Well…trying to restore the normal routine but I still feel kind of strange today and don’t know what effect it will have on the rest of the day. But, I’m trying so here goes….had an okay day yesterday with lunch with T and then out with G for a couple and she picked up the tab so that helped. Not sure about going out today..probably should try to conserve the cash and have a no cocktail day but my life is already boring enough without making it worse…going to try to get the bike out today since the trails are clear but if that doesn’t happen I’m sure I’ll be out wed and thurs…can’t wait to get the aerobic exercise going again since it does make me feel much better….and I need to drop the 10 pounds I’ve gained over the winter. I will have at least one more topic for the day….have been isolated for the past couple of days without the news so there could even be two….more later….
All posts by James DeVol
A rough patch…
Well…I’ve been going through a rough patch over the last couple of weeks and it has been hard to clear my head enough to be lucid here….a nice lunch today with T has helped me to see that there might be sunshine out there….I have not read any papers today so I don’t have any insights to share as yet….I am going to get a glass of ice water, read the online papers and then come back if something strikes me..please bear with me for a couple of days until I get back in the groove here…
Is it groovy yet? It has been a weird couple of weeks but does that give me the excuse to slack off on these? Yep, it does…one of the great things about writing these posts…I get to do them when I actually have an idea that might be pertinent, or when I want to indulge myself by working it our on this page…..so, do I have anything to say? Not really…skipping the papers today was a double whammy with no news or caffeine…and then I had a couple of beers at lunch which disposed me to taking it easy….I did come back to do some writing so that should earn me some brownie points…I will have more tomorrow since I really don’t think I can get much lower….
March 14th
Well…the time change has me all screwed up and I am running late…but there’s more than that…have been so down lately that I can’t get motivated to do much of anything…even going to skip coffee and papers this morning since I really don’t want to talk to anyone until I have lunch with T later….that normally lifts my spirits some but it’s not working today….I will have a few for later today if I can drag out of this funk…but, I can’t promise anything….
March 13th
Well…running really late this morning with the time change and having to find all of the instruction booklets for the equipment that I have so I can reset the clocks….still have a couple to do but that will be later…went out to see the Wings game last night and it was a waste of time and money….I don’t know if it’s me or not but another political argument came up and I can’t believe how smug people are that still have a job….isn’t there something wrong with people that are in their 30’s that have been sucked into the Fox news alternate universe? I was called a communist by one of my friends last night because I believe that government needs to be a referee between the people and unfettered capitalism. Oh, well…maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t see these folks much anymore…I do have to remember that there are few people in West Michigan that feel how I do and just stop talking about both politics and religion….which gets me to another argument….nope, not going to go there right now…not much to do today…somehow I have two dvds from Netflix to watch today and I think that will be the plan after the news….I may get a couple more out today…but I am still seething about last night so I should just chill…more later….
Just had a thought…maybe I should use last night as a starting point for reflection, and trying to be a better person than the seriously flawed one that I am….
March 12th
Well…running late today and thought I’d get this out while I wait for the coffee to brew….a fun day yesterday, well…at least part of it…met up with K for a couple for HH and it was good to see her…started cocktail night off a little too early, though, and I feel a little slow today. Just got back from getting the papers and it is already pretty nice outside so I think I may get the bike out today…yay! Haven’t looked at the weather, though, and this might be as warm as it gets and if it is, I’ll just veg and watch the Big Ten playoffs….not much to do today….going out to OT to meet up with M for the Wings game later…I’ll be back later for a couple…
More repub shenanigans…
Well….it has been a revealing week both here in Michigan and in Wisconsin where the true colors of these thugs have come to light…in Wisconsin, where the repubs have been screaming about the dire fiscal effects that continuing to bargain with the unions has for the state, have used a lying, cheating, manuever to get the union busting bill passed. The only way that they could do it was to separate the two portions of the bill, taking the budget portion of the bill and making it separate….but the only way they could do that was to state that the union bashing part had no fiscal effect on the budget. So, Gov Walker, when were you lying? Were you lying when you said the state would go broke without killing the unions or when you said the union busting bill would have no effect on the finances of the state. These liars will do or say anything to push their far-right agenda no matter what the people of Wisconsin want…I hope you and your thugs like being elected for one term…that’s all you are going to get.
The same kind of lying and manipulating is going on here in Michigan by the repubs that control the government here. To ensure that there will be no voice of the people on the giveaways to business and tax increases on everyone else, the repubs have used a shenanigan that placed a 100 dollar appropriation in the bill which, by Michigan law, takes away the right for the voters of Michigan to vote on the direction of our state and rein in these liars. We are seeing the “nerd” that ran on transparency in government and decried the supposed back room deals that they tried to pin on gov Granholm do even worse; a concerted effort to attack working people and retirees using barely ethical political tactics. What are you afraid of gov Snyder? That once the people see you as just another thief that lied to the electorate to shield your true objective, like Wisconsin, that you will be gone after one term? You should be ashamed…geez….
March 11th
Well… stayed in last night since G had work stuff and that wasn’t bad…trying to save cash but it is so boring doing that I’m going out of my head….oh, well…I guess I’ll survive it. Another gloomy day yesterday but it is supposed to be partly sunny today so it may help raise my mood if I’m lucky….do have to do the grocery run this morning and have to make sure I maximize the money spent to meals…but I am going to get some corned beef to make corned beef and cabbage for St. Patty’s day and maybe the makings for cocktails tonight. Not much else to do today…have a couple of movies in the box since Netflix screwed up my queue and that might be a thing for today while I wait for more snow to melt…..I am getting pretty depressed about the whole job situation but maybe trying to forget about it for a day may help…..I will get some topics out later today…..
Another way to discriminate…
Well…the look for work has gotten more depressing over the past couple of days with my discovery of a new wrinkle in many of the job listings I’ve been seeing. The new way that these folks have discovered to eliminate we experienced workers is by putting qualifiers for MAXIMUM experience in the job postings…yep, that’s right, saw a bunch today that I am qualified for, but they all listed a maximum of 5 years experience….so now they have discovered a new code and method to wink and nod and make sure they can exclude anyone that is not in their 20’s or early thirties. So, I guess now those of use with long job and life experience have no value anymore….geez….
Here come the musings….
Well….was almost worked up into an outrage by ole Nolan in the News this morning but he really has nothing new to say except…nope, nothing new to say, just more of his same old schtick…greedy unions, put upon corporations, and shared sacrifice that is shared by everyone but the rich and those same corporations….I wonder how much he gets paid by those folks to keep spouting that nonsense? It must be really easy to write a column when you are given the talking points every morning…..and no, no one gives me talking points, although, I am repetitive at times and that’s why I’m not going to counterpunch today but just talk about a few things I see going on that need comment. I find it funny that rep King from New York would be holding hearings on Islamic radicalism in the congress right now…especially since he was a huge supporter of terrorist groups that funneled money and guns to the Irish Republican Army that was responsible for thousands of innocent people dying in northern Ireland. I guess it’s okay to support terrorism if it is a group you agree with but not if it is a group you can score political points demonizing. Typical repub thug….
Then, we had Michael Barone from the same right wing rag going after unions again (that’s right, it’s Thursday, attack unions day) and making the assertion that private sector companies that don’t have unions have been successful and their unionized counterparts have failed. Well, yeah, Mike, of course a business that can discard workers, offshore jobs, treat their workers like crap, and buy favorable legislation are going to thrive in your desired business climate….but the contention that unionized companies don’t thrive by sharing with their workers discounts the profits by all of the automobile companies over the last year. I can’t wait until the News gets into financial trouble and the first people to go are their older, more highly compensated columnists…and there won’t be a damn thing ole Mike and his ilk will be able to do about it….
Okay, there was some counterpunching here….but you know how it works here…I never know what I’m going to write until I get doing it….and that’s the fun….I hope for you and me….
March 10th
Well…a slow day yesterday with not a lot to do so I didn’t do a lot….had some really weird dreams last night that involved a Fiat 124 convert that I use to have and kittens again…it ended with the car being ruined by a friend that I used to work with…that’s about all I remember and I don’t know if I want to remember more. Just strange nights of sleeping lately and I know part of it is the sore tooth I’ve been fighting lately….it’s better today but I can still feel it….raining again this morning and it gives me hope that the trails will be melted off before the weekend…or we’ll get a huge snowstorm…you never know what you’re going to get in Michigan in March….I do have some things to do today…yay! C is coming into town for a bit and then out with G later if the plans hold up…..have been feeling kind of crappy lately and I think part of it is the gloomy days we’ve had here…hard to smile when there is no sun…I will have topics for later on since it is really the only thing I have to do right now…other than clean…I should get the last month’s papers out for recycling and clean the kitchen today…..should being the operative word….more later…