We are continuing our quest to visit every state park in Indiana.
Shakamak state park is locate in west central park of the state, south of Terre Haute. Neither Nikki or I have been there before so it was a few hours of new discovery for us. We found a geocache along Trail #1. Too bad Stevie didn’t have his fishing gear, since the park is really a giant fishing lake with a few acres of dry land surrounding the lake.
Q1 – Food: A friend of mine insists certain foods are exclusively “outdoor” foods, while others are exclusively “indoor” foods. For example, he says pizza is an indoor food, and hot dogs are meant to be eaten exclusively outdoors. Do you agree, and if so, what would classify as indoor or outdoor foods?
I’ve always thought that hot dogs and hamburgers are “cook on the grill” foods exclusive for the outdoors. But, Nikki has cooked hot dogs and hamburgers in the kitchen on occasion.
Q2 – Wasteful: The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) — an educational assistance organization with 40 private, historically black, member colleges and universities — coined the phrase “A mind is a terrible thing to waste” back in the early-1970′s (actually, it was Forest Long, an advertising executive with Young and Rubicam, who developed the tagline for UNCF). Aside from money, water, gas, electricity, hot dogs, and pizza, what else do you feel is a terrible thing to waste?
I include “Time” on the list. As I grow older, I hate to waste time and do absolutely nothing that does not advance even in a small way whatever goal or activity that is ‘current’. I strive for a balance, but more often than not, my time is not balanced correctly and I waste a lot of it.
Q3 – Research: According to research conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, nearly 70% of all American adults have used the Internet to get help with personal economic issues related to the recession and to gather information about the origins and solutions to national economic problems. Those hard hit by the recession are among the most avid and wide-ranging Internet users searching for advice and understanding. Some 52% of American adults have either lost their jobs, seen their investments fall by more than half their value, suffered a pay cut, watched their house lose half its value, or lost their job outright during the downturn in the past year. How about you… have you recently gone online to search out information specifically related to an impact brought on by the recession?
Nope, I haven’t gone online to seek out information that is freely expressed to all who are within earshot by other people who do go online. What’s the point? I’ve been hit by the economy while others haven’t. I don’t need to seek out what I already know.
Q4 – Performance: Fifty-one percent of likely voters now say they disapprove of the President’s job performance, according to the latest Zogby Poll. How would you rate the President’s job performance: Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor?
Poor. He was voted in on reform but hasn’t done much other than talk. Typical Democrat.
Peta recently yanked this billboard ad after the flood of emails claiming that the message is ‘hate speech’ to fat people. However, Peta says that the response is positive, saying that people who see the ad are moving to a vegiterian diet.
Yeah, right. Why pull the ad if it is work?
I’m not much of a vegetable eater, never have been and probably never will be. I stay away from most kinds of vegetables by choice. I do, however, like green beans, any kind of bean except lima beans, carrots, and onions and green peppers on SubWay cold-cut combos, and pop-corn. But I don’t like ‘regular’ corn – ever seen a pig eat an ear of corn?
But give me a break. The ad claims that switching to a total vegeterian diet will guarantee that you will lose weight. I guess Peta forgot that weight loss is a simple function of calories in minus calories spent. Whether I eat 5,000 calories of spinach or steak three times a day, I’ll probably get fat.
Duh.
But score points for the ‘shock’ value. At least Peta created a buzz that found it’s way to CNN and other media outlets.
While I won’t discount that a ‘healthy’ meal plan is a cornerstone of a ‘balanced’ diet, I don’t believe that a diet of 100% vegetables is any thing but sick.
I wonder if Peta’s next ad will say “Considing Gastic Bypass? Eat Vegetables And Save the Pain”. If that ad appears on the billboard next door, I’ll take my name off the bariatric surgery waiting list at St. Vincent’s.
The Southside Art League
is co-sponsoring the Midwest National Abstract Art Exhibition V at The Garfield Park Arts Center. The dates are Sept. 19 through Oct. 11, 2009.
The press release says that there will be 50 paintings on exhibit covering the full spectrum of abstract art. If you attend and don’t see my painting, that’s ok, because it wasn’t selected because I didn’t enter one for consideration. I’ll need to work on that next year.
John Damiano (photo by DENNIS MCDONALD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
I am amazed at the accomplishments of people, especially the young and the old. Here’s a story about an 80 year old cyclist, who completed a 3,629 mile cross country bicycle trip from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
I’m inspired by ordinary people who do the extraordinary. In my own family, Nikki and my brothers rode in the Hilly Hundred in 2008 and plan to in ’09. My Dad completed a high mileage tour of Wyoming and the Hilly.
The last Hilly I did was in 2000 and I haven’t been on a bike in a serious manner since. I switched to running (which I hardly do anymore – it seems).
How can people do these things? What drives them? What motivates them? What drives an 80 year old guy to cycle across the country? Why can’t I get off the couch and do something extraordinary?
Maybe I’m too pedantic, but I am curious what drives an 80 year old guy to cycle across the country. Maybe if I knew then I could at least assimilate some of that drive in my own life.
Haven’t done this is a while (From the August 14, 2009 of Belicove.com)
Q1 – Coup d’etat: If you could overthrow any sitting government anywhere in the world, which one would you replace and why?
I not as ‘political’ as I used to be, defaulting to a ‘the government does as it pleases’ point-of-view, but I would certainly overthrow the Iranian and North Korea governments since (I believe) they pose the greatest threat to the US and the world at large.
Q2 – Location: What’s most important to you when choosing where to live: Proximity to family, good paying jobs, affordable homes and apartments, top-notch schools, low crime, fun things to do, access to the arts, something else?
If I was to move now, I would look for recreational hiking, camping, skiing, biking, running and geocaching in the western states, especially Colorado.
Q3 – Storage: What if anything is stored under your bed?
Recently, Nikki cleaned out underneath the our bed so it’s now all prestine and tidy. But before, I believe there were shoes, empty boxes, trash, belts, underwear and assorted who-knows-what.
Q4 – Taxes: As Americans have continued to eat more and exercise less, health and fitness experts have focused their efforts on inspiring healthful change one individual at a time. Unfortunately, this approach has not improved the nation’s obesity crisis, nor has it increased adherence to healthful eating habits and regular physical activity programs. With steps ranging from a trans fat ban in California restaurants to mandatory nutrition labeling in New York, regulators are changing federal and state policies to improve the health of the nation. Do you think its okay to impose higher taxes on calorie-dense and nutrient-poor foods, which some experts say might lower consumption of unhealthy foods and generate revenue to subsidize programs that promote better choices?
I am in favor of a ‘ticket tax’ imposed on people who attend football games at the Lucas Oil Stadium, instead of the food and beverage tax imposed on everyone, even those who don’t benefit from that over priced empty horse stable. Since I’m in favor of a ticket tax, I should be consistent and favor an obesity tax. While I don’t believe that behavior can be legislated, a tax imposed on calorie-dense and nutrient-poor foods might give people a second thought at what they are eating, much like a ticket tax might give people a second thought at the dollars they are wasting on sports entertainment. Hopefully, the revenue from an obesity tax will be faithfully administered (doubtful) and help the population, like giving free bariatric surgery to people who believe they are overweight (like me).
Recently, I read a blog post about a lost GPS, where the owner place the GPS on the roof of her car, forgot about it and then drove away. The GPS was lost. After reading the post, I made a mental note to myself to avoid doing the same.
This morning, while preparing for my 6 mile run at Craig Park (Greenwood, IN), I turned on my Forerunner 205 GPS and placed it on the hood of the Honda so it could sync with the orbiting satellites . Or course, I forgot about it. I didn’t realize this until I had driven about 5 miles and was near the park. I turned around and back tracked. At home, I walked on the neighborhood streets in search of the GPS.
Once I realized that the Forerunner was lost, I kicked myself in the ass for being so stupid. I was going to give up on the run and go back home to sulk.
Nikki gave me the Forerunner in the Spring of 2006 and I had become attached to it. The Forerunner was the perfect gadget for me, as I like to keep track of my pace, time and distance.
Instead of staying home to host my pity party, I drove back to the park to get my run in. During the drive, I looked intensely at every bit of debris in the road gutter that even resembled a watch. Maybe one day I’ll see it.
I used the iPod to keep track of the time I spent on the run. I ran for 60 minutes, so that should equate to about 6 miles at a 10 minute pace.
Nikki is holding the geocache we found on the Advantage Engineering property at N 39° 35.534 W 086° 05.705. As I posted on the geocaching web site after I logged the find, I should have been the FTF (first to find), since I’ve been working at Advantage since 1991. Actually, I started working at Advantage in 1987 – after graduating from Ball State University, but I stepped back from 1990-91 to attempt a start at my own business venture, which eventually crashed and burned in flaming glory. I was lucky to get back on board with Advantage and been there ever since.
Although I’ve been scoping out potential hiding spots nearby the Advantage campus since I can easily monitor and maintain them during my lunch break, I didn’t hid this cache… honest!
I’ve been feeling isolated. Ever since the meeting with Upright Communications (July ’09), I’ve come to realize that I’m not on the top of the web design curve any longer (if I ever was). While Upright is scoring points on the Best Blogs On The Net (Summer ’09), I’m struggling to grasp the concepts of JQuery and Ajax.
And, now I hear that I didn’t make the Blog Indiana Blindy ballot list. While I haven’t heard of or read most of the blogs on the list, still, it would be nice to be included.
Has anyone noticed that it requires a lot of work to stay current? It requires even more effort to stay ‘ahead’, to stay on the cutting edge, to become a ‘thought’ leader, a ‘guru’ whom the world flocks to hear words of insight and wisdom. While I believed I was doing well on the design front, I’ve afraid that I’ve had a reality check.
Maybe I’m too pedantic. But, I have taken steps to combat this. I’ve purchased books on Ajax and considered online course work to get back up the curve. But, unfortunately, I won’t attend the ’09 Blog Indiana conference. Instead, I’ll try to stay current by adding the Blindy blogs to my Google reader.
I once heard that “Little steps can make the difference.” Maybe this is the step to take.
For today’s lunch, drove to Village Pantry at Emerson and Main Street in Greenwood. Picked up a sandwich and a diet Mt Dew. I remembered that there was a recently placed geocache near the parking lot pay phone. This was my 256th cache.
