exploration

and looking at my posts, thoughts, experiences and projects
I wonder
why do I enjoy the mountains? what is it that brings me back to the sea? what am I doing?

I like to explore, but my travels have not been to far exotic places.
Sometimes they are only within the bytes of the computer
sometimes they are only within the woods of a mountain
within the streets of my town
and water which surrounds me

who's coming with me?

Random orbit and toxic dust

Using a random orbit sander hooked up to a shop vac, along with wearing a respirator, I started to wire-brush and sand with a rough grit the bottom of the dinghy. It is now pretty clear where the bottom paint originally was, and it looks like the centerboard slot has been somehow patched over. How much more sanding will I do before I get anxious and move on to bottom painting?

4.5 hp Sears Ted Williams Eska - Model 217.59462

Started working on an old outboard I aquired with the dinghy, its a 1972 Sears Ted Williams (217.59462 made by Eska) 4.5 HP outboard. It is a two-stroke, and a great introduction to working on outboard motors for me.. First steps -- drain old gas, clean or replace fuel lines, make sure spark plug is working correctly, and check compression. With some starter fluid, was able to start the engine for a few seconds until it burned up(note: better to spray gas/oil mix from old spray bottle, as starter fluid doesn't have required oil lubrication) -- Next steps will be cleaning/rebuilding the carb, and possibly cleaning some carbon off the cylinder head and replacing the head gasket if I can find the part. Anyone else working on one of these?

Late summer update --

After reading through a manual snagged off of Ebay, I found that the recommended gas to oil mixture is 24:1, replaced the spark plug(manual calls for Champion J13Y, I used substitute Champion RJ14YC), recut the high tension lead wire and rebooted the spark plug cover. I rebuilt the carburetor with parts (Carb Kit DI-52030) from www.discount-marine-parts.com. I replaced the black gas line with a clear line and have an inline fuel filter which I highly recommend. The lower cover I currently do not have on, mainy due to how hard it is to spray gas/oil mix in a pinch into the carburetor with it on.

She is running pretty nice for an old single stroke(33 lb) motor, sometimes starting on the first few pulls... Gets me out to the mooring a lot quicker, although the row is long -- it can be enjoyable too in some conditions.

Red Flag evening on the Charles

Tonights sail got a bit gusty! First red flag day of the year for me... data courtesy of cbiwind.org

Opening day on the Charles

CBI opened for the season today so Kate and I went down for a sail. Light wind eve, but we had a nice night out and used a jib-- First sail of 2010.

Dad got crafty

Check out the nice woodwork. New white oak seats for the dinghy! Thanks Dad.

9' Dyer Dhow dinghy restoration begins

Picked up a dinghy from Marblehead to be able to get out to Seamunkey's new mooring in Gloucesters Southeast harbor. From the looks of it, I believe its a 9' Dyer Dhow. I'm not seeing any kind of serial on the transom, so perhaps the transom was replaced, its older than '72 or its serial was painted over. She is probably in good enough shape to get out to the mooring, but I'd like to gain some experience in repair/restoration and this dinghy is going to be my first project.

Step 1 - cleaning, seat replacement, paint removal and sanding...

Niles Beach and southeast Gloucester harbor

Seamunkey will soon be floating outside of Niles beach here in Gloucester Harbor. Its somewhat protected by the dogbar breakwater, but still exposed from the southwest, and access through Niles beach by dinghy will work during non-peak season. During the summer peak season, I'll probably launch from flat cove or pavillion beach unless I can find a nice spot to tie-up.

Seamunkey - 1968 Pearson P22

1968 Pearson P22 fact sheet

Seamunkey has been sailing in Providence waters, but is moving on up to Gloucester harbor.

RJD2

Deadringer doesnt get old

Colorado Trip to Vail, Breckenridge and A-basin

Click on image for picture slideshow of the trip!

has facebook killed blogs? or created more bloggers?

I have started to blog less, do I have less to say? or less to say to random people?
I started this blog mostly as a way to share thoughts, links, concepts, opinions -- sounds pretty similar to my reasons for using Facebook. Originally, I was still writing on my blog and even linking from Facebook back to it. It seems easier to reach the audience of people that know me through Facebook than it is through this medium. So I start to wonder, has facebook killed the web-log -- or just created many thousands more bloggers that are within facebooks walls publishing to closed circles.

Forgot your Password? Of course.

With tightening security restrictions, annoying captcha 'type the scrambled word', answering three random questions -- logins/passwords have become more annoying than ever.

I propose that a website should not ask you for a login/password, lets just cut to the chase and mail me a clickable login link. Instead of wasting my time, testing my memory or bank of password variations, just ask me my email address and email me a clickable login token or temporary password each time. If your website doesn't fall into the daily, or possibly weekly use category, I'm especially talking to you.

Alternatively, one account/password that would work on several websites could work -- but that would make too much sense and take far too much cooperation.

Whats going to be your account/password management strategy for 2010?
I'm sick of the login/password game.

Gloucester, MA public boat launches on a Google Map

View Gloucester MA - Public Boat Landings in a larger map

Trying to figure out my options for launching a small dinghy to get to Southeast Harbor, decided to create a Google Map transcription of a PDF that was on the Gloucester Harbormasters webpage.

Most of these are only accessible at high tide, with limited parking, and the exact locations have not been verified but I did my best using satellite images and my local knowledge. If you find a location is not marked correctly, please let me know.

http://tinyurl.com/Launch13281

Boo

This is a garden orb spider I found in my backyard. I've started to enjoy taking camera shots of webs especially at night, when the flash illuminates the web and the dark background provide the contrast.

Summer 09

I had a fantastic New England summer -- From spending time on Quonochontaug pond on the Patti Ann, to the beaches of RI and Gloucester, exploring the coast of Acadia, or just tending to my vegatable and flower garden.



The pond was a peaceful sheltered salt pond, connected to the ocean by a breachway, which provided many days of kayaking, sailing and fishing. A breathtaking place to catch a sunset --

I enjoyed body surfing and snorkeling around the tidal rivers of Good Harbor beach and many weekends looking across to block island from the rhode island coast.

We camped and hiked in Acadia Maine, after a long hike swimming in Echo Lake was very refreshing. Enjoyed kicking back on the camp hammock, starting up a roaring campfire, and walking down to Bass Harbor Lighthouse during a misty sunset.

The vegatable garden turned out well this year, it was my first year using heirloom seeds from tomatoes which I ate the year before. I once again tried to optimize my space, and this year had much more room for flowers since the shrubs had been removed.

time to try an iphone, yet?

Two years ago I wrote about the I-phone, noting that Apple is a smartly run business and while they could have included more features in the original I-phones that were already standard in other smart phones but they opted to hold off – and milk more money off of the market before releasing ‘new’ features. 2009 and the I-phone finally includes copy and paste and a2dp bluetooth wireless music – two features that I really take advantage of and am glad to see have made their way into I-phone’s OS v 3.0.

So what other features of my k790a have I grown to love and would find it hard to live without?
#1) Sync with Google Calendar / native calendar application
#2) Yahoo Mail / Contact sync
#3) Google Maps
#4) RSS feed reader
#5) Java Applications / Opera browser / Shozu Flickr uploader

I believe I should be able to do most of these things with the I-phone, although if I will be able to do it on T-mobile’s network paying only 5.99$ per month remains a question to be answered. I also believe the I-phones camera to be sub-par to my two year old Sony Cybershot camera phone, but perhaps the fact that pictures are geo-tagged with gps data may be fun to play with. I do wirelessly tether my laptop, and enjoy speeds fast enough for web-browsing and email, and I think that should be posssible with a jailbroken device. I like that the I-phone accepts a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, although still wish it would have a now near-standard mini-usb jack for data connectivity and charging.

I would like to wirelessly stream music from my collection at home, a feat which was barely successful through the k790a with MFRadio and SlimServer. I would like to run on T-mobiles network, and any GSM network while overseas travelling. I find it hard to believe that MMS picture messages were not supported in earlier I-phone OS versions. It also seems strange that Bluetooth or WiFi file-transfers are not supported out of box, but require hacks to perform. Lastly non-removable batteries, and non-expandable memory card slots are also features which I would like to have seen – but back to my first point, that limitation is just a business decision of planned obsolescence and forcing you the lucky Apple customer to get the latest and greatest device within a few years time.

So, is it time to at least give it a try? For 99$ or maybe even less used -- it's a compelling question.

GNU Altered Genetics 162

I've been snowboarding a good 20-30 days per season now for the past 5+ years... I love my K2 Nemesis but after having it waxed and tuned soo many times, there really isn't too much life left in her. We've been through a lot together, seen a lot of mtns together -- and it is sad to move on... At least she retires with honor.

I telemark ski'd a fair amount this year, partly because it was challenging and fun to be on a steep learning curve again.. Also because the edge on my old snowboard could not hold too well in classic new england icy conditions. So for my next board I really wanted something that could potentially bite into the hardpack a bit more... After doing some research, I discovered that LibTech and GNU make boards with a technology called MagneTraction(MTX), at this point its all hype and marketing in my mind and I'll need to prove or disprove that hype next season.... The board has a wavering edge which can be compared with a serated knife -- it can cut into icy conditions better than a traditionally edged board or butter knife would.


I decided on a 162 GNU Altered Genetics snowboard.... Although several others were strong in the running, a 164.5 LibTech T-rice, a 162 LibTech TRS, a 164 K2 Zeppelin, a 164W Burton Custom X, and several others from K2, GNU, Ride and Burton... I followed my philosphy of buying winter gear in the off-season, but seeing the flip-side to that -- boards that you want may not be there... Luckily the prices were about 40-50% off, and there still is a lot of great gear out there if you look hard enough.

The GNU Altered Genetics supposedly is made with a blend of Bamboo, Aspen and Balsa, which translates to light and strong to me. It also employs some 'Vectran liquid crystal polymer' in the foundation to increase strength.. The top sheet is made from beans, an earth friendly bio-polymer with a very strong strength to weight ratio. The bottom is shaped like other LibTech/GNU Banana Traction (BTX) boards, in a way traditional to a boats bottom -- it will hopefully float a bit better in the deeper snow, while it may not be as stable as a traditional reverse-cambered board. The 162 size is a bit smaller than the 165 I currently ride, so I hope that will gain me some more manueverability in moguls and tight situations. The board is also a bit lighter, which I hope will ease my mid-air transitional rotations and give me the confidence to get past 180's and into 360 territory comfortably. This board is full of tech, and took a fair amount of research to take it all in -- and I definately enjoy that the GNU name is often used within hi-tech as well :) after all, GNU's Not Unix, it's a snowboard!!

I'll let you know how it rocks in a few months!! Another GNU board I considered was the Riders Choice.

MBTA wi-fi up and running on Rockport line

Last year, I wrote about the MBTA's pilot to offer wi-fi service on their trains... Today I got to try it out for the first time! The connection speed was similar to DSL speeds and performed pretty well until my laptop battery died about half-way through the trip. If the service proves popular among commuters, and I think it will -- there is a chance that service could be degraded to the point where I would be better off using my tethered cell-phone over bluetooth, but I welcome this change and applaud the MBTA for offering this service and adding another reason to the list of why it is smart to commute to work on the train. This summer if I'm lucky I'll be able to take an earlier train home, and get a bit more work done in time to enjoy a few hours of daylight on the beach :)

where are you?

Probably the most common asked/txt'd question... Now that GPS devices and cellphones are commonly carried around, answering this question gets a lot easier...
Newer high-end cellphones, including Apple's iphones have GPS capabilities built in..

Well now, instead of sending back lat/long coordinates, you can see your friends on a google map....
Google's Latitude servce

There are several Facebook applications (Locations) and third party implementations of Yahoo's Fireeagle that already do this (Navizon), but now that Google has stepped into the ring you can be sure that adoption of these kind of services will significantly grow. The real value of a product/service like this is in the network effect, if your friends and family are using a particular solution -- it increases the likelyhood that you may use it as well.

So friends, family -- with your Google Maps capabable phone, give it a try and let me know where in the world you are!

2009 - my 30th year here

2008 is history, and the sands of time continue to fall --
The new year brings with it the question, should I do things the way I have been doing them? or try a new approach, changing the things in my life that I want to make better? As each day continues to get shorter, while still being exactly 1440 minutes -- what is going to have to give in order to do something else additionally or differently?

Turning 30 this year, and still finding myself a big kid with adult responsibilities, I don't really see any reason to stop enjoying life to the fullest. I'm still thinking about my resolutions, I have truly enjoyed my life up to this point and hope the next 30 are just as great if not better --

Happy New Year!! Look forward to hearing from you or seeing you soon --

Garden '08

As I prepare my garden for the winter and spring ahead -- I think about how it was arranged and what worked well and what I could possibly do better for next year.

In the recessed raised bed, this year I gave plants more space and more soil... which they loved. I used a mixture of Winterwood Shellfish, Coast of Maine dark bark, compost and peat along with some Red Cedar mulch for retaining moisture. I thought the cedar over other mulches may have deterred insects as well, I luckily didn't have much insects or animals take away my prized veggies this year. I removed the water retaining plates below my plants, which in years prior may have water-logged the soil.. I also put a layer of mulch at the bottom of the containers hoping it would allow for better drainage. Most of my tomatoes were ready at the same time this year which of course was tomato overload for me, next year I'd like to try to stagger the timing of when tomatoes are ripe so that I have a longer season of fresh tomatoes.. My zucchini plant was probably the garden winner, with several large zucchinis.. The parsley and basil did not do too well in the large bed due to tomatoes taking over their light. Green beans and sugar snaps did well until their light was taken as well. The peppers and basil container plants did well in the sunniest portion of my garden.. training the morning glory to grow over my staircase banisters was nice. Next year I'd like to have flower/herb window boxes on the second floor, and have oregano, rosemary, mint, along with chives, basil, cilantro. Next year I may experiment with some heirloom tomato varieties, a better support structure (nets?) for the tomatoes, and staggering planting/harvesting of fresh herbs.

Time to plant the winter garden indoors!

P2P Money sharing

This year I had an idea about using P2P (peer-to-peer) concepts within the finance world, so of course the first thing I did was to see what exists out their in the realm of p2p lending. I first came across Kiva.org, an organization which helps developing nations entreprenuers out with small business loans. Instead of donating money to a charity and having no idea how each of my dollars was used, I could see that I was helping out an individual and her family to help grow her business. After she repays her loan, I can help out someone else with those funds--

I also came across Prosper.com, which tends to have a bit more of a capitalistic vs humanitarian approach of allowing us to choose who to lend to and the rate they hope to see in return -- the credit checks are part of the profile, and with lower credit borrowers you can expect a higher return, although you assume more risk. The best rates/bids for the borrower are the ones that win.

Recently, I found a company that focuses on the student loan market -- Fynanz, and I think going forward this kind of alternative student loan may become more attractive to people. It also allows for family/friends to loan money to someone they know while adding a layer of accountability instead of having a paper- IOU written.

All interesting concepts, especially in todays world of large bank mistrust -- any thoughts on which one if any you would consider putting some of your hard-earned money towards?

Southern Ireland

Good Craic!

Just got back from my first trip overseas, Ireland was a great country to visit. Just a short 5 hour flight from Boston to Dublin, and I landed on Irish soil. Unfortunately my luggage did not, so I was without my warmer clothes and rain-coat upon landing in Dublin. I met up with my younger brother, and we toured the town a bit before settling down. We rented a car for the next day, and then we headed off into the countryside. We ventured south down the east coast before heading in to the town of Kilkenny. The following day brought us south through Cork to the historic fishing port of Kinsale. We then continued west and toured each of the three south-west peninsulas, Beara, Kerry and Dingle. We had some spectacular weather and did a nice scenic hike off the tip of Beara which made it my favorite spot of the whole trip. We continued north to Kilarney, Tralee, over to Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher. A drive through the Burren and a day evening Galway were great too.. I spent my last few nights back in Dublin, seeing a few tourist spots like the Book of Kells at Trinity college and of course the Guinness storehouse. These pictures don't do the trip justice, but here's a glimpse of my week holiday :)

new england summer glimpses

Almost two months have gone by, without a single post to the blog. While my telaetas.com/photos section has been updated pretty often with the weekend and weekday excursions -- I have been light on words. So what has happened? Where has my mind been?

I was able to check out one of my favorite DJs (Tiesto) at a pretty small venue, which was fantastic. I've been able to get out fishing a few times, catching some striped bass -- although haven't caught a keeper yet, hopefully this fall I'll land one.

I made a trip out to Colorado, with the thoughts in the back of my head, is it a place I want to live for a few years of my life... My conclusion is I would like the change, but ultimately would probably end up back in new england near family, friends, the ocean, mountains and four seasons of unpredictable weather.

I did some camping up in Maine, have been trying to maintain my jungle of a garden, been enjoying as much time on the water and beach as possible. I was even lucky enough to fly a small plane over Ipswitch and Cape Ann.


Off to Ireland next week to meet up with my brother, who by now is an experienced European traveler! I hope to catch a bit more of an indian summer on my return, but I can say that I've truly enjoyed these warmer months as much as possible.