Bfth's Boring Blog

 I'm sure you're a good insurance company.  According to your website, you've been around for over 110 years.  That's pretty impressive.  You don't have a mascot or a jingle.  In today's world, that's pretty  rare.  Your website says:  We pride ourselves on being committed to our customers. That’s why J.D. Power has presented NJM with their Auto Claims Certification, eight years in a row.** Because at the end of the day, NJM will be there for you to provide great insurance, without gimmicks."  Again, impressive. But let me tell you what's not impressive, your mail.  Or rather your mailing list. When I got home today, this was in my mailbox.  It wasn't for me.  It was for my grandfather.  The man who lived in this house from 1924 through about 1983.  (I'm not 100% on that.)  That was when he developed dementia (most likely Alzheimers) and was moved into a local care facility.  (Back then we called them nursin...

 I am good at many things.  (I am, aren't I?  I AM!  Aren't I?)  One of the things I'm not so good at is baking.  I can cook a good meal, but baking... Now this may have something to do with the fact that I've got an egg allergy which has made baking a bit of a challenge.  For years I've been using egg replacer (specifically Ener-g Egg Replacer:  "Ener-G Gluten-Free Egg Replacer Is a Natural, Healthy and Delicious Alternative to Eggs. Made With Natural Ingredients, This Flour Is Free Of Unnatural And Unnecessary Additives. This Product Is Gluten-Free, Sugar Free and Kosher.")  It worked...sort of.  Or maybe it was just me.  (For years I didn't realize that you were supposed to mix the powder with warm water...I was just using water.)  And now I understand that the company is no longer around, so... With Vegan products becoming more of a thing, who needs to bake?  Well, I despite the fact that I am challenged when ...

Today is the second Sunday of Advent. It is the Sunday of Peace. Ironically today also marks the 84th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. That day was also Sunday. However, it most definitely was not a Sunday of peace.    The attack on Pearl Harbor plunged us into war. (From the Imperial Warm Museum's website:   "Before the attack on Pearl Harbor the United States had been supporting Allied forces with weapons and supplies, under the Lend-Lease Agreement, but many in the country were reluctant to enter the war. The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a speech to the United States Congress urging for a formal declaration of war against Japan. War was declared an hour later, bringing the United States into the Second World War and unifying the country behind the war effort.”) We joined the Allies in fighting off fascism. (Just to be clear fascism as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is:  a populist political p...

  Thanksgiving in our house has never been what most people think of "traditional".  Because of my food allergies, we don't can't do turkey.  While most people have a crowd on the holiday, my family is small.  It's just the three of us and my in laws.  We started our "celebration" on Wednesday and it runs through Thursday. It's not what many people might think of as "normal."  But I have to say that this past Thanksgiving was one of the least stressful and most relaxing that I've had.   While getting to Thanksgiving was  challenging , Wednesday was much less so.   It started out very foggy, but cleared during the morning. Our landscaper FINALLY came to clean up the yard (I've been asking for a couple of weeks) and I found out that the company that supplies our propane and heating oil, would be able to work on our fireplace.  The technician came on Wednesday morning and amazingly it was a relatively easy fix.  (He was als...

After a fun filled drive to get my son and bring him back home on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2025/11/where-was-i.html ), I am OVER weather.  But the weather isn't over me.  Weather isn't over anybody.  No matter what people might say (or think), you can't change about it.  You CAN bitch about it (and I know I frequently do), but you can't make a hurricane go away.  MAYBE you can try to make it rain (seeding clouds has some success, but you need clouds), but you're not going to stop a snowstorm.  Because if you could, I'd be buying into it big time! I took my son back to college the Sunday after Thanksgiving (and if I can get it together, I will eventually have a post about the actual holiday) and it was, of course, raining.  In order to avoid the horrible trip that I had on Tuesday afternoon/evening, I insisted that we head to NY before noon. (Grumbling on my son's behalf, but...) There was expected traffic, ...

It's the first day of December.  It's World AIDS day.  I've written about it before ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2016/12/here-we-are.html ), but that was nearly 10 years ago.  And since the current administration seems to want to hide this day in a closet, I'm not one to do that, and especially as this year’s “theme” doesn’t everything need one is: Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response. I'm old enough to remember when AIDS began appearing. While news about the disease started making its way around in the 1980s, did you know that they very first case in America MAY have been in 1969 and that in 1976 an 8 year old died in Europe from AIDS?  (The child's parents also died the same year.) Sadly, very few people seemed to care.  It was a "disease of gay men."  (Because why should we care about them?  [Insert extreme sarcasm here]).  That was totally untrue, but...Maybe if we ignore it, it will go away?  (That always wor...