more c-store stuff

Went back to looking at Hong Kong after reexamining a previous entry.  I picked an area in Kowloon and wandered around and found a gas station.

More Google Maps, by the way.  So, from a c-store point of view this is kind of interesting.  Also, the other thing that adds to my complexities... What we're looking at is a 5 dispenser station crammed into a small space. This location has several single grade dispensers which don't seem to exist in modern America. 

By comparison, in the central US you have 3+1 and 3 dispensers.  That would be..
3 grades of gas off of 1 hose
1 grade of gas off of 2nd hose

Or

3 grades of gas off of 1 hose.

In comparison, these look like

1 grade of gas off 1 hose
1 grade of gas off a 2nd hose
1 grade of gas off a 3rd hose

I'd guess Gilbarco, but I'm just guessing.  I can't see well enough, and the shape doesn't look modern/futuristic enough to be Wayne. 

Now, the secondary part of my observation. 

I'm used to wide open terrain and gas stations in the middle of open spaces.  Stations shoved into small spaces are different.  They strike me as a bit weird.  It's an open territory birth thing. 

Now... 

Moving to the inside is my thing.  I'm more of an interior control person than an exterior.  Pump technicians have a tendency to be farmed from plumbers (at least in the US).  Smart pump techs become point of sale techs.  Me?  I'm an IT guy that got into pump controllers.  The d-box is the end of my knowledge (most of the time).

Anyways.  

In the process of wandering around this location, I found a couple of 7-11s.  Both of those were non-fuel locations. 

Non-fuel c-store locations are minimal in my part of the US. 

The difference between a fuel and non-fuel location is very small.  A couple pieces of CAT5 and a distribution box.

Another random thing I noticed... (I think I started on Liberty Street).  The area seems to have a lot of animal doctors. 

Hardgaining... or when eating has to become a hobby.

I'm decided to gain weight this year.  I'd like to hit about 160.  I haven't broken 140ish in 5 years.  So it's going to be interesting.

I started working on gaining weight today.  And I realize it's going to be a pain. 

See, that's after dinner.  And that's just to break even.  I've got probably 3 hours before bed before bed and I have to eat another 1500 calories just to break even.  Eating has to become a hobby at this point.  From what I've heard and read, the real answer is eat like a cow. 

In general, I'm following the ideas presented by Starting Strength.  Mark Rippetoe is the only person I've heard that has produced a decent reasoning behind what they were doing.  He's also got an article about the novice effect.  One of his suggestions was to drink a gallon of whole milk a day.  The reasoning makes sense.  You need to increase your caloric intake a lot.  You need to eat about 6,000 calories a day and lift heavy weights three times per week.

That sounds great...  but eating 6,000 calories is a lot.  It took a lot for me to get to 3,000 calories.  Making it to more than that is going to be interesting. 

But then I've always followed complex programs that promised maximum gains without fat.   But then came the answer from Mark Rippetoe.  Basic answer was you can't have it both ways.  If you want to get bigger and stronger, you've got to eat a lot and lift heavy weights.  Spend six months gaining weight and strength.  You can drop those extra few pounds later.  It's worth gaining the strength and muscle mass now. 

So it's now time to make eating a hobby.  Let's see if I can make it past 2 gallons a week this week. 

The inability to count

People I know...  I'm not naming names...

They don't seem to be able to count.  Simple math kind of count.  The electricity or water gets cut off every other month.  Some sort of crisis is always happening in that household.  And the funny thing... several years ago, I thought they were doing awesome. 

I know it's strange.  But 6 years ago, I knew several families like that.  All of them seemed to be going somewhere.  Everything was just awesome, and the world was rocking along great.  It was 2010, and the world was wonderful. 

Now, we're entering 2017 and I wonder what happened to those families.  I know what I did.  I started making a budget and following the thing.  It doesn't help if you make a budget and don't follow it.  I got my wife on board, and we look at the budget regularly.  We adjust as needed.  She tells me she needs things and I try to fit it into the budget.  We discuss everything.  The budget makes that possible. 

The other families?  They lurch from chaos to chaos, barely surviving what are normal and expected rocks of the ship.  See, emergencies happen.  So they aren't really emergencies.  Those "catastrophes" are normal occurrences.  You just have to plan for them.  And a stack of cash helps.  It's not a lot of cash.  Just $1000.  But that's a life changer.  It's just enough cushion to keep the big bad from beating down the from door.

But the people I know... they get payday loans. 

Six months ago, they said "payday loans are the devil". 

I guess that's the biggest trick of the devil.  He convinced the world he doesn't exist.

But then there is another side of the coin.  The part I don't understand.  I don't have to.  I just have to believe.  And I do.

See, I started going to church six years ago.  And it was a church that preached the new testament, and told me what the Bible said.  It wasn't about what someone thought.  You had to argue against the Bible.  Not against some random person.  Not against the thoughts of the world.  Against the word of God.  And there's a lot of parts in there that don't make a bit of sense to me.  But those parts are the ones that are the most important. 

As I heard someone say once... If you hear someone say "It doesn't make any sense" then that person has an invalid perspective of the world.  The world always makes sense.  It's not the world that doesn't make sense.  It's our view of the world. 

Now, the average person would tell me that the budget made all the difference.  But I know going to church and doing what the Bible said had an effect.  "Have faith and believe" it said.  I did.  That's all that was asked for. 

See, you really need to read the new testament.  It's a hard book to read.  Not for the words.  The words.  The words are easy.  They concepts are hard.  It's filled with a lot of differing and complicated stuff.  I don't pretend to be the greatest scholar of the Bible in the world.  What I do know is the main portion is so stupidly simple it's hard.  "Have faith in the living God and his son Jesus.".  That's the main thing.  

Because a lot of what people teach is flat out wrong.  Or at least contradicted by other parts of the new testament.  And if we're getting into a Paul vs Jesus interpretation, I'm taking Jesus any day of the week.  I think Paul is the problem with a lot of Christianity.  But that's an argument for another time.

I guess the biggest thing I want to leave with is this: Jesus is knowable.  I'm not saying you are going to understand it all.  But he is knowable.  And it's worth knowing him.

The hilarity of it all

Life is really, really funny.  I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. 

Eight years ago, Barrack Obama was elected president of the United States, and the right decried the death of the free world and the end of everything they saw as important.

One month ago, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, the left decried the death of the free world and everything they saw as important.

8 years ago, Texas started talking about secession.

1 month ago, California started talking about secession.

It's ridiculously humorous the parallels between what happened eight years ago and what happened a month ago.

Everything the right was saying eight years ago, the left is saying now.

History is doing a bit of repeating, and it is hilarious.

Schedule, Week 1

Week 1:

Think and Grow Rich, chapter 1.

The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, chapter 1

Heaven's Wealth Food, disc 1

Listen to these at least 3 times.

During the first week, it can be complicated to listen to the same thing over and over again.  Think of this as training mental discipline.  Discipline is doing the right thing when no one is watching.  It's easy to not do what you should be doing.  Growth is hard.  But it is worth every minute.  Continue listening, despite the mental fatigue.  

Work book: From John Maxwell

1) Which gap is the one that keeps you from growing the way you should have.

2) Rework your calendar to fit growth into the schedule 5 days a week, fifty weeks a year.  

Discuss what you did to make this fit.

Book sale!

Tomorrow is the 2nd library book sale of the year.   I like the book sale.  What's better, it's a brown bag of books for about $5.  Sure, they are used books.  But books are books.  I've gotten entire collections of books for practically nothing. 

So...  support your local library.  Go check out their books and visit their book sales. 

They are awesome.

Loss of Routine

I just realized why I hate on call.  I am not currently on call, so that is not the issue.  I will be in a couple of weeks.  But that's a future problem.  Who's going to solve that one?  Future Matt. 

Right now, I know why I dislike on call. 

It breaks my routines.

That's about it. 

I have several routines that I go through Monday through Friday.  They are simple actions that result in a controlled beginning to a day.  Occasionally, the day crashes and burns.  Other days, it goes fine.  But my routine stays with me.

 When I lose the ability to perform that routine, things go haywire.  It's not something I inherently like or am happy with.  It's just a gigantic failing.  It's unpleasant.

And my entire week goes to hell.

I can tell it's been a bad week when the last time I shaved was Monday.  Shaving is a boring ritual.  Along with brushing and flossing.  Shaving happens three times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.   This week, I only shaved Monday.  Tuesday was the last day I performed my routine. 

And I'm headed to the end the week, dragging this controlled crash into the best possibility. 

I want my routine back.