I am going to attempt to keep this post shorter than my last few, and actually do have a few things on my mind. I may even publish it the same day I start it...a small miracle, if that happens.
1) Protecting the children.
A Facebook friend did a post...actually several.....where she was ranting about adults attacking kids, and how kids should be protected and be off limits.
Her main focus seems to be Greta Thunberg. Greta is a 16 year old Swedish environmental activist on climate change. In my opinion, she screams at everyone telling us a bunch of climate change crap that is baloney, as most of what those people say. She has been getting attacked on social media, and people are claiming it is an injustice and that she should be left alone since she is a kid.
Sarah Palin's kids were cruelly attacked back when she was truly conservative and relative, yet Obama's kids were hands off.
Here is my take: Kids like Greta are out there on the public stage spewing their bogus ideas, telling the rest of us how we should live. If she doesn't want adults firing back, then she should shut up and wait til she is an adult to play with adults. And yeah, no one needs to be brutal, but she is just another crazed climate change nut, and if she is going to scream at adults with her crap, then she is fair game.
2) A president for all people
I have noticed similarities between Trump and Obama, and another occurred to me this week. I was actually thinking about Reagan, then my mind went to George W Bush, and I realized a similarity between those two men.
Reagan and Bush were both presidents to the whole country. Think about it. I don't remember either man attacking citizens of the other party. I don't think they even attacked politicians in the other country. Bush was hated by liberals, but he never fought back, and thus didn't further divide the country. (And as much as I dislike the Clintons, I don't think Bill attacked the voters.)
Now onto Obama and Trump. Obama was the first black president, and he could have united our country....but he was very divisive. He attacked conservatives, whites, Christians, Republicans, and cops. He constantly attacked any politician who didn't kiss his butt, and in my opinion divided this country like it never was.
Trump came along, and further divided the country......but he also attacks those in the party he claims to be part of who do not support him (that would be people like me). And of course attacks liberals. He went a step further than Obama and divided conservatives and Christians.
Obama nor Trump wanted to be president to everyone. They focus on making their supporters happy and accomplishing their agenda. Disagree with me? If they wanted to be president to all Americans and truly cared about all Americans, then neither would attack those who disagree with them and would work at not being so divisive.
I wish we still elected men like Reagan president. A president for all people, not just those who agreed with him.
3) The glue incident
For reasons that will be obvious, I am copying and pasting my Facebook status from yesterday:
I was getting ready for bed Friday night and was about to shave, so I removed my shirt. (that information is important). For some stupid reason, I decided to do a quick handy man job....which did not end well because of further stupidity.
That stupidity ended in my stomach and both hands being covered in very hot glue. I immediately put my hands under cold water and dumped a glass of water on my stomach. I wasn't sure what to do. I feared the burns were serious, and there I stood in a pair of sweat pants with most of my stomach and my hands covered in the goo. I figured I should go to the hospital, but wasn't sure how to make that happen. I thought about calling my parents, but if I picked up my phone, that would have put a whole new meaning to "glued to my phone."
After panicking for a few minutes, I coated my hands in Vaseline and put sandwich baggies on my hands. I managed to pull an old t-shirt on, grab a jacket, my phone, and wallet and headed for the hospital I work at. I drove without my seat-belt, as I was trying not to have my t-shirt glued to my stomach.
I managed to get to the hospital without incident, and was seen quickly, though I was there a few hours. The burns aren't as bad as I feared, so no burn unit is necessary. They tried to get the glue off with mineral oil, but no luck. They finally sent me home after a tetanus shot and giving me cream for the burns.
The damages:
All of my fingertips are burned except my "pinkies"
My middle finger on my right hand is worst, and has a huge blister.
My left thumb comes in second pain-wise, and has a good sized blister...and fights for first place....it's throbbing at the moment.
Ring finger on my right also has a good sized blister.
Slight burns on my right hand.
Stomach: approximately a 6 by 6 area covered in glue, made all the more fun by me being a hairy guy. Parts of my stomach are very tender because of burns.
I bought nail polish remover with acetone, and have gotten some of the glue off my hands.....but it is no picnic peeling glue off burns.
It isn't very easy doing much...and I have typed this with my fingers that don't hurt as much.
I called one of my bosses last night (Friday) and called off, as I had no idea what the night would hold. A coworker volunteered to go in for me tomorrow (Sunday) for me, so I don't have to be at work again til Tuesday.
It is painful, and I have no idea how I am going to get the glue off my hands and even more my stomach...one male nurse told me there is a less painful way to get a wax....but I am thankful the burns were not bad enough for a burn center, and that it didn't get my face.
And just trust me on this...it was a dumb mistake that caused a small bottle of gorilla glue to explode on me.
Now:
Some of my fingertips are still painful and I still have blisters on a few. It is made more painful by my trying to peel glue from burned areas. I did work for over an hour on my stomach and managed to get all of the glue off...a 4 inch by 6 inch spot. And there was a lot. It wasn't just a few specks, it was solid, thick in the middle, and thinner on the edges. And yeah...it hurt.
It is still difficult to do stuff that requires much dexterity...unscrewing lids, typing, doing buttons and zippers....etc. Another blister appeared on my right pointer finger, and I accidentally popped the one on my left thumb, and also the left middle finger....which I don't remember being there.
My parents felt bad for me and brought me a pizza last night from one of my favorite places and played a game of Scrabble with me. Hopefully everything heals up well and fast.
I AM very thankful that it wasn't worse, and that I didn't get my face.
4) Susan
Even at this stage of my life, I struggle to believe people actually like me. Does one ever totally get over that kind of thinking? Some part of me knows there are people who genuinely like me. Another part of me struggle to believe that, and yet another feels people will only like me if I line up to their wishes and expectations....like voting like they want me to vote.
There is a urologist who comes into my doctor's office 2-3 times a week to see patients. He has a super nice nurse/receptionist who is in her early 60's. Since my doctor's office is in the hospital, I see her often. She is a person who genuinely seems to like me. She found out at one point that I decorate my bedroom in patriotic/Americana decor, and started bringing me in all sorts of stuff: pillows, a metal star, a bear, and even a quilt. She gave me banana bread once and I got home made apple butter for Christmas from her last year. She asked me last week if I like pickles, so I am guessing she is going to give me some for Christmas.
She came in last Wednesday carrying a small garbage bag, and set a Christmas pillow on my desk. I assumed she was giving it to me, but said "that's nice." She pulled another pillow out that had an old fashioned Santa on, and asked me which one I wanted. If you know me very well, you can guess which one I picked. :)
And I repay her by helping her. She has back problems, and sometimes pulls up at the door because she has a lot to carry in. I go out and get her stuff, including her purse, and take it up to the office for her. A few months ago, she said "You are such a good guy, I don't understand why you aren't married." So yeah, I guess she likes me. :)
5) Merry Christmas vs happy holidays
Every year there is a big hub bub about people saying happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas, and talk of a "war on Christmas." I have seen a lot of people mock the idea, and others insist there is a war.
Whether or not you want to call it a war on Christmas or not, there has been a move to do away with using the word Christmas. There are schools that have banned it being called Christmas, and other examples of the push to do away with it being a religious holiday.
Here are my thoughts:
No business should tell their employees they can't say Merry Christmas, nor should they force them to say it.
Any business making money off of Christmas should not do away with the word "Christmas" in their ads, nor call their Christmas music "holiday music."
As for me, I will say Merry Christmas, forever and always.
***And I am going to mention a pet peeve of mine: I hate, hate, hate to see "Xmas", but what I hate worse are Christians trying to excuse it by saying the "X" means Christ in Greek or some crap like that. Even if it is true, the people using "Xmas" do not have that in mind. So take your "Xmas" and explanation for it and lock it in a box to never be heard from again. :)
6) The CD dilemma
I have a lot of CDs. That is most of them in the pic above. There are more upstairs. The one on the right is all Christmas, except the bottom 2 1/2 shelves which are Christmas music DVDs and other Christmas DVDs. As you can see, they take up a fair amount of wall space.
Here is my dilemma: I rarely listen to CDs when I am home. I have a lot of music on my computer....like 8450 songs. I have my stereo hooked up to my pc and play music on my pc through the stereo, so no reason for a CD. The exception is when I get a new CD.
I used to carry several CDs in my car, but since the purchase of my Chevy Cruz 2 1/2 years ago, I have been able to listen to music from my iPod, so I rarely take CDs....except new ones.
So here is the dilemma: is there any reason to take up 58 inches of wall space in my living room for what I rarely use? But what would I put there, and where would I put the CDs? I just measured, and the wider shelf would fit fine at the back of my bedroom closet. (I have a bookshelf already in the spare bedroom closet).
As for the Christmas CDs.....since I only use them a couple of months out of the year, I could put them in plastic crates. The shelf they are on will hold mass market paperbacks. Moving the wider shelf would free up 33 inches.
I may explore the idea after Christmas. If you are reading this, feel free to offer an opinion. :)
And yeah...maybe I need to thin the herd down too.
7) Reading goal
I did say I'd try to keep this shorter, so I'll end with an update on my reading goal. I had set a goal of 200 for 2019, and passed that up months ago.
I am currently at 478 books.......and may attempt to hit 500. That is 22 books in 14 days. I may be able to do that. We will see. Remember, I don't have a life. :)
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