It was an interesting day Tuesday. It was my second day of working at home while my colleague is on vacation and it was also a very gloomy day in regards to weather.
My wife got up and prepared to get some of the shrubs trimmed back (she does a much better job of making them look neat than I do). She had not been out too long when I noticed the sky was beginning to turn dark in the northwest. She worked a little while longer then the rain hit and she was just able to get the supplies and herself inside before the sky broke open.
The rain and wind did not last long but the power flickered a few times. Working from home connected to the corporate network when the power fails is scary since I work on a hotline and can be called at any minute. Fortunately no calls came in during the power outages, brief as they were.
The sky cleared up and my wife was preparing to go out again when it started raining for the second time. She just sighed and decided that trimming the already overgrown shrubs would just have to wait.
The rest of the day was quiet for me, work-wise. I got one call that was not an emergency and my buddy Blockhead called about 6:00 PM to chat. After chatting with him for a while I told him good bye. I had a church meeting to go to and needed to get ready.
The meeting went well. I did get a call during that time but it was from a member of our church and not work. After the meeting I called Carol back and found out she was having PC issues...more specifically her CD/DVD-ROM stopped working. I stopped by on my way home from the meeting to make sure it was not a loose connection but it was not. The PC recognizes the unit but the unit will not open nor will it read a CD once you open the door with the old tech trick using a paperclip. "I think she is dead, Kyeptin". She asked me if I would replace it for her and I told her I would but I would have to wait until I was off call. No money to be made on that one since the woman just recently retired and is having trouble paying for insurance since she cannot get Medicare yet. Oh well, I don't mind.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Well, That Was Easy Enough
I decided to go ahead and wipe my old work laptop (HP nc6000) and load Ubuntu Linux 8.04 on it. I expected problems but oddly enough it went pretty smoothly. I had read articles about how people had trouble with the wireless lan settings and drivers but as soon as I turned off the auto mode, it worked like a charm. But I am getting ahead of myself.
I copied over the "My Documents" folder to my external hard drive and then rebooted the laptop with the Ubuntu CD in the drive. It took about 5-6 minutes to boot, giving me an odd error (Buffer I/O error on fd0) along the way, but it still booted up into the desktop and within 40 minutes I had a fully updated laptop. 10 minutes later I had wifi working. I had the same issues with another HP laptop a couple of years ago. It seems that network manager conflicts and if you turn it off, wireless works very well.
Looks like I have a new toy for a while.
I copied over the "My Documents" folder to my external hard drive and then rebooted the laptop with the Ubuntu CD in the drive. It took about 5-6 minutes to boot, giving me an odd error (Buffer I/O error on fd0) along the way, but it still booted up into the desktop and within 40 minutes I had a fully updated laptop. 10 minutes later I had wifi working. I had the same issues with another HP laptop a couple of years ago. It seems that network manager conflicts and if you turn it off, wireless works very well.
Looks like I have a new toy for a while.
Los'fer Words
I have been sitting on this one and I am sure it will stir up a hornet's nest of mail and comments but it is on my mind and my heart.
Last Friday my boss and I (a former divinity student and active member of the Episcopal Church of the United States dropped a bombshell on me. He does not believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected. He said something about that Jesus was the pinnacle of man and he died a horrible death, but he was not raised from the dead. We were just getting into this when he had to leave for a meeting. I wish he would have given me more time but maybe God has other plans for this.
All I can say is, "wow". I cannot wrap my head around the concept of a Christian not believing in the Deity of Christ. Why attend a Christian church if you do not believe in one of tenets of the faith?
In my days before I accepted Jesus and my personal savior, I struggled with the Trinity. I had no problem believing in God, but I had problems with personifying him. I cannot imaging a person going to Divinity school and graduating a non-believer. That just boggles my mind. So much so that I have no words for it.
I guess I need to pray for my boss.
Last Friday my boss and I (a former divinity student and active member of the Episcopal Church of the United States dropped a bombshell on me. He does not believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected. He said something about that Jesus was the pinnacle of man and he died a horrible death, but he was not raised from the dead. We were just getting into this when he had to leave for a meeting. I wish he would have given me more time but maybe God has other plans for this.
All I can say is, "wow". I cannot wrap my head around the concept of a Christian not believing in the Deity of Christ. Why attend a Christian church if you do not believe in one of tenets of the faith?
In my days before I accepted Jesus and my personal savior, I struggled with the Trinity. I had no problem believing in God, but I had problems with personifying him. I cannot imaging a person going to Divinity school and graduating a non-believer. That just boggles my mind. So much so that I have no words for it.
I guess I need to pray for my boss.
Last Ride
I start house arrest (on call) tonight but before I am officially on call, I have to work all day solo. Actually I will be working all week solo since my colleague/TL is enjoying a week of camping with his family. I hope he has a good time. For me, I hope that I do not have a repeat of the last time I worked solo and was on call at the same time...it was rather brutal. I also hope that last weeks burst of work was just a one time event. We were busier last week than we had been the previous three weeks combined.
To drown my upcoming misery (I am so not looking forward to be tethered to my mobile for the next 168 hours) I went on a 16.6 mile round trip bike ride to grab a geocache from the other side of town. The things I do for my addiction. I even have a couple battle scars to remind me of this last ride for a while.
Well, there is one good thing about working solo and being on call together. My boss said it was okay to work from home this week. Not only do I save a lot of gas this week but I can wear shorts everyday to "work".
I am exaggerating a bit on how bad this will be. I am not saying that it will be a walk in the park, but the perks of this week almost outweigh the negatives. Now I have a couple of places I need to go this week. I have an important church meeting on Tuesday and "the boyz" are having a little get together at PapKilo's place for a little "Meat and Movie" night. All the guys are ex-military except me and they love a good war film. We usually grill out a huge mess of brats, ribs, and or steaks, kick the women folk out, and watch war movies. It has been a year since out last one and we are long over due for another. Being on call could impact them both but I think I can get Jose to cover for me on call Tuesday. He does the job I do only he is based in Mexico. He just got off the on call rotation but he may take the on call for a couple of hours while I am at the meeting.
To drown my upcoming misery (I am so not looking forward to be tethered to my mobile for the next 168 hours) I went on a 16.6 mile round trip bike ride to grab a geocache from the other side of town. The things I do for my addiction. I even have a couple battle scars to remind me of this last ride for a while.
Well, there is one good thing about working solo and being on call together. My boss said it was okay to work from home this week. Not only do I save a lot of gas this week but I can wear shorts everyday to "work".
I am exaggerating a bit on how bad this will be. I am not saying that it will be a walk in the park, but the perks of this week almost outweigh the negatives. Now I have a couple of places I need to go this week. I have an important church meeting on Tuesday and "the boyz" are having a little get together at PapKilo's place for a little "Meat and Movie" night. All the guys are ex-military except me and they love a good war film. We usually grill out a huge mess of brats, ribs, and or steaks, kick the women folk out, and watch war movies. It has been a year since out last one and we are long over due for another. Being on call could impact them both but I think I can get Jose to cover for me on call Tuesday. He does the job I do only he is based in Mexico. He just got off the on call rotation but he may take the on call for a couple of hours while I am at the meeting.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
New Friends On The Trail
I had a very good Saturday. I went geocaching (big surprise) with one of the more respected cachers in the area, AllenMabry. Allen liked going after more difficult hides and had about 15 or so he wanted to grab in Garland. So out plan was to meet up at Lottie Watson Park and grab the two caches there, then move on to others in the area. I had not cached Garland before so I was a little unsure of the styles of the hiders but it was all good. As matter of fact I managed to spot over 50% of the caches before my partner did. But to tell the whole story, I would not have attempted many of these solo. They were hard, in difficult locations and out of my normal caching zone.
We started off by meeting a father and son team saintmain and Travasours to knock out three hides early then Allen and I moved on and grabbed 11 more. I started the day off early and grabbed one along the way (Talley Ho!) to the park. It was one that has been a thorn in my side for quite some time and I was glad to finally knock it out.
"Did Bonnie and Clyde Drive a Bel Air?"
Baby Copperhead (caching has its dangers)
Good craftsmanship on this one
All in all I grabbed 15 caches...one was a 3/3 (out of a 5/5) and I managed to spot both parts of that multi-stage before Allen did. That really boosted my confidence quite a bit. We were out for about eight hours before my wife called and reminded me that I needed to ge back home. She was laughing and said that I was regressing back to my childhood years when I used to run the woods all day and come home sweaty and tired at supper time. I think she was right!
I got home and cleaned up, eating a burger and fries from one of the best places around here to get a burger, Scotty P's. After that I entered all my finds (pics and logs/notes) on to the geocaching web site. With 15 finds it took a while but it was worth it. I am just 12 hides away from 500 finds but I will not be getting any next week since I am on house arrest and my office mate is on vacation. so 24 hours a day for seven days I am it. I hope to plan a nice outing to get my 500th hide in a couple of weeks. Until then I hope to grab a few on the way home from work to pad my numbers. I just need to find a hide worth of number 500. None of my other milestones have been very memorable except one and that was hide number 200. It has taken me 3/4 of a year to get 500...I was hoping for 1000 but when you have a life it is hard to take time out to grab that many caches in 12 months. Getting 1000 finds in 365 days is 2.7 per day and I am averaging 1.7 per day. Not bad and to be honest it is not about how many but how memorable they are and how much you enjoy them.
We started off by meeting a father and son team saintmain and Travasours to knock out three hides early then Allen and I moved on and grabbed 11 more. I started the day off early and grabbed one along the way (Talley Ho!) to the park. It was one that has been a thorn in my side for quite some time and I was glad to finally knock it out.
"Did Bonnie and Clyde Drive a Bel Air?"
Baby Copperhead (caching has its dangers)
Good craftsmanship on this oneI got home and cleaned up, eating a burger and fries from one of the best places around here to get a burger, Scotty P's. After that I entered all my finds (pics and logs/notes) on to the geocaching web site. With 15 finds it took a while but it was worth it. I am just 12 hides away from 500 finds but I will not be getting any next week since I am on house arrest and my office mate is on vacation. so 24 hours a day for seven days I am it. I hope to plan a nice outing to get my 500th hide in a couple of weeks. Until then I hope to grab a few on the way home from work to pad my numbers. I just need to find a hide worth of number 500. None of my other milestones have been very memorable except one and that was hide number 200. It has taken me 3/4 of a year to get 500...I was hoping for 1000 but when you have a life it is hard to take time out to grab that many caches in 12 months. Getting 1000 finds in 365 days is 2.7 per day and I am averaging 1.7 per day. Not bad and to be honest it is not about how many but how memorable they are and how much you enjoy them.
Friday, June 13, 2008
What Are We Going To Do?
I am caught in a bit of a dilemma. The price of gasoline is $4/gallon and I drive a truck with a v8 that gets 15 mpg in the city (which is the only kind of driving I do). A hybrid would save me money in gas by doubling or even tripling my mpg, but my truck is paid for.
Mathematically, it makes no sense to buy a more efficient car. I work from home 2 days a week and only put about 150 miles per week on my truck...using 10 gallons of gas per week, 40 gallons per month. That equates to $160 a month in gas with no vehicle payment. If I purchased a new fuel efficient vehicle, I would have a payment of at least $300 and use about $55 a month in gas, if I continued to drive the exact same way. That would be $355 a month until the car was paid off (lets just say 5 years).
If I keep my truck, I am using $160 a month in gas. Now my new car, if I bought it, would not begin to pay for itself until after the vehicle was paid off. After that, assuming the price of gas stays static, I save $105 a month. That is $1260 a year in gas savings, AFTER the vehicle is paid off. Considering that I would be spending more than twice in car payment and gasoline the first 5 years of car ownership, I would have to have the car more than 10 years to start breaking even. The real savings would be if I drove a lot more but my wife and I have adjusted to driving less each week and it has not been a real hassle. I bike more and walk more than I did and I actually feel better, although I am a lot sweatier in the summertime.
I would like to hear your opinions on the subject. Are you in a similar situation?
Mathematically, it makes no sense to buy a more efficient car. I work from home 2 days a week and only put about 150 miles per week on my truck...using 10 gallons of gas per week, 40 gallons per month. That equates to $160 a month in gas with no vehicle payment. If I purchased a new fuel efficient vehicle, I would have a payment of at least $300 and use about $55 a month in gas, if I continued to drive the exact same way. That would be $355 a month until the car was paid off (lets just say 5 years).
If I keep my truck, I am using $160 a month in gas. Now my new car, if I bought it, would not begin to pay for itself until after the vehicle was paid off. After that, assuming the price of gas stays static, I save $105 a month. That is $1260 a year in gas savings, AFTER the vehicle is paid off. Considering that I would be spending more than twice in car payment and gasoline the first 5 years of car ownership, I would have to have the car more than 10 years to start breaking even. The real savings would be if I drove a lot more but my wife and I have adjusted to driving less each week and it has not been a real hassle. I bike more and walk more than I did and I actually feel better, although I am a lot sweatier in the summertime.
I would like to hear your opinions on the subject. Are you in a similar situation?
The Truth Project
Out church has been offering the small group series "The Truth Project". It was created by Focus on the Family and even though I am not a huge fan of that group, this is a very good series.
During the summer, our small groups officially take the summer off. Many of us are saddened by this so we were thrilled when the church decided to have this in our sanctuary every Thursday night.
Del Tackett is an excellent presenter and speaker. His comments are thought provoking and insightful. This is not a fluff series...you have to think. Maybe that is why I have enjoyed the first two parts so far.
During the summer, our small groups officially take the summer off. Many of us are saddened by this so we were thrilled when the church decided to have this in our sanctuary every Thursday night.
Del Tackett is an excellent presenter and speaker. His comments are thought provoking and insightful. This is not a fluff series...you have to think. Maybe that is why I have enjoyed the first two parts so far.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Back On The Bike
I have been trying to get in a few miles each night (that I am not obligated to something else) on my 10 year old Trek 930 hybrid mountain bike. Saturday was 15 miles, Sunday 11, Tuesday 6, and Wednesday 10. Monday I had a Trustee meeting at church, and today I have The Truth Project to attend. Friday I will most likely be mowing grass so I can cache on Saturday and Sunday will be the next day that I could possibly put any miles on my bike. And of course I am on call (and working by myself) next week so no chance at all I will be biking then. However, at least I am on the thing.
Yes, I have an ulterior motive. While getting exercise and losing weight are good, I really have been using my biking to grab or place caches that are close by when I can. The price of gas has really put a crimp on my caching plans!
Speaking of biking and caching, I grabbed one last night near the CommColl that is abut 5 miles away. It was a puzzle cache that was straight forward, but due to a small detail, I was incorrect on solving it. I did manage to solve it and get confirmation that the coords were correct. Armed with that info, I rode to CCCC - Spring Creek Campus to grab "Presidents Day".
When I got there the grounds had been mowed (this is a wooded area with weeds) and this made getting closer to GZ (Ground Zero) much easier. When I got to GZ, I scoured the area for the prize but could not find it. I then saw something unusual on the ground that turned out to be part of the camo used on the hide. Realizing that the cache had fallen from its hiding place onto the ground, the mower must have run it over and torn it up. I evetually (20 minutes later) found the container mostly intact and returned it to a likely hiding spot. A hard find even with the lack of camo since I expected it to be one area and it was 20+ feet away in another.
Yes, I have an ulterior motive. While getting exercise and losing weight are good, I really have been using my biking to grab or place caches that are close by when I can. The price of gas has really put a crimp on my caching plans!
Speaking of biking and caching, I grabbed one last night near the CommColl that is abut 5 miles away. It was a puzzle cache that was straight forward, but due to a small detail, I was incorrect on solving it. I did manage to solve it and get confirmation that the coords were correct. Armed with that info, I rode to CCCC - Spring Creek Campus to grab "Presidents Day".
When I got there the grounds had been mowed (this is a wooded area with weeds) and this made getting closer to GZ (Ground Zero) much easier. When I got to GZ, I scoured the area for the prize but could not find it. I then saw something unusual on the ground that turned out to be part of the camo used on the hide. Realizing that the cache had fallen from its hiding place onto the ground, the mower must have run it over and torn it up. I evetually (20 minutes later) found the container mostly intact and returned it to a likely hiding spot. A hard find even with the lack of camo since I expected it to be one area and it was 20+ feet away in another.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Feast Week
It is still early Wednesday and so far at work we have been busier this week than we have the previous two weeks combined. Looks like a long week. Part of the reason is a new guy in Latin America who is our contact. He calls us for lots of issues (many of which we do not handle) and he wants to be safe rather than sorry. I do not blame him. He has called me twice for the same issue but that is not a major issue. He is learning!
I hope that this week ends the feasting. My office mate/colleague is on vacation next week and I am flying solo as well as on call. The few times this has happened in the past have been really hard. The last time I did that to him he had it mostly easy.
I hope that this week ends the feasting. My office mate/colleague is on vacation next week and I am flying solo as well as on call. The few times this has happened in the past have been really hard. The last time I did that to him he had it mostly easy.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
REQ: Help From A Palm PDA Guru
*** Update***
Not that I did anything differently (other than installing apps one at at time) but I was able to get my wife's PDA working again although the file transfers are horribly slow, even when adjusting the ports to the maximum speed allowed. Go figure.
I have researched and found a few answers but nothing is working 100%.
My wife and I have Palm based PDA's. I have a Tungsten E and she has my old Palm Vx. Don't laugh...it fits her needs quite well. We have one PC that we Hotsync to, using Palm Desktop 4.1.4 (with two separate profiles). Both have been sync'd recently. My PDA syncs fine, no problems what so ever. My wife's PDA however is having issues.
I first noticed that the digitizer was off so I tried to manually correct it but I cannot get the pen to line up well enough. I installed an app that was supposed to help, but it did not. A soft reset also failed to correct the digitizer issue, so I did a hard reset and then sync'd the PC and the PDA. The exact same thing happened. I found another article that stated that Palm Desktop 4.1.X + has been known to cause issues with older Palm units even though Palm recommends that version. I tried the workaround and everything seemed to work...until I tried to install applications. Then the digitizer was off again and I cannot correct it. Every time I try to install software, the digitizer screws up beyond calibration.
My current workaround was to hard reset and sync the PDA with the PC. Now my wife has her data, but her PDA is nothing more than an address book and to do list...I cannot install any programs for her or the digitizer goes crazy.
I could try to install the original Palm Dekstop that came with her PDA but I am not sure how that will affect my PDA synching with the PC since mine is so much newer. I could synch mine with my work PC but then I would have to install some non-work software on that PC to use some apps (geocaching software) that I need.
I would like to get this fixed so if anyone who has had a Palm V or Vx has had this problem and knows how to fix it, please let me know.
Not that I did anything differently (other than installing apps one at at time) but I was able to get my wife's PDA working again although the file transfers are horribly slow, even when adjusting the ports to the maximum speed allowed. Go figure.
I have researched and found a few answers but nothing is working 100%.
My wife and I have Palm based PDA's. I have a Tungsten E and she has my old Palm Vx. Don't laugh...it fits her needs quite well. We have one PC that we Hotsync to, using Palm Desktop 4.1.4 (with two separate profiles). Both have been sync'd recently. My PDA syncs fine, no problems what so ever. My wife's PDA however is having issues.
I first noticed that the digitizer was off so I tried to manually correct it but I cannot get the pen to line up well enough. I installed an app that was supposed to help, but it did not. A soft reset also failed to correct the digitizer issue, so I did a hard reset and then sync'd the PC and the PDA. The exact same thing happened. I found another article that stated that Palm Desktop 4.1.X + has been known to cause issues with older Palm units even though Palm recommends that version. I tried the workaround and everything seemed to work...until I tried to install applications. Then the digitizer was off again and I cannot correct it. Every time I try to install software, the digitizer screws up beyond calibration.
My current workaround was to hard reset and sync the PDA with the PC. Now my wife has her data, but her PDA is nothing more than an address book and to do list...I cannot install any programs for her or the digitizer goes crazy.
I could try to install the original Palm Dekstop that came with her PDA but I am not sure how that will affect my PDA synching with the PC since mine is so much newer. I could synch mine with my work PC but then I would have to install some non-work software on that PC to use some apps (geocaching software) that I need.
I would like to get this fixed so if anyone who has had a Palm V or Vx has had this problem and knows how to fix it, please let me know.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Interesting E-mail
I received an e-mail from my sister whom I have not spoken with in some time. Not being one to air dirty laundry, let me just say that we do not see eye to eye on some issues and our lack of communication is mostly my fault. I hope this can be corrected.
Now on to the email. My sis informs me that her husband's mom died Saturday night. In her words, the eldest son is taking it hard (he is an early teen), the youngest son (nine years old or so) doesn't understand, and her husband is numb. While my sister has been baptized she has not been very firm in her faith and her husband, well...let's just say he has no use for my religious views and he and I tend to differ on a lot of things. Nonetheless, I am praying for peace for him and his family.
In the email my sister informs me that she will be in touch soon...a promising sign. I look forward to hearing from her.
After reading the e-mail, I called my mom to talk with her and we chatted about the lost. The woman and mom live just a few houses from each other and they knew each other. Mom is not sure about the woman's faith but she is going to talk to family about it. It would be a pity if she died an unbeliever.
After we talked about that, mom informs me that there was some flooding in several counties where she lives. She ended up with 3.5 feet of water in her basement and a lot of items were ruined. Now one big blessing is that none of the "expensive" items like her washer, dryer, furnace or hot water heater were damaged as far as she and the handyman she uses can tell. She did have a lot of water damage to some items (including her chest freezer and all the food that was in it), but most of it was non-essentials junk she refuses to throw away. This may be a blessing in disguise.
By the way, she did not have flood insurance. Her choice. Now she will just have to live with that. Add another person to my prayer list.
Now on to the email. My sis informs me that her husband's mom died Saturday night. In her words, the eldest son is taking it hard (he is an early teen), the youngest son (nine years old or so) doesn't understand, and her husband is numb. While my sister has been baptized she has not been very firm in her faith and her husband, well...let's just say he has no use for my religious views and he and I tend to differ on a lot of things. Nonetheless, I am praying for peace for him and his family.
In the email my sister informs me that she will be in touch soon...a promising sign. I look forward to hearing from her.
After reading the e-mail, I called my mom to talk with her and we chatted about the lost. The woman and mom live just a few houses from each other and they knew each other. Mom is not sure about the woman's faith but she is going to talk to family about it. It would be a pity if she died an unbeliever.
After we talked about that, mom informs me that there was some flooding in several counties where she lives. She ended up with 3.5 feet of water in her basement and a lot of items were ruined. Now one big blessing is that none of the "expensive" items like her washer, dryer, furnace or hot water heater were damaged as far as she and the handyman she uses can tell. She did have a lot of water damage to some items (including her chest freezer and all the food that was in it), but most of it was non-essentials junk she refuses to throw away. This may be a blessing in disguise.
By the way, she did not have flood insurance. Her choice. Now she will just have to live with that. Add another person to my prayer list.
Back Into BIking
I made the conscious decision to get back into biking since the price of gasoline is now $4.00 a gallon. Biking to work is out of the question but I am going to try to bike as much as possible when the weather permits. Needless to say I am going to be a sweaty man this summer.
Saturday I did my chores around the house and decided to bike parts of the Chisholm and Blue Bonnnet Trail while geocaching. I have the bike mount for my GPSr and this would be my first test with it. Not only was it successful, I also was able to gain info from my trip that I normally would not have gotten.
For example, I biked 15.5 miles on Saturday, averaging about 9 miles an hour. On Sunday I biked (but not geocached) 11 miles averaging 10.2 miles an hour. The GPSr and the bike mount have been helpful while biking. Not only do I have maps but I can get trip info as well.
Saturday's geocaching expedition was a partial bust, due to a miscommunication with my wife (who is stressed because of the physical issues she has been having) so I only nabbed eight on my trip out. I had 2o on the radar and I knew that 4-5 of them would be a waste of time, so I could have gotten 16 and actually nabbed half that number. The good news is that I got over 15 miles in on my bike.
Sunday I biked "The Green Belt" in Allen. The Green Belt is the wooded area that follows the creeks and stream in the area I live in. I am not sure how many miles that I was unable to bike...it is not contiguous and you have to ride on the road to get to parts of it so I just focused on what I could get to easily which was about 11 miles or so.
When I got back from both trips I was a sweaty mess. I am hoping that my biking will help me burn off some of the extra weight I have been gaining. It helps that I love to bike.
Saturday I did my chores around the house and decided to bike parts of the Chisholm and Blue Bonnnet Trail while geocaching. I have the bike mount for my GPSr and this would be my first test with it. Not only was it successful, I also was able to gain info from my trip that I normally would not have gotten.
For example, I biked 15.5 miles on Saturday, averaging about 9 miles an hour. On Sunday I biked (but not geocached) 11 miles averaging 10.2 miles an hour. The GPSr and the bike mount have been helpful while biking. Not only do I have maps but I can get trip info as well.
Saturday's geocaching expedition was a partial bust, due to a miscommunication with my wife (who is stressed because of the physical issues she has been having) so I only nabbed eight on my trip out. I had 2o on the radar and I knew that 4-5 of them would be a waste of time, so I could have gotten 16 and actually nabbed half that number. The good news is that I got over 15 miles in on my bike.
Sunday I biked "The Green Belt" in Allen. The Green Belt is the wooded area that follows the creeks and stream in the area I live in. I am not sure how many miles that I was unable to bike...it is not contiguous and you have to ride on the road to get to parts of it so I just focused on what I could get to easily which was about 11 miles or so.
When I got back from both trips I was a sweaty mess. I am hoping that my biking will help me burn off some of the extra weight I have been gaining. It helps that I love to bike.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
OUCH!
Results from UFC 85, "Bedlam"
Main Card Results:
- Fabricio Werdum def. Brandon Vera via TKO at 4:40 of round one
- Thales Leites def. Nate Marquardt via split decision
- Mike Swick def. Marcus Davis via unanimous decision
- Michael Bisping def. Jason Day via TKO at 3:42 of round one
- Thiago Alves def. Matt Hughes via TKO at 1:02 of round two
Undercard Results:
- Antoni Hardonk def. Eddie Sanchez via TKO at 4:15 of round two
- Paul Taylor def. Jess Liaudin via split decision
- Luiz Cane def. Jason Lambert via TKO at 2:07 of round one
- Kevin Burns def. Roan Carneiro via submission (triangle choke) at 2:53 of round two
- Matt Wiman def. Thiago Tavares via TKO at 1:57 of round two
- Martin Kampmann def. Jorge Rivera via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:44 of round one
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Geocaching Software / Recycling PC's
Since there is little Geocaching software available for Linux (such a shame!) I have been spending a lot more time on my Windows partition of my PC. Of course now that it is reloaded and I have NOT taken SP3, it runs great.
I have installed "Cachemate" on my PDA and I have to say that as a Geocaching DB program, it works well. I have pretty much figured it out and have about 50 or so caches in various catagories (by city) in it already. I spent the better part of the afternoon doing that while working from home.
The other part of that time was spent downloading and installing PC based Geocaching software. I am still not sure I really need it but one piece has been helpful. "Cachemagnet" takes gpx files downloaded from geocaching.com and allows you to manipulate them and also pull sat maps from the coords, all while having the cache notes in the same program. My geocaching buddies in WV (Knightmare_Duck and Rycherox) swear by GSAK, but I have not played with that one yet. it is an all in one wonder tool that many geocachers like to use. It is shareware but it only costs $25.00 so for them it may be worth it. Right now the only thing I need is something to transfer the .gpx files to my PDA and EasyGPS does that well enough and is free. I think CacheMagnet will do that as well and it also has maps with the option to print them. That kinda defeats the purpose of using a PDA but some people just have to have paper. I am trying to break that habit.
I am anxious to try this style of caching and if all goes well I will nab one or two on the way home from work tomorrow.
I did a little spring cleaning in the closet in my home office today. I got rid of a box full of 1.44 floppies as well as the really old PC work let me borrow. I had forgotten that I had two if them and only returned on. Both were in the 650 mhz range and not worth much but they both ran Linux well enough. I have been carrying around 2 laptops for more than a week now since we have been given new Vista laptops. I am still not comfortable with Vista as an OS since a lot of things do not work as expected (Citrix will not work with IE7...it wants to keep launching Java...does anyone know how to fix this? It works in Firefox perfectly but IE is the "browser of choice" at work). I like the idea of having a back up. I have not had to use it yet and as the days and weeks go by, the chances of me having to have to use it grow slimmer and that is a good thing. One, I will not have to carry two laptops and accessories around and two, I can re-roll the old laptop and use it as a sandbox at home.
I still have a lot more to clean out from the closet but I will get there. Most if not all of my PC junk is in two large totes with one 1GHZ machine on the floor collecting dust. I would use it as a server but it is incredibly noisy. I think it has either Debian or Ubuntu loaded on it.
I have installed "Cachemate" on my PDA and I have to say that as a Geocaching DB program, it works well. I have pretty much figured it out and have about 50 or so caches in various catagories (by city) in it already. I spent the better part of the afternoon doing that while working from home.
The other part of that time was spent downloading and installing PC based Geocaching software. I am still not sure I really need it but one piece has been helpful. "Cachemagnet" takes gpx files downloaded from geocaching.com and allows you to manipulate them and also pull sat maps from the coords, all while having the cache notes in the same program. My geocaching buddies in WV (Knightmare_Duck and Rycherox) swear by GSAK, but I have not played with that one yet. it is an all in one wonder tool that many geocachers like to use. It is shareware but it only costs $25.00 so for them it may be worth it. Right now the only thing I need is something to transfer the .gpx files to my PDA and EasyGPS does that well enough and is free. I think CacheMagnet will do that as well and it also has maps with the option to print them. That kinda defeats the purpose of using a PDA but some people just have to have paper. I am trying to break that habit.
I am anxious to try this style of caching and if all goes well I will nab one or two on the way home from work tomorrow.
I did a little spring cleaning in the closet in my home office today. I got rid of a box full of 1.44 floppies as well as the really old PC work let me borrow. I had forgotten that I had two if them and only returned on. Both were in the 650 mhz range and not worth much but they both ran Linux well enough. I have been carrying around 2 laptops for more than a week now since we have been given new Vista laptops. I am still not comfortable with Vista as an OS since a lot of things do not work as expected (Citrix will not work with IE7...it wants to keep launching Java...does anyone know how to fix this? It works in Firefox perfectly but IE is the "browser of choice" at work). I like the idea of having a back up. I have not had to use it yet and as the days and weeks go by, the chances of me having to have to use it grow slimmer and that is a good thing. One, I will not have to carry two laptops and accessories around and two, I can re-roll the old laptop and use it as a sandbox at home.
I still have a lot more to clean out from the closet but I will get there. Most if not all of my PC junk is in two large totes with one 1GHZ machine on the floor collecting dust. I would use it as a server but it is incredibly noisy. I think it has either Debian or Ubuntu loaded on it.
It Feels Like The Story Of The Three Little Pigs
The wind has been blowing very hard for three days. It has blown down fences and made cycling almost impossible. The windows constantly rattle and it is beginning to get annoying. I hope the meteorologists are correct and it will cease tomorrow. I am tired of picking up blowing litter.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Placing Caches
Being a relatively new geocacher (less than a year / 500 finds) I am not expected to be a proliferate cache hider. I am expected to find as many as I can and learn from what I have found so I can make the caching community a better place. I am doing that.
There are so many different types of caches and one of the overwhelming things about placing you first cache is, "Which type and where?". Location should dictate what kind of hide you use, simply because you should try to use the largest container an area will accommodate without being easily found. Since the DFW area is not heavily wooded, small, micro, and even nano hides are popular.
My first hide was considered a "small" and is still in action. I took a heavy plastic bowl with a snap on lid (similar to a cool whip bowl only thicker) and camo'd it with black tape (it was brightly colored so tape was needed to help it blend in). I used black tape because I did not know where to get camo or olive drab tape until much later. I found a grea location and hid it, carefully recording the coordinates my borrowed GPSr was reporting. They were off a bit, but in the end that did not matter. You are allowed a margin of error of 15 feet or so.
Placing caches can be expensive if you feel the need to buy containers instead of recycling them. Now to be honest, the container of choice, a 30 or 50 cal ammo can, is hard to beat. It can take a pounding and remain watertight for years. Ammo cans are sort of the "holy grail" for geocachers. Obiously you cannot hide an ammo can everywhere, so that is where the other sized caches come in. However you can use household items in lieu of an ammo can. Any watertight plastic container will work for a couple of years. I have a 5 gallon water resistent plastic bucket and lid that I hope to hide sometime...I just have to paint it to match the wooded area where I hide it.
Hiding caches can also be expensive if you are trying to make them elaborate. My friend Will has a couple that he spent a lot of time and money on in an effort to make them memorable. Fancy connectors, magnets, fishing leaders (to anchor small caches to keep them from moving), reflectors (for night caches...a challenge!), camo tape (just buy it in the painting department at Wal-Mart) glue, and artificial greenery all can drive up the cost of your cache. Add to that prizes to stock your cache with and you can have a rather pricey hobby. I have found new caches with DVD's, CD's software, camera's, and MP3 players in them, however this is not the norm. Most people will only put those things in caches if they have them lying around and they are not using them.
Now think about the cost of one cache and multiply that by the tens or hundreds that some people place. Personally, I have a goal of placing 5% of the total of finds I have. Right now I have 25 hides of which 23 are current. The other two had to be archived due to some conflicts over placement. I try to play fair.
As I have said before, I cache on the cheap. Most of my hides are "micros" (35 mm film canister sized) but I have a few small and medium sized ones as well. Most of my micros are pill bottles that have been camo'd to match their surroundings (that reminds me, I need to get some more camo tape). I have also used Altoid tins (in areas where water is not a big factor), large vitamin bottles, plastic coffee cans, plastic peanut butter jars, "beach tubes", and of course, 35 mm film canisters.
I have hidden them under bleachers, in lamp post skirts, tree boles, fences, guard rails, thick thorny bushes, under rocks, on electrical boxes, in picnic tables, under trash cans, under logs, and picnic shelters. I really like magnetic hides and have placed a few of them in the area.
Most of the "swag" (trade items) I have used is stuff I had lying around the house. Stickers, foreign money, magnets, fast food toys, and of course my signature item, 1980's cassette tapes. Those have been very popular with some of the cachers my age...sort of a blast from the past. I had at one time 200-300 or so but I have put them in almost every cache that will hold one IF I remember to bring them with me!
I love geocaching. I like to find them and I like to hide them. I enjoy the hunt, the sneaking around to grab one without a muggle seeing me, and I like the long hikes in the woods. It is an activity you can do solo (what I do most of the time) or with a group. You can do it in the daytime or at night, all year long. As a matter of fact, caching in the winter has some benefits...no Poison Ivy (or PI as it is known to cachers) or high weeds!
There are so many different types of caches and one of the overwhelming things about placing you first cache is, "Which type and where?". Location should dictate what kind of hide you use, simply because you should try to use the largest container an area will accommodate without being easily found. Since the DFW area is not heavily wooded, small, micro, and even nano hides are popular.
My first hide was considered a "small" and is still in action. I took a heavy plastic bowl with a snap on lid (similar to a cool whip bowl only thicker) and camo'd it with black tape (it was brightly colored so tape was needed to help it blend in). I used black tape because I did not know where to get camo or olive drab tape until much later. I found a grea location and hid it, carefully recording the coordinates my borrowed GPSr was reporting. They were off a bit, but in the end that did not matter. You are allowed a margin of error of 15 feet or so.
Placing caches can be expensive if you feel the need to buy containers instead of recycling them. Now to be honest, the container of choice, a 30 or 50 cal ammo can, is hard to beat. It can take a pounding and remain watertight for years. Ammo cans are sort of the "holy grail" for geocachers. Obiously you cannot hide an ammo can everywhere, so that is where the other sized caches come in. However you can use household items in lieu of an ammo can. Any watertight plastic container will work for a couple of years. I have a 5 gallon water resistent plastic bucket and lid that I hope to hide sometime...I just have to paint it to match the wooded area where I hide it.
Hiding caches can also be expensive if you are trying to make them elaborate. My friend Will has a couple that he spent a lot of time and money on in an effort to make them memorable. Fancy connectors, magnets, fishing leaders (to anchor small caches to keep them from moving), reflectors (for night caches...a challenge!), camo tape (just buy it in the painting department at Wal-Mart) glue, and artificial greenery all can drive up the cost of your cache. Add to that prizes to stock your cache with and you can have a rather pricey hobby. I have found new caches with DVD's, CD's software, camera's, and MP3 players in them, however this is not the norm. Most people will only put those things in caches if they have them lying around and they are not using them.
Now think about the cost of one cache and multiply that by the tens or hundreds that some people place. Personally, I have a goal of placing 5% of the total of finds I have. Right now I have 25 hides of which 23 are current. The other two had to be archived due to some conflicts over placement. I try to play fair.
As I have said before, I cache on the cheap. Most of my hides are "micros" (35 mm film canister sized) but I have a few small and medium sized ones as well. Most of my micros are pill bottles that have been camo'd to match their surroundings (that reminds me, I need to get some more camo tape). I have also used Altoid tins (in areas where water is not a big factor), large vitamin bottles, plastic coffee cans, plastic peanut butter jars, "beach tubes", and of course, 35 mm film canisters.
I have hidden them under bleachers, in lamp post skirts, tree boles, fences, guard rails, thick thorny bushes, under rocks, on electrical boxes, in picnic tables, under trash cans, under logs, and picnic shelters. I really like magnetic hides and have placed a few of them in the area.
Most of the "swag" (trade items) I have used is stuff I had lying around the house. Stickers, foreign money, magnets, fast food toys, and of course my signature item, 1980's cassette tapes. Those have been very popular with some of the cachers my age...sort of a blast from the past. I had at one time 200-300 or so but I have put them in almost every cache that will hold one IF I remember to bring them with me!
I love geocaching. I like to find them and I like to hide them. I enjoy the hunt, the sneaking around to grab one without a muggle seeing me, and I like the long hikes in the woods. It is an activity you can do solo (what I do most of the time) or with a group. You can do it in the daytime or at night, all year long. As a matter of fact, caching in the winter has some benefits...no Poison Ivy (or PI as it is known to cachers) or high weeds!
The World Is Ending
It must be...I am actually spending money. Not a lot mind you, but I am spending.
Mainly my spending has been centered around my geocaching hobby. Geocaching is a relatively cheap hobby, once you get a GPSr. However, like anything you can put some money into it and get more out of it or make it a tad easier. For example, my purchases:
Garmin GPSMAP 60Cx ($260) - While you can geocache without a GPSr unit (using Google Maps) it is a lot easier with a GPSr unit. BTW, I found my first 40 caches using Google Maps only. I still use Google Maps when I want to ge an overview of an area before I get there.
Bike mount for my GPSr ($20)- With the price of gasoline going up, I have been getting on my 10+ year old Trek 930 a lot more. Having the bike mount, while not necessary, help keeping butterfingers me from dropping my expensive unit on the pavement. Call it "insurance"
Premium Geocaching Membership ($30/year) - While this is not needed, you do get some features that the free membership does not offer, like custom cache queries e-mailed to you, access to members only caches (usually really nice ones!), online bookmarks, national tracking of stats, real time notification of newly published caches, and one I am dying to try out, "Caches along a route". This feature will allow you to put in two areas (lets say Dallas and Waco) and get a listing of all the caches along that route. Nice when you are day tripping or vacationing and want to incorporate some geocaching into the trip.
PDA (previously purchased) - Again, not needed because you can always print up the cache sheets and take them with you. The upside to using a PDA (if you have one) is that you are not wasting paper or ink. The downside is that you can damage your PDA on the trail if you drop it. The other plus to using paper is that if you have your notes on a clipboard, you look official and people (muggles) tend to leave you alone :) .
Software (varies) - What good is a computer or PDA without software? While there are free ways to get your cache sheets to your PDA (Windows or Palm), they are not as user friendly as the paid stuff. You know me...I am a freeware junkie. I won't pay for something unless I think it serves my purposes better than the free stuff. I am testing "Cachemate" for my Palm T|E and so far it looks like a winner. It is shareware but it only costs $8. It allows me to convert and export the geocaching gpx (and loc) files to my Palm and allows me to go paperless.
I do use a free app to send the gpx and loc files to my GPSr but it is limited on what it can do. I don't mind all that much since I only really need it to transfer the wapoints to my Garmin.
So it looks like my initial investment is about $318. Not bad, really. Now that does not count gasoline or any supplies that I may purchase when I make caches to hide (more on that in another post) but that is about all I have to spend. Most of the other stuff people have if they hike (pack, first aid kit, flashlight, etc) or if you only want to do urban caching, you don't need it.
Compare the cost of geocaching to any other hobby. If you golf, you know you spent more than $300 and you still have to pay green fees and buy new balls all the time. And if you scrapbook...well we all know that will get expensive very quickly! Looking back at my choices, I could have saved a few bucks and got a less expensive (they start at $100) unit, but I wanted two things...ruggedness and sensitivity...and this was the cheapest unit to offer both.
Mainly my spending has been centered around my geocaching hobby. Geocaching is a relatively cheap hobby, once you get a GPSr. However, like anything you can put some money into it and get more out of it or make it a tad easier. For example, my purchases:
Garmin GPSMAP 60Cx ($260) - While you can geocache without a GPSr unit (using Google Maps) it is a lot easier with a GPSr unit. BTW, I found my first 40 caches using Google Maps only. I still use Google Maps when I want to ge an overview of an area before I get there.
Bike mount for my GPSr ($20)- With the price of gasoline going up, I have been getting on my 10+ year old Trek 930 a lot more. Having the bike mount, while not necessary, help keeping butterfingers me from dropping my expensive unit on the pavement. Call it "insurance"
Premium Geocaching Membership ($30/year) - While this is not needed, you do get some features that the free membership does not offer, like custom cache queries e-mailed to you, access to members only caches (usually really nice ones!), online bookmarks, national tracking of stats, real time notification of newly published caches, and one I am dying to try out, "Caches along a route". This feature will allow you to put in two areas (lets say Dallas and Waco) and get a listing of all the caches along that route. Nice when you are day tripping or vacationing and want to incorporate some geocaching into the trip.
PDA (previously purchased) - Again, not needed because you can always print up the cache sheets and take them with you. The upside to using a PDA (if you have one) is that you are not wasting paper or ink. The downside is that you can damage your PDA on the trail if you drop it. The other plus to using paper is that if you have your notes on a clipboard, you look official and people (muggles) tend to leave you alone :) .
Software (varies) - What good is a computer or PDA without software? While there are free ways to get your cache sheets to your PDA (Windows or Palm), they are not as user friendly as the paid stuff. You know me...I am a freeware junkie. I won't pay for something unless I think it serves my purposes better than the free stuff. I am testing "Cachemate" for my Palm T|E and so far it looks like a winner. It is shareware but it only costs $8. It allows me to convert and export the geocaching gpx (and loc) files to my Palm and allows me to go paperless.
I do use a free app to send the gpx and loc files to my GPSr but it is limited on what it can do. I don't mind all that much since I only really need it to transfer the wapoints to my Garmin.
So it looks like my initial investment is about $318. Not bad, really. Now that does not count gasoline or any supplies that I may purchase when I make caches to hide (more on that in another post) but that is about all I have to spend. Most of the other stuff people have if they hike (pack, first aid kit, flashlight, etc) or if you only want to do urban caching, you don't need it.
Compare the cost of geocaching to any other hobby. If you golf, you know you spent more than $300 and you still have to pay green fees and buy new balls all the time. And if you scrapbook...well we all know that will get expensive very quickly! Looking back at my choices, I could have saved a few bucks and got a less expensive (they start at $100) unit, but I wanted two things...ruggedness and sensitivity...and this was the cheapest unit to offer both.
Saturday Fights
So far the week has been pretty good work wise. I realize it is only hump day but I am not complaining. Nothing major has come in although there have been issues that are frustrating...only because the powers that be do not seem to understand that if they want us to do our jobs properly we need INFORMATION. Sorry, Pointy Headed Boss, my crystal ball is in the shop.
The UFC is having a big event at the O2 arena in England this weekend. While a lot of "fans" are not excited about it, I am:
Thiago Alves vs. Matt Hughes - Old school versus new. Matt Hughes is on the decline but it would really be something to see him pound out (or submit) the Muoy Thai killer that Alves is. Alves is hungry so this ought to be good.
Michael Bisping vs. Jason Day - I know nothing about Jason Day, but I am hoping for an upset. I cannot stand Bisping.
Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick - Two of my favorite fighters are finally going at it. Davis not only hits like a Mack truck, but he can submit as well. He can take a beating and is on a mega win streak. Swick is lightning fast and hits hard as well. However, he will be more dangerous on the ground as his "Swick-o-tine" choke is nearly legendary.
Thales Leites vs. Nate Marquardt - Not a lot to comment on...this should be a good old fashioned brawl.
Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum - I have seen Vera fight and he does it well. Muoy Thai...it's what's for dinner! That man has lethal knees. Werdum (pronounced similer to Ver-DOOM) better not stand with him. If he does, he is toast. If it goes to the ground, I expect Vera to start pounding and Verdum doing his best to submit him.
Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera - This one is tough. Both men have beaten quality fighters and both can hit hard. While I like Rivera better, I think Kampmann will take this one. His striking is a bit more crisp and even though Rivera beat Kendall Groves in January, I think will drop this one.
Thiago Tavares vs. Matt Wiman - I don't follow either fighter...and this is on the undercard so I will not see it anyway.
Luiz Cane vs. Jason Lambert - Undercard fight (I hope it makes it on TV). I don't follow Cane, but I have always enjoyed watching Lamber fight. He has fought some good fighters (and won) in the past, but lost his last match in January against Wilson Gouveia. He will be hungry because he does not want two losses in a row. I think he needs to work on his gut some (he looked very out of shape in January) and then the cardio will follow. He hits HARD so I hope Cane brings his iron jaw with him.
Kevin Burns vs. Roan Carneiro - Undercard and I don't follow these fighters.
Jess Liaudin vs. Paul Taylor - A couple of Londoners if I remember correctly. Those Brits can hit hard and are very scrappy. While I do not follow these fighters, I am guessing this will be a brawl.
Eddie Sanchez vs. Antoni Hardonk - I have not seen the "Manic Hispanic" (Sanchez) fight since his incredible loss to CroCop, but he has won his last two fights by TKO. Hardonk is a kickboxer and that style tends to frustrate Sanchez. I am going to say that Sanchez's chin and hard head keep him alive while he pounds on Hardonk.
I will most likely catch the videos the next day on mmalinker and youtube. I hope to catch the play by play on mmajunkie.
The UFC is having a big event at the O2 arena in England this weekend. While a lot of "fans" are not excited about it, I am:
Thiago Alves vs. Matt Hughes - Old school versus new. Matt Hughes is on the decline but it would really be something to see him pound out (or submit) the Muoy Thai killer that Alves is. Alves is hungry so this ought to be good.
Michael Bisping vs. Jason Day - I know nothing about Jason Day, but I am hoping for an upset. I cannot stand Bisping.
Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick - Two of my favorite fighters are finally going at it. Davis not only hits like a Mack truck, but he can submit as well. He can take a beating and is on a mega win streak. Swick is lightning fast and hits hard as well. However, he will be more dangerous on the ground as his "Swick-o-tine" choke is nearly legendary.
Thales Leites vs. Nate Marquardt - Not a lot to comment on...this should be a good old fashioned brawl.
Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum - I have seen Vera fight and he does it well. Muoy Thai...it's what's for dinner! That man has lethal knees. Werdum (pronounced similer to Ver-DOOM) better not stand with him. If he does, he is toast. If it goes to the ground, I expect Vera to start pounding and Verdum doing his best to submit him.
Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera - This one is tough. Both men have beaten quality fighters and both can hit hard. While I like Rivera better, I think Kampmann will take this one. His striking is a bit more crisp and even though Rivera beat Kendall Groves in January, I think will drop this one.
Thiago Tavares vs. Matt Wiman - I don't follow either fighter...and this is on the undercard so I will not see it anyway.
Luiz Cane vs. Jason Lambert - Undercard fight (I hope it makes it on TV). I don't follow Cane, but I have always enjoyed watching Lamber fight. He has fought some good fighters (and won) in the past, but lost his last match in January against Wilson Gouveia. He will be hungry because he does not want two losses in a row. I think he needs to work on his gut some (he looked very out of shape in January) and then the cardio will follow. He hits HARD so I hope Cane brings his iron jaw with him.
Kevin Burns vs. Roan Carneiro - Undercard and I don't follow these fighters.
Jess Liaudin vs. Paul Taylor - A couple of Londoners if I remember correctly. Those Brits can hit hard and are very scrappy. While I do not follow these fighters, I am guessing this will be a brawl.
Eddie Sanchez vs. Antoni Hardonk - I have not seen the "Manic Hispanic" (Sanchez) fight since his incredible loss to CroCop, but he has won his last two fights by TKO. Hardonk is a kickboxer and that style tends to frustrate Sanchez. I am going to say that Sanchez's chin and hard head keep him alive while he pounds on Hardonk.
I will most likely catch the videos the next day on mmalinker and youtube. I hope to catch the play by play on mmajunkie.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Weekend MMA
I did not get so see all of what I wanted to this weekend in regards to MMA (I had to resort to youtube.com, mmlinker.com, and rutube.ru) but I did see every match I wanted to see.
There were two big events over the weekend. EliteXC (which was aired on CBS) and the WEC (on Versus). There was only one fight I wanted to see on Versus but I am going to save that one for last.
Kimbo Slice def. James Thompson - EVERYONE had Kimbo taking out "The Collossus" early in round one... and I wa very glad to see it go beyond that. It showed the world that the Kimbo Hype Machine is just that...HYPE. Kimbo Slice is a product of marketing and the people pulling the strings are going to make as much money off of him as they can. He is in his mid-30's and a thug. He will never fight anyone who can beat him. While Thompson is not top 10 material, he showed the holes in Kimbo's game and anyone with half a brain could see it. Neither man had great cardio, but Kimbo SHOULD have been able to put Thompson and he didn't. Where was that glass chin James is known for? He took some real shots and came back for more. Had he been in better shape he would have beaten KS in the first round.
The fight was stopped after Kimbo threw a flurry of unanswered punches. Now what gets me is that Thompson never fell...the ref just stopped the fight.
Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith - I was looking forward to this fight more than any other on the card. Lawler hits like a Mack truck and Scott Smith ain't no slouch either. Now to be honest I was hoping Scott Smith would Superman punch Lawler into next week (I love watching old UFC vids of Lawler getting his butt kicked) but I knew that was not going to happen. Instead the fight was stopped when Lawler accidently poked Smith in the eye. Smith was not given his five minute recovery time and this fight, like the Kimbo-Thompson fight, was stopped early. What a shame.
Gina Carano def. Kaitlin Young - I have not seen this one yet. The only female MMA I have ever seen was on Bodog Fight and watching that made me feel a little...dirty. A lot of guys like watching chicks go at it, but I don't. I will watch it but I just have not had the time maybe later tonight.
Joey Villasenor def. Phil Baroni - I have disliked Phil "The New York Meatball" Baroni the minute I saw him in the UFC. He got beat then and he got beat the next time I saw him fight Shamrock. Guess what folds, "The New York Meatball" got his butt whooped again! He may hit hard but he has no style. I think people like to watch him lose.
Brett Rogers def. Jon Murphy - I knew nothing of eithe man but I was told Rogers was a beast. After this fight, I agree. Why don't we let Kimbo fight Rogers next?
Matt Makowski def. Nick Serra - I can't find this on online. I am interested in watching this because Nick Serra is Matt Serra's brother. If he acts like his brother it will be a pleasure to see him get whooped as well.
The WEC was on last night and the main event was a classic duel between old school and new. Urijah "The California Kid" Faber stood toe to toe with the one and only Jens "Little Evil" Pulver in a monumental five round slug fest. I am a Urijah Faber fan and was pleased to see him bash Pulver up a bit. My only surprise was that Jens hung in as long as he did. He took an incredible amount of punishment but he never backed down. The man has a warriors heart and I have to admire that even if I do not like him. It made for a very entertaining fight.
I thought Urijah looked a little funny with his hair in corn rows (like female MMA practioners do) but I guess when your hair is as long and full as his is, then you gotta do something. He is the WEC champ and has an incredible record in the WEC. IIRC, he has only been beaten once professionally and that was by a lightweight who currently fights in the UFC, Tyson Griffin. His record is 21 and 1.
There were two big events over the weekend. EliteXC (which was aired on CBS) and the WEC (on Versus). There was only one fight I wanted to see on Versus but I am going to save that one for last.
Kimbo Slice def. James Thompson - EVERYONE had Kimbo taking out "The Collossus" early in round one... and I wa very glad to see it go beyond that. It showed the world that the Kimbo Hype Machine is just that...HYPE. Kimbo Slice is a product of marketing and the people pulling the strings are going to make as much money off of him as they can. He is in his mid-30's and a thug. He will never fight anyone who can beat him. While Thompson is not top 10 material, he showed the holes in Kimbo's game and anyone with half a brain could see it. Neither man had great cardio, but Kimbo SHOULD have been able to put Thompson and he didn't. Where was that glass chin James is known for? He took some real shots and came back for more. Had he been in better shape he would have beaten KS in the first round.
The fight was stopped after Kimbo threw a flurry of unanswered punches. Now what gets me is that Thompson never fell...the ref just stopped the fight.
Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith - I was looking forward to this fight more than any other on the card. Lawler hits like a Mack truck and Scott Smith ain't no slouch either. Now to be honest I was hoping Scott Smith would Superman punch Lawler into next week (I love watching old UFC vids of Lawler getting his butt kicked) but I knew that was not going to happen. Instead the fight was stopped when Lawler accidently poked Smith in the eye. Smith was not given his five minute recovery time and this fight, like the Kimbo-Thompson fight, was stopped early. What a shame.
Gina Carano def. Kaitlin Young - I have not seen this one yet. The only female MMA I have ever seen was on Bodog Fight and watching that made me feel a little...dirty. A lot of guys like watching chicks go at it, but I don't. I will watch it but I just have not had the time maybe later tonight.
Joey Villasenor def. Phil Baroni - I have disliked Phil "The New York Meatball" Baroni the minute I saw him in the UFC. He got beat then and he got beat the next time I saw him fight Shamrock. Guess what folds, "The New York Meatball" got his butt whooped again! He may hit hard but he has no style. I think people like to watch him lose.
Brett Rogers def. Jon Murphy - I knew nothing of eithe man but I was told Rogers was a beast. After this fight, I agree. Why don't we let Kimbo fight Rogers next?
Matt Makowski def. Nick Serra - I can't find this on online. I am interested in watching this because Nick Serra is Matt Serra's brother. If he acts like his brother it will be a pleasure to see him get whooped as well.
The WEC was on last night and the main event was a classic duel between old school and new. Urijah "The California Kid" Faber stood toe to toe with the one and only Jens "Little Evil" Pulver in a monumental five round slug fest. I am a Urijah Faber fan and was pleased to see him bash Pulver up a bit. My only surprise was that Jens hung in as long as he did. He took an incredible amount of punishment but he never backed down. The man has a warriors heart and I have to admire that even if I do not like him. It made for a very entertaining fight.
I thought Urijah looked a little funny with his hair in corn rows (like female MMA practioners do) but I guess when your hair is as long and full as his is, then you gotta do something. He is the WEC champ and has an incredible record in the WEC. IIRC, he has only been beaten once professionally and that was by a lightweight who currently fights in the UFC, Tyson Griffin. His record is 21 and 1.
Work Week Or Week End?
Well my work week was pretty non-eventful other than getting my two work laptops up and running but my weekend was pretty busy and fun.
Friday night my wife called while I was grabbing a cache on the way home and asked me if I wanted to go see the new Indiana Jones movie and I jumped at the chance, even thought tickets at night are $9 each. It was good to get out with my wife and hear her laugh...it is so infectious. We got home and ate some ice cream chatted and hit the sack.
Saturday morning after walking the dogs and having my coffee I headed over to Home Depot to get some supplies that I would be needing to clean and repair the gas grill and to change the oil in the lawn mower. After chatting with a couple of people in Home Deport about string trimmers and grill parts (they were going to buy the bad stuff, I steered them in the right direction), I cam home and tore the grill apart and soaked the inside and the racks with oven cleaner while I brushed the other parts. While the grill sat and the cleaner did its thing, I pulled out the mower and changed the oil, spilling a large part of it in the process. My driveway now has a large oil stain in it thanks to me knocking the oil reclamation container over....ARGH! Even with some of my wifes "secret" cleaner, it still did not come up so I (okay, we)have to live with it.
After the over cleaner had sat for a while I began to wipe it down and hose it off. While it is far from spotless, it is much better than it was. After replacing the old lava rock with ceramic briquets, I fired up the grill on high for 15-20 to season the briquets and make sure the burners lit. That is when I found out the igniter was not working (corrosion) so we just will use a grill lighter...a 10 year old grill is not worth buying one very year or two.
I was a mess (as you can imagine) so I got cleaned up and ate a quick lunch. One of the local geocaching gurus called me the day before and asked me if I wanted to go into Plano and grab some caches at nature preserve there on Saturday and since that worked into my plans I agreed.
At 1:15 PM IXkey shows up and we load my bike on the back of his Xterra and head into Plano. We had a really good time hiking and biking the trails (about 6 miles worth), grabbing 16 caches. Fun!
I got home and got cleaned up again, ate dinner and worked on my Sunday School lesson that I had to teach (James 5) and then watched a little TV that had been recorded (Battlestar Galactica and the season finale of Lost) before going to bed. I was very tired.
Sunday we had church as normal then we went to grab some lunch at a Chinese joint nearby. While the food was good, it was not as appealing as it usually is. The important thing is I got filled up...actually we both did. I had a couple of hours until our next activity so I figured I would vacuum the house. Since my wife is working on some of it (painting) I figured I would have trouble vacuuming around her work but I had no problems and was finished with a thorough job in 1.5 hours. Now it was time to go to a graduation party.
I felt kind bad about not spending more time talking to the grads but both of them (we attend a small church) were doing okay without me so I spent that time catching up with Jimmy and a few other people. After we caught up, the party was winding down so my wife and I stayed to clean up. That did not take long at all (we had a lot of help) and we were soon on our way home.
I fed the dogs while my wife prepped the tuna steaks for me to put on our freshly cleaned grill. I was not very hungry but I knew once the tuna starting sizzling that I would be. I chatted with my mom while I grilled (killing two birds with one stone) the fish and when the fish was a done I went into the office to finish my call.
After chatting with my mom for about an hour, I watched a few of Saturday's MMA matches and was kind of surprised at the outcome. I will be making a separate blog entry on that. I want to watch the matches again and then comment with a clear head.
As darkness began to fall, my wife said she wanted to walk "The Golden". I asked her if we could go to a park just north of us that had a night cache in it that I had not done yet and she agreed. about an hour later we can the cache in hand and a mile or more under our belts. It was a good hunt and a great walk. I have now completed my first night cache. Go me!
After we got home I logged my find and went to bed. It has been a long weekend and I am sure my week will be almost as long!
Friday night my wife called while I was grabbing a cache on the way home and asked me if I wanted to go see the new Indiana Jones movie and I jumped at the chance, even thought tickets at night are $9 each. It was good to get out with my wife and hear her laugh...it is so infectious. We got home and ate some ice cream chatted and hit the sack.
Saturday morning after walking the dogs and having my coffee I headed over to Home Depot to get some supplies that I would be needing to clean and repair the gas grill and to change the oil in the lawn mower. After chatting with a couple of people in Home Deport about string trimmers and grill parts (they were going to buy the bad stuff, I steered them in the right direction), I cam home and tore the grill apart and soaked the inside and the racks with oven cleaner while I brushed the other parts. While the grill sat and the cleaner did its thing, I pulled out the mower and changed the oil, spilling a large part of it in the process. My driveway now has a large oil stain in it thanks to me knocking the oil reclamation container over....ARGH! Even with some of my wifes "secret" cleaner, it still did not come up so I (okay, we)have to live with it.
After the over cleaner had sat for a while I began to wipe it down and hose it off. While it is far from spotless, it is much better than it was. After replacing the old lava rock with ceramic briquets, I fired up the grill on high for 15-20 to season the briquets and make sure the burners lit. That is when I found out the igniter was not working (corrosion) so we just will use a grill lighter...a 10 year old grill is not worth buying one very year or two.
I was a mess (as you can imagine) so I got cleaned up and ate a quick lunch. One of the local geocaching gurus called me the day before and asked me if I wanted to go into Plano and grab some caches at nature preserve there on Saturday and since that worked into my plans I agreed.
At 1:15 PM IXkey shows up and we load my bike on the back of his Xterra and head into Plano. We had a really good time hiking and biking the trails (about 6 miles worth), grabbing 16 caches. Fun!
I got home and got cleaned up again, ate dinner and worked on my Sunday School lesson that I had to teach (James 5) and then watched a little TV that had been recorded (Battlestar Galactica and the season finale of Lost) before going to bed. I was very tired.
Sunday we had church as normal then we went to grab some lunch at a Chinese joint nearby. While the food was good, it was not as appealing as it usually is. The important thing is I got filled up...actually we both did. I had a couple of hours until our next activity so I figured I would vacuum the house. Since my wife is working on some of it (painting) I figured I would have trouble vacuuming around her work but I had no problems and was finished with a thorough job in 1.5 hours. Now it was time to go to a graduation party.
I felt kind bad about not spending more time talking to the grads but both of them (we attend a small church) were doing okay without me so I spent that time catching up with Jimmy and a few other people. After we caught up, the party was winding down so my wife and I stayed to clean up. That did not take long at all (we had a lot of help) and we were soon on our way home.
I fed the dogs while my wife prepped the tuna steaks for me to put on our freshly cleaned grill. I was not very hungry but I knew once the tuna starting sizzling that I would be. I chatted with my mom while I grilled (killing two birds with one stone) the fish and when the fish was a done I went into the office to finish my call.
After chatting with my mom for about an hour, I watched a few of Saturday's MMA matches and was kind of surprised at the outcome. I will be making a separate blog entry on that. I want to watch the matches again and then comment with a clear head.
As darkness began to fall, my wife said she wanted to walk "The Golden". I asked her if we could go to a park just north of us that had a night cache in it that I had not done yet and she agreed. about an hour later we can the cache in hand and a mile or more under our belts. It was a good hunt and a great walk. I have now completed my first night cache. Go me!
After we got home I logged my find and went to bed. It has been a long weekend and I am sure my week will be almost as long!
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