It slices, it dices...

... but it won't eat for you.

My mom bought one of those 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer thingies. Surprisingly, it works well. 

Too well.

It's quite possible that it's one of those tools where you need to pay attention to what you're doing, but not pay attention 100% because there's no sharp knife that'll cut your hand off, the second a kid is running through the kitchen with flames coming from their clothes. 

It's just too bad my mom bought the slicer before seeing what else is available because there's a 5-in-1 Multifunction Avocado Slicer available. I told her about it, and she said that we basically have all the pieces except the smasher. We have (now) the slicer, we have the holder... we really don't need the smasher because we eat sliced avocados more than we would make dip. 

Fair enough. 

I meant to write this all the other day and totally forgot.

We've used it for about a month already and it's really working out great... my mom tells all her friends about it because a lot of people we know are big into avocados. Ask Emi about her avocado on toast... something I never knew about until I met her. Crazy kids these days!  

I used to hate eating avocados. I once had a pizza in the North End (of Boston) that had toppings I'd never dream of putting on my pie - avocado, olives and artichoke. It had to be the most disgusting pizza slice I have ever eaten. I was unfortunately eating with people from work (they invited me), and one of the women ordered the food. I was being nice and gave it a try. Never again. I don't like olives as it is, and I'll stay away from artichokes. But I've learned within the last decade to eat avocados. I don't love them, but I won't not eat them. I'm picky. 

*shrugs* 

That's about it for now. 

Cheers;

Don't mind me, I'm having a moment.

Oh...my..gawd.

I logged into Amazon and the front page was toting the Echo Dot Kids Edition in rainbow, no less.

Kids echo

But what's the first thing that popped into my mind?



The fecking Gas Tank... the one you see on the drive into Boston facing the Southeast Expressway on I- 93. The same one WBZ name drops when doing traffic reports. The same one that geeks me out whenever I see it because I'm reminded of home.

The tank!
Photo taken in 2018
on an iPhone 6S

So with being faithful to reminders, I didn't know it had an official name.  It's called "Rainbow Swash" and it was painted by a woman named Corita Kent, who was a political activist (and nun!). She not only is a local celebrity for Boston because of the gas tanks, she is a US celebrity because she created a "Love" postage stamp in 1985 (kids, ask your parents about stamps and if they remember this particular one).



I think I'm a little reminiscent of my youth, as I was texting a friend about wanting to sell my bicycle.

Bought in 1996, this Giant Boulder 550 has taken me to some great places in the 26 years I've owned it. From testing it out in the neighborhood surrounding the Schwinn store we got it from (in Providence, RI, no less) ... to riding it down busy highway in the summer after working summer school... to circling a local college down the street from my house... and stopping to read some books at said college (I read the Regeneration Trilogy a few times during my stops on a park bench).

It's sadly time to retire this thing as I've not used it since the winter of 2011... when we moved to
Florida. I think I rode around my new neighborhood and the blocks outside my community about 4 times in the months after moving to The Sunshine State. After December 2011, the bike started hanging by its wheels on a wall in the garage. And it stayed until I took it down today to end up selling it (hopefully) tomorrow.

Photo taken with my (still new!) iPhone 11 with "night mode" automatic filter. No other edits done. This s straight from my phone.

I guess that's it. I've got to check emails still and get to bed early. We're having a community wide yard sale tomorrow, I need to make sure all the duckies are in order and ready to quack.


Til then....


Cheers;







See also (aka books I mentioned:

• The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker
• Regeneration
• The Eye in the Door
• The Ghost Road

(Boston) History books will need to be reweritten

In "Celebrity News" today (aka I'm just reading this at 4:45pm), Whitey Bulger is dead.

The famed mobster from Southie, has been found dead in a West Virginia jail this morning. A bit of conflicted irony to me because I just mentioned reading Black Mass in a previous post.

I'm conflicted because my friend's first response was "shit happens, huh?" and I'm starting to think "yeah, but..." and the rest of it being "it's a part of my history - growing up in and around Boston". I remember hearing about the Bulger Brothers and knowing a lot of the places Whitey ran through, when I was older. I've family, friends and experiences around Massachusetts and New Hampshire. People talk - for good and bad. Massholes have opinions and some stick like glue.

The whole Whitey thing is amazing when you think about it.

I'm not condoning any of the mob lifestyle, but having worked with some off shoots of "famiglia", I understand it. Gang lifestyle is hard as well, and I knew people involved in things that were shady "AF". I never partook in the debauchery.

Whitey knew what he was doing from a young age; street smart where his brother Billy was book smart, he played his cards wisely enough that he moved up in mob ranks rather quickly. From what I've been reading now, both brothers paralleled each other in a way, for how they rose to power in the state government and the underworld mob. Whitey became a mob kingpin and was able to outsmart a lot of people, including the Massachusetts police force, all the way to the FBI.

It's crazy times, he led. I suggest researching the history if you're unfamiliar with all of this.

All things considered, I just don't know really what to say. (Local) (Boston) History is changing right now and I'm sure all the stations are scrambling to cover the story. I bet there will be another movie made within the next 5 years about all of this. Almost "Black Mass part two" - updated for the new millennium. I don't know a lot; I admit it. I also don't pretend that my opinions matter more than anyone else's. I add a story line or two to the ongoing thread of the world, and hope someone else can see whatever point I'm trying to make. For all of this wildly weird violence going on today in the world, I hope that it pans out and people get closure. We all know what they say about karma. Maybe this is it for Jimmy Bulger?


Until next time...


Cheers;





See Also:
Boston's WBUR reporting: http://www.wbur.org/news/2018/10/30/whitey-bulger-obituary
Yahoo / AP report: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/whitey-bulger-boston-gangster-found-172442940.html





More (local) (Brockton) news: RIP  to a great high school football coach.




e2a: Go Sawx. Kill it.

#PrayforBoston 2

Hey Russia, you can keep your weirdos. Stop breeding them for terrorist activities. That's what the Middle East is for.