Category: Family

Bribes

Remember when bribery was illegal? That was before the nazi in chief of the fascist states of america declared that it was a smart move to let a foreign government give you an airplane as a present. Our new air force one, which will stop being air force one and become trump’s personal plane once he leaves office, assuming he leaves office before he dies.

Yeah, this country fucking sucks. Can you imagine if Barack Obama told the public he was taking a passenger jet as a gift from an Islamic nation? Fucking fascists.

Change of subject. Two things to look forward to this week. First, I have my three year post-gastric bypass surgery check in at the weight loss clinic. I expect them to tell me that I am the greatest patient they have ever had, and that no patient they’ve dealt with has ever had such overwhelming success with their post-op program. I am hoping for a plaque or something to honor me.

Of infinitely greater importance, my step son Harry is going to graduate from the University of Vermont this weekend. I am so proud I am so proud I am so proud I am so proud. Did I mention how proud I am? We’ll be heading up there after work on Friday. I am really looking forward to it. I don’t know if you can tell by the context of this paragraph, but I am really proud of Harry.

Okay, Robert. Back to work with you.

254/365

That Was a Day

I’m down to the last few minutes of the work day on this screwy Thursday. I was out the last two days and figured I’d spend the first hour or so today sifting through the hundreds of emails in my inbox. It didn’t take long for that plan to go down the crapper. One customer with a critical issue lead to three of us from my group spending the day on the phone along with a bunch of other co-workers. We hashed it out and fixed it but woah was that a grind.

I actually feel pretty good about the state of the universe from a work perspective. From every other perspective? Yeah, right.

I am too tired and fried to think of anything else to write. I’m hoping for an easy commute tonight but yeah, right. What else? I don’t know. It’s May 1st. Happy May. This month will see my birthday, mother’s day, my step son’s college graduation, my step daughter’s birthday, Memorial Day, and our wedding anniversary. That’s what I call busy. May is a good month. Here’s hoping we get spectacular weather and not dreary, rainy gloom like we’ve been getting the last few months. The sun only comes out during the work week now. Weekends are gross, weather wise. I need that trend to stop and do a full 180.

Okay. It is now 5:30pm and I am clear to punch out and go home. Wish me luck on my commute.

Practice Tomorrow

Band practice is on for 10:00am tomorrow. Morning practice is weird, but it will work. Hopefully the bass player’s family will all be awake before all the noise starts (eek!).

I told the other guys that I put it on my Google Calendar so there’s no backing out now. We’ll see. Lucy still has about 26 hours to pull the football away from Charlie Brown (me).

237/365

I’m rewatching the three new episodes of Andor right now. I’m up to the third episode with that scene with Bix. It is fucking disturbing and really hard to watch. Star Wars for adults is a pretty accurate description of this show.

What else… I don’t know. One work day to survive before the weekend arrives. It’s going to be a long day, I fear. I haven’t taken any pictures of cats yet. I’m sure the opportunity will arise eventually.

I also haven’t looked at the news yet today. I’m always afraid to do so. I’m always in a borderline state of panic to learn about what fresh nazi hell was unleashed overnight. I’m so tired of living in “interesting times.” Fuck this. I want my country back. Failing that, I want my state to just leave and start over. 249 years was a good run, I guess.

What else… I don’t know. Here’s hoping for a nice easy work day followed by a nice and calm weekend… that includes my cousin’s husbands wake… fuck. The universe is just piling on. Hopefully there are brighter, less depressing, less fascist days ahead. Now, where did I put those two cats?

Happy Birthday, Dad

Today is my father’s birthday. The first since he passed away last summer. I’m going to be sad today. I think that’s a given. When I was really little we used to watch reruns of Star Trek together (even though it often gave me nightmares). I’m watching Star Trek right now. Just because.

It’s also tax day in the united states. Your income tax return forms are due today. My father had a tax prep business. Tax day falling on his birthday was a sign somehow. These days my brother is a CPA so tax day is a big deal for him too. In that spirit, allow me to wish all accountants and bookkeepers a Happy Tax Day in honor of my father and my brother and also my mother who used to help with Dad’s tax business. Get through today and then you’re free until January. Sort of. I know you’re never truly finished with tax season. There’s always something more to work on.

Nothing to Say

I feel like I should be saying something tonight but I really have nothing to say.

Between the executive branch deporting innocent people to foreign prisons and ignoring supreme court orders to return them to the bullshit save act passing the house to the blatant insider trading that tanked the US economy in order to help a few billionaires steal money from random americans… yeah… things absolutely suck right now.

My wife and I had some discussion on things for the future today that felt like the opposite of what’s going on outside of the house. As awful as the world is, our talk was positive. No spoilers though. You’re going to have to wait to hear about this stuff, if you ever hear about this stuff. You’ll probably never hear about this stuff. Suffice to say, optimism abounds.

What else… the third season of Yellowjackets wrapped up today. As always, no spoilers. I will say that at the end of the episode the adult version of Shauna can be seen wearing a Throwing Muses t-shirt. Hell yes. Great show.

What else… what else… nothing. I think that’s it for now. Maybe I’ll write something else before bed tonight, but probably not.

Coming to the Close

The work day is almost over. About 10 minutes from now there will be another Monday in the books. Also, I will be 50% of the way through my 40% in the office mandate for this week. That’s nice. It’s also probably confusing if you don’t know what I am talking about but I do know what I am talking about so it is not confusing to me which is why I wrote this epic run on sentence about it.

Here is a picture of a cat that I took this morning before I left for work. She was confused and upset because I made the bed and messed up her hiding/napping spot/plans. Sorry, cat.

What else can I write about before the work day ends? A Red Sox win tonight and a Yankees loss will move the Red Sox into first place in the AL East. Yes it is only the 11th game of the season, but after the last few years of baseball futility combined with the Bruins suck fest of late, I will take a first place moment with a smile on my face. The Yankees and Tigers are playing right now. In the bottom of the eighth inning in Detroit, the Tiggers are up 6-2. Thanks, Detroit.

What else… I haven’t worked on anything musical since the RPM Challenge wrapped up at the end of February. I am a failure at musical life. Just saying.

Okay, I got distracted by something at work and now the 10 minutes have passed and it’s quitting time. Wish me luck on my evening commute home. Jen picked up something nice for dinner tonight. We have dinner together whenever humanly possible and I always love it. I love her, I can’t help it. The heart wants what the heart wants and my heart wants silly little domestic time with the woman of my dreams. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. Civilization coming to a crashing, idiotic, tariffed end doesn’t change the way I feel.

The Visit is Over

The kids left. It was a bit less than an hour ago. Apple’s Find My app tells me they just merged onto route 89. I miss them. I always miss them.

I didn’t sleep well last night. It’s going to be a long day today. Blah, says I.

Rain

The kids are at a concert with their father and their step mother. Jen is working. I’m sitting in the living room typing this and looking at a sleeping cat or two.

I want to shoot film at sunrise but I can’t because New England in April means rain on the weekends. Not just the weekends, of course, it just seems that way. Every Thursday or Friday I start looking forward to the weekend and I check the weather forecast and it’s always the same. It is always rain. Rain and gloom. Even the Red Sox have been in a rain delay for the last hour and a half or so.

I wish I could have made it into the city to join in on the Hands Off demonstrations today, but the kids were here and I would rather be with the kids than almost anything so I happily stayed home. One of these days there will be a certain ridiculously tall old person with red hair in one of those Boston throngs, I promise.

Until then, here’s a photo of Lily that I took a few minutes before she jumped up onto the ottoman and curled herself into a ball and fell asleep.

217/365

I think Jen and I are going to do dinner via DoorDash tonight. It’s a special day for us so we need to do something nice to celebrate. 18 years ago today, on April 5, 2007, we went on our first date. As special days go, today is a big one. I love her so much, and it all kicked off 18 years ago today. Our relationship is old enough to vote, assuming the u.s. will still have elections… you know… nazis in charge and all. Oh shit, I just brought politics into my happy first-date-aversary message. Fuck me. Sorry about that.

All Quiet… For Now

Despite the weirdness of my previous post, the potentially odd omen of the cat in the sink has not foretold of anything weird happening today… so far, at least.

It’s been a quiet day so far. I’m just getting off of my lunch break so there is still plenty of time for things to go south. I mean, the president placed tariffs on penguins yesterday so… yeah. Anything is possible at any time.

The Red Sox have won two in a row and their home opener (against the Cardinals) is about to start. The Bruins have now lost 10 in a row (one of them in overtime, the rest in regulation). I don’t know what to think. I will focus on the positive trend for the Sox and listen to today’s game while I work. They are 3-4 on the season. It’s too early to worry about things like the American League East standings, but they are currently tied for last place (with Baltimore), two games back of the first place Blue Jays. At least Geddy Lee will be happy.

The kids are coming home tonight. We thought they were coming home last night but there was some miscommunication. Last night’s loss is tonight’s gain. They will be here tonight, go to their father’s sometime tomorrow, and then I think come back here afterward. Then Sunday they will go back to Vermont. I am very happy we’ll get to see them. Very happy.

Okay, it’s 2:00pm now. Time to get back to work. Talk to you all later. Until then, remember that donald trump is a nazi who can’t do math. Loser.