AWESOME view at Spencer's Butte

The view was actually better in person, but it's fun to be able to take pictures anyway. I should really get a tripod. I keep saying that so I'm sure it will happen soon. It's hard not to move when you're standing on rocks after hiking up a large mountain. Took a flashlight this time because I anticipated it would be dark on the way down. This was the 3rd time I've been down the butte in the dark and the 1st time I haven't gotten lost. So congratulations to me... and maybe Elenah too ;-)

Zen Garden

If you're interested in CSS (cascading style sheets, not the band) then this is pretty cool: http://www.csszengarden.com/

Sunset today...

yeah for...

• the sun
• cool clouds in the sky
• learning things
• making lists
• long conversations with friends
• being alive
• and lots, lots more

convertible

I took advantage of the nice weather and went on a drive with a friend in the Lotus - with the top off - in November! It had been raining so much I had almost put the hard top on. Good thing I didn't. It's getting cloudier now but I'm glad I took advantage of the warm weather and sun while it was there. Totally fun ;-)

it's nice out?

Last night I went outside around midnight. I went into the back yard to see the sky.  Everything looked so bright I wanted to see where the moon was.  It was pretty much right overhead, very round and very bright.  There was a thin layer of clouds that you could see the wind was moving them along underneath it at a fairly rapid pace. My socks got soaked though just from standing on the patio.  It wasn't raining then but has been quite a bit lately.

This morning I was surprised when I woke up and the sun was out. I could tell though my drapes which usually are pretty good at making it seem like it's always dark out ;-)

So I went out to the living room and opened the front door to pick up the paper and it was ... warm?  Yep!  I'm not kidding.

It may not stay this way but I have two windows open right now letting the fresh air circulate through the house.

The wind is still pushing the clouds across the sky at a speedy pace. If I still had a hammock I might lie in it and watch them, except it would probably be pretty wet. That is how the ground looks.

fashion in the late 80's

...looking through old pictures is fun ;-)

Who took this picture? It looks like they were more concerned with getting the back of the car in the shot in than all the people.

blink

Went to Target this weekend to look for a cable for my hard drive. Really I was just wondering around and didn't expect to find one there. But it was late and the other stores weren't open so I thought I'd just go there. I was walking past the books towards the electronics area when I randomly decided to walk down the book isle and see what they had. Honestly I've never bought a book from Target before. They don't have a very big selection so I wasn't expecting to find anything. But I did: Blink, by Malcom Gladwell. 

I read it this weekend, all of it, half that night and the rest on Sunday, 276 pages total. It's pretty interesting. I want to read it again so I can remember the parts that I thought were interesting, because there were several.

If you want to know what it's about click on the link above.

Installing a secondary SATA hard drive

Installation of my new SATA 400GB hard drive... which became necessary when I tried to copy some files from a CD for a client and got a message telling me that I only had 314MB of disk space left. Oops!

Step 1: Order hard drive (www.newegg.com)

Step 2: Receive hard drive (UPS)

Step 3: Install hard drive (me)

Currently my new "E:" drive is being formatted ;-)

There were a few road blocks on the installation but they were easily overcome.

• The first issue was that I ordered a hard drive and did not order the necessary cable to connect it to the computer.  Honestly I didn't even know I had to.  This is probably the 2nd hard drive I've installed and the other one was a long time ago.  This was a SATA drive so when I opened the computer I realized that it didn't connect with the "normal" cables.  In fact I wasn't even sure if I could hook this hard drive up to my computer.  But upon closer inspection I realized that the CD-ROM drive connected in the same fasion.  So there was an extra power adapter available and I just needed to get a SATA cable.  There were even three available ports on the motherboard for the SATA cable.  So I was ready to go.
  
• Conveniently DELL had included an extra set of those green strips that go on the side of the unit so it can slide into it's new home.  It's nice that they include those or I would have had to order some and wait and that would have been annoying.
• I then hooked up the two cables and closed the box and plugged everything back in.  I restarted the computer and hit F2 for setup while the OS was loading, following these instructions that I googled.  The instructions said: "instruct the system to auto detect your new drive",  Which meant that I scrolled and click on various keys looking for whatever it is that I might need to do to make the computer "recognize" the drive.  There were three differnet options (matching the three available SATA ports).  I turned one on, saved and exited.  It came back and told me there was no drive there.  So I turned that one off and turned on the 2nd one.  No message and the OS loaded so I assumed I picked the right one.
• I checked "My Computer" and the new drive wasn't listed so I googled again to find out what I needed to do next and found these instructions, which were very helpful.  I had to initialize, partition & format the drive.  

This turned out to be a really good learning experience because I really had no idea what to do going in, I just assumed (or hoped) I would be able to figure it out.  I ran into several snags but they were all easily overcome - I just needed to buy a cord and google for some instructions, which turned out to be easy to find and easy to follow. Thanks to Seagate for their helpful support articles.

a dozen peacocks

Today I saw a dozen peacoks hanging out ;-)

is it just me?

Canadian Sign:
The deer looks like a
panicked uncoordinated
teen leaping for his life,
not sure he's going to
make it over whatever
obstacle he's trying to
jump and not sure of
where he's landing.

US Sign:
The deer looks majestic and
powerful in it's leap.

i love to-do lists

I crossed the last thing off my to-do list tonight.  The last two things, which were washing the kitchen floor and putting the laundry away, most likely would not have happened if there were no to-do list.  

Plenty of things just don't happen if you don't make a point of doing them. For me, lists are a good way to make that happen.

Thanks for voting

I went to jiu-jitsu last night and you could hear the election coverage next door at Cosmic Pizza. There were intermitent bursts of loud, very exhuberant cheering. 

On the way home I saw fireworks in the sky, big ones, the illegal kind. People are really excited. I am too. 

If you have drawn any energy or inspiration from this election, do something with it. Nothing gets done from people cheering on the sidelines and then going home. 

"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." - Andy Warhol

rainbows anyone?

california girl

little me ;-)

My favorite jacket @ 4yrs old

cade & con

If you ask Con to dance for you, be prepared.  He will be dancing exhuberantly for hours!

smile for the camera

fox hollow

I know, more sky and clouds... I can't help it.

Fall in Eugene

The sky is gray and it rains often but the trees are like christmas lights accenting the landscape.

my toes match the couch

from above

who says you need a 4x4

BLM roads off of Wolf Creek

whoosh

Fall Colors!

lost on spencer's butte: round 2

If you're going up spencer's butte for sunset, bring a real flashlight for the way back. Using a cell phone to light your way is inadequate.

blazing in containment

live, feel, discover, engage, affect, appreciate

colors of a sunset

Why did the chicken turkey cross the road?

Sony DSLR-A300K

Take this iPhone camera!
No blur in action shots.  Brighter colors.  And it takes the picture right when you click the button ;-)

spell check

When spell check turns your attempt at dedicated into decimated you better hope you're proof reading. Nobody wants to pay several hundred dollars a month for "decimated server".

shiney and clean with a halo

I wanted to get a pic of the two Lotus' together but we went for a drive and then I had to get to jiu-jitsu right away so I guess I'll have to wait for another day.

double vision

There are TWO storm titanium Lotus' in my driveway right now.

I immediately wanted to take a picture of the cars together but I'm exercising patience and I'm going to wait until mine is clean.

From the back I look like a 15 yr old... named Naomi

I was in the self checkout at Albertsons trying to remember which type of Tomatoes I'd picked out when the guy behind peers his head around the side so he can see my face. Apparently he thought I might be his 15 yr old daughter, who should be at her mothers house, not out right now.

He said I had the same jacket, shoes, jeans and haircut! I cross examined on the shoes and he conceded that they may have just been similar.

I'm a little distressed. Maybe I need to find a new wardrobe.

suicidal deer

Want to see suicidal deer? Try Fox Hollow between Lorane and McBeth. They were all over the place tonight and several of them tried playing chicken with the car.

I braked for these two that were standing in the middle of the road and the both took off running. The one went into the brush and the other took off straight down the road, zig-zagging from one lane to the other before finally bounding off into the dark.

Seriously, why do they run in FRONT of the car... repeatedly? They're nuts!

glowing yellow

The trees on Lorane Hwy are glowing yellow right now. If you've not been out there lately I'd highly recommend it. Especially when the sun is out. The light is reflecting brilliantly off the leaves.

The Onion: Dollar Bill On Floor Sends Wall Street Into Frenzy

If you've been following the economy/crisis this is funny...

cousins!

Mayor of Wasilla

help your rivals

This is how you get people to donate a million dollars to your opponent:

All you have to do is act dumb. Congratulations.

check your mirrors

Please people, check your mirrors before you merge into the lane beside you. In fact you might even want to turn your head and look! Apparently a novel idea for some drivers.

In the last two months I've seen TWO different cars merge into BUSES! You can't blame missing a bus on your blind spot. Buses are LONG. If you look before you veer into the other lane, you WILL see them coming.

Both times I've seen this it's been the exact same scenario: The bus pulls into the left turn lane and then the offending vehicle, when the bus is almost half way past it, tries to merge into the left lane - WHERE the bus is.

What are these people doing?  Are they just zoning or are they distracted by something?

Skype

I use Skype for work but I also use Skype for play.  Today I "called" my cousin in the UK for free. And like the Jetsons you can also see the person while you're talking if you've got a webcam, which we both do.  Pretty fun. 

Way better than a regular phone call.  Not only did we see each other and hear each other but I also sent her a file though skype (a picture) while we were talking.  And I linked to a couple sites - so she could just click on the links intead of having to type stuff in.  Easy!

Check it out: Skype

AAA is paying off

I got AAA initially when I moved up here because there was a discount on the moving truck that made it worth while.  I wasn't sure I'd even use it but I renewed for another year and subsequently got stuck in a snow bank at 1:30 in the morning near Bend.  I was happy to call AAA to bail me out. I also used it to get my passport photo that year.  It was easier and cheaper than the alternatives. This year I wasn't sure if I'd renew again but I figured I'd try it another year.  It paid off again!  

I used it today to call a tow truck to get the Bronco taken over to North Eugene Automotive.  I had to pay for a tow truck a couple times for my Porsche a few years ago.  I should have had AAA then. It may not be for everybody but it's working out well for me.

It's all relative

Living in Eugene in October means going outside in the afternoon, seeing the sun break through the clouds, thinking it's warm out... and then finding out it's 57 degrees.  It doesn't happen like that where I'm from.  If it were 57 out there I'd think it was freezing.  Clearly you Oregon natives will think I'm nuts.  But I think your nuts.  It's all relative.  

Personally I think nice weather would be: warm most of time with a random few days of snow thrown in every now and then.  Just a few days... and no "leading up to it" weather.  It can just be 85 one day and 35 the next.  Ok, that might actually be a little scary.  Maybe I should just live somewhere warm and then take a vacation to a cold spot.  That sounds more sensible.  But the random snow without driving would be much more convenient and more exciting when you wake up in the morning to the surprise.  But there would probably a lot more strings attached to the random weather than I would be willing to accept.  Back to real life.

Training at U of O w/Beth and Elenah

What are we bailing out...

I was half listening and half working when I heard this on NPR's "Fresh Air" podcast from 9/23/2008:

"These are some of the loans that were made at the tail end of the housing boom, 2005, 2006, 2007.  When really, you didn't even have to be ambuiltory or have a pulse to get a mortgage.  It was just so much free money floating around that even my cat could have gotten a mortgage on a house." - Gretchen Morgansen

Hysterical!  And scary.

If you're not up on what's going on listen to these:

• This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money
• This American Life: Another Frightening Show about the Economy
• Planet Money Podcast

winter

I went driving again tonight with the window down.  It was cold out but I had a jacket on and the cold air was appealing. I'm sure it wouldn't have been if I were freezing. But with the jacket on and the heater on my feet it was refreshing. 

I've driven around like that several nights now over the last couple weeks and I wasn't sure what I liked about it. But today I thought of driving the Bronco in the snow. I think that's what it reminds me of. 

It's a totally different experience than driving the Lotus in the summer but it's equally good in it's own way.

fear in politics

Here's what I think: Using fear to try and control (or sway) people is a dumb tactic.  I'm not saying it won't work, because clearly it will.  But that's not the kind of method you should use when running a country.  You should be smart enough to come up with a better plan.  Or at least have the sense to hook up with people who are smart enough.  But using fear tactics is a short term solution with long term problems.

Quote of the Day on my Google page...

"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable."

  - John Kenneth Galbraith

I looked this guy up and he's an economist.  Here are a couple others by him:

"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error."

"The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking."

SciAm: Learning to Stay Calm

Learning to Stay Calm

Pavlov-style training can make mice stay calm in the face of adversity.

pedicure

If you're thinking what I'm thinking then, no, this is not my normal thing.  In fact I've never had a pedicure before.  It was  an odd (to me) insertion into the tournament on Saturday.  Stormy had her division early and then we had to wait for several hours for Jill's division to come up.  In the meantime we ate and then... got pedicures.  I thought she was joking until we pulled up in front of a nail place and everyone walked in.  This group of small asian ladies swarmed us and recommended the "deluxe" pedicure.  Apparently we definitely needed the deluxe.  Ah, Ok.

It's taken me several days to get used to this.  I kept looking down and getting surprised and distracted.  Other people too!  It wasn't just me.

This American Life: Another Frightening Show About the Economy

Can't figure out what this bail out thing is all about?  Listen to
this 1 hour episode of TAL and get caught up.

Alex Blumberg and NPR's Adam Davidson—the two guys who reported our Giant Pool of Money episode—are back, in collaboration with the Planet Money podcast. They'll explain what happened this week, including what regulators could've done to prevent this financial crisis from happening in the first place.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1263

Goats and Lamas

We tried to sneak up on them so they wouldn't run away.  Little did we know that all you have to do is pick some grass and they'd all come running to us!

Oregon Open Jiu-Jitsu Tournament

Jill competing no-gi: 1st Place!!

Ryan, Dale, Harold & Max.

Go Stormy!!!

getting caught up

yeah! for getting work done in the middle of the night ;-)

what I'm thinking about

Brain Seeks Patterns Where None Exist

The brain will find patterns or images where none really exist. Relaxation exercises lowered the chances of finding a pattern that wasn't really there. 

The Certainty Bias: A Potentially Dangerous Mental Flaw

A neurologist explains why you shouldn't believe in political candidates that sound too sure of themselves.

Hooman Majd, Considering The Iranian 'Paradox'

and other things of course... ;-)

something like...

You know what it's like. It's like when you're dreaming. I don't know if this will make any sense to you becasue maybe it's different when you're dreaming. But for me that's what it was like.  

Because if you're dreaming and you wake up, it's not the same. The dream was somehow better. Different because it wasn't so physical. At least that's my experience. 

I don't know if that makes any sense to you. But that's what happened. It was like a bright white light, only I was the light... or being at the center of an atomic bomb. It was like my body didn't exist. That's all I'm going to say about it.

daily show VP debate review

icy roads and hot wheels

Last night I dreamt that I was driving on some back road.  A nice twisty one in the Lotus but it was night or getting late and then it started getting cold outside.  And then the road got icy.  It was ok for a while but it was also getting really steep.  It was so steep and icy that I couldn't drive any further.  So got out and I put the car between my teeth so I could take it with me and started climbing up this rope with it.  It was small, like a hot wheels and I was "climbing up the road" on a vine.

strike a pose

Random camera phone shot of me.
(I wasn't really posing, I was just sitting like that.)

3 Turkeys

I saw three giant turkeys crossing the road the today.  The guy in front of me was honking at them trying to get them to cross faster.  They weren't paying much attention to him though.

They were the biggest ones I've seen so far.  Their heads were as high as the door of my car. Which isn't saying as much when you realize how low my car is.  But still... those were some BIG turkeys!

night air

It rained a couple time this week.  I went driving anyway, and at night.  I'm a lot more awake at night now that I switched to my go to bed at 3am schedule.  

I had the window down, which you might think would be cold, but it actually wasn't.  It kind of felt like the clouds were insulating against the cold.  I did have the heater on as well.  There was a nice blend of cold outside air and warm inside air circulating around creating a breeze.  That with the smell of the rain were two good reasons to have the window down.

You have to drive slower when you're going though the countryside at night.  There's no street lights and there's random furry creatures crossing the road.  I stopped for a skunk.  It's much nicer to stop for them instead of just smelling them as you drive by the spot that they used to occupy.

keyboard shortcuts

I was reading the lastest Circuits newsletter and completely related to this:

"I'll never forget watching a book editor at a publishing house painstakingly drag across a word in a word processor to select it. After 10 minutes of this, I couldn't stand it. 'Why don't you just double-click the word?' She had no clue you could do that!)"

I LOVE keyboard shortcuts.  I don't know why you wouldn't use them, expecially if you're on a laptop with no mouse.  A touchpad is so much more inefficient.

Tech Tips for the Basic Computer User

the trees are on fire

Driving over the Washington street bridge it looks like the trees are on fire.  Fall is turning them red and orange, one branch at a time and it gives the impression that the trees are aflame.

Today is a good day for colors.  It rained earlier but the clouds were holding the water in when I went out for a drive.  It made for some really brilliant hues.  The sky was blue with big puffy white clouds on one side with some heavy gray ones across from them. The sun shown from behind lighting up various parts of the landscape.  The combination of the sun and the gloss that covered everything from the wet left behind made all the colors show more brightly.  The grass shimmered like there were diamond flecks in it.  And the contrasting colors of the fall leaves really stood out. Especially with the backdrop of the rain heavy clouds behind the trees and the sun shining on them from the front.

To top it off it wasn't too cold out.  I had the windows down.  There was a warm breeze as I drove and I could smell the rain enhanced scents of the earth. 

I saw three BIG turkeys crossing the road on Willamette, before you get out of town too.  They were casually waddling across the road and the car in front of me was honking at them to hurry up.  They took their time.  They're more likely to keep their distance when you're out of the car than when you're in one.  

There was a baby deer running on fox hollow.  It ran along the side of the road like it was trying to race the cars and then darted in front of the cars to cross the road.  Why if they are clearly spooked do they run "to" the thing they are scared of.  They seem to have very strong suicide instincts.

cleaning mood

Just mowed the lawn and vacuumed all the floors.