Finally got some sleep

If last night is any indication, I may be over my insomnia. I went to bed after the hockey game around 10:00 last night and woke up at 6:30 this morning. I woke up once but only for a few minutes so basically I got a nice 8 hours of sleep.

Hopefully tonight is just as sleepy.

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Speaking of hockey, the Bruins took on the Lightning last night and beat them 3-1.

They are currently tied for points in the NHL but are in first place in the league with a better record than the Devils. The Bruins are at 19-3 (.864) and the Devils are at 19-4 (.826).

What is interesting is that with last night's win the Bruins are 13-0 at home. I guess they like playing in the Garden

The Avalanche will be in Boston on Saturday for the Bruins next game. Puck drops at 7:00pm

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In other sporting news, the US beat Iran yesterday, moving them to the next round of the World Cup.

Personally, I don't care because despite having been a soccer coach for 7 years, I don't really like the sport. I understand it, I know all the rules and I know some pretty good strategies but I just can't watch a game where guys fall on the ground and cry like babies anytime they come into contact with another player or an air molecule.

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I'm going to figure out what to make for dinner and then watch some DVRs.

You can check these out if you want:

• I'm kinda thinking he's a whackjob.



• Iowa: Answering society's tough questions.



• Key phrase in this story: "Needless to say, she was named the fan of the game."



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



• Key phrase in this story: "...the Orlando-based wedding caterer, Joycelyn Bryant, and the bride were arrested."



• No, my son did not go to see them.

No sleep means no post

I'm exhausted and don't think it's a good idea to say things on the internet

This includes links...

Busy day

Today was a busy day for me with very little webernizing.

Let's start with the fact I've started up with another round of my semi-annual insomnia. I think I might have gotten 2 hours of sleep last night.

So anyways, once I got moving, I set about doing one of those jobs I hate doing - replacing the cat litter in all three of the litter boxes we have. This project entail carrying the box out to the garage and dumping the litter into a bag. Then taking the box out back and hosing it down to clean it as best as possible. Then it's in to the kitchen to rinse it with smoking hot water so it dries.

I do that two more times and then take a big ol' wad of paper towels and dry the boxes really well. Then it's just a matter pouring the fourty pounds of fresh cat litter into all three boxes and putting them back where the cat's can find them.

It takes about an hour to do it when I'm awake but today it took me about two hours because I kept forgetting things.

It sucks to have insomnia.

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Then I sat down to clean all the empty brass casings I accumulate during my shooting hobby.

I use a simple formula of apple cider vinegar, salt and liquid Tide laundry detergent to clean them. I put that mixture in to an old Utz Cheese Balls bucket and mix it well. Then I pour all the brass in, put the lid on and agitate the shit out of it for about 10 minutes.

After that it's rinsing, rinsing and more rinsing until no more soap bubbles appear.

Then it's time to take each casing out of the water, empty it of all water and put it back into the bucket for more rinsing, rinsing, rinsing.

Once I'm happy that all the salt, vinegar and Tide are off the brass, I put it all on a clean towel, bundle it up and shake the crap out of it.

Once I have all of that done, I place each casing onto a holder. Those full holders then go onto a screen that is elevated a bit so air can flow around and under the cases. They will sit there for several days until they are all nice and dry.

Then the fun of depriming and sizing begins but that won't happen until everything is nice and dry.

It doesn't sound like much but it turns out that between me, my daughter and the various friends who ask to go along, I do a lot of shooting.

This is a picture of today's effort. It's about half the brass I emptied this summer. The other half is already cleaned and deprimed.

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Nope, no retiring for me:

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I'm going to fall asleep in front of my tv now.

Yes, I know the Steelers are playing tonight and hey, who knows, maybe I'll watch some of it but I have a feeling by the time the 8:30 kick-off happens, I'm going to be unconcious.

Here are a few links:

• I played a lot of Monopoly when I was a kid and I don't remember anyone opening fire.



• This is a country that has a tradition of drinking in excess. I can only imagine what this will do.



• Stop asking me to eat insects or tomatoes. I'm not going to do it.



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

Day 1 of not Christmas shopping

The countdown begins of how many days I can go before actually doing any Christmas shopping.

My personal record was a few years ago when I managed to avoid doing any Christmas shopping until December 22. Trust me, that year kinda sucked because I ended up dealing with all the harried, stressed-out and pissed-off shoppers while trying to avoid the aforementioned feelings/attitudes myself.

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Here's what I don't understand about the Chinese culture.

They have spent the last 80 years living under a repressive dictatorial regime that utilized every form of torture and death to maintain it's control without so much as a peep but tell them they have to stay home to avoid spreading a potentially dangerous disease and boy, do they get all pissed off.

Seems to me that they should be clamoring for things like the elimination of slavery, freedom of speech, the ability to travel, etc...

I don't get it.

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There is no sports for me today.

In my football world, the Patriots don't play until Thursday and the Steelers don't play until Monday.

In my hockey world, the Bruins are off until Tuesday.

Fortunately, I do have some Gold Rush DVR's.

Here are some links:

• It's about godamned time.



• When I read the headline that said "seeds and more", the first thought that crossed my mind was, "They're gonna grow weed on the ISS!"



• Japan: It's not like where we live.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "4:08 p.m. A septuagenarian at the hospital was hitting on orderlies."



• Of course it will.



• I have never undserstood people that want to keep chickens. There is nothing that smells worse than a chicken coop.

Our guests have departed

We are now done with our Thanksgiving. Well, most of us are done. My youngest and his fiancé are visiting her dad this afternoon.

So now that our Thanksgiving is done, we can focus on getting ready for Christmas.

If I was smart, I would do my Christmas shopping this week so I don't end up in the stores on Christmas eve. The big flaw in that plan is that I'm not smart when it comes to planning my Christmas shopping.

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No sportings tonight and I am all out of DVRs. Guess that means streaming youtubes or netflixes. Unless I can find a good old-timee movie on one of those oddball channels like TNT, AMC or FX

While I hunt something down, you can visit these if you want:

• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, waves its junk around and claims it's doing it to raise awareness of something or other.



• I would watch this.



• I bet this was a fun travel experience on the day after Thanksgiving, aka Black Friday.



• Let the bidding begin.



• Aside from the fact that he looks like a complete idiot, I don't see the problem

Happy Thanksgiving, the sequel.

Yesterday was roast beef, today is turkey.

Also, there are more of us today.

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The Patriots came up short last night but I didn't see it.

When I went to bed, it was half time and the score was 16-16. Both teams were pretty evenly matched and I was hoping the Patriots would pervail but it wasn't to be.

The final score was 26-33 in favor of the Vikings.

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As for the Bruins, they lost to the Panthers the other day and today, they beat the Hurricanes in OT.

That means they are still in first place with a three point lead over the Golden Knights.

By the way, this is how The Prime Cat watches hockey with me...

It's also how she watches football, baseball, Gold Rush and the news. She likes my leg.

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If you haven't received one of these text messages yet, you probably will get one soon:

It's a scam text message designed to get you to click a link. Trust me, don't click the link. Just delete the text message and move on with your life.

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No, I did not get involved in any of that "Black Friday" crap. I don't do crowds.

I'm going to spend time with my family.

You can spend time clicking on these:

• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, tries to suck the blood out of you and possibly kill ya.



• Oh Canada.



• One of our cats thinks this is the best thing she has ever heard.



• Finally, the 'proof' we've all been waiting for.



• Turns out the people who gave us talking frogs and Wassup! are marketing geniuses.



• Meet this years winner of the Dad of the Year award.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you all enjoyed some time with your family this Thanksgiving. Well, all of you digital visitors from the US or who are US citizens abroad because today is the US Thanksgiving. Canada celebrates their Thanksgiving in October. There are others as well but I don't have time to look them up. Also, I don't know if they eat turkey or Canadian bacon.

So anyways, I get visitors from the places outside of the US. This is today's visitor list according to blogger:

What I want to know is where the hell "Other" is?

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I have food to eat and football to watch.

Here are some links:

• Maybe he should be on the Carponizer Carp Calendar...



• If you are looking for a short, touching Thanksgiving story, check this out. If you are looking for a longer, yet still touching Thanksgiving story, try this one.



• This is what happens when you mix New Jersey with Florida.



• Oh Canada.



• Sure they did...

The cooking has begun!

We made our trek over to the grocery store to pick up veggies and such this morning. Then we returned home and began prepping.

Those food items that can be precooked have been precooked and are ready to go. Those items that need to be peeled, sliced, chopped or otherwise modified have been modified. The main refrigerator is stocked with the primary beverages and the secondary "basement dorm fridge" is fully stocked with the backup beverages.

In other words, we are on target for a nice multi-day Thanksgiving extravaganza.

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I need to stock up on ammo because it seems like my little town is becoming a target of ne'er-do-wells.

Last week someone fired three shots into a house. Then some moron showed up at a grocery store and started waving a gun around. Now some drunk broke into an occupied house while the resident was sleeping.

I guess no place is really immune to crime but this town has always been fairly sedate. Seems like that might be changing.

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The Bruins take on the Panthers this evening so that will be my evening entertainment.

While I am entertained by that, you can be entertained by these:

• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, drinks your beer and then tries to kill ya.



• Apparently the SLS was a bit more powerful than anticipated.



• I'm not entirely sure what this means or why it's newsworthy.



• Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.



• Only in Florida.



• Key phrase in this story: "Pöhler said he got the idea when he saw two attractive women fishing."



• Looks like the Patriots did more than just beat the Jets last Sunday.

They just keep winning

The Bruins won again last night, giving them a seven game winning streak and maintaining their first place NHL lead over the Devils.

Then again, the Devils won last night too, giving them a thirteen game winning streak. That's a hell of a winning streak...

The Bruins will remain in Florida to play the Panthers on Wednesday. The puck drops at 7:00pm.

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Not much else I want to say today so here's a mess o' links:

• Meet Richard Fierro. He may already be a member of the A-Team but if he wasn't, he is now. I love the statement, "I needed to save my family and that family at that time was everybody in that room."



• How drunk do you have to be to drive your car into a giant store...



• Don't run from The Lord!



• Man, they got world records for everything.



• I like to watch this occasionally.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "10:30 a.m. A man walking down the sidewalk kept swearing at the world."



• Key phrase in this story that explains some things I've seen on the internet: "...requires funeral homes to accept deliveries of caskets purchased by consumers."



• Key phrase in this story: "Somehow, no one was hit."



• Welp, we can't do anything about the murders, rapes and assaults so let's focus on stopping kids from having a good time.



• Let me see if I got this straight: He starts a fight and as soon as he starts getting his ass kicked, he calls 'Time Out'?

Day one of Thanksgiving prep

Today was day one of our preparations for Thanksgiving. We made a trip to Costco to stock up on those items that are best purchased in bulk. We also picked up a nice roast while we were there because, in all honesty, Costco has pretty good cuts of meat so that's where we get it.

Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Roast? For Thanksgiving? What the hell!?!?"

Look, calm down. Our Thanksgiving is a two day affair. Rather than have family members stressing about whose house to go to on Thursday, we tell them that they can come to our house on either Thursday or Friday. Some will be here on Thursday for roast and such but the majority will be here on Friday for the traditional turkey and fixin's.

So anyways, tomorrow The Professor has to attend some meetings on campus so that is a non-prep day for us. Wednesday morning will be the trip to the grocery store to pick up the veggies and stuff.

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I got an email from the town clerk informing me of the official results of the November elections in our town. I took a look at the spreadsheet and two things became clear:

1. We have a good voter turnout in my town.
2. Each party is pretty well represented.

There 11,187 registered voters in my town and 6,733 of us showed up to vote. That's a 60% voter turnout which is pretty impressive.

The best example of how we voted is the governor's race which played out like this:

DIEHL and ALLEN (REP) 3,241
HEALEY and DRISCOLL (DEM) 3,331
REED and EVERETT (LIB) 81
Blank 71
Write-in Votes 9

Of note is the fact that 80 of us decided we didn't like either candidate and we left it blank or we wrote our own name in.

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The Baseball Writers Association of America, or as I like to call them, "a bunch of guys who never played the game", have released the 2023 Hall of Fame ballot:

It's not a strong group. I will not be surprised if no one gets the requisite number of votes.

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I'm going to make some food and then watch some hockey.

Here are some links:

• I'm not saying this is a good or bad thing but I am saying that the democrats need to remember that old saying: "To the victor go the spoils."
  The republicans also need to remember this when the democrats take power and start throwing them out.



• Key headline in this story: "This is going to be my coffin!"



• Well, at least he's a local guy.



• This is why I don't change my own oil.



• He's an "expert" so it must be true.



• Add this to the list of things that don't happen where I live.

The Bruins just keep winning

They defeated the Blackhawks 6-1 last night, maintaining their two point lead over the Devils.

And for the record, the Devils are on a 12-game winning streak which means they are hot as hell and looking to overtake the Bruins.

The Bruins are currently heading to Tampa to play the Lightning tomorrow night at 7:00.

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The Patriots and the Jets went at it this afternoon at 1:00 and it was an interesting game.

The Patriots scored first with a field goal in the 2^nd quarter. The Jets quickly recovered and tied the game 3-3.

The first half ended with the score tied 3-3 but it really should have been 6-3 in favor of the Patriots. For the first time in 17 attempts, Folk missed his field goal attempt. The wind was pretty bad and I'm actually a little surprised any passes or field goal attempts were successful. Every time the ball was put into the air, it was moving all over the place.

Folk missed another field goal in the third quarter and they went into the final quarter tied 3-3.

The 4^th quarter was pretty much the same as the first three through fourteen and a half minutes. Then, with 25 seconds remaining in the game, a Patriot rookie name Marcus Jones caught a punt on the 16 yard line and ran it all the way back for a touchdown.

The point after was good and the final score of the game was 10-3 Patriots.

This means the Patriots are now 6-4 and the AFC East is up for grabs.

Their next game is this coming Thursday (Thanksgiving) at 8:30 in Minnesota against the Vikings.

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I'm going to find some food and then watch some DVRs.

Here are some links:

• Based on his behavior, I'm thinking he was to old the first time around.



• Another reason I don't watch soccer matches.



• Watch the video. It may be the funniest thing you see today.



• Kids do the darndest things.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• I think Judge Jeremy Richardson kinda looks like an uptight weiner.

She's still having issues

Apparently The Vet did not get very much sleep again last night because The Dog had to go out every few hours.

The ladies went out this afternoon and left The Dog with me. She did not have to go out every two hours but when she did go out, she pooped.

This is a dog that has spent her whole life pooping once in the morning and once in the evening, that's it. You could set your watch to when she had to go out. This problem is causing some issues with her normal schedule but more importantly, she is preventing The Vet from getting a good night's sleep.

Hopefully she settles back into her schedule tonight.
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I read a bullshit story this afternoon about the "smart investors snapping up Bitcoin" because the market price is so low.

Here is my advice to you if you are thinking about getting involved with cryptocurrency:

Don't get involved with cryptocurrency.

Just so you know why I am telling you this, Bitcoin is down 71% this year.

What that chart is telling you is that if you invested $100 in Bitcoin last November, it would now be worth $25.

Those are not the results you want when you invest your hard-earned money. Trust me, let the "smart investors" piss their money away on what amounts to smoke and mirrors.

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The Blackhawks and the Bruins will face off at 7:00 this evening and I will be watching them.

While I do that, here are some links for you to check out:

• It's still snowing in Buffalo.



• Only in Florida.



• Looks like a flat-earth dingbat is going to commit suicide in the most colorful way imaginable.



• Seems like a high-class affair.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "8:34 a.m. A paranoid couple was ready to defend their home with steak knives and bear spray."

The Dog is sick

The Dog kept The Vet awake all night last night having to go outside to poop. Seems she has a stomach issue that is causing some serious poopage needs.

She spent the day with us today and she had to go every two hours.

The Vet and The Professor (my wife) are out this evening so my plan is to feed The Dog some white rice along with her dry dog food and pray that kinda binds her up a bit.

Nothing worse than a dog with poopage issues.

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The Bruins managed to win again last night, beating the Flyers 4-1. They remain in first place in the NHL with a two point lead over both the Golden Knights and the Devils.

The Blackhawks will be in town tomorrow for a 7:00pm faceoff.

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The Red Sox are still trying to figure out who will be playing on their team next spring and I'm kinda of hoping they figure it out soon.

They lost the following guys to free agency:

• designated hitter J.D. Martinez
• shortstop Xander Bogaerts
• starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi
• starting pitcher Michael Wacha
• starting pitcher Rich Hill

They have a shortstop named Trevor Story who, if he stays healthy, is a pretty damned good shortstop.

In my opinion, they should use the designated hitter position as it was originally intended to be used - a way to give your fielders a day off from playing the field without actually giving them a day off. They should rotate guys through that position.

There are a few other secondary players that are free agents but they can be replaced by what the Red Sox currently have available. Pitching is their big problem and should be their number one focus.

They had a terrible bullpen last season and now they've lost three starters. I suspect Eovaldi may be back because the Red Sox have offered him a multi-year deal. Hill has said he wants to semi-retire and pitch only part of the season or fewer games. Since he's a local boy (he was born and grew up in Milton, MA), I suspect he will continue to pitch for the Red Sox if they want him.

They need to find pitching and maybe catching. They traded Vasquez last season and now he's a free agent. Maybe they should make him an offer.

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In case you forgot, this is what four feet of snow looks like, It snowed in Buffalo today...

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I'm going to watch some DVRs and try to stay awake long enough to see my wife come home.

You can check these out if you want:

• Someone needs to explain to me why he was released on bail after trying to murder 22 people.



• I like beer but I don't like it enough to drink non-alcoholic beer. What's the point?



• Key phrase in this story: "A total of 16 'Non-Party Does' objected to the release of the files..."
  (Sounds like some people are a little worried about what is in those files...)



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



• I can assure you that my body is not a temple of any kind.



• There are a lot of things about the internet that are good. Twitter isn't one of them. If that thing goes to the same place as MySpace, AOL and Vine, it won't bother me one bit.

It snowed in Ludlow

Around 1:00 this afternoon, The Vet and I had the following text echange:

I'm a good dad.

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Yes, there is hockey this evening.

Thank goodness because I'm out of DVRs...

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While I figure out what to have for dinner (probably leftovers), you can check these out:

• She really needs to retire.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: 11:06 a.m. After discovering charges on her cable bill associated with an adult channel, a woman demanded the FBI be contacted, because her husband would never subscribe to such a site.



• I am really beginning to hate streaming services.



• Proof that there are idiots living among us.



• Only in Florida.



• Giant Mystery Alien Growth would be a great name for a 1950 sci-fi movie.

It was a lunch kind of day.

The ROMEOs went to lunch today and we spent at least two hours kibitzing about all kinds of things. Mainly our latest aches and pains but also what we've been up to.

I worked with these guys for 30 years so we have a lot of history. Since we worked at a very large company, we also have a lot of mutual friends. This means we have a lot to bullshit about.

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This was the view from my back porch at 9:30 last night:

It was all gone this morning but it's still the first accumulating snowfall of the season.

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Not only do I get interesting junk email, I also get a lot of junk regular mail, or as I like to call it, crap mail

This one has instructions printed on the envelope that I see on a lot of crap mail:

Can someone please tell me what the hell "Electronic Service Requested" means? That is a three-word sentence that makes no sense whatsoever.

Then there are the ones that try to grab my attention by making it appear this is some type of official government communiqué that requires my immediate attention;

I always open the envelopes and shred the innards because sometimes these crap mailers send forms that contain information that some nefarious individual might be able to use to do bad things under my name.

I do enough dumb things on my own, I don't need someone else doing them in my name.

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Well, Donald "Covfefe" Trump has decided he is the only human being on the planet capable of making America great.

Again.

So he's running for President.

Again.

Apparently the first loss (and yes, he lost) didn't send a strong enough message to him or his cult members that not all of us think he is some kind of annointed savior.

Then again, if our choices are Donald "That Little Prick" Trump or Joe "Bumbles" Biden, we could very well end up with Trump back in charge.

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NASA launched their gigantic rocket and it is currently on its way to the moon. Once there, it will go around the moon a few times and then come back to earth.

Seems like a very expensive way to get me excited about space travel again...

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The Bruins are still on their four-day hiatus. They pick it back up again tomorrow when the Flyers come to town for a 7:00pm face-off.

Until then, I'm stuck watching non-sports television.

While I do that, you can do these:

• The people claiming that beans have environmental benefits has never spent the evening in a room with me on "hot dogs and beans night".



• Near as I can tell, they are all cult-followers and he is a cult-leader.
  A lot like Jim Jones, David Koresh or Marshall Applewhite.



• Well duh.



• Hogan's Heroes was one of my favorite shows and LeBeau was one of my favorite characters.



• Meet Curt Lind, the latest member of the A-Team.



• I don't know that I would call her a star in the movie Ghostbusters but her part was definitely memorable...

Busy day

I had a lot to do today and I managed to do it all.

I do have one thing to tell you: If you've never used JB Weld to repair something that looks unrepairable, you don't know what you are missing. Trust me, that shit will glue anything to anything.

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Since I was busy, I didn't really have a lot of webernizing time.

I did manage to find these few things:

• Seems to me that Putin just keeps stepping in piles of dog shit.



• I thought Pelosi was bad. This guy is gonna be worse.



• If I live to be 100, just leave me alone.



• Man, they got world records for everything.



• No thanks.



• Meet the latest winner of the Darwin Award.

Nice win

The Bruins won last night, beating the Canucks 5-2.

That gives them a 2 point lead of the Golden Knights and a 4 point lead over the Devils in the NHL. In their division, they have a 9 point lead over the Maple Leafs.

They are off to a pretty good start to the season.

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Once again, I get the best spam:

No, I don't have a Wells Fargo account.

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I got a lot of stuff done today so I didn't really spend much time surfing the interwebs.

Here are a few links for you:

• I was looking forward to reading this article until I saw it was based on a rumor from Ken Rosenthal, a man who is right less than the weather dweebs.



• Looks like they are going to try again.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• This is what happens when companies hire marketing people who take acid.

Back in first

With last night's win over the Sabres and the Golden Knights loss to the Blues, the Bruins have moved back into first place. Both the Knights and the Bruins have 26 points but since the Bruins have the higher win percentage, they get first in the league.

As for the game last night, it wasn't looking good through the first period with the Sabres up by a goal. The Bruins came out in the second and tied it up 1-1. In the third period, the Bruins managed to score two goals and hold the Sabres off for the final horn.

The game ended with the Bruins winning 3-1.

Tonight's game is at 6:00 so I should have no problem watching all three periods.

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The Patriots are on a bye week so I said to myself, "Self, I guess you'll just have to watch the Steelers game."

Nope. Turns out FOX decided the Bills game was more important so that was the one they showed.

I don't really care about the Bills or the Vikings but I watched it anyway.

By the way, the Steelers won.

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In other sporting news, I also could not watch the LPGA Pelican Womens Championship this afternoon because the Golf channel decided to record it and run it at 7:30 tonioght.

I hear you saying, "Steve, why do you care about the LPGA golf tournament?" It's simple, really - I had the pleasure of playing a round of golf at Pelican Hills back in the 90s.

A coworker and I had to go build out an office in Pomona California, just outside of Los Angeles. When we finished up our work, we managed to talk one of our vendors into setting us up with a round of golf. The vendor chose Pelican Hills at Newport Beach for us to play.

I can tell you without any reservations that I have never payed golf on a nicer course in my life. The fairways were like the greens we have around here and the greens were like a Persian carpet. The golf carts all had GPS with maps to tell us how far we were from obstacles and the pin. There were numerous beverage carts patrolling the fairways and they were all operated by typical southern California girls wearing gym shorts and bikini tops.

I can also tell you that it cost me a dozen brand new golf balls plus the three or four I had to mooch off Carl so I could play the last few holes.

See, Pelican Hills has canyons and those canyons all have signs that say:

CAUTION
RATTLESNAKES
DO NOT ENTER

I hope those rattlesnakes had fun with my dozen Titleist's...

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Almost time for hockey.

Enjoy these links:

• Okay, I actually think this might be a good idea.



• I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this.



• It's beginning to look like this guy stole a billion plus dollars.



• Fashion: I don't get it.



• Fuxing Hao is a great insult.



• Man, they got records for everything.

Not a busy day

I cleared all the leaves off my lawn the other day and I figured I would be doing that again today. We had some major rain and wind come through here courtesy of Nicole and I was certain that every leaf in my neighborhood was going to end up on my lawn.

Turns out that was not the case.

I'll take those small miracles anytime I get them.

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The news is all about the fact that there are still some political races that are undecided and that means no one really knows who is in control of the House or the Senate.

You know what? I don't care.

It doesn't matter which gang is running the shitshow known as "The Legislature" because they both suck. They both refuse to use any common sense and are only concerned about whatever insane agenda they happen to be running with.

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Yes, there is a hockey game tonight and yes, I will be watching.

While I do that, you should check these out:

• I've come to the conclusion that most of what he believes never happened. He lives in a fantasy world.



• Imagine being paid $30,000,000 a year for seven years to play a game...



• Key phrase in this story: "You Feel So Festive Every Time You Wipe."



• I'm sure that on paper, this looks like a good idea but once reality sets in, I imagine it's the worst idea of the year.



• Key phrase in this story: "Murphy told 5 Investigates he understands the skepticism..."



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

It's Veterans Day.

To my nephews, cousins, friends and acquaintences who answered the call to serve our country, thanks.

I would like to say, "Thank you for your service" to my younger brother who served in the Air Force. Here he is in Turkey, defending us from almost everyone in the middle east but mostly the Iranians.

I also want to say thanks to my buddy Dave who served in both the Army and the Marines. He may have also served in the Air Force but my memory ain't what it used to be.

That is Dave and his wife enjoying their retirement in the Florida sun. He sent me that yesterday just to say, as he put it, "Look! I'm still alive!"

For the record, my brother and Dave worked together on the Springfield Police Department. My brother is still working there (hopefully he'll be out soon) but Dave had to take early retirement when he was hit by a drunk driver while working a road job on Sumner Avenue back in 2012.

My reply to Dave was,

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The Bruins won last night, keeping them in second place in the NHL, 2 points behind the Golden Knights and 2 points ahead of the Devils.

I know it's early but I can't help but be very optimistic about this team. I think I'm going to enjoy this season.

Their next game is tomorrow at 7:00 in Buffalo against the Sabres

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Another "crypto" company has gone belly-up.

FTX was the crypto exchange pushed by Tom Brady and his ex-wife, by Steph Curry and by Shaquille O'Neal.

Looks like Larry David was the only one who got it right.

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I feel like I'm going to fall asleep early tonight but if I do that, I'll be all screwed up tomorrow. So maybe I'll binge on some DVRs I have saved and try to stay awake until my normal bedtime of 10:00pm.

While I do that, you can enjoy these links:

• Only in Florida.



• I don't like the guy but I gotta give him credit for doing the right thing.



• If you own a Generac portable generator, be careful.



• Smashing watermelons was funny the first two or three times you saw it but after that he just wasn't funny anymore.



• Must be a male monkey.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "9:19 a.m. A teenager was freaking out because his parents told him to go to school."

Not bad for an old guy

I realize you might be getting sick and tired of my target pictures but that's too damned bad. This is my site and I can post whatever I want.

Today, I want to post a picture of a target:

Those three shots were taken from over a distance of 200 yards. That's two football fields. The numbers represent inches. The bullseye is one inch, the inner circle is three inches, etc...

There are steel targets set out at 300 yards and I hit them a few times. I doubt I hit anywhere near the center of them because I could barely see them but I did hear the bullet strike the steel plate.

Oh, and for the record, there was a cross wind blowing around 11mph, gusting to 18mph.

That will move a bullet left or right as it travels over that distance. I had to aim a bit high and a bit to the right which is interesting because I use a very low powered scope. I can't see the black bullseye or any of the circles, I just aim as close to the center of the paper as possible, adjust for the wind and fire.

Here's what it all looks like on Google maps:

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I find it hard to understand why the voters of Massachusetts felt the need to give the politicians another means to collect money from us.

Yesterday, a law known as the "Millionaires Tax" was voted in. This law essentially gives the legislature the ability to impose an additional 4% tax on income of any type over $1 million. This law was sold to the people as a "fair share" law. In other words, the rich people should pay more because they are rich.

I don't see how this law is fair at all. All I see this law doing is giving the politicians an additional pocket to pick. They will now have even more money to waste on things that don't help me out at all.

And by the way, we gave them this additional money after they were forced to admit they collected too much money from us last year. If they collected too much from us in 2021, why are we giving them extra in 2023?

Idiots should not be allowed to vote. I'm sorry, I know we live in a democracy and everyone's voice should be heard but if you are too stupid to recognize that you are being fleeced, you should not be allowed to participate in decisions that affect all of us.

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I need to figure out what to have for dinner and then watch some hockey. The Flames are in Boston to play the Bruins and puck drops at 7:00. That means I might be able to watch all three periods.

You can enjoy these if you want:

• Man, they got world records for everything!



• I would think that this is the dumbest thing you can do when going through airport security in the middle east.



• When I read this story, all I could hear in my head was this song.



• I do dangerous or stupid things sometimes but I won't do this.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, throws stuff at ya.



• Did he get his memory back?

Someone is very rich

The billion dollar powerball had one winner yesterday and since I never got around to buying a ticket, you know it wasn't me. I'm also pretty sure it wasn't Pat because he told me he didn't buy one either.

With my $4 winner, my three tickets ended up costing me a total of $2. I think I can afford a $2 loss.

This ends my current venture into the world of gambling. Next time there is a billion dollar jackpot, maybe I'll buy a ticket or two.

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We have a new governor and I'm genuinely concerned about what she is going to do for me.

When she was our attorney general, she was primarily focused on making it hard for a law abiding citizen to own a firearm. She was also hyper-focused on suing Donald "New York slumlord" Trump. That tells me if Trump gets elected in 2024, Massachusetts is screwed because Trump is the kind of guy that will use his presidential power to make our governor squirm.

She is also very concerned about the people of Boston and she thinks the state ends somewhere around the starting line of the Boston Marathon. Those of us living in western Massachusetts are nothing more than an annoyance to her.

I guess time will tell how she behaves and I will make every effort to give her a fair chance but I am going to remain skeptical. Which is what Charlie Baker looks like he's doing as well, remaining skeptical:

He looks thrilled to be standing there...

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In other election news, it appears the market does not like the overall results of the midterm elections:

It also looks like Psycho Nancy will be giving up her post as Speaker of the House. I think the new speaker will be Kevin McCarthy since he is the current minority leader but that's just a guess on my part.

In the upper chambers, it looks like the Democrats have taken control of the Senate and Chuck "my middle name is Ellis" Schumer no longer has to rely on Krazy Kamala to break the tie and push through the liberal agenda.

The economy sucks, the world is on the verge of world war three, energy costs are going to make it hard for people to heat there homes and every time Goofy Joe opens his mouth, he says things that make Donald "Covfefe" Trump look like a rocket scientist.

We are screwed.

Oh, and I suspect we will see numerous law suits from the Republicans who lost. That seems to be their modus operandi - when you lose, you claim the Democrat commited fraud & stole the election and you file a law suit. Then you appeal every time a judge rules against you.

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I'm going to figure out what to have for dinner. Then I'm going to watch some Gold Rush.

You can check these out if you want:

• His name is Patrick Thelwell and he can't throw for shit.



• Only in Pennsylvania.



• I'm pretty sure this was the premise for almost every Benny Hill Show skit.



• Proof that some people have too much free time.



• "Sex Toy Ownership Dispute" should be a legal brief filed by Nutty Rudy Giuliani.

Not much to say

Today was one of those days.

First, I voted. That involves visiting with numerous folks that I haven't seen in a while.

Then I painted a ceiling and now I'm dealing with a back that really wants me to never paint a ceiling again.

I also spent some time with Tommy, consuming adult beverages.

Put those three things together and you get a short post.

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Did you vote?

I voted. I hope you voted.

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Enjoy these links:

• Why?



• Seems like a lot of chicken to me.



• Only in Florida.



• Flaming Basketball would be a great name for a 1970's rock band.



• Also only in Florida.

No lottery for me

So Pat tells me he had the same run I did on his powerball venture - he won $4.00 on his first ticket, bought two more and won nothing.

I decided I was going to run over and pick up two more tickets for tonights drawing but when I got to the grocery store, the girl at the counter told me the lottery system was down.

I believe that was the gambling gods way of telling me to not waste my money. And I always listen to the gambling gods.

If no one wins tonight, maybe I'll go buy a couple of tickets for Wednesday's drawing.

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I spent several hours today wiring up a switch to a wall outlet at The Vets house.

For some reason, the previous owner decided she needed two closets in her bedroom so she had one built. Unfortunately, the new closet was located on the wall where the switch-operated wall outlet was. This meant that the switch no longer worked.

I installed a wire raceway and a small extension box in the closet. I then ran the wires over to a work box I installed in the wall outside the closet.

Now she can turn the light on when she walks in the room instead of bumbling through a dark room trying to find the light on her nightstand.

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Tomorrow is election day. If you haven't already voted, you should go vote tomorrow. If you don't vote, you have no right to complain about the government.

Vote for whoever you want to vote for. I would never tell you who to vote for.

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The Bruins are playing the Blues at 7:00 tonight. That means there is something on television to entertain me.

While I watch that, you can check these out:

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



• What the hell is "airborne clutter"?



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



• Every dog I've ever known a field day with this if they came across it on the beach.



• When I die, do this to me.



• Only in Florida.

The Astros won

The Astros are the World Series champions after they defeated the Phillies 6-5 last night.

All I have to say about that is:

The are 100 days until pitchers and catchers report to training camp.

Hopefully the Red Sox have a winning team ready to go.

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The Patriots played like crap during the first quarter this afternoon but the Colts played worse.

During the second quarter, the Patriots came to life and managed to make it to field goal range twice, giving them a six point lead. After their second field goal, they forced a "three and out" against the Colts but this time the Patriots blocked the punt and recovered it on their own three yard line.

That was when the first touchdown of the game was scored. With the point after being good, the Patriots had a rather decent 13-0 lead going into the half.

As for the second half, the Patriots played some decent football and beat up on the Colts pretty good. When the final whistle blew, the score was 26-3 in favor of the Patriots.

All of which leads me to ask, "Whatever happened to the practice of a line judge firing a pistol to mark the end the quarters?"

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The Bruins lost last night.

The Maple Leafs were just too much for them and the only goal they scored came from a Marchand penalty shot. They lost the game 2-1 and that moved them out of first place in the NHL.

They are still playing some damned good hockey and there are a lot of games left in this season.

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Okay, I bought one ticket when it was $1.5 billion and I won $4.00. I parleyed that into two tickets when it was $1.6 billion and neither one of those won anything.

That means I am still only $2.00 into this.

I think that this time, I'm going to buy two more tickets. That will make my total investment in this silliness $6.00 and that is probably my limit.

Well, it's my limit until the estimated lump payout cash value exceeds $1 billion. If that happens, I'll reconsider my decision.

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Well, it's dark at 4:45 now. That means I'm probably going to fall asleep around 8:30 tonight.

I really dislike this time change thing we do.

While I whine about the time change, you can visit these links:

• Okay, I don't understand most of this crap but I do know that I would like them to stop messing with my reality.



• I guess this is as good a reason as any.



• Based on the description of the foot, my question is, "What the hell was his doctor waiting for?"
  



• Nope, I did not feel the earth move.



• Handing automatic weapons to a bunch of convicted criminals. What could possibly go wrong...

Let's try this again

This is late because the first posting I typed up earlier had some kind of error in the HTML and the platform refused to upload it.

Normally, I type all this up in native HTML because if I use text and allow the platform to encode it in HTML, it turns into a very lengthy and messy chunk of code that contains tags for things I have no idea what they mean.

For instance, here is this page as I've type it so far:

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If I change over to the text posting and let the platform encode it, this is what is looks like:

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My problem with typing it all up in HTML is if I forget to close a tag or something, the platform says, "You have a problem." but it won't tell me what the problem is.

That means I either had to troubleshoot the code or throw it away and start over.

Guess which one I picked...

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While I watch hockey and some baseball, you can visit these links:

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



• Key phrase in this story: "At this time, we believe Pikachu acted alone..."



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



• Australian women: Don't mess with them.



• Only in Florida.



• No offense but if you get scammed three time by the same person, you are not too bright and probably should have a caretaker.

No hockey for me

The Bruins won last night but I didn't see it. Seems that the game was streamed on ESPN+ and since I have no intention of signing up for any more streaming services, I didn't get to see it.

If I had been able to watch it, I would have seen them score five goals to the Rangers two goals. I would have seen them retain their first place position in the NHL. I would have seen some hockey but I didn't.

No sir, I didn't get to see any of that at all.

Instead, I watched baseball.

They are off today, picking it up again tomorrow when they will be in Toronto to play the Maple Leafs. Fortunately, that game will be back on NESN.

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Speaking of baseball...

The Astros managed to win the final game in Philadelphia last night, beating the Phillies 3-2.

They are on a travel day while both teams head back to Houston for the final two scheduled games. They are back at it tomorrow at 8:00 and if the Astros win, they will win the series. If the Astros lose, they will play the final game on Sunday.

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Keeping my yard clean is a losing battle but I continue to fight the good fight.

Every day, I clean all the leaves off my backyard and every two or three days, I clean all the leaves off my side & front yard.

I clean the back yard using the leaf blower and I keep the front & side clean by using my lawn tractor.

Today, however, I climbed on my roof and blew all the leaves out of my gutters. Trust me, it was a lot of leaves. That meant I didn't use my lawn tractor to pick them up. Instead, I used the leaf blower to pile them into two piles and then I raked them onto a tarp for transport to my composting heap in the woods.

I figure I would rather move 100 pounds of leaves every few days rather than move 500 pounds of leaves once a week. And that's not an exageration. You see, I'm surrounded by tall oaks. If you've ever moved oak leaves, you know I'm not bullshitting about the weight.

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Welp, now I feel like I should buy two tickets...

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Tonight was taco night. If you don't have taco night at your house, you don't know what your are missing. You really should have taco night.

I have a couple of Gold Rushes on my DVR that I will use to entertain myself this evening.

While I do that, you should check these out:

• Great. Just freakin' great. Looks like my choices are going to be Goofy Joe or Whacko Donald.



• Looks like they're going to give it another try.



• If you want people to stop licking the toad, stop telling them that licking the toad will get them high.



• Who the hell thinks it's a good idea to piss off a bunch of wolves.



• I'm thinking they did it on purpose.