Attitude adjustment - A truck and a Muscovy duck

Ever had a day where you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and just feel cranky.  That was me earlier this week (or maybe more often and earlier than that according to my family). I'm being kind to myself with that description, I was way more than cranky.  There are so many people around Tampa who drive like complete jerks and by time I got about 4 miles from work I recognized my attitude was so wrong I couldn't even stand myself.  I was driving our F250 truck this day because I thought it might rain and I try to avoid to motorcycle when I'm just feeling off.  I took a mental pause and spoke a simple prayer to Jesus - "please help me improve my attitude".  I had no idea how Jesus might answer that prayer but I really didn't expect what happened next.

I had just gotten through a 4-way stop near some apartments and a golf course where the road has some wonderful trees that hang over the road.  It can pretty at times - probably more so once some of the construction near the corner is complete.  At this moment though, I suddenly saw a large duck flying straight down between the trees like it was heading for a landing. I immediately realized that I was directly in its path and it realized the same. I had no time to react and I think it tried to go into a climb but it was too little too late.  There was a very large bang and the windshield turned into a mess.  I was in shock but alert enough to keep myself on the road without any panic reaction.

"Ok Jesus, you have my attention.  Yes, my attitude is still bad and I know it.  Thanks for showing me you are listening and thanks for your forgiveness."

I didn't stop the truck right away - I thought about it but I didn't figure there was much use and there wasn't really a good place to pull over.  I was pretty sure the duck didn't make it - even now, although I have yet to see it laying along the road. It wasn't super easy but I was able to make it the last 3 or so miles to work where I was able to take a breather.


Anyways here is the formula.

1 Muscovy duck 

HTML BBCode HTML/BBCode:

+ 

1 truck 

 = 

If you look carefully above you will see feathers stuck in the windshield near the top...

Plus all the fun and jokes that are coming out of it.

1. The truck, originally nicknamed 'Herbie Jr' is now 'The Duckinator'.
2. My wife really wants me to admit that I screamed like a girl when it happened.  I didn't since I saw it coming - but if I hadn't.. well.. I won't speculate.
3. The day after this I ended up working from home since I couldn't drive the truck and there was a 60% chance of rain and the days after that I was driving the motorcycle.  On the way to work I kept looking for a duck with an odd waddle to no avail but there were plenty of them along the road and I could visualize one big one strutting along telling his friends "Yeah, I'm bad - I might be in pain but that big white thing didn't come back for more.. Oh yeah."
4. Some duck duck goose jokes..
5. Some comments on doing a better job 'ducking'
6. Comments on how dinner got away from me..
7. More comments on 'waddle home'.
8. etc etc.. a family of real comedians we are..
9. [edit 2017/3/3] How could I forget 'No harm, no fowl'

I have a lot to be thankful for.  I didn't get hit by this duck while riding my motorcycle.  That would have been more dangerous, probably very painful and even more embarrassing.  I would NEVER hear the end of it if I came home with feathers stuck in my riding gear or helmet.  It was a duck and not a large goose which might have gotten through the window to a higher degree.  It wasn't a person and no people were injured.  And of course, I am thankful for the opportunity to fix my attitude a bit. As much as I don't want to admit it, I almost always could use a little bit of an attitude adjustment but a future prayer may have to stress the 'little' aspect. 

Hope God blesses your day!

Scott

Sena 20S Bluetooth Headset - quick review

I bought a Sena 20S bluetooth headset for my (fairly old) HJC helmet about 6 weeks ago.  Now that we moved and have a lot of things going on I thought it was important to maintain my ability to talk with the family while I commute for work and it can be used with my phone for navigation use.  I did a little research and this headset seemed like a good solution.  The Bluetooth 4.1 is a bit newer, has some good features and the runtime is a bit better than others I saw.

You can find the headset at places like Revzilla.

The attachment to the helmet wasn't too hard to make - it just clamps.  My helmet lining wasn't as easy to work with as some of the newer helmets out there but it seems solid enough.  I will say that the location I have the speakers isn't perfect and squeezes on the ears a bit.  I might be able to adjust it a bit better or a different helmet may have a little bit more room in the ear area.

I tend to try to avoid talking while commuting (traffic is very heavy) so I have only made/taken calls a dozen or so times.  The voice quality and volume is pretty good.  The difficult part is that I still feel the need to adjust the volume when stopped versus travelling 35-55mph.  I usually end up being too loud when stopped.

The controls are basically a rotating dial (that depresses in the center too) and a couple buttons.  They are pretty easy to operate but the buttons I tend to have to hunt for a little bit.  It might be a bit challenging with thicker winter gloves for the smaller buttons but thin gloves still allow enough feeling to operate.

I don't use it enough (and haven't reread the documentation recently) to remember how to access most of the features while riding - just answering the phone taxes my memory some days. 

To program the speed dials or change other settings you can either use a smart phone app or a PC based application.  I've done both and it was pretty straight forward.  I do wish I had 4 speed dials instead of just 3 but that isn't a deal breaker.

I did use this with my phone (Android based) once or twice for navigation purposes and it worked well.  I bought a handle bar mount phone holder to allow easy use for this - this is pretty much a requirement. I'm also tempted to get a double USB charger and cables that I can use from the bike in case I get lax on keeping things charged on a day I really need it.  Would I ever get lax on charging?  Um, yeah.. (sheepish look)..

Overall this was a good purchase.  If we end up doing a bunch of dirt biking it might be worth getting more so we can communicate easily.

This is a view of the overall external attachment.  The mic is easily adjustable back into the correct position once you get the helmet on.

 

This shows where I detached the portion that contains the battery. I tend to detach it to charge but I could charge it while on the helmet if I have a convenient wall socket and place to sit the helmet.


The round blob on the lower part of the pic in the cheek area is one of the speakers. The kit comes with some Velcro type attachments which hold pretty well.




This pick shows the other speaker at the top of the strap.




Thanks for reading and I pray for safe travels for all the other riders out there.
Scott

Tampa Florida impression - the first 2 months

Well, it has been around 2 months since I got myself moved to the Tampa area.  My wife and kids have been here a month or so longer though.  I won't speak for them here but I think generally everyone is happy.

The weather has cooled off and is beautiful.  When first getting here it was hot but that was expected.  It was bearable because we didn't really need to spend much time outside then. 

The area is quite pretty around the northern / north eastern Tampa area. We are still house hunting and there are many pretty lakes and ponds along with plenty of Spanish moss. The hunting is going slow but we are hoping to find a house that is really good fit for our family.

The current apartment complex isn't bad overall; they keep it picked up and well groomed.  I just don't like living in apartments though - just not enough room.  Downside is one neighbor seems to yell a lot which is quite audible through the walls.  Can only pray for them - haven't really met them.  Otherwise, the complex is pretty quiet. I do wish there were washers/dryers in the units though - having to cart the laundry around is pretty inconvenient and expensive.  I pray for my wife that it goes well since she is the one with the best availability to handle it.

The job side of things is ok but not quite as good as I hoped; at least not yet.  I continue to hope that I can get involved in a way that I grow technically. I can only pray about that. It may just take time and patience on my part.  With a totally distributed team, it is a bit awkward and even isolating at times.  It is hard to justify a ton of interaction with those sitting around me when to a large degree our work isn't crossing much at this moment.  That has changed a little bit (to the better) as I need some reasonable guidance on what direction cloud computing is moving in the organization. I am forced out of my quiet comfort zone some days and have to "spam" groups standing around to determine who knows the right person to talk to regarding various things.  I'm starting to meet people that way which is a plus.

I think my biggest issue right now is traffic and travel time.  It takes me about an hour to go ~15 miles.  That is taking a few "short" cuts but not speeding like a maniac though. I think the traffic signs are there to taunt you - as in "he he, you could go this fast if there wasn't this much traffic and numerous accidents in front of you"  Two notable days were:  one where I was passed about 3 times by a guy on the sidewalk with a shopping cart.  He was walking slow and had a limp too.  A different day it was an older bicyclist that passed me on the sidewalk several times.  At other places where traffic isn't heavy, you get people blowing by at 20mph+ over the speed limits.  They like to weave around people.  There are also tons of people who race down the empty lanes and then force themselves in front of people. I can only pray that people learn to respect others and give up some of the "life revolves around me" attitude.  These types of attitudes explain why insurance is higher in our county - the amount of speeding and accidents is pretty outrageous. I will say that I can understand how the traffic can wear on you - especially when many of the lights are REALLY long. If you miss a light, you are generally going to be sitting there a while.  I think this is why so many people run the red lights here.  I don't know if they could time lights better or not but the overall effect is you sit at red lights and then you sit at green lights because the traffic on the far side of the light is backed up as well.  Throw in some accidents and pedestrian traffic and it isn't a relaxing drive. I'm hoping I can do some work from home at some point.

We did find a great church (Idlewild Baptist Chuch) though and are hoping that we can find a house that keeps us close enough to do regular activities with along with make my work commute a bit shorter.  We do miss folks at our old church - Staples Mill Road Baptist Church still in VA but the folks here at Idlewild seem to have the same heart for Christ and many opportunities to help people.
The church is much larger than we are used to which is good/bad.  Trying to get/stay involved with a life group but struggling with other stuff (kids schooling mainly) right now.  One more thing that I hope settles down soon.

Overall though, we are liking things.  We still aren't settled enough to really enough the things around us - activities to do, places to visit, etc.  Hoping we can enjoy those things soon.

 I wanted to end this with a bible verse but I see my wife struggling to get laundry stuff around so I must go now.  Hope God blesses you today though.

Scott