Post 3421 - Grouses About Louses - 1980's Edition To Today

9:30.

I need to confess something. But, first, I have to back up.

It was the summer of 1985. I was 21 years old. I had a summer job at the Acadia University campus as a library worker, doing the grunt work that the actual staff at the library didn't want to do. I had some friends working at the computing centre, and I was jealous, because I wanted one of those jobs. But because I was already working, the person in charge of doling out those jobs didn't want to hire me. I see where she was coming from.

In 1989, she left that job, I applied for it, and came in second in the competition!

But I digress.

I knew that there was another person who was unemployed. I called a friend who worked at the employment centre. I forget just why, but she went out on a limb for me, did something for me, and I think I ticked her off a titch. I made it up to her in 1986 when I managed to help her and her boyfriend (now husband) get a job at the place I was working at then.

But I digress.

Maybe it was that I had to get his phone number. Whatever. I contacted this guy, told him about the job, and he jumped at it. He got the job. He was grateful to me, for maybe 5 minutes.

For the balance of the summer, whenever we met for lunch in the student union building, maybe 8 or so of us, he would monopolize the conversations, expressing opinions about things that one normally doesn't express opinions about, arguing belligerently with anyone who disagreed with him over even the mildest aspect of whatever the topic was. More than once, when I meekly said something that challenged his fervently-held belief, he would look at me, roll his eyes, and say, "Oh, spare me!"

Day after day, week after week, for a few months there, and again in 1986, he would ride roughshod over all of us during a time when maybe we wanted to take a break from our labours, eat something, and relax for a few minutes before returning to said labours.

There is a writer named Harlan Ellison. Some of you will have heard of him. He is an opinionated person to the Nth degree. This guy I'm referring to would give Mr. Ellison a run for his money. Ellison might even throw up his hands and walk away, muttering to himself that this fellow was an a-hole.

I don't know what it was like to work with this man, but co-existing with him for even that one hour every work day was a pleasure to nobody. Some people found other things to do, just to get away from this pontificating little ponce.

We eventually graduated, and I lost touch with him, grateful to any deity that would listen to me that I no longer had to see him.

Fast forward to more recent years.

I find this guy on Facebook. He lives far away, and I can ignore him, so I friend him. I figure at the very least I know what part of the world he lives in, and as long as my part and his part do not intersect like some horrific Venn diagram, Facebook can act as a distant early warning system should be move over to my time zone again.

Fast forward to last week.

I wrote about my travails regarding that meme that featured Kanye West and Gord Downie. Hundreds of people shared that meme with little or no kickback. I share it, and he and a few others accuse me of being down on people with a mental illness. I will go to my grave wondering how a person could interpret the meme in that way.

This guy, Rob Wolfe, was the most vociferous one. His attacks on me were hateful, personal, and even venomous. On his own Facebook timeline, without mentioning me, because that would have been like tagging me, he continued his spiteful cant.

Since last week, I have been hiding his posts. I should unfriend him. I haven't because I want to know that he is not where I am, because if he were I would likely go off the deep end.

I keep flipping back to 1985, when I went out of my damned way to help him get a summer job, and how the hand of friendship and collegiality was slapped away, how his daily rants drove people away from our lunches together, and how he is such an a-hole by default.

I hereby apologize to those who endured those couple of summers. If I had done nothing, not told him about the gig at the computer centre, Rob would never have been able to infest our quiet time together with his mouth and vituperation. Maybe he would have gone on a path of finding a job somewhere else, outside of the province, finishing his degree or not finishing it as the case may be. All the people he has likely pissed off along the way because of his distemper and argumentative nature might never have met him.

I am sorry, everyone, for the damage I inadvertently wrought.

What do they say? No good deed goes unpunished? It is a saying that one has to live a certain number of years before one has an appreciation for it. I now do. I now understand fully that any good thing you do has to be measured against the bad it might cause down the line, for yourself or for someone else.

Have a nice day, Rob Wolfe. Have a real nice day. And leave me alone.

I will try to be in a better mood tomorrow for the launch of the 2017 Bevboy Christmas Tie Extravaganza. I need some cheering up.

See you then.

Bevboy

Post 3420 - Monday (I'm Sure Of It!)

Sigh. I must have been zoning out when I produced last night's blog post, because I wrote the wrong day of the week on the title. Two people reminded me of that. Thanks, you two. Now, why didn't the rest of my 4.7 notice?

Been a long day. Worked all day (to get you money, to buy you things). I made dinner for a change, just to prove to Patricia that I knew where the kitchen was. I made my world-famous pasta with meat sauce. Valley beef. Yummy. Patricia had a second helping while cursing me for all the carbs I was supplying her with. After dinner, she promptly fell asleep on the couch while I washed the dishes and tidied up in the kitchen a titch. She just went to bed, actually.

I wasn't idle this evening, but I didn't work on any of the several Frank columns I have to finish in the next couple of weeks, either. Let's see if I can get something done Tuesday night. Want to finish at least one of them by Friday at the latest.

I had a pretty good topic in mind for a blog post this evening, but it has slipped my mind. If I think of it, I will discuss it here. I promise.

I think I will turn in now.

See you tomorrow. Keep smiling. Or start smiling. It can't hurt.

Bevboy

Post 3419 - Sunday

Nearly 10:20pm.

One of those days where you don't do anything other than watch stuff on the pvr and delete stuff from the pvr you will never bother watching. I like those days. Too much.

Heading into a couple of busy weeks. In a week's time I take a pre-retirement course offered at work. It is two days long. I have to pay for my own lunch, both days. Patricia has been after me for years to take this course, so I look forward to its being behind me. The rest of that week, the 7-9th, I will be on a short vacation. I plan to be busy those three days!

I have received a number of exclusive photographs of a man who was murdered quite a few years ago. I have spoken to 3 of his relatives in the last week. Taken a ton of notes. Time to start writing the article. I hope to produce 3 more true crime articles in 2016, even though there are only 2 more issues of Frank to put them in. The one out tomorrow doesn't have one by me in it, just my media column and a letter of comment.

Anyway, I should probably turn in. Been a long day doing nothing at all.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3418 - Saturday

Patricia had all kinds of fun today at a Gaelic immersion class, milling frollic, and turkey dinner. I stayed home cleaning off the deck, doing laundry, washing dishes and wearing my pyjama bottoms all day. That was the highlight.

(She has been throwing around Gaelic phrases lately, knowing that I won't understand her. So, I have been amping up the computer phrases, knowing that she won't understand me. Tit for tat. Try it sometime.)

She got home around 8:15. We watched that Alan Cumming special on PBS that we had recorded earlier this week, but then she fell asleep during last week's MacGyver. I can't blame her. It gets more dull every week.

I have a crick in my neck. Can anyone recommend a physiotherapist in the North end of the city? Close to my work? It is really starting to bother me. Thanks.

I think I will turn in.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3417 - Friday

Past 10:30

Went to bed comparatively early Thursday night. I wanted to get up early this morning to take advantage of Black Friday sales.

I was off today anyway. I got up around 6:15 and arrived at the Superstore in Bayer's Lake at about 6:58. There was a line up ahead of me, but not a big line up. Maybe 20 people ahead of me. I got in and grabbed a shopping cart and made a bee line to the tv's, like everybody else was.

There was amazing deals on televisions. They were all RCA models. RCA is not exactly the greatest at much of anything any more, but the 32" led RCA I bought 2 years ago as a nice, clear picture and still works very well. The 32" RCA they were selling this year was 30 dollars cheaper than the one 2 years ago, at only $119 plus a $19 environmental fee. No sales tax today. So, $138 to walk out of the store with the item, which is an excellent deal. The largest tv they had was a 55" 4k, for $419 or something, plus whatever the environmental fee would be.

It would be nice to have a television that big, but it would dominate whatever room I put it in. My house is not that big. The largest room is the rec room, and even there, it would occupy such a large area that there wouldn't be room for much of anything else.

And, correct me if I am wrong, but what is the deal with 4K, anyway? There is virtually no content to view on it that takes advantage of what the technology allows for. Cable broadcasts around here at a compressed 720p. If you get your channels over the air, it's likely 1080p, non-compressed, still far short of what 4K can offer. I don't get it.

Anyway, even though I could barely justify it, I got one of those 32" tv's today. I think I will put it in the middle bedroom upstairs, but maybe I will use it for something else, like I don't know what, yet, so don't ask. Patricia wanted me to get some Dawn dish detergent, saving the tax. I got a couple of books. Several boxes of cereal. And two, three packs of Skull Candy headphones for $15 each, so 5 dollars for each set of headphones. I didn't bother with the VR goggles or the bluetooth headphones or anything else they were offering.

I was a little miffed that the cat food I wanted to get for Newbie wasn't there. It was literally the only brand, and variety, of cat food that wasn't in the store. I ended up going next door to Wal*Mart to buy it there, so I got two bags of the stuff.

After getting breakfast to go, I returned home and showed Patricia what I got. She was awake by that time, about 9am, and wagged her finger at me about purchasing the television. But, she had to concede that it was a heck of a deal.

I spent the rest of the day taking it easy, to be honest. Took a nap in the afternoon, the lazy bum, me. But tonight I spent a couple of hours speaking to relatives of a man who was murdered 25 years ago. The article for Frank is starting to take shape in my head. After I finish writing another true crime column, maybe this weekend, I will commence writing this one. Hope to finish both next week in time to work on a third article. That third article is about a man who was murdered 35 years ago. My article will be the first one about this case in many, many years.

Patricia will be gone most of the day tomorrow at a Gaelic thing. She won't be home until like 9pm or something. You know what that means. I can pee standing up again!! Woo hoo.

You guys have a good evening. I will write at you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3416 - Wednesday

Nearly 10:30.

I just sent off my most recent media column in to my editor at Frank. For reasons I may not discuss, I was in a crabby mood tonight, and that mood likely informed my writing. I had begun writing it Tuesday night. I added some stuff tonight, and revised the entire thing just now. All while crabby. I hope my editor keeps some of the crabbiness in my column. Crabbiness can be a good thing.

The mood I was in, it took me nearly a full 3 hours to write what I did tonight, which is longer than normal. I will try to calm down and take it easy. Calm. Blue. Ocean.

Newbie has been running around the home office tonight, looking up at me with those come hither eyes of his. How can I resist his feline charms? Soon, my pet. Soon.

I was crabby when I wrote that column, but I managed to combat it in the last few minutes. I hid the posts of one of those who caused me such aggravation today. That felt really good. I think the next step will be to stop following the little worm. And, just for good measure, maybe I will unfriend him entirely.

I can take a lot of feces from a lot of of people over a lot of things. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me. I often share memes and jokes on my Facebook, some of which I do not agree with, often to provoke discussion. But the meme I shared today, shared by many other people, caused such grief and vituperation that I wonder where it came from. Here it is:

That is Kanye West on the left, and Gord Downie of Tragically Hip on the right. West was complainng about being tired and was dropping out of his tour. Gord Downie has brain cancer and managed to marshal his energies this summer for one last Hip tour. This month, and maybe next, he is touring small venues in support of a solo album. You may recall that tix to the Halifax concert sold out in minutes. Because that concert is for a charity, scalpers trying to resell those tickets on Kijiji and other places have been banned.

More than a few people on my Facebook thought I was making fun of those who have mental illnesses, as Kanye may have. He has been a so-and-so for many years. Now, apparently, he is a mentally ill so-and-so, and we should feel sorry for him, even though he is a so-and-so. Don't criticize him. It's not his fault. Other people have shared this meme, and I am the one who catches flak for it.

All afternoon, and into the evening, I have been the subject of much vituperation. One dude carried the conversation over to his own Facebook timeline, not mentioning me by name, which would be like tagging me, but going on and on about how this is the close to the most offensive meme in the history of memes, how it (and I) mocked those with mental illnesses, blah blah blah et cetera.

It didn't matter that at least two people on the long thread have mental illnesses, and supported me.

Another person wrote that we should all be nicer to each other. I guess that means that one should never criticize anybody for any reason whatsoever, because that person may have a mental illness and it's not his fault. Does that even make any sense?

I give up.

Anybody who comes after me like that again is dropped from my Facebook friend list. I don't need this feces.

It's fine to disagree with me. Fine to challenge me. But the level of hatred I saw today leveled at me was beyond the pale. I don't need this. And I don't need those who did this to me.

You are warned.

Newbie, I'm on my way, honey.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3415 - Tuesday

Past 10pm.

Worked all day. Came home. By 6 o'clock I was on the phone to a man in Toronto. We spoke for over an hour about his uncle, who was murdered 25 years ago. He is going to try to get me in touch with his cousins over the coming days as they share their anecdotes with me.

People continue to thank me for doing these articles. I guess my comment is, besides "You're Welcome", is that if the regular media had been doing their job over the last number of years, my work would not have been necessary. There would be regular updates about David Joseph Hannan, Troy Cooke, Lyndon Fuller, and all the others I have written about, am writing about, and will write about until Frank Magazine tells me to stop.

A guy at work remarked to me the other month that I have an extremely unusual part-time job.  I had to admit then, and fully acknowledge now, that he is right. Most people when they want to make a bit of extra money take on a paper route or deliver pizzas or get a job in a call centre. (Actually, before the Frank work came back in May, I was hours away from applying for a job at a call centre.) Me, I get a part-time job writing about unsolved murders and missing persons cases. And I find it extremely rewarding.

Anyway, when I was done talking to my new friend, I was working on my media column. I have some information that is unavailable anywhere else. I guarantee it.

We have noticed something about the Soul that gives me a bit of pause. The gas tank seems to be much smaller than on my Grand Prix. I was running on empty this evening and put 30 dollars in the tank, at 97.9 cents a litre. So, 32 litres of gas or whatever it was. And the tank was nearly full. On my Grand Prix, it might have gone to just over the half way mark. I didn't realize the gas tank was so much smaller on this car, but then again, nearly everything else is. Backing up the car into a parking space is so different with the Soul. I back up until I swear I will hit the car in the next space, get out, and see, that I have plenty of room left, so I repeat the process until I dare go no further, only to discover there is still a healthy amount of space between my car and the other one. Another thing to get used to.

Sirius XM radio called me this afternoon inviting me to accept a "special offer" to continue beyond the 3 month trial period. I think the deal was for 4 dollars a month for an additional 6 months after the 3 month trial period. I am told that if you keep playing hard to get that they will keep reducing the amount and extending the period of time that the new deal will be in effect. I look forward to this game! Maybe they will end up paying me for the Sirius XM radio!

Tomorrow is Wednesday. I work then, and Thursday and will be off on Friday. Looking forward to it.

Think I will turn in.

See you tomorrow, my lovelies.

Bevboy

Post 3414 - Monday

Once again, I must apologize for not writing the last several days. We have been running the roads quite a bit lately.

Friday night, my body shut down pretty early. Saturday morning, we drove to the Valley for Patricia's birthday weekend. We had lunch at Joe's Food Emporium in Wolfville before we checked out the Acadia craft show up town. We went from there to the house, waiting for the delivery of ground beef from the neighbor. After a brief rest we went to New Minas and checked out the sushi place that Mel Sampson had raved about.

It's called Soon Han Sushi. It is not the easiest place to find, but I knew where it was because there had been a used clothing place next door. Many a time I took my mother there and wondered what the sushi place was like. It was never open when I took Mom there.

Turns out that the place is excellent, and inexpensive. You know that feces that they sell at Superstore that they call sushi? It is not expensive, but it is feces. The stuff they sell at Soon Han's is pretty much the same price, and it is impossible to stop after just one roll. And they have bowls of really good, non-salty, won ton soup for only 2 dollars.

I paid for both the Joe's Food Emporium meal, and the sushi meal. I bought some tea at the craft show for Patricia along with the costume jewelry. Birthday prezzies.

We tried to return to the city Saturday night, around 8. But it was raining like a bugger. In the new car, with the rain, and the wind, and the darkness, we decided to spend the night at the house in the Valley. Before that, though, we drove to the IGA store in New Minas and bought provisions. I noticed a box of bacon-wrapped scallops (frozen) at 30% off. It had originally cost $18.99 and was marked down $12 to $6.99. Then, it was 30% off that, which is something like $4.89. They had 14 boxes of them, so I bought them all. They fit, barely, in the freezer down there.

Sunday morning we went to Cora's in New Minas, and I paid for that, too. From there we went to Value Village, where I paid for what we got there too, which included a pretty nice long coat for Patricia.

Not trying to brag about what I paid for, folks. It is just that when my birthday rolls around in a few months, Patricia will want to know what I will want, and will have perhaps forgotten what I bought her for her birthday.

We returned to the city, and spent the rest of the day resting. We brought back 4 boxes of those scallops, a couple pounds of the hamburger, stuff we got at a farmer's market Saturday night on the way to Soon Han's sushi, and a few other things. For dinner we had 2 boxes of those scallops.

During lunch today, I produced a short article/letter of comment for the next issue of Frank. It is about the teachers. I hope you check it out next week. Due to scheduling it will be impossible for me to produce a true crime article for this deadline, so that leaves me with "just" my media column to produce between now and Wednesday night.

Now, you're caught up. Aren't you glad you asked?

I have a bit of a headache tonight. I know I will turn in early, but I wanted to say hello to you again. I have missed you, all 4.7 of you.

Big Bang is on. Think I will watch it. I have only seen this episode 3 times.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3413 - Thursday

Past 9:30.

Didn't write last night because my body shut down around 6:45. Lingering stuff from the cold/cough/flu from a couple of weeks ago. I feel much better this evening. Thanks for your concern. You can stop sending the chicken soup now. Well, except the stuff with noodles. I like noodles.

It has been a quiet evening, one which has evaporated very quickly. I had hoped to work on my latest true crime column for Frank, but other than exchange a couple of emails with some folks, that hasn't been the case.

The car continues to drive like a dream. Really enjoying the wheels. We plan another weekend excursion on Saturday. I may even let Patricia drive. Or not. Let's go with we're not sure yet.

Tomorrow is Friday. Yay. Weekend is nearly here, again. It's like these come up every 7 days or something.

Think I will turn in. Newbie is giving me that look.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3412 - Tuesday

Past 10pm.

I spent an hour this evening talking to the son of a man who was murdered some 35 years ago. Once again, I have to wonder how these cases are allowed to go cold, how they don't get some kind of resolution. Very, very sad.

We got home a bit late this evening. The cough and cold continue to kick our anuses. I have a crick in my neck that will not go away. I don't want to see a chiropractor to take care of that because they are purveyors in junk science and I don't want to support that crap. But maybe I should see a physiotherapist.


I have had the same keyboard at work for nearly 10 years now. As I got new computers, I just took the old keyboard and plugged it in. Now, after all this time, I think I may have to swap it out with a newer one. The spacebar is acting up like crazy. I have taken the bar off and tried to clean it and put it back on, but it still gets stuck. I slap that spacebar like it was mean and asking for it, but I still find words running together.

It's not "my" keyboard. Government property, and nobody expected it to last for as long as it has. It was on the computer at work when I started this job in 2007, and was used then. But I consider it a point of pride to keep that going for as long as I possibly can. Maybe a squirt of WD40 will make a difference. Worth a try.

I think I will turn in. The crick is not going away. It is quite painful, to be honest.

See you tomorrow.


Bevboy

Post 3411 - Monday.

Yes. I'm still alive.

I feel badly that I haven't written much in the last several days. I had a relapse of the cold/cough/flu that assailed me a couple of weeks ago. I am feeling better this evening.

Anyway, you want to see some pictures of our new car, so here goes.

The few first are of my old car, the '08 Grand Prix. Afterward, there is the new 2016 KIA Soul. We got it Thursday afternoon when it had only like 12 kilometers of mileage on it. So far, it runs very well, and is fun to drive. And it certainly looks cool. I am seeing Soul's everywhere I go.

It is not easy, buying a car. Even if I had gone into the dealership with actual cash money in my hand, and made those twenty dollar bills rain, baby, then it would still have taken a few hours of my life. You have to transfer insurance to the new car. There are a ton of deals and rebates and so on that you only find out about at the time of purchase. They try like crazy to up sell you. We did opt for the 8 year, 200 000 kilometer warranty. We got the car undercoated, and have to pay $39 a year for any touch ups. Et cetera.

Anyway, by mid-afternoon on Thursday, we had the car. By Saturday, we were ready to go on our first trip, so we did a day trip to the Valley. I had some business to take care of down there, and I did. We returned, exhausted, mid-afternoon. Sunday, we didn't go too far afield.

Today, we drove the car for the first time to work. You may recall that when I bought the '08 Grand Prix, the first work day, we got in an accident that resulted in many thousands of dollars to my newly-purchased set of wheels. I was scared history might repeat itself. It did not. Phew!

The new Frank went online today. I have two articles in it: my usual media column, and another true crime piece. It is an unsolved murder case from 10 years ago that just hasn't had enough press over the years. My article is easily the longest one about the case yet. It hits stores on Wednesday. Check it out.

It is pushing 10:30. I think I will turn in. Getting up at 5:30 means going to bed relatively early.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3410 - Saturday

Hi. Sorry I haven't written much lately. My car purchase came at a non-financial price, it would seem. My cold came roaring back. I have been coughing up a lung in recent days.

Just now, at 3:30am on Sunday, I was awoken by my coughing. I am hopeful I can return to sleep, but I cannot assume that.

I will try to write something more long-winded later on today.

Keep smiling.

Bevboy

Post 3409 - Wednesday

9:45pm.

I just sent off my bi-weekly media column to my editor at Frank. Once again, plenty of content you can get nowhere else. I can take a few days off and then worry about how I will find enough to fill another column.

Got a call this afternoon from the sales guy at the car dealership. The 2016 KIA Soul will be ready for pick up by 1pm Thursday. We are excited about getting it. It only has 12 kilometers on it. Will likely double it by the time we get home tomorrow.

Still have a few personal effects in my old car. Must remember to clear that crap out before we pick up the new one.

So excited.

And it's amazing how many people are excited for us. KIA Soul's are popular cars. Several folks are congratulating us on the impending purchase.

I promise, I will take all of you for a ride. Just email me and make an appointment.

I am still coughing up a lung. Nearly had to pull over to the side of the road this evening on the way home after a coughing jag. That has subsided. I would not wish this cold/cough/flu on anybody.

I think I will turn in. Going to be an exciting day tomorrow!

See you then.

Bevboy

Post 3408 - Tuesday

Past 9:30.

I'm listening to the U.S. election results on CBC radio. I have had it on while I was writing a draft of my next media column for Frank Magazine. I have done that, so it just remains to hack and slash it and edit it and change it until I send it off to my editor Wednesday evening. I have already sent my latest true crime column, so with a bit of luck I will have two articles in the upcoming issue. Yay for me.

My cough remains. It is dry and hacking. I am nearly out of breath after a long jag. Not fun at all.

We were late for work this morning. I discovered on Monday that I could not find the registration certificate, that piece of paper that proves you own your car. I had to pay $13.20 to get a new one today. Patricia had to get one as well, along with her driver's license renewal. That done, I drove her to work, and then went to the credit union to do some business before finally arriving to work. I worked through lunch to help make up the time and will do the same thing tomorrow.

(My boss reads this blog)

I meekly asked on my Facebook a few day ago whether I should do another Christmas Tie Extravaganza this year. Several people wrote in, ordering me to do it again, so I will. I think this will be year 10, so look forward to it. Every work day in December, I will wear a different Christmas tie, and will wear it in a different part of the city. I am already thinking about new and exciting places for 2016.

And... you can make suggestions. Invite me to your work. Open doors for me. Introduce me to important people I haven't met yet. Tell me how good looking I am. You know the drill.

So, help me out, and I help you out. Deal?

Turning in.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3407 - Monday

Past 10pm.

I have spent the last couple of hours writing a rough draft of my next unsolved murders article for Frank. Because I was sick most of last week, and into the weekend, I am behind schedule, so I really should finish it by end of day Tuesday, so it is just as well that Patricia has a Pilates class tomorrow after work. Gives me time to work on it after my day job.

This article is about a young man who was murdered a number of years ago. His case has been largely ignored by the press, so it becomes one of the reasons why I found it so compelling. I interviewed a good friend of his, who spoke with tremendous reverence to his long-dead buddy. I just hope that the article that is published as soon as next week is respectful to his friend and leads to some tips in the resolution of his murder.

The newest issue of Frank came out last week. I was delighted to see that I got a fan letter in it, likening my articles to a "one man inquiry into Nova Scotia's missing and murdered men and boys". Man, that's pretentious. It was a reference to the federal government's multi million dollar inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. Not sure how apt it is, but I did appreciate the sentiment if nothing else.

Tomorrow promises to be a very busy day, so I think I will turn in.

See you tomorrow, perhaps quite late.

Bevboy

Post 3406 - Sunday

Past 9:30.

I should turn in soon. Newbie just took a couple swipes at me. Means he's getting frisky. You understand.

This was another day spent doing next to nothing. Bit of a relapse on the cold front. But, this morning I discovered that a couple of the internal hard drives on this here media computer are closing to crapping out forever, so I have been frantically backing up that hard drive to another drive that I deployed this morning. It is maybe 25% through the backup process. My goodness, usb is not always your friend.

And, once this one is backed up, I have to do the same thing to another drive, before it goes bye-bye.

Once that is done, I will spend some time, likely on Friday, my day off, to remove those hard drives. If we hadn't sold off Dad's drill press several years ago, I could use it to destroy the hard drives. Otherwise, I am not sure what I will do to ensure the drive cannot be reconstituted. I can delete the contents manually, and that will likely do the trick, because nobody wants to reconstruct the contents of a hard drive that contains tv shows or movies. Then, I can write zero's to the drive until it is full again. I guess that would do it, but the actual physical medium? I know what we do at work, but what does a fella at home do?

Anyway, if you are trying to access my Plex and don't see quite as much content there over the next few days, know that I am trying to save stuff from this about-to-expire hard drive. Wish me luck.

I think I will turn in. Newbie is giving me that look.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3405 - Saturday

Hello again.

It is 3 days since my most recent blog post. Most of that time I have been resting, still recovering from my cold. It is one of those persistent colds that grab on to you and don't let go. I think now, Saturday night, I am finally on the mend. I know you were worried.

Friday afternoon, we went to the KIA dealership on Kempt Road and selected a KIA Soul. After the test drive, it had something like 12 kilometres on it. This will be the first new car we will ever have purchased in our lives. It is a dark gray in colour. We will take possession of it on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Now, I teased you the other night about how to approach this blog. Let's back up. I'll show you where I'm coming from.

I began Bevboy's Blog in 2007, 9 years ago this month, in an effort to find a way express myself. I hated all the typo's I found in most blogs. And I didn't much care about their content, either.

The early blog posts didn't have many readers. I joke to this day about my 4.7 readers. I wish I had had that many back then.

In April of 2008, one-time Valley radio jock Karen Begin (a.k.a. Darian O'Toole) died suddenly. I had unresolved feelings about Karen, and I wrote about them here. Those posts went viral, at least by 2008 standards. I wrote several posts about Karen, attended her funeral in Dartmouth, and wrote about that.

I reached out to Deb Smith, then a co-host on the AM 920 CJCH morning show, and interviewed her. I did the same with other jocks in town, and in the Valley. My name got out there as being the radio guy.

I started reporting radio news. Someone would get fired, and I would report it. A few times, program directors would tip me off when one of their staff left.

Eventually, the editor at Frank Magazine, Andrew Douglas, began to use some of my pictures from the interviews that ran here, in his magazine. My review of that awful Gordon Lightfoot concert in... 2012, I think it was, was referenced and cited in one of his articles, contrasting my criticism of the show with  Stephen Cooke's review in the Herald, which was nearly effusive in its praise. When Doctor Paul Kinsman died, I reported that death here, and mentioned that he had been the doctor to Donna Goler, of the infamous Goler Family. I  shared that post with Andrew, who liked it enough to produce one of his own about Kinsman. He even borrowed one of my copies of "On South Mountain", the book about the Goler story and that long-ago trial. What he produced was better than what I wrote here, but I can take some comfort in "inspiring" his article.

In 2014, Andrew bought publication rights to my interview with Ron Roberts, which tickled Ron to no end. He bought every copy he could afford and mailed it off to his many friends. His death a year later diminished us all.  Shortly thereafter, Andrew hired me to write a radio column for Frank, calling it "Bev Keddy's Radio Daze". Eventually, the column expanded its scope to include new books coming out and even little trivia things. More recently, when one of his staff resigned, and my column was revived, I asked for an opportunity to explore my interest in Nova Scotia-based unsolved murders and missing persons cases.  That wish was granted, and 6 months later, I am getting well known for these articles. I even got a fan letter in the current issue. Yay for me.

What this means to you is that, gradually, more and more of the subjects I wrote about here have been moved over to Frank Magazine. I can't write radio news here as I am paid to do it over there. Ditto with the true crime articles. The latest casualty has been the little bits of historical trivia I research on my own and publish over there.

This all results in their being less and less for me to write about here. I can't imagine you're at all interested in reading about what I did every day, especially when I leave out the things that are in my paid writing.

It's funny. On Sunday, there is going to be a conference featuring local bloggers, all of whom are going to speak of ways they have monetized their blogs to make some damn money. I can't imagine it's very much money. At any rate, I have managed to monetize some of the content on this blog, earning some decent coin, which once again brings us back to this blog and what's left of it.

What things do you want me to write about? I mean, once you eliminate the stuff Frank is paying me to write about, what else do you want me to write about? It's my blog, and my content; but you're my readers and I want to try to make you happy.

No, I don't want to shut down the blog. 9 years in, and I feel I have lots more to write about. But, just what?

Please get back to me with your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3404 - Wednesday

Past 10pm.

I haven't written in nearly a week. I have been sick as a dog for nearly all of that time. A bad cold that meant I could barely get out of bed some days, and slept many, many hours. I worked on Friday, rested all weekend, and returned to work on Monday, only to leave at lunch time. I took another sick day on Tuesday and finally returned to work today. My goodness. Hardly a nice time.

(Patricia got this cold and remains out sick. She may return to work tomorrow, but then again, maybe not.)

I had Toastmasters after work tonight. I would normally stay home after a return to work after a spate of illness, but today marked, for me at least, my 25th anniversary in Toastmasters. The meeting number of 1665 tonight. When I joined in November of 1991, the meeting number was very close to 666, so this was my 25th anniversary meeting, and I joined 1000 meetings ago.

People ask me why I stay with it. Part of it is that I still enjoy it. Nights when I drag my sorry arse to a meeting end nicely because I almost always feel better after it is over. And, honestly, what would I have done the last 25 years if not for this? Stay home and watch tv? Take up stamp collecting? Who knows?

I have been thinking about the direction this blog has been going in over the last few months. I am not crazy about that direction. I will discuss those feelings here tomorrow.

See you then.

Bevboy