For the Record

What Board Sports Have Taught Me

At the age of fourteen I fell madly in love with the sport of wakeboarding. I never could have guessed where that love and passion would guide me, or how it would pour me into other sports and interests (like photography), and introduce me to incredible people that I still look up to like Shaun Murray and Josh Letchworth among countless others. More importantly, wakeboarding and in turn board sports in general have taught me some of the most important lessons of my life. It’s about time I sat down and shared them with you all. These lessons have been learned the hard way and are all applicable to every day life.

1.) You can’t learn anything without falling down first.

2.) If you’re not falling, it means you’ve stopped trying.

3.) Balance is the root of everything.

4.) Just commit. If you half ass it you’ll land on your face every time.

5.) When you fall, embrace it, don’t fight it or it can cripple you. Go with the flow.

6.) Shake it off and try it again. And again. And again. Persistence is the only way you succeed.

7.) Attitude really is everything.

8.) Take care of your body, it’s the best tool you own.

9.) You don’t need perfect conditions to have a good time.

10.) Follow your heart. It knows what you need better than anybody.

11.) When you’re injured, don’t just sit on the sidelines and watch. Get involved in other ways. Pick up a camera, who knows, it might change your life.

12.) Never say “I can’t…” instead say “I haven’t yet…” . Change the way you think and talk about yourself.

13.) Make the time for your passions. Even if it means putting on a wet wetsuit at 4am, you’ll be glad you did it.

14.) You know you love what you do when ‘just one more’ is never enough.

15.) Get to know the people that share your passion and will challenge you to be better and will celebrate your successes with you. Surround yourself with great people.

16.) Be patient with yourself when learning something new. It might not come right away, but if you’re persistent it will come.

17.) Accept that falling and injuries are part of the process, don’t let those potential risks hold you back. All you can do is dig into life as hard as you can.

So what are some of the common threads here?

Persistence, resilience, dedication, and passion.

With those four qualities you can and will do whatever you put your mind to.

Hard Work Pays Off

It most certainly does. I started this journey back in January and it feels good to be seeing results. I was at physical therapy today and the doctor officially gave me the go ahead to start jogging! Yay! He did say to take it easy, but this is still something I’m excited about.

One of my fitness goals is to be able to run for a number of reasons. One, I’d like to get in my cardio without having to go to the gym, two it just seems like such an organic motion for the body to be doing. We were designed to run! Three if I can run, I can do all kinds of fun things and can do them better! Like play basketball! I love basketball but I couldn’t keep up now even if I wanted to.

So the go ahead to jog was a big deal to me! In other news, I’m officially down over 18 lbs since I started this journey in January. The scale I’ve been using though is the one at the gym and I’m not entirely sure how accurate it is. Maybe in my “to do” list needs to be purchasing a scale?

To celebrate, tomorrow I’m going to try starting out with the couch to 5k around backbay. We’ll see how my hips and knee hold up.

Volcanoes vs Mankind

Climate change is a big issue. Who can we point the finger at? Us or the volcanoes? It sounds crazy, I know, but everyone’s excuse for not doing their part is because they figure the earth is self destructive anyway and we can do no harm. I decided to investigate.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am a total granola eating, tree hugging, kinda person. I hear people saying all the time “it doesn’t matter what we do, volcanoes do more damage in one eruption than we have since the dawn of man.” It always gets to me. Is it true? If it is, am I wasting my time? I find it hard to believe that we have no impact on the earth which is what some people will argue. So I went digging and this is what I found. Now bear in mind I’m trying to find the truth, however unbiased I try to be, I definitely have an outcome I’m rooting for so if you can find any information and site a source please comment back, I’d love to hear it!

In the interest of time, I’m just going to post quotes and their sources and then you can read them for yourself. Again, if you can prove one way or the other PLEASE let me know!!

“In contrast, humans are currently emiting around 29 billion tonnes of CO2 per year (EIA). Human CO2 emissions are over 100 times greater than volcanic CO2 emissions. This is apparent when comparing atmospheric CO2 levels to volcanic activity since 1960. Even strong volcanic eruptions such as Pinatubo, El Chicon and Agung had little discernable impact on CO2 levels. In fact, the rate of change of CO2 levels actually drops slightly after a volcanic eruption, possibly due to the cooling effect of aerosols.”

http://www.skepticalscience.com/volcanoes-and-global-warming-intermediate.htm

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First, the United States Geological Survey claims:

“Human activities release more than 130 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes.”

Second, Ian Plimer’s book Heaven and Earth states:

“Volcanoes produce more CO2 than the world’s cars and industries combined”. (p. 413)

Since there is a difference of a factor of around 130, it’s reasonable to suppose that these contrasting answers cannot both be correct. Inconveniently, however, the Plimer source does not actually state how much carbon dioxide is produced by volcanoes.

When challenged on this discrepancy in an interview, Ian Plimer did not deny the USGS figures but claimed they were only measuring terrestrial, not oceanic volcanoes: “85% of the world’s volcanoes we neither see nor measure… They leak out huge amounts of carbon dioxide… That does not come into the USGS figures nor does it come into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s figures.”

Is this correct? Vulcanologist for the USGC, Dr Terrence Gerlach replied:

“I can confirm to you that the “130 times” figure on the USGS website is an estimate that includes all volcanoes – submarine as well as subaerial … Geoscientists have two methods for estimating the CO2 output of the mid-oceanic ridges. There were estimates for the CO2 output of the mid-oceanic ridges before there were estimates for the global output of subaerial volcanoes.”

The USCG site actually lays out the figures:

“Scientists have calculated that volcanoes emit between about 130-230 million tonnes (145-255 million tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere every year (Gerlach, 1999, 1991). This estimate includes both subaerial and submarine volcanoes, about in equal amounts. Emissions of CO2 by human activities, including fossil fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring, amount to about 27 billion tonnes per year (30 billion tons) [ ( Marland, et al., 2006) - The reference gives the amount of released carbon (C), rather than CO2, through 2003.]. Human activities release more than 130 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes–the equivalent of more than 8,000 additional volcanoes like Kilauea (Kilauea emits about 3.3 million tonnes/year)! (Gerlach et. al., 2002)”

http://fourcultures.com/2009/12/30/making-up-the-facts-about-climate-change/

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“Large volcanic eruptions actually usually end up having a cooling effect on the climate, however, and are therefore generally a balancing force of nature and not a major cause of global warming.”

http://www.envirohub.net/causes-of-global-warming.htm

So do volcano’s affect climate change? From what I’ve gleaned from my little bit of digging I’d say yes. Are they worse then us? All the sources I’ve found, which quote government agencies and specialists in the field say heck no. I think now I am going to walk to my fav local restraunt and drink a hippie hippie shake.

Thanks for tuning in.

On the Road Again

I’ve been home from Fort Kent for less then a week and I’m already itching to be on the road again. Maybe because my trip to Orlando fell through, but who really knows. One of my best friends Allison Hayward and I are packing up the car for a quick trip to Burlington, VT to return late tomorrow night.

Life’s too short to get stuck in a rut. Sometimes you just need to grab a good friend and hit the open road.

Some of my fondest memories are not of the places I’ve been, but the journey I took to get there. The bus that broke down in a blizzard, singing along to Counting Crows with my three best friends, plastering my car with labels from a label maker, pickels in a bag, crappy hotels, and the list goes on and on. The journey is definitely the highlight of almost every trip.

Even though this is going to be a quick one, I can’t wait to see what develops. Even if its just good a good conversation with someone who knows me best.