Well…woke up to pouring rain this morning along with my online tv not working and that is just so damn annoying…oh, well…slept okay and my lungs feel a little better so I guess that’s something….but, I tossed and turned all night and feel a little worn out today so I guess I’ll take it easy…but that will be a little hard without tv…I guess I could clean today and just play some music but I don’t want to…and it even looks like I won’t be able to get on the bike since the radar shows rain all the way back to southern Illinois…..I did have an okay day yesterday but didn’t get much done so maybe I should start to get the last room cleaned up and ready to paint…the wood floors could use some cleaning and another wax, too so I do have things to do today…I do need to cook, too since I am running out of ham and have some thighs thawing in the downstairs fridge…and need to use some of the food in the freezer so I can buy some chicken this week to change up my diet some and get the salt out of it….okay, I’m still coughing and starting to feel like crap again so I’ll end here….more later…
All posts by James DeVol
Every damn economist knew…except for right wing hacks…
Well…damn, I can’t find the article where I read this earlier today so I’ll just have to wing it…as the title says, every respected mainstream economist predicted that “trade wars are easy to win” was one of the most boneheaded statements in the litany of boneheaded statements by the idiot in chief….the latest government assessment shows that idiot boy’s tariffs have resulted in just what good economists said it would…job losses in manufacturing and higher costs for basically everything for the American consumer…and this is compounded by the generational loss of agricultural markets across the world that have been destroyed by retaliation by the Chinese and their switch to south American markets for soybeans, corn, and other products. And now we have the moron in chief today opening his stupid hole to threaten even more tariffs that will do even more damage to the economy…but do we hear a peep from the repubs? Nope…and this truly shows the only people they give a damn about are the people who can write them million dollar checks for bribes…oh, I mean campaign contributions. I would say that I can’t believe how stupid these folks are on the economy but I have been watching the repubs do this stupid shit for decades now and they are never held to account…why would now be any different?
December 28th
Well…running a little late today with staying in bed until 6:30 and sleeping most of that time…I do have a bug that hit pretty hard last night with sneezing and coughing all night and my lungs are still congested this morning…and I’m sitting here sweating this morning even though I’m normally freezing with keeping it 65 in here…but, it can’t be the flu since I don’t feel bad enough for that and I got a flu shot back in the fall….so, I may take the day off of everything today and just rest and watch soccer and football….I did get out to have a couple with K yesterday and it was good to get out for a while and drive the car…and the traffic was not too bad coming home so that was a bonus….I did get a cold bike ride in yesterday back in full thermasuit and that will be the plan for today if I go out….didn’t get much done yesterday but I do have laundry to do today and I need to clean the kitchen…I think I need to start to schedule my cleaning around here to make sure I keep up with it since this place is bigger than my apt was and it is pretty dusty…might have to buy one of those swiffer dusters for once overs to maintain between cleanings…probably should bring my cleaning work into more modern methods than rags and paper towels….more later…
Downtime…
Well…as you know if you’ve checked in this afternoon, the site was down again and my son has been busting his butt trying to figure out what has changed to cause the two outages this week but it’s working now so that is cool….but, I forgot what the topic was that I was going to write about so this is going to be a short one…I did just get back from having a couple with K and that was fun and nice to drive the car to get all of the lube warm and burn off the crap from the exhaust…the parking brake was hung up again so I think I need to oil it again Sunday when it is warmer….it’s supposed to rain but I have a garage so it doesn’t matter…and that is just damn cool…okay…I need to watch some tv and have a cocktail so I’ll end here….
December 27th
Well…I am really surprised that I didn’t wake up sore this morning after doing two rides yesterday…I did take something for it before bed last night so maybe that had something to do with it….I did sleep okay and don’t feel to bad other than the bug that is annoying me…my lungs are congested and that was no fun on the bike yesterday…but, I did get out in just shorts and a t-shirt for the second ride and that was neat for December….but today will be full thermasuit with it back in the 30’s again but I can still get a ride in so that is cool…didn’t get anything else done yesterday but I will clean today and get some work done in the basement that I have been avoiding for a while now….just don’t have a lot of motivation right now…maybe the coffee will help? I did get the car washed and it is nice to be able to just back it out of the garage and get it cleaned without having to go anywhere…but, I think that’s ending with the weather change that is coming next week…but, we got to January with no really bad weather so that only leaves Jan and Feb to endure and I think I can do that….not much to do today…just going to ease into it and have more coffee before I get started….more later…
What a damn baby…
Well…sitting here trying to recover from doing two rides today and just read the most ridiculous article about the most ridiculous person ever to be installed as president…we have a true baby as president, there is no other description…over the past day or so, the idiot trump and his demon spawn have been going on and on about what they are bleating is a conspiracy against the idiot in chief…and you know why that is? The Canadian broadcast company ran an edited version of “Home Alone 2” where idiot boy had a small cameo part but the CBC edited it out…with the perfectly rational explanation that they wanted to make room for more commercials and the cameo really had nothing to do with the plot…so, of course, the right wing snowflakes in this country just know it was a conspiracy against trump since the Canadians hate him and will do anything to erase him from his rightful place as a huuuuuge star….now, how damn ridiculous is that? Especially since the edit was done in 2014 and the edited version has been shown every year since then. but that doesn’t matter to the professional victims on the right…who are just such a huge damn bunch of whiny babies that I wonder how they do anything else…oh, that’s right, they don’t…they just whine and whine and whine…..cripes…
December 26th
Well…that really sucked…had another bout of acid reflux last night that woke me up at 2 and kept me up most of the night…still hurts to drink coffee now and I wonder if it’s something I ate for a snack last night….all I know is I’ll be taking antacids all morning to try to heal it up…needless to say, I didn’t sleep for crap and will need a nap later….I did get out for a bike ride yesterday in shorts and it looks like I’ll be able to do it again today with the temp already at 45 and it getting to 50 by 11…but, this will be the last day for that…for a while anyway but there is no big snow in the forecast for the next 10 days or so and that will keep me on the bike until the end of the year….didn’t get anything done around here yesterday but cook a big ham and watch a little tv but I do need to clean some today…not sure when that will be with soccer on all day but the dust needs to be attacked before it coats everything in here…and I should wash the car this morning and I think I will….but I need to have more coffee and watch some soccer first…more later….
Some musings…
Well…it looks like you may be getting a few of these today with it being Christmas and because I don’t celebrate it so the normal stuff that normal people do are not part of my day…so that means I’m starting today just like any other Wednesday…with the “Lone Ranger” playing in the background so I have some noise in here that masks my tinnitus….I did just notice the intro that made me laugh out loud when they called him a “fabulous individual”….who talks that way? I’m pretty sure I’ve never called anyone that in my life but I wouldn’t mind being called that….I think this is probably the 20th year or so that I haven’t celebrated Christmas and it is so damn liberating to not have to shop for presents or to travel to family gatherings…my kids all celebrate with their in-laws and that is cool but I would feel a little hypocritical to go through those motions since I have been an atheist for as long as I can remember…and you know how I feel about the damage that religion can do…after all, all you have to do is look at the trumpism that has been shit on this country solely by the evangelical voters who still support the idiot in chief even after putting children in cages and his daily immorality that they conveniently ignore since he totally supports the hate they feel for everyone that is not like them. I really don’t want to tar all religious people for the actions of these folks who would use anything else as a vehicle for their hate even if religion didn’t exist…I grew up in a religion that taught the principles of love and tolerance that I still aspire to today but that doesn’t look anything like the “christianity” that spews hatred to the LGBTQ community, that wants to ensure that women continue to be second class citizens with only the rights that they say women can have, and whose morality is malleable and not what is taught in their bible. I’ll end with this…as an atheist, I don’t feel offended when someone says Merry Christmas to me and I’ll happily say it back to them….I’ll never be one of those people who craps on other people’s traditions and beliefs…there is room in this big world for everyone….
December 25th
Well…running a little late this morning with going out to get a paper to read and not getting up til almost 6:30…slept okay last night and feel pretty good this morning even with not being good last night…and my thumb is finally starting to show the signs of healing that I have been looking for for months now…I can actually use it to work the rear brakes on the bike and it doesn’t hurt all the time so I’ll take that as a win…but I do have a cold that is more annoying than anything and I’m still coughing like crazy and my head is plugged up but I can live with it until I’m over it…got a nice bike ride in yesterday with almost all of the ice on the trail gone and being able to go hard for the first time in a week…but that has caused everything else to hurt and I am hobbling around here a little with the stiffness that comes with it…hope it doesn’t sound like I’m bitching because I’m not…not much to do today…I am going to cook another ham for lunch since they were so cheap this week and then I’m going to wait to get out on the bike until the afternoon so I can go out in shorts…it’s supposed to be over 50 today and my threshold for shorts is 47 degrees…that will look weird for a Christmas day but I’ll take this weather anytime…no snow any time soon and that will leave us only two months of winter to endure….more later…
I made it!
Well…you know I have been doing kind of a countdown to 4,500 miles on the bike for the past month or so and yesterday I finally made it! That’s a hell of a lot of miles for an old guy like me and with all of the time that I spent working on this place…and that kind of makes me feel good that I can still do that much physical exertion at my age…and that I still like doing it…I look forward to getting on the bike every day and I hope that continues until I get too old to ride…but, I think I am going to need a new bike in the spring if I can’t figure out how to replace the sprockets…so I need to start saving for that soon…but, I’m not going to think about that now…just going to try to run up another 35 miles so I will have beaten the old record by at least 200 miles…6,000 for a goal for next year? We’ll see….