Tully Mars Writes Again

2011-03-01T07:36:00.001-06:00

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Thought You Might Enjoy This

2007-12-06T12:25:00.000-06:00

I'm going to get some cool gifts this year for Christmas and I'm thankful, if not a wee bit excited. But sometimes we get gifts that are easy to miss or we choose not to accept or appreciate. Below is a picture of one of the most beautiful sunsets I've seen in a long time. It's almost like God handed me a written invitation to witness something He created just for me. "Here ya go Ken, thought you might enjoy this."

The family and I make a 30 mile trek every year to cut down our own tree for Christmas and it's always a wonderful time for all of us. The same jokes always make their way into the experience; "That tree is a little too plump..... like daddy's belly". Or, "That one's too thin on top, like daddy's hair". Then we make our final decision and I lay on the ground to cut it down and kids get their pictures taken with their feet on my back like they just killed a grizzly bear. I just went through those pictures this morning and can't imagine a better gift for a otherwise slow Thursday. "Here ya go Ken, thought you might enjoy this".

Having loaded the tree in the back of the truck, we make our way to the front gate to have it wrapped up and then pay the nice old guy my $22. Standing and waiting, I was overcome with the beautiful sunset and was quickly reminded of all my gifts..... three of the best one's at my side, two of them hungry for pizza. That's when God showed me the sunset and I snapped the picture. There are moments we're I realize I have it all. I truly do. Every gift anyone could ever want and I'm so very thankful.

Merry Christmas everyone, please know that I am thankful for you. May this season find you safe, healthy, loved and blessed. So here you go friends..... thought you might enjoy this.

Your Friend,

Ken

No Clever Title

2007-10-26T11:06:00.000-05:00

Why no whimsical title you ask? Because it's a troubling post. Palm Inc., a company that I have watched grow for just over 10 years, is reaching out of their own self-inflicted coffin and slowly tapping in the last nail.

A group of people once known for their undeniable innovation seems to be in the middle of a potentially fatal error-making rampage. I've been their biggest cheerleader and fan since the beginning but even I'm having trouble staying on board and have recently jumped in one of the many different life boats scattering the deck. Palm, are you there? Say it ain't so, Palm.

I didn't know how bad it was until recently. I've always taken the stance of "Palm will catch up" or "Everyone better watch out because when Palm rolls out it's new OSII (TM Alan Grassia) in the spring....err.....summer... uhhh.....fa..... next spring!" Seriously, I always thought that Palm was just waiting to release it's next big innovation. I was so, so wrong. Now we hear that there will be no new OS until 2009. Sorry, I'm done. Palm is losing market share hand over fist and when they can run off a customer like me who owned one of the first green screens, they're in trouble.

Okay, maybe "run off" is a bit harsh. I mean, I'll be back, won't I? If they come up with something new and cool, won't I pop back in and see what they have to offer? Won't I? I guess so. Some how, I think it might be like running into that friend from high school that you haven't seen in years and all they can talk about is how great they were back when they (insert relevant glory days story here).

When I say "I didn't know until recently", I'm not kidding. I can tell you the exact moment that I found out how bad things really were for the company I loved so much. It was September 29th of this year in the early afternoon. That's when my Apple iPod Touch arrived. Curse that Steve Jobs! As you know, I have a Palm TX and after having a few weeks to play with the Touch and see how it stacks up against the TX, I have this to say to Palm (Ken turns away from the blogesphere and looks towards the west in order to look Palm straight in the eye and says...): Are you freakin' kiddin' me?? You let them get this far ahead without a response? Do you realize that while you've been out picking berries, Apple has learned about fire, invented the wheel and taken our women? What, pray tell, have you been doing? Oh yeah, the Fauxlio, my bad. (Ken turns back to the growing crowd)

Sorry about that. I've been listening to Dennis Miller lately and now I'm off on a rant.

Here's the deal. Not even the Touch can touch my TX. What I wanted was a music player. Something that would allow me to take my rather large music collection digital and keep it nice and neat for me in one place. I also wanted something that would take care of organizing and keeping current my podcasts. Outside of that, I didn't need much more, so I ordered an iPod. What I got was enough to make me understand that Palm has missed the sex appeal boat. Don't get me wrong, the TX out preforms the Touch hands down. It's truly the Clydesdale work horse it was intended to be and the unbelievable ability to configure it still boggles the mind. However...... are you listening Palm? I said, however. This means I'm about to say something important. However, without some degree of sex appeal, wow factor, pizazz, sparkle...something! Anything! You will completely give up your position in the sector. Lay the TX down next to the iPod Touch and you have a perfect Mac vs PC commercial. The power users understand the ability of the TX, Joe Schmo doesn't. He wants to tingle. Apple is making us all tingle and when they finally allow in 3rd party apps next year (which will open the door for developers to make power users tingle)..... well, just ask Ed to shut off the lights on his way out the door.

Please Palm, when your next OS comes out in 2009 or 2010 or whenever..... go get our women and bring them back.

Ken

I love this Woman

2007-10-23T11:17:00.000-05:00

I picked up on this little gem over at BH and couldn't stop reading..... or laughing. Who hasn't wanted to do this? Late at night as I lay in my bed thinking about all the things I could have said or could have done to someone who just flat out deserved it...... this is who I dream of being. Yep, I want to be Mona Shaw of Bristow, VA. I want to have her guts and complete understanding of how the customer should be treated. I just wish I wasn't such a wuss when I wake up. Thank goodness for people like Mona. Enjoy.

WASHINGTON — Sometimes truly American virtues arise in outlaws who — by dint of heroic but questionable endeavors — display the mettle of the national character.

For instance: The Dillinger Gang, robbing banks (and destroying mortgages) when banks were foreclosing on the poor. Stephanie St. Clair, matron of the numbers racket during the Harlem Renaissance, striking a (dubious) blow for both gender and racial equality. Junior Johnson bootlegging liquor during Prohibition (the benefits of which were self-evident).

Fear not, fellow Americans! In these dark days of war, pestilence and Paris Hilton, a new hero has arisen. She is none other than 75-year-old Mona "The Hammer" Shaw, who took the aforementioned implement to her local Comcast office to settle a score, and boy, did she ever.

This was after the company had scheduled installation of its much ballyhooed "Triple Play" service, which combines phone, cable and Internet services, in Shaw's brick home in suburban Bristow, Va. But Shaw said they failed to show up on the appointed day, Monday, Aug. 13. They came two days later but left with the job half done. On Friday morning, they cut off all service.

This was the company that has had consumer service problems serious enough to prompt the trade magazine Advertising Age to editorialize that Comcast and other cable providers should spend less on advertising and more on customer service. And has spawned a blog called ComcastMustDie.com that's filled with posts from angry customers.

So on that Friday, Mona Shaw and her husband, Don, went to the call center office in Manassas, Va., to complain.

Let's pick it up, mid-action, according to Shaw:

Mona demands to speak to a manager. A customer service representative says someone will be right with them. Directs them to a bench, outside. (Remember, it's mid-August.) Mona and Don sit.

Tick, tick, tick, goes the clock. Sit, sit, sit, go Mona and Don.

For. Two. Hours.

And then — this is the best part — the customer rep leans out the door and says the manager has left for the day. Thanks for coming!

Oh, the sputtering outrage!

The insulting idea that, as Shaw puts it, "they thought just because we're old enough to get Social Security that we lack both brains AND backbone."

So, after stewing over it all weekend, on the following Monday, she went downstairs, got Don's claw hammer and said, "C'mon, honey, we're going to Comcast."

Did you try to stop her, Mr. Shaw?

"Oh no, no," he says.

Hammer time: Shaw storms in the company's office. BAM! She whacks the keyboard of the customer service rep. BAM! Down goes the monitor. BAM! She totals the telephone. People scatter, scream, cops show up and what does she do? POW! A parting shot to the phone!

"They cuffed me right then," she says.

Her take on Comcast: "What a bunch of sub-moronic imbeciles."

Being a responsible newspaper, we must note that this is a misdemeanor, a crime, a completely inappropriate way of handling a business dispute.

Noted.

Who among us has not longed for a hammer in this age of incompetent "customer service representatives," of nimrods reading from a script at some 800-number location, of crumbs-in-their-beards plumbing installation people who tell you they'll grace you with their presence between 12 and 3, only never to show? And you'll call and call and finally some outsourced representative slings a dart at a calendar and tells you another guy will come back between 10 and 2 next Thursday? And when this guy comes, pants halfway down his behind, he'll tell you he brought the wrong part?

And there is nothing, nothing you can do.

Until there! On the horizon! It's Hammer Woman, avenger of oppressed cable subscribers everywhere! (Cue galloping "Lone Ranger" theme.)

"I scared the tar out of some people, at least," she says. "It had never occurred to me to take a hammer to a phone company before, but I was just so upset. ... After I hit the keyboard, I turned to this blonde who had been there the previous Friday, the one who told me to wait for the manager, and I said, 'NOW do I have your attention?' "

It wasn't all fun.

"My blood pressure went up around my ears. I started hyperventilating. They had to call the rescue squad and put me on a litter."

By the time it was over, she recalls, there were an ambulance, two police cruisers and a sergeant's car in the parking lot. Shaw received a three-month suspended sentence for disorderly conduct, a $345 fine in restitution and a year-long restraining order barring her from the Comcast office.

"Truly a unique and inappropriate situation," says Beth Bacha, a vice president for Comcast. She says company policy forbids disclosure of clients' records, but did say their files note that the service record wasn't exactly what Shaw has indicated. Besides, "nothing justifies this sort of dangerous behavior."

Bacha noted that Comcast has more than 25 million customers, the overwhelming majority of which are very satisfied with their service.

Manassas police spokesman Sgt. Tim Neumann says there have been other police calls to that Comcast office, but he doesn't know what prompted them.

Bob Garfield, who runs ComcastMustDie, wrote last week he was happy the site had become an outlet for "so much deep-seated rage," but hoped customers would "keep the hammer assaults down to a bare minimum."

From what we can tell, Mona Shaw is not, actually, a raving lunatic armed with construction tools.

She is a nice lady who lives in a nice house. She and Don are both retired from the Air Force (she was a registered nurse). They have been married 45 years. She is secretary of the local AARP, secretary of a square-dancing club and takes in strays for the local animal shelter (they have seven dogs at the moment). She has a heart condition. She lifts weights at a local gym. The couple attend a Unitarian Universalist church.

Police gave her the hammer back, though she swears she's content to ride off into the sunset of True Crime Stories in America, never again to go Com-smash-tic on her local cable provider.

She does, however, finally, have phone service.

With Verizon.

7th Son Is Over The Top

2007-10-10T12:36:00.000-05:00

This book is just about to push me over the edge. I'm really enjoying my weekly chapters and can't believe that I somehow was lucky enough to stumble over it. If you put aside the great writing and cool story (which I can hardly do considering the quality of each), what you're left with is a gift. It's a free book in the form of a podcast with excellent reading by JCH himself, great production, sound design and an introduction to some pretty intense music. All that is supported by the author himself who answers his own fan mail, maintains a website for the beta clone army and seems to really care about the listener and their experience.

Speaking of the beta clone army, the fan base is growing in a cool, viral kinda way and this new vein of publication seems to be infecting a whole new marketing group. I'm wondering if publishers are taking note. They should. Maybe they're worried that he's giving everything away for free. I can't imagine why.....if this thing ever sees the inside of Barns & Noble, I'm buying a copy and then going to beg JC to autograph it for me.

Outside of this being such a great book, I'm even more excited to see how this experiment might change how we think about publishing online content. This book is special and I think it deserves a cover.

Beta Clone Wannabe,

Ken

Is DIY MIA?

2007-09-25T11:48:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine recently asked a question about what you do when you get a flat tire. Do you fix it yourself or call a service to come out and get you running again? About the same time this took place, Popular Mechanics magazine came out with the 25 things every man should know how to do. I was only able to hitch my train to 17 of them which prompted me to wonder: Are we losing our ability to "do it yourself"?

The question about changing a tire was interesting because I always felt like that was one of those things you're born with. You know, how to eat, how to poop and how to fix a flat. I remember my dad running me through this drill almost every year and, being the oldest of six, a new sib got to sit in on each years lesson.

However, now that I look back, I can't do, make or fix a tenth of what my dad(s) could and, from what I understand, this is also the case for many people. Why is this? I fancy myself to be someone with a good skill set. I can hunt, fish, navigate my way through a forest with a compass and map, change my oil, effectively set up and make a computer work, run a business, make a deal, change a ballast, speak with some intelligence, listen, lead, follow and a host of other things that I find to be basic in nature but it doesn't seem like I can do a lot of those basic things that my dad could easily whip up.

I wanted to finish my basemant and I asked my father-in-law to come over and give me some insight. All I heard was "well, we can do that" and as it turned out, he was right. He showed me how to frame a wall, hang drywall, mud, sand and wire. It was quite the learning experience.... not to say that I can do any of it on my own again.

Am I losing touch with some skills that I should be able to teach and pass on? Or should I understand that as society advances the need for certain skills just changes. I mean, no one really builds sod houses anymore, right? Let's not rule out the fact that it's me who is the family guru for the interweb thingy. Maybe I do have something to offer after all.

Lemme know if you have thoughts on this. I'm off to learn how to paddle a canoe.

Walt's iTouch

2007-09-20T12:48:00.001-05:00

This is Walt Mossberg from the tech department of the Wall Street Journal. He's always had a pretty level head when it comes to the next best thing so after reading his article and watching his video review, I decided just to let you see for yourself.

By the way, did I mention that my iPod Touch is on it's way? (Ken begins to do the happy dance and is very happy that no one can see)

P.S. To all the Pluckers of the world, you'll just have to wait until you get to work tomorrow to see it. ;-)

K

The iPod Touch

2007-09-06T09:53:00.000-05:00

I get excited about new things pretty easily but only a select few have brought me to my current state of anticipation. There was the 4-6 week delivery waiting period for my Sony Tape Recorder (with external mic) from the JC Penny catalog nightmare in 1976. Then, there was the sleepless week before I bought my first car in 83. Then, of course, the Palm TX frenzy of Christmas 05.

Now, here we go again. Yesterday, the devil.... errrr...... Steve Jobs took the wrapper off the iPod Touch and thus melted my last defense against the evil Apple empire. Curse you Steve Jobs!!!

I don't think I can hold out this time around. I mean just look at it! They've added the 3.5" screen and all the cool stuff from the iPhone. Touch screen, Cover Flow, the flick thing (or whatever they call it). These are things we expected but they also filled it full of other cool stuff too. First and foremost it has WiFi and Safari. That's going to make Palm's Blazer look downright childish. On a side note, I'm really wondering about Palm in general. I've been the biggest Palm fanboy for ten years, but common.... they're living in the past and yesterdays announcement from Steve-O just makes them look silly. The TX might be able to do everything (and much, MUCH more) than the iPod but let's be real here. The iPod is an unbelievably sexy and appealing media device and if there is one thing to be sure of... sex sells.

Back on track now. They are also including a YouTube program, integrated Google and Yahoo search and a wireless iTunes download store. In partnership with Starbucks, you'll be able to walk in for a cup of joe and see all the current information on the last 10 songs played at that Starbucks location and have a chance to preview and buy them. To much commercializing for me but way cool tech none the less.

Did I mention that it has all this stuff and it's still about as thick as dental floss?

I gotta get one. That Steve Jobs guy, he's probably not so bad.

(Ken makes a note in what is now looking like a very old TX, that reads "send Mr. Jobs some fresh honey for Christmas.)

Ken

Ask and Ye Shall Receive?

2007-08-31T11:02:00.001-05:00

I'm pretty sure that this isn't what God had in mind when He said all I had to do was ask. However, I do have to say that I did ask, and by the looks of things, I just may actually get to receive.

I've tried so hard to stay away from the iPod. Mostly because of the DRM issue and Apple's decisions concerning it thus far. Yes, I know there are other DRM players in the game but Jobs and his iTunes megaplex seem to be a figurehead, so he quickly becomes an easy target. I just want an MP3 player that plays MY MP3 files that I OWN. The ones that I purchased with cold, hard cash ...errr .... I mean credit. What's so stinking bad about that? And why is the concept so difficult to deal with? I should be able to play my music on ANY device and store it on ANY medium I own. Yeah, don't hassle me, I know the other side of the story and believe it or not, I agree with most of it. I really do want to see artists taken care of and not taken advantage of. I don't have answers, but I do have a right to gripe about they way my hands have been tied with music I paid money for. When I was in school, the best way to get a girl to go all goo-goo was to make her a mix tape, and now it's illegal. What sense does that make?

But. There's always a but, isn't there? I may not be able to hold out this time. It might be time to give in, become one of the lemmings, sell out to "the man", get on the bandwagon, ride the train and step into line. My geek factor is going to give me away and let everyone know that I too can be bought with cool and shiny objects. See, the iPhone was this sleek, sexy device that called out to my inner nerd and begged me to get it just for tech of it. Good thing we don't get AT&T down here in the boonies. The best I could do was hope that one day we might see an iPod with iPhone abilities, but I really didn't think it would happen this fast. What's it been? Two months?? Gimmeabreak.

Sure enough, this is what is expected on September 5th. News of a new iPod and a few other things. If all the rumors are true, me and Tully may have to finally take our iSelves to the iMart and get an iPod. It could turn out to be bogus though. One time, Jobs called the press together to announce new speakers. If that happens again, he may get run out of Silicon Vally on his iHorse.

Thanks for listening,

Ken

New Site

2007-08-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

For those of you playing the home game, I've just started another blog about my bees. Boring as it may be for some, I'm really enjoying it.

Should you be interested, you can find it at: Kensbees.blogspot.com.

Ken

Hive Name

2007-08-08T14:06:00.000-05:00

My new beehive will arrive tomorrow and I'm a little more than anxious. I think I'm on the downside of giddy. On the way to grandma's house this morning to drop off the kids, I asked them what we should name the hive. I mean....all hives have a name right?? Maybe a specific hive logo that lets all the other bees in the neighborhood know that this is "our hive pal so you can just buzz on by and take your second-rate honey elsewhere."

I've seen pictures of unique numbering and lettering systems used to keep the hives organized but that sounded a bit boring. Not to mention I only have one hive. Although it would look pretty funny to see a beehive sitting all by itself out in a field with a giant number "1" resting on top of it. None the less, we thought it needed a name and after much discussion we all agreed on an answer. Oddly enough the hive is loosely named after a movie that we all enjoy.

The photo below will be proudly be displayed above the hive entrance. It's sure to encourage pride in the hive as well as strike fear into the hearts of Yellow jackets everywhere.

The name of the hive is......

Thanks for reading,

Ken

Here we go again....

2007-08-03T10:30:00.000-05:00

My wife thinks I have a tendency to jump from one hobby to another fairly frequently......and she's probably right, as usual. However, most of my hobbies have stayed with me in one form or another and, at the very least, have provided me with their unique and individual experience. My thinking is that whether or not the hobby stuck with me, it provided me with the opportunity the learn something interesting and have a little fun doing it. Ken's a little smarter and no one gets hurt......well, except for those two broken ribs during my stint in Taekwondo.

In years past I've taken up several different things. Geocaching started several years ago and I still enjoy it. However, I got bored of finding traditional caches that were easy and decided that if something challenging came up I would attempt it but otherwise I would only go find the easy caches when the mood struck. From Geocaching I learned all about the GPS system but now I usually use my GPS for hiking.

I took up Taekwondo for quite some time and loved it. It was great for keeping in shape and was a true confidence builder. After advancing through several belts, I gave it up when I accepted an invitation to serve on the pastor search committee for our church. After being away from TKD for several months, I just didn't ever go back. I'm hoping to return one of these days. The lessons learned from this hobby are truly endless.

My wife thinks hiking is a new hobby but it's actually one that's been around since the beginning. My dad liked to hike and that's where it all started when I was a kid. My goal now is to hike whenever I can, but to commit to one major overnight hike every year, somewhere in the back country. One of the reasons I liked geocaching so much was many of the caches were located out in the woods and required a bit of a trek.

At one point I wanted to fly. I started by taking some lessons in a single engine Cessna but quickly learned that this wasn't what I was looking for, I wanted to fly, but not high and fast.....low and slow was more my style. So how do you fly low and slow over corn fields and tree tops? Why in one of these of course. I spent months learning everything I could about ultralight flying. It was a beautiful hobby comprised of people with free spirits and a desire for nothing more than to enjoy the earth from 100 feet off the ground. It was easy to fall in love with the romance of such flight but my plans for buzzing fields every evening quickly came to an end. The guy who I had tapped to be my instructor was a local hero when it came to ultralight flying. No one knew more about the planes or had more hours in the sky. Making a routine flight one evening, he crashed. There was no chance of survival. It was an easy decision to make, my kids were too young for me to take up a risky sport. Daddyman still needs to be around for homework and bedtime snacks. Honestly, the whole thing just scared me.

So if you're one of those people who gets a new hobby every year.....good for you. Change as often as you like, learn something knew and be open both failure and success. I didn't take on any of these things because I thought it might do me good. Each one started out the same way, with the same thought. "Wow, that looks like fun".

Why do I tell all about this you ask?? Well, it's because I'm on to the next hobby, the next interesting and fun thing. I have a friend who is helping and guiding me and I've ordered everything I need to get started. I'm very excited and if all goes well, those lucky folks on my Christmas list will reap the benefits in 2008. I, my friends, am going to be a Beekeeper. :-)

Ken

Camp Site

2007-07-16T16:35:00.000-05:00

It was a perfect night to sleep, about 58 degrees. Ate a huge meal including something new. Acorn Squash filled with brown sugar and maple syrup then baked in foil over the fire. Mmmmmmm.......wonderful. So wonderful that I'm now sure if I make it to heaven, I'll walk through the gates and St. Peter will say "Welcome to heaven, here's your squash."

Of course after a big meal we had to top off with brownies and ice cream. After being so full, I slipped in to a food coma and waddled off to bed. Did I mention it was a perfect night to sleep?

Anyway, I just wanted to drop off a picture of the Kiwi in action and what our camp site looked like. Hurry along now.

Ken

I want an iPhone....kinda

2007-07-12T13:44:00.000-05:00

I want an iPhone... without the phone. The phone part I've got covered with the Treo 680 but I just can't look away from the very sleek interface that makes up the whole iPhone experience.

I currently have a Creative Zen Nano Plus. I get the Creative Zen Nano part, but have no idea what the Plus means. I keep thinking that it might be yet another one of those amazing marketing tricks that brilliant minds conceive in some room, where one guy stands up and says "No...not just "Creative Zen Nano", call it the "Creative Zen Nano Plus", as in 'It not only plays music....it plays music plus comes with headphones.' Yeah, that'll get them lined up at the store." Yeesh. Anyway, it has one gig of space and performs it's singular task very well, it plays audio. It serves it's sole purpose in life but severely lacks what I would like to have in an MP3 player.

Now to me, it would make sense to ditch the current line-up of iPods in favor of the new interface of the iPhone. Sounds easy doesn't it? Take out the phone and say "here's your new Video iPod. Enjoy!" I think it does too, even though I'm fairly certain it's not. However, it does seem like a logical next step for Apple and it's iPod line. If they do, I may have to finally cave and purchase an Apple product. What is the world coming to?

Just a thought.

Ken

7th Son

2007-07-04T11:08:00.000-05:00

I've come across something that I think is a bit special. It's a book...I mean a podcast....errr....maybe a podiobook. One of those, I guess. Now, releasing a book online isn't exactly new but the buzz (and by buzz I mean something approaching cult status) surrounding this particular book is. J.C. Huctchins has written 7th Son, a techno-thriller that I haven't been able to stop listening to since I found it a few weeks ago. There are three books in the series and on 7-7-07 (imagine that) the third and final book will be released.

Here is a short intro to the book taken from the 7th Son website:

Three weeks ago, President Hank "Gator" Griffin was assassinated at a political rally by a four year old boy. The child, Jesse Fowler, said only one sentence during his week-long confinement in a psychiatric facility. It was an obscenity-filled phrase no four-year-old should know.

Jesse Fowler's abrupt death while in custody was equally inexplicable. A nosebleed -- and eyes so bloodshot the whites were completely red -- were the only clues to the boy's demise.

Two days ago, seven men living in different regions of the United States were kidnapped and brought to a "beyond Top Secret" government facility in rural Virginia. What they saw there was unbelievable, yet undeniable.

Despite slight physical differences, these seven strangers appeared to be the same man, the same age. Each man remembered growing up as an only child in Indiana, and each recalled a tragedy from their past: The death of their parents in a car accident sixteen years ago.

It was clear these seven "John Michael Smiths" had identical childhood memories.

Go to the site, start downloading chapters and let me know what you think.

Ken

One Big Kiwi

2007-06-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I bought a camper, a Jayco Kiwi to be exact. Now my wife's idea of camping is staying at a roadside motel that doesn't offer an indoor pool and room service. She comes from a long line of non-campers who now think I'm completely nuts. They all seem to be treating me the same way you would treat a new mother with an ugly baby, nice but noncommittal. "Well Ken, that's some camper".

It's okay, I pretty much expected the reaction but none the less, I've finally made the decision that my kids are going to get a chance to experience the camping world. It's my belief that all kids should at some points in their early lives learn to make Smores, hike trails, build a campfire and pee in the woods. Last year was the break through year for us. The kids were finally both old enough to go on a camping trip, so on two different occasions I borrowed a camper and we hit the road. My wife was a good sport and I even think she might have actually enjoyed herself. Leading up to the trips she would ask "what do we do when we get there". My reply? "We relax". This was a new concept for her but she did surprisingly well.

We began talking about buying our own camper. It needed a few things for her creature comforts, all of which basically boiled down to needing a place to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. No problem. We're not going to be heading out on big trips and probably only a couple weekends a year so we decided to get something small...very small. Please scroll up and look at the picture again. It's only 17 feet long until you lay down the beds, then it spans about 24 feet. We didn't want a pop-up because we wanted a bit more room and the idea of peeing behind a curtain didn't have much appeal. That's when we learned about hybrids, a regular camper with all four walls but the ends lay down for the beds.....perfect.

We actually found a used one that was only a few years old, in great condition and very clean. Here is another picture of the camper, it's not mine but it is identical.

I took it out of storage and brought it home to get it ready this week. Every night we would all go out to the camper and pretend to camp by sitting around the kitchen table and playing Uno. I can't describe how much fun that was. This week I also read the owners manual cover to cover, filled, drained, then filled and drained again the water system just to learn how it works and I'm currently learning about the LP gas system. One wouldn't normally think such things are fun but.....well, you'd just have to know how weird I am to understand. I'm having a blast.

Best camping story so far (even though we have yet to leave the driveway): Our neighbor Tom who lives across the street, owns a massive 40-some-odd foot camper with every bell and whistle known to man. It's really amazing and we've always enjoyed seeing it parked outside his house and watching him get it ready to take his family on their next big adventure in the giant camper. The day I backed up the little Kiwi in our drive just happened to be a day that Tom navigated his trailer down our street to get it ready for the weekend. Reid and I were standing outside our camper watching Tom drive up when Reid motions me to lean down so he can whisper in my ear. He said, "Dad, Tom's gonna be soooooo jealous!" I laughed hard and replied "No doubt, he's gonna want our Kiwi for sure!!"

Can't wait to head out on our first adventure.

As always, thanks for reading.

Ken

Electronic Woes

2007-05-26T01:00:00.000-05:00

<---Here you see the Treo 680 and in a couple of days, there will be one in my gadget-lovin' hands. If you read back in the archives, you'll be reminded of the swap of my LifeDrive for a Treo 650. I've enjoyed the 650 but it's recently gone berzerk. After weeks of trying to fix the problem, I've resolved myself to the fact that it is truly and without a doubt.... possessed.

I've really done some soul searching about the device that should replace my 650 and have finally ordered the 680. My cell company was cool enough to let me try out a couple of phones and I'm currently fondling the HTC s621, aka the T-Mobile Dash. When I say 'fondle', I'm not kidding. I love the form factor of this phone. It's the perfect size, shape and weight for what I want. Make it do all the stuff that the Treo's do and I'll be all over it... but therein lies the rub. It doesn't even come close to what the Treo's can do. Packing the underwhelming wallop of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5, the Dash is no match for the needs of this power user. It's the electro-cellular equivalent of a reach-around. It made me tingle but I need a little more.....err.....nevermind.

Now, I'm not sold out, hands down, head over heals crazy about getting the 680. I really liked my 650 and the 680 has promising improvements but make no bones about it, this is a lousy time to be buying anything from Palm. They've announced that we will finally see the new OS later this year. For those of you who have no idea why that's important, us diehard Palm cowboys have been waiting for this moment for several years. Palm giving us a new operating system has held the same hope as the Cubs winning the World Series......maybe next year.

So now here I am in need of a new phone and only have the old OS to work with. I like Garnet, it's a proven OS and, to me, stands head and shoulders above the onlooking wannabe's but I've waited years for Palm to introduce OSII and it looks like I'm going to have to wait a bit more.

There's also one other twist here and the Palm community has labeled it "The Hawk" after Jeff Hawkings, one of Palm founders. He's set to announce a new product soon and no one has a clue what it could be. My best guess is that it falls into the UMPC category but there are rumors our there that it might compete with Apple's iPhone. More on that later.

For now, I'm happy about the 680 and getting a chance to give it, as a good friend of my is fond of saying, a good fiddle. Gotta love those Brits and their shiny words.

Thanks for taking time to read,

Ken

Are you Lost?

2007-05-04T12:54:00.000-05:00

Is anyone else watching this show? Holy cow, I find myself waiting for a new episode each week like my kids wait for Santa on Christmas Eve. I design my whole evening around it making sure homework is done, kids are bathed and fed including any last minuet snacks that may creep up during my "Lost" time. I don't want to be interrupted! I even TiVo it and start watching about twenty minutes in just so I don't have to suffer through even ONE erectile dysfunction commercial with "Smilin' Bob"..... or any other commercial that would take even one second away from me trying to figure out what in the world is going on with the show.

Even worse, the day after the show airs, I download a couple of Lost podcasts just so I can hear the opinions of all the other junkies like me who have structured their world around Wednesday nights.

Here's the thing about the show. The writing. It's simply amazing and keeps me coming back to find out what the writers initial objective for the entire show was. I'm not talking about an episode, that would be easy. I'm saying that in the very beginning, long before shooting the pilot episode, the writers knew what they wanted to happen all the way through the series. Last night, a storyline was brought to completion.... this particular storyline began three years ago. It took place in such a way that the writers had to have designed it that way from the beginning.

I don't watch any TV show regularly but I've become a captive to this island. If you haven't seen it, watch it. Then go buy the first two seasons on DVD. When you're done catching up, come back here and read the next two words of this post......

You're welcome.

Ken

River to River Trail Hike

2007-04-23T10:51:00.000-05:00

What an amazing adventure. I've been planning this trip for a long time and with great anticipation. I was not let down. I started out at 9am Saturday morning and was planning on hiking 10-11 miles down to a place called One Horse Gap, this turned out to be a 14 mile hike which was a bit unexpected. Getting started, I first hiked the Observation Trail in Garden of the Gods. One of the first things you see here is probably the most photographed rock formation in the midwest; Camel Rock.

The observation trail provided me with some of the most breathtaking views I've seen in a long time. Here are a few of the pictures:

A few miles out into the deeper reaches of Garden of the Gods, I came across a bluff with a great view. It was clear that it's a popular place to camp for backpackers. Here I am standing on top of it:

It was just after leaving the bluff that I slipped and took a bit of a tumble. It was at this point that I was able to answer the age old question of "If a Ken falls in the woods, will anyone hear it?" Answer: No. Except for the Ken of course. It wasn't pretty and I was kinda happy no one was around to see my spill. No injuries (except for my pride) and I was back on the trail in no time. A couple of miles later, the trail stopped at a big sink hole filled with water. This was pretty cool to see but I didn't ever find where the trail was supposed to pick back up again. After some back tracking, I still hadn't found the trail and was beginning to get a bit nervous. I check my GPS and saw the road that the trail was supposed to pop out on, so I just took a course bearing and headed SW as the crow flies to the road. Just as I was about to come out to the road, I found the trail, then found myself asking it out loud, "where have you been?".

Back on track I hiked down to a little town called Herod. There I found some much needed rest. Some very nice people have put out a little gazebo with fresh spring water on tap. It was a perfect place for lunch and to rub my feet. Here's a picture of my respit area:

After 45 minutes, some energy bars and my fill of water, I was back on the road. I knew I had about another two miles of road work before I could duck back into the woods and head for One Horse Gap. Reaching the woods I began to really feel the weight of my pack and was hoping the last few miles would go by fast....they didn't. The last two miles were extremely difficuly. I was low on water, needed food, and was sore beyond expectation. I had been given some GPS coords that would take me to a place to camp with some water but when I arrived, no such place existed. I need to double check my numbers. This little jaunt took me another four tenths of a mile out and back. I finally decided to camp directly on top of the bluffs at One Horse Gap and it was about 4pm when I arrived. Checking the GPS, I had hiked 14.5 miles in 7 hours and I promptly leaned up against a tree (pack still on) and took a nap for half an hour.

Knowing that I needed to get some water filtered soon I began combing the area for an exceptable water source. I was lucky, Just about a 75 yard walk brought me to this location:

I filtered water, set up camp and made dinner. It was all done just in time to watch an amazing sunset. Here is a picture of my camp just before the sun went down.

I was too sore to get much sleep but was greeted with a beautiful sunrise just before 6am:

After breakfast I packup and broke camp about 7am. My shoulders weren't much in favor of wearing the pack but I assured them we only had 4 or 5 miles to go. Arriving at Concord Cemetery signaled the end of my journey. Total mileage for the hike was just over 19 miles and I was happy to see my truck waiting on me when I arrived....as you can see:

Thanks for reading,

Ken

Some things I'll be seeing...

2007-04-19T14:28:00.000-05:00

With my starting point being at Garden of the Gods, I'm looking forward to a few different things at this location and I wanted to share a few with you.

First up is probably the most famous rock formation in the area, Camel Rock.

These are exposed iron deposits in the rock formation.

This is called The Devils Smokestack.

A few more formations.

This would be wonderful to see.

A picture of the trail.

And finally, I hope to enjoy many views like this.

I'm not getting anything done today. I think it's time to go home and check my equipment.....again.

Ken

Alone in Shawnee

2007-04-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

A year to the day after making an effort to hike the Knobstone Trail in Indiana and coming up short, I'll be hitting the trail again this Saturday (April 21 2007) but this time it's in the Shawnee National Forest. More specifically, I'll be hiking a fifteen mile segment of the River to River Trail.

If you remember, last year I hiked with my friend Mark and my brother Wes. Mark ended up breaking his arm in the first mile but continued for the rest of the day despite the horrific pain. We ended up in the emergency room then set up camp at the Super-8 hotel. This year I'm hoping for better results. I will be leaving my truck at the ending point and I've arranged transportation back to the beginning and hope to start hiking by 9am.

I've picked out two possible locations to make camp for the night. If I arrive at the first and feel like I still have another four miles in me then I'll continue on down to the second option, the one I prefer. Both are located next to streams so I have water and if I'm able to make the second location, I'll get to watch a sunset that promises to cleanse the senses.

The most interesting factoid about this little venture is that I'll be going alone. No one else could get anything scheduled to I decided, much to the dismay of my wife, to hoof it alone and enjoy some solitude. I was kind of down about this turn of events to begin with. I really wanted Mark to have a chance to redeem himself, not that he needed to in my book because he proved last year that without a doubt he's tougher than me. However, I think he would really like to go again and prove it to himself. I was also looking forward to spending time with my brother Wes. Of the six kids (I'm the oldest and he's the youngest), he and I are the most alike and I really enjoy hanging out with him. However, it was not to be, and the more I thought about being alone, the more excited I became knowing I was going to get a chance to test my mettle in the forest as a solitary man. I'm no Bear Grylls but I'm hoping I can hold my own. Now I'm stoked and can't quit thinking about it.

Shawnee National Forest is Illinois' only National Forest and offers many amazing sights, sounds and wonders. I spent a lot of time down there when I was in college but not in the location I'll be hiking. There's nothing like taking a new road and right now I feel like my kids must feel when we've scheduled a trip to Disney.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again for reading,

Ken

In case you were wondering...

2007-01-26T15:48:00.000-06:00

...I'm still here. Yeesh, what a busy couple-o-months. Holidays, kids birthdays, office parties, very cool gifts, very no-so-cool gifts where you have to remember to not grit your teeth too much when you say "yes, I love this sweater", the fun I had with my root canal and of course the big day when I turned 40. This is what has been keeping me busy. I had some other interesting moments too, like when we finally got my dads headstone back.....with the wrong name. (Insert whimsical smirk here)

When you're swamped and running around like you're completely nuts trying to please kids, sibs and parents, it's hard to remember that this...the insanity of our regular day to day lives, is the good stuff. My life is getting back to normal, not that is was overly abnormal to start off but back to normal in the sense that I have time to remember that even when we pick up speed and begin to pull our hair out....it's all good. It really is....it's all good.

I will bring you up to speed soon on several things filling my life, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here....and I'm good.

Ken
Officially on the smarter side of 40

It's a Done Deal

2006-11-25T12:00:00.000-06:00

If you remember, my brother Wes, my friend Mark and myself set out on a 20 mile journey earlier this year. We've just decided what we're going to do in 2007 and it will serve the double purpose of celebrating my 40th birthday, even if it about 6 months late. In late May or early June the three of us are headed to North Manitou Island which is loacated about six miles off the Michigan mainland out in Lake Michigan.

North Manitou is an island about 22 square miles in size and is maintained by the Park Service. A ferry from Leeland Michigan will take us out, drop us off...then leave us for a few days of back country backpacking. The island has many buildings and ruins of a community that lived there a hundred years ago. It sounds like a great way to ring in my next 40 years.

Click on the map below to have a closer look.

More on this as we go along. Back to what you were doing.

Ken

Secrets...

2006-11-24T10:44:00.000-06:00

So Mark sends me a link that says "Go Here". That's how it got started. In fact, that's how all of our adventures always get started. One of us sends a link and then the other writes back and says, "yep, we can do this".

Secrets of the Alchemist Dar is a sequel of sorts to "A Treasure Trove", Michael Stradther's first fantasy novel full of clues to finds secret treasure hidden all around the United States. In his latest book, we have the chance to find 100 rings hidden all around the world. Me excited? Yep.

If the tracking is correct, I should receive my book from Amazon in just a few minutes. The plan is to read the book a couple of times, scour the internet for information and then go find the rings. No problem. *smirk* Something like this is right up my ally. Back when we were geocaching hard, Mark and I spent days trying to decipher a code that turned out to mean nothing. We figured out that the "code" that the goofball who hid the cache was talking about was actually the source code for the information page. After that, we figured it out pretty quick.

With this venture I'm sure we're in over our collective heads but we're going to give it a shot anyway. For us, it's the hunt that matters, the solving of the mystery, so even if we don't find anything, we're at least assured of having a good time trying.

I'll keep you posted.

Ken

New Palm Device??

2006-11-17T15:07:00.000-06:00

Some time ago Palm founder and CTO Jeff Hawkins revealed in an interview with the San Jose Business Journal that Palm had a new.....well.....a new something in the works. Yesterday Michael Mace, creator of of a blog called Mobile Opportunity sat in on a talk given by Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm and asked "will we see next year the secret project that Jeff Hawkins has been working on?" Ed's answer was a quick "Yes" then he moved on to another topic. For the origional announcment from Hawkins, flip on over to here.

Well, there we have it. Confirmation from Palm's CEO that a new category of mobile computing device will hit the shelves in 2007. My initial feeling is that we will see something that leans toward the UMPC devices we're already seeing this year from several different companies. I also think this would be a perfect time for Palm to introduce a new OS that will also be used in the Treo line as well as any new handhelds.

Palm has never been great at keeping a secret once something went into production, let's hope that continues.

Ken

My kid is awesome.......

2006-10-27T13:00:00.000-05:00

.....or maybe he's just watching to much TV.

A few months back I was in my bedroom folding clothes. My 5 year old son and I were talking about goofy stuff and out of no where he says "Dad, I'm thirsty. If you go get me a glass of water, I'll fold these clothes. Deal... or no deal.

I almost wet myself laughing.

Ken

Unreal Beauty

2006-10-17T11:23:00.000-05:00

Unreal is right. Watch this and see what I mean, then come back and let's talk about it.

My daughter is nine and is becoming more aware everyday about what society expects of her. It's an unreal expection of beauty that all little girls are faced with, but can't live up to. The scary part is that I already see her trying to achieve it. Right now, it's the same thing all kids go through, the normal stuff like what clothes to wear, who to play with and of course, those wonderful "I hate my hair!" moments.

I'm afraid of what will come next. "My eyes don't look right, my ears stick out", and the big one "I'm ugly." My daughter is the single most beautiful little girl in the world (spoken as only DaddyMan can) and I love her more than I can describe here in mere words, but everyday she's given subtle hints about society's definition of beauty and it's nothing shy of wrong. Magazines, TV, billboards.....heck, even her toys give an impression of what this world expects of her.

Today, beauty comes from PhotoShop and plastic surgery and the fact that this mindset might effect my daughters self-esteem, makes me want to pop someone in the nose and give them a real reason to get it fixed.

Ken

DaddyMan!

2006-09-28T12:03:00.000-05:00

Don't mess with me.... I'm a superhero! My name you ask? My powers? Well, I'll tell you.....

I'm DaddyMan - Fixer of all things broken, Finder of all things lost!

My kids get a kick out of this. Whenever socks can't be found or the SpongeBob toy is broken, my kids call for DaddyMan to come rescue them. This has always been fun for all of us, and everytime my son talks about it, he actually has a gleam in his eye....how cool is that. My daughter however is getting to an age where it's harder to impress her with my DaddyMan skills.

About a month ago I was trying to fix this cool little water toy that I got for my kids last summer to play with at the lake. It looks kind of like a waverunner but it's basically a big floaty thing that they ride on as it slowly chugs them around the water with a little battery powered fan on the bottom. It quit working and my son asked me to fix it. When I deemed the craft to be unfixable, my son say "Ohhh....I thought you were DaddyMan" and slumped his shoulders over and walked away (He also does this when it's time to eat, brush his teeth or go to bed.) Needless to say, I took the whole thing apart and found a little piece of broken wire, patched it all up and it's now running like a champ. I redeemed myself with Reid and he still thinks I can do anything. I never want to let him down.....oh I'm sure I will, all kids eventually find out their parents are only human but I'm holding out as long as I can.

I'm sure there is some little kid in your life that needs you to be his or her superhero. Don't let them down. I just checked the records of superhero names (this, of course, is located down at the Hall of Justice where all of us Supers hang out) and I found some that are still availible. Let's see, there's UncleMan, AuntieWoman, Grampa Super, Grammy Flash, Cousin Incredible and Cool Neighbor Dude, just to name a few.

Register now and give some of your favorite kids a Superhero to follow. Right now, it's the single most important thing in my life.....and I'm having a blast. Time to run, my Daddysense is telling me that the Malibu Barbie Dream House was just destroyed by the evil little brother.

Thanks for reading,

DaddyMan

Where to go?

2006-09-26T10:52:00.000-05:00

In January of 07 I'm going to turn 40. While difficult for some, 40 seems like a wonderful age and I'm actually looking forward to it. Along with all my recent thoughts about what I'm going to do in my next 40 years, I'm also thinking about what I should do for this particular mile mark. I've decided on taking a trip but I'm not sure where to go. Given the season, I'll most likely head south and grab some sun while I can but other than that, I don't have a clue as to where to go and what to do. I would like to see something that I've never seen before, maybe do something new. Learn something, explore something interesting, give my kids an adventure. That's what I'm looking for.

Feel free to post your thoughts and let me know what you think.

Ken

SpudGun

2006-09-22T10:22:00.000-05:00

The SpudZooka is complete! I spent about an hour last night shooting a bag of potatoes into the stratosphere and having a blast. It's a lot louder than what I imagined but my son was dually impressed. At the ripe old ago of 39, I'm reminded of how much fun it is to act like a kid. I think I'll make a note in my Treo to act like that more often.

I'm already making plans for the next one which, of course, will be bigger, better and louder.

Thanks for reading,

Ken

Time to do something fun

2006-09-20T09:48:00.000-05:00

Being the little tech geek that I am, I have subscriptions to both Popular Machanics and Popular Science Magazines. Last night I was reading the current issue of PM and came across something that I can't wait to try. I'm going to bulid a Spud Gun. Take a bunch of PVC pipe, make a combustion chamber and a barrel, attach an igniter, stuff in Idaho spud, squirt in some Brut antiperspirant and you have all the makings of a Spud Gun. Take a look at the plans.

I'm going to get the materials today and hope to have it finished and ready for launch this weekend. I'll report back.

2006-09-15T12:55:00.000-05:00

Today a Zune promo clip was released.

It'll be here Zune

2006-09-14T15:28:00.001-05:00

We've been hearing about it, we've choked on rumors and rumors of rumors, but now it's finally here......kinda.

Today, Microsoft pulled the veil off of it's ipod killer, the Zune, and I have to say, I'm a wee bit impressed. It's not as sexy as the ipod but the Zune does have some heavy hitting features that just might allow it to carve out a chunk of Apple's core. Let's take a look. Here's what Microsoft had to say:

Product Overview: Zune starts with a 30GB digital media player and adds a twist. You can wirelessly share selected full-length sample tracks, playlists, pictures or your home-grown tracks directly from Zune to Zune. You can listen to the full-length songs that you receive up to three times in three days, flag the ones you like and easily buy them the next time you sync up. You can discover new music in the Zune Marketplace, and show off your favorite pictures and videos on the big, bright screen. Zune has all that and a built in FM tuner, too.

Features: Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing. Zune lets you spontaneously share selected full-length sample tracks of your favorite songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures with friends wirelessly, device to device. You can listen to any song you receive up to three times in three days. And if you like a song you hear and want to buy it, you can flag it right on your device to easily find it later.

Your own personalized Zune. Zune is easy to use and easy to love. You can choose one of three base colors, each combined with a distinctive double-shot finish created by the overlay of one color on another. The player also can easily be customized with your favorite pictures.

Large color screen. Zune comes with a bright 3-inch LCD video screen that works in portrait or landscape mode. Your music, video and pictures never looked better.

30GB player. Zune stores up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures or 100 hours of video. You can make playlists on the go and watch a slide show while you’re listening. Watching video in landscape mode gets the most out of the vivid display.

Zune Pass. Downloads or a subscription? It’s your choice. A Zune Pass subscription gives you “all you can eat” access to discover and explore the Zune Marketplace.

Built-in FM tuner. With the built-in FM tuner you can listen to local FM radio stations or tune in to programming while you’re at your local health club, for example. Advanced tuning capabilities allow you to see the name of the song currently playing on selected frequencies.

Accessories: You can choose from a full line of accessories to outfit your Zune. Three Zune Accessory Packs provide complete solutions for Zune in your car, in your home or while you travel. Individual accessories are also available.

Additional Information: Online music store. You can browse the huge selection of music designed to work seamlessly with your Zune in the Zune Marketplace. When you find new music that you love, it’s simple to buy it and sync it on your player. The Zune Marketplace works with the Microsoft Points program so you can purchase music online without a credit card.

Import your music. Zune software can automatically import your existing music, pictures and videos from iTunes and Windows Media Player in a variety of formats, including your existing playlists and song ratings, as permitted by the online service from which it was purchased.

It only gets better. As Zune evolves, your device can be easily updated. The Zune software on your PC will let you know when updates are available for download. And with built-in wireless capability in each player, the future is filled with possibilities.

Well? Whatcha think? I have a few more tidbits of info that I'll have to save for later but this is the first digital device to catch my eye in some time.

2006-09-07T14:23:00.000-05:00

Just making a quick test post from my Treo. Test now concluded, run along.

Ken
___
Sent with SnapperMail
www.snappermail.com

Always in search of great music....

2006-09-02T11:05:00.000-05:00

I have what I think is an odd taste in music. Not odd in the sense that I completely dig thrash metal or can only be satisfied by one particular niche in the music industry but rather, odd, as it relates to musical diversity. Influenced by a mother who was a product of the 50's and 60's, my roots run deep with a broad range of styles. Some days require Janis Joplin belting out Son of a Preacher Man, or the sticky Memphis blues of Steve Winwood. Or maybe the jazz charts incorporated in to classical music by Gershwin. I'd have to throw myself off a cliff if I didn't mention Coltrane somewhere in here. Others moments bring the always amazing lyrics of Neil Diamond, Cat Stevens, Springsteen, John Mayer, Buffett, Pink Floyd, The Dead.....the list goes on forever.....well, not forever.

We seem to have hit a dry run. The cup no longer runneth over with the passionate thoughts and lyrical meanderings of great song writers. These days the cup seems to be about half full and has a pinhole in the bottom. Don't get me wrong, they're out there, it's just not what most of the major labels are giving us and herein lies the rub. Big labels seem to be making music for those with money to spend on CD's and that's it. Thumping their chests and boasting of great artists with street cred and real life experience. Hooey. Write down the names of today's billboard top 20, tuck the list away then look at again in three years. Most will have gone the way of Right Said Fred.

I simply haven't found much in recent years that stirs me, moves me or even tickles me a little. Sure you get one hit wonders that give you something to hum in the back of your mind when the day gets slow, but the list is short of those who make me stop and feel something. Music that not only sticks to me but also paints a lyrical picture in my head. When that happens, it's better than any music video anyone ever turned out.

Enter Karsten Soltauer and Kate O'Neill, the husband & wife team of HoneyBowtie Music. It's kind of an odd story how I found them but here's the Cliffnotes. Kate and I actually share a common interest in what could be called our geek factor. I've been a mobile/handheld device user for the last 10 years and recently picked up the Treo 650 from Palm which, as it turns out, is the same smartphone Kate carries. Looking for some insight to this new device I found myself over at a site called MyTreo.net and found several people talking about Kate's talents, and in a few clicks, I was face to face with Honeybowtie Music.

It's been a couple of weeks since I found the site and I've listened to the music to the point of singing it in the shower. It's sticky.....and that's a good thing. Kate seems to have those lyrical meanderings I was talking about earlier and Karsten's music composition hangs around my head all day. The first song you need to test drive is Blown Away. A song that boasts truth instead of unearned cred. Soulful fact instead of half-hearted fiction. No reviews here, go listen for yourself. You'll thank me later.

It's a day where good writing is hard to find but at least some of it seems to be hanging out in what Kate calls Nashvegas. Someone needs to record some of their music so the rest of the world can have a taste of this new concoction. Suffice to say, I took a belt and it went down smooth and easy and I'd like to have another round.

Thanks again for reading,

Ken

p.s. Karsten & Kate, if this little blog blurb makes you guys superstars, I require a shoutout when you accept your Grammy. :-)

Even Up Trade

2006-09-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

I posted to several websites wondering if anyone would like to trade their Treo 650 for my LifeDrive and just as I about to give up, I heard from Norm. Norm basically had a 650 that had never been used and I was thrilled when he sent pictures and it was clear that it didn't have so much as a scratch. My LD wasn't in as good a shape as his device but it was close.

After swapping notes, thoughts and pictures for about a week, we decided to make a trade, even up. I was a bit worried that I might be sending off my LifeDrive only to get nothing in return but Norm had given me enough detailed information that I decided it was an acceptable risk. Three days later, I was holding my new SmartPhone and "Tinker Week" began.

I'm very happy with the Treo and it's been a lot of fun to program and enhance. This biggest downside to this device is the extreme limit on RAM space. Giving me about 24mb to manage is certainly not as easy as the 128mb of the TX (by the way, I'm not giving up the TX by any means. It's still my favorite device, hands down).

The only reason I decided to get the Treo was because I had something to trade even steven. I'm not able to take advantage of the cool features on the 700p due to my location (I hear that pretty soon we won't have to ride a horse to the edge of town to use the pay phone) and cell service so I went looking for the 650. I'm really using it to learn about the functionality of a smartphone. In the next few years, we should have some cellular high-speed options and by the time it arrives, I hope to be well schooled in the ways of the Treo. I currently have the ability to get online with the Treo but it comes at an expense that I'm not willing to pay. Data plans that would meet my needs cost about $40 a month extra not to mention my connection speed with the Treo takes me back to my 14.4 baud rate days on AOL.

Another huge downside of the Treo is the lack of WiFi support. I clearly understand both sides of this issue, but right now, for me, I need this thing to have WiFi. Many say that WiFi is dead and if I had a cheap broadband connection for my Treo, I would agree. The issue is that many of us simply don't have this option right now. It'll be here one of these days, but not right now. I'm also sure that Verizon, Sprint and Cingular didn't care much for the WiFi idea because they want people using they data plans instead of a separate subscription or even a free service. Since so many places offer a free WiFi connection (I'm getting ready to add it to my own store for free) it would be cheaper for us to use WiFi when we had this option. I'm hearing that some of the new Treo's with have WiFi support but we'll have to wait and see.

My first install to the Treo was, of course, Zlauncher. That, in and of itself, added three extra days to "Tinker Week". This second picture is my current ZL setup and has made one-handed navigation a snap. It has a fairly large footprint and cramps my space a bit, but the spice and functionality it provides to Palm's otherwise very boring launcher, tips the scales heavily in ZL's favor. Can't live without it.

After ZL comes SnapperMail, a program I'll only use in a pinch when I really need to get my email. After that comes Palmary Clock Wireless another program I can't live without. It grabs locals weather forecasts and updates my device with the atomic clock. I'm always on time. :-) I'm getting very bored with AdvantGo but still haven't found a better product that I'm willing to purchase. When I am able to get my cheap unlimited broadband, I'll be able to search for the info I want, but until then, I'll have to settle for taking what I'm given. Next up is TCPMP - The Core Media Player. I have several podcasts that I listen to these days and encoding DVD's has become second nature. Tack on about a hundred gigabytes of MP3's in my collection and I'm faced with needing something to play all this stuff. With my 2gb SD card and TCPMP, I'm good to go. I'm amazed how good the external speaker is on the 650. I don't use it for music but if I'm in a quiet plac, I can watch a whole movie and easily forget that I'm listening to it on an itsy bitsy external speaker. Very cool. Back to music for a second. The 650 falls way short here due to the very cheaply built headset jack. First, I know that you need to have a 2.5mm jack on a phone for the headset but even after buying the adapter to use the standard 3.5mm I still only get one earbud working. This is not due to the earbuds them selves, much reading has taught me it's the poorly installed jack. Not cool, but still not much of a deal since I'm sure to continue using my TX for such things.

All in all, this is a fun and very handy device. I won't be able to utilize all of Palm's cool little smartphone features due to cost and availability but, like everything else, that's due to change in the future. By that time, Palm should be pushing a GSM (CDMA personifies all the evils in the world) phone with EvDO and WiFi and I'll be first in line.

Thanks for reading,

Ken

Camping Run

2006-08-30T11:35:00.000-05:00

Okay, the deal was that I could borrow my grandfathers 32' camper to spend the weekend at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana IF I washed and waxed it prior to using it. "Sure, no problem" I say.....I'm such a goof. After putting the task off until the last possible minute, I finally caved in and set to work. Of course, it would turn out to be the hottest day of the year. Six hours later I had noodles for arms and was in need of a cold shower. However, it all paid off in the end. The following Friday afternoon we arrived at our campsite, got the campfire rolling, set up the camper (I've always been a tent camper but there's much to be said for bringing your own kitchen, bathroom, air conditioning and bed) and began a weekend of hiking, good friends, good food and relaxation. Later that evening, some of our friends finally pulled in next to us and the weekend officially began. Margo, Will and the kids joined us just in time to bid day #1 farewell.
Day two:
Q:What's the first thing you do early on a Saturday morning when camping? A: Make the ultimate campfire breakfast. Partnering in crime with Will, we set out to do just this. Thirty minutes later all eight of us were enjoying eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns and covering it all with cheese. It just doesn't get any better than that. In need of walking off the big meal, we all got dressed and headed out to the trails for a day of hiking.

Picture #2 is just one of the hundreds taken with my new Nikon D50, the ultimate digital camera. It was a great day and we hiked every trail in the park. I couldn't believe the kids were able to handle the hardest trails but they did with no problem. Of course they were asleep by 8:00 but I was indeed proud of them. They next day, Rachel and I took off about 6:30 am to rehike some of the trails.

The single, most wonderful moment of the weekend happened several times over. It was that moment where you stop and the world stops with you. Everything is a little brighter, a little sharper and you quietly say to your self "yeah, I need to remember this forever". It's moments like these when you remember your value, your responsiblities and your happiness. If I could bottle that feeling and sell it, I'd be a bizillionaire.

As always, thanks for reading,

Ken

Today's History Lesson...

2006-07-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

When you've done Disney and every water park around for hundreds of miles, it's time to look into something different for a vacation. This year then answer came in the form of a history lesson. Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, the site of the Historic Triangle that includes Williamsburg, Yorktown and the amazing Jamestown Settlement.

I've always enjoyed American history, but this trip revealed
secrets and wonders I will never forget. At the site of the Jamestown settlement I walked through a museum filled with artifacts unearthed by a recent archeological dig and what I saw was both exciting and emotional in a way that has burned the need to learn more about these people into my heart. Seeing personal items from settlers, tools and weapons fashioned from little more than wood and stone, and foundations of buildings long gone took me to a place I could have never conceived in my mind without actually being there. They were a remarkable, robust, brave and an adventurous people the likes of whom are few in numbers today in our world of modern comfort.

The single most memorable moment came at the Bruton Parish in Williamsburg, a beautiful brick church that dates back to 1715 and serves an active congregation today. Walking through the sanctuary you could almost hear the voices of the past speak. A few hundred years of rich history echoed and I was quickly consumed with thoughts of those who might have come through the same magnificent doors that welcomed me. Standing in the isle, I dropped my gaze just long enough to catch a glimpse of a small plaque attached to the side of a pew that read George Washington. On cue, just as if she were reading my thoughts, a woman answered my question. "General Washington sat there." She then proceeded to point out the seats of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry which also carried their names engraved on their own plaques. As she turned to answer the questions of others, I slowly sat down in President Washington's seat. To be sitting in the same spot where the men responsible for my freedoms worshiped God was simply overwhelming. It was the perfect place and the perfect moment to offer prayers of my own. And I did.

The picture above is the Yorktown Memorial. Reaching 95 feet and boldly standing on the York River, this memorial remembers the battle of Yorktown where Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington in October 1781. After a stroll through Yorktown, touring the beautiful colonial homes and taking in The Poor Potter, we headed out to view the battlefields. Again, voices came to remind me of those whom are responsible for everything I enjoy about my country today. I tried to picture in my minds eye what 16,000 men who camped and fought here must have looked like, but I'm certain I'll never understand. However, I remain truly thankful for what they did.

Well, that's it, that's what I did on my summer vacation. I have some of the most amazing pictures of my adventure......About 600 or so. But today I have a new understanding of how lucky I am to live in this country. Today, many have a different view of the United States of America and I have respect for that. I'll be the first to admit we haven't always gotten it right, no government has, but now, just as then, these words ring true:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - Our Declaration of Independence.

As always, thanks for reading,

Ken

Wanna Swap?

2006-06-20T11:20:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading, you know that I use a Palm LifeDrive along with the Palm TX. Recently, I've decided to make a change and am looking to the much coveted Treo 650. Even though the 700p is out, it's pretty much out of my price, range not to mention I simply wouldn't get much of a chance to use the EvDO radio for broadband here in the boonies.

So here's my offer: I'm interested in trading the LifeDrive for a 650. Since I require a SIM card, the Treo needs to be either unlocked or a GSM device that is capable of being unlocked. No Verizon or Sprint.

In the last several months I've made the LifeDrive a very stable device. I've spent countless hours learning the Do's & Don't of programing from all my friends at BrightHand and the LD no longer suffers from frequent resets. It's been loaded with the newest update from Palm and is in excellent condition. Not a scratch. Included will be the installation CD, the Sync cable, power cord, proctive case and the LifeDrive itself.

If you have a 650 and would like to do some old fashioned horse trading, please post here with a way to contact you and we'll see if we can work something out.

Thanks for reading,

Ken

Some Catching Up...

2006-06-09T16:59:00.000-05:00

It seems that I have some catching up to do. Having not posted since early March, there are a few things I need to catch you up on. Yes, yes, I know it 's June but I believe that all of the bad things are over for 2006 and now I will have more time to post. Since my last entry, life has been difficlut to say the least. My grandmother passed. Sad as it was, it wasn't crushing. She was very old and no longer had any quality of life. She's also hanging out with Grandpa K (who died just a few months prior) and has a brand new body so I can't bring myself to be much more than just sad and missing her.

The next event was most certainly crushing, although I didn't expect it to be, which may be the reason that I will spend the next several months trying despretaly to understand my reaction and feelings. My father spent a horrible week in the hospital in early May after surgery, then his body finally gave up and he died. Was I suprised? No, not in the least. He's not taken care of himself for 15 years and he refused to give up his vices. I've known for a very long time what was coming, it wasn't just written on the wall, it was written with a red spray can in 15 foot high letters on an overpass that screamed "Hey you're dad's not going to make it much longer, is there anything you need to take care of?" However when it arrived, I was reduced to nothing more that a kid who lost his dad. I now have a new milestone of pain. There's never been anything that hurt more in my life to date. Very strange indeed.

A few weeks later, just as I was getting back in to the routine of my life, a line of storms came through and caused over thirty thousand dollars in damage to my store. For those of you who don't know, I own the coolest little Dairy Queen in Illinois. The last couple of weeks have been punishing and I now have a new category of people that I despise..... insurance claims adjusters.

It all came to a head and I decided to check out for awhile, it was time for a mental health break. Not being one to eat my way through lifes troubles or climb into a bottle, I borrowed a camper from a friend (thanks KJ) and took my whole family camping in order to hide from the world. This was a good thing and turned out to be just what I needed. :-) We've already secheduled our next camping trip and this time it will be in a 32' camper instread of a 4' popup.

I also need to fill you in on the interesting twist to our hiking trip. If you remember Mark, Wes and myself were going to hike a 20 mile segment of the Knobstone trail over two days. The trip was cut short when one of our party sufferend a dislocated shoulder and broken arm during a very nasty fall while trying to cross water via a fallen tree. I couldn't believe it but he gutted it out and hiked another eight miles over elevation changes of 300 feet. That took more intestional fortitude than I will ever be able to muster. It was grueling to say the least and I wasn't hurt, I can't imagine how he must have felt. In the end, the pain was simply too much and robbed Mark of all the strength in his body. Did I fail to mention that he was still wearing his 30 lbs pack? Hmmm? . I checked the GPS and found the nearest road. We hiked down, hailed a state trooper and found ourselves in the local ER in Salem Indiana. That night we camped at the Super 8 in Scottsburg Indiana and made our way home the next day. Recently, I've been approached to attempt it again. We'll see. Personally, I think my next hiking trip with be to this island.

As always, thanks for reading

Ken

It's official....

2006-03-08T11:21:00.000-06:00

Along with my friend Mark and my brother Wes, I will begin hiking the Knobstone Trail in Southern Indiana in late April 2006.

I've been trying to put together a long hike for a couple of years now and it's finally official. The KT is currently 46 miles long, however we will be hiking the first 20 miles and will save the rest for later in the year.

I've been collecting supplies for sometime now but recently found a great little product called the JetBoil. All my meals and coffee are now easy to prepare. I've done a lot of hiking but I haven't done an over night since college so another new aspect of this adventure is water. I will not be able to carry enough water with me on such a long trip so my other new toy is the Katadyn Filter. I'll post more about the trip as it gets closer.

Thanks for reading,

Ken

Tidy up a bit....

2006-02-22T09:47:00.000-06:00

It's been more than a month since my last post and I'm wondering what I've been up to. Can't remember anything that stands out as to why I've been busy, so maybe I just didn't have any blogging material.... yeah, that's the ticket. Not that I have much now, but let's see what's in the bag that we need to tidy up a bit.

My last post was about my amazing new coffee maker with the built in grinder. It's official, I make the best cup of coffee I've ever tasted. This coffee maker is simply the best ever, period. It's no longer the alarm on my watch that wakes me up in the morning, it's the sound of whole beans being pulverized into fresh grounds for my tasting pleasure. And thanks to Tracy down at my favorite coffee house, Ophelia's Cup, I'm never low on good coffee beans.

On to racing. The Daytona 500 kicked off the 2006 NASCAR season in fine form this year. Even though I don't have him picked in this years pool, congrats to Jimmy Johnson and his crewchief - Cheatin' Chad Knaus.

The Palm TX has been wonderful and I can't imagine me with another PDA. I'm using the LifeDrive strickly as a multimedia device and the TX for all other things Palm. My friend Mark and I have sworn off all things normal when it comes to our daily lives and have taken to the programing of our devices with zest and vigor. What's next for my geeky side? Who knows.....but I have had my eye on this little gem for a while now. ;-)

Thanks for Reading,

Ken

Grind & Brew

2006-01-11T12:43:00.000-06:00

Say ello' to my little friend.

The newest addition to my kitchen is the Cuisinart Grind & Brew 10-Cup Thermal Coffeemaker. How goofy is it to blog about your new coffee maker? Well if you're the coffee snob that I am, it's not goofy at all....well, maybe a little.

Okay, it's very goofy to blog about a coffee maker but it will arrive on Friday and I'm a bit excited. You see, when you get a bunch of birthday money from family members who don't know what to buy a cheesy guy who likes gadgets, you pile it all together and it's open season on frivolous toys that cost way too much cabbage. I've never spent more than $30 on a coffee maker and I've owned everthing from a single cup French Press (which to this day made the best cup of coffee I've ever tasted) to a 12 cup DeLonghi automatic coffee maker. Today I'm using a Home Cafe' single server and have been somewhat happy with it. It really doesn't do to bad but I sure do miss fresh ground beans and it's time for a change. After much online research and long conversations with real coffee snobs, I just dropped $150 on something that I've been promised will take me back to the pleasures of my French Press. Crossing my fingers and I'll let you know.....

Ken

Post Holiday Insight

2006-01-10T13:35:00.000-06:00

Post holiday greetings to everyone who made it to the other side. My holidays were clouded this year with the death of my grandfather. Grandpa K, died on Wednesday, December 28th and I can't imagine how anyone will miss him more than I. Grandpa, if you can read this, I told the Post Toasties story at your service. Just as you said, I really know how the put the fun in Funeral. I miss you and I'll see you when I get there. Be good.

On to some lighter things. It's here, the new Palm TX is resting on my desk as we speak. My buddy Mark and I each received one on Christmas and we've been acting like two big kids ever since. I don't think we've ever emailed so much or so often but we've certainly been shirking our day job duties.
The only piece of email spam that I've ever followed up on got me a 1gig SD card for $39, shipping included, from buy.com. Now with built-in WiFi and plenty of storage space I'm pretty much set. Now I just can't find enough time in the day to play with it. Remember, I sill have the LifeDrive. One thing that is stable about the LifeDrive is its media features. Using the Core Player, I can watch movies, keep pictures and play music with PocketTunes. The LifeDrive is now my total multimedia device and will still be with me where ever I go. It's currently holding 4 movies and waiting for me to find some free time to sit by the lake and watch them.

Knowing I was getting the TX for Christmas, I also ordered up a few side dishes to go with it. Along with the 1gig card, I added:

The desktop cradle - Now I can sync at home and at work without having to unknot the giant cord monster.
The Palm hardcase - Very sleek and cool.
Zlauncher - I've always wanted this program and it only took 6 straight days of micro-tweaking before it was ready to go. Can you say options?
Palmary Clock, Wireless - If I just said, "it's a clock program", well.....that would be one big fat lie.

I have a few other thoughts to share about the TX but it's all going to have to ride along on the back burner for now. I need to get some real work done.

Ken

Read it......and believe

2005-12-24T11:03:00.000-06:00

This isn't a picture from the movie....it's from the book. Yes, in this electronic world that we live in, this is from a book that actually has pages that you turn with your fingers and everything. By now I know many of us have seen The Polar Express and most likely own a copy on DVD but let me tell you a short story about the book in hopes that you will also pick it up to read to your kids......or your parents.

Two years ago, my mother gave my (then three year old) son a book about some kind of Christmas train....at least that's how I first saw it. It was late and Reid should have been aslseep long before now so the two of us jumped in to his bed and I asked him to pick out a book. If it's not construction.....it's trains. He brought over this book that had the most amazing picture of a train on the front. In fact, every picture in the book captured and encouraged my imagination.

Reading to my son is always a kick....I really should do it more. Anyway, I started reading and was inside the life of the little boy from page one. I heard the train arrive, I drank hot chocolate with the other kids and then went racing up to the North Pole to see Santa himself.. It was here that I was snapped back into reality by the peaceful sounds of my son's deep breaths signaling the arrival of the sandman. The strange thing was....I couldn't stop reading. Actually, I couldn't stop reading out loud.

I finished the book with tears of joy in my eyes. Ever so gently moving Reid off my shoulder, I left his bed with book in hand and went to find my daughter so I could share my new favorite story with her.

Don't have kids to read to? Call mom. Call dad. Call anyone who holds a special place in your life and share the spirit of Christmas with them. But most of all.....and with all your heart......Believe.

Merry Christmas

Ken

Speaking of PDA's.......

2005-12-23T14:21:00.000-06:00

I've had the Palm LifeDrive for several months, pretty much since the day it came out. It's been a good device but the downside is really starting to catch up with me. After putting up with installing apps with kid gloves so it wouldn't crash, the instability of the LD has finally pushed me over the edge. I love having 4gigs to play with but I can no longer take 4 minute resets 4 times a day. I had hoped the long expected update for the LifeDrive would fix these problems but low and behold, I actually think it created more issues. Even though I plan on keeping the device for multimedia reasons, it's time to move on.

I don't have the extra cash laying around to just pick up another Palm whenever I feel like it. However, I do have a birthday that falls very close to Christmas and a very cool mother who understands her son is a complete geek. Enter the Palm TX. I expect to find it in my stocking Christmas day and will provide a short review when it arrives.

Ciao,

Ken

My LifeDrive

2005-12-22T21:01:00.000-06:00

This entry marks the first submission from my Palm LifeDrive via a WiFi connection. I'm using my wireless keyboard to save me from the mind-numbing writing with the stylus. Lol......I have absolutly nothing to say, I just like the technology. I'm such a goof.

Ken

My first thoughts to the world.

2005-12-22T16:21:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm a bit clueless on what to write here....such a long empty box to fill. For a guy with a self described big mouth, I'm speechless. Wow, there's a first.

I have a better idea. I'm going to post something I wrote sometime back in my geocaching days.

Here's an article called "Getting There". Let me know what you think.

___________________________

Getting there is now the best part of geocaching. I say now because my favorite part of caching use to be that moment of first sight. That point in time that comes after a healthy search of the area and all of the sudden your eyes spy the elusive treasure. Don't get me wrong, first sight comes in a very close second but it's now the journey to the end that has taken hold of me.
I'm one of those people who gets excited every time I turn on to a new road, a path that will take me to someplace that I've never been. Whether it's a quick turn on to a small country back road or exiting onto a new slab of interstate, both paths hold the promise and anticipation of seeing something new. Around here in my little county of Jasper, I thought I had been on every road that existed. After a year and a half of geocaching, I was delightfully surprised to find out how wrong I was. There is a long distance multi-cache here that proved that point. It took over a week and somewhere in the neighborhood of eighty miles to complete. During that trek, I visited many new and previously undiscovered places that made me think, ponder, wonder and fantasize about all the things I had missed by not coming here before. However, at that point I was also still very focused on finding and completing the cache. It would be several more months before my thinking shifted.
I spend an insane amount of hours driving in my truck. I own two business and shuttling between both of them gives me plenty of time behind the wheel. I like it though, driving gives me lots of time to think through the days events and contemplate metaphysics of the universe......or what I'm going to eat next. I'm also an audio books kinda guy and even though I like to tell people that I'm very well read, in all actuality it could be better described as "well heard". Listening to a good book can be captivating for me and it seems that I've turned in to Norm from Cheers up at my local library where I check them out. When I'm driving to a cache however, things are different. Especially if I'm taking a road that I've never been down before. If there is anything playing at all it's music on the radio and even then it has to be turned down very low so I can.......observe. All of the sudden.....I'm the Elmer Fud of geocaching. "Shhhh.......be vewy quiet......I'm hunting geocaches".
The drive to the cache is what you make it. You can choose to keep your eyes focused on the road while flipping back and forth to the your GPSr or you can, as mentioned above, observe. Quietly observe and drink in every sight and sound around you until you suffer from input sensory overload. Now, I don't advocate not watching the road....that could get messy, but in addition to safe driving, take time to see the rest of the world. I'm sure by now you're saying "Hey goofus, I've been here a thousand times before and I've seen everything there is to see!" Maybe......maybe not. Let me ask you this; What do you remember about the drive to your last cache hunt? For most people, I'll bet the answer is something to the effect of "not much". If that's your answer, then let me share this with you:
My grandfather is a wonderful man. But he's approaching ninety and his heart is just about to sound the five O'clock whistle and let him get some rest. During the summer of 2004 I thought it was all over. He was hit hard with a heart attack and I was just sure he would not recover.....but he did. After all the tubes were removed and he woke up, he and I had some of the most wonderful conversations. Being the believer that he is, he said the most interesting thing to me. He said "I wonder why I'm still here? I was ready to go." Then he answered his own question with an answer that seemed to bring him satisfaction. He said, "I guess God still has some things for me to see". Ever since I heard that answer, I've found myself looking at the world through different eyes. Eyes that observe and see much more than they use too. Now, when I'm heading down the road and zeroing in on a cache like a Blue Tic Hound on a bird point, I go a little slower and take in a few more morsels of what would otherwise be considered useless information. Tales to my grandfather about my latest cache hunt now sounds less like "I found another cache in the woods" and more like "you wouldn't believe what I saw today!".
Take advantage of your driving time to see what the rest of the world looks like. Observe, listen and most importantly, see what's out there. I promise, you'll be surprised.

Hiking is different. Once I leave the comfort of my truck, don the cache pack and hit the trail, everything changes. Colors are sharper, smells become more intense and the thrill of exploration takes over. This is the best part of caching by far. As soon as I find the trail that will lead me to my goal, thoughts of woe's, concerns and the worries of life go flying out the window of my mind and are replaced with a sense of adventure and anticipation. Part blood hound, part Sherlock Holmes, I quietly steer myself in what I believe to be the right direction. Frequently, I stop to take a long slow look around, soaking in the sights and sounds that embody the woods. It's amazing. It's quiet yet the sounds are everywhere. Everything is still but yet moving as if the entire woods itself were alive and breathing. Outside of geocaching, there are many other things about the woods that I enjoy. One of them is hunting. I've spent hundreds of hours in a tree stand observing everything that takes place out there and have come to the conclusion that it's one of the unique places I can call my sanctuary........my church. It's here that I have complete understanding of the passage in Psalm's that reads Be still and know that I am God. Who else could have created such beauty?
I spend a lot of time in the woods and have done so ever since I was a little boy. When my brothers and I were young, a giant forest loomed just across the street from our house. Okay, giant forest might be a little overkill but to a ten year old boy with siblings that would follow him over a cliff like lemmings.....it was indeed a giant forest just waiting to be explored. It was during these years that I fell in love with everything that existed outside of my front door. In college, I renewed that interest with zest by taking up rock climbing and repelling. Spending the day climbing the bluffs with large groups of friends in Giant City State Park, only to repel down again was one of the reasons I was such a lousy student. This is where I first caught a glimpse of understanding the reality of getting there. It didn't make any difference if I was going up or down, I quickly learned that the act of climbing or descending was more fun than actually arriving. At days end we would scale the face of the bluffs one last time then make camp at the top for the night. If you've never seen the sun come up from the vantage point of high atop a cliff, start making plans now to do so now. You'll see that moment for exactly what it is, a snapshot in time that is nothing short of spiritual.
So years later I've come to understand with more clarity the same thing I learned in college. Enjoy getting there. Appreciate the drive and savor the hike, drink in every little bit of stimuli on the way to finding your treasure. For me, it brightens the whole experience and gives me great stories to share with Grandpa K.

-Ken