An Evening on the Playa

Last night Bill & I rode our bikes all over Black Rock City and took in a lot of the sights, sounds, and entertainment. We spent hours out there, and I feel like we only scraped the surface.

We saw beautiful statues, one made of rebar (& fire!) and the other of locks & keys:
We saw lots of fire-art. We're going back tonight to see (and maybe participate) in the Flamethrowers Gallery. (Yes, 5 people at a time get to fire actual flamethrowers - it's frakin' cool!)

But our favorite event of the evening was "Darwin's Wedge" a giant, astro-turfed slide for anyone and everyone. You had to climb up the side ramp, which is so steep you have to use the banister to pull yourself up. Sit on the nylon rug provided, and head towards the foam blocks at the bottom. It was brilliant! I don't think I saw a single person at the bottom of the slide who didn't have the biggest grin on their face! It was worth the 3/4th of a mile ride out into the middle of the playa :)
And of course, a picture of The Man. Poor guy's gonna burn in 2 days...
Our night ended with a free grilled cheese sandwich from Camp Black Rock Dinner (they serve them nightly from 11:00PM until they run out). A lovely end to a lovely day here at Black Rock City.

You Know You've Been on the Playa a While When...

• bacon grease drips on your arm and makes your arm cleaner.
• you rub your eyes and see dust sprinkle out of your eyebrows.
• having a conversation with a naked person no longer gives you pause.
• you wake up to an art car driving by blaring Wind Beneath my Wings at 11 and just roll over and try to go back to sleep.
• your legs are so chalky, you can use it like a reverse chalk board.
  
• you think just maybe you could spin a flaming hulu-hoop too.
• a one half-gallon shower, every other day, is absolute BLISS.
  

Views from Above Black Rock City

I said earlier that the tower was assembled during a windstorm. The brave gentleman who performed this daunting task was Arturo, a tower installation technician from Tijuana. He thought he was going camping, and was stunned by what he saw here. He took a camera with him up the tower and got some shots of the Sunday state of Black Rock City, prior to when it opens to the general public. So here's a couple of his photos, and a shot of him on the tower. Arturo, you ROCK!

A Very Swirly Art Car

Jen and I rode in this art car - it's quite a spin!

Gnome! Fire!

Papa Legba Grows a Camp

So after two solid days of hard work, adaptation, and coping with Mother Nature's fine sense of humor, we have gotten our camp mostly together. Jen posted one pic of the "Blue Tube" (which looks way better attached to the ground on all sides than it does flapping in the wind and about to fly away along with all our stuff!!!), so here's another:
This shot shows Star connecting a power harness to the callsign sign midway up the 70 foot tower. The tower was assembled during a wind storm the day before. Our tower technician got lots of applause from the onlookers. Star had to put up with some raindrops - threatening, but not actually too bad. Still, kudos to her for a job well done in non-ideal circumstances. Here's the sign at night:
So, what's the point? Well, the Papa Legba Crewe is offering free text messaging service that people can use with their cellphones. The WD9XSP callsign was assigned by the FCC as an experimental license good for use at Black Rock City. So far, we've helped one camp acquire 30 gallons more water, some people find each other, and are currently supporting texting for about 400 early subscribers. Whew! It's working!

Getting to Black Rock City

We drove to Rocklin (just east of Sacramento) Friday night after work. Rocklin was not rockin', but then again, we arrived at the Day's Inn after midnight, and left shortly after 8 AM. We drove the rest of the way to Black Rock City (BRC), through lots and lots and lots of desert that is mostly reservation land or under the control of the Bureau of Land Management.
They say the desert has a stark beauty... I guess I see it. Maybe I'm just a forest / ocean gal.

It took us close to 6 hours to get to BRC, and then another hour or so to find our camp site, but we found it (thanks to a guy named Baulknaub)!
The rest of our group showed up that night, and we got to put up our shelter in a wind storm. Fun! The next day another wind storm blew our shelter apart, and we had to re-do & double-down on the tie-downs. Now we're home!
Bill will explain the giant cell tower in the next post. Hope all is well back in civilization!

Leaving for Black Rock City

So last year I got talked into joining some colleagues at Burning Man 2008. You can read about the camp I was a part of if you want. Basically, 50,000 people show up, camp for a week, and build an impromptu city out of a dried up alkali lake bed in Nevada. There's a ton of art, from body painting and costumes, to enormous sculptures and eight-story steel-girder buildings placed out on the playa, to fire dancing, spinning fire, and generally lots of stuff that emits flame. Yeah, not the kind of thing anyone who knows me would expect me to go to, but despite my self-conscious feelings of being far too normal in crazytown, it was a ton of fun.

This year, I have talked Jennifer into going along. We are participating in the Krewe of Papa Legba Camp with many of the same people as last year, and will be trying to build a free cellphone text messaging service using free software and equipment like the USRP commonly used with GNU radio.

So what do I bring to this party? Lots and lots of camping gear, and a willingness to help. This year, we're building a shower and evaporation pool, a solar electrical system, a 70 foot radio tower, and lots of fun goodies. Pics on all this to follow if we get an Internet connection. Here's what it all looks like packed on my Jeep (last year I did this with a Miata!).

Jennifer on Julia

Like many American women, I went to see Julie & Julia this weekend with a few of my favorite gal pals. And I was so enamored with the food presented in the movie that I talked about it until Bill took me to Borders and bought me a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child (and a few other ladies).

After our adventure out at the Disneyana swap meet this morning, I purchased all of the ingredients for Julia's Boeuf Bourguinon (beef stew in red wine, with bacon, onions, and mushrooms). I started cooking at 2:00, and by 7:30 we sat down to a truly scrumptious meal.

I won't/ can't cook like this every week (my waistline would HATE me for it!), but every now and again, I'm just gonna have to bust out the Julia Childs' cookbook. Even without pictures, the recipes in her book just make your mouth water.

Now that I've had my weekly allotment of butter, it's salad and fruit for the rest of the week.

But, damn, it was worth it!! :)

Adventures with Mom & Dad

We had a great time with Mom & Dad, who came to Monterey for a visit this weekend. We went to Duffy's (Dad's favorite pub in Monterey), Mom redeemed her Mother's Day gift of a massage, and on Saturday we walked 5+ miles up and down the recreation trail. We stopped at the Trailside Cafe for breakfast (Yum!), and stopped by the aquarium so they could see the two newest exhibits, "Wild About Otters" and "Secret Lives of Seahorses."

Here's a picture of the Leafy Seadragon from the seahorse exhibit:
And a picture of Mom & Dad by the rec trail:
On our way back to the car, we stopped at the new Clement Hotel for an afternoon glass of wine & to check out the ocean life. We spotted a lone sea otter chomping down on an abalone. I pulled out my camera to make a short video, right when another otter popped up & stole the abalone from the first otter - d'oh! Check out the (very) short clip:

Thanks Mom & Dad for a weekend full of good food & lots of fun!

4th of July BBQ

Monterey decided to go all curmudgeonly this year & cancel the big fireworks display over the bay (I don't care if we don't have a city budget, no fireworks display just stinks!), so Bill and I decided to host a BBQ on our patio. We invited our friends over for a traditional 4th of July feast, including hot dogs & hamburgers with all the fixin's, potato salad, cole slaw, "hot olives", margaritas, and beer, beer, beer. The sun actually came out right before the afternoon event, and we didn't have to bust out the patio heater and chiminea until the sun went down.

My new cupcake cookbook came in handy - I made some patriotic cupcakes for our dessert.

Our littlest party attendee gave the cupcakes high marks!

Riding a Bike is just like... Riding a Bike!

I haven't ridden a bike for more than 5 minutes in probably 20+ years. Bill convinced me to rent a bike this morning and ride the recreational trail down by Cannery Row with him. What fun! And great scenery, too!

Here I am with the rental near Cannery Row:

And by Fisherman's Wharf (minutes after this picture, we walked though the Memory Garden where they were setting up for an afternoon wedding, just like ours almost 4 years ago):

Bill at the top of a sand dune, overlooking Monterey Bay:

As you can see, it is a beautiful day today. We might even reach 75 degrees!!

Jury Duty

I have been called for jury duty several times. Every time, I call in the Friday before, and the automated voice says something to this effect "If you are in group XYZ (which I was), you are not needed. Thank you, your jury duty service is complete for the next two years."

That didn't happen last Friday. I had to show up on Monday morning at 8:15 to the Salinas court house- where the criminal cases are tried. After waiting about an hour, they had 200 potential jurors sitting in their auditorium. I was quite peeved, as I had assumed they would have boxes of donuts and a never-ending supply of coffee for the potential jurors. Maybe the sad state of the California coffers is to blame for the lack of sustenance for those of us doing our civic duty. Or maybe coffee and donuts are only available to movie-jury-duty folks. All I know is I was ticked off.

The officials announced that two court cases would need jurors; and they called 55 names for the first case. SWEET - I'm not called!! A half hour later, they say the next case needs 75 potential jurors, and start calling names. DAMN - they called my name!! As the bailiff leads the 75 to the courtroom, we see the remaining potential jurors sent home; their jury duty completed. DAMN!!

At this point, the jury selection begins. 18 potential jurors are called up to the jury box and asked question after question. And then more questions. As jurors are released for various reasons (mostly, because they're complete idiots), they call additional potential jurors up to the hot seat. My name is called. And I knew - based on the questions they were asking, that I did not have any conflict or personal history involving anything similar to this case - that I was on-board for the ride. DAMN!!

More potential jurors are let go (mostly, because they're also complete idiots), and I am moved up to Juror #3. DAMN IT!!!

By 3:00 in the afternoon, the 12 of us are finally sworn in as the jury. Only, one of the 12 then raises his hand and says his Grandma's dying and he has a plane ticket for the morning to fly off and visit her. WHAT?! He is dismissed, and the court calls more names to find the final juror. Which they find, send the rest of the folks home (I think only 10 or so people didn't get their names called to be in the hot seat), and we're on to opening statements. I'm beginning to realize that court cases move about as fast as a heard of turtles.

Three days, one hostile witness, two juvenile witnesses, several police witnesses, and one witness pleading the "5th" later, we're sent to deliberate. Sadly, the deliberation room did not contain coffee, food, windows, or air. Those movie jurors have it great!

About 4 hours over two days later, we the jury reached a decision. Aside from the legal decision, we also came to the consensus that jury duty, while important and necessary, totally stinks!

My jury duty service is now done for two years. Next time should I act a complete idiot???

This One is for Kristen

Here's a pretty manhole cover...

and a not-so-pretty "pit" cover...

Both photographed in Galway. Enjoy!

Video Clip of Galway Concert

We captured two video clips of the Sharon Shannon concert in Galway. Unfortunately the one with the better song is a bit longer, and Blogger doesn't seem to like it. Therefore, I have posted the shorter clip (of some Irish drinking song, from the sounds of it) for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Irish Signage

If you're thinking of coming to Ireland, you may want to study these roadsigns that Jennifer and I have learned through painstaking application of cunning insight to decipher. See if you can follow along:

"If this happens to you, you cannot say you were not warned."

"Danger - Volkswagen Beetles descending ahead."

"This man is falling to his death. So would you."

"Stupid people try to cross the street here. If you run them over, the road will be bumpy."

"If you continue along this path, bad things will happen."

"Irish children dress and play like Dick and Jane. Do not crush them please."

"Don't throw these rocks - they are very old."

"If you continue driving onto these train tracks, well, you will be crushed."

"Pray. Now."

Dun Aengus by Pony Cart

We're back in Dublin, getting ready to fly home tomorrow. Sitting in our hotel's downstairs pub (Thankfully, it's not Karaoke night!), drinking what may be our last Bulmers, thinking about our two days on Inis Mor. 

We got to go to the island's big site, Dun Aengus, not by car or bike, but by Pony Cart!

The Pony Cart to & from Dun Aengus was pretty cool, but the site itself was amazing. It's an ancient fort that was built in the Bronze Age, and is situated on the top, western edge of Inis More. And by edge, I mean it's on the edge, which drops several hundred feet straight down to the crashing sea.

There's no wall or barrier, so you can just walk right off the edge if you're not careful. I would only get close to the edge by laying down - and we captured the moment with these two photos. You'll notice, I wouldn't open my eyes, even when I wasn't looking down - that edge gave me a serious case of the heebie-jeebies!!

 

When in Ireland, drink what the Irish drink!

One of the things I wanted to do in Ireland was to sit down at a bar and order whatever the Irishman next to me was drinking. I figured if it was anything but Guinness, perhaps there'd be a good reason behind it. So while spending our two weeks here, Jen and I have been monitoring the beverage selections of the locals. Tourists don't count – they all order Guinness. But the locals – now that has been interesting.

About half drink Guinness. We think this is a pretty good finding, since it's the majority drink and agrees with expectations. In Dublin, Miller Genuine Draft seemed to be the most common alternative. I drank that stuff in graduate school, and it's not bad for an American beer, but it's no Guinness! Heineken and Carlsberg are also popular. Close to Kilkenny, Smithwicks was common (yay!).

In Galway, at the Volvo Ocean Races, however, Bulmer's Apple Cider was in extreme prevalence. Bulmers in bottles, cans, whatever, and always with ice. We don't know whether it was due to the weather (freakin' hot) or if it's normal. But Bulmer's is a darkly amber cider produced in Tipperary. It has a great toasty nature backed by solid apple tang. Being a fan of cider, I found it really great that the Irish embrace this ancient legacy just as they do the rest of their heritage. On Ireland's western coast, there has been an even split between Bulmers and Guinness, with pretty much nothing else in evidence. Here on Inishmore Island (the largest of the Aran Islands), it is by far the beverage of choice – well above Guinness.
I'm hoping to be able to find some Bulmer's at home, so we can see if it's as good as in Ireland. Accodring to a friendly publican, it goes by the brand name "Magner's" in Chicago.

Look - A Huiker!

Today (Sunday) we left Galway & a large majority of the Irish population at the Volvo Ocean Race. We took the 1:00 ferry to Inis Mor Island, the largest of the three Aran Islands on the west coast of Ireland. Pardon the delay for updated posts, but the Internet hasn't yet made it to Inis Mor (as far as we can tell)!

Our 30-minute ferry ride was fairly booked up (with the rest of the Irish population), it being a Sunday afternoon of extraordinary Irish weather (The last few days have been actually quite sunny & warm, of course, Bill and I packed for foggy, rainy Irish weather. Oh well.), and a 3-day weekend thanks to Monday's “bank holiday”. So Bill and I contented ourself with an no-frills, below-deck window seat.

All that said, Bill did manage to push his way onto the observation deck for a minute, and spotted what we think is an honest-to-goodness hooker! Check it out – hot stuff, right?  

No Internet!

Jen and I are on the Aran Island of Inis Mor, which, while it has great cider and sweaters, sadly is greatly lacking in the Internet department. We have saved some offline posts and pics, and will post when we return to Dublin tomorrow. Slainte!