Category Archives: hobbies

Preparations

Posted by on April 16, 2021 Comments Off on Preparations

The weather is flirting with temperatures that would be acceptable for getting the kayak out and on the water. I don’t mind a little cold, but mixed with even a touch of rain and grey skies, being out on the water is a lot less fun. With that said, a boat doesn’t get itself ready for the season.

There is cleaning to do. Gear to check. And maybe a few improvements to implement before the season gets underway. One of those is a nifty GPS/Sonar unit for finding fish.

Yes, this is a toy for a toy. No, I don’t need a fish finder to assist in the Not Catching Of Fish. Sensor data is fun. Building out something like this for inclusion on the kayak will provide opportunities for learning something new and generally screwing around with fun stuff.

But that’s a project for next weekend. In the mean time, I will clean things up.

Time

Posted by on October 21, 2020 Comments Off on Time
Colorful autumn trees.

I set goals. Every year I try to lay out a three year plan. It’s a little obsessive, but it keeps things moving and gives me a North Star for navigation in decision making. Every month, I re-evaluate them. And quarterly, I do a brain dump to see if what I’m thinking about now squares with where I wanted to go. I tried to do my monthly review at the beginning of the month and the associated brain dump and…it all stopped.

I looked at the different categories and some of them are just…meaningless in our current climate. So many things either don’t matter anymore or are not achievable that I have to toss out major chunks of The Plan.

Now look, I already did that when we made a massive move to another state during a global pandemic. But even the last bits of lattice I had from The Plan in the Before Times is now gone.

My wife and I walked the dogs at the park Sunday. It was quiet and beautiful. The trees are lit up in colors and the dogs got good and tired. I felt much calmer after that (and before the puppy threw up in the car on the way home). It occurs to me that I need to give more room to the recreational. Maybe what I need are goals around things that aren’t capitalized in “Plans.”

I’m starting to see that we’re not going back.

Being Engaged

Posted by on October 7, 2020 Comments Off on Being Engaged
Bella the Rottweiler

The hardest thing to do now, it seems to me, is to stay engaged with the real world. All of the “doom scrolling” and watching every blip and fleck of digital vomit fly forth from the mouths of people who are paid to be popular does very little to improve one’s life or to keep one engaged with the Real World. The truth is, whatever it is he’s doing this morning, the digital ruminations of the POTUS have very little to do with what’s going on in the room in which we sit.

There are things that pull us back out of the hole we seem to slip into all too easily. One of those things in our house is Bella. She’s about 3 months old. She’s a 45-ish pound rottie. She demands attention. It’s very, very hard to doom scroll when this spazzy, growing pup is trying to eat a shoe or chew on the furniture.

This really is the best time for a puppy. We’re all in the house. She has plenty of people to play with. There are creatures with thumbs to open the door for her or refill her water bowl. Even the daily walk happens. And for the bipedal denizens of the house, this is a great thing.

This is not to disparage Nacho, the elder states-dog of the house. He’s just way more relaxed and spends most of his time napping in my office while I work. He’s not as needy.

As I poke at my hobbies and get through the day, it’s important to me that I note the things that keep me engaged with my world. The things that bring joy.