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...

Tallahassee, Florida

In case you didn't already know, I live in Tallahassee, Florida. I know most people always dream of leaving home and can't wait to branch out into other places, but I love my home. It's a medium sized town. It has enough people and things to do to keep everyone busy and happy. It's not big enough to be a congested concrete jungle with too many people.

The climate here is mild and relatively warm year round. It can hit the high 90's in summer, but it's very rare to see a freeze. Just last week I was out swimming in late October. The world around me is green and beautiful. Much of Tallahassee is covered in, or at least lined with trees. Even the downtown area is decorated with plants. All year round you can see things blooming. Even in the dead of winter, you can see green all over. When spring comes, the streets are lined with blossoms and flowers of every color. Sometimes you can see entire forests or fields of white, pink, or purple.

Finally a Warm Day!

I have been going to the pool nearly every day for the past couple of weeks. Each time I dip my foot in, I shudder at the thought of getting into such freezing water, and jump in the hot-tub instead. I realize it is late October, and most of the world never gets as warm as it is right now. Still, I miss the warmth of summer and I really have been missing the swimming.

Today was a refreshing break from the cool, rainy weather. It felt like spring again, and the skies were a perfect blue. After a nice, long bike ride, I finally got to get that cool swim I have been craving. Then the sun went behind the trees and I had to run back inside because it got so much colder. I hope this weather lasts.

Tropical Chicken and Rice

Sunday I decided to make up a new recipe as I'm prone to do. I just kind of throw things together that look like they should taste good and they usually end up amazing. It didn't turn out perfect the first try, but it turned out pretty well.

The night before I prepped the marinade for the chicken. I mixed mango juice, pineapple juice, a whole fresh squeezed lemon, a splash of white cooking wine, and a variety of spices. It tasted great just by itself. Then I cleaned all the fat and tendons off the chicken and put it in the pot with the marinade. I let it sit there overnight to absorb the flavor.

The next day I started cooking some rice and spiced up the water before I started it. I cooked the chicken in the marinade while the rice was cooking. When the chicken was done, I pulled it out and cut it into small pieces. Then I poured out the rice water and replaced it with the marinade juice so it would absorb into the rice. Then I put in some sliced pineapple, coconut shavings, cheese, and the chicken. After adding a lot of spices to offset the sweetness of the other ingredients it was done.

It tastes delicious, but isn't quite as zesty as I'd like. I think next time I'll raise the concentration of the lemon juice and let it marinade for a couple days so it really gets a kick to that chicken.

Dog Attack

The path I take for my bike ride takes me through a park near my house. It's one of the biggest parks in town and has some beautiful bike trails running through it. I have only been there once but I had a great time exploring parts of it. The path winds through deep woods and over quiet streams, and everything is still deep green, even in October.

As I rode by the dog run, I heard some yelling and ferocious barking. I saw a Doberman Pincer viciously attacking another dog. Both owners were pulling at them to separate them but to no avail. I immediately rode over to jump the fence and intervene. I spent enough time trying to catch and subdue an unruly 140lb chocolate lab that I knew I could handle this. I planned to run over, pick up the big dog and toss it over the fence. I know how to grab a dog so it can't reach me to bite me and didn't think it would be a problem. The owners were just going about it the wrong way. You can't hope to restrain a dog by holding them. You have to pick them up where their legs don't touch the ground. On their back in your arms they are helpless.

I found out there was another much bigger problem with my hopes of helping out. I hadn't been riding a bike for years and my legs were not used to the mile or so I had ridden already. They felt like jello by the time I got to the fence and wouldn't give me the usual thrust to jump a fence in a single hop like I usually can. I was looking for the entrance when the noise died down and the dogs calmed down. No one was hurt so I hopped back on my bike and went back on my way.