Just leaving this here because I'm sure I'll be referring to it regulalry.

I deactivated my Facebook account on Saturday. Things I expected from doing that included not missing it all, and exactly zero Facebook friends noticing and reaching out via other channels, like email. I've owned this domain since 1998. Anybody that knows me knows how to find me.

What I did not expect was Facebook changing my wife's status to single, because if she is not married to an active FB user, she is not married. I heard from a Mastodon user that she had the same issue years ago when she quit FB and they made her husband single, so this is not an unknown bug. I'm guessing it's a feature. Forcing her to single status opens up a whole range of new ads to serve her.

So, I guess if you've been lusting after my wife on Facebook, now is your time to take your shot.

Good luck with that. /s

Based on the amount of pollen on my car windshield, I'd say that Spring has sprung in RVA. It's that lovely time of year when everything is covered in yellow dust. Everything includes my home office, as I've had the window open and now everything in here is covered in a layer of yellow dust. Ugh. I guess I'll be vacuuming today.

I spent most of yesterday prepping the camper for camping season. I drained all the antifreeze from the plumbing system, then sanitized it with bleach water for a couple of hours while I was doing other stuff. I gave the camper a nice hand wash, and also cleaned out the gray water tank and the hot water tank. After the pipes soaked in bleach water for a couple of hours I drained and rinsed everything really well. Then we went through our camping checklist and moved all the stuff we moved to garage for the winter back into the camper, and made a shopping list of supplies we need to buy. The systems test was 100% good, with the AC, heat, and stove all working properly. So we are ready to go camping.

Saturday night we went out to our favorite club for jazz. I know nothing about jazz. Perusing the artists Wikipedia page between sets told me we were listening to bebop, or maybe post-bop or hard-bop.Every song was about 12 minutes long and was structured as a serious of solos. I never want to hear anybody complain about indulgent solos in metal again! It was really cool though and I enjoyed being exposed to a genre of music that I had absolutely no familiarity with. And of course, it's always fun to get dressed up (for very liberal definitions of dressed up) and go out with my lovely wife.

On to the links.

I wrote about the realization that I've been a baseball and Red Sox fan for 51 years.

I also wrote about not letting the walk-on actors in the play of your life linger.

Justin Pot wrote about how chasing external validation (likes, clicks, money, etc.) is ruining, well, everything.

How to make a one-page mini-zine seems like a useful life skill.

This Wikipedia page of unusual articles provides unlimited options for reading stuff on your phone instead of doomscrolling.

Owls in Towels delivers exactly what the title advertises.

An unknown photographer took thousands of amazing photos documenting the anti-war protests in San Francisco in the late 1960s. Maybe you can help figure out who took this amazing collection of photos?

If you struggle with the amount of time you spend staring at your phone this guide to giving your smart phone a lobotomy may be useful.

This fascinating article reviews some studies of urban animals that are determining how living in close proximity to humans is changing coyotes, raccoons, etc. Spoiler alert, it makes them bolder and smarter.

This article argues that olds can expand their minds by listening to new music, but we need to know where to draw the line, because a 50-something listening to whatever is popular today is fine, but recognize that you'll never be of the current generation. You are still an old and should behave like one.

The protesters guide to phone security. Just posting this due to academic interest. I am absolutely not the type of person that that would protest the current regime in the US. I'm a loyal subject.

Are they gone? Good.

Fuck Trump, and every single person that supports him.

That's all for this week. In a world where you can choose to be anything, choose to be kind.

While working this afternoon, I had the Red Sox game on audio streaming. It's opening day at Fenway, and they were honoring the 50th anniversary of the 1975 team.

I started following baseball with the 1974 Red Sox. That means I've been a baseball and Red Sox fan for 51 years.

I'm not old. You're old!

The Red Sox have been an important part of 89% of my life. You now have all the data you need to figure out my age. ?Math will be required. Hint, the Red Sox lost a World Series to the Cardinals just a month before I was born.

My very first memory of baseball is my parents allowing me to sleep on the floor in the living room when we lived in Spain. Evening games in the US started around midnight in Madrid. So I'd lay on the floor and listen to the Red Sox games when they were broadcast on Armed Forces Radio. My first memory of a specific game is the Red Sox losing big to the Royals. I've gone back and looked at Red Sox vs. Royals games in 1974, and I can't pinpoint the exact game. Other than the occasional game on the radio, I followed the Red Sox via the sports section of The Stars and Stripes.

We moved back to the states ?in Spring of 1975, toward the end of my 3rd grade year. We were at Grissom AFB near Peru, Indiana, so I could get all the Cubs games on the little B&W TV in my bedroom. Yes, I had a TV in my bedroom in 3rd grade. Today's parents giving their kids phones at age 7 is just a new take on a questionable parenting decision, although the phones are more of a problem than a B&W TV that picked up 4 or 5 channels. Looking back, I wonder why I didn't become a Cubs fan. I could watch every Cubs game. The Red Sox were only on TV if they were the Saturday Game of the Week or on Monday Night Baseball. I assume I watched the 1975 World Series, although I can't claim any specific memory of watching it.

The less said about 1978 the better.?

As I got into my high school years I was still a fan, but girls, music, and partying took precedence in my life. In the early to mid-80s. Also, my last two years of high school (83-85) were spent on Kwajalein Island in the Marshall Islands. Following sports back on the mainland was a challenge. Not that I would have, as I lived somewhere with amazing beaches, and it was 87F 365 days a year.

I remember exactly where I was for the Buckner ground ball. I was a sophomore in college, and we had roadtriped to a nearby campus where our fraternity had a chapter. We were watching game 6 on a big screen TV and the Red Sox had a comfortable lead after the top of the 10th inning. With victory apparently assured, we left early to beat the crowds to the bars. I remember walking into the bar and seeing the Mets celebrating on the TV screens, and wondering what the hell had happened while we walked from the frat house to the bar.?

I graduated from college in 1989 and moved to Atlanta. So Red Sox games on TV were relegated to the Saturday Game of the Week, as Monday Night Baseball was off the air by then. So through most of the 90s, I paid more attention to the Braves than the Red Sox. In the days before interleague play, you could have a favorite team in both leagues without worrying about any rooting interest conflicts unless they both made the World Series.? My baseball memories of the 90s are more centered on Sid Bream's slide into home and dominating pitching performances by Maddux and Glavine than anything the Red Sox did.

2003 about killed me, and then, of course, 2004 was redemption. I did the Red Sox parent thing and got my then 10-year-old son out of bed to witness the glory that was the Red Sox finally winning a World Series. Neither my grandfather nor father, both born in Woburn, MA, lived to see the Red Sox finally get over the hump.? Then I got spoiled, with the Red Sox winning the World Series in 2007, 2013, and 2018.

In the Spring of 2018 I wrote about my changing relationship with baseball. I was still a fan, but it was more casual. We were friends with benefits. I didn't live and die on the ups and downs of the Red Sox trip through the schedule.? In the Spring of 2022 I wrote about my relationship with baseball again, this time trending even more into casual fandom. I went as far as to not sign up for MLB.tv and just deal with whatever games were on whatever collection of streaming channels and OTR channels that we could watch. The Red Sox have not been a playoff threat the last three seasons, so barely paying attention worked well for me.

This year, I've decided to re-engage with the Red Sox. It's not that I'm expecting them to win, but more that I need the distraction from everything else. ? I wrote about this, too, back in February.

I need to end this, but I don't really have an ending. Happy first game of the season at Fenway to all who celebrate. ?

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