A Timeline of Half A Million Words 2

A Timeline of Half A Million Words

  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: July 12, 2023, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    Time for the final day, and the wrap up. But, let’s hit one last topic: my ADHD, and how it’s affected. ‘Cause that’s one of the really big things I struggle with in life. Basically, anything I do that changes diet or exercise routines affects my ADHD. That’s just a part of being ADHD. Which means one of my big questions was: how does a vegetarian diet affect it? The answer is pretty difficult, really. ADHD is pretty subjective – sure, there are various attempts at scales you can use, but it’s not as consistent as one would hope. Plus, ever asked someone with ADHD what their Top 10 Favorite Songs are? There’s a good chance that changes from day to day, since we have object permanence and short term memory issues 🙂 The only gauge ends up being “Well, I feel like…” The other part is that there is a correlation between protein intake and exercise -vs- ADHD symptoms, which complicates things: are any improvements vegetarian diet, or the increase in protein and exercise? And, does it matter, since the diet improves my stamina for exercise? Yes, there is a change to my ADHD. It’s a bit better, and miraculously I’m beginning to do some organizational tasks I’ve always wanted to get done. Doing most things I don’t wanna do is less like pulling teeth (trying to get an ADHD person to do something they don’t wanna do it is a hell of a task.) I’m a bit moreRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 118
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: July 7, 2023, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    OK, so I’m used to “meat protein” – where does one get all that vegetarian protein? That, to me, seemed to be one of the more daunting things. I’m doing vegetarian, not vegan, so it’s a bit easier. But, wanting to put in muscle mass and lose fat (not necessarily at the same time – weight is the higher priority) does make it a little more interesting. I don’t really care for beans that much. I mean, they aren’t horrible, but they aren’t that great either. Refried beans (vegetarian – regular refried beans use lard) are a bit better than just straight beans, but still not a favorite. I keep hearing that beans are the best source…. but what else is there? Probably the first thing I need to figure out is: how much protein do I actually need per day? Counting calories and carbs isn’t uncommon for me – I had been trying to get my blood sugar under control and eating a diabetic diet (and at one time, cooking for a diabetic), so that’s not too hard. But most of the time, when it came to proteins it’s a simplified system: a piece of lean meat about the size of your palm is enough for most meals when eating to keep Type II Diabetes in control. Since I’m not eating meats, I already know from my short experience that meat replacements are all over the board when it comes to actual protein (one patty I had was 5Read the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 121
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: June 29, 2023, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    Every diet or workout makes extraordinary health claims about what it can do for you. It’s all about the money – they either want your views, or they want you to buy a product (be it supplements or books, or maybe just a subscription to their channel.) That means I’m skeptical as hell of everyone’s claims. Hell, even if they say there’s a study backing it up, I gotta go look and see more about the study (since many are paid for by interests in a specific conclusion.) The Game Changers made a lot of claims, and some of them made sense, or were backed by either science or information I had already gotten from health care professionals. For example: eating a vegetarian diet can improve your blood sugar as long as your not using no meat as an excuse to go nuts on carbohydrates. But I was more doubtful about it the statements on endurance and recovery times. Let’s start with endurance. Has it affected anything? Yes. My fat, 50 year old body has no problems with 30 minutes of cardio – I’m not in the least tired by it. Not 45 minutes at 120 BPM. Or an hour. In fact, 15 minutes of weights, an hour of cardio in my target range, then another 15 of weights had little affect – I could have kept going. In fact, on cardio alone, I have no idea what the upper limit is at this point. This resonates with a coupleRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 124
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: June 29, 2023, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    So The Plumber called and said “Lunch?” So, I met them at Denny’s. Eating out while trying to maintain a vegetarian eating It wasn’t planned, but we had both picked the same day to start a trial run of vegetarianism. Going to Denny’s would be a cool experiment – how hard was it to go out to eat and have something that tasted good as a vegetarian meal? Burger King, Hardees’s, and McDonalds all have meat substitute burgers or just veggie burgers to work from. I’ve tried both Impossible and Beyond before, and honestly neither of them are bad, but see my observation from the previous day about most of the meat replacements I’ve experienced, and the issue with what your brain expects -vs- what you put in your mouth. Denny’s doesn’t offer either one of those – they have some bean based burger. Now, it costs and extra $2 for one of these pattys, and Denny’s burgers (at least here) are relatively good. So, I was expecting something akin to a Beyond burger – which is weird, because Denny’s used to carry the Beyond burger until earlier this year (2023). Go fig. Instead, their is a Dr. Preager California Burger, but I have no idea why they quit offering the Beyond (I assume it’s not price, since they charge a $2 premium for that California Burger) I’m not going to say it sucks. It’s just not as good as the other options, which is sad. They could have doneRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 127
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    So, here’s my first big observation about going on a vegetarian diet: faux meat is not really a substitute. It’s not that hard to go without meat at the moment – but, I’m only 3 days into it. There’s no ‘Cheeseburger In Paradise’ moment where I’m dreaming about meat. Part of that is probably ‘cause I already minimize my intake of red meat, so moving forward without any meat is more like an extension of my existing eating plan than a radical departure. But, back to the main point: if you buy a meatless hamburger expecting a hamburger, more often than not you’ll be disappointed. Out of 3 suppers so far, the most successful was meatless tacos – those were done using vegetarian refried beans and avocados as the base. If your mouth is primed by the appearance of something that looks like and has the shape of meat, but it tastes and feels nothing like to, it’s disappointing. (All of the following are not paid endorsements, blah lab blah). I’ve had Boca burgers, and they’re pretty good: they just don’t taste like meat. Impossible burgers and Beyond stuff is pretty damned close to burgers (Beyond’s chicken is questionable), close enough that it passes the “is that meat?” Test when you put it in your mouth. I’m not saying it’s amazing, but good enough. When I cooked hamburgers yesterday, it was disappointing. The burgers weren’t bad, just… they didn’t pass that test. I would have been better thinking of themRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 130
    Total Comments: 1
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: June 25, 2023, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    Why the vegetarian experiment? Why would a 50 year old definitely meat eating country boy decide to try meat free? As is often the case with me, there’s more than one reason for trying it. BTW, this is the kind of boring entry, ’cause it’s day 2 and nothing particularly interesting has happened. So this one ends up being about the motivation. Meat is an ecological mess a time where we need to improve things. You have to grow things to feed things to end up with meat. The process is inefficient, and often requires extra steps – you grow things, harvest things, ship things, then feed things, ship things, cut things up, then ship things again. From there it may sit in a warehouse for a bit, then ship to the grocery store (or, it may skip the warehouse and go straight to shelves.) It’s less than optimal. We could talk about carbon footprints, etc. but the truth is even the stats your given aren’t correct. But, let’s be honest for a moment; disaster or not, one person choosing to not eat meat doesn’t change much. And, even with that, am *I* optimal in my driving, etc? Not really. There’s also the methane from animals. 1/3rd of methane that humans contribute is from animal sources as part of agriculture.. But, again, that “one person” issue. Then there’s the moral mess. I eat meat because it’s required from a health standpoint. Folks who don’t eat meat have a higher levelRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 133
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: June 24, 2023, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    So The Plumber told me the other day I should take a look at The Game Changers on Netflix. The TL;DR version is: professional athletes that switched to vegetarian or vegan diets and had good success. Yeah, I’ve seen plenty of those sort of folk before – they’re usually things like cyclists or runners that go for an optimized muscle to weight ratio (and there’s nothing wrong with that). Usually they’re a thing sort of muscular. If you’re going for muscle, though, you’ll wanna pack in that meat. Right? I mean, that’s pretty much every bit of conventional wisdom. Except that’s not what The Game Changers covers. One of these folks is a world record holder in a couple heaviest carry categories. He’s huge. Football players in the mix, along with others. The stuff they talked about is backed by studies and meta analysis for all the topics – it’s not a nutritionist saying “oh, see, if you eat this, it’s good for you…” (no offense to any of my nutritionist friends – there are ones who know e what they are doing, then there’s the TikTok nutritionists that know exactly jack shit.) Ok, so, in reality it doesn’t look nearly as hard to be healthy as I’ve always heard. Hm. And so here I am: giving it a shot. This is a week long test to see how it goes. These posts are delayed – I’m writing this one on Day 2, and I’m not sure when I’ll startRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 136
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: June 14, 2023, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    I know, this thing hasn’t been updated in ages, and finding the extra time to do it has been hard. Oddly, it still gets traffic despite being stale content. Heck, I’ve also dumped off some content from the site – it’s now private information. But, that’s a story for another day, this is about coming back up here. Recently I’ve been doing more content development in the form of videos, games, and some book writing, all of which are destined to be funneled through the Patreon. This is at the same time that I’m trying to be healthier and get more exercise. These goals also conflict with the time I have available for work, and maybe a little bit of life too, like spending time with my significant other. It’s a balancing act – work continues to move forward. Pounds continue to be lost, A1c corrected, blood pressure reduced, and more. The “creative endeavors” move forward slowly, but they do move forward. I was grousing on Facebook that I wish so could mount a laptop on my elliptical to work while I workout. I was posting that from my phone. I like that workout time – it does wonders for my body (my lowest weigh-in was 222 for this stint work workouts, which is a hell of a drop, putting me back to a weight I haven’t been at for over a decade.). I have an issue with it, though: if I’m working out, it cuts into my time toRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 139
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: November 28, 2022, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Gamer Zone Revisited
    To view this content, you must be a member of Davis's's Patreon at $4 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to access this content.
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: November 24, 2022, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Cycle of the Muse
    To view this content, you must be a member of Davis's's Patreon at $4 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to access this content.
    Total Comments: 1
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: September 21, 2022, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password:
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: September 13, 2022, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password:
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: September 6, 2022, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password:
    Total Comments: 1
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: August 30, 2022, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password:
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: November 8, 2021, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - The Recipe Book
    OK, this is a pretty simple one – crushed cucumber isn’t anything fancy, but it’s tasty! 1 Lb. Persian Cucumbers or English Cucumbers, crushed2 tbsp. cilantro1 tbsp. salt1/4 cup green onions2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar (or, whatever you have on hand)2 tsp sesame oil2 tbsp. finely chopped garlic1 tbsp. sesame seeds3 tsp soy sauce1/2 tsp sugar Take your cucumbers and smash them – not super hard, just hard enough to crush them a bit. They don’t need to be pulverized, just in to bite-sized chunks (I use my pestle) Once they’re crushed up a bit, sprinkle the salt over them in a bowl, mix them up, and let them set for 20 minutes. The salt will draw off part of the moisture from the cucumbers. Drain the cucumbers, add the cilantro and green onions. Mix up the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl, then pour over the crushed cucumbers. Let ’em sit a bit, and serve cold.
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 154
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: October 4, 2020, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    The kongnamool is used is part of a meal involving multiple side dishes, some rice, and some pork belly, but it’s good on it’s own. 1 pound soybean sprouts2 tablespoons soy sauce1/8th cup sesame oil2 tablespoons Korean red pepper powder2 teaspoons garlic, minced2 teaspoons sesame seeds2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar, if I don’t have rice vinegar) Put a pot of water large enough to take the entire pound of bean sprouts on to boil. While you’re waiting, take everything but the sprouts, and mix them up in a glass or plastic bowl and set it aside. Once the water is to a full boil, drop the bean sprouts in for 30 seconds. Take them out, drain them, and rinse them with cold water until they’re cooled down. Let it set for a bit to let it dry (just a couple minutes), then put the sprouts and the mixture in a bowl and mix them up. This is one of the side dishes for “Korean BBQ” based on a place here in town that does it. But, they’re good by themselves, or, cook an over-medium egg, and drop it on top of a handful of kongnamool for tasty breakfast. Despite the amount of red pepper involved, it’s not particularly spicy!
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 157
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: July 3, 2020, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    A really nice Chinese Noodle Salad Jay gave me – give plenty of prep time, though! The Salad It’s Self: 1 Can of Pin Mushrooms1 Napa Cabbage5 or 6 rehydrated black mushrooms2 or 3 carrotsRice Vermicelli noodles The Sauce 2 tbsp of chopped garlic3 tbsp oyster sauce2 tbsp of chicken base3 tbsp white vinegar1 tsp sugar2 tbsp sesame oilChili oil with black beans (optional) Preparing the Salad The Black Mushrooms If you’ve got dehydrated black mushrooms, put them in warm water and let them rehydrate basically most of a day. Noodles: Bring water to boil, then turn it off. Drop the noodles in the water, and let them remain there for a good 15 minutes or so – doing it this way makes them less mushy. Carrots and cabbage: Bring water to boil, drop both in the water and let cook for 3 minutes, then take out. Chop up and combine all the salad stuffs, and let chill in the fridge for an hour or so. Store the salad and the dressing separate. Preparing the Sauce Add all the ingredients together, and let it sit in the fridge a bit. If you want some spice to it, add the chili oil in there.
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 160
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: July 2, 2020, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - The Recipe Book, Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    A super-simple thai peanut salad dressing, can also be used as a dip. 1/2 cup peanut butter2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice2 tablespoons rice vinegar2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon honey1 teaspoon sesame oil1 clove garlic roughly chopped1 cup of water(Optional) 1/2 teaspoon of dry chicken bullion (crushed fine) Put them all together in a jar, and shake like crazy. You can serve it over a simple salad with lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes if you don’t want an authentic Chinese style salad.
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 163
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: March 28, 2020, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr, The Recipe Book
    1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup yellow cornmeal ½ cup white sugar 1 teaspoon salt 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 egg 1 cup milk 1/3 cup vegetable oil Preheat the over to 400 – put a medium cast-iron pan in while it’s preheating. Put everything into a bowl, and mix it well. Once the oven’s preheated, pull the cast iron out, and spray some oil in there to keep the cornbread from sticking. Pour in cornbread mix, and cook for 10 – 12 minutes (toothpick test it – stick it in the center, and when it comes back clean, you know the cornbread is done.)
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 166
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Movie theaters are required to have closed caption devices available for the deaf. Drive-in theaters aren’t. Important to know if you or a loved one is deaf. I have a workaround for that! There’s some reasonable logistical reasons for drive in theaters to not be required to have caption systems. Still sucks, though. Another thing is old movies don’t have support for captions either, which is where this all started. I’m in a private group for movie showings, and I inquired about captions for those older films they were showing. Of course, the answer was that they didn’t have captions. Someone spoke up and said it’s possible to set it up yourself, and posted a link to a caption database. This changes everything. Local Drive-In Theater Starlite Drive-in is a historic theater here in Wichita – the last one in town, and one of the last functioning drive-ins in Kansas. Recently, they closed down entirely, much drama ensued, and members of the local community helped it get bought by another drive-in owner in Oklahoma (otherwise, the land was going to be used for an ugly warehouse type thing), and reopened! My girlfriend and I went the the drive-in before it closed, and while it’s a cool idea, she can’t keep up: she’s deaf, and without captions, she’s only getting parts of the dialog. So, I wanted to support the local drive-in idea, but I really didn’t feel good about dragging her along to something she’s not going to enjoy asRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 169
    Total Comments: 7
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: January 6, 2019, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - The Recipe Book
    Our current New Years tradition is for me to fix a prime rib dinner with all the goodies. Here’s it, and aju, and potatoes, and what to do with it a couple days later. Herb Butter Prime Rib 4-ish pounds bone-in prime rib1 cup butter, softened4 – 10 cloves garlic, minced1 Tablespoon thyme, finely chopped1 Tablespoon oregano, finely chopped1 Tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped1 Tablespoon salt1 teaspoon pepper Take the prime rib out of the freezer, and let it warm for at least 30 minutes. Warm up the butter so it’s a liquid, then add everything to it minus the prime rib it’s self. Stir it all up. Place the prime rib fat side up in an appropriately sized pan (or, even larger pan if you want do some potatoes, too), and pour all the butter sauce on it. Let it sit and soak for about 30 more minutes on the counter or somewhere safe. Once the butter has rehardened, use your hands to get the butter and herb combo out of the bottom of the pan and pack it all over the surface of the prime rib, so it’s completely covered in butter, garlic, and herbs. Preheat the oven to 450. Once it’s done pre-heating, cook it for 15 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 325, and continue cooking. It’s about 15 minutes per pound of prime rib – use a meat thermometer to wait for the internal temperature to get up to 110 degrees (at this point, I splitRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 172
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: January 6, 2019, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - The Recipe Book
    Every family has someone who writes down recipes in a book, to be used again later. That book becomes almost sacred in some families, because it holds great-great-grandmother Mayda’s secret split-pea soup recipe. And, those recipes get handed down to the kids, etc. It’s cool. I don’t have one, but Kelly does. One day I found a recipe for something that I wanted to put in her book, and she said I should get my own (fair enough.) But, let’s face it, I’m generally more of an electronic sort of guy, particularly since I’ve already got such long standing domains. This is my attempt at my own recipe book. This includes things of my own (which I rarely write down, but are rarely the same exact dish twice), and stuff I found on the Internet. Now, I could just set aside and area for links, and call it good. There’s a couple of reason I don’t do that – I hate the format to start off with. I don’t need 6 paragraphs of backstory on the recipe before I actually get to the ingredients list, and have the cooking instructions spread out between 6 different advertisements. Plus, when those sites go under, well, the recipe is gone. This blog turns 10 this year – it’s not going under anytime soon. And, even when I do follow a recipe, I tend to start improving it – so, I can track my changes and improvements to it. So, if you start readingRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 175
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: December 31, 2018, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    Going into 2018, I would have said this would be the year I finally get over the financial hump – I came into it in a relatively good position. The contract gig I was doing was going strong, though it was supposed to be coming to an end – the budget for it ran out, but the project wasn’t complete. That’s a bit of a problem, but how much longer would the project last? I’ve got a few possibles to chase down after I get it done. That project lasted me for all of 2018. Now, probably never mentioned it, but in 2017 I set out to repair my credit, and bring in enough lines of credit to carry my ass through hard times – I was so damned tired of times when it all went to hell, and I had no fallback. There are three months in 2018 where I made less than $200. In fact, in 2018, I’ve made a little more than $2k LESS than I did in 2017. If you asked me how the year was going mid-year, I would have said it sucked pretty bad. Ask the same question this month, and my answer would be a little different – I thought 2018 was going to get me set right, and while it was hard as hell, it actually did set me up for 2019. And, most importantly, I survived 2018. There were a lot of changes along the way – for instance, I’m veryRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 178
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: December 30, 2018, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    I’ll skip all the colorful story stuff and get right to the meat of this – there’s two very easy ways to bypass Tumblr’s adult content policy for some pages and discussions. This won’t work for everything, but a quick test of it showed it works fine for the web comic I was trying to read, and a few other pages. Method 1: Copy & Wayback & Paste When you run into a page with the content block, copy the URL from the URL bar. Go to the Wayback Machine ( https://web.archive.org )Paste the URL in the box that says “Enter a URL” and hit returnSelect any version of the page older than December 1st, 2018 (the content policy went into effect Dec 17th, 2018, but some pages were affected before that)Enjoy. If it’s got an archive of the page, it even includes links to the notes, etc., so you don’t have to miss out on the discussion part. Sometimes you’ll end up with broken images that weren’t archived – pick another date (before Dec 1) and you’ll probably find the images, too. Method 2: The Plugin If you’re using Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, use the Wayback Machine plugin – it’s faster than the copy / paste method. Once in installed, just click on the Wayback plugin when you run into a page that’s been affected. Select “First Version”, and BOOM! You’ve got a copy of the old page in a new tab. You can also look for other archivedRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 181
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: December 3, 2018, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    I posted on Facebook about it, but I’ll repeat it here as an intro – I was on the phone with someone I’ve known since before I had my own company, and he’s been a customer of mine for basically as long as his company has existed.  Bill Wiley & Associates is 15 years old.  Wow.  But, I had to do the math in my head real quick, and I realized:  Midnight Ryder Technologies turns 20 years old next year.  Holy crap.  I’ll do an “official” post on the Midnight Ryder Technologies website after the first of the year, along with a new logo for it incorporating 20 years.  But this sort of pulls together some of the personal side of it, and stuff I won’t be putting in the official one.  Well, and some of it that will end up in the official one. In The Beginning… I usually credit the end of 1999 as the beginning of Midnight Ryder Technologies, but that’s a simplification of things.  It’s always gotta be just a little convoluted, and there’s multiple dates you could use as the start date for the company.  The one I picked was… well, kind of arbitrary, to be honest. In 1999, I decided it was time to realize my dream:  I wanted to write video games.  I was already a software developer for a living, making a pretty decent wage, seeing the world, and getting paid to do cool stuff with big ass machines (I was doingRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 184
    Total Comments: 2
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: July 30, 2018, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    Yeah, I’m 47 now.  Of course, I’m sitting behind a computer, working on a major project, and packing up my apartment.  And, of course, thinking about the last year or so.  As usual with me, it’s been an interesting ride.  So, grab a cup of tea, coffee, or other favorite beverage, and come along for a look back at the ride.  And, given the number of trips involved, there was a lot of riding.  Oh, and since I love to take pictures of everything, there’s a lot of pictures of that ride.  This is only the highlights, and there’s a whole lotta stuff that happened at 46 (er, 27 Mk 19) that I’m just not going to bother posting. A lot of this stuff is things I’ve started to write up before, but finally getting around to writing up, using my birthday as an excuse to do it.  Some of them will EVENTUALLY get their own posts that expand upon things like the campsite and hot springs in Colorado.  Update:  OK, it didn’t get done until nearly a month after my birthday.  So, there’s some minor updates in there, some labeled, some not. The Trips: California On the road to Alpine, California Next day after my Birthday last year, we hit the road bound for California.  I had been to California plenty of times for work.  Fresno, Woodland, and a few other areas, along with having flown through LA a couple of times.  I had even seen the Pacific oceanRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 187
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    So, it’s the beginning of a new year, so it’s that time of year to say that I’ll be writing more in my blog.  Seriously. 😉 . As with previous years, time will tell if I actually do it – though, I actually did write a number of things that were never published in 2017 (that I’ll publish later in 2017 – more on that later), along with the tail end of the abusive relationship stuff.  Here’s to vowing to write more. But, for now, here’s a look back at 2017, and a look forward at some new projects. The End of Selfie a Day For two years straight I’ve done #SelfieADay – a picture of me, me with cats, me with Kelly, me with friends, me with customers, etc., on a nearly every day basis (I broke 300 both years, but didn’t actually accomplish 365 postings.)  Just like the year before, I took A TON more than 365 pictures, though a lot of them are alternates, getting the right lighting, things like that.  Plus, when I finish stitching them together for my year end wrap videos, the way I did it will add quite a bit of “stop motion” style of effect to it. The biggest thing that comes with doing SelfieADay is the question: “Why?” I’ve answered a ton of variants of that question. There isn’t really an answer to that beyond “Because I can.”  There’s a lot of reasons I kept doing it, along with the idea ofRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 190
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: October 19, 2017, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    If you read only one rambling blog post with no discernible point behind it today, you might want to pick a different blog post.  But, since you’re already here, you might as well keep reading… Last week I decided it was time to refresh my Tai Chi (Taiji, Taijiquan, however you’d like to refer to it 🙂 ) knowledge, since it’s been a while.  I’ve never managed to learn a complete set of forms. So, I set out to find – and learn – one of the complete sets.  The source material I had learned years ago disappeared, so I began searching online to find it again. Quick primer for those who don’t know, and care just enough to wonder:  Tai Chi comes in various flavors.  Like, quite a few flavors.  Some of the stuff dates back to 16th century, and some of it is actually extremely modern.  Some of it is based on the ideal use in combat, some of it for exercise and flexibility, and some of it is vaguely metaphysical in nature by concentrating on the idea of chi (qi) manipulation.  There’s traditional styles, simplified traditional styles, and Americanized styles ;-).  And, then there’s a further modifier, what’s being used:  hands?  Sword?  Broadsword?  Or, heck, maybe just use a cane?  (Yes, there’s a specialized form just for use with a cane.) Each of these a forms.  Each form broke down into Movements.  Each movement has a name such as “The Heavenly Horse Gallops Across the Sky” orRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 193
    Total Comments: 0
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: June 8, 2017, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    When in Rome, right?  People who know me know I’m not a pot head – it’s just never been my thing.  But, since I was going to be in Colorado, I had multiple reasons why I wanted to do a little marijuana tourism.  At the same time I’m writing this, I’ve already written an article on Advanced Mobile Healthcare‘s site that looks at effects of legalization of marijuana over in Colorado.  I’m not going to say it’s dry and boring, but it’s centered around the facts of the change.  This post, on the other hand, is centered around my observations of the environment, the process of buying product there, and well, even the product it’s self.  And, something new:  Kelly will also be contributing (I’m pretty certain I’ve never allowed someone to have input on my blog posts before.)  All her stuff is in italics so it’s a little easier to see who’s saying what 🙂 Strangers in a Strange Land I’m from Kansas.  You know what’s not legal here?  Anything with THC.  Now, funny story:  I know a lot about marijuana, THC, and cannabinoids.  For instance, bits of trivia like: THCa is the precursor to THC.  Apply enough heat, make it dry enough, or add the right acid, and THCa becomes THC.  THCa isn’t psychoactive, but THC is.  Why do I know this?  Because the very first set of articles I wrote for my friends and customer over at AMH was a 3 part series on cannabinoids, and IRead the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 196
    Total Comments: 1
  • A Timeline of Half A Million Words 116
    Date: January 21, 2017, By Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr Category - Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
    Becoming more active in the community, and the world as a whole, has been a goal of mine for a while.  I’ve not been as good at it as I should be.  Facebook activism doesn’t count, and even that is sometime I carefully dole out (someday I’ll bother writing a blog post on the company site that explains why).  Now, I have been to a protest before.  Well, my running joke about it is that it was less of a “protest”, and more of a “loiter”.  I stood out on the corner of a Bank of America for nearly 30 minutes wondering where the rest of the protesters were – come to find out, part of them didn’t show, and since it was a cold day, a number of them didn’t bother getting out of their car. For the Women’s March in Wichita, which is part of a larger series of marches going on throughout the US, totally different story.  I’m sure some people are going to view part of what I say as negative – it’s not intended that way, it’s just the observations of a first timer.  And, there’s a second part to the post, which covers a bit of anxiety issues. Women’s March in Wichita My first inclination of how large the march really was. Trump becoming President of the United States has caused some serious unease in quite a few segments of America.  I won’t bother explaining why – that’s better documented by other people in many,Read the rest of this...
    A Timeline of Half A Million Words 199
    Total Comments: 0
Load More...

Enjoying your visit? Well, glad to hear it – Midnight Ryder’s Book of Many Things has been around for over two decades, in one for or other, and under multiple names. Over time, the format changes, the focus changes (though, it always comes back to being about Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr’s live in general), and the about of potential entertainment derived from it changes. If you’ve scrolled down this far, you’re either entertained, or, you’re just really bored.