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Quiet Please.
As I have mentioned before I am taking a Physics class this summer. It is my last non-Engineering course that I am scheduled to take. There are 10 of in the class.
One of the trends that I’ve noticed since starting school nearly 1 1/2 years ago is that the younger generation just doesn’t know how to shut up. Cell phones beep, Blackberry keys click and the classroom is never without an undercurrent of whispering and barely audible chatter in the back of the room. I’ve noticed that the “chatter” is occasionally in a different language and that varies among the student population in the room. I give those folks the benefit of the doubt and hope that there is some sort of translating going on.
I never thought that I would sit in a college classroom and have the professor have to tell the students repeatedly that they need to stop talking. Maybe it’s because I’m older and grew up in a different era but this noise in the classroom today is much like the chatter we often encounter in the movie theatre. Quite frankly it makes me insane.
I haven’t come to the point where I’ve stood up and yelled “Would you all just SHUT UP?”, primarily because I think that would be rude for all to endure as well as embarrassing for the professor that doesn’t have a handle on the room, but I did have a thought zing through my head in class tonight that I shared on my Twitter (during our precisely seven minute break):
Would it be rude to shut classmates up via duct tape across the mouth?
Technology.
I’m a geek through and through. I love technology. When used properly, technology allows us to do some pretty amazing things.
While I miss the old days of vinyl records and turntables, tomorrow night I will be DJing in Upstate New York and camping in Pennsylvania at the same time. I couldn’t do that without the technology we have today.
Political Burnout.
I have a proposal for the United States of America. Let’s just let the media pick whom they want for President, o.k.? They’re pretty much swinging the way the U.S. population thinks these days so why don’t we just go all George Orwell and just let them decide. Besides, a good percentage of the citizens of the U.S. are afraid to ask questions or make decisions so let’s not bother them with that. Remember, doing research, weighing issues and casting a responsible vote is hard work! It’s easier to dial 1-866-IDOLS03 than to figure out how that newfangled electronic voting machine works.
I thought I reached a political burnout point a couple of months ago. It turns out I was dead wrong. My distaste for the whole affair reached new heights yesterday when one media source said that Obama was definitely the Democratic candidate and that Clinton would be dropping out last night whilst another media source said that Hillary said that she was “absolutely not” dropping out of the race last night and it was up in the air. Why wait for the story when you can make your own declarations, trounce them out as truths and then have the sheeple believe you?
I have some rather unpopular beliefs about this upcoming Presidential election. I believe there’s a good share of “Billy Bob Beanstalks” (no offense to anyone out there with that actual name) that will never elect an African-American President. Personally I think that sucks that in this day and age people still have that sort of prejudice but it can not be denied that it exists. Throw the whole “sand-N” sounding name (not my choice of words, I overheard it at a restaurant recently during a political ‘debate’) and I don’t think that Obama has quite enough of a chance to win the Presidency (it’s going to be very close if we don’t have people getting cutsey with the voting system). I really, really, really, really hope I’m wrong. Is he my first choice? No, his words ring hollow and he just doesn’t sit well with my gut instinct. I wish I could articulate that gut instinct part better but I can’t and I realise that my ‘gut instinct’ reason smacks contrary to my belief in making an informed decision. But I just can’t shake the feeling.
Then we have Hillary. There’s a really strong “we just hate her” vibe running through many people throughout the country (especially Upstate New York). When questioned why, there’s hardly ever a good answer. Lately I’ve heard the argument “she’s old style politics, so if she’s on the ballot, I’ll vote for McCain instead”.
Em, yeah. That’s a great school of thought you’ve got going there.
Listen, here’s the thing. I’ll vote for the Democratic nominee no matter who’s on the ticket. Obama/Clinton, Clinton/Obama, hell I’d vote for Mondale/Barbara Bush if I had to. I wish I could make my choice tomorrow so we didn’t have to endure another five months of the process. I’m sick of it! And frankly I’d rather vote for the Libertarian candidate but I can’t help but feel like that’s a waste of time in this fucked up two party system we so gleefully embrace. There’s forty-five different scents of Downy vying for space on the supermarket shelf but by God you can only have two major candidates for President.
So here I am, trying to escape the noise of the 2008 elections and it’s all I’m talking about today. Let’s try a change of subject. Hey, did you see the scarf Rachel Ray was wearing in the Dunkin’ Donuts commercial? It was cute!
Decisions.
My life seems to be rather plagued with decisions these days. Paper or plastic. Continue my schooling for the next three years or jump on board with my old employer. London or San Francisco. So many choices.
One decision we made last night is to fire the cute cleaning guy and his assistants. We were promised excellence. “We’ll pull out all the furniture, clean all the window sills and scrub down the baseboards.” We received mediocrity. Hardly any furniture was moved. Heck, doors weren’t even moved so that they could sweep behind them.The dust bunnies barked and informed us that the “The Grand Spring Cleaning” was a disappointment in many ways. Agnes Destructo did much better back in her day in our old house. So now we are on the hunt for a cleaning service again.
My second day back to work is going splendidly. I am finding myself back in the groove with ease. I’m reading up on Windows Vista so that I’ll be ready to help those that need assistance when I start answering the phones (which is most likely tomorrow). The group has had some personnel changes since I was last there and I’m finding the vibe to be a little more cohesive. I’m happy with the decision I made last week; let’s see how I do with a five hour class tonight after a full day at work. Earl has promised a light supper when I get home. Now there is something to look forward to. I might augment the meal with a Guinness.
It probably wouldn’t be prudent to augment my lunch with a Guinness. That’s a decision I should probably stick to.
Fires.
As I mentioned last week, there was a major fire at the local brewery Thursday night. I am home for my lunch hour and all I can hear are fire engine sirens. Earl just called me from work and says he sees nothing but smoke in the “general direction of our house”. I assured him that the house was fine and I didn’t see any smoke or smell anything odd but I could hear the sirens.
Looks like I need to do some scouting on the way back to work.
Hey, I Know You.
So Earl and I are back from camp and getting ready for our week. Since we are camping two weeks in a row, we secured the same site and was able to leave the camper for the week. It made the journey home much easier. Next week, not so much.
We stopped in Binghamton at Applebee’s for some lunch. We were seated, noted that the busboy was very attractive (and surprisingly, in a wheelchair, you don’t see many busboys in Applebee’s in a wheelchair) and gazed over the menu. Ten minutes later, we walked out as no one bothered to help us. We had no server stop by, there was nothing for the attractive busboy to clean up and we were parched, so we just walked out.
We drove up Front Street one block to Quizno’s. The place was relatively quiet, I noted a gay couple with a young daughter and another man and woman sitting near the door. I ordered and looked around. It was then that I realised that one of the guys with the daughter looked familiar.
I went to college with him over 20 years ago. He had a very musical name (and it’s wicked easy to remember), was a fantastic trombone player and was coaxed out of the closet at the end of our second semester together by yours truly. We never did anything though. He just needed guidance.
We shook hands, couldn’t believe we were seeing each other and made a little small talk. We’ll probably see each other again when we’re 60.
The meal at Quizno’s was prompt and delicious, by the way.
Pitter Pat.
It is Saturday morning here at Hillside Campgrounds. We kicked off another camping season with our arrival yesterday afternoon. We are focusing on relaxation this weekend.
The camper decided that it needed a little TLC. When I hooked up the water and turned it on, the hose from the water supply to the sink broke, which in turn spewed water all over the camper. I needed to mop anyway. Earl ran to the nearby town of New Milford and picked up a bunch of parts to make the repair. They didn’t have the exact pipe that we needed but he was able to MacGuyver something close. Everything was fine 90 minutes later. I guess I need to do a better job of winterising in the future.
It’s a relatively quiet weekend here. There are a number of sites available but then again it’s still early in the season. I think the weather forecast scared a few away; it’s been raining steadily this morning. The sound of the rain on the camper makes for great sleeping. The forecasters are promising thunderstorms this afternoon. I always love a good thunderstorm, especially in the middle of the dense woods.
Last night we hung at the campfire with our friends Sean and Jeffrey, Don and George (all from Albany) and Brad, Brian and Robert from New Jersey. It was good to see all the guys; it has been too long since we had last seen them. Today we are all going to Brian’s 40th birthday party at their site. It will be a good time.
Here’s a little video I made.
[MEDIA=59]And We’re Off.
Earl and I are on our way to Hillside Campgrounds for the weekend. I’m looking forward to the downtime as I have had a busy yet very enjoyable couple of days. I plan to do some blogging from camp tomorrow in between naps and meals. It should make for an interesting read.
Long Live Schultz and Dooley.
Last summer I talked about Saranac Thursday Nights. A really popular pastime here in the Mohawk Valley, it’s a Thursday night “happy hour” celebration at the local brewery. There are lots of people there, bands play on a good sized stage and all in all great setup in an adjoining parking lot to the brewery. Folks from all walks of life get together and down a few brews and have fun. In fact, I was hesitant to sign up for my summer Physics class because it conflicted with Saranac Thursday Night for a few weeks.
Last night the first Saranac Thursday kicked off the season at 4:00 p.m.
By 5:00 p.m., flames were shooting out of one of the buildings of the brewery.
At 11:00 p.m., on my way back from delivering music to the bar, I noticed that the fire continued. It was a beautifully clear night, aside from the thick smoke that hung over the City of Utica. It was declared “under control” this morning around 7:30.
Full coverage of the fire is available here.
The owners of the F.X. Matt Brewing Company have said that they’ve been around for 120 years and consider this nothing more than a “speed bump”. Saranac Thursdays will be back, possibly as early as next week.
More importantly, Schultz and Dooley will live on.
