I keep thinking that, should there be a blue wave in November, it might be worth having all but a couple of the Dem senators, like, relocate to Honolulu to deny a quorum in the senate, so that they can deny a quorum, so that they can't do a big push of confirming 25 year old judges and bullshit like that.

But that's, like, 5 "what if"s down the road.

And RBG is back in the hospital. I do not like this at all.

I recall Nate Silver taking a lot of heat for saying Hillary's win wasn't a foregone conclusion on the eve of the election, but look who turned out to be right.

It did! And in more happy news, four members of the Horde are moving to Washington, and my sister has left Texas for Denver.

Yay! I miss Denver. It's weird to think I won't be there at ALL this year.

I just saw Ken and got to hug him! We all wore masks, but after six months I hugged him!

Yay! Hugs! We went 7 months without seeing Emmett until Monday.

and the economic numbers sound like they are improving

There is no way the economy will improve before November. This is a big ship that turns very slowly. It took a couple years to come back from 911 and this is way more massive. Lots of businesses have gone under. And there's no clear path to reopening either businesses or schools. There will be another surge in the Fall when some schools open.

The biggest indicators I'm following are: (1) Trump has lost the independents that voted for him in 2016; (2) he's getting even worse in the suburbs than he was in 2018 midterm elections. He's whittled it down to his crazy base and that's not enough to win.

waves

Hey, everyone! I skipped and skimmed (mostly skimmed) from, like, November, and it was weird to see people reporting on the Before Times.

Anyway, I live in Texas (Austin) now and despair the handling of things, even in Austin. It's better here than Dallas and Houston, but it's still Texas. Tom and I have been home almost non-stop since March 12 with the following exceptions: Two outdoor beer garden visits, one indoor beer garden visit (I wish we hadn't done that), one trip to IKEA (just me), one trip to a garden center, and curbside pickups for takeout, and groceries, and paint.

My Covid anxiety is constant, but throwing myself into painting the grey interior walls of our house has been helping. I feel like I have a purpose, which I did not have for the first 3 months of lockdown.

The last professional thing of note I've accomplished is writing a book - a travel guide, so not great timing, but it is what it is. [link]

Anyway, I'm hoping to keep up with the board more - since moving and lockdown, I'm just really really lonely.

and the economic numbers sound like they are improving

Not in my industry. We are driving off a cliff, and if the GOP sticks with the plan of gutting unemployment in the middle of this we are about to crash the economy. Also without some plan for dealing with rent and mortgage forbearance we are on the precipice of seeing the housing market crash again. What's happening right now is that we are seeing the lagging indictors of the stimulus and support that was put in place back in March. Almost all of that expires in the next few days. Businesses that got PPP money and used it as outlined are about to run out of that batch of cash as well. This means that they will be faced with no choice but to furlough, or more likely permanently lay off another round of workers. If more money is approved things are about to get very bad. Like record highs in eviction and foreclosure bad. I know of at least half a dozen people who have already been told that they are facing losing their commercial storage units as soon as the hold on evictions expires on July 31st.

Anyway, I'm hoping to keep up with the board more - since moving and lockdown, I'm just really really lonely.

We're happy to see you and love your company!

Hi Nora!

Hello, Pix and Nora!

Gud, how are you doing?

(Edited to say that if I'm missing anyone who said hi, apologies. I am, again, posting here before first coffee. My memory may vary).