They're back...

Back in November, I noticed a drastic drop in the amount of junk email I was receiving. The main reason for the drop was the shutdown of a scam gang out of India. Well, that and the fact I logged into my ISP's email server and created a filter to block all email from the annoying Trump people.

So for the last four months, I have enjoyed almost no junk mail. And by "none", I mean only three or four emails a day.

Today, it looks like someone has launched a new mail server and has decided to let me know about all the great things they have for me:

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The stock market collapsed again today, dropping another percentage point.

This puts the market decline almost 5% since Trump took office.

I sure hope it doesn't continue to drop like a stone because I like being retired and I really don't want to go back to work...

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The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays this afternon and I got to watch it.

NESN didn't cover the game. Instead, they carried the Blue Jays coverage and I gotta tell you, those guys are really good.

They are not "homers" and they did analysis on several of the Red Sox players that was fair and just as knowledgeable about the players as the NESN commentators usually are.

Don't get me wrong, I would have liked to see them win but at least I got to watch them play.

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The Bruins are playing the Hurricanes this evening, so I have some entertainment.

Here are some links:

• I don't think they'll trade him. Then again, what the hell do I know.



• Oops.



• Key line in this story: "...the woman was transported for medical evaluation and was going through a crisis..."



• Attention everyone: If you are stupid enough to eat a seven pound hamburger, you deserve to suffer terrible gastro-intestinal distress.



• None of these sound tasty.



• Suddenly all the anti-vaxers are getting vaccinated.

Another win

And by "another win", I'm talking about the Red Sox. The Bruins lost last night, getting beat by the Predators 6-3.

So anyways, the Red Sox beat the Rays 4-2 this afternoon and according to the talking heads on the radio, it was a good game.

Tomorrow they take on the Blue Jays and not only will Criswell get the start, I'll get to watch it because NESN is carrying the game.

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I have been repairing the grout on our kitchen floor and my knees are not happy with me.

The floor was installed about 20 years ago and it was time to clean up the grout. Fortunately we had saved the leftover grout and stored it in a nice dry place so it was perfectly good.

I scraped some bad spots on the grout, chipped of some terrible spots and basically got the stains off the old grout. Then I mixed up a batch of fresh grout and spent the next few hours filling in low spots, patching holes and covering stained areas.

As things stand right now, the grout looks good and I am letting it cure for the next few days. Once it cures, we'll seal it with grout sealer and it should be good for another 20 years.

My knees, however, won't be good for another 20 years. Right now, I'm hoping for another 20 days...

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Here are some links:

• Alto Mayo and The Blob-Headed Catfish would be a good name for a 1980's high school garage band.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• Key line in this story: "This one decided to jump on board and say hello."



• Apparently the people of Wales know how to party.



• Only in Florida.

Insert Interesting Title Here

Not much going on in the world, just some small things like Trump & his 25 to 30 percent price increase on everything we buy, Trump & his chaotic dissolution of the federal government, Trump handing Ukraine over to Psycho Vlad and Trump demolishing the first amendment.

If anything interesting does happen, I'll be sure to let you know about it.

Oh, and since New England gets the majority of its gasoline via a pipeline directly from a refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, the current prediction for the tariff-driven increase in gasoline prices in New England is about 70 cents a gallon (25% of 2.89 is .72) so we got that to look forward to...

To quote Warren Buffet (no relation to Jimmy) regarding Trumps tariffs: "Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the tooth fairy doesn’t pay ’em!"

Oh, and there's also this:

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We switched trash haulers the other day and it appears our old hauler is not happy about that.

Basically, we cut our monthly bill in half by going with another hauler. We called our old hauler and told them we were cancelling our service and could they come pick up their barrels.

That resulted in numerous phone calls from their customer service telling us that we were long-term customers and they would like to keep our business by offering us a "loyalty discount". When we told them their "loyalty discount" was more than our new hauler was charging us, they kinda seized up and that was the end of the calls.

What I wanted to point out is the whole "loyalty" thing.

Loyalty is the act of being loyal.

The word loyal has two distinct definitions: 1) faithful in allegiance to one's lawful sovereign or 2) faithful to a private person or cause to whom faithfulness is due

Trust me, I'm not loyal to any trash hauler. I owe no allegiance to them and I have never made any vow of faithfulness to them.

If anyone in this relationship needs to be faithful and loyal, it's the trash hauler. As a customer, I should not have to bargain with them for pricing.

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My two favorite baseball teams faced off against each other this afternoon when the Pirates hosted Red Sox.

Once again, the Red Sox team that took the field was basically a minor league team and they still managed a pretty good showing against the Pirates. I saw a guy named Eaton, who used to be a minor leaguer for the Royals and is now a minor leaguer for the Red Sox, hit himself a spring training grand slam.

He seemed very excited when he hit it.

So anyways, the Red Sox beat the Pirates 12-4 this afternoon.

Tomorrow they take on the Rays and since they are at home, I suspect the MLB Red Sox will take the field. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the game will be televised so I'm going to have to listen to it on the radio.

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As for the Bruins, they have fallen pretty far out of contention:

This evening they face off against the Predators and I hope they win.

I mean, it won't help them much but it's better than watching them lose.

Puck drops at 7:05.

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Here are some links:

• I guess "respiratory insufficiencies" is the new modern way of saying he couldn't breath?



• Jolene's boyfriend has passed away.



• It's only a matter of time before something like this happens in the U.S. Capital.
  And for the record, I would laugh like hell if it did.



• Well, if she was coming back from Mexico, it's a good bet it came from Mexico.



• It looks nothing at all like a wooly mammoth.



• Apparently Musk bombed Poland last month.



• Gotta be honest with you, it's probably better for us if China owns them than it is for Blackrock to own them. Blackrock will figure out how to raise prices to the point where everything that passes through the canal gets a 100% price increase

First tie of camp

After being down 5-0 through six innings, the Red Sox managed to come back and tie todays game against the Orioles. The final score was 6-6.

Since the Red Sox team on the field was basically the Worcester Red Sox and the Orioles fielded their MLB lineup, that's not bad.

I'm getting excited about this team...

Tomorrow they take on the Pirates and NESN is once again carrying the game. First pitch is at 1:05

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Key line in this story:

"All the fracking and all the oil and gas we make here in the United States – or most of it – is a lighter crude that a lot of American refineries don’t process."

Someone needs to make a shitload of stickers of Trump pointing up with the caption, "I did that!" so we've got something to stick on all the gasoline pumps like they did with Biden.

Not only is his arrogance going to cost us a lot of money, it's going to get a lot of people killed.

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Here are some links:

• Isn't this the guy who said vaccines are bad.



• China: It's not like where we live...



• This has got to be the worst box score I've ever seen.



• Couldn't he just have objected to the union?



• We need to vote her out of office.



• People like this deserve to be hit in the face with a chair.



• Yet another case of vehicle violence.

Another win

The Red Sox managed to hold off the Mets and take a 6-4 win this afternoon.

Yes, Walt was at the game.

No, he did not manage to get his face on camera.

Yes, I was able to watch the game by downloading the NESN360 thingee and logging in with my cable account.

Tomorrow they take on the Orioles and it looks like the game will be on NESN so I should be able to watch it on my television instead of my laptop.

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As for the Bruins, with last nights win they managed to creep up a notch in the standings:

Unfortunately, they managed to lose 1-0 to the Wild this afternoon and keeping them two out of the wildcard.

So much for getting back into contention...

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Here are some links:

• If you are a football fan, you need to watch this.



• I guess no one is immune.



• They could probably save a few million dollars by stopping the daily 'Get your free MassSave energy audit!' mailer I get in my mailbox almost every day.



• Remember what I said about Trump and psycho Vlad yesterday...



• Oh King of Canada.



• If you are a resident of Florida, you need one of these.



• I'm thinking I might just get all my news from The Onion.