Nobody Home

Hey, thanks for stopping by, but there ain't nobody here.

I experimented with creating a blog here, but I got really frustrated with the Blogger interface. It's just too limited for what I was wanting to do - so I set up a blog using WordPress instead. You can find it at: http://kenthomas.us

I do hope you'll visit.

Moving

I haven't updated this in a few weeks - primarily because the more I experimented with Blogger, the more frustrated I got with the limited interface and layout control. I've been experimenting a bit with Wordpress, and so far I like it a lot better. Once I get a blog going over there I'll post a link here and mothball this one.

Trailblazing

Almost two years ago I took a job at the Google Datacenter here in Lenoir, and we sold our house in Clayton and moved up here. Now don't get me wrong, Clayton is a decent little town, but we lived in a subdivision (Clayton is almost entirely subdivisions) and by the time we left I was really sick of the whole subdivision existence. Homeowner's associations, cramped little lots, nearly identical houses, you name it. I realize there are perfectly logical reasons for everything involved in a subdivision (most of which revolve around the almighty principle of protecting the value of your investment) but it's just not a very comfortable mode of existence for an utterly stereotypical contrarian hillbilly like yours truly.

But last summer I realized that there was something I really missed about that subdivision, believe it or not. See, I like practical exercise. Something that seems directly pertinent to the kinds of physical activities I actually like to do. I like hunting and I like hiking, so my favorite kind of exercise is just to strap on a heavy pack (or my weight vest), put some weights on my arms and my ankles, and powerwalk a few miles. I realize this form of exercise is never going to give me 'ripped abs' or anythng, but I'm 40 years old, you know? The days when I could reasonably aspire to a six pack are long gone anyway.

The subdivision in Clayton had a couple of miles of trails around a pond that were perfect for my style of walking. Where we live now we're surrounded by woods, and there simply aren't any walking trails around. So, being (as I mentioned) something of a contrarian, I've decided to build my own.

So I spent this morning out in the woods behind the house, stomping around and getting some idea of where I want to put my trail. It's kind of an interesting challenge, because I want something simple and natural (obviously I don't intend to pave it or anything) that follows the existing contours as much as possible, avoids ground where water tends to accumulate (because I don't want to be walking through mud all the time) and that won't require a bunch of chainsaw work to clear. The good news is that there are already some established deer paths to work with, and I'll probably stick pretty closely to what they've already laid out. Deer have a knack for finding the easiest ways to get from Point A to Point B, and who am I to argue with critters that already live there, you know?

I'll post some pictures as the project moves along.

Recognized Hazards

I should probably take a moment to explain the name of the blog.

I work in the occupational safety and health business. Well, it would probably be more accurate to say that I try to bring occupational safety and health to other businesses. What I do is obviously influenced pretty heavily by OSHA, and OSHA's cardinal rule is embodied in a standard they call the General Duty Clause.

The General Duty Clause, in a nutshell, says two things. It says that employers have to eliminate recognized hazards from the workplace, and that employees have to follow the safety rules that employers come up with.

Now, I don't plan on writing a lot about safety in this blog. It's boring as hell if you don't do it for a living, and pretty boring even if you do. I just titled the blog that because it's a combination of words that has always amused me. Probably because one of the first things you realize when you get into the safety field is that the employees themselves are always the most dangerous things in the workplace, and the moment the employer recognizes that fact, they're legally obligated to get rid of all of them.

Pompeii & Circumstance

Yesterday was not devoid of interest.

We'd offered to pick up some friends flying into CLT late last night, so Vicki came up with the idea of heading on down to Charlotte in the afternoon and spending a few hours at Discovery Place. They'd had a traveling exhibit there called A Day In Pompeii since June, we were both interested in seeing it, and it would only be running for a few more days - so Vicki bought the tickets, Marshall and I cleaned the truck, and off we went to the big city.

Discovery Place didn't impress me all that much, but it's a science museum aimed at kids, so I'm not their target audience anyway. Marshall seemed to enjoy it, but the whole place seemed pretty run down to me. For example, they had some pretty interesting animals, but their glass cages were so scratched up you could barely seem them. The place was built in the 80's, and it hasn't aged well.

The Pompeii exhibit, on the other hand, impressed me quite a bit. It wasn't just the quality of the artifacts, but the organizers had made a conscious effort to build the collection out of common, everyday things that were part of the lives of the citizens of Pompeii. As you walked through the exhibit, you really got a feeling for what kind of people they were. What they ate, where they lived, how they decorated their homes - there was even one wall covered with graffitti (with translations) that really drove home the point (for me, anyway) that these were real, earthy people.

So you proceed through the entire exhibit getting to know these people, and you don't encounter the horrific way so many of them died until the last room. They aren't technically dead bodies. The victims were buried in volcanic ash, and as the ash hardened and their bodies decomposed it left voids in the soil. By filling those voids with plaster (or more recently, resin) archeologists have created casts that are almost uncanny in the level of detail that's been preserved. Little things, like the way a man huddled against a wall was covering his mouth with a piece of cloth, or the way a husband was reaching out to protect his wife, have a powerful way of bringing out the humanity in the casts.

It was a great exhibit, and I really enjoyed it.
Then we went to Maggiano's and stuffed ourselves beyond all rhyme or reason.

Photo Links:
Discovery Place
Funerary statue from Pompeii.
Statue of Fortuna.
Bas-relief sculpture of Minerva.
Cast of a victim.
Cast of a victim.
Cast of a victim.
Cast of a victim.

In the beginning...

My name is Ken Thomas, and this appears to be my blog. I'm not certain why I have a blog, and even less certain what to do with a blog - but in spite of that fact, here I am, and here you are.

Here, looking at my blog.

Let's both try to make the best of it, shall we?