Ponderings and Musings

So after 40 years in this body I have discovered something very important. I wear my belt facing the wrong way.

This important tidbit of information has been pointed out to me twice in the past week.

I’ll admit it right here, I never knew there was a “boy” way and a “girl” way of wearing a belt. If I look down at my stomach, the whole affair is being held up by my belt with the flappy part pointing to the right. When I unbuckle my belt I use my left hand and then pull out my business with my right hand so I can do my thing in the can.

That’s the way that feels natural to me.

Today for the first time I reversed the direction of how I wore my belt. It was the first time in 40 years that the flappy thing faced the left as I looked down at my stomach. I had to unfasten my belt with my right and pull out my business with my left hand and then my aim was all messed up and I missed the can.

I’m not one of those guys that can swing it all around with no hands, being mostly Irish and all.

So for the next 40 years I’m going to have to work out a new arrangement with unfastening my belt and handling my business. It wasn’t too long ago that I switched from wearing my watch on my right wrist to wearing it on my left.

That was much easier.

So today I am working the early shift at work, on-call week is now just a memory, with the lingering affects of a lack of sleep. I’m a little sluggish today.

There is a cleaning crew working at The Manor today. It’s our annual spring cleaning. Earl contracted the cleaning service from his office to clean the house and I’m staying out of their way today. I look forward to going home to a cleaner house; I have been neglecting that duty lately. I still wonder where we can get a live-in houseboy.

It is a glorious day in Central New York though admittedly it’s a little chilly. The sky is clear, save for a few puffs of harmless clouds. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming and there is a slight scent of lilac here at the Hampton Inn parking lot, where I am parked eating my lunch and typing this blog entry. There are several wi-fi spots in the area but none of them are in the mood to chat. I guess I’ll have to upload this blog entry when I get back to my cubicle. Don’t tell the company that I did that.

Earl and I were planning on going to see ‘Star Trek’ tonight but we have modified our plans a bit for the week. He is going to be at his other office in Scotia tomorrow and Wednesday night, so I’m going to join him there on Wednesday night and we are going to see ‘Star Trek’ in the IMAX theatre instead. If we are going to do it, we are going to do it right! I have heard only good things (and that’s an understatement) about the film so I am eager to see it. The IMAX presentation should be awesome.

All in all life is good, aside from being exhausted from only 2 1/2 hours sleep last night. At least tonight I’ll be able to sleep in peace (and with the pager turned blissfully off).

Now I’m going to sit back and enjoy the sun for the rest of this lunch hour.

Life is good, especially when you make it that way.

So today is Mother’s Day. This morning I called my sister and wished her well on her first official Mother’s Day. It was good to talk to her.

Last night Earl and I invited my mother over for dinner to celebrate the occasion, since she had plans with my cousin for today and I was wrapped up in an on-call weekend. Earl made a wonderful dinner for the three of us. We had great conversation and an excellent time. I was a blessed kid to have the “neat mom”; all the kids wanted to be in her group on field trips because she was fun. I have inherited my tendency to hear my own drum from her and that is something that I’m proud of. She has always encouraged me to be my own person and I hope that I always return the favour to her.

She’s a little whacky but she puts her heart and soul into everything she does. To add whimsy to the family I’m telling my nephews to call her “Grandma Loon”. She just loves that.

Earl and I sent her flowers at work so everyone could ooh and aah as they passed by her desk. She deserves the attention. She’s one of the best.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.

Okay, so there has been stirring in the blogosphere about that Miss California USA woman and her topless photos that were taken several years ago. She’s the one, of course, that spoke up about her support of “opposite marriage” and articulately stated that she believed that marriage should be reserved for the union between a man and a woman. Since losing the crown of Miss USA (because of her beliefs, so the story goes), she has become a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage. Basically she is trying to be the new face for ‘traditional values’.

Why does it seem to me, though, that many of these folks have something to hide. There always seems to be some skeleton rattling around in a closet. Some have feet tapping in airport stalls, others hang out in public parks, some conduct shady financial dealings with the congregation’s offering. With Carrie Prejean’s case, it’s some topless photos.

Look, of course I have no issue with someone posing however they want to pose. If you want to show it off then show it off. That’s the beauty of the body, it’s meant to be enjoyed! What I do have issue with is people preaching one thing and then doing another. Hypocrisy is never a good thing. How can one trust a hypocrite? So I’m going to admit a few things, right here and now:

1. I have posed naked in several photo shoots in my day, one of them being in the middle of the woods on a summer day in 1992 behind a Baptist church. One shot made it to a magazine (and it was not an ad for Olestra).

2. I do not have breast implants.

3. On several occasions, clad in only fruit of the loom tighty whities and a black leather jacket, I was paid to dance on a speaker in a very large gay nightclub in Boston. I wasn’t alone, there were others on the other speakers. Each of us were a theme, I played the bad boy with red hair. Granted, it was 35 pounds and 20 years ago but nonetheless, I have been seen girating to the likes of “Vogue”, “Ice Ice Baby” and “Hold You Tight” in barely a suggestion of attire.

4. I say what I believe and I believe what I say. I may change my mind, I may think out loud, but it is always safe to assume that you know where I stand at all times.

5. I believe love is love no matter if it’s between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman or a man and a man. Love should be celebrated, because there’s clearly not enough love in the world today.

I have always been intrigued by the forest. It is in the forest (or the woods) that I find adventure, even if it’s a construct of my imagination. It is there that I am able to escape. As I stand alone with nature, I feel Mother Nature caress me with her breezes as they work their way through the pine trees that surround me.

As a kid the woods behind my parents’ house was my domain. I’d climb trees, I’d lie on the leaves and watch the sky or I’d build a little fort out of pine tree branches up against the slope of the railroad tracks bed. It was there that I discovered what made me tick, what thoughts lurked in my mind and where I found solitude and relaxation.

Yesterday we went for a walk along a paved trail that passes near the woods. I made a slight detour off the beaten path to grab a glimpse of what I love.

I was not disappointed.

So while Earl was working this morning, I convinced Cubster that we needed to make a trip to the market. This is not one of my favourite tasks by any stretch of the imagination as I am not a fan of these big behemoth grocery stores that plague this area. (We have five Wal*Mart Supercenters within 25 miles of our house). The stores are too crowded, there are too many people yakking on their cell phones and drinking a cup of coffee whilst trying to navigate with their shopping carts and quite frankly I don’t need to be bombarded with a multi-media presentation every 16 feet explaining to me the proper way to squeeze a head of lettuce.

The only exception to my large grocery store rule is Wegmans.

I decided to drive a few extra miles to go to the one locally owned grocery store left in the area. The prices are a little higher but the store is a reasonable size, making it easier to get in there, fling the cart around a little bit, load it up with the items we need and dash out after a friendly checkout experience.

All was well with the excursion until we got to the friendly checkout experience. The cashier glared at me as I approached her lane. I double checked to make sure her light was on, indicating that the lane was open and that I wasn’t in an express lane. It appeared that I was in the clear so I started loading up the belt with our modest number of items. The cashier just sat there looking at me. I figured she was dazed and confused but would eventually kick in so I finished unloading the cart. She just stared at me. So I said, “So, what do we need to do to start this?” as I motioned to the items sitting on the belt waiting to be scanned.

She grabbed the first item and flung it over the scanner, whipped open a bag and shoved it in there. She continued her pissy approach to this for the entire order going so far as to slam the bacon on top of the strawberries. When she was done she barked out the total (she speaks!). I swiped my card, signed “Betsy Ross” on the signature pad and grabbed the receipt as she flung it at me. I said “thank you”. She said “You’re welcome” (two words this time!).

I have no idea what was irking her but it kind of soured me on the “shop local” experience. I think next time I’ll avoid Register 8.

Or find a grocery delivery service.

Today’s magic number is 10 percent. Back in the day they used to write “10 per cent”, with “per cent” as two separate words, because it really is just that if you think about it. 10 per cent means 10 per one hundred.

I wonder if they still write “per cent” in other English speaking countries. I’ll have to look into that when I finish this blog entry.

10 per cent. That’s the other shoe that dropped today. Yesterday it was a workforce reduction. For those that remain, it’s 10 per cent. Not a reduction in pay, mind you, but a reduction in the number of hours per week. And yes, I am paid an hourly rate (which is a very good thing when it comes to on-call!)

It’s not as bad as the rumour mill predicted. But then again, rumours are usually wildly inaccurate. So in that sense it could have been worse.

Am I happy about it? Nope. But it could have been worse.

We do what we have to do.

People all over the world are losing their jobs, their investments, their homes and the security of their future because of mistakes that have been made. A select number of greedy individuals have impacted the lives of millions. I believe the line from “Angels in America” is “Life will be unbearable for a long time before it becomes impossible”.

It’s a good thing I’m a survivor.

Well today has certainly been a Monday. While I am quite happy to be off-call (at least for the next two weeks), my glee of being off-call was deterred by what many of us are facing these days.

“Workforce Reduction”.

Many Americans (and people across the world, for the matter) are working for companies that are cutting back their workforce in these turbulent economic times. The company I work for is no different. There was hope that we could weather out the storm without layoffs but apparently those that make these decisions decided it couldn’t be helped, so today there were meetings with selected individuals, followed by empty boxes being filled, passwords being changed and a few tears flowing.

I did not get laid off. This was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak day.

Today I shook the hand of a man who had a technical prowess that I admired very much and then, along with my co-workers, wished him well as he made his way to exit the building. He was a good teacher. I hope I learned enough from him.

And the bumpy ride continues.

So it’s Friday and there is much rejoicing across the land. It is a nearly picture perfect day here in Central New York, it’s sunny, breezy and 61 degrees Fahrenheit. Naturally I am sitting indoors at a cubicle doing my best to be friendly on the phone helping customers with their technically related issues.

Technically I don’t offer much more than technical support. I thought it would be fun to write that sentence. I don’t know why.

I don’t have a lot on my plate for the weekend that lies ahead; Earl is out of town with his family and I am on call. I might make it to a birthday party for my nephew if the on call gods cooperate, but I won’t be able to determine that until the very last minute.

Looking over my blog I realised that I haven’t many entries this week. I think part of this can be due to my participation on Twitter and the like; when I am constantly updating tweets and such it seems redundant to type a longer entry here. Part of me wants to fight against this trend and sit back, think and ponder about my words and then write something that has some meaning and is longer than 140 characters. Twitter was fun, and still is for the most part, but now that it’s becoming as popular as AOL was in it’s day I’m starting to lose interest in the service.

And don’t even get me started on Facebook.  Love the concept, hate the new interface. It’s just the way it is.

I have been writing in this blog since August 2001. It is my intent to continue to do so, regardless of how many services try to sway me to their sexy alternatives.