Andy Oakley

Just when I was all ready to go and get myself an Olympus 1030 SW, they go and announce the 1050 SW. Better than the other way around I suppose.

Waterproof, crushproof, freezeproof and now with tap control for taking pictures with gloves on. I like the idea of that for skiing and snowboarding.

Teaser links: Permanent Link to Olympus Stylus 1050 SW, Olympus 1050 SW Official Site

The wait until October begins.

It really isn’t summer without a trip out to The Gorge Amphitheater in George, WA. We left Redmond last Friday afternoon and headed straight out on I-90. Just time for a single drink tailgating party and we headed in to the venue to listen to some live music. The setting against the awesome backdrop of the Columbia River gorge, sunset, and mellow tunes never fails to impress.

The youthful days of joining the debauchery in the adjacent campground are probably behind me and this time we were led to ‘little known’ spot on the way back toward Cle Elum. About 20 minutes drive out of civilization (swerving past a couple of deer on the way), we drew to a halt at the side of the road. Camping gear in hand, we walked through a small opening at the roadside and emerged on railway tracks. A hundred yard walk down the line (bearing in mind it’s after midnight and very dark) and we are again led down into a dark, flat, sandy hollow next to what sounds like a river.

We set up camp and called it a night. We had been warned about what to expect next, but I have to say it is mighty impressive to hear the sound of full-speed freight train passing in the dead of night only yards away.

A leisurely morning, a fine breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe in Cle Elum and an easy drive back into Seattle for a late lunch.

On review: Turns out this post had little to do with music and not all that much to do with anything else either.

I really enjoyed the recent Olympics. I have little recollection of the Athens and Sydney games but did manage to catch quite a bit more this time.

A few thoughts, in no particular order:

• NBC (and the media in general) have a definite propensity for only covering sports that are likely to be dominated by the US, quite a different approach from what I recall growing up. But I do rather enjoy the rivalry of the superpowers.
• Great Britain almost finished with the bronze on the medal table. A clear win if measured by population or land area.
• Watching on-demand video was pretty cool and made it fun to see the really close races again.
• The Opening ceremony was incredible. Very clever usage of technology as a complement to the performance skill of many, many participants, rather than a replacement for them. I’m sure things went wrong during it the level of preparation made it impossible to notice.
• Usain Bolt combined two of my favorite things in one man: raw talent and a fine example of  nominative determinism.
• I was once again reminded of the attitude at that level. As Al Oerter once said “These are the Olympics. You die before you quit.”

On the down side, the ‘it’s cool to bash China’ sentiment in the media was very disappointing. Perpetuating already off-the-mark misconceptions without any balanced discussion of the issues seemed borderline irresponsible. Such behavior has the effect of setting public opinion irrationally against something and leads to attitudes and attacks grounded in ignorance. Although in a different context, I must say that story was strikingly familiar.

Anyone who doesn’t believe there’s a huge transformation happening in China is going to be mightily surprised. The level of optimism, enthusiasm and sense of endless possibility is unmatched elsewhere at this point.

Oh, and we were doing our bit too:

Despite having lived in Seattle for almost seven years, there were two things that, until today, I had not done: taken an Argosy cruise and seen Bill Gates’ house from the water. Fueled with Ezelle’s Chicken for lunch, our team spent the afternoon on the water.

Despite having 18 bathrooms (think of the parties), the compound itself it actually quite subtle and a far stretch from what I suspect most people think of when they think richest man in the world.

For that image, I think this guy in Hong Kong has the win: ‘The toilet stays. I don’t care if gold hits $10,000 an ounce, I’m not melting it down.’ The man knows what he wants.

I’m really enjoying the Olympics this year. Seeing Great Britain in the medal count top three was a pleasant surprise today. Although there’s been almost zero TV coverage of any sports in which the USA might not dominate, the online offerings have been quite inclusive and are making it easy to follow the other sports like rowing.

One of the great benefits of living in a house on a street (well specifically this house on this street) is the annual block party. Pot-luck food, barbecue, egg and spoon races and a balloon toss was a great way to wrap up the weekend.

As Seattle sweltered in the 90 degree plus heat, an escape from the city was just the ticket this weekend.

With Amy having just returned home from Vegas on Friday afternoon, we packed our bags and headed north to Edmonds for the ferry. The sun set during the 30 minute crossing to Kingston and we were in Port Ludlow by 9:30. A late dinner and a seventh gold for Michael Phelps eased into the weekend.

A lazy morning on Saturday gave way to a drive further west, hitting Deer Park and Hurricane Ridge for some fabulous cloud-free views of the Strait, Vancouver Island and Mt Olympus.

For dinner on Saturday, we were to be found at the Ajax Cafe in Port Hadlock, which describes itself as “a little out of the way… but way out of the ordinary.” In the same spot since 1977, you’re immediately aware that the place is slightly different as, on approach, one can spot diners sporting pirate hats, sombreros, Viking headgear, skull caps and motorcycle helmets; a part of the decor, hats are changed at will throughout the meal. We feasted on an excellent spread - salad, crab cakes, scallops, halibut, a birthday-candle studded creme brule and fig and balsamic vinegar ice cream - while enjoying the live music duo on the tiny stage.

Sunday morning breakfast of left-over brie and bread accompanied by Phelps’ eight gold and we set off for the Marina where reliable sources had informed up we’d be able to find some ripe blackberries. A half-gallon container later and I am rather excited about the prospects for blackberry cobbler this week.

A very relaxing weekend indeed. Port Ludlow trip on Flickr.

(This post will make no sense to most people but I had to write it down somewhere)

A random link just sent me over to some BBS-era graphics on Flickr which in turn spurred a trip down memory lane. After quite a bit of searching, I finally tracked down my quarry: my Fidonet node address when I used to run the Enigma BBS was 2:250/555.

Fidonet nodelist from December 29, 1995 

Region,25,United_Kingdom,UK,Keith_Wassell,44-1483-451540,9600,CM,H16,V32B,V32T,XA
…
Host,250,Northern_Net,Manchester,Paul_Heywood,44-161-796-1770,9600,CM,XA,H16,V32B,V32T,V34,VFC
…
Hub,5000,Cheshire/Midlands_Hub,Nantwich,Bob_Wilson,44-1270-610455,9600,XA,V32B,V42B,V34,VFC,U,TUJ
…
,555,Enigma_BBS,Stoke-on-Trent,Andrew_Oakley,44-1782-633945,9600,XA,MO,V32B,V42B,U,TAI

There are some familiar names in that list too: Frosties BBS (2:250/510, David Frost, Alsager), Hacker’s Paradise (2:250/556, Simon Roberson, Alsager), Labrot BBS (2:250/563, Bob Wilson, Nantwich) and Quantum Shuffle (2:2502/18, Andrew Reid, Selby). I seem to recall having a ‘point’ off Quantum Shuffle for a while before setting up my own system.

I do wish I’d kept more details of the software, customizations and ANSI art that I seem to recall spending quite some time working on, perhaps they’re still around on an old floppy somewhere. It ran on OS/2 for a while (painfully slowly on my machine at the time) but I think later transitioned over to a dedicated box. The memories of hearing ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ playing as a sysop page tone through a tinny PC speaker will remain with me for many years to come.

Check off one more experience from the list: a multi-family yard sale.

It’s fascinating to see the pros in action. We said it started at 9am, the early birds were poking around shortly after 8am. You put a rock bottom price on something, bargaining starts at half of that. One gentleman mysteriously put forth a closed fist containing his offer for a $2 cake pan, slowly opened it to reveal a single nickel. And the biggest bartering is always for the last quarter.

Despite the overnight rain, it stayed dry and we had a constant stream of people until about 2pm. When all was done, the haul was over $300 and the remainder needed just one full truck trip to the Goodwill store.

Profit!

Kate put it so well:

It’s SeaFair again, when Seattle turns into a loud, warmongering, beer drinking, low-brow pit of red-neckery…..and you love it, because it is just one day a year.
Please join me at the marina for the air show, hydroplanes, hot dogs and cruising in the boat with skipper Bill.  In order to balance the general redneck aesthetic, our guests at the marina are encouraged to dress in theme; either 1960s prep-nautical-fabulous, or duran duran rio dancer video, do whatcha like. We are going to drink pimm’s cups, wear blazers and cruise the lake in style.

And so it was. Dressed to the nines we planned to show these sea-faring folk quite how it should be done. Some bystanders watched with bewilderment, especially in the pre-outing trip to Fred Meyer, but most were clearly jealous of the style and class that had serendipitously touched their lives on this otherwise uninteresting day in August.

My favorite (overheard) comment of the day: “I think they might be British”.

Complete Seafair set on Flickr