Five years later, I still enjoy this video and song very much.
Here’s Brian Kent, with “I’m Not Crazy”. I thought it might be a good theme song for the day.
It might make some people blush.
Conversation.
Today marked the beginning of something exciting, for today began Amish Pie Season! That’s right, the little Amish baked goods stand, only open on Fridays, opened up for the first time this year. I was able to stop after work and picked up two pies. This weekend we are enjoying an Apple and Blueberry pie.
The big milestone of this celebration is that I actually had a conversation with the young lady that works the pie stand. Last year I mentioned that she wasn’t one that engaged in conversation. While we didn’t really discuss the world political scene, we did engage in something more than a “yes” and a “thank you”; she even wished me a good evening.
There was a larger selection of pies this year and on my way to work I noticed that the stand is now open in the morning; last year it didn’t open until later in the day. Among the selection of baked goods were homemade donuts and a strawberry cream pie.
So many possibilities.
We are just back from supper tonight. I believe we’ll have to have a little pie before bed tonight, what with the slight hysteria about the end of the world and all that tomorrow, because as Erma Bombeck reminded us in one of her books, “Remember the women on the Titanic that skipped the dessert the night the ship sank.” Erma would remember this as she ate a Twinkie.
Thursday.
I keep thinking today is Friday. It can’t be Friday because I didn’t wear jeans, though I can wear jeans any darn day that I want to, I just happened to not wear jeans today. I would definitely be wearing jeans if it was Friday because I feel most comfortable in jeans, but today is Thursday. I want to be wearing shorts. Honestly, I’m happy I remembered pants.
Since I’m not wearing jeans, why do I think today is Friday? Is someone messing with the calendar? Has something in the atmospheric continuum gone askew? Now one would think that previous sentence would be referencing some show like Star Trek or Dr. Who, but it is not, it is referencing something else. A television show that should maintain the dignity of never being rebooted for television. If you’re going to mess with the classics, add to them, don’t reimagine them.
Speaking of reimagining, I’m thinking that the folks clamoring for the obviously hideous “Wonder Woman” reboot pilot should concentrate on more important things such as getting their hands on the ElectraWoman and DynaGirl rebooted pilot that had Markie Post in the lead role. Now that was a reboot I could wrap my head around.
Since it’s not Friday but my body thinks it is, I’m wondering if this is a sign from the universe that I should take a vacation day tomorrow. I probably shouldn’t since I’m off 2 1/8 days next week so we can go to Chicago to run with the bears. Plus, I’m saving up vacation time for the Big Trip in July. The one that starts on a Friday instead of a Saturday.
Perhaps that’s why I’m confused.
Aren’t you happy that I carry a keyboard in the car for lunchtime blogging on the iPad so I can type more nonsense more often?
Lunch.
I am sitting here at lunch and I must admit that I have been keeping an eye out for the guys that I have silently dubbed the “Jumper Cable Guys”. I was actually the one that used the jumper cables but nevertheless they have earned the title. Perhaps they jump started my day.
The week is flying by as I am beyond the halfway point of the work week. This is good, because it also means that Earl will be home from Buffalo tomorrow night and I’m always a little off kilter without him around.
Next week we head to Chicago for Memorial Day weekend. We are driving out for what is known as a “Bear Run.” My mother asked what that meant and I was thinking of telling her that it equated to running with the bulls, except there would be big, burly gay men running through the streets of Chicago. Some of them might have horns, others might carry a bicycle bell and go “ding ding”, but everyone would be running and having a grand old time. That isn’t really what happens, of course, as that’s way too much effort but there might be a bicycle bell dinging and there will be plenty of big, burly gay men. It’s a good way to hang out with the community. I’ve been told we could visit the Willis Tower. What you talkin’ about Willis? I refuse to do that but I’ll go to the top of Sears Tower, even if it’s not called that anymore. Ask someone in Chicago if they’re going to Marshall Fields or Macy’s and I’m sure you’ll hear the former as the answer. I rest my case.
I’m kind of babbling today.
Let’s have a musical interlude instead. “How do I embed a video on my iPad?”, the geek wonders.
Oh, just click the link.
Surprise.
So yesterday, after writing my little blog entry during my lunch hour, I went to return to work and realized that I had left my lights on, with the car off, for the 45 minutes or so I had been doing the internet thing in the car. Since the Acura is over six years old and still has it’s original battery, this flattened any available charge I needed to start my car. This suspicion was confirmed when the starter responded with a whimsical clickity-clack sound and the lights on the dash blinked a little dance to the sounds coming from the starter. I have done this sort of thing once before and luckily I had a set of jumper cables in the back.
During lunch I had noticed that trucks had parked on either side of the Acura. On my left was an older gentleman who parked his truck and promptly hopped out and went to the nearby McDonalds. I hadn’t seen anyone get out of the truck on the right, but I was pretty intent on what was going on on my iPad so I may have just missed his departure. This proved to be incorrect, however, because when I hopped out of the Acura to find someone to jump the car, I saw a man sitting in this truck. I walked up to him, in the pouring rain, knocked on the window and asked if he could help out with the jumper cables. He answered with a hearty “yes” and seemed quite nice. He called me boss like guys in trucks seem to do lately. He looked to be a little older than me and while he was very nice and I was quite appreciate, he seemed like your average joe on the street; the type that drives a truck and lives in the more rural areas of Central New York. Personally, I like this type of guy, but that’s my thing.
He moved his Ford over in front of my Acura and we successfully jump started the Acura. I thanked him for his help, shook his hand and he responded, “anytime, Boss.” I closed the hood, put the jumper cables away and then got back in the car. As I was getting ready to head back to work, I had to wait for another truck to around, and as I was doing so, I noticed another truck had already parked next to the guy that had helped out and there was a man walking over to him. The man was about my age, had a biker look to him with a military high and tight and looked friendly enough. Probably another one that was called ‘Boss’.
The man walked over to the guy that had just helped me out, who was getting out of the truck again and the two of them embraced. Apparently they were meeting for lunch.
The hug was then supersede by a quick kiss on the lips. I must admit that I didn’t expect that at all and I’m usually really good at sensing that sort of thing.
I smiled to myself as I drove away.
Rain.
“Oh, it’s still raining”, was my remark as I looked out the window after getting up for the day.
“Is it ever going to stop?”
I was in the kitchen catching up on news and blogs when Earl came into the room. “They’re saying it’s going to rain all week. It’s been raining since Thursday night”, I sighed. I thought cabin fever was suppose to take place in January, not May. The weekend was soggy so our activities were mostly indoors. I want to run through the woods, I want to climb a mountain, I want to ride my bike, I want to swim in a lake. But no, we sit inside.
Earl tried to cheer me up but pointing out the bright side,”At least we’re not in Louisiana getting flooded out.” This is true, the constant rain just turns the yard into a swamp.
“At least they have something to do”, was the only reply I could think of.
Tonight I’m going to go get bundled up and smell the lilacs that are blossoming on the tree out front. Even if I have to do it in the middle of a monsoon.
Moniker.
For the past several years I have used the online moniker of “iMachias”. The reasons for the choice of this name are twofold; first of all, since I was always using my Macs and talking about how great all things Apple were, the name ‘iMachias’ was like a formal way of saying that I was a Mac user. After all, when there’s a small ‘i’ at the beginning, one thinks of the iPod, iPad or iPhone first. So iMachias fit.
In addition, the word “Machias” resonates with my soul in a way that I can’t really put into words. It’s a nifty sounding word to me and it is a very natural fit to how I feel on the inside. The word Machias makes me feel connected to a greater experience in this life. There’s a story on how this came about, and I suppose that someday I’ll find the motivation to write the details down. For now, suffice it to say that the word Machias is kind of like a spiritual name, much like “Balding Eagle On The LakeFront” or “Kyan”, if you’re the hairdresser on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”.
I have been drifting in and out of my allegiance to all things Apple again (don’t sweat it, sweetheart, I have no major purchases planned anywhere in the near future) and it seems kind of strange to me to be participating in the online Linux discussions with the name iMachias, so last night I decided to make a change to my online presence name. This decision came about as I was riding my bike last night.
Quick side note – last night I went on my first official bike ride of the season and I was moderately surprised that I was able to ride 15 miles with only the usual amount of effort. 15 miles isn’t bad for the first run; in the past I’ve kept the first ride to 10 miles or so, but I was happy at 15 miles and I was cruising along at an average of 18 miles per hour, so I was quite pleased with the ride last night. Since I haven’t done a lot of riding over the past two years, I was ELATED when I got home from the ride. One of the reasons for this is because riding my bike, especially along the canal trails through the woods where there isn’t vehicle traffic, is my zen. Riding my bike in solitude takes me where I need to regroup my thoughts and relieve a lot of stress. I was positively giddy when I got back to the house and the effects from the ride are lingering into today. This is a beautiful thing.
Back to the online name; while I was on the ride last night I decided that I needed to have an online name that spoke to what made me happy, centered and focused. That’s cycling. I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this before, but I decided on the name of “CycliBear”. The word fits what I love in many ways and in a way it’s a sly tip of the hat to the fact that I oscillate between various computing platforms. My computer usage goes through cycles, just as sure as the fact that when I move the pedals on my bicycle, I’m going to go somewhere.
So CycliBear it is. I debuted the new name on Twitter last night.
Speaking of online presence – I try to keep the geekdom giddiness down to a dull roar here on this blog or else it would be twice as boring as it currently is, but I am excited to share with you that I found an email spam filtering service from mailroute.net that has completely solved my spam issue I had with the mail accounts here on jpnearl.com. I mentioned the other day that I’m trying to get away from the ad supported email accounts, and hosting my own email on jpnearl.com definitely does that. Since my email account has been around for over 10 years (as has Earl’s), we get a LOT of spam. Filtering it through the services offered by mailroute.net fixes that problem and it’s relatively inexpensive at $33/year per account. If you host your own mail and have this issue, I highly recommend their service.
Corporate Independence.
One of the many thing I admire about my father is that he was self employed for the majority of his work history. As part of a family business, it was their hard work that determined whether or not there was going to be bread on the table. It was their decisions, investments and the like that determined whether they were going to make it or if they were going to fail. Considering that everyone had been able to retire (assumedly) comfortably, I would deem this endeavor as a success.
I have always wanted to be self-employed. Earl and I made a stab at this back in the late 1990s with our little fast food restaurant, but the timing wasn’t quite right. Perhaps I wasn’t in the right place in my life at the time, among other factors, but I’m proud of the fact that we made a go of it and at least can say that we did it without ever having to declare bankruptcy after determining that the business was sinking.
I like the idea of corporate independence. This is kind of ironic, because I now work for a rather large telecommunications company and because of this, we are able to have a pretty good life these days. The bureaucracy of the corporation I work for is pretty minimal compared to others places that I have worked. At least it’s minimal in my neck of the woods or maybe I’m just oblivious to it all, because I tend to exist in my own little word without little intentional notice of what’s going on around me.
I mentioned in an earlier blog entry that one of the FCC commissioners is going to work for Comcast/NBCUniversal after helping push that huge corporate merger through earlier this year. This irks me for many reasons, one of them being that there was a huge conflict of interest going on there, but more so because of the control this large corporation has. I’m wary of large corporations having huge amounts of power, especially in their ties to government. I hope that many people feel the way I do about this. It’s one of the reasons that I am sad when I look out over this parking lot at lunch and I see one locally owned restaurant to the six chain restaurants within eyesight. When Earl took me to lunch the other day, we went to that locally owned restaurant. We once drove half way across the country and back, enjoying only the locally owned places. We gain a few pounds be we gained them happily. This corporate independence that I strive for makes me feel guilty when I go to Target instead of a local computer store to pick up a mouse and a pair of speakers for the computer, or makes me feel bad when I go to Lowe’s instead of to the locally owned hardware store.
I’m also starting to become wary of the corporate interests in the Internet. I always crow about how great Apple products are and I’m an avid user of Google’s calendar, reader and Gmail services. I actually like putting my life out here on the internet for others to observe and the like. I probably do it more than most people are comfortable with, so one would think that I don’t really care about the corporate backing behind many of these services, but the truth of the matter is, I do wear a tinfoil hat when it comes to using some of the “free” services. I know that Google is scanning my Gmail for keywords so that they can target ads at me. I know that there are tons of corporate minded folks on Twitter that know that I love Linux, I’m rather quirky in my thinking, I like to make witty remarks and that I have more than a passing obsession with facial hair. Facebook is no different, though I tend to behave myself a little more on there because I know which members of my family are watching at any given moment. Ignorance is bliss.
One of the things that bothers me the most about these ad-supported, “freemium” services is the fact that they are tied to advertising. I despise advertising. If Earl is running the remote control while we’re watching television and he neglects to fast forward through the commercials on “Private Practice” I silently become unglued. I know what products I want and how I want to obtain them, I don’t need constant reminders or suggestions to do differently. That’s why I’m trying to focus on corporate independence today. We are not going to Friendly’s because the telly told to, we are going to Nicky Doodles’ because they are locally owned and we want to give the local guy a chance.
I’m going to try to take a step and ween myself off some of the ad supported services I am using online. First order of business is Gmail. I’d rather pay for a service via a yearly fee that promises not to scan my email for keywords and gives me advertising versus having a few suggestions as to what brand of computer I should buy based on what I said in my email to my mother (who was struggling with her computer). I have found a suitable replacement; my jpnearl account was already forwarding to Gmail so I’m just going to turn the forwarding off and put a better spam solution in place. Next order of business will be Google Calendar. That one is going to be a little bit more of a challenge.
I have found myself driving the back roads lately and noticing a lot of empty storefronts in the downtown village areas as people opt to drive to the outskirts to the latest super center. This is kind of sad. I miss the days when you waved at your neighbor on the sidewalk instead of running in the other direction away from the television monitors hanging from the ceiling telling you what cat litter to buy.
I’m searching for a little more corporate independence. I hope that I am able to find it.
Exhibit A.
Exhibit A
Meredith Attwell Baker, Typical Government Corporate Employee.
This woman is Exhibit “A” as to what is wrong with the direction of the United States of America. This is Meredith Attwell Baker. She is one of the five commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission that approved one of the largest corporate mergers in history, the merger of Comcast and NBC.
Ms. Baker just accepted a job with Comcast as the senior vice president of government affairs. So on the taxpayers dime, she basically helped create one of the largest media conglomerates so she would have nice, cushy job to fall into.
Nah, there’s no conflict of interest there at all. None. Nada. And if there was, you’re not suppose to notice. Just keep lapping up what these big media corporations tell you and everything will be just fine.
It’s all plusgood.
Flight Path.
There is a bird that keeps flying back and forth at low altitude over the car. I’m in my usual parking space for lunch enjoying the sunshine. I just got out to make sure I didn’t park over a nest or something. I didn’t. But the bird just keeps flying back and forth. Occasionally he chatters at me on his way by. The sweet song of the bird has a slight sound of agitation to it, hence the reason I got out to make sure I didn’t park over a nest or something.
If he brings in the rest of the squadron, I’m of here.
There are little things that can make the day that much better. Yesterday Earl called me at work around 11:40. He was sitting in the parking lot and wanted to take me to lunch. We tried out a local Italian place we had never been to. The food was good and the service was efficient. The surprise made the rest of the day that much better.
I’m waiting for the aforementioned bird to take a leap of faith and fly through my open windows here in the car. It would be a prime opportunity for him to make some sort of point, but I’m not sure he’s up to the task. In the meantime I’ll enjoy the breeze and try to decipher his bombing runs and agitated chatter.
