January 2007

Feedback.

I’ve upgraded my blogging software. If something acts a little wonky, please drop me a line and let me know and I’ll see what I can do to fix it.

This new version of MovableType should make the commenting process a little less painful for my gentle readers. If I don’t know who you are, I’ll have to approve you once or twice. Once I know who you are you’ll get through without my having to look down your shorts first. Unless you want me to.

Oh, I’ve also fixed my online status button for AOL/.Mac chatting. Just click that little button on the right side of the page for more information. If you want to say hello over IM, that’s the instant messenger I use the most. Yahoo! makes me nervous for some reason. If you’re using AOL, you can chat with any .Mac subscriber without jumping through hoops, you just need to put in the entire .Mac e-mail address for the AOL screen name. Technology is cool like that.

15 January 2007 by Geek 1

Not Sure.

This afternoon I embarked on a rarely traveled boulevard in our happy little home; I cleaned the master bathroom from top to bottom and left to right. To make the task even more enjoyable, I turned on the bedroom television and tuned in Lifetime around 4:30, expecting to catch “The Golden Girls”. I surprised to find that they were running their new game show, “Gay, Straight or Taken” in it’s place.

Ugh. I think.

First of all, this program has all the earmarks of that trainwreck “Boy Meets Boy” with a revolving cast. I think it’s kind of demeaning to all parties involved for the primary contestant to have to figure out who’s gay, who’s straight and who’s taken. This afternoon’s female participant was particularly clueless, because she didn’t guess the correct guy for being the gay one and used the “let me see your fingernails” urban legend as one aspect of her barometer. Please. I had the gay one picked out within the first 15 seconds. He had more chiffon shooting out of his mouth than Marilyn Monroe, and he went a little wild about the woman’s purse pooch that she was carrying. All that was missing was the flashing neon pink triangle flashing over his head.

“Ring, ring.” It’s the cluephone, and it’s for you, Miss Contestant.

She picked the well groomed guy as the gay one. That’s so 1999.

Anyway, I’m not going to go out of my way to search out another one of these episodes. I feel like it was 30 minutes of my life that I won’t get back.

But at least I got the toilet clean in the process.

15 January 2007 by Let's All Rant. 0

Ice Ice Baby.




Ice Ice Baby.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

The trees in our backyard are starting to show some pretty good ice buildup from the storm blowing through here. We are suppose to get more freezing rain and sleet through the night, when it then is projected to turn to snow.

At least it’s finally starting to be a little like winter around here!

15 January 2007 by Flickr 0

Where’s the Seat Belt.




Gaming Sunday.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl and I originally had plans to go visit my sister and my dad and stepmother in Syracuse today. However, Mother Nature decided that we needed to have everything coated in ice and snow, so we thought it’d be best if we stayed at home and treat today as one of those winter-time January Sundays.

We’ve spent the entire day playing “Project Gotham Racing 3” on our Xbox360.

I’ve become quite good at not dropping f-bombs while racing the streets of New York in my Astin Martin or my Corvette. Earl, on the other hand, drops blue words like candy. Always the humorist, Tom puts his ears back when he hears the profanity. His latest exclaimation was “Where the fsck is the seat belt?”, referring to the fact that he had ripped the steering wheel controller right off the table it was clamped to and had tried to pound the pedal assembly through the floor.

I am very grateful that I decided to buy the Xbox360 instead of the new Wii for our household Christmas present this year, because I’m positive that a Wii controller would have sailed through one of the family room windows or the screen of the television within the first 48 hours of playing.

We’ve always been proud of the way we’ve decorated our house, including the family room. I can’t wait to see what the new gamer chairs we have our eyes on add to the ambience.

As I just crossed across the room to go to the restroom, Earl promptly barked out “Don’t cross in front of me! I’ll hit ya!” Now that’s the love I always talk about.

14 January 2007 by Geek 0

Dinner Date.




Dinner Date.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

I believe that it’s important to get dressed up and go out on a date with the one you love. Once in a while Earl and I will take the extra step to look nice and go out to dine. You can always tell the difference from those that go out to dine and those that go out to eat, the ones that are eating are licking the salad dressing off their elbows, while the ones that are dining are leaned back in a casual pose with a glass of red wine in their hand.

Earl and I like to do this from time to time. Tonight we went to a local Italian steakhouse. I don’t know what makes it Italian unless it’s because the cows chew garlic instead of regular cud. Whatever the reason, the meal was delicious, the conversation was insightful and I fell in love with Earl all over again, even after all these years.

I’ve met people that say they don’t need love, they don’t need anyone as a permanent fixture in their life, they’re quite content to live alone. While this may be the case for their short term, I don’t believe that we as people are meant to live life all by ourselves. As a bonafide, certified loner, I can certainly attest that there are times that one needs to be by themselves and to do their own thing, but the idea of not having someone in my life to call “sweetheart” is nothing short of terrifying. I thank the Universe every day for my fortune in love. I hope that each of us gets to find their fortune as well. Beauty queens want world peace, I want everyone to fall in love.

13 January 2007 by Flickr 0

Dining Experience.

Earl and I decided to treat ourselves for lunch today and go to the Applebee’s that’s not too far away, using one of our holiday gift certificates in the process. Trying to stay within the realm of good health, I ordered a “Confetti Chicken” dish from the Weight Watchers menu, Earl ordered a grilled chicken salad from the same selection.

Mine was quite yummy.

Earl wasn’t as thrilled with his dish.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a fresh selection of vegetables in a salad. Unfortunately, Applebee’s felt differently because Earl had an assortment of wilted and browning salad greens in his dish. The very kind server came over and asked how we were enjoying our meal. Earl’s first response was “Honestly?” I then gripped the table in preparation for what was to follow. Actually, I was expecting his standard, “This is the worst meal I’ve had in my life”, but he didn’t say that, instead he expressed his understable disappointment with his meal. The server looked as if she had been stabbed but she apologized for the meal and offered to get another; Earl replied that he would just pick at what he had since he was pressed for time.

We were expecting the manager to come over after the server flew back to the kitchen, but the manager never arrived. The server even asked if we had talked to the manager as she had requested their presence, but apparently they don’t work during the busy lunch hour or something.

After the initial discussiong with the server, Earl and I continued to eat in silence. It wasn’t that I was embarassed or upset by his honesty with the server, quite the contrary, I’m glad he had said something. It was just that I felt that this was another notch in what I was sensing to be a bad day for him. So I broke the silence with a simple question.

“Do you think you’ve had a mid-life crisis, are having a mid-life crisis, or haven’t had one yet?”

I don’t know why I asked that, as he’s probably one of the most grounded people I’ve ever met in my life, but he shot me a look that said, “I’m am not having a mid-life crisis”, before he calming said, “Why do you ask?”. Not knowing how to gracefully dig myself out of that conversational vacuum, I simply replied with “oh, I was just curious.” Things were fine after that.

Small wonder I played it safe tonight and served up a pancake supper. There wasn’t a vegetable in sight.

12 January 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Winter Driving in Wyoming County.

Today I embraced my loner side and went for a long drive through the Empire State, taking notes for my road geek site along the way. I enjoyed all aspects of the ride very much, but after being married for a decade, it’s just not the same when Earl is not along with me, even if he’s just snoring in the passenger seat. I missed his presence.

I’ve been told that I find the mundane fascinating and I suppose this is no exception, but I really like rural Wyoming County west of the Finger Lakes. I’m guessing it’s named Wyoming County because it’s flat and primarily farmland and it looks a little bit like the state of Wyoming. While the area didn’t have nearly the amount of snow common for this time of year, it did give me my first nibble of winter driving of the season. It was a pleasant experience, though I now miss Wyoming.

When all was said and done, I passed through 15 counties in twelve hours. I made the obligatory stops at Tom Wahl’s for lunch and Tim Horton’s for a snack. Oh, speaking of food, if you’re ever in Rochester, be sure to stop at The Highland Park Diner. It’s a great experience for all.

11 January 2007 by Flickr 0

Shift.

When I resigned from my job at the end of this past year, I thought I would have a lot of time before school started to get some things done. I had visions of multiple blog entries everyday, following the important matters occurring in the news and accomplishing tasks on my “to do” list with unprecedented time to do so. Classes start in less than a week and I’m finding that I’m busier now than when I was working. I think I’m a little surprised by this.

I can say without hesitation that my priorities have changed considerably. Back in the “old days” I was happy with the state of the kitchen floor if we didn’t stick to it. This morning I found myself armed with the broom and dustpan waiting for the cat to finish his kibble so I could scoop up his mess. I stop Earl at the door when he comes home from work and before he gets his kiss, I insist that his shoes come off. The washer has run more cycles in the past two weeks then it did the entire month before. I’m looking forward to stopping at the dry cleaners tomorrow morning.

What in the heck has happened to me?

I used to yak on and on about how I was turning into some domestic god because I vacuumed a little bit and shoved things under the bed. Yesterday I moved all the furniture in the bedroom so I could thoroughly clean everything. It paid off though; Earl didn’t sneeze once in bed last night.

See, there’s always a bright side.

Just to keep Earl on his toes I left a voicemail at his office telling him to stop at the store on his way home as I was fresh out of bon-bons.

He brought home some mop-n-glo. He knows his way to my heart.

10 January 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Lily Munster.

munsters2.jpg

Yvonne DeCarlo passed away on Monday. She was 84. Most remembered for her role as Lily Munster in “The Munsters”, she was my favorite of the two “creepy” moms. According to Reuters, she worked right up until her death and will be in two yet-to-be-released independent movies.

Rest In Peace, Lily.

10 January 2007 by Spiritual Stuff. 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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