April 17, 2020

OMG. I'm having a hard time shaking an interaction with a deplorable. Long story.

So this guy shows up at our business a few weeks ago. It was after we put the signs up stating that we were closed due to COVID-19. Our sign said that if you had business with us, to call our shop phone number, we would take payments over the phone and then we will meet you at the gate with their product rather than have folks come into our buildings. The guy in question blew past three of the signs and entered our business anyway. I had gone home for the day and my husband was the only person on site. He was so surprised when this guy, a total stranger, walked to the door having ignored all the signs that he didn’t quite know what what to do. This guy said he had driven from Longview, Washington to purchase our product. My husband was definitely thrown off his center and decided at the last minute to sell him what he wanted and get them the hell out of our shop.

The guy chose several items and my husband loaded them in his vehicle. At the last minute the guy added one more thing to his order which my husband loaded into his car. Then the customer and his girlfriend followed my husband into my office where he wrote up an invoice charged his credit card and sent him on his way.

That evening, my husband realized that he didn’t charge this the guy for the last item that he added at the end of the transaction. He called the customer, who answered the phone, and told him about his error, apologized and asked the customer to pay for the item. The guy said he would double check what he bought and call back since he was driving. Of course he didn’t call back.

We’ve called a couple more times. No answer of course. I sent a statement to the guy last week with a note asking him for the courtesy of paying for the item he added...again apologizing for our error...but since we took care of him when we were closed for the virus, would he please reciprocate? I will say here that it isn’t a ton of money...only $130...but, the principle, you know?

Last night, at 9pm...we get a call at the business from who we believe to be this guy’s girlfriend (the phone number on the caller ID is one number off of the customer’s #) stating that we can fuck off and they will take their business elsewhere because they don’t do business with liberals and make America great again and they aren’t paying for shit. The only thing I can think of where they might know my political leanings is when they went into my office with my husband...My personal bulletin board has my Kamala bumper sticker hung there next to my 2017 Women’s March flyer. That’s it. AND, it’s my office. Not my husband’s office. Whatever.

This whole thing has left me shaken. I know I shouldn’t feel that way. These are horrible people and we all know some of them in our personal lives and this is small compared to what many deal with daily. I am trying to blow it off but having a hard time doing it....turning the other cheek is getting old. I want to lash out and I know that won’t help and it might invite more of their ugliness.

On a whim...I googled the guy. Turns out he’s a sexual offender...put a camera in his girlfriend’s bedroom without her knowledge and was convicted for it in 2016. The peeping Tom is also a gun nut. Of course he is. I’m so tired and it isn’t even noon yet.

Thanks for listening.

ETA: Removed link to the newspaper article about the MAGAperv and fellow DUer suggestion.

April 15, 2020

Pennsylvania 93-year-old with 'I need more beer' sign gets her wish

Priceless photos of Olive are at this link: https://missoulian.com/news/national/pennsylvania-93-year-old-with-i-need-more-beer-sign-gets-her-wish/article_ca948da5-7fc1-543f-b6a0-fb75ce2abf07.html#tracking-source=top-promo

PITTSBURGH — Singing the folk song "99 Bottles of Beer" might be how some people are passing the time during the coronavirus pandemic.

Thanks to Coors Light, Olive Veronesi now has 150 ice-cold beers, and she doesn't have to pass them around to anybody.

The 93-year-old gained notoriety after CNN Pittsburgh affiliate KDKA shared her photo with a Coors Light in hand and a plea written on a white board: "I NEED MORE BEER!!"

The photo, taken by one of Veronesi's family members, was shared more than 5 million times.

"When we saw Olive's message, we knew we had to jump at the chance to not only connect with someone who brought a smile to our faces during this pandemic, but also gave us a special opportunity to say thanks for being a Coors Light fan," a Molson Coors spokesperson told CNN.

"Even in the pre-COVID era, we would've been thrilled to fulfill Olive's request," the spokesperson said. "But in this moment, during these unusual times, bringing a little bit of joy to someone's day is the least we can do."

The Seminole, Pennsylvania, native told KDKA she has been staying home to help flatten the curve and to keep everyone, including herself, safe during the pandemic.

"I was on my last 12 cans, I have a beer every night," Veronesi told KDKA. "You know what, beer has vitamins in it, it's good for you, as long as you don't overdo it."

As soon as the delivery of 10 cases of beer arrived, she cracked one open on her porch.

"That tastes pretty good," she said.

But there's more good news for Veronesi and her daily tradition: Molson Coors made a standing offer to her and her family that more beer is on its way whenever they're ready for a restock.

April 13, 2020

Mr. Pants

is kissing major ass today. I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

April 13, 2020

"We inherited inferior testing".

He said that. And no reporter points out that covid19 wasn’t a thing when Obama was president? Jesus.

April 6, 2020

Odd issue with the electric lights in a display cabinet - help please.

I bought an older mission style Stickley display cabinet at an estate sale. It is solid cherry with glass doors and sides with 5 heavy glass shelves inside it. Got it for $450...it is in mint condition structurally so I got a great deal on it.
Here's the issue: It has two mini spot lights in the top of it that shine down through the cabinet. At first I thought the lights didn't work because it didn't light up when I plugged the cord into an outlet. By accident, I learned that the lights indeed work IF I plug the cord into the outlet twice. I plug the cabinet in...unplug it...then quickly plug it back in and the lights work! The only outlet on the wall where this cabinet lives is behind a small table next to it...it's kind of a hassle to move the table, plug the cabinet in and move the table back. Not a huge deal but I would like to plug the cabinet into an extension cord with a switch to turn it on and off but it doesn't work because of the having to plug it in twice to make the lights work. Any thoughts out there? I think the cabinet may be haunted. It is quite beautiful, however.

April 6, 2020

Montana author, David Quammen, predicted "scariest virus on earth" 8 years ago

David Quammen and his wife, conservationist and historian Betsy Gaines Quammen, are walking the talk as COVID-19 sweeps the world, the nation and, increasingly, Montana — as described in his ominously prescient 2012 best-selling book “Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic.”

Quammen is quick to assert he is no pandemic expert. Rather, he listens to experts and relays the science to the public in digestible language.

What those experts forecast — and what "Spillover" lays out in a sobering recap of pandemics, epidemics and outbreaks since 1961 — was a scenario revealing a new or “novel” virus, very possibly a coronavirus, coming from a wild animal, very possibly a bat, that was brought to a “wet” market, very possibly in China.

Read the whole article here: https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/bozeman-author-david-quammen-predicted-scariest-virus-on-earth-8-years-ago/article_f471ddda-b3ab-52c3-a6a0-51a014c797ca.html

April 6, 2020

Montana author, David Quammen, predicted "scariest virus on earth" 8 years ago.

David Quammen and his wife, conservationist and historian Betsy Gaines Quammen, are walking the talk as COVID-19 sweeps the world, the nation and, increasingly, Montana — as described in his ominously prescient 2012 best-selling book “Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic.”

Quammen is quick to assert he is no pandemic expert. Rather, he listens to experts and relays the science to the public in digestible language.

What those experts forecast — and what "Spillover" lays out in a sobering recap of pandemics, epidemics and outbreaks since 1961 — was a scenario revealing a new or “novel” virus, very possibly a coronavirus, coming from a wild animal, very possibly a bat, that was brought to a “wet” market, very possibly in China.

Read the whole article here: https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/bozeman-author-david-quammen-predicted-scariest-virus-on-earth-8-years-ago/article_f471ddda-b3ab-52c3-a6a0-51a014c797ca.html

April 5, 2020

How my town is showing support for health care workers, first responders and the community.

Every night at 8pm...everyone in the city goes outside and howls. At first I thought it was kinda weird until I heard it. Every neighborhood...Thousands of people in unison. It’s primal and it’s beautiful.