricity back last evening.  He sent me a long text this morning about a number of things.  One thing he mentioned was that he'd seen George Washington and that it was put out by Angel Studios.  He evidently thought Angel Studios was Christian.  So, I corrected him.  Angel Studios is owned by 2 Mormons, and while they do put out faith-based films, they also release a lot of films that are not faith-based.  In fact, Angel Studios has a reputation for being very diverse, two words conservatives simply despise.  My brother's response:  I'll have to research this.  Can you hear me laughing.

So, the Orange Anus tried to cheat a win for the American Men's Soccer Team and in doing so, did what he does best.  Easy translation:  He lost.  The American team lost.  And now the entire world is talking about the Trump Curse.  And the Belgium team that shellacked our ass?  They did the Trump jerkoff dance.

Graham Platner needs to drop out of Maine's senatorial race now.  Accepting the taint of an allegation makes us too much like Republicans.  

So, will Mitch McConnell admit that he's brain dead?  There's a good possibility, though don't rule out the Republican party trying to keep this a secret until early August when the need to have a Special Election will have past.  The GOP has no integrity.  No morals.  They cheat with the best. Translation:  They mirror their president to a T.

Surrender

 Our outside temp is warm. 69 (F).  It's also very humid.  We're supposed to have showers and drizzles this morning.  They will extend into this afternoon, with a high temp in the upper 80s (F).  Things are predicted to cool down overnight, with tomorrow's highs in the mid 70s (F).  Evidently El Nino has arrived which means we might have a cool, wet summer.  That means a lot of mowing.

Yesterday was a fine day.  My Wednesday workout revolves around the machine with a lot less of a reliance on dumbbells.  It's a good change up.  The only exercise I do with dumbbell cs is the dumbbell thruster.  This is the same exercise that Pete Hegseth was failing so miserably.  I use 20 lb dumbbells and it's not unusual to get my heart rate up to 140 beats per minute.  This is a good thing.  Like all muscles, your heart needs to be exercised.

And I had a long lunch with my friends Tami and Ann.  They've been friends for decades.  Not all friendships survive the passing of time.

The Boroughs on Netflix has not been renewed for a 2nd season.  This does not surprise me.  Like Boots, it has an ending that doesn't a continuation of the storyline.  Unlike Widow's Bay, on Apple TV, which used it's 10 episodes to specifically guide you to a cliffhanger ending.  

And, I'm please to announce that there is a least one person in Washington DC who is happy with the green Reflecting Pool.

Don't you find watching Republicans scramble to try and defend the agreement Orangie signed to sit down and talk about a peace deal with Iran amusing.  There are so many who see this as the greatest foreign policy failure in our entire history as a country.  Orangie started a war and then surrendered.  Oh, wait, that's right, it was never really called a war.  What was it he called this attack on Iran?  An excursion?  Yep, that sounds a bit right.  And he signed this surrender in Versailles, surrounded by world leaders who hold him with much more disdain than you can even imagine.  Accountability is coming.  Not only for the  Republican Party, but the Conservative movement as well.  This is why you need to keep them as far away from power as possible.  They always screw things up.

Performance

So, here it is, Friday.  Our outside temp is 71 (F).  Once again the forecast has our afternoon highs in the 90s (F).  I didn't check to see what the "real feel" is supposed to be, but I can tell you I went out into the backyard briefly yesterday and it felt very hot.  I did use a personal day, rather than go in to work.  I used the excuse of there being a "heat advisory" to use a personal day.  There are times when age does have it's benefits besides having wisdom and authority.

So, what did I do yesterday since I chose to stay home in cool air conditioned comfort?  No yardwork, it was way too hot.  In the morning I completed my workout.  My trainer, who's in Portugal for the next week, sent me an "attaboy."  A lite dusting was done.  Most of the afternoon, however, was working on the final edit for The Body in 4/4 Time.  The words "final edit," are important.  There comes a time when you simply have to put the manuscript down.  I worked with a man who'd written a non-fiction book on autism and I watched as he spent literally years refining his manuscript.  He would bring it to work and sit in the lunchroom editing during his breaks.  He used yellow #2 pencils, and he'd read a paragraph, then scratch a line out, read some more and then make a note.  This went on for the 11 years I worked for International Paper.  To this day, I don't know if he ever had his work published.  At some point in time you need to put that baby to bed.  

And since I do workout regularly, I thought I'd post this snippet about our Secretary of Defense working out.  If you have access to social media, you should watch some of the videos the Department of Defense is releasing of Kegsbreath working out with Marines.  They prove how badly his neural transmitters are... transmitting.  I do not doubt for a second that he believes his performance is exemplary.  The thought that the world is laughing at him never crosses his mind.  Here's a picture of him doing a dumbbell thruster with 15 pound weights.  Thrusters are a great cardio/strength exercise.  I do this with 20 lb dumbbells.  Notice how his wrists are bent back?  That's what I call swishy wrists.  Your wrists are supposed to be straight.  In the video, he only does a half squat (wrong) and his thrust is herky jerky.  I do not doubt that in his mind his form is perfect.  As someone suggested, and I concur, is so he can shower with the Marines afterwards, you know, mano e mano, sort of like they showered in Heated Rivalry.

Where are his biceps?

And finally, today is the day that Orangie's name is supposed to be taken down from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  While it has already been removed from the website, it is still on the building and... this should come as no surprise, his allies running the Kennedy Center have decided to fight it.  How humiliating to have his name removed 2 days before his birthday.  He is going to get a healthy serving of humiliation much sooner than he thinks, and his ego will not be able to survivie.

The Biker Bar

Well, today has started off a a chilly willy one.  We had a moderately cold 45 (F) outside when I clambered out of bed.   Ah, but don't worry, the thermometer will continue to slowly rise starting right now!  By next Thursday we should be in the mid 90s (F).  Yepper, we're going to be getting some nice July temps in May.  Let us all hope this is not meteorological foreshadowing.

Yesterday was for the most part a decent day.  After writing the blog, I got in a good workout.  I've increased the weight on the dumbbell thruster and hammer curls to 20 pounds.  As people age, they tend to go with lighter weights, I'm continuing to go heavier.  Muscle building is important.  I do not want to enter the age of atrophy until much later in life.

Using the last of a loaf of bread I baked last week, yesterday morning, I baked a nice bread pudding. It's delicious.  In the afternoon, I made moussaka.  It's tasty, but definitely not the best to come out of my oven.  I substituted fresh crushed tomatoes instead of canned, and there was a difference.  In fact, I ended up using many variations of the ingredients, including soy sauce.  As I said, it's tasty, but definitely not Greek.

In Expedition 33, I'm at the point where I'm just fighting boss, after boss, after boss.  Some of the fights take 20 minutes or so, and as long as I win without dying, I don't care.  There is more than a little exhilaration when defeating a much more powerful enemy.  And the reward is always... well, quite rewarding.  

And since we are in May and Memorial Day is approaching, I thought I'd post of pic of myself at a Memorial Day party in 1995.  Those red sweat pants?  I wore those into a biker bar once.  I was only there to pick up a 6-pack (beer).  If I'm remembering correctly, even the jukebox stopped playing.  I have to laugh about that now.  And don't I look pretty tiny for being 6 feet tall.  Must have been a really big chair.

So, Orangie, with a gaggle of oligarchs, is in China.  Some of his cabinet 1 percenters are with him.  As someone pointed out this looks more like a business trip rather than one concerned with politics.  Elonia is with him.  In fact, the 2 of them walked side by side down the red carpet.  Elonia is evidently substituting for Melanoma, who must have had better things to do.  His son Eric is along the for the wheeling and dealing.  I did tell you this was a business trip.  I doubt if anything productive will come of it that will help any of the middleclass in America.  Those on the lower financial levels can be totally guaranteed to get nothing of value.

The petition to recall Governor Landry in  Louisiana easily got the required number of signatures and has been filed.  He's the governor who shut down an election after votes had been cast in order to gerrymander.  Pardon my French, but this man is dumb as a fucking brick. He's done far worse than put on a pair of red sweat pants and saunter into a biker bar.

A Few Winks in the Oval Office

 It's 41 (F) outside.  That's chilly.  Well, I might even go so far as to say that it's cool.  Temps will be warming up for this afternoon.  We will again be in the mid to upper 60s (F).  For those dreaming of the hot days of summer, don't fret.  Next Wednesday we should sitting in the low 90s (F).  That's right, we'll be sultry, but only for a few days.

Yesterday morning's workout went well.  I'm doing alternating bench presses with 25 pound dumbbells.  Of course, at some point I'll be upping that to 30 pounds.  Monday is also the day for alternating leg extensions.  We'd adjust that down to 20 pounds after the pull on my quad.  Well, that was a pretty useless weight, so I upped it to 30 pounds.  Next week it might be back up to 50 pounds.

Retail was so damn boring.  I easily got my steps in.  And whether we wanted to or not, corporate has moved us into the new the Specialty Project Tool.  In some ways it's complicated.  Using it will entail have a lot of windows open.  Floor plans are on one screen, pictures are on another.  I worked on a quote that had some issues with the first time the customer had been measured, so a second measure was done yesterday morning.  None of the previous notes transferred over to the new system and we don't have the ability to see earlier comments by the measure tech, or changes that we did to the quote.  I suspect this will only be a problem with the older quotes.  I suspect there won't be a problem with the newer quotes.

For those of you interested, here's a picture of me on a cold January morning in 1993 at Bill Clinton's first inauguration.  I had a lot more hair back then.

Did you all get a chance to look at the video of the Orange Anus sleeping yesterday?  For those who missed it, I took a screen print.  If you get a chance, look up the video, it's quite amusing to watch the people behind him as they realized he's zonked out to the world.  Dr. Oz, in particular, gets an "oh, shit," look on his face. 

So, how desperate are the Republicans about the midterms?  Very.  That's why their involved in so much illegal gerrymandering.  The idea of losing both the House of Representatives and the Senate simply terrifies them.  It also terrifies the Supreme Court as well.  Accountability is something they dread in every cell of their bodies.  They're also terrified that all they're doing to stay in power will proved to he useless.  Except for billionaires and cultists, no one is happy with the job that they are doing.  But then, this should be a known fact by now:  Republicans simply have no idea how to govern.  They want to dictate.  They don't care how badly they ruin things, just as long as they're in charge.  That's going to change, and they're terrified.  Good.

The Voting Rights Act

Here in Central Pa we had overcast skies yesterday and the occasional drizzle until around 4 PM, and then it started to rain, a soaker, as they like to call steady rain.  Today, forecasters are calling for on and off sunshine with our temps topping off in the the low 60s (F).  This means everything is going to grow.  That means I'm going to have to mow the lawn, probably tomorrow morning. Yeah!

And yesterday was productive!  All my veggies have been planted and fertilized.  Laundry was done.  Cleaning was done.  It was a good day.

Yesterday was also a good workout day.  While there's an exercised called a dumbbell thruster, there were no squats.  I'm going to go easy on the squats for a while.  My left knee is still a bit wonky and I don't want to do anything that might actually damage it.  

My aunt Lois died yesterday.  She was 91.  She was a very nice lady.  When I was born back in 1952, my dad's parents drove down to Florida because I was the first male grandson to be born.  Lois, who was 18, was with them.  What an adventure that must have been for her!  In today's America a lot of people will fly their families down to Disneyworld.  It's so commonplace, no one thinks about it.  But 73 years ago Florida would have been like traveling to a totally different country.

I snapped a picture of Howie on the the futon yesterday.  I've gotten a lot of comments about how big he's gotten.  Believe me when I tell you, I don't think of him as being big, he's just my little booby boy.

Of course, yesterday the Supreme Court smashed apart the Voting Rights Act because a majority of the judges, all white, believe that minority groups no longer need to have a unified voice.  The racist Sammy Alito wrote the majority opinion.  Sammy wants a white, Republican, authoritarian government running America.  Future generations are not going to see Sammy as a decent human being.  Quite the contrary.  They will look at his racist opinions and define him as what he truly is, a bigoted, phony Catholic.

And gas prices increased again yesterday.  Since I didn't go anywhere, I don't know how high they went locally, but from what I'm seeing online, 40 cents seems to be the standard increase.  This is how you lose elections, no matter how much you gerrymander, or how often Sammy Alito stomps his tiny racist feet.  Hint, hint, gas prices are not going to go down soon, not that Sammy has to worry about the price per gallon.  

Finally, Elonia Musk was in court yesterday.  He and Sam Altman are going head to head, legally, about Chat GP, I think, and Elonia's verbosity and bullshit got to be too much for the judge.  Yepper, the judge told him to basically shut up.  Elonia found that rather... disparaging.  Now, how nice is that?

And it's Comey and Disney... Again

Temps today are supposed to hit 60 (F), but just briefly before showers enter the picture.  We're going to be staying in this pattern of moderate temps and showers for a while.  Next Wednesday there 's a blip when the temps are expected to hit the low 70s (F), but it's only a blip.  Except for a few days with partial sunshine, the forecast is for showers, showers, showers.

Yesterday was a decent day.  Much was accomplished, including the purchase of 4 more tomato plants and a poblano pepper plant.  I've got 3 more containers to fill.  Last year I tried zucchinis and cucumbers and got zilch. Maybe this year I'll try eggplant.

I also got a 45 minute ride in.  My quad is still a bit achy, so I may go lite on the squats today.  There are leg extensions in today's workout, but both legs are used.  It was the single leg extensions on the left leg that were tough.

And I got an email this morning from YouTube.  They've blocked my edited version of Storm at the behest of Virgin Music.  I sent a copy to a friend yesterday morning and at that time it had 39,000 views and over 2000 likes.  That's not too shabby.  I suspect that if I had contacted Virgin and asked to pay for the rights they would have said "yes," but I don't doubt that would have bee expensive.  Copies of that shortened version are everywhere, so I was obviously not the only one impressed enough to make a copy.  

And the administration is going after both Kimmel and Comey again.  I've heard that the CEO of Disney is far more concerned about a public backlash than he is of the FCC, no doubt because he has lawyers who can tie that up in the courts for years, or at least until Orangie and his personal henchie Brendan Carr can be removed.  And the Comey indictment?  It's for his picture of sea shells on the beach that say 86 47.  This administration is a total joke and that is showing up in Orangie's approval ratings.  According to a recent poll by You Gov, only 18% of Americans strongly approve.

And in case you're wondering, it ain't gonna get no better for him.  I don't doubt that the Comey and the Disney bullshit are distractions from the fact that the economy is going to continue to tank.  Big headline today is that gas prices have gone up again.  They're going to go much higher, as will food prices.  Discretionary spending is going to collapse.  Americans are going to be punished for this idiocy, and so Americans will punish those in charge.  As I've said before, the midterms are going to be an extermination even for the Republican party.

Another incumbent Republican congressman dropped out of his race for re-election yesterday.  That brings the total number of Republicans to 36.  He'd rather dropout than lose.  No surprise there.

Bountiful

 Today is going to be the last day our temps climb in the 70s (F) for some time.  With the rain coming into the area tomorrow, our daily highs will only be in the mid 60s (F).  That's a bit on the chilly side, but is what is considered normal Spring weather.  We are in a transitional season.  Since there is chit chat about a Super Nino this year, I'm suspecting that the longer the transition lasts, the better it will be for this part of the country, least weather wise.

Yesterday was a good day at work.  I got a measure, sold a lot of tile, and signed up a customer for a credit card.  Management will be happy.  All of that happened in the last hour I worked.  The rest of the day was slow.  I got in my steps.   Days like that are fine.  For the most part, I get paid to sit around.

Yesterday morning I also got in a decent workout in.  I'm in an upgrade stage.  More repetitions have been added to a number of exercises and I'm now going to be using 25 pound dumbbells for my bench press.  I'm pleased.  Increased strength means I'm building muscle.  Building muscle is a good thing for those of us who are getting older.  

Of course, yesterday this happened.  The Orange Anus took an extended nap.

Keep in mind, this is just a single screen shot, the video version is much better.  He sleeps for over 2 minutes.  When he wakes up, he looks around with a confused look on his face no doubt wondering just where in Hell he is.   

I'm not a Joe Rogan fan and it's not because he's quite short.  He has no core values, epitomizing the "what's in it for me," influencer.  Lately, however, he seems to be coming to the realization that selling out his ethical compass for fame and fortune may not have been a good thing.  Every now and then he blurts out something on his podcast which indicates being pro Orangie may not have been the solid career move he thought it was going to be.  He spoke out about the Department of Justice shutting down the Epstein files, as an example.  Then yesterday he blurted out that if Orangie though of using the Iran war to shut down the midterms, then the entire nation would rise up against him.  This is true.  This was always the biggest mistake Republicans made in deluding themselves that all they had to do was be in charge.  I would not be surprised if the backlash against Republicans, Conservatives, and billionaires is so bad that many of them will be tried and jailed.  Some of them may try and run, but I wouldn't be surprised to see mercenaries turn into bounty hunters.

Extermination Event

While it seems as though we're living in a slow cooker, these unnaturally warm days will pass.  The temp was 66 (F) this morning and is already rising.  We'll hit the low 90s (F).  In fact, this heat will stick with us for next 2 days before temps crash.  Yepper.  The flip side is coming.  Next week we're going to have frost warnings.  I'm suspecting this might just be a teaser for the real heat waves that will be heading our way this summer.

And yesterday was sort of a good/meh day.  I got things done.  But for some reason I felt as though I should take nap, after nap, after nap.  I chalk it up to boredom.  I finished mowing my lawn, and did some other yard work.  The I've started dismantling the retractable garden hose reel to see if I can salvage the hose.  It fell off the outside wall because I mounted it onto the wooden siding beneath the aluminum siding.  Both sidings together are about 2 inches thick and my trusty stud finder wasn't working through the aluminum.  Rather than drill four more holes, I've decided to see if I can take the thing apart and just use the hose.  We shall see.

I did get my workout yesterday.  That was fine.  I'm doing more reps on the leg extensions and the hammer jack curls, so those routines have been adjusted accordingly.  My trainer always sounds impressed when I do these upward adjustments, since it implies I'm getting stronger.  One thing's for certain, I aint' getting any younger.

And I've started Act III on my playthrough of Expedition 33.  The first time was a lot of fun, this is much funner.  I know things now I didn't know before.  The first time I simply wanted to beat the game.  Now I'm going after bosses that hadn't been part of the main storyline and enjoying the fights thoroughly.

For those who missed it, JD gave a speech at a Turning Point USA... well, I guess you might want to call it a small gathering of small minds.  Erika Kirk was a no-show, no doubt because ticket sales were not going to cover the cost of her pyro-technique entry.  So JD was left to face this.  Less than 25% of the seating had been sold.

And in the shit you can't make up category, we have Petey Hegseth  reading a made-up Bible verse from the movie Pulp Fiction thinking it was from... the Bible, now known as the gospel according to Quentin.

Rather loud whispers are saying that the Republican party is flipping out behind closed doors because Orangie's, and JD's attacks on the Pope are going to hurt them in the mid-terms.  They whining that Orangie is getting bad advice from certain people, like Petey.  Well, they're the ones who approved these people.  That's right, they voted for Orangie to make Petey the Secretary of Defense, and all of those other Christian Nationalists.  And Orangie is never going to give up on those crazy cultists because they make him something he's always wanted to be, a god.  So, when they tell him that the Pope is his enemy, he's going to believe them.  This means we should expect the attacks to continue.  If they hadn't been so power hungry the upcoming losses might have been avoided.  Now, the Republican party might actually be looking at an extermination event.

Donald Trump's Heresy

 Our temps are on the rise.  Currently we're sitting at a cool 34 (F), but by this afternoon we should be up in the low 60s (F).  There is drizzle in the forecast, but that's okay, we can always use a little rain.  One thing to take note of is that because our planet spins, what happens on the west coast tends to move east.  This means that all of that heat the westies are suffering through now will slowly move east.  

I had a nice workout yesterday.  I'm up to 70 pounds on my leg extensions, that's per leg, and I'm pleased to say I have no soreness today.  I've also increased the weight on the lat pulldowns to 40 pounds.  This is good stuff, since at this point in my life I'm focusing on muscle maintenance and growth.  And yes, for those of you who are wondering, you can still build muscle as you enter your senior years.

Retail was very slow yesterday.  However, to my surprise, I did make sales for the week.  One of my installs sold for the second time.  Yeah, the second time.  When it originally sold everything seemed fine, but then there was a problem.  The install was canceled and my credit for the sale was debited off.  Well, the problem, whatever it was, is now fixed, so the install is on again.  Wednesday they again credited me with an $11,000 sale.  

And the flooring specialist they hired is gone.  He got another job.  Even though he did give a two week notice, but then he ended up calling off every day this past week.  That would have been fine if he had personal time on the books, but he didn't.  This means when the process his termination, there will be a note added making him a non-rehire.  He will never be able to work for the orange retailer ever again.

The Washington Post revealed the $250 gold coin the US Treasury is going to be minting for the Orange Anus.  I had a WTF moment the instant I saw it.  In fact, that moment is still continuing.  This is the coin Orangie wants put into circulation.

You'll notice that the Orange Anus is directly above the words In God We Trust.  Yepper, Orangie wants to be seen as God.  I do believe this is heresy.  This man has done more to damage Christianity in the past year, than anyone else in the history.  Everything Trump touches dies.

Yesterday, for those of you who missed another one of his atrocities, with the Japanese Prime Minister sitting next to him in his gaudy as hell oval office, he joked about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor.  This man is an idiot.  Sadly, there are wack job cultists out there who laughed at his terrible joke.  The Prime Minister was not amused.  Shortly afterward, she glanced at her watch, an obvious signal to wrap things up.  I honestly don't know why foreign dignitaries sit through these events.  They are only meant to give Orangie fifteen to twenties of grandstand time on camera.

Inflection Point

Our outside temp was above freezing this morning.  That's nice.  For the past 2 days people in Central PA were waking up to more than a little lite frost on the windshields of their cars.  Even though today will be warmer, don't look for it to be sunny.  Clouds are going to be hanging over our heads for the next 2 days with s potty showers.  Spring officially starts tomorrow, so we can begin gauging our weather on the new season.

Yesterday was... not quite meh.  I got things done.  A loaf of cinnamon raisin bread was baked.  This is one of my favorite desert breads.  Special icing was made for the top.  In fact, extra icing was made to be used rather than butter.  Who care about the killer carbs? Not me.

A decent workout was finished.  I have a rower which I was using as a warm-up, however, it's grown out of favor.  My trainer added some dynamic exercises as a substitute, one of which is called  "inch worm," (honestly, I'm not making this name up."  Anyway, the inch worm is basically a burpee, which is an exercise I've hated since high school. 58 years ago we didn't have people hired specifically to be gym teachers.  Nope.  We had math teachers, and biology teachers, and history teachers who also managed gym classes.  They were also the coaches for sports.  One of the math teachers was also the basketball coach, and the home economics teacher was in charge of girl's field hockey.  Well, my faux gym teacher specialized in 2 activities:  rope climbing and burpees.  I hate burpees.  So, the inch worm is being replaced.  Dante said there are so many other good exercises.  Now, isn't that nice.

And, for those who've been living under a rock, gas prices are going up.

Natural gas prices are going up to, and that means food prices will go through the roof.  Prices are going to go up all over the world.  So many are going to be blaming America..., no let me correct that, Americans are going to suffer, but the real hatred is being directed at the Orange Anus.  America has become the villain of the world because 77 million people either couldn't vote for the Harris, or they were stupid enough to be the lies spit out by the pedophile in the White House.  Here's some news for the MAGA cultists, America was great, you were not and you never will be.  However, these people do hate change.  The entire world is going to suffer because of their inability to adapt.  

What's truly terrible about this world chaos is that the pedo and in the White House, and the Republican party keeping him there, are more concerned about losing power than they are trying to make things right.  I find it rather pathetic that conservatives are so out of touch they thought that the American people would just sit back and let them take over.  The Republican party is dying.  Like most cowards, those in charge are going to take what they've stockpiled away and run.  I'm thinking Orangie will be gone by mid-terms, or shortly thereafter.  Those who don't run will be arrested.  Some may turn State's Witness to escape truly terrible jail terms.  And some, may well be executed for treason. We are going through an inflection point.

Grave Consequences

Our morning temps are in the low 40s (F) and this afternoon we should be heating up into the low50s (F).  This is almost Spring weather... but just almost.  Rain is in the forecast.  Depending upon which forecaster your looking at we may get as much as an inch on Sunday.  Then we have a day of cold, with highs only reaching into the upper 30s (F).  But then, as is normal for this time of year, the temps will rebound.

And yesterday was fine.  I got a ride in, though it was short, on Dingle Island in Ireland.  I did laundry.  Went to the store. But most importantly, I connected my Roland keyboard with both my phone and my laptop.  This means I can record again if the mood strikes me.  More importantly, I can play music from either the laptop or my phone through the keyboard's speakers.  That's important.  I do like to listen to music.  I have, for lack of a better term, a shit load of vinyl.  I also have, again looking for accuracy in terms, a shit load of CDs.  Now I can listen to both.

This may come as a surprise to some, but I have an old Alexa.  All I use it for is turning on and off lights.  Years ago when I purchased it, the Bezos empire was in its infancy.  For a while I had two, one upstairs and one down, but I never used them for what they were intended for.  About 2 years ago the one upstairs went into the trash.  The one downstairs is taking the same route.  Not only don't I need to Alexa to turn on the lights for me, I also don't need it listening to me.  And you know, it does that.  It's always on and always listening.  I don't need Jeffie B listening to the conversations I have with myself and others.  So ends a silly era I once thought nifty, the turning on and off of the lights.

For a bit of levity, here's Howie and his wrecking ball.

One refrain I'm hearing over and over again now that the Orange Anus has chosen to sent American troops to Iran is that he is by far the dumbest president we've ever had.  He is a bad businessman who has never learned that his hunches have led to 8 bankruptcies, that's right, he has 8 bankruptcies; he will only admit to 6.  He's a senior citizen with dementia who ego gloats in his deceitful beliefs that he is the most powerful man in the world.  As such, his every decision must be followed, and to do this he has managed to install people who are either more stupid than he is, or have no problem telling him what he wants to hear for their own enrichment.  Some of these billionaire fools are now coming to grips with what their selfishness has wrought.  There is a telling video of Bessent being called from an interview by something urgent in the Situation Room in the White House.  When he returned an hour later he was visibly shaken.  There's a tremor in his voice when he says he would trust his child's life in Donald Trump's hands.  Orangie, the stupid man with cognitive disabilities, has stupidly followed a hunch that is going to have grave consequences for Americans.

Zippo. Zilch. Zero.

Today's going to be a rain day.  All Day.  That means steady showers through the day.  There will be breaks, of course, allowing Howie just enough time to run outside and jump around in mud puddles.  Temps today are going to climb into the upper 40s (F).  That'll be nice.  Next week we'll be in the mid 70s (F).  Isn't that nice?  And Spring is still 2 weeks away.  Of course, temps will drop down.  There will those inevitable freeze warnings for those who start planting their gardens too early.

Yesterday was a good day.  I got a really good workout in.  I did squats, and thrusts, and used the machine.  Using the equipment is important because it proves to me that I didn't simply throw money away.  There are a lot of treadmills, and ellipticals out there being used as clothes racks.  It always makes me feel good to know that I'm not one of those who waste money on something they use for 2 weeks and then forget about.

I have some lunches planned for the next few weeks, which means I really should get a haircut.  My view on haircuts:  get into the salon, get the hair cut, and get out as fast as possible.  I'm not one of those people who needs to chit chat away 5 minutes of my life with a hair stylist.  If I didn't feel the need to look somewhat presentable I'd probably never get one, or shave my head.

I did start a loaf of bread this morning.  It's time to finish backing just before I leave to get my haircut.

And I follow some German man on Threads who posts pictures of sunsets looking out over the Baltic Sea.  His name is Bjorn, which seems like an odd name for a German.  Here's a sunset he posted yesterday.

There was an interesting article this morning on the NBC news website about Democrats flipping elections.  For those who aren't counting, so far the Democrats have flipped 27 seats while the Republicans have flipped zippo.  Zilch.  Zero.  One of the laments coming from the GOP is that without the Orange Anus on the ballot, they're afraid that turnout is going to be light.  They simply do not understand that his base, the MAGA cultists are in no way a majority in this country.  Hell, they only makeup 17% to 19% of the population.  This is not the total number of registered Republicans, that's around 27%, just the crazy people whose fanaticism has taken away their sanity.

The Republican Texas primaries are falling apart.  Orangie has yet to endorse either Paxton or Cronyn, though he has said that after he curses one with his endorsement, the other candidate needs to drop out.  Paxton has said that he's not dropping out no matter what.  This puts Orangie into a bit of bind.  If he endorses Paxton, people will say this is just another TACO.  And if he endorses Cronyn, it means that his endorsement means zippo.  Zilch.  Zero.

Trump is so Easily Manipulated

 We've got a super mini cold front starting to pass over Central PA.  Today's high will be in the low to mid 30s (F).  That's a lot better than 19 (F).  Tomorrow morning the sky is going to spit of bit of sleet and rain that might be up to 1/10th of an inch thick, and the precipitation will only fall for a few hours.  Then the freezing drizzle will stop and things will begin to warm up.  I can live with this.

Retail yesterday was slow.  We definitely missed our plan last week.  Whispers are circulating that supervisors are going to be moved.  I'm hoping this means that our current supervisor is assigned a new position where she will not adversely effect sales.  The words "qualifying the customer" do not exist in her vocabulary.  Yesterday there were 2 sets of people in the department, a husband and wife were looking at rolled carpet, and a family were looking at vinyl plank flooring.  Both had been greeted.  Both had said they were browsing.  She walked into the department, looked at them, and said, "those are 2 sales."  When I explained that we had already talked to them, she frowned, and repeated, "those are 2 sales."  She will never understand.

And this morning I'm starting my first workout.  It should run around 50 minutes.  I should have more than enough time to finish it and still get ready to go to work.

And this is very important.

I see this morning that the war in the Middle East is expanding.  No surprise there.  Three of our fighter plans were shot down by friendly fire by Kuwait.  This makes me wonder if they are really our allies.  The Orange Anus originally said this was going to run 4 or 5 days.  He's now saying 4 to 5 weeks.  Tell, are those going to be famous last words?  I saw that Netanyahu left Israel for safer ground.  He's another gutless sack of shit.  Whispers are saying that for the past several weeks both Netty and Prince Bubble Brain of Saudi Arabia have been plying Orangie's ears with manipulative praise.  Sadly, this makes more sense to me than the fact that he might have initiated WWIII because of the Epstein Files.  His ego lives for praise.  World leaders know that all they need to do is tell him he's the greatest thing that's every happened to the world and he will drop to his knees faster than a two bit whore.  He lives for the Fool's Gold.  Sadly, many innocent people will have to pay with their lives.  

The Quagmire of Deceit

Our outside temp is 5 (F).  Tomorrow we're supposed to drop below Zero.  Friday and Saturday are stacking up to be the coldest days so far this year.  Next week temps are predicted to climb into the upper 20s (F), so break out the shorts and T-shirts.  No precipitation is predicted, at least nothing that's going to add inches to what's already on the ground.  One good thing is that we're now one third of the way through winter.  Isn't it nice that February is a short month?

I didn't bake or cook anything yesterday.  Dinner was a hamburger made in the air fryer.  That doesn't mean I didn't snack.  I did.  But then I also managed to complete a decent workout with the machine and dumbbells.  I also used a 15 pound kettlebell for upwards thrusts.  Believe me, that gets your heart pumping.  

The only thing Howie likes about the winter is the ice.  It's hard and crunchy, so instead of bringing a stick or a stone into the house, he brings in chunks of ice, like mini-icebergs.  Since they have all sorts of detritus in them, I switch them out with an ice cube from the freezer.  Like me, he has no problem chewing on ice.

While I was putting dishes in the dishwasher two days ago, I banged my thumb up, one of those freaky little things where the left corner of the nail snagged the rack.  What made this so freaky was that I keep my nails short, it's how I was raised.  This doesn't mean that if I see a man with long nails my opinion of him drops... much.  Suffice to say it hurt, and it bled, and I kept a bandage on it until last evening.  Howie has found this whole thing interesting.  This morning he's inclined to sniff my thumb, and on occasion has tried to lick it, and I'm hoping he's not developing some sort of carnivorous fascination for it.

Is this the face of a thumb eater?

A headline that made me chuckle was a report that Tesla is going to stop manufacturing their X and S vehicles, the cars that moved them into the mainstream.  Supposedly Elonia will be focusing on robotic vehicles.  My take is that sales have tanked so badly on these models its cheaper to stop production than take the hit.  Perhaps if Elonia didn't have a billionaire's baby brain things might have worked out better.

And big change of ICE.  Evidently, there's been an "all caps" directive telling them not to interact with agitators.  According to NBC, it took several people over an hour to come up with the exact wording, that's a good indicator of this administration's lack of intelligence.

According to a poll by Fox Entertainment, 17% of the American people do not believe ICE is being aggressive enough. Since this is a pro Orangie propaganda network, that number has most likely been inflated, still that's a terrible amount of racists in this country.

And for someone who demands extreme loyalty, Orangie's discovery of how easy it is to lose those 2nd amendment people must really sting.  What's sad about this is that those people never realized that Republicans were saying they were pro guns just to get votes.  This party has a been a quagmire of deceit for quite some time.

   

Trump is the World's Village Idiot

We have snow!  Free cardio has finally arrived in Central PA... well, kind of...  Actually, we got a dusting.  That's it.  Nothing more.  And while our temp is at 30 (F), this afternoon's highs are predicted to be in the upper 30s (F) to low 40s (F), so the little snow that we have will disappear.  

Yesterday was meh... again.  Perhaps I'm going through the winter blues.  One thing that is for certain is that without the morning notification from Trainwell, and a text from my trainer, I have all too easily found reasons to not workout.  Other, unimportant things suddenly become more important.  Don't think I don't do things, I do, but the things I do tend to not be beneficial.  There's truth in the saying that time wasted is not time well spent.  If there isn't a saying like that, then I suppose I just made one up.

I do get to go to work this afternoon.  We have a new assistant manager and I have yet to meet her.  The last one was not too special.  She tended to avoid being on the floor.  That was a big complaint, you could never find her when she was needed.  I remember 2 distinct times when I needed her to help deal with difficult customers and she chose to stay back in the office.  Telling someone how you want things to be done over the phone does not solve the problem.

Four chapters left to finish in The Body in 4:4 Time.

Here's a pic of Howie in the dusting.

In spite of everything the Republicans are saying about Orangie's state of dementia, like he doesn't have alzheimers, etc, every time he poses for the camera his dysfunctional brain distinctly expresses itself.  And the world is quite aware of his disability, and they are commenting.  Not that we don't have commenters here in the USA, but when some wonderful person in France writes "Nous savon ou vit l'idiot du village du monde entier," I have to laugh.  And these voices are not just French.  Every country in the world knows that Orangie is nothing more than the village idiot with too much power, and they are treading us accordingly.

Did you see how the Canadians went around the US and set up some really good deals with China.  They're just going to ignore the village idiot.

And Greenland?  The Village Idiot has become an international embarrassment.  And believe me, he's only going to get worse as the midterms approach, and the truth of how much he is despised by so many Americans becomes more and more apparent.  And there will be midterms, don't fret you minds about that.

Bubbles

 Our temps are still in the low 40s (F) but that's going to be changing when the rain moves through the area.  Originally, the prediction was for us to have a period of long, soaking rain.  That has now been updated to showers.  Then the wind will begin to blow and the temps will drop.  Tomorrow's high is expected to be in the mid to upper 30s (F).

Some things were done yesterday, not nearly as much as I had planned.  I did get a nice workout in, almost an hour long, that burned off 223 calories.  Some people have no idea how good that is, but then they don't realize sitting down and scrolling through their social media burns about 6 calories for the same period of time.  Moving finger muscles do not burn up a lot of calories.  I expect to be a bit sore today, but that's fine.  Working your muscles is a good thing.

An interesting thing about Howie is that he has 2 food dishes.  Not because he eats so much.  One is his normal ceramic bowl, and the other is a Chinet bowl (stiff cardboard).  He has 2 because occasionally I will pour drippings (bacon, or beef, or whatever) onto his kibble.  The drippings go into his Chinet dish and when he's finished, I throw what's leftover away. 

I did get some writing done, as well as work on my Spanish a bit.  I had shrimp and rice for dinner.

Here's a pic of the tank in the living room.

Am I the only one who wonders just what in hell is going through the minds of all those Republicans sitting out and watching this shit show unveil itself more and more every day?  Do they even understand that only their cultist base watches Foz Entertainment, that the rest of America is watching, or getting their news, from some other media outlet?  Personally, I don't think they do.  I think they have isolated themselves in a little bubble of beliefs of their own making, and nothing exists outside of that thin delusional membrane separating them from fantasy and reality.  I think this is what happened in Minneapolis.  I think that when Jonathan Gross was confronted with the smiling face of Nicole Renee Good, who told him, "hey dude, I'm not mad," his bubble burst.  I think he was so enraged by the reality that she offered him a smile, rather than terror and fear, the only choice he felt he had was to kill her.  His is the soul of Donald Trump.

Oh, and prep for things to get worse in the Venezuela arc of Orangie's storyline.  The CEO of Exxon-Mobile told him yesterday that the country was uninvestible.  So, Orangie's going to try and send American troops there to change that, because he is in his own bubble, too.   

  

This is Not Going to End Well

Our outside temp is a chilly 29 (F).  Today will be warming up, however, climbing up into the mid 40s (F).  By Thursday our temps should be in the mid to upper 50s (F).  There's nothing wrong with temps like that when your heading into the dead of winter, and that is our current direction.  Personally, I feel that Spring should be right around the corner, not a little over 2 months away.  On the bright side, I saw that 30 days from now we'll be getting a full 54 minutes more of daylight.  Now, isn't that a nice thought.

Yesterday was a workout day and a writing day.  I've upped the poundage on my dumbbells for the bench press to 25 lbs in each hand.  Actually, I upped the weight that I use in all of my dumbbell exercises.  Needless to say I'm a bit sore today.  There's nothing wrong with having a little bit of ache in your triceps, or your shoulders.  Or your quads, even.  Six months ago if you'd told me I'd be doing squats with 20 lb dumbbells I'd have called you crazy since I hate squats.

I did print off my 1099 SM yesterday in preparation for doing my income taxes.  All I need now is my W2 from the home improvement retailer I work for, and my taxes will be done.  

And game playing.  I've been playing Outer Worlds 2 since October 29.  I've leveled up to the point where I rarely die, and when I do it's usually my fault because I've done something stupid.  

Dinner yesterday was a chorizo and rice dish with lots of cilantro.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but I will tell you it was quite tasty.

I saw that Stevie Miller as on CNN last evening shrieking about the United States being a Super Power, and as such should start acting like one; that we should forcibly take Greenland.  This little man is dumb as a brick.  He's a big mouthed man in a tiny body, think Napoleon, however Napoleon was intelligent.  Miller?  Let me be redundant and tell you that he is dumb as a brick.  This is going to turn out badly for the United States.  He will be arrested and quite probably executed for war crimes.  Then Tommy Tuberville said there is no such thing as International Law.  I am starting to believe that RFK's brain worm is not dead, but rather has been quietly breeding, most probably at Mar a Lago.

The apposition leader for Venezuela, Machado, the woman who won the Nobel Peace Price also went on TV saying that the Orange Anus she'd give that prize to Orangie if he allowed free elections in Venezuela.  That woman evidently doesn't understand how Orangie works.  He doesn't want a Democratic government there, he wants a colony that is subservient to American Big Oil.  This is why they are calling Marco Rubio a Viceroy.  What is most likely to happen is that her opposition party will join the revolutionaries when they begin attacking the American troops Orangie will soon be putting on the ground.  This is not going to end will.