Update for Everyone VI: What Is and What Should Never Be

[muon2]

Old Louisville is charming neighborhood dominated by stately Victorian homes. We stayed at one of those homes turned into a B&B and found a couple of places I'd recommend. Old Louisville Brewing is fairly new on the craft beer scene, but they have an excellent selection of the usual brews: IPAs, stouts, blondes, etc. A few blocks from OLB is Seafood Lady which serves shrimp, crabs, and fried fish seasoned like you were on the Gulf Coast. That's because the chef was raised on the Gulf and got a well deserved visit from Drive-Ins, Diners and Dives. Beware, the portions are big.

[muon2]

Last night I gave a PechaKucha talk. It's an unusual format. You get 20 slides and they are projected for exactly 20 seconds each. Your 6 min 40 sec speech has to line up with the slides. 20 sec is not a lot of time to say something meaningful, so it really forces the speaker to plan words carefully. They are also entertaining, and even if they aren't, it is over quickly. Nine of us presented last night, and I was number 6, right after the intermission.

I had an extra challenge that I didn't expect. We got up for a group photo during intermission, and I wasn't feeling quite right. My stomach was upset, and I felt a touch of chills. I'm not prone to be nervous giving public talks since I do it for a living, so nerves didn't seem to fit here. I was concerned that it might be the norovirus my wife had at the beginning of the week. Any I gave the talk and no one noticed me in any distress.

I sped home quickly, and sure enough I went straight to the bathroom with norovirus. Mild fever, vomiting, diarrhea, the whole deal - through the night and into the morning. If it goes like expected, I should be over any symptoms in the next day or so. But talk about a close call last night.

[muon2]

The Thomas Fire has destroyed much of my hometown. I evacuated, and I am safe. Our house seems to be safe as well for the time being, although I am spending the night at my dad’s offfice.

The park where everyone would either go to enjoy a beautiful panoramic view of the shore (or hook up) is gone. Two Trees, which was the city landmark, is an ash heap. The ballroom where I attended stupid middle school awards ceremonies and took music lessons and went to policy hearings is destroyed. Entire neighborhoods are going up, and the fire is still going strong as I write this. Friends of mine had to leave homes as their backyards went up in flames. It’s incredibly sobering stuff.

However, we’ve made it through a lot before as a city, and we’ll do it again. #VenturaStrong

I was just watching some footage from ABC7. Horrible. This fire is big and fast, and unless the winds change I fear a lot more will burn. Stay safe.

[muon2]

I just got home from my trip. Flew from Jacksonville to O’Hare then Green Bay, spent a few days in Green Bay in a hotel with my girlfriend, then went to Washington Island in Door County where she lives. I was supposed to leave for the airport Tuesday morning, but the wind storm was awful and shut down the ferry, which is the only way on and off the island. So, I decided to stay a while longer and got greyhound bus tickets for Saturday. Spent since 11am CST in bus stations and on buses going from Green Bay back home to the Jacksonville area. It was cool seeing all of that part of the country and meeting lots of different people. I got to see Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta, along with all the scenery along the highways in between.

Anyway, for those interested, it went amazing with my girlfriend, whom I met online in August. We hit it off so well and I truly, truly love this girl. We’re so eager to work out a way to live together as soon as possible that’s reasonable and realistic since neither of us are rich people. But, I love her and she loves me, so we’ll find a way. It was an amazing experience being with her and an interesting trip across that part of the country.

And here’s a picture of us at Green Bay’s Garden of Lights...

I can appreciate your experience. When I was in college, and more so in grad school, Greyhound was the only way I could afford to travel between home, school, and friends. It's one of the experiences that contributed to my love of road trips to this day.

[muon2]

In college I had a copy of a Bert & I album, a sort of Down East Maine forerunner of the humor style in Prairie Home Companion. One of the most famous pieces is Which Way to Millinocket? famous for the phrase, You can't get they-ah from he-ah. So for 40 years I've waited for an excuse to find the way to Millinocket.

We are driving today from Oguquit ME to Nova Scotia, so this seemed like a great opportunity to find Millinocket. Not only did I find that you can get there from here. Even better, the moose knew the way to Millinocket, too.

[muon2]

Has anyone else had a horrible experience trying to write up their dissertation?

I've spend months planning, and researching it, and can talk about it for hours, but now that I actually need to get a draft done by next week, I'm just incapable of writing anything of value.

I don't know that I'd call it horrible, but I was often stuck to write anything of value on my PhD dissertation. Fortunately I got a post-doc offer that didn't require me to have completed it. As it was it took about a year and a half to write it to the point that I could defend it.

[muon2]

So many changes are about the occur in my life. On the 1st, I’m flying up to Green Bay and driving with my girlfriend back down here to St. Augustine because she’s moving in with me. Our halfway point will be where my family lives in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, so we’ll be staying with them and they told me if I like it there all I have to do is ask and I’ll have an interview for a position at a nursing home company making good money with options of living in Clarksville or Nashville, Tennessee. I’m very seriously considering taking them up on their offer, in which case I’d be moving to Tennessee pretty soon. I also told my girlfriend I want her to only work part time so she can focus on starting college, which she loves hearing. Altogether, I’m quite happy with the way my life is going right now.

Those sound like some great options to have. Good luck exploring them.

[muon2]

Just getting ready to leave the Big Island, HI. I had one full day yesterday. We started at a little coffee shop in the Kona growing region for breakfast. Drove and hiked to Ka Lea at the southern tip; it's the southernmost point in the 50 states. Then found a black sand beach and saw two large sea turtles on the sand there. From there it was up to the steam vents of Kilauea to see the big caldera and an old lava tube. Lunch was at a great little brick oven pizzeria near the volcano. It was quick drop that afternoon into the rain forest of Hilo and a stop at Rainbow Falls and the Boiling Pots on the Wailuku river, as well as another old lava tube. Finally we crossed back through the lava fields of the saddle highway that separates Mauna Loa from Mauna Kea. The only down side was that it was overcast and drizzling all day.

[muon2]

I'm just settling down for my third night on Maui. The flight over from the Big Island was on an 11 seater where the copilot doubled as flight attendant and no TSA check was needed. The rest of day 1 included a luau in Lahaina with excellent dancing and some star gazing at the West Maui/Kapalua airport. Day 2 included half a drive to Hana (they had flooding rains the day before) with some hikes to see waterfalls in the rainforest and some crashing surf on the coast. Day 3 included beach walks and photos in South Maui at the big and little Makena beaches and a drive above the clouds to the 10,000 foot summit of Haleakala, finishing with some excellent coconut pie on the way back at Leoda's. I think day 4 should be a bit more relaxed with time at Kapalua beach across from our unit.

[muon2]

Whereas the first half of my visit to Maui was for the natural wonders, the last four days have been more about history. Museums, sugar, and the hike down to see the former leprosarium in Kaluapapa, Molokai. The hike and tour were fabulous, but walking down 1800 feet over 3 miles took its toll on my calves. They are still complaining any time I walk down steps two days later.

[muon2]

Three days in Honolulu have been less than ideal. It was too windy to dock at the USS Arizona memorial, though Idid get to take a boat relatively close. It poured most of yesterday on a walking tour of the historic sites downtown, though I did get to sit in for the opening introductions in both the HI Senate and House. Today was cloudy and was supposed to rain, but I got a nice hike in to the top of Diamond Head in the am.

The one part that hasn't disappointed was the food. Uncle Bo's just up from the zoo had some fabulous pupu dishes for sharing with a real neighborhood vibe. Mr Donut's downtown was a perfect snack spot while walking. I found Koko Head Cafe on the way back from Diamond Head when I got off the bus to stop at a post office, would recommend it to anyone in that part of town.

Tomorrow we're off to our last island, Kauai. It would be nice to see some sun.

[muon2]

One final update from HI. I spent the last three days on Kauai, and the question was would I ever see the sun again here. The first evening was promising with a nice onage partial sunset and clearing skies at night. The morning looked great and we drove to see Waimea canyon, HI's version of the Grand Canyon,and it was definitely worth the drive. Beyond the top one can get an overlook of the spectacular Na Pali coast and its towering cliffs.

The better view of Na Pali of course at sea level, and we had reserved a catanaran cruise that afternoon to end with s sunset at sea. However, after only 45 minutes at sea a squall line pooped up and as we tried to round the point to see the cliffs, the captain said that he couldn't get any further. A number of passengers were losing their appetizers over the rail, so perhaps that was for the best. The squall line also blocked views of a sunset, so the captain just brought us in a couple of hours early.

Today also started clear, and for once stayed mostly sunny. I drove up to the North Coast and got a look at Na Pali from Ke'e beach, but it just isn't the same. Score this leg rain 1, muon2 0, with two rounds as split decisions. Nonetheless I got to do, see, and eat enough to make the two weeks worth it.

[muon2]

I was thinking about our old poster Anvi today. I went down to St Louis, and while waiting for my wife to arrive by train I watched a round of the US Chess Championship. $10 got you in and you could be in the room with the competitors separated by a simple rope barrier. The contestants included three of the top 10 in the world and watching them felt a bit like having box seats next to the home team dugout during the playoffs. Some liked to sit, some walked around a lot, some watched other games while they waited for their opponents moves. It was quite fascinating as a one time activity.

[muon2]

I think I just flunked a class. Haven't taken the final yet, but I just bombed a huge project.

Even a D is a flunk in this case...

I really hope you didn't flunk it. That's always been a fear of mine since my university sets failing grades at a 79% final grade in the graduate programs.

I've never liked the restricting of fixed percentages for passing set by the institution. It makes it very hard to then award letter grades above passing since there is often little room to work with. It also eliminates the ability to spot top students by the use of more difficult questions while reducing the threshold to pass.

One grading technique I often used in upper level classes was to give each problem a raw score, then calculate the mean and standard deviation for each problem. The adjusted score for a problem would then be based on the fractions of a standard deviation above or below the mean. This way I could use both hard and easy problems and they would self-weight in the final grade.

[muon2]

I had to take care of some family business in Pensacola this morning. The business ended promptly and the cheap flight I had on Silver Airways back to Orlando doesn't depart until 7 pm CDT. With a rental car and 5 hours to kill I decided to take a drive to pick up two rural AL counties on the FL line: Covington and Geneva. The most economical drive had me take I-10 to Crestview, go Northeast to Florala, AL then east using a rural county road to get to AL 153 which went south to Defuniak Springs and I-10.

There were pop up thunderstorms in the area and I didn't expect much on the county road called Finks Mill Rd as it cut through the pine forest. Those names are usually historical and often there's little left of the history. So I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the county line and saw this (and without rain).



It turns out that Finks Mill, built in 1932, is still an operating corn grist mill. There's a mill pond and sluice under the road and building to power the mill.



It's finds like this that keep me driving to obscure counties. If I can render my pictures down to Atlas gallery size I'll replace the stock pics above.

[muon2]

I see you’re up in my neck off the woods Muon.

Yep I'm flying from Pensacola to Orlando tonight, then driving out on Thursday by way of Chiefland into sw GA and then into AL.

[muon2]

Defying logic and all advice I’ve been given, I’ve decided to conquer the Louvre in a day.

Go for it. In 1992 my wife and I had a layover in Paris before catching the TGV south. It was our first visit to the city and we wanted to get as much in as possible. We allocated an hour to the Louvre, so I planned a route through the museum to get to all the most important works there. It was fun, if a bit stressful as we navigated the crowds.

[muon2]

In terms of attractiveness and practicality, I’m thinking somewhere in Michigan, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin. I have family in PA, which could make finding a job or even temporary housing easier, but where they live is a bit pricey and the job market isn’t very good. My gf is from Wisconsin and we both agree MI, MN, and WI would be excellent states to live; she’s already so homesick. We really like Grand Rapids, from what we’ve seen. But, Appleton, Wausau, and the Detroit suburbs sound great too. I’d love the Twin Cities, but that may be too much city for her.

Tl;dr: Grand Rapids, MI; Detroit suburbs; Allentown/Bethlehem; Lancaster; Appleton; Green Bay; Wausau.

What kind of field do you expect to be working in?

At first glance, I wonder if renting in the Detroit burbs might be more cost effective? I'm not sure of the costs further from the city, but it seems like a possibility.

You really should go where the best job opportunities are, although if you have several choices that all have ample opportunity, then you can lean on other factors, but the primary one should be a job, imo. At least for the time being. You don't necessarily have to stay in the same place forever.

Social Work is what I am generally looking at in terms of a long-term career. So, I think whichever place is good for that would be best for me. However, I have a lot of experience in customer service/sales and would be open to putting out resumes and accepting jobs in that field in whatever city I decide upon - at least until I get settled and could explore my options more freely. So, I’m pretty flexible with the career side of things. My girlfriend has worked in the service industry and wants to pursue making money from her art more aggressively, so I’d definitely want to take that into consideration as well.

What type.of art does your gf create? Green Bay and Appleton could work out from their proximity to the art scene in Door county.

[muon2]

I joined the big 6-0 club today, but in a fairly laid back fashion. I mowed the lawn, answered email, and enjoyed the evening with my church choir as they sang and served cake. I got just a couple of presents, but they were pretty cool. My kids got me a lightweight, heavy-duty camera tripod for my travels. My wife got me a bottle of premiere cru grande champagne Pierre Ferrand cognac (delicious and oh so smooth).

But the unintentional surprise birthday gift came during my call from mom. As we talked about my childhood she mentioned the train trip we took from Dallas to Chicago in 1962. After the call I found an old timetable online and sure enough there were 17 counties I hadn't counted as having traveled through. Seeing as I have a goal to reach 2000 counties this year, my task just got much easier.

[muon2]

Two weeks ago I was reminded of a train trip I took when I was 4 and that revealed some places I had been, but hadn't recorded. Next week I leave for a summer vacation that should get me to a personal milestone of being in 2000 counties. To try to determine which will be the 2000th county I went through my notes (and my wife's work log) to update my files. The only thing I think I am missing is the specific route I took and motel along the way to move from Dallas to Omaha in 1963 (no interstates).

As a byproduct of that work I ended up with a sequence of maps showing which counties I had been in at different points in time. I put a sequence together from the end of 2006 to the present in two year increments as my count has gone from 1111 counties to 1955.



Red: resided at least 2 months during a year and received mail
Blue: slept at least 4 continuous hours while not in motion
Cyan: visited intentionally a person, place, or thing
Green: traveled through on car or foot including incidental stops for gas or food
Yellow: cruised through by airport, rail, or water only

[muon2]

Tonight will be my last night living in the state of Florida. At 5am tomorrow, we leave for the first leg of our trip to Kansas City and will be stopping at Monteagle, Tennessee for the evening. By Sunday I’ll be in my new city - KCMO.

Great town, I have family there. What part of the city will you be in?

Interestingly, last month I stayed in Kimball TN just up the road from where you will be staying.

[muon2]

Tonight will be my last night living in the state of Florida. At 5am tomorrow, we leave for the first leg of our trip to Kansas City and will be stopping at Monteagle, Tennessee for the evening. By Sunday I’ll be in my new city - KCMO.

Great town, I have family there. What part of the city will you be in?

Interestingly, last month I stayed in Kimball TN just up the road from where you will be staying.

Our first night in Kansas City we’re staying at The Elm in Excelsior Springs, then a couple weeks at an Airbnb near Gladstone until we get everything finished up with renting a house and such. We’re hoping to find a decent place closer to Overland Park since that’s where our jobs will be located. I know the northern side, western side, and into Johnson County are the best parts of the KC area, so we definitely want to stay in those areas.

That part of Tennessee really is beautiful. Monteagle is apparently right near the peak of the pass, almost 2,000 feet up. I enjoyed my last trip through there and can’t wait to rest there for the evening. After that we’re going to stay at a hotel in Hopkinsville, Kentucky so we can spend some time with family there. Then, finally, on to KC.

Sounds like a plan. I've stayed in Hopkinsville, too. My family is in northern KC, it's nice, but it's relatively far from a job in Overland Park. Olathe's not bad and close to OP.

[muon2]

The only thing I think I am missing is the specific route I took and motel along the way to move from Dallas to Omaha in 1963 (no interstates).

Unless your parents had some side trips they wanted to make, it's hard to imagine they didn't simply travel US 75 from Dallas to Omaha.  While there have been some realignments of US 75 since 1963 due to the construction of the interstates, I don't think that would affect things at the county level.

I think that's most likely, but there is a possibility that we took US-77 for much of the way. At one time there was a picture of us standing in front of the motel on the way. If I can find that, I can deduce which route we took.

[muon2]

Last summer I took a road trip and I made this post.

West Day 4

If yesterday was about people, today was for places. The morning started driving south along the west bank of the Flaming Gorge. It's nice enough, and clearly fun for boating, but once you cross into UT the scenery jumps up a notch. Sheep Bay has some marvelous overlooks. The Red Canyon at the south end of the gorge is worth a trip by itself, and if you want to make a day of it you can rent kayaks and paddle boats at the lodge to cruise the canyon. The special twist for the science nerds is that UT has road signs describing the rock formations and associated facts along the gorge road. The best had to be the Park City formation with "bizarre sharks and phosphate". Sure enough there was a big phosphate mine past the gorge on our way into Vernal.

The other place of interest was Dinosaur National Monument. It lived up to its reputation as a top attraction in the National Park system. A shuttle takes visitors up to the covered quarry site where they have preserved a huge wall chock full of dinosaur bones from the larger quarry that has fed many museums. There are interactive electronic displays to help identify bones in the wall. The scenery outside is pretty good, too.

The rest of the day took us across the Uintah and Ouray Reservation on US-40 to arrive at Park City for two nights. Tomorrow morning we'll get one of those standard presentations on membership in their vacation club, and the afternoon will be quilt shop hopping for my wife. She has to at least try to keep some semblance of pace with my number of new counties, which is 25 these first 4 days. We've stopped at 6 quilt shops so far with maybe 5 more tomorrow.

Addendum: West Day 5
There was a morning sales presentation and afternoon quilting shop hop. The one interesting item worth adding was at the last quilt stop in Midway UT. There were signs there to a place called Homestead Crater. The crater is a 55' mineral dome built up around a hot spring that is 65' deep. The water inside is Caribbean blue and 97 F. There are some bathers, but it is especially popular as a spot for warm water scuba dives. We didn't have time today, but we'll keep it in mind in the future.

One item I mentioned was the sales presentation in Park City. We didn't buy into their program, but there's always some compensation for taking a couple of hours out of vacation to hear their pitch. In this case it was a voucher up to $200 for a hotel stay in their system within the next six months. We took that stay in Nov in Cincinnati on our way to visit family for Thanksgiving and the room was $191. We got a voucher in Feb that had to be used within 6 mo to avoid losing value.

This week we are vacationing with our adult children in New Orleans. We spent this first full day roaming the French Quarter in museums, browsing shops, and grabbing the usual eats. We ended late at a nice wine bar and bistro with a bill that came to just over $200. Conveniently I had tucked the rebate card from Park City+Cincinnati in my wallet. The net cost for the nice dinner for 5 with a bottle of wine and then dessert and drinks afterward was under $50 including tip. That seems like a reasonable return for two hours listening to a sales presentation in Park City last summer.

[muon2]

I am sitting at lunch after completing a minor geographic goal. I've twice been to the headwaters of the Mississippi at lake Itasca MN, most recently in 2015. I walked across the river at it's most upstream point. My lunch is in Venice LA which is as far downriver one can go by car. I plan to cross it at the southernmost public ferry after lunch.

Edit: my first thought was the public ferry at Point a la Hache. It turned out to be for passengers only at this time and I was in a car. That moved me to the ferry at Belle Chasse, 30 miles upriver.