Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 7, 2015

Good Sunday morning, folks! Since it is Sunday morning, it's time for my weekly off television topic review of the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. For television fans -- I don't expect any concrete news about the upcoming Big Brother season until after this upcoming week. I have written some about the show which you can find at this link.

We had a lot of rain this past week. True, we needed it. But I'd personally prefer it to rain when I'm sleeping. Sleeping or even just lazing about goes so much better with the rain than trying to commute to work in it. Yesterday, after a rainy start, the weather turned perfect. That's in my own opinion, of course. Partly cloudy, highs somewhere in the mid-seventies with a slight breeze. I could do that year 'round.

On the home front, all is well. Vincent is fine. My new neighbor, a retired gentleman who already lived in one of the landlord's buildings, remains extremely quiet. He moved here because he has problems with his knees and will be getting a knee replacement. We have an elevator; his building didn't and he lived on the third floor there. I've heard kitchen sounds such as putting away dishes in the cabinets. One evening I heard the sound of a faint television. I can sometimes slightly hear movement or walking, but my floorboards aren't moving and nothing is even irking. If I have my television or music on (which I don't play loud), I hear absolutely nothing from that apartment. Blissful!

Meanwhile, down on the first floor, the screaming child can be heard all the way to the front of the building. That means prospective and existing tenants, along with the super, can hear him upon entering or leaving the building. I can't think they're going to be long for the place. I doubt their lease will be renewed. And, rental leases in New Jersey automatically renew unless there are critical problems with rent payments or violations of said lease. But, for the health of the apartment building, I can't see them staying. I feel sorry for the kid. I think he screams for attention and he gets none.

On the work front ... hmm ... forget it. I don't want to talk about the work front. I'm not a happy camper these days. I seriously have to figure out how to swing things financially so I can retire in a few years. It's a toxic place and I fear I'm getting too old for such stress in my life. I'm still having headaches from my injury last fall and I feel the tension is making things worse.

That's about all I have for you this week. Onto the photos -- if you click on an image, it will show larger in a gallery type display. I hope everyone has a nice Sunday!

A rose by any other name ...

... would smell just as sweet. These were growing in front of a home on East Second Street in Plainfield.

Pretty in pink

They've redone the planters near my workplace.

An elegant dove

A dove on a wire in the waning sunlight near the Bridgewater Train Station.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

20 Things We Can Expect on Big Brother 17

1. There will be the requisite black male and/or black female. However, never more than two folks of color.
2. Someone will try to set up an alliance on the first night.
3. The old person will be slightly over 40. Hey, maybe a real old one at 45. We can dream.
4. There will be at least one woman with a shrill loud voice that will disturb the neighbors in my apartment building as I watch the live feeds late at night.
5. There will be a gay guy. But never two gay guys. If there were, they'd probably not like each other.
6. We'll have a new array of tattoos to see ... some will have to be covered with Band-Aids.
7. A bunch of the hamsters, convinced that the show is Big Brother: The Musical, spontaneously burst into song periodically during the season. Thus, the live feeds will go into fish (or, old-style FOTH) every time they sing.

8. There will be several model wannabes, both male and female. They will hang around in bathing suits and live for comps akin to wet t-shirt contests.
9. At least three hamsters will think that stardom comes after the wrap party at the end of the season. They would be wrong.
10. There will be "twists" we don't like or want.
11. Fish will die. Yes, the fish in the HoH fish tank die all season. No, they don't show that on television.
12. Ants will invade the kitchen. They always do.
13. BB will dole out a paltry amount of alcohol and the hamsters will act like it's a keg party at a frat house.
14. The hamsters will rush around cleaning up the house on live show days not caring that they're SLOBS daily on the Internet.
15. More than one person will have to dress up in a silly costume as a punishment.

16. Most of the competitions will require the hamsters to make fools of themselves.
17. The women will think of forming a women's alliance, but it won't work out.
18. Both men and women will pop pimples in the mirror. Ew.

19. BB will give them dollar store toys and arts and crafts when the doldrums get too dull.
20. There will be at least one person who cries a lot. It would be nice if she were named Amber so we could call her WAH-mber as we've done in the past.

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - May 31, 2015

Good morning! It's Sunday morning. You know what that means. It's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the past week in both words and photographs I took along the way. I've been on a staycation (budget not allowing any extended trips, but I needed to take the time off) this week. I was thinking of going into the city to capture Manhattanhenge but it was too muggy, I was too lazy and now it's such a crowded event that it's almost annoying.

I did make a trip into neighboring Westfield and spent a part of one day at Mindowaskin Park. Most of this week's photos are from my park visit. For the first time since I started visiting the park several years back, I saw three bullfrogs. I didn't get any photos of them as I startled each one of them and they leaped into the water. Hey, they startled me, too!

A chipmunk also scared me at the park. There I was, innocently sitting on a bench, looking through photos I had taken. Next to the bench, set in the grass, was an old sewer grate. I just caught movement from the side and my thought was RAT or PENNYWISE THE DANCING CLOWN! Er, no. It was a chipmunk. I did get a few shots of it, but they didn't turn out all that well as he ran so darn fast.

The biggest news of the week is that my horrible, noisy, thumping so my floorboards move, child screaming at all hours neighbors moved out! I hadn't voiced any more complaints to the landlord about them since the first time. I figured whoever moved in under them would take care of that. And, so it did. Apparently the landlord lost a second tenant who moved under them.

Alas, they only moved downstairs to the first floor -- the very same apartment that two different families moved out of because of them.  I would guess the were given the ultimatum to move to the first floor or out of the building. It's been blissfully quiet here since they went away. Yay!

If you missed it, I wrote a post with some Big Brother news in it the other day. As more information comes around, I'll be posting. You can always find my BB posts by using this tag.

Onto the photos from the week! I might share some more of the gosling shots next week as they were so cute. I didn't make a slideshow as some people were having trouble loading it. If you click on an image, you'll get a larger view in a gallery.

Wood (or Carolina) Duck

This is the second time in several years that I've photographed a male Wood Duck at Mindowaskin Park. I have yet to see a female there. This male, like the last one I saw, stayed alone, refusing to mingle with the mallards or (heaven forbid) the Canada geese.

The mallard has his own beauty

The males are the ones with the white bodies and iridescent heads. Both male and female sport a swatch of blue or purple speculum feathers on their wings.

Mallard's colors close-up

I love the color of the blue on this mallard!

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Big Brother Tidbits

I know you're all itching for news on the upcoming season or, more likely, for it to start already. However, I don't expect any casting news for a good three weeks or so. That in mind, I decided I should post some newsy bits about the upcoming season and pass on some recent happenings with past house hamsters.

To start things off ...

Big Brother 17 will kick off with a two-night season premiere -- Wednesday, June 24 and Thursday, June 25 -- both nights are 8pm ET/PT although the Thursday live shows will return to the 9pm ET/PT the next week. The regular schedule for the show will be as in recent years: Sunday 8pm ET/PT, Wednesday 8pm ET/PT, Thursday 9pm ET/PT.

Regarding those live feeds ...

The bad news is that there will be no way for the Canadian audience to access the live feeds this season. The good news is that it's easier and cheaper for the United States show fans to get the live feeds. This year, they're bundling the live feeds into the CBS All Access subscription for a mere $5.99 a month. We'll still have the four camera and quad camera views (probably two cameras at different angles in the same room, but ...!) We'll still have the flashback feature to catch up and there are social aspects like chat rooms and such.

One cool thing about the CBS All Access subscription is that you can watch shows from previous seasons. I signed up this past week and so far I've watched the first season of Survivor and Twin Peaks. I've started skipping through episodes of my favorite BB season -- Season Two. No, you can't access the live feeds from past seasons.

You can sign up for the CBS All Access subscription at this link. You will need a credit card even though the first week is free. They rather bizarrely test out the card by taking a dollar out and putting it back in. Huh. It's the first time I've ever noticed that kind of thing with an online account.

 

CBS will be releasing pre-season bits via the All Access subscription. Right now I'm not seeing much of interest on there beyond access to all previous seasons aired shows (including BB1). On June 10th, BB16 winner Derrick Levasseur will have a private chat with subscribers. On June 15th, it will be Frankie Grande with a chat. Later that week (6/15), they're promising a live stream early reveal of the new houseguests. The live feeds themselves aren't expected to start until after the west coast viewing of the June 25 (Thursday) show.

Past hamsters in the news ...

Jeff and Jordan are the big ones in the news. Not only have they set their wedding date, they're appearing on WE tv's Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars. That show has its season premiere tonight (Friday, May 29) at 9pm ET/PT on, of course, WE tv.

For the first time, Survivor seasons were filmed out of order. While they'll be filming the show with previous castaways over the summer and airing it in September, Survivor 32 is already done and over with. But, we won't see it until February. And, guess who's on it? Caleb Reynolds from BB16. It's another Beauty, Brawn, Brains edition. I wonder what woman he'll creepily stalk on the island?

Back in February, Mike Boogie Malin filed for bankruptcy. On the other hand, Will Kirby still operates his successful dermatology practice. Meanwhile, BB14 winner Ian Terry is teaching physics in Texas. Howie Gordon has an actual television meteorologist job.

Life goes on.

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - May 24, 2015

Good morning! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend! Of course, Memorial Day isn't all about beaches and grilling -- please take time to remember the reason behind the holiday to think those who gave their lives in service to our country.

Since it is Sunday, that means it's time for my weekly off television topic reflections on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. I do plan to post some television stuff during the upcoming week even though The Amazing Race and Survivor are over for the season and the summer shows are yet to start. So, please check in for those!

Here are some random ramblings for you:

• I'm on a staycation. I really, really need it. I actually need more than just a staycation, but that's all I can get. I'm so tired all the time! Plus, I'm really grouchy and I don't like to be that way.
• On Thursday night I took a taxi home from the train station as I got home much later than I feel comfortable about hanging around on the downtown streets. (My neighborhood is fine; downtown can be scary at late night hours.) I went to the Yellow taxi across the street from the train station. They called an orange cab (Caribe) to take me home. That was weird.
• Speaking of dangerous, I heard on my scanner last night that three people were shot in town along with many other assaults. It happened at a festival held in a park. I don't go to that sort of thing here.
• I don't know what the theme is for autumn's Plainfield Library Photo Contest and can't find the information online. Hmm. 
• Weather permitting, I hope to hit Mindowaskin Park in Westfield one day, perhaps head into the city (NYC) another and maybe even go to a farmer's market. 
• I might just end up lazing about. Who knows?

Without further ado, here are this week's photographs. Clicking on an image will bring it up in a larger gallery view. I hope everyone has a great week!

Pulling into Plainfield

My train to work arrives at the station. Goody, goody.

The Red Admiral butterfly

He paused on a leaf just long enough for me to snag a quick rather not zoomed in photo.

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A mother, father and adolescent pigeons practically posed for me at the Bridgewater Train station. The adult birds were very curious about the camera, yet watchful over their two offspring. I'm including a flash slideshow here. If you can't get it to come up on your computer or smartphone, the Photobucket link for the pigeon shots can be found right here.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**