Memphis in May meets Camino Frances

Last night my wife and and several other couples made our way down to Joysmith Gallery in downtown Memphis to catch an art exhibit featuring the Camino de Santiago. The camino - caminos, really, since there are multiple routes, are a set of pilgrimage routes to the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. My wife and I undertook a partial camino in May of 2004; my friends Eric & Joan walked the entire Camino Frances (480 miles) that same year.

The exhibit is a touring display of photos and paintings by American pilgrims. The tour started at The College of William & Mary; Memphis is the 2nd exhibition. Last night all the attendees were honored to have the curator of the collection, George Greenia, on hand to describe the Camino and answer questions. George is a former Franciscan monk who now teaches in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies department at W&M, where he leads groups of students on pilgrimage. He also helps coordinate the Annual Gathering of Pilgrims when it meets in Williamsburg, VA. and edits the American Pilgrim magazine.

It was great to talk to a fellow pilgrim, especially a more experienced one. My friend Eric got to talk to him about his own Fulbright studies in Belgium. George invoked Goethe's statement that 'the Camino created Europe', which appeared to please Joan. My wife is going to see about arranging another Memphis visit for George to speak at our church.

Grayston Ives' Missa Brevis

Today was Grayston Ives' Missa Brevis, including yours truly in a double quartet for the Agnus Dei. Very nice. It was only after performing the piece that I learned of Ives' participation in the King's Singers.

Ghosts of Spain

I've been reading Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett. I wouldn't call it a novel; it's more a set of linked essays that discuss post-Franco Spain, and even then not so much what happened as what has not happened. From what I've read so far, the author feels that a real political integration of opposing forces still hasn't taken place - that the Spanish approach to much of the Franco-era history has been to forget much of what happened. Of course, we're talking about a book written by a British ex-pat journalist who I think wants to see something along the lines of South African reconciliation tribunals, and who wonders aloud how Spanish judges can pursue Pinochet while ignoring their own issues.

Good reading so far. I admit that I am almost entirely ignorant of recent Spanish history.* I mean, I knew a little of Franco and the larger divisions within Spain, but not why such divisions exist (even still, hence the book). I imagine I need something even more recent to cover the current social scene.

* I still l recall the first time I heard of Franco. Unfortunately, I was in my early teens. At the time there was a fairly famous line regularly repeated by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live: "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead." I had no idea what that meant, though I did find the idea of someone "still dead" pretty funny on the face of it.

Life as Pilgrimage

Today my wife and I traveled down to Canton, MS to meet Brett Webb-Mitchell, author of several books including Follow Me and the newly published School of the Pilgrim: An Alternative Path to Christian Growth, and founder of The School of the Pilgrim. Brett was actually meeting with Rev. Rob Hill and several members of Broadmeadow United Methodist Church. While I don't want to steal any of Brett's thunder, I will say that Brett is a man who gets pilgrimage - as a physical act, but also as the subject of metaphor of Christian living, in a way that I haven't seen expressed before.

The Tale of the Pirate

Once there was a pirate. Being a pirate, he loved treasure. In fact, the only thing he liked better than treasure was buried treasure. He sailed the seven seas searching for buried treasure. He found treasure beneath the waves. He found treasure on distant islands. He found treasure in the many ports that he called home. The pirate found more treasure than any pirate alive, but he still wasn't satisfied. So one day he started hiding his own treasure. He buried treasure here, there and everywhere. He even buried treasure on his own ship! The other pirates said, "Arrrr, there be a fine pirate who be willing to share his booty!"

But then a funny thing happened: the pirate started finding his own treasure and re-claiming it as his own. Now that is a funny thing for a pirate to do, with so much treasure in the world.


I leave it to my friends to find the moral behind this tale.

Men's Retreat, Party, and the Photo Shoot

It has been a busy weekend, starting Friday afternoon. The men's group at my church held a retreat at an event center not far from a great caching park. The spiritual leader of the weekend was John Baker, who is now in Alexandria, VA, but was at my church when I first starting attending. [ He also used to own a car repair shop that is still open and still called by the original name - Baker Auto. ] It was a great weekend for all, but especially for me, I think, because one of the greatest disadvantages to being in a church choir is that you don't get a chance to meet a lot of the other folks in church, in spite of the fact that you're often there more often (or at least more consistently) than many of the members. So I enjoyed actually meeting a lot of familiar faces.

Today (Sunday) was also the day for the 'other' singing group that I'm in. We elected to have a professional photographer shoot our promotional photo that we will use in our advertisements and other marketing collateral. I am curious as to how the photos will turn out; we certainly did spent quite a bit of time arranging the members and selecting a variety of locations.

After the shoot we gathered at the director's house for a potluck supper that ended up being quite a feast. Hopefully this (sans the photo shoot) will become a 5th Sunday tradition!

GeoGreeting

BDD posted a link to a fun url - GeoGreeting. It's a yet another site that allows you construct personalized messages, but in this case the letters are actually overhead shots of buildings.

Here's an example.

My Personal Blog

For those of you reading along at home: this is my personal blog. Since I am independent consultant, I don't need to say this, but the opinions expressed herein are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employers.

Since it is my personal blog, I feel entitled to write whatever I want. In fact, that's the only reason that this blog exists: to allow me a public forum in which to state whatever I want to say. To suggest otherwise is ludicrous.

By extension, I have no qualms about moderating any comments left on this blog (though I have yet to do so). Visitors have no first amendment rights here. If you have something to say, say it, but if I don't like it, tough. Start your own blog and say whatever you want to say there if you have a strong desire to make yourself heard. It's cheap and easy.

It is only in the Commons, such as community forums and the like, that anyone should have any expectation of privilege.

Geocaching & People

I am a geocacher. To those of you unfamiliar with the term, suffice it to say that I use billion-dollar military satellite technology to find tupperware containers hidden in the woods. Hey, everybody needs a hobby. I belong to several geocaching organizations, including the Geocachers Of West Tennessee, founded by my friend Steve Spencer aka spencersb and the Jackson Area Geocachers, founded by my friend Damon Mays, aka BigDaddyD.

There is some tension between the two organizations, which is strange when you consider that belonging to a geocaching organization is optional and of little real value. Really, there appears to be some tension/dislike/animosity/hate between specific individuals in the two organizations. The situation is not pleasant, and occasionally it is difficult, especially when you hear or read people from one side say ugly things about the other. All of which is to say that I've determined that my geocaching experience, at least as it regards to cachers, is a lot like my work experience, as it regards to workers. To wit:

1. There are people that I like that I like to work with.
   
2. There are people that I do not like that I like to work with.
3. There are people that I like that I do not like to work with.
4. There are people that I do not like that I do not like to work with.
   

Substitute geocache for work and the axioms hold. Some of my feelings are driven by differences in opinion on what geocaching means. The first and the fourth are obvious, but the second and the third have made work - and geocaching - more interesting. I've had co-workers who were interesting, kind, good-hearted people, but who were completely inept in their jobs. I've had co-workers who were skilled professionals, but unethical, callous, and rude.

For those who haven't geocached, trust me when I say that there is quite a variety of opinions about the trivia of geocaching: what it means to claim the finding of a geocache, what is the intent of placing a geocache, where should they be placed, even what size container is appropriate. Ultimately these are petty distinctions, though. Geocaching is voluntary, and the specifics of hiding and searching for geocaches enjoys remarkable liberty. These differences aren't what are driving the the GOWT vs. JAG feud, though. I think the reasons for those fights are more universal and rooted in fear, mistrust, greed, and lust.

Cache Maintenance and the Felling of Trees

This morning I got up early and went out to do a little cache maintenance. A friend from grad school has recently started caching; he told me that the log for Arc d' Memphis was full, so I replaced it. I then drove over to do a little work on In the Middle of East Memphis.

Recently I had visited IMEM to check on the container, which had been reported missing. Sure enough, the container, which was suspended 20 feet up in a tree and attached by wire cable, was gone. Fortunately, there were plenty of clues as to who took it, as the surrounding area was filled with pot-smoking kids, some sitting in the tree next to where I was standing. They had driven a vehicle back into the park and had the doors wide open, playing the stereo. Did I mention that there was a park picnic table mounted up in one of the trees?

This morning I returned to the park to find a new situation. Shortly after walking back to the original container site, a park service vehicle drove by, followed shortly thereafter by two dump trucks and a front-end loader. The real change, though, was that the park commission has cut all of the lower limbs off of the magnolias and is cleaning up the debris.

On one of the trees youths had already nailed 2x4's to re-create the steps provided by the branches. They had even painted a message on them, something like "Patrick and Drew will find a way" and "why did you do this to our trees" and some insults for the park commission. Maybe they will get to enjoy the trees. I hope that this is the beginning of a better Audubon park.

CITO and #800

Yesterday I woke early, dressed in some old clothes (including my favorite long sleeved shirt), and drove out a little past Jackson, TN to Natchez Trace State Park. The park is the largest state park in TN and home to several lakes, lots of trails of the equestrian and hiking kind, several campsites and less rustic places to stay. It was also the site of the first Jackson Area Geocachers CITO event, which was the reason for my visit. The 2 hour drive was uneventful except for the threat of rain and the chance encounter (!) of cgeek and Mackheath making their way to Jackson for a day of caching. I, on the otherhand, encountered a couple of turkeys on the road into the park, and was followed closely by the event organizer, BigDaddyD, and his wife Mrs. T. We were joined shortly thereafter by LilLuckyClover, Dalls, and Yogi. With various implements of destruction in hand we traversed a couple of the local trails and removed encroaching plantlife and trash. Along the way I picked up a couple of caches. After completing one trail, LLC and I hitched a ride and were driven to a couple of cache sites in the park; it's always handy to be riding with the cache maintainer, and BDD is also on the board of the 'Friends' association of the park. After lunch Yogi led/followed me as I picked up 5 more caches. A low total for the day perhaps (10), but just enough to bring my total number of finds to 800, which was my other goal for the day. I still have plenty of caches to find in the park, and what I've learned about the amenities is enough to convince my wife that she and I need to plan a visit during the summer.

What I get out of caching

Recently I had occasion to talk to a bunch of fellow geocachers. I asked them a bunch of questions, but the most interesting point of the exchange was when one of them finally turned the tables and asked a question of the form, "What do you expect to get out of X?", where X is a geocaching group. I hadn't really considered the question before, though I had a fair idea, inspired, in part, by GOLUM, a Linux user group I formed years ago. A friend of mine even joked once that "[I'm] an organization man" and, in some ways, I guess I am. Perhaps this will be repetitious to some (all) of the readers of this entry, but I'll repeat myself if only to preserve my thoughts. My central premise is this:

I believe that most clubs are social in nature.

When I organized GOLUM, I formed it chiefly to help draw out like-minded individuals in my community. I assumed that some of them knew more than I did about a particular subject of interest - Linux - and I thought that by providing a group I could meet them, facilitate an exchange of ideas, and teach myself and others a few new tricks. The Linux part was useful - it gave the group a common purpose - but I really expected a much broader benefit. I'm happy to say that I was right in that regard, as GOLUM members are diverse, bright and eclectic. Some of the members have had a tremendous impact on my life.

Now, I started caching because I thought the idea of a high-tech treasure hunt was cool - and it is. The very idea that orbiting satellites are providing real-time location information to a tiny, handheld radio is wonderful. Geocaching searches have taken me to obscure, interesting, dangerous, even beautiful places that I likely would never had seen. Still, at the end of the day I prefer caching with a friend to caching alone, and I think that talking about caching with other cachers is an important part of the game. I hope, though, that caching extends beyond that, in truly useful ways. I'm a believer in CITO for that reason: I think it extends geocaching to the surround community is a socially beneficial way. The caching crowd is another social/business network, but most of the cachers that I actually know go beyond trying to assess "who's who" or "who can do what for me." Yes, some of the sharing is superficial, but some of it is real, not for all, but for those who seek it.

So, what do I want out of a geocaching group? I want a chance for these sorts of interactions to occur. Real life bleeds into hobbies. Groups are a good way to take advantage of that.

Sunday

Singing updates: last Sunday was Hoiby's Let This Mind Be in You, because of the associated NT reading. All in all it went well.

Later that afternoon was a Happy Birthday that doesn't quite count.

Chorale rehearsal focused on Down by the Salley Gardens, Persichetti's Song of Peace, and Lennon and McCartney's Yesterday. The Salley Gardens is coming along, though it is a bit sentimental for my tastes. Song of Peace still needs a little work, but I think it will be a very strong piece for us. Yesterday was suprisingly difficult to sing the first time, chiefly, I suspect, because so many of us were familiar with it. I, for one, kept singing what I expected (from years of radio exposure) rather than what was written. The second pass was markedly better, though, as the quarter vs. dotted quarter rhythms were corrected.

Engraving

I guess you could say that I have odd hobbies. During my most recent stint in grad school I came to appreciate typesetting since I produced a number of manuscripts intended for publication. For this I used LaTeX. LaTeX is about as far away from WYSIWYG "Word Processing" as you can get these days [there are editors to help with that, but I prefer text editors] , but I think the results are superior, and it is certainly easier in my opinion to do scientific publication preparation in LaTeX than, say, Microsoft Word. But I digress...

As you might have gathered, I like to sing, and I do sing in a couple of choirs. Without naming any names, suffice it to say that one of my choir directors hand-writes descants and the like for use with certain hymns we perform. Admittedly his fist is better than mine, but I still prefer a typeset look, or, as I recently learned, an engraved look. So I've taken up engraving, in part to reproduce his work in a more legible form, but also because I get some kind of (perverse?) pleasure in doing it. As a sample, the picture is of Breedlove's I'm Going Home. I've transformed it from shape-notation to a more modern form. [There are likely errors in transcription; use at your own risk. ]

Garmin POI loader

Another neat garmin utility that I hadn't played around with before is the custom point of interest (POI) loader. This is another free download from the Garmin site. It allows you to upload comma-separated value (CSV) and gpx files to your Garmin unit.
[ Check the Garmin site for POI Loader compatibility with your unit. ]

On X units (i.e. those with microSD cards), these files are stored on the card rather than in the unit's memory. While this isn't a replacement for the built-in geocache functionality, it does offer some interesting options.:

• the number of POIs is limited only by the size of the microSD card, rather than the hard limit (<1000?)>
• each entry can contain a latitude/longitude, name, and description (though there is a limit to the amount of text each entry can contain)
  
• Some people are using this feature to generated expanded listings, including difficulty/terrain - even decoded clues - for their geocache waypoints.
  
• custom POI's can be searched for and even used in auto-routing
• several different POI files (databases, according to Garmin) can be loaded at once, and the user can select which is displayed
• according to the documentation, custom waypoint icons can be associated with each POI file (though several people are having difficulty with this feature, and I have not tested it)

There is a GSAK macro that produces entries in a useful CSV format, though some are simply uploading custom GPX files. I'll write more after I have used this software.

Garmin xImage utility

While surfing the 'net the other night I came across a couple of articles describing utilities that work in conjunction with several models of Garmin GPS units. One is a utility called 'xImage' that allows you to send/receive screenshots and waypoint images(?) to/from your Garmin GPS. xImage is a free download from the Garmin site. To use it, you

• install it on a computer that already has the Garmin GPS USB drivers
• connect your Garmin GPS to the computer
• turn on the GPS and wait for your computer to recognize the device
• run the xImage utility

By default, xImage will capture a screenshot of whatever is currently on the Garmin GPS display. You can then save the image as a bit-mapped (BMP) file. The image above is a test that I just downloaded.

Nevada

An old buddy of mine from my college days (the second time, not the first or third) has seen fit to join the blogging and the caching world. No - not Uncle Mack - he already belongs to both. I'm talking about Nevada Mouse, "the World's Greatest Mouse Adventurer." Yawn.

Sorry, where was I? Oh, right, Nevada. Of course, in typical Nevada fashion he's doing it completely backwards, having decided on his caching name first (well, see below), having created a blog to boast of his exploits, and soon to be signing up for the Geocachers of West Tennessee forums. We'll see if he actually manages to find a cache. Mackheath has promised to take him out soon, I think, and I may drag him out for a little cache maintenance that I have do around town. [ I have a side bet stating that he will become completely disenchanted before he hits 100 finds, but you never know. ]

Nevada has been known by that name for some time now; as you might guess, it has some loose connection to a certain archeologist movie hero, which, coincidently, is his profession, and how we first met as grad students back in the day. Admittedly he's spent a lot more time outdoors than I have since then, including a few exotic locales. Thankfully he's given me authoring privileges on his site so that I can add some, ahem, realistic perspective on his exploits.

Nothing to see here

Until recently I didn't know there was a picture of an event that I'm famous for - the breaking of a chandelier at a Mexican restaurant in Jackson, TN. Thankfully BigDaddyD grabbed this one, taken shortly after I had uttered what has become one of my taglines - Nothing to see here. The restaurant was very nice about the whole thing, which is good, because I really did give that light fixture a good knock.

Vehicle repair

At a recent CITO event I noticed the tale-tell signs that my vehicle needed some brake work. Today I followed my wife downtown and dropped off the cachemobile at Reed's Auto Safety Service, Inc., at 711 Monroe Ext. A while back they patched my wife's tire for free (courtesy of an intro from a friend); for payment they asked that she remember them if she ever needed additional repairs. I've been a fan of that sort of policy from my AutoZone days. I'll let you know how things go.

Follow up: Good service, reasonable price. Recommended.

Okay, I lied.

I said that would post more. Obviously, I didn't, given that it is now 6 months or so since my last post. In fact, the greatest continuity between my last post and this is that now I'm entering that period of the year when I yearn to shave my beard off. At least this year I won't be reading the 'Jesus' portion of the Passion according to St. Luke; last year I shaved prematurely, it seems, and disappointed the head of the lectors.

Singing today was Petrarch's Ah Jesus. Unfortunately, Joe wasn't in attendance, which meant that the sounds that have been in my left ear for all of the rehearsals was missing and replaced with a different voice. Not a bad voice, either, but, still, different, which tends to throw me off a little. The whole piece was tentative, both temporally and harmonically, made worse by the fact that the piece had odd, minor chords that don't come readily to the ear or voice. I loused up Section IV, though I did make a strong entrance on III. Oh well, we get another try during the Vigil.

I've just done a query on Geocaching.com and see that there are 20 caches within 3.3 miles of my house, including several that I have no good reason not to go for. I need to dig out the scraps of paper that have solutions for several of the puzzle caches - I would be much further along if I didn't keep losing my work. I hope my new GSAK scheme helps that.