Monday, December 2, 2019

 The Sleep whipped me big time today and I didn't get near as much accomplished as I wished. The extra time to commune with the front yard was nice, but it was just too damn cold today to enjoy it. Any, let's get down to the business at hand.



  I was able to pick up the new keyboard, though, and just in time. The old one was just this side of giving up the ghost. I got a Corsair K55 when it was all said and done. It got decent reviews and it was the most affordable with the functions I wanted. Mainly just media controls, but I like them. It's also got that RGB glowing background that cycles through the various colors. I don't know why that's neccessary but you almost can't buy a gaming keyboard without it. I've read that it helps players who chose to do their thing in the dark, which makes as much sense as anything.

 I must say I'm digging it so far. It's got a good feel and it's comfortable to use. I usually take forever to get used to a new/different keyboard, but this one is moving quickly along. It's got one of those wrist rest deals, and I didn't know how much I'd like one of those things until I got a-hold of one. Confession time, but I never learned to type. It was taught at my high school but I just never took it, probably because I worked at a newspaper and didn't figure I needed it. I had a pretty good hunt-&-peck system going on back then, and could do everything proper typing style offered.

 Granted, after I quit the writing gig for almost two decades, it took me a while to get back even close to the groove, though. Anyhow, this is a pretty neat keyboard. It's going to take me a bit to figure out the extra macro keys, but I have faith in things.

 I finished the fourth book in the Deathless series, The Great Pack, this weekend. About halfway through the book I realized that while this may be the last book in the series, it opened up the door to a whole new sequel series to get through. I haven't figured out what it is, yet, and I'm not going to look too deep for it yet. I'm sort of worn out by this story. It's good, but as I've said before, I'm not crazy about book series and need me a little break. I've got a couple books on deck, including some nonfiction things, but I don't know what I want to dig into just yet.

 If it looks like I'm gibbering to stretch out the word count, it's because I am. It was a slow day for the News, but let's take a lot at where things are. Like noted yesterday, the White House has announced it will not be sending lawyers to take part in Wednesday impeachment hearings, which surprised absolutely nobody. And why should they? The Republicans on the panel spent the last few hearings defending Trump and attacking witnesses for simply participating rather than investigate the very real and solid evidence of wrongdoing on his part. I guess you don't need a good lawyer if the judge and jury is on your side.

 Of course, as all innocent men do, Trump spent the morning on Twitter accusing everyone of being against him and complaining how unfair everything is. I swear, I watch this guy go off on his little tirades and I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone who's paycheck doesn't depend on it respects this guy. As much as I loathe Reagan or either of the Bushes, none of them would do as much out-and-out crying as the current head of the GOP is every single day. And yet, the MAGATs consider him the epitome of "tough, hard-nosed Alpha male" even as he's boo-hooing about "witch hunts" and totally misusing the phrase.

 Speaking of guys who don't know what a "witch hunt" actually is, Rep. Duncan Hunter, the extremely right-wing Representative from California, will plead guilty tomorrow in federal court on charges that he illegally used campaign funds. He was accused of fraudulently using up to $200,000 of campaign funds on just about damn near everything, from the weekly groceries or house upkeep to $14,000 spent on an Italian vacation.

 Up until this morning, though, he'd referred the charges against him as mere political shenanigans brought on by his enemies. Indeed, he even called it a "witch hunt" and claimed he was a victim. Now, I'm not saying whenever Republican candidates claim their victims of a witch hunt that they're automatically trying to hide the fact that he's guilty as hell, no. I'm just saying, is all.

 Anyhow, I need to see how this fancy glowing gaming keyboard works for actual games. Okay, then.