Blackout

At 5:42 am this morning, I awoke to the sound stopping on my Holmes ionizer air filtration machine. Quiet. I knew immediately what this meant, the power is out. I use the Holmes ionizer air filter as white noise to help me sleep. Now that the power was out, I was wide awake. It was just as well because I had a dental appointment in Dover at 9 am. With the power outage, I’m just getting up earlier than I had planned to. Oh joy.

The New Year continues to greet me with a series of frustrations to try my patience. I’m losing it. Yesterday I got my DIRECTV fixed so I could receive my satellite television. Another little fire put out. But then when I went to work I noticed that my wrist watch had stopped. Oh why not? The battery was dead. I took the watch off because all I would do would look at it as if it was still keeping time. So I went to work, looking at a bare wrist. Down here in Slower Lower (Sussex County, Delaware), one doesn’t walk into a jewelry shop and buy a watch battery and ask them to change it. That’s a service that isn’t done in Slower Lower. I know. I’ve tried only to be met with a curt “We don’t do that!” Since I was traveling back to civilization this morning (Dover), I would get it done there (which I did.)

I forget to mention that yesterday (Wednesday), I was awakened by the sound of the trash truck. Our trash can was in the garage. Of course it should have been out by the mailbox so my new trash hauler (Moore) could pick it up. Our previous trash hauler, Waste Management, picked up the trash later in the morning so Bill didn’t put out our can until 8 or 9. Apparently, Moore gets started earlier. I quickly threw on some clothes and rushed to the garage. I pushed the automatic door opener and, sure enough, the Moore trash behemoth was several house up Whitehall Drive, picking up my neighbor’s can. I wheeled out my can and parked it at the edge of my driveway, hoping they would see me and take pity. They weren’t in the pitying mood yesterday morning. After loudly dropping my neighbor’s giant green plastic trash can (everyone wake up!), their truck pulled away and drove off into the morning light of Whitehall Drive. Yes, I would be keeping my trash for another week. Somewhere in the bottom of that can is a rotten potato. Ever smell a rotten potato? The dark brown spot on a rotten potato quickly liquefies and turns into an all enveloping permeating smell the likes of which is hard to describe. Not as bad as a skunk but not a smell you would want lingering on your clothes and house. I’m hoping I get a break on that potato. I don’t need to smell that for the next week until the trash men come back next Wednesday. Oh yes, we will take out the trash early next week. We don’t need a big learning curve on this one.

So the power was out this morning. What a wonderful start for the new day. This brought back memories of when we used to live in Pennsylvania. We lived on 7 acres of wooded land in East Brandywine Township. Our power went out on the average of twice a month. We had a whole routine. Usually a strong wind would take out the power. The area we lived had so many trees and invariably a strong wind would break off a dead branch that would take the power out. Sometimes the outages would only be for a few hours and sometimes a day. On once occasion, it was out for a week. This was another reason I moved to Delaware and away from trees. I never did get used to living with all those power outages. Since we have lived in Delaware (November 2006), this is only the third outage. None of them have been longer than a few hours. This one I think was caused by a deterioration of the phone line. As Bill and I drove out of our development this morning for my 9 am Dental appointment in Dover, we saw the electric company trucks repairing the line. Interesting, the repairman for DIRECTV was in yesterday repairing corroded connections on our satellite hookup and today the electric company was repairing a corroded electric line. Even more irony, my dental appointment was to take out my upper left bridge and the one tooth holding it to be replaced by a partial denture. I don’t know, it seems like everything is falling apart this year, including me.

DIRECTV Fixed!

My DIRECTV is fixed! Juan, the DIRECTV repairman arrived at the appointed time. Juan was the original DIRECTV technician who setup my system. I was glad to see him. I knew I was in capable hands.

He had no problem with my request to remove his shoes before he went through my house. I know I'm fussy to the inth degree but I really don't want people walking through my house with their shoes on. Who knows what those shoes have walked on?

Juan quickly diagnosed the problem as one of corroded contacts on the outside lines. It took him about two hours to replace the contacts. Now I have my MSNBC back (and CNN and TCM.)

Juan and his family used to live in this development. The three of us (Bill) discussed what has transpired since he moved. It was good to see him again. It was also good to have a professional, knowledgeable and friendly service person take care of my problem.

This is a short posting because I have to go to work early today. Blare (who I'm relieving) has to leave early for a doctor's appointment. Today will be a long day at work for me but I am comfortable knowing that when I come home tonight I can watch Keith and Rachel.


Now I have another problem, my Adobe Flash Player isn't working on my Gateway computer. I can't blame this problem on Vista. Who knows what happened here? I get a message telling me I don't have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player and I need to download it. I download it and nothing happens. So what else is new? O la de da.

Don't Ask, Don' Tell

The news is out, Barack Obama is going to overturn the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the military. Thank God. Robert Gibbs, Obama’s press secretary stated that Obama will request that the policy be discontinued.

This is ironic because I am just finishing the book, “Major Conflict” by Jeffrey McGowan, a retired U. S. Army major. Major McGowan hid is sexuality during his ten years in the Army. Reading his book brought back so many painful memories for me. I also served in the U.S. Army. My tour of duty was January 27, 1960 through January 26th, 1963. I was stationed at Ft. George G. Meade, Maryland. I worked at the National Security Agency. I had a top secret security clearance. If there was even a hint of my homosexuality, I would have been cashiered out of the Army immediately. Back when I was in the Army, all it took was an accusation and you would lose your clearance. If you lost your clearance, the Army Security Agency gave you a Section 8 discharge. While it wasn’t a dishonorable discharge, it wasn’t the type of discharge you would want on your record for the rest of your life.

Another irony, before I joined the Army, I didn’t know another gay person. Like many closeted gays of my generation, I thought I was the “only one” in the world. Remember, I grew up in the Fifties, when the only thing on TV was Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Of course I was aware of perverts who hung around men’s room. I knew I wasn’t one of those. I also knew I wasn’t Milton Berle in drag. I just thought I was “different.” So it came as a surprise that some of the first gay guys I met were in the Army. No, there were no sexual encounters. That didn’t happen. As friendships developed, our common sexual identity just sort of came out. There was never one dramatic moment when my friend Ron or Sal said “Oh! You’re gay too?” That never happened. I had many friends when I was in the Army. Gay and straight. We were all soldiers and we behaved as soldiers. We were all in the same boat. When you're on the front line with bullets whizzing above your head, no one is going to ask you if you're straight or gay. While I know there are homophobes in the Army, I believe most of the fear of gays comes from those outside the Army.

Ron and Sal were my best friends during my 2 ½ years at Ft. Meade. We had a wonderful camaraderie. I cannot imagine how my time at Ft. Meade without their friendship. Ron and Sal are gone now. They would have been surprised and very happy with this news. Unfortunately, Sal was right when he said "I'll never see it in my lifetime. " I wish I could pick up the phone and call Sal now to discuss this good news with him. I can't because Sal died October 17th, 2006. I will have to be content knowing that Sal is looking down from Heaven with that warm smile of his at this turn of events.

Like Jeffrey McGowan, I wanted to serve my country. Except for the pressure of hiding my sexual identity, I enjoyed my three years of duty. I had a great job at NSA. In fact, I could’ve transferred to civilian status after my tour of duty with the Army ended. However, when my enlistment was up, I decided not to reenlist or to transfer over to civilian status. I knew that the Army and the National Security Agency had a policy of firing homosexuals. I couldn’t imagine starting my life living a lie. Sooner or later, I would be found out. I couldn’t and wouldn’t live with that pressure.

Reading “Major Conflict”, all these memories came rushing back to me. The unfairness of losing my security clearance and getting kicked out of the Army just because of my sexual identity. I only had to be accused to lose my security clearance thrown out of the Army with a Section 8. I did not engage in any misbehavior. Ron, Sal and I were just friends. Unlike what many straight people think, gays men aren’t attracted to every man they see just as straight men aren’t attracted to every woman they see.

It’s ironic but the reason stated why a gay person would lose their clearance was because they would be subject to blackmail. This is a Catch-22 because the only reason they would be subject to blackmail is because the Army and NSA had a policy of not hiring gays. Never mind that there has never been on case of a gay person being blackmailed into revealing national secrets, the Army and the National Security Agency clung to their policy against gays.

When January 26th, 1963 rolled around, I left the Army and the National Security Agency. In April of that year I went to my first gay bar in the old steel town of Clairton, Pennsylvania. A little over a year later I met Bill, my life partner of 44 years now. Another irony, Bill was also in the service. He served for a time in the Army, and the balance of his ten years in the service was with the Air Force. Thus it came to pass that two Army vets are now partners for life.

When Clinton came into office, he attempted to lift the ban on gays in the military. Unfortunately, he blinked and backed down to the generals and the outcry from Congress. Clinton should have done what that long time conservative Barry Goldwater advised, remind the generals that he was the commander in chief and if they didn’t like his order, then they should resign.

There will be another outcry this time again. There are those in this country who consider gays as a lesser life form. We are the last minority that it is permissible to discriminate against. However, times have changed. The question is, have they changed enough that the majority of this country now see that allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve benefits not only gays but also benefits the country?

Angst

The problems continue. Below is an e-mail that I sent to a friend this morning. I was hoping my next blog posting would be a happy, upbeat blog posting. It was not to be. The past week or so, I’ve noticed that I can’t get some channels on my DirecTV satellite TV. I don’t want to give anyone headaches by going into the boring details like I did with my previous blog postings about my PC troubles with Vista. All I know is that I hate having strangers tramping through my house, with their shoes on (who knows where those shoes have been), checking off their check list of the usual suspects. I know what the problem is with my DirecTV. The satellite dish was knocked off of it’s settings during the 60 mph sustained winds we had at the end of the year.

The last time the DirecTV repairman came out, it was obvious I was his first patient because he kept referring to his manual. He checked all the connections which meant pulling all five of my receivers out of wherever they were accumulating dust. In the end, it was the dish, as it always is. What really blows their mind is when they check my main electrical switch box in the basement. Every repairman (or woman) from Verizon, to the whole house music people (oh yes, I’ve had them in too when that system went on the blink after a lightening strike), to DirecTV is traumatized once they get an eyeful of that Medusa mass of wires. The problem is NEVER there but I can tell that’s where they see an opportunity to dump the problem. It’s always the same thing isn’t it? Point the finger somewhere else.

The sun is streaming through the window to my left as I type yet another complaining blog entry. I apologize to all for my unending negative blog entries for the New Year. Unfortunately, this is my life. And that is what my blog is all about. I’m still looking for that stretch of time that there are no problems and I can complain about being bored because of my uneventful life. That ain’t going to happen.



Bob,

Now my DirecTV is acting up. I can get two channels on my bedroom TV. Nothing on my TV in the kitchen. It just says “searching for signal.” Bill just found out this morning that he can't get anything on the downstairs TV. I can get MSNBC and CNN on my TV in my office. Yesterday I made the call to DirecTV and the woman made me jump through the usual hoops. Unplugged the TV, reset, check the wires, etc. I think what the problem is that the satellite dish was knocked off its setting with those high winds at the end of the year.

The DirecTV repair guy is coming out tomorrow. The last time the repair guy came out he was looking through his instruction booklet. On the job training. We finally had to have the manager come out and reset the satellite settings on the satellite dish. Fun Times.

Just to top everything off, our new trash guys came out this morning at 6 AM to pick up the trash. Bill still had the trash can in the garage. We get to keep the trash another week. Our previous trash guys (Waste Management) used to come by around noon. This new one is my wake up call in more ways than one. I was still in bed when I heard the grind. Fun times.

No Regrets, No Complaints

Here we are half way into the first month of the New Year and I think I’m finally getting back on track. I had all good intentions of starting the New Year on a positive note with happy, upbeat blog postings. But alas, my problems with the Vista operating system on my new computer changed all that. I’m not going to revisit those problems again but I will say the whole experience left me a little shaky. The whole idea of getting a new computer was to get a sense of comfort and security that I would lose all my data on my old Gateway computer. Never in a million years did I think I would encounter the level of problems I had with Vista. Those problems still aren’t over. I have yet to load my Palm Pilot information on my new computer. Why? Oh, my old Palm program isn’t compatible with Vista. This is just another “improvement” for “upgrading” to the Vista operating system.

So here I am, sitting at my new computer, listening to my music (which is working now, thank goodness), typing in this entry on my wireless keyboard, using my wireless mouse. I disconnected my wireless printer and now have it plugged into the back of my computer. Interestingly, I now have one less cord running out of the back of my computer. The “wireless” printer had TWO cords running out the back (that makes sense.) So now I’m ready to enjoy what I paid a lot of money for, my new computer. I don’t feel like that is asking a whole lot.

One of the readers of my blog suggested that I write a blog about my life now in cyber world versus a life I would have had 150 years ago in the hills of western North Carolina, from whence my ancestors struggled to make a living. While it sounds all well and nice to be self sufficient as they were, I think I prefer my life today with all its frustrations. While my great-great-great-great grandfather Major Jonathan Tipton (1750-1833) had to worry about getting the crop in and producing enough food for his family of 19 children to carry them through the winter, I only have to worry about how fast is my connection to the Internet. While Jonathan and Keziah Tipton (his 2nd wife – he would have one more before he finished his Life’s Journey) and their children huddled together in their log cabin during the winter trying to stave off the cold winter winds, I’m worried about how much higher my heating bill with Poore’s Propane (an appropriate name for a heating company I would say) is going to go up next month. At least I have the wherewithal to pay the bill. I don’t to worry about bears or snakes invading my home. The only snakes I have to worry about are the two legged kind and there are plenty of them around.

I guess it all boils down to the context. Maybe a lot has to do with what one is used to. If you never had something, chances are you really don’t miss it. Still, I would find it very hard to get used to sleeping on a wooden floor in the winter time with the snow blowing through the cracks in the log house in which Jonathan and his family lived. Even as late as 1926, my uncle Tip (Fieldon Jacob Tipton, Jr.) told me that when he was born on December 31st, 1926, that the midwife had to brush the snowflakes away from him that came in through the spaces in the wooden walls of the cabin in which he was born. Can you imagine?

What is even harder for me to imagine is if my grandparents had not moved their family to Pennsylvania in 1929, where would I be now? I don’t think I would be sitting on a fence plucking a banjo a la Deliverance, but I probably wouldn’t be too far from that scene. I’ve been down those hills in North Carolina and I’m telling you, they haven’t changed all that much from Major Jonathan Tipton’s time. What really boggles my mind though, is what would my life have been like as a gay man? Or, maybe those mountains of North Carolina were like the present day Iran, there were no gays. Then again, maybe not. They probably had big closests back then.

I am extremely thankful to be where I am today. Even with all my frustrations and the roadblocks I encounter in everyday living. My life is infinitely better than my ancestor’s life was back in their day. However, I do wonder what someone reading this blog 150 years from now would think of the way I live today. They would probably think “How could he live under such circumstances?” I manage. Just as my great-great-great-great grandfather Jonathan Tipton managed in his time, I manage in my time. After all, life is all about survival and reaching a quality of life that we can enjoy the short time that we are on this earth. I hope this blog posting survives for the next 150 years so someone in the future will know that this 67 year old, gay white man was happy with his lot in life. I have no regrets and I have no complaints. However, it would be nice if I could string a few days together without encountering some kind of technological problem. Just yesterday I couldn't get TCM (Turner Classic Movies) on my satellite TV. Would would Major Jonathan think?

AOL Installed!

After my angst, AOL 9.1 is finally installed on my new Dell computer. What was the problem? You might have guessed it. It was the Vista operating system that was incompatible with AOL 9.0.

While waiting for Tom (PC Guy) this morning, I search the Internet to see if anyone else was having the same problems. It didn’t take me too long to find out that I wasn’t the only one by a long shot. Back at the beginning of the year there were quite a few postings to a Microsoft forum about other users who could not install AOL 9.0 or AOL 9.1, or even AOL 9.1 VR (Vista Ready) on their computers that had a Vista operating system.

I printed out the postings from that forum and gave it to Tom when he came in this morning. Tom had asked me to call AOL for support but I didn’t because I knew that would be an exercise in futility. Many people on the forum reported that they called the AOL Help line. That’s an oxymoron, AOL Help. Of course AOL was of no help. I even called Smart Computing for help. I’m a long time subscriber so I thought for the first time I would take advantage of their much advertised tech help line for subscribers. That was a waste of time. The guy on the other end of the line blew me off.

The postings on the forum dropped off after March of 2008 so I came to the conclusion that AOL finally figured out how to make their version 9.01 compatible with Vista. Tom and I downloaded the latest version. Right away we noticed that this was going to be a SLOW DOWNLOAD. It was. It took about 2 hours to download. Tom couldn’t wait. He has a life.

Tom fixed my HP Photosmart All-in-One printer problems (I couldn’t’ use the scanner) by uninstalling and reinstalling the software. It now works, for the time being at least. This is about the fourth time this software has been uninstalled and reinstalled.

Tom left the premises. I continued to monitor the SLOW AOL download. If this was downloading to Windows XP, it would only take minutes. But no, this is downloading to an upgraded version of Windows. What has this upgrade done for me? If anyone knows, let me know.

When the download was almost done, I got an error message. My heart dropped. But, there was hope. A button appeared that said “continue?” I said ‘YES!”. It picked up where it left off. This happened three more times. Man oh man. What is it with the upgrades? Don’t they test these things before they put them on the market? Of course they don’t. This is the new business ethic, throw it out on the market and let them work out the kinks. Thank you Mr. Softee.

The download finally completed and the Welcome screen of AOL appeared on my widescreen Dell computer. Nirvana! I love the user interface and icons on AOL. I have one friend who constantly criticizes me for staying with AOL. I know AOL has problems and has no support for its users but it does have the most user friendly Internet portal. It is the one I prefer.

My joy was short lived. I got an error message. Ugh! I turned of the computer, hoping it only needs a reboot. I wait a minute and, with bated breath, I turn the Dell back on. AOL came up! My computer didn’t blow up! It works! Hosanna!

How long this will last, I don’t’ know but I was had AOL up for three hours, catching up. Right now I’m on my old Gateway computer. I have AOL version 9.0 (which I reinstalled myself without any problems.) After dinner, I’ll turn on my Dell. Oh I hope I don’t have any more problems.

What did I learn from this whole episode? I should have listened to those who said Vista sucks. I’ve also learned that the Help lines also suck. What works now is going to forums on the Internet for others who have the same problem. This is the only place where you will find anyone who has the knowledge and can help. There are good people on those forums who are unselfish and willingly help those of use who aren’t techies.

This is something I discovered last week where I work. My boss had just completed two days removing Malware from the office network computers. After finishing he found he couldn’t get the printer to work. He posted the problem in the Google browser and discovered others who had the same problem. Within minutes he received an e-mail from a person in Russia who had the answer. The Russian user sent him an e-mail with instructions how to solve the problem. My boss keyed in the instructions. Immediately the printer began printing.

This episode opened my eyes. Don’t depend on AOL, Dell, Microsoft or Hewlett Packard. They’re too busy laying employees off and outsourcing work to India where they speak heavily accented English. The Help lines will never be effective because there is no money in it for the companies involved. The AOL’s, Dell’s, Microsoft’s, and Hewlett-Packard’s of this world don’t care about their consumer. They only care about making the sale. Their priority is how many stock options and bonuses they can give their executives. Perhaps the greatest failure perpetuated on the American public in recent years is this “upgrade” Vista. Someone please tell me how my life is better because I have Vista on my new computer. Please.

I say put a pie in the face of all those who are responsible for this travesty. Think different. I next time I get a Mac.

Rules for Kids

Lately, I haven't been feeling too good about Mr. Softee (Bill Gates) because of all my computer problems with Vista. Actually, I'm not feeling too good about the PC industry as a whole, and that include Dell computers and Hewlett Packard printers. However, a friend sent this to me this morning. I thought it was worth sharing. In this once instance I agree with the Chief Nerd.

This attributed to Bill Gates but that is incorrect. It is actually the work of Charles Sykes in his book Dumbing Down Our Kids)

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Thank a teacher!

Most of all Thank A Veteran for keeping our country free so this can be passed on to someone else.