The Weatherman

Takin a picture of Zach in his high chair

Grandpa (my grandpa) grew some large pumpkins this year. Here is a picture of Zach on the largest one

I really like the 12.6 mile RT hike from Waddell Beach to Berry Creek Falls. It has to be one of the most scenic hikes in the Bay Area. Saturday was a perfect day on the trail. It had rained that morning so everything had a very fresh, wet, green appearance. The banana slugs were in abundance and I saw some newts and 1 foot worm.

The water coming over the falls was low but it was still a beautiful scene…except for all of the other hikers congregating at the waterfall. The hike went smooth…just the normal aches from walking 12 miles. Nothing a large beer and soak in the neighbor’s hot tub couldn’t cure. The drive back was amazing…it was crystal clear and the ocean had big surf. I stopped at Pescadero to take some photos…speaking of photos, here are some.

Walking in on the trail

Berry Creek Falls

A fern

The ocean

Some fisherman

What a great book. This is the true story about an Alaskan fishing schooner that capsizes in the Fairweather Grounds and the subsequent US Coast Guard rescue mission. Todd Lewan does an excellent job detailing the lives behind the fisherman - showing all of the good and bad in them. He spends a good amount of time describing their backgrounds, the home life, the drinking and drugs, the women, and the work.

The book kicks it up a notch as Todd details out the history of the La Conte (the schooner), it’s sordid history, and how it became Mark Morley’s boat. This is when the good fishing begins. The energy Lewan shows in his writing engulfes the reader - it places you on the boat next to the fisherman, in their thoughts and fears. The story becomes more rivetting as the storm grows and they continue to fish.

Lewan then changes gears for about 20 pages while he details some history about the Coast Guard station commander. Then the best part of the book hits you - the rescue. I swear I couldn’t put the book down. For those who know me…you know I read like a snail. I ended up plowing through 150 pages in one day…and that was a work day. I read it on the train to work and back from work. I read some more that evening at home.

Lewan keeps the story going with wonderful dialogue and hair-raising situations. Even more amazing - it’s a true story. The storm was absolutely crazy. For those who like fishing, helicopters, or weather - this book will not disappoint. Check out the Amazon review

Yes…I have ordered one. I ordered the 60GB black version. I’ve been waiting a long time for the ipod to play video. I wish it had recording capabilities, but the build quality, features, and media available more than make up for this.

I’ll keep you posted with my thoughts on the ipod once it arrives. I should receive it late next week.

This has been a pretty hot topic at works for months. This 64 bit computing article provides a basic understanding of 64 bit. In additon, read the comments below the article for some opposing views. This is a pretty high level view of 64 bit computing…for something more advanced I would check out the articles on the cpu/chipsets page at anandtech.com

Last week I left the house to a real ugly site…huge chunks of our front lawn were torn up by racoons. They are hunting for grubs and in the process they tear up the lawn. Two of my neighbors across the street were having the same problems for several weeks in the their backyard. One of them had even resorted to shooting pellets at them in order to scare them off.

Apparently this is working since they are in my yard now. I put all of the grass back, watered it well and then sprayed it. Friday night they returned and pulled all of the same grass back. On Saturday I put the grass back, watered it, and sprinkled the lawn with critter ridder (or something like that). This granular seed-like stuff was coated in black pepper oil. It made the lawn smell like a salad with lots of pepper.

I thought my repellent was working…no holes on Sunday morning. That was short lived. They returned last night and dug up all brand new holes. I’m basically going to wait it out and plant new sod in a month.

Frustrating since I’ve worked hard to keep this lawn relatively weed free and green. Oh well, hopefully they don’t tear up my new lawn.

Well, it isn’t the first steps or the first words. It’s his first cold. Yep, it only took one week in day care and lil Zach has the sniffles.

I know, the sniffles can hardly be called a cold. But it definitely isn’t fun for him. We’ve even heard the other cry. Wow, you can definitely tell the difference between the “I’m hurting” cry and the “I’m irritated or hungry” cry. The “I’m sick” cry is gut wrenching…it’s kind of a sad wale

He’s been getting lots of rest and liquids…and a little children’s tylenol. Hopefully it passes quickly. Fortunately we are at Under the Weather daycare. They have a separate room for mildly ill kids and they have onsite nurses. Very convenient.

Last weekend our neighbors through a kegger in our yard

Jaci had a left over keg from a party…so we had a mini block party. Fun was had by all.

We returned yesterday from our 9 night Oregon/California trip. We had a great time and Zachary was a champ. Here is a quick itinerary.

• Sept 22, drove to Redding.
• Sept 23, drove to Grants Pass and had lunch with Auntie Linda and Uncle Johnny. We then continued on to Eugene and had dinner at the 6th Street Grill with Jan and Mike.
• Sept 24, we tailgated at the Ducks/Trojans games. Lots of drinking going on. We carted our beers in a large cooler sitting a radio flyer red wagon.
• Sept 25, Steph, Zach, and I went house hunting. It’s amazing what you can get up there. I decided that we’ll move up there in 2006! Now I need to convince Steph.
• Sept 26, Jan, Steph, Zach, and I went wine tasting. Steph, Zach and I went to the Duck Shop and picked up some goodies.
• Setp 27, drove out to the Oregon coast making stops at the Sea Lion caves, a botanical garden with the cobra lily, and we drove down the coast to Bandon. We stayed at the Best Western (Inn at Face Rock). We got to watch a beautiful sunset.
• Sept 28, drove down to Eureka stopping several times along the way taking pictures. The South Oregon coast is considered one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. We also stopped at Trees of Mystery. We ate dinner at the Lost Coast Brewery. We stayed at the Best Western (Bayshore Inn) for two nights.
• Sept 29, spent the day in the Redwoods. We visted the Lady Bird Johnson Redwood Grove and we spent some time in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. We had lunch/dinner at 6 Rivers Brewery in Arcata.
• Sept 30, drove to Humboldt State Park along the Avenue of the Giants. We also drove into the Rockefeller Forest to look at the giant tree and the tall tree. We continued onto Fort Bragg (over what has to be the longest windy road in existence - hwy 1 between Leggett and Fort Bragg) and Mendocino. We had lunch at the North Coast Brewing Company. We stayed at Anderson Valley Inn in Philo. We had many beers at the Anderson Valley Brewing Company. Very cool place. We enjoyed our beers with the employees as they got off work.
• Oct 1, drove home. We had a kegger on the lawn Saturday night…seriously.

We kept pretty busy. I’ve included pictures at paulandsteph.com