Many things going on

We are rapidly entering the holiday season.

My wife decorated some of the house this afternoon leaving me with a minimal amount of decorating which I will do this weekend. Then it's just a matter of cutting down a perfectly good tree, decorating it like a French hooker and standing it up in our living room.

After that, it's time to shop because if I don't have anything for my wife, I will never hear the end of it and I will feel like schmuck.

⧫

Here are few links:

• Alaska had an earthquake. It's what they do.



• Trade him to the Mets.



• Marriott is kinda screwed after this.

I need to go flying

I'm due for a bi-annual flight review in December so I want to go up in the pattern for an hour or so before I have to fly with my CFI and get bi-annually reviewed.

The review isn't anything at all like the four and a half hours I had to go through to get my license two years ago but it is a review of the required skills. It's not really a pass/fail thing, it's more of a, "Here's what you need to work on" kind of thing.

Still, I want to spend some time working on a few things before I have to do them with my CFI. No sense embarrassing myself.

Besides, I'll take any excuse to go flying.

⧫

The links are here:

• Only in China.



• Key phrase in this story: "He was holding my hand crying..."



• Key phrase in this story: "We were all surprised how much gut and fecal bacteria there was on the touchscreen..."



• Researchers: Contributing to the betterment of our society or a complete waste of perfectly good oxygen?



• Homeland Security is protecting us from terrorists.



• That's a lot of steak.

I've got to clean my gutters.

I looked out the window of the front bedroom this morning and saw that the gutter over my garage is filled to overflowing with oak leaves. If that gutter is full you can bet the rest of them are just as full.

Cleaning them is pretty easy - I drag my leave blower up onto the roof and just blow the leaves out onto the lawn. The problem is I'm not as spry as I used to be and as a result, I'm not quite as comfortable on the roof as I was in my 30s.

I always tell my wife, "If you hear a load thump on the ground out back, call the finance guy and transfer the retirement money over to your account."

I'm pretty sure she doesn't think that's very funny.

⧫

So I managed to get Tommy's new computer working yesterday.

His big problem? He put dead batteries into the wireless keyboard.

Once I resolved that issue, it was just a matter of watching the machine do it's thing while I consumed a beer.

Now he needs to spend time figuring out how to do the things he used to do on his old computer and that isn't anything I can help him with.

⧫

You can click on these if you want:

• I would do this to my kids. My wife wouldn't but I would.



• I love The Onion. It's satire at its best.



• Only in Florida.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Month.

Not much to say

It was a busy day that involved Tommy buying a new PC.

I didn't get home until late so I didn't do any web surfing.

I promise I'll do some tomorrow.

Well, it didn't crash

At about 3:00 this afternoon, NASA managed to land another robot explorer on the surface of Mars.

This one doesn't have wheels. This robot has a drill and a seismic sensor. Well, actually, it's not really a drill in that it doesn't spin a cutting head to burrow into the planet. Think of it instead as a hammer with a nail.

Every day for a few hours, the hammer will whack the nail, driving it deeper into the planet. While it is hammering, the seismic sensor will record the impacts in order to determine what substance is being penetrated.

Once it reaches about 16 feet, it will be at its deepest and it will continue to conduct its seismic experiments.

Not as cool as the little robots that drive around and look at stuff but still, if this thing happens to find ice or liquid water below the surface, that will be very cool indeed.

⧫

Well, time for me to find some bad television. Here are some links you may find entertaining or enlightening:

• Yes, the Japanese are still crazy.



• Are you freakin' kidding me?
  Here's what I think they should do:
• Step 1 - Bring the parents in and have them control their kids.
• Step 2 - Bring back corporal punishment and beat the little shits.



• FitLoo is a terrible name for a bathroom.

Finally got to watch the Patriots.

They were on a bye week last week so football was a little scarce. This week they played the New York (New Jersey?) Jets.

It was in interesting game with the Jets looking like they a knew how to play football and the patriots looking like they forgot how to play football. By the time the game was over with, the Patriots had 10 penalties against them.

Tom Brady looked all of his 41 years and Rob Gronkowski looked like a 30 year old tight end who has taken a beating over the last 10 years. The game was tied 10-10 at the half when it should have been 21-10 in favor of the Patriots.

I'm thinking the Patriots better think about their next quarterback because if Brady makes it through this season, I'm betting he won't make it through next season. I remember when Bledsoe imploded back in 2001 and Brady took over as the QB. Brady is looking at the same situation now.

The man is not in his 20's anymore and it shows. His passes aren't as sharp, he is starting show fear in the pocket and he looks like he's struggling to find receivers. He threw two passes to Gronkowski in the end zone that weren't on the mark with one of them almost intercepted.

The second half seemed to go a bit better simply because the Patriots stuck to the running game and Sony Michel and James White managed to make us all forget that the Patriots didn't offer Deon Lewis a lot of money this summer.

The Patriots ended the game with a 27-13 win.

⧫

Not much going on in the world today. I looked at a lot of links and these are the only ones I could find that were at least a little interesting:

• I guess he spent it wisely.



• I'd still like to go there.



• This is not spontaneous. Two thousand people did not suddenly decide they wanted to go on a thousand mile stroll. Someone is driving this group like a herd of sheep. Who has the most to gain from this?



• Tomorrow at 2:00pm EST, you can watch NASA either land a robot on Mars or crash a spaceship into Mars. Either way, it's gonna be kinda cool.

And then there were none

We got up at 4:00 this morning and took my daughter & her little dog to the airport so they could board a plane for Iowa.

Their flights were uneventful and they arrived safe & sound in Des Moines this afternoon where she is once again settled in to her school life.

For three weeks.

That is when they will once again board a plane and return here for a couple of weeks worth of Christmas break.

⧫

As for us, I managed to get all the leaves off the parts of my yard that are currently snow free while my wife managed to cut down all the dead plants in her gardens. That means that next spring we won't have to kill ourselves getting all the crap off the yard before the growing season starts.

Trust me, it is easier to clean the gardens and yard when the ground is frozen than it is during the mud season known as spring.

⧫

Time for me to catch up on my sleep. Hopefully my daughter is doing the same.

While I do that, you can do these:

• I remember this guy. We all thought he was screwed but he overcame and succeeded. The man is a fighter.



• Key phrase in this story: "...telling the guards the device had nothing to do with him..."



• Key phrase in this story: "Her haircut will be wild and she will be named after French produce."



• The cartels are trying anything these days.



• Face tattoos: Always a sign of poor life decisions.

I have food bloat.

I ate way too much turkey yesterday and I'm paying for it today. But don't worry, I'm fine.

In an attempt to offset the turkey feast from yesterday, we decided to have a lasagna feast today.

I loosened my belt a notch and I still feel like I'm gonna pop. I figure as long as I don't bend over or try to lift anything heavy, I should be okay.

⧫

Time for a quick recap:

On Wednesday evening, we met up with all of our kids at a nice place in Leominster called Rye & Thyme. We had a great meal and spent a few hours listening to the youngest and his band play music. When the night was over, our oldest and his wife headed back to Framingham and the rest of us headed back here to get some sleep.

On Thursday, my eldest and his wife spent Thanksgiving with her family while my youngest and his girlfriend spent the day with us.

This afternoon, our youngest and his girlfriend headed back to the great white north (New Hampshire) where they will spend the next day or two with her family celebrating Thanksgiving all over again.

As for us, we are going to spend the evening digesting.

⧫

Speaking of my youngest, he is very proud of the fact that he was one of the many who managed make a purchase at the new recreational pot store in Northampton on opening day.  Apparently you can place an order on-line and then just walk in and pick it up.

He even went so far as to bring us a catalog from the store.

Trust me, it's not a little pamphlet. This is a full-blown catalog that rivals the Montgomery-Ward catalogs of old.

There is a smaller insert pamphlet called "Start Here" that gives some guidance on partaking of the weed. They even have a helpful table for beginners:

Kids these days got it easy. Back in my day, we had to meet up with some sketchy character wearing an old, beat-up BDU coat & a wool cap in the parking lot behind football field and buy whatever he claimed was "a dime of some really good stuff, man."

⧫

While I contemplate the major changes in our society, you can click on these links:

• Key phrase in this story: "...he apologized for attempting to flee..."



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• Maine: It's just a bit different there.



• Only in Florida.



• I personally feel that this is how all legislation should be enacted.

Merry Thanksgiving everybody

Maybe I'll post something this evening, maybe I won't.

Only time will tell.

Today was preparation day.

We spent a good part of the day preparing food for tomorrow. All the veggies are cut, the casseroles are made and the pies are ready to go. The turkey is sitting in the fridge, ready to be stuffed and cooked to perfection.

We are good to go.

⧫

The stock market does not really know what it wants to do. Monday and Tuesday sucked and today could have been a lot better than it was.

I'm never going to be able to retire.

⧫

I hope my fellow Americans all have an enjoyable Thanksgiving. As for all you Italians, Germans and Swedes that are visiting this site on a regular basis, go about your normal daily business and enjoy that as well.

Everyone should enjoy these links:

• Oh Canada.



• Neighbors: Not all of them are good.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminals of the Day.



• Attention Alanis Morissette: The burning of oil causes global warming which is melting the ice which is making it difficult to drill for oil. That is ironic.



• Key phrase in this story: "The source also claimed Chau expressed interest in preaching to them."



• Mr. Kelly is proof that some people are either unlucky as hell or dumb as concrete.

Day Two

Thus ends my work week.

Have I mentioned I really like working at this college...

⧫

We finished the grocery shopping this evening so we do not have to set foot in a store tomorrow. I figure that every maniac in the world will be in the grocery stores tomorrow and I don't want to be anywhere near one.

If you have to be near one tomorrow, you have my sympathies.

⧫

No recent news on the Red Sox since the last move when they signed Steve Pearce for an additional year. I suspect they are still working on Nathan Evoldi, Joe Kelly & Craig Kimbrel but those three are going to be looking for big money so I won't be shocked if none of them end up back on the roster for 2019.

If I had my say, I would go after Evoldi. That guy is a work horse who can eat up innings and proved he can hold the line against some of the best offensive players in the majors.

If they can also either land Kelly or Kimbrel as a closer, they will be all set and we can sit back and relax until February when spring training kicks off.

⧫

For the record, the stock market is once again shitting the bed.

It was down 400 points yesterday and 550 today.

That's a lot of points.

⧫

You can click on these links:

• Oh Canada.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Week.



• The title says it all - "Failed Dog Yoga"



• Luckiest guys alive.

Day One

This week is only two days long for me.

In case I haven't mentioned it in the past, working at a college is great. The university is closed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so we only work Monday and Tuesday.

I really like working at the college.

⧫

Since there isn't a lot of interesting stuff going on right now, I'll just give you some links:

• Please celebrate responsibly.



• Key phrase in this story: “There is no traction. No grip. Just me and my fat body slipping around covered in oil.”



• Only in Florida.



• Nothing says redneck quite like a guy dressed in camouflage and hanging upside down in a tree.



• To quote the owner of the website, "Oh My!"

The little angel has not changed one bit

The small emergency backup dog has not changed one bit.

I fed them this morning and as soon as she finished her breakfast, she ran over to me and started bitching me out because she wanted a dog cookie and dammit, I just wasn't moving fast enough.

I don't speak dog but I do know that when she dances around me going "Harrarrarr!", I'm being told off.

I should also point out that my daughter managed to fly first class from Des Moines to Philadelphia because of her little dog.

After my daughter had checked in at the gate, she sat down with her angel. All of a sudden, the gate agent came over, handed her a new ticket and said, "Hi, I upgraded you to first class. Can I pet your pup?"

She is a cute little shit and she charms the crap out of every one she meets.

⧫

We spent the day doing pre-Thanksgiving stuff like shopping and eating at iHop.

Hey, what can I say, we like iHop.

You do your pre-Thanksgiving stuff and we'll do ours.

⧫

Here are some links for you:

• Apparently young Mr. Macron isn't quite as popular as we are led to believe.



• Key phrase in this Florida story: "He seems to have been some kind of character."



• I personally do not want to see any part of their bodies.



• I'm not shocked. Are you shocked? I'm not shocked.

And she's home

Our daughter and the small emergency backup dog arrived home this evening to spend the next week enjoying our company.

We are happy she is home and she is happy she gets to spend a week without the pressures of vet school.

⧫

Well, it's late and I don't have much else to add.

Here are some links:

• Oh Canada.



• There is controversy in the professional world of darts.



• Get a dog...

And another not bad day for the market

It was a decent day in the world of my retirement account. The DJIA and the S&P both closed up but the Nasdaq closed down. That's because the Nasdaq is the market where most tech stocks are traded and one of those tech stocks took a real bath today.

NVidia used to be known for making high end graphics cards but over the last few years, their cards have become a hot commodity with the cryptocoin miners.

You see, graphics and cryptocoin mining are both very math intensive and the NVidia cards do math really well. As a result, over the last few years, the crypto guys have been snapping up NVidia cards by the trainload, driving up the prices and driving up NVidia's profits.

Over the last few days, analysts have discovered that the cost of the electricity to run all those graphics cards has exceeded the value of the cryptocoins and the coin miners have stopped buying the cards. This caused the stock value of NVidia to plummet.

As a matter of fact, it plummeted 20% today.

That's a lot.

⧫

Here are some links that you might like:

• It's the old bowel movement defense.



• Inmate 1: So, what are you in for?
  Inmate 2: Murder. What about you?
  Inmate 1: Assault with hot, crispy bacon.



• There are times when cops do dumb things. This is one of them.



• Only in Florida.

The DJIA did not shit the bed today

The day started poorly for the Dow but right around 1:00 this afternoon it suddenly decided to scream up and end the day up about 200 points.

That does not make up for the last two days but it's better than down another 200 points.

I still can't retire.

⧫

Every time we have an election, Florida screws it up.

It's been 16+ years since Bush v. Gore and you would think that they would have fixed things by now.

I believe that the United States government should take away Florida's right to vote until they can get their collective shit together and learn how to run an election that actually works.

⧫

Found this today:

It made me smile.

⧫

The Red Sox extended Alex Cora's contract the other day.

He is a pretty good manager and it looks like ownership understands that they won the World Series because of not only the skills of the players but how he worked with those players.

Smart move on the Red Sox part. Now if they can figure out what to do about their free agents, life could be good.

⧫

Enjoy the links:

• Drunk Trash Pandas would be a great name for a country & western band.



• Things must be bad when they have to make an announcement like this.



• I'm betting this study was conducted by 25 year old hipsters with full beards, flannel shirts and skinny jeans.



• Key machine name in this story: "The Testimatic"



• Brazen Crustacean Heist would be a great name for a Jimmy Buffett song.

Another bad day for the DJIA

My retirement is getting pushed further and further away...

⧫

Looks like we are going to get our first snow of the season tomorrow evening.

I've already pulled The Beast out of hibernation and fired it up so I'm confident that I will be able to move snow without any issues on Friday morning.

Well, I might have a few issues...

Things like it'll be cold and I'm old.

But I won't have issues with moving the snow.

⧫

You can take a look at these links to see if they entertain or enlighten you:

• Something tells me drugs were involved.



• Key statement in this story: TELL THEM TO STOP LISTENING TO MY FARTS! THAT IS NOT NICE!



• Was it Swan Lake?
  (Yes, I'm probably going to hell)



• Today I learned that Iranian men have a far different interpretation of the word naked than I do.

I am never going to be able to retire.

The stock market took a real bath lately. It absolutely tanked, with the DJIA dropping about 500 points yesterday and another 100 points today.

That means my retirement account is getting the shit kicked out of it.

Oh well, I didn't want to retire anyways.

⧫

I'm going to get some food and then watch some bad tv.

You can click on these if you want:

• Key phrase in this story: “a bumper-to-bumper hemp highway.”



• To paraphrase Tod (Keanu Reeves) from the movie Parenthood: "You need a license get a dog and a license to drive a car. Hell, you even need a license to catch a fish. But they'll let any asshole be a parent."



• How low do you have to be to steal from the Girl Scouts...



• Shoshone, Idaho Police Dept. media guy has a sense of humor.



• This is old but stupidity never gets old.

New jobs are always exciting.

My oldest has decided to take a new job and he's very excited.

He lives in Framingham and he's been commuting to Beth Israel Hospital in the heart of Boston every day. He's also been working some odd shifts and lots of weekends at the hospital. Combine that with commuting through some of the worst traffic in Massachusetts and he decided to find something closer to home.

He will be working in an infusion unit of a medical center that is about 5 minutes from his house. Beth Israel has also asked him to remain as a per diem employee one day a week and he agreed to do that.

So bottom line is he won't be spending 2 hours a day in his car every day and he won't be working nights, holidays or weekends anymore.

Not a bad change.

⧫

Here are some links you might like to click on:

• Bummer. I always looked forward to his cameos. His most famous line was when someone asked him about digital comics instead of paper ones: "Comics are like boobs. They look great on a computer but I'd rather hold one in my hand."



• This is what happens when an air traffic controller has a stroke at a very busy airport.
  Warning: It's kind of long.



• The Red Sox just got themselves a fourth round draft pick. Now all they need is a closer.

Early game

The Patriots were on at 1:00 today so I didn't have to stay awake until 10:00 just to watch the first half.

Unfortunately, the Titans kicked the Patriots ass so maybe they shouldn't play anymore afternoon games. Also, two of my brother-in-laws and one of my brothers went to the game down in Tennessee. Maybe they should do that anymore.

To be honest with you, they lost because Tom Brady had trouble moving the ball down the field. Most of his passes are low and his offensive line was kind of leaky. It seemed like Brady was always throwing the ball under pressure to an empty spot on the field.

On the other side of the line, the Titans quarterback, Marcus Mariota, was pretty damned accurate and his offensive line gave him the time in the pocket he needed to get the ball to an open man.

And that, my friends, is how the Patriots lose football games. They didn't lose because they played in the afternoon. They didn't lose because my brother and brother-in-laws were there. They lost because the Titans played better than the Patriots did.

⧫

Well, errands have been run, lawn work is complete, football has been watched and dinner has been consumed. Time to find some bad television to watch. Maybe I've got some Wipe Out's on the DVR. There's something entertaining about watching people trying to kill themselves by bending their back in directions the spine does not normal bend.

You might enjoy these:

• This is why everyone loved Ronald Reagan.



• One Farting Breast would be a fantastic name for a really bad Chinese food restaurant.



• Key phrase in this story: "She told me she was on her way home and to grab her belt."

And she's home

My wife went to a conference in Atlanta on Thursday and she returned home today.

The dog and I are happy to have her home.

⧫

Time for an update on the browser wars.

Here's the last week of activity on this little web presence:

As you can see, Chrome has a commanding 65% to 33% lead over Firefox. What is even better is the fact that IE or edge don't even make an appearance in the chart.

I am a little surprised at the number of visits from Linux users. There are more visits from linux users than there are from Mac users.

⧫

You can click on these if you are so inclined:

• Police in Canada now have worked out a method to detect if someone is high on pot.



• News flash: "Constable Vittorio Dominelli is a complete idiot."



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



• Only in Florida.



• I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea...



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "1:33 p.m. A Kalispell resident called 911 because someone stole their Elvis Presley blanket worth an estimated $200. They were very upset."

Sorry, I forgot

By the time I got home and took care of my end-of-day crap, I got involved in eating dinner, doing some laundry and then watching bad television.

I completely forgot about this posting.

Sorry about that.

Here's what I wrote before dinner:

⧫

I left work around 12:30 this afternoon and headed up to Northampton to go flying.

I had scheduled two hours with my instructor so I could work on some things I never do when I'm alone. Things like stalls, slow flight, engine out, etc..

Those are things that I'm comfortable doing when I'm with him but not when I'm alone. They are also things that need to be practiced so if something does go wrong during normal flight, it's second nature and I react without thinking too much about it.

We spent an hour in the air and when it started to rain, I said it was time to call it a day. he agreed and we headed back to the airport.

It was good to practice some things with him. He affirmed that I was a good pilot and my laning skills were spot on but I'm still looking for some more time with him in the air.

I mentioned to him that maybe the next time we got together, e should go up in a high-wing Cessna. When I take friends up in a low-wing, they end up with a lot of pictures that show some of the landscape and some of the wing. If we were in a high-wing, they would get picture of nothing but landscape.

I'll schedule my biannual flight review in December and maybe in January I'll get checked out in the Cessna.

⧫

No links today.

Enjoy your night off while I fall asleep on my couch.

More typing

Well, I finally finished that book I've been working on. I managed to pare it down to 17 pages so it's not to overwhelming to the folks that need to read it.

What that really means is that I'm tired and my eyes are on fire.

⧫

You should probably click on these links while I watch a little bad television:

• Only in Florida.



• Key phrase in this story: "You can change your name. You can change your gender. Why not your age?"

I feel like I have rectangular eyeballs.

I have been creating a large, in-depth document at work. It's over 20 pages right now and I expect it will exceed thirty pages by the time I'm done.

I am not a documentoligist (I just made that word up) and this is not really in my wheelhouse as they say but it needs to be done. I decided to do it so we all have a clear set of well-documented standards to work towards because no one seems to have a hand on the steering wheel.

We are adrift and I need to get us back on the tracks.

So anyways, after typing for 7 or 8 hours, I've had it with typing.

⧫

While I spend my evening not typing, you can enjoy these links:

• Man, that Trump guy goes through staff like shit goes through a goose.



• But what if they are a**holes?



• My guess is she'll have a machine gun hidden in her pants.

The lines at the polls were longer than usual

I decided to go over and vote when the polls opened at 7:00 this morning. I walked in to find that there were about 30 people in line ahead of me.

I've never had to wait in line to vote.

I guess people really want to make sure they have their say.

⧫

So after I voted, I went to work, spent the day creating a massive document and then headed home. I've had my dinner and now I'm watching the overly-dramatic talking heads on the news.

These people are idiots.

They shout "Breaking News!" before every news story, they proclaim "Millions in the path!" for every weather event and they solemnly state that they have a "developing story" for any news that they may have talked about yesterday but now have the real story.

Someone needs to tell these people to calm down and just tell the news.

⧫

While I see if I have any DVRs to watch, you can click on these:

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



• It's only a matter of time before they require a license for those things.



• We should never forget that Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski once made some great commercials for New Era Caps.



• Somewhere there is a cliche in the story but I just can't put my finger on it.

The Patriots won last night

As predicted, I made it to the half. The score was 17-10 in favor of the Patriots and I was okay with that.

The Packers did tie the game 17-17 in the 3rd but the Patriots held them to those 17 points while they scored two more touchdowns in the 4th period, making the final score 17-34 Patriots.

The Patriots are now 7-2 and in second place in the AFC.

That ain't a bad place to be.

⧫

Even though I went to bed at half time last night, I'm still tired. I'm going to watch some bad television and go to bed early tonight.

While I do that, you can do these:

• This is the most Georgia thing your will ever see.



• Best State Motto Ever!



• Only in China. I'm betting also in Japan....



• This is not what they are used for.

The lawn is clean

We still have a lot of trees filed with leaves but they have started falling. The backyard was covered in bth leaves and pine needles, the front yard was slightly covered with Rose of Sharon and Dogwood leaves.

Fortunately, the lawn and leaves were kinda dry so cleaning up was pretty easy.

⧫

After that, it was over to Tommys to hook up some printers and cash registers.

Actually, I didn't really hook them up so much as I put ends on the ethernet cable he had pulled between the two devices. I told him he was on his own for getting the cash register to print to the printer because I had no idea how that was gonna happen.

For all I know, he's still working on it....

⧫

The Patriots are on at 8:30 tonight and I'm thinking I'll be able to watch until the half.

The time change always screws with my sleep habits and I suspect that by 9:30 tonight, I'll be falling asleep on my couch.

I'm hoping the Patriots score a lot of points in the first 2 quarters so I can fall asleep knowing they had a chance.

⧫

While I whine about the sun setting at 5:00 and how I'm going to have to drive home from work in the dark, you can click on these:

• Apparently you shouldn't fly British Airways.



• EZ Adult Playtime Boutique would be a great name for a very scary children's book.



• Attention Alanis Morissette.



• I've been to Churchill Downs. I would not take a horse there.

Kinda windy today

We lost power around 4:30 this afternoon. Not a big deal because the sun was still up and it wasn't a cold day. About 45 minutes into it, I decided to fire up the generator.

I grabbed my generator cable, plugged it into the generator and then into the power inlet. Then I started up the generator. After it was purring away for a few seconds, I headed back into the house and started downstairs to flip the power from the mains over to the generator.

As soon as I hit the top of the stairs on my way down to the basement, the lights came on.

So it was back out to the porch to shut down the generator, unplug the feed cable and then put everything away.

My generator ran for a total of 2 minutes this afternoon which means I used about an ounce of gasoline.

Those are the best kind of power outages.

⧫

I hope you remembered to set your clocks to standard time because if you didn't, you are gonna be really early for work on Monday.

Here are some things you might want to click on:

• Pfffttttt.... Rednecks....



• Here's a good financial tip: Never move to San Francisco.



• This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?



• Do not mess with Kierah Lagrave.

We've stopped answering our home phone

We get about ten calls a day on our home phone landline. Of the ten calls, one is from someone we know. The rest are from a city or state. It's not uncommon to see a caller id that says "Minnesota" or "Holyoke".

We've not only stopped answering it, we've taken to picking it up and immediately hanging it up so they don't even get our answering machine.

Does Rachel from Card Holder Services really think I'm going to give her my credit card information? Does Kevin believe that I'm going to hire him to power wash my house or clean my chimney? Do the good folks at Microsoft Customer Support think I'm going to let them remote desktop into my computer so they can fix the viruses?

Idiots.

⧫

On the other hand, Charlie Baker called today. He was calling for my daughter and he left her a very nice message asking her to vote for him.

I thought it was nice of him to call and I probably should have picked up the phone just to tell him she wasn't home. I could have given him her cell number so he could call her out in Iowa.

⧫

Here are some links you can visit if you want:

• Key phrase in this story: "He's a good dog."



• If you’ve never heard of Gary Meikle, you need to watch this.



• Trick or..... Never mind.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya, gets you drunk underground.

I have caught up on my sleep

Now that I feel like I'm all caught up on my sleep, the Patriots are scheduled for a 8:30 Sunday night game. That means I'm going to be tired on Monday morning.

Oh well, I'll enjoy my rest while I can and be prepared for Sunday by maybe taking a nap or something.

⧫

The more I read about how Whitey Bulger died the more I have to respect that old saying, "Live by the sword, die by the sword."

Whitey did not die a peaceful death. As a matter of fact, I'm betting his last few minutes of life were true retribution for all the people he was supposed to have killed in hideous ways.

The man was a psychopath and he was killed by a psychopath.

⧫

I need to go flying but every time I get the time to go flying, I don't get the weather.

I've been looking at the 10 day forecast and it's looking like next Thursday might be a good day to take a half day vacation and head off into the wild blue yonder.

We'll see how it goes.

⧫

Here are some links that you might find enjoyable:

• Maybe they only received one call because it's not that big of a deal!



• Well it worked, didn't it?



• Something tells me either alcohol or drugs were involved.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• Another reason to not fly commercial.