You may (or may not) already know that I’ve resigned as Chaplain of my VFW post with a couple of months left on my term. I’ve decided to put VFW aside mostly because it’s become a source of stress and anxiety for me, rather than being a rewarding and enjoyable experience.
I don’t want to make it sound uglier than it was– however, I’ve left because I wasn’t getting what I wanted out of being a member.
I use Google’s iGoogle customizable homepage feature a lot, or at least I have been lately– at last count I think I had about 65 different RSS feeds showing headlines. Most of them are related in some way to world events, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, homeland security, intelligence and diplomacy. As I looked at various blogs, I’d see a link to an article on another and end up adding them both. And so the list grew.
I’ve realized recently (with help) that trying to keep track of all of this stuff takes a lot of brain cells, nerve endings, time, and anxiety. There is a certain point where you have to allow yourself to believe that a) you can’t change what’s happening there (and can’t help), b) the likelihood of you/your town being attacked for any reason is very slim, and c) it’s time to let some. of. it. just. go. So I’ve deleted about two thirds of the RSS feeds I was tracking, and will probably delete a few more. A few I have to keep– generally, they’re the ones that are funny, entertaining, or just bring back good memories. I’m keeping a couple that tend to post news summaries, which are good at giving me an idea of what’s going on without too many details. All told, I’m probably going to be down to about 15 blogs and news outlets.
Okay, so I have a couple of others loaded into Google Reader, so I can check them out on my phone.
Yes, I need to delete those, too.
Random stuff– I’m taking a break from studying for a calculus 2 exam tomorrow night–
Okay, back to work…
So much for winter break. Classes start again on Monday. This semester should be a little more manageable, since I’m taking one of my classes online. (Stay tuned for more on that– my online class is Fundamentals of Speech. I’m wondering just how this one’s going to work.) It’s still going to be interesting, though, because my other class is Calc 2, which will be new territory for me. The next couple of months will be busy at work, too. After this weekend, I think my next weekend off will be around the end of March. (I should start listing 601 W. Dayton as my alternate address, I’m there often enough.)
I remember working a lot of 12 hour shifts, back in the day- with school and work now, I think I need to re-enlist so I can get back on that kind of an easy schedule. I have quite a few days now where I start work at 0610 and my day isn’t over until around 2300 (or 2130 on class nights). It’s not easy, and I’m not sure I’m rested and relaxed enough before starting another semester. I have an espresso machine now, though, so I should be good and wired/sleep deprived by about this time next week. Even more than normal.
Once again, I know, I haven’t posted much. Life has kept me pretty busy through fall semester, and then busy again recovering from fall semester. Hopefully by the time spring semester starts, I’ll have some of the projects done that homework has overshadowed.
I think I mentioned in a previous post, that my old iMac died– I’ve been using my iBook and surplus-parts Ubuntu machine since. At some point during fall semester I upgraded the iBook’s RAM, installed 10.2.8, and can now run iTunes again, which is a iGoodThing. My ‘ol iBook is almost out of disk space, however, which causes iTunes to get uppity. The easy solution would be to go spend $100 on an external hard drive, but that wouldn’t be any fun, especially when I’ve got 8GB of disk space on the Ubuntu machine, which is only one network cable away. So now I’ve got my iTunes library sitting on the Ubuntu machine. Let’s just say it works, but since downloading a track requires a lot of moving said track back and forth between machine, we’ll call it slow, too.
I haven’t been to the Y nearly as much as I need to be lately; school and work really took up more of my time than I thought they would since August. I’m trying to get back into the routine of getting there three times a week. Winter in Wisconsin makes it harder– it’s easy to not leave the house when it’s either cold out, the roads are icy, or both. So in addition to trying to get to the Y, I’m getting my DVD player patched in with my DTV box so I can watch my Biggest Loser workout DVD. (It’s one of three DVD’s I own– the other two are Jarhead and Roadhouse.)
I had a lot of fun on the mountain bike while the weather was still warm, so a winter project is going to be realigning the gears and shifters that locked up and “autoshifted” on me while heading downhill. I’m going to give that bike exactly one realignment, and if that doesn’t work I’m going bike shopping.
I’m trying to figure out how to afford a kayak. Might not make that this year– it costs around $25/day to rent one, so even if I go kayaking a lot this year, it’s still not quite cost effective. (Unless I find one really cheap, in which case I’ll be writing about how I intend to carry it on my car.)
There’s more going on than that, but this post is getting a little long. As always, I’ll see what I can do about posting more this year. :p
At the last post meeting, we discussed ways to do more fun stuff and communicate better- as a result, VFW Day Post 7591 now has a group on Facebook. If you’re a post member, interested in joining VFW, or just want to get in touch with a good group of fellow veterans in Madison, stop by and sign up for the group. (If you’re not already on Facebook, there’s no time like the present.)
OK- since I’ve been doing more outdoors-type stuff, some of which involves being out in the boondocks (to clarify– of Wisconsin), I’ve been wanting a GPS unit more and more. Now, I have a Blackberry Pearl 8130 (US Cellular) that actually has GPS functionality built in– but it only kinda works, and then only sometimes.
For the first few months I had the 8130, GPS and BBMaps worked fine. It was able to find satellites most of the time within a minute and stay locked on, even in the car. Then, it worked less and less often– I was able to get a lock for most of the way from Madison to Chicago on the bus in June, but couldn’t get a lock standing outside my apartment. The rest of July and August, it never got a lock. Ever. I switched to Google Maps for Mobile, which worked better; that at least gets me a fix within 1800 or so meters, which is close enough to identify a freeway interchange.
Last weekend I was out hiking in Token Creek County Park, where it would have been really nice to have a GPS powered map on my phone (since I, um, didn’t bring a compass or paper map– oops). Again, couldn’t get a lock. So I gave up and did some googling, and found some answers here and here– seems I’m not the only one dealing with the Pearl’s GPS not working.
Long story short– as indicated in the forum threads linked above, you really want to download GPSed.
It doesn’t fix the connectivity problem completely. There are still some times where I can’t get a fix in the same spot I got 10 satellites less than two hours ago. I have to use GPSed’s “Reset GPS” function fairly often to get a lock (which does work, again, fairly often). Once GPSed has locked on, though, BBMaps and Google Maps also lock on, which makes the whole package a lot more useful. I was able to use Google Maps satellite view to verify where I was vs. where the Blackberry thought I was– standing in a parking space at work, Google Maps had my position dot right in the middle of that parking space.
So, okay, the Blackberry’s probably not as reliable as a standalone GPS unit. But GPS units don’t do email. 
(Although I haven’t tried it, the 8130 does have Bluetooth, so one could feasibly use an external GPS unit. I need more pockets.)
Okay, so I’m a Madison transplant– but I’m a little closer to being a native. Not only have I made it around Lake Monona by bike (once, the easy way, but it still counts), I’ve started biking to work a couple of days a week.
It took a while to get started, even in bike friendly Madison. Getting in the car is easy– it’s still a pain to get up and go to work, but the trip there doesn’t require any effort. You get in the car, start it up, and off you go. Riding a bike involves leaving earlier, checking the weather, bringing clothes to change into when you get there, and making sure you take (enough) water along.
The route I take to work involves two different, and each fairly short, dedicated bike paths plus bike lanes and two legs of just plain old streets. There are a few hills, but nothing I can’t deal with. It’s an easy ride. The streets I do ride on aren’t busy in the morning on the way to work, and are still easy to navigate in the afternoon. They’re city streets, but not “main artery” streets. Without the two bike paths, and a short chunk of asphalt (thank you, PDQ @ Stoughton Rd. & Anderson St.!) that connects one street to another, my bike commute wouldn’t happen. If anyone wonders if those short bike paths and connector sidewalks are worth the money property owners and the city of Madison spend on them, the answer is yes. So are the bike lanes.
And since I’m handing out thank you’s, thanks to those nice folks who give me extra room on the street even when I have a bike lane to ride in. It’s appreciated.
(Now, if I could convince The Man at work that a place to shower at work would be a good thing, I’d be willing to call my employer bike friendly, too.)
Links:
Yikes, I haven’t posted anything meaningful since April. Time to catch you up with what’s been going on here since then, not in any particular order.
I survived another semester at MATC, ringing up Trigonometry and Spanish I. I’m sure I slept at some point between January and May, but between classes and work I’d be hard pressed to tell you exactly when it happened. Next up: Spanish II and Calculus I in fall.
I volunteered at the WHA-TV Auction again this year as a bid sorter and bid runner– and found myself (willingly) drafted into being a board captain on the last day of the auction. If you were watching during the hours before Showcase on 1 June, you might have seen me writing bids on the C board.
Memorial Day started with me marching with the Black Knights Color Guard in the Monona Memorial Day Parade, followed by post chaplain duties for services at several local cemeteries. I was also granted the honor of reading the opening and closing prayers at U. S. Army Cpl. Rachael Hugo’s reinterment ceremony at Roselawn Cemetery in Madison. (I’ve started, and not finished, several posts about Memorial Day 2008– the entire day, especially Cpl. Hugo’s reinterment ceremony, was an emotional experience– so much that I’m at a loss for words. I’m just sincerely honored that I was able to participate.)
I have not been in the gym as much as I’ve needed to be since final exams, mainly because I was just plain exhausted for a while after the semester was over. I did buy a new mountain bike that I’ve been riding around the neighborhood, and I’ve also been out doing things like climbing rocks and kayaking this summer. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
I just returned from 11 days in Costa Rica (map); I was there for a friend’s wedding, plus some very much needed rest and relaxation. The map link points to the house we stayed in (the elbow shaped building NNE from the satellite dish), at Tarbaca outside of San Jose. I had a great time… although today I’m still recovering from the trip, so more details and pictures to follow.
And there you have it.
This year’s Crazylegs Classic time: 8K in 1:05:33, which was just slightly longer than my Crazylegs 2007 time of 58:54:00. There are reasons for taking the extra time: first, it was windy, which is a condition I’m not used to when running (most of my running is done on a treadmill at the YMCA). Second, I think I tried to keep up with other runners a little too much over the first mile or two. Once I started listening to the cadences and the voice in my head saying “just run your own race”, I got into more of the rhythm that I was used to running.
Listen to me, talking about my running technique. Heh.
I wish I had thought of it earlier– at last month’s VFW post meeting, an info packet had arrived asking if Post 7591 was interested in putting a team together for Crazylegs. I was the only one that raised my hand, but there may be others around from other Posts or people who don’t attend meetings. So I’ll put it out there now, 364 days before Crazylegs 2009. If you’re a Veterans of Foreign Wars member (or you’re eligible) and would like to run with me in next year’s Crazylegs, leave a comment and let me know. I’ll get in touch when registration opens for 2009.
Airman Opus is a civilianized Air Force Ground Rat (and Desert Storm veteran) who is headed to the University of Wisconsin in January 2010.
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. --John F. Kennedy
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