Dave's Journal / Feb2025
Spent yesterday with Audree and Jim.
Jim and I go back close to 40 years (1987). Engineer, retired one month ago.
Great guy to argue with because he understands that questions and doubts and fact checking eventually bring out the *whole* truth and at that point we can agree or disagree on our conclusions - no bad feelings.
Speaking of Press Secretaries ...... Remember DeeDee Meyers?
I do :)
I got curious about the US Federal budget, so here is the latest one (2024), showing income, debt, expenditures.
Total 2024 federal gov't income was $4.92Trillion
Total 2024 spending was $6.75Trillion
($6,750,000,000,000)
2024 federal budget deficit was $1.83Trillion (for that year only)
Total federal debt is now $27.5Trillion (
$27,500,000,000,000)
So, if you were to cut say $40Billion out of annual expenses it would be cutting only 0.6% or simply 60¢ out of $100.
So .... do the math, not every budget cut is a big deal.
Peace
I don't remember sign language.
I read and read.
Don't remember.
But !!
I don't practice practice practice ...so....
Don't remember
Peace
Once a year I put a pinhole lens on a camera and see what happens. Today is the day ....
Also, some added pencil tweaking...
Had to stand still for 30 seconds.
(2½min / no sound)
I simply could not get out of bed this morning, and our plane was going to board soon. Everyone else was dressed and packed. I was in bed in my clothes (?) and very groggy. My backpack was packed but not my suitcase and my stuff was carelessly tossed all over the room.
I'd get up and fall right back. The others were yelling at me.
I remembered that I took an antihistamine last night to stop sneezing, and I thought "oh sh#t, that's why I can't wake up now".
I felt like a ton of lead.
The others left me there and left for the airport.
I kept rolling side to side hoping to wake myself up. My head was numb, my arms and legs were very heavy.
"What are you doing" I heard Deb say.
Huh?
"Are you okay?"
What?
"Did you take an allergy pill last night? You're rolling around like you can't get up"
Ohhh .....ohhh ..... allergy pills ..... allergy pills and bad dreams .....
We had to send Penny over the bridge. The short version: she had digestive track cancer and was extremely distressed and in pain and it was horrile to watch her that final night.
Emergency Vet visit. We stayed with her all the way. They injected her with a strong sedative and pain killer and she immediately relaxed and fell asleep (10 seconds). Waited a bit for us to take a deep breath and then they injected her with the kill stuff and her heart just stopped. We waited 5 minutes and checked her again and for sure her heart had stopped, so that was the end of it.
Been through this six times before and it never gets easy.
Meanwhile, in Virginia ..... Jack got his dream job working at McDonald's. ("I knew it was my destiny when, as a child, I saw those Golden Arches.")
A bonus is that he gets a free McMeal every shift he works.
