Photos taken with my iPhone4.
July 2012
Distraction.
You may find this hard to believe but there are times where I am easily distracted. Now, I don’t mean that I go running off into another room because I saw something bright and shiny in there, ok, that only happened one time and I didn’t know it was the ladies’ room, but there are times where something will catch my eye and my brain will have to process it.
Today is the first of two, six-hour days of training for work. Because it is the 21st century, I work for a company that tries to be hip, the team I belong to is scattered all over the country and most importantly, remote training sessions are much easier on the budget, I am watching this training via WebEx and listening in via conference call. Actually, it’s not WebEx, it’s GoToMeeting and the audio connection information on the GoToMeeting should be ignored so that we can dial in with a landline instead (vs using the headset attached to my Mac). I am watching the presentation on my personal Mac because the display is much bigger than the screen on my work provided MacBook Pro.
I sound like an Apple fanboy.
I am an Apple fanboy.
Where was I? Oh yes, distractions.
I noted at the beginning of the presentation that the presenter mentioned one ten-minute break each hour during the day, however, at no time did he mention a lunch break.
Sacré bleu!
Now, I don’t know about most American workers these days but I try to work balls to the wall so I can get my stuff done and get to my lunch hour. I then work balls to the wall in the afternoon so I can get my stuff done and get out of the office at a reasonable time. Now, this might sound like it’s self-serving and quite frankly, it is.
The lack of the mention of the lunch break distracted me. As I pondered over whether we would have an actual lunch break or not during the presentation, I came up with alternate plans on how I would enjoy at least a snippet of a lunch break. This distraction led me to another distraction, and that was that the presentation and training seminar was apparently called “Click Here To Add Text”, but I digress.
I did my best to pay attention and I did learn some things along the way, but that niggling wonder of whether we would get a lunch break or not was always present in the back of my head. What am I going to do?
12:00 came and went. At 12:05 it was announced that we would take a ten-minute break and reconvene at 12:15.
NO LUNCH!
I ran upstairs (luckily I’m working from home today) and made myself a bowl of popcorn because a. I love the stuff, b. I find comfort in popcorn and c. it’s quick and easy.
I rejoined the conversation at 12:14, with a minute to spare. Said conversation was already in progress because they started at 12:13 with the assumption that everyone had already returned.
If we were on GoToMeeting’s audio and video controls they would have seen that I was still away.
Ugh.
The presentation continued as I munched on popcorn and listened to the tinny little voices on the conference call. I used the MUTE button on my phone so that others wouldn’t know about my secret stash of popcorn. I had usurped the lack of lunch during the “Click Here To Add Text” presentation! I made a little evil laugh.
At 12:50 it was announced that we would break for lunch and reconvene at 1:30 p.m.
w00t!
It turns out that the presenters are in Central Time while I’m in Eastern Time. I’m not used to having to bow down to another time zone. I guess they don’t realize that we are in the Eastern Time Zone, the time zone that reigns supreme from the mountains to the valleys and to the oceans white with foam. Stock markets close at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. Prime time television starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. I don’t care if you’re still eating lunch when “American Idol” infests the television yet again, that’s not my problem. If you want to see it on time, you’ll move to the East Coast which is the most important.
So now I have 11 minutes left in this Centrally Timed Lunch Hour. I supplemented the clandestine bowl of popcorn with a chicken salad-on-croissant sandwich and a large, unsweetened iced tea from the local Dunkin’ Donuts. I was happy to note that this store closest to the house is back to its old ways with the crankiest employees on the planet again.
And now it’s getting ready to thunderstorm. That will liven up the presentation nicely!
Warm.
It is another warm day here in lovely Central New York. We got some rain yesterday, just enough to put a damper on my bike riding plans, but it wasn’t a whole heck of a lot of rain. The lawns are still looking quite brown. This is sometimes how it goes.
The coveted spot in the shade was taken by some younger guys in a modified Honda Civic. They looked kind of smug. I decided to park in my routine spot. There is enough breeze to keep the Jeep somewhat cool. If the sweat starts to drip on my keyboard I’ll have to go for a ride sooner than expected.
I was hit with a round of exhaustion around 10:30 this morning so I went for a walk around the parking lot. The exercise and fresh air were both helpful. I normally go for a walk with co-workers in the morning and afternoon, but when you have back-to-back-to-back conference calls, it’s hard to plan these things accordingly.
The week is off to a good start and this makes me happy. I’m ready for the next adventure.
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
So the secret destination for my birthday weekend was lovely Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The little city is about two hours to the east of us and actually not that far from where I work (when I go to the office). The weather was lovely, the downtown area was bustling with people and we had a very relaxing time.
We had a balcony and everything because Earl is a “Diamond Club” member. He spends a lot of time in hotel rooms.
We walked around Congress Park in the afternoon. I was the only one that dared to drink some water from one of the mineral springs. The water was naturally cold and had a tinge of sulfur in the taste. It reminded me of growing up but without the addition of Kool-Aid to the sulfur water.
Some ducks did a synchronized swim routine for us. I don’t think they’re paid to do that for the tourists or anything, they just kind of did it on their own.
After the duck show we posed for a family photo. My new bathing suit is in the Eddie Bauer bag to my left.
After trying some of the other spring water offerings (that didn’t have that sulfur taste), we relaxed in the air conditioned comfort of our suite at the new Hampton Inn for a bit until evening time. I took the opportunity to put on my new bathing suit and go for a swim. Earl watched to make sure I didn’t drown.
When we ventured out again we were approached by a 30-ish attractive looking bear of a guy who asked if we knew any good dining spots. Downtown Saratoga Springs has a lot of them so we recommended a couple and then we had a nice conversation with him for about 15 minutes. His name is Dan and he was in from Middletown for a School Bus Convention. I think he approached us because of our bearish ways and before you know it we were talking life stories and ended up inviting him to join us for dinner since he was in town alone. He decided not to join us but he wished me a happy birthday. I think we have a new friend in Dan. At first I thought he was Kevin from Danbury (they could be brothers) but he was Dan.
We ended up eating at Wheatfield’s at one of the sidewalk tables. It was a delicious meal, though the seating was a little crowded. It became extra crowded when a passerby decided to chat with the folks at the table next to us. To accomplish this he hung over the little fence between the dining area and the rest of the sidewalk. I thought Earl was going to offer him a bite of his pasta but he didn’t feel that cordial.
After the nice dinner we walked around downtown again and then headed back to the hotel for some cupcakes from Bettie’s Cakes before calling it a night.
This morning we headed home by back roads for a bit before jumping on the Thruway and reaching the Manor around 1:30. We have been relaxing ever since.
I did snap a photo of these very old looking power line towers that seem to have a unique flair.
My batteries are recharged. This next ride around the sun is off to a good start.
