Quarry Scuba Diving

Diving in an Indiana quarry may never be portrayed on a Discovery Channel special, but it can be pretty fun. This quarry has an average depth of about 20 feet, with some spots of about 25 to 30 feet deep. My husband and I went on Sunday. We didn't take the underwater camera because we thought there would be nothing interesting of which to take pictures, and besides we had taken pictures of everything last time we were there. That is why these pix are marked 2005, but the scenery is the same. We should have taken the camera this time, because we finally spotted the elusive paddlefish for which this quarry is famous, plus a huge flathead catfish, numerous largemouth bass, and various schools of sunfish. The catfish gets larger everytime I tell the story. He's at least 5 feet long by now.

We're all different but all the same

There's one aspect about me that makes me a minority. Only about 10% of the population have this tendency. You probably wouldn't notice just to look at me, but after a while, my mannerisms would give it away. When I was a kid, my parents thought this tendency was something quite bad and tried to "convert" me to the majority. I tried for awhile to pretend, but finally realized I just had to be the person I was born to be. I can understand their concern, because the world is not set up for people like me. In their youth, people with this tendency were considered to be quite abnormal. Fortunately, society is now more accepting and accomadating. Still, our English language reflects the view that people like me are not as good as those in the majority.

I'm left-handed... .what did you think I was talking about???
My hope is that some day, being gay or straight will be as much a non-issue as being left-handed is today. Like I told a gay co-worker once who was "coming out" to me: Relationships are relationships. It doesn't matter the genders of those involved, the issues are pretty much the same.

Bod Pod

I have another Bod Pod scheduled for less than an hour from now. Once again, I will have my percent body fat evaluated, data entered into a computer, and results printed off "for my records". I know that a person's character and personality are what are truly important, but this morning I feel like this:

Update: I should make this my profile picture. Despite training for and finishing a triathlon, in the past month I supposedly gained three lbs. of pure fat. Lard. Adipose. Flab. It must be middle age spread catching up with me.

And to add insult to injury, some kids called me "Gramma" while I was taking my daily three mile walk the other evening.

Sheep

There's no actual point to this post, except I vaguely recall my reader requesting a blog about sheep awhile ago. Maybe "requesting" isn't the right word...how about "mentioned". This is from last fall's Irish Fest in Indianapolis. Part of the fun and festivities is watching the sheep dogs herd the sheep within a small pen. I supposed they have to keep them enclosed, with all the Irish dancing and Guinness drinking going on everywhere else on the festival grounds.

Only 2 more months till the next Irish Fest. But before then, there's the Indiana State Fair and MORE chances for blogs about farm animals. This is, after all, the blog about everything.

The Demise of Relationships

Or as I could title it: WTF did I do wrong this time?

This is NOT about the demise of romantic relationships...that is its own kind of hell. No, I'm talking about the end of other relationships: specifcally, friendships. Some friendships are for a lifetime. I'm learning as I get older to greatly value those friendships. Most friendships, though, have an end date to them. If both parties agree that it's over, then, all is well. The usual case is that one person phases-out the other without explanation. This may be an attempt to spare feelings, but it can lead to bewilderment and wondering: what did I do wrong? Case in point: I had a friend who worked with me at Moo U after I graduated. We bonded while collecting aquatic bugs from noxious field sites in Indianapolis and doing water chemistry tests with noxious chemicals. We talked about anything and everything. Then she got another job in another state but the friendship continued. I even visited her for three days and we had a great time (I thought) biking, talking, roller blading, ect. The email correspondence suddenly dropped off a few months later. I tried emailing at least 3 more times. No bounce-backs, but no answers either. It's been over a year and I'm still wondering what happened.

This rant was inspired by a boss/friend who today made a passing comment (again) that perhaps I should find another job or line of work. He's the one who says he's my "friend"'; I consider him to be my "boss". Perhaps there are special rules for the demise of these types of hybrid relationships.

tri-ing not to drown

After a hiatus of almost a year, I decided to give triathlon another try. I'm a half-way decent cyclist, and had done a run/walk event recently, so I was comfortable with those parts of the race. Not fast, but at least able to feel confident. The swim was another matter. I had not been in a pool since I couldn't remember when and was not a good swimmer even when I was training regularly. I can swim back and forth in the pool easily for forty minutes, but swimming in open water with waves and other competitors kicking me makes me very anxious. But after four pool training sessions in four weeks before the race, I was as ready as I was going to be.

The swim segment of the race was a quarter mile, as this was a sprint triathlon, the shortest kind generally offered. I am the person in the yellow cap in the foreground of the picture. This event was well-organized, with lots of safety people in the water, as you can see from the boat that appears to be following me and a couple of other ladies. The orange floats on the left side of the picture were on a rope that marked the course. If you look closely at the swimmer in the green cap behind me, you can see lots of weeds (aka aquatic macrophytes) dangling from her arm. The dark object in front of me is my hand, functioning as an aquatic plant survey sampling device.

I finished the swim in 20 minutes. And no, I was not in last place.