01/02/2011 Pennsylvania trip
Emily Caza invited us to her wedding in Harrisburg Pennsylvania at 5PM on the second of January 2011. Susan and the boys wanted to go so I extended our New Hampshire visit to allow time to drive down there and back, 10 hours each way according to Google Maps. When the time came to actually go only Susan had any enthusiasm for the idea but I could hardly object, having made plans for the trip myself.
We left Jackson at 7PM New Year's Day. Susan drove to Portsmouth where we stopped by Diana's to pick up Susan's pea coat which Diana had brought back from Donna's. Diana didn't feel she could join us for dinner but we wen to Radicci's anyhow. Susan and I had roasted vegetables and polenta, more of the latter than the former but better than David's squash ravioli and Daniel's cannelloni nonetheless. We left Portsmouth around 10PM. I drove until just beyond Hartford, past the hotel I'd started to book just before we left Jackson but didn't when Susan told Mom or John that she was ready to go and was just waiting for me. We found a Fairview by Marriott a few miles farther west which was both cheaper and probably nicer than the place in the city, so it worked out.
In the morning I drove west on I-84. The weather was cloudy, damp and mild, much like we're
accustomed to in Seattle. Patches of snow from the northeaster last week lingered in the woods,
dark hardwood trunks rising out of the mist with bare limbs silhouetted against a brightening sky.
When we started seeing lots of redtails around the Connecticut-New York border I had Susan take over
driving. We counted 10 redtails in the 5 mile stretch either side of the border, and another dozen
in 12 miles about 30 miles farther west. The sun came out around the Pennsylvania border and the
snow was pretty well gone, or perhaps they were too far west to get much out of the storm in the
first place. We drove through miles of beautiful mature hardwood forest in Pennsylvania, both
before and after stopping in the gritty town of Scranton for lunch. We ate an ordinary meal at the
Downtown Deli with bare storefronts all down the street on the way out of town.
Susan drove from about noon until we reached Harrisburg at 4PM. I booked a room at the Red Roof Inn near the church so she could shower and we all could change into our dress clothes for the wedding. We arrived at the church 15 minutes to spare. Steve and Leslie spotted us and greeted us with surprise and excitement in equal measure. Susan found us a place to sit in the second row back on
the bride's side. Daniel and I both took photos; he got better shots with his D90 and 18-200 than I
did with my D300. We took a few photos during the reception but the light in the fellowship
hall/gym cast a yellowish-green glow on all exposed skin. Susan loved the meal, salad with a
couple of vegan soups and she and the boys really enjoyed seeing Emily and Shannon again. The festivities ended around
9PM so we returned to our motel and after a few minutes of discussion, decided to get part of the
nine-hour drive home out of the way before stopping for the night. I was tired so Susan drove with
David in the front seat beside her for company. I woke up now and then to provide groggy directions
but was asleep when we missed the turn onto I84 in Scranton and didn't wake up for another 45 miles.
It was after 1AM when we got back on track and Susan was still feeling good so we kept going. I
didn't take over for another 5 hours, by which time we were only an hour or so from Portsmouth.
Shortly before Dover NH we discovered that we were nearly out of gas. When we pulled into the gas station, our dashboard display was warning that we had only 1 mile to go before we ran out but it was apparently lying since the pump shut off at 17 gallons and the tank holds 20. We stopped at Miss Wakefield Diner but after eating part of a donut Susan had bought in Dover, I was feeling revived and no-one else was hungry so we continued on to Bea's Cafe in Conway, a decent breakfast place. I was tired the rest of the day but was glad to be home rather than still being on the road.
Emily Caza invited us to her wedding in Harrisburg Pennsylvania at 5PM on the second of January 2011. Susan and the boys wanted to go so I extended our New Hampshire visit to allow time to drive down there and back, 10 hours each way according to Google Maps. When the time came to actually go only Susan had any enthusiasm for the idea but I could hardly object, having made plans for the trip myself.
We left Jackson at 7PM New Year's Day. Susan drove to Portsmouth where we stopped by Diana's to pick up Susan's pea coat which Diana had brought back from Donna's. Diana didn't feel she could join us for dinner but we wen to Radicci's anyhow. Susan and I had roasted vegetables and polenta, more of the latter than the former but better than David's squash ravioli and Daniel's cannelloni nonetheless. We left Portsmouth around 10PM. I drove until just beyond Hartford, past the hotel I'd started to book just before we left Jackson but didn't when Susan told Mom or John that she was ready to go and was just waiting for me. We found a Fairview by Marriott a few miles farther west which was both cheaper and probably nicer than the place in the city, so it worked out.
Hardwoods
Susan drove from about noon until we reached Harrisburg at 4PM. I booked a room at the Red Roof Inn near the church so she could shower and we all could change into our dress clothes for the wedding. We arrived at the church 15 minutes to spare. Steve and Leslie spotted us and greeted us with surprise and excitement in equal measure. Susan found us a place to sit in the second row back on
Bride and Groom
Shortly before Dover NH we discovered that we were nearly out of gas. When we pulled into the gas station, our dashboard display was warning that we had only 1 mile to go before we ran out but it was apparently lying since the pump shut off at 17 gallons and the tank holds 20. We stopped at Miss Wakefield Diner but after eating part of a donut Susan had bought in Dover, I was feeling revived and no-one else was hungry so we continued on to Bea's Cafe in Conway, a decent breakfast place. I was tired the rest of the day but was glad to be home rather than still being on the road.
01/04/2011
Upgraded John's computer from Vista to Windows 7 this evening. Earlier, Susan and I and the boys and Mom and John followed Sarah and Roger around some of the trails they've built in the woods. Their trails twist and turn through our homely forest visiting boulders and dodging blowdowns, reflecting their philosophy of immersing themselves in nature with minimal impact. David photographed Daniel throwing logs onto the ice along the edge of the river. There's not much snow left on the ground, or ice left in the river, after several sunny days in the high 40's since the snowstorm.
While lying in bed this morning I figured out the source of the upper back pain I've been experiencing since falling on the ice two weeks ago. Though my feet slipped out sideways, I managed to turn face down and put my hands up to break my fall, landing with the left side of my upper chest on my fist. The pain originates at the point where the second rib below my clavicle attaches to my sternum. There's a little swelling there and part of my pectoral muscle extending into my left armpit is sore but most of the pain usually seems to get referred to the left side of my upper back, presumably somewhere around the back end of that second rib. Probably a little damage to the ligaments at that attachment point but it is gradually improving. It bothered me a little breathing on the left while swimming yesterday, and still hurts a little when I breathe deeply, cough, blow my nose, move around in bed and so on.
Upgraded John's computer from Vista to Windows 7 this evening. Earlier, Susan and I and the boys and Mom and John followed Sarah and Roger around some of the trails they've built in the woods. Their trails twist and turn through our homely forest visiting boulders and dodging blowdowns, reflecting their philosophy of immersing themselves in nature with minimal impact. David photographed Daniel throwing logs onto the ice along the edge of the river. There's not much snow left on the ground, or ice left in the river, after several sunny days in the high 40's since the snowstorm.
While lying in bed this morning I figured out the source of the upper back pain I've been experiencing since falling on the ice two weeks ago. Though my feet slipped out sideways, I managed to turn face down and put my hands up to break my fall, landing with the left side of my upper chest on my fist. The pain originates at the point where the second rib below my clavicle attaches to my sternum. There's a little swelling there and part of my pectoral muscle extending into my left armpit is sore but most of the pain usually seems to get referred to the left side of my upper back, presumably somewhere around the back end of that second rib. Probably a little damage to the ligaments at that attachment point but it is gradually improving. It bothered me a little breathing on the left while swimming yesterday, and still hurts a little when I breathe deeply, cough, blow my nose, move around in bed and so on.
01/05/2011
No mental energy today. The boys went off with Mom and John and Sarah and Roger to watch Kirsten race in a Nordic event over in Rumford. I helped Susan get together the books and stuff she's shipping back to Washington, then eventually managed to head out for a run. I actually didn't feel too bad physically once I got out. I didn't have much idea where to go; on a whim I ran up the Black Mountain road to its end, then back down and up the Carter Notch Road. I was out about two hours and pretty tired once I started down the Carter Notch Road, having not eaten since breakfast, but I made it home OK. Susan wasn't back from her errands and the others not back from Maine so I had the house to myself for lunch. Susan was tired when she got home so Daniel fixed supper for us, a delicious lentil stew, while the others had the leftover Boeuf Bourgignon that Roger made last night. Sarah and Roger also contributed some delicious roasted potatoes with rosemary and thyme. I had a bit of the beef but was too full from lunch to have more than a taste of Daniel's lentils. Still feeling blah but glad I at least got some exercise today, and some writing done this evening.
No mental energy today. The boys went off with Mom and John and Sarah and Roger to watch Kirsten race in a Nordic event over in Rumford. I helped Susan get together the books and stuff she's shipping back to Washington, then eventually managed to head out for a run. I actually didn't feel too bad physically once I got out. I didn't have much idea where to go; on a whim I ran up the Black Mountain road to its end, then back down and up the Carter Notch Road. I was out about two hours and pretty tired once I started down the Carter Notch Road, having not eaten since breakfast, but I made it home OK. Susan wasn't back from her errands and the others not back from Maine so I had the house to myself for lunch. Susan was tired when she got home so Daniel fixed supper for us, a delicious lentil stew, while the others had the leftover Boeuf Bourgignon that Roger made last night. Sarah and Roger also contributed some delicious roasted potatoes with rosemary and thyme. I had a bit of the beef but was too full from lunch to have more than a taste of Daniel's lentils. Still feeling blah but glad I at least got some exercise today, and some writing done this evening.
01/11/2011 Bullion Basin Snowshoe/Ski Photo Gallery Bird List
Rain was forecast for the rest of the week before the boys would return to school and David had been
wanting to get out snowshoeing so he and Trevor Daniel and I decided to head up to Bullion Basin, up
by Crystal Mountain. That used to be one of my favorite areas to tele-ski, and later snowboard,
years ago when the boys were young but I hadn't been up there in probably a decade. The trees
seemed a little thicker in the lower part of the basin but otherwise it hadn't changed much.
We started up the snowcat tracks from the upper parking lot at Crystal around noon and took the usual shortcuts up the increasingly-overgrown former ski trails. Trevor did quite well considering he'd never been on snowshoes before and this wasn't your typical woodland stroll. Daniel and I skinned up, he on his split board and I on my old Nordic gear. Daniel had a bit of a problem with his skins peeling off but I'd re-glued my skins that morning so they held just fine. Our skins worked just about as well as snowshoes on the ascent. The highlight for me was a Northern Pygmy Owl which flew over and perched in a nearby treetop, though too briefly for me to switch to the long lens.
We stopped for lunch soon after the trail traversed into the woods from the base of the old burn area. When we were all too cold to eat anymore we continued up the trail into Bullion Basin. Trevor hung out in the basin while David snowshoed up to the ridge and Daniel and I skinned up to the peak. David slid down on Trevor''s blue flying saucer; Daniel reassembled his split board and rode down and I skied down. I hadn't been telemarking in a long time and balancing on the long narrow skis was trickier than I remembered, but I managed. We made it out around dark and met Susan at Ranchitos for dinner, by which time we were pretty worn out.
View west from Bullion Basin
We started up the snowcat tracks from the upper parking lot at Crystal around noon and took the usual shortcuts up the increasingly-overgrown former ski trails. Trevor did quite well considering he'd never been on snowshoes before and this wasn't your typical woodland stroll. Daniel and I skinned up, he on his split board and I on my old Nordic gear. Daniel had a bit of a problem with his skins peeling off but I'd re-glued my skins that morning so they held just fine. Our skins worked just about as well as snowshoes on the ascent. The highlight for me was a Northern Pygmy Owl which flew over and perched in a nearby treetop, though too briefly for me to switch to the long lens.
We stopped for lunch soon after the trail traversed into the woods from the base of the old burn area. When we were all too cold to eat anymore we continued up the trail into Bullion Basin. Trevor hung out in the basin while David snowshoed up to the ridge and Daniel and I skinned up to the peak. David slid down on Trevor''s blue flying saucer; Daniel reassembled his split board and rode down and I skied down. I hadn't been telemarking in a long time and balancing on the long narrow skis was trickier than I remembered, but I managed. We made it out around dark and met Susan at Ranchitos for dinner, by which time we were pretty worn out.
02/05/2011
I wrapped up my second week at Microsoft yesterday evening. I didn't see any other offices still occupied as I walked through the halls to the door closest to my car. It was 6:30PM, an hour later than I'd intended to leave but I'd spent at about an hour earlier in the day reading benefit forms and filling out paperwork for Murphy and Associates and I probably shouldn't bill that time anyhow. The sky outside was mottled dirty orange with no stars showing in the dark gaps between the clouds. A damp breeze felt almost warm. I felt an upwelling of joy inside, a feeling of well-being that overtakes me now and then, apparently without reason or cause, and lingers for a few hours or sometimes even a few days before fading away. Maybe it has something to do with working because I felt it earlier this month off and on for the better part of a week and meant to write about it at the time.
Compared to my last project at Microsoft, this one is off to a slow start. After two weeks on that project, back in May of 2009 (and coincidentally in the same building, though that group appears to have since moved somewhere else), I'd analyzed the business requirements, documented all the usage scenarios for the application, identified most of the 40-odd stored procedures, built and validated the data model and begun coding. On this project, I've helped the team identify the list of features to include in the next release and begun to understand the data model. Admittedly this application is somewhat more complicated but not that much more. Concerned about my lack of productivity, I mentioned it to Jack a couple of days ago but he reassured me that I'm progressing faster than he expected so he's satisfied.
The first few days on the project I felt totally over my head, not just because I didn't know the business or the team but also because everyone seemed technically more knowledgeable than I am. I didn't understand half the acronyms and terminology people were using. The couple of months I spent working in .NET last fall really helped me understand the technical docs though, and I reminded myself that I've always felt this way in the beginning of every new contract and I've always been successful, so not to worry. The two weeks I spent back upgrading the Maniacs site in January, immediately before starting at Microsoft, also helped. Although that was in Classic ASP it included a fair amount of SQL so helped me get back in shape for db work. I'd originally promised the Main Maniacs a site upgrade more than a year ago deferred it to the first quarter of this year then took the Microsoft contract so had to cram three months of Maniacs work into a couple of weeks. I got most of it done but only because I used Classic instead of upgrading to ASP.NET as I'd planned.
Two months ago I didn't expect to be doing any more contract db dev work. Joel had called me with an interview at Expedia back in November. I initially agreed to talk to them, then thinking about it more, decided that I didn't want the job (and privately didn't figure I'd pass the interview anyhow, my SQL being pretty rusty). I told Joel I wanted to focus on .NET and he told me he didn't generally have much .NET work and I told him that was OK because I was mostly doing it for the Maniacs and Halffanatics and for my own satisfaction anyhow. We saw Joel and Jenny at the Murphy Christmas party and had a nice visit with them (and also with Erik and Sylvia, who taught the boys to juggle pins). As we were leaving the party, I told Susan that it was probably our last, and that I felt like I was really retired now. Then a few days later Joel called to tell me that he'd been talking with Jack about a db position Jack had open. When Joel mentioned that he'd seen me recently Jack told him I'd be perfect for the job if I was available, and that he might even be able to give me some .NET work if I would join the team as their db developer. Feeling a little disillusioned with the idea of retirement I decided to take the job.
I wrapped up my second week at Microsoft yesterday evening. I didn't see any other offices still occupied as I walked through the halls to the door closest to my car. It was 6:30PM, an hour later than I'd intended to leave but I'd spent at about an hour earlier in the day reading benefit forms and filling out paperwork for Murphy and Associates and I probably shouldn't bill that time anyhow. The sky outside was mottled dirty orange with no stars showing in the dark gaps between the clouds. A damp breeze felt almost warm. I felt an upwelling of joy inside, a feeling of well-being that overtakes me now and then, apparently without reason or cause, and lingers for a few hours or sometimes even a few days before fading away. Maybe it has something to do with working because I felt it earlier this month off and on for the better part of a week and meant to write about it at the time.
Compared to my last project at Microsoft, this one is off to a slow start. After two weeks on that project, back in May of 2009 (and coincidentally in the same building, though that group appears to have since moved somewhere else), I'd analyzed the business requirements, documented all the usage scenarios for the application, identified most of the 40-odd stored procedures, built and validated the data model and begun coding. On this project, I've helped the team identify the list of features to include in the next release and begun to understand the data model. Admittedly this application is somewhat more complicated but not that much more. Concerned about my lack of productivity, I mentioned it to Jack a couple of days ago but he reassured me that I'm progressing faster than he expected so he's satisfied.
The first few days on the project I felt totally over my head, not just because I didn't know the business or the team but also because everyone seemed technically more knowledgeable than I am. I didn't understand half the acronyms and terminology people were using. The couple of months I spent working in .NET last fall really helped me understand the technical docs though, and I reminded myself that I've always felt this way in the beginning of every new contract and I've always been successful, so not to worry. The two weeks I spent back upgrading the Maniacs site in January, immediately before starting at Microsoft, also helped. Although that was in Classic ASP it included a fair amount of SQL so helped me get back in shape for db work. I'd originally promised the Main Maniacs a site upgrade more than a year ago deferred it to the first quarter of this year then took the Microsoft contract so had to cram three months of Maniacs work into a couple of weeks. I got most of it done but only because I used Classic instead of upgrading to ASP.NET as I'd planned.
Two months ago I didn't expect to be doing any more contract db dev work. Joel had called me with an interview at Expedia back in November. I initially agreed to talk to them, then thinking about it more, decided that I didn't want the job (and privately didn't figure I'd pass the interview anyhow, my SQL being pretty rusty). I told Joel I wanted to focus on .NET and he told me he didn't generally have much .NET work and I told him that was OK because I was mostly doing it for the Maniacs and Halffanatics and for my own satisfaction anyhow. We saw Joel and Jenny at the Murphy Christmas party and had a nice visit with them (and also with Erik and Sylvia, who taught the boys to juggle pins). As we were leaving the party, I told Susan that it was probably our last, and that I felt like I was really retired now. Then a few days later Joel called to tell me that he'd been talking with Jack about a db position Jack had open. When Joel mentioned that he'd seen me recently Jack told him I'd be perfect for the job if I was available, and that he might even be able to give me some .NET work if I would join the team as their db developer. Feeling a little disillusioned with the idea of retirement I decided to take the job.
02/05/2011 Ruston waterfront canoeing Our route
David called around lunchtime and asked if I wanted to go canoeing with him. After checking
the Commencement Bay web cam,
and lacking any other reason not to go since I was just puttering around on the computer, I said
sure, I'd bring the canoe and gear and meet him at 2:30, time enough to grab a little lunch, get the
canoe loaded up and drive over there. It's been over a year since we had the canoe out so today was
the first time I've loaded it onto the new car. Fortunately the new Subaru is about the same size
as the old one so the canoe fit well enough.
We put in at the little beach east of McCarver Street along Ruston Way shortly after 3 and paddled out along the shore towards Point Defiance with occasional stops for birdwatching (mostly Glaucous- winged and Mew gulls, Barrow's Goldeneyes and Horned Grebes with a flock of Surf Scoters off Point Ruston and scattered individuals of other species along the way. We were able to approach quite closely to flocks of Black Turnstones and Dunlin on rocks along the shore near the Ruston Way Lobster Shoppe; I regretted not bringing the long lens. Beyond an old ferry advertising some new housing development, we began to paddle along an odd-looking rock formation which formed a rough wall 5-10' tall along the water. It looked like dark reddish gray, fine-grained basalt, thinly layered in some areas and more massive or crumbly elsewhere, deposited apparently as a liquid since the face of the wall, where not eroded, was molded in the pattern of corrugated roofing. We concluded that it must be smelter slag since there have not been any local lava flows in recent times. In some places it was stained with blue indicating the presence of copper. In other places we saw 3' parabolic domes of the same material embedded in the flow, and casts of barrels as well. Wave action is cutting sea-caves into the wall and braking the more friable areas down into gravel, even forming a little beach where we landed the canoe and stepped out for a closer inspection. I found the slag to be heavy, due perhaps to high iron content though it doesn't seem to be rusting so maybe more toxic metals are contributing to its density.
Later I investigated on the web and learned that our "lava" was slag, 15 million tons of it deposited over nearly a century from the ASARCO lead and copper smelter which operated on the site until about 20 years ago. The slag is composed mostly of an iron silicate called Fayalite but contains other metals as well, including zinc, copper and arsenic which gradually leach out into the Sound and groundwater as the slag erodes and weathers. I also found out that the odd little pool on the point where we turned around was created as part of the habitat remediation effort during site cleanup. The plan was to enclose all the slag in a wall of rock to stop the erosion which accelerates release of toxic metals but with ASARCO's bankruptcy a few years ago the clean up effort appears to have slowed down considerably.
We paddled steadily on the way back and covered the three miles in about an hour despite having to paddle upstream in some places. The outflow from the Puyallup river, visible as a sinuous band of brownish water on the far side of the bay as we were descending the 30th street hill on our way to the put-in, had apparently shifted to our side of the bay. We encountered a stream of somewhat muddy water flowing against us at perhaps 1.5mph as we paddled past the last few piers before our take-out but fortunately we were able to get out of the current by turning in and hugging the shore.
Daniel was available to join us for dinner at Ferelli's, where together we designed one of the better pizzas I've eaten there - Alfredo base with roasted red peppers, caramelized onion, smoked Gouda, fresh basil and pine nuts. Daniel's IPA was better than my Porter.
He had just completed a couple of photo services assignments, shooting a swim meet and a basketball game. From the swim meet he had good news and bad news - the good news was that a man had given him $10 to take some shots of his daughter swimming in the meet; the bad news was that the man's $10 had doubled his income for the assignment. He's been taking pictures for photo services for several weeks now. At his initial interview they asked him how comfortable he was taking photos of people. When Daniel explained that he loved photographing people and was shameless about doing it, they told him that he was exactly the kind of person they were looking for.
Back in David's room he and I spent a couple of hours building his first web page, an assignment for his eCommerce computer science class. I showed him how to lay out his site with nested divs and the result works as intended and looks better than most of the sites I've built myself. The color scheme and layout were similar to the site I'm working on at Microsoft, which was apparently also inspired by the Gimp site that David used for a model.
David photographing ASARCO slag
We put in at the little beach east of McCarver Street along Ruston Way shortly after 3 and paddled out along the shore towards Point Defiance with occasional stops for birdwatching (mostly Glaucous- winged and Mew gulls, Barrow's Goldeneyes and Horned Grebes with a flock of Surf Scoters off Point Ruston and scattered individuals of other species along the way. We were able to approach quite closely to flocks of Black Turnstones and Dunlin on rocks along the shore near the Ruston Way Lobster Shoppe; I regretted not bringing the long lens. Beyond an old ferry advertising some new housing development, we began to paddle along an odd-looking rock formation which formed a rough wall 5-10' tall along the water. It looked like dark reddish gray, fine-grained basalt, thinly layered in some areas and more massive or crumbly elsewhere, deposited apparently as a liquid since the face of the wall, where not eroded, was molded in the pattern of corrugated roofing. We concluded that it must be smelter slag since there have not been any local lava flows in recent times. In some places it was stained with blue indicating the presence of copper. In other places we saw 3' parabolic domes of the same material embedded in the flow, and casts of barrels as well. Wave action is cutting sea-caves into the wall and braking the more friable areas down into gravel, even forming a little beach where we landed the canoe and stepped out for a closer inspection. I found the slag to be heavy, due perhaps to high iron content though it doesn't seem to be rusting so maybe more toxic metals are contributing to its density.
Later I investigated on the web and learned that our "lava" was slag, 15 million tons of it deposited over nearly a century from the ASARCO lead and copper smelter which operated on the site until about 20 years ago. The slag is composed mostly of an iron silicate called Fayalite but contains other metals as well, including zinc, copper and arsenic which gradually leach out into the Sound and groundwater as the slag erodes and weathers. I also found out that the odd little pool on the point where we turned around was created as part of the habitat remediation effort during site cleanup. The plan was to enclose all the slag in a wall of rock to stop the erosion which accelerates release of toxic metals but with ASARCO's bankruptcy a few years ago the clean up effort appears to have slowed down considerably.
We paddled steadily on the way back and covered the three miles in about an hour despite having to paddle upstream in some places. The outflow from the Puyallup river, visible as a sinuous band of brownish water on the far side of the bay as we were descending the 30th street hill on our way to the put-in, had apparently shifted to our side of the bay. We encountered a stream of somewhat muddy water flowing against us at perhaps 1.5mph as we paddled past the last few piers before our take-out but fortunately we were able to get out of the current by turning in and hugging the shore.
Daniel was available to join us for dinner at Ferelli's, where together we designed one of the better pizzas I've eaten there - Alfredo base with roasted red peppers, caramelized onion, smoked Gouda, fresh basil and pine nuts. Daniel's IPA was better than my Porter.
He had just completed a couple of photo services assignments, shooting a swim meet and a basketball game. From the swim meet he had good news and bad news - the good news was that a man had given him $10 to take some shots of his daughter swimming in the meet; the bad news was that the man's $10 had doubled his income for the assignment. He's been taking pictures for photo services for several weeks now. At his initial interview they asked him how comfortable he was taking photos of people. When Daniel explained that he loved photographing people and was shameless about doing it, they told him that he was exactly the kind of person they were looking for.
Back in David's room he and I spent a couple of hours building his first web page, an assignment for his eCommerce computer science class. I showed him how to lay out his site with nested divs and the result works as intended and looks better than most of the sites I've built myself. The color scheme and layout were similar to the site I'm working on at Microsoft, which was apparently also inspired by the Gimp site that David used for a model.
02/09/2011
I rescued Puss from a tree this evening. I was getting ready to settle down in front of the computer when Susan heard cats yowling in the woods behind the house. When I went out to investigate I had a hard time determining the direction of their growling until I looked up. Puss and a small gray cat, not much more than a kitten, were facing off in the broken top of a cedar about twenty feet off the ground. The gray cat was silent and Puss wasn't growling any more either; instead she was making her mournful sort of cry that means "Help, I'm stuck up here and can't get down".
I had to get the ladder since I couldn't reach the lower branches of the cedar. When I started up the ladder the gray kitten got up from her crouch, calmly walked down the nearest limb of the cedar and committed suicide. Or so it appeared. Without making a sound she stepped off the branch and fell. Managing to miss all the branches on the way down, she landed upright with a soft thud in the duff under the tree and ran off.
When I reached Puss I was able to hook one leg around a branch so I could have both hands free, but she was still above my head with radiating cedar limbs in the way so I couldn't grab her. Instead I coaxed her to pick her way down through the branches, shinging my flashlight so she could see where to step, until she was at the level of my shoulders. Once I got her front paws on my shoulders I was able to sweep up her back feet with my right arm and climb down the ladder using my left. By the time I got the ladder put away she appeared to have forgotten the whole episode, illustrating one of the differences we've noticed between the cat and our boys. The boys have longer memories.
I rescued Puss from a tree this evening. I was getting ready to settle down in front of the computer when Susan heard cats yowling in the woods behind the house. When I went out to investigate I had a hard time determining the direction of their growling until I looked up. Puss and a small gray cat, not much more than a kitten, were facing off in the broken top of a cedar about twenty feet off the ground. The gray cat was silent and Puss wasn't growling any more either; instead she was making her mournful sort of cry that means "Help, I'm stuck up here and can't get down".
I had to get the ladder since I couldn't reach the lower branches of the cedar. When I started up the ladder the gray kitten got up from her crouch, calmly walked down the nearest limb of the cedar and committed suicide. Or so it appeared. Without making a sound she stepped off the branch and fell. Managing to miss all the branches on the way down, she landed upright with a soft thud in the duff under the tree and ran off.
When I reached Puss I was able to hook one leg around a branch so I could have both hands free, but she was still above my head with radiating cedar limbs in the way so I couldn't grab her. Instead I coaxed her to pick her way down through the branches, shinging my flashlight so she could see where to step, until she was at the level of my shoulders. Once I got her front paws on my shoulders I was able to sweep up her back feet with my right arm and climb down the ladder using my left. By the time I got the ladder put away she appeared to have forgotten the whole episode, illustrating one of the differences we've noticed between the cat and our boys. The boys have longer memories.
02/13/2011 Cupid's Marathon
It was three years ago this weekend on a cool sunny Sunday that I ran my fastest marathon ever, finishing in 3:20:45 for a 6 minute PR. That was marathon #57. Three years before that at the same race, running in my 6th marathon, I spotted my first Marathon Maniacs. Though otherwise ordinary-looking middle-aged runners, they stood out at the start because of their bright yellow jackets. I didn't talk to any of them until about a year later when I overtook a couple during the Mt Si 50K and got to ask them about their club. A month after that I joined them. Today's race was called the Valentine Marathon back then. It was put on by the same outfit but they've changed the name to Cupid's marathon and moved the course a few miles to a new location. Their races aren't highly regarded among Maniacs; their prices are a little high for what you get - courses on rural but sometimes busy roads, cotton shirts, tacky medals and mostly junk food at the finish, though in their defense they also serve fruit and some fairly good chili and generally do a decent job of organization.
Today was my 104th marathon and though I ended up running it hard I only managed 3:56:12. Despite being stiff and sore at the finish, I had a good day, running all but the first couple of miles with Diana, aka "Slug", from Bellingham. "Slug" is a misnomer - she's a smooth and steady runner, and faster than I am. Today we held a consistent pace somewhat under 9:00/mile for more than 20 miles before I began to slow down. She graciously slowed down with me and we finished the last three at about 10:00/mile. We didn't talk much in the second half but had a nice time visiting in the first 13 miles. She's vegetarian and loved Susan's buttered yams and Spanish-style lentils at the Yours Truly Marathon we put on last weekend, saying it was the best post-race food she's ever had. That's pretty high praise considering this was her 143'rd marathon.
It was three years ago this weekend on a cool sunny Sunday that I ran my fastest marathon ever, finishing in 3:20:45 for a 6 minute PR. That was marathon #57. Three years before that at the same race, running in my 6th marathon, I spotted my first Marathon Maniacs. Though otherwise ordinary-looking middle-aged runners, they stood out at the start because of their bright yellow jackets. I didn't talk to any of them until about a year later when I overtook a couple during the Mt Si 50K and got to ask them about their club. A month after that I joined them. Today's race was called the Valentine Marathon back then. It was put on by the same outfit but they've changed the name to Cupid's marathon and moved the course a few miles to a new location. Their races aren't highly regarded among Maniacs; their prices are a little high for what you get - courses on rural but sometimes busy roads, cotton shirts, tacky medals and mostly junk food at the finish, though in their defense they also serve fruit and some fairly good chili and generally do a decent job of organization.
Today was my 104th marathon and though I ended up running it hard I only managed 3:56:12. Despite being stiff and sore at the finish, I had a good day, running all but the first couple of miles with Diana, aka "Slug", from Bellingham. "Slug" is a misnomer - she's a smooth and steady runner, and faster than I am. Today we held a consistent pace somewhat under 9:00/mile for more than 20 miles before I began to slow down. She graciously slowed down with me and we finished the last three at about 10:00/mile. We didn't talk much in the second half but had a nice time visiting in the first 13 miles. She's vegetarian and loved Susan's buttered yams and Spanish-style lentils at the Yours Truly Marathon we put on last weekend, saying it was the best post-race food she's ever had. That's pretty high praise considering this was her 143'rd marathon.