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Talk of the Town Ernie Anderson

No butts about it
Some of you know, because you carefully chronicle my likes and dislikes, that I refuse to accept Facebook friend requests from guys who are shirtless in their profile pics. Just a little quirk of mine. Well, the other day, I got a friend request from someone whose profile photo displayed only their bare buttocks. At first I thought I was looking at two Thanksgiving turkeys sitting side by side, but no. Buttocks. That was a hard pass, also. I guess I have a lot of quirks.

Dang, nature. You scary.
A few years ago, a Phoebe built her nest above my door and all through the spring I got the joy of watching her chicks being born. For that entire season, I was completely enamored of the birds and we sang glorious songs of nature’s majesty together. This year? Instead of birds, I get wasps. Lively, mean looking wasps have built a nest somewhere, so every time I step outside, I have to wade through an angry swarm of them, doing the little is-it-on-my-back? dance the whole way. It’s not as fun as looking at the birds, but I gotta say. For getting my butt moving first thing in the day, those menacing buzzers are better than three cups of coffee.

Bottomed out
Did I just use “butt” in two items in a row? My bad. I could have been more creative by using bum, behind, rear end, heinie or fanny, I suppose, but there’s nothing to be done about it now.

You mothers
Don’t forget it’s Mother’s Day, Boyo. Bring your momma some nice flowers and a pile of your dirty laundry. They like that, I’m pretty sure.

Broken windows
If you heard far-off screams of rage and anguish late in the evening on Tuesday, don’t you fret. That was just me trying to install Linux on a computer that was possessed by the demon spawn known as Windows 11. As a rule, I would rather drink water from the Lewiston canal than deal with Windows 11, but there I was waiting out its boot loops, blue screens and vague, taunting messages: “Diagnosing your machine. Making repairs. Whoops, diagnosing again. You should go get a cup of tea. This is going to take foreeeeever…” In the end, I defeated Bill Gates’ loathsome creature and then it took all of 10 minutes for Linux to install itself. You may have heard my Mel-Gibson-in-Braveheartesque screams of triumph or witnessed my naked victory dance straight down East Avenue. Sorry about that. I try not to show my fanny in public but this was a big win.

Mark LaFlamme is a Sun Journal reporter and weekly columnist. He's been on the nighttime police beat since 1994, which is just grand because he doesn't like getting out of bed before noon. Mark is the...

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