Red Sox – They keep finding ways to lose. They’ve dropped two in a row to the lowly Twins. Just bad.

Gas Prices – I can’t see any reason other than greed for a 70 cent per gallon spike in a week.

Drought – It’s already too late for the corn, but the soybeans are reaching the point of no return now. If we don’t get rain soon, they’ll be lost as well. The ditch in the second picture should be half full of water.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Jason Varitek  retires – One of the Red Sox greats, even if he doesn’t make it to Cooperstown. (I’m lazy and it applies.)

Z4 – Back out of storage and ready to run top down.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Patriots – Another embarrassing Super Bowl loss at the hands of Eli Manning and the Giants.

Signs of Life – Formula One testing has started and tomorrow is Red Sox Truck Day, so spring is not that far off.

Winter Doldrums – It’s turned cold and with no snow, there’s nothing but brown to photograph. Not much to do other than stay inside and wait for warmer weather.

Airlines – Despite new rules which are suppose to show you your total cost up front, some airlines (ahem, American) are still hitting you with last second fees when you book a flight. They tell you the cost of your trip, but then you have to choose a seat. Want to sit in a window or aisle seat? That’ll be another $20 each way. Want to sit next to your wife? That means one of you has to buy one of the aforementioned aisle or window seats. What a crock. When will these morons get the message that people would rather see one ticket price that includes everything rather than playing this stupid game of paying for each little thing which should be included in the ticket price?

Ups and Downs of the Week

Sarah – Kudos to Sarah who is this year’s winner of the Louis Shores award for book reviewing.

Maxie – Our rotund diabetic cat has lost some weight and with careful diet control may be able to get by without the insulin shots.

 Francesco Schettino – See Also: Fool, Coward, Jackass

Ups and Downs of the Week

Bruins – First place in the Eastern Conference.

Airline Baggage Rules – The bozos who drag huge luggage onto planes and hold everyone up while they try to stuff it into overhead compartments don’t have to pay a dime. But those folks who do it right and check their baggage get robbed. Someone please explain.

Home Sweet Home – Always good to get back. And we still have a few more days off.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Bruins – A little two game stumble this week, but back to their winning ways.

Phone Scams – These vermin should be locked away for decades.

Backroad Commuting – You never know when a nice scene will appear. And you’ll certainly never see it from the highway.

Ups and Downs of the Week

New Photo Website – I have so many pictures that it’s hard to use just this site to show them. So I created Sensor Perceptions to use as my photography showcase. Right now I only have a couple of galleries from our recent Las Vegas trip, but I’ll add more as I go along.

Pujols to the Angels – Now the Sox will be seeing a lot of him.

Verizon 4G – Talk about fast. I’ve seen download/upload speeds of 15/10 Mbps. Pretty impressive for wireless.

UPSMI – Stands for UPS Mail Innovations. If there is a worse way to ship something, I hope to God I never see it. I ordered an eye cup for the viewfinder on my camera two weekends ago. It shipped from NY last Monday (the 5th). I might finally get to tomorrow (the 13th). How does it take 8 days to get something so small from NY to IL? Easy. Ship it via UPS Ground from NY, go past IL to Kansas City, MO, then give it to the US Post Office to ship it back to Champaign, IL for eventual delivery. For this I paid $3.95. Unbelievable.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Formula One – Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Great racetrack.

Penn State Debacle – How many ways can you screw up? We’re not talking about a couple of players taking money or selling trinkets. This was (allegedly) child rape. And it took this many years for it to come to light despite the entire chain of command knowing about it?

Patriots – Don’t count on post-season play. If they lose to the Jets this weekend, it’s all over.

Sunsets – Another nice one tonight.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Sarah’s Birthday – We both took the day off and had a nice dinner out tonight. Good times.

Illinois State Legislature – Instead of doing things to save this state from bankruptcy, they waste time coming up with ridiculous bills like the one limiting a household to six “companion” animals. How the hell do they expect to even begin enforcing that? And why are they wasting the time and resources needed to introduce such stupidity?

Patriots – Barely squeaked a win against the Cowboys, who should have been pushovers. Still, a win is a win.

Red Sox – The finger pointing continues. Epstein is gone (at least I think he is). But that is most likely a good thing.

Karma – Khadafy, like Saddam Hussein, was found hiding like a rat in a sewer pipe. Shame he didn’t get to stand trial and meet his much deserved fate at the hands of the people he brutalized. He got off easy.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Red Sox – Hanging in there, but they ceded first place to the Yankmees tonight. Still two chances in this series to grab it back.

Standard & Poor’s – They reduce the credit rating based on a $2 trillion mistake and then won’t retract their statement? Is saving face worth launching another recession?

Cooler Weather – We’re finally getting into relatively cooler weather. I was getting sick of high 90s and killer humidity.