Eagle Creek

Today Ryan, Jeff, and I took a hike along the Eagle Creek trail to Punchbowl Falls. The trail is beautiful, with some sections carved out of the side of the gorge hundreds of feet above the creek. Of course, it was Sunday and the falls were pretty crowded but it was a nice spot nonetheless. The trail ends level with the creek but a few hundred yards away from the falls. The gorge walls are too steep on either side to get any closer by land. Jeff and I swam in as close as we could get. It was exhausting. We found some driftwood and used it for more buoyancy. The force of the water coming over the falls was enough to push us back so that we couldn't get much closer than 30 feet away or so, and that alone was exhausting. It was a ton of fun though, because for as crowded as the falls were, we seemed just about the only people daring enough to make a swim for it. It was awesome!

Also, it had been a while since I took the pinhole camera out. I don't have a light meter, so shooting is a whole lot of guess work when it comes to exposure times. When I'm taking pictures close to home, I can try a time out, develop the shot, and see how I need to adjust the exposure time. Can't do that when I'm on the road though. I took 8 shots, hoping to get maybe one I could work with. That seems to be about the success rate I have in guessing light levels. Of the 8, I actually got 5 that came back in the developing room with images. That was great seeing how normally I get far more over or underexposed shots than ones I can actually work with. Anyway, here are a few of them.

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This is a 25 second exposure of the Bridge of the Gods. It's a lot more overexposed than I would have liked, but it does have a ghostly look that appeals to me. I especially like the rusted old farm equipment in the foreground.

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This is a 35 second exposure of Eagle Creek. I love what the long exposure times do to water. It smooths it all out and makes it look surreal. I really like this picture because I didn't have to make any brightness or contrast adjustments to it after developing. This is the picture exactly as it was taken.

Why persistance pays off

I've got this thing against fake wood furniture. I despise it. The laminate board/press board/particle board stuff is just plain garbage. Sure, when you're on a budget (like, oh say, because you're a dirt poor graduate student) it can, at times, look appealing. But in all likelihood, it'll fall apart before you even get your degree, and it just plain looks bad. Not to mention you have to assemble it yourself nine times out of ten. And besides all that, I'd like my home to be formaldehyde and formamide free. That press board and particle board stuff is full of such chemicals and they give off fumes. Sure, you can't smell them, but they're killing you slowly. (Just ask FEMA. All those cheaply built trailers they gave the New Orleans folks after their homes were destroyed were made out of that stuff. And their interiors...where the people live, test positive for formaldehyde vapor levels over twice what is deemed safe. Way to go FEMA.)

So that being said, I'll now brink you to my quest for a desk. I'm a graduate student. A desk is a must-have piece of furniture. Mind you, I can't afford to go to the local furniture store and buy a solid wood desk. And I don't fancy the idea of spending hour after hour sitting at a cold glass or metal desk. I'd like something a little warmer and more inviting. Wood.

After checking out a few nice wooden ones...well...let's just say that that particle board laminate desk was beginning to look pretty attractive again. None the less, I had time in my quest, as school doesn't start until the end of the September.

After several weeks of searching, I finally found the desk. Check it out at this website: http://lonewolfreviews.tripod.com/unfinfurn.htm

In the search bar, type "shaker 18 desk right"

The first link to appear should be the desk. It's the "Shaker 18" Desk with Drawers Right." It's selling for $465.88. It's made of solid alder wood with brushed nickel knobs. It's from the Maco Home Office Collection and is made right here in Portland, OR. Ain't she a beauty?!

Now before you begin to think I'm crazy...there's more to the story. No, I didn't shell out $465 for a desk. I have scruples, but I'm not crazy. I found this desk at the Salvation Army. It was probably sent there because some kid had written in red marker all over the side of it, and gotten huge black ring-like stains on the top. Not to mention some really sticky glue-like substance. If it was my kid writing all over a $465 desk, I'd have left him at the Salvation Army along with the desk!

Anyway, I digress. So there's my desk. Of course, at the time I had no idea it was a $465 desk. I only just found that out today when I went to refinish it. It's in absolutely perfect condition except for the marks. Looks to me like the artist did his deed when the piece was very new. I couldn't leave it as is, so I sanded it for several hours to remove all the marks, and then spent another few hours staining it a dark walnut color. I like wooden furniture, but not light or natural colored. Anyway, while staining it, I noticed this sticker on the back:

And that allowed be to track it to where it was made, and subsequently sold for $465.88.

After an entire Saturday full of TLC, my desk is looking all dapper and graffiti-free. Go ahead and admire her. I didn't pay $465.88 for her. I paid 94.6% less than that. OK, I'll do the match for you. I walked away with this desk for a mere $25. Persistance pays off.

And in the news...

Today, the second news story listed on cnn.com was about President Bush’s upcoming colonoscopy scheduled for tomorrow. The status of the president’s colon health was eclipsed only by a story about the emergency evacuation of boy scouts hiking near a wildfire somewhere in Utah. Clearly, this speaks to the remarkable perceptiveness of the CNN news crew in picking out stories of interest to the American people. I’m not being facetious here either. This isn’t a dig on CNN. They’re just giving the people what they want. And apparently the people want dramatic boy scout rescue stories, and all the latest information pertaining to the presidential heinie.

To be fair, I think it’s good for the American public to see that even the leader of the so-called free world needs to pay attention to his health and get routine medical screenings. It’s a step towards awareness and hopefully prevention of colon cancer, and that can be nothing but a good thing. Still, I can’t help but be a bit disturbed by what I read.

I think this whole terrorism/war thing has really gotten to our president. It’s taken him over and affected his perceptions of all things not war or terrorism related. He’s adopted a way of speaking that is beginning to make me think he’s on the verge of paranoid neurosis. In reference to colon health and checkups, the president wants to “encourage everybody to use surveillance.”

Surveillance?!!! Is he for real? That sounds a bit more militaristic than medicinal if you ask me. Wouldn’t surprise me if he secretly refers to the upcoming procedure as the war on polyps. Seriously, the man need to just chill out a bit.

On another note, check out Cheney’s face in this photo. This is where they met to discuss how while Bush was put under for the war on polyps, power would transfer to Cheney for a few hours. Can you almost see Cheney salivating? I have to admit, I’m a bit frightened. I don’t know how long it takes to power up a nuke and aim it at Iran, but I’m betting Cheney’s already done the math. All I know is that I hope the war on polyps goes more quickly than this war on terror.

Break on through...

I finally did it! I broke the 900 mark! This past weekend was the Rose City Open disc golf tournament in Portland, OR. It was three rounds of golf played over two days at Pier Park. After the first round, I was in second place and shot a 847 rated round. After the second round I was in 3rd place and shot a 859 rated round. That was then end of the first day of golf. At this point, I was 5 strokes out of first place, and 4 strokes out of second. I had a lot of ground to cover if I wanted to finish better than third and there was only one round to go. It would be a challenge. Plus, the layout the second day was tougher. All the baskets were moved to their longer positions.

Anyway, I never really keep track of strokes when I play. I do in a general way, but I don't keep track on how far off from the competition I am after every hole. I just play each hole as if it were the only one and don't worry too much about the numbers as they compare to my competitors. I had a feeling on Sunday that I was having a pretty good round, but didn't know much beyond that. I got 3s on holes other girls were getting 4s or 5s on. I was first on the box on almost all of the holes. I ended up finishing that round 2 strokes better than the girl who was in first, and 5 strokes better than the girl who was in second. So once the math was all done, that meant I moved into second by 1 stroke, and was only 3 strokes out of first place instead of the 5 I started at.

The girl who won played a spectacular tournament and deserved to win. I was just glad to have moved up to second. Still, the best part didn't come until this morning when I saw the round ratings for that last round. I shot a 902 rated round!!! My player rating is a 838. All three rounds of this tournament were significantly better than that, but up until this weekend, I had never shot a tournament round in the 900s. The closest I had come was 887. I shot an average of 870 for this tournament. That's 32 points (or about 3 strokes) better than my rating. I've been saying that when I hit that 900 mark with my rating I'd crack out some champagne and celebrate. OK, it'll probably just be some cheap sparkling wine, but that's beside the point. The point is that I shot a 902 rated round in a sanctioned tournament, and I'm pretty darned pleased with myself. Woo hoo!

Funny Signs Part II

As a follow up to my recent post about funny signs, I dug up some old pics of signs I took while living in Switzerland four years ago.

This is robidog. As you can probably figure out, the green box is a trash can designed especially for dog poop. Switzerland has kilometer upon kilometer of what they call "fitweg" (pronounced fit-veg). These are single track paths for running, walking, or biking that have different exercise stations along them for things like pull ups or sit ups etc. The US equivalent would be something like a parcourse. About every 3 or 4 km, there's one of these green robidog cans encouraging people to clean up after their dogs. I love them so much I had to take a picture of one. The picture says it all. You can barely make it out, but yes, there is a little cartoon turd behind that adorable little little mutt.

This is definitely my favorite door sign ever. This was at the University of Bern, Switzerland on one of the office doors in the Department of Biomedical Optics. Immediately to the left of the door was a coffee vending machine. People would break for coffee and head to the machine. When going as a twosome or as a group, people would stand to the left or right of the machine with their scalding hot beverages while waiting for everyone to get their coffee. This door had no window and opened outward into the hall with the vending machine. If someone were leaving the department offices, the door would swing open, and slam into whomever was standing there. It's a solid wood door and was very heavy. Not only did getting hit hurt, but if you were holding your coffee, it was very likely that it would spill all over you and scald you in the process. This became such a regular occurrence that they had to have a custom warning sign made for the door. (Apparently that was easier than moving the vending machine.)

Bad Marketing Slogan

As I was driving into work this morning, I passed a Sara Lee truck. In case the brand isn't ringing a bell, the Sara Lee company makes snack cakes, bread, and other yummies. As I passed the truck, I noticed the brand slogan written on the side,

"Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee."

Huh. All these years I thought the slogan was, "Nobody does it like Sara Lee," which in my mind is a much better slogan. "Nobody does it like Sara Lee" implies that they do something that no one else does, and it sets them apart. "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee" doesn't really give their products a positive spin. Sure, nobody doesn't like them, but nobody necessarily really likes them either.

"Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee" is the equivalent of saying, "It doesn't suck," which could only be a worse slogan if it were used by a vacuum company.

Are you SURE it's not Monday?!?!

Got home pretty late last night after an outing to Eugene, OR to watch a minor league baseball game with Ryan, his folks, and some of their friends/family. Slept in a little later than usual this morning then trudged off to work. Tired, and not wanting to be at work on such a beautiful day, I made my usual trip to the soda machine. I deposited my $0.75, pressed B-9, and watched my Mt. Dew hurled over the edge of it's row, plummet towards the bottom of the vending machine, and KrThunk!...get wedged between the bottom row and the glass. What the %*&@?!?! Undercaffinated and out my last $0.75....not a good way to start the day.

Unlike a lot of people who do scientific research for a living, I make it a point to take my lunch somewhere outside the lab. I've never been a fan of the "working lunch." When I'm working, I just want to work. When I'm eating, I just want to eat. For the most part, I don't want to dine with coworkers. And if I must dine with them, I certainly don't want to discuss work.

Today I took my half sandwich and oatmeal cookie with me and started exploring the area behind my lab. When I came out to visit the school, my now advisor and I took her dog out for a walk behind our building. There's a lot of thick, forested land back there with some trails running through it. There are a lot of blackberry bushes also, and I though I'd check on them and see how the ripening was coming along because I might end up making a small batch of blackberry wine.

Anyway, I was absentmindedly wandering around down some heavily overgrown trails...turning here, stopping there. Then I realized that I probably wouldn't be able to remember enough of my meanderings to get out the same way I got in. With thicket that dense there are no landmarks and everything looks pretty much the same. Also, the whole time out there I could hear what seemed to be rather large animals scurrying around both in the trees and under the brush. Whatever they were, they were sneaky devils. I couldn't catch a glimpse to see what type of animals they were. That's when I started to get a bit weary of my surroundings...

You see, my lab is on the same campus as a primate research center. My lab is on property that abuts that of the primate center. There are literally hundred of primates there, most of which are monkeys. They do all sorts of medical and behavioral studies on them there. I think the DOD and NASA even sponsored a few studies that are running over there and I certainly don't care to know what those involve. You can't just drive up to the center. It's pretty heavily guarded and tucked away off the road. There's barely even a sign for it. They're trying to keep a low profile. Wouldn't want some angry PETA folks storming the place and freeing the monkeys.

So anyways, there I was, lost in the woods between my lab and the primate research center. And just to get my imagination going I happened to be surrounded by mysterious noisy scurrying animals that I couldn't catch sight of. Nuf said. It was time to get out of there. I certainly didn't want some narcotic-addicted, avian flu-infected, escaped monkey with a prosthetic leg and a space suit on jumping on my back. Hell no! (And yes, that's exactly how I picture the monkeys who live at the primate center. In my mind, some of them have eye patches. Others who were involved with nicotine testing even smoke cigarettes. The monkeys are something of a legend on my campus. If you've heard what I've heard...well...you'd be picturing some pretty funky monkeys too.)