Twist.

I have been struggling with an issue with one of the servers at work for a couple of months. Said server runs Linux and was setup before my arrival to this job. The folks that originally set up the server are long gone and didn’t believe in documentation, so no one really knows how the server does it’s magic, it just does magic. To fix the issue that we were having, my supervisor contacted the tech support department for the company, the ones that take care of this sort of thing, and they told us that they had no idea what we were talking about. The trouble ticket was referred to me.

I didn’t sleep well last night. I wasn’t really looking forward to going to work this morning because quite frankly my ass was dragging. My husbear was going through his morning routine and because I know that he can be very aware of my mood in the morning, I was trying really hard to be pleasant, or at the very least, non-committal to a mood. I figured it was going to be a quiet, productive day and I’d just keep to myself to get through it. I didn’t foresee any grand moments, it would just be a utility day.

I decided to start working on the server problem this morning because I have a hard time wrapping my head around writing code first thing (the company would have such a better coder in me if they’d let me work any damn hours I wanted to instead of the regimented 8-5). I logged into the server, replicated the issue that breaks it and then started tinkering.

I had it fixed in less than ten minutes. It was a geek ‘hosanna!’ moment for me. I high-fived the person in the next cubicle. I made a small noise of elation and most importantly, I woke up.

It’s the little moments that can turn a day completely around. Thank goodness for those little moments.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Long.

Even though it’s a short week, this week feels like its dragging on forever. I don’t know if it’s because I’m anxious to get on with 2012 and leave 2011 behind or what, but I keep thinking everyday is Friday (Rebecca Black song notwithstanding) and then I realize today is only Thursday.

I’m trying to be productive at work, but it’s difficult to get things done with other departments when half of the work force is on vacation. I then wonder why I’m driving to work when I could easily telecommute and be much more productive by working in the comfort of my own office. Plus, it’d be much better for the environment.

So today is Thursday and tomorrow is Friday and apparently everything is right on schedule.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

180º

So a while back I was blogging about the fact that I couldn’t take anymore about politics and news, it was simply just burning me out and all of the information, commentary and rhetoric was overflowing my brain with information that I couldn’t use anymore. Inside I had decided that I was going to be one of those typical Americans that went into the polls in November 2012 and stab blindly at the ballot box that contained the name that sounded the least menacing, or if I was familiar with the candidate, was the better looking of the choices.

Now that’s not the right thing to do.

Over the past 48 hours I have done a complete 180 degree turn when it comes to politics and the news and quite frankly, I now completely give a damn, I can’t know enough about what’s going on in the U.S. and in the world and I want to be a very informed and engaged citizens when it comes to make the important choices at the polls in November (even though it’s 11 months away).

Bored with hearing Billy Joel and Elton John on 70s on 7 and/or 80s on 8 on Sirius/XM last night, I tuned into POTUS (Not red, not blue, red, white and blue, Politics of the United States for the People of the United States) and caught the last hour of “Stand Up with Pete Dominick”. Pete’s an ok guy and show host, after all he is a native of Central New York. There are times when his show sounds like a poor-man’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” but I think his schtick works 90% of the time. For a station that isn’t suppose to lean in any particular direction, Pete will admit that he leans squarely to the left in his political beliefs but he lets those that disagree with him have their say and he asks the good questions, so for the most part, I enjoy listening to his show.

Last night he had Will Cain, a political commentator frequently seen on FoxNews and LZ Granderson, a writer for ESPN who happens to be black and gay (only brought up because this was a prevalent topic in the conversation) as his guests. Like all of Pete’s shows, the format is listener participation driven. Much of the conversation had to do with what being gay or black was like in the United States and how it contributed to political campaigns.

Will Cain, who leans solidly towards the right, is a very smart man. I wish I could grab a transcript of the show because he had brilliantly worded explanations and analogies for his arguments during the conversation. His Republican-centric point of view actually made sense to me. Which is saying a lot, because the campaigns leading up to the primaries and the caucuses has been rather crazy. There is no one currently running for President that gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. Ron Paul gets into the ball park with his Libertarian ways, but I can only buy into 80% of what he offers (when he gets into the racist stuff I become very uncomfortable). I have never been a big fan of President Obama; back in 2008 when given the choice between McCain and Obama I wanted to vote for Hillary. I still think she was a stronger choice for the Democrats and I think that the country wouldn’t be in the same spot we are in today if she was to hold the office of President (though I think we’d still be in the same ball park, just not way out in outfield somewhere). I said this back in 2008 and I stand by that today. Do I respect President Obama? Absolutely. Do I think he’s been a stellar president? No. I rate him around Jimmy Carter.

The problem is that the alternatives are weak. What bugs me most about the current Republican folks trying to win the primary is the hypocrisy. Mitt Romney, who will most likely get the nomination, wants the government out of our personal affairs (unless you’re gay). Rick Perry wants to guarantee the “pursuit of happiness” as decreed by the Declaration of Independence (unless you’re gay). Michelle Bachmann is such a mess it’s hard to tell where that woman stands, but I know she said something about gas being $1.79 a gallon within three months of her taking office and her husband has more chiffon coming out of his mouth than Charles Nelson Riley (no offense to Chuck intended) so I don’t know why she is so angry towards the gays.

I feel like the choices that have been handed to us, even this early in the game, are “none of the above”. And that’s why I have to get myself educated. Voting for the next president is not a clear, cut choice for me. None of them really tailor to my Libertarian beliefs; some of them want to spend so much money that quite frankly it makes me fearful for the solvency of future generations of Americans, others want to practically give soldiers the right to “shoot to kill” as they patrol the U.S.-Mexican border and yet others want to just get rid of those pesky gays to the best of their ability.

I grew up in a Republican family with steadfast beliefs on the individual responsibility each of us to contribute to our society and to not be a burden on it. This is where my core political beliefs are fueled – small government, fiscal responsibility, respect the rights of others and contribute to the greater good.

It’s not a difficult concept. And I’m going to do my part to make sure that I know everything I can do to make sure we are headed in the right direction.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Listen.

I’m curious as to how many people started listening to satellite radio (Sirius/XM here in the states) this week because they received a new radio as a gift this past weekend. I know that Scott was very excited about his new satellite radio that he will be having installed in his Jeep. Tech toys are fun.

The folks on Sirius/XM 70s on 7 are saying that there are “thousands and thousands” of new satellite subscribers already. I find this interesting. I have satellite radio in my Jeep and I have to say that around 80% of the time it makes my radio listening on the commute better. There are times that satellite radio is really no different than cable television; a bunch of channels that are spewing out crap. A while back I was flipping around the dial when I landed on Martha Stewart’s channel. While the famed handiwoman wasn’t on her own station at the time, there was another woman who had one of the most annoying voices I have heard in a while going on and on about her private parts. I found this a little bit surprising because I didn’t think that a woman going on and on about her private parts and how they work really fit how I thought a Martha Stewart channel would sound like; I thought there’d be things like how to decorate cookies and grow plants and make a killing in the stock market. I don’t know who the woman was but she was very annoying.

If you listen to some of the music channels you’ll start to realize that they’re not really that different from the terrestrial counterparts, aside from the fact that they don’t have commercials (which is a really big plus). They like to play the same songs over and over again, though. The 80s on 8 channel is in love with Billy Joel. The 70s on 7 channel is torn between Billy Joel and Elton John. The Studio 54 channel plays 12-inch disco mixes of songs from the day in their entirety. I say you just can’t get enough marimba, even if you must listen to all 12 minutes and 32 seconds of France Joli’s “Come To Me”. As a former club DJ, I know that playing a 12-inch disco mix in it’s entirety is bad form and people in a club get cranky when the same song goes on for 12 minutes and 32 seconds.

So I’m curious as to how many people are actually avid satellite subscribers and enjoy it thoroughly. It seems to me that the services like Pandora, Spotify, Last.Fm and Rdio would be cutting into the satellite service revenue, but what do I know. I feel bad for terrestrial radio though, that’s just embarrassing these days.

I was approached a few months ago about designing and building a dance-based internet radio station. I met with the internet radio company and everything, but something didn’t feel quite right. I didn’t feel that I had the proper time and energy to spend on such a project, especially since it would be a side job type of thing until it made some serious cash. Truth of the matter is, I’m not really big on the latest and greatest in the way of current music. The use of auto-tune deprives the listener of any sort of heart, soul or feeling of a song. It’s reduced to a purely mechanical experience, one that is meant to generate revenue and nothing more. That’s one of the reasons I left radio in the first place; it became a bland, money hungry, computerized venture with no connection to the listener. Generic solutions to metrics and equations. I’m not going to put my blood, sweat and tears into something that gives no emotion back. A classic dance station would be a different story, something between the disco era and the auto-tune era. That might be interesting. Maybe someday.

Perhaps I could sell the concept to Sirius/XM for all their thousands and thousands of new subscribers. Let them bring the heart and soul and connection back via satellite.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Service.

So every holiday season Earl and I like to reward a server in a restaurant with a larger than normal tip. It’s our way of saying “thank you” to those that are squarely unappreciated by the public as a whole. The folks that strive to bring us a pleasant dining experience should be appreciated. We’ve seen too many well-intentioned folks get hollered at by surly customers, though on the flip side we’ve had a few that have rubbed us the wrong way but in even the worst of situations we’ve tried to keep it classy.

I think I’m digressing.

With the events and subsequent traveling that has taken place during the month of December, Earl and I have been eating out more than normal. I think it was when we were down in Bucks County, Pa. that I started asking him “Is this the one?”, referring to the server that we would reward with our holiday tip. I guess we weren’t feeling it because we kept our tipping at our standard approximately 20%, though we did give a slight bit extra to the lovely server that helped us out at that bistro that sits in the middle of Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, N.J.

Today Earl and I went shopping with the rest of the world, per our usual custom of buying ourselves something on the 26th of December, which is the anniversary of our original commitment ceremony. (Our wedding rings have been worn for 15 years as of today!) Since tomorrow is work day, I wanted to get home from the shopping excursion at a reasonable time, so we headed home from Albany around 4:30 p.m. Now I have mentioned a hundred or more times that I don’t really like driving the Thruway anymore, it’s wicked boring and since I could potentially drive the road everyday for work, I don’t really get my kicks on the toll road anymore. So I started heading home on Route 20. As we made our way to the outskirts of Albany, I asked Earl what he was in the mood for in the way of a meal on the way home. He said he didn’t care as long as he didn’t cook, and then he rattled off a few suggestions.

One of the cool things about US Route 20 in the eastern part of the Empire State is that it’s rural. Really rural. Like, there’s nothing but farm land rural. When he began mentioning a few places like a diner, or a Panera or a locally owned family restaurant, I suddenly realized that the best I would be able to drum up on our way home was the McDonalds attached to a gas station in the small village of Richfield Springs.

I turned north and headed to my stomping grounds around work. I instantly knew where I wanted to go; an Italian bistro that is creatively named “Plaza’s Italian Bistro” in the small city of Gloversville.

Our server’s name was Isaiah. A young lad in his 20s or so, he was very courteous, very efficient and more importantly, very charismatic and friendly without forcing it or being obnoxious about it. We often compare the friendliness of the server to a woman named Linda who worked at a place named Jack Appleseed’s back in the day; she would put her head up in the lamp that hung over the table and say she was wearing a hat. Then she would snort with laughter, somewhat like Chrissy Snow on “Three’s Company”.

That wasn’t our thing.

Since Isaiah went out of our way to make our dining experience comfortable, pleasant and not too rushed or not too long, he was dubbed the “holiday recipient of the week” where we tipped him generously and added a happy face and a hearty, handwritten “Happy New Year”. We left the restaurant right after signing the bill. As we walked outside, I saw Earl look in one of the windows, where Isaiah was picking up the bill, saw the note and the tip and looked around (presumably for us) and then smiled.

We hope he had a great night. We certainly did.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Joy.

I haven’t been sleeping very well the last couple of nights. The stress of the holidays, the passing of our fathers, worrying about getting everything that is expected to get done for both personal and work stuff getting done, these things have been weighing heavily on my mind.
 
I sometimes forget that I have a history of needlessly worrying. It’s something that I leaned when I was a young boy. You think that after all these years I would know better.
 
I found joy in the day when I saw everyone’s eyes light up as they were opening their gifts this morning. Though my exercises in shopping were rather hurried this year, it seems that I still did something right, because the genuine pleasure displayed when folks opened their gifts warmed my heart. My mother had wanted tickets to see “Celtic Woman” when they came to town, but she didn’t know that I new that. She was very emotional when she found out that she had tickets to the show. Earl seemed to love the gifts that I got him.  Scott and Jamie were excited about their gifts as well. Sharing happiness, that’s what the holiday are about.  Spread some joy. 
 
We made the trek to my Dad’s house where members of that side of the family were assembled.  A mixture of tears, smiles and conversation. All good. Then we went to have dinner with my mom, where we shared more smiles, tears and conversation.  Again, all good.
 
I was afraid that I wouldn’t find joy in the holiday this year, but again, I worried for no reason. For there was much joy to be found and much joy to be shared.  

Insomnia.

It must have been the sound of reindeer hooves on the roof that woke me up just a few minutes ago.

A joyous Christmas to all!

Spirit.

The spirit of the holiday season is the most important element of this time of year for me. I like to think that I have moved beyond accumulating large-ticket items under the tree; tokens of love are much more appropriate for me. When asked what I want for Christmas, my response this year has been “nothing, I have all that I want.”

With the passing of both my father and my father-in-law this month, I have to admit that it’s been rather difficult for me to find the holiday spirit. I have found the mingling of sympathy cards with Christmas cards in the mail to be rather solemn, though the sentiments of all were very much appreciated. It was a struggle to find the time to put up the Christmas tree this year; when I looked at it this morning, I marveled in it’s beauty (though the new tree topper we bought a year or two ago seems to be shorting out and blinking erratically).

I have struggled to find that Christmas spirit, but it has slowly been coming around and I have found ways to pass it along and bring the smile back to my face. After all, it’s the little things that count, like shaking the hand of and wishing a co-worker a Merry Christmas before they leave for the day, just after having a rather intense meeting with them. Or giving the fine folks at Dunkin’ Donuts a generous tip to thank them for having an iced tea ready whenever my Jeep is rumored to be in the area. Perhaps it’s sending a text message to someone that needs an electronic hug or leaving a voicemail wishing happy holiday sentiments to someone that you’ve only exchanged email with. It’s these little things that make the difference to me and it’s these little things that are showing me that the holiday spirit is very much alive and well.

Life is good. Happy Solstice. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Food.

My body is craving food today. I eat a piece of fruit and I’m hungry within 30 minutes. I think I just need some rest.

And maybe a cookie.