'Ere, he says he's not dead. I think I'll go for a walk. I feel happy. I feel happy.

I'm not dead. Did a lot of stuff. I'll get back to you on it. Thank you for waiting. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Field Report

Nothing much to report. Still working some long night shifts and making use of my off-time.

We stopped by Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton last night, to check on the Star Trek Convention. We went over to Quark's Bar to see the action. I wore my own uniform. A lot of folks there were dressed up and enjoying themselves. We went there specifically because this is the last year we will be able to. The Hilton will be closing Star Trek: The Experience in September

Still preparing for Burning Man. We have as much stuff together as we can for now. I'll be volunteering at the Playa Info Directory; I like to jump right into the thick of it.

Cool Runnings

Hello again. This latest report brings you more news of my comings and goings.

I just got back from a trip to Florida for my parents' 50th Anniversary. We stayed in the Florida Gulf area. It was nice to get back to the landscape I grew up in. Humid savannas and swamps.

The beaches were nice, but gulf water always seems to provide a healthy nori soup to swim in, and there were jelly-fish warnings all week. We saw a few of them out there but had no incidents.

We went deep sea fishing for the first time in my life. We will be eating fish for the next couple of weeks.

I particularly enjoyed the bicycle-friendly lean to our area. We were able to get anywhere we really wanted to by bicycle.

We stopped by Providence Canyon State Park on the way back to see a nice lesson in erosion.

Some photos:

Green Acres

Howdy all. Thought I was forgetting about you didn't you? Well, I have been pretty busy. Here's a synopsis:

I took a trip to Portland last month. Great town. Great sights.
I'll be posting pictures soon enough. The highlights were dipping into the Pacific Ocean for the first time, a hike up Saddle Mountain, visiting the city and local breweries, going for walks around town, and visiting Mt. St. Helens on the anniversary of the eruption.

A few photos:




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I finished up a project I've been waiting to do, SpokePOV. Crazy lights for your bikes! It was really fun and all the soldering only took me 2 days in leisure.

This was partly in preparation of this year's Burning Man, of which I'll be attending. Our group has been prepping and planning since the beginning of the year.

License to Ill

Have not posted in a while. I thought I'd announce a photo gallery my friend D and I have been building on. It is a collection of interesting custom license plates we find here and there. Las Vegas is rife with them!

Houses of the Holy

The last few photos I posted were from my latest trip to the Valley of Fire State Park, where we did a Star Trek Tour. We hit some of the sites where Star Trek movies and Next Gen. TV shows were made. If you want a virtual travelogue with some action, watch The Beastmaster, which was partly filmed there.

I've been to this park several times before but I never get enough of its ... vastness.

On the road

Shoot The Glass

Just thought that I'd give a 'shout out' to my SFO pal in the NOC.

i cleanbot

I recently had an issue with my only method of carpet cleanliness, the Red Roomba.
Youtube to the rescue!
Note: I did watch it till the end but my superior Red Roomba lasted through the test. for the dust and dirt, it did Exterminate! Exterminate!

BTW, I was looking at iRobot's latest inventions, and I thought that their ConnectIR was pretty cool. They also have a PoolBot 3000 and something for the gutters, which I was thinking of gifting for my parents in leaf-town.

We be Jammin'

As you know I love Theremins. A friend of mine sent me a video link today of a fantastic musician Pamelia Kurstin.

Surf's up

Went snowboarding yesterday. I don't think I did so bad for my first time ever, however I spent most of my time lying down on my back or on my face. I'm pretty durned sore today. I can't say I remember having so many body parts feel this way at the same time...


Also, the High Rollers Scooter Rally was a blast. I took a bunch of photos, posted here. The rides were fun, and I wasn't always last of the pack. I got to re-meet and ride with some Vegas folks I met last year. All in all, it was good fun with (relative) speed and fumes.

1.21 Gigawatts!

My pal and I saw this De Lorean DMC-12 on the road back from Mount Charleston the other day. You can just about read the license plate. RUNDMC.
I think it traveled here through time from the 80's. It was not going 88 miles per hour.

Rock the waveform

I finished up my theremin project recently. I'm rocking out to some mystical space-age sounds.

Project page is here.

'Atza Big'A Pizza!

Bad stereo-type accents aside, I'd have to say that 3 Brothers Pizza in Henderson, NV has the freakin' biggest pizza in town. I even put a ball-point pen in the shot for scale. And I'm pointing at the pizza, in case you missed it.

Mmmmmmmmmm

zug zug

So I went ahead and canceled my WoW account, again. I don't play often enough to justify it, I've seen everything I want to see, and I'm not a big fan of spending 10 hours on a raid or getting elite gear. I'd like to go back and finish NeverWinter nights, KotOR, and the other great RPGs I have not finished. Also, I've been playing around on a private WoW server where I get to be GM! Bwahahahaha!

Hell, I don't think I ever finished the WarCraft III expansion....

Where's the 'any' key?

The weather is getting a little colder here, so I'll probably pick up some warmer motorcycle gloves at a sale. I'll soon put up a review of a shield defogger I found recently, called Cat Crap. I'm anticipating today's trip after work to Fry's to pick a Weller WTCPT soldering station for my mad plans. It appears to not be in much demand, as they are only getting one, and I called in to reserve it. Fry's had the best price I could find so far, which is highly unusual.

I will probably also stop by the boot store. To look at boots. Red Wing boots.

I am also eagerly awaiting the upcoming Las Vegas Scooter Rally which I missed last year due to a newly broken thumb in a splint.

Also also, I'm awaiting the paperback version of Terry Pratchett's latest novel. I'm still waiting for a decent and affordable ebook reader, and reasonable ebook prices, but until then I will hold out for paperbacks.

wally world

By the way, if you buy a utility knife at Wal-Mart for under $1, expect $1 worth of use. this knife lasted me about one use before the grip pin departed, and then a couple uses before the whole shebang mutinied:

It's got what plants crave!

I finally got my hands on the drink that will be the downfall of society as we know it. After drinking this stuff, I can only stay still long enough for a short review. This is some good stuff as far as 'energy drinks' go. It's got 200mg of caffeine, it's nuclear-waste green, and it's great to show off to your friends and family (if they are one of the few to get the reference to the movie Idiocracy).

No disasseble number five!

I just realized today that I am 5 1's years old. There's only one other time in my life left where I'll see my age line up like that, if I live that long. Hooray for me!

He's got crazy flipper fingers

One habit I'm picking up lately is regular visits to the Pinball Hall of Fame out here in Las Vegas. I'm felling pretty stoked because a recent episode of John C. Dvorak's CrankyGeeks has him visiting the same place on his visit to Las Vegas for CES 2008. One of the games he plays is my favorite in the place, Orbitor 1:


After a great day of scootering around with friends and taking photos, we ended up at the pinball arcade, and once again enjoyed the splendor of rare, old, odd, and awesome amusements.



I give thanks to the dedicated Mr. Tim Arnold, whom you can meet anytime in the arcade. He's that dude you'll see there with his head under a machine panel with a continuity tester and a soldering iron.