"Is he your partner?"

So that I can write my thoughts out faster, lemme set some things out here first.  I don't look at or see 'Gay' as an offensive word.  The thinking voice in my head almost always uses the term 'Gay' when it's forming thoughts about homosexual men.  When I speak or write, I often will change that internal 'gay' to homosexual.  But that's my internal censor especially when talking to people who have anti-homosexual feelings.   I guess I want it to sound both more intellectual and at the same time want to remove the idea of a derogatory term from their vocabulary.

But I don't think of it as derogatory.

OK. With that out of the way let's get into this.  I've often had the feeling that some if not many people assume I'm gay.  This goes back to the 90s while I was in college and afterward while working in Chicago.  I don't know where that thought came from.  Maybe it was my own internal struggle.  I was reading a lot of transgendered stories, and had fantasies of being turned into a woman.  I had and have spent a lot of time imagining what it would be like to give a blow job.

I'd often take a step back and look at my life and see... gayness.  I would wear more flamboyant clothes.  I was working on a career as a photographer.  I didn't follow sports closely.  I wasn't dating.  I was living with a guy.  Does any of this mean gay?  No.  Gay has a very strict definition; being sexually attracted to a person of the same gender.

Musak for July

I've complained before about music discovery.  Sometimes the best music just falls into my lap.  I hear it on the radio (internet) at work.  I hear it on a TV show or in a movie.  I hear it on a game video or someone posts it in a forum I frequent.

Well this month has been a bad one for that free discovery.  It might be the TV, or more specifically the lack of TV.  I watch John Oliver's Last Week Tonight on HBO, but that's about it.  The rest of my TV time is currently spent re-watching The West Wing on Netflix.  I'm sure once the fall season starts back up and I start watching Fear The Walking Dead (just a couple weeks for that!), The Walking Dead, Person of Interest, and a few others, I'll get back into some good discovery.  But for now, it's just a wasteland of pop and songs that I already have/like.

Even iTunes has started to let me down.  The first few years I was using iTunes I could rely on them to get me some good music.  I just had to look at their 'recent' music, or better yet their recommendations specifically for me.  Eventually the 'recent' just turned into more and more major label stuff (i.e. pop), and the recommendations broke down.  They recommend songs that I already have (that I didn't purchase from them), or they are so close to what I already have that I've already heard it, considered it, and decided not to add it to my collection.

That's about the time I started looking at their 'top songs' lists.  I couldn't use the main one as they more or less listed the bilboard top ten lists (more pop). So I would hit up the genre specific lists... but even those are getting screwed over.  When I go over to the classical top ten it's all the 'pop' classical.  Five guys on a piano, or whatever was last played on America's Got Talent.  The Alternative list varies so much as the Alternative genre is, by definition, simply 'not mainstream'.  So sometimes it's pop (ick) and sometimes it's rock.  Occasionally an artist will break in with an alternative take on bluegrass or country, but that's rare.  The Rock stuff.... well damn it Journey is still on the list.  JOURNEY!

Bastards.

A new computer for Mom

Windows 10 is out now.  I really hate how companies play the expectation game.  Since around April, when Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be a free upgrade to every current Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 user, I've been excited about it.

I haven't been excited because there was something wrong with Windows 8... I just wanted something 'new' to play with.  Taking out the Start screen and changing it back to the Start menu isn't a big deal to me.  I actually liked the Start screen and I had become accustomed to it.

I guess as a 'design' minded guy, having the entire screen dedicated to lining up the programs I use appeals to me.  But I know that most people hated it.  I couldn't care less about adding Cortona as the only microphone I have attached to my computer is the one on my headset.  And I'm not going to put on and take off a headset just to ask my computer a question.  And oddly enough, I didn't even need a clean install.  I normally have to install the OS cleanly every 18 months or so and I've been working off the same install for over two years now.

Well... now that I think about it, I DID build a new computer last year... so yeah, I guess this install is only 9 months or so old.  Anywho... I didn't HAVE To have Windows 10.  But I wanted it.  And Microsoft knew it.  And Microsoft played with my expectations.  They said they would have it out in Summer.  YAY!  That means I can get it in June right?  No... when they announced the date they said it would be July.  When they put a specific date on it, they said July 29th.  And when July 29th came around... they said it would be installing in waves.  That I would probably get it before September.

Grr.

Nothing going on

Just about each morning I stop by here and see if anything is going on.  There really isn't a reason to as this blog doesn't have a following and doesn't inspire conversation, but it's like picking up a diary and reading the last entry... it reminds me that I talk about what ever is on my mind.

When I see the last post at any given time it will remind me of what I had just talked/written about and will often inspire me to write something else.

Well... for the past couple weeks I haven't had much on my mind.  I see the last two posts I wrote (about Ginger and my new work watch) and see them as materialistic.  I don't mind materialism, but would like to think I'm deeper than that.

I normally write about an upcoming event... but there isn't much I'm currently looking forward too.  Short term, we're still a little short staffed at work and I can't get the days off.  Longer term, I'm in a holding pattern.  It's either too far away or I'm waiting on other people.  Watching the news will often bring up a subject that I want to parse out... writing about it helps me define my own feelings... but there isn't much news to get me thinking.  So.... I'm going to write up a quick little 'nothing' post.  At the very least, when I read this years later I'll be able to look at the last couple weeks of July 2015 and see that it was a calm time.

'Super Space Car'

I've had Ginger for four and a half months now.  I'm now over the 'new' aspect of her.  I've put over 10,000 miles on her, given her an oil change, driven her down to Texas and back, and have just now set up an appointment for her first recall (something about steering mounting bolts).

Now just because she's not 'new' doesn't mean I've fallen out of love with her.  I talked awhile back about how my love for her has lost the 'passion' that I had for Fiona.  And that's still true.  I don't go ga-ga over Ginger the same way I did with Fiona.  She can still make me smile, but it's more of an appreciation that she's the right car for me, rather than her being a special car for someone.
Why is she the right car for me?  She's roomy.  She's techy.  She's stylish.  She's quality.  She gets amazing gas mileage (for as big as she is). Those things are not easy to get all together, and are all very important to me.  But as 'right' as she is for me, she's just not on my mind all the time.  I'm not as eager to talk about her as I was Fiona (even after having Fiona for over a year).  But when she does come up in a conversation... well it's always a good thing.

Dumbed It Down

So I finally pulled the trigger and got a new dumb watch.  I settled on the Vestal Digital Doppler watch.  I had several others in contention, but like many dumb watches out there, they just aren't worth talking about.

I like watches.  I think they are a good combination of style and functionality, and seeing what someone has on their wrist can say a lot about them.  For example at work I see many of the officers have a simple leather/leatherette/rubber banded digital watch.  It's easy to look at, it can generally display in 24 hour time, and it can take a beating.

Most of the nurses have standard 'clock style' watches with metal bands.  The metal bands are far better when you have to get them wet (washing hands) many times a day.  And the clock style is great because they almost all have an easy to read seconds hand.

Style wise... well there are some people at work who care about the style of their watch, but most don't.   At least the ones that I've talked to about it.  Obviously I feel that the perfect combination of style/functionality is the Pebble Steel.  It just looks classically good, and with the faces I have for it, has GREAT functionality.  But we all know how that's going down.  I still don't see a future where they allow it.

Streaming Music?

I've talked about how I get my music (mostly iTunes).  How I explore for new music (movies, television, commercials, rarely online radio at work...), and in my last music post I talked about how I play music (my iPod and my phone).

For the most part, I assumed I was being high tech.  I know people that still get CDs.  I have a friend who's introduction to digital music was getting a car with an internal hard drive.  He would rent CDs from the library and rip them right into his car... leaving him with a good selection of music that will go away whenever he ditches that particular car!  So sharing my music between the computer, the iPod, and my phone was still rather cutting edge... at least I thought so until I listened to a podcast from Wired magazine.

It seems that the new 'it' thing in music is streaming services.  Google Play Music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime, and of course the new gorilla in the line up... Apple Music.  Here's what I 'knew' about these services before the podcast:

• You could use them for free.  You would have limited selections to start from and there would occasionally be commercials.  You could skip a song or two, but eventually you'd be prevented from skipping.  
• On the Free tier you could select a particular song to start from, but it wouldn't play that actual song. 
• If you paid for the service, you could get more skips, you would get no (or at least less) commercials.  You could also be more specific or general in your streaming... say you want chill 70's singer-song-writer guitar heavy songs.  
• And.... that's about all I knew.

Constitutional Questions

Happy Independence Day!

Yeah Yeah... I'm posting this on the 5th, but I was doing the whole 'family' thing on the 4th and this is the first opportunity to post.

Before I get into constitutional or political quandaries, lemme go over the holiday.  It was a rare holiday as both of my brothers and I had the day off.  R gets every weekend off, I get every other weekend off, but B normally works on Saturdays.  So having a Saturday holiday with all of us is quite rare.

We spent the day and grilled at my Aunt's house.  I'm sure I've said before, but my Mother and my Aunt always make too much food for the holiday meals.  I don't think they can quite come to terms that they make a LOT of great food and that it's just not reasonable for them to make everybody's favorite dishes.  Nor can they come to the conclusion that they aren't feeding the 15 people that we had before.  This year was large... 10 of us... but they still cooked as if feeding a small army.  We had burgers and dogs on the grill (this included my brother's chicken burgers), corn fresh off the cob, fried potatoes, baked beans, potato salad, taco salad, and tortilla chips and queso.  They really reigned it in for desert as we 'only' had strawberry cake, preacher's cake, and blueberry desert (more or less blueberry and whipped topping no-bake cheesecake).

Dumb it down

I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  I explained in the previous post that my Pebble smart watch was banned from the prison.  I wasn't about to let this go as I really love my Pebble smart watch.  Not just because of the features that work with a cell phone, but because it's faces are perfect for work.

So I emailed the inspector and explained my position.  It was a long email, but this is the gist of it:  The watch only connects via blue tooth.  The watch does not connect to computers.  The watch is a valuable tool for me.  The watch has no microphone, camera, or cellular technology.

I suggested I bring him the watch so that I could show him first hand what it can and cannot do.  He agreed and yesterday morning I met with the Inspector, watch on wrist.  My first impression of the inspector was... well technophobe is probably a bit to far, but he wasn't loving technology like I do.  He had a phone (he works outside of the secured perimeter), but it was a dumb phone.  A flip phone.  Just the way he had his desk set up made it clear that he didn't even like his computer.  It was pushed off to the back corner where the front of his desk had room for papers, pens, and pencils.  This didn't bode well.

He also seemed to immediately take this as a "Me Vs Him" conversation.   He had a stack of papers that included a photocopy of my watch and a print out from the Pebble website explaining all the features of a watch.  Specifically they were talking about the new Pebble Time.  While I have a Pebble Time (Steel) on order, I do not currently have one.  He turned the papers around and tapped his finger accusingly on a highlighted passage and said "This is why I don't want you to have this watch."

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday...

So Tuesday at work was one of those days that I enjoy and dread in equal measure.  It was Busy.

The busyness came mainly from scheduling.  Our clinic generally schedules between 20 and 40 appointments a day.  Those appointments are spread between many nurses, and my share is often a bit less as they have to leave room for the various transfers that invariably come in.

On Tuesday we had 64 scheduled appointments.  Even with reducing my 'share' of appointments and leaving me room for transfers I still had 10 appointments.  So once the day started, I got running and never slowed down.  There were only four transfers, but I didn't even START getting them ready until around 7 PM.  And of course there were a few urgent cases.  By the end of the shift I had taken care of 16 appointments.

That number alone doesn't convey just how busy I was.  Sometimes appointments are things like taking a blood pressure, or reading a test result.  Most of my appointments that day were full on assessments.  An inmate has a complaint, and I get to start from scratch.  "Oh, your back hurts, well let's talk about it for 20 minutes while I try to figure out what the hell is wrong with you (probably mental) and what I am going to do about it (or NOT do about it)".  I've had more appointments in a day, but Tuesday was one of the busiest non stop days I've ever had.