The other day, my dad (the king of grand ideas, rember?) suggested I get a new lawnmower that would make my most detested task a little easier. No, not one of those fancy green ones with the deer on the side or even the old fashioned spinning blade ones.

Behold, I present to you my new lawnmower. His name is Star.

This weekend marked the first training session for the new year and what a session it was. About 12 Candidates were present and they spent the day learning about personal equipment, tying knots, group equipment, parts of the canoe, and picking up and carrying the canoe, all extremely important aspects of the program. They also learned the rules of the program regarding respect and how the words “I can’t” are probably the most terrible words in our vocabulary today.

As I helped a Candidate learn to tie knots and saw the frustration she felt when one of the knots just would not click, I remember how I thought I would never be able to tie the same knot 20 years ago. I stood by and saw the surprise in the eyes of Candidates when shown the food packs and learned how heavy these packs would be to carry when fully loaded with food and supplies for 21+ people. I participated in the talk with the female Candidates about “doing your business” in the woods and how we try to be as protective of our environment as possible, and I felt the fear and triumph in of the girls as they tried (and eventually succeeded) in picking up a canoe by themselves for the first time. I heard and reveled in the talk from one of the most senior male members of the group as they recounted how girls can do anything the guys can do, and sometimes do those things better.

The training is not easy; It’s difficult and very foreign in this day and age. Many of the methods and ideas have been around for years, passed down from generation to generation and it’s not always easy to understand why we do the things we do. Most of the understanding will come with the actual application, in overnight training sessions in Tionesta, PA. There we’ll teach canoeing, putting up a tent, chopping wood, gathering water, orienteering with map and compass, and cooking over a fire. Each Candidate will likely cry, want to go home, be frustrated, and want to quit at one point, as I once did, and each Candidate will realize that they can do, and even excel at, every task put before them.

To be perfectly honest, I am nervous. Nervous because things have changed so much since I was in the program and because I’m concerned that after all of these years I am pretty rusty. I’ve had to humble myself and let the younger Voyageurs remind me how to tie a bowline knot and am still struggling wondering if I can pick up a canoe. All I know is that I’m ready to go. I’m ready to push my limits again and try to teach and learn things on the way. I was taught by the best and I still remember a lot.

I’m also working to bring a new generation up in the program. Pretty much against her wishes, I’ve been bringing Aidyn along to work nights and training and even though she’s sometimes bored, she’s been doing pretty well. Although she won’t be a true Candidate until she turns 13, she’s already starting to learn about the program and I even observed her learning knots yesterday. I hope that one day she loves the program as much as I do and will want to do all she can to help keep it going. Until then, I’m back in full force, determined to better myself and help out as much as I can and I’m enjoying every scary, fun, amazing moment of it.

A female Candidate picks up and carries a canoe for the first time.

Aidyn learning how to tie knots

I reverse engineered the pattern for these warm ear warmers from one that was knit probably back in the 1980’s. They’re typically worn over the berets worn by Post members heading out on Snow Trails adventures in lieu of a larger wool hat but they’re equally functional worn simply as a headband. I’m told Mrs. Wildman, the wife of the late Mr. Wildman, former Canoe Trails leader, would crank out these practical ear warmers during Post meetings.

The two strands of yarn held together make these ear warmers super warm and durable, and the slipped stitches along with the pattern increases and decreases create a sort of cup that envelopes the ear instead of sitting right against it.

Size
23″ circumference unstretched

Materials

Notes
Hold two strands of yarn together throughout.

k1, p1 rib:
Right side: sl1, *k1, p1*, repeat between * until two stitches remain, k2.
Wrong side: sl1, *p1, k1*, repeat between * until two stitches remain, p2.

cdd:
centered double decrease. sl2 tog, K1, pass the slipped stitches over (together)

m1f:
make one front, or make one left. From the front, lift loop between stitches with left needle, knit into back of loop.

Ear Warmers
With two strands of yarn held together, cast on 11 stitches.
Work k1, p1 rib pattern for two inches, ending with right side row.

Begin increases:
You will be increasing two stitches every wrong side row to produce the ear cover.
On wrong side: sl1, p1, knit into the back and front of next stitch, m1f, *p1, k1*, repeat between * until last two stitches, p2.
On right side: sl1, *k1, p1*, repeat between * until last two stitches, k2.
Repeat previous two rows five more times until there are 23 stitches on the needle.

Work k1, p1 rib pattern 7 times, ending with right side row.

Begin decreases:
You will be decreasing two stitches every wrong side row.
On wrong side, sl1, p1, move the working yarn to the back and cdd, *p1, k1*, repeat between * until last two stitches, p2.
On right side: sl1, *k1, p1*, repeat between * until last two stitches, k2.
Repeat previous two rows five more times until there are 11 stitches on the needle.

Work k1, p1 rib pattern for 7 inches. This is where you could increase or decrease the length to fit a larger or smaller head.

Repeat increases and decreases to form second ear cover.

Work k1, p1 rib pattern for 2 inches.

Bind off, sew back seam together.

I must be feeling a need to return back to my roots, because lately I’ve really felt an incredible desire to be involved with Canoe Trails again. I finally got up the courage to do so at the end of the fall, unfortunately leaving little time for canoeing, but just enough time to try out winter camping. A few weeks ago, the initial planning meeting was held and we went over the necessary equipment needed to not freeze to death during a January weekend spent entirely outdoors in the mountains in Pennsylvania. It’s a lot of equipment and it’s taking me a while to find/acquire all that I’ll need to stay happy for that weekend. With each item I acquire, the more excited I get. I think of the logs that will be split with my hand axe and how my legs will not be cold in the German military-issue wool pants I ordered from an Army/Navy surplus store. I imagine what it will be like carrying all of my personal items in my pack that hasn’t seen the light of day in years and how many times I’ll fall over walking on snowshoes. I feel like I am going crazy but I can’t wait to split wood, prepare food over a fire, sleep outside in the snow, and catch up on a lot of years of missed adventures.

I think the upcoming weekend is going to be an eye-opening experience. It’s going to be a time for me to get back to understanding myself and how I work, push my limits, and remember what it’s like to be out in the world without a computer or a phone.

The trip is scheduled for the second weekend in January and I look forward to talking about it when I get back.

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Yep. I’ll be there! Loved it last year and looking forward to it this year as well. Hosted by EdgeCase, it’s a conference that presents Ruby and Ruby on Rails as a solution for the enterprise. Held in Columbus, OH, it’s relatively close to home for me, which makes it convenient, and the lineup of speakers is great. See the erubycon site for more information, and better yet, register while you’re there. Early registration ends Monday and is $250, but even at the full price of $299 it’s still well worth attending.

My family thinks I am the biggest nerd. When I start talking about what I do at work their eyes glaze over and they kind of nod and look really confused. They’ll never get it. To them I am the epitome that they think about when they think of someone who is geeky. Little do they know that it’s really a farce.

Until recently, I really thought that I had come a long way in terms of learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails. Every day I was becoming more and more confident and not afraid to suggest better ways of writing the code or taking criticism from others concerning my code. But today I took a step back. I looked at how long I’ve been doing the Rails thing (oh, about a year-and-a-half) and exactly where I’m at, or feel like I’m at (advanced beginner at best). After a year-and-a-half I really think I should be further along than I am. There are times when the simplest things stump me and render me useless. There are also times when I feel like I am a joke, plain stupid and dare I say it, ditzy. Sure, Rails is ever-changing. Yes, we’re trying different things all the time. Alright, although Rails makes everything seem easy, we’re doing a lot of work that is very complex. Excuses. I should be better. I need to be better.

This past year, I took on teaching myself a little iPhone development because not only am I interested in how applications work, I thought it would be interesting to learn something new. I now think I took on too much. Now, I am not required by anyone but myself to put out an application, but it’s been disappointing to me to really get nowhere with it. I see all of the awesome applications that others are making and think “Hey, I can do that,” but the truth is that I’m not doing that. I’m not even sure if I can anymore.

A friend of mine told me today that it’s probably difficult for me to be exactly where I want to be because I am very occupied at the moment with being a mother. I do have two full-time jobs, the one I go to during the day, and the one that I go home to in the evenings. He said that it’s either get rid of the kid and focus on being the geek or keep the kid and be half-mom, half-geek. Well, of course I am not getting rid of my child, but I don’t feel that half-geek is acceptable either. I need to be good at something. I would like that something to be programming.

I by no means intend for this post to be a “feel sorry for me” kind of thing; That is not why I’m laying it all out like this. This is my blog and I needed some therapy. I’m even disabling the comments on this post because I’m not really looking for advice right now, just a means to vent. I guess I have issues. But you know what? It happens. There are times when everyone feels inferior, even people who know what they are doing.

I think this will pass and I’ll eventually be back to my chipper self, but I also believe it was time for me to take inventory and figure out what to do. I think I’m on a new mission now, to really figure out the best way to retain what I learn. Maybe find a new way of thinking. I’m going to continue reading books, writing code, and doing what I can to understand what’s going on around me but hopefully try to gain a new perspective along the way.

One of the workouts that I did with him was the Playing Card Workout. When I met with him the morning of the workout he said “Today we’re going to have some fun.” I wasn’t sure what to expect from that considering the past two times I met with him he practically killed me. Seriously. I couldn’t walk for two weeks after he had me do a workout incorporating squats and my lower back hurt so bad after doing reclined sit-ups that I thought I had a hernia.

As it turns out, the Playing Card Workout was indeed fun. It went by so fast and I really felt like I had acomplished something when I was finished. Usually, when I go to the gym, I will alternate running with the card workout because right now I’m really wanting to do cardio to get my weight down. But by doing the card workout I’m also doing some strength training as well, so my body will reap the benefits of that once the weight is gone. There are times when I will do a stability ball workout or lift dumbbells and do squats, but I tend to run and do the card workout regularly.

Because I love this workout so much I figured I would share it with everyone. Here goes.

I’m sure you could mix up your workout accordingly, but to do my workout I need the following:

And now, how to do the workout.

Each suite represents a different fitness move. Here’s what I do:

So there you have it. This workout takes me about 45 minutes to complete, with both some warm-up and cool-down laps, and I generally bun around 350-375 calories. Not a bad way to do it! Try switching things up too and have some fun.

The application that I work on, written in Ruby on Rails, was previously using BackgrounDRb for its background processing but we have decided to give Nanite a try because of its flexibility and scalability. I’ve been very pleased so far with the choice.