One Day at a Time

With the inauguration of Joe Biden set for Wednesday, this week is supposed to be Insurrection Part 2, The Sequel. I don’t think it’s going to happen that way.

I know insurrectionists were shown not to be the brightest crayons in the box, but I do think they’re smart enough not to try to storm a location that’s ready for them. You can’t escape the reports on TV of the National Guard setting up around the Capitol Building and inauguration area. After all the holes in the defenses on 1/6, from reduced numbers to insider participation, the whole world is watching this time. And they’re vetting which Guardsmen to send as well, to ferret out the closet white supremacists.  There will be no screwing around.

I think the camo brigade knows better than to go up against real military people. The most I expect is some small gatherings around more loosely guarded places or state capitols.

There’s also the matter of underestimating the degree to which their every move was under surveillance. They spent last week watching dozens of people that participated in the Capitol Travesty getting fired by their employers and rounded up from their homes by the FBI. I think Gomer wants to keep his job down at the mill and his ass out of prison.

Although, I’m skeptical about how much jail time these clowns are going to get. These are white people. I bet most will skate with a tap on the wrists. More home detention than prison time.

Still, the blame-shifting and rationalizations continue. I saw this one over the weekend.

As usual, nothing about this is correct. Democrats LOVE walls and cops, as long as they’re doing what they’re supposed to do. Cops are supposed to be the instrument of justice, equal justice for all. We’ve seen that not to be true in hundreds of cases. Walls are supposed to hold up the roofs over our houses and buildings, not to be barriers between free countries. Our greatest national triumph of the 80s was getting rid of a wall.

Not to mention, Trump has had a wall around the White House for at least a year now. This wall from the meme will be taken down as soon as it’s feasible.

This is just a cheap shot using false equivalency, designed to be persuasive to easily persuadable minds.

Status Check

As I mentioned in my post on 1/7, I decided, for the first time ever, to try a #DryJanuary.

I used to be a heavier drinker than I am now. Anymore, I never drink at all from Monday to Wednesday. My initial goal was to only drink on the weekends, but Thursday kind of crept up on me after getting in the habit of working from home on Fridays, which earns me another hour’s sleep. (Which is less important now, since I’m WFH every day.)

But even on those four days, I drink a lot less. A lot of that is due to my regular sports bar, where I’d go to watch football every Sunday, stopped getting the NFL package. I started going there to catch Steelers games that weren’t televised here in Baltimore, but ended up going every weekend because it was so much fun. But that would usually entail 3-4 20-ounce beers.

At home, I can get through two games on two cans. Then maybe have a drink after dinner.

It’s like that old joke…

“What’s the difference between a drunk and an alcoholic?

An alcoholic has to go to meetings.”

So that’s me… more of a drunk than an alcoholic. Maybe even a half a drunk.

But after reading about all the benefits a body gets from going alcohol-free for a month, I figured I’d give it a shot.

I asked Sweetpea if she cared to join me. She had two words for me: “Hell.” And “no.” So I’m on my own here.

I’m doing OK, although events seem to be conspiring against me. Right off the bat, there was a series of stress points that would normally have me reaching for a bottle.

1/6: All hell breaks loose at the Capitol, my reactions to which I’ve well documented.

1/8: We discover that we have a leak under our kitchen sink and can’t get a plumber out here for 10 days.

1/9: I left a bagful of groceries at the store. (I went back for it and they had it for me, so it ended up OK. But it was a pain to have to return there from home.)

1/10: My Steelers got creamed in the playoffs by the freakin’ Browns. That’s enough to drive any yinzer to drink.

1/11: We found out a close family member was diagnosed with an illness much more serious than initially expected. Definitely drink-worthy.

1/11: My Buckeyes got smashed by Alabama in the college championship game. (Yes, I’m a Pittsburgher, but also spent some formative years in Columbus.)

1/12: Learned that my car had suddenly become a target for birdie bombing runs. They must have had a meeting and decided that big blue thing down there was a public toilet and massed in the branches overhead to use it. Every time I’d clean it off, there would be four or five more bombs dropped. One literally covered the top of my side mirror. It got to where I was embarrassed to go through the drive-thru windows. I was waiting for the time I’d get my bag of food and it would have “Shitmobile” written on it. And of course, this was a week that was sunny and nice every day. A hard rain would have been welcome.

1/15: That was the 4-year anniversary of the day I met Sweetpea. No, I don’t consider that a tragedy, but it’s one of the most important days of my life and we usually celebrate. I mean, we did meet at a bar.

Fortunately, that’s been the end of it. Last week contained no atrocities. I’m hoping for the same for the rest of the month. This Wednesday will be the big test.

So yeah, it’s been a test so far but I’ve toughed it out. One of the things that helps is using replacements. I’ll watch a game and drink a can of root beer.

Tasty but not the same.

Or, on Friday or Saturday nights, I’ll pour some ice tea into a drink glass, squeeze in some lemon juice and add ice. It looks and feels like a drink so that’s two issues covered.

It helps that I’ve mentioned it to several people and covered it on my Facebook timeline. The more people know about it, the more determined I am to keep at it.

I’m way too stubborn to give up on a public battle of will.

Although if the inauguration blows up, I might have to go looking for the neighborhood smack dealer.