The Life in a Day

Dear Monday: You suck!

2010-02-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

Sooo I had a pretty bad Monday today. The worst kind of Monday in fact... filled with stress. I'm going to just give a play by play of my Monday morning.

Wake up to waaaay more snow than I was ready to deal with. I mean it was only 5 or 6 inches but I was expecting like 2 at most, nothing I would have to bust out the snowblower for.

After shoveling 2 tracks to get out of the driveway I get to work a half an hour late.

Only to realize that my coworker is sick for the day and there are 4 - count them 4 high priority incident tickets for two warehouses that are down - requiring me to give my whole morning to getting them going again. Phone calls all morning between the vendor and the warehouses.

After around 11:30 -when they are finally both up and running I get the heads up that someone asked me to give a 45 minute presentation at a conference in Chicago.... Which is a pretty cool opportunity I've got to admit. The kicker is that it is to days away on WEDNESDAY!!! Apparently another vendor backed out they thought I would be a good candidate to speak on one of the newer technologies I had developed for my company. Kind of flattering but still a stress sandwich....

Finally I had a volleyball game which I was looking forward to help releive some pent up energy. We lost handily....

I get home and accept that I will finally have to get the snowblower out and finish my driveway for the next half an hour.

I go inside to find my wonderful pooch decided to chew up my favorite hat along with some other things laying around the house.

Then I go out to the front porch to get the mail in my shorts, socks and volleyball pads, my dog jumps on the open door, shutting it and locking me out of the front door. This requires me to run around my house in my barefeet in about 6 inches of snow that I have neglected to clean off my driveway and sidewalk.... sweet.

Pretty crappy day but hopefully the evening will make up for it!

Unconquered

2009-12-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

A recently released movie 'Invictus' got me wondering where the title came from a few weeks ago. A little google search led me to this short poem by William Ernest Henly. This is the text compliments of wikipedia:

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.

The opening of the films trailer was Morgan Freeman reading this poem as Nelson Mandella, The story is that this was written on the walls of his cell when he was in prison. I think its an amazing poem and it gives me chills when I read it. I can't wait to see this movie, partially because of the story behind the characters but also because it is about an amazing rugby world cup year.

I'm baaaack

2009-12-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

Soooo, I deided that I don't have the time to dedicate to creating one solid online identity and it will come one day but for now I'll just keep this blog going for fun, don't look for posts every week but I'll be putting material out here as it hits me.
cheers!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2009-03-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, its true, I've been a bad blogger. I've neglected to update my blog in a REEEEEAAALLY long time.

I'm currently working on migrating my blog to a different blog which has a new name yet to be determined. I'm also thinking about jumping on the twitter bandwagon but I want to have a unified online life so I am taking some time to think about a new user name. I've stood by the 'schmiddy66' moniker for too long. I mean c'mon, doesn't that name sound sooooooo high school? Hopefully I'll have a new link posted out here soon.

Thanks for the opposable thumbs!

2009-02-12T14:41:00.001-08:00

Happy 200th birthday to Charles Darwin!

Thanks for 'On the Origin of Species'

West Michigan Coop

2009-01-22T17:09:00.000-08:00

I had my first pick up from the West Michigan Co-op the other day, and it was a great one! I got a lot of great food and everyone there was really nice! After getting lost, walking in the wrong door to the building and consequently walking around like an idiot for a while, I got the hang of things and was able to get all my stuff easily and people were more than willing to help me out and chat about their products.

The Locavore Challenge is sort of on hiatus due to poor planning on the start date (rescheduled for an April/May start) but I am still going to try and eat as local as possible. One of my favorite pick ups was the Blue Majesty potatoes I bought from Funny Farm Organics. I have never seen blue potatoes before. I immediately made mashed potatos with them and sure enough, they taste like potatos....

I will be looking forward to future monthly pick ups especially when the growing season starts and the veggies come in big-time. Until then, I'll see you at McDonald's (just kidding).

First Annual Diamond Cutters Ice Fishing Weekend

2009-01-22T16:32:00.001-08:00

One thing I've noticed in the last few cold Michigan winters is that if you take up hobbies that make the winter enjoyable you will have something to look forward to and it makes the sub-zero temperatures more beareable. Mine is snowboarding however, with recent developments I find myself unable to snowboard due to a separated shoulder in December.

So to cull the days of cabin fever I made plans to have some family and friends up to the Sage Lake cottage for a weekend of ice fishing. Before I knew it I had invited upwards of 30 people to the cottage! It worked out becuase only 23 ended up being able to go and only around 18 actually made it and one of the participants was my uncle who has a cabin across the lake from ours. Most people had a place to crash and some passed out on the floor to avoid the snorer's room.

Unfortunately we didn't catch a single fish but a great time was had by all and we even got see Chris who lives in California and we seldom get to see. Most of the time I was to busy to take pictures but I've got a few with, playing host or imbibing mass quantities of alcohol to stay warm. Keep in mind that the more one drinks, the warmer the weather seems. This weekend was cold, very cold.

Easiest way to get around on the ice - Snowmobile or Quad, thankfully we had both. Safety is key on these kinds of trips. Thanks uncle Scott.

Brad's to snowmobiles were enjoyed by all and after a little work getting them going, they ran relatively well. Its also really fun to get pulled on a saucer by a wakeboarding tow rope, trust me..

Taken right after I woke Uncle Gene from his slumber - yea thats right, it was below zero and this guy is sleeping on a plastic chair on the ice.

Chad and Scott had to take care of uncle Dan after a stumble face first into the snow. Some shenanigans took place around this fire ring that will never be forgotten. Danny went inside soon after and slept while we messed with him. Notice the self whitewash as he faceplanted with glasses on.

The survivors hanging out by the fire after a long day of unsuccessful fishing. I was thankful everyone could make it and had a good time.

Next year I think we will pick a different lake/river to fish on. So mark your calendars for the third weekend in January 2010!

Music Update

2009-01-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

High Fidelity style Top 5 bands I'm digging on right now:

1. Kings of Leon - Only by the Night - going to see them on the 26th in Lansing if anyone wants to go.

2. Iron and Wine (I discovered their pre-Shepard's Dog albums - great cover of 'Such Great Heights')

3. Blitzen Trapper - Furr

4. Matt Costa - I can't help it I love the songs we sing. Its the best music to shower by.

5. Rachael Yamagata - Elephants......Teeth Sinking into Heart. Kind of sad but she has a beautiful voice.

I've been in a pretty mellow mood musically lately. Putting the metal and scream-core on hold for the time being. I'm wondering when the Music industry executive is going to knock down my door and take me to jail though!

Please, chime in with opinions, comments, suggestions, and sarcasm!

Something to Make All This Snow Worthwhile

2008-12-30T19:58:00.000-08:00

I recently went snowshoeing with my friend Colleen in the Pinkney State Recreation area and took some pics. Its nice to have something to do outside when you can't go snowboarding b/c you're broken.

The Trail was beautiful, and thankfully Colleen and Mel had been out the day before and beat down the path so snow didn't pile up on our shoes. Mel is apparently good at finding spots to take pictures, using trees and sign posts for the camera becuase we didn't need to look for a spot, just re-took the ones from the day before

We took the short route this time but next time I definitely want to do the whole 6 mile loop.

Locavore Slow Food challenge

2008-12-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

So seeing as the first of the year is steadily approaching and I've made claims to start this locavore slow food challenge (props to Kate for the new word) I thought it appropriate to give an update or at least start defining the ground rules of this idea. I have been reading this book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver that a friend suggested to me and its giving me quite a few good ideas on how I am actually gonig to pull this off.

This book is about how a family moved out from their city life in Arizona to a farm they owned in Virginia and decided that for a year they would only eat local food and try and reduce distance their food traveled. Its pretty amazing when one steps back and actually looks at the food cycle he or she is a part of. Especially when a book like this points out how silly it actually is to eat food that comes all the way from China instead of food from the farmer who lives less than an hour away. Not only does it take less fossil fuels but it is healthier and promotes responsible farming practices and fair treatment of workers (not to say that non-American farmers can't farm w/out destroying the land - just that industrial farming doesn't really take into account the land they are destroying and that most food imported is owned by large farming corporations).

I am stepping off my soapbox now. Back to the topic at hand, the challenge. It started out in the form of me not eating any meat that doesn't directly result from me (hunted, caught or raised etc.). This is somewhat hard to do considering I have 20 square feet of front lawn and no room to raise any sort of animals. This also doesn't take into count all the vegetables I would be eating, that is a big part of the food 'industry'. So I have designed the ground rules as follows.

The Locavore Slow Food Challenge:

1. If I cannot produce something first hand I will and get it from the farmers market or a farmers co-op that sells all year round online. If i still cannot get it I will go to the local health food store and look for it organically. If I still can't get it depending on how much I need it I may go to Meijer and get it organically.

2. Starting in the middle of the winter is probably the worst timing for this challenge seeing as I have only stockpiled venison and frozen fruits that are mostly not organic, so I am affording myself some loopholes until the growing season starts in March so anything I already have stocked up is fair game (but I'm not going to stock pile anything else)

3. Any meat must be non-CAFO (Confined Animal Feed Operation) In other words no meat from industrial meat operations. Any vegetables must be at least grown locally if not organic (although certified organics are also becoming kind of a joke).

4. The hardest rule of all (bar nights and long car rides will suck!) NO FAST FOOD.

This is how I am going to do it:

I will make a monthly order from the West Michigan Co-op.

I will shop at my local independant grocer that carries many different kinds of organic food.

I will buy bread from the local bakery by my house

I will try to cut out as many packaged foods as possible including organics.

I will become a member of a local CSA at Trillium Haven Farm (anyone in the GR area want to go in on a share? Trillium with doesn't split shares and I dont need vegetables for a family of 4 but two other ppl would work out good)

I will buy vegetables as they are in season from the farmers market on saturdays and can, freeze and pickle as many as possible.

I've got enough venison to feed a family of 4 so after sharing I should have enough to totally cut out the need for purchasing red meat and I will buy my poulty, dairy and any other meats I need from the co-op or the local farm store as needed.

There are still probably millions of things I am not taking into account but I will cross those bridges when I get to them.

Update

2008-12-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

UPDATE.....

Long lost disposable cameras are great!!

2008-11-11T17:35:00.001-08:00

So I found this camera a while back while unpacking and I finally got it developed. I had no idea where it came from or what was on it. I was not disappointed by what came out of that envelope.

Most of the pics on the camera were from my 23rd birthday party. I was living in Kalamazoo at the time and had a few friends over for "Cinco de Mike-o" (my birthday is the fifth of May).

My little sister Emma even made it out after we came home from the bar and brought her roommate (SM)Ashley.

The follwing were my favorite pictures of this unforgetable disposable camera. Be forewarned I no longer condone any of what follows.

Especially not Roe in his underwear with no shirt on........

l'art du déplacement

2008-10-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

The Art of movement. I've been watching these videos on youtube lately about parkour. Parkour is an activity or "sport" that has been growing in popularity lately in the states and all over the world. It was started by David Belle in Lisses, France. Its been featured in alot of movies recently. Like in the opening of the recent James Bond flick when Daniel Craig is chasing that guy. I dont know if I could ever do any of the things these people are doing but it's pretty cool to watch and think about doing.

Heres a video of the founder David Belle and some of his clips

APOD Bummer

2008-10-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

So I had this awesome picture I got at the Atronomy Picture of the Day (which has some amazing pictures BTW). I planned on getting this particular picture blown up and printed onto a framed peice of canvas from Fed-Ex Kinkos. But alas, I was not able to b/c of the aspect ratio and low mostly due to the low resolution of the picture so I am going to post it here for everyone to see.

This is a pic of the Great Nebulae in the Orion constellation. I love the contrast of the red and the blue and that the red part is somewhat shaped like a heart, although the blue nebula is somewhat yonic. Thats also your word of the day.

Check out the A.P.O.D (Astronomy Pic Of the Day)

Latest Happenings

2008-10-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

The quasi-annual camping trip known originally as the "Men and Boys" camping trip was last week. The name is somewhat misleading as now most of my cousins and I are over 21 so it was renamed to the "Old Men and Men" camping trip (to much objection by the old men). This trip has been happening almost evey year ever since I can remember. I'm under the impression it started as a keen way for all the men to get together for a weekend of drinking and bad decisions and that having children meant that if one child came, all of them would come to keep each other busy (sarcasm!). Over the years it has become a great way for us to get together and keep in touch and enjoy the outdoors. As many of 15 of my male cousins and all of my uncles have made it to the woods together for these trips.

There is a lot of history wrapped up in all those trips around the state for long weekends and canoing trips. Now that all the boys are grown up it has become quite a drunken weekend involving fishing, hunting, guns, occasional spear making and throwing competitions and general disregard for smart choices, as seen below.

From Brimey Blowout 08

We were in the town of Brimley in Michigan's upper penninsula this year for a tripped dubbed as the "Brimley Blowout" at Brian Halls barn. Everyone made it home without physical injury which made the trip a success. It was a beautiful weekend and I managed to get some good pics of the setting sun hitting the fall colors. There was a promise to open up the barn every second week in October if we chose to make Brimley the official home of the Old Men and Men trip. I dont think Brian knows what he got himself into.

From Brimey Blowout 08

I can't wait until next year.

Humongous Pillow Fight

2008-09-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

So there was a giant pillow fight in Rosa Parks circle this Sunday. I was fishing and saw some people walking around with Braveheart-esque face paint and wondered what was going on. Little did I know there were hundreds of people gathered to smash pillows in other peoples faces, how fun that would have been. My Grandmother heard about it down in Tennessee!

There is an Mlive article about it but the general idea was this: a GRCC student wanted to do something fun that involved a bunch of people around town so he organized the event on Facebook and eventually the city ended up sponsoring it and payed the expenses. The guy who planned it is looking to do another "Urban Event" It would be fun to be a part of that. It was suggested by the author of the article that everyone gathers in Calder Plaza and does the Robot for 5 minutes - thats kinda weird, but I break it down with a mean robot so I might have to partake.

It's pronounced koh-hoh.

2008-09-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

I landed my first Salmon yesterday. It was a 33 inch Coho Salmon and weighed about 18 pounds. I went fishing in the Grand River by Ah-Nab-Awen park with my buddy Brad from Ferris Rugby. On my second cast the salmon hit really hard and I was psyched as soon as I set the hook. It was a hard fought battle for about 20 minutes but after a sore wrist the fish gave up. It's always a good time when the salmon are running because they are in the river so thick you can see their dorsal fins popping out of the river. A re-enactment of my salmon fishing experience can be seen below.

(Thats supposed to be me in the orange!)

The fish I put in the freezer Sunday will help with my quest to challenge myself and eat only meat that I provide. But at this point I am not sure exactly how my challenge is going to pan out or what rules I will hold myself to but I do know this: It will start in whatever form on the first of the year and go on for as long as I care to continue doing it. Thanks to my friend Erin I've got a new book to read: "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver to add to another great book that started me thinking more about what I eat and where it comes from: 'In Defense of Food:An Eaters Manifesto' by Michael Pollen. I can vouch for the Pollen title and I'll let you know more about the other one after I read it, but I bet its going to be good.

[Insert Clever Title Here]

2008-09-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

Today I had my first ever squirrel hunting experience. My roommate Mike and I went out to Cannonsburg state game area and walked around for a while after work. Until now I've only hunted for deer which requires a much higher investment of time and money. This adventure wasn't very productive and I only saw one squirrel and it was on a tree quite far away and it was gone by the time I got to the tree... but I'm determined and plan to spend more time in the woods.

Now before you write me off as some red-neck hillbilly let me explain. I have made a goal for myself this coming year to eat only meat that I kill and butcher. I have a lot of respect for vegetarians but I am not ready to take that step yet and I believe 'normal' meat is healthy for you (not corn-fed fatty beef pumped full of hormones and anti-biotics). I feel bad every time I take an animals life, but isn't that the point? Every time someone pulls into the drive through at McDonald's shouldn't they realize that an animal was killed to provide that meat? I'm proud that I take an active role in the meat that I eat. So I'm trying to fill up my freezer for the winter - I can see I'm going to have to put in some more time in the woods before I can enjoy some squirrel stew.

Number 2

2008-09-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

Having a flooded basement is not fun. It started with just a little bit of water coming through the walls of a very holy michigan basement, and ended up as water seeping up through the hole in the ground where the sump pump should be but is not. Then things got smelly as the city sewers started backing up and water/fecal matter started coming through the drain. Which was even cooler.

Luckily most of my posessions stayed dry because the neighbors with whom we share a basement with were nice enough to knock on the door and let us know there was about an inch of liquids covering the basement floor - ah the luxuries of living in a vintage house.

On a brighter note I have offically started attending rugby practice for the Grand Rapids Gazelles Rugby Football Club. Even though I will be out of town hunting most of October I hope to get some B-side time in the next few weeks which will help me stay in shape.

It's nice to have some time to try and put down roots in Grand Rapids and get used to being in one place for a while.

Here we go

2008-09-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

alright.........

Step one: create blog.

Step two: ??

Step three: Self actualization.

This being my first ever blog post I'm not sure where to take it. Do I discuss my opinions, vent, give advice, lament, write notes to my future self to remind me to live life to the fullest? Not sure, we'll see where this random rambling takes me for now.

Hopefully this will one day be hosted on my own webspace but first I've gotta see if this works for me.