Category: Generic

Only One Acceptable Answer

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite type of weather?
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The title of this post says it all. There is only one answer to this question. All other answers are invalid.

Late Spring, early Summer. 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Clear, sunny sky. Low humidity. Warm enough to inspire us to want to jump into a swimming pool or a lake or the ocean or something, but not hot enough to be uncomfortable. Plants growing, everything around us alive and green. Yeah, that last one is more seasonal than actual weather but it helps paint the picture.

So basically the opposite of what Northeastern Massachusetts is seeing right now. It’s cold and snowing right now. Oh good. It’s probably more like a mix of snow and rain, and the forecast is calling for the snow to be replaced by down-pouring rain. Oh yippee.

So there you have it, the best type of weather is my favorite type of weather. Basically… beautiful. That’s the best. That’s the only acceptable answer*. You all agree, I am sure.

*In my humble opinion, right? It’s my blog though so from the blog’s point of view it’s the only opinion. Heh heh heh.

Longest Day Ever

Oh man, are you feeling it today too? Has today been the longest day in ages or what?

It’s Friday but I swear the clock is running slow. I think it’s only actually moving forward in time when I am looking at it. When I am not looking at the clock it is stopping itself somehow. I think the universe knows that I am just a few hours away from the weekend, and that I have a sick day booked on Monday (for a doctors appointment) so it’s actually a three day weekend for me… so it (the universe) is dicking with me.

What a jerk, eh? Hopefully it’s only affecting me and not all of you, dear readers. Hopefully your clocks are progressing appropriately.

Good luck out there, folks. It’s a weird one for sure!

Teachers

Daily writing prompt
Who was your most influential teacher? Why?
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Just yesterday my friend Larry sent me a text asking if I remembered the names of any of our high school teachers. My first thought was of course I do. My second thought was me trying to remember them and exactly one came to me. My senior year English teacher. Was she influential? She was brutal. Easily one of the toughest teachers I ever had. She kicked our academic asses on a daily basis and I was able to rise to the occasion. My grades in that class were very good. Unfortunately she was the only name I could remember off the top of my head. Mrs Acone.

Larry was specifically asking about our ninth grade Earth Science teacher. Somehow, magically, I was able to come up with it. Now, the very next morning, we get this question? Are the internets reading my mind again? Is this some X-Files level shit here?

Most influential teacher… okay… Mrs Acone is on the short list. Mrs Adams is too. I was in third grade. I was in the second highest reading group in the class. Mrs Adams, for some reason I am not aware of, bumped me up to the highest level reading group. A little bit of faith in a little tiny me and next thing we know I am an A student all the way into my high school career. Well… in every class except math. My math skills went south at some point, but other than that I was at the start of a very good public education career.

One other candidate for most influential requires me to fast forward all the way to my last time around in college. Dr Canning was my Computing I professor. He asked me for my resume one day. At the time it included a mention of attending Northeast Broadcasting School. He jumped on that and offered me a job in a lab he ran. I wouldn’t be doing anything code based in that lab. Instead he wanted me to start a Computer Science department focused talk show on the campus radio station. I took the job. The result was not only a radio show that ran for the next three years or so, it was that I had a peer group in school that I could study with, and a private, locked door lab space where we could meet to study. It was the key to me finishing my Bachelors Degree with some really excellent grades.

So there are a few influential teachers from my very distant past. There are probably a few more I could add but, as implied by the start of this post, I might not remember any of their names.

The Usual Stuff

Daily writing prompt
What do you wish you could do more every day?
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There are a lot of things I wish I could do more of every day. There will be no surprises here. It will be all things that I write about here all the time.

  • Spend more time with my wife
  • Spend time with my step kids. We’re empty nesters, so spending any time at all on a daily basis would be an increase
  • Music. Playing it, writing it, recording it, listening to it, breaking it down and analyzing it in such a way that I know a single piece inside and out and backwards and forwards. You know, the usual stuff
  • Taking pictures. Using the word, “photography” just feels so above my skill level. I’m not a photographer, I am a nerd who takes pictures. I see a clear difference between the two things
  • Watching good TV and movies
  • Reading good books… or bad books if they are fun
  • Sleeping… ah, yes
  • Enjoying the outdoors. That’s a little sarcastic given that the weather in my neck of the woods comes in two flavors these days: Bitterly, painfully cold and soaking, drowning wet.
  • Spending time with family and friends. Two things I barely ever get to do these days that I would like to do again someday

Like I said… the usual stuff.

Welcome to Spring (He Said Sarcastically)

I posted yesterday about how happy I was that Spring officially started last night at 11:06pm my time.

I woke up this morning all pleased that it was officially Spring at last, even though the temperature was still low and I knew it wouldn’t make any real difference to anything at all.

Then, while driving to work, mother nature did what she often does. She kicked me in the nuts.

It started to snow.

Well, of course it did!

Happy “Spring” everyone.