Election Day

 I actually watched the 2nd half of Interstellar which someone had put on YouTube. Neat movie. 

Amazingly, I'm sleeping painless once I drop into sleep. With the help of 1 bottle wine, a bit watered. 

I tried some of the children's ibuprofen liquid and I guess it's OK. I struggled through the things I had to do, and actually packed the 5-6 packages that ought to go out today. It took a "medicinal" Guinness to get loosened up enough to do that. 

I put the ebay store on vacation mode for 5 days, emailed Ken about it and said if I can take it out of vacation mode sooner I will. But that it might take that long for me to get functional enough, and that we've weathered worse. 

I tried making a neck brace and I think I can make it a good-ish one but my plan is to go to the Walgreens on Santa Clara and get whatever they have. I seem to remember passing a medical device place on Santa Clara on my way over there before, so if that appears I'll stop in there. 

So, out to ship the shipping and spend lots of money again. Right now I'm not gonna worry about the money. 

I left around 2. Dropped off trash, dropped off packages, reported a guy who acted strange, wiping off, or wiping something on? the slot where "flats" like ballots go, to the nice Black lady working there. Maybe he was "didn't want to leave his DNA" in other words, a paranoid but in this case harmless Trump voter? 

I now headed for the Walgreens on Santa Clara and 17th, but on the way, there was the medical device place. It doesn't even show up on Google maps, and appears to be all Vietnamese people working there. Nice people too, the lady had tons of different neck braces and I picked out one that she thought was too big but the support felt right so I bought it, for a flat $15. 

At Walgreens a big can of Metamucil and a bottle of 40 Advil "Liqi-Gels" ran me $45. They didn't have any neck braces at all. I put my neck brace on outside Walgreens and rode off, maybe getting a funny look or two but who cares. 

I can feel every little bump in the road and I'm hoping this is a good thing. When I got a fractured pelvis from a car hitting me long ago, things were numb for the first week or so, and then the PAIN came. That first Sunday riding out for a burger and beer I didn't feel every bump in the road but now I do. 

The neck brace helps but the lady is right, it looks huge. I don't care. I went to Nijiya for things and more money, TAK for more medicinal Guinness and a can of olives, and Fosters for a burger. 

I was really hurting when I got back here. The neck brace really shines when lying down. And when Ken comes over tomorrow night, we'll talk and hang out but I'll be lying down. 

The election news is horrible. 

The election is being handed to the dumpster. I was hoping for 4 more years of normalcy but now we're looking at a repeat of the years 1933-1937.

Pain just pain

 I woke up around 8 or 9. I packed 11 small packages, doing a few then going to bed for a while then doing more and back to bed... the pain is really something but I'm not experiencing things that I should go to the ER for like numbness or tingling in the extremities.

I have a route planned that's pretty flat and easy. First the post office downtown to drop the packages off, then I'll see if I can get some ibuprofen at Nijya where at least I can buy something and get cash back. If they don't have it I'll try Smile Market, and if *they* don't have it, then I'll go back to TAK Market to get it. Then I'll get back here and spend the rest of the day/evening in bed. 

I left at 3, dropped off trash, stopped at Nijiya for some things and some cash back, dropped off the packages at the post office, then  decided to hunt around for this bodega called AK Mart where I might find some ibuprofen gels cheaper than they are at TAK Market. 

I didn't find it because I realized there's the 7-11 across from the Amazon place where I got a lot of bubble mailers. I went in there and I specifically wanted the gel caps. They didn't have them but they have some liquid for children that I thought was about $7 but turned out to be more like $12. 

I then went to Nijiya again for another $20 cash back and a package of cucumbers. Last night I'd had a burger from Wienerschnitzel, this time I got one from Fosters. They both cost the same. 

All of this routine was very painful especially the waiting at Foster's for the burger. If I go there again I might try laying my head on my arms on one of the tables, like a kid having "rest time" in 2nd grade. Standing hurt like hell. Interestingly, riding my bike isn't that uncomfortable except having to stand on the pedals a bit to go over bumpy places. 

I got back in here, put things away, tossed the burger buns out for the gulls, and ate the burger which was much better than the Weinerschiztel one. Now I know why there are always more people at the Foster's. 

I'd really exerted myself today and going to bed didn't provide the relief it did before the ride. The ride had started in a typical way too - a truck behind me, a car coming from the left, and one speeding up *fast* from the right, all thirsty for my blood. I had to sprint straight across into the refuge of the CalTrans parking lot then sneak out. 

I have a feeling this back injury is going to take a while to get better. At least as long as  I keep the numbers good, sales are coming in. 

Another horrible night

 I'd done everything right last night except drink too much wine. I was even to bed relatively early, but then around 2AM a bunch of people came in for the most-nights-ly prostitution party in the old Salt Unlimited space. And some of these bozos parked right in front of here, making noise. So I opened the door and shone a big flashlight at 'em on strobe mode, got called some choice words but they took off. 

I walked over to Salt Unlimited to try to get a look at things and some guy said something and I put on a New Zealand accent and said something like "Alright, mate! Cheerio!" and wove my way through the cars back here. And back here I called the cops and told them what's going on, and put in a report to the human trafficking thing. 

I was one bottle in, and now I "needed" more wine to get to sleep again, and it was too much. I slipped and fell in the bathroom, somehow messing up my upper back. It's really painful and I'm seriously considering seeing if I can Door Dash some Ibuprofen gel caps. 

I don't get why these bozos have to park right here, in front of the only door that has a sign on it saying video cameras are in use. 

I told Ken by email that I've injured my back and will be on aspirin and lots of bed rest for a few days. And that I'll get the shipping done even if I don't do much else. 

It's very painful to be upright. I don't dare try to ride the bike to get the aforementioned gel caps on my own. And I've realized, this is where a Brompton bike would be really helpful. It's a step-through so it would be much easier to get on and off of, and can be taken into a store in trolley mode. 

I've just got Brompton on the brain. I've pretty much determined myself to buy one if the election goes OK. 

I was going to busk today. I was going to play "Harry Truman" by Chicago. I'd played it just before Obama got elected the 2nd time, feeling in some way it would help. "Harry you'd know what to do", the song goes. I was going to play "Rally 'Round The Flag". I was going to play this healing song we sing in temple, for my country. I'd probably have had some good conversations with people about Harris, maybe tick off a Republican or two (although "Rally 'Round The Flag", a Union song, was adopted by the South also and most people would just recognize it as a Civil War song). 

I *did* start off last night right though, by donating a final $100 to the Harris campaign. Maybe that matters more than playing "Harry Truman". 

At 7PM I'd been in bed long enough for the pain to subside a bit, and was actually able to ride the bike up to TAK Market and buy a 4-pack of tall Guinness cans, a couple bottles of wine, a can of olives, and two of those little, expensive, packets of 4 gel caps each of Advil. 

Then I went to Fosters Freeze and got a double cheese burger with no cheese to take home. I don't know what all this cost but I left with $47 and came back with 13c. 

By this time the pain was kicking my ass again so I painfully ate the burger patties, took an Advil, and got through two of the cans of Guinness. The idea of the Guinness and food is to make me shit. I'm seeing a (shitty) pattern here, where I'm not getting any exercise of any type on Saturday, with the result of not shitting, then being constipated on Sunday. This horrible upper back pain makes things much worst. But in any case I need to either take a nice long ride on Saturdays or take a laxative on that day. 

Saturday

 I can't believe it, on Friday I had time to take things to the post office and FedEx, with a stop at Hu's lunch truck to start off, got back here and listed 25 things that I'd photographed before taking off, and since a lot of them were circuit boards all out of the same gadget the listing went fast. 

Then I had time to go over to Whole Foods and do my shopping for Shabbat, a nice bottle of wine, two bottles of the cheap stuff, roast beef, cucumbers etc. I kept the roast beef cold by wrapping it up with a package of frozen rockfish filets that were decently priced. Plus it's sure cooling down overnight. 

I also had time to drink a bottle of "Space Dust" IPA because why not, I keep getting ads for the stuff, and eat a couple of these gamey tasting No Sugar beef sticks. Looking at the wrappers, they use "beef, beef hearts and beef liver" well OK it's the liver. They're not bad. 

I got over to the service and did my sign in etc. There were lots of people there because there were Bat Mitzva parents there plus a celebration of ... Shomrim students? As far as I can tell, Shomrim is the volunteer quasi-police force places like Crown Hights in NYC have so I dunno. 

I felt kinda bad wearing sweat pants (clothes I'd not feel too bad getting wet in) but one kid had a great Keith Haring sweatshirt on over his woven shirt and there were some pretty casual dressers so it was all good. We got our singing in, I'd brought my glasses, and we did our prayers which I'm slowly learning through sheer osmosis. 

The food afterward was .... just about all candy. There's always cheese, but if I'm going to go right home and eat beef that's not quite on. And there's hummus but that's kind of carb-y especially considering one needs crackers or something to eat it with. 

I actually didn't socialize much other than telling the kid his Keith Haring shirt is great and I had a friend who was really into Keith Haring and was an artist, with a style like his but his own style. The kid's dad said (about Keith Haring) "He's really popular in our house". 

(I actually looked up the old friend and he owns a big liquor store / market / lounge  with a cigar lounge in Central Arizona. Amazing. I suppose I could hit him up for a job or something but then I'd have to live in Central Arizona... ) 

I wanted to get home before the rain started and it was just starting to sprinkle when I took off. I got back here dry and fine. 

Today I was up a bit earlier than usual which is good. The Judaism 101 classes are once a month while the Intro To Judaism are more often than that I think. I'm all signed up but I just need to get a schedule on where to be and when. The classes are all Tuesday nights something like 7-9 PM. And yes they're during the rainy season. I'm serious enough about this thing that I'll just do what it takes to get there and back, even if it means taking a cab or something. 

So we're back to Square 1 on the Torah. I read Bereshit which means "Beginning" then Noach which covers Noah and the flood and the tower of babel and they got their speech scrambled haha. 

And I did a certain amount of geeking out on Brompton bikes. They're really pushing the G model which has the larger, 20" tires at the bike shop and I think it's a great bike but it's also $2500 and counting, whereas the traditional, 16" tire A is maybe $1200 out the door and I want to keep things very simple and basic. Assuming Bromptons are as fun as everyone says they are, my dream line-up would be the A for fun trips, taking it on the bus or train or into a hotel room, and the G for the kind of hauling I do with the cruiser. 

 

Halloween, first rain, and Canada's nervous

 It's Halloween. We had a good rain last night, and Ken came by and I got my check, but he didn't come by until something like midnight (he did at least call and say he'd be late) so I got my pay check. 

Canada's nervous because there's already an article (paywalled) in the Globe & Mail about how Diaper Don, if he wins, is going to get water, which we're short of somehow, from Canada. I'm pretty sure it will be "get" in the same sense that a mugger holding a gun to your head "gets" your wallet. 

This is something I see coming and have for a while. A MAGA regime will want to annex both Canada and Mexico to make a MAGA continent, with the brown people in it becoming a slave caste or simply, as in the first time around, either worked to death or gassed immediately if they're not able to work. 

I packed the few things that had to go out (fortunately kinda pricey so today's numbers are decent) and took off for downtown at 3. I was wearing black sweatpants, my bright yellow Amazon cheapo bike riding jacket, and my orange hi-vis hat that has reflective stripes on it. It's a ball cap type hat. As I passed by some condos, a guy called out, "TRUMP!" except he kind of caught himself so it was more like "TRUMp!" I guess he saw the hat out of the corner of his eye then realized it's orange not red. 

But it got stranger. I got to the post office and was locking the bike and was putting the hat in one of the panniers and a distinguished older Black man in a suit, so possibly a lawyer or even judge from the courthouse up the street walked by and gave me a look like, "Really?". 

I dunno, are the Trumpanzees wearing orange high-vis to show solidarity after Donnie's garbage truck stunt? I think I'm going to stick to my yellow hat for a while. 

I deposited my pay check at the bank, then got wings and fizzy water at Whole Foods, then walked up to the hardware store where I found a thicker piece of brass stock than I'd bought at Sheldon's Hobbies so I got it. Then I got some bags and little bottles at TAP Plastics. If I sell off my concert flutes, I want to include a bit of the pad conditioning fluid with each one. 

Then I went to the bike shop to order a new "fabric floor" or whatever it's called, for my bike trailer. I'd noticed yesterday that part of it had split, I thought. I showed Ken last night, and it's actually been cut like someone took a knife and intentionally cut it. It's not impossible it could have been accidentally cut somehow but I can't imagine how. But the thing's pretty worn anyway. 

But here it gets stranger. The lady helping me at the bike shop found the thing, about $65, and then looked up my name in the records and somehow I had money in my account - about $65. They're carrying the records over from when they were La Dolce Velo which I've been going to for years so while I have no idea why I have a credit of about $65, I can't rule it out. So the thing will be essentially free and I'll have it in about a week and a half, The tape I've used to "repair" the cut will hold out that long. 

Then we talked about Bromptons, and I said I'm set on getting an A-line, but she's ga-ga over the G-line. The difference is an A-line is about $1200 out the door and a G-line is probably getting close to 3 grand. I told her about the Mobic folding bike I have now, and she even looked it up to see if there's a trade-in value for it. Yet another reason to get it roadworthy and put that new seat on, as I'm sure to get more in trade-in than I could on Craig's List. 

I like the "purity" of the A-line, it folds smaller, it's just got 3 speeds (I ride my 7-speed in one of the speeds 99% of the time) and just being smaller, with 16" wheels as opposed to 20" wheels, it would be my go-to if I have to resort to renting an office in this one building I know of and needing a folding, stealthy bike that can be hidden in a bag as many Brompton owners in London do to take their beloved bikes into the office. 

But, I concluded with her, I should really get the Mobic roadworthy and take it around on trips I'd take a folding bike on, like going up to San Francisco and riding around etc. (I do have dreams of taking the train and bike up there, busking and staying in a hotel overnight preferably one of those that are inexpensive but have high parking fees which of course I'd not pay, then busking some more the next day then heading for home.) 

I walked over to the used book store and found a couple of books to buy, and talked with the owner a bit. That guy is really tuned in. The trick-or-treaters were out in force on The Alameda, trick-or-treating in stores and there was candy galore everywhere, at the bank and everywhere else I went. 

I rode over to Whole Foods again for some serious shopping, then to the Amazon place for those free bubble mailers, then rode on home. 

More narc'ing haha

 I rode back in here yesterday and as I passed the gap between the two buildings here that has long been the home of a nest of bums, two black dogs ran out at me barking. The bum who was there called them back but who needs that noise? Plus I now know why it often smells like dog shit around there. 

So I made a report to animal control and one to the homeless encampment thing at the police dept. site. All the building owner would have to do is make that passageway a fire lane and then they'd have a leg to stand on to clear out the bums. 

Washington Post to change name to Der Sturmer

 The Washington Post, the paper of Watergate and The Pentagon Papers, withdrew an endorsement for Harris. A previously neutral paper has decided, like the McDonald's corporation, that it endorses Diaper Don. 

It's a faithful replay of the Nazis 1.0, when the big media and corporations decided to back him because they felt they could control him. Wait'll the new Nuremberg Laws come though, and now the Nazis have DNA technology. Without the USA being a haven for Jews, Jews are going to be in existential danger worldwide. 

And that's "just" Jews, if you're black or brown, there will probably be a racial classification system like in S. Africa and laws will be manipulated to bring back chattel slavery. 

There will be plenty of effective slavery for low-ranking whites too, don't worry they won't be left out. Every white crack-smoking shithead living off the gov't will find themselves with some kind of scut job they can't walk off of. All the "machinery" is already in place and I've long believed that this is why even educated whites (who are not rich) get thrown in prison for things, because "prison industries" (that's an actual name of a corporation) needs pencil pushers too. 

Given the Nazis 2.0 have such a fondness for how Putin does things, we could end up with a US like the old USSR with a vast gulag system, where even scientists and engineers are prisoners and do their work - as scientists and engineers - from prison complexes for prison wages. 

I slept in pretty late, until 1 or so, and packed 4 things that had to go to the post office. I took those there and then rode up to Sheldon's Hobbies for a piece of brass, which they had. While not that thick, it's still about two times as thick as the brass kick plates for doors sold at Lowe's and one of those is far larger than I need. This will be to fix the door. 

I hung out a bit talking with the guy there, watching some guys "drift" their R/C cars around the track they have, and looking at drones and stuff. It's a pretty neat place. 

Coming back I locked the bike at H Mart, and walked over to Ross where I bought a pair of sweat pants and a Nautica fleece jacket. "Nautica" is a funny name, like they started to write "Nautical" and lost interest before the end. Nice jacket though, and much needed as it's getting cold. 

I went to Sprouts then and got a cucumber and a bottle of "Crane Lake" (I call it Turkey Trot) pino noir because they were out of the cabernet. If pinot noir is more dry then cabernet, I might switch to that or at least mix it in. We're talking $4 bottles of wine here. 

Then I walked back to the bike and put the stuff in the bags, and went into H Mart to buy a package of ramen (for the seasoning only) and a bottle of Kewpie because it was on sale. I checked my card and I had about 1200 points so I was eligible to get a $10 gift card which I got, but you don't get change back from those, you have to spend $10 or a bit more. So I grabbed another bottle of Kewpie and pay a couple dollars cash. 

Then I went over to Lowe's and looked around a bit, looking at prices on chisels because fixing the door will require one, verifying that their kick plates are thin, and finally buying a gallon of Windex which was the main reason to go there. 

Now, loaded down, I rode straight for home but by way of Junction Avenue which took me by the African store so  I stopped there. I got a couple of seasoning packets one for fish and one for "goat" and a bag of green banana chips. So now my money's all spent. 

It's seriously getting cold so I'm wearing the new clothes from Ross now.  Dinner was fish soup.