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Good versus Evil and The Lone Ranger

by Al
written by Al

I like watching old TV shows. The old TV shows were mostly new when I first watched them, so they bring back memories of the more innocent times I lived in. Unfortunately, they also evoke feelings of sadness because they remind me of the America we’ve lost. While some of the old shows are hokey, they often tell strong, ageless stories that are interesting and entertaining. Unlike today, it was a time when we believed in good and evil, and we wanted good to win. Sadly, that’s gone. The waters have been muddied, and we’re no longer allowed to judge. There are no longer absolutes. When I grew up, a guy on the street was a bum, and you didn’t …

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Personal

One of Those Days

by Al
written by Al

Spring is finally in full swing around here (in fact, today seems more like summer with temperatures in the 80’s), so I’ve started working outside again.  Last Thursday, I went to Lowe’s and bought eight bags of mulch, two bags of dehydrated cow manure, and a bag of topsoil.  The topsoil was purchased to fill a trench I dug last year while running underground coax from the house to an antenna for my ham radio setup.   One of the weird things that I’ve noticed is that whenever I dig a hole or a trench in the yard, when it comes time to fill it, there is always less dirt than when I started.  I don’t get it. I dig …

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Personal

Easter

by Al
written by Al

When I was growing up, Easter Sunday was a special day for my family. Beyond the fact that we were good Catholics and it was an important day for the Catholic faith, it was also a celebration of the end of winter. The day would typically start with my sister and me hunting for easter eggs. Most of the time, this would take place inside because spring mornings in New England tend to be cold, but occasionally the eggs would be hidden in the backyard. These weren’t real eggs, of course, but plastic eggs filled with chocolate candy (usually Reese’s). Sometimes we also got easter baskets, again filled with things like chocolate bunnies, little stuffed animals, and tiny chocolate eggs. …

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Personal

Time to Lose Some Weight

by Al
written by Al

Every winter, I end up putting on a lot of weight. It’s not intentional, and as winter approaches, I promise myself that I’m not going to let it happen, but inevitably, it does. The weight increase is a result of several factors; first, I’m prone to being heavy. I know it sounds like a cop out, but it’s not. Even though the medical industry tries to make believe it isn’t the case, body type is a major factor in how much someone weighs. When I was growing up, I had a good friend, John, who could and would eat just about anything. We’d go to Burger King for lunch, and John would order multiple Whoppers, with fries, onion rings, and …

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CulturePersonal

They’re Here… Maybe

by Al
written by Al

I grew up at the beginning of the space age. I remember, as a child, gathering in the school gym, huddled around a small black-and-white TV with rabbit ears and a snowy picture, watching America’s first steps into ‘the final frontier.’ I loved Star Trek, I loved science fiction, and I loved the idea that someday, we would travel to the stars. The librarians at the Thomas Crane Library in North Quincy would try to protect me from all these crazy ideas by preventing me from checking out adult science fiction books; Danny Dunn was OK, Tom Swift was fine, but reading something from radicals like Asimov or Clarke certainly was not. Their attempts did not work; instead of taking …

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Personal

Our Anniversary

by Al
written by Al

Today, April 1, 2026, is our thirty-first wedding anniversary. Yup, I know, April Fool’s Day. Who gets married on April Fool’s Day? Well, my wife and I did, and the primary reason we chose the day was that it was practical. Since no sensible people get married on April Fools ‘ Day, it was easy to line up a church and hall for the celebration. That’s one of the reasons I married my wife. She’s practical. None of the bridezilla garbage that some women put their husbands through, where everything’s got to be perfect, and if it isn’t, they freak out and throw a temper tantrum like a spoiled child. My wife’s an adult and acts like one, something that’s …

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Personal

The Joys of Working

by Al
written by Al

I worked a lot of different jobs in the software industry over the years. I mostly wrote code to control electro-mechanical devices, such as robots, X-ray machines, airport security scanners, and many other similar devices. At most of the places that I worked I was a direct hire, receiving a flat salary, getting benefits, and, at the end of the year, a W2 form. I also worked a number of jobs as a contractor where I would be paid by the hour, have some control over the hours that I worked, and was able to deduct expenses incurred while working. I liked working as a contractor; I felt a little less owned, and it seemed like a much fairer deal …

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MusicPersonal

Tuning My Piano

by Al
written by Al

A few years back I started to tune my own piano. Before I retired, I had lots of money and little time so it made sense to have someone else do the job. Since retiring, the equation has changed, now I have lots of time and less money so it makes sense to do it myself. I was a little hesitant at first since it seemed pretty complex and there was a lot of potential for things to go wrong. I have a pretty decent quality Italian/Germany Schulze Pollmann piano and it would be a shame to destroy it if things went horribly wrong, but being a typical guy, I jumped in and hoped for the best. Turns out, while …

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Personal

The Wind Storm of 26

by Al
written by Al

We had a pretty intense and unexpected wind storm on Monday night. Some wind had been predicted by the weather prognosticators, but unless I missed something, the storm was much more violent than what they were saying it would be. I’m pretty sure that I had read winds at about 15 to 20 miles an hour with gusts hitting 40 miles an hour but I suspect it was a lot worse than that. There was also some heavy rain that came at the beginning of the storm but that quickly dissipated leaving only the winds behind. We both ended up sleeping downstairs because there appeared to be potential for falling trees and at least with the second floor between us …

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Personal

The Plant

by Al
written by Al

I’m not a gardener. I have little interest in gardening and frankly, I don’t have the patience to plant something, take care of it and invest time and money into it while hoping that the bugs, birds and animals won’t eat it. That said, a number of years back I was shopping at Target looking for a notebook and while browsing through the aisle, came across a small little plant that had been abandoned by someone and was sitting on the shelf all by itself. Now, I’m not a particularly sensitive guy (ask my wife), but I felt bad for the little thing. It was kind of cute and it was just sad to see it sitting there by itself, …

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