fdsailor.blog-city.com — March 2005

Florida vacation 2005

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Florida. While there, we traveled through the state, starting out in Ft. Lauderdale, then to Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo for snorkelling, next to the Everglades National park (camping at Flamingo - our favorite spot!). From there we visited my Mom in Naples, then ended the trip with a couple of days in Orlando (OK, actually Kissimee), while we went to DisneyWorld.

OK, we flew in on a Saturday night. Got to our hotel and crashed. But it was nice to feel the warm wind - sorta magic! You leave when it is snowing, go into the tube shaped container, wait a couple of hours, step out and VOILA! Summer.

So here is G, soaking in the sun (or is it shadows?) at Ft. Lauderdale beach.

We found some kiteboarding going on - really cool, much better than the pictures show. Not only do these guys (that essentially are riding on things that look like floating snowboards) go fast in the water, they can steer the kites to pull them out of the water like 3 meters high! To the right, a flower. Gotta have pictures of flowers!

Another day, another place. The next day we went down to Pennekamp State Park on Key Largo. This is one of the only places in the US where there is a live coral reef. (It's mostly about the temperature of the water.) They take you about 8 km out to sea and the water gets really shallow (1 to 3 meters). There you put on your snorkel and explore. I just cannot describe how wonderful this is -- I will never tire of it!

Unfortunately, it is hard to take pictures, and we didn't even try. But they do have some really nice aquariums that have the same fish you see -- and here is a picture of one.

The picture on the right was at the end of the day where we arrived at destination 3 -- the Everglades National Park (or Refuge or whatever it is called!). If you skip the visitors' center, almost the first place you come to (Royal Palm / Anhinga trail) is also one of the best. Here is Masha standing by a cool tree there.

Boy, is it hard to pick only 30 some pictures from the 450 Masha took. Either way, on the left the three of us are at Anhinga trail, somewhere in the middle. To the right - well, it explains itself, especially if anyone is dumb enough to come any later in the season than mid-March!!

We camped for a couple of nights at Flamingo, which is as far south as you can get in Florida without going out on the keys. This is also the most southern point of the US (barring the Florida keys or Hawaii). One of the traditional things we always do when there is to take the "sunset cruise", which is a traditional sailboat that takes you out (by sailpower, there is almost always some wind) and you get to watch the sunset. So you get a pic of Masha and G, as well as one of the many sunset pictures M took.

Yes, Masha likes alligators! Not just fascinated with them (like everybody), but likes them! At one of the airboat places (yes, not all that good for the everglades, but I have to admit they are fun -- just bring earplugs!), they had some baby 'gators, and M held one. To the right are some standard teenage alligators in a ditch. They are everywhere - just everywhere!

Now on to Naples to visit my Mom. She is doing great, but we forgot to take pictures. Masha is doing great on the beach also! Should we be sending this to Sports Illustrated?

The next day it was raining all day -- this was the first day we had anything except perfect weather, with highs about 26 deg C, and lows about 19 deg C. But not on Friday. Friday it rained as we drove to Orlando to go to Disney. We arrived at a standard KOA there - rows and rows of campers - -a bit of a let down after the wonderful grass fields of ???????????. G almost refused to camp there, but it actually wasn't that noisy. So we camped. It had stopped raining, and the weather was going to be fair on Saturday.

So on Saturday, we went to Magic Kingdom. We have a couple of billion pictures to prove it, but here you get an assortment of 10. We start with the "classic" Main Street, with the famous castle in the background.

As soon as we get there and are settling down to ice cream for lunch, a skit starts, hence the left hand picture.

G and Nemo. To the right... Any guesses what these are? Think Fantasia. Think Dukas. A prize to the first person that guesses correctly.

Finally time to rest.... And reflect (I have this thing about lily pads, which is about the only thing I share in common with Monet!).

At night, they have what must be THE best fireworks display in the world. Not just fireworks, but computer controlled fireworks. And they have 365 chances a year to practice and perfect the show. And it was, it really was. This is the best single reason to go to Magic Kingdom. Everyone HAS to see this sometime in his life.

!

There is also a great parade, full of light. Feels sorta like Chinese New Year, not that I've ever seen a Chinese New Year. But you get the idea!

That was Magic Kingdom. When we went back (which was at about 10 pm), it was starting to rain. We had heard this weather forecast, and were not looking forward to it. So we took our raincoats into the tent. G went into the tent and was never heard of 'till morning. Masha and I went back out to check out a ride (called the Slingshot) we saw along the road driving towards the campsite. This is the ride shown here with the two rainbow lit columns. It works like this. The towers are about 100 feet (33 m) high. From each drops a cable which suspends a 2-person "pod" in the middle. There is a HUGE spring assembly that quickly tensions the cables, accelerating the pod straight up (with occupants). When it gets the the top of the tower, it has reached maximum speed, and then continues to just shy of 200 feet. Then it free falls, slows, misses the ground and bounces around for several more times.

Masha REALLY wanted to do this ride, and was willing to pay for the priviledge. As for me? Well, I wasn't going to be shown up by a girl :-) !!!! (And I wanted to anyways). So we did it - great fun. The scariest part is just before launch and for the first 3 seconds - very hard to describe the feeling - WOW, GADS and SHI_ come to mind...

After that, Masha wanted to look at the "big" ride - something called Skycoaster. I had heard of these rides before, but this was the tallest in the world - about twice the height of the other versions. It works like this. You see the twin white towers in the middle. They are 95 m tall (300 ft). From them is suspended two wires, which connect to a hook. You get in a harness (belly facing down), and are clipped to this. So ta-da - a 100 meter swing set! But that's just the start. 100 meters away is a third tower, also 100 m tall. From this comes a single cable. This is also attached to the harness, but this has a "quick release" fitting attached.

You start in the middle (face down, remember). Then the long cable from the third tower starts cranking you up, and up, and up - until you are at the top of the third tower, 100 m off the ground - the "swing" stretched totally horizontal! The loudspeaker then says "3 - 2 - 1 - FLY" (or is it "die"??). You pull a nylon strap and you are dropped. At first, you free-fall for about 40 meters before the cables start to pull you to the center. You then swing (200 meters in about 5 seconds or roughly 90 mph / 145 km per hour) up the other side, and then swing back and forth for about a minute.

OK, I didn't have the guts to ride this (although I regret it now), but Masha had no hesitation. Up she went by herself, looking very small on this huge ride. And she was the only "single" rider of the night -- everyone else was jumping in doubles or triples -- not quite as scary. As she was being winched up to the top, the announcer was talking about how she was from Russia and fearless! When when told to fly/die, she pulled the cord and the rest was history! (She is alive and well, in case anyone is wondering).

The next morning we awoke to rain. The tent was swimming in a pool of water, although luckily it did not leak and the inside was dry -- count our blessings. Oh yeah, and it is windy. Hmmm. Do we really want to go Epcot?

Of course. We went, although we don't have many pictures to show (remember, it was raining). Epcot is very different from Magic Kingdom. It is divided into two parts. The first (about half the park) was a set of large "exhibits" showcasing technology, space, earth, etc. The second part, which follows around a lake, is a set of individual "countries", where you can see exhibits, skits, presentations, and gift shops of the individual nations. And of course each also had a restaurant. We ate lunch in Mexico, and dinner in Morocco. It was good, although if I were only going to go to one place, Magic Kingdom would win out, I think.

The good news was that it stopped raining in mid-afternoon, and that we had a fun time. But it went downhill from there. When we got back to the campsite, our tent was still sitting in the same puddle, although it was still dry (again, count our blessings). But then we checked to ensure when our flight left the next morning. I had remembed this to be 10 am, and this is what I told G and Masha.

Well, I was wrong, and boy was I in trouble -- grumpy & exhausted fellow travelers. The flight left at 8 am. Hmm. So need to leave, totally packed, for the airport by 5:30 am. And we have not packed at all. And, although by many standards we pack somewhat "light", we had not only vacation supplies, but also complete tenting supplies -- tents, thermarests, sleeping bags, etc. In short, it takes us a solid 2 to 2 1/2 hours to pack things compactly enough that we can get it on the plane.

Luckily it has stopped raining. So, starting at 11 pm, we pack everything except the actual tenting equipment. It is windy, very windy. Masha sleeps in the car -- the quietest place around. G and I stay in the tent. The next morning we get up at 4:30 AM, and somehow finish and get to the airport in time to catch our flight.

Published: Wednesday, 2 March 2005

Toronto 2005 - Another weekend, another trip

One of the pleasures of having an exchange student is being motivated to go on trips (mini-vacations?), and not only see what you may have seen before, but also have everything be "fresh" when seen through other people's eyes. Such was our weekend trip to Toronto.

This does not mean that this was a simple trip. We do those on normal years. It is a lot more complicated when you need to obtain visas first. Originally we were just going with Masha. But then we offered to Masha that she could bring a friend. Enter Dasha, another exchange student from (guess...) Novgorod, Russia. So now we have 2 visas to get.

Collecting all of the paperwork, forms and signatures took quite a bit of time, but was straightforward. The trick is that you need to get to the consulate in Buffalo soon after they open, or you could have a long wait. Our goal was to be there between 8 and 8:15. Well, after finding we had to stop in Scottsville "on the way" to get some J-1 forms signed, our traditional 20 minute late departure, and our obligatory getting lost once, we arrived at 8:45. Well, no matter - everything went as planned, although with a long wait - we finally got the visas just before noon...

First stop - Niagara Falls!

Wonderful as always, and lots of water. And, since it was winter, lots of ice. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, but on the left is the horseshoe falls (Canadian falls).

The two Russians in Canada, and a view of the American falls from the right.

Then, a stop for a (not very tasty) lunch, and a (very tasty) ice cream cone, it was off to Toronto. We only took one really bad turn (par for the course), and soon found ourselves in our hotel room. Here we didn't pinch pennies - we stayed at the Sheraton Eaton Center, in the heart of the downtown. Here are several views from the 26th floor.

That night, we went out and ate at an Indian restaurant. I wish I could remember the name, since it was the best Indian food we have ever had, and was pretty reasonably priced (for Toronto). Very yummy!

We returned to find a party in the room next to ours. Not just your average, several people hanging out and making some noise party - this was a convention. Don't ask me how this happened, but somehow we were about the only people on the 26th floor that were NOT part of a (and I am not kidding here) conference on psychosis! Now, I think what was really happening is that these people were talking about psychotic people, but wanted perhaps to become closer to the experience themselves. So they were drinking whiskey. How do I know this? Well, around midnight they started shouting really loud - WHISKEY! WHISKEY! WHISKEY!

Well, I don't know if this was making them psychotic, but it was sure working on us! G and Dasha just fell asleep. Masha and I (in our different ways) did not. We tried pounding on the walls, etc. We called the front desk - you name it, we did it. The only effect it had was to wake up G, who started, well, doing G things. She went next door and sort of yelled at them. She called the front desk and asked for a room change. Et cetera. Finally she got an agreement that the party would stop at 1 am sharp. And it did! So we cancelled the room change until morning (as they were planning to do the same thing the next night).

To make a long, fun story short, the next day I went down and talked to them. And I used my best negotiation technique - ask for something, and when you start getting concessions, just stare and don't talk (not easy for me, as some know!). In the end, we got $80 off the price of the room, relocation to the "executive floor" (40th), and a free breakfast the next morning.

Day 2 - first we did some shopping and wandering. G explored the bus system and went to some fabric shops and supported the Canadian economy with some wonderful (but expensive !!) wool fabric. In the late afternoon we visited (and went up) the CN Tower.

OK, the CN tower is the tallest building in the world (553 m)- the Russian tower in Moscow is second (540 m), and then there is everything else. You go up the the top and the view is rather amazing - over a half a kilometer in the air! One of the particularly cool features of this tower that that on the lower observation deck there is a glass floor. Very freaky feeling to walk here! The picture on the right (above) shows 4 pairs of feet (Masha, Dasha, Gwendolyn, Chuck) standing on the glass floor. Below that, you see the column that supports the tower and then the ground at the base of the tower, complete with a little snow.

Masha took all but one of these pictures. Even in the CN tower she found art. I love these!

Following the tower, we proceeded to our dinner, which was Chinese (Dasha had never eaten Chinese, and we decided to fix this immediately). After that we went to an incredible show - one that I can completely recommend. It was called Mama Mia!!, and features the music of Abba. I have no pictures, and words won't describe the experience (which was great).... And the music was good also!

On Sunday, Masha and Dasha started the day out swimming (heated outdoor pool) and in the sauna. G and I went ice skating. After that we packed the car and went to the zoo. I had forgotten how far "out" of Toronto the zoo was, but we finally got there. Yes, several additional hours would have helped, but we did get to see quite a few animals, and had lots of fun.

To end, we had giraffes. They were not stupid giraffes and hence were inside. But we finally found them. Here is a picture of the fence they were behind :-) Really though - if you look, you will find two adult giraffes and a pretty recently minted baby! I understand that the baby at this stage in live grows several centimeters a day! Cool.

Published: Monday, 14 March 2005

9 am - Brilliant morning

This morning I had that wonderful experience of waking up in to a warm room with sun streaming in the window. I lay there for a while and daydreamed, and then finally joined the day.

I went out into the hot tub on the back deck and listened to the sounds of the earth and world. The dripping of snow melting, the russle of squirrels, and the decending glissando of a cardinal.

This is the beginning of spring. Often we talk about destinations and getting there. If spring with green leaves is the destination, what is happening now is the way of getting there. And it is just as wonderful!

Published: Tuesday, 22 March 2005

10:36 pm - Obsession watch

First, in the so-non-obsessive arena, I collected together the tax information tonight. We have this woman prepare it for us (I used to do it all the time until my Mom transferred some funds to my name - I can't for the life of me figure out all of her investments - indeed I think that anyone preparing taxes must guess or throw dice!), but I never get around to even calling her to file them.

Luckily I have a friend at work that introduced me to this woman, and she prepares his taxes also. This friend (I will call him Al - his real name :-) ) is far more focused on being on time. So we have an arrangement - when she comes in to pick up his stuff, he reminds me, and she picks up mine also. So far the system has worked well for 3 years!

OK, ObsessionWatch^tm - how are we doing?

Per Robert's rules of order, first we have old business:

Hot tub lid - still hanging in there, so presumed completed, at least for another year. Yes, it has gained weight, but probably only 5 kg additional so far.

CD ripping project - slow but sure. At this point the entire library (some 350 CDs) is ripped, barring some that I missed or were bought when I was mid project. I have to finish them, then I move on to pass 2, which is to correct misspellings in composer's names (how many ways can YOU transliterate Tchaikovsky?). Pass 3 (which will take awhile) is do review and revise the metadata to ensure I followed the rules I had set out. These changed a bit over time as I learned. Then do pass 4, which is to make a copy and convert to WMA 96k and I am done. I hope to get there by May.

Photoshop - somewhat inactive at the moment. I had some somewhat disappointing results at color matching prints against the monitor - but I have a friend with a monitor color calibrator gizzy that I will try sometime soon. Still though, making some pleasing prints. And I am really impressed by what Photoshop can do.

Chemistry - in a rather unfocused manner I am taking advantage of Masha's excellent AP Chemistry book to learn all of the stuff I never learned well. Although she occasionally benefits, it is not for Masha. She needs little help and knows much more Chemistry than I will ever know (and yes, I am impressed). But, it is fun learning this stuff as an adult when I don't have to.

Running - well, Spring is here. I can't run in Winter. So stay tuned... My first race will probably be the corporate challenge in May - perhaps one "warm up" race earlier to be run at 95% effort - more motivating than doing the same in training mode.

Oboe - this obsession is in remission, but not forgotten. I am waiting for the CD ripping project to end.

Birding - missing this one, but having lots of general fun going on vacations with G and Masha in a non-focused on birding way. All told a good trade.

Now we have new business:

Monitor research - the CRT monitor on "Masha's" computer still shows a usable image, but is effectively "dead". And I have no complaints - it is about 14 years old, and owes me nothing. So I need to replace it. I know I will replace it with a 19" LCD monitor. But what one? This was an easy decision before I learned Photoshop and color matching. Well, to make a long story short, I could buy a very fine monitor for about $X, or a very fine highly adjustable monitor for about $X + 170. Averaged over the life of the monitor the delta cost would amount to probably $17 per year - peanuts. But the up front cost is still $170 delta. And I could buy a "pretty good" monitor for as low as $450.

There is a whole new class of monitors that are starting to come out (LED backlit LCD monitors), but these are still in the $1800 range, and won't drop into my price range like, well, ever (maybe 3 or 4 years). So I can't really consider them - just dream about them. And from a photography standpoint, printers couldn't print the colors they would be capable of displaying anyways!

In summary, I already know the right thing to do, I just need to give myself permission to do it! This would normally not be a problem, but G's job situation is uncertain, so we have to consider finances and cash flow too.

Blog - at least a temporarily reactivated obsession. Let's see if we can keep at it!

Web pictures and Blog - this is an interesting one. As it happens, this blog site sorta sucks for displaying pictures. it is possible, but boy there are some things we could do better. And it doesn't give anyone the ability to pull down the high quality images, etc. So I am looking into the web site http://www.flickr.com/. This is a hot site recently acquired by Yahoo. It provides unlimited storage, allows people to leave comments, and provides a web source for pictures than can be incorporated into the blog (which is pretty good if you don't have to manage images in it). There are free versions and a "pro" pay version. We'll see.

Published: Wednesday, 23 March 2005

4 pm - yawn...

Really must get more sleep...

Published: Wednesday, 23 March 2005

11:46 PM - All planned CD ripping completed

Ok, the hard part is done. No more spraying each CD with windex and cleaning it, then putting it in the drive and entering all of the track names manually, etc. THE RIPPING part of the project is DONE. Over 350 CDs, each one taking an average of about 12 minutes each to process. Over 70 hours of work. No wonder I'm sick of this.

Now we have metadata cleanup left. Here I can be my own worst enemy. What I have to do depends on how fussy I am about consistancy and completeness. If I wanted, I could be done tomorrow!

I will celebrate by going to bed. - 'Night!

Published: Thursday, 24 March 2005

11:28 pm: Easter Eggs

Here is the report from the annual G Psanky party. This is something she and our good friend Nina put on each year, with minor support from myself. The two of them have been doing this party since the year before Max was born, and each year G and N's eggs just keeping better. And the eggs made by everyone else all look great. Some people are new, while some are "repeat customers".

I won't bore you with the process right now -- you can always look it up (http://www.ukrainiangiftshop.com/pages/art3.htm). In a nutshell it involves putting melted wax on the egg where you DON'T want a new color, then dipping the egg in a new color dye. Then repeat this for multiple additional colors. Finally, when you're all done, you remove the wax, varnish and blow out the insides.

So let's get to the pictures!

Here is the 2005 ensemble shot. Pretty stuff.

First, two of G's eggs. She just sits down and does them. They take about 2 hours each. The cross egg is a hybrid technique -- dye, Q-tips, then finishing with Sharpies instead of dipping in dye.

This is, in my humble opinion one of the best done eggs G has even produced. Congratulations, G!

Now for the newbies. Actually there were lots of people doing eggs at the party (about 20), but they all took theirs home before I could photograph them. On the left is Masha's very first egg. A complete beginner and look how it turned out - great! To the right is the egg I did. I wish I could say I was a beginner, but in reality I have done about 6 eggs over the years.

Now we move on to the eggs of a master -- Nina's eggs. These are in a class by themselves, and I just had to show you some. She is amazing. Enjoy!

I am told that this was a "sample" egg, not a serious egg. Well, I like it -- LOTS. Reminds me of a stained glass window at the Washington National Cathedral.

Sorry I didn't rotate the image. But this is a falcon egg (done several years ago) as a tribute to the Peregrine Falcons that nest downtown on the Kodak building.

Published: Thursday, 31 March 2005

fdsailor.blog-city.com — January 2005

4:00 pm: In the air...

In the air again. This time I am flying to meet with some people from a small company in Colorado Springs that Harris is considering teaming with for a small contract to the government. Colorado Springs, like many Colorado cities sits on the boundary between the great plains (flat…) and the rocky mountains. The transition between the two is rather abrupt, with only several miles of foothills.

This is going to be another one of those trips that is mostly getting there. The flights and connection only take 6 hours and two time zones, but if you want a full day of meetings, you have to fly out the previous day (that would be today) and return on the following day in the morning. So clock time it takes a full two days to get 8 hours of meeting time. At least I can be close to the mountains and look at them – don’t really have time to stop and play… In particular, it would be fun to go cross country skiing here, since they usually have good, dry power snow.

Well, I guess it’s time for an obsession update. Let’s see.

Hot tub cover is finished – a success. Check! x

Hot tub fabric cover – not really started, so I won’t count that. Obsession in remission.

MP3 creation – doing well, but still a long way to go. I am currently at classical G, which brings me to the 65% level. I think I have about 100 CDs left. Once I have done this, I will need to take a second pass to clean up the metadata, but everything is coming well.

MP3 players – G and Masha now have small, flash memory-based players, and they are great! They are tiny (4 cm x 6 cm?), and hold about 5 hours of music. Magic. However, I have a plan for myself to purchase a hard-drive based MP3 player that can hold the entire MP3 collection (about 350 CDs worth). At this time there is an obvious choice – an iPod, but iPod uses a proprietary scheme for licensed music, and I don’t like it. There are other players out there, but none are, well, as nice as an iPod (which has 90% of the market right now). So at least for now my plan is to wait until they invent something I like. I was patient and waited YEARS to get a digital camera (waiting for the technology to get to the right price point), so I can wait a bit on the music player front.

Photoshop CS – one of my more recent obsessions. For a long time I used JASC Paintshop pro to edit my images. And JASC is a great application. But using the more advanced features on this app was not exactly intuitive, and I never learned them well. Well, finally I obtained a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS. This is the industry standard application, and it is huge – if it has to do with an image, this app can do it. But guess what – sort of like Jasc, it is not obvious how to make it do things. So I bought a book on the subject, and have started reading through it.

There seems to be no way around it – when you have a really complex application, the only way to use it is to study it, read the books, and work through examples. This has taken quite a bit of time, but it is paying off. I can now color balance pictures, and take people from one picture and put them is other pictures where they have never been. And I am getting really good at removing pimples from peoples face, airbrushing, etc.

This brings me to a side obsession – color science. Color science includes a lot of fascinating theory about how light works and (more to the point of my obsession) how color can be recorded, mapped and transformed. An example is in order – this one will be really watered down, but will still be enough to bore.

The human eye can see a broad range of colors. These we perceive through a combination of red, blue and green cones in our eye – right? Yes, right, but it is not that simple. First of all, the sensitivity of these individual cones is effectively bell curves, and they broadly overlap. They are also not equally distributed. Now consider the spectral distribution of the light reflected off of an object – this is not exactly monochromatic either. Now add another variable – the spectral distribution of the illuminating light, which could not only be continuous, but include spectral “bright lines”.

OK, leave this for a while. Suffice it to say this simple topic is not looking so simple. But either way, the eye is capable of seeing a broad range of colors - an amazingly broad range.

Now let’s try to capture this same scene with a camera. Hmmm. Well, we still have three sensors, but they response curves are not exactly that of the eyes. Hmmm. Oh, and by the way, they do not have as broad a range as the human eye. And they can see infrared, even though humans can’t – true, all they can do is record this as red, however. So here is the situation – despite how well the camera designers do, your camera is just not going to see things exactly the same way you do, and it will really depend on what kind of light is being used to provide the illumination. Their “color space” is also a significant subset compared to a human eye – consider taking a picture of, say fluorescent yellow - it just won’t have that “glowing” look to it.

But wait, you say – how can you look at a digital camera image – such a thing is just bits, just a file. Oh yeah – you need to display it on a monitor. Well guess what, monitors also have their capabilities, and they don’t match either the eye, or the camera, or the printer.

So here is the overall “digital darkroom” problem – you want to be able to edit, color balance and adjust an image on a computer, look at it on a monitor, print it and have it match. Well, you guessed it, what seemed like such a simple process is not so simple after all. And no, your bright florescent orange is not going to print correctly, because there is no way you are going to mix magenta, cyan and yellow inks and get that color!

There – bored yet? If not, and you want to read more, I would check out:

http://www.normankoren.com/color_management.html

http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/How_to/o_Color_Management/_Color_management.html

Well, as I have been writing this the sun has set over the Kansas plains – so no mountain viewing for me. Hope the plane misses them.

The music at the moment? Suzanne Vega – drowns out the screaming kid sitting two rows back. I am slowly ruining my back slumping low in my seat because the person in front has reclined her seat (perfectly reasonable thing to do) but it takes up all of my laptop room. Probably time to quit.

Published: Tuesday, 11 January 2005

9:30pm (Mountain Time)

A couple of amusing things so far this trip.

The plane is descending into Denver airport at night - very flat, lots of lights. OK. I find the airport. I look at other planes landing - they are flying right into the airport, but we are flying past the airport.

Strange...

Now the airport's behind us. Now the pilot comes on. Says "you may have noticed we have flown past the airport. Don't worry, we will land soon. However, there is a minor problem that we have to deal with. The front flaps on the wing don't seem to want to come out to their normal 30 degree position. As a result, we will have to land with 15 degrees of flaps. This is not unusual or abnormal - we practice it all the time. You just land faster - that's all. Normal landing."

"However, since this is not the normal landing procedure, we have to follow the rules, and technically we have to declare this an emergency landing. As a result, you may notice a number of emergency vehicles in the airport - don't worry, we won't need them. But don’t worry – this is all normal. We'll have you all on the ground in just a few moments - make sure your seatbelts are buckled..."

Yeah... Well, I am strange and say sort of out loud "Cool, this will be fun-- fast landing!" I collect a stare.

Well, since I am writing this everything went fine - in fact if it weren't for the 10 fire engines scattered down the adjacent runway with flashing lights (about one every quarter mile or so, and yes, there were at least 10), I don't think anyone would have noticed anything was at all strange. Yeah, the plane was going pretty fast, and yeh, it did take a while to stop, but otherwise normal. So great job to the pilot! No one applauded, amazingly enough!

OK, here I am in Denver airport - a very clean, new, slick airport. Could be one of my new favorites. I walk down the hall looking for a bathroom. Found one and on the door is clearly marked "Tornado shelter". Gee, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. But wait - we are! (or at least close).

Airports... tornados - these don't seem like happy bedfellows...

One other amusing thing about the airport. For those who don't know, Colorado is a major downhill skiing destination. Well, in the baggage claim area there are the standard baggage carousels, but here they also have vertical moving carousels just for holding skiis! Strange world.

My abnormal trip continues. I get to National rent a car, where I should have a car waiting for me. Well, they are out, so tell me to go and pick one of the SUVs "for no extra charge". Wow, what an opportunity :-(

OK, so I am in a Jeep something. I climb in. Amazingly enough I didn't need a ladder, but did feel like less oxygen was available being so far off of the road. Then I start driving it. It drives all right, then I look down at the speedo - I am going 120 Km / hour in a 105km zone, and don't even notice it - since I am so far off the road it seems like I am going slower than I really am - like being in a plane.

I slow down a bit. It feels like I am invincible. Heck, I could hit deer, small children, bicycles in this thing and may never even notice! Small cars? No problem - just drive on over them. What about the small cars in back? What cars - their headlights are illuminating my wheels - I can't even SEE the headlights!

Oh yeah, I love SUVs.

Well, time to call it a night.

Published: Tuesday, 11 January 2005

9:46 pm Mountain time – Fog in Colorado?

It’s foggy here. It was foggy this morning. This is NOT San Diego. This is supposed to be sort of a desert. You know, we learned it in school – the moist air goes over the mountains, drops its moisture, leaving relatively little precipitati

It’s foggy here. It was foggy this morning. This is NOT San Diego. This is supposed to be sort of a desert. You know, we learned it in school – the moist air goes over the mountains, drops its moisture, leaving relatively little precipitation for the eastern side. The snow is supposed to be really dry because there is no humidity. It should not be foggy.

But it is – just another strange part of this trip (which is going quite well otherwise).

Tomorrow back home. Home sweet home.

Published: Wednesday, 12 January 2005

12:19 pm Mountain time – stupid me…

Stupid me. To think that it would only take one hour to travel 15 miles! Seems like a pretty reasonable thing. But this morning when I got up I didn’t look out the window. Denver seems to have received 15 cm of snow, and who would of though

Stupid me. To think that it would only take one hour to travel 15 miles! Seems like a pretty reasonable thing. But this morning when I got up I didn’t look out the window. Denver seems to have received 15 cm of snow, and who would of thought that this could paralyze their main roads! But it did. It took almost 2 hours to get to the airport, and I missed my flight. So three hours later I am ready to try again – no big problem, I just get home 4 hours later than planned. I didn’t plan to do anything tonight anyways L

I wish airports would put back their luggage lockers – I really miss these. Usually when I have time to spend in an airport I lock away my bags and then go shopping and for a walk. You would think that if they put them in the gate area (already passed security) they would not be too much of a risk! What a pain, not being able to leave my bags (I have two).

Published: Thursday, 13 January 2005

1:48 pm Mountain time – a waiting land

I am currently flying over the plains of Colorado, which will soon change to Kansas. Looking down, I find a totally new landscape, a dormant landscape.The land is ruler flat. As far as the eye can see, the world is divided into an endless array o

I am currently flying over the plains of Colorado, which will soon change to Kansas. Looking down, I find a totally new landscape, a dormant landscape.

The land is ruler flat. As far as the eye can see, the world is divided into an endless array of perfect rectangles. Each rectangle holds one or two houses or barns and nothing else. One can easily imagine the farmers that live there planning their day’s chores, planning, worrying…It never seems that theirs is an easy life, but it is surely a life of both certainty and uncertainty. Everything is weather to a farmer, I expect – the seasons, the rain, the baking sun.

But now is winter – you look down on a field, and the snow is virgin. For miles there is nary a trail, a parh, or even a footstep. Nothing grows, so no reason to visit, and not much to see.

From the air, it is different. Only with the vast plain of snow can one see the subtle details – the drainage rivers, the original shape of the land before the tools carved it into such perfect squares. In some ways it is like the everglades, where a 15 cm elevation differences make for the difference between reeds and trees. But there are no trees here – not for 100 miles, it seems.

In the spring, everything will come alive – and the world below will once again become alive.

Published: Thursday, 13 January 2005

9:44 AM - Summer for a day!

Today is one of those crazy days we get sometimes where the temperature gets up to 20C in the middle of winter. Yup, it's true - warm, no jacket required, some university and high school kids are probably wearing shorts....There was also a sale on

Today is one of those crazy days we get sometimes where the temperature gets up to 20C in the middle of winter. Yup, it's true - warm, no jacket required, some university and high school kids are probably wearing shorts....

There was also a sale on strawberries - $1.50 for 500g. Tasty breakfast.

Then tonight there will be a storm - by the time I go to bed it will be -5C and winter will have returned.

So while it lasts, Happy Summer!

Published: Thursday, 13 January 2005

11:49 AM – Snow, we have snow!

Got up this morning and there was 12 cm of white, fluffy snow on the ground. Very cool! J It looks like we will get an additional 10 – 15 cm in the next half day. And it is pretty cold—minus 8 now, and it will get down to -18 tonight. In fa

Got up this morning and there was 12 cm of white, fluffy snow on the ground. Very cool! J It looks like we will get an additional 10 – 15 cm in the next half day. And it is pretty cold—minus 8 now, and it will get down to -18 tonight. In fact all this week is expected to be in the -8 to -10 range during the day.

So sledding – maybe there will be sledding (and skiing).

It was a good weekend. Masha was really busy – Friday night through Saturday dinner time – visiting a friend (overnight), including a late party. Saturday evening – pick up Masha and go to dinner with two of our friends (Dave an Lori) – a fun time with wonderful conversation, great food, and great wine. After we came home Masha then went out again until 2 am, and the next day did some babysitting and then attended an ice skating party with her exchange organization.

We went skating Sunday night (club ice) – my skating is going “all right” – I have something strange going on with my left foot that hurts when the boot is on. Otherwise I was tired, but worked on one foot spin, edges, and (impossible) not bending at the waist when I skate (my main problem for life it seems).

Music wise I finished ripping Classical through Mahler. I now only have about 30 CDs to go and I will have only really strange stuff (environmental waves, rain, bird songs, etc) and I will be done.

On another note, as part of the Photoshop obsession, got a pen tablet to play with – very interesting experience. No mouse, use a pen to draw outlines. With a pen pad, the pad maps exactly to the screen – upper left = upper left, etc. Compare this with a mouse on a pad – here position means nothing, just relative movement. Boy does it take a lot to get used to that concept! But for outlining things (and signing your name) it works great. More when I learn it.

I printed my first picture (a scene with Boats on the river from Pestovo) – it came out quite well.

Published: Monday, 17 January 2005

9:47 pm - Hmmm.

Just in time for the weekend, it warmed up to about 0 C today, which is about normal for the season. A big change from the last 2 or 3 weeks when it has been really cold for January, with highs only about -15C, and lows -18 to -22C (!). Bu the g

Just in time for the weekend, it warmed up to about 0 C today, which is about normal for the season. A big change from the last 2 or 3 weeks when it has been really cold for January, with highs only about -15C, and lows -18 to -22C (!). Bu the good news is that the snow is still here - quite deep still, with about 30 cm actually on the ground.

Last weekend the three of us and two "international club" members went to Mendon ponds for a Winterfest. Originally this was supposed to be a "school" function, but they cancelled it because it was too cold or something! Not to be deterred, we went anyways and had lots of fun! We tried showshoeing, visited some police horses and dogs, cross country skiing, visiting a handheld own and falcon, and finally sledding. The only disappointment was that Abbot's was closed for ice cream afterwards!

February is booked - every weekend we are doing something. We finally made arrangments to go to Florida for winter break - this will keep us busy, and hopefully get us some nice warm time and a swim in the ocean.

Published: Sunday, 30 January 2005

fdsailor.blog-city.com — December 2004

11:14 PM Quiet night

Well, white snow is still on the ground, and the general scene is about winter and Christmas. Normally the snow comes and the snow goes, periods of white then green. And this pattern continues, with less and less green. Then white through the core of winter. This pattern makes sense.

The Christmas lights started going up just after Thanksgiving. I always look forward this this, it is one of my favorite parts of winter here. Every house seems to show a personality. My favorite are the lights strung around small trees in front yards. You can't see the trees, of course - just the suspended jewels (or are they stars?) in air? I think (if I recall correctly) the Hindi have the concept of "festival of lights", which we seem to have adopted for our own purposes. For me, it is Christmas in a more real way than either the birth of Christ or of the shopping season.

Patterns. Sometimes patterns form the scaffold onto which wonderful, creative things can happen. At the same time, those same patterns, that same scaffolding stands in the way of large changes. Patterns form confort, patterns make higher art possible, but patterns prevent radical change.

Even though I don't understand a word of them (they are in Russian), Masha brings in a new world of music into my life - some I like, some doesn't work for me, but I am thankful for the new horizons and areas I would never have found myself. Here is a translation of one of them:

My friend, an artist and a poet.

One rainy day, my friend, an artist and a poet

Draw my LOVE on the window - showed me a miracle on the earth

I was sitting silently by the window and enjoyed silence

My LOVE have always been with me since the time

Refrain:

And time was flowing like water, and I always felt warm,

When on the rainy evening I watched to the window.

But year by year I saw sadness in my LOVE's eyes,

The dim sign of boredom...and so my LOVE changed its color...

My LOVE changed its color, the last bright day went out -

My love is covered with night shadow.

Chatter of magic colors, playing of magic fire...

My LOVE doesn't gladden me any more.

Refrain:

Delicate colors faded, height and depth disappeared

And there are no clear lines any more - here is the portrait of indifference

My Love looks into my eyes, and I am not cheerful and I'm not sad.

The earth's quit of colorless dreams shares silence with me.

And inspired face will lose its kind features,

My LOVE will finally die inside me.

And sad rain drops will flow down the window:

My LOVE is crying inaudibly leaving me.

Refrain:

And the sadness of further years will cover the rainbow of days which have passed

And there will be no trace of memories

The picture is melting on the window, and there is no hope to save it...

How can I paint my LOVE with colors of joy again?...

May be I should break the window and dip into another world

Where my friend, an artist and a poet, is drawing the solar light...

I like this song. No, this is not in anyway autobiographical - I am very happy and feel lucky with the rich life I have. But somewhere deep inside me is something that is touched by the words. I wish I could really understand it in its native language.

The tree is up and decorated. We got it last Sunday, and so now it is a transient part of our family. Last night we slept in the living room under its watching glow - an annual tradition, and a wonderful one. We love waking up in the middle of the night, perhaps a bit disoriented, and seeing the tree in all of its glory standing there.

I started a week ago to write an update on my various obsessions. Well, I had written quite a bit (without saving), then in a differnet window clicked on a link in an email. You, you guessed it - the page came up in the same web browser, overwriting my page. I was pissed (for a couple of reasons), and never rewrote the page. So now I will try to write a bit of it here...

First, the hot tub lid - remember that? Well, it is finished and installed. Final weight - 9 kg. Weight of the waterlogged cover it replaces: 31 kg! We'll see how it turns out and holds up over time... I will in a separate blog write the details for posterity, but won't bore "normal" readers here.

The next related project will be to replace the fabric overall cover, which has destroyed itself over the years. For this, I have identified the fabric to use - the rest is just planning and execution.

Next - the "rip our CD collection to the computer". Well, about 120 CDs ripped, about 180 CDs to go. Popular, musicals / soundtracks, choral and classical choral are finished. I am in the middle of Classical collections (these go really slow, since there are so many differnet works and composers on each CD, and the information is not always available on the online databases. Hopefully I will get though classical "E" by New Years, and finish by the end of January.

Next obsession (related) - hard drive MP3 players. Boy, I could write volumes about this, but won't bore anyone, since there is lots of better written stuff out there. The current state is that 1) iPod is king, and 2) if you ever want to purchase copyrighted music, with iPod, it is iTunes or nothing else. The rest of the world is MP3 / WMA, which has lots going for it, but none of the current players are as good as iPods. So I will wait for now - no hurry... But iPods have 92% of the market... And boy are they cute!

Published: Sunday, 19 December 2004

fdsailor.blog-city.com — November 2004

7:00 pm - Quiet night, here's what's been happening

Sorry I have not written since the election. I was too depressed and angry at the same time. At least I voted for the right guy....

Ok, so the fun (NOT) happened last Thursday night at volleyball. We were playing 5 on 5, and play was of a pretty good caliber. Since there was quite a bit of hitting going on, I was blocking, which I usually don't do much (why - because there are usually not enough good hitters to make it pay). Well, in this particular rotation, I was opposite the best hitter on the other team - he could hit, but he was not that tall. As a result of this unlikely combination, I had a chance blocking his hits.

Earlier that game I blocked him (successfully! :-), but he came under the net when he landed. We sort of fell on eachother, and didn't think much more about it. Well, you guessed it, the next rotation around I again went up against him on a block. He hit, I missed on the block, he came down on my side (just his foot), then I came down. My left foot landed on his, I heard the ligament pop, and there I was - pretty bad ankle sprain (class 2). :-( :-(

I feel so dumb for two reasons. First, I should have been warned the previous time, and at least been alert to the idea me may infringe on my landing area. But more importantaly, after severely spraining my right ankle several times years ago, I always wear an ankle brace to keep it from happening again. WHY DIDN'T I BUY TWO AND USE ONE ON MY LEFT ANKLE ALSO??? It's just stupid!! So here I sit, a week later - I will be missing volleyball for at least 2 more weeks, maybe more. The ankle itself is both good and bad. OK, it still looks sort of gross - purple bottom of foot and toes. I can walk easily now - I was only really limping for two days. It is still very tender when I turn it sideways, and I cannot run on it, etc. I figure in another week I can start some mild running, and then I will assess from there. But BUMMER! Masha is off on her senior trip to Boston, so G and I are home alone. I expect she is having fun. G is working on a database, and I am obsessing about this and that... Later we will go swimming for a bit, and we will take it from there.

Published: Thursday, 11 November 2004

fdsailor.blog-city.com — October 2004

11:25 pm: Trying to get back in t he groove

OK, so its been a long time since I have written. I offer no excuses - it just is what it is. I am trying to scrap back together some semblence of my past schedule, however. In particular I need the exercise and the oboe back. While Masha is here I won't be able to do everything I did before, of course, but this is fine, since I am doing other things instead (and enjoying them).

I started by going out and running last night - I have been doing this now and then, but it is time to get back to at least 3 times per week. All told, it went just fine. The temperature was only around 10C, which is colder than I was used to. I wore lightwight tights and a long sleeve coolmax shirt, and this seemed to work fine once I started running. I could tell that lightweight gloves could be useful, however.

Gee, no surprise, but you don't sweat as much when you are cold, so running is a much less messy experience. I had not drunk much, however, before running, and this started to show with some minor stomach cramps. But once I stopped they went away. Today my legs are a bit sore.

Tonight we went to Masha's school open house. What fun! 8 minute periods with 5 minutes to change classes - got through the entire school day in 2 hours (including an 8 minute lunch!). Met all the teachers, and boy are they a fantastic lot! I wish I had teachers like that - very bright, very perky, and willing to help. We now have email addresses for everyone. It really is a team effort, between student, teacher and parents to work a student through high school. Masha can certainly do it without all this help, but there is a great support structure there if it is needed. And she works really hard...

Time for bed... Laterbye

Published: Wednesday, 13 October 2004

11:31 pm: Sorta normal Saturday

Today was pretty normal, although for me normal means not particularly predictable. This morning G and Masha went off on errands, while I woke up and orgainized the house a bit. We then met two of our friends a "House of Phad" or something like that for lunch (Chinese). The restaurant was actually very good - now rates in my "top 4 list" - currently Kam Wah's, Golden Phoenix, House of Phad and Chung Thai (#1 for thai, #4 for Chinese) House of Phad. Afterwards Masha took off with one of her friends (to return 8 hours later!), G went shopping, and I took Anya for a walk. Later on we both got home and slept.

In the evening I went to a concert at Eastman - the Philharmonia and Eastman Chorale. The concert was very good, and one again it was clear that the new "shell" in the theatre really has helped the sound. The groups themselves were quite good - you could just tell they were not professional, but only by occasional mistakes, not sound or phrasing problems. There was one thing that was pretty interesting - the bobbing bassoon! For some strange reason through much of the concert, including when the bassoon was not playing, it would swing randomly back and forth like a reed blowing in the wind (or like an American Bittern, if anyone reading this has ever seen this bird do the same thing). This person will need a bit of coaching...

Two pieces were played: Four Seascapes for Chorus and Orchestra (2004) composed by Dominick Argento, and Beethoven's Symphony 5 in c. The first piece was a premier, and it is a very cool piece. New, but very assessible. Rich harmonies and textures. The texts were not as poetic as I may have liked, but heck, I never can understand the words anyways. Eastman theatre was about 1/3 full - very good for an ESM concert.

So now I sit at home listening to Gorecki's Sym. 3 - a favorite of mine. Its soundscape to me feels like looking across a broad, flat, field which reaches as far as the eye can see, with only occasionally scattered, single trees here and there. On a cold day but in the early evening when all the wind has stopped and the land awaits the sunset. Stark, beautiful and a bit haunting.

Published: Sunday, 17 October 2004

10:25 pm: Strange show...

OK, just got back from a very strange show - the Tractenburg Family Slideshow Players http://www.slideshowplayers.com/photonew.html Masha and I were invited to this show by a friend as "now for something completely different"... Well, that was an understatement. I usually have tended to avoid "cult" events, 'cause they just don't do anything for me. Well, this showed all signs of being one. Some of the audience members came dressed up for the event, several had posters and started dancing in the aisle. And the best indicator of all - most of his stuff was not funny and everyone laughed anyways! Yes, there were some cute moments

Maybe I am too young - maybe I am too old, but this just didn't do anything for me...

Had Abbot's afterwards - that was good...

Published: Monday, 18 October 2004

7:11 pm: Finally getting some exercise

OK, the 'reclaim my routine" routine is making progress. In the last week I have managed to run 3 times - 3.5 miles, 5 miles and again last night at 3 miles. My indoor track pace for 3 miles averages 8:15 a mile, with some reasonable effort, and the 5 miles (OK, so it was really 4 miles, do something else, then run a final mile) was at 8:40 pace. And sure 'nuff, if I chart my weight vs running it indicates a simple rule I know is true - if I don't exercise, I slowly gain weight, and if I do, I slowly lose weight. Currently at an average of about 172 lbs, which is fine, although 168 is my final target.

This weekend we are going flying with a friend (who is a flight instructor). We will be flying in an overhead wing plane, so the view should be great. Let's hope the weather matches this. I am looking forward to it.

OK, now to practice some oboe, then off to volleyball for the evening.

Published: Thursday, 21 October 2004

5:40 pm: Flying...

Just got back from a wonderful, "fall colors" flight with a friend of ours (who is a flying instructor). We (G, Masha, myself and J the pilot) took off from Rochester Airporta bit after before noon. We first flew up to lake Ontiario, over Braddock's bay, over Irondequiot bay, then over Fairpot, then Canandaigua Lake, the mountains near Naples, then landed in Dansville for lunch. As we ate, we watched the sailplanes fly overhead. When we returned, we flew over Letchworth gorge (which really DOES look more spectacular from the air, if this can be believed), then finally back to Rochester.

It was a wonderful, sunny day, with not a cloud in the air. The fall leaves were at the peak - couldn't ask for more... Here are some of the pics:

On the left, Jon (the pilot), G and Masha. To the right, Canandiagua Yacht club from the air. Today was the day when the club hires a crane to lift all of the keel boats out of the water to store them on the blacktop for the night. Our boat (which is not a keel boat), is the single boat on the beach to the right.

Canandaigua lake, looking north. Also, the bristol hills. In the distance you can see the ski slopes of Bristol Mountain.

We ate lunch in Dansville. From there back to the airport, Masha flew most of the way, including doing a number of circles over Letchworth gorge while we took pictures. And we're still alive to tell, so I guess she did a good job!

The waterfall at Letchwork and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) campus.

Published: Sunday, 24 October 2004

12:34 pm - Electoral college ?!

I was listening last night to a rather interesting discussion about the electoral college - always a hot topic before the elections, because an large percentage of the American people think that it makes no sense and should be replaced by a simple, popular vote. Well, as it happens, formally changing it like that (at the constitutional level) would require an amendment to the constitution, which is a REALLY hard thing to do. More promising is for individual states to decide that their electors be instructed to vote in proportion to the popular vote in that state - in fact Colorado is asking the voters (in a referendum) if that is what should happen. Interesting...

One interesting point that I liked. When the EC was conceived, the individual states were relatively much more powerful (compared with the overall country) than they are today, and not particularly trustful of that government. As a result, it seemed important that "New York State" should vote as a state who they wanted for president of the US. This sounds a bit silly now, when the US governement and the role of president dominates our thought process these days. But this program gave a modern-day example - consider if the European Union wanted to elect "the president of Europe". In this situation (which is not exactly analogous, but close enough), the individual countries have a stronger identity to the voters than the "president of Europe" does, so you could imagine France, for example to have a "vote" instead in this concept of "countryless" individual voters casting their votes.

Food for thought....

Published: Wednesday, 27 October 2004

7:16 pm: Listening to music

OK, it's early evening, and I am sitting at the computer listening to McLean's "American Pie" - a classic by any definition. If anyone (from any country) has not heard this song, they should. Just trust me on this and listen. I can remember when this song came out teachers were assigning essays on what this song was about. Another good one, if you can find it is "Vincent", which is about Vincent VanGogh.

Tonight skating as always. G is on a diet, and I (just for fun :-} have gone back to counting calories again - talk about motiviation to exercise! BTW - a great Palm app for diet calorie and exercise counting.

The hot tub lid project (I am building a new one myself because the ones I buy just keep gaining water and getting too heavy to lift) is progressing, but far from done. You can imagine it - large chunks of 2" thick foam half glued together in the basement. For the next phase, I get to assemble the major pieces in the living room, because otherwise I could never get it out of the basement! I'll keep everyone posted, because I am sure that keeping track of this project is the most important things in everyone's life right now.. :-)

Published: Friday, 29 October 2004

11:33 pm: Dancing?

Last night G and I went to a Viennese Ball that the music department was putting on at the University of Rochester. Since I had purchased a tuxedo a month ago as required "dress" for the wind ensemble concerts I play in, I had no excuse not to go. And G turned this into a great excuse to buy a nice "ball" dress. We went with several friends and had a great time. No, I can't dance, but our ballroom dancing friends, Kev & Kelly are awesome, and spent quite a bit of time teaching us. So we all had fun. And it was amazing to watch K&K as well as our other friends David & Stephanie dance as well - they all know how to do it, which makes all the difference.

Meanwhile, Masha went off the a Halloween party with friends from school - she dressed as a surgeon, which is cool, since this is going to be her profession in a number of years after University in Russia. We arrived back around 1:30 am, picked Masha up and went home. M and I talked until 3:30, and then finally crashed.

Published: Sunday, 31 October 2004

fdsailor.blog-city.com — August 2004

11:19 Wonderful sailing

All Saturday it was raining, and so became a house cleaning, reading and sleeping day. On Saturday night I went down to the sailing club and set up my tent (G still had things to do, so she stayed home, to join me later on Sunday). It was really wonderful to set up tent on such a nice warm night, and sit alone in the quiet reading and listening to crickets.

Sunday morning arrived - the sky had cleared and the sun was shining through the tent netting. I lazed around for a bit, woke up, and emerged from the tent. I ate my breakfast muffin and cherries (acquired the night before - Wegmans), and went down to look at the lake. It was really strange - there was a single large, long, low cloud that just stood over the lake in an otherwise cloudless sky. On the far side of the lake was mist, and it looked really surreal. The wind seemed to be around force 3 from the west, however, so we put the boat together and want out.

During the racing that followed the wind visited every point of the compass. It varied from 2 to 12 mph, with the emphasis on the 2-6 range. We had fun, however, and were successful, all told. The day was warm, around 28C.

However, the best sailing of the day was much later. G came down to the club around 5 pm - by then the wind had steadied out to a wonderful, steady 8-10 mph from the north. The motorboats were gone, and we had a wonderful sail - well worth the wait. We ate at Casa de Pasta (yumm), then came home. Not a bad day to end a weekend!

Published: Sunday, 1 August 2004

11:58 pm - Perhaps summer has arrived

Gee, I guess its been a busy week. For last week and this week I am working on a really strange proposal for work - I can't go into details, but I could characterize it as: We offer A, not because we would be likely to win the (competative) proposal for A, but so our proposal is compliant. We hope that in truth, the customer really wants B - which is not what the request for proposal asked for. However, we are in a great position to offer B. So it is not bait and switch, but rather hoping that once the customer sees the cost of the proposals for A, they will decide that B is what they really wanted.

Yes, it's confusing to me also. Try writing proposal text describing this!

We have been slowly and surely cleaning the house, a) because we need to do this every now and then, and b) so we can get it under control before Masha (our exchange student) arrives - things will be too busy afterwards as we all have fun and get her settled in school.

On Friday I had a group picnic / party at Rochester Canoe club. No, they don't have canoes there, just sailboats. I ate too much, played ping pong, and took a number of people sailing on the club's JY-15 sailboat. It was fun.

This weekend was a mixture of house work and outdoors fun. Saturday we spend much of the time cleaning the basement (we have just been randomly putting stuff there for the last several years, and since we wanted to store some things, we figured we would clean it up). We moved G's "big" loom (about 1.5 meters on each side) down there, and I am setting up an area to play table tennis also. On Sunday we spent the day at the yacht club (as we do every Sunday). I didn't race in the morning, so we did some shopping, and sat on the hill and talked to some friends. In the afternoon sailed in Lasers (a single-handed sailboat about 4m long). We ate dinner at the club then came home and eventually went to sleep.

Tonight I ran "around the block" for the second time - a great accomplishment for me, something that I thought I could never do. What is so hard about running around the block, you say? Well, first of all, it is 3. 7 miles (6 km) round trip - a big block. Secondly, and most significantly, it is one big hill. Good news - you get to run down this hill. Bad news - you get to run up the hill also. 1.5 miles of about a 10% grade, and 16% or so in some spots. For my future statistics, I ran the 1.7 miles in 33:14, which works out to a pace of just under 9 minutes a mile.

My mini-obsession of the week? Table tennis. A long-standing promise I have made to myself is if we ever got the basement clean enough and curtains up to keep balls from getting lost, I could get a new ping pong table. I have one, but it was salvaged very used from my home town rec center - a good quality table, but very beaten up. Actually the obsession is figuring out if I can get this in the basement, period. Good tables are heavy (100 kg+), big, and although they fold up, they don't come apart into pieces (at least easily). More on this when as it develops (like all good obsessions on this site.

Published: Tuesday, 10 August 2004

9 pm - A good weekend

Well, another weekend has come and gone, but this was a good one. On Friday (which I have off), it was raining all afternoon, so I cleaned the basement - it has been YEARS since it has been clean, and this triggers a deal I have had with myself for some time now - if the basement ever gets organized enough that I can play table tennis there, I will buy a table. Of course it is not that easy - we are also working on a system of nets that keep the balls under control (our basement has lots of opportunities to swallow balls). But this project is going forward.

The house is actually pretty clean right now, which is good, because Masha (our exchange student) arrives in a week+. Most details are addressed - provided she succeeds in getting her visa this upcoming week. But this will happen and all will be well.

Saturday was great - we slept in, I baked brownies for breakfast, we ate some and gave the rest away. The day was just great, even if it was a bit cool for August (23 degrees), but it was sunny. FINALLY. In late afternoon we packed our tent and went to the sailing club. We set up the tent, and went to dinner, which was really tasty (and good wine). We then went and saw a very silly movie - The Princess Diaries II. Very slapstick, yes, but it had a cute Standard Poodle, which was the main attraction for us. A bit more wine would have helped the humor, but it was fun either way.

On Sunday we woke up to sun but no wind. K and K came down and we ate breakfast together, followed by a hike in a local park. In the afternoon the wind had arrived - we borrowed one of the club keel boats (and "Ideal 18"), and took it out for a sail. It went just fine, even if it did start to rain in the middle of the sail. But everyone went home smiling. And we skipped dinner and had ice cream instead. Life is good.

Published: Sunday, 15 August 2004

9:30 - A tale of three obsessions

OK, here are three of my top obsessions today. Since this is a tale of obsessions, almost by definition most people will not be interested, so be warned (if they were interesting, they would probably be given a kinder name, like pasttimes, hobbies or projects.

Obsession 1: Running Win XP Professional primarily from a Power-user account instead of an Admin account. As it happens, there are lots of reasons that you don't want to run your computer on a day-to-day basis using administrator priviledges. Instead you can create an account with Power user priviledges, and then only switch over to admin when you, well, need to do admin type stuff.OK, so far so good.

The problem comes with virus scanners. Virus scanners (at least including Norton and McAfee) require admin rights to install their updates. These usually run quietly in the background, performing automatic updates whenever they need to. So, if for security reasons you are not running as an admin, and also want the security of up-to-date virus protection, WHAT DO YOU DO? Well, one thing you could do would be to leave you admin account running, or log in every week for so to do updates. And yes, I know this could work and even be the best solution. I am also looking at a feature called "runas" that XP supports. This allows a user to start a program as another uses, if the account and password is known. However, to make a long story short, things are not this easy in this way. I will spare you the details, and share the solution if I ever figure it out.

Obesssion 2: Table tennis. Gee, its been quite a few years since I have played table tennis. (a.k.a. Ping pong, but that doesn't sound snobby enough :-) ). Things have changed, even to this simple, basement game played all over the world. Probably the most obvious, and most unbelievable things is that they changed the size of the ball! For a very long time this was a 38 mm ball, and in 2000 they changed it to 40 mm. This slows down the game by about 10% (more air resistance), and tends to discourage the attacking style of play, i.e. serve, return, smash. Television is at play - it seems that this change will help television audiances better follow the sport. Oh well, not saying I agree or disagree, but it is amusing.

The second thing that is going on is that there is this thing called "reglueing" going on. Here I have not observed it first hand, but it seems to go like this. For quite some time now better players have been taking bare bats, and gluing their own rubber/foam sheets to them to make "custom" paddles. Well, someone notices that for the first several hours after doing this the rubber had much more life and spin. So now people have been using some sort of removable glue - they glue the sheet on, play for the afternoon, then remove the sheets and glue until next time. Strange = their obsessions, not mine!

Obsession 3 - well, not really an obsession, but a potential project. As it turns out, we have a hot tub out back - a wonderful invention. Cold in the middle of winter - no problem! Just climb into the 41 degree (C) water, and everything will be better. Greatest thing there is, and we highly recommend the SoftTub brand of tubs. http://www.softub.com/. But there is one small problems - the lids start off really light (probably 8 kg), but over a couple of years gain weight, ending up around 29 kg (okay 29.70 to be exact). You can buy replacements (and we did buy one), but they cost $250. However, if you exclude the cover, the cover is just one massive block of polystyrene foam. I can buy lots of that from the lumberyard in 5 cm thicknesses. Take several pieces, cut them into two different diameter circles (using the existing lid as a pattern), glue the two circles together like a wedding cake, cover it with some plastic, and put the old cover on top and you are done, right? Ok, maybe it is an obsession. I'll keep you posted on if it works or if I just end up buying another lid or something.

Published: Sunday, 15 August 2004

1:48 pm: Masha's visa is approved!! (finally)

the good news of the day, Masha's visa was approved! Exactly one week ago she was in St. Pete and had her application rejected because of some incorrectly filled out paperwork from the Us (missing signature). A major bummer experience, and rather disturbing. This started an intense scurry to deliver the properly signed paper to her. It arrived at St. Pete yesterday, and today she picked it up at the FedEx office and went to reapply. And it was granted. For exchage students you expect this (after all, the whole idea is that they are invited by the US, so it is rude to reject them), but having visa in hand is another matter. (Actually it is not "in hand" yet - being delivered to her in 2 days - but I refuse to worry about this. So celebrations on both side of the globe!

Published: Tuesday, 17 August 2004

11:50 pm: Masha has arrived

When I look at my last entry, I had written that Masha's visa was approved. Well, a week has passed, and how she is here. Cool. As it happens things had not gone totally smoothly - her passport almost got lost in the mail, and the entire family almost overslept and hence could have missed getting her to the airport (saved by her boyfriend, who called her cell phone in the morning). But that was then, and this is now. She has arrived, is tired, and has NO idea when her body wants to sleep.

Other that that, last week was uneventful - quite a bit of preparing ourselves for Masha, or rather preparing the house (not that Masha cares, but we have to clean the house at least once 5 years or so. The basement "table tennis project" is complete (lights, full netting to keep the balls from wandering), but with no table. THAT arrives tomorrow. This is going to be interesting - the shipping weight for the table is 320 pounds. Interesting, because the table is supposed to only be about 250 lbs. Perhaps a heavy wood box? This arrives by a semi-truck that hopefully won't get stuck on our road, and some means (yet to be determined) to get said heavy box onto the ground. To get it into the basement will be easier - take the two halves apart and downstairs.

Let's see - what else is there. The last 2 weeks of sailing have been essentially no wind days - yes, we went out, but found little useful wind, and certainly no trapezing. Running has been almost non-existent, but I did run 5.2 miles a week ago with a 8:40 pace, which is an accomplishment. I am preparing to run 10k for the first time - perhaps this weekend, although I doubt it since it is going to be rather hot.

I'll stop rambling now and do something productive, like sleep.

Published: Wednesday, 25 August 2004

fdsailor.blog-city.com — July 2004

Back from Russia - the main report..

Well, the last three weeks seem like a blur, and things have finally settled down a bit so perhaps I can write some about our trip to Russia. How does one write about a set of continuous experiences, where time seems not to stop, and where it seems that nothing short of fifty pages will do? In blog form with the time I have it simply can't be done. Had I had a laptop with me would not have mattered - it seemed that every minute was spent sleeping, eating, but especially talking with friends - a very rich feeling. But there has been not enough time for reflection - for me this happens on long walks where I can think about anything, past or future. So perhaps I will have more useful thoughts then.

We were in Russia for 17 days, and during that time we slept in 8 different beds - with Natasha in her apartment in St. Petersburg, in Borovichi with (a different Natasha) and her family, with Tanya and her family in Pestovo, with Natasha and her family in Novgorod, on the train to/from Moscow, and with Olga in Moscow. Finally we stayed 4 days in cabins at a camp in Valdei - lots of swimming and fishing.

It all really seems a blur, but at the same time seemed familiar. It has been four years since I was there last, and each place has its character. So let's talk places...

Novgorod continues to form the centerpiece for our trips to Russia, the same as it did four years ago. This place holds fond memories of friends, the first place we called home four years ago, and still true today. Not only is it Rochester's sister city, but a very old and beautiful city. It took us a week to get there once we arrived in Russia, but when we got to Novgorod, it felt in a way like we were arriving home - as soon as I got there I felt that I knew where I was. At the same time, it has changed considerably. It feels to us that in the four years of time it has progressed by 8 years. I can't quite say why - it is sort of scattered all about and through the fabric of the city. Yes, the buses and many of the public places are exactly the same, but the commercial sector is modernizing like mad. Many stores open 24 hours or at least from 8 until 11, new apartment buildings, and general signs of wealth. Supermarkets even I could figure out, and people on rollerblades. Both G and I noticed that the cars all seem much newer compared to 4 years ago - no longer the "how does this thing run", but now standard cars, although on the average older than in Europe. And smaller than in America (thank God - let's hope that "western" characteristic does not catch on).

And all this in the city of all the old churches and the Kremlin...

Pestovo also has gained a special place in my heart - being sort of half town, half city, this town wins an award for having the most character. The people seemed very real there - leading real lives, with practical, everyday concerns. And the ourskirts of the town were rather rural, which is my style. Indeed, by American standards, Pestovo felt most like one of our older city suburbs. Picket fences. From an American standpoint an interesting mix of country, village and "old America".

St. Petersburg seems to be a standard (larger) European city - not as quaint as, say, Paris, but recognizable. In the area near N's apartment, I went for a walk at 10 at night. There is a set of walking paths and a park nearby, and I really enjoyed what I saw: couples holding hands just walking, the rather common sight of pairs of women walking and chatting, each carrying their own beers, and groups sitting in the part around campfiles, drinking, talking, having fun and playing guitar. This is an experience you just can't have in the US - we don't as a rule spend time outdoors in the late evening unless we are "camping". In this way Russia seems to be a wonderful place to grow up and have friends. Basic stuff we tend to miss here.

Moscow is a large city. Quite modern (we visited a shopping mall that is cleaner and more modern than most in the States), good metro and public transportations, and lots of people. In the apartment area where O lived, we tried to estimate the people density - came out with perhaps 300K per square kilometer, perhaps? To large for me - I'll leave this to the New York city types.

Valdei (forgive me for the spelling) was where we stayed in cabins for several days. This is a beautiful area located between Novgorod and Pestovo - unlike Novgorod, here one finds gently rolling hills and multiple, small lakes. In the past (and probably currently) I understand this was/is a preferred place for dachas (the nice kind, not the kitchen gardens) of government officials. It is easy to understand. The campground was cool - it was rather "fishing" oriented (after all, N's dad, a fisherman, helped choose the location), but had local swimming. And (strange, but true) a table tennis pavilion - a standalone "tent" with walls, a door, and a table tennis table! Very cool. Natasha and I played there for several hours. She taught me the word "pochtE", i.e. "almost" - very useful in this game, at least at our playing level.

There are places and there are impressions. Here I can only give you a sample of the many:

• Puskin palaces (or something like that just south of St. Petersburg) - fields full of tall grass around a series of lakes. Here and there couples and families beat down the grass and sunbathe, etc. Islands of people in a sea of grass.
• A rail yard by N's apartment (one can hear this all night, trust me) - let's say you have a long train that you want to reassemble into a number of smaller trains so the individual cars get to their final destinations. You have a switchyard and some engines. What is the fastest way to do this? <Think for a while about this one>. OK, here is the solution they used, which just makes too much sense: have a single, long track climb up a short, perhaps 5 meter hill. On the other side of the hill, you have a series of switches that fans out into, say 12 tracks. Put an engine at the far end of the single long train, on the long track. Have it slowly push the entire train down the track such that the "end" of the train starts climbing up the small hill. As an individual car reaches the top and starts to go downhill again, cut it loose. As it rolls downhill on its own, throw the switches so that it coasts into (i.e. crashes into) the newly assembled "smaller" train. By this time the overall slower train has moved enough that the next car is ready for the same treatment. Cool solution - no switching of train engines, backing up, etc.
• St. Petersburg, 10 pm - couples and friend walking as though night was far away. It was - the sun will remain up for over an hour more. Time moves slowly in Russian summers. (We won't talk about the speed of time in the winters, however).
• Also late at night - an (older) boy, perhaps 16, trying to fly a kite. Unsuccessful due to lack of wind. But how many people have you seen flying kites at 11 pm?
• Older women seen in the woods in the morning with baskets, looking for berries and mushrooms. If you find a woods, if you wait long enough you will find a person doing just this (or so it seems).
• Pestovo - look up at the telephone poles, and see individual strands of telephone wire hanging in a bundle. I have read about this in my engineering career, but never actually seen it just like this. If there are 20 houses on a street, you will find 20 individual, thin, wires.
• Is there a standard on if the hot water tap goes on the left or the right? I think not - it seems random to me. You actually have to look - what a concept.
• Washing machines - now here you see lots of variability. You just have to experience it - I won't describe...
• And yes, motion sensing hand dryers are now a normal fixture in Russia, even in bathrooms where you buy your toilet paper from the old women in the front. Really, though, many of the bathrooms are pretty decent - a big change from 4 years ago.
• The "cheap" food store in Novgorod which seemed hidden in a set of warehouse buildings. At first I thought we were stopping for fertilizer, or perhaps to have a chain saw sharpened. Walk through a few doors, however, and what do you find? A grocery store!
• High speed internet, computers in most houses.

And one final note, and a wonderful beginning - we had the wonderful opportunity to meet our exchange student-to-be: Masha. I won't get into personal details, but this is going to be a lot of fun for all. If you are reading this Masha, Hi!

I could go on and on, but one has to stop somewhere, or I will miss writing about the now current events (a week has passed since our return to Russia). It was a good trip...

Published: Wednesday, 28 July 2004

9:50 pm Warm and humid

TGIF-day (i.e. Thank God it's Friday) - in this case because, due to summer hours, I get Friday afternoons off (this priviledge is earned by working 9 hours for the rest of the week). I would like to say I did something really fun in my afternoon, but due to no wind and intermittent rain instead I came home, lay down to read for a bit, and woke up two hours later. I guess that if I need to go to work a half-hour earlier then I should probably go to bed a half-hour earlier also. Yeh, right!

The last two days have been hot (around 29) and humid - sort of the type of weather that inspires sleeping and generally being lazy. I took Anya for a walk earler just down the street and it felt like there was steam rising off of the street where it was still damp from an earlier rain. The buzzing of the cicadas completed the summer soundscape - everything seemed to be saying that the slow days of August will be here soon.

G and I went skating for the first time in several months - it was a good change (I actually needed to wear a fleece jacket), but it seems really odd to take OFF a jacket before going outdoors to the car. At first there were just 4 other figure skaters there, but at mid-session we were attacked by a dozen "tiny tot" hockey skaters (I think they are about 6 years owd) - after they started buzzing around like bumblebees it somewhat decreased the solitude, you could say...

Published: Friday, 30 July 2004

Russia, 2004

Here is a summary album of some moments in our Russia trip. Over the course of the trip 140 picutres were taken, and even these do not record everything we did. So instead I just picked some pictures I liked - sometimes silly, sometimes with people in them, and sometimes just landscapes I liked. I offer no apology as to my selection (or skill as a photographer).

To start things off, we have Natasha, in a rare moment of cooking dinner for us :-) . She is in her apartment in St. Petersburg. To the right is a view of one of the many "parks" outside her apartment. We would call them parks, although I think in this part of St. Petersburg this is how many of the streets are just done in this rather residental section. That's the good news. Just beyond the park are "the trains" - a switchyard that runs all day and (especially) all night long. With a loudspeaker to tell everyone what to do... Let's say it added "character" to the area.

This picture above is G and two Tanyas (lotsa Tanyas in Russia...). We also have a picture of G with Natasha's family in some "Puskin park" south of St. Petersburg (G - can you fill in the correct name?)

On the left is yet another place I liked in the Puskin park. The next several pictures are taken in Pestovo. There seem to be several heating options in Pestovo - wood, steam (city steam is available - during the winter you apparently can find the pipes underground where they melt the snow) and gas or electricity (not usually employed for heating). Wood is the norm, and lucky me, I was there for its delivery. Yes, this entire load of wood was placed in Tanya's back yard, where some combination of the family will evenually cut and split it for stove use.

Here is Tanya standing in front of her back yard. Most houses have one or two gardens for growing food (and some flowers). In Tanya's case there is the back yard garden and a share of her grandmother's "dacha" - we'll see one in a bit.

Tanya has a cute cat - she brought it home to her unsuspecting family several weeks before we arrived. Cute animals get pictures in my book, so I did the "cat + bag = amusement" thing...

Here we have a piece of a park in the central part of Pestovo. I like their parks - nothing formal about them, but great places to sit and read, talk with friends, etc.

The next picture is one of several I took from the "<insert name here>" annual festival. For a proper history of this festival, see the <<insert link>> page. But here are some of the things I remembered, as told by Tanya. During this particular day, swimming in the water is supposed to have some magical healing power for whatever ails you. In fact, it you walk too close to the water, there is a tradition that others may help this healing process along by pushing you in - after all, they are doing you a favor, right? But oh, the water is useful for other things also. Apparently if a girl goes swimming and a guy helps her out of the water they are destined (sometime in the future) to marry. I don't even want to know what happens to you if you swim many times and get a broad range of help, but I expect you will be very healthy and very busy. There is also something with a crown of flowers, but I forgot the details.

Well, this particular day it was lightly raining and cold, so not many people were taking advantage of this easy cure (or matchmaking service). Later Tanya and I decided to wade in up to our knees, so in we went. Tanya really wanted to swim, but with no towels decided no to do it afterall. I got cold first, so got out and put on my sandals. Tanya then started out herself. To save her from sandy shoe syndrome, I lined hers up on shore. She picked up her first shoe and I reached out to steady her. A horrified expression formed on her face and she screamed "DON"T TOUCH ME!!!!!". After some brief confusion I remembered what I had been told earlier - that would have been awkward, my being married and everything!

Here is a picture of Tanya's grandmother at her dacha - they share it and work on it together. Talking with Tanya I get the idea that her grandmother thinks she should quit all of her school and job so that she can work the garden all summer long. Lots of work.

The blue flowers I just liked - can't even remember where they were - probably alongside the road.

Here is an picture of boats along the river that wraps around Pestovo. Very pretty. And on the right is dinner! I have never seen such a sequence of such wonderfully prepared (and a bit too filling) dinners. It seems that as soon as breakfast was over lunch appeared - a short break then it was dinner time. But as I said earlier, this kept us from losing weight on our trip! This is classic Russian fare, although I am hoping it is not so carefully prepared on a day-to-day basis!

Fast forward a few days - after Pestovo we drove to Novgorod, met Natasha, and boarded the train to Moscow. This was an overnight train, and a rather hot one at that. We traveled in first class, where there were four beds to a compartment. Since there were three of us, we shared it with a fourth woman, who had a top berth. In the middle of then night there was a mighty "CLUNK" - it you can belive it, she had fallen off (they removed the safety bars). Luckily she was not hurt, but rather confused and disoriented for a while. But I digress. On the left is a shot of downtown Moscow - only one of a number of pictures I took, but representative. And on the right is Natasha and her sister Olga doing girl things. Maybe some day they will forgive me for publishing their pictures, but I think they're cute together.

Another day another city. We returned from Moscow to Novgorod again, via another overnight train, but without the leaping lady this time. I liked the juxtaposition of the volleyball game and the Kremlin walls. On the right I yet another in the "Natasha and Gwendolyn sitting on a bench" pictures - I have quite a collection over the years.

Another day, another bed to sleep in. The next several pictures were taken in Valdei - sort of a fishing resort with cabins. On the left is a picture of the "fish pond", which was stocked with fish (but you had to pay for what was caught). And yes, we did eat a lot of fish. On the right is Gulda, Natasha's dog, or rather her family's dog, since when she moved to St. Petersburg her Dad refused to let Gulda go.

OK, here's another picture of Gulda being cute.

On the right we introduce Masha, second from the left. Masha is going to be staying with us as an exchange student for the next year. Brave kid! No, really, we all expect we will all have a wonderful year together. One of the really cool features of our being in Russia is that we were able to meet her before she came over - and this was good, no only because we got to meet her family, but we also resolved some last minute airplane ticket issues. From left to right you have your's truly, Masha, G, Masha's dad, Alexi, an Rochester exchange student staying with Masha for a few weeks (getting confused yet?) and Masha's mom.

We will end with a cute picture taken in St. Petersburg of a merchant that really likes to sell watermelons. You've gotta love her shop!

Published: Saturday, 31 July 2004