Author: Matthew Groff

  • Algot Saga; Conclusion

    Our struggles with our living room wall, and the Algot modular storage system came to a conclusion this Sunday. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it was a resounding success, but we got the shelves up on the wall.

    As some of you may know, IKEA discontinued the Algot line of products, just at the moment that the wife and I needed it most. Also, for those of you in the Tri-State area, we are the people that bought up all the remaining Algot products from the Paramus, Elizabeth, Brooklyn, Long Island and New Haven Ikeas. (Are we committed and loyal to this product? Yes. Does it border on the illogical and obsessive? Also, yes.) With the supplies assembled, we were ready to finish out project.

    It was not anything special, but we took our hodge-podge of rails, brackets and shelves, and screwed them into the wall, and hung up all the Algots. Some the anchors didn’t sink into the drywall correctly, and I swear there is no rhyme or reason on the placement of studs in the wall, which just reminded us that the “renovated apartment” we moved into was constructed by incompetent workers. It took three and a half months, but we can cross this one off the list.

    In the end, I still don’t understand why Ikea canceled the Algot system. Nor do I understand why they didn’t make an Algot compatible with some new system. Either way, I do have to say Ikea needs to do a better job of at least putting the information out there when a product line is discontented.

  • And in the End…

    Biden flipped Arizona.

    I guess Trump shouldn’t have gone after John McCain so often, even after the Senators death.

    It’s like McCain got the last laugh, again.

  • Struggling to Get By

    I am tired. I haven’t been sleeping well. Trump’s refusal to concede the election, though I knew it would happen, isn’t helping either. I am also getting burned out of the routine that we are in, and I’m afraid of the possible 2nd/3rd wave of Covid that is coming.

    It really is like 2020 refuses to die.

    I am fortunate that I have my wife, as we are leaning on each other for support. We both find ourselves just getting by. In the sense that we can get the bare minimum out, but really can’t seem to muscle anything additional. Such as our Algot shelf project still hasn’t been completed yet. We are close, but still not there.

    The other thing that has been heavy on my mind is that it looks like September 2021 might be the earliest that we can get back to “normal.” If there is a safe and effective vaccine ready for next year, then we are looking at April or May until we can take it. That’s pretty much at the end of the school year. To me that says the kid won’t be back in a class until September. That means we will have a Summer together, and Fall will be the time, hopefully, that I’ll be able to get out there and find a job.

    And that feels like a million years away.

    Another million years of just barely getting by to hope that we get an opportunity to better our situation. Feels like we better have some good luck on our side.

  • The GOP is Afraid of Their Base

    Yesterday, Reuters/Ipsos released a national opinion survey that found 79% of Americans believe that Biden won the election, with 13% saying the election hadn’t been decided, 5% said they did not know who had won, while 3% said Trump had won. (Remember, more people didn’t know who won, than believe that Trump won. Just, think about that for a second.) In detail, six in ten Republicans surveyed believe Biden won, as compared to all Democrats who believed Biden won. (There is some more interesting information if you want to read more here.)

    It’s pretty clear that most Americans see the election as being over, and Biden won. I even feel that this survey also confirms my belief, which I wrote about yesterday, that 70 million Trump voters are not all hardcore Trumpers. (Here’s my blog if you need a refresher.)

    So, what gives with all the National Republican/Conservatives sticking up for Trump’s election fraud lies? (If you made it this far, then you know the answer, as you must have read the title of this blog.)

    The GOP is still afraid of their base, which is only getting whiter, more conservative, smaller, and this might be the last election where they could possibly win without having to change their ideology. America is getting more diverse, progressive, and people are moving from strong Democrat states (California, and Illinois) into deep Red states; Texas, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina. If the GOP base is still hardcore loyal to Trump, (that 3% from the Reuters poll, remember) and if that group makes up of 51%+ of the voters who take part in primaries, then don’t make them angry! Republicans have had 10 years of being primaried, and they have learned their lesson if they want to stay in power within their party. Sadly, this situation has killed off all of the Republican moderates, but I’m not the first to point that out.

    The worst part about all of this is that the National Republican/Conservative leaders are playing a very dangerous game with the integrity of all elections in the future. The longer they support or stay silent about false claims of stolen ballots from Trump, they will be giving more oxygen to it, the harder it will be to walk it back.

  • 70 Million Trump Voters; Not a Monolith

    This seems to be a big talking point in the news and online right now; Biden got 75 million votes, the most ever for a winning candidate, but Trump got 70 million votes, the most ever for a Republican. The context seems to be that Biden’s 75 million are a fractured group that will come apart at any moment, while Trump’s 70 million are solid as a rock.

    I have to disagree, with that take.

    What I am reminded of is a research study that was part of our curriculum in a Sociology class I took in college. The study was over punk rocker membership and social strata, and how that reflects on society as a whole. Follow me on this…

    In the punk rock world, at the center were the hardest of the hard-punk rockers. These people dressed punk 24/7, lived it, and worked in it. Punk rock was their identity, and nothing could shake them from it, and though hard core and the most visible, it was a small group. Then around them was a larger ring with more people, but they were not as hard core, listened to the music and adopted the ideology, but also might have had a job and paid bills. Then outside of that ring was a larger group, who liked the music, and maybe had tattoos, but worked normal jobs, and dress punk out of work and on the weekends. (I think you get the point.) Finally, after several rings, you get the final group that likes the music, but does not have anything else to do with the punk scene, but those people do consider themselves to be “punk” on some level.

    This is how I see Trump’s voters. Trump’s people want us to believe that all 70 million voters are the tight hardcore at the center, but to be honest that’s the smallest group. The majority of Trump voters make up those final two “soft” outer rings. They consider themselves to be Republicans/Conservatives, but aren’t Trump people. Now, if you give these two rings the binary choice of Republican or Democrat, they will always side with Republican because that what they consider themselves, but again, they aren’t live or die Trump people. They are the people that are sad that Trump lost, but they don’t see it as a conspiracy.

    My point; relax everybody. It’s not as dire as everyone thinks.