While thinking about what to write this morning, I got bogged down with too many thoughts. Too many ideas, most of which I’m bored of. So as we edge towards fall and consumption of pumpkin spice flavored everything, I figured I’d throw down the random thoughts that occupy my brain most of the time. A brief little look at what it’s like to be in my head. You’re welcome.

• Tomorrow is the rehab evaluation for my recent injury. Can I get my core sufficiently stable/strong with PT alone, or is surgery required? I suspect I know the answer, but we’ll see.

• The interest on the national debt exceeds our defense budget and will soon be larger than all entitlement spending combined. Think about that. Every dollar of every fancy new program government wants to commit to – is borrowed.

• Secretary Blinken announced during his trip to Ukraine that we’re committing more than $520 million to help make Ukraine’s energy infrastructure “cleaner and more resilient”. See the previous thought. Can someone explain to me like the simpleton I am, why we need to borrow more money to give to Ukraine for crap like this? How is this in the national interest?

• Mayor Adams says that New York City is done due to the influx of illegal migrants being sent to the city. Hmmm. What happened to we’ll always be a sanctuary city? Interesting that even the biggest city in the country (and all democratic voters) complaining isn’t enough for the federal government to take action. I have thoughts on why.

• We recently purchased a large amount of furniture. The cardboard and packing material it came in literally filled our garage. Yesterday was the first time I had to address it. It took the better part of the day to get the boxes all broken down and three trips to the dump to get rid of it. No point other than amount of landfill waste bothered me. Of course usually that’s hidden from us. That’s probably a tiny fraction of what every furniture store in the country generates daily.

• I’m on week two of being a brand new Apple Mac OS user. I’m really liking it so far. I’d say I’m a competent user at the moment. It’s still going to be a while before I master all the shortcut keys. I’d say I was close to “superuser” level on the PC. Wonder how long that will take with the Mac?

• We had a rock fountain installed in the backyard. They failed to mention that you need to put bleach or algicide in the water to prevent moss from growing. The rock is now covered in moss. Todays task is to scrub down the rock and add the chemicals. Would have been nice to know from the beginning.

• Last night I rewatched the movie “The Big Short”. We’ve already forgotten how bad that collapse was. Do you remember how many banks and major financial institutions failed and went under? Uhm, yeah. Don’t think it won’t happen again.

• We’re about 100 days until opening day of ski season. Crazy to think about, since it’s going to be 90 degrees today. Will I have had surgery? Will I be able to ski?

• This doesn’t apply to women so much, but most guys have a fixed “hairstyle” that they maintain for the rest of their lives (or until they have to shave it or do the combover). Their haircut literally never changes. At my age, I still haven’t figured a haircut that works. I’ve been unhappy with almost every haircut I get. I recently let my hair grow almost the longest it had ever been. At Mrs Troutdogs suggestion, I went to a fancy stylist to help shape it better. She butchered it and I ended up just shaving it off. I don’t know what to do now. Long, short, bald, mohawk, Peaky Blinders style? I guess I’m lucky at my age to still have hair.

• Speaking of style, for some reason I had thoughts of tattoos the other day. I wouldn’t mind getting another tattoo, but A) I have no idea what I’d do and B) I really don’t have the right “look” to pull off a tattoo, and C) old guys probably shouldn’t be getting tattoos. Very low probability it would ever happen, but I do think about it from time to time.

• I need to make more videos for my tiny little YouTube channel before it dies off. I literally think about making a video every day. And every day I draw a complete blank. It’s the “creators” version of writers block. I’m not sure how to bust past this.

• I just finished the fourth book in the John Matherson series. Highly recommend this series! It’s the most realistic look at what our world would look like after an EMP strike. If you’re looking for something to read, you won’t be disappointed.

Ok, that’s probably enough brain dump for one morning. Trust me, that’s a small portion of the crap that floats around in my head at all times. Now, time to blast some Rage Against the Machine and get my yard work done.