This morning, as I was getting into my car to go to work, a woman was walking her dog (a Silky) on the sidewalk across the street. She was a total stranger, yet as she walked by, she turned and waved and had the most beautiful smile.

Of course I smiled and waved back and said, "Good morning."

I think it was the nicest possible start a day could have.

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Happy Birthday, emeraldqueene!

I still miss zortrana. It's her birthday, too. Her sister hasn't updated in over three years, so I think it's time to give her a shout.

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All I have to say tonight is, I hope my livejournal friends who live in the areas of extreme weather are all okay.

Did I hear that there was a mile-wide tornado on the ground for an hour in Oklahoma?

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Happy Birthday, serafaery!

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Nothing really to write about today, except that I think it's time to do another backup of my journal. Been a while.

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I don't even remember what year I bought this computer, but it was several years ago now. All I remember is I bought it on a Friday, the day before the Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday weekend, because it was worth the extra $30 not to have to deal with the crowds.

It still works pretty well, but it locks up completely for one to two minutes, only one time per session, and only when I go to either Facebook or Linkedin. The mouse cursor doesn't move, and I can't type anything, and if music is playing it plays a segment over and over again like a broken record. Then after the minute or so is over, it starts working again as if there's nothing wrong.

It's annoying, but I haven't decided if it's annoying enough to do something about it. :)

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A little late maybe, but Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms, the new Moms, and the soon-to-be Moms on my friends list and everywhere.

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The concept of "undisclosed location" seems to be lost on some people.

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I think the protesters who are protesting the burial of Tamerlan Tsarnaev anywhere in the U.S. should direct their energy elsewhere. His victims and their families are looking to move on, and seeing all this unnecessary crap about him in the news constantly is not helping.

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Happy Mayday 2013, everybody!

It wasn't until last year that I even knew anything about it.

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Ed Markey won the Democratic nomination. Good.

The Republican nominee is Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy Seal who has no political experience. As much as I respect him and appreciate his military service, I can't vote for him. His feelings toward gay marriage and women's reproductive rights boil down to, "Let the states decide for themselves." Of course, letting the states decide for themselves really means not letting individuals and couples decide for themselves and I have a real problem with people making decisions for other people on matters that don't affect them. And we have way too many Republicans in the Senate anyway.

I should have realized, from the signs on the lawns all over the place, that we also had a town election today, on a separate ballot. I've lived here a long time, and there were only two names on the whole town ballot that I was familiar with. I voted for everyone who wasn't an incumbent.

The general election for the Senate seat is June 25th.

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Tomorrow is Primary Day here in Massachusetts, for the special election for the Senate seat vacated by John Kerry. I'm still convinced that the only reason the Republicans were so supportive of Kerry's appointment as Secretary of State was because they thought they'd have a chance to win the seat. Then Scott Brown said he wasn't running. Now they have three candidates vying for it, but I don't think they'll get it. The Democrats have two candidates, and both are well-known U.S. Representatives. Steve Lynch claims to have the support of the union workers, but I think some unions are supporting Ed Markey. Markey has the support of women, since he's pro-choice and has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood and NARAL. Also, he's against the Keystone Pipeline. Lynch says he's waiting for environmental impact statements to decide on that issue, but it seems to me he's made it pretty damn obvious that he's in favor of it. So, Markey is the guy I'm voting for.

Of course, if one of them does win, then we'll have a seat in the House to fill. This shit never ends.

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According to my car, the temperature in Lowell when I left work today was 78 degrees F. That's more than 30 degrees warmer than yesterday.

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Happy Birthday, sarahj2222!!

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I wish I was doing more for this place.

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Right now, there's nothing else to say that isn't being said over and over on tv.

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Happy Birthday, frozenfoxtale!

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It started off as such a perfect day to run 26.2 miles.

Most years, someone I know personally runs the Boston Marathon. This isn't one of them, as far as I know. So that's sort of good, in a way.

But, everybody killed or injured in today's senselessness was without a doubt known and loved by many people, and my heart goes out to all of them. Victims and loved ones alike.

I hope it doesn't take long to figure out who did it, but until they do, let's not jump to conclusions, okay?

I also hope you, and everybody you know and love, are safe and well.

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I put a bunch of new music into the phone, on the Micro SD card. Everything seems great except one thing. Well, two, actually. I can choose by artist or album or playlist, and it knows who all the artists are except Zero 7 and Massive Attack. They're lumped together as Unknown Artist and I don't know why.

True, it's a rather minor problem in the grand scheme of things, but it's annoying!

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Nothing really to write about tonight, except that I'm saddened by the passing of Roger Ebert.

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Happy Birthday, anfractuousity!

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I hope the Steubenville case continues to be talked about for a very long time. As tragic as that whole thing was and is (for the victim - idgaf about the perpetrators, unlike many people it seems), it provides us with a real chance to change some attitudes that really, really need to be changed.

It's an opportunity that must not be squandered, but I have serious concerns that in the end, it's going to have the exact same effect on our rape culture that the Newtown massacre will have on our gun culture: effectively none. I hope I'm wrong.

My biggest concern is that the lesson learned about the perils of social media will amount to, "If you rape an incapacitated person, don't brag about it on Twitter."

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We're supposed to get clobbered by another snowstorm tomorrow.

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That's all! :)

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Except it's not Pope Francis the First. It's just Pope Francis, yes?

When John Paul I was Pope, I don't remember anybody saying it's not John Paul the First, it's just John Paul. But that was a long time ago and he only lasted a month.

Whenever a new pope gets selected, I always wonder if there will be any noticeable changes in what goes on with the Catholic Church, to someone on the outside looking in. So far, I haven't seen any to speak of.

From what I heard about him, I think Jorge Mario Bergoglio is in for a serious lifestyle change.

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