Saturday, April 25, 2009

Complexity

Started watching The Day The Earth Stood Still about an hour and a half ago. Well, not really. The commercials played, the menu showed, but the movie would never start. No matter that the blu-ray disc was brand new, and I tried all the settings I could. So I googled.

Lots of opinions and rants, but no help. I was about to email Netflix - but their page had advice: sometimes hardware manufacturers issue firmware updates.

Sure enough, earlier this month Sony had released a System Update for the PS3. I downloaded it to my thumb drive, installed, and now I'm about to watch the movie. If I can stay up that late.

Pause Project

Sometimes we're not ready.

Complete step 1 before moving on...

Maybe I was supposed to learn about shielding my new switch's contacts in the garage before a short happened on the road. I did this and then other things fell into place.

Dan Hogan helped me take apart the fusebox assembly a couple of weekends ago, we found and repaired the switch, then drank some beer. I figured I'd not put it back together in that state. The weather turned, other things came up, once or twice I had a few minutes to do a bit, but I just couldn't see how one part that Dan had disassembled was supposed to be oriented. Today I had time. I sat down, moved some wires, saw a spark, and shielded the contacts. Then I saw.

Re-orient.

Move on to the next step.

I think I read Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when I was younger. Maybe I'll have to pick it up again.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Wandering into new old places













Jamie & Kayla and I went to New London yesterday. 70° on an April Saturday, ya gotta get out.

I scoured Google Earth and the web for someplace different within an hour of us. I found some State Natural Areas that piqued my interest:

We stopped for slushies for the kids and a USB bluetooth adapter for me (we were going past Best Buy.)

Going through Shiocton, we saw crowds at the bends and landings along the Wolf River. We guessed it had something to do with sturgeon spawning.

When we got to New London, we searched town for a "sit-down" place for lunch. We headed West on X, no restaurants, and no parking lots in which to turn around. As we rounded a bend, I noticed a section of the river I had seen during my map study in the morning. I turned down the road figuring we could find the geocache that was here before we resumed our search for lunch.










Muggles abounded.

All along X, homemade houseboats - ice-shantys on pontoon platforms - were tied to the shore. The road (which wasn't the loop I expected) was parked solid. People stood all along the banks. We were witnessing spectator-fishing. At the turn-around, Jamie got out to use the port-a-potty, and Kayla to walk down to the shore. I stayed in the truck as there was no parking left. I could see a man working-in a large fish. J&K got to see the fish surface, then the crowd groaned -as if Donald Driver had just dropped a third-down pass. The line broke. When J&K got back to the truck, I asked Jamie how big it was. "Two or three feet." Skeptical of his estimate, I asked him to show me how long it was. "From this side of the truck, to that side." - closer to five feet.






We found The Highway Hop Diner - a Fifties-themed restaurant with "breakfast all day" and homemade shakes.


Then to the woods.

Our first stop - Poppy's Rock was the best. An outcropping of granite bedrock. And since I had read the DNR's SNA listing and other mentions of this place, we searched until we found the native prickly-pear cactus.

Shaky Lake wasn't too fascinating - the marsh-marigolds hadn't quite even opened their blooms. We walked a quarter-mile through the muddy-bottoms until it got too thick.

Tellock's Hill was a big hill. But it reminded us of our forests Up North. No big deal. (Yes I do feel lucky to be able to say that, and I don't take it for granted - I was just kind of hoping for a little more of that "discovery" feeling.) We found a geocache at a small cemetery a half-mile away.



Stopped for a look at the fishermen in Shiocton - the crowds had thinned. The only action was a couple of eight-year-olds with life-vests by the dock, one with a bent rod, hollering "he's got one!" The dad jumped from his lawn chair, started down the hill, until he heard, "nevermind."

We returned to falling temperatures, played a little catch, and watched Mike Myers being silly while we ate blue popcorn from the Whirly-Pop that the Easter Bunny left for us.

Thriller ;)

My cousin Margaret posted this link.

Then there's this.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

My Easter

Spring:

  • March 1 for dividing the calendar
  • March 20th for quartering the sky
  • Mean daily temperature reaches 43° (when most plants of middle and higher latitudes begin growth)

I was the first to find a new geocache yesterday, I rode my motorcycle. I walked along the East River by East High School and witnessed a river rodent fight. The stunned and bloody loser allowed my approach to within about 8 feet.

I had a puzzle to solve in order to return home. The keyed ignition switch on my motorcycle failed. The engine would only run while the key was held-fast clockwise. After a few minutes I realized I could wedge my glove, and I returned home.

Dan Hogan called, he and Conner were looking for a reason to be out and about, so Conner played the racing game on the PS3 while Dan and I solved my electrical issues.

We ventured into our community in the afternoon for some interaction with the greater society: Fleet Farm and Wertel's Tap.

This morning I cleaned the kitchen and maintained my motorcycle while learning about our understanding of happiness. You must cultivate your attitude in order to realize your bounty of happiness.

In our understanding, the Son of God chose to die in order that we might live more fully than we can comprehend - a lot of happy there, as the happiness results from both the giving and the receiving, as opposed to the dreary emptiness of static existence.


T(my soul)≥43°

New data


Google Earth has updated some Wisconsin coverage.

Friday, April 10, 2009

In America

Where was I?

I just watched In America. What beauty. The emotions this movie pulls out. The story, the direction, the actors are all so,... beautiful. A portion of a lifetime, we witness. Full life. Rich, real, unadulterated, vivid, beautiful,... life.

I don't have any memory of this movie's release in 2002. Netflix's algorithms thought I would enjoy it. So I put it on the list. My mood last week related to the movie's blurb, so I pulled it nearer the top of the list. With no expectations, I watched. wow

--- i just googled the word beautiful within my blog (try it - at the top left) to see if I had linked to the Colin Hay song Beautiful World, I had . i scrolled through a nice little bit of beauty in my life :)

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Sweet early spring


We went up to Rhinelander to see Grandma Milli, at 96 our matriarch is doing well. She's visiting Mom & Dad for a couple of weeks. We worked on the sap into syrup process all weekend. The kids went to Monsters vs. Aliens with Carmen and the kids. Tony, Phil, Dad and I collected, cut and split a truckload of red pine for the beerfest campout. Then after the movie and some run-around time with their cousins and friends at Grandma & Grandpa's, J&K spent Saturday night at the VonOepens.