A Few Tweaks .. to keep things interesting

So .. lately I've been revamping my schedule and thinking ahead seeing as a few things will be changing over the course of the next few months.

1. Sadly enough the last UofL home game was today ... I could cry knowing that our seniors won't be back next year .. On top of it, that also means I used my last season ticket today. The season went by way too fast .. I'm sooo sad .. :o(

2. I only have 4 sessions left (I think) with my personal trainer. I am, of course, not going to renew that. Nothing against my trainer because she's awesome, but I have spent the last year getting myself into good habits that I was hoping the trainer would help with. Mission Accomplished and I think I'll do a good job of keeping it going from here on out.

3. My class schedule right now is light but it will unfortunately pick back up in June .. dammit.


Anyway ... after March Madness unfortunately I'll have a lot more free time. At the same time I'm being relative unproductive here at home lately, wasting time on this laptop, so I've decided to both work on mini-projects and also to pick up classes at the gym instead of just going and doing whatever.

Bottom line .. I like being told when to go to the gym and what to do. While I prefer to be in charge of my life .. there are times when I'll admit I prefer it the other way around, and this is one of those times.

So .. for the past two weeks I've been taking classes .. I think 4 of them a week is what I've been doing. Mainly spinning classes and free weights because the spinning is good seeing as I can't run as far as I could in the past (doctor's orders) and the weights because I love working with free weights.

Anyway I take 2-3 classes with free weights a week and 2 spinning classes a week. Then a time or two of doing whatever, either separate days or back to back .. depending on how I'm spending my evening for the most part. If I'm wasting away in the evenings, I'm leaving my house. While I'm on the 'classes' kick I'm just going to classes. Then .. when the newness wears out I'll go back to weight training.


Good times .. and I know .. no one cares but me. But .. I am obsessed with it right now and of course I have to schedule it all out and have my trips perfectly planned out. It will take a minute to get used to the new schedule and workout routine but hopefully the change in the workout habits will get me off my current plateau .. or so I hope.


So .. today we went to the 11am spinning class for the 2nd week in a row. After that I went home to shower and watch the UK game sin Patterson. Good game though. Then I went to the vet to pick up Archie's meds, to the store, and then I met Angie at 2:45 to go to the game. In a nutshell I'm non-stop from 10:30 this morning until 6:30 tonight.

Then .. nothing.

So .. this is one of those days I wish the gym was open late because I've been wired for sound and unproductive .. therefore wasting away on this device ... but .. I'm now all caught up on American Idol and I'm catching up on Lost now, although these days I honestly prefer the TV to be off.

Giant "Sea Monster" Fossil Discovered in Arctic

Giant "Sea Monster" Fossil Discovered in Arctic

Ever Googled Yourself?

Well I have. I actually Google a couple of names.

1. The name I go by (which FYI is not my legal name .. yea I need to get on that, eh?)
2. Joschmoblo which has been my internet alias for probably 15 years now

Why?

1. My name is because it's on all of my photos and because it's unique enough to find with a Google search
2. Because I use it for everything and it also reminds me when I need to do some housekeeping

So .. what did I find?

First I checked out my full name and I, of course, used Google...

1. Me on imagekind.com
   
2. My ESRI thread posts that I have put up over time .. OK that's work related and GIS and mainly over the DS Map Book, which is an ongoing 'quirk'
   
3. My German and Swiss relatives with the same name
4. Some of my flickr photos .. of course
5. One of the FLL EIS documents that I worked on when I was at Corradino. Apparently it's a reference document listing all of the people who worked on the EIS and what they did. I'm down for GIS (I think .. I didn't open it)
6. Me on MoreThanDerby, which is apparently a dead site now
7. Some reference to my photos on Nikon D50 Photos which I don't mind as they're literally referencing flickr

Now joschmoblo...

1. Me on flickr
2. Me on youtube
3. Me on Google Earth (need to houseclean, eh?)
4. Me on upcoming (again .. )
5. Me on nowpublic (they used a photo or two over time but may clean this too)
6. Me on AT&T 's forums (cell phone..)
   
7. Me on GameSpot (that's too active at times)
8. Me on Yahoo with a profile (??) .. I am obviously tabbing this in Firefox to check that out
   

ok .. i'm bored .. and i need to clean out some profiles

Trip to Switzerland

At a young age of 19 I went with my family to primarily Switzerland and Germany, where we stayed with distant relatives that my father met during his Genealogy research. To this day they still consistently speak and work to create the family tree, which has become amazingly large by now.

Here is a link to my Dad's recollection of the trip. Bear in my he's recalling his memories .. ours were full of things that we still laugh about today ... german cows and killer weiner dogs .. makes me smile even now... good people, a good trip, and a great time .. :o)

Google .. again ...

First of all, I royally stink at coming up with 'titles' so do ignore them.

Besides there's never one subject .. there's usually 20 and they go on and on and on .. lol


(1) I want to publicly thank Lele for the damn Google Reader addiction. As if I didn't have Googlte hooked up via I.V. as it was, now it's ten times worse. I have iGoogle up all day long and 9 times out of 10 I have to open up a second instance of iGoogle because I refuse to lose view of all my details.

So sad...

(2) I don't know that I have a 2 or more... I don't have much to say as I'm sitting here further customizing this damn reader. I'm such a techy person as it is ... I've always stayed away from the feeds thinking that ignorance is bliss in my case. Bad bad bad.


I send out emails often enough giving Google free advertisement on all of their web based options. I just love it .. I should move out there and get a job. Actually I should have bought stock years ago when I wanted to because I am guessing it's worth a lot more these days.

Ok .. I don't have much else .. :o)

Trying to be more green

Ok .. for the past few years now I've been making a serious effort on being more 'green,' especially as far as my house and the resources it's spending.

I woke up about a month ago and got pretty 'upset' thinking I need to do more. It's one thing to live green, but it's something else to help support the cause. I need to promote it more, tell people more, and help do my part along with the rest of the world to help the cause.

So ... I've now started a few recycling ideas / efforts at work. I'm preparing to go into our staff meeting tomorrow and declare in the meeting that I want to form a 'green team' for the company, if one does not already exist. We, as consultants, need to practice what we promote, and we as humans can always improve on our green efforts.

Wish me luck .. I'm sure they'll be positive about it .. but it takes a force to make a change .. I want to be that force.

I've decided to get a series of dry erase boards (seeing as paper wastes paper) to hang around the office and write Green tips.... in the kitchen, the copier room, etc. and then change them frequently. I think there are a few other green people myself and I believe that we can do little things to be better occupants of this planet because, in the end, every little detail helps.

Ok .. I know I ramble so without going into any more details .. my head is exploding with ideas and excitement about this.

I'm taking a class to incorporate this into my engineering career and I've already decided that I want to obtain my LEED certification. So I can live a greener life and build a greener world! Maybe my move last year was ultimately to get me where I'm at now because for once I want to do something like this with all of my heart and soul. I'm all about being in front of technological curve and this is both that and it's a passion of mine. So maybe the saying is true .. everything happens for a reason. We'll see...


I posted a topic on the Louisville Flickr boards as well, trying to spread the knowledge. I did not ramble off my 10000 suggestion because most people won't read them, but I gave a few.

Here is just a cut and paste of that ..



Long story short .. it's one thing to live a 'greener' life yourself but there's no point in keeping it to yourself.

Here are a few things.. feel free to add to this.

Simple Ways to be More Green:

1.) Get rid of the coffee stirs!! Pour in the cream and sugar first, then pour in the coffee. This will mix everything for you perfectly!

Why not just use a spoon? Because it requires either water to clean it or a towel to wipe it off. This option requires nothing .. :o)


2.) Turn them off or put them to sleep! Are your computers on all the time? Either switch them off when you're not using them or set them to auto-hibernate after a few minutes.

It takes a computer a second or two to 'wake up' from hibernation and that saves our resources and your pocketbook.

3.) Save on your heating and cooling bills! Are you heating or cooling the entire house but you live in just a few rooms? Try lowering your temperature a couple of degrees and use supplemental sources (space heaters) to warm the rooms that you're in. Why pay to heat areas that are not in use?

Another alternative is to use a time intelligent thermostat which adjusts the temperature based on pre-set settings, so when you're at home the house is more comfortable but when you're out it saving resources and your money. Price them at the store, they're cheaper than you think!

4.) Buy local! There are so many farmer's markets around town now and so much promotion of local products that there are options now to buy local and not spend the gas and resources to get food from the other side of the country. And .. the local stuff tastes great!!

5.) Turn your car off, I can't breathe! (I had to!!) Are you sitting idle in your car for a few minutes? Consider turning it off while you're not moving, even if it's only 5 minutes. An idling car is still consistently spending our hard earned money and gas and we're also contributing to the air pollution problem.

6.) RECYCLE!!

7.) Save your water!! When you're brushing your teeth in the morning does the faucet stay on the whole time? If it does put a cup in the sink and 'capture' how much water you're normally just sending down the drain unused. You'll be amazed how much you're paying for that's being wasted. It takes two seconds to turn the faucet off and on.

Also, consider adjusting the pressure of the weather when you don't need it coming out at full flow. These two things will save you a lot on your next water bill!!


Ok ... I'll stop for now, but if one person reads this and finds one suggestion useful, then I've done good .. :o) Every little detail helps!!

Louisville .. Then and Now

I'm currently drooling over the photos that are in the Library of Congress archives. As I find comparisons I'm going to 'try' to add them here .. try being the key word.


Central Park:


Year Unknown -
















2006: