The Last Sunrise Until Next Year

Today looks like another beautiful day on the mountain. You can see that Mill Valley is fogged in, but that's not a problem for us or Mt. Diablo in the distance.

Lori, Cookie, and I went for a hike this morning. Since I carried the Hasselblad, those pictures won't show up here for a while, if ever. Film does have its drawbacks. I think there might be some good shots though.

Anyway, today is a run day. Maybe I'll be "extreme" and do another 11 miler. Or maybe shorter and then a ride to train for OKFree. Yeah, that's the ticket. Gotta train for the OKFree.

Here's an article to read. I think this is really just another excuse for exercise bulimia, don't you?

Happy Old Year, and see you in the New Year!

Ms. Pastry Chef

Today's picture is of yesterday's pastry chef. We rode to the top of Mt. Tamalpais today on our mountain bikes. Lori, in the spirit of competition, decided to push the pace. I think she might be an exercise bulimic (read yesterday's article link if that sounds weird to you). I guess that is someone that exercises until they puke. Of course, Lori usually only does that on half and full iron distance triathlons. I guess it is a mild case.



Anyway, the picture is with the G9 and a bit of flash to help out with the sun behind her head. It was another gorgeous day on the mountain for us.

Oh yeah, we went down to Stinson Beach for a walk on the beach with Cookie. It was super beautiful as the fading sunlight reflected off the wet beach. Too bad I left my camera in the car...

Then we had burgers at the Sand Dollar. It's always a roll of the dice when you go in there. We have had very excellent meals, and very, very bad meals. The last couple were so bad it took us six months to go back. We figured that the burgers were the lowest risk tonight. They were okay, but McDonald's can make edible burgers (most off the time), and McDonald's fries are better. Problem is, the Sand Dollar is way closer than McDonald's. Baby steps I guess, and maybe we will be able to eat there again every once in a while.

Eating Cookies to Run

I ate some of these yummy cookies before my 11 mile run today. Lori made them this morning - she's the best. No wheat either (for what that is worth). Anyway, does this mean I have a cookie addiction that I mitigate with exercise? Whatever... Sorry to give you a link to such a weak article.

It's Time to Start Training

Yesterday Lori and I went for a road bike ride through Stinson Beach and up Fairfax- Bolinas Road and the 7 sisters. Santa brought Lori a new ibike computer for measuring power (and just about every other possible parameter like temperature, altitude, wind speed, speed, grade, time, moon phase (not really but the date is recorded)) while she is riding. It's a nice piece of engineering, using all this data to calculate power as she rides. Power is the preferred parameter to measure if you are a triathlete these days. Training plans and specific workouts all use power instead of heart rate, time, or how you feel. Just another reason not to be a triathlete (but not nearly as compelling as the swimming in a non-life-threatening situation).

Lori had to perform 5 calibration rides where she rode 20mph and then coasted down to 8mph. This gives the computer enough information to calculate the bicycle friction drag and wind drag. She did those rides, then we rode the six miles to Stinson Beach for her 4-mile calibration ride. We had a low-wind day and the road is smooth and relatively flat so it was a good place to do the longer ride. It took two tries, but we got that ride done, and the computer was calibrated.

From there it was about 14 miles home, 2000' of climbing, and some beautiful scenery. Lori burned 550 calories riding home, and averaged 130 watts including downhill sections.

Today we rode again. I'm training for the Oklahoma FreeWheel ride across Oklahoma (of course) in June of 2009. Doing this ride is the brainchild of my brother, Hal. My dad, also Hal, and I have signed on. I officially started training today.

We rode to Pt. Reyes Station via Bear Valley today. We were going to come home by way of the Mountain, but it started raining at Pt. Reyes Station. 45 degrees and rain is a recipe for some cold riders, so we took the easiest path possible (which isn't saying much). We ended up just riding back up from the coast on Panoramic Highway (still 1500' of climbing). We did the ride with Dorette and the Ultraman Duane.

Duane and I had some fun on the last climb back home from Stinson Beach. Duane is 4.5 years older than me, and of course, an Ultraman. As we approached the Pantoll pass, we slowly cranked up our effort until we were both at our limit. Duane (Mr. I averaged a 105 heart rate Ultraman) peaked out at 161 bpm near the top, and I gave it my best grimace (no HR monitor to reflect my pain). I couldn't drop the old guy, but he didn't try to pass me at the top either.

Anyway, Lori and I got our 48 miles in today. It's a start for OKFree I guess. I think it will take a lot more than that to be ready though. What about you?

:-) Night night!

Merry Christmas!

It has been a good year for us, and Christmas was no exception. We had friends over for dinner last night and had the traditional Dungenous crab, salmon, and lamb. Call it a California tradition since it is crab season. We ate well, that is for sure.

Then Santa showed up. Doe and Duano gave us a gift certificate to take a seaplane flight around the Bay Area. It's going to be super cool! We will try to choose the time to get some good photos. Thaks D&D!

A couple of days ago I went for a hike down the hill in Muir Woods. I mostly took pictures with my Hasselblad, but I did snap a few with the 5D after it started to rain. Here is a look down the Fern Creek trail.


The yellow alder leaves were a nice contrast to the dark green and red-brown of the Redwood trees. The rain on the leaves gives it the contrasty look.

It has been a pretty dry year so it is nice that our weather has finally turned wet. We had the big storm our wedding weekend, then it was dry again for six weeks or so. Now, finally we are getting the daily storms blowing through. Very winter and Christmas like (in a Northern California kind of way).

Hmm, I'm rambling. Anyway, we hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day. We did!

Winnipeg at -17F

A couple of quick snaps from Winnipeg. The first is the Royal Candian Mint, the second is the view from my hotel room. It was -17F last night when I went to dinner. Yes, very cold. With the wind, it was much colder.

Notice the mountains in the distance? Lol! Don't be silly, this is Manitoba!

If I Want to be Cool...

I should go to Winnipeg! Last week the Big Island and 85 degrees every day, this week I'm cooling off in the below zero (highs) of snowy, windy, very bitter cold Winnipeg. All week. I'll try to get a photo or two to capture the fun. Expect white. C U soon.

Hawaii Photos

Here are a few photos from Hawaii. It was pretty windy the day we went to Volcanoes National Park, as you can see in the photo of Lori.


This next picture shows ropey and pillow lava together.


Later that day we went to see the lava flow. The lava flow is outside the park and access is controlled by the county of Hawaii. They are very conservative, so we couldn't get very close -- about a mile away. Sunset or night time is the best time to actually see more than the steam cloud. We went to the flow at sunset, hoping to get a nice sunset and some good lava shots.

The sunset was fair. Fortunately, there seemed to be a lot of lava activity. The huge steam cloud is constantly changing, but often looks like heads and faces. It was definitely worthwhile, but could have been even better if we could have gotten a bit closer.

Meet an Ultraman

We have been in Hawaii (on the island of Hawaii) for the Thanksgiving holidays. One of the reasons we came here was to support our friend, Duane Franks, as he competed in the Ultraman competition. This race included 6.2 miles of swimming (day one), about 262 miles of cycling (day one and two), and a 52 mile double marathon run yesterday. Duano finished in fine style. Even the Cowman was impressed, as you can see in the picture.

Today Duane and our other good friend Dorette get married. That will be the fourth day of his event, and surely the most ultra of them all. More photos to come tomorrow I guess.

We've had a great time so far, and are looking forward to a few more days here. C U again soon.

Welcome to the Capshaw Family!

Yesterday afternoon Lori began her initiation into the Capshaw family. Over the last few years my dad and brother have established a tradition of crashing their bikes to get attention (that's the best reason I can come up with). And, if you want lots of attention, of course the crash has to be bad enough for a hospital visit (at least), and surgery if possible.

We were out for a mountain bike ride to the top of Mt. Tam, enjoying the sunny day. After riding to the top and almost all of the way back down, Lori took a dive into the fire road. We were going, oh, maybe 15 mph on a gently down-sloping, smooth but loose, fire road about .5 miles from our house. Rounding a corner, there was a couple hiking up the hill and Lori adjusted her front wheel slightly while breaking to give them some extra room. Her front wheel slid out as she leaned into the right hand turn and down she went! She hit her right shoulder and hip first, but also hit her head pretty hard.

I was behind her and stopped to see how she was. She said her head hurt. Uh oh. Her helmet was cracked in two places. Uh oh. But, she didn't black out. Whew! I un-clipped her left foot, pulled the bike off her, and we assessed the damage. Her head hurt a little, she was a bit dizzy, but coming around quickly, her nagging back pain over the last few weeks seemed cured, her shoulder didn't hurt, and she had trail rash on her hip. After deciding there were no major injuries, she sat up and we sat for a few minutes gathering ourselves for the trip home. When Lori stood up, we realized that the trail rash was pretty bad -- she was bleeding quite a bit.

At home, we assessed the damage to her leg and decided she would need some expert medical attention. We ended up going to the Marin General Hospital Emergency Room. During the interview/assessment process they tested Lori's neck. She passed all the tests but one - leaving the door open for a broken neck. We had gone in looking for a little bit of expert contusion-cleaning, and the next thing we knew she was in a neck brace waiting for a cat scan! All along I had been thinking that she was taking the easy way out of this Capshaw rite of passage with a simple bit of rocks-under-the-skin trail rash. Oh no, she wasn't. She had a broken neck!!!

Well actually, I didn't think so, but the only people that seem to think they are more right than I think I'm right are ER doctors. Anyway, she had her brace on and went off for her cat scan. After another 45 minutes of waiting, it turned out I was right (of course) and she didn't have a broken neck.

After that crisis was averted, they could focus on cleaning her wounds. That all went fine and she was discharged. Last night and this morning she was sore, but it looks like she will recover quickly. So, she had punched the "crash-your-bike" ticket as a Capshaw, and managed to avoid surgery and a broken neck. What a catch she is! :-)

Muir Beach Sunset

Cookie and I went down to Muir Beach for the sunset last night. She was kind of bored by the photography, but met a couple of dogs whose owner brought the "red dot" laser pointer. Cookie loves the "red dot", so she had a blast with that.

That is Definitely Snow

Apparently Mt. Tamalpais and the rest of the Bay Area are experiencing warm, potentially, record temperatures this week. I wouldn't know.

I've been in NW Pennsylvania and Philadelphia so far this week. So I only know what sfgate says. When I check the weather at the Duck Shack, I don't see it yet.

I flew to Buffalo on Monday and drove to Bradford, PA that night for a sales meeting the next day. It had snowed that day and was a bit of a winter wonderland. The next morning at the meeting I asked about the snow, and they reckoned it wasn't enough snow to be counted as "a snow". I may be a California boy these days, but even I know it was definitely snow. I think the Lake Effect has probably knocked the local snow gauge out of calibration.

After my sales meeting I drove all the way across Pennsylvania to the Philadelphia area for two sales meetings today. Lots of fun. One thing I did learn, Pennsylvania is hilly from corner to corner. Very hilly. Not quite mountainous -- except when you are in the mountains of course, but very hilly. BTW, there is no snow in Philadelphia.

Tonight I am traveling to Memphis again. I told you I would get to go back! I understand it is rainy there. Can't wait. I get to stay until Friday evening. I get home after Midnight. Oh boy!

No pictures to show, though I did bring my G9. I just didn't have the time to take anything other than windshields and airports so far. I'm sure folks are bored of those pictures by now. Maybe tomorrow in Memphis.

Wedding Pictures

I'm still working on the pictures from the wedding, but I have posted a few on Flickr. Click here to check them out.

Cataract Trail

For our honeymoon we stayed at the ranch a couple of extra days and then came home to the mountain. It took us all day on Tuesday to clean the ranch house, load all the stuff in the Jeep and camper, and then drive home.

The last few days we hung around here. We went to the beach. Rode our mountain bikes on the mountain, enjoyed the sunsets, grilled yummy food, etc. Yesterday we went for a hike on the Cataract Trail. I had never been down the trail to the waterfalls. It was really beautiful. And a great workout coming back up the mountain. Lori took the picture of me using the G9. I shot mostly with the Hasselblad, so we'll have to wait a while to see how those turned out.

Anyway, lots of fun and a fantastic trail. Oh yeah, a fantastic week too.

Trail Junctions and Wedding Bales

Over the last five years my mountain trail has crossed and re-crossed the trail of a very special person. I met Lori by chance at a triathlon/duathlon race in Bend, OR . After subsequent running, biking, and dinner dates in Mt. Tamalpais country, I knew our trails would join. At long last, that happened this weekend at a friend's ranch in Middletown, CA. Lori and I were married at about 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, November 1, 2008 in a hay barn!



We had planned to get married under the wisteria arbor in the yard at our friend's ranch house. It was a magical place. Despite perfect weather for a month leading up to our wedding, Winter set in and it started raining last Friday. We had three inches of rain over the weekend, so it wasn't just a little storm either. Anyway, scrambling for a backup plan, we decided to get married in the Hennessey barn on a neighboring ranch. It was loaded with hay, but otherwise pretty clean and dry. The only hitch was the very muddy road down to the barn. So, with three 4x4 SUVs and our Jeep we hauled the entire wedding party (no one was "just" an observer -- all had a role) down to the barn and we got hitched!

The whole adventure fit our personalities well. Afterwards we four-wheeled our way back to the ranch house for an amazing dinner put on by one of Lori's catering friends.

So now, Lori's and my trails have merged and my mountain trail includes my permanent companion and her dog. :-)

Cool!

11,000 Miles and Nine Time Zones

I wrote this post on Saturday, October 25 as I was traveling home from Botswana:

I arrived at the airport in Gaborone yesterday (Friday) at about 12:30 p.m., so that was my official start on my trip home. After a several hour stopover and change of planes in Johannesburg, a 1-hour plane-refueling/seatmate change-out in Dakar, a 1:30-hour plane change and layover in New York, and blasting off in yet another jet, it is now 6:41 p.m. in Botswana. On Saturday. We should land in another 3:00 hours, and then it’s just a bit more than an hour or so to home. So, doing the math, that means my commute home will be 34 hours long. If I was just driving to and fro’ the office each day, that would last me for about two months.

I’m not complaining. Just doing the math. The silver lining is, er, the silver. As in, it pays the bills. Oh yeah, and I get about 30,000 FF miles (including some bonuses) that I have little interest in using. Yes, these are the thoughts one has when they are chained to a seat for 26 hours of air time. I can’t imagine what it would have been like back in coach (with no scampi).

Since this trip was all about work, I didn’t even have time to do anything interesting. I might as well have gone to Memphis. Of course you can’t get Sesswa in Memphis. And people look at you funny if you say “Cheerio!” Ha ha! Ya’ll know I will get my chance to go back to Memphis soon enough!

Truth be told, I am really happy to be going home.

I brought my Amazon Kindle along on the trip (as I did last time). I read a couple of books (plus bits of other) and downloaded and read the NY Times a couple of times. What a great travel companion! Unfortunately, the “2-week” battery (if you don’t have the wireless receiver/transmitter on) was too weak to get me through these seven days. The battery just died on this final JFK-SFO leg and I didn’t bring the charger along. Oh well, I still think it’s a great way to bring reading material on the road.

We just flew over Denver, and then Golden, CO. I remember when I was living there as a kid (my first year or so of life), it sure didn’t look like that! What, you can’t remember your first year? Sorry to hear that, I think age might be catching up with you.

BTW, the “M” in Golden looked nicely maintained, and there is snow on Pikes Peak and Mt. Democrat.

After arriving at home, spending some time with Lori and Cookie, I managed to get out for a run on the mountain. It was a perfect, 75 degree afternoon run. It is so nice to be home!

I Smell a Barn!

Not just any barn either. MY barn. I'm heading home.

This was an intense week right up to the end. My second "big" meeting was this morning. We drove to Jwaneng, met with the project team's client, finished a few minutes late, and then Iain drove us back to Gabs. Why did Iain drive? Well, because he's young, and we needed to fly for me to make my flight. We did the 160KM, including a fair amount at 80KPH, in 1.5 hours, so you can imagine the non-80KPH parts. Lots of fun, and no guineas, donkeys, cows, or goats were killed. We didn't see any baboons, so there was no chance to try for them.

Anyway, we made it and I am in Johannesburg again. I am really tired, but now I need to stay up as long as possible to try to get back to California time. I think I will take a short nap, but then stay up until it is evening at home.

We'll see how that works...

C U soon Lori and Cookie!!!!

Boom! Bob's Your Uncle!

The last four days have been 12+ hour workdays. I arrived Saturday evening, slept pretty well (because I was a bit sleep deprived), and then worked all day Sunday to get ready for a pre-review meeting with my client. That went well, then we spent the next two days split between Gaborone and Jwaneng narrowing down on the real numbers.

Well, I made it, and made the first “big” presentation to my client, the project team, today. Now, with a bit of feedback from them, I will present to their client on Friday morning. It’s going to be exciting because we will drive to Jwaneng at 0-dark-30, have the meeting (hopefully on time, which is not always guaranteed in these parts), and then I will make the dash for the airport for a 1330 flight. Keep your fingers crossed!

Anyway, all the work has been worth it. As my client said today, “It’s nice to see hard numbers instead of anecdotal comments today.” My sentiments exactly. It’s too easy to ignore stories, but very hard to dispute the numbers the client provided.

So, it was a good day. And that probably means that I get to come back to Africa at some point in the future. Where is Scotty when we need him? I need that transporter to be available to beam me back here if I come back! These analog airplanes are just too slow to travel this far.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures outside my hotel room this time – different hotel…

First a picture of a colorful little creature on, as we (me and the mouse under the bed) say in this room, The Pepper Tree.


The second picture is The Pepper Tree at night. The green leaves in the background look that way because there is a pool there. The pool reflects the light as bluer light than the tungsten lights, correcting the light balance. Interesting isn’t it. Don’t answer that!!!

And now, since I only slept 4 hours last night, it's time for bed...

Cheerio! (Do I have a Botswana accent yet?)

Back for More Gabs

I flew back to Gaborone, Botswana over the last 26 hours. There was a little bit of rough weather, but that was it. I got to spend 2.5 hours in the International Transfers area in Johannesburg, South Africa. That is one dark, dingy place. Here's a picture on the right. It really does seem that dark -- that's not just photographic license.

After escaping from the transfer area, I went and grabbed a sandwich at a restaurant overlooking the puddle-jumper gates. The second picture has the view.

And, finally, the last picture is of my modern gate.

Now I'm safely at my hotel, the Gaborone Sun. I'm glad I'm here and I can't wait to go home!

A Golden Gate

I stopped by the bridge today at sunset for a few photos. There weren't any clouds, but it was still pretty nice. Check it out:

Classic View from a Classic Camera

One of Lori's friends has a custom dining room lamp with a silver spoon shade. Basically, it is a wooden lamp structure about 2.5 feet long with silver spoons hanging around the lights. They had the light custom made in France, so it probably cost more than my truck is worth.

Anyway, we thought the lamp was interesting and would be pretty easy to make. Of course, we didn't want to just copy the idea, so we came up with our own idea that was a bit more personalized: We thought it would be cool to create a shade that uses photographic slides from our own travels.

This poses some problems for us in the digital age. First, we didn't have a film camera. Second, we thought that 35mm slides would be too small. After a little looking around, I found that twin lens reflex (TLR), medium format cameras are pretty cheap on ebay. I picked up a Mamiya C33 with three lenses for $150.

The camera is about 45 years old, but it is in excellent condition. It makes slides that are 2.25" x 2.25", which is actually large enough to see the images from a few feet away. My thought was that we would take a bunch of pictures and then I would re-sell the camera.

Going back to film with a fully manual camera (it doesn't even have a battery or on/off switch), was a big change. No more chimping your shots to see if they turned out the way you hoped. Nope, now I have to actually think about everything from focus to film speed to exposure before I push the button. It's a much slower, more thoughtful approach; and it got me hooked on film again. Film has other interesting quirks too, like developing and scanning the film. (In this modern age, I can't see actually printing photos using an enlarger. Just scan and print etc.)

So, the picture above was taken at 12,000 feet at Kite Lake in Colorado this past August. You can see it was cold, windy, and stormy. The next day it snowed on Pikes Peak, so I'm sure it snowed here too. Very beautiful isn't it? Not to mention the cute models...

Huh? You talkin' to me?

This afternoon I was practicing lighting ideas. Then a political impersonation slipped out.



In general, I'm not one to make a big deal about my political views, or to make general political commentary. (That's your warning.) Though if you have talked politics with me, you know that I've been very disappointed with the direction our country's leadership has taken us in the last 5+ years. Well, I say leadership, but I think what I'm really saying is leadership in the wrong direction and then lack of leadership to adjust our course. Anyway, the cost for going to war has been terrible in the lives lost or destroyed, and in the economic impact of spending billions weekly to feed our unilateral war machine -- ahh, there's more but I'll stop now while I can!

Hey, so anyway, I was playing around with lighting. I was trying to figure out how to light the hat all the way around and not make myself look too crazy in the process. Chimping the pictures on the camera, I realized that I was dressed just right to impersonate our Commander in Chief. So, I started with his characteristic point, and ended with this classic shrug:




Something weird happened to the color space when I uploaded this, and it got a bit washed out. That seemed to fit the political statement perfectly.

Well, I know that some of you that read this will disagree with me. If you know me well, you know you will have a hard time convincing me I am wrong. I'm a bit stubborn. It's my mountain trail after all. Anyway, if we all agreed on everything, life would be much less interesting.

I hope your weekend has started out well because the week was a doozy!

Bye, bye 'til next time!

Ride the Mountain

During our trip to Colorado this summer my Intense Spider mountain bike fell off the bike rack on the back of the camper while driving on a very rough Forest Service road. It was a total loss. After much effort, my insurance company covered most of the loss, so that was good. I ended up buying the bike that I had before the Spider back from the person who bought it from me. He was injured, and figured he wouldn't be able to ride for quite a while. Besides, he wanted to upgrade. Anyway, he had taken good care of the bike and I was happy to have it back.

Today I went for a ride after work. I schlepped along the Instamatic (aka Canon 5D) and took a couple of photos. The one above is of an oak tree healing over from a long ago trimming. And the one below is of Railroad trail looking back towards the city.




You can see it was a beautiful day. And, it was fun to be back on a mountain bike...

C U l8tr!

Hiking my Favorite Mountain Trail

On Thursday I didn't feel like running, so I decided to go for a hike with some cameras. The clouds and fog looked very dramatic from 101 as I drove home, so I thought there were some potentially nice photos to be taken if the clouds broke on the Mountain. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out quite as good as I would have liked, and the best photo opportunities were taken with the Hasselblad. That means I don't have anything to show from those pictures yet. However, I did take some pictures with my Canon.

Old Mine trail is one of my favorite trails. These pictures are from a part of the trail that I rarely slow down to enjoy when I am running, so it was nice to hike through here. Here is the trail:




Shortly after this shot, I saw movement on the trail in front of me. This little guy popped out of the next turn. He/she slowed down long enough for me to snap a couple of pictures:




Very cute. I told Cookie about the encounter and she wasn't surprised. Apparently she had an SMS from the little deer saying she had seen me. Kids these days are so well connected.

Finally, the whole point of hiking up Old Mine was to see if we could see the city. It turned out to be mostly just a dream...

Greenland is White

Here are two photos from my flight back from Frankfurt to San Francisco. I made them black and white, but really the only other color that was actually visible was blue sky. I looked for the green land, but couldn't find it.

My Mountain Trail Leads Home

Home at last. I arrived at SFO around Noon yesterday to find Lori and Cookie waiting for me. It's hard to beat coming home to your dog wiggling out in the airport and your beautiful fiance!

It ended up taking 36 hours door-to-door to get home. I didn't sleep too much because I wanted to be able to sleep and get back on California time as soon as possible.

I was able to get a run in yesterday afternoon with Cookie. It's very nice to be home.

Last night I got eight hours of sleep and woke up this morning at 6:00 a.m. That was great! This morning I am back on the foggy mountain. It looks something like this:




Though this photo was taken before I left for Africa. This is on Hoo-Koo-E-Koo trail, taken with the Hassy.

On the trip home I took some pinhole photos of the airports in Gaborone and Johannesburg. Here's Gabs:



And here is Johannesburg:


I shot the pinhole shots because I realized that I hadn't taken a single pinhole photo in Africa. That just didn't seem right; you know what I mean?

I also got some pictures of Greenland on the way home from Frankfurt. I'll try and post a couple of those in the next few days.

Cheers!

Snip Snap, Bob’s Not Your Aunt

It's time to go! I'm checking out, going to swing by the Zimbabwe roadside bazaar, and then off to the airport. California here I come. C U soon Lori and Cookie!!!!

Botswana is Here, in Africa! And So Am I!

My brother, Hal, asks if I am really here. My niece is not ever sure where ‘here’ is. Well, I’m here, and here is…here! Check out the photo:

I figured that I couldn’t leave Africa without a cliché Botswana sunset, so here it is!

Tomorrow, I head for the barn. Oh boy, am I ever excited!

It's More Than Just a Game in Jwaneng

But there is game to be seen...

On the drive into the mine on Tuesday we saw a giraffe in the Jwaneng Game Park. It was very big. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, so I didn't get a photo. That evening we had planned to do a short drive in the park, so it was promising to see a giraffe in the morning.

The Jwaneng Game Park has rhinoceros, giraffes, cheetahs, impalas, kudos (I think that is how you spell it), springbok, wildebeests, baboons, etc. No lions, jaguars, or elephants though. During our drive Tuesday evening, we saw all of the above (and a couple of animals I can't remember the name of) except the giraffes, cheetahs, and rhinos. The picture above is of the impalas. The second picture gives you a feel for what it is like to ride in the back of an ancient Land Rover as you fly through bush trying to get to the gate before 1900 - as required by the rules of the park. Notice that the horizon is level in this picture, but for some reason the Land Rover is not. I'll let you figure that one out. We made it with five minutes to spare, and all our limbs.

Also, you see pictures of my hosts, Iain driving the Land Rover, and Eugene with the ubiquitous Bush-to-Civilization communicator. Yes, I know it looks like Iain is sitting in the passenger seat, but that's where they put the steering wheel down here...

Today will be my last day working with my client, and then tomorrow I head home. I'm very excited about that. It has been an interesting trip for sure, but I miss Lori, Cookie, and running on the Mountain. While in Botswana I haven't run as much I would like, so I'm definitely ready for some fun on the trails.

Powering Botswana

This is a quick photo and post to tell you what it takes to get your
power connected in Botswana. You will need two possible adapters. One
is the South African standard 3-prong, round electrode adapter. The
other is a South African round plug to square plug adapter. Why do you
need both? Because, depending on where you are, you will need either a
round plug or a square plug. My combination is a U.S. to SA adapter,
and then a round to square adapter. It works, but it's a bit clunky if
you ask me. Now you know.

Oh yeah, and as far as internet connections go, it's pretty hit-or-miss.
I stayed at the golf resort, where I had a connection to their network,
but the password to give me full access didn't work. The second one
didn't either. Fortunately I had access to gmail so I could at least
keep up with email. In Jwaneng I had access through the company, but
their network was down the second night in the company lodging. Tonight
I returned to Gaborone and I am staying in one of the nicest hotels in
town (The Grand Palm). I can't even get a login request from the
system. I called for help, they said they would call back. Nope, no
call back.

Oh yeah, the golf resort at Phakalane charges a minimum of $30 (210
pula) for internet access for two days. Nothing less. The Grand Palm
charges by the hour or for longer increments. One hour is 49 pula which
is a bit more than $7. At least I had the choice.

I notice that RIM has a Blackberry system in town that offers 3G access.
As the popularity grows, the amount of internet they sell at these
hotels is going to plummet. In the States, I will never pay a hotel for
internet access again thanks to my friends at RIM. Here, I pay the fees
under protest - even when the client is willing to pay them, as they are
here.

Ah well, time for bed. I will post this from work tomorrow...

Jwaneng

Today we took flight from Gaborone and returned to Jwaneng. We toured the mine (it's big) and had more meetings. It was an early start (5:00 a.m.) and didn't end until 7:30 p.m. with a dinner of rice and goat. I think this was my first goat. The seasoning was good, but the meat was mostly bones. Oh well, I had to try it. I certainly wouldn't avoid it in the future, but I could sure do with a grilled tri-tip right about now.

This evening after our last meeting at the Jwaneng hospital (to talk with them about their nursing schedule), my host had a medical emergency in the hospital. Basically, for no good reason, he just passed out while a physical therapist was looking at a finger he injured playing touch rugby. His blood pressure dropped through the floor, and he couldn't really move, though he could talk some -- he said afterwards that he didn't know where he was or who we were though. He ended up spending some time in the emergency ward while they gave him an I.V. Pretty scary, but he seems to be okay now.

On a lighter note, the goose above is from yesterday's morning walk around the golf course. Plus, I saw some warthogs last night on the golf course. I was out running, so I didn't have my camera with me. These hogs had some tusks, let me tell you! They took off when I went running by and I didn't see them again on my second lap. So, my wild animal count is up to 2 monkeys, a bunch of baboons, some warthogs, and birds of course. Tomorrow I think we will tour the Jwaneng Game Park. I think they have some giraffes, but I'm not sure what else is out there. I'll let you know!

Botswana Travel Photos

Some more pictures from yesterday and this morning…

First, a picture of a typical cattle post. Botswana is cattle country. Goat country too, but that is a different story. Many people in Botswana see themselves as cattlemen, even though they may have other jobs too.

Next is a picture of the Tropic of Capricorn marker. The text says:

"This point is on the Tropic of Capricorn, which is the most southerly latitude reached by the sun. Here the sun will be at the zenith each year on Midsummer day at midday local apparent time, which is on 22 December at approximately 12 minutes past twelve o'clock noon. At the above time, the sun will shine directly down the tube above this notice."

Cool.

And finally a couple of birds from this morning's walk around the golf course.

Grandma Jean

My Grandmother died today.  She had not been doing too well for a while so it was not unexpected.  Still, it's a sad day for me and my family.  I have not been real close to my grandmother over the years, but I did try to visit her when I was in Oklahoma where most of my family lives. 

When my brother and I were kids, Grandma lived on what is now the Tall Grass Prairie near Pawhuska, OK.  One summer we visited her and my step-grandfather, Oliver, for a couple of weeks.  Oliver was a real, no-kidding, cowboy on a huge ranch there.  He rode horses every day to take of the cattle he was responsible for, and as a result, he and Grandma lived in the middle of the prairie.  That's code for "in the middle of nowhere". 

I can tell you, two boys on a ranch in the middle of nowhere with their Grandma, and her cowboy, are living life about as good as they can.  We rode around the ranch with Oliver in his truck (no horseback riding because we were a bit too young to ride real cowboy horses), learned to balance ourselves walking around on top of the barnyard's sucker-rod fence, tried to milk the cow, made butter with a hand-crank churn, played in the stream…  Somehow, Grandma was patient with us the whole time – no small feat I'm sure.  Oh it was awesome -- part of my highlight reel.  Now Grandma is gone, but that is the way I will remember her…

Botswana is Not Kansas

It's Oklahoma...no it's Idaho...no it's Arizona!  Hmm, I guess it's really just Botswana.  Anyway, I saw some of Botswana today.  While culturally, it was interesting, photographically I just couldn't get engaged.  I did see some super fine 'travel' style pictures that I didn't take in some of the villages, but I couldn't get myself to take them.  I was just not in the photography mood.  So, after all my excitement last night, I only ended up with a few pictures. 

I did drive over 300 miles (gasoline is only $6 a gallon here after all!) trying to find something interesting too. 

The picture of the birds' nests is social sparrow community.  I wonder why they call them social?  There are some on the golf course here too, so maybe I will try to get some photos of the actual birds.  These social sparrows didn't socialize with me, so I didn't get a chance to take their pictures.

The other picture is of a lamb.  You may wonder what he is asking...well, he said in a perfectly clear 'baaaa': "Where's Cookie?!  I need a playmate!".  So there you go, even the Botswana lambs know how awesome Cookie is.

That's it for tonight.  I'm really tired again. 

Let's Take Some Pictures!

Last night I was so excited that I was going to get to take some pictures this weekend that I had to break the camera out and take some!  So, what you see here is a picture of "my" garden and a picture of me.  Really, it's me.  Just a little blurry and dark, but I am there leaning on the railing.  I guess I was too close to the camera, and maybe it was a bit too dark.  Anyway, the picture also shows the road leading to the "villas". 

Click on the pictures to make them bigger.  At least I think that works.  I can't test it because I only have email access.  No web access.