McDonalds certainly loves their brightly coloured signage. All I wanted was an unsweetened iced tea. Okay, maybe an apple pie too, despite the dire warning that it was very, very hot.
Clippy.
My favourite Office character was Scribble, but I must admit that the geek in me laughed out loud at this video.
Link to Beyond Binary (article and video about Office 2010 on ‘Beyond Binary’ by CNET’s Ina Fried).
Good marketing, Microsoft. 🙂
Motion.
It has been a busy week. It’s only Wednesday (or to put a positive spin on it, it’s Wednesday already!) and I have to admit that I’m ready for some rest and relaxation. This week has been go go go.
Monday kicked off what I think as the “birthday streak”. Dad’s birthday was on Monday, Dave’s birthday is today, my birthday is coming up on Monday, Greg’s birthday is next Thursday and then my sister’s birthday is next Saturday. Monday night it was dinner with my Dad and stepmom in Syracuse, tonight it was dinner with my Mom, aunt, uncle and cousin in Syracuse for an early celebration for me (which I appreciated very much).
I took half of the day off from work today so I could get some medical appointments out of the way. I had my last cleaning with the dental hygienist today: I received an official clean bill of dental health and don’t have to go back until my routine cleaning and exam in six months. Yay for that! Then it was a visit to “Chirp”, whom the rest of the world knows as my chiropractor. This was the longest I’ve been between visits, two weeks, and it seemed to work out well. I go back for some snap, crackle and pop in two weeks. I feel the best I have felt in years.
I have been doing some meditation exercises over the past several days; more so than usual. I have been using the practices I learned during a course I took back in ’97 plus I’ve done a few electronically assisted meditations using binaural beats programs on my iPhone. Both have had satisfactory results, though over the past 48 hours or so I’ve been purging some negative stuff from my psyche. I feel the better for it all so I guess it’s all good. Tomorrow I work the early shift for my co-worker that’s taking some comp time; I should be in bed right now.
Earl and I leave for vacation on Saturday morning. We are traveling through the Canadian provinces of Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. I am _really_ looking forward to the trip.
Chase.
As I arrived at the house during my lunch hour the weather radio was blaring out a severe thunderstorm warning. This is always a good thing in my world. Well, not always, as thunderstorms make work a little more stressful but nevertheless here it is my lunch hour and there’s a lot of racket coming from the sky.
w00t!
Tom likes to wait just inside the door during a storm. He’s not a fan of the sound of thunder.
I am in bachelor mode tonight as Earl is in New Castle, Pa. for work. I think I’m going to switch to the Jeep for the afternoon and go storm chasing after work.
Destiny.
So last night after an unsuccessful attempt at going to sleep, I sat up for a couple of hours doing research on wind turbines. Inspired by our trip through the Maple Ridge Wind Farm north of us, I decided to learn all I could about the pros and cons of wind farms, their effectiveness on the environment and the benefits and detriments associated with their existence.
It’s no secret to just about anyone that we need to find a source (or sources) of clean, renewable energy. We have been hearing that song and dance since the mid 1970s when the speed limit was forced down to 55 because we were going to run out of oil by 1980. Of course, we found more oil and the speed limit went back up and people became über-dependent on fossil fuels once again. Emissions from coal burning plants and waste from nuclear facilities (amongst many other things) are nasty to the environment; harnessing the power of the wind and the sun are renewable, clean ways of providing some of the power that we need to fuel our increasingly electric-hungry society.
Here’s the thing with wind farms. There are many people in favour of them, as long as they are somewhere else. Naturally wind farms have to be located where it’s windy, after all, something needs to turn the turbines which generates the electricity that is contributed to that big grid1 thing that we have. Unfortunately, the windier places are up on top of hills where it tends to be more scenic and people don’t like the way the turbines look as they dot these areas.
One of the concerns with the Maple Ridge Wind Farm was the chemicals used to control dust during the construction phase of the project. This is unfortunate. If you’re building an environmentally-friendly, renewable, ‘green’ energy source then you probably should do it as environmentally-friendly/’green’ as possible, yes?
Opponents of the wind farm project tout the benefits of nuclear power and how there is a substantial increase in the number of kilowatts generated per square foot used with a nuclear facility versus a wind farm. But what do we do with the nuclear waste? Burying it deep into the earth is not a solution; the “out of sight, out of mind” approach doesn’t make the problem go away. I grew up not that far from a site with three nuclear reactors and I watched the cooling tower of the third be built during my teenage years. I heard the sirens (for drills) and I read all the posters on how we were suppose to save ourselves should a catastrophe occur. Sorry, but I didn’t feel any safer knowing that I could be crammed down into the basement of my high school with 700 other students as the fireball incinerated the school above us. It just wasn’t my idea of a good time. Life comes with risk, I’ll give you that, but mass annihilation shouldn’t be one of them.
As I read more and more about the technology used and the mechanics and engineering involved with the construction of Maple Ridge, and other wind farms throughout the United States, the civil engineer in me kicked in. I have lamented before that I have a really big need to make a contribution to society to leave the world better than the way it was when I got here. While I enjoy what I do for a living now, I don’t feel that what I do really improves anything for anyone. To _maintain_ is a waste of talent, to _improve_ is where one really soars.
I sometimes wonder if I started figuring all this stuff out too late in life. I have read about folks that got a PhD at age 55 or started a completely new career after retiring from their first at 62. While I suspect that perhaps lottery winnings were involved, I can’t say that I have figured out how they did it.
Perhaps that should be the first step.
1 Contrary to popular belief, the United States doesn’t really have a power grid, but rather a bunch of interconnected networks that are dependent on one another. If it were a true grid, then a major line failure wouldn’t bring the entire system down as it has in the past (1965, 2003, etc).
Beach?
The fourth of July is usually celebrated on a sultry, warm, summer day at a picnic with family and friends. Many times this celebration is in the backyard or perhaps at the local state park. Independence Day brings to mind thoughts of pitchers of lemonade, the smells and sizzles of the barbecue grill and the spectacle of fireworks against the night sky.
The weather this summer has been a little dicey thus far. Despite the holiday, today was no exception to the rule as Mother Nature granted us a day typical of the end of mid part of May with temperatures in the upper 60s, a smattering of showers and a good stiff breeze.
So naturally as we were out on a random drive we made the last minute decision to go to the beach.
We ended up at Southwick Beach State Park. Earl and I have been here many, many times, continuing the tradition my family had during my childhood years. I love Southwicks. It is my favourite state park in the entire state. It’s like going to the ocean. All that’s missing is the salt.
Wikipedia has a fine entry about Southwicks and the neighboring Lakeview Wildlife Management Area.
The wind was very strong. The waves were high, loud and menacing. The beach was closed to swimmers. There were two family reunions in progress, well away from the sandblasting of the wind coming over the sandy beach. Earl, Jamie and I (it was Jamie’s inaugural visit to Southwick) walked a mile or so up the beach into the Lakeview Wildlife Management Area. Once we crossed the dunes into the marsh area the wind was gone and the temperature went up several degrees. We relaxed as we walked the nature trails along the marsh and took several photos (which are available here.)
After an hour or so at the beach we made our way up to nearby Watertown, where we went to the movies to see Ice Age 3. It was a good way to escape reality. We all enjoyed the movie.
Afterwards we took the back roads home, driving along my beloved NY Route 177.
Today it was all about relaxation. Mission accomplished.
Maple Ridge Wind Farm.
The Maple Ridge Wind Farm outside of Lowville, New York is the largest wind farm in New York State. It is made up of 195 wind turbines and is located on the Tug Hill between 1600-1800 feet above sea level. The location takes advantage of the winds from Lake Ontario.
Maple Ridge accounts for three-quarters of all wind power generated in New York State.
This photo is taken along my favourite road to drive in the state, NY Route 177 in the Town of Harrisburg.
pride.ca
So here it is the Monday after the Pride weekend festivities in my favourite North American city, Toronto. Earl and I arrived back at The Manor last night around 10:00, we went to bed shortly afterwards.
We both took Friday off from work so we could get into Toronto nice and early and hit the pavement Friday night; the QEW decided to disagree with us a bit as traffic was crazy from Hamilton all the way to the Gardiner. So we got to the hotel room around 6; by 7 p.m. we were off to a pre-pride meet and greet and North Bound Leather. It was quite festive. Afterwards there was dinner and drinks with friends and hanging out on Church Street people watching until the wee hours of the morning. Very nice.
Saturday morning we were up at the crack of noon and headed over to the Village Rainbow Café for some brunch. The mood was festive.
We then hit the streets, walking up and down Church Street (and the side streets between Church and Yonge) visiting the vendor booths and enjoying the festive atmosphere. The weather was perfect for the celebration and the streets were subsequently very busy.
Earl and I took our obligatory self shot.
After the fun on the streets in the afternoon we cleaned ourselves up, decked ourselves out, had dinner and then met up with friends for the typical Saturday night fun. I’d share the pictures but people would blush.
It was raining pretty good on Sunday but we decided to ignore that and see the parade after all. We checked out of the hotel, put the Jeep into a strategic escape position and parked ourselves on Yonge Street.
We were going to move to the east side of the street but we were unable to cross over Yonge without going through the subway tunnels, so we stayed on the corner of Yonge and Grenville, joined by our friends dan and Rick.
The parade was fabulous. The rain stopped just in time for the festivities to start and then it was nearly 2 1/2 hours of people being themselves in a very long, very festive parade.
People dressed appropriately for the celebration.
Yonge Street was shoulder to shoulder with spectators.
Folks from all walks of life marched by.
Here’s something you wouldn’t see in the states. The Canadian Forces, the Mounties and the Toronto Police were actively recruiting members Saturday and Sunday on Church Street. They naturally took part in the parade as well.
I have to admit, the leather float is always one of my favourites.
And the bears were bubbling over with pride as well.
All in all it was an excellent weekend and one of my favourite pride events thus far in my nearly 41 years. I’m looking forward to the fun next year.
Dry.
So I am sitting at the local Panera grabbing a bite to eat whilst running a bunch of errands. I always wait until the last minute to get running errands done and over with when it’s a bachelor week; I don’t know why I wait until the last minute, but I do. That’s not my usual style.
I just spoke with Earl and he was near Interstate 66 in Northern Virginia as he makes his way up I-81 on his way home. He said he waved to Thom, who lives in that general area.
In keeping within the spirit of eating healthy, I am having a turkey sandwich with not much in the way of mayo on it for supper. I noticed the sandwich is quite dry. Turns out the kitchen receipt was wedged in the sandwich. Thermal paper needs salt.
The work week has been flying by; I am surprised by this as I am really looking forward to our weekend in Toronto for gay pride. The weekend holds a few adventures and I’m looking forward to it all.
