Well, tonight’s the big night, when Hillary Clinton will officially accept the nomination to become the Democratic Party’s nominee for President. I don’t think you could ask much more from Bernie Sanders and even if a handful of bummed out Bernie supporters are getting a lot of publicity (because the media loves to amplify that sort of thing), polls show that a greater percentage of Sanders supporters are planning to vote for Clinton than Clinton supporters (the PUMAs, if you recall) voted for Obama back in 2008. And, really, the thought of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Oligarchy running our government (and our economy) for the next 4 – 8 years and beyond (I envision a lot of Supreme Court justices mysteriously dying of polonium-210-induced radiation poisoning, leading to a 9-Scalia Supreme Court) should terrify any non-insane person.

Oh, sure, if you live in Texas or Oklahoma or NY or California, you can vote for whomever you want, because the outcome in your state is pretty much already decided. It’s the “swing” states that really count – and there are an awful lot of insane people in those swing states. That, combined with the systematic attempts by Republican-controlled state legislatures to keep poor people and minorities away from the polls (plus what might be a generally low turnout election, given that these two candidates both have 58 percent unfavorable ratings) should make for a very unsettling election night, unless something happens to put the Trump candidacy in the crapper (and I don’t think there’s anything he can do that would hurt him among his supporters, whoever the hell they are).

So if you live in a solid red or blue state, it’s time to move to FL, GA, PA, VA, OH, NC, MI, or some other swing state (make it one with at least double-digit electoral votes, though – no reason to waste your time on pissant states like ME or NH) if you can afford it.

As for me, I’ll be staying put here in NY. At least, being a “safe” state, we won’t be subjected to as much of the incessant campaigning that other folks will (I hope).

Because I’m not a masochist, I watched none of the Republican National Convention – especially not last night’s official coronation of Herr Drumpf. Still, it’s impossible to ignore these things completely and there were at least a few moments of amusement. Wife #3 lifting part of her speech from Michelle Obama was kind of funny, for instance. Ted Cruz getting booed off the stage for not endorsing the guy that called Cruz’s wife ugly and said Cruz’s old man was palin’ around with Lee Harvey Oswald (I’m forced to admit a tiny nugget of respect for Cruz for that) was pretty funny. And, while it technically wasn’t about the convention, seeing Roger Ailes being forced to resign from Fux News was nice to see as well.

Apparently last night’s acceptance speech showed the world the angry, scary old man with a spray-tan so bad even Jon Boehner thinks it looks ridiculous that the Republicans have made their nominee for President (and for whom a disturbingly large percentage of Americans are apparently planning on voting for).

I saw one clip with a red-faced, spitting Trump yelling about something of other (he reminded me of my old boss Hermann – not to mention my father-in-law – when he got himself all worked up over something). I’ve never really cared for people yelling at me – I tend to just shut my ears off and wait for it to end. So that’s what I’m hoping to do for the balance of this election season – try to ignore it and wait for it all to be over. And hope like hell we don’t get Spokesmodel Trump and de facto President Pence.

One thing seems certain, though – Hillary Clinton is really really lucky to be running against Trump instead of a relatively sane human being (not that the GOP is capable of nominating a relatively sane human these days). Not that polls are particularly meaningful at this point, but the national polls the past few days seem to have Clinton anywhere from 4 points ahead to 1 point down – and neck in neck with Trump in Ohio and Virginia.

Not in NY, though, where Clinton has a pretty sizable lead. Which is a good thing, because as someone who isn’t a registered as a Democrat, I’m not allowed to vote for a Democrat in NY. At least, from what I recall of the primary here, I think that’s how the NY rules work. On the bright side, I like the candidate who I am allowed to vote for – Jill Stein. And I don’t normally care for doctors, so that’s saying something. Plus I’m pretty sure she isn’t considering a running mate that wants to deregulate the banks.

In other news, it’s a big day here in the old homestead. We’re getting a new refrigerator delivered. Not because the old one isn’t working, but because the old one is a side-by-side that I’ve gradually come to despise over the past five years. Basically, you can’t fit anything in it and what you can put in there basically has to be packed like a suitcase. Which, in the case of fresh food, means it typically gets forgotten about until it grows fur and tries to escape.

I liked the french door fridge with bottom freezer we had at the old house, and I’ve missed it ever since. So I finally pulled the plug and ordered one (plus it’s a good excuse to take a day off). And the new one is only supposed to cost about $6 a month to run – partly because it has an “inverter” compressor, meaning that it has a variable speed DC motor in it (hence the need for the inverter) and instead of turning on and off, it just goes faster or slower depending on the temperature and set point. It probably also means the sensor, inverter, and circuit board are all likely to crap out after the 1 year warranty (10 years on the compressor, though) and be very expensive to fix.

Having the fridge break is one reason I was reluctant to get a new one. I mean, I don’t ever recall replacing an old refrigerator because it stopped working in the olden days, but I’ve heard horror stories about problems with newer ones.

Well, too late to back out now. I guess I’d better go get all the crap out of the old one so they can haul it away.

I’m pretty sure there are no longer any 7-Elevens around where I live anymore (a quick search tells me the closest one is about 10 miles away from me). But if you have one near you, you can go get a free Squishy Slurpee today, because it’s 7/11. It also happens to be my anniversary – 18 years. I’m celebrating by being back at work after 10 days off (though I was on call this weekend, so I was only “off” in the sense that I wasn’t getting paid). Fortunately for my wife – this, coincidentally, is her anniversary as well – and the dogs, she’s off today.

We had an unusual day yesterday – for the first time in longer than I can recall, it was actually cool out and it rained (a little bit – just enough to make the weeds reach for the sky – the grass is still brown and brittle, especially over the leach field). It felt very strange (and enjoyable) to be cool for a day. Sadly, it won’t last long. Today is supposed to be normal (mid eighties) and then it’s back up into the nineties again for the rest of the week. And no rain, except for maybe a pop-up thunderstorm here or there, which will just make it even muggier out.

We’re not really used to things being this hot and dry around here. I mean, if I wanted this nonsense, I’d move to Texas or something. But I think I’d stay away from Texas ‘cuz I think there’s gonna be a race riot down there (but not limited to there, unfortunately) pretty soon.

Of course, once President Trump takes over, he’ll clear all this nastiness up. I hear he’s a race uniter.

AS if the prospect of a Trump presidency wasn’t chilling enough, according to Cris Cizilla, Newt Gingrinch is the favorite (amongst a group of thoroughly depressing prospects) to be chosen as Herr Drumpf’s running mate. Though I take everything I read in the Washington Post with a large pillar of salt ever since Jeff Bezos took it over, the prospect of Professor Pollygrip being one fat old guy heartbeat from the presidency probably even scarier than I find the prospect of a Trump presidency.

After all, Trump appears to be a loudmouth moron (as Archie Bunker might have said – except Archie would probably be the first guy in Queens to get himself a “Make America Great Again” hat – Donald is a meathead – dead from the neck up), but at least nobody on either side seems to like him. Newt is an evil little bastard who I could see being in cahoots with Paul Ryan from day one – killing social security, and eliminating taxes altogether for anybody with a few million bucks.

Of course, nobody who would be willing to run with Trump is gonna exactly be an exemplary human being. Either a total moron or an insane sociopath (or combination thereof). If I had to bet, I’d bet Trump goes with Mary Fallin ‘cuz she’s just the one to get the ladies on board for Trump, plus she’s from “real America” unlike Chice “Rice” Christie. I mean, is the heartland really ready for a team of loudmouth New Yorkers (yeah, I know NJ isn’t NY, but close enough – as long as all the bridge lanes are open, anyway). Whomever it turns out to be, it’s gonna suck, so may the Flying Spaghetti Monster help us if Trump gets elected.

And as inept as the Trump campaign seems to be (whether unintentional or not – I’m still not convinced this wasn’t all a money-making scam on his part), Republicans will goosestep in line behind him, and Hillary (and Bill) don’t seem to be doing Hillary’s campaign any favors. The best thing the Clinton campaign has going for it right now is Elizabeth Warren, and I really would hate to see the Republicans get a chance to nominate a Republican to the Senate when we need all the Democrats (especially real Democrats) we can get in the Senate.

I don’t know who that leaves as a Clinton running mate, but you can never go wrong with Joe Biden, right?