Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #97: Air Supply, Cat Distribution System, Turkey Day, etc.

1. It costs $2.50 for 5 minutes of air at Cumberland Farms. On one hand, it’s outrageous that you have to pay for air, I mean, it’s everywhere. On the other hand, I shouldn’t be surprised that greedy corporations try to squeeze every cent out of their customers. I’m surprised more stores don’t have pay toilets. Anyway, I stopped to fill my tires up since it’s been cold, so the tire pressure naturally goes down. Since I paid with my debit card, I thought it would be nice, since I paid for 5 minutes of air, that if I don’t use all 5 minutes of air, I should get the remainder of the money reimbursed back onto my card. Or I should at least get a doggy bag to put the leftover air into.


2. Thanksgiving week, and it was mayhem in the supermarkets. I was given a list of some things to bring to my mom’s for our holiday meal. Luckily, I got most of it out of the way early. As the day got closer, it was madness. There weren’t any fights or anything, just loads of people wanting the same things. We have a Market Basket about a half hour from where I live, and I enjoy going there as often as I can because their prices are lower. Plus, I consider it like a field trip. That being said, I saw people’s posts on social media saying that our Market Basket was like Thunderdome due to Thanksgiving shopping, and to stay away. No worries, I’ll be sure to hit up Market Basket after Thanksgiving, you know, when people are hitting the gym out of guilt.


3. Update on last week. I said I had ordered a few things from Amazon, including a travel-sized deodorant, because I needed to spend ten cents more to get free shipping. Well, nothing beats expecting a tracking update and instead being told your package has been damaged and returned to sender. Yes, they will be sending everything out new, but I would like to know exactly what happened. I didn’t order anything fragile, so what did a truck back over my box? Did a driver have a bad day and boot it into the ocean? Did someone pack a glitter bomb to fool porch pirates, and it went off accidentally? I’ll never know, but I’m sure my imagined scenarios are better than reality.


4. I saw something this week that really spoke to me. It’s known as the GPS Theory of Life. When you’re driving, and you miss a turn or go the wrong way, your GPS recalculates. It doesn’t say ‘Oh well you missed your destination’ and make you go home. It still gets you where you want to go. The same should apply to one’s life. When you fail, or choose your own metaphorical wrong turn, life isn’t over. You recalculate and find a new way there. I love this idea and can use it in my own life. I have been lucky and blessed on my journey overall, but I am still not where I want to be. I have a vision of what ‘success’ in my life means. I feel as though I have done my fair share of recalculating over the years. The one thing I haven’t done, though, is turn back and go home. No, I am going to keep recalculating and get by all of the road construction, one-way streets, vehicle accidents, police cars, and closed businesses until I get to where I am meant to be. Jokes aside, I do love the positivity and perseverance of the GPS Theory and wanted to share it.


5. As 2025 draws closer to the end, it’s time for me to get ready to renew my personal training certification. I have to do continuing education just like many other fields, like teachers and other healthcare providers. There is a certain number of CECs I need to renew, which is standard. The only issue is that since I last renewed 2 years ago, my training school has made renewing ‘easier’ by actually making it harder. Instead of a list of courses with their CECs and cost right there, I am instead having to email the school to ask questions that probably make them wonder if I have been hit on the head too much. My biggest question has to do with one course that should fulfill my renewal qualifications, but suspiciously has a name similar to another certification I already have. I am also a medical fitness specialist. There is a pair of courses for a medical fitness programmer. Very similar, right? The main point of this is I don’t want to spend the money on a course only to find out it’s the same thing I already have. Doubles are fine when collecting baseball cards, but not when it’s a non-refundable fitness course.


6. I do believe in the power of positive affirmation and manifestation. You might not always get what you want, but believing you can and thinking positively can only help your mental health. For those who don’t believe in manifestation, I give you Exhibit A from this week. I enjoy watching funny cat videos because I love cats and am rocketing headlong toward 50. So I was watching a video, and I thought to myself, ‘When was the last time I got to pet a cat?’ It had been a really long time, like possibly a couple of years. I have seen a few, but shockingly, if you go running at a strange cat to pet them, they tend to run away. Well, fast forward to the next day, and I was out for a walk, and what did I see? A cute gray and white striped cat. I stopped and crouched down, and the cat came over, and I got to spend a few minutes petting this cat. Once that was done, we both went our separate ways. I was not a part of the mythical ‘cat distribution system,’ where cats seem to find you and then just become yours. Besides that, this cat had a collar, so I wasn’t going to catnap it, although I did get a photo and video. So yeah I can manifest a cat to pet but not the ability to work full-time as a content creator? Okay.

Cat Distribution System

7. I spent Thanksgiving Eve night researching scriptwriting software. This is to start preparing for a big 2026, which will include filming my first feature-length film. I have written ten published books, hundreds of blogs and articles, and more than a dozen ebooks. Also, in college, I took a course in broadcast writing. All of that experience is a good start, but writing a script is so different than anything else I’ve written. It’s like you have to put on paper everything that will make up the project. It’s not just the story. It’s the setting, the stage directions, the emotion of scenes and actors, in addition to the actual story. I believe that I will start the writing process next month when I have an extended break from my day job. Unless something changes, I’m looking at a program called WriterDuet for getting my script started. This is going to be likely the major event of my professional life in 2026, so there’s nothing wrong with getting the ship ready to set sail when the time is right.


8. Thanksgiving was filled with food, fun, and family. Last year, I ate so much so fast that I ended up basically needing to go home and lie on the floor for a few hours to try to digest. This year, I was smarter. I ate just as much but took my time. It allowed me to enjoy the day more while also enjoying just as much food. I did find it funny that I was being watched like a hawk by family as I began to eat. I felt like a mischievous child trying to get away with something. Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, butternut squash, cranberry sauce, pies, cookies, it was all a part of a really fun Thanksgiving.


9. A fun side story on Thanksgiving was our deep dive into our Ancestry DNA results and traits. I had mine done several years back. Since then, my mother, 2 nieces, and a nephew have all done it. It’s fascinating to see how, despite us all being family, our specific DNA is different. Probably the funniest thing was when we began looking at our traits. My niece Kaleigh somehow had access to all 40+ of her traits despite not paying for a membership, while the rest of us only had access to 5 super generic traits. I have things like: Prone to taking naps, more adaptable, morning person, etc. The laughs came when my niece Emma and I found that our traits were exactly the same. That and the fact that she has inherited much of my wacky sense of humor made Thanksgiving a boatload of laughs. Next up, we wait for 2 of my sisters and a cousin to do their DNA tests so we can compare the regions where we’re from, but also laugh at the traits we have that don’t seem to be as accurate as we’d like.


10. It’s been so long since I’ve sat down with my big over-ear headphones on and listened to a full album of music I haven’t heard before. I did just that when I listened to Radiohead’s 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool. Ever since OK Computer came out in 1997, Radiohead has been one of the bands whose music seems to unlock something in my brain. I find myself able to write more easily with their music playing. It was a fun experience spending nearly an hour working on one single poem. It definitely has a Radiohead vibe to it. If you like Radiohead’s music, you will enjoy this album. I now feel the need to find more albums I haven’t heard before from bands I like to see what sorts of ideas they kick up.

The album cover

11. Every few weeks, I take a field trip, a little over 20 miles west to the nearest Market Basket. Their prices are way lower than either Shaw’s or Stop & Shop. For example, a regular-sized bag of Doritos is $6.29 at Stop & Shop. At Market Basket, it’s $3.99. You can see why it’s worth the drive to go. I have wanted for years for Market Basket to find a way to get a store closer to me, but I think there’s something with Stop & Shop having too much control over who can open supermarkets on Cape Cod. I know this because a few years ago, I sent the corporate email of Market Basket a link to a piece of property in Dennis Port that used to be occupied by Benny’s. I said it wasn’t huge, but it would make for a nice mid-sized supermarket. There was no reply. Now that the property is available again since Big Lots came and failed there. I’m debating sending another email to Market Basket about it, but I don’t think it would make a difference.


12. I got to wear a new shirt that I bought at Old Navy a few weeks back. Just a t-shirt, nothing special. The funny part was that I put it on and forgot to take the tags off. Rather than removing the shirt, I grabbed a small pair of scissors to cut them off. One was easy to take down by the waist. The other was up at the collar. All I kept thinking as I slowly brought this sharp object toward my jugular was hopefully my phone doesn’t suddenly ring, or the smoke detector goes off. Then I’d be down with scissors jammed in my neck. There’d be no way to spin that into anything but another foolish injury right up there with throwing my back out bending to look at sliced meats at the supermarket. That happened earlier in the spring.


13. Cape Cod Cthulhu, the film that is my first acting role, is now available on Blu-Ray. Here is the link: Cape Cod Cthulhu. It was so much fun to shoot back in March. You can go back into the blog archives and find more details about the experience then. There’s a Black Friday sale, and that makes it an even better way to support indie filmmakers. It’s a campy horror film, and I play myself as a podcaster. Also, here is the trailer for the movie for those curious. There will be much more news on the film front of my career in 2026. It’s going to be a big year!

14. I was lucky enough to be asked to take the senior year photos for my nephew Landon. He’s the third of my six nieces and nephews that I’ve taken the photos for. He’s the first nephew, and being a guy, he wasn’t too particular about how or where the photos were taken. He just didn’t want to go to the beach, so instead we went to the woods. It was a fun time playing Grunge music on Pandora during the drive. We went to a local conservation area and took about 40 photos. Even if he’s not super particular about the photos, I at least wanted to do my best so that in future years he will have a lot of senior photos to look at. For my senior photos way back in the 1990s, I got a bunch taken by the school photographer, but I only have the one that I chose. 

15. The lowlight for me of Landon's photo trip though was putting in the address of my sister's new house to go pick up my nephew. The problem was that rather than putting the right town, I put the wrong one and obviously went to the wrong address. I sat in front of a stranger's house for several minutes before thinking I might be at the wrong place. I put the same street address in my GPS, and sure enough, there was the right place the next town over. At least it gave my sister another in a long line of foolish stories I've been a part of in my life.


16. The only thing that could match the joy I had of taking Landon’s senior photos was getting to see several family members I hadn’t seen in years later that same day. My Aunt Emma was on Cape Cod for one more night before leaving to go back home to Las Vegas. She had stopped over on the Cape after spending two months traveling Europe with friends and family. In the years since my Nana passed, and the years since my Uncle Eric passed, I don’t see family members on that side as much as I’d like. It’s nobody’s fault; time just passes quicker, it seems the older you get. We met at my cousins' Dale and Richard’s house and spent a few hours catching up. I made sure I fully appreciated what was going on, because at this point, I don’t take for granted the time I get with loved ones. I’m hoping to see Emma and my cousin Patrick again soon if I can ever find the time to get out to Las Vegas. If that doesn’t happen soon enough, at least I took full advantage of the time I had this week.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #34: Road Trip 2024 Day 3

1. Day 3 kicked off still in Brattleboro, Vermont. The motel I stayed in wasn’t as good as Pemi Cabins in Lincoln, NH but then again I didn’t expect it. Plus with the price I paid, I got about what I expected.

2. I did get on the road early. Partially because I had a lot to see, but also because the motel didn’t really feel like a place to just hang out. No screened-in porch, no rushing river, and way too many people smoking cigarettes while rolling around on those motor scooters you see in grocery stores.

3. Before I left Vermont to re-enter Massachusetts I had to play tourist one more time. I stopped at the Vermont Maple Museum. I needed to buy some authentic maple syrup for a few people. It was such a fun store. Loads of cool items, foods, stuffed toys, ceramics, and more, were all over the place. The owners were so nice as well. In the end, I was lucky to leave only spending what I did, a few more minutes and I might have maxed out my credit card again.

Vermont Maple Museum

4. One thing I didn’t get used to throughout the vast majority of the 3-day trip was the sheer amount of high-grade hills and sharp curves on the roads I traveled. Now granted I think if I had chosen to simply follow the highways I’d have avoided much of them, but that’s not the authentic Northern New England experience I wanted. My car wasn’t always happy, but I was.

5. At one point when driving in this sort of semi-circle leading me west in Vermont to catch the Mohawk Trail in North Adams, Massachusetts I was on such a desolate stretch of road that I slowed my car down to a crawl, pulled out my camera, and recorded a video while driving. Smart? Maybe not. It was definitely a good way to capture what much of my travels were like though.

6. So I lied. I ended up playing tourist again mere minutes after returning to Massachusetts. I stopped at a Big Y supermarket in North Adams. The nearest one to me is an hour away so I don’t visit them too often. How did I play tourist? By buying an insulated bag with the Big Y logo on it. I have yet to use it as of this writing.

Big Y? Because Y not?

7. It took all of my restraint not to buy a container of riblets from the hot buffet lunch. I love ribs. However, eating a boatload of ribs would likely have meant that I’d have no desire to visit any of the places on my itinerary. More likely would have been me pulling over somewhere along the Mohawk Trail to take a nap.

8. For those unfamiliar the Mohawk Trail is 63 miles of beautiful scenery throughout much of Western and Central Massachusetts. Here is a downloadable guide from the official Mohawk Trail website.

9. A favorite attraction on the Mohawk Trail is the Hairpin Turn in North Adams. The curve is so sharp it requires vehicles to turn nearly 180 degrees and head up a steep incline. The speed limit is 15mph. On this curve is the precariously placed Golden Eagle Restaurant. There are also several parking areas to look at the incredible views of the Berkshires.

The famed Hairpin Turn in North Adams

10. On my Bucket List of places to visit for years has been the Hoosac Tunnel. Why? Because it’s purportedly one of, if not the most, haunted places in Massachusetts. So call it a morbid Bucket List. There are several cemeteries and abandoned old buildings on that list as well.

11. In short the Hoosac Tunnel is a nearly 5-mile long railroad tunnel built through the Hoosac Mountain between the towns of North Adams and Florida. It took more than 20 years to construct and was opened in 1875. In all at least 135 people died in the construction of the tunnel with it earning the nickname the ‘Bloody Pit.’ Now you see why I wanted to visit?

The east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel.

12. The first thing I noticed is how out of the way the tunnel is. You have to traverse down a steep and winding decline from the Mohawk Trail to the tunnel’s east portal. By the time you’re in the gravel parking area, your phone is far out of service. That’s what you sign up for though when you go.

13. The second thing I noticed is how many more people frequent this area than I expected. No, it wasn’t hundreds, but in the time I was there, I counted at least 10 other people. Mostly they were either walking dogs or taking pictures of the Hoosac Tunnel entrance.

14. A quick heads up. The Hoosac Tunnel is still an active railway. There is even a No Trespassing sign where you would park. I don’t know how strict the police are in that area, but just be aware that you are technically not supposed to be there. Oh, and that trains do travel through the tunnel.

15. Note to Self: When planning to visit and go inside a deep, dark railroad tunnel, maybe bring a flashlight. I ventured a little over 1,000 feet into the Hoosac Tunnel with only my iPhone flashlight, otherwise known as no flashlight. I did bring my camera tripod and remote shutter so I was half-prepared.

Inside the creepy Hoosac Tunnel.

16. It had begun raining when I got to the Hoosac Tunnel and the water was dripping inside the tunnel in the dark. Needless to say when hearing random noises inside a haunted tunnel, even if you know it’s water, it will still tighten your chest a bit. If I had a flashlight maybe I’d have gone further but who knows.

17. The highlight inside the tunnel was trying to take long exposure images. I used my phone light in front of the camera and the remote shutter to get the lens to focus. Then I’d press and hold the shutter until satisfied with the length of the exposure. Two things. First I took a long exposure shot but like a fool, I was too far out in front of the camera. In other words, when I checked my photos later what I thought was a pretty obvious ghost was just my stupid face. Second, the water dripping inside the tunnel affected my remote shutter. At one point I couldn’t turn it off and again I briefly thought it was spirits messing with my camera. That was until I felt the water on the camera. That ended my time inside the Hoosac Tunnel.

18. A spot I like to stop at along the Mohawk Trail is a beautifully scenic S-curve that sits on the border of Savoy and Florida, Massachusetts. There’s a small place to park on a nearby side road. Part of me loves the scenery, especially in fall, but also I am one who didn’t know there was a Florida, Massachusetts until maybe 10 years ago. I am still a child who is easy to amuse.

The S-curve between Savoy and Florida, MA

19. I decided to give myself a challenge on Day 3 of this trip. Once I got to North Adams and began the Mohawk Trail I’d no longer use my GPS for directions. Sure I’d have the map open but I’d have to use my own sense of direction to get home. It was like the old days when I’d do road trips and print out directions from MapQuest. How did I do? We’ll get deeper into that later.

20. It would take a long time to fully reveal all of the beautiful sites and fun attractions that lay along the Mohawk Trail. Download the guide above for more details. However, what’s just as much fun is kind of going off the beaten path and finding places that weren’t on your itinerary.

21. I stopped to get gas using my Fuel Rewards app which was a part of rejoining AAA. This was in Greenfield, MA. I saved 30 cents per gallon at Shell which was already a bonus. Before I got back on the road again I looked at the map to see if there was anything around. It was then that I spotted the Poet’s Seat Tower. After seeing one image online I knew I had to go.

22. Poet’s Seat Tower is a 4-floor stone observation tower with mind-blowing views of Greenfield and much of the surrounding Pioneer Valley. It is on Mountain Road and you might at times have to park and walk out to it, but on this day I drove right up to the tower. There were some younger people there hanging out but not bothering anyone despite saying more swears in a minute than I do in a week.

Inside Greenfield's Poet's Seat Tower.

23. The only downside to my visit to Poet’s Seat Tower was climbing the stairs to the 2^nd floor and having a tiny yip-yip dog barking like crazy as soon as my head was visible. I audibly yelled and the couple apologized saying their dog thought they owned the tower. I said it was fine but part of me wanted to play Frisbee golf with that dog.

24. After Poet’s Seat Tower I focused on making my way back to Cape Cod without using GPS. It’s funny because I had other places along the Mohawk Trail I could have stopped at but I guess at some point during a road trip you just know that the adventure is over and it’s time to go home. I don’t know if that happens to anyone else or if it’s just me.

25. I won’t lie, driving from North Adams to Cape Cod without GPS wasn’t always easy. I knew I had to head southeast and used the road signs to kind of head in that direction. That being said I likely spent at least an hour in a sort of spiderweb pattern. I would go in a circle but with each loop, I’d get a little further out.

26. Eventually I got antsy and decided to jump on the highway once I got close to Marlboro. This is about an hour and a half from home, and I-495 starts there. So I broke my vow of not taking the highway, but I still didn’t use the GPS for directions so it was a half-win.

27. On Day 3 of the road trip I drove just over 300 miles bringing my total for the trip to just under 800 miles. My Toyota I’ve had for 10 years, which has 148K miles and has been paid off for 4 years, still gets the job done.

28. This was an amazing road trip filled with so many great memories and sights. It rekindled my love of travel and the content creation that comes from it. I already have plans for another overnight trip in October but don’t want to spoil it just in case plans change.

Read About Road Trip 2024 Day One

Read About Road Trip 2024 Day Two

In My Footsteps: Trip 50: Revere, Mass.

In My Footsteps

Christopher Setterlund

Trip 50: Revere, Mass.

May 20, 2010

            A beautiful beach and good food, they are what makes warm summer days memorable.  When the beach is the country’s oldest public beach and the food comes from an immensely popular institution it makes the trip an all-time classic.  That is what I had hoped for when I journeyed just out of the shadow of Boston and into Revere.  The beginning of the North Shore, Revere is not quite the same as the towns further away from the city, but it fits right in none the less.

            My journey in Revere began as many of my trips do, at the Town or City Hall(right).  My GPS designates town halls as the ‘center’ of any town and that is where it leads me.  The first inhabitants of Revere were Native Americans of the Pawtucket Tribe, known as the Rumney Marsh Indians.  Originally known as North Chelsea, the town took its current name from the legendary Patriot Paul Revere in 1871.  Though definitely not as large as Boston when I walked along the sidewalks of Revere I could feel the city just waiting to bust out.  It was a feeling that is hard to describe, you would have to be there and you would understand.

            Keeping with the theme of the first inhabitants of Revere I paid a visit to the Rumney Marsh Burying Ground(right) on Butler Street.  The land was originally owned by Samuel Cole as part of his farm until 1654.  Eventually the land was accepted as a burial ground by vote of the townspeople although the first recorded burial took place in 1693.  The grounds include graves of original inhabitants of Revere, veterans of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War.  The last recorded burial in the Rumney Marsh Burial Grounds took place in 1929; a Mr. Lewis Bullard, born in 1837.  The grounds itself have a sort of quiet serenity befitting such a sacred area.  The trees give shade to nearly all of the graves and it does not seem out of place at all in the residential neighborhood in which it lies.  

            Revere is also home to the Wonderland Dog Track.  Opened in 1935, this attraction now only offers simulcast of races due to a ban on dog racing in Massachusetts as of the first of this year.  There has been talk of partnering with the neighboring Suffolk Downs horse track to build a casino on the site.  I did not stop in to gamble but I did notice quite a few who did during the time I was in the area.  However, this spot was only a temporary stop on my way to the main attraction of this town.

            Revere Beach(left), the country’s oldest public beach, is known throughout the state and New England region to say the least.  First established in 1896, this stretch of sand has some incredible views of the neighboring North Shore communities.  Weighing in at about three miles in length, Revere Beach is a seemingly endless sandy escape from the hustle of Boston’s city life.  Still, even with the incredible size of the beach it is very easy for it to get crowded in the summer with the shear volume of folks who come to relax and enjoy the sun.

            I had a personal reason attached to my enjoyment of this landmark area as well.  My grandmother, on my mother’s side, was born in a house along Revere Beach more than eighty years ago.  I had a desire to find this house and document it for her but sadly with three miles of structures facing the beach it was next to impossible to find the exact one; especially since my grandmother was not sure where it was located.  This did not dampen my trip one bit as looking for the house did give me the chance to see the entirety of Revere Beach by default.

            Although I did not find my grandmother’s birth house I was able to find and enjoy another local landmark situated on Revere Beach.  Kelly’s Roast Beef(right), established in 1951, is the originator of the roast beef sandwich.  It is amazing to me to think that before Kelly’s nobody had thought of making and selling such a sandwich.  The location on Revere Beach is the original with its walkup service window still in operation.  There are five other locations as well all located not too far from Boston.  People come from far and wide to experience this staple of the North Shore; I am a perfect example.  The fine folks working there did not seem the least bit surprised when I told them I had come nearly a hundred miles to try their roast beef. 

            Of course I had the Original Roast Beef sandwich with some fries.  Sitting on the beach and eating Kelly’s was a perfect way to wrap up my time in Revere.  Even on this day, well before Memorial Day, the beach was teeming with people, young and old, out to enjoy a beautiful spring day.

            Though sitting in the shadow of Boston’s skyline, Revere is a different animal all together.  It has areas that look and feel like a city, but then it also has areas filled with historic homes.  It is filled with a bustling center much like Boston, and then you head toward the water and are face to face with one of the most famous beaches in the country.  It can be said that Revere is a great mix of city and seaside; a great starting point for the North Shore.  Come and see Revere Beach and stay for a great meal at Kelly’s Roast Beef, I highly recommend it.  Have fun and happy traveling!

Directions:  Rumney Marsh Burying Ground:  From Rt. 3 heading north take Exit 20B to merge onto I-93, take Exit 20 toward Logan Airport.  Merge onto I-90 E, continue onto Rt. 1A north, take a slight left at Rt. 60 West.  Take left at first cross street for Rt. 1A south, continue onto Beach St., turn left at Harris St., take 2^nd right onto Butler St.  Burying Ground is on the left.

            Revere Beach/Kelly’s Roast Beef:  From Rt. 3 heading north take Exit 20B to merge onto I-93, take Exit 20 toward Logan Airport.  Merge onto I-90 E, continue onto Rt. 1A north, take 2^nd exit at rotary for N Shore Rd.  Turn right at Oak Island St., turn left at Revere Beach Blvd.  Kelly’s Roast Beef is at 410 Revere Beach Blvd.

References: Kelly's Roast Beef

            Revere Beach.com

            Revere.org - Official Page

            Revere History.org