Posted on Leave a comment

Arrow to the Knee!

I’ve earned my knee socks. That’s right, I’ve been Scoutborged. With Noah working up the ranks in Boy Scouts and Evan having begun scouts as a Tiger scout, I find myself a leader in both Cubscouts and Boy Scouts and Cathy has earned her Scout Widow badge. In June, I will be going on an adventure with Noah to hike in the Canyons of Utah for 9 days (with no cell phone or Internet!) This past weekend, Amy, Evan and I toured and slept overnight in The Lost Sea Caverns. The Weekend before that, Evan and I hiked for miles around Camp Buck Toms, slept over night, and came home with ticks. The weekend prior to that I slipped while doing yard work and torqued my knee. And today, three weeks later, my knee is still tender, hurts to touch, and I cannot put much weight on it.

So, I just paid $25 to have my doctor tell me I’m out of shape. End of story. So to celebrate, I decided to go to Cookout and have a cheese burger with onions, french fries, and hush puppies..MMMMMMmmm. While waiting for my food, I look around the joint and every morose soul there is 2 to 3 times my overweight size. They don’t speak or smile. Slow Jesus rock emanates loudly from the store speakers. For a moment, I consider leaving the five dollars and change worth of heart disease on the counter to escape quickly. In weakness, I grab the food and Cheer Wine float, return to work, and joined a gym.

Posted on 5 Comments

Which camera for a week in the canyons? Olypmus Tough or GoPro?

Five adults are planning on accompanying five boys scouts into the wilderness of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We will be cut off from the rest of the world for nine days; that is no Internet, no cell phone. In preparation, I have to decide what gear is essential. I love photography and I love timelapse video. My inclination is to make a video documentary of our trip which has me leaning toward the GoPro2 Outdoor Edition The GoPro would give me the ability to take some photography (but not with the composition of a point and shoot or dslr), film video, and film timelapse. Naturally, power and storage space become issues. A more practical solution may be the Olympus TG-810 Tough 14 MP, 5x Wide Optical Zoom (28mm), 3″ 920K LCD (Black). The built-in GPS drains the batteries; however, it would be very nice to be able to map our trip in photographs upon our return. I could also film video and technically could do timelapse also. See specs at DPReview.

How would you decide between these two cameras?


View Larger Map

Posted on Leave a comment

Parenting – Giving the World to our Children Just Isn’t in the Budget

As a parent, I maintain an uncomfortable level of stress over family finances. I constantly think about my family’s health and the related expenses (forecasting braces, emergencies, regular checkups, etc.), education (saving for college, extracurriculars, making sure there are funds for participation in activities and providing necessary supplies – n.b. public education is far from free!, home schooling to supplement school teaching, family field trips, etc.), our bills (housing, utilities, etc), entertainment (for a balanced life, vacations – a rarity, toys, etc), food, maintenance, transportation….the list goes on and turns my stomach to think about the gross amount of money it takes to maintain a healthy and well-balanced family. I remember the very first time I held a $100 bill; it was so much money and seemed so unreal. Now, it feels like I regularly burn Ben Franklins.

One of the painful aspects of being a parent is realizing the opportunities presented to your children which they have to forego due to financial reasons. I regret not flying to Germany to watch The Wall being torn down during a Pink Floyd performance but I knew the sacrifices I would have made to make that trip and as a young adult I could accept those. A young child gets their hopes and dreams set on something like a camping trip and simply does not have the means to understand why we have to say no. Teenagers better understand but it still pains me to shoot them down.

So I stare at my calendar. An imaginary glow illuminates the critical dates where income appears in the bank and the due dates where bills suck the accounts dry. I see the dates of an 11 day hiking trip I scheduled with my son and his scout troop and ask myself, "will the family understand eating Ramen noodles for a month to make this trip happen?" Then the phone rings, "There’s an opening on this year’s Philmont trip. It’s the last time our district will send a contingent making this a once in a lifetime opportunity for your son. The cost is $2000 plus personal expenses." My heart sinks to my toes.

Posted on Leave a comment

From the mouths of babes

N.b. I’m on blood pressure medicine now and my cholesterol is high so I’m supposed to be exercising and dieting.

Too many errands during lunch so I splurge and go into McDonald’s as the drive-thru line was far too long.

Me: "Um.. I’ll have a quarter…wait.." I point at the picture of a grilled chicken sandwich. "My doctor would like me to eat that. But I really want a quarter pounder with cheese meal please."
Ladies behind me: Laughter.
Me, turning toward them and seeing that they are nurses from Park West Hospital: "Shhhh. Don’t tell the doc."
Ladies: "That’ll cost you a fry."
Cashier: "I guess we won’t be supersizing that then."

Thank you world for looking out for me!

Posted on 1 Comment

Knoxville Earthquake

Knoxville had a genuine earthquake at roughly 12:30am on April 11, 2012! Houses shook and a loud boom was reported in Rocky Hill, South Knoxville, and Seymour. #knoxquake

Type: Earthquake
27 minutes ago
Magnitude: 2.2
DateTime: Wednesday April 11 2012, 04:39:14 UTC
Region: eastern Tennessee
Depth: 4.9 km
Source: USGS Feed

[Source, Global Incident Map]

[Source, Folkworm]

Earthquake Details

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude 2.2
Date-Time

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 04:39:14 UTC
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 12:39:14 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 35.756°N, 83.825°W
Depth 4.9 km (3.0 miles)
Region EASTERN TENNESSEE
Distances 13 km (8 miles) E of Maryville, Tennessee
24 km (14 miles) SSE of Knoxville, Tennessee
49 km (30 miles) SE of Oak Ridge, Tennessee
275 km (170 miles) E of NASHVILLE, Tennessee
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 10.3 km (6.4 miles); depth +/- 3.1 km (1.9 miles)
Parameters NST= 16, Nph= 29, Dmin=12.2 km, Rmss=1.35 sec, Gp= 50°,
M-type=”Nuttli” surface wave magnitude (mbLg), Version=4
Source

Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID usc000903d

[Source, USGS]

Upgraded:

Earthquake Details

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
Magnitude
2.3
Date-Time
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 04:39:12 UTC
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 12:39:12 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
35.797°N, 83.838°W
Depth
19.4 km (12.1 miles)
Region
EASTERN TENNESSEE
Distances
10 km (6 miles) E (85°) from Eagleton Village, TN
10 km (6 miles) ESE (116°) from Rockford, TN
10 km (6 miles) SW (215°) from Seymour, TN
22 km (14 miles) SSE (154°) from Knoxville, TN
232 km (144 miles) NNE (13°) from Atlanta, GA
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 0.4 km (0.2 miles); depth +/- 0.8 km (0.5 miles)
Parameters
NST= 18, Nph= 24, Dmin=16 km, Rmss=0.14 sec, Gp= 86°,
M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=B
Source
Southeast U.S. Seismic Network
Event ID
se041112a

[Source, USGS]

In 2007, Knoxville ran practice drills in preparation for a 7.7 earthquake. Thankfully, it hasn’t come yet!

Possibly linked: Apparently there was a magnitude 8.6 earthquake off Aceh, Indonesia at the same time. Tsunami warning issued. See also usgs.

[Source, Global Incident Map]