May 2005

I’ve been squawking the past year or so about how I’ve become a Mac Zealot. I’m just crazy about our stable of Macs and their simplicity. As Apple says, “It Just Works”. At least most of the time, and when it doesn’t, it’s usually because I’m just thinking too hard and making more out of a task than it should be.

Like most of corporate America, I’m stuck with using Microsoft Windows at work. More specifically, XP Professional. Lately the IT department has been cracking down on what’s installed on our computers and such, so I haven’t been able to super tweak my computer like I enjoy doing. I’ve been trying desperately to be the good employee and stick to the provided programs, Office 2003, Internet Explorer, etc., even though I know that Firefox, Thunderbird and other open source alternatives are superior products.

When Microsoft abandoned their support of a gay rights bill in Washington State a couple of weeks ago, I promptly deleted any and all Microsoft software on our home computers. No more trial version of Office for the Mac. No more NT Workstation in the computer in the cellar. No more use of Internet Explorer. Last week, Microsoft reversed their decision and reinitiated their support for the same gay rights bill.

Last night I tried to install Windows NT Workstation back on the cellar computer and I couldn’t get through the install program.

Well isn’t that a crappy kettle of fish.

The computer is in the *exact* same configuration it was in when I took the software off a couple of weeks ago. Nothing has changed. It even has a “Designed for Windows NT” sticker on the outside.

It gives me the blue screen of death about 3/4 of the way through the install program.

I have no idea why.

And I’m a computer geek.

We were recently upgraded to Office 2003 at work and I’m taking a test drive of Microsoft Office OneNote, in an effort to eliminate jotting down thousands of notes of millions of pieces of paper.

The blasted program keeps ‘bonk’-ing at me without nary an explanation. “Reboot” has become a way of life. It’s a shame, but I have no idea why I’m getting the bonk as no messages ever appear.

And I’m a computer geek.

So, while Microsoft is once again supporting a good cause, I can not say that I’m heartily supporting their work. I wish I could, I really wish I could. But its just too buggy.

So I’ll say it again. Buy A Mac.

I’m sitting here enjoying the sun during my lunch hour and realizing that I really don’t want to head back to the office. I really need to, since it’s, well, what I do for a living, but damn it is certainly beautiful outside today. Picture perfect… 72 degrees, lots of sunshine and a mild breeze.

Thank goodness I get out at 4:00 today. 🙂

This morning I decided I needed to kick start my life (AGAIN!) and change things up a little bit. I’m on the early shift this week (7 a.m. to 4 p.m.) so instead of sleeping until the last possible moment, I decided that I would get up at 5 and go for a two mile walk before going through my morning routine.

Did you know that the sun rises in the east? Absolutely fascinating. I haven’t seen the sun rise in a long time and the route I follow while walking allows me the luxury of literally walking into the sunrise. Beautiful.

The domestic drive in me seems to have set up permanent residence, so I then made our lunches for the day. Then I ate breakfast, all before checking internet happenings and taking a shower and getting dressed. The whole routine is completely backwards from my usual morning march, but I’m finding that changing it up is keeping it interesting.

I think I’m scaring Earl with my efficiency, but he appreciates it all.

She’s a little whacky. She hears her own drumbeat. All the kids in school wanted her as a chaperone, because she was the cool mom. When we were kids, she could rattle dishes in a two-mile radius when she said “no”. She was and is always there to listen. She’s always has accepted me as I am, regardless of my age. Yeah, she’s pretty neat. Happy Mothers’ Day, Mom.

Something new happened at the mall tonight. Earl and I were walking along when I was stopped by an attractive man at K-B Toy and Hobby.

“Excuse me, can I ask you a question? Do you have a website about roads?”

Long story short, Mike stopped by site way back and we discussed the old “Two Guys” department store chain via e-mail. I think it’s the first time I’ve been recognized in a mall because of the website.

I took a stroll at lunch today to welcome the spring weather that has finally arrived here in lovely Upstate New York. It’s amazing the things you discover as you walk the city streets.

• Being a true melting pot, we now have billboards in Bosnian. Not many Upstate N.Y. cities can boast that.
• The protesters in front of Planned Parenthood were a welcomed change today. Instead of the religous conservative “Pro Lifers”, it was a large group of “Pro Choicers” from Hamilton College. I gave them a round of applause.
• Even in this economically depressed city, a street with *some* people walking is better than a city street with *no* people walking on it.
• A busy locally owned diner always looks better than a boarded up Burger King.
• An elevated heart rate from walking chases away hunger pains.

Happy Spring!

So after my bike ride tonight, I took a shower and threw on a pair of jeans and a shirt I had hanging over the clothes hamper. I put on my work boots and decided to go run some errands. While I was out and about, I decided to stop at Taco Bell for supper, what with it being Cinco de Mayo and all.

So as I’m walking into Taco Bell, I feel a sharp pain in my upper left leg, right near my crotch. Then a second. Then I felt a sharp pain in, well, the part of the crotch of my pants that isn’t leg. I was a bit startled because the pain was stinging something fierce.

I flew into the bathroom, which is located next to the entrance thank God, while rubbing my crotch like a fiend as it was really starting to hurt.

I ripped off my workboots and stripped off my pants, and out flew a hornet! There was a hornet in the crotch of my pants and it had stung me three times!

I put my pants and boots back on, after assuring everything was bee-free and not swelling up beyond recognition and proceeded to get in line at the Taco Bell counter. Thank goodness I didn’t have an allergic reaction or anything, but man is it sore down there.

I just arrived at home from my bike ride that I promised myself I would take. Didn’t quite make 20 miles, but 15 miles is good enough for this stage of the season.

Someday I am going to ride across the wide open, flat plains of Iowa. I don’t care that it may be 95 degrees there. I don’t care if I’m chased by a funnel cloud. All I know is that by riding across the beautiful, flat Iowa plains, I’m not riding up the hill back to our house.

While leaving for lunch a short while ago, I announced to my co-workers that I was going to ride my bike tonight come hell or high water. The weather appears to be cooperating, I’m feeling relatively enthusiastic about the thought, so I declared to anyone within ear range that I was going to ride 20 miles tonight.

Let’s see if it really happens. I’ll have to fill you in tonight.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy cycling anymore. Because I really, really do enjoy it. It’s so relaxing to hit the back country roads on my two-wheels, enjoying the scenery, breathing the fresh air, talking to cows. The problem is that we don’t really live near the back roads anymore. It’s a chore to get to where cycling is enjoyable.

Of course, there’s the canal paths. They’re good fun, especially since a large portion of them have recently been paved and of course due to the fact that there’s no cars on the paths. At least there shouldn’t be, but around here you can never be too sure. But then there’s people walking on them and dogs pooping on them and everything, any that does not make for the most enjoyable experience when you have to play dodge the doo-doo. It is fun in a morbid way to see older pedestrians literally jump out of their wig when you sneak up behind them and say “Bike Back!”. As mom used to say, “it’s fun until someone gets hurt”. When one of these people drop from a heart attack I probably won’t enjoy it so much but for the time being it’s mildly entertaining.

I’ve been dreaming of doing an overnight ride towards the end of this month. Last time I tried it, it turned cold and rainy and I called Earl on the cell phone and pleaded like a little boy. “Come get me!” At least he brought a hot cup of chili when he did. That was thoughtful.

I still have the big dream of riding across the country. Now that’s a lot of open road.

Maybe I should tackle riding across town first.

This morning at work I had confirmation that I am truly a whacked out individual. Or at least people perceive me as a little odd.

I was on call last night for a collegue. I helped out by taking over his on call duties for a couple of hours, with all the fun ending at 9:30 p.m. Actually, I didn’t get any calls, which is an always welcomed change. After turning the on-call duties back over to him, I decided to go run some errands. So I went to local convenience store (dressed appropriately, for a change) and bought the lottery tickets for the week. Then coming out Fastrac, I noticed that the car was unacceptably dirty so I headed over to the LaserWash (complete with LaserDri). On the way I passed the local NYSDOT sign manufacturer contractor and noticed they had a bunch of new signs on a trailer ready to be shipped, so I stopped to take a look at those, being the road geek that I am. As an aside, they’re headed for Interstate 81 around my hometown of Pulaski.

I then headed for the car wash and let the laser do its thing, though it didn’t dry very well. So then I drove around the area a little bit for another 45 minutes or so to dry the car off.

I got home around 10:55, just in time to call Earl.

My co-workers found this incredibly odd. “Why weren’t you sleeping?” “You went out to wash the car at 10:00 at night?”

I guess I won’t tell them about the time I went grocery shopping at midnight, or the time back in the late 1980s when I went to a tanning appointment at 3:15 a.m.