Old and New

Today marks one year at my new job. I can't believe how quickly it has gone by, but a day turns into a week, which turns into a month, and before you know it, the year has passed. I still love my job and I know that there are so many more things that I can and will be doing.

Today also marks another significant change. Today, my personal business is officially dead and we are signing the lease on a new adventure. There has been much heartache and contemplation, but this change will be for the better.

Heart Adventure

I read a book recently, which talks about relaxation and visualization to reduce stress and reach goals. One of the exercises in the book goes something like this...

Imagine you wake up on a beautiful morning in a castle somewhere. The sun is shining and a warm breeze is blowing. You have no pressure and no deadlines, plenty of money and your family is taken care of. A servant brings you breakfast and asks you what you want to do today...

Now you're supposed to take a moment and really feel your answer. I've asked this to a few people and most of the answers (that weren't "I don't know") were pretty simple things like "read books" or "sleep all day", but the whole point of the exercise is to get a feel for what your heart wants to do. Whatever your answer is, you're supposed to figure out how to do that thing, and sooner than later.

I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat wondering what my heart desired to do on a perfect day, huh? Well, when I went through the exercise, the first thing I thought of was "let's go hang gliding!"

I didn't think much of it at the time, but less than a week later, a hiking/outdoor group that I belong to (meetup.com) posted a tandem hang gliding meetup. I figured, even if it wasn't "a sign", it was at least a opportunity for me to do something that I would enjoy. I signed up, and today was the day.

A two and a half hour drive and getting up at 6AM was well worth it. No mountains there, so we get to height by being towed up by a little one-person, sport airplane. A great temperature and thin clouds at about 3000 ft, was just fine for being towed up and dropped off at 2500 ft.

It was wonderful. Very windy, but that was okay. It took about 5 minutes to climb to height, were it felt like we were attached to a big kite (essentially we were). Then, we cut loose and suddenly we went from going-up to going-down. That was a touch startling, but not bad. Then we got to steer around the sky and gracefully float down for about a 15 minute ride. The best part was when we'd pull up a little into a "stall" and then catch and start down again. It was the little butterfly-in-the-stomach feel. But the actual ride felt very safe because of the harness that we were strapped in with cradled my whole body and just made me feel like I was on a windy hammock.

And of course, it was over much too quickly.

Was it worth it? Yes. Would I do it again? I'd like for it to be closer and/or cheaper, but I certainly would love another opportunity. Simply marvelous.

Social Standards

Last week I went to a water park with some friends. We spent half the day, walking around in our swimsuits, surrounded by a bunch of other people walking around in their swimsuits. The longer we were there, the more obvious it became to me that there is a real separation between what is considered "decent" in normal public places, and the magical world that is connected to water activities. It is, not only completely socially acceptable for people to take off most of their clothes and wear what would normally be covered only by underwear, but it is expected. I'm not sure if it was more disturbing to be seeing more of all the total stranger's bodies, or the exposed skin of someone I have to interact with again. For example, I now know that one of my friends has a good-sized mole on the back of her leg, just below the underwear line. I would not know this, if we weren't walking around, in broad daylight, wearing brightly colored, spandex underwear... oh, I mean swimsuits.

I recognize that this is a widely held social standard, but stay with me for a minute. Imagine that you were home, and you had house guests over. You go change clothes in your bedroom, but they didn't know and accidentally step in to find you there in your underwear. Apologies and embarrassment would likely follow. Now, imagine those same house guests, join you to go swimming. Everyone takes of just as much clothing, if not more, and suddenly it's okay?

I suppose this is just the tip of the iceberg though. For example, why is it okay for men to expose themselves while urinating in a public restroom, but the toilets are separated by thin little walls? I'm not saying that all social standards should be abandoned, nor am I saying that we need to go back to the days of swimming fully clothed. I suppose I'm not really sure what my conclusion is... just that people are strange and the larger the group, the more odd they become.

Family Reunion

I spent this last week in Oklahoma in a small resort with most of my immediate family. Over a year ago, my mom decided that she wanted to vacation there because it was near one of my brothers, who lives in Kansas and it was "half way" to me. That initial thought ended up expanding to include all 4 of my siblings and their 2-3 kids each. 3 condos and 21 people later, we had a full load!

We all met in Kansas, then drove 6 cars down, one hauling a boat, as we were staying next to a lake. Before we even left, one of the adults got sick, throwing up. That should have been a clue, but what could we have done? Throughout the week, the sickness passed from person to person, lasting 12-24 hours, symptoms including vomiting, diarrhea, achy, and tired.

That said, the sickness was the worst part of the trip, and it wasn't that bad, considering how quickly each person got over it. The rest of the time was spent hanging out, chasing kids around, going to the pool, going to the lake, and fixing meals. Someone had the great idea of each family making one of the dinners for the week, which means that for one day, you made 5 times more than usual for dinner, but for the other days, you just sat back and enjoyed!

There were a couple of nights that some of the adults were able to get together after the kids went to bed and play a card game called spoons. That was probably the most laughing that was had in the whole trip! Then, on the second to last day, we decided to have a picnic lunch in a state park that was about 10-15 minutes away. That got us out of our rooms and let the kids roam around a bit. We had squirt guns, but looking back now, the only thing that would have made that better is if we had water balloons (and some way to fill them).

On the last day, everyone left at different times, but they all made the "good bye" rounds before they left. I don't think there were any parting tears, which means that it was the perfect amount of time spent.

I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to spend that time with my family, especially considering there was one nephew that I hadn't met yet, and one brother's family is likely to be moving out of the country within a few months.

I think the next time we do this, it should be in Colorado. Oklahoma was WAY boring, hot and humid (didn't know till we got there), plus it was a really long ride for two of my siblings, that have three little kids each. Colorado will be more of a middle ground for those driving, and I'll be flying anyway. However, if we wait till the next time that we all can get together, it may be on the scale of 3-6 years. Sigh. Guess it's a good thing we did it now!

Suffering Swallow

Yesterday, as I went to get into my car, I noticed something moving in the parking lot. When I looked closer, it was a little bird that was fluttering across the ground, then it would stop to breathe (panting heavily), then continue. I watched as it reached the curb, but it wasn't able to flutter enough to get onto the sidewalk, so it continued to slowly flutter down the curb.
I thought about getting gloves and picking up the bird, but I had no idea where to put it. I could tell that the bird wasn't going to live much longer and my heart went out to it. I recognized that the bird needed a mercy killing, but I didn't have it in me.
I left and when I came back, the bird was in the corner of the curb, unable to make further progress, waiting to die. I wish I could say that I thought of something noble to do, that I figured out some way to comfort the bird, or relieve it's suffering, but I can't because I didn't. I left that night, with the small thing, alone and dying in a cold parking lot.
When I got back this morning, the bird had died in the night. I'm sure it suffered to it's last breath and I feel like such an awful person because I wasn't able to end its suffering, but I guess I just don't have what it takes to switch my compassion over to action and it makes me wonder if I would be one of those people would would let a person get beaten to death in the street (or something similar) because I was too afraid to do anything.

Take this story for example:
166 People Walked By

Rolling Thunder

I'm going to try a different tactic with the pictures on this one and see if it turns out any better.

First, let me give a little background on what Rolling Thunder is (keep in mind that you can find specific information if you look it up). I'm not sure what year it started, but I've heard that it started with maybe a few hundred motorcycles, and has grown to a few hundred thousand. The idea was to support POW/MIA efforts, showing that there are people who care and will stand up. The motorcycles pile up in the Pentagon parking lot and at noon, they ride around a specific (and sectioned off) route through DC.
This is the first time that I have been to Rolling Thunder. I had Linda on the back of the bike (pictured below) and we were with a group of nine bikes.

This first picture is me standing on a hill overlooking the sea of bikes in the Pentagon parking lot, staging for the ride. Linda and I went down into the edge of the crowd to get food, a T-shirt, and use the porta-potty. The line for food was long, but fast moving; the T-shirts were sold out except for XXXL, unless we wanted to pay $26; and the line for the johns were long and slow moving.
One of the guys in our group used to work for the Pentagon Police, so we had an "in" to cut near the front of the line when the procession started. This picture shows the line of law enforcement bikes that was parked right next to our "VIP" parking.

This is where we parked, and this is our group. If you look close, Linda is the furthest away in this picture, sitting in the grass.

Here's Kevin, the guy I mentioned before (he's super cool, btw). And I also managed to get the helicopter in this pic, which took off just before the ride started. That was pretty cool.

This is the very beginning of the ride. I don't have any mid-ride pictures though, because I was driving!

We rode around the city and it was amazing how many people were lining the streets just to wave and watch us go by. Btw, Linda's "job" for the procession was to wave to all the people as we passed, and she did it VERY well. :-) We ended up here, on the grass of a median, very near the Lincoln monument.

Here's a closer shot of where we were sitting. At one point, I ended up laying down under that tree and falling asleep to the sound of rumbling motorcycles. :-)

Here's the view down the street of the bikes that were coming toward where we were sitting. You can't see too much, but I think my favorites were the front half motorcycle/last half car and the old guy wearing a kilt that looked like he very well could have been Scottish.
Linda and I walked over to the Lincoln monument. This is a picture of Linda and the Washington monument, taken from the steps of the Lincoln monument.
Here's me standing in front of the Lincoln monument. Apparently I was in the hand-on-hip-pose mode today... Oh, and my tip for anyone visiting the monument on a hot day is to go into the book shop inside to the right, it's air conditioned. ;-)
So, after we rested a while (see above nap), we took off, back down to Virginia. Unfortunately with the roads being blocked off, and the traffic being bad, we ended up taking the rather scenic route through DC to get there. Oh well.
When we got back, Don and his wife Brenda, the two in the center of the next photo in black shirts, graciously hosted us with a very yummy bbq.
I wish I had gotten a better picture of Don's bike because he has a neat little side-car on it, but that's it in the background of this picture. And here's Linda visiting with one of the ladies that didn't go on the ride, but joined us for the bbq. So, in the end it was good and I'm glad I went. Luckily it wasn't too hot and also luckily it didn't rain. I'm not sure I would want to go on that particular ride again, but I'll definitly be going on other motorcycle rides, hopefully that will allow the group to open up a bit more, instead of the constant stop-and-go.

I almost forgot, my favorite part was riding the interstate on the way up to DC and we would go under the over-passes that were full of people, waving and happy to see us go by. That was pretty cool.

Where I live

I realized recently that not everyone can say "I'm going up to DC today" in a normal conversation so I figured maybe I should appreciate that a bit more. That said, I wanted to document one of the last times I went up, to the area near DC anyway.

This coming week, my company is participating in a large convention that is aimed at the military, and more specifically (I think) Navy. The convention is three days and three of the managers from my department will be taking turns manning the booth. I was offered a chance to go up with the crew to help deliver the hardware that they're going to need for the booth.

The place that the convention is being held is called National Harbor. It is very large and has a hotel built into the convention center. While we were unloading, we were taken through the large and long corridors that make up the underbelly of the convention center. It was so large that they have street names for the hallways and "Adopt a Corridor" signs labeling what group is responsible for tidying the areas. Unloading the trucks in the bays was done by a team of about a dozen forklifts all going every-which way. At one point there was a traffic jam because there were too many forklifts trying to go in different directions at the same time (and a couple of them had stopped to chat).


Near the hotel is a large covered area that looks like an in-door village with shops and restaurants. This is open to the public and while I was there, I saw a couple women with strollers looking like they were just going for a walk there.







Here are some pictures of the interior. The windows on the far wall is the hotel. The fountain was in front of that little house in the other picture. Keep in mind, it was a cloudy day, I can only imagine what it looks like when the sky is clear!

















Outside the main building, there is a series of shops and restaurants that stretches for about 3 square city blocks. We walked down and ate at a sandwich shop (Potbelly's), but thought it was interesting that there was a restaurant there called Ketchup. Apparently they serve somewhat over-priced "typical American food" like hamburgers and meatloaf, but they bring 4 different kinds of ketchup when the food is served. I guess that's the kind of place you go to just to say you've been there...



The convention center is very near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which is a very large draw-bridge. I tried to take a picture of it, but I'm afraid with my little phone, it didn't turn out very well.


Also, here's a picture looking back at the convention center from the pathway to the restaurants (that's one of my managers in the orange coat).

In the end, it was a pretty laid-back day, nothing like I'm sure the center is going to have for the next few days, but it was nice to go see something new. :-)

(Sorry about the gaps in the post, I was fighting with the editing interface)

Not exactly wings, but I'm still standing...

For my certification (see previous blog), I had 3 exams, which had to average out at 80%. After the first two, I thought I had figured that the third needed to score at least 75, so when I received a 71 I spent a few hours feeling like a devastated failure. Then I looked up the scores, recalculated, and found that I had an 80.333%! I passed!! A few days later, I received official word, with a certificate number. I was extremely relieved.

So... now what?

I'm still working on that, but yesterday I met with my "mentor" (he does computer forensics at the local law enforcement office) and he gave me a couple of ideas, including offering my services to the local camera shops to recover pictures from customer's memory cards when they've accidentally been formatted. I've actually done that once for a friend! Okay, so there's a start. And maybe I'll get some more training/education. That's the thing about education, especially in technology, you can never get enough...

Nearing the cliff, do I have wings?

I read a quote once that I liked that says:
"When we come to the edge of the light we know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, of this we can be sure... either we will be provided something solid to stand on, or we will be taught to fly."

After receiving an email reminder that my time is almost expired a few days ago, I am nearing completion of my third and final examination report for the computer forensics certification that I started working toward in May of last year. The process has been very stressful for me, off and on, and I am anxious to be finished with it, but not so anxious that I want to miss out on any of the possible points. The worst part is that this particular testing process is just that, a test, and therefore when the first two reports were graded, I received no feedback other than scores. I was able to greatly improve my score between the first and the second, but the difficulty of the third exam, greatly outweighs the first two.

The biggest peace I feel right now, as the report is complete and in final revisions before submission is that I am not counting on this certification for my next career move. It will be beneficial (note the positive foreshadowing ;-), but I just landed a great job, and it wasn't on the "condition that I would earn a forensic certification".

Speaking of my job, can I just say, whew! I am still in the learning curve, but I am so grateful for my job and the company. I'm not sure I can convey how much stress I felt in having to commute in freeway traffic for over 2 hours everyday, always wondering how late I was going to be and if there was going to be an accident that slowed everything down. In the month that I've been working my new job, I haven't had a commute that was longer than 40 minutes (each way), and there is no real "traffic" to speak of, even during rush hour.

I can feel myself slowly unwinding and it's kind of a strange feeling. I didn't realize how tightly I had been strung!