Tue, 27 Sep 2005

The Gadget Maker
is the name of a book I read recently. It's an unusual book, published in 1955. The category is science fiction (which I still read occasionally) but it is basically a biography of a fictional aircraft engineer. The book follows Stanley Brack from boyhood in Colorado, to school at MIT, to a job as an engineer at an aircraft firm in Los Angeles. It describes each portion of his life in detail, with plenty of editorial commentary. It does give a really good account of the US aircraft industry from the pre-war to the post-war period. The emergence of CAD drafting in the 70s and 80s must have revolutionized the process. Throughout the book I kept waiting for something exciting to happen, but the concluding event is simply the launch of the guided missile project on which he is the program director. In effect, the book is simply a series of aeronatic events.

By coincidence, I saw "Lost In Translation" last night. I had heard great things about it, but to me it was simply another series of events. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) spends time in Tokyo with Charlotte (Scarlett Johannson). They have some good times. Then he leaves. Fade to credits. Perhaps if I watch it 10 or 15 more times I'll get it, but for now I still prefer his classic "Meatballs".

posted at: 07:20 | permalink |

Thu, 22 Sep 2005

I have to find a hubcap for a Toyota Matrix.
Not for me, for my mom. She lost one last week. I've been meaning to look for one on eBay. I don't know if the Hubcap World store is still around here anymore. I don't even want to know what the dealer would charge.
Update: Found it on eBay for $32.99


posted at: 16:42 | permalink |

Good hash last night, with lots of wooded shiggy trails.
Yeast found an area that looked like it used to be motocross trails, but now has trees felled across the trail every 100 feet or so. Mr. Bush brought out three (3) hot virgins to the run. I don't know where these women are coming from, but let's hope the supply holds up. One jarring note: the security people at LA Fitness started yelling at us as the circle was ending. We were just about finished anyway, but it gave the appearance that we left because they ran us off.
The GPS track is below. You can see where I made a number of bad choices at the checks. I was just not guessing right. There's also a picture of Mr. Bush with one of his virgins. I've gotta get a better camera phone.

posted at: 07:09 | permalink |

Wed, 21 Sep 2005

Here's some really blurry photos of Kevin's band
playing at Bonefish Creek last Sunday. They are called One Hit Wagon or something like that. I have got to get a better camera phone. I sold my Motorola V551 on eBay and am using a Nokia 3200. I like everything about it except the resolution, which is 352x288. Now I'm looking at the Nokia 6670, which is has a 1 megapixel camera. Anyway, the band was good. We had an impromptu hash beforehand, behind the Kmart. It involved a quick run to the Blue Boar, where Dribble met us for some pitchers, and then back to the Kmart parking lot for quick down-downs. And then we walked over to Bonefish Creek to see the band.
Update:I saw Kevin tonight. I think he said the band was called One Way Wagon, but I was drinking Bootie Beer, so I may have it wrong.

posted at: 12:05 | permalink |

Mon, 19 Sep 2005

This piece of paper was attacking me, so I had to shoot it.
That's 50 holes from a single box of 9mm. I was mostly shooting for familiarity, although I was working on accuracy as well. This was one magazine at each of roughly 10', 25' and 40'.

posted at: 21:52 | permalink |

I had a turtle shell on my head last Sunday.
GH made a bike helmet out a turtle shell he found on a bike hash a couple months ago. Outstanding workmanship, with an adjustable harness inside the shell for your head. It's pop-riveted in place. We all told him to put it on eBay, but he's keeping it. There's a shot of me wearing it, and a close-up.

There's also a couple shots of the women who came. I don't know why, but we're getting attractive young women coming out to our bike hashes. Yay! You can see Cathy preparing to drink out of a styrofoam bowl full of beer.

There's also a couple of shots of Itsy and Teflon mocking the "No Alcohol" part of the sign at Kreusler park.

posted at: 21:47 | permalink |

Thu, 15 Sep 2005

I found this CSS while I was google'ing for something else,
but it is just too cool not to post here. It was on the Mandarin Design site. Lots of other neat design tricks there as well. Now I need to find a way to incorporate them into the design of my site.

Wed, 14 Sep 2005

I created an index page for all the InterAm writeups,
right here. I'll send this index to the official InterAmerica's 2005 website, so H2Ho can put it on their page links to everybody's pictures.
posted at: 11:08 | permalink |

Come Again stepped up to the challenge of being the pick-up hare last night,
and laid a good run. Even if some of it did look sort of familiar, as though we had run there before. We are making good progress on reducing the sausage factor, with equal turnout of male and female hashers (about 16 people total).

The GPS did its usual excellent job of recording the trail. You can see where we ran by the Santa Lucias JV football game, and where Princess was splashing in the fountain like a stripper in a giant glass of champagne. Pictures to follow if I can get them off my phone (might be time to go back to a Bluetooth phone).
Update: I got the photos! You can see TJ before he leaves for his date, CA laying out the marks, Furry stretching, and Pubic keeping her shoes clean.

posted at: 09:09 | permalink |

Tue, 13 Sep 2005

Martha found a possum!
Just a little baby one, hanging out by the trash can. Martha came to the back door to alert us, and when we looked out the back window she was stalking the trash can. The possum wasn't moving much. I think it was playing possum. Linda took all of the photos except for the last one.

posted at: 20:59 | permalink |

Special Bonus InterAm Party Photos!
Just discovered in the archives! Actually, they were in a misnamed directory. Guys in dresses! Topless women! No credit card required! All available with the click of a mouse, right here.

posted at: 10:08 | permalink |

Mon, 12 Sep 2005

Here's the writeup for InterAm Day 2.
Lots of pictures. That was a fun day. Complete writeup here

posted at: 12:07 | permalink |

Fri, 09 Sep 2005

Pictures and write-up from InterAm Day1 are posted
here. That was a good day, and Okinawa did a nice prelude.

posted at: 10:26 | permalink |

Thu, 08 Sep 2005

The page for InterAm Day 4 is up.
I'm posting the days in no particular order. This was a great trail with a waterfall. Lots of pictures and a writeup here


posted at: 15:14 | permalink |

Wed, 07 Sep 2005

Tonight's run was big and square
with not a lot of flour or checks. But it beat watching whatever is on tv on Wednesday nights. Plus I got to throw a full cup of water onto Itsy in the circle. He was wearing a poncho, but it still startled him. Tonight I figured out how to make the GPS map image a little larger. And I found a 3D tool that gives a perspective effect to the image. I posted both versions of the image. Let me know which one you like better.

posted at: 23:25 | permalink |

Tue, 06 Sep 2005

Here's coverage of Day 3 of InterAm 2005.
Okay, it's out of chronological order, but so what? This might have been the best trail I did all weekend. Or not. Complete writeup here


posted at: 21:15 | permalink |

Wed, 31 Aug 2005

The last hash before InterAm
was Wednesday night. It was a nice run, with some rain, and a halfway at KKBB's new house. And a section of woods, and we avoided the railroad bridge that so often draws blood. And then we all went to Tree's for "just one beer". GrouchyPus was really taken with one of the signs on the wall. You can't really tell, but he's pointing at one that says "Bad Hare". Not the most flattering photo, really.

posted at: 22:32 | permalink |

Sun, 28 Aug 2005

Good bike trail at Halpatiokee today
as the concluding event of the TCH3 Red Dress. I think I spent more time riding my bike than I did carrying it through mud and woods, but I'm not entirely sure. The pack had to push the beer truck out of the mud at the halfway. Then African stew and Natty Lite back at the end. I forgot to turn the GPS on for the first 0.5 miles, and there seem to be a couple of spurious data points that caused to to draw extra trail. I annotated the map. Also, there's a shot of GBW just before he and H set out to lay trail.

posted at: 21:48 | permalink |

Sat, 27 Aug 2005

I found out why the camera phone pictures are blurry.
Actually, Linda noticed it. The lens on the camera phone was really dirty. It must be from me carrying it in my pocket all the time. So Linda cleaned with with a Q-tip. Now it sparkles.

posted at: 21:52 | permalink |

I'm seeing more Cuban anoles.
This one was on the roof of a car across the street. As I got closer to take a picture, the neighbor who owned the car kept saying, "Watch out! They're really agressive!". Come on, it's only a lizard. The photo is very blurry. The lizard is the green blur in the middle.

posted at: 21:50 | permalink |