dour musings

2010-09-04T08:21:00.001-07:00

yesterday we walked around the bellevue college campus. there is a sculpture that is sort of like wireframe stairs up into the sky. i wonder if the patron was a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold?

little si, snoqualmie falls, and redmond watershed preserve

2010-03-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

last saturday we went for three short hikes instead of a long one. we started off with little si, a small foothill next to mt si. at 5 miles round trip and 1250 ft elevation gain it was a perfect quick hike on a perfect day. it was sunny and warmed up to 72 degrees, which felt really rather hot. next we hiked to the bottom of snoqualmie falls. amanda and i visited the falls last year, but amanda hadn't been to the bottom before. lastly we walked a very short trail at redmond watershed park and picked up a trail map for future use. we heard lots of tree frogs, but were unable to catch a glimpse of any.
[pictures]

we stopped for lunch at the snoqualmie brewery. good food and beer and a handy location for after a hike!

on the way home we picked up a pizza from briatore, our favorite little pizza place in bellevue.

lake serene

2010-03-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

to celebrate the temporary return of cooler, wetter weather, amanda and i hiked to lake serene on saturday in fresh snow. it's a beautiful place and a good workout. it's always interesting to see the differences in ecosystems and microclimates when you ascend a few thousand feet. this time it was very still and quiet by the lake except for the occasional cracking sounds from rocks and ice falling off mt index. i've been to lake serene twice now, once in the rain and once in the snow, and i haven't seen the lake without ice on it yet. we'll return some sunny summer day.

on sunday we went to three brewpubs in downtown seattle. they were nothing special and we crossed them off our list. even on a sunday the crowds downtown are not our cup of tea, but sometimes it's fun to go anyway.

4 breweries and uw

2010-03-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

last friday i took my camera to work and took some pictures around the office.

then amanda and i headed out to visit 4 breweries in the ballard area. i've been taking notes on our beer tastings and it's great to be able to refer back to them, but i'm quickly going to have an unwieldy amount of information. for now i'm just typing them in notes on my iphone, but soon i'll either find or create a better way to organize my beer tasting notes.

we started by visiting theo chocolate and taking a walk (and pictures) along the fremont canal. the weather was nice and the cormorants in the trees were cool. later while walking around ballard we stopped by a wood furniture store, which had a lot of nice local wood furniture at fair prices, but they say they just can't compete with asia for the little things. right now i only have room and need for a couple of small things, but i'm simply not interested in pieces that aren't locally made. so i'm still investigating local woodworkers. does anybody know a good place to buy wood products in the pacific northwest?

brief overview of the 4 breweries we visited:
fremont brewing: good beers, great casual neighborhood brewery. we'll definitely be back.
jolly roger taproom (maritime pacific brewing): good beers, but maybe a bit skewed malty except for the IPA. we had deep fried bacon (very good) and their onion rings (unique, but too smoky for us). despite good beer and interesting fried foods, we will be hesitant to return because of the atmosphere. they just moved to a new bigger location and they already can't accommodate the demand. it was VERY LOUD and crowded. try to go at an off time!
hale's ales: they had more than a dozen beers on tap. the sampler we had was a mixed bag. we'll try the rest of their beers sometime. the atmosphere was like a family restaurant and the brewery area was open for viewing. it was quiet and felt like a refuge after jolly roger.
naked city taphouse: they only had two of their own beers on tap, but both were excellent! their big lebrewski imperial stout is among the best stouts we've had. we split a sandwich and salad and both were very good. we'll be back!

overall it was a great experience and a very fun friday. by doing so much on a friday evening it made the whole weekend feel longer (in a good way). i'll be increasingly utilizing that technique as the days extend and the weather warms.

on saturday we returned to the uw campus for the final time for a while. the cherry trees are in full bloom now and certainly a sight to behold. however, it's like a circus in the quad with all the photographers and videographers and tourists and prospective students! i was happy to see the trees, but i don't think i'll make it a tradition. there are pretty trees elsewhere to see! we also swung by the botanical garden (it's closed on weekends) and the herb garden (too early in the season). we'll probably go see those sometime in the summer.

photography

2010-03-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

when i began with digital photography in 1998, it was little more than a toy. the resolution was low, the quality was low, and the camera wasn't even that cheap. but despite the drawbacks i enjoyed it even more than i thought i would. for the first time i could capture any moment. well, sort of. no matter the context, my ability to capture the moment could not do it justice. over the years i became more interested in photography and upgraded my equipment a few times. in 2005 i got a canon digital rebel, allowing me to take "real" pictures for the first time. but i've been using the lens that came with it ever since, which was in some ways better than anything i'd used before, but for my style it was inferior to my previous glass in a few key technical ways. in the years since 2005 i've taken some great snapshots, but i've lost my interest in the art of photography. the investment required to reach the next level was steep. i've finally made the investment and my eyes are open again. f2.8 + IS + a quality UV filter + lens hood allow me to do things i could never do before and let me investigate subjects in a way that i have been missing for a long time. feel free to follow me as i discover the possibilities.

last thursday amanda and i went to mercer slough after work and took some pictures in the twilight.

on saturday we took some pictures around the apartment complex, then went for a hike at lord hill, then went to breweries in everett.

sunday we walked all over the university of washington campus. our primary destination was the union bay natural area, which is a nice bird habitat. last christmas i picked up ibird explorer western for my iphone so amanda and i could identify the birds we see on our hikes. so far we've identified 20 different birds. it's really cool to know what birds are around just by hearing their calls.

sunny days

2010-02-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

we've had beautiful sunny weather for about a week. amanda and i have been taking advantage of it by spending more time outside. i've also been taking advantage of the clear nights to play with skygazer on my iphone.

last wednesday i took my camera to work and took a walk at lunchtime to take pictures of pretty things.
pictures

on thursday we went to malt and vine to taste the legendary pliny the younger, considered by many to be the best beer in the world. it was great! not necessarily my favorite, but a fine beer for sure. malt and vine can get very crowded for special events, so it was nice to be able to sit outside and not get drizzled on this time!
pictures

saturday we went for a bike ride on the sammamish river trail. we started at marymoor park and rode to woodinville, where we had lunch at teddy's. we had teriyaki burgers and garlic fries and they were delicious! the trail wasn't too crowded and we saw many pretty flowers, cool remote control planes, and a flock of canadian geese. we hadn't been on a bike ride for months, so at the end we were a bit tired and sore, but we had a really nice day in the sunshine.
pictures

sunday was amanda's birthday. we took a nice stroll around the bellevue botanical garden.
pictures

squak mountain and uw

2010-02-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

on sunday, amanda and i went for a hike at squak mountain. we hiked all the way over it to the picnic area in the may valley, had lunch, then hiked back over. it was overcast and lightly drizzling when we started, got very foggy, then cleared up and was a nice day. we saw some spring flowers, lots of mushrooms, many cougar tracks, and a pair of eagles.
pictures

today i had the day off for presidents' day and amanda and i walked around the uw campus. there were many spring flowers, but the big old cherry trees aren't blooming yet. we'll go back in a couple of weeks.
pictures

strange winter

2010-02-08T23:25:00.000-08:00

last november was the wettest ever in seattle. for two weeks in december we had record cold temperatures. january was the warmest on record. now we have springtime in february. trees have buds, daffodils are up, some shrubs are in full bloom, cherry trees are blossoming. two months early.

stop getting flyers

2010-02-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

stop the presses! do you get tons of advertising flyers in the mail? do you just toss them out? recycle them, maybe? yesterday i did something that has been on my list for a long time. i noticed who was responsible for sending me the local advertising flyers, went to their website, and removed my address from their mailing list. it was surprisingly easy and it will save so much paper over the coming years. please consider doing the same; it just takes a few minutes. and if you actually use the coupons, it's quite likely that you can get the same coupons and learn about the same sales on their website. i also try to remove my address from the mailing list for any other catalogs and flyers i receive. that is sometimes more difficult. today i had to call two companies, but it still wasn't that bad. even better than Recycling the paper is Reducing the amount that is mailed out.

hiking and breweries near enumclaw

2010-02-02T22:31:00.000-08:00

amanda and i have had a busy january! we hiked every weekend!

last saturday we went south to the enumclaw area and did 2 hikes and visited 2 breweries!

it was a cloudy and drizzly day, but only a light drizzle off and on. no rain gear was necessary. our first hike was at federation forest state park, a small section of preserved old growth forest in a heavily logged area along the white river near mt rainier. it was great to see the huge old trees! some of the trail was through a bog and was the muddiest trail we've hiked yet. saw deer tracks but no deer. the "hobbit houses" were in a remote section of forest. people have left gnomes and other trinkets. it was partly fun and partly creepy.
pictures

our second hike was at mud mountain rim along the white river downstream from federation forest near the mud mountain dam, which is a large old flood control dam. at that point the white river has carved a deep gorge. the trail followed the rim of the gorge for a few miles. there were some nice views into the gorge culminating at a bench directly across from a stream cascading down the opposite side of the gorge.
pictures

we visited elkhead brewing in buckley, wa. the beers were surprisingly good for a place out in the middle of nowhere. they brew about a dozen different beers and we liked almost all of them. they had a good porter with licorice root and a pepper beer that is almost too spicy to drink! we will definitely be back when we go to mt rainier in the summer.

we had burgers at shake n go. they tasted sooo good, but we were starving by then. ;) the fried mushrooms were good too.

we visited trade route brewing in pacific, wa. the beers were interesting, but kind of gross. not interested in drinking any of them again.

2009 update

2009-12-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

sorry i haven't updated, i know there's a few of you who (used to) read this. i've been really busy just living life. i took some time off wow to do things in real life. i did a lot of hiking in the spring and summer. i've been going to lots of different restaurants and breweries. yelp is a great tool. amanda visited a few times. my parents came for more than a month and we did lots of sightseeing in the seattle area and some of canada, too. i did a lot of hiking this fall. i went to the mountains 8 weekends in a row and saw a lot of fall foliage! now it's winter and i'm back to spending more time inside.

one thing that i do manage to update somewhat regularly is my me.com gallery . feel free to check out what i've been up to there, if you haven't already. :)

happy earth day!

2009-04-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

happy earth day!

i'm not doing anything to celebrate earth day. part of that is because i try every day to reduce my impact on the environment. i think that would be a good thing for everyone to do for earth day. you don't have to do some big project and you don't have to make some big sacrifice. simply improve some small part of your daily life. small changes add up!

happy spring!

2009-03-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

the sun came out and it was a beautiful spring day.

2009-03-29T13:16:00.001-07:00

there are a lot of things going on that i'm excited about, but i haven't been able to finish anything yet! if i don't complete things this week there will be another delay because amanda is coming to visit. some of the things i'm working on:

- composing music
- sharing pictures
- being green
- studying cooking
- studying neuroscience
- programming for iphone

the music is loooong overdue and it has been holding up other things as i procrastinate. if only i could focus! ;)

2009-03-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

Mystery Gift Game!

The first three people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog.The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!
Who's in?

2009-03-16T23:09:00.000-07:00

i didn't feel too well last week, so i was pretty lazy. stuff is on the list and when i feel better i'm gonna get it done!

2009-03-08T20:20:00.001-07:00

updates on multiple projects coming soon!

in the meantime, here are some webcam shots i've been taking over the past two weeks.

2009-03-03T18:36:00.001-08:00

unsurprisingly i missed the "deadline" for the music project. but it served its purpose in that i hooked up some music gear and played some instruments that i haven't used for 5 years. i didn't make any really great music, but i do have some that i'll share in a few days.

2009-02-21T11:16:00.000-08:00

hello. projects are going well.

i'm taking a break to post about something that irked me. if you're a longtime reader you may remember me complaining before about online order forms. well, i'm back to complain again. before you tune out, my message is that you should avoid wine.com if you value your sanity.

it took me three times through their lengthy checkout process for it to finally go through and still i'm not sure if i will be charged the correct amount. normally i wouldn't bother with a place like wine.com. i prefer to buy my wine locally and visit wineries. it was my birthday recently and my sister sent me a gifts.com gift card. (thank you!) there really wasn't much on their list of merchants that appealed to me. i should have picked amazon, but i wanted to try something different and wine.com looked ok.

on the first page of the checkout process i noticed an inconsistent capitalization scheme. that's a very bad sign. anyone with the proper attention to detail to build a bug-free web application would notice and correct something like that. on the credit card form the field for the security number was called something wacky like "card id#". what? that's not what it's called. the form did not like when i chose not to save my card number for future transactions. i wasn't planning on shopping there again, so why did they need to save my cc number? after my experience today i am definitely not shopping there again, and yet i was forced to save my credit card number so the form would allow me to proceed.

at the end of the checkout when i submitted my order it sent me all the way back to the credit card step twice! it claimed i didn't enter my credit card information when i had already entered it correctly several times and even saved it. on the third time it finally went through. the confirmation page showed the deduction for the gift card, but told me i would be charged the full amount. i was about ready to send a WTF email through their equally messed-up email support system... (i had already called to complain, but their call center is closed on the weekend) but then i got my order confirmation email that said i would be charged for the correct amount. i'm hoping that all will be well in the end and i can just avoid wine.com in the future.

it's unbelievable that a business that does all of their transactions through their website would have such a messed up checkout system. not only does it create a frustrating user experience, it also calls into question their handling of customer data. how can you trust them when their coding is obviously so poor? the answer is simple! DO NOT SHOP AT WINE.COM.

2009-02-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

busy busy busy! projects are cooking! you'll see! (or will you?) [i'll try] {mmm, brackets}

2008-11-27T16:35:00.001-08:00

happy thanksgiving! :)

2008-10-23T20:43:00.000-07:00

long time no blog! yeah, stuff happens. fall has been mild in washington. the air is cool, but the days have been pleasant and often sunny. the foliage is beautiful! i finally decorated for halloween last weekend. most of my halloween decorations have stayed packed away for the last several years, so i rediscovered all kinds of neat things. :)

next week i'm going on a road trip! bill is getting married! it will be a long and exciting trip.

2008-09-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

one of the tasks i completed this past week was catching up with organizing my recent pictures in iphoto and then posting them to my mobileme gallery! i have heard reports that the gallery code has been improved by apple and performance should be better! performance is also better if you use the most recent version available of safari, firefox, or google's chrome browser. great strides are being made in javascript performance, so it's important to keep up with updates to get the most of out the web!

as you may know i had such a fun spring going on many hikes. i'll post some quick links here just to let you know which albums are newly posted and when they happened:

--- April ---
amanda and i went on a hiking group hike led by gary to sandstone quarry in red rocks. there was a cute little cave and arch that i had never seen before despite having hiked from that trailhead many times.

i got up really early one morning to take pictures of some fields of orange flowers that i saw earlier in the week. the flowers didn't look as cool as i had hoped they would in the morning light and the orange flowers were already fading and being replaced by yellow and purple flowers. since i was up i went on a little hike at red spring.

--- May ---
there were flowers in red rocks, so why not go for another hike and take pictures?

i went on a hiking group hike to la madre spring. on the hike i saw and chatted with someone i used to work with in the dorms many years ago. small world!

amanda and i hiked both mary jane falls and big falls in one hike! amanda was a trooper and didn't complain too much. ;) we were surprised to see so much snow!

--- June ---
amanda and i climbed turtlehead peak! amanda was scared of it, but she did fine and learned that it really isn't as hard as everyone says!

my dad and i climbed frenchman mountain! the "trail" is a gravel service road and it's the Steepest Road Evar!!!1 we did the hike early in the morning because it was a very hot day. over 100 degrees by 8 am. the peak offers great views of vegas, just make sure to wear good boots, watch your step, and don't even think about doing it in the summer.

amanda and i hiked to an impressive old bristlecone called raintree. it was a very nice hike in the cooler climate at mt charleston.

--- July ---
i finally got a job and moved to bellevue!

ok, i'm tired of typing for tonight! there are also new pictures of my washington adventures. i will summarize them soon! :)

2008-09-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

oh! i forgot to blog about my balcony! i finally finished it last week! and just in time, too. i think the rainy season is here for good now. it looks so nice! and it will be much easier to keep things from growing on it with the wood cleaned and protected.

2008-09-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

finally got my oil changed today. i've needed to for a while. i was putting off getting my oil changed at a new place, because those places often try to tell you your car is broken and sell you stuff you don't need. i consulted the internet and chose midas in factoria. the service was good and they didn't hassle me at all! they didn't try to sell me anything and even told me that my truck is in great shape! :D i was very happy to get that taken care of in such a satisfactory manner. :)

2008-09-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

i did so many chores on saturday! but i still have a lot of things on my list. yesterday i was planning to do more chores, but i felt good and it was such a nice day that i decided to go for a hike at cougar mountain. i enjoyed it very much, it was very pretty. the area is well mapped and signed and i thought it would be fun to highlight on my map where i have explored. i will update it as i explore more trails.

2008-09-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

one last lather.

2008-09-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

i was sick but i'm better now. the weather has been really nice and i'm finishing up my balcony. today i used a grout brush to get the edges i missed.

2008-08-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

amanda is back in vegas and i'm back to scrubbing my balcony!

2008-08-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

i've been very busy. amanda is here for a visit. we had fun adventures all weekend; i have pictures to share soon.

2008-08-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

yesterday after work i had a really great ride home. i stopped at a little wine shop and bought 6 different local wines to try. i'm going by after work today in my truck to pick them up. i also stopped at target to get more cleaning supplies. by then it was late and i was tired, so i didn't get to scrubbing my balcony, but i took pictures of the previous day's progress and what is still left to do.

2008-08-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

getting things in order inside my apartment allowed me to spend some time outside... scrubbing my balcony! i need to get this done so i can seal it while the weather is still warm and dry. another picture tomorrow!

2008-08-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

taking out the trash is a little discouraging. i see garbage in the recycling and things that can be recycled in the garbage. i guess people just don't care.

2008-08-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

well, i finally feel like i'm moved in. there are still some organizing tasks that need to be done, and i haven't really decorated at all, but all the major areas of my apartment are in order.

2008-08-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

on wednesday after work i rode my bike to the bike shop to pick up some fenders. on my way home i explored some parks and took some pictures.

2008-07-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

i've been busy getting settled in my apartment. i still have a lot of cleaning and putting things away to do. i've mostly been too tired after work to get much done, but i got a lot done today. one big project i started today was scrubbing my balcony.

it's like a wooden deck and it looks like it has never been scrubbed before. it rains a lot in the winter here and so stuff grows on just about everything. the part of the balcony that's shady most of the time has big black and green patches and then the rest is grey. i thought that the grey was just the aging of the wood, but when i scrubbed at a spot that had some actual dirt on it the grey came off too! i discovered that if i scrub at it the wood comes out looking like new! i also discovered that there's green underneath all the black.

it's a big job, but it'll be worth it because my balcony will look fabulous when i'm done. i didn't get a really good "before" picture because i didn't expect it to be so dramatic, but i will be taking pictures as i go. the first two shots of my progress are in my balcony scrubbing album.

2008-07-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

it was so great to talk to so many friends today! thanks for being there, everybody. and extra thanks to rebecca for stopping by to surprise me! that was awesome! :)

2008-07-21T01:11:00.000-07:00

i'm back! :D i just got my internet because comcast is slow. i live in bellevue now. with no more homework and no more worrying about getting a job i should be able to post regularly. i plan to start blogging about some things that have been increasing in importance to me. more about that later!

2008-06-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

yesterday i hiked frenchman mountain with my dad. we started hiking at 5:45am to try to beat the heat, but it was still really hot on the way down. i recently bought a hat to keep my scalp from getting sunburned on hikes. i took a picture of myself on top of the mountain.

2008-05-06T09:47:00.001-07:00

still on blog hiatus.

2008-04-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

pictures for you!

springs preserve
calico basin

2008-04-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

you may have noticed that my blog posts have started to become infrequent again. this time it's by design and not from neglect. i've been busy and there are a lot of things i really want to write about, but right now i'm limiting my blogging time. i expect to post more regularly again soon. i'll be updating later tonight with pictures from recent activities.

2008-04-22T15:30:00.001-07:00

this week i'm working hard on the right things.

2008-04-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

on saturday amanda and i went to the springs preserve to see the flowers. we were not disappointed as there were many flowers both familiar and strange. i took many pictures, but i won't be able to post them until perhaps next week.

yesterday we did a bit of "gardening" by taking care of the plants we have on the balcony. we also planted some new flowers. i hope they sprout soon! we planted three kinds: lavender, cosmos, and forget-me-nots.

2008-04-17T22:27:00.000-07:00

this evening i went on a hike in cowboy canyon with the hiking group. (that's probably not what it's really called or maybe it doesn't have a name, but it fits. there's horseback riding there and lots of cowboys.) it was a fun hike. i had been there before on a moonlight hike with the hiking group almost two years ago. it was nice to see it before the sun set. it looked pretty green and there were quite a few flowers. i saw lots of little birds and then later there were tons of bats. but the best thing i saw was a big owl! its hooting echoed through the whole canyon and i spotted it a few times as it moved around.

2008-04-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

today i wanted to go on a bike ride (workout style). it was a windy day and while not hot, warm enough that i didn't want extra layers of clothes. i like to wear my biker shorts; they're light, aerodynamic, and have a nice pad for staving off the bike ass. but they don't have pockets. in the past i've tried sticking my keys in my socks or around my neck, but in recent years i've just given up and worn regular shorts over my biker shorts. today it was windy and warm enough that i really didn't want to. so i got a little fanny pack. while not the most stylish choice, it's perfect for my needs. there's a little pocket that's just right for my iphone and there's even a clippy inside for the keys so they don't move around.

i don't like starting bike rides from home because it's so far and trafficky to get anywhere interesting, so i went to a park to get started. i had an idea about somewhere i wanted to ride, but i just didn't feel like dealing with traffic at all so i did 5 laps around a catch basin. it's a good place to ride. the path is wide and there's a bit of uphill and downhill. if i find myself going there often i'll start timing my laps.

2008-04-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

on saturday amanda and i hiked a few trails in red rocks.

2008-04-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

this evening amanda and i climbed lone mountain. it was fun and good exercise. while we were sitting on the top we got buzzed by a police helicopter that was shining its spotlight around. amanda was scared, but we weren't doing anything wrong and it moved along.

2008-04-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

i don't have nightmares. my mind prefers to harass me more subtly. sometimes i have dreams that are pleasant or entertaining at the moment, but upon waking nag at me. last night i had two very different dreams that approached the same subject from two different perspectives. there were clear meanings, although temporarily obfuscated by bizarre happenings. the important pieces rose to prominence after i woke up and remembered. i was also listening to music all night (bad idea?) and the song playing when i woke was relevant to the subject. so i've been unsuccessfully trying to shake the malaise all day.

edit - i can see where it might appear that i could have read too much into the dreams by waking up and casting them in a certain light. i don't know how other people experience dreams, but i have very vivid dreams. so much so that sometimes it's difficult to tell dream and reality apart. the "important" parts of the dreams revealed themselves by the extremity of the emotions used to illustrate them. there were certain parts that stood out while the rest dissolved into the unconscious entertainment that they were.

2008-04-07T15:29:00.000-07:00

i had a pretty laid back weekend. amanda was sick so we stayed at home and played a lot of wow.

on saturday we did a little shopping. we looked at kitchen supplies in several department stores in a mall . i'll talk about my findings later.

on sunday we heard a loud noise outside that sounded like a swarm of bees. turned out it really was a swarm of bees. they were right outside the apartment! i don't know what caused them to swarm, but they seem to be living in a water valve box right across the sidewalk from the kitchen window. amanda notified the apartment management and hopefully some professionals will be around to remove them.

2008-04-03T16:31:00.001-07:00

i spent a lot of time trimming all the brown ends off my pygmy date palm. my hands were black from handling the fronds, so i figured it needed to be rinsed off a little so i gave it a good spraying with my water bottle. it looks much better now and i think it'll be happy.

2008-04-03T01:14:00.000-07:00

itunes is now the #1 music retailer in the US. isn't that a sign of the times? the biggest music store is online only. once again music downloads are shown to be a valid business. not that itunes is perfect or the thing for everyone. i'm pleased by the robust competition the amazon mp3 store is bringing to the online marketplace. i'd like to see itunes have less DRM, higher audio quality, and more flexible pricing. i look forward to the evolution of the music industry. in the meantime, musicians like trent are showing everyone how it's done.

2008-04-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

i love lists. i have a great memory, but i'm easily distracted. lists help me to stay focused. though they don't help much with procrastination. there's a million other things to do when i'm actively avoiding something. however, when i'm motivated my lists really help me accomplish what i want.

i've kept lists for as long as i can remember. just a couple years ago i had a breakthrough with my list technology: i kept paper and a pen in my pocket! i usually have a lot of papers in my pocket so i drew stripes on the outside of the folded list paper so i could identify it at a glance. (i won't even get into my pockets, that's a whole other crazy thing) as silly as it sounds, i really enjoyed having my lists handy. i would make different lists on different parts of the paper until it became filled up and tattered, at which point i would copy any remaining items to a new lists paper.

it's funny that up until recently i used such a low-tech method, especially since i'm a pretty high-tech person. i've known about PDAs ever since the apple newton and back then i was certainly too young to need one. i never got on the PDA boat, but i did get on another boat last year. when the iphone was announced i immediately knew that it was exactly what i was looking for in a cell phone. but i didn't realize until i had one in my hands that it was also a replacement for my lists!

the iphone currently lacks the kind of integrated to-dos that PDAs have, but it does have a notes application. even though it's quite basic, keeping my lists on my iphone is vastly superior to the old paper method. my lists have become much more organized, as well. iphone sorts my lists by the last time i edited them. a few lists that are just important bits of information fall to the bottom, while dynamic lists that hold my daily activities stay near the top.

a tiered structure has evolved. it generally equates to: things to do right away, things to do soon, and things to do eventually. though sometimes there is also a fourth tier of things to do when i get a chance, which fits between "now" and "soon". sometimes these lists have different names, but the goals are generally the same. such a tiered structure of goals seems to be a repeating theme in various media, often accompanied by the number three. it appears to be a structure that makes sense.

currently my iphone has 13 notes on it. this blog post will move my "soon" list back to the top.

2008-04-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

i cleaned up my blog layout a little. it took some voodoo to get the labels to move down where i wanted them, but i'm ok with it now.

2008-04-01T10:06:00.001-07:00

today i'm helping my parents move heavy stuff around. the carpet cleaners are coming!

2008-03-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

wow takes so long to install!

2008-03-27T23:46:00.000-07:00

spent most of the day at the garage getting new tires, but at least my truck doesn't wobble now. :)

2008-03-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

one thing led to another today and now i'm getting ready to reformat my ibook. nothing is seriously wrong with it, but once i started down the path of cleaning it up, i knew i wouldn't be satisfied until i performed the inevitable reformat. the last of my files not yet on my imac are transferring now.

2008-03-25T22:40:00.000-07:00

this evening i went on a sunset hike in the calico hills with the hiking group and my dad. it was a nice little climb. just right for a little exercise and at a nice pace. i had plenty of time to take pictures and enjoy being out in that beautiful place.

2008-03-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

i've mulled over the idea of tags for some time. my itunes library is meticulously tagged and i use that to my advantage with many smart playlists, but i have yet to make the leap with tags on anything else. my photo library could use tags, but it would be so much work to tag everything! i inadvertently tabbed into the field for tags on my first post today and it seemed like a good idea to just keep a tag there. i think i can manage to tag my new posts and we'll see how far back i'll go to tag the old ones. i'm still using a classic template, so that limits what i can do with them without some serious voodoo, but maybe sometime in the future i'll leverage them.

2008-03-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

last night i had an urge to listen to music on my stereo. my room here has too much stuff in it and is a bit small for all the speakers, so i usually just listen to music with my computer speakers. also that way it's easier to ensure the volume is low enough for sleeping people when listening at night. so it has been a long time since i listened to music through my stereo. i knew i was missing out somewhat, but i was surprised how good it sounded. i had a similar experience a couple years ago when i tried listening to some actual CDs. they sounded so good. there wasn't a big difference, but there was a difference. i would listen to lossless files, but i'm still waiting for the capacity of mobile devices (namely the iphone) to be much larger. hopefully before too long technology (and my finances) will evolve to where i'll be able to listen to lossless files on quality speakers all the time.

2008-03-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

i bought some things online today. something that really bothers me about the online shopping experience is the almost universal poor quality of order forms. once upon a time i designed the online application for the unlv dorms. (not the current one, though, it's hideous) i spent a lot of time thinking about the process of filling out the application and how to make it as convenient as possible. most online order forms seem like they aren't well thought out or perhaps someone in charge is making poor decisions. bad online order forms require the user to input the same data multiple times, present the user with extraneous sections, force the user to input data in certain formats (or worse yet, divide things like phone number segments into separate fields), and don't even provide the user with proper feedback about what is required. i don't want to point a finger, but a company i ordered from today did all those things wrong. it was a frustrating experience and i wouldn't want to order from them again.

- a classic example of repeated data is shipping address vs billing address. if it's the same, why enter it twice? lots of order forms are getting better about this, but some still don't get it.

- extraneous sections can confuse the user and clutter the page. if certain fields are only needed in certain situations, then only display them in response to relevant data. or at least organize the form so they're not in the way for the majority of users. for example, if you have an online survey that asks additional questions based on a "yes" answer to a certain question, only show the additional questions if the user actually says yes to the trigger question. another example is the handling of states/provinces. sometimes it's good to present some questions with limited answers to the user in a drop down list. it's entirely possible to present the user with a list of states if they live in the US or a list of provinces if they live in canada.

- most online forms i see force the user to enter a credit card number in exactly the way they specify. this one really bugs me. it's really trivial programming to take the number any way the user enters it, strip out anything unnecessary, and verify that it's a valid credit card number. a polite suggestion about how the data should be entered is reassuring, but to require a certain scheme is just stupid.

- it's important to clearly inform the user which fields are required and what kind of data is expected. when the user submits the data it's necessary to check all data before saving it to prevent bad data from getting into the database, so that's an opportunity to let the user know they need to fix something. but what about before that? this isn't 1995. it's not only possible, but advisable to give the user immediate feedback about the information they're entering in the fields. the user should be confident that they have entered all required data correctly before they even click that submit button.

i understand that sometimes there are deadlines and things, but i also know that large companies have the resources to hire a team of competent programmers for something as important as their online store. when i designed the unlv dorms online application i was but one humble student employee and i didn't have a really firm deadline, but i was able to use attention to detail and the magic of "web 2.0" to provide a quality experience. as a disclaimer, i'm not a user interface expert and i haven't done this kind of work for any companies outside of academia, but i designed and implemented many projects involving web forms and i often worked directly with my "users", which provided valuable feedback and insight. despite all the possible technical and bureaucratic concerns when building a web system, shouldn't the user's experience be the paramount consideration? a customer that buys from your convenient and thoughtfully designed online store is more likely to have a favorable opinion of your company and return to buy again.

2008-03-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

today was another day of spring cleaning. physical and digital. i actually turned on my old backup machine and did maintenance on it. it still runs and the fan is still really loud. i can't believe how long i lived with that noise pollution. i sorted through piles of stuff on and around my desk, then dusted. it's amazing to me how clean my desk feels to the eye now. everything is so smooth and shiny. it's like i have a new desk with new stuff on it.

2008-03-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

sorry for the lack of posts. the days are a little slippery if i don't nail them down. i have some important things i want to write about, things that i've been thinking about a lot. soon i'm going to start writing episodes on slow days.

amanda was tired and sunburned after our calico tanks hike, so we took a couple of days to relax.

on friday night amanda and i went on a moonlight hike with the hiking group. there were SO many people there! the last count i heard was 116, but there might have been more that showed up after the count. the hike was at black mountain, but we only went about halfway up to where there was a big pile of boulders for everyone to sit on. i've never been on a hike with so many people! there was just a long line of people winding up the mountain. the night was cool and clear and the view was great. aside from the murmur of so many people it was peaceful.

on saturday we played frisbee at the park with diana. it was fun, but it felt so hot. i'm not ready for summer yet! ;)

2008-03-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

today amanda and i hiked to calico tanks in red rocks. it was a beautiful day. amanda did so well on the trail to the tank that i suggested we climb up to calico tanks peak. we made it! on our way back home we ate at a mexican restaurant owned by a guy i hiked with last week. it was a nice little place.

pictures as promised!
snowy adventure
valley of fire
calico tanks

2008-03-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

on monday we played tourist in the valley of fire! we got our $6 worth; we saw everything. the first time i remember going there was when i was in preschool. there are some areas of the park that haven't changed in at least 25 years, but there is one big area of the park that used to be accessible only by a long hike that is now open to cars. we weren't prepared for a long trek, so i was glad we were able to see more. we did a few short hikes and amanda practiced rock climbing. she was terrified, but did just fine. we had fun playing tourist and are considering visiting other nearby parks in the near future.

i'll post the pictures later today.

2008-03-16T22:14:00.001-07:00

the cats woke me up early this morning, so we got up and went for a drive. it was raining lightly and we headed to krispy kreme for some doughnuts. we were last there about two weeks ago and we were surprised to see that the store had been completely remodeled since then. the atmosphere is much nicer now with soft lighting and wood surfaces. we stayed and enjoyed some doughnuts, then drove south toward black mountain.

the weather has been so warm recently, but the foothills of black mountain were dusted with fresh snow! the peak was shrouded by thick white clouds. it was unexpected and beautiful. after stopping to take a closer look we headed west toward red rocks. the mountains there are a few thousand feet taller than black mountain and there was still some precipitation happening. as we got closer we were treated to beautiful snowy mountain sights. i didn't have my camera with me so i took some pictures with my iphone. i'll post them in a few days.

there was quite a bit of fresh snow in red rocks, so we decided to take the scenic drive. as we gained elevation there was more and more snow on the ground and even some on the road. we stopped to take pictures and there was a cold wind blowing off the mountain. there were some strong gusts blowing snow around and into drifts. we stopped at another place to take short hike in the snow.

after completing the loop we went on to red spring. i haven't been there for 10 years. there used to be a dirt road right up to the spring and very basic picnic areas with a dirt parking lot. now they have a new picnic area and large paved parking lot away from the spring and a nice boardwalk to the spring with restored vegetation and a large meadow. it looks really good and i'll have to go back later in the spring to see it when the meadow is green and there are flowers. while we were walking we heard a woodpecker pecking on a tree. we followed the sound and saw it. it was cute.

2008-03-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

today we saw a roadrunner in the middle of the apartments! i wonder how and why it ended up there. maybe it was lost.

2008-03-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

last week i forgot to mention the goose sex. this week we saw a duck gangbang. we were going to fly a kite, but the wind was unreliable. we'll do it on a windier day.

2008-03-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

today i went on a hike with the hiking group. we climbed to calico tanks peak the hard way. it was class 4 scrambling, which means climbing rocks and you don't need ropes but it's scary. it was a lot of fun and a great workout. my muscles are really tired. the company was great, too. yay for hiking group.

2008-03-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

i posted the pictures of the hill we climbed over the weekend.

2008-03-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

wow, that was so close! i wanted to get gas on this side of town where the gas is 10¢ a gallon cheaper. i've known for a while that my truck's gas gauge is a bit off, so it's hard to tell just how much gas is left in the tank. i could tell the tank was getting low, but thought i still had enough in it to be ok. i drove across town and rolled into the gas station. it was really busy so i waited... and my engine stalled. the car ahead of me finished and began to drive off so i started my truck... and it stalled again. i tried again and waited a second to put it into drive, then it kept running and i was able to pull up to the pump. that was exciting!

2008-03-09T13:59:00.003-07:00

today is another quiet chores kinda day. i'm not going to vacuum this week, but i've decided to do so more regularly. the last couple times i've vacuumed i managed to stir up enough dust to be phlegmy for a few days afterward. i don't know if that's from cat hair and dander or if there's just that much crap built up in this carpet, but knowing that it does have an effect on my health is pretty good motivation for removing it regularly.

friday was another good day to feed the birds. they were very hungry and we soon had a large flock. we saw some really pretty birds. i could have done without the strange random girl inching closer to us as she also fed the birds. i don't mind sharing space with strangers, but she kept getting closer and closer and then was singing. it really made me kinda nervous. i was thinking, does she want to hang out with us or talk or something? i usually leave strangers be, because i also prefer to be left alone. but it seemed like she was communicating by getting right up on us. i thought about saying hello and starting a conversation, but i really didn't feel like it at the time. i ended up not saying anything. i guess i'm just not a very friendly person.

princess is laying right next to me sleeping. her face just started twitching and she opened and closed her mouth a few times. oh, now her paws are going. she must be having an interesting dream! i wonder if she's dreaming about playing fetch? :)

there's a hill near the road to pahrump. for a long time it was in the middle of nowhere and people used to drive ATVs all over it. now vegas has grown out to it and it has been made into a park. it's fenced, but people can climb it on nicely maintained trails. some native plants have been relocated to the area and the damage done by ATVs is fading. i saw they were working on it a couple years ago, but forgot about it. we saw it last weekend on our way home from red rocks, so this saturday we went and climbed it. it's a nice park. there's a pretty cool pavilion at the top of the hill that has some geographical and historical show and tell plaques. i took some pictures and i'll post them this week.

2008-03-06T00:59:00.000-08:00

i added six new albums to my image gallery and a bunch of pictures to the list for the random picture.

2008-03-05T01:01:00.000-08:00

i added an "other" section to my website as a place for miscellaneous pages that i create. i also added two new albums to my image gallery.

2008-03-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

be sure to check out trent reznor's new project at:

http://ghosts.nin.com/

2008-03-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

i posted the pictures from our hike in pine creek canyon.

2008-03-02T23:44:00.000-08:00

spring cleaning today! it was nice to get rid of the dust and get some fresh air into the apartment.

we had dinner with bill. i'm so glad he's doing better. i know first hand that lung issues are no fun.

2008-03-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

there were more people and less hungry birds at the park yesterday. however, we saw one cool looking bird that i hope was very hungry... sunset park has had a burrowing rodent problem for years. some areas of the park are covered with piles of soft dirt and ankle-killing holes. yesterday when we walked by the cottonwoods we saw a big raptor near the top of one. i hope it eats up lots of critters and tells its friends. :)

i didn't sleep well last night, so we were up earlier than expected for our hike. when we got to red rocks we saw that there was a marathon in progress! they had cones along the scenic drive so cars and runners would share. the scenic drive is the only way to get to the trail we were planning to hike, so we braved possible traffic jams. as we drove along we passed all the marathon runners. my sister has been running marathons recently and sure enough, she was running this one. we saw her and waved! :)

it was still pretty early when we got to the trailhead, so it was easy to find a parking spot. the air was cool, but the sun was warm. the hike into pine creek canyon was easy and scenic. when we got further into the canyon there were boulders and brush, but we made it up to where the ferns grow. it was beautiful and i filled my memory card with pictures. (which i will post on monday) the predicted wind came a little earlier than expected and when we got back to the parking lot it was overflowing. we were glad we had an early start.

2008-02-28T21:12:00.000-08:00

my resume made its return to the about me section!

2008-02-27T21:46:00.000-08:00

i think that everybody who has a blog goes through "phases" with it. i'm about to go through one! despite wanting to at some points in the past, i don't keep a journal, but i like having information archived and searchable. i like to try to say and share interesting things and because i (probably unsuccessfully) try to maintain a certain level of quality, i avoid posting too often, but then i forget to post at all. or i post later and i forget half the things i was going to say, which degrades the quality anyway. on both my alaska trip and my san francisco trip in recent years i wanted to keep a record of what i did just to remember, but ended up doing a bad job because i didn't make myself do it daily. so i'm going to try posting daily.

there was a time when the only interesting thing i did each day was play wow, but that's not the case anymore. i think i'm doing enough interesting things that i can talk about or share pictures of something interesting every day. if there's nothing to say that day, i'll just briefly make note of that fact before i go to bed.

i know this blog doesn't get a ton of traffic, but that's fine. i also know that at least a few friends read it at least occasionally. that's enough bonus motivation to help daily writing not be a chore. even though i could just write it for "future me", i don't think i'd be able to keep it up for long if that was my only audience.

the true challenge will not be in the act of writing, but instead in preventing this blog from turning into a litany of the mundane. (it's not already, is it?)

2008-02-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

for the past few years i've done all my word processing with textedit. my needs are pretty basic and most of the time it works just fine for me. i've been intending to pick up pages one of these days. today i needed to change the margins of a document and i learned that textedit simply won't do it. some mac developer dug deeper and discovered that 1 inch margins are hardcoded into textedit. srsly. i have occasionally used openoffice, but i prefer to use programs that are more mac-like if i can. so i'm exploring my other open source options.

2008-02-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

oh! i remembered something i was gonna blog about over the weekend! :)

itunes movie rentals are a bit too expensive for me to really want to rent them, but apple has started offering a weekend movie special where one of the older titles is offered for 99¢. that is an attractive price. last weekend the special was the hours. i was never terribly interested in it, but for 99¢ i did want to see it and it was an opportunity to try out itunes movie rentals.

it was a pretty decent movie. the acting was superb, but the screenplay was a little disjointed. there were many aspects of the story that could have used some elucidation, yet some scenes were totally superfluous. as a bonus the overall story was quite depressing. however, a lot of the movie was unintentionally hilarious! there were lots of amusing things, i laughed at most of the movie.

the itunes movie rental experience was great! it was so cool to just go and pick out the movie and start watching almost immediately. this is clearly the future of movie rentals. not necessarily apple's system, but rented movie downloads in general. my ibook is just a little too old to handle the video decoding flawlessly, so there were some skips, but the video quality was ok. of course, people with expensive home theater systems will still want to rent movies on blu-ray discs, but nothing can beat this model for convenience. i still don't want to pay $3.99 for itunes movie rentals, but i will now look forward to the weekend specials.

2008-02-26T16:16:00.000-08:00

today i picked up a couple of chocolate bars, one for a friend and one for me. i initially set out to get a different brand, but whole foods didn't have the flavor i was looking for and after having a mini bar to test, i think this brand is better anyway. for myself i got a bacon bar, of course. bacon makes everything better! even chocolate! :D

2008-02-26T14:21:00.000-08:00

*sigh* so yeah, i didn't update more often. i thought about it, but i got distracted. i do want to update more often because if i do i can better remember what i wanted to say.

ok, so what happened, hmm. lots of stuff, but it's all a blur right now. so i'm just gonna talk about saturday.

on saturday amanda and i climbed black mountain. the weather started off sunny and calm and got progressively windier and cloudier as the day went on. it was still sunny when we got to the top, but was cloudy for most of the hike back. amanda thought she wasn't going to make it, but she did and i'm proud of her. there was a trail, but the last half a mile or so was pretty steep and perched on the edge. black mountain is a volcano, so there were lots of really neat volcanic rocks. there were quite a few other people hiking the mountain, but we had the top to ourselves. the view was spectacular! one of the things we spotted was a new solar power plant!

we're going on another hike next weekend, something a bit easier this time. the weather looks like it will continue to be nice.

today i plan to get some stuff done. i was reading about seattle last night, but after a while i decided i need to actually get a job before i concentrate too much on the details. also i need to remember that where i'm going to be is just a step along the way and not necessarily where i'm going to be for the rest of my life.

2008-02-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

on friday we fed the fowl. they were very hungry. then we used my gps to measure the length of the jogging track at sunset park. when we were almost done we saw the sign that said how long it was! we never saw it before because we always cut that corner to take a detour by the cottonwood trees (amanda loves how they smell).

one evening we went to see the out of control spy satellite and the space station, which were flying by within a few minutes of each other. while we were watching for the spy satellite we saw a surprise iridium flare! that was really neat. the spy satellite looked a lot brighter than the intarweb estimated it would be and was moving very fast. i was glad i got to see it before they blew it up, though i'm a little sad because it would have gotten brighter and faster as it fell and would have been really fun to watch. oh well, there are plenty of old space parts falling out of the sky, i'll just have to pay attention next time one does. :)

on saturday we scouted part of the mccullough range south of town. we had a good hike and got a good look at the lay of the land. this weekend we'll hike the highest point in the northern part of the range, black mountain. it's not a very tall peak, but it's the tallest in the area and a mountain we see every day. it'll be fun.

sunday we took a walk on the strip and had gelato at the new gelato place at the fashion show mall. it was good, but it was expensive and not as good as the gelato at bellagio. the new mall at the palazzo is open now, but the stores are still being filled in.

on tuesday i hung out with bill. it was good to see him.

so there's the weekend update. :/ i'm gonna try to post a little more regularly instead of saving things up. we'll see how that goes.

2008-02-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

today i'm working on a craft project, yay! :)

i was reminded today that my .mac web galleries have rss feeds. that's particularly useful for my photo journal gallery. rather than checking it to see if i've posted something, just add http://photocast.mac.com/requies/100045/rss to your favorite rss reader and updates will come automatically! :) i typically post pictures on weekends when i'm out doing interesting things away from my computer.

2008-02-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

on friday amanda and i went to see the dreaming at cheyenne saloon. i have wanted to see the dreaming perform for a while and was glad i didn't have to go to LA to see them. i was also glad it wasn't an all ages show. the dreaming was good but the venue was junky. cheyenne saloon is an old bar that's right near my parents' house. it has been there forever. several years ago they converted half of it into a stage and apparently now it's the live music venue for northwest vegas. it's a small place, which is ok because there weren't really that many people there, but it was cramped and the ventilation was poor. there were a few assholes chain smoking and before long it was oppressively warm and smoky. there is no reason smoking should be legal in a poorly ventilated concert venue. fuck smokers. i was happy to see the dreaming, but was even happier to get out of that place. before we took off we bought t-shirts and the new CD.

on saturday we went to the park to feed the fowl, but it was such a nice day that everyone else was also there feeding them. there was bread floating all around the edge of the lake and few of the birds were eating. even the pigeons were staying away! the birds were all full! this week we're going to try going before the weekend so maybe the birds will be hungry!

on sunday we played frisbee at the park then went exploring the developments up on the hill. those rich fuckers in anthem even have their own airport for their private jets! when we got home i studied the maps and i think i found a good place where we can park and climb the mountain.

2008-02-06T23:37:00.000-08:00

today i added a link section to my website! there are many more links that i want to add, so i'll be experimenting with layout and adding more as time goes by.

i also added a little more information about past and future projects in the photography section.

2008-02-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

i have a moderate case of "bike ass" from my bike ride yesterday. i need to do it more often!

2008-02-05T16:29:00.000-08:00

today i went for a bike ride. i remember exactly where i went and what else i wanted to explore last time i went on a bike ride. i just looked in my blog archive and that bike ride was on september 24th 2006. that's too long between bike rides! i had fun exploring new (to me) bike paths and rode on part of a route they called the "downtown to red rock bike trail".

2008-02-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

on friday amanda and i went to play in the snow in lee canyon! it was a beautiful day; sunny, warm, and calm. there was a lot of fresh snow and because we chose a weekday to go there was no crowd! the mountains got more snow in the last few days, too, so we'll definitely be going back sometime soon. :)

now that i have my template done i could finish the page i was working on yesterday! my wow characters on the steamwheedle cartel server all have (somewhat) matching outfits!

2008-02-04T17:05:00.000-08:00

tables aren't dead for page layout after all! the reason being the sorry state of vertical alignment in css2! hopefully they'll get that worked out in css3. yesterday i wanted to share some screenshots and information and it was a little much to put on the blog or any little window on the main page, so i decided to make a separate page for it. while i was at it i wanted to make a minimalist style template that i could use for other such pages of assorted content. i had an idea for a really basic layout that i could just slap content into. because of the janky vertical alignment in css, it was really hard to get this basic layout looking the way i wanted it to look. the css started to get ugly and still wasn't working very well. i also wasn't pleased by any of the "solutions" i was seeing on the web. then i had an idea. in the past i would have just tossed a basic layout like this one into a table and been done. so i tried it. the ugly css dissolved into a nice small, simple chunk of html and it was done and looked nice in 10 minutes. apple's web development guidelines recommend combining table layouts with css instead of trying to bludgeon a pure css solution to every problem. now i have seen for myself.

2008-02-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

i'm working on my website right now and i just saw my counter hit 10,000. that's a pretty small number and probably half those hits are me, but it's cool to catch a milestone anyway. :)

2008-01-31T19:07:00.000-08:00

today my dad and i went on a hike with the las vegas hiking meetup group. it was a beautiful day. cool air and warm sun. we went to la madre spring.

i just found out that all the rite aids in vegas are closing. no more thrifty ice cream for me. :(

in december 2006 i bought a little succulent that is supposed to flower around christmas. i guess i didn't take very good care of it because the buds it had when i got it never opened and it didn't grow any all year. but it was still green, so a few months ago i put it in a bigger pot and tried to remember to water it more. the other day i noticed it had a bud! :D it's still alive after all.

this year we got a little christmas cypress sprayed with glitter. it was so pretty! but i haven't been taking very good care of it and it's in such a little pot that there really isn't much margin for error. i knew it wasn't doing very well, but the other day i looked at it and it was totally dried out. when did that happen?! i think it's probably dead, but i'm gonna keep watering it for a while just in case. poor little cypress. :(

2008-01-31T01:48:00.000-08:00

working towards working has again slowed to a crawl. but i've been communicating with lots of people. i get so caught up in things sometimes that it's good to connect outside of that.

2008-01-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

this afternoon i thought of a solution to the issue i was having with the iphone version of my site. i implemented it and i'm very pleased with how it turned out!

2008-01-28T10:59:00.001-08:00

the kitten is cute!

2008-01-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

yesterday i worked on my website. i ran the html through w3c's html validator. after fixing a few small issues it passed validation. :) i am proud to support web standards, so i chose to display their validated graphic at the bottom of my site, but dimmed it so it wouldn't clash with the minimalism.

i also made a favicon for my site. it's cute.

the biggest project yesterday was the iphone version of my site. i was able to use the same html and just use a separate css file for the iphone. css is awesome! after much tweaking, the iphone version looked really good, especially with the vertical oriented random images. i decided to sort them out and display only the vertical images on the iphone. i also made a webclip icon for iphone users' homescreens, should they choose to make a webclip of my site.

late last night i discovered a pretty serious bug in the iphone layout. i've been working on it today, but for now i'm stuck.

also, yesterday i got some great feedback on my resume from melike. i'm going to make lots of changes, so i took it down until i get around to revising it.

2008-01-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

a couple years ago when i was first seriously learning css and using my website for a guinea pig i must not have completely understood how to size and position elements because instead of using simple css to size the random image i wrote a really dirty dhtml hack. i've been using that same dirty hack for quite some time. today i replaced it with css and it was so easy and improved functionality, too! i can't even express how good it felt to get rid of that old bad code. i am totally a css convert! :)

i also posted my resume today in the about me section.