The road from a very foggy route 93 through the greatest city on Earth*, Boston, Massachusetts.
*Definitively. The Greatest City on Earth. You heard it here first.
Foggy Route 93
Author: robertjames1971
I'm wicked tall.
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I am working in the office today. I’ve had a few meetings and I just wrapped up my lunch. I have another meeting booked for 45 minutes from now but I will be leaving for the day shortly after it starts. Today is my Uncle Jim’s wake. It’s actually a lot closer to my office building than it is to home so working from here actually makes getting there a ton easier. Otherwise I probably would have taken the whole day off. I took tomorrow off as I will be going to the funeral in the morning.
It’s so sad the way my mother’s family has fallen apart over the last year. Three of the four siblings passed away within nine months of each other. Only the baby in the family is left and she has some health concerns of her own. It’s been a tough year for the extended family. I am one of 22 first cousins and most of us are on a facebook messenger chat together. Anytime I get a notification of an update to that chat I get scared. It shouldn’t be like that, but it is. Hopefully we can all find a way to generate some happy news in the next year. I don’t know how, but maybe we can figure it out.
Speaking of happier news, Harry is coming home tonight. He needs to have some work done on his car and he is taking it to a shop near us because he couldn’t find a shop near Burlington, VT that could schedule him any time soon. We’re not sure how long he’ll be home. It will be at least as long as the car fix takes. Hopefully he’ll watch a Doctor Who or two with me. I bet I can talk him into it.
Okay, lunch break is over. Time to go back to work for the shortened afternoon.
Some Words Bug Me
There are some words that people use that just bug me. More it’s words that people misuse. I’ll share a few and you all can get cheesed off at my insolence.
- Brand. People don’t misuse this one, they just use it in corporate speak mode and it makes me want to punch a puppy in the face. I need to promote my brand on twitter. Bite me. Call it your business like a normal friggin’ capitalist and stop being so damn pompous. I sort of blame Mashable for this one. Not because it’s their fault but because that was the first site that I read regularly that used that word in this way all the time and it sort of spun up this particular annoyance in my tiny little brain.
- Myself. There is nothing wrong with this word, but people use it incorrectly all the time and it makes my skin crawl. Joe and myself are going to the store. No, assmunch. Joe and I are going to the store. You would never say “myself is going to the store” would you? No. So stop using it wrong, you pricks. It’s English, do it correctly or shut the hell up.*
- Nuclear. I am looking at you, George W Bush, you effin’ moron. Nu-Clear. Not Nu-Cular. Asshole. There is only one “u” in “nuclear”. Stop pronouncing it as if there were two. It’s a tiny little two syllable, seven letter word. STOP FUCKING IT UP!
- Irregardless. That is not a word. If you use it you should be punched in the face. Simple.
Rant over. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
*In the interest of fair play, I did not proof read this post. Why? So all of the spelling and grammar errors will be posted and all you folks can have a good laugh at my hypocrisy. Enjoy!
Photo-a-Day: Quick and Dirty
Today is a work from the office day so I snuck in the first photo a day idea that came to me.
It’s frankly genius.
Burlington, VT
Unexpected Weight Loss Milestone
I had all of these milestones in mind when I had the weight loss surgery. You know, things that would mark the progress as I lost weight.
20 pounds, 50 pounds, clothes becoming too big for me and having to replace them with smaller sizes, you know, things like that.
At some point I reached the my-wedding-ring-doesn’t-fit-anymore milestone. At the time I thought that maybe I might hit that milestone twice. I’d have the ring resized and then continue to lose weight and have to have it resized again. After that first time though, when it was reduced by two ring sizes, the pace of weight loss slowed and then leveled off and then my weight started creeping up again. Just a smidge. I thought, rightly so, that I would not have to get the ring resized a second time.
Then earlier tonight I was in line at the check out at the grocery store and I was mindlessly spinning my wedding ring around my finger. It feels loose but not loose enough to slide over my knuckle without a push. Then, right on queue, it slid over my knuckle without a push. It was just, poof, on the wrong side of the knuckle.
Well shit, boys and girls. Maybe I am going to need to get the ring resized a second time. I think it’s okay for now, but maybe in a couple of months?
I should also note that I bought the belt that I am wearing right now back around Christmas time. It’s been on the second hole for the entire nine months or so that I have been wearing it. Then on Sunday when I was getting dressed for the wedding I tightened it to the third hole. My belt was just getting too loose.
The scale has been telling me I am maintaining an approximate steady weight. Not really gaining, not really losing. Maybe… but at the same time I might still be getting a smidge thinner… just a little bit, slowly as the days roll past.
Interesting.
It makes me curious what my September 4, 2023, 16 month weigh in is going to look like. We’ll see in a few weeks, okay? I’ll let you know.
Point and Shoot Sadness
I didn’t use my Nikon point and shoot at all over the weekend. I took it out of the back pack on the drive home and much to my sadness, the lens cover was damaged somehow. It won’t close when the camera is off and it won’t open all the way when the camera is on. I can’t seem to fix it.
Looks like my official point and shoot camera is now the little Casio that Jen bought me as an engagement present. I used it for today’s photo-a-day, more in a symbolic way than anything else.
Robin doesn’t seem to mind at all.
Peace – A Theme
So here we are again with another question that is new, but still sort of the same as a couple of prior questions. Oh well.
What brings me peace. I don’t know of anything specific that brings me peace. Being with Jen. Being with Bellana and Harry. Being with my niece and nephews, though I am an atrociously bad uncle. I was doing a shit job being there for them prior to the pandemic. Since the pandemic? I don’t think I could suck at this more than I do. I am terrible. I am awful. I am unforgivably shitty. When I am around them though, it is pretty life affirming.
Other non-family type things? Music. Even when the music in question is aggressive and anything but peaceful, it just works for me.
What else… sleeping? Sure, that brings me peace. Am I being too literal?
Okay, here’s one that might be uncommon. When cats go out of their way to show you a little attention. The best best best example is when you are just standing there doing whatever and a cat comes over and rubs against your legs. That’s wonderful. Similar is when you’re sitting on the bed and they jump up and rub against your back. Similar again, when you’re on the couch or a chair and then just jump up and sit on your lap, or sit on the chair with you. I actually posted a picture of Lily doing that with me last night. That’s great too. Definitely a source of inner peace. How can you be a bad person when a cat gives you a little love for free?
Okay, I am sure there are 10000 other things, but these will do for now. In closing, this is where I took the post title from. Just in case you were wondering…
Homecoming
Maine Views
Two stops in Maine. First, a scenic view spot in Kennebunkport.
Hey, who lives around here? Oh, only the president Bush family. Too bad they weren’t Democrats like respectable people, but at least they never appeared to be card carrying fascists like a lot of current republicans.
The view from the other side of the house is more impressive, but this is where we stopped so it’s what you get.
Our second stop was a call back to our first trip to Bar Harbor. Back then, 11 years ago, Jen took me to a spot near York Beach that I didn’t even know was there. It was the start of my interest in New England light houses.
Nubble Light House. Last year when I declared I was going to take photos of light houses all summer I managed to get exactly one. This year after I declared I was going to take photos of light houses all summer I got one and then declared I was giving up. Now I have two. Crazy. Also, the right shift key on my MacBook keyboard is sticking or something. That’s why capitalization has been a little screwy of late. Just in case you noticed.
Inside the Red Head's Head 