Let's see, I have a camera battery arriving today, a replacement for the one that failed at the end of last month. Nothing too exciting in that. If I miss the delivery truck today, I'll catch him tomorrow. I have a bathroom scale due on Friday. I've owned the same bathroom scale for the last thirty years and the one I've got, battered and dinged as it is, still seems to work just fine. Why another? Well, to celebrate this last two years of weight loss, perhaps, but also to get one that really looks cool, all glass and chrome and whatnot (glass, other than for the readout, seems unlikely) as well as a way to mindlessly spend money. Then, of course, I could have bought two of them for the price of that damned camera battery (to put it in perspective).

Maybe this bathroom scale purchase is related to the fact I haven't really bought any furniture in my entire adult life, other than beds and and a couple of chairs and such. I bought some chairs, very nice modern albeit business chairs, when the Computer Land I was working for went out of business, the price being right, but that was twenty-five years ago and they've all pretty much turned to junk. I bought a couple of leather chairs with ottomans from Scandinavian Designs in the 90's, not all that expensive for leather, not expensive enough, alas, to last as both of them have “broken”, the one less broken is the one I use in the living room to watch television. I think all that qualifies as never having bought furniture in my adult life, beds and a couple of chairs aside.

Maybe all that means is I don't much care about furniture. I would, if I'd ever seriously been living with someone who considered this an issue, and I've been thinking, particularly as I've doodled with the idea of buying a condo (I'm just day dreaming there, that won't every happen unless....) and, having bought one, completely furnish the damned thing, one last expenditure never to make another for other than electronics. Then I realize I have too much time on my hands and this is just diddle about thinking, an idle man's motor turning over without direction, the American way of existence. Life at the mall, mind on the blank. Maybe this can be put to rest, all these idle ideas chased into the shadows, with a little clean up project in the kitchen later. Furniture indeed. Keep it simple, dodge the bullet with something simple as that.

Your mind really is half asleep.

Maybe so. I woke up with a set of sore muscles and the head set at half speed, but a normal get up in the morning aching muscles, head set to half speed sort of a start and, now that I've had breakfast, I'm feeling just fine. Albeit writing nonsense. I believe that's why they invented editing, to cut nonsense and get to the point.

And the point?

It will come to me soon enough. I have every confidence it will, this morning, the sun shining, the weather nice.

Later. Back from a trip downtown, a bus down, a walk back. For someone who says he got a good night's sleep and feels relatively well, I feel like a tired old man ready for a nap.

A picture taken above the BART entrance with my back to Broadway. I like this view and take a picture every time it looks a bit different, differences mostly in light and people I would guess. I sat in a chair near the fountain and took a picture or two, the lines on the tile catching my interest. Oh, and an image with a lone guy staring off into the distance. Can't return home without one of those in the camera.

Otherwise, the purchase of a box of Prilosec at Rite Aid, a photograph of a guy up on the roof of a building who came into view as I was approaching Grand on Broadway. What was he, what were they, up to? The briefest thought of many thoughts took into account the possibility he was going to jump - obvious he wasn't, obvious he was up there doing something with the building - and I went through a quick sequence of what I'd have to do to photograph the event. A bit weird, I don't carry a camera on the chance I'll catch drama on the street, but that, among pedestrian others, was my thought.

Another photograph of the fountain beside the church sans clouds, no interest in having a cup of coffee or whatever at Peet's, the “sour” taste of coffee still present in my chest. Note the box of Prilosec brought earlier, a big 42 tablet box, just in case. The stomach is still out of whack, but nothing to complain about, nothing like it was before the operation (has it really been almost a year?), but you hope it stays as it is, doesn't get worse. A hundred and fifty-nine pounds this morning by the way, some six pounds lost over these last two months. Not sure why that's still happening at that pace, have to do something about it if it doesn't stop pretty quick.

Another picture of a tree (another often photographed tree) and then home now, approaching two in the afternoon, the various news programs and my (will it never end, dear god?) Korean soap. Whoop! I guess.

I read something on one of the netroots blogs (Firedoglake), that included an explanation of the current administration's push for “bipartisanship”. They cling to it so they can blame the failure of their initiatives on the lack of Republican compromise without alienating the lobbyist groups who would fund their opponents if these initiatives were to pass. The Republicans can just vote no, their political base expects it, but the Democrats need cover to throw in the towel and vote for legislation that isn't in the best interests of their base. Is this why they won't use reconciliation in the Senate, a voting mechanism that allows a 51 vote majority rather than a 60 vote majority to pass? Something the Republicans did under Bush? I hope not. I do really hope not, but its the only explanation for this “bipartisan” push, “can't use reconciliation” stance, that makes any sense.

That's a depressing note to end this on.

That's a really depressing note to end this on. I have more if you want.