Ups and Downs of the Week

Summer is Over – Well almost. One more week before school starts. It’s been a miserably hot summer, so I’m glad to see cooler weather coming, but I’m not ready for the fall semester yet.

Stock Market – Up and down, up and down. Not too bad overall on the week, but I’m sure my retirement savings took another beating.

Red Sox – Back on top by 2 games.

Ups and Downs of 2010

Family – Although we’ve been through some illnesses and injuries, we’re all still healthy and doing ok. There’s a lot to be said for that. Our own family here has grown with the addition of some new cats and kittens. They’re a lot of work, but they’re worth it.

Economy – Despite some positive (and I use that term lightly) indicators, the economy is still in the dumpster and shows few signs of recovering soon. I’m halfway through the third year of a pay freeze, although I am very glad I still have a job. The oil companies and speculators are in the act of committing wholesale robbery again, but the rest of us won’t be seeing an increase in income in the near future.

Red Sox – Another roller coaster season. They did very well considering injuries and such, but they faded badly at the end, mostly due to really poor pitching performances. On the bright side, they’ve picked up Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Bobby Jenks, so 2011 is looking pretty sweet right now. Can’t wait for April.

Patriots – Talk about a surprising season. Most folks had predicted they’d be lucky to have a winning season. Instead they’re leading the NFL. Amazing coaching by Belichick and another banner year for Brady have lifted them to home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Amazing.

Miracles – Or maybe just really good planning. Either way, it was the year’s bright spot to see the Chilean miners make it out of that hell hole alive.

Airline Travel – It gets worse and worse. Between the nightmare of getting through TSA’s gauntlet and the continued mismanagement of the airlines themselves, there is no shortage of really pissed off fliers out there.

Technology – Some really cool stuff appeared on the scene this year. Apple and Android led the way with a quantum leap in mobile computing. My personal tech inventory got a boost this year from a very nice 42″ HDTV and new Canon T1i DSLR. Plus I saw most Red Sox games on the new HDTV thanks to my Roku box (although a mini-thumbs down to MLB.TV’s poor service, which almost made the whole deal worthless).

Education – Mine is done. At least the formal part of it. I completed my degree program and was awarded my Master of Science degree on Dec. 20th. So glad that’s behind me.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Done with School – Defended my thesis (CCK) this week, so I’m done. My degree requirements are complete. No more school for me.

Congress – Can it get any worse?

Patriots – Kicked NY Jets to the curb where they belong. Now they need to dominate the Bears to cement their position as the premier NFL team this year.

Red Sox – They finally opened the purse strings and bought some serious talent. I’m really looking forward to next season now. They still need some starting pitchers and mucho bullpen help.

Ramsau Webcam – Caught a ghost family crossing the bridge.

US Postal Service – The single worst way to ship anything. My order from NY made it from the shipper in some small town in upstate to Forest Park, IL (Chicagoland) in a day. Somehow 3 days later it still hasn’t made it downstate to my door. Pathetic.

Ups and Downs of the week.

Thesis Paper – Finally done. Just need to defend now, which should be a piece of cake.

Burn After Reading – I’ve been looking forward to watching it tonight, but it was so bad I finally turned it off. I understand the story is about the dark sides of life taken to the level of absurdity, but I don’t find humor in watching people going through painful episodes (which means, I suppose, that I don’t “get” dark humor even though I recognize it when I see it). And while I don’t mind profanity when the situation calls for it, I do mind when it becomes an overused “prop” in a movie. I stopped snickering at profanity before reaching adolescence. Now I just find it annoying when it comes up multiple times in every sentence. Call this one Burn Before Watching.

Patriots – They showed up against Pittsburgh. Maybe they really are a team to watch this year. Still tied with the pesky Jets, though.

Winter Sunsets – They can be pretty spectacular here.

Ups and Downs of the week.

Red Sox – They beat the Rays tonight and the Yankmees lost, so they gained a game on both teams. Good stuff. But it looks like Pedroia is gone for the season, which is very bad news indeed.

Dumb luck – I badly gashed my right index finger today. Now it’s all bandaged up and it makes typing difficult. Right when I need to be finishing up my paper for school. Argh.

Weather – Finally, some tolerable daytime temps and cool nights. I love this time of year.

Ups and Downs of the week.

Roku HD Player – This thing is great. It streams Netflix movies and MLB.TV, so now I can watch the Sox on the big screen. Bit of a Thumbs Down to Amazon.com, though. A day or two after I ordered mine, they dropped the price $20. They had to know the price was going to drop.

Red Sox – Papelbon blew yet another game Thursday afternoon, this time a 5-3 lead against the Blue Jays. Tonight they blew an 8-2 lead and ended up losing against the Rangers. Second walk-off loss in two days. Plus they burned through the entire bullpen tonight, although Wakefield only threw one pitch. That one went into the stands for the game winner.

Writer’s Block – All I need to do to finish my degree program is to write this final paper. Yet I’m having the hardest time devoting energy to it. I’m sick of school.

Here we go again –  Another batch of kittens have found their way into our home. We need to find other homes for these guys.

Ups and Downs of the week.

Formula One – Back in Europe. The best part of the season.

  Disasters -Tennessee floods, oil spill in the gulf, tornadoes all around. Nasty spring so far.

  Red Sox- They swept the Halos, but they lost a game tonight to the Yankmees. Beckett has some serious head problems. Is there a shrink in the house?

Bruins – Dealing with it. They lost a hard fought game tonight, but I’m sure they’ll prevail and move on.

Celtics – They looked awesome for a couple of games, but LeBron and the Cavs aren’t going to roll over and die.

  Stock Market -A typo can throw the whole system into a tailspin?

School’s Out – No more classes. Just have to write a thesis and I’m done.

Ups and Downs of the week.

Red Sox – After a rough start they may actual be starting to turn things around. Maybe.

  McAfee – What a screw-up this week.

  School – Last Saturday class tomorrow. Just a final project to complete after that.

San Diego – Very cool city. Still have some pics to post.

Ups and Downs of the week.

Spring is Here – The weather this week was awesome. Perfect for top-down driving. Not so nice in New England, though.

Baseball Begins – Opening Day for the Red Sox is Sunday against the Yankmees. It’s a national broadcast game, too. Perfect for a Sunday evening.

  Saturday Classes – Ten long hours tomorrow. Ugh.

Formula One – One boring race and one decent race. We’ll see what this weekend brings. Maybe Vettel will finally find reliability.

Ups and Downs of the week.

Olympics – While I’m glad the Olympics are on, the games are not off to a rousing start. One tragic death (fix that wall) and a balky Opening Ceremony. Let’s hope it only gets better from here.

Red Sox Truck Day – Baseball is coming.

School – Got class tomorrow. I hate Saturday classes.

Windows 7 -I’ve installed it on several different makes of laptops now and it’s been flawless. I’m impressed.

Weather – So sick of winter.

Photoshop – The more I use it, the more I like it.