Up and At 'Em

When the universe gets you up early (up and at 'em around 4:00 am today) you stumble into unexpected projects. This morning - taking apart a plastic shelving unit that held a printer and paper shredder, and had become an office catch-all (paper, supplies, etc.) In it's place, one of those shelving units (might be a literature rack or mail center for a small office) - the one I've got is pressed board with cardboard dividers, solid enough and decent shape despite being 20 years old, 3 slots wide x 12 slots tall. 

 

 

The rack has sat on a folding table, buried behind boxes, since I moved in - woefully under-used. Since most of the things I had been piling on the old shelves were perfect fits (paper, envelopes, etc.) it make sense.

Of course, the rack was full of supplies I was using a lot in the first 15 years of my self-employment / consulting but perhaps not so much anymore. I'll document the canonical list (things I kept, things I tossed, things that have become obsolete over the past decade) over on my blog.

I've got the old shelves taken apart (waiting it's next assignment), the new rack emptied out, dusted, and moved to the new location. Gonna hold off filling it up (and sorting through the supplies) until I pick up some bricks at Lowe's to get this a few inches off the floor in case of water (never an issue but I am in a basement, so one never knows)

Election Day

"...voted for Eisenhower 'cause Lincoln won the war." ~ John Prine, "Grandpa Was a Carpenter"

I'm beginning to understand. I went to vote today, and finding myself pretty dis-empowered when it comes to expressing my displeasure (nay, rage) about the state of affairs at the national level (by dint of the electoral college and living in a blue state where my congresspersons and senators are all Dems), I find myself deciding to just vote against every Republican on the ticket, regardless of how much I might like them or feel like they are a decent choice on a local level. Call it the Party of Trump Electoral Tax.

I've been, in the past, pretty happy to cross party lines when the candidate is right; I've voted for Mayor Stewart in the past. But no more.

I get the feeling I will not be voting for any Republican for any reason for the remainder of my life, even if the opposing candidate is a llama in a hat. I'll choose not to vote in a particular race rather than vote Republican - the party is tainted, forever after.

This year, one of the candidates for alderman got pretty ugly about Mayor Stewart (who I'm fairly happy with, other than her party affiliation), so I simply voted for 4 candidates for Alderman rather than the directed 5 - left that one bubble blank.

I guess I'm old and cranky enough to vote against my best interests, just to make a point.