PASS the BACon

After being home for a week and catching up on a long list of to-dos and recovering from my cold an opportunity opened up to attend the PASS BA Conference in Chicago.  Despite being a bit cold and rainy how could I pass this opportunity up?

The train ride to Chicago arrived at midnight and I set off for a 45 minute walk to my friend's studio (to enjoy the bed I helped move).  The commute during the week to the Sheraton was an easy walk through the magnificent mile.  The days seemed long, from 7:30am to 10pm, but there were packed with learning, networking, working, and a bit of fun (views of the Chicago river and bowling at Lucky Strike).  The week in Chicago concluded early on Saturday morning with a train ride back to Kalamazoo. 

One benefit of the train over driving was that I was able to listen through the entire book of Psalm.  Until my next post, Psalm 136:1 (NIV):

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever."

Lynchburg, VA

So Lynchburg greeted me with snow.  Thankfully I only forgot to pack shorts on this trip and not the winter coat, gloves, and hat.  The weather did warm up and melt the snow leaving me to walk about Liberty University which is nestled in the valley between the mountains.

The place I was staying had a hot tub and serendipitously I finally found my swimsuit.  So in the evenings I was able to relax in the soothing heat or was able to spend some time with my friend Jason (the primary reason for going through Lynchburg).  I had a chance to talk about God, religion, and beliefs with Ron from Orlando who was in town for his daughter's wedding. 

Midway through the week I went for a run at Peaks View Park and to my surprise the park had a disc golf course.  The course looked enjoyable with a mix of elevation, woods, and open fairways.  Due to the lack of people to join, I continued on with a hilly 4 mile run (in addition to some fatiguing hill sprints at the end).

Friday, Jason and Heather gave me the grand tour of Liberty University, Doc's Diner, the Texas Inn, and a delicious shake from Cook Out.  Apparently so grand I had to stay in bed all day Saturday (except to purchase the helpful NSAID).  Leave it to me to get sick the day before I plan on driving back to Michigan. 

Thankfully I was feeling well enough from 24 hours of sleep and the ibuprofen to enjoy the twelve hour drive.  The drive through the Appalachians- the James River Face Wilderness, the George Washington National Forest, was phenomenal with no traffic and astounding views of the foggy valleys, mountains, and forests!

 

Virginia

 

West Virginia

 

Ohio

Charlotte and the Billy Graham Library

To finish up my stay in Charlotte I had to stop by the Fort Mill Gun Shop to visit a friend, Chris.

In addition, the weather stayed on the cooler side although not as rainy as I anticipated so over the week so I played two more disc golf courses: Robert L Smith Park and Nevin Park.  Very few people were out on the Robert L Smith park and I only talked with a guy name Loats on the walk back to my car.  He was recovering from a hip surgery and we talked about the grace of God.  There was one other guy at Nevin park that I only saw briefly halfway through my round.

Lastly, since I was in the area I had to stop by the Billy Graham Library.  If you visit there - talk with the volunteers because most have a story of why they are there.  The tour gave a good reflection on various aspects of ministries.   

This past Sunday I made my way to Lynchburg, VA and brought with me the snow - good number of inches too.

Columbia and Charlotte

Psalm 8

Farewell to Florida for now.  Many thanks goes to Lamar.

 

The drive North included meeting a JW - Brandon, seeing a F-15, and getting passed by a Ferrari 365.

A stop in Columbia SC included Southeast Park and Owens Field Park.  Oh and how could I forget the Piggly Wiggly!  Ben was the only guy who I briefly spoke with at the Southeast Park because everyone started showing up to play when I was near the end.  At Owens Field I was the only one playing the course. 

After arriving in Charlotte NC, I played three courses to complete the weekend.  The Scrapyard I started out playing with Bill and Tom.  However after starting to inquire about their beliefs Bill found a reason to head to the car and let me play on.  I joined up with another guy who was playing alone, Carl, who is a believer and was able to talk with during the last few holes.  Over to Elon Park I played Angry Beaver and a few holes of Eager Beaver.

With the weather sunny Tuesday and the forecast for the upcoming weekend being cold and rainy, I went to play Renaissance Park.  Ryan, and Logan invited me to join their group along with Dan, Doug, and Paul.  This course was intense with some huge ravines and a couple 1000ft holes and the course was fairly muddy in parts.  Great course, however it was hard to get in a rhythm with my throws and conversation.

Leaving Florida via the A1A

Cocoa, FL

Good news.  After supporting the local Palm Coast Ford dealer, my car is working again.

Time in Florida is coming to an end.  For the last weekend I finished up the last section of the Lehigh trail.  At the end of the trail, for no particular reason I just kept on going.  I ran clear to the ocean.  And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going.  The weather was great for a 10 mile run.  The view from the bridge overlooking the ocean was absolutely astounding.

Sunday, destination Cocoa, F. Burton Smith Park.  I played a round with Ron, who coincidentally had a son named Robert.  Ron is Catholic, involved in serving God/family/community, and overall a very amiable guy.  That and he has played pro disc golf in the past, so to say the least he was good.  Also, we were able to talk and share a little bit about our beliefs.

Now for the drive home.  I was hoping to come up with a creative way to state the following fact, but about all I can say is: I ran over a nail.

I will miss the tacos in Palm Coast.  The next stop is North Carolina.

Caution - Low Tire Pressure

I found a feature.

From St. Augustine to Heteroscedasticity

Here come the variety post of my life in the past week or so...


Randomly drove Nathan to Walmart.   This past week was "cold" for Florida, and a bit rainy too so it seemed like the right thing to do.

Saturday I went for a drive north towards St. Augustine.  The wind was so strong it made the photos blurry.  Either that or the slightly collected dust amidst the edges of the lens in addition to an unsteady hand was the culprit of the blur.  Relax with the following images or visit a history lesson on the area.

 

Saturday was followed by an early morning drive to First Baptist Orlando.  Sunday was a blessing with the opportunity to see a friendly smiling face from home, Matt W!  Alas, afternoon came and time to head to the disc golf course.  This time there was no tournament at the Gordon Barnett Park. David and Matt were my guides through the course and had some good tips.  David's personality reminded me of Ken back in Schoolcraft.  His views on life is that it is out there.  It's all around, to be enjoyed, experienced, and so on.  As to what David meant, I am still in part perplexed.  After a long 14 hour day and numb fingers a drive back to Palm Coast was in order.

I have also added a few new vocab terms thanks to the data analysis course I am auditing.  Namely: curvilinear and heteroscedasticity.  The course lectures do make great use of various xkcd comics as well keeping the course interesting.  It is always good to know that green jelly beans are linked to acne.  Anyone see the news on more laws linked to reduced violent deaths? Yeah...the research did not show that, but I'm sure it sold the ads.


To continue on with the variety, here are some pictures from the Clearwater/Dunedin area from the other week.

Lastly, my lunch break:

Here comes bike week...