Month: February 2007

  • Live Music: David Finckel & Wu Han

    Our friend Alan persuades us to see this well-known piano and cello duo perform at the Edna Rizley Griffin concert hall in Fort Collins, even going so far as to buy me a ticket when I was noncommittal. I’m glad he did. The Griffin hall is small and intimate, which allows for a much more…

  • Book: Hobo / Eddy Joe Cotton

    The subtitle is “A young man’s thoughts on trains and tramping in America.” The book delivers just that. The young man is observant and fanciful enough to make it engaging, while keeping it low key, letting the dirt in his fingernails come through. He’s interested in lingo, and shares it in a way that retains…

  • Live Music: Colorado Symphony Orchestra

    None of us are sure if we’ll make this concert. Dad has all the tickets, Ann has extra work to do over the weekend, and Dad and Sarah are fighting off some kind of virus. When the evening comes, though, all of us make it Boettcher Concert Hall, find each other and our tickets, and…

  • Movie: House of Sand (2005)

    The first surprise is that Brazil has a vast desert of sand dunes with isolated “lagoons” that provide enough water to support human settlers, just barely. The story follows three generations of women stranded in this area, unable to return to the outside world that goes on making wars and discoveries that become echoes in…

  • Movie: Why We Fight (2005)

    Watched this at Doug’s place, and I completely agree with his review. My personal reaction was one of great thankfulness that I quit working for a defense contractor. I had ways of excusing it at the time, but working in the bowels of the war machine just sapped my spirit. This movie is a reminder…

  • Skiing Eldora

    Doug gets us some discounted lift tickets for Eldora Mountain Resort, and we celebrate his 25th birthday in some sweet soft snow. They had 10 inches of new snow yesterday, and more before that. It’s windy, but in the sheltered areas it is really nice. Eldora seems comparable in size and layout to Bogus Basin…

  • Owl in the snow

    Another snow storm is getting cranked up as I leave work. I’m hunkering down for the bike ride home when I hear a strange bird call. Looking up, I see this Great Horned Owl perched in a tree, posing for a portrait. It’s not the owl I’m hearing, though, it’s some kind of pigeon fluttering…

  • Lake Agnes Tour

    Mark and Kate take us up the Poudre Canyon to look for a good winter snowshoe and spilt board tour. As we gain altitude the cloud cover grows, but the temperature feels balmy, above freezing. We decide to head for Lake Agnes, one of my favorite mountain lakes, and also one I’ve never visited in…

  • Geo Mashup 1.0 Release

    I’ve addressed all the issues I received for 1.0 BETA 2, so the time for 1.0 has come. Enjoy. Submit issues and suggestions if you have them. Change log: Removed automatic zooming. Changed the admin map to use the full zoom control. Improved the javascript customization interface (custom-marker.js is now custom.js) Added option to use…

  • The Thaw

    On our third day with a high above freezing, we’re finally coming out of the deep freeze. We have city water for the first time in over a month. My mind seems to melt with the drifts, losing the hardness needed to survive the endless cold. I soak up the warmth and crave more. Then…