Interruption.

I was less than a half mile from the house when my Spidey powers kicked in. I felt a disturbance in The Force. My ying was not quite in tune with my yang. Something felt off and because of this a disconcerting feeling fell over me.

I grabbed at the chest area that was obscured by my two layers of winter jackets. I felt my work badge right where it was suppose to be, so that wasn’t it. I looked over on the passenger seat. PopChips? Check. Work MacBook Pro? Check. Lunch Pail? Check.

It wasn’t until I was on the Thruway several minutes later that it dawned on me. Like the sun that was rising in the east at the time, the realization came over me, followed by a brief moment of panic, which was quickly replaced by a feeling of emptiness. Helplessness. Incompleteness.

I had forgotten my iPad.

What on Earth was I to do during my work lunch hour with my iPad? I couldn’t read. My books are all on my iPad (I’m currently reading Emily Post’s “Etiquette”). I couldn’t play a game because my games are on my iPad. And I surely couldn’t listen to the radio during my lunch hour because I needed my iPad to interact with the hose.

I. Needed. My. iPad.

Turning around to go get my iPad was inconceivable. Since I was on the Thruway, the exits are spaced many miles apart. This helps keep travelers away from the native population, lest their money mingle into the local economy as the traveler pollutes the area with his exhaust fumes. The next interchange was nearly 15 miles away and by the time I turned around and went home it’d be lunch time, so that wasn’t an option.

Forlorn, I moved on, though I had reconciled my feeling of emptiness, it never quite left me.

Never to be deterred, I did what any self-respecting geek would do. All was not lost in a pit of blackness for I still had my iPhone. My nice little iPhone 5 with similar powers to my iPad was as snug as a bug in a rug in my pocket and it would serve me well during my lunch hour. When lunch time came around, I simply paired the Bluetooth keyboard that is always present in my Jeep with my iPhone and I sat down, PopChips and an unsweetened iced tea in hand and I typed a blog entry.

And here it is.

7 February 2013 by Geek Ponderings and Musings 2

Storms.

So The Weather Channel is already getting breathless about the snow that is expected to hit the region this weekend. They’ve named the storm and everything. Quite frankly, I think the Weather Channel is a completely assinine organization and a strong indicator of everything that is wrong with our society today. Be scared! Be afraid! Buy everything we throw at you in an advertisement! Support our advertisers! Watch for more! Be afraid! Very afraid! Boo!

I am actually looking forward to the storm. Since they’re predicting anywhere from 1/8″ to up to 24″ of snow for our area, I’m hoping that we’ll get more than that so I can go out in the Jeep and drive around, making videos and taking pictures and posting them to the Internet so I can say, “See! This is how the big boys play in the snow!”. Then I’ll laugh maniacally.

The bad part of this storm is that it’s coming up the coast and it’s going to hit New York City, which means the bloggers will get all hysterical, Rosie O’Donnell will be paralyzed with fear about the whole thing1 and the national news anchors will look sad because their limos in midtown couldn’t make it to 30 Rock in time for a martini downstairs before they had to go on camera.

We’ll be driving around in the Jeep yelling “neener neener” into a video camera.

If you’re passing through the area on the Thruway during the storm and have absolutely no idea of what to do during a “named” winter storm (who’s idiotic idea was that?), please stay home. Use the time to pack up and move to Florida. We don’t want you up here anyways. We have places to go and people to see and we’re not going to let a little snowstorm slow us down.

1 Per Twitter, apparently Rosie “panicked” when the lights went out during the Superbowl. Because she was sitting in Nyack. Get a grip.

6 February 2013 by Let's All Rant. 3

Waiting.

So I’m sitting in my rocking chair waiting for my husband to get home from work. It’s after 6:30 p.m.; he has been in New England all day on official business. I just finished work myself; I always love those hysterical IT calls at 4:59 p.m., just as you’re getting ready to close all your applications and call it a day.

It could be worse. I don’t have room for complaint. I like what I do. Especially when I can do it from home.

I’m sitting here realizing that I have no idea where the day went. I remember getting up and getting my day started. I remember my two 15-minute breaks where I rode the exercise bike to break the monotony of sitting at a desk, but I don’t remember much else. I think that’s good. I think that means I lost myself in my work, which made the day just zoom by. I hope I didn’t sleep through the day. That would not be good.

I keep looking at the driveway to see if I see lights. It’s kind of funny that I still giddy at the thought of my husband coming home from work. Those fireworks never get stale.

5 February 2013 by Love. 7

Keys.

So yesterday was the big Super Bowl and Earl and I had a little celebration here at The Manor. Surprisingly, we both survived the Super Bowl food just fine because *I* was the one that did the cooking and such for our little party. Normally Earl does the cooking, but I’ve been feeling fantastic lately and I was in the mood to do something of this nature, so I did it. We both enjoyed the tasty treats.

Homemade Turkey Chili.

Homemade Turkey Chili.

Earl and I were very moved when the Sandy Hook School Chorus started singing “America, The Beautiful.” Jennifer Hudson came out halfway through the song and added her personal touches to the arrangement and it seemed to blend well. We were moved to tears.

After a few commercials it was time for Alicia Keys to sing the Star-Spangled Banner. Sigh. Now I have complained about celebrity performances of our National Anthem before and I guess I’m going to do it again. I have already mentioned this on my Facebook and Twitter feeds, but I was really disappointed in Alicia’s performance. I don’t know a lot about her except that she’s won plenty of Grammy awards. I don’t seek her music out and I can’t say that anyone of her work is in my large library of music. That all being said, I vaguely knew that she tended to go breathy and jazzy with her music and that’s what she opted to do with the National Anthem.

She also decided to make it really long.

And change the tempo.

And change the phrasing.

And change the chord structure.

Here’s the thing. When singing the National Anthem at an event, I believe that it is the performer’s responsibility to bring pride to our country through the performance of our anthem by engaging the crowd and bringing the citizens to their feet, with their hats off, their hands over their heart and the opportunity for the person to sing along if they so desire. When you change the song to “make it your own”, Mr. and Mrs. Jones have no idea what to do to engage in their own patriotism so they just stand there feeling like idiots. On the bright side, Alicia made the song so long and so slow, there’s a really good chance that Mr. and Mrs. Jones might have fit in a nap to pass the time when they couldn’t sing.

To sing the National Anthem is a great honor. It is your chance to shine while you bring your fellow neighbors together in a beautiful act of patriotism. To change the song up to show what you can really do as an artist is self-indulgent and quite frankly, contrary to the purpose of singing the song in the first place. I am grateful that Alicia didn’t engage in the ridiculous yodeling sounds that others have done in the past, but as I sat there I couldn’t believe that I was losing interest in a song that usually moves me to tears. It felt awkward.

And one more little rant, in all of her demonstrations of having a good grasp of Music Theory 101, why did Ms. Keys opt to change the chord structure of “o’er the land of the free…”, to a darker, minor chord? That’s what this country is all about! Why would you change the chord to illustrate a dark, somber tone?

Perform the song the way it was meant to be performed: lively, full of life and full of heart. I really wish the NFL would enlist the vocal abilities of a talented service member who knows what it is like to be defending this country.

That would be another beautiful act of patriotism.

4 February 2013 by Ponderings and Musings 3

Winter.

So yesterday the weather radio blared out another Lake Effect Storm Warning. The National Weather Service predicted 4-10 inches of snow in lake effect snow bands and the warning included our area. I didn’t think much of it, these things are suppose to happen all the time in January in this neck of the woods.

This morning when Earl and I got up for work (at 5:30 a.m.), there was evidence that it had snowed a little bit. Earl said that it looked like “a little more than a dusting.” As I hopped out of the shower a half hour later, I noticed that it was snowing a little more than it was earlier.

After getting myself together and out the door, I started the trek to get on the Thruway. The roads were in pretty bad shape, but this is nothing out of the ordinary, as we live on a county maintained road. When I got to the state maintained portion, the conditions didn’t improve. In fact, they got worse. Popping the Jeep into four-wheel drive, I decided to truck on.

Twenty minutes later I was at the Thruway entrance. I had driven six miles in 20 minutes. Looking at the Thruway, which runs parallel to the freeway I was on, traffic was moving at about the same pace. At that rate, I’d get to work well into mid-morning.

I decided to turn around and head home. And this is the part where I get a little braggy: instead of hopping back into bed for an hour, I decided to just start my day. I was feeling good, I was in the mood to be productive and I actually was in the mood to work. So I sent an email off to those that cared as to my whereabouts and settled down to the day’s work. I’m glad I made the decision to stay back, it started snowing even harder and it continued throughout the morning.

Snow falling.

Snow falling. Photo taken through an open door, that’s the actual snowflakes in the air.

Now that I’m sitting in the kitchen enjoying my lunch, I’m noticing that it looks beautiful outside and there’s still a few flakes in the air here and there.

Winter ain’t so bad when you put your mind to it.

4 February 2013 by Fun and Games Dept 3

Weekend.

So this weekend I am flying solo at The Manor. Jamie is in Chicago figuring out the logistics to the next chapter of his life (slated to start later this spring) and Earl is out of town at a retreat until Sunday afternoon. His absence was a last minute decision and I’m glad that he made the decision to take advantage of the opportunity. It’s weird having him off the grid but it’s ok too; I’ve done some weekend traveling myself from time to time so he should be afforded the same opportunities.

Some people get nervous when I mention that Earl and I occasionally do things separately. It doesn’t make us nervous, so I don’t know why it makes others nervous. One of the beautiful things about being in the perfect marriage is that we allow each other to grow and to blossom and to experience all we can on our path. Usually we do these things together but once in a while I will want to do something that he’s not interested in and vice versa. It’s ok. We are still blissfully happy, foolishly in love and we act nowhere near our biological age. I wouldn’t ask for anything different and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It is perfection.

So I have this weekend to chill, do laundry and probably be a geek. My iMac is still in the shop so I’m not going to be making any remixes this weekend, but I have plenty of other things to keep me occupied. I’m actually planning on making some treats for our little SuperBowl party. It’ll be a nice surprise when Earl gets back on Sunday.

I had some ideas of going on a road trip this weekend but the weather doesn’t seem too cooperative. Two or three inches of snow has fallen since 5 p.m. (2 1/2 hours ago). Apparently the snow bands off Lake Ontario are focused in our direction. It’s nothing to complain about, it’s just something to enjoy.

Always enjoy. Life is too short to be miserable.

1 February 2013 by Fun and Games Dept 8

Journalism.

I have recently disconnected my habit of watching podcasts from a well-known tech podcast source. (Well, it’s well known in the geek world). Not only did I decide to calm down on podcast consumption at the beginning of the year when I was redefining my focus on what was important, but there was one other thing that bothered me about the podcasts and I couldn’t let it go unnoticed.

The host of the podcast made the off-handed comment that the developer of an app that the podcast had negatively reviewed was upset. The host then went on to say that if he knew that the developer was a friend of his, he wouldn’t have been as harsh in his review of the application.

This kinda bothered me.

When a person tunes into the media, whether it be the mainstream news media or the tech media or to some extent, a blogger’s work, one expects that there be honest views expressed through such media, especially if this source is sponsored by ad content from prominent companies. When your tagline contains the phrase “from people you trust”, one would think that you’re telling the truth, right? Admitting during a podcast that you wouldn’t have been as, well, truthful with a critique if you realized that you knew the author of the product that was being critiqued is kind of like saying, “I wouldn’t ask the CEO about the money they laundered because we’re friends.” You’re demonstrating bias with this sort of approach, which is fine if that’s how you advertise yourself and represent your work, but when you use “from people you trust” and then do stuff like that, it carries the same amount of weight as the tagline “Fox News, Fair and Balanced” and then you go finding six ways from Sunday to report that Romney must have won and the election was all wrong due to impossible mathamatics.

While it sounds like I’m picking on this particular podcaster, the truth of the matter is that there’s a lot of garbage out there claiming to be fair and balanced news. I read on a blog that a 747 SLAMMED into a Dash 8 at an airport. Writing colorful words like “slammed” does amazing things for click responses (which in turns, generates lots of ad revenue) but the truth of the matter is, the 747’s wing nicked the wing of the other airplane. There were no injuries, no hysterics and minimal impact to either airplane. It’s hard to find any credibility in a blogger or podcaster that claims to be a news source and then embellishes the truth or modifies their public opinion on a topic due to personal connections.

Fair and balanced indeed.

If news bloggers (as opposed to other kinds of bloggers, such as me. I have no idea what I’m talking about most of the time) want to be considered a credible media outlet, they need to stick to the facts without color, bias or prejudice. If you’re not a news blogger but a commentator, just be true to your comments and state that as such on your blog or podcast. That’s all I ask.

31 January 2013 by Ponderings and Musings Why. 2

The Tailor and The Cook.

So tonight Earl and I decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. We always complain that there aren’t enough good restaurant choices in the area and quite frankly it’s because we’re lazy and don’t look hard enough.

Tonight we went to The Tailor and The Cook in historic Baggs Square West in Downtown Utica.  

What a wonderful experience. I believe all of their food is derived locally whenever possible. The draft beer of choice tonight was the Solstice Oat Stout from Good Nature Brewing in nearby Hamilton (home of Colgate University). Earl and I had a wonderful meal with excellent service from the knowledgeable and very professional Sara. We both “ordered adventurously”; I enjoyed a Moroccan chicken dish and Earl had Veal Saltimbocca.

The ambience is perfect for what we enjoy (brick walls housing a smaller space) with an intimate bar and the food was absolutely delicious. I am going to sleep well tonight.

Highly recommended.

 

2013 01 30 19 42 56

2013 01 30 19 43 01

30 January 2013 by Food. 5

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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