You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November, 2008.
November 30th is the 334th day of the year (335th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. November 30th, this year, was a travel day for me. Six point two-five hours of travel time. Lots of cars, nasty attitudes, several wrecks, mucho po-po, ample craziness, awful McDonald’s stops, cheaper gas in Arkansas, wet roads, Christmas songs on XM, text messages with the LGE, and time to think about the future. I’m thinking about Spring – or at least warmer temps. Rambling today is fun because it suggests one thing: I need more rest. There are 31 days remaining until the end of the year … let’s use them wisely.
After a few days of gathering, eating, playing cards and visiting, the cameras seem to be obsolete. But, each year that I’m in Jonesboro for Thanksgiving, I try and capture a few images. Herein are some family pics when we visited Warren and Mila on Friday evening. More pics to follow.
The term “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day. More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit).
The news media frequently refer to Black Friday as the busiest retail shopping day of the year, but this is not always accurate. While it has been one of the busiest days in terms of customer traffic, in terms of actual sales volume, from 1993 through 2001 Black Friday was usually the fifth to tenth busiest day. In 2002 and 2004, however, Black Friday ranked second place, and in 2003 and 2005, Black Friday actually did reach first place. The busiest retail shopping day of the year in the United States (in terms of both sales and customer traffic) usually has been the Saturday before Christmas.
All were here (in Jonesboro, Arkansas) with the exception of a few folks. Very few.The food was wonderful and tasty – as was the dinner conversation and such. As soon as it began, it ended. Funny how that works – hours to prepare, minutes to consume. Aunt Martha worked tirelessly to have the house and food ready for everyone.
Either I’m getting older (a little too quickly) or I’m just old. But at 9PM I was ready for bed. Need less to say, the rest of the crew wasn’t. I believe the poker game extended itself well into the night and the gamers were gaming for much of the same.
My sinuses are continuing to drip in the back of my throat and as soon as I lay down, I feel as if I want to cough. At 9:30 or so, I took two Benadryl and went to bed. (Wish I had the red syrup with me!) I didn’t drink very much (I had a single beer) and felt better for doing so. Oh well, I slept for 9 hours – which made up for the (approximately) 6 hours the night before.
Good day, thankful for Thanksgiving. Gobble on.
I took these photos on I-40 West on east side of Jackson, Tennessee, November 26th, 2008. I’m unclear as to what happened other than it looked like a one-car (small SUV) wreck. This wreck occurred shortly before passing it because traffic was moving along, but the THP, accompanying firetrucks nor an ambulance were present.
I believe they (THP) were out trying to catch speeders. “Ok then.”
Drive safely. Please.
When my relatives ask me why I get up so early, purchase the ‘right’ kind of shoes for cycling, eat so much, drink so little alcohol, or jostle me about “riding a bicycle” so darn much – I just look at this photo (taken in late October of this year on the Dragon). What I see amazes even me. As I did yesterday, the day before, and the day before that – I shall ride oneth. Peace.
The crazy start to the week means it’s Monday. “It’s so exciting.” NOT. Some folks obviously didn’t enjoy the weekend. They looked grumpy, sounded even grumpier, and weren’t very pleasant.
For all of us who ‘attempt’ to enjoy our weekends away from work, the shock of grumps come Monday morning is huge jolt to the system. The Monday morning (mourning) stern face of business seems daunting and unapproachable. What’s up with that?
I’ve learned oh-so-much over the last year and much of it comes from observation. One observation stands out more than any other: folks with a stern approach to business are not very happy within themselves.
May I offer a suggestion? More relaxation over the weekend and encouragement come Monday. Encourage everyone, not just those whom you ‘value.’ Encourage everyone.
Smile on.
Yes, I was tired, but I also felt it was an opportunity to gauge my fitness. No surprise, it’s dropped some because the racing season is now two months behind me. However, I cranked the bike up to 22+ for most of the trip to and from Treemont, my personal Mecca, and the numbers on the heart rate monitor were surprising. Most of the ride the numbers remained lower than 78% of max – which is great news. Cool weather conditions aren’t my favorite, but we’ll deal with them while counting down the days until spring.
Ride on.
The day was brisk; burr-burr.
When I left the house at 11:00AM it was 30 degrees outside. By the time I crested the Foothills Parkway the temp was a tropical 24 degrees. Ah, the temp drops a few degrees when you’re atop the mountains.
I traversed the Foothills over to the Dragon and then to Fontana Village … and back. The 90+ miles required almost 6 hours (which included about 12 minutes of bio-breaks, eating and clothing addition/subtraction). Sure enough the total climbing elevation was just over 7,500 feet; no wonder I’m tired. The future of training will include more of the same, with warmer temps I hope.
Ride oneth.
When looking into the camera sometimes we see cold scenes which appear stark and empty. More often than not, the abundant life is hidden from the focal point of the camera and buried in the background. Sea-side is a favorite location to capture images, like today’s photo …. which is brimming with life. Most of which is hidden. Naturally it feels cold, but it’s close to the ocean and just heartbeats away from the mainland. Aloha.
Recently I purchased a Crumpler camera bag — so I can fit all my gear in one pack with proper protection for the valuable lenses (especially the Canon EF 70-200 IS/USM 2.8). It was a fun purchase too – I made it while in Hawai’i. The size of the bag looks as if a six-pack should be easily fitted … possibly ice too?
After riding my bike 75 miles in truly cold weather, I am exhausted.
I rode from my house to the Dragon and back, and the temp (windchill) was around 34 degrees. Burr.
Actually I rode 37.5 miles from home and turned around … thank goodness. On the return trip, as I crossed the Foothills Parkway, I looked east toward Gatlinburg and North Carolina … wow. Every mountain top was covered in snow. It was a beautiful sight, but the brisk temps made the trek a little “tougher.” I stopped on my return trip to snap the photo of the day. Enjoy.
“The Sea, once it casts its spell,
holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
–Jacques Cousteau
For 14 days I was immersed in Hawaiian music. Fourteen days. It’s been difficult, until today, to re-engage with the island sound because of the recency of being there.
Today I turned it back on and instantly the waves were pounding outside, the spray was in the air and the LGE was sitting beside me smiling about how much she loved the whole experience. I decided today that I will continue to play the music I love. Although, I realize at home it might become passe for those around me so I’ll limit the exposure.
Sure enough the island tunes will be core to my to-and-from work personal DJ se-lec-tion (pronounced, “sa lex she’on”). And likely what I will enjoy at the office each day. Heck, I can tune into the island radio stations by what of the net any time (yessur). Knowing we’ll soon return to Hawai‘i makes it even sweeter.
Aia no i ka mea e mele ana. (Let the singer select the song).
Pronounced: “Ayeay noh e ka mahay ah maylay aynay.”
“Life, like all other games,
becomes fun when one
realizes that it’s just a game”
Little did we know that just up the mountain side from us (we stayed in Keauhou) was an inactive volcano. The name? Hualalai.
And it is the third youngest and third-most historically active volcano on the Island of Hawai`i. Six different vents erupted lava between the late 1700s and 1801, two of which generated lava flows that poured into the sea on the west coast of the island. The Keahole Airport, located only 11 km north of Kailua-Kona, is built atop the larger flow.
Though Hualalai is not nearly as active as Mauna Loa or Kilauea, recent geologic mapping of the volcano shows that 80 percent of Hualalai’s surface has been covered by lava flows in the past 5,000 years. In the past few decades, when most of the resorts, homes, and commercial buildings were built on the flanks of Hualalai, earthquake activity beneath the volcano has been low. In 1929, however, an intense swarm of earthquakes lasting more than a month was most likely caused by magma rising to near the surface. For these reasons, Hualalai is considered a potentially dangerous volcano that is likely to erupt again in the next 100 years.
Notice Hualali in the background of the attached photo. It’s close enough to climb, and close enough to blanket the area with lava. Better arrange for a getaway boat, cause we’re gonna need one.
Aloha.
Yes, I missed the mainland. I missed some of the folks at my office. I missed the smell of my home (it’s really nice), the leather seat smell in my car, my bicycle, and the other creature comforts of East Tennessee life. What I miss even more is a 10,700 square mile island whose name is Hawai’i.
Somewhere near sunset on Sunday, November 9th, our flight from KOA (Kona, Hawai’i) took off without delay. That sucked. Just about the time wheels “were up,” a baby in the back of the plane howled.
I muttered under my breath, “exactly!” And with that I looked out the window to gather one last glimpse of the Big Island. The 12 days were not enough. But a ’stay’ isn’t enough, is it? The bright side of this gig is simple: in less than 12 months I’ll be in Hawai’i twice. Yes, two times.
Aloha oe. Aloha.
This beautiful and peaceful park in Hilo is dedicated to Queen Lydia Lili’uokalani – the greatly beloved and final Monarch of the Hawaiian islands. Queen Lili’uokalani ruled Hawai’i from January 17, 1891 until her illegal deposition on January 17, 1893 by American business, political, and military interests. While there I took a bunch of photos – most of which were around high-noon – with direct sunlight just overhead. Ergo, it’s difficult to capture images without blowing them out. Here’s one that survived. Enjoy – aloha.
