Archive for April, 2008

Lagoon

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008


Here’s the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur. But I think it looks like the lagoon on Gilligan’s Island, don’t you? Note the two surfers down there near the bottom. Every time we go to Big Sur there are two surfers. Maybe they have some kind of deal with the state park.

Anyway. I frittered my time away this evening doing a little Cocoa programming on my Mac. I’m working through the tutorials in Loyal Reader Number One’s Cocoa Programming for Dummies book. The book assumes a slightly older version of Cocoa, so you have to do a little bit of translation, but I’m learning a lot.

Next project: finish the CSS on Waterlogged.com. Also publish the little Bitmap Flipper program I wrote several weeks ago on gardenvillesoftware.com. Also publish trip reports for at least the last two campouts on hrva.org. Also keep the blog current. Also do my church work. Also keep everything in the house in good working order. Also do my car projects (get some wax on the Miata and the Honda, get a new tire for the trailer, and get a new window zipper pull on the Miata, as of right now). Also need to rebuild Loyal Reader Number Two’s computer when the motherboard gets here. Also need to have some free time. Sounds like a lot. Some of it needs to be done on the train, I suspect. I guess the CSS can be done and the trip reports and software articles can be written there. Waxing the cars might be tough, though.

Anyway. Since I frittered (speaking of which, I brought the donuts in to work this morning and got myself a delicious apple fritter) my time away, it’s time for bed. Train trips Thursday and Friday. See you tomorrow.

Stanislaus river

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008


Here’s a nice view of the mosquito-infested Stanislaus river, taken at last weekend’s campout. You can’t tell it from this picture, but this river has a pretty strong current. We sure had pretty weather for that campout.

Fine day. It was quite a bit cooler – lower 70’s, if yesterday’s prediction is to be believed – and there were a few pretty clouds. I took the Miata again, top-down both ways. That’s the only way to travel, I tell you.

Speaking of which, Loyal Reader Number Twenty-Three bought a new convertible today. He traded in his Toyota MR2 for a new Nissan 350Z. I thought his old one was pretty nice, but the new one is apparently really beautiful. And it has over 300 horsepower! I don’t want to pay his gasoline bills, but I’m sure he’ll enjoy the car.

Had my friends Bret and Ashley over this evening for a home teaching visit and new member discussion. It went well, and they’re nice young people. They’re expecting a baby in July and excited about it. They’re still young and struggling, but they’ll be fine.

No Tuesday night meeting tonight. It’s the fifth Tuesday, so no meeting. Dash it all!

What do my Loyal Readers think about the Reverend Wright/Obama controversy? I see Mr. Wright as a massive millstone who has the potential to turn the frontrunner into a footnote. It may have happened already. Your thoughts?

Time to do other things. See you tomorrow.

Wacky tree

Monday, April 28th, 2008


Here’s Loyal Reader Number Two striking a pose on a very strange tree. Notice that both ends are in the ground. Which is the base and which is the canopy? (Note: Dumb Old Blogger is refusing to publish pictures again. Watch this space for this fascinating picture Real Soon Now.)

Great camping trip over the weekend! We had a nice time in a beautiful (but mosquito-ridden) place. It’s ten minutes from home and like being in a completely different world. The woods are unlike anything else we’ve seen in California. The floor is covered with foliage – much of which is poison ivy and poison oak, but we managed to look without touching (“leaves of three, let it be!”). We’ll be going there again.

The Miata’s headrest speakers arrived late in the week. I got them installed on Saturday after we got home from the camping trip and while we were in the middle of putting a couple of sprinklers in a soon-to-be-sodded part of the back yard. Busy weekend. Even though the speaker installation took all of about fifteen minutes. They were a perfect replacement fit and work a whole lot better than the originals.

Congratulations to Loyal Reader Number One! He just found out he has received a four-year full-tuition scholarship from BYU. We’re really excited for him. That’s huge. I don’t think we’ve heard back yet from all the other scholarships he applied to, so there may be even more coming. This alone is plenty, though.

Sunday was the usual. LRN2 and I visited one of our two new home teaching families. We’re seeing the other one tomorrow night. Their home situation isn’t too great right now, though, so they’re coming over here. I’m looking forward to their visit.

We attended an awards ceremony for LRN1 tonight at the school building in Modesto. He got two awards and has two colored cords to wear on his gown at graduation. Big day for him. Congratulations again!

Time for bed already. See you tomorrow.

Pisa gargoyle

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008


Here’s yet another in my extensive and popular Statue series. This little fella is on a building somewhere in Pisa, Italy. Creepy. (Note that, as of Wednesday night, Blogger is having problems and pictures aren’t showing up. Drop by later and it will be there. And it will definitely be worth the wait. Creepy.)

Another Extremely Short Shrift night. I worked until about 7:15 this evening. The good thing about that is that it took only 1:15 to get home – basically a nonstop flight (link note: I didn’t speed, but I find the picture amusing anyway). The bad thing is that it was still 8:30 before I got here. Had dinner, looked at a couple of things on the interweb, jacuzzified with the family, and sat down to blog. And it’s already time for bed.

Loyal Reader Number Two is busily installing a new copy of Windows 2000 on his machine. I’m not sure what brought this on, other than somewhat flaky behavior the last little while. I think he’s going to need a new motherboard before much longer. It’s really nice to have one PC in the family still, even though LRN2 wishes he had a Mac. Doesn’t everybody?

Worked like a dog today. The Loyal Readers are coming to work tomorrow. We’re going to go around and look at cool things between meetings, so it ought to be an easier day. Then we camp.

No posts tomorrow or Friday – camping prevents them. See you on Monday.

Robot

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008


Here’s a much-younger Loyal Reader Number One simulating a robot. He’s the one on the left there. Picture taken in Virginia, I believe, based on the background.

Short Shrift tonight. I got home from work at 8:00, had a quick bite of dinner, and went to my Tuesday night meeting.

One exciting thing is that I got my fully-licensed copy of iWork in the mail today. I had been using the trial version for the last little while, so it’s not exactly something new, but I’m still pleased.

I’m still waiting for those Miata speakers to come.

Wanted to drive the Suburban to work to celebrate Earth Day, but I didn’t want to pay thirty bucks for the gas. I had the truck in spirit, though. Earth First! We’ll mine the other planets later.

See you tomorrow.