Douglas's blog

We finally had part of our fence replaced in the front. It was leaning at abou a 30 degree angle ever since the winds hit last year and we think it was mostly being help up by the passion flower vines on top. Our neighbor decided it was time before we did and called the fence people and we just paid our share. Four more neighbors to go. The fence people were good and we will probably use them for the remainder of the perimeter. Pictures will come later.

I finally got some gopher cinch traps to deal with the gopher problem. Right around that time Grover killed one (and ate half of it before I stopped him). Using the cinch traps has been effective and after not seeing any new gopher activity for a few days we decided to clean up and put down a new layer of mulch/bark. The next morning in the areas we worked on there were four fresh gopher mounds. I think as they are being taken care of new ones are moving in from the 1/2 acre lot next door. More trapping took care of that one though. Still there are still a few lurking elsewhere in the yard. I'm trying to get them in the neighbor's yard too (with permission) to stop the exodus.

Today we were going to excavate the flagstones making up the front patio to put gopher wire between them so the gophers won't mess that up in the future. Starting on the first one was ok until I saw a bee fly to the ground and disappear down a hole next to the flagstone. I stepped over for a closer look and within a few minutes there were a number of bees looking for the holes in the dirt I had just cleared away. Looking around the rest of the flagstones I now see a lot of these holes. I stopped because I don't want to be uncovering a nest and pissing off all the bees inside.

Finally a weekend without many planned activities let me catch up on the far overdue weeding. First I got the new weeds in the backyard that grew from the last attempt. Then I moved on to the front yard and managed to get everything but the weeds between the flagstones and the weeds along the side of the house. It was about 1.5 green barrels worth and there is probably another barrel to pull on the side. Hopefully I'll get to that this evening. I forget how good a simple weeding can make things look.

Sunday we went to Castroville for the artichoke festival. The number of restored and modified cars on display was much larger this year. The We had some fried artichokes and I had an artichoke and carne asada taco (very good). There was a sign for artichoke cupcakes but unfortunately they were sold out. Oh well, that's what we get for going two hours before closing. The vegetable sculptures weren't as impressive or numerous this year except for the snake in a tree that was the first one you ssee when entering the hall. Having done almost all we went to do, it was time to buy a couple cases of artichokes and go. The nice thing about going late on Sunday is that they don't want to haul all those artichokes away so by the time we were there a case of 18 jumbo artichokes was going for $16.

On the way back to the car I rested the artichokes down on top of a fire hydrant while we watched some dancers inside the festival area. Then I picked up the cases and turned to continue with a jolt of pain as I slammed my shin into the fire hydrant valve. About a block later I stopped and checked my shin and found it was already swollen quite a bit. Nicole got the car and came back for me and the future food. When I got home I rested it andiced it on and off for about 45 minutes which greatly reduced the swelling and today the pain and swelling is very minor, yay!

 I don't have a picture because there are only camera phones in the office and none of them can get close enough to resolve the image. I would draw a picture but my poor drawing skills are more likely to mislead.

It's a bright red bug (6-legs), about 2.5-3mm long and probably about 1mm wide. The head is probably 1/4 of the total length and is more gray-brown in color. When walking the body is fairly high off the surface at about a millimeter. The antennae are about the length of the body with the last 1/3 of that being about twice the thickness of the lower part.

A Knight's Tale - With the passing of Heath Ledger I learned that I had not actually seen any of his movies. I probably wasn't going to be seeing any until The Dark Knight later this summer until I saw a movie channel was playing A Knight's Tale. Aside from names it doesn't have much connection to history but it sure is a fun movie.

Iron Man - I think this is my new favorite comic book movie, but Hellboy is still close. Everything about it is just right. I'm looking forward to the sequel already.

Sunshine - This movie is heavy but it's a great story and it draws you in to the family's story. If there is any movie that it is similar to I think it is To Live, which I also feel similarly about. I got the impression that there is more to the story which usually indicates the kind of details you get in a novel as being the source material, but it's written by the director; I'm guessing a good bit is based on his own family and experiences to give it that feel.

Flawless - The 60s appear to be a hot time frame for movies and tv right now. This heist movie takes place in the 60s and it's a pretty good heist. Michael Caine is great and Demi Moore is surprising, mostly because I don't think of her in this kind of role so I didn't recognize her at first. Unfortunately the end is a little weak and forgettable but it's still good overall.

Speed Racer - I didn't see it and I don't want to. I just want to express my happiness that it's doing so horribly at the box office. When I first saw the trailer I thought I didn't want to see it but I might check it out for the effects. As the number of times I saw trailers and still for it increased so did my dislike for it and the certainty that it would suck. It seems that happened to a lot of other people too, the reviews and the box office are horrible for a film that expensive. Yay!

Scrubs - It's been confirmed that the 8th ad final season of Scrubs will be 18 episodes long and will be on ABC. More Yay!

1) As I watched them set up the difference engine I pictured a more practiced person setting it up in maybe half the time. Operators being a skilled profession in a world where the machines were completed and used in Babbage's time. Cities would have computational centers that people send their work to.

2) The half-time show at the roller derby was horrible. The Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra came out and played the same rhythm for a few minutes while the leader was slowly introducing the members through a megaphone that distorted everything to the mostly unintelligible. They had a variety of things scavenged from all over but none of it was put to good use. Having tuned paint cans is a fine idea if you're going to actually do more than play on a couple of them, ignoring their tonality. Eventually my brain was able to tune them out as white noise effectively enough that I didn't know they finished until Nicole told me they finished and no one clapped. People noticed they were done and clapped, allowing them to exit and the roller derby to start again.

Saturday we went to the Computer History Museum to see the opening of Babbage's Difference Engine exhibit. It's the second one that's been built and it's impressive in person. After wandering through the rest of the museum we arrived at the difference engine in time to see them setting it up for calculation of an 8th degree polynomial. The setup took 5-10 minutes, first setting up the odd factors and then the evens before finally cranking away. We were surprised that engine is quiet while it runs aside from the periodic clunks as the rods shift. During setup there was a person explaining that the crank speed has to be fairly constant and if it's too slow there isn't enough momentum to operate correctly. As much as I liked the calculating part I think the printer output was just as impressive. Pulleys move the appropriate digits into position, an ink roller inks the digits and then the paper is pressed to the digits.

Saturday evening was another Santa Cruz Roller Girls roller derby match, this time between Fistful of Dollies and Beach Flat Betties. These two of the three local teams that the all-star team draws from to play against teams from other cities.  The Dollies ended up winning by about ten points but it was pretty close all the way though. Robin Yo Life joined the announcers which was nice for clarifying what was going on at various points and amusingly it sometimes turned into comments that were meant more for coaching what was happening at that moment. Next match in Santa Cruz is on June 28.

Sunday we went to Bay Meadows for the final day of live racing and it was really crowded, both from people there for Mother's Day and people there for the last day. For the first half there was a lot less smoking going on than normal, but then the parties with mothers thinned out some and the smoking kicked it up a notch. The horses ran, we lost money on our small bets, we ate junk food, it was a lot of fun.

I didn't think about the connection before, but Monday morning when I came in to work the power strip in my cube was dead and one of the bricks plugged into it didn't survive either. I'm thinking whatever was the fix took out my power strip in the process.

Unrelated to that but still odd is that this weekend the garbage disposal started turning itself on randomly. I think the fiber-optic switch on it is somehow triggering incorrectly. The first time we were watching a movie in the other room, the second time was at around 3AM. Both times the cat was sleeping on the bed. For now we're leaving it unplugged when not in use.

We went on Sunday and after finding parking and then waiting in line for tickets finally made it to the the stuff. The main hall had the stuff from previous issues of Make and Craft magazines. Having kits for sale for the more popular items was a good idea. The stage was little crowded so we couldn't get close enough to hear anyone talk, but talking to the people who were manning the booths was more fun anyway.

Next we went throught he Disney section which was surprisingly cool. Seeing how they mock up attractions and with a model and a camera, and seeing early stage animatronic models was nice since I didn't think that stuff really escaped the back room. A few years ago I read that someone had come up with a new hologram process that really made things look 3D. I hadn't heard anything else about it since then but I'm pretty sure that's what they were using for the Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey. There was no electronics involved, just a hologram in a frame, but the image stood out in front of the frame. Moving from one side to the other I could go from seeing the front of Mickey's ear to the back. People kept touching the frame because they kept moving closer in an attempt to touch the image.

After that we went to the big hall where we saw the robotics and other things that needed space and more commercial areas. We got to play with what was called "Galaxy Goo" but Crayola calls Modelling Magic. It's easy to manipulate but then you let it sit for a weeks and it turns hard, no more going back to soft. It feels solid like a plastic but light like a foam when it's dry. I want the 3D candy printer. We sat in the Tango electric car and then learned that it's WAY too expensive.

After a lunch break we wandered outside, saw the Burning Man metal sculptures burning, the human beat box, a demonstration on methane from algae as a fuel source, and the QuickCamper. The QuickCamper folds up to act as a shell for a pickup truck but can expand to allow access to a queen size bed, a sink, a stock, a refrierator/freezer, and sitting space (where the bed would be). It's not in production yet.

We wandered over at the right time to see the Diet Coke and Mentos guys doing their show and selling their nozzle kits, checked out the steam punks, and then wandered the craft hall, picking up cards for later purchase possibilities. I thought the clothing swap/redecorating stations were a good idea, but there wasn't enough room for the tables selling stuff.

Finally we wandered into the fabrication room and saw several ShopBots in action. Surprisingly they are fairly quiet. There were automated toold for foam, vinyl, plastic, wood, probably other stuff I'm forgetting, There were some trying to start a 500 person co-op where so you wouldn't have to buy all these things on your own. I started thinking about that and I think it's a good idea, but I don't have time for a remote co-op space either.

As we were walking towards the exit we got to see the giraffe bot ambling/rolling along.  Now we look forward to next year.

The bathrooms where I work are shared among a several offices. The 30-foot journey to relief brings with it a large charge differential so that when you touch the bathroom door handle you get a large shock. Going out the rear entrance has similar issues. Strangely, the reverse trips don't have the same issue. Over the weekend something has changed or been fixed because now there is no more shock! It's funny how much a minor and infrequent event can change your happiness throughout the day. Tension associated with the bathroom that I didn't even know was present is now gone and the day feels more free.

27 Dresses - A fun comedy. I hope Katherine Heigl makes continues with the transition from tv to the movies. She was great to watch and her reactions felt very real even as the situations weren't very likely.

1408 - I wasn't expecting much from this and I got a good bit more. John Cusack is very good which is essential since it's often a solo performance. When things are starting to get going there is some good tension build up but then it transitions to the abstract. If Rod Serling were making long Twilight Zone episodes today, I think this would be among them.

The Apartment - This movie matches a lot of what you see in Mad Men about the 60s. Shirley MacClaine and Jack Lemmon both portray complex characters and make them feel real, especially MacClaine. The whole movie still plays well today and it seems that you could drop the whole thing in a modern setting barely changing a thing. I wonder if that's why it hasn't been remade yet.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith - Such an entertaining backdrop to look at relationship issues. Doug Liman has a skill with showing action that I enjoy greatly. And while the action was great, I thought the re-exploration of their relationship in that context to be probably my favorite part.