Blah blah blah

Raccoon Creek State Park hike

2011-11-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

Susan, Amanda, and I went for a hike in Raccoon Creek State Park last Sunday. We had planned on doing about 6-8 miles, but my map reading skills are obviously sub-par. According to GPS, we did just over 9 miles in about four hours. According to Tucker's GPS, the dogs did about 10.5 miles.

I got to try out my new trekking poles. They were awesome. Susan got to try out her new hiking pants. Also awesome. Amanda may have been trying out something new. If so, she didn't tell us.

Further proof of my poor navigation skills: Two wrong turns on the way home. We did manage, however, to make it home alive and unhurt, which I think is a clear win.

The elevation profile shows that we did a ton of walking up and down hills. According to Susan, this is excellent for your butt. I would not know, because my trekking poles are awesome, and I no longer have to whine when we get to a big hill. Also according to Susan, she isn't wild about going down steep hills, even with trekking poles ("Oh my god, this is like skiing all over again!") so this might not have been the most appropriate trail for our first big hike.

I'm not sure what is going on with our speed profile. Obviously, we were never going 161 mph...

No pictures from the hike, but here are some pictures of my dogs!

Ohiopyle hike

2011-09-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

Amanda and I went on a hike at Ohiopyle last week. According to the GPS, we did 14.3 miles in just over 6 hours. Not a bad pace, considering a lunch break, pee breaks, waiting for Tucker and Gracie to quit chasing things, climbing on rocks, and taking a few pictures at Cucumber Falls.

Tucker's GPS logged 10.3 miles, but the first 5 miles or so of his track got lost some how. I figure the dogs probably did 16 miles or so, maybe a bit more, as they were running around a lot at the beginning.

Amanda managed to take three horrible pictures of me. (Thanks!) This is the least worst.

And, of course, it is only fair that I post the picture that I took of her and Freddie.

House comparison pictures

2011-07-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

Front Bedroom (then):

Back Bedroom (then):

Bathroom (then):

Second Annual Father-Dog Camping Trip, Part II

2011-05-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I went out to take pictures of the nearby stream. Tucker's GPS collar came in really handy, as it allowed me to give him some freedom, but still be comfortable that he was nearby. Otherwise, I would probably have had to tie him, as the dogs tended to get bored and wander off a bit while I was taking pictures.

This was the foundation of the trail/road as it ran through a little valley.

On the way back, I found this cool little guy, and dubbed him the official Bittner camp site mascot. Alas, the few minutes that it took to carry him back to camp apparently warmed him up enough for him to wander away.

After taking the camera back to camp, we set off to hike the Johnnycake trail. Unfortunately, after about a mile, I ran out of blue blazes as the trail disappeared under water.

We hiked cross country for a bit and picked up the trail at the next intersection. 10 to 17 to 16 was the most scenic hiking that we did. Johnnycake Run had all kinds of cool little rapids, pools, and islands. The trail wound through a shady pine forest, and about half way between 17 and 16, there was an awesome spring that came right up from between a tree's roots. Total hiking for the day: 13 miles.

On Sunday, we woke up to really heavy fog.

But it soon burned off, and it was a beautiful day.

I decided to hike back up the Johnnycake trail and take some more pictures. Instead of doing the first part cross country again (with my camera this time!), I took the canoe. The lake was calm, so once I got the dogs properly balanced (Hey idiots, you can't both lay on the same side!) it was a pleasant trip.

We had to canoe in through this small forest.

Hey, I found another blue blaze!

An interesting little flower growing along the trail.

Tucker sitting next to the biggest ant hill in the world (that I've seen (in real life)). The mound was probably 2 feet around, a foot high, and swarming with black ants.

Tucker and Grace chased dozens of chipmunks while we were out, but this particular one had great big monster balls of steel*. It ran up a tree and then, while the dogs were frantically jumping around below, ran right back down and between them.

If Grace hadn't had her backpack on, I think she might have caught it, as she took off and was only about a foot behind the chipmunk. It managed to lose her in some shrubs, and then ran up another tree to gloat.

* I didn't actually get a look at its undercarriage. It may have, in fact, been a chipette.

A small waterfall in Johnnycake Run.

And a really cool tree growing out over the creek.

Annoyingly, none of my pictures of the spring or the cool little stream crossings came out very well, but here are some more pictures of the dogs.

Total canoeing/hiking for the day: 5.8 miles.

Monday was uneventful. I gave my little bit of leftover food to my camp site neighbors. (Three kids on a trip to celebrate their recent college graduation. They hiked in three miles, and one of them carried a duffle bag with a cube of beer in it. Oh, to be young again!) Then we packed up and headed home.

Second Annual Father-Dog Camping Trip

2011-05-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

I took Tucker and Grace back to the Allegheny National Forest for another awesome camping trip. Things went much more smoothly this time. No runaway dogs, no huge vet bills.

Mark was kind enough to loan me his canoe again. A few things I did differently this time that made the canoeing experience much more pleasant:

Bought a kayak paddle. I got the 240cm version, which was about the longest I could find. A little longer would have been nice; I'm not sure that a shorter one would have worked. Not having to flip the paddle around every 2 or 3 strokes made paddling so much more efficient. It did make it a little bit wetter, though.
Packed more densely. I brought about the same amount of stuff as last time, but I packed it into fewer bins. So I had less surface area above the water to catch the wind.
Canoed less. Last year, the camp site I stayed at was about 2.5 miles from the boat ramp, and there weren't any trails nearby. The site I stayed at this year was only 1 mile from the boat ramp, and had access to plenty of good hiking trails.

Here is the GPS track on Thursday, canoeing from the boat ramp to the camp site. It took about 30 minutes to go about a mile.

The reservoir was crazy high. Not only was the boat ramp completely under water, the road to the boat ramp was partially under water.

Tons of trees were under water.

After canoeing in and setting up camp, we mostly just bummed around for the rest of the day. One of my Tiki torches blew out, which was kind of disconcerting. Thankfully, it wasn't close to the tent (or to me).

On Friday, we went on two hikes. The first time out, I got confused and took the wrong trail, which appeared to be an old road. Oddly, both ends of it dumped directly into the reservoir. Maybe it was from back before the dam was built? Anyway, I quickly decided to circle back to camp and change because I realized that I was way overdressed. It was really cold at night and in the morning, but then warmed up quite a bit during the day. Insulated pants and SmartWool socks were definitely not required.

Our second hike of the day was the Handsome Lake loop, which was a lot longer. A few miles in, I stepped into a mud puddle and ended up with a wet foot. A little while later, I evened things out by sticking the other foot in another puddle. Cotton socks really suck when wet. I stuck with my SmartWool the rest of the trip. Points where I missed my turn, and had to backtrack, are marked. Total hiking for the day: 10.6 miles.

The weather in the evening was beautiful, and there was an amazing sunset.

This was the view of the sky from my camp chair.

Dogs, snow, fun

2011-01-08T17:36:00.000-08:00

Mom's new puppy: Isabella (and Charlie and Grace)

2010-11-26T17:24:00.000-08:00

Hiking at Sewickley with Gillan and Faith

2010-10-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

Camping, Allegheny National Forest

2010-09-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

Leaves were starting to change, but not quite there yet:

Grace, checking out the view and the chipmunks:

Hiking through the woods, before Tucker and Grace ran off:

At night, looking out across the reservoir:

Moonbathing, the only kind of bathing I did for 4 days:

Tucker found a porcupine. He really found it:

Chipmunks, the only animals that I found:

Tucker and Grace, after coming back from 24 hours of "dispersed camping":

Faith at the Horse Show

2010-08-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

Snowmageddon, Canine Edition

2010-06-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Finally getting around to posting some pictures of the dogs having fun during Snowmageddon.

Some pictures from around the farm:

Took the dogs for a hike around the community park, post-holing the whole 1.5 miles. It was, ummm, strenuous.

Hey, "art".

Flyin' with Ryan

2010-05-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

Ryan went flying last week and was kind enough to ask me if I wanted to come. We flew over Mike's house (note the pool patio project):

And then flew up to the Allegheny National Forest:

Which apparently has a small cemetery in it:

I took a lot of other pictures, including ones of a pretty cool sunset, none of which came out. I think that the combination of the plane window and the hazy conditions totally confused the auto-focus on my camera.

Faith's Recital

2010-05-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

Faith had her yearly recital a couple of weeks ago. These pictures are actually from the rehearsal; obviously, you can't take pictures during the actual recital.

First, ballet:

Faith had a solo:

And then tap:

Some other dances that we were there for:

I think that I'm going to rent a faster lens next year. I had to up the ISO to 800 and the shutter speed down to 1/100 for most of these. I ended up with a lot of pictures that were way too blurry.

Raised bed plans

2010-04-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

A 4' x 7' raised bed:

Cut list:
(x2) 2x8 - 4'
(x2) 2x8 - 7'3"

(x2) 2x4 - 4'
(x2) 2x4 - 7'7"

(x6) 2x6 - 11 1/2"
(x4) 2x6 - 11 1/2" (ripped to 4" wide)

Living Room: Planning

2010-02-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

Arena collapse

2010-02-18T15:14:00.001-08:00

The exterior:

Interior:

Blew doors and windows out and walls off:

Roof joists bowed and split in shop:

Doubled trusses are pulling apart:

Venice III: Walking around

2010-02-04T09:07:00.000-08:00

This was a weird chain. It looked like metal, but it was floating.

These poles made it impossible to take a picture out across the water, so... I just gave in and took a picture of the poles. That is Santa Maria della Salute in the background.

Ponte dell'Accademia:

And a view down the Grand Canal from on top of it:

Lots of canals:

And big buildings:

Greenery was surprisingly rare:

This statue, Boy With Frog, probably should have just been called Boy With Penis, for all that people took pictures of.

Art that I thought was interesting:

Blown glass IP infringement:

Hey, a Best Western!

There were lots and lots of dogs in Venice. This was the biggest one we saw, by a pretty large margin:

Venice II: St Mark's

2010-02-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

Pictures from Piazza San Marco and Saint Mark's Basilica.

Letting pigeons climb all over you is a popular tourist activity. Is this something that Venetians encourage so that they can laugh at stupid tourists?

The campanile. Normally, you can take an elevator up to the top, but it was closed for repairs.

The gate of the campanile:

There were 3 huge flag poles (woops, Wikipedia tells me that these are ships' masts):

I didn't get many good exterior shots of St. Mark's because a lot of it was covered in scaffolding.

The clocktower:

The Procuratie Vecchie bounds the piazza on the north. Usually, this space is jammed with people. While we were there, it was mostly jammed with empty chairs.

Some shots from inside St. Mark's Basilica:

The mosaics:

The Greek Horses:

The presbytery screen:

The mosaic floor:

Venice I: The "waterfront"

2010-02-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

These images are from the waterfront (or whatever you want to call it) outside our hotel. It was a bit east of St. Mark's Basilica, so it looked out over the lagoon instead of a canal.

Our hotel. The two windows on the second floor are my room.

I was surprised at how busy it was, although this nearly deserted compared to the crowds during the high season:

The Victor Emmanuel memorial:

The Bridge of Sighs, annoyingly surrounded by advert-covered-scaffolding:

There were gondolas tied up everywhere. I'm surprised that they leave them in the water all year, because they obviously don't get much use during the winter.

In case you fall in the canal (and manage to survive the cold, and the gross water):

Dogs at the Park

2010-01-12T20:42:00.000-08:00

Took the dogs on a short hike on Monday, after the tech showed up and (finally!) got my DSL fixed.

Tucker wrestling with his invisible friend:

Gracie, wishing that she had an invisible friend:

Gracie marveling at the beauty of nature:

Mostly I got to marvel at the dogs' butts as they ran away down the trail:

Tucker made a new friend:

The dogs spent a lot of time with their heads buried in the snow:

And a lot of time running:

A quick note for Wal-Mart's worst cashier...

2010-01-06T06:17:00.001-08:00

Do no bag things alphabetically. Boxes of screws and bananas do not go in the same bag. Chips and canned goods do not go in the same bag.

Christmas pictures V: Still visiting

2009-12-28T21:02:00.000-08:00

More friends visited, more cookies eaten, more pictures taken.

Christmas pictures IV: High school gang

2009-12-28T20:41:00.000-08:00

Jen's parents were kind enough to let us hang out at their house until 2 AM to drink and play Rock Band.

Watching stupid videos on youtube:

The whole group:

Jen have a staring contest with Phoebe. I was betting on the dog but, surprisingly, Jen won.

Christmas pictures III: Visiting friends

2009-12-28T20:29:00.000-08:00

Hi, I have a puppy:

Holds up to 200 pounds!

Cute kids are cute:

And so are puppies:

Christmas pictures II: The pets

2009-12-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

Penelope:

Alex:

Tucker on the dock:

Tucker playing with one of his new Christmas presents:

Tucker and Grace taking well deserved naps:

Christmas pictures

2009-12-28T18:42:00.000-08:00

Faith opening presents:

Christian opening presents:

Mom and dad:

Faith mugging for the camera:

Christian and Phil playing Modern Warfare 2:

Faith in her Snuggie:

And, last but not least, some cute family shots:

New camera

2009-12-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

As a reward to myself for all my hard work baking cheesecakes for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I gave myself a well deserved pat on the back... and then went to Costco and bought a new DSLR camera. I've managed to take a couple of pictures so far that don't suck. (Although the first one is horribly cliched...)

Family Christmas pictures

2009-12-15T06:56:00.000-08:00

My friend, Kate Miller, was kind enough to do a Christmas photo sitting for Tucker and Gracie. She got some really cute pictures; here are a couple of my favorites.

Kate is (obviously!) a professional photographer. She works in Pittsburgh and specializes in wedding and engagement photography, but I hear that she might be branching out into pet photography. Her website is Captivating Imagery Professional Photography.

Italy: Delta on Demand

2009-09-16T06:08:00.000-07:00

Delta on Demand is great. I watched four movies on my way back across the Atlantic:
17 Again -- Very funny. What's-his-face from High School Musical is actually a pretty good actor.
Adventureland -- Hilarious. Also, filmed in Pittsburgh.
Terminator Salvation -- Well, a lot of things blew up and looked very cool. Using jumper cables as a defibrillator? Heart transplant in a field hospital? Questionable.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine -- I actually really liked this. The only thing that really annoyed me was, close the beginning, when Wolverine uses his new claws to cut through a door, parts of the door (in the center of the "X" that he cuts) hang in the middle of the door with no support.

On the way over, I watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It wasn't too bad, definitely better than some other female-oriented romantic comedies that I've seen.

Bolzano: Alpe di Siusi (cont)

2009-09-06T22:01:00.000-07:00

Views from the outcrop. My starting point is the small building in the top-center of the second picture.

Some flowers that I saw on the way down.

Some things I saw on the second leg of the hike.

This is apparently considered prime grazing land.

My first self portrait so far in Italy.

Mountain peak lit by the setting sun, as I sat and waited for the bus.

Bolzano: Alpe di Siusi

2009-09-06T22:00:00.001-07:00

This was, by far, the most brutal hike I've ever done. The first segment was only about a mile, but it took well over an hour. It was something like 1200 feet of rise. I think that I spent more time resting than I did actually hiking. The second segment was about 6 miles, relatively strenuous, which I did in a little over 2 1/2 hours.

A stream that runs under the bus stop.

The view up the main lift to Alpe di Siusi (11 euro).

After I got up the main lift, I had a bratwurst and water (4.80 euro), caught a bus (2 euro) then took a chair lift (7.50 euro) up the side of the valley. Here is a view from the chair lift.

It apparently gets so cold there that they need canopies on their chair lifts. It was certainly cold while I was there, even in early September. I'm pretty cold tolerant, and I still had to buy a fleece (40 euro) when I got off the lift. I'd guess that ambient air temperature was something like 55 degrees. It was comfortable in the sun, but as soon as you stepped into the shade or the wind started blowing (and the wind was pretty much always blowing) it got very cold.

This was the first leg of my hike, up to that outcrop on the left. There is a road/path that winds around the hill and up the backside, but I just went straight up the hill/ridge that is on the right. It was tough going, sometimes on all fours, but I didn't come all the way to Italy to walk around on a road, dammit. The second picture shows the road/path, which I did use to walk back down. It was pretty treacherous, very steep and lots of loose gravel. I saw one guy lose his footing and do a very painful looking back plant.

I saw this guy on the way up the hill.

This was the path up the backside.

Once you get up to the outcrop, this is the path the rest of the way up the mountain. If you zoom in, you can see the people (indicated with the pin). I really wanted to hike up "until I ran out of green" but it just wasn't going to happen.

People use stones to write their names or make pictures on the small flat meadow on the outcrop. I just brought a few stones home with me.

Bolzano: Castle Juval (cont)

2009-09-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

The main staircase.

The dining room.

The mask room. I took this mostly because of the ceiling.

Some views from the second floor courtyard.

The medieval bathroom (also on the second floor courtyard).

The tower (and those that were cool enough to climb it).

And the exit.

Bolzano: Castle Juval

2009-09-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Our Italian friends were kind enough to plan a social dinner for Friday night, including a private tour of the Castle Juval (owned by the world famous mountain climber Reinhold Messner).

These were from the trip to the castle.

The valley below the castle.

The main entrance to the castle. You can also see here the rears of Kurt and Julia.

The main courtyard.

In the basement were small blocks screwed to the ceiling beams. We assumed that these were for training. The smallest was only about 1/4" thick. There was another that was slightly thicker, but perfectly circular.

In the "Tibet" room, the floor is made out of many small blocks of wood, with end-grain exposed.

Florence, Day 2: Climbing the Duomo

2009-08-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

The mission: climb the dome of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. 325 feet. 463 steps.

The climb is broken into 3 sections. First, you climb to a lower gallery (directly below the stained glass windows), then to an upper gallery (directly above the stained glass windows), and then up to the cupola.

A few flights up, there is a small room with some statues that have been rescued from the facade. They were very dirty.

The nave, seen from the lower gallery.

I have no idea what kind of crazy person would go out on that little ledge, but there is a door and steps to get there. The door was quite thoroughly locked.

The frescoes on the dome.

Huge wooden beams. The beam in the middle was something like 16-18 inches thick.

The design of these steps did not induce in me a great deal of confidence regarding the engineering skills of Brunelleschi. In some places, these were the stairs up and down. Supposedly, it get pretty crowded in here, which sounds miserable and smelly. On the plus side, the very final set of steps is very steep so, if you get stuck behind a girl in a skirt, at least you get a nice look at her bum on the way up. I was there first thing in the morning, so it was nice and cool, and not crowded at all.

The steps up and over the dome.

Looking down over the roof of the dome.

Because of the pedestrians, skinny streets, and lack of traffic, the city center has a "small town" feel. In reality, Florence is pretty freaking huge.

Giotto's Campanile.

The Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens.

Jogging down very long spiral staircase = dizzy. This also shows how the stair were built, which I thought was pretty neat. Each segment contains not just a step, but also part of the central column and part of the exterior wall.

Florence, Day 1: Florence by Night

2009-08-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

Bars, nightclubs, fancy dinners, dancing! Hah, no, just bridges and lights.

Looking downriver from the Pointe alla Carraia.

Looking upriver from the Pointe alla Carraia. You can see the Pointe a Santa Trinita and the Pointe Vecchio.

The Pointe Vecchio, seen from the Pointe a Santa Trinita.

Florence, Day 1: Bardini Gardens

2009-08-28T22:04:00.000-07:00

Admittance to the Bardini Gardens is included in the ticket for the Boboli Gardens (what a deal!), and just a short walk away through the back gate and past the Belvedere Fortress.

I was kind of running out of steam at this point (pushing 32 hours with only 2-3 hours sleep, already went to the Uffizi, 90 degrees out, several miles of hiking in brutal sun), so I didn't take quite as many pictures.

But there was a terraced (steep!) garden.

And some weird, man-made (I assume) grotto with a neon sign sitting in it. ("Stimmung" means "tendency" in German. I have no idea whether this is profound, or even meaningful.)

A small fountain feeding a stream.

A man-made waterfall.

You can also see some of the ancient city walls.

Oh hey, it's the Duomo. I wonder if you will be seeing more pictures of that at some point? Surprise, you will! That other tower, which looks taller than the dome, isn't really. It is actually the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, on the Piazza della Signoria.

Florence, Day 1: Boboli Gardens (cont)

2009-08-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

These are just some random pictures from other parts of the garden.

Another view of the fountain.

A small sunken courtyard at the rear of the palace.

What the fuck is this? I have no idea. There is a bunch of modern art around the gardens. I thought it was mostly pretty ugly and generally just designed to make it hard to take nice pictures...

This was a pretty cool building. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it is. I apologize. As I said, Google is convinced that everyone in Italy speaks Italian, so I'm having trouble doing any productive research.

The Large Grotto. Quite weird. One thing of note is that it contains (now just copies of) Michelangelo's "Prisoners" (which, of course, I did not realize at the time, as I didn't get to Accademia until Saturday).

Florence, Day 1: Boboli Gardens

2009-08-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

Finally, something I can take pictures of. Take pictures, I shall! As you move south from the Pitti Palace, you see...

A fountain and knot garden.

The gift shop.

Some kind of amphitheatre. Maybe. Those stone wall looking things are actually bleachers, I think.

The Poseidon fountain. I assume that, at some point in the past, it wasn't covered in a thick layer of grime and algae.

The scariest steps ever. These things were incredibly steep, pretty long, and not in very good repair. There was a thin wire that ran down the side, but I think it was more to indicate that you weren't allowed to walk on the grass, as opposed to preventing you from tripping and tumbling to your death.

A giant statue of something or other.

A very cool staircase.

Another fountain and knot garden.

Some cool random views from the knot garden.

Florence, Day 1: Uffizi

2009-08-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

I would love to post some of the awesome pictures I took in the Uffizi. Unfortunately, the pictures Nazis at the gallery don't let you take any pictures, so I don't actually have any. And, because Google senses that I'm in Italy and automatically assumes that I speak Italian, I'm even having a tough time Googling up some pictures that other people have taken.

Edit: Well, I'm finally back, so I can look up images of things that I saw and would have taken pictures of if I could.

Hi, I'm perspective, have we met?

Giotto. In just a few short years, Renaissance man discovered the third dimension. There was much rejoicing.

It isn't clear in the picture, but words are shooting out of the angel's mouth at Mary. Sunday morning comics are just around the corner.

The right side of the duke's face was badly scarred during a tournament. It is convenient that his wife had something wrong with the left side of hers, such that they would be painted in this symmetric way.

Botticelli.

and

Leonardo da Vinci.

Medici Venus.

Before I left for Italy, I spent a little bit of time on Wikipedia, reading about the restoration of the Sistine Chapel. So, I walk into a room in the Uffizi, look up and see this, and think to myself Wow, that looks an awful lot like the Sistine Chapel. Weird. Surprise, it is one of the few paintings by Michelangelo.

Raphael.

and

and a self-portrait.

Titian.

Parmigianino. Boy, does she ever have a long neck!

In Italy

2009-08-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hey, I'm Italy. For those that know me, this is probably something of a surprise, as I am usually reluctant to leave my house for any great length of time. Work decided to send me over here to learn about something-or-other, though, so I'm taking the opportunity to do some sightseeing.

Obviously, it has been quite a while since I've blogged, and I haven't even managed to get all my posts copied over from my old blog, so it is quite save (and probably recommended) to ignore everything earlier than this post.

On Getting Old...

2006-11-09T22:12:00.000-08:00

I was walking through Target today and I realized something that I found to be somewhat disturbing.

Not too many years ago, when I saw an attractive woman walking through the store with a kid in tow, I would think to myself, "Wow, that chick is really hot... for a mom."

Nowadays, when I see an attractive woman walking through the store with a kid in tow, I think to myself, "Wow, that chick is really hot."

Also, I apparently use works like "nowadays".

It seems to me that being twenty-five-years-old is not what it was five years ago.

Fuck Lost

2006-10-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ya, that's right. Last week's episode was so lame, I took Lost off my Tivo. I mean, how many Locke flashbacks are we going to have that make you think here is where we find out about Locke's legs and then not show you anything about Locke's legs? Yes, we get it. Locke is hungry for affection and acceptance but people he thinks care about him keep fucking him over. What happened to Locke's legs? is just about the only major flashback mystery left, but each show is still 60% flashbacks, all of which just re-hash old themes or introduce new, completely irrelevant details. I think that the show's writers are actually making fun of the viewers at this point.

The on-island plot was equally worthless. A vicious polar bear drags Mr Eko off to its cave but doesn't eat him or even appear to do any serious injury? Locke is struck mute until he rescues Mr. Eko? Locke and Desmond are psychic now?

The final straw was this week's Battlestar Galactica. The show was so fucking awesome that it really drove home how disappointing Lost has become.

I''m also getting a little annoyed with Gilmore Girls. I mean, how fickle can Lorelai be?

Review: Hundred Acres Manor

2006-10-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

I went to Hundred Acres Manor with the SupplyScan team last night. It has been forever since I've been to a haunted house, so I'm not sure that I'm the best judge, but I thought it was pretty damn fun. I spent the whole time huddled between Dana/Mark and Grant/Jullie. (I refused to take the lead since I was "bachin'' it" and didn''t have anyone to cling to.)

There was a maze, lots of strobe lights, lots of darkness, lots of things hanging from the ceiling and lots of people jumping out of dark corners and screaming. Pretty much everything you could ask for from a haunted house, I guess.

First Dinner Party: Awesome

2006-10-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

I had my very first non-family dinner party last night. Everything was, if I do say so myself, pretty awesome. We had butternut squash soup with cinnamon croutons, cornbread with herb-butter and herb-stuffed pork loin with vegetables for dinner. And then creme brulee for dessert. Jenny brought sangria and other people brought wine, so there was no shortage of alcohol.

My dining room has ambiance: the new Tudor table*, the silver goblets, the candle chandelier (with real candles!). The only problem was that my lack of dinnerware (which I'm working to resolve) meant that we had to eat off of paper plates (but at least they were nice paper plates). It was pretty damn snazzy and I like to think that the couples in attendance got seriously laid that night. (But don't worry guys, I''m not thinking about it in any great detail.)

Biggest surprise was that, towards the beginning of dinner, Kate (Brad's fiancee) offered to hook me up with one of her friends and then, after experiencing several hours of me being drunk and obnoxious, actually decided to go through with it. In my opinion, it demonstrates a severe lack of judgment on her part, but I'm certainly not going to complain about it.

It was a lot of fun and I'm definitely going to do it again soon. So, co-workers, start jockeying for position now!

* Yes, it took me 4 years of owning a home before I got a dining room table that wasn't made out of plastic.

Things to Eat In Houston When You're Hungry

2006-10-08T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back from Houston. The trip was generally uneventful -- at least in comparison to some of the other customer upgrades that I've been on -- which is a good thing.

On Monday, we went to eat at Fogo de Chao (uh, just imagine that there is a little squiggle above that a there). The food was great, the service was great, the price was exorbitant. At $46 a plate, I felt it was my duty to get the company's money's worth. I made a valiant effort, but even with bacon-wrapped filet mignon and lamb chops literally backed up into my esophagus, I''m not sure that I really succeeded. If any restaurant needed a vomitorium, it is this one.

I only had one glass of wine, so there is no way I was hungover the next morning. But I damn sure felt like it. I think I might have gotten steak poisoning. Based on the hair of the dog that bit you theory of hangover treatment, I went to IHOP and got a giant steak omelet to get rid of my "steak poisoning". Surprisingly, it seemed to work.

Tuesday, we were stuck at the hospital, so it was just Pizza Hut delivery.

Wednesday, we went to Pappadeaux. When I was in Houston a few years ago, we went here, and I've spent the last 3 years longing for their creme brulee. (At the time, I thought it was so good that I drove back there again the next night, just for dessert.) As with so many things that we fantasize about for so long, the reality was rather disappointing. I had never had creme brulee at that time, so I didn't really have anything to compare it to. Now that I do have something to compare it to (mine!), I realize that it wasn't that great. That didn't stop me from eating mine of course. But it did stop me from finishing Jenny's after she ate all the fruit and brulee off. Well, okay, it stopped me from finishing all of it.

Comedy goldmine

2006-09-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

So, I'm visiting my family. Faith is running around with a little charm bracelet that she stole off my mother. In addition to a charm with a totally adorable picture of me as a baby, there is a little charm that says, "Engaged, something something 1969".

I look up and ask my dad if they were really engaged in 1969. He answers yes.

"God, you've been sitting on that for 35 years? It's a comedy goldmine! I mean, the jokes practically write themselves!"

"So, after your mother and I were engaged in 69, we..."

"If there's anyone here who knows what it is like to be engaged in 69, it's me and your mother, so..."

My dad is a pretty funny guy, but I think he might be slipping.

Guilty conscience?

2006-09-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

I went over to Mandy and Phil's tonight to read bedtime stories. As I'm getting up to leave, I knocked one of Faith''s stuffed animals out of her bed.

FAITH: Uncle Bobb, you knocked Sarafina out of bed!
ME: Oh, I..
FAITH: You bastard!
ME: *flee* *snicker*
MANDY: What did you say? What did you call Uncle Bobb?
FAITH: Uh... a bastard?

So, Mandy yells at Faith. Faith gets, as we call it, a "broken heart" and starts sobbing uncontrollably. Christian notices and starts yelling out of his bedroom.

CHRIS: What did she say?
PHIL: Nothing. Go to sleep.
CHRIS: What did she say?
PHIL: Nothing. Go to sleep.
CHRIS: What did she say?
PHIL: A swear word. Which she probably learned from you.
CHRIS: NoNoNoNo, not me, not me, not me, I swear it wasn't me! I swear!
PHIL: Okay, go to sleep.
ME: Huh. Guilty conscience?

Pirates of the Carribean Mini-Review

2006-09-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

Went to see Pirates of the Caribbean last night with "My Gay Friend" Penelope. I give it a "good, but not great". Points off for over-the-top, totally unbelievable action scenes that didn't really look very cool. But points back for some over-the-top, completely unbelievable action scenes that did look really cool. Points off for Johnny Depp not playing Jack Sparrow and instead playing "Johnny Depp playing Jack Sparrow". (Which saddens me because Johnny Depp is totally the bees-knees.) But points back for Keira Knightley being totally hot and kicking some ass.

Best conversation of the evening:

ME: Eh, it was pretty good. Tell you what, though. Keira Knightly is smokin'' hot.
P: Eh, she's okay, I guess.
ME: Are you kidding me?!?
P: Well, she was really cute in Bend it Like Beckham. I liked her in that.
ME: Hah, she was, like, 14* in that movie. You cradle-robber! That's dirty. And hot.
P: ...
ME: But you are right, she was totally hot in Bend it Like Beckham.

* -- She was actually 17. Which is totally legal in PA.

Getting Rid of Grass

2006-06-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

I took the first step towards my goal of removing all -- or at least most -- of the grass from my backyard and replacing it with flower beds and hardscape. Behold, the bird and butterfly garden:

So, I''ve still got a lot to do. But I''m pretty happy with what I managed to get done this year. I''ve got about 2/3 of the planned flowers planted. I''m working on getting the drip irrigation system in. Also need to level the pavers. And get a birdbath. Next year, I''ll finish up with the rest of the flowers and an arbor over the gate.

Problem with Microsoft Search

2006-06-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

I ran across this while hacking together the PHP files for the blog. Apparently, the WindowsXP search does not actually search all files when using the "A word or phrase in the file" option. How very... useless.

Here is a workaround:

Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.
Locate and expand the branch for the file type in question (for example: .txt, .adm or .asp).
If the PersistentHandler subkey does not exist, create it. Do this by clicking on the file extension key and going to Edit > New > Key. Name the key "PersistentHandler" (without the quotes). Click on the PersistentHandler key. In Regedit''s right pane, double click on the Default value and enter the following: "{5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}" (without the quotes). WARNING: If the PersistentHandler sub-key does exist, do not change the default value.
Close Regedit and reboot the computer.

Source: Doug''s Windows Tweaks and Tips

Vegetable Gardening 2006

2006-06-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

Due to the wonders of lead contamination, I got to completely re-do my garden this year. The new garden consists of two 4'' x 9'' raised beds, 15" deep. The walls are made out of "Veranda" brand composite decking. I started using the "Square Foot Gardening" method this year, so I''ve got a ton of stuff planted. It seems to be working out well, but I''ve already had to prune some stuff back, so we shall see what it looks like by the end of the season.

This year, I planted:

Tomato ''Black Prince'
Tomato ''Matt''s Wild Cherry''
Tomato ''San Marzano''
Pepper ''Lipstick''
Pepper ''Tam Jalepeno'
Pepper ''Carmen''
Pepper ''Gourmet'' F1
Pepper ''Yankee Bell''
Cucumber ''Diva''
Sweet Corn
Zuccini
Eggplant
Okra
Spinach
Cantaloupe (Muskmelon)
Watermelon
Red Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Parsley ''Forest Green''
Parsley ''Titan''
Cilantro ''Santo''
Basil ''Genovese Compact''
Basil, Cinnamon
Dill ''Superdukat''

Yes, those tomatoes are already over 5'' tall. In June.

Busy Bees

2005-07-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice shot my lavender. I'm pretty sure it is Provence Lavender. The bees and butterflies love it.

You can also see some of my newer plants: in the middle right is Purple Pygmy Agastache, to the far right is Lilac Frost Spiderwort, and in the back is my monster Black-Eyed Susan.

Using remodel boxes: 101

2005-06-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

The tabs go outside the wall, dummy. This is even more annoying because I've used remodel electrical boxes many times before. I just wasn't paying attention.

On the other side of the hole there, you can see my sandstone basement walls. Let me tell you how much fun it is to stud them out for drywall. Not very.

Blast from the Past: Front Flower Beds

2005-06-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here is what the front looked like in 2002, shortly after I moved in:

Here is what it looks like today (most of this work was actually done in 2003):

I ripped out the evergreen (which was not a dwarf variety and was growing into and killing the shrubs) and replaced it with a weeping cherry tree. Ripped out the rusty stakes and wire mesh that the PO had used as a fence and put in a basic surround of landscape blocks. These still need to be capped. You can see in the current picture that I'm working on a small bamboo fence, though this has kinda' been put on hold. I ripped out the lilac and replace it with, um, a lilac. In my defense, the old one was pretty ugly. It had been pruned into a misshapen wreck and didn't really bloom much anymore. The jungle looking area along the side of the house is a combination of Forsythia and Black-Eyed Susan. The yellow along the front is Coreopsis. Some other things that I have growing:

(Spring) Grape Hyacinth, Dwarf Iris, Hyacinth, Crocus, Daffodils, Tulips, some kind of white daffodil looking thing that I planted and then didn't save the tag for, Forget-Me-Not
(Summer) Gladiolus, Lavender, Spiderwort, Phlox, Day Lilly, Stargazer Lilly
(Fall) Ribbon Grass

One of the best looking flower right now is the Stargazer Lilly:

I've got a good bit of worked planned for this fall and next spring. The Coreopsis needs to be moved, because it ended up being too tall for a front row plant. Day Lillies (which are currently hidden behind one of the shrubs) need to get moved out to the front so they get more sun. Spiderwort needs to be moved or thrown away (I didn't actually plant the stuff, it just appeared there). And I still have a small section of flower bed in the alley that needs to be completely re-done.

Bad things happen to good people

2005-06-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today, "Diane" was telling me that she and her husband just bought a boat. "Marv" is going to christen it this weekend by taking out three of his friends. Between the four of them, one is getting married, one is getting divorced, one is buying a house and one is turning 33. I suggested that she send a chaperon, because it sounded like some kind suicide pact to me.

Hopefully, the boat will come through it okay. I'd like to try water skiing again. This time, I am most certainly going to stand up straight and lean back, so that I don't end up with a sore back for two fucking months.

Happy Father's Day

2005-06-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

I've had an itch to do some landscaping lately, but don't really have any appropriate projects here to work on. So, I ended up getting my dad some trees for Father''s Day. Here you see "The Orchard": three apple trees and three peach trees.

Down along the pond is a RedBud that my mom picked out. I have some vague plans to help them build some kind of sitting area along the pond; the RedBud is the start to that.

The Garden II

2005-06-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

The garden is kicking butt. Much progress has been made in only three weeks. I've already got a few cucumbers, one of which should be ready very soon. Some cherry tomatoes should also be ready soon. And the ''Fourth of July'' just set a few tomatoes. Nothing set on the earliest flowers, which is annoying. The peppers got off to a rocky start, due to the birds, but are making a good effort.

I've also got some cherries which I think are about ready to harvest. I would have had more, but the tree really needed pruning and, unfortunately, the branches that needed pruned had most of the cherries on them. Next year I should have more cherries than any one person can eat, though.

Poorly designed rating system

2005-06-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

I found the following at Target the other day:

First, it hardly seems necessary to rate something for "indoor use". Everything from prom dresses to tractors are rated for "indoor use", as long as you are talking about the right kind of indoors. Even things like jumbo jets and ICBM missiles are used indoors, if only temporarily. Off the top of my head, I can thing of very few examples of things that you would never conceivably use indoors. Things like the space shuttle or an ocean liner. Or a fucking rain gauge.

I'm a horrible uncle

2005-06-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

Just so my mom isn't the only one with an embarrassing story on here...

While up at my parents' house last week, I used the bathroom in a particularly heinous way and, apparently, forgot to flush. A few minutes later, my sister comes running out screaming, "Oh my god, who pooped in the bathroom and didn't flush? I'm traumatized!"

I confessed, which for some reason made it even more horrifying to her. Just then, Faith walked in the front door. Now, kids are good for two things, as far as I can tell: being really cute and taking the blame for stuff they didn't do. So, I immediately tried to shift the blame.

"Faith, did you go potty in the toilet and forget to flush?"
"No."
"Faith, I think you are telling a fib. Did you forget to flush?"

At this point, she looks up at her mom with a really contrite look on her face, and says in her most pathetic voice, "I'm really sorry, mommy. I didn't mean to."

And then I felt like a big jerk. Err, but not so big of a jerk that I didn't continue blaming her for it.

When "Kids say the darndest things!" attacks... repeatedly

2005-06-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

I met my parents after work to go Father's Day shopping, and they brought Faith along. While I'm looking through the gardening section, my mom takes Faith inside to use the restroom. As they are walking back across the parking lot, Faith screams over to me, "Uncle Bobb! Gramma farted!"
"Shhhh!"
"Well, you did."
"It's not nice to talk about it."
"Well, you are the one who did it."

Thankfully, there weren't many people around, and most of them either didn't hear or did a pretty good job of pretending not to hear. One woman got a pretty good chuckle out of it, though.

On Provigil, and the perils of leaving home without it

2005-06-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

Oh, it sucks. I was exhausted all day.

I suppose this is as good a time as any to express my impressions of Provigil. Which, by the way, is pronounce "pro vig' il" (as in, it promotes vigilance) and not "pro' vi gil" as I initially guessed. In a word, it's pretty damn good.

When I finally decided to go the "sleep doctor" I was sleeping anywhere from 8-10 hours per day, on average. That was a normal night's sleep and one or two naps during the week, sleep in on weekends. Even getting that much sleep, I was still generally very tired. And if I had to go a few nights with only getting 6 hours of sleep, forget about it. I would basically just shut down. My MSLT* score was about 10 minutes, which is apparently the cutoff for someone that might require treatment.

After starting the Provigil, I''m feeling significantly better. Sleeping a much more reasonable 7-8 hours per night, rarely feel the need for a nap. Still sleeping in on weekends, but really, who doesn''t? The effects of the drug are sort of weird, basically somewhere between not being tired and being somewhat tired but easily able to ignore it and still concentrate.

* Multiple Sleep Latency Test -- Basically a measure of how quickly you fall asleep when taking a nap during the day.

The best what?

2005-06-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, the kids and I had a sleepover at my parents' house. I was setting up the tent and Faith was "helping". The tent is a normal looking dome tent, with flexible poles that hold it in shape. Unlike a normal tent though, where the poles are directly attached to the tent and the weather sheet is draped over top, with my tent the poles are actually attached to the weather sheet and the tent structure is suspended inside with several little hooks.

I had gotten the weather sheet setup and was attempting to get the tent snapped inside. This normally a pretty easy process, but the unstaked corners kept moving around and unhooking. Finally, I asked Faith to hold the one corner hook to keep it from slipping out, while I did the other side. It slipped out anyway and she starting trying to put it back in. I started to go over to do it, but she wouldn't let me.

"No," she said. "I''m going to do it myself. Because I'm the best hooker ever."

The Garden

2005-06-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

This year I planted:

(Front Row) Sweet Banana Pepper (x3)
(2nd Row) ''Giant Marconi'' Sweet Pepper (x2), ''The Big Early'' Red Bell Pepper
(3rd Row) ''Sweet Slice'' Cucumber (x2)
(4th Row) ''Early Girl'' Tomato, ''Better Boy'' Tomato
(Back Row) ''Tami-G Hybrid'' Grape Tomato, ''Fourth of July'' Tomato, ''Roma'' Tomato

Here it is shortly after I planted it:

The damn birds attacked it with a vengeance (hence the cages). The Sweet Banana Peppers bore the brunt of it. The one in the front left was literally just a stem with one leaf before I realized what was happening and put up the cages.

Math, not so good at it...

2005-06-03T23:44:00.000-07:00

Who Loves Bo Bice?

2005-06-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Dave and Jenny do.

Ladybugs to the rescue!

2005-05-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

I noticed that some of the leaves on the cherry tree were starting to curl and die. The obvious culprit, aphids (at least as far as I can tell):

I thought that I was going to have to spray them, so I started doing some research on what would be most effective and whether there were any alternatives to pesticides. It turns out that ladybugs (and ladybug larvae) are voracious predators of aphids. I remembered seeing some other bugs on the leaves, so I went back out and took another picture:

Score, ladybug larva! Literally within days, the aphids were gone. Ladybugs are one of the best bugs you can have in your garden. They don't eat plants, but attack all kinds of other insects that do eat plants. If you don't seem to have any around your garden, you might want to consider buying a shipment of larvae and releasing them.