Fun and Games Dept

We are a bunch of geeks.

So I have been shuttling my new laptop back and forth to work so that I can use it during my lunch hour whilst taking advantage of the city-wide wi-fi that is available courtesy of the company I work for. It’s a nice arrangement and now that I have settled on Linux (again!) on this laptop, I am quite content.

I am using the duffle bag that I used for my MacBook Pro and it’s predecessor, my old PowerBook G4 back in the day. All three of these computers have or had 15-inch screens so using the same bag has been a no-brainer. The bag is quite comfortable and roomy and I like the way it feels. Plus, we’ve been geeks together for a long while and it feels like an old friend.

I have gotten in the habit of not using the strap inside the case that secures the laptop down. I figured that if the case was zipped up the laptop was safe. So last night after pulling in the driveway from work I pulled my duffle bag out of the car and slung it over my shoulder like I always do.

That’s when I heard a crash on the pavement of the driveway.

I looked down and saw my two-week old laptop sitting on the pavement, DVD-ROM popped with the cover to that strewn aside.

My heart sank.

I picked up the new laptop, dusted it off, noting the new chinks in the cover and brought all the pieces into the house, where I assembled everything back together again.

Like a trouper, my new laptop fired up right where I left off at lunch. It survived.

I’m not happy about what I have done to my new laptop but I feel like we have bonded. And more importantly, it’ll always be tucked away safely in my duffle bag.

I am sitting aboard a Continental regional jet looking out the window and admiring the tops of the moonlit clouds. The date of this entry is inaccurate and moreso unimportant and the same goes for the destination. What is important is that I know I am the luckiest man in the world and I count my blessings everyday.

I have been desperately trying to shake the cynicism I have learned over the years. I looked at an old yearbook the other day and noted that I was referenced as a complainer, even back in 10th grade. That’s just awful. I don’t want to be known as the guy that was forever complaining, and while personal blogs sort of enable this behavior there isn’t a mandate that I have to be that way. So I keep conscious of these things.

The internet has afforded me the opportunity to meet some amazing people over the years. I have met those with a really positive outlook and I have known those that are having a hard time at it. I joke with Earl about the fact that we got together before the whole dot com thing and here we still are all these years later. This shows me two things: what is meant to be will be and life is what you make of it.

I mentioned earlier that I know I’m the luckiest guy in the world. It’s because I invited that luck in and was showed how to nurture it.

And then when I looked out, I noticed that the clouds had dissipated.

So last night I worked my first overnight at my new job. In addition to the usual graveyard shift workers, I joined two of my colleagues to do some very technical-like testing that could only be done during a very important sounding “maintenance window”. Yes, I’m trumpeting it to be much more than it really is. It’s all quite routine in the circles I tend to hang out in.

Because I worked from 11 to 7, I have had most of the day off today. It’s been a while since I’ve been home during the day and the change of pace has been quite nice. It wasn’t needed, mind you, but the change has afforded me the opportunity to get a lot done around the house. Laundry might actually be caught up when all is said and done tonight and now I remember what the kitchen counter looks like!

I also took the opportunity to go to my old workplace and see how all my friends are doing. Big changes have taken place in the past two months so I left but it was good to see everyone. I miss them. I don’t miss the job, but I do miss the people. I look forward to seeing them when Saranac Thursday nights start up.

In an effort to kick the Monday blahs, I played one of my favorite songs from the 80s on the ride home and it perked me up considerably.

This song is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, because I don’t recall it being overly popular in the states back in the day, but it is one of my favorites. Bonus points to whomever can name the group these ladies sang backups in prior to the release of this song. (They’re even on a couple of this group’s videos).

Here’s Pepsi and Shirlie with “Heartache”.

Has it really been 14 years since that first date that forever changed my life?

My heart soars and I still see fireworks when he walks into the room.

I am a very lucky man.

So last night I met up with Arnie from Spirit of Saint Lewis for dinner. He is vacationing in the lovely Capital District of New York and since I work relatively close to this area, I got myself a hotel room (more on that in a later entry) and spent the night in Schenectady.

Arnie and I have been chatting online for quite a while and found each other through blog rolls. A year or so ago I had the opportunity to meet him in person, though we exchanged only a few sentences because we were with a group of people in a loud restaurant. I remember the food being good, though.

Anyways, through our online chatting, reading each other’s blogs and whatnot, we knew that we would have lots to talk about so when he said he was coming to town we decided to get together and do just that. And that we did.

There’s a lot of negativity in some of the blogs I read, mine included at times, I guess, but last night ran contrary to that and it was a refreshing change of pace. Just as we suspected we had lots to talk about. We had a wonderful meal at a bistro in downtown Schenectady and then spent the evening hanging out and such.

I knew at that restaurant a year or so ago that I would enjoy spending some time with Arnie and my suspicions were right. I look forward to doing it again the next time he is in town.

Somewhere., originally uploaded by iMachias.

I was enjoying the Zen experience of my evening commute when my iPhone vibrated next to my stick shift. Amongst the eye rolls of the critics and against the letter of the law, I picked the phone up, hit the fake “Answer” button and said “hello”. It was my sister.

We exchanged some idle chit chat as well as some geek speak. During our conversation she asked me a question I have heard a lot lately, “How is the new job going?”

I answered her truthfully.

“I still can’t believe that I have this job.” She sounded worried when I said that so I reassured her with the more of the truth, “It has been my dream job since I was 20 years old, I feel like I’m solidly back on my career path for the first time in a long time and I’m making more money than I thought I would at this age. And I really love my commute.”

That last statement is in reference to what I consider the icing of this new gig. I have an hour drive in each direction on my commute. Being somewhat more of a morning person than I have in a long while, I still opt to take the fastest way possible to work in the morning: I head down the Thruway, get off at one of the many rural exits and go up the hill six miles or so to the office, which is nestled in between two small cities. The drive takes me just an hour. I have mastered navigating the small traffic jam of buses, Wal*Mart Distribution Center trucks and other commuters near the Thruway interchange. Other than that, it’s a piece of cake.

I come home at a more leisurely pace as I opt for the back roads that take me through Amish country. The ride is shorter by distance but because I can’t drive as fast, it takes a few minutes more than the morning commute. The ride is well worth it though. After some experimentation during the first week of the new job, I have come up with a route that is very rural and involves many back roads, so I see very little traffic. I do, however, see the bridge that I snapped a photo of as pictured above. This bridge is a hundred feet or so from the Montgomery-Herkimer County line. It crosses the Barge Canal (which is the modern version of the Erie Canal) and it carried the predecessor to the road I travel everyday (aptly called ‘River Road’). In the foreground is the Erie Canalway Bike Trail that crosses New York State.

While it looks like that bridge now leads to nowhere, I kind of think of it as showing me that I’m somewhere. I feel like I’m somewhere again and it’s a really good feeling.

Here’s another interesting note about my commute. As I have mentioned before, I keep a dream journal; a place where I jot down my more memorable dreams in as much detail as possible. I don’t extrapolate, I record what I dreamed of and that’s it. I was flipping through it the other night when I came across an interesting entry:

“September 19, 2003: It’s windy. Feels like mid summer. The sky is dark. I’m driving home from my job in Johnstown(?) in a black car. I’m between Canajoharie and Fort Plain. I can see the Fort Plain sign and behind it in the distance, a tornado. I pull the small car over and head for ditch as I see the tornado getting closer. The sky goes green as I jump into the ditch. The tornado passes but the car is untouched and I am safe. Then the sun came out.”

This is a little interesting, because in 2003 I never dreamed of working in Johnstown (one of the two cities that my office building is in between), nor did I drive a black car at the time (the Acura is black and was purchased in 2005) and my commute brings me between Canajoharie and Fort Plain.

Summer storm season might be interesting on my commute.

Happy., originally uploaded by iMachias.

We are back from our final day at a theme park. Today we spent the day at Epcot, concentrating mainly on the World Showcase. This is one of my favorite parts of Walt Disney World.

We decided to go clockwise around World Showcase instead of the usual counter-clockwise way, so we ended up eating lunch in China. It was quite good. Table service had no reservations left but fast food was quite acceptable and just as enjoyable so we made the best of it.

One of my favorite countries in World Showcase is that of our northern neighbor Canada. I always get chills during the circle-o-vision 360 presentation of “O Canada!” and since they updated it in 2006 it has been even more enjoyable. (Prior to 2006 the attraction played the movie dating back to the opening of the attraction back in 1982). If you have seen this attraction before, you’ll notice one scene from the first film in the second. I’ll let you figure out which one it is. The update also includes the beautiful “Canada (You’re A Lifetime Journey)”, this time sung by 2006 Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila. You can hear the track here.

We wrapped up the day by taking a spin on the GM Test Track. After the attraction you get to walk through a little showroom of the latest GM vehicles. I noted that there wasn’t any mention of the Chevy Volt; I expressed an interest to one of the attendants and she is going to e-mail me some information. Earl and I first sat in a Chevy Impala at this attraction 10 years ago and we ended up buying one shortly after our visit. Who knows, we might buy a Volt next.

All in all this has been a great trip. I feel very relaxed and centered. Tomorrow we hit the road to head back north.