I don’t read much during the school year since I feel guilty when I read for pleasure, knowing full well that I have some sort of reading I should be doing instead for classes that I’m taking. That’s why every summer I amass this insanely large reading list.

For example, this is my current reading list of books that I’ve found through various means (friend’s recommendations, reviews, or curiosity of similar subjects):

• The Whole Shebang by Timothy Ferris
• A Walk In The Woods – Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
• The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
• Salam Pax – The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• The Math Gene by Keith Devlin
• The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

So the summer is quickly flying by and you might ask, “How many of those have you finished?” Exactly zero! Oh yes. Maybe that has to do with me reading quite a few of them at the same time. It would be nice to finish at least one by the time school starts in a few weeks. We’ll see how that goes!

Anyway, my apologies for the lack of updates. I’ve been quite busy with the outreach program the past 2 weeks. It’s a lot of fun and we’re taking the kids to a lot of really neat places too, such as Capitola (Santa Cruz), Point Reyes, Menlo Park to see the USGS and mueseums as well.

I have mastered the art of cloning. This will definitely help with the upcoming year.

Ah yes. San Francisco. Among the many benefits of living in this fine city is that our streets are cleaned once a week. Some grumble at the fact that they have to remember what day street cleaning is so that they can move their cars.

Not I. In fact, I totally forget when street cleaning is so that I fail to move my car. It’s a great thing to wake up to a parking ticket in the morning in front of your own house! I opted not to buy a MUNI fast pass this month ($45) so that I could save money. I figured I wouldn’t be taking the bus much this month.

Nope! Instead of saving money, I will now be sending a check in the sum of $40 to the D.P.T. (I swear it stands for “Department of Parking Tickets”). Thank you!

That said, it’s totally my fault. But that sure does sting… your wallet AND your ego.

This past weekend, Michelle was able to hook me up with a membership at the YMCA. Apparently this is good at any YMCA throughout the world (hey, maybe I could use it in New Zealand?). Anyway, I’ve been taking advantage of this by going to one of the Y’s located down by my school.

I went to go run on a treadmill last night and accidentally typed in 30 minutes for the run time. Oh well, I shrugged and decided to see how far I could run anyway. I DID IT! I ran the entire time and covered a distance of 3.3 miles. That’s the longest I’ve ever run in one session without stopping.

Amazingly, I feel pretty good today too. 😉 I have to say that I kind of like running on a treadmill better than running outside. There are no cars to worry about, pot holes to pay attention to or any other inconvenient obstacle. On the treadmill you can just bring your iPod and go… and then get lost in your thoughts (and not have to worry about tripping over a log you didn’t see).

Well I didn’t come away from that back packing trip unscathed. Evidentially, my pack caused my shirt to crinkle up, exposing my back. My skin was now in direct contact with the rubbing pack as I walked. It wasn’t until I got home later that I realized I had a rug burn of epic proportions. Oh yes! Check out that nasty picture. (It’s now a week and a half later and the thing is still with me and hurts whenever I move. Yay for Neosporin!)

Anyway, back in town after visiting Southern California. That was nice to see the parents again and check out how much is being accomplished on cleaning up our yard, but as usual, I have to say it’s great to be back up here in clean air (and hey! There hasn’t been much fog lately).

Dan was up here this weekend and I want to wish him luck. He begins his climb of Mount Shasta tomorrow. He’ll be back in San Francisco on Saturday before he heads back to So Cal. I’m definitely envious of him. Hopefully he takes a lot of pictures!

We returned home from our back packing trip last night at about 10 PM. It was a blast. We spent four days in the Trinity Alps (located in Northern California) and it was my first time hiking through them. I’ve previously gone on a trip to Trinity Lake with my cousin in high school, but we spent the whole week on the lake. I do remember seeing the mountains off in the distance though.

Our trip began on Friday. Hiking into camp wasn’t too bad, though my feet were getting real sore towards to end of the day. I guess it makes a difference since I haven’t done any serious backpacking in nearly two years. We setup camp roughly 9 miles from the trailhead, along a large creek called the Stuart Fork (which flows into Trinity Lake).

On Saturday, I decided to have a moment of insanity by attempting to hike a “small” trail called the Caribou Scramble. It was only 2 miles long, but according to some literature that a few people brought on the trip, it gained over 2,500 feet of elevation and contained over 100 switchbacks. Some people expressed surprise and doubt that I could/would attempt such a thing. I figured the view would be amazing and I like hiking anyway. So I set out and did it. Finished it in just over an hour and a half (and I only counted 86 switchbacks). I did get some great photos though.

The picture above was taken on top of Sawtooth Ridge, after I completed the Caribou Scramble. That is the valley we hiked up and we were camping in a group of trees north of the meadow (the camera view is facing roughly south). Factoring all the day hikes and hiking in and out of the Trinity Alps in the first place, I put at least another 32 miles on these boots. Excellent!

Of course I am now completely sore and stiff from this weekend and am just having an easy/lazy day. Amazingly, the only blister I received this weekend was on my right thumb, from my treking poles, after I completed the Caribou Scramble.

Anyway, it’s good to be back. Though being back in the fog isn’t the greatest thing in the world. I am thinking of driving home for a few days. I may try to leave tomorrow night (though it may be hectic, since BART workers are planning to go on strike tonight at midnight, which will throw the whole Bay Area into pandemonium).

As I stated in an earlier post, I mentioned that I had an announcement to make.

Basically, check out my new toy!

(more…)

It’s probably a good thing I didn’t try putting together some sort of drinking game with my friends for George Bush’s speech tonight. The final tally? He said “freedom” 21 times! Oh yes. We probably would have ran out of alcohol long before the speech was over. Or we would have expired due to alcohol poisoning. Anyway, what various pieces of information did he leave us with? Basically nothing. However, it’s interesting to note his arguments against a timetable or ANY sort of plan to exit Iraq.

Some contend that we should set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces. Let me explain why that would be a serious mistake. Setting an artificial timetable would send the wrong message to the Iraqis, who need to know that America will not leave before the job is done. It would send the wrong signal to our troops, who need to know that we are serious about completing the mission they are risking their lives to achieve.

Wait a minute. What has Bush previously said about timetables?

April 1999 – “Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”

June 1999 – “I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”

October 2000 – “I’m going to be judicious as to how to use the military. It needs to be in our vital interest, the mission needs to be clear, and the exit strategy obvious.”

I guess that ultimately doesn’t matter now does it? Of course with all the lies he has told us in the past, I guess it shouldn’t be surprising.

March 6, 2003 – Saddam Hussein has a long history of reckless aggression and terrible crimes. He possesses weapons of terror. He provides funding and training and safe haven to terrorists — terrorists who would willingly use weapons of mass destruction against America and other peace-loving countries. Saddam Hussein and his weapons are a direct threat to this country, to our people, and to all free people.

Identity Theft
Since this is my political rant and raving section for the time being, I have another interesting note. After my post about identity theft in April, I wrote both Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, asking them what they are doing about the horrible rash of identity theft. They both responded to me! Well, at least someone using their individual email addresses responded to me. Regardless, it was quite nice to be able to contact our government officials and get a relevant response from them.

Granted, their responses basically just rehashed previous bills they have proposed in the Senate to make the punishments for identity theft tougher and nothing on what they are doing in the future. There really needs to be something done about how intrinsically linked all our private information is to the internet. It makes it too easy to crack these things and the fines and punishments aren’t obviously deterring people.

Allegedly, Mark Twain once said “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” (Various sources dispute that he was the one who actually said it, but it’s been attributed to him regardless of whether he said it or not)

I’m beginning to see why. I’m currently in the midst of my first real summer in San Francisco and let’s just say that “sunny” is definitely not the way to describe it. Before the summer solstice, things were beautiful up here. Clear days, not too much wind, good temperatures. I took full advantage of spending time outside and exploring Golden Gate Park. Now I’m glad that I have.

I’ve heard summers up here leave quite a bit to be desired. It’s crazy. Once summer “officially” began (right after the summer solstice), we have not had one single clear day yet. Up here on the hill, we’ve been socked in fog every single day. And it’s COLD. However, my friends and family back home in Southern California are dealing with temperatures upwards of 100 degrees. Oh yes!

That said, I still love it up here. The rest of the year has been absolutely perfect. So I guess I can put up with 2 months of crappy “summer.” Though it’s interesting to note that when I visited my sister during the summer before I moved up here, that I had always managed to come on beautiful weekends. So there’s definitely hope.

I had an interesting experience earlier today (err… yesterday now). I took part in a usability study for a company called Six Apart, testing some software and offering feedback. For an hour’s worth of work, I was paid handsomely! That was definitely a nice injection of cash. Thank goodness for Dot Coms and their seemingly limitless bank accounts (I need to find a way to get involved with Google, now that they are worth over $80 billion dollars). I also had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement, which makes the work I did sound like its top secret and dangerous. 😉

(Though now that I think about it, I’ve actually worked with a few companies that have required me to fill out NDAs, all of them technology firms: Electronic Arts, Breakaway / Firaxis Games and Six Apart Inc.)

This weekend, I’m doing a 4 day long backpacking trip with Meghan and her Dad and Step-Mom (as well as some of their friends) in the Trinity Alps. That is going to be exciting (plus I’ve only been in the Trinity’s one other time and remember it being absolutely beautiful). And yes, I know… my friends have already jokingly warned me that I should be prepared in case her Dad tries to stab me with a kitchen knife. So I guess it’s a good thing I have previous experience in dealing with that. 😛

Anyway, I should go to bed. I’m doing an excellent job in destroying my sleep schedule. (I’ve been sleeping from something like 3AM to 11AM every day)

The next time I post, I need to mention an interesting purchase that I recently made (with the help of my parents). Some people already know about it.

Let’s just say “OS X.” 😉

I’m alive! Actually, there was never any doubt as to whether or not I was alive, but as far as this blog is concerned, I have been dead for the past month. It was a combination of things: finals in school, then the week long research trip, then time to laze around, then lack of ambition to actually even write anything in the first place.

So, for those of you who still check this web site, I believe an update is in order. (more…)