-
Book: In Code / Sarah Flannery
Could a 16-year-old Irish girl make a major advancement in the highly cerebral field of cryptography? It seemed as if Sarah Flannery might have done it with her 1999 science fair project, and when the London Times put a story about her project on the front page, she might as well have. This a great…
-
Alliance for Climate Education “Crush” Site
This video sharing application was built with the CodeIgniter PHP framework and makes heavy use of the Facebook API. Both of these were new to me when I came on board to fix some problems with the existing application. My impression of CodeIgniter is good, I may use it again for web applications that don’t…
-
Cabezon Peak
This volcanic peak is the closest thing I’ve seen to Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower in New Mexico. It captured my attention first on our 2004 Continental Divide hike, and I’ve returned to the areas several times since. Unlike the monolith in Wyoming, there is one non-technical (no ropes needed) route up this peak. Jesse joins me…
-
Playground Topropes
There are so many different climbing areas around White Rock, we think we may just spend the winter exploring them. Today we discover The Playground, an almost beach-like sandy bench under a cliff with a lot of crack climbing, much of it top-ropeable. There is one other party basking in the warmth today, and we…
-
Rachmaninoff Festival
I’ve been in Denver this week partially because my dad bought the whole family tickets to a phenomenal series of four concerts over two weekends, a Rachmaninoff Festival. This has proved difficult to explain to our friends who don’t partake of classical music, and our shifting and complex plans (like Ann going to Mexico during…
-
White Ranch Open Space Hike
This park near Golden is the former home of James Bond. The Pioneer, not the secret agent. Sean joins us for a hike that begins with a tour of what must be some of the most grotesque trophy homes in the foothills. It also provides good views of the plains and some prominent flatiron-like hilltops…
-
Book: Anathem / Neal Stephenson
This book had many points of appeal for me. The idea of a monastic society based on science and math instead of religion is priceless. There is a lot of fun wordplay, as indicated by the title. The story contains a primer on ancient greek philosophy and remains entertaining. There are didactic dialogs that as…
-
Denver Botanic Gardens
It’s off-season for this attraction, but Mom, Dad, and I are glad we go anyway. Being surrounded by healthy living things is a failsafe high for me. I’m disappointed that the cactus house is closed, but there are many varieties of cactus growing outdoors too. The tropical greenhouse is amazing year-round, I’m sure, and we…
-
Warm pre-concert climbing
We know we’re trying to squeeze a lot into the second day of the Rachmaninoff Festival, but we’re rewarded with a bluebird day that’s almost hot, and we even fortuitously cross paths with Kate, Mark and Sean. We get four routes in before we have to scurry off to clean up for tonight’s concert. I’ll…
-
Trinidad Lake State Park
I learn later that there is evidence of a mass extinction in this park! We find plenty of other things to look at on our morning hike of the self-guided nature trail and other trails. Next time I’ll have to keep my eye out for a dark layer in the sandstone that marks the Cretaceous-Tertiary…