Seasonal Affective Disorder! That's gotta be it. Right? There has to be a psychological explanation for us northern folk that can't ride our motorcycles in the winter!
We've been having some arctic cold spells in northern New Hampshire off and on over the past month, and I'm actually surprised that I hadn't had my usual stare-at-my-motorcycle-in-the-garage moment until this past week. But man, this time it hit me hard. Think about the sad man staring at his beautiful black Honda VTX 1300 in the garage with really sad violin music in the background. Maybe show the scene in black and white with Italian or French subtitles.
Now I actually do know a couple people that suffer from the real form of S.A.D. Most of these people could do with some outside winter sports fun in my opinion. But I'm not a psychologist, so maybe my advice shouldn't be taken all that seriously. Apologies to them if my humorous attempt at the plight of the motorcycle rider's winter blues makes them angry.
Maybe the S.A.D. motorcycle version hit me harder since my girlfriend and I have only gone out for a snowshoe hike once this winter. The super-cold arctic chill coerced me to stay indoors on certain days.
Might try cross country skiing again, but need to find a less-steep place to try it and get some practice, since our usual trail area has some pretty steep hills. And the less I fall on my ass the more likely I'll be to try the cross country ski stuff in the future.
Just a few more months...
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
One New Year's resolution...
Got a few resolutions for the new year, but on this post I'm just going to mention one of them.
I recently bought the Rosetta Stone program for French. Being as how my ancestry is nearly 85% French Canadian, I've been kind of ashamed that I never really learned the language. My great grandparents on my father's side moved to the US in the early 1900's, when my grandfather (Pepere) was born. The area where I live has a lot of Quebecois people that speak the language, particularly the elderly folks.
French got passed down to my parents generation, but not mine so much. Just how it goes becoming assimilated to America. With my job and all the Quebecois old folk in my area, being a Paramedic that can understand them will help somewhat. Also, I've got a new "pen-pal" on Facebook from northern Quebec that shares some ancestry, who also likes to hike and ride the motorcycle. He's also a Paramedic! He speaks English pretty well, but he primarily speaks French way up north where he lives and when he visits I'll have another person to help me with my French.
I'm gonna recruit my father as well when I call every once in a while. He speaks if fluently and can also point out the subtle differences between the Quebecois and the Parisian style speaking.
And if I get comfortable enough, may even post this blog in French. We'll see...
Happy New Year!
I recently bought the Rosetta Stone program for French. Being as how my ancestry is nearly 85% French Canadian, I've been kind of ashamed that I never really learned the language. My great grandparents on my father's side moved to the US in the early 1900's, when my grandfather (Pepere) was born. The area where I live has a lot of Quebecois people that speak the language, particularly the elderly folks.
French got passed down to my parents generation, but not mine so much. Just how it goes becoming assimilated to America. With my job and all the Quebecois old folk in my area, being a Paramedic that can understand them will help somewhat. Also, I've got a new "pen-pal" on Facebook from northern Quebec that shares some ancestry, who also likes to hike and ride the motorcycle. He's also a Paramedic! He speaks English pretty well, but he primarily speaks French way up north where he lives and when he visits I'll have another person to help me with my French.
I'm gonna recruit my father as well when I call every once in a while. He speaks if fluently and can also point out the subtle differences between the Quebecois and the Parisian style speaking.
And if I get comfortable enough, may even post this blog in French. We'll see...
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 6, 2013
Holidays
Yup, that time of year. I've picked up one gift so far, and I haven't even made my shopping list. Still a few weeks to xmas, so I'm not worried. But I should start on that soon.
This week all of us from the Aikido program met up for a holiday pot luck at Jack's. Good times, got to meet the significant others of the people I throw around/throw me around. Just a nice mellow get together with good food brought by all. Couldn't help but wonder why the Silent Warrior program couldn't have been able to do this too...
Tomorrow I've got the day to myself. And after Aikido in the morning I plan on doing a little shopping to get some items off that xmas list that I'm going to start on right now...
This week all of us from the Aikido program met up for a holiday pot luck at Jack's. Good times, got to meet the significant others of the people I throw around/throw me around. Just a nice mellow get together with good food brought by all. Couldn't help but wonder why the Silent Warrior program couldn't have been able to do this too...
Tomorrow I've got the day to myself. And after Aikido in the morning I plan on doing a little shopping to get some items off that xmas list that I'm going to start on right now...
Monday, December 2, 2013
So far...
The replacement Dell laptop is running nicely. No hiccups, no bullshit. Still, it's only been a few weeks. And I'm keeping "old busted" around for at least 6 months more, just to be sure I still have my iTunes collection.
I haven't heard from John in a while. And I've lost my patience with the whole revival of Ninpo Chuan Fa. I can understand if he's busy, but I've had too many messages sent to him by email or phone that haven't been returned. If he decides to teach again, as the loyal student I'll be happy to take lessons from him, but I don't think that's going to happen.
With the whole Silent Warrior Martial Arts program on the back burner, I've been enjoying more time training in Aikido. There's three of us attending regularly, and those other two guys are great to work with. One's a pharmacist, and while new to Aikido, he picks up material quite well. The other is a Psychotherapist and part time yoga teacher, also great to work with.
The yoga guy and I present some interesting challenges to each other. We're both 5'10, but my 260lb. + stocky muscular frame (man I need to slim down) can make it a challenge for him to throw me around, so he needs to get the technique right to move me. I'm tighter muscle-wise, due to the regular weightlifting (I pick things up and put them down!), and that can make it easier to get joint locks on me. On the other hand , his 150 lbs. , skinny and super flexible self makes it difficult to keep my hands on him, from getting good joint locks, and there's the holding back from throwing him too hard. He's like the rubber band man. It's good to have these little challenges. I'm a 3rd Kyu now, and I keep enjoying what I've been learning from Aikido.
Since the Silent Warrior program ended/took a break in July, I've been able to keep about half the stuff in my head that I've relearned. One of the big helps in retaining that info was Tim emailing me his hand written notes on the specifics of the defense combinations he jotted down years ago. The program may be done, but I'll still practice much of what I've learned. It's hard to let go of something you've studied for so long.
And the motorcycle is officially put away for the winter... freakin' snow!
I haven't heard from John in a while. And I've lost my patience with the whole revival of Ninpo Chuan Fa. I can understand if he's busy, but I've had too many messages sent to him by email or phone that haven't been returned. If he decides to teach again, as the loyal student I'll be happy to take lessons from him, but I don't think that's going to happen.
With the whole Silent Warrior Martial Arts program on the back burner, I've been enjoying more time training in Aikido. There's three of us attending regularly, and those other two guys are great to work with. One's a pharmacist, and while new to Aikido, he picks up material quite well. The other is a Psychotherapist and part time yoga teacher, also great to work with.
The yoga guy and I present some interesting challenges to each other. We're both 5'10, but my 260lb. + stocky muscular frame (man I need to slim down) can make it a challenge for him to throw me around, so he needs to get the technique right to move me. I'm tighter muscle-wise, due to the regular weightlifting (I pick things up and put them down!), and that can make it easier to get joint locks on me. On the other hand , his 150 lbs. , skinny and super flexible self makes it difficult to keep my hands on him, from getting good joint locks, and there's the holding back from throwing him too hard. He's like the rubber band man. It's good to have these little challenges. I'm a 3rd Kyu now, and I keep enjoying what I've been learning from Aikido.
Since the Silent Warrior program ended/took a break in July, I've been able to keep about half the stuff in my head that I've relearned. One of the big helps in retaining that info was Tim emailing me his hand written notes on the specifics of the defense combinations he jotted down years ago. The program may be done, but I'll still practice much of what I've learned. It's hard to let go of something you've studied for so long.
And the motorcycle is officially put away for the winter... freakin' snow!
Friday, November 15, 2013
New
I'm getting a new laptop from Dell. It took way to long for this to happen, and the tech people wanted me to just send it back in for repairs after it's third hard drive crashed for no reason. I put my foot down and said "Refund, replace the computer, or I go to the better business bureau". Of course, I have no idea whether the Better Business Bureau could have really done anything.
They couldn't do a refund, but then took their sweet time making up their minds to let me know they'd send a new one. I'll get the new replacement laptop in a week or so.
Seriously hoping this is the last problem I have with Dell. Somehow I've been using my busted HP laptop that I've had for 5 years at home, although I have to prop it up since the screen doesn't hold itself up anymore, and is starting to break apart at the seams. Still works though!
They couldn't do a refund, but then took their sweet time making up their minds to let me know they'd send a new one. I'll get the new replacement laptop in a week or so.
Seriously hoping this is the last problem I have with Dell. Somehow I've been using my busted HP laptop that I've had for 5 years at home, although I have to prop it up since the screen doesn't hold itself up anymore, and is starting to break apart at the seams. Still works though!
Monday, November 4, 2013
WTF
I'm typing this on my old HP laptop I bought 5 years ago. It has to be propped up so the screen doesn't just fall off. Besides the speakers failing a couple years ago (headphones still work on it), this laptop has been excellent! One would think I would have just bought another HP...
But no, I bought a Dell Inspiron laptop. Three weeks into ownership, once I'd a few things switched over, the hard drive crashes. I'd really hadn't done anything with the computer at that point, and it wasn't damaged in any way. So I call Dell. They send a guy who comes and replaces the hard drive.
All good. And then...
It happens again?! WTF (what the fuck, to explain our american acronym). So I call Dell Support. They tell me to send in the laptop and they will replace the hard drive and check out the computer and make sure all is ok. I send it in, in the Fed-Ex box they send. A couple weeks later I get it back. I'm able to trasnport all my itunes and other junk on. All is well again.
And then...
WTF?! A month later it does this again! Same error code! I do the diagnostics check that I've done a few times now, and low and behold, another bad hard drive. There's nothing I'm doing on my HP that I'm not doing on the Dell. So what's the deal? I call Dell again. They tell me to send it in again and they'll replace the motherboard and the hard drive.
I told them BULLSHIT! I demanded either a refund or a new computer. They said the refund wasn't happening, and that they'd have to send the request for a new laptop up their chain of command, and that they'd get back to me two days later with an answer. Four days later I call Dell Support, after not getting a reply by email or phone, and once again I get some poor Indian guy on the phone, having to listen to me all pissed off at his company. He told me he would have an answer for me in two days, and that he would call me himself. Today's the day he's supposed to call back with an answer.
Losing my patience here. To spend hundreds of dollars on something that keeps breaking for no reason is quite frustrating...
But no, I bought a Dell Inspiron laptop. Three weeks into ownership, once I'd a few things switched over, the hard drive crashes. I'd really hadn't done anything with the computer at that point, and it wasn't damaged in any way. So I call Dell. They send a guy who comes and replaces the hard drive.
All good. And then...
It happens again?! WTF (what the fuck, to explain our american acronym). So I call Dell Support. They tell me to send in the laptop and they will replace the hard drive and check out the computer and make sure all is ok. I send it in, in the Fed-Ex box they send. A couple weeks later I get it back. I'm able to trasnport all my itunes and other junk on. All is well again.
And then...
WTF?! A month later it does this again! Same error code! I do the diagnostics check that I've done a few times now, and low and behold, another bad hard drive. There's nothing I'm doing on my HP that I'm not doing on the Dell. So what's the deal? I call Dell again. They tell me to send it in again and they'll replace the motherboard and the hard drive.
I told them BULLSHIT! I demanded either a refund or a new computer. They said the refund wasn't happening, and that they'd have to send the request for a new laptop up their chain of command, and that they'd get back to me two days later with an answer. Four days later I call Dell Support, after not getting a reply by email or phone, and once again I get some poor Indian guy on the phone, having to listen to me all pissed off at his company. He told me he would have an answer for me in two days, and that he would call me himself. Today's the day he's supposed to call back with an answer.
Losing my patience here. To spend hundreds of dollars on something that keeps breaking for no reason is quite frustrating...
Monday, October 21, 2013
Wow, what a slacker for a blogger!
I really should post more often on this if I'm gonna keep this up and running. I apologize to anyone that regularly checks up on my blog, and promise that I'll contribute more to this. I'll be posting soon about a few things that have been going on, like:
-Ninpo Chuan Fa, and what's happening/not happening with that.
-Aikido, and my recent 3rd Kyu test
-my Maple Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup recipe, because this former professional chef is happy to share a good recipe.
-Horrorfest: a walk through Halloween show in my hometown my friends and I have kept up with to bring some appropriate October festivity to the community
- an anniversary with a pretty lady
- guided sound meditation
- Huna?
- Paramedic adventures.
- and, of course, riding my motorcycle.
Hope everyone out there is enjoying their autumn.
-Ninpo Chuan Fa, and what's happening/not happening with that.
-Aikido, and my recent 3rd Kyu test
-my Maple Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup recipe, because this former professional chef is happy to share a good recipe.
-Horrorfest: a walk through Halloween show in my hometown my friends and I have kept up with to bring some appropriate October festivity to the community
- an anniversary with a pretty lady
- guided sound meditation
- Huna?
- Paramedic adventures.
- and, of course, riding my motorcycle.
Hope everyone out there is enjoying their autumn.
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