those ferrets were on to something …

Posted on April 27, 2006 by Marty

A few years ago, my genius friend Les started talking about this thing called wiki.  It seemed cool, but really, made no sense to me.  Once, I tried to use a program called WikiPad – thinking it would somehow help me organize notes, etc… But it was way too much for me to figure out at the time.  Again, it just made no sense to me.  So, I uninstalled it and put it out of my mind.

Well, wiki’s have grown in popularity lately – what with wikipedia and all.  And, recently, Nick and I created our own web-based wiki to help organize our lives.  Setting up that wiki gave me the opportunity to really learn and understand what wiki’s are, and how they work.  Really – its damn slick.  Light, easy, and functional.  The entire wiki concept is based on organization and quick access to information.

So, the other day, I was opening MS Word to start gathering and documenting information from my email into a single place when it dawned on me that there’s probably a better tool than MS freakin Word for such a task.  After some brain wracking, I remembered the name of the program I was looking for.. found, downloaded and installed WikiPad and have been rocking and rolling ever since.

Now that I understand wiki, its much easier to use wiki.  And really, it freakin RAWKS.

Posted in geek hippy | 3 Comments

bike vs noggin

Posted on April 25, 2006 by Marty

“You didn’t race Yankee? Now I’ll definately need a blog entry about that.” – fellow female mountain biker turned full-time rv traveller.

I realized that last summer, instead of getting faster, I got slower. I had high expectations of myself and consequently made myself absolutely nuts trying to be faster for races. Before a race, I’d work myself into a complete tizzy thinking about the race. Then, I’d ride like a dipshit and finish badly. This would lead to frustration, depression and I’d mentally berate myself for days, if not weeks. In an attempt to get faster, I’d go to a trail, ride as hard as I could for as long as I could – which was usually about 3 minutes, then I’d get frustrated, cry and berate myself further.

There was alot of crying last summer. Alot of screaming on the trail, swearing, stopping and crying. Last summer, for me as a mountain biker, was awful.

The harder I tried to make myself faster, the slower I got. Although my technical skills stayed on par, my biking skills were destroyed. My pedal stroke turned to shit as I mashed on the pedals in an attempt to go faster. Since my pedal stroke became so inefficient, I couldn’t push as hard on hills and stopped much more often than I had the year before.

I watched my entire wasted summer ride away from me on the luge climb during the Ore to Shore in August. My one goal – keep up with Claudia – defeated within the first few miles. I stopped climbing the luge within a couple feet of its start. Claudia kept on going and I never saw her again. I was so far behind her that, even after her multi-mile detour off course, I still didn’t catch up.

All summer I searched for the answer to my problem. The real problem tho, was not understanding what the problem actually was. Its only started become clear to me in the past few weeks … Continue reading →

Posted in biking hippy | 5 Comments

I can't stop grinnin

Posted on April 15, 2006 by Marty

Its gotta be 75 degrees today .. Not a cloud in the sky. And I flicked the rear shock all the way to full boinger.

I apparently obsess about Yankee Springs. I’m pretty sure that I think about Yankee Springs alot. I mean, ALOT. I knew every inch of that trail today. I always knew exactly where I was in the trail and knew exactly what trail I had left still to ride, and I don’t even have a computer on this bike yet. This trail, Yankee Springs, is my nemesis.

(note to self: research fightmanaquism.org)) Continue reading →

Posted in biking hippy | 2 Comments

dread

Posted on April 14, 2006 by Marty

“Who knows,” he said “I might grow it long again some day”. After years of long, pony-tail length hair, Nick now cuts his hair with clippers – no guard. “Yeah,” I respond “but then you’ll dreadlock it, right?”

“Well maybe.”

We got quiet for awhile. I wanted to tell him that if he were to grow his hair longer and dreadlock it, that I’d recommend he wait until we’re out of the corporate world. Dreadlocks in the corporate world are a constant conflict between the carefree, low-maintenance idea of dreadlocks and the ever-present need to make them look neat and tidy for the office environment – and the work that comes with it.

But I didn’t tell him this. Corporate hippy has become my persona. Dreadlocks and facial piercings are my ‘fuck you’ to corporate society. The look I carry requires confidence.

But lately, I feel like I’m loosing that confidence. Some days, I look at myself in the mirror and think, “god, you look like a lazy slob” or “these just look ridiculous”. I’ve been thinking, if I didn’t have to go to an office, if I didn’t have to wear kakhi pants and unwrinkled shirts to present the right appearance every day, I could let my dreads go, and not worry about how they look. They could be that low-maintenance hair that I’ve been longing for. But instead, I have the most high-maintenance hair style I’ve ever had ..

Some days, I just want to cut them off. Once or twice, I’ve seriously considered it.

But I need to remind myself, that being a hippy is not just about simplicity and being minimalistic. Hippys also stand up for what they believe in. And what I believe in is this: It doesn’t matter what I look like or what clothes I wear. Extra metal in my face and frizzy hair does not have any affect on my ability to do my job. Traditionally, hippys are against big-business and ‘working for the man’ .. But its been 40 years since traditional hippys fought their fight. My hippy movement empowers me to ‘work for the man’ without becoming the man. And to me, that is what’s most important.

Posted in corporate hippy, Like, groove on this, man | 1 Comment

a new adventure

Posted on April 10, 2006 by Marty

I’ve been knitting for about a year and a half. So far, I’ve knitted scarves, hats, mittens, and a shawl. A couple of iPod cozy’s some washcloths and other simple things have also passed my needles. I’d tackled the mittens this fall and mastered them this winter. When I finished the pair of mittens for my sister (they were supposed to be the final piece of her christmas present, but I didn’t have time to finsh them until well after christmas), I decided it was time to learn how to make socks.

Nick has been watching me fight with this sock for a few weeks. Last night, he said that socks seem like too much work for what you get. I’ll admit, it has taken quite a bit of time and brainpower to kint this sock, especially as I’ve been working on turning the heel for the past few days. I’m not so good at figuring things out from reading a pattern, so I’ve had to look and compare many different patterns, written from many different people to understand the sock process. Its always easier to just get started and figure it out as I go. Mostly, I’ve enjoied the sock, but I’m pretty sure this first one isn’t going to be wearable.  I think when I finish this one, I’ll try a sock using woolease .. the heavier yarn might make it a little easier.

I’m hoping to get this sock thing down .. I think its an easy way to knock out christmas presents all year long. Socks are easy projects to have on the go – they’re small and well contained and easy to work on when you don’t have much elbow room. Those are the projects that are really good for me.

Maybe later I’ll post up a pic of my sock project. I’ve just finished turning the heel and am simply finishing the foot now.

Posted in knitting hippy | 1 Comment

catching up

Posted on April 10, 2006 by Marty

I think I’m starting to recover from all of the crazy work stuff that’s been going on lately. We had another rough change control last week that kept me at work until almost 11pm. But the weekend was pretty mello and I’m starting to get myself back to reality.

I rode my first singletrack of the season on Saturday. Nick and I spent the day at the shop, hanging out with Mike and John and after closing we all headed to ILRA. I’ve finally got my titus dialed-in and it rides like a dream. I’ve been paying more attention when I ride and have been able to use my fork lock-out to help me on hills. WOW, does that make a difference! I certainly lack power on the hills, but I did really well on the flats – often going up to the Big ring and picking up the pace. The downhill and twisty stuff came right back, as if I’d been doing it all winter.

Sunday was a little different. Sherpa met Nick and I for some riding at Stony Creek. We did a normal lap (pines section, 3 hills, snake, roller coaster). Most times when I ride Stony, its with a group, and there’s almost always a stop after the pines, to re-group and chit-chat. As we were going through the Pines, I told Sherpa and Nick (who were riding behind me) that I wasn’t going to stop after the pines. So, when we hit the doubletrack, we kept going – I sent Mike and Nick ahead because it was all uphill for awhile, and I met them at the top of mount Sheldon. I struggled with the Snake, but I’m trying to work on consistency… trying to keep my cadence even and my heart rate steady… I made it to the top pretty quickly, but had to drop the bike and walk around a little to catch my breath when I got there. The roller coaster was tough, but the momentum on that trail is just fantastic! I don’t think I’ve ridden another trail that I can benefit from momentum as much as you can in the rollercoaster at Stony. The ‘back nine’ section was really fun and swoopy!

Sherpa said he was suprised when I suggested we do another run through the pines, up the snake and down the doubletrack back around to the gate and out. He said he was ready to be done when we finished the first lap around. But, we ventured on. We didn’t do the snake a second time, but we did the pines, 3 big hills and doubletrack around to the gate. I’d guess we rode ~13 miles …

Early dinner at the Mills, coffee at Barnes and Noble, cyclism on OLN, Soprano’s and Big Love finished off the evening. Pretty good weekend overall!

Posted in biking hippy | Leave a comment

just like springtime

Posted on April 6, 2006 by Marty

Your Lucky Underwear is Yellow


You’re an extremely happy, laid back, fun soul. And your lucky yellow underwear can help you get even more out of life.In life, you rather play than work. You’re apt to quit any task that doesn’t nourish your creativity and inner child.Sometimes your drive for freedom hinders your quality of life. You find it impossible to do anything unpleasant.

If you want to have responsibilities and still have fun, put on your yellow underpants. They’ll help you make a party out of the most mundane tasks.
Posted in life hippy | Leave a comment

hope for the future

Posted on April 3, 2006 by Marty

Even though I have two stepsons, its not real often that we find ourselves at school-type functions; spending the evening in a room full of adrenaline filled kids is just not my thing. So, when Jarek asked if we wanted to go to his Sterling Inn banquet, I wasn’t terribly thrilled about the idea. But, he seemed to be really excited, he called both Nick and me several times asking if we wanted to go. His mother wasn’t sure what the banquet was all about – just that it was a 6th grade banquet and that the kids were putting on some kind of ‘thing’ for us.

What the hell. Its been awhile since the last banquet, I’m sure we’ll live through this one too. So, we commited and tickets were purchased.

We were kind of dreading the ordeal tonight – figuring it’d be long boring speaches and whining kids all around. But it turned out to be a kinda fun event after all. For the past 9 years, The Sterling Inn has worked with the 6th grade classes at Havel elementary school in planning their banquet. The whole thing was planned and orchestrated by the kids. They all had jobs (that they actually had to submit resumes and interview for – interviewed by Sterling Inn staff); there was a General Manager, Head of Security, Beverage Manager, Pastry Chef’s, Controllers, Sales and Marketing staff and so on.

When we got there, we found Jarek at the registration table checking people in. Inside the banquet hall were a bunch of 6th grade kids in red tee shirts with white napkins in the belts, seating guests and bringing hors de vours out to tables. When Jarek finished at the check-in table, he became our server and waited on us all night.

It was really awesome to watch these kids be so strong and determined. I was very impressed with the whole event. So many times I see kids and wonder what the hell is going on in schools these days … but nights like tonight give me a little more hope for the future. The school and sterling inn staff found a way to get kids excited about dirty dishes and filling water glasses. Even if only for a night, these kids were treated like responsible human beings. Sometimes we forget what an 11 year old is capable of.

People often ask why I don’t want to have kids.  I’m not the maternal type, but I enjoy the hell outta watching my stepsons grow up.  I get all the fullfilment I need from those boys.  I was proud of the kid tonight; proud, and happy to be part of his life.

This world might turn out ok after all…

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blech

Posted on March 30, 2006 by Marty

I woke up this morning with that dauntingly scratchy feeling in the back of my throat.  You know the one that’s generally followed by 7 days of miserable cauging, snot and sneezing?

fuck

I’ve been completely engrossed at work for the past couple of weeks, planning an infrastructure move.  All of our security equipment in our Novi data center has to be moved from its current rack positions to one a different part of the data center.  This is actually a good thing because now, all of our equipment is scattered all over and mixed in with all of the WAN group’s equipment.  So, its like we’ll have our own home.  Problem is, our stuff is a mess that no one REALLY understands completely.  I’ve been tracing cables, documenting MAC addresses and creating spreadsheets in an attempt to bring control and clarity to the situation.  The other guys in my group are working on firewall isues related to an additional change that’s being tacked on to this approved ‘downtime’.  I’m not even going to try to predict how this change will go.  Hopefully my coworkers will remain calm, not panic, and have some fun.  Its not really a difficult task, especially since I’ve done all of the dirty work already, its just an intimidating one.
So, there’s a chance I’ll have to work late tonight (when the weather is supposed to be 62degrees and somewhat sunny), and probably have to come in, at least for awhile, tomorrow morning.  The change is tomorrow night 10pm – 3am ..

*sigh*

If the weather holds, and I’m not too fried, I really want to try to hit the first Beat the Train ride at 6am in downtown detroit on Saturday.  Who knows, I might just make it.

Posted in life hippy | 1 Comment

march must be a good month

Posted on March 29, 2006 by Marty

for posting ..

I’d just noticed that I’ve posted alot this month.  So, I was browsing past months, and most of them are 1 or 2 posts (one month, october maybe, had like 5) .. all the way back to LAST march when I posted 8 times … Heh .. Must be something about spring 🙂

Posted in life hippy | 1 Comment