Five Years!

I met Chunlin five years ago this evening, here:







Two days later, we had our first "date," a hike to Yellow Aster Butte.



We headed back to the Mt Baker area last weekend to celebrate our anniversary, but clouds obscured the distant mountains...

Wanna See Some Photos?

In case you haven't noticed, this blog is asleep. On the other hand, I've been posting photos almost daily over on flickr. So go take a look.

Towel Day

I know where my towel is. It's on the towel rack in my bathroom...

tumblr

I am stunned and amazed that some of my photos are getting hundreds of accolades on tumblr with only a few views on flickr. Is tumblr really that much more popular now?

e.g.: Across the Valley, a photo from Mt Dickerman I took several years ago but only posted on flickr a couple days ago. It's not one my all-time favorites, but it sure has sparked interest on tumblr. 224 "likes" and "reposts" on tumblr, while only 1 "favorite" on flickr. The postings on tumblr all have the direct link back to the flickr page for that photo, by the way.

Washington State Ferries Map

Most of the ferries in the Washington State system are named after Native American names (except the MV Evergreen State, MV Rhododendron, and MV Hiyu). Some of these are people, some are places, but either way they're tied to a location in the state.



The different text sizes correspond to the size of the ferries. Font size equals number of cars divided by ten, more or less. Click on the map to see the image full size and thus the small names.

Future UFL Cities?

Apparently the UFL won't be expanding this year, but the thought of the little professional football league made me think about what cities might be good choices for expansion. What follows is a list of the largest metropolitan areas that do not have an NFL team located within a 2.5-hour drive.

Portland
San Antonio
[Las Vegas]*
(Austin)**
[Virginia Beach]*
Memphis
Oklahoma City
Salt Lake City
(Tulsa)**
Fresno
Honolulu
Albuquerque
[Omaha]*
El Paso
McAllen

The UFL has kept talking about Portland and San Antonio, but evidently can't find any local businessmen to pay for a team in either town.

The thought that the southern tip of Texas would be the tenth-best location for a UFL expansion makes me believe that the NFL currently has the country well-covered. L.A. is not on this list because it's less than two hours from San Diego. If the Vikings leave Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul would be top of this list. If the Jaguars leave Jacksonville, that city would be just ahead of Memphis.

*Cities in square brackets already have UFL teams. The other two UFL cities (Sacramento and Hartford) are within two hours of NFL cities (Oakland and New York).
**Cities in parentheses are near a larger city on this list that doesn't have a team.

NFL Powerhouses

When I heard a while ago that the Dallas Cowboys have the highest value of any American sports team, I scratched my head. Does anybody still care about the Cowboys? What have they done lately?

So I checked the NFL records for the past ten years. The Cowboys are a middling team, just like the Seahawks.

What follows is a ranking of the NFL teams over the past ten years, weighted toward recent seasons, with playoff and championship wins weighted as well.

1. New England Patriots (15.8) **
2. Pittsburgh Steelers (15.4*) **
3. Indianapolis Colts (15.2) **
4. New Orleans Saints (11.5)
5. Philadelphia Eagles (11.4)
6. New York Giants (11.2)
7. Green Bay Packers (11.2*)
8. San Diego Chargers (10.9)
9. Baltimore Ravens (10.8)
10(t). Chicago Bears (9.9)
10(t). New York Jets (9.9)
12. Dallas Cowboys (9.2)
13. Atlanta Falcons (9.2)
14. Seattle Seahawks (9.1)
15. Minnesota Vikings (8.9)
16. Tennessee Titans (8.5)
17. Carolina Panthers (8.4)
18. Jacksonville Jaguars (8.2)
19. Denver Broncos (8.2)
20. Tampa Bay Bucaneers (8.1)
21. Arizona Cardinals (7.7)
22(t). Cincinnati Bengals (7.0)
22(t). Miami Dolphins (7.0)
24. Washington Redskins (6.8)
25. Kansas City Chiefs (6.8)
26. Houston Texans (6.5)
27. San Francisco 49ers (6.4)
28. Buffalo Bills (6.2)
29. Cleveland Browns (5.6)
30. St. Louis Rams (5.5)
31. Oakland Raiders (5.5)
32. Detroit Lions (3.9)

*The winner of the Super Bowl XLV will gain 1.45 points, placing either the Steelers into first place or the Packers into fourth place.

**Edited 1/25 because I found an entry error giving the Colts the equivilent of a Super Bowl win in 2008.

Figaro Is Dead; Long Live Figaro!

Chunlin's little blue betta that I thought was dead two years ago has finally passed on, for real.





She was getting sicker and sicker the past few weeks. She wasn't eating very well for the past month or two. I think her eyesight had gone. She couldn't hit the food with her mouth.

But she's gone now.

At least there's now another betta in the family, Bojangles.

And Chunlin bought a red fish in Portland and declared it to be the new Figaro.



Hopefully this one will last longer than 2.5 years!

Today's Epiphany

The twelve days of Christmas are over. It's now officially time to take down the decorations.

Boo!

Geoduck Geotech

I think that Geoduck Geotech would be a good name for a soil engineering firm in the Puget Sound region.

This Month's Photo of Chunlin

I put my new calendar upon my cubicle wall and this is the photo for January. My cutie!

After Thanksgiving a year and more ago, we took a drive down to Oregon to start US 97 across Washington. In the gorge, we stopped near Multnomah Falls, but went to Wahkeena Falls instead. This is from that short hike.

Bonus photo, from the cover of my calendar:



From Huangshan...

2010 Drives

Last year, we drove to Portland, South Bend, Kalaloch, North Bend, Long Beach, Gold Bar, North Bend, North Bend, North Bend, Skamokawa, Verlot, Port Gamble, Stevens Pass, Westport, Sunrise, Pacific Beach, and Stevens Pass.

In 2011, we might just visit eastern Washington again...