October 2012

Stupid.

So last night I was a little bit stupid and left one of the doors unlocked on the Jeep when I went to the gym. The parking lot outside of the gym is rather dark and since folks hadn’t been out the night before, the lot was populated with a lot of vehicles. I ended up parking farther away from the door than I usually do.

When I came back to the Jeep after a very successful workout, I noticed that my jacket had been moved from the driver’s seat to the passenger’s seat and an ATM slip was sitting on top of it. Since I don’t leave stray papers in the Jeep, I knew that someone had been in my Jeep while I was working out. I looked up on the dash and noticed that they only thing missing was my pair of $20 aviator sunglasses. Whoever made their way into the Jeep didn’t bother to take the case for the sunglasses, the multiple iPod/iPhone chargers in the console, my jacket, Army hat or other hat nor did they take my Apple bluetooth keyboard that I use with my iPad on the road. They only took this pair of $20 aviator sunglasses. Any they were all scratched up and slated for replacement anyway.

I was mad at myself for leaving the door unlocked. I was disappointed in the whole human equation and the idea that someone would break into a vehicle to begin with. But I was dumbfounded by the fact that whoever felt they needed to violate my space was only concerned about looking good in a pair of sunglasses.

There’s a lot of stupid going around these days.

Inspiration.

Earl was watching “Chopped” this evening when he called me into the Great Room. He wanted me to see something on the show.

This is Paul. He is a New York City firefighter who is also a chef. I heard these details but I didn’t really pay close attention. I was busy noticing his mustache.

I told Earl I might be inspired to try again in 2013. He gave me “a look”.

Storms.

I’m really hoping that everyone downstate and along the east coast are safe today. My inlaws got banged around quite a bit by Hurricane Sandy, but from what we’re seeing on Facebook, all seem safe.

We didn’t get much of a storm up in these parts. Schools closed, curfews were declared in a few insignificant villages, but for the most part we had a few big wind gusts and a little bit of rain. The yard didn’t even flood this time around. The highest wind gust recorded on the weather station has been 27 MPH. As I type, the wind is still around 10 MPH.

Earl and I decided to go to the gym per our usually Monday night routine last night. The roads had few people on them. Restaurants and other businesses had closed. Around two dozen people were in the gym as we trucked through our workouts. I was happy to see that others were maintaining some common sense and not afraid based on the hype. I think some folks forget that we are 200-250 miles from the City of New York. It’s like when we travel, we have to tell people that we are from Upstate New York because otherwise people ask how things are in Central Park or at the Statue of Liberty. I’m proud of being from Upstate. I wish more Upstaters would remember that this is Upstate. They confuse the hype and panic that grips New York and Long Island with what is going on in this area. I blame the internet.

While we were watching the local news broadcasts during our workout last night, I couldn’t help but notice a slight look of disappointment on the faces of the newsbroadcasters. Reality wasn’t living up to the hype and the bleak picture they had painted. Some say “better safe than sorry”. How many times did Chicken Little yell before people started ignoring him?

Monday Pep Up.

One of my favorite Eurythmics’ tracks, from 1983’s album “Touch”, here is “Right By Your Side”. I clearly remember this video because I was enthralled with the trumpet player’s mustache when I was a wee young gay.

Windy.

It’s windy outside. The power lines are barely swaying. There is no rain. Leaves are being blown about, but that tends to happen this time of year. They say that we could feel the effects of Hurricane Sandy starting this afternoon. It might make for an interesting ride home. I certainly hope it does.

I have been kind of getting annoyed at work with the hysteria surrounding this storm. There’s a panic in the air that makes me feel all disconcerted. I understand concern and the like, but I think people are being a little dramatic. For example, it makes no sense to me that schools are canceling classes this afternoon, especially in this little part of the country. It makes absolutely no sense to me. I know I sound old when I say this, but I remember school being open when the weather was far worse than this. Closing because of a possible power outage? I remember sitting in Room 108 in second grade, continuing to learn even though there was no power in the building. There was enough light coming through the windows that we could see the work on our desks. That power outage lasted for over two hours, and I remember that because of my fascination with the clock system and watching it be brought back up to time when the power restored. Today they’d close the school down long before I’d have the opportunity to watch the clocks catch up to the current time.

As I type this I’m watching a horse pull an Amish buggy through the parking lot. They don’t seem bothered by the storm. They don’t seem hysterical.

It’s still windy.

It’s interesting to hear the political debates as to how the campaigns will be affected by the storm this week. If there’s lingering power outages, there won’t be electricity to run the voting machines. We wouldn’t have that problem with the older machines, now would we. If President Obama reacts poorly to any disaster as result of this storm, it could cost him the election. It’s all very political.

I’m going to just sit in the Jeep for the remainder of my lunch hour and listen to the sounds of Mother Nature doing her thing. Perhaps it’ll put me in a better frame of mind for the afternoon side of this day.