Excitement

 Long and busy weekend, which explains the radio silence.  Wedding this weekend...I was talking to a college friend this weekend, and she pointed out that after a while, every wedding is pretty much the same.  She is largely correct; to be sure, they're not -- they're important (we are Republicans around here), and it's good to see a man and a woman getting together (under God) and promising to raise a good Catholic family.  (It's also rare, and let's not discuss my own Hope and Changerism about this, but I digress.)  But...it's also a lot of stuff to do and be present for, and I have been dragging today.

I also did a stint running the food pantry, which was -- as expected -- a zoo.  (I was pinch-hitting for another comanager.)  The good:  we got rid of all the produce, we had plenty of volunteers, we moved lots of clothing (including shoes, which came from somewhere), rotated stuff, and served 147 people.  The bad:  well, not much, but our clients... I don't know; I realize they are Hope and Changers, but... we didn't have a lot of "extras," if you will, to give out.  Some bread and bakery, some pop, some milk. etc.  Certainly not enough for a free-for-all, which, of course, is what happens when you put them out.   I and the other volunteers went out and told them they could take one, and while most were decent about it... others, of course, needed multiple reminders.  As I told them, they've been coming here for years, they know the rules, we shouldn't have to tell them every time.  In some ways, we really should give out ONLY canned goods and NOT do the food rescues, since those are the things that bring in the stuff that causes the mayhem.

Also... as part of the need to collect demographic data (Hunger Network wants as much as we can), I asked about health insurance (we've handled race, employment, immigrant/refugee status), which was... mostly fine.  Some people didn't know, or gave answers that we had to guestimate.  If you are old enough, Medicare is your primary, and most others it is some form of Medicaid.  But it did add to the time and complexity of processing clients, and, given the zoo we had... oi.  

I watched some of the Nikki Haley town hall as background while reading, and... I was impressed?  Maybe not terribly so, and I always was impressed by her, but...  the GOP really does have a deep bench this year, and were it not for Trump...  Relatedly, was it me, or did all of the articles about the GOP cattle call have an element of "we are for Trump, but we are not sure he can win a general election"  I thought they did, and I was pleasantly surprised...electability is certainly a consideration for a voter, and I really don't think Trump polls all that well, which is a concern...