07.13.2026
Hi bloggers happy monday. Work keeps dropping hints that something Good is going to happen to me eventually. I got assigned as the lead PM to a very big project that's supposed to wrap up its main phase in April (past my contract) and be totally done in December. My boss' boss on the call today straight up said that they would be looking to extend me again but the clincher is if they were to bring me back as a contractor I would have to get furloughed for 3 months which wouldn't make any sense because its at the end of the project and they were also like "this is a good opportunity for Sean to work with upper management" so they really seem to fw me. Also my boss said I was the man on a status call today so W. If I keep blogging about this I think I will manifest it.
Busy busy busy and very fun week too. I went to two concerts that were both 90s emo bands. First was American Football. GREAT show they sounded really good. Good selection of tracks from all 4 of their albums although I wish they played more from LP3 because that's my favorite. Opener was fun too, a band called Ian Sweet. Very obnoxious crowd though! They didn't do a "traditional" encore, they were like "we're going to play one last old song then we're gonna take 5 and come back and play some of our new stuff" then they played Never Meant. And when it was over at least half of the audience left!!! Wtf. The second show was Jejune and The Shyness Clinic, two Boston emo bands that broke up 25 years ago and reformed and were playing for the first time since then. Both sounded great despite the long time away and Jejune played a tonnnn of songs. They had brought along some split 7" records they did with another defunct emo band called Garden Variety that had been sitting in some guy's basement for 30 years untouched and I bought one which was insanely cool (and then found on apple music a couple days later lol). Emo summer!!
Friday I went up to Lake Winnipesaukee for my annual FFXIV friend meetup. We got breakfast at this cute little waterfront inn then hung out on the lake for a bit. Gorgeous day. Then we spend the afternoon inside at Funspot LMAO. I taught my friends how to play pinball and helped them win pint glasses with their tickets. My friend Rachel hadn't been there in a few years and said that it felt emptier, a sentiment that I've agreed with (and I think I've written about on here the last time I was at funspot). Still a good time and we got dinner afterwards before I trekked back home for another set of friends' board game night. The meetup is nice now because none of us play FFXIV anymore but the friendship endures. And that's what it's really all about in the end.
(And I hit 4th place on the Funspot Jaws pinball leaderboard too)
Saturday was the big Pinball League finals. I originally was just gonna show up and watch because I was the alternate in case someone dropped out last minute but at 3pm that day I get a call from Ty and he's like Hey someone dropped out can you play? The league theme was little league so I put on my best baseball look (the margaritaville themed sox jersey I got as a Fenway giveaway a few months ago) and lost in the first round because I had to go up against one of the best players in the region who I just didn't stand a chance against. But I did get to do commentary on the twitch stream for an hour after which was more fun than actually playing and I won $25 for being a finalist so that felt good. And of course my friends where there and I had a beer and a hot dog so it was a good night.
Sunday another birding day, this time at Great Meadows in Concord. Saw a couple lifers (super cute marsh wren was my fave), also lots of other cool wildlife that Jeff and Mariessa were able to identify for us which was awesome. We ran into a woman too who had written a bunch of birding books and had this amazing long distance scope that we googled later and found out was $4000 lol. Then later that day my parents came up so we could see the tall ships that are currently parked in Boston for the next few days and we took a boat cruise around the harbor to see them. All super cool, the boat ride was definitely the way to do it because downtown Boston where the ships are was absolutely mobbed, easily the busiest I've ever seen it. I'll post some pics below. Was in the sun all day and was very cooked by the time I got home lol.
Links of the week: