A new page, and security

I've been following blogs in my family for a while now, and lately, my Uncle Jer's been dealing with a few security issues on Muddled Ramblings. I just followed through and created a GnuPG key for signing and/or encrypting my email, just to keep The Man off my back. So that this will work, other people need to get onboard and start using keys. Also, said people must be willing to share and sign trusted public keys. To further that end, I've uploaded my key to the servers and created a page here for my public key, so that it can be used.

Thanks and Memories

As the title suggests, I want to thank Juli for giving me so much furniture. I'm now quite a bit closer to a home as opposed to a hovel; the bookshelf, bed, desk and chairs rock, and they make the place feel much less empty. Scratch loves the fact that he can jump over everything. I'll probably be getting even more from her soon. I'd still like to get a kitchen/dining table, but that's lower priority now that we've got a start on horizontal surfaces.

Onto the memories: I was going through my old molskine notebooks (they aren't that old, I got my first one a year ago) and I found myself surprised at what I've done, and what's happened out in the world since I started writing. I'd set goals at one point, several of which I met, but also several that seem further than before. Despite that those have been forgotten for nearly a year, I'm still disappointed in myself. Last year, I was even berating those who don't live what they want to live, those who have failed themselves. I wrote with vigor, anger, passion and even love, but now those passages seem securely hidden, trapped in their pages, bound by leather, waiting for me to follow with action.

I had thoughts on school, but I only met a few of my goals there.  Despite the turn of events, I know I probably could've done better.

My largest group of thoughts was on my wolf project, which never even left the ground.

After all that, and looking at why I met, or didn't meet my goals, I realized that I'm somewhat aimless, attacking ideas haphazardly, without thought on what I was doing or even why I was doing it. I wrote statement below after finishing the first book and reflecting on what I said.

–From now on, I will do what I need to get done for myself and for others, with integrity and justice; I will follow with what I want to do to further myself and my understanding of this pale blue dot; and I will do my best to hold myself to my conscience, my means and my expectations.

It's vague, doesn't say anything about time, and this statement has nothing to tell about how I can get things done, but I feel that this represents the best realization of a personal mission statement. I took some time to adequately say what I meant.



P.S. I just want to mention that I've gone through a couple pens now. The one thing that would mean quite a bit to me these days is a good fountain pen. I don't really want something too expensive, and there are a number of acclaimed pens in a rather moderate price range.

Searching for Furniture

So I've moved into my new apartment in Tempe. I've lived in it for more than a week now, and I'm really starting to get tired of the empty, furnitureless volume of space around me. It's relatively well laid out as studios go, which doesn't help it feel any more occupied. Anyway, the point is, any Arizonans with spare/extra/unwanted furniture, please get ahold of me. All you have to do is post a comment with some means of getting in touch with you. I'm looking for shelves, chairs, sofas, dressers, futons, tables, stools or whatever else you want off your hands.

Scratch That, I'm in Arizona Now

A general sort of update

I just looked back at what I've posted lately. To the outside world it must look like I've been doing a whole lot of nothing worth mentioning. Rather a lot has happened, however, so here goes.

Scratch! I went to an REI sale last month, and just when I was feeling good about all the good deals I just got, I had to walk by the City of Albuquerque's mobile adoption site. I got tapped by a little kitty with thumbs who wound up coming home with me. It also is looking like I may have bought the last bag of litter Scratch will ever need. The little guy has taken well to learning how to use the toilet.

Arizona! Yeah, I'm in the desert now. Scratch and I moved into my new apartment a week ago. It's not too big, but it has a good layout for a studio. I didn't move with any furniture, but I'm getting there. I'm trying to stay in a minimal budget, but that can slow things down a bit.

Sailing! Last Saturday the ASU Sailing club participated in an event called Passport to ASU, which is for clubs and organizations to introduce themselves to prospective members. We, for the first time ever, brought a trailer load of boats out to be highly visible and attract a number of new people.

School! It goes forward, as I'm enrolled and in a full load of classes, including a couple art histories, photography and a color studio that are all major requirements.

So, that's the big exciting news. Stay tuned for pics; I should have things up Thursday.

Boom

Boom, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

I haven't posted in a while, I hope to make up for that by posting something spectacular. It's a good thing the weather's cooperative this time of year. Check it out in full size.

The Bacchanal 2010 map

Bacchanal 2010 is coming up soon, so here's the map that includes lots of little bits of info on how to get to the lake, and about the things that will be going on.

So first, here's the link: Link to Bacchanal 2010 map.

Now here's the embedded version:


View The Bacchanal of 2010 in a larger map

To Counter Yesterday

Something Positive


After reviewing yesterday's post, I realized that I was kinda negative. Anyway, yesterday evening wound up okay (rhymes with nothing superlative and nothing terrible, not the author's literary laziness) and we went to the Shroyer Center bluegrass barbecue. 


At the moment I have a warm purring cat on my lap competing with the warm purring computer. Too bad it's 85 out and I really don't need the extra hypothermia protection. Note: a feline toe pad is much more accurate than a human fingertip on the touchpad.


The weather's been interesting, and I got some shots that may be stereo worthy. Stay tuned for details on this and other photo projects.


Good news form ASU: They finally figured out where they put my paperwork, found it, passed it through to the proper channels and signed off on things. The proper people have "recommended [the request for compassionate withdrawal] for approval," which should mean that I will be forgiven a significant amount of debt, and allowed to register for fall semester classes.


One last thing: I only have two block exams and a final left in my summer class at the UNM EMS Academy. In two weeks I get to sign up for the next available state test, on October 2nd.  Also in two weeks, I get to sign up for and take the National Board examination that just about every other state recognizes for licensing (rhymes with getting myself a job in Arizona).

Sailing, sort of.

Today I tried to take out the only boat available to me right now: the MacGregor 26, Syzygy. It's an old, "fine sailing machine," if you don't actually want to sail.

My dad hasn't exactly spent a lot of time with that boat lately, and the time he has spent on it hasn't exactly been the most beneficial to its long term health. The wiring has never been good, but after my dad stepped through our solar panel that kept the batteries charged, the batteries died. He doesn't want to replace them, but he wants me to get the system working again. Also, we've had problems with the stereo. A few years ago the stereo burned out, starting a small fire on board. Since then, we've had the wiring replaced a few times, but that hasn't helped too much: the stereo still has issues when the engine is running.

That brings us to the next fine piece of equipment on the fine sailing machine: the engine. It's an older Tohatsu 9.9, but effectively it's more of a 0.0. It sometimes runs, but only if it's taking you toward disaster. Otherwise, it counts as deadweight. We've replaced every single part on the engine at some time or another, but that just made our wallets thiner.

Now that we've covered the secondary source of propulsion, lets move onto the primary propulsion: the sails. These sails are great if you happen to be a bat: they make nice nesting places, and they already have enough of that guano smeared in to smell like home. They even make a decent place for a bat to die without having to worry about remains being eaten by insects. Unfortunately, those attributes aren't the best for using the sails as sails. These soft, floppy, blown out, torn up bits of canvas mark best of twenty years of aging in the sun. Of course, along with the old sails go old lines. Old stretchy halyards the droop in the slightest zephyr are accompanied by shaggy sheets and other powder filled cordage.

So we set sail at the dock (the motor just wasn't in the mood) and take off. We start tacking out the Narrows, but the shifty winds and 120 degree tacking angle make that difficult. Halfway out, the wind kicked up, and made life rather more interesting (rhymes with, "Why isn't that BLEEEEPing thing working now!?") as the roller furling on the genoa broke and the winches jammed. At this point we fall off, jibe (mainsheet fiddle bearings on the cockpit floor) and start heading back. Once running, the furler started working again, so we furl the genoa in, since we don't need extra power now. The motor really doesn't want to start now, but with the wind in the west we've got a dead downwind shot at out slip. We cop a spin, drop the main and sail in under bare poles. By the time we were done, I could see a person at our slip, so I assumed that the dockmaster was going to help us land. Just then the furler let out six or seven feet of sail, and in the confusion I lost sight of the dock.  As we got the jib back in the wind shifted to the southeast, blowing us straight back, away from our slip. We could've thrown the line to the dock, but there was no one there now. Now we force the jib back out, and we try to sail up wind back to the dock where the dockmasters let us go. Without a mainsail, the boat will not tack, and there it takes a long time and space for it to jibe. It turns out that it takes too long for it to jibe. We wound up on the north shore of the cove, and we were held there while the weather built into a thunderstorm right on top of us. There wasn't much to be done, except to try to use the VHF radio and talk to the folks at the marina. The radio died right when they tried to come back, so we wound up without communication beyond air horns.

Eventually the wind died down a bit, and some samaritans came and towed us off the shore. our stern was further out, so we tied on there. Unfortunately, we found out that the centerboard line that was repaired over the spring, hasn't been repaired. I moved the tow line to the bow, and we eventually swung around and out. Getting to the slip at that point was relatively simple.

I have found that while I have some aptitude for boat repair, I just don't want to deal with the glorified bleach bottle that is the MacGregor. I also have little tolerance for things that have been repaired that don't work, and for things that really shouldn't be breaking that break. On top of all that, I was told that all systems were go, and that there would not be any issues. That is the single thing that annoys me the most.




 


Syzygy is for sale.

Another General Life Update, brought to you by…Caffeine!

As mentioned in the last post, I'm still working out how to get some software from the disks it ships on to my disk-driveless computer. I have a Mac that has a drive but is gradually fading because its hard drive is dying. I have a PC that has a disk drive, but no network to use the drive remotely, and no means of creating a disk image on a flash drive. Also, we've got a laptop with a disk drive that runs Vista, but it also won't burn a disk image, and seems to be incompatible with using the drive remotely. I'm almost think of going to the Apple store to use one of the display machines to copy the DVDs. The other option would be to spend a little dough on getting a compatible external drive. I'd really like to hear any ideas or suggestions from the audience.

In other news, I found out today that my mail to the post office (change of address form) got lost in the mail. Irony or just bad luck?

Stay tuned to the Flickr gadget, new uploads will be coming online soon. Good news is that these are all going to be straight from the camera, no tweaking. Bad news is that these will all be straight from the camera, no tweaking.

Stereo, It's not Just for Music

I'm still getting the new computer to be the full clone of the Air, which means that at the moment I'm still without some of the software I've been using in the past, like iPhoto and the rest of the iLife suite, along with the whole Microsoft office for Mac suite. The issue I'm facing is that the software comes on DVD, and that this computer has no disk drive. I have an external drive, but it's only compatible with the Macbook Air, which isn't even staying on long enough to copy the disk images to a USB drive. The downside of not having the software is that it's harder to do some tasks, and that I got behind in my photo loading. the upshot is that the Mini has a built in SD card reader, and that it handles data much faster than via USB cable to the camera.



This photo is from last sunday, after I was in Los Alamos for the weekend. We drove back to Albuquerque via Highway 4, through the Valles Caldera and down through the Jemez mountains.

These stereo pairs were shot out the window as we rolled down the highway. We were traveling at an approximate speed of 35 mph for this set, so shooting at four frames per second give a spread of about 12'10". I cheated a bit for the web resolution sets here: I just used quick view to  put the images on the screen with a black background and then I grabbed the screenshot.

As usual with the stereo pairs I post, these are best viewed by crossing one's eyes until the two images merge into one. Let your eyes relax and fall into focus,

Good News, Bad News

Good news: The Dell mini 10 v is working, for the most part.

Bad news: My real mac has a failing hard drive. Meh.

A new post, after weeks of moderate busyness

It's been several weeks since my last post, and I've been neglecting the blog and you readers out there. 

I've been keeping myself busy with an EMT class I'm taking at UNM School of Medicine's EMS Academy. The course is rather fast paced (it's sixteen weeks of material in eight weeks time), but it has enough hours to qualify me for passing the state EMT licensing exam. The downside being that I spend twenty-four hours a week in class and more doing homework and studying.

The other thing is of course my little photography habit. Now that I have Sputnik, and I can develop 120 format black and white film, I'll have to get a good set of shots with it, test reverse developing, and mount and view the slides. At the moment all I need to get is a reverse-developer, a slide viewer and slide mounts (and a little spare time to get everything together and do it).

Pagosa

Lunch in Pagosa Springs, Dinner at the Lake

Lunch, as you can see, was decent, neither great nor bad. The french fries were actually pretty good, though the burger was on the greasy side. Even though it's Pagosa, the place had green chile, so the  burger had chile on it.

The rivers in the region are running high with the snowmelt and a little rain from the recent systems moving through.

We pretty much went straight to the lake after our trip, and we got back in time for the NMSC Memorial Day potluck. There were quite a number of people there, so things went over well, with burgers and hot dogs provided by the club, and a whole smorgasbord of sides, salads, desserts, breads and so on. Food and a ton of skipped rocks made for a pleasant evening, finished off quietly around the Koch's campfire.

Overall, a decently decent day.

Dock Duty

Just got back to reality* from a day (and night and day) of work docksitting at the NMSC marina. John was with me, but there was only one sleeping bag on Syzygy last night, so I wound up using a spinnaker. It wasn't too bad, but it's not going to be first choice in the future, at least until things warm up a bit. So, a number of boats came into the marina for the season, and we also leased a couple empty slips on short term rentals. We had a couple ladies in a pontoon boat come around noon, but they were rather inept at boat-handling. After bouncing around a bit, they managed to get to an end-tie with damage done to only one other boat. Ah well, too bad there aren't more boating safety classes around the area. These two really need it badly.

We cooked beer can chicken for dinner. Thank you Coors for letting us cheat in our roasting skills. Without your brew, our bird would have been burnt and desiccated, fit only for carp feed.



*I think I just left reality at the lake. It seems much simpler when all you have to worry about are inept pontoon boaters running around your marina.

Bye bye 'Burque (for the weekend)

We just drove to the cabin by the lake now, and unfortunately I've got really strong 3G here, so I'm online. Unfortunately, I say, because there's a whole lake here, with moonlight and boats and potential for sailing and all that, but I'm facebooking my time away. Mebbe we'll get that in tomorrow night.

---   ---   ---

Just traded some moonlight sailing stories, so that may be tomorrow evening's activity.

P.S. I haven't forgotten about geting last weekend's photos up (actually, I may have forgotten, but you, dear readers, don't need to know that).

Weekend Update (Minus Seth Meyers)

Last weekend saw the end of a road journey, a trip to Heron, some boat fixing, an attempt at sailing, a rescue of the rescue boat, and a seized AC compressor.

Friday
I returned from Tempe Friday afternoon/evening/night/Saturday morning. I left Tempe, got an hour out of town, when my radiator clogged and ceased to function in the 98º heat. It cost less to install a brand new Performance Radiator than to do a flush, so the Gila Monster now has a brand new radiator, installed by a mechanic in the village of Rye, Arizona. The delay cost me some time; I drove through the night, taking a nap on the shoulder of Highway 60 somewhere near Datil.

Saturday

I arrived in Albuquerque around seven, where I unpacked from my move. I threw together a lake bundle, then took off to get John, Wolf and a Frontier green chile cheeseburger for breakfast and a trip to Heron. We took the back way (photos to be coming soonish), and did some touristy things in the area. After visiting the New Mexico Sailing Club marina, the bearings in the compressor seized up, keeping the vehicle from running. When my folks got into the area, we transfered stuff from the Jeep to my Dad's truck and went to the cabin for dinner. John choose seasonings and Wolf helped cook an awesome meal of Pan-Seared Petite Sirloin, Tarragon-Dill Mashed Potatoes, Bacon Gravy and a salad with a Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Sunday
After sleeping in, we cooked a breakfast of Pain Perdu (rhymes with French Toast) accompanied by Biscuits and Bacon Gravy. Then, we launched Syzygy (rhymes with alignment of three or more heavenly bodies). After fighting the wind for ten or fifteen minutes, we got to the marina. There was a lot of wind, so we played poker on the boat (remind me to get the chips (and cards) back up to the lake this weekend). My Dad called an auto repair/towing/salvage company, and I went with the Gila Monster into Chama while Wolf and John stayed at the marina. It turns out they had much more excitement than I did. The dockmaster had noticed a little water in the NM State Parks' Ranger boat, but it was dismissed as just rain water. A while later, there were five more inches over the floor in the cockpit of the boat. It was sinking. John and Wolf got to it with a pump and buckets, while Dockmaster Steve got to work trying to find the leak and stop it. It turns out that the State Parks person responsible for the boat forgot to put the drain plug in. The boating enforcement officer might want to review the safe boating class. After a while, it was found that a wine bottle cork was just right to make a good plug. So much for the no-glass policy; it looks like the Marinas's got an unofficial agreement again. The boat was rescued, just in time for the ranger to get it out  of the lake.

Later
We drove back to ABQ Sunday evening, excepting Pat, who stayed behind for the week to do his dockmaster duty.  As of now the Jeep's at the mechanic, but the repair should be straightforward and done soon (rhymes with my hopes and expectations). Tomorrow (rhymes with Thursday) evening we'll be heading back up, so this is a shout out to anyone who wants to come on up. Pack a few nights of clothes (we can do laundry) and send me a ring, text, email, im, etc. There will be sailing, food, a cabin with a fireplace, fun times, friendly people, hiking, being lazy, beer, food, and most of all fun.

Edit: Added photos.

Typing drool

I'm being reminded to update this blog. It's been a busy day, so plaese excuse my typing drool*. My day started Friday at eight in the morning. It is now Sunday, around one am. Long day, jeep breakdowns invloved in long road trips. First, near Payson, AZ, radiator clogged and failed. I pulled over before serious overheating, but I had a major delay in getting a tow, getting to town  and buying parts, then getting the mechanic for Galvin towing to replace the radiator, thermostat, hoses and stuff. He did a good a job, and it cost less than a regular flush at a major shop in the town.

I got back on the road about midnight. Got into Burque about seven. Unpacked from the move, cleaned out the Gila Monster, picked up a couple friends and we hightailed it out of town, towards Heron Lake. We too the back roads, explored the area, saw the sights, and experienced the crazt high winds that rocked the lake area. After a full day, it was time to head to the cabin. The Gila Monster had (has?) other plans: the AC compressor apparently seized up, freezing the engine in place for now. After my folks got into the area we secured the jeep in place, and took off to the cabin for dinner (rhymes with steak (sirloin), awesome mashed potatoes (taragon, dill, oregano, garlic) and bacon gravy. Oh yeah, you read right, bacon gravy). So, tomorrow gets AAA, a tow perhaps, mebbe even forward progress. We'll see.

Goodnight



*Typing Drool: When the blog author feels so tired that typos are left unmended, leaving satins of interest across the page, like drool on paper.

Tempe

This is a summary of the past eight days: 1400 miles (màs o menos), 28 hours sitting behind the wheel (mehr oder weniger), and I'm back in the same place I started from. I did use the high ground clearance and heavy duty suspension for a chunk of that driving. I have stuff to do here in Tempe (rhymes with landlord not believing in 30 days notice), but I have to try to get back to ABQ in time for Marty's memorial service.

I need some personal time for photography, look for that sometime in the future. I need to figure out if I'm moving back into the parent's for the summer. I need to figure out where I'll be working.

Back

Got back into 'Burque tonight. Spent the last two days at Elephant Butte. It didn't really hit me until just now; the last days have been surreal. Even though my good friend and sailor drowned Saturday, I was able to calmly load my jeep and drive out to New Mexico. I was fine for talking to other friends and people at the lake. Everything down there was so composed, almost even casual, that the events never registered.

 I don't know why, but it seems like they just don't get it. The man fucking died. He's dead. People were not taking it seriously, including myself. It felt like the only way to cope was to act as if nothing to serious happened. I don't want to blame people for that, they need to do something.

I've known this man for years. He's a devoted sailor, always ready to crew and game for just about any weather. He persevered through years of fixing his boat. The changing seasons may have started to weigh on him, but he's just gone in an instant, off the boat and sinking down into the cold, murky green lake.



I'll be back, and I'll dedicate every white russian I pour to my determined friend.

At the lake…

I know this is unexpected, but I'm in New Mexico. A friend and sailor died Saturday in an accident on Elephant Butte lake. The officials haven't released his name, so I won't either. He was a very dedicated sailor, always ready and willing to go out. He died sailing, doing what he loved.