OK, I realize I'm posting this the day AFTER Thanksgiving, but better late than never, right?!
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope you have a great Christmas season!
By the way, if you're interested, check out my friend Holly's blog over there on the right-hand side of the page at the top of the "My Favorite Links" list.
God bless!
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
Friday, November 28, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Monday, November 17, 2008
A few things...
This post is pretty much just some miscellaneous stuff.
First of all, I'd like to introduce a new feature to the blog - a Bible verse of the week. It's posted at the top of the right-hand side.
Secondly, check out my mom's write-up of my bro's senior project rocket engine firing in Fresno this past weekend: http://bakeslotsacookies.blogspot.com/2008/11/final-blast.html
And finally, I found another nice place to take photos of the ocean. The following 2 photos were taken from near Table Bluff, which overlooks both the Pacific and Humboldt Bay. The panoramic was from Saturday, and the sunset photo from Sunday.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Driving poorly?
| Alright, I guess it's about time I FINALLY posted something about this since it happened about 7 months ago already. This post has been on the back burner for a long time now. This little story takes place on New Year's Eve 2007 as I was driving back to Eureka after spending a few days with my family in Sactown. I was headed north on Highway 101 around 7:30-8:30 pm in either northern Mendocino or southern Humboldt County (believe me, they look just the same, especially at night). As one might expect to see on New Year's Eve, the California Highway Patrol was out in force, and there seemed to be black and white cars all over the road. As is typical on my drives home, the road was fairly empty, but cars going above the speed limit would still occasionally catch up to and pass me. Then at one point, one car caught up to me and stayed in my lane behind me. At first I didn't think too much of it, but eventually my curiousity became stronger when I realized this car didn't want to pass. It would get closer and then fall back a ways. Finally, the car got close enough behind me that I could see the bars in the car through my rearview mirror. "Ah ha," I thought. "So it's a cop." Well, I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but he kept following me for several minutes. I just watched my speedometer even more closely than I normally do and kept on going. Finally, he turned his lights on and pointed his spotlight at the back of my truck. I thought, "Oh, great. Now what?" I had never in my life been pulled over before and, needless to say, I was more than a little nervous about what was going on. I started slowing down, but didn't immediately see what I thought looked like a safe place to pull over. Finally after several seconds, I found a place and stopped my truck. The officer walked up to my passenger window and knocked on it in order to get me to roll the window down. After I rolled the window down, officer #1 (as he will be called from now on) said, "The reason I pulled you over was because you were driving pretty poorly back there. You were in and out of your lane about half a dozen times and straddling the line on the road." Well, this was news to me! I had never been accused of being a bad driver before, and I thought I was driving pretty good, myself. But I certainly didn't want to get into a big debate with the nice police officer, so I said the biggest argument I could think of: "Really!?" He asked me where I was coming from, and I told him. Then he asked for me driver's license, registration, and insurance, which I happily handed over. He gave the paperwork to officer #2 so he could radio the information into dispatch and check up on me while officer #1 continued to talk to me. Officer #1 continued, "Someone actually reported you. Someone called and reported a silver Dodge Dakota weaving all over the road and throwing cans out the window. That's why two patrol cars are here tonight." Well, I hadn't noticed that there were two different patrol cars behind me; I thought both officers had come from the same car. So I said something that probably wasn't the brightest thing to say: "Oh, I didn't notice there were two of you back there." D'oh! Maybe I shouldn't have said THAT! Officer #1 said, "It also took you a while for you to notice me behind you." I didn't say anything in response to that, but I was thinking, "What are you talking about? I've seen you following me for the last 10 minutes!!!" Finally he got to the point: "Do you mind stepping out of the truck for a couple minutes?" I thought, "You've got to be kidding me," but out loud I said, "Sure, no problem." So I followed officer #1 behind the truck and stood where he asked me to stand. Keep in mind that it was pitch black outside, which only added to the frightening aspect of the whole thing. Around this time, officer #2 was still occupied with dispatch. Officer #1: "You seem really nervous. Have you ever been pulled over before?" Me: "No, never." Officer #1: "Never? Not even for a speeding ticket or anything?" Me: "Nope, first time in my life." He took a pen out of his pocket and said, "I want you to follow the pen with your eyes without moving your head." Then he started moving the pen from side to side. I don't know exactly what I was thinking, but it might have gone something like this: "I know I haven't been drinking, but eyes, please don't fail me now! Do whatever it is you're supposed to do while following a pen. And please don't move, head!" I'm just glad he didn't ask me to walk a straight line, because sometimes I can't even do that on a good day without tripping, falling, or running into something! When he was done, he asked me, "Have you had anything to drink at all?" I said no. He asked me if I was tired, and I told him that I was a bit tired, that I had just worked a bunch of night shifts, and then I had driven to Sacramento and back for the weekend. Then he proceded to take my pulse. I'm sure it must have been a new world record because I could feel my heart going about 90 mph. He pulled out his pen again and moved it toward my nose to make my eyes go crossed. Then he asked me to follow the pen again and did his routine again. Finally, I guess he was satisfied. He told me that he normally liked to be very thorough about things, but he saw no reason to continue checking me out any further. He said he could see no signs of my being under the influence of anything and could not smell any alcohol in the truck. He looked at officer #2 (who had finished talking to dispatch about the fact that my truck's registration was current and there was nothing wrong with me), and officer #2 just shrugged his shoulders. Officer #1: "That report of throwing a can out the window doesn't make any sense to you, does it?" Me: "Not at all." Officer #1: "Well, we have to fill out some paperwork real quick here since we both had to spend our time talking to you out here tonight. We are a state agency; I'm sure you understand." Me: "I do understand. As a matter of fact, I work for the government too." Officer #1: "Oh yeah, who do you work for." Me: "I work for the National Weather Service up in Eureka." This launched a whole (but brief) conversation about how I had worked in Texas and then moved to Eureka, and how I went to school to get my meteorology degree. He even mentioned that I must have known how it would be cold out there that night, which it certainly was. Then officer #2 gave me back my paperwork, officer #1 wished me a good night, and I went on my way. The truly ironic thing about this whole experience is that I have never in my life even tasted a drop of alcohol, let alone would I ever consider drinking and driving. It also left me wondering: Hmmm.......if I had really been swerving and driving erratically like officer #1 said I was, wouldn't you think there would be at least reckless driving ticket or something? How interesting. I guess he just felt he needed a nice excuse to pull me over after all. And to top off the strangeness of the story, in case you haven't noticed, officer #2 never said a single word to me or to officer #1 during this entire ordeal. Am I the only one that finds that odd? So, my latest theory is this: Ph.D. boy (if you don't know who that is, that's a whole other story) knew that I was driving back home along Highway 101 and thought he would have some fun by making a prank call to the CHP concerning a vehicle exactly like mine driving poorly and throwing cans out the window. Seems logical, right? Anyway, thanks a lot, man! |
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
Friday, April 18, 2008
Scenic Highway 101
I spent my three-day weekend this week visiting my grandparents in Florence, Oregon. It's a 265-mile drive each way that takes almost 6 hours to complete (average 46 mph, thanks to the slow twists and turns of Highway 101). On the way home, I hit weather ranging from completely sunny skies to heavy drizzle and fog so thick I couldn't see much of anything but the glare from my own headlights. However, I found a few opportunities to utilize the vista points on the side of the highway to take some photos. Since I still don't have the wide-angle lens for my new camera yet, some of the photos were taken with my old camera. You can click on the photos for larger versions.
Look closely to see if you can find the Umpqua Lighthouse:
The next four were taken just south of Port Orford, OR (the third one down is my favorite, and likely the next photo of the week):
A greeter at the Oregon Visitor's Information Center just north of the border:
On the way home, I had to stop at the Crescent City Wal-Mart to check it out. At only 90-minutes away, it is the nearest Wal-Mart to Eureka:
Finally, a couple of sunset photos from south of Crescent City:
Monday, April 7, 2008
Major Upgrade
As much as I love my current camera (the Panasonic DMC-FZ8S), I finally decided to upgrade to something nicer, namely a digital SLR. Although I still have a long way to go, I feel I have learned a lot about digital photography in the last couple years with lots of practice with my Panasonic. My official reason for upgrading is wanting a camera that provides more manual control along with much improved image quality. However, my secret reason (shh, don't tell anyone!) is that I have a long-standing photography inferiority complex thanks to Jim (yeah, right!). He use to try to intimidate me by threatening to put away his standard camera (Sony H5) and break out his "big" camera (Sony Alpha A100) to take some shots. Of course, the results never fully lived up to the hype, but I always pretended to like his pictures to make him feel better.
Anyway, in my typical fashion, I researched all kinds of DSLRs for an enormous amount of time before I finally settled on the Canon Digital Rebel XTi (check out the home page for this camera here). For lenses, I decided on the Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS and the Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS (see photos below). Together, they cover a zoom range very similar to my Panasonic. As I have done in the past, I ordered this camera from Amazon.com and thus now have to spend a week waiting for everything to arrive (all the various components are coming from different places). I don't know what to do with myself now. I'm having a hard time being patient waiting for my XTi's arrival, but I guess I have no choice. For now, I'll occupy my time (which I'm sure could be better spent!) by reading the downloaded user's manual so I will hopefully have some clue about how to use an SLR by the time it actually gets here. So Jim: I'll soon have my own "big" camera to bring out when it's time to show you how it's done, so just be ready. I can tell you're scared....
Monday, January 28, 2008
Snow in Eureka
Just a quick post with some videos from yesterday. Sorry for the way they look - when I uploaded the videos from my camera, the blog software promptly re-formatted them to a low-resolution, blurry mess. However, I think they are still good enough so that you can kind of see what's going on. Please feel free to ignore the commentary on the second video - I was on the phone with my mom at the time.
We had quite a wintry mix in Eureka today. It started off around 50 degrees this morning with lots of rain (over an inch and a half total on the day). By mid-afternoon, the temperature was in the mid- to upper-30s and we saw rain, a rain and snow mix, and some light snow flurries (with little or no rain falling). Then just before midnight, we had a heavy shower for a couple minutes that nearly covered the ground with small hail (see photos at the end of the post). We do have the possibility of more snow overnight (although it is 35 degrees right now), but I doubt there will much accumulation, if any. Too bad. Still, it's been a fun day!
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Riverwalk
No, I'm not talking about the San Antonio riverwalk (which I think is overrated, by the way). I'm talking about the scenic walk my mom and I took yesterday down by the American River and Lake Natoma in Folsom. You can click any of the photos below for a slightly larger version.
Check out these birds' nests attached to the side of a cliff: 
Lone kayak:
Interesting rock formation:
Advancing cirrus clouds made for a nice one-sided sundog display: 
a) In the foreground, the newest bridge called Lake Natoma Crossing. It was built in 2000.
b) The next one back is called Rainbow Bridge (for obvious reasons!). It has stood there since 1919.
c) The furthest bridge back (the tall one behind Rainbow Bridge) is a historic truss bridge which I think is nameless. It was originally built in this spot in 1893 and then was moved to a different part of the river in 1918. In 2000, the bridge was brought back to its original location in Folsom. Originally used for pedestrians, cattle, and small vehicles, the old bridge is now strictly for walking and biking.
See this page for more info: http://www.myfolsom.com/3bridges.shtml
Looking downstream from the same location as the previous photo:
This is an interesting story, especially considering my past. We found about 7 roosters just hanging out in the parking lot near a group campground. We have no idea why they were there by themselves, but they did make for some interesting photo subjects:
Squirrel on a log:
Hope you enjoyed the nice Northern California scenery. Sorry for the history lesson in there -- as a proud former Folsom resident, I think these historical tidbits of the town are important to share!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Big Pacific Surf
Check out these pictures of the surf yesterday. The buoy 3 miles off the coast of this spot showed a peak wave height of 29 feet yesterday morning. The waves washed up some pretty hefty debris, too.
Debris washed up by the waves:
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