Catching My Breath

I feel awful for having neglected this blog for so long. That said, I've had pretty good reason. Here are a few of the things that have taken priority over blogging.

1) I moved across the country and started a new job. The trip itself was disruptive enough, but then there's getting the new digs set up, and running errands, and... Yeah. That was the first thing.

2) Since I arrived at my new base of operations in June, Lady Jaye has visited twice, for a grand total of nearly three weeks. While I got a few posts typed up during those visits, overall blogging time was pretty limited.

3) In addition to Lady Jaye's visits, I flew back West for two different Lady Jaye-related events on the West Coast - a total of about nine days when you combine travel days and time on the ground. I wasn't really in a position to write much of anything during those two blocks.

4) Given that I only have a few hours of leave on the books, those two trips back West required me to work some ridiculous hours at work - as in, ten-and-a-half hour days at a forty-hour-a-week desk job. I may get to the point where I can prep blog posts from work, but I'm not there yet.

5) In addition to the aforementioned items, I'm lucky enough to have moved to an area where I already have a pre-existing friend base. One of my best friends from college lives about an hour drive away, one of the guys I worked with back in 2007 was in the area for about six weeks, and I've had a couple of other friends who either live in the area or were in town on business. So, unlike my early months in Hampton Roads when I knew basically no one, or pretty much the entire time I lived in California, my immediate post-arrival social schedule has been much busier than I would have originally predicted.

The good news is that I've been in a position to collect news articles and have some cool adventures, and a lot of it's been documented in one way or another. I'm not due to fly back West for a little while, nor is Lady Jaye due to fly our here for a while, so both those constraints and the related ridiculous work schedule will calm down for awhile. This should give me an opportunity to catch up on some of the items I've been wanting to post. so, if you're an occasional reader and you've been disappointed with the sporadic content, stick with me and I'll get to posting what will hopefully be some thought-provoking stuff in short order.

Having Been Otherwise Occupied...

I've barely posted to this blog since moving. That's not by design; rather, it's because I've been insanely busy. I've only been in my new digs for a few weeks at this point, and I've had all sorts of things to get sorted out.

Lady Jaye spent about a week and a half out here, so I obviously prioritized her over blogging. Shortly thereafter, I started putting in some pretty major hours at work in order to take a couple of days off to fly back home, and I'll be doing that for the next few weeks as well for the same reason.

I've tried, with limited success, to work on my two current research interests: writing the history of the Orcadian Gordon Highlanders of the First World War, and continuing my research on the Dhofar Rebellion. That has included futher efforts to explore the Hornbeam Line; I've also located a handful of additional Dhofar-related locations, to include six (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) sites that appear to be associated with the Damavand Line, a later fortification that was manned by the Imperial Iranian Task Force. So, that's chewed up some time.

And really, the biggest thing that's taken up my time has been work, and like I said, the hours have been abnormal because of some of the commitments I've had. They've been worth it, but I do expect for things to settle down a bit by the end of this month, at which point I should be back to posting two or three times per week.

The Road Trip: By the Numbers

Alright, I've arrived at my destination. Although I'm still in the process of getting everything sorted out, I wanted to drop in for a moment.

Owing to some car trouble, it was a real white knuckler of a drive. It took me about four full days of driving (for a total of five days of travel - I made a couple of social calls) across more than 3200 miles of roads in thirteen states. I fueled my vehicle fourteen times, paid a total of $558.33 for a total of 153.709 gallons of fuel during the course of the trip. The average price was $3.65 per gallon, with the cheapest being in St. Joseph, Missouri ($3.299 per gallon) and the most expensive in my hometown ($3.919 per gallon). I averaged 20.8 miles to the gallon. The highest elevation I reached was 8571 feet, right here, east of Laramie, Wyoming. The furthest north I got was right here, outside Hermiston, Oregon, while the furthest south I got was right here, in St. Louis, Missouri.

So, like I said, I'm still getting everything sorted out. In about a week, I should have things pretty well put together, which should allow me to get back into some sort of routine, which should help me to blog more consistently. Check back soon.

This is a Test

Update

Well, I've finally landed a position, so I'm in the process of relocating - hence the scarcity of posts over the last couple of weeks. I may have a chance to post a few items relating to the move as it's taking place, but I'll be mostly incommunicado for the next couple of weeks as I move and get settled. Stay tuned.

Activities and Goals for Wherever's Next

A few posts ago, I talked about my Hampton Roads To-Do List. Beyond the things that were specifically related to Hampton Roads itself, I developed a list of some other stuff I wanted to do that didn't have anything to do with Hampton Roads. Of course, one item that I identified was to go to Aberdeen and get my master's degree, so that's already off the list. Anyway, I'll be developing a list once I found out where it is that I'm headed, but I've also been revisiting some of the other non-Hampton Roads prospects I looked at.

I took an anatomy and physiology course in high school, and didn't really work very hard at it. My friend Sister Hippy Chick took it in college, and I've thought since then that it would be a cool course to take, but I never had the time or need in my academic program to take it. So, I might look into taking it at a local college if it's available. I also once considered an Master of Arts in Military History from Norwich University, and I might investigate that possibility again if I find myself flush with cash and with a great deal of free time on my hands.

I've talked about my Arabic language study before. When I was in Virginia, I think that Old Dominion University offered an Arabic language course, but it didn't fit with my schedule or budget. One might think I could have more luck wherever it is that I go. At the very least, though, I want to continue using the resources I have to study independently and take a proficiency test.

I enjoyed the astronomy courses I took in college, and it might be nice to take an entry level astronomy course just for fun.
BR> I wanted to go get a bunch of climbing certifications from the Virginia Beach Rock Gym, so I'd like to look for a similar facility. (It's also a good prospect for physical fitness.) I've also wanted to take and complete an Accelerated Freefall skydiving certification course since at least 2010. Part of what's held me back is that there's a weight limit - not that I'm extremely fat or anything, but I've got a genetically-engineered belly and I also happen to be fairly tall, so I need to drop some weight before I can learn how to jump out of perfectly good airplanes. Last year, I took a close protection course. I'd wanted to take similar courses from Academi (née Xe (née Blackwater) when I was living in Virginia, because it was right across the border outside Moyock, North Carolina. At this point, the course I'm most interested in taking is their AR-15/M-16 carbine armorer course. They occasionally offer their courses in other locations besides Moyock, so regardless of where I go, I'll keep my eye out for a good opportunity to take the course.

I'm always looking for opportunities to practice my land navigation skills, often by going geocaching. Hopefully, wherever I wind up next will give me some opportunities to do both that don't involve less danger than my adventure on Unst.

My pictures of it got corrupted, but I accidentally germinated garlic in Virginia, and I've thought it might be neat to try it again, plant it, and see if I could grow my own garlic in a planter or a pot or something. This might be easier in some places than in others.

And, as I mentioned earlier, I wanted to try my hand at assembling both shortwave (1, 2) and AM (1, 2, 3) radio kits. That can be done just about anywhere, and it's a fairly cheap weekend project, so this might be one of my early activities. Buuuuuut, all of that is up in the air at the moment. We'll see what happens. I'm developing plans that I can execute regardless of where it is that I'm actually headed, so it's just a matter of finding the right opportunity and then following through on it. So, as I'm fond of saying, more to come.

Culinary Adventures: Making Paneer

It's no secret that while I was in Scotland, I ate a lot of Nepalese food. One of my favorite foods was motor/matar paneer from the Gurkha Kitchen. Since Nepalese cuisine isn't widely available in the United States, I decided to look into preparing it myself. It turns out that one of the ingredients, paneer, is actually pretty easy to make. Paneer is a sort of Indian/Nepalese cottage cheese, and it's the base for many dishes. So, I did what any good denizen of the Internet would do: I looked up the recipe, and then found a video on YouTube.


So, I decided to try to make it. The first recipe I saw called for either lemon or lime juice, so I went with lime juice. With a quarter cup of lime juice and a half gallon of what I think was whole milk. The entire process took about an hour, half of which was just letting the paneer cool down. I also used only half of my cheese cloth, so I can make some more. Truth be told, the stuff doesn't taste fantastic, but I don't think it's supposed to since it's meant to be used as an element in other recipes. I haven't looked for a motor paneer recipe yet, and if it's too involved, I may just shortcut the whole process with a jar of marinara sauce and a can of peas.

So... Achievement unlocked: make paneer.