DS

Yesterday was a bad day mentally. I woke up feeling really annoyed and angry about the whole renovation and its progress, and then it went downhill the entire day. I was on the edge, annoyed, frustrated and angry pretty much the entire day. A good venting session with the wife also did not help, nor did an impromptu drink with a buddy. Today morning I decided right when I got out of bed that I was not going to let negativity set the tone for the day, and it will begin on a positive note no matter what. And it has worked wonders today! I must try doing this every day.

Done with voting. I know technically because we live in a safe “D” district, we should be fine, but I take absolutely nothing for granted now. Also, you can clearly make out the republican voters at the polling place. While old and white are definitely an indicator, the clearest one is however how grumpy & angry they look. And yeah refusing to smile back or engage with you when you as a brown person smile at them heh. Even the older white democrats you see at polling booths are usually look happier and smile, but not the republicans. Such a sad sad sad life these people really live.

Anyway, I voted all blue down the ballot. I didnt research any specific candidate or their positions - I just took the pamphlet that democrats were handing outside with their recommendations, shook hands with our senate candidate and proceeded to vote. I dont care who the local democrat office recommended, but all I know is whoever they recommended is going to be better than the bunch of useless diseased raccoons the other side would’ve picked.

Like I thought based on county inspector’s face last friday, he failed the inspection for our range hood exhaust. The issue is that because the hood is 600cfm, he wants an additional air intake line drawn in from outside to compensate for the air draw via the hood! His contention is that in case of an emergency that could be dangerous (though 600cfm is hardly, cough, umm, dangerous considering we have so many windows now). That said, I appreciate the county inspectors being tough and thorough coz it keeps our contractor on his toes. Failing an inspection hurts him more than anyone else coz he has to get this right without which permits won’t arrive, and I wont pay him until its certified by county! Sometimes, the government does work for us.

I know paying any attention to a poll year out in advance is stupid, but the fact that Trump is ahead in 6 swing states indicates to me how far off from reality more than half of population of this country is. People are way more right than they indicate, so when they say 25-30% of population is bat shit crazy, in America I make that 50% or more. With everything that has happened in the last 6 years, forget being ahead in a poll, someone like Trump should not even theoretically be polling and yet here we are. Truly baffling and very very scary for the future. Like I won’t be surprised at all if the next batshit crazy Trump alternative comes in and half the population will be totally OK if America becomes a nazi state.

So the doggo and I have settled into a night time routine where I sit on the floor and give him lots of rubs and scratches while he settles in my lap to doze off. Now a days if I dont do it come 9pm at night, he actively barks at me and huffs & puffs until I sit down and start petting him. Its like he’s made this into an established routine and come certain time I have to do my duties! I ain’t complaining but my wife is like you are spoiling the dog rotten, while my daughter just rolls eyes and is like ugh, you boys.

Watching Jawan makes Pathaan feel like a master piece. My goodness the absolute atrocity this movie is. Ugh! STK just go back and retire please!

I am nervous about Virginia elections on Tuesday. I want at least one chamber in D column.

I can’t decide if India is playing a whole different level of cricket right now or all other countries are playing at a lower bar. Unless some catastrophe happens I am really not sure how any team is going to play against this batting and bowling lineup that India has right now. This is uncanny.

Today we visited the fabricator to “see” the quartz stone before its cut out over the weekend for install next week. We paid a premium to get a USA made quartz because of their superior resistance to heat and stains (not that that they are fool proof!) than trust an random Chinese company who could be 5-6x cheaper! Our architect tried hard to convince us to save money on a lower grade quartz from a Chinese supplier but i was like boss you don’t know Indian cooking and the mess it can make, so yeah, counter top is the one thing we wanted to be ultra sure we could get a good one. Now, we could’ve gone granite or soapstone which dont have any of these issues, but thats not a “modern” kitchen look anymore. Quartzlite and Marble was always a no for us not just for the cost, but they are a fucking pain to maintain, and yeah the cost. Quartz seemed like the best bet for now - we will see how this all plays out in future, but for now we are excited to see this getting installed on Tue and seeing our kitchen come one step closer to completion!

Did NOT expect this kind of run chase from Pakistan. Wow! I hope they get to finish this match instead of awarding the match to Pakistan based on DLS. But damn I had written them off the tournament!

North Korea sends Putin tons of ammo. Europe can’t do the same for Ukraine. - POLITICO

This is so pathetic it’s hilarious! Jaishankar is right when he says Europe problems are Europe problems and not the world’s problems. If Europe as a continent can’t even support their own in dire times of need like this while a minuscule country alone can send this much ammunition to Russia it should be called out. It’s just shameful and no wonder Russia knows they can just keep prolonging this war.

Counter top and island decided phew. Today was stressful where we went from our fabricator not having the stone we wanted in stock to finding it with with some other dealer who wanted to offload and us being able to procure it in time for a next week install.

The county inspector came by again today morning to check on the work on our support beams & joists, as well as the range exhaust to out of house. He was not happy. I dont quite know what he had an issue with but our contractor was left scratching his head too (and no, our contractor does Kitchens all the time so this is not their first rodeo or they are new to this). Whatever rules or codes have changed recently in county its definitely throwing a wrench in the plans – and just by look on the contractor’s face I can tell we might need to redo something, which, ugh ugh ugh is not something I am looking forward to at all!

This Sri Lankan innings has gotten off to a horrendous start. Please India, I really hope this is not peak coz this Indian team is right now unplayable!

This is so sad but also this is one reason why I keep telling all my cousins if they want to come study in USA pick coastal blue states and avoid anything in middle or south like a plague. Especially the middle. Student Stabbed in US: Khammam student stabbed in head at gym in US, critical | Hyderabad News - Times of India

If Kohli stops thinking about his records he would probably have more centuries. You could make out when his pace changed in this innings where he really started to think about the 49th and wankhade. Like Jesus just go for it and he would have done it. Yet another century missed by Kohli when he should have gotten it.

Asked for expedited shipping on Etsy. Still take 2+ weeks and not delivered. Why do I waste my time on Etsy instead of adjusting and going with good enough on Amazon?

I don’t get this democracy is on ballot in ‘24. Heck yeah. Its on ballot every election from now on, not just ‘24. Given the normal 8 year cyclical nature of US presidency in recent decades its pretty much guaranteed that if Biden wins ‘24, we will have a republican president in ‘28. If ‘24 is all about ensuring Trump can’t win, well someone worse than him will surely be nominated in ‘28 and win. To really save democracy, democrats need to win ‘24, ‘28, ‘32 at a minimum along with at least one of the houses constantly. I don’t see that happening sadly. I guess we can take it one election at a time….

If you had told me at the beginning of the World Cup South Africa would be the team to watch out for I would have been like uh what? They still play cricket? They are frigging dominating the World Cup along with India. I would be so thrilled if South Africa or New Zealand wins the World Cup this time.