Big day in Tampa

This afternoon we get to see what the "new" Bruins look like when they face-off against the Lightning.

No Marchand, no Coyle, no Frederic.

Then again, they were losing when they had those guys so the worst that can happen is they continue to lose...

Puck dropped at 3:00 and as of right now, they are in the 3^rd period and the score is 1-0 in favor of the Bruins

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The Red Sox lost today. The Twins beat them 8-9 this afternoon.

At one point the Red Sox were down 7-0 but they fought back to take a 8-7 lead. The Twins came back to tie it and in the ninth, the Twins scored the winning run.

Tomorrow they take on the Braves and the game will be streamed on NESN360. First pitch is at 1:05

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Just heads up for you, the "toll" scammers have introduced a new twist. They are now sending .PDF files in both emails and text messages.

One of the infosec online communities I belong to posted this one:

What is interesting is that it even has a copyright at the bottom.

Trust me, no state or "Toll Enforcement Authority" will ever send you a toll notification.

If you get a notice saying you owe a toll, do yourself a favor and don't open it. Just delete it.

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Here are some links:

• Here's an interesting article that might have you think before driving over bridges in Massachusetts.



• This place supplied almost all the spring flowers that you see in the local garden centers. This will probably result in a limited availabilty this spring.



• Our Federal Government in action...



• Britain is becoming Australia.



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



• Attention scientists: Just stop.

Stick a fork in them

The Bruins made several high-profile trades over the last twenty four hours.

Here's what I know so far:

1. Brad Marchand to the Panthers.
2. Charlie Coyle to the Avalanche.
3. Brandon Carlo to the Maple Leafs.
4. Justin Brazeau to the Wild.
5. Trent Frederic to the Oilers.

There may be others but those are the big ones.

This is basically ownership saying, "We give up."

Hopefully they get some young talent and excellent draft picks in return because those players are pretty good players.

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In the baseball world, it was a good day to be a Red Sox fan. They beat the crap out of the Marlins this afternoon with a final score of 20-5.

As I said the other day, I'm getting excited about this team.

Tomorrow they take on the Twins and once again, I'll have to listen to it on the radio because NESN isn't carrying the game

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We woke up this morning to find that at some point in the middle of the night, we lost power.

I suspect it was due to the 50-70 mph wind gusts we got to enjoy overnight:

When I checked the power outage map this afternoon, I discovered that we had dodged a bullet:

Each one of those dots represents an outage. If there is a number in the dot, it represents separate outages close together.

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Here are some links:

• I don't know that I would call this view "stunning". As a matter of fact, I can't see it at all.



• This kinda pisses me off. I could give two shits about GMA but I liked the data that FiveThirtyEight always provided.



• So, they're guys.



• People are stupid.



• So I guess "a group of scientists" is just another way of saying, "men"...



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, takes over your planet and kills ya.

They're back...

Back in November, I noticed a drastic drop in the amount of junk email I was receiving. The main reason for the drop was the shutdown of a scam gang out of India. Well, that and the fact I logged into my ISP's email server and created a filter to block all email from the annoying Trump people.

So for the last four months, I have enjoyed almost no junk mail. And by "none", I mean only three or four emails a day.

Today, it looks like someone has launched a new mail server and has decided to let me know about all the great things they have for me:

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The stock market collapsed again today, dropping another percentage point.

This puts the market decline almost 5% since Trump took office.

I sure hope it doesn't continue to drop like a stone because I like being retired and I really don't want to go back to work...

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The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays this afternon and I got to watch it.

NESN didn't cover the game. Instead, they carried the Blue Jays coverage and I gotta tell you, those guys are really good.

They are not "homers" and they did analysis on several of the Red Sox players that was fair and just as knowledgeable about the players as the NESN commentators usually are.

Don't get me wrong, I would have liked to see them win but at least I got to watch them play.

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The Bruins are playing the Hurricanes this evening, so I have some entertainment.

Here are some links:

• I don't think they'll trade him. Then again, what the hell do I know.



• Oops.



• Key line in this story: "...the woman was transported for medical evaluation and was going through a crisis..."



• Attention everyone: If you are stupid enough to eat a seven pound hamburger, you deserve to suffer terrible gastro-intestinal distress.



• None of these sound tasty.



• Suddenly all the anti-vaxers are getting vaccinated.

Another win

And by "another win", I'm talking about the Red Sox. The Bruins lost last night, getting beat by the Predators 6-3.

So anyways, the Red Sox beat the Rays 4-2 this afternoon and according to the talking heads on the radio, it was a good game.

Tomorrow they take on the Blue Jays and not only will Criswell get the start, I'll get to watch it because NESN is carrying the game.

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I have been repairing the grout on our kitchen floor and my knees are not happy with me.

The floor was installed about 20 years ago and it was time to clean up the grout. Fortunately we had saved the leftover grout and stored it in a nice dry place so it was perfectly good.

I scraped some bad spots on the grout, chipped of some terrible spots and basically got the stains off the old grout. Then I mixed up a batch of fresh grout and spent the next few hours filling in low spots, patching holes and covering stained areas.

As things stand right now, the grout looks good and I am letting it cure for the next few days. Once it cures, we'll seal it with grout sealer and it should be good for another 20 years.

My knees, however, won't be good for another 20 years. Right now, I'm hoping for another 20 days...

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Here are some links:

• Alto Mayo and The Blob-Headed Catfish would be a good name for a 1980's high school garage band.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• Key line in this story: "This one decided to jump on board and say hello."



• Apparently the people of Wales know how to party.



• Only in Florida.

Insert Interesting Title Here

Not much going on in the world, just some small things like Trump & his 25 to 30 percent price increase on everything we buy, Trump & his chaotic dissolution of the federal government, Trump handing Ukraine over to Psycho Vlad and Trump demolishing the first amendment.

If anything interesting does happen, I'll be sure to let you know about it.

Oh, and since New England gets the majority of its gasoline via a pipeline directly from a refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, the current prediction for the tariff-driven increase in gasoline prices in New England is about 70 cents a gallon (25% of 2.89 is .72) so we got that to look forward to...

To quote Warren Buffet (no relation to Jimmy) regarding Trumps tariffs: "Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the tooth fairy doesn’t pay ’em!"

Oh, and there's also this:

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We switched trash haulers the other day and it appears our old hauler is not happy about that.

Basically, we cut our monthly bill in half by going with another hauler. We called our old hauler and told them we were cancelling our service and could they come pick up their barrels.

That resulted in numerous phone calls from their customer service telling us that we were long-term customers and they would like to keep our business by offering us a "loyalty discount". When we told them their "loyalty discount" was more than our new hauler was charging us, they kinda seized up and that was the end of the calls.

What I wanted to point out is the whole "loyalty" thing.

Loyalty is the act of being loyal.

The word loyal has two distinct definitions: 1) faithful in allegiance to one's lawful sovereign or 2) faithful to a private person or cause to whom faithfulness is due

Trust me, I'm not loyal to any trash hauler. I owe no allegiance to them and I have never made any vow of faithfulness to them.

If anyone in this relationship needs to be faithful and loyal, it's the trash hauler. As a customer, I should not have to bargain with them for pricing.

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My two favorite baseball teams faced off against each other this afternoon when the Pirates hosted Red Sox.

Once again, the Red Sox team that took the field was basically a minor league team and they still managed a pretty good showing against the Pirates. I saw a guy named Eaton, who used to be a minor leaguer for the Royals and is now a minor leaguer for the Red Sox, hit himself a spring training grand slam.

He seemed very excited when he hit it.

So anyways, the Red Sox beat the Pirates 12-4 this afternoon.

Tomorrow they take on the Rays and since they are at home, I suspect the MLB Red Sox will take the field. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the game will be televised so I'm going to have to listen to it on the radio.

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As for the Bruins, they have fallen pretty far out of contention:

This evening they face off against the Predators and I hope they win.

I mean, it won't help them much but it's better than watching them lose.

Puck drops at 7:05.

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Here are some links:

• I guess "respiratory insufficiencies" is the new modern way of saying he couldn't breath?



• Jolene's boyfriend has passed away.



• It's only a matter of time before something like this happens in the U.S. Capital.
  And for the record, I would laugh like hell if it did.



• Well, if she was coming back from Mexico, it's a good bet it came from Mexico.



• It looks nothing at all like a wooly mammoth.



• Apparently Musk bombed Poland last month.



• Gotta be honest with you, it's probably better for us if China owns them than it is for Blackrock to own them. Blackrock will figure out how to raise prices to the point where everything that passes through the canal gets a 100% price increase

First tie of camp

After being down 5-0 through six innings, the Red Sox managed to come back and tie todays game against the Orioles. The final score was 6-6.

Since the Red Sox team on the field was basically the Worcester Red Sox and the Orioles fielded their MLB lineup, that's not bad.

I'm getting excited about this team...

Tomorrow they take on the Pirates and NESN is once again carrying the game. First pitch is at 1:05

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Key line in this story:

"All the fracking and all the oil and gas we make here in the United States – or most of it – is a lighter crude that a lot of American refineries don’t process."

Someone needs to make a shitload of stickers of Trump pointing up with the caption, "I did that!" so we've got something to stick on all the gasoline pumps like they did with Biden.

Not only is his arrogance going to cost us a lot of money, it's going to get a lot of people killed.

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Here are some links:

• Isn't this the guy who said vaccines are bad.



• China: It's not like where we live...



• This has got to be the worst box score I've ever seen.



• Couldn't he just have objected to the union?



• We need to vote her out of office.



• People like this deserve to be hit in the face with a chair.



• Yet another case of vehicle violence.

Another win

The Red Sox managed to hold off the Mets and take a 6-4 win this afternoon.

Yes, Walt was at the game.

No, he did not manage to get his face on camera.

Yes, I was able to watch the game by downloading the NESN360 thingee and logging in with my cable account.

Tomorrow they take on the Orioles and it looks like the game will be on NESN so I should be able to watch it on my television instead of my laptop.

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As for the Bruins, with last nights win they managed to creep up a notch in the standings:

Unfortunately, they managed to lose 1-0 to the Wild this afternoon and keeping them two out of the wildcard.

So much for getting back into contention...

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Here are some links:

• If you are a football fan, you need to watch this.



• I guess no one is immune.



• They could probably save a few million dollars by stopping the daily 'Get your free MassSave energy audit!' mailer I get in my mailbox almost every day.



• Remember what I said about Trump and psycho Vlad yesterday...



• Oh King of Canada.



• If you are a resident of Florida, you need one of these.



• I'm thinking I might just get all my news from The Onion.

They won?

The Red Sox won today, beating the Twins 8-4.

Houck started and went three innings. He gave up two earned runs. He was followed by Chapman who went one inning, struck out two and walked two. At some point, Criswell came in and went two innings, striking out two and giving up one hit.

More importantly, the batters got hits. They managed to get sixteen hits and score eight runs.

That's some pretty good hitting.

Tomorrow they go up against the Mets. Buehler gets the start and first pitch is at 1:05.

I'm not entirely sure it will be televised. It looks like it's only being streamed on NESN360 which is something I can connect to as part of my cable package.

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As for the Bruins, they beat the Penguins 3-2 and picked up two points. It's not enough to move them back into the wildcard but I'm hoping they won't be three places out of it come tomorrow morning.

The game was being carried by ESPN / ABC so not only did I have to put up with PK Subban and his annoying blather about his clothes, I also had to put up with extended intermissions and a lot of additional commercial breaks.

On a downside, Marchand had to be helped off the ice after a hit that didn't really look nasty but it dropped him like a rifle shot. Hopefully it's a short term injury and not something that takes him out for a few games.

The Bruins have enough injured players...

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In case you were wondering what caused Gene Hackmans death, I can assure you it was old age:

Trust me, this man died of old age.

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Unlike a lot of people, I was not embarrassed by this.

Then again, I'm pretty sure Trump is a free-range asshole so I don't think anything he does is embarrassing, it's just him being an asshole.

Besides, Trump is just doing what Psycho Vlad wants him to do. Maybe one of these days I'll understand why Trump sucks Vlad's dick in public...

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Here are some links:

• At his age, any mention of a "ventilator" is not good.



• I'm not sure why this is news. He's always hurt.



• Anoybody shocked by this? I am not shocked by this.



• Personally, I think he's a damned fine catcher.



• Ouch.



• Only in Florida.