Monthly Archives: March 2008

by Ramona

I have skiied

OK …. I have now been skiing. Sort of a prerequisite for Colorado residence. We went to Steamboat, which Kevin informs me is a quintessential Colorado Ski Experience.

I tried to use the Flickr Manager, but it spun and spun and wouldn’t let me do anything. Didn’t know enough to know better, so I just gave up. You can view the one & only picture of Ramona in skis at the regular place.

We also learned that our camera Does Not like cold weather. Just like on the Mills Lake hike, we took a few pictures, and then the camera stopped working. That’s why there’s only one picture.

This picture was taken early in the day, with me standing in the Adult Ski Training Corral. I have mastered standing upright while perfectly still and am thinking dark thoughts about skiing, people who ski, and people who bring their spouses skiing.

It took about 2 1/2 hours in the (3-hour) class before I finally ‘got’ the basic concept of how to distribute your weight and control the skis (things like speed, navigation, and staying upright while moving). After that, I started having fun. I would say that things started going uphill, except that the whole time was spent going downhill.

On the first day, I did the class, and then the bunny slopes (there are three bunny routes) a few times and then it was time to go home. The second day, I reviewed the bunny slopes for an hour or so, then started venturing out into the green slopes. (Map – Day 1 was Preview, Lil Rodeo, and Stampede; Day 2 I did the routes starting with Boulevard & Main Drag; I also did Why Not)

And it was all made even better because the Hot Springs were directly across from our hotel. We went there right after skiing, both days. Sat in a 103 degree hot spring mineral pool while it snowed on us. It was heaven.

by chris

This is why I bought the camera

Here is an awesome shot from the past weekend while visiting the relatives down in Victoria.

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That is as it came out of the camera.  There is no photoshop magic, no cropping, ect.  The only thing done is converting to JPG from RAW and the default resize that flickr does.

Personally, I love that I was able to get an action shot as Aleah was getting pushed around by her cousins.

by Ramona

Arthurs Rock

OK, we went hiking again.

I’m going to try to post pictures like a tech savvy person. We’ll see……

Arthurs Rock, bottomArthur’s Rock (the rocky thing to the right), as seen from Horsetooth Reservoir

Arthurs Rock, topHorsetooth Reservoir, as seen from Arthur’s Rock. Fort Collins spread out beyond.

Kevin on the trailKevin on the trail

Kevin on the topKevin on the top

Ramona on the trailRamona on the trail

Ramona on the topRamona on the top

OK … now to see if the picture thing worked … Chris, if I did it wrong, let me know …

by chris

Google Sky

Was anyone else aware of this?

Google Sky

Looking up stars, constelations, all that good stuff is neat and all but the feature that really hits me as ‘cool’ is the ‘historical overlay’.  Essentially, and overlay of all the constelations.  Ever wonder where one is?  Search for it; I was able to verify that I do, in fact, know where Gemini is.

Anyway, it’s an interesting way to spend a few minutes.

by chris

Firing up the grill – Ribs!

We recently lucked out and got a bag of charcoal that contained huge pieces that are well suited for long cooking sessions, so we had to do something that requires a long cooktime.  So this past weekend we decided to try something new on the smoker: Ribs!

Here’s the ribs with a rub applied, resting before we put them out:IMG_2720

And nearly at the end of the 5 hour cook, we decided to toss on some sausage for extra meat goodness. We also wanted an excuse to grab a picture of the ribs on the gril.  For the record, I lifted the grill just long enough to toss the sausage in.  Christina was waiting with the camera and snapped two shots.  So we didn’t just stand there with the grill open for the photo-op.

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Lastly, though this isn’t a great shot of the ribs, we took them up to where Christina knits for consumption.  The two people sitting are the owners (who, incidently, are the people we got our new-to-us dining table and hutch from) and the lady in the distance is a certified Master Knitter who does classes at the shop.

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We are probably going to do this again this weekend when a friend comes down, though we haven’t decided if we want to do ribs or something else.  Perhaps if we have time we’ll do ribs and something else.  That’d be tasty.

by Ramona

Hiking

We went hiking – up Horsetooth, local landmark. If we ever have visitors who want to hike, this’ll be an easy obvious choice.

There are some pictures at http://ramona.4101.org/ – all the ones that start with ‘Horsetooth’. The order – if you want to look at them in order – is R_base, K_base, R, K_west, K_east, K_chasm. The March08 picture is a shot of Horsetooth itself.

No; I haven’t really figured out how to link pictures to the message board. Or use Flickr.

by Ramona

New Diet/Exercise concept

Heard about this on NPR – http://www.stickk.com/

Basic idea – you have a goal; you write up a contract with these folks saying you’ll meet that goal. Generally weight loss/exercise, but they have ‘learn to play the piano’ listed – so it could be anything. It’s the social contract idea.

Twist – you can get money involved. If you’re really serious about meeting that goal, you can put some money at stake. You give them the whole amount up front; if you meet the goal, you get it back; if you don’t, the money goes to whoever else you’ve designated.

Second twist – You can designated a charitable organization to be your beneficiary. The twist comes in when you designate a charity you vehemently disagree with. The Kill the Whales foundation or something. So it’s lose the weight …. or else.

Chattered with Mum about it … didn’t remember the website then, I’d just heard the show and hadn’t looked anything up. She asked me to send it to her .. thought I’d post it instead; thought you guys might think the concept was interesting, too. And we have to find a group that Mom would hate enough to be a motivating factor .. I haven’t thought of any yet.

Ideas?

by chris

Fun with a polarizer

For christmas I recieved a circular polarizer lens.  Following is a few example shots of just what kind of effect you can get out of this filter.  Each was taken back to back, just enough time to change the filter setting.  (ie, rotate it a bit)

Focusing on fence with a building backdrop:

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reflections off a car window:

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sky and shadows:

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reflections on the glass of a fishtank:

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(note: each of these images should link back to my flickr account.  I’m liking the easy management in flickr, though I’m not totally sold on the system yet.)