Browse Month: October 2008

Cross-eyed

Boy, I’m pooped…and cross-eyed from staring at the computer screen for the past 5 hours grading papers.  Every Wednesday, my students submit paperwork to me via a “Digital Dropbox” where I can download their work.  I then go through and make revisions and make comments in the Word Document while “Tracking Changes”.  It’s a great system but I wonder if it would be to my benefit to actually do it on hard copies.  I’m not sure I was built to stare at text on a screen for so long.

We’re mid-way through the semester now and the workload has certainly picked up.  Tonight, I only got through 2 out of 5 sets of paperwork so that means I have another 7-8 more hours to look forward to this week.  Yip. ee.  Each week, the students have to not only turn in their assignment for the current week but they’re also continuing to work on the revisions that I suggested in the past weeks.  We have to go through several revisions before I can feel comfortable signing my name on them.  It’s pretty tedious but I remember that being the best way I learned back in grad school.  They’ve all be very receptive to the feedback and their patient documentation (and treatment sessions) have really improved over the past 3 weeks.

Teaching is fun but the paperwork sucks.

Full Moon

I took my trusty camera along for my evening walk with Koa to find that there’s a full moon out tonight!  It’s been a while since I last went exploring and I managed to get a couple shots.

This street photo is one of my favorites.  It’s shot at f/22, 8 seconds, ISO 400, and a really steady hand.  Muni was running at the time and it made an eerie woosh of light in the middle of the street.  Neato.

Cha-Ching!

On Friday, I hit another $100 on iStockphoto.  Woo hoo!  I’ve certainly neglected my portfolio and haven’t uploaded much this past year so it’s a nice little surprise.  The downloads have slowed down a lot lately but the increased royalties have made up for it.  This photo paid me a whoppin’ $1.20 to throw me over the $100 mark.  Woo hoo!  It’s time to cash out to help pay for my D300.

Zoom!

After a full morning of editing paperwork for my students, we went up to the roof for a little air show.  It’s Fleet Week again and the Blue Angels were flyin’ high.

We considered taking the bus out to the Marina Green for the show but there’s really nothing better than taking an elevator up a few floors with a cooler filled with Coors Light for the zoom-zoom show.

Lucked out

I got up this morning with the full intention of taking BART to work today.  I was even ahead of schedule and had extra time to walk (not run) to the Muni station.  Then a weird thing came over me as I was about to head out the door.  I thought, “Maybe I should just drive.”  So, as I drove across the Bay Bridge, the guy on the radio said that BART was delayed and that no trains were leaving from Embarcadero (my stop) or West Oakland…BECAUSE THERE WAS A FIRE!!!  Dude, close call.  I would have been totally screwed.  It occured right when I was supposed to get on the train.  I totally lucked out today.

Under the Bridge

Yesterday was our second day of Basic Keelboat Sailing 1 and I had a great time. Our instructor gave us the key to the dock in the morning and had the four of us set-up the boat and start the motor on our own while he grabbed a cup of coffee.  Once he joined us, I started at the helm and steered our way out of the slip and into McCovey Cove where we put up the sails. The wind was light at first so there was a lot of waiting, tacking, and jibing until we caught a decent breeze.

Unfortunately, we weren’t really getting anywhere so we started the motor and headed out to Central Bay, which is basically the water between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. The water was choppier and the air was colder and wetter but it was great for sailing.

It was so awesome to see the city from the water. It’s a perspective that I don’t get everyday. We sailed under the Bay Bridge and towards Treasure Island before we started tacking back up towards the shore. We also saw the Maltese Falcon, which was a gigantic sailboat that looked like a really big spaceship with plastic sails. (By the way, it’s for sale if you have a couple million dollars to throw away.)  We also spent some time riding the wakes of the tugboats and ferries that passed through the bay.

We had spent all day rotating through all the stations and had a good idea of how the wind was moving so we all took turns sailing solo. This involved holding and turning the tiller and fiddling with the two lines that controlled the jib. I gave it a try and it was pretty fun. I sailed a boat all by myself!! Woo hoo!!

Here are the photos from the weekend.  We’re signed up for Basic Keelboat Sailing 2 (next month), which will end with a written test.  If we pass, we’ll be able to take the 20-ft sailboats out on our own.  Sweet.