Month: July 2004

Windows are overrated, really. They couldn’t finish fixing my car today so when they finally gave it back at about 5pm they said they needed it again next Tuesday. At least the window is shut and doesn’t need electrical tape and a Shaws bag to keep the weather on the outside. They tell me there’s a pair of pliers in there keeping the window up. That makes me feel good.

I have no idea how much it’s going to cost, given that they worked on it and didn’t finish it. Hourly. *shudder*

By next Tuesday that will be the right side of the car. I wonder if the left side of the car will last until I decide to buy a new one…

I got to and from work today with little or no problem. I mean, traffic was a bit heavy, but lately it’s been like that daily anyway.

So I’m at work, happy as a clam (oh, can you just feeeeel the joy?) thinking to myself “thank the Good Lord I don’t go in or out of Boston on a daily basis.”

In other news, the rear passenger window on The Vehicle bought the farm last night. That’ll teach me to put it down. That window has been a problem for over a year now. I had the front one fixed, but not the rear, and it slowly got worse and worse. I will also point out that in the winter, the front driver’s side window often needs me to help it along, usually by pulling up on it with all my strength. But the back one died last night, and I was forced to work out some electrical tape-shopping bag combo to plug the hole up. Rain is expected tomorrow, you see, and I’d rather not end up with a back seat full of mold.

Cross your fingers that it’s easy and cheap to fix. I’m not thrilled that this is the 2nd time I’ve had to pay to fix one of the windows on this thing.

Well, the only mention of the standoff in Lunenburg in the Telegram was a little mention. No shooting. I don’t know what the crowd was talking about, but according to the news he allowed them in and he was just sitting on his couch. He had been threatening to kill himself with a gun.

So either the Telegram doesn’t have all the details (entirely possible) or the lady who said she heard 7 shots was hearing something else. And there’s no mention of children being hostages. Very odd that there were 27 cruisers if there wasn’t more going on.

Well, I’m glad it ended well. Oh, and it wasn’t the house where the people were sitting.

We were minding our own business, going to stop by the Walmart plaza to run into the grocery store when we see something very freaky…27 police cruisers (we counted) lining the road up the hill on toute 13 toward Leominster. Talking to one of the hundred or so people standing at the edge of the parking lot, we learn a suicidal man is holding 5 kids (or so) hostage, and 10 minutes before we arrived there’d been 7 shots. Someone was carried out on a stretcher, and within 20 minutes everhting seemed to be over.

Now none of this is verified fact, but was fed to us because someone in the crowd was on a cell phone with somebody who had a scanner. Damn the luck, I’d left my little phone camera on my keychain and my keys were at home.

I ‘m going to go see if there’s anything on the news…

The Boston Patrolmen’s Union got the 14.5% (over 4 years) raise they wanted. That’s nice, I’d like a 1% raise, but hey, who’s complaining?

No, the problem is that the union [dick-]head has announced that they will picket the DNC anyway.

Excuse me? You got what you wanted so you’re going to complain about…getting it? I’m telling you, if the police discover that they’ve suddenly lost the love and trust of a lot of people, we can point to this moment as the beginning of the end. It is truly sickening. Hey Mayor Menino…aren’t you sorry you gave them their 14.5% now? It bought you…nothing.

Hey, Thomas Nee, union spokesperson, I don’t give a crap if the process leaves you “feeling betrayed”. You agreed to binding arbitration, no? So get that puss off your face and act like a man instead of a 3 year old throwing a tantrum. “I got ice cream but I didn’t get two scoops so I’m going to hold my breath until you do something about it.” Mr. Nee may be the lowest form of union slime right now. The patrolmen have said they are happy, but this guy wants to take his ball and go home because he didn’t get his two scoops.

Won’t this violate some contract terms or something, if they picket? I’d pull a Ronald Reagan and fire the lot of ’em for insubordination and playing like they’re the mafia.