The Washington Nationals are the World Series Champions

I would have preferred the Boston Red Sox were the World Series Champions but I'm glad it's not the Astros.

The Nationals deserved to win.

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This will be quick because it's Halloween and the candy beggars are beginning to make their way around my neighborhood. Most of them are arriving in cars but I don't blame them for that. It's raining and windy out there.

And for the record, I picked all the $100,000 bars out of the bucket. I'm not giving those out to the little urchins. They can have all the peanut butter cups.

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Here are a few links to satisfy your link desires:

• College kids have too much free time.



• OUCH!



• Morons. We are surrounded by morons.



• Man, Krazy Kim really hates the Sea of Japan.



• Get ready for some of the coolest ship names ever!

My daughters classmates are good people

Today was my daughters birthday and she spent it on one of her many rotations, taking care of people's pets. Her classmates found out it was her birthday and one of them brought in a cake.

A little celebration is a good thing when you are 1,300 miles from home.

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The Bruins won last night and are now in first place in the Atlantic Division. They are in second place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the Capitals.

They are now off until this Saturday when they will play the Ottowa Senators.

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As for the World Series, the Nationals, won last night and forced a game seven. The amazing thing about this World Series is that no home team has won a game yet. All six games have been won by the visiting team.

That's kind of weird.

Go Nats!

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Here are some links for you to look at:

• Key phrase in this story: "She was incapable of giving police a statement."



• Well, duh...



• Oops.



• Hey, that's a lot of money to carry around. He just wanted to get it safely into a bank.



• Krazy Kim is still trying to get nuclear information.



• I'd like to read the police report on this one.

Steelers managed to squeak past the Dolphins

Last night's football game was a display of bad football.

It initially appeared that the Dolphins were going to beat the Steelers into the ground but apparently, once I went to bed, the Steelers decided to play some actual football and they overcame their deficit to win the game.

To be honest with you, it was a boring game to watch. I probably would have been better off watching some DVRs.

As for tonight, The Bruins are hosting the Sharks at 7:00 and the Astros are hosting the Nationals at 8:00.

I will be watching the Bruins play the Sharks and hoping that the Nationals beat the Astros.

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Enjoy these links:

• Those things should be outlawed.



• Yes, the Japanese are the craziest people on the planet.



• I'm sure they're a lovely couple.



• Attention ladies: I know this may shock some of you but if you walk around with your girls hanging out, people will stare.

Let's look at some sports.

There is no baseball and no hockey tonight. There is a football game and since it's the Steelers, I may watch a little bit of it.

The Astros beat the Nationals last night and they are now in the lead 3-2 games. This is not how I wanted this to go.

The Bruins beat the Ranger last night, earning the two points and moving to one point behind the Sabres in the Atlantic division.

I think that's enough sports for today.

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Now that we're done looking at sports, let's look at some links:

• They have a semi-problem.



• I would do this for Bud but not Bud Light



• There's gonna be a bunch of fat cats and dogs.



• Only in Florida.

World Series is tied at 2 games each.

I was really hoping the Nationals would finish off the Astros at home but that's not going to happen now. Depending on who wins tonight, one team will be going to Houston with a 3-2 lead.

I'm hoping it's the Nationals.

Go Nats!

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The Patriots hosted the Browns at 4:30 this afternoon and it was raining pretty hard for the first half. Brady played pretty well considering the football was soaking wet.

I can't imagine holding on to a soaked football, never mind throwing one.

So anyways, the Patriots beat the Browns 27-10 giving them a 8-0 record at the halfway point in the season.

Not too shabby for a 42 year old quarterback.

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The Bruins beat the Blues last night 3-0, picking up 2 points and giving them a 7-1-2 record & 16 points. This moves them within 3 points of the Sabres in the Eastern division.

They play the Rangers at 7:00 tonight and if they win, they pick up 2 more points and be within easy striking distance of the Sabres.

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So now I'm going to watch some hockey. I'm hoping to watch all three periods of the game before I fall asleep but chances are slim of that happening.

It's good to have stretch goals but I'm also a realist.

While I do that, you can do these:

•  This is Double Top Secret so don't tell anyone.



• It's a car-catching rock.



• This whole "gender reveal" thing is the dumbest thing I've seen since the Pet Rock.



• I take that back. This is the dumbest thing I've seen since the Pet Rock.



• Oh Canada.

And just like that, they're gone

My daughter and her little dog are once again back in Iowa where they will remain until Christmas.

They are missed.

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Well, the Nationals choked last night and ended up giving a win to the Astros. They are still up 2-1 in the series and I suspect they are a little more than fired up after last nights loss at home. Hopefully they win tonights game and then finish it off tomorrow.

Since tonights game is on at 8:00, I will probably not watch it. The Bruins are hosting the Blues at 7:00 and I'll watch that instead. I might actually get to watch the whole game.

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While I watch hockey, you can click on these:

• It's Vegas, baby!



• Data roaming is bad.



• Snorkeling Grandmothers would be a great name for a 1970s porno movie.



• Key phrase in this story: "...claimed it was part of a new security measure featured on all Southwest flights."



• The question remains: Was it a successful test?

She has my car

My daughter is off to some veterinarian party out in South Hadley so no stopping for beers for me this evening.

I'm not sure what veterinarians do when they get together for a party but I hope they have a good time. After all the hard work she's been doing and will be doing in the future, she needs a break and a good time.

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Tonights game 3 of the World Series will be played at 8:00 and I will try to watch some of it. And by some of it, I mean about 3 innings before I get bored and fall asleep.

Don't get me wrong, I like baseball but I can only stay awake for so long. Hell, I fall asleep on the Red Sox and they are the team I follow.

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Here are todays links:

• Seems kind of harsh to me. When I wanted to stop them from playing, I just unplugged the game.



• This is kind of cool.



• This is going to end poorly.



• Drunks on Stairs would be a great concept for a Vin Di Bona TV show.



• Trust me, "French Bulldogs wearing tutus and being carried in bags" are not really dogs.

Lawn is clean.

I got home from work and decided to get the leaves off my lawn.

Like I said, if I keep up with them using the lawn tractor, I won't have to get the rake out.

I hate rakes.

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The Nationals beat the Astros last night and are now up 2-0 in the series. The interesting part is they won both of those games as the visiting team in Houston. The next three games will be played in Washington with the Nationals as the home team.

I'm thinking the Astros might not be feeling too good about their chances.

Go Nats!

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You should click on these links:

• I've said it before and I'll say it again: Simone Biles is one hell of an athlete.



• Lazy Horse would be a great name for a 1970s folks band.



• Giant Bushy Chicken would be a fantastic name for a 1980s grunge band.



• In case you had forgotten, let me remind you that the Japanese are kinda crazy.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "12:46 a.m. A Kalispell man walked up to an ATM, pulled his pants down and just stood there. A police officer asked that he pull his pants up and move along."



• Only in New Jersey.

I should probably run my lawn mower over my front yard.

My neighbors have several oak trees that are dropping leaves all over their yards. The wind is helping them out by moving some of the leaves from their lawn onto mine.

There aren't a lot of leaves and I can pick them up with the lawn tractor if I stay ahead of them. But, if I wait too long, there will be a lot of them and I'll have to get out the dreaded rake.

I hate the rake.

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The Nationals won last night and lead the series 1-0. Yay! Go Nats!

Game two will be played at 8:00 tonight so I'll probably watch a few innings.

In other baseball news, it looks like David Ross may be the next manager of the Cubs. This is a good thing. I like Ross and I like the Cubs. When Ross played for the Red Sox, he was well respected and I was a little disappointed when they did not offer him a contract.

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The Bruins won last night. Yay! Go B's!

They are off now until Saturday which is a nice little rest for them. I remember playing hockey when I was energetic. It's fast and brutal. Rest is a good thing.

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You can click on these if you think they might be something you are interested in:

• Tis' the season.



• So? Most parents drag their kids all over town to collect that stuff. They deserve some of it.



• There is nothing I can say about this idocracy.



• Et tu, Brute?

Guess the Jets really do suck

The Patriots whomped the Jets 33-0 last night. They were firing on all cylinders and the Jets were struggling to do everything.

I managed to stay awake until the half and when I went to bed, the score was 24-0. From what I had seen during the first half, I knew I wasn't going to miss much by not watching the second half.

The Jets could do nothing right.

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Here are a few links for you:

• I'll be old so I don't think I'll be one of them.



• "Drink your desk whiskey like a real man."



• This is why I drink beer.



• No thanks.



• Our species is filled with weirdos.

There is football this evening

The Patriots will play the Jets at 8:00 this evening. I'm hoping I make it to at least the half.

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The final task for my new wireless network is now complete. I managed to find a cable to connect to the inkjet color printer and I was able to configure it to work on the new network.

It was not the end of the world that we didn't have color print capabilities but it was going to be a problem when my wife has to do her classroom / instructor schedules.

Trying to review what amounts to a 3D spreadsheet in black and white isn't easy.

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Here are a few links that you may find interesting:

• This is why I don't go on Facebook.



• Trust me, the meaning of life is not "Die alone in the woods".



• This is why women traditionally outlive men.

The Bruins lost in OT, again.

I stayed awake for all three periods but I nodded off with the game tied 3-3. I dragged myself to bed knowing that I should stay awake but it wasn't going to happen.

When I woke up this morning, I learned that they lost in OT.

I also learned that the Yankees are now on vacation and the Astros will be playing the Nationals in the World Series.

Go Nats!

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Since it's Sunday, the internet is closed.

Here is what I managed to find:

• World War II is still being fought.



• Runaway Emu would be a great name for a 1980's Australian pop band.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya, comes from outer space.



• Not only is there no electricity, it's also on fire.



• Wasn't this a movie starring Brandon Frasier?



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "4 p.m. A woman called to report that she saw a woman leave a dog tied up outside. The caller checked on the animal just as the woman returned. The woman then screamed at the caller and accused her of stalking."

Today was family day

Since my daughter is home, her brothers came into town and we celebrated "early birthday" and "early Thanksgiving".  My wife made a complete Thanksgiving dinner, the boys brought booze & desert and a good time was had by all.

I have a food baby going on in my belly.

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Hockey is being played at 7:00 this evening.

Baseball is being played at 8:00 this evening.

The Small Emergency Backup Dog woke me up at 4:30 this morning.

If you put all of those facts together, they add up to me watching a period of Hockey, falling asleep on my couch, waking up after the hockey game has ended, checking the scores of both the hockey and the baseball game before crawling into bed and falling sound asleep.

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While I fall asleep early, you should visit these:

• It's about time.



• Key phrase in this story: "...firefighters said the snake was 'big' and left."



• Excessive Nipple Twisting would be a fantastic name for any band whose lead singer is Billy Idol



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• This is what happens when you fine the electric company $1.6 billion for a fire.

We are still trying to get my work laptop functioning correctly

With Windows 10, Microsoft has entered a new world of "WTF!"

I have to admit that this image we are working with a test image. We are trying to finish it up so the desktop guys can distribute it to the general populace. That means I'm kind of guinea pigging it here and I anticipated that there would be problems.

Having said that, can someone explain to me why the damned system keeps telling me my firewall is turned off when we told it we are using a different product?

Very frustrating.

⧫

The Bruins lost in the second round of the shoot out.

The game ended in a 3-3 tie so they went into a shoot out. No one scored during the first round but the Lightening scored on Rask in the second round and that gave them the win.

The Yankees lost and the Astros are now one game away from moving on to the World Series.

No matter who wins the ALCS, all I'll have to say about it will be, "Go Nats!"

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My lawn is clean (for now), dinner is made and baseball will be played at 7:00. I'll probably watch a little of that but I anticipate falling asleep early tonight. I'm really, really tired.

While I struggle to stay awake, you can struggle to click on these:

• Hey, whatever floats your balloon.



• No it won't. Not if I have anything to say about it... 



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya, plays with your kids toys.



• Australia: Where everything understands proper queue protocol.



• I know some people who are going to live forever.

I hate windows

I had a new image loaded on my laptop at work today because it was pretty messed up. It had a few corrupt drivers and whenever I took it out of the docking station, it blue screened.

Well, the desktop guys loaded a test image on it for me and man, it is all screwed up now. It doesn't blue screen anymore but I can't find anything. All my shortcuts are gone. Plus all my bookmarks are gone.

I'm going to spend most of my day tomorrow trying to find everything.

I hate windows. This should not be this hard...

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It got pretty damned windy last night and our power flicked out a few times but it was on steady this morning. It was weird - most of my neighborhood was without power but my street was up and running.

According to my daughter, it did go out after we left for work but she didn't care because she was sleeping. Electricity doesn't matter to the unconscious.

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I'm going to watch some baseball and some hockey. The Bruins are on NESN at 7:00 and the Astros/Yankees are on FSI at 8:00. That means I get to watch all of the hockey game and then some of the baseball game.

While I do that, you can visit these:

• This is the dumbest thing I've seen in a while.



• Orangutans and alligators? How does that even work?



• Only in New Jersey.



• I don't understand what they are saying but here's a video of a guy on a motorcycle chasing a cow through the middle of a soccer game.



• Only in Pakistan.

Oh no! It's gonna rain!

The last time they said we were going to get a shitload of rain and high winds, we got 0.1 inch of rain and winds that basically blew some leaves around.

I can't help but not be all that worried about this alleged "nor' easter" that's gonna beat us up.

Then again, I'm not stupid. I have enough gasoline to run my generator for two days...

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My daughter and the dogs are still catching up on their sleep. Well, my daughter is catching up. The dogs are just living their normal life of sleep, eat, sleep, eat, frolic, sleep, repeat.

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The Nationals swept the Cardinals in the NLCS, taking the NL Pennant and earning a spot in the World Series.

The Yankees are down 2-1 against the Astros and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'd like the Yankees to win simply because I'm not one of those guys who hates the Yankees. Some of their fans are regular a-holes but then again, so are some the Astros fans.

No matter who wins, I'd like to see the Nationals kick their ass in the World Series. They are the underdog and I like rooting for the underdog. I also like Max Scherzer.

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You can click on these if you want:

• Only in Florida.



• Oh Canada.



• Okay, even I think she might have crossed over a line....

She is catching up on her rest

My daughter, the vet med student, has spent the last few months of her final year working her butt off. Its been 12 hour days doing things like surgery, primary care, anesthesia, dermatology, etc... Basically, they have to learn everything that a people doctor has to learn but for all species, not just one.

So now that she is home for a few days, her goal is to sleep as much as possible.

The dogs are good with that since that's kind of what they do all the time.

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Being a sales guy for a tech vendor has to be the worst job imaginable. Those guys have to deal with someone like me and that's gotta suck for them.

I never reply to their emails, I don't accept meeting invitations, even if it involves food and drink and I don't answer my phone when I see a number that looks like it's from a vendor.

I'm a nasty guy when it comes to people trying to sell me shit I don't want.

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Here are a few links:

• Thailand: The Australia of places that aren't Australia.



• Suitcase pork does not sound tasty to me.



• Massive Bag of Dildos would be a fantastic name for 1990s junk garage band.



• Only in Florida.

And they're home

Our daughter and her little angel, The Small Emergency Backup Dog, have arrived home for a few days of R&R and some of mom's home cooking. The Large Main Dog is happy to have his little buddy home.

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It was nice to have today off. If you didn't have today off, sucks to be you.

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Speaking of today, there appears to be some debate about what to call this particular day. We have traditionally called it Columbus Day but those among us who spend a lot of their free time trying to change everything have decided to call it Indigenous Peoples Day.

Look, I really don't care what you call it as long as I get the day off.

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Enjoy these links:

• You just know he was drunk when he came up with this idea.
  (Caution: very very bad words)



• In case you were wondering, the Japanese are still insane.



• Exploding Carcass would be a good name for a 1990s grunge band.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya, kinda weirds you out a bit.



• Everybody loves bacon.

I learned something today

I watched the first half of the Cowboys/Jets game and I learned that the Patriots may have their work cut out for them a week from Monday. I don't think the Jets are going to roll over and play dead for them.

The Jets got a quarterback named Darnold who not only knows what he's doing, he knows how to do it.

I never thought I would ever say this but the upcoming game against the Jets may be the first game of the season where the Patriots have to play hard and stay focused.

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It's Sunday so the interwebnets are closed.

Here are a few links I managed to find:

• Listen up nerds: A map of a place that doesn't exist is not a map, it's a drawing. And if that drawing disappears from the game, it is at worst, inconvenient. It is far from a "cataclysmic event"...



• I'll watch this.



• Rhode Island: One way or another, we'll get your money.

And so it begins

I saw this headline this morning: Trump defends Rudy Guiliani.

It reminded me of this headline: Trump defends Cohen.

I give Rudy another month and Trump will be tweeting things like, "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen Rudy Guiliani!"

Why anyone would work for Trump is beyond me. He has pretty much tossed everyone who has ever worked for him under a very large bus. After they get ground up by the bus, he spits on their corpse.

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Not much going on worth writing about so here are some links:

• Don't get in a car with Dave.
  (Caution: Very Bad Words)



• Attention Alanis Morissette: This is ironic.
  (Mormons don't drink.)



• Lopsided Turkey with Leprosy would be a great name for a 1970's bad disco band.



• Yes, alcohol (or drugs) was involved.



• It's obvious these "researchers" have never been to Boston...



• Booze has never helped me sleep. As a mater of fact, I get less sleep when I drink.

Things are looking up.

The DJIA, the S&P500 and the Nasdaq all closed up more than 1%. Anytime you can earn 1% in one day, that's a pretty good rate of return.

Who knows, maybe I'll be able to retire one day.

⧫

Once again, I didn't spend much time in the interwebs. I find the news to be very repetitive and not very informative.

Every story is:

"some person claimed that some other person did some thing that may, or may not, violate some law or maybe not a law but some belief that other people think should be a law even though it's not one".

or

"don't do this thing because we think it's bad for you and shouldn't do things that are bad for you or that frightens people who aren't doing it".

and my personal favorite

"California is on fire, like it always is, and there is a war in the middle-east, like there always is".

I'm not all that interested in hearing the same thing over and over again every evening. It's boring and misleading and the media should be ashamed of themselves for the way they report it.

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The Patriots won but the Bruins lost but the Astros won. That means the Patriots are undefeated, the Bruins are 3-1 and the Rays are done playing baseball for the season.

I don't like the Rays.

You might like these:

• Our species is kind of screwed up.



• These things are bad. And creepy. Very, very creepy.



• At least he wore a tie.



• Key phrase in this story: "It doesn't sound like something normal."



• There is something wrong with our society.

I'm not a fan of gymnastics

I could really care less about gymnastics. It's never appealed to me. It's like tennis - I know it's a sport that requires athleticism, stamina and skill but it's not my thing.

Having said that, I just want to say, "Holy Shit! This girl is pretty damned good!"

None of what she does is easy but some of the things she does are practically impossible and she is the only one that can do them. When you have three or four moves named after you, you can be pretty sure you are good at what you do.

⧫

Rays/Astros are on at 7:00, Giants/Patriots are on at 8:30 and Bruins/Avalanche are on at 9:00.

I'll watch some baseball, then fall asleep watching football and probably find out what the winning scores for all three game are tomorrow morning when I wake up and check the interwebs.

Such is my life.

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While I watch those sports people do their sports things, you can do these link things:

• I can't get past the TSA with 4 ounces of shampoo. How the hell did he do this?



• Like I always say, you gotta love dogs.



• He did what?



• You know you've made some bad life decisions when you get banned from K-Mart.



• Key phrase in this story: "Police said alcohol may have been a factor."



• Key phrase in this story: "At that point, they figured they’d better call police."

Not much to prattle on about today.

The news has been nothing but impeachment, tax returns, the middle-east and California's power outages.

In case you heard, Pacific Gas and Electric is shutting off the electric grid in large portions of California because of high winds. You see, two years ago, some power lines were knocked out by high winds and they started a fire. That fire grew pretty big and killed some people.

Since the good people of California like to blame someone for everything, the state basically sued PG&E into bankruptcy when it won a law suit in the amount of $11 Billion. Yes, that's a 'B'.

Now, PG&E has decided that since they don't have any money after being sued into bankruptcy, they can't afford to get sued again.  And since they don't have any money left, they can't update the grid. That leaves them with one choice - shut the electricity off so there is no chance of any shorts starting a fire.

Congratulations California, you got what you wanted - an electric company that is making sure it won't start any more fires. You also now have several days or weeks of living in the stone age. Enjoy!

⧫

Here are some links you should consider clicking on:

• Maybe he was just doing a little research....



• If you have never had a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, I highly recommend you go. They are very, very good.



• Dogs: You gotta love 'em.



• This is a wedding I would enjoy.



• Headline: "Ahhh!!! We're all going to die!"
  Last line: "But not because of this."



• Scooter DWI would be a fantastic name for a 1950s Rock-A-Billy singer.

Well, the Yankees are moving on.

They swept the Twins last night and they have advanced to the ALCS.

Tonight the Astros will try to eliminate the Rays and move on. If they don't win, that series will be tied 2-2 and the deciding game 5 will be played on Thursday.

If there is a game 5, I will not be watching it because the Patriots are hosting the Giants and I would rather watch the Patriots than the Astros. Also, the Bruins next game will be Thursday but it's on at 10:00 and there is no freakin' way I will be awake for that game.

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While I watch this baseball game, you should enjoy these links:

• Chalk one up for the good guys.



• This headline is not about what I thought it was about.



• This is your brain on drugs.



• If you are looking to buy 2,300 pounds of pumpkin, give Alex Noel a call.



• Well, this doesn't seem like a function I want in my washing machine.



• Oktoberfest e-Scooter Mayhem would be a fantastic name for a 1980s punk rock band

We have a new boss

The President of the college I work at recently announced she was retiring and as a result, they are going through their first reorg in 20 years. This is terrifying most of the folks I work with.

Man, when I worked in the corporate world, we went through two or three reorgs a year and we went through bosses like shit through a goose. When the VP of my area said we were now reporting a new VP, everyone in the room kind of gasped. I, however, checked my phone.

To me, this is not a big deal. In two weeks, we will know how much things are going to change and how they are going to change. Until then, there is nothing to worry about.

As I often say, you don't know what you don't know so don't go making stuff up. Reality is rarely as bad as you think it will be. Besides, I know this new VP and she is a decent person. She is also pretty darned smart. This will more than likely turn out to be a good thing.

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Well, the Rays managed to avoid being eliminated today by beating the Astros. The Astros lead the best of 5 series 2-1 and they need one more win to move on to the ALCS. I really thought it was going to happen today but the Rays had other plans.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

I'm going to watch a bit of tonights Yankees/Twins game. The Twins face elimination tonight since the Yankees lead the best of 5 series 2-0. Since I'm kind of rooting for the Yankees, that would make me happy.

I will have to figure out who to root for if the Yankees and the Astros end up facing each other in the ALCS. I like both teams.

⧫

Check these out:

• Meet Alex Coreas. He's either the luckiest or the unluckiest man on the planet, depending on your point of view.



• I'm pretty sure this is not an effective way to pick up women.



• I just want to know how she made it through the checkpoints but the TSA isn't really saying...



• Only in Pennsylvania.

They had me concerned

The Patriots beat the Redskins and they are now 5-0 but the game started poorly for them.

The Redskins scored first, making it 7-0 and then the Patriots scored. Unfortunately, they missed the PA and that made the score 7-6 in favor of the Redskins.

Then the Patriots scored two FGs, making the score 12-7 at the half.

In the second half, the Patriots scored three touchdowns and three PAs, making the final score 33-7.

The Patriots are now the only AFC team with a 5-0 record. The Chiefs are still at 4-0 and their game is scheduled at 8:30 tonight. I suspect that when I wake up tomorrow, I will see that the Patriots and the Chiefs will be tied at 5-0.

⧫

The Bruins managed to beat the Coyotes 1-0 last night and I managed to stay awake long enough to watch half the game.

That's a win for both of us.

⧫

Pat was generous enough to donate a tower PC case to my eldest son so he can build a gaming PC for his younger brother.

It appears my boys have taken after their father when it comes the nerdiness and Pat was kind enough to contribute to their fun.

I am, as always, the proud dad.

⧫

I'm going to eat some dinner and watch Americas Funniest Videos.

You can click on these links if you want:

• Until they invent a better battery, I think I'll stick with my gasoline-powered car.



• Only in Penns... Bah, who am I kidding, they're everywhere.



• You gotta love The Sun, they get all the breaking news.



• It's the hap-hap-happiest place on earth.



• Only in Florida.

Let's talk digital security

As I said the other day, there are a lot of bad people in this world that are willing to do anything for money. They will steal your identification and sell it to the highest bidder, they will fool you into giving them your money or they will flat out steal from you.

One of the biggest scams going right now is direct deposit switch.

This is where they get the password to your email account and send an email to the HR department where you work saying, "I've switched banks. Please change my direct deposit to this new bank and account." Then they put rules on your email account so any replies get slipped into a hidden sub folder. You never know they are doing it until payday rolls around and you don't get your paycheck.

Another scam is the, "Are you there?" email scam.

This is where you get an email allegedly from your boss with one line: "I have an emergency, are you available?" If you reply, you will get a second email that says something to the effect of, "Oh, thank goodness. I'm in an important meeting and I can't leave. I just realized my nephews birthday is tomorrow and I need to get him a present. Can you go to the store and pick up a $100 iTunes gift card for me? I'll reimburse you tomorrow. This is very important to me."

If you get the card, they will ask you to scratch off the access code and send it to them so they can send it along to their nephew. You are now out $100 and your boss knows nothing about this because he/she never sent you the email.

Look, all I can say is be wary, be skeptical and don't use the same passwords for work, your bank or anything that involves your money. Verify any email by making sure the email address makes sense. If you work at XYZ company where everyone has an email address that is YourName@XYZ.com, don't believe an email you get from YourBoss@gmail.com.

If you do get scammed, do not beat yourself up. These people are very, very good at what the do. They make millions of dollars a year on fraud schemes.

Remain skeptical and vigilant. This is your best defense. Also, don't do something stupid like click on the link in the email that says Facebook wants to give you a $100 gift card for taking their survey. There is no survey, don't click on the link. Neither CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Facebook or Microsoft is going to give you any money to take their survey or for being a loyal customer.

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The Twins/Yankees game is on at 5:00 today, the Rays/Astros game is on at 9:00 and the Bruins game is on at 9:00.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to watch some the Twins/Yankees game but I'm probably going to be sound asleep by 9:00.

Oh well, that's the downside to being an old guy who wakes up early.

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Enjoy these links:

• Here we go. I gotta make sure The Beast is good to go.



• This is probably the weirdest thing you will read today.



• Key phrase in this story: "My f***ing cat is exhausted and on a glucose drip, and this is my fault?"



• It's not the dogs fault.



• Bears - The Dogs of the Forest.



• The old finger gun trick. It always worked when I was a kid.

Stopped for beers

and now I'm watching the Twins play the Yankees.

I really don't care who wins this game because the Astros beat the Rays today and that makes me happy.

Tomorrow I will post links. Today I'm going to watch baseball.

Quiet day

I got several things taken care of this morning and then spent the afternoon wondering around the internet reading about the latest breaches, hacks, phishes and frauds.

Man, there are a lot of bad people out there.

The big thing these days is phishing for IDs and passwords with the intent of using that information to install ransomware. Once they install their code on the computer, they start the process of encrypting all the data. They do it slowly so you don't notice and it may take a week for the entire hard drive to be encrypted.

Once the encryption is done, they pop up a message on the screen that basically says, "Give us money and we'll send you the decryption key. If you don't send us money, you can kiss your data goodbye."

If they are really bad people, they won't send you the decryption key even after you pay them.

They are scum and your best defense against them is to do frequent backups. That way if they get you, you will only lose the data you created since your last backup.

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The Athletics just couldn't do it and they lost to the Rays last night. That means the Rays move on to play the Astros in the ALDS.

I'm really hoping the Astros kick their ass.

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Here are a few links:

• Key phrase in this story: "Doing the splits is not part of a sobriety test..."



• I wonder what my wife would think if I got one of these.



• Only in Florida.



• Apparently cocaine floats.

Damn shame

A B-17 crashed at Bradley this morning, killing at least 7, possibly more.

I listened to the ATC transmissions between Bradley & the aircraft and and it appears that right after taking off, the plane made a right turn towards the east. Then they called Bradley and reported that they had just lost their number four engine. They said they needed to return to the field.

ATC cleared the airport and and the airplane entered a right downwind that paralleled the runway, obviously attempting to turn and land on the runway.

They never made it.

It looks like they came down in the run-up area at the end of the runway and slid into the de-icing / fuel area.

The thing that makes me pause is that when I heard the warbirds were going to be at Bradley giving rides, I wanted to go down and take a flight on that aircraft. Then I learned that they charged $400.00 for a 20 minute flight.

$20.00 a minute for a plane ride seemed a bit steep so I decided against it.

I can't help but wonder if maybe my mother was right when she used to look at me, shake her head and say, "You have a very, very busy guardian angel."

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Chrome is pissing me off.

It has a built in spell-checker that is constantly marking correctly spelled words as misspelled. For instance, in one of the sentences above, it present the word "were" as spelled incorrectly:

I'm pretty sure that is how you spell the word "were". I'm also pretty sure I've used the word in the correct context.

This constant marking is causing me to overlook words that I do actually misspell so I'm going to use that as my excuse to you for all the crappy spelling you see in my writings.

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For the record, I'm never going to be able to retire:

What worries me is that todays decline was not set into motion by some moron tweeting bullshit about how he's going to do such-and-such to so-and-so. No sir, that 500 point drop was because of, well, nothing really. Investors just decided to up and sell their shit I guess.

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I'm going to go get some food, watch some news and maybe watch a some of the AL wild card game. The Athletics are hosting the Rays and I really hope the Athletics win.

I don't like the Rays. Never have liked them. I think it has something to do with that dingbat Joe Maddon who was their manager for a lot of years. I didn't like him.

Enjoy these links:

• Oops.



• Seems like this kind of thing is happening a lot lately.



• Oh Canada.



• Key phrase in this story: "I’m sorry, but that’s dumb."

It's hard to ignore some things.

I continue to try and ignore the news that is impossible to ignore...

Having said that, I do want to say that I think Adam Schiff has a mental disorder. Then again, I also think Donald Trump has a mental disorder.

So basically what we have here is a battle of wits between two mental cases.

Seems to me this whole thing should be a lot more entertaining than it is...

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Here are a few links for you:

• Drunks on lawnmowers.



• Harley Quinn is getting her own movie.



• I can't help but wonder if they have been avoiding Rhode Island because it's too ghetto for them.



• Must have been one hell of a wedding.