Phish at Shoreline, 8-5-09

The highlight of the week for me was not only getting to go to my first Phish show in 6 years, but that I could even ride my bike to and from the show! A band that I have invested a lot of brain cells and hours between headphones in over the years since middle school, it was thoroughly enjoyable from both a nostalgic and forward-looking perspective; the band is back and playing their old classics (almost) as well as ever before, and they also have some real inspiring new material as well to keep things interesting. While it's definitely not just a "reunion tour" or novelty act, they are seemingly paying appropriate attention to the old stuff that the fans like.

The venue was about 5 miles away from our place and accessible via a scenic biking/walking trail that heads out to the Bay. Getting to bypass the throngs of people in cars both getting in and out was especially fun. If anyone's curious, here's a video clip from their performance Wednesday, it cuts off, sorry. (not filmed by me despite the same last name, my seats weren't quite that good!)



Two of my cousins will be in Washington state catching a pair of shows today and tomorrow, lucky ducks! Hope you guys have fun at the Gorge.

From Belgium with Love

The last few beers we have made were relatively common styles that are generally liked by us and our friends - an IPA, a Smoked Scottish Ale, Pale Ale, Nut Brown, Porter, etc. This last time we wanted to try something a little different, so below is our first attempt at making a Chimay clone. (Sorry the picture is so bad - lack of camera required using my webcam to take the picture.) If you haven't had it before, Chimay is a Belgian Brewery made famous by its three types of Monk-brewed beers that - as is typical of the "Belgian" style of Trappist Ales - are extra rich, flavorful, interesting, and alcoholic. The extra alcohol (it should be around 8-9% when finished) comes from the 9 or so pounds of malt extracts, candi sugars, and specialty grains that the special trappist yeasties chow down on vigorously, as you can see from the photo below. This was taken about 2 days into the fermentation.

We just racked (or transferred) the wort (or unfinished beer) into secondary (or a separate jug) yesterday to help it clear and keep it off the dead yeast cells, and in doing so I definitely got strong aromas of blackberry and pepper, in line with the distinctive Chimay Grande Reserve flavors. We'll be sure to let you know how it turns out in a month or so.

Maybe some day we can have a taste test with Steve and Sarah, who I'm happy to hear have just started homebrewing themselves! In the meantime, what should we make next? Does anybody have any other favorite commercial beers that we should try to clone?

Back from the Northwest

Hi readers - time for an update! We just recently returned from a trip to the Great Pacific Northwest where we spent a fun-filled few days with Kate's family (parents, sibings, and nieces and nephews and all) and then did some exploring on our own to break up the long drive back. Yes, we drove up to Seattle, in part because we were bringing the dogs. And yes, I said dogs (plural) because in addition to Banjo we brought up the cute little puppy that Kate adopted down here for her sister's family (as they had been unsuccessful this year in a search for a small terrier-type breed from a rescue/shelter in the Seattle area). So our drive up was pretty much a straight through blast, complete with a comfortable night spent in the back of the Subaru at the Roseburg, OR Wal-Mart parking lot (the price is right!). Unfortunately my camera went on the fritz and died right at the beginning of this trip, so you'll have to make do with these pictures from the internets that I think represent our travels.

The puppy delivery went well and while it was very fun to have a well-behaved and adorably small puppy around the house for a week, we are happy to see Kate's sister (and especially her dog-loving niece) get to have a dog of their own now. We think that Clover (as she's now named) will miss Banjo a little more than vice-versa, especially given Banjo's sudden increase in toy protectiveness that coincided with the puppy's arrival. They did play quite nice together, and it was really a blast to watch the two of them rough-house around outside or play-fight over a stuffy-toy.

Little Clover, back when she was just "puppy."

The big family gathering was at a gorgeous house we all rented for the big group in Union, WA - right on the Hood Canal at the SE end of the Olympic peninsula. This gave us great access to some beautiful spots like Twanoh State Park - a charming Depression-era CCC park project right on the water and with some lovely rainforesty trails - and the Staircase area of Olympic National Park. Kate and I tackled the thigh-burning Mt. Ellinor hike one morning, with 2,500" of vertical in the last mile to the summit! I even shared a shady nook on the summit crags with a mountain goat as I ate lunch, but as it turns out these goats are not uncommon in Olympic these days and are even becoming a nuisance.

One of the neat CCC-built buildings at Twanoh SP

The view from atop Mt. Ellinor N to Mt. Washington Some of the ubiquitous Olympic NP mountain goats with whom I shared the summit (the photo is from the top of Ellinor, too)

Some of the highlights of the family portion of our trip were the delicious meals we all took turns making each night, the lovely view over the water from the house's deck each evening, making exciting waterside or rainforesty discoveries with the nieces and nephews, a fun-filled day jumping off inflatable floats and boats at a nearby freshwater lake, and of course some game-playing with the adults after bedtime.

When the time eventually came for us to disperse again, Kate, Banjo, and I headed North to drive around the Olympic Peninsula and see some of the other areas in the National Park. First stop was Hurricane Ridge, an incredibly scenic ~15 mile drive up into the hills from Port Angeles terminating in a gorgeous alpine playground with several short trails to choose from. Unfortunately dogs aren't allowed on any of them so Banjo had to wait in the car while we took in some of the scenery. That may have been a good thing, as we saw a bear (!) just munching on some grass in between some of the paved "near the visitor center" style trails there! Alas, no pictures of the bear.

Some representative pictures of Hurricane Ridge

After Hurricane Ridge our intent was to head to the coast and camp at Kalaloch, a section of the park that covers the coastline, but we arrived to find out that both the regular and "primitive" campgrounds were both full (on a Thursday). Who knew! We took a nice long walk on the wide, foggy Kalaloch beach and let Banjo romp around in glee. Watching our dog run around on the sand, happily sprinting from one intriguing scent to the next and back to us was definitely a highlight of the trip - marred only by the fact that about 5 minutes before our hike was done he somehow managed to find a dead seagull to roll around in before we could get him off of it. Yick. Dead-seagull-covered Banjo with about 15 hours of driving left to do in the next two days. Fortunately we had a bathroom nearby at the lodge and a spare towel, so the little guy was punished for his transgressions with an impromptu bath.

Kalaloch Beach and Rocks, the latter of which were mostly obscured by the fog while we were there, but the beach itself was beautiful and eerie.

That we were denied a campsite at Kalaloch turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as our Plan B was driving a little further down to the Quinault Rain Forest area of Olympic NP. Here we found a fantastic campground with some easy walk-in sites right along a creek and a stone's throw from a lakeshore with lots of privacy thanks to the rain-foresty surroundings. We cooked up a quick dinner, made some s'mores, and cozied up in the tent happy we weren't stuck amongst the hoardes of RVs at Kalaloch.

One of the waterfalls near our Falls Creek campsite in the Quinault Rainforest area

The next day we packed up early and headed south, destination: Crater Lake. After a lunch stop in Portland at Corbett's Fish House for some delicious fish tacos, we veered East off I-5 for some scenic driving over the Oregon Cascades and south towards Crater Lake. We arrived at the lake around sunset and after taking in a couple viewpoints we found out yet again that the campground was full here too (despite a ranger telling me on the phone the day before that "that campground almost never fills up). This time Plan B was another NF campground about 10 miles away, but in 3-4 miles on dirt fire roads. After a turning off onto the NF roads we saw a couple signs directing us to a campsite but those signs quickly stopped and we drove on through the forest wondering what we'd find. Eventually we saw a little spur with a small sign identifying it as "Huckleberry Hill" so we thought we'd try that. This road wasn't grated and quickly turned into a rocky tree-strewn 4x4 road that was just about as much as my Subaru could handle, with Kate helping to pull fallen trees just enough out of the way so I could drive past. But all's well that ends well and we made it to the top of "Huckleberry Hill" which afforded us a really nice viewpoint over towards the rim of Crater Lake and the surrounding area. Interestingly you can see where we ended up in the bottom left of this map from the NPS, and also Google seems to have the dirt roads identified too - we ended up at the end of the spur road in the little clearing shown here. A quick camp-stove dinner, another nice campfire and s'more s'mores were followed by a night filled with crystal clear stars in the sky and visits from the local deer population (which Banjo found some combination of interesting and frightening). Again, everything seemed to work out nicely for us.

After Huckleberry Hill we went back up to Crater Lake early in the morning to get our fill of hiking and sightseeing in before finishing the drive home. Crater Lake was pretty amazing - the water is incredibly blue, the thousand-foot walls down to the lake staggeringly steep and severe, and of course Wizard Island in the middle is so quintessentially volcanic it almost looks like a middle-schooler's baking soda and vinegar science fair project. Views are unique from every vantage point around the lake, making the hike around the rim particularly interesting. Also making that hike interesting was the necessary attention to not trip and fall a thousand feet down cliffs into the lake - it really is right on the rim for a significant portion of the trail, at least for the ~5 miles I hiked on it between the visitor center and the Watchman overlook.

(I'll add some pictures of Crater Lake later)

After circling the lake and taking in some more viewpoints and a couple short little hikes we continued south through Oregon and California, had lunch in the shadow of impressive Mt. Shasta, and made it back safe and sound!

All in all a great trip despite the lots of driving. A few good books on tape and good company in the passenger seat helps there. I'm glad we got to see family and some natural highlights of the Pacific Northwest in the same trip, but it's always good to be back home too. Hopefully my new camera will arrive soon so I can get back to photo-enhanced blogging. Kate, was there anything I forgot that's worth mentioning?

Hot!

I know I'm not the only one posting about hot weather, but still:

Ten Lakes Backpacking Trip

Last weekend we joined two couples of friends through Kate's soccer team for a backpacking trip out of the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite NP. Tuolumne is higher elevation than the more famous Yosemite Valley, and is more known for its open high-country peaks and mountain passes and lakes (as opposed to the quintessential valley with all the waterfalls and domes). Kate and I went up early Friday with Bill and did a day-hike to Cathedral Lakes, right below spectacularly jagged Cathedral Peak. We had to brave a swampy meadow teeming with mosquitos to get out to the lake, but as you can see, the views from out there made it worthwhile.

Mosquitos! Run!


Hiking along the shores of Cathedral Lake


Looking back over Cathedral Lake at Cathedral Peak

That night we were joined by three others (Roe, Igor, and Petra) at the campground after happily making s'mores and watching the stars around the fire left by the nightly ranger talk. Even later, our little corner of the backpacker's campground was paid a visit by a pretty tame bear who was curious enough about the contents of one of our neighbor's backpacks to loudly eviscerate it (the backpack, not the neighbor) at 3am maybe 15 feet from my head. I guess he was after an overlooked packet of Crystal Light or something. Fortunately the backpack owners got up and scared the furry beast off, then we put their packs into one of the metal food storage lockers. Good thing too, because he (the bear) came back around dawn and sniffed around again at the very locker where their packs were.

The next morning we got on the trail to Ten Lakes, a cluster of seven (yeah, I know! not ten - weird) alpine lakes north of the main road through Yosemite. This being the introduction to backpacking for a couple of the other folks with us it wasn't too strenuous of an adventure - maybe 6-7 miles in - but it was a nice trail and offered some great vistas upon reaching Ten Lakes pass.

Our group at Olmstead Point before starting our hike


On the trail: Kate, Roe, Petra, Igor

Hiking through the meadow: Tom, Kate, Roe, Igor, Petra



The view from the pass NE towards North Pk, Conness, White Mt.

On the steep drop down into Ten Lakes Basin

We found an amazing lake-front campsite a little ways off the trail and spent the afternoon swimming (brrrrr!), exploring the other lakes and streams, pumping water, collecting wood for a fire, eating smoked salmon, and drinking wine. What? You guys don't eat smoked salmon and uncork a nice bottle of Cabernet on your backpacking trips? I guess you need to go with Roe and Igor and Bill and Petra more often. The wine (packed in by the other boys, I must confess) was a nice touch as Kate and I were actually celebrating our 1000th day of being married to each other, a nice milestone I took note of in an imitation of my Uncle Larry, who has celebrated both his 1,000th and more recently 10,000th days of marriage to Aunt Carol! Thanks for the idea, Toledos.

Our campsite by the lake



Nothing beats a good swimming spot after a day of hiking in the sun.


The lakeside view


Petra and Bill make pancakes! We ate pretty gourmet this trip...


Igor celebrates going downhill on the way out

After our hike out we went down to the valley to take in some of the sights and swim in the Merced River, which was refreshingly almost as cold as the alpine lake the day before! Brrrr... Anyways, a good trip and scenic location - always nice to take advantage of some of the beautiful country we have in our extended backyard out here in California.

Here are the photos I took, and there are some others by Bill here if you're curious.

Happy Independence Day!

Sunny Florida & the Keys

Earlier this month Kate and I took a trip out to Florida for a medium-sized family gathering, followed by a quick trip down to the Keys for just the two of us. We were quite shocked by the intense heat and humidity of mid-June in the sunshine state, but we had a great time visiting three generations of relatives as well as exploring Key West for the first time! I have pictures up on my Picasa page, but here are some highlights. Thanks to our friends for watching Banjo while we were gone, and thanks to Auntie for hosting Fam-Fest '09! Hope we can do it again sometime.

First, from our family visit:

Family Picture (can you tell which of us is related to these people, and which two are sisters?)


Relaxing by the pool at Auntie's, which was pretty much our modus operandi for the weekend.


Grandpa in one of his great t-shirts, Wendy


Kate, Claire, & Wendy feeding the giraffes at the Brevard Zoo - it was very cool how they came right up next to us to grab some veggies and treats!


Rhino!


Kate on our airboat ride in the FL swamplands - we saw lots of gator eyebrows and nose-tips


The evening peacock arrival - they were not very timid

Next, we drove down to the Keys for a few nights, stopping in Islamorada and Key West:

Kate


Quintessential "Keys" boat docked in Islamorada


Tom on the old railroad bridge at Bahia Honda State Park


Tom looking ridiculous making an "S" at the southernmost point in the continental US as dozens of other tourists with cameras give him strange looks out of the frame to the left


The nightly "Sunset Celebration" at Mallory Square in Key West, featuring lots of street performers of all types and species


Us on the Key West waterfront


Sunset over Sunset Key

Banjo and the Basenjis

Last weekend we got to dog sit for a couple of Basenjis. They're an interesting breed - they're African and are pretty far from the genetic tree of most dogs. They're notable for their thin, bristly fur, "aloofness", and their yodel (they can't bark!). Contrary to popular belief, being barkless doesn't mean being quiet. We found that out this weekend, for sure.

Banjo wasn't sure what to think about these intruders, so he put on a bit of an attitude. What a tough guy!


















But soon he discovered that the basenjis could do things that he couldn't, like get the stuffy toys down from their high shelf, get into the trashcan, and snitch things from tables. So they decided to form a posse, Banjo and the Basenjis. And they all lived happily ever after, the end.

Kate and Tom and Banjo in 2008

Tom and I just finished putting together our 2008 photo album. Even though these photo books seem sillily overpriced, we've really enjoyed being able to look at an actual paper copy of our pictures from the past four years. If you'd like to take a look at the most recent version, click on the link below:

2008

Marshmallow Launchers and Other Physics Projects

After my Physics students finished their standardized tests, I decided to give them a break from the lecture circuit and turn to some research and engineering projects.

First they spent about a week researching a Physics topic of their choice and then gave a poster and presentation on it for the class. I was amazed at what a great job the kids did, as a whole. They had some really interesting topics (MagLev trains, Speedo swimsuit designs, Astronaut Ice Cream, LRAD, body heat powered pacemakers, etc). One set of kids really wanted to do something related to birth control (I think they were in the middle of health class) but had a tough time coming up with a solid connection to Physics. They tried to convince me it was related to "fluid dynamics" but it got vetoed.

Then, for the last couple weeks in class we built marshmallow launchers with popsicle sticks and a rubberband. They had two goals - to launch a marshmallow as far as possible, and to be able to hit a bucket at ten feet. The "winning" team managed to launch the marshmallow 36 feet AND hit the bucket! Of course, we also had a major marshmallow war one day in class and ate a bunch of marshmallows along the way, so everyone was really a winner. There were a huge variety of designs, ranging from a standard catapult to a bow-and-arrow to a slingshot to a rubber band cannon. This project was interesting for me as a teacher because the kids who had struggled with the more academic material this semester really embraced it and often were more savvy and intuitive than the top students.

Anyway, the success of the marshmallow launchers makes me want to incorporate more engineering-type projects into my class next year - hopefully spaced throughout the curriculum instead of just at the end. I've got a few ideas, (mousetrap cars, rockets, build-an-instrument, blimps, boats) but haven't really built many of them myself, so if anyone out there has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them!

Job Update!

Looks like I have a job next year! I'm going to be at Pioneer High School (where I did my student teaching) teaching Physics and Conceptual Physics (2 sections of each). I'm really excited about it because I had such a great experience there last year - I know the kids and will have the benefit of teaching with my mentor teacher for another year.

It has been a strange year to be looking for a job. Apparently in past years, teaching offers were made in April and most new teachers (especially in science and math) would have 3-4 offers to choose from. But this year the education budget in California has been cut so much that schools just aren't hiring. Prevailing wisdom seems to be that most job offers will start appearing in late July and August once schools have a final budgets and enrollment count - giving many new teachers only a week or two to prepare for the new year. Brutal.

At any rate, I feel very lucky to have landed on my feet at a school that I know I'll like. Here's hoping all my friends from the SJSU credential program find what they're looking for, too!