Don't Forget

The happiest time in my life is right now. The best time in my life is right now. I love spending time my wife and boys. This is why I've toiled and suffered for 40 years to get to this point. When they look at me and smile because they are satisfied, it's the best feeling in the world. I can see now that this is time I will look back on when I'm old and say 'Yes, this is the time I knew I'd made it. When I was at my happiest.'

Trail Extension

I went to ride the other day and I took the PT Cruiser using the brand new bike rack my dad found in his garage. It uses ancient strap and buckle technology which can be confusing but if you mess with it long enough it does actually work.

When I got to the trail I saw something new right at the start. There was a picnic table and a new sign. My goodness what was the news?!?

Future - Trafford thru Murrysville to Export

Oooh What does that mean?! I knew they'd be extending the trail sometime in the future. When I first started riding this was pretty much immediately after the part that took it to Delmont opened so I've never know the trail any different than how it is now.

They're coming FROM Trafford TO Export? That seems confusing. Where the heck is there currently a trail in Trafford to come from? How long will this take until we can ride on it? Most importantly, where will the Penn Trafford connector section be? There is no way they cannot have at least an extension that hooks us in to the main trail if it the main trail can't actually go that way. Now I don't want so many people on it that a person can't reasonably ride their bike in safety but I feel everyone would enjoy it and it would get lots of traffic from PT people if we had access. I'm probably going to have to give them money and join so I can somehow have a say in this. I'm sure there have to be PT people already trying to sway someone. There were also some maps and brochures on the post so I just need to mail that in now.

I thought about how cool that will be when it happens for a large stretch of my bike ride and that was nice.

That was until I found someone's phone. It was on the ground in the tunnel right before the mile 4 marker. I wasn't even planning on going that long but I was feeling good. Plus I devised a plan for next week to finally ride the entire length of the West Penn Trail. I'm going to park at the parking lot I found at the 5 mile marker and go to the end and back however long it takes me. So I figured if I"m going to start at the 5 I should ride the other half of the trail up to the 5 so over the 2 weeks I hit every part of it.

Anyway so I go through the tunnel and I see a snazzy electric portable phone. I don't know if my first thought was 'Screw it' because I did ride by but something stopped me and I turned around and grabbed it. It wasn't broke or anything so I put it in my pocket and kept going. So then I started thinking about what I was going to do and how. I figured when I got done riding I could just find a likely contact and call it to see if they could get a hold of whoever this was but then I thought 'No'. I don't want to go through dudes phone. I'm sure its nothing but what if hes a weirdo or a closet cheating freak or mafia or who the hell knows what. I yelled out at a few people I passed asking if they lost a phone but no luck.  By the end I was decided to just drop it off with the cops.

Of course that was an affair. How stupid am I to go walking right up to police and give them me to beat up or whatever? They were right on the way home though (after my GPS took me in the stupidest circle I ever took) in the basement of an old brick building with this locked steel door and camera and stuff. I rang the bell and just as I thought no one was coming and 'Should I just leave it here on the ground' some (obviously) big, bald cop opens the door and I'm pretty sure he just said 'What?' gruffly and not "How can I help you?'. I just said Lost and Found and handed it to him. I said I found it on the bike trail and he took it and I bolted. Hopefully whoever lost it got it back.

40TH ANNIVERSARY BIRTHDAY SPECTACULAR!!!

I turned 40 this past weekend so I planned a nice weekend out for the occasion.

Day 1 Friday July 31st

• We first waited out for the Dark Pit amiibo
• Went to the David L Lawrence Convention Center for ReplayFX
• Went to Pappy's

Day 2 Saturday August 1st

• Left to go to the beach
• Arrived at the beach after much driving and traffic
• Swam and beached for a few hours
• Came back via the shuttle to get our Neptune photo
• Had pizza

Day 3 Sunday August 2nd

• Went to Sandbridge
• Saw the USS Wisconsin
• Drove back to Pappy's
• Grilled out
• Had cake

Day 4 Monday August 3rd

• Played frisbee
• Drove home
• Stopped to hang out with the boy and eat food

Yay! Fun! I'm 40! :O

Continued Success

I own 2 acres of land. I have an 11 year old son and a 3 month old son. I have the most beautiful, real, soulmate that anyone could possibly hope for. I have every amiibo released so far. I get to play all the awesome new games that come out on the best systems. I have plenty of awesome bike trails to ride to my hearts content. Now I just got a promotion at work. It doesn't feel like a promotion you see on TV or in a movie but I think it's pretty darn good. Certainly turned this year around from the way it started. Let's hold this together and keep moving forward to even better stuff.

Trail Fest 2015

Apparently I have evolved into a cyclist. My goals is to ride 500 miles this year.

Here are some links to some of the places I go. Hopefully I'll come back and clean this up a bit.



http://www.post-gazette.com/life/recreation/2015/04/04/Cyclists-look-north-to-progress-on-the-Erie-to-Pittsburgh-Trail/stories/201504040012

http://friendsoftheriverfront.org/trails/three-rivers-heritage-trail/three-rivers-heritage-trail-status/

5 STAR TRAIL
http://www.co.westmoreland.pa.us/index.aspx?nid=1007

WESTMORELAND HERITAGE TRAIL
http://www.co.westmoreland.pa.us/index.aspx?nid=1010

GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE
http://www.co.westmoreland.pa.us/index.aspx?nid=1008
http://www.atatrail.org/

RTC
http://www.regionaltrailcorp.com/

My GMO stance

I see this big controversy regarding GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and I wanted to state my case, how I see it at this point. I see some benefits but for right now I am against them because I see abuse. 

When I say I'm non-GMO I mean the kind that is sprayed and bred with poison so when they spray it with other poison to kill the weeds/bugs it doesn't also die. That shit cant' be good for you and from everything I read it's not. 

• New Generation of Genetically Engineered Crops Found to Drastically Increase Use of Toxic Pesticides

• Move Over, Round-up: USDA Approves 2nd Generation GMOs That Can Withstand Even Deadlier Herbicide

I'm not against the type where they change something genetically in the seed/plant/fruit to make it better in a non-poison-resisting way. I think people lump these differences together and it can be confusing when the subject comes up for discussion.

I understand the benefits of the second type and I believe the goals strived for by those are worthy and necessary but only if it is done in an open, transparent way that has been fully tested and approved by the FDA or USDA. This assumes the organization is not paid off by corporations by stocking it with lobbyists and former employees and fully understands the consequences to the people to which it serves. Unfortunately I don't see a lot of that. I see corporate profits put above health concerns. 

Here is some more reading you can do on the subject: What You Need To Know About GMOs

I also don't understand the resistance these companies have to labeling these products. As far as I know if any company ever has made an improvement to a product or created a new product they wish to sell, THEY TELL EVERYONE! They spent countless dollars getting the word out via advertising. They shove it down your throat and throw it in your face until you give in. What is happening here is the exact opposite and why wouldn't a normal person be suspicious. These companies are doing everything they can to keep people in the dark about it. They don't want you to know which products contain GMOs and which do not. They are suing cities and states that are trying to inform the public with labeling laws to try and stop them. Why in the world would someone do that? If these products are so great and everyone should want them then why hide this fact? I absolutely do not trust this and neither do most countries besides the US as it is banned in countries across the world but obviously money talks here and if you can pay off the right people you can circumvent the people's health concerns. 

To Label Or Not To Label

In short I do not agree that this generation of people should be guinea pigs for these corporations to test the effects of these crops on people. We can wait a few more years until you perfect it before you roll it out and avoid giving everyone cancer. How will you make money if you kill off everyone?

No Consensus

Have I Finally Made Positive Progress?

I feel like I'm happy. What's wrong with me? :O

Usually when I accomplish things I feel as though that was expected to be accomplished and I barely get any joy of them but lately it has been different. I don't know if it's the meditations or the babby or what but I feel happier recently, more appreciative and I think I like it.

THE MEDITATIONS
I read a bunch of meditation books towards the end of last year and got some guided audio meditations on my phone I have been listening to. I've been learning to clear my mind and be in the moment more. In my life so far my brain just runs future scenarios. Whether they be I wish this interaction would have came out differently this way or planning for a future interaction I know will be happening that what it does always. Maybe doing that distracts me from being able to do other things I don't know. I have been clearing to clear my mind and then focus on what it does, label it and put it behind me. What I try to picture I try to describe as Super Mario Galaxy when I talk to someone about it. I picture the nothingness of space and myself flying through it and extraordinary speeds as when Mario gets propelled from planetoid to planetoid in the game. I picture a huge star that more than fills my field of vision but I am still far away from it but that is where I'm going; enlightenment. When I get distracted and my brain goes off on tangents as soon as I realize that I picture that line of thinking as an asteroid or something I temporarily landed on but the realization breaks it up and it crumbles behind me as I once again continue forward towards the light. I think that is working for me. Some days I can calm myself and clear my head rather easily, some days it just doesn't happen for me but I think continuing to try is worth it. I can push my brain to do more for me.

THE BABBY
Maybe it's the babby. He is super cute after all. Ale and I came up with the idea of Pax long before she ever moved here. When she finally got pregnant and he turned out to be a boy and then was born healthy things all seem to go according to some plan. I haven't had a newborn baby in so long I almost forgot what it was like but it's wonderful. I feel I love Ale even more for successfully producing such a wonder. Her family visited for almost a month to come see him and help her take care of him and they just left this past weekend and dang do I miss them. It was wonderful to have them here. I really enjoyed their visit and was sad to see them go. I feel sad when I think they will miss the babby being so far away. I feel like more of a family than we were before somehow. If I can just get my mom, Aunt Dee and Elaine to cooperate and help us with daycare we could even entertain the possibility of another little bundle of joy. That has to happen real soon though.

Quick substory to the babby I wanted to add.
We did have a bit of trouble with him at first. The feeding part did not go as planned. Unfortunately Ale's body was not cooperating with the plans to breast feed him and was only producing a few ounces of milk per day when Pax required much more. This is upsetting to Ale and that made me upset but I understand and it's not her fault. There's nothing you can do. The doctor's keep saying 'Oh it'll probably all work for the next baby'. Well that's great and all but what the hell is this one supposed to eat. He's the one screaming right now that he's hungry. >.< It took us the whole first weekend to figure that out (which was miserable) and that somehow set some red flags off when we took him for his first doctor's appointment. They expected him to lose a little bit of weight but not as much. We told them what we found out but they scheduled another appointment in a week to make sure we were on track. Then when we went to that appointment weight was good but now his temperature was low for some reason and the lady was alarmed about that. I may have taken this the wrong way but it seemed to me it was a threat that she would insist the babby go to the hospital if it doesn't rise in the next 20 min. I definitely did not like how she imparted that information to us. I had to jam the babby down my shirt, skin to skin, to warm him up enough so we could leave but at least that worked. A few other things that may have caused me some slight worry:

• There is the red mark on his nose and one between his eyes that hasn't gone away yet. 
• He had some skin issues at first too, flaky and such but that seems okay once I started using that lavender smelling babby lotion on him. 
• I feel weren't weren't washing him enough and he got some bad babby acne before I started taking care of that.
• Also after a bath one day and a few other times I've noticed his had a weird pattern of small red circles all over his skin. People have since explained that away to me but I still didn't like it.

Besides all that though he's perfect. :D


Anyway the point of all this is I'm happy. I feel happy. I am noticing that I am and feel happy which makes me even more happy. I don't think that used to be the case. Whatever is going on I like it and want it to continue. I love my wife and family!