We were expecting 3-5” of snow last night, but it seemed to have been more of a rain event. It was raining when I went to bed last night and when I woke up this morning, we had less than an inch of snow. I’m hoping that the small amount of snow we’ve received is not hiding a layer of ice. I hate when there is a layer of ice below because it makes it deceptively slippery when walking to my car, and it will make it much more difficult to clean the snow off my car so I can actually drive to work.
I’m only working half a day today. I have an audiology appointment this afternoon. Tomorrow, I will be working from home, so this morning is the last time I have to go to the museum until we return from the holiday break on January 2. I need a break from the museum, but I am not sure that next week, which I will be spending in Alabama, will provide the necessary rest (mentally and physically) that I need right now.
Putting all that aside, I owe y’all some Isabella pics. Yes, I said pics, as in more than one, because here are a few Isabella Christmas pictures. The first two pictures are from her first Christmas, which she spent with a coworker while I was in Alabama. The other two are from a few years ago.
***This post is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Do not take it seriously.***
If you have been following the news in the United States, you have no doubt heard about the drones that are appearing in the skies. If you are not familiar, here is a little background. A large number of mysterious drones have been reported flying over parts of New Jersey and have been spotted in recent days across the eastern U.S., sparking speculation and concern over where they are coming from and why. Dozens of witnesses have reported seeing them in the state since mid-November. At first they were spotted flying along the scenic Raritan River, which feeds the Round Valley Reservoir, the state’s largest aquifer, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of New York City. But soon sightings were reported statewide, including near the Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility, and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster. The government has stated that a review of the reported sightings shows that many of them are actually manned aircraft being flown lawfully, echoing the opinion of officials and drone experts. The Homeland Security and the FBI also said in a joint statement they have no evidence that the sightings pose “a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”
Conspiracy theories are going wild. Here is my theory: they are a precursor to an alien invasion. If you have read this blog for a while, you no doubt know that I am a fan of science fiction, especially Star Trek. I also find it hard to believe that the people of earth are the only intelligent beings in the universe. Astronomers have discovered planets in the known universe that are in what is known as a “habitable zone,” region around a star where planets can receive the perfect amount of heat to maintain liquid water on their surfaces. The theory being that planets in a habitable zone may also be planets capable of supporting Earth-like extraterrestrial life and intelligence. It’s hard for me to believe that we are the only ones out there. What has not been figured out by scientists on earth is how to bend the laws of physics to allow interstellar space travel like we often see in science fiction. However, that does not mean that someone else out there has evolved enough to make this discovery.
In 1947, the United States Army Air Forces balloon debris recovered near Roswell, New Mexico, was actually a crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft. Operated from the nearby Alamogordo Army Air Field and part of the top secret Project Mogul, the balloon was intended to detect Soviet nuclear tests. After metallic and rubber debris were recovered by Roswell Army Air Field personnel, the United States Army announced their possession of a “flying disc”. This announcement made international headlines but was retracted within a day. To obscure the purpose and source of the debris, the army reported that it was a conventional weather balloon. While this has always been a fun conspiracy theory (though there are those who will believe anything), what if that crashed “weather balloon” was really a crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft? The government and the military has been known to lie to cover up different things, so this could be one of them.
If it was an extraterrestrial spacecraft, why have they not made contact since? It could be that they looked at the geopolitical state of the Earth, the Cold War, and the potential for nuclear war as a reason to “wait and see what happens.” The people of Earth might destroy themselves with nuclear weapons and either make the planet uninhabitable and thus useless or with the advances in technology available to an advanced species, they could rid the planet of deadly radiation and colonize the planet with no resistance. So, they waited. What they saw was a planet of people who were constantly at war, but that one country had developed an overwhelmingly powerful military industrial complex that might be able to make an invasion difficult, but probably not impossible. I am talking about the military industrial complex of the United States here if you had not realized that yet. Then in early November 2024, the country with the greatest military known in human history proved that more than half the country is fucking stupid enough to elect an old, fat, stupid, and senile rapist, convicted felon, and lifetime conman to be the leader of this country. Then they have watched as he appoints people to his government who are drunks, child traffickers, other rapists, and just plain evil/stupid/crazy (use whichever adjective fits) people. They would have realized by now by watching right-wing news media and the Republicans in Congress, that this proposed cabinet and loyal followers this orange idiot who was elected president love conspiracy theories and will get whipped up into hysteria quite easily over nothing. So, by sending a few low tech observation probes to scout the United States, they can get these blithering idiots (and to their surprise and delight there are many Democrats who are also falling for their scheme), they can distract the people of the United States into now seeing the big picture, which has always been apparent throughout the nation’s history.
In other words, if you are going to strike when the iron is hot, defeat them at their lowest weakest moment, NOW is the time to do so. By January 20th, all three branches of the United States government will be controlled by some of the stupidest people to ever exist in the country. These extraterrestrials probably have realized that China could pose a problem but could be dealt with effectively. The country is already ruled by fear and a corrupt government, they could probably be bought off and convinced to surrender because the extraterrestrials would take care of their largest competitor, the United States. Easy-peasy. Hell, COVID-19 could have been their first strike to weaken the planet, and they got lucky (we got unlucky) when stupidity won the 2024 presidential election.
So, the drones could be observation probes sent by extraterrestrials to scout out the planet, or…it could be a group of people who think it’s hilarious to freak out the United States like the so-called “killer clowns” in 2016. Then again, it could be some nefarious foreign government behind the drones. Maybe they started “innocently” by appearing over the Raritan River in New Jersey, then moved onto military complexes, major cities, and an orange idiots golf course. I don’t think they would be gathering intelligence for an invasion, there are much better ways to do that, but they may be scouting potential terrorist targets. A large percentage (though not a voting majority apparently) of the United States and the rest of the world know that form January 20, 2025 until at least January 2027 (if the Democrats are able to take control of Congress in the midterm elections), the United States will be in utter chaos as the patients have been chosen to run the asylum, or more appropriately in this case, the inmates have been given control of not just the prison, but the government as well.
Regardless, the United States us fucked for at least the next two years. Honestly, if there are extraterrestrials scouting out the United States, they have at least proven that they have a far greater intelligence than the inhabitants of Earth and might actually be benevolent beings who could save us all. Live Long and Prosper! 🖖
This post is brought to you by me being bored at work and having too much time for my mind to wonder about senseless things. Luckily, you will be spared another set of similar musings because I will not be at work today and instead will be going to Dartmouth for my next Botox treatment for my migraines.
I slept late this morning, so this will be a short post. Isabella usually has me up around 4 – 4:30 am, and rarely does she let me sleep past 5 am. However, this morning she let me sleep until my alarm went off at 5:30, though I know she tried to wake me earlier, I had ignored her. I have my alarm set for 5:30 because that is the latest I can wake up, have breakfast. and get out the door headed to get to work on time. Anyway, I slept later than usual, and now, I feel like I am in a bit of a rush today.
I’m planning on a pretty relaxing and chill (and chilly) weekend. I have a get together at a friend’s house tomorrow night, but otherwise, I’ll be spending time with Isabella and keeping warm. We are expecting sunny weather this weekend but also lows in the single digits and highs in the 20s. I honestly don’t mind the cold as long as there isn’t a lot of wind, and it looks like this weekend won’t be too windy.
Well, that’s about it for today. I don’t have much to say really. It’s a work from home day, so my chill weekend will start early. Have a great weekend everyone!
How is it possible that it is only Wednesday? Monday dragged on, and while Tuesday went by fairly quickly, I was busy all day. This week has felt like it is dragging very slowly, like Friday is an eternity away. Yesterday did not feel like a Tuesday at all, and now I have to face Wednesday. I was hunched over my computer all day at work yesterday (obviously with clothes on and not like the model above) preparing for a class, and though I got up a few times for this or that, I felt absolutely exhausted by the time I got home. It was one of those tirednesses that take over your whole body. By the time I got inside my apartment, my body was screaming to get out of my work clothes and lay down and not ever move again. Obviously, I did move again because I eventually had to heat up my dinner. It wasn’t really any better last night when I went to bed or, for that matter, this morning when I woke up. I have a busy day of stuff today as well. Maybe today will fly by quickly. Then, I’ll do it all again tomorrow.
If only I were independently wealthy, then I could be on a warm beach somewhere, or if I had to be somewhere cold, a nice chalet in the Alps. Maybe I’d be in an apartment in Florence overlooking a piazza or in Venice looking out the window overlooking the Grand Canal. Whatever it would be, I’d be enjoying a good book and putting all my worries aside, at least for a little while. I guy can dream, can’t he?
No doubt about it, Mondays suck! Y’all have heard me say this before, but I feel this way every Monday that I have to go to work. It’s not like I don’t wake up on the weekends at the same time as I do on weekdays. Isabella doesn’t recognize whether it is a weekend or weekday; she wants to be fed. I went to bed early last night. I fell asleep while reading sometime between 7:00 pm and 7:30 pm, and when I woke up, I decided that I just needed to go back to sleep. I tried to stay up a little while longer, but I was asleep again by 9:00 pm. I mention this for two reasons: 1) when I go to bed early, it messes up Isabella’s internal clock, and she tries to wake me up earlier than usual, and 2) I woke up not feeling like I had slept longer than usual. I could have probably ignored Isabella a bit longer, but I could not ignore my bladder.
The good news is that I don’t really have to deal with people today, unless we get visitors to the museum who actually need me for something. My coworkers will not be at work today because one coworker, who is always off on Mondays, had other commitments that could not bear change and the other had something urgent come up that called her away from the office. I don’t mind being there by myself. There will be people in the library but they rarely bother me. It’s our last week with students on campus, so everyone will be busy with final exams making it even quieter. They will be back after winter break. It should be a peaceful day. I can get work done that interruptions would have been an annoyance, and I can be more relaxed, meaning I can read a book. I actually have two books that are part of work that I need to read and a few journal articles to read that I will probably assign to my class next semester, so it might not be reading for pleasure like I’d prefer, but we’ll see how that goes.
I realized yesterday when I received appointment reminder text message on my phone that my dermatology appointment that I thought was yesterday is actually today. I’m glad I figured it out before I showed up for the appointment. I had the date correct on my personal calendar but had put it on the wrong date for my work calendar, and I had been looking at my work calendar. I ended up still leaving work at noon because I had a migraine and needed to go home and go to bed. So, instead of a full work from home day today, I will only be working from home for half a day.
I have no plans for the weekend. The regular season for college football is finished last week, and the only game on this weekend that I might care about watching is the SEC Championship Game tomorrow between Georgia and Texas. I’m not as interested in either team as I would be if Alabama was playing in the championship, so I may or may not watch it. It will be according to how bored I am and what else is going on.
It’s back to work for me today. I feel like I could use a few more days away from work, but I have to prepare for a class on Wednesday and a couple of other things to do at work. One thing for certain, I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I feel like I slept well last night, I did not wake up throughout the night, but I do not feel particularly refreshed this morning. I went to get my flu shot yesterday, and I wonder if this is not a reaction to the vaccine. My arm isn’t sore nor do I have a fever, nausea, or muscle aches. However, I do have a bit of a headache (though this is not unusual), and I am feeling more fatigued than normal, even for a Monday morning. Maybe a cup of tea and some breakfast will help wake me up and get me ready for the day ahead.
By the way, I did not go see Wicked this weekend. I just decided that I was not up to going anywhere over the weekend and just wanted to spend time at home. Maybe I will go next weekend. We’ll see.
When I woke up yesterday morning, it was snowing. It continued snowing throughout the day, and when I went to bed last night, it was still snowing. The snow finally stopped sometime last night. Because the temperature was above freezing most of yesterday, we only had about 2-3” of accumulation, but we probably got about 5+” of snow in total. I walked out side a few times yesterday to take pictures of the snow for some friends, but mostly I stayed in and watched the snow from my windows.
I had a lowkey Thanksgiving, just me and Isabella. I had turkey and cornbread dressing along with some butter beans. I love cornbread dressing. It’s my favorite food for winter holidays. I’ve had other types of dressing and stuffing mad with stale bread, but for me, nothing compares to cornbread dressing. I ate way too much of it yesterday, but it was damn good dressing.
Fo those of you in the United States, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and for those outside the U.S., I hope you have had a wonderful week. I will not be going Black Friday shopping today. I put in orders at two different places to get a few sales items that I needed, so I will be venturing out today but only to quickly run in stored and pick up my purchases. I hate the crowds at stores on Black Friday, but I am hoping the two places I have to go, CVS and Petco will not be as crowded. They are not the usual Black Friday shopping destinations. Is anyone actually going out Black Friday shopping? What about Small Business Saturday, when we are encouraged to shop at local small businesses? Or, are you waiting until Cyber Monday for those online deals?
Tomorrow, will likely be another lowkey day. It’s my birthday, and I will watch the Iron Bowl, i.e. the Alabama vs. Auburn football game. It’s a big rivalry game, especially in Alabama. I might watch the Egg Bowl today (Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State), and possibly the Lone Star Showdown ( Texas vs. Texas A&M) Saturday night. If you have ever seen The Best LIttle Whorehouse in Texas, then you should be familiar this particular rivalry. Besides, “The Aggie Song” is probably the best part of that movie, and the gayest football song and dance numbers in history (Do other football song and dance numbers exist?), but I digress.
The only thing that I might do this weekend is to go see the Wicked movie. Has anyone seen it yet? I’ve never seen the musical, but I read the book many years ago. I have always been a fan of The Wizard of Oz, and I always found the new perspective on the Wicked Witch of the West to be pretty interesting.
Anyway, that’s all I have for today. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!
Joe
