Archive
Please note:
This is an archive of Shawn's Blog and contains posts from between 2004 and 2014. It will not be updated in this format.
If you're interested in seeing what Shawn is up to, please visit DeArmond.net
I imagine that the name of this photograph will leave most of you scratching your head, so let me explain. First of all, this is also Kirkwood. Not much skiing going on when this photo was taken, but that doesn't mean that Kirkwood is pointless. I dare say that Kirkwood is just as beautiful in the summer as it is in the winter.
This is one of my favorite places of all time. I have a few, believe me, but this place is special. This is Kirkwood. Specifically, this is the top of the mountain, the double-black diamond lift, The Wall. The top of the lift (at the upper right of the photo) sits at about 9400 feet above sea level, with Thimble Peak above it towering to over 9800. I've skied here most of my life and if I'm extraordinarily lucky, I'll be skiing here with my kid when I'm my dad's age.
Okay, I really didn't mean to use this blog site as a soap-box to preach about what's going on in politics today. However, in this case, it has quite a bit to do with computers and, specifically, the Internet as we know it... and I think it's something that many people probably don't fully understand.
Remember how I said that the water was clear? Well, I meant it. This photo was taken from about eight feet underwater looking up through the clear water, through the fish, and nicely focusing on the redwoods in the background.
Remember what I said last time about showing the beauty that everyone else missed? Here's one. This is an American Rubyspot damselfly; not dragonfly, damselfly. You can tell because when it lands, it sticks its wings up and to the back. When dragonflies land, they stick their wings straight out to the side. Also, damselflies tend to be smaller. In any case, isn't he a elegant?
Can you believe this place? No, this isn't some mythical postcard studio, this is a real place. Humboldt Redwoods State Park is on Rt. 101 south of Humboldt proper. As you drive up 101 along the Eel River, you can take a side-road called the Avenue of the Giants, which brings you through some of the largest, oldest Coast Redwood trees in existence.
A what? UPS? Isn't that the name of a shipping company? Well, that too, but it's also an invaluable and oft-overlooked piece of electronic hardware. The acronym similarity is simply a coincidence. A UPS is a battery-backup, it's a surge-protector, it's insurance, and it's generally a good idea.
I saw this beautiful scene driving home from Kirkwood. I just had to pull over and take a shot. Sunsets are particularly hard to photograph. The light is all different colors, so the white-balance setting on your camera can get thrown off, and when a distant subject is, itself, luminescent, (the sky) getting detail in a foreground object is almost impossible. A flash could work if the subject was small enough and close enough (the trees were neither). Fortunately, silhouettes are quite attractive as well.
There was an interesting announcement today which came directly from Apple: The new Intel-powered Macs (MacBook Pro, and the 2006 iMac) are able to boot natively to Windows XP using an Apple utility called Boot Camp.
This photo was taken in May 2005 right across the street from our house. We had an unbelievable butterfly migration that passed right through Woodland. These Painted Lady butterflies congregated on these privet bushes; there were three bushes in a row, and each one probably had about 50 butterflies crawling on it. Every time a car blew by, they would all take off at once, fly around for a few seconds, and then land again.
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