Monday, July 31, 2017

My Music Monday

I'm thinking for August, I'd do a 'guilty pleasure' theme. It was one i could never quite sell Erik on.

I think it's why he basically quit blogging.

Now that I think of it, I'm sure it is.

For sure, they might be 'guilty' pleasures, but in reality, they're probably just embarrassing to a degree. I mean, this could all go south very very quickly.

I'll start off with "Cool Kids" by Echosmith.

If PR is to be believed - and it isn't - the group of siblings was influenced by Echo and the Bunnymen and the Smiths.

It's a nice idea, but I don't hear that anywhere. I'm assuming they where band their father liked, as he is the co-songwriter on most of the album's tracks.

The problem with the song:  it's catchy.

"Cool Kids" is at least three years old. I think I heard it about two years ago while in New York. I'm guessing it's somewhat popular (or was), as the official label video (below) has 82 million hits, and their original web video has another 28 million. Someone other than the breakfast area at the Mid-Town Residence Inn by Marriott has been playing this song.

Echosmith is a real life Partridge Family. Allegedly, they play all their own instruments and most of the are well-versed in multiple ones. I gotta respect that.

The lead singer - the sister; the chick - has an Anna Kendrick vibe.  Kendrick is a different guilty pleasure I have. But that would be for another post.


Sunday, July 30, 2017

Small Talk

Nothing too too much to report from vacation. Three full days and I haven't even been tempted to look at my work email.  That is both liberating and a little scary at the same time.

Our adventure started off with a delay at the airport. The problem with taking Jet Blue is that in Cleveland there is only one gate. So if there is a mechanical problem there are no other planes. Jet Blue only flies to / from NYC, Boston and Ft. Lauderdale from the 216.

While we waited (and waited) for word about when and how, both 710 and I took separate strolls, as the other would have to stay with our luggage. ....and to hear any potential update.

A woman next to me struck up a conversation. In short order, we found out we were both headed to the same destination. She - Monica - had never been.  We chatted about the town and what there is and isn't to do.

During this, an overhead announcement about something in the 'gray area'.  Monica laughs and goes, "did they just say the 'gay area'?".  Blobby's back went up, but he said nothing.

As it would turn out the laugh wasn't anything to which I perceived. During my walk, 710 spoke with Monica and it turns out she was meeting the woman she's been dating for almost a year, in Boston and driving right to Maine. She had asked 710 if we were married and thought it was cool that we were.  So far we have not seen her in town.

We've only been in Maine for the better part of one day - the first two were in Boston. So far I've been averaging about 25,000 steps per day, so I can basically eat whatever I want......or so I think.

Last night while at dinner, it was one of those meals where 710 and I barely talked. I was fascinated by the table of four women next to us. At least one of the woman only spoke in French. And at least one of the other woman only spoke in English. Yet the latter was speaking to, or answering questions from, the former. Clearly one could understand English while the other did the same in French, yet they never conversed in the same language.

When it came time for their check....or cheque, as the case may be.....they asked - if it wasn't too much trouble - for separate checks for all four of them. The key-ute waiter said it would be no trouble at all.  I turned to 710 and go: "he's lying".

Shortly afterwards, the key-ute waiter came to bring us our bill. I asked him if he could split it into four. He chortled.

He made both 710 and I burst out laughing when he came back with four of those black book thingies where one puts the bill. He totally made my night.

John got extra on his tip just for that.



Song by: the Dave Clark Five

Saturday, July 29, 2017

I'm the Cat

It's small sampling this week, but sometimes that is how it goes.

Sophie is fully capable of getting out from behind that door if she so chooses. 

Brother and Sister

And this was Shep's "new" favourite toy until he destroyed it.  He now has a new favourite toy....until he rips that to shreds. We are keeping the dog toy business afloat by ourselves. 



Song by: Jackson Browne

Friday, July 28, 2017

Untitled

No worries - I'm still alive (at least for now). Still I didn't have a blog post up around midnight, so I could see why you might think otherwise.

We are on the road. And as "luck" would have it, I had drinks with a friend last night.

Drinks. Plural. Four hours of drinks.

Well......three and three-quarters hours, because someone was late!  .....and it wasn't me.

More on that later.

I need b'fast, as nachos - no matter how loaded they may be - do not constitute dinner.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Have a Little Faith in Me

Imagine my surprise.

The GOP couldn't get a Repeal and Replace option through the Senate, so they went with a Repeal only scenario.

FAIL.

It's not a win-win for Dems or the folks from the U.S, but it's another dent in the McConnell-Dump armour. GOP controlled and they still can't pass any legislation - and yet, somehow, they keep getting re-elected.

I fear the worst - I mean, you've read this blog before, right? - but I wasn't quite expecting another stumble from the Right so soon after their last one.

Which senator will SCROTUS single out to threaten in his overnight tweet session?


Still - I'll take this as a win. We need it.


Song by: John Hiatt


Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Sick Sick Sick

When your party is the majority and the Vice President still has to cast a tie-breaking vote to advance an extremely flawed bill on healthcare, you can try to spin it all you want, but it's not a win.  Not truly.

When you don't debate your healthcare bill in public or have any sessions on it - you're trying to pass something in secret, in the middle of the night - you've got a problem.

Actually, now WE have a problem. WE the people.

....and you're all pussies. The senate - not you.

For my own selfish reasons, I want any of the GOP healthcare initiatives to fail. Their success would lead to huge cuts to healthcare which means many many many job losses.  Dump never mentions that, dontcha know.

So yes, SCROTUS, you might get back at 'the black guy' but your unemployment numbers are going to climb, if not soar. I'm not talking just hospitals - now you have lesser use of pharmaceuticals, supply chain - beds, sheets, laundry, food, operating room equipment, radiology.......all those "ancillary services" will be taking hits in the pocketbook and with the passing out of the pink slips.

Oh - and you know how people "joke" about wait times up in Canada? Just wait.

People think physicians are not expendable with budget cuts - but they are. Actually, they're high up there, as it's the easiest way of cutting expenses: they make the most or your reductions. You don't have to lose a lot of them to save money, but you do have to shed them. So now, your chance of getting into a doctor is gonna take longer. Which mean your emergency departments are going to be even more back-logged than they are.

The general public is about to be screwed......and not one of those good ones where it feels good. Nope - this one is going in dry.

But bully to you SCROTUS - you showed the black guy......and you weren't even running against him. Except you were. Because he was everything you're not.......and not just his skin colour.

On the other hand......and I've said it before:  I almost need the GOP to win this. I need their massive cuts. I need the layoffs. I need the country to get sick. Sicker.  I need the country to get mad.

This is nothing about his base. All those deep red states - the poorer ones - now will lose Medicaid and all the services involved. Guess what, they'll bitch, but they'll still support El Douche, because, 'Murica!

No - this is about the complacent center or lethargic left. These are the ones who NEED to get angry. The ones who NEED to do something. Anything.

As odious as this administration is, they've actually put little on the table to rebel against. The Paris Treaty?  Their stance is offensive, but effect aren't really immediate - so it goes away.  The EPA? Same thing.  Unless you become a Flint or Charleston WV.

Other than that, this man is all hot air. That super duper secret plan to defeat ISIS is still secret. That wall has yet to lay one brick.  The travel ban /immigration stuff is repugnant, but unless your Hispanic or from seven mid-eastern countries, are you really affected, unless your au pair gets denied entrance to this country?

So now we are potentially about to have skin in the game. Not just a few, but a few dozen....million!

Passage of a repeal and potential replace could be a game change for this country - one way or the other. The question is - where will it fall for those who truly don't understand anything more than "'Murica"?

Hopefully this is the tipping point for people to get angry. Assuming they're not too sick to do so.



Listen - if there were a happy medium where there were true changes to the exchanges, I'd be ok....probably. But that's not how the GOP is every gonna structure this thing.

RESIST.



Song by: Queens of the Stone Age

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

It's Not Easy Being Green

Somehow I got "elected" to get a green belt in Six Sigma / Lean projects.

Yay?

On one hand, it is nice that my bosses think enough of me that this would be a great next step for me.

On the other hand - it's five full days of training, planning, presenting and then taking on a project (on top of my other two jobs) that will last 90 days.

Oh my.

My team is ok. One is great. One is fair. And one is a low talker.........yes, just like on Seinfeld. Sitting right next to her, I could not hear one word.  Honest.  I really don't know how she's going to be part of the presentation on day 5.

All that stuff on the wall is just part of our brainstorming work. Right now I'm in the data gathering phase. That is my favourite part. Excel sheets for days.

I won't bore you with the details as we go along. Maybe I'll do another post after they give me my green belt.


......there is a real belt......right?



Song by: Kermit the Frog

Monday, July 24, 2017

My Music Monday

I think for the time I'm done with new music as my on-going theme. Some I've heard and can't find, but mostly not much is grabbing me these days.

I'll pseudo-torture you with a song from the Buckingham McVie disk. It's co-branded, but make no mistake, it's a Lindsey Buckingham song through and through.

While I don't know it for 100% certainty, I know it was started before Christine McVie rejoined Fleetwood Mac back in 2014. My guess is, it was finished before she joined too.

I'm not really a gambling man, but if I had to bet $5, I'd say she doesn't even appear on the song.

Is "On With the Show" a classic song?  No.   Is it well structured?  For the most part, yes.  It has some decent qualities.

If the rest of the disk was closer to this, it'd have been a passable album.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Pardon Me

I gotta admit, I never even saw the hint of this coming:  the possibility of 'the pardon'.

I kid you not when I say - to a degree - my stomach has been in semi-knots when hearing this.

The fucking son-of-a-bitch is going to get away with everything.

It might not be this month or this year, but before he leaves office - or forced to leave - he is going to get away with every fucking thing he has done. Along with those shiteous spawn of his.

710 said this would never happen, as both side of Congress would be enraged at that kind of thing. Then as the last words were leaving his lips, his brain caught up with the thought.

The GOP driven 115th is spineless in any regard, even more so when it comes to SCROTUS, there is nothing they are going to do - even if they could.  The Dems are just useless.

But the thought of the scummiest family in America {seriously, I have more respect for Manson's brood} skirting the law, or outright breaking it and getting off scot free, skeeves me out......and pisses me off.....to no end.

I'd be ok with someone {not me} picking off his grown children, one-by-one, just to scare the shit out of SCROTUS, with him knowing that someone's coming for him.

------------------------------------------

.....and I can't let it go that Spicer is gone.  Good riddance.

I'm surprised at some of the social media chatter from those who disliked him and now kind of / sort of feeling bad for him and the unenviable position in which he was put.


FUCK. THEM.   And fuck him.


By many accounts, pre-Dump he was a smart man whom is peers liked. And some will go on record saying now they don't even know who this man has become.

Personally, I think it's clear you didn't really know him. If he can be swayed by power that much to become that vile of a human being - - then he has the spine of a jellyfish and has no moral character whatsoever.

My biggest regret is that the resignation happened in July and not in September when SNL was back on the air. Melissa McCarthy is missing a golden opportunity.




Song by: the Mavericks

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Hot Dog!

It was Shep's big day out yesterday.

His first at doggie daycare. Usually (well, always), Shep has a dog-walker, but as we prepare for vacation, we were checking out options.

And who better to watch him than lesbians? He already has lesbian dog-walkers.

Amanda is allegedly very selective on the dogs she takes - some are on a waiting list for over a year. Shep was on a semi list for about eight months. She currently operates out of her house, but is opening her training / boarding / daycare place in October.

For our part, we were just hoping not to get called mid-day to come pick him up - afraid that he just might be a dick with the other dogs.

Spoiler Alert: we didn't have to.

While I was in training, I got a call around 15:30 that I missed from Amanda. I was worried when I saw it. But then I got a text:

"He is AWESOME. He's making tons of friends".

"I haven't had such an easy day dog in a while. He loves to be with a group"


Huge sigh of relief.   710's reaction:  "Phew".

She also sent pics......

Shep and Bella. 


Shep losing a chase. He does not like that. When he's behind, he whines. The first time it happened I thought he was hurt. But if he ever gains the lead, the crying stops.  What a manipulator. 



I took this one when I came to pick him up  (710 dropped him off)

O.M.F.G.  Cuteness overload. 

Bella, the Shepard, is apparently Shep's new girlfriend.  Or a girl....and his best pal. She is sooooo pretty and sweet. Of course Shep loves her. ....and the ears.  the ears. 

But it's the dog on the left who was so very starved for attention.  She just made it past everyone else for my pets, scratches and to give kiss after kiss. I would have gladly taken any of them home. Even Grady, the Jack Russell. 

I wanted to pet them all, but the one on the left wouldn't allow it. 

Shep on the other hand was out there with me, but playing with the cats. Sure - THOSE cats he plays with and doesn't try to pounce on. As 710 said, "maybe they'll teach him some manners". 

So, Mr. Shep will be staying there while we are away.  No crates unless warranted. He can sleep in the bed or a sofa.  This makes us happy. 

Hopefully there will be more pictures of the happy couple.



Song by: They Might Be Giants

Friday, July 21, 2017

Numbers

Any good accountant will ask you: "what do you want the number to be?".

I love spreadsheets and numbers. And in theory, numbers don't lie.......except they do... all the time. You can make numbers tell a story, even if it's a tall tale. The question is - which tale is tall, if not all of them?

Rueters reports that 88% of people who voted for SCROTUS would do it again. In a way I'm surprised by this news.......in ways I'm not.

This comes hot on the heels of Dump's über-low approval ratings of 36....the lowest of any president in their first six months in office in 70 years.

.....and another poll that says 1-in-40 (that 40%) want to see Dump impeached.....which is slightly higher than wanted to see Nixon get the same treatment.

Yet somewhere in between those three polls is another one: SCROTUS could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose most of his support. 45% say they would still approve of him even if he shot someone to 29% who say they would disapprove, and 26% who aren’t sure one way or the other.

What. The. Fuck.

That question was a joke during the campaign, but now it's no longer funny.....if it ever was. And actually, now it is sounding like a challenge, which is just frightening.

This doesn't seem to upset his "christian" "base".  Oh yes. Double quotes.

It is unclear - at least to me - who the fuck these people are polling. It almost doesn't seem random. I get the 88% folks polled were already Dump supporters. They're blind - also not believing there were any discussions at all with Russia, even though Dump Jr admitted to it.  So there, is blind, then there is blind!  Mary Ingalls had better eyesight.   But the poll was looking to see amongst the base, how much if any, support SCROTUS has lost.

Not a lot.

If true that only 36% approval of all sampled were registered voters from both parties, I feel pretty good. If it's just Independents and Democrats, well then...........not so much.

I cannot quite reconcile the Impeachment and Shooting poll numbers. Clearly the latter are supporters. What they don't probably tell you is the next 45% would say it was "fake news". The remaining 10% probably didn't understand the question.

I'm sticking with the disapproval rating. Regardless of who does the polls, he has been in the 30s and low 40s for most of his presidency. He can laugh it off all he wants - he's still going down as worst president on record.

Even if all these polls tell a story, it's not one I care to read.



Song by: Kraftwerk

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Insane in the Brain

I suppose it's not nice to speak ill of the dead............or in this case, the soon to be dead.

....but give me a minute. I'll get there.

Perhaps we should have seen John McCain's glioblastoma coming. His rambling at a recent senate hearing and of course, his selection of Sarah Palin as a running mate in 2008. Apparently he's been experiencing symptoms that affect memory, speech and cognitive reasoning for at least a decade.

I've referenced it before, but in 2008 New York had an article on the then-presidential candidate McCain saying the John McCain of the 2000 election wouldn't even recognize the one from 2008 - a republican once the voice of reason was then devoid of any kind of logic and compassion. He was forced into it, you might say, by the Right.....and then later by the Tea Party. Say anything, do anything to keep your job.

....as it turns out, he'd need that job to keep those health benefits.  Oh, the irony.

Speaking of irony.......as this current administration and Congress descends into madness, once again, McCain is the voice of reason.

Oh - don't get me wrong - he's still a douche, but by comparison he seems sane. It's all relative.

Glioblastoma is a nasty disease. I admittedly raised an eyebrow at a news article stating that "they" were considering treatment options. Radiation and Chemo for the disease is nasty........and about a 0.00000000001% chance of survival. I've yet to hear anyone who goes into remission from this.

But if you wanna fight it.....fight it. Medical advance aren't made all on lab rats. Sometimes you need human subjects too. Personally, I'd stick with my quality of life.....while I still had it.

I'm still fuming over the Palin thing. Nine years later and she's still around and he gets to die.  Lucky bastard.



Song by: Cypress Hill

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Dead on Arrival

You know how when Obamacare was in its planning stages, those naysayers wailed about 'death panels'?

As it turns out, that death panel is the 115th Congress......and the patient they keep sending to its demise is the Dump Health Bill.

My post is called "Dead on Arrival", only because I know of no song called "Dead Before Arrival". That's right, another Dump health bill slated for defeat.

Of course it's natural to blame the opposing party, which is of course exactly what McConnell and SCROTUS did.

Yet Dump took it a step farther - basically saying he'll let healthcare fail. That he wants it to fail, so they can build it from the ground up.

Huh?

I know the guy isn't presidential material, but hear his words:  let. healthcare. fail.

Yes, he says "Obamacare", but the sentiment is the same. Let millions of people lose their coverage due the inability to afford and then they can make a plan. Which just makes you wonder - yet again - what the fuck have they been doing these last eight years?

As for the opposition, there is enough coming from inside their own party. But beware - some of those rejecting the plan isn't because of what is in the intended plan, it's what is not. Some don't believe it is strict enough, takes away enough or the tax cuts for the wealthy are not enough.

Dump is a sore loser, though publicly he hasn't really advocated for any aspect of this plan - or the last two. He doesn't seem to care about replacement as much as repeal.  You know......because of the black guy.

See, if he keeps saying "Obamacare",  and keeps blaming the Dems, it throws his supporters off of what a loser he and his administration and the 115th Congress are.

For me?  It's just another failed notch on his belt that will be attributed to him, no matter how hard he says otherwise.






Song by: Fall Out Boy

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Site of the Month

O.M.F.G.

THIS is cathartic.

Push Trump Off a Cliff Again.


Again?  Have we done it before?

I think I'd remember if we had. There'd have been a tapped keg....and cake.

I'd have invited friends, paid their airfare, hugged people I didn't know - and I'm not much of a hugger, so you know it'd have been a big deal.

The site is exactly like you'd think. You control - to a degree - SCROTUS' movements. The site name is a little misleading, as one (read: me!) doesn't get to 'push' him. You walk him off the cliff......so the end result is still the same. Still a hearty shove would have killed the program development team?

And the site isn't exactly accurately named either. Sure you can push him off a cliff or.........


You gots yourself a volcano........


......or down the treacherous 6th Avenue.....



....or a stroll in a tropical setting, where you wish Bryce Dallas Howard would be nearby....and come to the same fate.


Try them all. Have fun. Feel better about yourself, you government, your country.

I know I did.

Monday, July 17, 2017

My Music Monday

I've kind of been doing this newer music thing. I will say, most everything has been 2017-ish.  Not so much today.

"Easy to Get" by some group called Hot Chip seemingly came out in 2015.

I don't think there is a reason I should have missed this release. It's not really in my wheelhouse of the music to which I normally listen. Yet it is in my history of my Soundhound, which means, I heard it, was curious and had the app identify the song for me.

I did nothing with that collected information until today - or yesterday, actually - when I was looking for a 'new' tune to throw-up here.

"Easy to Get" has a Chic vibe. At least the music. The vocals are slightly hypnotic....but part of that is the music too.

I oddly enjoy this.

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Beware of Darkness


I love the license plate.  It works on multiple levels.

You know it's probably just a lady who knits one; purls two. Yet it still works.  Because like LEGO Batman, she......... (hit the video)






 Song by: Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Point of View

We got Shep to the lake last week. Erie, that is.

He always seems such a happy guy. 

Taking a gander. 

Taking a closer gander. 

Afterwards at Nana's.  The way he sits just cracks me up. 

Kitty POV. 


Song by: Blink 182

Friday, July 14, 2017

Tired

I'm sitting here.....exhausted.

I'm struggling to stay awake at 8:30.......and now 9:12.   It took me that long to get energy to type that.

Too tired to focus.

I'm not one of those guys who looks forward to the weekend. Sure I like them, but I'm not the work guy who laments: "two more days to the end of the work week".

Yet it's been a non-stop work week, and an average of about 5.5 hours of sleep per night.

So fuck it. I'm going to bed.

More tomorrow?



Song by: Adele

Thursday, July 13, 2017

12 of 12

So I'm doing my 88th 12 of 12.

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, any number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad is no longer doing this, nor is successor coordinating the linking of other 12 of 12'ers anymore. Now it's just Erik and myself - that I know of. 

I still continue to do this, because of all my consistent post topics, I actually like this one the most.

05:05.  Dog walk avec umbrella-ella-ella. 

It never rained. 

06:35.  Shep's pied-à-terre. 

He's happy to have his own bachelor pad. Plus he gets his cheese-filled Kong and I stick Charlie Bears in the cheese for an extra treat.  Dad #1 doesn't do that. 

06:50.  Arrive at work. 

Basically the back entrance. I went in, as it started to rain. This time I had no umbrella. 

09:15.  Scheduling a Web-Ex

10:00.  Gotta go. 

12:30.  First 2018 budget meeting. 

16:05.  Ordering. 

Guiding a new employee navigate the procurement system. 

18:35.  Messy Desk. 

Yes, still at work. 

19:20.  Walking to parking garage. 

19:40.  Welcoming committee: Party of 1. 

20:40.  Foot Wakers. 

My possible last thing I do to avoid foot surgery. Or maybe my second to last. Third - at the very most. 

21:35.   Dishes. 

It would have annoyed me to see them in the sink in the a.m. So I went to bed with dishpan hands. 


....and now your Baker's Dozen......

22:05.  Dessert. 

Graeters Raspberry Chocolate Chunk.  

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Psycho

You all might know that I've "joked" about Qusay and Uday in the past. But in reality, I had more respect for the originals than the half-assed Dump Boys.

Like them or not (and really, who did?), the Hussein boys were up front about their work and took pride in it. But they too had a horrible father.

These "guys"? Not so much.

I honestly do not know, or have any comprehension, how folks like Qusay Jr. and Uday Jr. can even look at themselves in the mirror each morning - - assuming they have any reflection at all.  (I'll assume they don't or they'd have had seen a plastic surgeon post haste.)

There is something completely psychotic about them - both of them, but for the most part today, we're sticking with Qusay Jr.

I am truly at a loss. I think I've said that before, but they keep topping themselves. I'd say I have no reason to have an ego, though we all have them, so said Freud, but there is an ego and then there is an EGO.

Mind you, Daddy led by example. Certainly a bad example, but one nonetheless. But the inability to know right from wrong, or worse to know it and completely discard it just baffles me. Especially on a national stage.

In a certain way this email thing (didn't Hillary have an email issue that the Dumps drove into the ground with every breath of their voice?) is delicious. Qusay Jr's "transparency", of which his father speaks, is such a transparent joke, as his released emails came about 38 seconds before the New York Times published them.  Oh - and that problematic issue of - there was no meeting.....there were no emails thing.  I suppose 'transparency' is all relative.

Can no one see through all of this?

Yet it frightens me. If there are no repercussions by the American people - i.e. the Dump supporters - even in the slightest, we've gone down the road as a nation from which we can never recover.

That whole he can shoot someone in the middle of the street in broad daylight and get away with it thing - is really a thing. And now it seems to extend to son-son-and daughter.


Who the fuck knew that the bastard-ette, Tiffany, would be the normal one of the family?



Now that I think about it......I even have more respect for Erik.............and Lyle.    (that's Menendez.)




  Song by: Muse

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

This and That

Sooooo many Dump-isms this last trip, plus Dump Jr and Dump-in-law and their foibles. It's like their stories are nesting dolls......and new and different one with each unopening.

Don't get me started on that twat, Ivanka. Though I do love how it was a Russian G20 goer was the one to take and release the snap of her sitting in as faux-president for a faux president.

And it seems Bitch McConnell and SCROTUS can't get that black man to ever leave. By all accounts the current Senate health care bill is dead in the water. It seems the GOP is the last to know, since not one person has said, "huh......this sounds great!".

Articles on CNN.com have one saying "Health Care Bill on the Brink", the next one, "Pence: GOP is Close to Repealing Obamacare".

Well?  Which is it??

I think we know, Pence is just a mouthpiece.  ....unless it's a tie in the Senate. Then he's just a nightmare.

And the protesters being dragged out of the captiol.....including wheelchair bound folk. THAT has to look for the GOP, though let's face it - they don't care. They're not about caring - unless it was a Goldman Sachs colleague who got in the way, then like the White House Press Room, they'd be banning cameras on the Hill.

That's all I got.



Song by: Michael Penn

Monday, July 10, 2017

My Music Monday

When the Civil Wars broke up a few years back, it took a little time for either John Paul White or Joy Williams to get back in the game as solo artists.

Williams showed up first, with a disk called Venus, that was very meh. It was more electronic, which I would say isn't her strong suit. Thank jebus, I checked it out of the liberry and didn't part with my cash for it.

And the suits must have known it too fairly early on, as many tracks were re-recorded in an acoustic manner.

As it turns out, she's made a bigger splash covering a Chainsmokers song for an insurance company television ad.

I know - you're saying a 'big splash' with a commercial?

Back in the day, I was an avid reader of Billboard. Not as much with electronic and fee based model, but the physical magazine.  I was always just as interested in the business aspect as I was the music one. Back then, how one charted was fairly clear:  Sales and / or Airplay - depending on the chart.

Now there are ways to chart by streaming, YouTube plays, and other media outlets......such as ads. Williams actually charted due to the ad being played and free downloads of the song.

I have heard about the Chainsmokers than I have actually know their music, though in the periphery I have heard "Don't Let Me Down", the song Williams covers for that insurance company.

While it seems harsh to pigeonhole her style, if Venus was a test balloon, it failed, and her acoustic fare is more to her fan base. Maybe electronic-style is not quite the way to branch off. The thing with Williams and Civil Wars, they'd take a fresh spin with their covers, be it Michael Jackson, Etta James, Janis Joplin or the Smashing Pumpkins. Williams can still stretch the boundaries here with a dance song and take it down to 4/4 time.

It works.


Sunday, July 09, 2017

Ad of the Month

Normally my Ad of the Month post is a video from an ad.  Normally my Ad of the Month post isn't monthly......but why quibble about my timeliness.  Or lack of.

This one is a different medium:  billboards.



We've been seeing this sign for the last few weeks as we made it up to one of Shep's dog parks. Since I'm usually the one driving - and I'd usually forget about it right after passing it - I'd keep forgetting to get a snap of the sign.

Last week, 710 was quick after I axed him to take a pic.

All I can assume it that it's some kind of car lubricant.....or like WD40.

Or it's for a Gentleman's Club.

I know it's the former. I just wish it were for the latter.

Saturday, July 08, 2017

Feelin' Single - Seein' Double

It's slow pic week. Stupid work.

Shep and Kooper have a tussle before the 4th of July parade. 

Kooper is still his favourite friend. 

Patriotic Pup


Shep has a semi-doppelgänger.  Spot on, if not for the fluffy tail. 

It was so freaky to see.....and the odder thing was, he never gave him a second look. 




Song by: Emmylou Harris