Monthly Archives: January 2010

Not Quite The Same

Posted on by at 11:15 pm
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Last week on the eve of the big Apple announcement of their new tablet dubbed the ‘iPad’, I was reading everyone’s Tweets and speculative posts about what it would be and about how they couldn’t wait to get one. Then as the day finally arrived, I tried to be excited. As people talked about stopping what they were doing to watch the key note address, to follow the live blogs, and to hang on every bit of information that leaked out of that convention center, I realized that I didn’t care. I was actually happy to be going to work all night so I wouldn’t have to listen to all the banter on the internet about a new product that wouldn’t even be available for a few months. As much as I wanted to be excited and know everything about it, I found myself caring less and less about it. This got me wondering why. I am a tech guy. Always have been. I’ve always tried to be on the bleeding edge of technology and always wanted the new, shiny toys when they came out. After mulling all this over in my mind for a few days, I have come to one very logical conclusion: I am not the guy I was 5 years ago.

I know that’s very redundant, but hear me out on this one. Five years ago I was a die hard PC guy. I was living by myself, had been for almost 3 years at that point, and I was dating this chick I met online who lived 90 minutes away from me and was going to school another 90 minutes away from me. I had no cares and the world was my oyster. If I wanted something, I would go out and buy it. Staying up until 5am on the computer playing games or doing some coding was the norm. I was not management at work and was simply another employee. Life was good.

Five years later I am a happily married man, a new father, and sole provider for my family. I am a manager at work and have many responsibilities. Instead of a ‘fun’ car, I drive a car that is paid off in full and is very economical for what I need it to do. I work hard for what I have and haven’t used credit in almost 4 years. As for the 4am gaming sessions, I am lucky to stay up past 2 am nowadays. Rather than coming home to play a game or to do some coding, I rush home to see my wife and to play with my son. There are entire days now where the only computers I touch are our Linux terminals at work to check stock and email. I haven’t built a PC for myself in close to 7 years. My main computer is now a Macintosh which is 2 years old, and yet, still feels new to me. I’ve slowed my way of life. I’ve shifted my priorities. Rather than droll over the latest tech and blow money on something new and shiny, I’d rather take my wife out for a nice little meal, and go buy my son some new clothes or a new toy.

Does this change who I am? Sure. But only to those who cannot accept change and the natural progression of life. Do I miss owning my own computer company. No. The thought of working on a virus infested PC literally turns my stomach. Not many people know this, but I almost lost my wife due to the number of hours I was putting into my computer business along with working my full time job. The worst part about it was that I saw no $$ from the business as I was putting every last dime back into the business. My wife never made me choose between her or the business. She never had to. That’s why I love her so much. I knew what choice to make to make things right.

There’s a line from an old hacker movie that goes, “We dont care about anything unless it’s on a hard drive.” At one time in my life, that was very true. Nowadays, I gladly turn my back to my computer to spend time with my family.

Today’s technology will be obsolete in a matter of months. Family is never obsolete.

I See It’s That Time Again

Posted on by at 1:30 am
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What time is it you ask? It’s appears it is time to visit the eye doctor again. No, Loki hasn’t feasted upon yet another pair of my spectacles. My eyes however, have seemed to have mutated once again. My left eye is somewhat clear while my right is now almost 40% blurry all the time. This is making reading things from a distance of about 7ft a chore, and anything over 20ft near impossible. So, tomorrow morning…er…this morning…around 11am let’s say, we’re going to call the eye doctor and see if we can make an appointment for this Friday. I really don’t want to get new glasses as I am a cheap bastard frugal shopper, but considering about 30% of the black paint on my frames is gone and now I can’t see…I think it’s time.

I am really hoping I can get an appointment for Friday since Jess is off and she can be my voice of sanity when picking out frames. Whenever I go to pick out new frames I always end up liking ones that my wife says look horrible on me. Then of course, I hate all the ones she picks out for me. Then somewhere amid the chaos and fury of frames being traded back and forth, we come across that one pair. Ah yes, that one pair just like the One Ring that was destined to rule them all. The other frames bow to its superiority and envy its ability to not only have the seal of approval from my wife, but my blessing to decorate my face as well. And then of course we look at the price tag. 9 out of 10 times these frames are worth more than my current motor vehicle…washed…and waxed…with a full tank of gas. Which brings me to another thing about getting new glasses…

I know this is all part of the process, but think about this. Without my glasses I am literally as blind as Stevie Wonder. Now, I need to take my glasses off to try on these frames with no prescription lenses in them at all, and try to look at myself in the world’s smallest mirror with the world’s worst lighting and determine if these look good enough to wear every day of my life until my next ocular mutation. I know there’s really no easy way around this step, but you’ve got to admit that this is one fucked up way to pick out glasses. It’s like putting in ear plugs, going to the music store, and then getting to hear 5 second samples of a CD you will be forced to broadcast everyday, for the next, let’s say, 2 years of your life. You’re can’t make a sound, rational decision when you’re impaired like that. And then there’s an even more evil side to the whole process…

One of the last times Loki ate my glasses, I decided to go by myself to get new glasses. I still had contacts so I was pretty sure I could pick out decent frames without the help of my wife. I went to the store and proceded to try on every pair, including random people’s who just happened to walk into the store. Once the selection process narrowed down the selection to my top 3, I stood at that tiny, tiny mirror and proceeded to play what I call the Clark Kent/Superman game. Glasses on, glasses off. Glasses on, glasses off. (you get the idea) After doing this for about 10 minutes a rather attractive clerk came over and asked if I needed help. I laughed and said that I can’t decide between the frames. Being quite good and what she was being paid to do (flirt), she told me she liked pair ‘A’ the best. Without a second guess, I handed her the frames and told her to slap some lenses in them. Two hours later when I got home my wife took one look at me and asked me what the hell I was thinking. I tried my best to explain that I had it all under control until this clerk came over and gave me their opinion. Only one phrase came out of her mouth next.

“She was cute, wasn’t she?”

Powerless, I hung my head in shame. “Yes. I was weak.” She just shook her head and walked away.

Later, I asked her if she was mad. She laughed and said “Why should I be mad? You’re the one with the ugly glasses!”

Haven’t We Done Something Like This Before?

Posted on by at 11:58 am
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Today is day one of a new adventure with an old theme; Jess went back to school today. As a teacher you ask? No. Back to her online studies? No. Jess has gone back to school at the very place she was when I met her — Kutztown University. Why? Well, that’s a simple, yet very, very complex answer.

Right before Christmas we got a letter from the state saying that they could not certify my wife as a music teacher until she took an additional 5 courses. Turning a very long and sorted story short, her graduate university lied to her and dropped the ball, therefore, she has to go back to school. An even shorter version is that she is driving 3 hours a day to go to Kutztown University 4 days a week to finish up everything the state requires of her so she can begin teaching for the 2010-2011 school year.

What does this mean for us? Well, this means a drastic change to our lifestyle/schedule. My wife will be attending class there 4 days a week. I have also altered my schedule at work so we have someone here with Jackson. So for the next 4 months my wife will be leaving the house at 7am for school, I’ll get up with Jackson and be with him until she gets home at 1-1:30pm, then I’ll hand Jackson off and get ready for work at 2pm. I’ll be getting home form work between 10:30-11:30pm (depending on the night), letting my wife go to bed, and then putting Jackson to bed. After that, I need to try and get some sleep myself since I have to get up with Jackson in about 8 hours. Repeat this Monday-Thursday for the next 4 months. Yeah…fun!

On the bright side though, it IS only for 4 months. Hopefully the time will fly!

The Decade 2000-2009

Posted on by at 8:45 pm
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I wanted to sit down and write a nice long post on the significant events of the past decade. But when I sat down at my terminal to write it, I realized that this would be nothing less than a short novel. Not wanting to unduly punish you the reader, I’ve decided to take a different approach to the same subject. So, instead of looking back at significant events, I’m going to skip from 2000 to 2010 and see how certain things have changed along the journey.

In 2000, I finally moved out in to my own home. I am still living in that same house as I write this. Though much has changed over the past 10 years, it’s been an interesting and meaningful evolution.

10 years ago, the spare bedroom was setup as my office. Over time, it grew into nothing less than my lab and sanctuary. It remained that way for 9 long years. This is where I retreated to when I got home from work, the weekends, and anytime I needed to be by myself. If you’ve ever heard of the term ‘man-cave’, this was my ‘man-cave’. Now this room of solace and geekness holds a crib. This is where my son sleeps. I have passed my legacy onto him.

10 years ago I was working as a manager for a very prominent video game retail gaming store. They were in fact the #1 retailer of video games at the time. I spent all day shilling out games, and all night playing them. Now, I barely get a chance to play any games. The company was purchased by their rival a few years back. Their name, Electronics Boutique, has gone the way the of the dinosaur. Or in gaming reference terms, the Atari Jaguar.

10 years ago I was a new AT&T customer with my 2nd cell phone. My new phone did all kind of new, futuristic things like have a contacts list, send and receive text messages, and multiple ringtones. I am currently an AT&T customer, having just returned this past July from almost 7 years with Verizon. I use an iPhone 3GS, which is more powerful than the desktop computer I moved into this house with 10 years ago. If you had shown me the iPhone 10 years ago, I would have told you it was a prop from Star Trek.

10 years ago I just bought a 1996 Neon coupe with almost 8,000 miles on it. Today, I drive a 1994 Buick Century sedan with 77,000 miles on it. What lessons have I learned from this? You go with what works.

10 years ago I downloaded music everyday, over the internet, for free, through a little program called Napster. Today I pay for 100% of my music over iTunes or in stores via a physical CD. I have done my fair share of pirating, as well as your share and the chap sitting next to you. However, through a tough lesson, and a little growing up, I’ve come to realize that paying you own way through life has something to be said for it. You sleep better at night.

10 years ago I bought one of the very first MP3 players, the Diamond Rio. It had 32mb of internal memory, and I purchased the largest media card I could for it, bringing the total size to 64mb. Today, my smallest iPod hold 1gb. (I still have the Rio!)

10 years ago I mocked people who used Macintosh computers. I was a gamer and therefore a die hard PC guy. Today, I am hardcore Mac guy.

10 years ago I thought I was hot shit for going out and buying a new 40gb drive. I would never have to delete anything again! That drive set me back a little over $200. A few months ago, I bought a new external drive for my Mac. I decided to go for broke and spent $85 on a 1tb drive. My current PC has almost the same amount of storage. Hell, I have a 320gb drive upstairs in my firebox for external picture backups. Even though space is cheap and plentiful, I can’t seen anything worthwhile anymore to fill the drives.

10 years ago none of my friends were married. Not only are almost all of us married, but almost all of us have kids.

10 years ago I spent way too much time trying to live up to other people’s expectations. Today, I just try to be the best man that I can be.

10 years ago I was playing DOOM on my IBM Aptiva PC. I just played the same exact DOOM this morning on my iPhone.

10 years ago I paid a man to install 4 new windows in my home because I didn’t have the first clue about home improvement. This year, I installed 2 new windows myself into my son’s room.

10 years ago I dreamed of going to England one day. I was lucky enough to spend a week there with my wife in 2007. I wake up everyday trying to figure out a way to go back.

10 years ago I was listening to CDs by ‘The Police’ wondering what it must have been like to see them play their last tour in 1984. Against all odds, I get to see ‘The Police’, newly reunited, live in Hershey with my wife less than a week after coming back from England. Two dreams fulfilled in less than 10 days.

I could probably go on like this few a few more pages, but I think we both have better things to do with our time. This was the first decade of my life that I was not in school. It was also the first decade where I was not living under my parent’s roof. There were some great times, and there were some downright shitty times. Friends were made, and friends were lost. Regardless, it was one hell of a journey. I can’t wait to see what this next decade will bring. We’ll pick us this little chat in 2020.