Quirky.

I think I have a better average memory. I have a hunch that I inherited this from my father, as a retailer, he could tell a customer that he hadn’t seen in 10 years that they had purchased a pound of 10-common nails a decade earlier. He had the entire inventory of the family business in his head.

While my memory kind of works like my dad’s, I don’t know that I remember the same things that he does. I got to thinking about my memory this morning while I was taking a shower and I decided that I am a very visual person. I have to see something to remember it. Writing it down and/or reading something helps me remember it better. Lately, when I’m told something, I don’t remember it that well. I don’t think this is unusual in any way.

The problem with my memory is that I remember dumb things. For example, in one of the applications I have written, I “salt” a user’s password by adding insignificant characters to it. This makes the password harder to decrypt. That’s good. The “salt” used is the SKU for a candy bar from Ames, followed by a dash, followed by the department # for a greeting card at Hills, followed by a colon, followed by the name of the department store on Arsenal Street in Watertown, New York before it was called Jamesway. I think the fact that I can remember all of these things several decades later makes me some sort of freak.

The good thing about having a good memory is that I remember lots of happy things and recalling happy moments makes me smile, even if I’m having a bad day. The bad thing about having a good memory is that I can also remember things that made me not-so-happy. These events, at key moments in my life, linger on later in life and probably contributed to a few of my idiosyncrasies. For example, I remember being told that I had to leave my fourth grade classroom for a new school program called “Enrichment”. It would be an exciting new program for all involved and I would be going twice a week. As a young lad that already felt different because of my gay wiring and all, it was kind of devastating to me that I had to leave the classroom, because I was the only one in the entire class that had been selected for this new program. All eyes were on me as I made my way from room 202 to room 210 (more random numbers I can remember). This reinforced a feeling of being different. Luckily the Enrichment teacher had a student teacher accompanying him that I found wicked dreamy so that made everything a little more manageable. In fifth grade, I remember being told that “I was a damn fool” by the teacher (ex-military from Yonkers) when I tried to leap off my chair like a superhero. I didn’t get hurt, no one got hurt, but she was cranky and somehow I filed away that taking risks could result in people with horrid accents yelling at you. She called quite a few students a “damn fool”. I don’t think she’s teaching anymore.

I’d be such a hoot in therapy.

While my memory is mostly visual, there’s a good helping of muscle memory in there too. All of my icons on my smartphone, whether it’s an iPhone or an Android device, have to be in the same place. I remember phone numbers by rapping my fingers on a flat service as if I was dialing a phone. I do the same with credit card numbers and the like.

As I mentioned before, I have a lot of junk in my head. Not only do I remember the license plate number of my Dad’s ’71 Heavy Chevy, I also remember the license plate numbers of that era of my grandparent’s car, my aunt and uncle’s car and my godparents’ car. Those old plates have been gone for at least 30 years but I still remember 819 OST. Useless fact.

I’m counting on the combination of muscle memory and visual memory being an asset as I become a pilot. I’m paying very close attention to what I’m learning and trying to do things the same way so that it becomes intuitive. If I’m ever in an emergency situation, it’ll be calming techniques and instinctive recall that will help get the plane to safety, so I guess when it all comes down to it, I’m blessed with having this sort of memory.

Image randomly selected from the Brain Excel website.

So last night Earl and I got home from our ride (it took a full tank of gas for our “short ride”) and I promptly sat down at the computer and started writing some code. While we made our way down the darkened back roads, my mind wandered a little bit. This is a good thing.

One of the things I need to do to keep my life organized is maintain a ToDo list. I’ve tried several different programs over the years and have tried a different couple of approaches to maintaining a ToDo list and sometime last week I decided that I needed to Keep It Simple. I maintain my ToDo list in a flat text file that can be accessed by any computer or my iPhone. If I still had a tablet, I could get to it from there as well

The mechanics of my ToDo list are detailed on my geek blog. The reason I bring this is up here is because of the fact that I have to have a ToDo list to begin with.

As I get older, I find that I forget various things that I have to do. I can recite the name of every service area on the Thruway, in either direction, in order. I can tell you the SKU (inventory number) of a candy bar if purchased from the old department store chain, Ames, but I’ll be damned if I can remember the tasks I need to get done, especially when it comes to work stuff. I don’t know if it’s from the sheer volume of things that I need to do or some sort of disinterest in the whole ordeal (we’ll examine that at a later date), but the fact of the matter is, if I think of something, I need to write it down. Stat. Or else it’s going to be a long lost memory within 10 minutes.

Another reason for my ToDo list motivation. I need to have structure in my life. If I deviate from a routine (for example, the order of events in which I get ready to head for the office in the morning), it can end up in chaos. It makes me nervous. Structure is important to me, and achieving things that are done on a routine basis makes me feel better. For example, I have a couple of obvious “structure” based things on my electronic ToDo list:

Make the bed due:Daily +Structure
Shave due:daily +Structure
Find the humor in every situation due:Daily +Structure

The last one is courtesy of speaker Jeanne Robertson. She’s the humorist that was recently touted as “Grandma Goes Viral!”. Jeanne has been speaking at corporate gatherings and the like for years, telling very funny stories as a way to urge the audience to always find the humor in a situation. You’ll be much better for it if you do.

I need that reminder every day so I don’t get wrapped up in a negative frame of mind. It works well for me.

The other two on my list are purely structure things that help me stay on track for the day. I hate getting into an unmade bed at night. It’s not comfortable. It feels like an incomplete way to end the day. So the bed gets made every morning as soon as it’s empty and, barring any of the dozens of houseboys that pass through the doors of our house, I make the bed. I’ve done it for years. It’s the first sense of accomplishment I usually feel during the day and it’s a good way to get the day started on the right foot.

The task of “shave” every day is important to me. Shaving makes me feel good and “groomed”. I feel like I’m presenting my best look to the world when I’m cleaned up and ready to take on the events of the day. Even if I have a beard at the time, I still shave around it every day. This is my attempt to put my best face forward and it works. I think sticking to this has helped me with my recent weight loss. I feel better about myself and shaving and looking my best helps me want to feel even better about myself.

I’ve been focusing on this structured approach much more since my birthday in July and I feel that I am a better person for it. Now, this need for structure is definitely a part of my eccentric tendencies (which I think I’m going to start writing about more) but I think it’s a harmless need. It’s important that we all be who we are to the best of our ability.

And that’s exactly what I’m doing.

“The washer isn’t spinning!” Some would claim that I sounded hysterical, I but was just yelling over the sound of the washing machine endlessly tumbling our bed linens (doesn’t the song go, “I’m not talking about the linens and I don’t want to change your life”) while the display had showed 0:08 remaining for the past 35 minutes.

Our new washing machine has a bit of a feisty streak. In order to show off his full 1200 RPMs when he’s doing his spinning thing, things have to be perfectly aligned and balanced. And in this world of chaos, this last year of the Mayan calendar, apparently finding the perfect alignment and balance of two sheets, two pillow cases and a blanket is a very difficult thing to do. So instead of tweeting, beeping or sending a smoke signal (we didn’t go with the high end model of the washer), the washer just sits there tumbling at random speeds trying to shuffle the contents of the tub around until balance perfection can be achieved.

Perhaps we need to shove all of the politicians into a Speed Queen and push a button to restore balance inside the Beltway.

I digress.

Ok, perhaps I was slightly hysterical when I loudly declared (I don’t have all the options either) that the washer was stuck on 0:08 again. But the thing is, it’s my bed time. And in order for the bed sheets to be dry at a reasonable time, the washer has to fling them around at its full 1200 RPM in order for them to dry in the dryer at a reasonable speed. You see, I refuse to sleep in the cat’s discarded cat bed again. And we don’t talk about the litter box incident in our house.

After hauling the wet clothes out of the washer, rearranging them, waving some crystals in the direction of this tower of laundry apparatus and then doing a rapid hula dance as I pushed some buttons and made some encouraging whirring noises, I begged the washer to spin at high speed so Daddy could get some sleep. Because I can speak “washer”, the door locked, unlocked, locked, unlocked and then locked again before the tub spun counter clockwise, clockwise and then ramped up to 500 RPM. This showed encouragement. The counter finally dropped itself down to 0:07 and we hit medium speed 800 RPM. If there was a clutch pedal I would have popped it into sixth because it was less than a minute later that we reached high speed goodness and the washer kicked into high. We had full 1200 RPM, baby, and to prove this the dryer that is perched on top of the washer wagged a little dance back and forth and the cat shot into his litter box, flung some litter around and then went tearing down the hallway to tell the Papa Bear.

Life is good when your sheets are clean. They’re not only good, they’re hysterically good.

It has been a gorgeous weekend. Earl, Jamie, Scott and I went out to dinner to a local Irish castle (even though we are not in Ireland). The Beardslee Castle is known for it’s ghosts, it’s ambience and it’s great food. We had a wonderful evening.

We’ve been doing some work around the lawn getting everything ready for spring. I added a few new landscaping lights to the collection; I have promised these are the only landscaping lights I will purchase this season. Solar powered lighting rocks!

From 2011-04-03: Connections.

The last remnants of winter are almost gone. We are hoping that all remaining snow will be gone by sundown. It looks like we are making good progress towards that goal.

From 2011-04-03: Connections.

I went for a walk to “town” and back and decided to bring the good camera along for the walk. I snapped some photos with the theme “connections” in mind. The first two photos in this blog entry are part of that theme; the landscape lights stand in unison, connected to their sun via their solar powered batteries. The last bit of the snow bank is the connection to the winter that has (hopefully) passed.

The lilac bush in the front lawn is feeling connected to spring. Soon we will have lilacs giving us a lovely scent as we walk out the front door. I think lilacs are my favorite flower; Grandma City had quite a few bushes in the back lawn and when they were in season, she’d have a small arrangement on the kitchen table. The scent was pleasant

From 2011-04-03: Connections.

The local county DPW has decided to start marking the county routes like most of the counties in New York State does, connecting folks to the directions stamped on their printed Google Maps directions or barked out by their GPS. I took this photo of one of the new signs.

From 2011-04-03: Connections.

As I notice these signs I bark out “we are on County Route (whatever)!” Everyone else in the vehicle sighs.

Before the road came through, their was a railroad that is now mainly used by a local railroad preservation society. This line goes into the Adirondacks and is aptly home to the Adirondack Railroad. The northern end of the line is just south of Old Forge in Thendara; the southern end of the line in Utica at Union Station.

Northbound. From 2011-04-03: Connections.

Southbound. From 2011-04-03: Connections.

Grandma Country had a fondness for watching the trains go by as she read in her rocking chair. I wish this line was busier so I could snap some photos from time to time. I’ve never ridden in a locomotive; that’s something I’d like to do.

Because I’m a big geek and have always been a big geek, I occasionally take photos of power lines. These particular type of pylons (I believe that’s what those who know call them) are only found in Upstate New York (mostly in the former Niagara Mohawk territory), at least as far as I have observed and there are several variations on this theme throughout the Empire State. I plan on taking some shots of the variations. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a manufacturer or date when I inspected this closely.

From 2011-04-03: Connections.

It’s hard to believe that the local expressway is eight years old already. It keeps us connected to the small city, pictured here in the distance. Someday this road will have an official Interstate number and everything.

From 2011-04-03: Connections.

I have been feeling particularly connected to my country these days. This flag made me smile, as it is up 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and given the proper lighting and respect it deserves. This is at the local post office.

From 2011-04-03: Connections.

All in all the walk was around two miles and it felt good to be out in the sunshine. I’m ramping up to be on the bike by the end of the week; the weather predictions say we’ll be near 60 by then. Perfect cycling weather.