Posto 3050 - Monday

Hi. Late. Turning in shortly.

I arranged to take my car in for some required maintenance. This happens tomorrow morning, early. We have to be there at the dealership for 7 in the morning, which means leaving here around 6:15. Which means it will be a very long day tomorrow.

We watched two more episodes of season two of Ray Donovan this evening. Two seems to be our limit. The show is intense, and each episode is about an hour, without commercials. I really recommend it.

What else? I think I can announce a little blog contest. I will even have allegedly wonderful prizes.

It all started today when I changed y Facebook profile picture to the following:

It is a picture of Pattie Shea, formerly of Halifax, and now I think she is still in BC. She kindly posed with herself and added the official Bevboy's Blog slogan, which as you all know is: "Bevboys's Blog: Are YOU one of the 4.7?"

This inspired KellyAnne Beaton-Snailham to get their lovely dog to pose as follows:

Aww! Isn't that sweet?

So, that got me thinking: Why don't you do the same? Pose with the official Blog logo in some interesting location and send me the picture? You can post it to my facebook timeline, send it to me via twitter, or email it to me here.

Please do this. I get a kick out of this. After the year I have had, I need a pick-me-up.

Get to work, folks. What are you waiting for?

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3049 - Life and Death in the Valley. Gas pains, too!

Back in the city.

I got here around 3:30. I wasted some time late this morning trying to find a place that sold gas. There has been a run on gasoline in Nova Scotia in the last few days, and more and more places are selling out. The places that still have gas, are experiencing ever-longer line ups of folks queuing up to buy petrol.  Meanwhile, there has been at least one container vessel in Halifax harbor awaiting whatever process is required at the Esso refinery before gasoline can be delivered across the province.

Anyway, after I wrote my post last evening, I struggled getting to sleep. I tossed and turned and turned and tossed until the process resembled that Bobby Lewis song from 1961.

After too few hours sleep I got up, around 7:30. I ate something and washed the dishes and frigged off for a little while before I left the house in search of a place to top off my gas tank. Along the way, I ended up at my parents' grave. I still think of them a lot, especially Mom since her death was more recent and far more sudden and unexpected. Dad had circled the drain for years and we had lots of time to prepare for his death, which was almost anticlimactic when it finally happened.

I hung around their graves for a little while, and wandered up to see my father's parents. I never knew my father's father, as he died in 1952, years before I was born. His mother died when I was 13 and I remember her well. She had a hard life and made some decisions that still make me scratch my head, like why did she give up living in the family home to accommodate her son and his family, and accept living in a place that had no bathroom facilities for years and years? I sure as frig wouldn't, and neither would  you.

Since I was nowhere near depressed enough yet, I walked around the cemetery a bit more. I picked up a couple Tim Horton's cups that had made their way to one plot and found the grave-to-be for my former dentist. He is retired and enjoying it I think, along with his wife; but their daughter is buried there. She went to bed one night and did not wake up in the morning. For this to happen at age 12 must have been devastating for the rest of the family. It made enough of an impression on me that I still remember it, nearly 40 years later.

"If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." I am not a very religious dude, but that piece of doggerel runs through my head a lot.

Two more things about my parents' grave. My brother is buried there as well, on the other side. And the year of Mom's death still hasn't been filled in yet, 7 months after the funeral. How long does it take to fill that in, anyway?

I left the cemetery and found a place that sold gas in nearby Coldbrook. I bought some lunch first, and then topped up the tank, before I drove my way through Kentville and New Minas and then into Port Williams, up Belcher Street to Tiny Parrish Road, to Church Street and to the family home. A roundabout way that would make the typical taxi driver sit up and take notes.

I gathered my stuff, locked up the house and returned to the city, arriving here at 3:30. Patricia and I spent some time watching a couple episodes of Ray Donovan season 2, and now I am down here writing this and wondering if I have enough gumption to watch "Fear The Walking Dead" this evening. If I decide I have enough gumption, I have to ask myself then whether I want to watch it tonight or if it is good enough to watch it tomorrow night through my pvr, minus the commercials. Hard to say.

Sorry for being such a buzz kill tonight. I am in one of those moods that make me introspective and contemplative. I will try to be more chipper Monday night.

Wait a minute. Chipper, after the first day back to work?

Never mind.

I will be happier on Tuesday.

See you tomorrow, though.

Bevboy

Post 3048 - Saturday

Hi.

Sorry I didn't write on Friday night. It was one of those nights when I got home from work and decided to lay down "for a few minutes". I ended up sleeping pretty much all night, and did not get up until 6 this morning.

I got up at that time, and drove to the Valley. I had to mow the lawn here at my parents' place, it not having been mowed in 3 weeks. I started this job around 8:30. I took some breaks along the way to get some water and so on, so it took me until noon before I was done.

I took a break in the afternoon. In the evening I got a visit from a cousin and his wife. We had to take care of some long-outstanding business, which became pleasure pretty quickly.

Say, I enjoy having the crap scared out of me. You should see me when I get my visa statement. Shrieks galore. But I enjoy things like Rob Van Dyke's page on youtube. This evening I discovered "Mr. Nightmare", which is video after video of true-life things. The one that will keep me up tonight is this one:




I do not necessarily believe some of the more weird ones, but there is enough material there about the people who disappeared mysteriously, or the one about the woman who traveled under the assumed names and so on, that make me wonder just what happened to her.

Very long day. Another long day on Sunday. Turning in for the evening.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3047 - Thursday

Midnight. Must turn in.

Long day, and a long night. Washed the dishes tonight, and for my long-time readers, you'll know that is an ordeal. After that was over, we watched the last 3 episodes of season one of Roy Donovan. Patricia will likely start to watch season two this weekend while I am in the Valley.

We had an ice cream social at work today. Every time I think I have problems with lactose, I test it by eating ice cream. If I don't spend hours on the toilet the next day, then I am fine. Ask me at coffee tomorrow, guys, okay?

Newbie is giving me that look. It is the look that says that I have to get up for work in 5.5 hours so why am I still up? I tell him that my 4.7 readers care deeply and passionately about every aspect of my life, so I feel compelled to get this out there. I have a couple relatives who are not happy with me for having a blog, but that will not deter me. The only thing that will deter me is the day when I write something and it really gets me in trouble. Then, I will just tell you all about that thing that got me in trouble and continue on my merry way.

I think I will turn in. Need a few hours of shut eye.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3046 - Wednesday

10:15.

After work tonight, I had a Toastmaster executive meeting for my club. We are trying some different things this year to get more interest. All of us on the executive are going to re-do our ice breaker speech for example. Well, most of us.

I joined TM in 1991, and that is when I did my ice breaker speech. This time next week I will have represented it. Should be fun.

After that was over, I picked up Patricia at the library downtown. We drove to Wendy's in Bayer's Lake to get a snack and then home, where we watched two more episodes of Ray Donovan. Then, Patricia went off to have a bath while I repaired down here to update the Toastmasters future agenda and plot and scheme the rest of my evening.

Then, I realized it was 10:22, and that most of the rest of my evening would involve sleeping.

Crap.

You know, I was in a rush this morning and forgot to apply hair gel. I felt naked somehow without it. I'm surprised that a manager didn't send me home or add a letter to my file.

So, how was your day? What are you wearing? And shouldn't you be sleeping?

See you tomorrow, my lovelies.

Bevboy

Post 3045 - Tuesday

8:37.

Patricia has already gone to bed for the evening. Not feeling well. I will hang around here in my home office for a while and turn in myself. Long day, and the humidity is still such that sleeping is still not that easy.

The next new issue of Frank will not be out for nearly 4 weeks. The special Summer issue will be out in two weeks as it allows the staff to take some time off late in the Summer. Meanwhile, I am collecting radio-related news items for that issue 4 weeks from now. There are several items already, including one that may prove to be a fairly big story if I can get some things confirmed. Sorry to be so circumspect but that's the way it is.

I downloaded a Marx Brothers movie today here at home. People have spent decades dissecting the Marx Brothers and pronouncing their genius. I remember trying to watch one of their films years ago, having taped it off some late night broadcast channel. I think the film was "Duck Soup", but I don't remember. I didn't laugh, once. I didn't smirk, or guffaw, or chortle, or chuckle or develop gas in such a way that it made one corner of my mouth curl up so as to give a reasonable person the impression that something I was watching was eliciting an amused response.

Years and years later, tonight to be specific, I tried to watch "A Night at the Opera" for a few minutes. Once again, I didn't laugh or chortle or whatever. "Love Happy" was next, from 1949.  The credits say, "Introducing Marilyn Monroe", so I gather it was one of her earliest screen appearances. Harp is the one who doesn't say anything. He spends one very long scene stealing food in such a way that no human being could carry it all, but he has this look of delirious happiness on his face that makes me think he was watching a porno just off camera. Groucho in the part I have seen doesn't have much to do. And... the third brother, Chico (there were 5 in all, but at their height only 4 of them performed as Gummo never was part of the troupe, but then Zeppo retired and went into business for himself, leaving 3 brothers left) shows up for a moment before leaving us with Harpo pining for a ballerina who is 20 years younger than he is, and who would not want anything to do with a weirdo like him who steals food and is mute.

(I am having a hard time parsing that last sentence. Do any of you see a verb there anywhere?)

Anyway, I didn't laugh or anything at the parts of the Marx Bros. movies I checked out this evening. Am I missing something? Is this an acquired taste? Or is their humor of a certain time and place that is gone forever, and I can never go there?

While I ponder these large questions, I think I will go watch something I can relate to.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3044 - Monday

Hi. Late.

After work this evening we went to Ray's Falafel in Bayer's Lake. They just opened up there in the last couple of weeks. You will recall that Ray got booted out of Scotia Square in 2013. Subsequently he opened an outlet in Burnside, and has decided to franchise a bit by opening in Bayer's Lake. We will return. The food was excellent.

Ray may be branching out further to places like Bedford and Lower Sackville. Not that I care, because Bayer's Lake is so close to us. It's barely a 10 minute drive from my front door to places like Ray's and Costco. Lucky us.

From there we went to Value Village. Patricia bought the place out. As we left a guy from work breezed past us and said hello. He goes to all of those places on a regular basis to pick up video games and the like.

We got home and watched two episodes of "Ray Donovan". Now, I am writing this blog post before I turn in because I know that all 4.7 of you care deeply about every facet of my life.

Newbie is crawling all over me. Reminds me of a girl I dated once, minus the fur. Well, minus MOST of the fur if you catch my drift. Hee hee.

I guess I will turn in.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3043 - Sunday

Hi.

Pushing 8pm.

Patricia is driving back to the city, and should be here by 9 or so. She promises to unload the car and immediately jump in the shower, there to remain for a very long period of time. How long? 15 year old boy after a date long.

Another crazy humid day. In desperation, I lay down this afternoon with the windows open and the ceiling fan blowing air down on me. The next thing I knew, 3 hours had passed. When I finally got up and went down stairs, Newbie followed me. I think he had been under the bed most of the time I was on top of it. Poor little guy is minding the heat more than I am.

I know that 4 and a half months ago, the land was covered in snow and we were recovering from months of horrendous weather. But August has been terrible for those who can't stand the heat. July was much more clement. Not too hot, not too cool. Temps in the low to mid 20's. I wish that state had remained.

In a little less than 2 hours we get the first episode of "Fear the Walking Dead". My expectations for the show are pretty modest, and I get the feeling that I will not be disappointed. Some aspects of the show as described in articles I have read do not grab me, but we will see. I will let you know what I thought of it, in tomorrow's blog post, because I know you all intimately care about what I think.

I think I will sign off for the evening. I have to wring out my nose hairs.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3042 - Beating The Heat

Humidity.

I am unable to do much of anything without sweating. Earlier this evening I had to wring out my nipples, which was about as much fun as you can imagine.

It has been too hot/humid/whatever to do much of anything today. I sat transfixed in front of the tv this afternoon watching a show called "City of Vice" through my Plex media server. Newbie would saunter over to me and climb on my lap, only to jump off because our combined heat was too much for him. Which is fine, because I would have asked him to jump off if he hadn't done it on his own accord.

I have eaten only one meal today. This evening, at 9:30, I am not hungry because the effort of chewing something would cause me to break out in a sweat.

Shortly, I will go up to bed. I will lay on top of the bed because to be in the bed would make me even warmer.

Just talked to Patricia.  She is enjoying her last evening at the cottage. It is humid there, too, but the windows are all open and the fan is on full blast. She is likely having a wine spritzer and is watching "Birdman", which she reports is weird. That's usually the way it works.  The films that critics fall all over themselves to like, are oftentimes things that you and I don't get the point of at all.

Anyway, she will return to Halifax sometime tomorrow, likely arriving around supper time, a meal I have no interest in preparing because of the heat. Perhaps we will just look at it each other and sweat.

You guys have a good evening. Talk to you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3041 - Friday

I just love near 100% humidity. Don't you? I sit here and just moving my right up to scratch my nose causes me to break out in a sweat. My dehumidifier in the next room fills up every day or so. Meanwhile, Patricia says that while hot at the cottage, it is not the abuse it is here in the city.

I just sent off my latest column to Frank Magazine, along with several pictures. I hope you like it when it goes up in a couple of weeks.

I bought something yesterday that has proved very useful so far, and which I wish I had bought a long time ago. It is a document/copy holder, one of those upright things that have a clip on it to hold several sheets of paper in place, and a thingy that highlights  a particular section of a page, which you can move up and down. Made writing my current column much easier, and I can write off the cost of it, so it is all the better.

Newbie is even more lethargic today than I am. I think he is really minding the heat. Maybe I will take him for a drive tomorrow, since I have air conditioning in the car.

I think I will call it a night. Just too hot to do anything else.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3040 - Thursday

Shortly past 8pm.

When I got home this evening I changed into my painting clothes and proceeded to stain the front deck, the places where you put your feet. I didn't do the railings or anything. I wanted to get one coat in before it go dark.

I did.

But then it started to spit rain, so much of my work may be undone.

Sigh.

I am hoping that sometime over the next three days I will be able to complete one full coat of my front and back deck. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed. I will not cross my eyes, though. They may stay that way.

I have a bunch of notes for my next Frank column. I will get up early Friday morning, sit in my underwear and type away until the column is done and I can email it to my editor. I hope that the mental image I just gave you turns you on a little.

I'm gonna keep this post short. Turn in early. And get up early.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3039 - Wednesday

Once again, it is past 10:30.

I just sent off my next column for Frank Magazine. As well, I sent in a "random act of kindness" item to Jeremy Novak, who puts out the Grapevine newspaper in the Valley. He liked the idea I pitched him, so I produced that this evening, too. It will be online, so when it goes up, I will let you know. Or you can add it to the list of things I work on that you don't give a darn about. Up to you.

Patricia left for the cottage around this time last night, and called me from there at 1 this morning. I spoke to her about an hour ago, and she reported that it is very hot there, but that she is relaxing and semi looking forward to staining the deck there, just about as much as I am looking forward to staining the deck here. I think there is some irony there, so you're welcome.

I got home from work around 5pm, and I have spent nearly the whole evening down here in my home office. I wasted some time with the KVM switch I bought earlier this year. The mouse I had hooked up to it on this computer stopped working, and when I tried to plug the new mouse into the adapter that goes into that switch (ps/2 connections), the new mouse didn't work at all. After a few minutes, I became frustrated and disconnected the two computers that connected to the switch, and ran the mouse and keyboard and monitor to the desired desktop computer. Everything works great now, and the computer no longer crashes on me. And the monitor is configuring itself properly again. Why did I ever both with a KVM switch anyway? If I have to, I will just take the other desktop computer here and hook it up to another monitor and keyboard and mouse. Easier on my nerves.

Do you know someone who would like an inexpensive KVM switch?

Tomorrow is Thursday, which is my Friday because I am off on Friday. Does that make any sense?

I think I will turn in. Long day tomorrow.

See you then.

Bevboy

Post 3038 - Tuesday

10:39. Should turn in shortly.

Should.

Patricia left for the cottage a few minutes ago. She has the rest of the week off and wants to be there so that she can throw out garbage because garbage pick up is Wednesday morning down there. So she will drive there now and arrive there around 1 am. The balance of the time down there will consist of her making jams and staining the deck down there. She will return to Hali sometime late on Sunday, and go back to work on Monday.

Unless there is a massive change of plans, I will be here in Halifax. I have a deck of my own here to stain, and it needs it. After the Winter we had, after a nearly a full  year of people walking all over the two decks (esp. the front one), it is quite scuffed up and that is a recipe for absorbing water not repelling it. So, weather depending, I will be busy here. I have Friday off, so I hope to be able to get the entire job done this weekend. One coat, if not two.

Earlier this evening, I counted those AHMM's and EQMM's and can report that I have 55 of them, plus a few issues of Mary Higgins Clark's mystery magazine, which was published by Family Circle in the 1990's. If you have never heard of it, fret not, effendi. It only lasted 7 issues, which were published sporadically, whenever the Family Circle people felt like putting one out.

I already have some of those issues that my friend gave me, but with these duplicates, I think I will take them to the cottage so that I can scratch my itch when I am down there and want to read some short crime fiction, which is often.

Work week is half over.

See you tomorrow, my lovelies.

Bevboy

Post 3037 - Monday

Hi.

Late. Turning in shortly.

I sold off yet more comics this morning. I was hoping to make enough to pay off the young man who mowed my lawn this weekend plus put some gas in my car. I made more than that. So after work this evening I bought a can of semi-transparent stain so that I can stain my front and back deck over the next couple of weeks. It is overdue. Should have done it earlier this Summer. Oh, well.

The man who gave me back issues of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, gave me more of both this morning. I haven't counted them yet, but I guess there are about 40 of them. The thing is, I have already sorted the ones I have, so I will have to integrate these ones into the collection. I will do that over the next few days. As it stands, the magazines are all next to me on my computer desk in my home office.

I spent my lunch hour today writing a rough draft of my next Frank column. When I finish that by Wednesday I will then commence serious work on my next column. I have taken lots of notes and solicited input and suggestions on my Facebook. I will shape that material into something I think my editor will like. Deadline is tight but do-able. Good thing I have this coming Friday off. I will need that time to finish the column.

Met my new neighbors this evening. Well, the husband. Not the wife, yet. But he is really nice. Patricia was so impressed with him that she plucked a container of strawberry freezer jam that she had made and marched it over to him.

I think we are caught up. Except... you haven't told me what you're wearing. Let me know, will you?

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3036 - Sunday

Hi. 10pm.

I was up until 2:30 this morning reading a Jack Reacher book, the first one in the series by Lee Child called "The Killing Floor". It is picking up very nicely, but it sure was taking its sweet time to get to this point. Why do authors insist on writing huge books with lots of padding when they could produce something much leaner and meaner, like most authors did 30+ years ago? I mean, I have a bunch of novels written in the 1940's and up; and most of them are maybe 250 pages. "The Killing Floor" is a good 500 pages, and most of them were not necessary. 

Anyway, I did get some stuff done today. The dishes were piling up, and now they're not. I cooked dinner. I found yet more comics to sell off tomorrow. And I have identified quite a bit of stuff to toss out with my recycling on Tuesday morning.

What a hot day! We do not have air conditioning here in the house. In my car, yes. Not in the house. We have had many of the windows open today, and most of the fans, including the one here in my home office. Even Newbie has been lethargic today.

Tomorrow is the beginning of yet another work week. I keep wondering why weekends go by so quickly. I think it is a space-time continuum thing, something that Einstein theorized about at one time. Time is relative. An hour with a pretty girl can go by just like that. But an hour spent in a Calculus class can seem like a day. Weekends are like the former, and week days are like the latter.

I think I will go wring out my shirt and turn in. Work is not that far away.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3035 - Saturday

Hello again, my friends.

Saturday night. Late. Will be turning in shortly.

I did... almost nothing today. Felt great. I cooked a late breakfast for us. We watched stuff I had pvr'd over the last couple of weeks. And tonight we watched the first episode of "Ray Donovan" on demand.

All I stated about staining my deck, or getting my recycling ready for Tuesday or working on my column, didn't amount to anything. What is wrong with me? I had better be a bit more productive on Sunday than I was today. Even Newbie, who sleeps as much as a typical cat, was looking at me with disgust a little while ago. He probably thinks I'm a poor role model for him.

All right. Let's make a deal. I will get some actual things done on Sunday. Okay? And I will tell you about them tomorrow night. Okay?

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3034 - Friday

Hi.

I didn't write on Thursday because I took a sick day. When I take a sick day, the blog goes on hiatus. I'm sure you understand.

I awoke Thursday with a migraine, and even one of my pills meant I had to sleep the morning away. I felt better by the afternoon and was of course fine to return to work in the morning.

The weekend is here. Once again, I am wondering what we will work on this weekend. There is always so much to do. Since Tuesday is a recycling day around here, I think I will concentrate on getting as many old pieces of ephemera out the door this coming week. I have some old magazines and books that are worthless in a very real sense. And I have some magazines that I can never part with. I have a nearly complete run of the 1980's Twilight Zone Magazine, for example, and there is no way I am letting those go. It was an excellent magazine for its period, although the art department left something to be desired. The layout was often confusing and poor, but that is mostly my recollection. Maybe it would look just fine if I dug out my issues now. I missed the magazine very much went it was suddenly canceled in 1989.

Anyway, I have a lot to do this weekend. I think Patricia and Newbie and I will turn in early for the evening so that we can commence this work on the morrow.

See you then.

Bevboy

Post 3033 - Ugh!

Have had a headache for hours now. Only got up to take a pill and produce this post.

Going back to bed.

See the post title.

Ugh.

Bevboy

Post 3032 - Christmas in August

I got a new radio tonight after work!

I'm so excited.

There was a fellow not far from here who is going to move. In preparation thereof, he is giving away stuff. Including this radio.

But this is not just any radio.

No. Not at all.

It is a GE dual alarm clock radio.

I have loved the older General Electric clock radios for a long time. They have a faux wood drain finish with a nice red display. And they have excellent sound and build quality.

If you look around a bit, you can find several web pages devoted to this series of radios that GE put out in the 1980's. One of them, we unearthed in my father's workshop after he died, and we were looking for things to sell for the estate. The radio was caked with sawdust and regular dust, and had been covered with that stuff and pieces of wood and cardboard for likely at least a decade. I cleaned it off, squirted a little WD 40 in the area where you tune it and where you adjust the volume, plugged it in, set the time and alarm, and turned it on. Worked perfectly. It is still in that workshop and keeps me company when I am down there puttering away. 

This radio will go in the kitchen, probably starting tomorrow. It will replace a Sony cd player, or maybe it's a Panasonic cd/radio combo. Piece of junk that keeps lousy time and sounds like crap. Looking forward to getting rid of it and putting this radio in its place.

It is the simple things in life that give me pleasure. Getting radios for free is certainly on that list.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3031 - Fun With Downloads

I subscribe to breaking news alerts from Variety, the trade journal for Hollywood. Today, I got a news alert that four upcoming tv shows' pilots had been leaked online.

When I got home today, I downloaded these pilots, which are the ones for The Carmichael Show, Minority Report, Lucifer and The Blindspot.

I watched two of them this evening: Lucifer and The Blindspot. Lucifer is pretty cheeky, and I liked it a lot. It's about the son of the devil who gets bored with torturing souls so he goes on vacation on earth. Through a series of events he starts to work with an L.A. police detective and solves crimes. The show knows it can be pretty offensive to people of a certain religious persuasion and therefore doesn't take itself very seriously. "Lucy" has a good side to him that he struggles to keep down, but it squeaks out like a wet fart during a funeral. I liked the show and want to watch more episodes once they are broadcast, starting in late September.

"The Blindspot" is the show about a woman with mysterious tattoos who is discovered in a duffel bag in Times Square. She has amnesia but has instinctive abilities that make her useful to the very people who are investigating her. Based upon the pilot, I want to see more.

The Carmichael Show is apparently about a guy who is a stand up comedian who gets a girlfriend and she moves in while his divorced parents continue to hover around him. I made it through 6 or 7 minutes before I bailed.

And I didn't watch Minority Report at all. Patricia did, and she said she liked it enough to check it out further.

I have a theory. I think the networks made these shows available anonymously, getting someone to upload them to the torrent websites and then leaking the news of their existence to places like Variety and Deadline. It gets word of the shows out there and helps build buzz for them in an effort to differentiate them from the dozens of other shows that will debut this Fall. The networks will deny this and make ominous comments about how these are pirated shows and it's illegal and blah blah blah. But nothing is ever done, and life goes on, and people's appetites for these shows are only whetted. No harm, no foul.

I can recommend The Blindspot and Lucifer, but not The Carmichael Show. Minority Report was liked by Patricia. I hope you check out all these shows.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3030 - Sunday

Hi.

Got back to the city mid-afternoon. Before I left the Valley I surveyed the lawn I mowed yesterday and noticed quite a few mistakes. The swath on the lawn mower I purchased a few months ago isn't very wide. I have to remember to move the mower over maybe half a row each time. It still looks a lot better than it did before I started the job Saturday morning.

Anyway, got back here. We watched a couple episodes of a British drama called "Silk", and once again I am blown away by the quality of most British dramas over their American counterparts. I am just about lawyered out when it comes to tv shows, but this one makes me interested in them again. It's on the Canadian Netflix. Check it out.

The new Frank hits the net Monday morning. I hope you check it out.

Tomorrow we start yet another work week. Yay. Guess I'll go ahead and get ready for it.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3029 - Saturday

Hi. Very late.

I did drive to the Valley Saturday morning. The weather this morning did not indicate that rain would be imminent, so I packed an over night bag and headed out. I got here around 8:30 and was mowing the lawn by 8:55 or so. Took most of the morning since the grass/hay was so high, its not having been cut in more than a month. But it is done now, and looks a lot better.

I treated myself to lunch in New Minas. I came back here and took a nap and this evening watched "Gone Girl" on Netflix. It almost makes me want to go out and read the book, just to see if the characters in the book, particularly the wife, are as loathsome as they are in the film. It is hard to believe that they would be, but you  never know.

Sunday I will return to the city, and Monday, to another week of work. Where do these silly weekend things go, anyway?

You guys have a good evening. I will see you on the morrow.

Bevboy

Post 3028 - Friday

Hi. Happy weekend.

First week back to work is over. Now I get to enjoy two days off in which I hope to go to the valley and mow the lawn down there. However, there is supposedly going to be a crappy rain storm for several days, so the question is whether I can get down there before said rain starts and complete this important task. I will not know until Saturday morning. But a fella can hope.

If I end up not going to the Valley in the mornin', we may go to a movie tomorrow. Either the latest Mission:Impossible or maybe "The Gift". Wewill not see the new Fantastic Four. It is getting dreadful reviews, accumulating a score of only 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. There was nothing about that film that made me want to go see it, and the reviews are bearing out my suspicions.

I gave away all those duplicate issues of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine today. A friend at work got two of them, while blog reader Patty got the rest, over 40. Patty's face lit up as if I had given her a million dollars or something.

We are on the hunt for a new barbecue. We had hoped that by this time of the year, that bbq's might be cheaper by now, as store managers try to get rid of the stock in favour of other things. But they are still crazy expensive. It is just the two of us, so we don't need a barbecue large enough to feed the Osmonds, but most of the barbecues we see are larger ones. Let me know if you see one suitable in your travels, k?

Guess I will turn in. Might have a really busy day tomorrow.

See you then.

Bevboy

Post 3027 - A Night Out

Hi. We are back home after a very pleasant evening with old friends.

Many moons ago, I went to university. On my first day of orientation I turned to a cute girl next to me and welcomed her to our mutual field of study. Her name was Cherylann, and still is for that matter. She remembered that long-ago incident this evening. Turns out that she showed up with a girlfriend that day, and she is still friends with Anne. And, it further turns out that Anne reads this blog, so hello, Anne!

We ate at the Wooden Monkey. The restaurant is about as eclectic as you can get in these here parts, but the name of the game was conversation. We got caught up on former students, and I made an effort to tell them as much as I knew about our former professors. One of them, I told them conspiratorially, always seems to be getting his ax sharpened whenever I visit the Wolfville Farmer's market. Not that there is anything wrong with that. At least one other professor had died, which they did not know.

My gosh, university was such a long time ago. I am not the person I was back then, and praise be to Oshtur for that. I was shyer than shinola, and more than a few people perceived that as standoffishness. It wasn't. I was just struggling to fit in socially and failing miserably. I eventually just gave up and hardly spoke to anybody because it was easier to stick my nose in a book and pretend the world around me did not matter. I would not blame people for people thinking I was an asshole back then. I wasn't. I promise I wasn't. But when I couldn't speak to people, they likely thought I wouldn't speak and wrote me off as an a-hole. Damn. And how many relationships with women went by the wayside because I was a 1980's, Caucasion version of Raj from The Big Bang Theory? I will never know. I'm sorry for many things back then. Thoughts like that went through my head this evening.

Anyway, at one point, Barry mentioned that when he returns to his home town with his family, people continue to accost him who remember him from when he was a youngster. He may have no earthly idea who they are, but he is too polite to ask them to identify themselves. I get that. It has happened to me more than a few times that I run into an obscure relative at a funeral or a wedding, or someone I went to school with in 1977 who remembers me fondly, but I either remember them unfondly, or not at all. It's one reason why, increasingly when I go to the Valley, I mostly hang out at the family home.

All too soon, dinner was over, and the hour grew late-ish. We paid our bill and left, but not before getting these pictures, and a few others that are on my Facebook.

Cherylann, Berry, I hope it isn't another 29 years before we see each other again. For one thing, we'd be 80, and there is no guarantee that we would remember each other by then, or even what we had had for breakfast that day. We would just repeat the same thing over and over again, complain about erratic bowel movements, and wonder where our dentures are.

Well, Barry and I would.

Cherylann and Patricia would still look fabulous.

You guys have a good evening. See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3026 - Wednesday

Hello. Past 10:30. Turning in relatively soon.

I got my hair cut this morning. Its previous length was driving me crazy. I don't know how women and Fabio do it, with the whole long hair thing.

Tomorrow night Patricia and I have dinner with my old university friends. It will be at the Wooden Monkey, downtown. Looking forward to it. I shaved this evening and may even brush my teeth before heading out to see them. I want to put my best club foot forward.

This evening, I sent off my latest (greatest?) Frank column. Once again, it contains information you will not find anywhere else, guaranteed. That, plus all the other pages of content in the magazine, should make it worth your while to check out when it hits stands next week.

My work week is half over. I love it.

You guys have a good evening. See you tomorrow.


Bevboy

Post 3025 - Tuesday

So. First day back to work, after 2 weeks off. I feel fine tonight. Patricia, on the other hand, is in bed, likely for the evening. She is pooped. Exhausted. Seepy. Tired. In zzzz land.

After work this evening we stopped off for some groceries, but not before we dropped off some old clothes at Value Village. In return, they gave us some stamps to complete a card to guarantee us 20% off our next purchase at VV. Great. We get rid of stuff and then get a chance to get more stuff, at a discount. Just what we need.

Where did Newbie go? He was here a minute ago. Little so-and-so.

I have produced 750 words toward my next Frank column. I will be adding some more material during my lunch hour tomorrow and revising it after work, when Patricia has a doctor's appointment. Don't I live an exciting life?

After being away for a spell, it has been nice getting re-used to Fibre Op internet. I am embarrassed it took me so long to get around to getting it. I am convinced that Bell is trying to get people to give up DSL technology by no longer spending money on it. Cynical, but it worked for me.

Say, Thursday after work I will be having dinner with a couple of old friends from university. I have not seen them since they graduated in 1986, which wasn't yesterday. They have been a couple since the first year of university, which wasn't the day before yesterday. I am looking forward to seeing them again. It has been far too long. Can't wait to catch up. I wonder if they still use CP/M? Do they still write their code using the Turbo Pascal screen editor, or have they moved over to Aztec C? And what about that Wordstar, eh? If it is still good enough for George R.R. Martin, it should be good enough for us.

Thursday can't get here soon enough.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy
P.S. Newbie is back. Moving over to his little cardboard box, where he will sleep the night away.

Post 3024 - Monday

Hi.

Patricia returned to the city around mid-morning. We have spent the day going through some clothes we no longer want. After work on Tuesday we will be making a trip to Value Village, and will drop off two large grocery bags full of clothes.

In but hours we will return to work. Another vacation done. I don't know where the time went. I just know that my next Frank magazine column is due in two days so I will be spending some time over the next couple nights working on it. Those deadlines come up quickly. I am not sure how reporters deal with daily deadlines. I'd go mad.

Patricia has already turned in for the evening. For some reason I am full of P and V. I am sure I will crash later.

You guys have a good evening. See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3023 - Sunday

Hi.

I am back in the city, having arrived here shortly after 5pm.

On the way here, I dropped off a bunch of stuff at the Value Village in Bayer's Lake, things that we did not need any more at the cottage and were only too happy to have lying around any longer. By the end of the day I will have forgotten what most of those things were. Just as well.

Patricia will be returning to the city sometime Monday morning. She decided to stay one more evening to make some freezer jam and to clean the place up a titch before heading out. When she gets here she will do what I did this evening, which is to take a very long shower and then wash some clothes before we return to work on Tuesday morning.

Another vacation gone. Once again, these vacation days go by so quickly I wonder if they are in a different space-time continuum. I don't know where the days go, or why they go by so quickly. Tuesday, our first day back, will go by so slowly I will likely pass out from exhaustion by mid-day.

I asked my readers a question, a specific question, in the current issue of Frank. I am happy to report that, so far, 3 people have stepped forward to answer it. Blown away, as it was something I had wondered about for several decades. That is the difference between having a blog, read by 4.7 people on a good day, and a print publication, read by... many thousands of people. If you want to know what that question was, check out the current Frank. To learn the answer, check out my next column, which will be out in the next issue of Frank, out in a week. Pretty neat stuff if I say so myself, which I do.

I think I will turn in for the evening. I was up until like 3 am Sunday morning, and I need a day to get back to some kind of regular schedule before Tuesday.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3022 - Rats

Back to the city on Sunday.

Sob.

Bevboy