"A good listener is usually thinking about something else." - Kin Hubbard

I started the day with such optimism. Pam's back home, the daily highs are finally down in the 90's, and the regular refs are back. We had b'fast and she left for work. I did a few tasks for Sunday and left for my ride about 7:30. I'm back to feeling comfortable on the bike and did 12 miles at a reasonably brisk pace.

On a Thursday I can't focus on anything until the sermon is written, so after a shower I set down to get that done. I'll spend lots of time with it before Sunday morning but by noon that was done.

Note: I start studying Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, so it's not like I start and finish the process on Thursdays. Also, "written" means a half-page of notes in the form of an outline, the framework from which I speak extemporaneously.

After lunch things went south. I got the electric choke installed on the Rambler and after some head scratching connected it to the circuit that powers the brake lights.
BUT IT DOESN'T WORK RIGHT.
The linkage hangs up - at least I think that's the problem. The choke plate doesn't move freely like it should. I have no idea how to proceed. None.
I spent two hours trying to figure it out and then had to walk away. Too much frustration.

So I went over to work on the VW. More trouble. The rubber for the driver's side wind wing is too long, and it has a very complex profile, making trimming it tricky. I also discovered that one of the guides is broken. Wolfsburg West carries a reproduction for that guide but it's a $35 piece.

So I did some reading and then went to the gym where I tortured my body, taking out my frustrations through excessive exercise. If I'm going to be in mental agony I may as well bring my body along for the ride.

VelocityTV (cable channel) has started a series on the Isle of Mann motorcycle time trials. I watched the first episode during dinner, an episode that featured the motorcycles with side cars. Don't think the retro-looking things you sometimes see on the road. These are high-tech machines with aerodynamic bodies and a platform, called a "chair," that the rider sits on, throwing himself from side to side to counter the effects of cornering, similar to what you see on a racing sailboat. All of this at over 150 mph. Looks suicidal.

I've all but checked out of national news. It's dominated by election coverage and trouble in the Middle East. Both are depressing. I've all but decided neither of the presidential candidates even qualifies as the lesser of evils and the outcome is beginning to look predictable.

I watched most of the Thursday night football game on the NFL channel. One of the announcers - the annoying one - used a phrase I hadn't heard before so I Googled it. I don't think it means what he thinks it means, and I'm guessing that during the next commercial break someone told him that.
I'd love to have seen his reaction.
"Really?? It means that?! No, it doesn't really...does it? Really?"
We've all done it - innocently said something really, really bad and learned about it later.
Next time you can take comfort in knowing you didn't do it on national TV where millions heard it.