Tag: Bruins

Shipping

It’s weird but I actually have two packages that have been shipped out by me over the last couple of days. One is a passport renewal form that went out via Fed Ex last night and the other is seven rolls of 35mm film* that I sent out via USPS on Saturday. Which will arrive at its destination first? The race is on! In this post-pandemic era of online shopping it’s common to be following packages that are on their way to you, but less common to have to follow packages that are on their way from you. Maybe not. I don’t know. I have to write about something.

Apparently you can spend six months in Scotland without a visa. Who knew? Ireland only lets you stay for three months. England and Wales are also six months, so is that a UK thing in general? What about Australia? I’ve recently watched two television shows that took place in Australia so I feel like I practically live there already. Duck Duck Go (fuck you, Google) says you need to obtain an Australian visa before you arrive. Well that’s no fun. Kevin Garvey, Jr and Nora Durst must have already had a visa when they left Miracle, TX on The Leftovers. Kevin Garvey, Sr… well who knows what that whack job was doing. He sure as hell didn’t.

The Bruins season ended last night on another painful loss. Some teams still have a game left to play, but my team is done. Mercifully. The best they can finish is tied with Philly for last place in the Eastern Conference. The worst they can do is finish in last all by their lonesome. Unfortunately for the draft lottery, there are 4-5 teams out west that will finish with worse records. Not that we have a General Manager who knows how to draft for shit though. In other Boston sports news, the Red Sox actually won a game last night after getting humiliated on Monday night. Fun.

I’m in the office today and tomorrow so the pickin’s for photo a day will be slim. Not that it matters. They are all just pictures of cats anyway. This one for today made use of the iPhone’s low light feature. It works well.

228/365

*35mm film refers to the size of the negative… I think. 120 film does not refer to the size of the negative. I read somewhere that it refers to an old Kodak catalog product code. Mentioning 35mm and 120 film in the same sentence makes my ass itch. It’s like doing your physics homework and mixing up your units of measure. It’s like referring to velocity (measured in meters/seconds) and acceleration (measured in meters/seconds squared) as if they were the same thing. I believe the product code for 35mm is actually 135 (not too confusing there, Kodak) but I don’t know what the negative size for 120 film is. I can’t bring myself to call 35mm 135 so I guess I will continue to mix units and have an itchy ass. I could say medium format instead of 120 but that just feels like taking it all a step too far. I don’t know.

Do the Right Thing?

I don’t want to go into details but here’s the deal.

I have something to do tomorrow and I don’t want to do it. Originally, the plan was for my wife and I to do it together. It involves driving for an hour and a half, doing something that may not take a lot of time, and then driving home for an hour and a half. As of now though, my beloved bride needs to work tomorrow so if this happens it will be me doing it alone.

So there are two options. One, I do the right thing and I go and do this task. Two, I don’t do it and I stay home and run errands for my wife and just be here with her, which is absolutely what I want to do.

Frustrated sigh… If I do this then it will help someone out and if I believed in karma (which I absolutely do not) then it would be a good thing for everyone, karmically speaking (is karmically a word?). I just selfishly do not want to do it because it is going to take up the entire afternoon and most of the evening and I really just want to spend time with my wife.

I am probably going to do it. Like I said, it’s the right thing. The other person involved has already done a similar thing for me. It’s only right and proper for me to do the same in return. I just don’t want to spend three hours in the car round trip.

Ugh… I didn’t expect this post to feel so negative. I really just thought it would be an unemotional stating of the two sides of the coin and instead I feel like this reads like I am pissed off and defeated by the situation. It’s not that big a deal. For me, it’s not that big a deal. For the other folks involved it is, but me being involved is a microscopic piece of it. Ugh… I don’t know what I am saying anymore. I’ll shut up now.

On the upside, the Boston Bruins appear to be putting an end to their 10 game losing streak by beating the shit out of the Whalers tonight. Too bad it’s WAY too late to have any meaning. Ugh. The Red Sox got rained out today so they are going to play a double header tomorrow. Maybe things will go well and we’ll get to spank St Louis twice in one Sunday. That’d be nice.

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.

April 1st

Oh shit… it’s April Fools Day. Never have I ever had less interest in playing along with this bullshit. The fascist states of america is already filled to bursting with fools and idiots and pure, unadulterated evil. Why anyone would think fake stories on the internet is entertaining during times like these… I just don’t get it.

Change of subject. The Red Sox are off today. We will be spared the slaughter and the constant strike outs. In five games thus far this season the team has struck out 123644258686134 times with about 86358629357 being Devers alone. Unfortunately, the Bruins are not off tonight. They will be annihilated by the Capitals. Times are tough in Boston sports-land these days. Why not? Times are tough everywhere.

Change of subject again. When was the original Star Trek given the Star Wars Special Edition treatment? After finally getting through Star Trek the Animated Series the other day, I decided to watch the original show all the way through. I’m through the two pilots and up to episode five now. I just watched Sulu take on the bridge with a sword while the Irish guy sings badly over the ship’s PA. I’m a little put off by most, if not all, of the exterior shots of the Enterprise being replaced by CGI. When did that happen? It doesn’t affect the episodes at all, but I still kinda don’t like it. I want my 1960’s models back. I want the pure form of the show back, even if it is less impressive and cheesy looking.

Change of subject again, again. Sticking with television, what is the deal with the month of April? We have the start of new seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale, Andor, The Last of Us, and Doctor Who. We’ll also see the last two episodes of Yellowjackets this month. This feels like collusion. This feels like the television industry conspiring to keep me from sleeping for the foreseeable future.

Again with the change of subjects again, again. I did not participate in the RPM Challenge’s Record Every Month thing. I wanted to. I was going to. I just didn’t. I’m thinking of maybe compensating for my failure by trying to do an April album in a month instead. Write and record 35 minutes worth of new music before the month ends. Will I be able to muster up the motivation? Probably not, but let’s give it a shot, eh?

Okay. Time to go and get ready for work. Welcome to April. Stay away from those damn April Fools jokes. It’s going to be a long and painful day on the ol’ internets. Good luck, everyone.

Are We On

Sundays are supposed to be band practice day. Are we on today or not?

As of yesterday, we are on but we don’t know when yet. Late afternoon? I hope so.

Change of subject, we’re going to Disney World again in June. In the interest of finding the silver lining, is it possible that with the nazis in washington trying to ass fuck all of our allies that enough countries will put travel warnings in place for citizens visiting the usa that we’ll have small crowds in the Disney parks? Bad for Disney, bad for america, bad for the economy…. good for our vacation? Look at me being all positive and shit.

Change of subject again, the Red Sox have now lost two in a row after winning their season opener. They play Texas again today. Opening the season with a four game series… yeah, I am ready to move on. As for the Bruins… they lost their fifth straight last night. They’ve lost eight of their last 10. Are they actively tanking? Sure feels like it. Suffice to say, it has not been a good stretch for Boston sports fans.

Yeah… I need a band practice to straighten my head out a little. Yeah.

The Seven Stages of (Hockey) Grief

What are the seven stages of grief? Which one is bargaining? I think when it comes to the Bruins’ moves at the NHL trade deadline earlier today I have reached the bargaining stage of hockey grief.

Like… maybe I can talk Don Sweeney out of some of these awful moves. Maybe if I explain to him how trading Brad Marchand (and Coyle and Carlo and Frederic and Brazeau) leaves your team without any identity. Maybe I could explain to him how trading the team captain to the team that bounced us out of the playoffs is literally (not figuratively, but literally) a kick in the balls.

Yeah, this sucks.

It is Going to Be a Long Day

It is about 7:30am. My work day starts at 9:00am. My vacation kicks off 8.5 hours later at 5:30pm.

It is going to be a long day. A really… really… long… day.

After that? I have to pack. I have to make a stash of protein bars to get me through the first couple of days in Florida. I have to figure out the camera situation… charge up the Z5 and put on the 40mm lens, fill up a bag with rolls of film, load a roll into Dad’s Pentax K1000. I’ve decided that Dad’s camera is coming with me this time. Normally I would take my Nikon FG-20, but this time I think I want to take the camera that hurled me down the film rabbit hole a few years ago. Yeah. I am weird.

Anyway. Yesterday I bitched about how the Bruins suck now. Last night they beat Ottawa and jumped three places in the standings. Not only are they back in a playoff spot, but they above the wild card spots and back into third in the division. What a world, huh? We’ll see how long this lasts. The standings are pretty tight these days.

Okay. Time to get the ball rolling on this Friday. Vacation is less than 10 hours away.

We Suck

Have you ever noticed how sports fans refer to their favorite teams differently depending on how well the team is playing? When the team is good they say things like, “we’re good” or “we won” but when the team is utter shit garbage it’s more like, “they lost” or “they suck donkey balls” or things like that?

I find that to be an incorrect language policy. In that spirit allow me to say this about the Boston Bruins, my favorite hockey team: We fucking suck. We dropped out of a playoff spot this week and now after getting trounced by New Jersey last night we have dropped even further out.

Given the state of the world right now I really could have used a long and decisive Bruins winning streak. Nope. Not this year.

Good News

Good news tonight. The world may be looking pretty bleak across the board, but the Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 tonight.

Also, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew ended and it was excellent! (No spoilers though)

Also, the cats watched Friends again and it’s crazy how they can’t look away.

Good news all over the place! WOOHOO!