RadioShacks are pretty depressing right now

I walked by a RadioShack today.  Here's the view from outside the front door:

Sorry I don't have a better picture, but I was afraid to go inside.  There was just one employee and about 17 items still remaining in the store, all hanging directly behind him at the register.  The other 1,200 square feet or so was basically empty--no way was I about to walk in there and start taking pictures.  The guy must be embarrassed enough to have to stand there in the first place, he doesn't need some jerk like me coming in and making fun of his predicament.



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Drivers in TV and movies always spend way too much time looking at the passenger

It doesn't matter what it is--movie or TV show, comedy or drama.  Regardless of the mood or theme of whatever I am watching, the same thought always crosses my mind whenever there is a car scene and the driver looks away from the road to talk to the passenger: They're going to crash.

I'm not sure how frequently that behavior actually is used to set the stage for an impending accident, but it's often enough to make me think it's coming 100 percent of the time.



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Evan Turner game-winner deja vu

There was something eerily familiar about last night's game-winning shot by Evan Turner:

Hawks at Celtics, February 11, 2015


Turner did the same thing just over a year ago:

Sixers at Celtics, January 29, 2014


Same floor.  Same spot.  Same result.  Different team.

Yesterday's contest was the most dramatic Celtics game I've been to in quite some time--probably since the 20-0 run in the 2013 playoffs against the Knicks that marked the final appearance in a Boston uniform for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

I wrote about all the absurd stats from the Celtics' unlikely 89-88 victory over the Hawks on CelticsLife.


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I wish I was a kid for these snow storms, incredible fort building opportunities

The view out my window. There's a stop sign in there, not sure how many cars...

One of my favorite things to do when I was a kid was to build forts.  Occasionally in the winter time when we shoveled our driveway the pile of snow on the side would get so high that I could dig a little cave inside.  But, I never remember having one big enough to really create something cool out of.

As I walk through the post-apocalyptic world that South Boston has become, it's all I can think about--how much fun the 10-year-old version of me might be having tunneling into these giant mountains of snow.

Take a look at that same stop sign outside my window two weeks ago, I can't believe I though it was bad then...


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What channel did you used to watch the Celtics on?

I recently heard a couple guys arguing about this in my bar, but the funny thing is they were both right.

Growing up I had seven basic stations on TV: 2 (PBS), 4, 5 and 7 (the three networks), and UHF entries 25, 38 and 56.  The first channel I ever remember watching the Celtics on was WLVI 56, in the 1980s.  In the early 90s they switched to WFXT 25, and a few years after that they move to WSBK 38.

During that whole run only the away games were aired on actual television (with an antenna).  However, the home games could be viewed if you had something known as "cable" (on SportsChannel).

Cable took over for good around the turn of the century, first as Fox Sports Net New England before becoming the Comcast (CSNNE) that we know now.

According to Wikipedia, the Celtics were allegedly on WBZ (4) before moving to 56, but you'll have to check with somebody older than me to verify.  Although this commercial from 1985 does support that case:




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This sign language interpreter is hysterical

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker's snow emergency press conference yesterday featured a very enthusiastic sign language interpreter.  To say she stole the show is an understatement (the volume is really quiet, but trust me you don't need it):



Below is the quicker Vine version, although I highly recommend watching all 41 seconds from above.

Charlie Baker's sign language interpreter really gets into her job. https://t.co/MKHzI8jPKg
— Mark Vandeusen (@LucidSportsFan) February 10, 2015

Also, maybe I'm missing something here, but is this still necessary for televised announcements in 2015?  Doesn't everybody have closed captioning?


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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Santa Monica" by Everclear

Everclear's Sparkle and Fade album came out in May of 1995.  And even though its most popular track wasn't actually released as a single, Santa Monica reached No. 29 on the Billboard pop charts in 1996.

I know the song is a lot deeper than its title, but the second line "...dreaming of the west coast" seems fairly appropriate today as Winter Armageddon 2015 continues to bury Boston in snow.

It's not so bad though, the Patriots did win the Super Bowl a week ago...



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