This Month's Photo of Chunlin

I'm finally back at work. Yay.

This means that instead of getting to look at Chunlin all day, I get to look at my calendar with her photos. This month's photo harkens back to a very buggy day at Lake Margaret last summer.

One Week Ago

One week ago, we started a backpacking trip into the Desolation Wilderness Area southwest of Lake Tahoe. 'Twas my birthday.

The trip started with a water taxi three miles up Echo Lakes.






And then we had to start walking. A couple hundred yards in, we were on the Pacific Crest Trail.


Shade was appreciated. Chunlin danced to Christina's ipod.


At Lake of the Woods, we stopped for lunch.


It was a good thing we rested so long, because my shortcut leaving Lake of the Woods wasn't all that great.

Who would've thought that there wasn't a good trail all the way around the lake? Big boulders and cliffs kept pushing us further and further up the hill. A perfectly good trail sat unused on the far side of this hill, a quarter mile away. But we pressed onward.

We waded across Pyramid Creek and climbed up the cliff on the other side.

It certainly wasn't the quickest way to our destination that I took. Coming back on Tuesday, we didn't take the quick route either. But now, after two circuitous cross-country routes, I know the best path to take.

It was getting late. Six o'clock or so. I was worried we weren't going to make it. We could've camped many locations along our route, but we had a permit for the Waca Lake area, and that was really where I wanted to camp. When we finally caught sight of Waca Lake, we dropped our packs.


Chunlin started cooking soup. I went to find a campsite. I had wanted to camp between Waca Lake and Lake Aloha, but cliffs blocked us, so we camped on the hill southeast of Waca Lake.


This turned out all right, however, because it gave us a great sunset.


After 2.25 days of vacation, I've posted 121 photos on flickr. No such thing as too much of a good thing!

Traveling to Tahoe

Friday evening, we caught a plane for Reno. We didn't get to see the sunset from the plane, but we were on the Mt. Rainier side, so it's all okay.


11 o'clock at night (or so), we land in Reno. It was very smoky from forest fires in California. Smile!


The next day, we drove to Tahoe. Here's the view from the north end of the lake. If not for the smoke, you'd be able to see to the south end. But, as I said, smoke.


And then we went to the beach. Christina was very happy to discover that we were in California and not Utah.


After a couple hours at the beach, we continued around the lake, stopping at Tahoe City for a walk in the lake's outlet. I'd been here before, two years ago.


They had flowers there.


Further down the shore, Emerald Bay. The sun was setting.


We finally checked in at the Motel 6 in South Lake Tahoe Saturday evening.


A swim in a pool, a trip to Grocery Outlet, and it was time for bed. . .

Forty-three more photos (so far) on flickr for your viewing pleasure.

It's Good to Be Home

We're back home. Wonderful vacation over. Happy Fourth of July. Our house is a mess now. Luggage and tents all over. Tahoe was very nice.

Happy Píríuso Day!

Today's a wonderful day! Hip hip hooray!
Such a sunny day! Hip hip hooray!

You're so wonderful, God of the Sun!
We love absolutely everything You've done!

The sun's the source of all life! Yay!
We love You, Píríuso! Such a sunny day!

We'll throw a parade for You, the Perfect One!
March up the street, all carrying a sun!

Today's a wonderful day! Hip hip hooray!
Such a sunny day! Hip hip hooray!

A Glorious Day Awaits!

O Hérazhahívo, please let every day dawn as glorious as today, Your Holy Day! Please let every day teach us to admire Your wonderful sunrises and Your most excellent humidity! O Hérazhahívo, but can't You just turn down the humidity a notch or two in Houston?

Just for one day?

No?

Well, that's all right. I don't live there anymore. Thanks anyway, Hérazhahívo. You're swell.

Why Do They Keep Sending Me to Spokane?

Tomorrow, I fly to Spokane (again). It shall be my third trip there this year. I had ten last year. I guess I'm just not keeping up!

Speaking of keeping up, here are the numbers of my work flights for six-month periods:

Jul-Dec '06: 6
Jan-Jun '07: 14
Jul-Dec '07: 10
Jan-Jun '08: 13 (2 of which are merely scheduled)
Jul-Dec '08: 2 scheduled so far!

With vacation flights, I'll be up to 17 flights by mid-July. By that time last year, I had 24.

Obamaman

Rule One of the Fremont Solstice Parade is: "No printed words or recognizable logos."

I saw one logo during the parade. Do you recognize it?



Maybe they thought no one would recognize it. (Ha!)

Maybe they just didn't think the rules applied to them.

1,000 a Day

As a corollary of Friday's post, if you put a picture on the internet of a smiling, rollerskating, naked woman (full-frontal with no bodypaint), you can generate 1,000 views in a day.

Such a photo of mine from Saturday's parade has 965 views. I posted it yesterday around 6 p.m.

If the above description doesn't offend you, click here to see it (and add to the tally!).

... I guess she's not completely naked. She has high socks and a scarf!

UPDATE: It took 20 hours. 1,012 views.

Holy Day of Zhíanoso

O great and wonderful Zhíanoso! O wise and powerful Creator of the Universe! O most clever High God of Fire!

Please accept my gratitude on this, Your Holy Day. Please accept my gratitude that You don't play any tricks on me. Please accept my gratitude that You consider me so insignificant that You haven't burnt down my city.

Thank You, Zhíanoso!

5,000 per Year

On flickr, I have one photo approaching 5,000 views (right now, 4,999). I uploaded it a year ago, just after the Fremont Solstice Parade.

Since the parade will be recommencing tomorrow at noon, let's celebrate by posting the star photo:

Looks like fun, doesn't it?

And yet Chunlin doesn't want to do it. . .

(By the way, seven others have over 4,000 views. The only connection I see is that they all have naked or semi-naked women. Hmmm. . .)

Happy Summer!

Happy Summer Solstice, the happiest happy day of them all!

Not only is today the northernmost day for the sun this year, but it's also the Friday closest to that solstice, and therefore the happiest day of the year.

Just like back in January (or rather, just the opposite of then), some psychologists have deemed that this particular Friday is the day of the year when people are the most happy.

So, happy Happiest Day! Happy happy happy!

...

Are you happy yet?

Be happy!

Subdivision, part 8

Three weeks ago, I received a comment on the subdivision application from the zoning department.

Of the eight reviewing departments, five have completed their review. Zoning had the only comment so far.

The only thing I have to report today is that the other three had target dates for their review of May 20 (Addressing) and June 17 (City Light and Land Use). Now that all the target dates are in the past, they are officially going slower than even they said they would.

Why am I not surprised?

If I had a cushy job at the city, with almost no way to be fired, what incentive would I have to work hard and get things done on time?