Snow camping

Went camping with Jeff and Ron yesterday. Snowshoed around Twin Lakes and camped on Upper Lake. Walked out this morning. Here is the full set of pictures.

This was a humbling experience for me. Many times I felt like I was kind of at the edge of my comfort level. It gave me new appreciation for what kind of mental toughness true explorers must have. John Muir writes in his journals of spending nights in the open on Mt. Shasta, just sleeping under a log in his clothes while snow piles up around him. By comparison, we had it super easy with our modern tents, our sleeping pads and our warm bags.

The hike was about 8 miles round trip. We ended up not having enough fuel to even try boiling water, so I ate one Clif Bar the first night and another the next morning. Along with a few sips of water, that was pretty much all any of us ate. The snow was up to my waist when I got off the trail and on the trail it was still pretty powdery. Made walking feel pretty difficult. This was the first time I’d ever tried snowshoes, and the first time I’d snow camped in this tent (a true 3-season tent that was way out of it’s element in this weather). I woke up pretty much hourly to slap snow off the roof of the tent so it didn’t cave in–it’s a small single-person tent with just two poles. In the morning, the foot and head of the tent were covered and the sides were pushing in on me. Kinda claustrophobic.

Anyway, it was beautiful out there. So quiet. I kept thinking of a Stephen Iverson song: “Surely God is in this place / Holy ground.” I’d do it again, but I’d try to choose a clear night rather than one with a lot of predicted snow…

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Good books

I’ve been juggling a few good books lately. Here are three that I’ve really loved during the last month or so:

Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
Chouinard is the founder of Patagonia and this book is about his evolution as a businessman. I saw him speak at Lewis and Clark College a couple of years ago, when he was touring for the book. I hadn’t read it before seeing him speak, but always had the book on my list since then. I saw it at Powells a few weeks ago and snagged it. It gave me lots of food for thought about what it means to be a responsible businessperson (and regular-person) in this world. Patagonia exists in large part to funnel money toward causes that change the world. Chouinard relates a story early in the book about meeting a business guru and figuring out why he (Chouinard) wasn’t going to sell the company any time soon–he cared about his workers and he cared about the difference Patagonia was making in the world, as a socially conscious business. He also tells a story about watching his dad pull out his own teeth with electrician’s pliers….!

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston
I’m not sure where I was tipped off to this fantastic book, but I’m glad I read it. I don’t quite know how to describe the style of writing. It’s a 3rd person narrative about real people, so it’s definitely non-fiction. But it often reads like a novel. Preston is a talented writer, that’s for sure. The storyline follows scientists (often before they were actually scientists) into the tree canopy of the California redwoods. If you’ve been to the redwoods, it’ll make you want to go back. If you haven’t been, you’ll want to go. Here are some pictures about the people in the book.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
This book has been on my to-read list for a long while. I’m still reading it and I wish I’d gotten to it earlier! This is just a fantastic overview of scientific history, with tons of fascinating factoids to keep your interest (as if Bryson’s entertaining writing style weren’t enough). For instance…every model or illustration that you’ve ever seen of our solar system is wildly inaccurate. Not even close to scale. If you were to view a diagram or model that was created to scale, and the Earth were the size of a pea, Jupiter would be over a thousand feet away, and Pluto would be a mile and a half away (and the size of a bacterium). Space is unimaginably large. If that stuff captures your imagination, you’ll love this book. Bryson takes you on an educational journey that you won’t forget. I’m learning stuff about Newton, Curie, Einstein and all the other big names (and tons of lesser names) that I never had any idea about. For instance, Marie Curie’s papers (even her cookbooks) are still so radioactive that they’re stored in lead-lined boxes. If you want to check ’em out you have to put on a protective suit!

Bonus book: handwritten book by J.K. Rowling that sold for $4 million at auction. Haven’t read that one, though.

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Commute video

I’ve been thinking about videotaping my bike commute. I don’t know why I would do that, other than because I find my life so very interesting. There are tons of bike commute videos on YouTube, btw.

Anyway, if I do it, I’m going to set up the big video camera on the handlebars and the small video camera (really just my point-and-shoot that does digital video) on the rear rack facing backwards. That way I’ll be able to get the view in both directions. Doesn’t that sound oh-so-interesting? Yeah, I think so too!

I just tested it out with the small camera mounted on my top tube. Turned out okay. I used a small Gorillapod to mount it, and that seemed to work fine. I’ve also got the largest Gorillapod, which I can use for the big video camera.



Quicktime | Flash

When I edit the video, I’d like to have the final product be forward video on the left side of the screen and rear video on the left side of the screen, so that I can watch both directions at once (kinda like this). I don’t know how to do that with iMovie, though, so I’ve got some research to do.

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Riding to work

Had a great ride to work today. I did the same trick–parked in Sherwood and rode the 8 miles (Gmaps says 7.8, but my odometer says 8, so I’m going with that) to the office. I really need to remember to check my calendar before I head out. I got to work, huffing and puffing, checked my calendar and found that I needed to be in a meeting in Newberg later in the morning. Not so good.

Otherwise, the commute was fun. Cold out, but it only takes a half a mile or so to get nice and warm. I really love the idea of getting a nice workout while going to work! I get a workout and it doesn’t suck any time away from the family. Awesome. I wish I’d listened to Matt earlier!

Speaking of Matt-the-pintglasser, I should note that I am only the latest in a fine tradition of pintglass.org bike riders. Brandon’s been doing the bike to work trick for at least a year. Pintglassers are saving the planet!

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Real commuter


First real commute today. 7.8 miles one way. I drove to Sherwood with the bike, parked, then rode the remainder to the office. Baby steps.

Feel pretty good but I still need to get home…

Posted on by Brendon 2

Resetting the second hand on an Eco-Drive watch

My daily watch is a Citizen Eco-Drive. The instructions are funky, plus I can never find the instruction booklet. Dave Weinberger has instructions for setting a bunch of Eco-Drive functions. But his instructions didn’t cover how to reset the second hand if it gets jolted out of place (you know, like if your 2-year old throws your watch across the room). Here’s how to reset the second hand on a Citizen Eco-Drive watch:

Chronograph Second Hand Zero Positioning

    1. Pull the crown out to the time correction position.
    2. Press button (A) for 3 seconds or more and release it, the watch enters the chronograph second 0 position correction mode.
    3. Press button (A) to position the chronograph second hand at the 0 position.

• The chronograph second hand can be advanced one second at a time (in the clockwise direction) each time button (A) is pressed.
• The chronograph second hand can be advanced rapidly by depressing button (A) continuously.

  1. Once the chronograph second has been positioned at the 0 position, reset the time and return the crown to the normal position.
  2. Press button (B) to check that the chronograph minute hand has been reset to the 0 position.
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