Feed the Flickr

I have this crazy need to upload pictures to Flickr and post them everywhere. I’m just pleased by the whole thing. I have always enjoyed clicking around on Flickr, and now it will just look 100 times better every time I do. I just want to feed a bunch of new pics to the machine, you know?

Here’s some old pictures that are probably already on this page somewhere, but what the hell, you know? Pics of my town.

I don’t know… maybe this is just me thumbing my very large nose at all the people who are so afraid of change that they are bitching and moaning about their online photography site placing it’s focus on photos. Really… how dare they, right?

Our Road is Closed

Idiot

I mean… how stupid do you have to be?

An 18 year old high school student from Methuen was arrested yesterday for making “terroristic” threats on his facebook page. He did things like mention killing a lot of people, and outdoing the marathon bombers. Here’s a story from the Eagle Tribune.

I mean… just… ummm… really? I ask again, how stupid can you be? I mean… you know… doing this at any time since 9/11 would be the absolute pinicle of stupidity, but to do it now… half an hour from Boston… today… just two weeks or so after two doucehcanoes set off bombs at the Boston Marathon… and to mention outdoing said douchecanoes? I mean… I mean… Can a human be more idiotic than that? Is it physically possible to do anything more stupid than that? I don’t think so. I think this is the single dumbest crime ever commited in the United States of America, if not the world. This 18 year old high school kid now sits in prison with a $1,000,000 bail and he faces 20 years in jail. TWENTY FREAKING YEARS!!! How did this kid not see this coming? He put the damn post onto Facebook for Christs sake! How can a member of the human race be that stupid? I mean… what the hell, kid??

Musical Hall

So my town has a music hall with a huge pipe organ. Does your town have a music hall with a huge pipe organ? I didn’t think so.

Clock, Another View

The clock in downtown Methuen. Another view.

Clock

Methuen has a funky looking little clock tower downtown. I like it.

Bank Robberies Addendum

Just one more thing to add about the Bank Robberies in Methuen. Douglas Moser of the Lawrence Eagle Tribune tweeted out a Google Map with the locations and a brief description of the circumstances of each of the four bank robberies. I thought I’d post is as a handy little summary.

Here it is.

Bank Robbery

There was another bank robbery in Methuen today. According to the Lawrence Eagle Tribune, that makes four in six weeks.

I don’t get it. Most banking is electronic today. How much money do branches even have on the premises, and of that, how much is in each teller’s draw? I can’t imagine it’s a very large amount. Let’s say this douche went into the credit union branch, waved his ~~symbolic penis~~ gun around and made off with a couple of teller drawers full of cash. Let’s also ignore little things like die packs and marked bills or whatever banks do these days to keep stolen money from being used. What does he get out of it? A couple months rent and something shiny for his best gal? Is it even possible for a bank robber in the 21st century to make a five figure score? How big of a bag do you need to carry $10 grand if you’re stealing from a teller? Would you be better off knocking over a McDonald’s? How much time does it take for a teller to put $10,000 into a bag? I’m guessing more time than it takes the police to respond to the alarm.

Then there is the repetition factor to think about. The Methuen police are already investigating three of these things. How pissed off are they going to be when they catch you? Supremely pissed, I would guess. It won’t be good cop/bad cop when they interrogate you. It’ll be bad cop/super crazy Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon cop. You risk getting thrown off a building like that jumper did in the movie. Why don’t we be objective. Think about it… what would Robert DeNiro’s character in Heat have said if some one asked him to be bank robber #4 in one city in six weeks. There’s no way a professional super thief like that would ever even consider taking a job like that. No way! Even if he didn’t have Al Pacino on his trail.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is this: It’s not worth it. If desperation drove this guy to do this today, or in any of the other three bank robberies, then the reward of a successful job is going to be tiny compared to the risk, and then inevitable retribution.

It’s a simple matter of balance. Does a small short term gain balance out a large long term punishment? Not from where I’m sitting.

Holy Crap!

Woah! My city played host to a bank robbery today.

Here is a link to the story from the Lawrence Eagle Tribune.

Allow me to quote the story. Please note that there is no author listed on the page.

METHUEN – Police are investigating an armed robbery at the TD Bank at 228 Haverhill St.

A white man with a goatee robbed the bank of an unknown amount of cash at 12:15 p.m. He told the teller he had a weapon, but one was not shown, said Lt. Michael Pappalardo.

The robber, who is about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, was wearing dark pants and a dark, hoodie-style sweatshirt, he said.

The bank was closed after the robbery so police could investigate.

Every officer on duty along with state troopers working in the area responded to the bank after the robbery was reported. “It appears he slipped through,” said Pappalardo, noting officers are now “pursuing several leads.”

A picture of the robber was distributed to officers on duty at 1:50 p.m.

It’s weird. My wife and I have been to that bank. I have never had a personal connection to a bank robbery before. It feels sort of weird. Let’s hope we don’t get this feeling again, eh?

ADDENDUM
The Methuen Police Department released this photo of the suspect. I don’t know if it will be blocked if I post it here or not, but it’s worth a try.

My 2012 in Pictures – Part Deux

Yeah, I did a my-year-in-pictures thing the other day. It was fun. What the hell, thought I, why not do it again? This time I’ll run fast and loose with the whole one-pic-from-each-month thing. I’m crazy like that.

We have to get our pics of the Sands Bridge in Methuen before she collapses. Or maybe I should say before she finishes collapsing. It’s already started. Also, I don’t think I found a relative in the Grove Street Cemetery, but who knows?

In February I finally finished an RPM Challenge on time. It only took me five tries. We also got a new bed. Jen’s penguin approved.

In March, the kids and I became wilderness explorers. Hipstamatic came along for the ride. Actually, we just wandered around in the woods behind our house for a little while. It was fun.

April in San Diego. I want to go back RIGHT NOW!

May gave us baseball, Bar Harbor, and my first up close New England Lighthouse.

The picture pickin’s are slim in June, but we did get a new Rush album (and it is awesome) and we got another fantastic piano recital from the kids.

July offers more choices after a spontaneous trip to Boston, and a week long stay in Maine that included some time in the mountains of New Hampshire.

In August we went to the Top of the Hub for the first time in my life. The views of my city were spectacular. We also spent some twilight time on Hampton Beach.