Lots of Hither And Yon

Today was a day filled with driving. Not the whole day, though it felt a bit like that.

I got up and started checking on the first flight. On time. Woo hoo. That gave me a couple or three hours to do my morning ablutions. Did I need that much time? Of course not. But it was nice not to be rushed. Or to have to get up at an early hour to do this pick-up. I headed out around 10:30 am to get to the Syracuse Airport around 11:30 am. When I got there, they had just landed and were getting their stuff and coming out. Have I mentioned lately that I really dislike the layout of the roadways around the Syracuse Airport? Blech. They found me, eventually, and we drove back to Geneva.

On the way, we talked of all sorts of things. Mostly their experiences in Florida. Though we did touch on the campaign a little bit – which I will talk more about in that section below. I made out like a bandit because not only did they throw me some shekels for my time and trouble, but I was also gifted with three delicious looking beers! Woo hoo!

Back home, I ate some lunch. Leftovers from last night’s dinner actually. I really do try to listen to my stomach and only eat until I am full. And that meant leaving a few bits of stuff on the plate last night. The food warmed up well, and the chicken skin crisped up tremendously. Yay crispy skin. Is there a vegetarian equivalent to crispy chicken skin?

The shower was also pleasant. But I didn’t have a lot of time before I headed off to Rochester for the second airport pick-up. SM’s plane was on time and she came out in a timely fashion. On the way home, we also talked of all sorts of things. Interestingly, at least in my opinion, they are also watching The West Wing. It is SM’s first time. Maybe RP’s too. And a couple of their friends are also watching it. I wonder how many people are watching it actually. Such a good show. And in this time of political craziness, even a dramatic television show seems calming and rational. As for me, I am just finishing up the next to last season.

I am home for a little bit. And I will post this after I come back from dinner.

Back again. Turns out that the rain and dark were too much for my dinner companions to handle, so we cancelled for the night. Instead, I went to the grocery store and bought some asparagus. Can you deep fry asparagus? I bet you can. I’m not going to, but…I also bought some fig Newtons and a piece of chocolate cake for laters. So excited!

Orville Leonard, Captain in the Civil War – Massachusetts Volunteers – I think my 3rd great grandfather

Augustus for President: LD started seeing if her friend in Phoenix can put me up when I am there later this year. How nice is that? I really need to get my act together and send out an email to people asking who they know who might be willing to put me up for a night in each of the capitals. I think I have 10 covered so far. It would be cool to have twenty covered.

At the grocery store I ran into people I know. And gave them stickers. I bet most people use them or lose them. But at least that’s one touch (out of what, now, 14?)(it used to be five I think…)

Yay Productive Lazy Days

Decent day, all things considered. Yay. I hope you all had good days too.

Mine started about the same time my days have been starting recently, around 8 am. When my boarder heads off to work. She is like my alarm clock. I did my morning Duolingo and then puttered around the internet. Too much of that, sadly. But these are the times in which we live, so…

Around 10 I got a few reminders and took care of them. Made a couple calls, sent a couple text messages. Did a few things on the computer. That sort of thing. Later, I got out of bed and did my morning ablutions, including a teeny bit of yoga. And started the upstairs Roomba. Which entailed closing all the rest of the doors on the floor so that the Roomba would focus on the hallway. It did a decent job. Though it got some hair twined around one of its paws that I haven’t figure out how to dehair yet. YouTube to the rescue. I will do that the next time I clean the upstairs roomba. Which at the rate I am going will be sometime in 2027. Sigh.

Lunch was a bunch of this and a little of that. Mainly some guacamole and some hummus, plus some watermelon (I know, it isn’t in season, but Wegman’s sells outrageously expensive little containers of it and its one of the only fruits I eat without much foot dragging), and some olives.

After lunch, I started doing more picture scans. I did 40+. And trimmed them. And will name and save them tonight. I might try another method to save them this evening. Nah, probably won’t. I’ll stick with the way I have developed. To get me through the scanning, which took a while, I listened to some of my book. There were some pictures of mom. Some pictures of other family members. Even two pictures of Orville Leonard from the Civil War! I might use one of those for my image tomorrow, if I remember.

I will admit that here and there a catnap or two may have occurred.

When I got a hi tech tape measure for PM for Christmas, I also got one for myself. I haven’t unboxed it yet, but would like to do so. Maybe on Sunday.

Oh, I also did and put away the dishes. See, productive!

Tonight, I might start on the books in the red room. There are two shelves in there and I don’t think any of those books have been catalogued. I will be able to tell if they have because they will have my library embosses in them. And they will be in the database.

It is Friday night. Normally I treat myself to some sort of pizza and wings meal. But since I have most of a chicken left, which I didn’t touch yesterday, I think it would be better if I had that. With the rest of the broccoli. And maybe some French Fries. Not curly fries tonight. I am debating a small salad.

Fairy Blog Mother strikes again!

Who has the best Fairy Blog Mother? I got a text from PvK asking if I was still looking for a round Brita pitcher. I loathe my rectangular one, so I leapt to respond with a resounding yes! She left it on the front porch for me. And it even came with a filter! Yippee!! Bye bye rectangular Brita pitcher from Hades!

Looks like tomorrow is going to be a big driving day. I am picking LD and MD up from the Syracuse airport around noon. And then picking SM up from the Rochester Airport around 4 pm. So exciting. At least I will get to listen to my book. And have good conversations on the way home.

And tomorrow night, if the stars align, EC and JC and I will be going out to eat dinner. That will be nice. They are so good to me!

Ok, time to Duolingo.

Augustus for President: I saw a book that looked interesting on the internet. It came in two versions, a paperback for $13 or a Kindle version for $6. I downloaded the Kindle app to my iPad and bought the kindle version of the book. It is about how Independents have a hard time winning elections and some possible strategies to overcome the challenges. I’ve started the book, but haven’t gotten very far in it yet.

My next gadget arrived – a remote control for my phone. Now I can start and stop video on the iPhone from afar. Or take pictures. I am mostly interested in the video option. On Sunday, if the weather isn’t too terrible, I might try a test or three of videoing myself like I would for a capital visit.

Sniff, sniff. No more donations. Yet. Am I surprised? Not at all. Sad though. Sniff. My fundraising goal for the year is $5,000. At least that is my initial goal. If I can’t even raise that…well, that wouldn’t be a good sign.

All Fixed! (Sort of)

As I was heading out yesterday or the day before, I noticed that a second window pane had fallen out of the storm windows that my awesome brother put up on the front porch oh so many years ago. The windows were old when he put them in and they have been up for at least 30 years. Maybe longer. Anyway, because my boarder wasn’t good about closing the outer porch door, I put a spring back on it so it would close automatically. It is a strong spring. And I am sure the constant banging shut of the door is what has caused the window panes to fall out. I caught the first one as it was only part way out a couple of weeks ago. Maybe months. And I noticed yesterday that the second one had come out. Not that my boarder mentioned it to me. Sigh. I finally, after the snow melted, found pieces of the broke window. In her defense, maybe she didn’t notice. Anyway, I decided that it would be easier for the time being to just put some plastic across the windows. After she leaves in February, I will probably take the spring off the door again since I am pretty good at closing the door. See, my handiness manifests again!

Pretty fix, right?

My tasks today were all house related. I did the window fix. Woo hoo. And I went to City Hall to see about having my mom’s name removed from my tax bill. Which I was told required me to have a new deed made. They don’t do that there, that only happens in the county offices. I called the county office and the person who answered doled out the information very slowly. There are some forms to fill out. And the bank has to be contacted if there is a mortgage. She suggested that I could do it myself, but it was probably better to do it through an attorney. So I called an attorney and left a message.

I also wanted to tell whoever I needed to tell, that I was turning 65 this year. Which I think changes the amount I need to pay for school taxes. She wasn’t in the office so I left her a message too.

Hey, so when did Medicare part B come into existence? And what the actual fuck? I thought when I started getting Medicare that I wouldn’t have to pay anything since I have been paying into the fund since I started earning money over the table 40 years ago. But no, there is a $200 a month fee for Medicare Part B, which, if what I read is true, will be deducted from my Social Security check. And you have to actively sign up for part B. JFC!!! Part A is free. What does part A even do?. This is total crap and needs to be changed. And there are Parts C and D. Those though go to insurance companies. God they are making out like bandits and the people are getting screwed. As usual. Not amused.

I think I need to eat the last of my bacon tonight. So, another BLA for dinner. Plus curly fries. And some macaroni salad. Something in my diet is making my phantom jaw pain return. Not sure what it is, though. I wish there were a magic wand to tell me exactly what is happening in my body and how to fix it. Maybe someday.

Augustus for President: The shooting of Ms. Good is mind numbing. And the administration’s response is horrifying. Words fail.

Had a long talk with a friend about my campaign. I might ask him to help, though I am pretty sure he won’t. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

It would be nifty if anyone reading this wants to throw a few shekels ($1, $5, $1000) the campaign’s way, I have been making the subheading a link (hence the underline and color of the text.) It doesn’t take you directly to the contributions page, because that would be pushier. Did you know that an individual can contribute up to $3300 to any given candidate per election?

I just did a google search for “Augustus for US President 2028” and my website was top of the list. How cool is that?

One to Go

Last night I finished shelf 16 of 17 of the books on the back stairs shelves. I hope to finish the last shelf tonight. And if the estimate of the number of books in the house is anywhere near correct (hahahaha) I will have catalogued one tenth of the books. Around 1500. That’s a good start, in my humble opinion. (imho) Woo hoo!

I also scanned a bunch of pictures last night. Yes, I am on a productive roll.

Mom’s 80th Birthday (I think) – Mom is in the middle

Have I ever mentioned that I am really good at reverse peristalsis? In other words, I am good at throwing up. I have always been pretty good at it. I remember one time on a road trip, I told the driver I was going to throw up and that it might be a good idea to pull over. They didn’t listen. So I threw up in my hands. I caught most of it. Suddenly the driver decided it was a good idea to pull over after all. Anyway, just thought I would share. And no, I am not bulimic.

This morning I managed to do the things I had my on my to do. Well, a couple of them. First was trying to figure out if the trash people would be upset if I put out a lot of recycling. The answer is no. They wrote in their alerts that there wouldn’t be any recycling pick-up for my area until tomorrow, which was two weeks without recycling. Three, really. So, that is a good thing. My housemate makes so much trash it isn’t even funny. Second, see below.

Lunch was the last of my pizza. I still find it weird that I added pepperoni and what I thought was a lot of banana pepper on top of the frozen pizza and the last two pieces seemed to have not quite enough of either. Live and learn one hopes.

After lunch, I spent some time with JC and EC. They had a walkthrough with the moving company scheduled. The moving company’s automated system didn’t work for some reason, so they had to Facetime me instead. And they didn’t know how to do a screen capture on their iPad. So I told the guy to stop the call, google how to do a screen capture on his iPad and call me back. Which he did. I think JC and EC have about a quarter of a truck. Maybe half. Though I think a quarter is closer. The moving guy promised a speedy estimate, so we shall see.

After that, I spent awhile helping EC with her computer. She hadn’t used it in a while and in the interim, Microsoft decided that they wanted more money from people with their whole subscription based software model. Fuck that. I hate subscriptions. Especially for software. If I lived and breathed using Word and Excel, I could see maybe subscribing. But since I don’t, and EC certainly doesn’t, I wasn’t having any of that crap. I downloaded LibreOffice and I think that will do what she needs to have done.

JC meanwhile wanted to go through his multiple address books and see if there were people he could add to his contacts list. A couple that he added he already had in there. I think we added five or so new ones altogether.

But, all that took longer than I had planned. So I will run my errand at town hall tomorrow.

I went to Wegman’s and bought some food. I saw a woman I know from dashing who was there shopping with her mom. She said I also had her mom’s vote for President. Sometimes I think that I am presenting a real option. Sometimes I think I am totally hallucinating and crazy.

Home now. I am going to do some Duolingo and then have Chicken for dinner. Woo hoo!

Augustus for President: I came up with another potential slogan – Augustus: The President for the Rest of US. Any good?

I guess it pays to have good credit. I decided I needed a business credit card, in order to keep expenses for the campaign separate from my personal accounts. I can’t remember when I came up with this idea, but it has taken me a while to actually get around to applying for a business credit card account. This morning, I finally bit the bullet. I went to the web and found a good looking business card and applied. And because of my decent credit, I am guessing, I was approved! I ought to get the card in about 5 days at which point, I can switch everything campaign oriented to that card. I will have a lot of ongoing monthly expenses and of course trip expenses. This is a major step, imho.

My brother tested the donate page for me and it seems to have worked. I don’t know what the next steps are. It’s a learning experience. He also said that my caricature put him off (so I added an actual picture, too). And that when he clicked the link I sent him, he got an error message. I keep forgetting that the website is secure, so I need to add either http or https to the address to avoid that problem. Thanks bro!

Next Step

I woke up and went back to sleep. And then woke up again. And went back to sleep again. I finally woke up for the day around 10 am. I’ve been feeling tired a lot lately. Maybe I’m dying. Who knows. Anyway, despite the pseudo narcolepsy, I have managed to muddle my way through another day. Go figure!

Hey, what’s with the rain? The weather has warmed up but we are getting precipitation almost every day for the next week. Boo. I had things I wanted to do outside. Oh well. That’s what rain gear is for, right? At least it is above freezing during the day. (That’s all for the weather report – follow me for more…)

It was shower day. I try to shower at least once a month. And I did a little bit of maintenance yoga. I started doing yoga after taking it as a sport in the winter trimester of my senior year of high school. And though it has become sporadic, I have been doing it since then. It is my main form of exercise. Besides walking up and down the stairs of my house.

The downstairs roomba was set to work on the front hall and did a decent job. As it got tired, it started getting stuck all over the place. I think it could do more work in the hall. Maybe tomorrow. And I might run the upstairs roomba in the upstairs hall tomorrow as well. Someday I might have one of those super smart (hahahaha) roombas that will do what I want to when I want it to without me having to ask. Or maybe not. (I am a two roomba family.)

Oh, speaking of cleaning, I checked in with a cleaner who had agreed to come work here and she is still coming. So excited! It will be nice to have the place resemble a neat and clean house again.

My wireless microphones have arrived. Inexpensive yet they seem great. They came with a carrying case, two microphones, a receiver for my phone (with an adapter to lighting since I have an older phone), charging cable, two different wind guards and a charging case. Pretty cool. I did one test and it went well. When the weather is clement, I will try an outdoor test with the phone on a tripod. I might need some more tech toys though. I don’t mind. I do love tech toys.

After lunch, I started working on a thing for my candidacy.

And now it is almost dinner time. I have thawed more lasagna and a couple of meatballs. I will whip up some more BBQ sauce for the meatballs. It was easy and quick to do last time and wasn’t half bad. Add a piece of garlic cheese toast and a side salad and I will have a decent dinner without having to step outside. Though I did think today was going to be either a bucket of thighs and legs from KFC or a rotisserie chicken from Wegmans day. Maybe tomorrow for the rotisserie chicken. I bet they are up to $11 a chicken now.

Duolingo and then dinner.

Not sure when this picture of me (on the left) and Mom was taken

Augustus for President: I don’t know why I was so reluctant to fill out the forms for my candidacy. The FEC had a good video that laid out all the steps. And then I called them and asked my two questions. I filed as Unaffiliated, which was my first question. And my second was, did I need a back up person for the treasurer. I did not need one apparently. It would have been a good thing, but not required. Maybe one day, if I ever have a staff, I will have a back up to my then treasurer.

Donations page is still open…🦗🏏🦗🏏

Tomorrow, business credit card.

Now Open For Business

I just got back from my day’s outing. I went to SM’s house to take in her mail and packages. And put away her recycling bin. Woo hoo!

Next and final stop was Wegmans. I had three things on my shopping list and came away with only one of them. I wanted to buy some kiwis. They had two different packages of kiwis but neither had a price, which was worrisome. One set looked green on the outside still, instead of the rich brown color I associate with kiwis. The other package contained golden kiwis, the fruit flesh is golden apparently, but it was a huge package and I wasn’t in the mood to try a different sort of kiwi. The second item was easier to find – I bought a container of guacamole. It was surprisingly expensive. And the third item, Tang, I knew that this Wegman’s doesn’t carry it. I will have to go to Walmart (ick) at some point and get some. So, not a very successful shopping outing.

At home, it has been a quiet day. I did do one thing – well, it was passive, but it happened. More on that below in the Augustus for President section. I also did a load of laundry. There’s excitement for you. And I had lunch. Oh, and I postponed the moving company’s walkthrough to Wednesday. EC was worried about it fo some reason. I tried to tell them that it was so the moving company wouldn’t be too surprised the day of the move that, oh yes, we forgot to tell you about the grand piano, full sized pool table and the universal gym machine that all needed to be moved. Luckily, they have no such things to surprise anyone. Just books and furniture for the most part. Easy Peasy. We have an appointment to meet for lunch together in Geneva, and then head to their house for the walkthrough.

No big plans for tonight. More books and more scanning I think. And I will fold the laundry and sort of put it away.

I have done my Duolingo. Italian today. I am in quest with a decent partner – though it is a tough quest – 60 lessons. Which means 6 each for five days I think. I did 10 today. I will probably do 10 tomorrow, too.

Dinner tonight is going to be a BLA – bacon lettuce and avocado sandwich. I checked and I do have sandwich bread. And I have some romaine. And of course bacon. I think I will add a side salad and some curly fries. Yes, I bought curly fries the other day. Woo hoo!

1985 S-R women

Augustus for President: I didn’t really do anything, except to check to see if Stripe was set-up and if the site was ready to accept donations. It took me a bit to figure out the log-in process (I need to use a secondary authenticator – which Apple has) but I got there eventually. And yes, I can now accept money. I can’t wait to see my coffers begin to fill. Hahahahaha. I didn’t realize that individuals could contribute up to $3300 each. Per election, not per year. But I bet those limits go up in the next couple of years. Not that I think anyone is going to donate anything to me or the campaign. But, hope springs eternal.

I also thought more about the other two things I want to accomplish this week. The first is becoming an official candidate with the FEC. And the second is getting a business credit card. Thinking is good, right? Also on the list is getting a business phone. I don’t want people calling me for the candidacy on my personal number.

Cooking All the Bacon!

I decided I was going to have breakfast for dinner tonight. I have some waffles that I made hiding in the big freezer. And I have eggs. And hash brown patties. And I thawed a pound of bacon. Normally what I do is cook a few strips and refreeze the rest. But I am going to be a rebel today. I am going to cook the whole pound of bacon. Eat what I want of it and put the rest in the fridge to use over the next few days. Maybe I will buy some avocado or maybe even some guacamole and make myself a BLA for lunch tomorrow. The possibilities boggle my wee brain.

I have one goal of cataloguing another shelf of books by the time I am ready for sleep. This is of course daoble, But will it be done? The anticipation is making me crazy.

Has anyone heard of Capt. Joshua Slocum? I just found a book about him written by his son. I wouldn’t be surprised that this book was part of my grandmother’s collection. Actually I think a lot of the books on the backstairs bookshelves are from her collection. Anyway, he was the first person to sail around the world solo. Cool accomplishment.

Finished the bookshelf already! I think I will do more scanning tonight. There is a lot of it still to do. Heck, there are a lot of books yet to catalogue too. I’ll get to everything eventually, or I won’t.

Not a busy day here at the Chalet. I changed the sheets on my bed. I did a teeny bit of yoga. I think I will try to do more of that this month at least. Start the month of right. I also am thinking I will be tee total this month. Or close to it. Why not?

I cropped out the reflection of the Guinness in the bar.

I have done my Duolingo and will end up staying in the diamond league again. I don’t think I am up to 300 weeks yet. It doesn’t say on my profile. Maybe I’m at 250? Who knows. Am I actually learning anything? That is debatable. I doubt I will get much practice with my languages this year since my 50+1 Capital trip is going to be in the US only. Maybe in a few years I will travel outside the country again. Anything is possible.

Augustus for President: I ordered a set of microphones for the iPhone today. I will practice with them a bit before taking them on the road.

I have been thinking a lot about my candidacy. My take away is that I will just keep moving forward as best I can and see what happens. Make the steps I see and take whatever the universe provides. Que Sera Sera.

Some people run for the Presidency to raise issues. The issues are well known already. Some people run for the Presidency because they are wanting to make a point – like Vermin Supreme, or Stephen Colbert running for President of South Carolina. Some people run for the Presidency for the power. Some people run because that is the next step for them as a politician. Others run to avoid prison. I am running because part of me believes that I can do an excellent job at it. I’m not running for power, but for the slim change to actually get things done. Or at least start the shift back to a more loving version of the United States. I know that an independent president will have a tough uphill battle, but that’s ok. I don’t mind struggle.

Go Roomba Go!

I think maybe I have figured out a piece of my lethargy. It is that I feel no time pressure. Even though there is, it all feels so far away. So I just don’t feel an urgency. I guess I have to find my inner actor and just act as if there is a driving need to get things done. An impending deadline that will be upon me soon.

Last night, after doing almost nothing all day, I accomplished a couple of small things. I did some picture scanning and then sorted a box of pictures to see what in there might be worth scanning. Came up with about 40 pictures, I think. I haven’t counted them yet. Maybe I will scan them tonight and then we will know how many there are.

I also did another shelf of books for the back stairs. Yes, it was a teeny shelf of books (five). But that leaves only three more shelves to do before the back stairs books are done and back on their shelves. Maybe I will get the back stairs done before I head off to the 50+1 Capital Tour (any other name suggestions are welcome) in February.

Since it is Saturday and I have no appointments, I hope to get a bunch of stuff accomplished this afternoon. Hahahaha. Anything is possible. I also want to go grocery shopping. I need some green stuff. And some fruit.

I am so brave! I set a roomba loose in my bedroom. Lots of wires all over the place. A few throw carpets. Some wood floors. Lots of dust and accumulated crap that it can suck up if it wants to, if it succeeds. Too bad it is so noisy.

I guess I shed a bit…

The Roomba did a surprisingly good job with my bedroom floor. Very happy about it in fact. Woo hoo even! Can you tell this makes me happy. Yes, my two used Roombas are old but they keep working and doing their part. Can’t complain too much. (Sure I could, but…)

I have completely lost my bed making mojo. When I did Airbnb for the couple of years that I did it, I got really good at making a bed quickly and left it looking good. Now, not so much. The bed was made but I don’t know that anyone would be thrilled to sleep in it.

I am looking forward to more scanning and more book cataloguing this evening.

While I was at the grocery store, my boarder started cleaning the stove top. Finally. Did she clean it like a professional? Is it spotless and the most clean looking it has ever been? No. Is it a lot better than it was and am I thankful that she did it? Yes!

At the grocery store I got a couple more snacks besides what I had on my list. I got some peanut butter filled pretzels and some of the orange creamsicle like ice cream sort of thingies. In addition to the romaine lettuce and the soy sauce that I went to the store to get. And fruit. Can’t forget fruit. I didn’t get kiwis this time. I need to add them to my list.

Augustus for President: Will it be a terrible thing if I don’t get all the stuff done that I wanted to before I head off on the 50+1 Capital Tour? No. Could the tour possibly (probably) be better if I did get the governors’ letters and the press releases done before I head out? Yes. Will it all matter in the end? Who the heck (I was going to say fuck) knows. I certainly don’t.

One of the reasons I am running for President is because I am sick and tired of watching politicians do nothing about the terrible things that are happening in the country. And doing nothing about the current horrible administration and what it is doing to the country and to the world. Am I crazy to want to be in the one position that could possibly actually affect great change? The Presidency seems to me to be the only position that can stimulate and hopefully direct the change that seems all too clearly to be what needs to happen in this country. For the country. And the world. imho of course.

Successful Day!

Wow, what a day! I have made it through another really tough day. Er…

Ok, so it wasn’t all that tough a day. And I did almost nothing. Go me. What the fuck is going on with me?

I guess I am just in one of those cycles where I am feeling really unmovitvated or really overwhelmed. Or maybe both at the same time. Yes, I took a few baby steps forward today. Ok, maybe one or two baby steps. But nothing that really felt like I was moving towards any recognizable goal.

What did I do? I took a shower. That’s a good thing. And I ate some lunch. Woo hoo. Oh, I took a pair of chicken wings out of the freezer so that I can make buffalo wings for dinner with my frozen pizza tonight

I did do something for JC and EC. I called a moving company the CC had found, based out of Rochester, which gives free estimates. But in order to do that, they request a walk through with a phone that can stream video (which is most modern phones I think). So I called them, then called JC and talked about availability. And then called the moving company people again to set up an appointment for Monday. I will head down to their house and do the walkthrough with/for EC and JC.

A small task, but one I put in my phone to do, was to get the charging cable out of the car and bring it into the house where it could warm up before I re-rolled it and put it back in its case. Woo hoo!

In neatening up my room yesterday, I also started to try to move forward on the picture sorting and scanning that I have been doing. I found pictures from a roll of film from early in my time here in Geneva this last time – from around 2011 I think. Unfortunately WalMart did not time stamp either the pictures or the thumbnails. And of course, I made no notes on the envelope. Grrrr.

I had a realization or two. And a political thought or two – see below in the Augustus for President section for the thoughts.

The realization I had was that I could, if I wanted, go to two trivias a week for the month of January. I probably won’t do that, but I might go to the Wednesday night one a couple of times. And maybe the Thursday night one a couple of times. We shall see.

The other realization isn’t so much a realization but an awareness that I might be able to do some more things to aid me in keeping myself young and spry. Thank you YouTube for lots of interesting information.

And that, my friends is about it. That is what I did with my day. Not so much, sadly.

Last night’s easy dinner – I made up about four table spoons of BBQ sauce for the meatballs

Augustus for President: I am still stuck in a couple of places. This morning I had planned to file my paperwork for becoming an official candidate for president with the FEC. I had hard copies of the forms and filled those out to the best of my ability. But I had and have questions. I thought that maybe the FEC wouldn’t be working today, so I have put calling them off until Monday, when I will hope to file – probably electronically. I don’t think there is a fee.

The other place I am stuck is on the whole business end. I know I need a credit card for the campaign. A debit card won’t cut it just as the only money in the campaign is my own personal funds. And I need an accounting application as the FEC is much more rigorous in keeping track of campaign funds than I am with keeping track of my own funds. I am trying to decide between a regular accounting system like Quickbooks and one that is designed and tailored more specifically towards campaigns. And my mind whirls.

Is 2026 Over yet?

Last night, SM gave me two Christmas gifts. I didn’t give her anything and I feel a bit bad about that. Not hugely, because she has everything she wants I believe. Anyway, she gave me a cool mug that has a QR code on it that takes me to a daily trivia question (and answer). And she gave me a really cool immersion blender set! I have always wanted one. I mentioned once or twice that I was envious of hers.

I’m the luckiest

It has been another quiet day here at the chalet. Surprisingly I did accomplish a few things.

I started emptying out the trunk of the car after the trip to Maine. I think I have almost all of the crap out. And I need to get the charging cable out of the back seat of the car. I think the Frunk doesn’t have anything important in it just now. I’ll have to remember to check.

Next, I did some neatening in my bedroom. This is a monthly or even every other month sort of task. The floor is not cord free, otherwise I would run a Roomba in here. I might do it anyway and see what happens. There is a lot of dust in here.

My receipts from last year all went into a plastic bag. I don’t think I need any of those receipts for my taxes. I might need one or two if I didn’t manage to sort them out and put them in the campaign finance drawer. And I started collecting receipts for the new year.

Why do I have a receipt already? I went to the grocery store. I wanted to get my self generated traditional NYE celebration supplies: Sparkling something – sometimes I get sparkling wines, this time I got some sparkling apple juice, Borsin, Smoked Mussels, Fancy Crackers. I also ended up getting some eggs since mine somehow magically got used up while I was gone (I think I still had at least 6 in there – whatever I don’t really care – it is just sad that my boarder said nothing about using them or replacing them). And I bought some curly fries – one can never have enough curly fries – and a frozen pizza that I might well have for dinner tomorrow night.

Tonight, I am making a light pasta and meatballs dinner so I have room to have a NYE type snacking session later tonight. So excited!

Augustus for President: After I get an accounting system – hopefully one that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg – I will go back and enter the expenses into expense sheets and see if I can reconcile the bank balance with all the stuff I spent money on and some of which I reimbursed myself for. I also plan to fill out a hard copy of the FEC forms tomorrow and then see how one enters them online. If I don’t get any farther than actually registering as a candidate for the 2028 elections, I will have gotten farther than most people in an attempt to become President of the US.

I looked on the internet to see how Presidents ranked in terms of IQ. According to the sites I looked at, all the presidents have had decent brains. Even Drumpf. Which was an abosolute shocker to me. One site rated him at 124 to 145. Hahahahaha. I doubt he ever had an IQ higher than 95. If that one is so inflated, I take all the others with a grain of salt as well. I mean, GW Bush had a 135 IQ? Hahaha. No. And Ronald Reagan 130? Again, nope. I don’t believe any of those three’s estimated scores. I may not be the smartest person on the planet (by a long way) but I know that I am smarter than Drumpf, GW Bush and Reagan. (Not combined, but…)