Random Access

He knew that it was coming, but he didn’t fear it. He embraced it. Only two things stood between him and his goal: 1,000 miles and time. He smiled, roguishly, as he thought, “This is a good day. A good day indeed.” He turned off the lights and closed the door…

Only a few more hours and I will be in California.

I’m going back to Cali… to Cali… to Cali…
Umm, sorry about that. I thought that I had a better rein on this ready-to-go-on-vacation thing. Guess it wasn’t as tight as I thought. I’ll work on that. All-in-all, it was a good day: Gym. Work. Home. I was part of an off-site training class. It was both informal and informative; this is a nice combination. I think that it’s easier to learn things when it isn’t being crammed down your throat. I also talked to the ‘rents earlier, just to say “hi” and remind them that I will be airborne tomorning… and that I will call them when we get to L.A.
California Dreamin’…..
Dammit. I’m really sorry about that. *sigh* Otherwise, not a lot to report. On a more serious note, my friend Paul sent me a link to a site of pictures that show signs of the support that people around the world have offered in the wake of the WTC tragedy.Take a look.

I’m not sure if I’ll be posting over the next few days or if I’ll just keep a running tally of the trip and do a big post on Monday night. I’ll figure something out. Until then….

Peace.

This WOULD have been posted last night, but the servers were down for an update/upgrade…

Monday. I guess that you have to get through them to get on with the rest of the week. Oh, well. This leaves me only two days – or one day and a wake-up – from California. Can you say “Disneyland and Sea World,” boys and girls? I can. Six… count ’em 6… days of non-Postal, California bliss. And this will be my first trip to California in over 20 years; we were in Lake Tahoe, CA last October, but we were only there for a couple of hours. Sure, “it counts,” but it’s not the same thing…

Work was… umm… “something.” We were sent to lunch early. Yay. I was SO excited, in fact, that I didn’t even eat. Otherwise, things were pretty normal… until 6 PM. The senior managers called an impromptu meeting.

Theory: Good. Practical Application: Bad.While I understand, and even commend, the reasons for having the meeting, I think that the tone of it could have been handled differently/better. It set the mood for the rest of my day – IRRITATED. But, I got over it. On the “plus” side, I even managed to get a couple of Quotes of the Day from Dee:

• While talking to another friend of ours, Rick, their conversation turned to Gary Coleman. Yes that Gary Coleman. Dee then talked about an interview that he had read about the former child-star, in which he mentioned that he was a 31-year-old virgin. One thing lead to another and they hypothesized on the whys and wherefores of that. A little banter was tossed back and forth and Dee turned to Rick and said: “Gary Coleman’s a freak…. and you’re just very unattractive.” We all laughed; many a young lady at work has commented about just how attractive Rick is. But it was a good spur-of-the-moment jibe.
• Dee had made a joke or some intended-to-be-funny comment, and then looked at me and saw me wearing my impassive look. He stared for a couple of seconds, turned back to his terminal and let fly with “I’m going to help myself to a serving of shut-the-fuck-up. THIS got a laugh. From both of us.

After work, Jess and I headed down to her parents’ for a bit. I helped edit another of Brian’s papers and we picked up the infamous digicam for the Cali trip – Sandi is about ready to punt it into the canal again. Under the heading of “good thing,” I’m pretty sure that we are going to wind up buying it from them. We left there and picked up some Chinese food on the way home. And, since we’re leaving in… :::does the math::: … just over 30 hours, I even (mostly) packed tonight.

“…and that’s all the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, the men are good-looking and the children are above average.”

Peace.

Quiet and restful day.

I was awakened by a phone call from my uncle in New York. He just called to check on Jess and me and to make sure that we are well. I have the coolest family in the world. All is well, the current disaster aside, with him; this is always a “good thing” in my book.

Jess went to have coffee with Angie around 2:30, leaving me here with the cats. I took this time to be domestic – I cleaned the my bathroom. A little Pine-Sol®, Windex®, and elbow grease later, it was as good as new.

We were invited – and went – to (co-worker) Gary and Colleen’s for dinner; we also met one of their sons’ girlfriends, Eri – a grad student at the U of U. They provided a wonderful cook-out meal. Of course, since Gary, Jess and I work together, the conversation drifted into shop talk a few times… but we did manage to steer it back into the realms of normal topics. They were delightful hosts and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We will have to return the favor soon.

Sleepy-bye-time now for gymtime comes soon. I pseudo-challenged Gary to come to the gym tomorning… wonder if he will make it.

Saturday. Did I mention that I like having days off? I do. LOTS. Didn’t really do a lot today, and I was FINE with that.

It seems that the networks have relinquished their iron-fisted grip on their local affiliates. This meant: I got to watch the Sisko Show tonight!!! Watching that and reading today’s haul from the comic shop were a nice way to spend part of the day. Sometimes, it really is the simple pleasures that can make one happy.

I had lunch with Angie at The Outback. Can you say “Prime Rib,” boys and girls? I can.

Prime Rib GOOOD! ::: handgesture :::After that, I headed down to the inlaws’ for a bit. Jess has the second coolest parents in the world. And I’m not just saying that because Sandi fixed spaghetti for dinner. Honest! It isn’t!!!

Other than that, it was a fairly quiet day… just the way a Saturday should be.

Peace.

And then, there was Friday…

Gym.
Work.
Trip to Borders with Angie.
Home.

I have a few confessions to make:

• I am getting a bit weary of the 24-hour coverage of the WTC/Pentagon attacks. I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that more often than not, we are just getting rehashed information – or even speculation – of things that we heard the day of and the day after. Don’t misunderstand me, I am interested in hearing about important breakthroughs and rescues, but I think that it is a little bit much to watch as EVERY piece of rubble is moved. That said, here’s the rub: I still find myself oddly compelled to watch it, albeit in small doses. Go figure.
• Another thing: How much can we learn from “analysts” who are “former special agents” with fill-in-the-agency-here? These people can discuss topics and procedures that were relevant when they were active agents, but the ones who are working the cases now – and have the pertinent facts/data – are the ones who aren’t at liberty to speak directly to the media; that’s where the public relations agents/ media liaisons come in and tell us the latest information – or as much of it as they can – with whatever spin and/or damage control is deemed necessary.
• Something that I did like: The National Memorial and Remembrance Service. I found the prayers, speeches, and the musical selections to be encouraging and uplifting. We didn’t get to see the service in its entirety this morning, but we got to see the parts that we missed when it was rebroadcast. It’s amazing – and a little bit sad – to see how a tragedy can unite diverse people and groups. Political parties. Religious beliefs. Ethnicity. None of those mattered. Everyone came together to say farewell and pay tribute to the deceased and the missing. It was, in my opinion, a wonderful sight to behold. If only they could come together so easily in times of peace… I think that it also spoke of the human spirit and its will to survive even under the most trying and adverse conditions. To quote Sarah McLachlan: “You’re in the arms of the Angel; may you find some comfort here.”

::: gets down from soapbox :::

That covers it for now… thanks for listening once more.

Peace.

Something from Renderosity.com in memory of the WTC tragedy.

http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?Form.SortOrder=UserName&Start=1&Sectionid=25&WhatsNew=Yes

Peace.

Four days down, one to go… and, we are one day closer to Disneyland.

…and the crisis continues. There have been stories of miraculous rescues from the wreckage and rubble. This is good ,but there were still too many senseless deaths.

The day was fairly typical: Gym, work, home.

I have been trying to contact my best friend in Maryland…. to no avail. I did manage to talk to his sister today – turns out that he has moved and has a new number, which would explain the “The number you have dialed…” messages that I have been getting. I got the new number and will now have to read him the Riot Act for not calling or emailing me with the new info.

Other than that, there have been two noteworthy events here in the high desert today:

• I saw something tonight that was a welcome sight: Lights on an airplane landing at SLIA. The skies have been empty and silent, but this was a pleasant return to a more “normal” state; I think that I had taken seeing them overhead for granted.
• Two trains – one passenger, one freight – collided near the UT/NV border. Amazingly, all passengers and crew survived.

And that’s the news from Lake Wobeg…. no, that isn’t it. Lake Michiga…. no, not that one either. Hmm. Oh, yeah. Salt Lake City! That’s it! *duhr*

Peace.

Today wasn’t bad. Jess and I slept in, which put the kibosh on pre-work gymtime, but apparently we needed the rest.

Work today was much better, at least for me. I could think about the tragedy and without the numbness that I felt yesterday. In the Break Room, the monitors that normally show the Postal Vision® news and information feeds were tuned to one of the local news stations so that we could hear the updates and interviews. It’s still rather unbelievable. Surreal, even. The day passed fairly quickly. And it was Wednesday, so only 16 more work hours in the week.

Gymtime came after work. I had a good workout; I’m beginning to feel like I’m making progress again. FINALLY! It’s nice to see that I am nearing the levels of weight that I used to lift/press/whatever when I was working out a couple of years ago.

That’s about it; I’m going to watch some TV and veg for a while. More later.

Peace.

I’ve spent the better part of the day trying to decide what I wanted to say about the tragedies in New York, the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania. In some cases, words are not enough to accurately describe the full scope of what one wants to say. Sadly, this is one of those occasions.

The day, for me, started with a phone call from my Jess’ mom. She knows that I have family and friends in the D.C. and N.Y. areas and wanted to ascertain whether I was aware of what happened and ask if I knew if those people were all right. After her call, I got up and searched the Internet for news… like millions of others. I didn’t think about it at the time, but the problems that I was having accessing the news sites were due to the increased traffic that the events had caused. I turned on the television and watched as the surreal nightmare unfolded.

Then I started making phone calls. I called my father, in Maryland, to check family members there – they were fine. One of my sisters was supposed to go D.C. this morning, but wound up oversleeping. It may sound silly, but I am grateful for that. I called my mother, in North Carolina, to see if she had heard about the crashes in N.Y. My uncle, her brother, lives about a half-hour from N.Y.C., and I wondered if she had heard from him. She hadn’t heard anything about the attacks – she is a teacher and was in the middle of a class at the time. I gave her a quick rundown of the events and told her that I would try to get in touch with my uncle. I also told her that either he or I would call her back to let her know that everything was all right. I got a couple of calls through to New York, but did not wind up getting through to my uncle until 6:30 pm MDT; he was fine. My stepsister, who works in D.C., was also fine – it turns out that she did not have to go in to her office today. Yet more to be thankful about.

At work, the shock of the morning’s events was almost palpable. In the nearly three years that I have worked in the Salt Lake City REC, today was the most quiet that I have heard it during standard working hours. Most of my co-workers know that I am from the Maryland/D.C. area and a few of them asked if anyone in my family had been affected; I explained that I did have family in those areas, but that they were all fine, as far as I knew. I also rediscovered an odd “fact:” People here are a somewhat “geographically impaired” about the relative sizes and locations of states on the eastern half of the country. Conversely, I know many people at home who know VERY LITTLE (translation: “almost nothing”) about the western states. I had to explain to some people where my family lives relative to the crashes. It kept reminding me of lyrics from the song “Territories,” by Rush: “We all figure that our homes are set above other people than the ones we know and love.” Odd, but true.

On a personal level, trying to grasp the events of the day was like trying to grab smoke. I could “understand” what had happened logically, but the emotional components were… ethereal and elusive. I didn’t really figure out what was bothering me – aside from the wanton destruction and loss of life – until I was on the way home: I kept remembering my visit to N.Y. and trip to the World Trade Center (WTC) two years ago. Then-girlfriend Peggy and I had gone to N.Y. to visit a couple of friends and my uncle. One of the highlights of the trip was going to the WTC. My friend, Joe, and I took my girlfriend into the plaza between to Towers 1 and 2, with her eyes closed, and then let her see just how tall the buildings were. Her reaction was priceless – worth the entire trip, in itself. We also went to the observation level and the roof and looked out over the city. It was an AMAZING view. Joe told us how the original bombing attempt at WTC, in 1993, had been planned: The idea was to topple WTC 1 into WTC 2 and have the buildings fall across Manhattan. Looking down to street level, I shuddered to think of the utter chaos that would have caused. Here are some pictures of that trip:

Me on WTC 2
Me again
Joe’s pictures (then and now)

Today, I recalled all of those thoughts and feelings and watched as the twin towers collapsed in heaps of steel, glass, wire and rubble.

Today, I thought about the fact that I will not be able to share that amazing and awe-inspiring view with my future children or grandchildren. I can’t even share it with Jess.

Today, I knew that the classic New York City skyline would never be the same again.

Today, I realized how poignant the adage “There, but for the grace of God, go I…” truly is: If this had happened two years ago, I would have been one of the people in the middle of that maelstrom.

Today, I was sad. And angry. And confused. And numb.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of all of those lost in this senseless act. I ask that you remember these people in your thoughts and prayers, as well. Hopefully, we will see the responsible parties brought to justice and we will find a fitting way to honor the memories of the deceased.

Peace.

All-in-all, I can’t complain about the day. I mean, the day can’t be bad when it starts with an e-mail from Mom with the subject “Nothin’ Special…” Have I mentioned that I have the coolest ‘rents in the world, lately? I do. I [heart] my mom.

Made it to the gym and did a leg workout. Yes, that’s right. A leg workout on a Monday. This means that I’ll get two leg days this week. I must be a glutton for punishment. No, that can’t be it. Well, maybe it could be… I dunno.

Work, for a Monday, went by pretty quickly. No major snafus… at least, there were none that adversely affected me. They did call overtime on some employees, but I was in one of the groups that wasn’t called. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that!” I seem to have pulled/pinched/stretched/strained something in my back while stretching -of all things- at work. *sigh* At least the pain has diminished since earlier this afternoon… but it’s still a bit sore.

Came home, had a bite to eat, and generally relaxed; although, I’m a little torqued about the fact that the station that shows DS9 arbitrarily and capriciously decided to change the time it’s on without consulting me!!! It’s now on at 1 am, which is a “good” thing. Of course, I didn’t discover this until 2:10 am. But, now I don’t have to worry about staying up till 4am versus taping it.

And, in the words of one Mr. Forrest Gump: “And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Peace.

Sunday in the valley…. and one of the canyons.

• Woke up and prepared for…. ~drumroll~ FOOTBALL…. only to be disappointed. I was geared up to watch the Ravens whoop up on the Bears, but the Fox broadcast that we had here on Outpost Colony: Utah was the Tampa Bay/Dallas game. *GAH* At least Tampa Bay won. Hoo-HAH! I did find out later that the Ravens did beat Da Bears, so it wasn’t a total loss.
• Angie came over and she, Jess and I went to Oktoberfest at Snowbird, one of the ski resorts. It was nice, but much smaller than I was expecting. Also, this was the first time that I had been to Snowbird since moving out here; I’d gone once, about three years ago, when I had come out here to visit my then-S.O. It was a little… odd. We stayed up there for an hour or so, but we may go again next weekend or after we get back from Disneyland. I did discover a tasty snack (or, to use the Utahnics word: “treat”) there, though: Kiermaier Bavarian Roasted Almonds. Did I mention that they were VERRA TASTY?! They were.
• Went to the inlaws’ for Brian and Jenny’s (one of Jess’ sisters) combined birthday and belated birthday, respectively, dinner. And FOOTBALL! Do you see a theme here? I also FINALLY got around to reinstalling the NIC in my laptop…. which puts me one step closer to having my network running again.
• We came home around 11 pm, which left only an hour until the Sisko Show, which I watched. And so, a few conversations, a cupcake and glass of milk, and a brushing of teeth later, I am ready to hit the rack… which is good since gymtime comes in the morning! And then, work. Yay. Whoop-de-doo. Repeating to self: I [heart] my job…. I [heart] my job…

And that’s a wrap. Until tomorrow night….

Peace.

This was written around 2 am in the morning, pre-sleep, but something was up with the servers, so I couldn’t post. *shakes fist*

A relaxing Day 1 of the weekend. Didn’t do a lot, but what I did was fun. After taking Jess to work, I came home and waited for Dee to come down. The original plan was to play a little EverQuest and then watch some boxing…. and then check out Christopher Walken on the too-often-lame Saturday Night Live. Everything was fine up to the “play a little EverQuest” part – Jess’ puter didn’t want to cooperate, so most of the playing time was spent trying to get her system to do what it was s’posed to. We finally settled on Typing of the Dead; this was a good choice. Angie came over a little later and mopped the floor with us; we used to call her “Machine Gun” because of her typing speed. And, I missed a perfect opportunity to once again prove my dominance at SoulCalibur. *FEH*

The boxing matches were good. The first fight (Jirov vs. Letterlough) was called in the 8th round – Jirov won by TKO. The main event (Barrera vs. Sanchez) was stopped in the 6th round – Barrera completely worked Sanchez over. According to Dee, it was a very good technical fight. It was like watching a doctor at work. There was no emotion. There was no malice. He simply went in and did his job.

And then, there was SNL. I haven’t watched that show, with any regularity, for a couple seasons. I just don’t find the new cast very interesting. *shrug* But, if there is a host that I like or a special event, I’ll watch it. Mr. Walken qualifies. There was even a cameo featuring Kevin Nealon on the “Weekend Update” sketch as an added bonus; I think that he and Dennis Miller were the two best “anchors” that they’ve had in a long while. Overall, the show was pretty good.

Dee left shortly after SNL and Ang left a little while later. Tomorrow: Oktoberfest at Snowbird. Of course, that will be AFTER watching the Ravens’ game; tomorrow – technically “today” – is the start of the 2001 football season. That’s right, seventeen weeks of National Football League goodness. ~bliss~ Good thing that the Ravens play early (1 pm Eastern/11 am here) and the Dolphins play late (8:30 pm / 6:30 pm) – I can watch the hometown team wreck shop on Da Bears, go to Oktoberfest, and then go to the inlaws’ and watch the Dolphins work the Titans over. Life is good.

That about wraps it up from here. Going to finish watching The X-Files, possibly play a little EQ, and then call it a night.

Peace.

Today was a pretty standard day.

I did get to have a little bit of fun: I got to fight with my computer over whether or not it was going to recognize my video card properly. Long story, short version: I won. This is good because I can now feed my returning EverQuest addiction.

Today’s Quotes (yes, “quotes,” plural) of the Day from Dee:

• “Superman has Kryptonite, You have me.”
• “I’ll grant that she’s naive, but I think she’s naive because she’s stupid.”

Well, I’m pretty tapped. I’m going to call it a relatively early night.

Peace.

It was a pretty standard day.

• Woke up.
• Went to the gym. ::: flex :::
• Came home for work prep.
• Went to work…. and left after 3-1/2 hours – not just due to low mail volumes, today was Jess’ nephew’s birthday. So…..
• Went to the inlaws’ for dinner, cake and ice cream…. and the “Whose Line” season premiere. I even edited a paper Jess’ brother and reconfigured some wiring on their network to make it a little more easily accessible.
• Came home.

And that’s been about it… As John Lennon said “Nothing to get hung about…” I don’t think that I have anything to get up on the soapbox and rant about tonight, either.

And, in keeping with tradition: “Hola” to my friend, and new LJer, shpdog.

Peace.

Postscript: My dad called at 1:30 am. It was a little… odd, to say the least, that meant that it was 3:30 am where he lives. He called to relay a message – not a bad one. The reason that he waited so late to call: Knowing that my work schedule has a tendency to be changed at a moment’s notice, he didn’t want to bother me at work. Have I mentioned that I have the coolest parents in the world? I do. Okay… gone.

West Jordan, Utah has been spared the sweet oblivion of eradication.

That’s right, friends and neighbors, I have broadband once more. And life is good again. I won’t, however, mention the fact that my computer took me through all Nine Circles of Hell to get certain things up and running. That’s not important. The important things are: I was appeased and I didn’t have to shut off almost 100,000 minds at once and turn this town into a wasteland. I was scheduled for installation between 11 am and 2 pm; the techs were here at 10:33 am… and the whole thing was in and ready at 11:30. And they were pleasant gentlemen, to boot! This reaffirms my opinion of the people who work for Sprint Broadband.

I was productive today, too – I was a wee bit domestic and did laundry. Four loads. I considered doing the dishes, but I didn’t want to seem overly ambitious. But four loads, washed, dried, folded or hung, and put away….. that’s not too shabby. During a break, I was rereading something. I think that it’s worth sharing…

“This is just the story of a boy.

“Adults get the opportunity, eventually, to choose who they are. Children do not.

“Children come into this world with no say in the matter. No one asks you what kind of parents you want. No one asks you what environment you think you would do best in.

“You just wake up one day — and you’re in the world. You wake up and look around you… and see the hand that’s been dealt you. What the world has in store for you…

“Contrary to popular belief, we do live in a world of equals. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to make themselves feel superior or perhaps even inferior. Some of us have ethnic diversity. Some of us have sexual diversity. Some of us — some of us can even fly. Some of us are Peter Pan.

Every once in a while the world surprises even the most jaded — of which I must include myself — with someone like Timmy. Timmy was born into this world just like the rest of us… and, like many of us, he has spent every single conscious moment of it trying, trying, as best he can, to tune it all out. Because just like the rest of us, no one asked Timmy who he would like for parents. No one asked Timmy what kind of environment he would like to live in. Certainly, no one told Timmy that sometimes life just isn’t fair. That sometimes people can be mean for no good reason. That people who say they love you, can treat you badly.

“But most importantly, no one bothered to tell Timmy that these things are not his fault.

“Many people have said to me: Who cares about a guy named *name omitted*? And I say: Certainly not I. In my moral dictionary, that man lost his membership rights to the human race a long time ago. They can leave him where they eventually find him.

“I care about a remarkable little boy named Timmy. And what makes him so remarkable to me? When faced with no other choice, Timmy rose up and faced his mortal fear head on. He did this and came out the other side to tell about it. And though I’ve met a lot of different types in my time, I can honestly say I don’t know a lot of people who can claim such a task. But I wish I did. I wish I was like Timmy.

“…and I just wanted to tell you his story.”

The above was taken from issue #19 of Daredevil, from Marvel Comics’ “Marvel Knights” line. It was written by Brian Michael Bendis. I had not read much of his work prior to his becoming lead writer on another title, but from what I have read of his work since then, I will follow his writing more carefully. I bought this issue “blindly,” I just thought that it looked interesting. After reading it, however, I know that it was one of the best random purchases that I have made. It speaks volumes to me that in a twenty-three page story – and one where at least one-third of it was “silent” – you can be given a brief view into someone’s “life” and think “Wow.” Even more than that, it’s a great gift to be able to write something, regardless of the format or the length, and make someone just stop and think; I hope to be able to do that with my writing.

I’ve known a few Timmys in my life; I can even recount a point in my life where I was Timmy. Possibly, we all have. Conversely, we may know someone who never knew, or never accepted, the fact that they do have control over parts of their life. The only thing that separates Timmy from you or me is that he is a character in a book and lives in a world where people can fly or breathe water or shoot some sort of “laser beam” from their eyes or hands. Timmy is you. Timmy is me. Just someone trying to get through life one day at a time.

“I wish I was like Timmy.” And if I can do what he did, and possibly find a way to use that knowledge and fortitude of character to help someone else, then I don’t think that being like Timmy is a bad thing at all.

That’s something to think about.

Peace.