Category Archives: Off Topic

Sep 28 1 comments
Off Topic

Sandy Hook, New Jersey

For the last week I have been in Sandy Hook, New Jersey attending a seminar. Sandy Hook is a part of the Gateway National Park that surrounds the approaches to lower New York Harbor.

sandy hook gate way national park

Sandy Hook sticks up from the New Jersey coast towards lower Brooklyn. Although you can see the buildings across the bay, it seems like two different worlds. A large part of Sandy Hook is a wide beach. Toward the end of the hook is Fort Hancock, an old army base named after Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, famous for his coolness under fire at Gettysburg.

fort hancock mortor battery

The Fort itself stands pretty much as it did when the post closed in 1974. Most of the brick buildings were built at the turn of the last century, when the area was fortified to protect New York harbor. There are several old gun batteries that align themselves to New York approach. During both WWI and WWII the fort saw a large increase in troops stationed there for the duration of those conflicts.

fort hancock nike missile

After WWII a Nike Missile battery was installed there and was active until 1973. It is the only place where you can still see what a Nike missile site looked like, as all the other sites have been disassembled. The park service is in the process of restoring the control center, complete with 1960’s era computers.

fort hancock officers row

Officer’s row is the row of houses that face Sandy Hook Bay as it empties into lower New York harbor. It must have been nice to sit out on the front porch of one of these houses and watch the sun set over the water every night.

fort hancock geese

Now, the geese hang out where the solder’s once marched.

fort hancock parade ground and flag

Old glory.

sandy hook light house

The Sandy Hook Light house is located on Fort Hancock as well. This is the oldest continuously operating operating light house in the United States. It was constructed in 1790 to warn ships away from the sand bar as they were coming into New York.

There is a lot of things to do and see here. I think that September is the ideal month to come because the weather is nice and the summer crowds have all gone back to where ever they came from.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Oct 06 1 comments
Off Topic

Shawangunk Ridge hairpin turn

Every day, twice a day, on my way to and from work I drive over the Shawangunk Ridge on US Route 44. I actually enjoy the ride very much for three seasons out of the year. Winter can be a challenge, but even that is not too bad. On both ends of the ridge there are impressive views of the Hudson and Roundout Valleys and it reminds me of why I like living here so much. This time of year with the foliage starting to change is my favorite.

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One of my daily sights is the hairpin turn coming down the ridge on the Hudson Valley side. To the un-initiated, the turn comes up quite suddenly, and in spite of the numerous warning signs, some people are caught unaware. They usually end up slamming on their brakes and making it, although not always. This turn is slightly more than 180 degrees, and for the east bound traveler, the inside track is the tightest turn.

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There is a little parking area adjacent to the wide part of the turn. Often times, on nice summer days, there are vendors parked selling T-shirts, hot dogs or whatever. I think watching a tanker truck coming down the hill too fast trying to negotiate that inside turn would be a little nerve wracking for those who choose to park there.

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This area of the Ridge is a part of the Mohonk Preserve. As such, there are numerous hiking trails and bike paths through the woods. Another thing that I often see in the nice weather is rock climbers. The shear cliffs seem to attract them in droves, dangling from ropes quite high up. I have observed that quite a few women now engage in this sport, which can also be a distraction while driving.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Sep 25 0 comments
Off Topic

QSL card

Under the bizarre but true heading, I found this for sale on eBay the other day:

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You: So what is it?

Me: It is a QSL card I sent to somebody in the UK while I was stationed on Guam in 1989.

You:

Me: Okay, once upon a time, on an island far in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there was this fellow (me) who was sent there by his Government to do Important Work.

You: Is this going to take long?

Me: Yes, but you asked the question…

Anyway, as I was saying, this island is named Guam and it is exactly 35 miles long and from 4 to 12 miles wide. Now, being a kind and benevolent Government, the fellow, ur, um, me, was given time off, when not engaged in the Important Work, to enjoy said island.
Guam has a tropical environment, so the temperature never varied much at all. It was very pleasant except when the typhoons were milling about off shore waiting to wreak havoc on the unprepared, but that is another story.

To be sure, the first year there was spent enjoying outdoor activities such as snorkeling, SCUBA diving, fishing, swimming, and hiking the interior of the island discovering various war relics. It was grand.

The second year was spent much the same as the first, with a certain familiarity to it all. I also began to notice that news and other information arrived on the island in a somewhat delayed or hap hazard fashion. So, in the second year I had a friend who was a fellow Coastie and he suggested that I become an Amateur Radio Operator. Also known as a Ham Radio Operator or Ham.

In doing this, I was told, you can talk to people from all over the place on the radio and it’s FREE! Now FREE! was important because long distance rates to the U.S. mainland ranged from $1.10 to $1.50 per minute depending on the time of day. So I studied, took a test, passed a morse code exam, purchased some radio gear, made a simple antenna, threw it up in a tree and viola! Instant communication with the U.S. main land, that is, when the conditions would permit and all the other Ham Radio Operators were not trying to talk to the guy on Guam, who’s presence on the radio was apparently quite rare indeed.

You see, the other thing that Ham Radio Operators do is exchange these little post cards called QSL cards. They do this to confirm their communication with each other and there is whole array of reasons why they do so. They have clubs, contests, awards, certificates and other things that they do to reward people who collect these cards. Therefore, whenever I talked with somebody, and they asked me to, I would send off one of these QSL cards. There must be several hundred of them floating around out there, mostly in Japan, but that is another story.

I found this one by Googling myself.

You: Wait, Googling yourself?

Me: Yes, a bit narcissistic I know, but I wanted to see where the blog would show up in the results.

You:

Me:

Anyway, what is unusual about this is I filled out this QSL card while living on Guam in 1989, sent it off to some person in England. It is for sale on eBay by some person in California, somebody thinks it is worth something, and I found it all on the Internet.

I e-mailed the guy and he suggested that I was famous for having my QSL card for sale.

Strange, huh.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sep 20 0 comments
Off Topic

How to Define Success

How to define success:

I have entered a blog contest, at Problogger for which the requirement is to write a “how to post.” You cannot enter a previous post. This is right up my ally, I thought. I have done many how to posts on the homeowner’s blog. But then, things are never as easy as they seem. After scratching my head for a day, I decided not to do the unusual how to unclog a toilet, or install a stove post. This one is a little more conceptual and off topic. As Jay alluded to yesterday, this is a broad subject.

The dictionary defines success as:
–noun
1. The favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
2. The attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
3. A successful performance or achievement: The play was an instant success.
4. A person or thing that is successful: She was a great success on the talk show.
5. Outcome (obsolete)

While working in the yard one day it struck me: Lately I have noticed that people are generally dissatisfied, grumpy or maybe even depressed. Why? We are, as a society, being driven to do more with less and do it faster.

This is good for our employers, but were does it get us?

What is success?

It has much to do with our society and the emphasis it places on being successful. So what is successful? Owning a big house, a fancy foreign car, and Ivy League schools for the kids? Perhaps that is success, or not. Is success checking completed items off of a list? That method might measure progress, but perhaps not success.

I remember when I was in the service I was able to visit many different places. One thing that always struck me; no matter where I went, and how impoverished the people were, they mostly seemed happy, even when living in a garbage dump in the Philippines. They were poor for certain, but they had spirit, life, confidence and pride.

Material things were nice certainly nice to have, but not necessary.

Success in life is being engaged with family, enjoying what you are doing, living well, learning, affecting others in a positive way, contributing to the social fabric and well being of society, and above all being happy with who you are.

Things that can stand it the way of success:

Greed.

For those bible scholars out there, money is not the route to all evil. Money is an inanimate object made from metal, paper, or plastic. It is no more evil than a soup spoon. It is the drive to have money, and, it seems the addiction to money that makes people do very bad things. Money itself is a means to an end. It buys things like food, shelter, transportation, and so on.

What money cannot buy are love, happiness, satisfaction, self esteem, and immortality.

Consumerism.

It is not enough to own a car, it has to be a nice car and it has to be new. Newer version of X box comes out, time to throw out the old one. Last years clothes are out of fashion. What drives these ideas? Consumerism. We are constantly pitched things that we must have. These sales pitches are specifically targeted and sometimes very subtle.

McDonald’s is a very good example of this. At the end of Sesame Street, there is a group of sponsors that are thanked for there contribution to the production of the program. Almost invariably, one of them is McDonald’s, including the little golden arches logo. McDonald’s knows that brand awareness, even at a very young age, is the key to a long term customer. That is very astute of them. What is not said is that the majority of there food is bad for our health.

For a great book about how a large corporation can control government and manipulate the general public, read “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser.

Ask the majority of people in the developing world what they fear about the U.S. and it is our culture of consumerism.

A direct offshoot of consumerism is advertising.

Here is a word of warning to everyone that is exposed to advertising: Wal-Mart is not concerned about your well being, in spite of what the add says. All they want is your money. It is that simple.

Is all advertising bad? No, not by a long shot. I have found many good and needed products through advertising. Advertising, when done correctly, is a great communication method and a way to increase awareness in the general population. However, we need to be aware that as a group, we are analyised, sub-grouped, tracked, and surveyed because other people want our money. There are billions of dollars spent in efforts to get consumers to buy things they don’t really need and in many cases cannot afford.

Don’t be a tool and fall for those schemes. We have to separate our needs from those of the advertiser and do what is best for us.

Fear.

I am not talking about the fear when standing on the edge of a cliff that you may fall. That fear is normal, rational and healthy. The fear I am referring to is what happens when you don’t follow the herd. You become strange, unusual, not one of “us.”

Fear is a great motivator to do the will of others. If you don’t work 65 hours a week, you will get fired, lose your house, your car, your wife, etc. If you don’t have the latest and greatest then you are yesterday’s news.

If you change your routine or way of thinking, things will not be familiar.

If you don’t go to church every Sunday you will burn in hell for eternity. That’s a big one.

Fear of losing what we have is the prime motivator of society. Nobody wants to go from riches to rags, not just because you would be losing material possessions, but because of what other people might think. Fear can feed on itself until it becomes irrational.

Learn to face those fears, don’t be conned into following the herd at all costs, don’t be afraid to try new things, don’t be afraid to explore yourself, to plumb the depths of your own psyche and see what lies within.

Sometimes you have to go against the flow. Broad and spacious is the path to destruction, narrow and hard is the right path.

We have to find our own way, that is the challenge of this life.

In summary, success is how you and only you choose to define it. Success is a positive outcome to a event, goal or endeavor which may or may not be immediately apparent.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sep 08 0 comments
Off Topic

The Cat dragged itself in

This is the newest member of our house hold. She came to us last week, apparently smelling a tuna fish sandwich in the garbage can. My wife called around to the various cat shelters and veterinarian’s offices to see if anyone was missing a cat. My daughter decided on the spot that the cat was ours, stating “When daddy comes home, he will let the cat inside, he will say ‘that’s our cat.’” Then she named it “outside open door cat.”

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When she first arrived, the new cat was very skinny, and very hungry. My wife fed it a little bit of food at a time so it would not throw up. It spent the first night outside in a box with a blanket by the back door. I let her in the next day when we got a flea collar.

This cat seems to have a good disposition, not unpolite, follows directions, friendly, and generally happy to be living with us. This is pretty much the polar opposite of our last cat.

Our first cat suffered from some sort of psychosis. Our first autumn here, we noticed we had a little mouse problem. My wife was pretty much freaking out about it so I proposed we adopt a cat. I like having pets around, I think it is good for kids growing up with pets in the house. I figured we could give a good home to a deserving animal in exchange for some lite mousing duties. The only problem is, we adopted a crazy cat.

She would not drink water out of her bowl, instead choosing to lick the shower after we were done, or just drink from the toilet. She would get up on the counter top, wake us up in the middle of the night for no reason, spend a week at a time in the tree in the front yard, meow loudly for no reason and so on. She took her frustrations out on the animal population around our house because it was not just mice, but chipmonks, voles, moles, birds, and perhaps a rabbit or two.

On top of that, she hated me. Whenever I walked into the room she would give me the evil eye. If I tried to pet her, she would get up and go sit down somewhere just out of my reach, then stare at me. She was better suited for a barn than a house. Unfortunately she used up her nine lives rapidly and was hit by a car last spring.

But this cat is not anything like that. My wife took the cat to the vet’s office this morning. They said she is 4 to 6 years old, healthy and has been spayed. So we are happy with our new cat, and she seems happy to have found a place to live.

Popularity: 2% [?]