Ponderings and Musings

As a person that studied Civil Engineering in college I can safely say that I am one for progress. As population numbers climb and other conditions change in our society, it is important that folks be able to do what they need to do safely and with as little frustration as possible, because after all, increased frustration usually leads to decreases in safety.

That all being said, it makes me a little sad to see trees being uprooted and torn down in the name of progress or convenience. After all, the tree didn’t really do anything it wasn’t suppose to do; it just set down some roots and grew. The tree was just minding its own business being a tree. So I felt a little sadness today when I saw this activity going on near my preferred lunchtime parking place.

I have enjoyed these trees at lunchtime for over three years. The rustle of their leaves have calmed me down on a hectic day, the birds that sing from the tree tops have made me smile and they have provided some much needed shade in the middle of a this paved parking lot.

I don’t know why the trees are being removed. The parking lot certainly doesn’t need expansion and there’s no place for a road to go over there, so that part is a mystery. Part of me will be very curious to see what happens with this bit of construction that started today.

But a bigger part of me will miss these trees.

I find this to be rather awesome.

I didn’t know that an organization like the Initiative Collective existed. I am impressed.

A few weeks ago during a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor I made the off-handed comment that I’m not really a morning person. I’m not at my most productive in the morning. Sometimes I struggle more than normal in forming a coherent sentence that uses words in a known language.

I’m just not wired to be chipper at sunrise.

After making this comment, my supervisor gave me the OK to go ahead and try mixing up the schedule a bit, perhaps starting at 10 a.m. or something like that.

Quick aside, I realise how fortunate I am to have that sort of flexibility with my career. It’s one of the reasons that overall I like my job.

I decided to mix up the schedule this week and compromise from my usual 8 to 5 and work 9 to 6. For the most part it worked out fine when working from home yesterday; I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before so I could sleep in later than usual. The only time that it got a little off-center when was Earl was ready for supper to commence and I was still working. But for the most part it was so far, so good.

Today I am working from the office and I continued the 9 to 6 trend. As I made my way along my commute through the back roads of Central New York, I came to the quick realisation that this just wasn’t going to work for me. My morning had started with an air of uncertainty. I felt like I was wasting time. Something just felt off and it felt like I had just put myself through another round of Daylight Saving Time.

When I got to work I sent Earl a message letting him know that I would be back on 8 to 5 tomorrow. Yep, I’m like that, sometimes my decisions are like flipping a switch.

The truth of the matter is, when I’m in the mood to work on a work project I’ll work on it, even if it’s the middle of the night and I’m theoretically off the clock. I like writing code and figuring out the problems associated with writing and maintaining applications. If I have a brainstorm, I’ll work it out whilst watching “Big Bang Theory” or something like that with Earl whilst sitting on the couch. If I can’t get to a computer, I’ll jot the brainstorm down and work it out when I can get to a computer. I’m now one of those guys that I used to see at bigger tech firms who would just spontaneously start writing on a whiteboard in a hallway (which had been installed for that very purpose). I’m one of the “white cocktail napkins” notes guys.

I don’t think this is a bad thing.

It’s a small wonder that Earl hasn’t just resorted to calling me Sybil, because I’m the type of guy that needs structure who thinks in a very unstructured manner. I want to be spontaneous as long as the plans are all in place. I want to work on my own and autonomously as long as you tell me what to do. Give me a goal and I’ll produce results, but there will probably be many twists and turns between point A and point B.

It works, I guess.

The one nice thing about this temporary variation in my schedule today is that I have no need to take a nap during this lunch hour. Maybe I’ll catch up on email or something.

 

So yesterday Earl and I made the trek home from our little adventure in Chicago. It’s a 13-14 hour or so ride and because we’ve done it a couple of times now, the ride was mostly uneventful. With our hectic careers and lives, we sometimes don’t have time to just sit down and talk, but being in the car with the love of your life affords you the opportunity have some great conversation, and that’s what we did.

I think one of the reasons that Earl and I have had such a successful relationship, tailored to our unique dynamic, is because we communicate with one another. We have no secrets, we talk things through and it’s only when communication feels like it’s breaking down is when we start to get irritable and cranky. Communication is that a huge cornerstone in the foundation of our relationship and because of that, we have been able to do some pretty amazing things as one for many years. It’s a wonderful feeling.

One of the things we talked about is our future. It’s kind of weird to think about things like “retirement” and the like, since I still feel like a kid and I know that Earl feels the same way. We made some decisions as we made our way home yesterday. Together we laid out some plans, set some goals and even came up with some contingency plans should we encounter a roadblock along our path together.  Such a wonderful feeling.

It’s important to talk about goals and the future with your loved in because if things are going to work, everyone needs to be on the same page. Luckily, Earl and I have come to that same page together with few compromises along the way. I guess it just works when you’re married to your best friend.

I’m such a lucky man.

I’m a big fan of this owl. Often seen in hotel rooms, he is a reminder that we should be as ecologically responsible as possible by reusing our hotel towels and the like whenever we can. Cutting down on detergents and water use and such helps the planet just a little bit more and every bit helps. Since I’m such a firm believer in these things (and because I have always liked this particular photograph of an owl on the little reminder placard), I dutifully hung up my towel and washcloth after my shower this morning.

This afternoon all linens in the bathroom were gone. Dirty towels, clean towels still on the shelf, everyone of them had disappeared.

Unable to take a shower to freshen up for the evening activities, I went down to the front desk and asked the person working the desk for a set of towels and washcloths for the room. He wrote down the room number and made urgent sounding calls on his walkie-talkie. Earl and I then went out for a bit.

Returning to the room, still no towels or washcloths. I called down again and was told that I had already asked for a wash cloth and towel. I responded that I was fully aware of this but nothing had arrived in the room. Come to find out, housekeeping had stopped by and had knocked on the door but no one answered. Apparently, housekeeping doesn’t come in after the room has been cleaned for the day.

They sent someone up right away. We received two bath towels and nothing more. I figured that was good enough. We’ve made due with much less at home when we’re lazy with the laundry.

I don’t know if I’ve helped that majestic looking owl on the placard today but I hope that he knows I had the best of intentions in mind. I suppose by discussing this little thing, some gentle reader might notice the same owl or one of his friends in their hotel room during their travels and this will, in turn, prompt them to have a better experience with being ecologically responsible with their linens.

I didn’t get much sleep last night. A thunderstorm came booming through town around 2:30 a.m. and someone (mainly, the bachelor of the week) left all the windows open so all of the windows needed to be shut before the rains accompanied the lights and noise.

It was kind of awesome. I shouldn’t speak in subtleties, it was friggin’ awesome. Despite paying the price through fatigue today, I loved every moment of it. I’m kind of excited to see that more storms are predicted through tomorrow. I’m crazy like that.

I love opening up the window shades to their fullest potential and watching Mother Nature’s awesome beauty in her thunderstorms. I find it so thrilling. Watching lightning bolts zig zag across the sky and seeing the big maple tree by the road sway back and forth (but still stand tall) from the wind is absolutely marvelous to me. I don’t know why it is, but I can never get enough of a thunderstorm. I always feel a little sad when they make their way through town and head somewhere else. I’m hoping that someday we’ll have a bedroom that has skylights so I can watch storms that way too. If I had the opportunity, I’d live in a place that required a storm cellar in a second. Like I said, I’m crazy like that.

I mentioned on Facebook last night that I wish I had paid more attention to Earth Science back in high school. I’m not comfortable with the amount of knowledge I have about the weather and how it works. I need to learn more. I wish there was some way that I could take my love of wild weather, namely thunderstorms and tornadoes and the like and turn that love into knowledge that could help others that don’t love a storm the way I do. I want to give back to the world by harnessing that information and helping build some sort of warning system, much like they attempted to do in the movie “Twister”, so that folks like those recovering in Oklahoma today weren’t mourning the loss of loved ones because of Mother Nature’s power.

I occasionally find the devastation left behind by Mother Nature’s power to be breathtaking, and not in a good way. The aftermath left by storms that I love so much can be so heartbreaking.

I’ll be thinking about the folks in Oklahoma tonight when the storms come rumbling through again.

I have mentioned before that I have a master clock system wired throughout our house. Typically found in schools, there is a computer sitting in the basement acting as the “master” clock and once a minute the clocks in each room click-click ahead to the next minute. All of the clocks are made by The Standard Electric Time Company of Springfield, Mass. and even though they’re all from different eras and schools (as my collection has grown over the years), they’re all compatible with one another and theoretically could have existed in the same building, much like they’re wired in our house.

I know, this clock collection makes me even more of a geek, but I have had an interest in the clocks since my first day of kindergarten, sitting on the floor in Room 5, Mrs. Mosher’s room. The clock clicked to 9:00 and a buzzer sounded, signaling the beginning of the day. It was neat.

As I have collected clocks over the years (including three clocks from my elementary school), I have built quite a collection and have connected with others throughout the country that share this interest. There’s some comfort to know that others live in that lunatic fringe of geekdom with me.

I have recently discovered all of the yearbooks available on classmates.com. This has helped me see some of the clocks I have collected in their natural habitat. It has also given me the opportunity to see what kind of clocks are in an abandoned building or some art deco wonder of a school that I may have spotted during our travels. For example, on my bike ride yesterday, I rode by an impressive looking school building in Oxford. A quick look at one of their yearbooks confirmed that they indeed had a Standard Electric system, as seen in this shot from their office.

Going through these old yearbooks I can’t help but notice how much nicer the students and teachers were dressed back in the day. Folks looked well groomed. We might not always agree with the beliefs of the time, but superficially speaking, at least folks looked good. It’s amazing how much times have changed. I don’t know if there’s a lot of schools that have “Future Homemakers of America” or Rifle Clubs these days.

By the way, I’m always curious as to who remembers their clocks from elementary or high school. Here’s a picture of one of the clocks from my collection. Purely designed for functional purposes only, I still find these to be wicked cool.

I have a bit of a pet peeve that I’m going to rant a little bit about. This is something that really rubs me the wrong way and makes me feel judgmental about a person. While it isn’t right to be judgmental about a person based on a superficial aspect of a conversation, I think I have some sort of point here buried in this muddy blog post.

The scenario goes like this: “Picture it, a restaurant, anywhere in the present day.”

Server, noticing you have finished up your meal: “Would you like any dessert?”

Customer: “Sure, I’m in the mood for a little something. What do you have?”

Server: “I have a delicious blueberry pie and a chocolate thunder thighs godiva high cake. I also have some scones leftover from yesterday.”

I. The server said “I”. The server personally has blueberry pie, chocolate thunder things godiva high cake and leftover scones. It makes one wonder what the other servers are serving for dessert. Are there desserts better than the desserts being offered by our server, since it seems like every server has their own desserts to offer? Perhaps the server over yonder has something in vanilla. I was in the mood for something vanilla, too.

My point is the “I”. This was something that was hammered into my head as a young lad when I worked at the family business. “Can I help you?” was a no-no. “What can we do for you?” It’s the team you’re dealing with, all of us that work here have banded together to bring you the best experience possible. To say “I” implies that you bring something that others can’t, which doesn’t really foster teamwork.

“I have Guinness and Coors Lite on tap.”

I want to watch when you push the bartender out of the way to get my Guinness from YOUR tap.

“We have Guinness and Coors Lite on tap.”

Much better.

While I am a loner and a bit of an introvert and one that would rather do things in solitude instead of in the middle of a crowd, I still all I can do to make our team look its best. Teamwork: that is what it’s about in most workplaces today and by using the singular, “my team” or “I fixed it”, you’re basically telling me that you can handle it on your own and/or you’re just out for your own good.

I’m not that insecure. I will always use the “we”. Though I may approach it alone, I’m always part of the team.

Three days in a row at the office this week. How do people handle this five days at work thing? No offense to those that have a cubicle around me, but I’m looking forward to working from home tomorrow.

The community task group team at work is having a fundraiser today. For just $5.00 we could enjoy a picnic lunch of two hot dogs with onions and/or meat sauce, potato salad, chips, a drink and a cookie. I love it. In fact, I rearranged my in-the-office schedule this week so I could participate. I can never resist a good hot dog from the grill and helping out worthy causes is always a good thing. I believe this month’s effort benefits one of the local youth cancer support groups.

One of the things that I like about the company I work for is that efforts like these are absolutely encouraged. We all need to be helping each other when and where we can and even little efforts like these can make a big difference. I always try to support the community team when I can.

Sometimes a little thing can bring a big smile to someone’s face.