Almost Time to Go

I haven’t been to every city on Earth. Not even close. I love San Diego, CA. I love New York, NY (except for the fucking Yankees). I love a whole bunch of other cities as well, but if I had to pick just one as my favorite… just one city to spend the rest of my days… it would be Boston, MA. My home. Sort of. I grew up about 20 minutes north of Boston and today I live about 30 minutes north of Boston. Close enough. Boston is home. Boston is my favorite city.

For the next few nights we are going to be staying in Boston for my wife’s company event thing. She’s going to be there for the whole time while I am still going to go to work as usual. I’ll just be hanging out waiting for her work events to end each day. I could stay at home while she stays at the hotel, sure, but that would mean we would be separated for a few days and frankly I’d rather stick a railroad spike through my eye than chose to spend a few days apart from my love. Call me sentimental.

Anyway, she’s wrapping up her work day. We both have a bag packed. Yeah, I’ll be home for the work day tomorrow, but I am still bringing cameras. I expect to do some wandering around while she’s at after-hours events. I don’t know if I will have time to shoot any film, but night shooting digital is definitely a possibility. Hopefully I’ll have enough sunlight to FINALLY run a test roll through my new, ebay, Lubitel. Once that is done I can send off a whole pile of film for developing. Disney World and New York photos will be included. It’s a must, really.

Here’s hoping it’s a nice hotel room. If we’re going to be stuck there for a few days it would be helpful if it were comfy with a nice view. It’s close to Boston Common, but not close enough to see it. At least I don’t think so. I’ll probably post a few thousand pictures over the next few days. You know, like I do.

Even More Jealous

Yesterday I wrote a post about how Jen and I watched a TV show where the cast took a trip to San Diego and it made us really jealous because we seriously want to go back there and spend some serious quality time.

This morning I watched a photography youtube video that included shooting a visit to San Diego. It’s like the universe is just screwing with me now. I want to go back there so badly!

2012-04-22 - San Diego Day 2 - La Jolla 419

2012-04-24 - Point Loma and San Juan Capistrano 166

2011-08-07 - Balboa Park and Old Town 204

Send Me Back

Jen asked me if I could find a picture from one of our trips to San Diego. I found it quickly, but now I have to spend the next three months reliving the various trips via my Flickr account. I’ll see you all again after I work it out of my system… or after I get back from my upcoming totally unplanned, spontaneous trip back there.

2012-04-24 - Point Loma and San Juan Capistrano 168

So Far, So Awful

Well, looks like Friday is going to be one seriously shitty day for ol’ Robbie and his rebuilt guts.

I had more sleep last night than any day for about a week. I should have awoken feeling right and spiffy and good. Nope. I woke up with stomach pain. Lots of it. I never wake up with the hunger pains I get when I haven’t eaten for a few hours. I don’t know why that is, but this morning that was exactly what I thought happened. I got up, went down cellar to do my exercise for the day and have a bottle of water. I thought that would alleviate things, at least for a little while. After the exercise was done I could have breakfast and I fully expected that would be the end of that.

Nope. Exercise made it worse and I only got a few ounces of water down before I decided to stop and have breakfast. Unfortunately, eating didn’t help at all. Nope, this is not hunger pain. This is something else. Shit.

I sat there, staring at the walls for a while and then tried to power through these aches and pains. I played some guitar and did some laundry and then went upstairs. In the past, when these out-of-the-blue stomach pain issues hit me (I think there have been five since having the gastric bypass surgery on May 4, 2022… maybe six. I’m losing count) the only thing that gives me any relief is laying down on the floor on my side, curled up in a ball. Yeah, I don’t get it either. Today has not been nearly as bad as the really bad times, but I tried it anyway. I went fetal on the floor in front of my desk and just stayed like that for about an hour. It helped and by 9:00 I was able to get up and punch into work.

That was an hour ago. I’m starting to feel worse again, but is that because I have been up for four hours and have only had four ounces of water? Is it because it’s been almost three hours since I had anything to eat? My water bottle is staring at me. I think I am going to try to have a drink and see how it affects things. Wish me luck, oh my readers and only friends.

I was able to take some pictures in an effort to crank out the photo a day thing. Here’s one that I did not add to the photo a day photo album on Flickr…

Here’s another that I did not add to the photo album. The record is The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, side one, by Genesis…

Here’s the one I added to the Flickr album. This is the winner. Robin, of course. Photo a day 27/365.

Today’s Daily Road Trip

The last two day trips have taken us North, one to New Hampshire and the other to Maine. Today we went South to Rhode Island. We went down to Westerly and then came back up the coast through Narraganset and Newport. We stopped for pictures at a couple of spots in Westerly. That town is a New England flavored paradise. I could totally live there.

So where should we go tomorrow?

Sunrise

Jen never goes with me when I go out to chase the sunrise. Well… I can’t say she never comes with me because she came with me today!

We went to Salisbury Beach for the sunrise this morning. On the way home we took a detour… sort of. We just pointed the car North and didn’t stop until we were up in the White Mountains. We left the house at 5:30am and got home after 4:00pm. What a day!

Here are some sunrise at the beach pics.

I should clarify, these are digital photos from the ocean. There were film shots too but you have to wait for those to get developed. I hope to ship them out to a lab tomorrow, along with the three rolls from our Florida trip back in May that have been waiting patiently.

There were also some pictures from a quick stop on Lake Winnipesaukee in Alton, NH as well. You’ll see some of those later tonight, I think,

So Close, Yet So Far

Today has been an okay work day for a last day before a vacation kind of day. I still have one hour and 42 minutes to go before said vacation, but I will get there.

I’m starting to sort of chomp at the bit though.

Today has been busy without being stressful. I have had a lot of things to do but none of them have been high pressure or high profile or anything like that. Just a bunch of administrative type things. The customers have been quiet so I have been able to focus on things that need to get done. I am thankful for that.

The Great Pink Floyd Reverse Order Playlist is now back to Animals from 1977. Great record with some absolutely outstanding guitar playing from David Gilmour.

Endless River – Complete
Division Bell – Complete
A Momentary Lapse of Reason – Complete
The Final Cut – Complete
The Wall – Complete
Animals – Currently playing track two, “Dogs”
Wish You Were Here – Up next
Dark Side of the Moon – On double deck but I probably won’t get to it today.

What else should I mention for the benefit of some future version of me looking back at Friday the 13th of September 2024 out of some sense of boredom or a this-day-in-history kinda thing?

The weather at the ocean for the next week looks excellent, according to the long range forecast I just checked. I think a sunrise photo session is a given. I hope to finish off a couple of rolls of film while I’m at it. I still have three rolls from Disney back in May that I have to get developed. I’d really like to spend a day in Boston if I can, but who knows if that will work out.

I am also going to my Dad’s place tomorrow morning to fill up a few boxes with books to donate to the public library in Tewksbury. They are having a donation drive tomorrow and they can have whatever they want from Dad’s book stash. If there is anything they won’t take (why?) I will bring them to Goodwill or something.

Those things, plus some music, plus spending a ton of time hanging out with the love of my life, plus helping the kids out with something next weekend… I think I have my staycation pretty much planned. 86 minutes to go until it starts.

Today

It’s Sunday. What’s going on?

Recently I gave up on my idea of learning how to make sugar free ice cream at home. Somehow, my beloved bride Jennifer responded to me getting off the homemade ice cream wagon by jumping on the homemade ice cream wagon, which has pulled me back into the fray.

Earlier today we went to a grocery store to do some research. How much does stuff cost and how long does it last before it goes bad. We also found a few different brands of sugar free ice cream to try. You know, for ideas and stuff. We don’t have an ice cream maker at the moment, but we’re watching the web for sales. Come on, amazon (you effin’ psychos), let’s put that ice cream maker with the built in compressor on sale!

A few minutes from now I am going to head to my father’s place. He has an issue that requires frequently changing a bandage. My brother and sister and I are taking turns. It’s my turn today. He has stuff to do this afternoon so I am planning on popping in, changing the bandage, and popping out. I am taking a camera with me. There’s a spot near his place that I might stop at for a minute or two if I have the time. Fingers crossed.

After that I will come home and have dinner with the love of my life. After that? Band practice. After that? Come home and hang out with my Jen and then sleep. After that? Work in the office. Oh shit. Today’s Sunday. Crap.

Father’s Day So Far

Jen and I went to lunch today with my father and my siblings and their families. It was very nice to have everyone together. I took a couple of pictures on film so I’ll probably find out if they came out or not in a few years. You know how film is.

Bellana and Harry are out with their dad right now. They will eventually be coming to our house for dinner. Harry goes back to Vermont tomorrow, but Bellana is going to stay with us for a couple of days. Each of them being here for a few days is the best gift ever. I’m very happy to see them, whenever I get to see them.

Here’s a few random camera phone pics from throughout the day so far.

I ran a couple of errands this morning. One of them was topping off the gas tank in the car. Obligatory gas station pics:

Do cats celebrate Father’s Day too? Is Robin watching through the window, waiting for her dad to show up? Probably not.

Our neighbors might not be having the best Father’s Day. I thought I saw one of the firemen holding a carbon monoxide detector. I’m guessing they didn’t find anything as the truck was only there for about 10 minutes. Here’s hoping all is well for our neighbors across the road. Fingers crossed.

Fredericksburg Battle Site

Just before the traffic went down the shitter this morning we stopped at the site of the Battle of Fredericksburg. Back in December of 1862 the US Army got its ass handed to it while trying to cross the road in the town of Fredericksburg, VA. It was a really crappy few days for the United States.

It’s our third Civil War battle site. We went to the site of the two battles of Bull Run in Manassas, VA a few years ago, and 15 years ago this week, on our honeymoon, we went to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. The USA won that one so we’ve got that going for us.

We didn’t stay long today. We went to the visitors center and we walked a short way down the sunken road. I took a couple of pictures that don’t really show anything.