Geek Habitat

Cirrusfel, Level 40 human priest and her white kitten, Blanco

… { I am such a geek! } …

I’m experiencing a bit of what a weekend warrior like myself might term “adventure overload”. A little too many adventures in a little too short a timeframe to let my mind and body recouperate.

The latest in our string of body and mind-tiring exercises? An early morning 6+ mile hike at the belatedly opened Government Canyon State Natural Area — a rugged and expansive park that I’ll learn to love, once I get over the nagging sense of “!@*(!, I hate hiking over incessantly jagged rocks that want to wrench my new knee and send me back to my surgeon!” The park is great for those wanting to bag lots of miles, and it’s also a boon for those of us that seek solitude among nature — 40 miles of trails with no fancy camping areas, no fire pits and swimming pools, guarantees that. It is not, at least from the 6 miles we traversed however, going to become my new favorite park without much more exploration to help us get to know one another. I sense she has a lot to offer, but does not give up her secrets readily. I know there are many caves (that will not be marked or accessible to the public), and caves mean unique wildlife and water seeps that attract usual wildlife (deer, raccoon, opossum, fox, etc.) There is much tree cover, which means many bird species. So I will learn to love the 3rd largest park within any U.S. city limits, but a 6 mile blitz through the park on a still slightly angry knee (from ~20+ miles walked in/around D.C. for 9 days) yielded more of a “Ok, I’m ready for lunch, Advil and my icy knee wrap back home!”

I/we need to go back and photograph the visitor center/check-in area, as it has a nice interpretive display about the Edwards Aquifer, sponsored by none other than my former employer — USAA. Well, not quite… sponsored by an adjunct company of my former employer — the educational arm known as the USAA Educational Foundation. We were so tired and sore and hot, though, we walked right by it after our hike and hopped into our truck to soak up some cold air conditioning. It’ll be there for a future visit…

Knee Geeks Update: The knee is fine, but it’s felt weaker and slightly less stable since midway through the D.C. trip. I attribute the perceived loss of stability to the muscles getting over-worked, muscles that normally provide a lot of the support to one’s knee. When those muscles get taxed, it’s all up to the ACL to support the knee, and that’s what leads to the “Crap, that felt like my knee slipping a bit too much like those old, literally painful and scary memories of tearing the ACL!” A lot of it’s mental… Knee’s fine, muscles are overworked, legs and back are sore from carrying 19 lbs. of camera gear (which I didn’t use because of dense tree cover and no real photographic “gotta shoot this” moments, plus at least another 4lbs. of water in my Camelbak.)

We’re flying today with my mom (aka MommaBear / Mom B) and relaxing the rest of the day. After a busy weekend thus far, I think I’ll have less trouble in the future convincing Justin that we’re not in a race here to accrue “adventures” and “stories,” and that part of life is, indeed, enjoying lazy moments… I so wanted to stay tucked in bed Saturday morning, and not alone, but with my other half. Relaxing shouldn’t always be us both logging in to World of Warcraft, or sitting down to watch an episode of DS9.

I loaded up on more Kleenex and allergy medications yesterday at the store, since I seem to be fighting this for the long haul (probably until our first hard freeze, which in South Texas, typically means early January!) I’m living, I’m just not entirely witty and coherent, or at least don’t feel it.

Going to the store yesterday reminded me of my love/hate relationship with the holidays, specifically everything from Halloween clean through to New Year’s Day. There are more Christmas items on display than Halloween — understandable, from a “hierarchy of holidays” standpoint, but absurd from a it’s-still-freaking-2-months-away perspective! Losing battle, I know. Maybe I’m just bitter because I didn’t find anything cool to buy as gifts, allowing a certain self-satisfied “HA! I’ve begun my Christmas shopping, and the rest of the world are big, fat, hairy slackers!” feeling. Not that I’ve ever had that feeling, mind you. I do my shopping online closer to the holidays, so I can avoid being shoulder to shoulder with those aforementioned folks.

I’m loving the cooler weather, even though it’s making my pains over not having camped in 2 years quite evident. I love camping… as much as Justin loves flying. But I haven’t been aggressive or successful in keeping camping an active part of my post-corporate peon schedule, and that much needs to change. Camping is a time of renewal — recharging my aging solar cells and purging all the stale deskbound code-monkey air from my lungs. I enjoy going solo, but really enjoy having Justin around to share sights and experiences with, so that complicates matters a little (no spontaneous weeknight camping trips, in other words). And in another week or so, camping in Texas will coincide with hunting season, which adds a certain Fear Factor to the experience that I’d rather do without, in addition to reducing the available days some parks are even open for non-hunters. I’m not knocking hunting, btw — it’s the primary revenue stream for Texas parks, and always has been, and the majority of hunters are responsible, well-trained and not (too) drunk. Still… I like my wildlife a little hairier than the average human ape.

So, I’m rambling, which is how my brain’s working these days… I still owe you photos and anecdotes. I know. I owe a lot of folks a lot of stuff, actually. So… do they make jumper cables for the human brain? ‘Cuz I think I could use a pair right now…

Ok, this is completely beyond any realm of comprehension. I had the worst night last night — if I wasn’t sneezing in rapid fire succession for 15 minutes (the U.S. military could militarize my skills, I tell you!), I was running for more Kleenex because my nose has turned into Niagara Falls. On top of that, my headache’s back and I swear to God I haven’t tasted, smelled or heard anything properly in over 2 weeks now. I used to take loads of prescription allergy medications, including allergy shots, when I was growing up. Every allergic reaction would trigger an asthma attack, which made growing up in South Texas none-too-pleasant much of the time. Still, it’s times like these I wonder just how much worse (or better?!) I’d be if I hadn’t done all that back then. You’d think my immune system would have learned a thing or two, but I’m not seeing evidence of that.

It’s also following no understandable pattern. I mowed our front and backyard lawns and spent a lot of time outside on Sunday. Result? No allergies to speak of (other than my usual 1-3 sneezes once a day). Suddenly, come Monday and Tuesday, I’m back to being the walking dead. None of the OTC meds seem to help, except to knock me out into a Benadryl fog when I desperately need sleep. Even then, I didn’t go to “bed” until 6:15 AM this morning, waking up at 11:45 AM pissed and still feeling like crud.

God, enough with the fun and games, ‘k? I know I’m not your star pupil, but surely there are more important matters to attend to than amping up my allergies!

Oh, and thanks for making the pollen count go into the HIGH range on Thursday. I can’t wait to see how that affects me!

{end of rant… for now!}

We’re fine. No one’s fallen into an abyss, never to be heard from again. We’re both over the worst of whatever crud we had, but vestiges remain and it leaves us… or, at least, me feeling like my brain is unformatted media. Thus, no new thoughts to share, and certainly none of the creative documentary writing I’d like to do regarding our now-completed D.C. vacation.

I’ll get back to regular posting soon. In the meantime, enjoy the sounds of {crickets}.

Feeling better, but still haven’t gotten rid of the “fog of allergens” that’s impairing my higher level cognitive functions and overall energy level. Just taking it easy for a bit, but I’ll catch up soon.