Going Offline

First, some history: In 2000 when I first started publishing my own Web site, I signed up for hosting service with Burlee. They were great. For $10 a month, I got unlimited space, POP email, and great service. About a year and a half ago, though, Burlee was purchased by Interland.

After being with them for a while now, I can’t say enough about how much this service sucks! While my site has never crashed, the service anytime you want to get something done is absoultely nil. It takes three requests to get something done in the first place. Then when they screw it up, it takes three more requests to get it fixed. Arrgh!

The long and the short of this is that my account is up for renewal and I’ll be switching hosts. So, if you come visit and can’t find the site in the next few weeks, don’t panic.

In the words of a famous governator: I’ll be back!

Politics

“All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.”
-John Arbuthnot (1667-1735)

English Countryside in Teanaway

My third attempt of Ingalls Peak got rained out today. Instead of leaving at 5:30 a.m. when we made the decision to go home, I went back to bed for a few more hours of shut eye. When I woke up again at 8:30 it was raining too hard to make even a hike enjoyable. So I packed up and drove home.

I was busy watching the hunters wander around in the trees, presumably looking for elk, as I drove along the Teanaway River Road. Imagine my surprise when I rounded the corner and found a herd of cows blocking the road.

I was really glad I had my camera and made a mental note that occurrences like this are the reason I need to remember to bring it with me more often.

Failure

"This thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down."
- Mary Pickford (1893 - 1979)

Cyclocross racing

I went with Nick to his cyclocross race in Tacoma today. The race was held at Fort Steilacoom park - a really interesting place if you’ve never been there. There is an actual fort which is perched on the only hill in the park. Trails criss-cross the hill and lead around a Greenlake-sized pond below. Large grassy fields would be ideal for running our dog, if we had one.

I had a little time before the race to explore the course and find good spots for photographing the action. I wandered up to the fort and found it in ruins, covered with grafitti. A high fence with razor wire surrounded it (a fort around the fort?), but someone cut a large hole in the fence making it possible to walk around inside.

I was there to see the race, though, so I wandered back to the start. I still don’t have my 28-105mm lens back from the repair shop, so I shot with my 75-300mm lens. It was an interesting excercise in being forced to fill the frame with the scene. I focused on riders faces at the start and managed to capture a priceless one of Nick and the guy next to him.

After the gun went, I hurried over to a section of the course called a “run up.” Officials direct the course at various points up really steep hills, so steep that the only way to get up it is to get off your bike and carry it up. Three seconds after this picture below was taken Nick passed the guy in front of him. (I was too busy cheering to take a picture.)

In the end, too many things went wrong with Nick’s bike to allow him a great finish. It did come down to a short sprint at the end with this guy.

Nick beat him of course

Quote of the day: “My legs felt great, but my lungs felt like they were going to come out my ears.” - Nick