erx

Forks

2011-11-08T21:06:00.002-05:00

I am riding here:

http://sirbikesalot.com/entry.php?fid=230

This place is great. Probably the best trails I've ever ridden. My wife Nancy and I both think this is like the perfect blend or cross between Allegrippis, in Central PA and Ocala in Central Florida.

Trail ranking:
Big Rock - this trail is BEAUTIFUL (all caps) in fall colors. We rode this one counter clockwise, but learned later the secret is to ride the road to the top, and do each section going downhill.
Brown Wave - This trail is like riding a roller coaster - non-stop fun!
Skinny - a fast and furious ROMP through the woods - we did this clockwise.
Great Wall - a Great Trail. We plan to ride this clockwise instead of counter next time.
Tower - this trail is a little more challenging, but a great way to extend the fun of Big Rock
Deep Step - Only did a portion of this trail (to hit the connector trail). Fun in this direction. THe other side might be best in counter clockwise direction.

These trails MUST be ridden. If you've ever seen the Star Wars movie where they are whipping through the woods on Endor on speeder bikes, THIS PLACE WILL MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE DOING THAT! Thesre are that much fun, I'm not kidding!

Everything flows, is beautifully sculpted, and lets you roll through miles of pleasurable miles with the most basic level of effort. If you don't exit this place with a smile on your face, you have injected too much botox.

We will be back to this place next year without a doubt. We are thinking about a camping trip with the whole set of family...

Video that my cousin has previously produced:
http://sirbikesalot.com/uploads_video/2008/FATS_01.mov

The local scene:
http://sorbacsra.org/

We should also mention the unbelievably awesome trails at Bartram.
http://www.sorbacsra.org/Trails/Bartram.htm
These trails ROLL for 18 miles. If you want to turn off your brain and ride flow of luscious flow for 36 continuous miles, you cannot find a better place to do it than here. This is the perfect place to bring your noob friend too! The trails are well contstructed, well drained, and friendly on the main muscles, while still giving top tier riders something to try and control at high speeds.

YEAH.

Really Rick?

2011-08-17T22:04:00.002-04:00

http://www.wcax.com/story/15282842/perry-says-he-doesnt-believe-in-global-warming?clienttype=printable

"I think we're seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists that are coming forward and questioning the original idea that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change," the Texas governor said on the first stop of a two-day trip to the first-in-the-nation primary state."

"He said some want billions or trillions of taxpayer dollars spent to address the issue, but he added: "I don't think from my perspective that I want to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory that has not been proven and from my perspective is more and more being put into question."

Really, Rick?

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1884

Texas' Texas-sized drought and heat wave is setting new records, as August temperatures regularly topping 100° continue to impact most of the state. The high temperature hit 102° at the Houston Intercontinental Airport yesterday, a record for the date, and the 16th consecutive day of 100°+ heat. The 16-day streak is a new record. The previous record was 14 straight days, ending on July 19, 1980.

The low temperature yesterday morning at Dallas/Fort Worth International was 86°--the all-time highest minimum temperature recorded there. This is the 4th time this summer Dallas has had an 86° minimum temperature, with the other dates being July 26, August 3, and August 4. Prior to this year, the hottest minimum temperature ever recorded in Dallas was 85° on September 1, 1939 (which they also matched this summer on July 25, August 7, and again this morning.) Thus Dallas has matched or exceeded their all-time hottest minimum temperature from previous years seven times this year. It's extremely rare for a station with a long observation history spanning more than fifty years to break an all-time record seven times in one year; if anyone can find an example of this in the past, I'd love to hear about it. The National Climatic Data Center records page is a good place to look. Dallas has had 40 days with a minimum temperature of 80° or higher this year, breaking the previous record of 39 days, set in 1998. Dallas had a streak of 40 straight days with a maximum temperature above 100° which ended August 10, good for 2nd place all-time, next to a 42-day streak in 1980.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1949
...
Since any increase in solar energy would heat both the lower and upper atmosphere, the observed drop in upper atmospheric temperatures in the past 30 years argues against an increase in energy coming from the sun being responsible for global warming. The observed cooling of the upper atmosphere is strong evidence that the warming at Earth's surface is due to human-emitted greenhouse gases that trap heat near the surface and cause compensating cooling aloft.

It should also give us additional confidence in the climate models, since they predicted that this upper atmospheric cooling would occur. Keep in mind, also, that 2010 was tied for Earth's hottest year on record, and the amount of energy coming from the sun during 2009 - 2010 was the lowest since satellite measurements began in the late 1970s. There has been no long-term increase in energy coming from the sun in recent decades, and the notion that global warming is due to an increase in energy coming from the sun simply doesn't add up.
...

Really, Rick?
Really?

The Commutative Coolness Rule

2010-09-07T21:30:00.005-04:00

Assuming you are cool, then the people you hang with are also cool. Cool people do not hang with non-cool people. Therefore, if you are cool, then your friends are too.

DirecTV Versus NHL

2010-02-03T17:34:00.003-05:00

An Open Letter to the National Hockey League

Dear Sir or Madam,

With regard to this article:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=503276#&navid=nhl-search

As a DirectTV customer, AND a fan of the NHL, AND a fan of the Versus station itself, I want to say to you that I hold the NHL responsible for this problem.

Let me make it clear that I've read everyone's statements on this topic - Versus / Comcast's, DirecTV's, and the NHL's. I believe I understand everyone's side of this. Now let me help you understand MY side.

The NHL is the organization that is responsible because it's marketing and legal departments are the ones that negotiated exclusive broadcast rights for the games that Versus is withholding from the viewing public.

If the NHL hadn't made exclusive agreements, it would not have handed all of the rights to the broadcasts over to a single party, and they'd be free to negotiate an appropriate rate for DirecTV.

That single party now has a stranglehold over YOUR content - And is depriving YOUR ORGANIZATION of additional revenue. That revenue is something that I as a Directv customer am totally willing to pay. Except I can't because DirecTV is trying to make a point -- that they won't be held hostage by a competing company. (A point that I happen to agree with, by the way).

Your passionate statements on your website recommending that DirecTV customers approach DirecTV is disingenuous. Consumers of ANY broadcast service are virtually powerless to influence them one way or the other. Our only real power is to end those services, which is not a reasonable course of action.

Even if I could influence them, it makes no sense for me to urge them to cave on Comcast's demands. DirecTV seems to be looking out for my interests as a consumer.

NO, ultimately, this is an NHL manufactured problem, and I'm holding the NHL responsible for it. The NHL controls the rights to it's content - and the NHL needs to do a better job distributing that content to ALL fans, regardless of their choice of programming distribution technology or service.

Eric Steadle
Disgruntled NHL FAN

Who is the IDIOT who designed this?

2009-08-28T16:08:00.002-04:00

Initializing Root Folders For Display

Someone at Microsoft programmed this behavior. I can't figure out why.

If you see this error it means that you have disconnected drive mappings that (I assume) the "framework" functionality that Office uses to display file dialogs has programmed into it. When you get this error, you usually wait until the framework figures out that the drives really are disconnected and eventually returns control to you.

If you use a laptop on a network, or you like the idea of removable media, you WILL run into this.

The solution to this Microsoft programmer created problem is to disconnect the drive. This avoids the application attempting to "reconnect" the drive.

Now, one must ask: "Why would someone program this behavior"? IF a drive is disconnected, isn't it disconnected for a reason? Like Windows itself couldn't connect it? If Windows couldn't connect it, why does Office think it has a shot?

One more thing. When you go to disconnect a drive (My Computer | Network Drives) the disconnected drives are listed and say "disconnected" next to them. To get rid of these mapped drives, (and avoid the problem the only way it's possible to avoid the problem), you right click and select....

Get this...

I'm not kidding...

"Disconnect".

That's right, to remove a disconnected drive, you "Disconnect" it.

Again?

Some people should not be allowed to program computers.

Experiential Understandings of Consciousness

2007-09-18T15:24:00.000-04:00

Nancy and I rode in Heartwood yesterday. It was our anniversary. We spent some time just sitting on the grass contemplating the beautiful day. A few interesting thoughts were formed.

There's a difference between what I see when I look into the eyes of another human being, than an ordinary animal. Or, to put it another way, I know that animals have a consciousness, but it's different from that of humans. When I extended this, I realized that conscious thought has some interesting plateaus to it.

The basic forms of life out there differ from non-sentient life forms in a very fundamental way: they change. Grass is a form of life. But it's different from rocks. Rocks don't change through their own inner essence, it's always at the discretion of the external environment. Grass, on the other hand, grows. It has some kind of inner essence that motivates it to change. It's a biological program of some sort, sure, but it's got a plan and moves along that plan toward some end or goal.

But grass can't really communicate, at least not in any meaningful way. And that makes it different from more well developed forms of life, like animals. Animals have the ability to form emotion. The best example is fear. Many types of wild life have the ability to recognize danger, or potential for harm, and as a result, are motivated to get away from it. That behavior I recognize as fear. There are other examples. My cats know when I get home because they can hear the garage door open. They hang out at the door that I usually enter, waiting for my arrival. There's something there inside motivating them to do that. Reduce it to its' most primitive form, and I think it would be called "desire". Whether it's desire for food, or for companionship, or the pleasure of my touch, they like it when I get home.

Getting back to humans, I recognize we have much in common with all forms of life. With plants, we have in common the ability to automatically change / renew / regenerate. Our bodies grow and consume energy like a plant. With animals, we have in common the basic emotions, fear, desire, etc. But humans have something else, something beyond the basics of emotions. We have this analytical ability that allows us to reason, to evaluate, to make choices between alternatives.

Memory is somehow a part of this ability to choose, but I'm not totally certain that it's the only thing. In a world where change is measured, one of the most useful and helpful natural phenomenon is the passage of time. If time was irrelevant, or if it did not pass, then it would be very difficult to notice change at all. And without memory, it becomes impossible to recognize change when it happens. Did this look like that before? Without memory, that question is impossible to answer. Could it be that memory is one of the requirements for consciousness?

Ozric Tentacles

2006-06-30T20:39:00.000-04:00

So I just saw Ozric Tentacles in Pittsburgh at the Rex theater (Friday June 16, 2006) on the first stop of their brief summer US tour.

MIND BLOWING is the best way I can describe it. I've been a fan for years, and have seen them before, so I knew what I was in for. I can't believe they managed to blow my mind yet again, but they did!

I just can't help but DANCE when Ozrics start playing. That may or may not be a form of synaesthesia, I'm not sure, but my god, the way they make me feel!!!!

If you have the opportunity to see these guys live on their tour, take it. You will not be sorry!

Here's a link to a fanpage on Ozric Tentacles (the official page has been down for a few months as of this writing):
http://ozrics.hopto.org/ozrics/index.html

Here's a link to MP3 samples of their latest album:
http://www.magnacarta.net/releases/ozricthefloorstoofaraway.html

If you want to hear Ozric Tentacles on the radio, the only place I know of that plays them is WRCT in Pittsburgh (Carnegie Mellon's student run radio station). There's a DJ named DJ Firefly who plays a lot of Ozric Tentacles (and other cool music) on her show. (Full Disclosure: I'm her biggest fan, because I'm married to her.)

WRCT Pittsburgh

There are streaming links at the top of the WRCT web page if you want to listen.

DJ Firefly's Program Page (w/ playlists of previous shows)

DJ Firefly's show is on Wednesday at 3:00pm until 5:30pm (as of this writing).

Dubai Ports Deal

2006-03-09T17:40:00.000-05:00

So, if you're an American President, and you sow the seeds of fear and mistrust of all that is arab, would you be surprised when your constituents unite against you to prevent the takeover of critical ports of entry by a company whose national government has the word "arab" in it?

As you sow, so shall you reap.

Duh.

On the importance of imitation

2005-06-22T16:10:00.000-04:00

Human beings are really good at replicating the behavior of others. We learn by imitation.

Which is why it's really, really important for me to show compassion for others, to tolerate apparent shortcomings, and to understand other points of view.

Angel Encounters

2005-05-09T11:54:00.000-04:00

Last night, an angel from heaven descended upon me, and annointed me with holy waters. It was a heavenly experience.

Duck Crossing

2005-05-06T09:26:00.000-04:00

I work in one of those large commercial building complexes. Actually, it's a cubicule farm. They grow cubicules here. The lawns are neatly manicured, the woods are paved with asphalt walking paths, there are signs, and curbs, and white lined parking lots that are full of ultimate driving machines 8 hours a day, and which catch rain at night.

I'm on the 3rd floor of cubicules, and I can see down into a marshy drainage area which seems to stay wet all year. It's shallow and sort of protected. It's surrounded on 2 sides by more of the asphalt. On the other side of the road, 3 areating water fountains in the middle of a lovely pond spit white water 8 feet into the air all day long. Mist drags back and forth with the breeze. Periodically, a woman with fireworks comes by to drive off the geese, which would otherwise turn the pond into a geese sewage reprocessing plant.

I remember seeing some ducks playing around in the marsh area earlier this spring, and thought to myself, cool. Ducks find a way to entertain themselves despite the rampant progress and bulldozing around them. Good for them. Ducks seem to be a resiliant species.

This morning, I'm driving my SUV and pull to a stop at the 3-way intersection that leads to my building. It's right next to the marshy area, and the road in front of me separates the marsh from the pond. There is a mother duck being followed by 8 or 10 ducklings across the road. This is different. I haven't seen this before, so I stop and watch. I am slightly concerned about the ducks crossing the road, so I keep an eye on them until they get to the curb.

Uh oh.

The curb is about 10 inches tall, and mama duck has no trouble hopping to the top of it. But ducklins are stuck; they hop cute little hops, but they make no progress. Here are 10 little ducks stuck in the road. Mama is waiting patiently, but these ducks are having trouble. One makes it, but the others are squeaking their frustration.

The guy behind me honks his horn in annoyance.

I pull forward, I have an idea.

I have a block of hickory that I just cut for myself to use as a chock block for the SUV. I walk over to the curb, and the ducklings come running toward me. I place the block next to the curb, and it's the perfect height; half the size of the curb. I step away, and give mama duck a wink (I swear she honked back). The remaining ducklings (4 or 6 are still trying to make it), hop up on the block, and hop up on the curb. Mission accomplished.

I left the block. I look now, a half hour later, and it appears to be gone. ServiceMaster clean. Sigh. I'll talk to the building management.

Existential Cat

2005-01-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

Her name is Abby. Short for Abracadabra.

What she just learned, and what she just taught me.
She learned love.
She learned happiness.
She learned belonging.
She learned comfort.
She learned playfulness.
She learned affection.
She learned cuteness.

All these things she learned, because she was those.

2004-12-22T10:03:00.000-05:00

What the bleep do we know. Great film. Go see it. Best 2 hours I spent in a movie theater. Helps if you're a buddhist without beliefs.

What's his name... the skeptic? He doesn't believe that the human will can make any kind of difference at the quantum mechanical level. Interesting belief.

My belief is that quantum mechanics is a model for how we *think* the world works. But it's just a model. It's self consistent, which is good for a model. But in the end, it's just a model. I mean, has anyone actually seen a quark or an atom? I've seen photographs of what people claim to be atoms or some sub-atomic structure, or some trace of a quark. But I myself have no experiential understanding of atoms. I just know that the model is consistent, and if I believe these things are real, then they can get work done (I was a Nuclear Engineer at one point, and I believed in neutrons).

I could probably come up with a model that explains the behavior of the universe, and use farts and giggles to model it. At long as it was self-consistent, and repeatable, and would follow the scientific method, I think it would be just as valid. No?

Consciousness

2004-12-21T17:06:00.000-05:00

Consciousness is like pornography. Hard to describe precisely, but I know it when I see it.

Patterns

2004-09-30T14:20:00.000-04:00

Looking at an apple tree growing up behind our building, I was walking by today, counting forms. I've seen this tree hundreds of times on my way into the building. I pass it as I drive to my preferred parking place. I noticed a few weeks ago that it has apples on it, and I've thought about stopping to investigate. Today, while I was out, I passed by it, and took a moment to get close to it, and pick a few apples.

My experience with un-kempt apple trees is that they produce inferior fruit: smaller than average, usually odd shaped, and often buggy. The ripe ones fall to the ground, and it's only a day or two before they begin to rot. The best fruit is just out of reach too. Interesting how my experience biases my feelings.

I observed that this tree appeared to be growning from what appeared to be a random place. It didn't look like it would have been planted there. It was next to a drainage ditch, just on the other side of a chain link fence. My guess is that it grew from a tossed apple. Probably a golden delicious. I picked 3 of the best I could find.

As I continued to count forms, the next thing I counted was a car tire. And I realized that there's a similarity between what nature creates, and what man creates. Man manufactures things a certain way. Nature does too. They both follow patterns. The pattern for an apple tree is contained in the seeds of that tree. The pattern for a vehicle wheel is contained within the specifications for the wheel. The patterns of software are contained in object definitions. Patterns are everywhere.

Next, I counted a small little bee busily gathering nectar from a flower. Bees follow a pattern too. They have simple instincts to move from here to there, and are compelled to seek sweet tasting nectar and bring it back to the hive. What if one bee decided to do something else instead? There's nothing stopping it, except it's own pattern.

And there it is... consciousness. Recognition of the pattern. Recognition that because something is defined, confined, or constricted by a pattern, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the only thing that exists. I recognize that a bee can do something else, because I understand it's pattern. I have a different viewpoint.

If I were to consider my own dillemma (my divorce), from outside of myself, I could recognize that the pattern I am confined to, is of my own making. And that I could choose differently.

Compassion

2004-09-29T09:50:00.000-04:00

On the way to work this morning.... I realized that everyone deserves compassion.

EVERYONE.

Even me.

Boards

2004-09-28T14:57:00.000-04:00

I sold some ash boards this weekend. About 50 cents a board foot, which isn't great, but it's money. Not many board feet either, only 50. So I made 25 bucks, which, subtracting expenses, and etc. makes me earn ... oh.... pretty much nothing.

But the cool thing is that I never met the guy who bought them from me. His name is John and I have his phone number, but I never looked him in the eye. I was at a PORC event when he called me, and said he wanted them. I told him where they were (in my driveway), and said that it would take me awhile longer to finish up my event (there were Huffy's to be tossed!) So he said he'd stop by and pick up the boards, and drop the money in the mailslot.

Only briefly did I consider that he would not do the right thing, but I quickly ignored that feeling, since I know my belief would affect my reality. And of course, the money was right where I asked him to put it. Yay! Humanity is great! I love the fact that people are trustworthy.

Xiaoism

2004-09-17T11:18:00.000-04:00

This looks promising. I'm going to watch and see what comes up on this page.

Xiaoism

2004-09-16T13:57:00.000-04:00

Cast iron frying pans are in a whole different category of kitchen munitions.

Sawing hardwood lumber for fun and profit

2004-09-15T22:11:00.000-04:00

I bought a Timber Harvester Sawmill about a year ago.

My model is the 30HT25 - that translates to 30" log diameter, Hydraulic Log Turner, 25" bandwheels. Actually, it has a bunch of hydraulics on it, including a hydraulic log lift, hydraulic feed motor, and hydraulic clamps (dogs) and posts. It's supposed to be a 1 man sawmill, and it mostly is.

So I've been sawing with this thing for about 8 months now. I found a logger named Rob who is a really great guy. He set me up on one of his logging jobs and said, "Here, you cut up these junk trees, and make 1" boards out of them. We'll take them up to Mercer Lumber and see what they pay us." Well, we did that and did ok. Not great, but I made enough money to buy new bands (bandsaw blades) and pay for fuel.

Now, he's got me set up in his log yard, where I'm cutting a bunch of Ash, Poplar, and Elm logs (the stuff that doesn't sell well). Ash is nice to cut, and smells great. It's nice and easy to handle, not too heavy, but moderately stiff. The problem with Ash is that if it's left out in the rain / weather, it gets all moldy / spotty. And if left in contact with the ground, it rots almost immediately.

Elm is hard as steel. And it dulls my blades like I'm cutting steel. And the boards weigh almost as much as steel. Elm smells great when you cut it. Did I mention that it's hard as hell?

I cut my first poplar log today, and it cuts like butter! Man, you can really rip through it. I have a dozen poplar logs waiting, and I can't wait until the weekend to cut them.

So I got about 450 board feet cut in about 4 1/2 hours today. No maintenance, no screwing around, just cutting by myself. That's about 100 bf an hour, which means I am still under my target threshold of 1000 bf per day. I want to work an 8 hour day.

I can start to see the value of an edger now that I'm cutting palette wood. I take 1" boards from the outer part of the log, and take 3x4 or 4x6 cants from the inside. The 1" boards are called flitches because they have the bark still on them. They need to be "Edged" to remove that, and make the sides of the boards straight. I do that right now by turning the board on edge (actually, I do a few at a time to save time), and running the saw down the length of them. Then I flip them over and do the other side. That's a lot of board handling, and it wastes time. While I'm screwing around trying to get the boards to stand on end, together, and straight, and then clamp them together, the sawhead is sitting there doing nothing.

So an edger would come in handy. If I had one, I'd have it running behind me, and as soon as a flitch comes off the head, I'd set the bandmill to cut another board, then set the flitch through the edger. If I had a 3 saw edger, I'd set it up with two blades 4" apart, and the third blade 6" from one of the others. The last one would be 8" from the edge of the thing. That way, I could cut 4", 6" or 8" boards without adjusting. I could possibly cut 2 boards at once too, if the flitch were wide enough.

I have no idea what to do with the few thousand bf of ash that I cut which has sat in the weather now. Too bad, because it was beautiful when I cut it. Now it's all stained and ugly. It's still good lumber, but it needs to be surfaced, and I don't have a planer to surface it.

I also need to find someone with a kiln. That way, I could send it through and dry it, so that it would become stable. Once it's dried, it doesn't rot as easily.

Ok, well more about sawmills later.

How many times must I learn this lesson?

2004-09-14T18:37:00.000-04:00

I am responsible for me.

That's the lesson that I keep on learning. I am responsible for the things that I am, the things that I do, and the things that I feel. I choose. My choice.

So, my current dilemma is that I would prefer to be divorced, yet I am not. I have been waiting for almost 2 years to become divorced, and yet I am not. I came very very close recently, offering my wife a settlement that I considered unfair to myself. She agreed to it, and began executing it's contents. But then I dragged my feet on it, and eventually was honest with her about not wanting to sign it. (She didn't like that at all; sent her into a tailspin of additional therapy, and more happy drugs, I suspect too -- that's another blog). Actually, she finally said, "Enough" and told me that if I had anything else to say to her, to talk to her lawyer from now on.

So what's at the core of this? Why am I not divorced, even though I say I want to be. Possible reasons:

I feel like the settlement that we crafted short-changes me.

I am greedy, and I want more marital assets than I am entitled to.

Annette is just stubborn and won't accept any agreement I propose, because she knows that I want out, and she's punishing me.

I'm punishing Annette by insisting on a settlement that gives me the assets that she desires.

I want to go through a divorce in front of a judge so that I can explain to him how Annette wronged me throughout our entire relationship, and because of that, I deserve more.

I'm afraid that if Annette gets the land, that she will turn around and sell it for a huge profit.

I'm afraid that Annette will be successful, and that I will be stuck working for the rest of my life.

I wanted to retire at age 40, and because Annette didn't love me, and wouldn't work it out, now, my dreams of retirement at 40 are out of reach.

I don't want to work anymore, I had a plan to be able to do that, and Annette fucked that up for me. I was making a ton of money so that by the time I was 40, I'd have enough money to say "screw you" and I could go do what I wanted, instead of moving bits from here to there. Mind numbing frustration, for a ridiculous amount of money, but I wouldn't have to do it forever. I would only have to do it until I amassed enough to live on comfortably. Then I could work at McDonalds or Pizza Hut when I wanted some entertainment.

Ok, now how do I feel? Isn't that MY feeling that I should be taking responsiblity for?
Yes.

Who owns that feeling of frustration?
Me.

Who is responsible for cleaning up this mess?
ERX

What about Annette? Didn't a divorce mess up her plans too? Isn't she hurt as a result of all this too? Didn't she have plans of never having to work too?
Yes.

Just like me, Annette is seeking some happiness for her life.
Just like me, Annette is trying to avoid suffering.
Just like me, Annette has known sadness, lonliness and despair.
Just like me, Annette is trying to fulfill her needs.
Just like me, Annette is learning about life.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

2004-09-10T15:32:00.000-04:00

Take this survey, and roar with laughter.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Here's my results:

You are a Pirate Second Class

Do you remember the last time you took a chance? I do. It was when you decided to leave the security of your mother's womb and headed for the bright light. It's time to head for the next bright light, my friend. Creativity is not your strong suit. You are good at doing what you are told to do and that, in itself, is a gift. It's not a gift to you, mind you, but rather a gift to those who will be there to tell you what to do. You like long walks on the beach and cuddling, but would never admit that to your Guy friends who think you are okay but can't always remember your name. Tapioca pudding seems a bit extreme for a fellow such as yerself, what with all the bumps and stuff. It's a good thing ye be on a pirate ship, otherwise, ye'd would be walkin' because ye be positively pedestrian. Have a nice day.

Season Opener

2004-09-09T21:43:00.000-04:00

There's no place like zone.

Steadwood Forest

2004-09-07T11:58:00.000-04:00

Nancy and I went to Steadwood yesterday afternoon. We went for a walk around the main trails. It was a beautiful sunny and breezy day. It was just so peaceful being out there amoungst the trees, and vines, and bugs and animals. Nancy picked up a stick to walk with. Then when we got to the fields She picked some Queen Anne's lace and we smelled it. It reminded me of something, it's a very delicate scent. She then tied the stem of the flower to her walking stick in a very Wiccan, or maybe druidic manner. She gathered some Goldenrod, and a daisy too to put on the end of the stick. It was well adorned by the time we finished up.

Standing in the field with the wind blowing, the trees swaying, the leaves, rustling, and the warm sun keeping the chill at bay; with the most loving, warm, and caring person I've ever met by my side, I was reminded of exactly what life is precious. It's easy to be present and mindful at moments like that.

Mtn Biking

2004-09-07T11:36:00.000-04:00

This is Erols blog spot. I found it from a link on the family web page. This is what reminded me that Blogging is something I want to try and do.

Mtn Biking

First Blog

2004-09-07T11:34:00.000-04:00

So what's my intention for the day?

Today, my intent is to be productive at work. The interesting thing is that the Highland Park bridge was closed on my way in, setting me back an hour. And, Nancy and I are going to look at Springwood as a possible site for the wedding this afternoon, so I'll probably be gone for 2 hours. Hmm... that's 3 hours of time out of my day that I won't be productive. I better get started being productive now.