With new responsibilities at work and a heavy focus on studying new technology at home, I am finding that "down time" is extremely valuable. While I try to take an hour a day to relax, I find the occasional free night or day to be very refreshing more so than usual.
This past week was a great example of my new balanced routine. I have been super-busy with multiple projects at work, but I have definitely been able to relax in ways that turned out to be better than expected. Tuesday night I ventured to Frankie's Inner-City in downtown Toledo to see Sea Wolf with Colleen. An early 8:00pm entry did not keep Sea Wolf from playing late, however: three opening acts preceded their 12:30am start time. I did not stay for the whole show since I did have work in the morning. I am getting old.
Wednesday was a perfect balance of work and play. After a very productive day at work, I ventured out for some Lola's with Kristin and her nieces. The trip was quick but fun, and I spent the rest of the night studying for my MCTS Certification Exam.
Thursday was the biggest surprise of the week. I planned to see Sponge (the band) at Hollywood Casino for a free 9:00pm show. While I am not a huge Sponge fan, but I wanted to check them out to see how they sounded live. I ended up going with Laura, who herself wanted to enjoy a night out. About an hour of slots turned into drinks which turned into one of the best concerts of 2012. Sponge was surprisingly energetic, their songs a mix of great rock, alternative grunge, and classic rock covers. A great hour-plus show put on display some of their best songs, from "Plowed" to "Molly (16 Candles Down the Drain)" to "Party Till We Drop." The great show made the whole night a rare feat of unexpected fun. I will definitely see Sponge again.
This coming week sees at least one amazing concert: Thursday night, Candlebox will be at the Hollywood Casino in Toledo (another free 9:00pm show). Candlebox can still fill up a stadium-style venue, so I am expecting the whole night to be spent at the casino for dinner, drinks, slots, and a lot of anticipation for one of my favorite bands. "Far Behind" is among my favorite songs, and their 2012 album "Love Stories and Other Musings" is one of my latest favorites. This show also kicks off a three-day weekend as well. Oh, sweet success.
B3 out.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
I'm In A Hurry to Get Things Done
The following will happen this week:
- Beginning deep-dives into two major new projects at work. My 40 hours at Computol will be maxed out.
- A very-welcome Geek Lunch in downtown Toledo.
- A minimum 9 hours of study time for my Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist test in December.
- The big Apple event everyone is looking forward to (iPad mini announcement). I will be glued to my screen for this one.
- A Findlay Area .NET User Group meeting where Visual Studio 2012 will be "launched" with a presentation by a senior Microsoft developer.
- Seawolf in concert Tuesday night at Frankies.
- Sponge at the Hollywood Casino in Toledo.
- Two unexpected bike rides to celebrate the temporary return of warm, beautiful weather.
I am officially in "weekend mode" now. That is, I will be working my butt off all week and relaxing like crazy on the weekends with hiking, writing, and friends. Weeks like this will be the norm for most of November, but I will be getting a nice break come December with the Computol Christmas Party and lots of time off around Christmas.
B3 out.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
The Great 2012 Apple Butter Festival
My busy fall season of festivals started with the Wood County Fair in the last week of July, and now in the second weekend of October, ends with the best Grand Rapids Apple Butter Fest in recent memory.
Tiny Grand Rapids, Ohio is typically swamped with 50,000 or more people thanks to the nationally-renowned festival held the second Sunday in October. Today's crowd seemed a bit smaller, most likely due to the threat of rain and storms. Suffice to say, the rain held off for much of the day, and a combination of warm winds and mid-seventies temperatures created a little bubble of summer long enough to make jackets optional.
I toured most of the festival today in a couple of hours. Crafts were plentiful, artists had some interesting wares on display (including a shoutout to former Otsego classmate Jason Hatfield with his Mountain Sky Photography booth), and food was cheap and delicious.
Perhaps the best surprise of the day: meeting up with Lacey and her family, who offered my mom and I great hospitality to rest, relax, and eat at their house. Along with buying some apple butter for me, Lacey treated us to home cooking, a quick tour of her parents' updated house, and a little casual time to catch up. The encounter was entirely unexpected but gracefully executed.
In between walking, shopping, and visiting, I ran into at least a dozen people from my past at Otsego, including some former close friends. One thing is abundantly clear: my memory of people from ten years ago is woefully outdated, and I will be in for a bit of culture shock next year at our class reunion.
I finished the festival around 1:00pm with a walk through the historical reenactment camps and a trip down Front Street to get my favorite homemade ice cream. I have been wanting to try Tom's BBQ for months, and today I finally took the plunge and had a delicious cheeseburger and their famous fries (spoiler: they were good, but not great).
Overall this was a great year for the festival. While I am tired of the stale Wood County Fair, the shrinking Roche de Boeuf Festival, and the overly-pretentious Black Swamp Arts Festival, thanks to the wonderful atmosphere and spirited people, the Apple Butter Fest is without a doubt my favorite festival year after year.
B3 out.
Tiny Grand Rapids, Ohio is typically swamped with 50,000 or more people thanks to the nationally-renowned festival held the second Sunday in October. Today's crowd seemed a bit smaller, most likely due to the threat of rain and storms. Suffice to say, the rain held off for much of the day, and a combination of warm winds and mid-seventies temperatures created a little bubble of summer long enough to make jackets optional.
I toured most of the festival today in a couple of hours. Crafts were plentiful, artists had some interesting wares on display (including a shoutout to former Otsego classmate Jason Hatfield with his Mountain Sky Photography booth), and food was cheap and delicious.
Perhaps the best surprise of the day: meeting up with Lacey and her family, who offered my mom and I great hospitality to rest, relax, and eat at their house. Along with buying some apple butter for me, Lacey treated us to home cooking, a quick tour of her parents' updated house, and a little casual time to catch up. The encounter was entirely unexpected but gracefully executed.
In between walking, shopping, and visiting, I ran into at least a dozen people from my past at Otsego, including some former close friends. One thing is abundantly clear: my memory of people from ten years ago is woefully outdated, and I will be in for a bit of culture shock next year at our class reunion.
I finished the festival around 1:00pm with a walk through the historical reenactment camps and a trip down Front Street to get my favorite homemade ice cream. I have been wanting to try Tom's BBQ for months, and today I finally took the plunge and had a delicious cheeseburger and their famous fries (spoiler: they were good, but not great).
Overall this was a great year for the festival. While I am tired of the stale Wood County Fair, the shrinking Roche de Boeuf Festival, and the overly-pretentious Black Swamp Arts Festival, thanks to the wonderful atmosphere and spirited people, the Apple Butter Fest is without a doubt my favorite festival year after year.
B3 out.
Monday, October 08, 2012
Oh My God and All That
I am an advocate of change. It is human nature to perpetuate change, although not necessarily in the human psyche to always be ready for it. In 2011 I forced change in my life and ended up in a better place for it. In much of 2012 I have stumbled face-first into change. The way I see it, character is built by how well one handles unexpected change. I would say I have been somewhere in the middle of "extremely well" and "kind of poorly" so far this year.
The second-half of 2012 was supposed to be a well-paced mix of studying new technologies, developing a few small webapps, and getting some extensive writing finished. Instead, thanks to significant changes at work, I am forced to re-focus my efforts on professional studies and development. To say the least, I have been mentally exhausted at the daunting months ahead of me.
All is not lost, however. I have completed a few major projects for 2012 in the past few weeks as well. I transitioned my old Ubuntu web server to a Windows 7-based box. I can now develop and deploy websites and webapps on a speedy, powerful server that I have complete control over. My first major project on the new server is coming online this weekend: Recipe Library, the update to my old PHP app Recipe Manager. This is an ASP.NET MVC 3 re-write of the old app, featuring a simple interface and a responsive web design. It is slick.
I have also been caught up by the long-time self-imposed challenge that seems like it will finally come to fruition: a full thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. I have spent several hundred dollars in the last month buying gear that I will be using for a 2012 or 2013 hike. As long as the stars align I may be able to take off for Georgia next spring and spend four to six months hiking through the beautiful eastern United States.
But that is then and this is now. Plenty of studying is in my future. With the cooling temperatures comes more hiking as well, and I am looking forward to a nice blend of the professional, the academic, and the great outdoors.
B3 out.
The second-half of 2012 was supposed to be a well-paced mix of studying new technologies, developing a few small webapps, and getting some extensive writing finished. Instead, thanks to significant changes at work, I am forced to re-focus my efforts on professional studies and development. To say the least, I have been mentally exhausted at the daunting months ahead of me.
All is not lost, however. I have completed a few major projects for 2012 in the past few weeks as well. I transitioned my old Ubuntu web server to a Windows 7-based box. I can now develop and deploy websites and webapps on a speedy, powerful server that I have complete control over. My first major project on the new server is coming online this weekend: Recipe Library, the update to my old PHP app Recipe Manager. This is an ASP.NET MVC 3 re-write of the old app, featuring a simple interface and a responsive web design. It is slick.
I have also been caught up by the long-time self-imposed challenge that seems like it will finally come to fruition: a full thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. I have spent several hundred dollars in the last month buying gear that I will be using for a 2012 or 2013 hike. As long as the stars align I may be able to take off for Georgia next spring and spend four to six months hiking through the beautiful eastern United States.
But that is then and this is now. Plenty of studying is in my future. With the cooling temperatures comes more hiking as well, and I am looking forward to a nice blend of the professional, the academic, and the great outdoors.
B3 out.
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