Month: September 2020

  • Post-Debate: This is bad…

    This is bad folks. Really bad. Such as, I am very nervous that the United States might not survive this election.

    It wasn’t just one moment of Trump’s shit show. And there were some really awful moments. The interrupting, the conspiracy theories, the environment forest management thing, the doubting of a fair election. Then Trump told his supporters that they should go to the polls and intimidate voters, and that the Proud Boys should stand by to be called into action. It is just horrifying that. I never thought that an American politician would behave like that, in public.

    But taken as a whole, what I was left feeling is that Trump doesn’t care who he has to hurt, or what he has to destroy, to win. For Trump, it’s win or nothing. And even if he does win, I don’t think that will be enough. I think he will go after his political opponents, and try to put them in jail.

    I joked after the Republican convention that I left feeling like I was a hunted creature for being liberal. After last night, I think Trump will call on his supporters and white supremacists to go and riot in the streets. That open conflict will follow on November 3rd.

    Even if Trump comes to his senses, and agrees to a peaceful transfer, he has already put the thought out there, and you cannot take it back.

  • Trump v Biden: The Debate Battle Royale!

    Maybe I should talk about Trump’s income taxes? That seems to be a big deal right now.

    The debate between Biden and Trump is tonight. I will be watching it alone, as anything that comes out of Trump’s mouth makes my wife very angry, and pretty much puts her in a bad mood for the rest of the night…

    And into the morning…

    And all the next day…

    And for the whole week…

    So, I will be watching the debate on my computer with headphones, while also live tweeting (@mlgroff) my reactions to whatever crazy shit that is said. My goal is to make my friends laugh, but it is also to keep my sanity.

    I was extremely nervous four years ago when Clinton and Trump met for their debates. Hilary won all the face offs, as Trump come across as disrespectful and unprepared, but we all know that in the end, it didn’t really mean anything.

    There is a good chance again, that these debates won’t mean anything. And honestly, I agree with that conclusion. Trump and Biden’s polling numbers really haven’t changed that much in two months, which for me says that most people are locked in on who they are voting for.

    But honestly, who is that 3-5% of the voting population that are still undecided? With everything that has happened in this year alone, how has that not influenced you to make a decision?

    I need to laugh, and I need to laugh and the big orange bully in the room.

  • The Algot Saga Continues

    To recap what is going on in my life; our daughter will be doing remote learning, and as such, we have made a corner in the living room to be her “school” area. We were planning on using the Algot series of shelves to complete this area, as that was what we had been using in our living room.

    But no, Ikea thought it best to stop making these shelves and not tell anyone.

    In the NYC area, we bought up what we could and have been trying to make something usable out of it. What we are left with is a mix match/mish-mash of braces, brackets and shelves that just can’t work together to give us a desk for the kid, storage for school supplies, and a place for books. We have been trying for months now, and nothing works.

    We gave up, and bought a wood wall mounted flip down desk, which looks awesome and the kid loves. We are hanging art in the corner, with the hopes that one day we will come up with something to do there.

    But we have all of this Algot stuff. There is nothing wrong with it, and could work in another space, if we ever get another space. It’s just here, mocking us in our futility to add pieces to make something else.

    Modular solution, my ass.

  • Pondering the Change Out My Window

    The lot behind our apartment is in full blow construction now. There are workers swarming all over the lot, laying rebar, pouring cement, sawing things, and having equipment dropped off. It starts right at 7am, and goes until 6pm some days. We used to have our windows, but now it is difficult to do because of the noise, and the dust being kicked up. Sadly, we know that as we live in the third floor, that this 10-story condo tower will block out the sun and even the sky from our windows. We fear that we will be looking at brick walls out of all of our widows in a year.

    Yesterday, I found myself watching all the construction from my window. There was a sort of rhythm, steady movement of people go to and coming from different areas of the worked site. Guys spray painting lines and numbers on the recently poured cement floors, people cutting 2×4’s, people removing bags of trash, and one guy with plans walking around the site.

    I am witnessing the slow destruction of my window to the world. Sometimes I feeling like I should be more upset about this, my wife certainly is, but it just feels like this is the awfulness that is progress, or capitalism. I still haven’t decided. Maybe it is a metaphor for all the change that is happening in the world. Maybe it has no meaning. Either way, it is happening.

  • Busy Backson

    The day with the kid got away from me. What I wanted to talk about was the construction happening next door and how that affects concentration.

    Hopefully tomorrow…