October thoughts

Cool weather is starting to move in. It still is nice enough to ride the bike and walk without a lot of extra clothing, although I add more every day! I have gotten used to walking at 4:00 a.m., and Friday I even bundled up and walked in the rain since I didn’t want to miss my walk. I also bike every day I can (after work on weekdays and on weekends) and enjoy that.

My weight is going down well, slow but sure. Limiting my food has helped!

November 1, 2006, marks five years with Lakeland (and also means I vest in the pension plan!). It seems time has passed fast and looking back I see that a lot has happened!

Aliene and I went to the Fall Tennessee City Managers Conference in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Oak Ridge was a “secret city” during the development of the atom bomb. It now is a major research facility. We saw the 6th “fastest computer in the world” and I think there were 2 others in the top 20.

Currently the Oak Ridge lab is a major research facility and also contains some secret areas that we weren’t allowed to look at. (There were some jokes about rabbits the size of deer etc. due to the early nuclear work.) Oak Ridge is near Knoxville, Tennessee, which is higher elevation and more north than Lakeland, so the foliage was really beautiful.

We really enjoy our house and neighborhood. The other night we had a “block party” which was fun. The addition currently has about 50 houses completed and work in “phase II” has started. Phase III (which is near us and will ruin part of our view!-although we knew it was coming of course) will mean about 121 houses.

The “neighborhood” is so nice to ride in I am getting spoiled. I hope the new houses etc. don’t ruin the biking fun I have here. Unfortunately, the only exit is onto a busy highway. Although it has bike lanes, there isn’t really other close roads that are safe. I do have a good bike rack to carry the bikes so I can go to other areas.

I find I can see so much more on a bike than I can in a car (and it is much faster than walking) so I like to go and look at different areas of the city on a bike.

The Oklahoma Wind

I don’t mind hills while riding my bike, but I really don’t care for riding when the wind is high, although when I lived in Oklahoma, I figured I may as well learn to deal with it. Of course it is not near as bad here (in OKC) as it is in western Oklahoma and Kansas. I can understand why the continuous wind drives people insane!

Aliene and I are in Oklahoma City visiting. One of the first things I noticed when we got here Friday was the hard cold wind! The wind always makes it seem so much colder or hotter, maybe that is why I like the climate better in Lakeland! The altitude also apparently has something to do with it, since when it snows in Oklahoma, by the time it gets to Memphis it is frequently rain.

Aliene’s birthday is Monday. We are taking an extra day going back and celebrating it in Arkansas by seeing some of the sights we always plan to see on the trip to OKC, but never seem to have the time to do.

We ran into a friend at the hotel we are staying at Saturday night who, as a weekend job, drives a “classic Limousine”, so he gave us a ride in a 1963 Bentley, with the original steering wheel on the right! He offered to let us drive, but we decided it was a real thrill just to ride in it! (I don’t know what it was worth, but I’m sure my insurance coverage would be strained to cover the bill!)

Things are busy at City Hall. It seems there is always something going on to keep us busy!

We always enjoy our visits to Oklahoma City, but it is always nice to get back home. We really enjoy our new house, and especially the fact we know all of our neighbors! It is really a nice atmosphere.