Ponderings and Musings

I did something this morning that I have never done before. I overslept. And I didn’t just oversleep by 15 minutes or so. No, I overslept by 1 1/2 hours.

I woke up when I should have been leaving for work.

So I rammed around the house, in a surprisingly bemused mood by the whole thing, and was only 20 minutes late for work after all was said and done.

A residential building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side blew up this morning around 9 a.m. The White House has been quick to tell everyone that this is not terrorism related. As of right now they’re saying it could have been a gas leak or something, not that that makes it all better or anything.

I don’t think I would do well living in the Big Apple these days. There’s too many variables; tunnels, subways, honking cars, skyscrapers, ships, boats, planes, automobiles; I’d have way too much to worry about. We live over three hours away near a city that has little to entice a terrorist organization and I’m jumpy enough with low flying airplanes, contrails that do U-turns and the like. I’d be worried about the couple of million people around me if I lived in New York.

When the fire trucks head through downtown, I wonder if they’re headed for the tallest building in the county, which clocks in at 16 stories. After hearing the news stories about how big of a target the local nuclear power plants are, I wonder about the planes I see flying over Lake Ontario. Right after 9/11 the local news agencies did everything short of marking a map with “Aim Here”. I’m afraid for our own stupidity.

We live near a former Air Force Base that has been converted to a “Technology Park”. One of the companies that moved in services various shapes and sizes of airliners. When a huge 747 looms over our house on approach for servicing (on one of the few runways long enough to accomodate a shuttle landing, by the way), I remind Earl that the plane flying over the house “is going in for repairs.” I’m happy when a wing doesn’t fall off.

I don’t strive to sound like a paranoid freak, especially since I believe what will happen, will happen, but with all the unrest in the world it’s hard to be totally at ease. There are too many crazy people running around. There are too many crazy people in positions of power. And I just have this uneasy feeling jumping around in the back of my head.

I hope it’s all for nothing.

I try to be rather upbeat from time to time when I blog. I like to give readers that uplifting, satisfying, happy feeling one gets after eating a delicious meal, watching an award-worthy movie or taking a well needed dump.

But I’m not feeling it today. I’m trying to, I really am. But the world is not living up to my expectations today and instead of ranting on about the ills of the world, I guess it’s just better to not say anything at all.

As a child I learned two important lessons from my mother:

1. Never hand wash dishes when you can run a second load in the dishwasher.
2. Don’t say anything if you don’t have anything nice to say.

So today I’m just going to smile, nod my head a lot and just try to get through the day.

Tonight Earl and I are heading out with the camper to a state park for the weekend. The weather is suppose to be gorgeous. I’m sure the experience will wash away the stress from today.

I really hate speakerphones. I despise them. When I speak with someone using a speakerphone, I feel that I’m told indirectly, “Don’t think that you’re important enough that I need to stop what I’m doing to talk to you. Just keep on yapping and I’ll mutter some yeps and nopes.”

I rank speakerphones one notch below cellphone use in public. This morning I spoke with a customer who was using a speakerphone. She spoke at bullhorn levels into the inspid little device to tell me she was having a problem with her e-mail. She would ask me a question, I would give her an answer and then she’d confer with someone that would whisper so I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

That’s just rude.

First of all, the conversation sounded like it was coming in from Venus. Secondly, she was multitasking way too much. When the customer wasn’t speaking at abnormally loud volumes, she was either drinking coffee, eating something or speaking in hushed tones with the suspicious little man in the shadows. Maybe I’m a little bit paranoid but I like to know who I’m speaking with and that I have their attention.

Earl is a very busy corporate executive. He earns lots of money for his company and all involved (including me) are quite proud of him. However, early in our relationship he learned that the speakerphone thing isn’t going to work for me. I’d call him up and answer his greeting over his speakerphone with “hi”. He’d say “hello”. I’d say “hi”. He’d say “hello”. This would go on until he was frustrated enough to pick up the receiver and pay attention to me in which I would then have a delightful conversation of whispering sweet nothings and my asking him to bring home cat litter or something equally mundane.

I could be a little paranoid. Back in my radio days, the morning show team would take great delight in calling their boss (me) around 6:00 in the morning and put me on the air. “Ha ha! J.P. is asleep! Ha ha!” After telling them several times to knock it off, I finally responded to one of their questions with a “How the fsck should I know?” or something equally profane in which the phone went dead and they learned to take Station Daddy seriously.

We have a support tech in our group that likes to use his speakerphone. We get to hear all sorts of fun throughout the office. “What did you say?” “I said press CTRL-ALT-DEL twice.” “Press catcha all mice?” This goes on and on.

I seriously miss Ma Bell and her rotary dial.

So I was humming “Monday, Monday” to myself all morning when all of a sudden I realized that it isn’t Monday at all, it’s Wednesday! How silly of me. I wondered why the weekend flew by so fast.

It doesn’t really feel like Wednesday. Heck, it doesn’t even feel like July, with tonight’s temperature predicted to be in the upper 40s. I’m wondering why we are feeding chemicals into the pool, I don’t think it needs to be clear to be an ice skating rink.

I keep waiting for summer to “kick in”. It still feels like May to me. Perhaps it’ll warm up by the end of the week and we can put the winter clothes away.

Earl and I are camping for the next two weekends. This coming weekend we’re headed to a state park and next weekend we’re taking a long weekend and going to the gay campground in Pennsylvania. We’re looking forward to both trips.

Gotta remember to pack the parkas.

I was talking with a customer day today who ended the call by wishing me a happy holidays. I found this odd. I think it may have been the first time I’ve ever been wished a happy holidays in reference to Independence Day. While the sentiment was in the right place and I took it at face value, to me the phrase just sounded weird. I had a fleeting moment to respond with “Merry Christmas” but I thought better of it. I didn’t want to sound mean.

I sincerely hope that we are not about to go generalizing all the holidays now and have a one-size fits all approach when it comes to wishing others well in the spirit of a given holiday. It’s bad enough that we fire off fireworks at the drop of a hat now. Fireworks should be reserved for the celebration of Independence Day. The only other time that I approve the launching of fireworks is for local volunteer fire departments’ “field days”, and that’s to celebrate the community we live in. These days it seems like we’re dragging sparklers out for any ol’ reason… “Grandma cleaned her dentures, time to launch some M80s!”

I blame marketing people. It’s like these folks that put up Christmas lights for every reason in the world. We have green St. Patrick’s Day lights. We have pink and yellow Easter lights. We have brown Thanksgiving lights. Christmas lights go on the Christmas tree and maybe around a porch pole or two. And that occurs after Thanksgiving and before Christmas. O.k., there are some instances where Christmas lights work in other places, like all white lights in a tree at the mall, on a Walt Disney World parade float or at a popular tradition at local gay campgrounds called “Illumination Weekend”. But I don’t get the Christmas lights going up for the other holidays.

And while I’m approaching a rant here, what is up with exchanging gifts at Easter? A few pieces of candy for the kids and some together time around the family dinner table, that’s it people. The easter bunny should not bring Melvin a bicycle and an X-box.

This generalization of various holidays is taking away from the moments themselves. Our founding fathers gave their lives for the freedom that we enjoy today and we remember this with “Independence Day”. Each holiday is unique and should be honored by remembering the reason for that day. So if you want to wish someone a wonderful Independence Day, make it simple and say “Have a Happy 4th!” or “Happy Independence Day!”, then go out with your loved ones and enjoy the fireworks.

Just don’t put up the Christmas lights and Easter eggs at the same time.

It was a bright, beautifully sunny day here in Central New York today. Unfortunately, that did not stop the flood waters that are literally swamping parts of New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. As I type this entry, it’s raining again, with thunderstorms and heavy rain predicted through midnight.

Work has been somewhat hectic as we are trying to keep up with telephone service repairs. It’s not easy to fix one telephone wire, let alone a junction box with several thousand wires, under several feet of water. This is one of the few occasions where I’m happy to be inside in the Network Operations Center instead of being out in the field getting dirty, and wet. Bravo to the crews out there that are helping in any way they can.

Earl’s company’s plant in Binghamton was four feet underwater as of yesterday. Today the water had retreated to less than a foot.

My aunt that lives in Conklin, just south of Binghamton, was rescued from her home as it was being flooded. Apparently she was airlifted out by helicopter. A home down the street from her house blew up from presumably a ruptured gas main.

The Fonda Speedway in the Mohawk Valley would more appropriately be called Lake Fonda. Perhaps they can race speedboats instead of supermods this weekend.

Any roadway, except the main expressway, that crosses the Mohawk River near our home is currently closed. No mall for this boy tonight, as it’s hard to just get there from here. It’s not worth the effort anyway.

And it’s raining. And raining. And raining again. I think our pool is finally overflowing for the first time since we’ve lived here.

I heard the sun will come out tomorrow.

A couple of days ago I mentioned a little bit of disappointment I had felt because I attended my high school annual alumni dinner and I was the only one from the class of 1986 in attendance. While the whole affair was quite enjoyable, I was looking forward to seeing how some of my contemporaries were doing.

Well today a little handout arrived in the mail advertising my high school class’ 20 year reunion, to be held during the annual Field Days on August 4! I can not believe that I’m actually looking forward to getting together with my old classmates but I have to admit that I am.

Here’s a picture of my grandmother, my mom and myself taken right after my graduation on June 29, 1986. I’m happy to say that I’ve exceeded my own expectations of where I’d be today.

I’ve often quipped at work that on the day that Armageddon arrives, I will be on-call for work. The earth will be ending and some nimrod is going to be complaining that they can’t dial the time and temperature line because their phone line is out. “It’s Armageddon, it’s very hot.” That’s what I’ll tell them.

Yesterday I mentioned that it had been steadily raining for the past 24 hours or so. The rain continued until around 11 a.m. today. I can’t get onto the National Weather Service website to see how much rain has accumulated, but I can tell you that there are *a lot* of telephones not working in the area.

A few things happening in the area:

1. All roads in nearby Herkimer County are closed due to flooding.
2. The New York State Thruway is closed between Exits 31 and 28 due to the rising waters on the Mohawk River and Erie Canal, both of which run parallel to the Thruway. Due to the closure, as of this writing the Thruway is backed up at least four miles as eastbound traffic tries to exit through the small tollbooths there.
3. A restaurant in the small village of Dolgeville decided enough was enough and fell into the East Canada River.
4. To our south, parts of the cities of Binghamton and Oneonta are under water.
5. A portion of Interstate 88 washed out.

There’s a lot more going on, but I have to pretend like I’m working at my desk when I’m trying to do this research.

Last night was interesting for me because my pager rang for the most of the night, coaxing out of slumber and into SuperTech mode. I’ve had about two hours sleep. I’m a little punchy at work. I’m thinking I told a customer to fsck themselves instead of just thinking it, but that could just be the sleep deprived paranoia kicking in. I think I would have remembered that conversation.

Mother Nature is certainly keeping us on our toes this year!

It has been raining for the past 24 hours. It’s been coming down pretty much non-stop. They say it’s going to just keep raining for a while.

And tonight, the floods arrived.