The Importance of Being Rob

South Least

2012-02-03T10:03:00.000-05:00

What is the deal with the Bruins and the damn South East Division? They've lost seven times to teams in the South Least and after another craptastic showing last night they have lost FOUR TIMES to the Carolina Hurricanes. Oh and check the standings. There is only one team from the South East that is actually holding a playoff spot right now, and it ain't Carolina. Pathetic!

Last night the Bruins weren't awful. Cam Ward was fantastic in net for the Whalers, making 47 saves, but still. Shut out at home by the Whale? That's just wrong. That crap cannot be happening this year. The Hurricanes have actually swept the season series. Insulting!

The next game is tomorrow against Pittsburgh. Fortunately the Penguins do not suck, therefore the Bruins should play well.

Hopefully.

RPM Challenge update. I have one 4 bar riff on my iPhone, and two 8 bar thingies on my laptop. All of which suck more than my usual acceptable level of suck. That's it. It's only February 3rd, but I am seriously considering calling the whole thing off this year. I'm just not feeling it. There is so much going on in real life that I don't have the time nor the energy to work on a project of this magnitude. I suppose I could change my mind tomorrow, but I doubt it. I'm not dropping out of the race, but I don't see myself giving it much thought this year. We'll see how it goes.

Does This Work?

2012-02-02T10:33:00.002-05:00

One microphone in the back of the room, raised almost to the ceiling. The drums were facing it, the PA (including the bass) were perpendicular, and the guitar was facing the opposite direction.

The new band trying to cover Cheap Trick.
18 by bandpractices

Did it work?

Happy Groundhog Day

2012-02-02T10:01:00.000-05:00

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today.

That bitch.

Six more weeks of winter, says a rodent of a weatherman who is probably just as accurate as most human weather people.

Although, if six more weeks of winter means temperatures in the 50s the way they were yesterday, then I think I can stomach it.

Slim Fast Hell

2012-02-01T12:54:00.000-05:00

I jumped on the weight loss bandwagon on Sunday. My plan is simple. No soda at all. No caffeine (because kicking my caffeine addiction will help me not drink soda, as soda is my only source of caffeine). Slim Fast (style) meal replacements for breakfast and lunch.

On Sunday we went out to lunch and I had diet coke. Oh well. On Monday I was discombobulated when leaving the house and I forgot my breakfast and lunch shakes and ended up getting a chicken sandwich (the usual) at the cafe at work. I also had one coke zero and one diet coke.

Yesterday was the first day I did everything according to plan. No soda and shakes for lunch and breakfast. I was very proud of myself, even though it was only one day.

Today? OH MY GOD I AM STARVING!!!! I will have my shake at 1:00pm (10 minutes from now) but a couple of people just came back from the cafe with their lunch and oh my god it smells so good! I had a shake for breakfast. Other than that I've had nothing but water. So far I am on track, but it's only day two and it's already soooo difficult. I WANT A COKE AND A CHICKEN SANDWICH DAMN IT!

Focus
Focus
Focus

Not weighing as much as a small car is worth it. Reducing my risk of a heart attack before I turn 50 is worth it.

It is worth it
It is worth it
It is worth it

90 Feet

2012-02-01T10:07:00.000-05:00

The Bruins won last night. They trailed Ottawa 3-1 in the second period and came back to win it in the third. The winning goal? It came on a Dennis Seidenberg shot from the red line. Center ice. Oh how embarrassing that must be for Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson. I'm guessing he's going to have a rough day at practice today.

Here are the highlights...

Moving on to the Patriots. As usual I preface football comments by saying that I don't follow football. There. I'm hearing a lot of talk about revenge. The Giants spoiled the Patriots perfect season in 2007 by beating them in the Super Bowl. Now people are talking about how a win on Sunday would be revenge.

Would it?

Think about it. As a Bruins fan, do you feel that beating Philly in the second round of the playoffs in 2011 was adequate payback for Philly humiliating us in the second round in 2010? I sure as hell don't. Even winning the Stanley Cup last year did not dull the pain. What did dull the pain was time. It's not the freshest memory anymore, but beating Philadelphia and winning the cup doesn't make me feel better about the most embarrassing defeat in post season history.

Do Red Sox fans feel that beating the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS was revenge for losing in heartbreaking fashion in the same series in 2003? Do they feel that it was payback for the crushing loss in 1978? I don't. If it did I would have stopped saying *bleeping* when ever I say the names Aaron *bleeping* Boone or Bucky *bleeping* Dent. I don't feel that we got even with them, even though we did hand them the most embarrassing loss in baseball history. I see the three playoffs as completely separate events.

The Patriots beating the Giants in the Super Bowl on Sunday is not going to make up for blowing a perfect season on the last day. Nothing will ever bring that perfect season back. Not even successfully completing a new perfect season. The loss is there forever, no matter what happens now. I don't see how any thing could be revenge for losing painfully.

Maybe it's just the concept of revenge that I don't get.

RPM Challenge Begins

2012-02-01T07:07:00.001-05:00

The RPM Challenge is underway for 2012 and I slept right through the start. I sense that this will be the start of a trend.

Oh well.

Two Hours Left

2012-01-31T22:12:00.001-05:00

Just under two hours left until February 1st and the start of another RPM Challenge. I don't feel very optimistic. I need to take care of the riff writing in the morning before work, and I just don't feel like I have the energy to get up that early. Maybe after getting that first idea rolling I might feel better about things.

On an unrelated note, did you know that double tapping the shift button on an iPhone virtual keyboard activates a CAPS LOCK FUNCTION?

Neither did I!

Bonus Day

2012-01-31T09:26:00.000-05:00

Oh happy day. Today is the last business day of January and for everyone who works at the same company I do, that means it's bonus day.

Jen got to work before I did today and she checked our account and sure enough, there was a nice bonus there. How nice? Nice enough to go to California for a week, how's that?

Sounds nice to me!

Happy Bonus Day!

MURDER-DEATH-KILL!!!

2012-01-30T13:16:00.002-05:00

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

The Ferris Bueller teaser video is not for a movie, it's for a Honda commercial!

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

Urge to kill rising, Rising, RISING,

RISING!!!!!!!!

Physics

2012-01-30T09:42:00.001-05:00

I don't remember how we got onto the subject yesterday, but we had a great conversation with the kids about physics... of all things.

Between the two of us Jen and I remember almost nothing, but we did manage to get the basics of free fall across to the kids. My step son was fascinated by the thought that if you drop something there is a tiny amount of time when the item you drop is not moving. He had to go over that a couple of times before really getting it (and he was really interested in how long that tiny amount of time is), but he totally got the idea that when you throw something the rules are different and there is not a moment when the object you throw is not moving. We also talked about vectors and how when you throw a ball there is a force acting in the direction you aimed for, but there is also another force acting on the object that pulls it toward the ground. That force is called gravity and its the reason why the ball doesn't travel at the same height you threw it at forever.

It was so much fun, and they both got so much of each idea. We were in the car for most of this discussion and when we got home it sustained itself for a couple of minutes. I was just about to show them how you can use d = rt to figure out about a million things when they decided they would rather play video games. I would have gotten all algebraic up in their faces and blown their little minds, but I'm thrilled with what we did talk about. Hell, we were talking high school stuff with kids who are 10.5 and 9 years old. How awesome is that?

Smart kids RULE!

Mommy and Kitty

2012-01-29T16:30:00.001-05:00

Le Petite PA

2012-01-29T14:59:00.001-05:00

NHL 12

2012-01-29T11:13:00.001-05:00

Yeah, that's my step son playing in full season mode.

Lifestyle Change

2012-01-29T09:22:00.001-05:00

For the foreseeable future, playing the roll of coca~cola will be bottled water.

Luna and Venus

2012-01-28T18:58:00.001-05:00

NHL 2012

2012-01-28T17:26:00.000-05:00

Both kids have their first experience playing EA Sports NHL 2012 on the PS3 today. They both managed to score goals in their very first game. Is this yet another one of my annoying habits/obsessions that I have passed on to these poor unsuspecting children?

I just heard a yell from the other room, "Yeah! Robba, I scored!"

I think so.

Sad Day

2012-01-28T14:33:00.001-05:00

We are a one pet family once again. The fish tank has been removed from the premises. The cat has the complete run of the place.

RIP fishies.

Dead Duck Day

2012-01-27T19:09:00.001-05:00

The kids got their report cards today. The first time in the new school.

Now their teachers know what we already knew:

The kids are Wicked Smaht!

Ferris Bueller Sequel?

2012-01-27T16:56:00.000-05:00

If this turns out to be some bullshit advertising campaign centered around a bullshit super bowl commercial I am going to be so incredibly pissed off!

Joke

2012-01-27T09:18:00.001-05:00

I mentioned last night that I didn't watch any of the NHL all-star fantasy draft ridiculousness. After this morning's commute I am so glad that I skipped it. On the radio this morning I heard some audio clips of the event and... well... oh my god was it awful. Just... Awful.

Every time a player was selected they blared music as said player walked up to the stage, or whatever it was, to join the team he was selected for. The music was straight out of a 1980's techno porn movie. It was terrifying. That was lame enough, but the audience (which in the clips I heard sounded like about 30 people) were mic'd in such a way that you could hear everything they said... and... well... imagine an audience full of Bob and Doug McKenzie's. You get the idea. Stereotype is the word that comes to mind. I did clearly hear one person refer to a pick as "a beauty." It was straight out of Strange Brew. Imagine each pick being woohoo'd by 50% of the crowd, and vehemently heckled by the other 50% of the crowd. Really... just... wow.

I'm so glad I had better things to do.

My Love

2012-01-26T22:49:00.001-05:00

My love is the hardest working human in the software business. You can't even believe how hard she works. I'm in awe.

All-Star Lame Crap

2012-01-26T21:58:00.001-05:00

So the NHL all-star lame fantasy draft stupid thing happened tonight. I didn't watch. I chose to watch paint drying instead as it offers a higher entertainment value.

The upside of the results is Zdeno Chara picked both of the other Bruins. The downside (beyond the obvious insult of Patrice Bergeron not being on the all-star roster) is that he waited until the second to last round to take Tyler Seguin, 10 rounds after he took that snotty little brat Phil Kessel. He took Tim Thomas in the second round, but Thomas will probably boycott the event due to some tea party horse shit.

Why can't we just have a couple of normal Bruins games this weekend?

Mega Hi Def

2012-01-26T12:59:00.001-05:00

This post is probably going to break all over the place, but I'll give it a shot.

NASA released a hi def image of the Earth taken by a satellite. The resolution is 8000x8000. It's humongous... and it's from space. I'm going to link the full sized image here, which means I am going to have to shrink it to display it and it's probably going to load slooooooowly. Once it's there you're going to have to click on it to see the full image. If you use Firefox, the image displayed after you click is also going to be resized to fit the screen, so you will have to click it again. I'll also add a link to the Flickr page I am taking the image from.

Coooool!

Here is the link to the image's Flickr page.

Thursday

2012-01-26T09:22:00.002-05:00

This is one of those terrible Thursday kinda days. You know the ones I'm talking about... the Thursdays that feel like Fridays.

This week is NHL All-Star week. The lamest week of the year. The All-Star game is... how shall I describe it... stupid. Yeah, that's what it is. Stupid. The fan balloting is a joke. Four of the starters play for Ottawa. Four of them. Ottawa's decent this year, but to have four starters in the all-star game is insulting. Obviously the only people who give a crap about the game are those in Ottawa who actually have a chance to go.

The fantasy draft? Lame. The skills competition? That would be cool if they just did it without all of the constant bullshit surrounding it. Of course, if they eliminated the commercials and the in "game" interviews the event would only last about 10 minutes. The game itself? It bears no resemblance to actual NHL hockey. None.

The worst part? No Bruins games for a whole week. A Whole Week. They played (poorly) against Washington this past Tuesday. They don't play again until next Tuesday. Awful. Truly awful.

I'll say it again: I hate the NHL All-Star game.

Is Today the Day?

2012-01-25T16:23:00.004-05:00

Is today the day? He's been posting to this retarded little site at least once a day, every day since November 2008. Sure, some of those early posts got moved to the private page, but at the time they were posted they were public, and there hasn't been a single day since the account was opened that the public page hasn't seen at least one post.

But nothing today. Sure, it's only 4:00, but he usually posts at least one stupid thing by now. Today? Nothing. Maybe today is the day he finally fails. Maybe today is the day he finally gives it a miss. Naw, maybe he's just busy. Maybe he had a meeting in another building and had to truck back and forth.

Or maybe he's just not caring today. Maybe today he just said, "Screw it. I ain't sharing crap today." Yeah, maybe today is the day.

What?

Oh... wait...

Sorry.

Sorry but I just can't get enough of laundry basket cat

2012-01-24T19:18:00.001-05:00

Tim Thomas

2012-01-24T14:03:00.000-05:00

Thanks Tim.

Earlier this year the Bruins organization took a big step toward spoiling the Stanley Cup Championship for me by signing convicted felon Joe Corvo.

Yesterday Tim Thomas finished the job.

He took the one final opportunity we had to bask in the glory of last year's Championship and turned it into a half baked political statement. The Bruins went to the White House yesterday and had their balls washed (figuratively) by The President of the United States of America. The most powerful man in the world gave a five minute speech where he told the universe that the Bruins kicked every flavor of ass. He even pumped Timmy Thomas' tires for him by specifically mentioning how unbelievably awesome Thomas played.

And Timmy Thomas decided to turn it into a political statement by boycotting the event. Thomas made a statement that said it had nothing to do with the political party, and that the government is out of control, and how the country is not what the founding fathers envisioned when they wrote the Constitution. Well Timothy, the Constitution made slavery legal... should we bring back that institution? It's what the founding fathers envisioned. Women weren't allowed to vote. It took a Constitutional amendment to give them that right. Should we take that away now because it's not what the founding fathers envisioned?

Sports are escapism. We watch sports because we want to stop worrying about the real world. Thanks a pant load Tim for trying to turn yesterday into some sort of lame protest rather than what it really was: A chance for the Bruins organization to shine one more time. A photo op. A (probably) once in a lifetime chance to visit the one time residence of both Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. And Tim, if you really wanted to make a powerful statement you should have manned up and met President Obama, shook his hand, looked him in the eye, and told him to his face how you feel about the job he's doing. Instead, you took your ball and went home like a friggin' cry baby.

And for the record, this rant has nothing to do with whether or not I support President Obama's policies. I felt the same way when Theo Epstein blew off President Bush and words cannot describe how happy I was to see the end of that particular administration. That's about the politest way I can sum up my feelings on that political subject.

I would have been more than pleased to never learn a single thing about your political beliefs. As long as you play hockey professionally I just don't care. That's the very thing that makes being a sports fan enjoyable. People from all walks of life with all sorts of various beliefs and opinions can come together and support a team as one. The use of the word "nation" is very fitting in that respect. Bruins Nation is made up of countless different people with countless different ways of viewing the world and we all came together to back you and your team... and you pissed on that. Thanks Tim.

Back Again

2012-01-23T21:39:00.001-05:00

The cat is back in the laundry basket. What is the appeal, Patches? I need to know!

Laundry Cat

2012-01-23T20:43:00.001-05:00

Never Again?

2012-01-23T18:50:00.001-05:00

February is Coming Soon

2012-01-23T09:27:00.002-05:00

Eight days and a wake up until the start of the RPM Challenge. I sort of want it to start now. I have this urge to try to write bass lines on the keyboard and then come up with guitar parts that fit and then place both parts over some sort of percussion beat and then stress out majorly over lyrics and melodies and then pick a few spots within the song structure to play excessive guitar solos that don't really add anything to the overall experience other than being fun for me.

Yeah, I'm getting that feeling again. That RPM Challenge feeling.

The Super Bowl

2012-01-22T21:17:00.001-05:00

I can't remember exactly when I stopped trying to give a shit about football. It was before the Patriots won their first super bowl. It might even have been before the Patriots lost to Green Bay in the super bowl, whatever year that was.

I know I watched each of their super bowl appearances, and I certainly took the requisite pride in a home town championship, but over all football just became boring to me at some point in the distant past.

Having said that, I must state that I would sure like another crack at those Giants pukes and that little bitch of a mini-Manning as payback for screwing up our perfect season four years ago.

Go Patriots!

Further, didn't the AFC Championship game tonight bear a striking resemblance to the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective? Is the Baltimore kicker going to turn into Sean Young now?

In all honesty though, now the fans in Baltimore have a slight taste of what it was like to be a Pats fan pre-Bellichick/Brady, or a Red Sox fan between 1919 and 2003...

In other words, it sucks about as bad as being a sports fan can suck. I feel for you, friends in Maryland, even as I laughed my gigantic fat ass off as the NBC cameras panned across the stunned faces of the Ravens players.

Solidarity, but only so far... if you catch my drift.

Again, Go Patriots!

Addendum

2012-01-22T12:22:00.001-05:00

Addendum to last night's deer posts...

The sun is up and the deer are once again nowhere to be seen.

Stupid dumb jerk camera shy deer.

8 Seconds

2012-01-21T20:10:00.001-05:00

Our fireplace taken with an 8 second exposure. Woah!

Roaring

2012-01-21T20:08:00.001-05:00

First Fire of 2012

2012-01-21T19:19:00.001-05:00

Bambi Pays a Visit

2012-01-21T16:52:00.001-05:00

DSC_0186-1, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

The damn deer are still out in the woods right now but it's too dark to do anything about them. To add insult to injury, they are steadily moving closer to our yard! They are just messing with me now,

First Deer of the Year

2012-01-21T16:50:00.001-05:00

DSC_0192, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

I snapped a couple of pictures of the year's first deer. Are you guys sick of these yet?

Acquisitions Redux

2012-01-21T10:00:00.001-05:00

This is the acquisition that lead to the free gift microphone that I'll never use but mentioned the other day.

It's so... Small.

Methuen, Massachusetts

2012-01-21T09:35:00.001-05:00

Methuen, Massachusetts, a set on Flickr.

Who owns http://methuenma.net/? I found a bunch of my crappy pictures from Flickr posted there. The stuff from the public group has my user name attached. The slide show of all of my crappy Methuen pictures does not. It still links back to me, so it's okay. I'm just curious.

Oh, and here's the slide show I'm talking about... I don't waste too too much time on stuff like this, do I?

Windshield Washer is Important

2012-01-20T09:55:00.001-05:00

Wanna know what is important?

Windshield washer.

No, really!

You wouldn't think so, but really it is. I don't believe I ran out of it today, I just think the line was frozen. We got about an inch of snow last night. Nothing special, just kind of annoying. I was on route 495 south today and the sand from the snow treatments started dirtying up my windshield. I tried to clean it off but, as I said, the washer line was frozen. No big deal.

Until I pulled onto route 2, that is. Route 2... East. The sun shining directly onto the windshield took all of that mud and dirt and made it glow a bright yellow/orange. It was like taking the sunlight and directing all of the brightness directly into my retinas. That was bad. Really bad. But wait, there's more! The road was wet too, so the sun shining onto the wet road reflected onto my already glowing windshield like a second sun which also focused directly into my retinas. So I was blind twice. I could look up and see the sun and be blinded, or I could look down and see the reflection and be blinded.

If I had some windshield washer available all of these problems would have gone away.

Windshield washer is wicked important!

Bruins

2012-01-19T21:07:00.001-05:00

Apparently the Bruins coasted through tonight's game in New Jersey, patiently waiting for me to turn on the game and start listening.

It was 1-0 Devils when I first checked in. Here we are about five minutes later and it's 3-1 Bruins.

Sorry to keep you all waiting.

Go Bruins!

Acquisitions

2012-01-19T20:43:00.001-05:00

This is the start of what often happens when one joins a band.

We start acquiring gear. This is the first example. Kinda... This is actually the "free gift" portion of the start of the new band acquisition syndrome.

It has begun, but I am going to fight the syndrome this time. Nothing more after this (strings don't count).

Except maybe for that neat looking Boss Harmonizer stomp box... Or maybe something that simulates a rotating speaker... Or a 6 & 12 string double neck guitar like a Gibson ED1275... Or... Or...

Slingbox?

2012-01-19T15:39:00.002-05:00

I sometimes listen to Sports Radio on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston during my commutes. After working in college radio for three years I have learned to really loath some aspects of commercial radio... namely the commercials. Every 20 minutes you get slammed with up to 10 minutes of non-programming between commercials and news updates and station IDs and general crap. It takes all the fun out of radio for me.

WUML... station ID at the top of the hour. Two PSAs per hour, one recorded and one live. Done and done, the rest of the time was programming. Granted when my show was a talk show it was filled with mostly awful talk show programming, and when it was just music it was generally music that no one but me had any interest in listening too, but at least there were no friggin' commercials!

What was I going to talk about?

Oh yeah, the Slingbox.

98.5 blitzkriegs you with Slingbox commercials. The idea of a Slingbox is nice and all but I don't know a single human being who actually owns one. That leads me to my question... does anyone actually own a Slingbox? At this point I don't even care if anyone actually uses one, does anyone actually own one. I'm not exactly a social butterfly (I just said I spent three years on college radio... duh?) so I don't know that many people, but does anyone out there in internets land actually own a Slingbox?

I'm Tired

2012-01-19T09:33:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was rough. I didn't get to sleep until after 3:00am and then was up before 7:00am and at work by 9:00am. I made it through the first half of the day in a fog and then took some vaca and went home at 1:00pm. I sat on the couch with a bag of doritos watching How I Met Your Mother and basically floating in a fog of sleepiness, but I couldn't fall asleep. I might have for a little while, but not for long.

At 6:00pm the kids came home and I bundled them up and took them out to do something I have never done before.
---Shoe Shopping---

Yes, you read that correctly. Rob took the two kids out to buy new snow boots. Rob who can barely shop for himself took two young people out to try and buy footwear. Oh those poor, poor kids.

My step son nailed his first choice. Size, style, everything. Nice job! My step daughter... well... I failed her. She does not yet own a pair of snow boots for 2012. The first store we went to had nothing that she deemed worthy of putting on her feet. The second store had a style she liked, but once she had it on it felt weird. We tried a few different sizes, but she just didn't like the way the boot felt on her foot. If we'd have had more time we would have tried another store, but we couldn't stay out all night.

Jen, my beautiful bride, wanted to watch the season premier of American Idol last night. I don't like the show. I am not a fan of the music-as-game-show paradigm. I also want to vomit any time I see or hear Stephen Tyler. Last night he managed to sum himself up for the public perfectly when he told a contestant's father this his 15 year old daughter was hot. No, really. He did.

Strangest Thing

2012-01-18T17:51:00.001-05:00

I just had the strangest thing ever happen to me.

I was sneezing, and in mid-sneeze I had to... Well... Sneeze. The two sneezes somehow canceled each other out and it left me feeling stuffy with a bit of a headache and a cough.

Isn't that the strangest thing ever?

Pathetic

2012-01-18T09:38:00.002-05:00

I was on call Tuesday morning. The on call period began at 3:00am Tuesday morning and lasted until I started work at 9:00am. The event which required the on call support was supposed to take about four hours and then the situation would be monitored for a while and then that would be it.

That's not what happened though. There were problems that cropped up during the process and things stretched from four hours to about 12 hours. Our folks on site did a good job keeping things going in a tough situation, but by the time it was finished the day staff was getting ready to go home. I was asked if I could extend my on call to a second night. I said okay.

Mistake.

I should not have pushed my luck. I got called at 9:00 last night and worked until 2:00 this morning. Then I was all wound up and couldn't fall asleep until about 3:00am and then the alarm started going off at 6:30. I shoulda bettah known bettah.

Wanna know what else is pathetic?

The Bruins just lost to Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay had lost seven straight games and were dead last in the Eastern Conference. A Bruins win would have put us in first in the East. Their incredible run of dominance is officially over. They haven't played very well for the last week or two. They are looking more and more like the 3-7 October Bruins and less and less like the undefeated in November Bruins. I'm getting nervous. We play New Jersey tomorrow. Let's hope for better things.

Wanna know what else is pathetic?

Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford, who makes about 500 billion dollars a game (slight exaggeration) had surgery on his hand (wrist?) yesterday and will probably miss the start of the season. After a dreadful first year in Boston last season I was optimistic that ol' Carl would straighten things out this year and be a positive factor for the Sox. Now that looks unlikely, at least in the short term.

Pathetic, ya know?

I'm Old

2012-01-17T10:38:00.001-05:00

I'm old. In case you hadn't heard, I'm old. Middle age has arrived like a car that hits the puddle on the side of the road while you're on the sidewalk and hoses the crap out of you and ruins your whole day.

I'm not that old, I don't mean to say that. I'm 40, I'm not 140. No one is chiseling my name into a headstone just yet. I just mean to say that I'm not young anymore. My days of being a kid in even the loosest sense of the word are over.

When I was younger I would set a goal for myself and be willing to put up with large amounts of crap in order to reach that goal. Now I am not willing to put up with nearly as much. Things that, in the grand scheme of things, aren't important, like a hobby or something that is just done for fun, that start to annoy me can just go away, while in my younger days I would be willing to put up with some annoyances in order to get the end results of the hobby or fun thing. Not anymore. If it's supposed to be fun and it's causing stress it goes away.

I am perfectly willing to spend 24/7/365 (or 366 in this year's case) just being with my family. That's where the fun and enjoyment come from now. That's where the focus is. Everything else is superfluous and can just go and get bent. My wife and my step kids and my family are all I need.

The Hurricane EP is Finished... I Guess

2012-01-16T17:26:00.003-05:00

Here's the fourth and final Hurricane Irene song. It's only been, what, four months? Five months? Yeah, that should give you a clue as to the quality of this particular song.

Here's the song:

...and here is the complete four song EP thingie that only exists in my soft little brain:

Lunch

2012-01-16T12:21:00.001-05:00

Listening to Tanya Donelly and making some Ramen for the kids lunch.

Pretty much perfect for a freezing Monday of a holiday.

Holy Cold, Batman

2012-01-16T06:36:00.001-05:00

Cat = Jerk

2012-01-16T06:32:00.001-05:00

I was going to make a cute kitty joke like - is that new cat bed big enough for you, Patches? - but then I reached out to pet her and she ran away like I was Norman Bates with a wig on my head.

Jerk.

Red Robin

2012-01-15T14:07:00.001-05:00

Apparently this goes really good on scrambled eggs.

#8?

2012-01-15T09:33:00.001-05:00

Is today the day that we watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2?

My nightmare susceptible step son is nervous, but also dying to see how it ends and blasting us with a barrage of please-please-please?

It could very well be movie time.

Carousel

2012-01-14T14:34:00.001-05:00

The carousel at the Mall at Rockingham Park.

Craziness

2012-01-14T08:43:00.001-05:00

Today is going to be one of those crazy days where we all need to be in two places at once. I never quite appreciated how difficult it was for my parents to cart the three of us around to all of our various events.

I appreciate it now though!

2012 RPM Challenge

2012-01-13T13:02:00.004-05:00

I just signed up for the 2012 RPM Challenge.

Somehow doing so on Friday the 13th just seemed so right.

BRING IT ON!

Friday the 13th

2012-01-13T09:48:00.000-05:00

It's Friday the 13th. It's drizzling out and there is a lot of thick fog. My 60+ mile drive to work only took about 1:45 today, but on a normal Friday it would have been a little bit quicker. I think people were driving extra cautiously, not on account of the weather, but due to the raised bad luck potential.

The Bruins beat the Canadiens last night by a 2-1 score. One odd thing about the game, Canadien forward Mike Cammalleri was traded to Calgary during the game. He was pulled out of the line up after the second period and shipped off to Alberta for Rene Bourque.

Bourque has recently made a name for himself for being suspended for hits to the head. Cammalleri apparently endeared himself to the Canadiens brass by saying that the team played like losers. I guess that's enough to get you shipped out of town mid-game.

I've heard of players being sat out of games because a trade was in the works, but I've never heard of a player being pulled during a game because of a trade. Nice of the Canadiens GM to leave the team short handed against their biggest rival. Not surprising though as this is the same guy who hired a non-French speaking coach and then showed faith in his new coach by telling the press it was a mistake. Swell guy.

Why Twitter Rules

2012-01-12T21:27:00.001-05:00

Why is Twitter awesome? Why does it rule the way it does?

Because someone on television wore a Letters to Cleo t-shirt tonight and "Letters to Cleo" turned up in the trending topics.

Not only that, but I was able to retweet tweets by two band members expressing their amazement.

That's why Twitter rules.

Merrimack River

2012-01-12T12:53:00.001-05:00

Merrimack River, a group on Flickr.

Nerd boy started a new Flickr group for pictures of the Merrimack River. Wheeeeee!

Crap

2012-01-12T07:47:00.001-05:00

Jealous Rage

2012-01-12T06:39:00.001-05:00

I am so jealous I can't even believe it. Overnight we had our first "snow" storm of 2012. The total accumulation is a little bit of slush that doesn't even cover the dead grass in the front yard...

...and the kids have a snow day!

Granted their Dad has moved further north and their new school is about 10 miles away into the frosty northern tundra, but still.

I am SO jealous!

I want a snow day too.

One More

2012-01-11T21:11:00.001-05:00

One more picture from my little photo trip around town last Satuday.

What are you gonna do, ya know?

20 Random Photos

2012-01-11T21:06:00.001-05:00

20 Random Photos, a set on Flickr.

I set up a dopiaza generated Flickr set that is supposed to be made up of 20 random pictures and it should update daily.

I was bored. What can ya do?

Camo? Really?

2012-01-11T09:27:00.001-05:00

I was on route 495 South this morning. The highway is three lanes. I was in the middle lane. To my left, a short distance ahead, was a state trooper. There was a fresh accident on the left shoulder and the highway slowed to a crawl. It wasn't bad as far as I was concerned because the stoppage happened right before reaching the scene.

As I approached, the state trooper pulled over and got out of the car to start talking to one of the people involved. The state trooper was dressed not in a traditional police officer style uniform, but in camouflage. Head to toe. Hat and all.

Why on Earth does a highway cop need to wear camo? Is there anything else that makes less sense? He pulled up in a big blue car with 500 really bright lights on it so that he could step out of the car and blend into the scenery? And the camo was your normal green/brown combination of colors. What good is that to a highway patrolman? Wouldn't you want the colors to resemble the asphalt and lane markers? You know, so that he'd actually blend in with his environment rather than stick out like a six foot tall plant in the middle of the road? If you want him to stick out so that drivers can see him (duh) why not make him wear something that includes colors not found on the road or in the area surrounding the roads. Maybe something blue, like a policeman's uniform.

Moon Over NH Primary

2012-01-10T19:38:00.001-05:00

Compare/Contrast

2012-01-10T14:17:00.001-05:00

This seemed like a good idea for a post when I first thought of it, but now that I'm here it seems pointless (like every other post I've made since 2008, right?).

When I first got my Nikon camera it came with a 18-105mm VR kit lens. This Christmas my beautiful, loving, amazing wife got me a AF-S DX VR 55-200mm F4-5.6G lens. I generally don't know what any of that means, I just know that the 18-105mm and the 55-200mm refer to the zoom. The 18 on the kit lens means you can see things that are closer to you than the 55 on the new lens. Likewise the 200 on the new lens means you can zoom WAY further than the 105 on the kit lens. At least that's what I think all of that means. Like I have any clue, right?

Anyway, I thought I'd do a little side by side comparison, which is stupid because I don't have any side by side shots. Maybe some other time I'll take two pictures with the same composition and the same lighting and all that yadda yadda yadda, one with each lens. The only downside of that is that I am terrified to switch the lenses because I am a clutz and I'm bound to break something.

Anyway (again) here we go...

18-105mm VR:

AF-S DX VR 55-200mm F4-5.6G:

18-105mm VR:

AF-S DX VR 55-200mm F4-5.6G:

18-105mm VR:

AF-S DX VR 55-200mm F4-5.6G:

18-105mm VR:

AF-S DX VR 55-200mm F4-5.6G:

18-105mm VR:

AF-S DX VR 55-200mm F4-5.6G:

Told you it was pointless. Maybe some day I'll do this for real. We'll see. Until then, I am STOKED that I have a new lens to play with, even if I don't know how best to use it. It's also kicked off the creation of a list of other cool stuff I could get to do different things. You might be witnessing the creation of a monster.

What Day is It?

2012-01-10T10:02:00.000-05:00

After two consecutive short work weeks I have to say that I am completely confused as to what day it is today.

Is it Tuesday? Is it Wednesday? Who knows! I'm just lost.

If it's Tuesday then the Bruins play tonight, albeit without Brad Marchand who got himself a 5 game suspension for clipping a Canuck. That lead to the Canucks bitching about what a dirty player he is while conveniently ignoring the fact that Shaun Thornton got jumped by an entire line at one point, and the simple fact that Alex Burrows BIT Patrice Bergeron during the finals last year.

If your player bites an opponent, you are officially unable to bitch about any other player on Earth. That's a Rob Rule. Deal with it.

Ambiance

2012-01-09T19:21:00.001-05:00

Peg Game

2012-01-09T19:20:00.001-05:00

Portrait?

2012-01-09T11:57:00.001-05:00

DSC_0069, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

The sun was kind of in my eyes while I was playing with my camera along the Merrimack the other day. I took this picture without really being able to see what was on the opposite bank. I had no clue that I took a picture of some dude taking a picture.

Surprise!

Netflix FAIL

2012-01-08T23:36:00.001-05:00

Jen got season one of The Big Bang Theory for Christmas. We tore through it like Klingons tearing through Tribbles and finished it tonight.

Upon completion we jumped over to Netflix, expecting to be able to start season two, and do you know what we discovered?

Netflix doesn't stream the show!

FAIL!

Corporate Decision Maker

2012-01-08T16:58:00.001-05:00

TV Quote

2012-01-08T12:03:00.001-05:00

Best line of dialog in Television history, from The Big Bang Theory:

"A Homo habilis just discovering his opposable thumbs says what?"

I laughed my ass off.

23

2012-01-08T10:36:00.001-05:00

Buffet

2012-01-08T09:54:00.001-05:00

Where can a big dude on a diet go for a breakfast buffet on a Sunday morning when he chooses to ignore said diet?

Decisions, decisions...

Sands Bridge

2012-01-07T17:22:00.001-05:00

DSC_0006, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

Back to the Sands Bridge to play with the new lens.

Playing with the New Lens

2012-01-07T17:13:00.001-05:00

DSC_0053, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

I took the new lens out around town today. I went back to the Sands Bridge and the Walnut Grove cemetery. I also went to the park along the Merrimack River that's on Riverside Drive but I can't remember the name and Google Maps only calls it the Walking Park.

This is the most interesting picture because that appears to be a canoe floating upside down in the Merrimack. Where oh where might that have come from, and please tell me there was no one in it when it flipped and floated away.

I Hate the Vancouver Canucks

2012-01-07T16:48:00.000-05:00

Today was the rematch of the Stanley Cup Finals and the Bruins lost to the Canucks 4-3. How did they beat us? They pissed us off, that's how.

Ooodles of penalties including game misconducts to Lucic and Marchant. Five on three goals against. Major power play goals against.

Crud. I was really hoping we'd bitch slap those Canucks so badly that the citizens rioted again.

Oh well... we'll just spank them in the finals again.

Indian for Dinner

2012-01-06T20:02:00.001-05:00

Unsubscribe Means Unsubscribe

2012-01-06T10:56:00.001-05:00

I received an email from a mailing list that I no longer wish to be a part of. It related to a site I registered for over a year ago that I haven't been back to since. (The UK Syd Barrett artwork collections. Even if I were interested in buying the books I wouldn't be able to do it online without converting dollars to pounds.) I have probably received maybe 2 or 3 emails from the mailing list in the year that I've been on it so it's not like they were spamming me back to the stoned age or anything (pun intended... get it?... we are talking about Syd Barrett) but today I clicked the link to unsubscribe from the list. I am never going to shell out 240 English pounds for a book of art work made by some one who my only interest is in his music. Thanks, but no thanks.

Five seconds after I unsubscribed from the list I got an email telling me I had unsubscribed from the list.

Urgh.... really?

"Unsubscribe" is a polite way of saying "I DON'T WANT ANY MORE OF YOUR GOD DAMN EMAILS SO STOP SENDING THEM TO ME!!!"

It does not mean, "please send me more email."

All people who run electronic mailing lists should consider this post a public service announcement.

You're all welcome.

Video Game Hockey

2012-01-06T09:09:00.004-05:00

The Bruins played the Calgary Flames on my PS3 last night and dominated from start to finish before finally winning 9-0. Calgary's night can be summed up by Boston's second goal. Milan Lucic was along the wall just above the faceoff circle and he threw a pass out toward the middle of the ice. The pass whacked into Olli Jokinen and deflected into the net... from about 40 feet away. It was the single cheapest, cheesiest goal I've ever seen and things just went down hill from there for the Flames.

Of course, it was just a video game, right? I mean no one scores nine goals in an NHL game, never mind win a game 9-0. It just doesn't happen.

What?

It was a real game?

Really?

The highlight of the evening may have been late in the third period where the Bruins faithful inside the Garden were chanting, "We want 10!" over and over again. What a thing of beauty. At this point the pessimist in me would normally prophesize that the B's will lose their next game 1-0. Not this time, for two reasons. First, this team is more awesome than any other team I've ever had the good fortune to follow. I am beginning to doubt that a 1-0 loss is even possible. Second, their next game is a Saturday afternoon rematch of the 2011 Stanley Cup final match up between the Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks. I somehow doubt that either team will settle for a 1-0 final. It very well may be a blood bath.

On an unrelated note, today is going to be an interesting day. I believe I got less than three hours of sleep last night. It's 9:09am and I already feel like I am seriously running out of gas. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Thinking About Bruins Domination

2012-01-05T20:57:00.001-05:00

I'm sitting here watching the Bruins utterly annihilate the Calgary Flames. It's 7-0 after two. Is a 10 goal game in the offering?

Anyway, here's a sobering thought. The Bruins won the Cup in 1970. They won it again in 1972. I have heard some members of that organization say that the 1971 Bruins were actually better than either of the Cup winning team, but they were beaten in the playoffs by Montreal and Ken Dryden.

So they won the Stanley Cup in 1970 and then were better in 1971 but lost...

The Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011, and at least up until tonight they are clearly better in 2012...

I'm sure history won't repeat itself. Nope.

Go Bruins!

Another Bruins Blow Out

2012-01-05T09:16:00.001-05:00

The Bruins win streak ended on New Year's Eve with a lackluster performance against Dallas.

Last night against New Jersey it was clear that they had learned their lesson from the loss. Yet another blow out, this time 6-1 on the road. Bergeron scored twice. His first, the team's third, was a thing of beauty. Watch the highlights...

Oh Brickah

2012-01-05T07:16:00.001-05:00

From the drive home last night. Cops out in Billerica. Usually there would be a construction crew or two with them, but not this time.

Oh Brickah

Vampires

2012-01-04T22:42:00.001-05:00

We were in Target last weekend when it became known that my step daughter has an interest in reading Twilight. She's an insatiable 10 year old reader and we knew this would be coming eventually.

My brother loves the stories. My step kid's dad once, long ago, told us that he'd read them and they were okay. I have never read them. While I have long been a huge fan of the horror genre (but not the gore genre, horror does not necessitate blood and guts) I have never been much for vampire stories, but what I'd heard about how the Twilight stories piss on the mythology made me want to vomit.

Jen did a little research and got some mixed signals as to whether or not her daughter would be able to handle the book so she borrowed a copy from my sister and started reading.

Her review was similar to a few I have read. It starts out terrible, then gets interesting, then gets terrible and boring. She got as far as the baseball game (really? really?) and gave up.

Oh well.

She told me a lot of what was going on and it sounds like the vampire genre gets raped without mercy. It made me think back to the few vampire novels I'd read in the past. There is 'Salem's Lot by Steven King, of course, which blends into the later Dark Tower books. Dan Simmons has written a number of novels where the bad guy was some variation on a vampire, and in one case the bad guy was actually Dracula. Was that one called Children of the Night or something like that? There was also a series by Brian Lumley that explained vampirism as a parasite. Those were pretty good, but I can't remember the name of the series to save my life.

Of course there is also Dracula by Bram Stoker. You don't have any of the others unless you have that one.

So I started to get curious about what else there might be that is worth looking at. I Googled, "top 10 vampire novels" and found a few good lists. I picked up I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (sp? Sorry) and Fevre Dream by George R R Martin. I will start into those as soon as I finish reading Stephen King's 11/22/63, which I got for Christmas and am about a third of the way though.

So my request of you, dear readers, is to make some more recommendations. I'm aware of Anne Rice and will eventually read some of her's, so I'm looking for something other than that.

What do you say, readers? Can you sell me on some vampire stories or what?

Thanks in advance!

It's Pretty Much Here

2012-01-04T09:21:00.003-05:00

I checked the outside temperature when I got into the car this morning. It was 9 degrees. Winter started about two weeks ago and I would say, judging by the frozen landscape, that winter has fully arrived.

Crud.

On the bright side, we're only about 2.75 months away from Spring. Each frozen day brings us closer to warmth.

I went to the gym yesterday. Yippee. My legs hurt today. I could barely manage any actual exercise at the gym because I am so far gone that just getting onto the machines wears me out. I have a bag full of work out clothes and sneakers in the car so I can stop at the gym on the way home. We signed up for the super-mega plan so we can actually go to other branches instead of just the one where we signed up. There are two that are sort of on my way home. I might stop at one of them and check it out. If it's not to my liking I'll go to the one near home, otherwise I'll stay and do my 22 seconds worth of working out.

My lovely wife's back was hurting really bad this morning. I hope she feels better now. It tends to loosen up for her as the day goes on, so hopefully it's feeling better by the minute. I love you sweetie. Hang in there.

More Spam

2012-01-03T14:14:00.001-05:00

I haven't received any more spam on Blogger since the spam related post, but I haven't gotten around to switching the comments from open to moderated either. I don't want to do that, I feel incredibly lame doing that, but I think I will end up doing that.

I have gotten spam regularly on twitter, which is odd because I barely ever post there. I enjoy following twitter while watching the Bruins because 90% of the people I follow are also watching the Bruins. It works out well that way. Still though, when I do get around to using twitter I regularly get spam mentions... or whatever they call them now. You know, some idiot spammer puts my @user name in a tweet so I get some horrible link sent to me. Assholes.

This weekend also saw spam coming to me on Facebook for the first time ever. Apparently some douche nozzle slimy scumbag was "liking" things on my account. I logged in on New Year's day and had a bunch of things in my newsfeed that had no business being there. I changed my password and started scouring my like lists. I think I have removed them all now, but who knows. Facebook tends to make it difficult to find such things.

On top of all that, yesterday I got two telemarketer calls on my cell phone. I was furious. Not only am I on every do-not-call list in the known universe, but I was on call yesterday so any time my phone rings I start to panic, and if the number is one I don't recognize I go into full, unabridged terror mode. Then to find out in both cases that it was some ass wipe trying to sell me something, I wanted to start strangling people.

But other than that, I had a great weekend. The only bad part about it was that it's over and we're all back at work. Oh, and the traffic getting to work sucked ass today.

Things to look forward to in the New Year...

We are thinking of going back to San Diego this year. Maybe during one of the school vacations. Jen and I have begun prepping for this possibility by re-joining Planet Fitness. I like the idea of a gym who's corporate culture is one that allows for people like me to make idiots of themselves without being openly ridiculed. I know it doesn't work that way in reality, but I still appreciate the attempt.

The 2012 RPM Challenge begins in 29 days. How will working on a computer with lots of editing capabilities change the way I work? How will actually being in a band at the same time I work on the project affect things? Who knows.

All I know, is all the signs are pointing to 2012 being a good year. 2011 was over in the blink of an eye. Hopefully 2012 won't be in such a hurry to turn into 2013.

The Big Bang Theory

2012-01-02T20:34:00.001-05:00

Jen got season one of the show The Big Bang Theory on DVD for Christmas and we just watched the first few episodes.

Frankly I am offended by the stupidity and utter unbelievability of the writing. I mean do you really expect me to believe that a genius physicist would refer to the force of gravity as, "32 feet per second per second?"

That is absolute nonsense! Anyone who knows anything about physics knows that any real physicist would use metric units! The line should have been, "-9.8 meters per second squared."

But noooooo, the ignorant writers need to dumb it down for the unwashed American masses and use English units. Freakin heathens!

Rivalries

2012-01-02T15:44:00.001-05:00

Is there a downside to creating intense rivalries in the NHL? I believe there is, and I am living proof.

The team I detest above all others is the Montreal Canadiens. There are a bunch of teams that receive nearly the same level of hate from me. Among them are the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers.

Those two teams are playing in the NHL Winter Classic at this very moment. The intensity of the rivalry between the Boston Bruins and both of those teams is the source of my intense dislike.

I loathe the Flyers and I abhor the Rangers and that is why I am out running errands instead of home watching the Winter Classic.

Sorry, NHL.

Artsy Coke Bottle Reflection Thingie

2012-01-02T13:26:00.001-05:00

IQ Test

2012-01-02T13:12:00.001-05:00

This is a slurpy machine in a convenience store in Windham, NH that tells everything you need to know about the store's customer base...

Moderation?

2012-01-02T10:54:00.001-05:00

I get maybe 2-3 comments a month. I used to get maybe one comment a month but the numbers have ballooned recently. Unfortunately the new comments are spam. I got two spam comments last night. Now, given how few comments I get it would seem really, seriously lame to have to start moderating, wouldn't it? I think I am going to though. Even two spams a month is completely annoying.

On an unrelated note, our Christmas tree is down and the decorations are being put away. At least until next December. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and I hope Santa loaded you up with loot!

Finally... why is the NHL Winter Classic today instead of yesterday? Also, in case you hadn't heard, last night they moved the start time to 3pm. Still though... why the day after New Year? Lame.

Pop

2012-01-01T13:04:00.001-05:00

YouTube Video

That's Better

2012-01-01T12:35:00.001-05:00

I started slow but now I'm dominating.

Game Time

2012-01-01T12:03:00.001-05:00

I'm getting my ass handed to me in yet another game.

2012

2012-01-01T07:40:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone. Welcome to 2012. Now begins the 2-3 month period where everyone writes 11 when they write down the date and then sloppily scratches it out and replaces it with a 12. Don't look all pissy, we all do it. Just admit you do it too.

Two notes to ABC...

We all made it to midnight last night and I have to say that, if Jenny McCarthy is stupid enough to campaign against vaccinating children despite all of the credible evidence telling her that her non-fact based opinion is 100% wrong, then she is too dumb to help my family ring in the New Year. She's a moron. I'm insulted by her presence on my television. Get rid of her.

Second, Dick Clark is a legend and a television institution, but he absolutely has to go. The feel good story of him coming back is no longer out weighing the pain of watching him propped up on camera with his oompaloompa spray on tan trying to MC a show when he can barely speak. Every second spent watching him last night was pure agony. It's time to put a stop to this. It's time for Dick Clark to go. I won't watch him again, it's just too painful.

Almost There

2011-12-31T23:36:00.001-05:00

It's almost midnight and I am fighting sleep.

Stay awake stay awake stay awake!

Moon Over New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T22:12:00.001-05:00

NYE - Breaking with Tradition

2011-12-31T09:21:00.000-05:00

It's New Year's Eve. Tradition dictates that we should eat Chinese food tonight, but none of us are really feeling that. We might break with the tradition.

A little bit... well, a little bit geographically speaking.

How about we leave China and move off to the West a little bit. We'll still be in Asia... how about Indian food?

Sounds like a plan!

I hope all of you have a great New Year's Eve. Stay safe. It's amateur night out there. If you go out there is a strong chance of you getting vomit on you... some one else's vomit I mean. Just stay safe, keep dry, duck and cover. Have fun and pick a designated driver.

Happy New Year!