The Past (Fast?) Ten Years

My phone is buzzing in my pocket with a text message waiting. Seems my friend is prepping to move from one State I don't live in to another State I don't live in. We know and have communicated with each other's spouses, directly or indirectly, we've played board games together, card games, bowling, 8 ball, bingo. We know each others kids and their interests. She knows about my grand kids and I know about her parents and siblings. We've shared work stories, given and accepted advice, told jokes, eaten together. We're very good friends...

...and we've never laid eyes on each other. Ten years ago, this would not have been me. I'd have to say I pretty much only talked with people at work, my family, and my best friend on the rare occasion that we'd visit. Then I got online. I've met some very good people here (and a few that I don't care to speak with again), and with Web 2.0 and the Social Networking craze, this world really has become a tiny place is a very short period of time. I take the optimistic view of the phenomenon. All of this interaction must lead to greater sharing of intellect and innovation benefiting science and sociology, and furthering the progress of our civilization as a whole.

So tell me: At this rate of development, what will the world possibly be like when my Great-Grandchildren are growing up? I think the possibilities are, for the first time, truly endless, don't you?

A Milestone

Let it be known that I was right today......




..... and a woman said so.



Life is good.

Rest, Travel and Indecision

I told you this thing would be sporadic. I tend to be about as consistent as the weather here; which, by the way, is driving me CRAZY. winter winter winter, summer, summer, summer, fall, winter, summer..... ugh. We're finally having some semblance of spring. Okay, I'm done with the weather.

So, I took a vacation recently. Interestingly enough, this coincided with my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Being the good husband, I asked her what she wanted for her anniversary. She wanted to see her family. All right. Since her family is basically in North Carolina (she see the ones she wants in Delaware whenever she wants to), I scheduled my vacation around our anniversary. Two weeks. Then, I gained more responsibilities at work, and my new boss haggled with my Better Half until I was down to 10 working days. ...All right... Then, it's decided we're also going to meet another family member after we go to North Carolina. ......All .. right...... Day 1 was the drive to between East and Central NC, just below the border. Day 2 was the drive to the middle of the State. Day 3 took us to West Virginia, just before the Ohio border. Day 4 was spent sightseeing and catching up. Day 5, back to the middle of NC. Day six was computer fix-it day (which was quite relaxing and enjoyable..... sue me). Day 7 back to the NC border. Day 8, the drive home. Day 9 was the actual anniversary (we slept). Day 10, back to work................................. I need a vacation.

I've officially become completely indecisive. My folks have offered to get me an iPhone (actually placed me on the list) in return for all the work I do to keep their computers running for their business. I want it. I really do. So I get this bout of guilt for costing them more money than I would spend on a phone, or an ipod. See, now it's closer to the release of the thing, and I know my name is somewhere around fifteenth on the list. I just can't help myself. I've waffled back to letting them get it. I'm not sure if that makes me a bad son, or just a very lucky one. The only thing that could make this suck is if I hate the phone. I don't think I will, but who knows, right? On the upside, there are a lot of people who want to see this thing once I get it. It's like coming home with a newborn and everyone wants to hold the baby. You really don't want to let them; yet, at the same time, it's kind of nice showing off what you've got.

Okay, I've lost it. I've just compared the iPhone to a newborn. Time to end this for the day. I'll try to be more sporadic in the future just to spare all two of you who actually read this thing.

Internet Radio

Okay, boys and girls, I know you've been hearing and reading all about the injustice perpetrated by the Copyright Royalty Board (and it's subsequent refusal to appeal) against Internet radio. Seems the RIAA and it's minions have struck again convincing certain facets of government to join them in destroying any chance that indepent music, new music, and even custom play events of established music be heard without them getting a significant cut of the deal. At least there are a couple of Senators willing to take up the fight, even though it means congressionally controlled fees. If you're lost on this, catch up here:

I'm a huge fan of Pandora, one of the sites that will be devastated if the fees imposed truly come due in July. Pandora is one of the most innovative music outlets I've every experienced. Created by the Music Genome Project, this site creates a station that's taylor-made to your tastes, quickly and progressively more accurate, letting you enjoy your favorite music while introducing you to some fantasic music you would never have discovered on your own. This Project is developed by and for Musicians and musical professionals.

Who believes the RIAA and their ilk has the best interest of artists at heart? This site, and others just as significant and legitimate, will simply disappear July 15 if the Bill introduced by Senators Wyden and Brownback does not get through Congress beforehand. Essentially, on the books, these folks are bankrupt now as the ruling is currently in effect. If you care, if you agree, if you don't want to see this happen to Internet Radio (what next, video?, podcasts?), please click this link, then contact your Senator. Ask him/her to support the Internet Radio Equality Act of 2007. Help keep sites like Pandora alive.

You know, I've lived in Delaware all my life, most of it in Slower Lower. One thing about this state that can't be denied........ we have chickens. I mean everywhere. Even our state bird is a chicken. Somewhere in our past it seems cock fights were popular, and the toughest bird of all was the Blue Hen Chicken. Hence, the mascot for the University, the Fighting Blue Hen. Now, don't get me wrong. I like chicken as much as the next guy. Fried, baked, grilled, cordon bleu.

Two doors down and across the road are chicken houses. The property next door used to have chicken houses. Next to tourism, I think chicken farming is our number one industry; at least, it seems that way. And, of course, along with the benefits of rural life we sometimes have to deal with the natural by-product of raising livestock.....olfactory speaking. Okay, usually it's only bad when the wind blows in our direction. I'm all right with that, everyone has to make a living, and it's part of local color that certain... odors... have to be dealt with once in awhile. I grew up here. It's fine, really.

However, too much of a good thing is, well... too much. Today, it was warm. Short sleeve shirt warm. Gorgeous day warm. Slight breeze. So naturally, this is the time when the local farmers decide it's a good idea to spread all the aforementioned by-product that's been fermenting in the chicken houses all this time all over the fields... . all of them... everywhere. And hey, let's not stop at simply packing it up in a truck and spreading it. Let's liquefy it and spray fifty feet or more in every direction. Tonight would be a great night to open the windows and let the breeze blow across the bed. Tonight would be a great night to slumber in the yard swing. If only the stench that surrounds us wasn't so damn tangible. I swear, the air seems to have physical properties that can be touched. I've been in this county almost my entire life and I never remember it being this bad. It's like someone had a wholesale event on the stuff, and every single farmer in the county decided it was manure spreading day.

I went to WalMart tonight and bought air conditioners. Vive' la controlled environment.... and clothes pins for the nose.

Looking Back at the Future

So, when I was a kid I had this vision of the future. It was the '60's and I lived in a college town, which meant my babysitters were basically hippies. My friends and I would watch Route 66, Daktari, Gilligan's Island, Laugh-in, and if we were good we got to stay up for Star Trek. We'd go to the community pool, play in makeshift forts, write and deliver a block newspaper (only one edition as we had to hand-write each one), and look forward to the wonders of our future. We knew there would be flying cars by the time we had kids, and that there would be a button for everything. We even designed streamlined cars that looked like bubbles with wheels, some of them retractable for flight. We dreamed of three dimensional television (in color, no less), communicators and transporters, not to mention computers that talked. We also were absolutely certain space travel would be something the common man would do when we were adults.

For some time, I was disappointed throughout my twenties. No flying cars, no true three dimensional tv, no transporters or communicators... and no space flight for the common man. What happened to the future? Where did we go wrong? Now, of course, I realize it was happening all along. I'm typing this on a device smaller and at times lighter than the Trapper Keeper I used to carry around in school. I'm on the sofa, transmitting this data to the world, basically, without wires. On my hip is a flip phone, my own personal communicator, and people who don't have these are oddities around here. All I have to do is talk to it and it finds the person I want to talk with on the other end. I don't even have to push buttons. I don't have a flat screen television, but I could if I would spend the money on it. A device slightly thicker than a picture frame that I can hang on the wall and watch television programs, movies when I want to on demand, surf the world of information at my fingertips.

Earlier today, I was outside a department store waiting for my lovely to come out with less money, and I swear to you, one of the streamlined, bubbles I drew when I was a kid pulled into a parking space. The side doors slid open slowly without anyone touching them, and a family poured out and began walking toward the store. The doors to the vehicle deliberately slid closed on there own as the family happily made their way toward eliminating disposable income. At that point, my communicator buzzed me, and the device I had clipped to my ear, without wires, filled with the voice of a coworker.

Yup, the future happened while I wasn't looking. I'd like to live another 50 years, please. I bet those flying cars, transporters and regular space travel are right around the corner.

Twitter, Milk and Psycho-Fish

So I'm getting heavy into the Web 2.0 thing. Non-conformist that I claim to be, I'm such a damn follower. The latest thing I'm getting hooked on is Twitter (www.twitter.com). Listening to Leo too much, I guess. The way it works is, you just type in what your doing at that moment. Checking back from time to time you can see what others have been doing too. Sounds dumb, huh? Well, most addictive things are, I guess. But I don't care. You can see it here on the blog until I get tired of it. I've been playing around with lots of new things lately. I have Skype, as I said before, but no one else I know does. Guess that makes me an early adopter.... or just sad.

Have you ever noticed how calming milk can be? I have a self-proclaimed home-psychologist friend that will tell me I'm just reminded of suckling my mamma's teat, but then he thinks about that sort of thing all the time anyway. Think I'll discount that one. The house is in bed at the moment (except for this 46 year old geek), the TV is off, Alanis is playing in my headsets and I have a coffee mug full of milk. Seems to help soothe the abscess. And if you know that milk doesn't ease the pain of an abscess, just keep it to yourself. I enjoy self-delusional episodes. The mug itself is something my sister-in-law bought for me some years ago, and it's my favorite. It's a Bald Eagle soaring over a wetland landscape that she found at the zoo in North Carolina, and this thing has held coffee, hot chocolate, alcohol, tea, Thera-Flu, orange juice, water,,,,,,,,, and milk. I think milk is my favorite. Of course,,, this could be the Vicodin talking.

I'm house-sitting this week for some friends who are out of town. They have the absolute coolest felines. I mean it. These guys never tell on me when my friends come home. All I have to do is give them a little extra kibble and a scratch, then let the party begin. They even clean up after me. It's like I was never there. Now, the psycho-fish are a different story. These little demon-spawn appeared as though by magic one day in the fish tank. And they never die. I've never seen anything like it. When I walk past the tank, the follow me... in a school... all of them... all 12, no wait, 18,, jeez... 20 now. My friend feeds them blood worms (I think because they prefer human blood, and this is the only way to appease them) by actually squeezing them inside the tank. Not me, Jack. I sprinkle them from a height of 6 inches. The water fairly boils from the ensuing frenzy.

Tomorrow, I'm taking back-up.