crashBlog

DaveO the steelheader...

Chris — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Here in the midwest, winter has set in somewhat early this year. After temps in the high 60s (F) in late October / early November, we have had near or below freezing temperatures for the rest of the month. Driving to Grand Rapids this weekend, it was stunning to me that lakes and ponds are frozen over already. The reason I was driving to Grand Rapids was to take Dad fishing, as it is the time of year that we normally spend a lot of time at the lake steelhead fishing. We wento out on Saturday, but found that the piers had enough ice to make walking out too dangerous, at least without cleats. So on the way home, we ran to Gander Mountain and picked up some cleats with serrated metal teeth that I have used in the past. Sunday we made another run out. The wind was from the south/southwest, so the south pier was a mess, with waves splashing up and ice all over the place, particularly where you would need to stand to set the rods and to fight or land a fish.

One of our fishing friends called while we were on our way and steered us to the north pier. On the north pier, we had slushy ice on the top part, but on the lower level, where you need to have a safe footing, it was dry or the ice was melted sufficiently to maneuver. I had brought a bucket full of sand to spread just in case, but it wasn't even needed. With the cleats on our boots, we were able to walk out safely with no incident. We found a spot right near where we would usually fish and set up.

DaveO rested in a chair while I got lines in the water, and then we waited. That's the thing with steelheading from the pier -- you can't really control your own destiny beyond getting out there, keeping the lines untangled and having good bait. If the fish aren't swimming in the shallows, you won't catch anything. Unfortunately that was the case Sunday. However, Dad was pretty happy to have gotten out, and at least we were able to wet some lines. Unfortunately, the fishing season has mostly passed, especially with the weather changing so quickly.

I need to start getting picked up at the airport by a driver...

Chris — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:57:00 GMT

so I can be welcomed home like this:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/17/improve-everywhere-w.html

I am sure those people we're freaked out, but if you're going to randomly prank strangers, this is a pretty cool way to do it...

The 1970's -- a decade of style and quality swedish dance music...

Chris — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:55:00 GMT

http://pics.yemii.com/swedish-dance-bands.html

Enjoy...

you can tell what my impression of the economy is...

Chris — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:59:00 GMT

The Market Recap on my yahoo page said "stocks continue their choppy trade" and my brain automatically mapped that to "stocks continue their crappy trade." I thought it was odd that an official news outlet used the word crappy in an article, until I realized that wasn't what it said...

Spartans making a difference...

Chris — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:07:00 GMT

Things like this make me proud to be a Spartan:

http://www.shinskyorphanage.com/

Check it out. Good stuff from an MSU grad -- using his life and skills to make the world a better place to be...

The Joys of Home Ownership

Chris — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:59:00 GMT

By the time Hurricane Ike got to Southeast Michigan, it was merely a bunch of rain. We got a few inches over a couple of days -- nothing too outrageous. With the rain came just enough wind to split the remaining parts of the Bradford Pear next to the house and have most of the tree lean on the house and the electrical service. Unfortunately, this means another claim on my insurance... Boo hoo.

It's feeling rather autumn around here.

Chris — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:30:00 GMT

Suddenly I want to be out fishing (oh, wait, I feel that way all the time).

The last few days the highs have been in the low-mid 70s and the nighttime lows are closer to 50. It feels like autumn is swooping in. Tonight it is chilly (~60 right now) windy, and rainy. It literally feels like a few of the Halloweens I remember as a kid...

Joshua is back in school, football is starting, the trees are already beginning to change. Bummer, I am not quite ready for it yet. I am not a huge fan of overly hot summertime, but I am clinging to it, right now...

I harvested all of the hops off my one still vigorous plant, and am going to see if Brad at Original Gravity can figure out some way to work them into a small batch. He seemed to be willing to entertain the idea, but we'll see if I have enough that are of good enough quality to make it worth it. If you live in the SE Michigan area and haven't been yet, you should try to check it out. They now have a big-screen TV and open at 11:30 AM for college football on Saturdays, and they tap a new small-batch specialty beer every Tuesday at 6 PM.

Shooting sports at the Olympics

Chris — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:06:00 GMT

50 M Smallbore rifle. I just watched the replay and the American, Emmons looked like he had it wrapped up. I won't say I am a marksman, but controlling your breathing and holding your mark *should* be the same across all 10 shots. Emmons completely lost it on the last shot and blew a 3.6 point lead scoring a shot off the target. That guy must be kicking himself. He had the gold locked with a 7.0 shot, but scored 4.4 and watched the field post scores int the 8-10.5 range and walk past him. After the scores he posted on the first 9 shots this is essentially the same thing as not even shooting the last shot. Poor guy. I guess it is no different than buck fever, but this is a trained marksman. Bummer...

The Olympics are so fun...

Chris — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:45:00 GMT

If you haven't seen it yet (I'm not sure how you could avoid it) go over to nbcolympics.com right now and watch the world-record shattering 4x100 free relay effort from yesterday/last night. 5 teams in the event eclipsed the previous world record and the US and French teams both surpassed it by more than 3.9 seconds (with the USA ever so narrowly winning by 8 hundredths of a second). The finish was so close, with the USA coming from behind, that it made for very fun watching for the American audience. Watching it live as it happened, I was thinking, there's no way. When Cullen got out-sprinted that first 50 of the third leg, I thought the difference was insurmountable. Jason Lezak's final split (46.06!!!!) was simply outrageous and one of the most memorable Olympic moments I can remember. Congratulations to the whole team on a fantastic race and a gold-medal win!

Garden Visitor

Chris — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:42:00 GMT

This past weekend while I was grilling burgers, I noticed something in the side-yard flower gardens. Upon closer inspection, it was a very large butterfly. I grabbed the camera and got Jodi to bring the kids out to see it. We didn't mess with it, just tried to get some photos and enjoy its presence.

Upon doing a little research after the fact, I believe this is known as the 'Giant Swallowtail' (papilio cresphontes). I found some other similar matches, but they didn't appear to be normally in my area, and this one is the best match and is known to be local, so I am guessing it is right. Unfortunately, the butterfly never stopped flitting about long enough for me to get a really good wing picture, but I got enough different angles to identify most of the wing bars and colorations. It really was a beautiful little creature... The first two photos show the top/back of the wings and the last three highlight the underside. It is pretty amazing how different the two sides appear...

Two more funny commercials

Chris — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:09:00 GMT

These are old, but great:

"buzz buzz buzz Hello, Mosquito!"

"aaaaaah! the Atmosphere!!! aaaaaagh!!"

I loved these when they were new, and they still crack me up for some reason...

Another video...

Chris — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:15:00 GMT

Since I posted the Matt Harding stuff, I figured I should throw this out there, too. If you're not a Discovery Channel nut like me, you probably haven't seen this commercial. I've decided I think it is a pretty great concept. There are a couple versions, but this is the one they're playing most of the time lately. I think the other spot is a 30-second one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ

The World is Just Awesome.

Where the #@&% is Matt?

Chris — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:44:00 GMT

Somehow, I haven't come across this before, but now I am a believer. Just watch the video then come back here and tell me what you thought.

http://wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml?fbid=YDmiG

I am torn between laugher and crying. It is pretty incredible to see all those places and all those people doing a dorky dance for no reason other than to make that video, yet at the same time (sorry if this is overstating things) it transcends country, economy, and culture -- it is one of the most unifying images I can remember seeing. This silly dance and this dude who found a way to capture it in all of those places shows us just how small our planet is and how everyone on it actually can get along (and do entertainingly silly dances for a camera).

Maybe I've had too much coffee, but for some crazy reason it really struck a chord with me...

EDIT: As if I needed more reason to get all sappy about this and think it is brilliant (from the comments to the BoingBoing post where I first saw this):

#38 posted by bec , July 1, 2008 1:25 PM
The lyrics of the song are based on part of the Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. The poems won the Nobel prize for literature in 1923. Here is the poem used in the song:
"The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment."

Blue Laws

Chris — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:26:00 GMT

It is crazy some of the laws this country has on the books. I was talking with the father of a friend last night, and he was decrying the ridiculous brewpub laws in Alabama. I went and searched, and it is just crazy. This law was passed in 1992.

The Brewpub Act re-legalized brewpubs after Prohibition, but it contains several seemingly arbitrary stipulations. The law prohibits a brewery from serving its beer on premises and bottling it for sale elsewhere (either is allowed, but not both). The brewpub must contain a restaurant that seats at least 80. The most onerous portions of the law stipulate that a brewpub must be located in a historic building—not just any historic building, but one located in a county that was home to a brewpub prior to Prohibition. In Alabama, that means certain historic buildings in five counties are the only prospective brewpub sites. Although the Brewpub Act technically legalized the establishment of brewpubs, it created so many obstacles for prospective brewpub operators that it effectively discouraged the growth of what has become a thriving industry in many other states.

Craziness. Here's the full text I yanked that from. I am glad Michigan is at least somewhat reasonable in this area...

It's like Christmas in July

Chris — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:53:00 GMT

http://www.civilizationrevolution.com/

Oh yeah. A console version of the best game ever... I may have to wait until there are used copies around, but this looks pretty awesome...