Life is such a sweet insanity.

I've moved my blog to new software and a new location on the site. It's now located here. More details can be found on Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity v3.0.

I'm finding myself reading more and more blogs these days. I'm not too interested in the technical blogs that basically track the development of software or anything like that. No, I like reading the juicy stuff.

There are thousands of blogs out there. It's refreshing to read about someone else's life, especially when you feel like you're so wrapped up in your own life that you forget there's a whole world out there. Like when I was a little kid, I lived in Pulaski, N.Y. I wondered if there was another kid in Pulaski, Va., that was experiencing the same types of trials and tribulations that I was. I mean, this fictitious kid lived in a different town with the same name. Heck, it was even off of Interstate 81. Did he know he was different than most of the kids around him? Did he enjoy playing the tuba? Did he have a dog named Sunshine? Did he have to load hay in the barn in June? Was he looking at a map and wondering about me in Pulaski, N.Y.?

When I was in elementary school, one of the teachers encouraged us to find a pen pal and write letters back and forth. It was kind of dorky but it was cool at the same time. You got to chat with someone else that didn't know about the latest scandal at grade school. They were peering in from the outside in a way. Now it's easy, you can read blogs and whatnot on the internet and see that you're not going at it alone. Heck, you can read the blog of someone at literally the end of the earth and see what they're up to at the North Pole. Let's see you get a pen pal letter to the North Pole for 37 cents!

So I guess reading these blogs is comforting in a way. I hope that someone is enjoying what I have to say as much I enjoy writing it. I wonder if that little kid in Pulaski, Va. grew up to have a blog like I do.

Carrie Underwood is the latest American Idol! Congratulations Carrie! Your performance tonight with Rascal Flatts was absolutely outstanding. I look forward to downloading your new album on iTunes very soon!

My pal Shirley and I posing for the cell phone cam while we're hard at work.

Being the gadget freak that I am, I am always eager to embrace new technology. There's no "keeping up with the Joneses" with me, actually, the Joneses are working their butt off to keep with me when it comes to have the latest, flashiest new gadgets on the block.

Last night was our second attempt to join the whole internet-phone VoIP revolution. Disappointed by the quality of phone service that our traditional land line provides (and the large sum of money that it costs), I decided we would try these services such as Vonage or AT&T CallAdvantage. For those unfamiliar with the term VoIP, here's a quick explanation. "VoIP" stands for "Voice over IP", which is essentially making telephone calls over your high speed internet connection. For Earl and I, this means our cable modem. When you sign up for VoIP, you pick get a little call adapter that has a network plug and a phone plug on it. This provides the interface to which your phone can be attached to your network, or internet connection. Many of these interfaces have routers in them so you can basically pull out your router and install the VoIP interface in its place. The interface takes the analog signals of your telephone and converts them to digital data, to be sent out over the internet to a similar device connected to, most likely, a traditional telephone switch, which then routes the call to the proper party via traditional methods. The digital data sent over the internet is nothing but bits and bytes, not differing in any way from streaming audio or video or even browsing a webpage.

At least that's how I understand it all to work.

Anyways, Earl and I tried out Vonage a couple of months ago, but didn't like the quality of the service nor the quality of customer service. So we cancelled and stuck with Verizon on our land line. Our land line, by the way, has a lot of "ground hum" on it (it sounds like Janay from AI is humming out of tune on our phones all the time). Verizon claims that it can't be fixed. So we decided to give VoIP another chance, this time with AT&T Callvantage.

Our little VoIP box arrived yesterday. I connected it to the network, ready for some cheap telephone capabilities, and WHAM! Nothing. I guess it wasn't ready to let my fingers do the walking.

So I called customer service, which is traditionally a frightening experience.

I reached Tiffany (who sounded more like an Olga) who spent the next 85 minutes trying to troubleshoot the problem. She gave me the administrator username and password for the web interface, which I promptly wrote down and then we worked together to get it working. After 85 minutes, she opened up a trouble ticket and sent it to Tier II support, who would call me back.

After I hung up with Tiffany, I did a little of my own troubleshooting and then everything started talking and all was good. Tier II didn't call back, because they probably saw that my network connection came up.

So now we're happy AT&T Callvantage users. There's a *ton* features on this line that are way cool, including a "Follow Me" type service that rings your home phone and any other phone number you want rung at that same time when there's a call coming in. So we can route our home phones to our cell phones and not worry about three or four rings before forwarding or forgetting to turn it off and such. Plus, our voice mail messages get e-mailed to us! NICE.

It's always fun to embrace new technology.

I did what I vowed I wouldn't do. I voted this evening in the final round of American Idol. And I voted for

Carrie.

I like them both. I really do. However, as an ex-radio professional, I feel that Carrie has a better shot at being the true American Idol in that she has more marketability and can easily pick up where Shania will leave off some day. Plus, Bo has already toured around. His band has already opened for national acts. Let Carrie do her thing and do it well.

I was also a sucker for her final performance tonight.

Best of luck to both of them.

With the long weekend approaching,I'm already planning on taking a long road trip on Saturday. I have visions of driving across the country and back, but honestly I don't that can be accomplished on one day during Memorial Day weekend, what with the traffic and everything.

God bless Earl. He happily jumps into the passenger seat, ready to tackle our next road adventure. Since driving across the country is out of the question, we'll probably tour around the Hudson Valley a little bit. Or maybe wine country along Lake Erie on the other end of the state. Perhaps both. We'll have to see.

I love going for rides. Aside from my road geek interests, i just find riding in the car very comforting. I especially like riding in the car after dark during a new moon. The world seems to have a sinister edge to it, as we go about our business under a blanket of darkness. I find a certain sense of adventure.

When I was a kid, we would go for rides from time to time. Dad would often want to check out the progress of someone building a house or the remodeling of a camp or some other project his business was working on, so the four of us would pile into the '71 Heavy Chevy (yeah my Dad was cool having a new muscle car and all), and later the '78 Impala and go see what was going on. We'd occasionally go for a long ride that would take us elsewhere in the state. He once drove us to Delhi to show us where he went to college. Or we'd ride through the Finger Lakes. And once or twice a month we'd drive the 40 minutes from Grandma and Grandpas in Syracuse to our home on a Sunday night. I have very happy memories of my family from the back seat of the car. We didn't play "Count The Cow" or get all breathless over "License Plate Bingo", but rather we'd chat a little bit about whatever state the world was in, all accompanied to the sounds of 62 WHEN in the background, or whatever local AM radio station we could find. When we were all in the car, we were all together, spending time with each other. Dad wasn't in the basement working on the airplane. Mom wasn't doing her thing with the Eastern Star. Jennifer wasn't at baton twirling lessons and I wasn't building paths through the woods. No, we were all in the car, enjoying each other's company, talking and if we were lucky, stopping at A&W or Carrols for a bite to eat.

As an adult, I would often go for rides alone. Whomever I was dating at the time wasn't really that interested in checking out some far off nook or cranny elsewhere in the state, so I'd feed my loner tendencies and enjoy the trip alone. Then Earl came along, and well, like the rest of my life, that all changed. He gladly jumped in the passenger seat, gladly listened to radio and gladly talked about whatever state the world was in. That's one of just many ways I knew my life changed when I met Earl.

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to going for a ride on Saturday.

I find Mondays to be so interesting. I'm usually dog tired because I've screwed up my sleep patterns over the weekend, opting to stay up late and sleep in during the weekend. And where does the term "dog tired" come from anyways? It seems like it would be "cat tired", as its cats that sleep 2/3 of the day.

But I digress.

This morning I was up at 6:00 a.m. to resume my walking. I briefly thought about sleeping in and just saying the hell with it, but I felt too guilty and too fat to just lie in bed and to resume my dream. They say guilt is a feeling from within. No one can make you feel guilty, you allow yourself to feel guilty.

I'm apparently very good at this.

So I hauled myself out of bed, threw some kibble in Tom's bowl and hit the open road, where approximately four surly drivers, who undoubtedly were not happy it was Monday morning, aimed their big ass SUVs at me.

Tomorrow I'm selecting a different route.

When Earl and I were contemplating moving 18 months ago, I vowed that we would not move to a busy road again. Our old house was on a state route which was frequently traveled by large trucks, small cars and prisoners escaping the local prison. Walking on the road was not enjoyable, as the speed limit of 55 was all but ignored and no one in this area really is a good driver of any fashion. Except myself, of course.

So here we are on a county maintained route, which is curvier, not as wide and signed for a speed limit of 45. The speed limit is still ignored, the drivers still suck and to top it all off, we're closer to the "suburbs" which means yuppies shaving and/or putting on makeup whilst driving to work. At least in the old house we were out in farm country where people rarely showered, let alone shaved and/or put on makeup.

Oh calm down, I'm exaggerating about the farm people. But you get my drift. I can see the e-mail now. "I've lived on a farm all my life and I am a clean, respectable human being." I know, I know, and I probably find you sexy too, sweat and all.

Anyways, after my joyous walking experience I headed off to work which was rather pleasant. Everyone says "It's Monday". "Happy Monday." I try to be as pleasant as possible, though I do feel like I'm nodding off because my sleeping pattern is getting back on track. I actually wake up around 11:06 a.m. "Wow! I'm at work!" Then I get productive.

Now that I think about it, Monday only differs from the rest of the week in that I jerk awake around 10:54 instead of 11:06.

But it's all good. I try desperately not to look ahead to the upcoming weekend. It seems like it's just looming on the horizon. For if you wish for nothing but the weekend, then you're not enjoying your week. Then time flies by and before you know it, you've done nothing but wish time away.

I hope you everyone had a wonderful Monday.

Earl and I have separate computer rooms these days. I've moved into the music studio and he has the old wreck room. The reason for this is because he likes to sing out loud and I like to do the same, usually to a different tune.

Anyways, we IM back and forth once in a while or just yell.

Him: "Are we going for a ride this afternoon? We're not eating supper until 7 or so."

Me: "Where would you like to go?"

Him: "Poughkeepsie."

Now, I have no idea why Earl wants to head to Poughkeepsie but I doubt we can get there and back before the supper deadline.

Earl and I went to see "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" tonight. It was a decent enough movie and did well to tie up some loose ends and pave the way for the original Star Wars movie that came out so long ago. It does amaze me how far we've come in CGI effects over the past couple of decades. The movie looks like there was liberal use of "cut and paste", there were so many starships and such whizzing around in almost every scene.

After the movie, we weren't that tired so we got all spontaneous like and headed to Syracuse and went to the bar there called 'Rain'. I must say that I'm feeling rather obsolete these days. I was the only man in the bar with a full beard (Earl shaved his off a couple of days ago, opting for the rather handsome mustache only look). I'll bet $5.00 I was the only one wearing 501s. I kind of felt out of place with the shaved head and full beard, as the majority of guys there seemed to be very metrosexual. The older guys that weren't going metrosexual were desperately trying to grab on to their fading youth and quite frankly were losing the battle. I must say I don't get it. When did it become commonplace for men to get shaped, arched eyebrows that used to be found only on 1930s era starlets? Do men ever grow full beards instead of these thin line, take five hours to trim job thingees? Do a lot of men in their early 20s get their hair highlighted and/or streaked? I thought that was reserved for older women that were trying to cover up the gray. And when did men start wearing Britney Spears midriff shirts? Call me crazy, but I like men that are men. You don't have to be a construction worker or anything, but rather just your average Joe. I guess I don't have tolerance for those that seem so posey. Hell, maybe I'm just judgmental and am not accepting them for whomever they are. But If I ever had the occasion to play around with any of these guys (not that I would every touch them with a ten foot pole, being married and all), I'd break them in half and they'd go home crying to their mama. Thank god I'm not in the dating game.

So Earl and I had two drinks and headed home. It seemed like the best thing to do, what with us being married and all. And being the big boys that we are, we had a little bit of Mc Donalds at one of the Thruway rest areas.

Waiting for Star-Wars
Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Sometimes you just gotta see your name in lights. Especially when you feel like you can conquer the world.

I am so glad its Friday. I don't know why I get so giddy about the weekend. It's not like I don't enjoy my job or anything. I actually look forward to going to work in the morning. But when the weekend roles around, I just get, well, giddy. There's so much that I would like to accomplish on any given weekend. There's so many places I'd like to go. There's so many things I'd like to see.

Of course I end up not doing even half of it. Then it's Monday and I'm looking forward to Friday again. It's a vicious cycle.

Anyways, I took half a day of vacation today which was a nice way to kick off the weekend. Earl and I bought a futon for the music room, which was supposed to be delivered around 1:00 p.m. The nice furniture company called around 11:00 to let us know that the futon had broken in half (?) and we'd have to wait until Wednesday to have a new one delivered. Or we could take the one that broke in half for $25 off. I guess the discount was to cover the cost of the duct tape required to put it back together.

So Earl and I got the weekend starting by doing a double diner delight. Betty's Diner for lunch (I had a "The Big Porker") and then Anne Marie's Family Diner for supper (I had turkey and gravy over white bread). I know, both were extremely healthy choices. I'm of the mindset of just not giving a flying fsck about what I eat. I walk two hours every morning, I'm planning on cycling again starting next week. So I look like a fat pig. At least I'm jolly.

Earl tolerated one of my road geek trips to check out the new signs in the Syracuse area. I know that all sounds dreadfully boring to most people, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Now I'm listening to "Sirius Out Q" before calling it a night. Tomorrow night, its the obligatory trip to the movies to see Star Wars.

I took an old fashioned approach and actually mailed a letter to Mr. Leslie Moonves of CBS Entertainment in regards to the cancellation of my favorite television show, "Judging Amy". If you are interested in saving "Judging Amy", I urge you to do the same. Please feel free to use mine as a template, however, you may wish to remove the part about being a radio programmer, unless you really are.

I feel like an injustice has been committed and I'm quite sick of network television telling us what we should be watching when we clearly are enjoying something else. I'm also quite appalled at the lack of respect shown to the older audience (Judging Amy was skewing too "old" in demographics) because it is perceived that they do not spend as much money with advertisers as younger people do.

Mr. Leslie Moonves
President and CEO
CBS Entertainment
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019

Dear Mr. Moonves:

I am writing in regard to the recent decision to cancel the popular television drama "Judging Amy". In short, I feel that you have made a terrible mistake in canceling this fine television program.

"Judging Amy" was the one show on television that I truly looked forward to watching. I realize that I perhaps do not quite fit your target demographic as a 36 year old male. As a radio programmer, I understand the importance of that coveted 18-49 target audience, the folks that allegedly spend the most amount of money with advertisers. However, "Judging Amy" appealed to a broader audience. I know people of many ages, young and old that enjoyed the strong, quality ensemble of fine actors. "Judging Amy" appealed to many types of viewers. There are those that enjoyed the escapism of peering into the lives of the Gray family. Then others appreciated the awareness the show brought to the family court system. I could wait until the weekend to watch "The West Wing" or ?Medium? off my TiVo, but "Judging Amy" deserved to be watched as it was aired, Tuesday nights at 10 p.m.

In a sea of mediocre reality shows and dubious quality sitcoms, I find it difficult to believe that "Judging Amy" was in any way tarnishing the image of CBS to the point of needing cancellation. I also find it difficult to believe that you?re filling the Tuesday 10 p.m. slot with an inferior carbon copy of the show.

I have made a point of noting the advertisers that supported "Judging Amy" and have made an effort to do business with them. I can not say that I will do the same for "Close To Home'.

Please reconsider the cancellation of "Judging Amy". At the very least, allow the faithful viewers the dignity of a proper closure of the series.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

I had devious plans of using the wireless connection at the local Mc Donalds today during my lunch break. The plans were devious because I didn't intend on purchasing anything at Mc Donalds during this visit, but rather just sitting out in my car surfing the internet on my PowerBook. Theoretically, the wireless connection should extend out to the parking lot unless they have a really, really cheap wireless router.

There was no connection to be found at the two Mc Donalds that are located closest to my office. And I'm pretty sure that they're advertising free high speed. Either they don't have it going yet, it's not working or Mc Donalds has cleverly harnessed the connection for inside the building only. On second thought, perhaps the connection only lets you use it if you SuperSize a McBomb meal.

I've been running home for lunch every day for the past couple of months, save for a stray day here and there. I wasn't really in the mood to go for a walk, since I fulfilled that obligation this morning (note my patting myself on the back here). I had to do a quick customer visit before lunch so I figured I'd just borrow some McNet.

So I'm sitting in the parking lot at work, currently connectionless, typing my blog entry in trusty TextEdit. The sun is shining beautifully. The temperature is in the mid 60s, and people are actually walking by, chatting and smiling at one another. It's good to see people be cordial to one another, as one rarely sees that these days. The world seems to be more "dog-eat-dog" each day. People don't take the time to exchange pleasantries anymore. As a tech support specialist, I can attest to the dismal way people treat others over the telephone.

"I'm sorry you're having difficulty with your telephone, what's your main telephone number so I can look up your account?"

"You figure it out! [click]."

Unbelievable. I quickly learned to separate* work for my personal feelings and ego and not get so worked up about these things anymore. I save my rage for the road these days. And don't get me started on that.






* For those intrigued by my "Fix Birds Up" blog entry, I initially typed "celebrate" instead of "separate" when I was typing this entry. Just another example of how my brain works.

Inspired by the latest version of Mac OS X (dubbed 'Tiger'), I've been using iChatAV much more lately. For those unfamiliar with Mac applications, iChatAV is the equivalent of AOL Instant Messenger. In fact, you can use AOL Instant Messenger to chat with anyone using iChatAV. Jabber and ICQ are also compatible with iChatAV.

I used to be a huge fan of Instant Messaging programs, especially back in the late 1980s when I worked for DEC. We used a program called VAXphone (I think that was the name of it) that allowed us to do the Instant Messaging thing, and allowed me to chat all night with my friends who were a long distance call away. Of course this was all at 1200-baud, so there wasn't any image exchanges or file trading going on, nor did we use webcams because they weren't around yet, but it was great to be able to chat away and such.

So now I'm back on the IM bandwagon again. We use IM at work to chat between co-workers in different offices. It's an efficient way to keep in touch when you have a quick question. At home, while I've always been an e-mailaholic, I'm appreciating the instantaneous nature of instanting messaging. I pride myself on my rapid typing abilities, so I tend to type out complete sentences and complete words, whereas folks like my sister and motheruse these two letter abberviations that take me a few moments to comprehend.

Anyways, I've added a little "online" indicator once again to my blog so you can see when I'm on iChatAV/AOL IM. Feel free to drop a little line and say hello if you're so inclined. It'll be fun.

A Bear At Teddy's.
Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl posing giddily at Teddy's Restaurant in Rome.

Last week I made a slight change in my dietary routine in that I added bananas back to the mix. With my ongoing obsession about my health (and no body to show for it), I had been doing some reading on the internet and once again perused the benefits of five servings of fruits and vegetables in the daily diet.

Now I'm not a big banana fan. I enjoy them for the most part, but they create a great deal of stress in my life. You can't really hide them in the "fruits and vegetables" bin in the refrigerator and then forget about it until that one day a month you clean out your refrigerator. No, they just hang there on a stick in the middle of the kitchen table, reminding you constantly that they are there, awaiting your consumption. The change color slightly, hourly, every precious minute ticking away, one moment closer to their death and your neglience. There's a lot of stress involved in maintaining bananas. At the grocery store I always look for a bunch of five or less. I'm not one of those whacky shoppers that would pick up a bunch of eight, I'd probably work myself into quite a frenzy from the stress of having to eat eight bananas before they turned black.

Then there's the whole "banana stomach" affliction. When I started at my job last year, early into the game I ate a banana at my desk for a mid-morning snack. My co-worker asked if I ever suffer from "banana stomach". Apparently this is something that makes you feel slightly ill, lethargic or gassy. I can't put my finger on the ailment because I routinely suffer from all three at work.

Anyways, after a long reprive of eating bananas, I jumped on the bandwagon last week in yet another attempt to try to maintain a health lifestyle. Since eating the bananas, I've added a couple of pounds to this frame. No more than three. Maybe two. Possibly seven. It's hard to read the scale when its airborne after having been kicked across the room.

I originally was going to eat bananas only last week and then that would be my fruits and vegetables contribution to my diet until 2007 or so, but Earl did the grocery shopping last weekend and being the love that he is, picked up a bunch of six. So now I have to slurp a banana down every day until Saturday.

Maybe I'll make them into a milkshake.

Music studio.
Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Here's the music studio in all it's glory. That's a genuine platinum record up on the wall - Madonna's "Ray of Light". It used to hang in my office when I worked for WOWZ/WOWB (Wow FM).

I've added another blog to my ever growing list of daily reading. Shall we have a round of applause for the latest entry to the list, Ms. Rosie O'Donnell.

I was a huge Rosie O'Donnell fan back in the day. Long before her talk show, back when she was doing the stand-up circuit, "Gimme A Break" and other assorted projects. I [ahem] borrowed a few of her jokes for a stand up routine I did back in Jamestown, N.Y. I can still remember the day I discovered her talk show. It was the first or second week, and I was on vacation at a gay campground, back in my rowdy days. I was snoozing in the camper, watching the 7-inch television and there's Rosie O'Donnell interviewing Diedre Hall. Forget the soap, Rosie wanted to show pictures of Diedre as ElectraWoman (from ElectraWoman and DynaGirl). Two things were confirmed for me at this moment: 1. Rosie has a wicked cool sense of pop culture. 2. Yeah, she's one of us.

We even had the opportunity to sit in the studio audience of her show during the second season. I was even selected to sing with John Mc D and the Mc DLT's during the pre-game show with the comic Joey. The experience was fun, but Rosie was a tad bit cranky between segments. A little bit of a wake-up call. Looking back, I guess she was under a great deal of pressure. I do have her autograph, on a thank you letter she sent to me because I sent her a whole box of radio station t-shirts, mix tapes I made and some other music that probably should have gone to a Wow FM listener. Oh well.

As time went on, we kind of lost interest in her show because it was just getting a bit ordinary and a little too political. The whole "we didn't turn the set around for Barbra" period was kind off odd. We didn't hang around for the Tom Selleck incident. Then she finally came out of the closet, in a very dignified, respectable manner, may I add and we forgave her and watched the last season of her show.

Then she kind of spazzed out a little bit again but now she's doing her thing.

Anyways, her blog is kind of hard to read because she has a very unique writing style, but it's interesting nonetheless. Have a peek.

I'm tossing around the idea of remixing and remaking the old chestnut "It's A Miracle" by Barry Manilow. It seems like a respectable project to christen the music studio. I've always been a big fan of the track, and I don't think Will Smith has turned it into a rap track. Thank [insert favorite deity here].

I'm actually chomping at the bit to get working on several music projects I have tossing around in my chaotic head, "It's A Miracle" being just one of many. But no, I end up sitting here waiting for the last component to come in after being on back-order since the end of the March. It's an important part, it allows the output of my mixing board to get into my Mac Mini. Kind of crucial.

Anyways, I'm working on getting the song intimately, listening to it over and over on my iPod. (How many men do you know that wants to get intimate with Barry Manilow?) I've downloaded every version available on iTunes, and they're all different. Leave it to Barry to throw out all these different versions.

One of the things I enjoy about Barry Manilow is that he's a real musician. He actually employs music techniques that I learned in my music theory classes back in college. There's sensible key changes. There's a real melody. The counterpoint and tone color. Real instruments. Real backup singers.

And there's six different versions of this song and I suspect I haven't snagged them all yet.

Back in 1993, Barry released a remix of "Copacabana", which was respectively updated to an early 1990s song. He followed up that remix with a lesser-known remix of "Could It Be Magic". I have a hunch that there's a remix to "It's A Miracle" floating around somewhere out there as well.

Another remake that's really, really cool is "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" by a group called Baxendale. They took a really cool spin on the old Human League classic. I kind of wish the Human League would do something similar with their own song. Did you know the Human League is still alive and kicking? If you're into iTunes, do a search for "All I Ever Wanted" from their latest album. GREAT TRACK.

Now if I could just get that last component for the studio so I can get my ideas down on the Mac Mini!

It was midnight and I was restless. Earl was sleeping peacefully in bed, 'rattling' away on cue with his sweet snores of slumber. The sounds of a rain storm was making its presence known on the roof. And I wasn't in the mood to go to sleep.

What to do.

According to my parents, when I was a baby I didn't sleep very well until they took me for a ride in their VW Beetle. A quick trip to the village and back and boom, I was asleep.

I guess an Acura RSX will work just as well.

I took a drive to downtown and back. I drove through the two "nightlife" areas and confirmed my suspicions. It's damn disappointing trying to party on a Saturday night around here. There's one gay bar, and when I drove by there were a bunch of surly lesbians in front of it. I don't mean to offend, but I don't really want to go to a bar full of surly lesbians. It's ironic to think that when the local Air Force base was open, there were five gay bars here.

The two big(?) hotels had the unmistakeable signs of proms in session. A bunch of limos and young men and women dressed to the nines walking out front. For some odd reason I was reminded of trick or treating. Perhaps it was their choice of attire.

I then drove down Varick Street - the area touted to be full of nightlife, where that Mr or Miss Right is just waiting for you, parallel parked over a dixie cup of cheap draft beer at one of the handful of nightclubs along here. The city is investing a bunch of money into revitalizing the area. It'll be a prettier arena for all the fistfights when they're done, apparently.

So I headed back home, finally sleepy, ready to call it a night. I ponder if I'm sleepy because of the driving around or because of the lack of enthusiasm I found while I was out prowling. It's not that I'm getting old, because we do enjoy going out from time to time. It's just that at midnight on a Saturday night, Syracuse is too far away to drive on a whim. It takes some planning to coordinate an enjoyable night out, and we're more of the spontaneous type.

Wake me up when it gets exciting again.

I finally took some pictures of the new car today. Here's one with me striking a pose. :)

Him: "I hate it when you buy that Tom's of Maine stuff. The toothpaste tastes terrible."
Me: "I didn't buy Tom's of Maine toothpaste."
Him: "I just used it upstairs, in the tube lying next to your sink."
Me: "That's shaving cream."
* * *
Me: "I miss Lechmere. Do you remember shopping at Lechmere? Pure heaven. Now we're stuck with Best Buy and Circuit City. Blech. And while I'm ranting, I miss Hills too."
Him: "I know, I know."
* * *
Me: "Is it true that Jon Bon Jovi didn't do drugs."
Him: "I'm pretty sure he was clean."
Me: "Do you think Valerie Bertenelli did drugs with Eddie Van Halen?"
* * *
Me: "Is that guy real shrill?"
Him: "He's more Kathy Najimy than Lily Tomlin."
Me: "I guess he's definitely not a Bea Arthur, then."
* * *

I ate my lunch about 45 minutes ago and I'm hungry already. I'm wondering if this is a normal thing. I don't recall having these issues when I was successfully losing weight a couple of years ago.

For lunch today I had a turkey sandwich - two pieces of turkey on wheat bread, with a slice of cheese and pickles. I complimented the feast with a pint of iced tea, a deli-style pickle and a handful of peeled baby carrots. It was all very delicious.

I'm now in the mood to eat an entire pound of potato salad.

I'm trying to get my body back "in whack" so that I'm not constantly hungry. Part of it stems from things being a slow at work right now, I suppose. I benchmark my workday with snacks. At 8:30, I get to eat a banana! At 10:00, I get to eat my all-natural rice-crisp bar! At 12:00 I get to eat my lunch!

I should probably find better mileposts to gauge my day.

I am currently resisting the urge to eat the entire bag off tortilla chips that are currently sitting on the kitchen counter, approximately one meter to the right of the stove. The bag is facing up, with the opening of the bag facing the stove. The chips are a "thick" style and a golden in color.

They are currently screaming my name. Not "J.P.", mind you, but my given name of John. John John JOHN JOHN! I think the chips are using John to let me know that they are serious.

I think I'm going to cave in when I get back to work and drink a diet Pepsi. That'll put a stop to the hunger rumbles I'm feeling.

I am a rabid fan of "Jump The Shark". I occasionally amuse myself by reading through the American Idol entries. Here's a particular entry that caught my fancy.

Wow. About halfway through this, the fourth, season you could literally feel all the air coming out of this show. There's a UPI wire story in the papers today about how the ratings are dropping. Is anyone surprised? This show has become televised torture by tedium. The mildly talented contestants are about as exciting as warm milk; Randy can't stop using the word "pitchy"; drugged-out Paula is as fatuous, inarticulate, and hideously dressed as ever; and Simon looks like he'd rather be having his teeth drilled. So would I. I've been to children's funerals that were more entertaining than this show. What happened to the guest musicians? At least that was somewhat interesting. Now we've got the Sesame Street approach to programming: Songs from the '60s, Songs from the '70s; Songs from the '80s; Songs from the '90s... Who would have imagined that the show's writers could count? What's next? "Tonight, Live on American Idol, Songs with the Letter H in them!!!!"

I couldn't have said it better myself! Someone out there thinks like I do. Scary! Now don't miss the results show tonight!

I have this reoccurring problem. I have this tendency to mix up my words. It's not like a tourette thing, where I'm screaming out "asshole asshole" in the middle of McDonalds or anything, though I occasionally would like to be able to do that and get away with it. No, I tend to mix up my words in that I say a word that sounds similar or is somehow related to the word I intend to say or speak. Or in many cases type.

For example, when I worked at the radio station, we would occasionally run across the street to pick up a soda at a store called Kinney's. I remember saying "I'm going to Thruway's to pick up a soda". Now Kinney's is nowhere near the Thruway. But because they both end in "Y", my brain said, "Eh, close enough, say 'Thruway'".

I must have a lazy brain or something.

Actually, the Kinney's-Thruway's thing is an abnormality, because I usually say a different word that begins with the same letter as the intended word. "I'm going for boat, bite, bike, bike, I'm going for a bike ride." That's how I usually talk. And I've never really admitted this before but that's one of the reasons I got out of radio, because I couldn't speak a coherent sentence on the air without stuttering and stammering.

Once in a while, I'll say a word that is somehow related to the intended word. For example, a week or so ago, I mentioned in my blog that my co-workers find it odd that I grocery shop at noon. What I actually intended to type was "midnight". But I typed noon while thinking midnight and read it as midnight when I proofread my blog entry. So then anyone who happened to stumble across my entry that day thought we were all weird because they thought I was weird because I grocery shopped at noon. Lots of people grocery shop at noon. I really meant midnight.

I went to a neurological specialist back in '00 who said that I may have a touch of dysphasia. Hah, I just typed 'dipstick' and had to correct it. I guess I do have a touch of dipstick.

Perhaps I allow my mind to wander so often and so much that its completely pre-occupied with whatever I'm scheming and doesn't have time for the real world.

So if you run into me in the real world and strike up a conversation, don't be surprised if I say "Hi Then!" instead of "Hi there!".

Well I'll be darned. Yesterday I wrote about the trouble I was having with Microsoft Office OneNote and wouldn't you know that not one, but *two* people from Microsoft dropped me an e-mail to find out the specifics I was having with the software. So I responded and let them know what was going on. I haven't received a reply yet, but I find this surprising on two accounts.

• There are Microsoft people out there offering help on their products, for free.


• Someone actually reads this stuff I write.

I have mentioned before that I'm very excited about the new "Bewitched" movie coming out on June 24. Here's a couple of pictures from the movie.





I can't help but notice that Shirley MacLaine makes a fabulous Endora and Carole Shelley is a convincing looking Aunt Clara.

This is going to be fun! Tinka-tinka-tee!

I've been squawking the past year or so about how I've become a Mac Zealot. I'm just crazy about our stable of Macs and their simplicity. As Apple says, "It Just Works". At least most of the time, and when it doesn't, it's usually because I'm just thinking too hard and making more out of a task than it should be.

Like most of corporate America, I'm stuck with using Microsoft Windows at work. More specifically, XP Professional. Lately the IT department has been cracking down on what's installed on our computers and such, so I haven't been able to super tweak my computer like I enjoy doing. I've been trying desperately to be the good employee and stick to the provided programs, Office 2003, Internet Explorer, etc., even though I know that Firefox, Thunderbird and other open source alternatives are superior products.

When Microsoft abandoned their support of a gay rights bill in Washington State a couple of weeks ago, I promptly deleted any and all Microsoft software on our home computers. No more trial version of Office for the Mac. No more NT Workstation in the computer in the cellar. No more use of Internet Explorer. Last week, Microsoft reversed their decision and reinitiated their support for the same gay rights bill.

Last night I tried to install Windows NT Workstation back on the cellar computer and I couldn't get through the install program.

Well isn't that a crappy kettle of fish.

The computer is in the *exact* same configuration it was in when I took the software off a couple of weeks ago. Nothing has changed. It even has a "Designed for Windows NT" sticker on the outside.

It gives me the blue screen of death about 3/4 of the way through the install program.

I have no idea why.

And I'm a computer geek.

We were recently upgraded to Office 2003 at work and I'm taking a test drive of Microsoft Office OneNote, in an effort to eliminate jotting down thousands of notes of millions of pieces of paper.

The blasted program keeps 'bonk'-ing at me without nary an explanation. "Reboot" has become a way of life. It's a shame, but I have no idea why I'm getting the bonk as no messages ever appear.

And I'm a computer geek.

So, while Microsoft is once again supporting a good cause, I can not say that I'm heartily supporting their work. I wish I could, I really wish I could. But its just too buggy.

So I'll say it again. Buy A Mac.

I'm sitting here enjoying the sun during my lunch hour and realizing that I really don't want to head back to the office. I really need to, since it's, well, what I do for a living, but damn it is certainly beautiful outside today. Picture perfect... 72 degrees, lots of sunshine and a mild breeze.

Thank goodness I get out at 4:00 today. :)

This morning I decided I needed to kick start my life (AGAIN!) and change things up a little bit. I'm on the early shift this week (7 a.m. to 4 p.m.) so instead of sleeping until the last possible moment, I decided that I would get up at 5 and go for a two mile walk before going through my morning routine.

Did you know that the sun rises in the east? Absolutely fascinating. I haven't seen the sun rise in a long time and the route I follow while walking allows me the luxury of literally walking into the sunrise. Beautiful.

The domestic drive in me seems to have set up permanent residence, so I then made our lunches for the day. Then I ate breakfast, all before checking internet happenings and taking a shower and getting dressed. The whole routine is completely backwards from my usual morning march, but I'm finding that changing it up is keeping it interesting.

I think I'm scaring Earl with my efficiency, but he appreciates it all.

She's a little whacky. She hears her own drumbeat. All the kids in school wanted her as a chaperone, because she was the cool mom. When we were kids, she could rattle dishes in a two-mile radius when she said "no". She was and is always there to listen. She's always has accepted me as I am, regardless of my age. Yeah, she's pretty neat. Happy Mothers' Day, Mom.

Something new happened at the mall tonight. Earl and I were walking along when I was stopped by an attractive man at K-B Toy and Hobby.

"Excuse me, can I ask you a question? Do you have a website about roads?"

Long story short, Mike stopped by site way back and we discussed the old "Two Guys" department store chain via e-mail. I think it's the first time I've been recognized in a mall because of the website.

I took a stroll at lunch today to welcome the spring weather that has finally arrived here in lovely Upstate New York. It's amazing the things you discover as you walk the city streets.

• Being a true melting pot, we now have billboards in Bosnian. Not many Upstate N.Y. cities can boast that.


• The protesters in front of Planned Parenthood were a welcomed change today. Instead of the religous conservative "Pro Lifers", it was a large group of "Pro Choicers" from Hamilton College. I gave them a round of applause.


• Even in this economically depressed city, a street with *some* people walking is better than a city street with *no* people walking on it.


• A busy locally owned diner always looks better than a boarded up Burger King.


• An elevated heart rate from walking chases away hunger pains.

Happy Spring!

So after my bike ride tonight, I took a shower and threw on a pair of jeans and a shirt I had hanging over the clothes hamper. I put on my work boots and decided to go run some errands. While I was out and about, I decided to stop at Taco Bell for supper, what with it being Cinco de Mayo and all.

So as I'm walking into Taco Bell, I feel a sharp pain in my upper left leg, right near my crotch. Then a second. Then I felt a sharp pain in, well, the part of the crotch of my pants that isn't leg. I was a bit startled because the pain was stinging something fierce.

I flew into the bathroom, which is located next to the entrance thank God, while rubbing my crotch like a fiend as it was really starting to hurt.

I ripped off my workboots and stripped off my pants, and out flew a hornet! There was a hornet in the crotch of my pants and it had stung me three times!

I put my pants and boots back on, after assuring everything was bee-free and not swelling up beyond recognition and proceeded to get in line at the Taco Bell counter. Thank goodness I didn't have an allergic reaction or anything, but man is it sore down there.

I just arrived at home from my bike ride that I promised myself I would take. Didn't quite make 20 miles, but 15 miles is good enough for this stage of the season.

Someday I am going to ride across the wide open, flat plains of Iowa. I don't care that it may be 95 degrees there. I don't care if I'm chased by a funnel cloud. All I know is that by riding across the beautiful, flat Iowa plains, I'm not riding up the hill back to our house.

While leaving for lunch a short while ago, I announced to my co-workers that I was going to ride my bike tonight come hell or high water. The weather appears to be cooperating, I'm feeling relatively enthusiastic about the thought, so I declared to anyone within ear range that I was going to ride 20 miles tonight.

Let's see if it really happens. I'll have to fill you in tonight.

It's not that I don't enjoy cycling anymore. Because I really, really do enjoy it. It's so relaxing to hit the back country roads on my two-wheels, enjoying the scenery, breathing the fresh air, talking to cows. The problem is that we don't really live near the back roads anymore. It's a chore to get to where cycling is enjoyable.

Of course, there's the canal paths. They're good fun, especially since a large portion of them have recently been paved and of course due to the fact that there's no cars on the paths. At least there shouldn't be, but around here you can never be too sure. But then there's people walking on them and dogs pooping on them and everything, any that does not make for the most enjoyable experience when you have to play dodge the doo-doo. It is fun in a morbid way to see older pedestrians literally jump out of their wig when you sneak up behind them and say "Bike Back!". As mom used to say, "it's fun until someone gets hurt". When one of these people drop from a heart attack I probably won't enjoy it so much but for the time being it's mildly entertaining.

I've been dreaming of doing an overnight ride towards the end of this month. Last time I tried it, it turned cold and rainy and I called Earl on the cell phone and pleaded like a little boy. "Come get me!" At least he brought a hot cup of chili when he did. That was thoughtful.

I still have the big dream of riding across the country. Now that's a lot of open road.

Maybe I should tackle riding across town first.

This morning at work I had confirmation that I am truly a whacked out individual. Or at least people perceive me as a little odd.

I was on call last night for a collegue. I helped out by taking over his on call duties for a couple of hours, with all the fun ending at 9:30 p.m. Actually, I didn't get any calls, which is an always welcomed change. After turning the on-call duties back over to him, I decided to go run some errands. So I went to local convenience store (dressed appropriately, for a change) and bought the lottery tickets for the week. Then coming out Fastrac, I noticed that the car was unacceptably dirty so I headed over to the LaserWash (complete with LaserDri). On the way I passed the local NYSDOT sign manufacturer contractor and noticed they had a bunch of new signs on a trailer ready to be shipped, so I stopped to take a look at those, being the road geek that I am. As an aside, they're headed for Interstate 81 around my hometown of Pulaski.

I then headed for the car wash and let the laser do its thing, though it didn't dry very well. So then I drove around the area a little bit for another 45 minutes or so to dry the car off.

I got home around 10:55, just in time to call Earl.

My co-workers found this incredibly odd. "Why weren't you sleeping?" "You went out to wash the car at 10:00 at night?"

I guess I won't tell them about the time I went grocery shopping at midnight, or the time back in the late 1980s when I went to a tanning appointment at 3:15 a.m.

Tom has apparently forgiven us for our absence over this past weekend, as he has decided to treat us to lap dances. He is not absolutely content unless he is standing on my lap, regardless of my location, nudging away at my arm. He doesn't appear to enjoy my petting him, he just wants to rub his nose excretions against my skin then lick his lips. I wonder what goes through his little cat mind while he's doing this. "Mmmm, tastes good." How very odd.

Sunday night he took great delight in joining Earl and I in bed. He jumped from the bed to my stomach and then trampolined to Earl's stomach, where he then bounced over to my crotch. It was all very heartwarming. I guess it's his way of expressing his love, for he then settled down under the covers and purred a bit. He has a way of tucking us in; he settles down next to me, usually with his back against my blanket covered body and then when he senses I'm just about to fall asleep, he jumps down and patters off to a little nook somewhere in the house. He then returns at 5:17 a.m. to demand some kibble. He's always punctual at 5:17 a.m. He seems to have adjusted to daylight saving time better than I did.

Occasionally he breaks the routine for the weekend and settles on Earl's head until we get up. Apparently he enjoys the Daniel Boone look or something.

As I type this entry, he's back on my lap, purring away and nudging my arm. At least he's not nudging the PowerBook or running across the desk.

Earl is away in Indianapolis, Ind. on business until Friday. I dropped him off at the airport this evening after work. It was kind of depressing. I'm still in my "domestic frenzy" mood though. At least it'll make the week go by fast and he'll come home to a clean house.

This past weekend, Earl and I attended a bears event in Danbury, Conn. It was a big bruhaha of an affair, where around 600 big, burly gay men (and their admirers) descended upon this fine little city. It was a great experience for the both of us, as we haven't done anything like this in a very, very long time. It is very refreshing to spend time with like-minded gay men that are basically just normal guys. No worrying about primping and prissing for the next circuit party and having to deal with attitudes. We do things like throw on a pair of boxer shorts and head to the "Bears in the Boxer Shorts Ball". Or play charity BINGO. Or go shopping at the "Bear Maul". All good fun. And it was for a good cause, as net proceeds went to ARCS, AIDS-Related Community Services.

"New Moon On Monday", Duran Duran.

As I've mentioned on that bear page, we bears have always kept in touch with each other through electronic means. Earl and I have chatted with others through the various chat interfaces (iChatAV/AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, etc.) for quite a while. It was nice to put a body with a face or bits and bytes of an instant messenger.

I've made another new friend this weekend and that would be our shiny new package containing Mac OS X 10.4, otherwise known as Tiger. Oh my goodness! Apple has taken a superior operating system and made it even better. I'm especially delighted with the new Dashboard feature. They've taken the program Konfabulator and integrated it into the operating system, adding that special Apple touch.

"Be Near Me (Munich Disco Mix)", ABC.

It's especially great that Apple has added yet more polish to OS X, since I'm now abandoning all ties to Microsoft once again. I conceded to having a Windows 2000 machine on the network so that I could do work-related stuff in the comfort of the cellar. Since Microsoft pulled their support on anti-discrimination legislation in Washington State last weekend, essentially bowing to right-wing/religious pressure, I'm now on a full-blown boycott of their products. I'm happy that we didn't purchase that Office X for Mac after all. There's alternatives that will work just as well. You'd think that a forward thinking company like Microsoft would have a clue. Oh well. It makes it just that much easier to close the Windows and open the door on the world of computing.

"I Fell In Love (Radio Version)", Rockell.

One cool thing about Tiger is that my iChatAV/AOL Instant Messenger status now shows what song I'm currently listening to on iTunes. In iChatAV, if you click it it brings up iTunes and plays a sample of the track so you can buy it for yourself. That's kind of cool.

I'm having a dickens of time typing this blog entry as Earl is telling about little discoveries about Tiger on his iBook, I have iTunes going in one ear and I'm chatting with guys we met over the weekend. Who knew being an active geek could be so much work?

"Midnight At The Oasis (Cuica Remix)", Maria Muldaur.