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"Today Pop turns 46 years old." - My June 7, 1995 journal entry (I'm 46 years old now.)

Thursday, 5-26-22: Another poor-health day.
My sinuses are totally fucked, and that sucks. A lot. I think May is now the worst month of the year for me. However, maybe not because December through February really suck. All I wanna know is why? Why do I live in Maine when half of the year is shit on toast? It gets worse as I get older.

The problem with May is allergies. I get all stuffy and I sneeze a lot, and sometimes it actually makes me sick. It didn't happen when I was younger so that is a problem. I think this house is on a cursed lot full of all kinds of evil allergens, but I dunno. We have a shitload of pets so I'd like to blame them. However, I only get like this when the trees come to bloom and when plants come alive. When was the last May that I didn't totally suck? Last May was a train-wreck of epic proportions, but COVID really beat the shit out of me at this time last year. It took me a long time to recover from the 'rona, and I probably never recovered fully. What a bunch of crap!

There have been some PERFECT weather days lately, but either work or my allergies have fucked them all up. I've done a fair amount of jogging, but I should have done more. I would have gone today, but I wasn't feeling it at the time. Then later this afternoon we got a really stiff sea breeze and it got kinda cold. Not frigid, but too annoying when I was sneezing and not feeling great. Oh well, at least I fixed our bootleg kitchen ceiling and got all the new table bases installed at the bar.

Forever Young, 1984, Alphaville. Wasn't this song in Napolean Dynamite? I don't even unerstand that movie. It makes no sense. The guy throws a steak at a guy on a bike and then at the end the guy plays tether-ball with some chick. I thnk I've only seen it once so I dunno. I really just want to watch 80s movies and then pass out. However, I have to go back to the bar to take care of business. I bought a handle of Captain Morgan earlier for $23. It's usually $30, but it was on sale. I was gonna buy it anyway so the sale was a bonus! I like Captain and Coke. A lot. I don't drink it that much because Coke is really bad for you.

Wait, LOL, WUT? Pretty sure the booze is also bad for you hahahaha!

I dug out some Teddy Grahams and forgot what I was writing about. I'm walking my loser-ass down to the bar soon because I can't drive. I am too drunk gods damn it. Good thing I can walk there in 5 minutes. I don't even want to go, I'd rather just drink here alone like the George Torougood. Sadly I just butchered that last sentence and I don't even care to fix it. Where's Morla when I need a good 80s reference?

I don't even care... wheter or not I care!

So officially fucked up. I sold Allen Rd a few weeks ago, I got my shit out of there, and the new landlords are going nuts with the rent. We're talking going from $950/month all the way up to $1500/month. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I'm pretty upset about it, but there are two things I can do about it: NOTHING AND LIKE IT. Another reason why I hate my life. There are a lot of them lately, too.

Oh hey here comes the Thompson Twins. What a fucking awesome 80s band. I just want to go back to the 0s and die. If I had a time machine I would go back to 1987 and just hang out. Blueberryt raking for Art for $2 a bucket? Yes please. I'd even take his old-ass winnow machine eating our tee shirts to the point we almost got seriously hurt. I really glorify blueberry raking. I associate it with my youth. A lot. However, I just did it 10 months ago so it's also a big part of my adult-hood.

The song is King for a Day. FUCKIN' A. I LOVE THE THOMPSON TWINS. I LOVE THE 80S! I HATE MY LIFE.

The photo on my TV shows three people yet the band is the Thompson Twins. SHouldn't there be two of them lol? I am too old for that last lol so nevermind. Another photo just came up, and I see three people. This requires GOOGLE gods damn it.

I am almost too drunk to write anymore. King for a Day = winning.

Speaking of winning, we finished Stranger Things Season 3 last night, and holy shit. We watched Season 3 when it first came out, but a second watch in advance of season 4 was required. Season 3 is fucking awesome, and if you disagree then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. I think it's the best one, but that' a tough call because all of them are amazing. Stranger Things is one of those incredibly rare shows that is so fucking good that it 100% pulls me in. Sometimes I just want to die in my sleep (or get drunk and pass out forever in a snowbank, kinda the same thing) and then I see a masterpiece like that show and it restores a little faith in the world, at least for a while.

Stranger Things is probably the best show ever made. EVER. Game of Thrones is possibly my second-place show, but it's hard to say. The thing that works best for me in Stranger Things is the fact that it's set in the mid-80s, the best time ever in the history of the entire planet. 1980-1989 = cannot be topped, ever. If only I knew back then what I know now... OMG. That's not how things work, though.

My phone is making a flashing thing, but I dunno I don't see a new text. I think my shitfaced-ass will walk down to the bar in a few minutes and just fugure it out. Man, I am boozed up so hard.

I think my life sucks, but I can't even tell anymore. One day at a time, beotches. The end. Fin.

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Tuesday, 5-24-22: Hey another 80s song that I don't know.
Every once in a while channel 1928 will hit it just right, and it is happening now. Pet Shop Boys, Surburbia, 1986. I don't think I've ever heard this song before! If you don't like the Pet Shop Boys then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. West End Girls and What Have I Done to Deserve This = FUCK YEAH. Especially that last one. Guy plays it now on the YouTube. Sounds like it's coming out of a tin can from my Acer with Windows 7. What a bunch of crap!

Late last month I was working on the new gym downstairs and ripping out 80s music when What Have I done to Deserve This came on Big 104.7, and it was glorious. I had it stuck in my head for a day or two. I don't own any Pet Shop Boys songs OMG. Epic fail me! Guy looks at guy's collection in case guy actually does own one or two of their songs...

Okay, I blew it. I see Peter Gabriel, and I see Poison, but I do not see any Pet Shop Boys. What a bunch of crap! I should own a few of their songs, but it won't happen because I have other things to do.

I was supposed to NOT work at the bar today, at least not in an official capacity, but I ended up there for most of the day. Oh well, I was planning to be there for a few hours anyway. Damon is sick with a 102 fever so Dillon stayed home with him. It was 100% the right decision, especially since our server called out with FUCKING COVID this morning. The gods damned 'rona just doesn't end. Thankfully Damon is covid-negative. It's never okay for a baby to be sick, especially with the rona.

Oh well, I still went for a slow jog this evening after work and I feel almost better now. Still have the cough, but oddly enough ever since the jog a few hours ago I haven't really been coughing. It was another great weather day with a high temp close to 70 and low humidity. Tomorrow also looks great, but I expect to work again because that's what happens.

I actually worked tonight, too. I made it a priority to start fixing our kitchen ceiling:

Those water stains are from last year when the roof would leak during exceptionally heavy rains. The leak totally killed that microwave oven, too. What a bunch of crap! I have a new one here now, but I didn't install it yet. I got all those stained tiles removed, and I made decent progress on replacing them. I had to start all the way in the corner and work my way back so that took a little while more. Oh well, I wasn't in a hurry and I put the Red Sox on while I worked. Sox are winning huge tonight in Chicago against the White Sox. Awesome!

I put on the news, and everyone was talking about another school shooting, this time in Texas. A lot of people dead again, so sad. All I wanna know is why? Why does the news need to make such a big deal out of these public massacres? I think it inspires other people to do them. If news outlets didn't spent 75% of their entire broadcasts looking at these things from every conceivable angle maybe less of them would occur. Maybe? Hopefully!

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Monday, 5-23-22: I'm a weak-ass pussy. Oh, old journal stuff.
I've had a bad cough for several days, and I felt shitty Friday, Saturday, and yesterday. I think Fri/Sat was the worst and now I'm getting better. However, I'm still not back to 100% and I have this gods damned cough. It's probably bronchitis or pmeneumonia (I can't fucking spell that word and I don't give a shit) or something that will kill me, but that's ok we all gotta check out. I considered going to walk-in care to see if I would need amoxopillans, but I started to feel a bit better so screw it. If I get worse I'll go because it might be an infection. I don't want to go to the doc because it costs money and it uses up my precious... precious time. It sucked feeling like crap and having to work Friday and Saturday nights, and the place was incredibly busy both nights.

It also sucks I got sick because it would have been nice to get some exercise. Today would have been perfect for a jog, but I am not ready yet. I went for a slow jog/walk Thursday midday, and after that I got worse so my bad there. I felt off Wed, but I thought I could power through. I was slow and it was not so good. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, I did do DDP Yoga this morning so at least I did something.

Kat is all pissed off at me because I went to help Katherine get a newer Jeep this afternoon. Like I wanted to hang out at a fuckin' car dealership for 4 hours on a beautiful weather day when I have a nasty cough. These days having a cough is BAD because people think you might have the gods damned 'rona. I had my mask on, Kat wanted me to work at the bar helping her all day, but F that I'm sick of working 7 days a week all day and what was I supposed to tell Katherine? Sorry go do it yourself good luck with that 15% interest rate and that $3000 over MSRP deal the sales dude set you up with? I helped her, she got a fair price and trade-in of her older Jeep (in my opinion), and a GREAT low interest rate.

So instead of hanging out with my wife tonight fuck it here I am doing my own thing. I might even go downstairs shortly and work on my not-yet-done gym. I can't finish anything. What a bunch of crap! Too bad because we only had one or two episodes left of Stranger Things Season 3. We're rewatching that season since season 4 comes out Friday. Season 3 is great, and the entire show is great. If you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you more.

Last week I took some time to go through some old stuff I found in the cellar while cleaning out Allen Rd. I had quite a bit of stuff still over there. It's a huge cellar with lots of space, and that building was a massive part of my live for almost 24 years. Even though I moved out of the building many, many years ago I never made it a priority to bring all my stuff over to the house. What a bunch of crap! I'm lucky I still have it all, or at least I think I do? I dunno I didn't even remember I had these old journals.

The first journal that I started reading was from 1995. I was in the Navy then, and wow it's like I was a totally different person. I might have been a better person back then than I am now. I dunno, maybe not. I have more world-experience and more stuff now, but I don't think my life is better. Things have actually gotten worse for me since the pandemic started. Half the time I hate my life now. What a bunch of crap!

I spent a lot of time writing about the Red Sox. I even took the time to draw out the AL EAST standings. I was a dork!

I might have posted about these journals in the past on this bootleg site, I dunno and I'm not checking the archives. I've had this pathetic excuse of a website for close to 18 years. OMG!

The Red Sox were doing awesome for their 1995 season. Too bad they lost early in the playoffs that year. What a bunch of crap! This year's Red Sox suck at 19-22, but hey they have won 5 in a row so things are looking up for them with lots of the season left. My handwriting back then was really good. Now it sucks! It's amazing I took the time to do my writing in journals by hand. It's amazing I even had journals at all!

Here is a close-up of Wednesday, June 7, 1995:

OMG WOW! I'm 46 years old now and Dad is 72 going on 73! I haven't talked to Dad in roughly 2.5 or 3 months so that is another reason why my life has gotten worse lately. I could call him, but then I'd get stuck dealing with Mom and I'm not ready for that one yet. When I wrote that journal update in 1995 I probably most certainly thought age 46 was old, but now I don't think that at all. 60 is getting old... I think?

Most of that 1995 journal is updates about the Red Sox, the various deployments we did, and a fantastic leave that I got to take for close to a month from late July to late August that year. I went home and had a blast going swimming, screwing off, camping out with Doug, etc. Reading some of the stuff that Doug and I did (we hung out with Jason as well) really hits hard considering how badly things ended between us earlier this year.

I joined AMWAY in 1995, and I had big plans to sell water purifiers. HAHAHAHAHA. Well I still have that spirit, but now it's a matter of how many burgers and beers we can sell to make the restaurant/bar successful. (That is a HUGE number what a bunch of crap!) I didn't even sell one water purifier, ever. I'm glad I joined AMWAY just because it shows the drive I had to find success, but holy Jebus it ended in epic failer. Oh well, it didnt really cost me that much money in the grand scheme of life. A few hundred bucks maybe? I probably still have my Dale Carnige book "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

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Thursday, 5-19-22: More 'Rona, old journals, wow.
Covid ases are on the rise again. What a bunch of crap! We know a lot of people who either have it now or who have had it within the past couple weeks. I was concerned I might have it again because I've not been 100% the past couple days. I have a cough and some stuffiness. Allergies seems most likely, but that damn cough isn't so common for my allergy season so this morning I took a 'rona test. Thankfully it came back negative because I am NOT ready to quarantine again for the third time in just over a year.

Overall people treat the pandemic now less seriously than they did a couple years ago when it first began. Lockdowns are over, and a lot of people don't even wear masks anymore even when they are around Covid-positive people. Getting the 'rona still sucks bigtime, but it's not the world-ender everyone made it out to be a couple years ago. Most people just treat it like the flu. Get sick, get better. move along. We were concerned some of our staff would also test Covid-positive, but so far only one person has the 'rona and he only works one day a week on Saturday so we can get that shift ccovered and stay open. Hopefully no more of our staff end up getting sick with the virus.

I suppose Covid is like the flu now. No cure, not extemely deadly. The lies that we were subjected to regarding the pandemic earlier on in the lockdown are shameful. People got banned from their Fire-Breathing Twitter accounts and the Failbook for posting public comments about the severity of the lockdowns. Get the vaccine they said. Get vaccinated and you won't get Covid.

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

The fuckin' vaccine doesn't work. Maybe it helps lessen the symptoms, maybe not. I got the vaccine so it's a moot point now, but the boosters can kiss my ass. No sense getting more shots just so big pharma can make a shitload more money. Isn't billions in profits good enough? The stupid fuckin' vaccine made me sick for a couple days anyway. I wouldn't have even done the vaccine if not for my wife. I was trying to keep her more safe, but it's a losing battle because no one can stop the rona.

I was gonna post some cool pics of old journals that I found when cleaning out Allen Rd, stuff I forgot I even had, but I have to go to work to do a last-minute event. A group booked our banquet room Tuesday because the venue they had lined up canceled on them, and they want food so we need extra help. It's a Republican group so that works for me! I'm pretty much a Republican these days, but not really because they just suck less than the Democrats.

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Tuesday, 5-17-22: My bad selling Allen Rd?
Having my gym in the house here in the basement has been great so far, but it's only been about a week since I've had the thing funtional. Not really enough time to truly know if it's going to work better or worse than when I had it at Allen Rd. The gym at Allen Rd was bigger, but this new one is closer. A lot closer. Like, so close all I had to do today was walk down the stairs and take a half-hour to lift weights. If the gym was still over at Allen Rd I wouldn't have used it today because I didn't get home until later in the afternoon.

I got a lot done today, and I worked a few hours at the bar both cleaning up junk and meeting with reps and customers, the usual. Booked a big dinner event for Thursday, sampled some Mossy Ledge alcohols (had to stop before I got drunk hehehe) I also took a load of crap from Allen Rd to the dump, and I think I'm done at Allen Rd now. Maybe? Hopefully...

I might have fucked up by selling Allen Rd. Not from a sentimental point of view, but from a financial point of view. I sold the buildings for a lot more than I thought I would. A LOT. However, the new landlords are raising the rents by a stupid number. I was below-market on all rents and was planning for an increase (before I decided to sell), but these new rents... WTF, over? Going from $950/month all the way up to $1500/month. OMG ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

I know all the tenants, every one of them, and it seems like half of them work for us at the restaurant. Even worse, Daniel and his (not) girlfriend live in one of the units and they are going to get fucked up the ass with no lube later this year. Their lease runs out September 30th, and after that it is all-bad. I already moved them out of this building last summer so we could sell it, and now they are likely going to have to move again...

^North Main less than three years ago when we had the lot paved. Wow, it seems like way more than three years ago holy crap! I'm surrounded by properties that I've either owned or done extensive work on, and that is no exaggeration. I'm not even a good carpenter, but so far most of my work has stood the test of time. I think?

So Daniel and his not-girlfriend, Emily (he should be dating her, but it's not my circus and not my monkeys) are going to get totally fucked later this year and the last potential place for them to *maybe* live here at our house now looks like this:

^What a bunch of crap! I can't turn that back into living space. I already remodeled the shit out of it, and I don't have it in me to put it back to how it was before. I could, but I don't think even that would be enough room for the two of them. As far as I know they are not pokerizing and they have a roommate situation and would need their own bedrooms. That is NOT an option here. I suck!

We can help them with their rent increase later this year, but only by so much. The restaurant doesn't make money yet so we still spend more than we make; that can't last forever. By this time next year if the place isn't doing any better then we are all done. Fin. The end. I think it will do better, but who knows? The economy is on the brink of collapse because our president is a baked potato. What a bunch of crap! I'm not even joking about that. He is fucked. The leaders of our once-great nation seem to be actively trying to sabotage everything for a reboot. I don't get it. Where is my fail trophy?

^Awarded first to myself for Allen Rd and then to Biden and everyone who puppet-masters that piece of shit. I WANT TRUMP BACK! Trump is a piece of shit, but he will run this place like a boss. Who knows if he can or will ever run again? By the time 2024 comes around Trump might be a republican baked potato like Biden is now.

[sadness]

Oh well, I had a good 45 years before things started to go to shit. How many people can say that? Billions live in squalor every day so overall things are not as bad as they could be. At times it sure feels like it, though.

I was so defeated yesterday and even earlier today that it started to make me physically sick. Allergies make me sick, but it was more than that. Sometimes I think I should just work on some assembly line making widgets and work 9-5 with weeksnds off and not have to use my phone at all when I'm not at work unless I choose to do so. I don't think I'm really built for that, but who knows?

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Thursday, 5-12-22: New bar facing, summer temps.
We finally got our kitchen hoods cleaned last night at the restaurant/bar. We had the company scheduled for a couple months ago, but they cancelled due to turd weather. We rescheduled, and then they cancelled again because they were too short-staffed. What a bunch of crap! We were trying to get it done on a Monday since we're now closed Mondays, but that ended in epic failer so we got it done during the evening/night and just closed the kitchen early. Business was slow yesterday anyway, probably because of the really good weather and us closing a tad early.

They showed up just before 2000 to get set up and to start, and it takes several hours so I had plenty of time to get to work on the bar facing. When we opened the bar looked like this:

It looked decent at the time, but that "diamond plating" was just a glue-on thin metallic wallpaper. It was NOT meant to take a beating, and it was starting to peel off in spots. That bar is our centerpiece so having some of it peel = what a bunch of crap! Plus we needed extra trim to hold it all on.

I planned to do something different for quite a while, but I had to survive tax season and get rid of Allen Rd first. Last night was the perfect opportunity to reface that bar, or so I thought...

The last customers cashed out and left just after 2100 so I got started. My plan was to use the glue-together flooring that I've become quite familiar with thanks to all the apartment remodels for the past several years. Allure, Khaki Oak. As an added bonus I had a few boxes of the stuff leftover from the last Allen Rd project so I put it right to use. It was pretty easy to install, and there was some residual glue left on the panels after I peeled off that bootleg diamond-plate wallpaper. Bonus! I thought the new stuff would stay there just fine so I plugged away and planned to worry about the trim later. The guys finished the hoods just before midnight, and I was still working on the bar. I should have thrown in a few brad nails here and there, but I was tired and did not. In hindsight that was unwise.

I got home and racked out around 0130-0145. I didn't do the trim, and I didn't reinstall the little coat hooks. I woke my ass up around 0800 and planned to do yoga before I went down to finish it all. Sadly I got a call shortly after from my awesome wife. She was asking why I had half the bar stuff on the floor. At first I didn't understand her question and thought she was asking about all the trim pieces. Turns out I was wrong, and overnight half the flooring peeled off and fell onto the floor. OMG NOOOOOOOOOO!

Needless to say there was no yoga, and I got my ass down there ASAP. Sure enough my epic failer was all-bad. Thankfully I had some spare flooring and our awesome maintenance guy, Jay, there so he helped me put it all back together. Doing that still sucked. A lot. Bye bye precious... precious time that I could have been using to do other things. Fixing it probably took an hour. I should have had Jay help me last night since I was getting tired and I didn't do it right. Like Dad always says, short-cuts = fails.

It was a nice morning to be working down there thanks to a stretch of beautiful weather. I was able to set up my old-ass table saw outside to rip the trim pieces, and after some touch-up paint I had it looking like this a solid hour before noon opening:

^I was happily surprised when I looked at the photos earlier and saw baby Damon in the background in that last shot. I got photo-bombed by a 7-month old hehehe! Damon comes to the house a few times a week when Dillon is working at the bar, and he is a cute kid. I fuckin' hate dealing with kids, but he seems to be a good one. I sorta held him earlier before Kat took over and held him... better. I SUCK AT HOLDING BABIES. When I hold a baby (all three times in my life, ever) I feel like I'm holding fine china or something extremely fragile that might just implode in my hands for no reason at all...

So I really do like how the bar finally came out, and I hope it holds up to wear and tear. It's frigging flooring so when people hit it with their feet it should be okay, right? We'll find out soon enough. I have tons of other projects to tackle at the place soon enough. Next on the list appears to be a walk-in freezer, and those are so expensive right now I don't even want to waste precious... precious time thinking about it.

I did use my new home cellar gym yesterday for the first time, and it went very well. I popped in Cinderella's Night Songs 1986 CD and went for it. I didn't lift heavy because, like Danny Glover from Lethal Weapon, I'm too old for that shit. I only did a light 25-minute lift, but that's perfectly fine. After that I got some more stuff out of Allen Rd and I was gonna go for a jog since the weather was so great, but then I decided to hang out with my awesome wife and I have no regrets at all about that. We went for a nice walk with Damon, and we got ice cream at Jimmy's. 75 degrees, not humid, unlimited sun. Yes, yes, and more yes!

I did go for a jog this evening while Kat was getting ready for work. She's the karaoke DJ tonight since her trainee sorta flaked out. He didn't treat it like a job so she hauled on him, and then he came a few days ago to ask for a second chance. Will he get one? I dunno, but my vote is affirmative. I like the guy, but he does need to take it more seriously. It's a job, not a party. The main reason why so many bars fail is the entire premise of the show BAR RESCUE. It's a business, not a party. It can be a party at times, but it has to be a business first and foremost.

I'm tired and should go to bed soon, but it's not time to bivouac just yet. It's such a beautiful day that I'll walk on down to the bar for a bit then come home and rack out. Today was in the mid 80s, OMG. We set a record high of 85-ish. Low humidity saved it from being an extreme scorcher. Saturday we hit 88 with some humidity. That's too damn hot! I'll take it, though. It's nice to be able to play outside, to sit on the deck, etc. Really has felt like summer these past three days, and really all week has been awesome.

I still have a lot of work to do this spring and summer, but it finally feels like I'm gaining ground instead of losing ground on it all. Doing that bar was a nice step forward, and plenty more projects like that are on the horizon...

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Tuesday, 5-10-22: Allen Rd move-out mostly done. Weather win.
I spent some time today finishing up at Allen Rd and setting up the gym downstairs, I had a tax client, and we spent some precious... precious time outside on a perfect weather day. 100% sun, 70 degrees high temp, low humidity, me want more. I did go for a 3-mile jog, but I was pretty slow and had to walk some. What a bunch of crap! It was my first 3-mile loop since October 29 of last year. (I keep records because I am an oddball hehe.) I've already jogged 15 miles this month, not bad. Last year in May I only jogged 10.5 miles for the ENTIRE MONTH OMG. I did have Covid for the first part of May last year, though. Both Kat and I were wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket, and it was a long row to hoe for recovery. I was weak for a long time after that. Gods damn it!

Physically I feel a lot better than I did at this time last year. It is nice having less work and feeling like I'm finally getting caught up, too. Plus we have some precious... precious money in the bank after that Allen Rd sale. We're not rich, we're far from it, but for now we are okay. I have plenty of work left to do, though. The gym downstairs isn't done yet, and I have a bunch of carpentry projects to take care of at the bar. The gym downstairs is starting to look like an acctual gym at least. I worked down there for a bit this evening before my awesome wife called and asked me to go to work for a little bit. We had a big dinner rush so I washed dishes for 45 minutes or so. I was happy to help because BUSY = JOB SECURITY. Our dishwasher was there, but he is cross-trained in the kitchen (awesome!) so he was needed as a cook for a while. I'll walk my ass back down to the bar soon and be a paying customer after I have a couple drinks.

From a certain perspective it does look like a gym now:

^I still need to mount the mirror somewhere. That leg press was a serious pain in the arse to put together. One of the bolts was rusted because it had been at Allen Rd for 20 years, maybe more. Two decades, wow! Thankfully I was able to find the parts I needed at Lowe's and get it put back together yesterday morning. I haven't used it yet because I wanted to jog instead.

The dumbbells are ready to use, and maybe tomorrow I will do a little lifting. We'll see, all depends on how the day goes. I have a lot of CDs to go through and to organize. I have tons of great music including a huge collection of "Hair rock" like Def Leppard, Poison, Ratt, Motley Crue, etc. Throw in a little Cinderella, Dokken, Queensryche, and it's epic. Plus I have my mp3 player down there that is also chocked full of great tunes, mostly from the 80s. I'm excited to actually start using that gym!

The ceiling isn't done yet. What a bunch of crap! Obviously that side needs some love still. I do plan to put the treadmill somewhere along that wall, but there is no rush since I can jog outside for the next 6 months. Getting the treadmill down there is going to suck. A lot. the stairs leading down are narrow and the treadmill is quite bulky. I didn't even use the treadmill this past winter. What a bunch of crap!

I hope I like my new cellar gym. I don't need to use it a lot because I can jog, do yoga, and hopefully play racquetball. I did play rball yesterday and lost to Deno, but it was great exercise. Having a gym here at the house will be great, at least I hope it will be, because if I'm short on time all I need is 30 minutes to go get it done. The gym at Allen Rd will forever be the best gym of all-time, but I had to drive over there and that alone takes 10 minutes (5 and 5 each way.) Plus sometimes other people would be using it, and sometimes I'd get there and tenants would see me and need me for the usual stupid shit. Driving over there in the winter would often suck because it's so cold. I did put some heat in that Allen Rd gym, but just going over there and getting into the thing would make me feel cold. A cold start = what a bunch of crap!

I have the Red Sox on, and they were up 6-0 before giving up 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd. The Sox SUCK ASS this season. 10-19 so far. What a bunch of crap! Last place even below the terrible Baltimore Orioles. Nothing is working for the Red Sox so far this year. Oh well, at least they are playing. That alone seems like a win after 2 years of COVID PANDEMIC and their dumbass strike. I don't watch that much anymore because I have other things to do.

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Tuesday, 5-03-22: Still moving the gym, still working too much, but getting there.
I went "beast mode" and moved most of my gym last Friday during the day before my work shift at Mad Kat that night. I moved A LOT of dumbbells, plates, and parts of the leg press and squat rack during the day. I didn't set it all up yet, though. Now it looks like this in our cellar:

^WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! It's hard to move down there hehehe. I did get the squat rack mostly put together today, and that is the centerpiece. Everything else will go around that so I had to do it first so I could see how everything else might work. Putting the squat cage together was a total pain in the arse, and I had to do some cutting to get it to fit. The ceiling down there is only about 78", the rack is 79", so bye bye part of some joists. Thankfully I have 2x8 16" on center so I can afford to chop some. Maybe? Hopefully! I can sister the two I had to trim for extra support.

The weather has been great these past couple days so I haven't spent too much time downstairs. Instead I've focused on cleaning out more of Allen Rd including the yard and some of the shed. Plus getting that squat cage in place and set up was very frustrating so I had to ditch out on it a couple times.

My unofficial deadline to get Allen Rd all done is May 12. The new owners have been great about it and told me not to stress over it, but it needs to be done. I'm beyond sick of having so much to do every day. Thankfully I have most of it done now, but alas the cellar is nowhere near ready to be my new gym yet. Oh well I can still do yoga, jog, and play racquetball. I haven't played much rball lately due to all this work, but I did go for a jog both Sunday and yesterday. Weather was perfect for a jog today, but I needed a break from it. My ass is NOT in shape enough for a jog three consecutive days! I'm not even in shape enough for two days in a row hehehe. I'm slow and have to walk some, but at least I went. A for effort, right?

Hey cool, an ad on TV for Top Gun part 2. Looks decent, will watch. Top Gun was fucking awesome and if you disagree then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. Is it realistic? NOPE. Tom Cruise does not even look that old in the ad. Was he that young when part 1 came out?

I've been channel-surfing between the Red Sox and the Celtics-Bucks game 2 of the conference semifinals. Celtics beat the Nets in round 1, but they got beat in game 1 a couple nights ago. I'm not a huge fan of any sports teams anymore, but as a casual viewer it beats anything else that might be on right now. Celtics had a huge lead going into the half, but things are not going their way in the 3rd. Boston still has a 20-point lead, though. The Red Sox also have a 2-0 lead in the 5th. I probably will go down to the bar soon so I won't see the end of the games here at the house.