Countdown Is Progressing.

With on-call week behind me, the next adventure that is on the horizon is the “JPnEarl Great Jeep Tour 2006”. In less than two weeks, Earl and I will be on the road in our Jeep Wrangler, driving across the country and back within two weeks. Major stops along the way include Louisville, Ky., Phoenix, Az. and Deadwood, S.D.

I. Can’t. Wait.

I’ve been dreaming about this trip all my life. I’ve been salivating about it for the past six months. I think the idea of this upcoming trip allowed me the luxury of making it through another Upstate New York winter.

I have to be careful and try not to overdo with the plans; there’s a couple of spots we wanted to see that I think we’re going to hold off on and until another time. We’ll still hit most of the states that we originally planned on hitting, but I think it’s important that we kick back and take it at a reasonable pace, so I’ve cut back on a couple of the sidetrips.

I’m trying to be really good with my healthy ways for the next two weeks so I have room to fudge with my weight a little bit. Wait. Did I just say fudge? Fudge? Chocolate Fudge? Peanut Butter Fudge? Oh my gosh, I could eat my weight in fudge right now and go into sugar-induced bliss.

I’m sorry, where was I, oh yes, talking about how much I was looking forward to sticking to the healthy plan while we’re on vacation.

This week we’re figuring out the layout of the Jeep; Earl’s regulations for carry-ons rival those of the airlines and the flight attendant has been replaced by a portable cooler. At least the passenger seat can recline all the way back.

The countdown is on. I feel like a kid in a candy store.

Easter 2006.




Trail Bridge.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

A few years ago Earl and I began a tradition for our Easter celebration. Every Easter we have our first picnic of the season, regardless of the weather. In Upstate New York the weather could vary wildly; there could be three feet of snow on the ground or it could be 80 degrees. One never knows.

Normally we go to a state park for our picnic, but this year I was on call, so that meant staying within 20 minutes of the house. Luckily, we live a stone’s throw from the famous Erie Canal, which has a recreational trail that runs the length of it. This trail will eventually go from Albany to Buffalo. From what I understand, it’s about 3/4 of the way complete. The portion near our house is relatively new.

So we took a nice walk along the trail, clocking in at around four miles. There were a few people out on the trail as well, mostly fishermen and a couple of families getting some fresh air.

After our little walk, we settled down to the small park at one of the canal locks. It’s a beautiful park, maintained entirely by volunteers. It’s very well kept. While there, we had our traditional ham and mustard sandwiches and assorted picnic salads. For dessert, Earl had cut up some fresh strawberries.

I guess I realized you don’t have to travel a long way from home to have a good time. Sometimes there’s good things right in your own backyard.

Weekend Survivor.

Let’s all take a moment, sigh a big sigh together, and say a little prayer for Earl. You see, he’s had to endure my on-call mood of the weekend, which could best be described as “surly”.

Before leaving work last night, I was delighted to see that the weather forecast included clearing skies with a 20% chance of scattered showers. This meant that the weather wasn’t going to be a big factor in on-call this weekend and it should be relatively quiet.

Never count your chickens before they rain.

Mother Nature pulled her “ha ha” card out and blessed her children with a night of strong thunderstorms. Frequent lightning, downpours, heavy wind; she gave us the works. Usually I’m delighted by this sort of atmospheric activity and while I was trying to find some positive energy in the continuous thunder, I was actually sitting up in bed, holding my pager up like an offering to the sky and pleading non-stop, “don’t ring, don’t ding, don’t ring, don’t ding, don’t beckon, don’t ring.” Tom didn’t like the chanting, so he went under the bed. Earl snored through the whole ordeal.

Around 4:00 a.m., the sounds of thunder faded off into the distance. The pager had not gone off at all. I’d made it! I’d made it through a thunderstorm without a Mr. Telephone Man emergency.

“Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep”.

A customer in the eastern most location of our area code, a rural high school, had lost their phone service.

Jinkees.

So I did my little technological marvel thing and determined that I could see their end of the wire between the two cans, they must be experiencing a power outage. I’d deal with in the morning.

So I slept a little while, dreaming about this school and getting it mixed up with my school clock collection when the pager went off again. The circuit is still not up.

I won’t bore you with the remaining details, but suffice it to say that I’ve been very busy with many storm related outages throughout the day today. Things have settled down since supper and the skies have cleared somewhat, but all I can say is “God Bless Earl”, for he put up with one cranky telephone man today.

Marvelous Eye Candy.

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I thought I’d share a favorite piece of eye candy.

I don’t know what it is about the live-action version of Captain Marvel, but I find both Jackson Bostwick and John Davey (pictured) very handsome. Mr. Davey is my favorite of the two.

Formal Blogging.

Earl is off buying lottery tickets. Tom is cruising up and down the back of the couch, looking for a landing spot near my PowerBook. He has the “urge to nudge” in his eye. I’m sitting on the couch, pecking away at my computer. I’m in the front room, or as it’s labeled on the electrical panel and heating pipes in the cellar, I’m sitting in the “parlor”.

We don’t use this room as much as I’d like. There’s no entertainment system in here, save for my grandmother’s piano. We’ve had the piano almost six months, and I can still smell it’s unique scent. I still haven’t determined if it’s the smell of the actual piano, or the smell of my grandparents’ house linger within the instrument.

I have a couple of beautiful plants in here that seem to be holding their own, despite minimal attention from me. There’s a chess game in progress on the coffee table. This room has a formal, yet somewhat cozy feeling to it.

Perhaps we need to spend more time in here. It’s peaceful. A perfect way to end the work week and kick off the weekend.

Happy Holidays?

As I was working out last night, watching whatever was flashing on the bank of televisions in front of me, I noticed a local grocery store commercial flash on the screen obviously promoting the joyousness of Easter dinner. I didn’t have my headphones tuned to that channel, but at the end of the commercial a simple message was displayed: “Happy Holidays”.

At first the radio program director in me kicked in and said “whoops, they ran the wrong spot!”, thinking they had run a Christmastime spot in error. But then I realized that the ad was in pastel colors and just had this look of spring about it. So why did they end the spot with a graphic stating “Happy Holidays.”?

Because they’re being ultra PC.

I hate that.

I’ve mentioned before that while I am a very spiritual person, I’m really not a religious person. Personally I don’t feel that religion really embraces all that is spiritual. I believe that the concept of “God” goes way beyond mere human comprehension. God is a He. God is a She. God is all around us. Religion is too “human”. That being said, I am not offended at all when someone says to me “Happy Easter”.

Living in a mostly Christian nation, for the most part it’s innocently assumed that those around you are Christian as well. I believe that if someone wishes you a “Happy Easter”, that it should be taken in the spirit in which it was intended. In December, many, many people wish me a “Merry Christmas”, even though it would be more inline with my beliefs to say “Happy Solstice.” I don’t slap them across the face and say “Idiot! I’m celebrating the solstice!”. That would be rude.

So I guess I find the message of “Happy Holidays” on last night’s Easter themed commercial to be rather silly. Oh, I appreciate the spirit of the message and accept it as such, but it just seems so hollow to use a generic “Happy Holidays” at any time of the year.

Enjoy your weekend, no matter the celebration or observance.

Decade.

earl-disney.jpg

It was ten years ago today that my life changed forever. On April 13, 1996, the path that lie before me became clear, my heart sang a song of love it had never known before and the searching I had done for all my life came to a completion.

It was ten years ago today that Earl and I had our first date.

Where does the time go? The old saying “time flies when you’re having fun” couldn’t be more precise. It seems like it was just yesterday that Earl and I were meeting up in Albany with a bunch of mutual friends for a night out on the town. It was a decade ago that Earl and I dumped those same friends in favor of jumping in my car and driving up through the mountains of Vermont. It seems like it was just moments ago that he put his hand on my knee for the very first time as we drove in my little Hyundai Excel, exploring the small New England towns, enjoying the beauty of it all and just talking, getting to know each other. Effortlessly. All the pieces came together, like a huge giant puzzle with no picture on the box to follow.

Everything clicked.

I will never forget that first weekend together. For it was that weekend that I found my best friend, my lover, my kindred spirit.

WAAAAAY Ahead Of My Time.

So I was catching up on blog reading and came across Jimbo.Info (one of my favorites) and read about a new dance track is shooting up the charts in Europe and is hitting the trendy clubs here in the States. It’s by Global Deejays and it’s called “Stars On 45”.

Oh. My. God.

Stars On 45, also known as just “Stars On”, made all those medleys that were big in the early 1980s. There were two Beatles medleys, a smattering of Abba hits, “Stars On Stevie” and many more. I was a Stars On 45 fanatic in my early teens and still have all three of their albums, appropriately named “Stars On Long Play” (and II and III).

I taught myself to beatmix by lining up the hand claps on the 2nd and 4th beat of every Stars On 45 record. I made my own medleys. My interest in radio and recorded music was spawned by Stars On 45.

And now Global Deejays has mixed their “Stars On 45” jingle tags into a house track. Here’s a sample you can listen to.

Outside.

Yesterday in a spasm of productivity I went ahead and put the patio set up on the deck. The table is out, the umbrella is in place and the chairs are lined up accordingly. Now I just need to hose the whole ensemble down and make it a comfortable landing place for visitors.

I did find one chair devoid of crap on the seat and made myself comfortable to enjoy the weather during lunch. There’s buds on the trees, birds are singing, and there’s a purring cat sitting in my lap, routinely smelling my beard for leftover food (apparently he knows I store it there).

It’s nice to be getting into the swing of spring again. There’s talk of a thunderstorm tonight and while I would usually welcome that with open arms, it’s on-call week which makes thunderstorms a little less enjoyable. (Lightning + phone lines = busy J.P.). Thankfully, the forecast shows the rain passing through to be brief.

I remarked on Monday how I had that good ol’ “unglued” feeling at work but then I calmed down when I got home. I’m feeling great today, and Earl made it a little better by joining me at home for lunch again.

Life is good.

Snack Of Choice.

Today I discovered my new snack of choice: Nature Valley’s Sweet and Salty Granola Bar.

Oh my GOD!

This thing is totally awesome, with the crunchy goodness of almonds and a little bit of yogurt on the bottom. It’s probably not the healthiest snack for me but it’s not as bad as all that. These things totally rock.