Yesterday when I was busy getting the cold that I now seem to be over, I put together my new desk. Earl and I have been arranging the furniture in the offices a little bit. This is the newest addition and it resides in my studio. I have plenty of room to be a geek now.
September 2009
Recuperating.
So I have spent the day home from work recuperating from a bout with an apparent 24-hour bug. Yesterday afternoon I was hit hard by something that got me all stopped up. It was a struggle for me to breathe, I was sweating like a pig and I just felt like crap. I doubled up on the Vitamin C intake and hoped for the best but the bug ultimately won and I called off sick from work today. That’s very rare for me.
I ended up going to bed fairly early and didn’t wake up until between 11 and 12 this morning. When I awoke I had a nurse watching over me. I believe he said “no pictures” and told the camera to get out of there. I guess it was his Sean Penn imitation.
After spending until 1 p.m. in bed relaxing, fading in and out of consciousness and playing on the computer a little bit, I finally jumped into the shower and threw on my best clothes from 2003 (jeans shorts and a t-shirt) as I wanted to just feel comfortable. I had some lunch, drank more juice and by 2:30 or so I was feeling better. I’m not 100% by any stretch of the imagination but I’m getting there and feel like I’m making progress.
I think the boatload of sleep is what helped the situation. I’m going to take it easy this evening to make sure all is well before heading back to work in the morning.
Pandora.
I have recently discovered Pandora Internet Radio on my iPhone and have fallen in love with the service. It works flawlessly on my iPhone, even on the non-3G connections. The only problem with it is that I can’t listen in Canada without building up a HUGE international data charge.
Here’s the link to Pandora if you’re not familiar with the service.
Here’s the stats on my profile just in case you’re interested in what I’m doing on there. I have also added it to the “DJ SuperCub” tab at the top of the blog.
Lights.
I was out for a long drive (okay, a really long drive) when I tweeted the following1:
Yes, I saw a UFO tonight. It was a cone shape light, almost like someone was shining a flashlight in the air with a beam that appeared the come down a long way. The beam slowly split into two and then extinguished, leaving a luminous cloud behind. The cloud lingered around for about four minutes before dissipating.
There were hundreds of tweets appearing on Twitter around the same time I tweeted my sighting; folks from Maryland to Buffalo to New York to north of Boston had seen this thing. Folks had pulled over to the side of the road where I was driving and looking out the window.
NASA reports that they launched a rocket tonight: Night Time Artificial Cloud Study Using NASA Sounding Rocket. The launch was from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
I’m guessing that’s what I saw.
1 Yes, I pulled over to Tweet.
Heritage.
Today is my mandatory day off from work so I made a trip up to where I grew up and surprised my dad by joining him for lunch. He was busy at work at the family business; when I arrived my dad was eating lunch in the office with my uncle and my aunt. I grabbed a lunch special from the Chinese restaurant across the street and joined them. We talked about the usual stuff; what was going on with the family, the town gossip and the general state of affairs in the world.
Afterward Dad asked me to join him as he went up to the local tractor dealer. We checked out new lawn tractors that will probably double as a snow-blower for him. It was a good visit and I felt very grounded.
I took a picture with Dutchess, who lives with my aunt. She is eight years old and prior to living with my aunt she lived with my grandfather (until ’05). Dutchess spends her days at the lumber yard/hardware store. She is camera shy.
Censorship.
One of the enjoyable things about having a forced day off from work is that you can sleep a little later than usual and then wake yourself up at your own pace. I choose to do this by spinning around the television dial to see what shows are on. I don’t plant myself in front of the television all day watching game shows such as “Sale of the Century” or “Wheel of Fortune” but I do catch a sitcom or two as I do a few of the mundane chores.
This morning I clicked the remote and ended up on “Golden Girls” on Hallmark Channel. Hallmark Channel bought the syndication rights last year sometime when Lifetime dropped (or forgot to renew) their rights to broadcast the show and in the process the made a really big deal about it. Hallmark Channel tends to broadcast very safe, family friendly programming, so I was a little surprised when they decided to show “Golden Girls” because back in it’s day the show was a little edgy.
I wouldn’t be a gay man of the 80s and 90s if I didn’t know my “Golden Girls” episodes so I know that Hallmark has done a lot of slicing and dicing of the episodes to make room for more ad revenue. Lifetime did the same thing during their run, but Hallmark is showing completely re-edited shows. The only good thing about this run is that they are showing the proper credits for the season the particular episode is from.
Now I have mentioned before that I have spotted some dialogue editing in some episodes. The editing mentioned in the linked blog entry irritated me but I let it slide. Well today I spotted another one that pissed me off to the point that I have decreed that Hallmark Channel will not be watched in this house again.
The episode in question is #52, “Old Friends”. Originally broadcast on September 19, 1987, the story features a young girl named Daisy. In trying to make friends with the young girl, Blanche mistakenly gives her Rose’s treasured teddy bear to her. This crushes innocent Rose and realising a gold mine, Daisy holds the bear for ransom. As Blanche tries to explain the problem, the normally always pleasant Rose becomes irritated and tells Blanche, “cut the crap and get back my friggin’ bear.”
Hallmark silenced out ‘crap’ and ‘friggin’’. The covered the whole line with a very out of place and very loud laugh track. The line is funny but it’s not roll-down-the-studio-aisle funny by any stretch of the imagination.
What irritates me is that the line made it past NBC network censors in 1987. It’s not like Rose exploded with a “what the fuck? Cut the shit and get my bear back, bitch!!”
Here’s the thing. I understand that Hallmark Channel owns the rebroadcasting rights to “Golden Girls” and I guess can do whatever they want with it. I have no issue with that. That’s how the U.S. works. However, I do NOT believe that the artistic integrity of a program that has already been broadcasted continuously for the past 20+ years should be edited to make the show conform to the moral standards of the channel. If you don’t like the content of the show, then don’t purchase the rights, don’t broadcast it. If I were to put out a record with some questionable lyrics and expected airplay, I wouldn’t want some radio station changing my lyrics just to suit their needs if the song had already been deemed broadcast safe.
I understand Hallmark Channel is trying to broadcast programming they consider “family safe”. I get that. If they were true to their word and beliefs, then they shouldn’t broadcast “Golden Girls” at all if they find some of the content to be objectionable. But apparently, based on the frequency in which they broadcast the program, they are making a LOT of money on the show.
I guess they’re money whores.
Local Commentary.
Everyone is going on and on and on about health care in the U.S. these days and this guest column in the local newspaper caught my eye this morning.
There is a LOT of misinformation out there about how the Canadian health care system works. This guest commentary explains it well based on the experience of the writer. I know my sister and I talked briefly about her experiences with the Canadian health care system when I visited her last week and she mentioned a 2 1/2 hour wait at a clinic. I didn’t mention it then, but I got to thinking about it and that’s not really any different than Earl sitting in an emergency room for three hours waiting for his opportunity to see a doctor.
Personally I think many in the U.S. have lost their minds since President Obama took office and much of the controversy has revolved around health care. I believe there is a lot of misinformation out there that is being perpetuated by those opposed to any change suggested for the U.S. health care system. I don’t know if it’s ignorance, a fear of change or just plain ol’ stupidity, but I have found watching or reading the news to be so irritating lately that I have resorted to reading a handful of news outlets (of varying views and locations) to find out what’s going on with this mess.
1 Even though I find the local newspaper to be uneven at best with it’s journalism skills, I still read it on a daily basis because I believe that we have a responsibility to know what’s going on in our community.
Airborne.
As I left the office for lunch today, I noticed a very large plane in the sky headed toward the old local Air Force Base. This is a rather routine thing in these parts, as there are always large jets flying in and out of the maintenance facility and training operations at the base. It was five minutes later when it appeared to be flying over the house as I pulled in the driveway; it was banking right over the driveway, low enough to be quite impressive. This struck me as rather odd as the turnaround time from the base and back should have taken a little longer than that.
I made my way into the house and readied my lunch, hearing the jet pass over again. I dashed out to grab a photo.
It was then that I realised that there were two planes doing maneuvers so I decided to sit on the back patio and watch them do their thing while I ate my lunch. The planes were low enough that they made quite a rumble. I waved to the pilots as they flew over but they probably didn’t see me.
With the planes overhead during my lunch hour my mind got to wandering to the days of my childhood where many Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons were spent at the local airfield. I think I was around 7 or 8 when my Dad first soloed in his training for his private pilot’s license. Both Mom and Dad belonged to the Pilots Association at the small airfield and there were quite a few guys (and a few women) that were taking flying lessons. Each week an instructor flew up from this area (ironically) to where I grew up to give all the weekly lessons back to back. Even after Dad soloed and progressed his way to his private pilot’s certificate, we still went to the airport on many summer nights to join others from the club and have a barbecue, play games in the picnic area and go for airplane rides. Usually after the lessons, the instructor would take each of us kids up with him. We’d sit in the pilot’s seat of the Cessna 150 at the controls and he’d sit in the co-pilot’s seat. He’d keep his hand off the stick as we took off, controlling only the throttle with his hand and the rudders with his feet; we were pulling back and easing the Cessna into the air. I remember one occasion where I pulled back a little hard and the stall warning went off. The next week I tried again and nearly took the tops off the cornfield at the end of the runway, but Bob (the instructor) never got worked up and we didn’t crash. I loved the feeling of being in the pilot’s seat of N7177F.
One of my favourite moments at the airport was captured in this photo. Here I am standing with all the guys after their flight lessons. It was one of the first times that I felt like one of the guys because not only was I standing with the group, but I had flown in the pilot’s seat, just like they had.
I’m the shortest one in the bunch.
I think I was in grade 8 when Dad and Grandpa bought a Piper J-5A and rebuilt it. I remember that plane sitting in the garage, being taken down to the bare metal before being rebuilt from the ground up. I remember the excitement I felt after it was deemed airworthy again and was able to go for a flight with Dad. Dad and I would fly to other airports in the relative area for a Sunday pancake breakfast (when the weather cooperated); there were many of these around as they were often used for fundraisers for their local community or the airport’s flying club. Grandpa would fly ahead of us in his homebuilt and because my grandfather always did his own thing, he’d usually find himself on the ground before us and anyone else that might have been in the pattern on approach to the airport.
As I sat watching the two Galaxy C-17As fly over the house today at lunch it was then that I realised that one of my favourite vacations was when I joined my Dad and Grandpa on a trek to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for what is now called the EAA AirVenture. Ironically we drove out there but there were a lot of planes and a lot of people interested in flying and some amazing aerobatics. I think it was probably the first time that I felt any sort of closeness to my usually distant grandfather and I really enjoyed that time with my Dad. It was probably one of the first times that Dad and I talked about guy stuff. I could tell that both he and Gramps were squarely in their elements amongst the planes and other pilots. They took me to a bar for dinner and drinks and introduced me to other pilots and their sons. I really liked that trip.
I love to fly. I admire those that do it for a living in any capacity and I admire even more those that do it for fun (and usually there is a combination of the two going on.) Commercials flights are great (aside from the tourists) but flying in a two- or four-seater is where I really want to be. Airport hopping in a Cessna or a Piper on a Sunday afternoon is my idea of a good time. Earl has never flown in a small plane before and I want to give him that experience at least once in my life.
Flying season has not yet come to a close in these parts and I think I’m going to have to see if Dad wants to go for a ride before he puts the plane, a two-seat Acrosport, away for the winter.
Flying with Dad in 2005.
Lake Ontario from the Acrosport, courtesy of my cell phone camera, in 2005.
Toronto, Ontario.
Favourite., originally uploaded by iMachias.
The view of Downtown Toronto from the Gardiner Expressway, as seen through a dirty windshield with an iPhone.
So I spent the weekend in the beautiful city of Toronto, Ontario. I always fully appreciate how close we are to this fine city and that there are multiple ways of getting there, so the drive is rarely boring.
I made the trek to help dave get settled into his new home and to touch base with some friends up there. On the way home I stopped in to see my sister, her husband and my nephew. I didn’t get the chance to spend as much time there as I would have enjoyed but it was good to see them. I’m determined not to let the snow slow us down this winter when it comes to future visits. Canada is properly enjoyed in both the summer and the winter.
Try as I might to the contrary, I can’t help but declare that Toronto is my favourite North American city. There is such an openness there that you rarely find in the states and the folks that I have run across are not crabby or cranky. I feel very, very comfortable in Toronto; much like I felt when we spent time in Dublin. My love for the city shouldn’t be perceived as an anti-U.S. sentiment, because it truly isn’t, I just like Toronto better. I tell my sister that she is quite fortunate to live in the area; I understand why folks bend over backwards and invest thousands of dollars into immigration proceedings for the opportunity to live there.
It’s all a matter of taste, I suppose.
The weekend started off as a long one; Earl was helping Jamie finish the move from Buffalo to the Manor, so I was going to spend the night with them in Buffalo Friday night and continue the short trek to Toronto Saturday morning. dave was flying into Toronto from New York Friday night but all his flights were canceled due to weather, so we went with Plan B where he flew into Buffalo and then I drove him across the border to Toronto. We ended up getting into Toronto Saturday around 0300 so we slept in a bit Saturday morning. The change in plans and sleep schedule made the weekend feel extra long and I feel surprisingly good today.
