August 2007

Buzz.

The energy of downtown seems to be missing today. Not that there’s a lot of energy to begin with but there just seems to be a stillness in the air. I don’t know if it’s the cooler temperatures or if people have gone on vacation or what, but the streets seem rather barren.

I told Earl last night that I am really looking forward to going back to college next Monday. Armed with my new school clothes (the aforementioned new t-shirt from Boscov’s), I feel like one of the cool kids now. I think I’m going to be able to maintain some part-time hours with the phone company while I’m at school this semester so I’ll have some mad money to play with, er, rather, _we’ll_ have some mad money to play with. I’ve already picked out Earl’s Christmas present (usually I wait until December 15th or so) and now it’s just a matter of securing the funds. Maybe I’ll make like Lucy and squirrel some money away from the grocery budget in the cookie jar.

While I’m having a good, albeit quiet day today, I have to admit that I’m really looking forward to this coming weekend. Earl and I are going camping at Hillside Campgrounds. It’s Bears In The Woods III (we missed the “II”). Bears In The Woods are always a good thing.

20 August 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 2

Neshaminy Mall.

While traveling I always find visiting a mall in any given city to be an interesting experience. This morning we stopped at Neshaminy Mall outside of Philadelphia. Earl was kind enough to help me pick out school clothes for my upcoming run with college. We bought a t-shirt that cost $3.39.

While at Neshaminy Mall we stopped at the food court for a bite to eat from Saladworks. I say when you’re going to pig out at a picnic in the afternoon it’s good to have a healthy salad in your stomach to soak up an alcohol you might consume later on. While dining in the food court I enjoyed my sport of people watching.

To our left were a group of five elderly women. The youngest had to be 75 if she was a day, and Earl and I suspect that she was the designated driver, as she was the only one without a walker or a cane. Her four partners in crime had their walking accessories scattered about in disarray. The oldest looking of these women was busying herself freshening her lipstick and makeup. Her friend was wondering aloud why there were so many numbers on the lottery ticket she was feverishly scratching at. The others in the group were just chattering and having a grand old time. It did my heart good to see these women, who have probably seen and experienced a big chunk of this life experience, out and about enjoying their Saturday afternoon together. I respect that and wish them further years of these experiences.

Behind them was a thug type looking kid. He was blinged to the hilt and had this “don’t fsck with me” attitude going on. I was a little startled when he sat down, took off his hat and prayed before eating his meal. I may not believe as he does but I respected that he took the time to acknowledge his beliefs.

Now we’re getting ready to head to the family picnic. The weather is absolutely gorgeous and the vibe is good. I love Philadelphia and it’s people, with their tough sounding accent and their overwhelming Eagles pride. There’s good people here.

###

Here’s a little video from last night:

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18 August 2007 by Fun and Games Dept 2

Responsibility.

It was over three years ago when I started my job at the local telephone company. Having never worked at a telephone company before, despite a strong interest in the field and a near obsession with “all things connected”, I was rather nervous about the new adventure I was about to embark on. I can still remember my first day with crystal clear accuracy. I had arrived early and subsequently couldn’t get into the guts of the building as I wasn’t really sure where I was suppose to go, plus the front desk attendant had not arrived yet. So I was standing out in the front lobby when someone came off the elevator and asked, “Can I help you?” I announced that my name was J.P. and that I was the new guy. The person helping me out asked me to wait where I was and went into the network operations center, where my arrival was announced with a hearty “New guy alert! The new guy is here!” Everyone greeted me warmly and welcomed me to the group. Though I left the position at the end of last year and have just recently returned on a part-time basis while I continue my education, I still really enjoy the people in that group and consider them my friends. We’re a team that works well together.

When I arrived at my desk that first day, aside from the unpopped bags of microwave popcorn at my station (as a gift from my co-workers that had obviously googled me a little bit), I noticed there was a large goose statue on top of the one of the filing cabinets. She was decked out in a two piece bikini because as I later learned, it was August and in August we swim. For the next couple of years, I learned that Goose had a full wardrobe to choose from and would be dressed appropriately for any occasion. She had a Santa outfit for the holidays, rabbit ears for Easter and a cap and gown for graduation time. Heck, she attended the wedding and reception of the team leader, complete with wedding gown and even had a black shawl that she draped over her face when folks were laid off (much to the chagrin of management). Goose was accompanied by several friends, including Duck, Egg, Chick and Cow. When I gave out cubicle name plates for Christmas one year, Goose received her own, denoting “Goose and Family”. I thought she deserved that special touch.

This week the company is moving it’s headquarters to a new building, so we have been packing up the Network Operations Center, throwing out tons of paperwork from back when Verizon was kind and called “New York Telephone” or “NYNEX”. I think I even threw out a manual on how to dial your own call without operator assistance (these people keep EVERYTHING). While Goose and Egg are moving with us, it was decided that the little ones, Duck, Chick and Cow (who also have a selection of cotture) should leave the nest and strike out on their own.

Earl and I are now the proud parents of Chick and Cow. While Earl finds the whole thing to be nuts, I look forward to carrying on the tradition of making sure they’re decked out properly for the season. Chick is in her gardening hat, Cow is doing her thing. I may buy her a mini-pasture with some grass to make her more comfortable.

Chick and Cow.

17 August 2007 by Quirky. 1

Old Habits.

It’s been said that in her later years, Erma Bombeck obtained a state of the art word processor to write her newspaper column, “At Wit’s End” and her last few books. After several attempts at being witty while following the cursor on the screen, she subsequently ignored said electronic wizardry and opted to use her trusty typewriter instead.

I totally understand where she’s coming from.

I have a Mac PowerBook G4 that’s approaching three years old. It’s still quite functional, it’s beautiful to look at and it purrs along like a content kitten. However, during our time together updates from Apple and the more and more software I’ve added have taken it’s toll on it a little bit and have subsequently slowed it down. It still trudges along doing it’s thing but it doesn’t have the zip or pizazz it had when it was a young chip.

When I started school last year we bought an HP laptop that had Windows on it but was converted to Linux (after a number of false starts) a couple of months ago. The computer is a delight to use and I’ve tried on numerous occasions to make it my main computer but I just can’t into it. Like a favorite pair of underwear or the t-shirt that makes me feel sexiest, I just like the feeling of using my PowerBook. So it takes a little longer to download porn or watch the BearForce1 video on everyone’s blog. While the cool kids at the internet café are doing their thing on their zippy MacBook Pros, there I am sitting in the corner with the MacBook’s big brother.

I guess as I get older I’m less concerned with keeping up with the Joneses and have ended up set in my ways.

16 August 2007 by Geek 4

Friendship.

My friend Eric and I got together for supper and just to hang out this evening. We’ve known each other for several years, and though we get together rather infrequently, we always have a good time when we finally get around to seeing each other. Tonight was no exception to the trend.

During supper we got talking about classic television shows, reminiscing about the oldies such as “One Day At A Time”, “The Electric Company” and “Benson”. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the alarm clock on his cell phone plays this tune:

I don’t know what was more frightening, the fact that he has this theme song on his cell phone or the fact that I was able to tell which season the track was from.

15 August 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Mouthy.

I took a moment today to write a letter to the mayor. The city has spent $40,000 to put up 52 new “wayfinding” signs for tourists. The signs guide visitors to attractions such as the zoo, the train station and the local brewery. While I find these signs to be a good thing for the area, I’m rather dismayed at how they’re being installed. I don’t like the fact that in some spots they’re installing them in the middle of the sidewalk. Not only does this create a hazard for pedestrians, but it also makes it so wheelchairs can’t pass the sign without dropping off the curb, wheeling down the street (and risk getting hit) and then struggling to get back up on the curb again. To make matters worse, the breakaway mounts on the sign posts are installed too high, which could be an increased hazard to any vehicle that happens to run into them.

Now I didn’t bring up the fact that the signs come nowhere near the national established standards that are enforced by the state, nor did I mention the fact that 52 signs for $40,000 seems a bit steep. As a student of civil engineering I chalk that up to a learning experience and I figure I’ll deal with similar scenarios once I’m working for a highway department, but to me it just doesn’t make sense to block a sidewalk for these signs. They should have been installed on a light post.

If that’s not enough to complain about, I’ve also written on the local paper message board my dismay that the county has spent $5.4 million dollars since 2004 renovating ONE court room at the local courthouse. That’s right, $5.4 million dollars on renovating one room, including the custom carpets handpicked by the judge.

And we wonder why at 9.25% we have the highest sales tax rate in the state. They say it’s to pay for welfare (don’t get me started) but we now know it’s just for pretty rugs.

And last, but not least, I’ve had it up to here (imagine waving hand) with the Bible beaters and their obsession with homosexuality. Why are they so obsessed with gay men and lesbians? Trust me, we are not going to move in on some place like Big Oak, Arkansas and take over the town. We don’t know where you are, we don’t care who you are and we quite honestly we don’t mind if you get off on sleeping with your cousin/brother/sister/mother/father. Frankly, it’s none of our business and we wish that you bid us the same honor.

I’m just saying.

14 August 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Round Random Ramblings.

The highlight of the week for many suburban based men is when the lawn is over 1/8 of an inch too long so that they get to ride their lawn mower. I am not to be counted among these men, for I mow the lawn on two conditions: 1. Someone is coming over for a party or 2. we can make a mint baling it and selling it to a local farm.

I’m not a big fan of mowing the lawn. Back at the old house it took three to four hours of riding the lawn mower, pushing the push mower and whacking weeds to get the lawn in decent shape. At this house I have it easy, I can get it all done is just over an hour if I keep the lawn mower set to “burn rubber” and “burn the lawn”.

As I’m riding the lawn mower round and round and round in circles, several random thoughts cross my mind. Since I had the joyous task of greenery grooming this evening, I thought I’d make a little laundry list of what I was thinking and share it on the blog. This might give the reader an insight to the chaotic thoughts that zing back and forth in my head.

1. Whatever happened to Jayne Kennedy? Last I knew she played a bad guy on an episode of Wonder Woman back in 1977. Didn’t she used to be a sports broadcaster? Did she fall overboard when she was on The Love Boat? Where is she?

2. Is it wrong of me to think that Lauren Tewes was cute? Is she still cute?

3. (hum along) “We did the bump bump bump, yes we did, yes we did, yes we diiiiiiiiid, yeah, everybody’s got the boogie fever.”

4. Why does Jimbo shave off his fierce beard from time to time? Why did I screw up my mustache? Will it grow back? Why do obsess about this?

5. Where is it written that I have people have to mow their lawn? Wouldn’t it be more economically friendly to get a goat?

6. Have any of these people that drive Hummers ever chased a bull that’s broken loose at 11:00 p.m. at night? Can they tell the difference between a bull and a cow?

7. Is it unusual that I grew up playing in a lawn that was surrounded on three sides by an electric fence?

8. What does Tom think when he’s looking out the patio door and his tail twitches?

9. Do I reveal too much in the blog? Too little?

10. Why wasn’t Mary Wickes ever invited to be on Bewitched? She would have been fabulous.

11. (hum along) “Let the time flow, let the love grow, let the rain shower, let the rose flower, love it seeks, love it finds, love it conquers, love it binds…”. Robert Hays was friggin’ hot back in his day.

12. Was I just singing out loud? Can the neighbors hear me? Did I just run over a rock?

Such fun times on the lawn mower. After all these thoughts flew around a bit I decided to just yell “giddy-up” and enjoy the ride.

13 August 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 0

No Salt Please.

Still smiling.
(more pictures)

Mother Nature brought us perfect beach weather today, so Earl and I headed to our favorite park in the New York State park system, and that’s Southwick Beach State Park. Relatively close to my hometown, we locals tend to just call it “Southwicks”. Here’s a brief history of the park courtesy of Wikipedia:

Southwick Beach State Park was named after the Southwick family, who owned the property from 1870 to 1960; the park is referred to as “Southwick’s Beach State Park” on some maps. Starting in the 1920s, several promoters built entertainment facilities on the property. The most notable was Albert Ellis, who developed it as the “Coney Island” of Northern New York. In time, the beach boasted a roller coaster, bathhouses, a dance pavilion, merry go-round, and midway. Ellis also built a baseball field and organized the Jefferson County Amateur Baseball League, attracting large crowds. These businesses failed during the Great Depression. In 1960, the Leesi Management Corporation of Syracuse purchased the land from the Southwick family and operated the beach for five years. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation purchased the 500 acre property (with a 3,500 foot lakefront) in 1965 for $150,000; Southwick Beach State Park opened in May, 1966.

One of the beautiful things about Southwick’s is that it’s situated on a 17-mile stretch of white sand beaches along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. This is the only stretch of beach complete with sand dunes that is not along an ocean in the entire northeastern United States. Nowhere else along Lake Ontario will you find a spot so ocean-like, the only thing missing is the salt in the water.

There are a number of reasons that I love this park. First of all, the sunsets are breathtaking. Secondly, I have many happy memories from my childhood at this park including swimming until I was completely waterlogged and listening to “Boogie Fever” on the jukebox at the beach pavilion with my cousins. When I first introduced Earl to my parents, it was at a picnic of just the four of us at Southwick’s. Thirdly, even though I grew up closer to the neighboring Selkirk Shores State Park (which is not part of the stretch of sand dunes), Southwick’s is much more swim-friendly in that there’s no rocks along the lake bed, the seaweed is practically non-existent, there’s lots of sand and it really does feel like you’re at the ocean.

After spending some time at the main picnic area and beach, Earl and I decided to hike along the adjacent Lakeview Wildlife Management Area to the south of the park. The NYS DEC is doing their best to keep this beach as natural as possible by trying to keep people off the sand dunes by providing a couple of walkways to the adjoining marsh area. In addition, it’s in this part of the park that you’re away from the relatively crowded beach and into a more “broad-minded” area. Area boaters often shore up along here for their private picnics, same sex couples can occasionally be seen holding hands and just being themselves and there are often several nudists sunning themselves and swimming in the lake in a carefree manner.

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Earl and I took the 1 1/2 or so mile hike and situated ourselves under some trees to just spend some quality time relaxing, enjoying the sun, swimming and playing some grab ass in the lake. It’s a good way to escape for the day. We both highly recommend it.

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12 August 2007 by Fun and Games Dept 3

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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