BattleBots, Pogroms, and a New Blender - It Was A Busy Thursday

I hope all of you had an excellent St Patrick's Day. I baked my corned beef on Wednesday, and DH purchased another one on Thursday, boiling it late in the afternoon to eat that night. Both versions were quite tasty (we each tried a bit of the other's). We each had side dishes that we wanted - he had some really lovely baby potatoes, I had a large salad. Each of us were quite happy with the meal, and then we dove into watching the first battles in the "round of 32" on "BattleBots". Gotta love us some robot fighting - LOL. 

DH and I love to watch BattleBots, and this year they 
have fans in the stands once again (last year, with the 
pandemic, they only had the members of the other teams 
cheering on the competition). It's as fun as ever and the 
fan favorites are still here and doing well - Witch Doctor, 
Huge, and many other exceptional robots. It's always a 
good time, and we're now in the playoffs rounds. 

I've heard good things about the speech that Arnold Schwarzenegger made yesterday. I didn't hear it, so I'll look it up because I'm sure it's somewhere on-line. DH was very complimentary about it, and he's not really a fan. CNN also has spoken highly of it. Putin's speech, on the other hand, which I did hear, reminded me of the pogroms that happened last century - racial and area cleansing - totally frightening and completely insane. I have to wonder why anyone would sign up or even mention "self-cleansing". The term sends shivers up my spine - echoes of WWII. 

Are you familiar with the term "pogrom" that I'm using 
in the paragraph above? Here's a good article about the 
history of the term and how pogroms were focused on 
the Jewish population of Russia from the later 1800's 
through into the 20th Century. It's my Jewish side 
pushing through again, that I immediately thought of 
pogroms when I heard Putin's speech. 
https://www.thoughtco.com/pogrom-the-historic-background-1773338

I really wonder what China will do now. President Biden will be talking with Xi Jinping later today. So far, China has supported Russia. But will they continue to do that? China gets a lot of trade from the US, but also from Ukraine and Europe. Russia doesn't have a lot of trade with China. Xi did not support Russia in several very public occasions lately - the Security Council of the UN for example. It's possible that Xi Jinping is pulling away from his tacit Russian support, although he's not ready to pull away completely ... yet. Still, the world seems quite united in their hatred of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. If China comes on board, it may be the tipping point needed. 

I ended up ordering a Wolf Hi-Performance 
blender. The main reason was the "smart" base 
that Vitamix has on their hi-end blenders. I kept 
reading review after review that this system has 
all kinds of problems. So, after several hours 
of research over several months, I made the
final decision and bought the Wolf instead. It's a
power demon, so should do well with my
raw veggies. 

After a lot of research, and balancing Vitamix against Wolf, I decided to order the Wolf. The warranty is shorter, but I'll live with that. I think that it's best suited for my use. It has the 64 oz carafe I need (although Vitamax also had a 64 oz carafe) and I can buy replacement carafes if needed. I'm pleased with my choice. It's a big expense, but I've been saving up for it. It's a heavy guy - 13 pounds - but I'm really looking forward to it. I assume the clear Gorilla Tape I've put on the carafe of my current Ninja will hold for at least one more batch, maybe two, but I'm not counting on much more than that. A professional version of a blender is a necessity for my Ogre Juice. 

The one thing I haven't done is supply an exterior 
storefront photo to Etsy. I might add that to the 
documentation today, just in case. It can't hurt to be 
thought of as "real" and "serious". LOL

So, it's a bit of a depressing post today, but there is an undertone of hope. Etsy asked for more documentation, which I sent off yesterday morning, so things should be moving again soon. I sent a bunch of stuff to them. If you're checking us out, it should be at StormcloudTradingCo on Etsy. Hopefully - LOL. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. Peace!