Nutz

Today has been insane. I took the morning off so that I could take Miss Robin Sparkles the cat to her vet appointment. I dropped her off, ran some errands, went home, re-watched most of last night’s three episodes of Andor, went back to the vet’s office to pick her up, came home, ran another errand, ate lunch, and punched into work at 1:00pm.

That’s when it hit. I had meetings scheduled from 1:00-5:00. Bam. All of them. One after the other. At the same time I was getting hit with all sorts of customer issues and questions and hectic stress and wow… It’s 5:31pm now. I can punch out. I need a nap!

Here’s a picture of the clock downtown. It’s not a good picture, and don’t let anyone try to tell you that I thought it was a good picture… because it’s not a good picture. Whatevs, I’m going to go cook dinner for the love of my life and then go to sleep.

Holiday Schedule

I took this picture yesterday. Not sure why I am posting it now, but I am… so there.

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As mentioned in a post from nearly 24 hours ago, yesterday was a holiday in Massachusetts. Patriots Day. In my neighborhood, Tuesday is trash day. I got up early and got everything ready and opened the door to walk outside with a big trash bag and as the door was swinging in toward me, I remembered that whole holiday thing. The holiday trash pickup schedule punts our Tuesday to Wednesday. Aw, hell. I hate when I forget about that. I took the barrel out to the street anyway. Tomorrow’s an in-the-office day. Taking the barrel out now saves me about three minutes tomorrow morning. Yippee.

Now, onward to another super fascinating Tuesday. Yippee, again.

Patriots Day

Happy Patriots Day. No, we don’t have a holiday for a shitty football team. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a state holiday to remember the start of the American Revolution. Fucking irony, eh?

Today is Marathon Monday in Boston. As a result, it is also the day we have the weirdness known as the 11:00am Red Sox game. The game starts early so that it ends at about the same time the Marathon runners are reaching Kenmore Square. You go to Fenway Park, watch the Red Sox, leave Fenway Park and head for the Green Line station and catch the leaders as they fly by. I’ve only participated in this once but it was a really cool experience.

Every year when Patriots Day comes around I go to work like it’s a normal Monday but I promise myself, I full on swear to myself, that next year… next year I am going to go to the North Bridge re-enactment of the first shots of the American Revolution in Minuteman National Park in Concord, MA and then I am going to go to the Red Sox game and then I am going to watch a bit of the Boston Marathon and then I will still be home before dinner.

And then every year I forget all about it until I wake up and realize it is Patriots Day again and I forgot about all of it. Oh well.

So the Pope died on Easter Sunday, eh? Wouldn’t it have been more on brand if he had died on Good Friday? Sorry… too soon?

I can’t help but be flippant about everything on Earth today. On top of the continuing collapse of American Democracy, I watched season two episode two of The Last of Us last night and it absolutely destroyed me. I knew from talking to a gamer player a few years ago that last night’s twist was coming, but I didn’t know when. I figured it would be late in the season, maybe in the finale. Nope. Episode two. On top of the twist, the whole thing going on in the town (no spoilers!) was maybe the most intense episode of television I’ve ever sat through. Damn. Just… damn.

In an attempt to calm myself down after watching that show last night, here’s a cat.

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That didn’t fix me so here’s another cat.

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Winter Never Ends

Yesterday was April 9, 2025. It was 7:30am or so and I was packing up to leave for work. I asked Siri how the weather was and she told me it was 26 degrees out. 26… in the second week of April. I looked out the window at the car and said out loud, “at least there’s no ice on the car.”

Fast forward to this morning, April 10, 2025. I don’t have to drive to work today but when I got up at a little after 6:00am I did happen to look out the window at the driveway. Sure enough, this time there was ice on the car. It was 29 degrees out though so it’s practically a heatwave.

Winter never ends around these parts. It starts around the last week of August and it hangs on for dear life until sometime in late May or early June.

Southern California is calling me. Hell, at this point maybe it’s Mexico calling me. Should I start learning Spanish? You know, just in case?

Long Drive Recap

The drive from Methuen, MA to New Bedford, MA:

103.1 miles in one hour and 48 minutes. The GPS app (Waze) took me through a couple of weird routes, but there wasn’t any traffic at all.

The drive from New Bedford, MA to Methuen, MA:

93.8 miles in one hour and 28 minutes. The GPS took me on exactly the route I would have expected.

The total drive:

196.9 miles in three hours and 17 minutes.

In closing, here are a few toy camera app (Hipstamatic) pics from the gas station near our house that I stopped at as I was leaving on today’s drive.

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Hands Off

Folks are showing up in Boston today. I’m not. At least not physically. Spiritually, I am there.

Photo shows the Hands Off! event in Boston Commons. This from more than an hour ago, the crowd is still arriving.OUR Hands Off! event in Santa Barbara is today at 1 p.m. at De La Guerra Plaza. Let's show Boston they have nothing on us!

Indivisible Santa Barbara (@indivisiblesb.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T16:56:20.859Z

They’re really rockin’ in Boston…Hands off USA.

Alan Rosenblatt (@drdigipol.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T16:14:02.843Z

I wish I had made this sign! From Boston #handsoff march

Claudia Calhoon (@claudiacalhoon.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T17:10:35.705Z

Hands Off BOSTON This is what Democracy looks like!

(@ediba.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T17:06:14.605Z

No Kings

There were presidents day protests in Boston today. I would have joined them if I could, but I had to work. Today is a holiday that I don’t have off. Sucks. Not that I recognize the sitting president at all. The fascist states of america can have him, just keep his nazi ass out of my Massachusetts, please.

No Kings on presidents Day. Except maybe for the Los Angeles Kings, but that’s something completely different.