Author: gfox (old content)

Conditions Ungroomed

can you believe this is Mt Washington

Super mega wicked awesome, that was yesterday.

Friday night I climbed into be a little later that I had wanted, and tried to fall asleep quickly. The windstorm did not help though, and I probably got no more than 5 hours of sleep before my alarm went off at 5 am. Yikes. Pitch black out, wet, and cold. The only reason I could do it was I knew I was on my way to go snowboarding. This may turn out to be the only day I get in this season too.

Mike stopped by my place, we took off, and snagged Shane along the way. With everyone in the car we started the long drive to the mountain. Further up island we could see stars. We couldn’t believe that we might actually have nice weather considering the storm the night before.

On the mountain we could not believe the conditions. Stunning. While in line for our first run we could see the fresh snow, and desperately wanted to be on the slopes making first tracks. Once at the top, it was simply unbelievable. Light, fluffy, white gold. So very unlike Washington.

Pics are here. Read on for more.

After a couple quick runs for a warm up we hit the trees. Pure ecstasy. Loads of light powder, nice glades, tight turns, tons of fun. Each run down the mountain had different weather too. Sun, cloud, sun, snow, sun, wind, sun, fog.

The lineups for the eagle chair were pretty long so we got a good break between runs, but we wanted more. We decided to get a hot dog snack, and continue riding while everyone else went in for lunch. Good idea, but the hot dog stand was run by a bunch of dim wits who just didn’t get it. They were cooking the hot dogs as people ordered them. WTF? It is a hotdog stand right next to the busiest chair on the mountain. Throw a ton of them on, and you can get people eating quicker. It took us a half hour to get 2 hot dogs. That is just stupid long.

Once fed we headed over to the Boomerang chair that had finally opened. They were blasting for avalanche safety earlier and this caused delays in opening the chair.

What an addition to the mountain. Expert ungroomed runs. Steep, tight glades that were at my limit of comfort. I had to keep in mind that for terrain like this you have to attack the slope. You can’t be hesitant, you have to go for it, make your turns, not stop. It was awesome. The snow on this side was even nicer. Some of the short steep runs were super fun, but the longer runs were real leg burners. We did a few of the longer ones, and just as we decided to head over to the other side. As we loaded we heard the lifties called out last run.

Back on the other side we did a couple runs to get us back to the eagle chair. I decided to call it quits while Shane and Mike did one more run. I was so happy with how the day turned out, and I was already so tired, I didn’t mind at all. It gave me time to get changed, call Sox, and relax a bit before starting the drive home.

What a day though. I was completely wiped by the time we got home. I was able to unload my gear, grab a beer, check my email, then hit the sack. It was such an awesome day. I can’t accurately describe just how good the boarding was. I pushed my abilities, but never really felt like I was in over my head. There was one extremely steep, icy face that I ended up on that I would have rather avoided, but the whole way down all I could think of was how I could get in a position to start my turns. The new terrain is a wicked addition to the mountain. If only every day up there was as good as yesterday.

Hellish Relaxing

overlooking the ocean

What a weekend. As a Christmas present to me, Sox booked us in to Point No Point for a weekend. It was just what I needed. I’ve had a hellish few weeks, so the chance to get away from everything and spend some time with my wife relaxing, was sublime. The Eagle cabin (our usual) was gorgeous as usual. Overlooking the water we could hear the surf all weekend. Sox had to refrain from the hot tub this time, but I managed to get in a couple good soaks.

On Saturday we took a side trip to French beach, then back up to Sharky’s in Jordan River for some hot chocolate. Later, I took a hike on the Point No Point trails while Sox napped. Saturday night we ate dinner at the resort, and it was fabulous as always.

With some reluctance on Sunday we packed our belongings and headed home. I definitely felt relaxed and refreshed after the weekend. Back at home we dove into the continuing paint job. Hopefully we can finish this up quickly.

Yoshi Zing

You ever get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as soon as you realize (or it is pointed out) that you did something so utterly stupid that you will pay dearly for it?

This story started a couple weeks ago. Sox and I were going to paint a bunch of rooms in our house. We cleaned the walls, emptied the rooms, and generally did a lot of prep.

Last weekend some friends came over and helped us paint. We got 99% of it done in that weekend. All we had to do was some finishing touches, and paint our focus wall in the office. We had chosen Cranberry Zing. Very nice color. Very hard to get even across the wall. After 3 coats I think I have finally given up.

The story took a turn for the worse yesterday when we got a call from our dog walker. Seems Yoshi decided to chew on the plastic container (we know he likes to chew things) that I had used for painting the edges of the wall.

I hadn’t cleaned the container so there was some dried red paint in the bottom. Red latex paint. Red latex paint that didn’t dry all the way through.

The dog walker reported that there was dry paint on the carpet so we assumed that meant paint chips. There was that sinking feeling.

When we got home it was much worse than I thought. Paint smears that had dried were on the carpet in the office. Paint smears in the hallway. Smears on the hardwood and tile (easy to clean though), and paint on our couch (as well as a dog bed). There was even some paint on one of the counters (he must have gone counter surfing at one point). Uggh. Remember Cranberry Zing? A nice bright red color.

Down on our hands and knees we scrubbed and scrubbed until it was almost all out. Then I rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned the carpets. Not exactly what I was planning on doing that evening. I would have much rather been putting our things away in our newly painted rooms, but thankfully we seem to have gotten it mostly out. If you know where to look you will still be able to see a bit of red where there shouldn’t be any.

Today I am sore and tired, wondering when we will finally be finished this paint job. My fingers are especially raw today too. I just want to go home and crawl back into bed. Instead Sox and I have a weekend away (with no dog). Something relaxing, rejuvinating, and much needed.

Paint Economy

Ahh Home Depot. I could see myself spending lots of money there. Wait, I just did. Sox and I decided that we need to spruce up the shack a little so we decided to paint. In retrospect we should have asked our landlord for some money for paint, but we didn’t.

I know people complain about big box stores, and I know I should help the local economy but the store is pretty convenient. Add on some knowledgable staff, and we are set for painting this weekend.

We still have some prep to do before we can actually paint, and I hope I can get it done before the work party starts. Washing the walls sucks big time. With that out of the way we will be able to spackle and sand.

If anyone is interested in joining the work party, we would be grateful, and you will be full of food and beer. Just let me know.

Extraneous Downgrade

On this site I am using version Gallery 1.5.1. When I first discovered this software I thought it was awesome. It seemed fast, had an easy to use interface, I could get up and running in no time, configuration was a breeze, upgrading was simple, and it was stable.

There were rumours about Gallery 2 that was in the works. Something about a complete rewrite. It used a more modular development style, used a database backend, was supposed to be more configurable, and more exensible. When I could I downloaded a beta and gave it a test run.

The beta seemed stable enough, but lacked a lot of features that the regular stream already had. The admin interface was a bear; it felt overly complex and hard to grasp. Overall, it was also, very, very slow. So slow that I decided to dump it.

Over on another site I run (my baby blog [yes that means Sox is pregnant]) I decided to give Gallery 2 another go since it had been taken out of beta and released. I installed the files, got the database installed and the tables created, and set it up (the documentation was not straight forward),. I downloaded the necessary modules, enabled and configured them. So far so good.

Then I created my first album. The process was pretty familiar, but the end result was not what I liked. One of the stupid things that I dislike about Gallery 2 is the URL’s created for albums and pictures. I like clean URL’s with nice names, but even when I turn on the clean URL feature of Gallery 2, there was extraneous crap in the album URL’s (geeks get annoyed by the stupidest things). This software was also still way too slow.

I stuck with it for a while, but never grew to like it like the original it is supposed to replace. Yesterday I did a downgrade from Gallery 2 to 1.5.2-RC1.

I am much hapier. The interface is familiar (lame reason to downgrade), but the performance is back, the features I like are back, the ease of use is back. I dumped the crap I didn’t like and ended up with what I do like.

I sincerely hope that the Gallery team can fix the problems they have created. I think it is admirable that they chose to start from scratch the way they did. There is absolutely no way that the team will be able to please everyone. I don’t agree with some of the decisions they made (particularly the UI issues), and I wish them the best of luck because in my mind, they are going to have to make some drastic changes to get me to upgrade again.

My problem now is that the version I am using wil eventually be phased out. No more new development eventually, so what happens when there is a security flaw found? Apparently security fixes will continue to be released for this version, which I really hope is true. Still, makes me wonder if that will be the case.

2005 Photography in Review

Last year I did a year in photography gallery. I chose my best/favorite shot from each month, and made a special gallery containing just those picture. I continue this tradition today.

This is my 2005 Year in Review

snowy scene at thetis lake
Taken at Thetis lake, this was one of the very few snow days in Victoria in 2005.

trees at macaulay point park
A Macaulay Point Park walk with Yoshi. Nice sunny February day. I had looked through these trees many times before, but the light, the sky, and the clouds combined perfectly for this shot.Taken at Thetis lake, this was one of the very few snow days in Victoria in 2005.

cherry blossoms in black and white
This is an unusual shot of cherry blossoms done in black and white. In the camera I bumped up the contrast to achieve this almost infrared effect. Beyond this and the resizing, there are no enhancements.

streaming water effect
This is one of my most favorite pictures of the entire year. I saw this scene in my head as I looked at a slowly dripping fountain. I was able to achieve what I envisioned.

intertwined
Taken days after I got married. I love the colors, I love the rings, I love the depth of field, I love my wife.

large lily
The was one of the most amazing plants I photographed this year. While on this shoot I neglected to double check my camera’s settings. I was shooting ISO 1600 the entire time. This shot wasn’t ruined too badly though. I corrected the white balance, and bumped the contrast to accentuate the white.

craggy tree
A craggy old tree up at Rathtrevor beach, a wonderful backdrop, and a slight spotlight tokeep the eye interested. For some reason I can stare at this picture for hours.

ferocious lion
At a wedding reception for some very good friends the kids were entertained by clowns who did some face painting. E here was a ferocious lion. I can never get over how lucky I was with this shot. The right location, right timing, the right pose. I love it.

macaulay point sunset
Sunsets can be hard to capture. What you see is hardly what you get. I took many shots this day, but this is one of my favorites. The setting sun, the textured water, the fading colors.

covered bridge
Taken in Ottawa during the fall, the colors were a little more muted that previous years (or so I am told). On the way to a walk we drove through this bridge. After the hike we stopped a few times along the way so I could take some pictures.

rising mist
A smooth lake with a mirror finish, mist rising lazily, people out walking dogs. There definitely is an element of luck in photography.

dreamy fern
This was the highlight shot for December. Tough month photography wise. I didn’t get out very often due to Christmas plans. For this shot I stopped down the aperture, and bumped up the exposure time. With the shutter open I took half the time to zoom in, and the other half to expose the leaf. This creates a somewhat dreamy leaf.