OUT OF THE BLUE

Archive for the ‘Wisconsin’ Category

Two weeks (holy crap!) into fall semester, I suppose I should post something about being back in college.

Maybe I’ve been a college student too long, but the process of getting an application in, transcripts sent, add slips signed, overrides filled out (and signed), ID card made (“Smile!”), parking sticker attached to the right part of the car, maxing the credit card for books… this process was new a couple of colleges ago. So my blog isn’t going to turn into the story of the vet who went back to school and shared the whole story with you. While that would be an interesting and inspirational theme to work with, vets going back to school is nothing new and it’s really just the next chapter in a longer story for me. I’ve been through a lot to get here. Uphill through the snow both ways, you might say. Or not. Let’s just say I’ve worked hard to get to this point, I’m happy to be here, and quite frankly I have enough interesting homework to do that I don’t have time to sit around thinking about the past for very long.

So there you have the “I’ve gone back to college, again” blog entry. Now, since a) I have nothing due until Tuesday, and b) I’m quickly approaching stressed, tired and hungry, I’m going to the Y, followed by foraging for groceries. If I’m still feeling ambitious after that, I’m going to play with my new TI calculator… which looks like it has enough built in functions to fly an F-16.

As a member of the early 00’s migration to Madison, I can tell you: this small town is looking more and more like a bigger city. Traffic is one example. It’s worse now than when I moved here three years ago. Madison.com has a Wisconsin State Journal article (full text) about the Wisconsin DOT’s new Madison WI Area Congestion Map. You can also view a freeway congestion map for Milwaukee WI and a freeway congestion map for Chicago IL.

Although… do ya really need a map to tell you that I-90/94 from the Illinois-Wisconsin border west is going to be moving slow every Friday from now until school starts in fall?

I finished the Crazylegs Classic last Saturday in 58:54, a minute or so ahead of my target time of 60:00.

For people who “are runners”, this is no big deal. For me, this is a milestone. Before this year’s Crazylegs Classic, I had never run in any kind of organized run or walk. Zip. Zilch. Nada. That was for, you know, those cross country and track and runner type people. I was busy doing cool computer stuff, sloshing down Mountain Dew and eating healthy things like Twinkies. Now, I can not only run five miles at a time, I can do it without the need for medical assistance. (In fact, I run five miles three times a week.)

Now, I’ll admit the fact that I knew there was free beer waiting for me at Camp Randall. And that Bud Light tasted pretty damn good. But that wasn’t my main motivation for running the race.

If you’re one of the three or so people who actually follow my blog, you know I’ve been working on losing weight and getting in shape. At a certain point, you have to do something to test yourself. I’ve been running for an hour at a time on a treadmill at the Y, but running outside with other people on real streets and hills is a different thing when you haven’t done it before. You ask yourself, “Self, can I say I’m in good shape now?” And so you pay your money and do things like run the Crazylegs Classic.

And when you finish under your goal time, knowing you trained hard, and ran up all the hills instead of walking, and just plain kept going and got it done… that’s when you can say “Self, you’re in a whole lot better shape than you used to be.”

And when you hear yourself saying “I bet I can run it faster next year…”, that’s when you know you’ve made a change and stuck with it, and it’s going to be permanent.

Now that the weather is turning into something resembling spring, I’ve started taking my daytime walks outside. (A bit of background; I have two 15 minute breaks, and a 35 minute lunch at work. I usually spend that time either walking in the hallways of the office building I work in, or on the streets and bike paths around the building.) It’s a way to burn a few calories (hopefully), and get away from my desk, the office, the whole bit. My job pays the bills, but a walk across the parking lot is generally more exciting, if that tells you anything. I usually have my 2m/70cm HT with me; different days I listen to different things. Whatever.

I noticed two things today. The first, was a guy standing on the bike path, sort of meandering and looking at the marsh. He looked out of place; not moving like he was out there getting exercise, just hanging out. Scoping, I thought. Casing, maybe. I didn’t take the leg of the path that goes under the highway, across the railroad tracks, and over to the other side of the highway. I was worried he’d follow me. The spidey sense tingled, and so I went the other direction, towards the next major street over (a few blocks away). I saw the same guy a few minutes later, headed slowly towards the bus transfer point. I ended up passing him again, but this time I had my HT in my hand. He didn’t say anything, but he gave the HT, then me, a serious evil eye. I wanted to tell the security guard about the guy. I didn’t; but I thought about it. Call me paranoid. The guy looked suspicious, though. He didn’t belong there.

The second thing I noticed today, on my afternoon break, was how freaking quiet it was outside. Just… quiet. Two office buildings full of people, next to six lanes of highway, in the middle of the afternoon, and it was quiet. Something just didn’t feel right; not necessarily a feeling of doom, like the calm before the storm, but just feeling that something was out of place. Misadjusted somehow. Too quiet.

If you have any hopes for a dramatic ending to the story, where the thug looking guy in dreds, and the too good to be true quiet were omens, signs that something was about to happen… well, you’re going to be disappointed. I walked back to the office, the suspicious looking guy probably got on a bus, the day went on and the quiet continued. (The only thing that really changed was that a meeting that I was going to attend tonight was rescheduled for next week.)

Suspicious alertness.

I’m working on putting future amateur radio posts on my newest project, KC9JMF.net, so I can focus on communications related topics there, and deal with everything else here. If you’re interested in ham radio, I hope you’ll go check it out.

This wins the award for “Coolest picture of Milwaukee, WI” for today:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/mkx/photogallery/clouds/mayfog.jpg

The link was posted on the Milwaukee/Sullivan NOAA page.

I’m planning a trip to Texas this summer. Nothing major, head down, hang out for a few days, and ride back to Wisconsin in some grungy schlep car. (I’ll probably be hanging on for dear life as a result of making that smart ass remark…) At this point the issue is getting to Texas. For my car, it’s a long drive. So, I’ve looked at two options. The first is flying; fast but expensive. Second is Amtrak. Slow- it’ll take me two days instead of four hours- but, I get to lean back and relax and see a good portion of the middle of the country, and I just like taking the train. So Amtrak it is, but I’m going first class.

In planning the trip, looking at train schedules, etc., I’ve noticed a few things though. If you want to fly, it’s pretty easy if you’re willing to just fork over the cash. I could fly out of Madison, change planes somewhere, and land exactly where I’m going without a lot of detailed planning. Point A, to Point B. Amtrak isn’t set up that way. With Amtrak, you have to start where you are and search for the nearest train station (which may be a good distance away). Then you have to see if the trains that stop at that station are on the routes that go to your destination. If they do, you’re a lucky dog and I hate you.

My train, the Texas Eagle, runs between Chicago and San Antonio. In my case, I’m close to two possible stations: Columbus, and Milwaukee WI. So I have to work backwards: how do I get to Chicago? I could take the Empire Builder which runs from Columbus. If I do that, it won’t get me to Chicago before the Texas Eagle leaves. So that’s out. I could take a thruway bus, which will take 4+ hours and stop at every podunk town between here and Chicago, which Amtrak seems to think is a good idea. The Texas Eagle only leaves once a day, so if I miss it, I’m stuck at Union Station. No thanks. That’s out too.

I’ve taken the Hiawatha between Milwaukee and Chicago before, and that’s a 90 minute trip. Columbus to Milwaukee to Chicago already won’t work. I don’t want to drive, and have to leave my car in Milwaukee, then have to out of my way coming back to get it, so I need a way to Milwaukee. Turns out Badger Bus does several milk runs a day between Madison and Milwaukee, one of which will stop at the Amtrak station, at a fraction of the time and cost of a thruway bus to Chitown. Sweet. The end result is, I hop on Badger Bus at Madison, take that to Milwaukee, have time to chill, check baggage, and have some lunch, ride to Union Station, and again have plenty of time betwen trains. It’ll be a cool trip, but what a pain in the ass.
There are train tracks that run from Madison to Chicago. Metra reaches up through the northwestern burbs all the way to Harvard, IL. If you follow the rail line heading northwest out of Harvard, there’s rail service all the way to Madison. Wouldn’t it be cool if Wisconsin would get its act together, form a regional transportation authority with Illinois, and run rail service down that line to hook up with Metra? That line also goes through Janesville, and passes within range of Beloit and Rockford IL. Now, where I work there are a lot of people that commute to Madison from Janesville. So not only would it make my life easier getting to Chicago, but it would make things easier for all those people that drive up and down I-90, too.

*sigh*