ToT - The Thursday of Things

•  Whether the United States of my youth returns like the Phoenix remains to be seen, but from my perspective, it's sure a great feeling to believe it's possible again.
• Much has been made of the fuss between the media and the WH regarding the size of the inauguration turnout.  Even I found the fixation on numbers to be distracting, but evidence seems to be mounting that the media were trolling - the grassy areas of the mall had been covered by tarps for months and surrounded by chain link fences, restricting access points.
• Anyway, it's apparently become a bit.  A Fox News report this morning about 45 going to Philadelphia aboard AF1 for a Republican retreat pointed out that the 747 (VC-25) "is xx% larger than the 757".
• It would seem to be more efficient to simply fly the ~150 miles aboard Marine One, but I suppose there are Congresscritters or other hangers-on who need to be stroked by getting a ride on the big plane.  I'm hoping this President doesn't use AF1 like it's a personal LearJet as the last POTUS did.
• Spent a couple of hours with my folks the other evening on the occasion of my Dad's birthday.  Hard to believe he was only two years older than I am now when he retired.  We don't do lavish gift exchanges, but I had assembled a grab bag of small items that I thought he would find useful. One of which was a Bluetooth OBD2 reader he can use with his laptop.

 

There are not so many options for Dad birthday cards...

•  He agreed with my assessment that a short inauguration speech would've been good, but that the pomp and circumstance of the event necessitated bloviating to some degree.  We also talked about FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson.
• Dad says my Grandfather (of whose namesake I am), like many in his generation venerated FDR, couldn't stand Eisenhower, believing he was more of a political general than his peer George Marshall.  As a kid, I can remember that Granddad didn't much like Eisenhower's VP either, who by then was embroiled in the Watergate situation.
• We (Dad & I), were generally both approving of Give 'em Hell HST, for his plainspoken-ness and bias for action, and hoped the current President will follow that pattern.  Dad recounted that, at the time, many FDR supporters loathed HST, recalling a joke that was told of the President flying over the heartland.  "Maybe I should open the window and drop a $100 bill out and make somebody happy today.  An aide suggested dropping 100 $1 bills to make 100 people happy.  Then a wiseacre pipes up and says: Let's throw out HST and make everybody happy."
• We lamented that some on the left have chosen to try to cast DJT as LBJ's campaign attempted to smear BMG.  I opined that it was LBJ who bastardized the Democratic Party and deliberately strategized - for political purposes - the creation of a permanent underclass of American citizens through destruction of the nuclear family and dependence on government assistance.
• Despite our obviously stellar policymaking qualifications, neither of us is anticipating a cabinet position invitation.  Pity.
• If you believe a thorn this size could create havoc with your mountain bike tyre, you would be correct.

As well, I have corrected the problem... 

• Sans the tight cropping above, my hand would appear larger.  Much larger.  Huge.
• My company had an onsite wellness screening on my day off last week.  So this morning I did a walk-in, after fasting for about 13-14 hours.  BP 115/75.  We'll see how the A1C and HDL and LDL shake out.
• I don't head for the arches much, but as it was just down the street and I was famished, I gorged on a burrito breakfast.  There were two TVs in the dining room, one on Fox News, and the other on ESPN (showing soccer/futbol).  More people were watching the Fox TV, including some Hispanic appearing people, but it's possible that it's just because it was farther from the doors (and chilly draft therefrom).  
• Speaking of the cold, with no roof over their [leather-covered] heads - I'm not sure how to feel about this:

 

Should I protest the exploitation of homeless bovines?

• At bedtime last night, I listened to Jimmy Webb's CD, Still Within the Sound of My Voice, which features this song.  It sounds as though it was custom written for KK, and I would've sworn it was originally a hit for Ray Price (I can't find any evidence he ever recorded it), but found that it was mainly popularized by Glen Campbell, and by Lynn Anderson: