How I got so busy 🐇

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You know it seems like that I have more and more things consuming my time these days. The thing in my mind is that I’m not really sure what those things are that are using up my time. Maybe it’s my desire to learn, to read and experiment with code. Certainly, I want to get even better working with data and finding solutions. And maybe it’s my desire for escapism or that I’m bored with things being the way they’ve always been.

Some of it is I find projects to do for work, and are constantly busy in the office as the Director of Data Services. There is always new data streams to capture and code. Then there is the time riding my bike to and from and spending days out in the wilderness, smoking pot and hiking and biking. The evenings have been cold, and I like hiding under my electric blanket rather then paying for the heat, watching YouTube videos and reading, always trying to learn new skills. And then I am constantly reading, and trying to learn and understand more and more of the world around me.

In many ways, my blog has taken a back seat, but also it’s because I’ve lost in interest in many things on my blog, because many of the most interesting things I’ve already covered in my blog. But a lot of it is also is just have so many things to learn and improve in my life, and I don’t always feel like spending so much time just rephrasing and redoing what I’ve already done on my blog.

Hate Finding Litter in the Wilderness

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I hate it when I find litter in the wilderness.

A lot of junk can be burned and I’m sure a lot of it is ultimately burned by campers up in the woods. But the rest of it should be taken home for recycling. Steel cans and aluminum cans are marketable commodities, a raw material for the same kind of industrial processes that brought them onto this earth in the first place. I’m fine with people burning out cans to clean them out but they should be crushed and taken home for recycling. Glass shouldn’t really be burnt in the back country as all it does is turn into smaller fragments, and is hard to clean up.

I don’t like landfills and municipal incinerators as the respiratory for waste. Things should be recycled rather than littered – especially if it’s not going to burn up completely or rot away. Gut piles and food scraps left in the woods are fine but they shouldn’t be left in areas where they are a nuisance by attracting wildlife to trails and campsites.

I like the wilderness, and I use some of its resources. I use paper plates, have a propane heater and electric lights, and I might even burn some of my trash. But I always pick up any bottles and cans I find in the woods and try to remove as much litter as practical. Larger things I’ve found left from other I’ll leave out by roads for municipal clean up as that stuff isn’t always practical to take home.

While I think it’s foolish to pretend to be leaving no trace – camping, hiking, hunting and fishing all have impacts on the land – I do try to tread lightly and use the land responsibly so it remains usable for generations to come.