Why I Don't Like Winter

I was born in Florida for a very good reason: so I wouldn't have to put up with cold weather. I was just about ready to write to my congressman to complain when the weather got nice again last week. I was out jogging in swimming trunks in mid-November just to revel in the fact that I could. It was beautiful weather yesterday, and today it's getting near freezing.

I also love the sunlight. There is an innate need to get at least some sun in most people. Your body needs to have sunlight to make compounds that keep you happy. It's commonly reported that people who don't see the sun enough tend to get depressed. I realized last weekend that I hadn't seen the sun all week. I see it for a few seconds as I rush out the door to my car, then spend all day inside at a computer. My monitor probably gives me a bit of a tan, but it's not the good kind. By the time I leave work, it's already pitch black out. I hate driving home from work in the dark. It feels like I lost the whole day and don't get any time to myself at home. I can't wait for spring again. I miss the pool.

A Break From Blogging

You may have noticed I took a bit of a break from blogging for a while. Sometimes life just gets too crazy and we need to stop for a while and rest. I feel like I have been juggling so many things with work, my personal life, and even myself. I can juggle a lot, but sometimes it just gets overwhelming. I have to drop a few balls or everything will come crashing down on me. Now that I have things a bit more under control, I am trying to pick the pieces back up again.

Growing up Alongside the Internet Part 2

When I got to college, the internet was in full swing. I was amazed when I first sat down in the computer lab and was introduced to broadband internet browsing. I was amazed to not have to wait 30 seconds to a minute to load a basic webpage. All my classes had some form of email or web based resources needed for them. By that time you had to pass basic computer literacy classes just to make it through school. Nothing was turned in unless typed and printed on Microsoft Word. Florida State University had campus-wide wireless internet. I spent hours in the middle of a beautiful field out under the blue sky surfing the internet while I studied.

I spent a scholarship check on a very good laptop when I moved on campus. This is when I really started enjoying technology. I became less afraid of technology and began embracing it. I had a desire to learn and changed my minor to IT. My IT classes became my favorite classes in school. I worked night staff security in the dorms, staying up all night and sleeping all day. Chatrooms, online video games, blogs, and social networking sites became the substitute for my social life.

When I left college I immediately got a job where I used technology every single day to manage the distribution of over 2 million hunting and fishing regulations for the State of Florida. After that I got a job as a site administrator for a blog site. My very livelihood and sustenance hinges on the technology that grew up along with me. We are like brothers, who didn't get along well at first but learned to be best friends.

Growing up Alongside the Internet Part 1

I grew up alongside technology. When I was born, personal computers were just starting to appear. As I started my education, some of the first affordable computers started being used. In my third grade classroom, my teacher had the wondrous and groundbreaking technology of the early internet. He would browse lists of text using text based commands, then start a download of a picture. After leaving it on all day long, we would end up with a very low quality photo which was probably about 50kb in size. We were all amazed.

As I went on through middle school, Windows started to become more and more prevalent. I finally got my dream computer with Windows 95 running towards the end of middle school. At that time the internet was up and running, but still very young. It was full of spam, and you couldn't search anything safely without wading through piles of garbage. Once you gave anyone your email, you might as well give up on the account because it would soon be full of spam. Hackers were rampant and viruses were devastating. Computers were glitchy and extremely difficult to manage. I started out thinking I must be terrible with computers, until I realized it was the computers that had the problems.

By the time I got to high school, the web was much more manageable. Most schools and libraries had a computer lab and you could accomplish much more online. The internet was still VERY slow, but it worked. I actually took a computer programming class in late high school and learned to make better use of the technology at my disposal.

To be continued...

My First Bike Ride

Today I took my first ride on my new bike. It turned out to be a good workout since I had to haul it across my house and down three flights of stairs. I haven't had a good bike ride in years and I really missed it. As soon as I hopped back on I just took off and flew about a mile before I started getting tired. I had never realized how beautiful the path around my apartment complex is. It's like a jungle in parts, and I even found a tiny banana tree growing off the side of the path. I tend to forget the beauty of the world around me when I spend all my days working inside an office. I sometimes miss the days when I was an innocent kid running around through the forests around my house.

Addicted to Blogging

I knew once I started I just wouldn't stop. I now have 5 blogs and I'm posting like a madman in all of them. Strangely enough I am really enjoying it. It's actually a lot of fun to sort of revisit the parts of learning that I actually liked. I spent so much of my life cramming knowledge down my throat that I didn't stop to chew and realize I actually liked it when taken in reasonable portions. Now I'm re-discovering these joys all over again.

Overwhelmed

Have you ever had just too much on your plate? It seems like in my life everything tends to gang up on me at once, until it just gets overwhelming. I can juggle so much at once, but sometimes it just takes one last thing to throw into the mix and it just becomes too much. I know everything will be ok and I'm not losing it. I'm just spent. I just don't have energy for anything else. I'm just shutting down for the day and shutting everyone and everything out. I'm rebooting, and tomorrow everything will be back to normal. I'll pick everything back up and keep going as if nothing ever happened.

The First Chill of Fall

This weekend there was a shift in the atmosphere. I felt a change in the air over a month ago that told me Summer was ending and Fall was very near. It's strange to think I can feel that, just like the animals around me always do, but I always can just sense these changes. Today it was almost too cold to swim and there was a chill in the air. Autumn has arrived.

I feel so strange right now. The whole atmosphere of the world is changing. I want to think it's the natural balance of things, and this is just a change in seasons. But I feel deeper changes in the atmosphere. It stirs up my heart and makes me uneasy. I always feel somewhat sad when summer ends and Fall begins. Autumn is the twilight season when life begins to store up and hide away. The warmth and life of summer fades like the drifting shadows of dusk.

I like the warmth, I love the sun. I don't want to see the cold return. In so many ways I feel my life changing. I don't know how or why just yet, but I feel change in the works. It's exciting but also hard. I'm so tired as it is, worn down in every way. I don't want to think about picking up and starting over again. Life is an adventure, but sometimes it makes me wish I had a warm, peaceful rest. I don't want to wander forever. I want a home.

Frozen Burritos

It's strange to have to watch my diet now. I used to live on nothing but bagels and ramen noodles and I did just fine in college. A fast metabolism, lots of exercise, and sleep deprivation kept me fit and skinny throughout the years on campus. Now I'm working a sedentary office job and needing to be more careful what goes into my body. I'm trying to eat right and get the right balance of enough healthy nutrients and not too much food. I've been trying to eat out during my lunch breaks since I can't really cook during the day. But there are days when I just don't feel like making the trek across town. On days like this, it's time for frozen burritos.