The Individual blog, No. 86 for the week starting May 19, 2008.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Boondocks is about farms, rural life, and power toys.
Energy looks at high energy prices and our future.
Enviroman looks at man and the environment.
Hayseeds looks at politics and life in our nation.
Outblog is all about my outdoor experiences.
Transit looks at the changing ways we get around.
Truck gives you stories and trips in my Ford Ranger.
Went To Oneonta on Saturday. My sister's graduation was great, although my hangover plus the crowds made me nausea. They had a group ceremony and then a very nice departmental ceremony in a beautiful auditorium.
I drove down beautiful NY Route 7 to Oneonta, bypassing Guilderland on the Thruway (I-90) and Cobelskill on the Warren Anderson Expressway (I-88E). There is something so great about those small towns, be it Scheneuvus, Richmondville, or Worcester.
It's great to see these little communities, still somewhat intact and not totally destroyed by the automobile or urbanization. There are still a lot of open spaces out there in New York, and still Main Streets that stand strong and are not totally raped by commericalization (although we know most people still hop in their pickup trucks and go shopping at the Super Walmart in Oneonta or Cobelskill with the money from milking the cows, paving the roads, and cutting hair).
Downtown Oneonta is still quite beautiful with a life and culture, much like downtown Cobelskill. Assuming I go camping this weekend, I'll probably spend sometime in Cobelskill.
I saw one of these beautiful animals—a Scottish Highland Cow—on a farm along Route 7, although this isn't my picture:
I love the blue highways of New York. I think it would be fun to live in one of those small towns or cities, with a lively main street or maybe on a farm on the outskirts of town. There is so much more life in such places, and so much more pride then the dirty, depressed big cities like Albany. P'Link
Beautiful Night Out There. The sunset is an amazing red-blue color as I look across the way from the grass where I sit at the Bethlehem Library across Vertstandig's greenhouse.
I just got back from riding my bike down to Walmart. I meant to go there and pickup a pair of headphones, but I quickly forgot about that looking at my options for campstoves and getting a new battery for my truck.
As you might have guessed, I've fixed my flat tire on my bike and now I'm back on the road. I am happy.
I have to admit I miss being out in the country and the great open spaces. Somehow the city and the suburbs just don't have same appeal. There are some farms around and certainly Five Rivers and other wild lands, but it's not the same as being out in Westerlo.
What I do not miss is the gas bills or the idea of having to drive to Westerlo every night on $4 gas—or having to drink in moderation at social events (you can't get a DWI for drunk bike riding or drunk bus riding). P'Link
What's Next In My Life? That's a question I have been posing to myself for a while. I enjoy my job and what I am currently doing, but I am also looking forward to new challenges both in the near future and further on out.
I'm seriously already thinking about 2010 and my options during that year. I know that's a long ways away, but I'm thinking at that point I'm ready to make a break from Albany and move away—far, far away. Maybe somewheres in the Midwest or the West. I have no idea what I would do there.
One thing I know for sure is I don't want to take any kind of leadership position. It's really tough being an elected or appointed official and having to represent the views of your consitutents, even when you might personally prefer to break with them. I see that both at work, and in my personal life, serving as the secretary for the local Democracy for America chapter.
I like doing activist-type work for sure. I like knowing that what I do personally and to a lesser extent professionally, is helping to make our state and our country a better place. I enjoy fighting the good fight. At the same time, it can be so damn constraining.
Maybe I'll just spend a lot of 2010 roaming the countryside.
Of course god only knows where I will be in 2010. Maybe things will happen that I can't control. It's possible gasoline will be $5 or $10 a gallon, and that will take a damper out of me roaming and finding a new place so far away. P'Link
Sometimes I Wish It Was 1973. That must have been a truly amazing year to be have been alive. The music of that time was so amazing, as was the zeitgeist of the time.
That year was when we saw the gas crisis and the start of the impeachment of Nixon. It also was the second year my parents where together—they met at George McGovern for President rally.
People where so innocent in those times compared to today. They where so much more true the planet with we all live in. People didn't have MTV or all the technology to distract them we have today.
Brutalism was a new and truly beautiful thing in 1973. Overconsumption had not destroyed our communities as badly as it has today. Suburban sprawl was still somewhat innocent compared to what it's like today.
I sit and listen to the Rolling Stone's Angie as the rain pours down on the roof of the Bethlehem Library. I soon will go home, and sit listening to the rain in my apartment, looking out the window. P'Link
Copyright ©1999-2008 Andy Arthur.
All mistakes are intentional or otherwise.
Mind where you step in a cow pasture or legal mindfield.