Random thoughts

Just had a few things on my mind lately and thought I'd share. . .

I was wrong. A little while back, we talked here about the fear of the unknown and how we shouldn't let that fear take over our lives. Well, it's been roughly six weeks since our new president took office, and holy hell, what a mess he's made. It's embarrassing for our country, and I know he'll never realize that he's in over his head.

Can impeachment be that far away? I hate to get my hopes up. But I like what I'm seeing from the judicial system, the Fourth Estate and efforts like the Women's March on Washington (shameless plug for my wife here, who was in attendance that day). Let's keep it up.

When I wrote that post back in November, I hope nobody misinterpreted my optimism as indifference to other people's concerns. I just figured we could wait and see what happened before we came to any conclusions.

Well, my conclusion is this: I'm still a glass half-full person, but these days, that glass better contain some Scotch.

When things are slow, the dog keeps it interesting. It's also been roughly six weeks since I quit my job, and while I've landed a couple of freelance assignments, there's been some down time in between. So you know, quality time with the dog! The other day, he spent about 20 minutes trying to climb a tree in our backyard. Now, he's not a fitness freak, but he apparently chased the neighbor's cat up there and was on a "rescue" mission of sorts. A mission that would have ended with that cat firmly clenched inside his jaws.

I finally got him inside when I told him I'd take him for a walk. No photo available, I apologize. This random shot will have to do.

Scrumtrulescent is not actually a word, but now my son thinks it is. Back when Will Ferrell was on Saturday Night Live, he had a terrific recurring skit when he did an impression of James Lipton, who hosted a show called "Inside the Actors Studio." He had this one bit when he interviewed Charles Nelson Reilly (played by Alec Baldwin) and he described Reilly's work as "scrumtrulescent." So of course I watched the clip the other day, then used the word in a random conversation around the house, and my son subsequently used that word to describe my scrambled eggs. Thank you, son. You made my day.

Getting back in shape is slowly killing me. Quitting the job also meant losing out on the company gym, where I would go on my lunch hour while in the office. So I took the cheap deal at Planet Fitness, and I'm now paying $10 a month so I can wake up every day feeling like I got hit by a bus. I don't know if it's because I had gotten so far out of shape, or if it's a function of getting older. But man. Sometimes the aches and pains show up in places I didn't know existed.

I think it's time for a glass half-full of Scotch. . .