Tag: Travel

Duel Citizenship

I have had three people recently tell me that they might qualify for citizenship to a country in Europe. Given the direction the USA is heading, I am seriously jealous. In 2017 there was talk of Ireland offering levels of citizenship to people whose family originated there. My paternal great-grandparents were from Ireland, but that was too far removed for me to qualify for anything.

Today, purely out of jealousy, I looked to a couple of other options. My maternal grandparents were born in Newfoundland. At the time it was still a British Dominion, not a Canadian province. What the hell, I checked on both options. Canada was a no. It said there might be possibilities if my grandparents served in the armed forces or worked for the government. My grandfather was a fisherman. He planned to enlist in the navy during World War I but the war ended just before his 18th birthday so he did not sign up. My grandmother was a house keeper. No government service at all.

I looked at the UK too, though after Brexit why would anyone want to sign up for UK citizenship? Since Newfoundland was British when my grandparents were born, the Google reported to me that there was a 13% chance I would qualify. How it came up with 13% I don’t know, but when I dug even a tiny bit deeper it was clear the answer was no.

Maybe I could hire a lawyer to dig a little and pull some legal strings. You know… just in case the USA continues it’s trend of flushing itself down the crapper. Just to have options, you know? Not that I would ever leave… it would be nice to know I had somewhere to go if I needed to… not that I would.

Rain is a Thing

So rain is still a thing. I mean this from a work point of view.

When Covid hit and we all started working from home full time, I learned to stop really worrying about rain. I didn’t have a commute anymore so I didn’t need to drive to and from work in the rain. I didn’t need to walk out to a parking lot in the rain. I didn’t even need to walk to the driveway. From the perspective of getting to and from work rain (and snow) stopped being a concern at all.

Now that we’re back in the office at least some of the time it’s a thing again and it sucks.

It is pouring rain today. I’m looking out the window and the parking lot looks like a small lake. I have to drive to a different building soon and that means I have to go out in this suck-fest of a rain storm and get drenched so that I can make the next meeting.

Working at home is so much better than working in the office. So much better.

Thus concludes this morning’s rant about rain. Thank you for your time and patience.

Home

We’ve been home for a few hours. I fed the cats, I went grocery shopping, we had dinner. Yeah, we’re home again.

It was snowing when we left Burlington, VT. Not a lot, but enough to make some of the roads pretty sloppy. The car’s anti-lock breaks kicked in a couple of times before we made it to the highway. Once we were on route 89 though, the only real issue with the winter weather was spray off of the road. No problem.

Back to work tomorrow. Mondays are usually in the office, but this week it’s at home. That’ll be nice, don’t you think?

In closing, here’s a random pic from behind a gas station somewhere off of route 89 in Vermont.

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Ready to Roll

I picked up my meds and took the first dose. My eye is killing me. Oh well.

I just need to pack up the car, top off my water bottle, and then we’re hittin’ the road to Vermont. Let’s go!

Scenes from downtown on the way to and from the pharmacy, just for roadtrippy fun.

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Today’s Agenda

So Robert, what’s the plan for this fine December Saturday?

Oh nothing…

First I pick up the antibiotic cream stuff that was prescribed for the mess that is my left eye (ouch). Then I put some clothes in a backpack and maybe some gas in the car and maybe pack up some protein bars and snacks and water bottles. You know, like you do.

Then Jen and I hop into the car and mosey on up to New Hampshire to pick up my mother in law. Then we mosey on over to Vermont to meet up with the kids.

Then, later tonight, it’s nothing special. We just go to see my step daughter, Bellana, perform with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra again. They are doing a string of holiday shows this weekend and tonight’s the night for us. She’s in the chorus. You know, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Nothing special.

(Your humble narrator takes a moment to squeal with pride and glee)

I mean… is your step daughter in the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus? No? Oh. Groovy.

Road trip!

Lunch Break

It’s Wednesday afternoon. My lunch break is coming to an end. If I were to sneak a post in before getting back to work, what would I write about?

I have no idea. My mind is a blank! So I guess we stream of consciousness this sucker? Ready… Go!

The Bruins beat the Red Wings last night. They play the Blackhawks tonight. Two teams that aren’t very good. Theoretically we should beat them both pretty easily. Last night they needed overtime to squeak out a win. Tonight? I’m almost afraid to watch.

If I could watch, that is. The NESN app is being a jerk. Well, I don’t know if it’s NESN or FiOS. I think it’s FiOS. It tells me I’m signed in, but when I try to watch something it tells me I’m not signed in and then won’t let me sign in. Maybe during tonight’s game I’ll pop in a single air pod and listen to the radio broadcast. I’m following each game but I am not listening to the goings on and I am starting to feel very much out of touch. I feel like I am too old and easily distracted to really give my full energy to a team that isn’t very good… lately they have been better but… yeah. They are currently in third place in the division so they are higher than a wild card seed for the playoffs. That’s good. Let’s keep it up, folks.

Current television binge watching projects:

  • Star Wars Skeleton Crew season 1
  • Silo season 2
  • What We Do in the Shadows season… 6? I think it’s 6. Only a couple more episodes before the series ends for good. All I can say is, BAT!
  • Better Call Saul season five. Two seasons left.
  • Gotham season 1. I hear it gets easier once you get past the first season. Here’s hoping that rumor is accurate. I want to watch this show but some of the episodes have been tough. Some of the acting is really bad. I don’t want to give any names because I am afraid Will Smith might slap me at the Oscars. Sorry. Just calling them as I see them.
  • Dark season 3. This one is a slog. I am having a really hard time getting through it, but I am determined to finish it.
  • Black Mirror. I don’t remember what season I am on, but I am having a hard time sticking with it.
  • Doctor Who, rewatching the last season to prep for this year’s xmas special.
  • The Walking Dead season 3. Rewatching along with the The ‘Cast of Us podcast. I fell behind by one week but I am caught up on both the show and the podcast now.

Seriously, does anyone really believe that Juan Soto is going to sign with the Red Sox? Seriously?

We are going to Vermont this weekend. I want to bring my new/ancient film camera but I can’t really see a time or place where I could use it. Maybe. We’ll see. I did order my first roll of 120 color film yesterday. It won’t be delivered until after we get back though. Oh well.

I have to buy a gift for our work yankee swap. It’s Tuesday. Holy crap that came up fast. Yikes.

Okay. Back to work, Robert.

Busy Morning

Back to work today, and it’s been a busy morning. There were a lot of things to unpack after the long weekend. Nothing bad, just lots of emails and things to discuss. The morning has flown by. Here we are, just after noon, and I haven’t posted anything to the blog yet! Insanity!

It is December. I need to come up with a music project for his month. I’ll probably get back to the old re-recording project thing. Who knows. Maybe I’ll roll that into February’s RPM Challenge somehow. Hmmm… things to ponder in the coming weeks.

Now that it is December I can officially say that we’re going back to Disney World next month. We’ve got that going for us at least. It’s almost time to pay homage to The Mouse again.

Until then just play your damn guitar, Robert.

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