J.P.

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So this morning I got up a few moments before the alarm, took a peek at my iPhone and then hopped out of bed to get my day started. It is at this moment that I made a crucial decision that would set the tempo for the rest of my day.

I decided to smile.

Even though it was a chilly morning and I needed to head to the office soon, I pulled on my sweatpants, put on a t-shirt and what I affectionately call my “trailer trash jacket” and went for a 15 minute walk to get my blood and mind moving for the day. I may not have had time for a bike ride but I certainly had a few minutes to walk.

I continued to smile.


(Taken at 5:34 a.m., I look like I just got out of bed and I’m not ashamed of that.)

It’s amazing what you can do when you decide to smile and it’s even more amazing when you decide to share your smile with others. Admittedly, this is something that I forget at times and sometimes I scowl and that scowl becomes contagious. This is not good for the human equation. It’s the smile that we should make contagious.

The reason this has been on my mind today is because I just walked into the Dunkin’ Donuts closest to work. This is the same location that once upon a time always had my large, unsweetened iced tea with lemon poured and ready to go when I walked in the door, but times change and habits are modified accordingly. The attentive staff always had a smile on their face. They were pleasant and they seemed like they were enjoying their job.

A new shift leader has apparently joined in the past couple of months. The first time I noticed that she was added to the staff, it was because she was shrieking at a co-workers about the hot chocolate machine. People may say that I exaggerate at times, but trust me, “shrieking” is not an exaggeration when used to describe the noises she was making regarding the discontent with the hot chocolate machine. It wasn’t until a few visits later that I noticed the words “shift leader” on her badge.

This new addition to the crew is never smiling. She doesn’t look very happy. Maybe things like hot chocolate machines bother her. Perhaps her till is unbalanced. Maybe she’s unbalanced. I hope that whatever makes her choose not to smile is not something that turns out to be insurmountable, because no one should have to live a miserable life.

Her scowling has become contagious, and the rest of the formerly pleasant staff have turned very quiet and apathetic towards their duties. I have noticed this on my last couple of visits. If the store is dead silent when I walk in, it means she’s the shift leader.

So today I decided to smile at her. It was a happy, well-intended smile. I even said, “Have a good day.”

Nothing was returned aside from a blank stare. Apparently my smile was not contagious enough. Maybe I’m spooky. Perhaps she found my intentions to be creepy. Whatever the reason, she decided not to return the smile. That’s all well and good and as I said before, I hope she can find a reason to smile at least once today.

As I left Dunkin’ Donuts I made the choice to continue smiling. And for me, that in itself is a reason to smile.

5 June 2013 by Fun and Games Dept 1

Let’s Dance.

Someone made a “Pride Remix” of “Dance Your Pain Away” by Agnetha Fältskog. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: The album “A” is outstanding.

Enjoy!

4 June 2013 by DJ 0

Schedule.


A few weeks ago during a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor I made the off-handed comment that I’m not really a morning person. I’m not at my most productive in the morning. Sometimes I struggle more than normal in forming a coherent sentence that uses words in a known language.

I’m just not wired to be chipper at sunrise.

After making this comment, my supervisor gave me the OK to go ahead and try mixing up the schedule a bit, perhaps starting at 10 a.m. or something like that.

Quick aside, I realise how fortunate I am to have that sort of flexibility with my career. It’s one of the reasons that overall I like my job.

I decided to mix up the schedule this week and compromise from my usual 8 to 5 and work 9 to 6. For the most part it worked out fine when working from home yesterday; I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before so I could sleep in later than usual. The only time that it got a little off-center when was Earl was ready for supper to commence and I was still working. But for the most part it was so far, so good.

Today I am working from the office and I continued the 9 to 6 trend. As I made my way along my commute through the back roads of Central New York, I came to the quick realisation that this just wasn’t going to work for me. My morning had started with an air of uncertainty. I felt like I was wasting time. Something just felt off and it felt like I had just put myself through another round of Daylight Saving Time.

When I got to work I sent Earl a message letting him know that I would be back on 8 to 5 tomorrow. Yep, I’m like that, sometimes my decisions are like flipping a switch.

The truth of the matter is, when I’m in the mood to work on a work project I’ll work on it, even if it’s the middle of the night and I’m theoretically off the clock. I like writing code and figuring out the problems associated with writing and maintaining applications. If I have a brainstorm, I’ll work it out whilst watching “Big Bang Theory” or something like that with Earl whilst sitting on the couch. If I can’t get to a computer, I’ll jot the brainstorm down and work it out when I can get to a computer. I’m now one of those guys that I used to see at bigger tech firms who would just spontaneously start writing on a whiteboard in a hallway (which had been installed for that very purpose). I’m one of the “white cocktail napkins” notes guys.

I don’t think this is a bad thing.

It’s a small wonder that Earl hasn’t just resorted to calling me Sybil, because I’m the type of guy that needs structure who thinks in a very unstructured manner. I want to be spontaneous as long as the plans are all in place. I want to work on my own and autonomously as long as you tell me what to do. Give me a goal and I’ll produce results, but there will probably be many twists and turns between point A and point B.

It works, I guess.

The one nice thing about this temporary variation in my schedule today is that I have no need to take a nap during this lunch hour. Maybe I’ll catch up on email or something.

4 June 2013 by Ponderings and Musings 1

Pride.

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I stumbled upon an article on Google+ about Google Pride, the initiatives being taken by Google for Pride Month, in recognition of it’s LGBTQ employees. It’s always good to see companies recognize and celebrate the diversity of their employees. I always consider this sort of thing when out looking for the next chapter in my career.

I started my tech career working for DEC, or the Digital Equipment Corporation, which at the time was based in Maynard, Mass. (DEC is now part of Hewlett-Packard). My first gay pride parade was in Boston in 1989, when I joined many colleagues in the group BGLAD, Being Gay or Lesbian at Digital. Like the efforts described by Google, Digital was supportive of BGLAD and another group within the company, DECPLUS (DEC People Like US), and provided resources so that we could show our pride in the parade with banners and everything. It felt good to work for a supportive company and I have been fortunate enough to work for other companies that are supportive (to varying degrees) as well. I’ve been out in my career for a long time and that’s something that I’m very proud of, if one can be proud of just being themselves. A fellow Google-Plusser mentioned it best, it’s not so much that I’m proud of being gay but rather that I just lack shame for being gay.

I wish we lived in a time and place where we didn’t need Pride festivals and parades, where LGBTQ folks were considered to be completely part of the norm. I don’t need a day to be gay at Disney because I’m always gay at Disney. But until we come to the realization of that time and place that I dream of, there will be the need for Pride Month with the parades and the festivals and the drag queens and the dykes on bikes and the leathermen and all the millions of other folks that are just being themselves.

I think our family needs to go to the Boston Pride parade this weekend.

3 June 2013 by Gayish. 0

Lake George.

So Earl and I decided to go for a little ride in the Jeep this afternoon. As if we didn’t do enough driving last weekend with our 13 hour ride home from Chicago, we just wanted to get out and do some exploring. We decided to head in the general direction of East.

We are currently stopped for a few moments to enjoy the air conditioning in this very spacious Starbucks just outside of Glens Falls.


After driving through the southern Adirondacks for a little while, we found ourselves in Lake George. Well, actually we were in Lake George Village, because being literally in Lake George would probably be a little rough on the Jeep and on us.


It’s Americade weekend in Lake George, so the village was hopping with lots of bikers and their families. We stopped for a bit and enjoyed a munchie or two and a beer on the deck of Shepard’s.


Earl had Saranac Blueberry Blonde and I enjoyed a Magic Hat No. 9.

After our one beer each and our munchie, we walked along the waterfront and enjoyed the views of the lake and the people milling about.


In one of the shops we ran into a couple of bears. Being in the Adirondacks, there are bears everywhere.


Earl is pictured with George, so named because we met him in Lake George. He is wearing a raccoon hat and has decided to come home and live with us and the rest of the bears.

We are now en route to our next adventure of the day. We have no idea where it will be.

1 June 2013 by Fun and Games Dept 3

TP.

So Earl and I went out on a little date night to the Armory Square area of Syracuse. We had a few cocktails, we enjoyed a nice meal together at the Empire Brewing Company and we had some great conversation. After our little adventure at the brewery, we decided to go for a walk before returning to the Jeep.

That’s when I discovered that I needed to find a restroom. Beer has that effect on me.

I quickly navigated us to a nearby Starbucks, where I hastily ordered an unsweetened green iced tea and asked for the code to gain access to the men’s room. Armed with the code and with Earl installed to pick up my tea, I made my way to the restroom and did what I had to do.

A sigh of relief.

As I started to get myself back together and presentable to the public, I was disheartened to discovered that the one-seat restroom was completely out of toilet paper.

Oh noes!

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I looked around and found no place anywhere in the small room where extra toilet paper could be hiding. There was no cabinet under the sink. The public restroom certainly has no need for a medicine cabinet. I guessed I would have to settle for paper towels.

Except I was in Starbucks.

Where every thing is “green” and “environmentally friendly.” (Plastic cups notwithstanding).

No paper towels.

No extra toilet paper.

No tissues.

There wasn’t even a well-read copy of Reader’s Digest.

The only thing available was a hand dryer and I had no idea what I was going to do with that in this situation.

I improvised. How I improvised shall be left to the gentle reader’s imagination, but I will say this, from this day forward I shall always grab a napkin or two before entering a Starbucks restroom. Just in case.

31 May 2013 by Why. 3

Popularity.

Far and away, the most popular blog entry on “Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity” is an entry about the old WT Grants Department Store chain, as inspired by my spotting of a former GRANTS sign on the side of a barn at a place called Grant’s Farm Market.

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Through the original blog entry, I have learned that the pictured sign came from the store at the current Shoppingtown Mall in the Town of DeWitt outside of Syracuse.

The blog entry has given many former Grants employees the opportunity to reconnect. I’m happy that I was able to provide them this opportunity.

There are worse things in the world to be popular about.

31 May 2013 by Geek 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!

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