Dichroic Reflections

improved feed and what to put in it

OK, I've gotten my RSS feed set so now you can read the full text of this at Livejournal (at Dichroic2) or Bloglines or wherever. (Though as Natalie points out the atom.xml feed already did have full text.)

Now, of course, the challenge would be to write things anyone actually wants to read.

For the knitters: Clapotis is now officially half-done - I'm half through the 7th of the 13 repeats in the middle section. However, the beginning took me a long time to figure out and it seems to be speeding up as I go, so I don't think it will take as long to do the second half. Also, I've got about 12 hours in the car this weekend, which should contribute enormously to available knitting time. (And motivation.)

Rowing: Those 12 hours will be spent getting to and from San Diego for rowing camp - this is run every year by Pattie Pinkerton, the USD womens' rowing coach and former Australian national team coach. We haven't gone before because the last two years we had only just gotten back from travel and didn't want to head out again, but this will be She-Hulk's third time and she's really liked it. Rudder and I both wimped out on working out again today (I did erg yesterday) so I'm a little worried I'll be too tired for some of the three on-the-water sessions a day the schedule shows, but we'll see. I keep reminding myself I did a marathon only two months ago and finished 200 km only two weeks ago and can't really be all that out of shape. I think I'll tell Patty I'm pulling back for this year and ask her to help me figure out a maintenance progam so I won't be too rusty or out of shape when / if I am ready to come back to it.

Also, this year I intend to keep logging workouts here but I won't be joining Fivehundred again unless I have a reason to set some distance-related goal sometime later this year. I made my 500 mile goal in 2003 (actually, I completed about 800 miles) and my 1000 mile goal last year. I don't need it for motivation; the need to train if I'm competing takes care of that, and if I'm not competing I don't think I need a distance goal. Still, it's a good site and anyone working on a fitness goal ought to consider it - it can be very helpful to have your numbers out there for the world to see.

Flying:I'm just under 20 hours into training now, working on VOR approaches and holds. The minimum training required for an IFR is 40 hours, but I'll take a lot more than that because at the beginning I had to spend a lot of time just burnishing off the rust - flying is definitely something that only shines in use - and because I need to build up a lot of time X-country time to meet the 50-hour requirement for the IFR rating.

Of course it's never a competition but all the same I was very disappointed, yesterday when I was reading the list of people who'd earned ratings at my school, to see the name of someone I don't respect much who had earned a private pilot rating in late 2003 and an IFR only 5 months later. I'm leff than halfway in and I've worked on this since September. There are lots of reasons: work (he had a much more flexible job), travel, racing, Christmas holidays, and so on, and if there's anything stupider than comparing yourself to someone else on this I don't know what it is (well, I can thin k of a few things :-) but still, it leaves me feeling I should do better.

Guilt can be useful. At least it nagged me into doing some of the reading/studying for this I'd been neglecting.

Politics: I heard something on BBC radio news yesterday that had me growling. Yesterday a plane 3 hours out of England, flying to NYC, was turned back because there was a man on board whose name was on the do-not-fly list. The pilot was told the man wouldn't be allowed to land in the US and so he had to turn the whole plane around. Correction: he chose to turn the whole plane arund and fly back to London. But they gave him the option to land in Bangor, Maine instead.

WTF?

So is Maine now not part of the US? Or does the FAA just not care what happens up there?

More to the point, why could they have not just had someone meet the plane and question the man, especially given the number of mistakes there have been over that list? Clearly they weren't to worried about the man taking over the plane or they wouldn't have given the pilot the Maine option - at 747 speeds, you're not *that* far from some major targets. I really really hate when my country makes itself look that stupid.

Work: I'm beginning to feel more productive lately, and that I'm starting to learn what I need to do here. Now I need to go from there and start getting a lot more done - it's easy to get in bad habits when you don't have enough to do or you seem to be floating aimlessly. Enough of that.

Plans & Goals: I've been seeing a few 101 in 1001 lists lately on various websites - 101 things you'd like to accomplish in 1001 days. I'm flummoxed at the idea of having 101 goals - either they'd have to be mostly tiny ones, or else I'd feel uselessly overwhelmed. Also, I really have little idea of what I want to be doing three years from now. Most of my goals are limited to the next year or even next few months or else they're vaguer lifetime things I just want to do at some indeterminate time. Here are a few things I do know.

In the next year, I'd like to: knit some socks including some well-done enough for Rudder to wear (because he likes them, not just because I made them). Knit myself a sweater or two, including one with sleeves. Finish my IFR and stay current. Get a lot more comfortable flying, including long-distance flying. Get to the point where both I and my boss think I am good at my job. Stay reasonably fit. Get my finances back in shape - this IFR has led to credit card debt and I need to stop that.

In the next three years: Move OUT OF ARIZONA finally (or at least out of the hot part of it) and maybe even out of the country for a year or two. (Or the international part could come later - no rush there.) Either get back into competitive rowing or move on into some other sport. Keep flying. Get better at saving / investing. Keep gaining increasingly responsible work experience.

In the next decade: build a house or at least a hangar with an apartment on our airpark property. Buy a plane. Figure out a direction to go careerwise and move on it, or else shift careers entirely (but to what?). Take a year or half-year off just to travel around the country. Widen and deepen my circle of friends. Keep working on that tact thing. Find people to sing with. (Not perform, or necessarily even sing well - just sing.)

I could probably come up with 101 goals, but for a lfietime, not just in the next 101 days. One thing that did occur to me is that, if I could persuade Rudder to do it, we ought to look into joining the local SCA. I think he's afraid the people would be too loopy for him (whereas I'd expect to find the sort of F&SF people I've always enjoyed, though I'd expect some loopy types too even from my viewpoint) , and he's never found the local RenFaire more than mildly entertaining. But I think it would solve some of our problems: a new circle of people to meet, swordplay for a new physical activity, people for me to sing with, fun things like catapults and trebuchets for him to build. And people for me to talk history with. I don't know much about the local branch though - I know there is one but not how big or how fun, how open to playing with stereotypes or hung up on authenticity, or how friendly. It might be interesting to check out sometime, though. Another one for the "sometime" list.

Hmm. It can certainly be debated whether I'm entertaining (or just prone to logorrhea) but no one can say I'm not offering variety: blogging, knitting, rowing, flying, life goals, SCA-ding, and even a gratuitous Tennyson reference. (Virtual prizes for identifying it.)

Posted by dichroic at January 13, 2005 01:11 PM