Computer dead. Wait! It LIVES!!!

I was going to go next door to Arlene's. It's Friday night. I was going to bring my laptop and we were going to view some videos of us driving around on the Island. It cheers us up. The weather has been particularly crappy so I bought a bottle of wine, gathered up my computer paraphernalia, shut down the computer and headed next door. Long story just a little bit longer, I set the computer up on her dinning room table, went to turn it on and it was dead. I changed plugs, took out the battery and it was still dead. Naturally I was upset, still it was ten years old and I got much use out of it and as George Harrison said, "All things must pass". I decided to check out some new laptops the next day. I went to Staples and Best Buy. I was not thrilled with Windows 10. I had to decide whether I should attempt to have it repaired and if it could be repaired would it be worth repairing a ten year old machine.

Now I'll leap forward to Sunday morning. For old time sake I gave the old girl another shot and whaddya know? It turned on just like old times. It's amazing how much I depend on my computer for so many things and how I missed it even though it was only out of commission for a day and who knows how long it will hang in there.  Anyway I'm glad I didn't have to purchase a new machine and I think I should research some Apple machines.

Now as a subplot to all this, a trip to Staples is pretty much a straight shot from here. However getting to Best Buy is another thing. I don't know if you have rotary's where you live but here there are quite a few. They can be tricky but none are as notorious as Santilli Circle. Mileage wise Best Buy is not much farther than Staples but you have to negotiate practically the entire circle to get to the store. Well there's a lot of construction going on around here particularly in this area. They're building a casino about a mile from the Best Buy so there's roadwork and lane shifting, lane closures. If you're not in the right lane for your destination, guess what? You're going someplace else. Ya know we people from Massachusetts don't have a good reputation as drivers around the country. Maybe a bit aggressive? Well there are reasons.  Places like Santilli Circle are a very good reason why you become aggressive. And putting a Casino on Boston's doorstep seems like an insane idea. How are all these people going to get around? There are supposed to be a lot of smart people around here, but they weren't too smart when they laid out the road system.  I love/hate living in the Boston area. There are so many of us crammed in a small area. Below is an areal view of Santilli Circle. All the arrows are mine. Pay no attention the black line. The red ones are supposed to be my drive to the store. The blue ones are other cars entering the rotary and the yellow arrow is the direction I ended up taking because I couldn't get in the proper lane to take the exit to the store. And notice that as soon as you approached the exit for the store you had better hope nobody is entering the rotary as you try to exit it.    

 I had to drive almost two miles up the road to find an intersection where I could turn around and head back. There is also the possibility of getting stuck in the innermost lane of the circle, orbiting for an indeterminate time until you can make your break or die trying.  Oh do I feel bad for out of towners.

Well that ride from hell didn't result in a new computer and hopefully my old buddy here will keep kicking for a while yet. Now it's time to start thinking of supper, but then again I always think of supper.

I'm outta here.



 

 

 

 

   

Sitting Around

It's been about 11 weeks since I said goodbye to my working life. As I have said a billion times it's an adjustment. I am officially a member of the senior set. As I have watched some daytime television I've noticed all the ads aimed at the senior set. Life insurance, final expenses (if you know what I mean and I think you do), all kinds of medications, lawyers for those who took medications with adverse effects and want to sue and of course everybody's favorite, incontinence. I found myself watching some shows from my youth. To Tell The Truth, What's My Line, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, Bonanza and so on. Arlene still works part time for the school system so day trips are out of the question until a few weeks into June when we plan a trip to you know where. We went two times a year until last year and I'm not sure we will be able to go twice this year but we are grateful that we have this lovely place close to home and that we can go at all.

I hope we can finally say goodbye to winter. It was pleasant yesterday and the same for today though tomorrow it will be cold again. I hope it's the last of scenes like this.

While I was at my sisters this passed summer I took some pictures of my fathers paintings she had hanging up. They were framed behind glass so there is some glare from the flash. She has a whole bunch that are not framed and some day I will take pictures of all of them.

So that's about it for now. All I have left to do a last load of laundry then I'm off to buy a bottle of wine for Arlene and I to share this evening. Cheers!
I'm outta here.

OK! So it snowed!

They have been talking about this storm for the last several days. And indeed it is snowing at this time, a little passed noon. One thing I am eternally grateful that I'm not working, particularly when there is a snow scare. Arlene went to the supermarket on Monday and mentioned how insane it was. She heard a women in the checkout line say that we were going to get 30 inches of snow! I first heard 8-12, then 12-18, then back to 8-12.  The wind is blowing and it's pretty nasty out. I remember people panic buying when I worked. Some people just picked up a couple of items others had a wagon train of shopping carts. Jammed parking lot, jammed store. Don't miss it at all.
  
I had gone shopping a couple of days prior to snowmageddon and I asked Arlene if she needed anything and she said no. Come  Monday I'll bet she had wished she had said yes.

Update
It is now Wednesday afternoon. It's cold but sunny. Last night I went out about 5pm to do some shoveling. At that time it was turning from snow to rain. Now I'm not sure how much snow we got. By the time I got out there it looked like 6-8 inches had fallen and it was heavy because the temperature was rising and the rain. It took me about an hour and 45 minutes.

You would have thought it was the end of the world. All four local network affiliates were on with continuing coverage of the storm from 4:30 am until 6:30 pm. Here are some of the clips I took straight off the television at various times during the day. I'll warn you in advance, this is no academy award winner.

 

So that about wraps it up here on the Wild Willy West Show. Until next time,

I'm outta here.