proper observations

google walk

2007-11-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

we need google walking maps:
(1) avoid hills -- the "alternative route" option which prioritizes topography by overlaying topo map data (readily available) with google mapping functionality;
(2) plan exercise route -- pull route out as google calculates distance and find some hills as google also calculates topography delta;
(3) drag and drop route changes -- like the new google maps feature, but without the car right of way requirements
(4) google algorithm that can suggest alternative routes based on popular routes chosen by others on google walk, allow you to find nearby hills, alternative route avoiding busy streets, increase hills, cut or add to distance, you get the idea.

benefits:
a. walking is green.
b. google walk = google bike = google run
c. exercise is good for human health and wellbeing.
d. walking gets people out into their community on a regular basis.

nara (june 2007)

2007-06-18T23:43:00.001-07:00

we visited Nara on a daytrip from Kyoto

the kofukuji temple, with its five story pagoda, is a world heritage site

check the cartoon version

Nara is famous for the "semi-wild" or "tame" deer that roam about the park (the guidebook says there are 1000s).

they were originally regarded as divine messengers of one of the shinto gods and now are a tourist attraction.

the deer were not wary of humans (in part because we feed them deer biscuits sold by local vendors).
one result is you see fantastic deer cleaning tricks

in june, Nara also has lots of school kids

including some who pestered, and petted, the deer

ignoring the angry deer warnings

the juxtaposition was interesting

the todaiji temple, "the largest wooden building in the world," is another world heritage site

it houses a huge buddha

and a model of the temple which shows how it looks on the two days each year when they open the top windows to reveal the buddha

inside they had this politely worded sign

Pindola sits outfront

the explanation is interesting

kasuga taisha shrine, yet another world heritage site, is famous for its lanterns

there is a 1000 year old japanese cedar tree in the courtyard of the shrine

with a chinese juniper tree growing out of its roots and through the roof of one of the buildings

i love that they commemorate this with a sign rather than cutting it down

nearby, i found this torii

and this sign and tree

vendors sold cutsie deer products all over the site

and deer were featured in ads

and on stone lanterns

a new federal government

2007-05-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

we (the "united states of america") need a new federal system. one body (“the fedreps”) instead of the president, senate, and house of representatives. 100 officials elected in a nationwide election (one vote per citizen). the top 100 form the government. the majority rules on regular governmental decisions, super majority for changes to basic rules and other more important issues. like a single-bodied parliment, hopefully without the crutch of party politics.

census.gov (http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/elections/votingage_population_and_voter_participation/) reports that there were 142 million registered voters in 2004 (72 percent of the 197 million citizens of voting age), and 125 million voted (63.8%). it was a presidential election so the numbers were high. one percent of registered voters would be around 1,420,000 (one percent of voters might be as low as 1,250,000). any group that could find that many voters, nationally, would be represented in the government. get one vote. with 100 representatives, the majority would hopefully balance into an effective representative government.

you would see a lot more women (67 million women voted in 2004, 58 million men). national-issue candidates (ralph nader, the greens, the aclu, the nra, aarp) would have a shot at proportional representation. as would local and regional candidates. we might get some television personalities. film stars. religious leaders. academics. authors. queers. republicans. democrats. independents? libertarians?

we might see voting blocks. the 2004 census data shows that we had 14 million black voters that year. and, voter drives might empower the 9 million additional black citizens of voting age. or the 13 million immigrants who were naturalized citizens eligible to vote but did not (7 million did vote; another 19 million are not u.s. citizens). 17 million voting veterans. 108 million voting non-veterans. we might see more mothers. maybe some school teachers?

urban areas would get proportional representation. big cities like ny (manhattan, brooklyn, queens and the bronx) and los angeles - with over 2 million voters each - would have significant voting power. as would the bay area (alameda, contra costa, san francisco, san mateo, santa clara) with 1,703,000 voters in 2004. washington d.c.’s 204,000 voters would finally get representation. (statistics by county: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/PresidentialByCounty.aspx?oi=P&rti=G&sp=Ca&tf=l).

we could increase the number of representatives (with 150 representatives, it would take 1 million voters to elect a representative; with 300 representatives, it would take 500,000 voters to elect a representative). try to find a workable balance.

the current system clearly isn’t working. people distrust politicians. a number of people are not represented because the group they belong to has insufficient local numbers (but sufficient national numbers): greens; libertarians?; librarians?; goths?; major religions; geologists?; minor religions (depending on size); pagans who vote?; atheists?; welfare recipients?; vegetarians? small states currently have disproportionate power. urban areas are underrepresented. density is discriminated against.

hawaii part 4

2007-01-31T11:00:00.000-08:00

day 8 we went scuba diving with south kona scuba. our dives were off the shore near puuhonua o honaunau (aka city of refuge). this was our 3d and 4th dives, and so we are still getting used to the whole elvin-magic breathing under water trick. i must say, though, it is an amazing experience. worth trying at some point in your life. i saw an eel poke its head out of a coral reef. and, we saw a sea turtle down deeper. and coral. and fish.

we mostly chilled the rest of the day. and visited a beach near sunset. from the beach, we saw what looked like a whale tail - it flipped up 10+ times in a row. so we tried to book a whale watching tour for day 9. the only time we could get, however, was early morning the day we were leaving.

day 9 we visited puuhonua o honaunau national historical park (aka city of refuge).

the guidebook says these are modern carved effigies of gods

i found some interesting details that the brady bunch failed to highlight

the guidebook says this spot held the royal palace and a puuhonau sanctuary. my understanding is that certain things were kapu - forbidden - by hawaiian law/custom. for which, the punishment was death. if you made it to a sanctuary, you would be absolved. however, you had to get past the armed warriors (of the royal palace) and/or make it by sea (the guidebook mentions shark infested waters).

we saw more basking sea turtles. and a nice place to chill with the ocean.

and look for fish

we then went to mauna kea - a dormant volcano with a peak of 13,796 feet above sea level (plus 19,678 feet below sea level, since it starts on the ocean floor).

with a 4wd, you can drive to the top, where they have a bunch of observatories.

we learned that the big island is perfect for the observatories because: (1) hawaii is isolated from other land masses, so the wind is more calm; (2) light pollution is minimized due to distance to cities, special street lamps the cities use, and the fact that clouds often box in the city light; (3) hawaii is close to the equator, which is better for seeing more of the sky; and (4) the atmosphere is thinner at the top.

and you can see a bunch of cone shaped peaks (some laced with snow) for the volcano.

it is cold, and you cannot go into the observatories there, but it is nice to see.

down the road a bit, the ellison onizuka visitor center has telescopes set up for star gazing and a volunteer points out some interesting bits in the sky. check the weather - we visited our first night and it was cloudy. on this night, it was cloudy until we got to the visitor center and we had a sparkly clear sky to see. it was beautiful. and, we learned that the visitor center is a better place for people to star gaze because the lower atmosphere up top makes people dizzy.

day 10 we left our house early (6am) to go whale watching. humpback whales retreat to hawaii in the winter and kona is a good place for whale watching.

we saw a few whales breach.

as did this person in the small boat

we saw a bunch of whales not breaching

and learned that you can identify hunchbacks by their tails

we also saw some dolphins

(view the whole whale watching slideshow)

then, after lunch on the beach, we caught an early afternoon flight back to sf.

hawaii part 3

2007-01-30T21:39:00.000-08:00

day 6 was more time in volcano national park.

we drove up to the mauna loa lookout. it was pretty clear but i thought the view of kilauea crater was better from below. we also visited kipuka puaulu, which is a forest that is surrounded by, but was left clear of, a prior lava flow.

then we went down chain of craters road to see the kilauea lava flow. the volcano has been actively spewing lava every day since 1983. the lava currently flows primarily from side vents, and not from the caldera which we hiked the day before. on the way down, you see the steam clouds where the lava meets the ocean.

looks somewhat like smoke from a fire. the usgs summary notes: "when lava meets the sea, large steam plumes (dubbed "laze" for lava haze) are created as the more than 1100°C (2012 °F) lava boils and vaporizes seawater. a portion of this steam recondenses and rains out of the plume as acidic precipitation that has been enriched with seawater salt, and contains tiny glass fragments generated by the intense physical interaction of hot lava and cool seawater."

the other direction looked eerie as well (not sure why)

at the bottom, the lava has gone over the road

so you park a ways off and hike out over dried pahoehoe lava

past some warning signs

to a lookout. which gives you better views, but not that close.

we hiked around to the far side of the lookout. we were right above this beautiful black sand beach

and could also see steam vents above the lava

when the sun was down, we starting seeing the lava through the steam.

it was mesmerizing. check my slideshow (tip: reset time to 1 second).

for the most part, the lava flows to the ocean under the dried lava in lava tubes. however, there are vents here and there where the lava is not covered by the lava tube. we had hiked in 3.5 miles in light, and had to hike back out 3.5 miles in the dark. but, we heard from some canadians (Megan and Walid) that you could see lava up close by hiking inland (in the dark). so we did. after a while, we started seeing glowing lava in the distance. along the way, i remembered the warnings that we could fall into an active or no-longer active lava tube with a weak roof. and, we ended up going through aa lava as well, which is spiky, sharp, and difficult to walk across.

with about 2.5 - 3 miles of hiking, we ultimately made it to a pretty big lava vent.

it was basically like a big fire place sized furnace with spots of slow-flowing lava. we were close enough to touch it. the rocks under our feet were hot. i had my tripod but was a bit anxious when trying to take photos.

and, then, after Mark pointed to the lava flowing beneath my feet in a crack between two rocks

it was time for me to find cool rocks to stand on so that i could stop worrying about falling in.

Walid, fearless, borrowed my tripod and spent 20 minutes close in taking pictures - which showed the slow moving lava expanding (hopefully will get a flickr link).

we then had another 3 miles to hike back to the car. all the stars were out. the lava vent we had visited seemed to be growing bigger as we hiked away. the whole trip took 8 hours; with 9 miles of hiking. it was exhausting, and magical.

day 7 we moved houses again. i was jonesing to take some life-sized shots in volcano with my polaroid, so we hiked down to the kilauea caldera in the morning. in the rainforest on the way down, i took these:

then, i took a series on the caldera floor

i think the life-sized really gives you a sense with the small plants that are colonizing the caldera floor

our next house was in south kona. on the way, we stopped at a beach with sea turtles.

water flowers

and birds

check back for days 8-10.

hawaii part 2

2007-01-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

day 4 we moved houses to volcano.

on the way, we visited laupahoehoe.

this beautiful spot on the ocean was hit by a tsunami in 1946 (which destroyed a local schoolhouse, killing 24 teachers and children)

check this warning sign:

we also went to the hawaii tropical botanical garden

it was rainy. my best camera stopped working. not everything is native. but it was magical and worth the $15 admission fee.

we visited rainbow falls

and lava tree state monument

rough guide says the lava trees were formed when fast moving lava hit the trees and cooled, and then an earthquake drained the remaining lava flow. it also had some great trees.

our house in volcano was located in a rainforest.

day 5 we went to volcano natl park

we hiked down to the kilaueu iki crater floor, which last erupted in 1959, sending lava 1900 feet up. the hike down to the crater floor took us through a pretty lush rainforest with beautiful fern shoots.

the caldera floor was mostly dry and barren, with a number of steaming vents.

beautiful rocks

some plant life

after crossing the crater, we went back up through another lush rainforest

we spent the rest of the day on the road around the caldera. along the way, we saw these birds:

we stopped at halemaumau crater, which mark twain described in 1866 as a "heaving sea of molton fire"

it looked more volatile than the rest of the caldera

the lookout had color coordinated tourist

and the nene

who we were warned not to feed

check back for days 6-10

hawaii part 1

2007-01-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

hawaii was great.

day 1 we arrived. got a rental car. drove north east from kona to our house for the first three nights, which was a few houses down from the the overlook for waipio valley.

the house had a view of the ocean. and maui, except it was mostly shrouded in clouds. (and construction.) the place was tropical and alive. there were a variety of birds making noise. at night, really loud tree frogs took over (they are reported to "reach 70 to 90 decibels"). the sound they make is like their name - coqui. i found this soothing. a kind of cleansing. i got into their communal rhythms and felt more connected to the planet and its other inhabitants. i have a similar response to the sound of the ocean, wind through woods, crickets. but, not everyone likes their clamour. and, since the coqui are not indigenous - coming from puerto rico - and cause problems, people are trying to get rid of them.

day 2 we hiked down into the valley. i took some polaroid samples along the way.

samples are life-sized polaroids.

the hike took us to a beautiful, and mostly empty, beach.

we crossed and went up the other side to the point on the right

which provided a nice view of the valley

i took more polaroid samples along the way

this kind of photograph feels more truthful to me. it answers the question: how big is it?

we saw horses along the way and mark learned from a woman on the trail that they are wild

she gave us a bunch of small bananas, which we fed to a horse or two

we had to cross a stream to get to the beach (and beyond). and to get back.

(view the slideshow; reset time to 1-2 seconds)

the road (down and) back up

was pretty steep. it was a 4wd road. tour books warned it was dangerous with a 4wd, but it seemed like you would just need to be careful. the bigger hazards were the ditches filled with water on the road to the beach. we were on foot; which was strenuous at times; and rewarding.

day 3 we went to the hilo farmer's market

(check the 10 photo slideshow; reset time to 1-2 seconds).
a cave in a lava tube

akaka falls

which was in a rainforest, where it was rainy.

and kalopa state park, which had a short hike through native vegetation

each day had some pretty impressive highlights. check back for days 4-10

my cellular phone

2006-10-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

sucks. in a bad way.

worst feature: it resets the ring tone in my pocket. didn't always do this. resets to "silent" like this is it's evolutionary destiny. water down a stream. maybe it's possessed.

next worst feature: it is the "clamshell" variety so i open it to answer the phone. many times, when i open to answer, it does not answer the phone.

also broken: led display when closed works sometimes, not others. when it is not working, then i cannot see the phone number calling before opening the phone and i have to open the phone to see the time.

and, it is leaving me. when i get downsized. someday soon. traitor.

the curious incident involving the blue planet

2006-10-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

i spent a day and night chilling with friends on sat. sept. 30th. near the end of the day, we watched two 50 minute documentaries from the bbc called blue planet. the first was the deep and the second open oceans. narrated by david attenborough, these are public television documentaries with a clue-y narrator and lots of talk. the message, across the many species in the ocean surveyed here, was food chain. life is comprised of a struggle to find food, find a mate/reproduce, avoid becoming something else's dinner, and providing means for offspring. most seemed to travel in packs.

fascinating to watch. not my favorite kind of documentary. i prefer the microcosmos variety. but surveys can be good as well.

anyway, it caused me to think about how different life is for many humans (all the people i know). food and safety are key components of our lives. but everything is attenuated. extremely. food generally involves the work of others and is acquired with money (farm supplies, farmers, processing, distribution, reprocessing, sometimes preparation). i think of a burrito as a key food for a city kid - inexpensive, filling, delicious, somewhat vegetarian-friendly, well-distributed with so many good taqueries in cities like san francisco. would anyone eat them if we had to hunt and gather.

notwithstanding the recent nyt magazine story on elephants killing humans, predators are rare and mostly controlled. most live their lives without encountering a predator species (aside from a zoo's cages and the like). easy to do. of course, humans kill. intentionally, recklessly, negligently, accidentally. governments generally try to regulate this for their own populations. and, unfortunately, governments often seem to inflict this on other populations.

i have been a vegetarian for 18 years. am gay. not driven to reproduce (further study). watching the film (a human-specific trait, the creation and watching of films). intoxicated (not human specific, but not presented in the blue planet). leisure (they showed dolphins and whales playing). i recognized that - from the perspective of the video - humans are drastically different from the vast majority of life on earth. i knew this already - the computer i am writing this on is good evidence of the human-specific-tools i rely upon; the forming or reforming of the materials of the home i am living in are similarly human specific (steel, concrete, glass, wood, marble, brass, clay, porcelin....). and the film reminded me again.

i walked james, who brought the movie, to his car parked in a nearby parking garage. on the way, we crossed paths with numerous packs of humans that felt very much like the packs in the ocean. at some point in a saturday night out in the city (bars, restaurants, movies, other performances). the first were related by age and ethnicity, could have been friends and former classmates coming from a wedding rehearsal dinner. then we passed some families coming from the family-style restaurant near the movie theater. and groups with other connections. overlapping while waiting in line to pay at the parking garage. in the elevator. but travelling in packs. i saw a few cars on the walk - driving somewhat recklessly - all testosterone and filled with the violent lot (15 to 25 year old men, or thereabouts, some women). it felt like sharks were in the water.

the films reminded me of, and provided some context for, this fish skeleton.

a few days later, while reading "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" (wiki), the narrator (who is the good at maths variety of autistic, wiki above says its asperger's syndrome, which makes sense) watches the same blue planet videos. he describes the deep:

"the video was about the sea creatures who live around sulfur chimneys, which are underwater volcanoes where gases are ejected from the earth's crust into the water. scientist never expected there to be any living organisms there because it was so hot and so poisonous, but there are whole ecosystems there.

"i like this bit because it shows you that there is always something new that science can discover, and all the facts that you take for granted can be completely wrong. and also i like the fact that they are filming in a place which is harder to get to than the top of mount everest but is only a few miles away from sea level. and it is one of the quietest and darkest and most secret places on the surface of the earth. and i like imagining that i am there sometimes, in a spherical metal submersible with windows that are 30 cm thick to stop them from imploding under the pressure. and i imagine that i am the only person inside it, and that it is not connected to a ship at all but can operate under its own power and i can control the motors and move anywhere i want to on the seabed and i can never be found."

kid has issues with people. would not function well on his own. has some beautiful and funny thoughts. looking for a book to read - this one is great.

sins of thought

2006-10-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

today i finished jamie o'neill's "at swim two boys" (2001). a beautiful book. it got great reviews. o'neill's website tipped me to the fact that it is also choreographed for dance.

anyway, i learned about three catholic sins of thought.

"time passed, and it was the discriminations and distinctions of sin, with regard to impure thoughts, that held jim's mind. that the church should see so far ahead, so deeply inside the soul, that no contingency was overlooked but she planned for all the twistings and quibblings of conscience: it was a majestic thing to contemplate, a structure built of thought and logic, magnificent and complex as the cathedrals the protestants had stolen from her. in the end, whether his hand moved to that solitary vice was neither here nor there. for already there was the sin of desiderium, which was the desire for what is sinful; of delectatio morosa, the pleasure taken in a sinful thought; of gaudium, the dwelling with the complacency of sins already committed."

wiki groups the three in the entry for internal sin and includes two biblical quotes, including the following: "but i tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

i wonder why so much fuss? but then, i tend to agree with donald urquhart:

(from his show at jackhanley, blogged here)

overheard at the gym (true story)

2006-10-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

i arrive at the gym at 9:10 and start changing into my gym clothes. an older man walks up, says "murphy's law." people do not talk to strangers so much at this gym. he is referring to the fact that his locker is located in an area of the locker room that is currently crowded - a few men changing including me. the locker room is otherwise pretty empty. he appears to be the outgoing type. he is dressed in a suit and tie, mid 50s, plain. when i later look up, i am surprised to see that he is naked. i was expecting him to change into gym shorts, like me. and, i chalked this up as evidence that he is likely gay. straight men generally do not stand around locker rooms naked. in fact, some men (straight and gay) even change in and out of their underwear or bathing suits under a towel. i guess everyone has their own issues. anyway, the naked guy has a cell phone and is calling someone. cell phone use is prohibited in this locker room. i hear a woman through his phone. he is close and she is loud. he indicates (a) he is at the gym, (b) "no, i have 30 more minutes here," and (c) he will meet her after that. then he hangs up and heads, towel on shoulder, to the room with the showers, sauna, and steamroom. like most of what i overhear in public, i will never get the story of what is going on. for me, this overhearing felt like a scene from a movie - a comedy - and is ripe for speculation.

stretch mix (originally posted 09.25.06)

2006-10-01T21:57:00.000-07:00

i have a short stretch program i do at the gym.

before i ride the bicycle.

there are 15 stretches, some right/left or this way/that way make the total more like 25.

i try to hold each stretch for around 30 seconds.

i figured out that a 20-40 second playlist, with some editing, worked pretty well.

computers can be user friendly for organizing music.

my stretch list tells me how long to hold a particular pose.

when to move to the next one.

it operates as a personal counter.

"i am not wearing any underwear today," from the avenue q soundtrack, does not fail to humor or to cause me to feel devious.

(view the 10 photo stretchslideshow?)

and, i need more. you want to engage in the project and tell me (in comments here) what you found, don't you? cause, see, that way together we can build a better stretch mix.

operating instructions for stretch mix
0. open itunes (or whatever digital music software program you use)
1. create a new playlist named stretch (file - new playlist)
2. sort your library by time;
3. select all songs with length between 18 and 42 seconds (or thereabouts);
4. drag and drop the songs into your stretch playlist
5. open stretch playlist
6. delete books on tape, voice memos, heavy metal or whatever does not work for you in 20-40 seconds of stretching
7. you are left with a stretch mix.

or something like that. you get the idea.

for me, the "requiem for a dream" soundtrack is the best provider - eight songs performed by kronos quartet.

badly drawn boy gave me three in "about a boy".

peterson's field guide provided "larks and pipits," "gulls," "hummingbirds and kingfishers," and "shrikes and waxwings."

i need to rip more soundtracks. i need to add craig's (and other) field recordings. kyle's gotta have something he can hook me up with (there must be 30 second bay area improvisers pieces, right?). lara?. and, they have to have some 30 second outtakes of their own work. i need to make my own field recordings. i could also engage a digital scapel to get some 30 second pieces.

i need more quick glen gould or other classical piano and/or whatnot.

help a boy out with some tips? comment.

"it smells of sulfur still today" (originally posted 09.22.06)

2006-10-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

on wednesday (09.20.06), hugo chavez (president of venezuela), speaking from the "lecturn" in front of the united nations' general assembly, stated: "the devil came here yesterday, right here. it smells of sulfur still today, this table that i am now standing in front of." the nyt reported that this remark, referring to president bush (who spoke at the same spot the day before), resulted in "gasps and even giggles."

the comment - coming from outside the us - reminds me of the postcard piece from rigo23's recent show at gallery paule anglim. titled may 31, 2005, the piece is composed of korean characters, painted in three-dimensions, yellow and red on a silver background. ink and acrylic on unstretched canvas. it looks metallic and is huge (42" x 96"). the combination has the feel of propaganda to me. the phrase - attributed to north korean press - translates to "vice president dick cheney is a 'blood-thirsty beast.'"

true enough.

which, in turn, reminds me of travis millard's poignant drawingcomparing dick cheney's soul to the tip of an ant tooth.

true enough.

i do not believe in "the devil" who animates the chavez and bush worlds. i am happy to see that someone who does - a world leader - is willing to publicly assert that our president is evil. the devil reference even seems appropriate given that bush claims moral authority, in part, from his assertion that he directly communicates with "god."

condoleezza rice was reported in the nyt as responding that chávez's comments were "not becoming of a head of state." this "becoming of a head of state" test would fail bush again and again. and, as noam chomsky noted (also in the nyt), in addition to assuring reporters that he was not dead yet: "the bush administration backed a coup to overthrow [chavez's] government. suppose venezuela supported a military coup that overthrew the government of the united states?"

michael (originally posted 09.18.06)

2006-10-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

i was working with positives (you know, the opposite of negatives, often called slides, from the analog photography days). sleeving them, fitting some into slides, scanning. i looked down and saw a black glove on my left hand, no glove on my right. and then it happened. i had this eerie identification with michael jackson. i think: "maybe michael was crafty." one hand gloved, the other not, can be useful for some craft projects. must be other areas where this is true.

while typing the above, a more plausible explanation hits me. maybe michael is obsessive/compulsive. he confines touching things that come into contact with the general public to the one gloved hand. kinda like when you have washed up at a public restroom and try not to touch the doornob as you leave. only all the time.

and, if so, what to do with the contaminated glove? bad to carry it around with you. can't rest your hand on your body. don't want any common germs (or worse) jumping from the glove. risk self-contamination when taking off the glove. being obsessive/compulsive, maybe he has some high-tech clean-box that he can periodically place his gloved hand into to be disinfected. and/or, perhaps the glove has some patented germ resistant coating (think teflon for germs). i bet he switches to a new glove at least once a day. so wasteful.

(this story would work much better with some illustrations from travis millard)

point lobos perimeter hike (originally posted 9.5.6)

2006-10-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

we went hiking on sunday (9.3.6) a few miles south of carmel on hwy 1.

the point lobos perimeter hike was rated one of the top ten in the "beach and costal walks" category of a california hiking guide (circa 2003).

i used the opportunity to try out a new digital camera (nikon d200).
we saw a bunny

an egret

some sort of natural tree blanket, a tree shaped like an arrow, too much poison oak, and some other stuff

the trip produced two slide shows
(tip: reset time on slideshow to 1 second)
bully bird slideshow
sea gull slideshow

initiation

2006-10-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

greetings. i decided to divide my blogging. art show coverage will remain at proper's notes. observations, often of life in the city, will be posted here. i am going to start by cross-posting the relevant archive from proper's notes.