Monthly Archives: April 2026

Nurse Nancy

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The thing I’ve always envied about my sister Nancy is that she’s always known what she wanted to do. I’m in my sixties, and I still wonder what I’ll do if I grow up. I’m kinda giving up on that one.

But for as long as I can remember, Nancy has always wanted to be a nurse. Always. So when it came time for college, she went in for nursing, and came out with her RN, or as I refer to it, “Real Nurse”, And after college, she went into the field, first in northern Massachusetts, then for nearly a decade in Greenwich CT, where she made a number of friends, and finally at Emerson Hospital in Concord.

She just really enjoyed taking care of people. I remember talking with her about it a couple of years ago, and she lit up talking about the rewards of being able to help someone, to make a difference. As here seniority grew, she bacame a charge nurse and preceptor, responsible for training new nurses.

About five years ago, the Boston Globe ran a special “Salute to Nurses“, and she was one of the nurses honored:

I witnessed superb care of an elderly patient who can’t advocate for herself. Nancy teaches new nurses while taking excellent care of patients.

Nancy’s expertise was a lot of help when we were dealing with my mother’s illness. She was able to explain what was going on, and advocate better for Mum, and in turn, going through that experience as a family member probably made her a better nurse.

But nursing is hard, physical work, and time flows on. Nancy’s decided to retire, and tomorrow is her last day. She and her husband are birders, and she’s been so looking forward to the Spring Migration.

I just wanted to say I’ve been incredibly proud of her all these years, and I wish her all the joy in the world for her retirement.

Swapfest: The Flea at MIT

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Several years back I read Andy Ihnatko’s account of the MIT Flea, and stuck it in the back of my head as something that could be interesting to check out. It’s held every third Sunday April through October, in the Albany Street garage. It’s  “a place to buy, sell, and swap amateur radio, electronic, and computer equipment”. I first went a few years ago, but went relatively late in the day and was pretty underwhelmed. I got there around 11 this morning, and found three floors of stuff to look at:

  • Old videogame cartridges
  • LPs
  • Oscilloscopes
  • stepper motors
  • Knives
  • Old Macs, some dating back to the 80’s and 90’s
  • Some old Apple IIs
  • Old laptops
  • Microscopes
  • Electronics parts of all kinds
  • Memorabilia
  • A couple of old globes
  • All sorts of other old stuff that I had no idea what it was.

Some of it was interesting to look at, but there was nothing there that I found particularly tempting, though if I’d seen a laser I might have grabbed it. The older Macs were interesting — I’ve always wished I’d had a compact Mac, but none of them came with mice or software so they weren’t usable. I did see an Apple IIc and a couple of Apple IIGSes there — my first and second computers, but neither had a monitor, so they weren’t really usable. I already do have a working PowerMac G4 and an Apple IIGS emulator on this machine.

Overall, though, I’m finding window shopping in general to be a less satisfying pastime than it used to. After having to clean out the old house, I’m finding I’m less interested in taking on new clutter, unless it’s usable, and I want it. And nearly anything I picked up there would have been A Project to get cleaned up and usable. Thank you no.