• Believe mug from Ted Lasso

    I believe in believe

    August 25, 2024 / No Comments

    I had zero interest in watching “Ted Lasso.” As someone who’s not a sports fan, I couldn’t imagine viewing an entire series about soccer… err, football.

    Then, M gave me the go-ahead.

    This is one of the perks of being married for a long time that’s rarely mentioned in movies or novels. When you’ve been together for years or decades, your partner knows your likes and dislikes, and can usually act as a guide for the unfamiliar. For example, I’m constantly trying out new recipes and making M taste-test them (the creamy cajun-spiced chicken pasta dish that was recently featured in The New York Times was a real hit). And he will often watch shows or movies and then let me know if I should see ’em too. Sometimes, he’ll discover a program, watch a few minutes, realize that we should watch it together and then wait to see the rest of it. How sweet is that?

    Anyway, he told me to view at least two or three episodes of “Ted Lasso” and then make up my mind about the show. I have now watched the entire series three times. It is just so brilliantly written and acted. It’s also full of kindness and joy, which as we all know, has been in short supply these past few years.

    M loved the show so much that he dressed up as Ted Lasso for Halloween in 2022. He even shaved his beard to make the costume work, which was a real hoot.

    Part of M’s costume was the cup you see above, featuring Ted’s famous BELIEVE sign. It is currently my favorite mug for tea. I love the size — large — and the lip at the top which makes spillage less likely. But it’s the message that I’m clinging to as I explore this next phase of life.

  • tornado

    Three is a weather pattern to notice

    August 13, 2024 / 2 Comments

    For the third time since we met, M and I had to hunker in the basement due to an oncoming tornado.

    The first time was last October. We were watching TV when our phones began shrieking with an alert ordering us to TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. After gathering the cat carriers and finding/scooping up the kitties, we headed into the basement to wait. Twenty minutes later, we received the “all-clear” and walked back upstairs, relieved it was over with nary any damage to our property.

    Alas, the second time took place about an hour after the first. We’d freed the furballs and returned to our show when our phone alarms began to sound again. Back into the basement we all went.

    The third time was on a Sunday last month. Because I follow weather news, I knew our area was under a tornado watch. Before I went to bed, M grabbed five cat carriers and set them up in the dining room, just in case. I left some clothes at the bottom of my bed, also just in case. Then, I went to sleep. It wasn’t easy, of course, but since I was scheduled to work that night, I had no choice.

    My time in Morpheus’s realm was fraught. I’m not even sure I made it to the front gates; it was as if my brain knew trouble was on the horizon and didn’t want me to sleep too deeply.

    At 5:45 p.m. (or 5:45 a.m. in my world), my phone’s tornado alert became a loud and demanding wake-up call. I leaped out of bed, dressed and opened the bedroom door. Just as I did so, M opened his office door, apparently en route to wake me. Instead, we calmly but quickly walked downstairs and began the mad process of corralling the cats and getting everyone into the basement. Our current record time, from shriek to shelter, stands at 8 minutes.

    We’ve been together for 18 years and married for nearly 15. For much of that time, we’ve resided in New Hampshire, a place that’s not exactly known for having a tornado season. Oh sure, we come up against the occasional blizzard, ice storm or hurricane, but for the most part, the major natural disasters that plague other parts of the country are rarely felt here.

    Thanks to climate change, however, historic patterns are no longer reliable. Which is why we plan to always have a basement in whatever home we own. If twisters are going to make regular appearances in New England, the Walker-Weir family intends to have a safe place to wait and hope that this too will eventually pass.

  • digital footprint crime

    Examining the digital footprint of crime

    August 2, 2024 / No Comments

    I recently started watching “Witness to Murder: Digital Evidence,” a true crime show that focuses on using technology to catch criminals. Think suspicious Google searches, stored destinations on GPS, incriminating YouTube videos, child porn and pings on cell towers.

    It’s really quite amazing how much evidence folks create on their computers and cellphones. Even the act of turning off the phone or GPS while committing a criminal act can lead police right to a predator. Technology can help the authorities learn more about the victim as well, creating a timeline of events and providing connections to possible witnesses or persons of interest.

    Then there’s the fact that so much of our public life is now captured on video. It’s creepy as hell when you think about it — very Big Brother — and yet such surveillance can both deter crime and catch people who’ve committed criminal acts. So often, the police officers interviewed on the show say the same things:

    * The video is a witness without an agenda. It doesn’t lie.

    * Without the video, we never would’ve identified the criminal/solved this crime/convicted the perpetrator.

    As someone with “lawful good” tendencies, a life of crime has never interested me. I’d rather earn or win than take, and I’d rather help than harm. I wouldn’t hesitate to give police access to our Nest footage if it could help catch a culprit. And unless I had some proprietary information on it — or notes/recordings/photos about a news story I’m writing — the authorities would find nothing even remotely interesting on my phone, mostly just recipes and thousands of cat photos.

    (One side-note: All those odd, murder-y Google searches are for my novel. I swear!)

    That said, I’m surprised shows like this don’t make criminals rethink their actions. If the technology continues to improve, and of course it will, it’s going to be even harder to get away with crimes and remain on the lam. Plus, if you give up a life of crime, you don’t have to worry about every move you make, either in the real world or online.