November 2012

North Syracuse, New York.

So Earl and I are on our first night of our vacation. Tomorrow morning, at the bright and early time of 0556 ET, we will be on a play headed for Cleveland. From there we will hop to Houston, with our scheduled arrival time at 1045 CT. It’s an early start to the day, but at least we will be able to enjoy the day tomorrow and do some of our initial exploring of the fourth largest city in the United States. We are very excited about relaxing and exploring this vacation.

Because we have to get up really early tomorrow morning, we decided to stay near the Syracuse Airport to avoid the crazy drive in the pre-milking hours of the day. So we are stationed at the Holiday Inn Express on So. Bay Rd. in No. Syracuse. I love using those old style abbreviations in that previous sentence because when I was a kid all the road signs says “So. Bay Rd.” and “No. Syracuse”. I wonder if they still use those older abbreviations in other parts of the country. We’ll find out that point in the Houston area tomorrow.

We don’t have a lot of plans made for this vacation other than a tour of the Space Center on Tuesday. I am really looking forward to that. We might meet up with our friend Jay , whom we met for the first time (in person) in Toronto almost a decade ago, for lunch or drinks or something like that. The main focus of this vacation is to lose ourselves in a relaxing time. I’m looking forward to doing just that.

To start the vacation off, a photo. I call this picture of me, “Use of Effects To Mask Poor Lighting Conditions.”

30 November 2012 by Fun and Games Dept 1

Clean.

So yesterday the mound of laundry waiting to be washed was about waist high. That’s quite a bit of laundry. I don’t mind doing laundry, but it is a little bit difficult to get to doing laundry when one works all day, does the whole supper thing, heads to the gym and runs the little errands that need to be done since one works all day. I have no idea how people with kids and the like keep up with it all. But I managed to get the laundry mostly done so Earl and I can get ready for our vacation. Tonight we pack, tomorrow after work we hit the road. I’m looking forward to the adventure.

There’s something about clutter reminding you that it needs to be taken care of that can be more daunting than the actual chore of doing something about the clutter. It’s kind of like when you’re used to doing your own thing at work, like I am with working from home, and someone suggests that you should book an appointment or meeting or something. The prospect of having to structure your life around this appointment can be more daunting than the actual meeting itself. Or maybe that’s just the way I think. I like to feel free, and entries on my daily calendar can make me feel unfree. But I cope.

Inspired by the laundry accomplishments yesterday, I ended up cleaning out some cupboards and heaving out cat beds that Tom has never used in his life. I don’t know that I have ever known a cat to use the actual cat bed. They might use the box or sleep between said cat bed and the adjacent wall, but sleep in the actual cat bed? Nah, cats have better things to do. They have free calendars with little worries.

Maybe I should take a cue from them and sleep on the waist high pile of dirty laundry next time.

29 November 2012 by Ponderings and Musings 3

Retro!

I miss TV theme songs. This one clocks in at 100 seconds; one would NEVER find a theme song of this length on today’s television.

Here’s “Different Worlds”, sung by Maureen McGovern, from the second season of “Angie”.

28 November 2012 by Geek 2

Glass.

I really like the concepts shown in this video, and I find it interesting that this technology is being developed in Upstate New York. The future looks wicked cool.

28 November 2012 by Geek 6

Step Aside.

So I posted a photo on Facebook and Instagram yesterday when this clock arrived, but I felt the need to share this on my blog, so here it goes.

This is the newest clock in my collection of clocks from The Standard Electric Time Company. Date stamped 1950, this clock is a model AR-2 (which was a fairly new model back in that day). The AR-2 means “Automatic Resetting with two wires”. Like the other school clocks in the house, this clock is tied to the computer in the basement that advances it on the minute (with all the other clocks) using 24 VDC to do so. The automatic resetting part would be a 48 VDC impulse on the 59th minute of the hour, but I’m not using that functionality because the other clocks in the house don’t do that and it would be bad to try to make them do that.

I’ve pretty much stopped buying clocks on ebay but this one is younger brother to the type of clocks that were found in my elementary school and was different enough that it made it a worthwhile addition to the collection. Upon it’s arrival, I put the proper movement in it again (the previous owner had converted it to quartz) and I cleaned up the paint splatters and polished up the wood so that it would pass Bear Inspection (the husbear’s approval process). The only thing I couldn’t do was repair the little dimple that has found itself over the “10” mark. I guess it adds character. I hope it’s not a bullet mark or something wild.

This beautiful clock can now be found in our kitchen.

It’s good to step aside from technology once in a while and lose yourself in a hobby that doesn’t remind you of work. I’m really happy with this clock. Now I have extra clocks in the basement that I’m going to clean up. I’m saving them for a local school that still has this type of clock system in their building; I hope to help them maintain the clocks for a while and save the taxpayers a little bit of money while maintaining the original clocks found in the building.

28 November 2012 by Fun and Games Dept Geek 4

BN.

The 2004 Motorola Flip Phone at the next table is screaming for its charger. Earl has a hot green tea with a couple squirts of honey. Jamie is reading a bunch that he is contemplating purchasing. I am reading and responding to emails.

All is normal at Barnes and Noble.

“I’d like to write a blog entry before I leave”, I muse.

“It took you an hour to respond to an email.” This is accompanied by a glare.

I send out an all-points Tweet and Facebook status update:

Someone give that old woman a charger for her rotary flip phone so it stops beeping!

Earl looks at his phone and starts doing something electronic. Jamie continues to read the book he might buy.

I get a look from the husband. He says to me, deadpan, “Sooner or later my bowels are going to explode.”

And so ends this blog entry.

27 November 2012 by Fun and Games Dept 4

Vanity.

So I’m a pretty vain guy. Whenever I see myself in the mirror I have to give myself the once over, make sure the old boy is holding up pretty good. While my appearance might not meet the expectations of others, it must meet my expectations. Hence, vanity. I don’t think it’s a horrible thing.

Now I don’t couple my vanity up to insanity. For example, I don’t believe in the whole metrosexual thing. I don’t get that at all. I don’t understand why guys pluck their eyebrows to look like a 30’s starlet or a Barbie doll. That’s just weird to me. Perhaps I don’t understand that because my eyebrows are nearly invisible. They’re doing their thing, they’re just not showy about it.

For the past week I’ve been letting my beard grow out a little bit with the intention of not really growing a huge beard, just a little something to show that I have a beard but nothing to strain soup or anything like that. It’s been nearly a year since I’ve had a full beard and when I last had a beard, I had some gray here and there but for the most part there was plenty of my natural gingerness to be found.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed the bulk of my new beard is gray. There were no screams or tears. There possibly might have been an audible gasp.

Now as I mentioned before, I have no interest in syncing my vanity up with insanity. While some people find comfort in wearing hairpieces or coloring their hair or beard or the like, that’s not me. I wouldn’t feel “real” doing that sort of thing. That’s why I’m bald by choice and that’s why you’ll never see me discreetly carrying a bottle of “Just for Men” around the drug store. If it works for you, great, I just know it won’t work for me. But I’m still vain, so I have been considering going back to clean shaven until the entire beard is gray. I would rather be all gray than some gray. I don’t know why that is, but it is. And I’m pretty sure senility hasn’t set in yet.

The jury is still out on whether the mostly gray beard will linger for a little while longer. Maybe going on vacation next week will help me feel more comfortable with the gray sprouts on my face.

26 November 2012 by Ponderings and Musings 2

Waze.

So Earl and I are currently en route home from our quick visit to his old stomping grounds. With it being the last day of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States, traffic is rather heavy, especially along Interstate 81 between Scranton, Pa. and Binghamton, N.Y. Traffic was at a standstill at a number of locations, including just south of Exit 230.

Enter Waze.

Waze is an app that I have on my iPhone and one that I have grown accustomed to using whenever I’m in the car. Waze is what they call a crowd-sourcing app, the more people that use the app, the more reliable the data that is being presented. With Waze, the data being presented is traffic data; the GPS functionality of the device keeps track of your whereabouts and how fast you’re traveling and supplies that information to the cloud. The app shows a map with average speeds and the like. There is also an interface that lets you provide further information to the cloud, such as a speed trap or construction or debris in the road.

All in all it’s pretty nifty, in my opinion.

Because we were using Waze, we were able to see that traffic on Interstate 81 was backed up for several miles and that there were further slow downs farther up the route. So we exited at Exit 230 and made our way up US Route 11, which was free and clear and more scenic anyways. From Route 11 we were able to see the traffic along Interstate 81 at a standstill. I resisted the urge to feel smug.

If you travel a lot and wish to help this app be even better, I suggest giving Waze a try. There’s a little chat feature built-in so you can say hello to other Waze users around you, but I haven’t explored any of that yet because I find it to be a little weird, but that’s just the way I’m wired.

For more information on Waze, feel free to visit their site.

25 November 2012 by Fun and Games Dept Geek 3

Creative.

Earl and I are currently speeding along the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Since I am typing this blog entry, it is safe to assume that he is currently driving. We are on our way to his hometown where we are going to do our annual cemetery duties; we are putting grave blankets on the graves of his parents and other family members. I had never heard of grave blankets prior to meeting the love of my life, but this is something that folks apparently do down in these parts. The blankets in question are much like an evergreen wreath except the size of a grave. It’s a festive way to honor the memory of a loved one. I like the idea.

I have resolved that I am not going to look at the speedometer while Earl is driving. He tends to drive faster than I do these days but I still yell and swear more. It’s a balance that any married couple can achieve once they put their mind to it.

I have been feeling inspired lately. Feeling inspired is a good thing because I take it as a sign that I have found my happy place in my head and that I am able to express that happiness through little creative endeavors. For example, I’m feeling more inclined to write. I feel like I’m writing more in the blog, I’m certainly participating in other social networking outlets more again and I’ve begun doing some work on my clock collection again.

I was recently contacted by another collector who collects the same make and model of clock systems that I collect. He and his partner managed to buy the entire system from a local school at auction and then were able to score several pieces from another school. We have been chatting back and forth a little bit over the past couple of days and he has shared some photos of his clocks. His work is top notch. I’m looking forward to seeing his collection in person someday. His excitement for our shared hobby has inspired me to start working on the website highlighting my collection again and because I’m feeling more creative, I feel more inclined to pay attention to that site that hasn’t seen an update in a couple of years. This spark of creativity has, in turn, sparked my road geek side again and I have been updating that website over the past couple of weeks. Which then led to a programming project that I am working on with our friend Jeff that will eventually lead to more financial security in my future.

It’s all creatively driven and it’s all connected and more importantly, it’s all been sparked because I have been able to find my happy place again. That’s a really good feeling.

I have in this blog many times over the years that I hope that someday I will figure out who I am and what makes me tick. I have a pretty good idea of all of this and with this recent feeling of marked happiness, I feel like I’m getting closer to achieving that goal.

Life is good. Especially when you want it to be.

24 November 2012 by Ponderings and Musings 2

Passwords.

Cross-posted from my tech blog. Hopefully you’ll find this helpful.

So last night I was sleeping peacefully when my iPhone and Nexus 7 lit up the bedroom like a beacon in the dreamscape. Startled by this (it’s almost as bad as the phone ringing in the middle of the night), I jumped up, wide awake, to see what the urgent message was about.

The message was something to the effect of, ‘Someone tried to get into your Facebook account and we’ve locked it.’ Since the account was locked, I knew it could wait until morning, so I went back to sleep. Kudos to Facebook for being proactive with my account security.

So what I needed to do this morning was change my passwords on my accounts. I was due for a password change anyways (I try to do it once a quarter or so), so I thought I would share my little password generation method with the masses in hopes that you’ll find it helpful.

We all know that passwords are a pain in the butt. They need to be something that you’ll remember, but they can’t be something that will be easily guessed. The days of using “password” as your password should be long, long gone. However, I do use a password that can be easily remembered. I start out with a phrase or word that is meaningful to me. For example, on my wedding day, I made a promise to my husband, so I’ll start with that word:

promised

One thing that you should always do is use a mixture of both lower- and uppercase letters in your password, so let’s change the first letter to an uppercase letter.

Promised

It’s still a pretty simple word to guess, right? The second step in my password generation is adding an adjective or an emotion to the word. Not only does it make the password harder to crack because you’re changing the password to a phrase, it also makes it easier to remember. My promise to my husband makes me happy, so I’ll add a word that indicates this.

Promisedyay!

The exclamation point at the end drives the point home and makes the password even more secure.

The next thing we want to do is we want to change the vowels to symbols that look like their alphabetic counterparts. This is a loose interpretation of leet speak and it adds another layer of security to your passphrase.

Pr0m1s3dy@y!

The last thing I do is add an indicator as to what service this password is going to be used on. Now some people might find this odd, but this gives me the ability to use the same password or phrase on all my accounts but still have unique passwords for each. I am going to use this password for my Facebook account, so let’s add that to the mix.

Pr0m1s3dy@y!FB

One approach to this might be if Facebook is the first thing you go to in the morning, put the FB at the beginning. If you have a Twitter account that you tend to go to after you go to Facebook, you could put that at the end, so you’d have

FBPr0m1s3dy@y!
Pr0m1s3dy@y!TW

Your password still has meaning to you, but is much more secure because you’ve added these different layers of customization and security to it.

Happy surfing and feel confident knowing that you’re surfing safely!

24 November 2012 by Geek 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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