A halfway mark!

Hi everyone,

Those of you who are connected to me in Facebook may remember that this year I set myself the challenge of running the equivalent of the distance from Houston, Texas to Clinton, Connecticutt, a distance of 1914 miles.  I picked the start point because in 2014 I covered the equivalent of the distance from Santa Monica, CA to Houston.  The end was picked because I have an old friend in Clinton CT.  I should add that this virtual run is conceptually routed through Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Vicksburg, as those cities are important to me.

This evening I looked at Dailymile and found that so far this year I've run, cycled, walked, rowed and swum 1028 miles, which puts me about half way.  According to GoogleMaps, this puts me in about the vicinity of Cleveland, TN. I thought it might be nice to learn a bit more about that town.

I read it's Wikipedia entry, but unaccountably failed to take any proper note of its population size.  The weather there seems to be mild - not unlike southern Victoria's climate.  And the architecture seems beautifully old-world.

Craigmiles Hall

By all accounts it has a very strong high school football program.  I also looked at their newspaper online (the Cleveland Daily Banner) and was struck that their town council faces same type of issues that councils all over the world face: libraries and water, for two.

It seems like it'd be a nice town, and I'm wondering what the next will be that I virtually explore.  If I cover the whole distance before years end, I've decided to tack on another 300-odd kilometres to get me (on paper) up to Maine, where another good friend lives (Pam, who runs the delightful blog Heirlooms Reunited).

What about you, readers: do any of you know any particular landmarks I should keep an eye out for on this virtual odyssey?  Would love to hear suggestions!

What are we doing here?

I've had a soft spot for Mennonites since I saw a beautiful photograph of one of their families in an old National Geographic when I was in high school (1).  A blog I've been enjoying lately is Thy Hand Hath Provided, where 'Jane' writes from a Mennonite perspective.

She recently wrote about a visit to the Creation Museum, which presents an analysis of natural history from a Young Earth Creationist perspective.  This got me to thinking about what sense one can make of different views of our cosmic origins. 

I'm not a Young Earth Creationist: I think that the traditional view - that Genesis is to be interpreted allegorically rather than literally - is sounder theologically and scientifically.  However, I don't think one should be scornful or mocking about Creationists.  For one thing, the ranks of Old Earth Creationists include Lord Kelvin, one of the most brilliant scientists in history.  And Archbishop James Ussher, who in the 1650s calculated the date of creation of the Earth to 4004BC based on the Bible, could fairly be said to have made the best calculation he could with the evidence to hand.  One should at least give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he would have made a different assessment if he had known what we do today (2).

More substantially, though, it seems to me that everyone who speculates on the origins of the universe and of humanity, whether Young Earther, Old Earther, Genesis-as-Allegory-ists or thoroughgoing materialists, is working towards the same end.  All concerned can agree that the universe did not exist at some point, and that at a later point it began to exist, and that at a still later point it came to be inhabited by lifeforms.  The fundamental characteristic of life is that it desires to know things: the humblest trilobite wanted to know if that round thing was edible; homo sapiens wants to know whether there are any even numbers which are not the sum of two prime numbers.  We can infer, then, that the existence of life reflects a desire of creation (or a Creator, if one is so inclined) to be known.  When we attempt to identify how the cosmos came into being, and understand where we belong in it, we most completely fulfil our role in the world.

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(1) David S. Boyer, 'Ontario: Canada's Keystone' (1978) 154 National Geographic 760 at 774-5.

(2) Wilbur Garrett, 'Editorial' (1985) 168 National Geographic 559.

Happy Friday!

Hi everyone,

Happy Friday to me!  I've survived my first week at the new job and I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything really imbecilic so far.

It was another cold morning.  Drove over to work by way of Toolamba.  I checked the distance from home; it's about 17 kms to the very rustic wooden trestle bridge over the Goulburn just this side of Toolamba.  I'll try and ride over there at the weekend and try and get some good photos.

Work was productive.  Gym session afterwards.

Eyes are closing so I'll cut this short.  Hope your weekend is great too!.  

Poor planning...

Hi everyone,

Last night, mercifully, wasn't as cold as the weather bureau had prognosticated, but it was still cold enough to make getting out of bed a not at all attractive prospect.  Despite which, up I got and off I went to work.  I'm convinced going through Toolamba is quicker than going through Murchison.

Today was the farewell lunch for the lady whose maternity leave I'm covering for.  For some reason it was arranged for 11:30am at the Tatura Hotel - I'm not sure why.  The pub itself is clean although one of the bars smelled funny.  I can recommend the Caesar salad, if you're wondering.

I kept my conversation limited at lunch.  I'm finding taciturnity suits me: the happy, chirpy, chatty version of me tends to be annoying and a lightweight, I think. I'd sooner coworkers thought of me as reserved and serious (even sombre) rather than an airhead.

Lots of handover training in the afternoon: I think I might even be able to master some of these skills!

SES training in the evening, and a moment of poor, poor planning. I'd remembered to bring my overalls, boots and helmet. That was fine. What I forgot was to bring some jeans and a pullover to wear underneath (in place of my suit, which I can't really wear to do physical work.  As a result, there I was on a cold night, stomping around the shed doing crush-rescue training, with nothing underneath but my cotton office shirt and my boxers.  Yeah: chilly!

Still cold tonight: I've put another blanket on the bed.  Hopefully this pocket of icy air moves away soon!

No more for now.  Work tomorrow, followed by a long weekend!

Shivering

Hi everyone,

I'm lying here in bed at midnight under a doona, sheets and a couple of blankets, and I'm still wearing a flannelette shirt. My phone tells me that this is the temperature...

For American readers, that's 30°F, or as some people call it, "cold enough for ya?".

The day has actually gone ok, despite the fact that it was also below zero when I got up.  Work was quiet and I was tasked with a genuinely interesting legal research job. Things are looking up!

Rejoined the gym in Shepparton after work and bashed out a workout while I was there. Definitely worth it: I left feeling more upbeat about life in general and feeling that there were actually many more possibilities to explore in the big wide world that I hadn't thought of.

Dad back up here from the south. I feel bad for him: he's not handling the cold well, and he also isn't good with cabin fever.  He seems sore and achy everywhere, but I don't think the doctor has much to offer him. Not good.

No more for now.  More tomorrow.

Back for more

Hi everyone,

On my feet earlier today with a view to an 8am start at work.  It was cold this morning for sure!

The day itself was nothing too flash: just lots to learn.  I can kind of feel myself shutting down: I don't feel like talking if I don't have to and my face feels like a wall. I'm ok with that. There's a lunch on Thursday that I'd prefer to miss but it'd be painfully obvious if I weren't there, which is more than a little annoying.

Police check and my 2015-16 practising certificate came through today,so that's sorted.  Nothing else really to say about the day.

Shorter drive home in the evening by way of Toolamba.

More tomorrow.

The first day

Hi everyone,

Still processing today: forgive me if I don't really sound like myself.

I got to the new job at a little before 9 this morning and reported to the man who will be my boss.  He went over the role in a bit more detail and also explained where it fits in the legal department's food chain (right at the bottom).  The more he explained it, the more I saw that the job is very much paralegal, bordering on secretarial - far more so than I'd really taken from the position description.  As the morning wore on and as I waded through the induction materials, the more ridiculous and ashamed I began to feel, and tried to work out if I'd simply misunderstood the role, or indulged in wishful thinking, or been sold a pup.  I couldn't even see why I was bent out of shape about it - it was only last week I was saying I would happily go and shovel out horse stables to earn a living. It wasn't till this evening that the maternal unit pointed out that it's one thing to find yourself at the bottom of someone else's professional tree: that's just how life goes. It's a different thing entirely to go back to the very bottom of your own.

As the day went on I started feeling a bit more positive about the job: I think it's gravitated to the administrative because it's been done by a non-lawyer for some years. It may be possible to give it a more legal-professional bent. We'll see. In any case, I can't turn down a role I'm (over)qualified to do if it's offered, and it lets me support my darling daughters properly, so for better or worse I need to get on and make the best of it.  If nothing else, the chance to get training and experience in something aside from my field of expertise is the sort of opportunity I'd be a complete fool to let slide, things being how they are.

So, I guess it's been a swings and roundabouts day.  In any case, they seem like a pleasant, sensible group of folks to work with, and that counts for a lot.  One of them is actually someone I knew at university but haven't seen for 15 years; small world!

No more for now. Hope all is well with you good folks.  Time to get some sleep before tomorrow.