carotidbattery.great

Idling...

2008-11-12T00:29:47-08:00:00

Do you ever stop and listen to your mind when you're not engaged in active thought? Try it sometime...when you're in the car, sitting at your desk, etc. I'll catch my mind wandering in strange worlds, thinking inconsequential things, rambling to itself...really weird stuff. Try it sometime and let me know if I'm alone in this. The mind is such a powerful thing...where could it go and what could it do if it were being actively guided in these periodic "downtimes"? I don't want my brain to be on idle...I want a disciplined mind that takes thoughts captive...making them submit! Where does your mind wander?

Fuelly.com

2008-11-04T20:55:39-08:00:00

I’m fascinated by technology and, specifically, mobile technology. Fuelly.com is a cool combination of many of my interests, including mobile tech. It lets you track your fuel economy by uploading your fueling data, either on the website or on your web-enabled phone. Here are the two vehicles that I drive. (Oh, and it let me import all of my historical data, including everything from the motorcycle trip, that I had already been recording using a program on my phone…)

Be a Bit Bigger

2008-10-29T23:21:27-07:00:00

Something that’s rattled around in my brain over the last several years is my (our) propensity to cling to things that will make us feel a bit bigger. This election has yet again brought this concept to the forefront of my thinking. It’s certainly not something unique to politics, elections, the economy, social issues, etc…it finds its way into sports, TV, movies, music, religion, geography, nationality, vocation…and on and on. If I tell you that my name is Brian and leave it at that you may think, “Myeh…there’s probably at least 13 or 14 other Brians out there…this one isn’t all that impressive”…or at least my fear is that’s what you’ll think. It’s a fear we all have, regardless of whether or not you are named Brian. But if I tell you that my name is Brian and I’m an American, Canadian, Republican, Democrat, Christian, Hindu, Weezer Fan, Days of our Lives watcher, technology freak, musician, veteran, hippy, kung fu master, bi-linguist, professional, social servant…I start to build up clout, in my own eyes and hopefully in yours, too. I think that’s why we get as fanatical as we do come election time. “I’m a supporter of _____ candidate. I will vote yes, no, yes, yes, no on propositions __, __, __, __, __, respectively.” I’ve suddenly given myself greater worth, importance and value because I’ve tacked some descriptors on to the end of my name. If my candidate wins, so have I. Now, I’m not saying that all political beliefs are born out of this thought process…far from it. All of these areas of belief are important and need to be explored, furthered, voted on, ratified, enacted, followed and believed in…but are they really what I want to define me? Do I want you to know me as Brian or as a collection of things, beliefs and codes that Brian has signed allegiance to…to support and defend till the bitter end, and even further. I see the division it causes in my own heart and I don’t like it. I don’t want to make judgments based upon what you eat or which baseball team you root for. Is it possible to express our hearts apart from aligning ourselves to movements, beliefs and groups? I have no general answer to this question, but I do know that I need to think long and hard when it comes to what I put in the blank following “Hi, I’m Brian the _____”. (Maybe I’ll start with “plumber”….that has a nice ring to it.)

Back in Black

2008-10-13T22:13:48-07:00:00

Gadzooks! It’s been over a year since my last real post. I never intended such a sabbatical from the bloggery but a sabbatical was taken nonetheless. I have had to be quite strategic with my time and writing these little sweet nothings was quickly placed upon the back burner as I began to learn the intricacies of married life, remodeling a house, remodeling a house while learning the intricacies of married life (two things that should never be mixed), starting a business while working full time, and the oddities of trying to live as close to normally while dealing with poor health.

Diving back into the blog, my intention is to find an outlet for my thoughts. I have many interests (from technology to woodworking to motorcycling to life in a modern world) and I enjoy cataloging these things as they flit around in my brain. Interspersed will be thoughts on life in general, and my life in specific. Ok, so here goes…

Mobile Blog Test

2008-07-02T00:57:00-07:00:00

Is there a better way to test my mobile blogging capabilities than posting this picture? I think not...

Another Year, Another Trip

2007-07-10T09:59:00-07:00:00

A year ago today I was camping in Coldfoot, AK, getting ready for the final push to the Arctic Ocean and balmy 31° temperatures. Today I drove through the beautiful Mojave Desert...all 111° of it. I've got two extra wheels and an extra passenger this time, though, which makes all the difference...especially when the extra passenger is my beautiful new wife.

I took some time off of work so we've hit the road for a week of camping and backpacking...a week that will most likely hurt us, but hopefully in a good way. Neither of us are in the best shape of our lives (which should translate as: I won't comment for her, but I think I'm in the worst shape of my life), and it's pretty stinking hot out here. The car said 111 and the big thermometer in Baker, CA, said 113 as we drove through at 6:10pm. How do people live in places like this? I've never been able to figure that out? I thought the same thing when I was in the Arabian Gulf, too. Craziness. It was still in the 100's as we were driving at 9pm...

Today was a long one. We drove from Santa Rosa, CA, to Hurricane, UT...about 750 miles. We made really good time, though...except for the hour we lost in time zone changes. Nothing too exciting from today, so I'll keep this short. The rest of the week should be a ton of fun, though...hiking at Zion National Park tomorrow, Bryce Canyon National Park the following day, Grand Staircase the day after that, and the Grand Canyon to round things off. I'm going to try to record the GPS of our hikes and will hopefully post that along with some pictures and videos from the days' adventures. But it's time for bed now...seeya when I seeya.

(One humorous P.S. to relay...when I was on the motorcycle trip I would post something on my blog and then talk to my (then) girlfriend shortly thereafter to see what she thought. She would give me her general impressions and correct any mistakes, grammar or otherwise. It's a lot easier to have my editor right here along with me...the corrections are more real-time.)

One Month to Go and No Camera

2007-03-23T11:44:00-07:00:00

So I asked her to marry me on November 30th...it's now 12:22am on March 23rd and I'm finally getting around to writing something new. My friend, JP, gave me some ~~scathing criticism~~ encouragement when he saw the lull in my interweb presence and that was just what I needed for inspiration. I'm falling asleep as I begin this post so I know full well it won't be a long one. Just wanted to write a quick update on the life of Brian.

I remember hearing other guys talk about how busy their lives were in the time leading up to their wedding and thinking, "Come on...it can't be that bad. Seriously, you're a guy...it's not like you have to pick out the sheets and towels, right?" Now four months into engaged life, I realize how right and wrong I was. No, I'm not picking out sheets and towels...but I'm present when all of those decisions are made. Don't get me wrong, I give my input when it's requested/needed, and I'm not complaining about the process, I'm mostly just poking fun at myself for my past miscalculations.

Actually, I think things have gone pretty well for trying to squeeze what I'm convinced should be three and a half years of wedding planning into the last four months. On a scale of 1 to "Splendid", my fiancee comes in at a cool "Ridiculously Incredible"...I'd say she's a keeper. (Now let's just hope she's saying the same thing about me...) We've taken care of most of the major stuff and are now finalizing, ordering, planning, paying and calling the final touches of this wedding into existence. Should be a lot of fun...

Ok, I'm going to go to bed. Oh, quickly, the reason for the post's title... I went up to Julian, CA, this last weekend and left my camera up there. That's what I think, anyways, since it wasn't with me when I got back. That camera had been all around the world with me...I'm sad to see it go. I went ahead and ordered its updated descendant earlier tonight, but in deference to my misplaced photographic companion I shall leave this post photoless. Goodnight.

Hooray for Fiancees!

2006-12-02T11:29:00-08:00:00

I'm Engaged!

I asked...she said yes...I'm a happy, happy man! The question was popped yesterday at the Grand Canyon at sunset and what an incredibly memorable moment it was. Three pictures below...first is of me asking, on my knee. Second is of the ring going on. Third is of us right afterwards. More pictures to come but I wanted to let everyone know. Yeehaw!!!

Concrete Leaf

2006-11-25T08:04:00-08:00:00

29

2006-11-20T04:25:00-08:00:00

This is the card my niece gave me for my 29th birthday. She wanted to be sure I knew that they were moths, not butterflies.