Love a good comeback
I was in communication with my computer guy throughout the day as he kept me in the loop with his troubleshooting. He tried a number of things but was still having the system randomly reset. Later he did some research on the internet and stumbled across some information that the system board used in the build was very particular in regards to the type of memory that was used. He put a different type of memory in which solved the problem. He stress tested the system all afternoon without a single problem. On my way home I again met up with Jason to pick up the box. I thanked him for getting the problem resolved sooner rather than later.
When I got home I got to resume the work for migrating to the new system which still has a long way to go. I hope that by the end of the weekend I am at least up and using the new system as my primary computer with my old system still on the wire to access and reference as needed. Once I am confident I have everything I need I then have to do a similar process to get Cindy migrated to my old system. Many hours will be consumed before I complete both tasks.
So I had a scheduling conflict with the Eagles/Giants game taking place during the last debate. I decided to watch the game until the debate started at 9 and then would return to it after the debate ended about 10:30. Let’s talk about both events separately. The Eagles injury situation is in a word awful. It seems their entire offense became very frail, all at once. Desean Jackson, who has been a huge bust due to non-stop injuries the last two seasons, was finally back last night and of course, got injured, again. Lane Johnson who for some reason waited until training camp to get surgery on his ankle tries to play each week and has to come out after a few plays. So for those keeping count, the Eagles offense is now missing both starting wide receivers, both starting tight ends, their starting running back, and two or three of their offensive lineman. Roughly 2/3 of their offensive starters are hurt, it’s insane.
The good news was they were playing the 1-5 Giants so perhaps they had a shot since the Giants had one of the worst offenses in the league. By the time I tuned back into the game after the debate the Giants were ahead 14-10. The Eagles were at the three yard line and decided to go for it on fourth and goal. This was going to be one of my points if the team lost, again. Doug Pederson has always had the reputation of going for it on 4th and short, willing to gamble that his players were up to the test. Hell during the Super Bowl year they converted more of those situations than they missed. However recent history has not been so great with those decisions.
You could argue that his failed two point conversion attempt in the Ravens game cost them the chance to be able to tie the game with an extra point instead of being forced into another failed two point conversion. Well the fourth and goal attempt was a fail as well. That failure meant that instead of kicking a field goal to make it a one point game, the Eagles now were down four, meaning they had to get a TD to win. Doug’s decision looked even worse when the Eagles defense inexcusably allowed the Giants to drive 97 yards, yes 97 yards, to go up by two scores with roughly 11 minutes left in the game.
After the Giants scored I was already mentally writing the blog, ranting about how this team can not beat anyone, how Carson is regressing, and how the season is basically a dumpster fire, already. That script had to be rewritten however when the Eagles surprised me, scoring two unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The skin of their teeth comeback win has at least kept the life support for their season intact. The injuries on this team are so massive however I just do not see any way they can find their way to success this year.
Ok so let’s talk about the debate. This was seen by Trump apologists as one of their final opportunities to slow down Biden. When the two men walked on the stage I was dumbstruck by Donald’s appearance. He appeared to ask his spray tanner to lay it on extra thick for the event. It honestly looked like he was trying to change his ethnicity. Instead of the normal orange skin color he sports he was an unnatural looking deep brown. It was hilarious.
So the plan of attack I heard the Trump camp was going for was to have Trump be a “good boy” and allow Biden to talk more, since Trumps tantruming and bullying tactics from the first debate universally drew criticism. He also was planning to go repeatedly to the well about the Hunter Biden thing, you know the thing he got impeached about? He is trying to spin the narrative differently thanks to the extremely trusted and honest efforts of Rudy Guilliani who somehow went from being a beloved NYC mayor to one of Trump’s most insidious henchmen, unfortunately. His plan was unsuccessful.
Joe did a good job of talking policy while answering and rebuking Trump’s attacks pretty effectively. As is normally the case with Don, he just kept regurgitating a few things over and over, some of which always make me laugh, especially his self comparison to Abraham Lincoln. I thought Biden did a nice job of making sure people knew that the things that Trump says about Bidens plans for healthcare, social security, taxes, energy, and other subjects were just flat out lies.
I thought one of the best moments for Joe was after Trump did his normal rant about liberal state governors and mayors, using his some of his favorite words in his limited vocabulary like “disaster” and “horrible”. Joe fired back that although he was a Democrat he intends to be the American president, not only caring for one side of the political divide over the other. You could see Trump wince when Joe said it in a “ouch, good one” sort of way. I think the hope for Democrats was that Joe came out of the debate at least in the same position as he entered. To me, I felt he did better than I expected. We can all only hope November 3rd brings the end to the madness.
Speaking of madness, the county commissioners here voted to extend the public mask mandate until April, the end of snowbird season, which I am glad about. However as I watched part of the meeting I could not help but draw parallels to Trump supporters, a clear but extremely vocal minority. Most of the public speakers at the meeting were against the mandate. If you went solely by what you saw/heard you would think everyone in Collier County is against masks. However when the commissioners talked about their positions each one included the yay/nay counts of emails they received regarding the subject.
The numbers were the absolute reversal of what you heard from the public speakers, roughly 80-90% of the emails received were FOR the mandate to continue. You see this every where in today’s society where a small amount of people make a disproportionate amount of noise. Trump voters are some of the noisiest individuals around. As I drive around our area I find myself wondering what all of these people think they are actually accomplishing with their Trump banners, flags, and signs decorating their house like it was a new holiday, Trump Day.
I mean do they think that an undecided voter will decide their vote because they see Trump cult members posting signs? I never understood it. I can expand on that and say much the same goes with my feelings about the rallies that Trump feels are so crucial. All you are doing in that situation is preaching to the choir. Sure it helps feed Trump’s ravenous ego but outside of that, what is the real benefit?
I know you are sick of hearing this, but it is no less true, I have a massive amount of shit to get done this weekend. I want to mow EVERYTHING in addition to weed whacking. I am estimating to do so will require 5-6 hours on Saturday. Indoors I have the computer migration to keep me busy as well on top of normal weekly tasks. I’d love to have the recreational time to do stuff like ride my PEVs or dig deeper into my VR headset. We will see if I can cram it in.