It was definitely not easy to drag my ass out of bed and to work this morning. And I can see that sitting here for the rest of the day is going to be very painful. I was pretty darn close to using a sick day, but it’s kind of a crappy day out today, and who wants to waste a sick day on that, what with warmer weather coming (hopefully; not sure if we’re going to get punished for the mild winter with a crappy summer).

Yesterday was nice, though. Kind of windy (even windier today – and colder), but nice and sunny. I had to put the hood up on my sweatshirt while I was out on the tractor (I knew it was risky, but fortunately no neighborhood vigilante came out and shot me).

Right now, I’m waiting to see if Rush, Bill-O, and the rest of their ilk will caution us against a rush to judgement on Tulsa good old boys Jake England and Alvin Watts. They look like they fell off the back of Tom Joad’s truck.

Here’s something I never thought I’d get to say: “Bubba won the Masters.”

So, Mike Wallace passed away. I guess I can finally forgive him for that fuxturd he spawned. Everybody certainly remembers Mike from 60 Minutes, but I’ll always remember him for “Biography” – 59 episodes that I didn’t watch on the teevee (because I was too young), but which they used to run for us in the middle school auditorium. I always enjoyed those (they were way better than sitting in class).

So long, Mike. You really knew how to make ’em squirm.

I hope you all had a good Friday and were passed over (especially you first born folks) and whatever else it is that people do this time of year. Being a heathen, I’m somewhat left out (not that I mind), so I’ll just be doing whatever it is I usually do. I suppose I should get the mower out and put it on the tractor. I’m not really in a hurry about that, though. So maybe I’ll just sit in the sun and read while the puppies run around and get themselves exhausted.

The roads were pretty empty this morning, so I guess that means a lot of people took the day off to celebrate the execution of some poor guy a couple thousand years ago. Not sure what’s “good” about that, but I guess you have to base your religion around something, and what’s better than torture and death? I never really got the whole “Jesus had to die to atone for our sins” thing. I mean, what good did that possibly do? Did all the sinners get a “get out of hell free” card or something? I guess I should have asked back when I was going to Religious Ed., but I don’t really remember questions being encouraged.

They sure do know how to celebrate Good Friday in the Philippines.

Thousands of people gathered in Philippine villages to watch devotees being nailed to crosses as they marked Good Friday by re-enacting Jesus Christ’s suffering….

Nine men wearing crowns of twigs on their heads were crucified for a few minutes by villagers dressed as Roman centurions in northern Pampanga province’s San Pedro Cutud village. At least eight other people were nailed to crosses in neighboring villages.

Jesus, that smarts.

Oh well, whatever cross is yours to bare, I hope you have a good Friday.

Ooh. Pitched a shutout yesterday. I think that’s a first. The end could well be nigh. Anyhow, I was on my out the door this morning, and I heard NPR mention something about this being Holy (aka “Maundy” though I don’t know anyone who actually says that) Thursday. That whole Catholic thing never really took with me, but I can only conclude that this means Sunday is Easter. This is pretty astonishing news (is it early this year?). Has it really been almost 40 days since Mardi Gras? And shouldn’t this really be a four-day weekend kinda thing? You know Good Friday, Super Saturday, Easter Sunday, and Marvelous Monday? I mean, what kind of godless country is this where I don’t get any time off for Easter? How can people make such a big freakin’ deal about birth control when I don’t get time off for Easter? And where are Insanity and O’Reilly and that other guy that looks like Butthead (or is it Beavis) who peaked during the OJ trial? They should be clamoring about the War on Easter.

So, anyhow, as I recall (from movies like “The Robe”), today is all about the Last Supper, which makes me wonder why it’s a tradition to have a big Easter Dinner (which is never at dinner time). I mean, shouldn’t we have the big dinner tonight? Sunday was the day the dead guy came walking around with a hole in his side. Not particularly appetizing, I don’t think (and, stick your finger in the hole, Thomas? That’s kinda gross).

But, whatever. You can’t buck tradition. Not that I’ll be engaging in any activities on Sunday (not Easter-related, anyway). Not that I know of. When I was a kid, we always had ham, of course (I think that was to spite the Jews, but I’ve never gotten confirmation of that).

Speaking of Confirmation, I never got that, either. I started, but was kind of a dropout (they wanted me to go to classes after school and write a letter to the Bishop proclaiming my faith or something like that; what’re they nuts?), which I guess means I’m not a soldier of God, and will be going to hell (which is kind of a given, considering I haven’t been to church – let alone confession – in more years than I can recall). I think I “confessed” before my friend Buster’s wedding (which was probably like 25 years ago). I was the Best Man, and they had the whole Catholic thing, so I figured it would be good if I ate the wafer instead of stepping outside for a beer or something.

I wonder how Buster’s doing these days.

Oh well, have a happy – if not holy – Thursday. Let’s hope tomorrow’s a good Friday.

Looks like it was a clean sweep yesterday for Mitt Romney, who – as most people figured a long time ago – is looking as though he’ll be the GOP nominee.  I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.  I find it hard to believe Mr. Etch-a-sketch would appeal to too may people, but we’ll see, I guess.  It’s even harder to figure out just what he’d do if he was the Prez.  I guess that all depends on if the Republicans take the Senate and keep the House.  Then we’re in for some deep shit, I think.  But there are, what, about 7 excruciatingly dull months of campaigning to suffer through.

Obama had a very nice speech yesterday.  It had his fanbots (at TPM, anyway) all a gush with warm fuzzies for him.  Hopefully we’ll see more of that.  And maybe a little action (though the time for action on anything in this term has pretty much passed – other than drone assassinations and whatnot). 

Well, after a nice couple of extra days off, it’s back to work today.  Which kinda sucks.  It’s been nice to enjoy the outdoor air and even sunlight.  It’s nice, because we’re getting close to 13 hours of daylight at this point.  Most of this is lost on me when I’m at work, of course. 

But, time to get ready to go, I guess.

So, whattya think?  If SCOTUS trashes Obamacare, will it lead to Single Payer?  That’s the question over at TPM this morning.  Personally, I don’t see it happening.  But it’s a nice thought.

One person who won’t need health care is the guy who dies in an “accident” this morning around here.  Assuming you can call shooting yourself while driving an accident.  Seems like an odd way to take yourself out, but I suppose maybe he was playing with the weapon or something.

It’s not exactly warm today, but it’s nice and sunny, so I’ll take it.  And I’m off today, so that’s even better, though I can feel the day slipping away, and I’m not exactly accomplishing anything.  Not that I actually had anything in mind to accomplish.  Although I already watched last night’s Game of Thrones, so I guess that’s an accomplishment.

So, March is behind us. The way the weather had been , I was kind of hoping to have the pool opened by now. Sadly, it’s turned into a somewhat less warm spring. Not that I’m complaining, of course. It’s still been better than usual (I think we’re still at an all-time low in terms of snowfall. And I reckon I’ll be needing to put the mower on the tractor soon. The grass is getting a little shaggy. Except where the little monsters has holes dug, of course. They’re quite industrious, and work together as a team. I only wish I could direct them as to where to dig.

So I guess everyone has by now heard that Current TV dumped Keith Olbermann. I really haven’t been watching anyway, so it won’t have much of an effect on me. Considering he was kind of their star talent, he must have really pissed them off. I hear they’ve now got Bill Press and Stephanie Miller these days. If they were in HD (and I was in a mood for news), I might watch. I mostly watch stuff on NetFlix these days (that way I don’t need to manipulate the remote so much, skipping commercials).

The big news of the day is that it’s finally time for the season 2 premiere of Game of Thrones. I’m sure it wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea (what with it being “fantasy” and all), but I started watching it over the winter a couple of episodes at a time on HBOGO, and got hooked. It will be difficult to have to watch it one episode at a time.

Ah, looking out the window, I see it’s a typical April morning . It’s snowing. Not much, and I think it’s supposed to be warm(ish) today. So I suppose I ought to go and do something.

Finally made it to Friday. And I have next Monday and Tuesday off, so it’s a big weekend. It’ll be even bigger if we win the Mega Millions, which is now up to something like $540 million $640 million. If I win, I hope to do things like vote for Mitt Romney, and tell amusing stories about the time my dad closed an auto plant and laid off thousands or workers. A real knee slapper.

Speaking of Mitt Romney, the poor fella just can’t catch a break. Turns out Eldon Roth – the founder of Pink Slime Inc. (aka, “Beef Products”) – is a major Romney donor. In fact, I think Romney himself is actually 42% pink slime. He should definitely choose Santorum as his running mate. “Slimy and Frothy 2012.”

If he doesn’t go with the Frothman, he might want to consider Michelle Duggar. I don’t actually know who she is, but apparently she has 19 kids and thinks overpopulation is a lie, and anyhow she isn’t burdening the world with her need to breed, because her family buys used cars and stuff. As proof, she cites the “fact” that the entire world’s population could fit in Jacksonville FL.

I am forced to admit being ignorant of this fact. Turns out, Jacksonville is the largest city (area-wise) in the lower 48 – at about 874 square miles. 758 square miles of land, and another 116 or so is water.

So, let’s do the math here. Presumably Michelle isn’t expecting a few billion people to tread water, so, with the world’s population being about 7 billion, that would be about 9.2 million people per square mile. A square mile is 27,878,400 square feet, so that would be about a third of a square foot per person. Seems a little tight.

On the way in to work yesterday, I was behind a truck with a cap on it (which is always annoying, ‘cuz you can’t see through or around it). Anyhow, on his rear window, he had a “Don’t Mess with Texas” bumper sticker in the middle, and two “Bush/Cheney ’04” stickers on either side. And I thought to myself, “gee, there’s a guy I’d like to hang out with.” Alas, we eventually parted ways, and I never got to meet him. In fact, I’m only assuming it was a dude, ‘cuz I don’t really know.

Now, I’m kinda confused, so you’ll have to let me know if I have this right. When the Pope says no birth control, we all have to go along with that, right? But when he says no economic embargo on Cuba, we tell him to mind his own goddamn business. Right? Or does this mean if Rick Santorum gets elected, we can all start smoking Cuban cigars?

I made the mistake of walking around outside last night wearing a black hoodie. Fortunately, nobody shot me. Though, to be honest, you’re more likely to get shot out my way while wearing a brown leather jacket and a fuzzy hat. Especially during deer season. I actually had no idea that hoodies were scary and threatening. I’ve kind been wearing them for years, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t very intimidating.

Oh well, back to work, I guess.

The SCOTUS dog and pony show wraps up today, as oral arguments shift to the concept of severability, and also something about Medicaid expansion. It seems that things didn’t go all that well yesterday, sending liberals into a tizzy. I mean, so Fat Tony was mean to Solicitor General Donald Verrilli (who doesn’t sound like he was exactly up for the job). Big deal. What did people expect? Sounds like the left-leaning justices had to bail Verrilli out.

So, it’s hump day. This has been a pretty crappy week so far. Hopefully the last three days will go fast.