Wal mart woes

I hate you, Wal Mart. You never have enough lanes open for business. You'll pay someone to stand at the door and say 'hi' to me, which is pointless, but you will not pay to open up a few more registers. Regardless of the time of day, you only have enough registers open so that there are 10 people in each line.

Your prices aren't that low, the store is messy, and you hire people that barely speak a lick of English.

The only good thing that I can think about WalMart is that they carry the humidifier filters that I need...

The last push

This weekend is the last push of the holiday shopping season, and wow does it show! It took me 20 minutes to get from the highway exit to the parking deck, each way, both yesterday and today over at the Holyoke Mall. For those of you not familiar with the area, that's a trip that normally takes about 30-45 seconds.

For the most part this year people are being jerks again. Yaknow, eager to cut out in front of you just so they can block the lane and get into the parking deck. Or honking at me because I let a guy in that already has half his car in the lane. I swear if I wasn't driving a company marked vehicle you would be hearing and seeing some choice expressions from me. Just because you put your blinker on does not make it alright.

Honestly, I avoid the mall like the plague now. It's not over, either. Come the first few weeks after xmas we have all those morons who must exchange their unwanted xmas gifts that very day!! I mean c'mon people, is it THAT important?

Anyway, that whole traffic thing reminds me of how pitiful the horn is on the work car. And my personal car too... (probably because my personal car is designed to just be about to out accelerate your slow butt and get out of the general vicinity of the issue that was causing you to honk the horn in the first place). It reminds me of a horn addition that I'd love to do.

Although not sure of the legality of it, I have heard that as long as you have your original horn in place and it works the only law you might be breaking is a noise ordinance. What is this? TRAIN HORNS!!! Heh heh. That would get you idiot's attention

Check the vid:

Tis the season

The week before Christmas. Lunchtime. You would think that Wal-Mart would plan on having more then 6 of their 24 registers open. Those 6 include the "backups" they kept asking for over the PA system.

No less than 15 people in each line. I kid you not!

Speaking of the word "kid", for Pete's sake parents...do NOT let your kid run around a retail store like it's some sort of freakin romper room!

Suggested music: Sarah Bareilles

I have a recommendation to folks that appreciate some good jazzy-pop music that is particularly heavy with piano. Sarah Bareilles' "Little Voice" album is definitely a good buy. You may have heard her popular song "Love Song" being played on the radio lately, this is a good example of her style. (Lyrics: "I'm not gonna write you a love song, because you asked for it, because you need one you see...")

One might think based upon my other music tastes that I would not be listening to music usually attributed to a chanteuse, but you would be wrong. Although I do enjoy my Rammstien, Metallica, and Static-X, my tastes vary greatly. I also listen to older 60s, I particularly enjoy the 70s, a touch of classical, and I do enjoy a good jazz-pop because it is the same style piano music that I used to like to play. You won't find country or 'screaming people' on my radio though. If I can't understand the words or you are whining about how your dog was shot then your wife left you (country), it's not for me.

Check her out at your local audio store or over at amazon.com.

Wow...

That was a huckuva storm! Eight inches to a foot average in our area, all in about 7 or 8 hours. The roads were absolutely atrocious starting at about noon. I certainly don't blame the road crews for this. The snow was just coming down way too fast.

As a matter of fact, most of the roads are fine now. Even our condo parking lot is clear (now that the dumbasses who didn't move got towed away!) Speaking of dumbasses...people you have GOT to learn how to drive in the snow. Here's a few rules for you

* assume that nobody can stop. So cutting me off and then slamming on your brakes is a no no. Just because you put your blinker on does not make it ok

* please don't stop in any lane of traffic to clear your wiper blades. Yeah, like you who stopped in the center lane of I-91. Yes, stopped in the center lane. You are the king of the dumbasses.

* don't honk at me if I don't immediately creep up as we move along a 1 mph. I drive a stick..it's a pain in the ass to creep, stop, creep, stop...etc. Anyway, I'm leaving extra distance so you, "Mr. I'm in a hurry tailgater", don't push me into the car in front of me when you get rear-ended. At the moment I will have to decline your offer of bumper remodeling, thank you.

* 4-wheel drive does not let you stop any quicker. However, if you insist on hitting something, go right ahead but do it up the road so I don't hit you. I do occasionally need the entertainment of watching a car other than my own spin in circles.

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There is more snow coming, apparently. More ice, too. I have the distinct feeling that I will not be working long, if at all, come Sunday. We are expecting snow, then sleet, then freezing rain, and finally plain rain. Then the temps drop to 8 degrees overnight. Wow.

I just built a mini-snowman up on our porch railing, as is customary for me during our first big snow dump. I plan to squirt him down with lots of water tonight and turn him into ICE MAN. Hey, there are no age limits on snow sculptures, snowforts, and snowball fights. Anyone who laughs at that..grow up. Have a little fun once in a while.

Awesomest birthday present

Mother nature has intended on dumping up to a foot of snow around here. That is an awesome birthday present. I hear even more is in the forecast for the weekend!

At 11:02 it was 28 degrees outside and the first flakes were flying. Now it is 11:35 and you can barely see a quarter mile. No wind or anything, just HUGE flakes coming down hard! You can attribute the big fluffy to the cold temps.

Now one thing I do not understand is the seeming genius of the landscaper at our condo complex. He has put down this alternate-to-salt spray on the road to keep things from freezing. That aspect of things is pretty awesome, actually. It smells like the beet-juice or burnt-sugar methods. However the thing that puzzles me is why? It isn't expected to go above freezing, and the snow is supposed to be light and fluffy. Easy to plow, and it won't melt!

The ground is frozen solid, a nice 25 degrees or so. I'm betting what is going to happen is the snow will land on this beet-juice stuff, and melt. And it will continue to do so until it is diluted to the point where it is no longer effective. With the low of 13 tonight, I suspect that this melted snow will then freeze into a lovely skating rink. As a matter of fact as I look outside I can see that the snow is already overwhelming the power of the beet juice. I HAVE THE POWER!!! I AM BEET-MAN!! sorry, just a little excited about the snow.

I'll check in a bit later. I grabbed my weather spotting ID because I am sure I will have to report in.

...

...and this morning I come back from doing the radio show to find a very innocent-looking cat triumphantly standing over a defeated red xmas tree ball...

"I didn't do it,"

Yeah, it just got legs and jumped off the tree...damn cat.

Me vs Cat vs Xmas Tree

Every year it is an ongoing battle. I set up the fake Christmas tree. My cat, Mojo, decides immediately that the best way to help would be to jump in the box as I am trying to take out the branches. Repeatedly.

After the tree actually goes up (with much 'shooing' involved), I'm not sure quite what his thought process is like. Mojo is an indoor cat, although we adopted him as a little wee kitty cat when his mom abandoned him outdoors. He's a beautiful Maine Coon to whom everything is a toy.

Maine Coons, as a matter of fact, are highly regarded as one of the most playful, intelligent, and loyal cats out there. They are very hardy animals with highly water resistant fur coats, quick reflexes, and...large size. It is quite normal for a male Coon to grow up to about 20 pounds. That's 20 pounds of muscle I'm talking about, not fat.

Now if one takes this 20 pounds of intelligence, dexterity, cleverness, and playfulness and imagines what the fate of my Christmas tree might be, you get the idea of what I'm facing here. Maine Coons think nothing of opening cabinet doors or picking things up by curling the paws around them. I'm not kidding. They're like a feline monkey!!

The culprit, making a backpack his home. It should be noted that said backpack is still full of stuff, but this is of no consequence to Mojo. When he wants to do something, he does it.

So here I am. My fake tree is up, standing just over 6 feet tall in all its xmas tree light glory. And then saunters in Mr. Kitty....oh boy. He sits down in front of the tree and stares at it. I swear you can just see the gears in his head ticking. His thought pattern is evident in his eyes. "Hmmm. The humans have put up this giant green lit thing. Soon they will put shiny little balls and things that swing back and forth. My jungle gym will soon be complete!"

Kitty walks away. He knows whilst I stand guard his chances of full tree attack are at a minimum. I can only stay so long, however! Soon nature calls and I must abandon my post. Not 30 seconds later do I hear from the living room the sounds of tree scraping and glass-ball banging. Yelling the cats name is irrelevant in this situation. The Coon's intelligence kicks in here. He knows if we go in the "room of steam" (bathroom) and close the door for longer than 30 seconds, we will at least be a few minutes.

Those few minutes pass, and I come down the hall. Strangely, no cat is present. Yet the balls on the tree are still swinging. I think he has set up micro surveillance cameras to know exactly where I am.

So begins the WAR!!!
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Step one, cat observes my patterns. He knows if I am looking tired and lay on the couch that only minimal effort will be exerted on my part to shoo him from chewing on the tree. First...a test. A quick bat of an ornament then a short look in my direction. I utter some sort of grunt of disapproval.

"Excellent," Mojo thinks. "The human is too lazy to shoo me." Then comes an unexpected full on assault. (I'm not sure if this is the same category as when he chases invisible things up and down the hall for a half hour at a tie). "I shall CLIMB the tree!!!!"

From my view on the couch I see the tree start shaking like it's on the San Andreas fault. Louder grunts of disapproval do nothing. I sit up...the cat freezes. He's smart enough that he waits...he calls my bluff. Except this time I'm not bluffing. Cat goes running down the hall to plot his next assault.

Except this year I got smart. I have found that cats don't like pepper. Ordinary black pepper from the pepper mill. I just grind a little into 'cat accessible branches', retreat, and watch the results.

It's about a half hour later, and again the cat comes sauntering in acting very nonchalant. He knows my eyes follow his every move, so he just pretends to stare out the window for about 15 minutes. By this time, he figures, the "human" will have forgotten about me. Honestly, I usually do especially if the History channel is on the TV.

Not this time, though. I wait. And wait. Then he goes for it. A quick survey. A branch picked out for chewing. Target locked...must verify by sniffing...and OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SMELL???

Instant cat-retreat down the hall. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I have introduced biological warfare in the cat vs tree battle! I get a very angry stare from Mojo. He knows that trees shouldn't smell like this. I can see it...he's asking "What is this black magic??"

"Hmm...perhaps a flanking assault will work." The feline sneaks under the couch that I sit on (the tree is right at the other end of it). Silently, he approaches the tree that now has its pepper-shields up at full strength. "There...a branch...I shall sniff it....OH WHAT THE HELL NOT AGAIN!!!"

Now from my vantage point is was rather amusing to watch the couch spit forth a very angry, running cat. Mojo, on the other hand, was not amused. Another battle won! The war continues, however...now that there are presents under the tree the possibilities are endless for Mojo.

Until the next battle...

Nature's at it again...

Forecast is calling for snow/sleet/freezing rain Sunday night into Monday morning...again...

Now I don't mind the snow. Sleet I can deal with. Freezing rain annoys me. There's nothing like banging the crap out of your windshield in the morning!

Anyway. Today was another one of 'those days' at work. Three out of five people that I was supposed to visit decided that perhaps it would be funny to not be home. Now I know it's my job and stuff, but c'mon people! Have a little respect!

Visit to Mt. Tom

I took a quick drive up to the Mt. Tom state park today. I wanted to check out the view, if any, of the ice and snow. The entrance road was moderately plowed and covered with ice. No problems driving, though. I did find that the route-5 entrance all the way to the pavilion was closed. Only Christopher Clark Road was open. I was mildly annoyed by this, as the route-5 entrance I always thought of the "main" entrance. I wanted to take some shots of Bray lake and the stream, but I was not equipped for a hike all the way down there and back.

Here we have a nice view from the observation tower. You are looking out over Easthampton.
The tree foliage finally seems to have succumbed to the ravages of winter. No more color, just steel grey, brown, and white.

The tower is covered with ice by the way. Be careful if you are nutty enough to climb it like I was. Not to mention the 20 mph wind up there today. Yikes!








I think perhaps tomorrow I will return to the location to scout out the multicache geocache I plan on putting on this side of the mountain. I beleive there is only 1 on the west side of Christopher Clark Road, so I hope to add to the fun.

Snow, Holiday Cleaning, and the Cold

That snowstorm was quite unimpressive, was it not? All we ended up getting here was about 1/3" of ice, with some snow on top of that ice. It took me 20 minutes of banging (and cursing) to get the ice off of my work vehicle. The personal vehicle took a mere 10 minutes, thanks to the inclusion of a "winter package" on my car consisting of heated wipers.

Now the wind is blowing 2o mile an hour and it is bitterly cold. I have holed myself up in the house to clean so I can set up the Christmas tree. Contrary to popular belief, yes, I am capable of cleaning.

After this I am going to go take some pictures of the winterscape up at the state forest.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Another day of work under my belt. Turns out that it actually wasn't that bad, everything worked out just as it should have.

Now where is this 'snowstorm' we are supposed to get? I'm looking at the radar rather unimpressed with what I see. Leah made up a nice pot roast tonight to eat on the eve of our first 'storm' and as of yet it is doing nothing.

Oh, there has been an update over at skinut.net. I made a pictorial tour of the old town of Dana, MA, that was flooded to make Quabbin reservoir. Click HERE to access it.

Well nobody's right, if everybody's wrong...

Stop, hey, what's that forecast? ...supposedly some snow coming. Or sleet. Or a mix. Perhaps mostly rain. It just depends on which weatherman you listen to.

First major snow of the year, I guess. At first it was going to be mostly rain, with highs about 37. Then the highs were 31. Now 35.

I want their job, they can be wrong every day and never get fired!

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On an unrelated matter, on Wednesday I went exploring the lost town of Dana by the Quabbin reservoir. Dana was abandoned, along with several other towns, so the land could be flooded and turned into a 412 billion gallon reservoir back in the late '30s. My visit was pretty neat, and I took several pictures. I am currently reading a book about Quabbin so I can tell what the heck all those pictures were I took and where all the people lived. I will post here and at www.skinut.net when I get everything together.