The beat goes on...

I just had the cross my browser and thought I would share. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a distraction on my friday. Animal vs. Buddy Rich
Last night was St. Patty's, so I went out and celebrated. I saw a couple of women that seemed to be engaged in a deep conversation and seemed a little too serious for the occasion. Eventually, I had to go find out what they were discussing. My intrusion on their conversation went over well and we all hung out and chatted for a while. I'm supposed to take them surfing at some point, so they got my number. I'm not really sure what the odds are they'll call, but feel free to make predictions. :)

Convergence

Looking at the dpreview site, I noted that these technology companies are getting closer to getting it right. Samsung is launching the first 7 mp camera-phone. This is pretty close to why I was holding out on a digital camera, but I'm so happy with my current camera that the only thing I would be happy with current is my exact camera with a phone added. (I could accept a "small" increase in size due to not needing the phone in my pocket as well.) Anyway, they did do one thing that really impressed me, they are offering lense attachments. It's also got an mp3 player, but as I'm steadily being convince that I want an ipod, I think I'd rather it had the ability to direct transfer photos to the new ipod photo. I'd be happy with 4mp, but I'm curious if it's got the ability to stream video as a webcam and if it's video capture is only limited by memory. I also don't know enough about it's memory format, but do know that I like the storage and capabilities of my sd memory in my camera...
Here's what I think is going to be the ideal mix: ipod/camera/blackberry phone

Canon SD300

I just realized I hadn't expressed how happy I am with my camera I got before my trip to Costa Rica. All pictures taken in CR were taken with this camera and all pictures taken since the trip. (pictures I list as archive photos might not be.) I waited a long time before purchasing a digital camera for various reasons. I've had access to some through work, have a good 35mm, would keep some disposables on hand, for a while had a video camera that took low quality stills, etc... This was so worth the wait. It's small enough that it goes with me everywhere (always in my pocket.) It takes high quality pictures. (4.0mp) It has a great lcd screen for previewing shots. Rechargeable lithium battery (it's more compact than AA and has a fairly good life, just buy a spare to keep charged like I did). Extremely intuitive controls (you could easily figure it out without a manual.) I was able to get an underwater case direct from Canon for it. (This also protects it from sand and likely from a decent drop as it's cheaper than the camera.) The bonus that puts it over the top is the unlimited streaming video time (only limited by the amount of memory, so I bought a 1gb card.) I highly recommend this as a primary camera mainly due to it's portability. You can see the camera and a review from my favorite site for digital cameras here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd300/

zoom-zoom from the picture archives... 

I got up early Sunday for surfing. It was a perfect day on the beach. Just enough sun and warmth to lay on the beach in shorts. The channel was working (It's a rip current near a rock wall that pulls you outside of where the waves break, but it's not always safe or working.) It gave me alot of chances to work on my riding since I don't get as tired from paddling. Tons of people were on the beach enjoying the spring/summer conditions. We got some good food at a tavern in town, then headed back to p-town. From looking at the surf reports, I'm seriously considering getting off early on Thursday for an afternoon session. 

I can't believe how nice the weather has been here. I know this is going to cause lots of problems this summer with droughts and fires, but it's just not going to bother me. It seems that alot of people immediately respond with the negative when you say something is great. I'm a big fan of balance, but trust me...I don't need your negativity to balance my enjoyment. There are enough negative moments in everyone's life without us going around and constantly pointing them out to each other at every opportunity. I know I've even done this before. I dunno...maybe I'm just too full of sunshine at the moment.
Anyway, Saturday started out with waking up early and enjoying a press-full of my coffee I brought back from Costa Rica. A coworker stopped by the house to see if I could help him figure out what was wrong with his broken down car (broke down a few blocks from my house.) I went, narrowed it down in a few minutes, and had him on his way shortly thereafter. (A set screw on the rotor had come loose - rare that it would fire a cylinder and likely to fire at the wrong timing.) I also told him he needed to get some new plugs, cap, and rotor.
It felt good to work on a car again, so when I got back to the house I took my beater pickup and ran down to the parts store to get stuff for an oil change on the car. I also stopped by the home depot for more stuff to finish my balance board. The oil change on the car took no time and the coworker showed up for me to help him with his maintenance. A simple job, but I couldn't find all of my tools. Once we had the needed socket wrench, I got it done. Then I rode my bike to the local bar with my roomate so that we could watch NCSU lose their tourney game on espn2. Oh well, the day was nice for the bike ride. I came back and played on the balance board for a good while and then went out later to hang out with a woman I met coming back from Costa Rica. We went to a local mexican restaraunt with some of her friends, then we all went over to her place to play some cards. I left pretty early so that I could get up at a decent time on Sunday. 

My interest in world travel is getting more pronounced and I'm finding more places that I want to visit. Here's another addition to my list: http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/latamer/peru/machu.htm

Indo Board

I had a pretty good day. I rode my bike to work 3 miles this morning, went for a 3 mile run at lunch, watched N.C. State win their first round, and rode my bike home the 3 miles. The weather was perfect to be outside too...today's high was 73.
I just slapped together a homemade balance board out of plywood. I played on one a bit while I was in Costa Rica and liked it quite a bit. I started on a slick surface, but it's recommended that you start on a carpeted one so that the roller doesn't spin so freely. I still need to get a pvc tube or at least finish off this 2 liter of soda and fill it with something for a roller. Mine isn't as finished as this, but here's a similar one and the site has instructions on making your own. http://www.xshelton.com/balance_board/

I thought I would go through some older pictures to post every once and a while too...I took this picture on my trip to New York. It's a bit blurry, but I really like this one for some reason. It's from under one of the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge on a rainy night. 

I just got done watching "Motorcycle Diaries" and I have to say that I highly recommend it. An adventure across a country on a motorcycle by two friends. Based on a true story, it's a glimpse into the lives of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Alberto Granado. As I look through my dvds, I'm tempted to pop in Easy Rider. Motorcycle cross-country adventures huh? I didn't realize that was a "genre" I could say that I liked. I think it fits in well with reading Jack Kerouac, which I've just decided it's time to do again. :)

This a glimpse of my home life. My ultra-comfortable Ikea chair and my home entertainment setup. The cable going up the wall runs to the projector. I don't really watch much tv, but I love a good movie... 

Going through some older photos I had taken with the intention of sharing...here's one of where I'm sitting right now...at the laptop in my "office space" (And this is a fairly clean desk compared to this moment. I had it all cleaned up before I left for vacation too!) 

Here's the addictive sauce you'll find on every table in Costa Rica. It goes on near anything and adds a tangy flavor. Careful though, a little goes a loooong way... 

The weather was so nice this weekend that I couldn't resist a chance to go hike in the Columbia River Gorge... 

The hammock at the house all setup for some afternoon relaxation. :) 

...and one that evening riding home after working a little late...was perfect weather for a ride too... 

Another picture of downtown Portland... 

I get a great view of downtown Portland on my ride to work... 

The weather sure has mostly been extremely nice here since I got back. Here is a pic from one of my morning bicycle rides to work. Today was even nicer with a high of 70! I can't complain. 

The waterproof case I used in costa rica and I use for trips to the coast... 

Was a bit windy the first trip out there, which isn't so great for wave quality, but these guys were loving it... 

I've managed to make it out to the coast for some surfing a couple of times since being back...the water sure is cold, but sunny days were great. The second time out was such a nice day that I just laid on the beach in shorts for a bit... 

I'm going to keep going back through and reposting some of the costa rica pics, but need to keep posting to the blog more often than I can find the time to do that with those pics. I'll be trying to update the blog more often with current goings-on and pictures...this hello client definitely makes it more convenient... 

I need a voting system for my pics, but anyway, right now this one is my desktop. This is taken from the perspective of me sitting on a piece of driftwood in mal pais.