Some days you just have to sit outside and enjoy some sunshine for your lunch hour.
Life is good.
Some days you just have to sit outside and enjoy some sunshine for your lunch hour.
Life is good.
Things are finally drying out after the two rounds of flooding we’ve had courtesy of Irene and Lee. Our backyard is still quite squishy; there’s no way we can put a ladder up right now to fill one of the bird feeders because it would just sink right down into the lawn. Safety and all that.
During a geek-inspired ride yesterday (to see some new road signs awaiting delivery at a local sign manufacturing facility), I pulled over and took a picture of the trees along one of the roads that was heavily flooded. This particular area is notorious for flooding in even typical spring conditions so I wasn’t surprised to see the height of the flood water line, which looked to be about four feet above the road surface.
I find it ironic that this particular piece of land has a real estate sign on it, advertising it’s availability for residential or commercial development. The sign is relatively new. I imagine that interest in using this land for this purpose is rather low, buildings up on stilts are not all that common in these parts, even on land that is situated between the Mohawk River and the Barge Canal.
I hope the land doesn’t get developed simply because the animals might like to play along the shores of the water too.
I was able to drive home my normal commuting route yesterday for the first time in a while. With all the flooding and such that has been going on this week many of the roads have been closed. I was happy to see that the Amish Baked Goods stand was open.
Another car pulled up to the small building ahead of me. They stopped to talk to one of the Amish men before making their way to the items for sale. As I looked over the goods, I noticed that there was just one pie for sale. It was an apple pie. I purchased that right away, along with a plate of chocolate chip cookies. The girl working the stand was the same girl that has been working there right along. She isn’t much of a conversationalist, but she did look me in the eyes when she said the only two words spoken to me, “You’re welcome”. I was happy to hear that we had progressed to two words, last time it was just “Yes”.
As I made gathered up the goodies and started back to the Jeep, the other couple made their way to the stand. I heard the woman exclaim, “Oh, pickles!”
I hope the stand is open for a few more weeks. The weather is perfect for a quick stop there before the weekend.
It is no secret that Apple makes billions and billions of dollars profit on all their iDevices. They frequently bounce around the top 3 list of companies based on their value. They have tons of cash because they’re good at what they do.
While I believe they are giving back to the human experience by giving people quality ways to connect to one another through their iDevices, they’re not as active in philanthropic efforts as one would hope they would be. This is one of the reasons that I occasionally consider switching back to the Microsoft platform; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is dedicated to bringing innovations in health, development, and learning to the global community (description taken from the website). Bill and Melinda are using a good chunk of their fortune to make important changes in the world. I like this, and this is the reason I have quite a few pieces of Microsoft hardware in my toy box.
I mention from time to time that I have a keen interest in Linux, the free, open-source operating system alternative to Windows and Mac OS X. While it pertains to my geek side very much, I also enjoy Linux, particularly Ubuntu, because it’s very design allows one to take an older, discarded computer and turn it into a relevant contributor again. This, in turn, keeps computers out of our landfills that much longer and allows us to send these machines that were deemed not powerful enough to places where they might not be able to afford it. They may not be the latest and greatest nor the shiniest, but they work just fine and are able to importing things in regards to research, education and the like. And as a quick plug for Linux: No Viruses!
It makes me happy to see that Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook is starting to turn the philanthropic philosophy at Apple around a little bit. I hope he continues that trend. As I get older and because I have the luxury to do so, I am start to consider these types of efforts more in my purchasing decisions. I am also pursuing Linux at home actively again, not because it’s a badge of honour for a geek to be using Linux, but because I have the ability to contribute to the various Linux projects, including Ubuntu, and if I can help make the experience better for the user, then maybe someone somewhere using Linux for an important cause out their in the wild will be able to do what they need to do that much easier.
I have started a little computer journey in the effort of using my skills to give back to the world. I am a lucky geek in that I get to play with technology for my job with a company that keeps people connected with one another. By contributing to various Linux based projects and by sharing my experiences and educating people, I strive to help others to stop thinking about how the computer works and instead focus on using their computer as simply a tool to achieve what they really need to achieve.
The new blog is located at thetechbear.blogspot.com. (Update: link fixed, thanks Erik)
A number of years ago, as I sat with my cousin in a hospital waiting room, wondering if my sister was going to make it through her battle with Legionella and come out in one piece, I remarked that I needed start doing more to contribute to the human experience and to make the world a better place. I suppose everyone says that sort of thing when a loved one is sick and they have lots of time to think and worry while waiting in a hospital. The important thing is to actually take the action and do something, using their natural skills and abilities.
When we do that, I believe we truly can make the world a better place.
Work is chaotic today. Several co-workers were unable to get to work due to the flooding from the constant rain of the past 48 hours; rain that added to the already swollen rivers and creeks that were still quite impressive after Hurricane Irene.
I noticed that there were hardly any cars on the road this morning, especially when I drove through the small village of St. Johnsville. Turns out that I wasn’t suppose to be on the road in Montgomery County; all the roads have been closed and they are ticketing drivers if they are creating non-essential traffic. I guess I was lucky, the only other vehicle I encountered in Montgomery County was a horse and buggy. I don’t think the Amish drivers heard the news since they don’t have radio and all. The horse seemed happy.
They are now really cracking down on traffic on the roads today though, so I have no idea how I’m going to get home. The alternate back route that I usually take doesn’t pass through Montgomery County but the bridges over the West Canada Creek are closed due to flooding. I might have to make a scenic trip through the Adirondacks if I want a home-cooked meal tonight. Many others at work commute a similar distance, albeit from a different direction. They are planning their routes out as well.
When I was illegally passing through St. Johnsville this morning I noticed that the marina along the Barge (Erie) Canal had flooded so bad that the docks were no longer visible. Some boats looked to be floating over where the docks should be. The statue that stands next to the little lighthouse had water up to it’s neck.
Luckily the building I work in is in the foothills of the Adirondacks, so we are high up in the terrain. There is a reason I have always told Earl that I never want to live in the valley. I need to be up on top of hills so I can see what’s going on.
And so we don’t float away. Godspeed to those that are having much, much worse experiences with the floods today. I hope they are safe.
– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad
It has rained a lot since Tuesday. Our backyard continues to be flooded.
We have had some very impressive weather over the past couple of weeks: the remnants of a hurricane, an earthquake, a nearby tornado and of course lots and lots of rain. Many are telling us that this is a sign from God that He is not pleased. While I have a hard time believing that an all-loving, all-benevolent force would be so vengeful, I can see Mother Nature trying to nudge us a little bit to let us know that she’s not going to put up with our destructive ways much longer.
People tell me that this weather is just part of the cycle, the natural order of things. That’s all well and good and I can buy that, but sometimes I wonder if we are in the part of the cycle where we go from rinse to spin and the junk goes down the drain.
I have the luxury of working for a company that I believe in. Not everyone has that luxury these days, heck, there’s too many people that don’t have the luxury of working at all. Hopefully someone will figure out how to fix that little issue that’s plaguing our country. I hope it’s in my lifetime.
But, as a gainfully employed web developer, I have to say that I am rather proud of some of the philosophies of the company that I work for. I work for the largest rural telephone company in the United States. As a company that has grown leaps and bounds of the past 10 years through various acquisitions, the latest being a sizeable chunk of Verizon’s former landline business, Frontier Communications provides voice and data communications to many of the harder to reach places in the country. That in itself is kind of cool.
One of the driving forces of Frontier is community engagement. Our internal communications are packed with photographs, articles and the like of the company doing something, somewhere for the community. Blood drives, shelters, scholarship funds and the like are just the tip of the iceberg. Again, another cool thing.
When I walk into the main entrance at work, I can’t help but notice the latest poster on display. Frontier prides itself on being a 100% U.S.-based workforce. Everything is based in the country; we are as “Made In America” as telephone and internet service can be. If you call in with a trouble, you’ll speak to someone in the states. Our women named Peggy are really women and they don’t fake an American accent. I kind of like the idea of working for a company that is striving to keep it’s workforce U.S. based. In addition, and here’s the part that I really like, Frontier is going out of it’s way to hire men and women that have served in the Armed Forces. So many of our soldiers are coming home to find they have nothing, it’s good to work for a company that is striving to give them something.
Giving back and making a difference are big priorities when I’m looking for my next employment opportunity. I have to feel good about the work we do. I’ve been my position for over 18 months and I have to say, I’m still kind of diggin’ it for many, many reasons.
– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad
As I was pulling away from my daily stop at Dunkin’ Donuts and trying to get over to my coveted parking spot near the purple flowers, I noticed an armada of National Grid line crew trucks coming down the road. The line of trucks was quite impressive and one of the trucks had a big banner on it’s side “TEAM IRENE”.
The armada made it’s way into the shopping center parking lot where the purple flowers call home. As the trucks lined up along a couple of aisles of the parking lot, I moved to a different spot than normal.
At the very least, these men deserved to park wherever the heck they wanted to and I wasn’t going to block their way. As they got out of their trucks, congregated and made their way over to the adjacent Applebees, it was easy to tell that they had been working hard and seemed rather tired, but their mood was jovial and I didn’t overhear any complaints. They’ve been working hard since Irene blew through last weekend. They deserve a break.
And a thank you.
– I am crossing my fingers and praying to the digital mecca that this has been a successful instance of using BlogPress from my iPad
I had to make some creative decisions yesterday to get home since the Thruway was closed and there was a lot of congestion on the backroads between points A and B. My familiarity with the area proved helpful, I trucked up some paths that barely resembled a road. At one point I had to stop and pull a tree branch out of the way to make the road passable; it was when the cows started running alongside the Jeep that I realized that I had in fact fallen so far off the beaten path that I was actually in the middle of a farmer’s pasture, so I found the quickest exit and got myself on the real roads again.
Calm down, I’m kidding about that last part.
Actually, when I emerged on the main road at the top of a fairly large hill, I found a car nose down in a ditch. The back end was so far off the ground that the wheels were in the air. The New York State tags pointed towards the sky. Two people were standing outside of the car. I pulled up.
“Are you OK?”, I asked.
“Yeah, we’re alright.” His voice was thick with an accent that seemed to resonate from the deepest core of the Big Apple. The man and woman looked pleasant enough. They were looking up the road.
“Do you need me to call someone or something?”
“Nah, we got a tow truck on the way,” he said.
“OK, I just wanted to make sure you were alright”, I said as I got ready to get back to the cow pastures.
He responded with, “Ya know, you guys up here are nice for stopping and checking on us.”
I smiled and waved as I moved on. I guess folks don’t stop like that down where his accent originated. I drove off and continued my quest to get home, waving to the man I call ‘Farmer Bear’ as I passed his farm. He waved back.
Even though driving around these parts has been a bit of a challenge and the cable news channels are blaring on about how much damage actually happened here in Upstate from Irene, I have to admit that I’ve been smiling. Neighbor helping neighbor, stranger helping stranger, friend helping friend.
I think I have once again found my pride in being from Central New York.
Earl will admit to anyone that cares to listen that his husbear is one that goes to extremes. For example, in my eyes the service isn’t bad, the service was tantamount to hysterically awful and the person responsible for it, and their superior, should be at the very least fired and there should be some consideration of caning anyone involved with my discomfort.
OK, maybe I’m not that bad but I tend to ramp up from 0 to 60 pretty quickly on certain occasions and people interpret this as either I’m wildly giddy or maniacally angry, depending on the circumstances, when in fact I’m happy or slightly miffed.
I have some suspicions as to why I’m this way and it would be rather tedious for the gentle reader to delve into a psychotherapy session right here on my blog, so instead I’m going to focus on something else. My tendencies for extremes is appreciated in my love for the weather. Yes, I love weather and if I could find a way to make a living at it, I would be chasing storms all over the globe and diving into situations that would normally scare the jebeebus out of people. This was blatantly apparent early this summer when we were driving through Cleveland on our way to Chicago; the radio blared with tornado warnings, trees were falling down all around us and water was sloshing up onto the sides of the Durango, but I wanted to see it all, despite the cries from my white knuckled, crying passengers. By the way, no one was injured in that adventure and we had a lovely long weekend together.
A few nights ago the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch. The clouds mustered up a few ominous poses but then there was nothing. Well, ‘nothing’ probably isn’t the best word to describe the storm that passed through, but as god as my witness I have farted louder than the claps of thunder that these “severe” storms presented us with. Please. Don’t waste my time if you’re not going to do it right.
Around 4:30 this morning, without any warning from any of the weather radios in the house, we had a pretty impressive thunderstorm. Non-stop lightning, lots of accompanying thunder and a good, torrential rainfall for a little bit before sunrise. The wind could have been whipping harder to make it a little more to my liking, but I’ll take what I can get. Now this is what I’m talking about. I don’t know if it’s the rush of adrenaline I get or what, but if someone is going to muster up the energy to make a thunderstorm, it better be a good one. As I closed the windows throughout the house, I glanced at the weather radios and confirmed that the National Weather Service had nothing to say about the event. I then considered running outside into the wild weather but decided not to, mostly because Earl wasn’t feeling well and I didn’t want to needlessly worry him.
It was when we both officially woke up this morning that I told him I wanted to go on a road trip this weekend if he was up to it. When he asked where I wanted to go, I had a simple reply.
“I want to chase Irene.”
Now if Hurricane Irene is going to hit the Big Apple head on then I really don’t have an interest in it. I don’t want my view of one of Mother Nature’s more impressive displays to be obscured by skyscrapers, floating taxis and people running around like screaming mimis (most likely with a loaf of bread in each hand and a gallon of milk wedged into a pocket). I want to see hurricanes come in over the ocean from an open beach where I can get a panoramic view. I think that’s one of the reasons that I want to live in a relatively flat area. I want to see the blizzards come in, I want to see the rolling thunderstorms and I want to see tornados make their way across the landscape. Six inches of snow is a nuisance, four feet of snow is something worth talking about. Drizzle? Don’t waste my time. Flood it like you mean it. And let’s not even talk about a few poofs of wind. At least blow a tree down or something.
Of course I want to do all of this with a point of safety nearby. I’m not interested in jeopardizing my life needlessly. Personally, I wish I could be some sort of computer operator, administrator, whatever on a rig that went into these storms. I would love to be part of a team that’s learning from these extreme events. Anything to better the human experience with as much knowledge as possible.
So I don’t know if we’ll be meeting Irene head-on this weekend, but I’m sure I’ll be reviewing weather maps and watching videos from those that stand courageously as Mother Nature brings on her worst.
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