J.P.

When I sit down to write a blog entry there are a lot of variables to be taken into account. Well, before we jump into that I have to clarify. In my head there are two types of blog entries that I write; I think of one as a “blog entry” and I think of the other as a “real blog entry”. I haven’t written what I consider to be a real blog entry in a while; the last was probably the entry about my childhood memory of riding on Bus 49. “Blog entries” contain the snippets of music videos and are like my journal entries. They talk about day-to-day stuff and come skimming off the top of my head. “Real blog entries” come from the bottom of the pot: they cook like a fine stew in my head for a little bit before I sit down and write them and then I occasionally wait a while before I hit the “Send to Weblog” button on my software.

One of my friends was attending grad school (through online courses) while she was working in the same job that I currently have. Our jobs were basically identical. She could write a twenty-page thesis on the socialisation of the Pussycat Swallowtail Butterfly in between incoming tech support calls that would drive a mortal insane: one involved a woman that wanted us to let more wire through her wall so she could move her phone, the other, a man that wanted to know why his computer screen was blank (the power was out). Yet, in between diagnosing issues, fighting with various telecommunication agencies and listening to the inane chatter that she was often subjected to, she was able to bang out a paper in no time. How she accomplished this I’ll never know, but she always cracked an “A”. It’s probably because she’s just wicked smart. I once tried to write a paper for English 101 on the novel “My Antonia” in the same fashion and I just couldn’t do it. I attribute my failure at the task to lack of focus. Or perhaps it was just ADD. Is that the same thing?

When I write a “real blog entry”, many conditions have to be met. The moon has to be full, I have to be in a special garb and incense must be burning. Actually, I’m wrong on those three conditions, that’s for something else that I do from time to time. In reality, when I write the space I’m writing in has to be relatively silent. I can deal with the hum of fluorescent lighting (and electronic goodies) or the ticking of a clock but I can’t have any sort of music playing on iTunes, a television blaring or a conversation taking place within a pre-determined radius (usually 1 to 2 miles). If I can hear it and it sounds intelligible (or bright and shiny in an aural sort of way), it’s going to distract me and then we have that whole ADD thing kicking in again. Earl occasionally gets offended when I sit down to write whilst are computers are back to back and I then choose to move into the bowels of the basement where it’s quite and all I can hear it the drip of the toilet leaking. Ironically, I can write a real blog entry in the middle of an internet cafe when I’m loaded up on sugar and there’s a whole lot of nonsense going on around me. Maybe the sugar helps make the nonsense turn into white noise or something.

Another condition that has to be met is that this all has to take place on the right computer. I have mentioned many times that I have MacBook Pro that’s not even a year old. It replaced my PowerBook G4 that I purchased in 2005. I loved my PowerBook and still use it for my music and sound editing work. I have considered parting with it but then I type on it for a few moments and it feels like an old friend. I feel very, very comfortable when I have my PowerBook on my lap. My MacBook Pro basically looks identical to the PowerBook but it just doesn’t ‘feel’ the same. The keyboards are nearly identical (despite the missing  [apple logo] on the command key) but they certainly don’t feel identical. The PowerBook’s keys are robust and feel confident, the keys on my MacBook Pro feel just a bit mushier. I make a lot of mistakes typing on the MacBook Pro, I think I’m going to wear out the delete key much faster. Nevertheless, I trudge along with the MacBook Pro because Apple is slowly killing off support for the older machines. So I guess I’ll have just to keep using this computer to make myself more comfortable with it. I know, it’s a nearly state of the art unit and I’m bitching about it. There are times when people think I’m never happy.

That’s not true at all.

I have read that some writers prefer a typewriter to a computer while others prefer their own penmanship to a typewriter, so I guess I don’t feel alone in seeking out the right conditions for writing a real blog entry.

Just as long as the toilet isn’t dripping on me.

With the weather warming up just a little bit for a few days I am really getting in the mood to do some sort of activities outdoors. I really want to get on my bike, but it’s going to be at least a month before I can even think about getting out there and hitting the road. Perhaps I’ll start taking walks.

One of the good things going on though is that Earl and I are going on a week-long vacation beginning on Sunday. We are going to Walt Disney World. It’ll be good to get some sun; there hasn’t been a lot of that up here lately. I’m hoping to stick to my weight loss goals during the vacation though; past experience with trips to Disney say that I’ll gain some weight, let’s hope I can reverse the trend with this trip.

I just confirmed yesterday that I have another trip on the horizon. In March I am going to Oklahoma City for training for work. The classes are on a Thursday and Friday; I am going to take the opportunity to stay out there for the weekend and fly back on Sunday. I am looking forward to the adventure.

Last night Earl and I celebrated my being off-call by going to one of our favorite haunts, Zebb’s, for a casual supper. To celebrate the dry roads we took the Acura out for the first time in two months. It felt good to speed along in my prized rice burner.

So Bill Gates was at a technology conference of some sort, which was populated with a lot of important technology related people, and when he went on stage he talked about malaria and mosquitos. He then opened a jar he had brought with him and let the mosquitos mingle amongst the others in attendance at the conference.

‘Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,’ Gates said while opening a jar on stage at a gathering known to attract technology kings, politicians, and Hollywood stars. ‘I brought some. Here I’ll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected.'”

This is a brilliant thing. I like his “in your face” attitude when it comes to his philanthropic work. He is one of the richest men in the world and it seems that he is using the power that title garners and doing good things with it.

I like that.

I like it so much that I have to admit that there are times when I think of jumping back into the world of Windows in an effort of supporting his efforts. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does some amazing things. I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was considering supporting their efforts by considering buying a Dell (PRODUCT) Red laptop to replace my MacBook Pro. I think it’s more important to give back to the world instead of just making a statement with a pretty piece of computer hardware. Not that I don’t love my Macs, because I do, but there are times that I really don’t like the smugness often found in the vicinity of a Mac. It’s usually the users that’s acting smug. I can be one of them at times.

If you’re going to be smug, you should do it in the name of a greater good, like when you open the jar of mosquitos on stage in front of some really important people.

Here’s a link to Yahoo!’s take on the story.