I really needed to see this video clip today. People are still awesome, I just don’t remember to see it sometimes.
H/T to our friend Ron for sharing this on his Facebook feed today.
Season.
I am working at the office today for the first time in two weeks. It’s a little weird for me because of all the changes that have been taking place over the past couple of months but I’m adjusting to it. Working from the office is not a habit I wish to build upon though, I like my workspace at home. No offense to my co-workers.
Since it’s the lunch hour I made the trek to the local Dunkin’ Donuts for an unsweetened iced tea. When I placed my order the cashier looked at me as if I had just said “J09mnadf u;wjj asdfk7nna”. I then figured out that she didn’t know what I was asking for because I had not said, “Maybe I have an unsweetened iced tea, please, fa la la la la la la”. I then looked around the restaurant and realized that the entire place is decked out for the Christmas Holiday Season.
This angers me. I glanced at my watch to confirm that it is indeed the 6th of November and then I realized that it not only angers me to see Christmas decorations up so early but in fact, it really angers me. A lot. I don’t know why it doesn’t seem to bother the general public. I know others feel the way I do, but all in all folks just keep getting on with these early Christmas season celebrations and in a decade or so we’ll be celebrating Christmas 2026 in June 2025.
What the heck is up with this? I actually know the answer to this: GREED.
I read this morning that the fine folks at Toys R Us are opening earlier than before on Thanksgiving evening and have moved their opening time from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Macy’s, Kohls, Kmart and a host of other stores are opening on Thanksgiving as well, claiming that customers want the stores open on Thanksgiving Day so that they can get a jump on their holiday shopping because, after all, the season is shorter this year by six days due to the way Thanksgiving falls on the calendar.
Friggin’ Pilgrims messing up the whole gifting season with their silly dinner. Who wants to give thanks, anyway? We. Must. Buy. More. Stuff. Isn’t that the credo? Buy more because it means more?
Now, I’m an indulgent person. I do things because I can. Lord knows I have traveled all over the country over the past couple of months simply because I could. Well, just for the record, on Thanksgiving Day when I am seated around our dining room table with family and holding hands in prayer, I am going to say thanks for having the health, the opportunity and the privilege of living this life and for those that are part of my life. I’m going to say thanks for the guidance I have received from near and afar. I’m going to give thanks for everything I have because I am truly thankful and I believe that Thanksgiving is a time when we should slow down, contemplate and spend time with our families and friends.
I’d like to think that I am surrounded by people that feel the same way. Honestly, my heart would be crushed if someone bolted from a Thanksgiving dinner so they could get to the mall and buy the latest gadget or some other trinket at 65% off but only if they’re the first one in line and have successfully knocked two men, a cashier and a blue-haired woman out cold on their way to their intended target.
I am fully celebrating Thanksgiving this year and I will not step foot into any establishment that opts to not respect Thanksgiving (in the United States). If that means I’ll be shopping online, so be it.
But no matter what, I’ll be doing my shopping after I give thanks on Thanksgiving and not a moment before. I hope others will do the same.
Equality.
Congratulations to Illinois on the passing of marriage equality! This is absolutely wonderful news.
Once signed, the new law will allow same sex couples to be married beginning in June 2014.
Yay!
Walk.
My phone rang between 0430 and 0500 ET this morning. This occasionally happens during an on-call week and this happens to be one of those weeks. I was on a conference call until 6:45 a.m. when I fixed whatever was broken and then I went back to bed and grabbed a few winks before officially starting the day.
If it was still Daylight Saving Time I’d be extra surly because of the disrupted sleep, but my mind and body are both happy to be outside of the “artificial fog” that I experience during DST so I’m not too bad to deal with today. At least I don’t think I’m too bad to deal with.
I had big plans of going to the gym before work this morning. I had my alarm set and everything but alas, it was not meant to be. Though it has only been a couple of weeks since my last bike ride, I am desperately missing the chance to hit the open rode on my bike. It was 21ºF this morning and I don’t have the cold weather gear for riding my bike. I really miss getting around on two wheels, though.
Since I couldn’t make it to the gym before my string of meetings today, I have taken to walking when I can. I normally take a short walk in the morning and again in the afternoon but today I threw in a third walk during my lunch hour. Though it is still quite brisk out, the sky is lovely blue and the sun helps keep the chill at bay.
Mondays aren’t so bad when you put your mind to it.
Exploring.
So this weekend has been an on-call weekend for me. After traveling for the past four consecutive weekends, it felt a little odd to spend the weekend at home. We were antsy and we wanted to do something.
The rule of an on-call weekend is that the computer goes along, there must be some sort of cell signal and we don’t go to a movie, because the idea of sitting in the theatre for two consecutive hours is just tempting whatever deity controls the on-call situation. So we decided to go for a ride.
We made our way down to Hamilton, New York, the home of Cornell University. We drove around the village area a bit and then headed out of town in an eastward direction using a road that had no number. I felt adventurous and was happy when we came across a road with this sign.
It has been way too long since Earl and I purposely went off the road in the Jeep. I usually partake in this activity after a hectic day at the office but since we were nowhere near the office, or home for that matter, I had no idea where this road would take us.
And we didn’t care
We ended up navigating about 10 miles of unimproved roads in the woods of Madison County and did so at a good pace, we never went over 15 miles an hour. It’s always better to crawl the Jeep over rocks instead of flying over them. I didn’t know where we’d end up, heck, the only sign of life we saw in the woods was a huge group of turkeys and a couple of hunters. The hunters and the turkeys were headed in opposite directions. We took it slow, we bounced around and we enjoyed the peaceful ambience of the woods.
As the keeper of The Upstate New York Roads website I often get requests for maps containing roads such as the roads we explored in the Jeep yesterday. I have never been able to locate such a map.
Sometimes you just have to get out there and go exploring.
Panera.
As I travel for work and for play I am grateful for the experiences for many reasons. One of the reasons that I enjoy traveling is because it gives me the opportunity to be reminded that human idiocy is prevalent throughout the United States and is not just isolated to the the area that we call home.
I am sitting in a Panera during a training lunch break. This Panera is much like your standard Panera, with one exception: this one has runners that deliver food to your table instead of having to go retrieve your meal yourself. I haven’t encountered this at Panera before.
Now gentle readers of my blog will remember previous entries where I have wretched about customer conduct at Panera: screaming children, the inability to review the menu prior to being asked “what would you like today?” and the ever present question as to why french fries are not included on the menu.
Many of these things are present at this Panera, nearly 3000 miles from our home Panera:
1. There is a child screaming at the top of its lungs. The mother is indifferent to the noise aside from giving the child a very large chocolate chip cookie, because logic would dictate that the child must need more sugar, right?
2. The large family in line in front of me debated the contents of each menu entry after getting to the register. They then wanted to review the baked goods case before making a selection. They did this while alternating between English and Spanish amongst themselves and then, after paying for their transaction, the grandmother asked the cashier, in Spanish, if she spoke Spanish (honestly, the cashier looked like Rosario from “Will and Grace”) and when the cashier responded to the affirmative, they had a conversation about the virtues of speaking Spanish.
3. The screaming child is now standing on the pop dispenser counter and pushing on the pop spigot trigger thingees. Mom is adjusting her makeup.
It is reassuring, in a way, to realize that dumb people everywhere and not just confined to the Mohawk Valley. It helps keep things in perspective for me.
There has also been no requests for French Fries. This makes me happy. To keep this all in perspective, I remember that “this is water”.
San Clemente, California.
So I have been in San Clemente, California since Sunday night. I am here for a training class for work and I am learning lots of nifty things. The class is a mix of in-person and online students. Luckily the teacher is also here in San Clemente. I am looking forward to using these learned skills in the next big project at work.
San Clemente is a beautiful city. I’ve driven through here on Interstate 5, the last time was way back in 1998, but I’ve never spent anytime in San Clemente. I have enjoyed walking the downtown area streets and I have also enjoyed the Pier and the Beach.
Last night I ate at the Fisherman’s Restaurant and Bar on the Pier. Alex was a very friendly waiter and the food was delicious.
Tonight I ate at a downtown restaurant at Nick’s San Clemente. My server was Nicki. She was very sweet.
At both dining experiences, neither Alex nor Nicki made me feel uncomfortable in any way because I was dining alone. I opted not to sit at the bar at either restaurant and just went with my own table. I enjoyed the people watching.
After dinner I walked off the slight beer buzz I had going on and ended up walking about five miles as I made my way around the downtown area. I feel very comfortable here with the mix of different people here. I am looking forward to coming back here on vacation. We have put it on the bucket list.
This very large seagull asked me to tell the seagulls that fly around the Jeep back home at lunch time, “we don’t need handouts from Burger King”. He then flew off in search of fish.
All in all it’s been a lovely trip. Tomorrow I head to San Diego for the night so I can catch an early plane on Thursday.
Open.
I am currently sitting aboard Delta flight 1967 headed from Atlanta to San Diego. We are less than an hour into our flight and have about four more hours to go. We are flying through some weather and the pilot has left the seat belt sign illuminated. He has also instructed the flight attendants to remain seated as well.
I’m curious as to why passengers are walking/bouncing up and down the aisles. Do passengers know better than the flight crew?
I am currently sitting in row 12 on this B767-300. Though I am sitting in a window seat, there is no window for this row, just a blank wall. This isn’t a horrible thing as I can seat out of the window that is next to the row in front of me. I like looking out and seeing what’s out there. That’s one of the nifty things about flying.
There is a window behind me that is actually right at my shoulder. The person in the seat behind me closed their window shade before takeoff and began banging on my seat for some reason. It’s not as annoying as the time that a child bounced on the attached tray table for most of a flight, but it’s noticeable. Because of my love of flying, I can’t even begin to imagine why someone would close the window shade when they’re in a window seat. But that’s what a lot of folks do these days; they close themselves off from the rest of the world and exist in their own little silo. I think life is too short to exist within walls. You have to find the horizon and reach for it.
As I have been typing this entry the “rough air” (apparently ‘turbulence’ is too scary a word for Delta) has subsided and the “fasten seat belt” sign has been turned off. Everyone popped up like a jack-in-the-box. I am thankful that they didn’t dance a little jig because honestly I’d find that frightening.
