Alexandersmap

    Category: Travel

    • Robert Rogers

      Robert Rogers

      Robert Rogers was born in Methuen, Massachusetts – twenty minutes from where I currently live.  His family moved to what was then the wilderness of Dunbarton, New Hampshire a few years later.  Rogers is famous for leading a group of colonists in the French and Indian War.  There are some who will point to his debts, drinking and war atrocities committed against women and children.  These are very much the darker part of his story.  But Rogers was very good at what he did, which is taking the fight to the French and Native America populations during war.  In war you need strong leaders, and Rogers was certainly that, leading Roger’s Rangers to fame that lasts to this day.

      I first learned about Roger’s Rangers when I was a kid watching the movie Northwest Passage.  I haven’t seen that movie in 40 years, but I’ve read up on Rogers, and everything I read makes me want to learn more about this guy.  Rogers and his Rangers wore green uniforms and did epic raids and scouting missions across vast and hostile wilderness.  Roger’s Rangers were the origin of what is now the United States Army Rangers.  Live off the land, shrug off hardship and discomfort and get the job done.

      Perhaps the most epic story I read about Rogers Rangers – and there are many – is a mission when they skated across Lake George, switched to snowshoes and trekked across snow covered forest for miles.  These were tough, athletic and versatile men who never saw a mission that they didn’t want to tackle.  On another snowshoeing mission they ambushed the enemy deep in hostile territory, only to be ambushed themselves.  Rogers and many of the Rangers managed to escape by holding off the French and Native Americans until dark, separating into smaller groups and melting into the wilderness.

      By all accounts, Rogers was a brilliant soldier who adopted Native American tactics to create his own form of fighting.  Today people talk about Navy Seals with awe.  Frankly I do as well.  Rogers Rangers would hold a place of honor at the table of military heroes in America’s history.  Many of the tactics used in the armed forces today originated with Robert Rogers.  In fact, Rogers “Rules of Ranging” are still followed by the U.S. Army Rangers of today.

      Rogers was a hero of the French and Indian War, but like many soldiers he struggled after the war.  Debt, scandal, alcoholism and war crimes muddied his reputation after the war and in the years since.   During the Revolutionary War he took the British side, and it’s said that he was the one who recognized Nathan Hale (“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”) when he was spying on the British in New York.  Hale was hanged soon afterwards.  New Hampshire, which Rogers did as much to protect as anyone during the French and Indian War, expelled him as a Tory.  He would die in poverty in London.

    • Oil Delivery

      Oil Delivery

      In the early morning hours of December 31st, Buzzards Bay was very still.  There was a glow from the towns on the other side of the bay, but otherwise the night was dark yet brilliantly lit by thousands of stars.  House lights and red and green lighted channel marker buoys twinkled across the calm water.

      Off season is very quiet on Cape Cod, and that’s particularly true in this quiet corner of the Cape as well.  There are very few year-round residents, and the few that are around aren’t hanging out on the beach this time of year.  Walking down the beach to take a sunset picture last night I saw two couples doing the same, and saw one other family when I first arrived and a power walker this morning.  Solitude prevailed.

      The only company I had was announced by the distant thumping diesel engines of the tug boats pushing oil barges to and from the canal.  Tugs are a constant companion on the bay, and there was no let-up at 3 AM.  Heating oil is in high demand this time of year, and barges are running from Hicksville, New York on Long Island up through the canal to fuel thousands of customer’s heating systems.  There’s an estimated 2 billion gallons of oil being shipped through the canal annually.

      In 2007 a barge being towed hit a submerged ledge and leaked 928 gallons of oil into Buzzards Bay.  The ecosystem is very fragile in Buzzards Bay and from that point on barges are required to have two tugs to ensure that any trouble is mitigated immediately.  The 2007 leak was the fourth such incident in 32 years from 1975 to 2007, and thankfully there haven’t been any since then.  I’m told that they’ve started using double-hulled barges so that even if the primary hull is breached the second hull should contain the oil.  I hope so.

      But last night, that wasn’t on my mind so much as knowledge that the tugs and barges continue working this stretch of water from Long Island to New England and perhaps Canada.  This isn’t a 9 to 5 job, and I appreciate the people out there working the wee hours of this morning of 2018.  Hopefully they’ve reached port and are able to celebrate New Years Eve on shore.

    • New England’s Frontier Wars

      New England’s Frontier Wars

      Being a settler in New England wasn’t all that easy.  Events outside your control impacted settlers for generations.  Encroachment on the Native American population created resentment and occasional raids on settlements.  Global forces were at work against the settlers too, as France and England were constantly at war with each other in Europe, which naturally bled over to North America as each side fought for their turf.

      There were several wars between the English and the French that deeply impacted the settlers in New England.  So many wars that you need a scorecard to keep track of them all:

      1689-1697  King William’s War (War of the Grand Alliance/Nine Year’s War)
      1702-1713  Queen Anne’s War (War of Spanish Succession)
      1722–1725  Dummer’s War (Father Rale’s War/Wabanaki-New England War)
      1744-1748   King George’s War (War of Austrian Succession
      1754–1763  French & Indian War (Seven Year’s War)

      Over the next several posts I’m going to try to tackle each of these at an overview level, and dive deeper into individual stories from each over time.  With 75 years of fighting between the settlers, the French and the Native American population, there’s plenty of content to work with, and only time as a restriction.

    • Atomic Habits

      Atomic Habits

      I’ve got a long history of pursuing audacious goals that eventually crash and burn either immediately after accomplishing them or somewhere along the road to getting there.  I’ve rowed a million meters in support of a friend, and as soon as I’d accomplished it I walked away from the erg for months.  I’ve lost 30 pounds and was literally within five pounds of my perceived ideal weight of 225 when I just stopped pursuing it.  I’ve aimed at 10x my quota attainment for years, and inevitably scratch and claw to meet quota, let alone 10x it.  I set a goal of doing 20 burpees a day for the rest of my days, and injured myself after increasing the reps to 50 burpees per day and not listening to my body when it started breaking down.

      “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” – Norman Vincent Peale

      Such is the life of the big dreamer.  I’ll still pursue bigger goals for work and fitness.  You need to have bigger goals to inspire you after all.  But in aiming for the moon, I’ve ignored the other advice that I’ve heard over and over.  Steady, incremental improvement ultimately wins the day.

      “Slow and steady wins the race.” – Aesop, The Tortoise and the Hare

      Your audacious life goals are fabulous. We’re proud of you for having them. But it’s possible that those goals are designed to distract you from the thing that’s really frightening you—the shift in daily habits that would mean a re–invention of how you see yourself. – Seth Godin

      With that in mind, as we run smack dab into another year of bullshit resolutions, I’m taking a different tack as we round the corner into 2019.  Small, “atomic habits”, inspired by a free ebook with the same name by James Clear.  Overall this has worked for me with a few things, like writing this blog.  I don’t do it every day, but I’ll aim to become more consistent.  So here goes:
      1. 10 burpees per day.  Not 11 or 20 or 50.  Just do 10 and re-establish the routine.
      2. Minimum 5K per day walking.  Aim for 10K.
      3. One call per workday to a high gain contact.
      4. Write something every day and post it in the blog.  Even an interesting quote someone else said is better than nothing.
      5. Do at least 3 of these before you check social media.
      Easy right?  That’s the point.  So easy you don’t have an excuse not to do it.  So here we go.  In fact, I’ve already knocked off two of these today.  So I guess I’m off to a good start.

    • Halifax & Boston

      Halifax & Boston

      The connection between Halifax and Boston is similar to a sibling relationship.  Boston receives their Christmas tree from Halifax every year as a thank you for Boston’s role in supporting Halifax after the December 6, 1917 explosion that killed almost 2000 people.  Boston’s medical ships arrived well before the Canadian government reacted, and Halifax has been forever grateful.

      Halifax and Boston were sister cities of the British expansion into North America, and there was strong sentiment to invade Halifax and bring it into the American colonies during the Revolutionary War.  That it remained British-controlled created some separation, but eventually the cities proximity and cross pollination of people moving from one to the other brought them closer.
      Halifax receives the Boston feeds of a couple of news channels and follow all of the major Boston sports teams, making them more familiar with Boston than Boston is with Halifax, but the bond is strong both ways.  Part of my family came through Halifax as well, so I’ve always thought of it as a home away from home.  It’s been over a year since I’ve been in Halifax, and I think I need to remedy that soon.  Nova Scotia keeps calling to me.  I need to return the call.

    • JOMO

      JOMO

      2018 is the year when I’ve finally sickened of the addictive, time-sucking apps on my phone.  I’ve deleted and re-added Twitter, and now work to pair down my focus on it.  I’ve deleted and definitely NOT gone back to Words With Friends.  And now I’m toying with the idea of dramatically limiting my exposure to Facebook.

      There’s a new term making the rounds lately; JOMO – Joy Of Missing Out, which inserts joy where fear used to reside.  Frankly I’m all in on that.  I’m making 2019, beginning now, the year of JOMO.  I’m deleting FB off my phone, so I can only look at it on my iPad.  I’m figuring out what to do with Twitter, which I enjoy using as a news feed, but frankly the news sucks nowadays and I’d rather focus on things I can control.
      According to my Screen Time feature on the iPhone, I’ve been on Twitter for 4 hours over the last 7 days, Facebook for a little more than 2 hours, and InstaGram and Safari for almost 2 hours each.  That’s not bad compared to a lot of people, but that’s still more than I’d like.  Combined Social Media time for the last 7 days is 11 hours and 55 minutes.  Ouch.  When I think of that stack of books I’m trying to work through, and the time I’m spending mentally away from my family and friends during the holidays it’s not good.
      That said, Social Media can be a good thing in doses.  So I’m going to set screen time limits on my phone and iPad and work to honor those.  I’m going to start using the Watch more as I try to increase my overall activity.  But overall this is an opportunity to change my habits as we roll into the New Year.  

    • Silent Night

      Silent Night

      This year marks the anniversary of Silent Night, written and then composed to music two hundred years ago.  The history of Silent Night is making the rounds on various media this holiday season, so I won’t re-write it here, save for this brief Wikipedia intro: “Silent Night” (German: “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht”) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria.

      It’s Christmas Eve in New Hampshire.  The nest if full, if only for the briefest of times, the presents are under the tree, the plans are made.  2018 was a tough year in so many ways, and many people who were with us at Christmas last year aren’t here this Christmas Eve.  Best to make peace with yourself and your neighbors on this holiest of days.

      Austria is calling me.  Vienna and Salzburg keep popping up in my life.  I work for a company based out of Salzburg and the whole Sound of Music connection to Stowe, Vermont (Trapp Family Lodge) has lingered in my imagination for some time.  Vienna is the title of a Billy Joel song that keeps reminding me that Vienna waits for you.  The Geography of Genius and Cultural Amnesia have both informed me of Vienna’s place in our cultural history and the fragility of Humanism and Intellectualism in the face of the rise of Nazi Germany.

      A popular bumper sticker this year seems to be the “Resist” slogan.  It’s a reaction to Trump and white supremacist groups feeling the courage to crawl out of the rock they live under in the last two years.  Trump is testing our democracy and the Rule of Law like no other President in American history.  So resist, but know your history and what happens when you don’t resist.  Blindly following a religious, political or military leader has consequences often not seen until it’s too late.  The best defense is strength and knowledge.

      On Christmas Eve, most of us want peace of Earth and goodwill toward men.  Looking back one hundred years to the meat grinder that was World War One, it’s easy to see what can happen when we let “leaders” power go unchecked.  When I think of Silent Night I think of the story of the two sides in opposite trenches stopping the fighting on Christmas Eve and singing Silent Night.  The war would grind on and many more would die, but for that brief moment reason and goodwill took over.

      Silent Night, Holy Night
      Mindful of mankind’s plight
      The Lord in Heav’n on high decreed
      From earthly woes we would be freed
      Jesus, God’s promise for peace.
      Jesus, God’s promise for peace.

    • Food and Drink and Magic Spells

      Food and Drink and Magic Spells

      I spent some time in the first month of 2018 wandering around in Portugal, and a memorable evening in Lisbon sampling port with some of my co-workers.  Within a week of sipping this port I was no longer working at the company that paid for my trip to Portugal.  I have no regrets about my departure.  Eleven months later I rarely think about the company, but I often think of Portugal.

      Life is a dance, and libations have a way of liberating the timid from their restraints.  Our dance with life is all too brief, so best to celebrate the stuff of it in every moment.  Indeed, as Marcus Aurelius wrote, “... with food and drink and magic spells.  [We’re all] Seeking some novel way to frustrate death.”

      I write about death more than I figured I would when I started this blog, and not because I’m particularly obsessed with it, but rather because I’ve grown to accept stoicism as a guiding force in my life.  I’ve been reading and re-reading Meditations in 2018, and I expect I’ll come back to it again in whatever time I have left ahead of me.  I was a stoic before I really understood what that meant, living in the moment, accepting fate (for the most part), and knowing as the Scots do what lies ahead of us:

      “Be happy while you’re living, for you’re a long time deid” – Scottish Proverb

      Raising a glass of port is different from wine or beer.  It’s a spirit that demands savoring, and I willingly rose to the occasion with my co-worker Jim, splitting a flight of port with him on a memorable evening in Lisbon.  Having a few drinks in faraway places isn’t exactly unique, nor is savoring good and drink and magic spells, as the Bible too points out:

      “Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.” – Isaiah 22:13

      Food and drink are only part of the story, of course.  Good health and a sound mind are larger factors in the year ahead and serve to temper the desire to live in the moment.  2018 has been a little too moment-focused and not enough fitness-focused.  Burpees and step counts are good indicators of a commitment to progress.  Consistency must follow the act of committing.

      “Our minds are bodies are meant to be allied in the quest for a better relationship with life.” – Don Miquel Ruiz

      As we wrap up 2018 and look to the year ahead, I’m struck by just how challenging the year was in so many ways.  And yet it was a very good year.  Looking ahead to 2019, it’s clear that America and the world will face more challenges still.  And so it shall be.  Embracing a little more stoicism helps bring the New Year in focus.

      “Think of yourself as dead.  You have lived your life.  Now take what’s left and live it properly.” – Marcus Aerulius

      I’ll take that advice and run with it.  Live properly with a commitment to career, fitness, strengthening the mind and of course savoring the moments along the way.  Every moment is magic, and if this blog has documented anything it’s my commitment to finding it in the past and present in every place I go.  Cheers.

    • Book Stacking

      Book Stacking

      My nightstand has a stack of seven books that I’ve been meaning to get to.  The table next to my favorite reading chair has two more.  The bookshelves have dozens more.  And the Kindle app on my iPad has several more.  The cue of books to read is long, and time is short.

      Making time for reading has become a bigger priority for me.  That starts with weaning myself off of the damn iPhone; the ultimate time sucking device.  And I’m doing the same with television and browsing on the computer.  Time is all we have, and way too much of it has been consumed by electronic media.  Being present in the world is a great start to finding more time.

      Reading page-turning fiction is one thing.  I can blow through a spy novel or mystery in no time at all.  The same can be said of masterful non-fiction page-turners like The Boys in the Boat or Unbroken.  Heavier reading like Ulysses or Cultural Amnesia are a different story.  And powerlifting reads like Antifragile are harder still.  I find that I start a lot of books and set them aside when they stop inspiring me to press on.  Frankly not every book you start should be finished anyway.

      Perhaps speed-reading will solve the book stack for me.  Or more audio books to “read” as I drive around the northeast.  Moving to a cabin in the woods with all of my unread books for a sabbatical is out of the question for the time being.  There’s too many things I’d be trading off.  Best to use my time more wisely in day-to-day, moment-to-moment activities.  We all have the same amount of time.  The question is how we use it.  With 2019 around the corner, I’m thinking more about exercise and disciplined work and home improvement and travel…  and reducing the stack of unread books in my life.

    • Christmas Decorations & Dirty Laundry

      Christmas Decorations & Dirty Laundry

      Christmas can be a lovely time of family time, lights and magic.  It can also be a time of shopping chaos, stress on the budget and waistline, and questionable decorative choices.  On the latter point, call me a conservative.

      For a case study in decorative style, one only need drive towards one of the shopping areas strategically places within minutes of home.  You’d see a serious commitment to keeping Unitil shareholders happy with tens of thousands of Christmas lights on display in some yards.  There’s a warm glow that emanates off these homes as endless white lights outline the architectural details of the house and blanket the shrubbery.  Some of these home owners opt for moving fake reindeer or blinking lights to animate the scene and driving up the electric bill.  I honor the massive construction effort and CapEx that these homeowners invested in the holidays.

      Other homes opt for the easy way out, simply sticking a projector out in the yard that shines lasers in green and red at the house, making it appear to be wrapped in an envelop of dazzling electronic bliss. Others double down on this projector trend by introducing floating light displays of snow and God knows what.  The Baby Jesus would be truly… humbled to see this celebration in His honor.  The projector homeowner wants to celebrate Christmas, but without the hassle of doing too much.

      A natural ally to the projector crowd is the inflatables.  Indeed, often you’ll see them coexist together in the wild cu-du-sacs of suburbia.  The inflatables are like holiday chameleons, rapidly popping up Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas-themed characters in rapid succession.  No longer are the inflatables limited to Santa Claus and Rudolph.  No, today you can blow up just about any character in popular culture, and just put a Santa hat on their head or a Christmas present in their claws and you have the perfect addition to your front yard holiday celebration!

      Tragically, this holiday fantasy only comes alive at night.  During the daylight, when everyone is actually looking at your yard, these inflatables appear flaccid sacks of dirty laundry scattered across frozen lawns and restrained from escaping with extension cords and tent stakes.  Inflatables yards are like the morning after a big boozy party staring back at you in the mirror day after hung over day.

      The neighbor of the inflatable is inevitably the dignified wreathes on the windows and doors decorator.  This champion of restraint meticulously sets ribbons and bows amongst the greenery and sets white spotlights to illuminate the house to highlight just how lovely their holidays are going to be.  The wreath and garland homeowner never uses blinking lights, and the music is classic Bing Crosby era, thank you.

      My house is an exercise in simplicity.  Neighbors put white lights on the trees and shrubs out front?  I string colored lights through the trees out front.  And thats where I stop.  Nothing on the shrubs lining the front of the house, no spotlight on the wreath on the front door.  Sure there are candles in the windows and the white lights on the Christmas tree peak through one of the living room windows.  I’m doing my part without trying too hard.  The neighbors must shake their heads as they drive by.

      In New England, we inevitably have a snowstorm and a deep freeze right around the holidays that will cement this display to our lawns until the spring thaw.  So even if you are sad to see the lights turned off, you can take comfort in the fact that they’ll still be attached to the house and shrubs for months to come.  That’s the kind of holiday cheer that stays with you long after your New Year’s Resolutions are broken.