Xenophobia, homophobia, Obamaphobia. I’m sick to death of the news.

I’m at that threshold again, people. I’M SICK TO DEATH OF THE NEWS. As of 3:45 this afternoon I’ve had my fill of Iraq, Afghanistan, al Qaeda, the NRA, Benghazi, Congress, the Tea Party, Bowe Bergdahl, John “Let’s Go to War” McCain, Cliven Bundy, Duck Dynasty, Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Turd Cruz, Pat Robertson Fox News, Open Carry Texas, right-wing outrage, Operation American Spring, 51 attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, “persecuted” Christians, xenophobia, homophobia, Obamaphobia, George Will’s big mouth and his twisted views on rape, low-information voters, anti-science/anti-vax lunatics putting the entire planet at risk and morons threatening daily to overthrow the United States government because a man of color had the gall to win two national elections and move into the White House. Enough already.

Therefore, in an effort to snap out of my funk today I: 1) ordered a box of cheapo AA batteries and a refrigerator water filter replacement from Amazon; 2) enjoyed a magnificent three-hour nap; 3) canceled our broken email accounts with Network Solutions and got a refund; 4) shut down my Chase MasterCard to prevent Web.com from scamming me; and 5) sent Sam to Costco for all of our regular essentials, including teeny tacos, tamales, cashews, pasta salad, hard-boiled eggs and salsa.

In case you need additional information, the water filter replacement pictured above is a fantastic “generic” that’s compatible with the OEM filter for our GE Profile refrigerator. The GE filter costs $45.95; the generic is only $16.66 with free shipping. (This is the third time I’ve reordered. You should stop buying name-brand filters IMMEDIATELY.)

Also, concerning item 4 about shutting down my Chase MasterCard, for the last ten years on the first of every month Web.com has billed me automatically for website hosting, anywhere from $250 to $300 depending on how many clients I’ve got. This is supposed to change on July 1 because I’m retired now and recently submitted signed Account Ownership Transfer Agreement forms from all of my clients — which transfers the financial responsibility to them — but judging from a series of disappointing past experiences I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE WHATSOEVER that Web.com’s billing Einsteins actually realize they’re not supposed to charge me any more for these 14 websites. So, rather than get into another shouting match I just closed down my MasterCard. Which I really didn’t use for anything else, anyway.

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We had a little hoo-hah around here earlier today. It’s a few minutes after 9 and Sam and I are hanging out in the study talking and and drinking coffee, and THE DOORBELL RINGS. We’re not expecting anybody but Sam goes to the door and it’s Tim, leader of the glass people, ready to dismantle and repair the shower door in our master bathroom [see previous post]. The problem is, our appointment is for tomorrow, NOT TODAY, so Sam tells him we don’t want anybody in the house right now and he should come back in the morning. I’m absolutely positive this was screwed-up by Clayton, the hapless leader of the grout people, who tried unsuccessfuly SEVEN TIMES to fix the mess he made at the beginning of March and eventually had to bring in shower glass professionals at his own expense. Stay tuned for an update after they finish up tomorrow. I’ve already decided that NOBODY WILL BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE UNTIL OUR SHOWER IS PERFECT. I’m not joking about this, either.

I hope you and yours have a very pleasant evening.