Author: Markman

What Should Be Simple Becomes a Sisyphean Task

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LD in tech support hell

The cable set-top box failed yesterday, and it was a nightmare attempting to contact support with all of the automated prompts and live chat operators. It was difficult just to get someone to simply replace the box. What should have taken a few minutes if you could reach a human on the phone took more than two hours on the computer. Poor LD dealing with all that stuff, she has the patience of a saint but even this was getting to her, naturally so.

The box just keeps rebooting itself; I believe the hard disk within it ultimately failed, as it was quite old. It had started acting a bit wonky earlier in the day. Anyway, a guy will be out in about ten days to perform whatever they need to. In the interim, luckily, we can still use all of the TV applications and things; it’s just the cable that’s unavailable for now. Seriously thinking of ditching that whole thing but they don’t make it easy, plus it’s not as cost effective as it used to be to cut the cord and get all the stuff you want.

Anyways, after that cluster, LD had a now much-needed accupuncture appointment and I decided to tag along and hang out at a nearby park and waited and read while she was having the treatment. After a couple of hours there we came back and I fired up the grill to use up some chicken that had to be used in the next day or so or it would go bad. I ended up grilling some marinated chicken late last night. LD said it came out good, so there’s that!

Pet Peeve of the Week

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Oh you know I’m getting one of these Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn buckets (YouTube link) when the movie hits this theatres this summer!

I like how without warning the town just decides to repave all the streets in our surrounding neighborhood and close them all off, with no communication about it, Just show up out of the blue and screw it all up. Getting in and out of here is a nightmare right now. Although I suppose once it’s done it’ll be nice. Just a little heads up once in a while would be greatly appreciated. I went to Somerville and hung out with these two guys yesterday.

Laurel and Hardy (Laurel is the one with the dreamy eyes).

I’m somehow down to the FINAL level(!) having finally solved all of the other ones of Cargo Lines, the game I mentioned an entry or two before. Pulling my hair out trying to solve this last one. This game is great! Oh, and my left knee appears to be bugging me again, think I’ll need to start wearing the brace again.

Currently Reading: The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels. (NYT Review here).

Just a Quick Little Recap for This Weekend Thus Far

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Over the weekend, We dedicated a significant amount of time to taking care of various tasks and activities. We both started by tending to the garden, spending hours working on planting and mulching to ensure the plants thrived. LD was in particular beast mode today removing a bunch of weeds. We then made a trip to the Depot to pick up new string for the trimmers, the darn thing ran out on me as I was whacking away. Saturday evening, I prepared the grill for some steak tips and zucchini, providing a flavorful and satisfying dinner ( or so I hoped). The following day, we opted for a classic choice of turkey burgers something simple plus we had some on hand. With that we added some shucked corn on the cob, which we find comes out pretty nice on the grill. With leftover chicken on hand, we decided to make the now famous lemon orzo soup to avoid any waste and have something else to nosh on during the week ahead. We also brought some of the soup to LD’s previous landlady, who had recently been hospitalized, offering both nourishment and support during a challenging time. She should be coming home today so that’s good news. Amidst the planting and mulching and even a little bit of napping, I managed to make progress on reading some books that I had been meaning to finish, finding a moment of relaxation and fulfillment in the midst of a busy weekend. The only real bummer is having to attend a wake later this afternoon for a woman who was kind to us and helped us with our burgeoning green thumbs.

Currently Watching: The Shield, not your everyday cop show from the early aughts.

Getting Super Excited for the Start of Summer!

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I mowed both the front and back lawns, (that back one is such a large area!), but kept the buttercup area in the middle of the lawn since it appears that a bunny has placed a nest right smack dab in the center of it. I don’t mow those down anyway until they’ve finished blooming. Looks sort of comical having a neat lawn and this outcrop of buttercups right smack dab in the middle of it.

On a sad note, the garden lady that helped us with many questions and gifted a bunch of her lilies over the years from her garden suddenly passed away this week, so we’ll go to the wake on Monday and LD will probably also attend the funeral on Tuesday. She was a wonderful woman to all who knew her and will be sorely missed. We were going to visit some pals down in Fairhaven that day, but decided to take a rain check to attend these services instead. We’ll also do some more garden cleanup around her lilies that are here to honor her and keep the memory alive.

I was going to fire up the grill tonight for the first time this season and do up some steak tips and zucchini but instead we decided on pizza and takeout. I’ll grill those things up tomorrow afternoon.

June is looking to be an extremely busy month with a lot of activities I’m really looking forward to. They’ll be some rather unusual new animal encounters, a couple of friendly visits from some folks we love, a new pool party invite, an island excursion, and a lot more. Can’t wait to experience them and share!

Serenity Now

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Game Time: Cargo Lines. This game is actually pretty fun, I like using my brain to try and solve the puzzles. I’m on the red crated levels now and the difficulty has really ramped up!

Kind of a weird day today, thunderstorms, then sun, then rain, then hot sun. At least the good news is that I didn’t get too wet outside today.

Feeling High as Flying a Kite at Revere Beach

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We went today to go check out the 8th Annual Revere Beach Kite Festival. It looked like it rained a little bit, but mostly it was just overcast, and though it first it sounded like it might not have been the right decision to go, that changed as time went on, and it was actually a really fun time! And of course afterwards I had to gobble down a Kelly’s Roast Beef. I even got a gift for LD’s friend who’s coming to visit next month.

A video from last night’s Trixter show that we almost attended: YouTube link. Also some of the bikes at the ride yesterday looked pretty rad to me, including this Urban Arrow Bike, which costs an amazing 8,000 dollars. Personally, for me, I think I’d rather buy a car for that money.

Currently Reading: Another coming through my Libby app, Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture. (review here) I really got to get cranking on finishing these books before I have to return them!

Finding Sanctuary in a Change of Plans

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We were supposed to go to New Jersey this weekend, Teaneck to be precise, to see the band Trixter play at a place called the Debonair Music Hall, (we had the tickets and lodging all squared away beforehand) but with LD’s concussion healing and due to the lateness, stimuli and whatnot, decided to bag that for now and maybe go again at a later date. The time just didn’t seem right for right now.

Passing by this statue I had to photograph – I thought it looked really cool! (Sanctuary Theatre)

So instead, I went on the Cambridge City Spring bike ride! This particular ride’s theme was passing by all the locations and neighborhoods of the Cambridge African American History trail, stopping at two places, one being the boarding house that Harriet Jacobs ran for a while. While there I learned of her book written in 1861 and decided to add it to my reading list next.

Currently Reading: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs (1861).

Baby Bunny Sighting

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Nice to see that at least one of the baby bunnies from a few weeks ago is still hanging around and seems to be doing fine. It was definitely going to town eating some grass.

Baby bunny sighting in the yard being dwarfed by the leaves of the tiger lily plants.(Pic courtesy of LD).

Yes, I know I probably need to cut the grass again already due to all the moisture we’ve had over the last couple of days,

On another pleasing note, tonight is my work group dinner at a local restaurant, where we all hang annually and just enjoy each others camaraderie and maybe swap some war stories from our time in the field. We’ll see if I have anything interesting to share afterwards.

Currently Reading: The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder. I had just finished the last book I read about Michael Lauder and this read should be lighter.

Yard Work Sunday

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Yesterday we finally got the flowers in the beds and pots. I pulled out the grill and swapped out the tanks between the heater and the grill. Saturday was Porchfest over at Earth-1 and I didn’t go because I knew it would be crazy. In fact, the band Guster really made an impact. I don’t know who they are but I guess they’re pretty well known. This was literally on my street. Drives my mom crazy. Actually a lot of the residential homeowners hate the event because a lot of people aren’t respectful of their property.

The mama robin next door has been busy feeding her babies. It’s really amazing to watch.

I went ahead and removed the glass panes from the storm doors and installed the screens. A yearly tradition but Carson likes to be able to smell the smells outside when he sits on his perch by the front door.

Plants for Life

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We went over to the town’s annual garden club putting and picked up a bunch of plants for the gardening ahead. It was in Walpole this time, just over the city line, at a conservation land that I’d never been to. It actually was a pretty good place to have this event. They usually have it at one of the town pool areas but that location is being redone over the summer so they had to have the event at a different place. We got a couple of beautiful hanging plants and a bunch of smaller little plants that we’ll be putting into pots and adorning the decks with.

We then grabbed a quick breakfast at a place not too far away called Blue Moon Café, which I had been to once last year. Got a bunch of things there but unfortunately while LD asked for an ice coffee it arrived as hot. Ended up drinking it anyway.

The Captain Will See You Soon

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Here is a photo I took in April. The osprey nest in the window’s reflection was something I had not noticed until someone pointed it out to me! We ate here a few years ago when it was previously owned by what I assumed at the time to be a local family. It has since been purchased by new owners, who intend to reopen it this summer – it has been closed for a couple of years now but things seem to be looking up.

Speaking of the coming summer, June is looking to be a very busy month for us – the calendar is getting crazy filled up with stuff – very exciting times! I’ll give more details into each of the events as they appear.

The Grass Just Keeps on Growing

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A slight exaggeration

Mowed the front lawn this afternoon. It’s amazing how fast the grass is growing now after pretty much being dormant for months. No sooner do I mow it then it seems it needs mowing again!

Earlier in the day my phone beeped me a notification that a book on my Libby download queue was ready to be grabbed. It had been a while since a book I had wanted to read was ready.

Currently Reading: The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions. I wasn’t sure about this book at first because it looked pretty long but a few chapters in and I’m getting hooked. It’s actually a pretty good read. It’s up for a Pulitzer.

Typical Tuesday in Springtime

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Yesterday was a busy day for me. In started off with me doing my weekly rounds around the town and having to deal with people. You need a somewhat tough skin for the job but also to keep being nice as the public face. I think I’ve found a pretty good balance of that.

Since it was so nice yesterday but supposed to rain the rest of the week I decided to tackle mowing the back yard, first time this year. The grass was starting to get a bit long back there. I ran out of gas for the mower halfway through so I had to take a quick jaunt to the station to refill up the can but after that I finished it up nicely.. As in years prior I did not mow this patch of wild buttercups that grow in the middle of the lawn as part of helping out the back yard ecology. I do mow that down after they’re finished blooming.

As evening neared, I prepared dinner: beef bolognaise with zucchini slices. I felt it turned out fairly well. We ended the evening by finishing all of the NYPD Blue episodes available on streaming, which totaled over 200. Admittedly, I did fall asleep during some of them throughout the course of the weeks we were viewing.

Carson has been “camping” in the sun room, refusing to go to bed. The last time he did this, baby bunnies were born in the flowerpot on the terrace. The fact that he’s starting to do this again has me wondering if Mommy Bunny is returning for another round. I went out there this morning to check the pot and see if anything had changed. I did observe that the hole was covered in thatch, and when I pushed it up, I noticed what appeared to be new fur lining, but it was otherwise empty, so I believe another round will be arriving soon.

Speaking of babies, a robin has been resting in the nest above the neighbor’s garage next door, where the morning doves had all of their offspring last year. I suppose she chose to use what they had previously constructed for her eggs. Smart little lady!

My mom is having her second cataract operation this morning, this time in her other eye. The first op was quite the success so after this one her eyesight should be pretty good. I’m going over there later this afternoon.

Lunching with Alpacas and Baby Goats

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Yesterday was quite a hectic day for us. We met with a friend at LD’s office first since we needed to assemble a new office chair, which we did quickly, as well as bring back items that I’d need to take care of, such as repairing the dollhouses’ grandfather clock and getting rid of some old stuff. It was then out to the wilds of Northborough for lunch with alpacas. Now, the lunch consisted of little sandwiches and salad, but that wasn’t the point. It was actually lunchtime with alpacas.

So you eat, and then they bring down the alpacas, who you can feed, touch, hang out with, and photograph. That was really great, but then the proprietors decided to let the baby goats out to run wild, and you could feed and cuddle them as well. It was mayhem, but it was a lot of fun! Would recommend ten times out of ten! We must have taken hundreds of photos between the three of us, but I’ll leave this brief sampling for now.

Like I said, it was a pretty busy weekend all in all, but surely a fun one.

When we finally got home we arrived to see that LD’s old landlady left more containers and ingredients for us to make more lemon orzo chicken soup! It’s getting a little ridiculous that this lady likes the soup so much and wants nobody other then us to make it for her. Anyways, as tired as we were we decided to bang out two huge pots of the stuff. Amazingly we were able to get in all done under and hour and a half. We even added some kale this time, mostly because we had to use up the bag. I’ll be dropping off the various containers filled with this soup to her later today. Where does she put it all?

The wrought iron railing guy is supposed to show up this afternoon to go over some options to finish off the front stairs that was completed last month. Apparently there’s a separate guy from the mason that does that work (at least the folks that we know).

Oh! And we finally got back the workout template of all the exercises we did last Saturday. We’re supposed to these I think 2 or 3 times a week. I’m posting it here if you want to play along with us.

Circuit 1: 

  • Squat to Box 3 x 10 
  • Single Arm Bent over Row 3 x 8-10 each side 
  • Single Arm Overhead Press 3 x 10 each side
  • Lateral Lunge 3 x 10 each side 
  • Bicep Curls 3 x 10 

Circuit 2:

  • Romanian Deadlift 3 x 10 
  • Tricep Kickback 3 x 10 each side 

Visiting an Inner Sanctum of the Mind!

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We started out the day actually going to a trainer space out in Weston to do a free weight strength training exercises with a trainer for a hour to help get a little bit in shape. We did squats, and dead lifts, curls, and all kinds of stretches. Not the worst way to spend a free hour in the morning. Then it was off to what I wanted to check out, this fine dandy of place, right in my hometown. It’s only open to the public once a year. It’s run by a couple who have transformed their house into this place. It’s quite a sight. The crown jewel of the house is surely its Grand Hall at the top of the staircases. Every inch of the walls and vaulted ceiling in the auditorium is intricately painted with bright colors featuring the artists’ interpretation of creation stories from different cultures. There are 57 murals of about 5,200 square feet in total.

(The last pic above is actually from Weston next to the town green where we worked out.)

After that we decided to try a place in the Ville that I had always heard great things about and since it was in the area we went to try it. A little place called Three Little Figs. It was good. Then we came home and bought some flowers to be planted soon as part of our gardening tasks.

New Server and Video Particle Effects

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Under the hood here the website has been moved over to a new server so things should be a little peppier, you might not notice anything different but as long as it works is pretty much all I care about.

I finally got around to planting the tubers that we stored over the winter. Every year I dig them out in late fall and replant them in the springtime so hopefully they’ll start sprouting soon as always in time for the summer blooms. I placed them in one of the raised beds which I tilled and got ready for planting last week. I also need to plant some seeds of sunflowers and asters that we got gifted to us a few months back. Might end up just putting the asters in a pot at least for now. Think I’ll put the sunflowers in one of the raised beds. One thing we’ve decided to do is not go too crazy this year with the pots on the deck. This year we are thinking in being a bit more minimal. Went a bit overboard last year.

Walking around the neighborhood this afternoon I was struck by how pretty this tree looked so I snapped a quick pic:

Giving Myself a Pat on the Back

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I play Wordle and a couple of other games on the New York Times site and this particular game that I play called Spelling Bee usually bumps me out after guessing a few words but for whatever reason this one just would not end. I play the game without using any hints. It took a while but today I was able to complete the board, a first for me! So I’m a little proud of myself at the moment. Have you played any of the NYT games, do you have a favorite? How do you do at them?

Nothing But the Best. Well Wishes on a Stellar Career

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We took a short jaunt into town yesterday afternoon to wish a dear colleague of LD’s well off on her leaving higher ed. It was an intimate little gathering with mostly her staff and a few invited guests (including us, I was so humbly honored!) She will definitely be missed there. I guess originally it was supposed to be a much bigger thing but with all the stuff that’s been going on there lately it didn’t seem like the right time for something like that. (I have been rather fascinated reading about everything that’s been going down there lately – crazy times). Actually I prefer the smaller gathering personally.

Some other observations that I had was that we got to park right next door (brings back memories) and then I realized it’s probably the very last time we’ll ever visit here. I’ll probably never set foot in that particular building ever again. I did get to visit the 5th floor for the first time ever though. The digs up there are pretty nice. After a lot of the stories were told and the party started to end, the guest of honor was nice enough to bequeath us a couple of her plants. The hat I’m wearing in the picture isn’t mine. It’s LD’s old landlady’s who we took to Revere last weekend and forgot to take it back. My hands were full with other stuff so I put it on my head to bring it in the house. I’ll drop it off later today back to her. It does make for a funny picture however!

As the shindig wound down we both had to use the restroom. They have gender-neutral bathrooms there so we both able to use the same one at the same time, which I will say is really weird and we probably won’t ever do that again. Just seems strange to us. Also there was what appeared to be this mini shower like thing in there that no one seemed to know what it was for. Too small to be an actual shower and I don’t think anyone would actually wash their feet with it like at the beach so what the hell is it’s meaning? Someone said a pipe drains into there to which I though, well why don’t they just get a plumber and fix the pipe? No one really knew what the heck it was for and they all work there so beat’s me! Also it was pretty dirty. I have no idea what this contraption would be used for, but it does intrigue and perplex me so!

Anyways, Congratulations and good luck on the next chapter!

Almost Like that Friends’ Episode Pivot Scene

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Well, not for us, but we were able to get rid of some furniture today that was taking up space and it went to folks that could use it. A woman that we know and her partner were looking for some furniture for their place so this morning they came by to take this big couch out of the basement that we’ve been wanting to get rid of. Unfortunely after a bunch of trial and error they just couldn’t get it out the door as it didn’t seem to fit. I’m not sure how we got it into the house originally. That was a bummer but instead we were able to give them a love seat and an old rocker chair recliner that I used to love but it’s time was due. So it wasn’t a totally wasted trip for them and actually those items will seem to suit their living situation much better anyway so it was a win-win. We still need to figure out how to get rid of that couch though.

Another nice thing was the Dad who also came with them marveled at the juke box that we have. So that was cool. I showed them how it works and all that and they really dug it. I believe he selected “Sherry” by the Four Seasons if I’m not mistaken. Cool conversation piece, as always.

Later in the day we finally got around to making some more of that Lemon Orzo soup that everyone really seems to enjoy.

Checking out the Purple Sands

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We started out the day cleaning off the back deck from all the pollen that had accumulated over the last year. We didn’t plan on doing it, but once we got going we couldn’t stop and I have to say it came out looking really good. Then we had decided since it was so nice out to take a ride over to Revere Beach to check out this purple sand that we had heard about being there. It basically got all swept in by the winter storms back in February, We had to check it out and as a bonus we decided to take LD’s old landlady with us to spend the afternoon and hang, so that was nice.

The colored sand!

LD also collected a bunch of the sand to bring back and possible put into a jar. Naturally we had to have some Kelly’s while we were there. The lady was so nice to treat us! We all ended up going with the roast beef sandwiches and a side of fries and onion rings. Have to say, it was pretty delish and the weather was great. Then after all that we headed back, I mowed the lawn out front, we did some gardening chores (more of which we need to do tomorrow) and then we had our first firepit of the season. Finally!

Currently Watching: The Bon Jovi documentary on Hulu.

Revisiting the Sanctum Sanctorum Soon

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Can you guess by this picture? I plan on revisiting this place in the very near future and this time I hope to get many better pictures! Place kind of reminds me of Dr. Strange’s house from the comic books of the 1970! Strangely I thought that I had some more from this location but I can’t seem to find them. They may be lost forever, but no matter, as I plan to take new ones that will be better hopefully anyway.

Happy Earth Day!

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I spent the late afternoon bagging up some thorny branches that I cut down last fall and finally made smaller and bagged so that the city can come take them away. I need to get to the home improvement store soon though because the f***in thorny tree like thing is starting to grow back again. Not the greatest thing to be doing with my knee acting up but things need to get done! I cut it down some more but it’s only a matter of time before it rears it’s ugly head again. Stubborn little bast**d! Anyways, enjoy this much nicer scene of spring that I took over in Wellesley, Mass!