canyons and telescopes

(continuation of trip report)

I took the photo above when Jeff and I decided to check out the Grand Canyon at sunrise. The high-res version is now my laptop desktop. :-) I was pretty surprised when Jeff suggested the early morning canyon visit since he is definitely not a morning person, figured he would bail at the last minute. But I was wrong, and when he woke me up at 5:00 a.m. (as I had asked) to see if I wanted to come along, there was no way I was going to say no. -I- was supposed to be the perky morning person, after all!



Sara and Jeff at a lookout point.


So we sat for a couple of hours, just watching the morning sunlight gradually spill over the rock, warming grey shadows into pale rose and sandy browns, breathing life into the canyon.

It's a morning I won't soon forget.



Me in front of the canyon at sunset. Photo by Ruth.


I'm not a hot weather person, so initially I wasn't crazy about visiting Arizona during its hottest season. What I found when I got there: while it was definitely HOT (it got up to 109 deg Fahrenheit in Phoenix during our visit), it wasn't the hell that I had been expecting, probably because of the lack of humidity. So little humidity, in fact, that after leaving the women's washroom in one hotel with wet hands because the hand dryer wasn't working, my hands were COMPLETELY DRY by the time I got outside less than a minute later.

Kinda freaky, but it inspired me to drink a lot more water. I think the person who came up with the "eight glasses of water a day" rule must have lived in Arizona.





Seeing the Grand Canyon was the highlight of this trip for me; sadly, my photos don't do justice to the incredible experience of seeing the canyon in real life. I was still blown away by the breathtaking view despite the cliche/tourist factor. Someday, I'd like to come back during cooler weather and plan a trek to the bottom.



My brother-in-law Kaarel.


In Flagstaff, we visited the Lowell Observatory, which is a privately owned astronomical research institution founded in 1894 by Boston mathematician Percival Lowell, best known for the discovery of Pluto as well as his theories about canals on Mars. Other noteworthy Lowell Observatory discoveries include evidence that the universe is expanding, discovery of the rings of Uranus, and the continuing search and discovery of numerous asteroids, near earth asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects, and extra-solar planets.

We had a chance to look at a double star and the M-5 cluster through the 24-inch Alvan Clark refractor telescope which Lowell used to study Mars around the turn of the century. Sara and Annie used a small stool so they could look through the eyepiece of this telescope:





We also got to check out the telescope used to discover Pluto:





I had no idea that Pluto was named by an 11-year-old English girl. Those interested in finding help more about how Pluto was discovered should check out this link.

(tomorrow: cabin near Sedona!)

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las vegas, grand canyon

Luxor hotel at night.


Just got home from a 12-day trip to Nevada and Arizona, mostly spent with my sister and her family; I'll be posting photos over the next week or so.

Got home to a big pile of e-mail, so thanks for your patience while I catch up. Congrats to Andrea Dale, who has been invited to be Filk Guest of Honor at Context (Oct.1-3, 2004)! Amanda Snyder's birthday is today!

The photo at the top of the page is of our hotel in Las Vegas, The Luxor. Apparently the 42.3 billion candle power pillar of light can be seen from the space shuttle.

Here's one of the interior:





I took the above photo from a balcony hallway on the way to our room. Riding the elevator for the first time is a tad unsettling at first. The elevators go from the interior base to the tip of the pyramid in a slanted shaft at a 38 degree angle; you can definitely feel this, especially at the beginning and end of the elevator ride.

I was amazed at how cheap the rooms were ($79) considering the location and quality, though I assume they're more expensive during their peak season. And I guess the hotel is hoping they make a lot more than that from gambling in the casino. :-)

In case you're curious, we didn't do much gambling in Vegas. For one thing, it's illegal for children to even -watch- anyone gamble; families are allowed to take children through casino areas since most hotel lobbies ARE casinos, but no lingering to watch the slots. But also, none of us are gambling types. While waiting outside a restroom, however, I did stick a quarter into a slot machine...AND WON A WHOLE DOLLAR!

The main focus of the Las Vegas portion of our trip was seeing The Cirque du Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio. This $120 million production has been drawing 99%-capacity crowds and was recently voted Best Show on the Strip. The 1.5-million-gallon pool of water contains several hydraulic lifts that are used throughout the performance. But what makes this my all-time favourite live show is the seamless integration of live music, light and staging effects, dance and acrobatics, all of which are amazing.

Before I visited Las Vegas for the first time, I had envisioned it as a sort of seedy, tacky, run-down place I'd never want to spend time in. My impression after two visits? Ok, so it IS sort of seedy and tacky, but most of the tackiness is so over the top that it's fun. :-) You can drift through "Venice" in a gondola, gawk at the Statue of Liberty in "New York", ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower in "Paris", climb a stone sphinx, and ride the bus with Elvis...where else can you do all this in one place?

I'll be posting more photos/reports from the rest of the trip soon, but here are some pics from the Grand Canyon part of the trip, like this lizard we encountered on a hike:





Jeff and Sara on part of a trail:





And some Grand Canyon shots:





















Trip pics to be continued tomorrow...

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gmail, solitude, eye surgery

Thanks to "tibicina" for the Gmail account! Jeff is massively jealous. :-) The mask cartoon you see in the upper left of this entry is one of the Livejournal user pictures I made for tibicina in appreciation.

Yes, I know about their email-scanning ad technology but frankly, so far I find their advertising *much* less intrusive than Yahoo's, and would actually prefer seeing ads that target my specific interests than general ads about things in which I have absolutely no interest. Here's what Gmail's help file says:

---

"Google is NOT reading your mail. Privacy is an issue we take very seriously. Gmail is a technology-based program. Advertising and related information are shown using a completely automated process. Ads are selected for relevance and served by Google computers using the same contextual advertising technology that powers our AdSense program. This technology enables Google to effectively target dynamically changing content, such as email, or news stories.

Because the ads and Related Pages are matched to information that is of interest to you, we hope you'll find them relevant and useful."

---

"Google does not and will never rent, sell or share information that personally identifies you for marketing purposes without your express permission. No email content or other personally identifiable information will be provided to advertisers.

Privacy is an issue we take very seriously. Only ads classified as Family-Safe are distributed through our content network and to your Gmail inbox. For example, Google would block certain ads from running next to an email about catastrophic news."

---

The Fuss About Gmail and Privacy: Nine Reasons Why It's Bogus by Tim O'Reilly (founder and CEO of O'Reilly & Associates as well as an activist for Internet standards and for open source software) is an excellent article on the topic.

I've already had a few friends ask if I have any invites to share. Sadly, no. I believe that small numbers of invites are being offered to randomly chosen Gmail users. You can always check Gmailswap.com if you have something to offer in exchange. If you want to find out more about Gmail, here is an Extremetech.com review of the beta release.

So far, I really like the keyboard shortcuts, conversation threading, and (of course) the search flexibility. The contacts list needs major improvements. I will post a detailed report after I have had a chance to use it for a while.

On the advice of my optometrist, I went to see an eye specialist yesterday. Found out I need laser surgery to fix a couple of small holes in the retina of my left eye to avoid the risk of retinal detachment. My operation is scheduled for late August. I am under the impression that the operation is very common and nothing to worry about, but I would still appreciate hearing from any of you who have had the same operation about what the experience was like. The rational part of me knows there's no reason to be nervous. The irrational part keep flashing to that infamous torture/brainwashing scene in A Clockwork Orange. :-)

Went to see Hairspray at the Princess of Wales Theatre last night. I opted for the cheapest seat, which ended up to be in nosebleed territory and with a partially obstructed view, but still enjoyed this very fluffy but fun musical (i.e. I got my money's worth).

Some people may find it odd that I went to a show like this by myself. And while it's true that I often do prefer going with a friend, there are also times I enjoy doing things on my own. An acquaintance once told me that she would never want to be seen in a restaurant or movie theater by herself because she was afraid people would think she was a loser. I remember being surprised and more than a little disappointed in her, and my interest in pursuing a closer friendship with this person dwindled considerably.

I'm far more picky about how I spend my time than I was 20 years ago, when I was much more into the "hang out with as many people as possible as much of the time" idea of fun. Now I spend time with people because of who they are and because of how much I value their specific friendship, not because there's nothing better to do, or because I'm afraid of being alone. I would like to hope that the friends I spend time with feel the same way.

I find that knowing how to value my solitude makes me better appreciate and enjoy the time I spend with other people. :-)

My posts may be highly sporadic over the next couple weeks, but I will be back online mid-July.

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helenvisit

Helen and me yesterday. Photo by Jeff.

Our friend Helen is visiting from Alberta. We took her to Mildred Pierce for a birthday dinner; her birthday isn't until Sunday, but she's flying home that day.

Helen's an incredibly creative sort (see her Web site for a glimpse), and has most recently been creating furniture. The following are all pieces that Helen designed herself AND built from scratch.

Told she had to name all her furniture designs, Helen named this chest of drawers "A Boy Named Sue":




This one was inspired by George Nakashima and named "I forgot more than you'll ever know":




She hand-carved this table leg:




..and won $1000 for creating the following lamp in J.P. Mitchell's "Great Two-By-Four Challenge", in which competitors were supposed to create something from a single plank of wood:




The following was made from tigerwood, and named "I Got Stripes":




And this is Helen's cat, Tamerlane the Mighty:





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strawberrylust

A number of you posted or e-mailed for info about my Toronto Island posting, so I've added a link with more info to that entry. I'll also include it here: You can find more information about the island and ferry schedule on this page.

After writing yesterday, I went to the St. Lawrence Market to shop for dinner ingredients...I decided to make a Greek stew recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook, with potatoes, onions, green beans, tomatoes, oregano, with parsley, lemon juice and kasseri cheese added at the last minute. Whenever I go to the market, I like trying one new food item I've never had before, and this time was kasseri cheese, a Greek cheese usually made from sheep's or goat's milk. Also picked up a crusty farmer's loaf from Ace Bakery to go with the stew.

I find the whole process of walking to the Market and then cooking with the fresh ingredients enormously comforting, especially browsing the aisles of wonderful colours and textures, the variety of produce, the sounds and smells. I also picked up two quarts of Ontario strawberries, which are WONDERFUL right now...very sweet and full of flavour.

Strawberries in season are my favourite fruit in the world. I cut them up and add them to cereal, with vanilla yogurt, dipped in chocolate, in salads, in blender smoothies, or just by themselves. They're at their best for a only couple of weeks in Ontario. The rest of the year, I find grocery market strawberries tend to be a pale comparison, relatively tasteless, often not worth the effort of even washing. Yes, I'm a strawberry snob.

(pause while Debbie rushes to get her strawberry fix from the kitchen because she can't stand the craving anymore)

Ah, that's better. I also picked up a huge bunch of fresh basil, more for just SMELLING than for eating, though I love basil with freshly sliced tomatoes and mozzarella, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.

(another pause to wipe drool off the keyboard)

Anyway, the stew turned out well, though my arms got sore partway through the chopping. Frustrating, that, especially since it meant that I lacked the strength to slice the farmer's loaf I had bought to go with it when I had my dinner. My tendinitis is continuing to gradually heal, but it's hard not to get impatient sometimes.

And now I have lots of leftovers, yay! I could go on much longer about how I adore leftovers, but I'll save that for another food Blathering...


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