A morning view from our campsite

The Fire Within You

Adminisk8or

04/30/2023

In case you were worries last week's boredom would continue into this one's, fear not, for there is A LOT to tell.

At work, I have been trying to solve a conundrum for some time, now. One of our schools was having wi-fi issues, and it was odd. The issue would seem to happen at 1:15 in the afternoon, but it was random on which days it would happen. It would even bring up a notification on our monitoring that their external IP was down, and it caused some weird issues. On top of it all, the issue had been going on, in some fashion or another, for almost two years, now! I accidentally discovered the issue on Wednesday. In the firewall, there is a view of reports. Each report has different timeline views- day, week, month, year. We normally look at the week and month views for any issues, as they help give us a good timeframe to observe. Anyway, I looked at the day view, and saw that the 32,000 connections maximum we thought we were avoiding was being reached. Why didn't this appear in the week, month and year views? Because apparently the word "maximum" in those views would more closely translate to "average". Thanks, Sophos.

But thankfully, I got to put my crazy, busy work life behind me for a few days, as I joined my in-laws on an offroading trip this weekend. We went down to Moab from Thursday to Sunday, and we had one heck of a fun time! We rented a buggy and went out on some fun trails. The agency providing it was nice, and gave us good instruction. They mentioned, with a map to show us, that there were a few places we should NOT take the UTV, because those areas were pretty dicey. One of these was Kane Creek. Our first trail we meant to hit was Hurrah Pass, but we took a wrong turn and where should we find ourselves, but in Cane Creek. We didn't even know we had missed our turn, or that we were in the wrong place for quite some time. We were just wondering, "Wow... these roads are pretty difficult to navigate!" And then it got to the point where we were literally driving upstream- no, you read that right- we were driving upstream in a creek, because that was the road. And finally, after climbing multiple banks in and out of this creek, we saw a sign telling us we were on the wrong route. So, we felt pretty accomplished at the fact that we just took on a trail so difficult it was written off as "forbidden".

This same night, we rolled into our camp and got settled in. I decided to bring along this nice, inflatable queen mattress, that normally just plugs into a 120V AC outlet to inflate. Well, we didn't have electricity, and normally I would've had my pump, but I had forgotten it- so I decided I would take the bull by the horns and blow it up by my own breath. ...I don't know if I can remember a task so tiring and fatiguing in recent memory. Just to clarify, this was a Queen mattress, and a TALL one at that. Incredibly, after effectively making myself high as a kite from lack of oxygen, I managed to get it blown up to good firmness, and felt pretty accomplished, between my nonsense mumbling and ranting.

But the lesson I learned in this experience was not perseverance- no. Because that night, as I lay down on the mattress, thankfully, my wife's side was perfectly fine. But because we were slightly on a hill, and because the mattress wasn't quite as full as it ought to have been, my side sagged just a veeeerrrry little, and I had to be careful about how I slept on it. I tossed and turned all night, and I don't think I ever truly fell asleep. At one point, I had turned onto my right side, and noticed some significant time later that my arm was aching. This ache, though not super bad, was enough to be bothersome, and lasted well into the late morning. On top of it all, a very strong wind came in out of nowhere that night and pounded the walls of the canvas tent like drums at random intervals. This was worse for my wife and my brother-in-law, who were both by the edges of the tent, and got frequently smacked by it. But for me, the worst issue was that mattress. The next evening, though it grieved me a little to do it, I reluctantly deflated the mattress I spent so much time and effort inflating, and just setup the cot and sleeping pad I brought as backup. So what lesson did I learn? Just because you can, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD.

The next morning, though, did restore some confidence to me, as my father-in-law had prepped a fire to start, but the lighter we brought along was unfortunately about as useful as striking two rocks together. It just so happened, though, that I had brought along my propane accessories (I know exactly in what voice you just read that line, btw), and one of these included a pole that sits on a bulk tank. Amusingly (and it's probably actually a flaw in the product, as I think about it), after the pole disconnects from the tank, it leaks out the propane in it at a slow, but steady rate, with an audible sound. If one holds up a fire source to this noise, they will discover they have created a short lasting but cool looking blow torch. And yes, as it turns out, this SUPER redneck blowtorch is what got not just that one fire, but each fire we made started. FYI, this is NOT, I repeat, NOT an invitation to go out and experiment with explosive fuels and fire. DON'T. One more time, with feeling: DON'T. But having a good knowledge of how propane works, and the mechanisms that exist on equipment for it work, I was sure I was being safe in the act. Anyway, it felt good to see one of my innovations work right.

And speaking of fire, that leads to my last interesting story: fire. The last night we stayed, I elected to stay out and watch the campfire while everyone headed off to bed. I had asked the semi-rhetorical question, earlier, when everyone was present around the fire, "I wonder why sitting and watching a campfire is so relaxing and therapeutic..." And while there was some answer to it, it wasn't until later, as I sat at the fire by myself, that I considered what I think to be at least part of the reason.

Fire, in and of itself, is a very chaotic process- right down to the very atomic level of it. It's the process of a catalyst being introduced to a medium, and the atoms in the medium responding by releasing energy at a very strong and powerful rate. In some cases, this release of energy we call fire is a very small and simple, harmless thing, like a candle burning. In a different scenario, it may be a raging, rampant fire, consuming everything in its path and causing unspeakable destruction. But then, what can be said of fire? It represents power- both potential and realized. It can be used in very evil ways, or very benign ways, and everything in between. The fire itself is not good, nor is it evil- it is he or she who bares it, and they choices they make, which determine its course. And even in the best of hands, fire is never truly safe- but then, that follows the allegory just as perfectly, doesn't it? We see stars in the night sky- unfathomable distances from our eyes- but while all we see is the twinkle of their light, up close, these celestial bodies are constantly in a state of nuclear fission- splitting an actual atom right in half! And they're doing this everywhere at a constant rate. That process, which could so easily be among the most destructive things in this world if used in the wrong hands, is what gives us light and warmth- gives us night and day! And for our sun, it's a matter of careful balance- if it reacted too slow, it would have quickly become a small, quiet dwarf star, and this Earth we know would be a cold, quiet rock in the far-flung reaches of space. If it reacted too fast, it would either explode or implode, and destroy every bit of matter within its inescapable reach. It really is a hard thing in life to find a good balance- in so many ways. I think that's why, sometimes, when we look at a campfire, it speaks to us in a strange way, and reminds us that balance, though hard to find and maintain, is so rewarding, and brings us peace and calmness- brings us light and warmth.

That was a long thought I had, but I hope you'll pardon me for pondering on things, as I sat alone by a campfire at 11 at night. But I hope when you sit by a campfire, you, too, feel peaceful and happy. Until next week, see ya!