Lake pano

Lake pano, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

Here's a long skinny picture. It's awesomely great to see it in full size.

Facetime – One from the Archives

Facetime, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

I was looking at last year's shots on my flickr page, and this one caught my eye.

Now to the present: today I replaced my leaky valve cover gasket with a new one. What a mess the top of that engine was. There were bits and globs of mud and oil residue all over the place. Some of the bolts were completely hidden by gunk. Anywho, it took about an hour and a half to get the valve cover off (I should remind the viewers that I have very limited mechanical experience), but it only took half an hour to install the new gasket and replace the cover. After that I had time to look at my brakes (they've been soft and spongy) and I found that the reservoir return was clogged. Apparently the brake job I just got at a brake specialist shop was not the cleanest. New fluid, pumping and then bleed solved that one.

After all the grease monkeying I still had time to shower, cook lunch and get to the lake at three o'clock to help the Arizona Sailing Foundation teach their Tuesday class. The wind was there, light at first but building throughout the afternoon. Average conditions were around twelve knots, gusting as high as twenty and lulls around eight. There were more instructors than students, so there were two 420s with students and two Capri 14.2s with adults. There was enough wind that even the 14.2s could really get moving. I was out hiking my butt off on a 14.2, so I'm pretty hungry. Dinner comes soon.

It was awesome.

Sunday sunset

Sunday sunset, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

This is what today feels like, visualized.

Update

Visitor Count Update

I just noticed that I've passed the three thousand visitor mark. What a showing, I've had a relatively steady number of visitors, but I do see more clicks in when I post more. Visitors 3,000 and 3,001 were both google, so 3,002, from Albuquerque, you are my winner. If you can email me and establish who you are, I'll supply you with one bottle of Blue Brew Ginger Beer. I don't know yet if it's shippable, but I'll get it to ABQ somehow/time soon. I bet that's a surprise, you didn't know there were goodies involved, did you?

Hey! That's Me

Hey! That's Me, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

Sometimes it feels that I'm so busy running motorboats, chasing down strays, corralling mayhem and all the other chores of teaching sailing that I never get in the boat myself. Fortunately, there was enough time and there were enough instructors Tuesday that I got to hop in a boat for a while and turn the camera over to Red, who shot from the committee/chase boat with my camera.

I just loaded a few stereo pairs like this to my flickr page, so go, check it out.



I also have stuff in what we'll call normal, like this.

Lean Back

Lean Back, originally uploaded by Gerald5970


For the 4-20 special, I've got photos from my 4-20 activities. Yeah, I was on a 420 on Tuesday, and things felt great. What an awesome day. We flew the kites on both boats, and there was enough wind some of the time to get them nice and high, completely filled. We were demonstrating the trapezes, or the traps, but there wasn't quite that much air in the sails, so ballast was used. At first the the traps were too long, but we shortened them to get the crew higher. 

Taking Off (Stereo)

Taking Off (Stereo), originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

Check it out!

Sailing!

All kinds of fun, all kinds of boats



I sailed this weekend, which actually was a bit surprising given all that was going on. Saturday was the Arizona High Schol Sailing Sate Championship. It was hosted by the Arizona Sailing Foundation and sailed in Capri 14.2s on Tempe Town Lake. Winds were light and shifty, so we pulled off five races. I was on the mark set boat, and I got a number of photos, which should be here in a very short time which are now here, and on flickr.







The racing ended just in time for me to get to ASU sailing practice. Practice was very low key, so we practiced man overboard person in the water drills (yeah, that one apparently fell to the sword of anti-sexism). Practice in light air is pretty challenging and unproductive, and things turned into a game of piracy.


Yesterday started early in the morning with a 6:30 pick up to get to Lake Pleasant. Larry also picked up Red and another crew, so we had a full truck. When we got to LP we dropped off Red, who was sailing on a Thistle, and we got to rigging the Merit Bonne Chance. By the time we got to the race area, the wind had already dropped to a pretty low level, but we started to race. We were sailing in the PHRF Spinaker fleet, but we were the only one, so we started with the non-spin boats. Through the dying wind, we managed to fight our way up to the windward mark. Much to the surprise of the boats who thought we were in their non-spin fleet, we poped the chute and took off downwind. Well, I imagined that we were taking off downwind, but it was a drifter of a day. Unfortunately, it was so light that we were still a long distance from the finish line hours after the start, so we scrubbed the race and headed homeward. 

Lake pano

Lake pano, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

This is what I'm up to. This panorama took a while, but it really shows what the area below Tempe Town Lake looks like these days. Each frame was a 10 second exposure at f11. It is worth your time to look at the full size image at flickr.com. Click the picture, then once you arrive at the flickr page for this picture, click on "All Sizes", which appears above the image.

Shameless

Part of me doesn't really want to do this, but lots of reputable people are doing it now, so it's not too tacky. 

I'm adding a Paypal button up there in the sidebar. It looks like this: , and it goes to a secure page where you, my dearest readers, can contribute to my projects. There's even an instruction line you can use if you want your contribution to go to a specific use.

Here's a little reminder of what I've got going on right now.

• Wolf Project: I need about $800 total to buy a used 400 mm f 2.8 lens and about $600 for a multi-band ham radio transceiver. The lens is big, but tough and in good shape. The radio I am most interested in is a Yeasu FT 817ND. It is a QRP (low power) unit that covers all modes in all frequencies from 160 meters up to 70 cm. It looks like the perfect all around portable radio.
• Gila Monster: I don't need a lot in this category, but I do need to do a brake system flush, and I need to finish wiring my solar power system. And of course I'm paying for any gas I use driving, plus the costs of insurance.
• College: This is the biggie. I'm hopefully going to be enrolled in classes pretty soon, and hopefully I'll also be an in state resident as per tuition requirements.
• Living: I'm looking for a domicile for next fall, so I'll needing to pay rent for my room and the cost for my board.

Now, I'm not trying to make my case for welfare. If you know of any places in Tempe that just might look for a hire, drop me a line. If you know of someplace a ways form Tempe looking for a hire, drop me a line. I'm willing to travel a reasonable distance, especially for experience.

Stereo pano

Stereo pano, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

Yeah, it's not stiched, but I cropped a pair of stereo shots to produce a panorama. The camera was still, so the background is flat while the boats stand out. Check it out at full size, with as much monitor space as possible. Those of you with huge iMacs really luck out.

Stereo crop of Stereo

Stereo crop of Stereo, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

Yeah, this one's good. It's very good. Go look at it,

Stereo towards the stadium

Screen shot 2010-04-11 at 2.42.57 AM.jpg, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

Here's a stereo pair. It really is worth your time to look at the full size on my flickr page. Same goes for the panorama. It is also worth your time for the other stereo shots.

Pano from Coor Hall

Pano from Coor Hall, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

Gotta stay entertained somehow.

Stereo Engine

Stereo Engine, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

I shot out of the plane window as I flew over New Mexico and Arizona. I took screenshots of the stereo pairs, and here they are. This one wvwn get the engine, although it wasn't moving and it looks flat. I know I haven't updated in a while, but here's a token.

Waiting in an Airport

This last week's been a little hectic.

Last Tuesday my Grandfather passed away, so Wednesday I flew to McAllen, Texas, to meet my parents and prepare for the funeral. I flew Delta, and the experience was not particularly outstanding. The crew, although professional, was about average for any airline I've flown, and the seats felt just as cramped and tight. The only flight to McAllen (rhymes with MFE) flew in from Memphis (MEM), so I had to leave Phoenix (PHX) pretty early to make that connection. Memphis is for the most part a little bit above average, the concourses are clean, shiny and bright, and there was a good BBQ restaurant that was serving most of the airport customers.

Friday was when we had the funeral. My grandfather requested a simple graveside service, so we didn't have a viewing or a large church service. The weather was as perfect as it could be, so I guess we can say that he had a good sense of timing.

My parents and I drove back to Albuquerque on Saturday and Sunday, so I spent yesterday with a few friends. Events are in motion for summer ideas, pending on employment and such. 

Right now I'm in a comfortable seat, enjoying the use of free wifi, courtesy of the Sunport (ABQ). Both of these things are very rare in my experience of airports, which ranges from Peking to Prague. My flight doesn't push back for another hour, so I have plenty of time left in this seat. I like the Albuquerque airport because it has style, which many airports lack, and it has substance, free wifi, comfy seats and a lot of light. 

This is the fourth airport I've been through in six days, but I don't see too many more in the immediate future. 

For Grandpa Byrnes

For Grandpa Byrnes, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

The red, white and blue found in these flowers remind me of the service of my grandfather, Robert Byrnes, who passed away this week. He served in WWII. The weather right now in south Texas is incredible, and recent rains have triggered an explosion of wildflowers.

Paintbrush and Bluebonnet, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

I wanted to make these stand out a bit, so I used a high pass filter and soft light. Next time I'll keep it more subtle, but that's another story.

Light and Coffee

Light and Coffee, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

Just something to gaze at and contemplate upon.

Hey Cox, you really need to fix things. Seriously.

Yeah, my neighbor wanted me to see what's going on with his internet. He is paying for a "up to 15 megabits per second connection, but he's not getting anything close to it. In reality, he's geting about 0.2 Mbps. We check with three different speed checking services, all with local servers in Phoenix, and we got times from 0.06 Mbps, to 0.45 Mbps. He's paying about $60 for a connection that's slower than my phone. Dude, stop ripping him off.

So much happening

It seems that the highs must be balanced by the lows

I've been experiencing an exceptionally good run in my life lately,with the ups triumphing over the downs. I got my ham radio license, and I even was able to push myself into the second highest class of license with some extra studying. I've made new friends and acquaintances, and my photography is being noticed by local businesses who want to pay for it. I'm moving forward with my wolf ideas, and I've applied for jobs with local companies and the National Park Service. 

Of course, as you may know by now, or have guessed if you don't, life is a whole mixed bag. At a quarter to three this morning I got a call from my dad. I know that it's not too unusual for my folks to call late in the day (rhymes with early in the morning), but I could tell right away that this was a serious call. Grandpa Byrnes died, and I was being given notice to get ready to head out for the funeral. I just spent some time doing some packing, and I'm going to be getting my stuff ready.

One of the things I remember the best is the way he would always have ice cream sandwiches in the freezer when we'd visit. It was always great to just sit and watch football together and munch on the ice cream bars. Thanksgiving has long been my favorite time of year because it's when our family would gather down in the valley. There would be the usual thanksgiving dinner, but we also had fresh fruit, oranges, grapefruit, lemons, and fresh eggs for breakfast. We kids would run around until the sun had long gone down, while the grown-ups ate more food and watched the cowboys game.

I'll probably be in McAllen tomorrow, and I have no idea about what internet access I'll have, so I'll try to get what I need to get done before I go.