Today was my first day in my new position with CAITS an acronym for Clinical Affairs Information Technology Services, as a Computer Support Technician.
It’s a new role in a location at the university that I’ve primarily stayed away from, Jordan Hall. In essence I am the IT guy for the Medical Sciences department of IU. This is where people become doctors.
Today was a large dose of information overload for me. I’m in a period of flux, as my accounts and permissions are being created. After a period of up to 2 weeks I will be on my own.
Right now, the person I am replacing is showing me the ropes of the department. Once he feels like I’m up to handling things on my own, he will move to his new position within the department, which is in Indianapolis.
Tomorrow I have my ETC course, then he will be showing me the other buildings to which we have labs and equipment in.
A few months ago, I purchased my second handgun. This is the first public mention of it. The model to be exact is a Taurus P111 G2, chambered in 9mm. It’s a great compact concealed carry weapon. I happen to be a firm believer in the 2nd amendment, but I do believe certain views of it are outdated and some change needs to happen.
I was raised with weapons all around me, and have always been a natural with whatever firearm I shoot. Whether it be a handgun, an AK-47 or a shotgun. I’m a good aim. With that much power, comes responsibility. I’m a responsible firearm owner, and hold human life higher than anything else and would only take a life in the defense of another. I wanted to join the military but a diagnosis of epilepsy at 16 prevented that from happening.
With the number of mass shootings in this country skyrocketing by the day, I sometimes don’t feel safe anywhere I go. I had a gun pulled on me in my early 20s by someone who can only be best described as a hoodlum. It scared me right to a gun shop. The fact that I work at a very large geographical location that bans weapons from being held by anyone but police? I don’t want to die at my job because someone didn’t like the support we gave them just like I don’t want to die while watching a movie.
As a part of the purchase of the firearm, I was given a free 1 year membership to the NRA (National Rifle Association). I took it, and accepted a subscription to one of their magazines, called “America’s 1st Freedom.” At first glance, I just received the 2nd one today this is a magazine filled with very right-wing values. Any views or stances against a militarized population who has access to full automatic weapons seems to be against their views.
I joined to get an insider’s perspective, and while I totally understand the whole left/right perspective to get a middle consensus, this is just unhealthy. They seem to be a breeding ground for the mental issues that seem to be the majority of reasons for the mass shootings I spoke of earlier. You would totally think than an organization such as the NRA would want a healthy talk of different viewpoints, and healthier individuals sending their message across the country. This is not the feeling I get from their literature.
Regardless your views, without weapons we would not have been able to overthrow the British. It’s only right that we have the same capabilities in proportion if actual government tyranny were to happen again.
My view is pretty simple and understandable. Wouldn’t criminals be very leery of committing crimes if they knew a majority of individuals were armed? It’s not about being loud and proud. It’s about being silent and at the ready, much like the minutemen of the 18th century. You only get one life, and I don’t want mine ending for reasons other than my body being finished.
I wanted to do something big for my 30th birthday. The original plan was skydiving, but I weigh too much. My fabulous wife found something almost as good, a guy in Madison Indiana flys people in his open cockpit bi-plane. With him you can just fly, do some aerobatics, and even take “the stick” and fly the plane.
Unfortunately with our hectic schedule, making this a reality became too much for us to handle and that idea was eventually scrapped.
Fortunately our airport often hosts airplanes that travel the country and offer flights. These are not just cessna’s, but historical airplanes. Last fall we checked out the WWII B17 bomber. While I would have loved to, we could not afford the flight as the $450 price was just too much.
It’s an amazing piece of avionic history. We actually climbed through the plane, which has very tight quarters. It was made even more difficult by to us carrying a 1 year old through it.
Last month a Ford Tri-Motor came, and this time the price was very reasonable.
This plane was one of the planes that started commercial aviation, just to have the opportunity blew me away. This was also the first time I had ever flown from my local airport.
Our flight path was simple and took less time than I had expected. We flew to the south side of Bloomington, near where old 37 and new 37 meet. We then turned north and headed to 2nd street where we flew between 2nd and 3rd street back to the airport.
Due to the proximity of my home to the airport, I got a picture of my neighborhood(if you look at the hi-res version you can see fires & tree damage from the tornado)! We see planes take off and come in for landings all the time, but I had never got to see the plane’s perspective before.
Planes today hold hundreds of passengers, this one only held 9. The cabin was tight, but I felt more comfortable in this plane than in our modern counterparts. I was sitting in the very back, a seat that was reserved for the “steward” was the only thing behind me.
I was busy while we were in the air. I had my camera and an iPhone; I was utilizing all of their capabilities. I even tweeted mid-flight!
I say this often, and I can’t reiterate it enough. Without the past, we have no future. I have to give thanks to the EAA AirVenture Museum for giving me this opportunity. I greatly appreciated it.
I’ll leave you with our landing. If you notice when we touch down, the wheel on my side doesn’t touch for a while!
We had planned a getaway for Memorial day that was a little quirky and not like us. Little did we know that a tornado would get in the way. Due to said tornado, I had closed myself emotionally. While you could say I had a “good time.” I don’t have any emotions to go along with the trip, something I typically have. My wife wrote a blog post from her point of view, I highly recommend reading to see the contrast in our points of view.
We left as soon as we could on the Friday after the tornado and drove about halfway to our destination, St. Joseph / Benton Harbor Michigan. We stayed the night in Lafayette, leaving early so we could arrive at our destination early.
As soon as we arrived, we learned about these two cities the hard way. There seems to be a strong sense of division. While St. Joseph is a nice, quaint resort community, Benton Harbor shows all of the “what used to be” looks. There are many homes that used to be mansions, but are now dilapidated; some even boarded up. It’s downtown area almost looks like a ghost town from the 1950’s. There is some new growth, but it still feels like a ghetto.
The first thing we did was check into our hotel. It was a pretty funky Courtyard by Marriott. We decided to find something to eat, explore, and just relax that evening. The views from St. Joseph are absolutely amazing. It’s a great little resort community. The whole time I was contemplating about what was happening back home and trying to calm my nerves by smoking copious amounts of tobacco.
Sunday was a mixed bag of not great weather conditions, so the beach was not an option. After having the best breakfast I’ve ever had at any hotel, we headed for St. Joseph. Our first stop was downtown. They have a charming area filled with high fashion shops, and typical small town businesses. They have animal statues on just about every corner, decorated in many different ways. Taylor loved the “Cash Cow,” a cow covered with REAL money. It was of course in front of a bank. My fave was “Vincent Van Goat,” which had a depiction of “Starry Night” on one side and “Irises” on the other.
We then went to the most interesting pizza place I’ve ever been to. Silver Beach Pizza is a pizza place located within an Amtrak train station. I had an ice cold beer and a very good barbecue chicken pizza. It was most excellent!
We then went to the Curious Kids museum. It was fun for both the girls. Taylor enjoyed encapsulating herself in a bubble. Amelia enjoyed the water table, and acting OCD with random items. They’ve ran out of space in the converted brick house they are located in, so with the price of admission you can also access their addition, which is located next to the indoor carousel. We then went there. They have stuff even the adults can appreciate. They have a climbing wall, water tables galore, space items. It was quite fascinating and good stuff. We then went and had fun with the carousel. We were a bit nervous, as Amelia had never been on one before. She was a trooper, and had a blast. It was good family fun for all!
Amelia’s nap time was approaching, so we headed back to the hotel. Which was perfect timing, as a severe storm approached. After going through the tornado, this was the first time a storm actually scared me.
That night, we played in the pool – all of us. This hotel has a very interesting pool, it has an indoor and outdoor section; you can swim to either section through an opening in a glass wall. We then found an arcade was in a mall not too far away and decided to check it out. What we discovered was a mall that was essentially dead. There were no anchor stores at all. While there were interior stores, there weren’t that many. We played for an hour or so and then went back to the hotel.
The next morning, we stopped at beautiful Silver Beach. The difference between an ocean’s beach and a large lake’s beach is pure calm. It’s an amazing place, with an amazing view. The girls had fun, I put Amelia’s feet in the cold water and she didn’t want to leave! The sand was so fine and plush that we decided to bring home a bucket full. We all have glass jars of it to help remember the experience.
As fun end to our short trip, we stopped at Fair Oak’s Farm in northern Indiana. It’s a large dairy farm that gives tours and offers many learning opportunities for children about where our dairy products come from. We took a bus tour, which takes you through some of their barns to see how the cows live and what they eat. Amelia sat with me, and I told her that these are cows, they go “moo.” She started repeating me, it was adorable. We then saw their carousel milker. It’s an amazing machine that lets them produce vast quantities of moo juice.
We then went to the birthing barn, and witnessed the births of two calves. While I had seen this many times as a child, Rachel and Taylor had not. I think it was a good experience for both of them.
Next we stopped by the kids area, where Taylor got to do something she hadn’t done in a while, jumping on trampolines while attached to bungee cords.
We then visited the store, where I sampled some cheese. We bought some souvenirs for the girls and they had some ice cream.
I had just started to heal from this life changing event, and our vacation was over. Coming home was almost like a nightmare coming true. While it was nice to get away, the mental extremes that it forced me to go through were almost too much to handle.
While on our short vacation, my mind refused me the opportunity to forget about what was going on at home. Instead it kept thinking about that phrase that was etched into my mind that night. I kept running scenarios in my head about my girls; I didn’t like to, but I had to.
I felt bad for everyone who had been affected by this storm, especially the less fortunate ones who lived in that trailer court, right next door to me. They had lost everything, and probably didn’t have insurance. There were many children living there, so many that the schools had 2 buses come for pickup and drop off. We would see them all waiting for the bus in the mornings on our way to work. I still see their faces, and imagine what they must have went through on that eventful night.
I received two phone calls that Saturday while we were in Michigan, our power had been restored! It had been out for around 3 and 1/2 days. We don’t know how many utility poles had to be replaced in total, but it was a large number.
Since I had Internet access, I was always keeping up on the news. Our township trustee had organized a volunteer day, to help with tree & debris cleanup. This made all of us happy, and was the first step in putting my heart and soul to ease. In the end there were a total of 3 volunteer days, but the news that an IU student had disappeared shifted the focus, and the volunteers.
We returned from Michigan on Memorial day, and reality set in. While I had no damage to my home, we had lost about 10 trees; including our beloved apple tree. Many of these trees formed a ‘natural’ fence along my property line. They provided large amounts of shade and oxygen, they were also wrapped in vines. Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m a “jack of all trades.” I have had experience in cutting trees since I was about 12, when I helped my then step-dad do just that for a living.
We had already lost our weeping willow tree and a maple tree due to wind and ice storms that occurred earlier in the year, we purchased a chain saw so I could clean them up; I was prepared. Little did I know how difficult the task would be when vines were involved. This was a task I couldn’t handle, this task needed a quantity of experience people.
We decided to get estimates from tree-trimming businesses. I called around 5 companies, only one showed up and gave me an estimate. It was more expensive than we wanted to pay, and under our homeowners insurance deductible. I wasn’t going to feel at ease until this was taken care of; I was literally stuck between a bunch of trees and a hard place.
I turned to our township trustee’s office. I called them and asked for assistance, but let them know that I should be placed on the bottom of their list. I let them know that it was simply downed trees that needed to be cleaned up, there was no damage to my home and that it shouldn’t be a priority. While we could have paid for the cleanup; it would have presented a financial burden that we might have not recovered from.
A few days go by and as I arrived home from class an Mennonite looking fellow was at my house. He said he was surveying what needed to be done; he was assembling a crew. The next day when I arrived home, the trees were almost cleaned up! It was a group of boys and a man. At the time I presumed they were Mennonite, since they used technology. It turns out I was wrong; it was the Worthington Amish Youth Group. I thanked each one of them personally, and asked if they needed anything at all. They requested some water, which I promptly fetched and then they went about their business.
With all the property damage and the trailer court in ruins, I was blown away that they decided to help ME. My whole family is in their debt and are working on a way to pay it forward and show them how much we appreciate what they’ve done for us.
After they finished cleaning up the trees, a larger group, including women went over to the trailer court and assisted cleanup.
The effects of this tornado will be felt and seen for many years to come. Not just from the people (like me) who live where it happened, but by the thousands of travellers that take that section of Highway 45. I went through many years of emotional issues as a child, which I thought had toughened me mentally. I learned the hard way that I was wrong.
While we are mainly healed from this event, our souls will never forget it. That storm took something from me. Even though I don’t exactly know what “it” is, I feel incomplete inside. I don’t know how to move on from this experience. Writing this has certainly helped.
Those are the words my mind tricked me into believing were true. I heard a fireman say something that sounded like that on the night of May 25th, the night a EF1 tornado touched down very close to my home.
My wife, a person who is always concerned with the weather told me that the night was going to be a rough one. I hear this on a fairly common basis, but something told me that I should stay on alert that night. She had radar from WRTV 6 up on her computer, and we had a combination of the local weather and The Weather Channel on our TV the entire night.
I remember the exact moment when I knew we were going to be in for something. While watching the TV, they were showing all of the tornado warning/watches in Illinois. The state was covered in red; meaning the state was covered in tornado warnings.
Around 10:19pm our power went out, and almost instantly after that our weather radio went off; it was a tornado warning for us and we knew that this was serious. My wife headed for our basement and told me to grab Amelia from her crib if I thought it was appropriate. While I knew this was a serious situation, I had to see it for my own eyes. That’s when I picked up my flashlight and looked at the large maple tree in my backyard. It’s large canopy was swirling in a clockwise motion, something I had never seen before in that large of a tree.
I immediately ran to grab Amelia from her room and rushed to our utility room where Rachel was waiting. Even though I had experienced a similar event when I was 12, I had never felt the urgency or threat that I felt at that moment. It was the first time we had ‘ran for shelter’ from a storm. While in our utility room, we could hear the intensity of the storm. There was no sound like a train, rather the sound of a large volume of air moving at a high rate of speed. It went away after a minute or so, but we decided to stay in our safe place for a few minutes, just to be sure.
Immediately, I went outside to inspect for damage. The first thing I noticed was that a large limb from one of my trees had broken and fallen on my neighbor’s fence. I called him to let him know, and that was when my mental state took a dive that it hadn’t had in a very long time.
He told me that his daughter had called him and by listening to the scanner, she had heard that the trailer court right next to our neighborhood was completely wiped out. I felt a tremendous urge to go see what I could do to help. I got in the Kia and discovered that a war zone now existed less than 1/4 mile away from my home; I was also trapped in our neighborhood.
I discovered another one of my neighbors outside, I asked him what he knew. He said that there were several children trapped in one of the trailers. He told me that he offered his assistance, but they didn’t want anyone who wasn’t trained in search & rescue to help out of the fear that they might also be hurt.
I then heard those words that I couldn’t get out of my head, “the little girl is dead.” I had to run back home, I couldn’t help and I could barely hold my tears back.
Out of what seemed to be pure survival instinct, I started tweeting. Besides our land line, it was my only way of communicating with the outside world at that point. Here they are:
I’m a prisoner in my own neighborhood and there are people dead less than 1/4 miles away from me
Trailers stacked on top of trailers, it’s a sickening sight! If I only had a line to the outside world besides this
I can’t sleep knowing that my poor neighbor children lost everything, almost their lives tonight. I also confirmed with the fd, no death …
I now wish it would stay dark so I cannot see the remains of what was #didthisreallyhappen
I’ve only lost a few trees, which I loved -I feel bad for mentioning it, but I think it should be noted.
Please put the children who just lost everything in your thoughts and/or prayers. They really didn’t deserve this
You never realize how much you appreciate freedom until that freedom is taken – quote me
I then went back and found a larger group of my neighbors. One of which had a friend over who is a policeman. We went back and actually did some searching with the fire department. I snapped some photos on my phone, but due to the atmospheric conditions, they didn’t turn out too well.
I went back home and told Rachel that I couldn’t go to sleep, and that I was going to leave as soon as I could. I felt disconnected from what was happening, I needed information. Around 3am, I started seeing headlights from cars driving around our neighborhood – the road must have been finally cleared. I packed up my laptop, phone and associated cables to charge everything and headed into the unknown. My destination was the IU Wells Library, but I wasn’t sure if I would make it. I had to try.
The journey is only about 6 miles, but it seemed like 50. The entire west side of Bloomington was pitch black. No stop lights or street lights. When I finally made it to campus it was even worse. Trees were down everywhere, what is normally a somewhat linear route ended up to be a criss cross puzzle.
I finally felt okay. I sat with some of my TCC co-workers and briefed them of the situation. I logged onto a computer and started my hunt for information. I printed every article I could find, from the Herald-Times, to the Indy Star to even MSNBC.
Once everything was charged, and my search for information was complete I headed back home. Little did I know that the drive home would be even more treacherous than the drive in.
Still no lights or businesses open. It was daylight now, I what I had feared was true; it had to have been a tornado that came through. While there were spots here and there in town and on campus that had tree damage, there was a defined path of destruction starting just west of Curry Pike/Leonard Springs Road on Highway 45. This defined path followed me on my journey home, and that’s when I encountered the sheriff’s deputy blocking the road to my home. “And where do you think you’re going?” he asked me. “Home” I passionately stated. He let me through.
The next day we left on a planned vacation to Michigan. We felt it would be better to leave the sadness and destruction, than to stay and be constantly reminded of it.
Two years ago, my wife and I signed a contract for cellular phones. It was a basic contract with the only extra being a small texting plan for each of us that added $10 a month to our bill. It soon became overwhelmingly apparent how much we (the US) doesn’t realize how much it is overcharged for cellular telephone service. We were paying $75 a month for 2 phones that we didn’t use tremendously. We didn’t feel like we were getting a good value.
We decided a few months into the contract that once it was over we would re-evaluate the situation, and decide to make a change.
My phone was a smart phone (Samsung Blackjack II), and I soon came to love all the bells and whistles having that phone provided me. I didn’t want to lose the “non phone” functionality I had with this device to save money.
Because of my chosen line of work, I have been privileged to just about every kind of mobile device you can think of. I’ve seen all Apple “i” devices, Google Android devices of all shapes and sizes, Amazon Kindles, Barnes & Noble Nook’s, and even some devices from overseas that aren’t sold in the states.
While I enjoy what technology has to bring us, I don’t enjoy the trend of being “connected” all the time. What really boggles my mind about this trend are the costs. Instead of just paying for cellular phone service, now for smart devices there are required data plans, and sometimes required texting plans. The costs of these plans can be equal to or even more than just the basic calling service.
What I have done that has differentiated myself from the masses is by combining the capabilities of a smart phone, with the affordable qualities of a pre-paid cell phone, utilizing an Apple iPhone 3g.
There are many guides online, explaining how to do such a feat with the iPhone. I found many to be informative and factual. They all have at least 1 step incorrect however. Many will tell you to purchase a SIM card and then activate it via AT&T’s website, which is impossible. I found this out the hard way, but a SIM card is only a couple of bucks, so it wasn’t a huge deal. Others tell you to purchase a “Go-Phone” and move the SIM card. This isn’t a good idea either, as this option actually locks the SIM card to that Go-Phone for a period of 6 months.
I ended up going to an AT&T store with my old phone after our contract had expired, and requested to switch to pre-paid. It was that simple. I then just moved the SIM card to the iPhone and voila!
While I can’t access data services when most iPhone users can, that doesn’t bother me. What makes me happy is knowing that I’m paying 8 times less for basically the same service as they are!
It’s been a little bit over a month since I went pre-paid, and I’ve only spent $11.30! With VOIP options such as Skype and TextFree, I only need to use my “paid” minutes when I don’t have a wireless connection.
And that, my friends, is how you have your cake and eat it too!
My “second” day of being a student wasn’t nearly as crazy as I thought it would be. You see, I have 15 minutes between the time I leave my job to when my class starts on the opposite side of campus at Swain Hall East.
The trip wasn’t as stressful and energy sucking as I thought it would be. As a matter of fact I made it to class with 5 minutes to spare!
The class on the other hand seems like it’s going to be one I have to pay close attention to, and keep up on. It’s the first statistics course I’ve ever taken! A few of my co-workers recommended the course and said it was “easy.” With those kind of recommendations I couldn’t pass this one up. A fellow co-worker is taking it this semester as well, so I’ll have him for any help I might need.
As soon as I’m done with class, I have a quick bike ride back to the IMU, where Rachel and Amelia should be on their way or waiting on me. Not so bad.
Essentially I will be doing this “day one” and “day two” routine twice each week, with my Friday’s being split amongst Kelley and some study time at the library.
The one thing I have to change is the seat on my bicycle. It’s never been comfortable in the 15 years I’ve owned it. Now that I’m using it 4 times a week, it’s downright painful. I ordered an awesome seat last night from amazon, and hope to have it installed this weekend.
My first day as a student at IU was exciting, exhausting and fulfilling.
I first worked my job at Technology Services at KSoB. I then rushed over to McNutt for my other job with UITS/TCC. When I arrived and started to settle in, I received a call asking me to go to Read due to some staffing issues. So I rushed over to the other end of campus as quick as I could to fulfill this request.
When I arrived I was in shock. Whomever had worked there last had left the supply cabinet unlocked, and all of it’s contents inside unlocked. We keep a radio, laptop, hubs and other supplies in it. Someone could have simply walked in and taken them without worry.
The consultant that should have been there arrived about 30 minutes late, he’s obviously a underclassmen, he didn’t show any sense of responsibility. We had many tickets and a few appointments to go on as there are many people around campus having problems connecting to IU’s network. We called many people and were able to resolve the issue on the phone, or close the ticket because the issue had been fixed.
Printing was also basically down across the whole campus. The printing system was migrated to a new system without any time for testing that is normally done. Basically what was once many was migrated to a few and all hell broke loose. As I write this printing is down again. I hope this issue gets resolved soon, as I genuinely feel bad for these students who rely on university printers.
It was a good, hard and hot shift, but we were productive.
I then rode my bike over to Ballantine Hall, where my American Studies class is. I arrived almost an hour early, so I had time to relax from the fast paced day I had.
I was amazed to find that my class is very small, only about 10 students! The topic of this class is how the computer changed history and culture. I think it’s going to be a fun and interesting class. Since I’m the geek that I am with regards to computers and history I think it’s the perfect fit for me.
After class I caught the Bloomington Transit, the city’s public bus system. I get to ride it free since I’m a student at IU. My bike and I rode over to Wal-Mart where Rachel and Amelia were waiting on me. This is a better alternative than Rachel packing her up and driving back to campus to pick me up. I haven’t rode the bus since I was in middle school! The one thing I can say is bus design has changed significantly since then.
Once we got home, I basically crashed from the days’ activities. I hope I can keep up the pace.
Today is going to be a whole new adventure that I will update you on tomorrow.
The schedule for my job with UITS came out over the weekend, which has me working at Briscoe, McNutt, Foster and the Information Commons. While this is great where my working life is concerned, it’s horrible for my academic life. I have classes at Ballantine Hall and in Swain East. They are on the opposite side of campus. For those of you that don’t know, the IU campus is quite large.
To make matters worse, on two of those days I will get out of work 15 minutes before my class starts.
To try to expedite my travel I’m currently working on solutions to get my bike on campus. With my bike on campus, I think I can cut down the travel time significantly. Since I live a good trek away, biking to campus isn’t really an option. I’ve got some options to figure out. I’m going to either leave my bike on campus during the week and take it home on the weekend, or take it with me each day. I’m going to test whether my bike will fit in our car tonight, if not we’ll have to order $300 worth of gear ( a hitch and hitch mounted bike rack).
I haven’t seriously rode my bike in about 10 years, which invokes something else, a more active lifestyle. I’m sure I’ll be really sore for the first couple of weeks, but after that I’ll in much better shape. Something I need to do.
