Not Spoiled

As I mentioned last week, I did a little bit of cleaning of the cubicle.  I decided it was time for a few things to go, so I threw out this biscuit and cookie.  Just because I'm doing a muffin experiment doesn't mean I collect all bread-like things that have gone stale, but some people think I do and donate items.  I think they sat there for about 6 months or so with no signs of mold.  Don't worry, the muffins are still there.

Speaking of things not going bad, this didn't go bad either, it just started to grow.  I accidentally left this behind something on my counter for as month or two.  It was kind of sandwiched between this paper bag and a window, and look what happened to the yam.  Pretty cool, huh?  I didn't notice I had left it there until it grew so tall I was wondering why a plant was growing in my kitchen when I don't have any plants there.  It was probably the wrong thing to do, but I threw it away.

Missing Something

I was talking to a guy at work today, and he asked where I was going on my upcoming vacation.  When I told him (hint:  it involves 'vention), he said something like, "I didn't know you were into going to church.  So you're a conservative.  I'm a liberal.  That must be why we aren't BFFs."  The BFF thing was an inside joke because we had discussed previously about BFFs one time. I've known that guy for a year and a half.

It makes me wonder how he didn't know I went to church.  Did he miss the fact that I politely reject his offers to show me some "real fun" as he knows it and argue/debate with him about how the standard of "fun" is not the same for everybody?  Is he not very observant in general?  Was he pretending to be obtuse?  Or do I need to examine my example?

Speaking of being observant, I am surprised at the number of people who don't notice my finger splint and the type of people that do.  Or maybe it's the type of people likely to remark on it.  Anyway, lots of people at work didn't/don't notice it.  I talked to my boss and two of my project leaders at least one time to each of them with a splint on before they ever noticed and asked what happened.  I didn't wave it in their face, but I wasn't trying to hide it either.  I've talked to many component reps who didn't remark on it.  In fact, I went to lunch with one of them for an hour and he didn't notice.  I know he didn't notice then because he said so later.  The massage therapist didn't notice either until I told her, although she probably would have noticed eventually when she went to massage my arm.  The massage therapist did notice my change in hairdo though, so she gets half credit for that.  She probably thought the braid was an unshakable fixture until today.

The people who notice almost immediately are service people like the cashier at Qdoba and the checkout clerk at the grocery store.  Maybe they're looking at my hands because of expecting to take money or my credit card from me.  Still, it's very interesting the pattern I'm observing.

All for now folks.

Gratitude Photojournal 2012, Week #34

Things I'm thankful for this week:

1.  Beautiful weather

 

2.  Evening kayak excursion

3.  Capability to kayak

Giving the Finger Update

I nearly forgot to tell you guys that there was good news on the finger front from Monday.  Four weeks down, two to go until I get to try to bend my finger.  I'm pretty sure the joint will be so stiff it won't bend much.  The doctor decided to be in the office the day after Labor Day, so I don't have to do an extra week in the splint like I thought I would.  Unless of course the doctor doesn't think it has healed enough when I see him that day.

At my appointment with the OT this week she had a student shadowing her, so I think my appointment lasted longer than normal.  It seemed like she took some extra time to explain some stuff and measure the diameter of my finger.  The swelling is pretty much all gone.  Or maybe she had a little more time because I saw her right after lunch instead of right before lunch.

Finger rehabilitation will involve at-home finger exercises and going twice a week into the OT for her to do/help me do other stuff.  That could last for 4-8 weeks she said.  She hasn't been very detailed about what the exercises will involve yet.  So......I wait with baited breath for the next 1.5 weeks to pass.  Labor day is coming up, so I think that will help the time pass quickly.

Since I've been such a good girl in doing my finger exercises, the boutonniere in my finger has not gotten worse (and maybe got a little better).  As one of the CAD guys says at work, "Onward and Upward!"

Not So Typical Day in the Life of an Engineer

I was browsing past someone else's blog and saw they had posted a "day in the life of" kind of post.  It's been a long time since I've done that, so here's what I did today.  This is actually not a completely typical day.  Usually I do a little bit more work than I did today.

6:35 AM  Alarm goes off.  Hit snooze.
6:44 AM  Alarm goes off.  Hit snooze.
6:49 AM  Get out of bed before alarm goes off again and turn off alarm.
6:50 AM  Start Phase 1 of morning routine - going to the bathroom (which this morning included adjusting the flush chain length because it came unhooked yesterday), hair-doing, getting dressed, changing dressing of my finger splint, finger exercises.
7:20 AM  Pray.  (Unfortunately, most of the time is spent getting the door shut.)
7:35 AM  Start Phase 2 of morning routine - drinking a glass of juice while reading my bible, washing blueberries to take to work, checking my phone for interesting messages (one from Ananias), see who took their turn in Words With Friends (using my phone), brushing my teeth.
7:50 AM  Leave for work.
7:57 AM  Arrive at work parking lot.
7:58 AM  Walk into work and power up computer.  Assess level of tar smelliness (they're still working on the roof, and pretty much most of the week our cube area has been almost uninhabitable for at least part of the day every day because of the strong smells).
8:07 AM  Log into computer.
8:08 AM  While computer finishes booting, take oatmeal and blueberries in a mug to break area for breakfast preparation.  Also fill water mug at this time.
8:11 AM  Open e-mail and start work.
8:45 AM  Finish checking and answering most new e-mails with a few non-urgent ones unread.
8:46 AM  Discuss a few things with one of my co-workers (Ganesh) about a board I designed where he will be making some LED changes.  Discuss design change options and what needs to be considered in the design analysis.  Also discuss status of conductive foam issue that he and another co-worker (Rickshaw) are investigating.
9:00 AM  Look at my calendar and to-do list to try to prioritize tasks for the day.
9:05 AM  Print off something about FIRST robotics to take to a co-worker at training at lunch today.
9:06 AM  Work on updating the microprocessor selection pugh matrix we've been working on this week with data gathered over the last 3 days.
9:15 AM  Get interrupted with various questions and other stuff I can't remember.  Wash oatmeal mug.  Answer a few other e-mails while still trying to do a little work on the pugh matrix.
9:25 AM  Help a co-worker determine (over instant message) if he has a part of the ECAD software installed.  He doesn't - do this final determination as I.......
9:32 AM  Call into my project's weekly meeting.  Three other people have joined, and one other person will not be joining today.
9:37 AM  Hunt down my project leader so he will call into the weekly meeting.
9:38 AM  Continue with weekly meeting now that project leader called in.
9:50 AM  Finish weekly meeting.  Not a lot to talk about since we've been talking frequently for this micro selection thing.  But, we did discuss a little bit the change in project scope and funding, which is why I hunted down the project leader in the first place.
9:51 AM  Start packing up to go over to a different building for some LabView training.
9:52 AM  Boss stops in and says we need to clean up our cube area because someone with crutches will be in the area later this week.  OK......we'll do that.  Even though we know he's just using this as an excuse to tell us to clean up because really, that person on crutches doesn't normally come into our cubicle.  Discuss with cube-mates if we can just put a "No Crutches" sign outside the cube just like the lab has a "No Pacemakers" sign outside its door.
9:55 AM  During walk to parking lot, have a discussion with my project leader about my weekly highlights and how I should tone down some of my wording to create less of a stir with some of our process partners.  OK, not a problem.  If my highlights from the last couple weeks are causing a stir, then that pretty much means I accomplished what I wanted to with that already.
10:00 AM  Drive to other building for training.
10:07 AM  Arrive to other building just a few minutes late for training - they haven't gotten far yet, so I didn't miss much.
10:10 AM  LabView training as part of being a FIRST Robotics mentor.  Not completely work related, but somewhat related.  And, my company supports its employees being mentors, so that's nice.
12:10 PM  Free pizza from Domino's for lunch as part of the training.  Training continued through lunch.
12:45 PM  Do finger exercises during training.
1:40 PM  Discuss some robotics administrative stuff with a fellow team mentor.
1:50 PM  Leave training slightly early to drive back to my building.
1:58 PM  Arrive back at home base cubicle.  It's pretty smelly today, but not as bad as Monday and Tuesday. n Just barely tolerable.  If I die from lung cacer in the next year, you'll know what it's from.
1:59 PM  Run to bathroom quick before next meeting.
2:05 PM  Call into conference call to discuss microprocessor selection - a continuation of three other meetings we've had on this with another meeting scheduled for tomorrow.  Microprocessor selection is a big deal and sometimes very controversial, so it must be approached carefully and thoughtfully.
2:08 PM  Decide one of the key engineers won't be able to join the call (we aren't able to contact him and he's in Brazil in a separate building from the other Brazilian on the phone, so we can't stop by his desk to see what is going on).
2:10 PM  Continue with a little bit of microprocessor selection discussion doing what we can, but we know we won't make much progress today.
2:30 PM  End microprocessor selection meeting early.
2:31 PM  Check e-mail (first time since about 9:30 this morning).  There's an entire page of new e-mails!
2:32 PM  Read and respond to e-mails as appropriate.  Also schedule a meeting for next week related to finalizing the power supply specification on my project.
3:20 PM  Go and talk to a co-worker about some power supply investigation he's doing since we are losing some of our power supply design support until January 2013 when additional funding and resources are available.
3:25 PM  Talk to a couple co-workers in the hall about miscellaneous stuff.
3:30 PM  Another conference call starts.... this one with one of our suppliers to discuss functional testers, data they sent for the tester, next steps, process controls on one of the assembly processes, what they need from us, some pictures they're going to send us about a design concern, etc.
4:00 PM  End call with supplier and start clean-up of cubicle.
4:10 PM  As part of clean-up, discuss with project leader whether we need to analyze some circuit boards or scrap them.  They were in a couple boxes in my cube that needed to be cleaned up.
4:15 PM  Continue with clean-up, which includes a lot of disassembling circuit boards from plastics so that both the circuit board and the plastics can be put into the appropriate recycling bins.
5:30 PM  Krix stops by just as I'm finishing the disassembling and asks if I can look at a PSPICE simulation she's doing that's not behaving correctly.
5:31 PM  Go to Krix's desk to try to troubleshoot her simulation.  We're stumped - can't figure out why it's not doing what it should when it's a fairly basic full bridge rectifier circuit.  Try a few different things with no luck.
6:00 PM  Krix calls it a day - still can't figure out what the deal is with the simulation.
6:05 PM  Go back to cube and do a couple small clean-up things.  Didn't quite get everything cleaned up, so I'll probably do a little bit more at the end of the day tomorrow on that.
6:10 PM  Go back to working on computer.  Check and respond to e-mail, reschedule a meeting that is interfering with one of my vacation days, update the pugh matrix a little bit more.
6:30 PM  Look at the time!  Start closing files, applications, etc. to prepare for shutting down.
6:35 PM  Check e-mail and facebook quick.  Feel guilty about not getting a chance to talk to co-workers so I can answer Windy's e-mailed question on appliances.  Quite a bit of activity today on facebook it looks like with lots of kids going back to school.  I'll have to check that in more detail after B.S.
6:40 PM  Leave work (do finger exercises while walking to parking lot).
6:45 PM  Arrive home.
6:50 PM  Set up chairs for B.S., change clothes, put away clean dishes in dishrack, put dirty dishes in dishwasher, pick up dirty clothes from bathroom floor, eat some peanuts for a snack, and generally just relax for a couple minutes while checking who else played in Words with Friends today.
7:15 PM  Sit down for B.S.
7:30 PM  B.S.
8:30 PM  All B.S. people leave and chairs are put away - pull out leftovers from the fridge for supper.  Bratwurst, yellow squash, potatoes, orange juice, and a granola bar.  Do finger exercises while waiting for food to heat in microwave.
8:40 PM  In the process of pouring orange juice, spill it all over my hand (including the finger with the splint).
8:45 PM  Change dressing on splint (I was going to have to anyway to take my shower later in the evening).
8:55 PM  Sit down to eat supper while surfing the web (facebook, e-mail, checking blogs, writing this post).
10:05 PM  Look at the time!  Begin evening prepare-for-bed routine.
10:10 PM  Nightly bathroom routine - using the toilet, showering, flossing, brushing, taking vitamins.
10:40 PM  Sit down at computer to type a few more things.
11:15 PM  Play Words with Friends.
~11:30 PM  Do evening splint cleaning and dressing change routine.  Do finger exercises.
~11:45 PM  Read bible and pray (for not as long as I should).
~11:59 PM?  Turn off the light to go to sleep.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary - How does your garden grow?

Do radishes make your breath smell, similar to what garlic and raw onions do?  Does the smell emit from your pores later?

Last week we had a few rainy days that were slightly chilly - it really felt like soup weather.

What to do with tons of cherry tomatoes?  I don't think I can eat enough salad to use them all before they go bad.  And it's not really tons either.....one largish container full is all.

I'm coming to appreciate fresh basil.  I need to try to grow some next year.  Did you know that pesto is fresh basil, olive oil, and pine nuts ground up?  I just learned that this evening.  I should try to make some when I grow my fresh basil next year.

I would never really think to plant radishes because we didn't plant them in our garden when I was a kid.  The things we learn and do as a kid have lasting effects, don't they?

Oh yeah, I meant to say on my post from last week:  many thanks to my parents who taught me about the freedom of choice and natural laws and principles.

Gratitude Photojournal 2012, Week #33

Things I'm thankful for this week (there were so many it was difficult to choose):

1.  Sunday afternoon ride

 

2.  Snail Mail

3.  Questions that make me research

Another One Bites The Dust

A short summary of this past weekend:

1. Ate the best pizza in town for the second time in a week.
2. Matt and his wife visited and stayed at my house for the weekend.  They live a couple states away now.
3. They brought their dog who loves me:  Scooter.
4. They did a quick trip to the emergency room because Matt's wife got cut while opening a glass jar of lotion stuff that spontaneously broke.
5. Paul's wedding.
6. Appetizers with friends between the wedding and reception.
7. Bike ride with Krix.
8. Going to a local bistro and listening to some live guitar and harmony while eating rich chocolate peanut butter mousse.
9. There are some things you don't know about your work friends until they have a kid.  Who knew one of them that is in general fairly conservative would be such a large proponent of breast feeding in public?
10. Food for the soul at SMM.

Tra-Kac NOT breast feeding when I took this picture.

 

There was a photo booth at the wedding.

The 8th Habit: Part One

Lately I've kind of been on a non-fiction reading kick, which is different because I'm usually more of a fiction reader.  The current book I'm reading is called "The 8th Habit" by Stephen Covey.  Oddly enough, I found this book in a thrift store just a week or two before he died.  Before reading this, you may also want to read "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by the same author.  Part of the assignment when reading this book is to teach what you learned to someone else.  You readers of my blog get to be my students.  Now some of the stuff is new, but quite a bit of it is stuff I sort of knew but didn't necessarily know how to put it into words.  This book does that to some extent.  It's no substitute for the Bible by any means, but so far I have found it very interesting.

It also seems very relevant to the current political atmosphere and sheds some very interesting light on the whole "You didn't build that" quote by the President that was in the news recently.  It is evident why people object to what he said.  Because by saying that, he is desecrating one of our greatest gifts:  the freedom of choice.

So......here's what I've learned so far.  These are some of the gems I've found.  The regular text is from the book.  The italics are my own additional spin on this.

"Most ailing organizations have developed a functional blindness to their own defects.  They are not suffering because they cannot resolve their problems, but because they cannot see their problems." - John Gardner
-Parallel to this, it also explains why we need God to help us show us our spiritual problems.  Because we can't see them by ourselves.  We need God to shift our paradigm.

"The problem is, managers today are still applying the Industrial Age control model to knowledge workers.  Because many in positions of authority do not see the true worth and potential of their people and do not possess a complete, accurate understanding of human nature, they manage people as they do things.  This lack of understanding also prevents them from tapping into the highest motivations, talents and genius of people.  What happens when you treat people like things today?  It insults and alienates them, depersonalizes work, and creates low-trust, unionized, litigious cultures." - Stephen Covey

The four intelligences of our nature:  Physical Intelligence, Mental Intelligence, Social/Emotional Intelligence, and Spiritual Intelligence.

"The point is, if you neglect any of the four parts of human nature, you turn a person into a thing, and what do you do with things?  You have to control, manage, and carrot-and-stick them in order to motivate them." - Stephen Covey

"If you were to ask what one ideal was most practical, most relevant, most timely, regardless of circumstances, I would answer quickly, without any reservation, and with the deepest conviction of my heart and soul, that we are free to choose.  Next to life itself, the power to choose is your greatest gift."  "The essence of being human is being able to direct your own life." "The power of choice means that we are not merely a product of our past or of our genes; we are not a product of how other people treat us.  They unquestionably influence is, but they do not determine us.  We are self-determining through our choices."  - Stephen Covey
This totally aligns with the Bible.  God calls us, and it is up to us to choose whether we respond.  This also gets at the root of why people didn't like the President's comment.

An awarenes of our freedom and power to choose is afirming because it can excite our sense of possibility and potential.  It can also threaten, even terrify, because suddenly we're responsible, that is, re-sponse-able." - Stephen Covey
In the last six months, I've watched a friend go through some of this fear that comes with the freedom to choose, so this was particularly clear and interesting to me.

Between stimulus and response there is a space.

In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response.

In those choices lie our growth and our happiness.

A couple nice poems related to the power of choice:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

-Robert Frost

One ship drives east and another drives west

With the self same winds that blow.

'Tis the set of the sails,

And not the gales,

That tells us the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate;

As we voyage along through life,

'Tis the set of a soul

That decides its goal,

And not the calm, or the strife.

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The book spends time covering natural laws or principles.  This is a pretty easy concept if you're one who reads the Bible.  For example, the "Law of the Harvest" is a natural law.  You reap what you sow.

"Spiritual Intelligence is the central and most fundamental of all the intelligences because it becomes the source of guidance for the other three." - Stephen Covey

1.  For the body - assume you've had a heart attack; now live accordingly
2.  For the mind - assume the half-life of your profession is two years; now prepare accordingly
3.  For the heart - assume everything you say about another, they can overhear; now speak accordingly
4.  For the spirit - assume you have a one-on-one visit with your Creator every quarter; now live accordingly

For the spirit, I would say: assume you have a one-on-one visit with your Creator every morning and every evening; now live accordingly.  And we can be thankful the Creator helps us live accordingly.

Retire from your job but never from meaningful projects.  If you want to die early, retire to golf and fishing and sit around swallowing prescriptions and occasionally seeing your grandkids.


Determinism is deeply imbedded into present-day culture and is reinforced by the terrifying sense that if I do have choice, then I am also responsible for my present situation.  Until a person can honestly say "I am what I am" and "I am where I am because I so choose to be there," that person cannot say with conviction, "I choose otherwise."
To me, this is the danger of so many entitlements in our society.  The entitlements send a subliminal message to people that they are not responsible and do not have the power to choose otherwise, so they must rely on the government to choose for them.

OK, that's enough of the soapbox for today.  Join me next month as we discuss Vision, Discipline, Passion, and Conscience.

Paul Gets Hitched

I debated whether this should get its own post separate from the weekend summary, and I finally decided that it seemed like it was worthy of a separate one.  A friend from work got married on Saturday.  He's a pretty good guy.  I trust him to design good circuits.  We've worked at the same company in the same group for about 6 years now I think.  I first met him when he was interviewing for his job position, and I was part of the 3 people that took him out to lunch so he could ask questions about the area and get some honest "young people" opinions.  I didn't give him a technical interview, but people thought he was good I guess, and they hired him.  Since then we've known each other.  I don't know if I feel like I know a lot of important details about Paul and wasn't even sure if I would get a wedding invitation.  When I sat down to write this post, I realized that we do have quite a bit of history together.  Some other Paul highlights:

1. Rock climbing buddy.  I think there was a good two year stretch there where Paul, Jeni, and myself went rock climbing in the Zoo on a weekly basis.
2. Quiet.  Paul is not a big talker.  He talks even less than me.  He's quite often fairly intense, but he does appreciate a good laugh too.  Our conversations involve quite a bit of silence.
3. He's one of the first people I ever heard use the phrase "Oh snap" in a conversation.
4. Speaking of intense, some of the things Paul is intense about:  his music (especially Jazz), playing guitar, playing drums in Rock Band, golf, exercise (he has been the mayor of Anytime Fitness in our town for quite a while on FourSquare), and U of M sports.  That's the big blue, not the gophers.
5. Occasional kayaking buddy.  Please reference this link.
6. Thursday lunch buddy.  Usually there are 4 or 5 of us that have a tradition of going out to lunch on Thursdays, and Paul is one of those people.  Sometimes when the other guys (and girl) can't make it, we've still gone by ourselves on a little "lunch date" I guess you could say.  And, it doesn't even feel all that awkward.
7. Game night compadre.  The group of friends that I sometimes hang out with from work likes to occasionally have a game night.  Paul is in that group of friends.  If there's Rock Band to be had, I think he usually prefers that, but he's game for a board or card game every once in a while (pun intended).  He's great at guitar and drums on Rock Band, but come to think of it, I don't know if I've ever heard him be the vocalist in Rock Band.
8. Coupons.  His fiance-now-wife quite often comments on how Paul loves to use his coupons and get a good deal.  Pretty much your typical engineer.
9. Speaking of being a typical engineer, guess how long he dated his girlfriend before he proposed?  It was just a few months short of five years I think.  There's nothing wrong with being sure, right?
10.  Not one given to PDAs.  As one of my friends commented on at the reception, it was kind of interesting to see Paul acting in a romantic way.  "Not romantic in an uncomfortable way, just unusual."
11. Very well dressed.  (I know, surprising for an engineer.)
12. Seeing him every day at work.  We are both what you might call user interface experts, so we frequently review each others' designs.  For a while there he was my back-up for CAD system support when I was on vacation.

Here are a couple pictures from the wedding.

At the alter waiting for his bride.

The newly married couple.

 

Gratitude Photojournal 2012, Week #32

Things I'm thankful for this week:

1.  Sunday evening hike

2.  Meeting Man's garden.  (Yes, again.  It is peak garden season.)

3.  Friends from work.  (More on this in a later post.)

 

Big News

As promised, I will post a picture of the new hairdo.  It works fairly well and is quick to do.  I don't think I would recommend it for an airplane or car ride if you want to rest your head against the seat.  Other than that, it's good and even passes the head shake test.

In other news, I gained three new cousins today.  That is all.  Bye.

Ask Me About....

KarmX showed me this, and it made me laugh.  This kind of reminds me of some of my random bullet posts.  Maybe I'm borderline ADHD?  There are multiple places that sell T-shirts with this on it if you're looking for one.

 

Plodding Along

I saw the hand doctor (and the OT) again today.  There's not too much going on when you're not supposed to bend your finger for six weeks and you're only on week #2.  They ask you your pain level, touch it a little bit, look at the finger to make sure the splint isn't causing any sores, and re-iterate "don't bend it!"  The doctor also confirmed that volar dislocation is very rare.  He estimated he only sees about one a year, and he's a hand specialist.  Lucky me.  I'm special.

However, very cool was the fact that the doctor has a miniature X-ray machine in his office.  He didn't even have to go stand behind a barrier or anything to take the X-ray.  No lead aprons were involved.  There was this drum-like thing about the size of a Crisco can that you set your hand on, he presses the button, and voila you can see the X-ray of your hand instantly.

The only concern is that the ligaments/tendons tightening are causing a slight boutonniere in the finger.  The bad news is it was already slightly that way from a previous dislocation injury.  So I must diligently continue my "strenuous" finger exercises to prevent further deformity of the finger.

Guess what?  I get an extra "bonus week" in the splint for a total of 7 weeks because of the way Labor Day overlaps with when the doctor is available and when I'm on vacation.  That's it for today folks.  Stay the course for another two weeks when I see the OT again.

Gratitude Photojournal 2012, Week #31

Things I'm thankful for this week:

1. Meeting Man's garden.  (And that he's willing to share.)

 

2.  Sleeping with the window open.

3.  Thunderstorm.

 

Da U.P., Eh

After this post, I'm all caught up on the summer doings.  Here are the details on my trip to da U.P. wit Bex, Jax, Shax, and Jenx.  It was excellent as expected.  I will try to keep the bullets short, and this post will be very long on pictures.  Highlights in words:

1. Laughs
2. Tahquamenon Falls - I recommend you go see this.
3. Rugged (for the midwest) four mile hike between the upper and lower T. Falls (no poison ivy).
4. Yes, we wimped out (and were wise) after the four miles and took the shuttle back to our car.  Actually, Bex and Shax were wise - I would have tried to do the hike back and been miserable the next day if cooler heads had not prevailed.
5. Wildlife on the hike:  chipmunks, birds, and deer.  And wild raspberries.
6. Brats, hot dogs, and potatoes on the grill eaten with a side of fresh blueberries.  Mmmm. Mmmm. Mmmmm.  There were leftovers for breakfast too.
7. Pictured Rocks National Shoreline - this is a must-see, especially on the sunset boat cruise.
8. We accidentally took the "dirt road" on the way to Pictured Rocks.  It was scenic and adventurous.
9. While on the dirt road we enjoyed some oldie but goodie country music.  Oak Ridge Boys, Statler Brothers, Dan Seals, Sawyer Brown, Pam Tillis, and much more.
10. Overheard on the boat cruise where a teenage girl was explaining to a young foreign teenager what "oxymoron" meant:  You know, like jumbo shrimp, airline food, and Republican party.  For some reason that really tickled my funny bone and kept me laughing for about 30 minutes.
11. Eating a perfect smoothie in Munising - tasty, perfect texture, and not too sweet while listening to a sweaty trucker play his 100 year old harmonica.
12. Ferry ride to Mackinac Island - the perfect opportunity to research stuff on my phone.  Like the finer details of Lake Huron and the large bay it has.
13. Bike ride around Mackinac Island.  Funny how the price to transport your bike on the ferry is the same price as what they charge to rent a bike for an hour on the island.
14. Tour of the fort on the island - just as we were finishing we got rained out.  They did some cool musket and old rifle firing demonstrations.
15. Smooth and creamy fudge - chocolate mint was the best.
16. Watching the fireworks on a blanket in St. Ignace (said ig-nus).
17. Sunday morning fellowship with some Yoopers and lunch with some of them afterward.
18. Mackinac Bridge - did you know it's five miles long?  The actual suspension part is shorter, but the whole bridge is a little over five miles long.
19. On the way home, I drove past a point that is halfway between the equator and North Pole.  The sign at Gaylord told me so.
20. Listened to some good podcasts on the way home.  Lake Wobegon and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.

That was a lot of bullets, but at least they were short.  Here's the illustrations:

The wide part of the four mile trail.

Hikers after finishing the trail.  Bex, Shax, and Mex.

Tahquamenon Falls - Upper Falls with a rainbow.

Herman after his dirt road adventure.  That's Jenx in the front seat.

Some of the rocks we pictured.

Did I forget to mention the flies at Pictured Rocks?  They were abundant, big, and biting.  The others made fun of me for my long pants, but I was sure thankful I had them once we got there and discovered the deal with the flies.

Miners Castle at Pictured Rocks.

Check out this tree with its roots growing across the gap.

Pictured Rocks - what else do I need to say?

The Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island.

The view from Fort Mackinac.

Hot biker chick.  Literally.

 

You know what this is - the Mackinac Bridge.

Bex, I nearly forgot:  The 116 stairs for the view are worth it.  But I'm in pretty good shape.

 

THE END

Tri-Fecta

I'm still trying to catch up on summarizing all the goings-on of the last month.  This will summarize my Fourth of July tour of the midwest.  I visited 3 states in the space of one day.  The whole weekend was more like 5 days long with one day of working remotely and the rest on holiday.  I spent a little over a day in the state across the way, half a day in the cheesy state, and the rest of the weekend in the corny state.  Here are the highlights:

1. Delicious breakfasts.  Bex and her extended family really know how to do them up.  Bacon!  "Farm" fresh eggs, super smooth smoothies, fresh bagels, etc.
2. Homemade guacamole multiple times.  Yum.
3. Lots of venison including some venison steaks cooked deliciously on the grill.
4. Running/walking/skipping in the sweltering heat just to annoy Bex.
5. Hiking in the sweltering heat in Rock Cut State Park.
6. Eating perfectly cooked boiled eggs while still slightly warm.  Here's how you do it:  Put the eggs in water in a pot.  Put on the stove and boil.  When the water begins to boil, turn off the burner and leave covered for 10 minutes.  At the end of the 10 minutes, remove the eggs from the water, cool, and eat.
7. I learned this egg cooking tip from the sister of Bex - her sister formerly known as ER (endoplasmic reticulum).  I have now dubbed her Woodwind.  That's her feather name.  Her dot name is Harrage, but Woodwind sounds so much more musical.
8. Seeing Aunt Kiwi again.  I looked back in the archives, and I guess her former name was Mickey.  I still kind of like that.  Another good one is Mix.  I may keep all three for her.  Mickey Mix Kiwi has a good ring to it.
9. Purse party.  It's probably more of a bag party.  Thirty-One if you've heard of it.  I hadn't until this event, but I still purchased a couple things.  Nice, sensible things.  One of them was a purse.  No, I will not  post a picture.  You must catch a glimpse of me in the wild wearing it.
10. Spending more than two hours at REI drooling on stuff and buying several things too.  I always buy long sleeve SmartWool stuff when it's over 100 degrees outside.  It just makes sense.
11. Relaxing on the Rock River.
12. Seeing the mom of a college friend of Ananias.  Said mom knew who I was and gets points for knowing I wasn't Ananias.
13. Games!  Rook (with different house rules), Qwirkle, Taboo, Words with Friends.
14. Seeing Doctor Bambi Killer.
15. Singing hymns in the car (and a few other places).
16. Speaking of singing, Woodwind and I also broke out some oldies but goodies and reminisced with some M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice.  Yeah, we pretty much grew up in the same era.
17. Farmer's Table.  We ate a multiple course meal at Miss Effie's Country Flowers and Garden Stuff in the cornzebo.  It was very delicious and interesting.  BIL-Dan, you will be happy to know it involved a large portion of pork chop.  If you would like to see the menu and the food, Uncle Bex has a much better summary than I do.
18. Shredding it with Jillian.  We worked our way from Level 1 to Level 3 in the space of 3 days.  We're that good.  :-)  Father Dan even joined us for one session.

I'm sensing a strong food theme here.  I won't bore you by listing more mundane stuff just to get to an even 20.  But, I will post some nice pictures taken.  I'll be merciful and not post some of the funniest pictures because they involve Bex in some not-so-flattering poses.  You know the types of compromising positions I'm talking about.  Looking like a goon in her swimming suit with a bag of Cheetos.  Sprawled on the dining room floor getting a tattoo.  You can imagine what it would be like if I did post them.

Proof of blazing hotness.  The one on the left is real, but the one on the right was taken at car start-up.  Not real.

Jumping through hoops to beat the heat.

Nephews of Uncle Bex playing "fishing" with Dove chocolate.  This is reminiscent of playing deer hunting with venison jerky.

The Agent Smith shades I almost bought.

The stylin' shades I did purchase.  Much better color than the other photo I posted.

Miss Effie's chickens.  Too many in an enclosed space results in most of them looking hen-pecked.  I assume that's where the term comes from.

 

Homestead at Miss Effie's.  Someone does live there.

Finger Status

I saw the OT again today.  She was satisfied with the finger progress.  She punched some holes in the splint for ventilation.  I asked a few details about the rehabilitation process, and I found out the total time I'll need to wear the splint is eight weeks (assuming it heals right of course).  Six weeks with absolutely no bending, and then the next two weeks I'll still need to wear it all the time except when I'm doing my finger exercises. 

Did you know the pinky is the hardest finger to rehabilitate?  That's what she told me.  I suggested we just amputate so I wouldn't have to wear the splint, but she said "no".  It's also one of the most important fingers because it's used for gripping things.  Therefore, I'm still wearing the splint.  I'm getting used to it, and the thought of two extra weeks isn't even bumming me out.  Volleyball and softball will be over by then anyway.  Now I'm just hoping it heals right so eight weeks is all I need to wear the splint and no surgery is involved.

I went for a bicycle ride last night.  It worked OK, but I won't be doing any mountain biking with the splint on.  Only gentle road biking.  By the end of the ride my right arm and hand were pretty tired from having to grip the handlebars harder than normal.  Also, the bumpy roads didn't feel real good on the finger because there was too much vibration that was transferred to the damaged joint.  I did manage to find one left hand grip position that worked fairly well.  It's still on the list of things I will be doing in the future with the splint.  On the list to try:  kayaking.  Also, I got to thinking that maybe I could try racquetball.  I only need to grip the racquet in my right hand, so it seems like it might be do-able as long as I don't get too rambunctious with bouncing off walls and such.  I'll ask the doctor and OT next week.

I thought I had some more stuff for you, but that's all I can think of for now.  Later peeps.

Weekend Cache

It was a good weekend.  I went over to the state across the way where KarmX lives and hung out with her and Bex.  I think this time I will do a modified bullet/paragraph type of summary.  This means fewer but lengthier bullets.  Highlights of the weekend:

• Mood lifting.  I was a little bit owly last week because of learning the whole finger-in-a-splint-for-six-weeks thing.  Plus, I didn't get enough sleep for several nights in a row.  And, I had wasted the previous weekend doing nothing, which also makes me glum.  So this was a good change of pace to help me get out of the doldrums.  This week is looking up despite my finger being in a splint.  Related to this, I have concluded I will probably be a terrible old person as I get more and more grouchy when I'm not able to do the things I once used to do with gusto.  If you want to grow old graciously, you need to be gracious now.  I'm working on it.
• Fellowship.  I won't elaborate too much on this one since it seems like this one makes the list often and I've described it before.  But, I truly do appreciate it whether it's hiking along in silence (with a little musical soundtrack from me), having a discussion about massage techniques, or in SMM in a place I've never been before.
• Geocaching for the first time.  We found some caches.  In our first excursion, we were two for three.  However, we didn't find any on our second excursion of looking for geocaches because we were wimps and weren't willing to do extreme bushwacking while risking woodtick infestation and poison ivy exposure.  I can't say I'm really hooked on geocaching.  But, I haven't ruled it out of the "possibly a hobby" category yet.
• Playing Games.  Rummikub, Dutch Blitz, Ticket to Ride, and Settlers of Catan.  In an unusual twist, I pretty much came in dead last on every game we played.  Now I know how it feels to be a loser.  Well, not so much a loser as someone who is frequently humbled.  In the last month or so I've had a lot of that it seems like.  It must be part of my eternal growth plan.  Here's a tip:  watch out for KarmX.  She's a fierce competitor when it comes to games.
• Philosophical discussions.  Back in college I used to have these all the time in the student union, but now it's more rare.  Topics of conversation ranged from a small debate on genetically engineered plants to pride vs. stubbornness.
• Maturing.  I told this one to Bex and she laughed, so maybe it's only partially true.  But, in the last month I have bought (and used) a purse and learned a new hairstyle.  I'm ready to mentally enter my teens where I become obsessed with purses, doing my hair, and get boy crazy.  OK....maybe not.....maybe I'm only at the age of ten in my mind.

I guess that was still quite a few bullets.  Here are a couple pictures to help you visualize.

Bex bushwacking trying to find a micro geocache.

Some of the scenery we saw.

Trouble always comes in threes.

Gratitude Photojournal 2012, Week #30

Things I'm thankful for this week:

1.  Rain.

2.  Fresh blueberries.  This one is for you, Ananias.

3.  Fellowship with Friends.  This is the relax-in-the-grass-near-the-end-of-the-day portion of the hike we went on.  It's difficult to capture the rest of the fellowship in any place other than my heart and mind.