Bfth's Boring Blog

 A story was relayed to me some years ago by a woman who lived in Newark, NJ and went to a political event (maybe it was rally?), where a young man, who did not live in Newark, was speaking.  He was running for mayor and according to this woman, was somewhat heckled or talked over.  She, being the woman that she was, told them to settle down and let the man speak.  She wasn't for or against this man, she just wanted to hear what he had to say.   The other day, that man, who did become mayor of Newark, and who has since become a Senator for the state, spoke on the senate floor for an amazing 25 hours and 5 minutes.  There were no bathroom breaks (which amazes me), he never sat down (he would not have been allowed) and there were no real pause in his speech (fellow senators were allowed to ask questions [although they seemed more like comments] which could take several minutes, which gave the senator a bit of a break, as did a brief break for t...

 Sometimes thoughts just pop into my head and then ramble around for a while.  They are not necessarily tied to one another and wouldn't make for a cohesive post, but then again who said anything I ever wrote was cohesive? I woke with anxiety this morning.  No surprise there, anxiety resides within me all too often, even as I try to push it away.  Yesterday was wonderfully warm and partially sunny.  My husband and I took advantage of the warmth to take down the broken and battered portable greenhouse.  (This is what it looked like back in 2022...before we moved in.) I believe it had stood for at least 3 years and weathered the winter.  This winter with the wind, ice and snow it collapsed.  It broke my heart, but...now perhaps the landscaper can come up with suggestions as to what should go in the space.  (Or maybe you do.)  In addition to dismantling, I enjoyed the warm weather by sitting outside and reading (one of my favorite ...

  Commuting from the Poconos to my NJ home (and then onto the office in Newark) has proved to be more complicated that I imagined.  Last week's trek was one for the books ( https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-three-hour-tour.html ).  It was not an experience I'd like to repeat. With a section of route 80 out of commission the drive has been "challenging" to say the least (Although I am hopeful:   https://newjersey.news12.com/gov-murphy-provides-timeline-on-possible-reopening-of-i-80-in-morris-county   Please don't be toying with me Governor Murphy!)  Not wishing to repeat last Wednesday's horror, when my husband and I had to return to NJ over the weekend, I made sure to leave relatively early on Saturday morning (before 9).  On Sunday we dropped our son off at college (spring break went by quicker that I could imagine) and GSP routed us a strange way, but we got back to our home in just over 2 hours.  All things considered it ...

(If you are of a certain age you'll know what that is in reference to...if not...you know what to do) Wednesday, March 19th should have been just like any other Wednesday.  Go to the office, come home, and head to the Poconos.  It SHOULD have been.  It was not. I did go to the office as usual.  There were problems to face and try to solve.  It was seemingly a typical day.  However, I had an end of the day call/meeting from 4:30 to 5:00.  Since it was so late in the day, I asked my manager if I could leave the office early and do the call from home.  She had no problem with that as she was going to be on the call and doing it from the train.  (There was no way I could do a call from the bus.) I left the office at 2:15 and was able to walk in the front door before 3:15 (I finally hit the sweet spot; if I had gotten a bus just a few minutes later, it would have been full of students just let out from school.)  Once inside, I pulled ou...

  The following is a mediation I gave at my church this March. First Reading:  Matthew 25: 31- 45 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 3...

 Full Disclosure:  I am  a total and complete mess as I write this.  I am an emotional wreck.  I am frustrated to tears (which makes things even more frustrating).  I am sick with anxiety.  If you could rate my current stress on a scale from 1-10, I would be at 11.   So what is going on?  Let's backtrack to Thursday, March 6th shall we? On Thursday, March 6th around 6 PM, my husband and I walked into the UPS store in Mount Pocono, PA. I have been to this location a couple of times since September.  (The former owner of the house we bought left some items behind that she did not intend to...I sent them to her via UPS and all was well with the world.)  On this particular day, we had packed up all our tax documents, and were going to ship them to our accountant in NJ.  We discussed the various shipping methods with the woman at the counter as well as costs and decided that the most cost effective way to get the package from P...

 Five years ago was the last day that I worked in Lyndhurst.  I didn't know it was going to be the last day.  How could I?  How could anyone really grasp what was about to happen? Five years ago I wrote this:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2020/03/i-touch-myself.html   (Note:  five years later and I still have the bad habit of touching my face/hair.  But I DO wash my hands more and I still use hand sanitizer when I arrive at work.) I never imagined that I day later I would go in like any other day and never return. Five years ago, the 12th was a Thursday.  I knew I wasn’t going to go  to the office that Friday because my son had a half day at high school and he might need a ride home.  While he would normally walk,  all the students had to clean out their lockers and bring everything home, which would mean a LOT of “stuff”.  There would be two “snow days” for teachers to learn how to teach/work remotely. ...

Spring is here?  Or not? Spring doesn't officially arrive for another week and a half, but yesterday felt like spring!  It was AMAZING!  I actually went outside to work midday. (Got to love laptops so you can be mobile and do whatever you need to do and not be stuck in one place.)  It was glorious.  But it's not going to last... In the Pocono mountains, most of the snow has melted.  As of yesterday, there were still a few little patches.  Not much and I am hopeful that the rest will melt away today.   There were a lot of branches and twig scattered around the property.  That is due to all the wind and ice we've had this winter.  While we've had more than our share of snow falling from the sky, the actual accumulation this winter hasn't been too bad.  (I'm hoping that my March payment to our plow service will be the last, but...)  The worst part of this winter (thus far) has been all the ice and the WIND.  I'm te...

 It's no secret that I'm continually bamboozled by the USPS.  I've blogged about it many times before (example which has examples in it:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2024/09/failed-by-usps-again.html ) I’ve ranted about the poor quality of service many (too many?) times.  So maybe, like our current president, they hold a grudge against me.  (Or maybe I'm being paranoid?  But even the paranoid have a reason to be so on occasion.) Speaking of paranoia, we are in the least favorite time of year for me:  tax season.  Yes, when it comes tax time, my anxiety goes through the roof.  (I inherited this from my mother.)  "Back in the day" my husband used to do our taxes.  Then my mother died and things got tricky, so it was time to turn to an accountant.  (The wonderful one that did my parent's returns for years).  Then my father died and it got even trickier.  Needless to say, we will be using this accoun...

 It's that time of year again.  This Saturday at 2 am, we set our clocks ahead of 3 am, as we enter Daylight Saving Time.  Losing an hour can be rough, but what USED to make it rougher was when we actually had to go around the night before to change the clocks.  (Because who is going to get up/be up at 2 in the morning just to do that?)  Now a days, most clocks and items that show the time automatically update.  There are only a few things in the house that need to be changed manually, making the spring forward much easier. Of course losing an hour of sleep is never "fun."  Having more daylight, however, is a plus.  Although it does mean that catching the bus in the morning will be more of a challenge.  This week, the sun has been almost up when I catch the bus.  Next week, that won't be the case.  I'll be doing my best to flag it down, but I do realize that it can be a challenge to be seen, especially if I catch the bus that p...

 When my workday ended on Tuesday, I did what I usually do.  I packed up my belongings.  I walked to Penn Station (Newark) to the city light rail.  I got on.  I got off at my stop.  For once everything timed well and I had about a 2-minute wait before my bus pulled up.  I got on and in 40 or so minutes got off at my stop.  I crossed the highway (never an easy task) and walked the block and a half to the house.  I grabbed the recycling bin that was sitting outside and the mail from the mailbox.  I unlocked the door and went in.  I put down my stuff.  I put the recycling bin down in the basement (along with the mail because it was all junk).  And then I realized something was not quite right.  The microwave clock was off.  The coffee maker clock was off.  The clock in the living room was dark.  There was no power. First thought...is it me or is it everyone?  Looking out the back window I could see tr...