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Electrician.

Originally uploaded by jp2.0.

Earl and I decided that we should continue our run of home improvement projects around the house. I find it kind of funny that we are doing this sort of thing, as we sold our last house because there were just too many projects to do.

Oh well.

We started out the fun by getting rid of some of the leftover clutter from the building of the rooms in the cellar. We intended on taking it to the dumpster at Earl’s work, but they were good employees and locked up the yard gates per Earl’s orders. This was bad for us. So now we have a load of junk in the back of the Jeep that I’ll have to take to the recycling center tomorrow.

After that run of fun, I decided that the clock in our garage (which is part of my collection of school clocks) needed to have it’s wiring hidden instead of being tacked along the wall. This involved pulling wiring through insulated walls but surprisingly it didn’t go badly and I didn’t end up drilling from the garage into the adjacent laundry room.

The relocation of the clock looks spiffy.

Now I’m currently taking a break of installing new lights in a remote area of the cellar. Earl was impressed with the fact that I was wearing safety glasses, so he snapped a photo.

Tuesday night the landscaping people come to tell us how much it’s going to cost to relocate our dirt.

Fun times in the JPnEarl household.

A Proper Spring Meal.

Originally uploaded by jp2.0.

With spring in full bloom in Upstate New York, Earl and I decided we needed to put the top down on the Jeep and go for a ride to enjoy the weather.

For those not aware of proper etiquette, it is very important to kick off roadwarrior season with a stop at A&W for curbside service. While we once had a wide selection of A&W restaurants to choose from, today we have only one in Upstate New York and that is in the fine city of Cortland. I think one of the reasons that I love the midwest so much is due to the fact that this type of A&W seem to have withstood the test of time in that area, where here many of these fine restaurants were ripped down and replaced with an indigestable Taco Bell.

For those of you unfamiliar with A&W, here’s a quick refresher: A&W is a fast food restaurant chain and some of them still offer curb side service. (We don’t consider the A&Ws that are mashed in with KFC or Taco Bell ‘real’ A&Ws, though they do serve the wonderful root beer.) They serve burgers, hot dogs, chicken dinners and have the usual assortment of fries and onion rings. They also have wonderful root beer and drinks come in a glass mug that you better not steal (it’s not nice). You park the car under the canopy alongside the other cars but be sure to stay in it. Then make your selection from the menu next to your car, press the button and then, with the utmost courtesy reminiscent of days gone by, you place your order over an intercom speaker to the friendly clerk in the restaurant, who then sends a car hop out to the car with a tray full of your food. (By the way, they’re open in the winter, where there’s a year ’round dining room – to order inside, you park at a booth, make your selection, then lift the phone and place your order to the same clerk.) They usually hang the tray on your car window so that you can dispense the food to the proper people in the car. When you’re done with your meal, you press the little “I’m done” button on the menu board and a car hop comes out and takes the tray away. You then say “Thank you” and they say “Thank you” too.

A&W is the bees knees of fast food and that’s all there is to it. Sonic may try to come close, but they really don’t. They’re too modern.

I really want to build an A&W in our area. Actually, I’d like to build several of them. We just have to win the lottery to do it.

Cycling 2007.

Originally uploaded by jp2.0.

They say the second day of exercise is the hardest. The first day you’re all jazzed up and ready to go, lofty goals and big dreams first and foremost in your thoughts.

The second day, however, you’re flooded with the soreness of your muscles, the lingering memories of yesterday’s sweat and a small sense of “why am I doing this again?”

I consider the second day of cycling the hardest to conquer, and I am pleased to say that I did so with ease today. I took a 40 minute ride through several of the local villages, clocking in around 11 miles on this ride.

I’m happy with my progress and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s journey.

We have big theatres in NY.

Originally uploaded by jp2.0.

Earl and I went to the movies tonight. We haven’t been to the movies in quite a while because, well, we haven’t really seen any movies advertised that really tickled our fancy. Couple the lack of interest with the recent rudeness of the general public in a movie theatre and it’s easy to see why we haven’t made the effort.

Eager to bask in the second day of sunlight in these parts, we went for a ride in the Jeep, passing through the local resort area on our way home (many camps and the amusement park on Oneida Lake are still closed for the season). We ended up in the city of Rome, where we stopped at the locally owned theatre and took in the showing of “Blades of Glory”.

I wasn’t prepared to enjoy this movie. I’m not a Will Farrell fan. However, I was pleasantly surprised. While I wasn’t rolling through the aisles complaining about the stitch in my side from all the laughter, I was amused during the movie and actually enjoyed the experience.

I took a picture of one of the massive auditoriums in the megamovieplex we go to.

I don’t know if “Blades of Glory” is destined to be some sort of Rocky Horror type show, but apparently two of the people behind us thought it should be because they shouted out lines and interacted with the screen as if Magenta and Columbia were doing the Time Warp. We didn’t mind though, it kind of contributed to the experience in an absurd sort of way.

On a health note, I went on my first real bike ride of the year. I’m still glowing from the adventure. I look forward to taking another ride tomorrow.

Earl and I are spending the night with family outside of Philadelphia. Last night we arrived around 10:30 and hung out with Rick and Helen, Earl’s step-brother and his fiancee. They are getting married in Ireland in October and Earl and I are going to be the witnesses at their wedding, if Earl manages to get his passport before October.

This morning I was up bright and early to jump on the internet for class registration for my fall semester. I am happy to say that I am ready to go this fall, aside from one class that I have to go through paper registration for. I find it fascinating that I can be sitting 300 miles away from the college and still be able to fight my way to the front of the line for registration.

We spend most of the day visiting with family and relaxing. The weather has been a lovely change of pace, with lots of sunshine and highs near 60.

Tomorrow morning we are heading back home, where the weatherman says we’re going to have a interesting ride in hurricane like winds, to be greeted with a nor’easter snow storm.

I’m looking forward to this being the last storm of the season.

I am typing this blog entry as Earl and I are on our way to suburban Philadelphia to visit his family. He’s driving, I’m blogging.

One of the things that I’ve noticed over the past ten years or so is that people have developed the habit of sticking in the left lane of the interstate for no reason at all. Even though signs clearly proclaim “Keep Right Except To Pass” and “Keep Right – Pass Left”, there they are, seemingly clueless drivers hanging out in the left lane, oblivious to those behind them wishing to pass. The guilty are usually yakking illegally on their cell phone as well.

I blame this trend of left lane lingering on that song that goes “life in the fast lane.” Like first class seating on an airplane, where it’s well known that the meals are better, the flight attendants are friendlier and the oxygen is more rich, those left lane huggers think that life is better in the left lane.

As an aspiring transportation engineer, I’ve had fascinating discussions with those that hang out in the left lane. “Why I just get on the freeway and move all the way over, it’s just easier.” What people don’t realize is that they’re essentially clogging up the road, creating traffic snarls behind them, all because they perceive that they’re living life in the fast lane.

It’s not the fast lane. It’s the passing lane. If you’re not passing the car next to, you do not belong in that lane.

We could save a lot of time, money and energy and devote all of this to maintaining our current infrastructure instead of building more “fast lanes” for people to hog.

I guess “Life In The Passing Lane” doesn’t sound as sexy.

New Toy.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Our new toy from Apple arrived today. I have to wait until Earl is done watching television to hook it up, but I’m ready to be watching some AppleTV.

I think you’ll be able to see some sparks fly off the iTunes account soon.

Here I’m doing my best Anitra Ford. Ten points to anyone that can name her superhero connection.

This morning I was awoken by the sounds of an approaching thunderstorm. At first I panicked as I remembered a dream for two nights ago where everyone around me that was holding a cell phone was getting struck by lightning, but then I was thrilled with the prospect of a a thunderstorm. I sat up in bed, hoping to catch a glimpse of some wild lightning flashes. I was not disappointed.

The arrival of Nature’s light and sound show means that spring is here.

I’m currently doing some homework at the kitchen table. Looking over the deck I’m watching fighter pilots (from the closed air base?) practice maneuvers over the countryside. In the distance I just heard the sound of a train go by on the “seasonal” railroad tracks that head up into the Adirondacks.

Most importantly, when I step outside I hear birds singing. Mother Nature may dust us with snow at the end of the week (which won’t be a big deal), but it is definitely spring.

Yippee!

I’ve often commented, well actually complained, about how I feel that cell phones are destroying our country. I’m really hoping that they discover that cell phones make people impotent or something  because the only way we’re going to get some peace and quiet is by threatening people that they won’t have sex anymore if they keep yakking.

Unfortunately even the House of the Mouse is not safe from this technological virus that has gripped our fine land from sea to shining sea. Cell phones have invaded Walt Disney World just as they have intruded in every other aspect of our lives.

I watched a mother scold her young son (maybe eight or nine) because he was talking on his cell phone during the boat ride through Norway (at Epcot). It’s a shame she scolded him for doing something that comes naturally when a mother gives a single-digit child a cell phone to begin with. “Here’s your cell phone, now don’t use it or I’ll smack you.” That’s just wrong. He shouldn’t have been on the phone, but he shouldn’t even have had a phone to begin with. My sister didn’t get a cordless phone until she was 15 and then it only reached about 10 feet away from the base and involved an antenna that should have received messages from Telstar. What on earth does an elementary school child need a cell phone for?

I guess because we live in a rather rural part of the country we don’t get to see the Blackberry fixations. There were Blackberries everywhere! Granted, Earl has a Blackberry for work, but he’s rather tame with his. If he starts getting a little intense with his Blackberry, I always ask him how he enjoyed Iowa last summer and then he stops. (He Blackberried through a good portion of Iowa and it begat an argument bested only by the Great Chip Encounter of 1999*). I saw many lily white (from lack of sunlight), unshaven, vacation clothed assumedly businessmen totally ignore their family, the Mouse and any safety precautions given prior to riding through Space Mountain as they tap, tap, tapped an “I Miss You darling” to their secretary back at the office.

I think I mentioned during our vacation that a couple of people near us tried talking on their cell phone during an attraction/ride/plummet through The Everest Experience until Earl gave them “the look”.

Oh this takes the cake though. Earl and I were walking through Disney’s Animal Kingdom, “Africa” to be exact. There’s a walking tour where you get to see all sorts of glorious nature and wildlife. There’s a energy in the air that just bathes you in all the Universe has to offer. You’re reminded that we are only one tiny part of this existence. The feeling is glorious.

And there’s Cell Phone Claudia sitting on a bench, with her Verizon Wireless BILL IN HAND, screaming at the customer service representative over her Motorola. She ignored nature, she ignored the Universe and my God she ignored “The Look” from Earl. So I stepped on her foot by accident.

She should have looked where she was yakking.

*I don’t think I’ve ever written about the Great Chip Encounter of 1999. I won’t go into details, but I’ll summarize by saying there was yelling, a few explosive bags of potato chips and a Great American grocery store that closed a couple weeks later.

Swim Star.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

I made an appearance at the pool today. Earl snapped quite a few photos instead of swimming. After we got back to the room I went to upload the photos from the camera and noticed a few shots of one of the lifeguards.

He must have hit the shutter button by mistake.