Ponderings and Musings

I hereby declare that this whirlwind of a week is temporarily frozen so I can sit down and write a cohesive blog entry.

This week has been insanely busy. I did not plan for this week to be insanely busy but apparently the Universe felt differently. And we all know that when it comes down to one against the Universe, the Universe wins, especially when the Universe has the arsenal black holes and such involved.

Where to begin. Earl and I are having a bear party this weekend. It’s sort of an appetizer for the subsequent bear night at the bar I spin at. Because of this party I’ve been keeping busy making sure the house looks respectable and that the snacks and whatnot will be in order. There’s quite a few guys coming and I think it’s going to be a great time. Let’s hope Mother Nature cooperates, although if folks get snowed into the house I won’t be upset in the least.

School has been going well this week, though the homework has been keeping my busy. Even though this semester has had more homework than previous terms, I feel like all of my homework is geared towards my degree. Aside from the lesson on using my slide rule (WTF?) and doing computations with logarithms I feel like I’m gathering useful information that I’ll need when I’m finally a real Civil Engineer.

In between getting the house ready for company, school work and chatting with friends and family online, I’ve also been engaged in the hyper-amusing activity of keeping the driveway clear of snow. I don’t know if it’s global climate change or what but this winter has been sort of whacky. The traditionally coldest week of the year wasn’t and usually by now the great lakes are frozen enough that we don’t get a lot of lake effect snow. This year seems to be playing by different rules. I guess Mother Nature is shaking it up a bit to keep it interesting. We’ve all heard the reports about the changing weather patterns worldwide; I’m interested to see if we are going to see more severe thunderstorms and such in the spring and summer. I might have to chase me some tornadoes.

Earl and I are going on vacation in a couple of weeks. We are spending most of my spring break in Las Vegas. I’ve planned a couple of side trips courtesy of reading Karl’s blog and I’m looking forward to the adventure. Once upon a time I dreamed of living in the desert in relative isolation. The idea still appeals to me somewhat though I’d rather living in relative isolation in the Irish countryside now. It’s a little greener. Nevertheless, I’m really looking forward to the trip to Las Vegas and I think that Earl and I are going to have a fabulous time.

Now, back to my whirlwind.

Today the beautiful city of Dublin, Ireland enjoyed relatively chilly temperatures between 9 and 12 degrees celsius. That’s around 50 degrees for those that prefer the unscientific method of measuring these things. Said temps were accompanied by sunny spells.

Here at home we have about 10 inches of new snow with the majority of the storm expected late tonight through tomorrow night. I’ve already cleaned the driveway out once and that took 1 1/2 hours because I had to use the “snail” setting on the snowblower.

Is it crazy of me to hope this is the last big storm of the season?

Mother Nature graced us with bright sunshine today. I can feel spring approaching the front door. Soon it will be knocking and we will enthusiastically welcome it.

The bright sun and relatively moderate temperatures did much to bring me out of hibernation. To celebrate, I’ve decided to wear my sandals whenever I don’t have to trudge through snow.

More pictures available on my web gallery. Look in the folder entitled “February Sunshine.”

With the tax returns burning a hole in our pockets, Earl and I decided to make the final purchase necessary for the house. After searching several stores yesterday, we purchased a queen-sized sleigh bed for the “back bedroom”, which is the official guest room here at The JPnEarl Manor.

It’s interesting that I refer to that room as the back bedroom. It’s not really in the back of the house. It’s actually my old office. I suppose it’s the furthest away from the master bedroom so it gets dubbed the “back bedroom”. Grandma and Grandpa City had a “back bedroom”, I guess that’s where I picked the term up from.

Anyway, with the purchase of this sleigh bed (which is to be delivered on Wednesday, let’s hope for ‘woof’ points), our house is now full of furniture. Not bad for 4+ years of living here. We also now have two spare bedrooms, the aforementioned “back bedroom” and the closer bedroom that we call the “boy bedroom”, which is where our fantasy houseboy will sleep. He gets the older full-sized bed.

As I drove back and forth from school today I had several random thoughts singing around in this active head of mine. I thought I would share. I might get a little ranty.

1. Heads up to people that are not familiar with winter driving. You can not dodge the snowflakes and it’s o.k. for them to hit your car. In addition, it is not wise to slam on the breaks when you find yourself in a whiteout (blowing/drifting snow or snow that’s falling down really hard). The person behind you will slam into you and to make the occasion more joyous they can’t see you because you’ve stopped in the middle of the whiteout. Note to New Jersey drivers – for some reason you folks feel that putting your sunglasses on in the middle of a whiteout helps your visibility. It doesn’t. It makes you look stupid.

2. While we’re in the car, you want FRESH air from OUTSIDE blowing into your car so that the windows don’t get all foggy. If you’re driving around with foggy windows and you can’t figure out how to fix the problem (don’t use RECIRCULATE on your heater), you’re a dumb ass.

3. Professors that announce at the beginning of the semester that all tests, quizzes, etc. are open book and then announce two hours before said exam that it’s NOT open book deserve the flu they are suffering with.

4. I was listening to a Mac podcast on the way to school this morning and decided to shut it off and delete it off my iPod. I am a rabid user of all things Apple but quite frankly the stereotypical Mac fanboy makes me want to vomit. It’s a company, not a religion. I hold nothing against those that choose to use Linux or Windows and would gladly help anyone. It’s a little more painful to help Windows users but I can deal with it. Apple bollocks their software just as much as Microsoft does so come down off the cross.

5. I am not going to get into the habit of playing hip hop and rap during my DJ gigs (there’s a very few customers that request it) and if they want that kind of music I’m not the guy for the job.

6. I am sick of the snow. I used to love winter. But that love has been lost. I’d rather deal with rain than with snow. Give me between 60 and 75 degrees fahrenheit, no matter the precipitation and I’d be quite content.

7. Apparently the writer’s strike is over. I find myself not giving a damn, though I don’t know why I even mention it since our current television line up includes only three programs: “Las Vegas”, “Private Practice” and “American Idol”. I gave up on “Heroes” halfway through the second season and nothing else really holds my interest.

8. I’ve decided that I want to go to a rugby game, though I know little about the sport. I also want to play on a gay football team. I don’t know what makes the team gay because all football players pat each others’ arses, but there you are.

My sweetheart is south of the Mason-Dixon line on business. He gets to run around in shirt sleeves, I bundle up on this St. Valentine’s Day. He wines and dines with customers, I sine and cosine with tests. Tonight we’ll be snuggled naked under the covers but hundreds of miles apart; one on a Nokia, the other on an iPhone. Even though we have nearly a dozen Valentine’s Day under our belt I still got choked up when I left a handmade card on the kitchen counter, so he would be surprised at 4:30 this morning as he made his way to the airport.

I think I feel a little melancholy. Perhaps I’ll make popcorn.

Earl and I have lived at our current address for over four years. The previous owners and builders of our home, apparently unable to afford their dream home any longer, temporarily moved to the house next door when they sold us their house. They were going to stay there until they could find another house to move to. I think they find us creepy or something because they don’t wave when we wave to them in a neighborly way, nor have they ever asked for a cup of sugar. But I don’t care about the sugar part.

So they’ve lived next door for four years. Is it unreasonable for me to have the expectation that they would have changed their address by now? The post office stopped forwarding their mail years ago, and now we get all their tax documents, magazine subscriptions and various other doo-dads. Like a good neighbor I’ve trotted across the yard and delivered their mail for them. They’re usually not home so I wedge it in the front door. I guess it’s the right thing to do but it’s becoming a pain in the ass. I think I’m just irked by the fact that it’s been over four years and we are still getting their mail. How hard can it be to change your address, especially on your financial accounts including your investments, checking account and health insurance forms?

I’m tempted to just throw it out with the rest of the junk mail but my conscience won’t let me do that.

Time to take another walk across the yard.

My body is instinctively kicking into hibernation mode these days. There are times when I like to embrace my loner side and this seems to be one of these times. I don’t know if it’s the cold or what but I’m feeling content just doing little things around the house and losing myself in my schoolwork and projects.

I’m enjoying my school semester so far, though I have a bunch of tests coming up in the next week or two so that may change my outlook a little bit. I feel confident that I’ll do fine though, so far everything is ‘clicking’. I’m struggling a little bit with Professor Frightful and his cast of voices in the chalkboard, as he seems to be speaking in circles around calculus, but close attention to the text and intensive googling seems to remedy that little obstacle.

All in all life is quiet, but life is good. I think I’m ready for spring. In the meantime I’ll just sit back, relax and quietly enjoy my own little realm.