Month: January 2021

Shearwater Perdix AI

I’m unboxing my new Shearwater Perdix AI dive computer today. It arrived yesterday but I was too busy with work to get to it. This thing is awesome! I downloaded the Shearwater Cloud program (available for desktop and mobile) and updated the firmware. I am starting to read the manual and I’m just so excited about this! It came highly recommended by trusted sources and has full mixed gas and rebreather capabilities. I don’t dive a rebreather now, and I have plans to any time soon, but I may be interested at some point and I definitely wanted the mixed gas capability, rather than just Nitrox.

My Suunto Vyper, that I have had for 21 years, somehow got corrupted and I lost 170 dives from it, about half of which (maybe more, I’m not sure exactly) were not logged anywhere else because I no longer had a serial connector on my computer. The display was getting difficult for me to read these days anyway, so I needed to replace it, but I wish I hadn’t lost that data. Sucks. That’ll teach me to not use pen and paper. Now I am bringing a small paper log with me all the time, although the primary method will still be digital I’m sure. I type better, and much more quickly, than I write.

I didn’t get the air integrated sensor with this but I did choose the model with the capability for it, mostly for resale value. If I did ever use AI it would be as a backup to an actual pressure gauge. I probably won’t ever. But it is good to have the option.

It comes with straps and rubber bungee cord, but I am going to use this other style of bungee cord. I haven’t attached the straps yet. I am going to spread out my enjoyment of getting to know my awesome new tool over the next couple weeks as I have the time. The manual is very long and there are so many amazing features. Hopefully I will be going diving very soon!

Insomnia Haiku

 Light shines bright inside,
 Whispers from the aether.
 NyQuil saves the night.

I thought of this on my mid-afternoon run. It was about last night. I woke up at 2am and couldn’t get back to sleep until after 4am. I took NyQuil around 3:30am because I was in a panic that I would never get back to sleep. I ended up sleeping late today and couldn’t run in the morning as a result because I had to have coffee and then start work right away. While I was having coffee I had found out that, at the time I woke up in the middle of the night, there was a tornado warning in Metro Atlanta (Cobb County) and many of my friends were also awake because of the sirens going off. There was apparently also an Amber alert at that same time, which I did not get on my phone.

Whispers from the aether.

Facebook Addiction

When that thing no longer does what it used to do for you, it’s probably for a reason. It is probably time for the next thing. It’s just a thing. Don’t be so invested in it. Social Media, and for me Facebook in particular, exhibits all of the symptoms of substance abuse. I keep scrolling and not getting my fix and going back and still not happy and going back and checking again and wasting my life away and never feeling that thing that I went there for, or maybe feeling it a very small percentage of the time. Just enough to keep me coming back. I recognize this pattern and I want out of it; it is not making my loneliness go away and it is not helping my depression. Lately, more than ever, I feel like there is no real world. I feel very alone.

I have to find another way. This didn’t used to be who I am.

This isn’t who I am.

Incoming Shark and purple things

I took a nap and had a troubling dream. I was on a purple raft in open water holding a blue balloon animal of some sort. Out shore from me about 15 feet I saw something small poke its head up, like a turtle or something, and then immediately go back under. Moments afterwards a young shark, maybe a tiger shark, came straight towards my raft. My blue balloon animal was the only thing that got damaged at all; it was pierced by one of the animals. I woke myself up from that dream within a dream but was still holding the balloon animal.

I went to a car place and was telling somebody (S) I know about my dream and about the turtle. I was remarking to him that it was odd that I managed to bring the balloon back from there. He interrupted me to ask how big the turtle was and to tell me some other story about someone we both knew (K), for which I couldn’t figure out the relevance.

Then I was leaving there in a car like a golf cart that was towing a large purple trailer. I was wearing a cowboy hat, but I also had 2 other cowboy hats that I was trying to keep track of and not have blown away. I was lost and trying to figure out where to turn around and how to secure all 3 hats in the cubby hole in front while I navigated. I was going downhill and was nervous about being able to stop the trailer but I managed to put one foot down like the Flintstones to stop. I turned around and got to a road and then woke myself up.

Things that were concerning: 1.) The turtle head was a quick warning about the shark. I recognized the warning, but not in enough time. 2.) The shark came directly at me and fast and there was no way to avoid it. I experienced fear in the dream. 3.) The balloon I was holding was damaged and deflated. 4.) My difficulty in turning around and stopping.

Things that confuse me: 1.) Why was my raft purple? 2.) The significance of the large purple trailer. 3.) 3 cowboy hats.

Things that are reassuring: 1.) I did not feel pain in the dream, nor was I actually harmed. I only experienced fear. 2.) I did, in fact, end up navigating the turn around and finding a way to stop.

In all likelihood this is just anxiety about leaving my car at the body shop to get scratches repaired and the drivers side mirror replaced and perhaps my perception that they may be distrustful, based on the price of the repairs (which I do not have to pay anyway because warranty is paying for it.) The reason I am assigning this interpretation is due to the presence of purple and the fact that my front license plate is the purple mandala.

It is, however, also possible that this was due to some sort of anxiety related to the other upcoming events in the next week related to the political world. That is the only correlation I can find for the cowboy hats, golf cart, and trailer.

Carvana

The car vending machine was not operational today. They had some issue with the door or something. After a minor temper tantrum and seriously reconsidering a reschedule of my pickup so I could get it out of the vending machine, I decided instead to visually lie to you all and post some pictures as though it had happened the way it should have. I finally got the manual transmission Mazda CX-5 that I’ve been trying to find for months now. She’s a 2014 with 40,558 miles and I’m very grateful to have found her!

Mom at midnight

I spent a lot of time tonight, going through old blog posts and thinking about the past and about my Mom. It was only fitting that I should pass the moment of midnight on the phone with her. I did the countdown and then wished her a Happy New Year. She is always glad to hear from me.

It has been a rough ride with her through a lot of my life, but I know she means well. I have to cherish the moments with her while I have them.

I wish I could see her more easily. She is in Chattanooga with Paul. I go up there when I can, but I always only have a few hours because I have to drive back the same day. I gave her a digital photo frame for her birthday in November and loaded it with photos and she always mentions how much she loves it. It’s right in front of her bed, where she spends all her time. I’m glad she likes it. I figured it was something I would like. I have one too.

Memories are so precious. Sometimes they are cruel, but they are precious even still. I love you, Mom. Thanks for making me such a strong person. That was all your doing.