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A Road Trip Begins
Mile 0. Pete arrives, having traveled by train from Chicago, in a rented Chevy Malibu. We have ambitious plans to drive to Oregon to commemorate our 1996 Pacific Crest Trail hike, and the pacts associated with it. We really have no idea if the amount of driving we plan is even possible, but we figure…
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Gradient
Is it possible to capture the perfect gradient of an Indian Summer twilight? For each color caught, how many are missed? Where is the touch of warm November air on the skin? How do the dry leaves smell as they begin their atonement with the earth?
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Movie: Inside Man (2006)
Following in the footsteps of Dog Day Afternoon is a tall order, and this film steps up to the plate. I didn’t mind the inevitable social commentary added by Spike Lee – after all, Dog Day is all about social commentary. There are the obligatory references and homages, and a reasonably fresh plot. Pretty good…
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Arthur’s Rock
Sean joins us for a jaunt up to Arthur’s Rock, a hike he hasn’t done yet. Ann has been working overtime, and none of us have been getting outside as much as we’d like. This feels like stepping into heaven for a couple of hours. We soak up all we can to keep us going…
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Geo Mashup 0.5.2 Release
More minor updates to the WordPress plugin. Get it on the download page. Added a setting for whether to automatically open the center marker info window. Removed logging that caused errors in IE. Added a hook for custom map operations in custom-marker.js, example in custom-marker-sample.js. Fixed an error when no page slugs are found. Changed…
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The psychology of risk
I occasionally research risk statistics for outdoor activities. What I haven’t looked into nearly as much is why our individual and collective reaction to risks is so disproportionate to the statistics. Tonight I found some interesting thoughts on the subject from a security blogger. While statistics about risk are interesting, they are a relatively new…
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Movie: Napolean Dynamite
Eerily accurate skewering of indiscriminate rural white 80’s culture (with a Mormon slant) as it’s “rescued” by urban & hispanic influences. I enjoyed it, but remain somewhat mystified by the popularity that originally made me wary of the film. Maybe it’s attributable to the absolutely bizarre presentation, or the apparent idiocy of the characters. Somehow…
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Live Music: CSO & Todd Palmer
Before the music begins we’re intrigued by the sight of four different clarinets waiting at center stage. We’re not sure what they all are, but after some wikipedia digging I’d guess we saw soprano, alto, bass, and conta-alto clarinets there. These mysterious instruments do nothing to prepare us for the music that will come from…
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Sunny climbing on North Table Mountain
I catch a ride with Mark and Kate and their friends Rachel and J.D. to Golden for a little sport climbing. It’s a clear, hot, beautiful day for climbing. We were all up late last night, maybe a little dehydrated and worse for wear, but we all get some good climbing in. Routes: Interface 5.8.…
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Miniseries: Six Feet Under (2001-2005)
I must admit this show was a kind of addiction for me, stronger at some times than others, but present at some level in my life for over a year. Now that it’s over, there is both relief and withdrawal. I’ll miss hanging out with the engagingly dysfunctional Fishers now and then. The first season…