It's been an altogether pleasant day here in Topeka, with the exception of the huge line of thunderstorms... which approached the edge of the city from the west, dissipated, and then re-formed on the east side and went on to do great things in terms of excitement and precipitation clear into Iowa. Yep, it misted here some. At no time did it ever do anything that could be called rain, even if you really, really stretched the definition of the word. Anyhoo, I rolled out of bed that the crack of, O, 09:30 or so, and lazed around until noon or later, reading the paper and doing other Sunday-morning things... which reminds me, I forgot to listen to Sunday Morning Coffee, so I'll do that now. So about 13:00 we headed out to Lowes to spend some Father's Day money, and we bought a coupla sconce lights to go on the living room wall and a really nice torchier/reading lamp. I also got a 30-amp breaker for a circuit that's been popping in the kitchen I've got all 14 Ga wire in the kitchen anyway, which could probably do 40 amps with no problem, I don't remember why I got 20 amp breakers for that. At any rate, the breaker was probably weak, 'cause I don't think that the coffee maker and the microwave together could be grabbing anywhere close to 20 amps. And I got three really cheap power strips, 'cause I really don't need anything fancy. $4 is pretty cheap. However, that's just a little bit *too* cheap... I found out after I got home that they've got these hang-up things on the back that are made for something like roofing nails, maybe... something with a very thin head, anyway. And I'm not a nail guy, I'm a screw guy (and I mean that in the nicest way, of course) and I have nothing suitable to hang them with, and I don't like nails anyway for jobs like that, so... I'll just use them somewhere else and get a coupla more some other time. Part of our errand-running was gonna be a trip to Sams, but no... there were no places in the parking lot, the place was jammed, and I've learned from hard experience that you don't want to be in Sams when it's that crowded. So we went on to food-5-less, and got most of the stuff that we'd planned to get at Sams and probably for about the same price. Then home. Put together the floor lamp. Sit and relax. I started downloading more PD books. Then I ran across a site that has 12,000 PD books for $29.95. On a DVD. 12,000 books. One book that I wish was available...And don't call me a racist by Ella Mazel isn't, but I think that I'll call her tomorrow and offer to make an e-book out of it. I was only exposed to racism when I was introduced into an integrated school in Topeka in 1959. Before that, racism was a normal way of life. Despite the problems that I had, I was really happy that racism was going to be a thing of the past for my kids when I had some. Heh. I did my part in high school. trying to get to know black kids. Oooo, big mistake. Black kids that I tried to get to know were ostracized. I was ostracized. I persevered, however. Got to know black people in all venues of my life. I wound up not getting to go into my favorite pool hall in 1966. Well, I could go in there, but I couldn't get served a beer, and nobody would play pool with me. Not much point. United States Army, 1966-1968. Lotsa black guys became friends of mine, in Ft Leonard Wood, in San Antonio, down in Ft. Stewart, Ga. Since then... no black friends. What happened? Well, mostly, I've become a lot less social since I quit drinking on a regular basis. I have very few friends at all, much less going and seeking out black people. Is this an indication of the failure of racial integration in the United States? No, I don't think so. An even better indication would be finding out how my boys feel about it. I pretty much know what Karen's kids think, and that's pretty discouraging. I've done what I could... and I will continue doing what I can. Ah, gotta go in at 07:00 in the AM, gotta get to sleep now. In the Mail: On the shelf:
if I put a pot of coffee on at the same time that I'm microwaving my morning oatmeal. That's a real drag, going down and resetting that damned breaker in the morning.