Ponderings and Musings

So as I mentioned yesterday, we had some heavy equipment being operated by good looking men doing some work on the stream that runs along the back edge of our front yard yesterday. We call it a stream or “the creek”, but it’s actually a ditch that veers off from the road and runs down into a pond about a half mile away. The primary purpose of this stream is to handle the water coming down the hill along the roadway. It’s a drainage ditch. Unfortunately, over the past several years it has become over grown with foliage, dirt and the like and hasn’t been able to perform it’s function very well. Earl and I talked to the county, they said it belong to the town. The town said it belongs to the county. Because we live on a county route, one would assume that it belongs to the county but I guess no one really knows when the whole thing is wrapped up in red tape, so we just went ahead and got some folks to clean it out for us. After all, that side of the lawn has turned into a marsh and we’re kind of sick of that.

So now we have this along the back edge of the lawn.

We are going to put seed along the “banks” and dress it up again, but at the very least we have adequate drainage. The marsh that used to be our lawn is already drying up again.

While I was walking around the lawn I found one Black Eyed Susan (I think) showing her stuff. These are one of my favorite summer flowers.

In between his trips as flight attendant, Scott keeps busy by planting flowers around The Manor. We have a nice touch of color in strategic locations around the property.

During our ride last night I mentioned to Earl that if we won the lottery I’d like to buy the local Beardslee Castle and turn it into a private residence again. He said that we couldn’t do that, but we could build our own castle.

I think we are well on our way.

So last week I talked about how hot it was during my lunch hour. Summer had arrived early and we were all sweating to death when we couldn’t find air conditioned comfort.

Today I am eat chicken soup and thinking about putting on a sweatshirt because it’s gray and 62 degrees out. That Mother Nature is such a hoot, even when she looks like Dorothy’s sister Gloria.

I don’t have a cold or anything because I refuse to have a cold. I think I’m sniffly because we slept with the fan on and it dropped down to around 50 last night. When the windows are open and the fan is blowing on you, you can get sniffly under those circumstances.

Nevertheless, I am eating chicken soup in the luxury of the kitchen while playing around with my Linux computer during my lunch hour. The first official day of the remote part of my new position is going along quite nicely. I’m getting quite a bit accomplished down in my home office.

I’ll probably get more accomplished once I put on a parka to go with my camo shorts.

So this morning at work they announced some organizational changes to the organization I work for. I wasn’t there to hear the announcement in person as I am telecommuting today, but one of the changes that was announced was my reassignment to a different group within the organization.

I already knew this was coming.

A couple of weeks ago the Director of the group called me to tell me that there were several organizational changes taking place and that my position would become a little more focused and part of a different group. Focus is good. So starting Monday I am part of the “Enterprise Integration Solutions Group” within the National Surveillance Center. In a way it sounds a little big brotherish and impressive. Impressive is good.

Follow me to my new spot on the corporate tree comes the application I have written. My responsibilities also including building, maintaining and improving the surveillance system we use to monitor the hundreds of thousands of devices we have in our network. I also have less commuting time on my plate now, which is kind of cool. My new boss is outside of Dallas, Texas with team members scattered all over the country. 21st Century communication rocks.

I like the idea of having a more focused position in a job that requires focus. The change is good and I feel like things have snapped back a little on track after being a little strange at work for the past couple of months. I am looking forward to the new challenges.

It’s a good way to start the weekend.

There is a fairly popular Italian restaurant situated at the end of the plaza that I park near during my lunch hours during the week. From my vantage point I can see dozen of people walk in and out of the restaurant, going about their daily business and doing their thing. For the most part they seem content.

Near the end of my lunch hour yesterday, I noticed an older woman walking out of the restaurant by herself. From what I could tell, she seemed to be in her 70s. I’d guess her around 75 or so. She was dressed fairly nice. Her hair was covered in a scarf in such the fashion that older women of a previous generation tended to do. I noticed she was wearing a pant suit. She wore glasses. She moved without mechanical assist, but her step wasn’t overly lively. She walked slowly, which is understandable for a woman of the age I perceived her to be. She looked pleasant.

As she walked towards the parking lot, I expected her to stop at the Taurus that was parked in the handicapped spot. In this part of the state, when you reach a certain age you are an absolute no one until you have a handicapped tag hanging from your mirror. It doesn’t matter if you’re actually handicapped or not for this tag seems to have an air of status about it for a certain set of people. I envision folks sitting around a cup of coffee during their seventh hour at Dunkin’ Donuts comparing the date that they obtained their handicapped privileges. He or she with the most junior date has to pay the check and ward off anyone that may suggest to them that they may be loitering.

The pleasant looking woman with the scarf walked right by the Taurus and continued her trek up the parking lot aisle. I was quite surprised when she stopped and hopped into her vehicle. There was no handicapped sticker on her ride, for she had hopped up into a late 1990s Jeep Wrangler soft-top with the side and back windows removed. Once situated in her Wrangler, she tightened up her scarf a bit, donned a pair of sunglasses, started up her Jeep and proceeded to head out of the lot. The sound of her engine indicated that she was driving a stick. And like all good Jeep Wrangler drivers, she waved at me as she passed by my Rubicon. I smiled and waved back.

And that, my friends, is how one stays young.

Well today is Friday and there is much rejoicing in my head about this. I am working from home today, which makes my day much brighter. It’s not that I don’t enjoy working in the office, it’s just that I am easily distracted (surprise!) and when I have people constantly jumping in and out of my cubicle with questions, comments, retorts, etc., I find myself losing track of where I was, what I was doing and for that matter, who I am and why I’m sitting at the 1990s styled cubicle desk.

Ain’t technology amazing? I have a Skype account dedicated to my work connection and I’m able to forward my work phone to my Skype phone number and all works brilliantly. I can send, receive and regurgitate email just as if I was sitting at my desk back at the office and all the while I can sit in the comfort of my home office, listening to nothing but Donna Summer playing from my computer (which sits on the other desk) and just barrel through my To Do list that is slowly becoming more backed up than a toilet stuffed with too much toilet paper.

The sun is shining brightly. The lawn is mowed. The weekend looks to be a good one and for the first time in a long while, I’m remembering what it’s like to work while not being stressed out beyond my personal comprehension.

To me this is just one of many reasons to feel celebratory. Have a wonderful day and enjoy your weekend.

So it has been raining since yesterday afternoon. And I’m not talking about a mere shower here and there; I’m talking about a steady, soaking rain. Last night I almost had to pull over to the side of the road and wait for a passing downpour to do its thing on a couple of occasions during the ride home, but I usually don’t do that sort of thing, I tend to drive into the middle of storms and make sounds of elation.

Folks have talked about how mild last winter was (we barely got enough snow to say so) and now they realise that this is the price we pay for it. This is the snow we were suppose to get, it’s just a little bit late. Mother Nature always wins.

At least we won’t be in a draught conditions anytime soon.

The rain isn’t bothering me all that much. The only nature related thing that has bothered me in the past week or so is that our lilac bush didn’t produce that many flowers this year. I don’t know if the late frost in April put a damper on it or what, but the tree that is usually covered in lilacs only produce a few displays here are there on the tree. The ones that did appear smell and look beautiful, though, so I can’t complain. The lilac is my favorite flower. It makes me think of my Grandma City.

I think the constant rain has put a damper on the mood at work a little bit, but I’m feeling more like my sunny self today. Making forward progress on work projects is more than important to me, it is exciting to me. It’s important to have excitement in my life. It’s just the way I’m wired.

Originally posted in 2005, this sums it all up perfectly!
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She’s a little whacky. She hears her own drumbeat. All the kids in school wanted her as a chaperone, because she was the cool mom. When we were kids, she could rattle dishes in a two-mile radius when she said “no”. She was and is always there to listen. She’s always has accepted me as I am, regardless of my age. Yeah, she’s pretty neat. Happy Mothers’ Day, Mom.