Twenty.

Earl and I are going to my high school’s annual Alumni Dinner this evening. I figured this year would be a good year to go for a couple of reasons. First of all, my Dad is being installed as the president of the Alumni Association this evening and I’d kind of like to be there for that. Secondly, and quite honestly I can’t believe this, I graduated from high school 20 years ago this weekend and I thought it’d be a nice round number to go and see if any of my fellow classmates are around.

The Alumni Dinner is an interesting experience in that it’s held in the high school cafeteria, using the school’s table settings and served and prepared by the school’s kitchen staff. Tonight, Earl and I will be enjoying a fine roast beef dinner served a la fifth period with mashed potatoes that have just the right amount of “plop” when placed on a melmac plate.

I have to admit that I’m not really that nervous about the whole affair, in fact, I’ve kind of been looking forward to the experience. It’ll be fun to walk the old hallways again.

24 June 2006 by Ponderings and Musings 0

No Biggie.

Wendy’s announced this week that they are getting rid of the “Biggie” and “Great Biggie” nomenclature on their value meals. From what I can gather, the American public is no longer smart enough to grasp the idea of “Biggie” or “Great Biggie” as a size designation, so they are going with the old standards, “Small”, “Medium” and “Large”.

Here’s the kicker, and I have to admit that I really get a kick out of this. Well, not really a kick I suppose because I’m not doing the teaberry shuffle or anything like that, but rather, a kick in that it gives me a little bit of a chuckle.

Anyways, the “Biggie” is now … drum roll please… a “Medium” (and I’m not referring to Patricia Arquette, though she is a lovely woman).

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, what used to be huge is now not so huge anymore, in fact it’s just average.

I can’t help but wonder how this is going to affect the already growing waist sizes of the American public should this type of sizing develops into some sort of trend. We are constantly bombarded by news reports about the fattening of America and our obsession with fast food. In fact, I’m sitting in a fake fast food restaurant right now (Panera) while I’m blogging today. My large iced tea is bigger than freezer in my grandparent’s first refrigerator after it was defrosted.

One of the things that I enjoyed about our dinner date last night at Pinhead Susan’s in Schenectady is that the portions were reasonably sized. In the past, Earl and I have ordered some random appetizer that just about required a dump truck to haul it to our table. Naturally we ate the entire thing and depending on alcohol consumption at the moment, we may have licked the serving plate and surrounding table top afterwards, but we really didn’t need to eat such mammoth portions.

So next time you go to Wendy’s, you may get more by asking to “Go Medium”. If you decide to step it up to a large soda, think of the fun you can have by wading in it.

23 June 2006 by Food. 0

Fast Food Causes.

Over the past couple of years or so, Earl and I have steered our dining habits away from the “big three” fast food restaurants for the most part, opting to hit up local establishments when we are out and about on our travels. There are exceptions to this rule, most noteably when we enter Chick-Fil-A and/or Sonic territory, then we hit up each of these restaurants at least once. That is, until today.

I am big fan of the selection of food at Chick-fil-A. Their yearly calendar, featuring their rather infamous cows in various poses, has graced our kitchen for the past several years. I crave their waffles fries. I love the fact that they offer a “Polynesian Sauce” (instead of the pedestrian Sweet-n-Sour) with their chicken strips. I’ve even pointed out to several Chick-Fil-A cashiers that I live near the town that their cash registers are emblazened with (they’ve never cared) and that I’ve driven at least 150 miles to eat their food (they still didn’t care).

For those not familiar with the fast food chain, one of their unique features is that every single one of their restaurants is closed on Sunday. I find this to be quaint, harkening back to the good ol’ days when life moved at a slower pace. Whether the store is in a mall or standalone, it’s a guarantee that it’s closed on Sunday.

Chick-Fil-A is quite a charitable organization and supports numerous religious based organizations, including Focus On The Family. Now I believe that anyone and everyone has the right to express their religious or spiritual beliefs in any manner that they see fit. If you get spiritual satisfaction by sitting on a washing machine in spin mode while chanting “Era Era Era”, then I certainly encourage you to practice your beliefs with gusto. On the other hand, some folks make spiritual choices that are downright scary, but that’s their right and they should not be denied the opportunity. That being said, I will no longer spend money with a company that monetarily supports organizations such as Focus On The Family for these two reasons: this group believes that homosexuality, while inherent to a person in that they’re born that way, can be cured through various means (I can’t bring myself to read as to what that involves as I’m afraid it might include electroshock therapy and the thought of that rather freaks me out). The group is also vehemently opposed to gay marriage, because the gay boys and lesbians shouldn’t be getting married, they should be getting “cured” and then marrying a member of the opposite sex.

I think it’s obvious that these beliefs run quite contrary to my own.

Now that I am a little bit more informed on these matters, I can say without hesitation that I will no longer support Chick-Fil-A. In tandem with my beliefs of live and let live, I’m not going to ask anyone reading this to follow suit, but I offer this blog entry as a little piece of information.

23 June 2006 by Gayish. 1

Recommendation.

I just got back from the lovely city of Schenectady. I joined Earl for dinner tonight; he’s out of town on business but luckily he’s close enough that I can drive a couple of hours and see him during his down time. It keeps us both out of mischief.

We had dinner at a great little place called “Pinhead Susan’s”. I didn’t see any pinheads running around, and the burly guy behind the bar really didn’t look like a Susan to me, so I read the whole tale of the name of the restaurant on the back of the menu and found it quite interesting. You’ll have to stop by to find out for yourself.

We then took a walk through downtown Schenectady, which is undergoing a rather extensive renovation project. It’s good to see a city’s downtown area being revitalized without being entirely ripped down in the process. Earl is staying at The Parker Hotel tonight; a delightfully early 1900s hotel renovated to modern standards and quite nice. We also took a walk along the Mohawk River, which runs between Schenectady and the neighboring Village of Scotia (SKO-shuh, in case you’re wondering). There was a water-skiing demonstration on the river for those that were interested. We also had the obligatory ice cream at Jumpin’ Jacks, where they have old early 20th century cash registers in the ice cream parlor and in the food area, a beautiful mid 1970s mechanical NCR cash register that I really wish I could get my hands on. When you tip the folks working the ice cream counter, they yell out “Subway!” and all thank you. Quite charming.

Mother Nature treated me to a small lightning show on the ride home along the Thruway. I celebrated by rolling down all the windows in the car and cranking up the Eagles’ “One Of These Nights”.

22 June 2006 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Romance.

I have a date tonight. That’s right, instead of coming home after work, throwing on some comfortable clothes and sizzling up some supper, I’m going to stay in my work duds and go out to dinner tonight with someone special.

That would be Earl, by the way.

He’s out of town in the thriving metropolis of Schenectady for the overnight, and since it’s a reasonable drive to get there, I’m going to join him for dinner tonight. He’s been talking about a restaurant that he’s wanted to take me to for a while now, and since I’m getting out of work at 4:00 p.m., I can make it there and back with plenty of time to sleep tonight.

I know it’s easier for some than for others, but I think it’s important for couples to set aside some quality time, away from the computer, away from the Blackberry and away from the household concerns that sometimes consume our relationships. It’s good for people in love to get together just for the sake of getting together and enjoying some quality time. Whether you’ve been together for a month or a decade, togetherness is always good.

I’ll just have to remember that it’s a date tonight and that I need to refrain from putting my sleeves in whatever sauce is on my plate or licking the salad dressing off my elbows.

22 June 2006 by Love. 0

Litha.




Erie Canal Trail.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Happy Summer Solstice. In the Wiccan tradition, today is Litha. It is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Today is officially the first day of summer.

To celebrate the nature-based spiritual vibe I’ve been feeling today, I took a nicely-paced, energetic walk. My walk took me along the historic Erie Canal. It was there that the sounds of the nearby roadways faded away and the sounds of nature came forward with birds singing their song, fish jumping a little bit in the canal and small creatures rustling around in the brush along the trail.

I often use the evening of summer solstice to take a step back and figure out how I’m feeling about things these days. Who am I kidding, I’m always doing that but I like to think it’s a little more special on the longest day of the year. For once, I think I’ll keep my thoughts and observations private and instead I’ll just say, “It’s all good”.

Sunset on Lock 20.

Here is the sun setting on Erie Canal Lock 20. It was a little bit after 9 p.m. (or 2100, as I like to think of it) when I took this picture. A cyclist riding from Buffalo to Albany along the canal trail had just set up camp for the night. I didn’t want to be rude and include his picture on the internet, but I nodded a hello in his direction as he busied himself with his tent.

Happy Litha.

21 June 2006 by Spiritual Stuff. 0

Feisty.

I think the woods out back have become home to a gang of very feisty squirrels. A couple of days ago I noticed that our new cedar bird feeder was lying around the ground. I figured it was a victim of the storms that blew through over the weekend and really didn’t think much more about it, until I went out this morning to hang it back up.

Upon closer inspection, our National Geographic bird feeder looked like it had been run over by a truck and then beaten to death for extra good measure.

The little stopper that keeps the rain away from the feed had somehow been relocated to the inside bottom of the feeder. The little stands for the cute little chickadees to use as a booth at their favorite diner were ripped out of the plexiglass. And the nylon rope that held the whole affair together had been shredded into a purple mess.

Either we have some birds that are telling me to buy them some better seed or we have some squirrels telling me to put a squirrel feeder in and don’t go light on the mounted corn cobs, bucko. While I was making this discovery early this morning, as I was staggering around the lawn trying to pretend I’m a morning person when I’m really not, I had a fleeting thought that perhaps the birds were mad because the feeder didn’t have an orange roof on it. Years ago my grandfather had painted his bird feeder, quite massive in size now that I think about it, to resemble one of those fine Howard Johnson restaurants. It sat right outside the dining room window, where it provided hours of entertainment by watching the birds come in and out and seeing a few make a wrong turn and consequently smacking into the window. That feeder was always quite busy with many bird families having to maintain a holding pattern until those eating had cleared their dishes and left.

Now that I think about it, Ho Jo’s had some pretty feisty waitresses back in it’s day. Maybe the squirrels are learning something from them.

21 June 2006 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Family Connection.

This evening I made the trek to Syracuse on one of my computer excursions, this time the lucky family member was my mother.

My mom has been cranking along on an old Pentium II running Windows ME with a dial-up connection for a long while. I told her enough is enough and it was time to upgrade, so tonight I installed a respectable refurbished Pentium 4 we had found for her at a great price and it came with Windows XP Professional pre-installed. I’ve been getting it ready for her over the past couple of weeks, installing anti-virus and Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird for web browsing and e-mail. She picked up a Roadrunner DIY high speed connection kit so tonight was pretty easy as far as dabbling in computer land goes. With the right tools, Microsoft Windows XP can be pretty acceptable.

We took the opportunity to go to dinner beforehand with my sister and her boyfriend and his little toddler of a son. It was all good. We went to a restaurant called “Plainville Turkey Farms” where they serve, well, turkey. I ate entirely too much at the buffet, especially since I had worn a pair of my “really skinny” shorts on purpose to keep my food consumption in check. I did manage to make it through the evening without my pants exploding off of me, so I guess I did show a small bit of control.

One of the nice things about living a little bit of a distance away from my relatives is that it makes getting together that much more special. It’s a shame that Earl couldn’t join us tonight because of work obligations. My sister told me that she’s caught up on my blog and that she skips over the parts when I rant about the president, since she already knows how I feel about that subject. See? I have a big mouth in person too.

So now I’m online and I see Mom is logged into several different instant messaging clients. I guess I need to keep my clothes on if I’m going to use the webcam.

20 June 2006 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Forgot. No, Cocky.

As I was crossing the street from my office building to the municipal lot we use, I was formulating an absolutely brilliant blog entry in my head. I was mentally grabbing a clump of ideas, scattered amongst the organized chaos that floats around my gray matter on a minute by minute basic, and I was just putting these clumps together into a dialog that would be witty, spontaneous sounding, engaging and entertaining. I was so impressed with this blog entry that I was actually chuckling to myself, as I often just crack myself up, being zany and all.

Apparently this superb blog entry floated right out of my head because I have absolutely no idea what I was going to write about. No sir, as I sit in front of my PowerBook, I have not one shred of a clue as to what I was going to write about.

Could it be that I was distracted by the construction workers working on the theatre across the street? Did I get sidetracked when I listened to “Fresh Air” on NPR while driving home? Is it because I’m feeling cocky today?

That’s it! I was feeling cocky! When I got to the parking lot, there were two young guys checking out my Acura. I don’t think they were going to steal it or anything; they had that look that guys get when they admire a vehicle. It’s not quite the same as the look straight men get when they look at a well endowed chest, but it’s close. They have an eye for appreciation, just two steps back from salivation, and they are just wishing they can just put their hands on it and call it their own.

Not to be a braggart but “it’s mine, it’s mine, it’s miiiiiiiiiiiine!”

I love my car.

As they saw me walking up to the car, they nodded their head in approval as they walked away. I noticed the older of the two was rather handsome with his beard sans mustache. He had a cocky air about him that I appreciate.

I nodded back with a hint of a smile. I feel cocky today too.

20 June 2006 by Ponderings and Musings 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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