Day: August 18, 2020

Chip Off The Old Blockhead

Fandango35 Comments

When I woke up this morning and opened up WordPress in my browser, this is what I found.

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So I immediately invoked the Classic block and started writing. It looked familiar and I thought to myself, hey, this ain’t as bad as I thought it would be.

I started writing my first post using the Classic block of the Block Editor and things were progressing, although it was taking me longer to do what I wanted to do, from creating links to imbedding images. Then this happened.WTF WordPress? You’re forcing me to use the Block editor and when I try to use the Classic block, I encounter an error and my draft has disappeared. Really?

So I started over and, after a half an hour of composing something that should have taken maybe five minutes, I got another “block has encountered an error” error message. Are you fucking kidding me?

I shut down my iPhone and reopened my blog using the “wp-admin” extension and then clicked on “Add New” under “Posts,” and arrived here.

Different from the normal Classic editor in the browser, but familiar enough to proceed. And proceed I did.

Now, after taking way more than hour to write a post that would have taken me ten minutes to write yesterday, I’m giving serious consideration to cutting down on the frequency of posting, dropping some of my prompts, or even shutting down “This, That, and the Other.” If this is what it takes to keep my blog going, it just may not be worth it. The thrill is gone.

Truthful Tuesday — The Apprentice

Fandango12 Comments

Truth

For his Truthful Tuesday prompt this week, PCGuy asks…

Is there something that you like or love now that you used to dislike, hate, or at the very least, have no opinion of before? Or perhaps there is something you now dislike, hate, or maybe even loathe that before you liked, loved, adored, or at least had no opinion of? In either case, or both cases if you so choose, what changed your mind?

I am ashamed to admit it, but when American reality television program, “The Apprentice,” starring Donald Trump, first aired on NBC in January 2004, I was a fan.

In that show, Donald Trump would judge the business skills of a group of contestants. Yes, I used to enjoy watching the hapless contestants vie for Trump’s approval and do his bidding in order to avoid getting fired. I even enjoyed Trump’s “You’re Fired” catch phrase.

Little did I know how far from “reality” that “reality television” show actually was. It was contrived to feed Donald Trump’s ego; to make him appear to be a competent business man and a good judge of talent. Sheesh, how naive I was.

So, to answer PCGuy’s question truthfully, I used to like Donald Trump when he hosted his reality show. Now I can’t think of anyone I loathe more than Donald Trump, who apparently believes being President of the United States is one big TV reality show and whose only goal is to get high ratings.

A Little Trump/Pence Humor

Fandango15 Comments

56B65CCB-8E9D-4D53-9A33-5C535F1B9D64 Donald Trump is meeting with Queen Elizabeth. He asks her, “Your Majesty, how do you run such an efficient government? Are there any tips you can give to me?”

“Well,” says the Queen, “the most important thing is to surround yourself with really intelligent people.”

Trump frowns. “But how do I know the people around me are really intelligent?”

The Queen takes a sip of tea. “Oh, that’s easy,” she says. “You just ask them to answer an intelligence riddle.”

The Queen pushes a button on her intercom. “Please send Boris Johnson in here, would you?”

The Prime Minister walks into the room. “Yes, my Queen?”

The Queen smiles. “Answer me this, please, Boris. Your mother and father have a child. It is not your brother and it is not your sister. Who is it?”

Without pausing for a moment, Boris answers, “That would be me.”

“Yes! Very good,” says the Queen.

Back at the White House a few days later, Trump asks to speak with Vice President Mike Pence.

“Mike, answer this for me,” Trump says. “Your mother and father have a child. It’s not your brother and it’s not your sister. Who is it?”

“I’m not sure,” says the Vice President. “Let me get back to you on that one.”

Mike Pence goes to his advisers and asks every one, but none can give him an answer. Finally, he ends up in the men’s room and recognizes Anthony Fauci’s shoes in the next stall.

Pence shouts, “Doctor, can you answer this for me? Your mother and your father have a child and it’s not your brother or your sister. Who is it?

Fauci yells back, “That’s easy. It’s me!”

Pence smiles. “Thanks, Doc,” he says, and he returns to the Oval Office to speak with Trump.

“Mr. President,” Pence says, “I did some research and I have the answer to that riddle. It’s Anthony Fauci.”

Trump gets up, stomps over to Mike Pence, and angrily yells into his face, “No, you idiot! It’s Boris Johnson!”

Fandango’s Dog Days of August #18

Fandango16 Comments

Fandango’s Dog Days of AugustDo you need a muse to get your creative juices flowing during these hot, sultry days of August? Try a dose of Fandango’s Dog Days of August prompt.

At 6:00 am Pacific time each day this month, I will be posting a new theme. Today’s theme is “your first love.” No matter how old we are or how long ago it was when we first fell in love, we always remember our first love.  Share a story, a poem, a photo, a drawing, some music, or whatever you wish to share about your first love.

If you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FDDA, and create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.

And, of course, take some time to read the other responses to this prompt. See how other bloggers are coping with the dog days of August.

5 Things — My Favorite Sandwiches

Fandango19 Comments

5things Dr. Tanya has this prompt called “5 Things,” where she asks us to list five things about a particular topic. Her latest topic is our five favorite sandwiches.

In no particular order of favoriteness, mine would be:

  • Grilled Reuben sandwich — a grilled sandwich composed of corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing, grilled between slices of rye bread.4CD2CC54-7EDE-4E01-84BA-78F9C9BA56CC
  • Philly Cheesesteak — thinly sliced pieces of beefsteak and melted cheese in a long hoagie roll, often with grilled onions and sometimes mushrooms.6947A888-8BE6-4426-A7F2-4AAAC218D133
  • French Dip — a hot sandwich consisting of thinly sliced roast beef on a “French roll” or baguette. It often has Swiss cheese, onions, and a dipping container of beef broth produced from the cooking process.BECF8452-B4DC-4F71-8226-0836AA91212A
  • Tuna Fish sandwich — a sandwich made from canned tuna, typically made into a tuna salad by adding mayonnaise, and sometimes other ingredients such as sweet pickle relish, chopped celery, or chopped onions. I like mine on whole wheat toast with Swiss Cheese.113DFE7B-DC5E-4AB6-94B6-CE03ADBB7F49
  • Bacon Cheeseburger — a hamburger on a bun topped with cheese and two slices of bacon. Can include lettuce, sliced tomato, and sliced onion. I like mine cooked medium rare.55E7218E-F13D-405A-ABF0-EDD0FC5DAFC3