J.P.

When I started actively riding my bike again late last year I made a conscious effort of riding in the morning before work. I figured that this would be a good way to motivate me and to have a better, more productive day. By getting the blood moving, the muscles working and the juices flowing early in the morning, I’d be a top-notch soldier of life, just like those in the Armed Forces that I admire.

This approach has worked quite well for me and I believe that the results are paying off, both physically and mentally. However, over the past couple of weeks I have been struggling with my schedule again; sometimes 0530 just feels too early to me and conversely, 2130 (9:30 p.m.) just feels to early to go to bed when there’s still daylight until 10:00 p.m. (Curses, Daylight Saving Time!)

The other thing I have been struggling with is the jarring of an alarm clock. Normally I wear my FitBit on my wrist at night and that has a gentle little vibration thingee that wakes me up at a prescribed time. Unfortunately my FitBit died (I think it finally gave in to the ride it had in the washing machine a while back) and I’ve had to rely on my alarm. It’s kind of humorous to realize that I had forgotten how much I dislike any sort of audible alarm in the morning.

I’m digressing.

Anyways, because of the struggling I’ve been doing with the morning thing, I have opted to ride my bike after supper a couple of nights this week and the results have been quite satisfactory. Not only have I gotten the physical exercise that I was looking for (albeit on a more manageable schedule), but I have really stretched the mental muscles while exercising and it has been quite nice. Riding my bike always puts me into a certain headspace where I can be more creative and the like, but the past couple of rides have been really zen like. Things have drifted in and out of my head, problems have been resolved and logistical problems with my projects at work have worked themselves out, all whilst riding my bike. I’ve lost myself in these zen moments so much that I’ve “come to” a couple of times and not realized how many miles I have pedaled at that moment and have quickly had to make the determination to head back home. Now before anyone gets overly concerned, my safety has never been in jeopardy, I’m always fully aware of my surroundings, but I have been able to lose myself in that moment, which has helped me find a really sweet spot in my head.

I don’t lose myself in the moment nearly as much as I used to. That’s rather unfortunate.

One of the reasons that I love road trips in the Jeep is because not only can I satisfy my road geek/road warrior/road scholar needs that are always present, but my road trips afford me much of the same zen-like moments that I am enjoying on my bicycle. Because of these zen moments this week, I have accomplished more this week at work (and reorganized several personal, extraneous matters that were niggling at the back of my mind). Given a few moments away from the noise of iDevices and ringing phones and IMs and the like, I feel like I’m able to conquer the world again.

And with a few more of these zen-like experiences, I must do just that.

So I’m sitting here thinking about this blog entry when I’m distracted by a rumbling sound coming from the distance. It’s not an approaching thunderstorm; the rumbling is going on for too long at a time. The screen door to the patio rattles just a little bit which makes me briefly wonder if we are having some sort of little earthquake. I don’t think that’s the case either. I then deduce that they must be testing repaired jet engines again at the near by former Air Force Base. They can get quite loud and the wind must be blowing from the right direction or something.

Today is Tuesday and I am feeling good. I just told a friend online that I am feeling rather feisty today. Right before lunch I sent an email that contained the sentence, “since I have much cents today, here’s two more.” Just as I do on my blog from time to time, I tend to write in a colorful manner when provoked to do so. Now that I think about it I probably speak in the same way when giving presentations and the like. It’s just part of my wiring. It’s a nifty option if you can get it installed.

Our cat Tom must have glanced at the calendar and realized that it’s almost summer time because he has now begun his fair-weather routine of exiting and entering the kitchen through the screen door to the patio a minimum of three dozen times during my lunch hour. He isn’t as quick as he used to be at it, he only saunters up to his food dish instead of tearing through the kitchen to grab a quick bite, but for an 18 year old cat he’s holding his own. As long as he’s still around he can do anything he wants because as far as cats in my lifetime go, he’s been around the longest. He’s earned the right to act like a senior citizen. However, he has not earned the right to dig a hole through the new screen in our new patio door. I think he’s still planning a way to make a hole in that screen though, even though he strives to look innocent.

I am using my iPad as my full-time mobile device these days and am trying to use my older MacBook Pro for DJing. I made a tactical error last week by upgrading the laptop to the beta version of OS X Mavericks. It’s not quite as ready for full-time as I originally thought. It’s working fine, but there are glitches here and there than can be frustrating. I’m definitely not moving to iOS 7 on my iPad (when it’s available as a beta) until the final version is out. Maybe I’m not as adventurous as I used to be or maybe I’ve found some more common sense.

It’s good to have some sense to share once in a while.

As a person that studied Civil Engineering in college I can safely say that I am one for progress. As population numbers climb and other conditions change in our society, it is important that folks be able to do what they need to do safely and with as little frustration as possible, because after all, increased frustration usually leads to decreases in safety.

That all being said, it makes me a little sad to see trees being uprooted and torn down in the name of progress or convenience. After all, the tree didn’t really do anything it wasn’t suppose to do; it just set down some roots and grew. The tree was just minding its own business being a tree. So I felt a little sadness today when I saw this activity going on near my preferred lunchtime parking place.

I have enjoyed these trees at lunchtime for over three years. The rustle of their leaves have calmed me down on a hectic day, the birds that sing from the tree tops have made me smile and they have provided some much needed shade in the middle of a this paved parking lot.

I don’t know why the trees are being removed. The parking lot certainly doesn’t need expansion and there’s no place for a road to go over there, so that part is a mystery. Part of me will be very curious to see what happens with this bit of construction that started today.

But a bigger part of me will miss these trees.