Airborne Robbery

How is it that an airline can charge you for a flight that you have not yet taken, then charge you a massive fee to cancel said flight?

Worrying

I tend to worry about elections.  Major elections.  It seems like the older I get, the more I worry.  I'm not sure if that's a function of age or the quality of the contestants, or both.

Six months ago, that Trump was even in the running was laughable.  Now, suddenly, he's their nominee.

Six months ago, that Clinton could not easily beat any of the opposition was unthinkable.  Now, suddenly, she's looking weak and indecisive.

That Trump is a lying braggart is obvious.  That a rally of bikers is not a good measure of worth is obvious.  Yet, he spoke to the Rolling Thunder congregation, and they loved him.

That Clinton lies, has lied, and continues to lie is obvious.  That her history shows her to be better qualified by far than Trump should outweigh that.  And yet, it doesn't sound that way at the moment.

I worried about McCain, only to hear his campaign manager say, after he lost, that the manager had known for months that McCain didn't have a chance.

I worried about Romney, especially after that first debate, only to see him, with all of his polish and money, go down in flames in the second and third, not to mention the election.

I want desperately to believe that people will see how shallow, vindictive, and wrong Trump would be.  And yet -- we did elect George Bush.  Twice.

So I worry. .

Weaselicious

"Trump Now Says Debate With Sanders Would Be 'Inappropriate'" 

And if there's anyone who knows inappropriate, it'd be the Master of Lies and Denier of Inconvenient Reality, right?

? Song ?

I really, really, really don't get rap.  Really.  I would rather listen to a garbage truch being loaded, crashing metal, high-pitched beeping, and all.  I really don't understand why people like it.  Which astonishes my daughter.

Observations

A coworker from when I was at EDS, who was about five years younger than me, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in January, and died this week.

My sister in law, who does all the right things, found herself abruptly weak and feverish, and with periods of either double vision or vision in just one eye, before they found a lesion on her spinal cord that could be part of the problem.  She's four years younger than me.

Live now.  Exult now.  Tomorrow, you may be too weak, or too dead.

Novel

Death in Brittany, by Jean-Luc Bannalec.

Okay, I read it in English,  not French.  It's *stll* a good read.

Hostage

Okay, benevolent hostage, but still.  When a doctor says they won't renew a prescription for a drug that I need (though, maybe that overstates it a bit) until I go have a little visit with her -- you know, just to touch base -- that's the word that comes to mind.

I'll go.  I have to go. But I'll resent it. 

I hate pushy doctors, I truly do.

NZ

I See No Problem Here

Spend HOW long?

ToR

Finally getting around to reading Team of Rivals.  Forgot how good the writing is.

Thinking about getting a Microsoft Surface 3.  Really don't want to -- I like the Lenovo laptop -- but the damn thing has a faulty switch that causes it to shut down if you touch it the wrong way when its running on battery. (Plugged in, its fine.)  And, you know, we'll need a laptop for the trip. Harrumph.

Three days till my daughter's graduation from college. 

Une Semaine

It's a little hard for me to realize that in less than a week, my daughter will graduate from college.

Though she has already mentioned the idea of graduate school, what keeps resonating in my brain is Do you know how many times I could go to France with the amount of  money that I've paid twice a year for tuition?  Heck, I could go to AUSTRALIA!!!

Not that I would.  Immediately, anyway.  But after Italy, next summer?  Hmmm.....

Royality

Not a big fan of The Royals, per se, but this is such a cool picture....

Support

Is it weasel-like of me to say that I will support Hillary, and will donate to her campaign, but wish there was a way to do it without getting my name on ten thousand mailing lists?  Not the least because I really wish Bernie had won?

Ah, Bernie, we barely knew you.....

Here, Taste This

From Saveur Magazine:

"Imagine a cult pét-nat crossed with a Belgian gueuze or any other on-trend sour beer, yet with a distinct, low-alcohol personality all its own. "

I have no idea what most of those words mean. 

Spotify is MUSIC?

PCs are never fast enough.  Well, in the first two hours after you start one for the very first time, yeah.  But after about six months of updates, no.  I had read once that Apple had (has?) a habit of deliberately slowing down its PCs just before a new operating system was released, so that the new system would feel faster.  I think Windows has known that trick for years.

And when you go to use someone elses PC, you find that they are configured inexplicably  -- All I want is WORD, dammit, where is it? - and they have weird applications with non-intuitive names. Spotify is MUSIC????

Humor?

Liatening to the jokes told by Obama and Wilmore at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, I have to conclude that my sense of humor is either atrophied or attuned to something completely different.  Obama seemed tired, and Wilmore - whom I gather is a professional - seemed to be relying on the idea that he's a professional funny man, hence what he says must be funny.

I'd rather listen to Obama talk about ecomomics, or politics.  This was just sad.