Ponderings and Musings

While Earl and Jamie are getting ready to attend a wedding this afternoon, I’m spending some free time touring around the back roads of Boulder County Colorado before heading up to visit friends in Cheyenne later this afternoon.

I’ve been driving along U.S. Route 287 when I came across Longmont, Colorado, a charming town that feels quite prosperous, with a very nice “traditional” downtown area.

Longmont has one of those downtown areas that is still quite pedestrian friendly. U.S. 287 doubles as Main Street and is two lanes in each direction. There’s a median down the center of the street. Traffic is slowed down to 25 MPH and there are plenty of pedestrian crossings both at street corners and midway through blocks. As a Civil Engineer, I can appreciate the “traffic calming” measures in place. There are plenty of trees and other landscaping features. Restaurants, shops and the like line both sides of Main Street. I didn’t see a lot of empty store fronts. There were a few people on the street. The vibe was a friendly one.

I found a barbershop along Main Street and barber Jeff cleaned me up for $20.00. Elite Barber Shop is the oldest business in downtown Longmont, having been around for well over a century. The current owner has had the shop since 1972. Like the vibe of the downtown in general, the folks in the barbershop were quite friendly and chatty; I never felt like an outsider. It was like a step back into time where folks were a little bit friendlier to one another and the pace was just a tad bit slower. I enjoyed the change (and my face feels amazing!)

My paternal grandparents spent much of their retirement traveling the United States on month-long road trips and both would comment that once you got out of the Northeast one would find that folks are much friendlier. While I do find that we do have friendly folks back home, I have to mostly agree with their observations for I’ve found the exact same thing. Striking up a conversation with a stranger when I’m traveling comes a lot easier to me than when I’m back home.

I look forward to the opportunity to visit this area again. This is my third or fourth time in the Greater Denver Area and I’ve always liked my experiences here.

As a bonafide geek I can’t help but be excited about the future. While the Digital Revolution is well underway, it is my suspicion that we’re only see the tip of the iceberg of what technology can do for us. Fairly recent developments in the Amazon Echo, the just announced Google Home and the rumored “Siri2” device coming from Apple indicate that we will be talking to our devices more and more over the next few years. I’ve already integrated some of these early offerings into our setup at The Manor; last week I showed Earl that he could tell his iPhone to turn on the lights in the Great Room and the lights would usually obey his command. The only thing he doesn’t like about the setup is my tendency to yell “Hey Siri” at the top of my voice. I guess I can be shrill.

Talking to our home or our appliances or whatever is just part of the vision I see building for our future. Honestly, I think Google was onto something with their Google Glass implementation a couple of years ago. Heads up displays feeding us information from our “personal knowledge graph” is wicked awesome. I’m hopefully that we will see something as depicted in the film “Her” before the end of the lucid portion of my lifetime. Digital assistants that work for us, tailored to us and are not fueled by scraping our data for ad revenue is the ideal for me. I don’t mind technology knowing where I am and what I’m doing; what I don’t like is that data being sold to companies so they can shove tailored ads in my face. I’ll pay for my play, thank you very much.

One of the concerns I have with these blossoming advances in technology is that social norms are not going to keep up with the tech. There are folks out there that are quite rude with their smartphones, blaring out their conversations, their dubious selections in music or other things that are inherently personal. Back in my youth folks would have had some sort of fit if I walked into a restaurant and started playing The Human League on my boom box. I don’t know why some think that it’s OK to do the same with their music today just because the device is smaller.

And they called the 80s the “me” decade.

But back to the future (ha!), I’m curious as to whether folks are really comfortable with being connected to the rest of the world 24/7, with data streaming to their glasses or even contact lenses. Like in the movie “Her”, would you want a little bug of a device in your ear with a pleasant chime followed by a pleasant voice? I know I would. I would also like such an assistant to help keep my sanity by maintaining “Inbox Zero”. The is a manual process that takes a lot of my organic CPU time, mostly filtering out junk that I will never need.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference is just around the corner and I am quite excited to hear about the plans the company has for the future.  I think our exciting times lie just ahead.

The sunshine beckons and helps me feel motivated to get on with my work day. I’ve decided to skip my daily walk today; as I needed the time to pack up the hotel room. Looking outside and seeing the calmness of Downtown Greenville engulfed in beautiful weather is ramping up my motivation levels.

Every day can be a good day. Just find a reason to make a great.

So I’m traveling for work this week. Earl is traveling for work this week. At the end of the week, we will meet up with Jamie in the greater Denver area to visit friends, go to a wedding and a long weekend of vacationing. It’ll be good to all be in the same place for a change.

I spent the late afternoon and evening exploring the greater Greenville, S.C. area. I like what I found; there are some really nifty houses in the Greer area. It’s close to an airport, it’s a reasonable commute to the office and the houses have some of the mid-century charm that I adore. We are still a couple of years from relocating but I feel confident that we would be comfortable in Greenville.

I’m getting ready to dive into the work week tomorrow and it’s a good feeling. Perhaps it’s being in the nicer weather where spring has sprung for real.

Friday night Earl and I were sitting in the movie theatre waiting to be enthralled by “Captain America: Civil War” when a message popped up on my phone. A pilot friend asked if I had any interest in purchasing his airplane. I’ve flown his airplane on a couple of occasions; it’s in beautiful shape and is not as old as the two airplanes I fly as part of the flying club. It is meticulously maintained. The last time I flew it I mused to myself that I wouldn’t mind owning that airplane.

So Earl and I decided to go ahead with the preliminaries of the airplane purchase. There’s quite a bit involved with buying an airplane and one of the biggies is crunching the numbers to make sure you’re not going to go so far into debt that you end up buying an airplane that you can’t afford to fly. The Budgeting Department declared that we were good there but we were getting close to the upper limits of the purchasing budget. The Budgeting Department then skipped town for the week in the name of work. I’ve spent the last several days putting together the required paperwork for financing, working with aircraft mechanics and trying to find an insurance company that would insure a pilot like me. I was eating, sleeping and spending all my free time involved with all things airplane.

Without getting into the weeds, after speaking with the aircraft mechanic, the airplane was indeed in excellent shape and would make a fantastic short-term purchase for me, but if I was going to further my pilot career and start flying in the clouds and such, it’d take a considerable chunk of change to upgrade the avionics.

I decided to counter the asking price with another offer. After a few hours of consideration, the owner decided not to sell the airplane after all.

Nothing lost, nothing gained.

So I’m back in the market for my own airplane and in the meanwhile I’ll continue to fly the two airplanes that I co-own in the flying club. I’ve been using the month of May as a turnaround point to try to take a more positive spin on life so this experience has been an awesome learning experience. Am I disappointed? Perhaps a little bit, but I now have a better sense of what I want, what I’m looking for and how I’m going to get it.

My dreams continue to fly.

The nearby city was recently named the sixth most distressed city in the United States. This title goes hand in hand with a ranking the city achieved in 2013, when it made the “Top 10 Most Miserable Cities in the United States” list. Consistency is something that cities should strive for but these particular accolades are probably not doing this area any favors.

Looking for a little pick me up, I decided to research the most modern cities in the world. Surprisingly, out of the Top 10 Cities that are considered the most modern by this list, only one of them is in the U.S. and that was San Francisco. So I sat back and reflected and realized that while U.S. cities do have a lot of charm, we’re really not that advanced here.

This is a bit disappointing to me.

I feel like society, and as an extension of the will of society, our political process is holding us back from our full potential. It seems like we’ve lost the spirit of team work and we are more interested in breaking off into factions focused on their own interests instead of advancing our country as a whole.

Modern cities worldwide have WI-FI available. High speed rail is everywhere. Skylines have green spaces on top of their buildings. The societies of these modern metropolises embrace progressive thinking around societal issues (family benefits, same sex marriage, etc.)

They’re looking forward, not clinging onto the past.

I’ve been following the flight of Solar Impulse, a solar powered airplane that is making a voyage around the world. There’s no fossil fuel involved with this aircraft, it is completely powered by the sun. This morning it took off in the early morning darkness, with absolutely no fuel on-board, only the batteries charged by the sun.

Yesterday, Elon Musk’s Hyperloop Transport concept had its first test in the Nevada desert. When this idea comes to full fruition, the Hyperloop will transport passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in about 30 minutes.

These achievements are beautiful things, but we need to band together as a country and stop all of this divisive bickering and shun the negativity that is pervading our society. Honestly, there shouldn’t be a list of the most distressed or miserable cities. Instead of touting these articles for click-bait and ad revenue (notice I didn’t link to them), our efforts should be focused on moving into the future in a positive direction.

Maybe then we’ll catch up with the rest of the world.

With our regular viewing of new 2015-2016 TV episodes coming to a close with the season finale of “Madam Secretary” (which was awesome), Earl and I have been searching for a television series that will keep us engaged, yet not too bogged down with negativity over the summer. Of course we could entertain the thought of just keeping up with the elections, but quite frankly I am so burned out on what is happening with these campaigns I am currently at the point where I want to check box D, “None of the above” and just be over with it.

We were spinning around randomly on Netflix when we came across a series that we both had heard a lot about but had never really made an investment. That series is “Scandal”.

I knew Shonda Rhimes was involved in some way with the show, so it was safe to assume that it would fit a certain formula that is common in Shondaland (story arcs over multiple episodes, a semi-serious storyline, a funnier storyline, a storyline that advances the season arc, etc). So we sat down and dialed up Season 1 Episode 1.

We really enjoyed it. I won’t say that we loved it but we liked it a lot and it showed promise.

Tonight we watched Episode 2 and now we are invested. I like the idea of an “outsider” being involved with governmental affairs. I like the plot twists and turns. The show feels familiar without feeling overdone. Kerry Washington as lead character Olivia Pope is like able and relatable. The only distraction I’ve had with the show thus far is the Quinn Perkins character played by Katie Lowes. I can’t shake the fact that she seems like an Ally McBeal knock-off with her stuttering, lawyer-esque ways. All that’s missing is a dancing baby.

I understand that “Scandal” is currently in its fifth season, so we have 100 or so shows to watch to catch up on the program but I think we can make that happen over the summer.

At least we didn’t resort to reality shows. Or the election. Or both.

Ambience.

I’ve discovered that late in the evening is not my best blogging time. I read about humorists, bloggers and the like writing their best work in the middle of the night, but my brain doesn’t seem to be wired for that sort of creativity at this hour. I think I’m more of a lunch hour writer. Back when I worked in an office not far from the house, I would dash home during my lunch hour, have a bite to eat and write a blog entry. When I commuted 55 miles to the office, I would sneak off to a parking lot near the local Dunkin’ Donuts and write while sitting in the Jeep. Things were happening around me then and I felt motivated to share my life experiences through words. I enjoy writing things down.

Now that I work at home full time, I find it a little more difficult to be creative when it comes to writing. I find this a little surprising, because as I recall, many authors work in their home offices. Erma Bombeck had an old door balanced on two shelves and some sort of typewriter that she enjoyed while writing in her bedroom. I’ve read that Jennifer Saunders writes her scripts in long hand. I know technology blogger Paul Thurrott writes from home, though I don’t know how his home office is set up.

I’m currently sitting at the kitchen table, typing on my iPad Pro using an application called Ommwriter. I haven’t used this application in a number of years and I have to admit that I’m surprised that it works on this latest technology from Apple. The application hasn’t been updated in a couple of years. The latest update has all new music, but these new tracks fill the intent of the original in that I feel like writing when I have these ambient sounds resonating in my head. The shifting colors of the display behind my words are also inspiring.

I think I have a novel or two bouncing around in my head. When I go for my morning walk before work I try to go along a route that has little chance of becoming a spectator sport, because I sometimes work out science fiction storylines out loud. Some of my musings are a continuation of a story I have read in the past, or a tangent off a familiar television show or movie. I’m not interested in rebooting or making my own; I’m more of a fan of continuing an established universe. I don’t know if I’ll ever write these story ideas down. Perhaps I should just sit down, crank up the ambient tunes and just let the words flow through my fingers. I can never thank my mother enough for teaching me how to properly type when I was still in elementary school. 40 years later I can still type over 100 words a minute. Typing my words comes naturally to me.

Maybe I try too hard.

Earl and I are at our local Panera again tonight. Many of the local restaurants in this area are closed on Sunday and those that were open today were focusing on Mothers’ Day festivities with brunches and the like. We were in Syracuse earlier today for a lovely brunch with my Mom, sister and nephew, but we wanted something small and relatively healthy so we opted for a quick bite at the local Panera. It is busier than I expected it to be.

I’ve been catching up on Facebook today. Amongst all the wonderful photos of folks with their mom or memorial photos posted along the same theme, there was a post from a local class mate talking about the school board’s plan to put some sort of security wall across the lobby of the elementary school I attended. This school was built in 1939 and was built in Art Deco stylings that were popular at that time. The lobby has marble walls, a grand staircase that fanned in two directions to an overlook from the second floor above. Hundreds of photos have been taken on that staircase. There are glasses trophy cases set into the walls that frame the lobby. Walking into that lobby is like taking a step back into time.

Except now the current school board feels it needs a security wall down the middle of it. To the best of my knowledge there has never been any sort of threat against the school, it’s just what we do in the United States today. We overreact to an isolated incident and convince ourselves that if it happened there, it’s going to happen here. Whenever I hear a grand speech of how Americans are resilient and strong and the best citizens in the world, I have to smirk and roll my eyes, because that is hardly the case. I can’t imagine that folks in other societies live in constant fear of some sort of manufactured boogey man.  Yes, there was an awful school shooting in an elementary school a couple of years ago. The news media, in their constant quest to gain as much ad revenue as possible by replaying the same horrific, exaggerated news stories over and over again, is successfully reprogramming the American populace to be fearful. Fearful of everything. What’s in your food? What are your neighbors up to? What is that other passenger on an airline flight writing in his diary?

Did you hear about the American Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Syracuse that was delayed a couple of days ago? A woman passenger saw a “non-American man” writing math equations in a notebook and was convinced he was a terrorist. He was removed from the flight, questioned by authorities who realized that he was a math professor and then allowed to fly on to Syracuse. The passenger that made the claim was held back for a later flight. Ignorance at its finest.

I am so tired of hearing about fear and all the terrible things that might (but most likely won’t) happen to me and/or my family. People don’t let their kids play outside anymore. Walls and gates and prison like tactics are being added to school buildings. Guards are being posted at shopping mall entrances. People are looking suspiciously at fellow citizens because they’re a little bit different. How long will it take to “chip” our kids?  If this is what we feel freedom is about in the 21st century then I want to go back to the 20th century where we were a happier place and weren’t so scared of everything. I can’t help but thing we are doing things wrong. Exaggerated response to fear is only multiplied when it’s passed from generation to generation.

When does the pendulum swing back toward rational thought?