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August 16, 2006 City Greatness
I have seen a few cities in my day. San Francisco is one of the greatest cites anywhere. Unquestionably, I am influenced by the Uncle Pete Fun Factor. That is that any city containing Uncle Pete automatically advances several rungs up on the funometer. You could not possibly win an argument with me about that. But he doesn't live in San Francisco. He resides just kinda sorta in the Northern California area. I'm going out on a limb here and declaring that San Fran is a pretty good place anyway. I checked with Uncle Pete. He agrees.
Returning from San Francisco to Steamboat Springs is no punishment. Steamboat can ride any wave of greatness you want to throw out there. But it is not really a city. New York is a city. Chicago is a city. Boston is a city. Paris and Rome are cities. All are greatness. Steamboat is greatness, but not really a city.
Speaking of which (??), at the end of the month me and Bunny will commence the anniversary extravaganza associated with being married for thirty years. We have discussed the matter at great length. Our public statements will reveal the belief that this particular long marriage is due to: 1. A shared interest in sarcasm and mean spirited mockery; 2. There is no number two. Number one pretty well sums it up. Some attribution has to go to the fact that we spend lots of time in separate cities. Well, Bunny is in a city. I'm in Steamboat.
Bunny went from San Francisco to Dallas where it is 110 degrees. I think she had a bad plan. It is August. She reports that her 7 a.m. walk this morning was conducted in air that measured 88 degrees Farenheit and about 79% humidity. She likened it to a stroll through a Phillipine jungle. I told her to hold on the phone for a minute because I had to close the window. At 44 degrees Farenheit in Steamboat Springs, it was getting uncomfortably cold in the house.
Bunny said a bad word.
I love Dallas. I do not love Dallas weather in August.
Here are a couple of shots of San Francisco. We managed to take scarce volumes of liquid with us and only in the checked baggage. This presented some difficulty for the wine purchasers we saw, but we were not among them. Airport security was tighter than usual and slower, but pretty much the whole deal was a shrug and a shuffle.
The rest of the photos are on Flickr. Link on the bottom left of this page.
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August 3, 2006 Audio/Visual Giggle Extravaganza
Two entries this week to the giggle Hall of Fame.
First up is a glimpse of how we Americans are sometimes viewed from outside America. It is a commercial made by The Silva Group who is HQ'd in Sweden. They are manufacturers and developers of compasses, GPS based outdoor instruments, headlamps, binoculars and electronic navigation equipment. Set in the Irish Sea and subtitled in Swedish, the commerical is in English. Feel free to laugh in any language you choose. Click on the picture of the sailor above.
Secondly, we have a dance troupe named "OK GO" who seems to make videos and post them on YouTube for all to enjoy. It is a big file, so be patient while it loads. Do not even consider it if you are on dial-up. Not that these guys need more hits on their video! While we were laughing at this video, me and Bunny were secretly hoping that Evan's new job has nothing to do with these guys. We live with our fears. Click on the extra-double bad photo below and enjoy.
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August 3, 2006 But, It is Rocket Science
All four of you regular visitors to this spot on the www already are vaguely aware that I participate in an online photography community called "Flickr." Well, that depends on how much of this drivel you actually read. The other two of you should go to the bottom left side of this page and click on the little box of photos to go to my Flickr page where I post photos. The best part does not even include my photos. Go to lucky e's Favorites which are my favorite photos taken by other Flickr members. There are about 1,000 photos there now. All are special works of art. I continue to find them inspiring and absolutely magical. I am continuously blown away by the immense talent shown by the Flickr community.
Many of my favorites come from the handsome young man on the left above. He is a Flickr member and, within the Flickr community, he goes by the name "serac." I met the Serac pictured above today for the first time. He is the only member of Flicker I have ever met in person. Besides a few emails about me admiring his photos and our mutual surprise that there are two of us in Steamboat within the Flickr community, we have now spoken to each other for the sum total of about an hour. The point is that we do not know each other well. Serac may or may not be pleased that I have written about him. If not, my apologies to him. But he can write his own story. This story is more about me than him anyway. Let's face it, you all knew it would be.
The word "serac" has a couple of meanings: 1. serac: "An isolated block of ice that is formed where a glacier surface is fractured." The Serac pictured above hails from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He grew up in the mountains. Besides being a talented photographer, this Serac is an accomplished mountaineer, an interest he shares with his friends and other members of his family. The boys climb mountains. Many of his photos are breathtaking landscapes resulting from his adventures.
2. sérac: "A crumbly white cheese." The Serac pictured above is not that. I suspect he enjoys the comedy of this virtually opposite definition of the word "serac", and I suspect he particularly enjoys that the word has two such opposite meanings. I also suspect he knows that definition #2 has no application to him. He would never say so. It is just my impression.
The Serac pictured above is a graduate of LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas and completed his graduate studies at Georgia Tech University. His work since college has included focus on neurophysiology and motor control. He is about to begin a new job far away from Steamboat working for the US of A on rockets. Not kidding. The man is a rocket scientist. He will be focusing on guidance, navigation and control of missiles. Serac tells me that there are many more parallels than I might think with neurophysiology and motor control vs. the missiles he will work on.
Uh-huh.
Serac tells me that almost all the rocket simulations are done using hardware-in-the-loop simulations.
Well, crap in my sock.
Not only is he a smart guy, an accomplished mountaineer and photographer, he has the grace to not acknowledge that I was a glassy eyed troll at the coffee shop when he spoke.
Look. When I was the age of Serac, the personal computer had not quite been invented yet. My main interest in life was what time reruns of "Branded" with Chuck Connors came on my black and white TV. The VCR was still just a figment of Mr. Betamax's imagination. If you missed "Petticoat Junction", you might never see it again. Record it? Couldn't be done. My job was waxing cars at the Mr. Lustre Car Wash for $1.10 an hour and I had a college degree. My dreams included the hope of one day being named assistant manager of the salad bar at Azar's Big Boy. Hey, their hot fudge cake is one of the factors that got me in the physical condition that I am in today. I dreamed big.
I asked Serac if he could possibly explain to an old fat guy how to use Photoshop. He smiled as if such an explanation could actually be understood by me and proceeded to try and give me some guidance. My eyes definitely rolled back in my head before he had completed a whole paragraph. Serac forged ahead. Photoshop will remain a mystery to me. I don't have enough years left to figure it out.
The ruddy, gray haired, baffled looking, grizzled fat man on the right above with the words "Bite Me" on his chest whose biggest accomplishment today is posing in this picture in order to make Serac look like about a million bucks, is me. Sad, but true. Photo credit to Bunny.
Serac...you are a handsome, delightful, accomplished man. You would have looked like a million bucks even if I hadn't been in the picture. If I could actually operate Photoshop, I would have taken me out of the photo altogether...or at least shaved about 20 lbs. off me. Old people's hopes are on your shoulders and you are up to the task. I look forward to seeing you again soon as well as your wonderful photographs in the meantime. Be safe my friend.
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