Ups and Downs of the week.

 Formula One is back – Opening race from Melbourne, Australia. This season brings so many changes to the cars that the whole field may be shuffled. We’ll know after the race on Sunday who the front runners this year will be. UPDATE: Great race. Kudos to Brawn GP.

  Winter is back – We’re forecast to get 2-4 inches of snow Saturday night. Ugh. UPDATE: We only saw flurries. Sometimes it’s good when the weather seers are wrong. 🙂

  Spring Break – Nice having everyone gone for a week.

  1st Level Tech Support – How can you explain a DNS problem to a support tech who doesn’t know what DNS is? Only GoDaddy does it right.

 Dad – Still making impressive progress. He’s in a  nursing facility now, but it’s much more comfortable than the rehab hospital and they’re being more aggressive with his rehab, which is also good.

  Prehistoric Road Maintenance II – Didn’t take long for a rock to find my fender.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Springtime is here – Into the 70s today. Loved every minute of it. I left work early just to get out and enjoy it.

  “Unofficial” St. Patrick’s Day – Annual excuse for student drunkenness and stupidity. Thank the greedy bar owners who started and continue to promote this nonsense.

 Team Brawn? – Looks like former Team Honda will be back in Formula One this year, albeit with Mercedes engines. Not sure what the team will be called yet, but former Ferrari guru Ross Brawn bought the team outright. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button will return as the team’s drivers.

 Dad – Walking several laps of the hallways now and climbing stairs. Still looking good for him to be going home soon.

  Boston Bruins – 3-5-2 in their last 10 including three consecutive losses. They’re still in first place in the Eastern Conference, barely.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Baseball is back – Ok, just spring training games, but the pennant race will soon be underway.

  Google’s Latitude – Sign up to have Google track your every move? Um, no thanks.

 USF1 – The U.S. will finally have a Formula One team again. It won’t hit the track until 2010, but at least we’ll be back in the game.

  Mileage tax – Yet another idiotic idea. If folks who drive more already pay more in gas taxes, why start a new, expensive system that will also be prone to abuse and misuse? The stupidity of some of our elected officials cannot be overstated.

 Dad – He’s on solid food now and has no feeding tube or IV stint. He’s walking more and spending most of his day out of bed. I’m thinking he’ll be home by the end of March. It’s been a long, long road.

  Patriots – They traded Mike Vrabel today. Probably *the* clutch situation player on the Pats and now he’s gone. Someone please explain.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Blago is gone!! – About time! On his way out the door he couldn’t help but make more of a fool of himself. Listen to him whining to the legislature.

  Business a usual in D.C. – These idiots just don’t get it!!!! Enough with the idiotic pork-barrel stuff. The stimulus package is so full of bullshit, it’s drawing flies. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) cannot possibly stimulate the economy. Support for STD treatment cannot either. Both these could be considered worthy causes in a time of prosperity, but now is not that time. Obama already trimmed out the ludicrous mall resodding project and the equally inane contraceptive funding, but there is still way too much pork and not enough direct action. We need money to support infrastructure projects which will put people to work. If a proposal will not add a substantial number of jobs, it should be scrapped. Congress is whining about Wall Street not listening to the people when they’re just as deaf. STOP THE PORK!!!! (Clear enough?)

  Celtics – Back to their winning ways.

  Winter – 9″ of snow this week. I’m so in need of a warm day or two. Now that I have a ragtop waiting for me, the winter days are dragging by endlessly.

  Dad continues to improve. – Today they had him standing up straight (with a little help) and next week he’ll start learning to walk again using parallel bars. The docs are amazed at his progress, but we’re not. He’s a determined man. Always has been.

Ups and Downs of the week.

  Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III – One hell of a pilot. Incredible skill and grace under extreme pressure. Amazing.

  Economy - Still tanking and showing signs of worsening. Circuit City going under with more stores to follow for sure. Bad news. 

  Kevin Youkilis – 4 more years with the Red Sox. Very cool indeed.

  Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ10 – Nice little camera. It’s now in my glovebox so I can grab images during my commute. See below.

 

  Winter Sunset – Cold but beautiful.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 TGIF – First week back after a break is always tough.

   Celtics – Serious slump. From a near perfect season to second place in a week. Yikes.

  Trader Joe’s Cranberry Stollen – Man, is this stuff good.

  Winter – Single digits and below coming next week. I am so ready for spring.

  Blago about to be impeached – Six months late, but better than never.

   Amazon.com’s shipping – Used to be the best in the business. now it’s just pathetic. Up to two weeks to get some items. I ordered a very small handheld CB radio on Dec. 31. It may arrive on Monday, nearly two weeks later. It shipped from Hazelwood, MO which is less than a hundred miles from here. I guess the Pony Express still lives, although even a horse could be here quicker. Used to be you’d get the item you bought in a few days, now it’s a few weeks. Amazon made their fortune off instant gratification and now they’re abandoning the very thing that made them famous and successful.

Update: My CB arrived today (Saturday), so 10 days after ordering. Not as bad, especially considering the 1st was a holiday. Still, from an hour-and-a-half away…

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Home again – Be it ever so humble, there’s no place as comfortable as home.

  Blago and Burris – What a pair of losers.

  Feeling healthy again – Whatever it was that had me feeling lousy over the holidays is gone now. ‘Bout time.

 Celtics and Bruins – Both teams still smoking along and on top of their game.

Ups and Downs of the week.

   Getting sick over the holidays – I spent Christmas Day and the next day in the cardiac unit at UCONN medical center. We were visiting Sarah’s parents for the holidays and I had been feeling quite ill for a few days. On Christmas Day it was bad enough for me to have Sarah’s father take me to the ER. They thought my symptoms could be indicative of a heart problem, so they insisted I stay overnight and they ran a bunch of tests. Turns out it isn’t my heart, but the problem is still not completely gone. I’ll follow up with my regular doctor later this week.  

  Great doctors – While I wasn’t happy about spending two days in the hospital, I was very glad to have the great docs at UCONN medical center working on me. They were very attentive and left no stone unturned in making sure I was not going to suffer a heart attack. Glad to know my heart is in such good shape. They could have given me a quick once-over and told me to take an antacid and sent me home, but they were very concerned and it showed. Much thanks to the doctors, nurses, and technicians at UCONN who gave up their Christmas to help folks like me.

  Thanks also to Sarah’s parents, who were understanding and supportive throughout the ordeal. The fact that I dampened their Christmas doesn’t faze them in the least. They’re good people. No surprise considering how special their daughter is.

  New England Patriots – Ok, so they’re out of the playoffs. They still played way above everyone’s expectations and only because of the division they’re in are they not playing into the post-season with an 11-5 record. Major kudos to Matt Cassel. He deserves a big, fat paycheck and a starting job next year.

Ups and Downs of the week.

  Done with my courses – Thank God. And none in the spring, either.

   Our lying governor – He really is a sociopath. How he can stand there in front of the whole country and deny doing anything wrong is beyond me.

  Weather – It’s already been a crappy winter and it’s not even Christmas yet. We’re heading out to New England on Sunday or Monday *if* the weather permits. At least we’re driving, so no hanging out in airports for hours like last year.

 Boston Celtics – 16 wins in a row. Going for #17 tonight. UPDATE: 17 it is.

 Bruins – Still kicking butt. Serious goal production from the offense.

Ups and Downs of the week.

   Gas prices this week – Yesterday morning regular was $1.48. It had been going down, so I decided to wait to fill up on the way home. That afternoon, when I was just about out of gas, the price had jumped to $1.65, so it cost me $3.40 more to fill up than it would have that morning. Today it’s back down to $1.59, so I could have saved $1.20 if I had been able to wait. Now I know this is all bus fare as far as money goes, and I’m very glad I’m paying only $30 or so to fill up, but the constant up and down drives me nuts. It’s like they just decide that Thursday will be ripoff day and jack up the price for a day.

   Our esteemed governor – He and his trash-mouth wife are a pair of self-serving, cold-hearted crooks. And he even has the gall to deny doing anything wrong despite tapes recording his despicable behavior.  Unbelievable.

  End of the semester – I need this break.

  Mount Washington Observatory (MWOBS) vest – Thin, light, and very warm. Best buy I’ve made in a long time. Had to buy one for Sarah because she kept stealing mine.

 Boston Celtics – 14 wins in a row. Incredible. This team could even surpass last year’s dominators.

 Bruins – Also looking good this year. Finally.