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The difference in making it or not is in assiduousness. No matter what it is.

--Charles Dowdell

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Chicago, Micro Excavators, Cats, Fish and Dirty Trucks

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I was in Chicago for a couple of days for work. I got a pic with an unavailable micro-excavator. Big contrast with the largest earthmoving equipment in the world that Komatsu makes. My truck got so incredibly dirty from the trees and other pollen this spring. I had to finaly wash it. I only got the top layer off with the soapy power washer. It will take several sessions. The paint is coming off the service body. It was shot with a topcoat by the upfitter in Ohio where I bought the truck. The primer from Knapheide (the service body manuafacturer) looks like it held up great. I am looking to get the truck repainted. I bought it new in Columbus Ohio in 2017 and it only has 30k miles (most of them highway between the my farm in NY and Duluth GA.) We stocked Canary Lake with new fish. About 10k fish flew into the lake off the delivery truck. We have a healthy lake and we grow some large fish. Angie and I went to a Cat Show in Gwinnett county. It was a smaller show than the other sh...
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California, Berkshire NY, Baltimore Maryland and Washington DC

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I am back from a speaking engagement at a familiar conference (CIDM) in San Jose California. Afterwards, I met Angie at the ATL airport and headed to the farm and to see my cousins, Aunt and Sister (and my newest relative) in Baltimore and Washington DC. It was a densely scheduled trip, but nothing compared to our typical overseas vacation trips. I have been having educational fun with my recent birthday gift. It is a Radiacode 103. It is a very sensitive scintillation radiation detector. Loads of fun. The 1k µS/hr spike shown is what the carry on baggage x-ray machine doses out. I am glad I wasn't inside the x-ray equipment. Stopping at some antique stores along the way, I found a number of uranium glass pieces. Yes, they are radioactive. Yes, the dose is comparable to that you get from riding in a commercial airplane. I took a couple of pics of property in Upstate NY. Unbelievable. It will beat out images of the best trailer trash anywhere. And yes, the vehicles are systemica...
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Busy and Busier

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It has been busy and somewhat stressful. I am reflecting on the comparatively relative low stress of traveling alone in Southern Africa last year at about this time. I mean in Africa, I only had to worry about getting in car accidents (maybe running someone over), missing flights, getting robbed or attacked. All of these possibilities in a very unfamiliar land. Now interestingly, I seem to have more stress -- over what? It is probably a very good example of good stress versus bad stress. Good stress comes from calculated self-directed challenge. Bad stress comes from captivity and what we feel we "should" be doing. "Should" indicates there are external forces we are beholden to --without our own devices or agency. In April, I am speaking at CIDM Convex in San Jose CA. https://convex.infomanagementcenter.com/ . I also learned I am speaking at LavaCon in October https://www.lavacon.org/ . There were 150 speakers considered and only 40 selected. It will be my first t...
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Updates Storm and Other

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We had a storm last night in Georgia just like the recent storms that have seemingly have covered the whole country. We lost power and I have been doing a 3 hour on- 3 hour off with the generator. I am definately prepared. Generator started up 2nd pull, plenty of gas and all the other stuff incluing supply chain readiness getting more gas, oil, etc. I like helping neighbors when things go wrong. I have my service truck, my large chainsaw and lots o' tools. I can be quite helpful. Someday (perhaps soon) we will be amazed that we have to have these noisy reciprocating gas engine generators. I like the quiet. I also like having electricity in the house I think I am going to sell my IFR 1200S Service Monitor. Its a fantastic tool. Although they aren't the the newest, they are in great demand because they are incredibly versatile, durable and most of all- trustworthy. It will be on ebay. I am looking forward to Spring. I will be working on the humvee and boat and the property in...
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Ends and Odds and Other Executions of Word Order

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