Month: June 2021

So Far So Good

Tonight’s a parents’ house night. My 24 hour shift started about an hour and a half ago. My brother was here when I got here and he said it was a pretty quiet day. Yesterday was a nightmare and I wasn’t here for any of it. Will the universe give me a shit day tomorrow to even things out? Goodness, I hope not.

I got them leftovers for dinner and I got them their 8:00pm pills. Apparently my father is supposed to have eye drops with his pills. I didn’t know that, and I didn’t give them when I was here on Sunday night/Monday. I guess now I know, and knowing is half the battle, right?

Dad is watching the Red Sox. They are losing to the Astros. So Major League Baseball seems to have a new cheating scandal brewing? Spider Tack? You heard it here last, just remember that.

I’ve got the Bruins radio coverage on my phone. Like a shit head I forgot my AirPods again. I have a set of ear buds that have a lightning cable and I have a pair of Bose over the ear, noise cancelling cans to use with my computer. I’m going with the ear buds with one ear open. I don’t want to use the Bose because I want to be able to hear if one of my parents calls me. The Bruins and the Islanders are tied at one in the second period. I need, need, need a Bruins win.

Shit… the Islanders just scored. We’re losing 2-1. Shit.

I had something else I wanted to write about. What the hell was it?

Don’t get old, kids. It blows. It’s better than the alternative, but sometimes it just blows.

Go Bruins.

Loki

Loki has begun. We watched it together today. I’m at my parents tonight but we were able to sneak it in on a break.

I’m hooked. I can’t wait for episode 2. How many will there be? I’ve heard six. Can’t wait. Feel that hype. Bring it.

Harry has one more graduation rehearsal before the real thing on Friday. I’m so freaking excited for him!!!

Hockey Stuff

I haven’t been stressing over hockey much because I have been stressing over real life. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping an eye on things, it just means I haven’t been hanging on every moment.

The Bruins are down three games to two against the Islanders. Apparently we have a goalie controversy now? You miss stuff like that when you aren’t following the press too closely. Game six is tonight and lots of smart hockey pundits are calling for a rookie back up to start in place of Tuukka Rask. We are facing elimination and must win tonight to stay alive.

And we must stay alive.

Not just because I’m a Bruins fan and want my team to keep playing, and not just because I picked the B’s to advance in my predictions post but…

…but…

Montreal.

The Canadians have already advanced to the third round. As ridiculous as that sounds, it poses an interesting possibility*

The Bruins are in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens are in the Western Conference, thanks Covid-19.

There is still a chance that the Stanley Cup Finals could be a match up between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens. I don’t know if the rest of the NHL sees that as the greatest rivalry in the league, but I sure do. This is the Hockey equivalent of Red Sox vs Yankees. There is also one additional reason to want this finals matchup.

Payback.

The Bruins and Canadiens met in the finals a couple of times in the mid/late 70’s. The Canadiens won each time. We could get some payback. I don’t remember those Finals series. I didn’t start paying close attention until some time in the 80’s. I remember the year that the Bruins finally broke their infinite streak of playoff loses to Montreal. I remember what a big deal that was for us. Losing twice in the Finals was part of that, and we’ve beaten them a few times since, including a round in the 2011 Cup championship season… but guys… we could get some payback in the Finals.

Goodness gracious, kids… we have to win tonight. We have to win the series. We have to beat Tampa Bay in the next round. We have to be there waiting on the off chance Montreal can advance too (they won’t, Colorado will destroy them). There’s a chance… we need that to come true.

Go Bruins! Please, go Bruins! Stay alive, no matter what occurs!

*I understand that literally every Bruins fan on Earth has already thought of this. Give me a break, folks. There’s a lot of shit going on that’s more important than hockey. Forgive me for being late to the party.

Sorry, Birds

I took the trash out this morning. When I opened the door I scared the shit out of two birds who were sitting on the steps.

Sorry, birds.

I walked down the steps and across the driveway to get to the barrels and I scared the shit out of a rabbit that was hiding between the cars.

Sorry, bunny.

I didn’t see any squirrels when I got to the barrels but I flipped them off in general, purely out of spite.

Fuck you, squirrels.

Back inside, I changed the cat’s litter box. When I took that bag out to the trash I scared the shit out of a chipmunk that was sitting on the step.

Sorry, chipmunk.

I dropped the bag full of discarded litter box contents into the trash barrel. The same barrel that the squirrels gnawed their way into so they can eat everything.

Eat cat shit, squirrels.

Gear Lust – Budget Fail

Last night I posted a video from the Five Watt World YouTube channel. Tonight I’ve been watching more and more of their history videos and it’s sending my Gear Acquisition Syndrome into orbit.

I watched videos on Fender Deluxe amps, Klon Centaur overdrive pedals, Marshall JTM45 amps, and Vox AC30 amps.

We now have two college tuitions to pay for. All the money is gone. Isn’t it funny how the gear lust increases at approximately the same rate as the available savings diminishes?

Funny ha ha, or funny boo boo?

You be the judge.

He’s Having a Really Bad Day

I just spoke to my sister. My father had a bad day today. I am not going into details, but he had a really, really bad day today.

I don’t know what we’re going to do.

He had a doctor’s appointment with his primary care physician this morning. I sent my sister a text asking if there was any news and she asked me to call. Just as the call connected, a huge thunderstorm broke out. Lightning, thunder, downpour, the full works. The storm outside was almost as bad as the storm my sister filled me in on, but not quite.

Fuck.

Random Stuff at Lunch Time

Epically busy day today. Sneaking in a short post during a short lunch break. What’s going on, Robert?

When the Covid-19 lock down started I had to grab a webcam so that I could join in on the video conferencing fun. Last week I was on a Google Meet meeting and my camera started flipping out like a crazy person. I tried a couple of USB ports and it was a problem in more than one, but eventually it stabilized itself. That leads me to think there is something breaking loose within the cable. This morning I was on a Zoom meeting and my camera kept shutting off. Turns out it was basically the same issue. I ended up opening up my clam shelled laptop and using the built in camera. It’s working. Folks can see my mug when I am speaking.

Still… a Covid-19 specific tech gadget purchase failed to outlive the lock down. I’m probably going to replace it someday so that I can go back to clam shell. When I go back to the office (which is imminent) I won’t have my gigantic monitor and I’ll have the lappy open anyway, so a replacement camera will just be a home office guy.

I don’t know why but I redid my Spotify Mood Music playlist. I put this together ages ago with the intent being I would update it all the time. Any time I was drawn to a new band or song or whatever I would add something to the playlist. I kept that up for about a minute. Maybe this time I’ll stay active. I don’t use Spotify but it’s easy to share on the blog so that’s why I do it. Whatever.

Jen spoke to Harry a little bit today. He has had his first graduation practice session! We got the details on the ceremony. Masks optional and no socially distant seating. Oh good. The pandemic is over, folks. You made it through! I guess the 11,277 new cases and 245 new deaths yesterday were imagined.

Sorry. This is not a bitch about Covid thing. This is a Harry is a Legend who is graduating from High School in three days post!

Legen…

Wait for it…

We get a new Marvel show on Disney Plus starting tomorrow. Loki. Wednesdays instead of Fridays, that’s new. I think I liked Fridays better in general, but Wednesdays work too. While watching WandaVision we got into the groove of having burgers and fries for dinner while we watched the new episodes. That carried on through The Falcon and The Winter Soldier too. It will continue with Loki. I have no idea what this show is going to be like. I just know that all of us are psyched. Come on, Marvel. Live up to the hype, people! Bring it!

…dary! Legendary!

Blindness Can Be Funny

I’m kidding. Blindness is not funny. Being a dumbass who wears glasses however can sometimes lead to funny stuff.

This happened while I was at my parents house yesterday and I laughed at myself, but by the time I straightened it all out I wasn’t in a funny mood anymore so I didn’t write about it. I’m at home today and it’s getting funny again. A little. Sort of.

My parents have a bottle of lens cleaner in the bathroom. My glasses were dirty as hell after having balled my eyes out into them for a while the night before. I went into the bathroom, ripped some tissue off the roll, took off my glasses, grabbed the bottle and sprayed the shit out of my lenses. That’s when I smelled it. A nice, fresh, sweet scent that wafted back to me from my glasses, and from the hand holding my glasses. What the hell? I looked at the bottle, but without my glasses I couldn’t read the label. Pretty clearly I grabbed the wrong bottle.

I cleaned the glasses as best I could, put them back on, and through the streaks and the fog and the haze I could see that I did not, in fact, spray my glasses with lens cleaner. Instead I sprayed them with scented body wash, which was in a nearly identical bottle right next to the lens cleaner.

12 pounds of actual lens cleaner later and I could see again. The reason I bring this up now is…

…Man, my glasses are dirty again. Where’s my lens cleaner?