Selkirk Shores State Park is beautiful all year ’round. Here is a picture of the hiking trail we called “treach”. We used to zoom down this trail on our bikes, with Lake Ontario several feet below us as the trail went along the bluff. We found the trail to be treacherous on bike, hence we called it “treach” for short.
That’s Lake Ontario frozen in the background. The waves could be heard way off in the distance, about 100 feet from the shore.
I received my first package in my new cubicle yesterday. It was a bit of a surprise as it was a beautiful plant from Earl, Tom and Jamie.
One of the things that I didn’t expect to happen so quickly with my change in work schedule is my becoming a morning person so quickly. Did you know that every morning the sun rises in the east like a big ball of, well, sunshine and bathes the landscape in glorious light bringing the, well, light of a new day to all that are fortunate enough to behold it?
Wow!
My commute involves driving east in the morning and west in the evening so I get to do this whole ‘bathed in light’ thing in both directions of the commute. When augmented with my lunch break I have to say that I feel quite nice.
I have never been a morning person. I think it’s because I have always subscribed to the fact and insisted that I was a night person. My friend Dave from old work says it’s all in your head and I never bought into that, but I think he may be on to something. I now get up each morning at 5:30. I used to get up at 7:00. Now, I set my alarm each morning for 5:30 in an effort to make sure I get to work on time. But here’s the thing. Starting on Wednesday, I awoke before the alarm. Yes, I woke up at 5:24. Now, I don’t know if there is a plane flying over at that time or if Tom is ramming around the house or if it’s my own circadian rhythm getting in sync with my desires but ’tis true, I am now waking up my own at 5:24.
It is Saturday as of this writing. I went to bed last night around midnight.
I woke up at 5:24 this morning. I tried to nap and I did for a little bit but I couldn’t sleep past 7:00. As a result of this two thoughts come to mind: I have either officially become a morning person or I am getting older. I have always equated getting up early with older people because that’s what they do.
Whatever the reason, I think it’s pretty nifty seeing the sunrise each morning.
So I’m sitting in the Jeep during my lunch hour. The forecast I caught on the way into work this morning said we’d be getting snow showers. It’s currently around 45 degrees and sunny. This sneak peek at spring has done much to accentuate an already brilliant day.
My body is slowly acclimating to the new schedule. I found it a little bit easier to get up at 5:30 a.m. than yesterday- though I went to bed relatively early last night. Let’s see how I do after Daylight Saving Time strikes in a few weeks.
The second day at the new job is going along well. I work in a busy group so I’m doing all I can to go at it on my own when others are busy. They hooked up my phone today and gave me some other doodads for the cubicle; the model phone I now have is the same that I had back when I enjoyed working at the other job except in black. Apparently I’m lucky to have a brand new phone. Everyone has been very nice and very helpful. I am already feeling comfortable with my coworkers. I think this will be a good gig.
I’m still working out my daily routine and trying to figure out when I’m going to blog and take care of household business and all that. Towards the end of my tenure at my last job I was in the habit of just shuttling back and forth between the office and house at lunch time, but my commute now longer allows that so now I’m finding other ways to amuse myself. While today is quite nice, I’m excited for when the weather breaks and I can drink in some sunshine during my lunch hour.
Technology allows us the opportunity to maintain with those that have become part of our past. I’m exchanging e-mails with my friends back at the old job and of course updating folks via Facebook and Twitter and all that. It’s good to use technology for these purposes. That’s what social networking is all about – reaching out. It’s like letting your fingers do the walking, but with pictures.
Speaking of which, I’m going to try to do a little bit of night photography tonight if the weather conditions permit. I’m really enjoying the new camera. It’s a good creative outlet.
As I strive to acclimate to my new schedule, I will keep this short and sweet tonight. But as I said to Earl over dinner when he asked me how my first day at the new job went: “I’m set for life.”
I know I can rise to the challenge.
Earl, Jamie and I have been in Buffalo for a good part of the weekend. We were here to see the Buffalo Bandits take on the Philadelphia Wings in a lacrosse match at HSBC Arena. The cheering was divided last night as Earl was cheering on the Wings and Jamie was cheering on the Bandits. I would utter “go S U” from time to time because the orange clothing was confusing me. Buffalo lost and Earl ended up with a tub of popcorn turned upside down over his head. He found popcorn in his underwear this morning.
We stayed at the Embassy Suites in downtown Buffalo. Jamie stated that this is one of the nicest hotels in Buffalo. The suite was nice but the breakfast buffet was a little bit of an experience.
When there was food there were no plates, when there were plates there was no cutlery, when there was an omelette chef there was a line and when there was oatmeal and it was extra watery.
Oh, and there wasn’t a set of tongs to grab the bread to make toast. This sort of bugs me. Now, it’s not because I’m some sort of germophobe because that is hardly the case (though I have been known to douse people in Lysol if they seemed pukey to me), but I think that if one finds themselves in a buffet like environment without the appropriate utensils to grab food, you have two choices.
1. Ask for the appropriate utensils and use them when they arrive.
2. If you’re impatient (like me), grab a napkin and use that to grab the bread or the muffin or the fruit from the serving area. I don’t recommend this approach with salad items, soup or chili.
So there was a stack of bread in the little bread holder and this woman with really big hair in line in front of me. The smell of Aqua Net did not go unnoticed. Faced with the dilemma described above, she opted for her own approach.
With her bare hands, she grabbed a handful of bread slices, counted out how many she wanted, and then threw the rest back into the bread box.
Ewwww. Actually, I think I uttered a “Wow” that went relatively unnoticed. I don’t know where her hands as been but I certainly knew where they had just gone. I didn’t like that.
Not to be deterred, she jammed her pawed up bread onto the conveyor like toaster and watched it make it’s way through the little heater. I walked around her, grabbed a napkin and found some unpawed wheat bread (she predictably went for the white bread, noticed the snob in me) and loaded to pieces of wheat bread on the conveyor. Her toast plopped out the bottom of the machine at the same time and she heaved a sigh of disgust at the tanning of the bread so she put it through again and cranked the heat to high. I could see my wheat bread getting uncomfortably warm as it made it’s way through.
“I don’t think it’s charcoal season yet”, I said wryly, as I turned down the toaster to a reasonable level. I always have to interject a little humor before I fly into hysterics. Think of my humor as a warning shot across the bow. You can usually tell the difference between a true attempt of me being funny versus the use of humor to control my temper. She gave me an icy glare and blew some Aqua Net fumes at me.
My bread plopped out the bottom of the toaster a few moments later and I extended courtesy and cranked the heat back up.
“Bon appétit”, I shared with her, trying to be courteous.
The effort went unnoticed.
So today at 5:00 p.m. I shut my computer down, grabbed the belongings in the box that was sitting next to my desk, and walked out of the half of cubicle for the last time. My time at the job I have had for roughly the past five years has come to an end.
It was a bittersweet day for me. I was taken out to lunch by the manager of the group; I had a lengthy exit interview with one of the VPs and the President of the company shook my hand and visited with me a number of times throughout the day.
I think I did good for the company. I hope they enjoyed my stay as much as I did.
My new job begins Monday morning. It is finally sinking in that I have a new job and I will have a new cubicle and new co-workers in an entirely new environment.
I’m stoked.
Finally! The way it’s suppose to look in February here in Central New York. We got about a foot of snow overnight. This will make many happy, including me.
In the interest of having family television viewing time on the couch, I have watched all four hours of “American Idol” that have been broadcast thus far this week.
These are four hours that I will never get back.
Now I am the world’s biggest armchair critic and lord knows that I definitely do not have the chops to sing up there on stage like the next Really Big Famous Person but I know good music when I hear it and I ain’t hearing it on this season of American Idol. The judges keep crowing on and on about how this season is the best season of talent thus far but I think they have to say that because they certainly don’t want the illusion of Idol slipping in any way and perhaps if they say it enough they’ll start to believe it.
There are a few things about this week’s performances that stuck out for me:
1. This Alex Lambert guy has the *exact* same hairstyle as Carol Brady. It’s not a mullet. People say it’s a mullet but I wore a mullet back when it was business-in-the-front-and-party-in-the-back time and that, my friends, is not a mullet. It’s Wessonality at it’s best.
2. The guy that butchered Kelly Clarkson’s song last night should be escorted out of the theatre immediately and given walking papers.
3. The girl with the harmonica has new teeth.
4. I really miss Paula’s “I’m not drunk or stoned, no really” shenanigans. She was entertaining. I love Ellen, but she looks terrified to be up there and she feels really out of her element.
5. Kara is no Paula either and if I was the halfway decent guy with the scruff and all that, I would be pissed if the judges tried to upstage me with their swoony antics. On the other hand, Kara’s fawning over Casey(?) is typical of record industry behavior so I shouldn’t be colored surprised.
6. The audio mix of the show is whacked out. Sometimes we can hear the vocals, sometimes we can hear the band but never all at the same time.
7. I don’t know if the acoustics are bad in the auditorium or what but barely anyone is singing on pitch. They flirt with the key they’re singing in but they dance around it quite a bit. If they were all sharp or all flat I could blame acoustics, but there’s not even consistency there (not even during a single performance) so I think that it’s just a lack of ability.
I know. I’m the world’s biggest critic and like thousands of other people I think I know it all. Earl enjoys the show so I sit and watch. The only thing I find mildly interesting is if Ryan Seacrest will look über or just mildly hot, so I guess I’ll concentrate on that.
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!
