Staying Up

 Been a long and busy week.  Funny. sort of....  I have been staying up later to get stuff done, make sure the blood sugar is ok, that sort of thing.  In consequence, I have been sleeping through the alarm.  This is not exactly a bad thing, I suspect -- I need the rest -- but I do like to get up in the morning and do stuff as well...like hit the gym, read the news and articles, that sort of thing.  Not happening.  Oi.

Went to St. Mary's in Berea to try their fish dinner (not a fish fry, as I usually order baked).  It was a little far, and I had to navigate there -- it's on a two-lane street in a residential neighborhood, sort of odd, but not that hard to find.  I was greeted by an exceedingly cheery student who told me that they were out of cabbage and noodles.  Out.  Anyways, they took my order -- double pierogis as the side -- and in half the time they said it would come out, it arrived.  And it was pretty good; two pieces of fish, seasoned fairly well; store-bought pierogis (potato) but cooked perfectly, a decent roll, and homemade cookies (rare nowadays).  Indeed, to make up for the lack of cabbage and noodles, they gave me double helpings of pierogi and dessert (I saved one bag of cookies for later), so that was good.  At $10 it was a good deal.

https://cookpolitical.com/analysis/national/national-politics/putting-gop-civil-war-perspective

I think this is exactly right.

https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/

I have read this twice, and I can't help but think this was everyone coming together to move/throw the election for one candidate over the other.  If that was the case...this is something that needs to be punished and not celebrated; but 2024 is a long ways off.  Hopefully, the GOP will have  long memories.

Catching Up on the Links

 I have been crashing hard the last few nights (and early), both of which have meant no blogging.  Today I had planned on getting up early and doing a gym double, and of course I slept through the alarm and woke up later than I expected.  My blood sugar was also low, so going off and exercising wasn't very feasible, but I was not exactly happy about this.

One thing that has been happy was the resurgence of Duke hoops.  All apologies to Jay Bilas (ha), this has not been that surprising, with addition by subtraction and all.  But, two easy wins, an upset of UVA, and then a smackdown of Syracuse... has basically put them at where the Orange were on the bubble.  To be sure, this is progress, but I really think they have to run the table -- both in the regular season and in the ACC tournament -- to have any shot of making it.  Alas.

https://tomknighton.substack.com/p/teachers-unions-admit-keeping-schools

I guess I see this as more of a political problem than anything... I mean, people need to call them out on this -- behold the science! -- every day, and I think in some cases that is happening, all to the good. The other things that need to happen are 1) People look to alternatives to public schools (which is happening) and 2) People start running for -- and getting elected to -- school boards -- on platforms on getting these people in line.  Good luck!  I mean, it doesn't even happen here in BBH, and we lean....red. 

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/02/so-trump-will-easily-win-congressional.html

I don't think for a minute that this will happen --he won't run as a rep, and he doesn't have the sort of skills that would make him speaker (he can be a giant megaphone outside of the House).  But it would be funny as hell, and it would certainly make politics interesting again in 2023, ripping up copies of the SOTU and all.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/style/vhs-tapes.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Funny; I still own a VCR/DVD combo machine, and I sort of prefer the VCR tapes... I will admit the graphics aren't as good but you have far fewer technical issues with the tapes.

Shamefulness

 Oi. So I ended up crashing -- hard -- at 11ish last night.  I woke up at 3 to shut the lights off and such, and then awoke at nearly nine, and I have been lazy the rest of the day -- not been to the gym yet, not gotten laundry together, etc.  Quite shameful; yes, I need the sleep, but... oi.

Went to St. Joseph's -- the Byzantine Catholic parish in Brecksville -- for their fish fry yesterday.  My parents used to like it for lunch, and it was...good not great?  I think you got enough food for the deal -- my potato was enormous -- but my fish was a little cold, and as I don't like that far from the place, it came out that way..  The side of shrimp I got was pretty decent, though, so overall it was a good choice.  I am going to hit a different parish every week (they need the help) and with Mom gone I can travel a bit more, if I am so inclined...albeit not at $2.60 a gallon.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk/boeheim-weighs-in-on-jalen-johnsons-departure-from-duke/ar-BB1dPPYn?li=BBnbfcL

Talk of blowback and such aside...I think he is exactly right.  They are a better team without him; some of this is SOS, of course, but some of it is...less fuckups.  That we cannot deny.

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/02/csu-passed-over-five-most-qualified-candidates-to-give-140000-hr-job-to-late-applicant-with-criminal-record-records-show.html

This sort of thing amuses and annoys me; I know they are Democrats, and thus don't know any better, but....this is a Republican state, and we do.  I don't why our Republican governor doesn't go on the air, say I'm mad as hell and I am not gonna take it anymore, and put someone in charge of an investigative unit (or better yet, the county), to go in and start...investigating.  The fact of the matter is, only subpeonas, arrests, shame, etc., will stop this, and let's not forget the fact that this is good politics, and as a wise man used to say...good politics is good policy.

Rolling along

 So...I was planning on blogging yesterday, but I got tired and decided that discretion was the better part of valor and went to bed.  I then slept in past the alarm...oi.  I did burn through some links, which was good, and a couple of articles, and also finally finished the 1,000-page Holocaust book.  It was not exactly a fun read, of course, but it was interesting and informative.  Certainly, the flip side to the Allied military effort was their inability to stop the slaughter.  To be sure, I think the larger point -- that only Allied victory could end it -- is true, but I also think that other efforts -- bombing of camps and train lines, supply drops to Jewish partisans, aid to the Resistance, even taking more Jews in -- could have been tried.

One thing I have been working on is the house.  Monday I have people coming in to install a sump pump and solve the intermittent water in the basement problem, so in consequence I have had to move all the stuff out of the way (done), clean out the shop and storage cabinets (done), and then today I had to remove the shelves (plywood) from the bottom half of the unit.  The assurance that they would easily come out was, of course, untrue, so I had to buy a power saw and remove them.  It was a little daunting, to be sure, and it took a brief while to get the hang of it, but in the end I cut through everything and carted the remnants upstairs to the trash can.  Oi.  It did feel good getting it done myself without removing body parts, in all honesty.  But, once they are done...I will need to replace the shelves and put everything back.

The Tribe signed Oliver Perez on a minor-league deal today (I bet he makes the team).  I was surprised he was out there.  Yes, with his age there is a worry, and he has been declining, and the three-batter rule hasn't helped, but... it's not like he was ineffective last year, and he can certainly hold his own against righties.  I suspect the general deflation of salaries hurt him like everyone else, but I am not sure it is warranted in this case...

Outrage

 So, as those of you who read Facebook know, I watched "Down the Hill: The Delphi Murders" over the past two nights.  It was quite good -- may even check out the podcast -- but I think I shared everyone's frustration that they haven't caught the guy yet (and, of course, strung him up).  But, let's face it...there isn't that much there.  There is a picture, but it's not very detailed, especially about the face, and the voice -- again, it's something but not that much to go on.  It's a white male in Indiana.  Hardly limiting.  Does he know the area?  Probably, at least well enough to escape detection, but who pays attention to people in the woods?  (I don't walk in the woods, so I don't know, but I think you get the drift.)  I suspect they could have released more evidence at the time, but... not everyone likes to talk.  Hell, I bet there are plenty of loners out there, and who can pick them out?

https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/15/earmarks-are-back/

I can easily see this helping the GOP going forward -- the swamp won, corruption is back, etc; not sure it is a huge issue, but one way for GOPers to show, well, something, is to point out that the Dems -- corruption creatures as always -- are the cause.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/feehery-the-floridian-the-democrats-really-fear/ar-BB1dJ6xu?li=BBnb7Kz

I think this is exactly right; course, I loved the guy ever since the election ad with his kids...

https://www.vox.com/2021/2/15/22280763/kids-covid-vaccine-teachers-unions-schools-reopening-cdc

Snicker, snicker, snicker...

Amusements

 So, Jim Christian is out at BC.  This amuses me, because 1) They fired Al Skinner years ago for merely being...well, I would say "overachieving," if not competent, at coaching in a tough conference; and 2) They hired Christian (I think it was after the Elite Eight run at KSU) to replace Skinner, and it has been suckitude ever since. So I have to chuckle at the revenge of the basketball gods.

https://theathletic.com/2390482/2021/02/15/jalen-johnson-duke-college-basketball-nba-draft/

Thank God!  This whole season has been a shitstorm, and my own sense is that 1) All of this could have been avoided and 2) I think Coach K is doing this on purpose; have a young team with talent, but needs time, so, in a mucked up season...you can do that.  Much as UVA has been forgiven for losing to UMBC, I think the approach here is to develop the young guys and then have a killer team for next year.  I realize this is somewhat heretical here, but...

https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2021/02/ohio-turned-red-for-a-reason-including-democrats-failure-to-address-factory-job-loss-thomas-suddes.html

I have often mentioned Vern Riffe as an example of politics done correctly; I mean, the genius of the system he created was that you could always blame other Democrats for not getting everything...  but these Democrats were untouchable in their own districts, so...it was just smoke and not fire.  Now, of course, when there can be no dissent from the party line... there is nowhere to hide, if you will, and then people can consider Plan B, even if it that involves, say, voting Republican.

Discoveries

 So yesterday (Saturday) I decided -- not that I had anything else to do -- to cross another restaurant off the list, and headed off to Blue Habanero, up in Gordon Square.  It was... surprisingly crowded, for one. As to the food -- I had pork tacos, a mango margarita and tres leches cake. The cake was awesome, the tacos were decent -- the tomatillo sauce was too hot for me, and while I liked the food, it was...well, a bit overpriced?  I guess it falls in the good-not-great category.  Anyways, I decided to also hit Campbell's Sweet Factory for a cupcake (Buckeye was decent) and then decided -- why not -- to hit the West Side Market.  Couldn't get it at first, as they were enforcing a people limit.  This blew my mind, as when I went inside...well, let's say that there was not a shred of social distancing and such anywhere, and let's face it, nor did I expect it.  I guess this is what people hate about the pandemic, the health theater which seems pointless but achieves absolutely nothing.

Today I took on another task -- emptying and sorting the contents of the filing cabinet in the basement.  Sort of sad, actually; a lot of it I just recycled, but my Dad had went to the trouble of saving it for one reason or another.  One thing that did peeve me was the randomness; every receipt for 30 years of appliances and yard equipment was there, as was some nifty bits of family history -- I was texting a couple of aunts and cousins to see who these people were, for instance -- and stuff from my Dad's high school days... which was interesting to find.  The sad part is, of course, I would have liked to have known about this years ago and maybe gone over it with my Dad.  It is, of course, my fault for not going through this soober... which is also making me sad.  Anyways, I want to look over some things before sorting and filing it again (and not forgetting about it for 20 years).

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/02/07/nolte-the-gloriously-inappropriate-and-problematic-animal-house-1978nolte-the-gloriously-inappropriate-and-problematic-animal-house-1978/#

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/02/12/nolte-gloriously-inappropriate-problematic-blues-brothers-1980/

These are two of my favorite movies, so I of course had to post these...

Mattie Makes Soup

 I had wanted to post yesterday, but discretion got the best of me -- despite a late cup of coffee -- so I conked out a little after 11 and did NOT set the clock; the late wake up is a bit troubling to me, but...  

Made split pea soup yesterday; mysister gave me a ham remnant (they don't do leftovers, imagine that!) and I figured I could use it, as I love the soup. It was going fairly well, until I decided that it was too watery, so I added some corn starch and some flour (and I didn't sift them, because I figured stirring would settle it).  Then, I stupidly answered a call, and forgot about it...til I wandered to the kitchen and detected a slight burning odor.  Oi.  I saved the soup -- it's not bad, more of a burny umber odor, and by adding salt, pepper, and some garlic powder (the recipe called for the whole stuff, which I should use, given its health properties), it mainly masks it.  Worse, my expectation failed, so the flour and corn starch clumped together, forming a series of biscuit-like balls.  Lesson learned (aside from not cooking).

https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/the-uneasy-afterlife-of-a-confederacy-of-dunces?mbid=social_facebook&utm_social-type=paid&utm_brand=tny&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&kwp_0=1853131&kwp_4=5434716&kwp_1=2327709&fbclid=IwAR0caA_DjIWg57xn0j2ORmPSXMsFJhOMe1QG1MMa5SCaww28HuDehe7UE44

I don't know; I rather liked the book.  I suspect the writer, like most liberals, takes things WAY too seriously (such as going back to the 1350s), and instead of enjoying things as they are... oi. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/nick-jonass-super-bowl-ad-raises-important-questions-some-are-uncomfortable/ar-BB1duPCG?li=BBnb7Kz

I think I would have rather them spent the money on fixing their often cantanerous and unhelpful monitoring system, which I find more problematic than anything else, but that is me.

Bemusement

 Ben Gamel?  Sliding Billy Hamilton?  I don't know; on the one hand, teams do this every year -- signing crapulent veterans to minor league deals in the hope the one sticks, and let's face it, the Tribe OF is such that, even with Rosario, anyone with a pulse can stick.  I mean, Hamilton can cover CF, and if outhitting Mercado is the qualification... Gamel sort of screams Quad A player, but again, getting hot/showing up might mean a bench job, and there are worse fates than to make $580K doing that. On the other hand... signing one OF does not fix the OF, unless Nolan Jones will be ready when his service time can be properly exploited.

https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2021/02/04/tom-cotton-republicans-condemn-fringe-right-as-democrats-tolerate-omar-schiff-schumer-swalwell-waters/

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/marjorie-taylor-greene-vote-kevin-mccarthy-republicans-b1798371.html

I completely agree, and, of course, one of the first things we should do -- after winning back the House -- is to strip them from their seats; it should be like ripping off the stripes in the army, with Kevin McCarthy ripping their papers like Nancy Pelosi.  Hell, I think this could be a fine commercial now (or next year)... especially if there, were, say, endangered GOP incumbents....

More seriously, I made the comment today that I could easily President Trump heing impeached this time; I mean, if this is really a conscience vote...well, you could 17 Senators to do it.  Not saying it would be easy, but Collins (just won), Portman (retiring), Cruz (a miraculous change of heart, payback), McConnell, Shelby (out the door), Toomey, Murkowski, Romney, Lee (UT is not Trump-favorable) ... you could get there, I think.  Hell, Burr just wn re-election, and if Grassley is considering it...  Now, I don't think for a minute they will...but it would be more plausible than a mass GOP exodus.

News of Interest

Finally posting again....rah.  Sort of a restful weekend; went to bed at a normal time Friday but slept in Saturday, which was nice...got a full eight hours of sleep, a true rarity.  Went on a date a couple of days ago.  It was...ok?  She is quite the liberal, and an attorney, but she was nice and cute and fairly intelligent (for a liberal).  It did amuse me that she got lost on the way to the restaurant, despite her haivng her phone on the enture time, so as to make sure her navigational skills were not needed and she could juste listen and drive.... as you can imagine, I got a kick out of that one.  As for another... maybe?  I can never tell with these things (obviously).

The ghosts of Xmas past on the Tribe roster -- Shaw and Freeman, while Heath Hembree is also involved.  I joked that he will love the analytics, but miss the nutritional advice of Gabe Kapler. I thinl the relievers are done, but a minor league deal literally costs nothing (even for this team) and you never know...though we can guess.

Dentist tomorrow; I have a toothache and I suspect it will have to be fixed, root canal-wise...ugh.  I didn't care for my teeth for a while, and the chickens have come home to roost.  Oi.  I had planned on some aggressive debt reduction and maybe a restaurant this week, and obviously, that will have to change... alas, alack.  

Watched "Buena Vista Social Club" a couple of days ago, bringing my total to 754.  It was...ok?  Not sure it qualified as an American film, given most of it was shot in Cuba (it was about musicians of the period) and really didn't have any American cast.  Still. a film off the list...

https://theweek.com/articles/964006/rise-barstool-conservatives

I guess you could say I am of the persuasion; more to the point, I can see others of their ilk taking a sde...thiss will be good for the locals, but I think the overall argument is lifted.........

Boycotts

 Ha...now four days since I last posted.  Oi. Wednesday I crashed early and yesterday I had a date, of all things... we met in Solon, and while she is quite liberal, she was fairly cute and smart (fully understood my Preston Brooks reference regarding the expulsion of the rep from GA) which is also a plus (even if, as a liberal, she is thus not that smart).  At the very least, I had dinner at Burntwood Tavern, which is pricey but good. The trip out to Solon...one of my coworkers works in Walton Hills, I have to ask her where they shop... it's pretty remote, if you will; I mean, all the way down Alexander, then it becomes Pettibone, where you see all two blocks of downtown Glenwillow. and then  you get to Solon.  You do hit the Maple Heights/Twinsburg border but even then it's a bit,, well, you have to travel to get the trappings of civilization.  Picturesque in daytime, though.

I am NOT setting a clock tomorrow; no food pantry duty and I am quite overjoyed by the prospect of NOT being there.  I did some today -- we were approved for a grant to buy a new fridge, and our operations manager was like I had to print out and fill out the forms, run them to the pantry, and then she could mail them...  I was able to convert them to PDFs, auto-fill them, and turn them in for approval today.  I had to chuckle a bit, and told her she could go to the OC and hang, but... I mean, my Mom would have been flummoxed by this concept, and not so long ago, so would I.  My own fondness for paper copies and (yesterday) navigating to the restaurant is, in my own words, excessively quaint.

https://news.avclub.com/morgan-wallens-sales-quadruple-after-getting-caught-usi-1846209937

https://pjmedia.com/culture/brucecarroll/2021/02/05/country-music-rocked-by-cultural-earthquakes-this-week-n1423553

I would say the two are related in their own way?  The latter -- country singer comes out as gay -- I am willing to bet that if people like their music, they will continue to listen, like it or not; I mean, there's no accounting for taste.  The former -- Morgan Wallen  -- is the same thing, but I also wonder if people are also willing to accept that drunken rednecks do and say stupid things, and that the punishment is too much?

I guess what I would like to see is a counter-boycott by Wallen and other country fans...imagine if 80% of the downloads and album sales were only his.  Imagine if country radio listening dropped by a third or so and everyone called in to say they weren't listening again, or of the upcoming award shows were watched by... nobody?  What would the industry do then?

Passings

 All sorts of interesting things going on, sort of... first, Seven Roses is closed.  While I was not surprised, I was saddened; I liked the place -- good grub -- and it was a Polish restaurant in the Village.  Of course...it had been a while since I had been there, and, let's face it, people like me are the reasons why restaurants close.  I don't blame her for retiring, but...alas.   In related news, one of my coworkers asked me about the latest homicide in the area... I pointed out it was prolly a business deal gone wrong, and, well, as we all know from watching "The Wire," it is an...occupational hazard.

The libraries are open again.  This is largely good, as I like to go in and check things out personally (in every sense of the phrase), though I am not sure it is safer...well, ok, I mean, it's not, but.. I suspect the risk is prolly as great for the nice people staffing the checkout window as it is for anyone else.  I have some stuff to pickup and return, and should do some more reading... the list isn't getting any shorter.

Fr. Joe -- the last pastor from Sacred Heart -- passed away; I was a little surprised, as he was rather young... I certainly enjoyed the time spent at their fish fries, chatting with friends from our sister parish... alas.  COVID or not, there has been a lot of death around me the past year.  

Despite my efforts, the bookmarks AND the emails to handle keep piling up; it is most unfortunate, as I was sort of ahead on both, but I got a little sleepy, let stuff pile up...and here we are now. Oi.