I’m going to hold off on reviewing this movie for a while, for a few reasons. One, I want everyone to go out and see it... like right now! Two, I want to see it again. Three, I need to meditate on its pure awesomeness for a while longer before I can form words to describe it.
What I will say, is I would elect to have red-hot pokers thrust into me just to spend the day picking the mind of Christopher Nolan. Genius, as a word is misused far too much, but the moniker applies here. I have never felt the rush of skydiving excitement and the depressive lows of an Alaskan winter within a few seconds of each other like I did during this movie. I am not ashamed to say, I cried for like the last 15 minutes of the movie, and THEN I got in the car and continued to silently weep for another 10 minutes before I could pull myself together. I felt like I had just been through an intervention and finally see how my actions are destructive; except the destructive path was me watching every other movie before this.
I beg of you, with all my being, go watch this movie. I am really thinking I can't think any of you as friends or family any longer until you do see it. The Dark Knight Rises changed my life and ruined it simultaneously.
"It's not who you are, but what you do that matters."
Cheers Batman
Ap
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Rain Music
All my complaints about the heat have not helped a single iota. Not only has the oppressive heat not broken but now the Midwest in the longest drought in like 50 something years! However today is the day! We are on rain watch 2012 here at the office. It looks like we are going to get a good storm this afternoon. Of course it is being joined by gale force winds, blinding lighting, and Im pretty sure someone is going to get carried off to Oz, but hey.... rain! My neighbor farmers have been watering their crops with their tears over the last couple of weeks, and I have been doing my part by "watering" the local corn each morning and night.
I actually think I am responsible for these good weather tidings. I have been listening to Bruce Hornsby and Sting all day long. How does that matter you ask? Both those musicians are rainy weather artists in my mind. Sure you can listen to them anytime during the year but you can't tell me you think of fall when you hear Hornsby's "Stander on the Mountain" or Sting's "Englishman in NY". I hear these guys and I am automatically wearing a hoodie, tromping through the woods with soggy shoes during those long fall afternoons that the sun never seems to move in the sky. This image always used to contain myself and... well, myself. Now it contains my little girl in the mini me backpack smacking me with a stick. What a great feeling, and one I can't wait for this fall!
So Midwest you are welcome! I’m slightly sorry I didn’t think of it sooner. It would have really cut back on the heat anger I have been experiencing lately. Eh.
I actually think I am responsible for these good weather tidings. I have been listening to Bruce Hornsby and Sting all day long. How does that matter you ask? Both those musicians are rainy weather artists in my mind. Sure you can listen to them anytime during the year but you can't tell me you think of fall when you hear Hornsby's "Stander on the Mountain" or Sting's "Englishman in NY". I hear these guys and I am automatically wearing a hoodie, tromping through the woods with soggy shoes during those long fall afternoons that the sun never seems to move in the sky. This image always used to contain myself and... well, myself. Now it contains my little girl in the mini me backpack smacking me with a stick. What a great feeling, and one I can't wait for this fall!
So Midwest you are welcome! I’m slightly sorry I didn’t think of it sooner. It would have really cut back on the heat anger I have been experiencing lately. Eh.
Monday, July 2, 2012
I'm a Cool Guy Now
This week sucks... it is just far too hot. What would be the purpose of having weather this hot? I have realized this week that I have made that transition to liking winter better than summer. Cool temperatures seem to suit me better. My ultamate choice would be to have spring and fall over and over again, with a colder than average day for Thanksgiving and snow from Chirstmas Eve to New Years Day. However, that might be too much to ask for.
It was so hot yesterday while I was working I went through 3 shirts and then said forget it and went without. I never was a shirtless guy, too much water just flowing around not getting soaked up, dirt sticking to you, just plain weird. I might have changed my outlook on that yesterday. The breeze is so much nicer, you dont get goofy tan lines and it is much more dramatic to spray water on yourself with the hose. I hear Van Halen's Top of the World song playing in the back ground as I whip my head around. Megan said she always wanted a shirtless handyman around the house, I'm glad it could be me.
The one thing that saved me from flipping out and stabbing the next person that drove down my gravel road at 90mph, causing a sandstorm of chalk fine dust to be raised airborn, was the Upper Iowa River. This river is magical! It is always the perfect tempurature, fast flowing, shallow, crystal clean and stocked full of fish. The family and I drove down to town and jumped in. I can't tell you how cool it is to be splashing around in a body of water a block from main street that isn't made up of 60% chlorine and 40% kid piss. I plan to repeat this activity everyday while the temperature is above 90.
Now that I have complained I will challenege myself. I will bike to work at least once a week until it snows or I wuss out, whichever comes first. That is a challange in itself, it is so easy to change your mind when a perferctly good car sits in the driveway. I want to do this however to prove to myself and my loved ones I am ready to ride a race call the Great Divide Race. 2745 miles from Banff Alberta, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Held every year, this unsupported race summons less than 30 entrants, most who drop out before the end. Imagine waking up in a tent or bivy bag for 30 days without a shower and jumping on your bike for another 12 hour day of peddling up and down a mountain range. Over the couse of your journey you will climb over 200,000ft in elevation, the height of Mt Everest 7 times! Most of you are probably throwing up with disgust right now but I am excited. More to come on my scheme of a lifetime.
Stay cool!
It was so hot yesterday while I was working I went through 3 shirts and then said forget it and went without. I never was a shirtless guy, too much water just flowing around not getting soaked up, dirt sticking to you, just plain weird. I might have changed my outlook on that yesterday. The breeze is so much nicer, you dont get goofy tan lines and it is much more dramatic to spray water on yourself with the hose. I hear Van Halen's Top of the World song playing in the back ground as I whip my head around. Megan said she always wanted a shirtless handyman around the house, I'm glad it could be me.
The one thing that saved me from flipping out and stabbing the next person that drove down my gravel road at 90mph, causing a sandstorm of chalk fine dust to be raised airborn, was the Upper Iowa River. This river is magical! It is always the perfect tempurature, fast flowing, shallow, crystal clean and stocked full of fish. The family and I drove down to town and jumped in. I can't tell you how cool it is to be splashing around in a body of water a block from main street that isn't made up of 60% chlorine and 40% kid piss. I plan to repeat this activity everyday while the temperature is above 90.
Now that I have complained I will challenege myself. I will bike to work at least once a week until it snows or I wuss out, whichever comes first. That is a challange in itself, it is so easy to change your mind when a perferctly good car sits in the driveway. I want to do this however to prove to myself and my loved ones I am ready to ride a race call the Great Divide Race. 2745 miles from Banff Alberta, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Held every year, this unsupported race summons less than 30 entrants, most who drop out before the end. Imagine waking up in a tent or bivy bag for 30 days without a shower and jumping on your bike for another 12 hour day of peddling up and down a mountain range. Over the couse of your journey you will climb over 200,000ft in elevation, the height of Mt Everest 7 times! Most of you are probably throwing up with disgust right now but I am excited. More to come on my scheme of a lifetime.
Stay cool!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Electricity and Water?
Never in my life did I think water and electricity were a good mix. TV, the movies and a humorous family story taught me that if there is a combination of a slightly damp floor and some random sparking cable the hero doesn't see death will ensue. However that is rarely the case. Take for example a cistern, a word I knew but really applied to my life this week, full of water with 220V at 30A of electricity flowing throughout. No one was hurt or killed unless you count the water supply machinery to my house. There is this new technology in my life called a "well". Luckily I don't have to pull up the bucket and rope to get water, but there are lots of other difficulties to this system. One of them is electricity, the other is a pump, a pressure tank, an overflow, a widget, a cross bleed, you get the point. There are a lot of pieces to this system and I know, in principal, nothing about them. Oh sure my degree in engineering allows me to understand them separately but as a system, it never occurred to me what a pain it can be. Read on...
There is a certain sound a toilet makes when you flush it and the tank refuses to fill up with water. You get the flush but no running water sound. I heard that gut dropping noise at 2am two nights ago. I confirmed my fear by turning around and opening the tap on the sink and hearing sputtering and a slight sigh of air. My house is not getting water! After my first cacophony of swears complete, I grabbed a flashlight and headed towards the basement. Thank god no water, but also no circuits tripped on the breaker. huh. Well its 2am and there is nothing I can do now. Back to sleep I went.
After some poking around in the morning I decided to call the past owner. There is this magical tank attached to a well system called a pressure tank. It works like this, the well pump fills this tank with a set amount of water/ pressure and then turns off. The tank feeds the house when you turn on the tap or flush the toilet. As the water goes down the pump makes up the difference. IF, for example, you don't have a working tank or it is shorted out telling the pump there is not demand no water comes out. Engineering example done, that's what happened. The previous owner told me the tank was located in the old cistern on the property. If you are unfamiliar with a cistern it is a large hole in the ground, usually lined in concrete that stores water like the pressure tank. It was an old system that the pressure tank took over. That cistern is FULL of water. So here in lies the problem, the tank, plumbing and the electricity to power this system is submerged in (calculating volume)...roughly 2,400 gallons of water!
At this point I am no well system expert but I understand something is wrong. Then I had to do something I have only done 3 times in my life since owning a home. I called a repair man. I take it as a matter of pride that I can fix most things, but I wasn't about to scuba though an 18" hole that leads who knows how far into the black earth with live wires lurking like a killer shark, or so I imagined. "we will send someone out right away" was the answer from the nice lady. 3 hours later and my pregnant wife threatening to dig a hole in the yard and they show up. Iowa time, I am learning is much slower than Chicago time.
I headed home to make sure all would go well and I found a very nice repair man changing out the pressure tank, it had a hole worn in it. His name was Rick and he had, at a minimum, a 60" belly. The cistern hole is 18" across. If my HS geometry teacher Mr. Fox (Jill?) taught me anything is that Circumference= Diameter x Pi. That makes the 18" hole 56" around. Already we are at a disadvantage. Now, you can just drop 8 feet into a concrete pit and jump back out whenever you choose so you are going to need a ladder. Ill skip the diagrams here but let me estimate that the ladder took up half of the opening space previously stated. I think you are getting the picture. Any pain or cost that was accrued with this repair was outweighed by seeing this friendly repairman Rick squeeze in and out of that hole. I watched my daughter being born and by comparison Rick had a harder time.
This got a little long but if you are still reading we have water, I learned a lot about farm plumbing (it is stupid), and we now have another mechanical system in the house that is pretty much new! Now on to painting, painting, painting and some other clean up. Stay tuned.
There is a certain sound a toilet makes when you flush it and the tank refuses to fill up with water. You get the flush but no running water sound. I heard that gut dropping noise at 2am two nights ago. I confirmed my fear by turning around and opening the tap on the sink and hearing sputtering and a slight sigh of air. My house is not getting water! After my first cacophony of swears complete, I grabbed a flashlight and headed towards the basement. Thank god no water, but also no circuits tripped on the breaker. huh. Well its 2am and there is nothing I can do now. Back to sleep I went.
After some poking around in the morning I decided to call the past owner. There is this magical tank attached to a well system called a pressure tank. It works like this, the well pump fills this tank with a set amount of water/ pressure and then turns off. The tank feeds the house when you turn on the tap or flush the toilet. As the water goes down the pump makes up the difference. IF, for example, you don't have a working tank or it is shorted out telling the pump there is not demand no water comes out. Engineering example done, that's what happened. The previous owner told me the tank was located in the old cistern on the property. If you are unfamiliar with a cistern it is a large hole in the ground, usually lined in concrete that stores water like the pressure tank. It was an old system that the pressure tank took over. That cistern is FULL of water. So here in lies the problem, the tank, plumbing and the electricity to power this system is submerged in (calculating volume)...roughly 2,400 gallons of water!
At this point I am no well system expert but I understand something is wrong. Then I had to do something I have only done 3 times in my life since owning a home. I called a repair man. I take it as a matter of pride that I can fix most things, but I wasn't about to scuba though an 18" hole that leads who knows how far into the black earth with live wires lurking like a killer shark, or so I imagined. "we will send someone out right away" was the answer from the nice lady. 3 hours later and my pregnant wife threatening to dig a hole in the yard and they show up. Iowa time, I am learning is much slower than Chicago time.
I headed home to make sure all would go well and I found a very nice repair man changing out the pressure tank, it had a hole worn in it. His name was Rick and he had, at a minimum, a 60" belly. The cistern hole is 18" across. If my HS geometry teacher Mr. Fox (Jill?) taught me anything is that Circumference= Diameter x Pi. That makes the 18" hole 56" around. Already we are at a disadvantage. Now, you can just drop 8 feet into a concrete pit and jump back out whenever you choose so you are going to need a ladder. Ill skip the diagrams here but let me estimate that the ladder took up half of the opening space previously stated. I think you are getting the picture. Any pain or cost that was accrued with this repair was outweighed by seeing this friendly repairman Rick squeeze in and out of that hole. I watched my daughter being born and by comparison Rick had a harder time.
This got a little long but if you are still reading we have water, I learned a lot about farm plumbing (it is stupid), and we now have another mechanical system in the house that is pretty much new! Now on to painting, painting, painting and some other clean up. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Sheep Walker
While thinking of most of my titles I try to be clever. This title is aptly named. Yesterday I had the distinct city boy pleasure of taking a sheep for a walk. (see picture)
A few friends from work raise and show, quite successfully, farm animals such as cows, chickens, and sheep. Last year their chickens won top prize at the Iowa state fair AND they are delicious. I actually made a lentil and chicken soup last night with a prize winning chicken. Circle of life.
Anyways, I needed to borrow a slow cooker for the soup I was planning on making last night so I called em up to ask. Come on over after work they say. I show up in my work clothes and am confronted with the opportunity of a lifetime... to take a sheep for a walk. I guess sheep are lazy SOB's and given the choice between running around freely or laying down all day, they choose the latter. So in order to whip em into shape for the show you have to take them for a walk everyday.
Just like a dog, they are relativity happy to be on a leash, or halter, as I learned. However, they do like to be walked in pairs, as they are skittish, and did I mention lazy. We maybe walked them 1/2 mile and they were panting and had to be spurred on by noises, pushes and the occasional kick to the butt. My friend Sandra told me... "well, you can check that one off the list". I informed her, that walking a sheep wasn't even on my list because I didn't think it was even an option in life, along with punching the pope, eating a sucker while suspended upside down hung from the center of the Brooklyn bridge, or snorting crushed diamonds for the most expensive high know to man... for example.
This farm life is going to be awesome! Not only do I get to learn something new everyday, all the people at work love to hear the stories and laugh along with me. They are laughing with me right?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)