Ken's Photo Blog

HAL 9000 - 2001 A Space Odyssey
I am completely operational, and all my circuits are functioning perfectly. I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
I've just picked up a fault in the AE35 unit. It's going to go 100% failure in 72 hours.
[After killing the rest of the crew] Look, Dave, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over. I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you.
Bienvenido!

Mar. 25, 2013

Golden Age Vacation Land

Jamie Todd Rubin's blog... right up my alley: Science Fiction.
I own quite a number of old back issues of Analog and Astounding magazine -- with much of the collection going back to the 1940s and 1950s. I've been a subscriber for 30+ years -- they are the ultimate in mind expanders. "I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do." [HAL9000]
Getting back to the above, Jamie write the guest editorial in the June 2013 issue of ANALOG (which arrived via US Postal 3/25).

Phone cam images
The Orrick Building - 405 Howard St.

Above: Phone cam images of The Orrick Building, March 2013

Jan. 29, 2013

Mountain Biking 680 Trail

Loma Alta and the awesome new 680 Trail...
Photos, left & right -- where the 680 trail starts near the top of Loma Alta off of the Smith Ridge fire rd.

Photos, left & right -- Loma Alta / 680 trail descending over to Terra Linda...

Photos, left & right -- Loma Alta further down the 680 trail offering a wonderful view to the bay.


45 Eugenia is a large main-belt asteroid (with its own moon!). "45 Eugenia" is a also an excellent, cool new song on the new album by the Asteroids Galaxy Tour the album titled "Out of Frequency".

Jan. 26, 2013

Union Square - SF

Bush Street. Photo ops abound the several blocks around Union Square. Some excitement in the air as the SF 49ers (Go Niners!) {[Escalators] Neiman Marcus} get ready to play the Ravens in the Super Bowl (New Orleans Superdome) next Sunday. A really nice, sunny day today; lots of tourists from all over the world. American Apparel's target audience is shoppers aged 15-25.
Neiman Marcus
rotunda.



Programming Language
C# language - created by Microsoft (Hejlsberg, Wiltamuth, & Golde)
C# 1.0 - June 2000 (Visual Studio.Net v. 2002 and v. 2003 compilers)
C# 2.0 - Dec. 2003 (VS.NET 2005) I bought the C# 2.0 book Jan. 2004
C# 3.0 - June 2008 (LINQ & VS.NET 2008)
C# 4.0 - Apr. 2010 (VS.NET 2010)
C# 5.0 - Aug. 2012 (VS.NET 2012 [mine])

...more: SQL Server, LINK, MVC, and the Entity Framework.

Jan. 12, 2013

NFL Playoff Weekend

This is the best weekend of the NFL: the Divisional Champs round where the top two seeds in each conference get a week bye and now play the winners of last week's brutal wildcard playoffs.
The NFL ALL PRO team for 2012 was announced this morning and the SF 49ers have FIVE defensive first teamers! The Niners kicked the Packers' butts, winning 45-31. QB Colin Kaepernick set several NFL game records. Superb!

AAA Ins. HQ new building in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Sondra's flowers - my sister-in-law Sondra (Speedway/Indpls, Ind.) took this gorgeous photo a couple years ago.

Jan. 6, 2013

Happy New Year

Despite the Mayan's crazy, without-any-scientific-fact mythology, we are all here, so cheers!
NFL Wildcard Weekend: so far all higher-ranked seeds advance: Ravens, Packers, & Texans all win over Colts, Vikings, & Bengals. Only game remaining is Sea. Seahawks at the Wash. Redskins; update, the Seahawks won it and plays at ATL next Sunday.

Mt. Tam forest -- hiking on 1/2/2013 out of the Rock Spring trailhead.
HIKE - We took the Simmons Trail through the woods, along flowing creeks, and then up the lower west peak ridge line to Barth's Retreat and then the Mickey O'Brien trail down to Cataract Creek and Laurel Dell picnic area. Then over to the Old Stove trail and Potrero Trail through the soggy meadows to Rifle Camp. Steep climb up the Arturo Trail to West Peak of Mt. Tam and the somewhat eerie abandoned AFB on top there -- all the original foundations remain.
Currently I am reading BOWL OF HEAVEN (publ. 2012) by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven. I had just finished two weeks ago, THE GAMES (2012) by Ted Kosmatka and EXISTENCE (2012) by David Brin. Just prior to that 2313 (also 2012) by Kim Stanley Robinson. WSJ's review of BOWL OF HEAVEN. LOCUS' review of BOWL.

Right: Tam's West Peak and its abandoned AFB.
Wiki on West Peak. "...The West Peak, the mountain's second highest peak where a radar dome currently stands, is 2,560 feet (780 m). It stood over 2,600 feet (792 m) before the summit was flattened for the radar dome construction. The mountain is clearly visible from the city of San Francisco and the East Bay region..."
Left: 101 California commercial office building, S.F, 1/7/13.
US BANK building, One California, S.F, 1/7/13 at the right: "[ONE CALIF.] Originally built as Mutual Benefit Life this tower was a prominent player in the "Manhattanization" of San Francisco in the late 1960s along with the Bank of America (52 stories) and the Crocker Building (38 stories) featured in a 1970 Newsweek story."
WIKI: "101 California Street is a 48-story office skyscraper completed in 1982 in the Financial District of San Francisco, California. The 183m (600 ft) tower providing 1,200,000 sq ft (110,000 m2) of office space is bounded by California, Davis, Front, and Pine Streets near Market Street.
The faceted cylindrical tower features a seven story, glass enclosed lobby and a granite plaza with flower beds and a fountain. The building's entrance is very similar to that of 101 Park Avenue in New York City, and was also designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee in 1982."

Dec. 1, 2012

Union Sqr. - San Francisco

Cable Car red...
Rainy Saturday in SF at Union Square...

Quick place Holder for photos and brief write-up...

Nov. 24, 2012

ASP.NET and MVC

Installed the new Microsoft Visual Studio.Net v. 2012 (Premium package) for MVC 4 Web applications development and programming using C# and SQL DB, ASP.NET; the Entity Framework too.

Nov. 9, 2012

Point Reyes Lighthouse

Lighthouse & Ocean -- Pt. Reyes Lighthouse and peninsula tour -- photo shoot -- nice clear, brilliant weather.

Oct. 31, 2012

Mountain Biking Big Rock Ridge

Mountain Biking Big Rock Ridge up to the Towers with Tommeke (Tom Schmidt) -- super windy but a mind-blowing experience as usual... (Phone camera images posted here)
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Oct. 23, 2012

U.C. Berkeley Visit

Univerity of California -- Cindy & I visited the UC campus - it was a really nice day.
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Sept. 15, 2012

Five Hour BBQ Grilling/Smoking Class

Perfect Ribs -- This class was held at BBQ's Galore in San Rafael; it was taught by Big Jim's BBQ (of Las Gallinas/Terra Linda). This class was a birthday present to me from Cindy!
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Aug. 18, 2012

BBQ Party at Linda's

KJP grilling ribs -- Birthday BBQ grilling party at Linda's clubhouse.
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July 19, 2012

Lake Tahoe Vacation / Squaw Valley

Above it all -- Squaw Valley Resort, the Village, Cable Car to the top, hiking, Tahoe City and new brewpub...
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June 29 - July 6, 2012

Boston & Maine Vacation

The Nubble Light -- Visiting Maine, Kennebunkport, Boston, Cambridge, Harvard, MIT...
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May 13, 2012

Tour of California Bike Race

Group in formation... near the Russian River...
Long group bike ride (75 miles) and then we watched the action of the Pros on the Coleman Valley Road climb off of PCH - Hwy 1.
Team Members of Schmidt's Raiders (of which I am a part) Morning Marin-SF Bike Commuters and a few other friends joined in on the group ride, often at race pace. We did all four of the difficult KOM's of this day's stage.

Apr. 18, 2012

New Bike

New Specialized Tarmac S-Works Dura-Ace road bike.
Phone camera images of new bike.

Mar. 25, 2012

Rainy Day Saturday - Busy!

Friday night pizza (flat repaired) to-go from LoCoco's in Terra Linda -- they are the best. I did have a flat, punctured tube in my rear tire riding home. Whatever... Happened on the Larkspur bike path -- I think I hit a curb too hard, whatever... CO2 inflator system worked like a dream.
It rained constantly and all day Saturday. Therefore... New washing machine delivered & installed Saturday morning; Adobe Phoshop CS6 (beta) 1.7GB downloaded and also installed and setup. CS6 is pretty excllent -- Bridge is now x64. Ordered a new road bike at Mike's Bikes, San Rafael -- Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL4 (Dura-Ace 10 speed: 53/42 x 12/25).
Marinwood Market (love them!) has Sierra Nevada Hoptimum imperial IPA on the shelves. Insane! 100 IBU and well balanced, checks in at 10.4% alcohol.
BBQ grilled some very spicy chicken breasts on Sunday -- playing Social Distortion as I write this "BALL & CHAIN"! Spacehog "In the Meantime". Stabbing Westward "Save Yourself". Rage Against the Machine "Bombtrack" & "Know Your Enemy".
Season 5 of MAD MEN returns on AMC today! (6PM westcoast time, Comcast ch. 798).

1. LoCoco's Pizzeria 2. New Washing Machine installed 3. Specialized Tarmac at Mike's

1. Sears Delivery 2. Sierra Nevada HOPTIMUM ale

Mar. 18, 2012

St. Patrick's Day

(Guinness) Happy St. Paddy's Day! (yesterday)
Also, happy "rain-free day" today -- even though it's windy and sunny, there is no rain -- around here, San Rafael & Marin County, we got more than 7 inches of rain in the past six days.
Watched three movies on Saturday with my wife: "Whistleblower", "Martha Marcy May Marlene", and "My Weekend with Marilyn" -- all three are strange films in their own right.
Our 'old' Maytag washing machine finally gave up the ghost (bearings started failing 5 weeks ago, then ultimately the motor burned out today smelling up a few rooms); so we bought a replacement at Sear's -- looking forward to its delivery in a week.
(Joe's breakfast) (coffee)
Photos: Breakfast at Joe's Cafe close to home.

Mar. 14, 2012

Pi Day

I love math, (Pi Bar) as an undergrad at Indiana U. I studied it for 25 semester hours (a soft major, supporting computer science & biology). I love Pi Day -- I have memorized pi to 20 places and can rattle it off in 3 seconds. (pint) I love pi and Pi Day and Pi Bar beer --- a match "made in heaven" for math geeks like me and studious friends including David, Ralph, and Sean.

Nearly all photos on these pages (especially 2011 and 2012) were taken with my Canon EOS 7D and various lenses (85mm 1.8, zooms 16-35 2.8L, 24-70 2.8L, ...)
Link to the Pi Bar. Cheers -- great bartenders there and awesome thin crust pizza by the slice.
Just got news today that the Golden Gate Bridge's west sidewalk (bikes only on the west side) will be closed another 1.5 months -- it won't open until mid-May 2012. Gotta mix it up with the tourists agonizingly longer on the east sidewalk in the afternoons... oh the torture of bike commuting sometimes! Most of last year the west sidewalk was closed -- made for a bizarre summer with the tourist throngs. Argh. Rest my soul, pass the xanax and rye.

Ribs - BBQ on the grill Thursday afternoon

Golden Gate Bridge West sidewalk (in 2011)

Mar. 10, 2012

Carneros Wine Tasting

Colorful! (Ram's Gate view) Tasted at three Carneros wineries today with Cindy and our Swiss friend Yann: Ram's Gate (and food too), Schug Estate, and Anaba (we miss Angela already). NOTED: love the '08 syrah at Ram's Gate, the pinot noir from Schug, and the mourvedre from Anaba (and of course their red port and their white! port).
Later we had a superb dinner in Mill Valley at Bungalow 44 (went there for my birthday previously in 2010).
Dayling Saving Time (DST) starts tomorrow -- I hate DST -- too dark again in the morning -- it affects my early morning bike commute to the SF office. Aren't we too old (too modern as a Nation) to keep using this quaint DST crap?
(vines img) Found out the other day that Joan Jett and the Blackhearts will be playing the Marin County Fair on July 2 -- hooray! We saw her two years ago at the Petaluma/Sonoma County Fair.
Today (Sunday, 3/11) I BBQ grilled some killer babyback ribs -- spicy chocolate rub & sauce. Photos are on Facebook.

(On my playlist for 3/11/2012: Queensryche, Pink Floyd (Dark Side), Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, The Runaways, Simple Minds, Space Hog (in the meantime!!), Stabbing Westward, and The Flaming Lips.)

Mar. 4, 2012

Hiking Mt. Tam - West Point Inn

This hike, (Hogback) #B10 from the Martin & Martin book, starts near the Mountain Home Inn off of Panoramic Hwy. It goes up the steep Hogback fire road (which starts at the Marin County Fire Station "Throckmorton Ridge"). We took a little rest when we reached the West Point Inn. Tons of mountain bikers enjoying the day here too.

Feb. 26, 2012

Hiking Above Tennessee Valley

This hike, (Haypress Camp) #A8 from the Martin & Martin book, starts at Tennessee Valley lot trailhead (crowded today!) -- it goes up the Miwok Trail (steep at times, and lots of mountain bikes), then across the ridge, past the Spirit Rocks, and down and back via the Coastal Trail. ...

Feb. 25, 2012

Belvedere Open House/Duckhorn Wine

Marin Designers Showcase at 425 Belvedere Ave. at a 15,000 sqr. foot house, newly built (and on sale for over $40M) with a wine tasting hosted by Duckhorn with their Duckhorn red wines, Paraduxx wine, and Goldeneye pinot noir. Fantastic (literally & figuratively speaking)! Linda joined Cindy & me in this fun; we watched a very colorful sunset above Sausalito out towards the Golden Gate from one of the decks of the house. ...

Feb. 11, 2012

Hiking Wolf Ridge/Hill 88

This hike, (Coastal Tr./erosion) #A5 from the Martin & Martin book, starts at Fort Cronkhite lot trailhead (crowded today with distance runners) at Rodeo Beach -- it goes up the Coastal Trail, past the massive Townsley Battery, then steep up to Hill 88, finally down via Wolf Ridge & Miwok trails. ...

OLDER: June 25, 2011

Blog Updates...

Blog finally being updated -- not so fast. 2012 will have updates, finally.