Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sunset pictures

I was originally planning long and involved post about history, but since it's 12:40 AM and I need to get up in a little more than 6 hours, I'll have to settle for posting a few pictures of a nice sunset this evening. This is the house I grew up in, which I am watching while Dad is visiting my brother and his family in Germany. Growing up, I always liked the view to the west from the backyard, especially in the evening.


OK, so I like sunsets. I promise that the next time I post photographs, they will be of something else.

Sunday, August 16, 2009


After spending most of the summer with unusually cool and wet weather, we're back to "seasonal" weather - highs around 90 degrees (Fahrenheit; that's 32 or 33 Celsius) and hazy and humid. This makes me sorely miss the cool, rainy non-summer that we used to have. It was great - kind of like I imagine the summers in the Pacific northwest or England might be like (not that I have ever been to either of those places - and I heard that the Pacific northwest had an unusual heat wave recently).

Friday, August 7, 2009

For several weeks now, my morning commute has been slowed down by the fact that traffic is narrowed down to a single lane due to construction. As far as I can tell, they haven't been working on the road itself - they are working on something under the road. I wonder what they could be working on that would take this long. Are they constructing a secret underground bunker or lab down there? Some people would say that this is ridiculous - why would anyone build something secret in such an obvious place as right under a state highway? This objection, however, ignores a critical point. People here in Massachusetts have become so accustomed to long, drawn-out, disruptive, mysterious construction around and underneath roads that it probably wouldn't even occur to most people that there is something slightly unusual about spending weeks on end working underneath the same short section of road. By taking advantage of this, they might be hiding something in plain sight!

(This post made with tongue firmly in cheek, except for the whining about endless construction.)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

That's a good thing, right?

I may have to get new pants and new belts soon, the reason being that my current ones are becoming too large to wear. This is a new experience for me, since in the past the old ones have generally become too small.

I think that I will always be somewhat overweight, and I can't see myself ever becoming a vegetable eating, getting up at 5 AM to go jogging super-healthy person, but any improvement helps.