Ok, I didn't get the job in Maine. We are bummed, but we also see this as God's will. I am content with the decision that the island made in not choosing me. There were as many reasons for us not to move to Maine as there were to move to Maine.
Things will work out fo rhte best. I have faith that they will.
Unfortunately there are no planning jobs available in the region. I can't really put my degree to use as I want to. Same story as millions before me.
I may try to get in the MAT program and teach here in the county. There are a lot of good reasons for me to teach. Mandy and I would have the same schedule, I could bike to work, we'd feel like we were filthy rich...etc, etc.
We rode in the Family Fun Ride in the Pedals and Blooms Festival on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. Boone and Lily went with us and we did almost 13 miles total.
Mandy and I went out this afternoon for a bike ride to get in a little better condition for this weekend. It was a good ride, through Stanton and out 15 to Rosslyn and over to North Bend and back home.
The only major obstacle we encountered was the weather. We skirted the worst of it right up to the last mile of our 13. As we left the last real shelter and started on the last stretch home it started to rain. As we approached our road pea-sized hail began to pelt us.
It let up fairly quickly, thankfully, but we made it home much damper than we left.
I should hear something definitive from Maine tomorrow.
I heard back from Chris Wolff. She said she'd meet with the island people Tuesday and I should know something definitive on Wednesday about the job in Maine. Now that I know when the waiting isn't so bad.
We have been riding our bikes a lot lately. We had a two wheel trailer that I've been hauling Boone and Alison and Ty around in for a few years. It's been very handy.
We bought a bike seat after that, but the kids were all too big for it. We found last night though, that Lily is almost big enough. We took her around town while I pulled Boone with our new contraption: the tow bar.
Basically it's just a long curved tube that connects Boone's little bike to my bike while holding his front wheel off the ground. He can pedal and brake but he can't steer. So far he's done really well on it. He actuallt pedals along where he usually won't pedal anything on his own. I'm hoping he will pick up on what he needs to do and eventually get interested in pedalling his own bike.
We're going to ride in the Family Fun Ride in the Pedals and Blooms Festival next weekend. We missed it last summer.
I am now a college graduate. I remember in 1993 driving from Nashville back to Kentucky and not being able to get the phrase "college drop-out" out of my head. So it took me awhile...I made it. And now I have the magical piece of paper that you need (but that does not necessarily guarantee) a decent professional job.
I could not have made it this far without the help of my family. My parents sacrificed so much ove the years so I could explore less profitable avenues, their patience allowed me to get to the point where I am today. My wife has been my anchor and foundation through everything. Her family has helped us at times when no one else could. My grandmother has kept our children safe and for free so we could go off to work and class and not worry about them.
I hope that I can give back to everyone. I hope that I can somehow repay the sacrifice and love that has been given for me.
I love you all and I owe it all to you. You know who you are.
I now have a B.A. in Geography with a dual specialization in GIS and Urban Planning.
I keep forgetting to post about this Maine thing. I found a job listing for a fellowship with the Island Institute in Maine. It is an organization that works with community developement on islands in and around the Gulf of Maine. I have applied for a GIS position on one of the islands and am hoping and praying that I will get it. It would last for two years and I would be doing GIS work in support of the planning staff for the community.
The island has no bridge, only a ferry service and it is 1.5 miles by 3.75 miles with 365 permanent residents.
Mandy likes the idea too, and the island school has posted a part time special ed teaching position. Hopefully we could both work on the island.
This is a great opportunity to have a unique life experience and I think it will be the best start to a career in planning.
I'll be a college graduate in about a month (Lord willing) and I am getting very anxious to have it over with. I'm really sick of it.
I rode my bike around Richmond yesterday. I had been doing very good, no pedal problems. But then I fell over like "TIMBER!" on the corner of Main Street and some stupid high gravity street in front of about a billion people. My pride was hurt. And my elbow still smarts.
The ironic thing? Not losing a pound. I don't get it, I have been skipping a meal and just snacking a little and trying to ride regularly and my waist is still right at the same orbit it was a month ago.
Oh well...
Oh, there was some funny Boone-ism, what was it? Oh yeah!
We had a good weekend. Friday night we went with Brian and Tiffany to the drive-in to see Meet the Robinsons. It was a pretty good movie. Boone was running around in the grass in front of the second screen with a bunch of other kids and he was trying to play ball with this one little kid. He kept saying, "Throw me the ball…sir."
Saturday he was talking to his sister and he called her "Sweet Buns." We tried to explain how that wasn't right. Didn't ever sink in. We really wished we could figure out where he came up with that one.
Currently
listening
:
Jake Armerding
By
Jake Armerding
Release date: 08 April, 2003
"Mandy and I took our new bikes out for a little while on today.
We parked at the church building because she had the left the other car there last night.
I went in to talk to Brock (our preacher) for a minute and Mandy came in a couple minutes later wearing her bike helmet. Brock took one look at her and burst out laughing. Its weird in context I guess, someone just sticks their head in a room wearing a bike helmet for no reason…
Anyway, my new bike has clip in pedal. I have always been leery and today I proved my fears to be fact.
We rode down Washington street and stopped by the veterans' park. I easily unclipped my left foot but when I got ready to take off I had a stalling problem and before I knew it I was falling in a gloriously graceless arc toward the ground. My right foot wouldn't come loose and I toppled toward my stupid side.
I hit hard and scuffed the bike a little and my calf a lot.
My beautiful and loving wife was laughing so hard she couldn't help me get up.
We rode around town a bit and toward the end headed for the high school. I took my bike out on the track while Mandy stretched. I rode a good solid mile at a full sprint and then I stopped and stretched with her.
As we were leaving I had my second spill of the day. Same thing happened. I was taking off just after we passed through the gate and as I was working on getting my left foot clipped I was not aware that I had coasted to a halt. By the time I realized it I was in mid-arc on my way down. Gravity was strong on my right side today.
I hit just as hard the second time as the first.
But the bikes are amazing. I feel like Lance Armstrong on the bike. I feel like I could go 100 miles an hour."
Yeah, so we both got new road bikes. It makes a huge difference over trying to ride a mountain bike long distances on the road. I really did feel like some schmuck having a midlife crisis. When we got the bikes we got helmets, a yellow windbreaker and I got shoes to go with my bike.
From an outsider's POV it would look like I was having a meltdown, but the reality is that I just decided to be a little more serious about the biking I was already doing. I have never ridden with a helmet and decided it was time I started. The shoes were a calculated step up, not a leap of faith. The clip-ins make the most amazing difference in my riding. And yes, it takes some time to get used to them and you will take a spill (or two). But my feet thank me and I save so much energy.
I have always been a bike rider (or cyclist if you must). When I went to school in Nashville I used the bike to explore and eventually just to get around. When I lived in Dayton I used the bike as my primary mode of transportation (and in winter too!). Then I moved back to Kentucky and lived in Slade for a few years and the bike (mountain bike) was always under me wherever I went.
For the last few years I ahven't ridden as much, but as I get older, climbing is less and less fun because I don't do it frequently enough to stay in shape, but biking is always fun, even if I'm out of shape. And honestly, I am a much better as a cyclist than I could ever be as a climber.
So I'm getting ready to go out for about an hour. I stayed home today to get some things done around the house and because they are going to install satellite TV in the house today.
I will also probably be drafting up and possibly sending out a resume to a few places. I graduate college in two months you know.
Mandy designated today my "No Responsibilities Day". Don't know where she got the idea, but it was genius.
So I took a long bike ride. 25.7 miles to be exact. And I didn't exactly take a flat route and the wind was a serious factor today. It's not like I'm in good enough shape to brag about the feat. I had to stop and rest alot, though I didn't have to walk the bike at all. At mile 11 I started climging and three miles later I was sitting below High Rock, one of the highest points in the region.
Droppng off High Rock, headed toward Roger's Chapel, I hit 38 mph into a head wind. But then I had to make up a bit of the elevation, rolling along the ridge to Furnace. By the time I got to Furnace I had hit a wall. I sat on the steps of Knowlton Church of God, wishing I were home, out of the wind and drinking pots of coffee. But I was determined to ride all the way, under my own power. I could have called to have someone come get me, but I wouldn't.
So I made it. I was stiff and sore, but after a soak in the tub and a nap I was doing much better. I went with the family to eat out and then grocery shopping. I'm really tired now, and I hope a night's sleep will set me right again.
It was a good day. The ride cleared my head and gave me some mental energy that I desperately needed. After a few weeks of staring at a GIS program and doing mind numbingly tediuous cartographic work I was getting quite lethargic.
It's funny, it takes me being completely physically exhausted to stop my mind from going a hundred miles a minute. My mind never stops and I can never seem to quiet the thoughts. But sitting on the side of the road at High Rock in the leaves under a blue, sunny sky, I was relaxed and feeling great. And my mind was clear for the first time in a long time.
Two nights ago we all got in bed and after a few minutes Boone started whispering, "One Bema, Two Bemas, Free Bemas, Four Bemas, Eight Bemas, Eleveteen Bemas, Seventeen Bemas…"
"Boone! What are you doing?" One of us asked.
"I'm counting Bemas. Shhh!" 'Bema' is what he calls Mandy's mom. We laughed. He kept on for a few minutes and then he said, "I'm going to count Ty and Alisons. And he proceeded to do so. In the midst of counting Tys, he yawned really big. Mandy laughed and said, "It seems to be working."
We finally got a decent enough snow to go sledding at Mandy's grandfather's house. Wow! It was fun! The kids had a pretty good time too. Boone wasn't scared at all, but he wouldn't walk back up the hills by himself and had to be pulled in a sled. Ty was traumatized on the first run and spent the reastof the time just rolling down the bunny slope. Alison was on fire. She was a little luge rocket! She'd lay flat in the sled with just her nose sticking up and fly down the hills. Then she'd tromp back up by herself and do it again.
I hope we get another good snow this year so we can do it again.
I am hopelessly in love with my family. I have a wonderful wife and two beautiful children. I am thankful to God for all the blessings I have in life. I have a great job right now, one that will help me to advance myself in the future.
I used to hate Valentine's Day. I overheard someone today that summed up my past experiences with V-Day. They said, "It just sucks when you don't have anybody."
And that was basically my attitude up until I met my wife...wow! almost seven years ago now. But what's funny is that I don't feel like Valentine's Day is such a huge holiday. I don't mind exchanging gifts and cards with Mandy, but I really don't want to make it a bigger deal than just between me and her.
I feel bad too, when I see people that don't have someone and they are obviously miserable because they are alone.
But then, that used to be me, and I had little hope of changing my outlook for so many years.
She was born at 8:20am, January 23rd, 2007. She was delivered by c-section (like her brother) and weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces. She was 19 and a half inches long (Compared to Boone who was 9 lbs. 3 oz. and 22.5").
She came out with a full head of strawberry blonde hair that sticks out everywhere.
She's really quiet, content and already loves her daddy. Everytime she's been crying and I've picked her up she's quieted down immediately. Boone never really did that and it makes me feel pretty good that she does.
I'll post a pic as soon as I get done with this blog.
Her brother's first words were: "We found her!"
The first day as he was getting ready to leave the hospital with my mom and dad he kissed Lily on the head and then walked toward the door. He said to mom, "I thin she likes me."
He's had a hard time with all this, but the problem was more that he was tired and away from home, and not so much because he was jealous or anything.
We're getting pretty exicted. Mandy's ready to be free of the discomfort and everything that goes with being pregnant and me and Boone are ready too...
And then of course, and most importantly, we're ready to meet our new daughter (sister). We want to know what she's going to look like (beautiful I'm sure), and I am especially looking forward to see her go through all the things Boone has gone through (except the time he fell off the bed when I was home alone with him and then the four days he spent in ICU for his asthma...don't want to relive either of those).
I'm a bit worried about raising a girl. I know I'm going to be the kind of dad that takes the new boyfriend out in the garage to "talk." The threats won't be veiled, nor will they be hollow. They will be real, and they will probably get me some time for terroristic threatening. But bruises heal eventually, but the lessons the little punks will learn will be worth the time behind bars and one day my little girl will thank me for it.
Anyway, just preparing myself mentally for it. You can never be too prepared.
I thru-hiked Rough Trail for the first time today.
Now, that sounds like I have littel experience with Rough Trail, but this is most definitely not true. I first hiked all of Rough Trail sometime in 1993-4. But I hiked it in sections.
Sometime during the next couple of years I attempted to backpack it and link up with Swift Camp Creek but we got snowed out.
Then a couple years ago I made a half-hearted attempt to backpack it again, but couldn't convince my trail partner to hike the whole thing. We detoured on Pinch Em Tight Ridge directly to Tunnel Ridge Road.
Rough Trail is slightly over 8 miles and crosses four tributaries of the Red River and follow Martin's Fork to the western terminus of the trail. If each climb in and out of the valleys is about 400 feet (probably averages that much anyway) then hiking it east to west gives you 1600' in elevation gain and 2000' in elevation loss.
What makes this significant for me today was the fact that I am getting over some sort of supercold and I was up most of the night with a terrible case of insomnia. Despite both of those factors and my current state of unfitness I managed to make it without doing too much damage to myself. The worst thing is that I'm dead tired. I've been fighting staying awake all afternoon and evening.
We did it in five hours, which was pretty good considering...
It was a really good day for hiking it. It started out cold, and most of the valleys were a bit frigid, but the ridgetops were sunny and if not warm, at least not so cold.
I've been fighting to get warm ever since I got home. I've not gotten so chilled being outside in a long time. Don't worry! It's not a fever.
This time last year I did a 20+ mile Bataan Death March in the Smokies just after getting over the flu that took 20 pounds off me. That felt like an accomplishment. Today felt like not quite an accomplishment, but was still satisfying.
I wish I had felt better so I could have enjoyed it a little better.
