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.

Huzzuh! It was a Monday!

Hi anyone who reads this. I hope you had a good Monday. Mine was good. Except for the ongoing terrible political news that just seems to never ever end under the Drumpf administration. Grrr.

Ok, moving on. And no, that wasn’t cathartic enough, but I am not going to dwell on that crap. Way too disheartening.

It was a cold, cold day here in the Finger Lakes. I hope this polar vortex thing isn’t going to last that long. Sadly, according to the web, it is going to. Yay.

My car doesn’t like the cold weather. I think I have mentioned before that the horn doesn’t work when it is cold. And now, the voice commands don’t seem to work either. And that also sucks. I wonder if the Tesla repair people will have an answer for me on Friday. And this leads me to my next car thought. Maybe, after I finish my tour in April, I will see about leasing a newer version. If I get a three year lease, by that point, maybe Cybercabs will be ubiquitous and I won’t need a personal car. Or I will be in the White House and again won’t have need of a personal car. We shall see of course. Anything is possible. Most things are unlikely.

I did a marathon dash today. Not really marathon, but the long mode version of my dashing. I started a little after 8 and ended at around 1. A lot more driving than I would have liked, especially in the winter when some roads are not all the great to drive on, but it was a decent dashing day. Yes, really looking forward to not dashing anymore. But I will keep dashing until I leave for my capital trip in February.

I stopped and came home for a light lunch. And then ran some errands. I got a library book. And was told that there was no way to track whether or not books I had requested the library purchase were being purchased or not. Then off to Wegman’s. My goal there was to buy some saltines – I am almost out – and they can be a staple at the Chalet sometimes. And to buy more windshield wiper fluid, as I was going through it like there was no tomorrow. My car’s windshield seems to attract schmutz. Actually, my whole car does. It looks like I haven’t washed it in forever. Which is kinda true, actually. But in this particular set of circumstances, it seems like it accumulates more snow and crap on it’s sides than other cars I have had in my life. Sigh.

Last night, I finished up the 9th shelf (of 17) of the back stairs books. And I also scanned a lot of pictures from my wedding. Not because of the wedding. But because of all the family members and friends that are in them. Ok, I scanned a couple of pictures of wedding stuff just for the fun of it. That wedding was in 1984. Long time ago…

See anyone you know?

Augustus for President: I had ordered some pen leashes for clipboards and they didn’t come when I was told to expect them. The order kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed. I finally asked for a refund. Yesterday I think. And today Amazon told me that they had received the item back at their warehouse. Grrr. I went to staples to try and buy them more locally and they didn’t have them. What? Anyway…

Back to today’s news that SCOTUS is probably going to allow Drumpf to, again, do what no president has been allowed to do – fire anyone he wants basically anywhere in government without oversight. I mean, really! I think one of the first things I need to do as President is figure out how to fix the Supreme Court. This is insane. At this rate, there may be elections in 2028 but there won’t be a country to run. The US will be a shadow of it’s self. And heck, maybe that is a good thing. We really aren’t that great a country if you look at history. American Exceptionalism, while a lovely thought, just isn’t true. That being said, I truly do believe that we can do better. And be a better country and citizen of the world. Maybe a good space alien invasion is just what the world needs about now…

This was my Friday

I don’t remember where or when this was taken – thoughts?

I don’t understand how some days I get hundreds of views on this blog and then others, just the same five people reading it. It doesn’t really matter to me, but it does make me curious. Maybe a title or a tag hits just right? Or maybe it is a bot farm that gets over zealous? I don’t get it.

It has been a quiet and semi-productive day here at the Chalet. I did the dishes, which is always a good thing. I took care of almost all of my reminders. There is one that I am putting off and I think I will put it off until tomorrow. Again. Sigh. I did some books and will, hopefully, finish shelf 8 of the back stairs tonight and start on shelf 9. Which would put me past the halfway point. Or actually is the halfway point. I also finished the latest book in the Rivers of London series. I hope that the library buys the next two books that I have requested in that series. They did buy the 7th book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. But that could have been because someone else requested it. Though I did get notified when it came in…Speaking of which I requested another book to be purchased by the library. We shall see if that happens.

And I ate some lunch. A lot of lunch actually. My plan for the afternoon is more of the same. Not the eating…

This evening, I plan to head to the library. Then the grocery store. Then to Ling Ling for Chinese food. Then home for a quiet evening at home.

Plan results. I made it out and got to the library before seven when it closes on Friday night. Except for tonight. There was a staff event and the library closed at 5. Sigh. So, I dropped off the book I had finished and will try to get the book that’s waiting for me there sometime soon. Off to the grocery store! There, I bought the thing I needed, which was deodorant, and then added lots of frivolous things to my shopping cart! Yay frivolity! At the chinese buffet place, I ordered a pint of pork fried rice and a huge container full of a variety of dishes. The food ought to last me a couple of days at least. Maybe even three meals. That would be nifty.

Sadly, I think I can speak Chinese, but my listening comprehension sucks potatoes. Sigh.

Augustus for President: I have drafted an email for the political science faculty of HWS. I am trying to decide if I should send it only to the Chair of the department? Or to all of the members of the department, sans Mark Gearan though? I am waiting to contact him until after I have done my 50+DC capital trip. So maybe in April. I am leaning towards mailing it to all of the staff. I can also ask one of my helpers who is supposed to come tomorrow to see what he thinks of the various professors since he is taking political science classes.

Assigning tasks in the thoughts database is going to be a longish process. It feels like most of them are being assigned to me. What I am trying to do is figure out if I am going to have enough for a virtual assistant to do. I guess we will see. I have given myself until the 15th of this month to assign what is in the database.

Money – Grrrr

I thought some streaming platforms were more money grubbing than others. But it feels like Disney is the most money grubbing. I bought their premium Disney+ and Hulu bundle. The one movie I want to watch on Hulu isn’t available unless I add another subscription – one for live TV. What? It’s a movie. It isn’t live. Why do I need to add a further subscription. And don’t get me started on the hassle it was to get Hulu up and running. Hoops after hoops. Sigh.

Today is Sunday all day. Yippee? I am debating not working tomorrow and working Friday instead. We shall see how I feel tomorrow morning when I open my little eyes.

After playing until lunch time, I heated up four empanada like things for my midday meal. I added a dill pickle and some chips. Yum!

My empanada like things

After lunch, I stripped and remade my bed, took a shower and tossed a load of laundry into the washing machine. It’s a clean(ing) machine.

So far, I think I have done a few good things for the house. But if I am going to sell it when I am around 75 (I should live so long), there is a bunch more that I think I would like to do. That is another ten years. So I have to figure out what makes sense. For instance, it might not make sense to go solar after all if I am only going to be using that system for 10 years. I think adding a ground floor bathroom would be good. And swapping one of the bathtubs out for a walk in shower would be good as well. And, if I plan to keep having a boarder and keep having an electric car, then adding a second parking spot in the front of the house would be a good thing – though JM suggested adding a gravel driveway and parking space in the back. Also a possibility.

What have I done, so far, to make life here in the Chalet more comfortable? Well, the new furnace (thank you SM for the help – please let me know when you want to be repaid) is a good thing. And I think turning the screened in side porch into a glassed in side porch is good. Also, starting the gargantuan process of cataloguing the books in the house is a good thing. 1100 books so far. And I haven’t even finished cataloguing the second floor yet. Which is the only floor that I have worked on so far.

Going forward, what do I want to do? Do I want to exercise my creativity? Yes, please. But some of the things I would like to do to exercise that creativity would take a good chunk of change. More than I have to play with, like in the case of Sirius Theatre. The other $$ project – traveling the country looking for places I like (mini golf, pool tables, brew pubs, circus stuff) would take some money. It might be within my means even if I don’t work for a year or so. I have a couple of writing projects that are in various stages of readiness. One is a book that I really would need a good editor/collaborator to get to a point where I wouldn’t mind other people seeing it. The other project needs programming expertise. But in this day and time of AI it might be obsolete before it is finished. And again, would take money.

I also, as mentioned, would like to clean out the house of as much extraneous crap as possible. The four main areas that need work are the red room, the basement (especially the basement room), the attic, and the barn. I could really use a storage area as a “sort to” space. But how large is the question? Large enough for setting up my pool table would be nice. But that size is pretty expensive. Hmm.

It seems it all circles back to money. Speaking of which, I bought some scratchers and a lottery ticket. I haven’t had much luck with them so far. I mean, a dollar here, a dollar there in “winnings.” A huge windfall would be nice.

Sigh.

I’ll do the scratch offs tomorrow and put the lottery ticket in my wallet and check it when next I am in Wegman’s. Hope springs eternal, though in the case of actually winning something from the scratch offs or the lottery ticket seems really unlikely to me. Yes, someone wins but so far, in my 64 years, it hasn’t been me.

I’ve got laundry to fold. And at some point I will have dinner, the last of my ribs and baked beans. I might actually add a small caesar salad to my meal tonight.

All in all a pleasant Sunday! I hope you had a pleasant day, too, whenever you are reading this. If you are reading this. Well, I guess you are since you are…