reedmaniac.com

Traveling Through Ashland

2010-07-25T05:22:16Z

Sitting in the Ashland Hostel at the moment, enjoying a few minutes of internet access before I head to bed for a good rest after the five hour drive down here. Tomorrow's drive to Midpines, CA is even longer--almost eight hours--which pleases me to no end considering how much I despise long distance driving. However, after pricing flights and seeing where the other participants were coming from, driving down here myself was sadly the only real option.

I am hoping this course will end up far better than the NOLS Waddington Ranger course. In a nutshell, I left that course after eight days (via helicopter) because I was bored. My grand mountaineering expedition into the wilds of British Columbia, wherein I wished to learn loads of new skills, was an incredible disappointment. Not the fault of NOLS or the instructors either, I think I just had unrealistic expectations for a course that was geared for people with such a wide range of previous experience. I am somewhat embarrassed too, as I spent a very large amount of money on that trip and I got nothing out of it except learning a new knot and how to make spice cake in the wild.

The thought that is running through my head on a daily basis lately is how incredibly spoiled I am. Six grand wasted because I was bored. An incredibly well paying and stable job left because I was frustrated. While on the NOLS course, we crossed a raging river and later a crevasse that was at least 200 feet long and 25 feet deep. Neither was even a blip on my "fun" radar. At what point did mountaineering become too easy? I mean, really, Paul, what the hell?

Sort of relatedly, a friend through the old job is having a bit of a mid-30s crisis. Like most people, she has pulled out the idea of creating and finishing a bucket list. This sounds all well and good, except I have made and completed two bucket lists already in my life. The first during my freshman year of college and another a few years later, after the first was completed. The second one was finished early last year when I finally made it to Italy.

While on that trip I started writing items down for another bucket list. And, I have hardly looked at it since getting back. Nothing on there really strikes my fancy like the items on the other two lists did (examples: falling in love and climbing Mt. Hood). I feel like I am simply out of good ideas for what to do with my life. This summer was meant to be yet another attempt to "reboot" and try a different path to see if I can kick my self out of this apathy. Not exactly promising thus far.

Then there is the fact that I am on the verge of running out of money. I have drawn a line on how much I am willing to take out of the retirement portfolio this year. At this very moment, I have just enough money in my spending account to make it until the beginning of September. So, I really need to get a job or take a plunge in another direction. Let's hope the EMT course at least tickles my noggin' just a bit.

RED Movie Trailer

2010-07-23T19:20:29Z

Link. Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, and Mary Louise-Parker?! Wow, I am definitely going to go see this.

BBC | Plans to extend America’s Appalachian Trail to Africa

2010-07-22T22:11:53Z

Link. Via the North Atlantic countries, including Canada, Nova Scotia, Scotland, France, and then finally into Africa. Sounds incredibly ambitious, and I love this quote: "Ah, yes...the sea. A bit of a problem, true, but we'll manage. Got to have the vision first. That's just a detail."

EMT Reading Finished!

2010-07-22T19:05:57Z

After many weeks of effort, I have finally finished reading the entirety of the EMT Basic textbook. Since the entire text tops out at around 1,200 pages, I am not too disappointed that it took me nearly four weeks to plow my way through all of it. The course itself does not start until this coming Monday, but when I take a responsibility on I tend to take it extremely seriously. When it comes to being an EMT, a person's life will likely be at stake based on what I know and remember. Huge responsibility and if I accept that responsibility, I have to be prepared.

Such a Boy Scout.

My reward: a few days of playing with my all new iPad. Naturally, the first application I want to build is an EMT Basic study guide with flash cards for anatomy, slideshows for important skills, and assessment tools. Nothing in the App Store really comes close to what I want. There are a few anatomy and medical study guides, but they are mostly poorly designed and inadequate to the task. The Grey's Anatomy ones are the best, but suffer from being out of date and not very configurable for learning or testing. As always, I want better.

Tackling the Col du Tourmalet

2010-07-22T17:57:35Z

Link. The Col du Tourmalet is one of the toughest climbs of the Tour de France. A writer for the Telegraph took part in the Étape du Tour, which allows amateur cyclists to tackle this climb themselves the week before the Tour. Punishing, exhausting, brutal, and a great accomplishment.

May 20, 2012 - Annular Solar Eclipse on the West Coast

2010-07-20T08:36:36Z

Link. Going by the map, I might have to make a trip down to Northern California.

Video of the July 11th Solar Eclipse in Patagonia

2010-07-19T23:04:04Z

Link. Look at that shadow spreading across the sky. Amazing!

Old Spice | A World Without Bottled Nosed Dolphins

2010-07-18T22:24:14Z

Link. I missed the train on these Old Spice commercials. I am thankfully catching up on them now and using up all of my spare memory capacity.

ArsTechnica | Size of Proton May Have Been Overestimated

2010-07-10T01:36:59Z

Link. Apparently, in the world of quantum mechanics 4% is a really big deal. I am sure there is a joke here about quarks (up? down?), muons, or quantum electrodynamics...but hell if I can figure it out.

The Daily Show | Arizona’s Photo Radar

2010-07-09T19:56:36Z

Link. The Daily Show has a new correspondent named Olivia Munn. Unlike most of their zany correspondents and reporters, she plays the straight man (er, woman) and does it brilliantly: "It is as if these cameras prosecute not on reasonable suspicion but on irrefutable evidence."

Jesse Coombs’ Description of Kayaking Metlako Falls on Eagle Creek

2010-07-09T19:01:14Z

Link.

“When you are at the top of a tall waterfall like this you truly have to reconcile with yourself if you are mentally and physically up to the challenge. There is no posturing and no bravado. Either you are able physically and mentally in every manner and will run it. Or you are throwing yourself off something like a stunt and will pay the consequences.”

“It is amazing how long it takes when you are in one of these drops to fall 100 feet. When you are watching someone else it goes quickly. When it is you is takes FOREVER. You are so keen and aware of your surroundings that time seems to slow significantly.”

Love his descriptions.

Trauma Queen : Blog of a Paramedic in Edinburgh

2010-07-09T05:13:18Z

Link. Amazing entries that produce copious amounts of awe and also a fair deal of trepidation. I am slowly making my way through the EMT Basic textbook at the moment (about halfway through) and the more I learn, the more I realize how incredibly wrong things can go with a human body. Almost makes me wish that every time I go backpacking that a mobile surgical hospital can be found at every mile marker.

History of the Field Stove

2010-07-03T19:56:30Z

Link. The mid-19th century culinary invention that paved the way for the camp stoves we use today.

The Problem with Arabic Numerals

2010-06-08T23:03:07Z

It seems to be the greatest problem with Arabic numerals is that notation for each number does not systematically compound on the previous number. By which I mean that you cannot simply move from 1 to 2 to 3, et cetera by adding a new mark or stroke. Instead, each sequential numeral is rather different from the previous. Which has the consequence of not being able to create a tattoo for one's age that is easy to update each year.

Amtrak Looking to Put Wi-Fi on All Trains

2010-06-08T20:38:02Z

Link. A truly brilliant move on their part. Making travel between cities have this sort of business-ready environment will definitely help increase the usage of rail for travel in the States.