Inverted... And Other Complaints

Yesterday was a total bust for me. Mind you, nothing bad happened… nothing happened at all, actually. I’m in yet another one of my circadian rhythm upside-down periods. As a matter of fact, I’d be the quintessential out-of-time, off-the-beat White Boy if you needed circadian rhythm to dance. Wait… I AM the quintessential White Boy when it comes to dancing, so…never mind. So, there I was yesterday morning, watching the sun come up after being awake all night and trying to decide whether to (a) put the coffee on and blow this sleep thingie off altogether or (b) go to bed. I opted for Plan B and slept until 1300 hrs. The upshot of all this is the day was truly GONE after I’d finished my “morning” coffee, which was just after 1600 hrs (it takes me at least three hours to drink that whole pot, ya know).

And today? Only slightly better…awake until 0300 (or so) and up at 1100 hrs. The Boys tell me not to worry about this because I’m retired, aren’t I? I have nowhere to be, nowhere to go, no one to answer to, and all that (TSMP’s final words of the day to me… more often than not… were almost always spoken as I laid asleep on the couch: “Come to bed, Buck”). But I DO worry. Being out of phase with the rest of the civilized world isn’t a Good Thing, in my book. And it’s definitely raised havoc with my blogging. Which, of course, begs the question: “Well, if you’re up all night, why not blog?” The answer is similar to what any whiny, petulant two-year old would give: “Because I don’t want to!” (You may add a couple of imaginary foot-stomps to increase the street-cred of that statement, if you like. I did.)

{sigh} This, too, shall pass. I think.

―:☺:―

The weather has been strange over the last 48 hours, as well. The sky has been cloudy all day for the last two days, and that’s very unusual for my home on the range. Cloudy… as in a continuous, horizon-to-horizon cover of dark gray, low-scudding clouds that threaten rain but never deliver. The radar picture around Portales these past two days has shown lots of precip all around us, but not ON us. The constant cloud cover has made it unseasonably cool, too. Our high yesterday was only 80; today it’s supposed to be 74. The average temp for this time of year is 91. So, it’s nice to get a break in one respect, but it would be nicer yet if the coolness was accompanied by rain. It would be perfect, as a matter of fact.

―:☺:―

We seem to be on something of a bitch-moan-complain roll here, so let’s add one more thing. I finally received my Detroit Red Wings 2008 Stanley Cup Champions Locker Room T-shirt (yep, that’s the full title) last week, which was ordered from NHL.com the day after the Wings won The Cup. I’m not complaining about how long it took the shirt to get here… I expected some sort of delay, as the shirt was back-ordered the day I bought it. Nope, it’s the quality of the shirt, or lack of same. First of all, Honduras (where the shirt was made) must be a veritable Land O’ Giants, coz I’m swimming in my Medium sized shirt, which appears to be half again as large as other “medium” tee shirts I’ve bought recently. That’s bad enough, but the neck hole is also waaay too large, resembling a woman’s scoop-necked blouse rather than a tee shirt. And the shirt hasn’t even made its first journey to the Laundromat yet.

I have a feeling this will be one souvenir tee shirt that will last, mainly because I won’t be wearing such a poorly-made garment much, if at all. I hate it, and I mean really HATE it, when this happens.

OTOH, SN1 has no complaints about his shirt… which is different than mine. Maybe I’ll buy one of those.

―:☺:―

OK, enough personal bitching. Let’s get on to some bitching, nation-wide. The Obamanon’s widely-commented on “move to the center” continues apace. Now that Barack has pissed off the loony-left with his apparent reversal on the FISA Bill (MFC Greenwald has a new rant on this subject today), he’s trying to make nice with the entire US military. That’s all well and good, I suppose, but Barack is gonna have a long, hard road gaining the trust he needs after making statements like this:

Obama says he’ll call the Joint Chiefs in once he’s inaugurated and give them a new mission: “End the war.” Not WIN the war, but end it. Words mean something, and Obama’s word choice on this subject doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Obama also says his position has remained consistent over the last few months (and years) and I believe him on this one point, at least. He’s been consistent and wrong on the subject of Iraq for as long as I’ve been paying attention to him and his speeches. And he’s certainly not above mischaracterizing Senator McCain’s position, either… when he uses words that accuse McCain of wanting to perpetuate the war. McCain is quite clear: he wants to WIN. Obama is much less clear, but “ending the war” without mentioning (or apparently even considering) the outcome…whether we win or lose… is shallow and irresponsible in the extreme.

Good luck gaining that “trust” thing with the military, Senator O. You’ll need lots of it. Luck, that is.