Troutmaster

Extreme Car Camping

I just got back from an extreme car camping weekend. Here's the breakdown:
28May05:
We left town a little later than expected because we had gone to bed late the night before. We stopped at the Raley's in Auburn to get groceries for the trip. Timber's parents got all sorts of food, which set the tone for a weekend full of eating. After that we stopped at the fly shop (Sierra Fly Fishers LLC) in the same mall. The guys in there sounded like they were really bored, and they informed us that this was one of the worst weekends for fishing on the American River. After that we got back in the car and headed out of town to Oxbow. Once we got there we saw that someone had staked a mining claim to the area where we planned to camp and prospect. A little while later we found out from a Ranger that the claim was not legit and we decided to set up camp. Our campsite was 1/4 mile away from where we parked, so it took us a while to carry everything from the cars to our campsite and get everything set up. A little while later I helped Timber's dad with the prospecting and we found some gold. It wasn't a lot, but it was definitely a welcome sight. Once it got dark we looked up at the sky trying to find satellites. It was a bit difficult because the canyon was deep and we could see the mountains with the trees all around us. But we saw 3 satellites the first night.

29May05:
By the time we got up Timber's dad had already started prospecting again. For breakfast we had pancakes, eggs, sausage, and bacon, and I'm pretty sure I ate entirely too much. Timber's mom takes her camp cooking pretty seriously. :-) After breakfast we decided to try our float tubes in the river. So we blew them up and go them ready, then put on our waders and flippers and got into the river with them. I think Timber enjoyed using her float tube for the first time. There was a calm part of the river and a part with rapids. We paddled up through the calm part to the rapids, then inserted ourselves into the rapids and floated down river a short distance. Then we paddled back to shore and got out. Our tests had passed. After a lunch of corned beef with onions and broccoli and lumpia we took a short nap. Then we decided to take our float tubes to Oxbow Reservoir and try to catch some fish. The Oxbow Reservoir is nothing more than the confluence of the Rubicon River and the Middle Fork of the American River. A little ways downstream of the confluence lays a dam. We jumped in the Rubicon side of the confluence and floated downstream and threw some flies for the fish. We saw lots of bugs and lots of fish surfacing, but nothing seemed to be interested in what we had to offer. Timber wanted to go further downstream than I wanted to go, so when it was time for us to turn around I waited for her to catch up to me and then we started paddling upstream together. I have to say that float tubes move very slowly no matter how hard you kick, so you don't want to take them in water that moves at all. Because we made so little progress due to the flow of the river we worked our way along the bank very slowly. We made slow and steady progress until it was time to make a dash for the boat launch. The Middle Fork of the American River, the boat launch, and the Rubicon River all made a triangle, and in the middle was slow water that I would term as the "safe zone". I got ahead of Timber and paddled hard until I reached the safe zone, but just as I made it there she called for help. She had gotten a cramp in her leg and wanted me to come back and get her before the current could push her too far downstream. So I turned around and started heading back in her direction (back into the current) and once I got to about halfway to her she told me to turn around and that she didn't need my help anymore. I was frustrated, but I turned around and took my frustration out on my legs and paddled hard against the current and back into the safe zone. I waited for her to arrive and we both got out of the water together. We were tired and a little cold by that point, but we had fun. Once we got back to camp we were treated to steak, steamed cauliflower, and scalloped potatoes with onions. We didn't stay up too late before turning in for the night.

30May05:
After waking up Timber's mom treated us to french toast, ham, and sausage. After eating entirely too much, we started packing up our gear and making multiple trips back and forth from the cars. Once we were all packed up we headed back for home. On the road between Foresthill, CA and Auburn, CA Timber saw a black bear scramble down a hill and cross the road. I didn't see it, but it sounded pretty cool from the way she described it. Other than that it was a traffic clogged and uneventful trip home. Long live 3-day weekends!

IBM Wants Me To Blog

Guidelines for IBM bloggers: executive summary

1. Know and follow IBM's Business Conduct Guidelines.
2. Blogs, wikis and other forms of online discourse are individual interactions, not corporate communications. IBMers are personally responsible for their posts. Be mindful that what you write will be public for a long time—protect your privacy.
3. Identify yourself – name and, when relevant, role at IBM – when you blog about IBM or IBM-related matters. And write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of IBM.
4. If you publish a blog or post to a blog and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with IBM, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.”
5. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
6. Don’t provide IBM’s or another’s confidential or other proprietary information.
7. Don't cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval.
8. Respect your audience. Don't use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, etc., and show proper consideration for others' privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory – such as politics and religion.
9. Find out who else is blogging on the topic, and cite them.
10. Don't pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don't alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
11. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective.

16-0 Drubbing

I had only one soccer game on Monday night and in that game I played goal keeper. My team was the better of the two teams, and my team ran the score up to 16-0. I'm not happy about that because in my mind that is unsportsmanlike. I wish my team would have stopped at 5-0 or even 6-0, but to continue scoring over and over again really took a lot of the fun out of the game. So for all you kids out there, it's not cool to run up the score. Whether you win or lose it is good to be humble.

Revenge Of The Sith

Timber and I watched the latest Star Wars movie on Saturday morning. IBM had rented out the entire theater and we went with the tickets I had won earlier in the week (regularly $5 each). The showing was at 9:45 AM, and we were to meet Jan and Mike there at 9 AM. We showed up at 9 AM expecting to get a halfway decent seat, and the line for our showing went halfway around the building. Luckily we didn't have to wait long before going into the theater and we did end up with fairly decent seats. My rating is along the lines of everyone else.

Earthquake Probability In California

I heard about this site today. I doubt it will actually have an impact, but it is good information to know and be aware of.

May Scramble

At my workplace they have a "scramble" once a month in the cafeteria. It is basically set up to encourage people mingle and get to know each other over lunch. During today's scramble they gave us a set of 10 problems to solve. My table got 7 out of 10 correct and we ended up winning Star Wars tickets because our table got the most correct answers. Here are the 10 problems. Email me if you want the solution:

1. Five of these numbers interact to give the number 1 as a solution. Which five numbers and in which order?

+19 x 9 + 29 x 7 - 999
-94 + 173 +65 -236 x 8
+122 x5 x 212 + 577 - 567
+190 x 6 x 4 -435 x 22
X13 - 87 x 12 -172 + 117

2. What is the largest number you can write with three digits?

3. The names of five authors are written here in code. Who are they?

TUFQIFO LJOH
BHBUIB DISJTUJF
KPIO HSJTIBN
DIBSMFT EJDLFOT
HFPSHP PSXFMM

4. Theo has four cars. He has a Toyota, a Mitsubishi, and a Bentley. Is his fourth car a Nissan or a Peugeot?

5. If London has 550 Visitors, Budapest has 500, and Madrid has 2,001, how many visitors does Paris have?

6. What leter should appear next in this series?

M V E M J S U N ?

7. You have a deck a cards from which some are missing. If I deal them equally between nine people, I have two cards to spare. If I deal them equally between four people, I have three cards to spare. If I deal them between seven people, I have five cards to spare. There are normally 52 cards in the deck. How many are missing?

8. Za-za is older than Fifi, but younger than Juan. Fifi is older than Jorjio and Maccio. Maccio is younger than both Carlos and Jorjio. Jan is older than both Fifi and Maccio, but younger than Carlos. Who is the oldest, and who is the youngest?

9. Express one half, using all the digits from one to nine.

10. What number comes next in the sequence to replace the question mark?
2 7 11 20 38 69 ?

Photos From Reno River Festival

Here are the photos that I took at the Reno River Festival this past weekend.

I. M. Pei Documentary

Timber picked a documentary from Netflix about I. M. Pei, and we finally got a chance to watch it this evening. It was a fascinating documentary about the American Architect that among other things worked on the Louvre in Paris. He seems to be a very likable guy that always has a smile on his face. He speaks with authority, but at the same time is very respectful and says only what is needed. We need more people like that.

Notification Of Assessed Value

I got a nice little flyer in the mail the other day from Lawrence E. Stone, the Santa Clara County Assessor letting me know that the full cash value of my property has gone up and as a result I will have a higher property tax bill for the year. Thanks assholes. It's nice to know that my government is looking out for me. I wonder if they would send me a flyer letting me know that the full cash value of my property has gone down, and as a result I would have a lower property tax bill for the year? I guess I'll have to wait and see if that condition ever happens. My prediction is that they would not, because that would be bad for tax revenue. I wonder if I can assess the value of my property and send them what I think is the proper tax bill? Again, probably not. Bitches!

Overdosed On Awful Awful

We went to the Reno River Festival This weekend. It was pretty cool overal. We got a room at Harrah's on Saturday and once we checked in we walked down to the Truckee River to check out the festival. Once we had first gotten to the festival we had to go back to the room because Timber's parents had arrived with Dionicio. For dinner we went to the Nugget Diner where Timber and I split an awful awful. We went to bed fairly early so that we could check out the river festival early on Sunday. Today we got up to go check out the clinics, but we didn't get there in time to get into any of them, so we checked out the booths and started the day with a pork bbq sandwich and some micro brew. Ah, the breakfast of champions! Once we were done at the river festival we went back to the room, got checked out, and went back to the river festival. On our way out of town we stopped at the Sportsman's Wharehouse where I finally got some chest waders and flippers. Timber's parents met up with us and brought us an awful awful. So that makes two awful awfuls that we've split in the past two days. If you've ever had one you know why I say I've overdosed. We hit rain and traffic on the way back home, but all in all it was a fun weekend.

Why Is That?

I got hit by the full force of a cold on Tuesday. Since that time I have gone in cycles for my symptoms and how I feel. The cycles are that I wake up in the morning and feel like my cold is getting better, then I go to work and things get worse, and then I come home from work and feel better again. This has happened on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and today. It makes me wonder if I'm really just developing an allergy to work. :-)

Plea Bargain For Former Colleague

A former colleague of mine is just about done with his court case. The last part that needs to be done is the sentencing. I'm still shocked that he would hack into his old company's system, and I seriously doubt he would do any harm to his old company's system.

Reno River Festival

I may be going to the Reno River Festival this weekend. I'm looking forward to checking it out and maybe even doing a little bit of white water kayaking. We may even have time to play some golf while we're there.

Run Away From Sideways

With the exception of a few really funny parts, Sideways is a dud. In general the movie seems forced down the path it goes and the coverage of the wines isn't even that great. What I find hard to believe is that people are now flocking to the Santa Barbara Wine Country to "relive" the Sideways experience. You can "relive" the Sideways experience by getting crappy movies from Netflix and watching them. I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars.

My Path To Eastern Sierra Fishing Is Blocked

The trout fishing season has begun in the Eastern Sierras, but the shortest path, which is the only one that makes sense to take, is still blocked. That path takes me through Yosemite National Park on Highway 120. Unfortunately it is still buried in snow because of all the snow accumulation we had this winter. I'm guessing it won't be opened up until the end of May this year. Here's a link to the latest update.

We're in MIT's Tech Review

Here's an article about the future direction of research for IBM which mentions my project. It is sometimes good to see where your contribution fits into the big picture.

Family Guy Is Back

One of the most hilarious shows on TV is back. I was flipping through the channels on Sunday night and found it. I later found out that The Family Guy was brought back from cancellation. You might have to have grown up in the US to really understand the humor behind the show, but if you have, you'll probably find this show both disturbing and hilarious. I highly recommend checking it out.

Got To Check Out Tiger

I went to the Oakridge Apple Store today to pick something up and I got a chance to take Tiger for a spin. I only spent about 5 minutes with it, and I got to play with widgets, spotlight, and automator. Widgets seemed alright, I played around with the weather widget and the stock ticker and the overall usefulness by hitting the F12 key seemed alright. Spotlight seemed decent and Automator seemed like an even simpler version of applescript from the standpoint that you don't even have write or see the lines of script. I guess some people were really excited about the release of Tiger. We like to refer to them as psychos...