A Cold Start to 2020
15/02/20 07:25
It's a cold 5 degrees hereabouts and it's not like to get a lot warmer if the forecast holds true. I've been pushing the envelope with my bike rides as of late and yesterday despite the fact that temperatures plunged into the 20's I was making my way down and back on Ocean Boulevard oblivious to it all and hell bent on ignoring it to the best of my ability.
I knew it was cold but after thirty minutes into the ride I could also feel the perspiration wicking up on my back and welcomed it as a sign of things working as they should. I don't have much company on the Boulevard on days like this but make a yeoman's effort to return a waving hand or a nod of the head should that occur. That's just the way it is.
And yes, I've been away for a good long time in this here journal of mine. Not sure this signals a comeback of any real significance but back I am for as long as it lasts. I drove into Portsmouth in the last few days to buy Nancy a little gift from her favorite choclatier for Valentine's Day. She's partial to the raspberry flavored malted milk balls so I braved the crowds and took my place in line after pulling a pre-wrapped package from the shelves. It wasn't that busy given the time of day and time of week but it's a small shop with barely standing room for more than a handful of people at a time.
There may have been a time in our decades long relationship when chocolates were secondary to something of greater consequence but those days have come and gone. Truth be told, some of these holidays in past years have come and gone without fanfare or gifts of any kind. It was just another day. Maybe there was a holiday when I bought something for her and received nothing in return or vice versa. Who remembers?
Besides, shouldn't every day be Valentine's Day when you're in love? And who says that my actions should be dictated one way or another by specific dates on the calendar? Maybe they should serve at best as reminders that there are things we ought to be mindful of and things that we ought to celebrate. Yes. that the ticket.
I thought a nice card to accompany the chocolates might be in order to so I took the path of least resistance and went into the local Walmart looking for just such a card. Surely, with the extensive space they allocated to cards and the like I could find something that would work. To say most of everything I looked at was cheesy would be an understatement.
Worse than that was the price point of the cards. They wanted a good $5 or $6 for the cards and that was more than I could bear. Nancy would derive zero pleasure out of a card that cost that much and she would no sooner pull the card from the envelope before looking on the back side of the card to see how much I paid for it.
I don't know why I bother going into Walmart for such things when I know that I'm probably not going to find anything to my liking. I told myself that if I were to visit Trader Joes in the coming days that I would more than likely find something to my liking and that is precisely what happened. Did I mention that their cards are a fraction of what they cost at Walmart?
I discussed that with Nancy after the fact and we were both left scratching our heads as to how they can make a profit selling cards as inexpensively as they do. But TJ's is our go-to place for cards for the most part and I could have saved myself some trouble and time by going their first instead of Walmarts. Live and learn.
We'll have to be in touch with Evan before heading over to Exeter later today to see Mrs G to see if he wants us to bring him a burrito from Mad Pork in North Hampton. They opened recently and we gave them a try and found their food to be quite good. Very good, actually. We brought Evan a dish or two last week from Mad Pork and he was surprised at how good it was. Not that he was expecting it to be bad but he's a bit of a burrito aficionado and has pretty high standards when it comes to most things Mexican.
I bought some of their home made salsa and have been using it on everything from sweet potatoes to black beans and hummus. I had another jar of salsa from somewhere else that had a smokey aftertaste which I didn't care for at all so I welcomed the Mad Pork version. and Yes, I know, Mad Pork sounds more BBQ-ish than Mexican but there you have it.
I don't know where to start with the political stuff. I'm a Trumpster from the word GO so I should probably start there. Do I think his chances are pretty good to win a second term? Yes, I do. That may be me wearing my rose-colored glasses but when you look at the field of democrats running against him that seems to be the most logical conclusion. I would hasten to add that we only have two states weighing in so far in the "primary" process and only four percent of the delegates needed to win the democratic nomination have been awarded.
"People of color" ( I hate that expression) have yet to have their say is what you hear from the flagging campaign of Joe Biden. He and his people hope to do better when results come in from Nevada and South Carolina in the coming weeks. New Hampshire and Iowa are "too white" and not at all representative of today's democrat party is the most common refrain you hear from the Biden campaign.
Elizabeth "Pocahantas" Warren placed fourth or so in both Iowa and New Hampshire and did not place first, second, or third in any contested town or city in the New Hampshire primary. That is an incredibly poor showing considering the fact that she is one of two senators from the state of Massachusetts which sits squarely on New Hampshires southern border.
Leading the pack is the indomitable Bernie Sanders, the longtime irascible senator from the state of Vermont. Let's be clear. The guy is a communist. He's garnering anywhere from 25 to 30% of the vote in the primaries thus far and when you have as many people running as are currently running on the democrat side of the ledger it doesn't take much to "win."
He has by far the most faithful followers and they would follow that mother fucker right off the edge of the cliff given half a chance. With the exception of Joe Biden who most closely resembles what most people think of as a "centrist", all other candidates fall into the "progressive" camp when it comes to policies that they plan to implement if elected.
That is where our country is headed if Bernie or Biden beats Trump in November. Then again, Bloomberg may want to have something to say about that since he is elbowing Biden, and possibly Bernie, out of the race with his billions of dollars in personal wealth and his willingness to spend every last penny if that is what it takes to get rid of Trump.
The new left, politically speaking, is typically rabid in their contempt for individuals that are successful to the extent that Bloomberg has been and sees it as success gained at the expense of the working man who is left to his own devices to feed his family on a pitiful and meager salary at the end of the day. Their socialist tendencies ala Bernie Sanders has the working class taking over the means of production and that would not bode well for our capitalist economy. As Trump tells us time and time again, "our country will never become a socialist county." I hope he's right.
I knew it was cold but after thirty minutes into the ride I could also feel the perspiration wicking up on my back and welcomed it as a sign of things working as they should. I don't have much company on the Boulevard on days like this but make a yeoman's effort to return a waving hand or a nod of the head should that occur. That's just the way it is.
And yes, I've been away for a good long time in this here journal of mine. Not sure this signals a comeback of any real significance but back I am for as long as it lasts. I drove into Portsmouth in the last few days to buy Nancy a little gift from her favorite choclatier for Valentine's Day. She's partial to the raspberry flavored malted milk balls so I braved the crowds and took my place in line after pulling a pre-wrapped package from the shelves. It wasn't that busy given the time of day and time of week but it's a small shop with barely standing room for more than a handful of people at a time.
There may have been a time in our decades long relationship when chocolates were secondary to something of greater consequence but those days have come and gone. Truth be told, some of these holidays in past years have come and gone without fanfare or gifts of any kind. It was just another day. Maybe there was a holiday when I bought something for her and received nothing in return or vice versa. Who remembers?
Besides, shouldn't every day be Valentine's Day when you're in love? And who says that my actions should be dictated one way or another by specific dates on the calendar? Maybe they should serve at best as reminders that there are things we ought to be mindful of and things that we ought to celebrate. Yes. that the ticket.
I thought a nice card to accompany the chocolates might be in order to so I took the path of least resistance and went into the local Walmart looking for just such a card. Surely, with the extensive space they allocated to cards and the like I could find something that would work. To say most of everything I looked at was cheesy would be an understatement.
Worse than that was the price point of the cards. They wanted a good $5 or $6 for the cards and that was more than I could bear. Nancy would derive zero pleasure out of a card that cost that much and she would no sooner pull the card from the envelope before looking on the back side of the card to see how much I paid for it.
I don't know why I bother going into Walmart for such things when I know that I'm probably not going to find anything to my liking. I told myself that if I were to visit Trader Joes in the coming days that I would more than likely find something to my liking and that is precisely what happened. Did I mention that their cards are a fraction of what they cost at Walmart?
I discussed that with Nancy after the fact and we were both left scratching our heads as to how they can make a profit selling cards as inexpensively as they do. But TJ's is our go-to place for cards for the most part and I could have saved myself some trouble and time by going their first instead of Walmarts. Live and learn.
We'll have to be in touch with Evan before heading over to Exeter later today to see Mrs G to see if he wants us to bring him a burrito from Mad Pork in North Hampton. They opened recently and we gave them a try and found their food to be quite good. Very good, actually. We brought Evan a dish or two last week from Mad Pork and he was surprised at how good it was. Not that he was expecting it to be bad but he's a bit of a burrito aficionado and has pretty high standards when it comes to most things Mexican.
I bought some of their home made salsa and have been using it on everything from sweet potatoes to black beans and hummus. I had another jar of salsa from somewhere else that had a smokey aftertaste which I didn't care for at all so I welcomed the Mad Pork version. and Yes, I know, Mad Pork sounds more BBQ-ish than Mexican but there you have it.
I don't know where to start with the political stuff. I'm a Trumpster from the word GO so I should probably start there. Do I think his chances are pretty good to win a second term? Yes, I do. That may be me wearing my rose-colored glasses but when you look at the field of democrats running against him that seems to be the most logical conclusion. I would hasten to add that we only have two states weighing in so far in the "primary" process and only four percent of the delegates needed to win the democratic nomination have been awarded.
"People of color" ( I hate that expression) have yet to have their say is what you hear from the flagging campaign of Joe Biden. He and his people hope to do better when results come in from Nevada and South Carolina in the coming weeks. New Hampshire and Iowa are "too white" and not at all representative of today's democrat party is the most common refrain you hear from the Biden campaign.
Elizabeth "Pocahantas" Warren placed fourth or so in both Iowa and New Hampshire and did not place first, second, or third in any contested town or city in the New Hampshire primary. That is an incredibly poor showing considering the fact that she is one of two senators from the state of Massachusetts which sits squarely on New Hampshires southern border.
Leading the pack is the indomitable Bernie Sanders, the longtime irascible senator from the state of Vermont. Let's be clear. The guy is a communist. He's garnering anywhere from 25 to 30% of the vote in the primaries thus far and when you have as many people running as are currently running on the democrat side of the ledger it doesn't take much to "win."
He has by far the most faithful followers and they would follow that mother fucker right off the edge of the cliff given half a chance. With the exception of Joe Biden who most closely resembles what most people think of as a "centrist", all other candidates fall into the "progressive" camp when it comes to policies that they plan to implement if elected.
That is where our country is headed if Bernie or Biden beats Trump in November. Then again, Bloomberg may want to have something to say about that since he is elbowing Biden, and possibly Bernie, out of the race with his billions of dollars in personal wealth and his willingness to spend every last penny if that is what it takes to get rid of Trump.
The new left, politically speaking, is typically rabid in their contempt for individuals that are successful to the extent that Bloomberg has been and sees it as success gained at the expense of the working man who is left to his own devices to feed his family on a pitiful and meager salary at the end of the day. Their socialist tendencies ala Bernie Sanders has the working class taking over the means of production and that would not bode well for our capitalist economy. As Trump tells us time and time again, "our country will never become a socialist county." I hope he's right.