Please, Please, Please

R.I.P. Larry Young

Eleven Hundred Springs

I am a huge fan of the Texas band Eleven Hundred Springs & I try to catch them every time they play at Love & War in Texas.

They sell these old school caps with a big ass logo at their shows. In the photo below Noah is wearing the ugliest one I could find.


Shot with my new Samsung M500 1.3mp camera phone. Nice phone, btw.

Have a nice weekend.

BBB

Padres vs Cardinals

Can't they both lose. I hate both of them.

BBB

Capitola California

I am at JavaOne this week & we spent the weekend in Capitola, California. It's a small beach community near Santa Cruz. This was the view out the hotel (motel) window.



Noah got his feet wet. You can see mom's shadow in the picture... we kept very close due to the strong currents.



This is Noah on the bridge over the creek that flows into the ocean in Capitola.



The real reason we went to Capitola was to get close to the Roaring Camp Railroad. Like many toddlers, Noah is train-crazy. (opposed to Crazy Train by Ozzy)



We rode the #7 Shay Engine. I enjoyed it as much as Noah.



He seemed to have a good time. It was warm that day, so a hat was essential.



For both of us. I had my hat on backwards... notice Noah did the same on his own.



Mom and Noah in front of the train.



There was a tattooed family on the train. I really like the scorpion.



I think we'll go back to Capitola again. It was fun, albeit a bit expensive.

BBB

More Social Networking

I received an e-mail yesterday from the webmaster of the 3drealms.com site. This company is the old "Apogee" and the maker of some of my favorite games from back in the day. I wasted so much time on Commander Keen that I might have finished my thesis had I not played it constantly instead of writing C code & reading math journals. (just kidding DAD)

I ran "threadster" against a couple of the forums after a little bit of work to make it compatible with VBB 3.5.4. The name "threadster" will not last, since that domain is taken. Suggestions would be appreciated.



original 4096 x 4096 image


I may regret doing this so early, but I've put up an early access version here. Feel free to click around and generate pictures. It may crash often & you may lose data at anytime... it's alpha stage & I wipe out the database fairly often.

BBB

Social Network Update

I have been continuing my work on the message board forum viewer. This is an image generated on 4/1/2006 of Mustangworld.com.



original

I will be posting a url for the site in a few days & it will be open for business. Currently only VBB 3.0.x is supported as a valid message board type. About 1/4 fails parsing... due to customization mostly.

Social Network

Something I'm working on at home. A depiction of the last 100 threads at the mustangworld.com clubhouse. Click to view at flickr.com.

Today's Tom Sawyer

I am in Berkeley, CA this week at a user conference for Tom Sawyer Software.

A poor phone pic shot walking up the hill to the Hotel Durant.


After the 1st day, a couple of us & about 10 from TSS went to Jupiter Brewhouse & had a couple of beers and talked graphics, politics, and how outsourcing isn't the answer. (what a refreshing view from a CEO)

The CEO verified that the company is named after the song, but linked it also to Ayn Rand... all the while driving his cool Lexus hybrid fiddling with the CD player spinning the Grateful Dead. This guy is living the dream.

BBB

Houston Pics

We were in Houston for a funeral, so I really didn't get out to take too many pics. We did get out once to take my son to the park & burn some energy. We went to Tamarac Park in The Woodlands. This park is behind the elementary school I attended & it has a special place in my heart. This marker dedicated in 1984 tells the story of the lumber mill town that once was here. (click for a larger size with readable text)



We were there for about an hour & everyone had a good time. Fun with mom tells it all.



Noah was everywhere & I took a lot of pics of him of course.



He even got my brother into the act. He rode down to Houston for the funeral & it made the trip a little easier.



This random kid came up & started playing with Noah.



He was this little guys brother from what I could tell.



The fun continued...







My brother did get a little carried away with the fun. (I yelled at him for doing this!!!)



Yes, there were some animals around too.







After we left the park we went for lunch at James Coney Island and had many hot dogs.



When we were leaving my brother had to do three things at once. (drink, smoke, talk)



After we left we saw this massive shoe at the red light. Noah got quite a kick out of it. I'm imagining the stink.



Enjoy Life.

BBB

Houston Food

We had to make a trip to Houston to see a friend. These were the meal highlghts. Lunch at James Coney Island was mandatory and did not disappoint.


We tried Cafe Adobe & had many of delicious Perfect Margaritas. This was some kind of Shrimp dish on special. Two were jalapeno stuffed & two were bacon wrapped & barbequed. Mmmm good.


I shot a bunch of stuff with the D70 that I'll post after they are processed. Thinking the Steelers might win tonight... we'll see.

BBB

Cardinal

Common birds, but I actually don't have too many shots of them. I saw this bird on Sunday morning after a walk through Spring Creek Forest Preserve.

Caddo Lake State Park

We took a short trip to Caddo Lake State Park last weekend. The weather was pretty nice on Saturday, just a bit cold in the morning. It was a beautiful sunrise.



Some Cypress knees.



Cypress and moss.



A Cypress with beaver teeth marks. In certain areas, all the Cypress trees were eaten like this. The park manager told me he thought it was beavers. I don't know what else it could be.



A few folks were doing some canoeing.



The entrance to the trail system.



And a couple shots of an unidentified bird. (I'll update as soon as I know)





It was a fun trip and I can't wait to get back in the springtime. Here's the full set on flickr.

BBB

Sunset

The sunset last night was amazing. I should have walked inside the house & got my D70. And moved away from the power lines.



Watch out for the Harley rider.



Okay, here's one in focus but still in very low light.



Have a nice weekend. We are headed to Caddo Lake State Park. Maybe I'll get some decent pics. It won't be this sunny, but maybe I can get some decent scary looking black & white pics.

Spring Creek Workday

Last Saturday I went to a workday at Spring Creek Forest Preserve. I've blogged about the preserve before and that's where 90% of my nature pictures last year came from. I was a few minutes late & not prepared for work. It ended up being more of an education & walk, with a few folks doing some real work towards the end. I personally just took pictures & provided moral support. Next time I plan to bring my gloves & get dirty. They are planning a big event the 1st Saturday of March to clear about a 1/4 back to prairie. They will need help, so if you are interested just visit the website for details or show up early on March 4th.

Jim Varnum and a burr oak. (Quercus macrocarpa)


Below J. Rubrecht chops down some privet!


The full set is here.

The preservation society has a website with directions to the preserve.

Porkchops or Briskets

Just browsing the SFA Math website & ran across this picture of one of my old professors. I don't think you can call these pork chops. I would say they are closer to briskets.



Maybe he thinks he's Leonardo?

Happy 2006!

BBB