Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.

The hot, sweltering days of summer. They have decended upon us like a

plague. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, because old man winter will be

here soon enough, but gosh does it have to be so humid that you stick to

everything you touch?

I went on a short bike ride today… only about eight miles. It was just

before noon, and the humidity was a little much to be riding in near 90

degree temps. So I went around the block.

Earl and I went and saw “Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life” last night, after

a day long ride through the Finger Lakes. It was a relaxing, leisurely

ride. We packed a picnic and ate at a Thruway rest stop. About a half hour

into the ride, we came to a grinding halt on the Thruway. There was a very

bad accident with an overturned mini-van. We were about twenty cars back

from passing all the action (after creeping for about 10 minutes) when

emergency personnel stopped everyone where they were. Minutes later, a

medi-vac helicopter came in and landed on the Thruway. So we knew we were

going to be there for quite a while. We shut off the car, and like everyone

else, got out and walked around a bit. The police didn’t let people up near

the scene of the accident (understandably), so we walked around talking with

others that were stopped. We chatted with a family from St. Charles,

Illinois (Earl has relatives there) and from Wisconsin. While it was a

tragic reason that we were stopped there, it was refreshing to chat with

other people from various slices of life. Traffic resumed after about an

hour. Fortunately, no one had been killed in the accident, though they did

have to use the jaws of life.

while we were riding, we took the opportunity to snap some pictures for my

great New York Counties project. I think we’re almost two-thirds of the way

to completion!

After the bike ride today, Earl and I did some grocery shopping, and just

kind of relaxed. Caught up on laundry and that sort of thing. Had a light

supper and now we are eating fresh strawberries for a little snack.

There are storms brewing after all of this sultry weather. I think it’s

going to be an interesting night with thunderstorms. I’m looking forward to

it.

Well I’ve just updated myself on the world’s news courtesy of my Netscape home page. Very interesting. Baby Bush had an interesting quote today regarding the recall vote that might occur in California. “Of course the California is important. That’s the only opinion I got.” It’s nice to have such an articulate man in the White House. Good Lord, I miss Bill Clinton.

I’m not one to go political, but there are some things I just don’t understand.

1. When President Clinton left office, the national deficit was zero. Zip. Nada. Nothing. Baby Bush is in office for three years and we now have the largest deficit in the history of the United States. That makes me sick. How Baby Bush and his coven spend so much money, pay out tax rebates like a drunk sailor in a cat house, and have absolutely no idea how much “The War Against Terror” is going to cost despite the fact that 100,000 troops will probably still be in Iraq one year from today, racking up this huge deficit in three years is beyond my comprehension.

2. Osana Bin Laden’s Al Quaida network waged an attack against the United States on September 11, 2001. This attack killed thousands of innocent Americans. So we send troops to the Middle East to get Bin Laden, understandably. Unfortunately, mission not accomplished. So then we go after Saddam Hussein in “The War Against Terror”. He has weapons of “mass destruction”, we’re told. Apparently, these weapons of mass destruction are so good, they have vaporized themselves because no one can find them. Yes folks, I can find a picture of my house taken from a satellite on the internet. This picture is so clear and accurate, I can see the dashed lines down the middle of the highway I live on, AND I can see my cat sitting in the driveway. However, we can not find these alleged weapons of mass destruction. O.k., let’s try this on for size. Daddy Bush didn’t get Saddam Hussein during his presidency. So now, Baby Bush will. We can screech that Bill Clinton lied to us about his fling with Monica, but we’re suppose to remain calm when Saddam’s weapons can’t be found and American troops in Iraq are being killed daily?

3. Baby Bush and his cohorts are pushing for a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriages. Isn’t that just peachy. Why does it seem like whenever bible beaters are quoting the bible, they always skip the “Love one another as you would love yourself.” When asked about homosexuality, Baby Bush replied with “We’re all sinners.” Newsflash: the biggest sin is that he’s still in office.

4. The office of Homeland Security has warned the there is a strong possibility that there will be more terrorist attacks using airliners much like the Sept. 11 attacks some time before the end of the year. The SAME day, it is announced that air marshalls will NO LONGER be on international and cross country flights, claiming it’s too expensive! (Apparently, the little old lady air marshall will still be on the commuter flight from Podunk to Peoria, after all, she’s cheap.) Later the SAME day, they reverse the decision and announce that the air marshalls will continue as they have since shortly after 9/11/01. Pardon my French, but what the fuck? Is it unreasonable to expect the different governmental agencies to exchange a few e-mails to “work out the details” before going public with these announcements? Do intelligence reports actually hit CNN within five minutes of the actual gathering of the information? Do sources skip the White House all together and just go to MSNBC, not giving Washington the chance to make sure policy is in place? And why hasn’t the terror level being raised to orange? Commercial airline companies having a fit about it?

I apologize for going on with such a tirade. But I was just commenting to Earl the other day that the country seems so depressed. Mopey. Americans were not this depressed during the Clinton administration. Granted, September 11 had not occurred yet. True, we were not at war during his administration. True, the economy was much stronger. And yes, Bill was probably little too frisky in the oval office. But life just seemed better. The country was thriving.

Gosh, I miss Bill Clinton.

Well I made the leap yesterday and decided to return to being a vegetarian

full-time again. I don’t think Earl is very excited about it, as it does

put a little bit of strain on meal planning. Since he does the majority of

the cooking (well, all of it to be exact), it is a burden on him. So,

emotionally I’m wrestling with feeling selfish for doing this, but I really

think that it’s for my own good health-wise, as well as spiritually… I

don’t like reading about what happens to animals that are bred for food

stock.

One thing that’s funny is that the radio station I work at is a country

station – and we do all the farm reports… livestock auctions, the status

of cheese, etc. And these reports have advertisements for growth hormones

to feed your cattle, etc. One even starts with “Before Bessie ends up on a

bun…” Eeks! Once in a while I have to load these shows into the computer

for future airplay. I’ve always had to walk out of the studio while they’re

recording (not a good practice for a radio professional), but I just can not

listen to the contents of these shows. I don’t think I fit the “country

radio station employee” very well – what with pursuing a vegetarian

lifestyle ang being gay. Oh well.

Earl and I installed the new weather station yesterday. Very, very exciting.

You’ll notice a new button on the front page, “Weather”, which leads you to

the current weather status here at home. It updates every 15 minutes. Once

I get my butt in gear I’ll probably install a webcam so you can see what the

weather is looking like as well.

After the installation, we went for a drive through the Hudson Valley. It

was a beautiful day. Drove down Route 32 in Greene County and was surprised

to find the aftermath of a tornado that hit the area Thursday night. About

a quarter of a mile swath right across the street – through an old 1950s

style motel – stuff was scattered everywhere. Mother Nature can do awesome

things (and I don’t mean that in a gleeful way). Earl and I have decided on

our vacation next year – we are going on a tornado chasing excursion mid

part of June out in the midwest. I’m really looking forward to it.

Today has been a blah day. Lots of rain, not much accomplishment. Mostly

relaxation and laundry. I think we may be caught up with laundry before the

night is over. I guess there’s going to be some accomplishment after all.

I must admit that I’m really looking forward to the weekend. The reason? Earl and I have no plans. It’s one of those weekends where we basically have time to ourselves, and can do anything that we want. I really enjoy this type of freedom. No deadlines. No restraints.

Earl and I arrived home on Tuesday to see that our new landscaping is finally being installed. It’s been a year in the planning stage, and now it’s coming to fruition. Very exciting. We’re having new brick walls installed, all new shrubbery and greenery… I think it’s going to make the house look fabulous! I’ll post a picture when it’s done so everyone can see.

Maybe I’ll get motivated and do some other landscaping around the outbuildings this weekend. That would be productive.

Honestly, I’m itching to go on a bike ride, but I’m not sure that I’m ready for it. I rode to work today (and plan on riding home), but this is the only riding I’ve done in about a week and a half – mainly due to weather. I was originally going to do a century ride tomorrow to the Finger Lakes, but I’m not sure my legs could keep up. Maybe I’ll do 50 miles on the canal trails.

Work is moving along at a reasonable pace today – which is refreshing. It’s been quite frenetic lately and it’s nice to simmer down and actually think about what I’m working on rather than flying by the seat of my pants.

I took my own advice and set TiVo to record “Bewitched” off TVLand every night for a while. It’s nice to watch the older shows – especially since “Bewitched” is probaby my favorite show of all time. I’m glad TVLand is showing it again. Wednesday night I decided to turn off “Paradise Hotel” and watched the clothes in the washing machine instead. Now I admit that sounds a little whacked, but I’ve always found laundry exciting, and at the very least it was more exciting than watching “Paradise Hotel”.

What happened to “real TV”? I’m not referring to that farce “reality television”, no, I’m referring to real, wholesome, television programming. Earl and I flipped around the dial tonight (we have over 200 channels) looking for something to watch. We had been watching that IQ-dulling “Paradise Hotel” for the past couple of weeks, but about five minutes this evening into it I made a pact with myself – I’ll never watch the show again. Ever. It was making me nauscous. So I went and folded laundry. After that, I watched our washing machine tumble and spin. It was more entertaining. Personally, I think the government should send that steroid stackin’ freak “Toni” (yeah, she’s 29… probably for the 6th time) over to Iraq so she can beat the crap out of the enemy and get that whole thing over with. That woman, and I use the term very loosely, is a beast, has been on too many reality shows and is an absolute mess. I pray for her, because apparently she thinks her path is “The Way Of Idiocy on TV”.

What happened to go old fashioned shows like “Bewitched” or “Little House on the Prairie”, or even “Maude”? Mostly talented actors and actresses did their thing on television and it was an escape from reality. You knew that the people that were being buffoons on television were being buffoons because the script told them to. And from June to Labor Day, we watched reruns of what we had watched all year, but it was o.k., because reruns weren’t shown during the regular TV season. These reality TV shows are making me ill.

Now you’re probably saying “What a minute. Did J.P. audition for a couple of reality shows this spring?” As a matter of fact, I did. I sent in two tapes – one for Survivor 7, who never bothered to call me back (I guess they didn’t like my Wonder Woman spin into Super Survivor), and one for “Big Brother 4”. I was called back for the semi-finals of BB4, but I declined after thinking about it for a week because quite frankly, I knew it wasn’t right for me. I couldn’t take the thought of all that phoney baloney for three months. Good thing… I hear one of the house hampsters freaked out about the fact that he has genital warts and threw some kitchen chairs around. Sexy. Apparently he thought the warts wouldn’t go into the Big Brother house with him? What a freak. So you’re probably thinking that I’m being all evil because I’m not on television. Not the case. I’ve had my fifteen minutes of fame as “J.P. Marks” on Top 40 radio. I don’t need anymore fame.

Where was I? Oh yes, wholesome television. Now I’m not saying that we should have totally fake Donna Reed type situation comedies where the biggest concern is whether Dad grew a mustache or not. (Though I must admit I thought Donna Reed’s husband was very handsome in the episode that he grew his mustache.) No. That would be fantasy television. What I’m saying is keeping going, more or less, with the current television shows but only keep the good ones… The West Wing, Judging Amy, American Dreams – just show repeats of them over the summer rather than assault us with these idiotic reality TV shows. Yes, believe it or not, I said “SHOW THE RERUNS”. And forget the current crop of sitcoms. “Good Morning, Miami”? How about goodbye. Instead, come up with something creative for sitcoms. Not every gay man is a scream. Not every group of friends are that interesting. Not every office has three people that can drop one-liners about sex. And stop this “Hey, CBS is doing a show about funny dogs, so we’ll do a show about funny cats.” Be original! Be creative!

Enough about television. Earl and I have been enjoying life. We went to Kingston, ON with my father and his girlfriend and my sister on Sunday. Had a lovely boat ride and a wonderful dinner at “The Pilot House”. Saturday we saw “Pirates of The Carribean”, which was very fun. Did some plane spotting as well at Syracuse Airport.

I can’t believe that tomorrow is Wednesday already! Time is flying by. I want to get out on my bike again soon – I hope that weather cooperates sometime this week.

I’m feeling GREAT today! I had a wonderful bike ride to and from work today, and I think I experienced THE ZONE. I was on my game. I made it home in a record amount of time, effortlessly. I feel wonderful.

I’m surprised I’m feeling so good tonight, to be quite honest, because I didn’t get much sleep last night. Earl and I watched “Paradise Hotel” (which I’ve once again vowed that I’m done with it – we’ll see tomorrow night) and then he went to bed while I snarked on the show on the message boards. I think I must be a frustrated comic or something, because I really enjoy dropping one-liners on these message boards. There are so many wainkers out there that think these shows are real and live and die by what’s going on with the contestants. They think that there’s cameras just rolling with no outside intervention. I guess I like to make fun of them or something. Probably not very nice, but its fun to hide behind a pseudonym and point out the obvious.

Anyways, after playing on the message boards for a bit, I decided to join Earl in bed. Problem was, he was sleeping like a baby and snoring so loud that cattle in the next county were getting restless. I don’t mind his snoring at all, in fact, after 7 1/2 years, I’m quite used to it, but he when he’s snoring like that it means that he’s sleeping really well and I didn’t want to disturb him. So I decided to be Mr. Nice Guy and sleep in the living room. Most guys would sleep on the couch. Honestly, I can’t get comfortable on the couch, so I slept on the living room floor in front of the sliding glass doors. The view was awesome. After living in the house almost six years, you would think that I would have done that before, but I hadn’t. It was nice to fall asleep under stars in a way. But sleeping on the floor isn’t the most comfortable way to sleep, so when I heard Earl padding around to the bathroom at 4:30 this morning, I used the opportunity to jump in bed with him. Wouldn’t you know that work called at 6:00 a.m. because all of the phone and DSL lines were down. (If you’re thinking about getting “Choice One” for your phone and/or internet provider, please send me e-mail so that I can tell you about the experiences we’ve had with them). Not a good thing for a radio station, since one can not get news without the internet (what happened to the days of the AP wire?) and one can not get calls from listeners without phone lines. Needless to say, there was nothing I could do about it, but I couldn’t fall back to sleep, so I ended up getting up and getting ready for work early. The bike ride to work this morning was sweet as well.

Now Earl and I are just relaxing here in the wreck room. I’m very excited because there’s the possibilities of thunderstorms tonight. We haven’t had a good thunderstorm yet this year. I bought a book over the weekend to learn more about the weather, and Earl got me a weather station for my birthday. It’s suppose to be here by Friday – I look forward to installing it and learning as much as I can. I’m interested in becoming part of the Skywarn Severe Weather Spotters network – I’d like to get involved with amateur (ham) radios as well – the two sort of go hand in hand. I’ll let you know how that progresses.

We didn’t make it to Buffalo this weekend because Earl came down with a 48 hour bug – but that was o.k., it was nice just to relax this weekend. I hit the canalway trails with my trail bike – got quite the workout with that.

And I’m not feeling any ill feelings at all about being 35. I like being 35. Life is good.

I’m writing this blog entry at work. There’s a couple of reasons for that… I’m bored and I don’t feel like working right now. It’s Friday afternoon, it’s very quiet here in the office and I’m already in weekend mode. Now I know that I shouldn’t really be in weekend mode, since it’s only 2:12 p.m., but you can only do what you’re destined to do.

Earl and I are heading to Buffalo this weekend. It’s my birthday on Sunday (35 years old!) and Buffalo is having it’s “Taste of Buffalo” festival in the downtown area. I will probably hit a five digit calorie count by the end of it all. We’re going to spend the night and paint the town red. Probably take a few county line sign photos for my road geek project while we’re out there.

I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I’ve been going to bed around midnight, which is unusual for me during the week. The weather has not been conducive to riding my bike to work so I haven’t been as “pumped up” as I should be – though I have been in good spirits. I like sleeping in late, but being to work by 9:00 doesn’t really lend itself to that. I’d probably be better suited to a 2nd shift job.

My head is peeling from a sunburned I got last weekend at the family picnic. I look like an onion I suppose – a peeling shaved head isn’t the sexiest thing to happen. I’ll have to soak my head tomorrow. 🙂

It’s 9:03 p.m. Eastern Time. I can now admit it. The premiere has been shown. I can come out of the closet. I was a semi-finalist for “Big Brother 4”. That’s right, I got the call. Thought about it for a week, and decided not to go for the in studio interview. I had too many things to do this summer after all, and quite honestly, I didn’t want to be away from Earl for three months. I made the right decision. I initially wasn’t going to watch the show this season for fear of rethinking my decision – but I decided to go ahead and watch it, and yep, I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION! Now, if Match Game ever starts up again, I’m so there, but for now, I’m content outside of the TV business.

Earl and I spent the Independence Day holiday in beautiful Pittsburgh, Pa. We woke up Friday morning and hit the road at 10:00 a.m. Took the “scenic route” – driving through the mountains of Central Pa., ending up in Pittsburgh around 7:00 p.m. We stayed at the Sheraton on the Riverfront (Station Square?), ate at Jack’s Crab Shack and enjoyed the wonderful fireworks. On the way down, we drove through Cortland, and were delighted to see that A & W is open once again!

That’s right, after hearing that it closed, it was a delight to see it open once again.

Since it was the Fourth of July holiday, we decided to do something different to remember our country. On the way home from Pittsburgh, we stopped in Shanksville, Pa. at the temporary memorial for United Airlines Flight 93, the flight that crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside on September 11, 2001.





Earl and I truly believe that the people on UAL Flight 93 were heroes that day as they decided to do something about the hijackers. It was a very emotional visit to that memorial. It was an honor to take a moment to remember them.

On Sunday, we joined my Dad’s side of the family to celebrate my Dad’s birthday at his house. My aunt, cousin and her two daughters are up from Florida -we hadn’t seen them in quite a while. It was good to get together with everyone.

I hate to admit it, but I’ve been following Paradise Hotel religiously. I don’t know why. Boredom I suppose. I’ll probably get caught up in Big Brother 4 as well, though I must admit I don’t find anyone that attractive on there this year. I hope my IQ doesn’t suffer too badly.

Another night of writing the blog on my Palm Pilot. The computer is updating my road geek web site, and instead of slowing down the internet connection by doing other things at the same time, I thought I would play it safe and work on my blog on the Palm Pilot until it finished.

I’m getting such a kick out of working on my road website. I recently added a “County Info” section, originally with the goal of having me stand next to a county-line sign of each of the 62 counties in New York. Then I decided to do a little background information on each county — and I am learning such fascinating facts about the state we live in. For example, Montgomery County was originally named Tryon County, and had it’s name changed to honor General Richard Montgomery, a Revolutionary War hero. Albany County originally encompassed most of New York State and Vermont – and originally extended westward to the Pacific Ocean! I’m finding this little history lesson quite fascinating.

I’ve been cycle-commuting to and from work everyday this week. Considering it’s only Tuesday, let’s see if I make it the rest of the week! The weather is suppose to hold out. I’ve been taking a little bit more streneous route (a little longer and a few extra hills). According to the scale, it’s been paying off. I’ve been asked lately, “What’s with the beard?” Faithful blog followers will know that I usually tie beard growth to something, and this time it’s my weight goal. I’m going to shave off the beard into a really cool looking mustache when I reach my weight goal for the summer. I’ll post a picture when I do it. Until then, its a bushy beard. I’m really diggin’ the look… I decided to keep my head shaved and just have the beard. Pretty funky.

Take a moment, if you will and clear your mind. Stare at the screen blankly as you read this. Forget about work. Forget about the noise around you. Don’t think about the desktop theme on your computer, or the things your co-workers said to you today. Ignore the laundry for just a moment. Clear your mind of extraneous thoughts. Take a deep breath. Feel that breath enter your lungs and fill you up, all the way down to your abdomen. Your body is filled with the wonderful breath of life. As you exhale, breathe out all the air you can. Every ounce of air left in your body. Because with that air the leaves your body, so does all the negative thoughts, hurtful things and unkind words that were hurled at you today. As all that negative energy leaves, it is instantly filled with happiness, answers to your questions, positive thoughts, a different view, a grasp at a passing thought.

Now do something you may have not done for quite a while today. Smile. Feel it. Feel the happiness. Feel the “upside down frown” of your face. Enjoy the smile.

Now enjoy the rest of your day. And while you’re at it, enjoy tomorrow too.

Thank you for sharing this little meditation with me.