Sunday Evening

It's already Sunday evening, and I feel as if I've run a marathon over the past few days.

Part of the problem here is one of perception: what I view as being "busy" others may view as being "insane". Sometimes I need to be reminded on this, as was the case yesterday when I was talking to my friend Kay, who scolded me for a comment I made about myself that involved the word "sloth". As is usually the case with Kay, she was right. Anyway, here's a snapshot of today in my world:

5:50am
Woke up, but didn't want to admit that yet.

6:00am
Got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

6:20am
Finished with shower, etc. Got dressed.

6:45am
Took Becca to work, as she "had to make the donuts".

7:15am
Returned home, with a copy of the Sunday Times under my arm.

7:15am - 8:30am
Read the paper, read the news on-line, caught up on various local message boards, ranted about Bishop Martino, etc.

8:30am - 10:00am
Usual Sunday cleaning...ran vacuum cleaner, washed dished, cleaned sink, changed cat litter, etc.

10:00am - 10:30am
Back at the computer to check email, etc.

10:30am - 11:45am
Went upstairs to take a nap & actually got about a good 30+ minutes of shut-eye.

11:45am - 3:00pm
Usual Sunday ritual of taking my mother to lunch and then grocery shopping. When we returned I helped my bother Chris move some things and then I fixed my mother's cellar door.

3:00pm - 4:00pm
Walked around Lake Scranton.

4:00pm - 5:30pm
Went to work to pick up a rental car (2008 Chevy HHR), went to the ATM to get some cash, deposited some money in Katrina's account, ran into the grocery store.

5:30pm - 6:15pm
Got home but discovered that I needed to go back to work to make come copies. So it's back to The Office.

6:15pm - 7:00pm
Get home and decide that I'm too tired to do much else, so I get changed into tattered lounging clothes (including an incredibly ripped up Cape May NJ shirt that I just love).

7:00pm - ??
At the computer, writing silly blog entries and killing time until the last moment before I have to fire up the ThinkPad and do some work in preparation for my trip to Hartford tomorrow.

Life is truly grand. For the record, bed-time will be somewhere around 11pm.

Listing On NEPA Blogs

For reasons that still escape me, I decided to request a listing on the NEPA Blogs. With thanks to site administrator Gort, I'm now officially listed. Check it out -

http://nepablogs.blogspot.com/2009/04/not-cease-from-exploration.html

The main NEPA Blogs page has a decent sized listing of local blogs, so it's well worth checking out.

NEPA Blogs

By the way, my postings also feed to my Facebook page, so please feel free to look me up.

Enjoy!

Road Apples, #22

Penn State Wins NIT - Penn State won it's second ever basketball tournament last night. Makes me proud as an alumni. Class act? That's Joe Paterno traveling to the tournament to cheer on the basketball team.

It's Friday & It's Going To Rain - Two of my favorite things in the world. Actually, I think my schedule is pretty human today. This week has been relatively kind schedule wise actually. Who knows? Maybe things will be getting humanly tolerable at The Office.

High School Cheerleaders Punished for Being Drunk During Parade - Story link here. What I find interesting here is that some of the parents are upset at the punishment. That says a lot about the parents in question. If it were one of my kids, I would be upset at the punishment too...most likely because the punishment wouldn't be severe enough. Unless the punishment involved caning, then it wasn't too severe. The girls screwed up. Enough with parents trying to rationalize, excuse, soft-pedal bad behavior. A big part of what's wrong with this country is the inability of folks to accept personal responsibility for their actions...from CEOs running companies into the ground to people receiving public assistance who shouldn't.

Tax Time - I have actually file my Federal Taxes this weekend. Yes, I actually completed them back in early February, but since I owe money (about $400), I decided to wait until April to actually send them in. Katrina also owes about $50 in city income tax, which she gave me the money for, so I'll pay that as well. Ideally I should be looking at my withholding this year so that I could come closer to breaking even. Will I? Probably not. Things are just too tight in that regard, so I'll cast my fate to chance and hope that next year's bonus is a little better than what I got this year. Hmmmm, I think this is fitting...



This Weekend - In addition to finishing taxes, I'm hoping to get some clean-up work done in the basement. Lowe's has a small freezer on clearance, and I'd love nothing more than to get it and replace the old refrigerator/freezer I have in the basement. The only thing standing in the way is having a clean spot (elevated off the floor) to put it.

Things I Like

As a follow-up to yesterday's list of things I dislike, here is a list of things I like, again in no particular order.

Gadgets - I love having toys to play with, including the high-tech stuff.

Cats - Yes, I am an official "cat rancher", although that wasn't by choice. I like cats because they have personalities, all be it annoying personalities sometimes. Now it's not that I dislike dogs, but they have one big draw-back for me: they are stinky. Cats are very clean animals.

Working Hard - I guess the is the opposite point to my "sloth" comment yesterday. I always feel better after having worked hard on something.

Writing - I love to write, and I try and write often. It's probably the only expressive thing that I can do with any degree of success. As I've written before, I don't consider myself to be in any way, shape or form to be a good writer; I am to writing as a bar-room piano player is to fine music. Like that bar-room piano player, I just like getting out there and doing my thing as often as a I can.

Architecture - When I was in high school I wanted to be an architect. In fact, if money were no option, I'd quit my job and go to school to study architecture full time. There is a certain art to a well designed building...they are like sculptures in a very real sense.

Music - There is a wide range of music that I enjoy, from bagpipe marches to ABBA to Frank Zappa. My girls all like listening to music as well...and in fact all three have played instruments...I hope in part because they constantly heard music growing up. I also wish I had some musical talent myself, but alas, I have nothing.

Sweets - Much to my dismay, I do love sweets. I wish I didn't.

Parenting - Being a parent is the single most difficult thing a human being can aspire to. I'm sorry if that offends anyone out there who doesn't have children, but I firmly believe it to be true. Nothing is more frustrating over the short-term, but also rewarding over the long-term. It's also something that's nearly impossible to get completely "right". As a parent I make mistakes all the time, but I also try to learn from my mistakes...all the time. When and if (wink wink) I die, the greatest compliment anyone could pay me would be to say "he was a great father".

Logic - This is the opposite of the whole "Astrology" comment I made under the dislike post. I am a firm believer in applying logic and reasoning to all things. Now you can take this too far, which is why I think it's actually very logical to acknowledge that there are some things in the universe that can't be explained in ways that we are capable of understanding. Maybe that's what God really is...maybe not.

Foods I Like - I'll do this as a bullet list...

• Oatmeal (I have it for breakfast most days at work)
• French Toast (although I don't eat it very often...for obvious reasons)
• Pizza (as long as it's good)
• Coconut
• Oreos (again, something I shouldn't be eating...often or at all)
  
• Prime Rib
• Plain salads (boring iceberg lettuce)
• Onions (the sweeter the better)
• Green Peppers (but only raw...I hate them cooked)
  

Things I Dislike

For no particular reason, in no particular order, here is a list of things I really dislike.

Peanut Butter - I don't know how anyone can consume this product. The smell alone makes me want to vomit.

Smoking - Yes, I am probably a "Smoking NAZI" in my views on this subject. I also get that it's horribly addictive. With the previous statement in mind, anyone who is trying to quit smoking has my admiration and best hope for success. Anyone, however, who believes that they have a "right" to smoke and that it's not dangerous to them or to other is, in my mind, a twit. Let's tax it into oblivion so that people quit smoking and then don't die from some horrible disease like lung cancer.

Sloth - We are all guilty of it from time to time (including and especially me), but I don't like just sitting around for long periods of time. If you want to just sit around, at least pick up a book and read.

Drunks - Yes, I do recognize that some folks have a problem in that they drink to excess, but I don't believe that alcoholism is a "disease"...certainly not in the same sense that Diabetes is, for example. I say this as someone who doesn't drink (well I may have a glass of wine two or three times a year). Why don't I drink? I don't drink because I really can't socially drink without drinking to excess. My father was an alcoholic, and I know that I could very well be one myself if I didn't the personal judgment to not drink.

Astrology, Fortune Tellers, etc. - If extraordinary powers, such as those required to tell fortunes, really did exist, don't you think that the people who had them would use them to accurately determine lottery numbers...instead of stealing $30 from unsuspecting tourists on boardwalks? Now I don't discount the possibility of anything, but logic clearly flies in the face of these kinds of powers actually existing.

Cooked Cabbage - Yet another food that I really can't stand to be around.

Rap "Music" That Objectifies Women - There are a lot of musical forms that have been unkind to women over the years, from Sinatra's "Lady Is A Tramp" to any number of rock songs, but some of the stuff I've heard in rap "music" is particularly horrible. In this world you get what you give...and I for one have no desire to disrespect anyone.

IPods & ITunes - I've purchased IPods for my daughters, but I personally can't stand the product, mainly because it is so simply that I find it annoying. I also really find ITunes to be very annoying, mainly because I'm never sure what it is doing any any given time. I have an mp3 player that I use in the gym that allows you to drop and drag music files from Windows...which works fine for me.

College "Jock" Factories - With the NCAA Final Four in place, I am reminded of how it's almost criminal how some universities pay so little attention to the education of players and their ultimate graduation. Most of these kids are one injury away from oblivion, and many couldn't afford a college education otherwise. UConn, for example, is notorious for an extremely low graduation rate for it's basketball players. Now some schools have admirably high graduation rates for student-athletes, including Notre Dame & Penn State.

Racism & Homophobia - Now I love off-color jokes, and my daughters will tell you that I am prone to telling them from time to time. I admit that. However, for me they are just jokes, and I'm just as fond of jokes that poke fun at white/straight people as I am of those that poke fun at minority groups (although it's harder to find good jokes along those lines...I do recommend listening to some Richard Pryor routines though..."pass the potatoes"). Anyway, I actually find the notion that some folks actually believe that they are superior than others by virtue of race to be silly at best, dangerous at worst. People are people...and to the extent that they should be judged, that judgement should be based on their actions and their character, not on what color skin they have or who they have intimate relations with.

Negative People - I am not a "jumping up and down" positive person, but I have a generally positive outlook on the world. That said, I hate being around people that are constantly negative. They are like "energy vampires" who just suck the life out of me when I am around them.

A (Quasi) Day Off

I'm technically off today, but I am going into the office in the morning to attend at least part of our bi-weekly staff meeting. Why do I even do it? I'm not sure. The cheap and easy thing would be to blame Catholic guilt...one of the truly elemental forces in the universe, right up there with gravity, inertia and Jewish guilt. Anyway, I'll go in and make my contribution, hopefully have the foresight to get in a workout and then take the rest of the day off. I also have an email from Compliance to respond to, so I might as well take care of that while I am at it.

As for the rest of today, I have to pay my mother's garbage fee for 2009 and go over to her house to fix some blinds. Did I mention how much of a factor Catholic guilt is in my life?

I also have tomorrow off as well, and that will be a "real" day off...no going into the office or checking email. I have to get my outside water line replaced, so I'll (if I'm smart...and the jury is still out on that) get the parts list this afternoon, get everything I need tomorrow and then install it all tomorrow morning. I normally don't like to do plumbing, but I really don't want to spend the money on a plumber, and besides, this is all screw-together stuff anyway. I just need to figure out what I want to do first. I've had to replace this every few years, as the parts tend to rot/rust. This time around I'm probably going to use Rustolium or some similar product to coat everything before I install it Hopefully that will make it last more than a season or so. This is actually a pretty important small project, as I need the outside hose for things like car washing, watering plants, etc. I am nothing if not domestic.

Other things I could be doing? Well, the list is endless. I really do want to clean out a spot in the basement for a new freezer. The one we have is so old and small, and is no doubt very energy inefficient. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow while I am waiting for parts to dry, etc. Part of the turn-off down there is that it, well, smells of cat. I know, I know, that's what I get for having so damn many of them, but still it stinks. That's life though, although being a "cat rancher" was never something I ever wanted myself.

Well I suppose I should get some other things ready here and get the day started. No time like the present I suspect.

Where I Go (on-line)

I admit it: I would be lost without the Internet, and quite honestly I am not sure what I did before it existed. I am an Internet junkie. The word 'portal' has an actual, technical Internet meaning, but in a very real sense it is a great word to describe what the Internet really is, namely this gateway to other things and places. That noted, here are some thoughts and links to some of the places I enjoy visiting on-line:

BLOGS
There are really only two blogs that I read regularly these days -

Dinoscopus - This is the blog of arch-conservative Catholic Bishop Williamson (infamous of late for his "I am not convinced that millions of Jews died during the Holocaust" views). Once you get beyond the overly formal language the Bishop uses and you hold your nose at his offensive Holocaust views (which he doesn't really discuss in his blogs) you find that he writes about a variety of different topics. I find that fascinating.

SDACT Blog - This is the official blog for the union that formerly represented Catholic teachers in the Diocese of Scranton. I am the product of a Catholic high school education, and I have fond memories of some of my teachers. While I don't necessarily agree that teachers should be unionized, I do recognize that they should be the ones to make that decision. The fact that the Bishop of Scranton unilaterally decided that the union shouldn't represent the teachers rubs me the wrong way. Anyway, this blog tracks news and events surrounding this group.


NEWS & CURRENT EVENTS
There are four news sites that I regularly visit -

MSNBC - Tops for both volume & freshness of content. My only complaint is that the page doesn't always load when I am at work and I want to check the headlines. That could be because of the ancient version of Internet Explorer that we use at the office.

Scranton Times On-line Edition - This is my new homepage, replacing the Drudge Report. I only really read it for the local news. The national & international stuff I get from MSNBC. It's not a great page, but it has the best volume of local content that I've seen. They also let you comment on articles, which can be fun.

Drudge Report - My old homepage, before Drudge well full force into "Obama Evil" mode. I don't claim to be the President's best supporter, but Matt Drudge does go overboard in cherry-picking articles that paint Obama in a bad light. Too much negativity for me, but the page is always worth visiting for the extensive and well-balanced (in terms of liberal vs conservative) links.

Note that I also will visit FoxNews when I am at work on occasion, although I never go there while at home. I like the freshness of news content at FoxNews, but some of the opinion pieces (and there are a lot of them) tend to get stale.


ON-LINE VIDEO
This is where I spend about a third of my Internet time -

Hulu - I watch current episodes of my favorite shows here; in fact, I watch them more on-line than on the TV. I love the fact that I can catch the latest episode of The Office when I have to time to watch it, as opposed to having to watch it when NBC says I have to.

Break - I don't go there as often as I used to, but it's always worth checking out. If you find videos of 12 year old boys eating teaspoons of cinnamon (and then seeing what happens...note: don't do that), then this is the place for you.


JUST FOR FUN
Some other places I like, really just for the fun of it -

AmIAnnoyingOrNot - I love reading the profiles, although I don't do any voting, etc.

FaceBook - You can find my FaceBook page by searching for me. Stop by and see me.

Tee Shirt Hell - Some very funny (and often offensive) stuff.


OTHER
A few other sites I enjoy & why -

Cult News Network - I really enjoy reading about religion, philosophy and related topics, so this is a great site for keeping current on religious events.

Operation Clambake - A site with information on the Church of Scientology. Fascinating stuff.

Urban Dictionary - Say your teenage son/daughter references a term you've never heard before, what do you do? Why you go to Urban Dictionary and look it up.

Song Facts - Lots of trivia about thousands of songs.

Saturday, Not In The Park, I Think It Was The 28th of March

Title is with apologies, of course, to Chicago.

Well it's about a quarter to four in the evening, and I've been going at a brisk pace today since about 6am. I had to get up early to take Rebecca to work, and from there I had the usual Saturday stuff to do, including paying bills and grocery shopping. Today however, I had the added thrill of getting the gas grill all ready for the outdoor season. That entailed taking off the winter cover, cleaning it out, inspecting the burner, getting a new take of propane, etc. The burner was, by the way shot, so I needed to replace it. After taking the old one out, I cleaned out the bottom thoroughly and installed a universal 17" replacement burner, the same thing I think I did two years ago. The burners themselves don't last much more than two seasons, if that.

Did I mention how wonderful it is outside? Well it was wonderful this morning, although now it's a bit overcast actually. No rain in the offing for the rest of today, but it certainly looks like it could rain.

Now this is supposed to be a long weekend for me, as I have Monday and Tuesday off. I use the word "supposed" because I in fact will go in on Monday morning for a staff meeting. Aren't I the team player?

Another task I am contemplating is to swap out my cold for my warmer weather clothes. That's a little ritual that I usually perform around the end of March, when I'm sure that the snow is forever gone (or gone at least until maybe next November). I really could use some other short sleeve shirts to wear for work. Perhaps I'll do that after dinner.

Well I suppose I should get on with a few other things, including some decision on dinner. Perhaps it's a good time to put the grill to use.

Luzerne County Judges

The latest in the on-going Luzerne County judge scandal is that the State Supreme Court voided the convictions of thousands of juveniles convicted by two former Judges. Story here. This is just the latest chapter in an on-going drama that will be playing out for years.

What's interesting is that now the State Supreme Court is getting "all serious" and such now that this is in the public domain. Where was this same court a few years ago with the Juvenile Justice Center tried to get their attention over the myriad of abuses happening in Luzerne County? Back then they chose to do nothing. While I applaud any action to right the wrongs that have occurred, I find their after-the-fact conversion to taking this seriously more than just a little sad.

It all boils down to this: in Pennsylvania, lawyers and judges can only be disciplined by...you guessed it...other lawyers and judges. Whenever you have a group responsible for policing itself you have recipe for disaster.

Road Apples, #21

Yesterday my Internet service was down at home and my voice-mail at work was at work. Coincidence? I'm not quite sure, but I was bummed out over not being able to get on-line yesterday morning. We humans do value our routines.

In the "Stupid Entertainment" Department I was watching one of the "Blade" movies last night. I think they are the intellectual equivalent of McDonald's french fries.

At Staples Yesterday, I was looking at the new breed of netbooks...these are very small laptop computers that have enough memory/processing power to surf the net and do basic task, but lack things like CD/DVD drives, large hard drives, etc. The ones that I saw ran on Windows XP. Very, very cool. The prices range from about $300 upwards of $900 (for a high-end Sony). The only drawback for me is the small screen, but I could adjust. Now if I didn't get hosed at bonus time maybe I'd consider getting one.

On the Music Front I've been listening to some Harry Nilsson from the CD where he sings standards, such as "As Time Goes By". I think I'm going to order it. Listening to Harry Nilsson sing is one of those simple joys in life that I like to partake in every once in a while. The man had such an incredible voice.