Earl was gone on business for only two nights. He was just an e-mail or phone call away the entire time.
My week changed for the better just because he walked through the door an hour ago. My spirit soared.
Happiness.
June 2006
Ewww.
Earl doesn’t know this yet but we are never stepping foot in the local chain-run movie theatres again. It’s too gross.
These theatres have been around for three years or so and basically put the other big theatres out of business because they’re the only ones that have stadium seating. The popcorn sucks and they don’t show any previews on the big projection screen in the lobby because the theatre workers find it annoying, but the sound in each theatre is decent and hey, it’s basically the only modern game in town.
The problem with this theatre is the with the advertisements they show prior to the previews. Now, the ads are basically a PowerPoint presentation repeating over and over again, so sometimes you get to see the same ads multiple times before the show starts. I don’t mind the ads for the local colleges very much, especially because there’s a really cute bear in a hardhat working in a powerplant in one of them. And I’ve mentioned before that I despise the ads for Open MRIs. “Sweetheart, I must leave RIGHT NOW and get an MRI. I must GO! Watch MI:III without me, I need to have my head examined RIGHT NOW with an Open MRI!” Well now they’ve added ads for varicose vein removals.
Make me barf my buttered and lightly salted popcorn up.
I must be out of touch with reality or something, but I really don’t see the need to have some person’s nasty looking, bump covered, hairy leg plastered up on a movie screen while a doctor draws maps on it with a magic marker, followed by a bird’s eye view of some new medical gizmo that goes down through the vein and pops them out. Why? Why! Why?
Medically related advertisements shouldn’t exist and at the very least they shouldn’t be up on a movie screen in glorious technicolor. I don’t want to hear that you may get explosive bowels if you take a pill that cures acne. I don’t want to perk myself up with a happy purple pill just because it’s raining outside. And I certainly don’t want a bird’s eye view of the innards of someone’s veins while I’m trying to enjoy my popcorn, strategically balanced diet pop and Junior Mints.
So we are going to the local theatre when we stay in town to catch a movie. I don’t care if they forget to turn off the lights when the movie starts. I don’t mind the fact that the screen is in the southeast corner of the theatre and the seats point southwest.
At least I don’t have to watch anyone getting dissected before the show.
Frustration.
I am truly a blessed geek. I’ve been fortunate enough to have access to computers since 1982. I’ve been given the go-ahead to basically what I want when I get my hands on a computer, so I’ve had more than my share to learn, troubleshoot and play around with technology for a good portion of my life. I realize that many others do not have the same opportunity, whether it be a lack of access to technology or the fact that they really can’t wrap their head around the concepts involved in computer use. I fully understand that, for some it just comes naturally, for others, well, they’re just not wired that way.
In the new and improved department I work in now I’m often working with end users that are trying to that are having any random computer issue. Often the trouble can be traced to a Windows glitch but I do my best to rule out any trouble on our end of the connection before I start blaming Microsoft. I understand that in this corporately run world, Microsoft is the mediocrity that people have settled for and it’s up to us geeks to keep it all together.
Today I had a customer call that was having a problem dialing in to the network. After going through all the various settings on her “new computer”, as she called it (it was running a spiffy new copy of Windows 98) and determining that everything was pretty much set up correctly, I asked her to make sure she has dial tone on her phone.
“Oh, I don’t have a phone anymore.”, she responded, shocked that I would ask her to do such a thing. “We’re talking on my cell phone.”
“You no longer have phone service to your house with Verizon or something like that?”, I ask.
“No. I don’t use it. It’s too expensive.”
“Uh, since you don’t have a land line, I’m pretty sure you’re going to have difficulty connecting to the internet over your _dial-up_ connection.”
“Well I thought you would upgrade my account to go over the cable.”, she offered.
“Um, no. You would need to contact your cable provider for that.” I was doing my best not to go all Bea Arthur on her and get sarcastic.
She hung up on me.
Voices.
Inspired by In The Thick of It this morning, I did further research on the threat to the Internet’s First Amendment: Network Neutraility. Surprisingly, one of the blog entries I came across on the topic belongs to Alyssa Milano. I found her dialog on the subject to be very well written and inspiring.
The news is often peppered with word about how evil the internet is. Sexual predators here, pornography there, here snatch, there a dick, everywhere an ass ass. Yes, there’s a mind-boggling selection of porn on the internet and for those that enjoy it, I say good for you, enjoy it all you want as long as you’re not infringing on the rights of others.
But the real beauty of the internet is that it provides a venue for anyone to say anything about any subject they want. Grandparents sharing recipes, mothers and fathers showing off the accomplishments of their offspring, gays and lesbians letting their voices be heard, it’s all a good thing. Everyone has a voice in the land of network neutrality, without fear of oppression. Of course, this freedom goes hand in hand with personal responsibility, so I’m always advocating telling the truth when you’re out there looking to be heard. It’s easier than having to keep track of a pack of lies.
One of the blogs I read on a daily basis belongs to Rosie O’Donnell. For the past couple of months she’s hosted “Ask Ro”, where you can ask her anything. She answers a number of the questions on just about a daily basis. She doesn’t censor them, we get a chance to see the personal questions and we get a chance to see the hateful (and occasionally unbelievable) comments. I’ve always been a fan of Rosie and as I’ve followed along with her on her blog my admiration for her has grown. She’s doing good things for many different causes. I admire that.
I’m very intrigued by Alyssa Milano’s web site. I’m looking forward to doing more reading tonight, which will probably lead to more celebrity websites being added to my blogroll.
And this is my last pitch – if you believe in a neutral internet, please be sure to visit Move On’s Save The Internet site and let your voice be heard.
Save The Internet.
The following is a well written entry lifted from a blog I follow, In The Thick Of It I’m asking for your help today on keeping the internet the way it was meant to be.
Congress is currently pushing a law that would end the free and open Internet as we know it. Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard against Network Neutrality, the Internet’s First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Network Neutrality prevents AT&T and Verizon from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T or Verizon more. Network Neutrality would insure that Amazon doesn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.
Grammy-nominated musician Moby made a goofy, yet poignant new video about the very real attack on Internet freedom that is happening this week in Congress. Watch the video.
Learn more and sign a petition telling congress that your Internet is not for sale to the highest bidder.
Tinka Tinka Tink.
I just love this graphic I found on the Bewitched-related website, Harpies’ Bizarre. June is gay pride month and one of the contributors to that site is making Bewitched themed postcards for the occasion.
And here’s a little bit of trivia: shortly after Dick Sargent’s (Darrin #2) coming out in the early 1990s, he was asked to be grand marshal of the Los Angeles Gay Pride parade. He asked and was joined by America’s favorite television witch, Elizabeth Montgomery. As well as being breathtaking beautiful, “Lizzy” was a wonderful human being.
Proposal.
I’m becoming increasingly fired up about this second round of gay marriage debate that is taking a hold of the capital. It’s very obvious to many why this is being bandied about again; the current administration is failing miserably and know they are going to pay the price for it in the next round of elections, so they are doing everything they can to secure the ultra-conservative vote in November. Senseless deaths in Iraq, a failing economy and international concerns be damned, we need to make sure that Bruce and Bruce don’t get married. In their eyes, it’s blasphemy.
What a crock of bullshit.
The issue of separation of church and state aside, one of the arguments we hear is that marriage is for the purpose of building a family. I wish someone had told my 80-year old grandfather that back in July ’95. He was marrying for the second time to a woman he wanted to spend his final years with. I have no doubt that he loved her very much. I also have no doubt that they wouldn’t be having children any time soon. By the whackos’ rules, they shouldn’t have been getting married. But they lived in marital bliss right up until his death. No houses fell, no fires engulfed them, but horror of horrors, they were married but weren’t having children.
It really is amazing when you see two people in love. It’s truly a sight to behold. Oh, there are many that say they’re in love, and they fake it really well, but I believe you can tell when you see two people united as one. They’re best friends, they’re two parts of a whole and their relationship transcends this mortal concept of “marriage”.
If by the slim chance that this waste of time amendment somehow becomes part of the U.S. Constitution, then I propose this: All “normal” couples getting married be submitted to fertility tests. I mean, if they can’t procreate, then there really isn’t a need for them to get married, right? Can you see it now? “I’m sorry Tim, but this test shows you’re unable to have kids. I know you’re 23 years old. I understand that you love Jenna very much and have been together for a long time, but no, you can’t get married.” Why, if that happened to an affluent family in Texas, they’d be jumpin’ higher than the mother’s hairdo to get the situation corrected.
I have news for anyone opposed to gay marriage. Hear me and hear me well. Earl and I were married on December 26, 1996. I have had a wedding ring on my left finger since that blessed event. Nothing, and I mean _nothing_ is going to take our marriage away from us and nothing is going to make it any less sacred. We will do everything in our power to protect our marriage. You can tax us, you can ban us, you can tell us we’re going to hell (and that is such a stupid thing to say as I think it’s quite evident that _this_ is hell), but it’s not going to weaken our union. Hardly. It’s not going to make us stop loving each other. It’s going to make us stronger and bring us closer.
Every citizen has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No ifs, no ands, no buts. Period.
Blech.
So Dubya is speaking about the importance of banning gay marriage at a federal level by way of a constitutional amendment. This would be the first constitutional amendment that would deny rights of U.S. citizens instead of granting them. It has little chance of passing the proper channels to become an amendment. But he’s going to go ahead and talk about it and what not, to prove to the religious right that he’s still on board with their crusade.
What a bunch of heartless ghouls.
Grilling.
Summertime means grilling time, especially when it’s cold, cloudy and rainy here in lovely Upstate New York. The weather really has nothing to do with it, since you can grill just as easily in a blizzard, but there’s something about the rumor of some extra sunlight that stirs the urge in men all across the area.
That urge, of course, is to stand in front of a grill and cook something using lots of flame and stuff to baste with.
So Earl and I (mostly Earl) came up with these skewered seafood delights. There’s shrimp and scampi and bacon and pineapple in there, along with my favorite, grilled eggplant with various seasonings and asparagus.
Yummy!
We had my Mom, sister and friend Debbie over for dinner today and everyone seemed to enjoy our latest grilling offering. I’m thinking of concoting a BBQ marinade with beer and other assorted fun for the next time.
Fixed!
The very nice Adelphia technician came and fixed our internet connection today. Oh yes she most certainly did. She replaced a filter out on the pole and now it is flyin’. _Flyin’_ I tell ya. Apparently the filter keeps us from getting cable television (we have DirecTV) and it looked pretty fried. I didn’t want to disagree with her in anyway, because though she was a very, very nice person, she looked like she could beat the crap out of anyone she wanted to.
I shouldn’t let material things like this sway my mood but this has just made my day. We can actually talk on the phone now (over VoIP) without it s ndin l ke th s.
Now I can finally get rid of my cell phone.
