The Second Day.




Cycling 2007.

Originally uploaded by jp2.0.

They say the second day of exercise is the hardest. The first day you’re all jazzed up and ready to go, lofty goals and big dreams first and foremost in your thoughts.

The second day, however, you’re flooded with the soreness of your muscles, the lingering memories of yesterday’s sweat and a small sense of “why am I doing this again?”

I consider the second day of cycling the hardest to conquer, and I am pleased to say that I did so with ease today. I took a 40 minute ride through several of the local villages, clocking in around 11 miles on this ride.

I’m happy with my progress and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s journey.

21 April 2007 by Flickr 0

Movies.




We have big theatres in NY.

Originally uploaded by jp2.0.

Earl and I went to the movies tonight. We haven’t been to the movies in quite a while because, well, we haven’t really seen any movies advertised that really tickled our fancy. Couple the lack of interest with the recent rudeness of the general public in a movie theatre and it’s easy to see why we haven’t made the effort.

Eager to bask in the second day of sunlight in these parts, we went for a ride in the Jeep, passing through the local resort area on our way home (many camps and the amusement park on Oneida Lake are still closed for the season). We ended up in the city of Rome, where we stopped at the locally owned theatre and took in the showing of “Blades of Glory”.

I wasn’t prepared to enjoy this movie. I’m not a Will Farrell fan. However, I was pleasantly surprised. While I wasn’t rolling through the aisles complaining about the stitch in my side from all the laughter, I was amused during the movie and actually enjoyed the experience.

I took a picture of one of the massive auditoriums in the megamovieplex we go to.

I don’t know if “Blades of Glory” is destined to be some sort of Rocky Horror type show, but apparently two of the people behind us thought it should be because they shouted out lines and interacted with the screen as if Magenta and Columbia were doing the Time Warp. We didn’t mind though, it kind of contributed to the experience in an absurd sort of way.

On a health note, I went on my first real bike ride of the year. I’m still glowing from the adventure. I look forward to taking another ride tomorrow.

20 April 2007 by Flickr 0

Sunlight.




Sunlight.

Originally uploaded by jp2.0.

The day didn’t start as well as I had hoped it would. I awoke late, realizing that Earl was out of town on business. Luckily, he called me to wish me a good morning. He asked if he had woke me up. Of course I lied. Hearing his voice from two states away put the day back on track.

The sky was full of sunshine. The thermometer showed 50 degrees as of 9 a.m. I decided to shuck the boots for the day and went with sandals instead. I’m not hypertrendy as I’m not wearing socks with my sandals, but I feel übercool wearing jeans and sandals. I don’t know why.

My one class today went well. Today’s lecture was in my Sociology class. Classmates were awake and actually participating in the discussion. There wasn’t any of that awkward silence that comes about when no one has completed the assigned reading and the professor is desperately trying to engage someone, anyone, in the topic at hand (I usually start saying things to try to spark my peers – it occasionally works.) At the end of class my professor announced that we would (finally!) be getting our papers back. We had to write a paper back in early March. It counted for a quarter of our grade for the semester.

Imagine my relief when I discovered that I got a “98” and an “Outstanding!”. I hate to brag, but I was so relieved that I did this well that I almost teared up right there in class. I never felt comfortable with the paper as I didn’t know if I had a handle on the topic (we had to write a critique of a sociology journal article – I tend to stray into all opinion territory, which you may find hard to believe.) Must be I didn’t stray as far as I thought.

When I came out of class the recent change in weather hit me like a delightfully welcomed hammer. It felt like spring. The air smelled like spring. The sun shined brightly and the sounds of music were coming from another hall on campus, not to be drowned out by the songs of birds hanging out in the many trees around the quad.

So now I’m sitting on the front porch, drinking in the sunshine, watching the planes land at the local airstrip and just enjoying the sounds of nature and rumbling man made flying machinery.

I noticed our little lilac tree is the first in the yard to start showing buds. Hibernation is definitely behind us.

Hello, world!

19 April 2007 by Love. 5

RIP Kitty Carlisle Hart.


Kitty Carlisle Hart, well-known as a panelist on the game show “To Tell The Truth”, passed on last night. She was 96.

Still touring and performing right up until the end of her life, Kitty was an accomplished performer on the stage, both as an opera singer and actor. She also was the only person to appear on *all* incarnations of “To Tell The Truth”, her last appearance on that show was at age 92.

Here’s a link to the best remembered version of the theme song for “To Tell The Truth”.

18 April 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Technology.

I am sitting in lovely Syracuse, N.Y. in the food court at Carousel Center as I type this blog entry. I had no intention of coming here today, but I’ve been riding around in the car and decided that this was as good a place as any to stop for a bit.

I’ve been riding around because I’ve decided to take a new approach to my vidcasts. I have retitled the feature “Let’s Go For A Ride”, and I videotape them as I’m driving. I’ve done two so far and as soon as I get my YouTube channel set up properly I’ll be sure to post the link so the curious can indulge themselves.

Carousel Center has high hopes of becoming the largest mall in the United States soon. For the past ten years or so the developer has wanted to turn this into “DestiNY USA”, which would be a huge tourist attraction with hotels, an expanded mall, an indoor park and many other visitor friendly attractions. They’ve also mentioned developing a monorail system through the city of Syracuse to go hand in hand with this venture. So far a few symbolic beams of steel have been pounded in the ground as the developer and the local politicians fight back and forth about tax benefits and other assorted widths of red tape. I’m not as informed on the topic as I’d like to be, but I’d really like to see something positive happen in this area and I can’t help but think that this venture would be a positive thing for all involved. But what do I know, I’m just a college student with a big mouth and a blog.

One little delight I hadn’t planned on was the new Chicken Salad Frescata sandwich at Wendy’s. I usually don’t equate “yummy” and “Wendy’s” together, but I found this sandwich to be quite enjoyable. I highly recommend it.

18 April 2007 by Geek 3

Numb.

The tragedy at Virginia Tech has constantly been on my mind since seeing the news reports yesterday. At first my thoughts were “my God, I can not believe that happened, and I really can not believe that it happened on a college campus.” It was not shortly after my initial shock that I realized that I am a full-time college student that spends a considerable amount of time on campus.

Each of my instructors have reminded us at the beginning of class this week that professional counselors are available 24/7 on campus. There was a gathering at the performance hall to remember those that were killed and to host an open forum for a discussion about campus safety. We’ve actually had two tragedies here, in that a city police officer was fatally shot on Thursday after pulling a car over in a routine stop. City of Utica Police Officer Thomas Lindsey was 32 years old and a 2001 graduate of Mohawk Valley Community College. A police officer, shot dead, simply because he was serving his community and had pulled car over.

When does this all stop? What purpose is served by giving the general public free access to any type of weapon including machine guns? I am not talking about the type of guns sportsmen use when they’re out in the woods doing their thing. Most hunters use their guns responsibly (Dick Cheney not withstanding). I’m talking about semi-automatic guns that can be reloaded faster than it takes to open a can of pop and almost always end up in the hands of madmen.

I feel an incredible rant bubbling inside of me. It has not come to a boil yet and there’s no steam coming out of my ears, but it’s there and it’s building.

I guess the world is really disappointing me these days. Actually, it’s not the world that’s disappointing me. It’s a chunk of the human race.

17 April 2007 by Why. 1

It Still Fits.

In between homework assignments, class and watching news coverage today, I worked on the little “Alumni Band Project” I started a month ago. I have this crazy notion of gathering a bunch of my high school alumni together and forming a marching band for the village parade (we call it a ‘Field Days’ in these parts).

Part of the activities included putting an informational website together, pricing fabric for homemade colorguard banners, searching for sheet music and printing flyers to be included with the alumni newsletter.

Just for kicks I dug out my old “band jacket” that I got when I was a sophomore in high school.

It still fits!!

16 April 2007 by Geek 1

Chat.

This weekend Earl and I were talking with Rick and Helen about cell phones. I mentioned to them that I’ve been pondering ditching my cell phone for the past year or so and that I thought I was ready to take the plunge and just do it. Both Rick and Helen thought it was a great idea and they wished they could do the same.

I have to admit that I don’t talk on my cell phone very much. I haven’t even charged it in the past week as it’s just been sitting on the kitchen counter. I didn’t take it to Pennsylvania. There could be messages waiting for me. Who knows.

My sister gets hysterical when I mentioned getting rid of the cell phone. I’ve never been one for talking on the cell phone. I can chat online until the cows come home, but I’m not one for actually talking. If I’m going to talk with someone I’d rather talk with them face to face. I don’t like having meals/movies/visits to the laundromat interrupted with the jingle of my cell phone, so why even bother carrying it. I can keep the older phone I have in the car and dial 911 if the emergency ever arises. Truth be known I’d rather text chat with emergency personnel (provided I still had all my fingers). I’m just more coherent that way.

So I think I’m going to take the plunge and get rid of the phone, finally, at the end of this month.

If you want me, e-mail me. I always have my PowerBook in tow.

15 April 2007 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Trevose, Pa.

Earl and I are spending the night with family outside of Philadelphia. Last night we arrived around 10:30 and hung out with Rick and Helen, Earl’s step-brother and his fiancee. They are getting married in Ireland in October and Earl and I are going to be the witnesses at their wedding, if Earl manages to get his passport before October.

This morning I was up bright and early to jump on the internet for class registration for my fall semester. I am happy to say that I am ready to go this fall, aside from one class that I have to go through paper registration for. I find it fascinating that I can be sitting 300 miles away from the college and still be able to fight my way to the front of the line for registration.

We spend most of the day visiting with family and relaxing. The weather has been a lovely change of pace, with lots of sunshine and highs near 60.

Tomorrow morning we are heading back home, where the weatherman says we’re going to have a interesting ride in hurricane like winds, to be greeted with a nor’easter snow storm.

I’m looking forward to this being the last storm of the season.

14 April 2007 by Flickr 0

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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