J.P.

Layover.

We are sitting at Newark-Liberty International Airport in Terminal C waiting for our flight to Denver. The first leg of the flight was delayed for a bit, we ended up sitting on the ground in Syracuse for 40 minutes or so while the airspace around Newark got itself straightened out.

So far the flight to Denver is on time and ready to go in less than an hour.

I’ve discovered that taking photos and the like all day on my iPhone makes the battery go down pretty quick. I need one of those solar chargers in Skymall.

The adventure du jour has just begun.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

8 July 2011 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Penmanship.

The Indiana Department of Education has decided to no longer require cursive writing as a requirement of school children come this fall. They are now going to teach children keyboarding skills at an earlier age. Progress, technology and all that.

I kind of think that this is unfortunate.

Good keyboarding skills are very important in today’s job climate. I have seen many people struggle while working with a computer, simply because they didn’t have a good command of the keyboard. And I have to admit that I was very lucky in this regard; I had a habit of wanting to play with my Mother’s typewriter when I was in third grade and she said that if I was going to do it, I was going to do it right and she taught me how to type properly at that young age. People that don’t know me are often amazed at my typing skills when I sit down in front of a computer. Since I do it for a living, I have had a lot of practice. It’s one of the things that I feel confident enough to brag about.

Nevertheless, there is little in the way of expression in the typewritten word, especially with the shorter tweets and Facebook updates we see crammed into 140 characters. A person’s writing habits, the display of their penmanship, generally says a lot about their personality. I know a guy who used a ruler as a guide when he wrote his annual holiday cards. I look forward to his beautiful penmanship every year. Grandma Country had outstanding 1920/30s-era penmanship that carried on to her kids. My mother has beautiful handwriting that has the flair of someone that learned to write in cursive in the late 1950s. Earl’s dad has the penmanship that matches his charisma, as does his son, and my dad has the penmanship that displays the confidence I see in him.

Abolishing required penmanship lessons is like taking away one tool that a kid has available to him in an effort to express himself. This is unfortunate. While keyboarding skills are quite necessary, we should never take away a person’s method of expression. Teach them how to use the tools and then let them decide whether they want to use them or not.

And just for kicks… (click to make it moderately more legible)

7 July 2011 by Ponderings and Musings 2

Countdown.

Countdown is progressing. I remember people dancing to the phrase back when I was a baby DJ. The name of the song was “Theme from S-Express”. Appropriately, the artist was S-Express. Fun song. I think it was entirely made up of samples, the primary sample being “I’ve Got The Hots For You” by TZ from 1983.

Squirrel. I digress.

It is the day before vacation and I’m not really that focused today. The main task at work today is to make sure I am still productive while not breaking anything that will jeopardize any of the programs I am working on, causing them to break while I’m on vacation.

Tonight we pack. Tomorrow we hop on a jetplane. I’ll be making updates in the usual places if you’re interested in following along.

7 July 2011 by Fun and Games Dept 1

Smirk.

I have to admit that this cartoon bird makes me crack up. It’s something about the wise, happy look. It’s Jana of The Wonder Twinsin one of the Adult Swim shorts on Cartoon Network.

Screen shot 2011 07 04 at 4 47 46 PM

6 July 2011 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Interaction.

I took half the day off from work today. There were a couple of reasons for this, but the primary force for the decision was to get the results of my annual HIV test that I had two weeks ago today. I think that regardless of your sexual orientation or activities that getting a yearly HIV test is the responsible thing to do. It is a free test at the county clinics in New York State. Normally the test takes 10 minutes, but two weeks ago the clinic was out of the quickie tests so I opted for the old fashioned blood draw and anonymous tube of blood act. I had forgotten what it was like to have to actually wait for the results. I’m happy that she was so cavalier about the news when she told me. I could have had a certificate to share if I wanted to. Kind of like a USDA seal of prime beef, I suppose.

The visit to the clinic today was a study in social interaction for me. I was number 9 in the waiting room. Numbers 10 and 11 were two young guys that had apparently been recently released from a local prison. They seemed nice enough and talked about the drugs they used to do. One of the guys mentioned that he had broken into a house at Christmas time and stole all the presents. He sold the goods to fund his drug habit and it was the theft that got him the time in prison. The other guy talked about funding crack and serving time for dealing. I don’t know if they knew each other prior to their interaction in the waiting room, but there was talk about “having to be bi” in prison. I looked for the candid camera but Alan Funt was nowhere to be found. They said hello to me and asked if I knew anything about the festival being set up across the street. They liked my iPhone, they wanted to know if I was familiar with the Droid. We had a brief conversation.

I have to admit that I never thought that I would have a conversation like that. It was surreal but interesting in a way. The only threatening aspect of the whole ordeal today was the homeless guy that screamed about a pregnancy test. I don’t know what that was about.

To keep the afternoon interesting I then went to the Department of Motor Vehicles (i.e., “hell”) to return the plates that were on the Acura. The local DMV is in the train station. It is always a flurry of chaos and today was no different. Line jumpers, flying credit card receipts and screams of “you didn’t fill out the proper form!” added to the merriment. How I miss the two window DMV we had in my hometown. They were much more calm. The DMV here is your typical county run/New York State governmental agency. A whole lot of wheel spinning for a little bit of productivity. I survived though.

After I got home I was getting ready to go for a bike ride but then a major thunderstorm blew through. Tons of lightning, including a precise hit to one of the powerlines because the power was out for 2 1/2 hours.

Earl is in Buffalo, Scott is out being social (but not with prisoners) and Jamie is doing the things he usually does out and about so I’ve ended up being a geek alone this afternoon. I’m installed at the local Panera in front of a salad. I’m the one with the shirt that says “Genius Bear”.

I’m not really that cocky.

Here’s my salad.

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6 July 2011 by Fun and Games Dept Ponderings and Musings 0

Short Week.

Here it is Tuesday and it doesn’t really feel like Monday. This is a good thing because I’m not really in the mood for a Monday this week. Let the games commence.

If you follow along on my Facebook, Twitter or Google+ and you give a care, you have probably figured out that today is the first day of the commute in our brand new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. It is quite comfortable for the ride and like his predecessor, will not be eaten in. I will allow the careful sipping of drinks at this time as long as their is a straw involved.

The new Jeep was my birthday gift from Earl. When he shops, he shops big. It’s one of the more minor reasons that I love him. I was surprised and excited. My birthday is next week. I was just hoping for a nice meal.

I shouldn’t put stock in material things but I feel oddly back on kilter behind the wheel of a Jeep again. Not what I expected to it is what it is, I suppose.

We are gearing up for the Big Vacation starting on Friday. The destination is Denver for a week, with a side trip to Cheyenne. The time off will be good and I’m sure the electronic updates will be plentiful.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

5 July 2011 by Fun and Games Dept 2

Geeking.

So Google started a “field test” of their new social networking product. It is called “Google+”. My friend John was kind enough to send me an invitation last night and I have been messing around with the interface like the dutiful beta tester I used to be during my spare time over the past 16 hours or so.

I’m not going to go into a full blown review of the product or even try to cover all of the features in this initial mention, because it would be unfair to the product and unfair to the reader. I will say that it has been a very long time since I have been excited about social networking software. I’m actually liking the poking around and seeing the different ways I can share my social networking stuff with those I reach out to.

“The user experience” is what drives Google+ to be so exciting to me; they have put a lot of thought into what a user does and how they want to interact with others online in dreaming up this experience. Long story short, it’s based on circles, and they have suggested circles to start with: friends, family, following, acquaintances and the like. I’ve only added two others: work and tech, the former for work colleagues and the latter for the tech people I follow online.

Some of the features that sets Google+ apart from Twitter and Facebook include a group video conferencing service called Hangouts that I haven’t tried first hand yet but I found to be quite impressive in episode 101 of “This Week In Google” on the TWiT network. I also find the interface, especially the mobile interface, to be far superior to what Facebook offers, even in Google+’s beginning stages. They are off to a good start.

I’m excited for when more people jump on board so that we can see what this new social networking platform can really do. I have a feeling this one can really be a game changer.

30 June 2011 by Geek Ponderings and Musings 1

Letter.

An open letter to Barbara Mac Ewen, Town Clerk for the Town of Volney in Oswego County, New York.

Ms. Mac Ewen stated that as Town Clerk she can’t sign marriage licenses for same sex couples because it goes against her beliefs.

If you would like to drop her a line, she can be reached through the Town of Volney website.

By the way, Earl and I have no intentions on getting married in the Town of Volney. At about 70 miles away, we have much more hospitable town clerks to choose from closer to home. The Town of Volney is near my hometown, and that is why this caught my attention. Their biggest newsmaker used to be the landfill.

Ms. Mac Ewen:

As a former resident of Oswego County, I am always excited when the towns around my hometown make the national news. Usually it’s the record amount of snowfall in the Town of Redfield or a huge salmon in the Town of Richland, but with this go-around, the Town of Volney made the news with your declaration that your faith will not allow you to sign marriage licenses for same sex couples.

This is quite unfortunate.

Setting aside the fact that you were elected to serve the people by the people, and this includes ALL the people in the Town of Volney, there is the clear separation of church and state, something that you seem to have lost in your many years as Town Clerk.

Your unfortunate choice of words when referring to gay and lesbian couples in the Town of Volney, (I believe you referred to them as “anybody like that”), help perpetuate the belief that Central New York is still in the dark ages and inhospitable to anyone that isn’t part of a straight, white family.

While my heart sinks when I read about the type of prejudice and hate that a part of your religious beliefs, I am joyful and thank all that is holy that you were not elected Fire Chief, for one must wonder if you would leave a gay couple of burn in a house because rescuing them would go against your beliefs.

I mentioned before that I am often happy to see the small towns of Oswego County make the national news. Unfortunately, this is not one of these occasions. I am thankful that I was able to move out of the area to a New York town where they understand the separation of church and state.

Best regards and blessed be,
J.P. Wing

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

29 June 2011 by Fun and Games Dept 1

Talcott Falls.

So I’m back home from my day of exploring and I am feeling quite relaxed. Three days left in the work week and I am ready to go. w00t!

I meandered my way all over Central New York and up into the North Country today. Actually, I went out of my way to grab a photo of something that I have always wanted to capture in a picture.

Between Kellogg Hill and Watertown Center on Route 11 there is a sign proclaiming “Talcott Falls”. You have to look really quick to see it and there’s no convenient place to park to explore. There’s no park land surrounding these falls, it’s just the falls. As a kid we’d always jump to the proper side of the car to catch a quick glimpse and we were always excited to see how much water was coming over the falls.  Sometimes it would be an impressive display, other times it would be a trickle.

Today I parked along the edge of the road and walked down to where I could actually see the falls for more than a split second. And, it looks a little bit like this:

Talcott Falls

As you can see, Talcott Falls is never going to beat Niagara Falls in a competition of “who’s is bigger?”, but I felt that kid like excitement again when I walked down to where I could actually see these falls up close and personal.  I’m happy that I was able to grab a couple of photos.

After the falls it was time to head home so I got back in time for supper.  I took the opportunity to drive on one of my favorite roads in the state, NY Route 177, which goes from Adams Center to near Lowville. With the exception of Barnes Corners (blink and you’ll miss it, but listen to snowfall reports in the winter and you’ll hear it mentioned), Route 177 goes through nothing but farmland along the ridge of the Tug Hill Plateau. I find the wide open spaces to be quite comforting.

I’ve done this before, but I took a pic or two of the green energy being generated atop the Tug Hill. These guys make up the Maple Ridge Wind Farm.

IMG 2973

There was a thunderstorm at my back when I took this photo. That kept the rest of the drive quite interesting.

 

28 June 2011 by Fun and Games Dept Geek 1

Exploring.

Today is my weekend and I am using the occasion to do something I haven’t done in a very long time: go for a road trip. I’m exploring the roads of Upstate New York in the Acura, letting the summer wind blow through my, er, beard as I stick to the back roads the best I can. So far I have been within a stones throw of three revolutionary war era forts, two nuclear power plants and an international border. ‘Tis a pity I didn’t being my passport along. I’ll have to stay in the states.

Just as I find my zen when I’m riding my bike, I find a zen, albeit a different flavor of it, when I’m riding the back roads in my car on a beautiful day. It doesn’t always have to be sunny, in fact, sometimes I thunderstorm or a twister can keep it interesting, but today’s mix of sun and clouds with the feeling of a storm coming on later today is keeping it right where I want it to be. This exercise is giving me the opportunity to purge my head of extraneous thoughts and get my mind where I need to be to kick some ass at my job for the rest of the week, plus fully comprehend the joy of last week’s passage of the marriage equality bill. Earl and I are actually talking about our honeymoon and coming up with a timetable for our celebration of marriage.

I’ve filled up on some Panera food, at a very nice version of the popular chain, I must add, so it’s time to get back on the road. I’m one of those annoying people that checks in on Foursquare, so if you go to the Foursuare site you can figure out where I’m going and where I’ve been. I think I’m iMachias on there.

Happy motoring!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

28 June 2011 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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