January 2015

Commuted.

 

 Many were surprised when I arrived at the office today. I knew that it was going to be a snowy day, being a pilot at all I tend to be hypersensitive about the weather forecast, and it’s snowy days like today that put me in the mood for a challenge. While folks are standing in line at the local supermarket, ready to hoard bread and milk like they’re stockpiling for an invasion of lactose and gluten free aliens, I confidently drive the roads of Upstate New York, knowing my vehicle, the realistic capabilities of four-wheel drive and my personal limits when it comes to driving said Jeep.
 
 Folks on the Thruway were maddening during the commute this morning; out of state drivers and downstaters tend to drive faster than conditions really warrant. I’m not surprised when I see a car off in the ditch. If there’s no sign of motion around the vehicle sitting in a snowbank, I’ll stop and make sure the driver is alright. I haven’t been shot yet. There were a couple of cars off the road along the commute, which I find odd because the Thruway is clearly (pun intended) the best maintained road in the state. If you can’t drive on the Thruway in this weather, you’re definitely not going to be able to travel on the side roads on the state-maintained Interstates.
 
 I’ve never understood why out-of-staters would want to visit this area in the middle of January, anyway. Are they going snowmobiling in their stylish North Face jacket or something? I doubt that they are, but then again, I don’t really mind this weather even though I bitch about it a lot and I don’t have a North Face jacket. This year’s winter jacket of choice has been a barn hoodie underneath my old and worn Carhartt jacket. I love my Carhartt. It’s something I earned, being a boy from these parts.
 
 It’s suppose to turn wicked cold this evening, with temperatures falling nearly 40 degrees to around 10 below zero. That’s when I’ll want to stay home because I don’t really mind playing in the snow but I don’t like playing in the freezing cold. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take freezing cold over sweltering hot, at least one can bundle up to warm up, but that doesn’t make the wicked cold that much more appealing to me.
 
 
 
 

12 January 2015 by Why. 0

New Routine.

I was about to write a blog entry about how glancing at social media makes me crazy, but then I realized that I have written about this on several occasions so I decided not to write a long dissertation again. I don’t know if people read personal blogs these days, but if someone read another post about Facebook on this blog, their teeth would probably fall asleep from boredom.
 
 One of my goals for 2015 has been to laser in and focus on something. Focus is not something that comes easily to me because I have a tendency to have several thoughts going on at once in my head. During a work presentation not too long ago, I jumped around on a few subjects at once and then realized that I must have been confusing the audience. I stammered out “I apologize but apparently I’m multithreaded (geek term) and it would seem that I’m firing too many thrusters at once right now.”
 
 This did nothing to ease the tension.
 
 I have been trying to get in the habit of avoiding the time sink of Facebook as part of my morning routine of catching up on the day and I think the results are starting to pay off. When I do go onto Facebook my feed is so scrambled chronologically, as Facebook is trying to show me what it thinks is relevant, I can’t make heads or tails of anything so I just give up and move on to something else.
 
 

9 January 2015 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Scary.

This morning I stumbled into the kitchen all groggy and blurry-eyed, in search of a glass of water. I just needed one glass of water and I would feel better. I’m not much of a coffee person and I tend to drink iced tea in the afternoon, and because society frowns on beer for breakfast, I just wanted a glass of water.

I noticed that there were a few dishes stacked in the sink. This is odd when I’m around because I do not enjoy dishes in the sink. Dishes in the sink make me crazy. Not as crazy as when I find garbage in the sink, but moderately crazy. I don’t bay at the moon or anything, I just get surly, unless I’m in search of my first glass of water in the morning, then I get surlier.

The dishes in the sink meant two things. A certain someone might or might not be home for a few weeks before he heads off to college in a city that may or may not be windy. It also meant that a certain someone of the married persuasion dared not open the dishwasher because something hideously awful could be hiding in the dishwasher.

CLEAN DISHES.

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Now, I know that clean dishes ranks right up there with “whites in the dryer” in the frightful department. I know that sinking feeling when you steal a glance at the dishwasher and you see the “Clean” light illuminated. The feeling of dread has been eased slightly with the march of technology; before the days of the “clean” light there was the “bounce sound” of the detergent dispenser in the dishwasher, its ringing out a startling announcement that the dishes in the dishwasher needed to removed and put in their proper place in the various cabinets that adorn our kitchen.

I’ve never figured out Earl’s system for where the dishes go. The glasses are to the right of the sink when I expect them to be to the left. There are round plastic tubs in one cabinet and square plastic containers over the Radarange microwave because apparently one heats up stuff in a square container but not a round one. The Pyrex bakeware is filed next to barbecue sauce and the brown bakeware is next to the bread machine. Cookie sheets go under the stove unless they’re used for something else then they go on their side next to the Bundt Pan.

The one that might be going to college where it’s windy and the one that could have marital ties to me both avoided the dishwasher during their travels and treks across the kitchen. That is when the fear totally gripped me and I realized that it was 2015 and to stay true to one of my goals, I must face my fear square on and do something to conquer this fear once and for all.

I emptied the dishwasher.

7 January 2015 by Fun and Games Dept 2

Legacy.

It seemed appropriate to see this reminder of “the good ol’ days” on New Years Day. This billboard stands along the Thruway next near another Holiday Inn billboard that features the new logo the company adopted a few years ago.

As I celebrate my middleagedness, I reflect on a simpler time as denoted by the more familiar logo. The world seemed a little slower, a little happier and a lot less plastic.

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6 January 2015 by Ponderings and Musings 0

New Camera.

One of my Christmas gifts from Santa was a new camera. I did not expect this gift at all, which made the surprise that much more special.

The new camera is a Canon G15 point-and-shoot type affair. Apparently Earl watched me fumble with Canon DSLR enough at places like Walt Disney World and the like to decide that I needed something that was a little more point-and-shoot friendly. My iPhone 6 has a great camera built into it, but I’m not a huge fan of taking photos with my iPhone, even though that’s what’s encouraged these days.

I decided to try the new Canon out for a night shot tonight. The moon was hiding behind some clouds and I thought it made for a somewhat interesting photograph. Here’s what I captured from our driveway about 30 minutes prior to the composition of this blog entry.

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4 January 2015 by Fun and Games Dept 1

Repeat.

One of the things that I don’t enjoy about the holiday season is the barrage of repeats of our favorite television shows. Unfortunately, this trend of repeating material doesn’t seem to be limited to television, as I noticed that some of the politics-oriented radio I listen to has also adopted this approach, repeating the same top 10 or whatever countdowns over and over since before Christmas.

There are bigger things to worry about in the world, but sometimes it’s the little things that capture my attention.

3 January 2015 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Cinematic Frustration.

Going to the movies is a consistent source of frustration for me. Because I can be somewhat judgmental at times, I believe that adults should conduct themselves in a certain socially acceptable manner whilst taking part in a cinematic experience. As expected, no less than four people continued to use their phones throughout the entire showing of “Into The Woods” this evening, including a pair of women that I dubbed “Aqua Net and The Frizz” who were sitting directly in front of me. The Frizz had her text size cranked up to the largest setting possible on an iPhone 5s. The words “Hello there” took up two lines in iMessage. The woman to her right, a young woman with a strapping young man accompanying her, exchanged messages with a man named Justin. They were having a conversation regarding the New Year’s Eve party they apparently both attended. The young woman doesn’t remember much.

Our local cinema, which shall remain nameless because I don’t want to give them advertising, but they are chain with just one location in New York State, has been around for about 15 years. They no longer use the preview screen in the lobby area because the workers find it too loud. Tonight the popcorn machine was broken, which resulted in reduced popcorn output.

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One will note that it takes three people having a good time to make one batch of popcorn per 30 minute cycle.

The only reason I still bear the cinematic experience in general is because I enjoy a nice bag of movie theatre popcorn, but we weren’t about to wait 30 minutes for a bag of popcorn so I settled for M&Ms. It wasn’t the same.

The movie was enjoyable. That was the bright spot of the evening.

2 January 2015 by Why. 0

Decorations.

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I’ve noticed a large number of folks on Twitter and Facebook mentioning the removal of their Christmas decorations today. I think I’m a little surprised by this because today is, after all, New Year’s Day. With the positioning of the holiday on a Thursday this year, I thought that folks would leave their decorations up until this coming weekend but apparently I was wrong. People want their decorations down and apparently move on with their lives.

I’m not a fan of taking down Christmas decorations. Honestly, I’m not really a fan of putting them up either, but once they’re up, seeing the decorations put me in a jovial mood. Twinkling lights and tinsel and the like make me smile. Holiday joy and all that.

I’m not ready for a cold winter without twinkling lights and decorations of merriment. We’ll be taking down the decorations this weekend, but in the meanwhile I’ll continue to enjoy the festive beauty.

1 January 2015 by Fun and Games Dept 0

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!

January 2015
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