Feeding on the Wind

Gotta Love a Good Concert

2009-11-04T23:25:00.005-05:00

Holler, Wild Rose! played B-Sides tonight. I was shocked to see them on the list for a concert this semester and they did not disappoint. Somehow the Vox managed not to break up despite his numerous ridiculously high points. I thank them for reminding me what a concert is supposed to feel like and anxiously await their next album (for which they debuted some new fabulous songs).

They are even more amazing live than they are in the studio. Simply great stuff.

Also, my Haiti photovoltaic system project is entering another obnoxiously stressful portion... which actually happens most of the time. As excited as I am for this project, I will be thrilled when it is completed and I can have that weight off of my shoulders.

On the good side, the baseball is probably just a few hours away from finishing when the Yankees win the World Series again. Surprise. I'll just be glad to have the sport gone for a few sweet months.

This made my day

2009-11-03T23:06:00.002-05:00

http://xkcd.com/657/

You have to click it to get the fullsize so you can see all the detail.

I love all of these movies except for Jurassic Park (Not that I don't like it, it just doesn't compare)

And if you haven't seen Primer, do so immediately; but prepare to have your mind explode into confused bits of chaos.

Business

2009-10-26T17:11:00.002-04:00

Back at school after a sweet but all too short fall break. I can not believe how quickly this year is leaving us. Here we are, nearly the end of October -- yet seemingly with just as much of the semester before us as behind us. It is simply unbelievable. Before we know it, Spring and Graduation and the real world and its challenges are about us. It is the last Autumn of the first stage of my life. All I've known is the cycle of school and summer. Yet this seemingly endless cycle is at an end, and all that awaits is a floundering job market and a world growing ever more paranoid.

Well, at least its Autumn (for now). Thank God for Autumn.

Beautiful weather

2009-05-31T21:55:00.001-04:00

The last two days we have been blessed with more beautiful weather than you could ask for. I can only describe them as perfect summer days. The other night we received that dependable and sure sign of summer, the apple balloon. It seems always to float by when we are eating our dinner, on the back patio, listening to prairie home companion. The perfect addition to the perfect summer evening.

In other positive news, I may have fixed the leak in our pool (we shall see tomorrow when we check the water level) which means it could be open for enjoyment in just a week or so. All things considered, it was a pleasant and relaxing weekend. On to Monday and another week of 12 hour days.

Why do people worry about this?

2009-05-22T22:32:00.002-04:00

Is it just me, or is swine flu really not a big deal? It's killed 0.012% of what the normal flu does annually.

Just like Costanza

2009-05-21T22:08:00.004-04:00

Today a bird flew into my leg. I mean that in the most literal sense possible -- a bird flew into my leg. I wasn't even moving, I was just sitting there.

It seems to be part of a recent trend in which wild animals completely ignore me. Last week, for the first time ever, I killed an animal with my car. It was a squirrel. It was unavoidable. Yesterday, another squirrel decided to dash in front of my car; running to its unfortunate and gruesome death beneath a spinning wheel of rubbery death. I offer no explanation of this sad turn of events, but would like to take the opportunity to request a renewal of the truce which I once enjoyed with nature:

Don't run in front of my car, and I will not run over you with 2500 lbs of steel.

That's the deal. You broke it first and I am willing to forgive your transgressions if you simply agree to honor the terms once more. I eagerly await your response. You know where to reach me.

A Light Through Darkness

2009-05-16T21:05:00.002-04:00

I've always found something quite surreal and engrossing about the sight of light pouring through cracks or vents. I think somehow it is calming to know that even though you are embraced by darkness, there is light close by, pouring out of and over its source.

As much as I love the darkness and the solace that it provides, the sight of artificial light somehow calms me -- knowing that the vast infrastructure supporting humanity's "needs" is still operational.

That's all for tonight.

Summer Returns

2009-05-16T00:40:00.001-04:00

So it's finally Summer again. It seems that this must be my summer blog as I only update it during this lovely season. The last year was a good one. Things couldn't be better. A great girlfriend, great roommates, and a great solar energy project to keep me busy. I just found out today that our Haiti solar energy project has been approved pending checks on our client and some budgetary details. So that's exciting.

Also I start work next week at my internship at Stine Consulting. So that's exciting.

I'm going to visit Hallie on Sunday. That too, is very exciting.

Oh yeah, and the boat was finished and rocked, but unfortunately, this winter a storm snapped the mast. So the boat is out of service until that gets repaired, but Bill is on top of it, and that should happen soon.

The picture I chose is just one of a few that I took this last year. It's at pole steeple, a short climb somewhere west of Harrisburg I believe.

Well that's enough stream of consciousness blogging for the night. Bedtime approaches.

Shakedown 1

2008-07-20T22:51:00.000-04:00

We installed the keel and got the rigging sorted out today, which meant that there were no more major obstacles keeping us from sailing today. So we took the opportunity to give the boat its first shakedown, despite the heavy and unpredictable winds that we experienced. With the winds as strong as they were today, we were afraid to run up the main sail in this untested boat; so we decided to unfurl only the jib. We were shocked by the results. We managed quite respectable speed both upwind and down with only the jib in place, and she handled beautifully. Now we just can not wait to see what she can do with the main and the jib; unfortunately, a storm is moving in tonight which is predicted to hang around until at least Thursday -- so no sailing until at least then.

Oh and to make the wait more unbearable; Cliff, who owns the boatyard, saw us when we came back to shore and told us that with the main and the jib to the wind, this boat has the potential to plane. I, for one, absolutely can not wait to experience that.

On the Boat with Dad and Emma

2008-07-19T23:40:00.000-04:00

Another stunning sunset on the inlet, this time out on the boat with my niece and dad. Dad clearly enjoyed being out there, almost as much as Emma. Yet again, we were not sailing, but we had a fabulous time motoring out to the deeper water and conversing as the sun fell. This time the motor ran perfectly, as we had the killswitch key. It started with ease and made me proud -- that little 2.5 horsepower outboard.

I've been watching a lot of Mr. Show on Youtube lately. It's been keeping me up late at night and preventing me from getting enough sleep. Maybe tonight I will turn that trend around... Maybe, but -- probably not.

More work, Less fun

2008-07-17T22:58:00.003-04:00

We tried to take the boat out again tonight; but were met with limited success. We paddled out to open water and tried to start up the motor with no luck. Just like last night, we did not have the key for the killswitch on the motor, and just like last night we attempted to trick the killswitch with a piece of string. Unlike last night, however, the motor did not want to run more than a few seconds. Our wishful thinking is forcing us to blame the problem on the killswitch, but I am skeptical as to whether the solution is going to be that simple. The next time we take the boat out we should know for sure as I found the key just a few seconds after returning to shore.

Despite not getting the motor running, we made a lot of progress on the boat -- the mast is up and the stays and spreaders are in place; all we need to do now is put the boom on and run up the sails. With any luck, we'll be sailing it this weekend.

In the Water; sans sails

2008-07-17T00:26:00.001-04:00

This is the boat in the water... technically. After a whirlwind of activity on the boat this morning including painting, drilling, mounting, and much more; we took the boat down to the water on Bill's canoe cart that I modified to handle a slightly larger load. Somehow, the two miniature BMX tires on the cart managed the 17 footer and we successfully tied the boat between two old pilings in the water with a little help from our friend Joey. Unfortunately, work called me away at one o'clock and it was not until about 9 PM that we actually got to take the boat out for a spin.

This is the first of many maiden voyages we are sure to have with this boat, as there are many stepping stones along the path from our boat to "sailboat." One those stones happens to be, of course, the sail. We did not bother putting up the mast today and therefore, tonight's excursion was a motored event only. The event went rather smoothly once we got under way with one exception: the motor cut out when we reached the middle of the inlet and would only run for a few seconds at a time.

Bill tried troubleshooting the motor while I simply enjoyed the calm from the bowdeck. After a few minutes and numerous attempted fixes, I realized that perhaps the trouble was caused by my movement to the bow a few minutes before the failure. I moved to the back of the boat and the motor started up instantly and ran as smoothly as she ever has. Apparently it likes to have a certain amount of backpressure on the exhaust or something bizarre like that.

It was a lot of fun to experience some of the fruits of our labour after the hours we have put into both the boat and the motor. Now my wishful thinking has moved on to the day when the boat becomes a sailboat.

...Soon, someday soon...

Sunset on the Inlet

2008-07-15T23:56:00.000-04:00

Took this at the inlet by my sister's house; the sunsets here rarely disappoint. Seeing those boats made me wish we had our boat finished.

We should have our sailboat in the water in just a few days. We made great progress on the boat the week we got it, and then our progress kind of stalled until this week when we had another flurry of activity. Now, with the boat seaworthy and spreaders repaired, we could be sailing as early as tomorrow or Thursday.

My parents are coming to town for the weekend and we definetely want to be able to show off a functional boat to my father especially. He seems to love sailing, but has never really had the opportunity, or perhaps more accurately the incentive, to do so. He has been scared away from boat ownership by the decades of horror stories he has heard from his boat-owning friends. He is quick to remind us that "the happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day he buys the boat and the day he sells it." Surely if we get him out on the new (well, she's not quite new) boat he will start to see the brighter side of boating.