The photograph with this post is of a statue in the Old Post Office Plaza, on Locust, between 8th and 9th. He has been photo-shopped, no not in that way. No, I just removed the background, which was rather distracting. Anne coined the title that we have given the picture and this post, Nice Abs, But No Brains.
We attended Bill and Mary’s potluck Friday night. The evening was warm enough to be comfortable outside and yet early enough in the season to still be bug free. I think everyone had a good time at the party; I know Anne and I did.
At the party there was a college of brew masters in attendance. Not really having anything valuable to add to their conversation, I tried interjecting instead. I related Dan’s Facebook post. The one that said, “Nothing says turning 26 like drinking fermented horse milk smuggled out of Kazakhstan.” They didn’t skip a beat. Lactose was the answer, a milk derived sugar. All fermentation requires yeast and yeast requires sugar, in any of its varied forms.
Of course conversation turned to the “budget crisis”. As of writing, it appears that a deal has been reached, but during the party everything was still in limbo. We had earlier in the day, heard that our son, David, would be furloughed in the event of a shutdown, but that he would still be paid and in fact was even considering traveling during the shutdown. Fortunately a deal was reached; otherwise, we might have seen Dave on TV waving a sign before the Capital, with the slogan, “Cut it or shut it, then call me from Cancun.” 😉
Mary, our hostess with the mostest, was telling us at dinner about some of her students and not particularly the good ones. She spoke from an educator’s point of view and expressed many of the same complaints that I have heard from Anne, while sitting at the dinner table. The difference with Mary though, is that her students are paying five-figures, while acting as irresponsibly as Anne’s much younger kids. For teachers, respect is a two-way street.
Bob, of Bob and Noreen fame showed up at midnight. We then proceeded to talk the rest of the night away. Hence, today’s delayed posting.
Interesting… The GG was not expecting to be paid during the furlough so not sure what’s different with EPA employees. The last time, the GG got back pay when the gov’t powered back up but most contracted employees did not. This time, we didn’t know if he would be paid back pay or not.
Dave, is not a federal employee, nor a federal contractor, neither fish nor fowl, so that is probably why he was special. Anne is continuing to discover how special he is, as she continues to work his taxes.
I wasn’t clear. The GG *is* a federal employee, so he got back pay. Most contractors did not pay their employees back pay. Anyway, although the shutdown wouldn’t have “shut” our household finances down, we are relieved that we don’t have to experience it again (assuming they do settle it by Thursday or whenever).
Aha, so his income comes out of some other pot.
Dave earns “taxable energy credits”, whatever those are.