Crazy Bob's Blog

UPS = FAIL

2008-09-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

Once again UPS blows another scheduled delivery date. You would think that they could manage to make the 321 miles between Spokane, Washington and John Day, Oregon in two days.

Turns out it took them 2 days to get to Hermiston (173 miles) and will take them another day to go the remaining 148, if I'm lucky that is.

OPB TV Translators and Digital

2008-06-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

Oregon Public Broadcasting's web page for rural translator users still doesn't show any translators being converted to DTV so I decided to check up on them.

According to FCC records OPB has only gotten permits for 4 out of 40 or so translators to convert to digital. They are:

K17GK - Arlington

K23GK - Astoria

K26FQ - John Day

K28JC - Enterprise

I wonder why those four? Good to see John Day on the list but then again those permits are good for 3 years.

Red Lion Hotel vs License Plate

2008-05-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

If getting a cold while in Austria wasn't bad enough, a construction crew working at AirPark ripped off my front license plate. They must of hit it with some equipment because there is paint missing from a couple of the letters and it was bent in some. They shoved the plate into the front grill and the lower frame bracket was left dangling:

My truck was parked at the Red Lion Hotel Portland Airport which has long term parking, the area I was parked was adjacent to AirPark. The hotel called AirPark and asked them about a license plate on a red F-150 and they know about it.

I'm going to send Red Lion an invoice for the $13.30 for the new frame and $5.00 for labor and see if they have enough class to pay.

Spanish Riding School

2008-05-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went to a performance of the Spanish Riding School. Even though I bought my ticket 5 weeks in advance all I could get were the shit seats 2.5 stories above the horses and along the long edge so I could only see half the performance area. If that's all you can get, don't even bother.

I would have to say I got a better show at Herrmann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions in North Hero, Vermont. Not as flashy but at least you could see the horses.

Conrad Observatory

2008-05-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

During the Quanterra Users Group meeting in Vienna we took a bus ride (actually two buses - one for highway, one for mountain climbing) up to Conrad Observatory. The area reminded me a lot of Vermont. The observatory is build into the side of the mountain for maximum stability, front view:

They must get some extreme weather, note the diamond plate shutters and doors: <

George Bush declares martial law

2008-01-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

Quicktime Movie

Retro iPhone

2007-12-27T23:10:00.000-08:00

OK, I was bored. Saw this hack someplace on the web and just thought the iPhone was too modern and needed to be brought back to earth. The old payphone dialer:

Three Day Event

2007-11-24T17:14:00.000-08:00

Actually it was a 2 day event at Tauherenikau racecourse. Dressage on Saturday then the cross country and showjumping on Sunday. I watched the last of the cross country and one round of showjumping.

Haven't been to one of those since I lived in Vermont and used to work as a fence judge.

Security Theater

2007-11-15T02:01:00.000-08:00

Saw this on Fark.com and thought it was appropriate considering my trip to New Zealand next week.

An Open Letter to All Returning Soldiers

2007-11-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

The Journal of Doubt

Is anyone else surprised that Geocities still exists?

From copyrights to political corruption

2007-10-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

Lawrence Lessig is moving his focus from intellectual property to political corruption. I wonder if there is any hope for the failed democrazy that the US has become?

Announcement

First iPhone in John Day?

2007-09-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hard to say. Last Tuesday I used the free unlock software to allow using my T-Mobile SIM card roaming on Unicel.

Smoke in the Air

2007-07-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

There's a fire south of here that has been pushing some smoke up our way the past few days. Makes for some interesting sunsets

BBQ Time

2007-06-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Finally got a BBQ after 9 years. Also added some lattice to the west side to cut down on the late afternoon sun in the summer and a porch swing

The local wildlife has been making good use of the shade on the north side of the house

Belgians

2007-06-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

I've noticed some Belgian Draft horses just east of Mount Vernon over the years and finally took some pictures:

Canada Day Two

2007-06-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

Took a drive up into the mountains to the east of the valley. Quite a steep descent from the east on Highway 3, looking down at Osoyoos:

Very nice winery facility northeast of Osoyoos. Looking at the prices for the wine it's easy to understand what paid for the pool:

Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad

2007-06-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

This layout is based on Germany and has 2/3 of a mile of HO Scale track. Their web site is here.

Some derailments require some extra help to reach

Lots of Rain

2007-06-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Made it to Penticton, British Columbia. Starting raining yesterday afternoon as I was getting into northern Washington. Lot's of thunderstorms where I stayed last night.

Took 35 minutes to get through Canadian immigration and customs. They even made me show them some pictures and movies on my laptop computer. Apparently the Canadian government has an unhealthy obsession with porn, but since I don't keep my porn on my laptop they were disappointed. Maybe someday they will figure out that Canadians don't need people to smuggle porn into their country, they can get just get it like the rest of us do, on the internet!

Train progress

2007-04-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

Have about half the track in at this point

Being able to do the power and network wiring before the roadbed has been installed has made things easier with less neck strain

Layout Progress 25 March

2007-03-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Got the wiring of the control boards done on the station section except for the signals which I still need to build. The two trains ready to leave the Mayrhofen station:

Underneath the station section:

Model Railway Layout

2007-03-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

I started construction on a HO scale model railway layout recently. It will be very loosely based on the line that runs from Jenbach to Mayrhofen in the Tyrol region of Austria, mostly because I already have quite of bit of Austrian trains made by Roco.

The Jenbach to Mayrhofen line is actually called the Zillertalbahn and is a 760mm (30") narrow gauge line that runs DMU's (Diesel Multiple Units) and Steam excursions. Here is a picture of the Mayrhofen station in winter.

I will actually be using normal gauge trains and will eventually install catenary (overhead power) as a scenery item. Mayrhofen is a ski resort and so I will make that a winter scene. The rest of the layout will be depicted in fall colors. I will have a single track from the end of the Mayrhofen station to Jenbach where the track will split into a line that is supposed to go to Innsbruck and another heading towards Salzburg. In reality they both go into a mountain where there will be hidden holding tracks.

I decided to buy pre-cut benchwork from Sievers Benchwork:

Here's a picture of some of the benchwork assembled and the backdrop before painting:

The first track to go in is the station area:

The electronics to handle train detection, turnout (point) control, and signals need to be manufactured, that will take me a while.

Feb 2007 Test Results

2007-03-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

AFP: 2.4
βHCG: 1

Chest X-Ray:
Findings:
Heart: Within normal limits in size
Mediastinum and Hila: Normal
Lungs: No atelectasis, consolidation, or nodule.
Pleural Spaces: No effusion or pneumothorax
Bones: Normal
Other: Postoperative changes noted from previous retroperitoneal node dissection
Impression:
No plain film evidence of metastatic disease.

More Trains

2007-01-06T01:16:00.000-08:00

On friday afternoon we took the commuter trains from Masterton down to Wellington and then up to Tawa where we visited John and his Garden railway

After staying the night at Wayne's house we took the commuter up to Paraparaumu and got on a steam excursion train run by Steam, Inc. It followed the main line as far as Palmerston North and then went off to the east to cross back over to the Wairarapa. We just did the train one way but for those wanting a roundtrip they had a number of options for other activities. For instance, many got off the train at Woodville where there were buses waiting to take them to the horse races. At Masterton they replenished the coal supply (which came by truck from the west coast which seems pretty silly) and then returned to the west coast, picking the people up where they left them off earlier.

Turns out the locomotive was built the same year that I was.

Horsies!

2007-01-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

Did an hour and half horseback ride today, part of which was riding through a small river

Life's a Beach

2006-12-28T17:33:00.000-08:00

Went over to Castlepoint (south east coast of north island) today

On the way back there was a miniature horse farm in Tinui

Queenstown

2006-12-15T14:59:00.000-08:00

Queenstown has all sorts of outdoor activities such as skydiving, hang-gliding, bungy jumping, etc.

It also has the only "Fly by Wire" in the world. They strap you into a platform with a handlebar and a small aircraft engine on the back. The handlebar controls the angle of the engine, similar to how a swamp boat steers. There is a cable from the platform to a connection point 105 meters above the building. The connection point is supported by four cables attached to the sides of a gorge 400 meters across. The basic idea is to get as much height at the end of each run and the maximum speed in the middle (70mph is typical). Here are some pictures taken by the staff during my "flight"

Some pictures I took of the gorge and someone else's flight. In our group there was also a couple from South Carolina, a guy from England, and two girls from Japan.

Dunedin to Queenstown

2006-12-15T14:17:00.000-08:00

On the drive was the Clyde hydropower dam on the Clutha river and a bunch of wineries, I stopped at this one

Taieri Gorge Railway

2006-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

Went on the Taieri Gorge Railway the other day. Started out with just high clouds when we left Dunedin, was sprinkling at the stop part way through the gorge, and coming down quite heavy by the time we reached the top. The Dunedin station is quite nice:

Some of the cars (like this one) were refurbished cars from the 1920's and 1930's, others were more modern

Some bridges:

Some gorge photos:

Wind Farm

2006-12-06T16:59:00.000-08:00

During the Geosciences conference in Palmerston North I went on a field trip to the Tararua wind farm. The following pictures are of the first two phases of the development. These are Vestas V47 turbines and put out 660kW each and there are 103 of them for a total of 68MW. These turbines are mounted on lattice towers which I've never seen used for commercial scale wind farms

The next phase will consist of 31 Vestas V90 3MW turbines for an additional capacity of 93MW. While the lattice towers used four concrete anchors the new towers will be round, a tower base ready to go

There must have been some Ausies in the group because the sheep were running scared

Wab794

2006-12-02T20:30:00.001-08:00

An old steam locomotive was in town today because it's actual destination doesn't have anyplace where it could turn around the engine. Information on the engine can be found at Wikipedia. A couple of still shots

A short movie as it came to a stop after re-connecting with the carriages (6MB download)

Big Model Trains

2006-12-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

Here's where I'm staying, my room is the right hand upstairs window in the green house (as usual, click on the picture for a larger version)

Saturday we went out to the small settlement where one of the club members bought what used to be the one room schoolhouse and setup a 7 1/4" gauge layout, some track shots

There were three engines being run. A coal-fired steam engine and two "diesel" engines actually run using electric motors

There was a derailment and the track got bent pretty badly but the "track crew" soon had it replaced

West Coast Garden Railways

2006-11-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we went over to Paraparaumu Beach which up the west coast a ways from Wellington to play with some Garden Railway stuff

On Wednesday we went over to Johnsonville which is near Wellington to Mack's Track hobby shop to do some shopping and shoot the bull after store hours

After leaving there we went to Tawa (not far away) to Wayne's indoor Garden Railway empire

All that railroading makes you thirsty so I went to my first winery in the Wairarapa today. Johner Estate is run by a mix of Kiwis and Germans

Back in New Zealand

2006-11-16T17:53:00.000-08:00

Plane arrived an hour early, at 4:15AM local time. Picked up the car and took
the long way to the hotel on the Coromandel and still arrived before noon. Still haven't
got comfortable in that Toyota Corolla

The long way around took me to a couple of beaches

Whitianga

Whangapoua Harbor

The hotel is on the west side of the Peninsula about 10 minutes north of Thames,
the Peninsula's largest town of about 10000 people. Some views from the hotel

The reason I came to the area was to visit the Driving Creek Railway
which is very impressive

In addition to the railway they do pottery, scupltures, and glass blowing

They run two rail cars at a time that are powered by 60HP diesel engines, the car following

There are number of enbankments coated with old wine bottles, Barry must have been busy, here's
a blurry one

The "Eyeful Tower" was completed in 2002 and is the last of the expansion on the railway

To make the climb in the available space there are number of switch-backs. One of them actually
extends over the side of a hill

One of the turnouts

Some views from the Eyeful tower

I Don't Exist

2006-10-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

And apparently neither do the two others in Pennsylvania.

October cancer tests

2006-10-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

AFP: 3.8
βHCG: 0

Chest X-Ray:
Findings:
Heart: Normal
Mediastinum and Hila: Normal
Lungs: No parenchymal nodules, infiltrates, atelectasis are detected.
Pleural Spaces: The is no indication of pleural effusions.
Bones: There is a mild thoracic kyphosis. Small hypertrophic spurs are present at some of the thoracic vertebral body margins.
Impression:
The findings are unchanged. There is no indication of metastases or acute disease in the chest.

I guess, despite all the big words, that I'm going to live. I've been invited to stay with a couple I met earlier this year down in New Zealand. Might go down for as long as 2 months, depends on whether I can find someone to take care of my horses for that long.

July Cancer Tests

2006-07-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

AFP: 3.2
βHCG: 1

Chest X-Ray: All Normal

Where I've been

2006-07-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

Countries:

States:

Must See Video

2006-06-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

Robert Newman's "History of Oil". Informative and funny. A low quality streamed flash video can be watched at Google Videos or you can download a 212MB Divx video using Bittorrent.

An updated pledge

2006-06-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

Worlds Leading Fitness Hotel

2006-05-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

Shocking uncensored video and pictures from Abu Ghreib

Nice double rainbow

2006-05-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Where's Hogan & Klink?

2006-05-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

May 2006 Cancer test results

2006-05-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

AFP: 3.1
βHCG: 0

Chest X-Ray: All Normal

Still have a lingering cough from the flu I caught going down to New Zealand, but everything else is fine.

The Developing Storm

2006-04-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Fascism in America won't come with jackboots, book burnings, mass rallies, and fevered harangues, nor will it come with black helicopters or tanks on the street. It won't come like a storm--but as a break in the weather, that sudden change of season you might feel when the wind shifts on an October evening: Everything is the same, but everything has changed. Something has gone, departed from the world, and a new reality will have taken its place. All the old forms will still be there: legislatures, elections, campaigns--plenty of bread and circuses. But "consent of the governed" will no longer apply; actual control of the state will have passed to a small and privileged group who rule for the benefit of their wealthy peers and corporate patrons.

To be sure, there will be factional conflicts among the elite, and a degree of debate will be permitted; but no one outside the privileged circle will be allowed to influence state policy. Dissidents will be marginalized--usually by "the people" themselves. Deprived of historical knowledge by a thoroughly impoverished educational system designed to produce complacent consumers, left ignorant of current events by a corporate media devoted solely to profit, many will internalize the force-fed values of the ruling elite, and act accordingly. There will be little need for overt methods of control.

The rulers will act in secret, for reasons of "national security," and the people will not be permitted to know what goes on in their name. Actions once unthinkable will be accepted as routine: government by executive fiat, state murder of "enemies" selected by the leader, undeclared wars, torture, mass detentions without charge, the looting of the national treasury, the creation of huge new "security structures" targeted at the populace. In time, this will be seen as "normal," as the chill of autumn feels normal when summer is gone. It will all seem normal.

--Chris Floyd, November 10, 2001

Back from New Zealand

2006-04-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of days in the Wairarapa Valley, a couple of hour drive from downtown Wellington. First stop was in Featherston at the Fell Locomotive Museum. Up until the mid 1950's one part of the train route between Wellington and Featherston was a 1 in 14 grade, too steep for normal traction locomotives. Their solution was to put in a center rail that was raised above normal track level and to grip onto that for extra traction

Multiple brake cars were placed in the train for extra downhill braking.

Underneath the brake car

Engine Cab

My gracious hosts in Masterton (Ian & Ann) took me around to layouts in the area and kept me fed. A picture from each layout

Peter's American HO layout

George's 7mm (O scale?) Scotish layout

Clinton & Ian working with Clinton's US Diesel/UK Steam HO layout (Ian is the one wearing the Tie)

Grant's Sn3.5 layout

The Wairarapa Railway Modellers has a couple of dozen members and a large building. They are currently re-building a HO layout

Ian's Garden Railway

A view of the Wairarapa Valley from Mt. Dick on a rainy day

Live Steam

2006-04-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

Took a short trip up the Hutt Valley to Silver Stream where they have a small steam engine tourist train operation:

The local train

2006-03-30T18:09:00.000-08:00

Went down to the local train station to get a few snaps of the "TranzCoastal" which runs from Picton downto Christchurch in about 5.4 hours.

More pictures from Blenheim

2006-03-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

There's a nice area around the Taylor River as it runs through the downtown area

Another view

A picnic area around the Taylor River dam

Marlborough Provincial Museum also has a small replica of Blenheim of the past, at one point it was called "Beavertown". Here's the post office and dentist

There's also a train station that services a 2foot scale steam railway that runs two days per month

In the same area was this dual-gauge track that was significantly smaller, not sure what it is for

Nelson Model Railway Show

2006-03-24T23:40:00.000-08:00

Hall overview #1

Hall overview #2

Noel Cresswell's N-Scale Marlborough Layout, Picton Ferry

Noel Cresswell's N-Scale Marlborough Layout

Eurospeed II - HO

Nelson NZR Group - Sn3.5 scale, using HO track

Swiss Z Gauge

Fairfield Branch - OO Scale

Spy domes and grapes

2006-03-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

I thought this was kinda cool, the domes at the Waihopai Valley Government Communications Security Bureau

Back in Blenheim

2006-03-20T17:46:00.000-08:00

Flight from San Francisco to Auckland wasn't too bad, had three seats to myself so I could sort of stretch out. Went through the inquisition from immigration and customs for no apparent reason. Maybe I should have gotten a haircut before I went? At least they didn't do a cavity search. All sorts of questions about where I will be staying and what I will be doing. What's my favorite color. What's the airspeed of an unladen swallow, etc. I guess they have to justify their job somehow.

Some on and off rain on the drive from Nelson to Blenheim, temperature probably upper 60's or low 70's. Going to go shopping for a fan to provide some psycho-acoustic masking in the motel room. Then I'll go to the supermarket and get some supplies. Internet connection in the motel room seems to work OK.

On my way

2006-03-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Drove down as far as Corona, California today. Got lucky with the weather, except for some heavy sleet west of Burns no real problems. Saturday I drive down to San Ramon and stay with Bill & Cydney. I leave from San Francisco airport on Sunday night.

Dental Problems

2006-02-26T16:17:00.000-08:00

Went to the dentist on Friday due to a toothache. One of my pre-molars has gone wonky and I'll have to go to Bend on Wednesday for a root canal.

The more worrying part was some irregularity of the jawbone on the x-rays. Due to the cancer background I will have to get a copy of those x-rays and forward to the hospital in Germany for evaluation. I can't find any information that sheds much light on the situation, but it would seem unlikely that the TC could have metastasized into the bone while leaving the lungs clear. Of course, I'm a pretty weird guy, so I better have it investigated.

February 2006 Medical Tests

2006-02-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

AFP: 3.2
βHCG: 0

Chest X-Ray: All Normal

Everything is fine, I think I'll go back to New Zealand in late March.

We're Number Two

2006-02-02T22:52:00.000-08:00

Darn, Iran beat us again

December 2005 Medical Tests

2005-12-19T14:33:00.000-08:00

AFP: 3.2
βHCG: 0
Chest X-Ray: All Normal

About the same as Octobers, so things are cool.

A couple of Pictures from John Day

2005-12-15T17:50:00.000-08:00

Sunset with snow on the ground

Moon rise of the mountains to the north

We're Number One!

2005-12-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

Obesity, worst 10 nations (Source: OECD)
Country Percentage of population

United States – 30.6 per cent
Mexico – 24.2 per cent
United Kingdom – 23 per cent
Slovak Republic – 22.4 per cent
Greece – 21.9 per cent
Australia – 21.7 per cent
New Zealand – 20.9 Per cent
Hungary – 18.8 per cent
Luxembourg – 18.4 per cent
Czech Republic – 14.8 per cent

Right hotel, wrong city

2005-11-23T21:13:00.000-08:00

Am in the Courtyard in Salt Lake City tonight instead of the one in Boise. The last couple of nights the Boise airport has been fogged in at night. Some passengers elected to take a 6 hour bus ride from SLC to Boise, getting in around 3AM. Having already been travelling for about 27 hours I decided to take a flight (or at least try) early next morning and stay in SLC overnight.

So, got through 3 flights going down to NZ and 3 flights coming back, only to be stopped by the shortest flight! Oh well, should still be home sometime on Thursday.

Last Post from New Zealand

2005-11-21T19:15:00.000-08:00

Found an internet cafe a couple of blocks from the hotel that allowed me to connect the ethernet on my laptop into their network, so here goes.

Some drunken Kiwis on a Friday night

The next five are from the Kaikoura area. A nice view from some vineyards

Seal refuge, no seals seen

The bay to the north of the town

The bay to the south of the town, notice how close the southern Alps are to the ocean here

It had to be done once, "Fush and Chups"

Lyttelton Bay from the top of the Gondola ride from Christchurch

And in the other direction Pegasus Bay and part of Christchurch

I drove up to Arthur's Pass, one of the passes accross the southern Alps. Glad I didn't take the train, it hit a car on the way there. Here are 3 pictures

And of course it wouldn't be New Zealand without the obligatory sheep picture

Heading home tommorrow, should be back on Thursday.

Some more pictures

2005-11-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

Hills around where I was in Wellington

Wellington Harbour

Went on a hour and half horseback ride near Bleinheim. Drier weather here as you can see. Had to chase some cows off the path, but a good ride.

Tomorrow I'm going down to Kaikoura which is right on coast. Then I'm headed to Christchurch for 3 days.

On South Island

2005-11-15T23:19:00.000-08:00

Spent some extra money and got a motel with wireless internet access. After several hours trying to figure out what was going wrong, got it to actually work.

Here's the first bunch of pictures

Harbour view from, strangely enough, the "Harbour View Motel" in Tauranga

Jennifer would like these, wall sockets in New Zealand have a on/off switch for each circuit

Here's the Pacific Ocean from down under

Mt. Maunganui is an extinct volcano (hopefully)

Lake Taupo drains through the Huka Falls

Lake Taupo during the day, kinda of reminds me of Lake Tahoe. I went on a one hour horseback ride nearby

And of course, sunset

This critter might make a nice dinner

I went wine tasting a few places in the Hastings area, from the Te Awa winery

I drove up to the top of Le Mata Peak, here's a view looking towards Hawkes Bay

Another view

In New Zealand

2005-11-13T16:42:00.000-08:00

I'm at GNS (Geologic and Nuclear Sciences) in Wellington today, doing some internet access while folks are in meetings. Can't hook up my laptop so won't be able to put up any pictures at this time. Got a little bit of rain when I first arrived but sunny and warm days until Sunday, have some scattered showers now.

Will play tourist in Wellington on Tuesday and then take the ferry to the south island on Wednesday. Silly "Barn Network" doesn't respond and stopped sending emails on the 6th so don't have a clue what's going on there. Haven't gotten any calls from Mark Witty so hopefully things are still working as far as feeding the horses.

All for now.

Leaving Soon

2005-11-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

Leaving on Saturday for New Zealand. Should arrive there Tuesday morning NZ time, which is Monday morning in the states. Because they just started daylight saving time and we just finished it they are 21 hours after Pacific time, or you can just figure 3 hours earlier there. Hope I can find some internet access in Motels so I can upload pictures while I'm there.

Since winter has started here they have been doing some slash burning up in the mountains.

October 2005 cancer tests

2005-10-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

AFP: 3.1
βHCG: 0
Chest X-Ray: All Normal

Going to start planning a trip to New Zealand!!

Also, finally unloaded the 10 acre building lot I had in New Mexico.

Bicycle Adventure.

2005-09-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month I read in the newspaper about proposals to build bike trails in John Day, and possibly connecting with neighboring cities. I started to do some research into normal bicycles and decided that a Trek Navigator would be a suitable bike. At the EORenew board meeting on the 8th Jennifer mentioned that she was going up to Pendleton to buy a new car on the 9th. The Trek website listed a dealer in Pendleton, unfortunately I wasn't able to call them before we left on the 9th to see what they had in stock.

I rode up with Jennifer and Lance in their VW microbus, about a 3 hour trip. When I got there I found out they only had about a dozen bicycles in stock, no Navigators. The "bike shop" owner stated that they were running down their inventory to get ready for snow boarding season. Oh well, like they used to say at Korb's trading post: "you can't do business from an empty wagon". So, I had lunch nearby and then waited to be picked up. While I was waiting a women came in looking for the same model of bike for her husband, another sale lost.

Later on I though about an electric-assisted bicycle and did some research. I ended up ordering a "Charger" from Electroportal in San Francisco, which turned into a fiasco, combining an incompetent shipper with an incompetent shipping company (Fedex Ground, aka RPS):

Sept 20 - Shipped, but "Judy Ethridge" at Electroportal managed to put a street address of 2600 instead of 26000 on the shipping tag, as well as mis-spell my last name.
Sept 22 - Get email with tracking number in it. Check tracking, It is in Hines, OR, about 60 miles south of here, marked as invalid address.
Sept 23 - Email Electroportal, they contact Fedex, they supposedly contact Hines with the correct address.
Sept 26 - Fedex, instead of delivering it, moves the bike to Bend, OR, 120 miles from here, I contact Electroportal again.
Sept 27 - Check tracking again, this time it showed they moved the bike to Portland, OR, about 200 miles from here, and then shipped it out (destination unknown) again early in the morning. It appears they are returning it to the shipper. Later in the day they, much to my surprise, they show up with the bike. The driver states that they couldn't find me in the phone book (because Electroportal mis-spelled my name) and that they couldn't read the FAX from their head office with the address correction!!!

Anyway, got it assembled in a few hours and took it for a test drive. Picked up a water bottle and rear-view mirror in town today. No decent bicycle helmets available locally, just those weird "aerodynamic" fad things. For now I'll just use my old equestrian helmet which is safer anyway.

Here's a couple of pictures, click on the picture for a bigger version.

By the way, got the new "West Wing" of the horse paddock done, so the boys now have some more room to roam around.

The Wisdom of Bill Moyers

2005-09-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

9/11 And The Sport of God

John Day Fly-In

2005-09-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

Finally made it over to the airport for the Fly-In, or least for the end of the Fly-In. Some unsettled weather so I'm sure they had to reduce the number of flights. Some pictures:

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4

America's Propaganda Matrix

2005-09-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

An interesting article: How does Bush sleep at night?

Not much going on here, still slowly (very slowly) working on the horse fencing. The big thing coming up will be my medical tests in early October, if those are OK then I'll plan a trip down to New Zealand.

August 2005 cancer tests

2005-08-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

Blood Tests:
AFP 2.8 (normal is less than 10)
betaHCG 0 (normal is less than 5)

Chest X-Ray:
Findings:
Heart: Normal
Mediastinum and Hila: Normal, No hilar enlargement
Lungs: Normal
Pleural Spaces: Normal
Bones: Mild spondylosis
Impression:
No radiographic evidence of acute cardiopulmonary or metastatic disease.

The spondylosis is new, had to look that one up. According to the google search it is "degeneration of the disc spaces between the vertebrae", so it's always some damn thing. Apparently some of this is normal due to advancing age and I can't find any link to it and cancer. The main thing is that I need to lose weight, but I knew that already.

Lance Armstrong

2005-08-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

Finally, an article that breaks through the hype, from the Chicago Tribune:

After taking home his seventh consecutive Tour de France title July 24, Lance Armstrong is being hailed, justifiably, as a sports legend. Scores of American fans who've scarcely watched and barely understand the sport of cycling will utter his name in reverent tones and don the ubiquitous yellow bracelets in a show of adoration for their idol.

Of course, Lance mania has everything to do with his iconic status as cancer survivor, and little to do with his tenacious competitiveness, brilliance as a tactician, or staggering athletic ability. If Levi Leipheimer were returning with the yellow jersey, there'd be hardly a ripple in the public consciousness. Beyond serving as crusading voice on cancer issues, Armstrong has become a symbolic emblem of hope to millions, a figure one newspaper referred to as "St. Lance."

Yet Armstrong's public persona as cancer vanquisher may, paradoxically, prove a far more questionable component of his legacy than common wisdom would have it. As someone who, like Armstrong, received a diagnosis of testicular cancer in my early adulthood and was treated at the same facility and by many of the same doctors, I am sensitive to the enormous waves of goodwill toward him that sweep through the world of cancer survivors and beyond. But I also harbor a number of serious reservations--not regarding Armstrong himself, but the myth that has risen around him.

The fundamental message conveyed by the Armstrong image machine--in pharmaceutical and automobile ads, in media coverage, in the work of Armstrong's non-profit foundation--is that if you will it, you can do it. Whether it's beating cancer or winning the Tour de France, the right attitude, the proper measure of confidence, will make you victorious. When it comes to cancer, however, this philosophy is dubious and misleading.

It's worth pointing out first that Armstrong's very history as a cancer patient is an object lesson in how not to behave. As he painfully details in his best-selling autobiography, "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life," his tough-guy athletic ethos caused him to ignore all the warning signs that there was something seriously wrong with him. He was spitting blood, with a testicle the size of an orange, before he finally turned to someone for help. A healthy dose of humility, rather than an I-am-the-king-of-the-world mentality, is in some ways a far more sensible prescription for someone facing cancer. When I go into Chicago-area high schools for a program to teach teenage boys about warning signs and prevention techniques for testicular cancer, one of the first things I tell them is, "Don't be like Lance."

Other details of Armstrong's story further undermine his representative status. To begin with, testicular cancer is one of the most curable of cancers, typically achieving cure rates of higher than 95 percent, even for Stage II patients. Other cancers do far worse. Comparably staged cancers of the cervix and lung carry five-year survival rates of only 53 percent and 16 percent, respectively, according to the American Cancer Society. In other words, Armstrong was "fortunate" in contracting one of the most treatable forms of cancer. Entering treatment with the physiology of a world-class athlete was a further advantage that few other cancer patients possess.

If Armstrong's situation was in fact quite unique, his story has been spun into a morality tale for everyone. Armstrong has seemingly ushered in a reversal of the image of the cancer victim: from the disgraced, concealed figure that Susan Sontag wrote about nearly 30 years ago in her classic "Illness as Metaphor" to the image of the heroic survivor, of which Armstrong is the leading icon. Yes, I'll take being identified with a jock over being viewed as a leper any day, but there are complications that accompany this cultural transformation.

First, most of us who live with cancer and its aftermath aren't heroes, or champions of anything. We just want to get back to our ordinary lives as students, workers or parents. The heroic ideal sets standards that few of us can meet. The model of the heroic cancer fighter sits even more uneasily in light of the millions of Americans suffering from terminal forms of cancer: Are they deficient in resolve, resilience or courage because their disease ultimately conquers them? Is it their own fault that they die?

In short, there is a disturbing undercurrent to the valorization of the cancer victim that leads us actually to avert our glances from the fact of death that lies at the heart of the disease. Is this new cultural figure merely a recasting of the metaphorical shunning of cancer that Sontag exposed, a way for Americans to avoid dealing with darkness, disfigurement and death? Take note of the medical-pharmaceutical industry's emphasis on the theme of hope. Do we see in this trend another version of the current administration's policy of trying to prevent Americans from witnessing the coffins and bodies of their country's war dead?

The yellow Livestrong wristbands, sold by the Lance Armstrong Foundation, epitomize this phenomenon of deflection. Ostensibly signifying support for cancer survivors, the real meaning of these bracelets is establishing a certain hip credibility. As Rob Walker wrote in The New York Times Magazine last year, the bracelets associate their wearer with "a heroic athlete at the height of his popularity." The supposedly inspirational credo for cancer victims to live with determination becomes a weakened, generalized shout-out to everyone to work out a little harder in your next spinning session.

I've never worn the yellow band, or marched in a walk for cancer survivors, or joined a cancer survivors' support group. What I do wear proudly is a thick, pinkish scar that descends about 8 inches starting at my mid-abdomen. It's been on display recently at my local pool, where I engage in the everyday act of being a dad to my two young kids.

If I could be so bold as to offer a suggestion to the reigning Tour de France champion, I would say to Armstrong: Take off the superhero mantle, and learn how glorious ordinary life can be. That kind of normalcy is the true goal for most of us living in the aftermath of cancer.

Horse Notes

2005-07-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

Dino had one of his periodic bouts with colic last week but seems to be on the mend. Occurs a couple times per year, he has some diarrhea and he goes off his feed and water. I give him a mixture of wheat bran and psyllium to help clean him out. I also use a trick I learned from a Linda Tellington-Jones book called "belly lifts". In the book they use a towel and two people, but with the minis I can just lean over them and lock my hands around their belly and lift.

I have started on expanding their paddocks. So far all I've accomplished is to auger the 14 holes for new fence posts. Most of the holes require at least two attempts to get deep enough. The auger will go down until it hits a layer of clay and then it just spin on top of the clay. I found the solution was to pour a bucket of water in the hole and wait a day before trying again. With high temperatures in the 90's for at least the next week I probably won't be making any fast progress on the construction.

On an unrelated note, I have a new neighbor. John is a recent retiree from Portland. One of the first things I mentioned was the automatic outside light on his garage, you know the orange colored sodium things. He must have found the switch to disable it since it wasn't on last night. There is enough light pollution around here from the airport, we don't need any more. Seems like a nice guy and replaces some folks who didn't even talk to their neighbors.

Next weekend is the renewable energy fair. I still need to disconnect a solar panel that was used to power the garden pond pump since I'm donating it to the auction. John worked in the recycling industry in Portland, I wonder if he wants a free pass to the fair.

Skype

2005-07-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

Just got a headset to USB adaptor for my Mac to try out Skype. If you don't know, Skype is a free voice over internet (VOIP) program. It uses Peer to Peer technology so there are no central servers. It is free between users although they do have a pay service that allows calling regular telephones all over the world, typically $0.023 per minute, but much higher when calling cell phones.

Not sure how well it will work on a real conversation due to the long satellite delay at my end. It works using their echo account although my voice isn't very clear. If anyone wants to try to contact me. my username is "certsoft".

Back from California

2005-07-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

Got back on Wednesday night. On last Thursday we left for California. We stopped at El Aguila Real Mexican Restaurant in Lakeview for lunch, some of blandest "Mexican" food I have ever tasted. Maybe they don't want to upset the local populace, most of which have a gun in their pickup trucks. We stayed Thursday night at Super-8 motel in Red Bluff, not bad for a Super-8. I dropped off my mother at her friends house Friday night and proceeded to the Best Western in Camarillo. The price has gone up quite a bit since 4 years ago but I noticed they now have RJ-45 jacks in the walls for internet access. Too bad I didn't bring my laptop.

Saw a number of friends in Camarillo area during the weekend, including a barbecue by Ken Church and dinner at a very good Chinese restaurant called "Chesters". On Monday I picked my mother up at her friends house and we went up to Santa Barbara. I had lunch with a friend from Lompoc who works in Goleta and then dinner with friends in Santa Barbara at the "Elephant Bar" which was very nice. On Tuesday we drove up to Pleasanton, stayed at a very dumpy Ramada Inn, and had a good dinner with friends from San Ramon. On Wednesday we did the long drive back to my house, arriving about 8:30PM. My mother left Thursday and stayed overnight with her cousin in Prineville and then drove home on Friday.

There are some uncomfortable situations visiting various friends. I consider myself "middle of the road", but by European standards. By most of my conservative friends viewpoint, that makes me some sort of socialist. One of my friends said that "California has gone liberal" and it was pretty hard to avoid laughing. I suspect that many of these people get their news from "Faux" News which is basically a propaganda channel for the bush regime. I did my best not to start a fight. The other issue involves my mother and religion. Over the 5 days of driving it's amazing how many times she can mention "church". I'm an agnostic and find it amazing that people can take this shit so seriously. I wonder which will come first, our species destroying itself, or growing out of primitive superstition.

Glad to be home and back to the middle of nowhere. Dino managed to escape under the fence where it had come loose from the posts, so I have some fence work to do. Today I dug out some "thistle" weeds and mowed the front yard. Picked up some pressure treated 2x4's to be able to staple the fence fabric at the bottom and hope to auger some new holes for fence posts to expand the boy's paddocks.

Germany Pictures

2005-06-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to it. All pictures taken in Mainz unless noted.

Hessisches Staatstheater (Wiesbaden)
Motel Room, Hotel Schottenhof
Main Bus Station
Train Station tracks, with ICE waiting
More Wiesbaden
Main Train Station (Wiesbaden)
What passes for a kitchen in many German appartments
Daniel Krasa, Author & Linguist
Cherry trees at the Hospital
Living room in apartment
Bathroom in apartment
Kitchen in apartment
The Streetcar stop was just around the corner
Some of the local critters
The neighborhood around the apartment
I was originally going to be there 2 months
"English for minis", Astro and Dino are going to sign up!

My mother is coming down from Washington tommorrow and then we are heading down to California for a week to visit friends.

Spring is here

2005-06-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

The flowers are blooming:
Back Yard
Front Yard

Got the results back from my first cancer surveillance tests since the Germany trip. Blood markers and Chest X-Ray are normal.

Made it Back

2005-04-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

About 3:30PM. Didn't get into the hotel in Portland until 2AM since the plane was 2 1/2 hours late. Got into Frankfurt going over 3 hours late, so Delta can't run planes any better than United.

Didn't hear back from the guy in Geneva so went up to Hamburg instead. Unfortunately I should have made a reservation at the model train place. I got there about 10:30AM last Wednesday and the next tour that wasn't full already was 2:30PM. Must be a real tourist trap to be that busy on a weekday morning in non-summer season. So, I just
took an earlier train back (they run every hour during the day). Nice train, cruises at 200Km/hour (124MPH) and some of the cars have LCD TVs on the seatbacks just like the newer planes.

Saw a number of wind turbines on my train trip. They tend to be in small groups of 2 or 3, although I did see a group of 10 one time. They look bigger than the ones we have in Oregon.

As far as the problem with barnnetwork, it's what I came to suspect. When the kid filled the water tank they must have gotten some water into the control box for Dino's water dispensor, shorting it out. They brought in a big metal water tank for
Dino to use. If the waterer was setup normally it wouldn't be a problem, but the control box is needed to turn on the water pump. I cleaned the corrosion of the PC board and jumped over a trace that had completely corroded away and it works again.

Have some pictures from the trip. If any of them are worthwhile I'll put together a webpage for them and post the address here.

Nothing heard from Geneva

2005-04-18T01:42:00.000-07:00

If I don't hear anything soon I think I will go up to Hamburg and take a look at a huge HO scale train layout "Miniatur Wunderland".

The regional buses, streetcars, and trains all operate on the honor system, with occasional checks to check for compliance. There was finally a conductor on a portion of the my trip into Mainz this morning. Fortunately I still had 45 minutes left on the weekly ticket I bought last week, so I avoided a 40 Euro fine :)

I've noticed that on one or more streetcars the electronic sign in the car that announces the next stop sometimes says "Schott Glas" instead of "Schott AG" for that stop, I guess someone had a sense of humor.

Back to Laundry....

Picked up report and CD

2005-04-14T01:52:00.000-07:00

"Summary: Our current examinations revealed possible metastatic involement of the right lung and a suspicious left parailiacal lymph node. Alternatively, the lung findings could be interpreted as postinfectious residue."

I am hoping that they use the same format for CT images as in the states. They put the two images from last year as well as the two from last week on the CD.

Otherwise, I have been taking long walks when weather allows. There is lots of traffic on the roads, but there are orcherds (spelling?) but I'm not sure what type of trees they are. There are tractors on the roads mixed in with the cars, and even some kids walking or riding their horses up the street nearby.

A couple of days ago I went to the Johannes Gutenberg museum and walked around inside a 1000 year old cathedral, and picked up a sandwhich from Subway on the way back :)

Still three units on barnnetwork not responding: Dino's water bowl, the camera, and the 24 volt charging system. Can't think of what would take 3 devices off the network, especially since they are in locations separated by quite a distance. Seems kind of early in the year for lightning.

That's all for now, probably back in town on Monday to do my last laundry of the visit.

Back at the Internet Cafe

2005-04-13T01:50:00.000-07:00

Fortunately it is right across the street from the laundromat. Have moved my flight to the 22nd so should arrive back home on the 23rd of April. For some reason the barn network went dead on the 10th and then came back alive, except for Dino's water dispensor, I hope it's working.

Hoping to go down to Geneva next week to visit CERN, have to email the guy and find out if he is back from vacation yet.

I'll Pass for Now

2005-04-09T01:18:00.000-07:00

Got a CT scan of both abdomen and thorax on Thursday and Friday. I had a long talk with Dr. Schuler about the results. The CT scans showed no obvious cancer metastsis, in fact it showed less suspicous activity than the one 7 weeks ago in Oregon. If it were cancer it should have grown significantly in that time period. Given the lack of elevated tumor markers the Dr. cannot say whether there is cancer or not. Every thing that is suspicous has another reasaonble explanation. Given that, he gave me the following possibilities:

1) Continue with the "wait and watch". He said that even if it did start to grow and I had to come back in 3 or 6 months, the treatment would be the same.

2) Do two cycles of chemotherapy. If anything shrinks then it must have been cancer and they would then do a third cycle. If nothing shrinks then it wasn't cancer but I probably wouldn't have to worry about anymore.

Being a coward, I chose option 1. I will go to the clinic next week and get an ultrasound on the remaining testicle just to make sure that it is OK, might as do that while I am in Germany, just in case...

I had already arrangedto rent an apartment in a suburb of Mainz called Fenthen, about a 20 minute bus ride from downtown. Quite expensive, but still much better than a hotel room, I'll be moving in today. I plan on returning home around the 25th of April. Hopefully I will be spending my time as a tourist and not in the hospital.

All screwed up

2005-04-05T01:37:00.000-07:00

Went to the hospital on Monday and met with the oncologist. After he obtained the actual pathology reports from my operations last year we found out that the report that Dr. Thüroff gave me was wrong. First, there was no mention of vascular invasion when in fact there was. Second, there was one lymph node that was positive for metastsis while the report said there were none. Had the urologist and I had known this we may have decided to do the chemotherapy last year which would have increased my survival odds.

I check into the hospital on Thursday and will probably start treatment on Friday. It turns out that I will be in-patient only as long as required to determine that I am handling the chemo OK and will be out-patient for the balance of the time. The one nurse I spoke with had very fluent english, I suspect she must have lived in an english speaking country at some time.

We did talk a company that arranges short term apartment or room rental on Monday, although nothing looks good so far. There is a single room apartment available not far from the hospital that will become available on Thursday that might work out. Even that is very expensive, could be as much as $700 per month unless they give me a discount for monthly rental. One room apartments in regular apartment buildings can be over $900 per month. We went and looked at a small "apartment" that was really a converted "Comfort Hotel" that apparently didn´t do enough business so they converted it to apartments. The kitchen was a joke, just a small refrigerator and a two burner hotplate. Hopefully we can come up with at least one other option before Thursday.

Have had good weather until today, it has started to rain. I hope we can get a regular telephone setup soon, calling my cell phone is very expensive. If you are feeling rich the number is 011-49-1520-2774824.

In Mainz

2005-04-02T01:55:00.000-08:00

Due to the thunderstorms in Atlanta almost all flights were delayed about 1 and half hours, including my flight from Portland, but of course, not my flight to Frankfurt. So, I didn't arrive until around noon on Friday. Since just about everyone at the hospital takes Friday afternoons off, we couldn't accomplish anything there.

I will be checking into the hospital on Monday. In the meantime not much to do, except go to the internet cafe to do this, try to figure out the highly complicated laundromat, and maybe go to Wiesbaden on Sunday.

By the way, did you know that some of the letters and almost all of the punctuation are in different places on German keyboards? Like the "Y" and "Z" are reversed, making this sentence very difficult to type :)

Haven't looked at apartments yet, apparently it would be through some sort of service which of course isn't open on weekends. I will make a list of items and have Daniel check out the possibilities while I am in the hospital.

That's all for now. I forgot to bring the piece of paper with my cell phone number on it, but Jennifer Barker has it, her number is 541-542-2525.

Portland Wi-Fi Works

2005-03-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

Took a few minutes to figure out how to configure the wireless settings. Thunderstorms all day today in Atlanta (where I change planes), so I suspect it will be a long day. At least it isn't foggy in Portland. Don't know how long it will take to get internet access once I get to Germany so this will probably be it for a while. I will pass on phone numbers via Jennifer.

In Portland

2005-03-30T15:51:00.000-08:00

Got into the Red Lion Inn about 3:30PM. They will let me park my truck here as long as I want for $4 per day, half of what the airport charges, sounds like a good deal to me. I'll head over the airport (or should I say flughafen) at 6:00AM and hopefully arrive in Mainz about 17 hours later. There are supposed to have wireless internet access at the airport, I'll have to give that a try while I'm waiting.

Reservations Please

2005-03-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

Getting my trip setup. Will be flying from Portland on the 31st of March and arriving in Frankfurt on the 1st of April. Assuming we use the normal protocol I will have the in-patient parts on April 4th-8th, 25th-29th, and May 16th-20th. I won't actually be done until the end of May.

I plan on coming home for a week between the 1st and 2nd cycle to clear my head. Most people don't start to have serious effects until the 2nd cycle. I plan on staying between the 2nd and 3rd cycles. If I feel up to it I will take the train down to Switzerland. I got an email recently from an engineer at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) with some questions regarding a product I sold back in the early 1980's which they are still using. Not sure if I can help them out, but would be neat to get a tour of CERN. CERN is currently building the world's largest particle accelerator. I also have a friend near Zurich that I haven't seen since the early 1990's.

Getting Closer

2005-03-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

I called Thomas at MedGermany on his cell phone around 2:30 this morning to make sure things were progressing. He verified that he has all the information required and is in communication with the clinic regarding scheduling. Seems that about 30% of the world thinks March 28th is some sort of holiday, so we are hoping to start treatment on April 4th. Seems like anytime I want to go on holiday I get cancer, while anytime I need a doctor, they are on holiday (either physically or mentally, or both).

The report from Dr. Nichols' assistant at OHSU starts out "History of Present Illness: This is a pleasant 48-year-old man who noted...." I guess it's true, you can't tell a book by it's cover.

If you're interested in the details: "CT scan reviewed here at OHSU reveals lymphadenopathy, most greater than 1cm and several greater than 2cm in the mediastinum, the AP-window, paratracheal, pretracheal, consistent with a distribution associated with metastatic testicular cancer. In addition, there are multiple pulmonary metastases suggesting the hematogenous spread, also characteristic pattern of recurrent testicular cancer." In other words, I've got balls in my lungs.

Waiting to go

2005-03-19T23:57:00.000-08:00

I got the diagnosis on Friday the 18th of metastasis of the testicular cancer from last year into the lungs. I had already contacted MedGermany about chemo but will be Faxing my formal application for treatment to them on Sunday.

The treatment will most likely be three cycles of what they call "BEP", standing for the three chemicals: Bleomycin, Etoposide, and Cisplatin. Each cycle is 3 weeks long, with 5 days of intravenous Etoposide and Cisplatin and 16 days off. The Bleomycin is given as an injection once a week. There are other posibilities, for instance some people react badly to the Bleomycin.

That's it for now, will know more in a couple of days.