Archive of Posts from July 2001
July 31st, 2001
Arches
Arches National Park was hot. We got there just in time for the hottest part of the day. Still beautiful. Alien. Did I mention hot?
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We only saw a fraction of the thousands of completed arches. The amazing thing is, we saw dozens of new arches forming in the rocks. (There are probably hundreds or thousands of them developing.) As the current arches erode away, new ones will take their place. This location will have arches for thousands of years.
Next Stop, Bryce
Imagine you're standing inside a Dalí painting (minus the ants, crutches, and melting things) and you'll have a pretty good idea what Bryce Canyon National Park looks like. The objects reaching out of the ground are called hoodoos, and they can look like different things at different times of day. Sometimes the sea of hoodoos looked like ruins of an ancient city. We watched the sun set in Bryce, and it was so spectacular that we went back to the same spot in the morning to watch the sun rise. The elevation is higher in Bryce than Zion, and the temperature difference helped us get the best night's sleep on the trip to that point. I took at least two rolls of film there, and several digital pictures.
First Stop, Zion
Zion National Park is just two hours or so outside of Las Vegas. We drove down the Vegas strip for fun since skp and I hadn't been there in years. It was a shock to go from the agitated streets of hyperreality and simulation to the calm vistas of Zion. We hiked Scout's Point/Angel's Landing one day, then hiked three miles or so into the Narrows another.
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I hear that July is one of the only safe times to hike through the Narrows...and even then you need to check the weather carefully. A rainshower miles away can flood the canyons quickly. There's really nowhere to go if you hear that rumbling water coming. We dutifully checked the posted weather reports and talked with park rangers before going.
Usually when I'm hiking, I see water as a barrier. It was strange to walk through the water to make progress. We started early in the morning, and only saw a few other people once we were miles in. We even took time to explore a side canyon. On the way out, in the afternoon, there were quite a few people coming in and the day was heating up. We were thankful for the early start. Next time, I'd like to backpack the entire length of the canyon.
We took along a cheapo waterproof camera, and the pictures didn't turn out too well.
July 30th, 2001
Zion Canyon
My trip was fantastic! More soon.
July 20th, 2001
I like to wash,
By way of experiment,
The dust of the world
In the droplets of dew.
By way of experiment,
The dust of the world
In the droplets of dew.
- Basho
Misc.
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I found these on a roll of film I just developed. Three of them are from a trip to the Lost Coast. The last one is a view of fireworks from my backyard on the 4th.
I'll be back sometime around August 1st with a slew of pictures. In the meantime, you might want to check out the archives at the bottom of the page. Which ones? It doesn't matter. It's all gold.
a very nice photo at harrumph!
July 17th, 2001
My quotes page is finally working again. You can browse by author now.
July 16th, 2001
Pretty soon I'll be trudging through knee deep water surrounded by 1,000 ft. cliffs on either side. The Narrows in Zion National Park is supposed to be a spectacular hike. I've been doing some reading about hiking in Zion, and found it can be a bit dangerous. (We'll be very careful, Mom!)
After Zion, we plan on visiting Bryce Canyon, Arches, and/or Canyonlands National Parks. I was surprised to learn that southern Utah is home to the largest concentration of National Parks.
On our way into Colorado, we're going to try to visit the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. Then we'll spend five days in Estes Park, with several trips into Rocky Mountain NP.
I figure I need to experience these natural wonders while I still can. ;) And I plan on taking plenty of photographs. If you have any tips for me -- or know specific sites I should see on this route -- let me know!
This article from MediaWeek about the crummy Internet climate isn't very noteworthy, except the wise last line: "Even the Great Depression was temporary." So we've got that going for us. Hey if it just takes insights like that, maybe I could be an analyst.
This last weekend was a movie weekend. The Score, Hard Eight, and You Can Count On Me. They were tense, stylish, and loveable. (in that order.)
July 13th, 2001
Tune into CNN Headline News right now and you may see Matt, Metafilter Matt talking about online hoaxes. (this is not a hoax.) Hopefully the segment will be repeated sometime today.
Talk about Big Brother... Arbitron has nifty new Portable People Meters that track the media consumption of participants. I'm sure it's more accurate than the diary method, but it seems like an invasion of privacy. They've already teamed up with Nielsen Ratings to get TV data using these boxes, and I can think of some other companies/organizations they can team up with that like to track what people are doing. [via aforementioned SOTD]
I can't believe I didn't notice this before: PR Watch (a public relations industry watchdog) has a weblog called Spin of the Day.
You can also find interesting stuff straight from the industry's mouth at O'Dwyer's PR Daily. (I especially like the media section.)
July 12th, 2001
I saw Mike Doughty at the Great American Music Hall last night. The show was him and an acoustic guitar. And singing. He can phrase a rhythmic turn like none other. It wasn't the magical ecstasy that was a Soul Coughing show, but it was great to hear some of his new songs. The crowd was surprisingly unruly, constantly shouting out the names of Soul Coughing songs. I'd like to hear Buddha Rhubarb Butter as much as the next guy, but geez people - he's got a show to do.
His site is good.
July 11th, 2001
I got this screen while working on a computer last night. You never like to see that. IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL! (sounds like a political slogan.)
How computers work
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July 9th, 2001
Death of a Dot-Com sounds painfully familiar.
In related news, I'm looking for a job. I live in the North Bay, and can make ASP + SQL Server work miracles. (Among other web based abilities.) If you want to hire me or know someone who might, let me know!
July 4th, 2001
happy birthday skp!
she was born on the fourth of july. she thinks the fireworks are for her. and they are, hon! (shh...don't say anything.)
July 3rd, 2001
Andre Radke has some great photos of Ireland at his site.
July 2nd, 2001
I feel Robert Cringely's pain. I live a bit southwest of his area, and I'm in the same situation...too far out for DSL. No cable Internet access. But I can see Santa Rosa from my backyard. And I'd also like to tap into the magic of 802.11b to bring fast access. I know very little about wireless, but I'm willing to learn. And when you can make some of the equipment you need, it doesn't have to be as expensive as Robert's setup. Now if only I could make a wireless network card with standard household items...