The leaves are falling

I broke out my leaf blower yesterday to clear off the back yard.

I probably should have done it again today but I didn't feel like.

I went and got my flu shot instead.

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All of the talking heads in the media are in a tizzy about The Very Stable Genius tearing down the East Wing of The White House but they aren't really saying anything other than, "HE'S TEARING DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE!!!". So I got a little curious about what was happening and here's what I found.

I went on to google maps and found that there is a nice street view of the White House. This is the street view of the East Wing:

I guided my street view inside the building (yes, google street view went into the White House) and found this:

That commemoration plaque states that the East Wing was constructed in 1942. For the record, the United States was deeply involved in World War II while this was being constructed.

The bottom line here folks is that Trump is knocking down a small piece of what is formally known as "The White House Complex" and replacing it with god only knows what.

No, he is not tearing down a major portion of the White House and it certainly isn't a cultural or historical piece of the White House. It's basically extra office space that is used by the First Lady.

Everybody needs to relax and get over it. It's not the end of the world. Once it's done and we finally see what it looks like, then we can get all up in arms but until then, just relax.

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I've decided that if the Bruins lose tonight, it's because Lindholm is still out.

The way I look at it, he went down on the 9th while playing the Blackhawks. They won their next game against the Sabres (who really suck, by the way) but they've lost every game since then.

No Hampus, no win.

He is a very good defensman and they need him back.

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Here are some links:

• If they offer him a contract that makes him a Red Sox for the rest of his career, I'll be happy with that.



• Spiders: They aren't dumb.



• Maybe this is why I'm getting a lot less spam lately.



• If this kid is let back out on the street, we should all prepare to defend our homes and our families. There is no reason this kid should be walking around free.



• Their slogan used to be, "No One Out-Pizza's The Hut!"



• I have never been to Wyomissing PA and now I definitely don't want to go there.

They aren't doing well

The Bruins are not doing great.

They were down 2-0 going into the third period and made a great comeback, taking a 3-2 lead. Problem is the Panthers also made a great comeback and beat the Bruins 4-3.

They played great hockey but the hockey gods are not smiling on them.

Their next game is Thursday against the Ducks. Puck drops at 7:00.

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Last year at this time the Patriots were 1-6 and in last place in the AFCEast. Today they are 5-2 and in first place in the AFCEast.

Quite a change from last year.

Hopefully the alleged experts are right and the Patriots roll over the Browns this Sunday.

Sorry about the mid-week football update but the Patriots are really the only sports team I follow that is doing good right now.

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Here are some links:

• Once again, The Very Stable Genius lied about his intentions.
  (Why do I have a feeling it's going to be some gaudy gold-leaf embarrassment when he's done.)



• I also hope his best friend makes a come back next season.



• Can you people please stop using "AI" to make decisions. It's great at being artificial but it sucks at intelligence.



• If I recall correctly, when Biden was in office this happened at least once a month.



• If you're planning a trip to Seaside Oregon, don't plan on going swimming.



• Psycho Vlad is blowing up kindergartners.

It's a wonderful time of the year

It's that time of the year for us Medicare people to figure out what plan we want to sign up for. Yay!

If there is one thing I know, it's that I don't know shit about health insurance options. And neither does anyone else. We are all just grabbing whatever insurance is going to cost us the least amount of money while giving us the coverage we want.

I am fortunate in that my previous employer offers me several retiree health care options so I have choices. My wife is also covered under that retiree offering so we both have the same options.

I go for the Medicare Advantage plans because I don't really have any medical issues. Yes, that will change in the future but right now, I don't have any prescriptions and I don't have any chronic problems.

In 2024, my plan of choice was a PPO that was free to me. In 2025, they added a $19 monthly premium and I didn't think that was too bad so I stuck with them. This upcoming year (2026) they have increased that premium to $29. That's $348 per year and it seems kind of excessive to me because the same carrier offers a HMO plan that offers all of the same coverage as long as I stay in-network with a zero dollar premium.

Since the "in-network" includes my current doctor, my wifes current doctor and all the hospitals in the area, I guess we're leaning towards the HMO.

All I really know is that my wife, The Professor, spent a large amount of time doing compares on all the options available to us and that was very helpful. Add to that a Zoom session with the insurer and we have finally made up our minds.

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After that it was a two hour presentation at the library called "Mysterious Massachusetts" that my wife talked me into going to.

It was supposed to be an hour but no one told the woman doing the presenting and she went on for two hours.

You want to know what I know? I know that there is nothing "mysterious" about Massachusetts and all of the odd things about Massachusetts, like Lizzie Borden or the Salem Witch Trials, don't warrant a two hour lecture.

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Once we were home and settled in, I flipped on the ALCS game and thoroughly enjoyed watching the Mariners beat up on the Blue Jays.

Then, in the 5th inning, when the score was 3-1 in favor of the Mariners, I went to bed, thinking that all was well with the world.

When I woke up this morning I found out that the Blue Jays won the game 4-3 because Springer hit a 3-run homer in the 7th.

Oh well.

So now the World Series is set. The Ohtani's will be going to Canada to play the first two games against the Blue Jays.

I'm not really rooting for either team...

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Today I spent an hour resetting and reloading software onto a corrupted AppleTV device for The Vet and her animal clinic. That was followed by lawn mowing and leaf clearing. Once the lawn as mowed, I set about attempting to add a drive to my online server that I could use as a timemachine backup device.

That did not go well at all.

I actually got it to work and was very pleased with myself until I saw that the estimated time to backup my laptop was going to be 20 hours.

That seemed like an excessive amount of time so I'm guessing I screwed something up.

I'll probably play with it again tomorrow because I've reached my "messing with technology" limit.

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Yes, the Bruins are playing tonight.

No, I don't want to talk about their recent losses.

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Here are some links;

• All you 25 year old guys should stay out of Michigan.



• Researchers: Please just stop with the research.



• Good job everybody.



• I'm betting Musk is pissed.

Busy

We had several things to do today that took up all of my time.

It is now 8:40 and I'm watching baseball.

That means no posting for today.

Excellent win

The Patriots played a good game of football today. Maye threw 23 passes for 21 completions and 2 touchdowns. That's a completion rate a little better than 90% which is a pretty good completion rate.

Oh, and he also ran 8 times for a total of 62 yards.

And Rhamondre Stevenson must have gotten some pretty good coaching over the last few weeks because he had a death-grip on the football whenever he got it in his hands and did not fumble once in 18 carries.

In the end, the Patriots beat the Titans 31-13 and are now 5-2 on the season.

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The Louvre started its life as a fortress built in the 12th century. In 1793, it became a museum. That was 232 years ago.

You would think that after 232 years of operation, they would know how to stop three guys with a ladder from breaking in during business hours and stealing stuff.

Just proves that arrogance, overconfidence and stagnation will absolutely cause you to screw up.

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The Mariners and the Blue Jays will play game six tonight at 8:00.

The Mariners are up 3 games to the Blue Jays 2 so if the Mariners win tonight, they move on to the World Series and will play the Dodgers.

That means the World Series will be a west coast world series and I probably won't be staying awake to watch very much of it. And what I will be awake for kinda is in direct competition with the Bruins game.

Go Mariners!

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Speaking of the Bruins, they are playing the Mammoths (formerly known as The Utah Hockey Club) at 7:00 tonight so I should be able to watch the entire game.

I find it kind interesting that they decided to stop calling themselves the Hockey Club and went with the Mammoths. Are there a lot of mammoths wandering around Utah?

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Here are some links:

• It's only a matter of time before we have no allies.



• I wonder what Liberty was singing?



• Between Musk's exploding rockets and Bezos flying penis, I won't be surprised to find out one of them has something to do with this.



• Speaking of Musk and Bezos...



• What are they going to do with 200 stuffed animals?