Once again, hard to watch.

Once again, the Bruins got their ass kicked.

Last night, they got beat by 6-2 the Jets and it boiled down to the fact they played like crap.

The other bad thing about that loss is they have now dropped out of playoff contention entirely:

With only 29 games left in their season, this means they now have to go on that winning streak I keep yapping about.

My hopes are fading...

⧫
Time for a baseball update:

There are 12 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
There are 22 days until the Red Sox start spring training games.

This has been your baseball update.

NESN has yet to announce what, if any, spring training games will be broadcast. I'm hoping they carry all of the home games.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Just when you thought the price of almost everything couldn't possibly get any higher...



• Looks like Ryan Brasier is once again unemployed.



• He will also have to pay the $65,000 repair bill.



• Poop-Powered Racer would be a great name for a 1980's Saturday morning childrens cartoon.



• This is the most Russian thing you will ever see.



• I didn't know they had a lot of sharks in Iowa.

They really need to win

As things stand this afternoon, the Bruins are still in the first wildcard slot.

Tonights games include the Capitals @ the Senators, the Kings @ the Lightning and the Jets @ the Bruins.

If the Bruins beat the Jets and the Senators & the Lightning both lose, the Bruins will move back into the divisional standings.

Fingers crossed...

⧫
BREAKING NEWS: Trump claims to have common sense.

This accident is actually a terrible thing and I have to ask why was a military helicopter flying perpendicular to the approach end of the in-use runway at approach altitude in one of the busiest class B airports?

The ATC guy is not at fault and the airline pilot is not at fault. That leaves the military pilot who, when asked by the controller, "Do you have the approaching aircraft in site?" said, "Yes, in site". Then he flew directly into the side of it.

Trump should shut up now because he has A) no common sense, B) no idea what hapened and C) a big mouth.

⧫
In my lieftime, I have installed / hooked up gas appliances probably 15 times. I always follow the same process and have never had a problem or a leak.

It's actually a fairly simple process - get the appropriate sized fexible gas line, the appropraite sized black-iron fittings, some LNG rated pipe dope and numerous pipe wrenches & adjustable wrenches.

Once you have everything you need, you dope up the inlet at the appliance, thread on the iron fitting, dope up the flexible-line-to-iron adapter and thread that onto the fitting. Then you put the fexible line into the adapter and snug everything up tight. At the other end of the flexible line, you do the same steps at the gas line.

Then you turn the gas on, spray a liberal amount of soapy water on everything you just insalled and look for leaks. You also sniff around the connections because gas stinks and your nose will detect a leak.

I'm pleased to say that today I spent an hour performing those steps at my daughter house and not only is her house is still standing, her new dryer works perfectly.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Fashion: I don't get it.



• I have one question: Is bologna now considered a deadly weapon?



• You gotta admit, Krazy Kim is prety good at committing fraud.



• Only in Florida.



• At one time in history, great herds of haggis roamed the Scottish Highlands.



• Rhiannon Evans and The Aggresive Farts would be a fantastic name for a 1970s disco band.

That was hard to watch

The Bruins got their ass kicked last night when they got beat 7-2 by the last place team.

All I'm going to say is it was a hard game to watch.

As of this afternoon, the Bruins are still in the wildcard. They are off this evening and fortunately, both the Lightning & the Blue Jackets are also off. That means they can't bump the Bruins out of the wildcard.

Also, the Senators are off tonight so they can't pick up any points and keep the Bruins from jumping back into the divisional when they beat the Jets tomorrow...

They really need to start winning.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Just kidding!



• Imagine if this had happened when the bus was filled with kids.



• Key questions in this story that will never be answered: "SpaceX is already scheduled to return the astronauts as part of Crew 9. Is Elon Musk referring to an earlier, unscheduled mission? Were there options to return the crew earlier that were not taken up as a result of interference from the Biden administration?"



• Glasgow's Big Duck would be a great name for a 60' British Invasion band.



• Let's see if I got this straight: The Coast Guard is just motoring around with 8,000 pounds of blow and they decide to dump it in Florida with no explanation?



• You gotta admit, he has a plan. It's a shitty plan but it's a plan none-the-less.



• Jeff Keith: Not the hero we wanted but the hero we needed...

Hello out there

Yes, there is hockey tonight.

The Bruins are in Buffalo to take on the Sabres this evening and since the Sabres are the last place team in the Eastern conference, I will be upset if the Bruins lose to them.

⧫
I'm really trying hard to not talk about Trumpers but everything in the news is all about him and his edicts.

I'll keep trying to ignore him but one of these days I'm probably going to go off his bullshit.

Oh, and for the record, I don't think everything he is doing is bullshit, just some of it. Some of what he is doing are things that really needed to be done a long time ago.

⧫
I did get an interesting scam email today:

If you note the "Click Here" link you will see it points to someplace called chemvol. I'm pretty sure that's not the Social Security Administration

⧫
Here are some links:

• Apparently Karoline Leavitt has never read the book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People".



• We don't pay cops enough.



• Juniper routers are used by a lot of big businesses.



• This could get interesting.



• Apparently the dinosaurs drank too much.



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

It's the Chiefs vs the Eagles

I guess I'll once again be rooting for Mahomes and the Chiefs.

Hopefully they won't have any more "truck violence" in New Orleans...

⧫
The Bruins "back-and-forth" in the standings continue only this time it's the Senators that won and dropped the Bruins back into the wildcard:

The Bruins really need to keep winning...

⧫
Here are some links:

• I did not feel it.



• I can't figure out why any sane person would work for him. He has pretty much pissed on everyone that knelt at his feet over the years.



• I don't think anyone is saying they are guilty. I think most people are saying, "Don't do that again."



• I agree with Vicky Owens. There is nothing productive about commuting to an office.



• Another reason electric cars are not in my future.



• That thing is still zooming around out there.



• Aren't the French offended by everything?



• I gotta be honest with you, I'd give birth for a years supply of Krispy Kreme's.

Busy day yesterday

A couple of weeks ago, my wife bought an elliptical machine to add to her workout area. When it arrived here, I put it together and everything was great.

At least it seemed great until Thursday when my wife came upstairs and said, "I felt something snap and now there is no resistance on the elliptical."

She contacted the manufacturer via the recommended email route and after 24 hours had not heard anything back. That was when she reached out to Amazon who assured her they would contact the seller and get her issue resolved.

In the meantime, I got to looking at the machine and noticed that the flywheel was out of alignment. This led me to believe that the issue was not a broken belt but instead a problem with the way the wheel was aligned. There was no way the belt was going to stay on the wheel.

I said, "I am more than willing to dismantle the machine and see if it is something I can fix but understand that I bet the minute I take it apart, I void the warranty."

My wife, who has faith in my mechanical and technical abilities, said, "Go for it."

So I spent a good part of yesterday dismantling an elliptical machine.

Once I got to the flywheel axle, I found a snap ring that was no longer in its groove and that caused the flywheel to shift out of alignment. That misalignment caused the belt to come off the flywheel.

I moved the flywheel back into alignment, snapped the ring back into its groove, put the belt back on.

Then I spent the remainder of the day remantling the machine.

I'm pleased to say that my wife is once again happily elliptizing.

And that is the reason there was no update yesterday.

⧫
As for the Bruins, the Lightning won their game on Friday, moving the Bruins back to the wildcard but the Bruins won yesterday and the Lightning lost last night.

That means the Bruins are once again in the divisional, one point ahead of the Lightning.

I have a feeling this swapping back-and-forth thing is going to go on for a while.

⧫
In the world of football, the Commanders and the Eagles played the NFC championship at 3:00 this afternoon.

As I type this, the score is 15-27 in favor of the Eagles at the half.

Hopefully the Commanders turn things around in the second half because I still want to see a Commanders/Bills Superb Owl.

Speaking of the Bills, they take on the Chiefs at 6:30 this evening.

⧫
Here are some links:

• He just loves those tariffs...



• Get ready for rolling brownouts and for your electric rates to go up.



• Key line in this letter: "Like each of you, I love my country and swore an oath to defend the Constitution."
  Hopefully he remembers that his loyalty is to the constituion and not to Trump.



• Worlds best name: "Peter, son of Murdo of the eyebrows".



• This should make for some interesting family reunions over the next few decades...



• Here's a list of places to visit if you've ever wanted to die on your vacation.



• Yea, I'm pretty sure it's dead.



• Fer cripes sake, it's a freakin' plane you idiots...



• There are some people in our society who are just a little too tall for their blood supply.

They needed that win

The Bruins beat the Senators last night and managed to jump back into the divisional race!

They are only one point ahead of the Lightning so if the Lightning wins tonight, the Bruins will drop back into the wildcard but at least that are still in the mix.

They really need to go on a good solid winning streak. Something like four or five games would be nice.

⧫
I got nothing else for you.

Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "The massive manhood has been cleverly crafted with concrete weighting in the bottom of the tractor tyres, so if the owner tries to lay the shaft down it simply rises up again."



• Key line in this story: "They all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security."
  (He's not wrong...)



• I really hope all these new coaches can turn the team around.



• Man, they got records for everything!



• Another group of 80 year old rockers are trying to make a comeback.



• Only in Florida.



• If you've been looking for the perfect gift for a special someone...

Collecting all the forms

One of the problems with my wife retiring is she had income from multiple sources last year and that means we need to collect all the tax documents.

It's kind of stressful because I have a fear we might miss something, do our taxes and then at some point after we submit them, we discover a document that we needed to include. This would require me to submit a second "amended" return.

I'm not a fan of doing my taxes every year but I would absolutely hate doing them twice.

⧫
After yesterday's beating by the Devils, the Bruins have been bumped out of the wildcard.

They have also called up a third goalie for their game this evening against the Senators.

They really need to start winning...

⧫
Time once again for a Red Sox update:

There are 20 days until pitchers and catchers report to JetBlue park and spring training begins

This has been your Red Sox update.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Key phrase in this story: "In theory, articulating an argument shouldn’t be an issue."



• Do not, under any circumstances, think this is about safety. This is about increasing revenue.



• Key entry in our favorite police log: "6:19 p.m. A child called dispatch hoping to see a fire truck. The child was advised to come to the fire station."



• Cows: They are like giant dogs.



• Ouch.



• Man, they sell everything at Ikea...

Lunch with the boys

Today was our (kinda) monthly lunch get-together and once again, we have solved all of the worlds problems.

⧫
This is the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment and it's a pretty clear sentence:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

"All persons born..." means anyone born in this country or any jurisdiction under the control of the United States, like Puerto Rico or St. Thomas. It also means any US military base outside the country or any US embassy/consulate.

Donald "Listen To ME! I'm in Charge! You have to do what I say!" Trump can sign all of the executive orders he wants but he cannot override the Constitution or its amendments.

If he does, every person in the military or law enforcement who swore an oath to uphold the constitution will need to re-evaluate their position.

⧫
The Bruins take on the Devils this evening. Puck drops at 7:00.

The Bruins need to win this game so they can pick up two points. With out those points, they will probably drop out of the wildcard race.

That would be bad...

⧫
Here are some links:

• This is the first good news I've seen come out of Foxboro in a long time.



• This does not sound like a good idea.



• Imagine having to serve jury duty at this place.



• Oh Canada.



• I'm pretty sure those are not upside-down snow cones.



• Attention scientists: Please stop.

Yes he did.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's a picture of Musk tossing out his best "sieg heil!" while standing behind The Great Seal of the United States:

Look, I'm a big fan of letting clowns be clowns. You wanna snap off a neat little nazi salute, feel free because I don't care.

As far as I'm concerned, people are too easily offended by shit likes this.

Do I think Musk is the brightest person in a room filled with two people? No, I do not. Do I like Musk? No, I do not. Do I own any stock in Musk-run companies? No, I do not.

Musk is an arrogant asshole who probably has a massive case of asperger syndrom and doesn't care what I think anyways so why should I give a shit about what he thinks?

Having said all that, there are a lot of dead GI's buried all over Europe who gave their lives to keep the nazis from killing everyone they didn't like. We probably shouldn't be happy when someone pisses on their graves, even if it's unintentional.

⧫
Looks like Ichiro Suzuki will be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with a unanimous vote.

They will announce the inductees this evening at 6:00 so I guess we'll know then but from what I can tell, the list is going to be:

• Carlos Beltrán
• CC Sabathia
• Ichiro Suzuki
• Billy Wagner

And for the record, first-timer Dustin Pedroia managed to get slightly more than 30 votes. That gives him more than the 5% needed to remain on the ballot for next year.

Not a bad year for Hall of Fame voting.

⧫
It's cold.

Like 2° this morning cold.

And tomorrow is supposed to be below 0°.

I kinda miss Aruba...

⧫
Here are some links:

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



• Japan: It's not like where I live.



• Never order your meat "extra rare"...



• This is what happens when your toilets flush directly into the ocean.



• Trust me, I worked with computers my whole life. They are absolutely not always right.

Now I'm conflicted...

I did not expect the Bills to beat the Ravens but they did. That means the Bills will take on the Chiefs in the AFC playoff.

I was originally a Chiefs guy but now that the Bills have advanced, I'm thinking it might be time for Josh Allen and the Bills to win the conference and play in the Superb Owl.

As for the NFC, the Commanders will play the Eagles and I'm kind of hoping the Commanders win the conference.

In other words, I would like to see a Commanders / Bills Superb Owl...

⧫
In hockey news, the Bruins managed to stay in the playoff race by beating the Sharks 6-3 this afternoon and picking up two points.

This moved them into the second wildcard slot.

There are now only 34 games left in their regular season so that means that in order for them to make the playoffs, they need to start winning more often than they are. Like a lot more often.

⧫
Well, Donald "This is my normal skin color!" Trump is once again President of the United States.

Let the fun begin...

Oh, and Goofy Joe decided to "preemptively" pardon some people.

I'm pretty sure the word "preemptive" is not used in Article II, Section 2 of the constitution:

and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Does this mean those people are now free to commit whatever federal crime they wish to commit at any point in the future and they have some kind of "get out of jail free" card?

Then again, I'm no constitutional scholar...

⧫
The weather dweebs said we would get 8+ inches. We got 4-5 inches.

Here are some links:

• Key line in this police log: "...the man asked him to give him a break because he had been drinking." (Hey, you can't fault the guy for trying."



• Key line in this police log: "...kept taking his clothes off, yelling slurs and acting drunk."



• Marky Roher and the Prime Rib Incident would be a good title for a childrens book about poorly behaved people at a Golden Corral.



• This does not seem like a good idea.



• Key line in this story: "I don’t care how many people in the city of Pittsburgh are unhappy with the results."



• Great... Just freakin' great.

Plenty of football

Yesterday, the Commanders beat the Lions and the Chiefs beat the Texans.

Today, the Rams are in Philly to play the Eagles. That game started at 3:00pm. Right now, the Eagles have a 3 point lead over the Rams at the half.

At 6:30 this evening, the Ravens will be in Buffalo to play the Bills.

Go Chiefs!

⧫
With last nights loss to the Senators, the Bruins are now in danger of dropping out of the wild card race.

They really need to start winning some games...

⧫
I'm going to watch the rest of the footballs.

Enjoy these links:

• Only in Massachusetts.



• This is why you should be allowed to bring a gun onto a commercial flight.



• Don't mess with Gözde Doğan. (Watch the video...)



• MAJOR SIGHTING?



• Oh Canada.



• What would be funny would be the FCC and congress issuing fines to all the providers that are still allowing it.

Another chippy game

I don't want to say that the Bruins and the Senators don't like each other but man, they don't like each other.

This afternoons game is still going on and the score is 4-3 Bruins after two & a half periods. There have been two "stoppage of play" because of what amounted to brawls on the ice and at one point, the both teams were down to three players with two each in the box.

I blame the referees for either blatantly ignoring violations or being blind as bats and not seeing the violations. I'm no hockey expert but I do know that if you want to see a game get out of control and turn into the ending game from "SlapShot" all the refs have to do is ignore things. When that happens, the players decide to take matters into their own hands and beat the shit out of each other.

Update

The Senators tied the game 5-5 with 12 seconds left in the third period. Neither team could score in the five minute 3-on-3 sudden death period so they went into a shoot-out. Bruins lost 5-6.

⧫
The LA Dodgers have stumbled upon a weakness in the MLB salary tax and it's beginning to piss off pretty much every other team out there.

I'm not going to pretend to understand what they are doing but I do know what a deferred salary is.

The Dodgers are offering players deferred salary contracts that allows them to pays guys millions and millions of dollars while not really paying them millions. For instance, Ohtani has a $10 year $700 million dollar contract. That works out to $70 million per year but they are only paying him around $1 or $2 million a year and are deferring the remaining $68 million until after he his playing contract ends.

The way the salary tax works is that any team that exceeds $257 million in annual salary has to pay a tax 12% tax. Any team that exceeds $277 million has to pay a 45% tax and any team that exceeds $297 million has to pay a 60% tax.

As of right now, the Dodgers have an annual salary of $249 million with almost $1 billion in deferred salary spread out from 2028 through 2046.

These deferrments are allowing them to pay higher salary's which means they are signing more players.

Personally, I don't care because in 10 years, they are going to be paying more in salary to retired guys than some teams will be paying active players and I think it's gonna suck to be a Dodgers fan...

⧫
Here are some links:

• It goes into effect on Sunday but I bet it ends by Thrusday.



• Until this guy brought it and reminded everybody about it I'm betting no one even remembered it happened....



• This guy is a snake oil shyster.



• I think he misunderstood what the title drug counselor means.



• I've said it before and I'll say it again: It should be legal to run these assholes off the road.



• Oh Canada.

Busy day

I spent a good part of my day putting together a large workout machine.

My hands and knees hurt.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Add this to the list of Things I don't give a shit about.



• This is a good thing.



• I have no idea who this person is...



• Rocket Exploded on my Penis would be a great name for a 1960's prono movie.



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



• Nope. Nope, nope, nope...

Baseball lost one of the greats today

Bob "Mr. Baseball" Uecker passed away this morning. He was not the best baseball player but he did more for the game of baseball than anyone ever did.

I will miss his self-deprecating humor, his analysis of the game and his great one-liners.

⧫
So the politicians of Massachusetts are concerned that Trump is going to end all of the off-shore wind turbine projects and spend the money on fossil fuel projects.

Congressman Bill Keating (D - Cape Cod) is quoted as saying,

"Pulling out the rug from under one energy sector to prop up another is not governing. It's playing politics."

My response to that self-centered, arrogant sentence is, "So Bill, when you say "playing politics", do you mean like when the Massachusetts legislature pulled the rug out from under the LNG pipeline in favor of wind farms? That kind of politics?"

Idiots. We elect idiots in this state...

⧫
Here are some links:

• It's the middle-east. They have been killing each other over there for 2,000 years There will never be a cease-fire and there will never be peace.



• According to Rudy, Rudy gets to keep his stuff.



• It's not our fault!



• Key line in this story: "Drake Maye is all this team’s got!"



• I've never been but I understand they are very "trendy". And by "trendy" I mean "expensive".



• Japan: It's not like where we live.



• He must be an art lover with big pants.



• Oh Canada.

Less than a month

Time for a baseball update:

Pitchers and catchers report to Jet Blue Park on February 12^th. That is 28 days from today.

This has been your baseball update.

⧫
The Bruins kicked the crap out of the Lightning last night, beating them 6-2.

It was a good game and the Lightning did not take their beatdown very well. The game got a little chippy in the second period and downright violent in the third.

There were numerous fights that were actual fights. By that I mean there were very few of those "hockey fights" where two guys grab jerseys and circle each other until the refs break them up.

These guys were grabbing each other, taking full swings at each other, landing punches in the face & head and not falling to the ice to end the fight. The refs actually had to get in between them to break them up and even then, they were still swinging at each other.

So the Bruins and Lightning are now tied at 49 points each but since the Lightning have played fewer games, they have a better win-loss record so they hold on to the third divisional slot.

That means the Bruins need to continue playing hard and winning games if they want to get back into the mix.

⧫
Enjoy these links:

• I have been hearing this bullshit since the 1960s. And no, anything that requires a pilot's license is not a "flying car", it's an airplane.



• This is most certainly another case of, "I'm sorry I got caught."



• China: it's not like where we live.



• Vince Wilfork is not a fan of NFL Announcer Tom Brady.



• Why?



• Oh Canada.

Fires, Presidents and Droughts

The fire service is dumping ocean water (aka: salt water) on all the fires burning in Los Angeles. This is bad in the sense that it is a corrosive and will do a lot of damage to the aircraft carrying it around. Also, it's loaded with salt.

Ever hear the phrase "salted earth"? It's what people used to do when they were being forced out of their homes by an advancing army. They would salt the earth so nothing would grow there, thus denying the conquering army the means to support itself.

I guess the fire service don't have much choice but to use the salt water on the fires because they live in the desert southwest and they don't have a lot of fresh water.

My point is these fires may end up costing us a lot more than we think. The equipment repairs/replacements alone could go into the millions and there is a possibility that we may end up with price increases on California fruits and vegetables if the ground becomes less productive.

Let's hear it for climate change!

⧫
We are moving on from one bad president to another and I'm conflicted about how to feel about things.

I've always felt that the only difference between democrats and republicans is that democrats are better at hiding their arrogance and greed than the republicans are.

If you look at a politician like Joe Biden and you see that he is worth around $10 million, you should ask yourself, "Where did that money come from?"

I can tell you where it came from. It came from investments.

Elected officials, whether they be democrats or republicans, have access to a wealth of information and that information includes what changes to rules, regulations and laws are coming that will impact the markets. They can buy or sell stock knowing what the future of a particular industry will be. They can buy and sell realestate knowing what government installations will be opened or closed in a particular region

For those of us not above the law, that practice is known as "insider trading" and we would end up in prison if we did it.

⧫
As of last week, we were still in severe drought conditions in my little part of the world.

Normally we would have some sort of snowpack on the ground at this time of the year. Maybe 6 to 12 inches of solid snow. Not this year. We don't have any snow on the ground.

That means we will not have our normal early spring melt that slowly seeps into the ground and fills the ground water. We won't have our normal late spring runoff that fills the ponds and streams.

In other words, 2025 could turn out to be a bad water year for us if we don't get some decent snow soon.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Now where will all those man-bun wearin' hippies get their free internet from?



• Good for her. No one deserves that awful disease.



• Psycho Vlad's little "10 day Special Military Operation" is now on day 1,055 and the Russians ain't doing so well.



• There are people like this walking around in our society.



• And there are also people like this walking around in our society.



• We don't pay cops enough.



• Key description in this story: "...thicker sphinctal folds and a tighter pucker."



• Only in Florida.



• Oh Canada.

Many leaves got raked

Over the last few months, my front yard has filled with leaves from my neighborhood.

My yard has a line of trees/bushes that act as a windbreak. The leaves from my neighbors blow around the windbreak and settle onto my yard. Add to this the fact that it has been extra windy for the last month or so and I end up with a lot of leaves.

So today, I went out with my leaf blower and blew all the leaves into a big pile. Then I raked them onto a tarp and hauled them back into the woods.

Well, almost all of them. The few that I missed I simply blew into the street with my leafblower in the hopes they will blow back onto my neighbors yard...

⧫
Here are some links:

• This should be an interesting read.



• Hey idiot: Figure out how to help people buy homes instead of making it easier to rent.



• I'm betting the pilot had a PF of around 9.



• Get ready for video game characters to start farting.



• If you visit Idaho, stay away from midgets.



• If you are looking to acquire some cheap clam chowder...

So much for the Steelers...

Not only do the Boston teams suck, now I don't even have the Steelers to root for. They lost to the Ravens 14-28 yesterday.

Today is the Broncos @ the Bills, the Packers @ the Eagles and the Commanders @ the Buccaneers.

The Bills and the Broncos went at it this afternoon at 1:00 and the Bills managed a win, beating the Broncos 31-7.

That means the Bills will play the Ravens whenever the NFL gets around to scheduling the divisional games.

⧫
I'm going to watch some golf.

Here are some links:

• I am not entirely sure this is a good idea. The last player they hired as a coach didn't do so well...



• I am entirely sure this is a good idea. His arm can't handle the stress of being a starter.



• My guess is this was intentional and whoever did it is an asshole.



• Tom Brady's baby momma is going to be in Holyoke.



• Another indication that our government is failing us.



• Listen up Jimmy, you have no influence or say over what Trumpee does. Remember, he told those rioters to hang his last vice president. You're just a constitutional annoyance to him.

Holy Crap! They Won!

The Bruins were in Florida to play the Panthers this afternoon and it was an interesting game. The Bruins had a 3-2 lead with only 1.8 seconds left in the game when the Panthers slipped one over Swaymans head into the net to tie it up 3-3. This meant a 5 minute sudden-death OT period.

Then, with only 2 seconds left in the 5 minute period, Pastrnak drove on into the net and the Bruins walked away with a 4-3 win.

That win earned them two points which put them one point ahead of the Lightning and moved them back into the divisional race.

They still need to get their shit together and start winning more than losing but I'll take every win they offer me.

They will play the Lightning this coming Tuesday but they'll be in Boston. Puck drops at 7:00.

⧫
The Steelers are playing the Ravens in the AFC wildcard game this afternoon. The game started at 4:00 and the Ravens are up 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Go Steelers!

⧫
It was cookie day here at my house.

Every year, my wife and daughter set aside a day to bake cookies. They usually do it before Christmas but it didn't work out that way this year.

Trust me, I don't care when they make cookies as long as they make cookies.

Right now, I have a load of some pretty damned excellent cookies.

I like cookies.

⧫
Here are some links:

• There are a lot of liberal arts colleges closing. I'm betting the large tuition/fees along with the whole lack of employment after graduation might be finally causing people to say, "Nope."



• Only in Florida.



• Thank goodness they blurred things out.



• Here's a headline I'll bet you never expected to see.



• I'm betting Musk is having a fit over this.



• For $175,000, she better look more like Elle Macpherson and less like Rosie O'Donnell.

Pay it forward

The other day I told you I had to jump-start my wifes car.

Today, I took my wife's car to the library and as I was leaving, I saw a woman with the hood up on her car, looking at the engine. I walked over, asked if everything was okay and she said, "I'm pretty sure my battery is dead."

And that, my friends, is the story of how my wife's car was able to jump-start another car only two days after being jump-started itself.

⧫
The Bruins lost last night and I don't want to talk about it.

What I want to talk about is the dismal state of Boston sports.

I don't follow the Celtics because I don't care for basketball.

The Red Sox fell apart for the third year in a row and I'm not feeling overly joyful about this upcoming season.

As for the Patriots, even if their opponent showed up with 11 broken legs and 11 broken arms, the Patriots couldn't win because their offensive line doesn't exist. A cripple could make it through the line and sack the quarterback. And to make matters worse, without so much as a thought about the future, they won the only game they should have lost and are now spotted to make the fourth pick in the draft instead of the first.

The Bruins, once the most vaunted team in the league, are now out of contention for the division and are just barely hanging on for the wild card. And to top that off, some boneheaded idiot in the Boston media is trying his best to stir up controversy by claiming Pastrnak and Marchand don't get along.

I think 2025 is going to be a tough year for Boston sports...

⧫
Here are some links:

• This is the best sports news ever.



• Trumpee was sentenced to nothing today but he is still the only felon ever elected president.



• I guess it must suck to run out of sausages.



• I'm pretty sure I would not enjoy a $4.00 meal prepared by a robot.



• I gotta get one of these.



• This is a bad look for the city and state.

Many errands got run today

We made multiple trips to multiple places today in an effort to restock on needful things. One of those trips involved using a medicare-supplied card to purchase numerous over-the-counter health care supplies.

The insurance plan my wife is on supplies her with a debit card that gets reloaded each quarter. That debit card is used to purchase over-the-counter items like head cold medicine, ibuprofen, etc...

Trust me, we have enough ibuprofen to last me at least a year, maybe longer.

⧫
Another errand involved Home Depot and plants.

Last year my wife acquired a small fir tree that she has been growing in a large pot and it was doing quite nicely. Suddenly it decided to not do nicely and it died. This left a void in my wifes plant needs.

We are now the proud owners of one small plant that doesn't require direct sunlight and one giant plant that also does not require direct sunlight.

I give both about 6 months and they will either be dead or they will be so big that we'll have to build an addition to house them.

⧫
Iran has offered military assistance and support to Canada, Mexico, Panama and Greenland.

Don't be surprised if one or all of those countries decides to take Iran up on it's offer. Also, don't be surprised if China and North Korea offer the same assistance.

Between Trumpee's idiotic statements & taunts and his threats of world-wide tarrifs, we could end up with a whole new balance of power on this planet over the next two years...

⧫
Here are some links:

• Does anyone remember Cliff Clavin?



• Falling Iguanas would be a fantastic name for a 80s German techno band.



• I not entirely sure that this is a good idea.



• Well, I guess that is one alternative to healthcare...



• Mystery Balls would be a great name for a 70s high school garage band.
  (For those of you that are interested, Umhlanga is in South Africa.)



• I think Massachusetts is a "nanny state" but they got nothing on the town of Bacup in the UK.

Busy

For the first time in a long time (maybe 3 or 4 weeks), my wife went out to start her car. It was a miserable failure...

Since she retired, my wife has not really done much driving and when we go somewhere, we take my car. That means her car sits in the garage for long stretches.

With the freezing temps lately, her battery decided it had enough and her car would not start. She came back in the house, informed me that her car was dead and she was taking my car.

While she was gone, I grabbed my multimeter, set it for low-voltage DC and tested her battery. Turns out her battery had only 4 volts in it which is nowhere near enough volts to turn the engine over.

When she got home, I jump-started her car and took it for a nice long drive.

When I got home, I turned the car off and tested the battery again. This time it had 12.5 volts which is the right amount of volts.

I guess we need to start taking her car places every so often...

⧫
The Bruins stunk up the arena last night, losing to the Oilers 4-0.

Something needs to be done with that team. They fired the coach but that apparently wasn't the problem.

Maybe they need to make some trades. Maybe they need to send some guys down to the AHL and bring up some kids. Maybe they need to practice more. I have no idea but whatever needs to happen needs to happen soon.

Next game is tomorrow against the Lightning. That will be a tough game. Puck drops at 7:00

⧫
I'm ending this here and giving you some links:

• Okay, who had "Trump going to war with Greenland, NATO, and the European Union" on their list of 2025 disasters?



• I've been to Los Angeles numerous times. It is a desert filled with scrub-brush.



• This should be an interesting read.



• Key phrase in this story: "...some wounds were self-inflicted."

They really need a win

The Bruins are 4-4-2 over their last ten games. That 4 wins, 4 losses and 2 ties.

They absolutely need to win tonight's game against the Oilers but it's going to be tough. The Oilers are a good team with a better record than the Bruins.

Puck drops at 7:00.

⧫
I had my quarterly meeting with my finance guy this morning and his description of the markets moving forward is,

"Imagine you are on a plane and so far, the flight has been smooth. Just don't be shocked if the plane suddenly encounters some turbulence. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure we are going to hit some turbulence."

I guess he wasn't wrong...

⧫
Here are some links:

• Listen up Jack, enough is enough. You had your shot and you failed. It's time to end this craziness so we can move on with our lives.



• Or maybe we shouldn't move on because it's looking more and more like Trumpee might be a little bit crazy.



• Speaking of crazy people...



• Wow. We are apparently surounded by crazy people.



• Add suffocating and freezing at the same time to the list of ways I don't want to die.



• If you go to Texas, stay the hell away from the screwworm.



• Puff, The Magic Dragon has lost his voice.



• Key line in this story: "But if they could come back and clean up the mess a few days later that would be lovely."

No more coach

After yesterday's agonizing win over the Bills, the Patriots fired their head coach, Jerod Mayo.

All the guy had to do was lose and he probably would have kept his job.

So now they not only have to figure out what to do about their shitty offensive line, they also need to find a new head coach who will, in all likelyhood, fire the offensive/defensive coordiinators and bring his own guys in.

It is my guess that at some point in the near future we will hear someone in the Patriots organization use the words "rebuilding year" before next season begins...

⧫
The Bruins lost in OT last night and are just three points ahead of the Lightning. If they drop below the Lightning, they will fall out of the divisional race become a wildcard team.

They are half way through the season and if they continue on this trajectory, the wildcard will look like a good thing come April...

Their next game is tomorrow against the Oilers. Puck drops at 7:00pm.

⧫
As for the Red Sox, things don't look terrible right now.

They have a potential seven man rotation which is going to be hard to turn into a five man rotation but that's a good problem to have.

They still need to balance out their left-handed batting lineup with another decent right-handed hitter. They also need a solid second baseman but I have a feeling they will bring up that kid Kristian Campbell because he fills both those needs.

I do have a selfish desire and that is they leave Campbell down in AAA for a month or so because that will give me time to attend a Worcester Red Sox game and see him play...

⧫
Here are some links:

• Imagine that, not a single person broke into the US Capital or threatened to hang the VP...



• The best thing that could happen is this guy gets locked up for a long time.



• Goofy Joe has an agenda and in his little mind it doesn't matter if it impacts how much you pay for gasoline or home heating fuel.



• Welp, no driverless taxi's for me.



• It appears that dropping the kids off at the pool is good for your mental health.



• Trumpee is going to get us into a war with both the Netherlands and Canada over his moronic ideas..

Yesterday was a busy day but today is not.

The Patriots should have lost todays game because that would have assured them the number one draft pick in 2025.

It should have been easy for them to lose todays game since they've been losing games all season.

You would think that a team with a 3-13 record could easily end the season with a 3-14 record.

Apparently the Patriots had a different idea and rather than guarantee themselves number one draft pick in 2025, they decided to go for the awesome season record of 4-13 and pray to the football gods that come 2025 there would be someone left in the draft that could help their offensive line and protect their quarterback.

Not only can they not win when it counts, they can't lose when it counts either...

⧫
In baseball news, there are 38 days until February 12^th which is the day I'm pretty sure the Red Sox pitchers & catchers report to JetBlue Park in Fort Myers. That may change when the actual reporting schedule is put out.

No word yet on when Walt and his wife report to JetBlue Park in Fort Myers...

⧫
The Bruins lost to the Maple Leafs last night which was not unexpected. The Leafs are a very good team this season.

They take on the Islanders this evening. Puck drops at 6:00pm

⧫
Here are some links:

• Man, they got world records for everything.



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



• Key phrase in this story: "You want to argue with me about what the rules say?"



• We need more content like this.



• Whoops...



• Krazy Kim is still crazy.

Busy

That is all.

The Bruins are not winning

They've lost three of their last four games and are now six points behind the the Maple leafs in the division.

There are some players who appear to be dealing with some injuries. For instance, Pastrnak can be seen wincing and talking to the trainer at least once every game and Marchand doesn't look 100% either.

Hopefully they can add some wins over January and the first half of February so that when the break hits, they have a lead.

On February 10^th, the entire league shuts down for a couple of days and then on February 12^the, the "The Four Nation Face-Off" series will kick off. That is a round-robin series where teams from Canada, the US, Sweden and Finland will face each other over six games. I'm not sure what the winner gets. Maybe bragging rights...

So anyways, the Bruins need to do more winning and less losing or, as I said the other day: "More Commanding, Less Flailing".

Tomorrow they take on the Maple Leafs. Puck drops at 7:00pm.

⧫
Here are some links:

• This is what a disfunctional government looks like.



• Get ready for history to be made.



• This sounds way better than those annoying "click every square that has a bicycle" ones.



• Maybe they need to call Chief Brody, Oceanographer Hooper and Captain Quint.



• Here we go again...



• Am I understanding this correctly? Psycho Vlad is pissed because the country he attacked is no longer buying his gas?

A bit breezy

We had some nice winds today, most of which were in the 20-30 mph range.

But that's not the bad part. The bad part was the streamers that came off the lake with those winds.

I got caught in one of the squalls when I was driving home from the library and man, it was hard to see the road.

⧫
Here are some links:

• I'm not shocked.



• We don't pay cops enough.



• I hope he sits on the bench for this final game.



• In my humble opinion, the words "celebratory gunfire" should not be used together.



• If you look up the word "scumbag" in the dictionary, you will see a picture of Jason Kehoe.

Welcome to 2025

Yes, I stayed awake until midnight. So did my wife.

⧫
Once again, someone decided that their particular version of "right and wrong" was the best version of "right and wrong" and everyone that didn't believe in his version needed to die. So he hopped into his F150 and drove at a high rate of speed through a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

He killed at least 15 people and injured a whole bunch more.

Then he jumped out and started shooting at the cops. He hit two of them but they were on target and they killed him before he could kill anyone else.

In the end, a bunch of people have lost loved ones and another group is dealing with loved ones who suffered injuries that may be debilitating for the rest of their lives.

Hell of a way to start the New Year.

⧫
Here are some links:

• I did not know they had an 'explosion' option.



• This makes me happy.



• Just because I think they are making shit up doesn't mean I disagree with them.



• Are we now calling assault and battery a "mistake"?



• I'm begging to think Mayo may not be a good coach. There is no reason at all to play Maye.



• Key line in this story: "Sure, that means that rich people get to do things that people who are less rich don't get to do."