it's a fuzzy fuzzy world…

Someone clearly doesn’t think I should be typing tonight…

First off, holy cow I’m tired (18 hours at the fire department today), so this may be a little rambly, but here’s my brief #whyiingress  moment before I go fall over and get some sleep.

I started this game in late January as a way to make walking more interesting and to get my highly unmotivated butt off the sofa and out of the house. I know that worked, because I can see my Trekker stats, and my Fitbit stats, and I know how much weight I’ve lost (almost 45 pounds to-date) and how much better I feel. but some things really bring that home more than others. Tonight was one of those ah-hah moments.

I had a 12-hour shift EMS shift at the department today (it’s a volunteer department, but in order to ensure that the ambulance gets out the door on a timely basis, the EMTs and drivers sign up for regular shifts where we’re on station instead of responding from home). It was actually a pretty quiet day… had a nap, breakfast, washed the ambulance, trained on the grass truck (playing with water! Woo!!), late lunch, another nap, rode around while another driver trained on the engine… an exciting day, right? 😀 Then we had our regular monthly fire training tonight, which was at the Anderson Fire Dept’s training tower. I griped that the Fitbit said I’d already met my step count target for the day so I shouldn’t have to do any more, but I didn’t really mean it, and off we went. And this is when I started to realize how much better shape I’m in since I started Ingressing.

See, last time I went to that tower… probably two years ago… it just about killed me just to climb to the top. Today? Made it to the fourth floor without even being out of breath, then up the ladder to the roof for the view from the top (Hey, the fire trucks look tiny way down there!). And while I’m tired now, it’s more from having been up since 5 a.m. than from the physical exertion.

So thanks, Ingress! I love my fire department and I love being on the fire department, but it’s all soooooo much better with less weight, lower blood pressure, better stamina and better flexibility. And all just because I started walking from one portal to the next.

So grab your scanners, agents. Let’s go walking! (Well, okay, I’m gonna sleep first, then we can go walking…)

#ingress

Okay, so this made me laugh…

How I spent my day yesterday… 

Originally shared by Maggie Coyne

On September 6th, 2015, about a dozen resistance and enlightened agents gathered on Indianapolis’s Monument Circle to create some cross faction field art, putting up a green and blue semicolon to show some #TaterBugLove  and to support awareness of an issue that has affected many of us personally. A few days later, Joe Philley unexpectedly died. In the hangout for Indy’s Operation Semicolon contribution, as in nearly every ingress hangout and g+ community that day, agents began sharing stories about meeting Joe and discussing ways to honor his legacy. One of the most cherished memories of Joe for all of us was Mission Day: Gen Con and for the Resistance in particular, the op he helped us with that weekend. I’m not sure what we were thinking, scheduling an operation right after three days spent hiking around downtown all day and staying up partying all night! Somehow we pulled it off despite our hangovers, and with Joe’s help some of our most dedicated field agents received platinum and onyx illuminator badges. Mission Day weekend was one of the most positive and integrated cross faction events to ever happen in Indy. Cross faction relations have long been strained, at best, in Indiana, but a new cross faction social group arose over the summer, lead by Geoff Estes, Katherine Getts, Joe Getts, Kelly Shaw and Kelsie Wessel, and began the hard work of reaching across the faction divide and organizing fun social events and cross faction field art projects that would be open and welcoming to all players. Their efforts were the spark that made this project possible.

Hoping to capitalize on the momentum of the new cross faction group and the positive experiences of Mission Day and Operation Semicolon, we decided to aim big with a memorial operation for Uncle Joe and try to recreate the op that he helped execute, the last op he ever did, with green and blue links. Initially we were going to try to teal field, but then my enlightened counterpart in planning this op, Ron Groves, had the brilliant idea of leaving the inside unfielded, to just draw out the shape of the original op with clusters of blue and green links. The emptiness in the middle would symbolize the void left in the global ingress community by Joe’s passing. Thus Operation Void was born from the Operation Semicolon hangout, which we recycled and renamed (because who doesn’t have enough hangouts already). Then we started reaching out and adding agents from across the state and neighboring states to help with the project. On October 3rd, after three weeks of whirlwind planning and preparation, agents of both factions from across the state headed out on a cold, rainy Saturday to clear lanes and throw up their links.

Death and tragedy loomed large throughout this op, but the sadness of it all was tempered by the amazing way the Ingress community rallies to support each other in the hard times. Two of the agents who helped with key farming and transfers are themselves dealing with parents facing terminal illness. While they were not available to help on the day of the op, they still took time out of their busy lives to contribute to the cause in whatever ways they could. A few days before the op, my enlightened clearing buddy lost his grandfather and had to drop out of the project to attend the funeral on the day of the operation. And, the tragic loss of @wilsburg961 and many others in the massacre in Oregon just two days before definitely weighed heavily on everyone’s hearts as they headed out to clear. Yet one cannot help but be inspired and uplifted by the outpouring of love that happens, and the way that faction boundaries dissolve, whenever tragedy strikes an agent. Agents from both factions contributed money to send flowers to the funeral of the enlightened agent here who lost his grandfather and any additional money collected, along with countless other donations, went to the memorial fund for @wilsburg961. This game connects so many diverse people and the community those people have built takes care of its own on a global scale that is truly unique. It’s incredible, it’s indescribable, and it’s #whyiingress . Thank you @delta102 for the legacy of friendship you have left us through this game.

And, thanks the following agents who helped with this op, either actively or in a supporting role:

@norsevorg @NihilistProxy @StinkieHippie @HoorayJen @SinisterKitt3n @AirplaneGuy737 @Antebi @sumo911 @MonkeyLuv @Sofakat @Eshal @qweyiio @myrrlyn @LaFamiglia @LaFamigliaQueen @Mystickittie @Ecthaelion @drahn @Forte @Catastrophi @ThaZimbo @MemorableFancy @Geta2J @rasetrack @TeeJae @Gemminie @everseeker @MFalcon @InJerk @TollerMom @KiltedWarrior76 @EpicGeek @JZ78 @bassmaster1963 @cntrlwiz @Dantuma @DWhip25 @R1verS0ng @meggleiscious @WinterrRose @GenBelisarius @RebellionBlue @dcstang @hoss704 @shaeleej @sPaZZeR @Fatticus @smurfbuster @philliie @RealLifePixel @itswhateveritis @Barnac1es @SimoneRivera @SEALTeamSeven @flexyournoggin @Firefly27 @unathi @dayvidlee 

#RIPJoe ,

@bigmaggie

#missionday   #ingressfs   #crossfaction   #niantic    #ingress  

Anne Beuttenmüller Matilde Tusberti Ethan Lepouttre  Ingress  John Hanke  John Zuur Platten  Linda Besh 

Arrrrrr! It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day, Mateys!! So come to Noblesville tonight, hang out with my band, drink some beer (bring your own!), sing along with the pirate songs, and have a jolly ol’ time! 🙂

7-9 pm, at Logan St. Sanctuary, 1274 Logan St, Noblesville, Indiana 46060, Michael Longcor followed by Wild Mercy. $10/adult, $5 for students, kids 12 and under are free.

See you there!!

So… I kinda suck at remembering to post about band gigs. Oops.

Wild Mercy is playing tomorrow night (Saturday!) in Noblesville for Talk Like a Pirates Day. We’ll be at Logan St. Sanctuary from 7-9 w/ our good friend Michael “Moonwulf” Longcor (he’s an awesome singer/songwriter from Lafayette), and I’d love to see some of you there! $10 for adults, $5 for students, kids 12 and under get in free. You can BYOB, and it’s entirely possible that some of us will head over to Copper Still afterwards for food and beer. 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1621623814777407