Good times

Yesterday I decided it had been a while since I had been out for an adult beverage with John so we decided to meet up.

Three hours later and there was no way I was going to be able watch the Red Sox and surf the internet for valuable & informative information.

John is doing well by the way. We're both old and crotchety so you can imagine how our conversations go.

Also, I ran into some old friends there so, all-in-all, it was a good evening.

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Speaking of good evenings, the Red Sox managed to hold their own and defeat the Braves 5-1 last night.

The only downside is the game was streamed on Apple TV so I had to rely on a decrepit and laggy pirate web site to watch it.

Hey, I'm not averse to pirating a game that is carried by a service I already pay for. NESN isn't cheap and I'll be damned if I'm going to let them suck me into paying for a second service just so I can watch a game played by a team whose owner has a bigger income than some countries.

So anyways, they are back at it again this afternoon. First pitch was at 4:10 and Buehler had the start.

As I post this, they are in the bottom of the 4th inning and the score is 3-0 in favor of the Braves.

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Here is a rule that we can all live by:

And if anyone knows about bad ideas and good times, it's Gomez

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NOAA says we're gonna sweat this summer:

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Here are some links:

• No they dont. They lounge around trying to stay alive.



• Heni Susilawati is the latest member of the A-Team.



• Drugs: They aren't all they're cracked up to be.



• I'd like to blame these recurring problems on Trump and Musk but they really started under Biden.



• When I was a teenager, I was terrible at it.



• Rampaging Raccoons would be a fantastic name for a 1970s high school garage band.

No post.

I went out with John this evening and that means I have no post for you.

Tomorrow will be different.

No golf for us

Originally, Pat, Willie and I had planned on golfing today. At some point earlier this week, I sent a message saying that Thursday looked like it might be a bust due to weather but we eventually decided we would go anyways.

Fast forward to today and as I was driving over to the golf course, Pat called me. He said, "Did you see Willie's email?"

Turns out Willie thought we had decided not to golf because he missed the follow-up emails about going anyways.

Guess we'll try again next week.

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I think Looney Donald and his yuuuuge new tax (tariffs) on us sucks donkey balls. I kinda hope that come the midterm elections, both the house and the senate become democrats but....

I also think the courts are out of line when they attempt to control either the legislative or executive branches.

Courts should rule on the legality of a law and should not be able to make decisions about a law while they "read up on it".

Tariffs are bad for this country but they are not illegal or unconstitutional. The courts have no right to pause them while they root around in their legal garbage cans looking for an excuse to impose their own particular point of view.

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Once again, I do not have to use my new sprinklers. As a matter of fact, no one has to use their sprinklers...

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Here are some links:

• Does this mean NESN will finally stop showing that annoying "Shakira!" commercial?



• Key phrase in this story: "Brown Alert".



• Is that a ferret in your pants or are you just glad to see me?



• Man takes a wee...



• Key line in this story: "This doesn’t sound like something Michael Jackson would tell someone to do."



• If you want to be happy, you need to lower your standards.

A loss and a loss.

The Red Sox lost last night, solidifying their hold on fourth place in the ALEast...

The Red Sox were up 1-0 until the eighth inning when the Brewers decided to tie the game 1-1. Then, in the tenth inning, the Brewers decided they had enough and hit a grand slam to win the game 5-1.

The problem is not pitching or fielding. The problem is hitting. The Red Sox managed to score only 1 run over 10 innings. No team is going to win baseball games if they can't score runs...

As for today, Bello pitched okay, making it through 4⅔ innings before Cora took him out. At that point, the score was 3-2 in favor of the Red Sox but once again, the Brewers decided they weren't going to take that and they put up two quick runs in the sixth. This made the score 4-3 in favor of the Brewers.

At some point in the seventh inning, Abreu decided to tie it up by hitting a homerun, making the score 4-4. That was the way it stayed through nine innings.

In the tenth, the Red Sox scored and made it 5-4 but once again, the Brewers decided that was not good and they went on to score 2 runs, winning the game 6-5.

For those of you that haven't been paying attention, that is a five game losing streak.

I can pretty much guarantee that they will not lose tomorrow because they are not playing tomorrow. They are on their way to Atlanta where on Saturday they will start a 3-game series against the Braves.

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Despite my retirement from the world of data/information security, I still receive notices from the FBI about bad things that are happening. This is the latest notice I received from them and I wanted to pass it along to you folks.

The bottom line is if you get a call, a text or an email from someone claiming to be a "very important person", tell them to f**k off.

Hell, even if they really are an "important" person, tell them to f**k off. You shouldn't to talk to "important" people because it just inflates their ego.

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Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "...the princess recently completed her military service, spending 15 months as an engineer soldier and rifleman."



• Sounds like a lovely affair...



• Key line in this story: "I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful but I don’t know if it could be both."



• This is bad. Guess we all need to change our passwords now.



• Key line in this story: "...realized he could inhale through his anus."



• Only in Florida.

No post yesterday

I'd like to make an excuse like I was busy or we had company over or I hit the lottery but none of that would be true. To be honest with you, I forgot.

What can I tell you, I'm old.

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The Red Sox lost to the Brewers yesterday and are now in fourth place in the ALEast.

At this point, the best that can be said about them is they are not the Orioles...

Tonight's game is at 7:40 and as of 4:00 this afternoon, they have not named a starting pitcher.

I suspect this is going to be one of those weird games where Cora picks someone from the bullpen to be the "opener" and tries to milk at least three innings out of each pitcher he sends in after that.

It isn't going to happen but he's going to try.

If it goes the way it usually goes, the "opener" will last 1, maybe 1⅓ innings and the next four guys will each go 1⅔ before the closer comes in to pitch the eighth & ninth

In other Red Sox news, recently DFA'd pitcher Sean Newcomb is now a member of the [insert city name here] Athletics.

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Here are some links:

• I would love to know if he ever applied there and got rejected because he sure is pissed at them...



• I'm going to make up my own saying: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true at all. It's probably a scam put on by a scumbag."



• Key phrase in this story: "...the school permitted and indeed encouraged student expression endorsing the view that there are many genders but censored an opposing view."



• You know what? I don't care. Stop reporting on drunk drivers. The courts should deal with this shit in private and the media should stay out of it.



• They need to stop finding things that will kill us.



• I've decided that bears are the golden retrievers of the forest.

They split the series

The Red Sox lost this afternoon, splitting the series with the worst team in the ALEast and dropping back below .500.

The injuries are killing this team. So far they've lost their 1st baseman, their 3rd baseman and three starting pitchers.

Expectations for the pitchers are that Fitts will be back next week, Houck will be back in late June and Crawford will be back in July. As for the fielders, Casas is out for the season and Bregman is out until at least August.

Given all that, I guess hovering around .500 isn't terrible.

They are off to Milwaukee where tomorrow they start a three-game series against the Brewers. First pitch is at 2:10 and Crochet has the start.

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I mowed my lawn not because it really needed it but because it wasn't raining today.

I can't help but notice that ever since I had that sprinkler system installed, I haven't had to water my lawn.

As a matter of fact, no one has really had to water their lawns since I installed my sprinkler system.

You are all welcome.

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Bear with me because I'm going to say something and it's going to sound like I agree with Trump.

Universities are being used by China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, etc... as a way to steal intellectual property from companies, install spies into our government agencies and to essentially infiltrate our society.

Imagine the Chinese government having thousands of students apply to numerous US universities. Those "students" are more than likely members of the People's Liberation Army but the universities don't know that. If a few hundred get accepted, it might cost the Chinese government a million dollars to pay their tuition but that is nothing to them.

Those "students" become a part of the university, they become teachers assistants, they become dormitory "RA's" and they get jobs in the research labs. They also get internships at tech companies, financial organizations, government agencies, etc...

In other words, they build a profile for themselves that leads to them being trusted. They also work themselves into places that give them access to "stuff" that the Chinese want. Places like SpaceX, NASA, J.P. Morgan, etc...

As these students graduate and enter the working world, they essentially become Chinese siphons of American research and ideas, stealing everything they can get their hands on and getting it to their bosses in Beijing.

Trump is going after Harvard and it's foreign students because he wants to eliminate the liberal leanings in place at most colleges and universites. He should be going after Harvard (and every other university) because they have become a way for foreign adversaries to steal our research.

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Here are some links:

• "It's fine. It's got a few scratches and it's a little damp."



• I bet a dollar that he'll say something Trump doesn't like and all of a sudden, he'll lose his citizenship.



• It's only a matter of time before we end up with three seashells.



• The announcer did a great job. The best line was: "The last thing anyone needs through there is a slippery weiner."



• I call bullshit. Ever had a conversation with a Scotsman or an Australian?



• Better than finding one in your car while driving at 65mph.

Close game

The Red Sox beat the Orioles 6-5 this afternoon and it wasn't pretty.

Both teams scored 2 in the first inning and it remained a 2-2 tie until the fifth inning when the Orioles scored 3 quick runs to take a 5-2 lead.

The Red Sox answered back with 1 run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to tie the game 5-5.

It stayed tied 5-5 through the tenth when Devers hit a base hit to drive in Rafaela to win the game 6-5.

Giolito has the start for game 2 of the double-header. First pitch is at 6:45.

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In other Red Sox news, it looks like Alex Bregman has suffered a "significant quad injury".

This is bad for the Red Sox.

Because Bregman is now on the DL, the Red Sox have called up Marcelo Mayer.

This is good for the Red Sox.

Baseball is a game of good and bad. All you can hope for is there is more good than bad.

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Guess who is no longer under a drought or even dry conditions!

I'm going to take an extra long shower...

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Here are some links:

• This is not a flying car. It is a plane with four wheels.



• Didn't Trump say he would end this just 24 hours after taking office?



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "1:36 p.m. A yellow Lab named Butters is always getting up to some antics."



• Mom of the Year.



• I figure that eventually all the unvaccinated 'medical experts' will just up and die.



• This is just a guess on my part but it seems to me that Lin Eric Yen Ju is an asshole.

Quite the beat down

The Red Sox played game one of their double-header this afternoon, beating the Orioles 19-5. It would have been 19-2 but instead of putting in a closer, Cora opted to put a position player on the mound and the Orioles scored 3 runs before the third out.

It started out poorly for Bello. He was great for the first inning and fell apart from there. Cora pulled him out of the game after four innings.

The bullpen did their job and the batters went above and beyond doing their job. They scored 5 runs in the fifth and then scored 13 runs in the eighth.

At some point in the ninth inning, I sent my son the followaing text:

Giolito has the start for game two. First pitch is at 7:10 as long as there isn't a rain delay or postponement...

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I thought I'd check in to see how our "Very Stable Genius" is doing with the economy:

Hey look! It's down another half a percent since we checked two days ago! Good job there Mr. Genius...

So far this guy has cost a lot of us a lot of money and I don't see him doing anything to change that. He's also managed to increase the interest the United States has to pay on its debts meaning he's cost us more money than most of us understand.

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Here are some links:

• There are five performers that I really, really enjoy: Jimmy Buffett, Mark Knopfler, Paul Simon, David Gilmour and Billy Joel.



• Key line in this story: "I can't explain how pissed off it made me, because they're still saying this stuff, and they know it to not be true."



• If I remember correctly, Sri Lanka has the death penalty for drug smugglers.



• Key line in this story: "...several callers reported a man pleasuring himself."



• No thanks, I'll pass...



• It's tough being an attorney. Those 29 hour days are killers.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, drinks out of your shoe.

No sweep

Crochet was having a great night and I was pretty pleased with the way things were going.

Yes sir, it was looking pretty good. The Red Sox were down only one run, Crochet was throwing pitches that were striking guys out and it looked like the hitters were beginning to figure out the Mets pitcher.

Then Cora came out and took Crochet out of the game in the 5th inning.

To say the least, I was confused. He was up to 85 pitches, the bullpen had been taxed beyond normal the night before and he was on fire. Why in the hell was Cora taking him out.

Then I saw this tweeter thingee this morning:

So all things considered, I would rather have them pull him early from a game in May than see him on the IL in September when the playoffs are looming...

As for today, the game has been rained out and rescheduled as a double-header tomorrow.

Hell, based on what I'm seeing for Boston weather, I suspect they will be rained out tomorrow and Saturday as well.

I wonder if they can play a quadruple-header on Sunday?

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Key line in this story: "A new provision in the bill deregulates gun silencers."

It's a meaningless provision because there is no such thing as "gun silencer". They are called suppressors.

And in all honesty, I can't really think of any reason for a suppressor to be illegal. They definitely quiet the sound of the bullet being fired but it's still pretty damned loud.

The problem is that people, including our esteemed elected officials, watch too many movies. Like almost everything else in the movies, the "silenced" gun is a lie. When an actor fires a movie "silenced gun", all we hear is "pffffft".

I've fired a suppressed firearm. It was a 9mm Heckler Koch MP55D submachine gun with an integral suppressor that I fired courtesy of the FBI at the range complex at Fort Devens.

Trust me, I would not fire a suppressed firearm without hearing protection.

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Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "Ramaphosa kept his cool."
  Well, someone had to be the adult in the room...



• Krazy Kim III is going to punish those responsible.
  That translates to "Kill everyone".



• Looney Donald is putting the U.S. deeper into debt.



• Thanks goodness they finally found a use for it.



• Key line in this story about a moron who should be in prison: "He tried to remove the ticks using a lighter, which accidentally lit the puppy on fire."



• Women: Some of them are tougher than me.

Looking for the sweep

The Red Sox beat the Mets 2-0 last night and it wasn't pretty.

I don't want to say the umpire (Estabrook) was bad but I am willing to say he sucked. His strike zone was not a rectangle, it was a living amoeba. There was no consistency at all.

Here is his Umpire Scorecard:

So anyways, in the third inning, Buehler threw a strike. It was an obvious strike and it was a beautiful strike but Estabrook called it ball. After two innings of having no consistency behind the plate, Buehler lost it a bit and started telling the umpire that it was a strike. He didn't leave the mound, he didn't cuss and he didn't gesture.

Estabrook, however, threw off his mask, stepped out onto the playing field in front of home plate and started gesturing like a little kid in a swarm of bees. He was yelling at Buehler, who was standing on the mound, to get back on the mound and then, for no reason other than he was having a childish hissy fit, he tossed Buehler from the game.

This led to Cora having a bit of a problem and he came out of the dugout to give Estabrook a piece of his mind. About two seconds into their conversation, Estabrook tossed Cora from game.

On the upside, when Cora got back to the dugout to tell his bench coach to take over, he took a few seconds out of his day to beat the crap out of the bullpen phone. The very next inning, Refsnyder picked up the broken door from the phone and used it as part of the home run celebration.

I hope to see that phone door at every celebration for the rest of the year.

Anyways, since Buehler got ejected in the third, the bullpen got stretched out a lot last night. That means tonights starter, Crochet, really needs to go at least seven and hopefully eight or nine innings.

First pitch is at 6:45. If they win tonight, it's a much-needed sweep for them.

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Now that Looney Donald has decided to officially name his budget bill the "big beautiful bill", I figure it's time for a check on the stock market since he took office:

Yep, it's still down a lot. Not as bad as it was a few weeks ago but it's still down almost five percent.

In case you aren't one of those savvy economics-type people, let me enlighten you - five percent is a lot.

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Here are some links:

• Musk has way too much influence over Trump.



• Dear Reminder newspaper: You need to hire an editor.



• Ashley Spring seems like a real stable hu-them.



• The real reason we invented AI is because we apparently can't come up with our own pranks anymore.



• In case you didn't know this already, we're on our own.



• Finally, a car race I would watch.

Nice win

Dobbins pitched well and the bullpen did great.

Dobbins faced 18 batters over 4⅔ innings, giving up one run, one walk and striking out two. Unfortunately, he didn't make it through the requisite 5 innings to earn the win.

The bullpen was outstanding finishing out the game by allowing no more runs.

The batters did what batters are supposed to do which is get on base while moving the runners along. The score would have been higher but as is often the case with the Red Sox, they left nine runners stranded on base throughout the game.

As I write this at 1:00 this afternoon, tonight's starter is listed as "TBD" but there is this entry from the latest injury updates:

"Status: Buehler faced hitters at Fenway Park on May 15, and the team thinks he is on track to make his return on May 20 against the Mets".

So maybe we'll see him tonight.

First pitch is at 6:45pm

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I have two questions about these results from our recent town election:

1. Isn't there a policy about automatic recounts if the results are so close?
2. Who won?

My question about recount stems from the fact that the two listed candidates are only one vote apart.

My question about who the winner actually is comes from the fact that there are 76 write-in candidates. Who are they and how many votes did each one get? Did any of them get more than six?

For the record, no, I did not write myself in. I only put myself down as a write-in when Richie Neal is running unopposed.

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There is a line in this story that I want to take issue with:

He accused the president of selling access to people who will pay him money.

Murphy is proving to be just another clone of guys like Schumer, Nadler and Schiff. He thinks a democrat who is collecting millions from the wealthy is okay but when a republican does it, it's illegal.

Can someone tell me the difference between the California millionaires who contributed huge sums of money to Lizzy "I'm gonna get me, ummmm, a beer!" Warren's Massachusetts senate campaign and the foreign investors who give money to Trump?

Here's a clue: There is no difference. None. Zero. Zilch.

They only reason someone from California would contribute to a Massachusetts political race is to influence the outcome of that race and gain some power over the senator.

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Here are some links:

• Not only do I feel like the Red Sox dodged a bullet with this guy, I'm betting the Aaron Judges are glad he's not their problem.



• I do not understand the purpose of a book club.



• Key phrase in this story: "...the U.S. — which provides about one-fifth of WHO's $6.8 billion budget..."



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



• It's hard to choose a key phrase from our favorite police log but we're going with this one: "10:26 a.m. A man believed the most logical solution to teach another motorist how to drive was to pull a gun on him."



• Oh Canada.

The Mets are in town

The Red Sox will play the Mets tonight. First pitch is at 6:45.

I really hope Dobbins can go more the 4 innings because that bullpen ain't doing so good.

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I had an interesting afternoon talking to my new friend Kiesha at the Mass Department of Revenue.

When I got the mail this afternoon, I was more than a little surprised to find this in the mailbox:

That is a tax refund check in the amount of $542 made out to me. The only problem I have with that is the fact we did our taxes back in January and got our refund in February via a direct deposit to our checking account.

The first thought that crossed my paranoid little brain was, "Oh great. Someone is attempting to defraud the state by filing a tax return in my name".

I called the MassDOR and made my way through their annoying phone menu until I got to the final boss who told me to "hold for the next available agent".

Five minutes later, Keisha answered the phone and I explained to her that the state had sent me a check for a refund. Only problem is I had already received a refund back in February.

She did some digging and found out that someone had made an extension payment on their taxes and the agent processing it put it on the wrong account (my account). At some point, the DOR processed the account (my account), found that there was no need for an extension and sent the check back me.

Eventually, they found the correct account (not my account), told me to tear up the check and said not worry, all is well with the world.

Did I mention that I am paranoid?

I have filed the check, along with all the notes I took while speaking with Keisha and I will hold on to them until I file next years taxes. If something is wrong and the DOR screws up my taxpayer account, I want to have proof that I did my best to clear things up.

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I was going to test my sprinkler system after I mowed the other day and when I opened the app, I found this:

Nice to know it won't water if it's raining, has recently rained or if rain is predicted.

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Here's something that made me laugh:

The ones that really make me laugh are the idiots that hold the phone up to their ear while it is in speaker mode.

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Here are some links:

• You can add Vietnam to places I don't want to visit.



• Most people can't do this in shorts and a t-shirt.



• Yea, this seems like something they should try to stop.



• Maybe Pat, Willie and myself should stay off the golf course...



• Best show & tell ever!



• We don't pay cops enough.

A win and a loss

The Red Sox lost the series against the Braves but at least they didn't get swept.

They won last night, beating the Braves 7-6. Unfortunately, they lost 10-4 this afternoon.

As things stand right now, they are "tied" for second place in the ALEast, 4½ games behind the Aaron Judges.

Today's loss was bad. Very bad. Not only did the batters not move the runners along, Bello had a bad outing. It started when his first pitch was hit for a double and it went downhill from there.

The only highlight, and the Red Sox only runs, was Devers hitting a grand slam.

The red hot Mets come into town tomorrow. Dobbins has the start and the first pitch will be at 6:45pm.

As I said right before their series against Tigers, I'm hoping they don't get swept...

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Here are some links:

• I wish him a speedy recovery.



• Key line in this story: "...targeted an underground command compound below the European Hospital..."



• Get ready for a significant retaliation by Ukraine.



• As long as it isn't Godzilla.



• Once again, Chuck Schummer proves he's not the smartest person in the room.



• What is the deal with China and new viruses/bacteria?



• Did she not have good enough insurance to go inside the hospital?



• When the repo man show up to tow your $500,000 car you should at least put on pants before confronting him.

Another loss

With last nights 4-2 loss to the Braves, the Red Sox have fallen four and a half games behind the New York Aaron Judges and are currently in third place in the ALEast.

Crochet started the game by giving up two back-to-back home runs. He eventually got his shit together and went seven inning, giving up two runs, walking none and striking out eight.

Tonight's starter is Giolito but more importantly, I'm really hoping the batters start hitting the damned ball and move the base runners along. They need to score more than two runs.

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Not much else to go over.

Here are some links:

• When the United States starts having car bombings, you know things are bad. Very, very bad.



• I really hope the Steelers stay far away from this nutcase.



• Good job Donny. Really good job...



• Ain't nothin' lower than a parrot smuggler.



• Key line in this story: "...an expired but still edible yogurt."

It's a Sale day

The Red Sox will face the Braves tonight. Garret Crochet is on the mound for the Red Sox and Chris Sale is on the mound for the Braves.

Both teams are struggling and have similar records, with the Red Sox at 22-23 and the Braves at 22-22.

In other words, this should be a good game to watch.

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Pat has sent out his "Hey! Let's go golfing!" email and I have replied with my availability (pretty much any day). Willie, however, appears to have fallen off the face of the earth because there has been no reply from him.

Hopefully we hear from Willie soon. If not, Pat and I will have to go by ourselves.

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I thought this was both funny and interesting:

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Here are some links:

• According to a friend of mine who is a retired FBI agent, Comey is a boob and should probably shut up but since when do we arrest people for an instagram picture?



• VGER lives!



• Key phrase in this story: "The market is incredibly illiquid for a jet like this."



• Apparently the new Volvo will burn holes in your camera.



• Black bears are dogs without a collar.



• Only in Florida.

Below .500

With last nights loss, the Red Sox are once again below .500.

It was a good game to watch with the Tigers and the Red Sox switching up leads but in the end, the Tigers won it 6-5.

There was one play that I think you need to see because you might never see one like it again.

No baseball tonight while they head back to Boston. On Friday they start a three-game series against the Braves.

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With Looney Donald flying around visiting all of the kingdoms in the middle east, accepting multi-million dollar graft and basically sucking up to all the princelings and such, I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone of his tweeter from 2016:

Just a reminder...

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I thought this was prety funny:

Maybe I'll sign up for that one...

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I'm going to find something to entertain me.

You can enjoy these links:

• The Secretary of Health and Human Services says, "I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me."
  I couldn't agree more.



• Scientists have found water in the ocean.



• Crop-Destroyers and the Sex Crazed Spotted Lanternflies would make a great name for a 1980s punk band.



• Soon-to-be released movie starring Samual L. Jackson: "Snakes on a Train".



• Man, Popeys has some harsh work policies.



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

Quick posting tonight

The Red Sox lost last night but they didn't embarrass themselves. The Tiger's beat them 10-9 in the 11th inning.

They need to win tonight so they don't get swept.

Dobbins has the start and the first pitch is at 6:40

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Enjoy these few links:

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



• Our government at work.



• Oh Canada.



• Key line in this story: "...probably a repeat offender."

The porch is kinda open

Because the porch is a pollen magnet and they are saying this year is going to be terrible for pollen, we decided to open only a piece of the porch. Not all of it, just a small piece.

Basically, we brought out two sitting chairs so we could sit and read. The dining table and its chairs will remain under their protective winter cover until probably mid-June when the pollen lets up.

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I was going to say something nice about the Red Sox but after they got their ass kicked by the Tigers, losing 14-2, I find it hard to say anything

Instead I'll say something true but not nice - This was Houck's second shitty outing and it looks to me like there is something wrong with him. I'm not sure what is wrong but he was throwing softballs over the plate and the Tigers were crushing them.

Now don't get me wrong, this was not entirely Houck's fault. The offense sucked as well but I won't be surprised to see Dobbins stick around after Fitts comes back from the IL.

Yesterday I said I was hoping they don't swept. Today I'm saying I hope they don't get embarrassed again.

Tonight has Bello with the start. He usually has a bad first inning or two but I'm hoping he breaks that pattern tonight.

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I'm going to watch some baseball and pray they don't get stomped again.

Here are some links:

• Key determination in this story: "Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game."



• Look, I don't like "disco-punk" music but at least it's not regular disco.



• Only in New Jersey.



• Well, this is a prety shitty thing to do.



• And I bet those commuters were pissed.



• Gary has completely died.



• As they say in Thailand, "Phuket".

And the mowing is complete

This morning was errands, including more plant purchasing, and this afternoon was yard work.

My lawn is mowed and all the flowering plants have been planted. The vegetable plants wil get stuck in the ground tomorrow.

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Remember yesterday afternoon when I said, "The Colorado Rockies are the worst team in MLB. How that manager and GM still have a job is beyond me."

Well, it looks like I was once again predicting the future because they fired their manager yesterday evening

In all honesty, I feel bad for the guy but looking at their record over his nine year stint, it ain't great. As a matter of fact, it's around .400 and that, for lack of a better term, is a losing record.

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The Red Sox are in Detroit to play the red hot, American League leading Tigers.

I don't have any prediction about how this game is going to go. The Tigers are on fire this season and have a .635 record. That is the best record in the league by at least 2½ games.

Too be honest with you, I'm hoping they don't get swept.

Houck has the mound and first pitch is at 6:40 this evening.

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Here are some links:

• Only at a Walmart in Florida.



• Key line in this story: "I’m not one to make things up!"



• 385 Pubs would be a great name for a 1960s British Invasion pop band.



• That must be somewhere around $1 million worth of eggs.



• Oh Canada.



• Do those idiots around Boston think there are no cops in New Hampshire? They keep going up there and getting arrested for doing stupid things

I have to mow again

Man, my lawn is growing fast.

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In an homage to Hoke Colburn from the movie Driving Miss Daisy, I took my wife over to a local farm/greenhouse/garden center. I bring up Houck because I always like to say to my wife when we start out, "I'm fixin' to drive you to the Piggly Wiggly Miss Daisy!"

What Houck actually said was, "I'm tryin' to drive you to the store!" but I think my line is better.

So anyways, on the busiest days of the year for garden places, we went to a garden place. There, along with thousands of our closest friends, we bought a bunch of plants that she will stick into the ground and kill.

Just kidding. When she plants things they usually do okay. I'm the guy that kills plants.

Oh, and there was also hand-made ice cream.

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The Red Sox won last night, beating the Royals 10-1.

The Red Sox won this afternoon, beating the Royals 3-1.

This means the Red Sox won the series.

As I often say, the way to make the playoffs is to win series and stay above .500.

Oh, and the Umpire Scorecard for the first game of the series that the Red Sox lost is out:

No wonder they lost...

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Time to watch some golf and then toss some burgers on the grill.

Here are today's links:

• Key line in this story: "You can imagine what 150 people scrambling out of the church looked like."



• I'm just glad they haven't gone nuclear. Yet...



• Other than that, it was a touching ceremony.



• The Colorado Rockies are the worst team in MLB. How that manager and GM still have a job is beyond me.



• "Two fingered man" pretty much says it all...



• I'm one of those people that hate touch screens. Give me back my buttons.

It stopped raining!

Looks like were getting a few days without any rain. Don't get me wrong, the rain is good for my lawn and I can prove it.

This is what my backyard looked like last August and this is what my backyard looks like today:

All that grass seed I put down last August germinated and all the rain we've had this spring has caused it to fill in nicely.

Yes, there are some spots that are still a little bare but I'll seed it again this August to get it to fill in.

And since I now have a sprinkler system, I don't have to drag hoses and sprinklers around this time.

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When I went to bed last night, the Red Sox and Royals were tied 0-0 after nine innings. When I woke up this morning, I found the Red Sox had lost 2-1 after 12 innings.

Guess it's back to .500 for the Red Sox.

Game two of the three-game series is tonight. First pitch is at 7:10 and Crochet has the start.

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In other baseball news, someone with way more talent than I have posted this proposal for the new White Sox City Connect uniforms:

I'm sure the Pope approves.

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Looney Donald is feeling a little down about his poll numbers so he posted his own poll numbers on his truth thingee:

No president in the history of the United States has ever had approval numbers that high. Then again, no president in the history of the United States has ever made up his own approval numbers before.

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I was digging through some old pictures and I found this image that I posted a few years ago.

I felt it was time for a repost:

Not only is it funny, it's also true.

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Here are some links:

• Anyone who doesn't think crypto is a scam is lying to themselves.



• Well, that's one less thing we have to worry about.



• Guys: Sometimes we aren't very bright.



• Maybe it's because we encourage the behavior instead of discouraging it.



• Key phrase in this story: "...walking down the street wearing a clown mask and brandishing an electric chainsaw."



• Key phrase in this story: "...transporting fentanyl in her vagina."

I'm not poor

Do you know how to tell if you are not poor?

This is how you tell that you are not poor:

Two weeks ago, you buy a brand new pair of sneakers. Today, you are out running errands with your spouse in the pouring rain and your feet are soaked. So you decide to buy a second brand new pair of sneakers so you have dry shoes to put on when you get home.

If you do that, you are not poor.

I guess I'm not poor because I am now the owner of two brand new pairs of sneakers. One pair is soaking wet, the other pair is nice and dry.

And I might have misled you a bit. My purchase wasn't entirely driven by my wet feet. The actual reason I now own two brand new pairs of sneakers is because I'm a slob.

When I was changing the oil on my machines the other day, I dripped oil on my two-week old pair sneakers and couldn't get the resulting stain out of the shoe.

So now I have a brand new pair of shit sneakers and a brand new pair of sneakers to wear when I'm not doing something that will result in staining. For instance, if I'm going to step outside my house, I'll wear the brand new shit sneakers. If I'm going to relax on my couch watching baseball, I'll the the brand new not shit sneakers.

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I'm going to like the new Pope simply because he's a baseball fan. Also, there is currently a huge debate going on over his favorite baseball team.

When he was elected, the Chicago Cubs put up a sign that said he was a Cubs fan.

A reporter asked his brother if he was a Cubs fan and his brother said, "Whoever said Cubs is wrong. It's Sox."

I don't care who he roots for, I just think it's great that the head of the Catholic Church is a baseball fan.

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Speaking of Baseball, Dobbins has the start tonight.

First pitch is at 7:40.

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Here are some links:

• If this happens, I'm going to be upset.



• No offense scientist guys but if you only made 29 trillionths of a gram of gold, you didn't make gold. You made gold-flavored air.



• Those Norwegians really like their fish...



• Sir Richard Starkey and my youngest son would be proud.



• Oops.

Maintenance day

Today I changed the oil on all four of my machines. The generator probably didn't need it but I changed it anyways. I'd rather put an unecessary $8.00 worth of oil into it than have it seize up on me when I need it most.

The tractor is a pressurized oil system with a pump and a filter. That means I have to make sure not to overfill it. If you overfill a simple slinger oil sump, it just slings more oil around the engine. If you overfill a pumped system, the pressure will build up and you might blow out the breather or get seepage around the rings.

I don't want seepage.

Remember people, change the oil in your machines on a regular basis and they will last a long time. Maybe even longer than you...

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Looks like there is a new Pope.

Either that or the seagulls set the Vatican on fire.

Once again we can play Find the Pope in the Pizza.

And of course, the key line in this story is Leo has not always had positive words for the U.S. president and his administration.
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This made me laugh:

Remember, he's a very stable genius.

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The Red Sox won last night and again this afternoon, moving back above .500.

Last night they beat the Rangers 6-4 despite Houck having a so-so outing.

Today they beat them 5-0. Bello had his typical "first inning sucks, the rest are pretty good" outing.

They are now off to Kansas City Missouri where tomorrow they will start a three-game series against the Royals. First pitch is at 7:40 and Dobbins has the start.

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Here are some links:

• I'm still going to call this the Gulf of Mexico. And I'll still call this one the Persian Gulf.



• Key line in this story: "People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that 'he died rich' will not be one of them."



• Invasive Sheep from Helicopters would be a great name for a 1960s sci-fi movie.



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



• Leander and the Mystery Sheep would be a fantastic name for a 1960s English pop band.

Busy today

The Red Sox lost last night becuse they have gone into total suck mode.

The pitchers aren't pitching nd the hitter aren't hitting.

As for tonight, they aren't doing much better. It's currently 2-0 Rangers in the fourth inning.

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Today was errands, then lunch with the boys and finally lawn mowing.

One problem with having a fertilizer guy is they know what they are doing. When they fertilize, the grass grows. When the grass grows, I gotta mow it.

All that means is I didn't spend much time interwebbing.

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I got no links today.

There may not be baseball tonight

The weather service is predicting a 6pm - 8pm window of no rain in Boston. The game is schedule to start at 6:45.

I'm not entirely sure what the criteria is for deciding to postpone a game to another day. It seems to me that if both the managers, the umpires and the grounds crew think there is enough time to play at least six innings (five makes for an official game), then they should start the game. If they think they can only squeeze in 4 innings, they should postpone until tomorrow.

Then again, I am not a manager of a major league baseball team so it does not matter what I think.

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The Universal Serial Bus protocol (USB) is a two part system. It can be used to transfer data between two devices and it can be used to provide power (5 volts) from one device to another. In most cases, it performs both things at the same time.

There is a new "ticktock" trend where high school kids are using a paper clip to short out the USB port on their school-supplied laptop. This creates some sparks, some smoke and it destroys the laptop

In the first place, anyone that does this should be expelled from school for intentionally destorying an expensive piece of equipment. They should also be arrested for attempting to create an infernal device and start a fire.

But if we really want to stop this, we should increase the USB voltage to 120 volts. Trust me, that will stop kids from sticking metal objects into the ports.

Morons...

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While I see if there is any baseball to watch, you can visit these links:

• Looney Donald continues to piss off the neighbors.



• Speaking of Looney Donald, you should make note of this statement: "Trump said the Houthis would 'not be blowing up ships anymore'."
  I bet money that within the next two months, they will launch drones at some ships.



• Isn't that something like $26.98 U.S. ?



• Key line in this story: "My suckers are here!"



• What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.



• Ah yes, the old "It's sacramental LSD!" defense...

A very lazy day

I honestly didn't do anything at all today.

It's raining, it's a bit chilly and my back is killing me.

Sounds like the perfect day to do nothing.

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There is no Red Sox baseball tonight so I will have to find something to entertain myself.

One option is the Netflix "The Clubhouse - A Year with the Red Sox".

They kinda sucked last year but seeing the behind the scenes stuff that Netflix captured might be interesting.

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I can't read this story because I refuse to pay the Boston Globe (John Henry) any money but the headline says it all:

In ‘millionaires tax’ bill, House speaker carved out $25m for a parking garage in his hometown. Critics call it a ‘power play’.

My question to the Speaker would be, "Please explain why you believe that the people of Quincy needed a parking garage more than all the people across Massachusetts who need help with their crumbling house foundations? $25 million would go a long way in helping a lot of those people save their homes."

I'd love to hear his answer to that question.

My followup question would be, "It's been at least 10 years since Massachusetts had a Speaker of the House convicted of a crime. What do you think the chances are that we go 10 more years before another one is indicted?"

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Here are some links:

• Sound advice.



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• Cows are nothing more than giant dogs.



• China: First it was dogs painted to look like pandas, now it's hills painted to look like mountains.



• Key line in this story: "...the iguanas are just up there … going to the bathroom. Constantly."



• I love The Onion.