Keep'em covered lads

Gotten pretty cold lately - particularly overnight and tonight, temps dropping to below zero Fahrenheit. And the range of sub-zero temps are anywhere from -5 to -22 degrees in locations a mere few miles apart. That said I took a walk at lunch time as the temperature in Portland rose to above the zero side of the equation still only in the single digits. Makes for a brisk stroll abouts town.

Inflating results

In a title take off of my September 28th blog, "Deflating results", today the Green Bay Packers have won the NFL's National Football Conference's championship beating the Chicago Bears and two weeks from today will play in the Superbowl the winner of tonight's American Football Conference's championship game. As the final seed in the conference playoffs all of Green Bay's games have been at their opponent's home stadiums, three straight wins. That's quite an accomplishment and I believe it's been done only once before since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. The NFL Superbowl Championship will be played in Dallas Texas on Sunday, February 6th. Look out Dallas, here come the Cheeseheads!!

Winter wunderland

Friday's snow storm wasn't a big deal, six inches maybe. The timing was nice though. We came home from a day at work followed by working out - got the car into the garage and let the snow wait until Saturday morning, sweet. It was a glorious winter day, sunny, barely a breeze and temperatures in the teens. High praise from me who usually laments cold and snowy winters. Don't get use to it.

More white moments

Started and ended the day moving snow. Did have some rain last night into today as well but I'm trying to catchup with it all as more snow may be coming Friday. After that the temperature is supposed drop. Wet Snow + cold = hard to shovel snow. The snow coming down this evening had that peaceful ambiance going for it. There was even a blurry moon veiled by the falling snow.

another good read

Finished reading "The Prefect" by Alastair Reynolds. Again I'm not disappointed. Though the story is based in a region of the galaxy as many of his other stories this one is a detective story wrapped in science fiction. I'll tell you one thing, today's criminals should consider themselves lucky they don't have to face an officer of the law in possession of a "whiphound." I have two more Reynolds books on my shelves to be read - "Terminal World" and "Absolution Gap". I'll probably read two or three other books before starting one of those, give the last one a chance to linger in my mind for awhile.

The joys of winter

A good bit of snow has blown in today. I've run the snowblower after getting home from work even though the snow is still coming down. It's a nice dry snow, over six inches when I started clearing the driveway so I could remove it fairly quickly and I'm hoping a quick pass in the morning will hold for the day then I can do a final cleanup tomorrow evening. The catch... the snow is suppose to switch over to rain for awhile and then the temperature is going to drop. Tis the season.

A date with a mountain

Photo by Sergio Schmiegelow, 1/2005

Today our son Ian is in Mendoza, Argentine preparing to climb Aconcagua as part of a group led by a guided climbing service. He left yesterday, flying out of Boston to Miami, then Santiago, Chile and finally landing in Mendoza this morning. He was able to call us to confirm his arrival this morning.

~ Photo taken on Table Rock, part of the
Teton mountain range, July 2010

Tuesday he'll be at the base camp (webcam photo below) where the climb to the the top of Aconcagua will begin. The climb is part of a challenge know as the Seven Summits, the tallest peak on each of the world's seven continents. Aconcagua is the 2nd highest and checks in at 22,841 ft (6,962 m). Time will tell if he goes after the other six. The excursion itself will take about 18 days which is on the north slope approach and is the most basic route to the top. The level of difficulty increases on all other approaches.

He is much on Carol and my minds as he pursues this adventure and we have a lot of confidence in Ian's abilities and we know that this trip isn't something he takes lightly. One of the last things I told him before he left was "have the time of your life!"

Boatload of snow

We had a pretty good snowstorm that came through yesterday. It started at daybreak in this region and finally petered out in the evening.

Here's the early morning view from my cubical.

Managed to leave more than a 12 inches in snow in my yard.

If 2010 was all about the books

During the course of blogging in 2010 I think I lamented that I hadn't been reading books as much as I'd like. Well if I got the count right I did manage to squeeze in maybe nineteen, one of which I haven't finished yet but I'm only reading it a few pages at time, "Young Men and Fire." Another unfinished is "Galactic North", e-book version is a collection of short stories which I've set aside for awhile. Two are non-fiction and one is a non scifi fiction. I'm sure you don't have to guess that most are science fiction and many are very good at that.

Here's what I read over 2010, the order is a little shaky, my ratings are in parentheses 1 – 5 (highest) based on what I like:

• Chasm City, Alastair Reynolds (5)
  
• Shadow of the Scorpion, Neal Asher (5)
• The Universe Between, Alan E. Nourse M.D. (2)
• Hilldiggers, Neal Asher (5)
• Reckoning Infinity, John E. Stith (2)
• Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card (5)
• Green Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson (5)
• A River Runs Through It, Norman Maclean (4)**
• The Voyage of the Sable Keech, Neal Asher (5)
• Helix, Eric Brown (3)
• Soothslayer, Mike Resnick (2)
• Redemption Ark, Alastair Reynolds (5)
• Galactic North, Alastair Reynolds (5)
• Zoe's Tale, John Scalzi (5)
• The Search for God and Guinness, Stephen Mansfield (5)*
• For Us the Living, Robert Heinlein (2)
• Young Men and Fire, Norman Maclean (4)*
• The Reality Dysfunction, Peter F. Hamilton (4)
• Divergence, Tony Ballantyne (4)

I'm presently reading "The Prefect" by Alastair Reynolds and my stash of purchased used books is plentiful and there are some new books scattered in amongst the used ones on my book shelves. Someday I expect to acquire an e-book reader but with all the used books available it's hard to justify in the near future. Also, where is the e-book reader technology headed. My little bit of research doesn't show much compatibility between manufacturers. I really think that the future would be along the lines of the iPad for computing/internet and e-book/publication reading. The e-books I have I've read through PC Apps from the suppliers, i.e. Borders and Barnes & Noble which is OK occasionally but a little hard to manage for general reading.

* non-fiction
** non-SciFi Fiction

a little bit of snow overnight

Greeted this morning with maybe a half inch of snow. Didn't take long for the day to turn sunny. Spent the afternoon watching two of the first round NFL playoff games, my Green Bay Packers beat the Eagles in Philadelphia to advance to the next round against the conference #1 seed, the Atlanta Falcons. That will take place on Saturday night - GO PACK!

Grapes are not just for jelly

Within the last year Carol and I have taken to sharing a bottle of wine over Friday night suppers. Earlier in life I never had taken much interest in the consumption of fermented grapes. Carol has been enjoying wine for years, as for me it's been beer/ales. Of course I've had the occasional glass of wine here or there but the acidity seemed to be something that I didn't care for. Then a couple of years ago we had one of my brothers over for dinner a couple of times and he'd bring a bottle each of red and white wines. I think that it may have been a combination of his choice of wines and perhaps as I've gotten older I was beginning to develop a taste for what wine brings to bear. Now I have an additional reason to look forward to Friday nights when Carol and I settle in for a quiet supper with a glass or two of wine talking over recent events or things on our minds. For several months Ian worked part time at a New Hampshire winery. Carol and Lois have been buying wine from there that has become part of the weekly rotation as well as different ones picked up here and there. This Christmas past was a banner holiday for receiving wines as gifts. Ian's girlfriend Alie brought us a white and red from her and her mother. The red we enjoyed very much, the white has yet to be opened but it will be soon. My boss included a Pinot Noir as part of gift bags he was handing out to his staff. We drank that last night, it was quite good. At my family's Christmas get together at my mother's we did a Yankee Gift Swap between the adults. I managed to hang onto a wooden velvet-lined wine box which included two bottles plus sterling silver stoppers and pourers. I should partake in some wine tasting events and learn more about the lingo and such – not much of an issue with beer.

Yes they do

If there was a theme for the year past I'd call it "things change", not to be mistaken for "hope and change" though some of that may have some impact thank you very much federal government. With Ian graduating from college to taking a major family vacation. The end of my part time job for the town and I also stepped away from producing a local churches monthly newsletter both of which I'd been doing for a number of years. That which really garners my curiosity though are the little things, a new traffic light on one of my routes to work, the office renovation which changed some ways of interacting within the office. Weather patterns unlike I can remember anytime in my adult weather enlighten years. The town changing the trash pickup day for my street (I don't like it). The grocery store stopped carrying the stir fry noodles that I had quite fond of preparing and eating. Plus a number of other things that just don't come to mind at the moment but I seem to be bumping into throughout each day. It's not that I want to live in a rut, ruled by a uninterrupted routine, it's just that I think there are less pros than cons when totaled up.

New Governor at the Helm

Interesting day in the history of the State of Maine with the inauguration of the new governor, Paul LePage. In what turned out to be a very close race for the office LaPage eked out the election by 1% of the vote last November.



He has his work cut out for him and though our state's financial issues pale in comparison to California and Illinois there is still much that needs to be done and I wish Gov. LePage all the best to be successful.

Long road to less

Later this week will be the fourth anniversary of my weight loss program. For the last year I've been hovering a pound or two above my original goal of 180 lbs. After my first year I was down to less than 175 lbs which I held around for about two years before the upward creep. I would like to get back to that range, need to get re-serious to do it. My exercising over for almost two years now has increased substantially but it alone hasn't been enough to return me to my former glory.

Another holiday season is behind us

Back at work today and the rest of the week as well. After three short work weeks and three long weekends I'm actually happy to return to the routine. I feel like I'm beginning the task of getting through winter. After a stretch of mild weather the temperature is dropping and the winds have increased, helps keep me in the proper frame of mind for the job.

Welcome to 2011

Upon review I'm a little surprised that I had 53 blog posts in 2010, a poor showing indeed. As much as I like blogging and reading blogs I didn't really put much into it last year. In some ways I have a little more time available for online activities – on the other hand the intensity I've felt at my job the last few months has left me creatively spent by the time I sit down at the computer and seems to overlap into the weekend. Regardless it's not like I particularly need to be creative to write a blog post but it does play a role in how I think. Maybe I'll go into "throw something up against the wall and see what sticks" mode. Oh, you lucky visitors!