Morning Update: 06/28/24

Before you bother asking, no, I didn’t watch the debate. I never do. There’s little point. First, there was no question from the beginning that the lies were going to be flying everywhere and by all accounts they were. Here is the AP list of lies. It’s not comprehensive because many of them were repeated in different forms throughout the night. Second, we have YouTube and other video sources now, so we don’t have to sit through all the punditry and pedantry of a live broadcast. From what I’ve seen this morning, President Biden looked a lot like Ronald Reagan did in ’88. The Orange Felon looked orange and spoke felonious. Third: Most people have already made up their minds and there’s little, if anything, that will change them. In that regard, the debates are merely moments of malarky. Are we good with that? Yes, I have my concerns, but they’re more at the state and Congressional level, not presidential (just yet).

If you’re wondering how my day went yesterday, I slept a lot, which wasn’t surprising at all given Wednesday’s fun activity. I woke up thinking I might be able to power through it, but by 7:30 I was back in bed and snoring. Nonetheless, the kids did finish mowing the yard and the construction crew finished enclosing the new house next door.

The moment of disappointment for the day came when there wasn’t a USPS morning scan email. In case you weren’t already aware, you can sign up to get an email notification of the mail expected to be delivered each day. This really helps when you’re expecting something valuable and/or important, such as a debit card. Unfortunately, there was no email yesterday which meant we didn’t have any new mail. No debit card. This is a problem because it has been 10 days since the card was ordered.

The letter containing the PIN for that card gave me the number to call and report the card missing. Of course, a missing card is a big deal. So, they had to cancel that card and issue me a new one. Fuck. Another wait. This time, they put a rush on the processing, so it should go into the mail today and be here by Monday. They kindly waived the standard rush fee since it’s already been 10 days and the other card never arrived. I’m sorry, but that means it will likely be Tuesday or Wednesday of next week before I can show you the pictures we took Wednesday.

What was entertaining is that the customer service person I had was quite happy. One of the first things she told me was that my name made her smile. She proceeded to call me “Mr. Let-Us-Be-Better” for the rest of the call. If that’s what shows up on my card, I’m not changing it. 😊 She hummed while she typed, and once was even singing along with a song I assume was playing either in the background or in her earbuds. Her positivity went a long way toward calming my anxiety about not having access to my funds, as meager as they are.

Reuters was kind enough to tell me that Fourth of July cookout costs in the US have risen by 5% this year over last year, and 30% over 2019. Meat and lemonade are the biggest factors there. I was able to catch a rack of ribs on sale earlier this month, so that’s sitting in the freezer. Hopefully, the few other things we’ll need won’t cost too much more, especially since it will likely just be me and the kids. It’s going to be too loud and chaotic in the neighborhood for Kat. In fact, I wouldn’t blame her if she ran and hid for the whole week. Our neighbors tend to start “celebrating” early.

Processing this morning’s picture reminded me that it’s been 14 years since I was last out on the West Coast. This lack of travel thing is starting to get to me. Wednesday’s adventure was fun and really hit at my inert wanderlust. I’m ready to go trekking into whatever wilderness, urban or jungle. Yet, flying with chemo is apparently a problem and Social Security gets upset if I’m out of the state for more than two weeks of the month. I’m sure there’s a solution out there somewhere, but my brain is too addled to think of anything that isn’t filled with prohibitions. Feel free to help me out there.

There’s rain in the forecast. The skies to the West looked dark and menacing when I took the dogs out earlier. Storms are in the forecast for Sunday as well. That will make for an interesting start to “Blow Your Brains Out” week. The rain might prevent houses from catching fire, but it won’t do much to keep digits from being blown off. We’ve been doing the whole fireworks thing long enough you’d think folks would have learned by now that black powder and stupidity don’t mix well. Yet, every year, emergency rooms fill up with too many examples of “watch this” syndrome and “we didn’t expect that” disease.

My stomach wants me to eat but it’s another hour before I can check my glucose. We don’t really have anything for breakfast, anyway. We’re out of bread, bacon, and cereal. Eggs by themselves don’t cut it. Maybe I’ll just eat leftovers from the other night.

Feel free to amuse me.