Author: anthony Page 24 of 72

I had to run some errands yesterday after work and when I was done I could see that the southbound traffic on Route 8 was going. to. be. horrible. So, I fired up the GPS, told it to avoid highways, and directed it to take me home. (note to self, better set that back before I go to visit my folks for thanksgiving – otherwise, super-duper long trip)

I had some music playing and the route seemed pretty clear and everything was fine until I took a turn a little too sharply.

The GPS went flying off the dashboard and headed right for the passenger side floorboards. On the way down, the cord dragged on the volume control and cranked it up.  Like, all the way.

We went from a peaceful car ride to the GPS yelling at me from the floor and Aimee Mann screaming at me from the speakers.

I got through the turn safely, turned down the music, and carefully retrieved the GPS from the floor. Everyone got settled down and we were on our way.

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I got home and set to work on an origami wreath for Jim. He liked the thanksgiving one I had done for work and “hinted” that he’d like one too. I got the paper folded and glued, then started fixing a late dinner. The food was close to being done when I got a text from Jim at photography class. Turns out his professor had to bring her 6 year old son with her today – and he’d been there all day. And would I be interested in sharing a little origami lesson with him?

I thought about it a moment and then quickly agreed. Watching someone take pictures as a 40-something year old can be a little boring at times. Watching people talk about photos as a 6 year old must have been a boredom nightmare.

So, dinner turned into lunch the next day and a hot pocket went in the microwave as I got some paper together. I ate the hot pocket – pepperoni and cheese – and planned what folding projects a 6 year old could handle.

I drove to campus and found the classroom – and met Jim’s teacher and her son. The little dude was quite excited and we sat down to work on some projects.

He had fun picking out the paper and we started on a bird – which I switched over to a butterfly since we needed an easier warm-up. Next was a bird, then a dragon, a peacock, and a cube.  It’s a careful balancing act since I wanted to encourage him, keep him on track, and end up with something that actually worked while still letting him do most of the folding.

We folded for maybe an hour before it was time for class to end and I quickly made him a goldfish while Jim was getting his stuff together. The grateful mom wondered if I was a teacher since I was good with kids – but that level of focus is exhausting for me.

I left him with a box of treasures, hidden math lessons, and maybe an interest in paper folding of his own.

And the day was saved.

On Saturday, Jim was at the University to print out some photos.  This is a time consuming process and since we had planned on meeting up and running errands afterwards, I decided to walk to campus and meet him there.

It’s about 3 miles and took me about 45 minutes to get there.  The trip was uneventful, though I did go past an abandoned warehouse/factory that no amount of scooby snacks could have convinced me to go in – even in broad daylight.

When I got to the art school, I found the print lab and walked in – and it was so unexpected that Jim didn’t recognize me for a moment.  I went and got some hot chocolate at starbucks and then came back and played a game on my phone until he was ready to go.

I think that may have been my last long walk for a while – winter arrived the next day like it was trying to prove something.

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We went to dinner at PizzaFire that evening and while we were waiting for our meals Jim tapped his straw on the counter to remove the wrapper.

Now, I’m good at a lot of things but there are a few areas where I completely fail. And one of those failure points is removing straw wrappers – I can never get it to work.  I usually try a few times and then just tear the dang things to shreds trying to get at the straw.

It’s a minor thing, but for someone who enjoys figuring things out and doing things, it kinda irks me that I can’t get this.

I can’t knit either.

This time, though, I paid very close attention to the technique and replicated it exactly – and the straw promptly popped through the wrapper.

I was so excited I could only point at the straw – speechless.  Jim figured out what I was so excited about and congratulated me.

“You’re a big boy now!” he said and I laughed because I was thinking the same thing.

Later on as we were walking downtown, I confessed that while eating my pizza I bit my tongue so hard that I started to bleed – and that it was still bleeding.  I apologized in advance in case I ended up spitting blood.

He considered this a moment and then said, “Well, maybe you aren’t such a big boy if you can’t chew your food without biting your tongue”

In mock outrage, I stopped and turned in the other direction to walk away. I took a couple steps and he stopped me.

“Stop right there.  You aren’t allowed to cross the street by yourself,”

He’s quick.  🙂

I had a dream the other night that I was a corporate saboteur. I had infiltrated the headquarters with a mostly bogus ID and kept falling back on “I’m the new guy” whenever I couldn’t produce the right password. When my ID card didn’t work, I blamed HR – all the while trying to make my way towards an unguarded terminal so I could crash the system. My plan fell apart when I got onto an elevator with a working ID, but then got trapped with the real employees when I couldn’t put in my pin number to get the elevator going. They got suspicious and canceled the trip – opening the doors back onto the lobby floor.

Apparently, though, while we were arguing in the elevator, the office building got another visitor. We barely had time to get out of the elevator before the full wall of glass in the lobby exploded inwards and gigantic greenish-black tentacles crashed through, dousing the tile floor with seawater.

It was a kraken.

We all ducked off to the sides of the elevator as a tentacle crashed into the open doors. I did a roll, came up, and headed for the curved staircase. Racing up the stairs I dodged another tentacle that crashed through the railing, then threw a shoulder into the door of a supply closet. I emerged a moment later holding a box cutter in one hand and some kind of long serrated blade in the other.

I jump a tentacle as I went back down the stairs and tossed the box cutter to an employee. Neither of us spared a moment to even loosen a necktie – with a roar, we both ran towards the monster.

And then I woke up.

I read a book a number of years ago by David Brin called, simply, Earth. It was a somewhat heavy-handed future environmental focused sci-fi novel that had some good moments, but sort of stumbled at the end. Not that memorable, but for one quote:

"There may someday come an end to the need for war, but there will always be a need for heroes"

The need for war – interesting. Recognizes that – at least at this point in our civilization – sometimes conflict is necessary. If a person or culture is being oppressed, then sometimes conflict and war is an effective solution.

And if we ever somehow get past that need for conflict and war to free people and cultures from oppression, there still needs to be heroes to save us from ourselves.

Seems fitting to think about on Veteran’s Day – and the week where we elected a new leader that has been disrespectful of veterans and their families.

I didn’t serve in the armed forces – my path took me a different way – but I have family and friends that served. And they are in my thoughts today.

Our country has been at conflict with itself for a very long time. The latest changes to our leadership didn’t start this cultural conflict – though they did make it much more visible. On one side; treating everyone decently, respectfully, and equally. On the other; racism, misogyny, and xenophobia.

And I’m less worried about the leaders than those at the periphery who now feel vindicated in their frankly terrible ideas.

It’s not war, but it is conflict. And while the folks at the front line aren’t soldiers, perhaps they can still be heroes. We need a little triumph of good, a little rescuing from oppression, and maybe a little sacrifice if we’re to change the way america treats itself.

So, today, we recognize our veterans and the sacrifices they made on our behalf . And hopefully recognize that what they fight for – freedom – means freedom for everyone.

Thank you to my friends and family that have served and continue to serve.

I hope we can make you proud.

The online-virtual interview got cancelled at nearly the last minute, but I still wanted to take Edna and Louise out to dinner. I had a stressful day at work, but managed to get out on time and headed to their place to pick them up. We went to Applebee’s and though Edna had some trouble finding something she wanted on the menu she did eventually settle on a dish. Louise went right for the ribs and I had a chicken salad. They both gave the server a bit of a hard time and I made some origami to leave along with a nice tip when we headed out.  Oh, and Edna still thinks I’m fat.

On the way back to their place, Edna wanted to stop for scratch-off lottery tickets and of course Louise got the wrong kind when we stopped – so, we had to stop at another place.

I drove them home, helped Edna inside, and put the leftovers in the fridge. We talked for a while before I headed out – mostly about old times back from when I helped them move to Ohio.

There were hugs and promises to keep in touch. They’ll be moving this weekend so I probably won’t see them again before they go.

Edna seemed… a bit frail. I don’t know how old she is, but she’s a great -grandmother and though feisty, the years have caught up to her. Louise isn’t excited about the move, but she’s trying to put on a good face for her mom.

A move can be a stressful time and add in their ages and their destination, well, I worry.

I hope they have a safe trip and are able to get settled in easily.

April 8, 1998 was when they moved to Ohio.

Seems like a long time – and not long enough.   I wish my friends well and I’m glad we got the time that we did.

Out to dinner with friends this past weekend and the conversation turned to TV shows. When True Blood came up, we talked about our favorite characters and the demigoddess from season 2 was mentioned.

The engineer in the group asked, “Do you know what other show that actress was in?”

“Star Trek, the Next Generation” I replied with no hesitation. NONE.

The non-geeks at the table, along with the manager who had just then shown up at the table to ask how our meal was, waited patiently for us to share a “fist-bump of geek triumph” before continuing on.

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I didn’t do a walk-around on campus today for Halloween, but I still dressed up for the office. Late in the day I had to go across the street to meet with a couple people and on the way back, a guy in a UAPD truck stopped me and asked, “Blue Lantern?”

I grinned and told him I was. He then asked to see the ring – which of course I was wearing.

“Nice job,” he said and then asked what their thing was.

“Hope,” I told him and he nodded and smiled.

“Cool,” he said and headed out.

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We rule the world.

So, the Facetime test worked perfectly and Edna and Louise have agreed to the plan of me taking them out to dinner on Tuesday, then back to my house for the interview. Etta was kind of amazed that they went along with it and wanted to know my secret. I don’t really have one, per say, other than trying to be a pleasant and agreeable person. Sometimes that takes people by surprise.

Hopefully everything goes smoothly on Tuesday and things work out for them.

I also had some success with an apple laptop recently. Jim is in a photography class and part of the printing process involves color correcting the photos based on the printer he’ll be using. It can be a tedious process and he wanted to be able to do that at home – but still reference the printers at school. He called on his favorite geek and we spent part of last Saturday in the lab getting things set up. He powered up the printers and I found them on the network, but they were using generic drivers and wouldn’t have behaved properly. Jim was worried, but I hit the internet and found the right drivers. With those installed we re-set-up the printers and he was in business.

Am I morphing into some kind of Apple guy? I do have a hipster stocking cap, a tendency to grow a beard, and odd taste in music. Hmmm… maybe there’s pill for that?

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Prior to the photo printing lab success, I spent last Saturday morning making ornaments with the students for a Make A Difference day project. The ornaments will be donated to a local tree farm to be sent to troops stationed overseas for the holidays.

And on Monday, I had some special hand-made ornaments to give to the staff that had helped out as well. So, good deeds all around.

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I did the early voting thing this year since – like many folks – I just want the election season to be over. It went pretty smoothly and didn’t take long – and I once again amazed people by actually following directions and completing the entire request form. The final step involved putting the completed ballot in a sealed envelope and turning that in.

One of my friends raised the specter of voter tampering with that method since I’m relying on someone else to insert it in the machine later on, but I countered with a concern about tampering with the machine. At the end of the day, though, you have to let some things go and rely on the systems and processes.

You can’t worry about everything – especially since so much is out of our control.

I’m happy with my selections and no amount of media barrage can change things for me now. Still kinda tough to ignore, though. Ugh.

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This would normally be time of year when I would be full-on Halloween. Last year, though, was a little depressing to walk around on campus looking for my friends and finding they had been let go by the University.

Kinda put a damper on the Halloween spirit.

I do have a simple costume that I’ll wear on Monday to the office and if I have to go to any meetings on campus, but I’m not doing the tour this time. Just… not really into it.

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I’ve been tidying up the house today and doing some laundry. And spending a little time outside because it’s pretty amazing. Time to get back to it.

I usually avoid using names in my blog because some folks don’t like having their names in there and I try to respect that. Jim says he doesn’t mind. 🙂

In this case, I’m going to have to use names because it’s just too freaking complicated not to.

So:

The Ladies From New York Who Are Heading Back To New York are: Louise (The Younger) and her mom Edna (The Elder). Louise’s sister, Etta, is coordinating the move.

Etta called me the other day and said that the place where her mom and sister are moving to is requesting an interview with them before they move in. Since that would require another trip to New York, a virtual interview would work. And could I help with the technology?

Here’s where things get complicated.

Etta has an iPhone and can only use Facetime – an Apple-only product. Louise has a “non-smart” flip phone. I have only Google/Android options. Louise and Edna don’t have internet.

I can borrow an ipad from Jim, but he doesn’t have cellular service on it. He’s got it on his phone, but he needs his phone for class on Tuesday night. I have internet at my house, but Etta doesn’t want Louise to leave Edna home by herself for that long. The only time they can do the interview is 7:00 pm on a Tuesday night.

So, my plan is to do a trial run with Etta tomorrow night with the ipad at my house to check out Facetime. That puts it on my network and we won’t be using up data. If everything goes according to plan… then, on Tuesday, I’ll borrow Jim’s iPad again while he’s in class. I’ll take Edna and Louise out to dinner after work – then take them over to my house. Louise can use the Ipad for the interview and Edna and I can watch TV and see just how loud my sound system will go.

However, Etta doesn’t think Edna will go for the dinner and then hanging out at my place. So, if that falls through because of OLS (old lady stubborn), then we’ll need to see if we can either get cellular service turned on for Jim’s iPad for the short term or get the software he needs installed for class on the ipad and use his phone. And then I’ll pay for the data this little adventure will eat up.

And I’m wondering…

Why does this have to be a video interview? What’s to be gained with the Facetime that you can’t get with just a phone call?

Sigh.

Etta is going to check in with them this evening and see if she can persuade Edna to go along with being chauffeured around and provided free dinner. If not, I’ll need to figure how how fast the train is moving if it leaves from Tampa and it takes 3 hours and 27 minutes to get to Orlando.

Or something.

I really do want to help – just wishing it wasn’t quite so complicated.

Last Monday night, I planned my Tuesday. Work the day, lunch at Wendy’s, leave a little early to go vote. Return library books and get a haircut. Run errands and make it an early night.

And though my Tuesday morning turned out to be a lot more eventful than I could have known, the rest of the day was right on schedule. Except for two things:

1. Throughout the day I got amazing messages on Facebook from my friends and family. Whenever a new note would come in and I’d read it, I’d tear up for a moment before I got myself back under control. I guess it was the wild mix of emotions of the morning coming back to me and sweeping past my filters. It was a good thing and I’m grateful to everyone that shared what they were feeling – and helped me process what I was feeling.

2. Every time I went outside – and this continued the rest of the week – my eye kept getting drawn back to that spot. No matter which door I left from, where I was headed, or even when I was in the break-room with a window, I kept looking to the spot on the bridge where a desperate man had almost jumped.

I honestly don’t know what I expected to see there. In my head I know that the most reasonable answer is that I’m not going to see anything there. It’s just a place on the bridge and hundreds of people travel past there each day on foot and by car. And I drove across that bridge each morning, knowing better – and still looking.
And I got along with my days.
There’s a saying about not being able to step into the same river twice. The river changes from moment to moment and is influenced by forces around it – many we can’t even see. The name may stay the same as well as the general direction – but the river is something new.

So it is with people. We are shaped by the collection of experiences in our lives and while my name is the same and I’m headed in generally the same direction as I was, I’m someone just a little bit new.

I think I saved someone’s life this morning.

I was driving into work – and running a little late, if truth be told – and was just crossing the bridge when I saw a guy standing up on the ledge of the bridge supports holding onto the lamp post.

Below him, at a fatal distance, were the railroad tracks.

I quickly pulled into the parking lot of my building, got out, and quickly but calmly walked back to the bridge.

I approached him slowly and stopped when I got near him, but not too close – I didn’t want to scare him.

He was sobbing and seemed confused.

I said “Hello” and asked if he wouldn’t mind coming down from there. He asked me my name and I told him – he said his name was Bernie. He didn’t come down right away, but instead asked me if I was a believer.

I gave it a moment’s thought and told him “Yes”. He asked what I believed in and I told him “Everything, but mostly hope”.

He seemed a little calmer then and said he had another question for me. I said I’d be happy to answer, but maybe he could come down and we could talk for a bit? He shook his head and said he wanted an answer first. I nodded.

He asked, “If I was your son and I did something really bad, like killed your wife – would you forgive me?”

I told him I would. There really wasn’t any other answer.

That seemed to satisfy him and I helped him down off the ledge and onto the sidewalk.

I shook his hand and he thanked me – and said that 2 other people had walked by and didn’t say anything. He asked why I did and I told him that I saw him as I drove past and I was worried about him.

I realized that a police car had pulled up and that an officer was standing in the street. I’m not normally one to miss details like that, but I guess I was pretty focused.

The officer approached and asked Bernie if he recognized him. Bernie did and named him – Steve Hankins.  Officer Hankins asked if he could take Bernie somewhere and he agreed. Bernie told the officer that he didn’t have any weapons and that he’d thrown his knife out over the tracks.

Bernie gathered his stuff and thanked me – and the officer and I thanked each other.

They went to the patrol car and I walked back across the bridge and into my building.

I don’t know how much of what Bernie told me was true, but it didn’t matter. He was scared and desperate and just needed to talk to someone.

And I am deeply grateful that the police officer arrived. I don’t know if someone called or if this was his regular route, but I’m not sure what my next step would have been if he hadn’t been there.

When I got in the office I was still pretty shaky. I called Jim and we talked for a few minutes – just needed a friendly voice.

I couldn’t locate the officer’s email address on the Akron Police website, but I think I found his supervisor and I’ll see if they can relay a message.

I don’t know what really prompted Bernie to climb up on that ledge or what he was waiting on. Maybe if three people had walked past without saying anything…

I don’t know. But I’m glad I went to talk to him.