Christmas in Traverse City

Here are some pictures from the Christmas holiday taken of downtown Traverse City during a snowstorm that left over 7" of fresh snow.

Of course, my wife and I decided this was the perfect time to venture out for a dinner away from the kids.

We dined at a lovely little place called 'Hanna' and were suprised at how many other couples were daring enough to venture out in the blizzard. Sometimes a few moments away from the chaos of three children is worth the risk.

(looking West on Front Street while waiting for Jenny to get a cup of coffee)

San Juan, Puerto Rico in HDR

These are some images of San Juan I took on my last night there. I walked for hours around town with my Nikon and tripod making exposure bracketed shots of up to 30 seconds long and then knit these together using HDRSoft.

A place called Puerto Rico

The privilege of visiting San Juan, Puerto Rico was bestowed upon me for a November visit to this Caribbean territory of the United States. An amazing beautiful yet economically sad country this is to visit.

Discovered by Columbus on his second exploration of the new world in 1492, Puerto Rico has had a very fascinating past. Exclusive domain of the island was held by the Spanish government until negotiations in Washington DC ended the Spanish American war in 1898. The Spaniards used the island as their primary wealth accumulation point to both North and South America in their annual shipment to Europe.

A failed attempt to overtake the island was attempted by the US Flotilla in 1898 before politics intervened. Of interesting note is that the city of San Juan, the capitol of the island even to this day, was never taken by force.

The Great Depression had a significant economic impact to the island, as they had no significant industry to support them. During the 50's, 60's, and even 70's, Patricians left their homeland in droves (up to 75,000 per year) for a better life stateside, with most of the settling in New York. It is said that there are more Patricians living in the US than there are in Puerto Rico.

Having no income or property taxes to collect money, the government there exists almost entirely off monies from the US Government. Changes in tax free manufactured created a big boom in the 80's and 90's as pharmaceutical companies opened up sites in large numbers. Tourism became the countries second largest industry (even though several hotel chains started there in the 50's and 60's, no significant impact was seen on the economy) as a booming downtown was redeveloped with towering hotels and nightlife.

The 1980's and 1990's saw a peak in tourism and industry, and the city streets definitely reflect that in their colors, styling, and design. The ethnic influences of the Spanish can be seen in run down civil engineering that fights a never ending battle against the elements.

Of volcanic origin, the island has a vastly differing topography very similar to that of Hawaii. The temperature averages 86 year round. The island is roughly 1200 square miles and has a rectangular shape to it. Language spoken here is predominately Spanish, but English can easily be spoken in all of the tourist areas.

The worlds largest radio telescope, the Arecibo Observatory, in housed in a sinkhole spanning over 300 meters in width, located about an hour outside of San Juan. Facing a potential loss of NSF funding, the telescope is in 24x7 use by scientists from around the world who wait years just to get a few minutes on the system. Built in the 1960's, the site saw a significant upgrade in 1997 that resulted in much needed technological improvements including a 1MW transmitter.

I spent two weeks here doing mostly work, but I did get to spend a lot of time traveling around and experiencing the culture. Although run down, the island is a marvel of history.

Encircled by an impenetrable wall up to twenty-five feet tall, San Juan once boasted a pre-1900 population of over 26,000. The wall and two forts (one to protect from attract by sea, El Morrow, and one to protect from attack by land, San Sebastian) took over 400 years of slave labor to build. The original native peoples died at the hands of the Spanish while building the wall and were later replaced by African slaves.

The wall and forts are nothing less than amazing, even to this day. The US even used both of the forts during World War II adding cement lookouts to each to spot German U-boats. Open to tourists since 1948, both are an amazing snapshot into military technology going back centuries.

(the courtyard of San Sebastian)

(looking West towards El Morrow from San Juan)

The people were extremely nice and patient with me during my travels and I'd love to visit again, maybe with family it tow.

jp

Fire Department Quandry

It has been over a month since I last had my pager even turned on, let alone responded to a single call or gone to training even once.

I'm a slacker, pure and simple, but what is my problem? I know I can use the same old excuses that I've tried over and over, though I think they're getting worn out: "Its the holidays", "I'm too busy travelling for work", "my wife is busy going to school and I've no free time", and "We're just too busy chasing kids."

The truth is that I'm just not committed to it in my heart right now.

Our team took a huge emotional blow this past Summer when not a single member was selected for any of the four full-time positions that opened up. Sure, some of us were on the list, but not anywhere near we'd need to be to have gotten one. That hurt, it hurt a lot. I was even more shocked in learning that most of our team didn't even come close to making it. The question of "are we really that bad at being firefighters?" kept coming to my mind. We've all been through the training and most of us have gone above and beyond to further certify ourselves. I've gone through search and rescue training, officer training, weapons of mass destruction, and many more classes with certificates.

Yet, it seemed that none of this matters. Blaming others for my own shortfalls is not a good trait to have, so, I've pushed past that, or at least that's what I tell myself.

To be totally honest, I have a hard time getting up in the middle of the night, getting in a cold truck, driving 10 minutes across town to help some elderly or poor healthed person into an ambulance just because they want a free meal, refill on drugs, or just seem to be plain bored with life. I'm always amazed at how poor some people can live their life, almost like they strive to be a burden on society and almost like they blame everyone else for their own situations.

The respectable person rarely calls 911 or becomes a 'regular' user of their city's emergency services. A large percentage of any departments call volume can be accounted for by those that abuse the system, and I tell you, its these folks that are driving me away from this service.

I've been there to save a life, been there to save a house, seen amazing things, helped, loved, cried, and lived. The drive to be a part of all that still exists in me, and feel the pull each time I hear the bells or hear sirens, but, my emotions are dragging me the other way.

I could blame it all on my wife, as I know she's as frustrated with the constant calls, having me pulled away in the middle of changing a diaper, leaving her standing in the middle of the grocery store with three kids and no transportation home, not being able to go out to eat or see a movie, weekly training that takes an entire night away since I leave work and head to the FD, the eight hours of 'ride time' I must do each month to keep my job, and above all the emotional commitment. From her perspective, I can easily see how it would seem that the fire department has more significance to me than she and the kids do, and there are times that I almost feel that way too.

So, I balance the family that helps those in need against the family of my wife and kids. The giving nature of the fire department is a definite reflection of myself. Selfishness of being is something my wife sees in me about everything, yet the fire department counteracts this selfishness by being something totally about others.

Wishes for good intentions and the advice of others fail to assuage my lethargic nature towards the fire department into the fruition of a decision... here I sit trying to decide do I stay or do I go.

I just don't know.

jp

Life's Mottos

It occurred to me today, while eating lunch with a friend, that I keep telling myself about these motto's that drive my life, yet, I've never really tried to put them down in writing. So, without further ado, here I go.

I've thought of several motto's that describe, at least to me, what I feel is important. Sort of like 'mantras' towards focus, but, also as method of perspective into my views. I once worked with a guy named Ken who was our email system administrator for a company that was acquired in the late '90's that was based in Chicago. I remember thinking that the ISP (we were Voyager.Net at the time, and CoreComm had just bought us as well as Megs Inet, which is where Ken worked) was just this huge company with amazing technology that was going to dwarf my knowledge base, and soon, someone management type would figure out I'm just some hack who's knowledge doesn't compare to these "new" employees, and I'd shortly be out of a job.

Ken focused his life by writing one or two word 'mantras' and posting them on a board on the wall of his cube. Words like 'sendmail', 'ospf', 'increase mail quoats', 'qmail', and other dotted this focus point for him. When asked what they were for, he merely replied to me that these 'help keep me focused on what I do on a day to day basis.' Now, I've no idea if the focus problem was either the hectic nature of the large ISP that Ken was wrapped up in or from the 6 pack of Red Bull he doused daily, but, the point of focus stuck with me.

Thinking further about Ken's system, and doing a lot of driving around in those days, I coined my first 'motto'. Now, those that know me (especially my wife) and have ridden in a car with me, know that I'm a very 'poky' driver. Elderly drivers (think of the "Where's the beef" lady from 80's Wendy's commercials) who stare through their steering wheel of their over-sized 4 door sedans and old men who haven't been able to see farther than arms reach, yet drive, would be more than proud of my snails pace at driving. After being in the fire department, I've learned that speed kills, but, the cause of my slowness started much earlier than that.

Now, I like to obey the laws of our land like any other, but, I used to like to speed when I was much younger. Owning a 4 cylinder Pontiac 6000 station wagon meant that I wasn't going to win any street races anytime soon, but, I know I did my fair share. When I was a junior in high school, my older step brother, Jeff, had a horrific incident that put life into perspective for not only him but also for me. While riding their motorcycles back from town, they both stopped at a stop light. Now Jeff used to always be on the left hand side of the lane, while his buddy would always be on the right. For some reason, at this particular light, they reversed themselves. While chatting at the red light, a semi-truck made a left-hand turn in front of them. Either rushed driving, lack of experience, or just plain oversight caused the driver to cut his turn shorter than necessary. To Jeff's horror, he watched as the rear wheels of the trailer clipped his riding companions bike and pulled him underneath crushing him to an instant death.

This humbling experience made me realize that maybe the things I thought were important to me really had a much smaller perspective in the 'global' view of life.

The motto 'Those that speed through life find themselves in an early grave' came out of the above experiences and pretty much typifies how I try to live and enjoy myself.

This comes close to another motto that I also try to live by: 'Don't put off 'till tomorrow that which can be done today.'

Another fairly recent motto addition came during a viewing of "Meet the Robinson's", a movie that neither of my two older children thought enjoyable at first viewing. One key phrase repeated throughout the movie is 'Keep moving forward.' Apparently Walt Disney used this phrase when describing his success. I believe the actual phrase was “Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

What an excellent viewpoint and another adopted motto for myself.

After spending a lot of time in the fire department, you get to see a very interesting window into peoples lives. Think about it, what other industry do you have that calls you into another persons life at a time when they really need help. The people that I see are often very vulnerable due to the events that lead them to call us for help. We walk into all sorts of homes from all income ranges and all walks of life. I see people who you'd think that have everything all together that really don't, people whom no one ever sees, yet have an amazing life.

One particular man stands out in my mind. A few years ago, we got a call down the street from my house to an 80 something man with difficulty breathing. Well, the call is about a block from my house, so I was the first one there and the first to go inside. I've seen the house a thousand times since I have to pass is at least twice a day as I travel to and from work. Never really taking note of the rather non-decrepit average ranch style burgundy home, I was amazed at what I'm about to describe. Walking into the house from the side porch to a frail voice that was beckoning me towards him in the living room, I notice a pair of slacks hanging upside down in the middle of the hall way. The rest of the house was obviously designed and decorated by a woman, yet has that smell and sort of unclean look so indicative of bachelorhood. Photos on the walls denote a happy couple seen in many different parts of the world, obviously enjoying their retirement.

The man sits in an older style wooden armchair in the living room. He is frail in voice only because of the medical condition he's experiencing... this man is no weak flea, let me tell you. After providing oxygen and getting a little more detail about his symptoms, we provide oxygen and start to treat him like we do only an ever regular basis. I usually start looking around my surroundings about this time as the conversation usually dulls down a bit as we wait for the "bus" to arrive that will transport him to the nearest hospital. I'm amazed to look at the side wall and see a ton of pictures of a B-29 superfortress with a very young looking embodiment of the figure in front of me. I ask and learn that he did two tours over Germany in World War 2, some 50+ missions in all. And, I learn, he was a turret gunner - the deadliest position often referred to as the "suicide seat" - for all of these tours! His wife died about 12 years ago from cancer, and he's lived on with the emotional support of his two children and grandchildren.

A very passionate voice about the war emerges, as I almost always try to get my patients to focus on something they like to talk about rather than worrying about their current medical predicament. He tells me more and more about the war, and then floors me with the fact that he works at the local air museum (Kalamazoo's AirZoo) as a tour guide. What a touching experience I've just had with this man, and I'm amazed at his zeal and pizazz for life. I could only wish to achieve half of what he's done.

As we load him into the waiting ambulance, I take one last moment and say "Thank you for all that you and your generation have done for us in this great country. Without you there would be no me". I'm greeted by a warm smile as the doors close.

This lead me to another phrase: "It's not what you know or do in life, its about the people and meaningful connections you make along your journey."

Working in IT, we are constantly encompassed in a very emotional and passionate environment. Anyone who has ever worked in this field can tell you just how stressful IT really can be. At times, its like being a brain surgeon in the middle of a teaching hospital with a hundred students looking on and asking questions while the patient in front of you is crashing.

Anytime a major system crashes, it always seems that repairing it turns into a spectator sport, where the viewers seem to think that constantly pestering the engineering staff will result in faster service restoration. Many of my colleagues give most if not all of their life to this field (I too have spent many a 100 hour week working to just stay afloat), and after a while I began to wonder they "why" of what we do. Sure, the pay is great, but whats the end outcome.

So, my work motto changed, as did my views about spending all my time at the office, to "these computer systems aren't going to change my Depends when I'm older" and off I go to spend time with wife and kids (the ones who I can't wait to payback for all those embarrassing bodily function incidents they've treated me too over the years).

I once heard a joke about a mechanic and a heart surgeon where the mechanic says "You and I are not that different. I can take the motor out of this vehicle, rebuild it, fix it and replace it into the patient, just like you would a heart transplant" the doctor thinks for a minute and then replies "Yeah, but try doing it while the engine is running".

So, I hope this rather lengthy explanation gives a little insight into my views on life.

jp

Initial jump into view

Well, this begins my first time at running a blog. Through various other incantations of personal information update systems on the Internet, I've finally given in and decided that maybe... just maybe.. the system of blogging has gotten enough support elsewhere for it to illicit change in my life. Through hosting my own server on the net, I've learned and tried various methods, though I still think my favorite is a .txt file that I could edit with vi... but, given that I like photography, the whole converting images to ascii just to put them in text thing is a little unrealistic.

For those that don't know me, I'm Jay Pike. I'm from a nice sized town in Michigan, I've got a wife and three kids, stable job in the computer industry, love radios, photography, travel, music, playing drums, and my children. I've been a volunteer firefighter for our city since 2002, a job that I love and get plenty of emotional satisfaction out of.

There, that should be enough to start here. More updates should be coming soon.

jp

Hanna Bistro in Traverse City

In the middle of a blizzard in northern Michigan, my wife and I ventured out for an evening away from the kids, something well worth the effort given the dining choice we made. Located in an old fire station, Hanna was a welcome change to our usual child catered dining choices of mac-n-cheese, hot dogs, or something revolving around fried chicken.

The wood fired oven lead to some amazing menu choices, but we leaned towards something approaching a 'surf and turf' palate, or at least for my wife. I chose a fillet of steak that left me wanting to steal the kitchen staff and drag them home with me.

In an atmosphere that tailored to a very personal appeal with candle lit tables with a very natural feel.

We certainly look forward to future visits to this Traverse City staple.

jp