March 2006

Color.

Now that the sun is actually showing itself and it’s starting to feel a little like spring in these parts, I’m noticing more and more people are coming out of their hibernation and starting to walk the streets around downtown. You can always spot the winter shut in type, they are still wearing a heavy coat while others around them are making due without a jacket. And they look very, very pale.

When I was growing up my sister often referred to my coloring as “lily white”. Now that I look back on it, I think that was kind of rude. Nevertheless, while I wouldn’t paint me in the same corner as Casper, I will admit that I don’t get much color on my skin. I’m the type that burns and then peels, rinse and repeat. I go from “lily white” to shocking red to yuck and then back to pale white.

I think my sister hogged all the tanning genes in the family. I don’t think she’s ever had a sunburn in her life. But then again, I’m the only redhead of my generation so maybe I just got an extra helping of the low sun tolerance genome.

I’m going to attempt to get a little color this year without getting all sunburned. That way when Earl and I go traveling this summer, I won’t spook everyone at the beach.

27 March 2006 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Fashionista.




Fashionista.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Today has been a day of getting chores done. Earl’s company vice president is coming into town to take a tour of his two plants on Monday and Tuesday, so he’s out of town getting his office outside of Albany in tip-top shape. To get all the logistics worked out, which involves a rental SUV, a corporate jet and an 18-minute flight from point A to point B (which takes about 90 minutes to drive), I ended up driving Earl to Albany and getting him settled in his hotel room. We went out for a little dinner while we were there and then I headed back home.

While he was packing and I was putting away laundry, I saw the box of clothes that have been anxiously awaiting the results of my fitness routine. I thought about it a minute and then said “what the heck”, and tried some of these clothes on.

THEY FIT!

There was no jumping across the room to land in the jeans. There was no lying down to fasten snaps, there was no fear of belts exploding off my waist. As I went through the clothes that were set aside back in 2004, I was delighted to see that my clothes were fitting nicely, boosting my confidence to new heights.

I guess the working out and eating healthy is finally paying off. I was so happy that I ended up doing cardio on the elliptical machine instead of the treadmill today at the gym. I found out the proper name for this beast, I’ve always referred to it as the “spastic thingee”. I welcomed the correction.

So I’m going to trudge on with the whole health thing and focus on staying in my “thin” clothes and building up some muscle and stamina. My goal is to be able to do a backwards flip by running up a tree (like that new Visa commercial) on my birthday in mid July.

Or at least a three day, 200 mile bike ride.

26 March 2006 by Fitness. 1

Family Night.

Tonight was a “family night” in that Earl and I spent the evening with my Mom, my aunt and uncle, my cousin and some friends. Always striving to do things in style, we went to the sold-out Billy Joel concert together after having some dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

The food was good. The waitress was rather surly, but we think she was overwhelmed by the number of patrons that were headed for the concert.

Billy Joel was excellent. The concert was at the Carrier Dome in front of a record crowd. I believe the show sold out in three hours or something like that. There were about 40,000 people there.

Billy looked good, sang phenomenally well and overall the show was a really good time. One thing I found humorous is that instead of everyone lighting lighters for encore, people now hold up their cell phone with the display lit. How’s that for a creative use of technology. Has this caught on elsewhere?

Overall, a good time was had by all.

25 March 2006 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Comp.

Today I took the day off from work with some comp time earned with my last run of on-call. Earl was out of town so I didn’t really go anyplace exotic with my favorite co-pilot installed in the passenger seat. Instead, I indulged in my roadgeek tendencies and drove through around the Capital District of the Empire State.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. People fascinate me. I could sit in a mall or a busy downtown area and just people watch for hours. So many people walking about, oblivious to what’s going on around them, going on with their daily business. Since it’s the end of March with temperatures in the mid 40s, some people are bundled up like they’re headed to the Arctic while others are wearing cargo shorts and a t-shirt. I was a fashion hybrid in this regard today, wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Since I was in a city bigger than a breadbox, I stopped at Crossgates Mall and went to the Apple store. We now have a black 4GB iPod Nano in the household. It’s for Earl to use when he is working out at the gym. I bought a Sportswrap for it so he could attach it to his arm. I also bought myself a Sportswrap for my iPod. I hope I don’t forget where I am and start singing Madonna tunes out loud while I’m on the treadmill or something.

I stopped at a K-mart to make a pit stop and to get a box of tissues for the car, because I was slopping my packed lunch all over the place while I was driving. I grew up with K-mart and have traditionally considered it one of my favorite department stores. But what has happened to these stores over the past decade? I suspect the downfall began when they became “Big K”. There was nothing bigger about the store when they put up those tacky signs. In fact, when the “Big” concept made it’s debut in 1990, little was done to renovate existing stores. And still today, the stores have not had any upgrading aside from a few new signs and a fresh coat of paint. I’m afraid I’m going to have to scratch K-mart off my list and start shopping at Target instead; I’m finding the K-mart stores too depressing.

K-mart aside, I’m happy with my little headstart on the weekend. It’s going to be a good one.

24 March 2006 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Solo Act.

Earl is out of town on business tonight so that puts me in bachelor mode. I’ve been looking forward to going to the gym all day (get up off the floor, it’s not that unbelievable) so after eating a relatively healthy dinner and letting that digest for a little bit, I made the trek to the gym where I decided it would be a cardio night.

I started out on the treadmill, doing about 25 minutes. I know, seasoned gym people would say “big deal”. Oh well, I’m just starting this whole gym thing again. I ran half of the routine and walked at a fairly good clip for the remainder of it. Somewhere long ago I read that you should alternate between walking and running so your heart rate goes up and down, up and down, forcing it to work harder and do more good things to your body.

Thank the universe I don’t have hair because had I shaken a head full of hair I would have showered those around me with sweat. I think I turned 18 shades of red. I don’t like to think I was soaked, rather, I glistened.

Feeling all limber and whatnot, I decided to try one of those glider thingees that swings your arms and makes like you’re a gazelle. I did that thing for 10 minutes. More sweat, more glistening.

After then getting on a cross country machine and basically spazzing out because it wanted to swish when I wanted to swoosh, I decided to calm down a bit, gulp a 24 oz bottle of water and head to the locker room.

As soon as I walk into any locker room, in my mind I am transported back into junior high school when I was all intimidated by the upperclassmen we had to share the room with. There are big, buff guys everywhere, peppered with a few older guys that have obviously done nothing but maintain their health their entire lives. Men are shootin’ the breeze, showering (don’t look too long!), shaving and getting ready to go lift weights or head home after lifting every weight in the place. Then there’s me and I can’t shake that image of myself I had when I was 13 – scrawny with a paunch, unable to grow any sort of facial or body hair and thinking that my homosexuality is glowing like a neon light. Of course, it’s just paranoia doing it’s thing because no one even notices that I’m in the locker room with them. Besides, the paunch is disappearing, the flame is kept to a low pilot light and I have a full beard now.

I guess I’m just one of the guys now.

23 March 2006 by Fitness. 1

I’m Cheap.

Whomever I’ve dated in the past should consider themselves pretty lucky. I’m cheap.

As I’m sitting here eating my lunch, I’m discovering that I enjoy ramen noodles (or a healthy equivalent) much more than some sit down lunch at a fah-fah-fah-fah-fah type place. With me it’s just add water, zap it in the Radarange, and viola, instant goodness.

A rather uppity restaurant opened up recently across from my office building. Everyday I walk by en route to my car to go home for lunch with my gray and orange lunchpail from Target in tow. I’ve noticed a couple of glances in my direction as I walk by and I can just hear the fancy business suited woman sitting in the window with her $10.00 sprig of lettuce and $5.00 glass of mineral water. “He carries a lunch pail. Let them eat cake. Must be he can’t afford a place like this.”

Who would want to?

If I’m going to slap down some dough for a lunch, I want it to have some substance to it. I don’t need food that dances. I don’t really care about presentation, as long as its recognizable and not a color like fucia, it’s edible. And whether it’s a sandwich, a burger or a soup and salad, it better fill me up but good. I have no need for my taste buds to be tempted by some exotic spice that’s probably going to give me hives or the runs. When it comes to food, kiss (keep it simple stupid). I think that’s why Earl and I gravitate toward diners when we’re on the road, the food is relatively inexpensive but wonderfully good and doesn’t have all the attitude that comes along with an expensive meal.

So to the fancy woman in the restaurant window with entirely too much Aqua-net in your hair, I can hear your little snarky laugh. And I don’t care. I’m proud that I’m a cheap date. Don’t let the exotic spices catch up to you!

23 March 2006 by Food. 0

Paperless.

Ever since I entered the corporate world back in 1988, I’ve been hearing that we are eventually going to switch to a paperless office. No matter where I work, we’re going to do our part to save the trees and go electronic. I heard this back when I worked on dumb terminals connected to a mainframe and I’ve heard it as recently as yesterday.

Today I decided to do something about it.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m saddled with a Windows XP computer at work in all it’s unstable glory, complete with Office 2003 with all the bells and whistles. When taking trouble calls, I usually keep a pad and pen near me so I can jot down particulars before creating a trouble ticket. I’ve always found this process time consuming. So today I downloaded a trial version of Microsoft OneNote, which is specifically designed for taking notes.

OneNote is geared more towards college students and from what I understand really shines on a TabletPC, which allows you to save handwritten notes using an electronic stylus as a pen, much like a credit card signature pad found at the market or your favorite department or electronics store.

So now I’m poised at the computer electronically jotting notes into OneNote. I’m finding the software interface a little clunky as I retrain myself to click and type instead of just writing, but if I can save a tree or two in the process then it’s all worth it.

It’s a heck of a lot different than that Manpower gig I had back in 1988 where the manager I worked for (as an administrative assistant) asked me to print out all her e-mails for her!

I think I’ll hug a tree in celebration once the weather warms up.

22 March 2006 by Geek 1

Fit.

Well Earl and I went ahead and did it. After thinking about it, mulling it over and analyzing it from every possible angle, we laid down the cash and went ahead and did it.

We both joined the gym this afternoon.

Look out world, here comes the fierce Dynamic Duo.

21 March 2006 by Fitness. 1

Group Effort.

Eating healthy has been the name of the game in our merry little home and Earl and I have been joined by another family member in the quest for a better body.

Our cat Tom is now on the bandwagon.

Tom has his annual trip to the vet a week or two ago. It was the usual routine, he sees the cat carrier and jets underneath anything that would restrict access to him, be it the bed, the couch or the piano. Being the mean ol’ daddy that I am, I coax him out by pulling on one his paws until he follows along, literally kicking and screaming all the way. Then I give him a shove into the cat carrier, in which his paws spring out in every direction but “in”, so I end up turning him this way and that until he finally admits defeat and actually gets in the carrier. On the ride to the vet, anything that will come out of cat, except blood, will. He must figure that it’s easier for him to give all the samples in the car instead of the in the exam room.

It’s such a lovely experience.

Anyways, since Tom has been with us he’s weighed between 10 3/4 and 11 1/4 pounds. This visit he clocked in at 12 1/4 pounds! I resisted the urge to point out to the vet that he was on a different scale for the first time and that he had hit “stop” when the dial was turning and it had stopped on 12 1/4 pounds. Perhaps he was secretly saying “no whammies, no whammies, no whammies.” Who knows.

So he suggested Tom get away from the moist food we were giving him as a side dish to his kibble. He wanted to recommend some expensive, prescription required food but I told him the last time we tried that Tom refused to eat for three days and made everyone’s life miserable until he was served something with flavor.

So we’ve found this light kibble for adult cats. Unlike human food that’s branded ‘lite’, I don’t think there’s splenda in it.

So now that Earl and I are eating heatlhy, we have Tom joining in on the group effort. We’re going to be a fierce looking family come summertime.

21 March 2006 by Ponderings and Musings 0

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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