J.P.

Just A Saturday.

Earl and I spent the day doing a little shopping and enjoying the early autumn in the Jeep. We made the obligatory stop at the closest Apple store in Albany and picked up a few goodies. I thought I had Earl talked into an iMac or a G5 tower, but the time isn’t quite right yet! So we settled on a couple of firewire hubs to hook up our gadgets simultaneously and some notebook stands for my PowerBook and his iBook. Since we both use our notebooks as our primary computers, these little stand things make them much more comfortable to use.

We also saw “Flightplan” starring Jodie Foster. I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of the movie, but I found the last part to be a little anti-climatic but still good nonetheless. It was a sold out show and I only heard one cell phone ring during the entire show, so the four or five “turn your cell phone off now” messages prior to the movie seem to have done the trick. I highly recommend the movie; it’s good to see Jodie Foster back on the big screen.

How Did We Ever Survive.

As I was walking from my office building to my car today, I decided to be a law abiding citizen and crossed the street using the crosswalk instead of jay walking further up yet closer to my car. This is where I made a grave error. You see, as I was using the crosswalk, as instructed by the flashing LED constructed picture of a sexless figure walking, a white Ford Explorer decided that I would look better as road kill. I stopped just short of getting my feet run over by a rancid fruitbag of a woman yakking on her cell phone while ignoring the traffic signal in front of her.

Now I know that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that if you’re going to talk on your cell phone while driving (which is illegal in New York State), then go ahead and do it and stop trying to dodge cops or wrestle with that ugly handset. I suppose this is an example of the universe telling me “Ha ha! The government knows best, that’s why it’s illegal, ha ha!”

I want to know when everyone became so damn important that they had to yak on their cell phone whereever they may be. Are people so full of themselves and so self righteous that they think that they need to be available to their public every single, solitary second of the day? What happened to a little “down time”? The morning commute was your chance to organize yourself for the day, maybe win a contest on the radio and breathe in the sunshine and exhaust fumes. Now everyone is busy making appointments with their metrosexual stylist, yelling at the kids for making toast with the clothes iron and calling ahead for Dunkin Donuts buckets of coffee all via their cell phone.

Is there no peace in this country anymore?

I remember going to the “Hall of Presidents” at DisneyWorld back in ’96 and enjoying an interesting, engaging exhibit. It was magnificent, as each animatronic president said his piece and reminded us about the honor of being an American. I remember going to the same exhibit in ’05 and having to listen to Zelda screech at her kids over her Nextel walkie talkie for not meeting her next to the teacups at the appointed time. I ask you, how can Abraham Lincoln speak with dignity among the myriads of “beep beep” from those infernal Nextel phones or tinny, low fidelity renditions of “When The Saints Go Marching In” or “The William Tell Overture”? “To hell with American history, I want to know when I’m meeting my wife for a shaved ice!”

I think I’m becoming a little hostile towards cell phone users. A couple of weeks ago while we were at the State Fair, some moron would walk by, talking away on his cell phone and completely oblivious to the fact that he had just stomped on my foot, knocked an innocent grandma out of her wheelchair and that the cow ahead of him was not his girlfriend and was in fact shitting on his shoe. I would simply proclaim in a very loud, obnoxious, stage presence to the back of the auditorium voice, “OH MY GOD I’M AT THE STATE FAIR AND I MUST MAKE A CELL PHONE CALL RIGHT NOW!”. Then I’d raise my Motorola up like Kunta Kinte and genuflect. I would then proceed to dial random digits and order a pizza for the 10 people around me.

Unfortunately my attempt at humor was not noticed. People were too busy listening for their phones to ring a tinny, low fidelity version of “Da Dip”.

This Fan Film Thing.

Inspired by discovering the fan film “Star Wars: Revelations” yesterday, I did a little research online and found an absolutely wonderful fan film project in the spirit of Star Trek. There’s a complete episode documenting an adventure of the “Starship Exeter”, with a second episode in production. Like the Star Wars fan film, I am in awe of the cinematography and special effects involved with these productions! You can take a peek at the Starship Exeter project at starshipexeter.com. I’m particularly impressed with the teaser/titles clip of “The Tressaurian Intersection”. Go all the way to the end and watch the opening credits and listen to how good the music is! Wicked cool! I haven’t had goosebumps listening to music in a long while, but I got goosebumps when I heard that original piece.

These projects remind me of a lame attempt to film a “fan film” of Bewitched back in 1988 with myself as a flamboyant long lost relative of Samantha’s. Using an 8 mm camera, a few lights, some helpful friends, an old DEC Rainbow computer and a cat, I popped in and out, zapped a change of clothes and basically kicked up my heels as a witch like the best of them. ‘Tis a pity I lost the films in a breakup 15 years ago. I fear that they’re going to show up somewhere, someday!

I feel another project stirring on the horizon…. Hmmm….

Catch The Moment.




Lunch Time Sunshine.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Tom and I took a little sun in during lunch today. He was busy watching a bird instead of looking at the camera.

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While waiting for some software at work to do its thing, I stumbled across a “fan film” based on Star Wars today. It’s called “Star Wars: Revelations” and takes place between Episodes 3 and 4. It was filmed for around $20,000 yet the cinematography is out of this world. I was very impressed. It’s free to download (and it’s legal too!) and quite enjoyable. You can find it here.

This Bloggin’ Is Bitchin’.

When I was a kid, I always had to be reading something. The newspaper, a magazine, my grandmother’s “old ladies’ paper” (Enquirer, Star, etc.), a sci-fi book… it didn’t matter, if I wasn’t watching television or goofing off in the back 40, I was reading something. My mother one time came down as we were all getting ready for the day and I was sitting on the toilet reading the phone book. (Don’t ask why she walked on me while I was sitting on the john, now that I look back on it it seems kind of odd.) When you grow up in a small town like Pulaski, N.Y., there’s not much of a phone book to read, but I like to think that reading that phone book prepared me for my present career as a telephone man.

Anyways, I’ve found my reading habit has translated well to the world of bits and bytes. I am adding more and more blogs to my blog roll on a daily basis. I’ve shunned making fun of people in the reality television message boards and usenet groups in favor of peering into the life of someone else that is living their life out loud on the internet. Why audition for CBS when you can put it all right here, forever archived on a computer backup tape?

I have a feeling that my current enjoyment in blogging will continue. I find it all so fascinating. People talking about comics, men talking their latest conquest, writers sharing their latest toys. It’s a wonderful way to keep your finger on the pulse of the people.

It’s also a great outlet for rambling on about the most trivial of things. It’s right up my alley.

Hit The Ground Running.

There’s a certain feeling of adventure when you tackle your morning routine with an unbridled sense of urgency. I’ve mentioned that I enjoy my sleep very much. I try to sleep until the last possible second before getting ready to take on the day. It’s not because I’m dreading getting up or anything, I just enjoy my sleep.

Jumping onto IM before taking a shower is always dangerous. You see one of your friends online, say hello, and then the merriment starts. When you’ve slept until the last possible moment and then hit the ground as a social butterfly, instead of a productive member of the American workforce, you can run a little late. So you slap two pieces of turkey between mustard laden bread, give the cat his piece of turkey, drink a glass of cranberry juice, eat a bowl of raisin bran while taking a shower at the same time (kidding), shave and brush your teeth while sitting on the john (still kidding), iron your clothes while you’re wearing them (am I kidding?), kiss the cat, put on the pager and then jump into your car and fly down the expressway at 80.

I love mornings.

For The Love Of Video.

Ain’t technology grand. I’m finding myself using iChatAV more and more these days. Now my mother is on there (through AOL Instant Messenger) and we’re video chatting back and forth. Once my sister gets her internet connection going while she’s in Russia, it will be a much cheaper way to keep in touch!

My little indicator over there on the right side of my blog page lets you know when I’m online if you want to drop a line and say hello.

Now I have to remember to keep my clothes on.

Crockpot Goodness.

Keeping within the Domestic Diety theme of the week, I got up early this morning and got a head start on preparing tonight’s supper.

Now that you’re back upright after falling on the floor, shall I continue?

Earl does most of the grocery shopping for our happy little household. He likes to go to the big supermarket that’s reasonably close to us (it’s called Hannafords), put on his iPod and buy the necessities for the week. I usually drop a fair number of hints of what I’d like so that I can get in on the Emeril game and he obliges. This past Sunday I mentioned that it might be fun to fire up the crockpot again and get into autumn mode. He picked up the necessary ingredients for a couple nights of crockpot fun.

Tonight we are having pork tenderloin with carrots, potatoes and celery. He picked up this little seasoning packet that made the whole process so easier. Just slice, dice, cut, add water and spices and set the crockpot to auto-shift. Even a fool like myself can do it.

I much prefer having to put out the extra effort to do things this way rather than finding some microwave-able frozen dinner, pulling back the cellophane and punching in “5-0-0” on the keypad and hoping for something good to come out of it. I’ve mentioned before that though I grew up with the Radarange/microwave, I don’t really trust it and they’re going to find that it’s bad for you any time now.

I’m looking forward to tonight’s crockpot dinner. I’m so giddy I could hug the crockpot itself.

Now I think I’ve gone a little overboard.