Ponderings and Musings

I have been contemplating buying another vehicle. The 2005 Acura RSX has been serving me well and is quite comfortable for commuting back and forth to work and the like, but it’s rather small if I want to take more than one person with me. We once picked Jamie up in Buffalo on our way back from St. Louis and I think we had to fold him up to a more compact size in order to get him to fit into the back seat.

I have had my eye on another Jeep.

The thing about buying a new Jeep is that I don’t really like the new body style that they introduced in 2007. It looks a little too modern for me. I know that Jeep has made strides in making it quite comfortable for the whole family, including the introduction of a four-door model, but there’s just something about the new style that doesn’t feel ‘raw’ enough to me. So I have been looking at the last of the older body styles on line. They look appealing and I could see me buying one, especially a Rubicon.

But then I start to wonder why I want another vehicle.

There’s nothing wrong with the Acura. It drives beautiful, is relatively maintenance free and more importantly is completely paid off. The only downside to it is that it has high taste in that it will only sip premium fuel, but it keeps the sips reasonable. Commuting expenses are reasonable given the economy and the price of fuel. And as I mentioned before, I still love it and it feels good to drive.

There’s a part of me that wants to drive off-road. I want to take a Jeep and go up the side of a gravel bed, much like we did when we were kids. I want to take it out on the beach, though right off the top of my head I can’t think of a beach nearby where I can do that. I want to drive back roads, through the woods. I don’t want the worry about my suspension handling the rougher roads.

But when do I have time to do these things?

Our former Jeep is living a very happy life with our friend Scott and it was absolutely the right thing to do to sell it when we did. No regrets there. But I think the next Jeep needs to be something a little tougher and with a used one. But I wonder what need I’m trying to fulfill by getting another Jeep.

I guess I can be complicated.

So first the first time this season I am sitting on the back patio with my MacBook enjoying the late spring day. It’s funny to think that it is still spring, but it is for the next 10 days or so. After all we have had record heat this past week. Of course the weekend has been rainy and chilly. It’s only 66º F right now.

I’m still quite content.

The weekend has been mostly about relaxing and getting stuff done around the house. While everyone was still asleep I relocated two computers and extended the range of the wireless network to all points in the house so I could easily watch the “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” cartoon on the kitchen computer. That computer is named hestia. Hestia replaces our old television we had in the corner before we remodeled the kitchen earlier this spring.

Last night we went to see “X-Men: First Class”. I enjoyed the movie very much and was delighted to see Rose Byrne as Moira. We had just seen her a couple of weeks ago in “Bridesmaids” and I have to admit that she has moved to the top of the list of my favorite females. She is stunning.

Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert.

There are a lot of birds singing here in the back yard. They are probably spreading the word that the five bird feeders have been refilled and are now quality rest areas again. Occasionally a random bird will stop by, examine the situation, poop and then move on. On the feeders closest to the house they seem to favor one feeder over the other but I don’t know why.

Time to get back to relaxing.

I don’t know if I have ever mentioned on here that I work for a rather large telecommunications company. I work for Frontier Communications, on the largest, rural telecommunications providers in the states. The company tripled in size last year with the purchase of several Verizon properties in 14 states. We are still in the middle of transitioning those customers over to our systems.

Like many other companies, Frontier offers an incentive program to the employees that bring new customers to the company. This program is called “Take The Lead”. It’s a cool program and if Earl and I lived in Frontier’s territory we would definitely be using the services that contribute to my paycheck. The small town I grew up in is in Frontier’s territory. Many of my family members use the products that I help support everyday. By the way, I work in one of the nationwide Network Operations Centers.

The reason I am bringing this up is two-fold. First of all, if you live in Frontier’s territory and you’re looking to switch to their phone, internet or satellite television service through Dish, let me know so that I can “Take The Lead”. Company incentives are always good and it always looks good on my year-end review when I have a couple of these I can list on the various forms in HR. Plus, right now Frontier is offering double the incentive on leads, which can actually lead to triple digit incentives. Wicked cool.

The other and actually primary reason that I mention this is because I have pledged to take any monetary incentives given to me from “Take The Lead” and donate them to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. This is my independent effort. You see, Earl’s mom died of MS 20 years ago. I never had the opportunity to meet his mom but this is my way of honoring her and thanking her for providing the man that still makes me see fireworks everyday. In addition, I know of other people that are living with MS and any contribution I can make to finding a cure for this disease has to be a good thing.

So please, if you feel so inclined, help me Take The Lead. If you are interested, please send me an email so that I can make sure you have the proper information and so I can answer any questions you may have. My email (translated to standard format) is: jp (two letters in front of) at jpnearl dot com. Take that spambots trying to figure that email address out.

Websites for your enjoyment:
Frontier Communications
National MS Society

Thank you.

Mother Nature has chosen to delight us during our lunch hour with a fairly hefty thunderstorm. The skies were flashy and loud as I got settled in for my lunch hour, but she seems to have moved on to another part of the county.

Just to be sure that I was safe in the car, I parked in a slightly different spot than usual so that I would be situated in between the two electric poles behind me, instead of parking directly in front of one. I didn’t want it to fall on the car if it got struck by lightning and it happened to fall in my direction.

It’s good to plan for these sorts of things.

I have had a reoccurring dream over the years that involves me getting struck by lightning. I’ve had this dream since elementary school. I’m not worried about that happening today though, because in the dream I am standing on some sort of porch or deck and I think I’m standing behind a mobile home. Since none of these elements are currently in place I have decided that today is not my day to be struck by lightning.

The light and sound show is fairly impressive though. We are suppose to get thunderstorms throughout the day. It may make for a lively ride home tonight.

We are just getting back from Chicago. The trip home took about 11 1/2 hours, with a total of 45 minutes of stopping time for rest stops and food. It’s so simple when you just get on Interstate 90 and drive. Traffic wasn’t bad.

I have much to write over the next couple of days once I catch my breath. 0530 comes early tomorrow, so I’ll keep this one short.

One quick thing to mention though; as we were driving between the Indiana state line and Toledo, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to the type of landscape and plot of land I would like for us to have a house on when it’s time to retire. I might be getting a little Green Acres in all of this, but the flat lands of the midwest and the houses with trees around them, surrounded by acres and acres of farmland, is the ideal setting for me.

I hope the husbear agrees.

When it’s raining outside, my lunchtime setup looks like this.

In the past 30 minutes of sitting here for lunch it has rained twice and had three sunny spells. As long as the sunny spells outnumber the rain showers I guess I can’t complain. The weather looks nice for tomorrow, which is a good thing because we start vacation tomorrow night at 4:00 p.m. We’ll be heading towards Chicago tomorrow night. The forecast in that direction is already calling for severe weather tomorrow night, which should keep the drive lively. I hope the rest of the family doesn’t mind chasing a storm if one crops up nearby.

I’m looking forward to meeting a blogger or two this coming weekend while we are at the bear run in Chicago. It’s always good to meet others, that’s why we go to these things.

Fuzzy faces make my fuzzy face smile.

Today marked the beginning of something exciting, for today began Amish Pie Season! That’s right, the little Amish baked goods stand, only open on Fridays, opened up for the first time this year. I was able to stop after work and picked up two pies. This weekend we are enjoying an Apple and Blueberry pie.

The big milestone of this celebration is that I actually had a conversation with the young lady that works the pie stand. Last year I mentioned that she wasn’t one that engaged in conversation. While we didn’t really discuss the world political scene, we did engage in something more than a “yes” and a “thank you”; she even wished me a good evening.

There was a larger selection of pies this year and on my way to work I noticed that the stand is now open in the morning; last year it didn’t open until later in the day. Among the selection of baked goods were homemade donuts and a strawberry cream pie.

So many possibilities.

We are just back from supper tonight. I believe we’ll have to have a little pie before bed tonight, what with the slight hysteria about the end of the world and all that tomorrow, because as Erma Bombeck reminded us in one of her books, “Remember the women on the Titanic that skipped the dessert the night the ship sank.” Erma would remember this as she ate a Twinkie.

I keep thinking today is Friday. It can’t be Friday because I didn’t wear jeans, though I can wear jeans any darn day that I want to, I just happened to not wear jeans today. I would definitely be wearing jeans if it was Friday because I feel most comfortable in jeans, but today is Thursday. I want to be wearing shorts. Honestly, I’m happy I remembered pants.

Since I’m not wearing jeans, why do I think today is Friday? Is someone messing with the calendar? Has something in the atmospheric continuum gone askew? Now one would think that previous sentence would be referencing some show like Star Trek or Dr. Who, but it is not, it is referencing something else. A television show that should maintain the dignity of never being rebooted for television. If you’re going to mess with the classics, add to them, don’t reimagine them.

Speaking of reimagining, I’m thinking that the folks clamoring for the obviously hideous “Wonder Woman” reboot pilot should concentrate on more important things such as getting their hands on the ElectraWoman and DynaGirl rebooted pilot that had Markie Post in the lead role. Now that was a reboot I could wrap my head around.

Since it’s not Friday but my body thinks it is, I’m wondering if this is a sign from the universe that I should take a vacation day tomorrow. I probably shouldn’t since I’m off 2 1/8 days next week so we can go to Chicago to run with the bears. Plus, I’m saving up vacation time for the Big Trip in July. The one that starts on a Friday instead of a Saturday.

Perhaps that’s why I’m confused.

Aren’t you happy that I carry a keyboard in the car for lunchtime blogging on the iPad so I can type more nonsense more often?