Watching these two effortlessly paddle upstream has helped me find my center.
Ponderings and Musings
Early Geek.
Data Terminal Systems Model 440 cash register
Last night I dreamed about working in a grocery store. In my dream I was my current age, with all the knowledge and such (the such including my Dad-bod) associated with being a middle-aged man but I was working in the Acme grocery store in my hometown. The Acme went out of business in the early 1980s but the building was quickly used as a Super Duper and later a “Big M”. The later incarnations were locally owned supermarkets.
I never worked for any grocery store in my life, though my sister worked at the “Big M” when she was a senior in high school, so I don’t know why I was dreaming about this experience but nonetheless there I was, stocking shelves, pricing items and running the cash register. I was happy, I had few cares and life felt good. Perhaps this was a way for my brain to destress. Maybe I was dreaming about grocery shopping for holiday meals.
The geek in me vividly remembers the part of the dream of me working the cash register; there was no scanning or anything but the cash register was electronic. Upon waking I could still hear the very familiar sound of the printer and I remembered how the cash register worked, since I studied these things as a young lad. I’ve mentioned before that my interest in electronic calculators and cash registers led me into my very strong interest and associated career in computer related fields. The cash register was a Data Terminal Systems Model 440, a very popular cash register found in many, many stores and other retail outlets in the mid 1970s to early 1990s. When I worked for ARC in the early 1990s, the nearby Great American grocery store still used these cash registers, but the dream definitely didn’t take place at Great American. I was definitely at the Acme.
Even though one can find just about anything on the Internet, I can’t find much in the way of Data Terminal Systems, a company that was based in Maynard, Massachusetts. This is kind of odd to me because their systems were everywhere in the 70s and 80s but one doesn’t even find systems on eBay or anything. There must be landfills loaded with these things and that’s a shame. I know that DTS was eventually sold off to National Semiconductor. I did some very brief contractor work for National Semiconductor in 1990 before moving on to my next challenge in life.
I still can’t figure out the purpose of the dream other than apparently enjoying a simpler existence, but the geek in me has enjoyed musing about the DTS cash register system this morning.
I guess I’m first and foremost a geek.
Roundabouts.
Photo courtesy of NYSDOT
Last night Earl and I were driving through town when we came to a roundabout. Because I was entering the roundabout, I yielded at the YIELD sign and looked to my left to see if there was traffic coming.
It was then that I observed a woman driving a beat up minivan entering the roundabout at the next leg to my left. She ignored all signs, all traffic in the roundabout, stepped on the gas and drove through the intersection as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, her behavior is quite common.
Many people in this area see roundabouts as scary, dangerous, incomprehensible and most importantly, un-American since they have lots of them in Europe. Because of their ties to socialism, folks ignore all traffic signs and just barrel through the roundabouts as quickly as possible, paying no heed to what’s happening with traffic at the moment. Perhaps it’s that sense of American Entitlement that gives folks “permission” to do what the hell they want at intersections with a roundabout.
As an almost Civil Engineer, I can tell you that roundabouts are safer for pedestrians and cyclists, safer for motorists (when the roundabout is used properly), safer for homes and businesses around a roundabout and better for the environment. Roundabouts keep traffic moving slowly. That’s what they’re designed to do: slow you down and allow you to navigate the intersection without having to stop (unless there’s a pedestrian crossing or conflicting traffic).
They’re brilliant!
So let’s review how a roundabout works:
1. In the United States, roundabout traffic travels counterclockwise. So, if you want to turn left at the intersection, you go around 270 degrees and exit right to make your left hand turn.
2. Traffic inside the roundabout always has the right of way. There’s no “hierarchy” of streets. No vehicle is more important than another. It doesn’t matter how much you paid for your vehicle, how big your vehicle is or how big your balls are, if you are entering the roundabout, you yield to traffic already in the roundabout (approaching from your left). Bicycles are included as a vehicle.
3. Bicycles should not be using the crosswalks or the sidewalks at a roundabout. Bicycles should travel just like any other vehicle in a roundabout. Since roundabout design speeds are around 15 MPH, a bicycle should be able to flow just like other traffic in the roundabout. And here’s a quick pro tip: bicycles should never be using sidewalks or crosswalks to begin with. Bicycles are vehicles and should be on the same side of the road as other vehicles and cyclists should be using hand signals to indicate their intentions.
4. When you are exiting a roundabout, use your turn signal to indicate that you’re turning out of the roundabout. This let’s those yielding to you know what you are doing.
5. Roundabouts are not the same as the big traffic circles and rotaries built in the 50s and 60s. They were designed for higher speed traffic. Today’s modern roundabouts are well marked and designed for speed limits around 15 MPH. You shouldn’t whip around one as quickly as possible.
Roundabouts are not hard to navigate if you have common sense. Unfortunately, common sense is a rarity these days and some motorists can’t think on their own. Bring along your common sense and everything will be fine.
Spirit.
I’m sitting here in the park along the canal near the house. It is 60ºF, the sun is shining beautifully. Aside from the limited amount of sunlight this year, today could easily be mistaken for any given day in March in this area, just with a little bit less amount of mud from snow melt.
This doesn’t really get one in the holiday spirit.
The forecasters have been saying for months that we would have a mild winter this year due to the largest El Niño in known history. So far they have been correct. A quick look at the next 10 days has more of the same temperatures and weather during that time.
If the clouds cooperate I plan on going for a night flight tonight.
I spent the first half of the week working Greenville, S.C., and it struck me that not everyone is dependent on snow to get into the holiday spirit. It’s never really dawned on me that snowflakes and over the hills and through the woods and all that is a northern thing. Jingle Bells must sound ridiculous in the desert.
It gives me a whole new perspective on the holiday season. New perspectives at my age are good.
Church.
This past weekend Earl and I attended the services in memory of my aunt and godmother after her 14 year battle with cancer. She was the daughter of an Episcopal priest and was still very active in the Episcopal church in my hometown. The minister was a younger woman who had a joyous smile with a voice and demeanor to match. I felt comfortable in this church and I enjoyed the services for what they were.
When it came time to recite The Lord’s Prayer during the service, I couldn’t help but smile as I spoke along with the congregation. I smiled because the I learned The Lord’s Prayer through the popular song by Sister Janet Mead in 1974. In my head I’m singing the tune while I speak the words along with the congregation.
There are worse things I could have learned in the early 1970s.
The idea of a church based pop tune reaching #4 on the Billboard charts today is nearly unthinkable. Perhaps I’m growing old, but I can’t help but think about how times have changed. I wonder where we’ll be 40 years from now.
https://youtu.be/j__6Eyt8uYM
Lights.
I refuse to acknowledge the existence of the Christmas Holiday season until after Thanksgiving has passed. I believe that as Americans we have a lot to be thankful for and that we should set aside time to think and reflect about how thankful we should be to be where we are today. So I’m big on making sure Thanksgiving gets its due.
On Friday we went to “Lights On The Lake” outside of Syracuse at Onondaga Lake Park. We have enjoyed “Lights On The Lake” for many years and this year was no different; Christmas music playing on the radio, holiday motifs and twinkling lights stirred up an excitement I haven’t felt for the holidays in a number of years.
I was so inspired that I put up all of our outdoor decorations on the house yesterday. I’m inspired to do more decorating outside, it’s just a matter of figuring out where to put the lights I have in the collection and how to get power to them. It’s amazing what one can do with these new LED lights; the directions on the box say you can hook up to 18 sets of 100 lights together. It was just a few years ago that you couldn’t hook up more than three sets of incandescent lights together without risking setting fire to something.
I have to admit that while I do love stringing lights all over the lawn and such, I have no interest in making them dance or blink in tune to music or compete in some sort of reality show called “Candelabra Showdown Sweepstakes” or something of that sort. Competitive holiday decorating is a symptom of everything that disappoints me about today’s modern society.
Despite enjoying modern technology and the ability to plug in 1,800 lights into one plug, I still like to keep it traditional.
Holiday Season.
With U.S. Thanksgiving just a few days away, one can safely say that the holidays are upon us. I think Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays; it hasn’t been infested by crass commercialism and it makes me think about what I’m thankful for, all the blessings I have and all of the love that I am surrounded with. Thanksgiving is a beautiful thing and it makes me smile.
Jamie and our friend phil will be enjoying us for our annual Thanksgiving feast this year. Earl did the grocery shopping yesterday while I was flying around. This was very kind of him because I am not a fan of going to the grocery store unless it’s Wegmans. And unfortunately, we don’t have Wegmans in these parts.
Today we began cleaning the house in preparation for the holidays, tackling various drawers of junk and other accumulations that were scattered about. I spruced up my office this afternoon, adding a few accoutrements to the walls. I also organized my pilot equipment. Because of my geeky/techy approach to being a pilot, I have a lot of things to charge and stow for my next flight.
Earl announced to me that he is going to start the Thanksgiving cooking on Tuesday night. I can’t wait for the house to be filled with the aromas of his culinary skills.
It’s just one of many things that I am thankful for.
Countdown.
In just under 54 hours from the writing of this blog entry, the Eastern Time Zone of the United States will be back in sync with the sun. Noon will be noon and we won’t be jimmying around with the clocks to make the sheep (and I’m not referring to farm animals) think they have an “extra” hour of sunlight.
Every time I hear someone comment that they’re happy that the day is longer during Daylight Saving Time (there is no “s” at the end of “saving”) I want to smack them. Instead I start to rant about time being relative and if they want a longer day perhaps they should get their butt out of bed earlier.
I go on and on about Daylight Saving Time around this time of year every year because for the past three weeks I feel like I have been trapped in a constant state of jet lag. It was bad enough when Daylight Saving Time ended on the third Sunday in October, but then George W. Bush pushed it to the first Sunday in November so that the trick-or-treaters could do their thing when it was still daylight, except that at 19:06 EDT, it’s not still daylight. It’s still just as dark when though rugrats go trick-or-treating, so we’re not really saving anything there.
Others counter that the “extra” hour of daylight gives folks the opportunity to enjoy daylight after work for a longer amount of time. I went for a walk during sunset this evening and no one was jogging, running, walking or spending time outdoors. The only activity I could see was the glimmer of computer monitors through unlit windows.
We need stop messing around with the clocks twice a year. We should just set the damn things one half hour back this weekend and never touch them again. If you want more daylight, get up earlier. If you want more daylight after work, go to work earlier. If you want to run around in the daylight, go running earlier. Time is relative. For those of us whose bodies are in relative sync with the actual time as dictated by the sun, going to bed when we’re not tired and getting up when we’re tired just so we can hear how much the farmers love Daylight Saving Time (they actually hate it as much as I do) is getting, well, tiresome.
In less than 54 hours it will be light in the morning again and dark in the evening and I, for one, will not be so blurry eyed and cranky because our arbitrary assignment of time will actually match what’s going on outside.
And just for that, I will go for a walk, in the dark, because I’m not afraid of the dark.
Real Time.
I’ve been trying to be more realistic with my time management skills. As a bit of a dreamer and a person that I like to think is mostly positive, I try my best to do as much as I can with the time allotted to a 24 hour day. I like to do things, I like to meet new people, I like new experiences. Unfortunately, I also like to make people happy so when the timing of an activity is on the fence, I’m more inclined to say yes instead of being realistic about the situation and saying no. This stems from not wanting to disappoint people. I can’t handle sad faces and I certainly don’t like disappointment. It’s also a part of my genuine enthusiasm for an activity. If I truly didn’t want to do something or go somewhere, I’d say no right away. If I wanted to and I was hopeful but not realistic about the timing, I’d say yes and then possibly cancel, which is kind of rude, now that I think about it.
So in the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying really hard to say no.
Saying no isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Only a couple of folks have whined about my declination of an event since I’ve been practicing this whole realistic timing thing lately, most take my no graciously. This practice has extended to my work habits, I’m now taking my normal time computation formula for a project, adding a fudge factor and then doubling the whole thing. Don’t tell anyone at work that I’m doing this. It makes me look like a superstar when I finish a project before the doubled deadline and it makes me feel really good when I can subtract the fudge factor from the equation.
I really need to slow down my life. Between working 50-55 hours a week, doing all sorts of nifty things with Earl on the weekend, flying an airplane whenever I can, studying as an instrument pilot and whole bunch of other responsibilities and obligations, I have a lot on my plate.
I need to clear the plate off, be more selective of what’s there and then concentrate on that. This will be a nice little improvement to my life.
I won’t be out of breath when I smile.
Excess.
Image courtesy of a Google search leading to this blog, “My Midlife Crisis Is Orange”.
Remember the days when ordering a large drink from the movie theatre meant you were getting a 24 ounce cup of something? The sizes were 12, 16 and 24 ounces. The large seemed a little excessive but going to the movies was a treat and sometimes you wanted to accompany your treat with another treat.
Last night Earl and I went to see “The Intern”. We had both been wanting to see this movie as from the trailer it seemed rather light with just the right amount of introspection, the story seemed interesting and it had an excellent cast. Quick summary, we both enjoyed the movie very much.
Before entering the theatre we stopped at the concession stand to order the compulsory snacks for the event. Popcorn is my favorite food, so I ordered a large (but no butter) and a large Coke Zero.
I was presented with a tub of popcorn (a bigger tub than normal) and 54 OUNCES of Coke Zero. I’m no rocket scientist, but I’m pretty sure that the elixir of badness in Coke Zero should not be consumed in amounts greater than 16 ounces, let alone 54 ounces.
That tub of Coke Zero was just 10 ounces shy of two QUARTS of liquid. That’s 1.6 liters! 1.6 liters! I was handed 54 ounces of caffeinated diet brew with a plastic lid and a straw.
On the bright side, it fit in the cup holder in the theatre.
Because the vat was already filled before I realized the size of the drink I had just ordered, I used our line of credit to pay for this huge drink and popcorn and I lugged everything to the theatre. The barrel of pop fit in the cup holder, I arranged for my popcorn to have its own seat.
Earl looked at me like I was nuts because, well, I am nuts.
So we enjoyed the movie but I felt guilty for wasting about two-thirds of the popcorn, about three-quarters of the Coke Zero and the line of credit arranged for the payment of such waste. As a good citizen I carried my garbage out of the theatre and when I dropped it into the bin, the garbage can shuttered and there was a loud thud.
We all know that I am occasionally insane, but who in their right mind needs 54 ounces of any sort of snack beverage, especially since many probably order the full strength, sugar laden version of Coke.
The next time we go to the movies I going to act like a kid and go for the kids’ sized drink and popcorn, unless the kids’ sized drink is now 24 ounces or something.
Maybe I should just sneak in my own bottle of water.
