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June 21, 2005
Annual Meeting Of the Alameda Cottage Dwellers Association
La Pinata (No.3) provided the neutral territory for such lofty discussions as to the merits of the regular margarita over the blended type, and whether George's massage story was actually true or not. Neither issues were ratified as both votes were 3-3 with Lief abstaining from all activities due to the complete lack of Robert’s Rules.
Absolutely nothing conclusive was decided but it was great to have guest visits from former compound resident Luscious Linda, and guest speaker Mike from Salt Lake city. Linda was on her way to Argentina and Mike was on his way to Salt Lake so it was special that they could attend our meeting.
Posted by Jonathan at 08:53 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2005
Tinsley Haul
Tinsley Island is tucked 61 miles up the Delta from the St. Francis YC in San Francisco. Car or powerboat are generally considered sensible modes of transportation. We chose to go by sailboat. 9 hours of sailing is a lot in a day- we did however, win the race up. I suspect that we also won the party. Photos have been carefully chosen to protect the innocent; it appears that we are quite a social group! HUGE thanks to David and Theresa for hosting. Thanks to Bryan for yet another Saturday night spent with the dulcet tones of snoring. Thanks to Shannon for kicking Bryan every time he started.
Posted by Jonathan at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
Virtual Vista- We did all the work for you!
If you want experience Big Basin State Park without rattle snakes, oxygen deprevation, poisen oak, ect, you might like to check out this 360 degree VR movie. Big file, you will need bandwidth. Shift and Control works zoom.
Posted by Jonathan at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
A Walk In the Woods
..which is also the title of a fantastic book by Bill Bryson. Bryson's dry whit and sarcasm creates a hilarious tail of his long hike along the Appalachian Trail. Anyhow, time to see much more of the the beautiful state I live in. After spending all of 10 minutes planning and packing, Angie (the Trolly Dolly) and I headed further south than one would normally comfortably attempt with a mild hangover. Anyhow, a quick phone call or two to my more wholesome friends suggested that Big Basin Redwoods State Park would more than enough fresh air and trees to satisfy our desire for the great outdoors.
We got fresh air. We got a 5 mile hike up some sort of biggish hill/mountain, and Angie got chased by a rattle snake. I was more interested in taking a photo than rescuing Angie until it started to chase her into the bushes. We really do not learn much about serpent defense in British schools but chucking rocks near it appeared to make it shoot off directly towards her. A quick dash towards me and it was all over, even if she was a little shaken. A glass of Chardonay offered by our new hill top buddies calmed the nerves. Rest of the day was spent in less wholesome pursuits including watching the sunset from the bar at the Ritz Carlton (Best gin and tonic on the planet) Luckily the foghorn at the Point Montara Hostel was drowned out by other guests snoring loudly. I am so happy they got a great nights sleep;-0 What do you expect for $21!
Posted by Jonathan at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2005
Angie Leibowitz
Angie got a new camera. We had to take photos. Its the law! I want one . Lamb-left-over salad inspired by a dish at the Townhouse, and a cheeky bottle of plonk made for a great way to set the sun.
Posted by Jonathan at 09:38 PM | Comments (2)
June 05, 2005
All Creatures Great and Small
My sister and 'Noah the Wonderchild' Live in a gorgeous village in North Yorkshire called Askrig. You may know it from the All Creatures Great and Small stories written by James Herriot. Anyhow, it rains a lot and there are only so many things to do, so I decided to try my hand at making a small Quicktime VR movie. You will need Quicktime installed and some bandwidth. Shift and Control zoom you in and out.
It is by far the best way to experience North Yorkshire- none of the rain and all that 'driving on the other side of the road' business.
Posted by Jonathan at 09:48 AM | Comments (1)
June 02, 2005
About Time....
"Wednesday morning, in thick English Channel fog, Robert Miller's (Hong Kong/New York, N.Y.) 140-foot (43m) Mari-Cha IV passed through the four-mile-long gate off the Lizard on the Rolex Transatlantic Race to break the 100-year-old record set by Charlie Barr on board Wilson Marshall's 185-foot (56.4m) Atlantic. Miller's giant state-of-the-art racing schooner completed the 2,925-nautical mile passage, east across the North Atlantic between New York and the Lizard, in a time of 9 days, 15 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds-a full 2 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes and 56 seconds faster than Atlantic's record-breaking voyage 100 years ago." Cermudgeon 1851
Last year I had the pleasure of checking out Mari-Cha IV while she was being prepped for the West Marine Pacific Cup at KKMI, where I know work.
This is an amazing yacht. The engineering of this boat is unbelievable. She has both a canting keel and water ballast which explains the huge overhang of the hull. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to hang out in a place that has such beautiful examples of design and workmanship. It has taken 100 years for someone to build a boat and challenge the atlantic record; I do not think it will take that long for it to fall again.
Posted by Jonathan at 10:10 PM | Comments (1)