Wednesday, July 31, 2013

What a beautiful day to not work.

Unfortunately, unlike some people I know, I had to work today.

Sucks to be me.

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You can click on these links:

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

I am, as always, the proud dad.

My eldest son announced to us yesterday that he had successfully passed what is known as the "NAPLEX". He has one more exam to take on the Massachusetts pharmacy laws and he will become a registered, licensed Doctor of Pharmacy.

By the way, I looked at some of the sample questions for the NAPLEX and I have only one thing to say: "Holy crap, that thing is intimidating!"

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They buried Amy today.

My friend John was asked to lead the procession from the funeral home to the church. I told him that since I know him to be a professional, helpful and kind individual, he would make things easier for them.

And now, life will go on.

It will be a little sadder for all concerned but it will go on none-the-less.

*

Here are some links you might be entertained by:

Monday, July 29, 2013

Long hard day

Not much to say today. I spent most of my day at work and then all evening at a wake for our neighbor, Amy.

There were hundreds of people there and the wait in line was at least an hour and a half. It was mostly kids in their mid-twenties with quite a few of us old folks mixed in.

Her mom and dad are trying their best to hold it together but it's not easy. Their lives will never be the same and I can't imagine how they are going adjust.

I know I couldn't adjust.

So having said all that, I didn't have any time for news searching. That means no links today.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

The Yankees did the Red Sox a favor today.

The Yankees beat the Rays and the Red Sox beat the Orioles. This puts the Red Sox back into first place in the AL East.

Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield....

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These are the links I managed to dig up:

Saturday, July 27, 2013

The Red Sox are no longer in first place

The Rays have taken over first place but it's an interesting first place.

It's an interesting first place because both teams have won 61 games but since the Rays have played one less game than the Red Sox, the Red Sox have one more loss than the Rays.

Of course, the real reason they are no longer in first place is because they aren't touching home plate enough. As a matter of fact, they didn't touch it at all last night when they lost to the Orioles 6-0.

Still, I can't complain too much. Last year at this time they were in last place in the American League East, 11 and 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

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Some of these links are a bit odd. Some of them aren't. You decide:

Friday, July 26, 2013

Still not much to say.

The news is just too damned depressing and I don't feel like reading it.

I'm going to watch the Red Sox and you can click on these links:

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Not a lot to blab about today.

The Boston media is reporting more information about what happened to Amy Lord.

The more I learn, the more I don't understand why we do not have the death penalty.

I understand that some people think the death penalty is not a deterrent but I don't understand why it needs to be a deterrent. Can't it just be a penalty? Can't we just remove these evil people from our species so they won't ever be a problem again?

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You can visit these links if you would like:

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

It's all about perspective.

Sometimes life likes to remind me that all my complaining and dissenting is nothing but B.S. being spewed by a cranky old man. Yesterday was one of those days.

At 5:00am yesterday morning, when I was whining about the humidity, a young lady who grew up three houses down from me, was leaving her apartment in Boston to go to the gym for a workout before heading in to work.

She never made it to work and no one heard from her for the rest of the day. Her family was going out of their minds trying to find her. They were frantic because this was so out of character for her. They went to Boston and spoke with the police. They contacted her friends. I imagine they went to places she might have mentioned to them in the past.

They tried everything they could think of to find their little girl.

At 4:00pm yesterday afternoon, when I was complaining about the potential cost of my electric bill, that young woman's body was found in a park, the victim of a senseless act of violence.

She was 24 years old and she was a good kid. Her mom and dad are the nicest people you will ever meet and I can't begin to imagine what is going on in their minds right now. I can't begin to feel how they feel.

I think I'll stop complaining about things and tell my family that I love them very much.

*

Here's a link or two for you to click on:

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

I woke up this morning in a swamp.

At 4:30, it was 69° and raining. I wasn't terribly uncomfortable but it was starting to get a little thick.

At 6:20, when I stepped out of my shower, it was 74° and it was pouring. I toweled off and remained wet. As a matter of fact, no matter how much I toweled off, I was still wet. It was almost as if someone was spritzing me with a spray bottle.

At 6:45, I stepped out of my damp house into a light steady rain. I brought the trash barrels to the end of my driveway and drove to work in my nice air conditioned car. By the time I arrived, I was dry and comfortable.

At 7:30, my wife sent me a text message that simply said, "AC on".

I love my wife.

I'm going to hate my electric bill but I love my wife.

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In case you haven't heard, some woman in England had a baby.

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Here are a few links that do not contain any information about England or babies:

Monday, July 22, 2013

Another pleasant, not-to-humid kind of day.

Too bad I had to work....

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I looked for some interesting news today but I couldn't find any. It appears that for the first time in the history of the human race, a woman had a baby.

At least it sure seems like it's the first time a woman has ever had a baby because the media hasn't shut up about it since yesterday.

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Here are some links:

Sunday, July 21, 2013

It's still warm but the humidity seems to have abated.

I can live with warm as long as it's not humid. Unfortunately, the inaccurate yet completely full-of-sh!t weather guys all say the humidity is coming back on Tuesday.

At least my AC catches a break until then.

*

Not much to chat about today and the Red Sox are on so how about we just get to some links:

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Ahhh.... Nothing like a nice thunderstorm to make my day.

I have always enjoyed thunderstorms. I would go outside in them but I don't because there's that whole electrocution thing that seems to happen to some people who do that.

I will, however, go out onto my porch. I realize that the screens don't afford any protection from the lightening but I like to think they do.

I like the thump of the thunder and the flash of the lightening. To me, they are like a natural fireworks display.

Wait.... Since fireworks are against the law in Massachusetts I guess thunderstorms are against the law in Massachusetts.

Hey Deval! I dare ya to try to enforce that one!

*

Well, the Red Sox won last night but they lost this afternoon. They still maintain their lead in the American League and they are playing pretty well but today was just one of those days where they couldn't score runs.

All things considered, they stand a chance of at least making it into the playoffs. We'll see what happens after that...

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You can click on these links:

Friday, July 19, 2013

Holy crap, it's hot.

This was the temperature at 7:00 this morning.


This was the temperature at 4:30 this afternoon.

No matter what anyone says, that's freakin' hot.

This is freakin' ridiculous. I'm starting to get seriously worried about how much my electric bill is going to be.

They say that we might catch a break tomorrow when a front moves in and some thunderstorms roll through. I think they are predicting high temps of only 85 or so.

Then again, they are wrong most of the time. I'll wait to see what tomorrow is like tomorrow.

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These links may be of some interest.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Not much of a posting today.

This morning, a dentist took a scalpel, sliced my gum open and drilled a hole into my jawbone. Then he inserted a dental implant.

The procedure itself wasn't too bad but he warned me that I would know that he had drilled a hole into my jawbone as the day went on. He was right.

So the bottom line here is that I don't really feel much like writing.

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While I try to avoid taking any pain meds, you can try these links:

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

I managed to watch four innings of the All Star game.

I got to see Robinson Canoe, one of the last remaining Yankees, get hit by a pitch and limp off the field. I'm betting Joe Giradi had a freakin' heart attack when he saw that pitch hit his last remaining major league ballplayer in the knee.

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Attention NBC News: Edward Snowden is not a whistleblower. A whistleblower does not flee the country and hide in Russia before he releases information. A whistleblower does not seek asylum in a foreign country.

I'm not sure that what he did was wrong but it was definitely against the law. Until he is tried in a court of law, you may call him "alleged traitor" or "alleged treasonous bastard".

Do I think that our government is going down the right path? No. I think our government is a frightening entity that is swiftly and silently turing our country into a police state but I do think that Edward Snowden swore an oath when he took that job and he was told that the data he was reviewing was considered secret.

He broke that oath the minute he started copying data onto thumb drives and carrying it out of the building. He pissed on that oath, and the nation in general, when he released that data to the world.

The penalty for treason used to be death. I'm not sure if that's still true but I won't be surprised to learn that it is.

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Today's links have a theme:

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

And it continues to be hot.

In January, when it's 3 or 4 degrees below zero, we'll be complaining about how cold it is.

But this ain't January.

This is July and it's freakin' hot and it sucks.

*

I watched a bit of the Home Run Derby last night but I can only take Chris Berman and his "backbackbackbackbackback!" crap for so long.

I turned it off, fell asleep around 9:30 and slept straight through until 4:30 this morning when The Dog decided I needed to get up and make the coffee. Oh, and since I was up, he also wanted me to let him out and stand on the porch while he did his business.

I have no intention of watching the entire All Star game. I'll probably watch a few innings but the pre-game starts at 8:00 and that means the real game won't start until 8:30 or so.

I won't make it that long.

*

Here are a few links for you:

Monday, July 15, 2013

Damn, it's hot out there.


Once again, I pledge my lasting thanks and deep gratitude to Mr. Willis H. Carrier, inventor of the modern air conditioner. Without his fantastic invention, I would be nothing more than a damp spot in my recliner.

*

Seems that everyone is all worked up about that Zimmerman guy getting off and hopefully no one does something stupid.

Personally, I don't know what to think. Florida law is not something I'm very well versed on and I'm pretty sure that Zimmerman is a cop-wanna-be. He picked that fight by strapping on a gun and walking around like Barney Fife

Not that I think Martin is innocent in all of this. Seems to me he had that "thug life" attitude but let's face it, that 17 year-old kid would still be alive if that idiotic Zimmerman wasn't walking around with a gun looking for trouble.

There was no good reason for that kid to be dead. None what-so-ever.

He did nothing wrong right up until the moment the two of them started fighting on the sidewalk. Then, it was every man for himself and the kid was the one that showed up without a gun.

To quote Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

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These links may be of interest to you:

Sunday, July 14, 2013

We finally get an early baseball game!

I watched the first two innings and then listened to the next eight innings in my car. I had to drive down to Windsor and retrieve my daughter.  Once I got home, I got to watch the last two innings of this game that the Red Sox ended up losing in the twelfth inning.

Not the best way to go into the All Star break but they are still in first place in the American League.

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While I sit and worry about my electric bill, you can click these links:

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Looks like the humidity is on it's way back

Today may very well be the last comfortable day for a while. According to all the weather people on the three perky yet local stations and the inaccurate yet all-encompassing Weather Channel, we can expect the heat and humidity to start making it's way back in our area tomorrow.

Oh joy.

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In Boston, there is a statue of Bobby Orr, athlete.

In Philadelphia, there is a statue of Rocky Balboa, movie character.

In California, there is a statue of John Wayne, actor.

To my knowledge, there is no statue to Dr. Maurice Hillman, scientist.

There should be statues and monuments all over the world for Maurice Hillman. There should be history courses taught about him and our children should be encouraged to be like him. We should do these things because he probably saved your life and the lives of all your friends and family.

As a species, we tend to worship people who don't do much and we ignore the real heroes.

We should change that.

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You might find these links enjoyable:

Friday, July 12, 2013

It was quiet. Almost too quiet....

My daughter decided to visit her friend in New York this weekend so I suggested her best mode of transportation would be Amtrak. She agreed and her friend said that she would gladly meet her at Penn Station.

I discovered that it was substantially cheaper if she caught the train in Windsor, CT instead of Springfield so I drove her down there this afternoon. She caught the commuter train to New Haven and she is currently sitting in her nice comfy business-class seat on her way to New York City.

But that's not what I came her to tell you.

During the drive down to Windsor, we came over the bridge and started to go by the Bradley airport connector. Suddenly I saw the traffic well ahead of us locking up their brakes and skidding all over the place. And I'm not talking about one or two cars, I'm talking about 20 or 30 cars across three lanes.

As we came up to the area of the disturbance we notice a rather large, and heavily damaged, kayak in the middle of the slow lane, a rather large, and pissed off truck driver standing in front of his truck just past the kayak and a rather small, and embarrassed SUV owner parked in the breakdown lane with one kayak and half a double kayak roof rack on the roof of his car.

This is why I don't work in Hartford.

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Here are some links you might enjoy:

Thursday, July 11, 2013

I don't like living in a sauna.

There isn't a lot of difference between stepping outside into this humidity and getting slapped in the face by a wet bath towel.

Thankfully tonight is destined to be slightly cooler and a little less humid than last night. At least that's what the extremely serious yet vaguely inaccurate weather people at The Weather Channel are saying.

All I know is we finally turned off our AC and I swear I heard my electric meter breath a sigh of relief...

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Despite some recent injuries and a lot of shuffling of players between Pawtucket and Boston, the Red Sox continue to hold their own and maintain their first place position in the American League. This Sunday is the final game before the All Star break and any team heading into the break with a record above .550 is doing pretty damned well.

The Red Sox are currently at .606.

That is a pretty damned good record. As a matter of fact, it's pretty much the same record they had back in July 11, 2007.

In case you forgot, they won the World Series in 2007.

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You can give these links a try if you want:

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Once again, Long Day = Short Post.

I had way too much to do today.

Hell, I didn't even have time to go find links.

Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Long Day = Short Post

Not much to say today so how about some links:

Monday, July 8, 2013

So much for a break in the weather.

I guess the overly-perky yet manly weather guy from WGGB wasn't quite as accurate as my optimism led me to believe.

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Not much time for reading the news today so I can't really be my normally informative self.

How about we just look at some links:

Sunday, July 7, 2013

We may be approaching the end of this weather.

According to the overly-perky yet manly weather guy on WGGB, we might catch a break from the heat and humidity tomorrow or the next day. The guy has been wrong before and I'm sure he'll be wrong again but I'm remaining optimistic.

I'd like this crap to move on.

*

Mariano Rivera, one of the greatest closers of all time announced, that he will be retiring at the end of this season and he wanted to say thank you to the fans of all the other teams. At the start of every away series the the Yankees play, Mo gets to the park a little earlier than usual and mingles with the fans.

At some point, the other teams decided to start giving him "retirement" gifts and earlier this week, the Minnesota Twins gave him what I think is the coolest gift yet.

Immediately following the All Star Break,the Yankees will come to Fenway for the first time this season. I'm hoping the Red Sox manage to make it clear to Mo that he will be missed.

*

The Red Sox lost last night in an 11 inning game and I wasn't awake to see it. As a matter of fact, I was asleep well before the 3rd inning.

And I'm surprised I made it that far.

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Here are today's links:

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Still damned hot and extra humid

I suspect that my wife may be correct and our electric bill is going to be three times what it normally is. But you know what? I don't care.

What I care about right now is that my house remains comfortable enough for us to continue living in it.

I took The Dog for a walk at 9:00 this morning and I looked like I had gone swimming after that little one mile walk.

I don't want to say I'm sweating a lot but I'm kinda hoping this weather comes to an end before I run out of deodorant....

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I did not stay awake to watch any of the Red Sox game last night. Fortunately for me, NESN does a thing they call "Sox In 2" where they rerun the game in a two hour slot the next day.

Right now, the Red Sox are on fire. They are currently at .614 with 54 wins, 34 loses. They have a 2.5 game lead in the American League and a 5.5 game lead in the American League East. The numbers claim they are in second place in all of MLB with a half game separating them from the Pirates but I'm going to disagree with the numbers.

The Red Sox have won 54 games, the Pirates have won 53 games.
The Red Sox have lost 34 games, the Pirates have lost 32 games.
This means that the Red Sox have played 3 more games than the Pirates.

Until the Pirates play those three additional games, I'm going to claim that the numbers lie and the Red Sox are 1 game ahead of them.

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Enjoy these links:

Friday, July 5, 2013

Not a bad day.

I was going to work from home today and it started out pretty well. Then, about half way through the day, I realized that I had a few meetings to attend and should probably head into the office.

So basically, I worked four hours at home and four hours at the office.

And that, my friends, is not a bad way to earn a living...

*

The Dog survived the local Independence Day fireworks celebrations. I think having the windows closed and the AC on managed to dampen the sounds a bit and, while he paced around and drooled a bit, he did not pee anywhere.

At least not that we are aware of.

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Springfield had it's 11th murder yesterday and it's only July 4th. At this rate, they might just top 20 before the year ends.

Once again, this is why I don't go to Springfield.

And I still won't go there even after they build that super-duper, fantastically-fun, free-money-for-everybody! casino that is going to save the city from its pending ruination.

*

So they are having a little coup over in Egypt and I have two things to say about that:

  1. I warned you that the overthrow of Mubarak was probably going to turn out to be a bad thing.
  2. The overthrow of Morsi is illegal.

We may not like the man or the Muslim Brotherhood that he is head of but he was elected by the majority of the Egyptian population and this is no different than if the army walked into the White House, tossed President Obama in jail and put John Boehner in charge.

We should never have backed the overthrow of Mubarak. We should also be staying as far away from Syria as possible but that ain't gonna happen. We just can't keep our opinions, and weapons, to ourselves.

Then again, maybe we aren't too involved over there anyways....

*

I'd like to say that I will be watching the Red Sox this evening but the game doesn't start until 10:00. That's way past my bedtime.

So while I spend my evening surfing through the several hundred cable television channels looking for something that I find interesting, you can click in these links:

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Happy Independence Day.

236 years and 11 months ago, fifty six guys wearing wool tights and powdered wigs in what was probably 90° temps, signed a document that said:
    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Have fun pursuing happiness but whatever you do, don't go near any sparklers. Our state government has made it clear that you are incapable of handling sparklers and they know what is best for you.

I guess you'll just have to celebrate by popping paper bags.

Oh, and the reason I say "236 years and 11 months ago" is because while they declared independence on July 4th, they didn't actually get together and sign the Declaration until August 2nd.

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Despite the fact that it was around 100° at the ballpark today, the Red Sox played baseball and they beat the Padres, taking the series 3-0.

I'm not sure how anyone can play baseball in this kind of weather. Every time the camera zoomed in on either a player or a fan in the stands, it looked like they had just climbed out of a swimming pool.

*

You might want to click on these links while I go cook steaks and stuff:

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Sixty percent ain't bad.

After last nights win, the Red Sox are at .600 which is a baseballeee way of saying they have won 60 percent of their games. They remain in first place in the American League and they are in second place in the MLB behind the Pirates.

All in all, it's been a pretty good first half of the season and hopefully they can continue at this pace past the All Star break.

Let's face it, the All Star break has historically been the point in the season where they collapse into a writhing collection of little leaguer's with no athletic skills whatsoever.

*

We had another retirement announcement today that wasn't mine.

This one is a guy that came to this country from Indonesia to attend college, worked like a dog to get his citizenship, got married and had two sons.

When you look in the dictionary for the definition of "American Dream", you find a picture of this guy.

He's been a friend for 27 years and I'm betting he'll continue to be a friend. We developed a few major projects together, we got sold to another company together and we came back to our current company together.

I'm sensing another retirement party soon....

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You can click on these links if you want:

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Another muggy day.

I don't want to say that it's damp out there but I think algea is beginning to grow in places the algea doesn't normally grow...

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Their persistence is amazing.

Their English, however, is atrocious....

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I found these links:

Monday, July 1, 2013

Fifty wins is pretty damned impressive.

On Sunday, the Red Sox reached fifty wins for the season and they remain in first place in the American League.

As impressive as that sounds, I'm even more impressed by the fact that on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Pirates managed to become the first team to reach 50 wins this season and they are in first place in all of Major League Baseball.

The key statement in that previous sentence is "the Pittsburgh Pirates"....

For the last 10+ years, the Pirates have been the single worst team in all of baseball. And they were the single worst team because as soon as they got a player on their team who was any good, they would trade him for cash. In other words, the ownership treated the team as a slave market and they basically sold their players to the highest bidder.

Then, about three years ago, they started to think about the fact that winning games would bring them as much, if not more, revenue and they decided to not only hold onto their good players, they started actually pursuing free agents.

Now here we are in 2013 and the Pirates not only have the best record in all of baseball, they look like they might just survive the season and make a run at the playoffs. As a matter of fact, I won't be surprised to see them take the National League and play in the World Series.

That, my friends, will be extra impressive.

*

With the Red Sox off tonight, I'll be able to watch some of my recorded shows. I can catch up on what the boys at the pawn shop are doing, what the gang at the storage auction is doing and last, but not least, what goodies the pickers have found.

Or I can fall asleep early and get a good nights sleep.

Either way, you can click on these links if you would like: