Pride.

I have the luxury of working for a company that I believe in. Not everyone has that luxury these days, heck, there’s too many people that don’t have the luxury of working at all. Hopefully someone will figure out how to fix that little issue that’s plaguing our country. I hope it’s in my lifetime.

But, as a gainfully employed web developer, I have to say that I am rather proud of some of the philosophies of the company that I work for. I work for the largest rural telephone company in the United States. As a company that has grown leaps and bounds of the past 10 years through various acquisitions, the latest being a sizeable chunk of Verizon’s former landline business, Frontier Communications provides voice and data communications to many of the harder to reach places in the country. That in itself is kind of cool.

One of the driving forces of Frontier is community engagement. Our internal communications are packed with photographs, articles and the like of the company doing something, somewhere for the community. Blood drives, shelters, scholarship funds and the like are just the tip of the iceberg. Again, another cool thing.

When I walk into the main entrance at work, I can’t help but notice the latest poster on display. Frontier prides itself on being a 100% U.S.-based workforce. Everything is based in the country; we are as “Made In America” as telephone and internet service can be. If you call in with a trouble, you’ll speak to someone in the states. Our women named Peggy are really women and they don’t fake an American accent. I kind of like the idea of working for a company that is striving to keep it’s workforce U.S. based. In addition, and here’s the part that I really like, Frontier is going out of it’s way to hire men and women that have served in the Armed Forces. So many of our soldiers are coming home to find they have nothing, it’s good to work for a company that is striving to give them something.

Giving back and making a difference are big priorities when I’m looking for my next employment opportunity. I have to feel good about the work we do. I’ve been my position for over 18 months and I have to say, I’m still kind of diggin’ it for many, many reasons.

– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad

Reality?

I try to do my best to stay abreast of what’s going on in the news, especially in the political arena. When I have the privilege of casting a vote for the leaders of our country, I want it to be a well-thought out vote for the candidate that I feel will do the best for the job they are being elected for. I believe that it is the responsibility of every citizen to cast an intelligent vote at the ballot box. To skip voting or to just randomly color in dots, hang chads, pull levers or whatever is irresponsible.

That being said, I must admit that watching the news is getting more and more difficult for me these days. One person commented on a tech board yesterday that they “cut the cable”, meaning that they disconnected themselves from cable television, opting to download media to their computers and the like instead. One of the reasons for their decision was the fact that watching the news made them feel homicidal. I have to admit that I grinned when reading that remark, because while I’m not at that limit, I certainly can sympathize with the feelings in that general area.

Every time I see presidential candidates make promises that they can do better and make our country a better place by doing a laundry list of ridiculous notions it makes me want to kick in the television screen.

Our TV is much too nice for that sort of abuse (the kick OR the babel from the candidates).

I end up yelling back, or at the very least, asking the question, “Is this the best you got?” I know my grammar is bad when I ask this but I don’t care.

I’m beginning to see a blurring of the line between reality show-like contests and presidential campaigns. Let’s see who can be the most outrageous by eating the biggest fried corn dog. Before you know it they’ll be eating live bugs with a cow’s blood chaser. Let’s see who can make the most absurd proclamation (i.e., “I’ll have gas to below $2 per gallon in three months!”). Let’s see who can steal the spotlight but trouncing around the country in a big bus but proclaim that they don’t really want to run for the presidency, they just want the attention. And let’s see who can spend the most money that we don’t have and hope that some of that money goes somewhere and sticks to something so that millions of people can find jobs.

It’s sad to me that elections have gone in this direction, but when you have to compete with the likes of American Idol and Big Brother, I guess politics have to be made extreme, wild and sexy to get the attention of the ever dwindling collective IQ of the American public.

The founding fathers have to be spinning in overdrive in their graves.

– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad

Daylight.

Back when we did the Industrial Revolution thing I wish we had decided to base the workday on the natural time of day instead of rigidly adhering everything to a clock. Perhaps we would be a happier society today if we weren’t constantly fighting against the natural order of time.

Nearly 18 months into doing this I pretty much have the getting up at 5:30 a.m. thing down pat. I know what time I need to go to bed, I feel tired at the appropriate time at night and I feel rested when I get up in the morning. I’m still not a morning person but I’m at least functional and I’m able to speak English when prompted to do so. But it’s 5:45 a.m. right now and it’s still pitch black outside. It’s going to be like this for the next few months until the end of daylight saving time, when it will just be semi-dark out until we get to the cold, hard reality of winter.

I have mentioned many times that I despise Daylight Saving Time. Perhaps I complain about it too much, but it is such a stupid, idiotic concept because it’s deception. The only reason we have it today is to trick the population into thinking they have more time than they really have. It’s man’s feeble attempt at trying to control nature. And Bush’s extension of DST back in the mid ’00s ranks right up there with the Iraq War and waving a hello to Stevie Wonder on my Idiocy Top 10 list.

One might think I’m cranky this morning, the first morning back to work after a long, holiday weekend. But I’m not. I’m just brutally honest, but that’s not much different than the way I usually am. I just can’t wait until it’s dark at the end of the day like it’s suppose to be.

Then I’ll find something else to crank about.

 

Stereo.

One of the best television theme songs from the 1970s, given the stereo treatment it deserved.

Synchronicity.

I read blogs. I read plenty of blogs. Some of these blogs are devoted to technology, others are devoted to politics, while others are devoted to ‘gay causes’ or ‘gay news’, however loosely that term applies since I believe that all news is gay related in some way. Most of the blogs I read are personal blogs, much like the one you are reading right now.

I like to think that we can glean a good deal of information about someone from their personal blog. While they may be writing “in character” of someone they want to portray themselves to be, for the most part I think many of the blogs are from real people. I’m usually good at weeding out my so that the folks that are just trying to get attention or page hits aren’t at the top of my priority list if they make the list at all. I don’t particularly enjoy attention whores in public, why would I enjoy the writings of an attention whore?

Writing that last sentence made me pause for a few moments to reevaluate myself and determine if I am one of these attention whores. The time spent on this thought is not evident with my writings, so you’ll have to just trust that I had the thought and am cognizant of my behavior in this area.

A while back someone left a fairly nasty comment on my blog and when they read my response, they let a whole mess of fury out of the bag and into an email back at me. It was clear that this person put the drama in “drama queen”. I decided to start reading the blog at the end of the link they provided to see if they really were like that (or portrayed themselves that way) or if they were perhaps having a bad day. After a few months of reading their blog, I have decided that I really have no interest in our paths ever crossing in the real world because they portray themselves as an unlikeable (at least to me) person. Why waste my time? I deleted them from my personal reading list.

At one time I would have been bothered by this because I wouldn’t be able to handle not liking someone; it just seemed wrong and if I didn’t like them then they wouldn’t like me and I couldn’t have that back when I was a bundle of insecurity. Now older and wiser, I guess I couldn’t care less whether people like me or not so why should I make an effort to like someone when I find them unlikable? I don’t have to endure anything and no one says I have to, so why should I? Delete delete delete.

There are a couple of attention whores in the mix that I know are simply writing for the comedy of it all and the amount of reaction that they can stir up amongst the gentle readers. These folks don’t get lumped in with the unlikable, especially when I have met them in person and find that they are quite lovely. That’s why I like to meet fellow bloggers in person; proof is in the pudding and all that.

I never knew why pudding had proof but that’s the way the saying goes so we’ll just continue the tradition.

– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad

Relaxed.

I guess I’m ready for autumn, because I was totally digging this fireplace tonight.

 

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Help.

As I was pulling away from my daily stop at Dunkin’ Donuts and trying to get over to my coveted parking spot near the purple flowers, I noticed an armada of National Grid line crew trucks coming down the road. The line of trucks was quite impressive and one of the trucks had a big banner on it’s side “TEAM IRENE”.

The armada made it’s way into the shopping center parking lot where the purple flowers call home. As the trucks lined up along a couple of aisles of the parking lot, I moved to a different spot than normal.

At the very least, these men deserved to park wherever the heck they wanted to and I wasn’t going to block their way. As they got out of their trucks, congregated and made their way over to the adjacent Applebees, it was easy to tell that they had been working hard and seemed rather tired, but their mood was jovial and I didn’t overhear any complaints. They’ve been working hard since Irene blew through last weekend. They deserve a break.

And a thank you.

– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad

Moment.

I have no comprehension as to where we are in the week. I thought yesterday was Thursday. This morning I woke up knowing that it wasn’t Friday because it didn’t feel like a Friday but I had to look at my watch to see what day it was. My watch said WE. I have no reason not to believe it.

You would think that a person so obsessed with time, well at least making sure that the choreography of time is completely in sync, would have a keen awareness of where we stand on the timeline. I could be optimistic and say it’s because I’m living in the moment and I’m not concerned about what’s behind or what’s ahead, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. I have to admit that I occasionally enjoy looking at a snapshot of “now” and saying, “Yes, my life is cool”. When I say things like this I worry about sounding too Pollyanna and making people gag (spoon optional), but my life is good. I’m loving the moments.

Way back when this was a wee young blog and I still had hair on top of my head, I remarked that it seems like time is flying by faster and faster. Almost like someone has sped up the clock. I feel like I was enjoying the moment of seeing a yard full of dandelions just a few moments ago and now I’m looking at leaves that are changing on the trees in the back lawn. Sugar is mixing in with my ginger spice blend of a beard. Where is the time going? I certainly don’t feel like I suspect a 43 year old is suppose to feel so somehow, somewhere, something has gotten ahead of where I think we should be. Perhaps this is because of this sped up clock I’m always blaming.

Even though I had no idea of what day it was when I woke up this morning, I knew that I felt good, I felt confident and I felt happy. I guess that is what’s important and I shouldn’t worry about the rest.

After glancing at my watch and deciding that it was right, it took me a few more moments to figure out that WE meant Wednesday. I guess I would have better moments if I could sleep in a little bit.

– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad

Assistance.

I had to make some creative decisions yesterday to get home since the Thruway was closed and there was a lot of congestion on the backroads between points A and B. My familiarity with the area proved helpful, I trucked up some paths that barely resembled a road. At one point I had to stop and pull a tree branch out of the way to make the road passable; it was when the cows started running alongside the Jeep that I realized that I had in fact fallen so far off the beaten path that I was actually in the middle of a farmer’s pasture, so I found the quickest exit and got myself on the real roads again.

Calm down, I’m kidding about that last part.

Actually, when I emerged on the main road at the top of a fairly large hill, I found a car nose down in a ditch. The back end was so far off the ground that the wheels were in the air. The New York State tags pointed towards the sky. Two people were standing outside of the car. I pulled up.

“Are you OK?”, I asked.

“Yeah, we’re alright.” His voice was thick with an accent that seemed to resonate from the deepest core of the Big Apple. The man and woman looked pleasant enough. They were looking up the road.

“Do you need me to call someone or something?”

“Nah, we got a tow truck on the way,” he said.

“OK, I just wanted to make sure you were alright”, I said as I got ready to get back to the cow pastures.

He responded with, “Ya know, you guys up here are nice for stopping and checking on us.”

I smiled and waved as I moved on. I guess folks don’t stop like that down where his accent originated. I drove off and continued my quest to get home, waving to the man I call ‘Farmer Bear’ as I passed his farm. He waved back.

Even though driving around these parts has been a bit of a challenge and the cable news channels are blaring on about how much damage actually happened here in Upstate from Irene, I have to admit that I’ve been smiling. Neighbor helping neighbor, stranger helping stranger, friend helping friend.

I think I have once again found my pride in being from Central New York.

Detour.

We got a lot of rain yesterday. This wasn’t the whimsical, ‘water the flowers’ type of rain that one would hope it would be, no, this was rain that fell from the sky in buckets for several hours. More than a soaking rain, Hurricane Irene brought us some flood-inducing rain. To keep it interesting, there was enough wind to knock around and down some trees and powerlines, though we didn’t lose our power. There was one impressive gust that tried to bust out one of the windows in the great room but we fought back and won.

The back lawn flooded a bit yesterday but that’s to be expected. The county and the town have been fighting over the ownership of the drainage ditch that goes across the back part of our property for years, so it hasn’t been cleaned out by anyone. I guess if we want the ditch cleaned out we’ll do it ourselves and send the government the bill.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to run to the store to pick up a few household items. I was a little surprised to see that the driving rain had flooded one of the local rivers this much:


As the day moved on, more and more detours were posted and by sunset there was only one way to get to and from anywhere from here.

This morning I was up and ready to go at my normal time. I headed off to work 10 minutes earlier than usual, thinking that I would have to use some creative measures along the way to navigate some of the back roads since I expected more detours to be in place. I wasn’t disappointed.

The Thruway was closed in both directions from milepost 210 to milepost 173. In these situations traffic is usually diverted onto either neighboring NY Route 5 or NY Route 5S, however, because both of these routes go through the Mohawk Valley as well, they had been flooded out along with the Thruway. Therefore, traffic was diverted to the high grounds, along the exact route I take to work through Amish country on NY Route 67. “New Turnpike Rd” was never meant to live up to the name it’s hyped to be, so there were countless out of state drivers and tractor trailers mingling with the Amish buggies that make me smile on a normal day to work. As I mentioned on Facebook, folks should remember to slow down on these back roads and also remember that Amish buggies do not have EZ-Pass.


Traffic into the little city I work in was backed up about 8 miles. I made a few creative detours of my own (because of my familiarity with the area) and found myself ahead of the curve, so to speak.

I was at work for an hour and a half or so when Earl called to tell me that he wasn’t feeling good and heading to the ER. I headed home to be with my husbear. We are now back from the ER and they have changed his meds again. His MRI came back clear and they think he has an upper respiratory infection of sorts. These meds should knock it out. He seemed well enough to eat for the first time in days when I made him a turkey sandwich on toast.

Today has been a day about detours. I’ll be happy when they lead back to the main path again.

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