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WEEK 2 2012

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Saturday 14 January 2012
Saturday - Home in Lancaster again. Generally doing a bunch of small chores. It's cold up here - I took the hatch cover from the NorSea bridge deck with me, thinking to varnish it, but it's only about 40F in the garage and I'm not about to varnish something in the house. Annoying, but predictable.


Well, the 49er's won in the last few seconds, in a real nail biter. What a game! Can Alex Smith beat Green Bay or the Giants for the NFC win? Time will tell.


In the evening went over and watched the final movie in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I hadn't seen it, and haven't read the book since soon after it came out, so it was fun to watch. Some thoughts:


Book #4 was Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens. I'm not sure how I feel about the book. There was a lot that was interesting, and a lot that was pretty tedious (to me). I suppose someone writing an autobiography in the imminent presence of his own death can be forgiven for making it feel a bit unthreaded.

Friday 13 January 2012
Friday - Woke up in the morning, went on deck with my coffee, and was surprised to see a couple of "Tall Ships" moored down the harbor. They must have come in on Thursday afternoon, they certainly weren’t there when I kayaked out to the breakwater that morning. A quick check on the Droid returned the info that they were the Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain.

Unfortunately the daylight was pretty much reserved for school tours and the such, no open public access in daylight until a mock sea fight on Sunday. And I wanted to leave by noon.

Terrible cell phone picture. I actually took a better pic with the waterproof Optio, but forgot to bring the camera home.


Lady Washinton and Hawaiian Chieftain in CI harbor
Hawaiian Chieftain and Lady Washington. A bit too windy to kayak over (note the flags & palm trees).

Thursday 12 January 2012

Thursday - Decent weather, despite wind warnings on the VHF. I paddled the kayak out to the Channel Islands Harbor breakwater in the morning. No wind, but a bit of chop out there. I had one of those "WTH have I gotten myself into?" moments halfway out, but really it wasn't bad, it's just been a while since I was out in anything but a dead calm. At one point I realized that I didn't have a leash on my paddle, so if I did overturn I'd probably lose it. So I just tied the kayaks dock line around it and continued on.

Did a bit of spreadsheet assembly for work, then had dinner with the same friends at their house - home made pizza, cheese-less and quite extraordinarily good, and home made apple pie afterwards.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Wednesday  - down to Oxnard. I have a check waiting for me, from last year, and a bit of work to do. More coming up, apparently, which is all to the good. Helped assemble the new HP plotter in the office, but left the connection to the computers for a more experienced CAD guy.

Went out to dinner with friends at the Ranch House in Camarillo. A BBQ place, and boy did it hit the spot!

The boat looked OK, no changes.

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Tuesday - Book #3 was Black Powder War: Temeraire #3. In this volume Laurance and Temeraire return from China via an overland route through Turkey, then get trapped in northern Europe as Napoleon conquers it.

These dragons are huge, by the way, capable of carrying "crews" of ten or twenty men, arms, cargo, cannon, etc. They are also very intelligent, and though the British and French consider them animals the Chinese consider them people, with the rights and responsibilities thereof. A thread running through the novels is Temeraire's slow realization that he and the rest of his kin, risking their lives fighting for the British, are essentially considered slaves or animals.

Monday 9 January 2012

Monday - not much going on. Still grinding away on the Hitchen's autobiography. It's interesting, but in a way it's like listening to gossip for hours and hours - what to believe and what not to believe about this person and that event, and a bit tiresome. Mostly of things which I have little personal knowledge of (Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Washington DC).

Sunday 8 January 2012

Sunday - Went down to Ojai with friends.


Book #2 was Throne of Jade: Temeraire #2. Again, well done fantasy with dragons, amusing and fairly well paced. Not up to Patrick O'Brien, despite some reviews, but not bad either. The basic idea is that of Europe of circa 1800, the Napoleonic Wars are going on, but with the addition of flying dragons being used as aerial forces. There are only a few hundred total in Britain and France, but they can turn the tide of battle when concentrated and unopposed by other dragons (and their riders).

In the first book our protagonist, Laurence, has accidentally imprinted a dragon meant for Bonaparte, a gift from the Chinese Emperor, and helped defeat a cross channel invasion from France.

In this second volume, unwilling to offend the Chinese (it could alter the balance of power in the war) the British government sends Laurance and Temeraire (the dragon) to China to make nice, with mixed results.

Picture of the Week
Red Rock Canyon State Park
Photo Notes: Cliffs at Red Rock Canyon State Park.

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