Friday’s Theme Music – Big Time

Frida, October 9, 2026 — Ashland, southern Oregon.

Our hot, summerish streak is holding, with blue skies and sunshine. Clouds are sprinkled across the blue to keep it from being pristine, making the reds, golds, and oranges splash in bright, picturesque ways. Today’s high is 78 but the sun has a strong, sustained warmth.

I haven’t been doing the theme music for a few days. One, busy. Two, I had “Dirty White Boy” by Foreigner stuck in my head, yet, sans clear and apparent reason. The Neurons finally cleared the music out this morning, leaving me with an empty morning mental music stream.

Didn’t take long for reading the political news to fill it.

Don Jr. scrambles to calm furious MAGA voters

Then there was a Digby article which brought home our sense of things with me, my wife, and Donald Trump.

Are Americans Tired Of Being Suckers?

My wife and I received our $90 Trump bribes. Inspired by a friend’s response, we donated our bribes to blue candidates in tight races.

I also received a letter from the IRS. Something about they’ll match my IRA contribution this year. And, if I don’t have an IRA account, I can go to TrumpIRA to set up a high quality, low cost IRA.

My wife and I laughed. “I don’t trust anything with Trump’s name on it,” she said.

I agreed. “The promise of a high-quality, low-cost IRA with Trump’s name attached to it is as meaningful as Trump’s other promises and efforts. Like ‘no new wars’, ‘lower prices on day one’, the ‘Ukraine-Russia war ending immediately, Donald J Trump’s healthcare plans, which went from a plan coming in two weeks to a concept to…nothing.

Expect nothing but greed and broken promises from Trump — even though he claims otherwise.

As Trump likes to claim things, many say that Trump is spiraling. My wife and I think the same, with me adding, “Big time,” as we talked about it.

That invited The Neurons to bring in Peter Gabriel with his song, “Big Time”, from 1986.

Sample Lyrics

The big, big city
I’ll be a big noise
With all the big boys
(So much stuff I will own)

And I will pray to a big god
As I kneel in the big church

(Big time)
I’m on my way, I’m making it
(Big time)
Oh, yes!
(Big time)
I’ve got to make it show, yeah
(Big time)

(Big time)
It’s so much larger than life
(Big time)
I’m gonna watch it growing
(Big time)

My parties have all the big names
And I greet them with the widest smile
Tell them how my life
Is one big adventure
And always they’re amazed

~snip~

And my heaven will be a big heaven
And I will walk through the front door

(Big time)
I’m on my way, I’m making it
(Big time)
(Big time)
I’ve got to make it show, yeah
(Big time)

(Big time)
It’s so much larger than life
(Big time)
I’m gonna watch it growing
(Big time)

(Big time)
My car is gettin’ bigger
(Big time)
My house gettin’ bigger
(Big time)
My eyes gettin’ bigger
(Big time)
And my mouth
(Big time)
My belly’s gettin’ bigger

(Big time)
And my bank account
(Big time)
Look at my circumstance
(Big time)

And the bulge in my
Big, big, big, big, big, big, big
Big, big, big, big, big, big, big
Big!

This song has a quality that I can easily ascribe to Trump’s thinking.

Hope your day is not spiraling and that you ascend to places where you feel healthy, happy, and comfortable.

Cheers

Monday’s Theme Music — Words

Ashland, southern Oregon. Monday, October 5, 2026.

Another summery autumn day was upon us, high 80s, thin clouds, blue sky, sun.

Last night’s dream was a short, weird one. My wife has been blowing her nose a lot yesterday, complaining, “I have one nostril which seems like a leaky faucet.” I ended up dreaming that she was blowing her nose. Her snot was coming out like yellow mustard. I then blew my nose in the dream; my tissue ended up looking like a slice of white bread thickly slathered with yellow mustard. I went into the other room and showed her, saying, “I have what you have.”

Had my first BCG wash today. Wasn’t ‘quite’ like I expected in some ways but was otherwise exactly as I expected.

The BCG wash is why I’m late posting today. Had to be there at 1:40. Doing the math, I needed to leave at 1:10. Before leaving, I wanted a three-hour writing session so that needed to begin at 10:10 AM. Ergo, leave the house by ten, which means getting dressed, getting up, getting routines done, etc.

Other things happening threw off that timing. But I was finally there, preparing for the BCG. One thing I immediately noticed was how different it is in medical offices and dentist offices. At the dentist, they provide a picture for you to look at while things are being done to you. Music is playing.

Not so at the medical offices. It’s all medical function, like you, the patient, are barely considered.

I had a good tech and a good nurse, Nurse Chrissy C, who did my procedure. I was told to strip off my pants and underwear, then sat in a chair. A large paper, like a giant paper towel, was spread across me for modesty. A foot rest was raised and the back was leaned back, kind of like a barber’s chair. Then they pulled the paper back and began doing things to my wee willie winkle.

Hibiclense was employed to wash my genitals. Lidocaine was injected to numb my pecker. Brrrr, cold. The tech left and the nurse entered. She explained that they only get two vials of the almost dead tuberculosis bacilli a week and it must be immediately used once it’s mixed. Each vial can be used for three treatments, so three of us are done in parallel at the same time.

I surmised something like that was going on because two other people were called simultaneously at my appointment time. One of these people was a teenager, and the other was a heavy woman in a wheelchair with one foot in a walking boot.

My narrow urethra cropped up, of course. The foley catheter wasn’t going in. “Breath deep and cough for me,” the nurse ordered, which I did multiple times. I explained about my previous experiences with catheters, my narrow urethra, and the kink that vexes everything partway through it.

She got it in, though, pumped out my urine, and then filled it with the treatment. Then I was free to clean up, dress and leave. “Don’t urinate for one to three hours,” she said. Only problem was I was already ready to go — with a bowel movement. Yikes.

Here we go again with Donald Trump. After trying to change voting by mail and raging that it’s ‘inherently corrupt’, Trump has spun 180 degrees.

Trump urges supporters to vote by mail despite fraud claims

Donald J Trump added a bitter word salad to explain his new position:

“They can vote by mail if they want, because we seem to have no choice because a lot of people want to vote by mail, but a lot of very good people also want to vote in-person. You can do either.”

I had “Word Up” playing in my morning mental music stream after seeing some video about Donald Trump making a speech. After that speech, he did that smug, mind-smothering dance of his. That triggered The Neurons into making a connection with “Word Up”.

Sample Lyrics

Wave your hands in the air
Like you don’t care
Glide by the People as they start to look and stare
Do your dance, do your dance, do your dance quick

And that was the connection between what I saw Trump doing — dancing like he doesn’t care, making his MAGAts laugh because he’s one of them — and the 1986 song by Cameo.

Sunday’s Theme Song — Promises

Ashland, southern Oregon. Sunday, October 4, 2026.

Supposed to be bright, sunny, and hot today, but clouds swamped three fourths of the sky, and sunshine struggled to be seen and felt. Never reached close to the 90 which was forecast, but it’s now 83 F.

Dreamed last night that I was in basic training. When I awoke and saw the date, I realized it was the anniversary of my first enlistment. October 4, 1974, I took my first oath. Twenty years later, I declared done.

I remember that first day. Rainy and overcast. Went in oh dark thirty. Was given a meal voucher for breakfast at a nearby local diner. Then had lunch at the same place with another voucher. We didn’t take off until late that afternoon.

That was my first time in an airplane, too. Flew from West Virginia, where I then lived, to San Antonio, Texas, via some other city.

It was a Friday, too. When we arrived at Lackland AFB, Texas, to begin basic training, we were informed there weren’t enough to make a full flight. We wouldn’t begin training until the following Tuesday, and spent the extended weekend in silence in our civies, waiting to begin.

Yes, welcome to the military. That’s how it was during my entire career: hurry up, then wait, then GO!

I spoke with Mom today. She called so I ended up chatting with her for an hour, just talking about life in the assisted living facility, Heritage Grove, Penn Hills. While I was speaking with her, my wife took a call on the home line and we learned that our friend, Larry, passed away at 3 AM this morning.

Larry was 96, and a military veteran. Obtaining a degree from Purdue via the GI Bill, he ended up as an engineer and an executive in the aerospace industry. After college, he lived and worked most of his life in the Los Angeles, California, area, moving up here to Ashland after retiring. He was married and adopted and raised two children and had two grandchildren. Although staunchly conservative and Republican, he was intelligent, trustworthy, and fun. I’ll miss him.

I read the NYT’s coverage of a 2026 Trump rally. They’re heavy with promise and rituals: attack the Democrats, maybe throw in a commie scare. Lie about multiple things. Donald Trump will use profanity — his fans love it when he uses profanity, because he’s telling it like it is, isn’t he? Trump sometimes claims prices are way down, which probably surprises anyone who regularly shops.

At many stops this year, Trump is begging people to support AI and data center construction. It’s the primary commercial construction now underway. He might claim the US already won against Iran, or he might threaten Iran with more bombing.

What is so sad is that after the many lies Donald Trump has made, and after all the promises that Donald Trump has broken, his brand of chaos, hatred, and bigotry still serve a portion of the Republican party.

Today’s music is by Incubus. The 2011 song, “Promises, Promises” did not come from reading the news. It came instead while listening to my mother talk about the inherent promises made — work hard, save your money, buy a house, raise a familiar — all that American dream debris, will bring you happy closure when you pass away. Mom relates that she and her gang of assisted living friends refer to their new home as jail — three hots and a cot.

I hope you live up to the promises you make, and that others fulfill the promises they make to you.

I also hope that promise and swear to Vote Blue in November, 2026.

Cheers

Saturday’s Theme Music — Don’t Look Back

Ashland, southern Oregon — Saturday, October 3, 2026.

A scorcher of a day is set up. Long stretches of thin white crossing the atmosphere’s bowl, but it’s mostly blue. Dropped to 80 now — a hot 80 — but it was over 90. More of the same is expected tomorrow.

Mom reports she’s feeling better. Played bingo at the assisted living facility and won five games. She seemed relaxed and — risking the chance of jinxing it — happier today.

Meanwhile, my WordPress still isn’t right, just a fly in my pinot noir. On the good news side, my next step in my cancer treatment, the BCG was moved up to this coming Monday. An impatient person, that pleases me. I’m a ‘let’s get this done’ sort of personality.

Reading political and other news, I told myself, don’t look back. Looking back causes me to grit my teeth with pain and anger over what’s happening with our nation, especially so as Donald Trump breaks promise after promises, rages about different things, and lies about almost everything. There’s a lot riding on the upcoming midterms.

Those thoughts encouraged The Neurons to introduce “Don’t Look Back in Anger” into the morning mental music stream. As I hummed the Oasis tune to myself this morning, I was surprised to see an article claiming that it was released 31 years ago. Why it seems like just yesterday!

Then again, it seems like just yesterday that I took my first driving test and got my license. It feels like just yesterday that I as going to the prom, and just yesterday that I was getting ready to play a football game.

Just yesterday seems so close and so far. Maybe I’m going on a long elliptical orbit around my existence. My memories will begin fading and the next thing I know — without knowing — is that I’m living my life all over again, following the orbit already established through agencies outside of my control.

Here’s the Oasis music. May your orbit take you into brighter, happier days and you smile often.

Cheers

Friday’s Theme Music — Gigantic

Ashland, southern Oregon — October 2, 2026.

It’s a summery fall day with a spring feel in our area. A thin, waning moon hides behind a screen of nebulous clouds in a bright blue sky. Sunshine splashes off the autumn foliage with eye-watering vividness. We’re at 68 F, on our way to 85.

October always means birthdays in my family. Too many of the people we’d fete have gone through the secret door. But I set up reminders to buy cards during the digital dawn. The reminders come up, reminding me that I need to take them down.

It amuses me that the reminders have survived a succession of computers, laptops, and software updates, yet my regular processes are often maligned or broken. As Laura put it in a comment on my current WordPress issues, “In order to serve us better… (worst phrase in the English language!) …”

Yes, when they tell us, they’re often putting icing on a turd.

No, my WordPress tags do not work today. Hearing that Laura was also a comfort in the ‘it’s-not-just-me’ sense.

As I went through the news headline progressions today, I thought, what a gigantic friggin’ mess the world is becoming. I modified my appraisal a few times. The world has always been a gigantic mess. Usually, though, if we found out we were making the world worse, we would try to fix things. With Donald Trump on the scene, our government actively works to make the gigantic mess an even larger mess.

Which led to my conclusion, Donald Trump is a gigantic jackass.

This headline helped cement that conclusion:

Third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops head to Mideast as Trump weighs new Iran strikes

Most striking here are, well, so many thoughts. Like, it’s Trump weighing new strikes. Said he was a peacemaker. Unifier. Said the war was over. Said it wouldn’t last more than a few weeks. Yes, that Trump.

SMFH

Verifying Trump remains a gigantic liar and ignorant buffoon, I read the story following this headline:

When Trump boasts about donating his presidential salary, be sure to read the fine print

  1. Trump inflates is salary from $400K to $550K.
  2. Trump is not the first or only to donate is salary.
  3. All of this is easily found and verified via the Internet so, WTF is he making these claims?
  4. Donald Trump is a gigantic jackass.

Which brings us to Your Trump Quote of the Day:

It’s another Trump broken promise, as Trump reported making over $1B while being in office in 2025. That doesn’t include his golf and travel scams.

That brings me to a song by The Pixies, “Gigantic”. The Neurons plugged the song into my morning mental music stream but the song doesn’t really fit. It only connects with my thinking via that one word, gigantic.

Sample Lyrics

“Hey Paul, hey Paul, hey Paul, let’s have a ball
Hey Paul, hey Paul, hey Paul, let’s have a ball
Hey Paul, hey Paul, hey Paul, let’s have a ball”

[Chorus: Kim Deal & Frank Black]
Gigantic, gigantic, gigantic
A big, big love
Gigantic, gigantic, gigantic
A big, big love

[Verse 2: Kim Deal]
Lovely legs, they’re a…
What a big black mess, what a hunk of love
He’d walk her every day into a shady place
He’s like the dark, but I’d want him

Nevertheless, I like the song — especially Kim’s voice.

May your day be full of gigantic good news and good times

Cheers

Wednesday’s Theme Music — Right Now

Ashland, southern Oregon. Wednesday, September 30, 2026.

Gonna be a warm autumn day here — 85 F at its hottest — with springlike ambiance among the fall foliage.

Had one of those sighing but I must laugh moments today. Reading politics (of course, sigh). And about a Trump administration announcement by the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth was announcing Project Meridian. Looking to the United States’ future needs, Hegseth is tapping Trump’s favored billionaire — Elon Musk — along with Newt Gingrich, an 83-year-old politician, and Palmer Luckey, a weapons manufacturer.

Yeah, that sounds like an effective group. *eye roll* Perfect for looking forward to protect America’s future.

As Newt Gingrich once said, “You can’t trust anybody with power.” I certainly don’t Hegseth and this triumvirate, or Donald Trump.

Then, oh Lordy, we had the spectacle of a GOP senator attempting to trap Jack Smith in his testimony, only for Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt to reveal himself as a buffoon. It’s another one of those situations which would be funny — certainly worth of a Saturday Night Live skit — except this is a US senator, an elected official who is supposed to be capable of deciding our nation’s laws and solving its problems, which makes this painfully, painfully sad.

5 Points About a Senator’s Disastrous But Hilarious Attempt to Accuse Jack Smith of Perjury – TPM – Talking Points Memo

Both of these stories echo with the stupidity of Pizzagate and other QAnon insanity.

Then there’s a ‘this-is-so-expected’ headline about Meta using AI to cheat on its Federal taxes.

How Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes

That about seems up my morning view of things. It ended up leaving me thinking, right now, I could use some good news, and moved on to other needs.

Hearing that, though, The Neurons introduced the Van Halen song, “Right Now” to my morning mental music stream. It’s a good song to carry me through the day, strong sound, solid vocals. Hope you find something in it.

May some good news find you right now and carry you forward on its shoulders for a couple days at least.

Cheers

Tuesday’s Theme Music – Masquerade

Ashland, southern Oregon. Tuesday, September 29, 2026.

Another lovely autumn day in the Pacific northwest corner of the United States — at least in my small valley. 65 F, with sunshine and blue skies, and a high of 75 F expected.

Spent some time reading sickening news of the Cornell 7. The truth is dribbling out. Right now, the university and those seven men appear despicable, part of the patriarchy and ol’ boys network which so many of us have come to despise. It reminded me and my wife of how Brock Turner got off.

Mom’s birthday is next month. She’ll be 92. My sisters and I are sharing ideas about what she needs and what we can buy her to show love and caring while filling needs and making her a little happier.

One of the other residents is an elderly blind man. Mom returned to find him in her room after lunch today. He’d taken all her clothes out of her closet and strewn them around the room, knocked things over, and made a big mess. Mom summoned the home’s director. She’s calling the blind man’s daughter.

While what happened to Mom is disturbing, I think about what the blind man might be enduring, and how this call can affect his daughter and her family and plans. It’s another of those things which just induces sighs.

Listening to Trump, it feels like we’re at a masquerade ball. Trump pretends we’re in a golden age while so many struggle to pay bills and personal bankruptcies are at a rate not seen since 2010. As the US military launches more attacks on Iran and Iran swings back, Trump at once pretends it’s ‘a conflict’ and simultaneously declares we’re at war.

Trump also masquerades as being indifferent about the war, referring to it as small potatoes. I’m sure that Iranian citizens will be pleased to hear that Trump thinks the bombing of their nation and the killing of their children and others is ‘small potatoes’. But that’s Trump — a monster trying to masquerade as a human.

Most distressingly, so many Republicans, too many citizens, too many in the media, and even too many Democrats treat what Trump and the Project 2025 contingency embedded in his administration as if it’s normal. Chief Justice Roberts in the Supreme Court bounces around the masquerade ball, fretting about what Trump is doing, then enabling him via unsigned shadow docket rulings for emergencies.

So today’s music is “This Masquerade”. George Benson had a hit with this half a century ago, a fact that makes me LAUGH OUT LOUD.

I hope this day gave you a number of reasons to laugh out loud and look back with joy.

Cheers

Monday’s Theme Music – Blues

Ashland, southern Oregon. Monday, September 28, 2026.

Lovely fall day with bold white billowy clouds and small, scattered negligee clouds hanging against a blue sky. Temperature crept out of the forties into the mid 70s F.

I got the first world blues this morning. Internet went out at 11:15 last night. I rebooted our system and went to bed. All looked good this morning but ‘lo, no Internet. I called our ISP, Ashland Home Net (HSN), to see what they could tell me. First tech said, “Reboot your router for me.” Pretty damn imperial about it, too. I did and we agreed I’d call back in ten minutes if it didn’t work.

Fifteen minutes later, I called HSN again. This tech was not the same as the first tech. He told me, “Oh, there’s an outage in the city. They’re working on it. Should be fixed in an hour. If you still don’t have a connection then, call back.”

Hour later, no connection, call back. Get the first tech who told me again, “I told you to just reset your router.”

I blew up on him and channeled my pissed-off senior NCO genes, which greatly changed his attitude. Anyway, to make this long story a little shorter, I decided I needed a new modem.

In parallel to this happening, my sister, Gina, took Mom to a doctor’s appointment as a follow up to the UTI that sent her to the hospital, keeping us up to date via texts. Mom has also been complaining of chest pains. EKG showed no issues with Mom’s heart or pace maker, but other test showed that yes, she still had a UTI. So, there’s more antibiotics scheduled, and an appointment with another doctor.

Gina took Mom clothes shopping, too, which was very nice of her.

Back here at home, it was our day to do Food & Friends delivery. However, my wife didn’t put it on the official house calendar, so we were double booked. We had noticed some slight leaking around the bathroom skylight. I’d scheduled a consultation for today for 11, which directly conflicted with the F&F timing. A friend volunteered to replace me so my wife could do the route and deliveries while I stayed home with the skylight folks.

Skylight folks, Andy and James, arrived at 11 and left at 11:30. Just flashing, Andy assured me. I’m waiting or the estimate to get that done. He says it’s minor work and can schedule it and do it done soon as I say go.

So, that was my morning. As I say, first world blues.

Later that day…(which is, yes, today…)

Went to the coffee shop. Researched routers. Went out and bought a new one. Came home, installed it. Everything except my Ooma VOIP linked up. I’m working on it.

My wife’s Food & Friends deliveries with her friend went fantastic! Everyone was home, and many were already at the door when she arrived. My wife said it was much better than when I go with her… *smile*

Later that same day…(which is, yes, still today..)

I was focused on software, settings for the new router, etc. Modem, cell phones, computers, and Roku all seamlessly connected. Terrific!

Our Ooma VOIP wouldn’t connect.

I’ve been an Ooma customer since 2008, and the unit I have is now ten years old. I thought that maybe its card had gone. No matter what I tried, I could not connect between the router and the Ooma telos. Lo, turned out to be the old ethernet cable was failing. With that replaced, all is up and running. Took hours of trying different paths, though. But, yes, done.

So ends my first world blues.

Today’s song is “Roadhouse Blues”. The Neurons began playing this 1970 song by The Doors when I rolled out of bed and told myself, “Let’s get this day rolling.” Bang, the song rolled through my morning mental music stream.

I hope your day treated you well, and you were able to avoid all kinds of blues, whether they were just simple first world complaints like mine today, or more serious blues.

Cheers

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