Not a busy day

Yesterday was one of those days that was unexpectedly busy.

On Friday, my daughters car decided it was going to do things that made her think something was wrong. Since Saturday sucked (weather-wise), she called our favorite automotive repair guys and made an appointment for Monday (today). So yesterday, in the afternoon, we took the car over, put the key into an envelope, along with a description of the problem(s) and dropped everything into the drop box.

Once we were done with that, we took a ride over to her place of business and spent an hour or two installing the top-secret project. As always, when it comes to technology, the best laid plans usually go out the window when you try to implement something new and this was no different.

By the way, now that it's installed and functional, I can tell you that the top-secret project was installing, hardening and configuring a VPN for them.

After we were done working there, we came home and I settled in to watch football (more on that later) and make some dinner.

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Speaking of football, the two teams I wanted to see in the superb owl failed to make the grade.

The Chiefs got beat by the Bengals and, in my opinion, it looked like Mahomes choked after half time. The Chiefs led 21-10 at the half but the Bengals managed to tie it up before the end of regulation play, forcing sudden-death overtime.

During the second half of the game, and into the overtime period, Mahomes looked extremely confused in the pocket, even when his offensive line was giving him ample time and he had trouble spotting open receivers. When he did manage to find an open receiver, he overthrew them so badly that he got intercepted twice, once in the fourth quarter and again in the first OT period.

Now the Chiefs are on vacation and the Bengals are looking forward to the superb owl.

As for the 49ers and the Rams, the game was tied in the fourth quarter when the Rams managed to take a lead by kicking a field goal. They kicked off to the 49ers who took the fair catch at the 25. Garoppolo came out, tossed an incomplete pass, tossed a -3 yard pass and then threw an interception, giving the ball back to the Rams.

Stafford came out and ran three plays, all of which were him taking a knee at the snap. By doing that, they ran the clock down and won the game by 3 points.

So now the Bengals and the Rams will face each other on February 13th. Not what I would consider an exciting game. I sure hope the commercials are good...

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In case you were wondering if it was cold here, I can assure you it was.

It was -0.4 at 7:00 this morning so ya, it was cold.

But it was a dry cold...

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I did not watch any hockey last night but I do know that the Bruins lost to the Stars 6-1.

Here are some links that you can visit if you'd like:

• This is why I use a shovel.



• Krazy Kim continues his assault on the sea.



• Restless Anal Syndrome would be a shitty name for any kind of band from any decade.



• I'm not sure it will help human amputees but it should make all those snooty french restaurants happy.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, takes a leak on ya.



• This is why I use a Mac for my interwebbing and linux for servers.



• Mom may be an evil asshole but the bear certainly isn't.

Busy, busy day

No post today, just a couple of links:

• It's good to see that the family-run business is still a thing.



• Here's a story about an expert telling us not to listen to the experts.



• I would like to point out that at no time did he even look down the sights.



• Dr. Johnny Fever has left us.

Well, that was a bust

Despite hearing the weather dweebs repeat over and over again how we were going to get 8-14 inches and how my town was in the zone that should expect the 14 inches, I can assure you that we did not get 14 inches. We got, at most, 6 inches.

And there are almost no drifts. Yes, it's breezy but no more than usual. It's not like a hurricane is blowing out there.

Now I have to call my uncle out in Pittsburgh and assure him that we are all still alive.

Every time the national news starts up with the "millions in the path!" bullshit and says things like "storm of the century!", he calls me and asks if everyone is okay.

Well, he called me last night because he was worried.

Now I'm going to call him and we're going to laugh at the idiots on the national news. Then he and his wife, my godmother, will sleep easier tonight knowing that we are all okay.

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Here are a few links that you can click on:

• CNN: Answering all the tough questions.



• Fashion: I don't get it.



• If you don't know how to pump your own gas, you should not be allowed to drive a car.



• Krazy Kim really is crazy.



• Here's a headline I bet you never thought you'd see.



• Key phrase in this story: "Hetle’s attorneys claimed that the shooting was in self-defense.

The Beast is ready to go

My snowblower is positioned so that I do not have to move any cars. The shovel is positioned so I can clear enough snow off the end of the driveway to get the snowblower away from the cars and started.

As it stands now, they are predicting 8-14 inches and my town is in the 14 inch portion. Fortunately they are predicting it will be a light fluffy snow.

Okay, having said all that, let me tell you what I think is going to happen...

Based on the previous piss-poor predictions from the weather dweebs, I predict we're gonna get 6-8 inches of sticky snow that is going to be a bitch to clear. I also predict the power is going to go out because it's going to be windy as hell. With that in mind, my generator is filled with fuel and is ready to go.

So to recap, I don't believe what the weather dweebs say and I'm prepared for the worst. If things go to shit, I'm as ready for it as I can be. If they don't go to shit, I'm ready for that as well.

Either way, I'm ready.

Oh, and I've put the car cover on my car. It's not as good as having it in the garage but it's better than nothing. It makes it easy to clean the snow off my car so I can move it to a clean part of the driveway.

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While I try and watch some hockey, you can try and click on these:

• It would be in everyone's best interest if she fired him.



• Only in Florida.



• In four days, a bunch of grown-ass men will dress up in tuxedoes and wave a rodent around for everyone to gawk at. Some people are not happy about that.



• Australia: Blah, blah, blah.

Another loss last night

The Bruins are falling a bit in the wildcard race. They are still in second place, behind the Capitals but the Capitals point lead has gone up to six points.

Hopefully they get back on track and start winning again.

Their next game is Friday against the Coyotes. Puck drops at 9:00 our time so I might get to see the first period.

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The hardware for the top secret project arrived yesterday. It's a RPi 4 with all the add-ons like a case, power supply, heat sinks, a fan, etc... and I spent some time putting it all together. Once it was built, I loaded the server operating system and fired it up.

It booted correctly and I started the process of updating the OS with all the patches it needed.

So for the record, the hardware is from CanaKit and I can't say enough good about the quality. The case is high-impact plastic with numerous vents. The fan will run at 3.5v or 5v. Since this is not going to be a cpu-intensive machine, I set the fan at 3.5v to minimize any fan noise. The power supply comes with an ON/OFF switch which I thought was a nice touch, and the heat sinks came with sticky tape already applied. All I had to do was peal off the backing and stick them on the chips.

Once the updates completed, I rebooted it and checked everything for functionality. I created some necessary accounts and modified some security settings to lock out services that were not being used.

The machine is currently sitting in a box waiting for me to deliver it to the folks that will be using it. Once I bring it over there, I'll set it up, make some tweaks to their network, install the processes it needs and let them have at it.

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Here are some links to stories that I found interesting:

• Only in Florida.



• Only in Pennsylvania.



• E.T. phone home.



• Key phrase in this story: "...make sure your documents are in order."



• Oh Canada.



• The only reason I warm up a car is so there is plenty of heat when I get in it.

Big storm a comin'

The weather dweebs are saying that we're gonna get between 2 and 24 inches of snow. Also, high winds that will cause drifts of 3 to 48 inches.

I give up. I'm gonna make sure my snowblower has plenty of gas and is parked so I can get it out of the garage without moving any cars. Then I'm going to put my shovel with it. No matter what happens, I'll be all set.

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The only person elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the writers is David Ortiz. Now we wait to see if the committee decides to elect Bonds, Clemens and/or Schilling.

Personally, I think all three deserve to be in the hall. I'm sick and tired of all the bullshit be spewed about "character" and steroids. Particularly when that bullshit is coming from an arrogant group of misfits who spend the majority of their lives hanging out in seedy bars, writing lies about the guys who play a game they could never play.

That's just my opinion.

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I found this advertisement the other day.

I don't want anyone hugging my loin.

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I'm going to take advantage of there being no hockey game by catching up on my DVRs and then going to bed on time.

Here are some links for you:

• In my opinion, the phrase "resisting officers until they threatened him with a taser" describes a man who has been tasered at least once before.



• According to my math, she had her first child when she was 14 years old.



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



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Week.



• Am I supposed to believe that is his real name?

Bad loss for the Bruins

The Ducks took an early lead and never looked back. They beat the Bruins 5-3 last night.

The Bruins didn't look good right from the get-go and it's safe to say that they didn't get beat, they lost.

They are now on their way to Colorado where tomorrow night they will play the Avalanche. The problem is, the game is on at 10:00. That means I will not be watching it.

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Enjoy these few links:

• Key phrase in this story: "...arrested while on holiday in Iran."



• Krazy Kim really hates the ocean.



• I gotta get me some weed.



• My question is, did she apologize because she acted like an asshole or did she apologize because she got caught acting like an asshole?



• New category - Presenting the redneckiest story of the week.



• Falling Iguanas would be a fantastic name for a 1980's latin group from Miami.

Brady almost did it

Brady almost pulled off one of those miracles he was famous for when he was playing for the Patriots.

The Buccaneers tied the game 27-27 with 46 seconds remaining on the clock and everyone on the planet assumed the game was going in to overtime because there was no way the Rams could move the ball to the end zone in 46 seconds.

Well, everyone that is except the Rams.

In what I would describe as one of the greatest marches down field I've seen in a long time, the Rams took 41 seconds and four snaps to move the ball to the 12 yard line. At this point there were only only 5 seconds left on the clock.

The kicker came out, both teams lined up on the line of scrimmage, the ball was snapped and he put it through the uprights to win the game 30-27.

As for the Bills/Chiefs game, what can I say. That was also a great game to watch that actually ended up in sudden-death overtime.

Regulation ended with a tie at 36-36. The Chiefs won the toss and elected to receive. It took them seven snaps and just over 4 minutes to move the ball across the goal line and win the game 42-36.

Next Sunday should be an exciting day of football.

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I decided to start SSL on my web server because, well, I like encryption. Problem is, I don't have an SSL cetificate.

Instead of paying some certificate authority $50.00 for a cert, I generated a self-signed certificate, installed it on the server, opened 443 and tried it out.

Did you know that chrome hates self-signed certs? Don't feel bad, I didn't either. But I know now.

It was a miserable failure because there really is no modern browser that will allow a websurfer to access a secure website that is secured by a self-signed certificate.

Guess I'll just keep it as a unencrypted website since it really doesn't have any content anyways.

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Yes, there is hockey tonight. Yes, the game will be shown on my tv.

You might want to click on these links:

• Mark my words, we're gonna end up in a shooting war over there.



• I'm betting he's feeling that hit this morning.



• After 28 years, it might be time for some new blood.



• Well this sucks. I worked with him for several years. He was a genuinely nice guy



• This is probably the most redneck thing I've seen in awhile.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "9:38 a.m. A woman at a motel told the housekeepers she was immortal."



• Seems to me those "violence interrupters" might want to think about arming themselves.

Watch your back

To my family and friend in the law enforcement world, keep your head on a swivel, watch each other's back and wear your damned vest.

You can't defend against this shit but if you are always on the lookout for it, maybe you'll react fast enough to have a chance.

I'm not sure you can defend against this either but, again, be on the lookout for it. There is so much anti-cop bullshit being spouted on the internet and in the media that you should assume you have a target on your back.

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The Rams/Buccaneers game started at 3:00 and the Bills/Chiefs game starts at 6:30. As far as I'm concerned, those are the best times for any sporting event.

As for last night, I was pleased to see the 49ers win even though I only made through 3 quarters.

It looked like Rodgers and the Packers were going to dominate when they marched down field on the kick-off and scored a touchdown on a 11-play drive. Then the 49ers defense kicked in and that was it for scoring for the rest of the half.

From what I read, the 49ers came to life in the fourth quarter and scored a touchdown, the extra point and then a field goal to win the game 13-10.

As I said to Pat the other day, I have a feeling the SuperB owl will be played by the Buccaneers and the Chiefs but I may be wrong. As I type this, the Rams are up 27-3 in the third quarter.

I guess we'll see what happens. Maybe Brady will pull off one his famous miracles...

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There is lots of football left to watch and then, after that, more football to watch. My poor wife is gonna be sick of football by the time February 13th rolls around.

If you aren't watching any football, you can click on these. If you are talented and capable of multi-tasking, you can do both:

• Get yer pitchforks and torches kids, we're gonna lynch us an outsider!
  God forbid she should vote as a representative of her constituents and not as a member of the "democrat gang".



• Key phrase in this story: "This individual is no longer employed at our firm."



• Key phrase in this story: "...we may need to boost again, that’s entirely conceivable."



• This is proof that a college education does not necessarily make you smart.



• Several years ago, when my youngest called me and asked what to do about a frozen pipe, I said, "Don't use a torch. Use a blowdryer so you don't burn the place down."



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, just wants to order a frappacino.

Quiet day today

We did our weekly grocery shopping and then some light housekeeping to try and keep the fur at bay.

Pets are great and I'm glad we have them but when there are two black haired cats and one black haired dog, you can count on a lot of black hair everywhere.

It's annoying but it's a small price to pay for living with creatures who bring pleasure to our lives.

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The Bruins beat the Jets this afternoon.

It was a good game that was tied through 2 periods. The Bruins took the lead in the third period and held off the Jets to win 3-2.

Rask managed to play a great game in goal which is a good thing. He needs to get his skills, and confidence, back in game shape and today went a long way in doing that.

Their next game will be Monday at 7:00 against the Ducks.

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There is football game that interests me at 8:00 tonight. Maybe I'll watch the first half.

You can check these out if you want:

• I've come to the conclusion that no one, including the CDC, knows what to do any more.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, still tries to kill ya.



• Key phrase in this story: "I don’t think none of us was that dumb."



• Only in Pennsylvania.



• Book 'em Danno.



• Only in Florida.

I lied

Yesterday I said I was going to spend my evening watching hockey. Turns out I lied.

The Bruins / Capitals game was not on any television or cable station. Instead, it was streamed on something called ESPN+

I don't have ESPN+. I will never have ESPN+. I can't stand ESPN regular so it's pretty safe bet I can't stand ESPN+.

Anytime ESPN carries a Red Sox game, a Patriots game or a Bruins game, I cringe because I can't stand the announcers. I hate the fact they start every game at 8:15 at night. I hate the fact that they have a commercial stoppage every 10 minutes and I hate the fact they have cameras pointed at the announcers instead of the field of play.

I don't give two shits about what the announcers are saying or doing. Keep the cameras pointed at the game, you morons.

So much to my chagrin, I did not get to see the Bruins win last night.

They are still in second place in the wildcard but they lost Marchand and Blidh to injuries last night. As of right now, it looks like neither one will be available for tomorrow's game.

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Goofy Joe is pushing Intel and other US computer chip makers to ramp up production.

You are too late Joe. You should have asked them to do that a year ago when you first took office. The shortage of chips is probably the single largest factor in the shortages of non-food items. Without computer chips to run the automation of all types of production, production slows to a crawl.

When production drops, you get shortages. With shortages, you get inflation.

With shortages and inflation you get stock markets that get jittery and drop value rapidly.

When stock mrkets drop, retirement accounts drop.

When my retirement account drops, I get pissed and I vote accordingly.

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I'm tired so I'm going to end this tirade and leave you with these links:

• "🎶So now I'm praying for the end of time.🎵"
  "🎵To hurry up and arrive.🎶"
  I guess he's done waiting for the end of time.



• He was pretty damned funny.



• Key phrase in this story: "I would rather them than pigeons."



• I don't ever want to be this old.



• This is by far the best Sopranos take I've ever seen.

Big news.

At 5:30 this morning, my grandaughter came into the world.

She is, of course, beautiful. She is also healthy.

Mom, dad and older brother are also happy and healthy

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The top-secret project hardware has been ordered and, once I have it in hand, I will put it all together, load the operating system & top-secret software and deliver it to the folks that need it.

The big problem we ran into is the damned computer chip shortages. This is run on a Raspberry Pi and, unfortunately, there is a shortage of RPi's right now. We could not find the same model I have been testing on.

We were fortunately able to find an RPi that is a model up from than the one I've been testing on but it should be okay. Linux is not as finicky as Windows when it comes to hardware changes.

The kit they bought comes with a decent power supply, heat sinks, a fan and an enclosure. It also comes with some extra cables and a 128g microSD card to hold the operating system and software.

This will make these folks working-lives a little easier and all it will cost them is the $150 for the RPi. They are pretty pleased with that.

Also, if this works out okay for them, maybe I'll order a few RPi's, load up the software, create some automation to keep it updated and sell them as appliances for small businesses that might want to do the top-secret thing. Buying the hardware for $150, loading up the software and selling it as an appliance for $500, along with a monthly support fee to keep the thing running smoothly and fix any glitches, would generate a nice little income.

Then again, I don't want to be in a position where I'm getting late night phone calls because something broke. I did that for many, many years and trust me, it sucks. Screw that.

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Despite the major loss the other night, I'm still a Bruins fan. That means I will be watching the Capitals / Bruins game this evening.

If you want, you can check these out:

• If she wins, everyone living outside of Boston is royally screwed. And the people living inside of Boston aren't going to be too well off either.



• Between Goofy Joe and Krazy Kamala, I suspect we're going to end up in a shooting war.



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



• Good for her. I'm lucky if I can fly across Massachusetts.



• There is something wrong with a Irish newspaper printing this story.



• No thanks.

Long day

I spent an hour in the dentist chair this morning getting a broken tooth fixed. After that I spent several hours trying to get some feeling back into the left side of my face.

Then I finished up my private little web server as well as finalized the top secret project.

When my daughter got home, we conducted a multi-user test of the top secret project and it was successful. Now I just need to identify the hardware that needs to be purchased, load the software and set it up for the top-secret users to use.

In between that stuff, I worked for my employer because, well, I like money.

Finally, I made a food run to pick up dinner. Now I am full and content on my couch.

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All of the above explains why you get a short post and only a few links.

Here they are:

• It’s about time he was recognized. He’s one of the best actors in the movie industry.



• This is actually a pretty good idea.



• Looks to me more like one of those breakfast sausages.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.

Did you place your order?

I ordered my four government-supplied covid test kits this afternoon but I don't have high hopes about ever receiving them.

The first indication of potential problems came when I discovered that the kits are ordered through the USPS. According to the media, the US Postal Service is in a world of hurt.

Then, the webpage confirming my order said:

Well, it took them two hours to send me an order confirmation email.

Lastly, it's the U.S. Post Office. The guy running it, DeJoy, is a Trump lackey who Goofy Joe has been trying to get rid of since he took office. Dejoy would love nothing more than to make Biden look bad.

On the upside of things, the state was able to fold, spindle and mutilate enough of my records to put together my vaccination record.

I am now one of the cool kids with my very own digital vaccination passport.

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I'm still working on some top secret projects.

The first project is still awaiting some much-needed testing by the two people that will be using it. I'm not ready to call it complete until they both say they can do it at the same time.

The second project is one for me and it's not terribly top secret.

Over the last year, we have been working with lawyers, banks, financial people, etc... taking care of some personal business. One problem we continuously run into is send large document via email. Our email provider caps us at the ridiculously low file size of 3 meg and trust me, when you are sending a 12 page pdf of a signed and scanned document, it's a lot bigger than 3 meg.

So anyways, I now have a http server running that I can load documents on to and send just a link to the recipient. They can then click the link and download the document, no matter how big it is.

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There is hockey this evening. The Bruins are taking on the Hurricanes at 7:00 and I will be watching.

While I'm doing that, you might want to visit these links:

• I have a feeling this is going to end poorly for the Ukrainians.



• Even the brilliant criminals in our society are smart enough to know you shouldn't take horse dewormer to treat a human virus.



• I am always amazed at the level of stupidity humans are capable of.



• Let me repeat that: I am always amazed at the level of stupidity humans are capable of.



• And just in case I wasn't clear enough the first two times: I am always amazed at the level of stupidity humans are capable of.



• Only in Florida.

Well, that was fun

I went out to push the inch of snow off my driveway and quickly found that what I was dealing with was an inch of extra heavy slush.

I cleared a bit off the top of the drive, near the garage and then went to the end to get rid of the giant boulders the plow had left. It took me quite a while to get move them out of the way but I was able to clear them before my daughter had to go to work.

I probably should have tried to use the snow blower on them but since it's not a water blower, I didn't think it would work.

So anyways, my daughter managed to make it to work and my driveway is currently clear of slush/ice. My back, however, is well-and-truly screwed.

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The Steelers lost to the Chiefs last night and it looks like that was Roethlisberger's final NFL game.

Big Ben is one of those athletes that I think kid should look up to. He has his priorities in order, always putting his family first and while never letting his team down.

Rumor has it that after last night's game, Mahomes asked him for a signed jersey. Roethlisberger said, "Sure but I want one of yours!"

As for the rest of the playoffs, I told Pat this afternoon that I expect the SuperB owl will be played by the Chiefs and the Buccaneers and Brady will probably win another ring. Mahomes is really, really good but Brady is a supernatural freak who just keeps winning.

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The Cardinals are playing the Rams tonight but I won't be watching that game.

While I'm not doing that, you can do these. Or not. Your choice.

• Meet Charlie Cytron-Walker, the newest member of the A-Team



• He was a great closer but not the brightest bulb on the candelabra.



• Some people have way too much free time.



• As long as there is plenty of Budweiser, I'm good.



• Key phrase in this story: "I'm convinced no one wins this many times without playing more than they should."



• I always told my kids, "Everything in moderation."

A bit chilly this morning

I woke up this morning to discover that we were almost out of degrees...

And now they are saying we're going to get somewhere between 3 and 6 inches of snow tonight followed by sleet, freezing rain and rain.

Good thing I have plenty of gasoline because it's possible I will be running both a snowblower and a generator.

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The Patriots got their ass handed to them last night.

I made it to half time and then went to bed because I couldn't watch any more of that game. The offense couldn't find the end-zone if it was highlighted in neon, Jones threw more passes to the Bills than Allen did and the defense decided to let Allen have as much time in the pocket as he needed.

The game ended with the Bills beating the Patriots 47-17 and now the Patriots are all on vacation.

The Steelers are playing the Chiefs at 8:15 tonight and I expect to watch at least the first two quarters. If the Steelers are winning, I'll try to make it through three quarters.

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I'm gonna go eat, get into my sweat pants and crash on my couch to watch some television.

You can click on these and then go do whatever it is you do:

• And underwater volcano erupted of the cost of the Tonga this morning and the idiots in San Francisco decided to film the arrival of the tsunami.



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



• There is nothing quite as convincing as "100 per cent proof".



• In case you wanted to know about old stuff.



• Key phrase in this story: Morton said he is heading out with Jackie's favorite treats — cheese puffs and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer".



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Month.

Another win

The Bruins beat the Predators this afternoon in overtime. It was a great game and both teams seemed evenly matched, swapping leads throughout the game.

But enough about the game, let's talk Marchand's nose.

At some point in the second period, he caught an elbow full force into his nose and he went down like a sack of potatoes.

Man, that nose is never gonna heal.

The Bruins, and Marchands nose, are off now until Tuesday when the Hurricanes come to town for a 7:00 game

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Speaking of games, the Patriots play the Bills at 8:15 tonight.

Don't these people know that I can't stay up late like that? I'll be amazed if I make it to the half...

The predictors have changed their minds a little bit and now it is pretty much unanimous that the Bills will win tonight's game.

For the record, those same predictors all predicted that the Raiders were going to beat the Bengals but as I type this, the score of that game is 20-13 in favor of the Bengals. Granted, it's half time and there's still a lot of football left to be played but so far, it's looking like the predicting wizards may not be as wizardee as they think they are.

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Update on my secret project:

And I'm back to getting it working on a Raspberry PI.

Turns out that the solution they have on their network does not allow for more than one user at a time. Since there are two of them, one user at a time ain't gonna cut it.

As things stand right now, I have it working on my network. I have a multi-user test to run as soon as my daughter gets the software loaded on to her computer.

Once that happens and I'm comfortable that it will handle more than one at a time, I'll give it to them and set them loose.

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Well, I'm going to watch the rest of this game and then try to watch as much of the Patriots / Bills game.

While I do that, you can visit these:

• Key phrase in this story: "Many people find introducing food into the bedroom an effective way of spicing things up, hot sauce should not be one of them."



• Inappropriate Shoes would be a great name for a 1950's childrens book.



• Can't say that I blame them.



• Only in Pennsylvania.



• They probably enjoyed themselves for the first time in a long time.

Empty shelves

We went grocery shopping this morning and man, those shelves are pretty empty.

The one aisle that is really empty is the pet food aisle and we've been having a problem finding cat food for The Sisters. Stop & Shop was pretty much out of cat food but Big Y not only had what we wanted, they had several cases of it. Since it's in a sealed can and keeps forever, we decided to buy two cases. That should feed the little monsters for about a month and a half.

As for The Dog, my daughter orders her food online and has it delivered. She's got plenty of food and if that runs out, she'll just eat whatever we eat.

She's a living garbage disposal. If we give it to her, she eats it. Cucumbers, potato chips, carrots, scrambled eggs, toast, cheese, etc... You name it, she'll eat it.

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So I was looking at the predictions for this weekends football games and I gotta tell you, I have no idea who is going to win the Bills / Patriots game.

Every talking head out there has a prediction and they are all over the place. Right now, it's about 60/40 in favor of the Bills.

The one thing that everyone agrees on is that it's going to be cold as hell in Buffalo tomorrow night. Like 0° or below with wind chills in the -teens. I would not want to be playing football (or any other sport) in that weather.

Imagine what it feels like to get hit by a 200 pound linebacker. Now add frostbite to that feeling and I can't begin to imagine what that's gonna feel like.

It will be an interesting game to watch from the comfort of my nice warm couch.

⧫
The Bruins won again last night, beating the Flyers 3-2 and moving them to only 3 points behind the Penguins in the wild card race.

Rask was pretty good, making 25 saves out of 27 shots on goal. That's pretty good for his first game of the season.

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No sports tonight but I have a load of DVRs to watch.

While I binge-watch Gold Rush, you can binge-click these:

• Attention Alanis Morissette: This is irony.



• When it comes to critters trying to kill you, New Zealand is almost as bad a Australia.



• Phrase that makes me go, "Huh?": "...things that we have not done in the past..."



• I have a feeling that somehow or another, this is going to end up costing me money.



• Only in Florida.
  (And probably also in Alaska)

Another good win

The Bruins beat the Canadiens 5-1 last night, moving them into second place in the wild card, 5 points behind the first place Penguins.

Remember when I was whining about them maybe not making the playoffs? well, I'd like to say with authority that I was wrong but I'm afraid can't. At least not until tonight's game is over.

The reason I'm waiting for tonight's game is because Rask is slated to make his season debut tonight and if the Bruins win, I'll know that they are a playoff team.

Hopefully Rask has healed up from his off-season surgery and he's back in game shape. Up until his hip problems last season, he was arguably the best goalie in the NHL and having him back in the net should be a huge lift for the Bruins.

⧫
Despite my getting jabbed repeatedly, the state cannot find me in their vaccination records database.

I called the number shown on the rejection email pictured above and a very nice Jamaican woman answered. I know she was from Jamaica because I asked her which part of the Caribbean she was from and she told me. I love the Caribbean accents. When someone from the islands talks to me, it sounds like they are singing.

So anyways, she basically informed me that she probably can't be of much help because the 211 number was just an information line and she can't access any personal information about me. She suggested I reach out to the vaccine people by sending an email to myvaxrecords@mass.gov

So I did.

Now we wait for the bureaucracy to kick into gear and the wheels of progress to turn. In my mind, Powerhouse from Looney Tunes is playing in the background as all the state minions rush around collecting my vaccination info and ready it for me to peruse.

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I ran across this amusing ad the other day:

Let me interpret that for you...

"Top SMS Marketing Platforms"
is just a fancy way of saying
"Some of the most prolific text message spammers on the internet"

"Optimize your SMS flows"
is also a fancy way of saying
"Send huge amounts of text message spam in the most efficient way possible"

"create personalized mobile experiences"
really means
"We use personal and private data that we've collected to fool people into thinking the text spam is a message they should look at

"that convert"
is some serious marketing bullshit that means
"before you know it, those suckers will be converting their money into your money"

When I see ads like that, I am reminded that the two things the internet does very, very well are 1) offer up a wide selection of porn and 2) make it very easy for scammers to steal your money.

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As I mentioned previously, there is more hockey tonight. The Bruins are taking on the Flyers at 7:00. I made it through two and a half periods last night before going up to bed. I'm going to try and make it through at least that much tonight.

While I attempt that, you can look at these:

• Killer Zionist Dolphins would be a pretty racist name for a 1980's German techno band.



• No news on the health status of Curly or Larry.



• Inflation is at an all-time high, covid is killing millions of people and Russia is about to start world war 3 in Europe but thankfully our government is focused on the things that really matter...



• Good. The federal government should not be allowed to require that businesses police their employee's medical status.



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



• This is actually a pretty serious charge. It is addressed in the same statute that covers treason, rebellion and insurrection.

Kinda busy today.

I've perfected my top-secret project and I'm ready to roll it out to the folks that wanted it.

This will hopefully make their lives a lot easier.

For the record, I never got it running on a Raspberry PI because I discovered that I didn't need it running on a Raspberry PI. Turns out it was already running on their network, it just needs to be activated and distributed.

Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield...

⧫
I'm going to eat some food, watch some hockey and fall asleep early.

Unless the game is good in which case I will strive to remain awake through all three periods.

While I attempt to do that, or not, you can click on these. Or not. Your call:

• Key phrase in this story: "I don't want someone else telling me I can't do this anymore."



• The Local Bubble would be a fantastic name for a small-town strip club.



• This settles it, I'm gonna get me some weed...



• Some guys are just a little too self-concious.

Good win for the Bruins

They beat the Capitals 7-3 last night in what I would describe as a well-played hockey game.

The score was 2-0 in favor of the Capitals when things got a little chippy between the teams. Marchand ended up leaving the ice with blood pouring from a gash on the bridge of his nose after he was slashed in the face by a Capital. That high stick cost the Capitals a with 4 minute major penalty, fired up the Bruins and sent them on their scoring rampage.

For the record, Marchand did return to the ice and score two goals but man, his nose looked pretty nasty. I couldn't find a good picture of him after he came back on the ice but this is what he looked like just after the hit:

With last night's win, their record over the last 10 games is 7 wins and 3 losses. If they can keep playing at anywhere close to that level of play, they'll be in really good shape come April 29th when the regular season ends.

⧫
Time for some baseball news:

There is no baseball news.

The two sides (millionaire players and billionaire owners) will sit down this coming Thursday and start talking. They'll probably also eat some of those giant shrimp cocktails, drink high end gin & tonics and compliment each other on their very expensive personal jet aircraft.

This has been your baseball news

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No sportings this evening so I guess it's a DVR kind of night.

While I burn through those, you can click on these:

• When stripper's go bad...



• Apparently politicians in Canada are just as unaware of the impact of social media as politicians in the US.



• Hell, my wife gets concerned if I'm gone for more than a few hours.



• Only in Florida.



• What the hell is a "meth burrito"/



• Key phrase in this story: "We could see them getting rejected from all the girls they were trying to hit on."

I see dead people

So Bob Saget died at the age of 65. According to the authorities, there was no sign of foul play and no indication of drugs or alcohol. He just up and died.

I didn't really think he was all that good of an actor or a comedian. The reason I bring it up is because he was only two years older than me.

⧫
I read this story today and the first thought that crossed my mind was, "I don't understand. What's the big deal?" My second thought was, "What a bunch of sissified hypocrites."

I would like to remind everyone what the liberals used to say about Trump.

If you are upset about an innocuous and vague catch phrase being used against Biden, you must have been really pissed off about the clear and profane catch phrase being used against Trump.

⧫
The stock market is not off to a good start in 2022:

My retirement dreams are once again being dashed upon the rocks of reality.

⧫
The Patriots lost to the Dolphins yesterday, giving the Bills first place in the AFC East and the #3 seed in the AFC.

I gotta be honest, they didn't play well. They didn't play well at all. Their defensive line was filled with holes, giving the Dolphins ready access to the end zone and the offense just wasn't having a good day. Jones got picked off once and there were two fumbles.

Let's hope the wild card game this coming Saturday is better for them, they make quick work of the Bills and move on to the divisionals.

⧫
I'm going to fall asleep watching hockey.

You can check these out:

• Thankfully, the police officer gets to go home to his family.



• When I saw this headline, I thought they were talking about the footbal team.



• Today we have two key entries from our favorite police log:
  3:51 p.m. A man was riding a horse across a parking lot and up onto a porch.
  3:55 p.m. The man fell off his horse.



• Oh Canada.



• Key phrase in this story: "This could’ve gone wrong a thousand different ways."



• Well, give him some snacks fer cripes sake.

No ice for me

They predicted freezing rain most of the day today and all we got here was cold rain. My patio had a touch of ice on it earlier but my driveway is just wet and ice-free.

It has been my experience that the weather dweebs are usually wrong.

⧫
Speaking of wrong, I think my Alexa has brain damage:

So which is it Dyslexa? Either they are not playing today, they are playing this afternoon, or you don't know when they are playing? Pick one...

⧫
The Steelers managed to beat the Ravens in overtime this afternoon, giving them a chance at a wildcard slot in the playoffs.

All that needs to happen now is for the Chargers to beat the Raiders or for the Raiders to beat the Chargers. Basically, as long as the Chargers/Raiders game doesn't end in a tie, the Steelers will be a wild card team.

As for the Patriots / Dolphins game, they are still in the first quarter and the Dolphins lead 7-0. The Patriots defense is looking a little shaky so hopefully Jones & the offense are on the top of their game and they overcome.

⧫
I'm going to watch the rest of this game.

You can visit these links if you want:

• This is why you will never see me at a "trendy" restaurant.



• We, as a society, need to chill out a little bit.



• If they were to ask me my opinion, I would say they should start taking it down before it falls over and kills a few hundred people. But then again, what do I know...



• This sounds like the perfect retirement job for me.



• Pfffftttt.... Cheese Heads...



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

There's always that one guy

We went grocery shopping today and the store was packed. And when I say packed, I mean it. It was like no one had been shopping for food for the last month and suddenly they all decided to go. There were a lot of people in the store.

For the last year, we have usually worn our face masks when we are in a store. The simple reason is that when we had covid last year, we didn't know it. The only reason we found out we had covid was because the college was testing us every week and they found it. What that means is that it's possible we could have covid again and not know it, None of us want to go around infecting people who might not be as fortunate as we were and they end up really sick or even dead from covid.

So anyways, we are in the grocery store and, since Springfield issued an indoor mask mandate recently, pretty much everyone was wearing a mask.

Except for that one guy...

You know the guy: White guy, about 50, American flag on the sleeve of his jacket, tight blue jeans and work boots. Probably driving a black F150 with gold trim and a toolbox in the bed. You just know he's got that, "No one's gonna tell me what to do!" attitude. The only thing missing was a firearm and for all I know, he was packin' under jacket.

So if you were in Big Y on Cooley St. this morning and you suddenly come down with covid, blame the arrogant, self-centered jerk in the black coat who was wandering around, fondling all the fresh vegetables and breathing on everyone that came within 10 feet of him.

⧫
Yes, there is hockey tonight. The Bruins are playing the Lightning at 7:00

Yes, the Lightning is a tough team that is currently in first place in the NHL.

Yes, I'm hoping the Bruins win but I'm also a realist.

I'm also tired so if the game sucks for the Bruins, you can bet I'll probably fall asleep on my couch and miss most of the third period.

⧫
My dinner is ready and I'm going to go eat it before it gets cold.

While I do that, you can click on these:

• This is probably the most redneck thing you'll see this week.



• Mom of the Year.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Month.



• Good for him.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.

They lied

Last night they said, "You'll see 2-4 inches of light fluffy snow by noon tomorrow!"

At 6:00 this morning, I went out to do my driveway, thinking I would be able to do it with a shovel. Boy, was I surprised to see 4 inches of wet snow on my driveway. There is no way I'm shovelling heavy snow at my advanced age. No sir, not me. I broke out The Beast and spent 20 minutes clearing the driveway so my daughter could get to work.

I went back out after the snow stopped falling around noon and cleared another 3 inches of wet snow off my driveway.

I also cleared the back patio and a large section of the back yard for The Dog. She'll still run into the snow to do her business because, well, she's kinda odd. But hey, she has a nice patch of "no snow" to wander around in if she's so inclined.

All toll, I ended up with around 6 inches of definitely not fluffy snow on my driveway.

⧫
The Bruins lost last night.

They played well but the Wild played better. I thought they might tie the game with 3 seconds left in the final period but they just couldn't get the puck into the net.

Oh well.

⧫
Here are today's links:

• This man made a movie that is one of the fondest memories of my childhood: Lillies of the Field.



• Key phrase in this story: "...some people were putting Vaseline up their noses in an attempt to thwart COVID-19 testing."



• I was pretty sure it was a Starbucks.



• My question is, "What kind of brawl is it where your junk is available for biting?"



• Apparently some people will collect just about anything. We call those people "crazy"...

January 6th

The internet is filled with stories about what happened at the US Capitol one year ago. And when I say stories, I mean stories. There is no news about it, just stories.

Depending on who you read or listen to, the event that happened one year ago was nothing more than a peaceful protest being held by loyal Americans who were concerned that their chosen leader had been cheated out of his rightful place.

or...

The event that happened one year ago was a violent attack conducted by domestic terrorists on United States of America simply because their cult leader ordered them to attack.

Listen, I wasn't there. I can't tell you what happened because I don't believe anything the media tells me. I'm one of those guys that if I don't see it, I don't believe it.

What I do know is that a whole bunch of people, some dressed like the lead character in Rambo 2, some dressed like the background characters in Dueling Banjos, some dressed like all the characters in the movie The Green Berets and some who were dressed like tribal leaders of the plains Indians during the 1800s, trespassed on the grounds and in the facility known as The US Capitol Building. One person died at the scene, another died shortly after. There were some injuries.

I also know that the attack came shortly after the president of the United States made a speech where he said, "And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore." followed by "So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we’re going to the Capitol, and we’re going to try and give."

Did Trump order his followers to attack the Capital? That depends on how you interpret those two statements he made at the end of his speech.

Was the crowd at the Capital any more or less violent than the BLM protestors across the country? I don't know, I wasn't at any of those either. Based on what I saw on the nightly news, it sure seems like the Capital protestors weren't any more or less violent than the BLM protestors. The only difference here is that no one is talking or writing about all the violence that took place in Seattle, New York, Chicago, etc... but they sure are talking about the violence that happened in Washington DC.

I guess the citizens of the country aren't as important as the bureaucrats of the country...

⧫
The Bruins take on the Wild this evening at 7:00 so I've got that to look forward to.

While I do that, you can do these:

• Key word in this story that might be a load of crap: "accidentally"...



• It's the old, "I didn't know my good friends severed head was in the car I stole!" defense.



• Presenting the winner of the State Legislator of the Year award.



• I have no idea what I was doing when I was three years old but I can tell you it wasn't this.



• Dangerous Cactus would be a fantastic name for an evil genius's sidekick.



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

There is failure all about

I tried porting my top-secret project over to a cheap little Raspberry Pi and so far, it's been a fiasco.

What worked so well on the old DELL box running Ubuntu server in my basement has gone to shit on the RPi. I can't even get the damned server working correctly, never mind the top-secret crap.

As always, I will endeavor to persevere and get this thing working. People are counting on me...

⧫
This summer I bought a replacment idler pulley for the mowing deck on my lawn tractor. I took the deck off the tractor, flipped it over, removed the damaged pulley and put the new one on. My lawnmower has been fine since then.

Amazon, however, seems to think I need more idler pulleys so they keep sending me emails like this one telling my to buy more. Lots more...

⧫
The Bruins managed to win last nights hockey game and I managed to stay awake to see all three periods.

The Bruins and the Devils traded lead through the first two periods but the Bruins owned the ice during the third period and the game ended with the Bruins up 5-3

They are now in the number two wild card slot, five points behind the Penguins and one point ahead of the Red Wings.

They are off tonight and pick it up again tomorrow when they play the Wild at 7:00.

I will once again attempt to remain awake for all three periods.

⧫
She really wants to get up on the fireplace mantle.

I yell at her but she looks at me and gives me one of those cat looks that says, "What? I'm not doing anything! You're hallucinating old man."

I suspect that one of these days, we will come home to find several shattered knicknacks on the ground in front of the fireplace and a cat sound asleep where that clock is currently located...

⧫
Time to make some dinner and watch some bad television.

Here are some links:

• You gotta love dogs.



• Man, Krazy Kim really hates the sea. He keeps firing missiles into it.



• Speaking of Krazy Kim...



• Bulbous-headed Naked Alien would be a great name for a 1970s sci-fi/porno actor.



• From now on and forever more, butt fatigue will be known as "sleeping booty"...



• Apparently, the name "Lontrell Williams" wasn't good enough.

Good riddance

Eric "I used to be an assistant to one of Obama's assistants!" Lesser has announced that he is running for Lieutenant Governor. He intends on focusing all his efforts on getting his choo-choo dreams realized.

Lesser is probably one of the most adept individuals at "jumping on the bandwagon" that I have ever seen. He will say whatever the loudest group wants him to say. I don't believe he's had an original thought in his entire public life. He does whatever the party tells him to do.

He's also incredibly focused on choo-choo trains. I think his parents never bought him that Lionel train set he wanted as a child and now he's doing whatever it takes to get a train of his very own.

I have two things to say to Choo-Choo Lesser:

1. There aren't enough people in Western Mass looking to take a train to Boston to make that train worthwhile.
2. The people of Western Mass don't want all the idiots from Boston moving out here, turning our little bit of heaven into a shithole Boston suburb.

On the upside, if he becomes the Lt. Governor, he won't be my state senator anymore. Yes, I realize we'll probably end up with some other moron but in my humble opinion, no one is worse that Eric "The Party Lackey" Lesser

⧫
The minute I get up and leave the room, she takes over the warm spot on the couch.

When I come back in and tell her to move, she looks at me like I just took her favorite squeak toy away.

Her picture should be in the dictionary under the definition of "puppy dog eyes".

⧫
My top-secret project has met a successful benchmark and has the functionality I want it to have.

I still can't tell you about it because I want to keep it top-secret until I finalize the changes. Once I do that, it won't be top-secret anymore. It will be just plain-old-secret. That means I still won't tell you, the internet, about it because, well, it is my opinion that the internet isn't very good at keeping a secret.

⧫
There is hockey this evening with the Bruins playing the Devils.

Hopefully they continue playing well and they win their third game in a row. I believe once you win three in a row it's considered a winning streak.

While I watch that game, you can click on these links:

• This is why you keep your gas tank full.



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



• Wasn't this a movie starring Mcauley Caulkin and Joe Pasci?



• The French have an interesting way of ringing in the New Year.



• Key phrase in this story: "...she was rushed to hospital for squeezing out one too many."



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "9:39 a.m. A large bull was running rampant through a neighborhood."

Back to work

I was back to work today and then I set about working on a top-secret project here at home.

I'd tell you about it but then it wouldn't be top-secret.

⧫
The Bruins are in fourth place in the Atlantic conference and the Patriots are tied with the Bills for first place in the AFC East. Well, technically, the Bills are in first because of home record but they both have a 10-6 game record.

Now if the MLB can get it's shit together and both sides start acting like adults instead of overpaid brats, we might start having baseball news.

⧫
You can visit these links:

• When the republicans are back in the majority, I hope that everyone remembers it was the democrats who made this change.



• I said it before and I'll say it again: This thing may change everything we know about the universe.



• Only in Florida.



• Looks like sheep are smarter than some humans.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, tries to steal your golf clubs.



• Apparently both masks and clothes are required.

Good day for sports

The Bruins and the Patriots both won this afternoon.

The Patroits ran all over the Jaguars, beating them 50-10 and clinching a playoff spot.

And speaking of running over, the Bruins beat up on the Red Wings 5-1.

It was a good day to watch Boston sports even though I had to do the channel flipping thing.

⧫
No one won that $500 million dollar Powerball thing.

I didn't buy a ticket. Neither did John. We both agreed that half a billion wasn't enough and we were waiting for it to reach a billion.

We'll see what next week looks like. Monday is currently estimated to be worth $550 million. Wednesday will probably be over $600 million.

By the time next Saturday rolls around, it might be around $750 million.

Now some of you might think that would be enough to entice me into giving my taxation-heavy state an extra $2.00 of my hard-earned money but you would be wrong.

I'm holding out for the full billion.

⧫
I'm going to watch some bad television and fall asleep early.

You can click on these if you want:

• If you ever wondered if there are stupid people living on our planet, wonder no more.



• Speaking of stupid people.



• No thanks.



• I agree that every one of the entries on this list should be banned. I would include "optics", "leverage", "take it offline" and "synergy".



• Key phrase in this headline: "...15 attempted robberies in one night."



• I think I'll stay out of Boston.