Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Tag: General Cogitation Page 8 of 11

My First Hurricane

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On July 6, 2014

In General Cogitation

arthur_ocmdI wasn’t really in the worst part of the storm. I was in Ocean City, Maryland which was just on the very, very edge of Hurricane Arthur. My in-laws had another sandy vacation for the family, this time in the penthouse on the 17th floor of a place on the beach in Ocean City. I don’t know what it is about fireworks on the beach that makes the 4th of July so much more spectacular. (If you have access to the gallery on the family website you can see some of the pictures I took).

The picture on the left is taken from the balcony that overlooked the beach on the day that Hurricane Arthur was moving north of the Carolina’s. The worst that we really got of the storm were some high winds (which were only about 25-30 mph) and a bunch of rain. Be that as it may, it is the closest I have come to being in an actual hurricane.

I’m not really a beach person, something about sand getting everywhere, but there is plenty of other things to do in Ocean City, MD that even I enjoyed. Of course I got an opportunity to grill out which I always enjoy doing with the ocean splashing in the background. The boardwalk is kind of fun to walk, granted there are quite a few people there that like to do the same thing. There are so many putt-putt courses you could literally play a different course every day of the week.

I tried golfing for the third time in my life. I do think I can really get the hang of it so I may be trying to find a decent set of clubs on Craig’s List to start practicing. I really don’t want to spend a bunch of money on clubs when I’m still learning to play the game. I think playing a round of golf with both of my brother-in-laws during these family vacations could become a great tradition.

It was a great week to spend up in New England, I hope my nieces had as much fun as the rest of us.

Still Sleeping “Normal”

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On April 25, 2014

In General Cogitation

When you are going to have a baby every person always says the same thing, you will no longer get any sleep. Perhaps that is true for most people, but I’m getting my normal amount of sleep. When I say that I don’t mean that I am ignoring the baby or making my wife handle all of the baby’s crying and fussing. I say that because I already average 5 or 6 hours of sleep anyway. Thanks to college and my well, ingrained gaming habits.

I might go to bed about 9:30 or 10 but I’m usually awake reading or watching tv until nearly midnight because I have never been able to fall asleep when I want to. Usually she needs one of her nightly feedings during that window. Since I’m up, no problem.

When I have finally fallen asleep, I rarely actually stay asleep. In fact I rarely even dream (or if I do, I rarely remember what it was I dream about). So when she wakes up at 2:30 or 3am, its not really a big deal. Now I get up and do something instead of rolling over and trying to go back to sleep.

Then she wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 … yea, that’s when I get up for work anyway (and on the weekends, that’s usually one of those times that I randomly wake up – similar to the 3am window). So when people tell me that I won’t be getting sleep anymore, it’s mildly humorous because I’m somewhat of a freaking insomniac.

We are entering our second week with the kid and I still do not feel any more exhausted then I have every morning going all the way back before college.

Tired of Waiting

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On April 9, 2014

In General Cogitation

clock_waitIf you have been following along at home then you know that we are expecting. She (it’s a girl) was due April 3rd and here it is April 9th and she still doesn’t seem like she’s ready to come out. We are starting to look at the possibility to induce labor.

Of course when you are expecting a baby the cliches and colloquialisms come pouring out (better get use to not sleeping. check. better get use to not having any free time. already have too much, check. etc). The part that nobody tells you about is how frustrating it is to have to wait. I’m not someone that likes to sit around with nothing to do when I know something big is about to happen. I feel like we have done all we can to be ready for this baby, now we just need the baby.

I hate waiting, I really do. I think what makes its worse is this just perpetuates my wife’s discomfort. She can rarely find a comfortable place to sit, she pretty much has to lay down in very specific positions so her back will stop hurting. Sitting at her computer is right out. Sleeping comfortably is also a challenge. I’d have to concur with something she said the other day; what, about being pregnant, do most women seem to enjoy about it?

Anyhow, it’s just a meandering thought. It’s not going to be a common occurrence for me to post a lot about the impending munchkin; that will be predominately on the family website.

/cheers

While Still Drinking Pop

By

On March 10, 2014

In General Cogitation

scale-edMy total weight loss goal was 60 pounds. The closest I came was 55 pounds before I plateaued again. Granted I haven’t been working out as much as I was a couple of months ago. I attribute most of that to the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday and the obnoxious, freezing weather we have had this winter. I’ve been pondering if perhaps I may not actually lose those last five pounds.

As many of my friends have pointed out, when I talked about my weight loss, as you lose weight you also gain muscle. As the old adage goes, muscle weighs more than fat. I am still fitting very comfortably in my smaller shirts and pants; therefore I can only surmise that while the scale doesn’t reflect having achieved my weight loss goal, I think I actually have reached that point and now its only a matter of maintenance and toning.

I have been asked, quite often, what I did to lose the weight. After all, there are a plethora of weight loss fads and diets out there. I have posted a blog (or two) about this before. I talked about how I bought a FitBit and, using a couple of other phone apps, I managed my calories and increased how much I exercised each week. It’s all about portion control and exercising regularly.

In fact, I didn’t even have to change how much pop I drink (3-5 cans a day), which is a big win in my book! There were so many “studies” and white papers posted about how cutting out the pop would help you lose weight. Well, perhaps I was the exception; or perhaps I would have lost weight quicker had I stopped drinking it. I wasn’t in any kind of hurry so I didn’t care if it took twice as long, but everybody’s body chemistry is different. Besides, pop is my vice. It is my spice. My crack. My … precious!

Be that as it may, the good thing is that I lost the weight and, so far, I’m keeping it off. My clothes fit better and I have a lot more energy, which is important since I have the kid on the way.

/cheers!

New Domain, New Home

By

On February 17, 2014

In General Cogitation, Technology

Greetings World!

It has been a while since I have posted anything but a couple of book reviews. The reason for that is I had to move my site to a new domain. Before I continue I need to pay some homage to my former site host. My good friend owns the www.fuzzydice.net domain and has been hosting my site for over a decade. It’s difficult to repay so many years of great service and I can’t thank him enough for doing it despite my occasional badgering when the server were to crash (or the time my site was compromised – damn spambots!). As things in life change and the cost to manage server space goes up, sometimes its easier, and cheaper, for everyone to move on to new homes and new domains.

Thanks Fuzzy!!

So here we are at our new home. I don’t know what to expect yet as far as stability and performance nor am I certain yet that this will be the permanent home but it will be sufficient for now. I’m also surprised how easy it was to actually move a WordPress site. I was honestly expecting it to be rather difficult but it actually took longer to backup and restore the site then it did to reconfigure WordPress (I found this post to be extremely helpful). If you happen to have my blog site bookmarked, you will want to update the link (or hit Ctrl+D and delete the old one).

At any rate, I will be getting back to my normal blog banter with the return of MMO Times and my other nerdy posts and rants.

/cheers

My Tropical Turkey Trip

By

On November 30, 2013

In General Cogitation

20131129-155944.jpg

I took this picture of the sunrise the day after Thanksgiving this year. We had a difficult year and we decided we would do something completely different for Thanksgiving this year so we spent it at a house that is on the Atlantic side of Florida. A little place called Daytona Beach. The roller coaster temperatures and weather patterns back home have definitely made the trip worth it. It’s quite a unique experience to stroll along the beach on Thanksgiving. I have my amazing in-laws to thank for creating a truly unique holiday experience.

My first stroll along the ocean, the beach was absolutely littered with jelly fish that have been washed ashore by the ebbing tide. I have never seen so many jelly fish. We spotted live crabs, sand dollars and pelicans skimming, literally inches, above the water. Shattered shells also littered the coast, most likely from the hawks that patrolled the skies, swooping down for a “mollusca munchie”. So, despite the dangers of the daystar, I did leave technology on the counter a couple times this week to indulge in the brilliance of the beach (though I admit I’m still not much of a beach person).

Our first night here, we sat out on the patio and listened to the waves crash on the shore while staring up at a cloudless night sky. It’s not very often where you have such a clear night to star gaze. There was also a rocket launch schedule for this week down at Cape Canaveral, however it was postponed twice during our trip. Had they launched the rocket, the chances were good that it’s trajectory would have taken it nearly right over our heads.

While I am feeling a bit homesick and anxious to see my dogs again, I don’t think my body is quite prepared to board a plane where its 68 degrees and deplane where it’s 30 degrees. However, now that its after Thanksgiving I can start putting up my Christmas lights, which I plan to do first thing. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving this year and survived the Black Friday madness.

/cheers

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