Ponderings and Musings

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? My Grandma and Grandpa Country had a couple of these trees around their house back in the day and I have always enjoyed sitting in the shade under one of these trees. I might have to go scouting around the local nursery to figure this out.

The outside thermometer says its 95ºF. Seems like it’s a good day to sit in the shade.

When I started actively riding my bike again late last year I made a conscious effort of riding in the morning before work. I figured that this would be a good way to motivate me and to have a better, more productive day. By getting the blood moving, the muscles working and the juices flowing early in the morning, I’d be a top-notch soldier of life, just like those in the Armed Forces that I admire.

This approach has worked quite well for me and I believe that the results are paying off, both physically and mentally. However, over the past couple of weeks I have been struggling with my schedule again; sometimes 0530 just feels too early to me and conversely, 2130 (9:30 p.m.) just feels to early to go to bed when there’s still daylight until 10:00 p.m. (Curses, Daylight Saving Time!)

The other thing I have been struggling with is the jarring of an alarm clock. Normally I wear my FitBit on my wrist at night and that has a gentle little vibration thingee that wakes me up at a prescribed time. Unfortunately my FitBit died (I think it finally gave in to the ride it had in the washing machine a while back) and I’ve had to rely on my alarm. It’s kind of humorous to realize that I had forgotten how much I dislike any sort of audible alarm in the morning.

I’m digressing.

Anyways, because of the struggling I’ve been doing with the morning thing, I have opted to ride my bike after supper a couple of nights this week and the results have been quite satisfactory. Not only have I gotten the physical exercise that I was looking for (albeit on a more manageable schedule), but I have really stretched the mental muscles while exercising and it has been quite nice. Riding my bike always puts me into a certain headspace where I can be more creative and the like, but the past couple of rides have been really zen like. Things have drifted in and out of my head, problems have been resolved and logistical problems with my projects at work have worked themselves out, all whilst riding my bike. I’ve lost myself in these zen moments so much that I’ve “come to” a couple of times and not realized how many miles I have pedaled at that moment and have quickly had to make the determination to head back home. Now before anyone gets overly concerned, my safety has never been in jeopardy, I’m always fully aware of my surroundings, but I have been able to lose myself in that moment, which has helped me find a really sweet spot in my head.

I don’t lose myself in the moment nearly as much as I used to. That’s rather unfortunate.

One of the reasons that I love road trips in the Jeep is because not only can I satisfy my road geek/road warrior/road scholar needs that are always present, but my road trips afford me much of the same zen-like moments that I am enjoying on my bicycle. Because of these zen moments this week, I have accomplished more this week at work (and reorganized several personal, extraneous matters that were niggling at the back of my mind). Given a few moments away from the noise of iDevices and ringing phones and IMs and the like, I feel like I’m able to conquer the world again.

And with a few more of these zen-like experiences, I must do just that.

So I’m sitting here thinking about this blog entry when I’m distracted by a rumbling sound coming from the distance. It’s not an approaching thunderstorm; the rumbling is going on for too long at a time. The screen door to the patio rattles just a little bit which makes me briefly wonder if we are having some sort of little earthquake. I don’t think that’s the case either. I then deduce that they must be testing repaired jet engines again at the near by former Air Force Base. They can get quite loud and the wind must be blowing from the right direction or something.

Today is Tuesday and I am feeling good. I just told a friend online that I am feeling rather feisty today. Right before lunch I sent an email that contained the sentence, “since I have much cents today, here’s two more.” Just as I do on my blog from time to time, I tend to write in a colorful manner when provoked to do so. Now that I think about it I probably speak in the same way when giving presentations and the like. It’s just part of my wiring. It’s a nifty option if you can get it installed.

Our cat Tom must have glanced at the calendar and realized that it’s almost summer time because he has now begun his fair-weather routine of exiting and entering the kitchen through the screen door to the patio a minimum of three dozen times during my lunch hour. He isn’t as quick as he used to be at it, he only saunters up to his food dish instead of tearing through the kitchen to grab a quick bite, but for an 18 year old cat he’s holding his own. As long as he’s still around he can do anything he wants because as far as cats in my lifetime go, he’s been around the longest. He’s earned the right to act like a senior citizen. However, he has not earned the right to dig a hole through the new screen in our new patio door. I think he’s still planning a way to make a hole in that screen though, even though he strives to look innocent.

I am using my iPad as my full-time mobile device these days and am trying to use my older MacBook Pro for DJing. I made a tactical error last week by upgrading the laptop to the beta version of OS X Mavericks. It’s not quite as ready for full-time as I originally thought. It’s working fine, but there are glitches here and there than can be frustrating. I’m definitely not moving to iOS 7 on my iPad (when it’s available as a beta) until the final version is out. Maybe I’m not as adventurous as I used to be or maybe I’ve found some more common sense.

It’s good to have some sense to share once in a while.

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.

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.