This week's Wednesday

Wednesday is my day off from retail work, which makes it my designated day to try to get around to doing whatever needs doing. I always run out of Wednesday before I run out of Wednesday things to do.

At long last: A Wednesday with no scheduled appointments of any kind. In fact, at this writing, I don't have any more Wednesday appointments scheduled until early February. Those dates will fill in, but for now--like the Rolling Stones--I'm free to do what I want, any old time.

This being Syracuse, of course, one's understanding of the concept of doing what one wants must expand to include bundling up and clearing snow from the driveway. I woke up with a headache, which my morning mug of coffee did its caffeinated best to address. I caught up on banking and bill-paying, purchased a digital album (the superb Breaking Up With Trevor Blendour, recommended to me by Robbie Rist), did some invoicing, showered, enjoyed a pistachio muffin for breakfast, and put off firing up the ol' Cub Cadet for at least a little bit. There wasn't any need to hurry.

Even the Ramones-like 1-2-3-4! of coffee, shower, muffin, and supplemental mug of Café Bustelo Instant Espresso didn't quite outmuscle my headache, but some Ibuprofen did the trick. I got around to commencing mechanical snow removal before noon, and spent less than an hour completing that task. The Cub Cadet is now 18 years old, and a trusted winter companion since the aftermath of my back surgery in 2007 made it an essential purchase. 

The lack of scheduled appointments didn't mean a lack of errands to run. The roads in our suburban development hadn't yet been plowed, but they presented a manageable level of slushiness as I piloted my intrepid Ford Escape into the wild gray yonder. I needed to pick up a mailer to ship out a book sold on eBay, Brenda asked me to pick up a book she had on reserve at the library, and I had to stop at the post office to do the aforementioned eBay shipping. I discovered I'd bought the wrong size mailer, so I paid for a larger one while at the post office and figured I'd exchange the incorrect purchase on the way home. I did that right after snagging my new comics at Comix Zone and boppin' into The Utica Pizza Company for a to-go order of Utica greens to add to dinner. 

When I got home, I handed the Utica greens to Brenda. She started warming up some leftover turkey casserole while I went back outside to shovel the end of the driveway, as the snowplows had been through the neighborhood while I was out. It had long since stopped snowing, so that little clean-up task was my final act of winter season maintenance for the day.

After our early dinner, Brenda and I went to our home office room to review the basics of listing items for sale on eBay. I've been downsizing parts of my vast accumulation of stuff, and Brenda wants to help by putting up the listings on days when she's home and I'm at my retail job. Teamwork! She successfully put a couple more of my DC Archives hardcover comics collections up for sale, and I left her with a stack of additional books to list as she gets to them. We watched a little TV before she went to bed.

Wednesdays have been freed up a smidge by the decision to record the weekly This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio in the first part of the week: Playlist-plotting phone call with Dana on Monday night, tracks pulled and finalized later that same night, individual track credits assembled during the day on Tuesday, my back announcements and chatter recorded during a break at work early Tuesday afternoon, minor corrections executed after Tuesday night supper, and the whole mess forwarded to Dana before it was time for Tuesday's Jeopardy! Sounds clinical, I guess, but the result remains The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet.

Didn't get any writing done on Wednesday, but also knew ahead of time I wasn't going to get any writing done. I've been feeling a little...overworked? No, that ain't it. As 2025 gets set to careen into oblivion, I feel a need to pause and recharge. I probably won't resume interviews for my 2026 book Make Something Happen! The DIY Story Of A Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES until after we've given this calendar's last page the burning it deserves. The book will get done--I am far too stubborn to concede any other possibility--and my short story collection Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies will also get done; both will be published in 2026, and I'll continue work on two other books as soon as I'm finished with Make Something Happen! and Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! 

But that's work for Wednesdays from January onward. The remainder of December's Wednesdays are meant for gathering strength. Resting. Refueling. 

And then returning with a vengeance. 

Meanwhile, this week's Thursday promises more snow. A lot more snow. The ol' Cub Cadet stands ready. We'll plow our way through to next week's Wednesday in our own due time. Can't stop it. Might as well embrace it. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here