The birthday boy is enjoying his birthday present. I’m teaching him how to be a geek in style.
February 2012
Celebrate.
So today is my husband’s birthday. This is the first time that I have been able to say this. I usually say “today is my husbear’s birthday” or “today is my partner’s birthday” but I get to say that it’s my husband’s birthday today because we are legally married and all that. That’s a really good feeling.
As we grow old together I find it amazing that I find him as breathtakingly handsome as he was when I met him back in the mid 1990s. Maybe even more so. His charisma is ageless.
We took Jamie and Scott to Syracuse for an overnight birthday celebration this past weekend. I was going to take us all to Turning Stone, but the place was booked, so we went to an Italian restaurant in Little Italy in Syracuse called Asti Caffé. It’s highly recommended by a couple of my cousins and now I join the ranks of those making recommendations. Excellent food and atmosphere. We spent the night on University Hill near the Carrier Dome. We didn’t go out or anything, just spent time together laughing and exploring Earl’s new iPad2. I never thought I’d see the day that he’d love an iPad but now he can’t put it down. He said it’ll be much easier to travel with an iPad versus hauling his MacBook Pro around. Now he knows why I carry my iPad everywhere.
There’s nothing special planned for this evening other than relaxing. It’s always good to be able to relax. Even on your birthday.
Happy birthday, sweetheart!
Tech.
I often mingle my tech blog posts with my other blog posts here on “Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.” In an effort be more focused in 2012 (even though we are 49 days into the year), I have created a tech blog (again!) with the hopes of remembering that I have it and maintaining it regularly.
If you want to take a look, it can be found at thetechbear.net. It’s a little rough around the edges at the moment but I’m looking forward to it growing into something credible as we merrily roll along.
Proud.
I’m sitting at a Dunkin’ Donuts not too far from the house, though it’s not the closest one to the house. Sometimes life is a little more enjoyable when you venture out a little bit.
There is a Lexus in the parking lot with a license plate frame that indicates they are from Larchmont, N.Y. I know that’s down near the Big Apple but I don’t know that I have ever been there. As they made their way into the store, their loud voices indicated a definite downstate accent. They are all bundled up like they’re ready to mount an Eskimo sled. None of them look husky enough to pull the sled though. They’re making the noises that people make when they brush snow off their bodies and try to stave off the cold. I find this amusing, but I’m not being judgmental. It’s not easy for me sometimes. It’s one of my weaknesses.
The weather today is actually quite nice for February, it’s just above freezing and right now we are enjoying a light snow flurry. The snow is not sticking to paved surfaces but it’s accumulating on the grassy areas. I am more than comfortable with my “trailer park hoodie” as I call it.
Quite a few folks from downstate make their way up to these parts, much more so than farther west to places like Syracuse or Rochester. I’ve always said that it’s because we are around a tank of gas away via the Thruway but that is just speculation.
Personally, I’d be more content farther west in the Empire State, where the attitude is even more Midwestern and the accent follows suit. I’m not a huge fan of this part of the state, but I am very proud to be from Upstate New York. Outside of living around Boston for three years, I have been an upstate New York boy all my life and I kind of boast about that. I often dream of what it would be like to live in another part of the country, or even in another country altogether, but the truth of the matter is that despite the ridiculous taxes, corrupt government and decaying economy, I like upper three quarters of the Empire State a lot.
It feels comfortable and I feel contentment.
Would I like to move again? Yes. I think I could further my career and be even more content farther west in state (especially in the Rochester or Buffalo areas) but that will come when the time is right.
For now, I’m just going to enjoy the contentment.
Big Cats.
As I awoke yesterday morning I went through my “Schedule B” morning routine (as I like to think of it). This is the routine that I follow when Earl is out of town on business. It involves a slightly modified shower time, some lunch assembly, chopping up turkey or ham for the cat’s food dish and an extra pet on Tom’s head as I utter my usual morning phrase to him, “Bon appetit, mon chat. Je t’aime. Il y a beaucoup, aujourd’hui!”
The Schedule B routine also involves laying in bed for a few moments longer and flipping through the news, blogs and the like on my iPhone, because I can never have my iPhone more than an arm’s length from me. It’s the way I’m wired and I don’t think that I’m too obnoxious because of this fact (though I blog about it more than some might like).
As I was flipping through the various apps on my iPhone, pinching and zooming and swiping and tapping, I started reading about Linux and whatever advancements were being made in the desktop computing arena with that operating system. I usually start thinking about migrating away from Apple products when I start to get bored. Having a short attention span that requires a routine that one labels “Schedule B” can lead to that sort of boredom. It’s what I do. I try not to make it as expensive for us as it used to be.
Right on cue, Apple announced yesterday, with no rumors or speculative glances from the “click on my ad” media, the dawning of their latest iteration of operating system, OS X. This guy is called “Mountain Lion”.
w00t! w00t! w00t!
My head snapped right back to my Apple senses. Somewhere, an angel named Steve smiled as he strummed his harp app on his iPad.
Mountain Lion will officially be out this summer and breathes a little more intrigue into the Macs we have in the house, as it further integrates everyday computer tasks with living in “The Cloud” via their iCloud service. This is nifty. We have already taken advantage of iCloud in our merry little household by the consolidation of our calendars that we all live by, our groceries lists and our chatting habits as we IM each other between rooms (or hotels if we’re traveling). I’m not going to go into technical details here but suffice it to say that I am very excited about Mountain Lion and how it’s going to be “more iPad like” in the way we do things on our Macs. I have already taken advantage of the IM app now dubbed “Messages”, which allows a user to send and receive IMs with folks using any iDevice. Messages is out in beta form, so there’s a few glitches here and there but I really like the direction they are going with the app.
Since I make my living as a programmer (among other things in the technical realm), new iterations of any operating system, but especially OS X, are just my cup of tea.
I’m looking forward to getting to know this big cat named Mountain Lion.
~~~
Tip o’ the hat to reader JonInAtl who pointed out to me that the WordPress app for iPad had been updated. I no longer have to suffer through the BlogPress fiascos, because this update fixed the bluetooth keyboard issue. Jon took time out of his day to send me a tweet letting me know about this. I like that sort of thing. Thanks much.
Random.
I just tweeted about this but I thought I would elaborate here a little more. Due to the hectic work schedules, there has not been time to go to the grocery store to stock up the cupboards and the fridge, so I needed to buy my lunch today. I’m on a vegetarian kick (it’s my second day, yay!) so I opted to go to the World’s Best Subway (my description of the place which is apparently becoming outdated), which is situated in the little mall near work. I say “little mall” but that’s being generous, it’s populated with eight stores, including the movie theatre and the aforementioned Subway.
As I walked in the main entrance, I noticed two men looking at me and smiling which was kind of creepy. They were sitting on the small gathering of four tables outside of the entrance to Subway. This area is otherwise known as The Food Court. For some reason, I think it would do better in this little mall if they called it Ye Food Courte but I digress.
As I made my way towards the entrance of Subway, one of the men leaped up and started screaming and dancing. I think the screaming was suppose to be singing but it was more startling than anything as he bellowed, “Welcome to the Pyramid Mall Johnstown! Wooooooo!” I smiled politely, looked around for the Candid Camera and walked into Subway, where the tune apparently changed. “Welcome to Subway! Home of the $5 sub! Wooooooooo!” This verse required a little bit of shuffling, as the disheveled looking gentleman, whom I noticed was wearing a uniform from the local grocery store, started doing a little dance a la “Hello my baby” from the WB.
“Why thank you,” I said in my gruffest voice, which sounds like the blond guy from Brokeback Mountain (the top).
I got into line at Subway and didn’t think about the dancing man much more as the woman with the mustache in front of me pulled out a list of one or two dozen subs and started barking out her order in the wrong order, asking for the veggies first. I banged my head against the closest wall a few times and that’s when the woman down the Subway assembly line looked at me, smiled and said, “I can help you over here.” She promptly put together a veggie sub on wheat that was remarkably tasty. As I was paying and accumulating points, I couldn’t help but notice that the woman with the mustache was still barking out random vegetables when asked if she wanted her tuna subs toasted or not. She’d reply “tomato.”
As I made my way to the beverage counter to get my unsweetened iced tea, the man from the hallway burst through the doors and screamed “$5 subs only at Subway of Pyramid Mall Johnstown! Wooooooo!” He then shuffled back outside of the restaurant.
I turned to the cashier and said, in my best Brokeback Mountain (the top) voice, “that was odd.”
“Yeah, he does that all the time and it scares us but we laugh.” She then gave a nervous laugh that bounced her jaw like one of the monsters from Scooby Doo.
Sounds like a hoot.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Passion.
I guess I’m a passionate person. I believe that passion is one of the primary fuels that fire up those that excel at whatever they choose to excel at. I can’t imagine going through life doing something that you’re not passionate about. How boring.
I have met and/or admired people that showed a great deal of passion in what they do for a living. They don’t just do it, they live it, and to me that’s a commendable thing. I once started a job that I was excited about but didn’t feel very passionate about. After a few weeks I knew that the job was going to work for the short term but that I could never spend the rest of my life with that company. A few years later I left the job because I didn’t believe in the product they offered to their customers. There’s no passion where you don’t believe in something.
When I interviewed with the Department of Transportation a few years ago I realized that the folks that work there had very little passion for making the roads and highways a safer place. I was more excited than a little kid when I thought of the possibility of marking roads through signs and pavement markings and lights in an effort to convey the most amount of information to a motorist in as little space and time as possible. When I discovered that I would be somewhat of a freak in the state run office (because I had a passion for what others considered just a job), I knew that I was not on the right career path. The lack of effort shows on the roads of New York today.
Aside from the obvious passion I have for my partner and our little family, I have a passion for technology. I think that’s the reason that I love Apple products so much; Apple has a passion for what they bring to the world. I feel an emotional connection to my iGadgets. I know that many would roll their eyes and say I’m nuts (I’m used to that), but I think that when the right technology is used in the right ways, one can change the world. I feel a certain (but less) amount of passion for Ubuntu Linux as well, but the rub there is that there isn’t a hardware experience that compliments the Ubuntu Linux operating system the way a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air compliments OS X Lion. “You can use any computer!” they say. I don’t want to use ‘any’ computer, I want to use ‘the’ computer. The package is not complete, and therefore, I don’t feel that emotional connection. You have to have the right combination doing the right things to make it work. You can’t force passion through marketing. Claims of “You will love this!” do little for those that have access to a passionate existence.
When I build a program or improve a process at work that simplifies what others find a chore, and their eyes light up with relief and/or gratitude, I know that my passion for what I do is not misguided. I love efficiency and I love making people more efficient. I suck at it personally, but I love what I do for others and it’s because of that passion that I occasionally rock the boat on conference calls or not worry about playing the political game and asking the obvious questions that others are afraid to mention. If you believe in something, you need to believe in it all the way and that has to be demonstrated out loud. I read about these tech companies that employ professional chefs or on-site masseurs (among many other niceties) for their employees. I think that’s awesome, because that gives employees the opportunity to embrace their passion and feel good about what they’re doing. Ultimately it’s a win-win situation. It’s like the company that puts effort into giving their employee a cubicle that feels inspiring instead of plopping them into a gray/mauve blended drab existence where there is little opportunity (due to ambient noise, outdated equipment, etc) to focus on one’s passion. It’s about the whole package. Build an environment where the truly passionate can flourish.
I feel lucky that I have been able to find things in my life that evoke an emotional response, and I feel even more lucky that I have found that passionate, emotional response in the first place. I know so many people that don’t find what truly makes them tick or even how to access those types of feelings and I wonder what that’s like.
Because feeling passionate is an awesome experience.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
