An Excuse to Use My Camera

For those of you that live in that part of the country, what's the big deal with Dunkin' Donuts coffee? I tried a pound and I really dislike it. It tastes very strange to me.


Dunkin on left, good coffee on right

That's what I image Senka would look like. (if Senka ever actually exists in a bean form)

Undisclosed Location

There are times at which I'm not very good at listening to that little voice in my head. You know--the one that serves as your conscience and better half. That little person sitting in the back of your consciousness that tells you in a dispassionate and unerring voice when you are doing something you shouldn't or when you aren't doing something you should.

Most of the time, I try to listen. Sure, there are many times I haven't--and usually lived to regret it. Sometimes the voice screams (during the times I'm least likely to take the advice) and there are times when the voice is so quiet that it can barely be heard over the humdrum of daily life.

Too often, I don't listen when my conscience talks to me in these hushed tones. I'd always equated the quiet advice to be of less importance. I'm slowly starting to realize the opposite.

So, the other week when I heard that little voice tell me "you need some time away", I decided to explore what that meant. And it didn't take me long to figure out what I needed. I needed a little time away from *everything*. I needed time away from everyone and everything. No people. No noise. None of the technological trappings that filled much of my daily life. No way to find me.

The end result of which became this weekend.

Friday: 4:30 PM
I pack-up and walk out of my cubicle. Even before I hit the parking lot, I've put my phone into "Airplane Mode". Just that little act is already making me less stressed. No calls, email or Internet allowed this weekend.

6:30 PM

It will be too late for dinner by the time I make it to my destination, so I stop off at the side of the road for some food and gas.

It reminds me of taking road trips as a kid. Parents stuffing their pajama-wearing children into over-stuffed vehicles--a couple of pillows being the only thing separating them from coolers stuffed with Cokes and sandwiches. Boy Scouts in the church's van. Bleary-eyed truckers carrying around comically large jugs of coffee.

I can smell the rain coming in.

7:30 PM
After a couple of last-minute wrong turns (the GPS can't get me where I'm going), I finally reach my destination--a fishing shack on a small pond in the middle of nowhere.

I get out of my car and turn on my flashlight when I realize the the batteries haven't been changed for a couple of years and it's barely giving off any light. When I look down the pier to the cabin, a vision of every backwoods slasher horror movie I've ever seen runs through my head.

After I get settled in my new home for the weekend, I make some of my homemade hot chocolate (the secret is a pinch of cayenne pepper when making the mix). It's too dark to do anything else, so I settle in and read Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

Saturday Morning

I look outside and see that I've got alternative transportation home if I need it.

A massive (for South Texas) cold front came through last night. I don't remember the last time I've heard wind that fierce. And as I step outside, the wind is still blowing strong and the temperature has dropped to somewhere in the 40's.


After a little coffee and breakfast (eggs and sausage), I decide to get a good look at this place in the daylight.


Ah, perfect. Can't you just feel the quiet?

Anyway, because of the cold and wind, being outside is not too pleasant. So I spend most of the day inside catching up on reading. (but mostly enjoying the complete silence)


The wind starts to die down in the late-afternoon sun. So I take my chance and move outside for a couple of hours. But once the sun sets, the wind picks back up and I move back inside.

It amazes me how slow time moves when there aren't any distractions or demands in my life.


I end the night by finishing off Neverwhere. (I didn't mean for it to be a Neil Gaiman weekend--those where just a couple of the unread books I pulled off the shelf)

At one point, I bundled up (it was back to windy and cold) and spent a few minutes sitting outside. I really miss the stars. I wanted to see the Milky Way. I even spotted Orion.

Sunday Morning


This morning brought a picture-perfect sunrise.

After some breakfast (PB&J and an apple), I get in a little sight-seeing.


But other than some horses, cows and a heck of a lot of trees, there's not much to see. I guess that was the point.

While I didn't have to leave until 3:00, I realized that I was done. I'd gotten what I needed out of the weekend. I packed up and started back home.

Happy B-Day To Me, part 1

A decent tax refund plus a birthday can only mean one thing: I've talked myself into buying something.

The digital camera I have now is really handy. It's one of those sub-compact things that I literally carry around in my pocket. It's great for light traveling, but the picture quality and options leaves quite a bit to be desired.

So I decided to upgrade to a Nikon D60.


After a couple of hours with this camera and an instructional DVD (I had no idea how to use this thing), I'm really impressed. I think this will get a heck of a lot of use.

Food

Goddangit. (as Bloyd would say)

In an attempt to try and spend less money on eating out and trying to get better food into my system, I've seemed to slip beyond just eating at home and fallen directly into obsessing about cooking.

I blame Alton Brown. Now I can't imagine cooking with table salt--kosher salt is the only thing allowed. I've already bought more items from the produce department in the last two months than all last year. I've even started buying hardware at a restaurant supply store. (hey, stuff is a heck of a lot cheaper there than anywhere else)

I've managed to meet one of my goals--I'm definitely eating better foods. And I can really feel it. I've got more energy, I'm more alert and it's much easier to maintain my weight.

But not so much on the other goal. I *could* definitely eat (and eat well) on less than what I used to spend on burgers every night, but I'm not doing that right now. Like tonight--I spent an extra couple of bucks buying a brick of real parmesan cheese and threw away that pre-shredded stuff in the can. It's good, but it ain't cheap.

So, here's tonight's dinner. Risotto. Oh man, talk about rich and creamy. Add a few peas and prosciutto and a few glasses of wine. I'm happy.

Dead trees

As many of you know, one of my addictions (so to speak) is books. I don't even want to know what I spent at Amazon and Barnes & Noble last year.

But in an effort to reign-in spending a bit, I started looking for alternatives. The electronic books just aren't up to my standards yet. (although the new Kindle is getting closer--there just needs to be a better selection of books)

There are a couple of used book stores near me, but their selection is very hit-or-miss.

So I signed-up for SwapTree.com last month. Basically you list what books you are willing to trade and then what books you want. After that, the website periodically matches your want/have list with other people's and sends "trade invites". If you accept, you just mail your book to the other person and they do the same. Easy stuff. No "transaction fees" or anything stupid like that.

It's worked really well so far. It's not instant gratification, but I've got like 5 or 6 "new" books for something like $15 worth of shipping costs.

Yet another reason

I hope everyone is having a good Valentine's Day.


(this seemed appropriate for most of my readers)

That being said, I wanted to pass along a little more evidence on the argument for gay marriage. Unfortunately this is a perfect example of how the argument of "there are equally effective existing laws" isn't accurate.

Thank goodness that none of the hospitals I've stayed in have been this uncaring.

Nerd Porn, update

Ok, a quick update and I'm done with this project.

The last bit I planned to do was get the NAS connected to my printer so I could print anywhere in the house. That also meant that it would be moved out of the living room into the office. (so that even since it doesn't look much like a PC, it still doesn't leave the impression that my house decor is post-modern geek chic)

So, to put the NAS in the office and keep it connected to the network, I found a cheap Linksys WRT54G v8 on CraigsList and loaded DD-WRT on it. (DD-WRT is awesome--you take a cheap router and this update gives it the same capabilities of a >$500 router) I configured it as a repeater bridge so that it would connect to my other router via wireless and give me hard-wired connections in the office for the NAS and any other network devices I want.


Here you can see the final setup. The NAS sits behind my monitor while the laptop is running dual-screen with Hulu playing while I work.


(note: no, I'm *not* watching Fox News--that's The Daily Show)