SC's Pseudo-Blog

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27 June 2010

When I was young, talking about ball joints would elicit giggles among most participants in the conversation. These days, all it gets a fur is dirty paws and many minor cuts from all the shrapnel laying about ...

I'd been hearing this rotational rushing / grinding noise whenever the beast and I were out and about. Some of that is expected in a machine that is sixteen years old and is so close to two hundred thousand miles that I've taken to carrying a digital camera with me everywhere so I can record the event which surely will happen this week. However, this sound was loud enough and annoying enough that I felt I must stop and apologize to passersby that we motored past, lest they feel I didn't care about the pain I had inflicted upon their ears.

So at 1000 hours Saturday morning I had the beast all jacked up, literally, all naked and stuff on the front side. Sort of. And while inspecting the front running gear I could neither find the cause of said noise nor duplicate it, and was feeling like I was at the wrong end of the beast until I noticed the grease boot on the starboard upper ball joint. It was ripped.

And sure enough, the port side ball joint was even worse. Dry as a bone and the boot in two pieces.

Enter Steve, my neighbor across the street, who is even a bigger motorhead than I am. He looks at the joints and verbalizes my thoughts ... "Yup, those gotta go." So with his help we began what we thought would be a short but arduous job.

Nine hours later, at around 1930 hours, I finished up and fired the beast up. It took about seven and a half hours of work to remove the old ball joints. GM rivets them in place on the upper A-arm. Easy for them to do in the factory, exceptionally difficult to undo in the field. We couldn't just pop the heads off the rivets and punch them out, not after sixteen years, no. We had to drill completely through said rivets before we could get them to let loose of the A-arm. Four rivets each side, even with cutting oil we wore out several drill bits on the job.

My air-powered tools helped quite a bit. Above we see the new joint in place on the port side (it's the dark thing with the shiny brass point in the middle, just above the disk brake rotor). Note the hex-head bolts holding it in place, so that the next poor slob who needs to replace them (which could easily be me) won't have to go through the hell Steve and I just did.

Here is a slightly better view of the starboard side job, completed. Plenty of meat left on the rotors and pads, by the way. The reddish stuff you see on the suspension and steering components is not rust. It is red sand from the deserts of northeastern Arizona, deposited in the form of a semi-frozen slush back in the winter of 2008 (here's the story), combined with grease and road grime to stick to those surfaces.

So Kellan, nice to know each of us was working on our respective machines yesterday. I'm not done yet.

Tomorrow I'll pull the rear wheels off and see what I can find regards that noise that started all this fun. It'll be brake related, I'm hoping, or maybe a universal joint going. Or maybe wheel bearings, I don't know yet. But one thing is for sure, parts of me will be blacker than a Labrador Retriever by the time I'm done. The Fox wouldn't let me in the house yesterday evening without a pre-shower "get the chunks out" going-over.

This afternoon we head over to the Honda Center to get our seats for the next season. The Ducks traded away Mike Brown yesterday. Mikey wasn't much of a point scorer, but seemed to be filling in for George Parros as George improved his point production. While George scored, Mike clobbered and skated like his tail was on fire. I was surprised he'd been traded. I liked him a lot.

As long as we hold on to Lubo and Wiz (Lubomir Visnovsky and James Wisniewski) on the blue line we should have a good defensive core to build out from. If we lose either of them, we're gonna be in trouble.

Scott Niedermayer appeared on stage at Staples Center yesterday when Cam Fowler was drafted, and today I read that Bob Murray told the press that Cam is Scotty's "first assignment" as a consultant for the team. So maybe we'll be seeing Scotty here and there for a while longer.

So now I'm off to clean up for a trip to the Honda Center. Catch you all later ...

25 June 2010

A little bit of history for you:

This image, or rather the run I was on when it was taken, was a major portion of the genesis of the story now known as Precious Cargo. My old Ford, predecessor to the beast, sits on the side of the highway at a high desert dawn, somewhere east of Kanab, Utah in the fall of 1988. I had been driving since leaving Albuquerque the previous morning, with a brief stop in Denver. From this point I would be another three hours on the road to southwestern Utah to rest at my cousin's place for a while, and then head home to a pretty young Fox I had recently started to spend a lot of time with.

I was almost 24 hours from ABQ to Saint George with that hour off the road in Denver. You know the route if you've read the story: US285 out of Denver across South Park and through Buena Vista to Poncha Junction. US50 over Monarch Pass via Sargents to Montrose. US550 south via Ouray and Silverton to Durango, take US160 via Cortez, the Four Corners, and Kayenta to Arizona 98. Up to Page to catch US89, which takes me across southern Utah to our photo location. From there via Kanab to Fredonia and Arizona 389, becoming Utah 59 to Hurricane. A bit farther to I-15 and then south to Saint George. Youthful 'yote that I was, I slept for a couple hours at Dolores' place in Utah, took her out for a late lunch, and flew low over I-15 all the way to soCal that afternoon and evening, arriving at The Fox's driveway late that night. 31 hours of a 37 hour trip behind the wheel. I can't drive like that any more ...

You all know the rest of that story, 'cause that Fox is still with me.

I put 300,000 miles on that Ford before the beast replaced it. The beast now has less than 500 miles to go before turning 200,000. My son Mike has already passed us, he turned 200,000 in his Jeep Cherokee a few weeks ago.

Speaking of the beast, it is making noises of protestation in it's front end; I'm either going to be doing brake work this weekend or be replacing or repacking some wheel bearings. I'm also going to have to break down one of these days and replace all the bushings in that truck, I've got a kit of poly bushings sitting in my garage that would probably clean up a lot of the sloppiness in the suspension system. Maybe this summer ...

My mood has improved to guarded, as the situation that soured it has gone to flight idle. It's not resolved, just not active or under discussion at the moment. Time will tell.

We're all (my Fox, Katie, and I) watching the NHL Draft on Versus. Scott Niedermayer won't be returning to the Ducks, and Teemu Selanne is still on the fence in terms of whether he'll play in 2010 / 2011. The Sharks let go of Evgeni Nabokov, a big surprise for us here. There have been so many changes, trades, drafts, and retirements that I can't begin to discuss them. I just hope the Ducks can somehow manage to plug the gaping hole Scotty's retirement left. They picked up Cam Fowler (first round 12th overall) earlier, and just this minute drafted Emerson Etem (first round 29th overall). Cam is a solid defenseman, and Emerson is an up and coming forward ... a local guy from Long Beach! Who says we don't know hockey in soCal?

A shout out to my brother Tigermark, who I pray hasn't been sitting by the phone. Life is what it is, my friend. I'm thinking about you and yours, even as I curse the conditions that prevent me from calling.

14 June 2010

I'd make a lousy villain, because I surly do get tired of being the bad guy. Yet in spite of my earnest desire to be cast in some other, any other role, I seem to be finding myself cast as the bad guy almost constantly. I'm not meeting the expectations of an awful lot of folks these days.

And I'm getting tired of the perception that I somehow derive pleasure or some sort of self-importance from suggesting some of the solutions I come up with, or making the decisions I make. Or that I don't care about what others want or need or desire. That I'm doing anything besides trying to do what's right for my family.

And that's the key - my family. Far from getting smaller as I get older, my sphere of responsibility is growing larger. My same three pups are still here with my Fox and I, and in addition I now have my folks to deal with / care for. They're not in my home, but they are a short distance to the east, and I am now the de facto go-to guy for that household as well. So they might as well be here ...

By virtue of the fact that they are elderly and do require some relatively constant, hands-on attention, any decision I make for my family must include consideration of their needs as well.

And of course the economy tanking didn't help my cause at all. I'm having to point out some harsh realities about negative cash flow these days, and observing that the immediate future, while not bleak, isn't rosy either. We need to just put our collective noses to the millstone and push through for a few months, and hopefully things will start to ease up and look better by this fall.

It's precisely because I care about my family that I seem to be cast in the role of the bad guy. And that sucks.

All I'd really like is for some of the folks that depend on me to try and view things from my perspective if for only a moment, to try and put aside their personal desires (as I do almost every day) and take in the "big picture." To maybe understand my position as the leader of the pack, and instead of bitching at me about what they can't have or might need to put off for a while, to simply agree and say something like "Well, that really bites the big one, but I understand why you hold that position and will do whatever I can to help and support you and our family."

Is that too much to ask? A little cooperation, a little understanding? I really don't enjoy being the harbinger of bad news, I don't enjoy not fulfilling the wishes of every heart at all times, but I feel it is my duty to do what is best for the survivability of my family unit ... all of us.

So I guess I have to wear the mantle of bad guy for a while longer ... maybe a long while. Until the situation changes, I guess it's easier for all and sundry to just blame me for everything, because I don't have the magic powers to make it all better right now, because I won't support one in their desires at the expense of others. And if that causes them to think bad things about me, out loud or behind closed doors, well I guess that's just another fucking cross for me to load up and carry.

<sighs>

And Philly missed out on the Stanley Cup in overtime in the sixth game of the series. I'm happy for the Blackhawks, they fought hard and well for their victory and have earned the honor of carrying the Cup home with them. But I wanted to see the Flyers win that game, if only to see the final showdown in game seven.

A friend of mine lost her dear family member over the weekend. Thunderstorm Tyee was a loyal and devoted member of her family for going on fourteen years. His time had come to move ahead, to go before my friend to that better place and wait patiently for the rest of them to catch up. Sending him off was a very hard thing for my friend and her family to do, but it was the right thing to do. As is so often the case these days, the right thing hurts much more than the easy thing, or the most gratifying thing. But Tyee is young again, full of the energy they had seen him lose in the last year of his life, full of the joy they remember and will one day again share with him.

But his departure still sucks, and it will take time for them to recover from it.

I earned myself a small back injury at that damned pump station, which has been reminding me of how old I am ever since. No worries, I guess, but I won't be indulging myself in any sword fights any time soon. And now that the work there is almost done ("Nice job. Here's what I want you to do next ..."), my fearless leader at work has already lined up another field project for me. In a substructure, with an impact drill, mounting hardware to a wall. Yay me, and my back too. Thanks boss. One more cross ...

There's got to be a warm light at the end of this tunnel. I believe there is, I just hope I can keep my sanity long enough to see it. Because the alternative is rather harsh, and while I might feel better for it, I would hurt many in it's implementation. And that's just not my style. Better to go insane than that.

As I said to the Filly in an e-mail just this morning, better to be "so far around the bend that I can no longer see the curve in the road."

On a brighter note, my daughter may be a budding structural engineer. She was part of a team at her school that designed and built a through truss bridge out of toothpicks ... 1200 of them! 15 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 5 3/4 inches high and weighing less than a pound and a half, it carried a load of 123 pounds before exhibiting any type of structural failure. Pretty good, for toothpicks, don't you agree?

Enough. I will soldier on, as I did for the first half-century of my life. It's what I do best, keeping my nose to the millstone, doing what I can to keep the rest of them happy, or at least comfortable in their frustration and anger.

Thanks for listening.

4 June 2010

Sorry, I just can't help getting excited about the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That's some of the most bodacious hockey you'll ever see being played between Chicago and Philadelphia, and Chris Pronger, Michael Leighton, Mike Richards, Claude Giroux, and Ville Leino led the Broad Street Bullies to a 5-3 victory in regulation tonight that was capped by Jeff Carter's empty net goal with twenty five seconds left to go. What a game! We were on the edge of our seats here at The Range.

And now that the hockey fun is done, I'm grilling some carnivorous edibles and getting ready to slide into the weekend. I hope yours is pleasurable as well.

1 June 2010
Images in this post copyright © Chris Regan, used with permission.

Update 1530

Chapter 30 of The B Team is posted for your consideration and (hopefully) enjoyment. It has a rather lengthy title: Give Me Fuel, Give Me Fire, Give Me That Which I Desire. Let me know what you think. The rest of this day's blog that follows below was posted at 0800 hours.

The second annual Styx' SoCal Fur Meet came and went, and we went and came away with full tummies and big smiles on our mugs. Which of course means that it was a complete success, although those friends of ours who couldn't make it were missed very much. So much so that we're already discussing the next meet, and not wanting to wait a year for it to happen. More on that as plans develop.

Here's the grillmaster himself, making sure that the full tummies part of the operation went smoothly. I, for one, came away quite well fed, right down to the "chocolate death" for dessert. <Rolls eyes> It's going to take some time to work that off. Especially when you consider all the other things my furson has "acquired" that I have yet to work off, that the "chocolate death" must get in line behind ...

Of course the Old Raccoon was present with his wonderful better half, and this time he brought along his portable Bookshelf and set up shop right there in Styx' yard. It was like a real "dealer's den" at a con! And we had a good time watching Mike try to interpret the display of his laptop in sunlight, always good for some colorful dialog and a few laughs. But eventually the deals went down, and Styx and I now have some new reading material to consume our spare time with.

I even got a swag bag out of the deal.

And yeah, I've said something about Mike needing a hat instead of trying to wear one of Styx' plants on his head, but then he's not the one who appears to be trying to balance a pot on top of the hat he already has on. So maybe I'll just shut my mug.

And that was the happy step into one of the busier weekends I've had in a while. It's now Tuesday morning, a day off for me thanks to the state's Administrative Code (Monday is normally a day off for me, so I get to use today the paid holiday that everyone else got yesterday). So my Fox and I spent the balance of the weekend moving our home from it's winter condition to it's summer condition, and somehow that included calling in some outside help for some network issues that were causing her Slingbox to not be available off our local network.

For you wise guys who are already chuckling, it's not what you think. A Slingbox is an electronic device that streams audio/video sources to your computer via a network connection, any network connection. Her's is connected to the satellite HD receiver in her office, and now that it's set up we can connect to it from anywhere we can get a reasonably fast, reasonably wide bandwidth internet connection. Not only can we watch what our receiver is tuned to, we can control the receiver remotely from a laptop, so it is truly like having that receiver along with you on a trip, connected directly to you laptop. It's kinda cool, especially during the playoff season.

And of course I took some time to remedy a minor deficiency in the beast and give it a much-needed bath (the morning of Styx' party), lest it feel self-conscious out there in the street at Styx' place with all those pretty automobiles. I needn't have worried, as the beast and Mike's Long-Ranger we're almost side-by-side, no doubt sharing tales of our collective trail embarrassments at their expense.

Over the weekend we got some roof work done, some garage work done, and most of our housework done. Today I get to finish installing a new ceiling fan in my son Mike's room, replacing the old one that was hopelessly out of balance. But I needed to beef up the structural support for the new fan, and that bit of fun occupied most of yesterday afternoon. Side note: that blow-in insulation gets sticky after twenty five to thirty years in place, and is hell to wash out of your fur and eyes. Next time ... safety goggles.

And I wore myself out two nights running by grilling dinner for my own crew after the day's work was done. Everyone ate well, and my folks went back to their place happy. And speaking of their place, I'm engaged in a chemical war of sorts with their pool, in which the water has decided to get slightly cloudy. The water is a little basic (7.8 to 8.0 pH) and the free chlorine is high (about 5 ppm), so I'm tweaking here and there to get the numbers back in line. And I extended the filter run time back to the normal eight hours for summertime. I felt really guilty about it all after seeing how pretty the pool at Styx place looked.

And speaking of playoffs, it looks like the Blackhawks are getting up on the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Of course the first two games were in Chicago, so you might expect that. It'll be interesting to see how the Bullies rebound on home ice tomorrow. We're pulling for Philadelphia in this house, largely because nobody wants to go nose-to-nose with The Fox and her passionate dislike of the Blackhawks. Game On!

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for most of my proofers to get back to me on what a butcher-job I made of chapter 30 of The B Team. I've heard from one of them, and he was very gracious with his critique, but the other three are still pending. When they get back to me, and I make the changes they recommend, 30 should go live here. Stay tuned.

This week I'll be in the field working at the big pump station down south, unless my boss directs otherwise (as he is wont to do most of the time). I'm looking forward to being outdoors again. The past few weeks have seen me mostly at a desk at work, and even though I have a window next to me that I can open to smell fresh air, I still don't like it much. The "fresh" air is actually full of concrete dust and diesel fumes most of the time as our five year, multi-billion dollar portion of the company's ozone project progresses. They're supposed to be done by the summer of 2012, they tell us. Meanwhile the furs and machines keep the sound level high and the air dirty, and I long to be out and about in the distribution system. Oh well ... maybe this will be my breakout job the next couple of weeks.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday dawned with clear skies here at The Range with temperatures already in the 70s by 0800. Today at 0800 it's overcast and damp with temperatures in the low 60s. Smells like our infamous "June Gloom" is starting up. The coyote in me can't wait for the Santa Anas to blow, even though that usually means fire in soCal. I so love the warm dry air ...

Be well, my friends.

27 May 2010

Yesterday chapter 30 of The B Team, the one with the long title, went to my proof-readers for comment and editing. I'm sure they'll have a lot to say. I'm not satisfied with it, and am making changes to it even before hearing from any of them. Hopefully our collective efforts will culminate in something worth your time.

Today I received an image from overseas that warmed my heart indeed. And it made me just slightly envious too, because I couldn't be in it. I'll share it with you all if I can get permission to post it here.

It's damp and cool here in soCal, and has been since last weekend. I had a little drizzle fall on me on the run home this evening, and the smell of rain brought some pleasant memories to mind of summer thunderstorms in the high Rocky Mountains, and the smell of damp earth and wood smoke put me to mind of northeastern Arizona. Funny what an idle mind can come up with while one's eyes and paws are guiding the steel over the road.

If I can stay awake long enough I'll be proof-reading Kellan's latest adventure in End Game this weekend. I'm on standby for the long holiday weekend, so I may be putting in some weird hours. Between the demands of the Mighty Met and the Stanley Cup Playoffs I may not be getting much rest. In this house we're rooting for the Bullies, I guess, 'cause The Fox just cannot stand the Blackhawks. So go Philly!

Be well, my friends.

24 May 2010

Twenty Years for me and The Fox.

Twenty years ago today she took a chance on a wild coyote, and apparently it was a good call for the both of us. We both agree that it's been the best years of our lives. Three pups and a lot of gray fur later, we're still having fun. Happy Tails!

And who'd have thought the Broad Street Bullies would be facing the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals? Sorry Kel, your Sharks fell short again, as did Montreal. Some damn fine hockey was seen in the race for the finals, and also overseas in the World Cup playoffs where the Czechs took the Russians 2-1 in the gold medal finals.

Yesterday we had an unseasonable cold front charge through after a low pressure system swept through the south end of our state. I happened to be working in the mountains yesterday, and thought better of climbing one of those towers Kellan mentioned, what with the rain, the cold, and the wind. It was blowing like hell up there, and I'm pretty sure I saw snowflakes at one point! So my friend and I worked inside the structure for ten hours and left the mountain top just before sunset. We got back to pavement about 2100 hours, and I got home about 2230. A very long, but productive, day.

I took my dad to see his neurologist today, and for the second visit in a row the doc commented that he's doing better in some ways now than he was the visit before. But you have to be real careful with my dad. Even with hearing aids installed and functioning he's having a hard time hearing folks, and sometimes appears confused simply because he didn't hear a segue or change of subject, and is still on the last conversational topic after everyone else has changed to the next.

So yeah, it was a very busy weekend for me, but good. For the moment. And that's good enough for us.

Stand by, the best is yet to come.

9 May 2010 -Verbosity / rant warning

Earthlink sucks. And their web hosting "service" ... FAIL.

Remember me changing hosts back in the end of March? Today I got notification of a bill against my credit card from my old host: Earthlink. Assuming it to be an honest mistake (as my web site is no longer hosted by them and my account status with them is "closed"), I called them and spoke to a "representative." Long story short: because I didn't call them and "formally" terminate my services with them, they are assessing a "penalty fee." The representatives exact words were "We are charging you this fee because you did not call us back and formally terminate your subscription with us."

Whiskey Tango Fox? Those guys weren't paying attention when the dozen or so e-mails were exchanged between them, my new provider, and me regarding my changing hosts? They don't remember the phone calls I did make asking them directly and concisely what I needed to do to change hosts and end my business relationship with them? I don't know how many of you have hosted web sites or have moved a web site from one host to another, but it's not as simple as it sounds. There is no way these clowns could have not known I was moving.

I asked the rep what he thought of this kind of business ethic, and of course he had nothing to say. I told him that this was like continuing to pay for a newspaper or magazine subscription when I am no longer receiving the newspaper or magazine. That meant nothing to him. I asked him if he thought he would get any return business from any customers that were made to pay this fee. Again, nothing of substance. Only - "... well, you were supposed to call us." I said: "If I ran my business this way, I'd have no business to run!" Again ... nothing.

What do I think? Earthlink charged me almost $20.00 a month for hosting plus an annual fee for registering my domain, for six years! This is virtually all electronic work that involved no human intervention. After absorbing all that cash and learning that I was taking my business elsewhere for a lower price, they decided to try and stick it to me for one more time. They want to get as much out of me as they could. Well, they got me angry enough to make sure they won't get their penalty fee. And angry enough to go public with my story.

If you're considering doing business with Earthlink - DON'T.

If you're already doing business with Earthlink - be prepared for a tail-wringing if you take any type of customer service or customer support issues to them. You have my sympathies, and also my advice - BAIL. Get away from them as fast as you can.

Meanwhile, I stalled on the next chapter of The B Team. My burst of creativity was spurred by something Kellan wrote in chapter eight, "Preparations", of "End Game." I was up well past midnight that first night (bad when you get up for work at 0345), and spent a few hours with it on the following two evenings, and then ... Well, hopefully I'll get back to it sooner or later.

My Fox bought me a new desk. It's about twice the size of the one my laptop sits on as I type this out, with much more storage area. It's a beautiful dark cherry wood, and should be delivered next week. I'll feel so much more important sitting behind it! <laughs>

And I'm adding another router to my home network so we can install a network printer. I've had it with Hewlett Packard all-in-ones. We've bought or replaced under warranty at least six of them in the past five years, and with the exception of the little A620 every one of them has failed or is broken in some way, almost all of them in the printing system. My mom just bought a bunch of new ink cartridges for her C6300, and the new cartridges are showing only half full installed, and one of them doesn't work at all. Typical. On one the scanner mech jammed up. Another had a jammed printer mech. Another just stopped working altogether. HP's "warranty ..." <chuckles> Surely you jest.

Not saying all HP stuff is crap, but after our experiences here I can say with head held high that their consumer level all-in-ones are ... crap. Our next printer will be a networked color laser printer. Haven't settled on a model yet, but I do know that we have half a dozen networked HP 4000L laser jets at my place of work that print all day every day, and except for the occasional toner cartridge replacement and annual cleanup, they just work. We have a couple of networked color laser printer at work as well ... same story. Big on the buy-in, but if you don't have to replace it every year to eighteen months, maybe the pro-rated value is much better. The cost / year of ownership certainly looks better to me.

And speaking of HP, have you seen Carly Fiorina is running for office? After what she did to Hewlett Packard I'm surprised that she shows her face in public long enough to get from her house to her car. Amazed, actually, that she has the gall to leverage her "distinguished management of one of the Silicon Valley's premier institutions of enterprise" to try and become a politician. Hey Carly - they paid you your twenty one milliion dollar severance "bonus" because they fired your ass! It was worth that to the company to get rid of you. Take the hint, shut your malodorous hole, and stay home. You almost drove that company to the brink of bankruptcy and out of business, and you did cost thousands of people their jobs. Yeah baby, with that kind of track record, I'll vote for you ... right after I sign up with Earthlink web hosting again ...

And hey Kel! Are you watching your TV? The Sharks are on their way to the Western Conference Finals! How cool is that? Could they be the team to stand up to Boston in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals?

4 April 2010

Not talkative these days. But I am about 4500 words into chapter 30 of The B Team. Stay tuned ...

Who are you rooting for in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?

27 April 2010

Well, the quarter-finals are over in the west for the Stanley Cup Playoffs of 2010, and the only Pacific Division team that survived was the one that has no fans here on The Range, the San Jose Sharks. After the Ducks fell short in the regular season, we were rooting and pulling for The Los Angeles Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes, as well as for the Colorado Avalanche. LA because they're our "other" home town team, Colorado because they we're competing against the Vancouver Canucks (the Fox hates the Canucks), and the Coyotes because ... well, I'm just loyal to my desert dog cousins.

Colorado fell to San Jose 4 games to 2, as did Los Angeles falling to Vancouver. Tonight Phoenix was clobbered by the Detroit Red Wings in the seventh game of the series 6 to 1. So now, in the semi-finals in the west, Detroit and San Jose square off, and Vancouver and Chicago face each other in a playoff rematch.

I'm not sure who we're rooting for now. Between my Fox and our daughter the list of teams we want to see lose is long. I'm leaning towards Boston or Montreal to win in the east, and don't much care who competes for the west in the Stanley Cup Playoff finals. I guess I ought to root for San Jose, if for no other reason than that my friend Kellan lives up in the bay area and considers himself a fan.

Guess I'll go hang my Coyotes jersey back in the closet ...

Did any of you hear about Boobquake? I tried my best to get my Fox involved in the quest for scientific truth, but alas, she wasn't having any of it. Too bad for the rest of you ... <winks> In any event, this research project may not yet be complete. If more research is scheduled I'll be sure and pass the word.

Not much else of significance to report. The summer season approaches, but isn't firmly entrenched yet. We have days with temps in the 80s, but we also have days of overcast and drizzle with temps in the 60s. In spite of this, wildland fire managers across the state are already gearing up for this years fire "season," even though some initial attack fires have already occurred. The weather could be working with us for a change, witness this report supplied by Mike Ferdig, a Battalion Chief with the Orange County Fire Authority:

In general, precipitation during the past winter’s “rainy season” was near normal over most of the mountains, coastal areas and in the interior valleys. However, across the desert areas, winter precipitation was well above normal with some locations surpassing 200% of normal in the eastern Mojave. Snowpack was near normal over most of the Sierras and across the transverse ranges of southern California. As a result, significant drought recovery occurred over the district with many areas recovering from moderate and severe drought to near average conditions. Thus, emerging from the winter rainy season, some areas of the central coast and the higher elevations of the central and eastern Sierra are expected to have a below average risk of large fires through August. Conversely, due to the wet winter over the deserts, there will be an above average risk of large fires through June which is expected to decrease to a near average risk by July.

The latest snowpack surveys measured 96% of normal in the central Sierras and 105% in the southern Sierras. (This compares to about 70% at this time last year.)

The El Niño which has heavily influenced the weather patterns throughout the past fall and winter is waning and is expected to dissipate entirely by the summer. At this time, there is mounting evidence that sea-surface temperatures over the Central Pacific will decrease to below normal readings, resulting in a La Niña pattern becoming established by the fall. If sea-surfaces across the Pacific evolve in such a fashion, the resultant temperatures over the district would likely be above average in July and August over southern California. Temperatures will probably be near normal over the central part of the state. The effect of an emerging La Niña on summer precipitation is less clear, but there is evidence the summer monsoon season will begin later than average. If that were the case, thunderstorms and subsequent lightning outbreaks may not occur until mid-July. Typically, southern and central California experience three to four lightning episodes per season, lasting from four to five days on average. Forecast Confidence = 75%

It appears that the forecast calls for a "normal" fire season. I don't know. I've got a hunch that Santa Ana won't cooperate and that, propelled by our state's fiscal death spiral and the resultant loss of funding for so much of our infrastructure (including wildland firefighting), the game will most certainly be on this year. Stay tuned ...

I am in training all week this week at Rockwell Automation on their Control Logix RS 5000 series PLCs (programmable logic controllers) and supporting software. I may not be learning much, but I've already made plans to get together with friends from the class for drinks afterwards, so it isn't a total loss.

Be well, my friends.

10 April 2010

The following five images are copyright © Paul J. Lorona, 2010
Images here are of greatly reduced resolution from their original version.
Do not use or reproduce these images without permission, because that isn't nice.

The following images were taken with a Canon 20D using my latest acquisition, the EF 17-40mm f/4 L series lens. Comments are welcome and appreciated.

A bit of a mental therapy break for The Fox and I; we took an overnight trip up to the central coast country to pick up some stuff that was waiting there for us, and to pause briefly with some friends. We had a wonderful time with the girls (Rhonda, Jennie, and Barbi) at Cottonwood Canyon, and Norman was his usual ebullient self after telling us all the trials and travails of his construction plans and permitting. He always lights up when you talk to him about his wine, and he held forth before a rapt and happy audience of five (the girls, The Fox, and I) for quite a while until his cell phone rang.

The beast was well behaved and took us down the road to Foxen, where we spent a fair amount of time at the original facility ("7200," the shack on the side of the roadway) before going a bit further down the road to the new building they had just completed. I was impressed with the fit and finish of the new building, large and air conditioned and very impressive, and with the sleekness of the ladies pouring there. But 7200 is where you'll find us, with the bugs and the flowers and the hummingbirds, a breeze blowing through the big sliding doors, chatting up the girls who look like they might be more interested in the product and the enjoyment thereof.

And then we went in to Los Olivos to see Nancy at Alexander & Wayne to pick up our stuff. Of course we tarried for a bit, chatting and sampling. By the time we bid our farewells there it was getting towards dusk, so we wandered across the town square and down the street to the Los Olivos Cafe and had a wonderful dinner.

The next morning we stopped by La Fonde, one of the prettier wineries in the Santa Rita Hills. We were out of there before 1100 hours, as we had to stop by and pick up our tax returns before heading home to the OC. The therapy session was good, we're a little more relaxed in spite of what came next.

This morning I sat down and wrote out over $5000 worth of checks to the State of California and the United States Treasury. You gotta believe that hurt. We've been saving money for over a year towards a project The Fox has been planning in our kitchen, and much of that capital just disappeared. To say she is unhappy would be a considerable understatement. The short story is that with Mike not going to Biola any more and filing his own returns this year, we lost some considerable deductions and didn't properly plan for that. Rest assured that I have taken steps to make sure that we don't get nailed to the floor again next year, but the damage is done now, and all we can do is stay home and start the rebuilding process.

Our kitchen may need to wait a year or so. Maybe longer, because Adam is ready to start at Biola, and my vixen and I will no doubt have to cough up some cash towards that as well. At $15,000 per semester, I don't know how that's going to happen even with us only contributing a portion of the total. He is confident, trusting God to provide, and that confidence has helped him get scholarships for half the tuition for the first two semesters. The rest will come from student loans and from the paws of his bewildered parents, no doubt.

So I scratch my head and admit with some wistful regret that there won't be much traveling for my Fox and I any time soon. This summer may consist of weekend trips with the trailer to local sites removed from the clamoring masses, if for no other purpose than to do what we just did: take a quick break to remind ourselves why we're together, and to reassure ourselves that all this work is worth it.

I got the next installment of Defiance to proofread. That will give me something to look forward to this evening, perhaps I can enjoy a glass of some excellent central coast product while I see what The Filly has for us this time. For now I'm off to the folks house for a bit of work, and they'll be here to share a meal later this afternoon.

Be well, my friends. Catch you later!

7 April 2010

The struggle to reach the playoffs is over, and for the first season since the lockout in 2005 the Anaheim Ducks won't be participating. They still have three games to play (in Dallas on Thursday, St. Louis on Friday, and then home against Edmonton on Sunday), but even if they sweep all three of them in regulation they can't beat the points count that the Colorado Avalanche climbed to last night in their shootout win over Vancouver. Colorado was helped along by Calgary's loss to San Jose in regulation. Both these events assured Colorado's acquisition of the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference.

So after this Sunday I won't have much to crow about in hockey.

Like hell ...

Because the Phoenix Coyotes are fourth in the west, and the Los Angeles Kings are sixth. It should be obvious why I'm a fan of the desert dogs, and the fact that I've watched Jason LaBarbera improve his game in net playing with Ilya Bryzgalov certainly helps. Jason's game has dramatically improved since he left Los Angeles (via Vancouver for a time) to come to the desert, and the Coyotes as a team have seemed to thrive under the media microscope amid a coaching change and scrutiny and speculation over ownership and venue of the team itself. But the NHL assures us that, as far as they are concerned, the team is staying in Scottsdale.

Like the Coyotes, there are too many good players on the Kings team to list them all, but Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov stand out. Kopi has been on a rush all season, dancing with forwards from several other teams in the league for the title of top scoring player. Fro, meanwhile, has turned his game completely around after starting the season struggling to the point of being sent down. And the Kings have some good goal-tending in Quick and Ersberg.

So maybe I can't have that home-team thrill going on, but there'll be plenty to keep me occupied as summer approaches. I may change my wearing apparel a little bit as we go forward from here.

As for the Ducks? The Fox is convinced we killed ourselves early in the season as we struggled to get some solid defense at the blue line. The loss of Chris Pronger and François Beauchemin certainly didn't help any of us except the bean counters that watch the salary caps, and it seems like we spent most of the season flailing in front of our own net. The acquisition of James Wisniewski and Lubomir Visnovsky seems to have corrected this situation nicely, helping Scott Niedermeyer get Sheldon Brookbank and Aaron Ward oriented to the team, and bringing up some new faces like Steve Eminger, Brett Festerling, and Brendan Mikkelson.

On the forecheck the addition of some experienced paws in the form of Jason Blake and Saku Koivu have done wonders in helping production, and they have helped Teemu Selanne get where he is today (the Finnish Flash scored two power play goals last night in the Ducks shootout loss to Los Angeles). Furthermore, they have helped bring up some new faces, notably Dan Sexton and Matt Beleskey. In fact, our forwards have done so well we haven't really seemed to notice too much the recent absence of Ryan Getzlaf and the restraint of Bobby Ryan. Not to say their presence wouldn't have helped, but the Ducks battled hard to some wins without Getzlaf, and with reduced production from Bobby (who wowed the socks off of everyone last season with some stellar skating and dazzling puck-handling).

Me? I smell a coaching change. As much as I like Randy Carlyle, I think he just hasn't managed to motivate and direct the team effectively this season. As recently as two or three months ago Bob Murray was telling the press that Randy had a home in Anaheim, but still I wonder ...

Of course, Murray himself may be looking for a new venue. The Fox remains adamant that some of the personnel changes that drove us further into the "back eight" came from his desk.

Meanwhile JS Giguere has been sitting a bench in Toronto almost as much as he was in Anaheim. He has played 14 games since going to Toronto and gone 5-7-2 with a .906 save percentage and a 2.84 GAA. And during that period of time Jonas Gustavsson has played in ten games going 7-2-1 with approximately the same numbers (.904% and 2.82 GAA). I wonder how JS is dealing with that, as he seemed to be fully expecting to be Toronto's number one when he went there. He seems to have dropped right back into the same situation he was in when he left Anaheim.

Brian Burke can't be happy with Toronto's performance, they are at the very bottom of the Eastern Conference. Look for some more shuffling of players during the off season there as well.

And keep an eye on Mac. He didn't fare so well in the shootout last night, but in his last five games he's gone 3-0-2, played 314 minutes not including three shootouts, and earned a .933 save percentage and a 2.40 GAA. Those are better numbers than Jonas Hiller's season stats ...

So it'll be a great playoff race. I'm hoping some team from the Pacific Division will take the cup, but no matter who does there's still a lot of great hockey left to play. And it should be an interesting off-season here in Anaheim. Our guys will have two additional months to think about what happened, or didn't happen, and prepare themselves for the 2010-2011 season.

Surprisingly little aftereffects from last Sunday's big earthquake. It has already fallen off of the local media's radar screen, no doubt due to it's remote location south of the border. Sadly, no one up here in the LA / OC area seems to care that much about what's happening down in the Imperial Valley and our neighbor nation to the south. The aftershocks are getting smaller, and the repairs / reconstruction begins.

Just another day in the life ...

It's clear and warm here in the OC. Highs are forecast for the low 80s in the basin, high 70s in the Santa Ana Mountains. There's a bit of a breeze blowing up from the southwest as I write this, and at 0900 it's already 70 degrees on our patio. It's a great week for playing outside ...

5 April 2010

Well we had our excitement yesterday, such as it was.

At 1540 hours yesterday afternoon a magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurred on the Laguna Salada fault, a strike-slip fault in northern Baja California separate from but parallel to the southern San Andreas fault zone. The earthquake epicenter was located at 32.128°N, 115.303°W, about 38 miles south-southeast of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, at a depth of 10 kilometers.

Shaking was felt across a wide area with reports from as far away as Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. San Diego County activated their Emergency Operations Center (EOC), as did the Southern Region of the California Emergency Management Agency.

The most significant damage in the United States was in Calexico, a small town on the US-Mexican border a little more than half way from San Diego, California to Yuma, Arizona. There and across the border in Mexicali some buildings were reported to have collapsed. All of downtown Calexico, buildings which are up to eighty years old, is red-tagged as unsafe for habitation. "The cars were just moving, like they were just toy cars," said Alonzo Lucero of Calexico. "Our vehicle was parked parallel against the sidewalk. When it was over, the car was facing (almost perpendicular)."

Northern Baja California, Mexico got the worst of it. Water mains in Mexicali were destroyed, there wasn't enough water to fight the fires that broke out in the city. Many structures burned to the ground.

According to the Tijuana Civil Protection Director Alfredo Escobedo, the powerful earthquake killed a man whose home collapsed in northern Mexico. Escobedo also said that another person was killed when that person panicked as the ground shook, ran into the street, and was struck by a car.

According to reports, Mexicali and adjacent cities are experiencing widespread power outages and buildings are suffering from major structural damage. Escobedo said that at least 100 people were injured, most of them struck by falling objects. The city was blacked out last night, crews today are working to restore power as quickly as possible.

The Tijuana-Mexicali Highway, 80 kilometers west of Mexicali

The quake was one of the strongest to hit Southern California in decades, and high-rise buildings in Los Angeles and San Diego rocked back and forth when it hit. There were reports of shattered windows, broken pipes and water main breaks in private buildings in San Diego, but there were no reports of injuries.

I was at the home of my parents in Buena Park, in northern Orange County, when the earthquake occurred. I was cleaning their pool, and first became aware of the event when water started sloshing out of their pool. The ground motion was long period, gentle and rolling, and lasted approximately one minute.

I spent the balance of the afternoon and evening waiting for an activation of my employer's emergency response system that never came. by 2300 it was obvious nothing would come of it, and I went to bed. There have been some major aftershocks in the region, as big as magnitude 5.4, and we have barely felt the biggest of them up here in the OC. I'm surprised that there have been no magnitude six aftershocks, but the sequence is young. There will be aftershocks for weeks to come. One may yet happen that rivals the intensity of the original event.

Or maybe not.

Meanwhile Teemu Selanne scored # 601 in Denver 31 March against the Colorado Avalanche, and got # 602 and # 603 in the loss to the Vancouver Canucks 2 April, both of those on the power play. He is now the second-highest scoring European NHL player of all time, and 9th best in the NHL scoring power play goals. At a celebration for him before the home game against Vancouver the arena full of fans chanted "One more year! One more year!" No report as yet whether he was listening to us or not ...

Saku Koivu has been named the NHL's second star of the week ending 4 April after leading the NHL in scoring with eight points (four goals, four assists) in four games that week, helping the Ducks (38-31-9) collect seven of eight available points and keeping them in the race to grab the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference. Koivu posted a four-point game (one goal, three assists) and tied a franchise record with a career-best plus-five rating in the 5-2 victory over the Avalanche. He recorded two goals, including the game-tying strike with 1:24 left in regulation, and one assist in the 5-4 shootout loss to the Canucks and again scored the game-tying goal with 1:32 remaining in regulation plus the shootout winner in a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings 3 April.

The Ducks are minus top forward Ryan Getzlaf (ankle) and top goaltenderJonas Hiller (back spasms), yet are fighting their way into the playoffs anyway behind an excellent team effort backstopped by number 31 Curtis McElhinney, who has appeared in seven games since coming to the Ducks from the Calgary Flames and has gone 5-1-1 after relieving Hiller in the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets 9 March. In his past five games since stepping up to guard the goal in Hiller's absence Mac has averaged a .942 save percentage and a GAA of 2.00 . In the game against the Kings Saturday night he stared down Anze Kopitar, Jack Johnson, and Dustin Brown in the shootout and turned all three of them away. Talk about stepping up when your team needs you ... and this guy is our backup!

Finally, The Fox and I are off work this week. Between home maintenance and repairs, the taxes season, and the economy in general we're too poor to go anywhere or do anything, but at least we can enjoy each other's company. Maybe we'll take our youngest and go down to Olvera Street on the train and see what's happening in old Los Angeles.

Styx is planning another fur meet here in SoCal, if any of you are interested. I'm planning on being there.

Aslaug and Kellan are taking a break from their writing, so I'm taking a break from proofing. Stay tuned, I'm sure End Game and Defiance will grow with a vengeance when they return

.

30 March 2010

We think it's done. Jim has been very patient with me. I'm supposed to be a tech-head, you know, but sometimes the tech side of my head stays outside when I get home, I think.

We had problems with e-mail utilization and linking. I re-learned my basic UNIX skills and readily demonstrated how short my attention span really is. But it all seems to be working now. Once again I beg your indulgence and ask you to let me know if you find anything amiss.

On the down side I managed to lose all my archived e-mails. Not a life threatening thing, really, but I had saved some of my better rant-exchanges with the amigos, understanding friends that they are, so I guess I'll have to start all over building up a new library of coyote-isms.

What are you gonna do ... ?

29 March 2010

A major change for The Range, which I am hoping was more or less transparent to most of you. I have changed hosts and servers. This site is now hosted by STC Network Systems, a local provider that offers superior service at a very reasonable price. Hopefully all the files and file structure were transferred without mishap. I have looked around briefly to ascertain that everything is where it should be, and it seems to be. If you notice any links that don't work, or things that are missing or corrupted, please let me know.

The only potential fly in the ointment is my e-mail, which is probably functional, but I have yet to program my e-mail client with the new server information and settings, so I may not be very communicative there for another day or two. I'll get to that mid-week, I hope.

Meanwhile, thank you for your patience and understanding during our cutover.

And props to Jim at STC for making it look easy.

I'd talk hockey and stuff, but it's late, and I've got to get up and go to work in a little less than five hours.

Later!

22 March 2010

A quick update to fulfil a promise made in yesterday's blog -

This is Kayla post-op, with her new cute floppy ear. This may be as good as it gets. It used to stand up like her left ear still does, but now ...

And then there's this -

This is a weapon ... I mean a tool, that would do Aslaug Larsdatter proud. And it's also a bit of a collectors item, grubby though it may be. This is my father's machete. He's had this as far back as I can remember, and apparently even before that. Witness the builder's crest below and compare it to what you see here -

The image here is a little blurred, I know. But the deal is this. This is a USN MK-2 "knife" made by Collins & Company under the Legitimus name ... in the 1940s . This blade is going on 70 years old! My dad worked the MP detail when he was in the service in 1944 and 1945, maybe he crossed paths with someone on Shore Patrol one day. I found this in a bunch of stuff left over from my folks moving a couple of years ago. The blade is rusty and stained, but I put a new edge on it and cleaned up around this crest enough to tell what it was, and behold! A brand new tool for a frustrated old coyote to play with. Into the cargo bin on the beast it goes, for one never knows when and where something like this might come in handy.

My dad never had a sheath for this, as far as I know. I wouldn't carry it if he had one. I can carry my Recon tanto comfortably enough without incurring the wrath of local law enforcement, but this monster might attract a little bit too much attention in town. Better to leave it in the beast where I can get to it, but where it's out of sight.

Just an interesting bit of family history that I stumbled across today ...

21 March 2010

Teemu Selanne (#8) celebrating his 600th career goal with Scott Niedermeyer (#27),
The Honda Center, 21 March 2010.

We screamed and cheered ourselves hoarse tonight, more so than we have been doing recently. The Finnish Flash made it to 600 tonight, only the 18th player in NHL history to do so, and only the third European-born NHL player to achieve that plateau. He spread those goals over four teams (the Winnipeg Jets, the Anaheim Ducks, the San Jose Sharks, and the Colorado Avalanche) during his 17 seasons, with the bulk of them (373) coming with Anaheim. The celebration erupted just 34 seconds into the second period of the Ducks game tonight against the Avalanche, and the entire Ducks bench emptied to mob Selanne on the ice, bringing the game to a halt.

As soon as he was able Teemu returned to the Anaheim bench to hand over his gloves and stick to their equipment manager, who immediately sent them on their way to Toronto for the Hockey Hall of Fame. Executing a quick 180 Teemu returned to the ice to salute the home crowd. Pandemonium resulted, and the game was delayed several more minutes.

Teemu Selanne saluting the Anaheim fans one last time before getting back to work.

The Ducks have won four straight now, turning away the San Jose Sharks (as stated in my last blog), the Chicago Blackhawks (4-2), the New York Islanders (5-4), and now the Colorado Avalanche 5-2. The loyal fans have been getting their exercise during this run of seven home games that ended tonight, jumping up out of their seats to cheer. Tonight Anaheim is 11th in the Western Conference, but I don't know if this minute anybody cares. It was enough to celebrate 600 with Teemu.

And speaking of the Western Conference, have you seen Phoenix lately? The Desert Dogs are on top of the Pacific Division and tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for first in the West! How about that for a change of events? This time last year nobody was paying any attention to them, and their owner was trying to sell the franchise and move them to Canada. Thank you, Coyote fans, for supporting your team and cheering them on to an almost certain playoff berth. Next stop, the Stanley Cup?

Back in Anaheim amid the relative calm following tonight's Ducks victory, Teemu summed up his thoughts thusly:

"I guess that was the easiest that I have had in awhile. It’s funny how it works. I've felt that I have had a lot of chances the last three or four games, but nothing was going in. Then, you get one of those on a great effort from Corey and Scotty. The way my teammates have been feeding me has been amazing. I think they wanted this more than I did. It’s a great feeling. Most importantly, we played well and won the game. This was just a good bonus. I was really nervous that if didn't happen tonight then it would happen on the road. Happening at home is way more special. I'm very happy about that.

"If you look, there are only 17 guys that have done it before. It's a very unique, special group. You need a lot of luck, hard work and great players to play with. I have had all those things. That is why this is possible. It was a big night and we are still in the hunt for the playoffs. I remember the first one like it was yesterday. It was at the Cow Palace against the Sharks. Time is flying. It's unbelievable how fast it goes.

"Since the lockout, when I fixed my knee, I have been enjoying hockey more than ever. Playing when you're healthy and with great players, I don't know if you can ask more than that. Coming back here, where I have always been happy, I'm very lucky and thankful for that. It's hard to describe. When you enjoy something so much, you just have to be thankful."

What a class act. Number 8 will certainly leave a lasting legacy not only in Anaheim but in all of the NHL. Thanks, Teemu.

More good news here at home - Kayla shed her stitches, hardware, and that horrid cone that was doing double duty around our house as a plow blade. She is very happy and much more relaxed now, and so are we. She's behaving like a well-loved pooch and not like a Caterpillar dozer, and we're not all having to jump out of her way when she comes into the room.

Her right ear may not ever stand up again, as scar tissue may prevent her muscles from making that happen. That's OK, she's got another ear that still stands up straight, and we all agree that she looks kind of cute with one ear flopped over. As soon as I can get her to hold still for a picture I'll post one here.

Finally, I've been doing an enormous (for me) amount of proofreading lately. As I have mentioned recently, there are two new stories developing that you ought not to miss. Aslaug and Kellan have been industriously engaged in writing parallel, cannon stories centered on their primary characters. Yes, my character of Joe Latrans does appear in these stories, so pardon me if I come off as the proud contributor. But I am not providing any guidance for his use or suggestions for the content of either story. I'm just reading what these wonderful authors have him doing in their stories, and it all fits reasonably well with his fursona. They have treated Joe quite well, much better than he deserves, actually. So yeah, I'm proud that Joe is a part of Defiance and End Game, but would speak as highly of these stories if he didn't appear in them at all. They are well written and thought-provoking. I expect fans of Torvald Svensen and Aslaug Larsdatter will have much to comment on at the blogs of their respective authors / creators.

So yeah ... hockey, a healthy pooch, and some great stories. A good day!

Be well, my friends.

15 March 2010 - excessive verbosity warning!

What a strange time it is for me. I have been meaning to blog something for at least a couple of weeks or more, but events kept robbing me of the opportunity. I actually did blog a few paragraphs of this entry back on the 11th, but never got around to finishing or posting anything. Too much stuff kept getting in the way. Like hockey ...

The Ducks had looked like crap coming out of the Olympic break. I just couldn't understand how a team with nine Olympians playing for them (three gold (Getzlaf, Niedermayer, Perry), two silver (Ryan, Whitney), two bronze (Koivu, Selanne), and two competitors (Hiller, Sbisa)) could seem to fall so far short of the goal when playing together. Especially after watching that amazing series of games that culminated in the heart-stopping gold medal showdown in Vancouver. What a show!

But the Ducks came away from the Olympic break and immediately went 0-5-1, including an embarrassing shutout in Phoenix at the paws of the Desert Dogs. (It was hard for me not to grin just a little bit during that game, by the way.) And the fans were not looking forward to a good evening when we arrived at Honda Center yesterday afternoon. The competition was our number one rival in the Pacific Division, perhaps in the NHL: the San Jose Sharks.

So imagine our surprise when we managed to not only beat them, but clobber them 4-2 in regulation. Teemu Selanne scored his 20th goal of the year in the first period, which also happened to be his 599th career goal in the NHL. It was a shutout until 9:02 in the third when Joe Thornton charged Anaheim's goal and crashed one by Jonas Hiller. It was a spirited, physical, competitive game, and would have been wonderful except that it cost the Ducks a couple of players.

Attempting goal number 600,Teemu slid past the San Jose net after charging up on a one-timer and went left shoulder first into the boards, hard. He was down on the ice for what seemed like several minutes, long enough for trainer Tim Clark to come out and spend some time with him, and got up slowly to be escorted back to the bench by Tim and fellow players Dan Sexton and Brett Festerling, and accompanied by a standing ovation from the fans. After a few minutes on the standby goaltender's perch he went below to the locker rooms and did not return.

Ryan Getzlaf also limped off the ice in the third, the report is that he may have tweaked the same ankle that almost kept him out of the Olympics. He did not return either.

Jonas Hiller has stopped 58 of 61 shots in his last two games for a .951 save percentage and 1.51 GAA (3 goals against over 119 minutes played).

And have you seen Lubomir Visnovsky? Late of the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings, this hard-charging defenseman has scored three goals in five games since coming to the Ducks in early March (in a trade for Ryan Whitney), and scored last night's game-winning goal. He has re-invigorated the Ducks blue line, and it's paying off.

Meanwhile JS Giguere is struggling in Toronto, it seems, having gone 1-3-1 in his last five games, 3-5-1 since joining the Leafs. As I've not seen most of those games I can't say what the story is, but I pray it's not reflecting poorly on him. He deserves better.

And a final note from the Honda Center for sports fans everywhere, thanks to the young sandal- and flip-flop-adorned ladies sitting directly behind us last night. Please, if you must put your feet on the backs of the chairs in front of you (thus loudly proclaiming to those around you that you have no class whatsoever), be aware of the fact that this places your feet in very close proximity to the faces of the fans in front of you. Wash your feet. None of us want to become personally aquatinted with your hygiene issues and could care less about what you found to step in on the way to the game.

I had been trading e-mails with a friend in Tennessee about the beast and it's problems with the anti-skid brake system, a situation I had mentioned in my last blog. I had been lamenting a parts issue I was having with Chevrolet, and he suggested something that actually paid off, sort of. Pick-A-Part. What an exciting endeavor that was! I don't know what they look like in Tennessee, but here in soCal they are large, muddy lots that look and smell very much like the large and muddy lots in Chino where they keep all the moo-cows that make milk. Except instead of cows milling about there are wrecked cars and trucks ... miles of them. And the predominant language spoken at these places is a guttural form of Spanish that I find very difficult to comprehend.

But the short story is that I found what I needed, amazingly enough. $6 instead of $80-plus-shipping, and I got to see and handle the part before purchase. The down side? It didn't fix the problem. Which doesn't bug except that it means the only other thing that can be causing the problem is the ASB controller / modulator assembly itself, a $900 part according to Chevrolet. So for now the orange warning light on my instrument panel still glares at me.

The Fox and I finally knuckled under and admitted our veritable ignorance in the matter of estate and tax law, and took our multitude of paperwork to a CPA last week. Her mom's estate and final tax return is finally being properly handled. Meanwhile I learned that joint tenancy in investments may look like the easy way to avoid taxation, but in fact can cause problems on the sale of said investments because you have to do short- and long-term profit and loss calculations on everything. I struggled through most of that OK, but finally threw up my paws and said "nuts" (or words to that effect) after devoting most of two three-day weekends to it. So we'll see how that goes.

And our own taxes owed ran heavily into the four digit numbers, thanks to the loss of a dependant (Mike) and his college tuition expenses. I continue to wonder more and more every day how the government of California can be broke when we all give them so much of our hard-earned money. Where does it go? Certainly not into our schools, or our roads, or our infrastructure. And of course I want to give the feds more money so they can fight their unnecessary wars and promulgate, postulate, and pontificate on that great debate of the century that the whole world is waiting to hear the outcome of: gay marriage. <shakes head>

Which brings me to the proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution of The United States:
"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States." Makes sense to me. I might also add that Congress shall no longer be able to vote itself a pay raise, that their salaries be tied to the COLA, and that they participate in the same healthcare system that they promote for the American people. Just sayin' ...

This last week or two has seen significant changes in situation and direction for me on several fronts, and they are so haphazard and unrelated I cannot even sort it all out in my feeble little mind.

I learned a bit about my perception of things, and learned that just because something hadn't happened to me in the first fifty years of my existence doesn't mean it can't happen. Witness this little diatribe that I recently unloaded on a dear friend, slightly edited to protect us all -

   There are certain words in my language that are overused to the point of distraction, words that have had their meaning worn down to nothing simply through repetitive regurgitation by folks who like the sound but don't understand the implication. "Soulmate" is a word that has traditionally pissed me off. Every pair of new lovers you cross paths with declares the other to be their "soulmate." In our society here on the left coast of the United States of Amnesia anyone can be a soulmate by simply agreeing with a hypothesis or opinion expressed by a friend. "Bucky understands exactly how I feel, he's my soulmate!" gushes the ditzy former cheerleader who appreciates the fact that "Bucky" likes her pumps. "Tom and I are in perfect harmony," declares the system administrator, "there is no network problem we cannot fix, no server that can defy us. We are soulmates." <shakes head>

    Asshats, one and all.

    Even the dictionary misses the point, I think. "A fur who is perfectly suited to another in temperament or who strongly resembles another in attitude or beliefs." Sort of. But then again, no. To me, a soulmate is a fur who, despite their multitude of differences be they in age, gender, belief, occupation, location, opinion, or time, "get" each other. It has nothing to do with eros, although agape is a big part of being a soulmate. Respect, compassion, honor, and a sincere desire to listen to another's point of view are also integral parts. It is not necessary to be mirror images of each other. It is not necessary to be in complete agreement on everything, or even anything.

    I'm having trouble with words. I can't clearly express myself about this. Let me try to illustrate another way.

    I love my Fox. She and I have raised three pups together, have built a home and careers together, have exulted in  life's greatest joys and fought through our darkest hours together. We will always be so. Still, she doesn't understand my innermost torments and tends to respond with "stock" answers or suggestions when I try in my own half-assed, ineffectual way to discuss them with her. It's not that she doesn't love me, not that she doesn't want to help me, not that she doesn't care, she just can't relate to the inner workings of my mind. And I suppose I am therefore the same way with her. Awed (truly) by her capacity to love, to persevere, to be who she is, but none the less confounded sometimes by her ability to accept these things that drive me crazy just because she can.

    Is she a soulmate? Probably, certainly in the dictionary sense. But in terms of her ability to understand how my mind works, to know the things that keep me awake nights, keep my guts churning and my subconscious burning, probably not. She doesn't understand, and is a bit afraid of, the anger and rage I direct towards our deity. She understands what motivates it, but doesn't understand why I don't just let ... it ... go. She comforts me through those things, but can't fathom my most basic, fundamental questions about faith, about the why of everything.

    Recently my opinion about the word "soulmate" changed, for I now feel I have found one for the first time in my life. A real one, who isn't afraid to plumb those depths of my soul where it is dark and uncomfortable. Who isn't challenged by alternative points of view, and isn't afraid to suggest them to someone who searches for answers. Who isn't afraid to go along for part of that trip, wherever it may lead. We stand together. My soulmate is not just like me, we don't agree on everything, and we come from very different parts of the world. But somehow ... we "get" each other. I will not question it (one of the few things in life I don't question), I will just relish it for what it is: a gift.

And I surprised the hell out of myself on a completely unrelated front by briefly exhibiting some of those character traits that some might attribute to the "Christian" ethic. I was so unlike me that I'm not sure it was me, if that makes sense.

Veteran readers of my blog will recall some real howling and growling appearing here last October and November, and sporadically after that, regards my employment status. If that doesn't ring a bell I invite you to go check it out, I'll not yet again beat on that long-deceased horse. Last Thursday the tech that was the successful bidder on that telecomm job I was vying for back then was unceremoniously thrown back into the pool with the rest of us, he's returning from whence he came to work with us again effective today. As today is my day off I won't see him until tomorrow, but we have already met about this.

This situation is unusual in itself. I never had my multitude of questions about that entire drama answered back then and probably never will. And that is not unusual, that's business in the public sector. What was unusual was that mine was one of the first phones my former "adversary" connected to, apparently within minutes of his learning of his new fate.

Those who know the two of us, made aware of this situation, would have probably expected me to approach him with an unpleasant attitude, to say the least, something along the lines of "you got what you deserved." And had I reacted that way I wouldn't have surprised myself at all. I might not have been proud of myself, but I would have been predictable. I'm a firm believer in the Big Wheel Theory - what goes around comes around. It would have been easy and right to rub his nose vigorously in his loss to assuage my own feelings of loss ... wouldn't it?

But ... I bought him a drink instead, and listened to him tell his story for an hour or more. The only emotion I could seem to generate for him was a strong sense of compassion ... I felt sorry for him, I felt bad that he had been done for like that. I told him I had his back on his return and would do what I could to help get him re-integrated into his former and future crew with a minimum of fuss. His is a most embarrassing situation to say the least, for a number of reasons that really aren't worth itemizing. Suffice to say he's taken a bust in the chops at the paws of his former teammates in telecomm, and will swallow a considerable reduction in pay along with a lot of pride and the supposed shame of his very public rejection by them.

I can relate. I know exactly what he's feeling. And while a part of me wanted to be mean and "pay him back" for his supposed involvement in "costing me" that job, I just couldn't do that. As I've said to many since then, and as I truly believe, he just ... won. He sang a better song at the interviews than I did, it's that simple. So instead I tried to be a good friend to him, console him and reassure him that it wasn't a reflection on his technical competence or social skills as much as it was just ... not a good fit. He and I both are not the kind of employee that team is looking for, it seems, and that means we have something else in common besides being husbands and fathers.

I had been in a class when all that hit the fan. I have been certified yet again as HAZWOPER Incident Commander, for whatever that's worth. I don't know how many years I've possessed that certification, and am not at all sure why I maintain it any more. <shrugs>

Our pooch Kayla has gone under the knife twice since I last blogged. She developed a hematoma on her right ear that required surgery to clean up, and then a week later a second one that required a drain to be put into the same ear along the outer edge. Of course she gets to wear the "cone of silence" now, which is driving her almost as nuts as her constant crashing and bashing into furniture, doorframes, and us is driving us nuts. Poor Kayla, but then again poor Fox as she watches the finish on the legs of chairs and edges of tables be totally chewed up by that damn cone, connected to a pooch that went hyperactive as soon as the anesthesia wore off and hasn't yet calmed down. I'm going to try to get her into the vets today to get the drain out and the cone off. We've all had enough of it, especially Kayla.

And finally, while I may not be writing much, I am reading and proofing an interesting and very compelling project being crafted by Aslaug and Kellan. They are writing parallel, cannon stories centered on their primary characters, and in which a familiar if slightly worn out and dejected coyote makes an appearance or two. I invite you to check into Defiance and End Game.

Be well, my friends.

21 February 2010

Apologies for my absence. There's been a lot of stuff to dig through lately, and I don't mean mud.

Although we've had a lot of that, and my sister-in-law tells us that it got national media attention, as they heard all about it down in New Orleans. Nine homes lost, another fifty or so damaged in mudslides below the Station Fire burn area in the communities of La Cañada / Flintridge. Bands of showers continue to pass through soCal, the most recent was the night before last, and the next should be later today. The canyons of the Santa Anas have been quiet so far, but who knows what the future holds. Those weather-guessers confident or foolish enough to prognosticate months into the future say that this El Niño season could keep us wet into May. We'll see. I'm doubtful. I think we'll be back to the drought by the end of March when the Santa Anas crank up again.

Turning 50 had one side-effect I wasn't expecting, but in hindsight probably should have. I am becoming painfully aware of my professional future and what a box canyon it has become. When I was in my thirties I was apparently much more marketable than I am now. Even in my early forties I was confident in my education, experience, abilities, and attitude, confident that I could get and hold a job in whatever field of the electronics industry I desired. Now I'm not so sure. Lately I've come to realize that all of those things: education, experience, and ability, don't mean squat in the current professional marketplace. What you know doesn't matter nearly as much as how you look and sound, and even more importantly how good you can make your boss look. All that became crystal clear to me last October, and now that I've had a few months to ruminate upon things I realize that my best opportunities have come and gone. I'm too far in the corner occupied by furs with too many numbers, whether you're talking about pay, age, or position. Nobody wants to hire the candidate who is proactive, self-driven, and autonomous but happens to be approaching their fourth decade in craft and who commands a hefty salary, not when they can hire someone half his age at a third his pay and mold that fur into exactly what they want of them.

What's it mean? Well, it means for me that I'd better love what I'm doing right now, because there is little to no chance I'll be able to move into anything or anywhere else without taking a hefty cut in pay or benefits, probably both. And as the number of furs who count on me and look to me for their livelihood increases as I age, it becomes more and more difficult to throw up my paws and say "what the Hell," and make a change in employers or career anyway.

Welcome to my box canyon.

On the up side, I am slowly approaching a polite standoff with my "new" boss. He's been on board over a year now, and is and has been making obvious efforts to modify his management methods and fursonal skills to better work with his new crew. I'll give the devil his due, he is trying. And I mean making the effort, not as in trying our patience. Although he does that as well, abundantly. And at the same time I have been making an effort to be a better employee by his standards, which means I have had to put away my proactivity, stop taking the long view of things, stop trying to do what's best for the company or our customers, and just do what I'm told.

And I hate that.

So as my peers and I slowly approach this smiling impasse with The One who is plainly more interested in promoting himself and his career than in doing the job our team is tasked with doing effectively, efficiently, and completely, we are slowly becoming mindless droids who mill about aimlessly until given something to do. High paid droids, to be sure, which causes even the most bovine among us to wonder if we'll have jobs long enough to retire from, the current economy and political environment being what it is. And I rail against it, fight like a possessed fur to do what I think is right and just, and it's largely in vain. I become a local amusement for my boss's peer group.

Can I do this for another ten or twelve years? My hope had been that the telecomm job would have provided me with a little bit of extra cash flow to help with my folks while at the same time giving me a new and challenging series of projects to spend the rest of my professional career with. I thought I had "put in the time" that was required to nail that down (another of my obviously outdated notions about how things work), but was proven wrong. Don't get me wrong, I like my work, but there is not much challenge in being a droid, and certainly little enjoyment in knowing that I make so much to think so little and be thought so little of.

I guess I'm afraid of what my professional future holds. Afraid I'm facing ten years of mindless "yessirs" and "nossirs." Afraid I may not make that ten year stretch, afraid that the economy will force those quite-well-paid, bushy-tailed nut munchers among us to wonder "why are we paying those guys so much money when they wait to be told what to do and how to do it," all the while ignoring the fact that we've been molded into that mindset and behavior by our own fearless leader. Afraid that some day my career train will in fact derail and I'll not jump the right way when it does.

<sigh>

And I got a summons to jury duty for service this month. Despite their caterwauling to the contrary, I can prove to any judge with their own documentation that I am on the "two-and-a half" year plan. Since moving to Orange County in 1988 I have served jury duty without fail an average of every 28 months. I find the entire process ... tedious.

Meanwhile my younger son and I have been doing a lot of vehicle maintenance. Yesterday was given over to three vehicles: his Honda Fit, my older son's Jeep, and my old beast. Most of the work was routine stuff, it took time only because I was explaining to Adam the whys and wherefores of things and then turning him loose to do it himself. He did very well, taking care of underhood work on both his Fit and the Jeep.

Air-powered tools rock, by the way.

I ministered to the needs of the beast, and am not yet finished. The problem with the ABS (anti-skid brake system) persists. I have been troubleshooting it as I am able to between rainstorms and other distractions. I have confirmed that I have valid speed signals leaving both front wheels and from the transfer case. The speed signals from the wheels are getting to the ABS controller just fine, but the signal from the transfer case is another story. I discovered that the speed signal from the transfer case feeds an electronic module called a "VSS (vehicle speed sensor) Calibrator," which changes the sine wave signal from the VSS pickup at the transfer case output shaft to a square wave, and then farms out that square wave signal to the speedometer, ECM (electronic control module, the computer that optimizes engine operation and performance), cruise control, and ABS. Well, the speedo, ECM, and cruise control all work fine, but the signal from the VSS Calibrator to the ABS is absent.

Enter the problems, there are three:
1) The part number has changed at least three times since the beast rolled off the Wisconsin Plant production line in 1994.
2) As the part is an electronic / electrical device it is not returnable.
3) GM no longer manufactures the part. Their warehouse is empty.

The parts counter at the local Chevy dealer tells me that a few dealers across the country claim to have the part in local stock. Given problem number two, though, it means that I must part with $80 to order this device sight unseen, and if I receive something that isn't what I expected and cannot connect to the beast's innards, well that's just tough for me, I'm now the proud owner of an $80 paperweight. The alternative, however, is to have that annoying orange light glaring at me every time the beast pulls away from the curb. I could pull the bulb, I guess, but I'm fairly sure the ABS system will not function in this error state. As I told my friend, I've only had that ABS system activate under me twice in the sixteen years the beast and I have been roaming about together, but it's nice to know that the system is there when you need it, especially when you're towing.

So I guess I'll go give the Chevy parts counter $80 tomorrow morning and see what comes of it all.

I serviced the K&N air filter on the beast yesterday, and was mildly surprised to see red sand pouring out of it while cleaning it. I know exactly where it came from - far northeastern Arizona - and was a little bit nostalgic as I watched it flow into the drain.

Have you been watching the Olympics in Vancouver? There is some good hockey being played up there right now, and it's going to get better. The teams from Canada, the United States, Russia, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovakia, and others are populated with players from the National Hockey League, some moreso than others as you might expect. In some games it's like watching an NHL game where the players have been scrambled around. Consider the Ducks - in this afternoon's game (7PM Eastern) between Team Canada and Team USA, Bobby Ryan will be competing against teammates Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Scott Niedermayer, as well as former Duck Chris Pronger. At the same time, Ryan and Corey and Scott will be competing along side of former and future rivals Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Dany Heatley, the dreaded front line of the San Jose Sharks. The Russian team is shot through with NHL players, prominent amongst them Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, and Semyon Varlamov, all of the Washington Capitals, Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings, and Ilya Bryzgalov of the Phoenix Coyotes. And of course Jonas Hiller is tending goal for the Swiss team. What a merry mixup! But it does make for some fast, exciting hockey.

JS Giguere is settling in at Toronto. He opened like a shot from a cannon, getting shutouts his first two games with them (against the New Jersey Devils and the Ottawa Senators), making thirty saves in each game. Unfortunately the Leafs lost the next two with Jiggy minding the net as he saved 52 of 59 total shots against his goal. The Sharks took them 3-2 in Toronto before an embarrassing 0-4 road loss in Saint Louis. He's riding a .907 save percentage with a GAA of 2.90. Not stellar, but better than what he was carrying in Anaheim. By his own admission he is somewhere in a pool in Mexico watching the Olympics. Or maybe he has better things to look at, I don't know.

As the weather improves I hope to get out with these new Canon lenses and capture some images in the local mountains. I also owe my Fox a weekend at a destination of her choosing. Probably not much photography going on then, but we'll see.

So we'll throw some Santa Maria tri tip on the grill early this afternoon, and arrange ourselves as a family around the big screen window to the Olympic arena to watch Team USA go for broke against one of the best hockey teams ever assembled. Doesn't matter much who is victorious, it's gonna be a good game.

31 January 2010

The shutdown is history, and the hockey world shifted on it's axis a bit this morning. Lets get to the important stuff first.

Jiggy at the Honda Center with the Stanley Cup 6 June 2007

It was just announced that JS Giguere has been traded from Anaheim to Toronto to reunite with goaltending coach and good friend François Allaire and the Ducks former GM Brian Burke, now GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. This was all part of a "blockbuster" deal involving the Calgary Flames, The Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Anaheim Ducks engineered by Burke.

Dissatisfied with the Leafs being at the very bottom of the Eastern Conference, Burke acquired Giguere and Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf, one of three Calgary players that Burke traded four Leafs for. The complete deal brought Phaneuf, right wing Fredrik Sjostrom and prospect Keith Aulie to Toronto while sending forwards Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers and defenseman Ian White to Calgary. The deal had reportedly been in the works for at least a week.

A little bit later Burke announced the trade for Giguere, sending Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala and winger Jason Blake to Anaheim in exchange for the Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup winning veteran. Giguere, 32, has more wins than any other goalie in Ducks history and led the franchise to its only Stanley Cup title in 2007, but he and his hefty contract became excess to Anaheim's needs with the emergence of Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller, who not only stole the number one job from Jiggy, but just signed a four-year eighteen million dollar contract extension with the Ducks this week.

Giguere was the only player left from Anaheim's trip to the 2003 Stanley Cup Final, where he was voted the Conn Smythe Trophy MVP despite being on the losing end of a seven-game decision to the New Jersey Devils. He appeared in 447 career games for Anaheim, posting a 206-163-54 record with 32 shutouts, a 2.47 GAA and .914 SV%. He ranks among Anaheim’s all-time franchise leaders in numerous categories, including wins (first), shutouts (first), GAA (fourth), saves (second with 11,290), appearances (first), starts (first with 432), minutes played (first with 25,646) and shots against (second with 12,347). In 52 career playoff appearances with Anaheim, Giguere compiled a 33-17 record with six shutouts, a 2.08 GAA and .925 SV%.

“JS is as classy and professional as they come,” said Ducks Executive Vice President and General Manager Bob Murray. “On behalf of the organization, we thank him for his tremendous contributions to the franchise both on and off the ice, not the least of which were two trips to the Stanley Cup Final and one championship. We wish him well in Toronto.”

Jean-Sébastien Giguere and his son Maxime Olivier Giguere, The Honda Center, 6 June 2007.
JS dedicated his victory to his infant son.

Meanwhile Toskala, 32, posted a 7-12-2 record with one shutout, a 3.66 GAA and .874 SV% in 26 appearances with Toronto this season. Toskala recorded a season-best four consecutive home wins 7 - 14 December, stopping 108-of-117 shots for a .923 SV% and 2.25 GAA. He also earned his 13th career shutout on Jan. 14 vs. Philadelphia, stopping all 38 shots faced for a 4-0 victory.

Acquired from San Jose on June 22, 2007, Toskala went 22-17-11 with one shutout and a 3.26 GAA and .891 SV% in 53 games with the Maple Leafs in the 2008 season.

A native of Tampere, Finland, Toskala was originally selected by San Jose in the fourth round (90th overall) of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. Toskala has appeared in 260 career games with Toronto and San Jose, going 127-82-25 with 13 shutouts, a 2.77 GAA and .902 SV%. He made 11 Stanley Cup Playoff appearances with San Jose in 2006, posting a 6-5 record with a 2.45 GAA and .910 SV%.

“We are pleased to add Jason and Vesa,” said Murray. “Vesa will get an opportunity to play behind Jonas Hiller and Jason brings veteran leadership and offense to our club.” One wonders what this means for Justin Pogge and Timo Pielmeier, two of the "in the system" goaltenders we saw at the pre-season practices, and Igor Bobkov, the up and coming Russian goaltender in Anaheim's system.

Jiggy and Dion Phaneuf have both been ... well, less than pleased with their situations, the net-minder for his well-paid status of being backup and the hard-hitting defenseman for his disagreements with his coaching staff. Giguere waived his no-trade clause in the contract he held with Anaheim and is apparently looking forward to reuniting with Allaire and Burke. He will certainly move into the number one slot in net for Toronto, as Toskala had held that post until this morning.

So we're a little destabilized here at The Range. I'm going to have to buy a couple of new jerseys, one with Jiggy's name on it in the Toronto colors, the other for whatever Ducks player it is that rings my chimes in his absence. Wisniewski comes to mind, I like his "bring it" approach to defense.

Bonne chance, Jean-Sebastien. Thanks for everything you've done for the Anaheim club and your fans. I told you when I last spoke to you earlier this year that I firmly believe that you have another Stanley Cup ring in your future, and I still believe that. I'm sorry it won't be with Anaheim, but glad that I now have another hockey club to be a fan of. Vivent bien, mon ami.

After a sixty-plus hour effort on the part of yours truly, the shutdown is behind us and the plant and pipeline are back in operation. No major problems occurred, everything went according to schedule. I have some cleaning up to do at a couple of stations in southeastern OC, but after that will be well done with my efforts. We had rain on a couple of the days I was in the field, but nothing that slowed us down any. One of the stations I was at was full of mud and mold and massive evidence of vermin habitation, I had to wear a painter's mask over my nose and muzzle to keep the stench from overpowering me. Four hours with that on my mug and I'd had enough. Despite the rain and cold I drove back to my base of operations with the windows open, just to blow the worst of the stink off of me.

And I'll be done in the field just in time, as the weather pundits are forewarning of the next El Niño series of storms, scheduled to start as early as tomorrow, but more likely the real rain won't arrive until late Wednesday or early Thursday. Yay us ...

The head and chest cold I came down with some ten days ago is only now starting to release it's grip on me. All during the shutdown I was getting by on as little as three hours sleep a night thanks to the gut-wrenching fits of coughing that always seemed to attack me at half past midnight. I was pretty much the zombie when I got home Friday night, and am only just now starting to catch up on my sleep. I consumed enormous amounts of coffee (in the early morning) and Gatorade to keep myself going during the shutdown. And yeah, I'll admit, a shot or two of whiskey helped me pretend to sleep on a couple of evenings, too.

Unfortunately, my Fox and our youngest pup caught the crud from me, so as my health improves I'm having to care for them. I'm only too happy to do that, but sorry I gave it to them in the first place.

And damn ... Jiggy's gone.

23 January 2010

Something unusual happened this morning ...

The sun came up.

For the first time in a week the sun rose above clear skies here in the OC. In Fremont Canyon this past week we've had six inches of rain, over at my place of work in Yorba Linda we had a little over seven. These are big numbers for soCal. Our normal annual rainfall is around 12 to 15 inches, we did half of that in a week and the weather-guessers are telling us that more could be coming.

OC saw thunderstorms, hail, and even some small tornados last week. I heard one of the talking head weather-guessers on the local media spout an interesting fact the other day (which I have not confirmed, by the way): southern Los Angeles County and Orange County experience more tornados per annum than anywhere else in the country west of the continental divide. Yay us.

While one of the tornadic storms tracked just east of us on its way from Huntington Beach inland (passing right over our plant in Yorba Linda), no tornados touched down after it departed the coast and moved inland. We got plenty of lightning and hail and gusty winds from all points on the compass, but suffered no ill effects from wind and had minimal problems with the rain. We have a couple of minor roof leaks in our garage, and when the rain is driven on the wind against our patio door we have a minor intrusion problem in our family room. The Fox, ever looking for the next improvement to make to our home, was quick to jump on that patio door leak and inform me that it would cease to be a concern just as soon as we get the patio cover she's been wanting installed ...

Over at my folks place there was a minor leak in their kitchen window frame when the south wind drove the rain hard against it, but that has since been corrected and they are cozy and safe.

So when El Niño eventually dies off and we return to our normal drought conditions I guess I'll be out there swinging a hammer fixing the roof over the garage and getting a patio cover installed. Yay me. Meanwhile I wonder what if any contribution this series of storms has made to our water supply. The Colorado River drainage is massive, comprising much of the southwestern United States, so I'm hoping that at least a small portion of what's fallen and continues to fall winds up in Lake Powell, Lake Mead, and Lake Mojave. Up north the snowpack in the Sierra has grown considerably, but has a long way to go before reaching the point where the snowmelt this spring can make significant, lasting contributions to Lake Oroville and Crowley Lake, not to mention Lake Shasta farther north. All of these man-made lakes, in spite of their far-flung locations, contribute to the consumption here in soCal.

Lots of evacuations took place below the Station Fire burn area, but no large-scale mudslides occurred and no homes were lost nor significantly damaged. In fact, many of the 2000 residents that were evacuated are already getting their fifteen minutes of fame by challenging the public safety officials who were doing their best to protect them, saying they over-reacted to the situation and that they have no right to make them evacuate. (A curious point of our state law: in fact no agency has a right to force you to leave your home. They can rescue you from a dangerous situation by removing you from your home if they think you are in imminent danger and that you are not able to protect yourself from it. There's a lot of gray area in that, but that's how it works ...) I wonder how much more or less they would have been howling if they had not been asked to evacuate and their homes had been buried?

And no major issues developed in the Santiago burn areas in Modjeska and Silverado Canyons either. So we appear to have dodged a big bullet so far, and the local resorts are rolling in cash with all the fresh snow on the ground that they didn't have to manufacture.

Personally the only ill effect for me is an old fashioned head and chest cold, no doubt a result of my response to the window leak at my folks place. I was over there in driving rain, and got soaked to the skin below the waist. I had a great rain jacket on, but no leggings with it. Levi denim jeans are tough for the work environment but do nothing to repel water. In fact, they soak it up, and the next thing you know you're a sopping mess from the belt down.

Tomorrow night we begin a week-long shut-down the plant for some construction tie-ins, and shut down one of our pipelines at the same time. This pipeline is an old friend, the one in eastern Orange County that I "grew up" on back in the nineties. My boss has assigned another tech and I the duty of performing preventative maintenance on all the RTUs (remote terminal units) on this pipeline during the shutdown, an ambitious undertaking given the timeframe. So I will be working 0600 - 1800 Monday through Friday this coming week, and possibly into the weekend afterwards as well. We'll see how that goes.

The mighty prognosticators, backed by their satellite images, doppler radar, and computer models, are telling us more rain is in store for the coming week. I'm inclined to agree, only because I can see the same images and returns that they can (thanks to the NWS: Santa Ana Mountains radar and San Diego office satellite images). Isn't the Internet wonderful?

Family gathering tonight in Huntington Beach with one of the cousins from Oregon, the land of perfect bliss and never-ending happiness (according to those who liver there). Which makes me wonder: why is she here? But in point of fact she is here, and I love her, so off we go to see what trouble develops.

19 January 2010

Update 1500 hours

Waterspouts and tornados moved across Orange County this afternoon with a lot of lightning, driving rain, and hail. We had some minor water leaks here at The Range, and the worst of it passed to our east. Outside of some gusty winds we had no severe nor even moderate conditions, just lots and lots of rain. There have been some minor earth movement concerns at my place of work in Yorba Linda, which got hammered by rain, hail, and high winds with the passage of the tornadic cell overhead, but so far no ill effects other than that.

Various forms of relatively minor property damage (fences and patio covers blown over and one vehicle flipped over by a small tornado in Huntington Beach, various rooves collapsing and trees falling over due to heavy rainfall and wind) are reported, but no deaths or injuries have been noted. A classic winter storm has made landfall and now moves inland ...

Up in Fremont Canyon we've had some peak wind gusts of 60 MPH with sustained wind speeds of 29 MPH. Not a lot of rain has fallen, given the storms in the area, but the cells moved north and south of the Canyon, sparing it from the worst of the rainfall.

Satellite imagery shows that we're on the verge of enjoying a relatively sunny afternoon and a relatively dry evening. The next storm is forecast to hit tomorrow afternoon ...

Well the first band of storms came and went, and we're still here.

So are the Santa Ana Mountains.

There were some evacuations in the Paradise Valley community of La Cañada / Flintridge (below the Station Fire burn area in the San Gabriel Mountains) yesterday afternoon at the height of the storm, but no significant slides or debris flow were noted and most residents returned in time to catch the ten o'clock news on their own televisions. Of the 85 or so residences that were evacuated, only 21 in the Riverwood Area remain evacuated at this time. All evacuation centers have been closed for the time being.

A mud flow on Blanchard Canyon Road near Tujunga caused a lot of concern amongst residents, but no homes were damaged. At the height of the storm the mud and rock was flowing two to three feet deep in places, but crews with bulldozers cleared the right of way and the mud was pushed into a debris basin.

For the time being Angeles Forest Highway, Big Tujunga Canyon Road and Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road are all closed in the San Gabriel Mountains.

This storm dropped 1.6 inches of rain in Fremont Canyon here in the Santa Anas, and rainfall across soCal in general was anywhere from less than a quarter inch to around one and a quarter inches, so it wasn't the gully-washer that some were expecting. The mountains and foothills of soCal remain under flash flood watch in anticipation of the next frontal passage scheduled for later this afternoon or early evening. This next one will be a bit drier, but colder, with snow levels down to 6000 feet. Then Wednesday night, the pundits say, the real storm should arrive ...

Elsewhere in the OC trees were downed, intersections were flooded, and a roof collapsed at the Westcliff Medical Center in Santa Ana. No serious injuries were reported from these incidents. A little over 5,200 residents were without power in the OC, a small portion of the 60,000 some residential and business outages that soCal Edison and PG&E are trying to cope with. Crews are all over soCal this morning trying to get power restored in advance of the next storms arrival.

The storm did claim a fatality: one Cessna 172 aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration says the Cessna was heading from an airport in the community of Joshua Tree to Palm Springs with a flight instructor and student pilot aboard. It was about 10 miles northeast of Palm Springs when controllers lost contact Monday morning. The wreckage was found shortly after 10:30 p.m. in Joshua Tree National Park. It took firefighters nearly an hour to reach the injured survivors, who apparently had spent much of the day in the wreckage. They were airlifted to hospitals and are recovering from the incident.

American Airlines Flight 1965, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, encountered a microburst on approach to San Francisco International Airport (KSFO) yesterday morning as it descended through the northern portion of yesterdays storm. The flight, which originated in Dallas, diverted for an emergency landing at San Jose and arrived uneventfully. The crew reported a problem with the throttles of the twin-engined jet, but it was unclear if this problem was caused by the encounter with the microburst. Passengers were bussed to SFO.

We had a couple of minor roof leaks in our garage, and my folks had a minor leak above a south-facing window in their kitchen. These storms are arriving from the south-southwest, and the wind was driving the rain hard against the south-facing walls of our homes. This morning I'll be over there to make some emergency repairs to the window in question in advance of the next storm front, hopefully it'll be good enough until a proper fix can be made on a warm, dry day.

And of course, the next batch of storms is scheduled to occur next week, right in the middle of our shutdown. I'll be out on the pipelines in eastern Orange County the entire week on an extended schedule, so it'll be fun.

Yeah ...

17 January 2010

The Winter 2009 album is uploaded for your enjoyment.

16 January 2010

Well, if you can believe the weather-guessers in the media, we're about to be confronted with a series of storms of biblical proportion. I'm surprised that the more industrious of us (or at least those of us who are easily persuaded to the notion that the end is near) aren't building arks in our back yards. Me, I'm confident I'll survive. The beast has a new weather seal around the cargo doors, the gas tank is full (as are the ammo cans), the GPS has aligned itself with whatever gods GPS receivers pray to, and there are new wiper blades on the windshield.

Bring it.

They're talking about up to twenty inches of rain in the south and west facing foothills and mountains here in the greater Los Angeles basin. That may not sound like a lot to some of you, but that is considered a reasonably good annual rainfall total for soCal. Think about the hundreds of square miles of recently burned, denuded mountains that surround us, think about the millions of folks who live at the literal base of those mountains. Thinks about the millions of cubic yards of mud washing out of those hills and into the streets and homes and businesses. And while every reasonably prudent jurisdiction is doing what they can to get ready (sand bags, K-rail, flood control basin and channel cleaning and rehabilitation, escape route designation and preparation, pre-emptive voluntary evacuations), there's only so much a few thousand furs can do with their available machines and materials to prepare hundreds of miles of fortifications against the mud.

It's going to be a different kind of war than those we're used to fighting around here. No air forces can help with this one. It's all on the foresight and tenacity of the ground pounders and the cooperation and support of the local governments.

The show starts tomorrow night, they tell us, even though Adam just cruised through the family room to announce that it was sprinkling outside even now.

The disaster which befell the poor furs in Haiti notwithstanding, we've been having some seismic activity here as well. Things have pretty much settled down and returned to normal up in Eureka, but we persist in having some sustained minor activity to our south and northeast. The Salton Sea and areas to its south below the border are being peppered by small earthquakes in the MI 3 - 5 range. Likewise up around where the Old Raccoon used to live, between Ridgecrest and Lone Pine and east into Death Valley, more MI 3 - 5 earthquakes continue to occur. The tech-heads at Cal-Tech and USGS aren't saying much, but I smell something in the wind.

Speaking of shows, guess who my two younger pups ran into the other night? None other than "Number Eight," Teemu Selanne. Adam and Katie were skating at Anaheim Ice with a bunch of their friends from our church, and Teemu was there while his son was participating in a junior-league hockey game. The Finnish Flash engaged my daughter in a bit of conversation about her ice skates, he pointedly told her that he considered the type she has to be among the best he'd ever skated on. She was so captivated by his presence and casual demeanor that she sort of forgot to talk back, according to her brother, but that didn't seem to bother Teemu in the slightest. My son got an autographed jersey out of the three-way conversation, and Katie came away with great big blue eyes ...

That, of course, was a few nights before Teemu took a puck in the jaw, suffering two fractures in the third period of the most recent home game (13 January against the Boston Bruins). That was the last of the five game win streak the Ducks had been building. The following night, minus their fastest forward, they took a humiliating shutout loss to the Los Angeles Kings in the latest chapter of the Freeway Faceoff, 4-0. (It's an hours bus ride up Interstate Five for the Ducks to go play the Kings, hence the name of the series.)

That game was the first appearance for JS Giguere since his effort versus the Chicago Blackhawks on 3 January. JS was sent in by Randy Carlyle in the second period after Jonas Hiller allowed his third goal in in sixteen attempts on his net. Jiggy "allowed" one goal on fourteen attempts in his 27 minutes of play, a hotly contested shot by Wayne Simmonds with just three seconds left in the second period. Simmonds threw the puck off the side of the net from the corner and it bounced in front. Giguere couldn't see the puck in the scuffle and kicked it behind himself before freezing it under his skate, and the official standing right on the back of the net emphatically indicated no goal. There followed a video review to see if the puck actually did cross the goal line, and you couldn't see the puck under Giguere's skate and leg pad from any viewpoint. Then the officials gathered in a huddle while on the phone with Toronto and proceeded to concoct a story about how the on-scene referee wasn't indicating "no goal," but rather was waving his arms to call for stoppage of play. Therefore there was no call on the goal at all, and according to the rules it's a goal unless you can prove it wasn't, and blah-blah-blah. The officials determined it was a goal, even though there wais no visual proof the puck was over the line (at least none that was shared with the audience). Jiggy was unhappy, but Coach Carlyle was livid. You didn't need any audio to know what he was saying from the bench.

Jiggy's numbers haven't been so hot since his amazing three games last November. Of course, he hasn't played that much. Jonas has been getting most of the games (33 of the 48 so far played), and winning many of them too. Jiggy seems to be struggling some, perhaps simply because he isn't playing every game. You certainly can't keep your edge honed riding the pine most of the time. He looked strong against Los Angeles, and in fairness to him was doomed to the loss before he took to the ice.

Teemu is out four to six weeks. I wonder if he'll skate for Finland in the Olympics? Saku Koivu is also out for a week or two with a knee sprain, Joffrey Lupul is out indefinitely with an infection following surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back, and Katie's favorite George Parros is day to day with a cut to his right paw (suffered during the game against Boston).

Thankfully all is quiet here on The Range. I guess I'll spend some time this weekend getting our two homes ready for this onslaught of storms, and hope to find some quiet time for finishing my Winter Album and getting that posted. Adam is already heading into the mountains for the weekend, and I'm about to take Katie to some sporting event or other she needs to be at. Her Sports Medicine class requires her to attend some of these events and be available to assist injured players. She has a great time with it.

I may get the wheels off the beast this weekend. One of the speed sensors at one of the wheels is sending erratic signals to the anti-skid brake controller, and I occasionally have this bright orange "ABS" lamp staring at me from the instrument panel as I drive. Kind of annoying at night ...

10 January 2010

We had some excitement up at the other end of the state yesterday afternoon. A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck about twenty two miles off shore of Ferndale, a small community near Eureka, way up by the Oregon border. No tsunami warning was issued, and the folks up there seemed to come through it quite well, no deaths or serious damage reported. Here's a bit of updated information from CalEMA (the outfit I used to work for, formerly known as California OES) :

SITUATION UPDATE: (1935 hours 9 January)
Per Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services (OES), the Humboldt County Emergency Operation Center (EOC) is activated and is currently conducting assessments and information gathering. They advise there are no reports of major damages at this time. They have reports of spotty power outages and some phone outages throughout the county. At this time, Humboldt County OES advises this does not appear to be a catastrophic event.

Per the California Department of Water Resources, though no concern exists at this time, the Oroville Dam and Delta areas in the immediate area are being inspected as a precaution. Per the California Highway Patrol, there are no reports of damages to roadways and no reports of roadways closed. The California Department of Transportation reports, they have inspectors in the area performing structural assessments. They have been no damages noted at this time as assessments continue. Per
the California Utilities Emergency Association (CUEA), there are no reports of major outages and there are no impacts to the grid. The isolated power outages of approximately 20,000 throughout the county; were caused by transformers being shaken. The transformers are resetting and power is being restored. PG& E, both Power and Gas crews are on scene. There have been a small number of residential gas line breaks at this time. Per AT&T and Surewest Phone carriers, there are no reports of major network telephone outages. There are reports of localized phone outages which are being addressed at this time.

SITUATION UPDATE: (2225 hours 9 January)
* There are minor damages reported at various locations throughout the county including wall cracks and chimney separations.
* There are reports of one (1) apartment building with damages including broken glass and collapsed chimneys. Nine residents have been provided with hotel vouchers.
* Three (3) buildings have been red tagged (Do Not Enter) due to damages in Old Town Eureka.
* One (1) building has been yellow tagged (Enter with Caution) in Eureka. This building is the main fire department.
* No shelters have been opened in Humboldt County.
* The American Red Cross is monitoring the situation at this time.
* Per the California Department of Transportation reports, inspectors continue structural assessments. There have been no damages noted at this time.
* Per the California Utilities Emergency Association (CUEA), there are 8,300 power outages remaining. PG&E anticipates all power outages will be restored by 0030 hrs tonight, 01/10/2010.
* PG&E will continue working through the night to complete inspections on 75 residential gas service lines. No major releases have been reported.
* There is no impact to the power grid.
* Per a verbal report from Humboldt County OES, currently Humboldt County and the City of Eureka have declared a local emergency.
* The Cal EMA Coastal Region is activated with a representative enroute to the Humboldt County EOC.
* The State Operation Center (SOC) is activated at duty officer status in support of Coastal Region.
* The Cal EMA Fire and Law Duty Officers continue to monitor the situation.

Per the California Department of Public Health:

Licensing and Certification (L&C) reports:
* Mad River Hospital in Eureka currently is on generator power.
* There have been no patients received as a result of the earthquake.
* There was no damage or injuries to patients or staff.
* There are five Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF)s in the area, one is without power and the four other are at normal operations. All five SNFs and the one GACH without power have activated their Emergency Operations Plans. There was no damage or injuries at the SNFs.
* There were two Intermediate Care facilities (ICF) facilities, Butler one, (outside of Eureka) and Butler two in Eureka, both without power, but both have gas backup for cooking and heating. No damage or injuries to report at either facility.
* PG&E and the fire department have been notified of all the facilities and have made welfare checks of each facility.
* PG&E is working to restore power this evening for all facilities.
* L&C is continuing to monitor licensed health care facilities for any updates.

Division of Drinking Water and Environmental Management (DDWEM) reports:
* No Drinking water systems affected at this time. DDWEM will continue to monitor the situation for any updates.

SITUATION: On 01/09/2009 at 1627 hours, a 6.5 magnitude earthquake (verified) occurred offshore, 22 miles WNW of Ferndale in Humboldt County. The earthquake was subsequently followed by several aftershocks ranging from 3.0 to 4.5. The West Coast Alaska Tsunami Warning Center reported that the magnitude of the earthquake was such that no Tsunami was expected.

At the time of this event I was rocking a bit myself, but only because of the tunes I was listening to on my ipod while I was cleaning the carpets in our home. Recall that we had the big old family gathering here a week or so before Christmas, I was cleaning up after that. I'm not saying anything about anyone in particular, but any time you get a room full of verbose carnivores together, things are going to get spilled as meal consumption progresses. We just live with it, it's part of the fun, you see.

What does it for me on my ipod? Well, yesterday the tracks included:
Ladies and Gentlemen (Saliva)
Indestructible (Disturbed)
I'm Shipping Up To Boston (Dropkick Murphys)
You're Gonna Go Far, Kid (Offspring)
Animals (Nickleback)
Above (Blue Man Group)
The End Of The Line (Metallica)
Uprising (Muse)
and of course Bang The Drum All Day (Todd Rundgren)

So anyway, I was working at that and then cleaning up the equipment until just past five o'clock. I remember that because I missed the 5PM opening faceoff of the Ducks - Predators game at the Sommet Center in Nashville, dutifully televised by KDOC here in the OC, but was able to tune in about three minutes into the first period. And guess what? They won! Third time in a row, as it turns out. My Fox and I witnessed first paw the wins over the Detroit Red Wings (4-1) and the St. Louis Blues (4-2-) here at home at the Honda Center.

Ryan Getzlaf and Teemu Selanne were both formidable in the game, Teemu in his first after missing seventeen games with a broken paw, and Ryan in his third after taking a cut to his leg in the game against San Jose the day after Christmas. Neither of them are playing at 100%, but that didn't stop Teemu from scoring at 12:10 into the first period, tipping a blast from Petteri Nokelainen low in the slot that went right by Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne into the net.

"Nokie's shot, I had nothing to do with it," the ever-humble Selanne said with a grin after the game. "It was total luck when it hit my shaft and went in. It was a good way to start my comeback."

5:17 into the second period rookie Matt Belesky scored the second goal for the Ducks on a pass from Ryan Getzlaf, Matt's third goal in the last three games. Those three goals illustrate how he has come alive since he started playing for the Ducks in October. Matt has played in 24 games. "When you get to play [on the line] with Getzlaf and Perry, you should be able to find the back of the net a few times," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said of Matt's recent accomplishments.

And Ryan Getzlaf gave the Ducks a 3-0 advantage at 11:26 of the second when his wrist shot from above the left circle through traffic got by Rinne on the short side. It was the game winning goal for the Ducks.

Anaheim was able to hang on to the lead even though Nashville came back in the third with two goals of their own. "We showed up in the third period, but we pretty much gave away two points," Pekka Rinne said. "We can't start like this every single game."

"We didn't want to give up the power-play goal and the goal late to give them the opportunity to get points, but we found a way to get it done," Carlyle said. "We'll take the two points and move on."

It's a shame that KDOC broadcasts in the legacy 4:3 (480 horizontal pixels) format instead of the 16:9 (720 or 1080 horizontal pixels) HD format. (KDOC is a UHF broadcaster, and was not part of the mandated digital conversion that the VHF broadcasters completed a few months ago.) All through the game my Fox and I were complaining to each other about how "fuzzy" our vision was. Now I'm not trying to imply anything, but my pretty vulpine angel did serve me some wine during the game, which had a pronounced affect on my later evening. So maybe the video format wasn't the only problem, or even the primary one ...

And before any fur averts their eyes lest they read something yiffy, fear not. Nothing like that here, for at 7:30 PM, hard on the heels of the Ducks winning in Nashville, the LA Kings faced off against the St. Louis Blues at Staples Center here in Los Angeles. I really wanted to watch that game, but the combination of a full days work scrubbing carpets and that glass (or was it two?) of wine during the Ducks game caught up with me, and I was studying the inside of my eyelids before the first period was even half over.

The Kings aren't progressing, and could very easily lose their playoff berth if things don't turn around now. They are a single point ahead of Detroit (ninth in the west) and four ahead of Dallas (tenth). Last night was the second of seven at home, they have lost the first two. It wasn't for lack of passion, as Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown both scored in the third following rookie Brandon Segal's first NHL goal in the first, but it wasn't quiet enough. The Kings never led in the game and lost 4-3.

Goaltender Jonathon Quick was pulled less than six minutes into the third period after allowing four goals on twenty three shots, definitely not his usual game. I believe that the responsibility for at least some of those goals needed to be shared with Quick's defense corps, which wasn't playing their game either, and it seems coach Terry Murray agrees. "We just needed something different," Murray said of pulling Quick."I would have liked to have seen him maybe have a couple stops. I haven't seen the replay of the goals, but there were maybe a couple there that maybe I would like to have him try over again. But we needed something different, whether it was a goaltender change, line changes, combinations on the back end, we were searching."

The Kings lost at home to the Red Wings as well.

Tonight the Ducks face off against the Blackhawks in Chicago, while the Kings take a break in preparation for their home game against San Jose on Monday.

I'm still working on the winter album. Perhaps I'll finish that before the weekend is out, I still have some images to collect from Adam. He's done very well with his new Canon 5D camera body, and I'm experimenting with and getting used to my new L-series lenses on my 20D. I think I need to tinker with the white balance and color temperature settings of my 20D, I don't seem to get the same tonal quality that Adam gets with his images. When the album is up maybe you digital photographers might care to comment.

Today I have more chores to face, both here and at the folks house. I'm hoping to get those done in time for an early meal done on the grill this afternoon, for I have a busy Monday lined up in the Santa Ana mountains. I'll catch you up on that after the fact.

Yeah, it's still grilling weather out here. Daytime highs approach eighty! It gets cool overnight, into the mid forties (typical desert winter conditions, cold overnight, warm during the day), but the skies are clear and the winds are calm. Rain is in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, which means any minute now the media ought to be cranking up their "Storm Watch 2010" hysteria, but the fact of the matter is there's only a 30% chance of significant rainfall.

Rumor has it that something new is brewing up in the bay area. Keep an eye out for more production at the old war horse's web site. And my proofreading chores (which I have yet to complete, sorry for the delay, T) tell me that my favorite furry aviation author has something new in the works as well. That's one of the chores I hope to get to today. Stay tuned ...

3 January 2010

We returned from the central Sierra last night, after weathering the traffic on Interstate 5 descending into Valencia from the north, and then bumper to bumper through downtown Los Angeles into Orange County. The extra time afforded us the opportunity to listen to the Anaheim Ducks compete against the Nashville Predators on broadcast AM radio, something considerably different than watching it on the big screen TV with surround sound. We made it home in time to catch the third period. Yeah Kel, the Ducks lost. Again. More on that in a bit.

For me the trip home was an interesting observation on the way things are. We woke up in Yosemite Valley that morning to sub-freezing temperatures and brushed off the last of the snow from the windshield of the beast. After loading our gear aboard we bid a fond farewell to the valley and to the Sierra, and headed up the hill on highway 41 towards Fresno. We navigated the ice and slush without trouble (the beast grips at all four corners), and shortly after the noon hour descended into Oakhurst for a bite to eat. And to shed layers. Under clear skies the temperature there was in the low fifties.

By the time we achieved the flatlands of the Central Valley (appropriately blanketed in fog) the outside air temperature was oscillating between the high fifties and low sixties, so we shed another layer, engaged overdrive, and blasted south on highway 99. We made excellent time until that long downhill grade on I-5 south of Pyramid Lake, and that's when we encountered all the brake lights. The last sixty five miles of interstate freeway took two hours to negotiate.

When my eyes popped open at 0600 today the outside temperature here in the OC was 41 degrees, the same value as the daytime high in Yosemite Valley the day before. By 0900 it was 66 degrees on our patio, and topped out at 75 around 1330. I was over at my folks house cleaning their pool in shorts and flip-flops 24 hours after shedding those layers in Oakhurst. Tonight I'm still wearing that attire at 2100.

So the Ducks suck. At least for now. Dead last in the Pacific division, 13th of 15 in the Western Conference. Meanwhile Kel's San Jose Sharks continue to battle in the west, tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for the number one slot at sixty one points each. The Ducks, 12 points out of a playoff berth, lost to the Hawks tonight 5-2. They are missing forwards Teemu Selanne, Joffrey Lupul, and Ryan Getzlaf, all on the injured reserve list. JS Giguere made his first appearance in four games, and did not show well. Despite his amazing three games back in late November, his numbers for the season so far are an .899% save percentage and 3.06 GAA. In tonight's game he saved 23 of 28 shots on his goal. Anaheim's defense corps still struggles and he pays the price for that, but in fairness sometimes he's just not fast enough to stop the shots against him. Jonas Hiller makes some amazing stops, but also yields goals as well, so maybe it's the nature of the game: the master struggles as does the student.

Between The Fox, Adam, Katie, and I we probably took 500 images in Yosemite last week. Hopefully I'll have an album together within a week or two for you to look at. Until then, welcome to 2010. Fasten your seatbelts and keep your paws inside the beast at all times. And don't distract the driver ...

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