The Red Sox are now 6-1 in spring training.

The Red Sox are playing some pretty darned good baseball and they are making me think that they have a great team. Hopefully this is a sign that we can expect an exciting season.

⧫

I got home from work yesterday and got a reminder on my cell that I had a webinar to attend. I had forgotten all about it and since it was one of the presentations I was particularly interested in, I couldn't blow it off. It was a presentation on how to read the aeronautical sectional charts, including some of the more obscure items.

If you've never seen a sectional before, here you go.

The presentation lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. It was scheduled as a one hour presentation but then the two FAA Safety Team guys stayed online for an additional hour taking questions.

⧫

Here are a few links that I managed to find this evening:

• Only in Florida.



• I thought the purpose of flying a drone is so you, the pilot, can remain safely on the ground?



• He is, at the very least, a pretty darned supportive husband.



• I thought the Irish loved incessantly reciting poetry?

Sitting in a webinar this evening

The FAA is teaching me some stuff so I won't be posting anything this evening.

Have a good evening.

The Red Sox are now 4-0

They kinda beat the crap out of the Pirates today.

⧫

Not much to prattle on about today so how about we just get to some links:

• I'm betting doctors didn't worry about stuff like this before the internet.



• 24 carat gold vibrators would be a fantastic name for 1980s punk band.



• If you think about this, you'll see he actually makes a valid point.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.

The Olympics are now over.

I'm hoping that NBCSN, the NBC Sports Network, covers curling again this year.  It was fun finding that on television every once in a while.

I kind of miss the old days when they had shows like "ABCs Wide, Wide World of Sports" where Jim McKay would give a brief intro while we all watched that poor SOB fall of the edge of the ski jump and slam into the ground like a rag doll.

That was a great show that tried to show a lot of different sports like ski jumping and bobsled racing. Seems like all they show on tv anymore are team sports like baseball, football and basketball.

Don't get me wrong, I like watching the team sports but there are ton of other sports going that aren't golf or tennis. It might be interesting to see them occasionally.

⧫

The Red Sox are now 3-0 in spring training and so far, I like what I am seeing from them.

The youngsters seem anxious to get a shot to play and the veterans are playing hard so they don't lose a spot to some hot shot kid.

And that is how it should be.

⧫

We have been collecting quotes on replacing our antique furnace and so far, it looks like we are about to become poor.

Man, those things are expensive.

And the higher the efficiency rating, the more expensive they are.

But what the hell, if you want heat and hot water, you need a decent system. If you want to keep you monthly bills low, high efficiency is the way to go.

We'll see what happens in the spring because the one decision we've made so far is that we are not going to be doing this when the temperatures drop into the thirties at night. No sense freezing our butts off for a day or two when waiting until late May, early June means no freezing.

We like not freezing.

⧫

You can click on these if you like:

• Happy Valentines Day honey! I got you this chocolate-covered card....



• Dianne Feinstein is a joke and the California Democratic Party finally figured it out. Then again, the guy running against her doesn't sound like a reasonable human being either.



• The Broward County Sheriffs Department is looking pretty bad in this.



• Then again, the Mass State Police aren't shining too brightly lately either....

Special Edition!

You get an early morning update today because something special happened last night: The US mens curling team won the Olympic gold medal !!!

I'm pretty sure that is the first time the US, either men or women, has won a gold medal in curling since it was made an olympic sport back in 1998. The men did win a bronze back in 2006 but that was the only other time they medaled.

So now it's time for me to put away my curling enthusiasm and start focusing on the great sport of baseball. I get to watch my first Red Sox game at 1:00 today and I'm hoping I get to see a good game.

Spring training is always interesting because you never know who is going to be playing. I might see a bunch of guys with uniform numbers above 80 out there, stumbling around and looking like a bunch of little leaguers or I might see a field of veterans having a good time and struggling to relearn their skills.

Either way, it'll be fun to watch.

⧫

I'll be back later with my usual update.

←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→

And I'm back.....

Walt and his wife were at the game.

Their seats are located just behind third base and he told me they extended the safety netting well past third. They now sit behind the net and I don't think he's happy about that.

Two baseballs were hit right towards him that normally he would have tried to catch but today, they ended up in the net. He said he doesn't even bring his glove anymore.

Our society has safety nets for everything now.

⧫

Enjoy these links:

• Australia: What doesn't kill ya sets everything on fire.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• This is why they invented the internet.



• Nap time.



• Well, this seems like a really bad idea....



• There just might be hope for our species after all.

The Red Sox are now 1-0

They won todays game against the Twins.

Yes, I paid attention to it on the Game Day thing.

No, I didn't yell at the cartoon batter on the screen.

Tomorrow at 1:00 they play the Blue Jays and then on Sunday the will play the Orioles. I will be watching both games on NESN. Maybe my buddy Walt will be at the game and we'll trade text messages.

⧫

Take a look at these:

• Yes, alcohol was involved. Also Australia



• Yes, alcohol was involved. Also a spoiled rich woman.



• I'm pretty sure I'd stop so I could pour the bleach into my eyes.



• Probably one of those North Korean "journalists".



• We are a bunch of frightened rabbits....

The US mens curling team did it!

They will play Sweden in the Gold medal match on Saturday.

This is kind of exciting....

⧫

Speaking of the Olympics, I found out today that North Korea sent 35 athletes to the Olympics. Those 35 athletes made up the North Korean women's hockey team.

I don't want to say they were bad but they played 5 games of hockey and scored only 2 goals.

But that's not why I bring this up.

I bring it up because along with those 35 athletes, they sent 21 "journalists" to cover them, they sent 140 musicians to entertain them and they sent 229 cheerleaders to cheer them on.

That's a total of 390 people for 35 athletes.

How many of those 390 people where there to make sure none of the athletes decided to stay in South Korea?

I'm betting all of them.

⧫

This whole "let's round 'em up and throw 'em out" thing the feds have been doing is going to cost us all a lot of money.

Trust me, one day you are going to pay $10.00 for a head of lettuce, a quart of strawberries will cost you $20.00 and if you like avocados, you're gonna need a loan.

⧫

The Red Sox played their traditional kick off spring training games against Northeastern and Boston University today. They beat the crap out of Northeastern this afternoon and as I type these, they are leading Boston University 4-0.

The official spring training games start tomorrow when they host the Twins.

The fun begins for me on Saturday when I watch them play the Rays at 1:00 on NESN. I will be sure to offer my sage coaching advice to the new manager, Alex Cora.

⧫

Here are a few links:

• Apparently carrying a "stick" now constitutes being "armed".



• Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.



• Anonymous Masterbator would be a fantastic name for a really weird criminal.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya leaves you stranded on a small island.



• Darn. We missed it.

The men are in but the woman aren't

The US mens curling team made it into third place in the round robin and will play Canada tomorrow. Well, actually tonight since Korea is a 12 hours ahead of us.

If they win that match, they will play in the gold/silver match.

If they lose, they'll play in the bronze match.

The women didn't do so well and ended up in eighth place which means their Olympic curling days are over with for this year.

⧫

Here are some links:

• Oh Canada, dude.



• Only in California.



• Apparently Vietnam is remaking the old Benny Hill shows.



• How can ya have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat!

It's critter time.

The coyotes and fox will be moving around in the near future so keep those cats indoors.

Or not.

I don't really care because I'm not a big fan of cats.

⧫

In the world of Olympic Curling:

The US mens team beat the Swiss team today so they stay alive. They have a match against Britain tomorrow and if they win that, they move on to the semi finals.

The US women lost to the Korean team but they are still in contention. They have one more match tomorrow, also against Britain. If my math is correct, they also need to win that match to stay in contention.

⧫

You can click on these if you want:

• Butt Gold would be a great name for the female lead in a 1970s James Bond movie.



• This story has everything: Florida, alcohol and gas station cuisine.



• I guess I better start drinking.



• ♫One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble♬🎶



• I'm betting anyone that climbed on this thing had to burn their clothes afterwards.

Have I mentioned I like curling.

The US mens curling team beat the Canadians to stay alive in the round robin. If they can win their next two matches, they'll qualify for the semi's.

It would be great to see them in the semi's.

As for the US women, they stand a better chance then the men of making the semi's because they are currently tied for fourth place with Britain. I expect to watch them in the semi's and then in the medal round.

⧫

You should click on these:

• Key phrase in this story: "I’m not a drunk. I’m just Canadian."



• Another reason why I fly a private plane.



• Someone should tell him they sell stuff at Home Depot that'll do the job.



• Only in Florida.



• Key phrase in this story: "...leading police on a short, slow chase and evading arrest while holding a parakeet..."



• Only in Florida.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "10:36 p.m. A man driving on U.S. Highway 93 was tired of being stuck behind another driver so he did what any sensible person would do and just went off road to get around the slowpoke."

Yes, there was curling today

We are in the middle of one of our semi-annual "let's move the furniture around!" weekends and today was the big day for the living room.

I moved the wiring for various entertainment and internet devices to their new locations. Then we moved the furniture to hold said devices. Then we moved the devices themselves.

Next up will be the conversion of the kids playroom back into a dining room.

We'll see how that goes.

⧫

There was curling today.

The US mens team took on the Norwegian mens team and they managed to lose. They are not doing all that well but they are still fun to watch.

Tomorrow the women play and I'm hoping they do better. Even if they don't, they are also fun to watch.

⧫

You can visit these links if you want:

• Australia: What doesn't kill ya beats the crap out of ya.



• Meet the Sagmeister's, the newest members of the A-Team.



• If you feed your dog food, you should read this.

Oh crap, I forgot again

It was kind of a busy day plus there was curling this evening. I clean forgot to post anything.

Here's a couple of links:

• Speaking of curling...



• And i thought we had temperature swings.

I didn't forget

The US Mens Curling Team is doing okay. They are in the middle of the pack at 2-2. Wish I could say the same for the ladies. They are near the bottom at 1-3.

Hopefully they both make it to the semis and then the medal rounds.

⧫

My buddy Walt and his wife have arrived safe & sound in Florida. Next week they will find themselves comfortably seated in Jet Blue Park watching the Red Sox play baseball.

I anticipate text messages letting me know who is playing well and who is struggling.

It's like having my own scout.

⧫

Here are some links you can enjoy:

• Only in Pennsylvania.



• Yet another reason why I fly a private plane.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya impresses the crap out of ya.



• This just in from China where the thieves aren't really all that bright.



• Fashion: There's something wrong with those people....

I forgot

I got wrapped up watching curling and forgot to do this.

Sorry.

I'll try to do better tomorrow.

USA broke even

Japan managed to stomp the US women in curling 10-5 but the US men beat Korea 11-7.

Tomorrow the US men will play Italy and the US women will play Britain. I'm betting the Brits know how to curl since curling is a Scottish sport.

As for the remainder of tonight, there will be some skiing, speed skating and skeleton racing.

I might actually stay awake to watch some of that.

⧫

While I do that, you can do these:

• If you are doing things like this, you have made bad life decisions.



• Only in Florida.



• Also only in Florida.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya goes to school with you.

Canada wins the gold!

I watched the mixed-doubles curling gold match this evening and Canada beat the Swiss soundly.

It was a hell of a match.

Next up will be the national team curling matches. I believe they start those tomorrow.

⧫

While I see what other exciting sports are being shown this evening, you can click on these:

• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• I don't know if this is fake or not but it's funny.



• This is why I never fly with elk.



• There will be a James Bond movie about this soon.

The Swiss say "Okay".

I was watching curling between OAR (aka Russia) and Switzerland today and the Swiss called for a timeout. When a timeout is granted, the curling coach can come down to the ice and give advice to the curlers. During the conversation, the coach kept saying, "Gler-do-flur-by-hur. Okay? Burdy-hurb-dur. Okay?".

I find it kind of funny when someone tosses an American word into their language and they not only use it correctly, they use it liberally.

⧫

I'll be spending my evening watching curling. You can spend your doing whatever you want.

If whatever you want is to visit some links, here you go:

• Pffftttt.... This happens all the time in Connecticut.



• Yes, kids can be annoying but not so annoying you do this.



• The world is filled with slimeballs. Here's one of them.



• This is the most Canadian story I've ever seen.

Taxes are done

Well, most of them are done. I finished and filed our taxes and then we did my daughters taxes.

My youngest has asked for some help with filing his taxes so at some point in the near future, we'll sit down and I'll walk him though how to do them. Since he lives in New Hampshire, he doesn't have a state income tax to worry about.

It's nice to not have any state tax on your income.

Maybe I should move up there.

⧫

NBC is doing a terrible job covering the Olympics.

I don't want to see two people, sitting in a studio, describing how the downhill ski competition, I want to see the downhill ski competition. I don't care about the touching moment between the south and north Koreans, I care about curling, the biathlon, ski jumping and all of the sled racing.

I also don't care about the Finland snowboard coach or the husband of the goalie of the Canadian women's hockey team. I care about watching the sports.

And when they do start to cover an event, they suddenly cut away from it to show something else like figure skating or cross country skiing.

⧫

You can click on these links if you would like:

• I'm amazed this didn't happen in Florida.



• The English have a different take on what they consider "news".



• There are bad dad jokes and good dad jokes. And then there is this asshole.



• Key phrase in this story: "...the man may have been under the influence of narcotics."

It's a good day.

We did our taxes today and or the first time in a long time, we do not have to pay the federal government or the Massachusetts government any additional taxes!

WooHoo!!!

I feel compelled to say, "Thank You President Trump. The changes your administration made to the federal tax code seems to have made my life a little easier."

So anyways, I haven't actually filed them yet because I want to go over them one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything. I wait because every year, I discover that I neglected to claim my Massachusetts tolls or we forgot to deduct a charitable contribution.

If waiting a few days gets me a few additional dollars, I'm all for waiting.

⧫

The other thing that makes this a good day is that I spent a few hours watching curling.

Some of you may remember that I happen to like curling.

One of these days I'm going to find some place around here that has curling and I'm going to give it a try.

⧫

While I channel surf looking for more curling, or maybe some skeleton racing, you can visit these links:

• Key phrase in this story: "Wilson quickly realized he had made a mistake."



• If you're going to attend a catholic school, you better be prepared to be catholiceee.



• Only in Florida.

I visited with friends and had adult beverages

That means I am tired and not in any mood to post a long-winded treatise.

I do, however, want to point out that NASA as made it official. The Tesla Roadster that Elon Musk and his company sent into space is now a registered space object.

⧫

Here's a link or two:

• Add this to the list of things I didn't need to know about.



• Blind Bisexual Goose would be a great name for a 1990s porn movie.

I did not have the day off today

I did, however, have a quarter of a day off. They closed all campuses until 10:00 this morning because of the ice.

For the record I was in my office by 8:30 because my wife wanted to ride in with me and we both had things we wanted to get done.

Still, it was nice I didn't have to be there until 10:00.

⧫

It looks like this weekend isn't going to have any good flying weather. As a matter of fact, the next two weeks are looking kind of crappy for flying weather.

This is not making me happy.

⧫

Here are some links that you can click on:

• Pffftttt....  Rednecks.....



• Key line in this story: "We really would like to have our house back."



• Only in Massachusetts.



• This is almost stupid enough to work...

Have I mentioned that I like my job...

One of the interesting things about working at a college is their tendency to close up shop at the first sign of snow.

I got a text message at 5:30 this morning saying the campus was closed. That means a free, unplanned day off for us working stiffs!

I rolled over and tried to fall back to sleep but it didn't work so I decided to get up because, what the hell, I had the day off and I could take a nap in the afternoon if I felt like it.

As some of you may recall, I like naps.

Also, having the day off in the middle of the week means I could get some stuff done without the hassle of the weekend crowds.

So at 8:00 this morning, I ran over to the barbershop and got my haircut (put on your number 1 and cut it all off!). Then, on my way home, I grabbed a couple of bags of trash from my mother-in-laws house so my wife doesn't have to deal with it later in the week.

When I got home, I sat down and shoved TurboTax into my laptop. I installed the software so it could download all the updates it needed and be ready to go when my final tax forms arrive which I'm hoping will be by Friday.

As for doing my taxes, I have reasonably high hopes that this year we withheld enough from our paychecks & distributions that the government isn't going to bend me over and have it's way with me.

I hate when the government has it's way with me.

⧫

You can visit these links if you would like:

• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• This is what happens when you try to use a curtain rod as a weapon.



• I'm assuming she was the Eagles fan...



• This is why I fly planes. You can't hear anyone over the sound of the engine.

I'm tired

I think I'm taking tonight off.

See you all tomorrow

Well, ain't that a kick in the teeth

The Patriots managed to coach themselves out of a sixth SuperB owl victory last night.

The Eagles played their hearts out for 4 quarters and it was a hell of a good game of football to watch. Unfortunately, the Patriots just couldn't overcome and ended up losing the game.

It is the esteemed opinion of all the Boston talking sports heads that the Patriots were outcoached. Belichick seemed to have made some pre-game decisions that took one of their better defensive backs off the field and it showed.

Everyone is asking why Malcolm Butler didn't play and the only answer they are getting is, "Yea, that was a coaching deicsion."

On top of the Patriots loss, we had a slight stock market issue...

I hope you didn't jump out of the 25th floor of an office building or anything but I'll tell you, the market collapse we saw today was pretty much a Holy Shit! moment.

The DJIA dropped 1,170 points. That just under 5% of it's value.

I'm hoping things turn around but my gut tells me the DJIA is set to drop another 2,000 points over the next few weeks. I've been thinking it's been overvalued for a long time and it's time for a correction.

⧫

While I wallow in my sorrow over the lack of a New England SuperB owl and the loss of all my money, you can click on these links:

• Key phrase in the Only in Florida story: "It sounds funny, you know, but Cheryl was like over 100 bucks."



• When I read this, all I could think of was this.



• If I see anyone wearing these, I am going to stop, point and laugh out loud at them.



• I guess I need to start eating McDonalds fries.



• Hey honey, stick this somewhere for me, will ya...

Time for the SuperB owl.

Kick off is at 6:30 and you can bet I'll be watching.

What is my prediction you ask?

• I predict that Brandin Cooks will be Tom Brady's favorite target during the first half because Amendola and Gronkowski will be double-teamed.


• I predict that both Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski will each make at least one Holy Crap! catch. Hopefully both of those catches result in touchdowns.


• I predict that Dion Lewis will weave, dip and power past defenders for at least 6 first downs and one touchdown.


• I predict that LeGarett Blount will be difficult to contain but Flowers, Jean Francois and Branch will make his job harder than he's used to.


• I predict that Nick Fowles will impress everyone except James Harrison who will knock him on his ass at least twice.


• I predict that Tom Brady will march his team down field at least twice on those famous Patriot touchdown drives.

My prediction? It will be a hell of a game but in the end, the Patriots will come out on top for a sixth SuperB owl win.

I might be wrong but I feel pretty comfortable making that prediction. Let's face it, history is kinda on my side with this one.

Then again, there is this interesting statistic:

Let's hope Brady can overcome that one...

⧫

While me and more than 100 million of like-minded people tune in to watch the SuperB owl, you can click on these links.

Unless of course you are one of those 100+ million.

In that case, keep watching the game. The links will be here long after the game is over:

• I'm betting they all lost some kind of drunken bet they made in some dive bar.



• Apparently Florida does not have "shoot anyone anytime you want" laws.



• Some people need to learn when to shut up.



• Some people need a good beating every once in a while.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya, tries to chop you up in the streets.

No flying for me today

When I got to the airport, the wind was blowing between 12 and 16 knots. For you non-nautical types, that's 14 to 18 mph. But that wasn't the problem, the problem was the wind direction.

The runway at Northampton runs from 140° to 320°. This is known as runway 14/32.

The middle of that arc is 230° and todays winds were varying between about 210° and 250°. This means that no matter which runway direction I used, I had three possible wind components.

I either had a strong direct crosswind, a strong direct crosswind with a small headwind component or a strong direct crosswind with a minor tailwind.

The problem was those possibilities were always in play. The wind direction was changing constantly.

Let's say I was landing on 14 and the wind was 12 knots out of 210°. I would have to fight the crosswind but I would have a slight headwind to provide additional lift. If the wind suddenly changed over to 250°, I would now have a tailwind with no lift and a bitchy crosswind.

If that happened at the right moment, I might land before the runway or end up slamming hard on to the runway surface.

Slamming onto the runway is bad but landing before the runway is even worse.

If I did that, I would hit the runway lights and then bounce off the lip of the runway which would probably collapse the nose wheel. When the nose wheel collapsed, the propeller would strike the ground and bend into a non-propeller shape. This would immediately cause the engine to cease up and probably damage the crankshaft or piston rods.

Assuming I managed to walk away from that debacle, I would then have to explain to my cousin Bob how I managed to destroy one of his perfectly good airplanes because I was too stupid to know that I shouldn't fly in those kinds of wind.

I like to think I'm not too stupid.

⧫

Here are some more stats about this never-ending stream of garbage I spew out every day:

As you can see, Firefox has overtaken Chrome as the preferred browser. And despite Microsofts best efforts to piss off it's customers by filling their operating system with an incredible amount of bloat, Windows remains dominant.

⧫

Enjoy these links:

• This radio guy ranks right up there with the Hindenburg radio guy.



• Maybe I should move there and become citizen #2.



• Only in Florida.



• It's nice of them to publish a "how-to" manual.



• I remember my buddy Tony saying he wanted to do this to our high school shop teacher.

We're poor...

Everyone who had money in the market is poor.

The DJIA was down 2.5% today. That's more than 600 points in one day.

That's a lot of points.

Might be a good time to buy some more stock...

⧫

I've scheduled an airplane tomorrow so if the weather holds and the wind isn't too bad, I'm going flying.

On Sunday, I'll be watching television and enjoying all the funny television commercials leading up to the SuperB owl.

Oh, and I'll also by offering my sage coaching wisdom to the Patriots in the hopes that they can overcome the vaunted defense of the Eagles.

And speaking of the Eagles, if you haven't seen this yet, you should watch it now:

It's gonna be a good weekend.

⧫

Enjoy these links:

• Knob Throwing would be a great name for a 1980s porno movie.



• Check out her tweets in the picture gallery.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• Personally, I think the TSA should hire her as a consultant to test their security.

Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money!

My paycheck arrived in my bank account this morning and my net pay was a bit higher. This is because the new tax codes lowered my tax burden.

Thanks President Trump.

⧫

Here are some links:

• If you need any more proof that our species is insane, here you go.



• Fake Pizza and The Big Bear would be a good name for a children's coloring book.



• This guy just raked in $10,000,000 on a whim.



• It's a shitty job but someones gotta do it.