Gillette Stadium Freeze Out

Getting an appointment for a Covin-19 vaccination in Massachusetts has been a nightmare. Last week the online registration system crashed completely. Today had only an occasional application error, and despite having a good spot in the virtual waiting room I wasn’t able to get an appointment at Tom Brady’s former playground, Gillette Stadium. The problem is simply there isn’t enough vaccine available yet.

I’ll try again next week, but at least I snagged a pair of tickets at Gillette for Springsteen’s upcoming Tequila Road Tour. 😉

Praise for the Bose Wave

It’s been almost 13 years since I bought my Series II Bose Wave Music System, after I had the porch remodeled for year-round use. As I wrote at the time the CD player in the first unit had a problem. At least the problem appeared right away, unlike one of you out there, whose Bose Wave CD player failed after years of use.

Fortunately, my CD player continues to behave, and the older I get the more I appreciate the Wave. It’s what I’d keep if forced into extreme downsizing, because I was moving into — AIEE! — a retirement home.

That’s Lockjaw, from the Fantastic Four, sitting on Half-Face, from Iron Man.

From its introduction, the Bose Wave has been called overpriced, but the $500 price hasn’t budged for many years. The fact is nothing else does what the Wave does for its size, regardless of price.

The product name was taken from a speaker design term, quarter-wave, referring to using a cabinet baffle to extend the bass output of a speaker. Typically a full-range driver with no woofer/tweeter combination, and no crossover circuit. The waveguide design, combined with an active loudness control and a heavy-duty power supply, make the Wave’s bass response very satisfying.

The notorious CD player problems aside, Bose is confronting the reality that few people in their teens to 40 are listening to FM or CD’s. Rather than squeeze a Bluetooth receiver into the Wave, Bose offers a more expensive wireless edition with a base that attaches to its proprietary expansion port. The good news is the regular Wave is currently on sale for only $300, and for another $20 a Bluetooth receiver can be plugged into the auxiliary jack.

VAXfinder

The Massachusetts vaxfinder site crashed as soon as it opened this morning for ages 65+. Baby Boomers continue to stress everything as we progress in age. With diligent effort I still managed to find a VAX!

When the site came back online, the only two locations that actually have vaccine on hand are 60 and 90 miles away. If I search without caring about current availability, I see this: “We’re sorry, there are no more appointments at the moment. Please check back as additional appointments will be made available.”

As Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five would say, “So it goes.”