Tag: scary

Come on. We’re better than this.

Honestly, I wish I knew why some people have such a problem with anyone different than them.  American culture is one of the most heterogenous imaginable.  And yet there are still so many people afraid of “them”, whether it be gays, foreigners, or in this case, Muslims.

A U.S. Army veteran, who served in Iraq and is still in the Army Reserve, was apparently attacked by his fare last week.  And the guy was screaming about terrorists and the Boston bombing and whatnot.

You know, from a certain point of view, the group that has created the overwhelming majority of the problems I have had in my life is angry, bigoted white meathead rednecks.  Does that mean we should start profiling white rednecks?  Or start reporting “suspicious” white rednecks to the police? Does that mean all white rednecks are the same?  No, they aren’t.  It’s absurd.  And so is blaming all 1 billion plus Muslims for the acts of a small minority.  It’s not like Christians have been free of committing horrific violence in the name of their religious views.  So get over yourselves, people.  Try learning a little, opening your mind, maybe cracking open a book or two.  And for God’s sake, turn off the TV and the talk radio.  It’s only making things worse.

-Geoff

Back to your regularly scheduled postings of weird stuff

And leave it to Fab.com to bring the, here’s that word again, disturbing stuff.

Continue reading “Back to your regularly scheduled postings of weird stuff”

Now this is really feeling surreal

[ETA to make some additions and corrections – Geoff]

I honestly am just in shock now.

As if the events in Boston have not brought enough insanity to our world, now the last 12 hours have taken the crazy to whole new levels.

The two bombers lived in our neighborhood here in Cambridge.  And that is just for starters.

Continue reading “Now this is really feeling surreal”

Lockdown

We are ok.  We are currently in lockdown and nobody is going anywhere.  The streets are empty of people save for sirens and law enforcement/EMS.  The MBTA is closed entirely as are all business in Cambridge, Watertown, Allston/Brighton, Waltham, Belmont, Newton, and all of Boston.  The same cities are also ordered to have everyone stay home/indoors and parts of Cambridge/Watertown have no traffic allowed in or out, either the car or human variety.

More later.

~Kelly

Maybe this is the new normal?

At least for now.

We’re 48 hours out from the bombings and things are… different.  It isn’t just the obvious police presence or the national guard people in uniform everywhere.  Things are different.  Yesterday everything was eerily calm, almost like the afternoon of 9/11 when all flights were grounded and nobody knew what was going on, except that yesterday there were helicopters in the air overhead and we were all waiting.

Waiting for news of who else was going to die.  Waiting to hear from that last person or two that we hadn’t yet heard from.  Waiting for news from the police, the feds, the various hospitals.  Waiting.  It was like life in suspended animation.

We were going to work and going through the motions, but everyone was asking the same thing, “Should we be doing this?”  “Is this appropriate?”  “What is the right thing to do now?”

Nobody has an answer for that.  There is no single answer when there is a 15 block long scar in the middle of your city that was carved out by a coward with bombs, a bone to pick with humanity, a need to see his human fears and frailty writ large on the TV, and not enough guts or intelligence to make the change he wants to see from within the system.

Continue reading “Maybe this is the new normal?”

Reporting in from Boston

This is a quick post to let people who have been calling and emailing from near and far know that we’re OK. We were driving back from Boston when the bombing happened. The Cambridge EMS, Fire, and Hazmat were screaming past in the other direction and I casually wondered if there’d been a bomb threat. Oops.

We’ve heard from one friend who ran today and he finished and cleared the area before the bombs went off.

I’m sure there will be more information and more to post about later. Stay safe, everyone.

Kelly & Geoff

For live reports from Boston.com as the situation develops, go here: http://live.boston.com/Event/Live_blog_Explosion_in_Copley_Square

This is considered an “ongoing event.”  AKA: the city is under attack as I write this.  The most recent bombing was a half hour ago.

ETA: This photo.  Wow.

The running of the 117th Boston Marathon was dedicated to the town of Newton, CT.

ETA: From the Globe.  Sometimes you don’t need words.

“That won’t happen.” Well, sometimes it does.

If you count my time in uniform, I have worked in public safety for a while.  I have also worked on business continuity/disaster recovery planning committees.  I am probably more well read on much of the literature than many  public safety officers and government officials.  I take this sort of thing quite seriously, because I know what is possible.  And so when I hear people blow things off, even when experts are trying to tell them to take a particular danger or threat seriously, I get a bit frustrated.

The looming storm this weekend is a great example.

Continue reading ““That won’t happen.” Well, sometimes it does.”

Possible blizzard coming

The possibility of snow this weekend went from possible snow earlier in the week to winter storm watch to blizzard watch today as the weather forecast for Thursday through Saturday was refined by meteorologists.  And all this on the 35th Anniversary of one of the biggest snow events of my generation – the Blizzard of 1978.

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Remembering the Blizzard of ’78

Tonight I was hanging out with my friend Patricio, and we went over to Micro Center to do some shopping and browsing.  Man, I love that store.  Anyway, the course of the conversation led to me talking about my grandparents’ farm in Somerset, and also led to me talking about the big blizzard of 1978.  That event is one that everyone around here remembers quite well.  My family here in Massachusetts certainly experienced it, especially my grandparents and other family members who lived in Somerset, which was in the area where it hit the hardest, down near the Rhode Island border.   I think my grandparents got about 30 inches of snow in less than 36 hours.

Continue reading “Remembering the Blizzard of ’78”