Times have been more than a little hectic. I haven’t managed a visit to my parents in Queens, NYC for about 6 months. Some may say ‘so what, it’s a long ride’ but when they remember my daily commute is no longer than a drive to NYC it becomes apparent I need to manage my time better. Logistics, the bulwark of my career, is something I need to focus on more in my personal life.
Dad’s latest toy is a talking caller-id. It speaks the numbers of the incoming call, and then allows him to record the person’s name in his own voice for playback the next time that call comes in. Pretty cool, especially since his eyesight has failed him. At his prompting I phoned their home with my cell phone; by the second ring his voice, digitally recorded, announced Charlie’s cell phone. Neat, to say the least.
At the last minute, the one-day trip turned into an overnight, for which I was glad (not to mention my folks!). While there I did some necessary house-cleaning on their PC, and saw some aunts and uncles who stopped in. The four of us were in and out in about 24 hours, but that’s how it goes.
Ticking away the moments that make up the dog-days: My own blogging has suffered of late; I found no less than a dozen posts in DRAFT, waiting to be completed. That most of them are so dated means I’ll probably not finish them, ever. Which, of course, begs the question why blog at all?
That’s a question I’ve found myself asking a lot of late. Back in the spring I worked on a new template, showed it to Sue, a long time friend in real-life, who tried to be nice but basically said ‘you’re not serious, right?’ and so the template upgrade plan went idle. The last time I did a major face-lift was just over 2 years ago, coinciding with my employment transition. What I need, template-wise, is the assistance of someone who, unlike me, is not graphically-challenged and who will work for cheap (read: nothing, other than credit). That everything connected to this blog is done on the cheap (free) is in line with my motto: If it’s free, it’s for me.
Naturally, I don’t expect anyone to flood my inbox volunteering to upgrade this site, but who knows.
This morning, NYC news had all the live remotes from neighborhoods without power… and its always the same scenario: why does this happen? (a tree fell on your power lines), why does it take so long to fix? (several hundred trees fell on several hundred power lines), etc. Back when I started to repair my clothes washer, I had lost power for about 16 hours… I dealt with it in, in +80 temperatures. No one came to my neighborhood, and for good reason: we all dealt with it. No sense bitching.
What is it about TV reports? They’re always the same thing: studio anchor sets up the piece, throws it to the reporter doing a live remote. Reporter sets up the piece again, and cues a tape in the studio. Tape ends, the live reporter is cued to offer a closing word, says her/his name, and throws it back to the anchor. So why did we go to the live remote, if that person only cued the tape report? Often, we (the viewer) are taken to a courthouse, sometimes at 5AM, to be told It was here last night that accused axe murder was found guilty or It will be here that the accused will learn his fate…. Why do we have these live remotes from places that aren’t even open, as if standing on the court house steps somehow enhances the story?
While traveling both to and from NY I encountered idiots in the EZ-Pass lane. Again. Coincidenatlly (I am sure) both times the offending vehicles had NJ tags. Not making any further comment. I had wondered if I ever complained about these kinds of ignorant drivers in the past, and found I did. I suppose if I am forgetting what I blogged about, less than a year ago, it may mean I am not even paying attention to what I write.
I thought RSS was supposed to make life easier? In other news, as my blog posting has taken a hit in frequency, so has my blog reading. I will be making some drastic cuts in my Bloglines feed list. For those with a blog who are, even now, checking their position in my feed list, remember please that I sort them by newest-first, so don’t be offended if yours is not at the top of the list (better make a post). My Daily Read list has grown so much I don’t know how to keep up with my reading and manage to stay employed. As my responsibilities have grown of late, it’s apparent I am appreciated, so I am in no danger, but it is getting time consuming. With over 150 feeds, it’s something I ought to clean out before I find work interrupting my reading, instead of vice-versa.
Sacrilege: As I’ve mused in the past, my much-better-half and sons have an affinity to Country Music, something I can stand only slightly easier than Gangsta Rap. Yesterday morning some gal on the radio was singing Take Another Piece of My Heart, and while I am sure she was singing her best, it was that fact alone that was so dispiriting. How a soft-spoken singer can take a masterpiece of Janice Joplin’s and not do it justice, never mind releasing it at all, simply amazes me. I’ve Google’d trying to identify the Country singer to no avail; any idea whose CD I ought no buy for my much-better-half??
Summer, officially or otherwise, has drawn to a close. We’ll take a much needed vacation in the next few weeks (the aforementioned much-better-half deserves some room service, for example), and we really haven’t been away in 4 years, so we’re more than due. I used to so look forward to the summer, as it’s probably my favorite season. But as each year comes and goes even faster than the last, it’s all just the same to me.
I have soo much to post about, regarding politics, that I don’t know where to start, so at the risk of procrastinating I’ll put it off for now. I have lots to shuffle through before my morning ride (check out the technical blogs I read, for starters), so I will wind this down.
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