New cat Perry Mason keeps proving that cats aren’t as low maintenance as advertised. After he’s fed, he expects his humans to stay up. If we don’t, he stages a protest on the floor next to the bed. It doesn’t happen every morning, but it happened on this foggy Monday morning. Oh well, what the hell; might as well, might as well.

I haven’t written a potpourri post and given a status update on life at Adrastos World HQ for quite some time. I might as well do it now but first a musical interlude:

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not have a guitar for a head. It does, however, mean that you have a neck. I’ve felt sorry for the neckless since this guy played in the major leagues:

Where was I? Oh yeah, an update.

I’ve been getting out more. I got locked into some hermit-like behavior during the lockdown and I’m trying to circulate more. I sat out last year’s Krewe du Vieux but I’m back at it. I pitched a theme to my krewe, and it was selected. I have pride of authorship BUT I can’t be possessive: float designing and building is collaborative. Besides, a hammer is a deadly weapon in my hands. Others use power tools; I have the power of ideas or some such shit.

Yesterday, we attended a performance of Handel’s Messiah at a Catholic church in the Irish Channel. The music was good, but the seating was not. The pews were narrow: somewhere between 4 and 6 inches wide. I am not making this up. I spent the first half of the performance squirming to the music. Dr. A was equally uncomfortable, so we left at the intermission. I didn’t handle the Handel pews very well; at least I didn’t get splinters.

Now that I’ve complained about uncomfortable seating, an uplifting message from Brother Robert Cray:

Enough about me, I might as well move on to the news of the day.

I’m already tired of hearing about the Sinematic Senator’s latest diva move. I was glad to let my colleague Jamie O dish about the diva’s dive into independent status. It works: she’s always been a party of one. Sinema couched it as an act of principle. Desperation is more like it. She’s almost as unpopular with Arizona Dems as sore-loser Scary Kari Lake.

I suggested the post title The Sinema Show to Jamie. It was inspired by this venerable Genesis song:

In other Arizona news, lame duck GOP Governor Doug Ducey is building a wall of old packing crates along the border. It’s both illegal and unsightly.

Why does he think rusty packing crates will keep anyone out of the country? It’s lunacy and ugly lunacy to boot.

I guess Ducey wanted to go balls to the wall at the end of his governorship. He should have gone fishing for walleye instead.

I might as well post a lesser-known John Fogerty song as our next musical interlude. Why the hell not?

I almost called this post Brittney Freed because of the Griner-Bout trade. By all accounts he’s a bad guy but I’m not an “expert” on the international arms trade like so many on social media. It was a tough call for President Biden but I’m glad he made the trade. Protecting American citizens from unjust imprisonment is part of the job description.

The trade seems uneven on the surface BUT a reminder that our influence with the Russians is at its lowest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s a miracle that a deal was stuck at all.

Republicans don’t like the deal because Brittney Griner took a knee. She’s supposed to be languish in a Russian prison camp because of that? That’s some cold shit, y’all. They can go fuck themselves.

My San Francisco Giants went all out to sign reigning AL MVP and lifelong Giants fan, Aaron Judge, but he stayed with the Yankees. As someone who takes the long view, I think committing to a long-term contact with a 31-year-old ballplayer with a history of injuries wasn’t the best idea. There was a staggering amount of money on the table and Judge was only worth it to the Yankees.

In New Orleans, fans are calling for the head of first-year head coach Dennis Allen because of the Saints’ worst start since 2005. I’m not a fan of in-season firings: it’s what shitty organizations do.

The expectations game is funny: Saints fans expect their team to be a winner now. They’ve forgotten the Baghead days of yore:

It increasingly looks as if Dennis Allen is a good defensive coordinator but a bad as well as uncoordinated head coach. Saints fans got used to a head coach who didn’t speak in sports cliches, which is all Allen is capable of. I knew Sean Payton was a hard act to follow but this is ridiculous.

Oh well, what the hell; might as well, might as well.

The last word goes to Split Enz: