Ignorance.

There’s some sort of saying about a frog in a pot of boiling water that doesn’t realize he’s being boiled to death and just sits there until he dies. The water just keeps getting warmer and warmer and he’s comfy and then he’s dead. Done.

I feel like that’s the current state of the United States of America. “I can watch my reality shows, I can be appalled by the airlines and other media driven outrages, I can eat my McDonalds, I’m good.”

While traveling last week I was able to steer clear of social media for a bit, especially during the work portion of my trip. When crashing for the night at the hotel after a long day of work in an isolated conference room, I didn’t really have the energy to go through to see what Trump and friends had been up to so I used the barometer of, “well, I’m still alive and I don’t see missiles in the air, so he must not have found the button yet” and figured I’d live another day and probably get home to see my husband and family.

Once back in Central New York I started catching up on the latest political and other news and I’m finding myself feeling depressed. At least when we’re in Chicago or when I’m in Greenville for work there’s enough going on around me to keep my mind occupied enough to not focus the shenanigans in our government.

The president has the lowest approval ratings in modern history of any new president in their first 100 days. He has accomplished little to nothing, despite the fact that all the chips (Republican Senate, Republican House, etc.) are all on his side. Demonstrations of historic proportions are taking place all over the globe. The man can’t put together a coherent sentence or even contiguous thought but there is a sizable number of people that would vote for this idiot again without question.

Take three minutes out of your day and watch this.

In the mid 1980s I had nightmares about Nuclear Armageddon and similar scenarios. When the Cold War calmed down those nightmares went away for the most part. They were replaced by environmental disaster films in my head that, while scary, were somewhat survivable. With the election of Trump and his apparent need to seek out some sort of disorganized attack on someone in the world, coupled with his constant screeching about beefing up the military, I’m now losing sleep on a regular basis wondering if civilization is going to survive another day with this man in the White House (occasionally) and the nightmares are back in full force.

All because people are content with being ignorant. And petty. And honestly, just plain stupid.

While there is bliss in being ignorant of the current political climate and what’s going on in the world, I can’t bring myself to turn a blind eye to what is happening around us. I refuse to boil to death in a pot of hot water when there is some opportunity, any opportunity, to jump out.

Here’s a transcript of Trump’s interview with AP White House Correspondent Julie Chase. If you can translate it into something coherent and not be concerned about the man holding the highest office in the land, then there’s probably not going to be any reason to read this blog or associate with me any longer. We have nothing in common.

Transcript of AP interview with Trump.

25 April 2017 by Political BS. 0

Good. 

I don’t feel like I do enough good in the world. I want to do more but I don’t know where to start. 

I’m sure I’ll find the path soon. 

24 April 2017 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Patriotic?

Trump supporters are always hootin’ and hollarin’ about how patriotic they are. They are Making America Great Again. They are bringing ‘Merica back to her core values, embracing the Heartland, draining swamps.

In actuality, Trump supporters are doing their best to rid the United States of any sort of decency, education, intellect or quite frankly, class.

If you find any part of this picture appropriate for the White House, please cut off any and all ties you have to me. I don’t want to know you.

Hillary Clinton has done some amazing things for the people of this country, but by God we’ve done everything we can to make sure the small percentage of bad choices she has made are first and foremost discussed constantly.

Mama always taught me to take my hat off whenever I’m in the house. I guess these two didn’t get the memo.

I wore a sport coat and slacks to tour the Washington Monument. I’d probably wear a tie if I knew I was going to visit the White House. The White House is worthy of the respect of all citizens of the United States and should be treated as such. I wouldn’t let a man walk in with a hat and I certainly wouldn’t let a woman walk in Monster Truck Rally attire. The afghans and whore heels would stay home.

There are a lot of people in this country, in this world, that I don’t agree with, but I would still treat them with respect. What I see in that photo is unbelievable to me.

My God, how far this country has fallen in less than six months. Horrible.

We are better than this.

21 April 2017 by Political BS. Why. 0

Passengers, Rearranged.

I caught this on Reddit this evening. It’s a YouTube video discussing how much darker the movie “Passengers” would be like if they rearranged the acts. An intriguing approach. I have to admit I liked “Passengers”, even for all its flaws, but I think I would be very interested in seeing a rearranged cut of the movie as described in this video.

19 April 2017 by Geek 1

Fanboy.

I no longer shy away from the label of “Apple Fanboy”. I’m a Crazy One. I love my Apple products. I’ve tried everything else and lord knows I’ve wretched about Apple over the years, but when you shake away all the complaining, the fact of the matter is I find that Apple still provides the best computing experience available. Other hardware pales in comparison. Windows 10 feels cobbled together to me. And, as much as I’ve tried, I just can’t get behind the idea of Linux on the desktop (or laptop). That is way too much work.

So I wear my Crazy One t-shirt in pride. I proudly gave a presentation at work this morning using my work provided 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, including the couple of dongles I needed to connect to the projector and network. There was an ooh and aah from the crowd as I made my way through my Keynote Presentation. It had that extra bit of polish that I strive for.

I look forward to what Apple has in store for us. I know they will continue to delight.

19 April 2017 by Geek 0

Flying Adventures.

I’m on board United Flight 4671 from Chicago/O’Hare to Greenville-Spartanburg. I’m headed down for work; we are having team meetings through Thursday. I’ll fly back to Chicago and then drive home with Earl on Sunday. Have I mentioned how much I love Chicago? I’m looking forward to our big move later this year. 

As I sit on this EMB-145, enjoying Pringles and a pop for lunch, I look outside in awe. Fluffy clouds. Just a little choppy to gain your attention. The horizon way off in the distance. As a private pilot and as a commercial passenger, I’m still thoroughly inspired by aviation. I have my goals as a pilot and they all boil down to becoming a Certified Flight Instructor by my 51st birthday, which is just over two years away. 
As a commercial passenger I have goals as well. I really have no aspirations to fly for the airlines but I want to fly with the airlines, especially other airlines outside of the U.S. mainstays. I’m curious as to what it’s like to fly on Etihad Airlines. I wonder what service is like on one of the Far Eastern airlines. 

I also want to fly on a Boeing 747 before they’re all grounded. I wish I had the opportunity to fly the Concorde and as the U.S. airlines phase out the 747, I’m worried I’ll never have the chance to fly on one. 

The A380 seems cool to me, though it doesn’t excite me as much as the 747. I think that’s the legacy aviator in me, I’m in awe of what we could do back when the 747 first took to the skies. I wouldn’t pass up the chance to fly in an A380, but I don’t feel as motivated to do so. 
As I reach what I consider to be the halfway point of my life my bucket list just continues to grow. And many items will take place while airborne or include a flight element getting from point A to point Z. 

Someone tell our accounting department to fire up the credit card. 

17 April 2017 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Detour.

I’m walking around a residential area of Chicago. The weather is decent this Easter morning; a lot of people are out walking. 

A woman is walking in front of me. She’s about 200 yards ahead of me. Farther up the sidewalk, a woman and her dog are headed toward us. The dog is average in size. Nothing menacing. The woman is on the larger size. She is overweight, larger than the average American. I despise the word “fat” and all its negative connotations, but she’s a big girl. 

The smaller girl in front of me walks into the street to avoid the larger woman and the dog. When past the pair she gets back on the sidewalk. The detour takes effort, jumping a puddle from last night’s storm, etc. There isn’t really a reason to make this detour; the dog is just doing its business and the sidewalk is plenty wide enough for all parties involved in the pass. Yet, the girl detours. 

Now, thinking about this. Maybe the girl is afraid of the dog. That is always a possibility and I shouldn’t be quick to jump to a negative conclusion. 

As she makes her way back to the sidewalk, the woman with the dog looks back at her with an incredibly sad face. In a split second my heart breaks. The dog is just doing its business and shows contentment. But the dog’s owner shows this split second of sadness. As I pass the two of them on the sidewalk I smile and say “good morning”. 

She looks down. 


Be kind to one another today. Be kind to one another everyday. Make it a habit. 

16 April 2017 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Walk.

I walked six miles this morning. Walking about the streets of Chicago is always relaxing to me. Once off the main thoroughfares I find it to be very quiet. I do love the neighborhoods that I’ve been exploring.


The trees and flowers are coming into bloom, about a month ahead of schedule when compared to home. I find this a little odd, since Chicago has a similar climate as we have at home, though we definitely get more snow.

I stopped and said hello to a cat, who apparently has a fan club that stops by everyday and she performs by climbing up a tree and then jumping over to the roof of her catio. A woman stopped by and filled me in on the details of this famous feline. We chatted for about 15 minutes.

That would never happen back home. People aren’t particularly chatty in the Northeast.

This fluffy black cat reminded me of Cinders, a fluffy black kitten machine I had as a teenager. She was a bit spastic and not as charismatic as this lovely cat but then again she didn’t have an audience other than the other cats. She was fine in her own way.

After 15 minutes of chatter I never did find out this cat’s name.


I feel very comfortable here in the Windy City. I’m looking forward to another morning walk tomorrow before going to the Cubs game.

16 April 2017 by Fun and Games Dept 0

The 21s.

Twenty-one years ago today Earl and I went on our first date. We had known each other casually for a couple of months beforehand, but our first official date was on this day in 1996. We met up in Albany with a group of friends and ended up ditching the friends and going on a long ride in my ’94 Hyundai Excel through the lower parts of Vermont, just getting to know each other.

I knew on that day that my life was changed forever. I had no doubt that I was driving around with the man that was destined to be “the one”. I had found the love of my life.

The journey was just beginning.

Twenty-one years later, here we are, beginning a string of 21 year anniversaries that will include our first date, when we moved in together, the first time I said “I love you” to him and our commitment ceremony. I remember each of these things like it was yesterday.

And there is still no doubt in my mind, not one trace of doubt, nor has there ever been, that I was completely correct on 4/13/96. I had met the love of my life.

I am one lucky man.

13 April 2017 by Love. 1

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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