August 2009

Off The Grid.



189a.365, originally uploaded by iMachias.

Earl and I are playing relatively close to home this weekend and I’m playing off the grid by not using my iPhone; no updates to Facebook or Twitter, no checking my e-mail on the road, no text messages to friends in far away places.

I have taken quite a few photos today. I started by exploring the land behind our house for the first time since moving in nearly six years ago. The few shots I was pleased with are available here, in addition to my “365 days” photo for today, photo #189.

This afternoon Earl and I went exploring around the Utica Marsh. I usually ride my bike through this area and I don’t really pay attention to what’s in the woods around me; today we walked the area and I snapped quite a few photos. They are available here.

Afterwards we scoped out a new section of the Erie Canalway trail; I plan on using my forced day off on Monday to ride this new portion and I wanted to make sure it was paved before I took my road bike down there for the ride. I’m really looking forward to riding it on Monday.

Being disconnected from Facebook and Twitter (and constantly checking various messaging services) is very relaxing. Earl and I have both commented on how wonderful we feel today.

8 August 2009 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Longevity.

To celebrate the weekend, another Human League track. Before we get on to the video though, I’d like to share a reminder of the longevity of the internet. Here is a message I wrote on usenet back in 1990:


Clickable to make it bigger.

A simple Google search brought up my message today, almost 19 years later. Just for kicks here is what I looked like back then.

jp1990.jpg

Now, the first single from the 1990 “Romantic?” album, here is The Human League with “Heart Like A Wheel”. (Personally I like the 12-inch single version better).

7 August 2009 by DJ Geek 3

Enough.

I have been pruning my Facebook and Twitter friends lists and my blogroll lately. The reason for this is simple: I can’t take the friggin’ negativity any more. My god there seems to be a lot of down people on these interweb tubes. Is this limited to the social circles in which I travel or is there a prevailing wave of depression making it’s way through the U.S. these days?

“I need the purple pill (the one that makes you happy)” Just get the hell out of bed.
“I’m fat.” (Yeah? So am I. Stop eating.)
“No one looks at me.” (Stop being ugly on the inside!)

Listen, I know that a lot of people in this world have a lot of problems. And the gods know that I have bitched and bitched and bitched (like right now!) on this blog on more than a few thousand occasions but when Every. Single. Blog. Entry. or every twit, tweet or twat is about how horrible the world is because your clothes are too tight or the oil ran out of your car or your hairdresser bleached your hair too blond or you’re shocked I tell you, shocked because you just found out that a hamburger with cheese and bacon wrapped in roast beef is bad for you and you’re blue flunking it all becomes very, very tedious.

It’s dragging me down, baby.

You want something to bitch about? How about the fact that there is no cure for AIDS yet or that our government is spending money like a sailor in a whore house by throwing money in every direction hoping that something somewhere gets fixed or we are eating food that is undoubtedly going to fill us with cancer 30 years from now or that today’s kids will have no imagination because everything is being electronically fed to them. You want to complain? How about the dead Americans and Iraqis in a war that doesn’t seem to have an ending or what about all the men and women still sitting in their living room full of despair everyday because they lost a loved one. What about the way we shove our elderly into nursing homes or burn oil in these outrageous behemoths in the interest of having the biggest car (and smallest dick, apparently) on the block? I could go on and on and on about issues that have a national or even global effect.

I like writing fluff pieces here in this blog. (Hey Paula!) I also like writing the heavy stuff once in a while. And yes I do complain a lot. But goddamn it, life is not that bad and when it is, it’s probably going to be something that you’ll laugh and/or be embarrassed about 10 minutes from now anyways so for the love all that’s holy mix it up a little bit!

I am going to try to do something this weekend that I’m not sure I’m capable of doing. I am going to power down the iPhone and leave it in the drawer of my nightstand both Saturday and Sunday. My contact with the outside world will be with real human interaction. I’m not going to twit, tweet, FB or interact with anyone that isn’t either talking to me on the landline at the house or better yet engaging in a conversation face to face. I’m going to hike or go to the beach, chase storms, take pictures and spend time with my family and recall what life was about before I became so embroiled in this digital revolution that I forgot what the sun looked like and what a sunny disposition felt like. You want to talk, call me on the home phone and c’mon get happy about it. Better yet? Visit me!

Enough is enough. I’d break into song here but I can’t remember if I prefer the Barbra or Donna part.

6 August 2009 by Why. 3

Fail.

This is a tech-related post but I have to vent about something so I’m putting it on my regular blog instead of posting it on one of my tech blogs.

The other day I posted that I started using an iPhone app called “TrailGuru” in tandem with my cycling. The app promises all sorts of geeky wizardry to accompany my cycling regimen by allowing me to track how many feet I climbed, how fast I went, how many calories I burned and the like. It even allows me to map my route to share with the world. The screen looks something like this.

trailguru.jpg

You will notice that in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 51 seconds I averaged 2.0 mph and traveled 2.38 mi. That’s riding _really_ slow.

Here’s the thing. Apple says that they give the premium computing experience to their users. They are the chicest of the chic, the finest of the fine and the shiniest of the shiny. This is why they have the power of approval on their app store; they don’t want anything installed on the iPhone that is going to compromise the iPhone experience. This fact has never been so prevalent than when Apple denied the addition of a Google Voice app, saying that it duplicated too much of what was already offered on the iPhone.

I guess I can get that, though I don’t really agree with it.

While TrailGuru promises the world through it’s application, it can’t really handle the iPhone very well. For two days in a row now the program has crashed whenever a text message is sent to my phone. The little pop-up comes up saying that I have a text message and then all is lost on TrailGuru. Everything but the timer comes to a halt, the battery drains and the phone gets really hot.

It’s a good thing this app is free.

There has been a small wave of iPhone abandonment in the tech world since the denial of Google Voice being added to the app store. I haven’t jumped on that bandwagon yet; for the most part I love my iPhone 3G dearly and I often find myself marveling at what I can do on this little technological wonder. However, I find it hypocritical of Apple to allow apps such as TrailGuru in all it’s crashing glory to be added to the app store fine and dandy when it can be crashed by something so obvious as a text message when they won’t allow better apps to be added because of a purported compromising of the Apple experience. That is kind of big brotherish.

In short, do I love my iPhone? Yes. Would I buy another one? No.

5 August 2009 by Geek 1

Talent.

So there has been some really big news today. Yes, two Americans were released from North Korea and there story is quite important, yes yes yes, but the big news today is more in the history making, monumental category.

Paula Abdul twittered that she is not returning to American Idol for it’s 9th season and Fox confirmed the breakdown in contract negotiations.

Sacré bleu!

Naturally, the failed contract negotiations are all about the money, with Ryan Seacrest reportedly making $45 million over the next three years while Paula was asking for around $12 million per year. News flash for Fox: I find Paula Abdul infinitely more entertaining than Ryan Seacrest and quite frankly, I think a lot of people agree with me.

There is the misconception that American Idol is about the talent and the next big superstar. Please. For much of the show’s run the talk around the water bubbler has been about Ms. Abdul and her erratic ways. While Ryan is doing his best to look butch…

Ryan Seacrest
Please note stubble. This is always a sign of a butch man.

… Paula always beat him to the punch, by looking like a Klingon.

paula20060221

While I love me some Paula Abdul (I still play “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow” off my iPod), we have to admit that there is a sizable portion of the audience that doesn’t give two hoots about who sings the best and who is pitchy, what we want to see is some Paula meltdown with the hopes that Ryan will announce what number to dial on our AT&T phone to get some of what Paula is taking.

060124_Abdul_vmed_8p.widec

Randy “the Mad Dog Dawg Dawg baby Dawg Dawg” Jackson goes on and on and on and on and ON about how this is a talent show and how every year the talent is getting better and it’s all about the star quality yadda yadda yadda (when in fact the winner will be turned into a record company’s bitch for a year and be subjected to more auto-tune than should be legally allowed) but we know what it’s about. Yes, we agree with Simon most of the time and snicker at his staff written zingers. And we wonder where this Kara DioGuardi came from and really wish that she would take her poorly written songs home with her but in reality American Idol is the train wreck, the car accident, the scene that we can’t turn away from.

sanjaya070313

I mean the only way to distract yourself from what Ms. Abdul is up to is to play that fun game of “Remember Who They Used To Be Before They Went Plastic!”

priscilla20060509
An now-defunct blog, “Rotten Ryan”, once commented that Priscilla wouldn’t be identified as human in the middle of “It’s A Small World” at WDW. If I ever meet you Rotten Ryan, I will bow to you.

So while there will always be people that claim that American Idol is the showcase for what Old Glory has in the way of talent (hello? Carmen Rasmussen? Chicken Little Kevin Covais? Scott Savol?), many will claim that American Idol is just pure, trailer trash entertainment at it’s very best (and remember, I grew up in a trailer so I can say that), and much of that was because of Paula Abdul.

paula_abdul_drunk

Paula, we will miss you and I’m sure Fox will see a good-sized decrease in ratings. Let’s hope you continue to dance like there’s no tomorrow.

5 August 2009 by Everyone's A Critic. 3

Peace.



185.365, originally uploaded by iMachias.

I did something I have not done in 2009 to date. I rode my bike for the second day in a row. Today I clocked nearly 21 miles on the “hilly route”, which ended in a two mile stretch at about 40 MPH. Riding after work is doing wonders to get me back to center. I feel the best I have felt in a long while.

I look forward to a ride again tomorrow, and I know I can do it.

I decided to take my daily photo in the woods tonight, because it is in the woods where I feel very connected to the universe. The winds are blowing gently, the moon is full yet somewhat obscured by the summer haze and the temperature is just perfect. Barefooted, I made my way across the creek in the darkness and found a tree to sit by for a few moments, meditate, then snap a photo.

Life is good. Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise.

4 August 2009 by Fun and Games Dept 1

Energy.

I have to admit that I felt like crap most of the day today. The effects of my allergy over the weekend were lingering, I didn’t have much sleep last night as I always get worked up on Sunday nights for some reason and I am working the early shift this week.

To sum it up nicely: my ass was draggin’.

Usually if I get into this sort of state I come home from work and take a nap. This is not necessarily a good thing. When I nap so late in the day I perpetuate the vicious cycle of not being able to sleep at night and my body complains when the alarm clock rings the next morning because I haven’t fallen asleep until midnight. So instead of taking a nap after work I decided to psych my body out and go for the bike ride mentioned in the previous blog entry.

I feel wonderful.

My allergies have subsided substantially, my mood is livelier and I feel great.

I think I’m going to do the same thing tomorrow, without the lethargy at work. It might be a kick.

3 August 2009 by Ponderings and Musings 1

Back On The Saddle.

3 August 2009 by Fitness. 0

Three Guys, Three Girls and an Enchilada.

One of the most humourous things about the Universe is that you can make the best of plans for any random thing: a get together, a night out on the town, a list of errands or something as simple as making supper, but when push comes to shove, we all know who the winner is. It’s the Universe.

This weekend I got together with our friends Greg and Dave in Connecticut. Well, Dave was visiting from Toronto and it’s Greg that actually lives in Connecticut, but we decided to get together in Connecticut for a number of reasons, one of them being that our birthdays are really close together (July 13, 16 and 8, respectively) and we thought we would use this weekend to celebrate.

Getting there was the usual drill: Dave would fly in from Toronto on whatever airplane had an empty seat to wherever that plane happened to be going. He gets to fly the fun way, being a flight attendant and all. This landed him in Albany this time; simple enough, I’d pick him up at the airport. Step one done.

In the meantime, Greg was kind enough to plan out a nice dinner at his house for the three of us. Here’s where it gets a little weird. While I was picking up Dave at the airport, a storm blew through New Haven, knocking the power out. Greg couldn’t cook without power so he decided to take a nap with the flashlight until the power came back on.

Earl gave me a call to tell me that he wasn’t feeling well and thought he should go to the emergency room. After repeatedly being told “no” after telling him that I was going to turn around and come home, I continued the drive to Connecticut. It turns out that Earl was just fine aside from the fact that he just ate too much at Pizzeria Uno and his blood pressure was a little high. I kept telling him I would come home and he kept telling me there was no need as Jamie was in town finalising his college paperwork (he got lots of grants) and he would be there with him. Thank god for technology as I was getting updates whilst on the road.

We arrived in New Haven we found Greg just waking up but still in the dark. Unable to cook, we opted to go out to dinner. Since it was almost 11:00 at night the options were limited so we ended up going to a Mexican restaurant. The name of the place escapes me at the moment.

Our server was Leslie. If she squinted and I squinted she might resemble Jennifer Aniston in a way and Dave was quick to comment on this. She was flattered. Greg turned on his charm as well and then I started talking quite a bit as I’m wont to do and before you know it Leslie has a glass of wine and is joining us at the table. Shortly thereafter her friend Lisa is at the table as well, soon to be followed by the well-intended JulieAnne who has a really weird fear of thunderstorms. Since the storms had blown through that evening she seemed to be spooked still and got a little rambly.

So there we were with Leslie, Lisa and JulieAnne chatting it up when the DJ started playing some song called “Crazy Bitch”. That’s when some crazy bitch got up on the bar and started dancing in a rather nasty way, which made Leslie angry. She did look skanky (the one on the bar, not Leslie) Dave, Greg and I decided we had had enough of the place and split. When we got back to Greg’s the power was on.

I continued to check in with Earl throughout the night and into the morning. All was well and he continued to tell me not to come home. It was that night that Greg’s new cats decided to come out of hiding after two weeks of lying in the closet and began yowling like they were on fire. This added to the atmosphere.

Saturday we headed into the city. Life has been hectic for the three of us lately so we decided to relax by getting haircuts (or in my case, a head shave) and a shave (at least around my beard) at a barber, so I found the shop that Glennalicious had talked about a while back. We felt better after that experience. From there we were going to head to Bear Hill in Central Park but I can never remember where to find it and had neglected to ask Joe about it’s location when I asked if Bear Hill would be in session this weekend (it was, I just don’t know where) so we ended up going to the claustrophobically packed Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. From there we jumped on a train, found the car where we left it in the village and headed back to Connecticut.

Upon arrival to Greg’s the power was still on but my allergies decided to make their yearly appearance. Barely able to breathe and with watery eyes, I took a couple of Benadryl which mingled with the beers I had had earlier and promptly fell asleep. So much for a fun filled Saturday night on the town.

This morning we were up and to the diner that in Milford that I call “Hello Nice People” because that’s what people call it. The wait was rather long and a very large woman in 80s neon pink bulled her way ahead of us in line so she could wedge herself into a booth before we got to it, but otherwise all was well. The rest of the day was uneventful; Greg took Dave to Bradley Airport in Hartford and I headed home. Oddly enough, I remember very little of the drive. I think I was daydreaming and contemplating the entire ride. I hope I didn’t hit anyone. There are no dents in the car or anything.

Now I’m trying to keep cool (it’s rather warm in the house) and get to sleep so I can get up for the early shift tomorrow. I feel like the odd vibe of the weekend is dissipating a little bit; I think I’m ready for the what the week holds. I know I’m looking forward to another bike ride tomorrow after work.

When I got home I wrote a few phrases on my whiteboard in my studio to keep me focused. I think they are a result from my contemplation time during my drive:

Healthy Approach = Healthy Result
Clear Mind = Clear Connection
Positive Thinking Brings Positive Existence
Give Respect to Receive Respect
Blessed Be.

2 August 2009 by Fun and Games Dept Ponderings and Musings 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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