Tag: traffic

Not How It’s Supposed to Be

Today is Earth Day. April 22, 2026. Happy Earth Day.

This morning when I got out of bed it was 31 degrees out and there was ice on the cars. I live in Massachusetts where Spring and Winter are the same thing. Again, Happy Earth Day.

Blah.

Dave Mason died. He was 79 years old. I’m not a big follower of his solo career but he spent a year or so as a member of the original lineup of Traffic and that’s enough to allow me to call myself a big fan.

Traffic’s first record was good. Mr Fantasy. It was weird and quirky but it was good. Their self-titled second record though… holy shit. That record is amazing from start to finish. Mason wrote “Feeling Alright?” which was covered by… everyone, and a massive hit for Joe Cocker. I prefer the original. It’s not funky like most of the covers. It’s mellower and a little bluesier and maybe… what’s the word I’m looking for… less self confident? Maybe? I don’t know. I just prefer the version on Traffic’s second record to any other version I’ve heard.

Chris Woods the sax/flute/anything else he could get his hands on founding member of Traffic died in 1983. Jim Capaldi the drummer/percussionist/sometime vocalist founding member of Traffic died in 2005. Dave Mason the guitarist/vocalist founding member of Traffic died in 2026. Steve Winwood the vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist/bassist/anything else he could get his hands on/living legend founding member of Traffic is now the only one left.

It is silly to be sad about a 79 year old musician whose career dates back to the mid-sixties passing away. I mean… everyone around his age is nearing their end. That’s just how life works, right? Still… it sucks to lose them. By all accounts, Mason was a good human… even if he and Steve Winwood didn’t get along so well (at least that’s what I always heard). It sucks to lose the good ones.

Maybe if the temperature wasn’t below freezing on this Earth Day morning I would feel a little better about it. Maybe I’d feel well enough to try to write a pun using the title of Feeling Alright… but I just don’t have it in me right now.

50k

The upside of the endless traffic jams during the morning commute is that it’s easy to take a picture when you happen to catch your car’s odometer hitting a major milestone.

Happy 50k miles, Mazda.

Also, it was over 90 degrees outside before the clock struck 9:00am. It’s going to be a rough day out there. It’s still a zillion times better than cold and snow though.

In closing, here’s a cat:

298/365

I Am Trying

I am trying today. I am doing my best. My best, however, ain’t gonna be good enough.

I am trying to not get mentally bogged down by idiotic shit going on in the federal government. I just want to have a day where I ignore the morons and concentrate on work for a change. Something tells me I am not going to be terribly successful in this endeavor though. Don’t get my wrong, my work is getting done. No worries there. I just find myself distracted by all the other bullshit.

I am in the office again today. This makes four business days in a row for me. Ugh. Yesterday I left the house at 7:30 and got to work at 9:10. Today I left the house at 7:20 (makes sense, right?) and got to work at 9:10. Oh for crying out loud.

On the way out the door I told the cats to take care of my wife while I am out. I always tell them that. I don’t know if they ever listen though. They aren’t really team players, you know? They just do their own thing and mostly ignore anything I say. They’re cats that way.

248/365

Traffic Sucks

I backed out of the driveway at 7:29am. At that time the GPS app (Waze) was already telling me I was going to be late to work. My ETA was 9:03. The app detoured me off of my normal route less than half a mile from my house…

…and it was all downhill from there.

At about 8:50 I still had 10 miles to go and Waze started recalculating. My ETA started going up… fast. There was an accident on route 128 South (that’s route 95 for all of you non-locals) right at the junction with the Mass Pike (route 90, for all of you non-locals). I pulled into a parking spot at work at 9:30.

Nine. Fucking. Thirty.

So tell me, how’s your fucking Thursday morning treating you? Nothing like a two hour drive as your democracy is collapsing to make you feel good about the state of the world, know what I mean?

Here’s a cat. Enjoy.

Stressed Out

Yesterday I was a bundle of stressed out, frayed nerves because the morning commute was such a disaster it spoiled my brain for the whole day. Today I am a bundle of stressed out, frayed nerves because of all the meetings I have to go to today. I am flat out all day long. I’m kinda scared for my stomach. It took me a full week to recover from our trip to Florida* and further along than that, yesterday was the first day since that I almost went the whole day without any problems (almost) and now today I am in meetings all day and may not be able to stop for lunch. I am at risk of a bad stomach day.**

*Florida will henceforth be known as MoonPieTown due to this post.

**I am referring to post-gastric bypass side effects and various related issues. Food/diet/digestion-wise I need to be a creature of habit and routine to succeed without weird problems and I am going to get bounced out of my routine today. I’m not happy about it, but what can you do?

Shitty Morning Blues

It’s 9:08am and this day is already an epic pile of suck.

I overslept a little. Just a little. It was enough to screw up my whole routine though. I managed to get all of the trash out to the street and get some semblance of my morning exercise in with enough time left over to have me outside in the car by 7:30. I would have preferred 7:15, but 7:30 usually gets the job done.

Usually.

Not today though.

I had construction traffic on my street, I had gridlock on route 213 and gridlock on route 93. Google Maps told me to exit route 93 and take route 495. There was gridlock getting on to 495. It was about 8:15 when Google Maps started telling me I wouldn’t be at my destination until after 9:20, 20 minutes late for work, when I said screw it and turned around. I got on route 495 North instead of South, which is one of two main highways that get me home, and of course there was gridlock on 495 North as well. I was home by 9:40 and immediately punched in to work.

I have to work from the office three times this week. One of them has to be Wednesday. I already worked from the office on Monday and I fully expected to do it today (Tuesday) too, which would put me at home for Thursday and Friday. Now I have to work from the office on one of those days to make up for today. It will probably be Friday.

I am so pissed off and frustrated right now, I can’t even think straight. I ate breakfast in the car and was so stressed out that it affected my stomach and now I feel all blocked up and bloated and gross (it’s a gastric bypass thing, you probably wouldn’t understand unless you’ve had the surgery too).

9:15am and it’s already a Grade A Shitty Day. Fucking traffic!

(insert the sound of a frustrated scream here)

I’m Tired

I am tired today. I’m wrapping up my lunch break on this fine(?) Monday afternoon and I am tired. Over night last night I woke up at about 1:00am with hunger pains. Lovely. I had a bite to eat and felt better and fortunately it held me over until morning. I overslept a little and thought I was going to be late to work but fortunately the morning after the super bowl (superb owl) lead to light traffic and I got to my desk with plenty of time to spare.

I had no interest in the super bowl (superb owl) at all yesterday. Knowing that the fat nazi fuck face of a president was going to be in the stands meant that you couldn’t have paid me to watch. Not in a million, billion years. Fuck that fat nazi fuck. I read an article today that reported the US TV broadcasts included audio of applauding crowds as the scumbag was introduced, while the same moment on foreign TV broadcasts could clearly hear a resounding round of boos. Thanks, fascist collaborating TV networks. Fuck you too. I swear, the entire US media industry is currently made up of a bunch of fucking Neville Chamberlains. Fuck them all.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, I am tired. It’s 2:30pm. I have three hours left in my work day. I wanna go home. I wanna go home, give my wife a great big hug and a great big smooch and then fall asleep until morning. That would really hit the spot.

In closing, fuck that fat stupid nazi loser fucking fuck.

Another Rainy Drive

It is pouring rain out this morning so I must have needed to drive to the office. Yesterday I drove to my in-laws and back in the thickest fog ever. I could barely see the road. Today I drove to the office in a huge downpour and could barely see the road.

Coincidence?

Yes, of course it is.

121/365