Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Attention, Focus and Effort

I have had a realization today.

I think I've always known this, but today I know it in a deeper way.
My brain is wired to focus on one thing at a time and to intently
push that one interest to a goal state. I seem to operate best when
I focus on one interest at a time. I find that my interests come in
waves. I'll be consumed by one goal or another and then, over time,
my creative energies become saturated thinking about the one thing,
and they seek something new.


Here are the interests I'm usually engaged in at one time or another:

Archery,
Ham radio,
Sailing,
Backpacking,
Hunting,
Role Playing Games,
Leadership,
Video,
Geocaching,
Technology,
Blogging,
Running/Biking,
Rocketry
Guitar

I feel sometimes that my creative energies are like the "Eye of
Sauron" from the Lord of the Rings movies. It scans the lay of that
land coming to rest with an intense focus from time to time on some
small part of it, but soon it moves on looking for something else.

I've seen it in ham radio, where I very feverishly set up a bunch of
systems to help manage the EARC nets, and I developed a manual for
the NCSs and then... maintenance. I know my interest will return
there again, but for now, I'm interested in other things.

In the video ministry for my church, I launched a webpage, started
experimenting with streaming video, then a long lull until most
recently I edited a bunch of videos intensely for weeks and now I'm
recharging my interests in other areas.

Many of you know that I am inflicted with what I call "wander-lust" a
few times every year. I think that is merely my interest in the
outdoors bubbling back to the top of my mind every so often. I'm
overcome with thoughts of camping, solo-hiking, foraging, hunting...
just being outdoors in the woods.

Even my blogs and twitters come in bursts.

This tendency of mine to focus all my energies in one direction and
overcome those obstacles and achieve those goals is powerful, and I
think it can be quite good, but it drives my wife nuts. She no doubt
has known this about me for a long time. She has an amazing ability
to sense and know all things all the time. She is a multi-tasker. I
think that is part of the reason she doesn't like driving. She is
aware of all the cars and all the possible routes of travel and all
the possible collisions all the time and it is overwhelming. I love
to drive. I'm focussed on one thing, getting to my destination via
the route I've preconceived. I find it almost relaxing.

Lately I feel my interests are shifting again. It was video editing
a few weeks ago, some creative writing I've been doing lately, but
now I feel the winds of change blowing and I'm looking forward to
what is next. Don't be surprised if you see a burst of blogs soon.
Who knows what will capture my attention next.

Peace, Love and Focus,

Rich

Monday, April 28, 2008

EARC New Website

My radio club just revamped the website and it looks great! Mahalo to Jason, WH7DA, for the excellent work he did designing it. Check it out:

EARCHI.org


Peace, Love and Aloha,

Rich

Friday, April 25, 2008

Thursday, April 24, 2008

What's In A Name?

Hey, I found this interesting. It came from this website (www.laputanlogic.com) and it shows the 800 year trend for the top male names from Britain and America. You'll see "Richard" was quite popular until about 1600, when it underwent a 200 year dive to near obscurity, until suddenly, in 1900, the name enjoyed a burst of renewed interest.


In the 1900s, the name grew back to (nearly) it's former prominence in a span of only 40 years, and then, yet again, began to lose favor. By the time I was dubbed "Richard" in 1966, the name was already losing favor.



Makes me wonder what clod in the 1600s ruined it for all of us "Richards" and messed up bad enough that no one for 200 years wanted to name their son "Richard". Also makes me wonder what happened in 1900 that temporarily reversed the trend.

All you history buffs, have any ideas?

Peace Love and Anthroponymy,

-The one proudly named "Richard"

Monday, April 21, 2008

More Geek Meet Photos

Keith took some excellent photos and posted them on Flickr. Check 'em out!

Here are just a few proving that Bryan and I were there:



Sunday, April 20, 2008

Hawaii Geek Meet a Success

UPDATE JUNE: MIDWEEK POSTS THEIR ARTICLE COVERING THE GEEK MEET:
Calling All Geeks of All Kinds

------------------------

I just got back from a wonderful time at the first Hawaii Geek Meet at Ala Moana park. There was a great turnout, with lots of food and interesting demos. As my friend Keith said "The collective brainpower gathered at Ala Moana...is staggering!" Ha! I don't know about that (I certainly am no genius) but I did see a large number of people who were interested in the same things I am! "These are my PEEPS!" I told Ryan, who laughed at the word "peeps" coming from my mouth!

I knew I was having fun when early after set up, I was able to contact my South African ham radio friend Dave (ZS4DT) via IRLP (Voice-over-IP technology with radio) and talk with him awhile. During our contact, Chris and Wayne got their ID-1 connected which provided wifi service to our area through their D-STAR amateur radio gear. I then thought it would be totally cool to live-stream video from our location on Ustream.tv/kh6dad and Dave in South Africa was able to see our beautiful park setting while we were still on the radio. THAT WAS COOL!

As the day progressed we got to talk to a lot people about ham radio and the current and coming capabilities of the technology. Talked to nearly as many people about Geocaching too. I got to see a Stirling engine in operation and look at the sun through a special sun telescope. Unfortunately, there were no sun spots to see, but if there were, I'd have seen them!

I got to meet Auntie Lynn Pupule, Peter Kay, Burt Lum(of Bytemarks), Allison Stewart (The Click Chick), a lot of old and new ham radio friends, Midweek reporters (watch for an article) and near the end Neil Abercrombie sat down in our tent and visited with us a while. I got to tell him about ham radio and even about Geocaching! It was totally relaxed and tremendous fun.

I'm so glad to see so many people there. I'm guessing there was 70 people there at the one time I counted, and probably 120 or more that drifted in and out total. There are many of you I had wished were there, especially from my twitter circle, but that's OK... There's always next year!

Wishing you Peace and Love in Geekdom,

Rich











Saturday, April 12, 2008

We've got rats...

We've got rats,... AND WE LOVE THEM!

Bradley has wanted rats for a long time, and the Mannings have rats
and were encouraging us all about them, so we succumbed. We have
added 2 brown and white rats to our family. We have named them Dip
and Dot (Dot has a white spot on her forehead) and we all enjoy
holding them as we try to get them accustomed to being handled. That
is why we specifically wanted baby rats.

Last Sunday, when the boys and I came home, (Em was out), we found ONLY
ONE rat in the cage, despite it being completely latched! There was
one spot where the wire bends into a handle that I could just fit my
middle finger into, so we suspect one was able to fit it's head
through and got out!

We hunted and hunted and couldn't find it. Bradley was very upset.
Just when we were about to give up, Dot jumped up on a box and I
spotted her. She didn't try to run away (much) and soon we had her
back in her cage. I wired the gap closed and they seem to be staying
where we left them now. Whew!

Chris Tomlin Concert

For Bradley's 10th birthday (4/4), we took him to see Chris Tomlin at
the H.I.M. conference. We had a great time and really enjoyed
ourselves along with everyone there. Bradley got to hear Chris sing
songs live that he knew very well from the radio.

Bryan Recognized at Science Fair

Bryan did very well at the Hawaii State Science Fair. He was
recognized by 5 agencies, each with a certificate and cash award. He
did very well! We are so proud of him and hope this experience
encourages him as he pursues education and opportunities in the
future. Way to go Bry!

Role Playing Games

As a kid I played role playing games quite a bit. We didn't have
computer games or Gameboys, so we had to use our imaginations!

Now we all have sons of our own and we thought it would be fun to
introduce them to pen & paper role playing games we loved. We had a
great night solving mysteries and battling bad guys. It may turn
into a regular "gaming" night. We'll see. None of us has as much
disposable time as we used to.

Future Tennis Pros?

(OK, I'm finally gonna catch up a little on blogging!)

The boys and I are checking out tennis. I played a lot in high
school, but almost nothing since. We picked up a couple of garage
sale $1 rackets and started hitting balls against the wall. We spent
a lot of energy, but I don't know how much tennis we learned. We got
to get out there again soon.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Hawaii Geek Meet

The Hawaii All-Geek Meetup and Potluck is scheduled for Sunday, April 20, 2008. Bring your family, your friends, and your toys. Bring some food and an appetite for good grinds and great conversation.

What is the Hawaii Geek Meet?

The Hawaii Geek Meet is a casual, friendly, open potluck gathering of geeks. And we mean "geek" in a most inclusive, positive way. Do you like technology? Do you have a specialty? Among your friends or coworkers, are you the guru, the go-to person for things that blink or have moving parts? Whether you're passionate about programming, Geocaching, photography, design, HAM radio, model rockets, painting, teaching... we want to meet you.

The idea of the Hawaii Geek Meet is to mix and mingle with other brilliant people, people you might never meet in your own circles, but people with whom (we'd bet) you'd get along smashingly.

Who is invited?

Anyone who is remotely geeky about anything. Web developers, designers, programmers, photographers, videographers, podcasters, bloggers, even artists, teachers, thinkers... Are you knowledgeable and passionate about something? Are you naturally curious and interested in learning about something? Do you want to meet new people, share what you know, and learn a thing or two that you don't? Then you're invited. Bring your friends, your family, your kids... and if you've got geek toys and gadgets, bring them too!

Where and when is it happening?

Sunday, April 20th at Magic Island, in Ala Moana Beach Park, Picnic Area #40 (Ala Wai Side) [Map] from 10 a.m. until... whenever!

Afraid you're going to be the only {x} person there? Check out some of the groups that are joining us.

Curious about who will be there? Check out the list of participants.

Can you bring something? Want to check out the menu? Take a look at the potluck page.

Have questions about how all this will come to pass? We do too! Check out the questions page.


FOR MORE INFORMATION AND DETAILS, CHECK OUT THE WEBPAGE:
http://sites.google.com/a/hawaiigeek.com/hawaii-geek-meet

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

I've been a bad blogger

I have so much to write about,...but haven't. I'll hopefully be writing on:

Game Night
Bryan's Science Fair winnings
Bradley's Birthday
Our New Pet Rats
My latest video project

But for now, I leave you with this. I bet this is how many people see me:



Peace & Love you Troglodytes!

Rich