Trudger's Treatises

NaNoWriMo

2011-11-23T14:33:00.000-05:00

If you aren't familiar with NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. It takes place every year during the month of November and there are thousands and thousands of participants who take up the challenge of writing a novel (or at least 50,000 words of a novel) during the 30 days of November. Last year I participated and completed the goal, and this year, I am a mere 5000 words from completion once again. I intend to make it a yearly exercise.

There are people who absolutely support NaNoWriMo and what it stands for, and there are those who do not. As you can tell, I believe that it is a fantastic tool for the budding author and I would encourage anyone who has always wanted to write a book to participate.

Here are my top 5 Reasons to undertake NaNoWriMo.

1. Writing aside, it is important to achieve a goal.

When you decide to seriously undertake something and you see it through, it builds confidence. 50,000 words in 30 days is an aggressive goal that requires sacrifice and dedication to the task. It takes dogged pursuit. One may be required to stay in on a weekend and hammer through a tough passage or to stay up later than you should to meet a daily word count. It takes heart and resolve. This, I think, is the most important thing that NaNoWriMo can provide you as a participant. It creates a tight deadline, and a steep, yet attainable goal. Speaking from experience, regardless of what a person writes, if someone manages to put an idea of this size into words they will realize that they can in fact do that which they set out to do. In any life goal, that is valuable.

2. There is no other way to become a writer than to begin writing.

Have you always wanted to become an author? Are there stories rolling in your head that have been jumbled and cumbersome in your mind for years? If you never write them down, then you will never be a writer. I'm not speaking of publishing or fame or any of those things. I am speaking only of the simple fact that in order to become an author, you must in fact, author something. NaNoWriMo was a catalyst for me to truly begin putting my thoughts on paper. I wrote short stories for years. Small pieces of larger works went unfinished. I wrote, but I did not feel like a writer. It transformed a dalliance into a passion. If you complete NaNoWriMo once, only once, then you have at least written a book. From then on, it is no longer something you hope to someday accomplish. It is something you have already accomplished. Think about how much easier it becomes to do something after you've already proven to yourself that it can be done.

3. There is no other way to become a good writer than to first be a bad writer.

I am not a prodigal wordsmith. I am not even what I would consider a good one. I am merely starting down my path. I hope that one day my writing will be good but I feel as though it will never be as good as I wish it to be. That is fine. You may have heard before that the only certain way to fail is to refuse to try. The pursuit of writing is accurately described in that proverb. I can't promise you that you'll be the next great author, but I can promise that the only way to get better is to practice. NaNoWriMo provides an excellent opportunity to gain experience in organizing your thoughts and choosing your words quickly.

4. Legitimization of your craft.

Let me paint a picture for you and tell me if it seems familiar. You want to write. You have written stories before, in fact. Maybe you have even written a novel or a novella. Perhaps it stems from expressing feelings and ideas in school or maybe you simply love to write. Maybe you never show your work to anyone or maybe you have a few friends and relatives that absolutely love your work. They are always complimentary and they encourage you to keep writing. That is a wonderful thing. Even so, you feel like you are the only one out there who hopes for more. You feel like there's no one else in the world who understands the difficulties of your art. You also wonder whether you're ever going to be a real writer. An Author. When you start your NaNoWriMo journey, you'll meet other people in your area who are doing the same things. Who feel and understand the same things. When you see that there are others who want to accomplish similar goals, you will be bolstered and encouraged. I know that I was.

5. You encourage creativity and literacy.

This may be the best part. NaNoWriMo accepts donations to get youth involved in writing. I remember when I was young. I remember being challenged creatively. I remember my mind being brought to life by authors who created worlds. I lived in those worlds. I played there and eventually that wasn't enough. I wanted to make my own. Whether or not I ever publish a single story, I get to visit fantastic places and know incredible characters. All I need it a little imagination and a pencil. NaNoWriMo gets that and they are paying it forward. Get involved, write and encourage others to do the same.

NaNoWriMo does not worry about editing or preparing your work. That can all come in December. First, you must write the story. Thanks to the motivation of NaNoWriMo, I finished my first book. Will it be some world famous best seller? Probably not. But again, that is perfectly alright. I wrote the book be it good, bad or unreadable.

Having finished NaNoWriMo, I never have to say "someday".

-J

I am a novelist!

2011-01-19T00:08:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

It has been just a few months since my last blog post, but I have been very busy! You may remember that over on the right, where you see goal list, I once had a first draft of a novel I had been working on. I now have completed the first draft of my first novel, but it is an entirely different work! Merrick, the novel I had been writing, is still in the works, but was put on hold in November as I participated in National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo.

The basic idea of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel in just 1 month. November 1st to November 30th. To break that down, you need to write about 1667 words per day to complete the goal. I am proud to say that I met 50,000 words on day 25 and the book itself ended up being around 72,000 words in total.

My book is called 'The Revival of Song' and though it is readable in and of itself, it is meant to be the first book in a series (probably a trilogy) called 'The Auric War Chronicle'. The book is a fantasy and the system of magic revolves around musical intervals. They say write what you know. :)

As of this moment, The Revival of Song is undergoing its first round of edits, thanks to a dedicated team of readers. (Thank you all, you know who you are!) So far, the feedback is positive, but I will definitely have some issues to address in my second draft. I haven't yet decided if I will attempt the second book for NaNoWriMo 2011, or if I will possibly write it before that and tackle something else this coming November. My tentative plan is to try and have the editing finished completely before summer and from there to see what happens with publishing.

Anyway, I will keep you posted on the progress of my book, but I simply wanted to announce that finally, I have managed to finish a lifelong goal of mine. I've been trying to tell stories on paper since grade school. My first attempt involved a certain lamp post in a certain world with a certain lion and relied heavily on plagiarism...I mean, fan fiction. ;) I hope that someday very soon, you'll be able to read my book if you wish to!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news very soon!

-J

Kindle 3 : An Owner's Review

2010-09-01T01:01:00.006-04:00

Hi All,

My new 3rd Generation Kindle arrived yesterday and I've had a day to play with it and read a little bit. First let me say that I was a very satisfied owner of the 2nd Generation Kindle. (I'll just call them Kindle 2 and Kindle 3 from here on out) I had no complaints about the Kindle 2, so why would I upgrade to the Kindle 3? Simple. I love new gadgets. Particularly black ones. Particularly with a host of upgrades. When Amazon announced the new revision of their fantastic little e-book device, I decided that I'd go ahead and buy in. Though I had no complaints with the Kindle 2, I am even more impressed with the 3. I thought I'd do a quick blog and outline my impressions and perhaps do a bit of comparison for those of you who already own a Kindle 1 or 2, and are trying to decide if the newest version is for you. I'll hit the most important features for me and I hope that if you're curious that it answers your questions.

Overview:
For those who don't know, The Kindle is Amazon's e-book reader. Having previewed other devices like it, in my opinion it's the best at what it does in the market. It reads electronic books. Very well. The current Kindle device comes in a Wi-Fi only flavor for $139 and one for $189 that uses a network technology called Whispersync allowing you to download content (Being books, magazines, newspapers blogs and so forth) anywhere in the world that you have a cell signal. It can use 3G/Edge/GPRS. It weighs under 9 ounces, and has a battery life that means taking it on a three week trip to Europe and not worrying about charging. The device is first and foremost an elegant and usable e-book reader, but also has a slew of other features that make it an incredible little travel companion. I use and highly recommend this device to anyone who loves to read and wants to save room in their home library and their carry-on.

Size:
The Kindle 3 is smaller than the Kindle 2. I don't believe the Kindle 2 was too big. It felt right to hold. In comparison to the Kindle 2, however, I like the size of the 3 better. It isn't too big or too small. The 6" screen is the right size for a paperback page. As I read at one point on the Amazon website, a good book disappears in your hands when you read. The Kindle, like a good book, does this as well. It gets out of the way and lets you experience your story.

Screen:
The Kindle's screen is a technology called electronic paper. It is not back lit, and doesn't display in color. You might think at first that this is a step backward, but on the contrary, in the e-book world, these screens are not only the norm, but they are advantages. Many, including myself, find reading on a backlit screen to be an eye straining experience if done for very long. And the monochromatic nature of the screen more closely resembles that of an actual book, which I feel lends to the experience. After all, how much color do you need to read anything other than a picture book? This technology is common, as I said, on other devices like the Sony reader and the Nook. I think perhaps a built in reading light would be something to consider, but truthfully, I have never missed this feature. I use a light like I would while reading an ordinary book, and I have found that the screens of both the Kindle 2 and the Kindle 3 are excellent even in full sunlight. This is something that a backlit LCD based screen has difficulty accomplishing.

Edit: I also would like to mention the fact that the contrast level on the Kindle 3 is notably better than the Kindle 2. I never had a problem with the contrast on the 2, but next to my wife's 2 , the 3 is much more crisp and clear.

Storage:
The two schools of thought on storage are fixed size and expandable. The Kindle does not have expandable storage. Kindle 2 had about 1.5GB and the Kindle 3 doubles that to 3GB. I am not of the opinion that expandable storage is an important feature of an e-book reader. At first, I considered that I might want the option, but decided when I bought my Kindle 2 that I just wouldn't be using that much space for books. I ended up being correct in that I read a great number of books on the device, and never came close to even half filling it. With the doubled space on the Kindle 3, I can't imagine reading so much that I'll ever need the room. I could of course use the device to back up files, or carry pictures, or music or anything else I desired, but the bottom line is that a flash drive or MP3 player is more convenient for such a task and first and foremost, the Kindle is a book reader. I think this focus has led to the device being as usable as it is.

Navigation:
The Kindle 2 and 3 both have a full qwerty keypad, and a simple array of buttons for navigation. There are a few changes to the Kindle 3 that I believe are an improvement over the 2. First, the joystick has been changed to a directional pad, which so far has been much easier to use. Also, the buttons for turning pages have been mirrored on either side of the device, making it possible to turn backward or forward in your book regardless of which hand you're using. It is also worth mentioning that the number keys have been removed from the keypad and added to the symbol menu allowing for a smaller device.

Other Features:
The Kindle hosts a lot of features in addition to simply being a book reader. There is an experimental web browser, which is not nearly as functional as a full browser like Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox, but manages quite well and does the trick when you need it. I recently spent two weeks in Italy and used my Kindle to check my mail and update my Facebook status for those interested in following my trip. The device becomes a kind of travel guide in its rudimentary internet function. Wikipedia and Google become tour guides in downtown Rome, or a good way to find a recommended restaurant on the go. The Kindle 3 introduced a new browser, supposedly more robust than its predecessor, and with more potential for the future. I have not had the chance to put it through its paces, but in the short test I performed, it did load my email like a champ, and seemed faster and more capable next to the Kindle 2. There is also social integration in the latest Kindle 2 and Kindle 3 software. Users can highlight and post book passages to Facebook and Twitter, and can also see popularly highlighted passages from the books they are reading. A fun feature, but all in all, I could take it or leave it. My hope is that they will allow you to actually post your thoughts on passages easily and perhaps discuss them with friends and so forth. Perhaps a kind of social Kindle book club using Twitter or Facebook integration. So long as Amazon maintains the first and foremost function as a reader, the rest is just icing on the cake. Other features include the ability for the Kindle to read a book with text-to-speech (which I find a little too unnatural to be enjoyable, but interesting all the same) and the ability to play music and podcasts. The bottom line is that the Kindle will do a great many things, but the one thing it will do very well is allow you to read a book, and enjoy yourself doing it. That said, the Kindle is also stuffed full of neat little featurettes that will have you saying things like, "Huh! I didn't know it could do that!"

Comparison:
In comparison to the Kindle 2, the 3 is essentially the same well designed device. In the way of most upgraded devices is it smaller, has more space, and does its job faster than its predecessor. As I mentioned before, I believe that the Kindle is the foremost e-book reader on the market owing to an excellent design, truly elegant functionality, and a focus on the reason the device was created. It doesn't try to be more than it is, and for that reason is it good at what it does.

Unanswered Questions:
I have pitched the Kindle to a number of friends and colleagues. I've often joked that Amazon should be paying me a commission. There are a couple of things that I've come across that come up rather often that I'll close with.

1. Touch Screen - People often mention that they'd like the Kindle if it had a touch screen like the Sony reader. Had someone mention that just this evening as a matter of fact. The touch screen, I feel, is largely a matter of preference. I, for one, don't like to touch my screen because I like it to be as clear as possible when I'm reading it. The Kindle has a fairly smudge resistant matte finish screen, but it does show prints if you handle the screen. A touch screen has to be cleaned fairly regularly or oil builds up, and I'd rather my screen simply be a screen and use button navigation. Also, the tactile sensation of button presses makes me happy. To each his own, but that's the way I like it.

2. What about the iPad - I'm not certain what the argument is over the iPad, but in talking about e-book reading, it seems to come up. My response is always the same, which is that the iPad is not an e-reader killer, but rather a netbook killer. It is in a different class of devices and an apples to oranges kind of discussion. This isn't to slight the iPad and what it is. It's a cool device, and very capable (if notoriously missing a few features I'd call needed) of doing many things well. This does come back to the shiny, backlit LCD issue mainly. Not to mention the extravagantly different price points, battery life and weight that I think make pure e-readers so attractive. If you love reading, then an e-book reader is the way to go. I would add though, that owning a Kindle doesn't preclude you from owning an iPad. I for one would buy one, but I'm waiting until the price drops significantly.

I hope you've enjoyed my review. Please feel free to post questions or comments below! Thanks for reading!

-J

Hello. I'm Jon, and I'm an RPG Gamer Geek

2010-08-12T15:29:00.003-04:00

Click Here for my post on Wil Wheaton, Slayer of Dragons and the True Dungeon Engagement!

I thought and thought about how to follow up my last blog. My small corner of the web has a regular readership of about 20 people. I see about 25-35 hits a month. In the past two days, thanks to Wil Wheaton's linking of my story of GenCon 2010, A True Dungeon Engagement and his own heroic tale of dragon slaying, my site has been hit over 11,000 times. That's fairly incredible! And so, what do I write? You always hear, “Write what you know, and don't worry about numbers.” And so, whether it ends up being interesting to anyone other than my regular readers, I'm going to tell you about how I became the geek I am today.

My name is Jon, and I am a geek. Originally, a geek was a circus performer who bit the heads off of animals, but I'm not that. Often, a geek is thought to be a socially inward or backward individual, bent on one or more particular pursuits, and somewhat non-productive otherwise, but I'm not that either. What is a geek you ask? It is difficult to nail down a singular definition. I can only tell you the kind that I am, and assure you that there are many more like me, and many that aren't

I can pin down the year that I started down my particular road to geekdom. 1986. I was 9. My life was that of a typical 9 year old. I played army, made swords from the tall ironweed that grew in a field where I lived. I had Matchbox cars, Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., LEGO, and Star Wars toys. What regular boy my age didn't back then? My imagination was alive and well. I had a Tandy 1000 computer and an ATARI 2600 which I enjoyed a great deal. All of this was normal. Typical even. Three things happened within a year that were the catalysts that transformed me from my typical kid archetype into my specialized form. Those three things? Nintendo Entertainment System, The Chronicles of Narnia and Dungeons & Dragons. By 1989 I was, and continue today to be, An RPG Gamer Geek.

It was these three things in which I discovered a great untapped source of entertainment, expression and self-discovery. Also, these things played a large part in my social awareness and interaction, rather contrary to to the popular myth that gaming makes you socially awkward. Am I denying that there are socially awkward geeks and gamers? Not at all, but to say that all gamers and geeks are awkward is like saying that all fish are trout. So let's look at each item on my list.

Nintendo Entertainment System: The Atari was an amazing system for its time. But the system I really grew fond of first was the NES. It was in no small part due to the games available. I still remember a lot of things about that system well and fondly. The Nintendo Fun Club Newsletter. That first Super Mario Brothers issue of Nintendo Power. Final Fantasy. Dragon Warrior. And opening the box for The Legend of Zelda not knowing that the cartridge itself was going to be bright shiny gold! Those were good times. The epic fantasy video game was young, and everything was new! 8-bit was an incredible technology, and I didn't have to input a code to pick up where I left off? Unreal! Those games took hours and hours over weeks and weeks to play. No internet. You had to do it all on your own, or pay an expert on a hotline to give you an answer. They required attention to detail, a long attention span, and excellent recall. At the same time I was enjoying the King's Quest series on computer, and the old classic, 'Rogue'. I was a sucker for a good old dungeon crawl.

The Chronicles of Narnia: One of the great epic tales. Narnia introduced me to the fantasy novel. I loved the breadth of time it covered, the sweeping worlds and battles and the great and small creatures of the realm that chipped in for the good of Narnia. What I recall about it in particular is that these children, who were my age, and much like me, were pulled into this amazing place, and became a part of the tale. After I read 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe', my outside activity shifted from army, and cowboys and indians, to a backpack, an ironweed sword, and some sort of great journey. Rocks could be gems, trees were monsters, and I was the hero! After Narnia, I would discover Fantasia, Middle Earth, and many other places that sprang from the minds of their creators. I still love fantasy fiction and always will. Of the fiction that I read, it comprises a good 90 percent. What I love most is the way a good fantasy author can create and entire world that is as different from, or similar to ours as he or she wants. Many authors write a fascinating hybrid of our world and their imagined one. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time comes to mind as an example of a world that melds our world with another. To me, there is little in fiction that is more interesting than good world building.

Dungeons & Dragons: I was introduced to D&D by my step-sister. It was the red box. The one with the huge red dragon on the cover. They had a sculpture of that same cover this year at the top of the escalators at GenCon. You could step up on the stone and pose like the warrior fighting him on the cover. I didn't manage to get the pose, but I did take a picture. Dungeons & Dragons took some serious heat early on from someone who was deeply hurt by the loss of a son who played. The game took the blame for his death, but truly, I feel it was the scapegoat, and not the real reason. A game, any game, can be just as dangerous as anything. How many lives do you suppose too much poker has ruined?
There is a lot of confusion and misinformation surrounding the game itself, but let me at least tell you my experience with it. I was raised in a home with solid values, Biblical truth, and respect. I became a Christian at age 10, but didn't really start to truly see what it all meant until I was 18. I am in fact, an active, all week long Christian (with as much failing and short-coming as anyone) who plays tabletop RPGs like D&D not to mention others. I think there is an ill-conceived idea of the way the game is played that conjures images of children and young adults gathered around a table in the dark wearing robes and memorizing incantations for summoning demons to do their bidding. Not in any game I've ever been involved in. A typical session?

One person has prepared a story or part of a story in advance. They make maps, create non-player characters for the players to interact with using the characters they have made to control in-game. Some DMs will just describe what's going on to the players. A theatrical DM might use voices and mannerisms, like a good story teller or actor, to bring some life into his NPCs, but it is entirely up to the DM and their style. They sometimes prepare props. I'm fond of handing actual notes to my players from the characters in the game, rather than just telling them that they get a note and things like that. The creation of the game is incumbent upon the DM (Dungeon Master) or GM (Game Master) in some systems. The players show up ready to take part in telling a story together. That's the game in a nutshell. The player characters are subjected to a problem or issue and become protagonists. They have to save the town, win a battle, oust an evil overlord or anything that the person running the game can come up with. The players create characters and then make the character do what they think he or she would do. As the characters are played, they gain experience and grow stronger. The game isn't always over in one night. A series of adventures, called a Campaign, can last for years if a group meets to play infrequently. But the main point is that the whole game happens around a table, in the minds of the players. It is a great social exercise that makes friendships that last a long long time. I am still friends with the people I played with in high school, and we still get together from time to time to play. I think most of them read this blog in fact. At any rate, I have never felt pulled to real witchcraft, spells, magic or anything, and I have no problem with reality versus fantasy. If that happens, then I question whether the problem is the game, or if it began somewhere else.

So there you have it. The three main influences that made me the Gamer Geek I am today. Is my story like yours? Can you pin down what made you who you are? Feel free to comment your own gamer/geek story!

Oh and FYI, my first D&D character was named Alexander. He was a fighter. A master of martial weapons. I don't know when I retired him, but in my mind, he looked just like the fighter on the cover of the box. He wasn't me, but he was the me I would be if I were the one in the game. Bound by a personal code of honor, eager to prove himself and willing to help with his talents and abilities. And also, the gigantic horned helm.

GenCon 2010 - The Tale of Wil Wheaton: Dragon Slayer

2010-08-10T03:00:00.004-04:00

Hello all!
I just got back from GenCon 2010 and I'm glad to say that it was a great time, and that True Dungeon was a fantastic success this year!

GenCon itself was a great time. It is a lot of fun to hang around with so many people with common interests. This is true for anyone I think. But I want to tell you about our time with True Dungeon this year!

This was the second year that I have had the privilege of attending GenCon in Indianapolis as a True Dungeon volunteer. Michelle and I along with two of our friends made the 4.5 hour drive last Sunday and spent the week helping to oversee the build, run and tear down or the event. We had a great time last year as new volunteers and were extremely excited to be given the task of becoming build leads. After the build, the two ladies became NPCs. (Non-Player Characters for you non-gamer types) They played the same character on different shifts. That of a half crazed protector of an artifact that the players were seeking. My friend Mike and I assumed administrative assistant roles. That might bring to mind typing letters and sending mail and such, but in True Dungeon, it means making certain that all of the rooms are running smoothly, that lights are working, radios are charged, and markers aren't dried out to name a few of the varied tasks that surface. Essentially we were running all over the place putting out fires. We all had a blast, and can't wait to get back next year!

There are two stories that I can tell you from the event this year:

The first concerns a couple who got engaged during their run of True Dungeon. The guy contacted the TD's creator and owner, Jeff Martin and had a special treasure token made which read "Ring of Engagement - Lisa, will you marry me? -Adam" and then arranged for his wife to find it in a treasure box as the party's rogue. The token popped the question for him, and when she turned around, he was on one knee with the actual ring pictured on the token. Here is a photo of the token!

I didn't get to see this happen, but I hear it was a great moment! She did say yes, by the way!

The second amazing story from True Dungeon this year, involves Actor/Author/Blogger and Geek Royalty, Wil Wheaton and some of the cast of the award winning web series, The Guild! (Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen and Jeff Lewis)

Here's how the story goes: Our finale this year was an encounter with Smoak, the Red Dragon! He was about one story tall, animatronic, and probably the single hardest challenge in TD history. Only a handful of groups managed to beat him, and most of those groups barely survived. Wil, Felicia, Sandeep, Robin and Jeff made their run late on Friday night with one of their event coordinators, and a pair of TD staffers. By all accounts they were good with the puzzles, and an effective, and intense group of players. They made it in good shape to the final room with our enormous fire breathing dragon!

This is where the story becomes legendary! The dragon was about to unleash the spray of fire that would put an end to our intrepid adventurers, when Mr. Wheaton stepped up to the slider board. (I should interject that combat in True Dungeon is carried out with a shuffleboard-like table and plastic sliders in which players' weapon tokens are placed. A silhouette of the enemy is on the far end of the table and where the slider comes to rest determines hit or miss and how much damage is dealt.) Wil made his slide just as the dragon was about to breathe, and his slider landed on the critical hit zone with the damage pointing in such a way as to kill the dragon in a single shot. This, as has already been said far and wide, is a one-in-a-million slide. A feat not accomplished by anyone else at the convention. The slider had to land in that exact spot, and the ring around it had to be facing that exact way. A heroic and legendary tale to be sure. I hear it told that once the party realized what had happened, Wil proclaimed that from now on he was Wil Wheaton, Slayer of Dragons! Here is a photo of the victorious party, celebrating at the feet of Smoak himself!

Today is a good day to slay a dragon! *Image by Fotoz by Fritz*

This story will more than likely be told and retold forever among the ranks of True Dungeon volunteers and Staff. There was no better outcome for this party. They succeeded in their quest, and they did so in a way that was entirely dependent on the skill of the players. (And perhaps a goodly amount of luck as well)

After the epic attack, Wil was given the d20 used to roll for combat initiatives. A gargantuan die, which he has named "The Dragon's Heart". It will no doubt become a legendary artifact itself! Later on at the con, my wife and I met Wil at his table in the autograph section of the exhibit hall and asked him about his experience. I was pleased that he along with the cast of The Guild, had a great time with True Dungeon. And Wil, seemed more excited than anyone. And why not? He has done what many gamers have only dreamed! He has slayed a legendary Red Dragon!

Wil Wheaton: Dragon Slayer and The Dragon's Heart

Firearm Certification

2010-05-04T01:46:00.002-04:00

Hello readers!

I wanted to do a quick update on one of my goals, as I have completed it! This past weekend I enrolled in a firearm safety and Concealed Carry Certification class! That means I now know my way safely around a handgun. The class was interesting and informative, and the time at the range actually shooting was good experience as well as being a lot of fun.

In order to qualify for my certificate, I had to take a written exam covering gun safety, and I had to know the nomenclature for a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol. Additionally, I had to pass the test at the firing range. At 50 feet, I had to hit a human sized target in the body 5 out of 6 times. I manged to hit 6 out of 6, and with a fairly nice spread in my humble opinion. Observe...

As you can see, 6 shots, all very close to the target area, which is the "X" drawn on the body. Excuse the crappy quality. This was taken with my phone.

So, I passed on all counts. And because I don't want to end my post abruptly, let me tell you about the weapons I got to fire while I was at the range. We were allowed to try some of the instructors other weapons to experience higher calibers and different types of guns and so forth. Maybe you'll get a kick out this, maybe not, but aside from all the seriousness of handling a firearm, the range shooting was a lot of fun!

I took my test with a Beretta Model 76, lent to me by my good friend Gregg Hager. It is a .22 Caliber, and at 50 feet I had a hard time seeing the holes I made in the target.

The other .22 I tried was a Walther P22. If a gun can be said to be cute, this one was. No bigger than the palm of my hand, but a lot of fun to shoot.

Then, growing tired of not being able to see my shots, I tried a little something bigger. The Taurus .44 Revolver. Shown here is the Model 431. I'm not certain it was this exact model, but the caliber and look are right. I could see the holes this one made.

Then for good measure, I fired a Glock .40, and the Glock 9mm. They looked rather the same really. So I won't bother linking them both. One was just a little bigger than the other.

So now, as a result of my class, I am certified to apply for my permit to carry a concealed weapon. Does that mean I'll always be packing heat? Probably not. I'd really rather not have one on me at all times, however, I am going to get the permit, because there are times it may be handy. I'll most certainly look into getting something for the house.

So there's one for the books! Took me three attempts to actually get into the class, but finally it is finished!

Firearm Certification Complete! Mission Accomplished!

-J

A Saab Story

2010-03-03T01:43:00.000-05:00

Well folks it's been a huge month. Let me start with a little preface about what prompted a little adventure I had with my friend Mike.

On February 3rd I lost my job. They eliminated my position in the company, and that was that. They did offer me another position, but it turned out to be something I'd never apply for as it would keep me away from home on business too often. And so, I took the severence package and began deciding what to do with myself. That, in itself is an entire post, but I'm not going to focus on it, except to say that I'm attempting to move back to technology. Going to get some certifications, and pursue something in that direction. Now...on to what you really came for. ADVENTURE! A warning. Brace yourself. This is a long one, but I promise it'll be fun.

You see, my company has provided me with a car for the duration of my employment there. I didn't have to worry about it. I realized, however, that as my time there came to an end, so would the company fleet car. And so I needed something I could drive, and quickly. Some of you may know, and some may not know that in college I drove a black 1987 Saab 900 Turbo. Happened across is quite by chance, and never imagined I would miss it when it was gone. It was a little worse for wear. No headliner, rattling tailpipe, questionable interior, no air. But heaven help me if it wasn't more fun to drive than anything else I've driven. That was about 10 years ago now. But I never forgot that car. Many of my friends (and my girlfriend to whom I am now married) thought that the car was as ugly as the day is long. Here's one like it. You be the judge.

I think it is a stylish design. But I will freely admit that it demands an opinion. You love them or you don't. It's ok if you don't. I won't ban you from the site. :)

Alright, so I was determined that I would own another Saab, similar vintage, only in better condition that my original 900. I started looking. Now we had money saved up in the event that something like this might happen. These cars aren't all that expensive, but finding a good one for my money was tricky. The ones nearby were all battered from seasons of the harsh weather we experience here. I knew I wouldnt' find one that wasn't more than a little rusty in this part of the world. So what could I do? Well, the best ones are in California...too far. Too expensive...out of the question. Or Florida...heeeeey....wait a second. My local airport flies to Orlando, non-stop, extremely cheap. Craigslist....Orlando....They're literally everywhere. Perfect!

So my plan was to book a flight, rent a car, test drive about three of these guys, buy the best one and drive it home. Easy. Now the most astute of you may notice a flaw in my plan. Once purchased, how to return said rental to the airport? I needed another driver. I asked Michelle first, but she was attempting to save her leave. Regrettably she declined. I looked on MSN, and my good pal Mike was on.

"Mike? I need a wingman"
"Ok. Ma'am, is this guy bothering you?"
"No, an ACTUAL wingman."
"Fly to Orlando? Buy a car? Drive it home? Ok. I'm in."

Ok, now, I have everything booked. I had eliminated for one reason or another, all but one of the Saab 900s I was to see. The one I loved as soon as I saw it on the ad. 1988 Red Saab 900 Turbo. Convertible. Restored black interior. Beautiful. Very high miles. 191k. But wow. Pretty car. I was going to look at a couple more just to be thorough, but the red one was the one I wanted. And it was in fact the best one.

Then, a mere four days before we were to leave for Florida, another car popped up on Craigslist. Green and tan, 1992 900 Convertible. 107k miles. OH NO! This can't be happening! It's not only the kind of car I wanted, but the miles are ridiculously low! My sense of responsibility asserted itself, and I knew that unless something was very wrong with that car when I saw it in person, I'd have to buy the green one. Most people I showed the cars too seemed to feel the same way. They'd say, "Yeah, you pretty much have to go with the green one." Then they'd eye the red one. "That one sure is pretty though." I was a little heart-broken, but prepared to do the right thing.

Now I had the red one and the green one lined up. Down we flew. We ended up in a rented Prius which was fun. We were on the way to see the green Saab. The hands down sensible choice.

I'll tell you up front. I got the red one. Why? Mike and I decided that it was destiny, because that sounds better. Here's what happened:

I called the guy with the green Saab. He didn't answer so I left a message. We were halfway to the location when he calls me back.

"I'm sorry. I'm not even in the state. I'm out of town. I didn't think you would show up."

At first I'm a little taken aback. I thought, "Didn't I email you and tell you I was flying to Florida from Ohio to see your car?" But then it hit me. If I can't get the green one...then...YES! I mean, that's too bad. It really was a sensible car. But red sure is pretty. :)

So it fell through. My sensible car fell through. My attempt at responsibility was blown out of the water. Well, nothing for it then but to see this red Saab 900 Turbo Convertible with Restored Black Interior and way too many miles. (Although, 191k really isn't all that bad for a well maintained Saab.)

Mike and I test drove the car. Sure, it's got some quirks and foibles. What 22 year old car doesn't? But you know what, It sure is pretty:

We drove it up the coast that night and stayed at my grandparent's place. We did discover that the car did not have working heat. That became an issue around North Carolina. Mike and I made many stops to warm up. We bought convenience store gloves, socks and hats. We used a quilt, drank hot chocolate and drove through a heavy snowstorm. We drove through toll booths looking absolutely ridiculous. It was a hero's trial. We had to earn this car, and believe me, we did.

Well, we fixed the heat the next day. A simple matter of a disconnected linkage. I've been tinkering with some of the small things that aren't working. Replacing bulbs and the CD player and what have you. And so after 10 years, I'm back in my Saab.

Ladies and Gentlemen, My Saab Story. :) Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed living it! More pictures are available here.

Thanks for reading!
-Jon

Oh and as a PS, Recently you may have heard that Saab was being disolved as a company, but fortunately Stryker is now buying them and they aren't going away! Woohoo!! :)

Trudger's Treatises Annual Traffic Report

2010-01-28T00:29:00.004-05:00

Good evening everyone! Thank you for coming to our special annual meeting. Actually, there's no meeting. I was just playing around with Google Analytics, which is what I use to observe my traffic here at Trudger's Treatises. Currently all JonCCook.Com traffic points directly here as well. I think it's really interesting to see where and how my visitors get here, so I thought I'd share some of the information from my reports with you. This February, believe it or not, marks an entire year for this blog. I'm amazed that I've kept it going for that long. Normally my projects don't have that kind of staying power! Perhaps it's simply that I know people would be lost without their Treatises. :) Anyway, how about about those numbers! Trudger's Treatises : February 1st, 2009 - January 27th, 2010 Total Visitors/Locations: 640 Visits 5 Continents - 23 Countries - 255 Cities Worldwide Average of 1.91 Visits per Day Top 5 Highest Readership by Country

United States - 551 Visits (This is probably to be expected)
Brazil - 25 Visits (No idea I had such a following in Brazil!)
Japan - 13 (Thanks Tomoko! :)
United Kingdom - 10 (Is that you Liam?)
Philippines - 7 (Like Brazil, I am surprised, and pleasantly so, that the Philippines enjoys the site, however rarely. :)

Top 5 Traffic Sources: Visitor Origins (How people find their way to my site)

Google Search - 23.59%
Direct to Page - 18.12%
Facebook.com - 12.19%
Blogger.com - 10.31%
Trillian's Tales - 8.44% (Thanks for the referral traffic Gina!)

Top 5 Most Viewed Posts: (The Blazin' Challenge is the hands down victor for popularity on my site according to several metrics)

Top 10 Most Common Keyword Combinations: (There are a few ties for 2nd place actually, so I'm listing the top 10. It should become apparent what the single most popular post on my site concerns.)

Coleman Max Pot - 6
Bill Meadow's Pottery - 3
Blazin' Challenge -3
Blazin' Challenge Shirt -3
Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin' Scoville -3
BW3 Scoville -3
Good Samaritan Soles 5k - 3
Sample of Treatises -3
Buffalo Wild Wings Scoville Scale -2
Buffalo Wild Wings Scoville Units -2

Some of the more interesting keyword combinations:

Beef Jerky Caulking Gun
Blazin' Challenge Injuries (o.o)
Blazin' Challenge Dead/Died (O.O)
Contents of Toiletry Bag (My personal favorite)

So there is some interesting information about my blog. It's amazing how many visits and how much interest the Blazin' Challenge has generated. I'm going to have to find something else to do like that so I can generate more traffic! Anyone have any recommendations?

Talk to you all soon!

-J

Kung Fu - The White Sash

2010-01-26T00:01:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone! Guess what? I took my test for the white sash tonight at Kung Fu, and passed! I think it basically means I have learned enough to begin learning! :) The test isn't all that extensive, or difficult, but it's a beginning! Basically, there are a handful of kicks, punches and techniques that you have to demonstrate, plus a short blocking form. I was little nervous, but managed not to get too overworked, and didn't have any trouble. So this means that my Kung Fu goal is half way completed for 2010. Well, not exactly. The yellow sash is considerably more involved, and will take quite a bit of study and dedication to accomplish by the end of 2010. I only attend one of the two weekly classes. At any rate, I'm excited to begin. Mainly what I want to do before worrying about the color of the fabric around my waist during class, is to increase my strength and flexibility, and become very certain of the basics that I've already learned. A solid foundation is the key to a great many things. And I'm certain that any martial art is no different. I'll keep it short tonight! Just wanted to update you all on my progress. I'm certain you're all riveted to the screen! :) Talk to you all soon! -J

2009 - A Year In Review

2010-01-05T01:28:00.004-05:00

Hello everyone! I guess it's been awhile hasn't it? Just over 3 months by my calculations. It was a busy, whirlwind holiday season to say the least! I wanted to take a moment, do a post, and look back on 2009. My friend Mike dubbed it the year of the ninja, wherein we would all aspire, by the end of the year, to be one. So are we? Well, not quite. But hey, we made the attempt, and we're closer now than we were. Not quite a bullseye, but closer to the target than we would be had we never aimed for it. (The proverb goes, "Aim for the moon, and even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.) As it stands, I have a lot of goals which I have not completed. There is a perfectly good, and I think a perfectly acceptable reason for this. I am a person of many, many.....MANY interests, and you might say a Jack of all Trades, and Master of None. Here is the vital thing. I have made progress toward many things which I aspire to complete, and even though I did not finish in 2009, I am not finished. The goal setting, more importantly than anything, focused me enough so that I could in fact get somewhere, and keep from going nowhere. I have to update some percentages, but the list is pretty close. One of the best things is that Merrick is approaching halfway on the first draft. This is by far more than I've ever managed with any story which I intended to be longer than a few pages. It was the method I was using, I discovered this year. As an author, I am an outliner, as opposed to a discovery writer. This means that I work from an outline better than off the cuff. I write my concepts and beginnings that way, but once I frame the idea, I need to outline. Because of that, Merrick is going to be finished! I'm very excited about it. In 2009, I also made a few inquiries, and connections as far as the publishing process will go, in the event that Merrick is ever at that level. It just might be someday! The other great thing that came out of 2009, goal-wise, is my study of Japanese. I have had a great time so far learning the language. I have a long way to go before I'm even comfortable with basic conversation, but this time last year, I knew perhaps 100 random words and had no idea how to put them together. Now I would place my vocabulary at 400-500 words, and a good grasp of the basic structure of the language. I've also nearly mastered Hiragana and Katakana. The Kanji are little intimidating, but I'm sure if I take it a little at a time, I'll be fine. Fitness was a big part of 2009, and I know it will be big in 2010 also. Michelle and I have been whipping ourselves into shape after the holidays, and have tossed around another piece of the Appalachian Trail. Perhaps the 20 miles or so that we missed on the trip last summer. A smaller hike, true, but by design, so we don't have to take as many days off from work. Also related to fitness (as well as the year of the ninja) is Kung Fu. I'll be continuing with that in 2010, and my goal is two sashes this year. With a little more practice I'm ready for the first one. In 2009, Michelle and I had opportunities to do so many things we'd never done before. Not only the Appalachian Trail, but Baltimore and GenCon in Indianapolis. It was almost too much! We had an absolutely great time, and it was a great year. One for the history books! In 2010, there are some new things planned. In the spring we'll be heading to Italy to visit Michelle's uncle, who retired there after his time in the service. There may be a quick crash course in Italian thrown into my language studies. We're also planning a return to GenCon to assist with True Dungeon again. Not only did we have the time of our lives, but hey, it's a free vacation! :) In retrospect, I believe that I've grown in 2009. I feel that mentally, physically and spiritually I am in completely new places than I was last year at this time. I'll never be perfect. And in many things, I'll never even be adequate, but I can try to be better than I used to be. That's the important thing. And so, look for more posts soon. Let's kick off 2010 and make it another good one! Thanks so much for reading! I really do appreciate it! -J

The Blazin' Challenge

2009-09-26T11:10:00.005-04:00

I thought I'd post a quick blog on my activities last night. I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Michelle and our friend Thomas and took the Blazin' Challenge! Just me, mind you. Michelle and Thomas opted out. :) If you've never heard of the Blazin' Challenge, let me explain. You have to eat 12 of their traditional wings (Meaning fried, bone-in) smothered in their Blazin' Sauce. It's the hottest sauce they have. They give you 6 minutes and the following rules:

You must first sign a waiver releasing Buffalo Wild Wings from liability in any injury or death that may occur.
No Drinks until the challenge ends.
No Napkins until the challenge ends.
The bones must be cleaned completely with the mouth only.
You have 6 minutes to eat all 12 wings.
If you throw up, you're disqualified.

That's it in a nutshell. So I ordered my wings, and when they were ready, the store manager came out to time me, and off I went!

Let me interject here with a little Hot Sauce tutorial if you aren't that familiar with how they're rated for hotness. The scale used to rate hot sauce is called the Scoville Scale. The sauces are measured in Scoville Units. The number basically tells you how much a sauce has to be diluted before it is no longer detectably hot to the taste. It isn't a perfect rating, but it's a good ballpark. Anyway, the hottest sauce I have ever tried is made by the Pepper Palace in Gatlinburg, TN. It is called "The Hottest Sauce in The World" and weighs in at approximately 1,000,000 Scoville units. I tried it with my friend Eric years ago and we both had to sit down and cry from 1/8 Teaspoon on a cracker. About a 15 minute burn that built slowly over the course. Not your grandmother's hot sauce. (Or maybe it is if your grandmother is related to Popeye or something.)

I did some looking around, and Buffalo Wild Wings' Blazin' Sauce registers at around 300,000 Scoville Units. About a third as hot as my hottest sauce ever. The catch? I had to eat a LOT of it. But I was fairly certain that I could pull it off.

So the timer started and off I went. The heat was a little delayed. I was on my third or fourth wing before I really started to feel anything. (Incidentally, the Blazin' Sauce has a good flavor, along with the heat. Tasty sauce if you're into it.)

About wing 7 it started to get pretty intense. Oddly, it wasn't so much blinding heat, but rather a kind of rolling electrical feeling. If you've ever been shocked by a light socket or outlet you'll know what I mean. It felt like a sort of heavy tingle everywhere the sauce touched my face and lips. At wing 8 or 9 my vision narrowed a little bit and my ears started to ring, but it wasn't excruciatingly painful. really just a slow intense burn. Nothing I couldn't handle. The other sensations were interesting though. I'd never had enough really hot sauce to experience that before. More disorienting than painful.

By the time I finished my 12th wing, (at 3:30 by the way) The sensations weren't getting any worse. Everything had peaked (Or so I thought). My official time was recorded on a Polaroid and hung on the Wall of Fame, out of the way, by the bathrooms. :) You can go to BW3 in Ironton and find me there. I also was allowed to buy a survivor T-Shirt for $5. (Allowed to buy a survivor t-shirt. C'mon. I risked life and limb! can't you spot me a t-shirt?)

After the challenge, the heat continued for about 10 minutes, and then peaked. 20 minutes later I was completely cool again. :) That was fun. And more than a little stupid I have to say.

So at the end of the night I had earned a $5 T-Shirt, a place of honor near the bathrooms, and the respect of literally tens of people as my name was announced over the loud speaker as a survivor of the Blazin' Challenge. I have it straight from Thomas also that he didn't think I would pull it off, and that he was proud of me. And if a little hot sauce isn't worth the pride and respect of your friends, then I don't know what is.

-J

GenCon 2009

2009-09-15T00:36:00.008-04:00

Hello all, and it's time once again for a new blog entry! Today's topic? GenCon 2009! Many of you may already know that Michelle, Mike and Jenn and I took a little trip up to Indianapolis a few weeks back to attend one of the largest gaming conventions in the country. It is attended by thousands upon thousands of gamers, anime fans, cosplayers and various other social minorities! :) I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to explain how we were able to attend this convention. It would have been quite expensive to pay for the room, the food, the badges and everything else, but we were able to go essentially for free thanks to one of the games that has become a staple of GenCon. We volunteered to help run True Dungeon. True Dungeon, most simply put, is a live action Dungeons and Dragons style game, where the players are put into a full size labyrinthine series of rooms, in which lie dangers untold and hardships unnumbered. We went out to Illinois earlier in the year to actually play the game, volunteered then to help run it at GenCon and were selected, which meant the room was paid for, the convention badge was paid for, and the food was paid for. Add that to the fact that my company graciously allows me some personal mileage on my company car with the gas covered, and how can you NOT go to GenCon? :) So, True Dungeon was all kinds of fun. It is run by a lot of really personable, hard working people who are focused on making sure that their customers are going to have a great time! The four of us spent most of our time as NPCs, or Non-Player Characters, meaning we were costumed and interacting with the players. I was in this costume most of the time: That's not actually me, and the paint is now a little different, but this is a foam suit painted to look like stone. They added some red and UV paint to make it a Fire Elemental costume. The rest of the time, I was under a table waiting to scare people by thrusting my hand up through a glove and out of a bowl of glowing liquid. I remember thinking: "I'm not sure how I ended up crammed in this tiny box with my hand sticking up through a table." Bet you were wondering when I'd work that in there. :) Long story short, fun and more than a little bit stuffy, but a good time! Thanks to the TD crew for allowing us to participate! Alright, so the rest of the time, when we weren't working at True Dungeon, there was a whole big convention for us to enjoy! I've posted a lot of pictures on my gallery for you to see. As we all had the opportunity, we got to roam the exhibition hall, which was absolutely huge, and packed with game vendors for anything you can imagine. RPGs, Board, Card and Video games and their corresponding merchandise like shirts and such. I had never been to a convention or conference in which I was the target demographic, and so it was really hard not to walk around with my mouth open gaping at everything. While there we did a couple of other things related to the convention. We attended the zombie walk, which is pretty much just what it sounds like; A lot of people, who are dressed as zombies, walking. Kind of a zombie parade. You'll see a few pictures of our costumes as well as some of the other stand out zombies as well in the gallery. We also attended a Masquerade. This too was a costumed affair. Michelle and I went for a classic Italian masquerade look, and Mike and Jenn tried their hand at steampunk to great effect. So, I can't truly speak for everyone else, but I had a fantastic time at GenCon. I have never felt out of place where I live, but being in a city full of gamers and geeks like myself for a few days was kind of like a "homecoming" experience. I was pleased to find that the ages varied all over the place, and most everyone was friendly and polite and that this mass collection of gamers in general was a good collection of people who represented the demographic as well as could be. It was also a lot of fun to put on an obscure shirt and have people get it. :) Here's what I mean. Michelle and I were walking the floor in a couple of shirts from Woot.com, and someone from the site saw us. They were walking about taking pictures of people wearing their products and we ended up on the site in a blog post! That's right. Internet Famous. Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that this is not the first time I've been Internet Famous. Thanks again Brandon! Ok, I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to feel like the post is long enough. Maybe too long. Looking forward to GenCon 2010! I think True Dungeon will have us back, so how can we NOT go? :) Talk to you soon! -Jon

Baltimore or Less!

2009-08-26T01:18:00.006-04:00

Ok, so I'm catching up on my blogging. Now you're probably feeling inundated by posts about my summer exploits. This is an entry about the second of three summer trips that Michelle and I have taken with Mike and Jenn this year. There was a trip back in the spring also, and there will likely be a fall trip or two. As with the previous blog, I'm going to direct you to my website's gallery for pictures of the Baltimore trip. The main reason for this trip to Maryland was for a concert, which was being performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. They performed the music of Final Fantasy, composed by Uematsu Nobuo. The game series has long been a favorite of mine. I've played it since I was very young, starting on the Nintendo Entertainment Center. I haven't missed one at this point. It's a great series, with sweeping, epic story lines and fun characters, but I digress. This was about the music. So we left on a Friday evening and drove all night to arrive in Baltimore, where we stayed at the Lord Baltimore Radisson. A very interesting hotel for sure. Beautiful decor and a picturesque lobby, but the rooms were a little worn, if cozy. The shower was insteresting. One end of the bathroom was just curtained off and there was not so much a stall as a corner. It was very institutional. Took some getting used to. :) So what did we do? First let me tell you that the concert was phenomenal! The music was played while a screen above the orchestra played different scenes from the games, and slideshows of character art and such. I absolutely enjoyed myself. Anyone would enjoy the music, whether they had played the games or not. What I love about Final Fantasy's music is that it really does stand on its own as great work. It's much more than the looped 8-bit synth and bleeps and bloops that a lot of games employ. Uematsu-san is a talented man! Fine Jon, the concert was awesome. What else did you do? Well, I'll tell you. We spent a lot of time at the Inner Harbor in downtown Baltimore. There are historic buildings, historic ships, great food, and great shopping all to be had in a four block radius. We had lunch one day at Edo's which is a nice Japanese place. Alright, one picture. Here's my lunch: Fun eh? That's Edamame, Teryaki Chicken, A pair of Spring Rolls, Four pieces of California Roll, a really tasty piece of Volcano Roll, and a salad with a carrot/ginger dressing. Awesome. We also took time out to visit a museum while we were there. I've posted a lot of pictures on the Gallery of everything from old chain armor to a mummy. The last big ticket sight that we saw in Baltimore was Edgar Allan Poe's grave. His grave was interesting, but the whole cemetery is incredible! The architecture is sometimes bizarre, and there are some huge names from American history buried right in the same place as Poe and his family. You'll find pictures of that adventure in the gallery as well. A couple of cool facts: Poe was moved from his original plot, across the cemetery, when it was decided that he should be honored with a memorial. Also, the church that shares the grounds, is actually built over the cemetery. There are catacombs beneath the church. We wanted very badly to see them, but apparently they are off limits, or they were while we were there. We could see through the locked gates somewhat, though. All in all, I really liked Baltimore. It's an old town. Really old. At least here in America. The buildings are a mix of all sorts of styles. Roman, Modern, Victorian...there are just different things to see everywhere. The people were friendly and the culture was rich. And a good time was had by all. Tune in next time when we hear Jon say: "I'm not sure how I ended up crammed in this tiny box with my hand sticking up through a table." -J

The Appalachian Trail - Better Late Than Never!

2009-08-24T23:54:00.003-04:00

Hey all! Finally, I am about to blog about my experience on the Appalachian Trail in June! I'm sorry it has taken so long to put something up about it. Sometimes you just get busy and suddenly it's almost 3 months later! Anyway, as I said, better late than never right? :) So, just to make sure you're up to speed, late this past May, Michelle and I, along with my Brother in Law Al and my Dad, started at Winding Stair Gap in North Carolina, and over the next 8 days, we would walk a total of 53 miles of the Appalachian Trail, to be picked up in Cades Cove, TN. The experience was difficult and often treacherous. It was a little scary, and stressful. But it was definitely an experience not to be missed, and I'm sure that none of us are finished with the AT. If you haven't seen the pictures yet, they're in my gallery on my website. Rather than post a lot of pictures here, I'll just send you that direction for a better interface. It's probably next to impossible to put everything we experienced into a single blog post, but I'm going to do what I can. Here goes! First, I'll say that none of us were truly prepared for a week in the woods. I don't think any of us believed we would be, but that doesn't change the fact that it was more of a challenge than we anticipated. We were fortunate to have an excellent shuttle to our trail head. Without them we'd have dealt with some difficulties that were unneeded. Our driver went over some possible hazards to avoid, and helped us a great deal with pack weight, and food management, so after the three hour drive to the trail, we felt more prepared than we had been, which was good. We would need every extra bit of help! :) Jeff (our driver) also asked us why we had chosen the hardest length of trail in the southern half as our first piece. Well, the location worked out best for our drop off and pick-up, but would we have made an adjustment had we known that before the day we started? No point dwelling on that now. Done is done! (it was all my fault) :) My aunt and uncle met us at the trail head to see us off. With a prayer and a couple of pounds of birthday cookies, (thanks Aunt Patty) off we went! Day one, and we hiked and hiked and hiked. Now, we had some long days scheduled. 10 miles, 12 miles. On our first day we went about 8 before we camped, at a place called Wine Spring. The spring was a little creek, which was where we first filled our water bottles with mountain stream water. A lot of realizations on that first day or two. Let me relate a few:

We aren't making the kind of time we planned. Either have to speed up, or not go as far. (This was also some good advice from our shuttle driver. Relax, and enjoy your time, he said. It's a vacation and you aren't racing. Very quickly we realized we were not going to go as far or as fast as we had planned. That realization and subsequent acceptance made the trip a lot easier and more enjoyable.)
Everything you do has to have a purpose. In the woods, there is no action without thought and purpose behind it. After awhile, the routine got easier, but you have to be aware of every step, lest you plummet over the side of the hill. You have to cook in the right place in the right clothes (as not to attract rodents and bears) , plan your water stops, prepare your camp efficiently, break your camp efficiently, hit the trail early enough to make your next campsite. The thinking can wear you out, but as we often talked about on the trail, you may still be stressed, but you aren't thinking about work, or the lawn, or the bills, You're thinking of things that will keep you alive and healthy. Bears, clean water, dry clothes and shoes. You're trading one set of trials for another. And I can't speak for everyone else, but I found that enjoyable once I was accustomed to it.
Too much food! We all experienced this. Our appetites were slim under the physical exertion. I could have carried two thirds less food and probably still had too much.
Small kindness really does matter. This is related to number three actually. We had too much food, but there were foods that we didn't have that we really missed. Day two we encountered a lady at a picnic site that came near to the trail. She had some fresh strawberries which she offered us, and which quickly disappeared. I actually didn't' have one, but the rest of the group did. Later in the week, the same thing happened when we hiked along with a couple of ladies who gave us a bag of cherries. I had a few of those. Those were the best cherries I've ever eaten. I think just because they gave us a little of something that we didn't have, and couldn't possibly have had without them. It made me realize how significant even the smallest gift or aid can be to someone who is without, and we didn't even need the cherries to live. They just hit the spot. It's funny how much of your time on the trail revolves around food. When to eat, how much, where and so on. At Fontana Dam, NC, just before we crossed into Tennessee, I offered a melted Snickers bar to one of the kids who was sharing a shelter with us. His eyes got wide, and he thanked me as though I'd given him a nugget of gold! We found out a couple of days later that he and his friends had been raided by bears in the middle of the night, and they had stolen all of his food, so he had been living fairly lean for those few days. Likely he'd have taken a Snickers over a gold nugget out in the middle of the woods. :)
I was worried about drinking water from a stream. If you stop to think about everything that drinks from the stream, that crawls in it...it's a little disgusting. But I realized that the taste of the water coming out of those mountains is not to be had from city water. It was so clean tasting that when we were finally able to drink some city water again, it was metallic and heavy by comparison. After we left the hostel where we slept mid week, I was tempted to dump my city water in favor of a spring we passed, but I just didn't want to wait for the purification.

So the hostel is another story. After three or four days, we were very tired, and having a hard time of it, so we decided to take a day off of the trail to heal and relax. We stopped at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. It is a fabled destination for AT hikers and affectionately called "The NOC". A couple of restaurants, $20 hostel rooms. Hot water and showers. We decided that in the spirit of not killing ourselves, and also enjoying ourselves, that we needed to take the time. It was well spent. Laundry done, showers taken, gear cleaned up and repacked, we shuttled ahead so we could meet our pickup in Cades Cove on the appointed day.

I think I can be safe summing up the rest of the hiking. Naturally there are countless stories I could tell you, but I want to keep this blog readable. Feel free to ask me any question you have. But I can say that the hiking and camping were harder, and more worthwhile than I could have imagined. The time I got to spend with the people who went with me was irreplaceable. And as I mentioned in a previous blog, God was there too, as I expected. Interestingly, the bear activity this year is extremely high. People coming and going saw them the whole time we were on the trail. We never saw the first one. I wouldn't trade this hike for a week doing anything else! Also, there are some views of the Appalachian Mountains that you can't drive to. I saw some incredible places. There are pictures of some of them, but pictures don't do them justice. More than once I was awed by a 360 degree panorama of mountains as far as I could see. If you haven't experienced it, that's good stuff! :)

I think the only way I can make sure to answer everything that you might be wondering is in the comments section of this post. Ask a question or anything and I'll see about answering! If it requires another blog post, then all the better! Thanks, as always, for reading!!

-J

The Contents of My Pack

2009-05-27T23:10:00.009-04:00

Well, Here we go. I'm going to do a quick blog about the items I'm taking with me when we head out on our big hike this weekend. We'll be headed out on Friday evening, the 29th, and returning on June 7th. This is a week long, no holds barred, sleep in the dirt kind of hike. We're also going to be raising money for the Faith and Fitness Center in Ironton by making this a Hike-A-Thon. Willing sponsors can pledge by the mile (75 of them) or a flat amount. But anyway, I thought I'd give you a quick tour of my pack, which is effectively my house for the next week.

First, a picture of all the contents. I have numbered them, and I'll go over each number to let you know what's what.

There we go. Let's begin shall we? 1. This bag contains my personal effects, and electronics with which I'll be documenting the hike. My phone, for micro blogging and GPS in a pinch, the camera for....well, pictures. My charger, spare batteries, a trail log, a new testament and a novel. Also included is my headlamp and my clip on light. On the test hike a few nights ago, it made an excellent overhead lamp in the tent. 2. This is the toiletries bag. Soap and deodorant, toothbrush and towel, you know. All the essentials to keep me from smelling any worse than I need to. :) 3. My emergency kit. All of my first aid and just in case gear is in this one. Hand warmers, gauze, band aids and ointments, and some pain and fever medication. Also a couple of chem-lights. You never know when all of your lamps/flashlights might all die. If everything goes according to plan, though, I should never have to open this one up. 4. Two 1 Liter bottles of water. This is all the water I'll be carrying at any one time. They'll be refilled at streams or springs along the way and purified. 5. Camp shoes. $1.00 Croc rip-offs from Walmart. Women's size 10. They were lighter, cheaper, and better looking than the men's. :) If I need to go slogging across a stream and don't want to take a chance on getting my boots wet, these will come in handy. Also, the one shower I get at Fontana Dam, three nights before the end, will require these. Would you stand in an outdoor bathhouse in bare feet? :) 6. My Eureka Silver City 30° Sleeping Bag. This is one of the pieces of gear I'm most proud of. Packed and compressed, it's not much bigger than a loaf of bread, and it's good and light. 7. The orange sack and the long black one next to it are my tent and poles. The tent, which I have blogged about before here is a Eureka Solitaire. I've slept in it twice now and it's a pretty cozy little getup, if a little shy in extra room. It only requires moderate skill in yoga to get around inside it. :) 8. This is my spare clothing. Nothing more than a change of clothes for the camp site so I can wash the stuff I'm hiking in, along with a set of thermals in case of a cold night. All of it is synthetic, quick drying and light. 9. Foul Weather Footware. This is a pair of socks, sock liners and small gaiters in case things get really sloppy on the trail. I'll have two spare pairs of socks and a spare pair of liners total. You can't be too prepared when it comes to your feet. 10. This is my rain gear. A Marmot Precip jacket and field and stream pants. It's all packed into one of the jacket's pockets. I hope we never have to get this stuff out either, but in all probability it'll rain on us some. Looking at the forecast, it may rain on us a lot. :) 11. This is my rain cover for my pack. Another piece of gear that's good to have along, but better if you never need it. 12. My fleece jacket, in case things get cold. I don't expect it'll get cold enough to need this, but again, an ounce of prevention and all that. This jacket actually works along with my other clothes for layering. I have my base layers; this jacket is my mid layer, and my rain jacket is my outer shell. 13. My kitchen. I like my little cook set. This is a Coleman MAX pot and pan, and inside is my stove and fuel, (Esbit solid fuel tabs) along with two mini Bic lighters. Also contained inside are coffee filters for my water and my purification drops. My drops are Aqua Mira, which is chlorine based and safer than iodine in a long term situation. 14. This is the majority of my food in our Ursack. The Ursack is a cool piece of gear. It's a bear bag, made of Kevlar. We're using the bag primarily to keep our food from rodents and such, but this is supposed to be able to resist the bears as well. Technically it should be bulletproof also. :) Laying next to the Ursack, you can see a sample of the food we're taking with us. That's a small jar of peanut butter, some dehydrated 3-bean Chili from Trailfoods.com, a bag of my famous homemade beef jerky, and in the back there is some freeze dried corn. It's a fantastic snack! Tastes just like a well buttered ear of corn! You can also see my all purpose spork there. Ya gotta have the spork. :) 15. This is my sleeping pad. It's basic, closed cell foam that you can buy at any Wal-Mart. I trimmed a little off of it to save some weight. 16. Here it is. The Gregory Baltoro 70. A 70 Liter Capacity pack with a legendary padding and suspension system. It had better be up to the challenge of carrying all of this gear, because I'm not certain I am. :) So there's the nickel tour of my gear. I hope you find it as fascinating and engaging as I like to pretend it is. How about a picture of the whole mess packed lovingly into the aforementioned backpack:

Total Packed Weight: 39 Pounds. A little high perhaps. I was hoping to keep it near 35, but in a couple of days it'll be down around there as I eat. My food weight will be reduced by about 2 pounds per day. Hard to believe that this is all I'll have with me for 7 days, but at the same time, It's hard to believe that there's so much there. :)

Alright, I have time to entertain a few questions, but as of Friday afternoon, I'm out of here! I'll see you all on the Twitter feed if there is sufficient service to update via phone. Later!

-J

Kung Fu - My First Class

2009-04-07T00:12:00.002-04:00

Well, guess what Michelle and I started tonight? We attended our first Kung Fu class at Magic Fist Kung Fu in Huntington, WV. Mike and Jenn are attending as well, and have actually been going for about a month. And so, just like that, we are off on our quest for awesomeness. My thoughts after the first night are positive. I really enjoyed the class, and the instructor is attentive and knowledgeable, and seems to be a really nice guy to boot. I have to tell you that I have never, and I mean never, stretched that thoroughly in my life. We stretch standing, seated, against the wall and in all manner of directions. The funny thing about it is that before class tonight, I'd have sworn that I could not touch the bottoms of my feet if they were out in front of me with my legs straightened, but after the stretching I could. My hamstrings were quivering and my thighs were burning, but you know it was a good pain. :) As I sit here, I'm still sore and I can only imagine how sore I'm going to be tomorrow and the next day. So, we started learning a lot of things tonight. He spent a little time on several basic techniques. If I recall everything it was a basic kick, a sidestep, dodging a punch, disarming a knife at your throat, deflecting and disarming a knife attack at the body, and part of our first form, which he explained was not so much for striking and blocking, but more for teaching your body how to move to strike and block. All of it was at half speeds and basic, but that's fine by me. I'm going to need slow and basic for a few months. :) I'm considering the addition of a 2009 Goal, but I don't know yet. I need to attend a little more and see, but I might just add "Attain a White Sash in Kung Fu" to my list. That's usually the color earned when you know the very basic stuff and can demonstrate it. I've done some looking into it, and it looks as though it takes an average of 4-6 months to reach that rank (for the average person, working at it and practicing), but I really know next to nothing about it at the moment. We'll see. :) Anyway, good time tonight. Excellent workout. Very sore. Definitely going back. :) -J

True Realm (Spoilers Within)

2009-04-06T23:41:00.005-04:00

How about a quick blog about what Michelle, Mike, Jenn and I did this weekend! We took off Thursday night and headed to Marion, IL for an event called "True Realm". We had a fantastic time. Literally. :) True Realm, you see, is a fantasy adventure. It is produced by the people who have been doing "True Dungeon" at Gencon Indianapolis since 2003. It takes table-top fantasy role playing to a new level. Basically, what we did was go to a 40,000 square foot warehouse that had been set up with a full tavern (Totally dry BTW. No alcohol admitted), two full 7 room dungeons, and 2 smaller ones. We did a 4 room and the main 7 room while we were there. The rooms of these dungeons are intricately decorated, full size, and feature combats, puzzles and traps. Each room had a volunteer GM or Game Master, who assisted the 8 member parties in combat and answered questions. There were some truly spectacular animatronic critters, and some excellent live actors. In the first room we were all addressed by a none too polite Drow who essentially gave us our quest. Well, she told us what NOT to do and we did it anyway. :) The puzzles and challenges were both mental and physical, from arranging a series of numbered cards in a proper order based on information printed on plaques all over the room, to arranging a series of pieces into a cube the size of a small car while unable to speak to your teammates. There was also a challenge where you had to shoot a button on the wall across the room with a crossbow. (Which I succeeded in doing thank you very much!) Anyway, I could go on and on about all the things we had to do to make it through our dungeons, but it would be too hard to explain. Let's just say that it was a whole lot of fun. We had four people in our party that we'd never met. Two veterans, and two young newbies. We, ourselves were new, but everyone was very friendly and helpful as far as explaining how things worked and getting us equipped to play. Equipment, by the way is done with tokens. They come with all kinds of equipment printed on them. They represent your weapons, armor, rope, potions, or anything else that may be useful inside. You get 10 with your ticket, but more are available for purchase. There are some people who collect them of course, and they were all about with their suitcases of tokens. I ended up using an "Orcish Flail" token as my weapon, FYI. So that's what we did this past weekend. I would post pictures of the event, but not only was photography inside somewhat discouraged, but the inside was very dark. I could go into the specifics of how combat works, and all of that, but I'll just post a link to the True Dungeon website, and let you peruse there if you like, at your leisure. Perhaps, if you're feeling crazy, you can even drive up to Indy this August, attend Gencon, and run the dungeon yourself! Hopefully they'll have another one next year in Marion as well! Take it from me, this was great time! :) -J

A Memory of Light - Thoughts on The Final Book of "The Wheel of Time"

2009-03-30T21:48:00.007-04:00

Hey all! Some of you might have heard this already, as I know a few of you who are also huge fans of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, but It was announced by the publisher, TOR, today that the 12th and final book of The Wheel of Time will be released in three volumes, beginning with the first volume, "The Gathering Storm" this coming November. Here is the press release from TOR, posted at Dragonmount.com. I wanted to first of all, express my excitement over having a general date for the first volume, and then to comment on the method of release. There are a lot of Wheel of Time and Robert Jordan fans who are up in arms right now considering it's been 4 years since the last book came out, and the series is somewhat infamous for growing beyond its original scope and becoming a behemoth of a work. Not to mention that before Jordan passed away in 2007, he initially said he would finish this story in one book if TOR had to invent a new binding system. It would be easy for a reader who's been following the series for the better part of two decades to become somewhat impatient or angry or cynical at the announcement that the author chosen to continue and finish the story has expanded this final volume into three of them, released over the course of two years. Brandon Sanderson has posted an article over on his website explaining a great deal of what led to the three volume, two year release. It's a good long read and well worth it for the doubting fan of the series. Let me tell you why you should not be angry by telling you why I am more excited than I have been previously after this new information. 1. Short and fast would probably mean quick and dirty - There is no way I would prefer to have a single volume that is cranked out as fast as possible. Mr. Sanderson seems to be very concerned about the quality of the story. The more care that is given into the crafting of this final chapter of Wheel of Time, the more gratifying it will be, not only for the author, but for the fans, and for the memory of Robert Jordan. The fans who realize what he was creating, ought to be overjoyed that Brandon is writing so much and is continually stating that he is bound and determined to be sure that the standard of quality is there. Sure he could write a quick summary of what happens at the end and call it the final book, but by book 11, the story is anything but brief. Some people detest it, some people love it. If I may invoke the name of another venerated master of the genre, consider this: J.R.R. Tolkien wrote volumes of information about Middle Earth that were not a part of The Hobbit or Lord of The Rings. Having read those extra volumes enriches and increases the understanding you have of the world surrounding the main story. I, for one, love the richness of the story as much as the climax of the tale. Jordan wrote the same supporting depth around his world, but he included the details within the story itself. Tolkien and Jordan both have their faults as authors, and they write about different details, but that's they just way they do it. It makes them who they are, and who am I to suggest they do it another way. If I want a story written another way, then it's up to me to write it, but Jordan's detail is his way. Brandon Sanderson seems to understand this and is doing his best to see that the story gets the treatment it deserves. 2. I have a long standing personal philosophy that has served me well in keeping a good perspective concerning luxury, entertainment or anything that I do not need to actually live. Anything from video games to restaurants. There are two types of people in this world. There are the "Get what I Wants" and there are the "See What I Gets". The "Get What I Want" is the kind of person who looks at the world around them, and expects everyone to change what they do to please them. The food is not salted enough. The game is not pretty enough. The book is too long, too short, too simple, too complex. This person cannot be pleased by an artist or entertainer because they expect what they want and not what they get. The "See What I Get" is eager to hear, taste or see what the artist, musician or chef has up their sleeve and is willing to try something out to experience the particular creation as the creator intended (And in general believes that the creator was creating their best). In general I am a "See What I Get" and I find that I am able to enjoy things that some people may not, simply because I want to experience what the creative designer has prepared for me. Brandon has made it very clear that he is a fan of Wheel of Time and that he intends to do his dead level best for us. For me, even if he was a terrible author (which is most certainly is not) I would be glad to buy and read this book whenever and in however many volumes it ends up being. I am not only supporting RJ and his family by buying and reading this book. I'm supporting Brandon Sanderson and the fact that I respect his care and work on this series, and want to "See What I Get". 3. Three volumes is not about greed. It's about completion and practicality. If you read TORs press release, you can jump to a conclusion and say that TOR is just trying to get as much as possible out of this book and hang the fans. Brandon's article denies this, as do his frequent blog updates over the course of the past year. He has said from the get-go that this book was huge, and in all likelihood too big for it's "one volume" britches. We've seen it grow gradually and have been kept up to speed as it grew to accommodate all of the loose ends that need tying up. It is also practical and makes perfect sense from a business perspective. It is a less durable book if you push the spine to that thickness, and it is true that smaller books do make better sense for a book store with limited space. Some comments I have read have practically suggested that the idea of producing this book in three volumes is next to criminal. Is it too much to ask that an author who works himself so hard to create the book, and the booksellers and publishers that manage to get them to us make a little money for it? There's nothing wrong with that. If you disagree with paying for three hardbacks, then don't. Wait for the paperback, go to the library, borrow it from a friend, but there's no reason on earth to threaten to tell everyone you know not to buy that book from those tyrannical publishers and money grubbing booksellers. The bottom line is this. We've been waiting a long time, true. Robert Jordan began a story that became greater than he could have imagined. It's a fantastic story in itself. One for the epic fantasy books. The creator's creation grew in scope beyond even his own imagining. He could not finish so someone else was asked to do so. Despite trepidation and nervousness that he could complete such a task, he accepted anyway, and now it seems that not only was he up to the challenge, but he'll complete his quest as a hero while the rest of the world looks on. So I appeal to you. Whether or not you agree with how it is given to us, let's enjoy the finish of this tale to first of all, honor the people who have worked so hard to bring it to us. RJ, Harriet, Brandon, and everyone else involved. Then, to appease our curious minds concerning a group of characters we've followed a very, very long way. Let The Dragon ride again on the winds of time! -J

2009-03-30T21:06:00.003-04:00

Good evening! This will be a quick one. I just wanted to drop a quick note to divert your attention over to the left, where the Japanese progress bar now indicates 23%. I am working on lesson 19 on my course of study and just completed my Beginning Hiragana book! It's really unbelieveable, but I'm reading and writing Hiragana fairly smoothly! I'm at nearly a quarter of the way there at the end of the first quarter of 2009! That means Basic Japanese is on track! This has been really fun so far, as I have already said. I have to buy my Beginning Katakana book in the next week or so and begin working on that syllabary. I think I might actually break into Kanji a little bit this year as well. I have also decided that I'm going to use another goal to work on this one. I'm going to strive to write a program in Python that will take a compiled vocabulary list and drill me on it. Like flash cards! Should be a fairly simple program. I'll get started on that next month I think. I'll keep this short, but I've got a couple of commentary blogs coming up concerning one of my favorite books, and one of my favorite bands! Talk to you soon! -J

Bento Blog!

2009-03-28T02:32:00.003-04:00

Hey guys! Michelle and I spent a little time in the kitchen tonight packing our lunches for a big day of costuming tomorrow with Mike and Jenn. We decided to pack Bento lunches for ourselves so naturally we took pictures (which are dark and difficult to see) but I will post them anyway just because it has been so long since I've told you what Michelle and I are eating for lunch! Here are the pictures first: There you go! Now, as always, a brief description of exactly what we're looking at here. We are both using the same food, but we each packed our own lunches. The rice contains a soy apple mix that I improvised. I tried one onigiri mixed together entirely, and the other has the mixture in the center. Michelle garnished with apple, snap peas and a small piece of soy egg. I chose to cut out a quick stencil and make cinnamon faces on mine, along with tomato ears on the bottom and a jaunty snap pea hat on top. (My soy eggs ended up looking a little like rabbit ears which kind of gives you the impression of a panda and a rabbit with my onigiri.) As for the soy eggs, these are hard boiled then rolled in soy sauce. Michelle sliced hers to great artistic effect! I, as I said already, ended up making rabbit ears out of mine. Fortunately so. Initially, they kind of looked like a big ole soy egg hiney before the placement with the onigiri. Michelle's eggs ended up looking really good with the tomato and pea garnishes. I think she won the artsy award for this Bento. I would say that my panda and jaunty-hatted rabbit take the "kawaii" award. That would be Japanese for "cute". So, everybody wins. Was I going for cute? Well, not really. I wanted ultra-manly, but accidents happen when you're packing a bento. *shrug* Rounding out the main dishes, Michelle used the remainder of the soy-apples and more snap peas and tomatoes. I also used the veggies, but I threw in some light rye crackers, which are buried under some colby-jack cheese and a short skewer of turkey pepperoni. We both have some rice crackers that Michelle picked up this week in Chicago, and we both have a couple of caramels from the same place as well. You can't see it very well in the picture, but I have added a small piece of dark chocolate with sea salt. If you haven't tried salted chocolate, I HIGHLY recommend it. Think chocolate covered pretzel. It's a great combination. World Market sells it, but I know it has to be around elsewhere. So there you go; Another bento blog! I hope this makes you hungry, because I'm ready to go back in the kitchen and just eat it all right now! Talk to you soon! -J

Cook's Kitchen: Beef Jerky

2009-03-24T00:59:00.003-04:00

Well, I've got some beef in a marinade right now. I'm making some beef jerky in order to try out a new vacuum sealer we picked up at the store. I thought I'd take a few minutes to post about my beef jerky. Odd? Maybe, but I think you'll find that beef jerky is underrated and worthy of a little examination. "Why are you writing about beef jerky?" You may ask. Well here's why: Jerky is actually a very old food. The word "jerky" actually comes from "charqui" (Pronounced CHAR-KEE) which is a Quechua word used in the 1500's in South America. This from a few minutes of research on the web. Isn't the internet cool? :) Anyway, the idea of being able to keep meat for long periods without it spoiling is extremely useful. It is a great food for hikers. Beef is a powerful food for a person who will be packing heavy weight for long distances. Why? Beef is a powerhouse of Protein and Iron and the curing process packs it with Sodium. In a nutshell, Protein to repair the muscles, Iron for efficient oxygen intake, and sodium for balancing fluid and keeping the neurons a-firin'. That on top of the fact that it's a light food to carry. I'm not a nutritionist. One of my readers is though, and so I hope he doesn't shoot me down here for my amateur evaluation. :) So now you're saying, "Ok, Jon, I'm sold. How do I come by this 'jerky' of yours." Well, I'll tell you. You need a few things to make Jon C. Cook's Killer Beef Jerky. Here is my list. 1. A food dehydrator, lovingly provided by the Coopers for your wedding. (Any food dehydrator will work of course, but a nice one with heat and convection will get you there faster) 2. Real soy sauce. (Kikkoman is a good brand), Worcestershire Sauce and Liquid Smoke. Buy large containers if you plan to make more than one batch in order to lower your costs overall. 3. Good beef. I say good beef because there are definitely "beeves" that don't make good jerky. I use thin sliced (about 1/4 inch) eye of round steaks, cut across the grain. The cross cut is vital for my recipe. First of all it is much easier to eat. You won't yank your teeth out trying to tear a piece off. Secondly, the cross cut allows the marinade to really soak in and flavor your jerky in a short amount of time. I'd like to also note that ground beef pressed through a caulking gun and mixed with spices is not jerky. It's a dog treat. Here at the Jon C. Cook School of Jerky, we don't pre-chew our beef, and we certainly don't squirt it out of a caulking gun like Taco-Bell sour cream. :) That's it. That's all. Here's how it goes together. 1. Mix your marinade. Use a 1 to 1 ratio for the soy and Worcestershire. I use about 1.5 to 2.5 tablespoons of liquid smoke, but you can really be flexible with it. You can also experiment with other flavors added to this base marinade. Try anything that sounds interesting! I made a batch with a plum spread once that turned out pretty tasty. 2. Trim your beef. Make sure and remove as much fat as possible from the slices. The fat will not dry completely and can go bad much more quickly than the lean meat. The more you remove the better your jerky will keep. I just use kitchen shears. 3. Put your beef in the marinade and let it sit for at least 6 hours. The longer you leave it, the more flavorful the jerky will be. I usually prepare the marinade in the evening and the next morning it's ready. It's a good idea to agitate the beef at some point to make sure everything gets covered. Generally, 3 to 4 hours in, I just flip the top pieces that may be sticking out of the marinade at all. (Cover and refrigerate) 4. Once the marinade is finished, it's time to dry it out. Turn your dehydrator on and make sure to set it to the correct temperature for meat. All you have to do is put the beef on the trays and let it go. The actual time will depend on your dehydrator. Mine usually does the job in 12-15 hours. You can let it dry until it's crispy if you like. Consistency is largely a personal taste, but make sure it's dry enough that it'll keep. 5. Remove from the dehydrator, let it cool, and bag it up! If you're going to use it on a hike or something then you're good to go, but if you want to keep it longer than a week or three, vacuum seal it and refrigerate it to be on the safe side. Chances are that it will not last nearly as long as it'll actually keep. :) There you go! Now you can enjoy beef jerky for a snack, or as a trail food, the Jon C. Cook way! Enjoy!! -J

Pottery Update

2009-03-24T00:54:00.003-04:00

Hi kids! Guess what time it is? That's right! It's time for you to see pictures of my pottery! My latest batch came out of the kiln just this evening and I have a few pictures to show you! I'm not going to post them in the text here, but I'll give you a link: Jon C. Cook's Photo Gallery I'm trying not to post a lot of pictures in my text because Blogger seems to be doing some strange things to spacing and stuff. Rather than wrestle with it, I'll just send you over to my website! Have a look and tell me what you think! Better late than never eh? -J

Appalachian Trail Update

2009-03-17T00:49:00.004-04:00

Hey gang! Just filling you all in on our AT plans, and such. This past weekend was a good trip. Michelle and I went a little crazy at Little River Trading Company in Maryville, Tennessee in preparation for the hike. We grabbed a few last things that we needed. Water purification, good insoles, clearance Columbia mid-layer fleece (total score), socks, sock liners, gaiters, a water carrier for camp...you know. All the things that you may need when walking a long way and camping without the modern conveniences. As I said before, once I get everything together and arranged, I'll be posting my complete gear list for you. Weights and all. I figure it will be a good idea so I can then compare after the hike and figure out what I really needed and didn't need. (I'm thinking it'll be a good comparison for all of you out there if you decide to try this at some point.) We are pretty much ready to go with the exception of food at this point, and we mostly have that figured out, so the prep is essentially over. That is of course, excepting the physical conditioning, which is ongoing. So now we just train, and wait for it. And read and try to learn as much as we can to be ready. I figure there's only so much head knowledge you can accumulate for this kind of thing. At some point you just have to put one foot in front of the other and do it. We're ready I think. Is there trepidation? Are we a little nervous? Yeah a little, but the excitement and anticipation are there in equal parts if not greater. This is going to be real adventure. The kind you can write books about! :) So I was doing a little reading about Thru-Hiking. Hiking the whole trail in one go. And the guy was talking about what happens to you on the trail. I know we're only doing a week and only 75-80 miles at that, but I hope that this trip has an impact on me. The guy who wrote this article, put it this way (paraphrased): Most people who attempt a thru-hike and succeed find that they are a different person at the end. In a good way. On the trail, there are three examinations that happen in order. First, you examine your body. You wonder if you can really pull it off. If you're physically capable. Then you start to examine your gear. Do I need this? Do I really need it? I can definitely get by without this or that. Many people start to leave their unneeded gear behind. (Sometime if you get the chance, stop in at the Happy Hiker in Gatlinburg in peak thru-hike season and take a look at the boxes of discarded gear left by hikers. They leave it in case another hikers needs it.) Finally, you start to examine yourself mentally and spiritually. (End paraphrase) Michelle and I call it "resetting your meter" and that's the part I hope I get to in my short week on the trail. The point at which you start to see what you're fortunate to have in a different way. When you start to appreciate what you have more fully, and when you start to see how much it really is that you're blessed with. That's really the biggest part of what this trip is about for me. Perspective. There's a lot of fun in seeing how simply you can live, and in seeing how far you can travel on foot and all that, but truth be told, if I can gain just a little more appreciation for creation, and the things I have, then the trip is worth it. In short, my expectations for this little walk in the woods are as follows: I expect to-

Have a lot of fun with Michelle, Dad and any friends we may make along the way. (By fun I mean walking really far, hurting a lot, and smelling bad. On purpose!)
Do something mentally and physically daunting that I never imagined I'd do.
Spend some time while I have a perfect opportunity to pray and meet with God in the mountains.
Search my pack and leave behind any gear that I don't need. Figuratively speaking

So, that's that. And THAT was going to be a quick update, but it seems to have turned into a discourse. :) Anyway, that's what I hope to do on this hike. Won't be too long on that gear list I mentioned. Thanks for reading! -J

Brandon Sanderson Made Me Famous!

2009-03-13T09:43:00.002-04:00

Hey all! I normally am not given to posting blogs in the morning, but this couldn't wait! Last night I sent Brandon Sanderson a quick e-mail after finding a reference to one of his books in the popular Internet meme known as a Lolcat. I sent him the link to said lolcat, fully expecting that he'd probably seen it a hundred times by now. As it turns out, he referenced the link in his blog this morning, also mentioning one of his vigilant readers by name! 'Scuse me if I go a little fanboy on you here. :) Check out his blog (And my 15 minutes of fame) here! I've written about Brandon before in a blog or two. Here's the one about our trip to Dayton for his book signing. I didn't mention it at the time, but another book to check out, which is a rarity in the fantasy world is Elantris. It is a rarity because it is a compelling fantasy novel with an epic feel, yet all contained in one normal sized single volume. :) Alright, I have to get to work now. I'll post again soon. Michelle and I are making our trip to Tennessee to finish our outfitting this weekend! More to come.... -J

General Update

2009-03-09T23:24:00.003-04:00

I have just a quick update on a few things for those of you following along. It's a big week in the general goings on leading up to the crazy (I mean AWESOME) summer of 2009! 1. Fitness: In the world of fitness, things are now underway. Today I bought a new pair of Saucony running shoes and Michelle and I rebooted our runner's training with Couch to 5k. I linked it way back in 2008 when we started for the first time. This time we're going to try and repeat the program with a couple of differences. This time we're in pretty decent shape to begin with, and also we're doing it faster with a goal of running the Memorial Day 5k in Ironton and posting a much better time. It shouldn't be too hard to beat last year's time of over 37 minutes, but I'd like to beat the Jingle Bell Run time of under 29 as well. More on this as it develops. 2. The AT 2009 Expedition: The planning has begun. Our long anticipated week long hike on the Appalachian Trail looks like it'll be taking place the first week of June, barring any scheduling trouble or unforeseen circumstances. Michelle and I are heading down to Tennessee this weekend not only to see my grandparents who are up from Florida, but also to make a quick trip to a couple of good outdoor/backpacking stores for a little outfitting. We're going to get the rest of our footwear (socks and liners and such) and also our cookware. I have my stove, but I need a little better mess kit. We're planning on scouting out some of our food as well. There are various other essentials that Michelle has on a list that is pretty long, but hopefully not all that heavy once they're loaded on our backs. :) I'm thinking I'll probably post my complete gear list once I have everything together in one place. After the hike we'll do a comparison and I'll see what I can eliminate for future hikes. 3. Ninja Skills: Beginning the first week of April, Michelle and I will be joining our friends Mike and Jenn in a Kung Fu/Self Defense class in Huntington. We have never taken any kind of martial art, and thought it would be fun to try, not to mention a good thing to help with fitness and protection. Who knows, I might have to wrestle a bear in June! Michelle has expressed some interest in Bo Staff. I for one think it would be the coolest thing on earth if Michelle could just go nuts with a Bo. Just like Donatello!! 4. Japanese: I have finished lesson 11 of 30 on my Japanese I course. I did a quick review of lessons 1-10 just to make sure I had a grasp of most of the material, and I feel like I am definitely improving. Slowly but surely this course is increasing my flexibility with the language. Also, I picked up a used copy of "My Japanese Coach" for Nintendo DS this weekend and I've been working on my vocabulary with it. It's a neat little program that teaches with word games. There is a good dose of Education about Japan itself. The program is actually designed not only to teach you the language but to be a travel tool as well. It includes a fairly large dictionary and phrase book, as well as a sketch pad in case you jut have to draw something to get your point across. There you go. I know there were other things I was going to update, but I can't remember. I should write them down somewhere. I've been thinking about getting a Moleskine notebook for that purpose. Blog ideas, random thoughts and such. They're so nice in that display at Borders. So earthy and Bohemian. I think I need one. Alright. I'll get one soon, and then you won't have to feel so cheated when I can't remember all of the details that I meant to impart. :) Later! -J

Japanese Update: Method to the Madness

2009-03-04T23:15:00.003-05:00

Hi gang! As my faithful readers, I feel I owe it to you to clarify one of my 2009 goals as I ascertain the method by which I will judge its completion. As such, I have figured out what will constitute the definition of "Basic Japanese" and figured out the way I will update the progress bar. Thus: The Japanese course I have chosen to study has a total of 90 lessons, each 30 minutes long. Henceforth I will consider the completion of each lesson to be 1% of my goal. These, as anyone can probably see, will add up to 90%. I will consider "completion" to mean that I can progress through the lesson with an estimated 80% accuracy of responses. This is the recommended percentage according to the program. So far, I have completed 10 of these lessons and I'll be setting my progress meter accordingly. I need the remaining 10% from somewhere, and since I have decided to be able to read and write as well as speak Japanese, then the remaining number will come from a solid basic understanding of the two basic Japanese syllabaries. Hiragana and Katakana. This year I'll be learning to read and write both of them, and will consider competence to be the ability to sound out and read words in either or both. (As well as to write a word I hear) without the aid of a reference. The completion of each syllabary will earn 5% on my meter. Two sets of symbols totalling 10% FYI- I have been working on my Hiragana and at present have learned to recognize and write 35 of the 46 basic symbols. So: Pimsleur Japanese I, II, III - 90 Lessons = 90% Hiragana Syllabary = 5% Katakana Syllabary = 5% ------ 100% Basic Japanese As for the Kanji; The 2000 or so borrowed and commonly used Chinese symbols; Well, I think I'll tackle those in 2010. Maybe I'll start casually working on them when I finish Hiragana and Katakana. As it stands, I'm thinking I might try to have a single Kanji learned for every day of 2010. 365 out of 2000 is a pretty fair start. :) Talk to you soon! -J

Japanese Update!

2009-03-01T00:41:00.003-05:00

Konichiwa! I just wanted to update on my pursuit of the Japanese language! It's been a good week with my studies. The audio lessons are definitely the way I pick it up the best. I have to recommend the Pimsleur series for anyone who learns by listening and doing. You get right into speaking in lesson one and you learn the grammar as you go. I would also recommend the series if you have a long commute. I've been able to progress pretty quickly being that I drive so much. I am working on lesson 7 of 10 out of the basic set right now. I'm going to have to either buy or borrow the comprehensive set if I'm to really get going with it. The bad thing is that to progress through all three levels it can be pretty expensive. The comprehensive set has the same first 10 lessons, and then 20 more on top of that. Alright, so I have to tell you that I did not expect to enjoy learning a language this much. I expected it to be worthwhile, and I expected to enjoy it, but I am really having a great time with this! I have a theory that I'm loving it so much because I'm getting to use my brain in a way that I really haven't used it since I was very young. I did take a lot of Spanish in high school and college, but for some reason it wasn't the same. I can't really figure out why, except that maybe it is so close to English in so many ways, that it's not really like truly learning to communicate for the first time. The romance languages are that way. Similar sounds, alphabets, words etc. The trickiest part is the grammar and verb conjugation. Japanese is like learning to communicate all over again to me. The pronunciation and words are very foreign. It isn't what I'd call difficult, but it is different. It seems to actually be a pretty efficient spoken language so far. That doesn't even enter into the alphabet. If you take all of the Kana and Kanji into account, there are more than 2000 that every Japanese child is supposed to know by the 9th grade or so. Everything is new. Like learning to speak your first language as a child. I did decide around lesson 5 that I needed to learn to read and write Japanese as well. By all accounts, reading Japanese improves your pronunciation and your basic concept of the words themselves. Knowing the Kana (the letter systems) you can more easily grasp the words themselves as opposed to the Romaji (or the romanized Japanese words using roman letters to spell the Japanese sounds). So I went to Borders and picked up my workbook to learn the first 46 Basic Hiragana. I can recognize and write the first 12 so far. In Romaji: a-i-u-e-o-ka-ki-ku-ke-ko-sa-shi. So here I am, a 31 year old guy practicing my letters on a workbook sheet and saying them as I write them over and over. Using a mnemonic device for each one to remember them when I see them and learning to speak by listening to other people. This brings me back to why I think I'm enjoying it so much. I think maybe my brain remembers learning to speak and is having a wonderful time doing it again! As I said, I'm thinking in a way that I haven't since I was a small child. This is getting a little long winded for a blog that's supposed to just tell you, I'm progressing with speaking Japanese, I am now learning to read and write it as well, and I am having a blast with it! I'm raising my progress bar for Basic Japanese to 5%, but I have to confess that I really don't know what encompasses basic Japanese, so I'm guessing blindly. Anyway, I'm being as conservative as I can until I'm more certain about my progress and my destination. Thanks for visiting! Talk to you soon! -J

A little optimism in a difficult time...

2009-02-27T16:52:00.003-05:00

Hey all. This is just a quick repost of a short article by Dave Ramsey. If you haven't heard of him, he's a really great finiancial guru and his program has been extremely helpful to Michelle and I. Dave isn't shiny-happy about the economy, but he does have an optimistic outlook and an uplifting attitude about the trouble we're in. Check out what he has to say here. And if you think your finances need a reboot or you're up to your neck in debt and stress, look into Dave's site. Talk to you soon! -J

How to Eat an Elephant

2009-02-20T23:39:00.007-05:00

Well, Michelle and I have placed our house up for sale. It's the first bite of our elephant. You've possibly heard that old proverb. "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." In other words, if your goal is too big, cut it into smaller pieces that you can manage one at a time. Michelle and I have a huge goal. We want to build our house on the hill. About a year and a half ago we bought a piece of property that pretty much fell out of the sky and was perfect. It's a little two acre plot overlooking the peaceful village of Chesapeake Ohio. You have a beautiful view of the valley, the river, and the Huntington bridge. The land is covered in trees and boulders with a flat, house sized spot amongst them all, and there's an honest to goodness rock face back there as well. It's very Middle-Earth. Close to town, with the illusion of seclusion. That's where Michelle and I both want to end up. So, we bought it. Now here we are, anxious to build and excited to be in our new place, but living in our tiny little house in Ironton and still trying to be responsible financially. What do we do? Well, here's the plan. 1. We sell our house. Could be a tricky step in this whole plan, owing to the market doing what it's doing. BUT! I have done a little looking around and the market here does not seem to be as bad as in some places. Perhaps the cost of living and the economy here was already dodgy to begin with and we haven't seen as much of a slowdown as a result. For whatever reason, home values do not seem to have slipped as drastically, and the market is still moving pretty well in our part of town. Now, when, not if, the house sells.... 2. We bank the profit on the home, and find a place to rent. I've done a little looking at rental properties and the costs thereof. We can live about the way we are now without jumping too high on a payment. We'll probably also have to rent a little storage space to hold the stuff we don't liquidate. And we plan on cleaning this place out! 3. While we are renting, we are still saving. We start to shop builders and excavators. From them we acquire estimates to put us under roof and so forth. Then we head to step... 4. When we have the contractors and pricing we need, we go to the banks and start to shop loans. Hopefully, and also according to our realtor, we should be able to land a pretty good interest rate. At this point we'll know exactly how much we'll need up front for a down payment and all that. 5. We start the build. (Still saving) 6. As soon as the house is live-inable we're out of the rental and we start moving stuff in. At this point, we're pretty much there, with the exception of the finishing inside and so forth. I do plan on calling upon the cosmic power of "The Dads" as Michelle and I like to call them. They're excellent for saving costs on labor and such. Are you reading this dad? :) So there's an outline of our plan. No strict time frame as that is largely contingent on selling the house and shopping before the building starts. Anyway, if anyone would like to donate to "Project: Cook Manor" feel free to send checks, cash or change! Should I put up a Paypal button? Here, by the way, is the house plan we have picked out. We haven't been able to think of a thing we don't like about it, which is fairly amazing! You guys can start picking out your rooms and all that. :) -J

2009 Skills Update

2009-02-20T23:20:00.005-05:00

Here's a quick update to let you know that I have started on my Basic Japanese skill for 2009. I will be moving the progress bar to 3%. Tonight I picked up an audio course, and have completed the first lesson. It's basically a little grammar and an introductory conversation. I can say a few phrases like, "I am an American." and "Do you understand English?" and "I only understand a little Japanese." I can also say the various permutations thereof. I'll be going over lesson 1 several times to solidify things before I move on to lesson 2. I decided as well, that I should take time to look up the words I'm saying. That's the one drawback to an audio only course. You can't see what the words look like. In other news, my dad has informed me that one of the members of our church who is an ex policeman is going to be teaching a gun certification for a donation to the Faith and Fitness Center Building Fund. This was fantastic news! Michelle and I are going to donate and take the class together, which should effectively knock out the Firearms Certification goal! I should probably follow it up with attaining some level of proficiency beyond the basics if we do this one in a hurry. Maybe some sort of accuracy percentage or something. I have a customer that I call on who is a master class pistol shooter in Ohio. Maybe he can give me some pointers. (Oddly, no one has ever robbed his pharmacy. He even pays for his employees to become certified with a handgun.) Lastly in this update, I also bought a basic navigation book for my orienteering goal. I'll get started on that as soon as I get a chance. This whole goal thing seems to be working pretty well! :) I need to think of some more. Oh and yes Coopers. We're totally camping this year. See you guys soon! -J

2009 Goals

2009-02-18T02:36:00.004-05:00

Evening everyone. First, let me explain that I feel asleep earlier than usual, and that I'm having trouble going back to sleep for a few reasons. One, I'm restless because I'm kind of excited that Michelle and I are about to try to get our house sold so we can get our new house built in Chesapeake. The realtor is coming tomorrow to get the preliminary paperwork started and to take pictures and so forth. Also, there's a Woot-Off going on over at Woot.com. I can never sleep when there's a woot off happening! :) Anyway, I've been meaning to write this blog for awhile and I figured that I'd go ahead while I'm up and thinking about it. I kind of made a resolution this year. Normally I'm not given to resolutions, at least not New Year's resolutions. I usually make one when I think of one, or I put it off until I'm really ready for it. You know how it is. :) But this year I decided to make it a big year for improvement. You'll notice that over on the side of my blog I have a 2009 Goal section now. This is where I'll maintain a "percent to completion" progress indicator for each of my 2009 Goals. What they amount to is a set of skills that I want to learn the basics of, as well as things I want to finish in 2009. Yes it's mid February, but I've already been at work researching and so forth, so I'm on my way! :) The list isn't complete. I'll probably add to it. But the starting ones are there. Let's take a quick tour shall we? 1. Basic Orienteering - I'd like to be able to find my way in the woods or anywhere for that matter without the aid of a GPS. In other words, I'd like to be able to navigate with a map and compass. I love the outdoors, and this, I think, would be one of the best ways to prevent the outdoors from killing me someday. :) 2. Merrick: First Draft - Merrick, as most of you may know, is the novel I've been working on. My goal is simply to finish the first draft of the book in 2009. I am one quarter, or perhaps a third of the way finished with this already and so I have the percentage set at 25 to begin. 3. Firearm Certification - I was reading a list of "Things I learned from action movies..." and one of them was that anyone can automatically pick up any weapon without training and use it with the ease of a practiced marksman. Well, my goal is to be able to pick up a handgun and actually know what I'm doing with it. Not that I want to carry one with me, but I think it might be handy to know something about it beyond which end to point at the target. So what I intend to do for this one is go down to the police department at some point, and enroll in a handgun certification course. 4. Basic Wilderness Survival - This kind of follows with the orienteering. I guess orienteering is a part of basic wilderness survival, but I decided to list them separately, just because the navigation is usable even when I'm not surviving in the wilderness. :) By basic wilderness survival I mean I want to have a good idea of how to conduct myself if lost in a hostile environment. I've done quite a bit of reading on the subject already. For example, I already know that the first priorities are shelter and water, followed by food, etc.. but to solidify things, I want to take some kind of basic training for this as well. I think what it'll ultimately take for me to achieve 100% in this one is to actually go out and survive for a night in the woods. (The upcoming Appalachian Trail hike doesn't exactly count, but it'll help the progress bar a good deal.) 5. Basic Japanese - I plan someday to go to Japan. Michelle and I are kind of Japanophiles. We like the food, we're fascinated by the culture, and we really like their horror movies. :) Anyway, I want to pick up enough Japanese to be able to travel there. There are a few audio courses that I'm looking into. At some point I'll pick one up and get started! 6. Basic Python - I have felt the need for some time to learn a programming language. Python by a lot of accounts is a good language to get into as a beginner. I already have my book for this one and I've started reading the introduction. I haven't gotten into really learning the language yet, but soon this one will be underway. Alright, I'll probably add more as the year goes on, and I'll certainly have some blogs along the way pertaining to specific goals and accomplishments. As it stands right now, It's starting to get pretty late, so I think I'll go and at least TRY to get to sleep. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for reading! :) -J

Advice to the New Paintballer

2009-01-19T22:43:00.007-05:00

Just a quick update on the paintball thing. I played this evening with my new(used) Tippmann 98 Custom. As I mentioned before, either I was going to make the Spyder work with the new hopper, or I was going to make the Tippmann work. As it turns out, I had yet more trouble with my Sonix. Tonight it wouldn't fire more than 20 or 30 yards and had no power behind the shot, so I put the new force feeding hopper on the Tippy and off I went. We played three games before it got dark. Straight up capture the flag. The gun performed admirably considering the sub-freezing temperatures. The paint was cold, the gun was cold, and the CO2 just made things more cold, but it still fired well enough and only broke one ball, at which time the gun continued to perform without a hiccup. I didn't even notice the one broken ball until after the game was over. And the bonus is that tonight, on our third game, I actually won the game by getting the opposing team's flag and returning to base with only a hit to my hopper and one in the right leg, which as we play was not a kill! So GO ME! :) So what can we learn from this little outing? A few things. Tips, if you will, from the slightly experienced fledgling paintballer to the very new, perhaps unschooled paintballer to be. There is little I can offer in the way of tactical advice, but I can give you a good boost on beginning gear. This is that boost: 1. What to Wear: Largely dependent on where you'll be playing. Woodsball means trees, brush and probably brambles, mud and a host of other difficulties. It's a total blast! Cover your arms and legs, not just for the sake of staying away from prickly or itchy things, but because paintballs sting! :) I wear normal clothes under a $15 army surplus mechanic's cover-all. It's quick to put on, covers everything, and is a little loose. This is a good thing too. Loose clothing is less likely to burst a paintball on impact. This is good, because "No Dye, No Die" :) My cover-all is jungle camo as well. I recommend a good camo, but really any forest colors will do. Blacks, browns and greens. Wear gloves that you can still fire your gun in. Two reasons. It can be cold out there, and again, paintballs sting, but more so if they hit your hand! My footwear is a $30 dollar pair of Brahma hunting boots. forest camo. Nice and warm and so far quite water resistant. Something reasonably comfortable and sturdy should work fine. Clothing aside there is one thing you MUST have to play. Get a mask and goggles made for paintball. You can get cheap ones at Wal-Mart, but resist the temptation. For about $20 you can pick up a V-Force Mask that is all the mask you will need. Why the V-Force? It will not fog up when you start to breath into it. I've tried several cheap masks and inside of 10 minutes you can't see through them for the fogging. Trust me when I tell you, that'll ruin your game. Should you decide you want to step up and increase your peripheral vision and reduce paintball breaks on your face, you can go up in the V-Force line. But I absolutely recommend this mask. Like the Tippy 98, it just works. 2. What to Shoot: There is a huge field of acceptable paintball markers out there. Some manufacturers make entry level, some make high end professional guns, and some make a whole bottom to top line. Consider Kingman, Smart Parts and Tippmann to name three of a large crowd of companies. Honestly the selection of your first gun can be a fairly daunting experience. Without the advice of some experienced players it can be a crap shoot. Here is my recommendation. If you can manage, play before you buy anything. Borrow a friend's gun, or go to a field and rent one to try. If you can't, or don't want to do that and you want to jump right in, then my next suggestion is to buy a used gun. You'll save money which is always good when picking up a new hobby. Trust me. I know about picking up new hobbies. Look for someone on Craigslist or eBay who is selling their gear. Usually you'll pick up an air tank, a mask and other essentials in the deal. If you want to buy a brand-spankin'-new gun, I suggest the Tippmann 98 Custom. Just about everyone I play with has this gun, myself now included. It works very well without causing problems and in my opinion that's what a new paintballer needs to truly enjoy the sport. Trouble free paintball. 3. What Else Do I Need: All you really need is a mask, a gun, an air tank and some paintballs to get started. As for paintballs, I'd really recommend that you get something from a local paintball shop if you have one. They are more likely to have cared for them properly. It amazed me the first time I used paint from my paintball store, versus Wal-Mart's paint. It didn't cost me more, but due to proper care and shipping, the paintballs were less prone to chopping and also much more accurate. I'll never buy Wal-Mart paint again if I can help it. As for the air tank, if you buy the right gun, you'll probably get a tank as well. I'd suggest that method of acquiring the tank because it's usually a better deal, but various sizes are available to buy on their own, the 20 ounce tanks costing about $25 to $30. Other than a spirit of adventure, and the willingness to be shot with a projectile that feels like being snapped with a wet towel, that's all you need to get on the field! If you haven't tried paintball, I recommend it. It's a lot of fun and good exercise, not to mention a great way to build friendships with your "war buddies". It never fails that after a game there are stories of heroic moves, of stupid moves, and of hilarity. Also, if you're in my area, the Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky Tri-State area, Then you have a great paintball supply store on Fourth Avenue in Huntington, WV. Go here: Voodoo Paintball & Supply. The owner, Steve and his wife run the place and he is a very knowledgeable person to talk to about what you need. His prices are excellent and he deals in some used guns as well. I know this was a long one, but I wanted all of you budding paintballers to have a good foundation to start with! Have fun and DUCK! -J

General Update

2009-01-16T00:50:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone! Time for another post. This one promises to be general in nature, and on varied and sundry subjects. Just thought I'd catch you up with what's happenin' now. The holidays are behind us, but they're in front of us too you know! Christmas 2008 was a good one I'd have to say. Busy as always, but this year I didn't mind so much. There's a radio station here that begins playing 24 hour Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving. I discovered this, and listened to it for most of December. Normally I listen to a couple of Christmas CDs and that's it. Those namely, When My Heart Finds Christmas by Harry Connick Jr. and Behold the Lamb of God by Andrew Peterson. Both are great albums! Buy them both. Not next Christmas, but now! Follow the links to Amazon and get them. Or iTunes...whatever your personal venue for musical acquisition may be. Anyway, I digress, as I often do. The radio station really had me in a Christmas mood this year. By that I mean, willing to nudge my way through a crowd, able to smile when I was stuck in traffic, and the like. It was nice for a change. New years was over in a blink. Doesn't really feel like 2009 to me. Not yet. Maybe I just haven't had to write it much or something. Fast as it was I've had my cabbage and black eyed peas, along with dad's fried hogs jowls, so I'm pretty much set in the good fortune department. (If you have to ask, just think of it as bacon. Very similar.)

In other news, I bought myself a bass guitar. I had been using the church's bass to play on Sunday mornings, but I wanted one of my own for a few reasons.

I wanted one I could keep at home, practice regularly and call my own.
If someone else wants to learn from church, now there is a bass available for them.
The church's bass is nice, but I wanted something that felt more like me. (The bond between a boy and his musical instrument is a whole other blog, which I intend to do before long. I have given a lot of thought to the subject, and it's an interesting thing to think about. If you have never played an instrument, perhaps you have owned that one car. You know the one I'm talking about. You miss it don't you? Or perhaps it's not a car...but it's something. More to come on this one.)

Here is a picture of my bass. It's not actually mine, but this is the style and color...an Ibanez Roadstar II. Ain't she a beaut'?

Ok, so holidays, bass...Paintball!

So check this out. I finally got to go out and play a little paintball after a long hiatus. Last year, as some of you may know, I bought a paintball gun and played a couple of times with some friends from church. Well, after that things got a little quiet and we didn't play anymore. I was understandably sad. Bought the gun after all. So we're starting up again and playing. Thing is, I've been having a lot of trouble with my gun, which by the way is a Spyder Sonix, chopping a lot of paintballs. That's where the ball sort of half loads and the gun's bolt literally chops the paintball in half inside the gun. Gets very messy. So I did two things. I bought a fancy force feeding hopper (that's what holds the balls and feeds them into the gun) and also a cheap used gun. A Tippmann 98 Custom. One of two things is going to happen. The hopper is going to fix my chopping problem, or my new(used) gun is. The Tippmann is widely regarded one of the most durable, unrelenting, workhorse guns in the entry level paintball arsenal. It just works. It doesn't break, and it's as upgradable as anything out there. Tonight I did something very manly. I disassembled my new(used) Tippmann and cleaned it inside and out. It was quite a mess. But the process of breaking down a gun (Even a paint gun), cleaning it, and reassembling is about as awesome as it gets. :) Ranks up there with cooking a meal over a campfire, changing spark plugs and opening pickle jars for the missus! I'll let you all know if anything interesting happens in the paintball world. It's fun if you have the opportunity to try it. It doesn't hurt...long.

I'll close for now. I'm going to think about this musical instrument blog. I need to start writing topics down. I've forgotten as many blog topics as I've actually posted. Talk to you all soon! Thanks again so much for reading!

-J

Top 5 - Holiday Candies

2008-12-18T01:30:00.004-05:00

I'm feeling hale and hearty tonight, so what do you say we go for another 3 BLOG NIGHT! Oh yes, I think it's time for one! Brace yourselves. I've noticed that a lot of my friends blog about lists, and the Internet is certainly suffused with a great many "Top 10" and "Top 5" and "Top-Random Number" lists. So, I thought to myself, "Self, you need to get with the times, and do a list post." So, here we are. My first list. In honor of the Christmas and holiday season, may I present: Jon's Top 5 Holiday Candies! 5. Peeps - I love Peeps, not because they taste good exactly, but because they're such a fun candy. As a young boy I remember eating them and doing strange scientific experiments by melding more than one peep together. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. You bite off all the little chicken heads, or chicken butts, and then stick them together to create some strange animal fit for a KFC Urban Legend! Nowadays there are even more possibilities owing to the wider variety in both species and color of peep. Ever want a blue, yellow and black Chicken-Bunny-Bat? Just save your peeps for a year and go crazy. They'll last. This brings me to the other reason I like the humble peep. There is a thriving community of peep enthusiasts that discuss at length the methods and nuances of peep aging. Two extreme schools exist who prefer either the perfectly fresh, soft peep, or the delightfully crusted stale peep. I myself am of the latter school. There are of course those in between who age their peeps to some middle ground. I find the intellectual discussion of silly topics like peep aging to be immensely enjoyable, and this scratches that itch. The only reason peeps are not higher on the list is because they have lost a lot of their "exclusivity". Peeps used to be an Easter candy, but now they have them year round with everything from Christmas Tree Peeps, to Bat Peeps, to Chinese New Year Peeps. Well, maybe not those. For a candy to really grab you, it has to make you want it, and the fact that you can get a Peep of some kind just about all the time, kind of kills the thrill for me. I am a purist however. I'll only eat yellow chick peeps myself. :) 4. Candy Hearts - On the list for fun and exclusiveness more than taste, (though I've seen some variations for different occasions and holidays, and they taste pretty good if you're into Necco candy like I am), the classic Necco Sweetheart set many a grade school boy or girl's heart racing around "VALEMTIMES DAY" every year. Tell me you never got one of those awesome fancy Valentines from that girl or boy you had a crush on in the 4th grade. Sure his/her parents bought, signed and sealed one for everyone in the whole class, but that doesn't mean that he/she didn't smile just a little when he/she dropped it into your artsy-craftsy Valentine mailbox. 3. Candy Cane - Tasteful; elegant; classic. The Candy cane is a staple of the Christmas season. These powerhouses of holiday cheer can brighten a day without fail. I don't usually fall for a piece of candy that is just reshaped and repackaged for each holiday. It's still the same candy. However, the candy cane is a little different. Sure it's just a long curvy Starbright mint, but in this case, you don't see a lot of peppermint trees, bunnies or bats. The cane is a classical symbol of Christmas sweets. I listed the candy cane at number 3 just because I love a good candy cane. It's mood candy. Deck the Halls and Silver Bells and all that! :) 2. Cadbury Mini Eggs - Actually my favorite Easter candy. I could polish off the whole bag. I mean, the BIG bag, in one afternoon if I were not so adverse to becoming sick on them, and then losing my love of such a great candy. These are as simple as it gets. Chocolate and Sugar Coating. Like an M&M, but bigger, with Cadbury chocolate. This is the holiday candy I dream of all year. Yet they are listed at number 2. Why you ask? Well, I'll tell you. As much as I love the flavor and the tactile crunchy sensation of a good mini egg, they aren't quite the total package that the number 1 entry has become. 1. Cadbury Creme Eggs - Being that Easter traditionally rolls out the big guns when it comes to candy, it's hard to stand out amongst a sea of contenders. There has been some controversy surrounding the Creme Egg and its size, which seems to be on the decline in recent years (Here, on Conan O'Brien, we see proof from BJ Novak) , but by and large, the Creme Egg has remained a pure, rich and sweet champion of Easter candy. Some say that the Creme Egg is too rich, but I disagree. If it's too rich, you're eating it too fast...slow down. Enjoy. You think these things grow on trees? Actually, they're laid, by none other than the Cadbury Bunny. *bok bok bok bok BOK* Honorable Mention: There are some good candies out there that are holiday themed, but a lot of them are repackaged and reshaped. You can get a peppermint patty, or a peanut butter cup anytime day or night. The holiday versions are just marketing tricks. You can list the Peppermint Batty and Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs/Trees/Pumpkins and a truly tasty candy, but the truth is that they are just the regular candy in a different pair of pants. Though the Batty is a nice pun. I'll admit it. It made me chuckle. :) So these are my Top-5. Anyone out there have a favorite that I didn't list? Don't worry. With holiday candy, there's no right or wrong. Faves? Anyone? -J

General Update

2008-12-18T00:28:00.005-05:00

I thought I would make a general update along with my pottery post. A lot of things have been going on and you, constant reader, deserve to be informed! What kind of blogger would I be if I didn't tell you all about everything? Let's start with how the running thing is going. Michelle and I have continued our pursuit of fitness. In fact, we joined a local gym for the winter months and ran a week and a half ago in the Jingle Bell Run in Huntington, West Virginia. I posted 28 minutes and 42 seconds (This was the accomplishment of another of my 43 Things as well! To run a 5k in under 30 minutes) and placed 114 out around 180. Michelle was about 10 seconds and three people behind me. It was 25 degrees and snowing. 5K in the cold and snow is definitely a new experience for me. Next year, and I will run it again next year, I plan on having a full balaclava. My face wasn't working when we finished. I raced the guy who placed 115 neck-and-neck for the better part of two blocks. At the end I had a little more than he did and pulled ahead, but I went to congratulate him and such, and as I was shaking his hand all I could get out was "Conssazhhalahyan...goofinsh." It was then I realized that my jaw muscles were too cold to function. I have to say that I had a good time with the other crazies, running in the snow. I've always prided myself on being a little odd, and I think this falls right in line with that assessment. Ok, what else...the novel! Not too much to report here, with the exception that I have done some work WITH it, but not exactly ON it. See, the last two times I have started to write, I have ended up working on the world building and magic system. Two things that Brandon Sanderson touched on at his signing in Dayton. I started thinking things through and ended up realizing that I needed to understand the world I was writing in a little better before I could progress much further. It is tricky to write in a world of your own making, because you really can't take anything for granted. Everything from the geology to the political climate can effect your writing. (Robert Jordan is perhaps the best world builder I have ever read. I don't intend to go into nearly as much detail as he did, but I love the idea of it. I get the feeling that when RJ wrote about a broken teapot, he knew when it was broken, and who did it, and why, even if he never told you.) Most of the writing I've done in the past two months won't be in the novel itself, but it is the framework on which the book must rest, and for that reason is it very important. Possibly more important than the book itself. Let me leave it at the fact that Merrick is progressing, however slowly, but progressing nonetheless. In other news, Michelle and I actually went on our Vesuvius Backpacking Trip! I think I can be brief and just say that we had a great time, and found our equipment to be sufficient for the kind of weather we'll be expecting on the AT, but the trip itself really deserves its own entry to do it justice. Though, you can view 39 pictures from the trip with comments by going HERE. You know, looking at the gallery, it's kind of a photo blog in and of itself. Let me know what you think! Lastly, I would like to say that I really appreciate you, the readers. It's cool to know that you're enjoying reading along with me here. It keeps me looking for the next post in my day to day life! :) Additionally, It is amazing enough that friends and family read what I write, but I was particularly jazzed (I know what you're thinking. "Jazzed? Who talks like that?") to get a comment from someone I've never met! Thanks for the note of appreciation! I'll close this entry before it gets too much longer. More to come, guaranteed! Talk to you soon! -J

Pottery - Night...oh nevermind.

2008-12-18T00:03:00.003-05:00

Hey all! It's me! I know I've had a bit of a hiatus here, but let me tell you that the past 4 weeks have been ridiculously busy. I have been running around like crazy with work and with everything else. New accounts have been opening at work, which can be a little bit of a headache, but I think all in all we have things running. Also, I played a wedding this past weekend with my good friend TJ. I hadn't done much with my saxophone and I had to work really hard to build my chops back up. Anyway, tonight begins my vacation until the beginning of the new year. Now I can relax, and catch up on my blog. As well as get ready for Christmas. And a host of other things. Ok, so maybe RELAX isn't the word, but I can at least do some other stuff. :) On to pottery! Ok, so I have been a few more times since my last update, and I want to report that all is going well, and I will be continuing into the new year with the classes. Last night I went down to the studio to work on a few things. I threw three pieces that were by far my tallest work, and I think my most complex. Each of them fell into the 10-11" range, and I used a throwing stick to create the kind of urn-like pieces you might imagine when you think of a genie bottle, or a classic long necked vase. The throwing stick is basically a wooden tool that lets you reach into said long necks where your hand would not be able to go. A new batch of glazed work is coming out next Monday. I keep promising pictures, and you probably think I'm deliberately putting you off. This time you'd be right. :) Y'see, several pieces are going to people as gifts, and I think one or two actually read my posts. Owing to a strict no peeking clause here in the Cook household, I'm delaying a bit to maximize the potential for surprise. I think it might also be more efficient to link to my gallery where the pottery will be shown as well. So, here I am, now an 18 week veteran of the Bill Meadows pottery class in Ashland Kentucky. How do I feel, looking back? I am amazed at how much I have improved, and also amazed at how much improving I have to do before I would consider myself proficient. I like being where I am though. It is so much easier when you are a beginner in a particular skill to see your improvement. As you get better, your leaps become smaller, and it can get discouraging. The fortunate thing about pottery is that I decided to do it for fun and don't have to improve at any rate, nor do I need to be graded, or anything that would make it seem like some required class for credit. Nope, this is a hobby and I am quite enjoying myself. -J

Brandon Sanderson Book Signing

2008-11-13T18:15:00.006-05:00

Hello to all of my faithful readers! I wanted to do a quick post about a quick little adventure that Michelle and I went on Wednesday night. We drove up to Dayton after work to the Books and Co, to attend a book signing that Brandon Sanderson was doing to promote the third book in his Mistborn Trilogy. Here's a picture: For those of you who don't know, Mr. Sanderson is the author that was chosen to finish the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, who fell ill with a condition called Amyloidosis and passed away last year before the epic's completion. I didn't really know of Brandon Sanderson's work before I heard he was completing the Wheel of Time, but as soon as I did, I went out and bought Mistborn, which was a fantastic novel! I'd recommend it to anyone, not just fantasy readers. The trilogy is accessible and easy to read, and most importantly not too big to commit to reading like say, Wheel of Time! :) Mr. Sanderson addressed this last night too. It's easier to get into an author's body of work if you don't have to begin with book one of a 13 volume epic. Anyway, There was Q&A, and some readings from a couple of Mr. Sanderson's books, including a passage from his very own multi-volume epic which is unpublished and mostly unwritten as yet. We had a great time listening to his thoughts on both writing, and reading. I was glad to hear that two of his major influences were Robert Jordan and Orson Scott Card - Two authors I respect greatly. We were there about an hour and left just before the Mistborn Trilogy - Book 3 spoilers began, thanks to a prudent warning from the author. It was a great time, and really inspired me to keep pursuing my writing. I think I could definitely make a go of it if I can find the time and the drive to get my first book written. I am envious of Joel Cooper, who is now beyond the initial writing, and into the editing. Well, I don't envy him too much. Editing is supposed to be the tedious part. :) So that's my update on my latest adventure! Thanks again for reading! -J

Pottery 102 - Nights 4 and 5

2008-11-06T22:18:00.003-05:00

Woohoo! I have to say that things are going well in Pottery class, and this two week post thing is really shaping up well as things are progressing a little more slowly and I'd have little to say in a once per week post. Anyway, I'll fill you in. I have succeeded in throwing my most technically advanced piece to date. It is taller, more even and straighter than anything I've done thus far. It is trimmed and getting ready to bisque fire. I had quite a few things that came out of the glaze fire, and I thought they looked good for the most part. A couple of little issues, but mostly, I was pleased! I will have pictures this weekend, which I will be posting to my site gallery. I'll update you here with a URL when they're available. So, I feel as though I am making steady progress with my skill. The majority of my progress has to do with the fact that I am not nearly as afraid of the process as I was. Not that I was scared to do anything, but I'm a little more confident in my ability to at least make some kind of vessel. I'm sure I haven't finished my amazingly terrible blunders. I know I have a lot of those left in me. The kind where clay flies from the wheel, coating everyone in a thin coat of slimy brown paste. Alright, I'll go, but within a week, PICTURES OF MY WORK! STAY TUNED!!! -J

Pottery 102 - Nights 2 and 3

2008-10-22T22:24:00.005-04:00

I was late in putting up my blog for night 2, so I decided to just combine them into one update for you! The last two nights have been feverish to say the least. Some of the phrases that come to mind are, "Burning the candle at both ends", "Running around like a chicken with its head cut off" and "Busier than a one armed paper hanger".

Anyway, I have a lot of pieces that were bisque fired a couple of weeks ago and a glaze firing coming up, as well as a few pieces that needed to be trimmed before they dried out too much on me. So two weeks ago I was glazing, trimming, trying to dry out some wet stuff before it was trimmed, glazing some more. Generally running about before time was up.

This week, I trimmed four pieces, and glazed another 5 or 6. It's a little tedious, but I am learning a lot. Also, that means I have more things to glaze and hence, more things to show you very soon! I'm getting a good grasp of the pottery process from beginning to end, and that will be important should I decide I want to do this on my own.

I do have a treat for you this week though, if you can call it that. :) I have taken a couple of pictures of the studio as well as an advance shot of one of my goblets. Check it out!

There you go!

This is a shot of the pottery studio where I take my class, one of the wheel I use, and one of a goblet I made. It has unfired glaze on it, so it may look a little silly, but I promise it's going to be cool. :) I'll be sure to post an after picture of it as well.

That's it for now! Tune in next week for another exciting episode of "As the Wheel Turns"

-J

Pottery 102 - Night 1

2008-10-08T22:52:00.003-04:00

Hey all! Yes, it's that time! I have begun my second 8 weeks of pottery class. Night one was a full evening, even though I only threw 4 pieces. I was focusing on quality rather than quantity. I did a pair of one piece goblets, and a couple of cylinders that I think will be nice mugs. I feel like I'm growing a little more capable at least. I'm hoping to really try something big before long. As soon as I'm a little more comfortable making smaller pieces that are somewhat symmetrical I'll give it a go and report on my attempt! Also, the 8 pieces I had ready to bisque fire were in the kiln, along with the pieces Michelle did. We should be able to see how they turned out next week. After those are all glazed, I expect we'll get a good glaze firing and finally get to see how our pieces have ended up. It's a hard thing to wait this long, but I'm being as patient as possible. I know everyone else is ready to see this stuff. It was interesting this time because we have three brand new students in the Tuesday night class. I enjoyed being a "veteran" this time and watched as the new students learned the basics with frustration and got to witness the victories and defeats from the other point of view this time. Always interesting to see how far you've come, and then to watch your instructor throw and realize how far you have to go. :) It was fun to have my step-mother Donita join us on the Tuesday night class. She had been taking the Monday night one, and switched for this 8 week period. So anyway, still plugging away. One week closer to pictures, and I think I'm getting a little better. We'll see! :) Talk to you soon! -Jon

Pottery 101 - Night 8

2008-10-03T00:19:00.002-04:00

Well, the first 8 weeks of pottery has come to a close. Very soon I'll be starting my next 8 week session, which I will affectionately call Pottery 102. A quick update about the last night of class: Michelle and I spent most of the night cleaning up pieces we'd already thrown, and preparing them for their bisque firing. I think I have at least 7 pieces ready for the first firing. Let's see...two small noodle bowls, two cups, a mug, two bud vases, one larger vase...I think that's it. That's 8! Then there are the two pieces that are being glazed. We did actually get to start glazing this Tuesday night. We glazed the inside of our bisque pieces. Michelle has two little bowls, and I have a tea bowl and a mug. They're going to be pretty cool I think. The instructor said that Michelle will be able to come back and finish the pieces she has already thrown, so that will be nice. We weren't sure how that would work. We are going to try and finish the glazing this Friday night at first Friday. I believe I have mentioned it before. Arts and Music in Ashland the first Friday of every month. We'll be able to use the studio during that time. And so, we're getting close to actual finished pieces. I think during my Pottery 102 classes I'm going to strive to really make something amazing. Even if it's only one piece, I'm going to try for it. Something where people see it and have to say, "You MADE that? No way!" And I smile smugly and nod. This old thing? Just a lump of mud and unparalleled pottery skeels. :) There will be a few weeks of break on pottery blogs, but soon enough, look for pictures of Pottery 101 creations and Pottery 102 entries! Thanks for reading! -J

Home Away From Home...

2008-09-25T01:16:00.005-04:00

Well, I have a replacement for my $25 Wenzel tent, which I mentioned in my previous camping blog. Having spent the night with soggy toes, and using a makeshift tarp rain fly, I decided to take a step up and get something that was a little more sturdy, a little lighter, and a little dryer. Enter the Eureka! Solitaire. Small, light, and by most accounts a good little backpacker's tent. It's not too expensive either, which was a key element in the selection process. You can easily spend a whole lot of money on bells and whistles in the tent world. The Solitaire is shy on bells and short on whistles, but it has the basics, and a bit more. I picked it up at Dick's Sporting Goods on sale. It features a 2lb. 9oz. packed weight (about half the weight of the $25 Wenzel), plenty of room to sleep 1, and a built in rain fly. (Yes...a rain fly. That's important.) How about some pictures, Jon?! Here's a shot with the rain fly rolled and tied up along the front pole. And one with the fly deployed. And here's Michelle, modeling for me to show the tent's size. I think she looks fantastically comfortable. So this will be my home in the spring on the AT for 7 or so days. We're going to hike the 16 mile backpacking trail at Vesuvius here soon, so I'll get to try it then. We're planning 8 miles out, an overnight stay and 8 miles back, just to get the feel for our packs and so forth. I for one am looking for a nice cozy stay in my little yellow house. Anyway, I just wanted to update everyone on the tent situation. By the way, I accidentally melted a hole in the top of the $25 Wenzel. I swear it wasn't on purpose. I was flipping it over while it was drying out, and it brushed the engine of our lawn mower which I had used recently enough that it was still quite hot. Well, if it was leaky before, it certainly will be now. :) Once we hike the Vesuvius trail and try things out, I'll give you an update! Talk to you soon! -J

Ohio Ren Fest 2008!

2008-09-22T02:06:00.010-04:00

And now, the third and final entry in our THREE BLOG NIGHT!

Last weekend, Michelle and I made our annual trip up to the Ohio Renaissance Festival, and met some of our friends there. Eric and Justin and Lili, their little one, along with Erik and Gina Cooper with Their daughters Jenna and Sarah, and also Aaron and Michele Hager and her sister Kristin.

We all had a great time and as usual the faire was a blast! If you've never been to a ren faire, I recommend going at least once. If you hate it, you never have to go again, but you might find something you like about it.

Perhaps you'll like the food, perhaps not. They have expanded their menu this year. You can always get a roasted turkey leg, which is a fan favorite. They have steak on a stake, which is just as it sounds. Michelle and I had the fish and chips and discovered that we are no longer fried food ready. When you've been eating like we have and avoiding the fried stuff, the body has an interesting time with deep fried battered anything.

Also, there are bread bowls and a variety of soups, chicken fingers for the kids, and a few desserts and any beverages you might find at any fair, with or without the "e".

If the food isn't your thing, there are the crafts. Something a little different every year, and a few faire staples that you will want to check with to see if they have anything new and interesting. My personal favorite is the Griffon Works leather shop. There are potters, jewelers, armorers, blacksmiths, weapon makers, glass blowers, clothiers and many various and sundry other things.

Maybe the entertainment would be your thing. Jugglers, comedians, a genuine Mudde Show (which you really just have to see) They recreate famous literature and tell stories while basically throwing mud freely about the viewing area. Think Gallager, only in place of watermelon, it's a big pit of mud. There are wandering musicians, mimes and the like all over the 30 acre grounds. Perhaps the most notable show at the faire is the full contact joust which happens about 4 times a day on their full sized tournament field. I shot a video of the one we watched this weekend, which you can see over on youtube, here. Excuse the poor quality, but I think you can get the idea.

Maybe you hate everything else about it, but even so, you might like to dress the part! The costumes are a fun part of the festival. Several of us dressed for the faire this year. And yes, I have pictures! Behold!

Michelle and I both did pretty well I think. Though, my tri-corn hat was a touch too "Colonial America" until I added the grey plume later in the day. That fixed it, but I didn't get another picture. Michelle made my doublet (I did some ironing and assisting), and I made the pants. This is the first dress that Michelle ever wore to a ren faire also. She bought it, but has made everything else she has worn since. Remember I said we'd talk about her cool self taught sewing skills? These are those! :)

Aaron is working it William Wallace style, while Michele and Kristin are both a little more British Isley...I don't think that's a word. Anyway, Aaron constructed all of these costumes. Well done there! :)

The Cooper Clan, Erik, looking dashing in blue tunic and chainmaille, Gina looking regal in flowing blue and white. Jenna, looking adorable in her pink princess dress, and Sarah looking...elsewhere. :)

And last but not least, the Nears, dressed as the coolest parents in the world! I'm pretty sure Eric knows it. :) That's Lili there. Later on she broke out the fairy wings and it was all anyone could do to stand up. The cuteness was far to great for a single ren faire.

So there you go. Food, Shopping, Festivity, and Festoonery, all in one day! And a good time was had by all! Michelle and I might even be going back again this season. We're thinking about heading back for the Harvest weekend! You're all welcome to join us!

Talk to you soon! HUZZAH!

-Jon

Recent Camping Trip

2008-09-22T01:20:00.007-04:00

Welcome to entry number 2, as our THREE BLOG NIGHT continues! A couple of weeks ago, Michelle finished up the rain fly for her hammock. I may or may not have mentioned that she purchased a camping hammock kit from Speer Hammocks and had been working on it as time allowed for a few weeks. Well, when she finally finished it, she was naturally exuberant and eager to try the whole rig out! I was excited for her, as I always am when she pulls something like this off; The from scratch construction of a camping hammock, or any of the amazing garments she has put together with her self-taught sewing skills. (More on this in the next blog) So, we started tentatively planning our quick camping trip to Lake Vesuvius. Michelle in her new self-built Speer hammock, and me in my $25 Wenzel 2-person tent. As the date approached, we began to realize something. This would be a true test of Michelle's hammock, and of my tent. The forecast grew increasingly bleak. Before long, the day we had planned to camp was showing 70% chance of storms and the days on either side were nearly as wet. We were, however, determined. The day came, and we were both excited about our trip. I visited my pharmacies in the Huntington area so that at the end of the day I ended up close to Dick's sporting goods. I met Michelle there and we looked around for anything we might need. Finally we decided we needed a lantern and picked up an inexpensive little Coleman two-wick propane job, and that's it. We decided to eat what we could find at home, and already had a dehydrated chili-macaroni meal from Mountain House. Their food is always pretty tasty! So far, the skies were clear and all looked well. We thought we might dodge the weather bullet. That was not to be, but we were fortunate that the weather held off until some time later. Attempting to get to the camp site and set up before nightfall, we hurried home, and quickly packed a bag of food, and our camping gear using our frame packs to carry everything. I think we managed to throw everything together and get out to the site with about 30-45 minutes before darkness descended. Now here we are. I pitched my tent fairly quickly, using a blue tarp for a ground cloth as well as another one for a rain fly. My Wenzel is somewhat resistant to light moisture, but I wasn't taking any chances due to the forecast. Michelle's set up took a little longer than mine, being that it was the first time either of us had set up a hammock. At this point, I wish I had taken some pictures to show you, lest you have an image in your mind of a standard, backyard hammock. You know, a mesh thing with wooden spreaders at either end and the like. This hammock is a sophisticated piece of gear. Rip-stop nylon bottom, high quality mosquito net upper, and a silicon impregnated nylon fly, all weighing in the neighborhood of 2.5 pounds and packing to roughly the size of a football. Did I mention I payed $25 for my Wenzel 2-person tent? Yeah, we're getting to that. So, Michelle finished pitching, and I got to work on dinner. We didn't bother with a fire, choosing instead to just use a stove to heat the water for our chili-mac. I used a marvelous little folding camp stove and Esbit tablets. See it here. I think I'm going to take this stove on the AT next spring, after its admirable performance. Super light and easy to use, this baby was perfect for a quick boil, and left no ash, or anything. Just a little sticky residue on my cookpot. Having finished her setup, Michelle joined me and we had a nice dinner! Chili-mac, water and apples. The rest of the evening was taken up with conversation and relaxation. We had a nice time just hanging out in the quiet and the darkness, with only the glow of our newly acquired Coleman lantern. Eventually though, the clouds did roll in, and it began to look a little like it might rain. We went to my tent and chatted a little more, and finally we decided it was time to turn in. I helped Michelle get to her hammock with the lantern, and when she was cozily dangling between a pair of sturdy maples, I retired to my tent and turned off the lamp. Then the rain started. The night was what I technically refer to as, "A Dumper". It rained steady and hard most of the night. No wind or anything. Just straight down. Fortunately I was able to stay mostly under my tarp rain fly. I stayed reasonably dry most of the night. Eventually though, a $25 Wenzel will give up and just soak you. So as the night wore on, I did sleep, and fairly well, but I slept with my toes in the water. I was pitched with the foot of the tent slightly downhill, which I think saved me from getting really, really soggy all over. I hoped that Michelle was faring better, and managed a decent night of sleep, so, I passed the test, whether my $25 Wenzel did or not. The next morning I lay there, watching small rivulets of water stream past me on either side of my foam pad, and squishing my toes in the water at the foot of the tent, when I hear from a few feet away, "Are you awake?" "Yup!" I said. "How'd you do?" "Good! I stayed dry and cozy! You?" "Me? Uh....yeah, same here! *squish, squish, squish* Doin' Great!" Anyway, in short, Michelle's hammock was a fantastic success! She has made an excellent piece of camping gear and it was well worth the effort involved in my opinion. She will have to work on some of the peculiarities of hammock camping, but they are things that can be overcome with some practice. I am tent shopping. :) -Jon

Bento Blog! Michelle's Lunch for Tomorrow!

2008-09-22T00:08:00.006-04:00

You know, every time I post a bento, I think, "Man, this is the best one yet!" We can't possibly out-do ourselves can we? Always I think, no way, and every time it seems we find the strength, courage, and strange dishes to pull it off! Without further ado, I present Michelle's Bento lunch for September 22nd, 2008:

See what I mean? Wouldn't you love to tuck into something this awesome? Let's begin our tour!

First, we have the main dish. Top and Center. This is a bulgar salad with tomato, blanched broccoli florets, chopped parsley, shredded carrot, garbanzo beans and Italian dressing. We garnished the tier with parsley. It turned out very good. I know because I ended up stirring it all together and may or may not have stolen a taste! We bought fresh parsley and ended up with way more than was required by our cooking, and so you're going to see sprigs of if everywhere as garnish. :)

On the right, you will see Michelle's favorite yogurt. Plain yogurt mixed with strawberry preserves, which a touch of honey on the top, as well as another piece of parsley. I think the parsley looks great on all of the various things, don't you?

On the left, another common building block of Michelle's lunches, a quarter cup of mixed nuts!

In the center, it a little something I whipped up with some extra garbanzos from the bulgar salad. This is a homemade hummus containing the beans, a little salt, olive oil and a toasted garlic clove, as well as, you guessed it, chopped parsley! In the tier with the hummus are broken pieces of Wasa brand whole grain crackers.

Finally, in the bottom tier, we have a pair of unique little muffins that Michelle found a recipe for online. These are Indian influenced pumpkin muffins, containing cooked pumpkin (as you might've guessed) and garam masala, which is a spice blend containing many different things. I've linked to the wikipedia entry, which has some good information about it. We were quite amazed to find it among the spices at Wal-Mart. New to us! :) Between the muffins are a few Concord grapes and another tiny bit of parsley. We still have WAY too much parsley left. Might have to start eating it for breakfast or something.

This bento turned out to be a big one. You might notice that we had to borrow a container from Michelle's yellow bento set to finish packing it up. She is concerned about being able to finish everything, but her photography class starts tomorrow and dinner might end up being late, so it's good to be prepared with extra lunch! :)

I hope we have enticed you with another delectable tour of flavor and style! Buon Appetito Michelle!! Let us know how everything tastes!

-Jon

Three Blog Night!!

2008-09-22T00:01:00.004-04:00

Hey all! You're in luck, because I have a back log of blogs that I need to do, and I've decided to catch up this evening! This is a rare event in the blogging world! A THREE BLOG NIGHT! - Joy to the world!!

Stay tuned as we embark on a fantastic voyage! We'll take the road ahead, straight to Bentoville, make a hard right down Hammock Camping Lane, and Come to a stop at Ren Faire Plaza! Jump in, Sit Down, Shut Up and Hold On! It's time for your THREE BLOG NIGHT!!

-J

Pottery 101 - Night 7

2008-09-18T22:01:00.003-04:00

This will be a pretty quick update, simply because I had a pretty simple night, and Michelle was stuck in Fairmont, WV all day and couldn't make it in time for class. My evening went pretty well. I tried to stretch myself and throw a couple of things that were more delicate than I had tried. I managed a pair of small bowls that look like they'll be really nice! I'm excited to see how they eventually turn out, and I think they'll end up being for Udon noodles or something like that. I'll probably trim some chopstick rests into them. I was going to glaze a couple of things. They're ready, but he didn't have all of the glazes there so I'm going to wait until next time. As I had mentioned before I think, I will be taking another 8 weeks in this class. I'm looking forward to it and I hope I can increase my skill as well as the size of clay that I can handle. Michelle isn't going to be taking it again, but she has enrolled in a basic photography class. She'll be doing that on Monday nights and I'll be in pottery on Tuesday nights. It'll be kind of sad not taking a class actually WITH Michelle, but we're both going to enjoy what we're doing. And so, I know I've promised pictures over and over again, but I've given up predicting exactly when I'm going to have something to show. Let me just say that it'll be someday pretty soon! :) Hang in there and before long I'll have all of my glorious works on display! Oh and by the way, next week we have the week off, so Pottery 101-Night 8 will be in two weeks! Talk to you soon! -Jon

Pottery 101 - Night 6

2008-09-09T23:26:00.003-04:00

It's that time again! Michelle and I had our 6th night of pottery tonight, and things went very well. First of all some of our pieces are being bisque fired as we speak, so next week for sure we'll get to glaze! I would imagine though that we won't be able to see them fired for a few weeks yet. The process is slow and so it takes awhile, especially since there are so many pieces to fire from all of the students. Tonight for me was a trimming night. I think I trimmed 5 pieces, and put a handle on one of them. I stayed very busy and ended up feeling like I made a lot of progress. I was particularly happy with the result of my one-piece goblet. It is my favorite piece so far. The instructor commented on it and said it was the nicest single piece goblet he'd seen thrown in his classes. Not the best goblet, but the best single piece goblet. He said he was going to experiment with my design a little, which is always nice to hear your instructor say. Michelle had a good night too! She produced a pair of small bowls that were very pretty. I look forward to seeing how they turn out. Next week I plan to glaze whatever comes out of the kiln, and throw as much as I can. With only two weeks remaining, I'm going to try and get as much practice in as possible. Michelle and I talked about whether we would continue in the class. I think I have decided that I'll be doing it for at least another 8 weeks after this. After all, I need material for my blog, right? :) Michelle is as yet undecided, and may actually devote some time to a photography class or something of that nature. I guess that's about it for this week's update. Can't wait to finally show what we've been working on! Tune in next week for the next exciting chapter! -J

Michelle's Bento for Tomorrow...

2008-09-07T23:49:00.006-04:00

Hey again all! I wanted to post Michelle's lunch tomorrow because it turned out really nice! We were both quite happy with the result. Here's a picture:

Ok, this is a good one. On the top left is a really nice little assortment! A few Hapi brand Mixed Party crackers, and three Parmesan cheese crisps we made. Just grated cheese on a cookie sheet in little circles with a little oregano tossed on top. The definition is a little tough to pick out, but they're round, just take my word for it. I got to sample one and they're quite tasty!

On the bottom, you'll see some mixed nuts. These are Kroger brand, because we forgot to pick up the ones at Walmart. Did you really need to know that? Maybe not, but now you do know in any case, and knowing is half the battle!

On the right is some vanilla yogurt with strawberry preserves blended in, and some honey over the top. Michelle is a huge fan of yogurt as you may have already been able to deduce from past Bento posts. We couldn't think of anything to top it with this time. Any suggestions for next time?

I saved the middle left tier for last. The pièce de résistance! Here we have a pair of hand rolled rice balls, edged in toasted sesame seed, and seasoned with a nice rice vinegar and soy sauce dressing. On top, an arrangement of avocado wedges, Alaskan smoked salmon, and a garnish of fresh ginger. I think this is our most complex entree to date, and let me tell you, the house smells wonderful! Smoked salmon, ginger and Parmesan cheese is wafting throughout the place and it is glorious! :)

Once again, I will not be eating a lunch that I think will be delicious! Maybe Michelle will pop in to tell us how it was in the comment section! Till next time!

-J

5k Finishes, Then and Now...

2008-09-05T00:12:00.009-04:00

So, I decided I needed to do a post because I just got an e-mail with some pictures from the Good Samaritan 5k this past weekend. I found the pictures of Michelle and Me, and was a little excited by what they revealed. Let me first post the finish of the Ironton Memorial Day 5k back on May 26th. About 3 months and 1 week ago. Be warned, this image may be shocking or offensive to...well, mostly me. :) This is one of those pictures taken on a downward step so I look like I'm melting, but for better or worse, here it is:

The first thing you might notice is the look of dire distress on my face, even in the downward pull of my stride. It is quite evident. You'll note that even though I am sweating, and desperate in appearance, Michelle has a pretty relaxed, "Stroll in the park" kind of look on her face, and is in fact, not sweating after a 3 mile run. Not sweating. Ole 495 there looks pretty good too for having finished the race well ahead of us and taken a walk back up the course a little way, and is now returning to the finish line. I find that the contrast in this picture makes it absolutely hilarious. :)

Ok, on to the next stop! This one of two pictures from last week, September 1st, that I'll post. First, in the style of those infomercials that show you a before picture where the light is bad, the clothes are bad, and the pose is bad, then they show you the after, where the lighting, pose and clothes have been replaced so that the person would look better no matter what you had done to their face with your miracle product! Behold:

This picture was taken in an infinitely better part of my stride. In the up half. Because of that, everything looks a little less...melty. There is, of course, a little less to melt and that helps too, but the really important difference is that Michelle and I are about to finish this race and we are both strong enough to look determined and even happy to be there! I was so glad to be able to look at this picture and see us both with that "stroll in the park" look on our faces! Ok, maybe I'm a little more, "brisk jog in the park", but that's better than, "Someone help me. Oh dear, oh dear, my face is melting off, would someone pick up my face and bring it to the finish line for me?"

So there you have it, Michelle and I have made great progress so far, and these pictures are super motivational for me. It's great to be able to track yourself in pictures! It'll be worth it later in life for our health if we manage to keep this up, but the good thing about it, is that it's worth it right now! That makes it so much easier to get out there and run. By the way, we ran an 8:07 this evening!

Ok, so where's the third picture? Ok, just so you can't say, oh he left out the ones with weird faces! This blog is rigged! Here is another picture from last weekend that was taken on the downward half:

This one was taken right after a bit of an incline right before the home stretch. This was taken about 3-4 blocks before the second shot there. Note that Michelle is still just as happy as a lark, while I am catching my breath. But there is still a difference. Note the eyes that seem to be carved from granite! Note the finely chiseled pectoral mahscles! (eh not so much...still working on that chiseled thing) Seriously though, I'm much happier with both of these pictures, and I just wanted to share! Thanks for reading and talk to you all soon!

-J

Quick General Update

2008-09-03T23:10:00.005-04:00

Some of you may be wondering, "Hey, where's my pottery update this week?" I can understand your dismay, and I would understand completely if you wrote me hate mail or something. But I promise, I have not dropped the ball in any way. Actually, there was no pottery class this week, owing to Labor Day activities. Class resumes next Tuesday night, and there'll be an update then for sure. But, just so there is at least a little something to read, I decided to do a quick post anyway. I thought everyone who has been following my progress with fitness and such, might like to know that Michelle and I ran an 8:19 mile tonight. That works out to about 7.2mph, and it's our fastest yet. My fastest by about 30 seconds. Our plan is to run in the Jingle Bell Run this year in December as I believe I mentioned, and we want to make an excellent showing. We're planning on pushing our mile time as low as we can manage, so we can get used to those kinds of paces, and then back off to something a little more comfortable for the actual run at the end of the year. My under 30 minute 5k is very close. :) In other news, you may or may not know that Michelle and I have been working to pay off all of our debt except the mortgage since we got married. We took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University as soon as we were married and have been working the principles of it since June of 2005. This September budget marked three years and three months of work and it finally paid off. Our credit card debt has been gone for a long time now, but we finished the cars this month and we are now officially debt free with the exception of the mortgage and the land we intend to build on sometime next year. The only credit card we have is the one work makes me carry. I'd lose that one if they'd let me. The next step is fleshing out our emergency fund. Finally we'll be saving money rather than pouring it into a debt hole! YAY!!! I'd like to extend some thank yous to the people involved in keeping me from ending up broke somewhere down the road: I'd like to thank Dad and Donita for buying me the Financial Peace University kit. At the time, I'm certain I wouldn't have bought it myself. I'd also like to thank my Alan, my brother-in-law for actually facilitating the class at church. It takes someone with dedication and excitement toward an idea to truly sell you on it. I think I might be more sold on it than he is! Thanks also to Michelle, who by agreeing to marry me, gave me the incentive to straighten up and be responsible. Well, more accurately, I didn't want her to think I was an idiot with my money. I'm still not terribly responsible. I'm just glad she didn't have to marry TOO much debt. :) Thanks to Dave Ramsey for going flat broke and coming out of it. The best teaching aid is a hard lesson. I'm glad he learned it for me and was gracious enough to pass it on. Thanks to God most of all, for lining all of this up. Right place, right time, right people. I think I am a better person for all of the work that these people put in for my future. Not just better financially, but better in general. I'm holding more loosely to the things that I have, more tightly to the people in my life, and more closely to God because I have seen him work some amazing wonders over the last 3 years. -J

The 2008 Good Samaritan Soles 5k

2008-09-01T20:49:00.006-04:00

Well, today was the big day. Michelle and I ran our second 5k and it was a great time! I just wanted to post our results and let you know how we did. First, let me say that we both made a vast improvement over our first 5k on Memorial Day in Ironton. As yet, I have not accomplished my goal of a 5k run under 30 minutes, but today I came very, very close. Michelle and I both shaved a full 7 minutes from our time in Ironton. Let me post the results of both races so you can see the difference: Memorial Day, May 26th -Overall Time: 37:14 Pace: 11:59 Labor Day, September 1st -Overall Time: 30:18 Pace: 9:45 Yes, had we run a little bit faster overall, we would've made the under 30 minute goal. I'm still extremely happy with the result though, and I couldn't be more proud that we have set our sights on this and stayed with it. The under 30 minute thing doesn't have to be an official race anyway. I can keep trying in the park until I get it! :) It's a very rewarding thing anyway! We are already looking for another 5k to train for so we can try to lower our time, and stay motivated. Probably going to be the Jingle Bell Run in Huntington this December. Cold running might be interesting. So, how did things go? Well, I learned first of all that it's next to impossible to drink water and run. That is not only an exercise in futility, but it's also quite hilarious. :) This race was markedly different in feeling than my first one. In the first race I thought I might keel over and die, but this time, I knew I could finish. I even had something left at the end to push for a couple of seconds and get there a couple of seconds faster. When I finished and finally stopped to catch my breath, the Rocky music was actually playing over the loud speakers. Now you might think it's corny, but I had to really force down an impulse to throw my hands up, training montage style. The only thing missing was the bulky grey sweatsuit. I had a good chuckle to myself about it. Maybe it's a guy thing, but I really don't think so. I'd imagine it crosses everyone's mind when something like that happens. In May, I felt like I showed up where a bunch of runners were doing their thing and tried my hand, somewhat infringing on the whole running thing. Today I felt like a runner. Afterward we all stood around talking and laughing, and enjoying the feeling of accomplishing something. It was good to see a couple of friends from high school who have taken up running as well. They have been doing this longer than Michelle and I, but they started somewhere too. It's inspiring to see people you know doing something and to know that you can get where they are if you keep at it. I also wanted to congratulate Michelle. Her time placed her second in her age group! Another minute and a half and she'd have medaled today! I'm very proud of her! :) After all is said and done, we have accomplished what we set out to do. We aren't finished though. We're going to keep running and trying to improve. It'll probably be slower progress now, but there'll be some progress. Do we have the running bug? No I don't think so. It's something we know we should do. Maybe at some point I'll get out there for a run and realize that it's not a "should do" but a "want to do". We'll see. All went well. Thank God we're able to run and enjoy our health. We ran a good race today. And at the end, I finally got to have my banana. -J

Another Bento Lunch

2008-08-27T21:18:00.006-04:00

Hello all, and welcome to another edition of "What's Michelle Eating for Lunch Tomorrow"

We just finished a fairly easy, yet tasty looking lunch and I thought, "Hey, this looks like a good one for all of my fans! Observe:

Alright, now the usual rundown! On the left is the main compartment, which contains four pieces of Cream Cheese Roll from Kroger's. Imitation crab, cream cheese and avocado wrapped in rice and seaweed. Also with the cream cheese roll is a small bottle of soy sauce and a little pickled ginger. Above it is Balsamic Sesame Chicken. Chicken breast, marinated in Balsamic vinegar and soy sauce, rolled in sesame seeds and fried with cooking spray to brown the seeds. The chicken is garnished with a small sprig of mint.

On the top right, is another three bean salad like the last one we made, except it contains white kidney, dark kidney, and black beans. Again, with a fat free Italian dressing, and also garnished with mint.

Under that is Michelle's favorite yogurt, inspired by Gina's yummy yogurt recipe on thedailyplate.com. It's plain yogurt with honey. We ran out of the usual cranberries, so they aren't in there. There's a swizzle of honey on top, and again with the mint! Gee whiz! Actually, I might explain that the mint has been in the fridge for a couple of weeks and if we don't use it, it's going to be all wilty and brown, so, I'm using all I can.

The bottom right is the small lid space, which normally would hold some mixed nuts or something, but this time, we picked up some mixed rice crackers from Kroger and used them instead. A pleasant and colorful snack. Except the seaweed ones. They're just a little strange. :)

There you go! Another interesting and tasty looking lunch from Michelle's Bento Box. Fortunately, this time, there is chicken and bean salad left over, so I may get to have some!

Till next time! Thanks for reading!

-J

Pottery 101 - Night 5

2008-08-26T23:44:00.004-04:00

Well, a good night yet again. Still no glazing. No bisque firing as of tonight, so nothing was ready to glaze. I was in a good position though, to crank out some pieces. I did 4 tonight. I just tried to keep my head down and practice throwing. I managed a one piece goblet, a skinny little bud vase, some kind of tallish, muggy, vasey thing, and another kind of tallish....muggy....vasey thing. I think it went well. I'm gaining a little more control over the clay because I'm trying to make myself not quite so afraid of it. In order to do that you have to set out to make a goblet stem and end up with a napkin ring once or twice. :) That's pretty much all I did, which was my goal anyway, in the event that there was no glazing to do. Michelle trimmed a piece, or maybe two. I can't remember. But she also threw a couple of nice mug forms as well. I'd say we're both improving each week. There's going to be a kiln opening at the next First Friday, and I think Michelle and I are going to go over, despite the fact that we have nothing in the kiln to actually see. I think it'll be a fun night anyway. There will be pictures. I promise. It's just a matter of time. -J

Vacation in The Smoky Mountains

2008-08-23T22:59:00.007-04:00

Here I sit in the Smoky Mountains. Michelle and I took a long weekend to come down here and do a hike, and a few other things. I just thought I'd post about our day and weekend in general so far. We had a really great time! Brace yourself, this is a long one. :) This morning we got up early and started out between 9:30 and 10:00. This was my first time trying out a complete hiking "getup". I was wearing my clearance polyester shirt and clearance Field & Stream shorts. The only cotton I had on today was my bandana, which I might add, served me very well. My clothes were super light, and later in the day when I'd normally be completely soggy, heavy and miserable on the trail, I was light and very minimally damp. The dri-weave fabrics and such are definitely the way to go. In the spring on the AT, the only cotton I plan on carrying are my two bandanas. Michelle, by the way, donned her polys today as well. All Dick's and Gander Mountain clearance. If you are planning a big hike, clearance clothing is the way to go. We have nearly outfitted ourselves with a full trail wardrobe for fully half what we intended to spend on that part of our gear.

Also, I was in a pair of my old New Balance running shoes, which if you can believe it, were fantastic on the trail. I've tried all kinds of shoes on hikes, and by far, these humble $40 NB Runners have been the real champs! I've been researching shoes online and I've come across a few brands that I think would be good, and yesterday we were fitted at the happy hiker in Gatlinburg, and I tried a pair of Montrail hikers that I really like. By the way, my foot is a little odd. I have the length of a size 8.5, but the ball of my foot hits where a 9 should. I think that means my toes are too short. Anyway, I'm a size 9 overall. Just thought you should know. Anyway the point is, I may well end up in a mundane pair of New Balance trail runners. In the ones I have, I can feel the path enough to react, the gravel and roots don't batter my feet, and the toe box is flexible and forgiving so my toes are not completely destroyed in descents. No one wants to lose toenails.

So, on to the actual hike. We went to Ramsay Cascades. This is a 4 mile in and out style hike, usually categorized as moderate in nature. That is an incorrect categorization! This hike is brutal! I keep using that word to describe it today. It's the only one I can think of. It's pretty short really. An ascent of 2000 feet over 4 miles (Fairly steep and constant). The trail starts wide and graveled, but soon narrows and becomes almost entirely roots and stones. After that the slope increases and the stones become boulders. The last three tenths of a mile, as I saw it described in a trail review, is nothing less than hand over hand boulder climbing! Now, don't get me wrong, it was a blast, but this one will kill you if you aren't ready. :) It's as hard going back down because you have to climb down over these tough sections of trail. No open trotting until you reach the bottom third or so. If you think I'm exaggerating, have a look at part of the trail...

I took this picture standing on the trail. If you look up the right side of the photo, you'll see the continuation up through that hole in the trees. On the top half of the hike, this terrain is the rule, and not the exception! :) Challenging and rather crazy, but in a word, awesome!

So, now that I've impressed upon you the seriousness of this trail, (Except for the part where there's a sign that warns you that bears are active in the area, and the fact that you are indeed stepping over numerous piles of bear scat to remind you and praying that you don't see a class ring or something in one of them) Let me mention a couple of really neat things about it. First, the trail to Ramsay Cascades winds through some old growth forest. Some truly enormous trees. Now, they aren't the redwoods, but they are the biggest trees I've ever seen. Michelle and I took a quick break at this one...

This angle actually makes it appear a little smaller than it is, but you get the idea. Very big trees. And as tall as you'd imagine a trunk of this size to be.

Then there's Ramsay Cascades itself. The tallest falls in the Smoky Mountains at around 100 feet. Check it out:

It was quite a sight. Michelle and I both took our shoes off and waded at the foot of the falls a little bit. The water was ICE cold. No joke, it made my feet hurt it was so cold. I don't know how there wasn't ice somewhere. Anyway, we spent a little time at the Cascades, had something to eat and relaxed then started the trek back down. A tough hike all in all, but very rewarding, and an excellent test of both our mettle, and our equipment. :)

So, what would you do if you had just hiked the roughest 8 miles of your life, and were now sitting at the family vacation home in the Smokies, looking at dailyplate.com and realizing that you now have more than 3000 calories to consume? That's right. You plan dinner!

Michelle and I went down to Maryville and tried a little place that Dad and Donita have been watching from afar and wondering about. It's called the Lemongrass. It's a Thai menu, and there's a sushi bar. So, in the interest of informing Dad and Donita, and the rest of my vast readership, here's how it went:

The restaurant is smallish, but in a cozy way. Well lit and comfortable. There were quite a few people there, but we didn't feel crowded out or anything. The service was excellent. It's the kind of place where they place your napkin in your lap for you and all that jazz, and the staff was very attentive and interactive. Our waiter was quite smooth and did a great job. (He kept the meal moving, but you didn't feel like he was standing there waiting to take your plates from you.) :)

So, we tried it all. We ordered some sushi. A shrimp tempura roll which was absolutely awesome, and a salmon roll. It too was very good. The nori (dried seaweed used to roll everything up) was very mild, which is usually my trouble with sushi. The seaweed overpowers the fish and other things. The flavors were all present and nothing overpowered.

As for entrees, Michelle had a Red Curry Chicken, and I had Cashew Chicken. I got to sample Michelle's which was very tasty, and mine too was excellent. I ate the whole thing and it wasn't a small plate. :) Again, the flavors were complex, all present, and very well blended. I sound like one of those judges on Iron Chef. Allez! Cuisine!

One of the best surprises about the place was the dessert menu. The desserts are actually unique! I was expecting, "Ok, cheesecake, some pie, vanilla ice cream, oooh...look at this Triple Chocolate Thunder Blunder Mega Bang Death Mountain!!"

Michelle had a slice of fresh mango with rice pudding, which I sampled, and which was pleasant and light. I had banana pieces, wrapped in rice paper and deep fried, drizzled in honey and sesame seeds, with a scoop of the ubiquitous vanilla ice cream. A really great, and unusual dessert experience.

The whole trip to Lemongrass was well worth it. It's priced pretty comfortably. Two people can eat there for somewhere between 30-50 dollars depending on what you order and whether you do the whole thing or just have entrees. A 4 star experience to be sure!

Alright, I'll wind it down now. I'd say if you've read this far you deserve to be finished! Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to you next time!

-J

Pottery 101 - Night 4

2008-08-20T01:46:00.003-04:00

We're at the halfway mark of our 8 week class. I think tonight, Michelle and I both did very well and had our own respective breakthroughs. I figured out how to make a pot with a bottom that isn't proportionally way too heavy, and Michelle had a fantastic night with trimming her already thrown pottery. We were even told that we didn't have to worry about our mid-term grade and that we pass. :) The bad news is that we didn't glaze anything tonight. The good news is that I think I have a time table for when we get to finally see some finished work. Assuming our pieces are bisque fired this week, (bisque firing is the first of two firings, and is done to prepare the piece for glazing and the second firing) then we'll be able to glaze next week. If that happens, then I anticipate we'll see something finished in early September. *fingers crossed* I can't speak for Michelle, but I for one would like to take another round of this class to solidify the things I've learned, and have the opportunity to make a few more things, with perhaps a bit more freedom. So far, I'm having a good time with it. I mentioned last week that I'd like to focus on throwing taller cylinders, and so the piece I threw tonight was just that. I tried for another tall, straight cylinder. It would have been my tallest yet, but I ended up pulling the wall too thin and lost about 2 inches of height as a result. No harm done though, because it still made a decently sized piece. I'm doing better gauging the width of my walls at the base of the piece, but I still have to take considerable time to make sure I don't make a mistake and mess up what I'm working on. Bill (our instructor) will walk past and hold a finger above the piece after a glance at the walls. This finger indicates how tall the piece WOULD be if I were getting the excess width out of the base. As I said though, tonight I think I sort of got it. It should come a little easier next time. Anyway, more to come next week! -J

Fitness Update

2008-08-19T00:02:00.003-04:00

I haven't done a fitness update in awhile, so I thought I'd let you all know how I was doing in case you're curious, and hopefully to inspire those of you who may have fitness goals of your own! Let's begin shall we? My current and lowest weight in my bid for fitness to date is 189.6 pounds. That brings me to a grand total of about 38 pounds lost. My original goal is 50 pounds total, and that one is clearly in sight. 12 pounds to go and I'm there. Around 177.5 pounds. However, as I am not certain if I've mentioned before, my secondary, and in fact final weight goal is 165. I want to stay somewhere between 160 and 170. That is the weight that will put me solidly inside my healthy BMI range. If I manage to do this, I'll weigh less than I did in high school, and I'll also weigh less than I did when I lost my accumulated college weight. Most people know that I lost 76 pounds late in college with the Subway diet and walking. That took me from a max weight of 253 down to 177. Before beginning this last attempt I had put weight on back up to 227.5. So, with a 12 pound sub goal, and a total remaining goal of approximately 24.5 pounds, I feel primed to go, prepared to go the distance and positive that I will make this happen. On a related note, I bought some new shirts today! I was really excited because new clothes are a great way to enjoy weight loss and to motivate you to keep going. Also if you throw away your old ones, you have nothing to grow back into, so backsliding = buying more clothes that you won't enjoy. Jon's Fitness Law #1 : No one ever got in shape by buying bigger pants. So anyway, not only did I get four shirts and a tie, all of which I really like, but I got them on clearance. Yes. The shirts and tie that would have cost me $56 total at full price, cost me about $30! That's nearly a 50% discount. Dave Ramsey would be proud. :) Ok, so things are also ramping up for the Labor Day 5k in Ceredo-Kenova. Michelle and I have been training pretty hard and I think we can come close to a 30 minute time. One of my goals on 43 things, as I think I have mentioned, is a sub-30 minute 5k. I think it's possible, but I can't say for sure if I'll pull it off this Labor Day. Could happen if I have a really good day. In case I didn't post my Memorial day 5k time, it was 37:15. Michelle and I finished within a second of each other. This time, we will definitely see a decrease in the time. How much depends on how we are feeling when the race happens. Rest assured that the time and a report will be posted here the very day that the race is run. Related to running, Jen P. told me that her doctor once told her that for each pound of weight you shed, you are actually taking four pounds of pressure off of your knees. That would explain why running has become a less painful affair for me. 38 x 4 = 150 pounds of pressure! My knees are definitely behaving better since last fall when I injured the left one in a glorious stage dive. The right one, which has bothered me since high school marching band, is doing pretty well also. It aches, but it works. So lastly, let me give you a couple of really useful websites. One, which I picked up from Eric, is a pedometer hack for Google Maps. Located here. It comes in handy when you run or walk somewhere, and then have to wonder how far you ran. I recommend using the hybrid map/satellite setting. Secondly, I stumbled across this handy site while looking for an easier way to convert MPH to and from various other measurements. The Arkansas Runner Calculators Page located here. I hope you've enjoyed my little update. I'll keep you posted on all the exciting new developments leading up to the big mountain trek in the spring! :) -J

Pottery 101 - Night 3

2008-08-12T23:21:00.004-04:00

Well, tonight was a pretty successful night for me. I managed this time to make a cylinder that was the tallest I'd thrown so far. Last time I mentioned pinching it in half, and this time I managed not to. I have a good, solid stein sized cylinder. Tonight I got to do a little of everything. I trimmed up something I had done last time, I threw my stein, and I put a pretty nice handle on the pot I trimmed. I was even able to help with mixing some glazes, which was interesting. I was mixing glaze and so forth, and didn't really get a good idea of what Michelle got to do tonight, but I know she threw a decent mug type object herself. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I really want to concentrate on throwing taller cylinders for a couple of weeks, because I think that'll be the key to doing bigger things. It makes me nervous trying to pull the clay upward to make it taller though. I'm always afraid it's going to flop right over. Anyway, that's about it for now. Still nothing glazed and fired, but I believe we'll get to glaze next week so we're getting close to some pictures! Hang in there constant reader!! -J

My First Bento

2008-08-10T23:49:00.003-04:00

Ok folks! It is finally time! Michelle and I made bento lunches tonight. I have made my first one and I have a picture and a description for you! Here's the lunch:

So, you might be wondering with intense curiosity, just exactly what we have here. The top tier is a three bean salad, made from black, kidney and great northern beans, and a fat free Italian dressing, garnished with fresh mint. To the right are a couple of lemonhead candies. Actually, a lemonhead and a cherryhead.

The bottom tier contains chicken nuggets that Michelle found a recipe for on justbento.com. These nuggets are seasoned with salt and pepper, rolled in corn starch and fried in olive oil cooking spray. Then, we dashed them with a little soy sauce and some lemon juice. They're paired with fresh sliced cherry tomatoes and mint leaves.

Next to that is 1/4 cup of mixed nuts.

That's my lunch! Small, simple and healthy. By appearances it'll be very satisfying. Finally I get to eat something rather than watch Michelle carry things off and wish I could have it. I might comment this post after I taste everything and let you know how it was. I hope you're all enjoying reading about my lunch. :) Talk to you soon!

-J

Pottery 101 - Night 2

2008-08-05T22:30:00.000-04:00

Quick update on our pottery class. Tonight Michelle and I both felt a little more comfortable with working on the wheel. We were introduced to the techniques involved in trimming an unfired pot, to get it ready for glaze and firing. We each trimmed a couple of the pots we did last week and I put a handle on one of mine to make a decent, if somewhat heavy, mug. Also, I was working on a new pot tonight, trying to make one above the aforementioned 7 or 8 inches, but I ended up pinching too hard and taking off the upper two thirds of the thing in one fell swoop. So, I did what anyone in my position might do with a basketful of lemons. I made lemonade. My super tall pot became a really nice little teabowl. Still no pictures, but I'm thinking that as soon as we can get a batch fired, we'll have a couple to show. Of course, there will be works on display at the next First Friday in Ashland. First Friday happens as you might've guessed, on the first friday of the month, where the galleries in Ashland stay open late and so forth. If the things we're working on make it through the process of glazing and firing, we'll maybe have a little something to show there. More to come next week! -Jon

Bento Update

2008-08-03T23:35:00.000-04:00

Well, Michelle and I received our new Bento boxes from Japan this Saturday. I came home from praise band rehearsal to find Michelle standing in the living room, excitedly holding forth a yellow package containing our Japanese swag! Also included was my first pack of Black Black chewing gum. Let me start with that.

I was intrigued by the gum because it had an odd name. Not to say that most snacks and gum don't have odd names to us in Japan, but this one just caught my eye. Here's a picture:

The gum itself, as you might have guessed, is black as well as the wrapper. Anyway, it's a really strong "Altoid-like" flavor, and quite refreshing. It also makes an excellent cat repellent. Merlin hates mint, and this makes him run like there's no tomorrow. I'd love to know what the Kanji on the wrapper says. Also, here's a youtube link to a commercial for the gum in Japan:

Black Black Chewing Gum

I guess the gum is considered masculine, as well as capable of waking you up...kind of like...a girl dressed in silver, shooting you with a huge ray gun or something. Ah, Japanese TV. :)

So anyway, that's the gum. Moving on to what you really came here for, the new Bentos. First, I'll show you mine, mainly because there's less to say and because I can't get a really good picture of it. I'll try again, but for the moment, it's just not working. Maybe I'll try a lighter background. A couple of pictures:

So, as you can see, my box is black and grey and though I don't have a size comparison for you, it's a little larger in capacity than either of Michelle's. I haven't gotten to use it yet, but we're planning on a picnic at Central Park or something sometime soon. The box says "Liberty" on the lids, which is the particular model name.

And now, Michelle's more interesting box. More interesting because I have better pictures, and an actual lunch that she's taking to work tomorrow. Pics:

Here we are. I like this box a lot because it's a little more squared than her other one, and that presents some new options for packing. I also like the triangular Onigiri (remember that means rice balls) box. It's designed to hold two convenience store onigiri. They're available in Japan like burritos and nachos here. We're going to have to make our own for it, but the box is cool. I like the color as well.

As for the lunch we kind of tossed together tonight...

Obviously a banana. The top tier is a turkey and tomato sandwich on whole grain bread, wrapped in cellophane and decorated with dragonfly and flower stickers. In the bottom is yogurt, honey and dried cranberries. That's a little recipe we picked up from Gina's daily plate diary. Very tasty. I think it's listed as yummy yogurt on the diary. So, credit to Gina for the idea. It's decorated by a swirl of honey and a dusting of red sugar. The silicone souffle cup has a 1/4 cup of mixed nuts. Again, I'd love to have this tomorrow, but It's probably a clif bar for me. :)

So there you go! A Bento update as promised! I'll try to get a better picture of mine as well as the first lunch I pack in it. Comments and Questions are of course welcome! Thanks a lot for reading and see you again soon!

-J

Pottery 101

2008-07-29T22:27:00.001-04:00

Michelle and I started our 8 week pottery class tonight. It was an interesting format. We both kind of expected to go in, sit down and learn how to use a pottery wheel step by step. We expected kind of the same skill level from all the students. In reality, it was much more of a relaxed atmosphere and there were students of all levels working pretty much at their leisure. We got some basic instruction from the teacher and then set right to playing with clay. Michelle and I each made three small pieces tonight and we got off to a good start. I'm looking forward to having more time on the wheel. I can make tiny pieces but I need to work on making them slimmer and not so bottom heavy. Hopefully I'll be able to put a little height on them at some point too. I can't really get much above 7 or 8 inches yet. I'm actually hoping to make either some goblets or tea bowls or something. I'll update with some pictures of our work once some things (that we want to show) are glazed and fired. Talk to you soon! -J

Bento FUUUUUN!

2008-07-28T22:26:00.000-04:00

Hello! Here's a quick post to show what Michelle and I did for her lunch tomorrow! We made some things from a bento website and a book we picked up at Borders.

Here's a picture of the lunch:

The top tier contains a mix of nectarine, mandarin orange and sliced Kiwi fruit.

Below that is a cabbage salad with balsamic vinegar, garlic and dried cranberries. I fixed this one. It smells like it'll be fantastic!

The bottom tier is most interesting. We have three rice balls (Onigiri), on the left is sweetened egg, in the middle is Umeboshi (Japanese Pickled Plum), and on the right, wrapped in plastic is Shrimp, soy sauce, sake, ginger and a little sugar. It smells like the shrimp from the Hibachi grill. I'll bet it's going to taste awesome. I made myself an egg onigiri for a snack tomorrow. Also in the bottom tier is a small sweet potato cake we picked up from the Asian market in Charleston.

On the right is the lid of the Bento box which contains some mixed nuts, which we are now crazy about thanks to Gina's well timed bowl of them the last time we were up there.

I wish I was eating this lunch tomorrow, but I'll probably have a yogurt bar or something boring. :) Anyway, just thought I'd let you see what we made! Talk to you soon!

-J

General Update

2008-07-28T00:05:00.001-04:00

Well, There's a lot of stuff going on, and things are going well at the moment. I just decided to do a quick update on a few things to keep both of my readers informed. :)

I'll begin with a quick thanks to God for such a great weekend. I feel like there is a lot I should thank him for that I don't, and I really felt like He gave me this weekend. Michelle and I got to spend a lot of time just hanging out, and we have been so busy for the last month or two that it was a nice change of pace to say the least. We got to do a little shopping and have a nice dinner and just relax.

So I was excited in part because my dad was making a hiking stick for Michelle and we surprised her with it this weekend. Here's a picture of the top:

It has a face carved into it and a bone Celtic Triquetra on the strap. Also her initials and a reference to Proverbs 10:10-14. The surprise went well and she loved it. I found out at the same time that I'm getting one too, but I don't have a picture just yet, because it's not quite ready.

In other news, Michelle and I ran in the park Sunday evening and we pulled off an 8:56 minute mile! That's a new personal best over my previous 9:09! I could've gone further, except we had just eaten and a full stomach is not conducive to endurance while running. Also, I think I have broken my plateau at 198. I am now 197 and still continuing my quest for smaller pants! :)

A little news on the FBC Praise band! We have guitar, vocals, keys, bass and drums lined up and played together for the first time as a group at the 5:30 service at church. I think things went very well! It's a lot of fun to be playing in a band regularly again. I'm enjoying the bass a lot and even though I'm going to have to work up to being good at it, I think it'll be a great time!

Let me see, the last thing I think I have for now is that I ordered a Bento box! If you aren't familiar with Bento, it's a traditional lunch box in Japan. I got one for Michelle this past Christmas and she's been having a lot of fun packing lunches in it. I'll put a picture of my box up here when I get it. Here's Michelle's box:

She has another one in yellow on order as well. Anyway, you can see that the box is way cooler than a typical brown bag. The lunches themselves are works of art! children in Japan take the most fun lunches ever to school! Go to Flickr sometime and search for Bento. Or just on Yahoo or something. you'll find hundreds of pictures! Here's an example.

Ok, so I think that's enough for now. I'll update again soon, once we have our new boxes and everything!

-J

The next leg of the journey, etc.

2008-07-22T21:23:00.000-04:00

Hey again! Well, first off, I am over the hump. 199.5 and dropping. I'd like to say it's all downhill from here, but honestly, as the weight drops, it gets harder and harder to lose. Let me wax poetic for a moment if I may. It's kind of like I was rising out of the water until I hit 200. Psychologically it's like surfacing and taking a deep breath. I finally made it that far. Now though, I will attempt to flap my arms and rise into the air. It will become considerably slower before too much longer I imagine, but I think I'm up to it. All of thing great things about losing weight are beginning to happen. I'm wearing old pants, and starting to get those "have you lost weight" looks. Not to mention the energy level is up. I was relating to Michelle the other day about when I found the strength to start this whole thing. It was right after the 5k on Memorial day actually. I was standing there, very proud of my 37 minute finish, and I saw a guy who had also run the race. He was slim and probably in his 40s. He was walking and eating a banana. Looked like he was having a great day. So was I, but I thought, "I would love to be in good shape like that, and just happy to have run my race, and enjoying a healthy snack." I decided that I would "Have my banana" some day. Later that day I had a hot dog or something equally questionable. It was Memorial Day after all. That evening I think I had BW3 Hot Wings for dinner. But all day I thought about that banana havin' dude after the race. I thought about the Appalachian Trail, and I thought about where I'd be in my mid-40s if I didn't take back my health. Michelle and I had already started our exercise routine. We'd run a 5k. I was still eating more than I should. I just ate more to compensate for the extra energy needed for the training. I hadn't dropped any weight in that process. That night I sat by myself and took the time to think about what I was about to undertake. I said a few prayers for strength and determination, and I went to bed, knowing that when I woke up, that would be the start of it. Anyway, That's where I was. 227.5 pounds. Now, at 199.5, I feel as though I have made the turn that will lead to the rest of the journey. Perhaps the halfway point, or perhaps the third of the way point. Who could say? Tonight I'll say a few more prayers, prepare for the rest of the battle, and meet the Appalachian Trail in the spring as a lean, mountain climbing machine. Wish me luck! -Jon

Diet and Fitness Update

2008-07-19T12:37:00.000-04:00

Ok, I had something a bit miraculous happen while I was in Vegas. I never expected it, because I had to eat catered food and didn't get to do my regular exercise. I assumed I'd come home having to fight back for the pounds I'd have gained. Yesterday I stepped on the scale, expecting something like 2 or 3 pounds of extra weight, but color me surprised when I registered 1.5 pounds lighter than when I left! Yep. That's right! I LOST 1.5 pounds in Las Vegas at a three day catered meeting! I even had a fruit tart one night for dessert! The only thing I can figure is that I did have to do a lot of walking and that must've balanced things out or something. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised. I am at 200 pounds exactly and I hope tomorrow to see my first sub-200 pound weight in almost 2 years! This brings my weight loss total to 27.5 pounds of my initial 50 pound goal! Also, another milestone this week. I ran my first ever sub-10 minute mile! Yesterday I took off and really tried to push myself. I managed to run a 9:09! I couldn't believe it. I was exhausted and about to puke, and unsure whether my legs would support me on the rest of the run/walk, but I did it. If I can maintain that pace for a full 5k, I'll be running well under a 30 minute. I think I'd settle for just under a 30 minute right now. It's one of the things to do on my 43 things profile. The next 5k is coming up on Labor Day, and I hope to run that one in under 30 minutes. Maybe I'll pull it off, and maybe not, but I think I can probably do it with a month and a half yet to train. Well, that's about all for now. I just wanted to update you on how unexpectedly well my running and weight loss have been going for me this week. Yay!! -J

Spur of the Moment Stew and Trader Joe's Too

2008-07-13T23:53:00.000-04:00

This weekend was fun. Our normal Columbus D&D group got together and rather than playing this time, we went to the North Market and Just kind of hung around playing Rock Band and whatever else came to mind. It was a good time. We started with the North Market, which was about as close to an old world Marketplace as you can get in 21st Century America. All kinds of strange, unusual foods and fare. Michelle and I tried chocolate milk tea with coconut jelly, as well as a banana honey smoothie with tapioca pearls. The experience was odd. I liked them both, but with a certain amount of healthy wariness. There was a trip to a hobby store and of course the obligatory stop at Trader Joe's. I love Trader Joe's! We always load up on dried fruits and anything odd that we find that looks good. This time we picked up candied dried hibiscus blossoms. They turned out to be pretty good. A little like a fruit roll up kind of texture, but they're flowers. As always I grabbed my flattened dried bananas, and we got a bag of freeze dried rambutan. We had a bag full of things, including a wide assortment of Clif bar flavors we can't get at home. Apple Cranberry Cherry and Carrot Cake are my personal favorites. So as the evening went on, we all found ourselves back at the Chez Cooper, where Aaron and Michele had earlier set a crock of leftover pork from the pig roast to warm. That was fantabulous as well, along with a Lemon-Rosemary Cake from a Ravenwood Castle cookbook. You'd really begin to wonder if I was actually dieting if you only read this entry. :) As for that though, I have made it to my halfway point. 25 pounds and counting! After we had dinner, Gina showed us her new kitchen knives and gave us a quick lesson in proper vegetable chopping technique. We then took the pile of chopped practice vegetables and made "Spur of the Moment" stew by throwing them, some chicken broth and a little pork together, and seasoning it with wreckless abandon. It turned out to be pretty good I must say. So that's what I did on my weekend vacation and now I'm getting ready to head off to Las Vegas. Maybe I'll see Elvis!! -J

Charlie's Bunion

2008-07-11T00:20:00.000-04:00

Michelle and I were down in Georgia this past weekend for my cousin's wedding and on the way back we stopped in Tennessee and did a quick day hike in the Smoky Mountains. My profile picture actually came from the ones we took on the hike. It was an absolutely beautiful walk in the mountains that took us over 4 miles of the Appalachian Trail. We were only moderately rained on. This was a kind of scouting mission of sorts for the big trip in the spring I mentioned last post. We checked out one of the many shelters that are built along the AT:

This is the Icewater Spring Shelter. Looks pretty cozy doesn't it? I thought so. Anyway, while there we ran into a crew who worked for the AT Conservancy, performing trail maintenance and such. One of them was carrying a 50 gallon drum instead of a backpack. We also ran into a guy who had through-hiked the trail in 1979 and was back to visit on a weekend trip. Then, in perhaps one of the strangest events that has ever happened to me, we ran into a peahen. Yep. An honest to goodness peahen:

Don't ask me what she's doing there. All I know is that she was very nice and led us quite a way down the trail above the shelter before turning aside to wait on her next party. She was a dutiful trail guide.

Anyway, the view from the Bunion was fantastic. We were told by some other hikers that the fog had just rolled out 5 minutes before we arrived. Here are a couple of shots that turned out really nice:

Anyone who hasn't had a chance to hike in the Smoky Mountains should definitely take the time to do it. The views are well worth the hike. Go to it and have fun!!

-Jon

A very good place to start...

2008-07-10T00:57:00.000-04:00

Well, I think I'll try and start a blog. I've had a few half hearted attempts over the years, and once I even did really well with one for awhile. The Fountain of Wisdom on my old homepage was a long lived, if sporadically updated little online journal, even before blogging took off. So this is Trudger's Treatises. So named, as to fit with the convention set by the Coopers. I wanted something using an online pseudonym, that being Trudger, and an alliterative word that had something to do with writing, informing, or something to that effect, thus Treatises. It is my hope that I can use this blog in such a way as to keep up those who are interested in what's going on. Keep in mind that I am not, and will never be a daily journal keeper. My journals tend to be the kind in which 15 to 20 entries can span the space of a year. Sometimes more, sometimes less. My paper journals are this way as well. I can never really come up with something to write on a daily basis. So I'll just start with the latest things that are happening and we'll go from there. First, I am writing my novel. I started it back in March of this year after I was finally able to mostly nail down a good story from beginning to end in an outline form. I've tried to write books before, but what would happen is that I'd start strong, and then lacking a solid storyline to follow, I would tend to meander, and the lose my train of thought. So far, "Merrick" is not proceeding this way. It has been much easier to stay on course with the outline and I highly recommend that any budding author use one. Currently I am stuck dealing with how much of the backstory (and forestory for that matter) to reveal, and the pace in which I should reveal it. I've had trouble with books and short stories I've tried in the past with pacing. My exposition tends to be a little frantic, because I want to get the whole thing on paper now! I mean, I want the reader to know the cool stuff as fast as possible, so what comes out is a vast jumble of exposition, followed by a vacuum created by having nothing left to say. Again, the outline has helped in this regard, but I need to make certain I do not "spill the beans" too quickly or there's no hope for keeping it interesting for the whole ride. If you'd like to check out the prelude to "Merrick" it is posted on my website. Just create an account and have a look! The next thing that comes to mind that's going on is my current bid for fitness, spurred on by the impending arrival of the spring of 2009, which brings with it a 100 mile trek on the Appalachian Trail that my wife and I are planning. I have dropped about 23 pounds thus far, and intend, before the end of the year, to drop another 27 at the least. My motto has been "The less I weigh, the less I have to carry up that mountain!" I have been eating fewer than 1500 calories a day and using a mix of cardio (jogging and hiking) and some light weight work and ab work for tone. Michelle and I are working out together and recently ran our first 5k race. Another is approaching on Labor Day which we hope to run faster. This running thing started when one of our friends decided to use the "Couch to 5k" program to jump start his own fitness. We did it together and all ran the race. We all finished, alive and vertical. Anyway I am using a site called "The Daily Plate" to track my food and exercise. Jenn N. mentioned it months ago, and Michelle and I just started using it this past week. It's actually a lot of fun to track your progress and daily nutrition. I read an article that said people who keep a daily log of what they eat tend to lose more weight than those who don't. I'm taking every advantage I can. Go here to check out my daily plate profile! So those two things are taking up quite a bit of my time these days. That and work of course. Next week I'll be flying out to Las Vegas for our company trade show and some training. Vegas is fun for a little while, but I'm glad I won't be out there for an extended period. Too, too hot! Also, I'm working on playing a little bit of bass guitar in the budding praise band down at church. That's been fun so far, and I'm looking forward to getting to play something I haven't really played in a band before. Ok, I think I've flooded you, intrepid reader, with enough things to think about. I know you'll spend the day with them on your mind. "I wonder what Jon is eating right now?" "I wonder if he's gotten past his problem in Merrick?" "I'll bet he's jogging. You KNOW he has to be jogging!" Talk to you soon! Have a good one and eat your vegetables! :) -J