(no subject)

And before bed, here's today's picture-a-day. It's the first picture in this series that shows the full length of my hair! Which is odd, considering how important my hair is to my own conception of my appearance.

Next time, I really need to brush it first.... I also really need to start doing these earlier in the day so I can use natural light. These interior shots at high ISO are really noisier than I'd like, especially with my Pentax. It's a great camera, but the noise at high ISO is notably more present than on my Canon.


Full Length Hair - Pic-a-day 03 July 2013

Copyright Stormdog 2013

(no subject)

I just spent some hours over at serinthia and her partner todd_riverden's place, watching Clone Wars and playing board games.

We watched the last four episodes of the last season of Clone Wars, and they were pretty good. It actually left me wanting to know more about what happens to Ahsoka when she left the Jedi order. The series itself had some issues, sometimes major ones, in terms of continuity, plotting, and even writing. It was a little sporadic, but I really enjoyed it. Thanks to Serin for introducing me to it. I wouldn't watch it on my own, but then, I don't really watch video media on my own anyway. It's a social event for me.

We played a game of Risk. I was nearly wiped out a few turns in and cowered in Australia, fighting kangaroo-back guerilla warfare until I was finally destroyed. Then I introduced them to the Prosperity expansion of Dominion for the first time. That was fun. I also reversed the usual trend of Serin feeding me dinner every time I go over there and brought over four brats for us all. And I fit all of that on my bicycle! I love having cargo space.

Let's see. Tomorrow I'm going to field school, and then I'm planning to bicycle the forty miles to Evanston. I purchased and installed a bike computer recently, and it's really cool having a better sense of my speed, and my pedaling cadence. I knew that I averaged 14 - 15 miles per hour on the way to school, but that includes stop lights and traffic. Now I know that, on flats, I make about 19.5 to 20 MPH.

There's a bike trail that follows the old right-of-way of the Northshore and Milwaukee electric railroad that goes almost all the way to Danae's place. It's a trip of 40 miles or so, and, being an old railroad bed, is pretty gently graded. I expect it will take me 2 and a half to 3 hours to ride, depending on slope and wind, and assuming I have the endurance to go straight through. If not, well, I'll pack a little dinner (along with energy bars) and take a rest somewhere along. Food becomes very important as one bikes longer distances; this will probably be a 2500 to 3000 calorie trip.

I dropped by my local bike shop to ask about touring handlebars with more positions for longer rides. One of my issues is arm and wrist discomfort, especially with my chronic wrist injury. The owner suggested I try out some add-on bar ends that stick up from the handlebar ends and offer a place to grab, so I put those on along with the computer. My bike is becoming increasingly difficult to fit into a car, but I think they help. We'll see when I take a longer trip with them. I may end up tweaking the angle on them a bit.

My parents and brother and I are going to walk down to the Lake Michigan shore to watch Kenosha's fireworks show tonight. See you later!