May 2007

Group Effort.

So last night was the season finale for “Heroes”, bringing a close to this volume of the series. Be forewarned that I may mention spoilers if you haven’t seen the episode yet.

Earl and I were in his hotel room in Schenectady last night so we had to watch the episode in “real time” versus tape delay via TiVo. I don’t know how normal viewers tolerate the huge number of commercials in the show! It’s a little bit out of control. I highly recommend that those with access to iTunes download the episode if they can’t watch it without the ads via a TiVo or something.

It looks like I’m running contrary to the fans on the 9th Wonders message board (one of the many sites devoted to the show). Most of the fanboys felt this episode was a let down but I have to say that I truly enjoyed it. The writers would be fools to bring complete closure to the series with this episode, so we were left with some lingering questions that will undoubtedly be addressed in Volume 2.

This was the first episode where I actually cheered for Niki when she whacked Sylar across the face with the parking meter and when she knocked out that increasingly irritating Candace. One little nitpick: previous episodes alluded to the fact that Candace never appears as her true self because she’s heavy, and when she was knocked unconscious (or dead) by Niki she went back to the pretty version of Candace. Should she have reverted to some person we’ve never seen before?

I thought the teaser of Volume 2, with Hiro in 17th century Japan, looked interesting but it didn’t engage me as a viewer. I’m not sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for next season.

On the whole, though, I appreciated the fact that the Heroes were all working together at the end of the episode and I was pleased with the manner and amount of resolution we were presented with.

The only downside to the showing was the preview of “Bionic Woman”. That looks like it could be a good show but it is definitely NOT the Bionic Woman we know. They should have come up with a new Bionic Woman and then got all Buffy or Alias on us. I wish they would change the name of the lead character to something other than Jaime Sommers.

22 May 2007 by Geek 1

Impromptu.



Proctors Theatre Arcade.
Originally uploaded by bluemarvel.

Earl is in the Capital District tonight on business and invited me to join him for dinner. I love these last minute road trips. We’re just getting back to his room in downtown Schenectady. We’re going to watch the season finale of “Heroes” and then I’m going to jump on the Thruway and head home.

Here’s a picture of the arcade at Proctor’s Theatre. I find these older buildings to be fascinating. We don’t build them like this anymore.

I love these last minute trips.

21 May 2007 by Flickr 0

Nuked.

I just finished my lunch. On the menu today were two pieces of leftover pizza from the weekend. It was yummy.

Lately I’ve been against using the radarange (o.k., microwave) for anything. Earl came home one night last week and noticed that I was heating the brussel sprouts by steaming them on the stove instead of nuking the heck out of them. When I make popcorn I use the latest version of the old-fashioned motorized West Bend popcorn popper, complete with canola oil and dripping butter goodness. Even when I boil water these days I use the stove instead of the radarange.

When I was a kid I thought my grandmother’s radarange was the coolest thing. It was so heavy it took two people to carry it. You needed to lock the door shut before you could turn it on (the rumor about needing lead gloves proved to be unsubstantiated). If you used one of the fancy plates sparks flew around inside while the food cooked. You weren’t suppose to use the fancy plate in the radarange.

While these devices appeal to the geek, today I can’t help but think that using microwaves to cook food is somehow not normal. It’s not that I’m afraid of a microwave oven or think that my head is going to explode by standing near one but with all the radio waves, television signals, satellite signals and cellular chatter in the air today, I feel like I’m contributing to Mother Earth and the welfare of her children a little bit by not adding to the technological mix while I melt butter. So for lunch I heated my two slices of pizza in the oven on our pizza stone. It came out crisp and tasty. If I had used the radarange it probably would have been a mixture of soggy at one end and chewy on the other.

21 May 2007 by Food. 2

Once You Go Mac…

So I’m back on my PowerBook G4 full-time again. Last night I had to catch up on some web site work for my various sites, as well as some sites I maintain for various charitable organizations. While I don’t use a lot of the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editing functions unless I’m in a crunch and use the same text editor on both Linux and OS X (Vim for the most part), I had a dilly of a time trying to create graphics and maintain the sites using the tools available on Linux. I could accomplish the task, but it wasn’t as easy to do as it was on my PowerBook.

Plus, any and all fonts look infinitely better on OS X and that makes a considerable difference when you’re staring at the screen for long periods of time.

So I moved all my files to the larger server in the house (we have two here, yes I am an übergeek), powered down the HP computer and powered my PowerBook back up. The rest of my editing flew once I switched back and the whole experience felt more comfortable.

If you don’t want or have a Mac, I still recommend Ubuntu Linux for the everyday chores. I had a weird thing going on with YouTube videos locking up the system that I couldn’t solve and I couldn’t make any vidcasts using Linux due to a lack of webcam drivers, but for everything else I must say that Ubuntu was adequate. It’s not as nice as Mac but it’s not as vulnerable as Windows when it comes to security and the great part is the fact that it’s free.

I guess it’s true that once you go Mac you never go back.

21 May 2007 by Geek 1

And We’re Off.

Still quite puffed up from the final grades for the last semester, I eagerly jumped into the swing of school again this morning with my one summer course: “Intermediate Algebra”. The joy of dancing variables will last for eight weeks.

One thing that was readily apparent is that my fellow students are serious students. Most of them are over the age of 30, they all seem to be serious students (whereas during the regular semester there’s some that are not so serious about their studies) and more importantly, three are super woofy. When I told Earl of this last point he said I need to take pictures.

Since this is a 12 week course in an eight week slot, classes are longer and the pace is considerably faster. The teacher seems enthusiastic and people were actually participating in class, so I have to say that I’m quite excited about this little quick burst of education. Whereas last semester I waited for others to participate before jumping in on the discussion, this morning I answered the very first question and thank the universe I was correct.

Let’s see how enthusiastic I am in a week when I’m swimming in polynomals.

21 May 2007 by College Kid. 1

Quick Weekends.

I decided to take a little break from blogging this weekend just for the heck of it. Earl and I have been keeping busy with picking up patio furniture, amassing everything required to build a set of stairs for the patio and going to bear night in Albany.

I guess I’ll be in a bloggy mood tomorrow after my return to college.

It’s all good.

20 May 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 1

First Step.

When I decided to return to college to pursue a completely different career (but something I am very interested in), I was hesitant. I have to admit that I felt very ‘safe’ in what I had been doing for the telephone company. I worked with a great group of people, I had a handle on what my responsibilities were and tried to do my job to the best of my ability. While my work felt safe and comfortable, I didn’t feel challenged.

It was Earl’s prompting that convinced me that I should take that leap and go back to school for a degree in Civil Engineering. He has more confidence in me than I have in myself. I was convinced that I would be a lousy student, since I was a lousy college student the first time around 20 years ago. I was all worried that I would be this old guy sitting in a room of young folks that were avoiding me like the plague.

I quickly learned that there are a lot of adults heading back to school and that I easily connected with my fellow students. I was a little rusty when it came to studying and quite frankly I don’t know how the young folks do it these days; there’s so many distractions with instant messenger, iPods, cell phones and whatnot, during my first run at college I had a hard enough time dealing with Rock 102 on the radio and Bewitched reruns blaring on the television set.

Nevertheless, I tried my hardest at my five courses this first semester. I participated in class discussions and took the initiative in my drafting classes when I felt I had a handle on the drawing but others around me were struggling.

Today I got my first “report card”. I don’t like to brag, but…

Grades.

I start my one summer class on Monday. It’s a math class I must take to catch up with the rest of my peers, since I hadn’t done advanced algebra in 20+ years and I needed to take a refresher course this past semester.

In January I was very nervous about starting school. Today I’m actually excited to be starting classes again.

18 May 2007 by College Kid. 10

Fun Music.

Remember when you could turn on a Top 40 radio station and hear fun music made with real instruments? Here’s a very rare fun song from 1987.

Presenting “Holiday”, by The Other Ones. I used to spin this record a lot when I was a baby DJ.

17 May 2007 by DJ 0

Last Minute.

I am on public wi-fi once again, tonight I am sitting in the terminal at Syracuse Airport. I’m waiting for Earl’s plane to land as his flight is expected in the next half hour or so.

I really don’t know how people fly regularly as part of their business responsibilities. Earl flew with a colleague to Tennessee. They were booked on the same flights and were to sit side by side on all four legs of the journey. For some reason Earl got bumped to standby while his colleague didn’t. Since they had driven to the airport together yesterday morning, the logistics didn’t work out when Earl ended up sitting in D.C. for five hours waiting for a new flight while his colleague flew home as scheduled.

This is where I come in.

I don’t mind picking Earl up at the airport at all, in fact I enjoy it a lot. I think it’s important to have your loved one waiting for you when you step off a flight, especially after a long day of waiting in airports.

17 May 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 1

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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