This morning we bounced out of bed bright and early, well it was around 11 for me, and headed out for a dog-walking expedition. It is hard to get Moose any leash time near our house because our neighborhood is small, Sitz Road is busy with cars and no shoulder, and he is too chicken to cross the highway overpass to take us into town.
So into the car in search of dog walking Nirvana. Or at least nothing with disco. And in the winter that means, ta-daaaaaa.....a Michigan State Park. What better place to take a dog who needs time on a leash than to a place where there is a lot of space and few people. So off to Sleepy Hollow State Park we went.
It was a great time. We saw maybe twenty people the entire time we were there. In the summer it would have been a couple thousand, as Sleepy Hollow is a well-used State Park being that close to Lansing. Instead of the drone of motorhome generators, screaming brats and Lynard Skynard, it was just the sound of wind, a few birds and a guy flying his remote control airplane. A rather cool World War II fighter replica (it looked like a Corsair, but I may be wrong), and he really knew how to fly it. Barrel rolls, stalls, dives, and he didn't crash it once. That is far beyond my capabilities with remote-control model aircraft.
But we did end up with a tired puppy, which was the point of it all. We walked 2.43 miles according to the GPS, and he was good on the leash 99% of the time. And wanted help getting in the car at the end of the walk. And plopped right down in the seat to rest.
This may be a regular trip, at least until the weather warms and "Free Bird" fills the air.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
I'll see your tech and raise you...
Grant Peterson of Rivendell Bicycle Works is an interesting guy. There are many who find his approach to bikes (friction shifting, lugged steel frames, platform pedals, etc.) to be backward and "retrogrouch" in a world of electronic shifting Dura Ace and the latest in carbon fiber frames and wheels. If you don't follow the latest in bicycles, think of Grant as the guy who still drives his 1965 Ford pickup, fixes it himself and saves a ton of cash because he does not need a mechanic with a computer to tell him what is wrong with it when it breaks.
This week in the blog on the Rivendell site (http://rivbike.tumblr.com/) he talks about modern bicycle lights, and how some of the older lights may be superior in some ways to the newest and greatest. I don't know if I got Grant's point as he meant it, but what I hear him say is that sometimes just because it is new, does not necessarily make it better.
The first thing that comes to mind is Windows Vista. What was supposed to be the latest and greatest at the time, with more bells and whistles than its predecessor, but also a propensity to crash at the worst possible times, and asks for permission to do things more than my 14-year-old.
And with some things, why something was "improved" makes me shake my head. In one of his Rivendell Readers a few years back, Grant had an article about why chasing something "new and improved" does not always pay off. During the space race, NASA decided they needed a pen that could write in space, and spend millions of dollars on development of a pen that would write reliably in zero gravity. The Russians used pencils sad saved millions by going the low-tech way.
I'm not saying new technology should be avoided. The advances in medicine, being able to connect with anyone-anywhere-at any time, digital photographs (I wasted so much money on bad film shots), and other new technology I warmly embrace. But I am not going to buy something just because it is "new" any longer.
This week in the blog on the Rivendell site (http://rivbike.tumblr.com/) he talks about modern bicycle lights, and how some of the older lights may be superior in some ways to the newest and greatest. I don't know if I got Grant's point as he meant it, but what I hear him say is that sometimes just because it is new, does not necessarily make it better.
The first thing that comes to mind is Windows Vista. What was supposed to be the latest and greatest at the time, with more bells and whistles than its predecessor, but also a propensity to crash at the worst possible times, and asks for permission to do things more than my 14-year-old.
And with some things, why something was "improved" makes me shake my head. In one of his Rivendell Readers a few years back, Grant had an article about why chasing something "new and improved" does not always pay off. During the space race, NASA decided they needed a pen that could write in space, and spend millions of dollars on development of a pen that would write reliably in zero gravity. The Russians used pencils sad saved millions by going the low-tech way.
I'm not saying new technology should be avoided. The advances in medicine, being able to connect with anyone-anywhere-at any time, digital photographs (I wasted so much money on bad film shots), and other new technology I warmly embrace. But I am not going to buy something just because it is "new" any longer.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Putting all of your eggs in one basket
I recently started watching a National Geographic Channel show called "Doomsday Preppers." It is a show about people who are preparing for the day the world as we know it comes to an end. Not just the Mayan calendar version of the end of the world, but some are prepping for the collapse of civilization, or the world economy, or because some charlatan has proclaimed that Jesus is really on the way this time. What amazes me is that how short-sighted some of these people are.
Most of these people live in the 'burbs and have great stockpiles of food, water, ammo and whatever else they think will get them through the Zombie Apocalypse. One woman had stockpiled five years of food and even had thrown a party to show what she could do with her stockpiled Campbell's soup and Rice-A-Roni. One person on the show lamented that he only had 3 years of water stored and had to store even more. Not hardly a mention of what happens when this stockpile runs out, and I have never understood the need for thousands of gallons of stored water when a simple water filter and rain will provide all the water you will ever need.
And what of the people who are stockpiling gold, who have the mistaken belief that it is better to invest gold than in things that could actually be used for trade, like seed, stock, simple tools and skills. Or how they will hope to survive without the power grid that they have become reliant upon.
The one sane person on the program was a woman from New England who was stockpiling food that she raised herself in her garden. It wasn't a huge garden, but about the size of what an average suburban back yard looks like around here. She also did not have a huge stockpile of munitions that many of the others on the show claim is necessary "to keep others from taking my stuff." She instead was forming good relationships with her neighbors, so that if the time ever comes, they would have a community to draw upon.
What a unique idea. Form a community of like-minded individuals (usually known as friends and relatives) that bring a variety of knowledge and skills to the table. Some will know how to raise food, some to hunt food, some to fix things and others to do whatever they do. Unlike the woman who had stockpiles of stuff in her basement and will shoot anyone who tries to take it, people who build a community don't have to worry that people will take their stuff. And after three or four years, when the hoarder runs out of food from her pantry and having spent all this time self-imprisoned in her home, and our New England neighbor will still be planting and harvesting, and have someone to talk to.
Most of these people live in the 'burbs and have great stockpiles of food, water, ammo and whatever else they think will get them through the Zombie Apocalypse. One woman had stockpiled five years of food and even had thrown a party to show what she could do with her stockpiled Campbell's soup and Rice-A-Roni. One person on the show lamented that he only had 3 years of water stored and had to store even more. Not hardly a mention of what happens when this stockpile runs out, and I have never understood the need for thousands of gallons of stored water when a simple water filter and rain will provide all the water you will ever need.
And what of the people who are stockpiling gold, who have the mistaken belief that it is better to invest gold than in things that could actually be used for trade, like seed, stock, simple tools and skills. Or how they will hope to survive without the power grid that they have become reliant upon.
The one sane person on the program was a woman from New England who was stockpiling food that she raised herself in her garden. It wasn't a huge garden, but about the size of what an average suburban back yard looks like around here. She also did not have a huge stockpile of munitions that many of the others on the show claim is necessary "to keep others from taking my stuff." She instead was forming good relationships with her neighbors, so that if the time ever comes, they would have a community to draw upon.
What a unique idea. Form a community of like-minded individuals (usually known as friends and relatives) that bring a variety of knowledge and skills to the table. Some will know how to raise food, some to hunt food, some to fix things and others to do whatever they do. Unlike the woman who had stockpiles of stuff in her basement and will shoot anyone who tries to take it, people who build a community don't have to worry that people will take their stuff. And after three or four years, when the hoarder runs out of food from her pantry and having spent all this time self-imprisoned in her home, and our New England neighbor will still be planting and harvesting, and have someone to talk to.
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