Greg

My computer now has a mind of it's own...

My home computer has been getting fairly strange lately.  To be more specific, the screensave often doesn't come on when it's supposed to, or will be on and without anyone doing anything will turn itself off.  I'm not super concerned about burn in on the monitor, and I've run a number of virus & anti-spyware scans without turning anything up so don't think that's necessarily the case.  And actually, I don't know if software running will/can disengage the screensaver.

I have a theory (that actually just came to me :)) that there's some sort of interference with my wireless keyboard that is causing the machine to think it's gotten mouse movement or something like that to disengage.  Or maybe there's constant earthquakes moving the mouse :)

Leavenworth in Winter

A bit delayed in posting, but we went away to Leavenworth with Aaron and Joelle last weekend.  It was something we had planned ahead for a few weeks, and none of us realized until we actually tried to book a place to stay that it was Valentine's Day weekend.  Even so, we managed to get a place to stay and made it up there for the weekend without problems - the passes were dry and bare when we went through.

The idea of going up in the winter came from when all of us had visited earlier in the Summer.  Aaron and Joelle passing through on their way somewhere else, me and Clodagh with my parents in September.  Aaron and I both had read through the 'Leavenworth' magazine/handout, which had a really cool picture of the main square all covered in snow.  Fast-forward six months.  A little snow on the grass next to the gazebo, but all-in-all nowhere near what I was expecting.

To our great disappointment, though probably to our great benefit as well, the hike through the snow we took that afternoon was just that.  A hike.  I think all of us were psyched up to try out snowshoeing as it sounds fun and quasi-adventerous.  At the end of Icicle Rd, they eventually stop plowing and you can walk for miles on the snow.  Literally the directions and information we got from the snowshoe rental place were:  "No, you don't need snowshoes.  Just go back onto Icicle and stay going straight until they stop plowing."  The snow on the road was all hard-packed from snowmobiles.  Apparently, the people who live up the road park at the end and finish the commute by snowmobile.  Which sounds cool, sort of like commuting via ferry sounds cool, but I'm sure is in actuality a big pain in the ass.

Other cool things to do there in the winter?  Wine tastings, of course.  There's also 'Ski Hill' - home to the inner-tubing run.  Scene of me almost running over and killing a seven year old girl - assault with a deadly inner tube.  Fortunately I was able to stop and avoid her at the last minute.  As her parents caught the whole thing on video.  Fantastic.

Selected photos online here.  A couple near the end are actually from a stop to Snoqualmie Falls on the way home.

How do you like your memories? Hard copy or soft?

We were looking for a specific sheet of paper last night and Clodagh came across a few packets of photos which got me thinking...  There's something really enjoyable about doing something else and coming across your box of photos (or whereever else you stash them).  The unexpected break of sitting down and flipping through them.  Because you can't really find them and not look at ANY can you?

This all runs a bit counter to my exclusive move to digital photography, except there are some benefits in a related direction.  I find that I'm in a program or directory working with the pictures more often - meaning that I'm looking through the things I've taken more often.  Which is roughly equivalent to coming across the shoebox of photos, just without the tactile sensations of sifting through the box.  It also means that the pictures I actually print out are usually better pictures, and there's less crap to ignore.  "Wow, why did I take this picture of my feet?  Oh, must have hit the button on the camera on accident."