September 29, 2005

Elucidation 9-29-5

     Recently picked up a copy of The Silent Gondoliers, a tale by S. Morgenstern.  The Gondoliers was written by William Goldman, the same author as the Princess Bride.  It was a short book, but a fun read.  Very much in the same vein of humor as The Princess Bride.     I also am working on finishing The Seven Pillars.  I picked up a copy of the 1962 epic movie, Lawrence of Arabia.  Which I enjoyed watching that last night.  Today, I drove up to McCall to help my parents stow their boats and jet skis, and saw a large black bear ambling across the road.  I haven't seen one of those is  a few years.  I also went Jetskiing, to prepare the engines to be fogged.  It was a absolutely beautiful day, and it was really fun to go, even though it is almost october, and a bit chilly outside for playing in the alpine waters.

September 25, 2005

Literacy 9-25-5

     Picked up the latest Terry Brooks Shannara incarnation, Straken.  It was a great read, and it was good to get back to Brook's characters and characteristic style.  It was fun and introduced some different twists for Brooks.   It's definately a good addition for the ever winding saga, of which perhaps this was the last?     I also am reading The Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph.  It has been an excellent tale.  Very inciteful to the contemporary history of the middle east and the Arab movements.

September 18, 2005

Construction

Ported the majority of my website, running on Postnuke over to Drupal. The website should run considerably faster now. And also upgraded to Gallery 2.0. Overall, I'm pretty impressed by the comparative size and layout of Drupal. I really like the mod_rewrite function integrated into Drupal and Gallery 2.0. These two programs seem to work really well with each other. There are a few things to tidy up, but it shouldn't take forever.

September 13, 2005

Reading 9-13-5

      Finished the Agony and the Ecstasy. It was a really fun read, and had alot of insight into the history of Florence and Rome during the renaissance. It was a bit slower at the end, which was a bit of a letdown. The first two thirds of the book were extremely well written though. It had an infectious enthusiasm for art, also.     I'm now reading The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by Lawrence of Arabia. It is very well written, in that early twentieth century oxford style. Though I haven't made it very far in yet.

Burgdorf Hotsprings and Warren Dredge

Went to the Burgdorf hotsprings and Warren Dredge ponds last weekend. The hotpsrings were fantastic, which is normal for Burgdorf. It was a weekend, so the traffic was a bit higher than mid-week. After the hotsprings, we headed to Secesh and ate lunch, and then headed to Warren.
After taking a quick tour of Warren (they took down the faux lynched spotted owl), we went to the dredge ponds. It was a bit of a hike, but we arrived at the dredge and had a fun time climbing all over it and taking a tonne of photos. After playing on the dredge for quite some time, we headed out, and it was snowing as we crossed the summit out of Warren. We ate dinner in McCall at a excellent Mexican restaurant. Then on the drive back to Boise, the convertible had a flat tire.

September 1, 2005

Reading 9-1-5

    Finished Watership Down. It was a fun read, and I was reading it alongside of one of my long distance friends. The story is essentially about the adventures of rabits, but there are hints of suggestions about different type of societies; ranging from socialistic to totalitarian military. The story seems to often leave the main character (protagonist), and moreover emphasize the whole of the group, by talking of all the positive characters, and in a way gives a societal feel to the storytelling. I also finished Swords around a Throne.     I also recently picked up The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving stone, and The Seven Pillars by T.E. Lawrence.