Wednesday night

Made it through yesterday fine, then went to bed earlier last night.

Was back at the gym tonight. Tonight's going to bring us the coldest weather of the season so far. Down into the 30's with wind chill in the 20's. That's cold for South Florida. Mind you, while I'm originally from here, I've lived in colder places, such as Germany, Virginia and Montana--2 years in Helena, working in the State Capitol in the education agency. While I was there, they had the coldest winter (or one of the coldest) on record. I can't remember all the statistics, but I do remember that it didn't get above freezing for an entire month, and it got down to 40 degrees below zero (not including any wind chill), and I think it didn't get above zero for a week or so. (I should look those statistics up on the Internet.)

It seems that when I was a child, it was colder here in the winter (and not so hot in the summer). I have a photo in a scrapbook that my father took when I was a child, showing the temperature my father scratched into the frost on the windshield of our car. And we didn't live that far inland (it's always warmer along the coast). (Again, I should look up some statistics.)

Watching Rachel Maddow (intermittently). Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman was on earlier. Apparently he has a lot of knowledge that's pertinent to these turbulent times, and I think we should listen closely to him. (Apparently the Nobel Committee thinks so too.) I think I took only one economics course in college. I found it interesting. What Krugman says makes sense to me. I just believe in government policy that works for the benefit of the whole country, and that capitalism needs to be regulated. I think even Adam Smith thought it needed to be regulated.

Dick Cheney opened his mouth today. They say the people who know him best say he's become "unhinged" (saw that on "Countdown" I think). Rachel interviews Glenn Greenwald (gay guy embracing reality) in this video on the topic.

Happy to report that Home Depot's countertop people called me today about coming to fix the shifting sink. They'll be here sometime on Friday afternoon, so I'm taking the day off.

After the sink is fixed, all that's left is to have the final inspection and close the building permit. Not true: I still haven't heard back from the Home Depot District Services Manager about the final tally of the electrical bill (he said he would call me to go over it last Monday--no call from him, and this is a large bill). Meanwhile, my Home Depot home improvement loan has expired and I won't be able to tack on the electrical work onto that. (No big deal, but still.)

But I'll need to take only one more day off for Home Depot, for the final inspection. Hurrah.

Didn't do a lot of cooking this week. Tonight I bought some Tyson's frozen Buffalo chicken strips (really tasty) and will take those for lunch tomorrow, along with a can of Margaret Holmes (since 1838) Hoppin' John (with blackeyed peas, tomatoes, onions and jalapenos). Never tried that before but it sounds good.

Good night!