Good morning good morning sorry I am late. Slept in, day off, because of Juneteenth because we’re not heathens over here at N****s Advertising Solutions Inc. Shit I should not use our whole company name. It will get swallowed up by some AI, even though I have all the settings set to “do not scrape.” And then some over-eager sales AI will find this and try and pitch me some dumb service in an automated spam email message, which pulling out a pithy story from GMHHAY telling me how much they love it. There. That’s better.

Our new Circle K is open 24 hours. Emma, Jussi and Sean discovered this last night driving Sean home from RDU on the last flights in thanks to weather in both Boston and the triangle. I’m confused, though. Like isn’t it some sort of law that every single place open 24 hours has to have a giant sign on it that says OPEN 24 HOURS. I will be filing a complaint with corporate.

Jane and I went to McDonald’s, the recycling center and Walmart this morning. At McDonald’s we had some quality talks about her recent lost toy and it was very fulfilling and I was a great parent man I am so good. Then the old Vietnam vet who’s there a lot when we are there came over and talked to us for the first time. Lost his wife, lost his brother, seven years younger. Told me when you get to be that age, you lose a lot of people all the time. I told him it was already started in my 50’s. He talked about Agent Orange and I talked about the DDT they sprayed in my neighborhood as a kid to kill the mosquitoes.

I think I am going to very much enjoy being an old person chewing the fat with other old people at fast food restaurants when I am old.

The recycling center was closed for Juneteenth because this county is not yokel, a bastion of bright blue in the south, gotta love it.

Walmart was open, though. Still have the reduced sensory hours, though. The right hasn’t grokked to that yet and decided to act faux outraged and kill it because Muzak is American, damn it. They will eventually, I’m sure. You’re not a real American if you can’t hear Johnny Hates Jazz while shopping for groceries.

They were out of slap bracelets. I had an epiphany in my sleep last week that slap bracelets, stapled to the wall, would make the best cable ties for long low voltage/Cat6 cable runs in walls. I am very excited about trying it. Of course, the core of the slap bracelent matters — if it’s plastic, the bracelet could shatter? So I wanted to buy a small batch for tests before I splurged on the batch of 100 for $20 on Amazon. Of course the small batch of 5 at Walmart costs like $5 so what’s the point, I guess. Also I learned that slap bracelets can be all silicone as well? Did you know this? I did not know this. I need to learn more about slap bracelet physics. Come along with me, reader, over the next few weeks as I learn.

Jane told me that she and her friends would happily craft with 100 blank white slap bracelets, and I have $20 in Amazon points, so hey, YOLO. One hundred slap bracelets are now en route.

Join the GMHHAY slack! Reply to this email and ask for an invite if you’re a human who likes chatting with other humans about topics such as these within!

We’re listening to the new Metric today, third listen. It’s called Romanticize the Drive. We’re gonna go to that Metric/Stars/Broken Social Scene show while we’re in Boston. Got general admission which was maybe a mistake. Might bring Jane if it’s all ages, which might be a mistake. I like the songs on this Metric album but nothing moves me as much as Synthetica. This is my thing with a lot of bands, I like the difficult fourthish album when everyone else likes the first or second. Heaven is Whenever by the Hold Steady. Forgiveness Rock Record by Broken Social Scene. Etc. Etc.

Did you know I still check the COVID stats every Thursday when the state of North Carolina updates its stats? They are, you would probably imagine, very low. But not zero! Still out there! North Carolina uses wastewater measurements to determine COVID levels, so this is useful because it counts people even if they are not diagnosed. Right now, someone is peeing up a COVID storm in suburban Cary. Coviding the shit out of things. So much COVID in Cary right now. Well, not a lot compared to the old days but compared to everywhere else in NC. Very mysterious.

My county is mostly septic, however, so I can’t really measure it here at home. Gotta use Cary, Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill as proxies.

Stay outta Cary this week.

I am back to printing billions of blueprints. The boat and RV storage facility has the most cantankerous, old man code inspector and he insists we have all the plans printed full-size, 24×36. This batch of plans isn’t as bad as the last batch — only about 150 pages. I am more than halfway done. Just sorta chip away at it as I go along. And its a lot smoother sailing this time as I have a better stapler, and plenty of supplies. I sure do love our blueprint printer. It is the best.

Bernie’s got a plan to take 50% of the stock in every AI company and hold it in public ownership and use those profits (lol) to build a public investment fund. I do not know the details of this plan, other than it is voting stock, which fucking rules. I am all for this plan. I love this plan so much. People in the valley of course are apoplectic over it, though not really because they don’t think it will pass, but of course they think it’s evil. It is worth noting this is basically an expansion and turning-good of a plan Trump already has.

What can I say I do not have a problem with the government owning large chunks of things. I got like three, four companies right now. Take half. So long as you’re, oh, I don’t know, not simultaneously bombing and funding theocratic fascist regimes, and using the money to feed and house and heal people, I am fine with it. Go for it. If you have a problem with it, stop using the postal service and the roads and getting government-backed mortgages and student loans and predict your own weather, I guess. Yay democratic socialism bring it on. Fucking feed people. Let people be artists. Relieve them of the capitalistic panic that has been in my heart my entire fucking life. Bring back the safety net. Yay Beatrice Webb no relation. Fabianz4life. My new hip-hop band.

I should probably actually read the plan though. He and Elizabeth Warren have a tendency to fuck up the details. I understand her logic and motivation for endeavoring to tax unrealized gains but god damn did Warren set the cause back a generation by proposing it.

Hrm never mind it seems the details have not been made public yet. TYPICAL BERNIE. I kid. Do I? I don’t know. I was never the biggest Bernie bro. I simultaneously regret that and am proud of it. Bernie contains multitudes.

Jane left her brand new $40 set of magnets at the restaurant last night. She is verklempt. She insisted Emma go back right then and there and look for them, but then refused to tell Emma where she last remembered seeing them, which was an issue since we also went to the playground about it. BUT this morning she and I had a good talk about it. Once she calms down, she can be pretty good about these things. We talked about how hard it is to remember to look for things you might forget when you’re leaving a place. I told her the story of when I waited in line for an iPhone (2 I think? Maybe 3), and the next day I left it in a cab and had to wait in line again. She liked that story. Made her feel less bad. I also told her if she ever catches me leaving my phone, glasses, wallet or hat behind somewhere, I will give her $20, since that would still be me saving money. Boy she liked that one.

At Walmart she asked me why there were so many bins for sale. It lead to a conversation about consumption and capitalism and Americans needing their stuff. Jane doesn’t really need stuff. Except magnets, apparently. She tells me all the time I have too much stuff. She is so, so wrong.

She is so, so right.

I do not have a playlist for you this morning. But I did watch this lovely Hatchie set on KEXP last night. I like them. More shoegazey in this set than I realized upon listening to the album.

Okay well I am off to do my weekend. Doubt there will be much studio work, which is sad, but it’s because I get to see a bunch of friends and see a bunch of great bands, so that is nice. I should take Monday off that would be nice. I do not think I can take Monday off, alas.

Have a lovely weekend. Over and out.