Camping at Tyler State Park
My wife wanted to go camping this week as an experiment to see how we liked it as a family. I had done a lot of camping as a Boy Scout, but not much as an adult. We had gone on trips with her family when there was a Winnebago Minnie Winne available for people to sleep in, but this time it was a shelter site at the state park.
I couldn't say no. I am at a point where I will leap at any change in routine to get me off my keister and out exercising. So we loaded up the van and went.
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I used to camp all the time (even winter) in the Boy Scouts. Haven't really since then, but I'd like to get back into it. If I could tear myself away from everything else....
Posted by: Mauser at March 07, 2016 08:42 PM (5Ktpu)
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Yup, the ultimate goal is more exercise. I do miss my Scout camping days, even though it was only three years around the time I was in middle school. I actually thought about picking up a current Scout handbook just to see what had changed from when I was in during the early 90s.
Posted by: Tom Tjarks at March 09, 2016 08:52 AM (XbFxF)
I've had the first two volumes (Welcome to Lovecraft / Head Games) for some time, but never got around to picking up the other four. This is a very well done 'radio play'. The drama will be free until November 4th.
As a side warning, yes, this is a dark story, and the name of the town is no coincidence. Welcome to Lovecraft Sound, Massachusetts.
Windows 10
I finally took advantage of Microsoft's free update to Windows 10 from Windows 7. I've been running the OS for about a week and a half now and I'm largely happy with it.
Only have one real major failing with it at this point and that has to do with the chipset of my Netgear WNA1100 wireless N adapter. Depending on how much I'm doing on the internet (connection wise), all my USB devices will just disconnect. At first, I thought this was a recent Win10 development, but after thinking over the pattern of things, I realized the network disconnection has been going on for some time. What is new is that the device completely disconnects now. Previously I would just hit seemingly high pings for up to 30s and then be back to normal. So I do think it was going on while I still had Win7.
All said, even after making sure I had the latest drivers, it seems the answer is don't use the Atheros chipset in my USB wireless or get an internal card.
Or do what I really want to do and just start using Ethernet over Power adapters.
I don't think most users will have many problems with Win 10. Yes, stuff is arranged differently and I don't like how much usage information is being sent to Microsoft. It lacks all of the touch interface items that made Win8 annoying. Heck, I suspect it is only an iterative update from Win 7 overall under the hood.
Evening...
Laying in the dark with my old tuxedo cat under one hand and a book in the other. The thunder interrupts occasionally from a near by storm front. It is a good evening.
Music rediscovered...
Okay, some time back, I stumbled on a torrent for Deus Ex Sonic Augmentation from OCRemix. I just learned today that they have released multiple albums of songs over the years. Went on a downloading spree.
Humans and Gears, Super Metroid - REserve Tank, Wild ARMs: ARMED and Dangerous...
Bicycling...
Started cycling this last week again. Realized that 312 lbs was just the wrong way to be living. I've known this for some time, and have hovered around the 290 mark for the last couple of years, but it jumped up twenty pounds in the last eight months. Nope, I'm done. I promised myself years ago it wouldn't get this bad and I turned around and let it get that bad. I had a couple of rides where I couldn't even make it a mile, but as I ride every day, I'm pushing it just a little further. Managed to put in a five mile ride in this afternoon with a small mid ride break. Hoping to be doing twenty to thirty by midsummer.
Benefits: I'm already sleeping better a night on any day I exercise and I've found my troubleshooting has been going better at the helpdesk I work at.
I've been bouncing up and down in the 230's for a while, but I've been
as high as 246, and I don't like how I feel there. But I know how hard
it is.
Diet of course makes a difference. reducing carbs works best for me.
I have one friend who got a standing desk, and set up a treadmill in front of it.
Posted by: Mauser at April 04, 2015 11:39 PM (TJ7ih)
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Trying to talk my work into letting me raise my desk so I can stand. The downside is that I'm in a call center... and I'm not a quiet person. My voice projects without much trying on my part.
Diet is next on my list once exercise becomes the norm again. I still eat like I'm eighteen. I know this is bad, but I still can't seem to overcome it.
Posted by: Tom Tjarks at April 07, 2015 05:22 AM (8TxhX)
An early stormy morning
I've got my work stuff up and running, the rain is falling outside with some thunder in the background. I count this a good morning. Still not adjusted to my shift schedule completely. Need to figure out how to enjoy the weekend without staying up late and sleeping in til noon. I'm still happy I was able to change shifts at work. I like being off work by 1pm.
On
a slightly more somber note, I'm starting to think there is a ghost in
the machine. Or at least, I'm learning we leave a bigger digital
footprint behind us than I have expected. I keep finding the name of a friend who passed away several years ago from ALS listed in my phone contacts, favorites, and messages thanks to various information services auto linking things on my phone.
Scrolling contact list,
Your name appears many years later.
Lifetime remembered.
The need for the Second Amendment
Steven Den Beste has probably laid out the best description of the need for the Second Amendment in our country that I have heard in a long time:
While I probably fall on the other side of the political line from Steven most of the time, I'm glad he said this. It's much better than I could have ever done.
Went to GenCon for the first time ever, had a blast, was sick half the weekend. Spent the other half of the weekend meeting friends I had known for years online.
With my wife going back to school, I've decided to borrow several of her books from last semester to fill some critical gaps in my personal knowledge. See, I wish I knew basic calculus, yet I can barely do basic algebra. So I'm taking some time in the evenings to read up on the Algebra to bring myself back up to speed. Hoping to be working on Calculus by next year.
Storm watching..
I really shouldn't but I find myself drawn to watching the radar images for Dallas/Fort Worth today. It is not helping my stress levels any...
Memory and the Social Network
While I know it is basically an ad for an upcoming video game, I still find this video rather inspiring. And it also still makes me think too about other issues with our digital revolution. Who is going to be able to read it in ten years, twenty years? Will we be the equivalent of the Gate builders from Stargate SG-1, leaving behind huge cities full of inscrutable texts and unusuable technologies?
My idiot light...
Some days i wonder why i go to bed and stare into my ipad reading or watching something on netflix well into the night. Then i turn it off and remember all the voices in my head that i dont want to hear...
Okay, head is a little clearer now... Iron Man 3 was a very good movie. I think they used the Mandarin, Ben Kingsley, and the Extremis storylines very well. Loved the ending sequence. There is the usual post credit sequence, and it is pretty funny. I want to say more, but for now it will suffice that RDJr, Gwenneth Paltrow, and the rest of the cast knock this one out of the park.
It was well worth the the midnight showing and my craving for brains this morning at the office.
Today is a writing day!!
Time to get ready for Saturday's post. Which means I need to go over the section I want to post and see if there is anything too painfully bad in it. Considering I've recently changed the MC's rank on the ship and such... I probably have some work ahead of me.
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Aye, that it does... if you're lucky. More often than not, you're too busy coughing for any inhaling to take place.
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 16, 2013 06:45 PM (9jITs)
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I would have just ridden it out as a cold that got into my lungs, but I started coughing so hard that I felt my heart skip a couple of beats... yeah.. went to the doctor.
Posted by: Tom Tjarks at April 19, 2013 04:39 PM (T5fuR)
Random 001
Huh, so my tactic for getting through the day is to listen to 8-bit Genesis video game music of games I liked. I can deal. Wait...was the Genesis considered 8-bit music?