Reading 6-17-2009

One of the books I've been reading lately is Hope Has Wings by Stuart Sendall-King. After World War II, pilots concerned with reaching the remote parts of the world created MAF. Stuart Sendall-King was instrumental in MAF-UK, and details his adventures in Africa and elsewhere. It's an interesting look into the change that continually grips Africa. As well as how modern civilization creeps into the backwoods, mountains, and bush areas of the world.

Another book I picked up from the library, is the autobiography of Pattie Boyd, Wonderful Tonight. Pattie details her tumultuous life from living in Africa, to being part of Beatlemania and being married to George Harrison, and then to Eric Clapton. It's an interesting read that give insight into the lives of famous rock and roll musicians. It also details some of the complex and deep emotions involved with being famous, and the pitfalls of dissolute rockstar living.

Sailboat

Recently took down the sailboat that has been gracing the ceiling of a garage for the last two decades. We put together all of the requisite parts, such as: the jib, the mast, the boom, the sail, the trapeze, the trampoline, the tiller, the rudders. It's interesting how sailing has its own parlance. I am hoping to take the catamaran sailing this summer. I think the boat needs a name; I was thinking of "Aim for the rocks!"

Pergola, Balanced Rock, and Indian Bath Tub H.S.

Recently finished up our pergola project in our back yard. That should make the patio much more pleasant in the sunshine. Spring is here and it's been raining alot. The changing weather's exciting, as our plants around our house are starting to grow.
Last weekend Melissa and I went on a day trip down to Balanced Rock state park, near Castleford, Idaho. We drove back through some dusty side roads and stopped at Indian Bath Tub hot springs; a fun trip.

Arizona, California, Mexico, Colorado, and Oregon

We recently arrived home from our vacation to the South. We went to Arizona, California, Mexico, Colorado, and Oregon. Although we weren't expecting to spend much time in Denver, and Portland was a complete surprise. The temperature in Meridian dropped into the thirties and fourties while we were gone, which was fortuitous for us to be in the warm southern climes.
     Went to San Diego, and met with some friends at Seaport Village and then toured the Aircraft Carrier Midway, a floating museum. We then headed to Los Angeles to meet with Melissa's brother and visit the Getty museum.
     The next stop of our tour was at Disneyland. It was busy due to spring break, but we optimized our time there with the help of ridemax.com and had a wonderful visit. The fireworks display was especially nice due to the large crowds, I think.

iPhone Retrogaming: Rogue Touch

I recently picked up Rogue Touch for the iPhone. It's basically a port of the old text character based adventure game, Rogue. I played a version of Rogue called Epyx (download) extensively when I was bored and disconnected in Nigeria.  Then there is Nethack.  Here is a good version of Nethack.

Snow Skiing

Melissa and I have season passes for the 2009/2010 season at Bogus Basin. One of the benefits of buying next year's pass near the end of the season is that you can use it for this year (if you don't have one already). So we've managed to get to the hill twice so far.

I've also started to run a little for exercise. I am hoping to make a habit out of it. I am using mapmyrun.com to help me keep tabs on my progress. The weather has been bouncing around lately, which makes some days good for skiing and other days good for running. As Spring pops up shortly, hopefully I will get a chance to get out to the hot springs.

Echo Rock Revisited

We went back to Echo Rock hot springs last weekend. We brought an ATV with us this time. We had an excellent trip, the reservoir had risen about four feet from the last visit. As a result there was a few parts where I had to ride the ATV on the steep angle of the sides of the reservoir in order to bypass the waters and mud. It was a muddy too! Anyway, if the reservoir keeps rising, it should now be accessible by boat only until the Reservoir empties out again.

I'm in the middle of reading The silver Chalice, by Thomas Costain. I've read a few of his books before and enjoyed them. This one is historical fiction about the creation of the Antioch Chalice. It is set in the New Testament period of Acts of the Apostles. I libraried some Rock and Roll biography books, Watch you bleed and Old gods almost dead by Stephen Davis. They weren't as interesting as I had hoped.

I've also been enjoying Fieldrunners for the iPhone. It's a great Tower Defense game. I also played through MySims Kingdom for the Wii, which was mildly entertaining. I recommend a few online flash games, Battalion Nemesis and Gemcraft