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Hikes done in 2008
Thanks for visiting!
Federico Gomez Suarezwrote:
When are you blogging about recent relocation?!
Apr. 15
Anita
wrote:
Hi Brad! Just wanted to say hi and let you know I DO actually read your blog :) Miss ya heaps buddy, take care. Neets.
Aug. 14
Bradwrote:
Wow, welcome to last decade!
Apr. 20
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September 20 Messenger 9 BetaNow that the Messenger 9 Beta is out I’ve been playing around with it for a couple of days now and it’s pretty sweet. Of course it has its share of bugs as you’d expect from a beta product, however there is at least one area that I feel could be improved on… I love my screen space, don’t waste it! Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I hate seeing empty space in my applications. It serves no purpose besides giving me something to stare blankly and think “Surely there is something that could go there”. Thankfully the beta does allow you to collapse the user tiles away so that the entire window can be dedicated to chatting, however I’d prefer to see some kind of compromise that reclaims the screen without hiding a users tile. Given that I know what my user tile is, and I am interested in my counterparts (albeit not quite so large as it defaults to), why not simplify things as I’ve highlighted below?
I admit that there are some scenarios where the little section on the left is actually useful (E.g. video calls to family back home), but I think it’s a fairly safe bet to say that this scenario isn’t quite as common as simply IMing someone. April 20 New ApartmentLast weekend some friends and I rented a U-Haul and moved all my furniture into my new apartment. It actually turned out easier then I thought, although the couches are always a pain... especially when you need to carry them up 3 flights of stairs because they won't fit in the elevator! The entire process took about 5 hours, which was exactly the amount of time I'd scheduled the truck for. I think that goes to show that my powers of estimation are improving
 . You can see a couple of pictures of the new place below:Oh, and as I'm writing this it's snowing outside... in late April!! I don't think I'll ever understand Seattle weather. March 27 It's All Mine!Today I decided to pay off the rest of my car, so after 2 years the WRX is all mine! I guess I'll head over to First Tech on the way in to work tomorrow and fill out the paper work  .February 17 Volleyball!It's the start of the year again, which means it's volleyball time! We actually started playing last week but we lost that game so I was waiting until we won a game before posting . I'm of course pleased to announce that we have won our second game, and we did so by playing a lot better as a team then we did the previous week. Imagine what we'll be like when we start practicing as a team! Anyway, this year I'm playing in a level above what I did last year and so far the competition is tougher which is great for my competitive nature. Let's hope the rest of the season has us playing as well as we did today.January 20 Monster Truck MadnessI've been in the USA for over two years now, and during that time I've never really done anything truly American... that is, until last night :). A friend from work discovered that there was a monster truck rally on in Tacoma this weekend so we all organised to go. We ended up being one ticket short so had to run around and find a scalper, who as it turns out are rather hard to find when you actually need to find one! Once inside the first thing I noticed was that the Tacoma dome was made out of wood. In today's age of metal structures I found this rather interesting, and at the same time hoped that it wouldn't fall down on us! Anyway, on the way in I did notice a lot of people carrying in earmuffs... 'What could they possibly need those for?' I thought. And then I found out. All I can say is that when you have 6 monsters trucks driving around putting your fingers in your ears doesn't seem to make much of a difference ;). Other than being loud, it is rather cool seeing them drive around jumping over, and crushing, cars on the track. Having said that I don't think you'd see me going much... I still prefer a good movie! Pictures are available at: December 29 The Rest of the California TripIt's been a while since I returned from my holiday in California so I figured I better summarise the rest of the trip! Unforunately I'm not in the mood for writing an essay like I did for the past two blog entries so this one is going to be short and sweet
. After we left Yosemite we drove out to the coast as we wanted to spend a day driving down Highway 1. By the time we reached the coast it was already getting dark so we found a nice cheap place in Monteray to spend the night. We tried out a nice place called Crystal Fish, which served some really nice sushi before walking around the pier and heading off to bed.The next day we got up fairly early by my standards and drove down past Pebble Beach to the Hearst Castle. The castle was an impressive building, and obviously had no expense spared. The tour we went on included a nice video explaining the origins of the castle, and a tour through the main areas including one of the three guest houses and the main hall. I won't bother to try and explain the details of this place because I won't do it justice, so instead you can have a look through the pictures!
After the look around Hearst Castle we headed out to Bakersfield where we stayed a night before the drive in to Death Valley. As it was the weather was perfect for the drive through the valley - it's a lot easier to do in winter
. We had the option of either driving straight through the valley and staying in a place on the other side, or staying in the valley itself. In order to maximise the amount of stuff we could do in Death Valley we ended up deciding to stay in the valley at a place called Furnace Creek. Furnace Creek is an unexpected oasis in the desert that is the valley, and it has both an Inn and a Resort depending on how much you want to pay. Obviously we went for the cheaper option but the accommodation was fine, and you could also use the internet to check your email if you don't mind sitting in your car in front of the visitors center.The next morning we did a couple of hikes (Golden Canyon and Natural Bridge) before driving in to Las Vegas. We stayed in the MGM Grand hotel which was very nicely furnished inside. In all honesty while Las Vegas is a very vibrant place at night there isn't a great deal to do there if you're like me and not really in to the night clubs or gambling there isn't a whole lot to do. Having said that there are a lot of shows that you can go and see - we went and watched KA from Cirque Du Soleil. KA was an incredible show where the entire stage appeared to be mechanical. It could move and twist through each scene to open up a lot of different aspects to the show that I hadn't seen done before. That and the usual Cirque Du Soleil theatrics made this show one of the best I'd seen for a long time. We also went on a helicopter ride to the grand canyon as a birthday treat for me, and along the way got a bonus view of the Hoover Dam. I'd never flown on a real helicopter before so I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and the view was good as well
 .Finally we flew up to Los Angeles for a day before parting ways and returning home. We ended up staying on Santa Monica and did a tour which showed us around the usual touristy things that you can do with only a day to play with.
Photo links are:
December 08 YosemiteAfter the stay in San Francisco we drove out to Yosemite to explore the national park. It was about a 180 mile drive, but as we turned up to the park we were told we were required to have chains for the car. Our car was a rental but since we really wanted to get in to the park we were left with two options: buy a set of chains for a one of event, or drive for another couple of hours to reach an entrance at a lower altitude. By this point it was already starting to get dark so we decided to rush down the road and see what we could get. The chains that we could get we reasonably priced so we decided to just buy them and head straight back to the park. Sure enough, 3 miles in to the park the snow appeared and started sticking to the road. We stopped behind a group of other people that were chaining up and observed for a bit to see how these things actually work. Once we'd figured out the basics we put them on successfully the first time, which surprised me because I've heard some horror stories about people not correctly applying them
. The drive through the snow was just like what I was used to, apart from the extra bumpyness and road noise added by the chains. Unfortunately by the time we arrived at the lodge it was well and truely dark so we couldn't see much of anything. So we just got some food and went to bed early.The next day we got up reasonably early, ate breakfast, and then went for a hike around the valley to see what else was around. This hike was different to all others I've been on though because it was snowing! As it turns out it snowed for a bit during the night and dumped enough on the ground to have it visible in the morning. Unfortunately that snow melted pretty quickly, however the snow continued to fall during the day which gave a nice atmosphere to the hike. After that we relaxed for a bit allowing me to finish a book that I've been working on for a while... yay! We also got around to checking out Ahwahnee, which has a really nice old hotel with a hall that looks a lot like the one from Harry Potter. The hall is actually a fancy restaurant that is above what we'd normally eat at, but we did consider eating there until we found out the strict dress code... we definitely want to go back to get changed and then head all the way out again. Instead we at at the nice place near our lodge, which turned out to be good food.
As we left the next morning the skies cleared up so we managed to snap a few photos of the lodge that included what couldn't be seen before. This included the mountains that surrounded us - we had no idea that they were so close to us because of the low cloud the previous day!
Photos at:
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