Welcome to 45° 28′ 18″ N, 122° 39′ 11″ W. I got a new toy this week, a [GlobalSat BT-338](http://www.globalsat.com.tw/english/products_detail.php?p_id=74) Bluetooth GPS unit. It is basically a matchbox-sized brick with a couple of LEDs, a GPS receiver, and Bluetooth radio. It looks like it is all batter, with one that is supposed to last all […]
A couple of weeks ago, I went to the store to get a larger memory card for my camera. On my Vancouver trip, I forgot my extra cards and ended up having to delete pictures from the full card. I ended up getting a 1 GB xD card. When I got home, I put it […]
The second wildlife encounter was with an animal in the chimney. As I was getting ready for work, I heard a banging in my chimney like an animal had gotten trapped. I opened the damper but it hung on and didn’t fall down. Figuring I would deal with it later, dead or alive, I closed […]
A while ago, I had my first recent wildlife encounter. On one of the coldest days of the year, I looked outside and saw a brown furry lump on the edge of the bluff. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a real big rodent. I first thought it was a beaver but it […]
I wanted to see one of my favorite bands, [Great Big Sea](http://www.greatbigsea.com), play in Portland. Last time, it was a pretty spontaneous event. I took a different route home and passed the theater where they were playing later that night. I was surpised to see them on the marquee. I went home, ate dinner as […]
My flight down to San Diego on Christmas Eve stopped in Oakland. I had a window seat with a good view of the Bay Area as we were landing. I got a couple of good photos of San Francisco.  
Some more interesting pictures from 2005 which I didn’t post at the time. The weekend of 12/17, the [Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation](http://www.orhf.org/) gave rides on trains pulled by the [SP 4449](http://www.sp4449.com/) steam locomotives along the track that goes by Oaks Park across the pond from my place. I was hoping to take a ride but […]
One of the best parts of 2005 which I neglected to post about was Thanksgiving. I flew out to North Carolina and stayed at my brother’s place in Carrboro. My parents and grandfather also flew out. We did the same thing last year but instead of exploring North Carolina, this year we relaxed and saw […]
I took my normal walk down to the Willamette River at [Sellwood Riverfront Park](http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewPark&PropertyID=668). The river was the highest I had seen it. Two years ago, it was almost as high in April but this is January. Normally, there is a beach, then a four foot wall with benches and picnic tables on a flat […]
About 28 minutes ago, the first leap second in seven years was inserted. The clock went from 23:59:59 UTC to 23:59:60. Here in Oregon, this happened at 15:59:60. This was done to keep UTC in sync with the sun. The difference between atomic time (TAI) and UTC is now 33 seconds. Linux handled this automatically. […]