Washougal Motocross Nationals 2006

James Stewart (7) gets sideways as he comes over a jump just ahead of Ricky Carmichael (4) in the first moto at Washougal.

Wind Lake, Part 2

Wind Lake is a quiet, isolated place. I think this picture captures its moody quality.

Wind Lake

Yes, the lake theme continues. On Sunday we went horseback riding on Mt. Hood, up to a place called Wind Lake. It was about a 4 hour trip to get there, have lunch, and come back. There were great views of the mountain, we got to see some wildflowers in bloom, and I took pictures around the lake.



The trip was run by Bar G Ranch and Ride. This was my second trip with them, and I think they are great and would recommend them. My girlfriend thought that this should be the new "standard adventure" when we take out of town visitors to see Mt. Hood.

Munson Creek Falls

My V-Strom 650 is billed as an "adventure touring" motorcycle, so yesterday I decided to try a little adventure tour. From Portland I rode to Tillamook, Oregon, then south on Highway 101 to the turnoff to Munson Creek Falls, the highest waterfall in the Coast Range. The road to the trailhead is a narrow, bumpy, rocky unpaved road. The V-Strom handled the terrain just fine. A quarter-mile hike in from the trailhead is the view of the falls.




The waterfall is impressive, and it seems very weird because you just don't expect to see such a big waterfall in that area. And without the signs pointing the way, you would never think to go there because the road seems more like a private driveway than the route to a scenic attraction. It was fun, but I liked Falls Creek Falls better, because it is more spectacular, you can get closer to it, and you can see more of it from the trail.

From there, I rode north along 101 to Garibaldi, Wheeler, and then Cannon Beach.



Since it was a summer weekend, Cannon Beach was extremely crowded -- it feels like a packed outdoor shopping mall. I was glad to be on the motorcycle because I was able to find a small parking spot right on the main street. I wandered around and stopped for coffee.

(As you can see from these pictures, I put the Suzuki hard luggage top case on the bike. This is great. It locks, it's waterproof, and it can fit my helmet with room to spare. I was able to take along my camera and other goodies without even using a tank bag.)

Then I headed back to Portland. By that time it was very hot and I was really feeling the heat in full motorcycle leathers. I had my Camelbak on, so I could sip water while I rode. It turned out to be an over 200-mile day, but today I feel great -- the V-Strom is so comfortable, it did not strain my back at all.

Timothy Lake

You may notice a pattern to my travels lately: I've been visiting many lakes in the Mt. Hood National Forest. I've decided that they make a great summer destination. This weekend we stayed at the Gone Creek campground on Timothy Lake. It was great. Some very noisy Steller's Jays woke us up at 5:30am this morning, but that wasn't really a bad thing. I went for an early morning walk and saw lots of birds and some amazing views of the lake. Early morning is a great time to walk around there, because aside from a handful of fishermen, nobody else is awake. So it feels like having the whole place to yourself. Later on when it got warmer, I set up the inflatable raft and rowed around on the lake.

We came home via Hood River to avoid the traffic jam created by the Sandy Mountain Festival.

Petal Power

What I Learned About Driving

1. You know those Jeep commercials? The ones where people drive off-road into some crazy scenic wilderness to find Real Manly Adventure? Well it's all true, Jeeps can do that just fine. Just not on the stock tires.
2. I had the stock tires. For some reason I was smart enough to put off-road tires on my previous Jeep, but not on this one. "It'll be fine," I thought. "How bad can it be? I'm sure these will work."
3. When you're in the outdoors and you find yourself saying "it'll be fine, how bad can it be?" this is basically the same thing as when a character in a horror movie says, "hold on, I'll just go outside and see what that noise was."
4. When a light on your instrument panel comes on, and the icon has a big exclamation point on it, this is not a good sign (!). It would be bad enough if this happened on a main highway, but it is even worse when it occurs deep within sasquatch-occupied territory in the middle of nowhere.
   
5. In fact, I came to realize that even the exclamation point is a bit too subtle. I would personally redesign that indicator to be a flashing light in the shape of a hand extending the middle finger. And it should play a loud sound effect that begins with demonic laughter "muahahahaha!" followed by that quote from the Aliens movie where the guy says "That's it man, game over man, game over!"
   
6. What that light means is that one of the razor-sharp rocks you just drove over punctured your tire and gave you a flat. Or in my case, two flat tires. You see, the stock tires give you a nice comfy ride on the freeway, but off-road they transform into 4 tire-shaped pinatas, and mountain rocks become thousands of hyperactive kids with sticks, gleefully giving them a savage beating.
7. You know those fix-a-flat cans, that promise to reinflate your tire and seal the hole with special goop too? They might work in other situations, but when the tire hole is the size of a chipmunk, they are mainly useful as comic relief.
8. After you finally make it back to the main road, when someone asks you what happened, a funny thing to say is, "I hit a sasquatch."
   

Lost Lake

Lost Lake, near Mt. Hood, is not a very lost lake. Many people seem to have found it -- the place was pretty crowded when I went up there today. But the crowds are only on land, and the lake itself has plenty of room, so I took my inflatable raft out and rowed it around.

On my way back, I found that it was 98 degrees in the town of Welches. Just a few days ago it was 65 degrees and raining in Portland, so it seems like the weather has made a giant leap into summer.

Ghana 2, U.S. 1

When I was a little kid playing soccer, my mom would tell us, "don't mess around with the ball in front of your own goal. Clear it out of there." The U.S. team could have used my mom's advice in their last game. Claudio Reyna, standing just outside his own penalty area, chose not to pass or clear the ball, but stood there frozen while a Ghanian player stole the ball, dribbled in one-on-one against Keller and easily scored. Reyna was injured on the play, but instant replay showed that the two players had collided knee to knee as they passed each other. I don't think there is any way that could have been intentional on the part of the Ghanian player, and the referee was correct to not call a foul.

The penalty kick awarded to Ghana later in the game was a bad call. But U.S. coach Bruce Arena seemed to think it made the game unwinnable. "It left us chasing the game when we had worked so hard to get level" he said. But there was plenty of time left in the game. That's soccer -- sometimes you're down a goal, sometimes you have to come from behind. Can you imagine some of the other teams in the tournament expressing this attitude? Brazil was down 1-0 to Japan, but came back to win 4-1. Picture Brazil saying, "yeah, once Japan took the lead we were screwed. We were just chasing the game at that point." Ridiculous, right? Australia was also down 1-0 to Japan but scored 3 goals at the very end of the game to win 3-1. The real problem was that the U.S. team wasn't able to score goals in this tournament.

New Computer Vulnerability Discovered

On several occasions recently, I came back to my computer to find it running programs I knew I hadn't left open. I asked my girlfriend if she had been using my computer and she said no. I wondered what was going on, and I suspected a virus or other malware. I ran various antispyware and anivirus programs, but found nothing. The other day I came into my room and found that the computer was turned off, even though I knew I left it on. What kind of virus turns the system off? What kind of virus only strikes when I leave the door to my room open?

Then I finally put together all the clues. I don't have a virus. I have a cat who likes to walk on the keyboard when I'm not in the room.

Falls Creek Falls

On Saturday, we went on a hike to Falls Creek Falls, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington. I love the name, though I'd like to call it "the Falls at Falls Creek Falls, now with 10% more Falls!" The name Falls Creek probably comes from the fact that it makes a fairly steep descent through the forest and has a mini-waterfall every 10 meters or so. About 1/2 mile down the trail there is a small suspension bridge, with the cables underneath the bridge instead of above it -- an unusual design. It bounced when I walked across it.



But the big waterfall is the real treat. I have seen higher waterfalls, but I think this is one of the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen. It sits in the middle of the forest like a magical apparition. I thought it was like something out of The Lord of the Rings, and I almost expected to see Gollum fishing in the pool at the base of the waterfall.

Day Lilies Are Delicious

Day lily flowers are edible. I've heard about this before, but I never tried eating one until today. They don't especially look edible to me. Maybe it is the color. I wondered if it was all a hoax, and I'd soon be in the emergency room getting questioned. "What? You ate day lilies!? Based on something you read on the internet? Couldn't you tell just by looking at them how horribly poisonous they are?" That sort of thing.

But the truth is, not only are day lily flowers edible, they are delicious. They taste sort of like sweet lettuce, but better. All these years that I've been growing them and not eating them, I really missed out.

The V-Strom Sees Some Sun

I rode my new Suzuki V-Strom 650 again today. This was the first day I have ridden it that wasn't a ride in the rain. We had a nice warm, partly cloudy afternoon, so I took the motorcycle out to get more used to it and practice some maneuvers in dry conditions. I worked on low speed (walking pace) balance, U-turns, and cornering. Then I went into a large gravel and dirt parking lot to practice riding off the pavement. Even though I have prior dirt bike experience, I expected that riding the V-Strom off road for the first time would be difficult and maybe even a bit scary, because it is much heavier than the nimble dirt bikes I am used to.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the V-Strom handled the dirt and gravel with no problems at all. It felt like a very large dirt bike. (Mud might be a different story, since the stock tires do not look at all suited for it.) It seems like a very versatile motorcycle that can handle a lot of different riding situations. Of course, I never intend to do any "hardcore" off-road with it like riding on single-track trails, mud, deep sand, etc.

The engine has a very subdued burbling sound at low RPMs and sensible city riding speeds. I like to imagine that the engine is snoring, and saying "OK, I'm going to take a nap, wake me up when you want to go 100 miles per hour."

Suzuki V-Strom 650

Yesterday I traded in my 2002 Suzuki SV650S for a new 2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650. Though I loved the SV650S, the riding position was not comfortable enough for long rides. After an hour or two, my knees, wrists, and back would start to get sore. The V-Strom is much more comfortable. The stock windscreen was absolutely horrible though, it directed all the air right at my face and created an incredibly loud turbulent sound even with a full face helmet and earplugs. I immediately replaced it with an optional wider, taller windscreen (shown here), and that completely fixed the problem. The fuel injection makes it easier to start, and the power delivery seems much smoother. Honestly, I still think the SV605S looked better, but the V-Strom is much more practical.

My first ride on the V-Strom was a 35-mile slog home from the dealer in pouring rain, which was more fun than it sounds. I went for another ride this morning, also in the rain. It works great in the rain but I'm looking forward to better weather.

So You Think You Can Face-Plant

One of the contestants on So You Think You Can Dance? tonight had a close encounter with the floor. He said his teeth hurt after this move.

I also liked the other guy who said, "I exuberate fantasticisms!"

How Digital Music Has Changed My Listening Habits

I almost never listen to the radio, but I do listen to podcasts of some shows that are also on the radio. I almost never listen to a CD all the way through from start to finish, instead I listen to my own playlists or "shuffle" or music podcasts.

Because of randomized playlists and "neighbor radio" on last.fm, it doesn't seem all that weird to listen to one country song followed by one rock song, one rap song, one jazz song, and then a string quartet. I'm also less likely to be in the mood to hear a particular song or album, and more likely to just want to hear something interesting.

I get a lot of my new music from eMusic, iTunes, or legal free downloads. Buying a CD seems like a waste since I'm just going to rip it and listen to it on my iPod, and it will take up physical space on my shelf.

I find out about new music from podcasts, browsing eMusic, or last.fm. What's weird about this is that I find relatively little new music by hearing about it from people I actually see face to face in the real world. Music rarely has the social meaning for me that it once did, except for rare occasions like burning a custom CD to play at a party.

Most of my listening is on headphones or in the car. I rarely listen to music on my home stereo -- partly because my girlfriend and I usually don't agree on what to listen to (or at what volume).

When I look at my iTunes library, I see a lot of artists where I only have 1 or 2 songs by that artist. This is a big change from when I was younger and wanted to collect a lot of material from a few favorite bands.

There are some songs in my iTunes library with a play count of 0. For some of them it isn't literally true that I've never heard the song, I probably played from on the CD at some point before I ripped it, but it means I haven't heard it in years. But there are also some I've really never played. That seems strange.

Roses In My Garden

Two Views Of An Iris In My Garden

Your Tips Help Pay For Jedi Training

I saw this sign on the tip jar at the coffee stand at Multnomah Falls. It says, "Your Tips Help Pay For: Kathy - Rent/College; Dan - Jeep parts; Jared - Finding a Girlfriend; Laura - Private Jet; Hunter - Jedi training; Carolyn - New Car; Spencer - The ladies!; Anselmo - Kollege; Jon - New Puppy; Thanks a latte! Bri - first car so my parents don't have to drive me to work!"



It was warm in the Columbia Gorge yesterday, and it was even 72 degrees at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood! Stranger still, the thermometer on my well-shaded front porch registered 93.6 degrees earlier today. That is quite a heat wave for May in Portland, not that I'm complaining.

Dueling Telescopy

At Crown Point, in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.

Fringed Tulip

I wondered how to make this picture work, and I eventually decided on black and white for a Mapplethorpe-ish effect. Color did not work because the real colors are too odd. My digital camera does not like to deal with magenta on a bright green background.

Wisteria at Erath Winery

We have some friends visiting from Chicago, so today we took them out to some of the Willamette Valley wineries. We went to Domaine Serene, Domaine Drouhin, Maresh Red Barn, and ended the day at Erath, where we saw this large, fragrant wisteria. We had lunch at a table beneath the trellis.

My girlfriend tried to open a thick plastic container with a plastic knife. I reached into my pocket to get out a real knife, but amazingly she managed to cut through the plastic with the plastic knife. We were all impressed, and decided that her special title for this trip would be Plastic Knife Ninja.

Though swarming crowds will overrun the wine country later during Memorial Day weekend, today was fairly calm, with light traffic. It was a great sunny Oregon day.

The 100,000th Hit-iversary

My hit counter just ticked past 100,000 today. I never thought my blog would get this many hits. Don't worry, I haven't gotten full of myself. I realize that probably 90,000 of those hits are from people Google-searching on crazy nonsense like "how to have sex with monkey." But still, it is a fun number. Even 10,000 sounds like a lot. When I was a teenager, if I wrote a newsletter and 20 people read it I thought that was pretty cool. So even 1,000 feels like a lot. Really, if just one person reads it and enjoys it that is enough for me.

Ducking Skills

When a motorcycle comes flying towards your head, you have to duck quickly.

Flower Pr0n Links

Purple, gold, yellow, closeup, arcs, pink, white, alien, bud, rose, hibiscus, delicate, delicate2, gift, triplets.

Sidewalk Prom Invitation

Seen in Hermosa Beach, CA.

Garden Photos

A Spam I Got

> is it me you looking for?
> Hope I am not writing to wrong address.
> I am niace, pretty looking gairl.

Wow, awesome. I like gairls. Especially niace pretty looking ones whose brains aren't all full of modern nonsense like spelling skills, so they can concentrate on what's really important, like propositioning strangers.

> I ama planning on visiting your town this month.

And you're so excited about meeting me, you can't remember the name of my town, so you just have to call it my town. That's cute. Now I know you must really like me.

> From: Anibal
> To: [my email], [another guy's email]

Wow, Anibal, you want to meet both of us. And you're coming to both of our towns, even though he lives on another continent. You're a real world traveler! This keeps getting better.

> Can we meet each other in person?

Are you sure you don't want to meet my stunt double first? I think it is he you looking for.

Hips Don't Lie

And I'm on tonight
You know my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel it's right
All the attraction, the tension
Don't you see baby, this is perfection

-- Shakira, "Hips Don't Lie"

I was listening to this Shakira song, and I started thinking about the lyrics. Your hips don't lie? But wait a minute, whose hips do lie? How do they lie? About what? I don't understand.

Lara Croft Bristo?

The Japanese level of Tomb Raider: Legend feels heavily influenced by Alias. In this level Lara abandons dusty tombs for high-rise buildings and stlyish nightclubs. Change the character model a little, mention "Rambaldi artifacts" instead of just "artifacts," and this level could pass for a demo of a new Alias video game.

I've also noticed some obvious product placements in the game. Everyone seems to drive Jeeps, and the vehicles are carefully "posed" like a shot from a Jeep commercial. I drive a Jeep myself and have been a proud Jeep owner for more than a decade, but even to me these product placements feel artificial.

Tomb Raider: Legend is fun though, and the game really benefits from the improved graphics of the Xbox 360. In a game about exploration and discovery, it helps when the new areas you discover look incredibly detailed and great -- it makes it more rewarding.

Sassy's Playlist

Sassy Little Punkin posted a playlist of what she's been listening to. I was able to find some of these songs on eMusic. I liked Architecture in Helsinki, Blondfire, and Ivy.

Lara Is Back

I got Tomb Raider: Legend for the Xbox 360 and have started through it. I like the way the environments look. The controls are good, the exploration and puzzles remind me of why I liked the very first Tomb Raider game so much. So far the only complaint I have is that the motorcycle-riding level is pretty bad, but at least it is short. Lara Croft has a new look that makes her look more like Angelina Jolie in the TR movies.

Callaloo Restaurant

It felt like summer had come early to Portland this year at Callaloo's opening party on April 6. This Caribbean-themed restaurant has a tropical atmosphere and great food. I started with conch fritters and a tropical fruit salad, which contained mango, papaya, avocado, jicama and sapote. The cocktail menu features a wide variety of drinks, but I especially liked the Painkiller (rum, coconut, pineapple, orange, and nutmeg). Then I tried the callaloo stew. This is a gumbo made with crab, callaloo, pumpkin, okra, coconut milk and spices. It was peppery and spicy in a pleasant way.

I very rarely eat red meat, but for this occasion I had the hangar steak as a main course. This came with grilled scallions, onions, and sweet potato. I finished with a "Piranha," which is a Coke with vodka and chocolate flavoring -- it tastes kind of like a cola truffle.

Callaloo is owned by Kevin and Colleen Peck, who are also responsible for the Capitol Coffeehouse and Bistro. I like both restaurants for a lot of the same reasons: they have high quality food with a creative menu and a fun, relaxed atmosphere.

Callaloo is located at 1639 NW Glisan in Portland, OR.

Operation Fresh Croissant

MORE than 3500 people have been arrested and hundreds of riot police injured in two months of mass street protests against the French Government's contested jobs law, police said.

Police have made 3682 arrests since March 7, the first of five days of mass street demonstrations, including 634 yesterday, when more than a million people - three million, according to unions - took to the streets.

-- The Daily Telegraph

The shocking events of recent weeks have shown the world that France is in the grip of a growing insurgency, one that is more and more willing to resort to violence. We know that today France possesses weapons of mass destruction. And history teaches us that France has used chemical weapons against nearby countries in the past, such as during World War I. If these insurgents gain control of France's weapons stockpiles, they could pose a terrifying and imminent threat to the entire region.

This threat has not materialized yet, but it is a danger that grows with each passing day, and so we cannot afford to sit idly by while the insurgency gains power and strength, and gets closer and closer to being able to unleash a devastating attack that could cost millions of innocent lives.

Many of the insurgents claim to be only students. But let us not forget that in Afghanistan, the Taliban were also a "student" organization. In fact the term "Taliban" is derived from an Arabic word meaning "students." So to avoid confusion, let's just refer to the students and union workers who are behind this uprising as the "French Taliban."

To simply back down in the face of the insurgency, to "cut and run" if you will, would only embolden the French Taliban to think that they can continue to use violence to pursue their goals, and continue to defy the wishes of the international community.

This is why I have authorized Operation Fresh Croissant, in which American troops will occupy France to restore order, and to safeguard the French weapons of mass destruction. Once the French Taliban is disrupted and peace is restored, it is our hope that we can assist the French in creating a new constitution and eventually holding elections.

It may be a long road ahead. After all, Europeans are a violent people who have been fighting each other for many hundreds of years. We can't expect to step in and create a stable civilization overnight. New York wasn't built in a day, and neither will Paris or Rome be. But I feel confident that the majority of the French will welcome us as liberators.


[Note: Of course, this article is a joke. I like France, and hope to visit there again some day.]

p.s. "This is the police. The spam is coming from inside the house! Get out now!"

Even More Sakuracon 2006 Cosplay

I wound up with so much material from Sakuracon that I could probably write a 100-page nonfiction book about it if I had the time. I can't do that, but I will put up some more pictures here that didn't make it into my main Sakuracon article.

Wrath

Costume of the character Wrath from the anime Full Metal Alchemist, at Sakuracon 2006.

Sakuracon 2006 Article and Interview

My article on Sakuracon 2006 is up at JLHLS, along with an interview with Michael "Piano Squall" Gluck.