A Blast of Fresh Air

One downside of having windows that can open:  I opened both of the bedroom windows last night and luxuriated in the breeze.  Well, about 2:30, the storms started, the windows picked up, and breeze slammed the bedroom door completely shut with a loud racket.  I woke up, of course, and figured I was being attacked/bombed/visited by Marley's Ghost.  After a few seconds -- amidst the thunder and the wind -- I realized what happened, but it was still amusing....later on.

Another first -- in a while -- tonight: watching J! live at 7:30, instead of on Tivo.  I blew the final, which offset the fact that I scored 45, but... well, that is not going to last, but for tonight it was glorious.  Down to one serving of cabbage and noodles, which is about right... Aside from the dishes, it is actually not that hard and you do get several meals out of it, a not-unimportant consideration for a lazy-you-know-what like myself.

Donald Trump Pulls The Wabbit Season Trick On the Iranian Regime – HotAir
Funny...being the history nerd I am, I immediately recalled 1861, when Lincoln declared the southern ports blockaded -- which implied a state of war between hostile states -- instead of closed, and created a hot mess.  Or, 1962, when we "quarantined" Cuba.  Now, of course, all the pretense, and gloves, are off, and we have a blockade.  Dare I say that in some/many ways, this IS a brilliant move; if the Iranians want to close the strait, we will close off their oil, and if the US Navy is keeping watch, other ships can make free passage.  In the meantime, tankers are coming here to buy our oil.  If this works -- and it may drive them back to the peace table -- I think the man is...well, my faith, while not redeemed, is a bit more polished.

Then, of course, there is this:
How an Image Depicting Trump as Christ Sparked a Backlash on the Religious Right - WSJ
To be sure, if there is one man who can legitimately claim to not know anything about Christian iconography... it is the Donald.

The whisper network that caught up to Eric Swalwell - POLITICO
I -- and a lot of others -- mentioned this yesterday... in this day and age, why is there a whisper network, especially given that 1) These are Democrats, the people who invented cancel culture; 2) These are actual crimes the man committed; and 3) if the guy was a Republican, this would have been on page one.  Now, of course, I don't expect the real Fourth Estate to go after Dems (and to be fair, GOPers) as to what they knew and when, but in a world of Nick Shirleys, now is their time to shine.

Breeze

I have the windows open in my house and it is glorious.  All of it; from the fact that I can actually (and easily) open the windows, to the fact that there are warm breezes coming in, to the fact that it seems that spring has sprung.  I am a clean air guy, and I am looking forward to cracking these things open all week.

Good day today... Church was quite nice, even if there were a lot fewer people (and fewer bells and whistles at Mass).  Good gym session -- leg day and extra time on the bike (I read more, always good).  My friend to whom I take Communion asked if I could come later (1 PM instead of noon) so I had time for errands...then to go home and drop off groceries and stuff.  Eucharist and brunch, funny conversation, and then home.  I took a long walk -- beautiful out so why not -- and then caught up on a bit of work and a bit of dusting.  I have a few follow-up SVDP emails, but will get to them tomorrow (probably, though I am tempted to do it tonight).  Rah.  Quiet and simple, the way it should be...still have some cabbage and noodles left, but will finish it tomorrow, and then we will continue Operation Healthy Eating week.

The Mystery of Gene Bearden - by Luke Epplin - Good Grief
Interesting.  Sad.  One thing I am surprised about is that no one challenged this when he was alive; you would have thought someone from the Helena would have brought up he wasn't there.  I realize it was easier to say things like that long ago, but...such a story, and one from a famous ship (and the rescue of its crew), you would think someone would have said something...

Police responded to report of 'domestic dispute' at Ohio governor candidate's home in 2019
I note that this story -- which seems to have broke yesterday -- was NOT picked up by our hometown paper.  I wonder if it will be....though I think we all the know the answer.  And, if it is does.... out comes the whitewash.  Sort of like Swalwell, as people are saying his behavior was an open secret, but no felt the need to mention it until now....

Mattie heresies

Yet another hiatus of blogging... to be sure, I have been doing things!  Yesterday I made some cabbage and noodles (been a while, had a taste for it) and did some cleaning -- swiffered the floors and vacuumed.  I need to finish wiping off the countertops and dusting tomorrow, and the place will be... better.  it looks better, and the nice weather tomorrow means I can open the windows again/

Also caught up on some work and did some errands this morning, including getting my E-check done.  As a GOPer, I hate to say this, but I am not sure I want to see the program go away... I think there is some benefit here, as there are long-term costs for respiratory concerns.  Also, we have this apparatus devoted to it, and we should be careful about throwing people out of work.  Honestly, the problem with it originally was 1) the test was pretty intensive and 2) wasn't applied to everyone; good old Taxing Ted didn't want his fellow Appalachians having to fix their crappy cars....and of course was never called out about it.  Sigh. Anyways, now the program is...fine?  Not too bad?  I mean, I was out in five minutes.  There are government programs that are far worse.

Gavin Newsom’s Empire of Fraud
Like these!  Will he be called out about it?  Not bloody likely.  Hell, the allegations about Eric Swalwell haven't exactly exploded out there; I give the GOP reps trying to get him expelled from the House credit, as turnabout is fair play...  As always, I wonder why it all came out now...

Long-Term Money · Collaborative Fund
Interesting approach, and one I largely agree with, but you have to admit, we have a massive sense of recency bias.  I think it explains why we study history and why people love (or some of them) like to go to places like Hale Farm; we like the old ways, but only to visit.  Like a few weeks ago, when my 20-year old cousin was fascinated that our grandparents played cards in a small dining room and the kids all watched TV (black and white, only 3 channels) in a small living room...without a smart phone to entertain them.  I was amused.

The creation of instant coffee
Interesting!

Mattie Catches Up

Three days without posting... oi!  Anyways, Easter was quite good.  Mass at 8:30 was quite full -- lots of new faces.  If there is a religious resurgence in this country, I can see it here.  To be sure, this is good, and let's hope some of them keep coming to Mass at the Shrine.  Mass was beautiful; I told the musicians that while I am not exactly a music guy, it does add something to the ceremony.  Homily mostly on point, and the extras -- incense, blessings, etc. -- were quite good.  I hit the gym (also quite full) and then came home to finish putting the living room together -- hung the drapes, moved the furniture back, vacuumed -- and it was wonderful.  It looks less cluttered, and with an unbroken window... well, it is good.  Just need to pay this down and then we start the next (smaller) project.  Rah.

After that I drove to Westerville, where Favorite Niece hosted Easter (as always).  We ate, watched the women's National Championship (no coach explosions), was surprised by the SC blowout, hung out a bit, and came home.  Bit hard to drive four hours in a day, but it wasn't too bad, and it is always good to see the family...

The past two nights I have been buy -- lots of work, other things, and then I just crash.  Alas.  Tonight I am making sure the blood sugar is just right before I go to bed.  My sister and I met for our monthly dunner today, and I selected El Arepazo y Pupuseria in Fairview Park.  It was pretty good -- not great -- but quite solid.  I had the seafood arepa with the fried plantains.  It was a good portion, and while the plantains were a bit dry, it was otherwise good.  Parking lot is a bit small so I parked on the street.... the place only has 8 tables but seems to do a lot of DoorDash -- but who doesn't nowadays.  My sister can pick next month...

I don't doubt that the moves in Iran were done to bring gas prices down -- hopefully before the fall election -- but the people who complain about the Trump TACO are also the ones who were complaining about him destroying a civilization, which seems odd.  You cannot have it both ways, not that the press is going to call them out...

Alleluia! He is Risen!

I went to bed an hour ago,, but am now awake due to low blood sugar (I thought I had hit it just right on the evening dose of insulin, but obviously not), so I am now snacking... and deciding that the Lord wants me to witness His Resurrection by posting.  Anyways, busy morning -- gas, gym, two banks, home to get the Easter Basket for blessing, Church for said blessing (one of my favorite traditions!), the pharmacy, Aldi, and home.  All before one.  Phew.  After a consecrated lunch, I took a walk on what was a beautiful spring day and then fell asleep a bit.  Alas.  I then did some work and did some work around the house.  Rah.  And here we are.  I kicked around going to emo night, but the weekend, the rain, and my need to do things here -- even if catching up on the J! episode backlog -- won over.  

Why Catholicism is drawing in Gen Z men
This could be me, but I wonder if one of the reasons why the media is trumpeting this is because they fear what it portends -- namely, the MAGA bros may not be so enthused about Trump and the GOP, but if you are willing to convert...well, all of these new Catholics might be a bit more culturally conservative, and if you have a new bloc of voters who are against infanticide, same-sex marriage, etc...well, we certainly can't have that now, so... this is not so much news but a clarion call for action.  May the spirit of Deus Vult be with us -- and them.

Red Chimney restaurant to be razed – NEOtrans
This is sad but not surprising.  I wonder what, if anything, will go up in its place.  We should put up housing there -- zoning be damned -- but I doubt it.  I certainly had my share of good meals and interesting conversation there.

Good Friday

I should be in bed -- I have much to do tomorrow in terms of errands, and much to do in terms of stuff here -- but I am not tired, have stuff to do, and here we are.  It was, of course, Good Friday, and I went to Noon Stations.  There was quite the crowd today -- I cannot remember a time when we had so many!  Work was fine -- lots of little things were handled -- and I left a little after 5 to get dinner at Holy Name, which was quite full.  To be sure, few parishes are open for grub on Good Friday, so bully for them... I talked to a bunch of people there, which is good, but also odd, given my introverted nature (and I want to be less involved in my parish as it is, and NOT involved in another).  Then off to the gym, Marc's for coffee and milk, and then home.  I went through a bunch of links and emails... and we know how much I love that. 

Another thing I loved is that my picture window was installed... without breaking.  Phew!  It was fine -- the same crew came as before, quick and easy, and there you go.  I should have came home and put my living room back together, but tomorrow (today) is another day.  I am not looking forward to rehanging the curtains, but I suspect that once I get through that...well, then it is just moving furniture.  Rah.  

Ohio’s death row stalemate: The political battle over 108 lives and millions of dollars - cleveland.com
AG Yost is exactly correct -- this is crap, and the governor really has no business standing in the way of this.  Given how the abortion vote went, no one on the other side can say they care about human life, so... 

UConn's Geno Auriemma questions NCAA tournament setup, prep - ESPN
Funny; I read this and thought he was completely correct about this (sort of like I did about Rick Pitino's comments about the post-game presser).  Then, tonight, Geno goes off the rails at Dawn Staley in the post-game handshake.  Now, I was watching the game in the background, so I wasn't paying the closest attention, but I think it is fair to say he had a case that the game was a bit physical and not going his way.  But it was... a bit petulant on his part to act the way he did.  I wonder if he senses that the baton is being... if not passed, ripped from his hand.  Alas.

Back in the Saddle

Yesterday I was a sleepy boy and crashed at, well, 11:30.  Today of course I am not quite so sleepy, but have much to do -- and am doing it -- so we power through.  I joked that the 30-degree shift in temperature would cause me to do more to stay warm, and it is not quite a joke.  It was a bit jarring to hear the furnace come on, and seeing the rain -- and feeling the bite in the air when I opened the door -- was hardly pleasant, but this is spring.

Last night Team Eleven returned to Pub Quiz action (my fault for dropping the ball and not getting us to play more).  We went to Saucy Brew Works in Ohio City for a J!-sponsored league.  It was funny, as I parked by St. Ignatius off Lorain, forgetting that I am 52 blocks from Detroit (last time I was in Ohio City, I parked on Franklin).  Oops.  It wasn't too bad -- the rain just ended when I parked -- but I guess it was a bad storm there, as the lights were out in many places.  But, the power was on at Saucy... good, as I had never been there and I wanted to try it out.  My chicken-and-waffles pizza was quite rich but good -- anything with that much syrup should be.  :)  As for the quiz, we came in 3rd -- not too bad.  The format was just like J! -- two rounds, 60 questions and a final, but the questions were somewhat easier.  (We overthought a few, hence the third place.)  I think we agreed we would go back, and that we should play more, as the Victory Banner need to be raised more often.  I concur!

Listened to the big speech tonight, and while I think it hit the points, I did not exactly come away convinced.  Not that we aren't winning, but... I guess I would say this reminds me of Japan in 1945; all they had to do was to make it so bloody to the US that we would come to the table.  Similarly, all Iran has to do is hold on, drive up oil and gas prices, and force POTUS to retreat.  Will he?  Will they?  I mean, if we and the Israelis keep killing their leaders, we may stumble into one who want peace, but that is hardly a winning strategery.

Gulf allies privately make the case to Trump to keep fighting Iran | AP News
All I have to say of course they do, as they really aren't fighting; we are.  Now, if the Saudis or someone else wanted to join in...more the merrier.

‘He’s lied about everything’: Iran war puts Trump on shaky ground with young MAGA men - POLITICO
Now this is a problem; again, one of our own creation, and one that needs to be resolved quickly.  I realize the youngins do not realize the history we have with them, but...

Democrats risk a historic upset in California - POLITICO
I will believe it when I see it, but it would be funny as hell if it happened...