sidewayshalo.com

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything on this blog. I’ve had a lot on my plate and not all of it was really necessary.

As the the sub-title of the blog indicates, I tend to enjoy multiple and various hobbies and interests. Unfortunately, I also have a relatively short attention span. I sometimes refer to myself as an intellectual hummingbird but that’s just my nice (to myself) way of saying that I’m a bit scattered.

I’ve read that all that’s required to master a particular skill is about 10,000 hours of good practice. At this rate, I’ll master all of my interests at once about 3,245 years from now.

All of this rambling rant is leading up to a recent decision I’ve made: I need to narrow my focus and pick a few things to really work on.

Here’s my short list (and, yes, this is shorter than my full list of topics that I’ve spent some amount of effort learning, studying, or dabbling in over the past several years):

• Focus on learning one foreign language (Esperanto, Chinese, Gaelic, or Spanish) – Honestly, I’m still tempted to try to do two (Esperanto and Chinese) and then move on to another in a few years.
• Hypnosis – I’d like to do this for a living at some point but, I have an issue finding people to practice with outside my family. I tend to practice/study for a while and then get distracted by another interest and stop working on hypnosis for several months.
• CCIE (Cisco Certified Internet Expert) – I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but the amount of time required is daunting. This goal could quickly eat up all the spare time I have just by itself. However, I think I might need at least one or two other things to distract myself with in order to maintain my sanity.

Items that are still on my “someday” list:

• Python
• Ruby
• Commercial Helicopter License (This one is more a $$ and time issue – although it’s on my “someday” list I consider it a target of opportunity. I need 5 hours or so to make it happen but it’s been a while since I’ve worked on emergency procedures and realistically it will take a few hours more for me to feel proficient enough to take the practical test).
• Many others that I won’t even mention – Seriously, it’s a long list

This is all a work in progress and, by no means set in stone. However, writing down your goals is a start (even potential goals I suppose).

The end-game for me is to find my second career and satisfy my need for continual learning. I wonder if there are any Esperanto Hypnotists that moonlight as networking consultants in China. . .

Kelly

I’ve been busy with work and flying (got 3.1 hours in last weekend ferrying an R-44 to some county fairs so the operator could give rides). Renewed my SFAR for the R-44 and will be doing the same for the R-22 tomorrow (10/2). This will be the last time I need to renew the SFAR endorsement because after another month or two, I’ll have over 200 hours (the majority of which is in helicopters).

I’m still on track to try for my commercial rotorcraft rating at the end of October, but I do need to crack down on studying a bit more.

Most of last week, I was suffering from a cough and failing voice that turned out to be bronchitis. However, a Z-pack later and I’m good to go again.

Today, I’ll be taking my daughters to the SAS Championship here in Raleigh. We’ve gone before and they thoroughly enjoyed it. The price is right ($20 for adult single day and kids under 17 get in free) so, it should be a relatively inexpensive day out for us – of course, I always think that and somehow always end up being wrong.

I’ll get back on either a flying or programming topic for my next post (I have some current thoughts about both that I’ve been chasing around my head the past few days) but today it’s a beautiful autumn day and perfect for spending time away from the computer and with the family.

I hope everyone else gets a chance to do the same.

Kelly

The heat and other priorities have kept me off the road for a few months but, I decided to jump back into the groove today. I did a leisurely 3 miler in my Invisible Shoes (the original pair that I cut and assembled myself, not the new pair which is in transit).

I’ll admit, I was a bit gassed at the end of the run. It’s been too long and I haven’t put on weight (in fact, just the opposite) but my cardio fitness has definitely declined in the few months off.

The shoes held up great. They were better than running in Vibrams in my opinion. No sweaty feet after the first mile, no blisters, and I was able to shuck them off during the run for a little stretch of completely barefoot running (something that’s not as easy or quick in the Vibrams).

I ran about .5 miles barefoot. It was hot blacktop (about 1:30pm) and I didn’t want to scorch my feet after not having run for so long barefoot. I did the full 3 miles in just under 40 mins. It’s not going to break any records but it was a nice run after such a long time of not doing any running at all. My feet feel great with no soreness at all. My calves are a bit worked but that’s a good thing in minimal running (means my form is not completely hosed up). A few weeks of this and I’ll be ready to actually run in a race or two.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get at least one 5k in this year and maybe a 10k or even a half marathon. I need to start looking for local races to enter (there are a couple down in Virginia Beach that might be nice) and there’s one in Melbourne, FL in December that I might be able to talk my better half into traveling for (we both really love Melbourne).

No pics or media goodies this time. I’ll take some pics of the old and new shoes once I get the new ones in so you can marvel at my ineptness with scissors (old shoes) and the snazzy new style (new shoes).

Until then. . .

Kelly

About a year ago, I ordered a pair of invisible shoes.

If you have a funny look on your face after reading that, I don’t blame you. It does sound a bit funny. However, it makes sense if you know that invisible shoes – http://www.invisibleshoe.com – are a minimal shoe that were created by Steven Sashen after getting turned on to barefoot running by Michael Sandler of Run Bare – http://www.runbare.com .

I’m a big fan of minimalist shoes. By that I mean, no support, no toe spring, no motion control, and minimal interference with how my foot naturally moves.

Essentially, some people may need some sort of artificial assistance, but the vast majority of people’s feet work just fine as they are. We evolved to walk, run, and play on our feet. Not on our feet only if they are aided by high-tech shoes. In short, we weren’t born broken.

There are several recent studies that investigate whether or not shoes are actually beneficial or harmful to our feet and the results may be surprising to some. So far, there is no solid evidence that running shoes help prevent running injuries. In fact, there are some studies that seem to correlate severity of injuries with the cost of the shoes (keep in mind the old saw that correlation != causation).

Anyway, I’m getting off track here. I would suggest that anyone who is interested in finding out more read Born to Run by Chris McDougall – an excellent story and informative – and Barefoot Running by Michael Sandler – a very good “how-to” start running barefoot. Then start searching for studies online. Daniel Lieberman (a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard) is a good name to search on as well.

Invisible Shoes are essentially a thin Vibram sole with a pair of nylon/polypropylene laces and the instructions on how to cut to fit and various method of tying the laces. They are inexpensive and, if you submit your measurements, you can even have a pair made for you for a very reasonable price.

I didn’t link to the prices here since I don’t want this post to be out-dated if there is a change. If you’re interested, go to the link above and check out the various kits. Also, I DO NOT get any kind of compensation for posting this. I just like them and wanted to share the info in case someone who reads my blog is interested.

The only additional information I’ll add is that I’ve been wearing Vibram Fivefingers on a daily basis as my normal shoe and running barefoot for a couple of years now and, in general, my foot health has significantly improved since switching to minimalist shoes. I intend to start lengthening my runs with my Invisible Shoes once I get my new pair. Also, and this isn’t a minor factor for me, as a runner with a spinal fusion in my low back, minimal and barefoot running has made the sport of distance running accessible to me again. That’s priceless in my book.

Feel free to ask me questions if you have any and please check out the links and books I referenced if you are interested in finding out more.

Gxis!
Kelly

It’s been a busy few weeks for me and that means I have been woefully negligent in keeping the blog updated.

I’ve had several time sensitive issues at work to deal with (that damn day job!) and also have been juggling multiple side projects – but then when am I not?.

However, the highlight of the past few weeks happened yesterday when I got to go along for a photo flight – as the photographer! Now, I’m not a photographer in any sense of the word other than the most general. By that I mean, I have a camera that I sometimes use.

However, I do occasionally take good photos and I suppose that my buddy, having seen some in the past, assumed “What the hell!” and asked me to take some shots of downtown Raleigh for a slideshow they’re going to be running in a booth over Labor Day.

Long story short, I went. I took pics. Some suck and some don’t.

Here is one that doesn’t:

Photo of the Raleigh Convention Center

In addition to getting to go along for the ride, I also got a little bit of R-44 stick time in on the return trip. It’s been a little bit since I’ve done any flying and a bit longer since I’ve flown the 44. However, it was a very smooth day and the R-44 is always a smooth ride (actually, I prefer the R-22 because of the extra “feedback” in the cyclic but, I am a bit weird).

The entire trip was about an hour and was very enjoyable. We got some great pics and a few videos that I now have to assemble into something resembling a professional package so the school looks decent when it’s running on loop at the booth they’ll have open at the mall over Labor Day.

So, I took an already overloaded schedule and packed just a little bit more extra fun into it.

I’ll leave you with one more pic (of the 130+ pictures and videos I took during the flight). It’s one that I particularly like since it’s got a glimpse of my favorite flying shoes in it (Vibram Five Fingers). If you haven’t flown in Vibrams, you don’t know what you’re missing. Helicopter pedals (at least in the R-22  and R-44) require your active attention during hover and near-ground maneuvers. Vibrams are perfect for this. You get great feedback and, if you’ve got large-ish feet like me, you’re less prone to getting your foot stuck (not fun having to gently pop your foot out of the pedal while hovering in windy conditions).

Pilots wear funny shoes. . .

Sorry for the posting drought. I’ll definitely try to do better.

Kelly

This will be a short initial post.

I’m going to be updating this blog with whatever is on my mind at the moment I’m writing. This can change pretty rapidly as you’ll likely see after the first few posts.

In short, I like to:

• Run Barefoot (3 miles is my longest BF run to date – I want to do a 5k this year sans shoes)
• Fly helicopters
• Learn languages (Irish and Esperanto are my current projects)
• Learn about Hypnosis (Yes! I’m certified)
• Mind Map (I own more visual knowledge management tools than I know what to do with).
• Play golf  (though I usually play poorly)
• Study Programming languages (Ruby, Python, C, Java, Perl have all been languages I’ve dabbled in).
• And whatever else catches my eye at the moment

It’s a grab bag and I hope it will at least be interesting to anyone reading. Odds are, I’ll write about something that you’ll be interested in at some point.

Until the next time. . .

Gxis
Kelly