Ponderings and Musings

Earl and I have played it very low key today. We’ve basically done nothing, save for eating, getting laundry done and picking up the house. I’ve messed around with my computer, Earl has watched football and is now off to his weekly poker game. I haven’t even showered. I don’t think I smell bad.

Despite our laziness, we’re both in a great mood and ready for the work week. Sometimes you just need some down time.

I think I’m in a little bit of a mood today. Actually, I know I’m in a mood today. And it’s rather foul.

I try not to be foul. I try to be the happy, go-lucky, awwww shucks, swell type but sometimes there’s just a rant stirring inside of me that must be unleashed. For the first time ever I found work to be somewhat irritating and I’m sick of counting calories and fat grams so I’m going to let myself just enjoy my supper tonight and not obsess about what I am eating. Add the fact that Earl was out of town last night so I had to sleep without my favorite teddy bear and I’m finding myself rather snappish.

So BEAR with me but there’s some things going on in the world that I must get off my chest.

First of all, “ha ha ha ha ha Bush Lite!” Bin Laden made another tape and released it to the world, complete with threats of death and destruction. The man is a monster (Bin Laden, not Bush, the latter being somewhat debatable) and is damn near a perfect picture of Evil with a capital “E”, but the Bush administration wants us to forget about him and the fact that he’s still running loose in the world and concentrate on the people of Iraq instead as we introduce them to our (proper?) version of the Messiah. “Don’t look at the lunatic behind the curtain! He’s not important! It was Iraq! It was Iraq!”

Secondly, because of said activities in Iraq, there is a reporter from the Christian Science Monitor being held hostage with a mortal deadline of tomorrow. That just sickens me. I may not agree with the Christian Science Monitor, I don’t agree with the Iraqi war. I may think that it’s somewhat foolish to try to “get the scoop” in a war zone, but to hold someone’s life in the balance like that is very sickening. May the Universe save her.

Then we have municipalities here in Upstate New York looking to form their own utility companies, instead of relying on corporations like National Grid (which recently took over Niagara Mohawk), simply because utility bills are skyrocketing at an unprecedented rate this winter, and it’s not even cold outside! There are senior citizens living on their social security checks alone and finding that their energy bills are more than their entire monthly income! Now that’s showing respect to our elders if I’ve ever seen it before. Big corporations = big profits for corporations = begging and starving elderly! Beautiful.

While I’m on the topic of energy, I am officially boycotting a local oil company because they are artificially inflating the prices in the local market. They routinely raise their prices 3 or 4 cents above surrounding gas stations. The dumb folks around here still go to them, because after all, they are the most prevalent in the area, and then the other gas stations say “if they can raise the price 3 or 4 cents and still get business, them I’m going to also!” so then the price of gas goes higher for everyone involved. You can drive 20 miles in any direction from here and find the price of gas drop 10 to 20 cents per gallon. It’s horrible.

And lastly, it has been reported that the government wants access to logs of user’s searches on Google, in an effort to curb pornography on the internet away from children. HELLO! I don’t know about you, but I do not want Condocranky Rice browsing through logs of what I searched for on the internet, even if all I do is find answers to my Unix questions. (That’s what we all use Google for, right? Pornography? Why, I never even thought of that!) When did it become the responsibility of our government to raise our children? Funny, I always thought that it was the responsibility of the parents to raise the children. If you don’t know what your children are doing on the internet, you can’t figure out to know what your children are doing and you can’t do anything about it, then you shouldn’t have a computer in your house in the first place. If you can’t run the damn thing, then stay the hell away from it or learn how to surf responsibly and safely. This scenario is like expecting the government to keep track of the fact that you subscribe to Cinesleaze on the cable network, ignore the parental controls built into your cable box and then have a fit when your kid stumbles across a man, two women and a collection of bare breasts on the screen. Rumor has it that they’d also like to track how much anti-Bush Administration stuff there’s out there on the internet, but as I say, that’s just a rumor.

I feel a little better after getting all that off my chest. Thanks for listening.

I have a habit of judging people. It’s not a habit that I’m proud of and I certainly shouldn’t be judging anyone on cursory observations, but it’s just something I do and I keep to myself. Except when I write about it in my blog of course.

For instance, consider the people that work in the same building as I do.

We have three doors at the main entrance of our building. In the middle is large, revolving door which is flanked by two standard doors. The revolving door is the “old kind” in that a little effort must be given in order to actually push the door to make it revolve so that you’re not stuck in the middle part looking like a window display on Fifth Avenue.

Quick side note: believe it or not, I’ve seen people push the door a little bit expecting it to start moving on its own and after a few moments do realize that something is wrong once they’re stuck between the inside and outside between two panels of the door. They finally figure out that a little effort is required and starting pushing the door, which contradicts my theory that…

… People that don’t use the revolving door are dumb, people that do use the revolving door are smart.

There’s a couple of reasons the revolving door is there. First of all, it gives the appearance of a classy building. Important places have revolving doors. “There’s no common door to our building, we’re too good for that, we have a fancy revolving door.”

Secondly, revolving doors keep the outside air on the outside and the inside air on the inside. At a place such as the Carrier Dome, which is somewhat pressurized, this is important so that the roof doesn’t come crashing down on 60,000 football spectactors. In a building such as the office building I work at, it helps keep the temperature in the lobby under control; in the winter the warm air stays in and the cold air stays out. Using the standard doors on either side defeats any attempt at a happy environment in the building lobby. “Boy, I wish the landlord would heat this lobby!”, clueless people think.

The other day when it was extremely windy outside, I heard a woman complain that the standard door was hard to push open to get out of the building because the wind was holding it shut. She really felt that the landlord should build a vestibule of some sort so that the entrance of the building was protected from the wind. I bit my tongue to refrain from pointing out a couple of things to her; the entrance of the building is inset into the rest of the building by about 15 feet, creating an outside vestibule to protect those coming and going by the elements until they can get appropriate raingear or whatever on.

Secondly, the revolving door works just fine in windy conditions because that’s what it’s designed for.

So at quitting time when the offices in our building are emptying out and people are pushing those standard doors open and complaining about the cold air blowing in, I’m going to continue to bite my tongue and refrain from telling them that they should be using the revolving door. But I’ll continue to think that they’re a little dumb, stumbling through life without a clue as to what is going on around them.

I’ll save my theories on elevator etiquette for another time.

It’s amazing what a good attitude can do for one’s day. Why here it is after 12 noon already! The day is humming along nicely. This morning I went into the office with three primary goals. The first was to get my desk as organized as my state of mind this past weekend. So while I was Mr. Homemaker Saturday and Sunday and doing all sorts of domestic chores, I took that attitude into the office and did the same. I filed away extraneous papers, I cleaned out useless e-mail messages and I labeled file folders and folder bins. I wiped 18 months of crud off the back of my computer and I basically just got my workspace comfortable and organized again. The change is refreshing and my water cup no longer sticks to my desk.

Today is the day that two of our tech support groups combine into one and I approached the integration with a positive outlook and an open mind. At the very least there’s a huge opportunity for learning with this re-organization, as while we were for the same company, our two groups supported different types of customers (voice and data circuits vs internet and network connectivity). I believe our two groups now unified, while having different approaches to similar tasks, can learn from each other and be one step further ahead in this rat race we call the telecom industry.

And lastly, I’m pushing negative vibes and gloomy thoughts aside and ignoring them. I’ve jokingly (at least I think jokingly) been referred to as “Mary Sunshine” around the office in the past because of a positive outlook, a springy step and a smile on my face. Perhaps others not as content in their job would find me a little much. I don’t care. Enjoying your work makes the day go by much faster, helps you sleep better at night, makes the atmosphere around the office much more amicable and probably aids in digestion as well. A number of years ago I was known as the “Gloom and Doom Guy” because I always looked at the negative side of a situation. I like to think that I’ve changed since then and am now a positive influence on those around me.

I don’t know why I’m feeling more upbeat today; it could be because I’m eating healthier, I’m wearing new clothes or because the sun is shining. Who cares? Life is good.

Well it’s happened again. I’ve turned into Mr. Homemaker. Earl went to play poker with a bunch of buddies tonight so I did the following:

• Finished all the laundry, including the placemats on the kitchen table and the towels in the guest room.
• Made tomorrow night’s supper of vegetable stew.
• Made four dozen cookies to take to work tomorrow in honor of our department tripling in size as we combine technical teams.
• Divided out my Progresso soup into individual, easy to pack lunches for work this week.
• Changed Tom’s litter box.
• Swept the kitchen floor. (Notice I didn’t get crazy and announce that I had mopped the floor, however sweeping is a start).

I don’t know what’s going on with me. We don’t have a party planned in the future, no one is coming to visit and I haven’t the vaguest idea of whether the planets are aligned or not. I just feel like cleaning the house.

Oh well. The activity is a good excuse for exercise.

With Apple’s announcement of new goodies in the way of computers and software today, I just had to get down to the nearest Apple store after my training class today and find out what all the fuss is about. Plus, being away from home, money doesn’t seem to hold as much value to me and what harm could happen if I applied for Apple credit while I was at the store?

As an added bonus, the food court has a Chick-Fil-A. Apple store + Apple Credit Card X Chick-Fil-A=Fscking Nirvana. It’s simple math.

While I was eating my charbroiled chicken sandwich and drinking some unsweetened iced tea (I managed to stay healthy while eating tonight), the fire alarms starting honking throughout the mall. No one moved. I kept eating my supper, the muzak kept playing, the chinese restaurant people kept handing out samples and the kid at the table next to me kept saying “more fries! more fries! more fries!” repeatedly while the mother did nothing about it. No one looked for smoke. No one smelled for smoke. There was no mayhem. There wasn’t even interest.

The store under the food court across from the Apple store had smoke billowing out of the back room. It was some sort of card and gift shop. It smelled like every ounce of incense in stock was on fire. Perhaps that’s why everyone was so non-plussed about the fire horns. They were too centered and focused from the incense.

The only real disadvantage to this whole scenario is that the very astute team at the Apple store followed mall policies and ushered everyone out of their store until the fire alarms went off and the trouble cleared. Because the fire was across the hall from the Apple store, this essentially hurded the people towards the pleasantly aromatic smoke and away from all the goodies that were announced at today’s Macworld.

I don’t think people take the new “beep beep” sound of these electronic fire alarms seriously. Perhaps the public has become desensitized to flashing strobe lights and electronic beeps. I remember when the traditional fire BELLS went off when I was in school, everyone made a bee-line for the exit, single file and in an orderly fashion. I’ve been in tall buildings (at least for the city we live in) where the traditional bells rang and people left the building. However, whenever I’ve been around where these electronic horns sound the alarm, people couldn’t care less.

So much for new technology in the fire safety department I guess.

After order was restored and the smoke was cleared, Apple cheerfully opened their store where I promptly applied for an Apple credit account. Click, click, click, please wait. “Oops, you live in New York and you’re currently in Massachusetts.” We need to verify first.

The e-mail arrived when I got back to the hotel room.* You must wait for your card to arrive, then you can make a purchase.

That’s o.k. I probably would have maxed the generous card anyways and then I would have to deal with that financial scenario when I returned home tomorrow night.

* The hotel room saga continues a little. This morning the water pressure in my shower amounted to the feeling that someone was peeing on my head whilst I stood under the shower spigot. (And never mind why I know how that feels, anyway). I mentioned it at the front desk, when I got back to room this evening after class I had a crowd of construction guys in my hotel room bathroom. Try explaining that to your lover. At least I have pictures.

Tonight’s thought that seems to be stuck in my mind is: “Is there really a way to adjust the heat in a hotel room to a comfortable level?” I fear the answer is “no”. Looking at the knob on this heat thingee mounted under my hotel room window (which overlooks the fitness center and there’s a couple of hot guys working out right now, in case you’re wondering why I’m typing in the dark with the curtains open, hidden behind a closet door, but I digress), I have several adjustments I can make to achieve an optimal temperature. I have “hot”. I have “cold”. I have a blending of blue and hot between these two settings. To the right I have multiple choice answers to an unknown question: “low cool”, “high cool”, “low heat”, “high heat”, “fan only”, “off”.

I really wish the folks that made this contraption, (by the way, the make a great Radarange) would have made it a little easier – set the blasted thing for 68 degrees and let the machine figure out the rest.

I don’t think it’s an unreasonable thought.

I can get in my car and set the temperature to 68 and turn the rest of the knobs to auto and the car will do the rest. Granted, it’s not as sexy as the old slide heater controls in our ’78 Impala “Vent”, “Heat”, “Def”, and it only went to “vent” if you pushed on it until the leaves stuffed in the radiator flew out, but it did it’s job. If you were uncomfortable, you rolled down a window. If you were really uncomfortable you hung your head out the window like a happy dog.

I don’t think the guys in the workout area across the courtyard would appreciate me hanging my head out the window with my tongue wagging. It’s a nice thought though.

I am spending the next two nights in Marlborough, Mass. for some training for work. It’ll be two days of pure geek as I learn the ins and outs of computer networking so that I’ll be a better prepared for the additional duties of my job.

It’s very strange to be here in Marlborough. You see, I lived in this area for a couple of years back in the late 1980s. I had a couple of temp jobs before settling down for a two and a half year stint with Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). On my way here tonight, I drove by a couple of the buildings I used to temp at with DEC. They’re HP buildings now (since HP bought Compaq who bought DEC in the mid 90s), but I didn’t expect to see the facility codes still prominently displayed on the outside. Building MRO2 is still MRO2! I had friends that worked at MRO2! I wonder where they are today.

I had also completely forgotten how combative driving is in eastern Massachusetts. Whew! Good thing I bought the Acura so I could kick some ass on I-495 and the Mass. Pike.

Now, off to find some supper…

It’s official in our merry little household. We took down the Christmas trees, put away the holiday knick-knacks and retrieved all the ornaments Tom stole from the bottom of the trees and batted under the couch. The holidays are officially over.

When I was child I used to get quite misty eyed when it was time to take down the Christmas tree. I think part of the reason was because Christmas was such a mad dash in our house. Our family usually put the tree up the Sunday before Christmas and took it down the Sunday after. The decorations were up for two weeks at the most. The blinking lights, my favorite smiling cat ornament, the tinsel, the garland and other boxes full of decorations were all put away in a secret location for the next 50 weeks. The were put in a secret location because I’d usually trot the lights out in June or July just to look at them and think back on the previous Christmas and how much I enjoyed the holidays.

Even at seven I had drama going on.

I don’t tear up anymore when we “disassemble the holidays.” I’m too busy thinking about how much work is involved with the task. Plus, since we have an artificial tree, I don’t have the missing pine smell to remind me that there’s no longer a tree in the house. But it’s all worth it. The season was joyous this year and I wouldn’t trade it in for any other experience.

Even though we’re over a week in 2006, it’s only today for us that the holidays are officially over. It’s going to seem weird when my sister comes back from Russia in February for a visit and we exchange Christmas gifts. It’ll be like taking my holiday cheer out of the secret location early and remembering how joyous the holidays are. I guess I’ll feel like a kid again.

It’s amazing what sleep can do for one’s body. Last night I was about to get almost nine hours of sleep with only one interruption. I’m feeling much more like myself today. There’s no fog hanging over everything I’m trying to say, see or do. I’m also coming a little out of my shell again as well and I will probably be accepting visitors after this run of on-call is over with on Monday morning.

Long ago I was told by an unfortunate mistake of a man I was dating that my personality revolves in predictable cycles and that anyone coupled with me would find me to be maddening. Of course, this came from a nut job that I really shouldn’t have been seeing at the time anyway. I still remember the sigh of relief when I simply hung up the phone on him while he was babbling on about what my problem was. I giggled and took comfort in knowing that I would never speak or see him again. Now that I think about it, back in the day I was quite harsh when I decided to stop seeing someone. For example, one guy I saw while I lived near Boston had all his wisdom teeth pulled and he wanted to spend the weekend at my apartment in the suburbs to recuperate. So Friday night I drove him out and tried to keep him comfortable. Come Saturday afternoon I simply couldn’t take his whining anymore, and I told my roommate to help him pack up his stuff and to get him out of my sight. I didn’t speak to the man again, ever. I feel no remorse.

I’m looking forward to settling down to a weekend at home and the universe willing, enjoying a relatively quiet ending to my bout with on-call. The next week I’m in Massachusetts for some Cisco router training for work.

I hope one of the guys I dumped isn’t there!