According to popular media today was suppose to be the much heralded "end of the world." At least that was the speculation based upon a terminal date on some ancient Mayan calendar. It was also the beginning of the One Man's long over-due and much needed vacation. What better way to say to hell with work than bugging out on Doomsday?
The last couple of years have found the stress of the Christmas holidays wearing on my family. After last year we decided that the best defense was simply not to be there. So we decided to forgo the usual Summer vacation and spend Christmas with just myself, the wife, and the kids on a beach somewhere. A Christmas in, what to us would be, a very non-traditional environment.
So last night, I came home from work, picked up the rental car, packed, took a quick 30 minute "combat nap" and then hit the road for a 13 hour marathon drive (I am suppose to be an "endurance" athlete after all). All the while thinking how cool it was going to be to watch the end of the world from the beach. Well around 07:15 or so sunrise came just as it normally does. No exploding stars, killer asteroid strikes, or alien invasions.
I'm not sure that the Mayans had a specific time picked out, so I considered that perhaps the end of the word might come sometime later in the afternoon. Which I was perfectly fine with because I really hadn't made it to the beach yet and I was hopeful that I could get some sun and surf in before the cataclysm. Now, I could have taken into consideration that 12/21/2012 had come to other parts of the world several hours earlier, but logically I dismissed this assertion as the Mayans were clearly located in the Americas and weren't really concerned with international date lines. So with some expectation of seeing an epic solar flare or witnessing the switching of Earth's magnetic poles, I took the family to a nice lunch at a restaurant on a pier that sat over the surf. Then we took a nice stroll along the beach. The only celestial observance to note was that the moon was visible in the afternoon sky, but I hardly considered that ominous or malevolent.
By late afternoon my expectations for catastrophic planetary failure were pretty much dashed. As the sun began to set along the Western horizon I started to wonder if perhaps the Mayans had just ran out of room on the round tablet that they had carved their calendar on. Then I wondered if some overly-bright archeologist with a fedora and a bullwhip had stumbled upon an ancient Mayan interior decorator's design shop and confused some wall art with an intricate and sophisticated device for documenting cycles and the passage of time. I'm sure that happens all the time.
So the day is nearly over. 12/21/2012 has come and (mostly) gone. I'm a little disappointed in the ancient Mayans, but then again can you really put stock in a civilization that collapsed around the 9th century? Guess the hotshot who chiseled out their calendar failed to add that little tidbit to the day planner.
One thing I am certain of however, and that is that I am fairly pleased that doomsday wasn't today. My kids will have an opportunity to get their Christmas gifts, the family will be able to enjoy the stress-free environment of Christmas away from home, and I will be able to leave work behind for a while and get in some awesome workouts and runs in the sand and sun.
For those that are still concerned that the end is nigh, I have heard that Obama and Boehner have invited Harold Camping to Washington to consult them on the "fiscal cliff".
The last couple of years have found the stress of the Christmas holidays wearing on my family. After last year we decided that the best defense was simply not to be there. So we decided to forgo the usual Summer vacation and spend Christmas with just myself, the wife, and the kids on a beach somewhere. A Christmas in, what to us would be, a very non-traditional environment.
So last night, I came home from work, picked up the rental car, packed, took a quick 30 minute "combat nap" and then hit the road for a 13 hour marathon drive (I am suppose to be an "endurance" athlete after all). All the while thinking how cool it was going to be to watch the end of the world from the beach. Well around 07:15 or so sunrise came just as it normally does. No exploding stars, killer asteroid strikes, or alien invasions.
 |
| Sunrise on the East Coast. Looking pretty good to me while I'm driving. |
I'm not sure that the Mayans had a specific time picked out, so I considered that perhaps the end of the word might come sometime later in the afternoon. Which I was perfectly fine with because I really hadn't made it to the beach yet and I was hopeful that I could get some sun and surf in before the cataclysm. Now, I could have taken into consideration that 12/21/2012 had come to other parts of the world several hours earlier, but logically I dismissed this assertion as the Mayans were clearly located in the Americas and weren't really concerned with international date lines. So with some expectation of seeing an epic solar flare or witnessing the switching of Earth's magnetic poles, I took the family to a nice lunch at a restaurant on a pier that sat over the surf. Then we took a nice stroll along the beach. The only celestial observance to note was that the moon was visible in the afternoon sky, but I hardly considered that ominous or malevolent.
 |
| An afternoon moon and no global destruction to be had anywhere. |
By late afternoon my expectations for catastrophic planetary failure were pretty much dashed. As the sun began to set along the Western horizon I started to wonder if perhaps the Mayans had just ran out of room on the round tablet that they had carved their calendar on. Then I wondered if some overly-bright archeologist with a fedora and a bullwhip had stumbled upon an ancient Mayan interior decorator's design shop and confused some wall art with an intricate and sophisticated device for documenting cycles and the passage of time. I'm sure that happens all the time.
 |
| Wall art or the basis for Microsoft's Outlook calendar? |
So the day is nearly over. 12/21/2012 has come and (mostly) gone. I'm a little disappointed in the ancient Mayans, but then again can you really put stock in a civilization that collapsed around the 9th century? Guess the hotshot who chiseled out their calendar failed to add that little tidbit to the day planner.
 |
| Late afternoon and not a single Borg ship to be seen. |
One thing I am certain of however, and that is that I am fairly pleased that doomsday wasn't today. My kids will have an opportunity to get their Christmas gifts, the family will be able to enjoy the stress-free environment of Christmas away from home, and I will be able to leave work behind for a while and get in some awesome workouts and runs in the sand and sun.
For those that are still concerned that the end is nigh, I have heard that Obama and Boehner have invited Harold Camping to Washington to consult them on the "fiscal cliff".
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