Catchup!

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It has been a while since I’ve published on the blog. Today I updated the CA Tick List and thought I’d post some brief comments for each new mark. SF Symphony Sea to sky hike Napa wine drinking Anchor overnight at Angel Island SF Symphony This past July we attended the SF Ballet at Stern Continue reading “Catchup!”

2019: Goals

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I’ve updated my 2018: Goals post with final results. Similar to last year, here is a list of my goals for 2019. I plan to update this post throughout the year with progress reports. Complete 1 piece of wooden furniture Complete 1 Kickstarter project Earn 1 dollar of self employment income from an online business Continue reading “2019: Goals”

Sailing Trip, San Francisco Bay, CA

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“Stab it! Stab it! Did you get it? Stab it!” *

“Ahh… I’m trying”

“Alright! Nice! Now pull it back and cleat it.”

This was the end of the scene that played out in Ayala Cove on Angel Island this Labor Day as we were hooking up to the mooring balls to spend the night on our sailboat for the first time outside of a marina. I was driving trying to get the boat into position and Megan was hanging off the bow, attempting to use our boat hook to feed the line through the loop on top of the floating mooring ball.

Just before the actual mooring, we had docked at the day use slips in order to flake out the ropes and go over the sequence of tasks needed to moor the boat. The state park service expects all boaters to connect to bow and stern balls and after a failed attempt at bow first, we made a mid operation change in order to tie off the stern first which ended up being a better sequence.

Since the motion of the boat is restricted once attached at one end, it makes sense to back up to one ball while keeping the bow pointed toward the second forward ball. Then, once the stern line is passed through, you can simply motor forward and pick up the bow connection. The currents from Raccoon Straight tend to swirl through the cove which makes this difficult for many, but we had planned ahead and arrived at slack tide when the currents would be minimal.

We managed to get both lines attached on the second try and shut off the engine. Megan did a great job with our boat hook to feed the lines and I managed to keep the boat pointed in the right direction. This was the culmination of about 6 months of solid effort to get here. Continue reading “Sailing Trip, San Francisco Bay, CA”

bzzzztt

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May 4th had the makings of a typical day. I rode my bike to work in the morning, and got a call from a coworker about 10 minutes before arriving to my building. He wanted to move a piece of equipment in order to test it in another area of the lab. He wanted a hand when I got there. “No problem.” I said.

I arrived, changed out of my riding clothes, and walked to the other end of the lab. Young, my coworker, hadn’t arrived yet, so I went over and started to unplug the equipment. It was only a single connection, albeit a big one: one hundred and fifty amps, 3 phase, 480VAC. Continue reading “bzzzztt”

Chile video

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Chile

At about 1:00 in the afternoon, the power went out in the Panama City International Airport. There wasn’t much of a reaction from the staff in the Copa Club lounge though so Megan and I continued as usual. I had been about to take a nap with Megan on bag watch after our layover showers, business class travel is rough. We we’re half way to our destination, Santiago, Chile, and a trip we had been talking about for well over a year. An hour or so later, with power restored, headed to the gate for the next half of the flight South.

Our plan was to fly into Santiago and head to the coast for 4-5 days, staying in Valpariso where Megan studied aborad 10 years before, and then Pichilemu, a surf town we had been scouting online. After this we would fly to Puerto Montt and Northern Patagoina in order to visit the new Chilean park, Pumalin Park, and spend time in nearby Puerto Varas. Then make the final leg to Southern Patagoina and visit Torres del Paine, and the adventure hub of Puerto Natales. We decided on this two and a half week iteniary after years of wanting to move abroad to live for a year. Originally we thought to simply quit our jobs and move, first to Pichilemu, then it was Puerto Varas since streetview in Pichelemu looked a bit rough. In retrospec, this may have been, if not a mistake, a bit more than we bargined for. While it would be nice to have a much extended break from our busy lives, we both ended up having a fantastic time despite the abreviated scope of the trip, and are already looking forward to our next trip aborad.

 

Continue reading “Chile”

The signs of fall, Sunnyvale, CA

Every year the signals that fall is coming arrive in a few specific ways. One of the first occurred last night. Megan and I rode our bikes over to our favorite local sushi restaurant for dinner. We both finished work late so we didn’t leave the house until 7:15 or so. Along the way we stopped for a minute to admire an unusually red setting sun and then continued on to get dinner without thinking much more about the time of day. It was while locking up the bikes and walking inside that the signal came about. I realized I didn’t have my bike lights, and would need them by the time we finished eating.

Every spring, after emerging from a long season of bicycle commuting in darkness, the time comes when I roll into the driveway before its dark enough to really need all of my flashing lights. I still have them on board and clipped to my pack for most of the spring, although regular use and charging starts to fade away.

 

Continue reading “The signs of fall, Sunnyvale, CA”