Move from Drupal to Blogger.com

I've been mulling over moving off of Drupal and onto a free hosted blogging platform.  I've been looking around for a while (and used livejournal for quite some time), and decided to go with blogspot/blogger.  It's part of the google platform, and I've just changed over the website (along with my 250 previous posts).

Costa Rica

Recently returned from two weeks in Costa Rica.  I went down with my work, MAFLT.  I was doing survey work, and looking for ways to support our Latin America team.  Melissa went with me, and we had a great time experiencing the culture of Costa Rica, and also of South American influences.  We visited the volcano Arenal.  We also stayed a few days at Playa del Coco.  And took lots of photos.

Touring Old Boise

The North end of Boise features an array of old houses.  Many of the houses have interesting architecture and entertaining facades.  Melissa and I have a plan to walk or ride around the neighborhoods of North Boise to look at the various old architectures.  Yesterday, we started our touring with a short walk starting from Memorial park.

Ye Ole Homestead

 Last weekend I took a trip out to Buck Flat in the middle of nowhere, Owyhee Country, Idaho.  I went out with my parents to look at the area that my Great-grandparents homesteaded in the 1920s.
  I had previously traveled down to the Owyhee country courthouse and looked up the deed, so that we could match up where the homestead is actually at.  We suffered two flat tires in the trip, but were amply prepared and made it back to Mountain Home.  It was a fun trip to go out to the middle of nowhere to see the old homestead.

Sharles I - Underwater ROV

I've been working on an ROV for the last month or two.  It's based on an Arduino mega with web control (at this point).  It's been a fun project so far, and I will post some video and photos once it hits the water.

Crooked House Coffee Espresso - Ten Years On...

Back in the last millenia...
my roommate Rocky worked at the Crooked House Coffee shop in West Salem, Oregon.  He bought some ground espresso coffee as a topping experiment for ice cream.  He stored the espresso roast in his freezer, and there it sat for over ten years.  Moving from freezer to freezer in apartment to house moves.

And then one day...
Rocky arrived with his portable espresso maker, and the espresso grounds we hadn't experienced in many moons.   Some might dare to say that perhaps the finest espresso the 20th century had to offer was on display here.

And it was awesome.  Just as we had remembered it, it transported us back to a different time and place.  It was inordinately smooth, with a pronounced bean flavor (earthy vegetable).  Some might even have said it had a slight mushroom-y aftertaste.  ;-)

Space Shuttle Time Lapse

Here is a video of the Space Shuttle being readied for launch.  Very impressive, especially the Vehicle Assembly Building.  See it here at Air and Space.