GMail Adds A Delete Button

I've been using GMail for over a year now, and I've been very happy with it. It's fast and provides an interesting experience.

Three days ago they added a new, exciting feature. It's one that works so well that I can barely stand it. It's called the "Delete" button.

Once again GMail has leaped far ahead of the competition- especially Hotmail and Yahoo Mail (take that Bill Gates and Jerry Yang). This is such a revolutionary idea that you can be sure there is some serious dressing down of the engineers at Hotmail and YMail.

I mean, how could they have missed something so obvious and important as this? A "Delete" button changes everything. When I want to delete old emails now, I just push that button and they're gone like that.

Wow!!

Keep it up, GMail. I'm looking very forward to soon having the addition of a calendar to my GMail.

I'm sure Yahoo and MSN will be crapping their pants at that thought.

I'm Getting Cranky In New York City

I've been in New York City (NYC) for 14 months now. I know that's plenty of time for me to be here. It's an intense city with a strong vibe running through it.

At this point I'm very edgy living here, and I often feel like I want to get in a fight. There's no reason for it. Stuff that used to roll right off of me now has me balling up my fists and getting ready to hit someone.

That's what this city is doing to me.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to have lived here and have enjoyed my work here. I've also made some great friends and had a lot of laughs.

But, when I was at the bar last night and the bartender started throwing ice at his friends and they started throwing it back, I was in the crossfire. I wanted to turn around and smack the bartender, Opie, for being so arrogant that he would be involving others in what was going on.

It's a bunch of little things like that where normally I'd laugh it off or whatever, but here in New York it has me too edgy.

For me, it was the final straw that said I am definitely leaving at the end of February and moving on to the next thing.

Some Things I'm Considering For My Next Job

I've commited to staying in New York until the end of February. I have a bit of time to figure out the next steps in my life, and I have a general idea of what I'm going to do, but I'd hoping to get something more concrete sometime soon.

What the short-term plan is...

1) Go to Kentucky for a little while and help my buddy, Mike Powers, work on the addition to his house. He started it three years ago and it would be great to help him finish it. I figure I'll be there 2-3 weeks.

2) Go to Tampa, Florida. My grandfather lives there, and he has some work he needs done on his house. I don't think it's a lot of big work, but it's stuff that needs to be done, so my dad and I can do it. I think I'll be there about a week.

3) Go to Atlantic Beach, Florida to see my old crew at Beaches Habitat and work with them for a week or so. I have a lot of good friends there who I used to work with, so it would be great to see them and work with them for a week or two.

4) Head to Virginia to work on my Uncle Pete's house. He wants to put up new siding, put in a new bathroom, put in hardwood floors and a bunch of other tasks. I'm not sure how much we'll actually get done, but I figure it will be a good start, and we can make a dent in it.

During all this time, I want to find my next volunteer opportunity. I think the next thing for me will be to head to Mexico/Central America to learn Spanish and work with people down there. There are a lot of opportunities to work at orphanages and other social services type places. I think staying down there at least a year and probably two would give me a chance to fully be part of another culture and enjoy learning about it. It will also, hopefully, mean that my Spanish will be very, very solid by the time I return to the U.S.

So, I'm scouring different lists to try to find the best opportunity for me. It will be one that gives me an opportunity to use my building skills and possibly takes advantage of my computer skills.

Some places that I'm looking include CNVS, Idealist, The Pallotti Center and the Peace Corps.

It's tough to find the right situation right now, but I know that the more I look, the sooner I'll find what I want.

What Is a Swoper?

When I moved to Kentucky in August 2001, I soon heard the word sworper. What the heck is that, I thought?

I asked my coworkers and other locals if they knew what a sworper was and they all did, but they couldn't exactly define it. Even spelling it turned out to be a challenge. Then Jim Wheeler told me that the way to spell it is S-W-O-R-PER.

I would hear the word used on Appalshop Radio (WMMT-FM) referring to one of their dj's and one of their contributors. I was getting the context of how to use it, but what exactly did it mean.

I googled sworper. It doesn't return too many results.

Things I do know about sworper/sworp. It is a noun, verb, adjective and adverb.

It is the opposite of straight, true, small, quiet.

Some examples...

1) When we were building a house, if the walls were wavy or not plumb, you could say, "Those walls sure are sworped." or "I've never seen walls so sworped." Relatively the same context would be "That wall is crooked'er than a dog's leg" (Thank you Mike Powers).

2) If you went out drinking and dancing then you might be out honkey-sworping. You may also find yourself sworped after you've had too much to drink.

3) If you're a hunter, you may find some real sworper bucks waiting to be hunted. They're big, mean and ornery.

I don't think this is a complete list at all, but it's what I was exposed to.e

The trip to....

I headed out of the city today with my friend, Lawrence. We headed up to his Aunt's house in Connecticut. I always find it so enjoyable to get out of the city. It's especially nice to spend time with people who are easy-going and like a good laugh.

Lawrence and his family are Italians. Some are first generation. They often seem to have a real enjoyment for wine, a good story and laughter.

One theme we spent talking about are cars. We talked about the crappy cars we owned and how they would put us interesting situations because they would break down easily or give us grief in some other way.

Cousin Bob talked about his old VW Beetle and how the windshield cracked with just a light tap to it when he tried to get the windshield wipers to break the seal. I talked about my old Volvo with the tempermental fuel pump and the alternator that would stop working whenever it would start raining.

Are kids missing out on some great adventures in life if their cars always start? And, if there is a problem, now they often have cell phones to call in for help. While it certainly makes the parent's life easier and removes worry, does it make the child's life so safe and clean that they miss out on opportunities for problem-solving that now they won't develop until much later?

When I read David Sedaris' books, I realize that part of the fun of reading him is that his life was my life, too. How much do kids growing up today miss out on those strange, odd situations and family dynamics that instead they have no oddities to share around a campfire?