March 2013

Siriusly?

So I read in an online forum today that Sirius/XM is thinking about adding commercials to their political talk station, POTUS. One of the things I like about POTUS is that it doesn’t have ads every 30 minutes, especially since Sirius/XM seems to only be able to sell male enhancement ads and spots for Christian Mingle. (The two might be related). I have always wondered why God needed to run an ad to get Christians to hook up in the biblical sense, or why he even needs the Internet to accomplish his destiny. I mean, he/she is God, after all. I don’t see God as the point and click type.

I hate advertising more and more each day. And I struggle with the fact that as a Sirius/XM subscriber I still have to listen to commercials. I shouldn’t have to pay to listen to commercials, it just seems backwards to me. Well, actually more irritating than backwards. If I wanted to listen to commercials, I’d listen to terrestrial radio.

I understand that the talk show hosts need to take a break to pee and the like once in a while, but there’s no reason that Sirius/XM can’t just run promos during these periods instead of paid ads. The idea of putting ads on a currently ad-free site makes me wonder if Sirius/XM is going to be around in five years. Could they be going belly up? Maybe instead of renewing I should just use the money to beef up my data plan on my phone and just stream music or talk radio that way. My music or talk on my schedule without the ads.

Now that is something to ponder.

12 March 2013 by Fun and Games Dept 1

A.

Fellow blogger Dave2 from Blogography recently posted a new music video on his Facebook timeline. Not seeing the name of the artist when I clicked through the link this morning, it was a few moments before I let out a gleeful squeal. I recognized the voice instantly.

Agnetha Fältskog is back! In May, one of the “A”s from ABBA will be releasing her latest album, “A”. In the meanwhile, here is her first release, “When You Really Loved Someone”.

I have already pre-ordered the album on iTunes. And I’ll probably squeal again.

At 2:45 in the video, I am very much reminded of Agentha and Bjorn back in the day.

12 March 2013 by DJ Gayish. 1

Talent.

Earl is watching “American Idol” off the DVR as I type. I grew tired of this show years ago but Earl holds the torch and watches with jaded interest. I can’t take the caterwauling.

I took a cursory glance as I found something else to do, namely fold laundry, and quite frankly, this show where they announced the newest Top 10 has to be one of the most awkwardly staged shows I’ve seen in a while. The huge audience can’t see the results, the judges can’t see the results, only the home audience sees the secret announcement. The announcer says in a hushed whisper, “The password is AWKWARD.” After Ryan Seacrest (he’s grown enough to shave like a big boy now!) makes one of the contestants burst into tears, they walk down a makeshift hallway, making small talk through the tears and then they stand in the dark. Once in the dark, Ryan has an awkward conversation with the contestant, who has absolutely no lights on them. They didn’t even try a half-light.

Screen Shot 2013-03-11 at 9.18.15 PM

After they talk in the dark, well Ryan is lit up but the contestant isn’t, they open the stage doors so they can see the judges reaction. Then they show the audience. Oh, then they have the contestant sing off-key to a karaoke track with the mic turned up to only 1, maybe 2, while the backing track is at 15. The woo-woo people are louder than the contestant.

What the hell.

“American Idol” has become such a train wreck that I truly missed the days when they dressed the judges up like Klingons.

paula20060221

11 March 2013 by Why. 1

Yeah.

I saw the following letter on this blog entry. It is entitled “How To Be Free”.

Um, yeah.

Dear Jake and Connor,
I turned down a really good job offer today. To tell you the truth, it wasn’t even that hard. Even in this new normal, post Great Recession world, the allure of a good job working for someone else just doesn’t exist for me anymore.
It could be because I know it will never be a great job. It could be because my freedom – and the ability to see you guys whenever I want – means too much to me.
You are only 7 and 3 years old right now. You haven’t caught on to the changes that have happened in our lives and in the world over the last few months and years.
The past 2 decades have brought to the world a revolution like no other. The world is now digital and flat and you are connected to almost every other person on earth. You have access to every great idea ever thought by mankind.
This is a threat to anyone with power right now. They aren’t sure what to do….they don’t know how all of this is going to shake out.
As you read this remember that people often overestimate what they can do in 2 years but they wildly underestimate what they can achieve in 10.
Never under estimate yourself! The key to happiness and success in this world is believing you deserve it and knowing you can achieve it. You can! It is as simple as deciding right now that you are happy. That you will define your own success.
I have no idea how old you are going to be the first time you read this but at 7 and 3, you are both incredible people. All parents think their kids are smart and cute and funny so I’ll spare you what I think and let you know that other people tell us these things all the time.
You both have a magnetism that isn’t easily explained. You make people feel better about themselves. In this crazy world, that is truly a needed talent! I hope you both recognize it in yourselves and I hope your mother and I have properly nurtured that talent….because the world needs more of it.
I want to explain something to you guys: At some point, the world is going to offer you a deal.
It will try to convince you that what it needs from you is what you really want.
It will spend millions of dollars on advertising and education, info-tainment and propaganda to steer you in the direction it needs you to go.
The world will tell you that if you work hard, you will achieve success.
That success and happiness are just over the next hill top.
You will go to the finest universities and you will meet incredible people.
Almost all of them, with their souls quietly yearning for something bigger than themselves.
The world will promise a decent living at a good wage. You will travel. You will see foreign lands.
It will offer you guarantees from exile, with friends and followers willing to pretend they are hanging on your every word, as long as you pretend to hang on theirs.
You may even be one of the lucky ones to whom the world offers a soul mate.
Of course, it will neglect to tell you that your submission to the world means you may not be soul mates forever.
It is going to offer you safety and security. It will entice you with imagery of comfort and luxury.
The world will offer you a steady paycheck. A release from the fear of being able to provide or survive.
It is going to offer you the dream of a happy, care free retirement. It will offer you equity in its markets, it will be kind enough to let you relax in your golden years.
The world will offer you a death with dignity. You do not need to suffer alone or be in fear it will say.
The world will take care of you.
This is a generous world. For all of this, it only asks for one thing in return. All the world wants is your humanity.
Fuck the world….go your own way and never look back.
Go make deep connections with incredible people.
Don’t subsist on the shallow connections the world wants you to have.
Go discover new things. Create. Be beautiful.
Don’t buy into the world’s illusion of happiness through wealth.
Go teach people that they don’t have to trade their humanity either.
Show the world you don’t fear expulsion because the connections you have made are too real….too deep.
Show the world you want to be with your soul mate forever. That you won’t sacrifice your love or your family because the world says that is the way it is supposed to be.
Show the world that you do not need its illusions of safety or security.
That you do not want its versions of comfort and luxury.
Show the world that when you make deep connections you do not have to suffer alone or live in fear.
Show the world that when you keep your humanity you get to share it with others.
Only then will you be free.
Love,
Dad

11 March 2013 by Ponderings and Musings 1

Survey.

I was happy to see that Delta Airlines cared enough about my travel experience that they sent me a survey to complete for them. It was waiting for me in my work email this morning. I filled it out honestly and provided the feedback they were looking for.

Though the cynical side of me thinks that the surveys are for marketing purposes only, after all they just want to convince me to fly their airline more often, there’s part of me that hopes that this is a demonstration of concern for the wellbeing of the airline traveling individual. I know that I enjoyed my Delta experience to Texas and back and that I look forward to flying them again to North Carolina next month. Aside from the GoGo being a NoNo on the longest leg of my flight, the experience was flawless. Some passengers in Detroit tried to make the check-in counter attendant’s life hell, but that’s what passengers in sweat suits and velour do. They make everyone’s life a living hell.

I wonder what folks in Texas would say if they were surveyed about what life is like here in Central New York. I wonder if people in Central New York realise that there is life outside of this area. Everyone seems tuned into their own little world and only take very brief glimpses at anything that could resemble a bigger picture.

Perhaps there should be a survey on what’s in the big picture.

As many men have proclaimed loudly over the years, “Survey says!”. Were there a ding sound, the card would flip over and say, “needs a nap”. And that is what I shall do.

11 March 2013 by Fun and Games Dept 3

Time.

So today begins “Daylight Saving Time” in the United States and presumably Canada, since they tend to emulate us up there. Since 2007, the second Sunday in March has been deemed the day when we set our clocks ahead one hour in the interest of moving time to when we are suppose to be at our busiest. Apparently this is to help control energy costs, though many studies show that we actually use more energy when DST is in effect.

I have made my opinion known on countless occasions but I’ll say it again. I despise Daylight Saving Time. I despise it from the very core of my being and it’s all a bunch of smoke and mirrors to make the sheep think that they have “more daylight”. They don’t have any more daylight today than if they did if we were still on Standard Time, but because we jimmy the numbers in this way, Finster and Mabel can go to soccer practice and get awards for remembering to breathe in the evening while Power Mommy watches from her running, air conditioned Hummer H3 and the Nanny watches from the sidelines, providing updates via text message to Power Mommy.

I don’t know if you can tell this or not but moving the clocks ahead one hour makes me cranky. I am told when to sleep, when to work, when to eat and when to take a dump based on an instrument on the wall instead of listening to my body. Circadian rhythms be damned, you will sleep when we tell you to sleep and that’s the way it is because “the day is longer.” To that I abbreviate, STFU.

I love clocks. I really do, but we shouldn’t be slaves to a clock. Moving the clocks back and forth every year is completely asinine a defies any shreds of common sense or logic. You want to jimmy a man-made assignment of a variable to this moment? Move the friggin’ clocks ahead a half-hour and be done with it. Don’t ever touch them again. Just do it. It’s not that hard.

I’m going back to bed.

10 March 2013 by Ponderings and Musings Why. 2

So Close.

20130309-143954.jpg

Spring feels so close right now. I am completely ready for spring to spring. Moving the clocks ahead tonight give us false hope. We want warmth and we want it now.

9 March 2013 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Seat Belts.

Does anyone know why airline passengers are so defiant when it comes to the “seat belts required” sign? A few moments ago there was a pleasant chime, followed by an announcement, indicating that it was now safe to use portable electronics but that passengers should remain seated with their seat belts fastened as the informational sign was still lit. This is indicative that someone important on the flight deck feels there could be unexpected turbulence ahead. I respect that, I get that and no one has really instructed me in this, I suspect that it falls in the “common sense” category.

The passengers on this flight are jumping up and roaming around the cabin like it’s nobody’s business. With 50 passengers on this flight, the flight attendant (his name is Roy) has a bit of a chore with keeping everyone safe. Why do passengers feel it is appropriate to just do their own thing? Are they too good for rules? Do they know better than the trained and qualified crew on this flight? Have people become so arrogant and ridiculous that they think they know everything?

I don’t know how my friends that are Flight Attendants put up with this sort of behavior. There’s a spiteful side of me that would love to give the passengers a little bit of extra turbulence just to give them something to remember. I wouldn’t do anything drastic; I’d probably bank around a few clouds or something. Maybe something to jiggle the ice in their drinks and demeanor a little bit. I know I’m capable of such a thing, given the right aircraft.

People. Please. If you’re on a flight and you feel you know better than the flight crew, please do your fellow, respectful passengers a favor and when the need to walk around arises and you decide to defy the instructions of the crew, just get out and walk.

8 March 2013 by Fun and Games Dept 2

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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