Big change today

Made a major leap today. Switched from the iPhone to an Android device.

Got a Samsung S4 Active. Only had to pay $40 after trade in of my old phone and it is waterproof.  A 5S would have been $40 more plus I would have to add another $80 for a waterproof case.

So far I love it, but I spent the first 4 hours trying to figure out why I couldn't receive text from my wife!  Turns out, it is an Apple thing. Had to change my AppleID password, unattach my iPhone from my iCloud and iTunes accounts, and delete my IPhone from the Apple support web site.  For anyone else who tries to do the same thing, it is easier to disable the itext feature on your iPhone before you trade it in.

Also, finally took Bill's advise and called Joel to get setup on the MS150 medic team.  I need to get back in the saddle!

Holloween short and sweet

Well, Holloween is nice on school nights. You have an excuse to not be out all night. Had a small oversight though. Spent a lot of time making gravestones and a coffin for the fog machine. Unfortunately, didn't have time to test the fog machine and it was a no go. We bought one of the professional grade ones last year and only used it once. Even ran the cleaner through it before boxing it up. Oh well, maybe next year!
Got Shaina's front derailer in and installed tonight just in time for Tour de Gruene. Need to take a short test ride in the morning to make sure it is adjusted well. Have to set the truck up for hauling the bikes to Gruene and after dropping kids off Friday morning, we hit the road. Someone call ahead to Lulling, we are headed to City Market BarBQ.

WAS 20 mile loop flatlands by leftseat140 at Garmin Connect - Player

WAS 20 mile loop flatlands by leftseat140 at Garmin Connect - Player

Great ride this morning. 

Trying to get back into the swing

Had planned on getting home early and taking a road bike ride before the kids got up, but Peyton was roaring to go when I got home from work. So, instead we did mountain bikes with her little trailer. I made the best of it and took the most scenic route in Kingwood and ended up with about 11.5 miles of good riding. Beutiful day with light wind and docile temps. Wore our long sleeve shirts that Bill warned us about, but it was doable. The temp at the end of the ride was 82 degrees. I told Shaina our limit for those light, long sleeve shirts is about 80. I think Gruene will be pretty cool in a few weeks.

Used my Garmin GPS 705 and my new Go Pro HD camera for the ride. Captured some really good footage. Going to have to do some messing around with my hardware, already running low on storage. I have a couple of terrabyte drives, but they are from a crashed RAID system and I need to load Linux to get the data off of them before I can use them for video files.

I also broke the 220 pound mark today!

Bike with Peyton to school by leftseat140 at Garmin Connect - Details

Bike with Peyton to school by leftseat140 at Garmin Connect - Details
Enjoy time with her alone riding, well basically I was walking my bike. Too bad I didn't get in bed till 1 am, I would have enjoyed it a little more. 

Down to 238

Very complicated and restrictive diet, but it is doable. Can't wait to get to my goal and eat food I like, just in a healthier way.

Craziness never ends

This psychology class is making me crazy. Can't seem to get anything done. Every time I think it might slow down, the bottom falls out again. How can I exercise with no time? I can't even make time!

Peyton is killing my schedule

Poor thing has been sick for over a week. Eventually got a rash and high temps. Had to go to texas children's to rule out meningitis. Was amazed, in and out in only 3 hours and 15 minutes.
Haven't ridden my bike, haven't had any time to concentrate on homework, work on my truck, take care of the yard, deal with my refi, etc. and of course the rv show is in town and I want to go.
The joys of parenthood

Christmas spirit

Sometimes I wonder what happened to the Christmas spirit. Our last shift, we had a strong arm purse snagging, a bank robbery, and a home invasion in one day. A friend of mine's son in law has had to pull his gun twice in a month's time. Another friend witnessed the theft of two iPhones at the AT&T store.
When everything seems hopeless, I finally heard about this story. A man walks into Walmart in Huntsville and pays for everyone's layaway accounts. Finally the spirit survives!
http://itemonline.com/local/x1666049662/Christmas-comes-early-in-Huntsville

Busy time of year

Just finished my computer class except for the final next week. But working like crazy and remodeling the kitchen before we host Christmas.
Total demo today, work fire academy tonight, fire station tomorrow, off to A&M the Friday for Chloe'e's field trip the next, back to fire station the next, then resheetrock the kitchen Sunday Painters coming in on Monday. Next week is no better, working two more fire academy nights on top of work and Shaina wants to redo the fireplace too.
These pics show the soffits above the cabinets removed plus the drop down box of lights over the island. The second pic shows burnt wires and insulation because of the last owners handy work.

iPhone 4s

Finally got my phone upgraded. My old one was slow as hell. I want to plug my Kingwood AT&T store. The manager, Ruth, was the only one who would tell me when they will receive the phones and even called me when the UPS truck arrived.
I now have all kinds of more useful apps including being able to use my tasks from my work outlook exchange from my phone.
By the way, this is my first post from my iPhone blogger app!

I think a database administrator, or DBA, is a very interesting career. The skills listed by Wikipedia for this job are strong organizational skills, strong logical and analytical thinker, ability to concentrate and pay close attention to detail, ability to think broadly and consider impacts across systems and within the organization. All of these sound like my kind of challenge. I handle many database management duties at my current career. I work with systems built on Firefox and SQL.


I don’t see myself leaving my career anytime soon as I am a retire-at-one-place kind of guy. But, things happen and I would consider this career as a backup. I am not sure if I would go for a full on DBA job or as a consultant for one of the specific databases that I currently work on. I think there is a job niche open for firefighters with technical abilities to assist other departments that are too small to have full time DBA’s. I could bridge the gap between the database designer and the regular firefighter and make a system do what they need it to do in a way that they could do it. I think a lot of careers need a person in there corner when databases are set up and designed.

According to Monster.com, the salaries range from $35,000 to $115,000 and the majority of the jobs available require a higher degree.

Approximately 38.6% of the listings on Monster.com require a Bachelor’s Degree and 23.5% require a Master’s degree. There are several certifications that would be obtained during the career, but not to get hired for the lower salary range, entry level jobs.

Bibliography
 
Database Administrator. Web. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_administrator>.


Database Administrator. Web. <http://my.monster.com/job-profiles/Database-Administrator.aspx

The next few months should prove to be pretty busy.  I am going way ahead in my Intro to Computer class so that I don't get behind.  I just finished my last project for week 3and have started on week 4.  The class is still in week 1. 
I wasn't much use to the family yesterday as I was up all night and stayed most of the next day at work to install a billing system update.  When I got home, I showered and hit the couch.  Acacia, Shaina's sister, came over though and she is helping keep the kids entertained. 
I have to be packed up tonight because I won't be (really) home again until Monday.  I leave in the morning for work.  After about 4 hours, the assistant EMS chief, another Captain, and I are headed to Arlington for a Medical Director's Seminar.  I get back home Saturday night and do get to sleep in my own bed before working another 24 hours on Sunday.
After about a week at home, I have to go to another convention in Ft. Worth for 5 days.

Back to school I go.

So, I am finally getting around to finishing my degree.  You know the story, go to school, make a little money, don't need to continue school because you make money, then you are old with no degree.  Should have finished then, now I am going to have to take more classes to get through it. 
Most people don't realize that in Texas, a full time firefighter can go to school nearly free.  As long as the degree is related to the fire service, your tuition and lab fees are paid for by a grant through the state.  So, it is a no-brainer to get it done.  I am thinking about after my degree, switch over to nursing and then onto anesthetist school.  This way, most of my core classes will be paid for and the nursing specific classes won't strain my pocketbook too much.

Off to the hospital

My wife had an appointment yesterday for a possible hernia. Update: Turned out to not be a hernia after all.  Was a Sorama.  The doctor just happened to have a last minute cancellation, so we are off this morning to have her fixed up.  Gonna give me time to work on homework.  What I can't believe is that her whole operation will only cost a couple hundred dollars.  Everytime I go to the doctor for the first time in a year, I end up forking out my entire out of pocket and deductible of $2500.  Looks like I might have to switch to her Kelsey-Seybold insurance in October.  I have been holding off going, but I can feel that my kidneys still have stones and I don't want to be out that much cash over night.  The worse part is that everytime you see a new doctor or clinic or technician, they want their money.  I don't blame them, but I try to explain that I have already paid out this much and they can't have any more than that.  But, because my insurance hasn't posted it yet, they won't take less.  So, in the end you pay more than your out of pocket and deductible hoping to get refunds.  I just got a refund from Houston NorthWest last week.  I was 1 year ago, that they told me that they would refund it!

New Gaming Computer

I haven't been able to sleep for 3 days because I ordered my parts for my game computer.  They finally arrived yesterday.  I bought an AMD 955BE CPU, 8 Gb of Corsair RAM, a Gigabyte motherboard, and a new power supply so that I don't blow it up.  Cost me just shy of $500.  But, you couldn't buy a machine this fast for that much.  I didn't buy a discrete video card yet to save money as the motherboard has built in video.  I thought my old one was AGP, but I found that it is actually a PCIe.  So, I may be able to use it for now.  Surely it is faster than this built in board with shared memory.  The old one has 256 megs of RAM.  An update: According to Tom's Hardware guide, my old video card is six tiers better than the built in chip, so I will definately reinstall it on this machine.  http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-radeon-hd-5570-gaming,2697-7.html The on board is a HD 4250 and the discreet card is a GeForce 7900 GS.  Gaming for me is more on the line of simulators with a few simple games.  I don't go ape-*** over graphics like some people do.  At the very least, I got to move up to Windows 7 Pro and I don't have to borrow my wife's laptop to do my homework anymore. 

Depressing blog

I started this blog to motivate me to ride more as this has seemed to help Bill stay motiviated.  But, I find that it just depresses me because I am not riding.  I am now in Intro to Computers at Lonestar and we have to start a blog.  I already have this one, but decided that I need to revamp and include more interest.  This will make me happier and maybe I'll be more motivated this way.  I know, it seems strange.  You have to know me to understand. 

Winter is over and Biking is so hard!!

Well, it is finally warm everyday and I no longer have an excuse not to ride or excercise. Some of you may not understand, but I HATE the cold. 70 degrees is alright if the wind isn't blowing. Anyway, Bill and I went out this morning and did a nice little warm up ride for the season. It was hard making myself go, but it really wasn't that bad and I felt great afterwards. Looking forward to more good times on the road.

First long ride since surgery

I had lithotripsy and a cysto on the 16th. Non eventful other than pissing razor blades the first few times afterwards. Been feeling kinda funny down there and haven't tried riding for a while.

I rode to work yesterday morning and had no ill effects. As a matter of fact, I actually expelled some of the largest stones yet. So, Bill wanted to ride this morning and I agreed.

He picked me up from work and we headed out to the Grasslands and rode to crosby and back with lunch in the middle. At lunch, I had some hemituria and felt kind of bad. On the way back, I had to slow it down some. Thought for a moment that I would pass out. Kept at it and made it home with out too much trouble. Had some more hemituria when I got home, but it stopped pretty fast.

Feeling better and glad I rode. Good feelings after a ride are what make you push on the ride. Plus, having good company helps.

Lots going on

The New Toy
My love bought me a Garmin Edge 705 for father's day.  It is really the shit!  It comes with a cadence and heart rate sensor.  Shaina knows me well and new I had reservations about buying this and she didn't give me an option.  She took me to buy it and I thank you Shaina! There are so many aspects to this thing that I am going to start a new page on just the device.




The Ride
Rode to work last shift again and Bill wanted to ride the next morning, so he picked me up from work and we did a 30 mile loop around the grass farms.  This was a really fun ride.  I can ride around Kingwood, but you have lots of side streets and cars to deal with.  Out there, we could ride long straight distances and only had probably 6 cars pass us for the entire trip.  Practiced a little with drafting too and forgot how scary that can be.


Medical
So, I have been a really bad boy and haven't been taking care of myself medically.  I havn't been taking any meds for the last year and haven't seen a doctor either.

Started off with podiatrist and he recommends orthotics.  Gonna wait a little while on this one til I figure out the insurance stuff.  Then saw my regular doctor and he placed me back on Lisinipril for BP and Levoxyl for thyroid.  After my ride with Bill yesterday, I saw my urologist and he has me going to get a CT scan for my kidney stones.  Hemituria confirms my suspicion that they are still there.  Not looking forward to that whole process.


Bill took a new pic of me on my new bike riding and it is now my blog pic up top.

Need to eat

I keep forgetting to eat before these rides.  I was doing pretty good this morning and then just felt drained all at once.
All in all though, I averaged 14.1 mph. Little better than average, but I had very few stops this time. 

Moved my seat forward one cm and seemed to really help with the comfort level. I also adjusted my rear derailer yesterday at work.  It has been needing it since I bought the bike and I am glad that I did.  I am really getting good at that and it was really easy.  I like it when I can do something and see an instantaneous result. 

MapMyRide.com - General Road Cycling: General Road Cycling on 06/13/2010

MapMyRide.com - General Road Cycling: General Road Cycling on 06/13/2010
Nice ride to work this morning. Able to keep my legs spinning most of the time and also kept my cadence up. Getting easier and easier.

Good ride wtih a friend

On my way home from work, I was thinking road biking. But then Bill called and wanted to mountain bike the trails.  Sure, this will be easy!  Ended up with 23 miles and 3-4 of that on unimproved trail. 

Need to always wear my cycling shoes.  My feet kept falling asleep.  Also, the crank brother pedals I have also have a platform so that you can wear regular shoes.  But, every time I ride through a mud puddle, my feet can't get any grip.

We saw a bald eagle today on Lake Houston.  It was really sweet.  Wish I 'd of had a camera.

Today's loop

So, yesterday's weather prevented any riding.  I got up early this morning to beat the rain.  Nice little ride.  I think my cleat adjustments are right on.  Thinking of moving my seat forward just a little.  Been reading a lot on KOP technique, or actually the fallacy of it.  I think it works for general set up, but then needs to be tweaked.  Shaina's seat is way forward of this and it has helped her tremendously.  I am pretty close, but not quite there.
Also, had some reinforcement today on needing to take the lane sometimes.  I was stopped at a light to go straight and moved to the side of the lane.  As I started to go, the car behind me started to turn right into me.  I don't know if he was trying to scare me or didn't see me, but it wouldn't have been possible if I was in the middle of the lane. 

lots of traffic

Went for a nice stroll with Shaina this morning and there was a lot of traffic, but the good kind.  Saw at least three different people riding road bikes on the same route that I was.  Saw one guy like 5 times, he kept lapping us.

Back in the saddle

So, we took the weekend to go to the river and play.  It seems like a short break in your routine will become a large break if you don't watch it. Here it is 8 days later that I finally got a descent ride in.  I havn't even ridden my mountain bike around the trails. 

I did try to ride two days ago, but every time I go about a mile from the house it would start raining.  I am not scared of the rain, but I am scared for my iPhone to get wet.  I tried twice with no success.  I then played with my pedal cleat adjustments, something I have needed to do for a while, and then rode another mile or two to check them out.  All in all, I probably got in about 5 miles total. Not productive enough to consider it a ride.

So I am proud of my almost 10 today.  Not much, but at least I am back in the saddle.

MapMyRide.com | View 05/28/2010 Route in Kingwood, Texas

MapMyRide.com | View 05/28/2010 Route in Kingwood, Texas
Quick ride to bank before we leave for the river.

staying up all night

Why is it that I work for one of the slowest services around and I seem to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning every shift?  I have been promising myself to ride every day that I get off, but this is really hard to do with no sleep.

I felt bad about driving to work this morning when there is a perfectly good bike sitting at home

Had a nice 20 mile ride today.  Had two goals.  One was to constantly pedal.  I have a bad habit of coasting, mainly because I power to hard and then have to rest.  The second goal was to scout a good route out of Kingwood to Huffman.  Huffman has lots of roads that are great for riding road bikes and I need a route to get there from my house.  This route worked out pretty well.  Mostly streets with little traffic and a few trails that are road bike friendly.

I realized today that my clips are mounted way to far forward on my shoes.  When I adjusted them last, I had my cranks parallel to the ground and tried to feel where the ball of my foot was and I ended up adjusting them all the way forward.  After about 10 miles today, I can tell that I am pushing with my toes.  I will try to stand in the shoe on the pedal next time with the cranks perpindicular to the ground and that should give me more accurate placement. 

My ride took me across the Lake Houston McKay bridge.  This is a picture just coming on to the bridge where I stopped to check my text messages.

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My feet

Last night, I went for a walk with Shaina while she did her long run and by the end, I was limping pretty bad and told her and the kids to just leave me while I walked slowly home in the dark. 

History
About two years ago, I saw a podiatrist for some pain and he told me that I had plantar faciitis.  He gave me some meds, stretches, and recommended to use some over the counter orthodics with the understanding that if that didn't work, I would need to be fitted.

About a month ago, I don't remember causing the injury but I ended up not being able to walk for about three days.  I saw a different podiatrist and he just gave me meds and said that it would be better.

The Plan

So, now I am going to see what my insurance will cover and go get fitted after seeing the first podiatrist again.  I liked his educational bedside manner and stretching instructions.

Return home after work

So as usual, I didn't try to go to bed till about 2 am and then we had to go on a run. Didn't get to sleep til 4. Set my alarm for 6:30 and slept right through it. Didn't get up till 7:40 and was really tired. Finally got on the road and headed home. Left my back pack so I could really enjoy the ride and I will go back and get it later. Little hot, but nice ride with little traffic.

Ride to work today

This ia my first post on my new blog. I want to use this to help motivate myself in my newest endevours and maybe to help motivate someone else.

So, many years ago, my brother loaned me his Giant road bike and I rode in a couple of races and really loved it. Even though I love the outdoors, I have never been a really healthy runner type. I am over weight and I like to eat. However, I have decided to use my love of road bikes to help me get my weight under control. Shaina, my love, and I bought ourselves some road bikes and I plan on training to ride in next years MS 150. My goal is to complete it and lose some weight on the way. So there is a lot more to say that I will add here later and I want you to come back and watch my improvements.

Here is my ride to work today. It is only 10 miles, but I figure the more I ride to work, the more comfortable I will become riding on the roads and will help with my minimum of 7 hours a week of riding that I am planning.